Chapter 83

I woke up with a pounding headache, finding myself on a Sofa at Chin Gentsai's place with no real recollection of how I'd gotten back or even how most of last night had wound up going. That was interesting in and of itself, because it took enough alcohol to get a literal elephant drunk for me to reach that level, thanks to all my supernatural abilities.

Fortunately, I'd prepped for that before heading out, brewing up an Alchemical Hangover Cure. Apparently, the Count of Saint Germain used to do this all the time, when he wasn't helping people hunt Vampires or something. I'd heard he went after the Demon Dracula once, chased the Actual Dracula out of Bavaria a decade later, and even handled the Whirlwind on his own a few hundred years after that. I trusted his abilities to make a simple hangover cure.

Shifting over in my futon and grabbing the green vial on the dresser next to me I popped the cork and downed the stuff. It tasted vile, which was probably the point. Old school medicine always tasted foul, and this was a recipe from the sixteenth century. I shuddered at the taste as it went down, but sighed as I felt my headache subside.

Now feeling at least somewhat normal, I swung myself out of bed and tried for a few moments to piece together just what had happened last night. I remembered briefly consulting on a Yog Cult issue in Kijuju for the Special Forces before heading back inside to begin putting drinks away with Kensou. There had been a Capoeira demonstration which I remembered fairly well, because the Owner of the Pao Pao Cafe, Richard Meyer, had taken part in the exhibition, showing a fluidity of movement, speed, and power that could only come from Chi Training.

I briefly recalled making a bet with Richard Meyer's Protege, a guy named Bob Wilson, on who would win the second King of Iron Fist Tournament, since the Mishima Zaibatsu was hosting it at the same time as the King of Fighters Tournament was going on. Checking my pants pocket revealed a slip written on the back of a napkin advertising Meichtry Draft with the details. Apparently, Bob had bet me an unlimited tab at the Pao Pao Cafe versus me making him a magic item of his choice that Mishima Kazuya would successfully retain his title, while I'd bet on Mishima Heihachi.

Filing that away for later, I also came up with another napkin with a phone number on it, and the name 'King' written on it. I had a fuzzy recollection of wingmanning Kensou after practically drinking two whole shelves of booze. He'd been talking to an energetic Chinese Girl with braided hair loopies while I'd talked to her more butch Friend, a short-haired Blonde in a more formal outfit. I honestly wasn't sure how that had turned out, because anything after the mid-way point of that conversation was a blur, but I must've made some sort of impression if I'd gotten a number.

"I ought to go check in on Kensou." I muttered.

Sure, consulting with Jill Valentine of the Special Forces about a possible Old One Cult dedicated to Yog, Cannibal God of the Empty Abodes in the Kijuju Autonomous Zone was productive, and sure betting on the King of Iron Fist Tournament could be a good way to score free food and drinks, but it hadn't been what I'd set out to do. I'd only consider last night a success if Kensou had gotten his petty jealousy out of his system. Fortunately, I'd prepped more than one hangover cure.

I made my way over to the guest room Kensou was staying in and knocked on the door. A muffled shout and cursing in Japanese echoed out of the room, letting me know that Kensou was alive, at least. A second knock got a groan from inside, which forced me to try and talk my way in.

"Come on, Kensou. I've got something that'll help you out with your hangover." I insisted.

A muttered curse was followed by a crash from inside, which was followed by more Japanese cursing. Eventually, Kensou opened the door and I was treated to the sight of a bleary-eyed, half-dead, surly, Kensou. He seemed to have a Foot Clan Bandana tied around his neck like a makeshift scarf, alongside a few bruises, which was interesting. I didn't recall getting into a fight with any Foot Clan Deserters last night, but then, with my regeneration, unless they were packing another converted Travi-Com Communications Laser or something, I wouldn't know if I had. Most of the wounds they could deal to me with their normal arsenal would have healed overnight.

"Drink this." I intoned, pressing the vial of green liquid into Kensou's hand.

Kensou pulled the cork out with his teeth and downed the vial, almost gagging up half of it in the process and only just barely managing to keep the nasty liquid down. He made a face as he handed the vial and stopper back to me like he'd just swallowed a worm or something.

"What's in this?" Questioned Kensou.

"Essence of verbena, boiled silphium leaves, and a few other things. Luckily, I kept a pretty big supply of potion ingredients after leaving Sunnydale. I doubt I could find my usual supplies out here. Unless you happen to know of any Kalderash Romani in the area who might be willing to trade, anyway." I answered.

"Why does it taste so bad?" Queried Kensou.

"It's a recipe from the Sixteenth Century, back before folks were so hung up on making medicine taste good. After all, when you could be attacked by a Vampire or raided by marauders, things like taste took a back seat to functionality." I shrugged.

