Fetzen
Frettzo
teenangstlife
Lord Zee
Neziul
Ariamis
rush99999
Simply Not Real
ShadowheartRecruitment Process
Word Count: 5409 (+6)
Level 5 Captain Falcon: 47/50
Level 9/10 Terry Bogard: 33/100
Level 8 Amaterasu: 50/80
Level 5 Captain Falcon: 47/50
Level 9/10 Terry Bogard: 33/100
Level 8 Amaterasu: 50/80
Forbidden Kingdom ~ Esaka’s Lower Tier
”Pao Pao?” Captain Falcon asked into his linkpearl. He was obviously new in this city so he couldn’t be sure how close he was. ”I’m sure I can find it. Catch you in just a bit. Falcon, out!” The bounty hunter released his grip on the linkpearl and began scanning the area he was in. He didn’t see any signs of the restaurant Terry named, so it looked like he was gonna have to do some hoofing to find it. He made a mental note to himself to try and learn the city some more as he went along, or at the very least get his hands on a map as he could.
Falcon briskly walked around the City’s Lower Tier. He mostly saw rundown dojos but there were occasional eateries as well. None named Pao Pao, however. As his eyes scanned the block he was exploring down, Falcon managed to spot something that could be of help - a sign that looked like it had a map of this tier printed on it. It reminded him of a shopping mall map, since it had one of those “you are here” dots to let the reader know where they were in relation to everything else. ”Let’s see…” The Captain mumbled as he gave the map sign a once-over. ”Pao Pao… Pao Pao… Pao Pa- Ah, there it is!”
Falcon made a quick note of the quickest route, ”Just gotta go… this way!” He said, already resuming his brisk walk. After a few moments he picked up the pace and moved with a jog instead, hoping to give himself and Terry the time they would need to find their third fighter and register for the tournament in time. Before too much longer, Cap spotted a restaurant in the distance with a sign that read “Pao Pao” which made him pick up his pace as he quickly closed the distance.
He didn’t see Terry, and figured the bruiser was inside. Falcon also noted the presence of a combot just outside of Pao Pao’s doors. It made sense to him. He figured these combots were probably set up in all kinds of places with heavy foot traffic and other popular hotspots that prospective fighters would be hanging around at. But he couldn’t use the combot yet until and he had a team formed, so for now Cap ignored and pushed in through the doors of Pao Pao. Terry wasn’t hard to spot, the bruiser’s physique and trademark trucker hat made him stand out easily.
”Ah ha, there you are!” Cap greeted Terry, ”I couldn’t find that ‘Psycho Dojo’ you mentioned, but I did find the Breakers, and Sensei Sawamura was nice enough to let me join.” Cap explained, ”So about the King Of Fighters. We’re gonna need a third man for our team. Any ideas?”
When Cap entered, the sight of Terry introducing Richard and the Seekers to each other was the first to welcome him. He might be a bit late to the party, but regardless, when Richard reciprocated the introduction, he gave the bounty hunter a knowing, sidelong glance from his counter. He nodded, bowing his shoulders slightly in front of every Seeker in attendance.
“A pleasure meeting you folks here. As you might’ve probably heard from my hat-wearing fellow here, I’m the owner of Pao Pao Café. Well, the co-owner, actually, because I used to run this café with a guy I’ve considered a son for so long. This is our newest outlet. We used to have one back in Mafia Town, but, oh, well… It didn’t quite work as expected,” Richard introduced himself, then shrugged, smiling wryly at the thought of the prior outlet he opened before moving to Esaka. “But anyway, is there anything you folks might like to order? A bulgogi? Noted! Coming right up!” After taking notes of everyone’s order—save for Nadia who’d ordered her lunch to a Mii waitress earlier—Richard began preparing the lunches. He’d started with Zenkichi’s and Nadia’s orders, as they were the first to place the orders.
Meanwhile, Terry was busy recounting the kind of mess that he’d gotten himself into after the Seekers went to find their dojos, telling them that it was “as insane as insane could get, especially when it came to those girls and the fat guy.” He also caught up with Sakura when she introduced herself in front of him. Finally, he thought, since she was one of the few Seekers Terry could recognize. “Why, thanks for the warm welcome, Sakura! So, you guys are called the Seekers, huh? The more y’know,” Terry responded, then shrugged, happily chuckling. “Well, actually, Cap and I are still finding that one last member for our team. Think we’d find one in a minute, no doubt. And, um… yeah, I get it, no worries, okay? You probably wanna meet some of your old buds from the Street Fighter dojo, especially Ryu and Ken, right? Jeez, I just remember that I haven’t met the katera fella in a long while. Do you know where he is? I mean, you’re his student, aren’t you?”
