The King of Fighters

The Psycho Soldier

The Bank Robbery

"Aw c'mon, Athena, tell me." Yuko prodded, her mind set on concentrating on Athena's mystery guest rather than the road. "Does this guy have any brothers? I'm not desperate, just curious."

"For the last time, Yuko, he does not have any brothers." Athena retorted with a sigh. "Besides, the guy is engaged to another woman. So that means that there is nothing like that going on between us."

Yuko smiled a mischievous smile. "Ah… I see." She began in an analyzing tone. "You two are keeping this on the down-low?" Obviously she had picked that one up from her studies in America. "I can respect that."

"What did you just say?" Athena demanded in a baffled breath.

"Girl, you know that this 'friendship' that you speak of is straight out of a soap opera." Yuko stated firmly while trying her best to suppress her mirth. "I mean, come on, there is no way a woman and man as close as you two are just merely… friends." She allowed the 'friends' part linger a bit for emphasis, and with expected results to boot.

Athena was stricken by dumbfounded silence, with her eyes wide and her face deep pink in color. Her neighbor was really on to her and she can easily sense a relationship a mile away. Yuko held a tiny smirk on her face because she couldn't have been more correct. "I ah… um… well, we were once in love with each other a while back." She confessed.

"Ha!" Yuko laughed triumphantly. "I knew it! I knew it all along!" She pumped a fist in the air and nearly ran in the opposite lane. "Tap water couldn't even be any clearer."

"But it wasn't anything serious!" Athena quickly amended. "It was all just a mere high school crush. So, we been out on a few dates but we didn't… do the 'thing' with each other. It wasn't deep at all."

"Well didn't one of you ever confessed love to each other at least once?" Yuko grilled and knew that she was effortlessly draining some personal info about her companion's past. "Or maybe just a kiss on the lips?" Her inquisitiveness persisted.

Athena was about to shoot back another reproach but (wisely) decided to close the case on the subject while ahead. "Nah." She dismissed. "That's about it from me about that, Yuko. You're trying to pull the wool over my eyes, eh?"

Yuko halted the car to a stop at the traffic light and regarded Athena with mock innocence. "Who? Me? Why Asamiya, would you really think of me as the type of person to pry in the affairs of others?"

"People," Athena mock applauded, "we have a winner."

Yuko shrugged, sort of indifferently. "I'm not really worried about that. The truth will soon come into the light." She said in a voice hinted with conspiracy. Finally reaching her destination, she parallel parked her car between two SUV's at the bank. "We're here. I have to take care of some financial business and knock off a loan. It'll take a few minutes." She got out of the vehicle.

"Alright. Take your time." Said Athena before smirking mischievously. 'I bet you have a bounced check somewhere in your account…'

Moments after Yuko went inside the bank to 'take care of business', Athena noticed two suspicious figures hopping out of the back of a FEDEX delivery truck. Her suspicions aroused, she slowly got out of the car and noticed some spray paint on the delivery truck after inspecting it. Instead of 'FEDEX', the red streak replaced 'EX' with 'UP', in other words; 'FED UP'.

Sighing to herself, she decided to enter the bank to confront the would be bank robbers. "Here goes nothing." She said to herself. "Just like old times."

She entered the building and kept a critical gaze at the scenery for the two suspects. Among the business scenario, there were people making loans, depositing/withdrawing money, getting paid, and there was Yuko sitting patiently at a receptionist desk. It was too quiet and she became dubious. 'Hmm… There's probably no need for me to be so alarmed."

"Athena." Yuko beckoned her quietly. "So, you decided to come inside, huh?"

She nodded in response. "Yeah. After you went inside the bank there were two guys jumping out of a stolen FEDEX truck. So I decided to see what was up about that." She replied.

"A stolen delivery truck?" Yuko asked skeptically. "You made you think that it was stolen, Athena?"

"FED UP." Athena simply answered. "There's definitely something screwy about that."

Yuko nodded in confusion. "Athena, that doesn't explain anything."

A gunshot was heard, followed by the threat of, "Nobody move, and nobody will get hurt!" The tone of voice was really hard to tell. It was neither too feminine nor masculine, just sort of in between. A tone sort of like Michael Jackson's vocals. The two suspects were wearing all black and ski masks.

"Aw man." Yuko cursed her luck. "This isn't good at all." She raised her arms in surrender.

"I knew I was right all along." Athena concluded. "They were waiting for a right time to come out from the bathroom." She frowned in concentration. The two goons held a familiar air about them. "No… It can't be!"

"I know." Yuko agreed. "This really was a bad time to go to the bank."

"No, not that." Athena explained. "It's like I met those two before."

