The Japan team crisis
Yah I've updated again… This is what happens when you have a life and play KOF too much, this fic don't get updated.
Phoenix619: Nope, I totally missed your meaning, who'd I 'kill off' from the fic? Nothing is certain here, anybody can be put it in at any time. As for your tennis pairings, hehe, wait and see what i've done in the next chapter. Bao Toss will prove interesting to say the least.
Gereo-A: Yup, that's what having a life does to you unfortunately. I'll try my best
Tornado(reviewer: Action is interesting, that's good to hear and yes the Ikari's are in the lead. You want a popcorn seller? Well okay… since the crowds are going to be forming into to watch I better make it more realistic and supply them with food. Oh and the Ikari have officially asked you to refrain from beating up other members of the crowd, but unofficially they are glad you beat up the chair snatcher and will now keep a constant eye on the situation.
Hassun: Yes, the cheating worked 'this time'. To be really honest I didn't have a clue about any of Maxima's moves back when I wrote that chapter, now I've played the game a lot more so I have a much better idea, and after seeing that move he'd probably would have sent all the water out of the pool with it. Now I always smile when I hear 'BUNKER buster!'
Phatom Quest: The Olympics are normally 14 days… so shall be this, but in every 4 (meaning day 4, day 8 and day 12) there will be a rest day which counts towards the 14. Provided I can continually think up events for that long without making them repetitive. Yes, I suppose I could have had all the other teams all over the world, but they've got to be home sometimes (OKAY I admit it, I didn't think of it and I wanted them all to be bored). The Ikari cheering squad handles the assisting jobs during the Olympics and demoting Kasumi to an assistance role seems kind of silly, besides I deliberately made room on teams so I could slot more characters in later. (Hint hint)
Gamiya: Thanks, I'm glad you consider this 'cool'.
More story time here… The Japan team is dead last, how can they reverse this trend. Skip this chapter if you are not interested and want to get to the action, this is only background information but it gives you better insight to what the other teams are doing and thinking.
Kyo and Terry stared off against each other, it became a contest to see who would be the first to make a move. Kyo suddenly jumped in with a R.E.D kick but Terry guarded high taking the impact. Kyo landed and let out a fiery punch which Terry again blocked, another punch came from Kyo which again Terry blocked and then a kick from Kyo which yet again Terry successfully defending against. Kyo seemed to be highly on the offensive as Terry let out a high kick aimed to put Kyo off balance, Kyo guarded but it did gave a little distance between himself and Terry. Terry then moved further away taking a small jump backwards and Kyo slowly followed then jumped into the air.
"LIVE WIRE!" Terry shouted out using his Power Geyser hitting the mid air causing Kyo to scream out with pain as he fell to the ground knocked out. Cheers were suddenly heard.
"Aw no way… that wouldn't happen to the real Kyo Kusanagi" Shingo cried out as he was beaten.
"The real Kyo Kusanagi also wouldn't jump so often and fall right into that attack" His opponent ran his hands through his blonde hair.
The scene is Southtown arcade, tonight it had a load of people watching over the KOF: Neowave machine
"Rock isn't it? Why do you call yourself that?" Shingo asked
"Yeah Rock's the name" Rock replied with a tone of impatience as he wanted to face his next opponent.
Rock either didn't hear his question or didn't want to answer it, Shingo couldn't ask again as Rock's next opponent sat down… a guy with blue hair took Shingo's place, and threw in his money, and proceeded to pick Kim, Jhun and King. Shingo sighed, he had challenged Rock twice, and before Rock was dominating it was Dong Hwan, Shingo knew he was Kim Kaphwan's kid, but only found out his name when Kensou was speaking to somebody, there were too many people to hear or even see anything clearly, only the people near the front of the machine and those actually playing could see what was going on.
Shingo decided to leave for the night, and head back, his confidence was pretty low at the moment. He walked looking downwards to the ground, despite what both Benimaru and Daimon said he knew he had let his team down in KOF last December, in the Olympics today he gets tripped by Billy Kane and is partly the cause of why his team is running dead last, something Kyo and his team mates were not used to and now he gets crushed multiple times by Dong Hwan and Rock in the virtual version of KOF.
