Match 17445 Shiki (Samurai Shodown) vs. Kage-Maru

[JohnnyChany]

GAINING AN EDGE: A MASSIVE FIGHTING GAME CROSSOVER

PART 161

“Psycho Ball!”

Athena Asamiya shot her large projectile at Ibuki, but the young ninja's reflexes were too quick. (REF: IBUKI VS. ATHENA ASAMIYA) Ibuki successfully avoided the attack and the psycho ball instead destroyed the grand piano in the room. 

Ibuki tossed a kunai at Athena’s feet to knock the pop star off balance. She followed up with a side strike and kick. Athena pushed Ibuki back and levitated in the air with psycho balls floating around her like a shield.

Ibuki jumped away from Athena to avoid getting hit by the floating energy balls. 

Ibuki laughed. "Is that more of your crazy soldier magic? Why does a pop singer even need to learn these moves?”

“I am many things,” answered Athena. “Pop Idol. Psycho Soldier. Role Model.”

Ibuki rolled her eyes. “What does he see in you?”

Athena went back on the offensive and the two girls exchanged blows. Athena appeared to be the stronger of the two, but Ibuki was certainly faster. The speed began to overwhelm Athena and she got sloppy in her fighting style. Ibuki could feel the fight going in her favor and wanted to end it quickly before Athena could muster up any more surprise Psycho Soldier techniques.

Ibuki threw an exploding kunai that detonated in Athena’s face. She then slipped underneath a punch from the momentarily dazed Athena and using both feet kicked Athena into the air. Ibuki then disappeared into a cloud of smoke before reappearing above the airborne Athena. Ibuki gathered all of her ki energy into an energy palm strike on Athena’s head that sent the pop star  crashing into the ground.

Ibuki stood victorious over the defeated Athena Asamiya and pumped her fist in the air in triumph. “I did it! I won!”  She pulled her mask down from her mouth. “The name is Ibuki. And I want you to tell everyone you know that I beat you here today.”

“Ibuki! What have you done?!?!”

The angry voice of Karin Kanzuki filled the library. Ibuki turned to see her friend and erstwhile employer standing in the doorway fuming with Ken and Ryu behind her. 

“Karin, I can explain,” said Ibuki. 

“Good, you can explain why you have trashed my mother's piano,” Karin scolded.

“I was just trying to prove a point,” Ibuki insisted.

“What point is that? That you have no respect for other people’s homes, that you would be a horrible and rude host, or that you are an awful friend?”

Ibuki scrunched up her nose. “What? Wait, no, none of those things.”

Karin remained incredulous. “Why are you attacking Athena? She is my guest and she is here to help.”

 “I don’t mean any harm, I just wanted her to know that I am a better fighter than her,” stated Ibuki.

“Why?” Karin repeated with her eyes bulging.

Ken did his best to try and diffuse the tension. “Wow. The fact that you did beat her means you must be getting better. Certainly there must be some quality training at that school of yours.”

Ibuki beamed with pride. “Thanks, and there definitely is.”

“Ken, you’re not helping,” Karin interjected.

The group of fighters were joined in the library by Honoka.

“Hey! I heard a loud noise in here and I just wanted to…” Honoka’s eyes immediately went to the fallen Athena. “Oh no, Athena. Who did this to you?”

Honoka’s gaze turned to Ibuki. “It was you wasn’t it?”

Honoka lunged at Ibuki, but Ken impeded her path. “Now hold on just a minute. I think we just have a misunderstanding here.”

“This is ridiculous,” Ryu commented. “How can we ever hope to succeed in the mission ahead if we are fighting ourselves over nothing.”

Ibuki tried her best to hide her curiosity under feigned indifference. “Not that I care, but what mission?”

“You should care,” Karin shot back. “The fate of the world could be at stake. And I know in my soul that those involved are the ones that put Mika in the hospital.” (REF: ANGEL VS. IVY)

Ibuki expressed genuine concern. “Mika’s in the hospital?” (REF: ANGEL VS. R. MIKA)

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They found her in a cave and she was initially unresponsive. When the ninja with the snake tattoo on her back finally did speak, she was incoherent and no one had an answer for “Are you the ones who sent for me?” Eventually the J6 team realized that there was some mystical enchanted hex placed upon the woman, but could not figure out the source.

She coldly cut down over half of the J6 expedition team before they were able to successfully coerce her into coming with them. Once they had, they were able to tweak her loyalties via brainwashing. The J6 had found their next mind controlled assassin and possibly another vessel for the Dural program, but they wanted to be sure of her abilities. There was no better target for their new recruit than the man who had been a constant thorn in J6’s side as well as the son of the original Dural. He would be the first of two trials.

