"Like Minds, Chapter 4" By Bloodshade Shadowclaw =========================== =Alden= Kyo ran to keep up with Scarlet's hybrid flight as they made their way through the forest clearing. "Jesus-FUCK, this asshole's fast..." Kyo cursed under his breath as his flame lit the way. They had been chasing a hopeful new recruit for the last hour or so. A silver-haired black felin who mistook them for a Hunter team, mostly because of Kyo showing himself at a very inopportune time. Scarlet was scanning the area for signs of the chasee's telekinesis-blades, following a trail blazed out of pure fear. Kyo stopped for a moment to catch his breath, panting heavily. He wiped sweat from his forehead, keeping his ignited hand up for light. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..." He whispered as he glanced around... The cat, however, was nearby. Kyo found that out soon enough, as a tk-blade announced its deadly path with a sinister zing... Kyo whirled around just before the force blade clipped his side, slicing into his ribcage. Scarlet's ears picked up a scream of pain as she recognized the source and flew to it double-time... =Earth= Red leaned against a wall, listening to the chitchat of the other KOF contestants as Benimaru pointed out who was who... ".....That guy in the baseball cap, with the ponytail? Terry Bogard. He's strong, so watch it with him. He's been in every KOF tournament there ever was..." Beni droned on as Red gave the occasional nod to make it look like he was paying attention. Most of the regulars were around, including Kim Kap Hwan, Ryo Sakazaki, Rock Howard, Iori Yagami, and many others. King was sitting with her brother Jan sharing a quick breakfast, while Yuri and Ryo were going over some Kyokugen-Ryu quickie-pointers. Vice and Mature had stepped out to use the powder room. Xenif had retreated to a corner of the room by a TV, watching some antihero open a can of whoopass with Iori as the latter attempted to tune his bass guitar, which he hadn't done in a while. Ash Crimson was just lounging around idly. Ryuji Yamazaki and Billy Kane stood by a pool table, trying to look inconspicuous as they shot Eight-Ball. Terry was with Rock and Mai Shiranui, trying not to stare at Red and failing miserably. Eiji Kisaragi sat meditating on a futon, preparing. Most of the conversations revolved around the furry newcomer to varying degrees of topic and interest, and Red could sense that all eyes were on him, wondering if he'd be any challenge... =Alden= Kyo was a little sullen at not being able to continue breaking his "mission-cherry". The felin had gotten away, however, the mark of his power still left a quite a bit of red on the KOF competitor's white undershirt, which Pandora had healed, but the tingly pins-and-needles feeling left by her powers led Scarlet to believe there were some undesirable side-effects, and so she left the Kusanagi heir with Sly and Foxy once again. Kyo was toying around with Foxy's Zippo, the fire at the end of the cotton-and-wire wick taking on various shapes from a pentagram, to a star, to a pawprint, to various kanji and back again as Foxy watched, giggling like a schoolgirl. Artica sipped at a glass of ice water, enjoying the show Kyo was putting on, and even starting to check him out, despite their apparent differences. The ice vixen smirked to herself as she thought of Kyo and what his world was like. Did they have people like.....her? Probably not, but no harm hoping, right? Kyo flicked the zippo shut with a metallic click. "Awww, common~, Why'd you stop?" Foxy whimpered. "It's taking a lot of concentration to do this, Erica...You might need to get some more fluid in this thing soon." Kyo said as he took a break from the pyrotechnics and sat on the bed, grabbing a small soda from the mini-fridge on the way. "That thing needs fuel AGAIN? What the yiffing kenal, I just refilled that three days ago. Give it here." Foxy's voice took on an irritated tone as she walked to the nightstand and rummaged around, grabbing a bottle of lighter fluid from a drawer. Kyo brought the ancient lighter over, inspecting the worn metal finish as he muttered, "Might need to get a new flint in too, if you have any.....This one's about to kick the bucket real soon." Foxy blinked. "What's a flint?" Kyo pulled the lighter part out of the case, turning it bottom-up as he pointed to the screw, turning it loose with his fingers. "A flint is what's under this screw. It makes the spark when you flick the wheel." He gently pulled the screw free with the attached spring, shaking the flint out. Kyo was right. The thing was just about ground to dust... Foxy squinted a bit, then smiled and said, "I think I saw something like that at the Solarfox. That's our ship, Red was Captain. Since he disappeared, we haven't done much. I'll have to do some digging, but I think we'll find suffin useful. How about it? Up for a grand tour, Kyo?" "What the hell, I might as well kill some time...Let's go." =Earth= Terry continued to stare at Red as he confided to Rock, "That can't be real, it's gotta be some sort of suit." "If it is a suit, It's a damn elaborate one. And we're not going to find out by just talking about it amongst ourselves..." Rock finshed as he started walking towards Red, Benimaru and Chizuru. Benimaru at this point was discussing KOF rules and regulations with Red, who was actually listening this time as Rock made his way across the room, walking around Eiji and almost bumping into Ash, who was now drifting around the room, letting himself wander