Match 15114 K' vs. Ken Masters

[JohnnyChany]

GAINING AN EDGE: A MASSIVE FIGHTING GAME CROSSOVER

PART LXVIII

K’ entered a local dive bar in a coastal city he had never been to before. K’ had been traveling for awhile now with no real destination. He grabbed some paper towels to pat down his leather jacket from the rain that had hit it. He then made his way over to an empty stool, but did not remove his sunglasses, much to the confusion of the other patrons.

K’s aimless journey started several weeks ago when he was approached by the MIST organization, and their head scientist, NiCO. NiCO reminded K’ of his friend Kula Diamond, only if she had cut her hair and had become extremely arrogant. MIST wanted K’ because of his experience as a Kyo Kusanagi clone. They wanted to study him to help perfect Phase 4, whatever that meant.

K’ ordered a beer from the bartender and then clenched his fist as he continued to think over recent events in his head. He had told MIST to go screw off, that he was nobody’s lab rat. The next time they had come to him, they tried to take him by force. After several days of beating back MIST mercenaries, K’ had grown tired of the game and left his apartment. He did not tell anyone, not even Maxima or Kula, where he was going. He did not want the information to get back to MIST, and honestly he just did not want to involve them. MIST was just another NESTS type organization to K’. Just when he had thought that chapter in his life was finally over. K’ was angered by his potential destiny to be forever pursued by shadowy organizations to be used for their dubious science experiments. He was so much more than a Kyo Kusanagi clone, and believed himself to be an incredible fighter in his own right. But, Kyo’s shadow was always looming over him.

K’ pulled out his cell phone to listen to the same two messages he had listened to a dozen times before. The first was from Maxima.

“Hello. This is Maxima. Your phone has not turned off yet so I’m assuming that means you are still functioning. We really need to discuss the psychotic cyborg I found trashing our apartment.  (REF: MAXIMA VS. BRYAN FURY)  He was being very cryptic when I tried to get him to talk. I do not have a frame of reference for who Tira is or what Soul Edge is, but you could be in some serious danger.”  (REF: VANESSA VS. CRIMSON VIPER)

K’ knew nothing about either of those things, but he assumed that the cyborg Maxima confronted must work for MIST. Maxima would probably be better off without K’ around for now, He played the next message from Kula.

“Hey K! It’s Kula! I just got done talking to Maxima, he is really worried about you, You should give him a call. I am still worried about you too, ever since I saw what happened to your apartment.  (REF: KULA DIAMOND VS. ALISA BOSCONOVITCH)  Heidern told me I should keep calling you and keep hope up. Oh yeah, I am still traveling with him. We are on our way to meet up with the other Ikari Warriors. Sounds like they ran into some creepy stuff on a recruiting trip.”  (REF: LARS ALEXANDERSSON VS. ASTAROTH)

K’ figured Kula was on an adventure just for the sake of being on an adventure. Such things didn’t interest him.
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Geese Howard had looked far and wide for K’ to help out Urien  (REF: SARAH BRYANT VS. MATURE) , and as luck would have it, another failed Geese target entered the same bar.  (REF: CHRISTIE MONTEIRO VS. ELENA)

Ken Masters spoke into his phone. “No, I still have not heard back from Ryu. My guess is he is in some waterfall type setting with no reception. But, if and when I do hear back I will let you know. Give Yang my condolences. I will talk to you soon.”

Ken hung up the phone to end his conversation with his friend, Chun Li. She was indirectly responsible for him coming to this bar.

Ken had promised to meet up with Chun Li on Helena Douglas’s Freedom Survivor immediately after Sean Matsuda’s Brazilian Martial Arts Championship match.  (REF: SEAN MATSUDA VS. EDDY GORDO)  He committed himself to another mission to stop M. Bison and Shadoloo. He was well on his way to the cruise liner when a torrential storm forced him to make a pit stop in this harbor town.  (REF: HELENA DOUGLAS VS. SHERMIE)  He had decided to wait out the storm here and complete the trip when the weather was more cooperative. 

Ken looked around for a towel to dry off his gi as he tried to wrap his head around the conversation he just had with Chun-Li.

“Yun is dead,” Chun Li said with sadness.

“What?”

“He was murdered a few days ago. Yang is obviously very upset.  I hate to leave at a time like this and I was looking forward to seeing you again, but I feel like I need to be there for him,” Chun Li explained.

“I understand. Are you going to take on the murder investigation personally?” asked Ken.

“I am too emotionally attached to the victim to be an impartial detective in any professional murder investigation,” said Chun Li.  “But, I do intend on helping with the investigation in any way I can and independent of my professional ties I am going to flip and turn every rock until I find out who was responsible for this.”  (REF: LEI FEI VS. YUN)

“Of course, I would expect nothing less.”

