REVIEW QUOTES:
It really doesn't matter who does or does not live in Southtown, because everyone and their mother has a best friend or rival that does, and will end up there whether they want to or not. –Strike To Incinerate
It's The Revenge of Neo Geo Chronicles! (In Japan it's known as The Super Neo Geo Chronicles!)
This chapter takes place AFTER chapter one. Whereas the previous two chapters took place before the first chapter, this one takes place a day afterwards. If you can remember, there will be an alien invasion, but it won't happen for another week.
In this one, Iori Yagami takes his unique views on Life (it sucks) and Death (He's a cool guy) on a boat for some nautical nonsense, to quote a certain Nickelodeon cartoon. More specifically, Iori and the Purple Flame Diner crew (which is now a whopping SIX members!) are catering for a fighting tournament overseas. Meanwhile, evil forces are at work, and are trying to stop them from getting to Seattle, Washington, and by extension, Second Southtown.
Why is this chapter up before the one I promised last time? I actually wrote myself into a ditch with that. I'll get it up before this fic finishes, I promise.
Big thanks go out to Strike To Incinerate, who took the time to review the last few chapters, share some insights, and provide the above quote. Thanks, STI!
So here is Purple Flame Diner Act 2: Seafaring Shenanigans
--COUNTDOWN TO ALIEN INVASION: 6d 10h. THIS MEANS THAT THIS CHAPTER TAKES PLACE AFTER THE LAST THREE CHAPTERS--
Pier 6 in the Southtown Docks is the largest and arguably the most used pier in the city. It was used to store Rugal Bernstein's submarine, the Ikari Warriors' recon cruiser, and occasionally the pirate B. Jenet uses Pier 6 when she comes to Southtown. Nowadays, Pier 6 is used by another member of the Bernstein family, Adelheid. And the boat currently parked there is the Shadow Moses(1), a new version of the Bernstein's original boat, the Black Ark.
The one problem with this? Adelheid works for local King of Fighters regular Iori Yagami. Iori owns a Subway/Johnny Rockets amalgamation called The Purple Flame Diner, which by this time has grown from a small-time establishment run by just him to a member of the Southtown Restaurant Association(2) with five people working for him, including Adelheid. And they were all standing on Pier 6.
Iori, the formerly-antisocial KOF badass, said "Okay guys, our own Adel Bernstein has graciously let us use one of his boats. Now, I'd like to count heads before we set off, so that we're sure everyone's here." Iori then pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, and counted off the others. "Adel?"
A tall, young, blonde, rich male in his late teens, who looked like an amalgamation of his own father Rugal and a typical teenager, said, "here."
"Nakoruru?"
A Japanese nature girl from ancient times, with long brown hair and a hawk on her shoulder said, "Hello!"
"Cosplayer Kyoko?"
A short, young, brunette, Japanese-American(3) girl who looked just like Kyo Kusanagi snored. "Okay, she's here, just having another of her narcoleptic(4) attacks", Iori checked off. He then sighed, and continued with…
"Shen Woo?"
A young-looking dude with a pink shirt, black pants, short blonde hair, a shark-toothed necklace, and weird tattoos on his arms(5) said, "Yo!"
"K9999?"
A NESTS-produced Kyo clone that's more like a Tetsuo Shima(6) clone said "You called?" in a rude, rather condescending tone.
"And I'm here, of course. Alright, all aboard!"
And so they boarded the Shadow Moses, unaware they were being tracked…
--MEANWHILE, IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION THAT JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE WITHIN THEIR DESTINATION…--
"damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! K9999 got away!"
A nearly-bald man with a Magnum P.I.(7) moustache was pacing back and forth in a command center of some sort. This mustachioed man was named Zero, and he is one of the top agents for an organization called NESTS. Or rather, he was, until NESTS was shut down and the remaining members scattered. It was he who fired the Zero Cannon which destroyed Original Southtown. It was he who got the beating of his life for it. It was his boss Igniz who got the blame for it.
Anyway, Zero paced back and forth saying, "K9999 got away! This is bad, real bad. To make matters worse, he's out in Japan! If Boss Goodman finds out about this, he'll be-""Find out about what?"(8)
Apparently, Zero was too busy pacing that he didn't notice a tall, white-haired, red-suited man next to a gorilla made of fire. "You meant to tell me that K9999 escaped our organization?"
"That seems to be."
"Well, that's an unexpected turn of events. Still, I can't say I'm surprised. He made three escape attempts in the last month alone."
"So what shall we do then, Boss Goodman?"
"We search Japan for K9999. With any luck, he should be in Southtown."
Suddenly, a red-shirted redshirt(9) intelligence agent with short brown hair, glasses, and also wearing red pants and black Chuck Taylors'(10) said, "Goodman, Sir! There is a problem!"
"What is it, Redshirt #87(11)?"
