Kitsune no Ken GAIDEN Chronicles

Written by Neon Majestic

(DISCLAIMER: The Naruto franchise and the characters therein belong to and were originally created by Masashi Kishimoto.)

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GAIDEN 06 Rogues Gallery

(N.B. This Gaiden chapter takes place inside the plot of the main story's comic-within-a-fanfic, Shadow Fox.")

The dark-haired woman sat at a brightly-lit computer terminal in an otherwise empty room, scrolling through the information present on the screen. Her hair cascaded across her brow, neck and shoulders in a rather messy arrangement; just a few inches away from her on the desk, there rested a black fox-like mask which she d normally wear if she was out on patrol, but for the moment she d decided to let her face breathe a while as she perused the information on the computer. "Accounted for...accounted for...and accounted for," she murmured.

She heard a panel-door slide open some distance behind her, but she didn't turn around; only one other person besides herself knew the pass-code needed to open the door from the other side. "Akihiro," she spoke the newcomer's name.

"Hey, Michiko," Ashida Akihiro answered. "Since you're here, I'm guessing it's a slow night for crime-fighting?"

"More or less," Michiko answered. "I figured Koga Michiko should handle outstanding business or else risk going broke...being Shadow Fox isn't going to pay the bills. Luckily for me, being a barbecue-sauce sales rep has been pretty profitable these past few months, and you don't charge me for using the equipment you source for me from the police armory."

"Well, as long as you're using the stuff as it's designed to be used, I have no issue," Akihiro chuckled.

Shrugging, Michiko turned her attention back to the computer screen, while Akihiro pulled up a chair next to her. "Anything interesting happen at the precinct tonight, Officer Ashida?" she asked him.

"Yeah. The paint on the ceiling in the police armory dried faster than expected," Akihiro deadpanned. "Looking at whatever it is you're doing here has got to be the most exciting thing that's happened to me all day today."

Michiko glanced at him. "What I'm doing at the moment is updating the profiles of the special-case criminals I've had to contend with since I started my campaign. A colorful cast, they are."

"Yeah, some of them just don't know any better but to keep coming back for more," Akihiro commented. "I have to say, though, some of them have been pretty goofy to me."

"It's not a popularity contest," Michiko said firmly. "If you're a criminal, you're a criminal. End of story."

"Well, clearly some wouldn't agree with that sentiment," said Akihiro. "Like Mischief, for instance," he gestured to the image of the jester-themed criminal that was on the computer screen just then. "For him, your fights are just one big source of entertainment."

"Well, he would think so...he treats life as just one big source of gags," Michiko grumbled. "But I guess that's what you get when you have a villain who used to work as a TV special-effects consultant."

"And he's not the only thrill-seeker in the lot." Akihiro pointed to another picture, this one depicting a man with spiky blond hair and clad in a brown sleeveless vest and a black dress-shirt underneath. "Take this guy here...Johnny Gamble, right?"

"A real pain in the ass, this one," said Michiko. "Stereotypical bored rich kid, raised in the lap of luxury, grown up with way too much time on his hands. With his knack for constantly being lucky at gambling, you'd think he'd put it to use winning at the tables legitimately...but nope, instead he had to develop a fixation for creating death-traps that give victims a small chance for escape. As if he's the guy from Saw or something."

"The type who lives on the edge, betting outcomes on the toss of a coin, the roll of the dice, or the turn of a revolver in a game of Russian roulette," Akihiro noted. "So far he hasn't killed you or himself yet...and for that you can give thanks."

"Mmm-hmm." Michiko scrolled down further in the list. "Fortunately, those two are still in prison right now...as is this guy," and she pointed to a picture of a man clad in a black leather jacket and black jeans, with a teal-colored T-shirt sporting an odd cybernetic design, and teal-colored dress-shoes.

"Now there's a pain if ever there was one." Akihiro cringed. "Datajack...cyber-hacker extraordinaire. Remember that time he held several Ministers of National Security across different countries hostage by threatening to empty out all of their bank accounts unless they met his demands?"

