K'

K′ (ケイ・ダッシュ, Kei Dasshu, "K Dash"), sometimes known as "K Prime", is a character who debuted as the leader of the Hero Team in The King of Fighters '99. He stars as the reluctant hero in the NESTS saga of the series, often letting his partner Maxima handle any social necessities in his stead. To contrast the previous protagonist of the series, K' was made to be the "dark hero". In a 2005 poll made by SNK-Playmore USA, he was voted as the fourth fan favorite character with a total of 338 votes.

The origins of both K′ and Maxima can be found in the Psikyo arcade game The Fallen Angels (Daraku Tenshi in Japan). This obscure 1998 release stars an emaciated goth in tight leather pants named Cool, along with a brawny, cybernetically enhanced police officer named Harry Ness. The man responsible for the design of both characters migrated to SNK shortly after The Fallen Angels was released, and elements of Cool and Harry Ness' design were used in the creation of K′ and Maxima. The end result is that K′ looks nearly identical to Cool. His namesake was taken from a clone character in the light novel, Blue Knight Beluzaga Monogatari, which is set in the same universe as the anime, Armored Trooper Votoms. During the early phases of development of The King of Fighters '99, K′'s introduction to the series was meant to remove popular characters Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami from the roster -though this idea was scrapped in the game's release.

He is voiced by Yuuki Matsuda and Andrew Scott.

Story
K' (real name unknown) was a normal child who lived happily with his sister, Seirah. One day, they were captured by NESTS, a crime syndicate who dealed with drugs, genetics, robotics and biotechnology. K' was kept under NESTS and trained to be some kind of weapon. Inside NESTS, K' met Maxima, a cyborg and they worked together as a team in several missions for NESTS. Also, K' got to know the high-rank officers Whip and her brother, Krizalid. In 1998, K' was set to participate in a program named Kusanagi cloning program. K' was infused with the DNA of Kyo Kusanagi, which gave him the power of pyrokinesis. During the program, K's memory was repressed and he was made to believe that he was Krizalid's clone. After getting tired of NESTS, K' and Maxima left the syndicate, being hunted down several times. In 1999, they heard of a King of Fighters tournament being held by NESTS itself and decided to participate to face it right on. They were joined by Benimaru Nikaido and Shingo Yabuki who were looking for Kyo. During the tournament, they were attacked by Kyo-1 and Kyo-2, clones of Kyo Kusanagi. They defeated them and made it to the finals, where they were set to fight against the Ikari Team (Leona Heidern, Ralf Jones, Clark Still and Whip, who left NESTS to join the Ikari Warriors). K' didn't recognize Whip and his team won the fight. They were taken to a place where Krizalid were waiting for them. He said he hosted the tournament to gather up enough energy to activate the Kyo clones all around the world to perform a terrorist attack for NESTS. They attacked Krizalid, but he was too powerful for them. During the fight, Krizalid revealed K' was not cloned from Krizalid, but Krizalid was cloned from K' and for that, Krizalid have always hated him. Krizalid was about to defeat his team when a ball of fire hit him from behind - it was Kyo Kusanagi, who broke free from NESTS. K' and Kyo joined forces and managed to defeat Krizalid. The place was about to crumble when Kyo disappeared and Benimaru and Shingo were separated from K' and Maxima. They were outnumbered by a number of NESTS soldiers, but easily defeated them and managed to get away.

The next year, K' and Maxima were joined by mercenaries Vanessa and Ramon. They entered the tournament to discover NESTS scheme, but Vanessa and Ramon were there to capture K' and Maxima at the end of the tournament, since they were working for Ling and Heidern. During the tournament, the team were attacked by a misterious group who were there to kill K'. The team was formed by Diana, Foxy, Candy Diamond and Kula Diamond, who was dubbed as the Anti-K'. Her cold-related powers made it difficult for K', but he managed to defeat her and they disappeared. K's team made it to the finals and had to face a man who looked just like Vanessa and Ramon's master, Ling. He was called Zero. He impersonated Ling, making Vanessa, Ramon and Seth enter the tournament to gather up energy to give it to the Zero Cannon, a space-based weapon which he would use to destroy NESTS and conquer the world. He fired the cannon several times on Southtown, which led Heidern to believe that Southtown was NESTS' headquarters. K' and his team eventually defeated Zero. Zero, in a dying effort, pressed the button to fire the Zero Cannon where they were, killing him and everyone there, but the cannon didn't respond. Then, Diana and Foxy appeared behind him saying that NESTS wouldn't be destroyed be the likes of him. Kula and Candy, who were on the Zero Cannon fired it once more killing Zero, and then they destroyed the weapon. K' and Maxima were fleeing the place when they met Whip. She said she knew about K's past and K' saw a vision of his sister, which looked like her. K' then took off his glove in rebellion against NESTS (but later replaced it).

