The King of Fighters Tournament

The Entrance

"Sorry, we're late," Ash said as he came in with the rest of his team. He stopped short when he noticed how they all look annoyed, with finishing food on their plates. "Uh...?"
"You're an hour late, dude," Iori shook his head. "Not cool."
"And you didn't wait for us, not cool," Ash countered.
"You left us hungry, Ash, we were all starving," K' argued. "You left us all so hungry, so we couldn't wait."
"You should never leave someone hungry like this," Benimaru added.
Elisabeth sighed and pulled Ash aside before stepping forward. "Guys, I'm sorry that we took so long to come. We were unavoidably detained."
Shen snorted to himself. "By a pitstop at the mall."
"You have better brought those Parisian goodies with you," Zayn piped up.
Ash immediately perked up. "Oh lá lá, how could I forget!" To Zayn's surprise, Ash handed him a large paper bag, that heavily sat on the ground beside him. "There, you go. It has lots of stuff, for you, for everyone else here." He smirked. "Even for Yagami."
"Why you gotta add that separately?" Iori chimed in. "Like it's odd for you to get something for me."
"It's not odd, it's just funny," Ash snorted. "Anyway, I checked the schedule. You guys are the first act?"
"We are?" Iori excitedly took out his phone to see, but frowned. "Kyo, you put only your name instead of the band?"
"Wait what?" Kyo said in a surprise. "I clearly remember I stated that we're the BOF."
"That's not what it says here," Iori shook his head as he showed him the phone. "It says... The Kyos."
Kyo's face contorted in surprised disgust. "Okay, I know it's my name, but even I think that's a stupid name."
"Wait, if we're accidentally put in as The Kyos, then why is our band listed as the second act?" Zayn added, looking at the list in surprise. "So are we performing twice or something?"
K' leaned to look at Zayn's phone. "He's right. Kyo did put us in as the BOF."
"Then who are The Kyos?" Ash said in surprise.
"I don't know, but I think I have the right to sue them," Kyo frowned. "They be ruining my name!"
Ash shrugged. "Well, tell me when that happens, I wanna be there for the drama." He nonchalantly sauntered towards the buffet. "I think I'm gonna enjoy this hi-tea."

"Well, well," everyone turned to see when the voice spoke.
No one had expected the Ikari Team to suddenly walk in.
"You invited them too?" Ash asked. He then chuckled to himself. "Eh, what am I saying. Hi!"
"What are you guys doing here?" K' asked as the Ikari Warriors responded to Ash's greeting in their own ways. "Something happened?"
Seirah frowned and stepped forward. "Guys, we just discovered something. We just arrived earlier today and... Colonel Ralf and I decided to male a stop at the bus terminal near our hotel."
"We went to a convenience store and got some stuff. Boring stuff, I know, but..." Ralf trailed off for suspense. "We spotted something that might be... disturbing."
"What is it?" Zayn asked, hoping that the NESTS weren't awakening again.
Seirah took the spotlight again as she started walking around the room while explaining. "Well, there was this guy there. He was a customer in the shop as well. We didn't think much of him and just continued with our purchases. Until the cashier screamed."
"Did he try to rob the shop?" Iori asked, surprised.
Iori was surprised to have Ralf practically teleport beside him. "No. What did happen was... his sunglasses fell off."
"His sunglasses fell off?" K' frowned, confused at how that piece of info was worth the urgency. "Guys, you came all the way here to tell us that?"
"No," Seirah shook her head. "This was about what he was hiding behind those sunglasses. Dash, the cashier screamed because his eyes were glowing."
"Glowing?" Benimaru said, taken aback. "Who was it? What was it that you saw?"
Clark decided to step in, his lips forming a grim line. "There was a hair sample on the sunglasses we found. When we analysed it, we found something... quite disturbing."
"Disturbing how?" Krizalid asked. "Dudes, just tell us what you found instead of being all dramatic like this."
Heidern stepped forward, equally dramatic. "The DNA in the hair was an exact match of Kyo's."
"What?" Kyo gasped. "But... but it wasn't me. I've been with these guys the whole day!"
"We know," Heidern nodded. "That DNA wasn't yours, but an identical copy." He paused for a moment as if searching the correct words to say. "It was naturally occurring, yet somehow synthetic. It was almost as if... the DNA was a reflection."
"A... reflection?" Kyo felt chills run down his spine, his fingers trembling slightly as an image of himself materialised in his mind, an evil smirk on his face as his eyes glowed red. "I gotta see Kagura."
Kyo immediately collected his things and left for the door, only to be stopped by Clark.
"Why?!" Kyo protested. "I need to know what's going on! My evil reflection is running loose out there."
Seirah came over. "I don't think he's evil, Kyo." She shook her head. "He didn't even cause any trouble in the shop, he even paid for the stuff he took."
"He didn't even attack the cashier when he screamed," Ralf added. "He just ran off."
Kyo still felt uneasy. "It's still disturbing, guys. My reflection existing in the real world."
"That does sound scary," Zayn added. "And this coming from a person who's seen multiple clones of himself in one room."
"Zayn, like I haven't been through that," Kyo sighed. "I remember that one time in NESTS... I was half-conscious, left in that... glass thingy..."
"Oh, I hate that thing," K' shivered. "It's like they're treating you like a science sample."
Kyo nodded in agreement. "Yes. I was heavily sedated. And then I saw something. It was my face, behind the glass and looking at me in curiosity. Then another appeared right beside it, equally interested. I'm not sure if it was Kyo-1 and Kyo-2 or some other clones since there were hundreds of them. But it was scary, even in that dream-like state."
"Poor Kyo," Clark hugged him, much to his surprise. "That must've been a bad experience."
Kyo sighed, patting his back as a signal to let go. "You don't know the half of it, man." He pulled away. "Please, I still need to go see Kagura."
"He's right, she's the one who brought that... thing into this world in the first place," Iori added. "Anyway, how did you guys even find us here?"
Ralf held up his phone, which displayed a selfie that Benimaru took with some of the others, together with a location stamp. The rest of them just turned to glare at the blond, who grinned sheepishly.
"Beni, seriously," Aiko groaned. "Now I know how those fangirls manage to successfully stalk you each time."
"What, you know I turn them down each time, right?" Benimaru pointed out. "Even when you're not with me."
Aiko couldn't argue with that. "Yeah, but please don't put up live updates on your socials, Beni. Some of those fans can be psychos. You never know."
Kyo nodded in agreement. "You out of all people should know, buddy."
Benimaru sighed. "Fine. I'll upload stuff after leaving the location, okay?"
"Good," Iori nodded. "Live social media updates is never a good idea. I've seen some stuff too. Those crazy fans..."
"Can we please go see Kagura?" Kyo pleaded. "I wanna get this over with."
Ash groaned. "Come on, man, we just got here! I'm still not done with my sachertorte!"
Kyo sighed and went back to his seat. "Fine."
"Can we join in too?" Ralf excitedly asked, grinning as he rubbed his palms together.
Heidern sighed and shook his head.