Disclaimer – I don't own anything, don't sue me because all characters are owned by other SNKPlaymore or Capcom.
Kula was in the same rage she was in when K9999 killed Foxy. The gentleness and mercy she usually showe to her opponents all but vanished, and she relentlessly went at Geese. Again, she could have done something to save her friend but again she was too slow and didn't even realise when danger was around. She had vowed never to let her guard down again after Foxy's death, but she wasn't there for Angel either. This time however, she wasn't going to let her friend's murderer get away.
Geese still had his cocky grin as he blocked all of Kula's mighty blows, but he was having trouble finding the right opening. He grimaced as her noticed Rose getting up again and Ken charging up his ki. Kula's attacks were too haphazard to allow for any teamwork, and they were waiting on the sides to relieve her when she was worn out from her efforts. Kula might have been attacking ferociously, but she was far from mindlessly swinging. She unexpectedly ducked low and performed her 'Slider Shoot,' hitting Geese low. She then proceeded to combo in her 'Critical Ice,' pushing Geese away with her ice, before cancelling into her 'Diamond Edge DM.'
As Geese stumbled away from Kula's onslaught, Ken moved in and performed his 'Shinryuu ken SC lv-3,' uppercutting Geese high into the air. As Geese landed, he performed a Recovery Roll and performed his 'Raging Storm DM,' knocking both Ken and Kula away with waves of dark ki. Geese laughed menacingly at the two warriors. Though they did manage to hurt him quite a bit, their efforts still weren't enough to topple the powerhouse. "You can't escape from death. No one can compete with the powers of the divine. The Scroll of Immortality might be gone, but their power lives in me!" taunted the mighty Geese Howard. "Really?" a new voice added, not at all intimidated at Geese's power, "your pathetic power seems pitiful to me. No one but those born of the divine can handle such power. I've seen and crushed your type before." All eyes turned to see a handsome young man with brown hair, white jacket and jeans looking down at Geese Howard. It was Kyo Kusanagi.
"What the hell's going on?" demanded Saisyu. He and Diana were frantically pressing buttons on their controls board at the Masters HQ. The technicians were frantically trying to get reading, but since the battle started, all they were getting was static with a few flashes of information now and again. They had no idea how the battle was going and if anyone else had entered or left the battle. "Billions of dollars of technology and it's all for nothing!" In his frustration, Saisyu performed a 'Yami barai' at the control board, disintegrating a million dollars in machinery. Despite his usually casual demeanour, Saisyu was deeply worried about his wife. Even though she could handle herself and was better trained than any of the mercenaries he hired, he still put Shizuka in a battle with the most dangerous criminals in the world.
Diana was deep in thought and came up with a possible conclusion as to what was happening. "I believe that the massive amount of energy being exchanged in the battle is interfering with out sensors. We've had the same problem with mass ki manipulation before at NESTS."
Just then, one of the technicians approached Saisyu. "Sir, our long range sensors are not having any problems at the moment, so Ms. Diana is probably right about the ki fluctuations causing such disturbances in our data. However, we are detecting a massive airship approaching the battle, ETA 15 minutes." Saisyu frowned and looked at the airship on one of the monitors. He paled as he noticed a logo on one side, but he wanted to be absolutely sure his eyes weren't lying. "Magnify please," he commanded one of the technicians, and the monitors displayed a zoomed in version of the image. His eyes were dead on; the logo was of an R in a circle. "It's Rugal and probably the rest of the vermin," stated Saisyu. Diana smashed the table with a fist. If the rest of the escaped criminals managed to join the fray, Kula would be done for.
"Were you trained to fly aircraft?" Saisyu asked Diana. Diana meekly nodded, scared to death about losing the little girl she had always thought of as a daughter. Saisyu turned to one of the technicians and commanded, "Ready the prototype airship for take off." The technician went wide-eyed and said, "Sir, the cloaking device and weapon systems are not working yet, I strongly suggest you don't go forward with this."
"Do it," was Saisyu's reply, "I myself will be the weapon, and it doesn't matter if we announce ourselves to the world if whatever Geese is planning works out. All I need is something to get us there before Rugal arrives."
"What's the point?" Diana asked, "We're in New York and they're on the other side of the continent. How long do you it will take us to get to Alaska?"
Saisyu smiled, "With the airship some of my companies have been developing? I'd say only about 20 minutes."
Geese and Kyo stood face to face, each smiling arrogantly at the other. "Hahaha, Kusanagi! Finally, someone worthy of fighting me. None of the filler people from the KoF have given me any entertainment. It's as if the same jokes of fighters appear in the tournament every year just because people are fanboys. Well, now it's just the important people in a proper battle. Though, I have to admit, your ancient martials arts are simply too outdated compared to my Haikyokuseiken."
"Old man, the only thing outdated here is you. Imagine having to rely on the Scroll of Immortality. A piece of crap that my ancestors cared nothing about. You know why? It's because the Kusanagi bloodline is too much for such magical trinkets. Even street punks like the Bogard brothers beat your ass. But you know what? You're right about annoying wimps and novelty fighters appearing every year at the KoF. You can only crush the same bothers and jokes so many times before it becomes routine. Too bad Yagami blew you and your bitches away back in '96 before I could."
"There have been improvements since then boy. I don't think that the OLD King of Fighters can handle the powers that I now wield. No wonder you've skipped town during every KoF."
"Old King? Dude, when you were the champ, you were beaten by the Hungry Wimps, I mean Wolves. I'm done with talking; it's too much work. I've got a date tonight and I want your ass roasted long before that." In his mind, Kyo thought, 'If I don't get back long before that, Yuki will roast MY ass." Turning to Ken, Kyo yelled, "Masters, if you let anyone we've hired interfere with my match, I'll whup yo ass!" Kyo addressed Geese again after the arrogant remark, "Well old man, let's go!"
"Haha, boy, today I will personally stain my hands with your blood."
