The King of Fighters 2003
Chapter Two:
"The first match is...!"
Airport, New York.
7:30 A.M.
James yawned, stretching. Morning was not his best time of day, especially at around 7:30. Anything earlier that 1:00 P.M. was excessively early for his liking and even then...
"I see you're early." James looked over his shoulder at the sound of Lei's voice. "I supposed our 'fearless' leader hasn't arrived yet..."
"Nooooooope." James spoke mid-yawn. "I can't believe I agreed to do this...he never said I'd have to sit in a cold-as-hell airport at this time of morning..." He didn't realize Lei was ignoring him, however. Heck, he did not notice she was gone until he looked up. "Hey..."
"You're kind of slow to pick up on things, huh." She spoke, startling James, as she seemed to suddenly appear to his left. In her hand was a small paper bag that she dug French fries out of. "Sorry, none for you." She said quickly, seeing where his eyes went.
"Oh come on," James folded his arms. "You can't be serious...burgers at this time of morning? Not only is it bad for your breath, but it'll pack pounds on your delicate frame." James added sarcastically, assuming the girl was one of the stereotypical 'I hate my body' people.
She shrugged however. "No burgers. I'm a vegetarian." She said, placing another French fry in her mouth.
"Really? Then what did you get?"
"Just French fries. I love potatoes." She shrugged again, reaching back in the bag. "And a starchy diet gives plenty of energy for the day." She added, far to aware of his sleepy state.
"...Riiiight." He yawned, digging his cell phone out of his pocket to check the time. 7:41. "Where is Shin? The plane leaves in an hour or so..."
"Hour in a half."
"...How did you know that without checking the time?"
"I have an excellent sense of time, Mister Bryant." Lei said without dwelling on the statement. "Any other questions I can shoot down?"
"Okay, missy. How come you don't speak like a Japanese person?"
"You mean with –Chan and all that?"
"Yeah."
"Because it's a waste of time in America," She said in her careless tone. "Now stop talking; it's not making time pass any faster."
James mumbled under his breath. "Arrogant little..." He yawned before he could finish that statement. "I wonder what's keeping him so long..." He squinted forward, scratching his cheek. For a second, he had sworn he saw someone coming...
He was right, of course. Lugging two large duffel bags as he walked across the well-waxed floor of the airport, Shin Hikawa gave a large smile at his two teammates as he dropped in a seat across from them. "Yo. Any idea what time it is?" Shin smiled. "I figured I'd be the first one here."
"You figured wrong, mister Hikawa." Lei muttered, finishing the last of her French fries. "With an event such as this, being early should be required. At least, for the leader, anyway."
"Right, right, I deserve that." He smiled. "But seriously, I had my own problems getting here. I had to nearly pry my mom off me after I told her what I was doing." He shuddered, as did James. Shin's American mother, a fashion designer of sorts, was against all kinds of violence. How he managed to convince her to let him go was a wonder beyond both of their knowledge.
Lei was less than impressed. "Frankly, I don't care. I just want to hurry up and get there." The girl stretched. "I want to know who our first opponents are."
"I wonder who they'll put us up against first, anyway." James thought.
"Maybe the women's team." Shin grinned at the thought. He had no intention on fighting them; just the thought of seeing Mai Shiranui in person gave him Goosebumps.
"Of course you'd think that...pervert..." Lei grumbled. "We have ten minutes. Perhaps we should get to the plane." She suggested, standing up.
"How does she know that?" Shin asked, never seeing the girl look up.
"Excuse me. Passengers to flight 145 should please begin to board the plane. Thank you."
"..." Shin blinked as Lei walked towards the loading hall. "She's good." James nodded. "So…maybe we should follow her?"
"Yeeeeeeeeeep." He yawned, as the two stepped towards the loading hall as well.
Planes.
If there was anything K' hated, it was planes.
Oh, it wasn't the idea of the plane crashing from who-knows-however-many feet off the ground, a sure sign of death. It wasn't the idea of the plane bursting into flames and killing them all. No, it wasn't anything dangerous at all; heck, he could handle even a terrorist attack! The thing he hated…
…Were passengers who wouldn't shut up. Babies, children, grown adults…it was irritating, that was for sure. Nevertheless, of course, they were civilians. He couldn't do anything violent to stop them. Of course, this didn't stop him from thinking about it…or the occasional swearing spree.