When Cap seemingly approached, Terry quickly turned around, but not before gesturing to Richard to catch his pouch of prize money. “Hey, Richard!” Terry called before tossing the pouch in his direction, in which Richard subsequently caught. “Gotta pay for everybody’s meal in advance before I forget it, don’tcha think? Oh, and also, make me a double-decker cheeseburger with some bacon slices, will ya? I’m gettin’ real hungry right now.” A giggle escaped his mouth, as he caressed his growling tummy. He was confident that the coins the pouch contained were more than enough to pay for the lunches, as it felt heavier than it actually looked. Shifting his attention away from the occupied Richard, the hat-wearing bruiser went on to draw his steps closer to the bounty hunter, giving him a smile and a big wave.
“Yo, Cap! I knew you’d find us,” he said cheerfully. “I see… So, you did take my advice, huh? Gotta say, Sawamura’s one helluva fighter. You’re in good hands, bud.” Then, as Cap brought up the potential third person for their team, Terry pondered, now lowering his duffle bag completely. He hummed, then caressed his mandible, narrowing and moving his eyes to their corners. “Hmm… Well, actually, a friend of mine did offer me to be in his team just yesterday,” he revealed, then scanned his surroundings, hoping to find Ryo somewhere in the café, “but I don’t think he’s anywhere near this place. Not from what I can tell. He usually spends most of his time training at the temple next to our dojo or visiting the BBQ place his family’s been running around the mid-tier side of the city. Though, we gotta move fast, don’t we? Visiting him might actually take a while, and besides, he might’ve already formed a team by now with the guy I told you about.” Obviously, he was referring to Robert again, Ryo’s rival/steadfast comrade. Usually, the ‘dragon and tiger’ duo would already find a teammate in either their mentor, Yuri, or King, which was possibly the reason why Ryo told Terry that he needed to “check if there’s still a spot for you to join my team soon.” Eventually, after failing to find anybody he might know, he turned his attention back across Richard, glancing sidelong at him.
“So, uh, Richard, you sure you don’t wanna join KOF at all?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.
Richard shook his head, still busy with preparing the Korean-style BBQ at hand. “Nope. Not at all. I’m sorry, Terry, I wish I could, but haven’t I told you that I’m already way too old for that?”
Terry exhaled, then placed a hand over his hip, puffing his cheeks. “Oh, right. You did tell me,” he admitted before drawing his attention back across the teammate in front of him. “Gosh, I wish Andy or Joe was here, but, oh, well… Guess the only way now is to ask one of our guys, ain’t it?” He gestured a thumb at the seated Seekers next to them. “We can’t be the only ones yet to register, can we? Who knows if there are more peeps yet to sign up for a tournament?”
There was, indeed, at least one, though it was likely not one Terry would have considered, given she was currently sitting on the floor. The divine Ametarasu looked for all intents and purposes, to the unenlightened, like a completely regular white wolf, though any who’d been especially observant might have seen her awkwardly pawing at a menu and having great difficulty with the pages due to her lack of thumbs.
This activity she presently gave up on, her ears having pivoted towards Terry and the Captain’s conversation, and now hearing an opportune time to pop into it, did so.
Her method for this was to grab a napkin between her teeth, and then to wander over and present it to them, the slightly punctured and wet paper having gained, during its trip, the words “do you require third” in perfect curling calligraphy, each word completed in a single brush stroke, which was written in pure black ink.
It took the Captain a minute to register that someone else was standing nearby. Or sitting, as the case may be. ”Hm? What’s this?” Cap asked, gently accepting the note from Amaterasu’s mouth. ”You’re offering to join us?” Falcon commented, handing the napkin to Terry to read if he so desired. He could recall Pit’s explanation to everyone on the Avenger who this wolf actually was.
”What do you say, Terry?” Cap asked, ”She may look like an ordinary wolf, but Pit told us that Amaterasu here is actually a goddess in some kind of disguise. Or was it that she was stuck in this body? Well, either way, she’s perfectly capable of handling herself if we want to let her join our team.”