With that, the two powerhouses charged at each other. Kyo led with his '212 Shiki: Kototsuki You' while Geese led with his 'Jaie Ken.' The two attacks cancelled each other out and the two combatants stumbled back from each other. Kyo did a recovery roll and leaped into the air with his 'R.E.D. Kick,' but Geese met him with his 'Joudan Atemi Nage' counter. Geese grabbed Kyo by the leg and threw him on the ground roughly with a yell of "Predictable!" Not taking any chances with such a powerful opponent, Geese immediately performed the 'Raging Storm DM,' blowing Kyo straight into the air. Not letting up for a moment, Geese leaped into the air and attacked Kyo with his 'Hishou Nichirin Zan.' As Kyo landed, Geese charged up all his powers and let loose with his 'Deadly Rave SDM.' As Geese let loose his greatest move, he super cancelled the last hit and instead made the already overwhelming move even more damaging by grabbing Kyo and letting loose with his new 'Rashoumon DM.'
Kyo was sent hurtling away by the power of Geese's new move, and was heading head first towards the tree that Ryu was resting on. Kula gasped that Kyo was so overpowered so easily, Ken went slack jawed and Ryu closed his eyes, his body right in the path of Kyo's fall. Suddenly, poof! Kyo reappeared near where Kula and Ken lay, cradled in Angel's arms.
Pushing the pain away, Sagat performed his 'Tiger Uppercut,' putting K' once again on the defensive. Despite the arrow sticking out of his leg, Sagat was handling himself, and the match was dead even. Sagat turned away from K' for a second and performed his 'Tiger Cannon SC,' at Shizuka. Shizuka had launched another arrow at Sagat, but that simply disintegrated as the ki engulfed it. Shizuka was hit directly in the chest with the ki and collapsed in a heap.
Sagat brought his arm up to the side to block another of K''s attacks, not even turning to look at him. He performed his 'Tiger Crush' and blew K' away. Just then, the area around Sagat darkened as he was engulfed in a shadow. As Sagat looked up, he saw Zangief's enormous body coming at him with a 'Body Press.' Zangief landed on Sagat and squashed him with his massive bulk. As Zangief rolled off, Maxima landed on Sagat with his 'Bunker Buster DM.' K' picked himself off the ground and frowned at Zangief. Maxima quickly got up and grabbed K''s arm. "No Dash-Man, he's with us." K' shook himself free of Maxima's grip and spat on the ground, "My ass he is. If this garbage turns on Howard's men, how soon until he turns on us?"
"Zangief is loyal and will help big fat Canadian and his little friend in sexy leather. Zangief and the big fat Canadian would have been here earlier, but we had to help the blondie back to your airship," Zangief proclaimed. K' grunted in displeasure, before shoving both of the human behemoths down with one arm each, showing his incredible power. K' himself ducked and allowed a 'Tiger Shot' to sail on over his head. K' enjoyed crushing opponents by himself, but he never lost sight of what was important. Sagat was now fighting three warriors at once with an arrow sticking out of his leg. It seemed that the tables had turned on the escapees.
Angel smiled down at Kyo, but the heir of the Kusanagi was not the least bit amused. "Let go of me woman!" screamed an indignant Kyo. He jumped off of Angel's arms without even so much as a thank you and turned to face Ken. "Masters, I thought I told you to make sure none of our men interfere with my fight!" Ken was still flabbergasted at Angel's reappearance, and could only stutter, "but she, I, she was, then I was." Kula had already fainted, believing she had seen the Mexican bombshell's ghost or angel or devil. It had to be something supernatural. Angel looked saddened that Kyo had not seemed the least bit appreciative of her efforts. "Um, weren't you gonna get hurt or something?" Kyo took that comment as an insult, "Do you really think I'd let myself be beaten by an old codger like Geese Howard? Give me some credit babe." Kyo charged his powers, revealing to everyone that he had only been toying with Geese the whole time.
Angel unconsciously scratched the exposed skin where Geese Howard had blasted her. The skin had completely healed, and not even a scar remained. It was as if she was never hurt in the first place. Angel then shrugged and stretched her arms, she was used to shabby treatment at NESTS, but at least now she was having quite a bit more fun with some exciting people. Suddenly she lurched forward, and noticed yet another gaping hole in her skin, this time on the other side of her ample chest. Kyo, Ken and Angel looked behind them to notice Geese Howard in the same pose he was in the first time he had killed Angel. However, this time he looked perplexed as to why the silver haired warrior was still prancing around. It was not like Geese Howard to be afraid though, more confused and irritated.
"Oww! Not again!" whined Angel, once again falling to the snow. Kyo checked to see that Angel was still alive, and when he noticed that this time she still had a pulse, he turned and cracked his knuckles in anticipation. "OK old fart. Now I've scoped you out, we can take it seriously." Kyo leaped up with his 'R.E.D. Kick' again, while Geese prepared himself with another 'Joudan Atemi Nage.' However, this time Kyo's kick was so strong that Geese wasn't able to counter it, and as a result, Geese was driven right onto the ground. "What's wrong ya old bastard?" taunted Kyo, "arthritis finally kicking in?" The outraged Geese lunged at the Kusanagi, but Kyo simply did his Strong '427 Shiki: Hikigane,' and sent Geese hurtling away. Kyo ran forward to continue his onslaught.
Meanwhile, Kula had woken up, and Angel was trying to get back on her feet. Kula got up and attempted to bring Angel down to the ground, trying to nurse Angel's wound. "Easy there Angel, don't make it any worse." Angel simply smiled and relaxed for a bit, happy that someone was concerned for her. "It's OK Kula, just give me two minutes and I'll be ready again. Look – see." Angel pointed to the wound, and Kula noticed that she could already see blood quickly clotting over it. Kula also noticed that the wound that had killed her only minutes ago was gone. Only a strategically placed hole above her right breast was in its place. Angel didn't mind, her outfit had many gaping holes in the right places anyway.
"How?" enquired a perplexed Ken, joining the two women. "How what?" asked a confused Angel, as if coming back to life was a normal occurrence. "Angel, how come you're alive? You died in my arms not five minutes ago," asked Kula.
"Oh, that," said the beaming Angel, finally understanding. "Well, I didn't get anything fancy like beams from hands or control of ice or fire in NESTS. You can see that I got something because my hair changed colour." Angel pointed to her hair, which was an unnatural light silver, something prevalent in most NESTS agents. Kula knew that a side effect of NESTS genetic tampering included hair colour change, and it symbolised that the agent was loyal enough to undergo such treatments. Kula had assumed Angel's teleportation and superhuman physique were her mutations, but this was not the case. "I simply got experimented on and got this really neat healing factor thing. Makes me heal from almost anything."