"For you to look so blue something is seriously wrong, what's up?" A voice asked
Shingo looked up and it was Kyo
"Hi" Shingo said without the usual cheerfulness in his face and voice that came whenever he laid eyes on his hero
"No smile? Not even the usual cheerful Hello Mr. Kusanagi, what's going on?" Kyo asked
"Nothing… nothing at all, just tired" Shingo forced a bit of cheer in his voice. Kyo frowned
"Yeah okay… you are in a form slump and you are upset about it, would that be accurate?" Kyo said
"Umm… no, I'm fine honestly" Shingo then smiled but it was very fake.
"I get those kind of smiles every now and then at fast food places, I can see through you like glass so am I right or am I right?" Kyo said
Shingo gave a deep sigh
"How did you know anyway? That I was worried about my form slump?" Shingo asked
"Just a guess" Kyo lied "You hungry, I'll shout out something" Kyo suggested
Shingo didn't know what to say he was too overwhelmed, his hero was talking to him, usually Kyo brushed him off the first chance he got.
Two hours ago
Shingo had just left telling everybody he was heading to the arcade before running out the door. Kyo went into the kitchen, he wanted to eat something but was undecided on what.
"Kyo I've got a bone to pick with you" Benimaru said walking into the kitchen
Kyo was surprised.
"What are you on about?" Kyo replied opening the fridge
"The way you are bullying Shingo, especially at the track today" Benimaru reminded him
Kyo raised an eyebrow "Since when have you started caring about Shingo" Kyo said
"You'd be surprised… Who do you think Shingo called first when he was falsely accused and put in prison?" Benimaru asked
"What was Shingo put in prison for anyway" Kyo searched around the fridge not looking at Benimaru nor paying any real attention
"That is beside the point , the point was that it was me who got him out. Or rather Daimon and I, Daimon worked his magic and we got him out" Benimaru said.
However in truth Shingo only called for Benimaru and Daimon first to avoid telling his parents but Kyo didn't need to know that, he only needed to get Kyo to boost Shingo's moral. Kyo turned himself towards Benimaru
"Really?" Kyo asked with a stupid grin on his face
"Yes, really" Benimaru replied with a straight face
Kyo burst out laughing "Wow, I never would have guessed, all of these years have turned you soft Beni" Kyo went back to his scouting of the fridge
Benimaru rolled his eyes
"What I am saying is that we need Shingo's confidence up. Shingo is really down at the moment. Yagami isn't helping things here either and I don't remember Shingo being this quiet since well… ever" Benimaru said
"Maybe that's a good thing for all of us" Kyo was still laughing a little still getting over the fact that the great Benimaru Nikaido went into the trouble of rescuing his fan boy Shingo from prison.
"As much as he can be annoying at times recently he's been alright to work with. And unlike you at least he's a team player and he shows up when his team needs him" Benimaru said.
Kyo closed the fridge and looked at Benimaru. That last comment warranted his attention.
"And you proceeded to lose in KOF because Shingo got creamed by King early effectively leaving you one team member down and as a result losing the match, your team has fallen apart ever since I left" Kyo shot back
"You didn't even watch the fight did you?" Benimaru knew Kyo probably only glanced at the headlines, Kyo never remembered the stats of KOF tournaments very well.
Kyo was quiet for a second "Well I was busy with Kagura that day" Kyo replied
"Well for your information, it was mainly because the women worked well together, the new tag system we were not ready for it. Shingo was nailed in a tag combo in which Mai hit Shingo and King jumped in and beat Shingo up pretty bad, we tried to switch out but King was waiting for it and came really aggressively, stopping Shingo getting out of there. They came in prepared… but we didn't have the time" Benimaru said
"Well that's your fault for not giving yourself enough time to pick up on the new rules, you seemed to pick up on the striker thing pretty well" Kyo replied
"No Kyo, we knew you went missing that year so we got time to work things out and our team mates were sort of chosen for us. Last year you just didn't bother to tell us that you had other plans for your team, and we couldn't wait around for you to magically reappear so Daimon and I signed up Shingo last minute and went into the tournament" Benimaru said
Kyo was quiet again
"So what do you want me to do?" Kyo asked
"At the very least stop using Shingo as your punching bag. I know you are used to bullying people around when you were at school but Kyo grow up. Look Shingo gets on my nerves at times too, but he is in a form slump at the moment, mainly due to his lack of confidence in his own abilities and it's upsetting him a lot. We do need the extra team member and let's face it, none of us aside Shingo are great swimmers. We can still win this thing but we need the entire team including Shingo to be at full strength, mentally and physically" Benimaru finished. There was a long silence, Benimaru knew he had driven his point home to Kyo.
