The King of Fighters Tournament

Art of Fighting teams

Ryo grinned and slammed down an envelope on the dining table during breakfast.
"I found this on my farm today," Ryo informed. "It was literally tied to the wind chimes as soon as I entered!"
His sister snorted and took out one too. "A strange guy handed this to me in the restaurant. Wanna join my team this time, Ryo-nii?"
Ryo sighed and looked at his father, who only shrugged.
"You two are gonna be successors of Kyokugenryu after me," their father, Takuma Sakazaki, simply chuckled. "Why shouldn't she join with you and Robert?"
Ryo sighed. "Fine... you can join."
"Yes!" Yuri cheered. Then she frowned and turned to her father. "What about you, Dad? You didn't join the last tournament either."
Takuma shook his head. "It's fine. You guys join. I didn't even get the invitation, so why bother?"
The others just shrugged.
"We need to start training..." Ryo frowned, taking his phone out. "Hello? Robert?"
He arranged for them to train, right in their dojo.

The Kyokugenryu practitioners trained with all their hearts. Takuma's phone suddenly rang, making him excuse himself to attend the call.
"Hello?" Takuma said, as soon as he answered the call.
"Did you receive it?" A male voice asked.
"I sure did," Takuma smirked.
There was a pause on the other end. "Alright, meet us at Karuta."
"Noted," Takuma said with a smirk.
He went back inside and showered before telling his students that he's going out.
"Where are you going, Shisho?" Robert asked, confused.
"It's none of your concern," Takuma said, grabbing his things. "You guys continue training. You have a tournament ahead of you."
They just watched him leave, confused, and continued with their training. After all, they did have a tournament coming up.
He told no one about the crisp cream-coloured envelope resting in his pocket.

A man with long black hair, a headband around his forehead, sat down on the wooden chair, laying down a plate of curry udon and a bowl of miso ramen on the table. He then sat down with his own bowl of oden.
"I can't believe I'm actually teaming up with you," Ryuhaku Todoh chuckled, grabbing the chopsticks from the hashioki. "Takuma, what did you say this man's name was?"
Takuma smirked. "You do not know the famous veteran fighter, Kusanagi Saisyu?"
"Hmph!" Saisyu snorted, scratching his beard. "I can't believe someone in this world hasn't heard of the famous Kusanagi Saisyu!"
Ryuhaku frowned. "Enough with that. Eat your udon. It's on the house only because you're my teammate."
Saisyu grunted, pulling the bowl of curry udon towards him. "Well, I'm glad that you finally decided to show your face after almost a decade of hiding. Anyway, welcome back, fellow veteran."
"Good to meet you too, Saisyu," Ryuhaku chuckled. "Anyway, we eat first. Then we train."
"Have you registered us in?" Takuma asked.
Saisyu shook his head. "Not yet. I wanted to confirm that all of us have received an invitation."
The others smirked and put their invitations on the table.
"Looks like I have been worrying for nothing," Saisyu chuckled. He then frowned. "I wonder why Rugal isn't joining the tournament. Seems suspicious..."
Takuma shrugged. "Who knows? But remember how he suffered?"
"As a girl?" Saisyu's face broke into a toothy grin. "Of course. It's something that should never happen to anyone."
Ryuhaku frowned. "Why you guys never invite me to see, I don't know."
"Nah, it's okay," Takuma smirked. "You can still see it. All we have to do is talk that Saiki fella into bringing us to the past to see it."
"We can do that?" Ryuhaku asked in surprise.
"Are you really a KOF contestant?" Saisyu asked doubtfully.
Ryuhaku shook his head with a scowl. "No. I come from AOF."
"Then what about me?" Takuma argued.
"You still joined most of the KOF tournaments, didn't you?" Ryuhaku pointed out.
Takuma shrugged. "It's not my fault you went into hiding, is it?"
They started arguing, blaming each other for something that happened almost a decade ago. They almost came to blows when Saisyu grew annoyed and silenced them by banging his fist against the table. They froze when they heard the loud clang it made.
"Seriously, the two of you are worse than that my son and that Yagami boy!" Saisyu hissed. "And even they are on good terms now."
The two other men looked at each other and grinned sheepishly.
"Looks like we can't help but go back to our old ways every now and then, eh Todoh?" Takuma chuckled, sitting down on his chair again. "Anyway, yes. We have to keep composure." He slurped up his miso ramen and drank the soup in one go. "By the way, thanks for the free food."
"When should we train?" Ryuhaku asked. "My dojo is always open."
"And so is mine," Takuma added. But then he quickly shook his head. "No. My disciples are occupying it at the moment."
"Then come to mine," Ryuhaku proudly stated. "How long will you be here in Southtown, Saisyu?"
"I'm here until the tournament," Saisyu smirked, lifting his bowl of udon. "I'm here with my wife. We invited Kyo too, but he..."
"Let me guess," Takuma smirked. "He rejected because he has a performance in that band of his?"
Saisyu nodded proudly. "Yep. I'm glad that he's finally doing something worthwhile instead of grinding my money..."
Ryuhaku chuckled. "This is why you should have a dojo."
Saisyu shook his head. "Not just anyone could learn Kusanagi-ryu. So far, it's only that Shingo boy. I'm surprised he can actually adapt to our martial art."
"That kid is a little underrated..." Takuma agreed solemnly. "And your son is treating him like trash."
Saisyu nodded with a frown. "I know... he only trains him in exchange for food. That's why I offered to train him instead. I feel like that Benimaru fella is doing more for him, not gonna lie."
"He even bailed him out of jail once, right?" Takuma remarked. "I heard that one time he was falsely accused of arson."
Saisyu nodded. "Yeah... that poor boy. I'm glad that he's entering with Benimaru and that Yagami girl this round. I'm curious to see how that girl fights."
"Only one way to find out," Ryuhaku smirked. He drank up the last of his Oden and stood up. "Anyway, you guys wanna train now?"
They grinned and went to the Todoh dojo. Kasumi Todoh was training there too.
"Have you teamed up with anyone yet?" Ryuhaku asked his daughter.
The young woman shook her head sulkily. "No, not yet."
"Maybe you can take my daughter's place in the Women Fighters team?" Takuma suggested. "Yuri is joining with Ryo and Robert this time."
Kasumi instantly lit up. "I'll call Mai and ask her right away!"
She excused herself, running out of the dojo with her phone.