"Were Vampire attacks really all that common back then?" Asked Kensou.

"Moreso than they are now, at any rate. Back in the era before modern, rapid, communications, the Masquerade was a lot looser when it came to the Supernatural. There were large swathes of countryside in certain parts of the globe where some Chi Adept, Demon Hybrid, Sorcerer, or what have you could just roll in and declare themselves the Lord and it could take weeks or months for a response to be mustered from elsewhere, if one came at all." I nodded.

"Huh. I guess I'm just too used to how things are nowadays." Mused Kensou.

Nowadays isn't all that dissimilar in certain parts of the world. Some parts of Africa and Asia are still like that. The Kalonga Governate in Equatorial Kundu is a major outpost of the Black Dragon in West Africa, for instance. Hell, until a few years ago, Patusan was like that too. Colonel Chi may have had the backing of the Ultratech Corporation, but the sort of cyborg tech he got from them might as well be magic for all most folks are concerned." I informed.

"Kind of makes you wonder about Humanity's Place in all this, doesn't it?" Offered Kensou.

"Not in the least. You don't want to go down that road, trust me. Go back far enough into Earth's History and things can get downright depressing. Anyway, we've wandered off-topic. Are we good? We're supposed to leave today for the tournament and there's no way we can fight as a team if we're at each other's throats." I pointed out.

"Yeah, we're good." Nodded Kensou, pulling a napkin out of his pants pocket. It had a phone number on it along with the name, 'Xiangfei', and a lipstick kiss impression on it. Good on him, this might be just what he needed to clear his mind of any weird jealousy.

"Good. On that note. We should hit the showers now. Check-in is in three hours and we want to get there early." I pointed out.

"Right." Agreed Kensou.

On that note, I headed into the bathroom, taking advantage of my relative freshness compared to Kensou's bruised form. Fifteen minutes later I was showered and all ready to go. I dressed and grabbed my bags, which mostly contained the sort of stuff that I'd take to something like this. Fresh clothes, alchemy stuff, that sort of thing, and headed downstairs for a smoke. Ironically, Athena was waiting in the lobby of the apartment building, fresh as a daisy and with her own bags ready to go.

"Morning. I wasn't sure if you and Kensou would get up on your own. I was going to give you a few more minutes before heading back up. Is Kensou on his way down?" Questioned Athena.

"He was out of the shower and getting dressed when I left the apartment. He ought to be down in a bit." I offered.

"Good. We've got a taxi coming in a half an hour to take us to the airport, but I wanted to be able to go over the game plan beforehand." Nodded Athena.

"Studious of you." I chuckled.

"Hey, the stakes are pretty high. Why wouldn't I be studious about this?" Queried Athena.

"Good point." I acknowledged.

"What's a good point?" Asked Kensou, walking up with his own suitcase.

"While you two were slacking off and chatting up girls at a bar, I was scouting ahead. How many times have I told you to take training seriously? Honestly, Kensou." Chided Athena.

"Sorry, Athena." Muttered Kensou, sheepishly.

"So what did you find out?" I questioned.

"I know who our first match is going to be. Kim Kaphwan and Team Korea Justice." Grinned Athena.

"All right, I'll bite. How did you find that out?" I queried.

"It just so happens that my Agency has a business arrangement with the sponsor, Kagura Enterprises, through their Music Label. I was able to lean on my connections that way to get an idea of who our randomly selected first-round opponents would be." Grinned Athena.

"That's amazing, Athena!" Praised Kensou.

"Yes well, it pays to be a super-popular Idol as a day job, you know?" Smirked Athena.

"All right, so what are we up against?" I asked.

"Right, I forgot you're new to the tournament circuit. All right, first up is Team Korea Justice's Big Man, Chang Koehan. Normally, he fights with his size, a few wrestling moves, and a ball and chain. Recently, he's been mixing in a few Taekwondo and Judo maneuvers in as well. I'm told he can copy Kim's Hienzan now, if imperfectly. He's got a pretty hard head and a lot of stamina, which has only gotten worse since he's been training his Chi. At the same time, his Judo Training means he'll be hard to get off his feet. This may be a case where moving straight to Chi Attacks would be preferable." Explained Athena.

"If we have to. I don't like jumping straight to sinking the showboat, though." Huffed Kensou.

"Kensou, remember why we're in this. It's to stop the Yamata-No-Orochi from waking up and eating a giant chunk of East Asia before somebody calls in the nukes or something and wrecks even more." I pointed out.