out of straight-up boredom. Beni saw Rock coming out of the corner of his eye and turned his head. "Hey, Rock. How's it been since '06?" Rock replied, "It's been good. Even you still don't know where Kyo is, huh?" "Nope...But Red here's hoping to be a decent substitute." Beni jabbed a thumb toward the vulpin. Red nodded and smiled as Rock stepped toward the former, who expected a handshake, but got something else... Rock reached out and grabbed Red's ears, one in each hand as Athena Asamiya stepped through the door, fresh from her concert rehearsal, with a digital camera ever-so-conveniently in her hand... =Alden= Erica dug through the wastebaskets on the Solarfox's bridge, muttering something about disbelief and throwing what she was looking for away under her breath. Kyo leaned against the console, glancing around the room and watching Foxy dumpster-dive for all she was worth. Sly was doing maintenance touch-ups on the ship, and Artica had taken to roaming around, helping Foxy look for the Zippo maintenance kit that seemed to have grown legs and a sentient brain... "Hey, Foxy. You think it could be somewhere other than the trash? You've searched the wastebaskets on the entire ship three times each, and you still haven't found anything." Foxy glared at Kyo with a flabbergasted expression as Artica brushed some loose debris out of her hair walking into the room...with the maintenance kit in hand, and a smile on her face. "I found it in your quarters, Erica. That place is a jungle, by the way..." She set the kit down and took the lid off, setting it to the side, picking out the flint replacer... =Earth= "That was an Inuyasha Moment if I ever saw one..." Mai quipped as she sat down next to Red. Athena thought it was cute, Rock grabbing Red's ears, and one snap of the shutter later, all the girls were crowded around the camera, squealing like fangirls at the diabetes-worthy cuteness of the priceless look on Red's face. Red was doing his best to stay serious about the tournament, but it was kinda hard with Athena scritching between his ears like that... "Aww, lookit that. His tail's wagging...He's just a big, human puppy." "Rrrff...Miss Asamiya, please...I'm trying to concentrate." Mai gave the fox a hearty slap on the back as she joked, "It's not all serious business, you know.....Chill out, Red. We're not about to fight...yet." "...You're right, Mai. I'd best get back to Benimaru and Chizuru. They're probably waiting. And good luck at the tournament. May the best fighters win." Red said as he walked towards the door. Billy Kane was waiting on the other side, drinking a bottle of smart water. "Well, don't you have a way with the ladies..." He quipped as Red stepped into view. Red glared at Billy. "It's not like that..." Billy smirked. "Oh yeah I forgot, you're a Furfaggot. Ah, well. See you in the ring tomorrow... Enjoy your AIDS until then." Red clenched his fists and started towards the human, but Terry grabbed the fox by the scruff of his neck and pulled him back. "Wait for it, pup. If what I've heard holds out, you'll put him in his place soon enough..." =Alden= "So...You want me to help out the team until Red gets back?" Kyo asked Phenix as he changed into a fresh white t-shirt. The old one was beginning to stink from training B.O. and the metallic tang of blood from the now-healed wound, to the point where Kyo walked in on Catrina trying to eat the shirt to get at the dried blood, despite the offensive odor. It had since gone into the wash with the rest of his uniform. He stood in a pair of black jeans Max had reluctantly lent him, still trying to get used to the rather awkward design. Phenix made a mental note to get Kyo some human clothing, and glanced around before replying, "It's not likely he may, but yes. Speaking of which, Do you remember anything about how you got here?" "No. All I know is, I went to sleep at my apartment in Japan, then I was startled awake in the middle of the night by some sort of explosion. Went right back to sleep, though. Then I woke up again, and somehow I was here." "...It seems you may have been sent through a sort of dimensional hole connecting our worlds when that explosion woke you up..." Phenix mused, tapping a talon on the wall. "You think there's any way for me to get back?" "...I'll see what we can do. You'd better get some rest, we've got a mission tomorrow..." =Earth, Orochi's Lair= Xenif fired another blast of dark flames into the idol across the room as Mature and Goenitz watched from the side. The flames slammed into the idol, torching away a good chunk...that chunk, however, was regenerating as the fire dissipated, due to the spell placed on it as part of Xenif's training regimen. The task was to destroy the idol completely and break the regenerative spell, which the attacker needed a mental attunement to the Orochi to do. Xenif had been meditating and consulting priests about this. It hadn't helped much. "Damnit..." The Phoenix-turned-human cursed under his breath as sweat ran down his face. Orochi had given him an incentive to keep going through Goenitz. What it was he wouldn't exactly say...but it intrigued him what the god had in store for him if he succeeded... Mature idly toyed with her hair and sleeve, tugging at the sleeve lightly as she remarked, "You're obviously not getting anywhere, beak-nose. Give it a rest, I don't want to end up carrying you out of here. Especially with the tournament so close..." Xenif ignored her and charged up for another go, purple and black fire blooming in his hands...