Shikkoku: SNKP owns KOF.

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KOF: New Blood

By Shikkoku Kiyoshi

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By time the plane had landed and they got to their rooms, the SSC were all too exhausted to listen to anything that Irena wanted to say, so she didn't bother. They all just wanted to get some sleep, and so they did. When the morning came, she was starting to get a little nervous. How would they react exactly to facing the Fatal Fury team? She was impressed with her team's performance with the so far, but they had to face Terry Bogard! Unless they could pull another lucky win out of their asses, their chances of winning was somewhere in between zero and negative twenty.

In the mist of her brooding, she heard knocking on the door. It was either one of the SSC or room service was bothering her again. She opened the door and there he was. Raven, wearing that ever-present red and black bandana that was wrapped around his neck, looking like he barely gotten any rest at all.

"Yo. What's going on?" He said sleepily. "Breakfast is starting soon. You should get down there while Zyon is still asleep, or there won't be any food for you left…" He took a closer look at her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…" She said quietly.

Raven blinked. "What's wrong with you?"

"Um…do you think we could have a talk between the two of us for a bit?"

"Sure, I guess." Raven shrugged. "But we should do it during breakfast. I'm starving."

"Alright, alright, let's go." She sighed. "Persistent bastard." Irena thought to herself.

---

When they went downstairs, Irena sat down and watched as the 'leader' of the SSC proceeded to attack the breakfast buffet. By time he was finished, he was balancing about seven plates piled with food.

"Here you go!" Raven managed to keep from spilling it long enough to get the food on the table.

"It looks delicious." The girl said, "But did you leave enough left for everyone else?"

"Yeah, yeah. So what's up? You seem worried. What's wrong?" Raven said as he started to devour his food.

Irena sighed. "I'm really nervous. I got word on who your opponent I'm concerned about your chances."

"You shouldn't be worried. If we lose, we lose. That's it." Raven said. "There's no shame in saying we lost to the best. Besides, considering our standing, it's most likely we'll be back next year, right?"

"Yeah, but you come so far; don't you want to win the whole thing?" Irena asked.

The question was enough to make Raven stop eating. "I never thought of it that way. I wonder what would happen if a team full of random nobodies won the King of Fighters?" He thought for a moment. "How much money are you supposed to be giving the winner?"

"Er…" Irena didn't really know how to answer that. "That is to be announced later. But that's another time. I'm worried about today."

"Well, if you could, wait till we get back to the rooms to tell us our opponent. I wouldn't really want to know before anyone else." The blond teen continued to eat. "We can handle it from there."

"Okay…" Irena felt a little better. He sure did seem confident enough. "I have faith in you. But could you answer another question of mine?"

"Only if you actually start eating." Raven pointed to the meal that the girl barely touched. Irena blushed and started to eat.

"This is quite good." She said. "Anyway, after looking through what little public records you have, I've been wondering…Raven, is it true that you have amnesia?"

The word 'amnesia' emitted a sigh from the boy. "Yeah. It's nothing to be concerned with. I just don't have any memories of my past."

"How sad…"

"I wouldn't call it 'sad'. I just don't remember my past. It's not exactly good, but I don't care. I've already have an identity. I'm Raven Kirishima."

"But don't you want to know who your parents are?"

"Hell no! If I did, I probably wouldn't like them." He frowned. "My brother said that the furthest thing he could remember was that was at some kind of strange hospital-like place. He managed to get out, but I don't even want to think about why they would leave him there, much less what they wanted to do with him." Raven smiled a bit. "But enough about that, ask me another question."

Irena took a second to think. "How long have you known Zyon and Xion?"

"I've known them for a while. We kinda met during a slight 'issue' going on with the area schools. Xion and Zyon had decided to burst into our building unannounced and start beating up random students that looked suspicious."

"Really?"

"Yep. But we worked things out. Xion is a good guy and Zyon, even though he can act like a jerk and somewhat irritating at times, is a very kind person. It was obvious that I had to have them on my team."

"You certainly shown that you can work together well enough." Irena replied. "You'll going to need it."

"Whatever you say…" Raven continued to eat. "Now since I obliged you, why don't you tell me about yourself?"

Irena stopped in the middle of taking another bite of food. Even though she knew the subject would come up eventually, the question still took her off guard.

"Well…There's nothing very interesting about me, I'm just a employee for the head of this tournament. An average girl, as you might think. I like cake and watching TV and fighting games and boys…" She trailed off.

"Go on. Don't cop out on me now." Raven encouraged.

