KOF: Mid Summer Struggle

KOF: Mid Summer Struggle is a bonus drama CD that was included with The King of Fighters Perfect Reader. There are two stories on it, one which is serious and one that is a parody. The scenarios were written by Akihiko Ureshino and BoHyou. It's one of the first drama CDs made by SNK-Playmore for its older intellectual properties.

Mid Summer Struggle
This story takes place after the 2003 tournament on a private island. Ash steps off his boat and states the place is more civilized than he thought it be. He seems excited at the prospect of something big happening. Yamazaki and one of his cohorts observe him from their car. Yamazaki asserts the teen's strength to his passenger and invited him here to give more flare to the event. Pleased with their preparations, they drive off to the city.

On a speeding boat, Ralf and Leona are on orders to infiltrate the island. The place is a melting pot of drug dealings and illegal firearms trade run by the island's owner and kingpin, a man name Shaorun. They are to investigate the island's activities, find proof of Shaorun's business, and capture the man alive. Although it seems like standard business to Ralf, they both know that the real mission's motive is to capture the possible remnants of NESTS on the island.

Kyo, already in the city's streets, gives Benimaru a call from a phone booth. His friend suspects that Kyo may have been tricked since neither him, Goro-chan, or Shingo received an invitation to the island. Through his friend's reasoning, the hero realizes that this event is not a King of Fighters tournament. When Benimaru continues to take jabs at Kyo's gullible nature, he hangs up. As he walks down the sidewalk, he is surrounded by a squad of police cars. Yamazaki steps out of one of the vehicles and asks Kyo to be a part of the show he has planned: a complete killing spree with the world's strongest fighters where the last one standing is the victor. When Kyo protests, he calmly offers the alternative which is execution from the police's guns. Yamazaki waits for his answer and Kyo rejects his offender's offer. He distracts his pursuers with a burst of fire and escapes in the alleyways. Hitting his minions for firing carelessly, Yamazaki orders a full-scale hunt for the rest of the contestants.

While retreating through the alleyways, Kyo is found by Maxima. Before a fight begins, Athena comes between them. She explains that she also declined to participate and was saved by the cyborg during her flight. Kyo asks why Maxima is there and he answers that he has business with the host of the tournament. He informs the audience that Yamazaki is only the "match maker" and that Shaorun is the real mastermind. Using his ties with the Chinese mafia, he has been staging his own killing shows for years and wanted to use KoF participants for his entertainment. Maxima offers a give-and-take partnership with the duo; they help him with his job and he'll find a way for them to get off the island. With little options available to them, they agree.

Meanwhile, the Ikari pair station their boat near one of the island's warehouses. They sneak inside and find evidence of Shaorun's weapon trade. None of the firearms found in the boxes are used for any country's military which also proves his involvement with NESTS. While Ralf wonders if more NESTS bases still exist, they are caught in the act by Shaorun's men. The colonel identifies their guns as non-standard police arms which further confirms the mafia boss' activities. Before they fire, the lights are turned off and the fake policemen are beaten in the darkness by a mysterious fighter. Lights back on and the duo safe, Ralf thanks their "terrorist" rescuer who is none other than K'. After a few reproachful words, K' asks if Shaorun is really a survivor of NESTS. Once he sees traces of the syndicate's methods, he embarks for Shaorun's headquarters. Smashing open the case for one of the warehouse's phones, Ralf tells Leona to contact Clark so they can get into action.

In his car, Yamazaki assures his employer over the phone that he's only experiencing a few setbacks and that everything will be fine. Shaorun is worried that the runaways will somehow escape or rebel but he relents when Yamazaki tells him to stick to the plan. After he hangs up, his driver wheels the car to a sudden stop and utters that a person is on the road in front of them. Looking to relieve some stress, Yamazaki steps out and confronts K'. Remarking that he needs to meet with his partner quickly, K' demands that they give him the automobile. Yamazaki agrees but only if the teen can beat him.

After they gather enough determination, Maxima and his unlikely companions charge for Shaorun's building with a hijacked car. They crash within the first floor and quickly board the elevator. However, Kyo kicks the cyborg out since he towers over the weight limit. He tells Maxima to take care of the troops attacking them and leave Shaorun to him and Athena. While the elevator ascends, the fake policemen are stunned to see that their bullets have no effect on the cyborg. A group of them are run over by a wild car and K' steps out to meet his partner. Maxima greets him -jokingly saying that K' looks like he got into a fight with a wild cat- and they proceed to clean up the rest of the rabble.

