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Chapter 4

Some of the younger audience started cheering. Geese grinned. This was going to be easy…

‘As you probably understand better than anyone else here,’ said Mary, folding her arms, ‘these people are making money from stolen goods’

‘Money?’ It was clear that thoughts were suddenly running through his head. ‘C’mon! You saw the video, there was no money.’

‘Well I guess I have some news for you, are you ready?’ Sighing, she flicked her hair and looked to the side. ‘They’re making money from advertising revenue, and you can trust they’re not paying taxes.’

Geese stood up, but the cameraman was ready this time. ‘No taxes? They are using some funny tricks. I shall have my men look into this. In fact, thanks for the tip, I will take care of it, take care of it all, and the games, and they will be free, free for all!!’ Geese raised his head back and started laughing heartily again, as the audience cheered, not quite sure if it OK to cheer for something that sounded pretty illegal. Mary put her palm to her face, and shook in exasperation, however, unseen to all, she smiled, as the bait had been taken.

Just off set, a man in a biker jacket and bandana stood watching intensely, playing with a pack of cigarettes, looking like a reject from a Guns and Roses cover band audition. If you had mentioned this to him, however, it quite seemed you’d likely be dead, as he’d smash you with the large collapsible pole he was carrying with him, innit guv. As Geese broke into laughter, this man followed suit, more from an automatic impulse than anything else.

Next to him, a slender young man dressed not unlike a butler, was tapping instructions into his phone. He nodded to the man in the biker jacket, who had no idea what was going on and started to get visibly anxious. He swung around to face the two men in black behind him, the only real striking difference between them being that one was bald. He laughed at them, staring. Trying to read the situation, they both started laughing and hoped they wouldn’t get their faces pushed in.

As the laughter in the back grew louder, Athena had meanwhile been planning to pass the discussion to Mr Sakazaki but he on the other hand had been absolutely silent, staring out into space.

Just as she decided to take the chance, Takuma suddenly stood up and chopped the guest table in half, shouting “CHESTO!”

As the audience gasped, Athena took the initiative. “Thank you Mr Sakazaki for the demonstration, isn’t that amazing, everyone?’ she applauded, and everyone followed.

“I’ve got it, kids!” He shouted, “I’ll create a game called Kyokogenryu 2! I’ll put on mobile and everyone will play it and our dojo will become famous with students signing up for real lessons!!”

The Sakazaki family (and friends) in the audience shrank into their seats, trying to evaporate into the darkness of the gap between the seats, becoming one with the remnants of popcorn ground into the red carpet, dropped there during the arguably less embarrassing private viewing of “Mexican live action Art of Fighting” of the night before.

The director made a mental note to edit in a interested ‘oooh’ audience clip afterwards. Thank Orochi this wasn’t live.

‘Well’ Athena grit her teeth ‘that’s a great idea!’

Takuma, startled, sheepishly bowed to three directions.

‘Pathetic!’ Geese stood up again, ‘now I’ll show you real power!’ He looked around for something to obliterate.

‘Mr Howard!’ he swivelled towards the idol, ready for a challenge. ’as the head of a large successful corporation, what do you think of this idea?’

Geese folded his arms and stroked his chin.

‘So you want to challenge my business acumen? Bring it on!’

Oh shit, thought Geese, I don’t know anything about running a dojo. Whatever.

‘The idea is a good one! Your main objective is to be the strongest, and crush your rivals, by whatever means necessary’

About to laugh, he was interrupted by the detective.

‘what do you mean, any means necessary? Violence? Extortion?’

However, it was Takuma who answered, ‘that’s a good idea, I could challenge the other game makers to matches, and the winner takes all!’ Takuma put his hands on his hips and started laughing, and Geese joined in. They looked at each other from the corners of their eyes, chests out, laughing, the volume and bodily movement raising in competition.

Geese put up his hand. This guy was obviously insane, but certainly strong. Perhaps now would be a good time to bring him into the fold.

‘Fighting is one thing but you need help with marketing and spreading the word, and I know a large group of people that could help’ Geese placed his hand on his chest.

‘I haven’t forgotten what you’ve done to our family and many others, Mr Howard.’ Takuma turned his back. ‘You’ve bought out many small businesses and then turned them into questionable activities. The family would prefer to stay in control of our dojo.’

‘That’s probably for the best!’ Mary tried not to smirk ‘money isn’t everything.’

‘Pathetic! Only the weak dwell over the past. Don’t forget I offered you plenty of money. Much like the others, and they accepted! You are proud, you are strong, and I admire that. I too have learned, as I grew even more powerful.’ Geese stroked his chin again, ‘Instead of buying you out, for example, for a cut of the profits, we could invest some money.’

‘After everything you’ve done,’ Takuma looked out towards where he thought his daughter was sitting, having been kidnapped directly because of Howard Corp., but the bright lights outshone the sea of faces. ‘there’s nothing you could say that would tempt-’

‘How about 100,000?’

‘100,000??? Where do I sign?’ Takuma looked back over his shoulder, his eye visibly gleaming, thinking in US dollars, while Geese was thinking in terms of yen. Takuma stuck out his hand and they shook, laughing. The hand shake continued and neither wanted to let go or stop laughing, becoming a challenge.

Mary just stared into the audience, accusing them of collaborating with this collusion.

From the depths of the bleachers, the Spanish heir to the Garcia foundation added up the financial help he had funnelled into the Sakazaki family. It was way more than 100k. His fist shook.

The director wiped her brow. At least they weren’t threatening the other guests with a knife, like that crazy yakuza during the auditions. Always a pain, that Ryuji. She adjusted her sunglasses and maintained her look over the monitors. Let’s see how that plucky idol deals with the next segment.

This is a work of 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).