Yagami Team

The Yagami Team, also known as Rival Team, Iori Team and KOF '96 Team (only in 2002) is a team made up of Iori Yagami and members affiliated with him, their first debut being in The King of Fighters '95. The team was formed by Geese Howard, one of the greatest kings of the mafia and leader in South Town, who decided to see the situation of Rugal Bernstein's activities, the sponsor of the previous tournament, with this he supposed that he started the tournament again and as one of his rivals in the mafia, he had to keep an eye on him, so he set out to form a team that participates in the tournament, made up of his right hand Billy Kane, the assassin Ninja Eiji Kisaragi and finally Iori Yagami, member of the Yagami clan, and current leader of the clan, each had an enemy that he wanted to defeat which were the main heroes of that game Kyo, Terry and Ryo.

In The King of Fighters '96 with his most common partners being Mature and Vice. He has also teamed up with the agent team in The King of Fighters 2001, and with Jun Kagami and Miu Kurosaki in The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood.

Story[]

Orochi Saga[]

The King of Fighters '95[]

It only appears in The King of Fighters '95, so it doesn't have a lot of plot. Although Iori agreed to go on Geese's orders, he was actually going because he learned that sponsor Rugal had possession of Orochi's energy in some way. Seeing this as an offense, since Orochi's power can only be used by those who have his blood, he decided to kill Rugal as punishment for trying to use an unrequited power. Despite having reached the finals, Iori and his team were defeated by the Hero Team, where Iori was defeated in the final round by Kyo Kusanagi, member of the Kusanagi clan, rival of the Yagami, although Iori did not pay attention to that, but in the future they would become rivals just to see who is stronger and later he would get an obsession to kill Kyo.

When the Hero Team managed to defeat Rugal (at that time as Omega Rugal), after he began to be disintegrated by the power of Orochi, before disappearing, Iori appears and tells him that he is a fool because the power of Orochi only it is handled by those who have his blood. After that Iori left, and upon meeting with his teammates, he says that he no longer needs to be as a team and leaves, although the others tell him that he must still see Geese, Iori decides to shoot them down and leave them badly injured that he didn't like the idea of following someone's orders. After Iori leaves, Geese appears in front of Billy and Eiji.

Since then Billy and Eiji have been looking for Iori to teach him a lesson after attacking them.

The King of Fighters '96[]

On any given day, after Iori Yagami went to Japan with the intention of fighting Kyo, Vice and Mature appeared, Rugal Bernstein's secretaries, who appeared before Iori to challenge him to a fight in order to test his strength, where after they propose to form a team for the next KOF, where Iori accepts on the condition that they take care of all the teams except Kyo's. With this, the Yagami Team was formed, who advanced in the final rounds until they were defeated again by the Hero Team (Kyo's team). When the Hero Team beat Chizuru Kagura, the sponsor of that year's tournament, she mentioned Kyo and Iori, who appeared at the stadium for having mentioned it, telling them that they have to fulfill their destiny at once, although the two did not pay much attention to that, they changed their minds after Leopold Goenitz appeared, one of the 4 celestial kings of Orochi, who after introducing himself, mentioned that he was the one who gave some of the Orochi power to Rugal Bernstein, and he was the one who had taken an eye from him, where there I myself incorporate the power of Orochi.

After that, Chizuru told Kyo and Iori that they should fight together to defeat him, and they had no choice but to agree as they realized how powerful the enemy was. After a great fight, they came close to defeating him, when Goenitz asked Vice and Mature to take care of Iori, however they refused as they developed a certain appreciation for Iori, so Goenitz decided to commit suicide with one of his waves of wind.

However, after the fight was over, Goenitz's presence caused Iori to enter the Blood Riot, a state where Orochi's blood is activated making the user very powerful, but strips him of his humanity. Mature and Vice realized that, and tried to stop him, but Iori was too strong, and they were killed by him. After that, nothing was heard from Mature or Vice, and Iori after regaining consciousness, left.

Iori did not want to collaborate with anyone from The King of Fighters '97 as he would run the risk of suffering the blood disturbance again. But the New Faces Team made him enter that state again, with the intention of attacking all teams. Once he had surrendered, he again joins the Sacred Treasures team to seal Orochi.

Portable Saga[]

The King of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood[]

Jun Kagami and Miu Kurosaki invite Iori to seek answers from Sinobu Amou (a boy who has been kidnapped by Gustav Munchausen to channel the soul of Goenitz, who coincidentally is Miu's adoptive brother). At the end of the tournament, Miu Kurosaki rescues her unconscious brother and disappears with him. After that, Iori and Jun go their own way.

NESTS Saga[]

In The King of Fighters '99 and 2000, Iori is left alone and does not have any fighter from a team, as he is looking for Kyo Kusanagi to fight with him, after NESTS has kidnapped him and sees him in the shadows. as the winning team defeats Krizalid and then the Zero clone. After Zero had died, Kyo put his affairs with Iori but it was later because of the collapse and they put their fight aside.

The King of Fighters 2001[]

For this year Seth who was an agent of Ling invites Iori to his team and was associated with Ramon and Vanessa to seek answers from Kula Diamond who had been with the NESTS Team. Apparently Iori didn't do anything about it since he only cared about challenging Kyo one more time. At the end of the tournament, after NESTS was destroyed, he notices that his teammates try to capture him or something similar, but as expected of Iori, he gives them a painful fight which leaves the 3 agents hospitalized.