"You did? Well, do something about it." Yuko commanded. "I'm unprepared and unarmed." She ten noticed one of the robbers was heading her way. "Aw man, here he comes."

The assailant prodded the weapon on her chest, seemingly playfully, much to Yuko's ire. But she knew better than to lash her anger out on him without her equipment. "Give me all the money that you got on you, lady! Cough it up!"

At the front desk, on of the employees was about to press the alarm but a sudden blast of energy demolished the desk which alarmed everyone. "I knew that you were about to do that." The other thief laughed.

Athena's eyes widened in surprise. 'A ball of ki? It look just like…"

Yuko emptied her purse of the spare change that she had. "Hey, that's all that I have on me. So please don't pull that trigger okay? You should be happy with that big bag of money you have on you anyway."

The thief prodded the pistol to Yuko's chest harder, making her wince. "You wouldn't lie to me now would you?"

"Now why would I lie in a situation like this, hmm?" Yuko reasoned.

"That's enough!" Athena suddenly bellowed, alarming everyone inside the bank, including the robbers. "You know very well that you two are not getting away with this!"

"Is that you Athena?" The robbers said in voices of recognition. In that very moment, Yuko took the opportunity to slam her assailant in a take-down and managed to snag his hand gun.

"It looks like the script has been flipped on you." Said Yuko, training the pistol on the downed robber. "You should have listened to my friend's warning." She glances over at the other robber at the front. "You hear that, one false move and your buddy here is done for. Return all the cash and give yourselves up."

Athena quickly yanked off the downed robber's mask. "Chris!?"

"Damn. They got me." He cursed. "Hey Pao, you may need to take care of these two."

Athena gazed at the other masked man in astonishment. "I can't be? Is it really you, Pao? But why are you doing this? Why are you doing something so stupid as in robbing a bank?"

The masked man chuckled and pulled off his mask. "Ah, long time no see, Athena-sempai. I thought you may recognize me. I felt you were sensing my ki the entire time we were here."

Boldly, Athena approached Pao. He now towers slightly over her but she was in the least bit intimidated. "Pao… you've grown. But why did you turned to the life of crime?"

"Hold up!" Yuko suddenly shouted. "You told me about him. You said that he was the midget that kept getting into your team's way, correct?" She wondered aloud.

Athena waved her arms frantically. "Yuko!! Stop!! It was just nonsense!"

"Well… apparently he's not an annoying midget anymore. Apparently he isn't weak either." She continued. "I mean look at him, he's taller than you are and his shoulders are broad…"

"Yuko, shut the heck up!" Athena urged, and suddenly she felt Pao's hand on her shoulder. "Ah… My friend here was just joking, Pao." She fronted with fake laughter. "Yuko here is a real class comedian."

Pao glared down at his former teammate menacingly. "So? I was just an annoying little midget, eh? A weak and insignificant fighter, huh?" Pao said slowly. "Hmm. How about we have a battle, Athena-sempai? Just me and you. And no, you don't have to worry about the Orochi kid there."

The said older male retorted from the floor. "Hey! I resent that!"

"Shuddap you!" Yuko snarled at him, with the gun still trained on him. "Well Athena, he sounds like a fair man. Will you accept his challenge? It should be a piece of cake if he is anything like you said about him."

Athena gulped. 'Ah… I certainly hope so…"

Pao chuckled. "Rest assured, Athena. I am no longer the feeble kid that you regarded me so back in the day." He raised his ki a bit to channel another attack. "Are you ready for me?" He lashed out his hand. "PSYCHO BALL!!"

"Pao!!" Athena screamed. The psycho ball was unbelievably fast to a point that it rivaled her very own. "Sift Chin always told us to avoid as many unnecessary battles as we can!" She blasted a psychic sphere of her own to dispel the on speeding towards her.

The force of the explosion made her flew back to a wall with a crash. "Damn… that was highly unexpected. You gotten strong, Pao… indeed."

"Athena, are you okay?" Yuko inquired in worry.

"I'm fine." Athena replied as she pried herself off the floor. "I'm just a little astonished that Pao has been training hard for all these years. He made good progress." She eyed the said boy. "I'm sorry for disappointing you, Pao."

"Well, are you going to get this show on the road and show me your true power?" Pao demanded with a frown. "That's not the ever versatile Athena that I know. I want to see how I can measure up to you now. I want to defeat you at your very best, Athena-sempai."

Athena nodded and bowed Kung Fu style. "Very well, Pao." Her once lilting voice firm and imposing. "Ikuyo…"

END OF CHAPTER 1

Fun Fact:

It may come as a surprise to some but the voice actress of Athena, Haruna Ikezawa, also provides the voice for Foxy and Diana in the same series. I didn't even know until someone told me. Well, that's that.