Tales of Ash

The Tales of Ash, also known as the Ash Saga is the third mainline story arc in The King of Fighters series. It covers the events found in The King of Fighters 2003, The King of Fighters XI and The King of Fighters XIII.

Ancient Times, -Another Side-
Within old Europe, a mysterious group known as Those from the Past began emerging as the counterparts to Orochi's Hakkesshu. Their leader, Saiki, was a power being who possesses control over time. Sometime after Orochi was sealed, many members of Those from the Past were wiped out, at the hands of the Blanctorche Family, a group of nobles who protect the innocent and have a mastery of the elements of light.

Late 1990s
By the late 1990s, Elisabeth Blanctorche is the last known remaining member of the Blanctorche family. At one point, she became the childhood friend of Ash Crimson and they were raised in the same mansion together. She used to act as his older sister figure, until a fire burned down the mansion and many of her clansmen to the ground. As the sole remaining Blanctorche, she lives with her butler, Jacques, near the remains of her family's home.

Welcoming All Oncomers
Two years after The King of Fighters 2001, The King of Fighters tournament returned in full force. Once again the rules were changed, with the "Striker System" being dropped completely, and the matches returning back to the 3v3 team matches. However, the tournament introduced the Multi-Shift System; now matches took place in a single round, and fighters could freely swap out with other standby members at any time.

Fresh Flames Flare Up On The KOF Stage
The fighting competition of the highest standards, on the greatest scale in the world - "The King of Fighters." Here on this stage Rugal was defeated, the Orochi were contained and sealed away, and the mighty conglomerate NESTS was taken down. A myriad of unfolding dramas. Yet these were always hidden behind some sort of thick veil or other, remaining out of the public eye. Even with such a checkered history, the opening of this year's King of Fighters was decided on. The sponsor of the competition was, yet again, a mysterious personage, and owing to the circumstances, various suppositions traveled through assorted lands like wildfire.

But in spite of all the hubbub, one veteran contestant after another made their intentions to enter the competition known. Upon verification that numerous well-known fighters had entered the competition, the heretofore discreet media coverage of the event shifted into 24/7 overdrive. With the announcement of the inception from this KOF tournament of the new "multi-shift" rule, allowing competitors to freely tag off during battles, the competition developed into a social phenomenon and monopolized discussions around the world.

Newspapers and magazines put together feature articles almost on a weekly basis while ersatz critics pounded their desks and made impassioned commentary on TV day after day about this rule, which simultaneously required a speedy execution of the match and a unified team strategy. "There is still an awesome bunch of fearsome contestants in this world." Gato, Tizoc, Duo Lon, Shen Woo...and Ash Crimson. What made their names more and more familiar via the Internet was, without doubt, this moment of uproar concerning the present KOF. Will these contestants be able to become the new stars capable of shaking up the KOF tournament, or maybe...?

And during these crazy days, the preparations steadily went along. The venues of local competitions were determined, the schedules were completed, and the spectators moved from one location of the preliminary matches to another. To create the atmosphere of a true street fight, venues were established in city centers, the events of the competition were broadcasted live on giant screens, and various stadiums scaled to hold tens of thousands of people were procured in cities throughout the world during the period of the tournament.

December, 2003. The time has come. This year, the curtain rises once again.

It is revealed that Kusanagi was created by Chizuru Kagura as an attempt to test the winner. Chizuru and her undead sister Maki soon challenge the player to a boss fight. Following the Kagura sisters' defeat, a woman named Botan reveals herself as the one who had brainwashed Chizuru and that both Botan and her partner Mukai are the true masterminds behind the 2003 tournament, with the latter serving as the true ending final boss. Despite being defeated, Mukai claims success for his unknown superior, having weakened the seal of the ancient demon Orochi and while both Mukai and Botan escape, Ash Crimson attacks a weakened Chizuru and steals the Yata Mirror from her, warning Iori Yagami that he's his next target.

New Teams
Mukai, a member of a mysterious group, stole the Orochi seal in the last tournament and broke it, causing confusion and destruction to happen from within sight. Taking advantage of the situation at hand, Ash stole the Yata Mirror from Chizuru and drained her powers in the process. In the advent of a new KOF tournament, new faces are handed invitations, while old faces, such as Eiji Kisaragi, return to the ring.

Among the new KOF participants are Oswald, Duck King (a South Town veteran fighter himself), Momoko and Elisabeth. All these fighters will find themselves in a tournament full of mysteries and secrets started by motives that they’d ignored. Behind this healthy competitive tournament hides a hidden force called "People from the Past" with a mysterious goal.

