Chapter 11: Wrath of a Heavenly King

Disclaimer (Authors eyes glow YOU WILL READ THIS!): I, Grey Rayne, do not own anything, whether it be items, characters, place names or anything within The King of Fighter's universe. I do own a few miscellaneous characters within this story, but they may be used freely by all.

King of Fighters is a trademark of SNK Playmore.

The fog around them took on an ominous redness and they stared up at a void above them, even as a figure emerged and slowly descended towards them. The figure hovered several feet above the ground, rage so violent that it manifested itself in the cyclones around him as tiny thunderclaps and eyes burning with wrath. The burning eyes fixed on Kyo Kusanagi and stayed there as he tried to pick himself up. With a move of the figures arm Kyo fell back to the ground as a cyclone lashed out at him.

He had found his main target, and the Kyo clone known as K' must have been the leather-clad man picking himself up, his aura very much like Kyo's but darker. Another figure befuddled him, its aura was like K's, but seemingly enhanced by some unseen power or creation of technology. He stared at this figure, even as he did so he could see the battle going on within it as its aura changed from light to dark. He pointed a finger at it and it was lifted into the air. He laughed evilly as a female figure tried to latch onto the legs but slid off.

Their gazes met levelly.

"And you are!" He demanded.

"Krizalid!" Shouted the female below them in alarm. Something latched around his foot and pulled him down. He was distracted enough to let Krizalid fall to the ground. Something else caught his other leg. He looked down at a women holding onto one end of a whip, the other end around his ankle. He turned again to see a woman he knew well, a shadow-like line stretching from her arm and wrapped around his other ankle.

"well, well! It's Vice!" He said tauntingly. He raised his hand and waved it in an almost dismissive manner towards her. The whip around the entities ankle broke away with a loud twang and snapped back at Whip, she caught it with expert precision but before she could do anything else a cry made her turn around. Vice released her hold on the entity's leg as a sudden wave of pain shot through her, she doubled over and held out her hand instinctively to stop herself from hitting the concrete. She coughed and a sticky substance escaped her lips. It was red...

"Ahaha!" He laughed. "Now, my Orochi puppet, do the job for me and kill these wretched humans, or die trying!" He moved his arm and Vice got to her feet unsteadily, like a puppet with a few vital strings cut.

Whip and Vice had dragged the entity just close enough to the ground...

...K' held up his hand, red flame instantly forming. The entity was to busy to notice as K' moved forward, becoming a shadow as he slid along the concrete as though it were ice, and reappeared beside him. An explosion of fire rocked the figure and pushed it backwards, its arm dropping through the sheer force. In the corner of K's eye he saw Vice stagger for a moment and then, the entities control over her having ceased, fell to the ground. King picked herself up and leapt over to the fallen figure. She bodily dragged Vice, who was heavier than she looked, away from the fight.

Once they were at a safe distance, King laid her down behind a telephone booth. She went to check the pulse but Vice's eyes shot open and she tried to sit up with a small cry. King grabbed her firmly by the shoulders.

"W-w-what the...?" Vice said, it was more of a hiss though. "W-what just happened?" She said, wide eyed and breathing heavily.

"Goenitz tried to control you, but you're ok now." King said as soothingly as possible, although her heart was racing.

"That was Goenitz!" Vice demanded. King took her arm and put a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her back into a lying position.

"You should stay here." She said. "It's to dangerous for you..." Vice shot up to a sitting position again and grabbed King roughly by the shoulders. King only had to look into the big, worried eyes of the poor woman to realise what was wrong. She smiled weakly.

"Fine, I'll stay with you." She whispered. Vice gave up her battle with her consciousness and fell back into darkness. King wanted to go and help in the fight, but she had promised to watch over Vice and, damn it, that's what she was going to do. She rested the unconscious women's head in her lap and waited.

Meanwhile.

Goenitz moved away from the group. They had managed to stand up again, some of them muttering as they did so, and turned to face Goenitz. Krizalid stood a little way off from the rest of them, but faced Goenitz also.

"Damn you, Goenitz!" Kyo screamed. "Doesn't anyone ever stay dead when you kill them!"

Goenitz landed lightly on the ground, the red mist around him spiralling and beginning to lift as he stamped furiously.

"You'll pay, Kusanagi!" He roared. "Since 1996 I've been trapped in a dungeon because of you! I was left with nothing to do but eat and drink and wait for the occasional visitor!" His rage bubbled up as he remembered the tedious years draining by, boredom and misery and hate were his only company most of the time. The rest of the time it was Orochi or, later on, the other three Heavenly Kings.

"Friend of yours, Kyo?" Muttered K', but without humour.

"Krizalid, you with us?" Kyo said, ignoring K's remark.

Krizalid glanced sideways at Whip, who was standing close beside K'. She met his gaze and gave him a pleading look.

