Ash Crimson

Ash Crimson (アッシュ・クリムゾン, Asshu Kurimuzon) is the protagonist of the Ash Saga. His first appearance was in The King of Fighters 2003 as the leader of the New Hero Team. His motives for entering are to take the powers of the descendants of the clans who sealed Orochi away 1,800 years ago (Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami and Chizuru Kagura). He has succeeded thus far, leaving Kyo as the last power he needs.

Ash is designed with the intent of creating an "attractive evil character" with little changes done to him since conception. During the initial planning stage for Ash, developers wanted to create a protagonist that has never been done for the franchise. Following this idea, they decided to create a feminine looking and unheroic character to contrast the impact from the previous protagonist. Falcoon adds that the main goal for Ash was to make him an ambiguous hero that purposely makes players "feel bad" for cheering for him. His official nickname is The Sneering Blaze.

Story
Ash is the descendant of Saiki. When he was living in France, he spent his childhood years with Elisabeth Blanctorche. For reasons still not entirely divulged, he left her household and the Blanctorche teachings. He enters the 2003 edition of The King of Fighters tournament alongside Duo Lon and Shen Woo. While his teammates left to solve their own vendettas, Ash went to the Orochi seal, where Kyo, Chizuru, and Iori were investigating the Orochi Seal. Ash suddenly ambushed a weakened Chizuru and robbed her of the Yata no Kagami (Yata Mirror), leaving her unconscious and without her powers. He taunts that Iori will be next and flees from the scene.

Ash enters the next tournament with Shen and Oswald. After the tournament's events, he reveals to Oswald that Shen is the target he has been contracted to assassinate for a mysterious group, and leaves his teammates to fight each other, a scheme that Ash gleefully set up before the tournament occurred. Due to Orochi's strong presence in the tournament and the seal ever-weakening with Chizuru unable to act as "Watcher", Iori succumbs to the Riot of the Blood and violently attacks his own teammates, quickly knocking-out a surprised Kyo and severly injuring Shingo. Ash appeared amidst the confusion and, according to a hospitalized Shingo in the official Japan Team Pre-Story for KOF XIII, took advantage of Iori's bewildered state and snuck up behind him, stealing the Yasakani no Magatama and causing him to lose consciousness. It is worth noting that; Shingo's account somewhat contradicts the "Kusanagi/Yagami Team" Ending as, in said ending, Ash appears directly in front of Shingo and Iori. However, it is quite possible that using the illusory powers of the Yata Mirror that Ash had stolen previously, Ash was simply able to maneuver around and quickly subdue Riot Iori before he could even act. Before he left the tournament grounds, Elisabeth Blanctorche and her team appeared before him. She accused Ash of abandoning "their mission" and fighting for personal gain. To intimidate her, he unleashes his new purple flames and disappears using the Yata Mirror. He chillingly warns them that he plans to target Kyo next. According to Benimaru in the KOF XIII Pre-Story, Ash's disappearance using the Yata Mirror and his showing off of Yagami's flames was also meant to make two statements to those present: that he had already mastered the powers of the Mirror and that, by the next time he appeared, he will have mastered Yagami's flames as well.

Prior to the KOF XIII tournament, Ash openly joins forces with Those from the Past and works for their master. During the tournament finals, he waits for Saiki to lower his guard and slay Saiki, robbing him of his soul, while blunty telling Botan that it will be the end of their "bloodline". However, Saiki's essence seizes control of his body and uses it as his own. However, after being defeated again by the winning team Ash regains control of his body. Saiki insists that Ash enter the Time Gate, which will allow them to return to a previous era and begin their entire plan over again. Ash doesn't move however, allowing the gate to close and creating a time paradox, since the act has removed Saiki from both past and present. Revealing disgust for the leader of Those from the Past, Ash explains that he "actually likes this world" before Saiki's essence disintegrates. Ash has a few moments to chat with Elisabeth, apologizing to her while saying that his "plan" didn't work the way he meant it to before disappearing as well. He leaves the stolen sacred treasures behind for Iori and Chizuru to reclaim.

