Shikkoku: I don't own anything owned by SNKP.

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The King of Fighters: New Blood

Act 1: Arrival

By Shikkoku Kiyoshi

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Once again, Zyon was feeling antsy.

But unlike last time, the feeling wasn't from boredom, but from the fact that he hadn't smoked since that morning. Zyon guessed that fighting Athena made him stop for that short while, but now he was going through withdrawal, and he didn't like it.

The team had been in their hotel rooms resting for a few hours, and it was getting about dinnertime. Zyon decided to go out and get food for everybody (partly because he needed to get some cigarettes anyway.) Xion was in the shower (Mostly due to being out in the rain so long), so he wrote his older friend a note before he left the room. He didn't really need to ask anybody what they wanted, because he knew his friends likes and dislikes to a fault. Irena had given him the address of a food store when they first arrived in town, along with her favorite item on the menu, so Zyon didn't have to worry about her either.

Zyon stepped out into the still moist air. As he started on his way to the shop, he noticed that his body was still feeling the effects of the electricity from the fight. He stopped in the middle of the street, took a few deep breaths, and the feeling was gone.

Zyon didn't really have what many people would call a normal fighting style. Most of his art was based on whatever he could learn from fights he both saw and participated in, but his flames and his electricity was his own style. Unlike the flames in which he was still trying to master, he had more or less perfected his electrical power. In addition to his hair turning pure white, he also gets a speed boost.

His only problem is that he has to sacrifice power to get that speed, while the flames have him sacrificing speed to get more damaging power. But both drain him of energy more quickly than if he didn't use either, and it puts a lot of strain on his body to keep those said forms.

Zyon looked up at the sky, and wondered what his sister would have thought about him using that technique on Athena. "Heh, she would probably kill me." He said to himself, and made a note to call Tera when he got back.

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Meanwhile in the hotel, the rest of the SSC were sprawled out in their hotel room. Krysten and Raven played a fighting game on their linked handhelds, while Xion watched TV.

"When do you think Zyon will be back?" Krysten said.

"The place is a mile away." Xion replied. "Probably about half an hour."

"That is, if he doesn't pass a bar on the way there." Raven smirked.

"I doubt that this city would be as lenient on Zyon as they are back home."

The door suddenly opened with Irena's head sticking out. "Hey guys, I have to go do some things for a while. You think you can survive without me?"

"We'll be fine." Raven said, as he beat Krysten flawlessly, causing the younger boy to frown in frustration.

Irena smiled before closing the door. She hadn't taken a step, however, before hearing a loud crash coming through said door, and the sound of Krysten and Raven arguing about some cheating that might have occurred during their game. She just shook her head and left.

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"The Shin Sekai Chitsujo has been appointed our next opponents." Leona announced.

The Ikari warriors were all assembled in their room to hear their commander's announcement on their next match. Ralf and Clark grinned evilly eager to kick some newbie ass in their match. Whip on the other hand…

"Commander, I don't think we should take these kids lightly."

Leona gave the newcomer a small smile. "You've obviously not been in enough KOFs. We shouldn't take anybody lightly, new or not. Besides, you say you met one of those kids before, did he seem like someone we should be suspicious of?"

"Well, he did say he had no qualms with killing me…" Whip answered. "I'm not sure if he was joking or not."

"Don't take that so seriously." Leona said. "Everybody and their mom have threatened me with painful death, and I usually come out clean as a rose." She paused. "A slightly bloody rose, but nonetheless..."

"Still, maybe we should go see the rest of his team before we make any judgments about their moral compass." Ralf interrupted.

"They don't look like a bad bunch of kids; You shouldn't be too harsh on them." Clark added.

"I guess you're right." Whip got up. "We probably should go up there and tell them the news anyway."

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"I543. Yes, that's it."

Irena was in a completely different hotel about five miles down the road. It was an equally nice place, but she knew that the person she was visiting wasn't really one to care about such aesthetics as that.

"Ding dong…" She sang softly. The sounds of grumbling were heard through the door, before it opened to see a young man wit tanned skin and white hair.

"I don't feel like dealing with you right now. Beat it." He said.

"Awww! Don't be that way, K'." Irena pushed him out of the way. "I haven't seen you since I left a while ago. Anyway, where's Maxima?"

"The big loaf went to get some ice cream for some reason." K' sat back on his bed.