"K9999 has just left Japan for Seattle on an unidentified cruiser! Estimated Time of Arrival is twenty hours!"
"Good work, Redshirt."
"We've also detected an Orochi power source and two other energy sources from the unidentified cruiser!"
"Very good work. You may return to your station, Redshirt."
"Yes, sir!"
Zero then said, "This is an unexpected development, Boss Goodman. It seems that we can finally capture K' and his pals!" Goodman agreed, and then sent out his fastest naval agents to capture the unidentified cruiser…
--SPEAKIN' OF…--
"Cosplayer" Kyoko Davis(12) Kirishima, a narcoleptic eighteen-year-old who usually cosplays as Kyo Kusanagi, slept on the boat's sofa. It seemed that Kyoko's condition prevented her from entering fighting tournaments as anything other than a Striker(13) or a substitute(14). She tried everything, but it just wouldn't go away. So she just decided to live with it. It wasn't until recently that people started to notice that she collapses randomly.
Anyway, Kyoko was just doing fine in her dream world, dancing with bananas singing about how it is time for peanut butter & jelly(15), when all of a sudden, someone knocked her right back to reality. As it turns out, it was Iori Yagami. "I hate to disrupt your nap, Kyoko, but we've got trouble." Kyoko went right back to sleep. Iori sighed, picked her up, and carried her as if she was an invalid (which technically she is) to the top of the boat.
--AT THE TOP OF THE BOAT, WHERE THE CREW SAW TROUBLE—
Incidentally, Shen Woo, the most irresponsible of the crew, was the one who first spotted another boat, possibly hostile. He told Adel about this new development, who in turn told Iori, who as you saw told Kyoko. They were all on the boat's bridge, trying to figure out who could possibly be after them. K9999 suggested, "it's probably a re-established NESTS cartel, and there's no way in hell I'm goin' back there." Iori shot that idea down, saying "Nah, NESTS was disbanded after Igniz died. I was there, you know." Adel then added, "and it doesn't look like an Ikari boat…" Iori then asked the oldest one there (but only by a technicality), "Nako, can you use your hawk to find out?"
"What, and get her killed?"
"Just askin'."
Just then, they all heard a noise coming from Adel. It was a shrill WRRRRRRYYYY(16) noise, heard on some cell phones. Adel said, "It's my cell." He answered the call, saying, "This is Adelheid Bernstein. Who is this?"
"Kid, get your ass out of the area!"
Adel breathed a sigh of relief. It was just one of the Ikari Warriors. "Oh, hi Ralf. How's Leona?"
"She's asleep(17), but that's not the point right now. You need to get your sorry ass away from that area, mostly because there's a pirate cruiser heading in your direction!"
"Oh dear. Thanks for the info, but we need to get to Second Southtown."
"Kid, listen. Those pirates are ruthless. You ne-"
Adel hung up before Ralf Jones, Ikari Warrior, could finish his statement. "That ship's full of pirates. Ruthless pirates, apparently." Adel explained, to which Iori replied, "Well, then. This is an interesting development."
TO BE CONTINUED…
Real Bout Fatal Footnotes
1) Shadow Moses is also the name of an island somewhere in Alaska. None of the SNK characters ever care/cared to go to Alaska, so that's why no one's ever heard of it.
2) This is the guild of food places in Southtown. There's a guild for fighters (the Southtown Fighting Circuit) and there's a guild for food.
3) Kyoko may not be an OC, but she might as well be, mainly because her history's not really elaborated on. Expect a stand-alone chapter on that shortly.
4) Narcolepsy = a sleep disorder.
5) Ask Shen how he got those, 'cause not even his closest friend Ash Crimson knows the answer to that.
6) You know Akira, the award winning OVA? Tetsuo's the main antagonist.
7) Have you seen Zero's moustache? Have you?
8) CLICHÉ ALERT!
9) Read: expendable. I always thought that redshirts should wear red shirts, too.
10) This is an almost accurate description of myself. In other words, this IS a self-insert. Don't expect a lot out of Redshirt #87.
11) Expendable person number 87, codenamed Redshirt #87.
12) I did say she was Japanese-American… Again, all shall be explained in a stand-alone chapter featuring Kyoko.
13) As in KOF 2000
14) This is an interesting element. What if someone, like say Shingo Yabuki, was unable to make the tournament due to school? This is where substitutes come in.
15) I'm sure you get the reference.
16) Oh come on. This is clearly a reference to Dio Brando and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
17) Leona, as many of you know, has Orochi blood. But unlike Iori, she falls asleep every time the Riot of the Blood ends.
18) I'm clearly getting lazy with these footnotes. Sue me, I was writing this at school.
NEXT UP!
The epic continuation of this chapter! Will Iori and PFD crew beat those Pirates? Who are these Pirates anyway? Why Am I Asking These Questions?
Once again, thanks to Strike To Incinerate!