At the current moment, it was a kid kicking the back of his seat. Thump, thump, thump. Again and again and again! "Where the hell is that kid's mother…" He mumbled under his breath, flexing his red gloved hand. A small spark should scare him into being good for this trip. Of course, the real problem was if he could just make a spark and not a full fledged trigger…
"Don't even think about it, K'." The large man sitting to his left spoke. Maxima, the 'cyborg' with enough strength to use a sky scraper as a baseball bat. Of course, he was also known as the man with the ridiculous sideburns. K' (which, for you non-KOF fans, is pronounced Kay Dash) grumbled in his seat as the kid kicked again.
"Just a little spark?"
"Can you make just a little spark?"
"…Probably not."
"Then lets not practice on that sweet child."
"Pah. Sweet…"
"You two are on the verge of drawing unnecessary attention to us…" The woman to K's right whispered. Although you wouldn't be able to tell it from what she was wearing, the woman was of some sort of military rank. Of course, the 'purse' at her waist concealed a weapon that would have given her away on sight: a long, blue bull-whip.
"…Hmph." K' sat silently in his seat. "Nice outfit, by the way. Probably matches Mexico just fine…"
"Thank you," Whip said, smiling. A genuine smile, one that rarely crossed her face. Of course, if you saw the outfit she dreamed up as a disguise, you'd probably smile as well. Shorts, a tank top, and sandals. In the weather they were going to, this was fine. But in the current place…
"…I did mention we're in New York, right?"
"Yep."
"I also mentioned its freezing, right? Too cold to snow?"
"Uh-huh."
"I didn't forget to tell you that you're probably drawing more attention than either of us right now, right?"
"Numerous times," Whip nodded. "But I think it's…cute." She said hesitantly. K' snorted, removing his red sunshades and looking up at the plane ceiling.
"So we're forced into the KOF once again this year, huh?" he grumbled.
"Its not too bad." Maxima shrugged.
"And why do you say that?"
"At least we're not bored. And no one has asked for your autograph yet…"
"OH MY GOD!" The three of them cringed. Maxima had a habit of speaking too soon…
Shin stepped through the plane door, a single bag in his hand now. He had thought this plane ride would be a boring one, a trip that he would likely sleep through and probably not even remember. Then he remembered what his ticket had said.
"…First Class…" He thought, looking around. Yeah, it was pretty snazzy, that was sure. But it still wasn't enough to stall his sleep filled schedule. Then, he saw who occupied the third row seat. "OH MY GOD!"
"Shin, don't do that." James poked his friend in the back. "You're embarrassing me." Shin didn't respond: instead, he shook with glee and excitement. "Um…Shin?"
"Th-that's…" He pointed at the man who sat many feet away from him, a man in black motorcycle clothes who donned a single red glove. "That's K'! K', James!" Shin squealed like a teenaged school girl.
"Kay Dash?" James asked. "His whole name is Kay Dash?"
"Err…its just his first name. I don't think he has a last name…" Shin scratched his cheek. "Its like K apostrophe."
"Honestly, who names their kid K'?"
"Would you two sit down!" Lei shouted from her seat, exactly two rows away from K' and his team. "You're holding up the plane!" She added. The two hurried to their seats, James to her right and Shin to her left…exactly on the aisle.
"I can't believe we got the same plane as K'." He grinned. "I mean, this is- OH GOOD GRACIOUS!" He shouted again, pointing at the door as more people stepped on the plane. "Look!"
"Hm?" James looked to the door. A man in a brown bomber jacket stepped on board, sitting next to another in red shorts ("Honestly, are these people insane? It's FREEZING!" James thought). He gave him a hi-five before beginning to talk to him
"Uh…so who is he, Mister fan boy?"
"Te-Terry Boggard!"
"… Right, I'm not asking any questions." James muttered. He leaned back in his seat. "Just try to keep your fan boy-ism to yourself, m'kay?"
"Right." Shin saluted, knowing full well that he couldn't. James closed his eyes, immediately falling asleep.
Lei, however, gave an embarrassed sigh. "I don't believe these two…" She muttered, stretching. Somehow, she knew it was going to be a long trip to Mexico. And a trip that could last hours with these two idiots was far off on her list of things to do.
-A FEW HOURS LATER-
"Mister K'! Can I have your autograph?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"…Can I take a picture, then?"
"No."
"Huh? Why no-"
"I said no!"
Shin sighed, slipping his camera back in his jacket pocket. He should have figured the man would say no; K' seemed to have a permanent unhappiness about him. Of course, the fact he hated KOF's may have also been a factor, but Shin doubted that. Quickly, he rushed over to Terry and his infamous teammate, Joe.
"Hey! You're the fatal fury team! Can I have your autographs?" Shin grinned. Terry and Joe looked to each other, then shrugged.