As for Terry, it took a bit longer for him to notice that there was somebody way below his height just perching and lifting her gaze, as she watched the conversation unfolded. When he glanced sidelong, said small figure turned out to be a… white wolf handing them both a piece of written napkin? He had no idea that a wolf was among the newly arriving crew entering Esaka. Quite funny, he thought, considering they also called him a ‘wolf.’ ‘The Legendary Wolf’ or ‘The Hungry Wolf,’ to be precise. Maybe it would make a lot of sense recruiting a literal wolf since his prior team had always been wolf-themed, supposedly?
Stepping forth, Terry paced right next to Cap, his curious blue eyes taking a look at the beautifully written words decking the once blank napkin. Tipping his baseball cap, he narrowed his eyes, seemingly marveling at the sight before his shimmering gaze. It was almost like the obsolete Japanese calligraphy decking the walls of KOF dojo—perhaps, even more sophisticated.
“Well, damn! Ain’t that the prettiest handwriting I’ve ever seen,” he complimented and caressed his mandible, peering over Cap. “Welp… I think I kinda believe him. I used to have a pet monkey back home, y’know. No average animal can interact and understand what we’re saying, let alone writing this piece of art.” Because he knew that the best Ukee could do was dancing, playfully punching him in the face, and playing random music on his old cassette player.
Out of affection, Terry decided to approach Amaterasu, then ducked right in front of her. He gently caressed her white fur, thinking that she might like the friendly gesture as much as Ukee liked it. “Aww… aren’t you the cutest wittle thing?” Terry asked with a smile on his face.
Or at least, that was his plan. Instead as his hand approached the wolf, who’d been looking at him curiously, arched her back, there was a rush of warm air, and then his hand collided with something unseen. Something that felt like metal heated under the sun.
To those with the sight, such as Pit, they could see clear as day that Amaterasu had just used her sun disk to parry the incoming unconsented to pet. To all others, the man’s hand had simply been stopped and turned away. Gently but firmly rebuffed by the wolf’s divine will.
Huh? Weird… I swear I could’ve sensed something, he mused, as the warmth of the sun disk kissed his gloved hand. Clearly, he was oblivious to the fact since he was never one of those guys with strong spiritual beliefs, let alone a celestial being like Pit. Thinking he might’ve just pissed her off, he instead chose to observe Amaterasu’s movements closely, his blue eyes glistening with affection.
“Y’know, they always called my team a pack of wolves back then, Cap. So, yeah, if you think this cute lil’ fella over here has what it takes to compete in the tournament, then I guess why not? Maybe she was some kinda a goddess or a human being before… whatever happened to her, right, ‘wolfie’?” He giggled, then shrugged, seemingly putting a lot more attention to the wolf goddess. Somehow, being around her reminded him of all those leisure times he spent with his cute, little best friend, and it couldn’t help that he’d been missing him so badly. “Y’know what, wolfie, I think you and Ukee would’ve gotten along real well. I wonder where he is now. Hope he’s alright...” Carefully, he stood up, then lifted his duffle bag over his shoulder again, facing Cap. “Alright, then! Now that our team is set, let’s just—”
“Not so fast!”
WHOOSH!
“Woahhh–!!”
Suddenly, a voice called out in the trio’s direction around the same time a saxophone delicately played in the background, the former seemingly belonging to that of a young, bubbly lady. Initially, it had Terry believing it was another admirer asking for an autograph until a fan was hurled in his direction. He quickly caught the fan, giving it a careful glance.
“Wait a sec… No way! It’s—”
“Yeah, that’s right!” the voice exclaimed, as Terry shifted his attention towards the lady in skimpy biker gear standing right across him. As it turned out, the lady in question was undoubtedly… “Mai Shiranui has arrived! Kept you waiting all month, huh?”
Terry gasped, relieved yet not knowing how to react. Deep down, he’d been worrying about Mai since she left Esaka out of the blue, knowing that all the people he’d cared for had been going missing under mysterious circumstances. As Mai pointed at the hat-wearing bruiser using the other fan in her gloved grip, he returned the gesture by tossing the prior fan back to her, smiling broadly.
“Jeez, Mai! Where the hell have you been?” Terry asked, briefly giggling.
Mai reflexively caught the fan, her beautifully adorned ponytail whipping along her gracious movement. “I got exactly the same question for you, Terry,” she answered, then smiled back, tucking the fan back under her leather jacket. “I came back just in time for another KOF, so where were you? Where’s Andy? Don’t tell me you’ve been hiding my darling away from me, haven’t you?”
Falcon coughed awkwardly, ”Friend of yours, Terry?” He asked, correctly assuming that Terry knew this woman. And from the way she talked, quite well at that. Though she seemed equally as annoyed to see him as she was glad.
