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Billy Kane Hit the pavement, Slug-face!" A legendary stick fighter and Geese Howard's righthand man. Billy Kane enters the 1995 King of Fighters tournament with his partners Eiji Kisaragi and Iori Yagami--can they win it all, or will their secret motives and distrust of one another be their undoing?
BACKGROUND: William "Billy" Kane lost his parents at a young age and consequently struggled to support himself and his younger sister, Lily. Barely able to eke out a living in his homeland of England, Billy decided they should emigrate to the U.S.A., in the hope of obtaining a better life. Shortly after arriving in the States, the two settled in the city of Southtown where Billy found work at the local steel factory. While the job was reliable and paid relatively well, Billy grew increasingly frustrated with his lot in life. One day, he lost his temper and exploded, ripping a steel pipe from the wall and swinging it around like a mad man. Billy's employer almost fired him on the spot, but, upon further consideration of Billy's display of ferocity, decided to report the young man to his boss instead, Southtown's secret crime lord, Geese Howard, who was always on the lookout for new talent. Geese Howard saw in Billy Kane something no one else ever had: Potential. Taking him under his wing, Geese arranged for Billy to be trained in stick fighting; an art the young Mr. Kane showed remarkable aptitude for. With Billy's technical skills now matching his raw talent, Geese employed Billy as his personal bodyguard. Now, it so happened that, in addition to Geese's legitimate and criminal businesses, Billy's new boss was also a master martial artist who sponsored and officiated over "King of Fighters" tournaments on a regular basis. Bored with the pitiful "talent" that entered these events, Geese decided to make Billy Kane the champion of the tournament, arrogantly reasoning that anyone who couldn't best his bodyguard wasn't worth his attention anyway. Time passed, and Billy lived up to Geese's expectations, dominating the tournament year-after-year. That is, until a trio of unknown, but talented, young fighters entered the contest: Terry Bogard, his brother, Andy Bogard, and their friend, Joe Higashi. Many years previously, Geese Howard had murdered the Bogard boys' father, Jeff, and now that they had grown and learned how to fight, they were out for revenge. The three of them quickly rose through the tiers of the tournament, smashing all of Geese's local hooligans. Then Billy and Terry clashed, and, much to Kane's surprise, he was defeated. With no one else to stand in his way, Terry made his way to the top of Geese Tower where he and his father's murderer fought a vicious battle. Against all odds, Terry managed to defeat the Hakkyokuseiken Master, and Geese was thrown from the roof by Bogard's final blow, plummeting to his apparent death on the street far below. But Geese would not die so easily. Rumors abound about how Geese survived such a great fall, but survive he did. Humiliated and scarred, Geese let the world believe he was dead and went into hiding--to plot his revenge on the Bogards and to rededicate himself to his Hakkyokuseiken training. Only a select few, including Billy, knew the truth. A year went by, and another King of Fighters tournament was announced, this time hosted by the mysterious Dark Kaiser of Germany, Wolfgang Krauser. Krauser, recognizing Billy's long tenure as champion in previous years, offered him a position high up on the tournament ladder. With Geese's blessing, he accepted, eager to get revenge on Terry Bogard both for himself and his master. But this was not to be--again, Terry defeated all of his foes, crushing Billy and even Krauser himself. In the meantime, Geese had decided it was time for him to re-emerge on the world scene. Howard's near brush with death had impressed upon him the reality of his own mortality and that he was getting old. Geese became more and more obsessed with the process of becoming immortal and began to search for legendary artifacts that were said to bestow the secret of eternal life. For his part, Kane assisted Geese where and when he could. In the absence of Howard and Krauser, a new sponsor, Rugal Bernstein, took over the King of Fighters tournament, but neither Billy nor Geese participated in Bernstein's 1994 contest. However, in 1995, with Geese Howard's encouragement, Billy Kane entered the new King of Fighters tournament, forming a team with the ninja Eiji Kisaragi and the mysterious Iori Yagami. The three men, while all excellent warriors in their own right, did not particularly like or trust one another and exhibited poor teamwork--consequently, they faired poorly in the contests that followed. Having lost his chance to destroy his rival, Kyo Kusanagi, his sole reason for participating in the KOF event, Iori Yagami went berserk. Needing an outlet for his rage, Iori beat his teammates Eiji and Billy within an inch of their lives, leaving both men bloody and broken. It took months for Billy to recover from these wounds, and he has despised Iori ever since. Billy would go on to enjoy many other adventures, but, as this is a KOF '95 dedicated project, I'll end Billy's story here . . .
Billy Kane is a master stick fighter with many years of experience under his belt. He has gone far beyond what his original teacher taught him, inventing and refining his own techniques and style. Billy employs a red, custom-built, three-sectioned staff. This weapon is quite versatile, as its' length is variable, allowing it to be employed to great effect at both close and long ranges. Billy can ignite, at will, the ends of his staff creating devastating pyrotechnic attacks. However, it takes a great deal of energy and concentration to do this, so Billy generally only employs this tactic in desperate circumstances. While Billy's ability to generate fire is limited and pales in comparison to the natural capabilities of someone like Kyo Kusanagi or Iori Yagami, its proper usage can easily turn the tide of battle. So long as he's acting in Geese's best interests, Billy can always count on his employer's considerable resources. Whether it be money, information, or outright murder, Geese Howard's deep pockets and connections can make seemingly impossible things happen.
Billy Kane relies too much on his stick fighting skills; without his staff, at best, he is a mediocre hand-to-hand combatant. He always carries his weapon with him, even in situations where it isn't appropriate and may draw unwanted attention (that said, he can collapse it into sections which makes it smaller and easier to conceal). Without his trademark staff, he loses much of his effectiveness in battle and may even panic. If his weapon is lost or broken, he will frantically search his immediate environment for something of the same approximate size and shape to replace it with (i.e., a pipe, pool stick, broom, mop, etc). Billy Kane worships the ground Geese Howard walks on and would literally jump off a cliff if the Boss told him to--Geese commands, Billy obeys, no questions asked. Billy has never forgotten that it was Geese who saw something special in him and lifted him out of his ordinary life and made him into a somebody. For his part, Geese has genuine feelings for Billy, but he also sees him as a tool, one he won't hesitate to use to achieve his own goals. Under the right circumstances, it is not unthinkable that Geese would intentionally sacrifice Billy. Geese Howard aside, Lily Kane is Billy's world. It could be said that their relationship is almost more father/daughter-like than brother/sister, as Billy was forced into the role of parent at a young age when the two were orphaned. He is extremely overprotective of Lily and despises anyone who might cause her harm or steal her affections away from him. In particular, Joe Higashi's romantic designs on Lily infuriate Billy to no end, a situation made even worse by the fact that Joe is one of Billy and Geese's sworn enemies. Lily could easily be used by one of Billy's foes as leverage against him--the threat of harming or killing his sister might very well be the only thing that could ever conceivably cause Billy to betray Geese's trust. Materials:
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(In no particular order of importance.)
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