K'Dash

K' (ケイ・ダッシュ, Kei Dasshu, pronounced K' Dash or K' Prime, due to the symbol in his name) is a fictional character from SNK Playmore's The King of Fighters video game series. He also stars as the protagonist of the NESTS series in the franchise. He is voiced by Japanese actor Yuuki Matsuda.

Full Name: K'Dash Date of Birth: Unknown, age 16-18 Height: 183cm Weight: 65kg Family/Relationships: Kyo Kusanagi (half cloned from him), Krizalid (clone), Whip (older sister), Nameless (has his DNA) Occupation: Former NESTS Agent, currently working for the Ikari Warriors Likes: His sunglasses Hates: Exercise, KOF tournaments, sweets Hobbies: None Favorite Food: Beef Jerky Sports he/she dominates: None (hates exercise) Special Ability: Can control the Kusanagi clan's pyrokinesis to a certain level Measurements: Unknown Weapons: None (uses a special glove that keeps his power under control) Fighting Style: Pure Violence

K' is the result of NESTS' plan to create the perfect clone of Kyo, for which they began to experiment on a human who could carry the enormous power of the gods by injecting him with Kyo's DNA. They were only partially successful, since K's weak, still childlike body was unable to control the immense power of the Kusanagi flames. Then its creators installed a special glove on his arm that would allow him to control the power without problems. Since he was an incomplete clone who never became a God, they gave him an incomplete name: K', which can only control its powers up to a certain level.

Before the experiment, K' was a normal human, though not much is known about his previous life. As a child, K' was kidnapped by NESTS agents as the experimental subject for the prototype. The Kusanagi power was to be grafted into him and NESTS would prove that it was possible to graft the Kusanagi power into a normal human, but it turned out that they were unable to control the power without the aid of the special glove. NESTS also altered K's memory and all he remembers from his previous life is a little girl who called him "brother" and cried for him, but this memory only appears now in his dreams.

NESTS Saga:

After his activation, Krizalid ordered K' to form a team with Maxima, Benimaru Nikaido, and Shingo Yabuki to enter The King of Fighters tournament and collect data on the other participants' battles, all with the goal of activating Kyo Kusanagi's clones around the world. The new Hero Team meets Krizalid in an underground facility as planned for a final battle, which K' sees as an opportunity to take command of the situation. However, his powers were not enough, Krizalid was about to kill them when Kyo appears to defeat Krizalid. At that moment, K' challenges Kyo to a fight. Before the battle ends, the rubble of a steel door separates both fighters, and after defeating the NESTS cartel once again, the Hero Team quickly escapes before the Ikari Warriors Team extermination squad arrives.

For the next year, K' and Maxima continued to escape from the Ikari Warriors (who were looking for them as fugitive criminals) and the NESTS cartel (who were looking for them as traitors). K' decides to get rid of them by clearing his image in King of Fighters 2000. Vanessa and a Mexican fighter named Ramon offer to form a new team with them. Although K' doesn't trust them one bit, he reluctantly accepts their help. He also begins to have nightmares about a girl yelling "brother" at him. When the Hero Team arrives in Southtown for their final battle in the tournament, déjà vu plagues him even more. Arriving at an empty warehouse, he senses an intruder and orders Maxima to lead the other two team members outside.

Now, he's faced with a young woman wearing a suit very similar to his own. She calls herself the Anti K', and they engage in battle, with K' discovering that all of their attacks and fighting styles are similar and essentially canceling each other out. Sensing his energy running out, K' unleashes an intense burst of fire. To his surprise, the young woman is still standing (badly burned, but smiling). She introduces herself as Kula Diamond, and explains that she has orders to stop C-Zero, an unhinged NESTS agent who set out to use the Zero Cannon to destroy his superiors.

