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Loading... The following is fan fiction. It’s assumed the reader knows the main characters of the King of Fighters series, so there’ll be none of those overlong introductions and descriptions.
This work is not to be reprinted, reposted, sold, copied, or stored anywhere but here on orochinagi.com. Please share a link to this page so I can get 0.0001 cents from ad revenue lol. Characters are copyright SNK, I will apply for licence if this ever gets popular (as if).
Chapter 1
Athena coughed and ever-so-gently cleared her throat. She glanced up, looking towards the director, who stood in the back, aloof in a black suit with dark glasses, watching over the remote monitors. They nodded to each other. A grim determination flashed across Athena’s face, before she returned to beaming that serenity and kindness she was famous for. The director made the call to roll. The bell rang and the doors were shut.
‘Quiet on set! Cameras are rolling!’
‘Episode one, take one in three, …’
The audience fluffers had done a good job and the live audience was quick to start applauding, prompted by the zappy intro music. Athena walked onto the bright, yet typically colourful chat show set, and stopped perfectly behind the tiny sellotape mark on the floor (which the TV never showed), positioning her to face the gaping maw of the camera, and the countless unforgiving viewers behind it.
‘Hello everyone, I’m your host Athena Asamiya-’
She paused for a millisecond, praying that the crowd still recognised her, that she wasn’t losing it, wasn’t getting older, wasn’t losing to her rivals, and the roar of the audience gave her the answer she was looking for. Reassured, she turned a blind eye to the crowd fluffers who were waving their hands frantically to remind the elderly why they were there; throwing gifts into the bleachers to keep the younger audience interested.
‘and this is the SNN Show! Proudly sponsored by the Neogeo Mini, please check it out!’ She turned to the left and raised her slender arm, clad in a long white sleeve attached to a purple ring, pointing for the camera to follow. It didn’t, of course, they just switched to the next camera.
‘On today’s panel: private detective, Mary Ryan!’
Mary tilted her head, smiled and gave a little wave.
The cheers raised again, Athena hoped it was for the approval of law enforcement work rather than the gashapon capsules being launched into the crowd.
‘next we have esteemed sensei of his dojo, Takuma Sakazaki!’
Takuma stood up, tightened his belt and bowed in three directions with an “Osu!” This was not expected, not what they had practiced, but the audience lapped it up and cheered, much to the relief of the director, although the cameraman had a slight panic trying to adjust and keep him in the frame.
Athena, professional as ever, gripped hold of the reigns, holding back her misgivings for this particular guest. ‘And finally we have the director of Howard corporation, Geese Howard!’
Geese was more used to being introduced in a cage fight, and forgot he was wearing a suit, more used to shrugging off the top half of his traditional yukata and showing off his scars to intimidate further his opponent before ramming his foot down their throat. Either way, he was not about to be upstaged by that senile fool, so he stood up and went through the motions anyway, nearly tearing through the bespoke threads as he flexed, giving cameraman three a similar heart attack as he struggled to tilt the camera up to track Geese as he raised his arms and laughed, much like a criminal underlord should.
Watching intently, a ornithologist in the audience suddenly had the recollection of a fowl tempered bird, wings outstretched, attacking a fisherman on a boat, for no particular reason at all.
The applause began to fade, as the audience weren’t really sure if they should cheer such an ominous looking, apparently clean yet obviously not, gaijin businessman. Geese was not amused by this, and shot an angry glance at Athena, who shot an ever so slightly panicked look at the director, who called the crowd fluffers to throw more free crap into the air. The audience burst into cheers. Sated, the grizzled yet finely groomed crime lord returned to his seat, folding his arms. ‘Predictabo!’ he said, before bursting into another fit of laughter.
The director started to sweat. Hadn’t they prepped these guests enough? They weren’t reacting as expected. She motioned to Athena to continue, while giving staff in the studio their cues.
‘Thank you everyone! Today’s topic is ‘major illegal ROM site closed down!’
An infographic appeared on the large projection screen behind the guests heads, with a voiceover explaining over simply how a ROM was a digital copy of a game and could be distributed amongst evil thieves.
‘let’s ask our guests for their opening opinions, starting with Ms. Ryan’
‘Please call me Mary! Thank you so much, Athena, by the way I’m a great fan!’
‘Oh, thank you!’ wondering if it was safe to plug her newest single ‘I hope you continue to cheer me on!’
‘Absolutely! I do love your new single, I-’
An exaggerated yawn from Geese was clearly heard.
The director glanced at the sound director, who blurted ‘he’s already on mute, he’s been grumbling to himself since the start!’ Tsk, she thought, more editing to be done.
In any case, Athena was used to attention seeking guests. ‘And what do you think, Mr Howard?’
‘I don’t see the problem, a bunch of kids sharing some games, so what? Good for them!’
Some of the younger audience started cheering. Geese grinned. This was going to be easy…