"Everything else will have to remain a secret for now. Knowing you, you'll figure it out eventually." She said before resuming her meal.

Raven didn't really know what she meant, so he could only shrug. He wasn't going to pry into her business at this moment, he needed to get ready for the upcoming battle.

---

"Your next opponents are…"

Once again, the team gathered to hear who they would be facing for their semi-final match. Irena took a deep breath and met their expectant looks.

"… the Fatal Fury team."

"WOO!" Raven threw his arms in the air like he just won a million dollars. "Finally! We get to fight the famous Terry Bogard!"

"Like hell!" Zyon spoke up. "I want to fight Terry Bogard!"

"No way! It's your turn to be striker!" Raven said, before he and Zyon started to argue.

"Isn't anyone worried that these guys will totally kill us?" Krysten muttered, but his question was lost among the yelling.

"It won't be that bad." Xion assured. "If anything, they'll probably underestimate us, and that could give us the advantage. Besides, if we can beat Terry Bogard, then we'll definitely be able to beat whoever is unlucky enough to be in the finals."

Irena giggled a bit at the thought of the SSC reacting to who they most likely will face at the finals. "If anyone would be doing the underestimating, it would be them." She thought.

A few minutes later, after Raven and Zyon stopped arguing long enough for the others to intervene, they all decided to get some rest. Raven, however, decided to go outside. This city wasn't as crowded as the others, so he managed to find a place where he could be by himself. Sighing, he sat down on a bench near a grassy area.

"It looks like I might have to take this seriously." He thought. Not that he didn't take the fights before seriously, but this was the first real fighter he has faced in a while. "If worse comes to worse, I may have to…" Raven ran a hand through his hair and it seemed to leave a long streak of black. It started to spread, and soon, his formerly blond hair was now a dark black. A small laugh escaped from him mouth. "It's been a while since I had to do that. I don't want to get a little rusty."

"Meow…"

Raven concentration was broken by a sound of a cat. Turning his head, he noticed a gray cat currently brushing against his legs. Curious, Raven stuck his hand out, to see if it was friendly. The cat gently licked it for a bit.

"Nice kitty…" He thought. Gently, he picked the cat up and sat it on his lap, where it seemed to be comfortable letting him pet it for a while. "Are you lost?"

The kitten just purred in response. Raven looked to see if anyone would come to claim it, but eventually he realized it was just a stray.

"Well then, I guess it's nice to have some company." He laughed. "Luckily I'm by myself, or Xion would be whining about him being allergic to cats, and we can't have that." Raven leaned back in his seat and stared up at the sky. He was going to need all the rest he could get. It was going to be one long battle.

---

Later that night, the SSC were waiting at a active part of town, full of food stands, shops and people just plain hanging out. They had been wandering around for about an hour and a half. Irena had told them to wait for her there, but she still hadn't arrived. So they just sat around and waited. Xion offered to go get some food at the Chinese stand, and Zyon went off to chat with some of the many female passersby.

"Ugh…" Raven slumped in his seat, which was hard to do since he was sitting on, "What is going on? It's getting late already; where's our opponents?"

"Maybe one of them got injured." Krysten said. "Or they decided to forfeit."

"Why would they forfeit a match against a bunch of kids that have practically no chance of winning to begin with?"

"Because….er….I can't think of anything…"

"Exactly. They're probably doing this on purpose…"

"Or they could just be late." Zyon stated as he sat down with a rather large container of ramen he ordered from one of the stands. "Maybe you should call Irena, she'll probably know."

"Okay, give me your cell phone."

The dark blond gave his friend his phone, who proceeded to dial the number she gave them to call her. After a few rings she picked up.

"Hello?" Her voice sounded very clear on the phone. "Zyon, is something wrong?"

"No, it's Raven, and we're wondering if everything was okay." Raven decided to give the girl the benefit of the doubt. He could hear her make a sound through the phone.

"This traffic is being a real bitch tonight." She muttered. "I had to pick up the other team, there's tons of traffic, and I'm doing everything I can to get here." A loud bang was heard. "And assuming I don't get arrested, I should be here any minute now, okay? I gotta go." She hung up quickly.

"Well, she's on her way there with our opponents. We better start getting ready." Raven got up and try to work the tiredness out of his body. "Krysten, it's your turn to go first. Xion is next, then it's me."

Krysten was somewhat excited. So far, he only got a chance to fight only once in this tournament, but he couldn't help but be a little anxious about his potential opponents.