When K' returned from the battle, C-Zero had defeated his teammates, but had been wounded, poisoned by Lin, and severely injured by Maxima. Despite his own fatigue, K' outmatched Zero and managed to escape Southtown before the cannon devastated the place. Soon after, K' is approached by a familiar figure. When she calls out K's name, it clears all doubt as to who she is: K's sister is Whip, a member of the Ikari Warriors. After witnessing Southtown being consumed, K' decides to remove his protective gauntlet despite Maxima's warnings. To everyone's surprise, K's flaming energy does not go out of control. It seems he has finally learned how to control Kusanagi's legendary crimson flames; though this is questionable as he is shown wearing a new gauntlet salvaged from one of the NESTS bases he destroyed alongside Maxima and Whip.

Through his travels to various NESTS bases located around the world, accompanied by Whip and Maxima, K' finds something very suspicious: the bases they have long attempted to attack are now abandoned. He begins to suspect that someone is following his footsteps. During a raid on some abandoned NESTS ruins, K' stumbles upon Lin, who has also been following NEST.S., in search of a traitor to his clan, Ron. Whip suggests including him in their team to sign up for the upcoming King of Fighters tournament, where NESTS will finally reveal themselves to the world. K' was not worried about Lin, but rather wondered what NESTS might do to the public present at the tournament after they destroyed a city.

In the following tournament, K' is exceptionally motivated to confront and ultimately defeat NESTS, and advances to the final battle aboard an airship. Aboard it is the original Zero, the one they defeated a year ago was merely a copy (Zero (Clone)). While his teammates engaged Zero's companions, K' focused on the latter. Despite being superior to his clone, Zero loses to K', but accepts his defeat like a true warrior. The airship docks at a space station and crashes to earth, but not before Zero advises them to stay on the station.

On board, K' meets Igniz, the ambitious leader of NESTS who sets out to rule the world. Already believing himself to be an evil and arrogant ruler of the world, Igniz explains the project that involved using Kyo Kusanagi's DNA. K', Kula, and Krizalid were all products of that experiment, with the final product being entirely artificial called K9999. He then challenges K' to a battle after returning some of the memories he had lost over the years before seeing himself as a clone.

Igniz dominated K' for most of the battle, when Athena Asamiya, Ryo, Sakazaki, Terry Bogard, Kula Diamond, Iori Yagami, and Kyo Kusanagi appeared, having been hidden aboard the ship to go after Igniz. They all joined forces with K' to defeat Igniz, and succeeded. After losing, Igniz declared that he was a fallen god and would now be a demon, so he went to some pillars, placed his hands on them, and activated the ship's self-destruction, causing the ship to fall to Earth. During the seemingly fatal fall, Kula Diamond (who was also on board) unleashed all of her ice energies in one fell swoop, creating a passage through the atmosphere to cushion the ship's fall. After escaping the crashed space station in the ocean, K' swam to land, saving Kula as she sank into the ocean. They decided to put an end to their old differences and take care of each other. K' even hides from K9999 and Angel, who came to eliminate the previous wandering NESTS agents (K' and Kula). K' even decides to take care of Kula, due to her seeming very childish.

Lin then leaves the team to continue the search for Ron. Máxima tells K' that she will leave as well, out of respect for her dead friend (who was killed by NESTS). K' is unaware of her (and Kula's) future and the consequences of the destruction of the NESTS cartel. K' feels tenderness for her, but does not show it.

Ash Saga:

After the fall of NESTS, K' and Maxima continued to live their lives as vagabonds. Whip returned to the Ikari Warriors, and Kula remained with her NESTS protector, Diana. However, in 2003, they announced a new King of Fighters tournament. K' had no interest, instead hating the tournament, but was sought out by the old Chin Gentsai of the Psycho Soldiers. Chin, sensing an evil energy rising, asked K' to join the tournament.

K' reacted angrily, but was calmed down by Maxima, who convinced him to consider the advice. Shortly after, K's sister called him, requesting that he join her on a team, under orders from her chief officer, Heidern. K' calmed down, and joined the tournament. While K' found nothing of interest in the tournament, he did encounter several evil figures that filled him with a bad feeling.