Dream Matches[]

At every The King of Fighters '98 and The King of Fighters 2002 Dream Match, Mature and Vice appear with Iori forming the old 1996 team with no canon history.

Ash Saga[]

The King of Fighters 2003[]

Iori teams up with Kyo and Chizuru, who was the tournament sponsor that year, as Chizuru mentions to them that Orochi's seal is weakening, and that a malevolent force is closing in on him. Once they reached the finals of the tournament, they are greeted at the entrance of the Orochi seal by Maki Kagura, Chizuru's twin sister, who was under the control of Botan, a member of Those from the Past, who is preparing to fight with him team. They are victorious, but Maki's wounds were also received by Chizuru, therefore, she was very hurt. They went down to check the Orochi seal, and then they would be greeted by Mukai, another member of Those from the Past, who was going to put them to the test to see if they had the strength to be able to advance in "the new era". The team manages to defeat him, however, Mukai praises them for their strength, saying that now the seal was in their possession and would be taken to their master, then disappear into a shadowy hand with his other companions. After the fight, the team was going to retreat, but then Chizuru fell unconscious, due to Ash Crimson knocking her out, and later stealing the Yata no Kagami, and with it Chizuru's powers, saying that later her next target would be Iori.

In response to that, Iori prepared to attack him, seeing that he dodged his attack very easily by getting behind him. After that, Iori leaves until appearing in the next tournament.

The King of Fighters XI[]

Here Iori teams up with Kyo and Shingo Yabuki, who repeatedly asked him to team up, since Chizuru was not trained to fight. I accept after not taking Shingo's pleas anymore. In the final of the tournament, they face Shion, who after being defeated by the team, is sent to another dimension by the tournament's sponsor, Magaki, who would later show up to face the group by changing the battlefield to an alternate dimension.

They managed to defeat him narrowly since Magaki did not show to be so hurt, however, he was preparing to retreat when for an instant, distracted by slightly feeling the power of Orochi, he was killed by Shion's spear, thrown from another dimension. With this done, Orochi's presence began to affect Iori, enough to make him enter the Blood Riot, and attack Kyo, who was weakened. Shingo tried to stop him but he was also injured.

During the event, Ash appeared, being warned by Shingo not to approach as it was dangerous as Iori was out of control. He saw through Iori's eyes what his condition was, which he saw as a perfect opportunity to take away the Yasakani no Magatama, and with it his powers, rendering him unconscious later.

The King of Fighters XIII[]

The two women who appeared in The King of Fighters '96 Mature and Vice have returned with Iori to prevent Orochi's power from being stolen by Ash or Those from the Past although they hope to see Iori fight without his flames. (Their appearance confirms that Iori murdered them in The King of Fighters '96, although they returned in shadow forms and with new appearances.)

After the completion of the KOF XIII tournament, Iori's Yasakani no Magatama returns to his possession and Orochi's weakened seal begins to strengthen once more. Both the women ask Iori if he really wants to accept the Magatama and the Orochi blood once again, as if he did, he lost any chance to be human again and offered him one last chance to completely eradicate his cursed fate clan. When Iori rejects her offer, the women once again fade from existence. So they apparently went back where they came from.

KOF XIV & XV Arc[]

The King of Fighters XIV[]

Iori finds himself in a graveyard at night, when Mature and Vice suddenly appear before him once again. They throw him the invitation to the KOF tournament, telling him that in order to "wake up from his nightmares" he must first "kill" him (they mean Kyo). As the story of the game progresses, Mature and Vice saw that a Verse subject emerged from the depths with abominable powers. When Verse had died while leaving other characters' souls including Orochi. Iori goes with Chizuru and Kyo who were observing Orochi's incomplete body, but before doing so Iori meets the two girls for the last time explaining that from now on it would be their last chance that they would meet again.

Music[]

Arashi No Saxophone - The King of Fighters '95, '98 Ultimate Match (using this team).
Arashi No Saxophone 2- The King of Fighters '96, '98, 2002, XIII (on EX Iori version and on console versions)
Sadistic Eyes - The King of Fighters '99 (Iori's theme)
The Immortal Mirror of The Sun - The King of Fighters 2001
Destiny - The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
Arashi No Saxophone 5 - The King of Fighters XIII
Saxophone Under The Moon - The King of Fighters XIV

Trivia[]

It is the team that has had the most changes, after the Hero Team and the Women Fighters Team.
All Iori equipment always plays the Arashi No Saxophone except KOF 2001, KOF 2002 UM and KOF XIV.
From what is customary, every time Iori teams up with someone they end up beaten, slaughtered, or in the worst case killed, all without exception.
Iori Yagami is the one who had more women in his team, which Iori does not seem to criticize them (But to Mai he does say aggressive things in SVC, because he usually insults her a lot).
The Iori & Kyo Team is considered a combination of the Yagami Team and Japan Team.
Iori betrayed his own team in the history of KOF '95 (Like the Rival Team) and of course in KOF 2001, probably because Iori just wants to have a chance to defeat Kyo. It is one of the few teams that the team captain betrays his teammates, the other team that happens that is the Boss Team.
In KOF XIV, Mature and Vice are seen again teaming up with Iori, this time they are alive and the causes of how they could have resurrected are unknown.