The King of Fighters '9X: Chapter Three

By Rune

Iori walked through the forest. He had been late to the torunament and was in a noticeably worse mood than usual. "#$%@ Kusanagi..." he muttered, "Always seems to be one step ahead of me..." Iori continued muttering to himself until a figure walked out of the trees. "Hey," it said, "Give us all your money." Iori laughed loudly.
"You've got to be kidding! Don't you know who I am!?!"
"No."
"You've never heard of Iori Yagami?"
"No."
Iori frowned and began to walk away. "And where're you going?" the figure, still hidden in the trees, asked. "I've got things to do," Iori responded. As soon as he finished speaking, a group of former sharks on skateboards and pogo sticks walked out of the trees. Iori laughed. "A fight, eh?" He said with a smile, "I need some exercise anyway!" All of the thugs dashed toward Iori and were about to hit him when Iori's hands ignited with Orochi flame. The thugs stopped dead in their tracks, and Iori took this oppurtunity to jump upward and hit them with a Wicked Chew. The thugs who hadn't fallen to the ground ran away as fast as they could. Iori smiled and continued to Onett.

Meanwhile, Ness, Tracy, and the Psycho Soldiers had returned to town to watch the fights. There would be two battles today, one of them being part of the single fighter tournament. The first fight was Shingo Yabuki, a student of Kyo's, versus Frank Fly, who had entered the tournament to get some exercise, seeing as how he didn't fight much after reforming the sharks.

Frank walked onto the battlegrounds and was received with loud cheering from the sharks who were in the audience. Shingo was met with clapping from Kyo, who was in the stands along with the rest of the Hero Team. "I'll hnor my master by defeating Frank!" Shingo yelled excitedly, "I won't let you down, Kyo!" The fight began.

Frank brandished a knife and dashed toward Shingo, but Shingo was ready and jumped over Frank. "Lousy punk!" Frank yelled angrily, "Stay still so I can slay ya!" Shingo faced Frank and delivered a square punch to the jaw. Frank growled and lunged forward, slicing Shingo's cheek with a huge knife. "That was cheap!" Shingo growled, "I'm going to finish this here and now!" Shingo jumped away from Frank and began to concentrate. Suddenly, Shingo flew forward and tackled Frank, delivered a punch to the stomach, and ended with a Wicked Chew much like Kyo's, but flameless.

The force of Shingo's blows sent Frank falling to the floor. The referee ran up and declared Shingo to be the winner. Shingo proceeded to run to the stands and high-five Kyo. Much to Kyo's dismay, though, Shingo took the seat right next to Kyo for the rest of the day.

The day's final match and the last to take place in Onett was the Fatal Fury team against a team that was fighting for the first time. No one knew their identities, but they were rumoured to be incredibly powerful. As the Fatal Fury team walked in, a helicopter descended and deposited three shadowy figures.

Who are these mysterious fighters? Will thet be able to stand up to the Lonely Wolves? Will Iori make his grand entrance anytime soon? Most of this and a bit more in the next edition of KoF '9X!