The party takes the advice of Leanne Valis and goes to a cave in Tibet to prevent the theft of a sacred scroll. Leanne arrives with Mr. Sark and ball-and-chain man. The party defeats them, but Leanne begins to writhe in agony and asks the party for the scroll. Her master will make her die if she does not get it, she explains. The party gives her a fake.
The balance of the universe shifts, and those perceptive to the nuances
become ill. The party's research shows that yin-yang are now imbalanced heavily
towards the yin side, changing the way the universe works. Alexi meats a Chinese
man named Wu claiming to be related to Roy. Together, they defeat the Dojo
Busters of Sacramento.
A month later, Sarah Kingsley-Martin wakes up from a long coma.
Our heroes shut down a drug distribution center in Sacramento. Present are Sark,
Tyrus - Lightning Lord of Myrmidons, and Tycho. Tycho escapes by driving off in
the truck. Clues lead to an operation in Detroit. After a battle on a moving
car, the party finds house where Shadoloo operatives have been slaughtered, burn
marks and exploded heads litter one room. Sark appears to have been a casualty.
The party rushes to find the base of Shadoloo operations before the murderous
(presumed) aura users (possibly Gloria Ingram) can find them. An abandoned car
plant is located where deals are being made. After fighting three tough
enforces, Sagat makes his presence known and attacks along with Tycho, some
French guy, and hordes of Myrmidons. The battle is hard fought, but with the
surprise arrival of Rose (who appears briefly to summon Sargossa), Anton
Sargossa, Julian, and Zod Randal the battle becomes largely equal.
After a hard fight, Rupert appears with eight psychic soldiers and a
mind-controlled Sark! (Rupert had appeared previously as a subordinate of
Gloria.) Rupert demands custody of Sagat. The party decides the psychics'
actions have been like those of war criminals and refuse. After Rupert is
defeated, the party decides to let him read Sagat's mind for information on Mri
Granka, and they part ways, after Rupert shares what he has learned. However,
the party takes custody of Sark and has Sargossa free his mind (before remanding
Sark to custody).
Hearing from Lillith that Tres is after another Darkstalker, the party
mobilizes. However, Tres reaches the objective first.
The party goes to a street fighter tournament in Cincinnati and looks into some
Egyptian cat statues at the museum as they want to make sure Tres doesn't get
another Darkstalker first.
The party witnesses Dee Jay somehow defeat Ash Crimson. Alexi also spies Ash
Crimson confronted by his father, something about, "Lord Mukai would not be
pleased" and general talking down to Ash. Ash very nearly kills his father
and walks away. Alexi applies a bit of healing just to spite Ash.
Lillith confirms the Darkstalker in the cat statue and that it is a dangerous
one that shouldn't be awakened. The party decides to wait for the enemy to show
up and take the statue from them to whisk it away someplace safe - that way,
they are the good guys when the steal it.
The party waits in the museum and is horrified when - a stone golem with black
fire flickering its eye sockets begins approaching the exhibit. Leanne, Dee Jay,
and a lady special forces agent follow. Leanne is apparently in charge, but when
the golem's chest opens, a voice gives orders from afar. The enemy devastates
the party. However, Wu - distant relative of Roy - runs off with the cat statue
and Lillith. He cannot bear sacrificing the party though and breaks the statue
to release the Darkstalker within, to Lillith's chagrin. This releases Felicia
the happy catwoman. She hisses at Lillith, but bounds off to help the party when
Wu tells her there are bad people in the other room. With supernatural speed and
strength, Felicia crushes Dee Jay and turns Grumosh into rubble, releasing the
dark spirit that inhabited the elements. And then, Roy KO's Leanne.
In the following week, the party attends Felicia performance in MacBeth and
defeats some rival actresses (also Fighters) who attempt to sabotage the play
out of jealousy.
And on Mri Granka, the bloodless and carved up body of that lady special forces
agent washes up on bank of a river to be found by (some Shadoloo boss of the
alternate Storyteller) who finds it to be an inappropriate dumping of waste (but
doesn't report it to the EPA).
Bara calls Roy and asks him to investigate a financial anomaly at the Hino
Corp. Robotics Planet in New Zealand. The party goes and is given the tour by a
bubbly redheaded secretary named Rosamia. When the party finds that the robotic
dogs have the stamp of the Puppies for Hungry Kids Foundation (Rugal's dubious
charity) as well as Shadoloo tech, a voice congratulates them and activates the
giant robots (the Zeta Gundam, The O, the Quebley, and a Rick Dias). After the
robots are defeated, Rugal and his three secretaries appear and decide to solve
the player character infestation personally (Rosamia's battle cry is "Team
Secretary, Go!"). Roy uses his computer skills to reactivate the Zeta
Gundam which battles Rugal.
Rugal and Pals are defeated which is when Lord Blackhawk arrives with his wife
(Marianne), Sark, Darkness, and Light. The party agrees to let them take the
Shadoloo technology. When one of Blackhawk's own men tries to assassinate him,
Alexi intervenes, but the gun goes off when the attacker drops it, shooting
Marianne. Enraged, Blackhawk claims that "this is not over" and makes
a quick exit.
The party then turns to Rugal and asks that if the Shadoloo tech wasn't his, why
he attacked them in the first place. "Force of habit?" He replies. Out
of curiosity, the party permits him to do what he came to do. He accesses the
satellite tracking system, pulls out a white-bluish hair kept in a case, and
place his hand on a panel that accesses his Chi. The computer scans the DNA(?)
on every being on Earth, expands the search, and stops at a point in orbit. It
says, "Air Angel Located." His only explanation is, "Someone you
should pray you never meet." Rugal and company then depart, and the party
feels no need to stop them. Roy later finds that the point in orbit is most
likely the same as the orbiting castle that appeared briefly on military radar
after the KOF 97 finale.
Bonne Jenet calls Roy for help and the party responds. We're sworn to secrecy
or something. We find MINA, Mamoru Kusanagi's genetically engineered ward
waiting. We bring her along to the secret base cove where an ancient pirate ship
is moored. Finding the secret Lilien Knight stash, the players are confronted by
Nightmare, wielding the dread sword Soul Edge, and zombies of the
"drowned."
Only with the timely arrival of Link, does the party survive. The NSA, led by
Frostbite, attempts to arrest the party and Bonne Jenet afterwards; however, we
beat them soundly. Still, Frostbite seems to have developed improved powers now
that the universe is tilted in the favor of Yin chi. Wait, was I writing this in
first person or third person?
Basically, the Iron Vulture air pirate core of Shadoloo seems to have gone rogue
as Nightmare is trying to unify all pirates under him. I wonder if we should
really keep those gems we found in the Lilien Knight stash.
At the Japanese corporate office of the J'hana Group, Reimi J'hana is going over reports with her assistant analyst Kaori Yanase. They speak of various things besides business, such as Kaori's entrance into the VG tournament (now global) and about when Reimi sent Kaori to deliver the location of the special Science Divison 13 to Alexi Martin who subsequently destroyed the power behind Gold Corp. As Kaori is leaving, Reimi's haunting words echo in her mind.
"There are many artists in the world, be
they painters, musicians, or poets. Anything can be an art form when you put
your mind to it. I prefer the martial arts. There is beauty in the rhythm,
motion, and power. And to me, nothing compares to the beauty of two skilled
fighters engaging in that dance, especially when there are actual stakes
involved. My mother was also an artist. There are few master artists in the
world, and she was one of them.
Her art was Destruction. Her canvas was people's lives."
Program starts in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1