Once Athena and Kyo reach the top floor, it seems that the bodyguards surrounding the kingpin have already been taken care of, meaning that someone beat them to Shaorun's office. When they reach their destination, Iori has already pummeled the boss as punishment for inviting him to "this stupid" competition. The rivals promptly square off and ignore the idol's pleas to stop. Just as she is about to be engulfed by one of their flames, Ash pulls her aside to safety. Kyo recognizes him as "the bastard who stole Kagura's powers" and Ash is insulted at how Kyo can't remember his name yet. He reintroduces himself and says that the rivals are intruding in his plans. Iori attempts to strike him but he dodges the blow. Ash states that he will fight them later on his own terms and disappears in a puff of green flame.

Ralf and the Ikari Warriors appear to confiscate the scene. Leona confirms that Shaorun is still breathing which gets a sigh of relief from the colonel. Though Kyo warns him of Ash's intentions, Iori leaves uninterested. Ralf asks Kyo and Athena to come with them for questioning since Yamazaki, K', and Maxima have already left the premise.

Bikkei Conference
Bikkeikaigi - Dokuhon, literally translated as "The Good Looking Conference - Reading Book", is possibly a prequel for BoHyou's parody series, the Bikkei Conference. The track begins with Kyo and Iori facing off as usual. Their fight is interrupted when Iori spots someone jog past them and gives chase.

The jogger appears to be one of the members of the Bikkei Conference. They are the good looking characters from three different series. Andy stands for Fatal Fury, Robert for Art of Fighting, and Ukyo acts as the Samurai Shodown representative. After their introductions, they wonder who they should consider for their counsel from Savage Reign and Last Blade (since they're expecting Benimaru to arrive for the King of Fighters cast). After some consideration, they realize that they don't need them so they continue their meeting. While they're discussing the wonders of Playmore, Iori appears to interrupt them. Andy and Robert are startled to see him and immediately call him a disgrace to the "good looking" title. While he questions their worth, he points out Ukyo's "rather plain" charm and winposes.

After Ukyo suffers a coughing fit, Kyo and the Iori he was facing enter the room. Both parties are baffled to see two Ioris and they wonder if one of them is a spy. After some bickering, Andy and Robert demand a competition to determine who is the impostor. Kyo takes this challenge as a new fight, but Andy stops him and hands him a foul in participating. He specifies that they are testing the "beauty" of each Iori over their fighting prowess since that aspect of their characters is more important.

What follows is a long, convoluted, and rather random rating system based on each Ioris' reactions to the situation. Since they can't add all of the "invisible" or "intricate" qualities of the redheads, Andy and Robert eventually decide to judge them based on the projection of their win poses. The Iori on the conference side easily completes this request with his trademark laughing pose but the Iori next to Kyo refuses. They try to make the reluctant Iori laugh with a cascade of lame jokes (at one point, Kyo gets upset at his rival's insult and tries to attack him again). Surprisingly, it takes Robert to lose face and throw a tantrum to finally succeed. Once he's done, Andy and Robert don him as the real one. Kyo denies this claim since he wasn't given a "fair chance" to make his rival laugh before. He tries once more yet is once again insulted by both Ioris due to his lame pun.

Suddenly, Ukyo rises and dramatically recites a lovely poem. Kyo and Andy can't comprehend it -thinking it to be another gag- but the Iori in the conference quickly deciphers it. Once he correctly states the poem is about Ukyo's fight for love, the swordsman awards him 2,000 beauty points. Supposedly, this puts him far in the lead and angers the original Iori. He yells at Ukyo for even attempting to rate a King of Fighters character and tells him to go back to Samurai Shodown. This erupts a violent and possibly fatal coughing fit from Ukyo.

Before they can continue, Athena comes in and announces that she needs to use the room for her rehearsal. The members of the conference and rivals are kicked and shoved out by her staff. Once the door closes, she announces that the strange people are gone and sings Present Holiday. The Iori voiced by Yasui leaves. Robert and Bikkei Iori return to The King of Fighters XI set and Ukyo runs off for Samurai Spirits: Tenkaichi Kenkakuden. Andy, left with no where to go, is comforted by Kyo who mumbles that he is 100,000 times better than them.

Cast

 * Kyo Kusanagi - Masahiro Nonaka
 * Athena Asamiya - Haruna Ikezawa
 * Ralf Jones, Benimaru Nikaido - Monster Maezuka
 * Leona - Masae Yumi
 * Ryuji Yamazaki - Kōji Ishii
 * K' - Yuuki Matsuda
 * Maxima - Katsuyuki Konishi
 * Iori Yagami - Kunihiko Yasui
 * Ash Crimson - Sōnosuke Nagashiro
 * Bikkei Andy, Bikkei Robert, Bikkei Ukyo, Bikkei Iori - Atsuki