Ken and Kula were stunned. NESTS had invented immortality. With this, Angel had no chance of dieing. Or so it seemed. "Angel, are there any limitations to your powers?" enquired Ken. At this, Angel lost her jubilant smile and seemed a little nervous. She looked around and seemed fearful of everything. She looked at Kyo and K' and frowned. She looked at Ken and bit her lip. Lastly she looked at Kula, the fear evident in her face. Kula and Ken understood; Angel's training had left her unable to trust a single person. It was evident there were weaknesses in her abilities, but she didn't want to reveal them in case they could be used against her. It hurt Kula that Angel did not trust her, but given her attitude to her since they were reunited, she shouldn't have been surprised. However, Angel quickly adopted her happy-go-lucky personality and smiled her warm and friendly smile. "Let's go help Mr. Benimaru and Mr. Eiji!" she exclaimed, running straight into battle. Kula and Ken smiled and ran back into battle.
Shizuka woke up to someone slapping her in the face. "Ow, ow! Stop, Saisyu and Kyo will kill you when he finds out you woke me up like that," Shizuka mumbled. She opened her eyes and saw Saisyu and Kyo standing over her. Kyo helped his mother to her feet and the Kusanagi family rejoined their hired hands. Shizuka noticed Raiden's body, and Sagat, Balrog, Billy and Krauser, knocked out, bound by some form of high tech handcuffs. Ken noticed Shizuka displaying an interest in the cuffs and told her about them, "New prototype energy suppressors. No mana or anything can be generated by the person these things are equipped on. Heidern would have used these to transport our criminal friends if the government decided to accept the contract. They decided to spend the money on a certain unprovoked war on another nation than to defend themselves from the scum in our own country."
K' and Kyo met eye-to-eye, and started playing stare down at each other. K' was eagre to prove his worth to the young Kusanagi heir who he owed his powers to. Maxima was at his back, ready to hold down the rampaging ex-NESTS mercenary if he had to. Kyo was more amused than anything, confident that he could pacify his 'clone' at any time if he had to.
Angel, who was trained in first aid, was treating Blue Mary's injuries. The former policewoman was still unconscious, and was supported with full blown IV stands and oxygen respirator. Apparently Angel had found that she had a punctured lung and had lost a lot of blood, so she was receiving some medical blood that was fortunately stored in Saisyu's new airship. Apart from Blue Mary and Kula, Shizuka was the most injured, but thankfully she didn't have any broken ribs from Sagat's 'Tiger Cannon SC.' Kula's arm was supported on a sling, Rose had already had her head wound stitched up by Angel and Ken walked with a slight limp, but everyone else had gotten away with minor cuts and bruises. However, two people were conspicuous in their absence.
"Where's Howard and Ryu?" asked Shizuka. This prompted Kyo to kick the ground in frustration and K' spat on the ground in disgust. Maxima elaborated, "We had everyone but Howard apprehended, and your son was wiping the floor with him. Until the rest of the escapees arrived in Rugal's new air ship. It turns out that they salvaged that mana suppressor that Heidern attempted to transport them with, and activated it right in the middle of the battlefield. We had to retreat, since only Kyo, Kisaragi, Zangief and I were able to continue being effective in battle under those conditions. Geese Howard escaped, and Vega snuck in somehow and made off with Ryu. They would have killed us since I scanned about one hundred troops inside that airship, all with guns, but they retreated. I'm assuming they detected your husband's airship approaching and left in a hurry just to be safe. Well, at least we know that Ryu is the pivotal point in their plans."
K' looked up as if he just remembered something and strolled over to Angel, before slapping her hard across the face. "Did I or did I not tell you that I wanted him dead before Howard could get him?" he condemned Angel. Angel shielded her face with her arms and closed her eyes in anticipation of a beating, but before K' could rain down blows on the poor Latina girl, a wall of ice appeared to protect her. Kula looked infuriated at K' and Ken strode over to K' and grabbed him by the shirt with both hands. "Leave her alone you bastard. I will not have you people murder anyone here. If you had killed my friend I would have locked you up and threw you before Heidern like the rest of these dogs." K' shoved Ken away and eyeballed him.
Diana looked on unapprovingly as Kula helped Angel to her feet to continue helping Blue Mary. "Kula! Why are you helping that bitch? Don't you remember what she did to Foxy?" Angel looked about ready to cry, but the younger Kula started patting her back in support. Kula was 16 years old by now, and much of her ignorance was replaced by pragmatism. Kula could make her own decisions. After saying a few words of encouragement to the disheartened Angel, Kula turned to the woman who had been like a mother to her and stared at her with contempt, "I don't really know Diana. What DID she do to Foxy? Killing her was one thing that she DIDN'T do, that I know now." Diana didn't listen to a word that was said to her. Losing Foxy was akin to loosing a twin sister. She would never forgive anyone who was even slightly connected to her death.
"Who killed Raiden?" demanded Ken, "This is despicable. What sort of heroes are we supposed to be if we resort to killing our captives?"
"That would be me," stated Shizuka nonchalantly, while Kyo had a look on his face that clearly said to not press the point further. Ken was shocked that the kindly Kusanagi would kill Raiden arbitrarily. "Looks like someone from the Kusanagi Clan actually did something right for a change," the arrogant K' huffed standing right above the unconscious Sagat, "makes me wonder why they didn't kill these pieces of crap while they had the chance." With that, K' bent over and snapped Sagat's neck, instantly killing the Muey Thai Emperor while he was asleep. The more sensible members like Saisyu, Rose and Ken stared in shock at K''s actions, but Angel saw this as a chance to get back into her field leader's good books. She teleported over to the prone Krauser and did a powerful Karate chop at the Strolheim noble's neck, destroying his windpipe and killing him. Saisyu lost it at that point and did an 'Orochinagi DM' at K', blowing him away yet again.