"Yes." He said. Kyo nodded and then grinned maliciously in Goenitz's direction.

"You're doomed, Goennitz!" He shouted. Goenitz grinned slightly in return.

"I've picked up a few tricks since last time, Kusanagi." He swung his arm at them. "Try me, if you dare!"

Kyo, K' and Krizalid, all being the types who liked to charge in and get the fight started, rushed at Goenitz.

Rugal, Adel and Whip hung back, being more cautious in nature, and watched for openings they could use to their advantage.

Rose looked about herself and wondered why she was still in the fray. She didn't have much fighting experience.

As Kyo brought his arm forward and a lick of flame flew past him from K', Goenitz folded his arms, laughed, and disappeared. The flames and Kyo's fist hit thin air. Kyo waved his hand about to put out the lick of flame that had singed his sleeve.

"Hot, hot! Watch your fire, K'!" He hissed. They stared about themselves, mystified.

"Where'd he go?" Rugal asked. All was silent for some time, but the red mist that had risen above them earlier descended upon them again.

"He'll be close, keep your guard up." commented Whip. There was a sound, like the sound you got when the last drop of water sloshed down a plug hole, followed by a shrill shriek of surprise which was cut off with a gasp. They spun around. Goenitz held an arm around Rose's throat. Rugal and Adel rushed forward, but stopped short when Goenitz pulled his arm back slightly.

"Let her go, fiend!" Adel demanded, throwing his arm out. Goenitz laughed softly.

"You know, once-upon-a-time I was a gentleman. But after so much wrong has been done to me, I figure, what is one measly human life, male or female?" As he finished the sentence he pulled back on Rose's neck sharply. She was beginning to turn purple. Adel moved forward, but then an idea struck him.

"Rose! Wind Slice!" He cried out. Goenitz gawked at him, wondering what the hell he was on about, but Rose dug her fingernails deep into Goenitz's arm, which he didn't even notice, and lifted her legs up with an effort. Adel kicked lightly. Rugal threw his arm up into the air. Two points of light hurtled along the ground and smashed into Goenitz's feet, they buckled under him and he fell forward, releasing his grip on Rose's neck. She fell forward too, and although she was coughing and gasping for breath, she scrapped at the concrete and tried to pull herself away. Goenitz grabbed her ankle in an iron grip from his prone position on the ground, his feet would take a while to heal. He grinned evilly as she cried out hoarsely. Everyone charged forward, ready to practically kick Goenitz on the ground until he was a pulp. Adel grabbed Rose by the arm and pulled her away, but Goenitz's strength came from centuries of training and Orochi power, it was like pulling a shark victim from the jaws of a prehistoric shark that would make the great white sharks look like sardines.

A hand caught Goeniz around the throat, it was cold and terrible, and it yanked him up to his feet, crushing his throat as it did so. He let go of Rose's leg as he was manhandled up and into the air. He looked down into Rugal's face, contorted by anger. He didn'tget much of a look, however, as he soon found himself hurtling through the air, spinning head-over-heels. He tried to stop himself, but even the strongest gust he could create wouldn't stop his sheer momentum. He hit a wall, which cracked and shattered as he practically bounced. He managed to spin around and land on his feet, which had almost completely healed already, in a crouch, holding his throat and gasping for breath.

'It's all going wrong!' he thought to himself. 'I had plans! Plans, damn it!' he punched the ground with his other hand.

Everyone else was looking at the now distant figure. Rugal and Adel were fussing over Rose, who had a nasty bruise all around her throat.

"He keeps healing." Krizalid said. "Everything we've done so far has been ineffective.

Kyo held up a shaking fist.

"We have to hit him with everything we've got!" he said adamantly. "He heals, yes, but just how much can he take?"

The others nodded, even as the distant figure stood up and kicked off the ground. It flew towards them.

Rugal held his arms back, power flowing down his arms and into his hands. Whip unfolded her whip to its full length, although the end had been snapped. Kyo held up his arm, flame shooting from it. Krizalid held out his arms at his sides, a pillar of fire exploding from the ground around him. Adel prepared his leg, ready to throw another Wind Slice. K' took his sunglasses off and prepared to throw them. Rose cowered behind a nearby trash can.

"Ok, everyone! N-"

"Not so fast!" Goenitz said, holding out his arm. A shockwave emanated from it and they all hit the concrete again, except for Rose, who got an empty Coke can gently falling on her head.

The Kaiser Wave flew up into the sky as Rugal fell to the ground.

High above...

A large military helicopter, containing a certain mercenary group looking for a certain Kyo Kusanagi, turned slowly again for another sweep of the area.

"You sure he's in South town, sir?" Ralf muttered, leaning on the back of the commander's chair. Heidern turned around in his seat and, tactfully but pointedly, nudged Ralf's hands off the black leather.

