Tales of Ash

The Tales of Ash, also known as the Ash Saga is the third 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.

= Past Events =

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 Blanctorche. 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.

= Story =

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.

The King of Fighters XI
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.

The King of Fighters XIII
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"!

=Characters=

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 in which the characters who participated in the saga were inserted.
 * Note: As there are no teams formed, all participations in The King of Fighters XII are solo.

=Trivia=
 * The two first chapters of the saga, The King of Fighters 2003 and The King of Fighters XI, are the only of the series which use the Tag-Battle System. This system is abolished in The King of Fighters XIII, and the series goes back to the classic 3-vs-3 system.
 * Starting with The King of Fighters XI, the series drops the years that the games take place in. Because to this, it will become very hard or even impossible to determine exactly where and when certain backstories took place starting from here on out, unless confirmed by SNK themselves.
 * All characters who debut in The King of Fighters series, starting with The King of Fighters XIII, do not have their ages displayed, adding more to the uncertainty.
 * Just like with The King of Fighters '98 and The King of Fighters 2002 (and its remakes The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match and The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match), The King of Fighters XII is not listed in the canonical story, as it is a "Dream Match" game, and is therefore non-canon.
 * KOF XII is also the only of the series without teams or bosses, despite the game's system allows them to be formed. In fact, the game acts as a "beta" version of KOF XIII.
 * Certain characters who debut in the Console releases and not the original Arcade releases are considered non-canon.
 * This is the only story arc which his protagonist never won a KOF tournament, being on a team or not.
 * This is also the third story arc in which his protagonist made a solo appearance in some game (s) or the series, being the first the Orochi Saga (when Iori enters in '97 tournament alone).
 * This is the only story arc which almost all the debutant characters didn't return to the first game of the following saga (with exception of Tung Fu Rue and Oswald, which returns as a regular and a DLC character, respectively).
 * This is the last story arc of the mainline series to use hand drawing sprites. Starting with The King of Fighters XIV, the series uses 3D graphics, something already done in the Maximum Impact series.
 * In this story arc, the expression K.O. (Knock Out) is re-announced. However, the number of rounds just appears on the screen, without any announces (only appearing in KOF XIII).
 * The only exception occurs with KOF XII, when the rounds' number is announced, becoming the only one in this saga with this feature.
 * The expression "READY GO" goes back to being used, after a pause during the previous saga, and continues to the current games in the franchise.
 * Due to 3-vs-3 system, the maximum number of rounds is 5. However, when the last round (now named "FINAL ROUND") ends in a tie, a decisive round, under the name "EXTRA ROUND", appears.