"Sure, why not." Terry agreed as Shin handed him his pen. Shin looked around, then rubbed his chin.
"And hey, you can you two answer a question for me?"
"…Uh…"
"Where's Andy?"
"Oh, what, we're not good enough without Andy?" Terry asked. Shin gulped, seeing he offended the man.
"I-I didn't say that…"
"Of course you didn't. Just kidding…" Terry's face quickly turned back to his trademark, laid-back appearance. Shin gave a mental sigh: he'd hate to be at the end of one of Terry's supers by offending him.
Lei, however, couldn't take much more of this. With a snap of her wrist, she dragged Shin back to his seat in a single, whip-like motion. "H-Hey!"
"Sit down and be quiet." She hissed. "I don't need to hear your voice every minute. Got it?" Shin gulped, nodding. The girl smiled. "Good. Now, we switched planes in California, so Mexico should be coming up any minute."
"Y- yes ma'am." Shin nodded, knowing he'd have to keep his fan-hood to himself for another thirty minutes. He gave a pleading look at Lei, who immediately rapped him on his skull. "Ow."
"I said no. Now entertain yourself and leave everyone else alone."
"Do what the girl says!" Shin could hear K's voice. He sank into his seat.
"Why is everyone against me…" He grumbled.
"ZZZZZZZNORT." Was the response that the snoring James gave him.
"Oh shut up you…"
"Passengers, We're entering Mexico Airline. Please buckle up and brace yourselves for impact, I mean, landing."
"…That flight attendant just said impact…" Maxima said.
"Yep." K' agreed.
"Impact… You think that's gonna hurt?" Joe asked Terry.
"Don't know. We'll find out." Terry shrugged, casual as ever.
"…Lei…" Shin whispered. "I'm scared."
"Shut up." She hissed.
"Yes ma'am."
Thump. Thump. Thumpitythumpthump! SCREEEEEECH! BANG!….Shhhhhh.
"Passengers, please exit from the planes front. If you have any carry on luggage, be sure to take it with you as you leave. Thank you for flying, have a nice day."
"Well…that was painless." Lei stretched.
"Yeah…I thought we were going to catch fire…"
"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZOOOORRRRRRRRTTTTTTTT!"
The two looked to each other, then back to the heavily snoring James. They kicked him in the chest at about the same time, making both his eyes shoot open and his body to bounce out the seat. "Ouch." He rubbed his chest. "We're here? Mexico? Where are all the fine girls at?" He asked rapid fire, looking around.
"…Lets go James. I'm sure they're all waiting outside for us." Shin smiled. James hopped to his feet, eagerly following Shin out the plane. Lei sweat dropped. "Why, of all the people in the world, did I select these two?" She thought.
Okay, so there were no 'fine girls' as James so kindly put it. None available, that is.
"Oh! She's cute!"
"She's also in the KOF."
"…Is there a single girl here who isn't?" James sighed. Shin looked around, then pointed.
"That lady." He smiled, pointing to a hunchbacked yeti of a woman. James shuddered, glaring at Shin. "Just…no…" He said coldly.
"Uh-huh…" Shin looked around every where. "So, uh… where is it supposed to say who the match ups are?" Lei pointed over his shoulder to a large poster on the wall in front of him:
"King of Fighters Match-up announcements. Live at noon." The English version read. He coughed to himself. "I knew that…" Shin muttered. "So…Mexico is how many hours ahead-slash-behind New York?" He asked. James shrugged while the other member calculated.
"About three hours, give or take." Lei suggested. "The time now should be around-"
"Eleven forty-nine." James pointed to a clock. "And we're gonna have to leave now if we want to get there in time!"
"Err…but to where?"
"Eh?"
"Where are we going?" Shin asked. "I mean… It doesn't say anywhere." Lei pointed again at the poster, but her finger dropped. "Um…can either of you read Spanish?" She asked, pointing to the words "¡El Plaza Cinco!"
"…You're not serious, are you?"
"That's dirt simple Spanish there…"
"What does it say, then?"
"Town Square Five…" James sighed. "And besides…the signs are in Spanish Why do we need to know what they mean?"
"…Town Square five. That's an interesting name. It looks so familiar." Shin thought. Turning around, he saw why. "Uh…that's across the street outside." Lei leaned around him, noticing the sign that pointed to a park-like area. With a shrug, she walked past them, leaving a disappointed James.
"…I hate you Shin."
"Why?"