"Hi guys!" A voice shouted from practically nowhere. Irena rushed toward them, nearly hitting a trashcan that happened to be on fire. "I'm finally here!" She panted. "And I brought the team with me."

"Huh? They're here?" Zyon said through his noodles. A pair of arms wrapped around his neck and he nearly choked.

"You wouldn't think we wouldn't come, did you, Zyon-kun?" A soft voice said.

Zyon could feel his blood run cold. There was only one person that sounded like that…

The other members of the SSC could only watch as Zyon turned beet red from Mai Shiranui's hugging him before trying a futile attempt to get out of her grasp.

"Maybe it was a good idea to let Zyon be striker after all." Krysten thought to himself as Mai finally let the poor boy go.

"Please don't do that…" Zyon coughed. "But it's good to see you again, Mai."

Mai giggled through her fan. "Same to you." She said. "Mary told me about how you beat her the other day, So I was hoping I would inflict some ninja vengeance upon you."

"I'm not fighting this time unfortunately, so you can take out any 'vengeance' on this young lad." Zyon pointed to Krysten. "But don't get too close, he might get a nosebleed and pass out in the middle of the fight."

The younger Kirishima turned as red as Zyon was earlier and looked away in embarrassment.

"That's too bad." The form of Terry Bogard suddenly appeared, causing murmurs from the crowd. "You haven't shown your face at Southtown for a while, so I was wondering how much you've improved."

"Don't worry about that, I'll show you soon enough." Zyon leaned against a wall and continued to eat his ramen.

As Terry went to get between Joe and Andy, who were arguing about something, Irena was trying to shoo the crowd away enough to get a decent space for the two teams to fight.

"Bzzzz! Make some room!" She shouted to the crowd, which was more interested in seeing the legendary fighters. After a few threats, they complied and went back to where they were previously stationed. Satisfied, Irena went to the center to do her usual intro:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the King of Fighters 1999 semifinal round. My name is Irena Toryu , and I will be officiating this match. This match will pit the Shin Sekai Chitsujo against the Fatal Fury Team, the winner of which will face the winner of the other semifinal match two days from now. Will the first members of each team please step forward?"

Krysten and Mai both stepped up.

"You both should know the routine by now. Let's make this a good one."

Round 1: Krysten vs. Mai!

Mai pointed his fan at him. "So, are you ready to go?"

Krysten threw two kicks in the air before getting into stance. "Alright, let's do this."

Fight!

"Kachou sen!" Mai threw a fan right at the teen, which he easily dodged. Krysten swept his leg across the ground, making her stumble a bit, before performing a spinning back kick that barely missed her. The second one, however, didn't. The back of Krysten's foot hit the side of the ninja girl.

"Hey, that hurt!" Mai said. "Didn't they teach you to take it easy on chicks?"

"Sorry," Krysten said, "But holding back against girls is a sin where I come from." He performed a series of kicks that all hit their target, sending Mai sprawling back. "It's still sort of uncomfortable to me, so please give up quickly."

"No way! I haven't even begun to get serious yet." Mai ran towards him. "Hissatsu Shinobi Bachi!"

Mai tumbled forward and sent a elbow right at Krysten's sternum. As the boy doubled over, he was hit with an uppercut, before Mai threw a barrage of fans at him. They didn't really hurt too much, but it took the boy off focus for a bit.

Krysten shook his head for a moment to regain his senses. He wiped his mouth, but there wasn't any blood on it.

"Looks like I have a fight on my hands now." He laughed a bit. Reaching into his sleeve, he pulled out that all so familiar chain. "I don't really want to do this, but it can't be helped. Sorry."

Before Mai could react, the chain shot out and wrapped around her leg. "EEK! What the….?"

With a tug, she was off her feet in a instant, the chain sending her into the fence on the other side of the alley. If anything, it was enough to give him time to plan his next attack. Krysten got a few feet closer to Mai while she was getting herself back together. He got into a new stance, balancing himself on one leg for a minute before rushing forward and attacking. Each hit was amplified by the fact that he had stored energy in his arms and legs, giving them a little extra attack power.

Thirteen strikes, ending with another spinning kick that sent Mai back into the fenced wall. Still, that wasn't enough to end the match, though she had to jump over him afterwards to get some space.

"Well, I guess I kinda underestimated him a bit." She took the time to get the hair out of her eyes. "I need to focus."

Krysten took to the air, jumping up as high as he could before sharply descending, his foot posed to hit Mai right in the stomach (if he was lucky; Krysten didn't want to know what would happen if it hit her chest). Mai took notice, though. Standing up, she quickly brought her hands together. "Kagerou no Mai!"

