The King of Fighters 2001

After the satellite weapon Zero Cannon obliterated an entire city during KOF 2000 — an event officially blamed on a crashing artificial satellite — many called for the tournament's end, yet its notoriety only drove its popularity to new heights, rivaling and perhaps surpassing the legendary '97 event. This time the secretive NESTS cartel itself hosts the tournament, using it to draw out and eliminate its enemies while fielding its own team. In the finals, the Hero Team boards what appears to be a blimp but proves to be a spaceship bound for NESTS's true headquarters. Aboard they confront Original Zero, who, backed by his black lion Glugan, Ron, and Krizalid, challenges them to a match; defeated as the ship docks at NESTS's orbital satellite, he stays behind on the exploding vessel and urges them onward. Inside, the team meets the NESTS leader, who wishes his renegade agents back before he is killed by Igniz, the cartel's new master. Igniz reveals that K', Kula, Krizalid, K9999, and Whip are merely creations made for his amusement — a truth Kula, separated from her team, overhears about her own artificial origin. Declaring himself a god, Igniz crushes the team and moves to kill K', only for other fighters, including Kyo and Iori, to intervene. Beaten, he renames himself a fallen "demon" and plunges the satellite toward Earth to annihilate his rivals. The satellite instead crashes into the ocean, and the fighters survive — presumably saved by Ron. K' rescues a drowning Kula, who, with her guardian Diana, allies with him; the fates of K9999 and Angel remain unknown, and Foxy's apparent death is later shown to be false. The third chapter of the NESTS saga, this tournament was meant to settle everything.