Personality
Ash is a cunning, self righteous, and flamboyant individual. Confident in his own powers, he doesn't take things too seriously and considers things that are of no interest bothersome. Even when faced with serious situations, he is calm and somewhat blasé.

He isn't one who considers working with others, but instead uses others to achieve his goals. He tends to flaunt the superiority of his halfhearted effort and speaks in a playful and condescending manner, which often irritates the characters he is speaking to.

He views Elisabeth as his older sister figure, and notes that she is "too serious". He feels that Duo Lon and Shen Woo are his good friends, although he appeared to them with mysterious intentions. He also has a habit of calling people pet names such as "Betty" for Elisabeth and "Ozzy" for Oswald.

Powers

 * Pyrokinesis - Ash can create and control special green flames that look like melted wax. The origin of this flame is still unknown.
 * Create Fire - Ash can create fire from thin air.
 * Fire Projectile - Ash can create projectiles made of fire.
 * Fire Attacks - Ash can increase damage of his punches and kicks with fire.
 * Fire Aura - Ash can create fire around his body.
 * Power Absorption - Ash can steal powers from anybody he chooses. He decided to target the Three Sacred Treasures. He managed to steal two of three treasures leaving Kyo as the next power to acquire. He could possibly kill people during this process, but he left Chizuru and Iori alive. This was demonstrated when he absorbed Saiki's powers, in turn destroying Saiki's original body.
 * Yata Mirror (formerly) - The following are powers shown by Ash when he acquired Chizuru's Yata Mirror.
 * Seal Powers (formerly) - Ash can keep enemies from using their powers for a while.
 * Teletransport (formerly) - Ash can disappear and reappear somewhere.
 * Yasakani no Magatama (formerly) - The following are powers shown by Ash when he acquired from Iori's Yasakani no Magatama, which was later regained by Iori after Ash's disappearance.
 * Create Fire (formerly) - Ash can create red/purple fire. It is unknown if possessing the Magatama also allows its possessor to become subject to Riot of the Blood.

Fighting Style
Ash fights using an acrobatic style combined with fire abilities to give a graceful fighting style.

Despite his stature, he is extremely powerful. He's good for people who like to zone and poke their opponents, but he also has many other tools at the players disposal that can be used to rush down efficiently all while keeping the pressure on them. In the newest title, he also employs Iori's and Chizuru's powers into his moveset.

Most of his moves refer to the French Revolution; they are named after months of the French Republican Calendar.

His fighting style in general is similar to the French martial art of Savate.

Music

 * Splendid Evil - The King of Fighters 2003
 * Joker - The King of Fighters XI, The King of Fighters XIII (when the music is set to "Type B", console version only)
 * The Second Joker - The King of Fighters XIII
 * Fructidor - Days of Memories

Voice Actors

 * Sōnosuke Nagashiro - Since debut
 * Peter von Gomm - The King of Fighters XII (English voice)

Game Appearances

 * The King of Fighters 2003
 * The King of Fighters XI
 * KOF Maximum Impact Regulation A
 * The King of Fighters XII
 * The King of Fighters XIII

Mobile Appearances

 * Days of Memories (second, fourth, and seventh titles) - unplayable
 * The King of Reversi
 * Moeyo! KOF Daiundokai
 * SNK Dream Battle

Cameo Appearances

 * The King of Fighters '94: Rebout - background cameo
 * KOF Maximum Impact 2 - background cameo, Kula Diamond's Normal Outfit-Variaton E

Anime Appearances

 * The King of Fighters: Another Day

Similar Characters

 * Saiki
 * Evil Ash

Trivia

 * Ash's character design was not made by Falcoon — in fact, some of the development sketches for Ash's final design look closer to Nona's style than the former. However, he did add extra details to Ash while he was illustrating him to better fit his character.
 * KOF Maximum Impact 2: Regulation A earned its title for three reasons: arcade, arrange, and Ash. In a later interview, Falcoon relates that he asked permission from the 2D team to borrow Ash for the game.
 * Ash's face can be seen more than forty times during the Regulation A opening.