"And I'm assuming you refused?"

K' just snorted.

"Well now…" Irena sat on the corner of the bed. "I came to check up on you."

"For what?"

"It's my responsibility. If I left everything to you, you would never get anything done."

"My team hasn't lost, so there's obviously nothing wrong." K' laid back on the bed rest.

"You are very difficult to deal with, you know that?" Irena mumbled.

"Why? Aren't you busy dealing with that team of losers that they placed you with?"

Irena frowned. "They're not losers. And I'm the one who asked to be put up with them so I can observe their fighting ability. Besides, they're very good friends."

"Friends?" K' smirked. "I wonder how friendly they'll be when they find out who you work for?"

The girl paused. She knew that she had to tell them eventually. Irena shook her head.

"We'll just have to see."

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Zyon came out of the restaurant with several bags in his arms. It had been a long wait to get his food, but finally he was able to leave the crowded restaurant and go back to the hotel. And he was just about to do that when a car pulled up.

"Hey Zyon." Irena said after she had gotten out of the car. "What's up?"

Zyon shrugged. "I was just getting some food at that place you told me about."

"Oooh! Did you get the thing I liked?"

"Mmm-hmm. I didn't forget you." Zyon grinned.

"It smells wonderful, but I think we should be heading back. I got something to tell all of the Shin Sekai Chitsujo." Irena got back in the car. "Get in; I'll ride you back there."

"Thanks." Zyon jumped in the car, and they drove off.

After a few minutes, Zyon noticed waves of uncertainly coming from his representative. "Is there something wrong, Irena?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing." Irena gave a goofy smile. "I'm just anxious to get back so I can eat."

"Really? Is that so?" Zyon sighed. "You know you can tell me if something is wrong."

Irena frowned again. "I'm just a little exhausted with all that was going on today. I am, in addition to your representative, an employee of the sponsor of this tournament, and so I have a lot of work to do, calculating statistics, updating the standings, contacting the sponsor on a daily basis…" She sighed. "It's all just so tiring."

"I know how you feel." Zyon replied. "I'm a little worried about my sister being home alone."

"You must have had a hard time leaving her by herself."

"It is hard. But Tera has been through a lot, and she's gotten stronger. I'm sure she'll handle herself well." Zyon smiled. "But you shouldn't worry about us, we owe you a lot."

"You don't owe me anything! I more than happy to get you in the tournament." Irena turned a corner. Zyon just leaned back on his seat.

He had a surprise for her once this was over.

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Raven and Krysten were, as before, lying around in there room, completely bored. The only difference was that some parts of the room were a wreck, due to their impromptu fight. Raven was busy looking out the window, passing time till Irena or Zyon to come back, while Krysten was trying to get his Game Boy to work.

"Kuso….Raven, could you go to Xion's room and get some more batteries?" Krysten started to whine. Raven thought about telling his younger brother to go get it himself, but he decided against that.

As Raven opened the door, he felt something hard hit it. When he looked behind it and saw a young brown haired girl in a tan uniform on the ground, he knew what had happened.

"Heh. Sorry about that." Raven smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "I must have opened the door too fast."

If it wasn't for the fact that Whip was a kind and patient girl, Raven would probably be halfway to Reikai right now. Instead, she just stood back up again. Ralf and Clark were behind her, trying to hold back laughter, but a sharp glare from Leona quickly clammed them up.

"It's all right. I was walking too close to the doors anyway." Whip said, before she noticed something familiar about the boy. "You're a member of that new team, aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah. My name is Raven Kirishima." The boy looked around at the other members uneasily. "Are you supposed to be another team or something?"

"Yes." Leona inserted herself into the conversation. "My name is Leona Heidern, leader of this team."

"Leona…so this is the Ikaris." Raven said. "Well, whatever you're here to do, make it quick. Zyon is about to comeback with some food and our representative is announcing our next opponent."

"That's why we're up here." Leona smirked, as Raven tried to comprehend.

"You know who our opponent is?" Raven asked. It was a few seconds before he finally got the hint. "Oh crap."

It was about that time that Krysten appeared in the doorway. "What the hell are the Ikaris doing here?"

"They're our next opponent." Raven answered. "So apparently, they're here to either talk smack, or attack us so they can have the advantage."

"Absolutely not." Leona said. "But we are curious to know where your teammate Zyon happened to be…"

"Zyon is long gone." Krysten said. "If your hoping to see him you'll have to wait till he gets back."