The big gout of flames erupted and singed the ends of Krysten's loose clothes, but he didn't change course, the kick going through the fire and hitting her on target (the flames actually helping him add some damage to her).

Mai and Krysten ended up falling onto their backs, but the latter managed to get up first. He rushed towards her as fast as he could. Mai was trying to get herself together when Krysten's foot collided with her head. She crumbled to the ground and didn't get up.

"Ouch…" Irena thought. "Mai is out for the round. Krysten wins."

"Gomen ne." He bowed embarrassedly, though he was happy to have won.

"Andy…" Mai murmured as the younger Bogard assisted her. Now it was Joe Higashi's turn to fight, and he looked as confident as ever, grinning at the boy that nearly kicked Mai's head off.

"Oi, you sure did a number on Mai." He said. "But you're up against Joe Higashi, the greatest fighter in the world! Your little pansy kicks can't hurt the Muay Thai master with the golden legs!" And Joe proceeded to laugh.

Krysten tilted his head to the side a little bit. He could see Andy covering his face while shaking his head. "I guess I'll humor you for a while." Krysten thought to himself. For the most part, he was still able to fight. He just had to make sure that he didn't take too many hits.

Round 2: Krysten vs. Joe!

"Saku Saku Ikzue!" Joe pointed at the boy, who just rolled his eyes.

Fight!

Krysten instantly leapt at Joe, looking to land a few hits on him, but out of nowhere, Joe's leg shot out and kicked him right in the rib area, sending him flying into some spectators that were watching.

"Well, that pretty much killed that strategy." Krysten thought. It was a pretty hard shot, and now Krysten had to hope he could last long enough to wear him down enough for Xion to take him out.

Getting up, he decided to do a quick assault on him to get as much damage he could before his body gave out. He shot out with a few kicks of his own, and those connected, but he really didn't know if they actually hurt Joe, because he sure didn't look like it.

"Is that all you got? Ha!" Joe grabbed Krysten by the shoulders and proceeded to ram his knee into the young boy's stomach. "Tiger Kick!" Krysten was in the air for a moment before he landed on the ground with a hard thud. He tried to get up, but he was in too much pain to continue. Irena knelt down next to him and tried to make sure he wasn't too hurt.

"Krysten is unable to continue, so Joe Higashi is the winner." She announced, helping the brown haired boy to his feet. He seemed really hurt, but he managed to get to a seat next to Zyon, who was still eating his ramen.

Xion stepped forward, choosing not to make any snappy remarks while Joe was still celebrating his victory. "Don't get too cocky…" He said to himself.

Round Three: Xion vs. Joe!

Xion ran a hand through his hair before pulling his hood on.

Fight!

Joe got himself focused again, and soon he was on the attack, not allowing Xion to get in any offense. However, most of his hits where blocked by the oldest member of the SSC, who was well aware about the threat Muay Thai could be.

With a bit of good timing, Xion managed to catch Joe's wrist. Pulling him a bit, Xion kicked him in the gut, and when he doubled over, kicked him in the face three times before Joe managed to pull himself out of his grasp.

"Hurricane Upper!" Joe performed his famous move in order to keep Xion at bay. The obsidian haired-boy threw his own Kyoruga and they collided. But since there was two of Joe's projectile as opposed to Xion's one, he only managed to stop the first whirlwind and got hit with the second.

The wind knocked out of him, Xion stumbled back a bit. Joe took advantage of it and hit him with the Bakuretsu Ken. Xion was battered with barrage of fists, and Joe seemed on his way of gaining another victory, until in a flash, Xion disappeared. "What the?"

While Joe stood there confused, the others saw that Xion had reappeared on the other side. Xion couldn't really 'teleport', but he could do a really fast dash that is quicker than the human eye can see. Nonetheless, Xion was right behind Joe, waiting for him to turn around while he edged closer.

The very moment Joe faced him, Xion assaulted him with some punches of his own, finishing with one to the stomach that sent him keeling over before Xion grabbed his hair and drug him back to the middle of the ring.

"Before you decide to call yourself the 'greatest fighter in the world', you should really learn not to underestimate your opponents..." He said after he let go of Joe. "Still…"

"You haven't beat me yet." Joe stood up. "I see that you're not as weak as that other kid. So I'm going to have to get serious now."

"Serious, huh?" Xion gestured to Joe in his usual fashion. "Come on."

"Okay, you asked for it." Joe brought his fist back.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines…

"Is it just me or is Xion about to make a huge mistake?" Raven said.