Things immediately got tense between the diverse alliances gathered together. People were split between whether the criminals were better of dead or back in Heidern's hands. Ken's keen business like mind was perhaps the most realistic, looking for the best possible solution for the dilemma. "Look, I say we all just come down and discuss this back at my family's headquarters. I'm sure my father wants to see how our little venture turned out."
"Daddy wants his little boy back eh Masters?" Benimaru sarcastically commented. Ken sent a dark look at him, but the narcissist simply rolled his eyes. The alliance of warriors slowly boarded one of the two transports and took off back for the Masters HQ in New York. Today was a clear failure, but not a total loss. With half the super humans apprehended and their enemy's measure taken in, the alliance had only to regroup and plan their next action.
Vega, Mr. Big, Rugal and Yamazaki looked unimpressed at the bound and helpless warrior in front of them. Ryu was at the mercy of some of the most insane and diabolical criminals in the history of mankind. Yamazaki was twiddling with his knife, teasing Ryu with it. Geese soon appreared, having composed himself and wearing a change of clothes. Rugal fumed at the sight of Geese, reprimanding him, "First you expect me to follow your lead Howard. Something that I, being far greater than you, am having trouble to swallow. With your leadership, you send us to capture a mere boy? And half our number gets captured doing so? Explain to me why we shouldn't just leave you to your mad schemes Howard?"
"Do you even care about those nobodies we left behind Bernstein?"
Ryu was leaning by a tree, pretty much forgotten by all the warriors. He desperately wanted to get up and join the fight, but he wasn't even able to stand on his own two feet. All he could do was watch and pray that Ken would somehow turn the tide against Geese and his minions.
Zangief and Maxima were grappling each other, holding onto each other's shoulders. Maxima had yet to employ his mighty 'Maxima Cannon DM' from his chest, he was waiting for his battle analysis of his enemy to be complete. Once that happened, Maxima would be able to hit Zangief in whatever weak spots he had, and finish this match more efficiently. Still, Zangief's powerful frame seemed to be overpowering Maxima's robotic shell, and Maxima needed to take some pressure off while he waited for his data analysis to be completed. "Hey buddy, do you huff huff really trust Howard? I mean, he won't care if I beat urrf your dick to the ground," said Maxima, attempting to distract the huge Russian.
"Nothing can stop the Red Cyclone," was Zangief's strained reply, "be a arrgh goodsy liddle guy and just stop the ruffsy tuffsy." "Red Cyclone? Come on buddy, what's with hrrm the Soviet name?" "Zangief is pride of Soviet Russia, he fights for Howard to destroy capitalist pigs!" With that, Zangief's patriotic spiel gave him the strength to give Maxima a suplex, starting his 'Final Atomic Buster SC.' After two suplexes, Zangief gave Maxima a mighty toss in their air for his spinning pile driver to end the move, but as Maxima feel downwards, he performed his 'Bunker Buster DM,' crushing Zangief's head with over two hundred kilos of his robotic mass.
As Maxima dusted of the carbon residue that always seemed to appear on him after the move, he was amazed to see Zangief get back on his feet. 'That's ridiculous,' he thought, 'I should've turned his head to putty with that!' The hardest part of Zangief's body was his head, and his skull really didn't have much to protect anyways. The two of them grabbed each other and resumed their battle of strength, each attempting to outmuscle and overpower the other.
"Come on, buddy, listen to what you're saying," said Maxima, attempting to reason with the self proclaimed Red Cyclone, "you're fighting for something that's been defunct for decades. Why fight for the Soviet Union when it doesn't exist?" Zangief looked at Maxima with confusion, but did not let up on the assault. "What do you mean? Mother Russia is mighty and would never fall to the capitalist pigs." Maxima realised that the thickheaded buffoon was even more ignorant than he thought. Rather than g into a full explanation about the history of the Cold War, Maxima simply replied with, "read the history books buddy, there is no Soviet Union." Zangief frowned, and the two strained even harder against each other. "Well, huurrr at least Mr. Howard will beat capitalists, so Zangief fight for Mr. Howard." Maxima's battle analysis was complete at this point, but he didn't attack Zangief just yet, he had an idea that might just turn the battle for his new allies. "Zan – arrgh Zangief. Howard has tricked you! He used to be a billionaire that didn't care what he had to do to maintain his money. He's the biggest capitalist you'll ever meet in the world. And his friends are all just as bad!"
At that, Zangief stopped his assault, and Maxima let go of the Russian behemoth. Maxima looked over at where Raiden and Blue Mary were duking it out, and Zangief followed his lead.
Mary was subject to many of Raiden's attacks and was being dominated by the Australian wrestler. No matter how hard Mary tried, she could not land any of her grapples on Raiden. The wrestler was much to heavy for Mary to use any of her techniques. Mary tried her 'Rising Arrow', but Raiden quickly grabbed her leg before she could hit him. Raiden suddenly blew his 'Poison Breath' at Blue Mary's eyes, blinding her and then throwing her head first into the ground. He then picked her up again and performed his 'Destruction Drop SDM,' on the weakened and blinded Blue Mary. As Raiden let Blue Mary drop, Mary coughed out bright red blood from an internal wound, she was obviously too hurt to continue.
Raiden placed his foot on Mary's head and started putting his weight on her, while Blue Mary only groaned. Raiden was about to finish her off when he felt a finger tap on his shoulder. Raiden turned around and saw Zangief frowning at him. "What are you doing you commie moron. I'm busy and I don't need your help. Go find your own victim." Suddenly, Zangief grabbed Raiden by the neck and performed his 'Final Atomic Buster lv-3 SC.' Maxima ran up to the two wrestlers, and as Zangief completed his move, Maxima unleashed his 'Arc Enemy HSDM.' Maxima drilled Raiden deep into the snow and when he got up, an arrow landed directly into the middle of Raiden's neck, silencing him forever.
Raiden placed his foot on Mary's head and started putting his weight on her, while Blue Mary only groaned. Raiden was about to finish her off when he felt a finger tap on his shoulder. Raiden turned around and saw Zangief frowning at him. "What are you doing you commie moron. I'm busy and I don't need your help. Go find your own victim." Suddenly, Zangief grabbed Raiden by the neck and performed his 'Final Atomic Buster lv-3 SC.' Maxima ran up to the two wrestlers, and as Zangief completed his move, Maxima unleashed his 'Arc Enemy HSDM.' Maxima drilled Raiden deep into the snow and when he got up, an arrow landed directly into the middle of Raiden's neck, silencing him forever.