"What do you want with him anyway?" Raven added, before he came to another realization. "Wait, I remember something. Zyon said that he has ran into one of you guys a few times." He looked at Whip. "I'm guessing it's you."

Whip nodded.

"So what happened? Did he hit on you?"

"You might say that." Whip answered.

"I'm not surprised. He does that to all the girls he meets." Krysten sighed. "Please don't kill him."

Whip smiled nervously. "Don't worry. Actually, I'm flattered that he would think that way. Heh heh.."

"Now what seems to have happened here?"

The entire room turned to see Zyon and Irena standing across the hall, the latter taking a swig of the liquor he had brought at the restaurant.

"I see you brought your little friends to interrogate our team, sweetheart." Zyon continued. "A little pre match taunting, perhaps?"

"Sweetheart?" Leona thought to herself. "I think I'm starting to understand what his teammates meant."

"You guys didn't tell the SSC that you were their next opponent, did you?" Irena frowned. Zyon choked on his drink at the news.

The Ikaris looked at each other before nodding.

Irena put a hand to her face and sighed. "You guys suck. Really."

"We're sorry." Leona apologized. "We didn't know…"

"That's alright." Irena sighed. "Well, while you're all here, now is a good time to tell you that your match is tomorrow."

"TOMORROW?!?" Raven, Krysten and Zyon said at the same time. "We just had our match today!"

"The number of people who entered was high this year, so we couldn't really have everyone fighting everyday." Irena said. "Were in the quarterfinals now, so we are going to do it like this: The first two quarterfinal matches are tomorrow, the second two are the day after, the semifinals are the day after that, and after a day's break, the finals."

Zyon rubbed the side of his head a little bit. "Just what I need. More stress." He thought to himself.

"Oh boy, this is going to be good." Ralf said, looking evilly at the newcomers. "We're going to mess you up so bad, they're going to need a scraper to get you off the pavement!"

"Ralf…" Clark warned.

"We'll leave you alone now." Leona said respectfully. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

"Me too." Raven said, before ushering Zyon and Irena in their room, Zyon giving Whip a wave before leaving. Irena gave Whip a smile and mouthed, "It was nice to see you again."

The Ikaris just stood there for a moment. Leona shook her head and walked off, Ralf and Clark following her. Whip took one last glace at the door.

"So Irena's their representative, huh?" She thought. "That's not a good sign."

Whip was worried. Whatever was going to happen at the end of this tournament, she didn't really want Zyon, or any of the SSC for that matter, to get caught up with it.

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Shikkoku: BAH! My schedule is all out of wack now that school is back on. So many things to do… (Shakes head sadly.) I could barely write this at time because I was so drained. But hopefully I'm able to get a more faster update time for my stories than 'Once every two months.' Maybe I should stop just focusing on one story at a time and I'll get more work done. Whatever.

Notes:

I hope the explanation of Zyon's powers can satisfy you, cause I won't be getting anymore into detail about it in this story.

If you noticed, I changed the dialogue between Zyon and Whip in the last chapter. I thought it kinda messed with how the story would flow. It wouldn't work if the two were so hostile towards each other.

Speaking of Zyon, here's his bio:

Zyon Tohsaka Kasanari

Fighting Style:

Birth-date: March 27

Age: 17

Birthplace: Japan

Blood Type: AB

Height: 5'11

Weight: 136 lb

Hobbies: Cooking, checking out pretty girls.

Favorite Food: Anything he cooks.

Best Sport: Anything involving speed.

Most Important: Tera, Xion, A pendent he got from someone along time ago, the suffering of others.

Dislikes: People who use him, people who hurt his sister, authority, school, etc.

Zyon Kasanari is a laid back young man. He doesn't really care about things like school or work, all he wants to do is have fun. A bad childhood left him somewhat bitter, but he usually hides it from everyone. He had practiced endlessly to master his various elemental skills, but his base skill is a combination of Chinese Martial Arts and energy attacks.

Even though I would like to get the next Chapter of my other stories as soon as possible, it's probably going to be awhile, since Guilty Gear Accent Core is coming out, and I'm going to be engrossed in that for a while (Hopefully not too long).

Next Chapter: SSC vs. Ikaris. Remember when I said that it wouldn't be pretty? Yeah, it's not.

Until Next Time.