"I'm pretty sure that Xio-kun knows what he's doing." Zyon said.

"SCREW UPPER!"

A massive whirlwind suddenly formed, causing most of the spectators to scatter. Joe had put most of his power into it to make sure it could travel a good distance. Xion saw this and he already had a counter. Summoning all the energy he could muster into his hands, he brought them to his side.

"Houshin Renha…" He said quietly before he launched the attack.

Both attacks charged at each other, but instead of canceling out, the Renha just went through the Screw Upper. Joe knew that and he would have dodged, but something suddenly grabbed his arms from the back and wouldn't let him move.

"Hey! Let go!" Joe struggled.

"No can do, Joe." It was Zyon that was behind him, forcing Joe to watch as the giant energy projectile rushed towards him. The moment it actually hit, Zyon pushed Joe into it and disappeared before he got caught.

Xion however, in his attack, didn't have the time to move out of the way, so he just let Joe's attack hit him. When the dust settled, both men where on the ground. Joe was KO'ed, Xion was conscious, but the attack took way more out of him than he had expected. It would be possible for him to continue, but Xion knew that there was no chance he could last long enough to do any credible damage to Terry Bogard.

"Uh…Xion?" Irena asked. "Are you alright? Will you be able to continue?"

"I don't think so…" Xion sat up. His body was genuinely sore. "I'm out, I guess."

Irena nodded. "We have a double KO situation here. So both Joe and Xion are out." She announced, trying to hide her concern for her team. If Raven lost this last match, the SSC were out of the tournament.

Raven, who had been at Krysten's side for most of the match, walked forward to meet Terry Bogard. Even the older man had a smile on his face, the teenage fighter couldn't help but gulp in his presence. Raven felt that he was no where near Terry's level. If he couldn't pull off a spectacular upset, his team's chances where as good as dead.

"Hey kid," Terry said cheerfully. "Don't be so nervous! This is going to be a good match."

"Of course you would say that…" Raven muttered. "You're going to win."

"Who knows? I might lose this one. It's happened before. Just try your best." Terry did a few practice punches.

Final Round: Raven vs. Terry!

The younger boy sighed, but got into position. "Whatever happens is your own fault."

FIGHT!

Raven didn't know whether to rush towards Terry or wait for him to make a move so he could counter it, but settled eventually to dash towards him and show Terry that he meant business. He leapt to the air ready to kick him, but Terry dodged it and threw a kick of his own, which got dodged as well.

Raven didn't want to let his guard down for a second, so he attacked often (a few of which actually hit Terry), but when one of his kicks got blocked, he got a fist to the chest, courtesy of the Legendary Wolf. The teen got the wind knocked out of him, but recovered fast enough to see the punch headed towards his face. Quickly, Raven changed his stance into a defensive one, caught the punch and flipped Terry right on his back.

"Uh-oh. Looks like you're in trouble." Raven grinned as Terry got back up. "If that's all you got, then…"

"BURN KNUCKLE!" Terry's infamous attack hit Raven right in the face and sent him to the ground. Raven quickly rolled to his feet to see his opponent adjusting his gloves.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" He said. "Hurry up!"

The boy could only grit his teeth in frustration. He ran right towards him and tried to do his Rekkou, but Terry swayed past it, hit him with a Rising Tackle and he was back on the ground again.

"Or it seems like I'm the one getting careless." He thought. "I keep making careless mistakes, so either I try to plan my strategy out, or I can use Kakusei and get a boost."

Raven decided that he should try to fight it out just a bit more before he could use his secret (but unperfected and unstable) technique. Fireballs wouldn't work, so he had to try something else to soften him up so he try and use the Kiren'eki and finish the match.

He caught Terry of guard with a kick, then used that to hit him with a rapid punch technique that ended with a palm to the chest, knocking him back a bit before Raven spun around and hit him with a sweep that knocked him down. He knew he couldn't charge the Kiren'eki long enough with only that, but he had an idea.

"Zyon!" Raven said. "I need you to hold him off as long as you can while I charge the Kiren'eki."

Zyon grinned. "Gladly."

Terry noticed that Zyon had gotten up and was running towards him, and as a safeguard, he called his brother to try to intervene. Zyon was focused on Terry, so he didn't see Andy go up in the air and drop down, elbow pointed right at him. He was only a few feet from Terry when the attack hit him. It wasn't hard, but it was enough to stop any attack that he was planning to do.