In 2001, NESTS held another tournament, this time K' had information that the NESTS big fishes were going to show their face. K', Maxima and Whip were joined by Lin, a Hizoku assassin who had a grudge against Ron, who betrayed the Hizoku to join NESTS. They reached the semi-finals and had to face a team NESTS sent to join the tournament. This team was composed by Foxy, Kula, Angel and K9999, who was created with a single purpose to exterminate K'. K's team won and were put in a blimp and were shocked to see someone who was just like Zero. He called himself the Original Zero and was joined by his lion pet Glaugan, a clone of Krizalid and Ron. The blimp was soon transformed into a space ship and took to space. The ship anchored to a satellite and Zero and his comrades were defeated (Ron escaped, though). K' and his team entered the satellite and Zero's ship was destroyed, killing him, Glaugan and Krizalid's clone. Inside the satellite, K' met three figures: the NESTS chairman was dead, his killer and his secretary standing by his side. Igniz proclaimed himself NESTS CEO and Misty, his secretary and lover stood behind him. Igniz planed to use NESTS power to become a god and would kill K' and his comrades, because they were on his way. Igniz proceeded to attack the team easily defeating them. But then, Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami appeared and joined forces with K' to defeat Igniz. Igniz then proceeded to make the satellite fall on earth to destroy a part of it, but it felt in the water, thanks to Ron.

In 2003, K' and Maxima was given by Chin Gentsai and entrance to that year's KOF. Chin said he felt a dark wave of energy around that KOF and wanted them to investigate it. His team makes it to the finals and they face Mukai. K' defeats him but is bothered by his taunts about regaining his memories as well as reaching his true potential. Mukai's words continue to haunt him in the following tournament, leading K' to wonder if he can surpass his fate as "the second Kusanagi flame". At the end of the XI tournament, K' and his teammates were invited by Heidern to attend a lecture about the mysterious group Those from the Past. Heidern said he had Magaki's body, but they were attacked by two children who took Magaki's body away.

Personality
K' has a very serious personality but is very easy to enrage. He is starting to treat Whip as a big sister and Kula as a little sister. He often calls Maxima names like "stupid", "idiot", while Maxima calls him "Aibou" (He hates to be called like that). He sees Kyo as a rival and wants to prove he is better than him, not as only a clone.

Powers

 * Pyrokinesis - K' can control fire.
 * Create Fire - K' can control fire out of nowhere.
 * Fire Projectile - K' can throw fire balls.
 * Fire Attacks - K' can add damage to his normal attacks with fire.
 * Explosion - K' can create an explosion by touching his enemy.
 * Translocation - K' can translocate himself.

Fighting Style
K's fighting style is said to be "Pure Violence", but it has several similarities with Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. He even uses some of his famous moves, such as the One inch punch and Flying Kicks.

Music

 * KD-0079 - The King of Fighters '99, 2002
 * KD-0089 - The King of Fighters 2000
 * Big Pain - The King of Fighters 2001
 * KD - The King of Fighters 2003
 * KDD-0075 - The King of Fighters XI

Game Appearances



 * The King of Fighters '99
 * The King of Fighters 2000
 * The King of Fighters EX
 * The King of Fighters 2001
 * The King of Fighters 2002
 * The King of Fighters EX2
 * The King of Fighters Neowave
 * KOF: Maximum Impact
 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * KOF: Maximum Impact 2
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * KOF Maximum Impact Regulation A

Anime Appearances

 * The King of Fighters: Another Day

Similar Characters

 * Another K'

Trivia

 * His team's backstory for KOF XI features lyrics from Karl Busse, a nineteenth century lied from Germany. The particular song is Über den Bergen, transcribed in Japanese as "you in the mountain" (山のあなた, Yama no anata).