He didn't think much of it, but suddenly and unexpectedly his flames began to function outside of his control for the first time in years. Once he finally managed to keep his energies under control, Maxima asked him if his glove was working properly. K' replied that the problem was not with the glove, but with Kyo's energies. Although his meaning was unclear, his interest in the strange events was growing.

As the next tournament was approaching, Whip rejoined the Ikari Warriors team once again, taking the place of his superior, Leona, who was unable to participate. At Whip's suggestion, Kula was called in and asked to team up with K', who would once again participate in the tournament under Heidern's orders. During the tournament, a gruesome figure named Magaki was revealed to be the host. However, after Magaki's death, K' and the Ikari Warriors brought biological samples of him to Heidern. Later, it was confirmed that K' and his team would appear in The King of Fighters XIII.

Another Day:

In Another Day: K' along with Maxima were trying to hack the Ikari Wariors' base to find answers about who was creating another clone of Kyo. When they had everything, the energy went out but in the process they were discovered.

So they decide to board the train in the underground tunnels, K' is angry to learn that another clone had been created by Doctor Makishima. The Ikari had already found them and try to battle Clark, Leona and Ralf who take them for murderers. At the end K' jumps on another train in the opposite direction and is knocked unconscious.

K' has a very serious personality, but he is very easy to get angry. He's starting to treat Whip like an older sister. He often calls Máxima "stupid", "idiot", etc., but K' really trusts Máxima's reliability. He is not kind and is always harsh, even to those close to him. Because K' usually expresses his concerns in a "tough guy" manner, Maxima jokingly calls him dishonest. He sees Kyo as a rival and wants to prove that she is better than him, not just a clone.

Among the techniques that were created by K' are:

Pyrokinesis - Since he has Kyo's DNA, he has this ability, but needs a special glove to control it.

Ein Trigger - Creates a flame, which can be thrown or kicked.

Second shot/Second shell - When he generates a spark of fire, he can kick it to launch a fire projectile or kick his opponent with his leg wrapped in flames. He can also launch the projectile from the air (only in KOF 2003 and KOF XI).

Crow bite - K' does a kind of upward strike with fire, optionally can finish with a kick.

Blackout - K' can slide at high speed across the floor leaving a trail of shadows.

Derivation-Blackout - K' performs a Blackout when making an Ein Trigger.

Minute spike - K' gives a supreme boost, delivering a fast flying kick.

Narrow Spike - After a Minute Spike, the same command is executed so that K' executes a speed movement equal to how he ends Blackout.

Heat Drive - K' concentrates a large amount of fire in his glove, and quickly advances at an impressive speed to attack his opponent, the slightest touch makes the opponent jump into the air. Like SDM from KOF 99, he bounces it faster and takes away more life.

Chain Drive - K' grabs his glasses and throws them, if they touch the opponent, he advances and starts performing a large combo of punches (From KOF XIII and XIV you can see that K' grabs his glasses before they fall and start the combo), the combo ends with the famous punch of the fighter Bruce Lee, the "one inch punch". In Drive mode his punches are faster but he executes them with fire slashes and ends the combo with a Heat Drive. In DM 14 hits and in SDM 26 Hits.

Crimson Star Road - His HSDM from KOF 2002; K freezes his opponent and then stealthily brushes them through the air with a brush for 8 hits. In its Remake the brush is the same but this time he combines it with a fire explosion like the Heat Drive.

Hyper Chain Drive - K' concentrates a large amount of fire in his right hand and strikes the ground releasing a huge pillar of rising fire that causes great damage to the opponent, but must be kept at a short distance from K'. This attack is used by Neo Max in The King of Fighters XIII. When the attack ends, K's glove is shattered. However, in The King of Fighters XIV this attack reappears as Climax, only here the glove does not break. K' may have already controlled his stream of fire to the maximum.