"I suppose you are right… I'll go have a word with him, I'll admit I'm not good at boosting others moral but I'll give it a shot" Kyo sighed
Kyo left the kitchen and headed for the main door.
"By the way Benimaru… seriously what was Shingo falsely accused of?" Kyo picked up his jacket and opened the door
"Attempted arson, the poor guy still believes he can make fire" Benimaru gave a slight laugh
Kyo raised an eye brow but said nothing as he put on his jacket and closed the door.
Present…
Kyo took Shingo to the Pao Pao café. It was quieter at this time of the day.
"I still feel guilty about accepting this Mr. Kusanagi" Shingo said
"Don't be silly… I wouldn't have asked if I minded" Kyo sat back
Shingo knew that it was more then likely that Benimaru or Goro had said something to Kyo. Although he didn't have the guts to ask him on the issue.
"Listen… you know I've had tough times too, but I bounce back" Kyo said
"You are just saying that to make me feel better" Shingo replied
Kyo wondered why Shingo was still so negative, he then reminded himself, Shingo had grown a lot since back in 97, he wasn't as naïve or foolish as before, he's probably already worked out that Benimaru spoke to him. Shingo was almost taller then Kyo now, they stood eye to eye, learning under his father probably caused Shingo to toughen up and possibly caused him to mature.
"Honestly Shingo, everybody has tough times in their lives" Kyo said
"I know, I'm sorry… I know you've had tough times, Master Saisyu told me that, being the toughest doesn't make everything easy" Shingo said
Kyo wondered if he himself was used as an example of this, because in Shingo's eyes nobody is tougher.
"Anyway, don't worry about not being yourself give it time. Everybody has periods where they can't work out what is wrong with them and why they are performing below their standards" Kyo said
"You never seem to, you seem to be able to do your best no matter what" Shingo replied
"Not true… To be honest, I haven't been myself right now… These Olympics… they remind me of Yuki" Kyo looked slightly downwards.
There was a slight pause, Shingo knew Kyo didn't like talking about it so was always cautious to steer clear of the subject of girlfriends at all costs.
"Why?" Shingo asked after a good time period.
"Because Yuki really liked the Olympics… we went to Atlanta in 96, she was always such a fan of a lot of sports, we had a really great time there and I'll probably never forget it" Kyo said
Another pause. Kyo decided to change the subject.
"But it's all okay… just don't be so hard on yourself, and believe in your own abilities. I know you have them, for a start you've got a really good memory, I have never seen anything like it… for instance I bet you could tell me off the top of your head how many KOF Daimon has competed in" Kyo said
"6" Shingo replied without thought
"You see, easy for you, although I don't know if you are telling me the truth, but…" Kyo started
"No, I'm pretty sure it's 6, 94,95,96,97,2001 and 2003" Shingo cut Kyo off before counting the years off on his fingers
"Heh, yes anyway… I could never remember stats like that. Another example of your memory I only showed you each of my moves once yet you have them all down reasonably well. You have a good spirit too, you never give up, and until now I have never seen you unhappy… you have a way about you that boosts anybody else around you" Kyo finished.
"You really think so?" Shingo asked
"Of course I do… now let's put the past 2 days behind us and concentrate on the other 12 okay?" Kyo said
By the time they had eaten, Shingo's face had returned to its usual lit up form and Kyo knew his work was done. Kyo smiled in return, it was true that Shingo had a way of raising the moral of others, while Kyo sometimes found Shingo to be too enthusiastic on the most part he finally agreed with what Benimaru said he was a good addition to the team.
"I have to leave now… just keep your chin up" Kyo stood up
Shingo nodded "Yes… but you too okay?" Shingo stood up as well
"Heh, I will. See you around" Kyo then left
Kyo left the Pao Pao café, he too now felt confident about the events coming up for tomorrow, although there was still one problem with his team, Yagami. In hindsight it was probably a mistake to have Iori on the team. He usually did his own thing and he was as dangerous to have him as an ally as it was to have him for an enemy.