"Right, moving on, we have Choi Bounge. He's a speed fighter who likes to rush in and cut opponents up with his claws. He's not going to be hard to put down by hitting him, the problem is getting a hit in the first place. Choi's a former Criminal Assassin and that means he's tricky. I've heard he recently figured out a technique to hide himself in plain sight and even cloak his Chi Presence. That won't be too much of a problem since at least two of us have ways beyond Chi to track him." Continued Athena.

"I should be able to pick him up with Magic." I nodded.

"Good. Then the more pressing issue is that he's even farther along in his Chi Training than Chang Koehan is. He has adapted several of the Kim Family Taekwondo Techniques to suit his own style. More than just the Hienzan. He'll try and hit you hard and fast, darting in before using his new stealth technique to try and fade from view. I have counters for that and I know Ulysses does too. I think your best bet, Kensou is going to be Chi Attacks again, though." Pressed Athena.

"That's gonna leave me awfully drained if my option here is to go all out from the start." Frowned Kensou.

"I have you covered with restoratives." I intoned.

"Right, which brings us to Kim. He's the best of the other two. Fast, Strong, and Sturdy, well-trained, really he's one of the better all-around fighters in the tournament, which is why he's the team captain. He likes to get in quickly with a rushing attack to close distance and then combo like there's no tomorrow. He's got no ranged capability aside from his rushes, though, so Chi Blasts, Psychic Bolts, and Magic ought to be able to soften him up. The issue is going to be keeping him from getting in range." Informed Athena.

"Leave Kim to me. I'll handle him." I offered.

"Right, which leaves Choi Bounghe for me and Chang Koehan for Kensou." Remarked Athena.

"I can handle Chang." Promised Kensou.

"Right, then it sounds like we're good to go. We know exactly what we're up against and have some idea how to counter." Mused Athena.

"Really, that's all we can do." I shrugged.

"I guess now all that's left is to wait for our Taxi." Concurred Kensou.

"I'm gonna grab a smoke. Won't be able to on the flight." I shrugged.

"I would say not to do that, but you probably have some way of not getting cancer using magic, right?" Questioned Kensou.

"Something like that." I admitted.

Then, I headed out the front entrance of the apartment complex to light up my last Red Apple Cigarette in the pack. Of course, I'd bought a few new packets at the local Maxi Mart, but I was hoping to not open those till I got to Japan. As the Tobacco burned into my lungs, I reflected that this was it. We'd either succeed in stopping the Yamata-No-Orochi, or there wouldn't be much of a point in planning for anything else because we'd probably be dead.

I'd done a bit of digging of my own on the Yamata-No-Orochi and it had literal godlike powers. As in, it was of a similar power scale to some Gods out there. It could control the weather, control the tides, and even create and extinguish energy, something that should be physically impossible. Our best hope was to ensure it never awakened, or failing that, to force it to incarnate in a mortal body so it can't use most of its power.

If it managed to incarnate fully in its divine form, I wasn't sure there was anyone on Earth powerful enough to stop it. None of the fighters I knew of could come close. It was likely that we'd be looking at literal divine intervention required to fully stop it. A Nuclear Strike could possibly do it, but that came with its own baggage and in either case, we'd be dead long before its rampage ended.

There was nothing for it, I considered, finishing my Cigarette and stubbing it out on the concrete. We would simply have to hope that it didn't come to that and take all necessary steps to avoid it. As I stubbed my cigarette out on the sidewalk, a Car pulled up, not a standard cab, but a town car. Athena really had sprung for the best. Two hours later, we were on a Fuji Air Flight to Japan, heading for the Tournament.

We'd find out if we had what it took to prevent the apocalypse soon enough. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see Ulysses and Kensou patch things up, as well as get a bit more of a look at Athena as a Team Leader. She managed to buckle down while Ulysses and Kensou were out on the town and found out information on their first opponents. Now they have some idea of who they're facing and how to deal with them beforehand instead of going in blind.

Other Ninieties stuff in this chapter includes mentions of Fuji Air from Die Hard Two, Sunnydale, the Whirlwind, and the Kalderash Clan from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Real Dracula is from Bram Stoker's Dracula, while the Demon Dracula and the Count of Saint Germain are from Castlevania. Yog the Old One is from Conan the Barbarian while Jill Valentine and Kijuju are from Resident Evil. Equatorial Kundu is from the West Wing while Patusan is from Surf Ninjas, Ultratech is from Killer Instinct, Meichtry Draft Beer is from The Big Lebowski, and Red Apple Cigarettes are from the works of Quentin Tarantino. Finally, the Mishima Zaibatsu and the King of Iron Fist Tournament are from Tekken. Everything Else is from King of Fighters.

At any rate, the next chapter will involve the arrival in Japan, and we'll get to see a bit of the more Anime side of the Crossover.

Stay tuned. . .