"Yeah, I remember," said Michiko. "And there was that time when he hacked into a number of cell-phone records, got wind of some, ahem, risqué pictures a few upper-class ladies had taken of themselves, and threatened to leak those pictures onto every major national network unless they paid him a pretty penny...plus there's the fact that he's developed a few pretty serious computer viruses here and there. He's often been hired by shady corporations to steal their competitors secrets and spy on their rivals for any means to ruin them."

"Well, good thing he's behind bars now," said Akihiro. "Although, say...what about her?" and he pointed to a picture of a dark-haired woman in a purple top, a black-and-purple skirt and black thigh-high boots, with a tank strapped to her back and a hose-and-nozzle equipped on one arm.

"Wildfire? She's still in the asylum, last I checked." A thoughtful look came over Michiko's face. "Honestly, concerning her...if I was ever going to feel sorry for anybody on this list, it would have to be her."

"Because of her back-story?" Akihiro wondered.

"Yeah...you should know about it from the precinct's files." Michiko shook her head. "Her father was a firefighter who, ah, loved her a little more than a father should love his daughter. She took to setting fires in various places in their hometown just so her father would be kept too busy to come home; then one day she just got fed up and set him on fire instead. She got sent to a facility for troubled teens, but by that point she'd come to see fire as a source of comfort. These days, she's an arsonist-for-hire; that fuel-tank and arm-equipped nozzle you see there, she made that herself, and she uses a special chemical formula that makes her fire purple... it's her favorite color."

"I can't imagine why," Akihiro replied with a bit of sarcasm.

Michiko continued scrolling through the list, before stopping on the picture of a man in combat fatigues. "Here's Eagle Eye, a seriously tough guy to beat," she said. "Served two tours of duty in the military; exceptionally skilled as a tracker due to his good eyesight, hence his nickname. Nowadays, he works as a freelance assassin, with some serious hand-to-hand skills due to his training."

"Who's worse - him or Ricochet?" Akihiro queried.

"Hard to say, really," Michiko admitted. "Ricochet is an expert sniper, but sniping isn't his only strong suit; any gun in his hands is dangerous. He and Eagle Eye work together sometimes, since they did a stint in the same military unit at one point. Luckily, both of them are under lock-down now."

"Well, that's definitely good to know...less of a headache for us in the force," said Akihiro. "At least we can contend with some of the more mundane street-criminals...like Roundarm there..."

Michiko looked at the screen and saw that Akihiro was referencing a picture of a man in green-and-white baseball gear with a matching cap. "Oh, yeah...him. Another guy who could've used his skills productively if he'd been of an actual mind to."

"He used to be on the football team at Sogai City High School, but he got cut out because of unsportsmanlike conduct...he punched out a guy on the other team during a championship game," Akihiro recounted. "He didn't like that, so he took to systematically attacking everyone he thought had wronged him, and now he's the leader of a local gang made up of similarly-thuggish former athletes, a lot of them being former jocks from his high school crew."

"Roundarm likes to make use of sports-related gear as weapons; hockey sticks and pucks, cricket bats, baseballs as throwing weapons, plus he was on the high school wrestling team for a while too, so he knows how to handle himself in hand-to-hand combat." Michiko shook her head. "Guess you can take the sportsman off the field of play, but you can't take the field of play away from the sportsman."

"Yeah...oh, hey, look at this guy, I remember him!" Akihiro pointed to another picture, this one of a man in a red pinstripe shirt, a pair of trousers with a checker-colored pattern alternating between cyan and indigo, a necktie with the same color scheme as the pants, and a white fedora. "Silly Billy!"

Michiko looked at the man's picture. "He earned his nickname, all right," she said. "A contortionist who can bend his body parts at weird angles that makes him really unpredictable to fight, plus he's really good at taking hits. He used to work in a circus, but he felt he wasn't getting enough of a thrill from that, so he turned to crime to get bigger kicks."

"Doesn't he work with Mischief from time to time? I seem to remember the two of them tag-teamed you at one point," said Akihiro. "And the gadgets Mischief used...sausage-nunchakus, bombs shaped like apples, spring-loaded boxing gloves, razor-edged yoyos..."

"I'd rather not have to remember that embarrassing time, thank you," Michiko growled.