Kula was in the same rage she was in when K9999 killed Foxy. The gentleness and mercy she usually showe to her opponents all but vanished, and she relentlessly went at Geese. Again, she could have done something to save her friend but again she was too slow and didn't even realise when danger was around. She had vowed never to let her guard down again after Foxy's death, but she wasn't there for Angel either. This time however, she wasn't going to let her friend's murderer get away.
Geese still had his cocky grin as he blocked all of Kula's mighty blows, but he was having trouble finding the right opening. He grimaced as her noticed Rose getting up again and Ken charging up his ki. Kula's attacks were too haphazard to allow for any teamwork, and they were waiting on the sides to relieve her when she was worn out from her efforts. Kula might have been attacking ferociously, but she was far from mindlessly swinging. She unexpectedly ducked low and performed her 'Slider Shoot,' hitting Geese low. She then proceeded to combo in her 'Critical Ice,' pushing Geese away with her ice, before cancelling into her 'Diamond Edge DM.'
As Geese stumbled away from Kula's onslaught, Ken moved in and performed his 'Shinryuu ken SC lv-3,' uppercutting Geese high into the air. As Geese landed, he performed a Recovery Roll and performed his 'Raging Storm DM,' knocking both Ken and Kula away with waves of dark ki. Geese laughed menacingly at the two warriors. Though they did manage to hurt him quite a bit, their efforts still weren't enough to topple the powerhouse. "You can't escape from death. No one can compete with the powers of the divine. The Scroll of Immortality might be gone, but their power lives in me!" taunted the mighty Geese Howard. "Really?" a new voice added, not at all intimidated at Geese's power, "your pathetic power seems pitiful to me. No one but those born of the divine can handle such power. I've seen and crushed your type before." All eyes turned to see a handsome young man with brown hair, white jacket and jeans looking down at Geese Howard. It was Kyo Kusanagi.
"What the hell's going on?" demanded Saisyu. He and Diana were frantically pressing buttons on their controls board at the Masters HQ. The technicians were frantically trying to get reading, but since the battle started, all they were getting was static with a few flashes of information now and again. They had no idea how the battle was going and if anyone else had entered or left the battle. "Billions of dollars of technology and it's all for nothing!" In his frustration, Saisyu performed a 'Yami barai' at the control board, disintegrating a million dollars in machinery. Despite his usually casual demeanour, Saisyu was deeply worried about his wife. Even though she could handle herself and was better trained than any of the mercenaries he hired, he still put Shizuka in a battle with the most dangerous criminals in the world.
Diana was deep in thought and came up with a possible conclusion as to what was happening. "I believe that the massive amount of energy being exchanged in the battle is interfering with out sensors. We've had the same problem with mass ki manipulation before at NESTS."
Just then, one of the technicians approached Saisyu. "Sir, our long range sensors are not having any problems at the moment, so Ms. Diana is probably right about the ki fluctuations causing such disturbances in our data. However, we are detecting a massive airship approaching the battle, ETA 15 minutes." Saisyu frowned and looked at the airship on one of the monitors. He paled as he noticed a logo on one side, but he wanted to be absolutely sure his eyes weren't lying. "Magnify please," he commanded one of the technicians, and the monitors displayed a zoomed in version of the image. His eyes were dead on; the logo was of an R in a circle. "It's Rugal and probably the rest of the vermin," stated Saisyu. Diana smashed the table with a fist. If the rest of the escaped criminals managed to join the fray, Kula would be done for.
"Were you trained to fly aircraft?" Saisyu asked Diana. Diana meekly nodded, scared to death about losing the little girl she had always thought of as a daughter. Saisyu turned to one of the technicians and commanded, "Ready the prototype airship for take off." The technician went wide-eyed and said, "Sir, the cloaking device and weapon systems are not working yet, I strongly suggest you don't go forward with this."
"Do it," was Saisyu's reply, "I myself will be the weapon, and it doesn't matter if we announce ourselves to the world if whatever Geese is planning works out. All I need is something to get us there before Rugal arrives."
"What's the point?" Diana asked, "We're in New York and they're on the other side of the continent. How long do you it will take us to get to Alaska?"
Saisyu smiled, "With the airship some of my companies have been developing? I'd say only about 20 minutes."
Geese and Kyo stood face to face, each smiling arrogantly at the other. "Hahaha, Kusanagi! Finally, someone worthy of fighting me. None of the filler people from the KoF have given me any entertainment. It's as if the same jokes of fighters appear in the tournament every year just because people are fanboys. Well, now it's just the important people in a proper battle. Though, I have to admit, your ancient martials arts are simply too outdated compared to my Haikyokuseiken."
"Old man, the only thing outdated here is you. Imagine having to rely on the Scroll of Immortality. A piece of crap that my ancestors cared nothing about. You know why? It's because the Kusanagi bloodline is too much for such magical trinkets. Even street punks like the Bogard brothers beat your ass. But you know what? You're right about annoying wimps and novelty fighters appearing every year at the KoF. You can only crush the same bothers and jokes so many times before it becomes routine. Too bad Yagami blew you and your bitches away back in '96 before I could."
"There have been improvements since then boy. I don't think that the OLD King of Fighters can handle the powers that I now wield. No wonder you've skipped town during every KoF."
"Old King? Dude, when you were the champ, you were beaten by the Hungry Wimps, I mean Wolves. I'm done with talking; it's too much work. I've got a date tonight and I want your ass roasted long before that." In his mind, Kyo thought, 'If I don't get back long before that, Yuki will roast MY ass." Turning to Ken, Kyo yelled, "Masters, if you let anyone we've hired interfere with my match, I'll whup yo ass!" Kyo addressed Geese again after the arrogant remark, "Well old man, let's go!"
"Haha, boy, today I will personally stain my hands with your blood."