"Apparently so." He said. "That girl, what's her name?" He snapped his fingers irritably.

"Yuki..." Clark said from somewhere in the back of the helicopter.

"Ah, yes. Yuki. Kyo's girlfriend. She said that Kyo had told her he had been called by King and had went off to Southtown. Apparently it sounded urgent." He turned back and looked out of the wind shield. "Bring us in lo- What is that?" Heidern pointed, a ball of pale light rose up into the sky from a gap between two large buildings, it disappeared into the clouds.

"L-looked sort of like m-mortar fire, sir." Said the nervous pilot beside him. Heidern shook his head.

"It was too big, and mortar fire is supposed to come back down..." He searched through his memory for anything similar, not being close enough, he came up blank. "Bring us above those buildings." He turned again in his seat. "Everyone, headsets on, I want you to open the doors and have a look out when I say, got it?" There was a general murmur from the back of the helicopter on the theme of 'Yes, sir.'

Ralf sat down on his seat beside Clark and pulled his headset on. Leona sat opposite them, her arms folded and looking her usual gloomy self. Ralf liked going on missions, mostly for the action or the frill of the fight, but going to-and-from missions with Clark in his 'business' mood, Heidern, blurting out orders left, right and centre, and Leona, being moody, was never much fun at the best of times.

He looked up and stared at Leona, noticing that her eyes were glazed and she was looking at her knees.

"Leona." He said, she didn't reply. His eyebrow knit and he stood up and reached forward, gently touching her knee with his fingertips.

"Hey, Leona?" He said, a tinge of concern in his voice. She seemed to snap out of it and looked up at him, her face stern. "You were miles away, are you alright?" he asked. She looked down at her knees again.

"I'm fine." She said, although in a tone that suggested she was being broody.

"Enough Lollygagging!" Roared Heidern, in his usual fashion. "Headsets on, we're almost at the site."

They switched on the headsets, although when they opened the doors they would still have to talk loudly to be heard.

"Open Sesame!" Roared Heidern, forgetting that the headsets were on and nearly busting everyone else's eardrums. Ralf waggled a finger in his ear and Clark clutched at his head, even Leona winced. Despite this, they opened the doors as instructed and the world filled with noise. There wasn't much fog about now, but it hung around in a select area beneath them. It was quite thick and a slightly worrying red colour. Leona felt an ominous feeling sweep over her.

As Goenitz looked about himself at the sheer amount of fighter's he had beaten alone, although most of them were very powerful indeed, he realised that something grabbed his attention. Being the Heavenly King of Wind he had special perception which told him which way it blew. There was a downdraft blowing onto him from high above, and on the edge of hearing, through the thick fog, he could hear a strange noise. He peered upwards and moved his arms in two directions. The mists followed his commands and parted, slowly drifting away and disappearing completely. A helicopter was high above, slowly descending.

He didn't notice a pair of fiery eyes appear out of the shadows...

The demon saw the origin of the huge power it had sensed, it was far greater than even itself. A man with combed-back yellow hair and a black beard, who was staring up into the sky with fascination. The demon ignored everything else and lurched straight towards him, its knees resisting at first, but being wrenched into activity by sheer will power.

Krizalid, although dizzy, looked up. There was a figure moving on the opposite side of Goenitz. He stared at it as it came under a street light.

"Konrad?" He muttered. Then he looked closer. It was indeed Konrad, but the skin was deathly pale, flaking off slightly in places. It moved with an unnatural looking lurch, as though its legs weren't working properly. The eye sockets now contained horrifying red orbs, burning like fire, instead of the cold blue eyes he knew. And it was lurching straight towards Goenitz, its face the most calculating thing Krizalid had ever seen. He looked up into the air for a moment, involuntarily as dizziness took him, and saw a black shape above.

"Good guess, sir!" Ralf roared triumphantly, nearly deafening Heidern in revenge for earlier. "There's Goenitz and Kyo!" Ralf and Clark stared down. They noticed a familiar figure try to get to its feet and then topple over again. Ralf put his hand over the mouth-piece.

"H-hey, isn't that...?" He screamed in Clarks ear. Clark nodded gloomily.

"Yes, that's him." He said. Heidern spun in his seat.

"What's going on down there? Speak to me, people!" He demanded.

Clark put his hand over the mouth-piece.

"He appears to be fighting alongside Kyo and his friends!" He screamed at Ralf. Ralf's eyes had picked up another figure, though. It was looking up at them from its prone position.

"What is this, back-from-the-dead day?" He screamed at Clark, pointing towards the figure. Clark looked and then frowned deeper.

"I said, what's going on?" Heidern roared impatiently.