After losing his entire village as well as his parents, Kage-Maru, the tenth generation Hagakure Ninja, had trouble finding a new place to call home. He had tried a few different places, even traveled to America for a brief time to live with friends he had met during the various World Fighting Tournaments as well as China with fellow Fourth tournament finalist Shun Di. But, nothing felt right. Finally, he settled in rural Japan not far from the location where his original village once stood. Kage enjoyed the serene seclusion, but remained in contact with the outside world. There had not been a new World Fighting Tournament in several years and no sight of J6. Kage-Maru often wondered if he had finally found peace.

On this day, Kage was playing a lullaby on his grass flute when he was taken out of his tranquil state by the sound of his phone.

“Hello.”

“Hey Kage, it’s Jacky. Hey man, are you free to talk?”

“Yes.”

“I’m hoping you will be able to help me out because I am stressed,” fellow World Fighting Tournament participant, Jacky Bryant, began.

“What is it?” asked Kage.

“It’s Sarah. I can’t find her. We were supposed to meet up for lunch and she never showed. She isn’t answering her phone and….”

“You think they are going after her again,” Kage assumed.

“How can I not? Listen, it gets worse. I went to some of her favorite spots to see if anyone had seen her. When I got to the gym that she trains at with Vanessa, it was turned into a crime scene,” explained Jacky.

“You think J6 took her there? They usually aren’t that messy and overt,” Kage remarked.

“It took me awhile, but I finally got a hold of some witnesses. There was definitely a fight there. They saw Sarah and Vanessa (REF: VANESSA LEWIS VS. MILA) and some fighters that I don’t recognize based on their descriptions.” (REF: BASS ARMSTRONG VS. ALEX)

“Possibly new assassins taken in by J6,” Kage theorized.

“That’s what I’m thinking. So I was curious if you had heard anything or if they had gone after you recently at all?” Jacky inquired.

“No,” replied Kage. “This also would be different from J6’s usual MO. Why haven’t they just put together a tournament to lure us all into one place like that normally would?”

“After so many failures, maybe they are trying something new,” Jacky guessed.

Kage-Maru considered this. “If you don’t know of anyone else who could possibly be targeting your sister, J6 would be the logical choice.” Kage paused for a minute. “If you are requesting my help to find answers, I will offer my services.Together we will see what we can turn up.”

Jacky sighed. “Thanks man, I owe you.”

“I will see you soon.”

Kage-Maru hung up his phone and went to pick up his flute to return home. He stopped in his tracks after picking up the small instrument when he heard rustling in the leaves.

A woman with short dark hair and two swords jumped down from the trees to confront him.

“Who are you?” asked Kage-Maru.

Shiki did not respond.

“Are you with J6?”

Shiki answered by slashing one of her swords at Kage and cutting his grass flute in two.

Kage was immediately angered. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Be quiet, pathetic fool. I will slice you,” Shiki threatened.

 

 

[Callisto]

Learn More About
Shiki (Samurai Shodown)
Read more about Shiki (Samurai Shodown) at Wikipedia
Official Site: SNK Links: Wikipedia

Kage-Maru
Read more about Kage-Maru at Wikipedia
Official Site: Sega Links: Wikipedia Virtua Fighter Giant Bomb

[RakaiThwei]

I am going to go with Shiki. She's likely much faster than Kage-Maru, and likely also possesses some level of superhuman ability.

[JohnnyChany]

On 11/15/2021 at 12:51 AM, RakaiThwei said:

I am going to go with Shiki. She's likely much faster than Kage-Maru, and likely also possesses some level of superhuman ability.

Thanks for the comments. I have always found Shiki to be an underrated member of the Shodown roster and Kage-Maru, I believe, is the best Virtua Fighter has to offer.

[leroypowell3]

I'm actually looking at Kage. He may not have all the fancy screen flashing attacks but he's fundamental and very good. I think he can put her down before she can bust out her special moves.

[Pizzaguy2995]

Never played either game so I had to do some quick research on the two before I could comment. But like JohnnyChany said Kage-Maru is one of the two best fighters of the Virtua series, he won the 3rd and 4th tournament and beaten series protagonist Akira Yuki twice! Couldn’t find much info on Shiki, she seems to be just a brainwashed minion of the series main bad though her overall importance to the plot is minimal. I’ll roll with Kage, beating your series protag twice is much better then anything Shiki has done.

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
4.60 - Pizzaguy2995
4.80 - DSkillz
4.60 - leroypowell3

FPA Calculation:
3 Total Votes cast
14.00 Total Combined Score
14.00 / 3 = 4.67 Final Rating on the match

MATCH SCORE
Shiki (Samurai Shodown): 3
Kage-Maru: 1