With that, the two powerhouses charged at each other. Kyo led with his '212 Shiki: Kototsuki You' while Geese led with his 'Jaie Ken.' The two attacks cancelled each other out and the two combatants stumbled back from each other. Kyo did a recovery roll and leaped into the air with his 'R.E.D. Kick,' but Geese met him with his 'Joudan Atemi Nage' counter. Geese grabbed Kyo by the leg and threw him on the ground roughly with a yell of "Predictable!" Not taking any chances with such a powerful opponent, Geese immediately performed the 'Raging Storm DM,' blowing Kyo straight into the air. Not letting up for a moment, Geese leaped into the air and attacked Kyo with his 'Hishou Nichirin Zan.' As Kyo landed, Geese charged up all his powers and let loose with his 'Deadly Rave SDM.' As Geese let loose his greatest move, he super cancelled the last hit and instead made the already overwhelming move even more damaging by grabbing Kyo and letting loose with his new 'Rashoumon DM.'
Kyo was sent hurtling away by the power of Geese's new move, and was heading head first towards the tree that Ryu was resting on. Kula gasped that Kyo was so overpowered so easily, Ken went slack jawed and Ryu closed his eyes, his body right in the path of Kyo's fall. Suddenly, poof! Kyo reappeared near where Kula and Ken lay, cradled in Angel's arms.
Pushing the pain away, Sagat performed his 'Tiger Uppercut,' putting K' once again on the defensive. Despite the arrow sticking out of his leg, Sagat was handling himself, and the match was dead even. Sagat turned away from K' for a second and performed his 'Tiger Cannon SC,' at Shizuka. Shizuka had launched another arrow at Sagat, but that simply disintegrated as the ki engulfed it. Shizuka was hit directly in the chest with the ki and collapsed in a heap.
Sagat brought his arm up to the side to block another of K''s attacks, not even turning to look at him. He performed his 'Tiger Crush' and blew K' away. Just then, the area around Sagat darkened as he was engulfed in a shadow. As Sagat looked up, he saw Zangief's enormous body coming at him with a 'Body Press.' Zangief landed on Sagat and squashed him with his massive bulk. As Zangief rolled off, Maxima landed on Sagat with his 'Bunker Buster DM.' K' picked himself off the ground and frowned at Zangief. Maxima quickly got up and grabbed K''s arm. "No Dash-Man, he's with us." K' shook himself free of Maxima's grip and spat on the ground, "My ass he is. If this garbage turns on Howard's men, how soon until he turns on us?"
"Zangief is loyal and will help big fat Canadian and his little friend in sexy leather. Zangief and the big fat Canadian would have been here earlier, but we had to help the blondie back to your airship," Zangief proclaimed. K' grunted in displeasure, before shoving both of the human behemoths down with one arm each, showing his incredible power. K' himself ducked and allowed a 'Tiger Shot' to sail on over his head. K' enjoyed crushing opponents by himself, but he never lost sight of what was important. Sagat was now fighting three warriors at once with an arrow sticking out of his leg. It seemed that the tables had turned on the escapees.
Angel smiled down at Kyo, but the heir of the Kusanagi was not the least bit amused. "Let go of me woman!" screamed an indignant Kyo. He jumped off of Angel's arms without even so much as a thank you and turned to face Ken. "Masters, I thought I told you to make sure none of our men interfere with my fight!" Ken was still flabbergasted at Angel's reappearance, and could only stutter, "but she, I, she was, then I was." Kula had already fainted, believing she had seen the Mexican bombshell's ghost or angel or devil. It had to be something supernatural. Angel looked saddened that Kyo had not seemed the least bit appreciative of her efforts. "Um, weren't you gonna get hurt or something?" Kyo took that comment as an insult, "Do you really think I'd let myself be beaten by an old codger like Geese Howard? Give me some credit babe." Kyo charged his powers, revealing to everyone that he had only been toying with Geese the whole time.
Angel unconsciously scratched the exposed skin where Geese Howard had blasted her. The skin had completely healed, and not even a scar remained. It was as if she was never hurt in the first place. Angel then shrugged and stretched her arms, she was used to shabby treatment at NESTS, but at least now she was having quite a bit more fun with some exciting people. Suddenly she lurched forward, and noticed yet another gaping hole in her skin, this time on the other side of her ample chest. Kyo, Ken and Angel looked behind them to notice Geese Howard in the same pose he was in the first time he had killed Angel. However, this time he looked perplexed as to why the silver haired warrior was still prancing around. It was not like Geese Howard to be afraid though, more confused and irritated.
"Oww! Not again!" whined Angel, once again falling to the snow. Kyo checked to see that Angel was still alive, and when he noticed that this time she still had a pulse, he turned and cracked his knuckles in anticipation. "OK old fart. Now I've scoped you out, we can take it seriously." Kyo leaped up with his 'R.E.D. Kick' again, while Geese prepared himself with another 'Joudan Atemi Nage.' However, this time Kyo's kick was so strong that Geese wasn't able to counter it, and as a result, Geese was driven right onto the ground. "What's wrong ya old bastard?" taunted Kyo, "arthritis finally kicking in?" The outraged Geese lunged at the Kusanagi, but Kyo simply did his Strong '427 Shiki: Hikigane,' and sent Geese hurtling away. Kyo ran forward to continue his onslaught.
Meanwhile, Kula had woken up, and Angel was trying to get back on her feet. Kula got up and attempted to bring Angel down to the ground, trying to nurse Angel's wound. "Easy there Angel, don't make it any worse." Angel simply smiled and relaxed for a bit, happy that someone was concerned for her. "It's OK Kula, just give me two minutes and I'll be ready again. Look – see." Angel pointed to the wound, and Kula noticed that she could already see blood quickly clotting over it. Kula also noticed that the wound that had killed her only minutes ago was gone. Only a strategically placed hole above her right breast was in its place. Angel didn't mind, her outfit had many gaping holes in the right places anyway.
"How?" enquired a perplexed Ken, joining the two women. "How what?" asked a confused Angel, as if coming back to life was a normal occurrence. "Angel, how come you're alive? You died in my arms not five minutes ago," asked Kula.