"Nothing, sir!" Clark shouted, before Ralf could say anything. Heidern was angry enough without the mention of the words; Rugal, Bernstein or Krizalid.

They didn't notice Leona up until then. She was staring down fixedly at the figure that was certainly Goenitz, her expression that of bitter recollection. Her face hardened in a determined mask that Ralf, Clark and Heidern had learnt to dread. She turned, stomped to the other end of the helicopter, kicked aside an almost empty ammunition box and grabbed something with both hands. It was long, black and made of metal. It had a smiley face on one end...

Something caught hold of Goenitz, his attention suddenly dragged back to the situation on the ground. He began to raise his fist to swat any of the bothersome flies who had managed to drag themselves to their feet. He looked down into a mask of terror. Heavenly King though he was, the cerebral confusion that ensued even derailed him. It looked human, but with horribly pale, lumpy skin and its eyes were glowing. He stared for a second to long and a pale hand lunged forward and ripped into his flesh, gripping his very heart. He gasped and blood came out of his mouth. The horrible apparition before him smiled terribly and Goenitz realised what it was doing. His huge reserves of power, given to him by Orochi himself, were being slowly drained. He grabbed the wrist and tried to wrench it out, but it wouldn't move. He fought and kicked at its knees, which showed little sign of buckling. It was like attacking a human-shaped slab of concrete.

He had an idea and brought his arms out, they were suddenly enveloped by a small vortex, spiralling around his clenched fists. He swung his fist with all his might, catching the apparition square in the jaw, which actually broke off completely. It still wouldn't let go. He brought both fists down on the top of its head, gouging a deep hole that would scramble its brains and would stop nearly everything else. But the creature wasn't controlled by a brain, it was controlled by the pure demon spirit within. He could see its aura now, darker than the dark side of the moon. Both hands swung again in a last desperate act and the arm thrust into his chest snapped off with a terrible sound. The figure roared, with only half a mouth to roar through it sounded like the angry howl of an animal. It grasped him around the neck in an immovable grip. He punched at the arm but it was to late, much of his power had been drained and now the terrible figure was a match for him in pure power. He wasn't indestructible anymore, he needed to flee and regroup. He hadn't foreseen this horrible interruption to his plans.

Leona dragged the large object across the ground and placed it on its side near the open doors. Although the thing weighed several hundred pounds, Leona possessed much greater physical and mental strength than many other people of the same height or weight due to high levels of Orochi blood and years of training. Ralf and Clark noticed it for the first time, they both wrenched off their headsets.

"Leona, what are you doing?" Ralf shouted, staring at the thing beside him in horror.

"Step aside." Leona said, her voice commanding and stern. Clark's face remained calm but Ralf's jaw dropped.

"You can't order-" Ralf began, but Clark put his hand over Ralf's mouth. "Mmmmf!" Ralf protested.

"Goenitz is down there, I must settle the score." Leona said quietly, looking over the edge. Clark managed to read her lips and nodded solemnly. Ralf swatted Clark's hand away.

"Yeah, but it's a bomb!" He roared. "If you drop that thing, that car park is gonna be just a big crater! There's civilians down there!"

Leona gave him a glare, the kind she gave someone when she felt doubtful, she hated feeling doubtful.

"We'll give them a warning, then." She said.

"What if Goenitz moves?" Clark said. But he looked down to where Leona was looking and saw the strange fight ensuing between Goenitz and an unknown, and very strange, assailant.

Leona turned to them quickly.

"Has any of you got a coloured marker?" She demanded. Their faces went blank. "A coloured pen! or something like it?" She repeated. They stared, but slowly, with hesitation, Clark reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small black tube. Even Leona's mouth fell open.

"You carry lipstick in your pocket?" Ralf said when he could trust his own voice again. Clark remained impassive.

"It isn't mine..." He said with terrible calmness. "It belongs to one of my lady friend's." Ralf gawked as Leona quickly snatched it from Clark's unresisting fingers.

"Yeah, right!" Ralf barked. "You're a real ladies man, alright." He muttered with extreme sarcasm. "I suppose you're going to tell me you have one of your 'lady friend's' Bra's in your shirt pocket next!"

Clark scratched his chin.

"Funny you should say that..."

Leona wanted to tell Ralf that Clark was a real ladies man, because she thought he was attractive. But she was too busy, and besides, it would probably hurt Ralf's feelings...

She turned the bomb around and lifted it up with slight difficulty. Ralf and Clark could see that, on the tip of it, just above the smiley face and written in glossy-pink letters, was the word; LEONA.

She held it at the very edge of the doors and looked over the side of the helicopter, waiting for the right moment to drop it.

Ralf grabbed the stereo on the wall, which connected directly to a large speaker system beneath the helicopter. He waited for Leona's signal.

She nodded.

"Banzai!" He roared into the radio.