"At least that's not as embarrassing as having a guy like Decker Card for a regular villain," and Akihiro couldn't help but shake his head. "I mean, come on, a guy who's so obsessed with playing cards that he wears a white suit wth the ace of spades on the face-mask and uses weapons based on playing-card suits? That's corny, if you ask me."

"Well, there's no denying he's a deadly one. He actually use metallic playing cards with razor-sharp edges as weapons when he has to fight on his own," Michiko remarked. "And those are definitely not corny. They actually hurt. Trust me, I know."

She brought up another picture, this one depicting a spiky-haired man in dark sunglasses and a black leather jacket with yellow shoulder-pads. "Okay, here's a more straightforward criminal...Bonebreaker, leader of this city's toughest motorcycle gang. Frequently uses a chain, an iron pipe, and knives in personal combat; loves drag-racing; bullies people any time he feels like it; good at taking hits and good at dishing them out; can fly off the handle for any wrong done to him, real or perceived; will never back down from a fight; and has broken people's limbs because they insulted his mother. All in all, a dangerous sociopath."

"Well, at least he doesn't have a lot of brains to back up the brawn," said Akihiro. "Especially when compared to guys like THAT..." and he indicated a picture of a man sporting shoulder-length black hair with purple highlights at the ends, and clad in a black suit and tie with a large black coat over it.

"Minister Sorrow...allegedly refined, definitely a psycho," Michiko said darkly. "He used to work as a psychiatrist, but at some point the number of crazy and depressed cases he got just...well, they just got to him, and he developed a serious superiority complex that everything and everyone should be molded according to how he thought the world should run. He's skilled at manipulation, twisting people's perceptions so that they'll be dependent on him, and he backs it up with drugs and serums that mess with your head."

"There was that time Minister Sorrow ran an underground movement where his followers were committing crimes for him," said Akihiro.

"And a few still do, because they see him as the only one who understands them. Personally, I think he's one of the most dangerous enemies I've ever had to face, precisely BECAUSE of how much he can twist your head with his words and his poisons," Michiko said gravely. "Let's hope he doesn't get out of prison for a really long time."

"Don't jinx yourself. Or have you forgotten that's how you wound up fighting Steel Fist the last time you two clashed?" Akihiro smirked.

Scowling, Michiko glanced at the screen...and there was the image of Steel Fist, a woman in a black outfit with steel-plated tips at the edge of her skirt, steel platings on her armbands and boots, and a steel headband. "Speak of the devil," she sighed. "A former member of an ancient fighting clan who got excommunicated from there when she betrayed their ideals and sold herself as a mercenary and assassin who could be bought at the highest bidder. I stopped her from killing one of her targets, and she's been obsessed with defeating me and reclaiming her 'lost honor' ever since."

"Losing honor implies that you actually had it to start with. Not that lady," Akihiro grunted.

Shrugging, Michiko went to the next picture, depicting a big-bodied man in blue denim jeans and sporting a broad-brimmed cowboy hat. "Here's the Buckaroo, a former rodeo champion who got cheated out of a major bronco-riding trophy because of a few jealous rivals, and he took revenge and killed them. Skilled at bull-riding, lasso-roping, gun-slinging and quick-drawing, and specializes in extremely difficult heists, which he carries out like your stereotypical cattle-rustler of the Wild West."

"I remember him. He's always been fun...for a rustler," said Akihiro.

"A 'fun' villain? Please." Michiko shook her head. "Well, at least these guys are all accounted for so far..."

Akihiro looked thoughtfully at the screen. "But there are still a few you haven't mentioned yet..."

"We'll soon see what the status of the rest of them is, don't worry," said Michiko. "Now let's see here..."

She resumed scrolling through the villains' pictures, soon coming to a man clad in a blue business suit with a matching tie...and covering the top half of his head was a yellow helmet-mask. "Second Sight...his whole gimmick surrounds the creation of hard-light constructs through that helmet of his," she remarked. "Plus he's also able to hypnotize people with a device that messes with your visual perceptions, combined with hypnotic music that he plays in select locations."

"Good thing his gimmicks require advance planning, so he's easy to beat," said Akihiro.

"But he always keeps coming back. Persistent little bugger," Michiko sighed as she went to the next villain's picture. "Okay, here's one of my least favorite enemies: Brutality. A former lawman gone bad."