“I think you should still go to the Freedom Survivor and meet up with Helena,” insisted Chun Li. “The threat that this evil weapon, Soul Edge, poses is very real. Especially in the hands of someone like Bison. Helena is going to need all the help she can get. I will return there as soon as I can.”

“I will head out to the ship as soon as the storm clears up,” Ken promised.

“Still no word from Ryu?” Chun Li inquired.

Back in the present, Ken looked around for an empty stool. He originally had no intention of entering into this establishment until Chun Li started to talk about Yun and Yang. Ken knew the twins were like little brothers to her and couldn’t imagine what she must be feeling right now. Those thoughts naturally led Ken to think about his own family, his wife and young son. He thought about how we would react hearing such horrific news.

Ken was pulled out of his internal thought process by a loud declaration from the bartender. “Ken Masters! The US Martial Arts Champion! In my bar! Well ain’t this a red letter day!”

A small round of cheers poured in from some of the patrons. Ken smiled politely and waved. K’ glared at Ken and instantly disliked him. Part of this initial feeling was due to resentment. Here was a man being cheered for being a great fighter, the perception of him being defined by skill alone. K’ desperately wanted that for himself, instead of constantly being looked at as an important piece to a science experiment. K’ also judged the US Martial Arts champion in his mind for wearing his gi outside of a tournament setting, and pegged Ken as a clown.

A drunk woman demanded Ken to show off some moves. After initially declining, Ken acquiesced when he noticed the woman growing more irritable. Several customers removed their chairs and moved some tables around to give Ken plenty of room. K’ remained unmoved.

Ken took a few too many steps back and bumped into K’, forcing the man to spill beer on himself, before launching into a restrained shoryuken, much to the delight of the bar.

“Sorry about that, man,” said Ken.

A fed up K’ slammed down his mug. “Not as sorry as you’re going to be.”
K’ was determined to show these ignorant locals what a real great fighter actually looked like. He wa convinced that this pretty blonde boy in his karate clothes had no idea what real hardship was. K' stood up and a flame erupted around his fist.
“It was an accident and I apologized, there’s no need for that,” stated Ken.

“Afraid to get embarrassed, champ?” taunted K’.

Ken shook his head and sighed. “If you are that desperate for a fight, I’ll give you one. But, I am warning you now. I won’t go easy on you.”

[Callisto]

Learn More About
K'
Read more about K' at Wikipedia
Official Site: SNK Links: Wikipedia SNK Wiki Giant Bomb

Ken Masters
Read more about Ken Masters at Wikipedia
Official Site: Capcom Links: Ken's Wiki Page Street Fighter Wiki Cyberfuturism

[DSkillz]

Good set-up, Johnny. I would've placed Ken and Chun-Li's conversation before Ken's reflection on why he's on Helena ship, though.

Also, I think I saw a small name mix-up:

On 10/21/2020 at 12:41 AM, JohnnyChany said:

“Yun is dead,” Chun Li said with sadness.

“What?”

“He was murdered a few days ago. Yun is obviously very upset ...

All-in-all, it's still a very good set-up.

As for the match, this looks like it might be a tough battle, but I think Ken puts K' in his place once all is said and done.

[JohnnyChany]

Ahhh, you are correct sir, I mixed up the twins a couple of times putting this together. I thought I had caught them all. Edited and fixed now.

7 hours ago, DSkillz said:

Good set-up, Johnny. I would've placed Ken and Chun-Li's conversation before Ken's reflection on why he's on Helena ship, though.

 He's not actually on the ship yet, but point taken.

[patrickthekid]

This is a good match. It's a bit hard to guage K's abilities, but he has managed to get to the finals a few times. What's Ken's record?

[SSJRuss]

Not crazy about the set-up and the circumstance, but aside from that I think you nailed the characters. Glad to see some more popular characters from their franchises in this story.

I would go with Ken, but I think K' has some better moves that counter Ken really well. Unless Ken is able to tap into some crazy powers and turn into Holy/Devil Ken then K' has my vote.

[RakaiThwei]

22 minutes ago, SSJRuss said:

Not crazy about the set-up and the circumstance, but aside from that I think you nailed the characters. Glad to see some more popular characters from their franchises in this story.

I would go with Ken, but I think K' has some better moves that counter Ken really well. Unless Ken is able to tap into some crazy powers and turn into Holy/Devil Ken then K' has my vote.

According to the canon anime, Street Fighter IV: Ties That Bind, and the Street Fighter Wikia-- Ken has been able to tap into the Power of Nothingness. Not necessarily as dramatically as Ryu, but he's been able to tap into some form of it one way or another. He demonstrated it when he easily blocked and deflected an electrified blow from Crimson Viper when protecting Eliza.

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

RATINGS SCORE: 4.00
0 regular members rated the match.
3 CBUB Match Judges rated the match.

MATCH SCORE
K': 2
Ken Masters: 8