Terry whispered, slightly shifting his attention towards both of his future teammates. “Well, yeah… Been good pals for a long time. Actually, don’t mind her. She’s fine, sure, but she can be annoying at times.”
“I can hear you,” Mai interrupted, rolling her eyes and crossing her slender arms. “Still, you haven’t answered my question, ‘Mr. Fancy Wolf.’ Where’s my sweet, sweet darling? Don’t tell me you’re not ‘his babysitter’ again. Do you even care about your own brother?”
His relief shifted into that of annoyance. Terry knew moments like this would’ve occurred, eventually, especially when it came to his brother going missing. But unlike the previous encounters, he seemed more serious than he was nonchalant when he reacted to Mai’s accusations. “That’s it, Mai! You seriously think I’m that insane? Why’d I even hide Andy to begin with?” he questioned, then snorted, spreading a hand. “Actually, I’ve been going around looking for not just Andy, but all of our guys ever since they went missing. Been going from places to places, even travelling way beyond Japan, but hey, whaddaya know? I wish I was lucky enough to find ’em.”
“Oh, really?” Mai asked back, arching an eyebrow. “I don’t think for a second that you look for them hard enough, yes? Because if you did, we would’ve met when I went to almost—I mean almost—every remote place I could find around the globe. Like seriously!” She might’ve exaggerated a little, though the way she glanced widely at Terry, she seemed to mean what she said. “But anyway, that doesn’t matter. The thing is, I have something to propose to you,” she revealed before asking: “Will you be in my team? I mean, we can always find Andy and the others together, right?”
“Well, about that…” Terry snickered, nervously scratching his cheek. “Sorry, Mai, I wish we could, but I think I almost forgot to tell you that I already have a team.” His gaze then darted from one corner to another, as he gestured and introduced his teammates and Mai to one another. “You guys, this is Mai. And Mai, this one’s Cap, and that cute, lil’ puppy over there is, erm… Gosh, how do I spell it? Ammy. Yeah, that’s right, Ammy! Like the nickname, wolfie?”
It was better than Snowball at least, the wolf thought. It was also coincidentally the same one her former diminutive traveling companion Issun had given her which she considered a sign of things to come. The irreverent insect’s companionship had been a mixed blessing after all. The bug (who was not a bug nor liked being called one) had often done the talking for them during their travels, and it had been a 50/50 toss up over whether he’d get them into trouble whenever he opened his mouth. This man was looking to be taking up that role in her life, at least for the duration of this tournament, which was sure to lead to interesting times.
Mai’s expression completely faltered, her attractive face dropping and weakening. “Oh, I see, so you already have a team, huh? Even when Andy and Joe aren’t around, you’ll still find a way to leave me out.” For a moment, she narrowed her eyes at both Cap and Amaterasu, pressing her gloved knuckles against her hips. Then, after a while, she lifted her face, her expression brightening once more. “Duh, whatever! It’s not like I don’t have Yuri and King. No worries!” she reassured, shrugged, then ducked to reach the wolf goddess perching close to both male fighters. “Aww, aren’t you a sweet, little thing?” She intended to pet Amaterasu the way Terry did, but again, something just held her back from doing so for no reason. Perhaps, the sun disk was still working at full effect, who knows? Then, as the kunoichi gracefully stood, she closed in on Cap, teasing him as she poked his built torso with the tip of her fan. “And you, Cap. I think you look cute,” she complimented, “but not as cute as Andy.”
”Uh yes, thank you. And you do too, of course.” Falcon said with an awkward cough, ”And the full name is Captain Falcon, by the way. But others besides you have taken to just calling me Cap, so that’s fine.” And with a gesture toward the white wolf he added, ”And her full name is Amaterasu, so you know. Er, the jury’s still out on whether or not she likes being called Ammy, though. And uh, yeah, she’s not the biggest fan of being petted if you couldn’t tell.”
The wolf considered giving the one bark for yes in response to the captain’s very helpful words, before considering the complexity of answering 3 different statements with a simple yes. Thus, instead, she first showed off the document from Jun Kazama which had her name on it again (pulling it out of her fur in an impossible manner) before flipping it around and writing “consent is important” on the back, because this seemed like something she was going to have to keep reminding people of.
With a look toward Terry, Falcon was almost relieved when the topic was brought back to the tournament. ”Speaking of the Tournament. We should probably speak to the combot outside and get ourselves registered. Time is running out, after all.” to which all were in agreement.