Akihiro's expression soured. "Yeah...one of Sogai City's not-so-fine officers. That guy was always a problem...manhandling suspects and disregarding their rights."

Michiko looked on another criminal's photo. "Here we have Nitro-Frost...user of liquid nitrogen which he shoots out through a gun-nozzle strapped to a tank he carries on his back. One of these days somebody's going to smash that tank right on his person and he's going to wind up dead."

"Makes you wonder if these guys think their gimmicks through sometimes," said Akihiro. "At least this guy here," pointing to another criminal's picture further down on the screen, "knows a good gimmick...Mask Master, master of a thousand disguises."

"Yeah, he's given me way too much trouble in my career," Michiko acknowledged. "But like the rest, he's in jail where he belongs. Anyway, let's scroll down and see the rest..."

Michiko quickly scrolled down, bringing five more figures' pictures up on the screen. "Dr. Glass, Reflector, Panthera, Blitz and Terror King," Akihiro read their names out loud.

"The glass-obsessed scientist who's a major criminal genius; the guy who wears a bulletproof suit that can create a limited-range plasma-shield and that can also generate electricity for close-range combat; the woman who claims to be all about animal-rights while also utilizing animals in her crime sprees; the guy who uses an experimental body-suit and leg-bracers that increase his running speed and who also happens to be extremely good at parkour-style running; and the psychopath who kills because he gets a sick orgasmic rush from the fear he generates in his victims before butchering them." Michiko sighed. "Thankfully, none of them have been reported as having escaped custody."

"That's good to know," said Akihiro. "Well, that's 22 criminals listed who are accounted for...but..."

"But?" Michiko prompted.

"...where is he?" Akihiro gave Michiko a knowing look. "Sakamoto Ryumaru..."

"...also known as Ghost Wolf," Michiko finished for him. "He's here..." and she scrolled down further on the monitor, showcasing the named villain below the previous five. "He's behind bars too. Where he belongs. Where he's going to stay for as long as I have anything to say about it."

Akihiro's eyes narrowed a little. "Mmm-hmm."

Michiko stood up and stretched. "Well...all in all, it's good that all of them are behind bars now. Now I can get a full night's sleep."

"Hey..." Akihiro got up and placed his hand on her shoulder. "You should get a full night's sleep on any given night anyway. The Sogai City cops can handle the line at least every now and then."

"...I guess so." Michiko turned and walked toward a cot off to the far side of the lair. "Too bad that can't be true 100 percent of the time, so there'd be no need for the likes of me."

Akihiro merely watched as Michiko went and lay down on the cot, unable to answer her rather cynical comment.

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END GAIDEN 06

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NEON MAJESTIC: I have to admit, even though Shadow Fox only exists as a fictional character within the Kitsune no Ken universe, for me she's become something of a main character in this overall universe all on her own. I think the diversity of her rogues' gallery has something to do with it, too.

A point of trivia: Originally, this chapter was going to introduce Shadow Fox's contemporary Raposa, who has been mentioned in the main universe by Gaara on one occasion; and a number of the new enemies outlined in this chapter would have been members of Raposa's own rogues' gallery. Ultimately, however, I decided to just include the new rogues as members of Shadow Fox's own gallery, outlining their abilities and motivations, as well as fleshing out the motivations of the rogues who were already introduced in Chapter 200 of the main story.

It also bears mentioning, for those familiar with our real-world comic books, that most if not all of Shadow Fox's enemies, especially as outlined here in this chapter, are based on established super-villains in comic book history. Just for a few examples, Roundarm is based on Sportsmaster; Silly Billy, on the Rag Doll; Wildfire is a female combination of Heatwave and Firefly; Johnny Gamble is based on the Gambler, a Golden-Age villain; and Decker Card is a one-man version of the Royal Flush Gang, while Second Sight has a bit of Mirror Master (hard-light holograms) with a dash of the DCAU Spellbinder thrown in the mix. And, of course, Mischief is an expy of the Joker.

I also have it in mind to write a scene detailing the end of Shadow Fox's confrontation with Ghost Wolf as was given in Chapter 200 of the main story, as well as the Naruto cast's reactions to it. When will it come? Just be patient.