"Oh, that," said the beaming Angel, finally understanding. "Well, I didn't get anything fancy like beams from hands or control of ice or fire in NESTS. You can see that I got something because my hair changed colour." Angel pointed to her hair, which was an unnatural light silver, something prevalent in most NESTS agents. Kula knew that a side effect of NESTS genetic tampering included hair colour change, and it symbolised that the agent was loyal enough to undergo such treatments. Kula had assumed Angel's teleportation and superhuman physique were her mutations, but this was not the case. "I simply got experimented on and got this really neat healing factor thing. Makes me heal from almost anything."
Ken and Kula were stunned. NESTS had invented immortality. With this, Angel had no chance of dieing. Or so it seemed. "Angel, are there any limitations to your powers?" enquired Ken. At this, Angel lost her jubilant smile and seemed a little nervous. She looked around and seemed fearful of everything. She looked at Kyo and K' and frowned. She looked at Ken and bit her lip. Lastly she looked at Kula, the fear evident in her face. Kula and Ken understood; Angel's training had left her unable to trust a single person. It was evident there were weaknesses in her abilities, but she didn't want to reveal them in case they could be used against her. It hurt Kula that Angel did not trust her, but given her attitude to her since they were reunited, she shouldn't have been surprised. However, Angel quickly adopted her happy-go-lucky personality and smiled her warm and friendly smile. "Let's go help Mr. Benimaru and Mr. Eiji!" she exclaimed, running straight into battle. Kula and Ken smiled and ran back into battle.
Shizuka woke up to someone slapping her in the face. "Ow, ow! Stop, Saisyu and Kyo will kill you when he finds out you woke me up like that," Shizuka mumbled. She opened her eyes and saw Saisyu and Kyo standing over her. Kyo helped his mother to her feet and the Kusanagi family rejoined their hired hands. Shizuka noticed Raiden's body, and Sagat, Balrog, Billy and Krauser, knocked out, bound by some form of high tech handcuffs. Ken noticed Shizuka displaying an interest in the cuffs and told her about them, "New prototype energy suppressors. No mana or anything can be generated by the person these things are equipped on. Heidern would have used these to transport our criminal friends if the government decided to accept the contract. They decided to spend the money on a certain unprovoked war on another nation than to defend themselves from the scum in our own country."
K' and Kyo met eye-to-eye, and started playing stare down at each other. K' was eagre to prove his worth to the young Kusanagi heir who he owed his powers to. Maxima was at his back, ready to hold down the rampaging ex-NESTS mercenary if he had to. Kyo was more amused than anything, confident that he could pacify his 'clone' at any time if he had to.
Angel, who was trained in first aid, was treating Blue Mary's injuries. The former policewoman was still unconscious, and was supported with full blown IV stands and oxygen respirator. Apparently Angel had found that she had a punctured lung and had lost a lot of blood, so she was receiving some medical blood that was fortunately stored in Saisyu's new airship. Apart from Blue Mary and Kula, Shizuka was the most injured, but thankfully she didn't have any broken ribs from Sagat's 'Tiger Cannon SC.' Kula's arm was supported on a sling, Rose had already had her head wound stitched up by Angel and Ken walked with a slight limp, but everyone else had gotten away with minor cuts and bruises. However, two people were conspicuous in their absence.
"Where's Howard and Ryu?" asked Shizuka. This prompted Kyo to kick the ground in frustration and K' spat on the ground in disgust. Maxima elaborated, "We had everyone but Howard apprehended, and your son was wiping the floor with him. Until the rest of the escapees arrived in Rugal's new air ship. It turns out that they salvaged that mana suppressor that Heidern attempted to transport them with, and activated it right in the middle of the battlefield. We had to retreat, since only Kyo, Kisaragi, Zangief and I were able to continue being effective in battle under those conditions. Geese Howard escaped, and Vega snuck in somehow and made off with Ryu. They would have killed us since I scanned about one hundred troops inside that airship, all with guns, but they retreated. I'm assuming they detected your husband's airship approaching and left in a hurry just to be safe. Well, at least we know that Ryu is the pivotal point in their plans."
K' looked up as if he just remembered something and strolled over to Angel, before slapping her hard across the face. "Did I or did I not tell you that I wanted him dead before Howard could get him?" he condemned Angel. Angel shielded her face with her arms and closed her eyes in anticipation of a beating, but before K' could rain down blows on the poor Latina girl, a wall of ice appeared to protect her. Kula looked infuriated at K' and Ken strode over to K' and grabbed him by the shirt with both hands. "Leave her alone you bastard. I will not have you people murder anyone here. If you had killed my friend I would have locked you up and threw you before Heidern like the rest of these dogs." K' shoved Ken away and eyeballed him.
Diana looked on unapprovingly as Kula helped Angel to her feet to continue helping Blue Mary. "Kula! Why are you helping that bitch? Don't you remember what she did to Foxy?" Angel looked about ready to cry, but the younger Kula started patting her back in support. Kula was 16 years old by now, and much of her ignorance was replaced by pragmatism. Kula could make her own decisions. After saying a few words of encouragement to the disheartened Angel, Kula turned to the woman who had been like a mother to her and stared at her with contempt, "I don't really know Diana. What DID she do to Foxy? Killing her was one thing that she DIDN'T do, that I know now." Diana didn't listen to a word that was said to her. Losing Foxy was akin to loosing a twin sister. She would never forgive anyone who was even slightly connected to her death.
"Who killed Raiden?" demanded Ken, "This is despicable. What sort of heroes are we supposed to be if we resort to killing our captives?"
"That would be me," stated Shizuka nonchalantly, while Kyo had a look on his face that clearly said to not press the point further. Ken was shocked that the kindly Kusanagi would kill Raiden arbitrarily. "Looks like someone from the Kusanagi Clan actually did something right for a change," the arrogant K' huffed standing right above the unconscious Sagat, "makes me wonder why they didn't kill these pieces of crap while they had the chance." With that, K' bent over and snapped Sagat's neck, instantly killing the Muey Thai Emperor while he was asleep. The more sensible members like Saisyu, Rose and Ken stared in shock at K''s actions, but Angel saw this as a chance to get back into her field leader's good books. She teleported over to the prone Krauser and did a powerful Karate chop at the Strolheim noble's neck, destroying his windpipe and killing him. Saisyu lost it at that point and did an 'Orochinagi DM' at K', blowing him away yet again.