"Now I can't play the manly hero in front of Lei!" James jabbed his finger into his chest. "I was hoping to win back some of my respect with some reckless driving and dramatic camera angles…and then we get there in the last minute…"
"…You have way too much free time on your hands to think something like that up." Shin pat the bigger male on the shoulder. "Come on. Let's see who we're up against first." Grinned Shin. Stepping outside, they quickly met up with Lei who was listening to a man speak random gibberish into a microphone. Something along the lines of "AKSAHKSHDFIAHGDSAHAGHIANSDH!"
James and Lei watched intently as he pointed to a large board, various teams in bold. "ASKSHDFISK! And this will tell you who you will be fighting while in Mexico! Any questions?"
"Yeah! What the hell did you just say?" A random voice shouted. The man ignored him, pointing to the board.
"Now! Line up and take a look!"
"Did you hear that? Line up," Shin ordered, but wasn't even paying attention to his own command: he was too buzy looking through the crowd of new people to find someone famous. He was quickly grabbed by both arms. "He-Hey! Let me go, lemmigo!"
"You're coming too, 'leader'!" James and Lei shouted, dragging a kicking and screaming Shin. Stopping in front of the board, they quickly found their team name (which was taped onto a piece of cardboard on the bottom). "Now…who're we fighting…" Shin trailed his finger across. He stopped on the other side, smiling. "Wow…the first match is…"
"…Korea…" His teammates finished.
"Yeah. You know, its not too late to back out…"
"Oh shut up! You're not afraid now, are you?" James asked.
"Hmph. Some 'fearless' leader." Lei folded her arms.
"No, no, its not that I'm afraid or anything." Shin waved his hands in a 'calm down' manner. He cleared his throat, facing the two. "Its just…not what we're here, we have to be sure we want to fight. Anyone with doubts should go home now, right?"
"Right!" They nodded.
"Then if you'll excuse me, I have to squeeze through the crow-ACK!" Both of them grabbed Shin by the arms. He sighed, seeing they weren't going to let them escape. "I did bring them here, after all…" He happened to remember. "Fine. Let me go, sheesh." He snatched himself out of their grasp. Clearing his throat, he turned to the crowd with a wide grin.
"HEY! YOU GUYS!" Shin shouted. "YOU ALL MIGHT AS WELL GO HOME IF YOU'RE NERVOUS! BESIDES, TEAM HIKAWA WILL BE THE KING OF FIGHTERS THIS YEAR!"
"Idiot." Lei slapped her forehead. James nodded in agreement with the girl as Shin continued.
"WE'RE GOING TO WIN! AND WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT? LOSE! THAT'S WHAT! HAHAHAH!"
DEEP in the crowd (I'm talking WAY in the middle here), a young man in all red giggled. "Ah hah hah ha. You know, they reminds me of someone." Ash Crimson grinned. "What do you guys think?"
"Yeah. He's a lot like you." Duo Lon stated, pointing a single long finger at Shin. "Actually, it's almost far too much of a match, personality-wise." He added with one of his rare smiles.
"Yeah…the chick reminds me of Duo Lon here…" Shen Woo grinned. "In fact, you two even look alike!" He added, laughing. "What, is she like a desperate fan or something?"
"And that boy there…" Ash jerked his thumb at James. "He must be the Shen copy, then. Granted, he's better in the fashion department! Hah!" Ash stuck his tongue out in a child-like manner. "I guess they must be the copy Hero team then, eh boys?"
"Must be." They agreed.
"Exactly! The copy us!" Ash clapped his hands together. "It looks like this KOF has already gotten interesting." He grinned. On stage, all three of the Hikawa team let loose a very loud sneeze. "Though I'm sure right now they've made a lot of enemies. Good thing that kid got on stage before I did."
"…You weren't planning that were you?" Duo Lon asked. Ash smiled, curling his painted finger around his lengthy sliver hair.
"Maaaaybe. Maaaybe not. We'll never know, now will we?"
"…Ash, if you had done that, I swear…" Shen shook his head. "At least you didn't decide to show off your powers again."
"Err…" Ash smiled. "Right. Now why would you say again like that?"
"Once in Shanghai…once in the airport…once on the plane…once off the plane…" Duo Lon counted off on his fingers.
Ash coughed. "LOOK AT THAT! WOW, IT'S AMAZING!" He shouted. As soon as they turned, he hurled the mass of green flames he had built up in his right hand. "Whew…"
"…You're so dead…"
"Idiot! Why did you say that! Every one is going to hate us!" Lei shouted. Shin only grinned…until a green flame struck his jacket.
"….THEY'RE ATTACKING! Gravity-" Before he could finish, the two grabbed him and ran off the stage area. James and Lei sighed as they carried their kicking teammate; It couldn't get any worse than this.
"How did we wind up with him?" They thought.