"Shit! He would have to call his brother!" Zyon thought. Raven sighed as he charged his attack. He didn't expect Andy, but since Terry was occupied with him and Zyon, he was able to go unnoticed.

Zyon recovered enough to catch the kick that Andy usually followed his Gen'ei Shiranui with, and using his momentum, he tossed him right into his brother, knocking them both down.

"Damn…" Terry muttered as he got up. "Are you alright, Andy?"

"I'm fine. You took most of the force, after all." His brother replied. But as Terry got up, he noticed the Kiren'eki that was forming. "Terry, look--!" But it was too late. Raven released the projectile, and it hit Terry dead on, sending him back a few feet.

Raven let out his held breath. His plan actually worked! And now Terry was down for the count, and…Wait, was he getting up?

"Woo, that was a doozy. You almost had me there for a second." The Legendary Wolf said, dusting off his pants with his cap. "That was a cool attack. What do you call it?"

"Kiren'eki." Raven said flatly. "And by all intents and purposes, you should have been knocked out by it."

"I guess it just needed a little more 'oomph', as they say."

The teen's irritation started to grow. The Kiren'eki was one of his favorite moves, and Terry practically no-sold it. At this point, he really wanted to use Kakusei, but he wasn't going to bet the fight on a technique that wasn't really that reliable to begin with, so he opted for the energy fans. After he formed them with his hands, he started to run as fast as he could.

"I don't really want to do this…" Terry said as he raised his hand. Raven saw this, but he kept running. If he tried hard enough he could stop his attack.

"Power…."

Just a little bit closer…

"…Geyser!"

Raven could have sworn that he was close enough to hit him, but then the geyser hit, and everything went white, then black.

---

The first thing that Raven could see after that was Zyon talking to Terry about the match. Zyon looked over at him.

"So, I see you're finally awake." A female voice said. Raven moved his head slowly up and saw the smiling face of Irena. Apparently, his head was on her lap. "I'm glad you're okay."

"So, did we lose?" He said.

"You did lose, sadly." She shook her head. "But the important thing is that you came close to winning, and because of that, you are considered the third place winner."

"Does that mean we still get money?" He grinned. Irena rolled her eyes.

"Yes, you still get money." She said. "So, do you think you can move?"

"It still hurts a bit, but I can get up." He slowly got to his feet, "Is Krysten alright?"

"He's moving around, but he's still hurting. Xion and Zyon look fine though." Irena replied. "We should get going." But Raven was already staggering towards Terry and Zyon.

"Terry…I have to hand it to you, you are the first real fight I had in a long time." He said. "If anything, you made this whole thing worth it."

"I'm glad to see that you don't hold a grudge against me." Terry replied.

"Well, it was kinda my mistake to begin with. But, next time…" Raven eyes seemed to have a slight glow in them. "…I will beat you."

Zyon rolled his eyes. "Sure you will. You said the same thing to me when I beat you, and it still hasn't happened yet."

Raven glared at him. "That's because you're too damn complicated to work a strategy around!"

"Really? Are you sure it's not the fact that you get frustrated when you can't beat someone in five minutes like most of your opponents?"

Xion and Krysten looked away in embarrassment as their teammates started to argue, while Irena started to giggle again.

---

"So they finally lost, huh?" Krizalid said as he looked on the monitor. "Well, considering the strength of the team they faced, I'm not surprised really. So, did K' and Maxima win?"

"Yes sir. They will be facing the Fatal Fury Team at our designated spot."

"Excellent. Now in a few days, our plan will come to motion…"

---

Shikkoku: That's right, the story isn't dead, and neither am I. Rather than come up with a whole bunch of crappy excuses, I'm just going to apologize for the wait and leave it at that. After all, since the story is more or less close to completion, I'm going to try and finish the next few chapters off quick after I update the other story (Kurai Tenshi especially.)

Notes:

-I'm pretty sure you were all expecting the SSC to win, weren't you?

-I had a difficult time in how I wanted the fight to progress. I didn't want Terry to thrash the SSC, but I didn't want the SSC to thrash the Fatal Fury team either. That's part of what took so long; the SSC losing was planned since the very beginning, but I wasn't sure how to do it without making them look too strong or their opponents too weak.

-Anyway, it's getting close to the end of the story, but there's still a little bit more. You probably can guess who's Irena working for, but I wasn't really trying to make it a big secret anyway. I'm still deciding how involved will the SSC get into the whole 'Kyo Clone' situation…

Next Chapter: Irena leaves the team at the hotel suddenly, and in an attempt to follow her, the SSC end up getting themselves into a pickle.

Until Next Time….