Things immediately got tense between the diverse alliances gathered together. People were split between whether the criminals were better of dead or back in Heidern's hands. Ken's keen business like mind was perhaps the most realistic, looking for the best possible solution for the dilemma. "Look, I say we all just come down and discuss this back at my family's headquarters. I'm sure my father wants to see how our little venture turned out."
"Daddy wants his little boy back eh Masters?" Benimaru sarcastically commented. Ken sent a dark look at him, but the narcissist simply rolled his eyes. The alliance of warriors slowly boarded one of the two transports and took off back for the Masters HQ in New York. Today was a clear failure, but not a total loss. With half the super humans apprehended and their enemy's measure taken in, the alliance had only to regroup and plan their next action.
Vega, Mr. Big, Rugal and Yamazaki looked unimpressed at the bound and helpless warrior in front of them. Ryu was at the mercy of some of the most insane and diabolical criminals in the history of mankind. Yamazaki was twiddling with his knife, teasing Ryu with it. Geese soon appreared, having composed himself and wearing a change of clothes. Rugal fumed at the sight of Geese, reprimanding him, "First you expect me to follow your lead Howard. Something that I, being far greater than you, am having trouble to swallow. With your leadership, you send us to capture a mere boy? And half our number gets captured doing so? Explain to me why we shouldn't just leave you to your mad schemes Howard?"
"Do you even care about those nobodies we left behind Bernstein?"
"Hmm, good point. But contrary to popular belief, I do not like to lose valuable assets."
"Consider them investments. We got what we need. Now, you personally get what I promised you people. Unlimited power. Now, before you set course for Paris, I need to make a quick stop on the way." With that, Geese walked out of the room, to the bridge of Sky Noah.
"How far can we trust him?" asked Vega from behind Rugal.
"I'm surprised you even thought about trusting him," was Rugal's response. Ryu was starting to regain consciousness, so Yamazaki violently knocked him back out with his 'Sunakake.' Mr. Big, Rugal and Vega chuckled, before Rugal added, "We'll just have to see how this unfolds. I have a feeling that we can get what we want no matter what extra little tricks Howard has in mind.
That's chapter 4 for now. Sorry for the late update. I just want to take this time to make note about one of the greatest Play guide writers having passed away. I'm sure a few people would have ventured out to Game Faqs to download a King of Fighters or Final Fantasy Playguide. One of the greatest guide writers Chris Mac Donald (known as Kao Megura) had died of private reasons (undisclosed by his family), and though I have in no way, shape or form contacted him in any time he was alive, I still feel like his work has made me the King of Fighters player I am. I have used his guides on countless occasions, including writing this FAQ, and the web masters of GameFaqs felt that he was perhaps the greatest contributor to that site. I'm sure that he will still be with us, guiding us in some way or another. The least I could do now is to praise him and dedicate this story to him now, to make up for the fact I did nothing for him while he could appreciate it. Here's to the true King of Fighters.
As for what happens in the next chapter? The two alliances wait for each other to make their moves. The plans that Geese has been organising since the beginning soon become clear. The Masters/Kusanagi alliances have some new offers by prospective new members and new investors. They also have the problem of coming under the scrutiny of the government, since their existence is now out in the open. Who are the new members? What is Geese planning? Will the alliance hold together at this critical time or will they crumble? And will the public see the alliance as a group of heroic warriors? Or will they be seen as unsavoury vigilantes?
PS. I was always planning on bringing Angel back. Why would I write about some problems with her past and then just leave them with no reason? I'm not a random writer that you see dominate some of these sections (this one in particular I must add).
PPS. Hey Vulto, I found a good Capcom universe FAQ to counter the kick ass ones I have for the SNK universe. I found out I was wrong about who was in Shadaloo and who was not. Apparently Zangief was not. My bad. You however, have given me inspiration on how to not make a total bunghole of myself. Thanks for that Soviet idea (no matter if it was inadvertent or not). From now on, I have a better idea on how to portray the Capcom characters. By the way, check out the next chapter for the fate of Zangief. Might be in 2 weeks, might be in a month or might even be in a week.
That's chapter 4 for now. Sorry for the late update. I just want to take this time to make note about one of the greatest Play guide writers having passed away. I'm sure a few people would have ventured out to Game Faqs to download a King of Fighters or Final Fantasy Playguide. One of the greatest guide writers Chris Mac Donald (known as Kao Megura) had died of private reasons (undisclosed by his family), and though I have in no way, shape or form contacted him in any time he was alive, I still feel like his work has made me the King of Fighters player I am. I have used his guides on countless occasions, including writing this FAQ, and the web masters of GameFaqs felt that he was perhaps the greatest contributor to that site. I'm sure that he will still be with us, guiding us in some way or another. The least I could do now is to praise him and dedicate this story to him now, to make up for the fact I did nothing for him while he could appreciate it. Here's to the true King of Fighters.
As for what happens in the next chapter? The two alliances wait for each other to make their moves. The plans that Geese has been organising since the beginning soon become clear. The Masters/Kusanagi alliances have some new offers by prospective new members and new investors. They also have the problem of coming under the scrutiny of the government, since their existence is now out in the open. Who are the new members? What is Geese planning? Will the alliance hold together at this critical time or will they crumble? And will the public see the alliance as a group of heroic warriors? Or will they be seen as unsavoury vigilantes?
PS. I was always planning on bringing Angel back. Why would I write about some problems with her past and then just leave them with no reason? I'm not a random writer that you see dominate some of these sections (this one in particular I must add).
PPS. Hey Vulto, I found a good Capcom universe FAQ to counter the kick ass ones I have for the SNK universe. I found out I was wrong about who was in Shadaloo and who was not. Apparently Zangief was not. My bad. You however, have given me inspiration on how to not make a total bunghole of myself. Thanks for that Soviet idea (no matter if it was inadvertent or not). From now on, I have a better idea on how to portray the Capcom characters. By the way, check out the next chapter for the fate of Zangief. Might be in 2 weeks, might be in a month or might even be in a week.