Only One Will Survive
The hosts of the tournament are two members of "Those from the Distant Land", consisting of a weapons expert named Shion and a dimension manipulator named Magaki, who serve as the respective sub and final bosses of the game. Following their defeat, Magaki tries to escape and steal Orochi's power, but instead ends up being murdered by his own ally Shion. In the ensuing chaos, Ash attacks a rampaging Iori Yagami (affected by his Riot of the Blood curse) who had seriously injured both Kyo Kusanagi and Shingo Yabuki, managing to steal the Yasakani Jewel from him. Despite being confronted by his estranged childhood friend Elisabeth Blanctorche and her two associates Benimaru Nikaido and Duo Lon, Ash manages to swiftly escape from them, warning the trio that he intends to target Kyo as his final victim in the near future.

KOF Reborn
Magaki was slain by Shion's spear, and Shion vanished into the dimensional rift. Then other members of the group Heidern was tracking suddenly appeared and vanished, as if to mock Heidern and his team. Who are "Those From the Distant Land," and why are they so persistent in their pursuit of the power of Orochi?

Meanwhile, Ash Crimson, having obtained Kagura's power, chose to ignore Elisabeth's cautions and took on Iori Yagami's power.

Yata was defeated, and Yasakani has fallen. Only one of the Three Sacred Treasures remains: the Sword of Kusanagi. However, Kyo Kusanagi suffered a major injury at the hands of Yagami, who had been overtaken by the power of the revitalized Orochi.

Time has passed...

With these recent incidents, it was feared that the next King of Fighters tournament would never happen. However, thanks to an unheard-of amount of promotion by a mysterious party, the KOF will be held on an unprecedented scale. The new mixed martial arts tournament is on the world stage, and the mass media has been giving it coverage like never before.

Fighters all across the world begin to receive invitations... all sent from "R"!

R
The fighter Ash Crimson has absorbed the powers from two of the descendants of the clans who sealed the Orochi away 1,800 years ago, Chizuru Kagura and Iori Yagami, while Kyo Kusanagi is to be his last victim. As his former comrade, Elisabeth Blanctorche, prepares to stop him, fighters receive an invitation to another King of Fighters tournament hosted by a person labelled as "R". The tournament is sponsored by Rose who is being controlled by "Those From The Past", the organization behind the two prior tournaments that has been trying to break Orochi's seal.

Vanishing from the Existence
When the winning team reaches the game's end, Saiki, the leader of "Those From The Past" puts his work into motion. Saiki intends to use the energy expended by the winning team to enable him to cross time. However, as the fight rages, Botan notes that the gate that links them to the past is starting to close despite the battle. Before Saiki can act, he is ambushed by Ash Crimson, who steals his power. It is revealed then that, while Ash was enlisted by Saiki to obtain the Three Sacred Treasures to power the time gate, Ash had no intention of helping Saiki. Ash is suddenly overtaken by Saiki's persona, who then attempts to cross the time gate in Ash's body. The winning team pursues him into the time gate and the final battle of The King of Fighters XIII begins inside the time gate. Saiki is defeated in the gate but persists on crossing over to the past, believing it means nothing since he can return to the past and then cross the gate again to attempt his plan anew. However, Ash halts his attempt and allows the gate to close, leaving Saiki trapped in the present. Furthermore, Ash reveals that he is a descendant of Saiki. By locking Saiki out of the gate, he denies Saiki's existence in the past and forces his own existence to cease. As Ash vanishes from the living world, the flow of time resumes. In the epilogue of the Story Mode, in the dimensional rift, a spear appeared in front of Shroom and Rimelo, two members of Those From The Past who faced Kyo in the opening of the game (Console version). More surprising, Shion appeared before them, revealed that he's still alive.

Debutant Characters
Characters who made their canonical debut in The King of Fighters series, ordered by their first appearance in the series.

Returning Characters
Characters who are returning from previous installments in The King of Fighters series, ordered by their first appearance in the series.

NPC Characters
Non-playable characters who appear during the saga's lore.

Characters & Teams' Participations

 * Teams and/or participations in which the characters who participated in the saga were inserted.


 * Note 1: As there are no teams formed, all participations in The King of Fighters XII are solo. However, it is possible to form 3-on-3 teams.


 * Note 2: The order of the table are based on the appearances on the first mainline game of the saga.


 * Note 3: About the colors in the table, they follow the logic below:


 * Yellow: for table titles.
 * Law Green & Red: for the characters' participation in the saga.
 * Forest Green & Fire Brick: the first color indicates the characters who participated in all games of the saga, and the second indicates the characters who were absent from, at least, one game in the saga.

Characters' Number Participations in the Mainline Series
''Number of participations in each game of the saga. The participations can be by source game of the series, source series or source saga/story arc. This list considers only the characters inserted in the mainline series.''