"Is there anything to say?"
The crowd went silent. Hundreds of shocked nerds who should be doing something better with their time watch in stunned silence as the bearded man stepped onto the stage. Chillindude826's lifeless body lay crumpled and battered on the floor. Dr. Leffen cackled maniacally, his voice backed by faint shine sounds as his power intensified. When he realized the ruckus from the crowd stopped, he quieted down as well.
"Who dares interrupt my moment of glory?!" boomed Dr. Leffen in his thick Swedish accent, kicking aside Chillin's water jug. The jug missed the tech and spilled on the floor, and scrubs darted to the scene to lick up the puddle. Leffen looked down the stage, at the man who stood before him in a Cloud Nine tank top, wearing the same half-sober smile he usually wore. "Hmm... Mang0. My old rival." He pointed to the fallen Chillindude. "You see what I did to your friend. Don't make me do it to you."
Mang0 raised an eyebrow. "lmaoooo dude seriously i'll beat u just like u beat me in beast v. 1k mm if we meet in bracket"
The crowd erupted. D1 and Prog fell under their desk and died. Dr. Leffen laughed again, thunder booming and the sound of lasers filling the room as power burst from Dr. Leffen, blowing Scar off the stage.
"L-ladies and gentlemen!" Scar said into the microphone, fixing his hair, "is this really happening?"
"In bracket?" asked Leffen. "Forget the bracket." He motioned toward the lone setup on stage. "I have plenty of time to JV5 you right now. Best of five."
"Ladies and gentlemen, here you have it! A one thousand dollar money match between Dr. Leffen and Captain America himself, C9 Mang0!"
"PROG, I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING!" said D1, after being revived by the on-site paramedics. "WE ARE WITNESSING HISTORY IN THE MAKING!"
"YES WE ARE, BUT CAN ANYONE STOP LEFFEN?" asked Prog, a shiver in his voice. "AFTER WHAT HE DID TO CHILLIN, I CAN'T HELP BUT BE WORRIED FOR MANG0."
"PROG," D1 replied, punching his partner-in-crime's shoulder, "I THINK IF ANYONE NEEDS TO WORRY, IT'S DR. LEFFEN." He directed his attention to the camera. "ALRIGHT, ONE THOUUUUUUUSAND DOLLAR MONEY MATCH, DR. LEFFEN VS. MANGO. LET'S GO!"
Dr. Leffen and Mang0 sat on the chairs in front of the old CRT. The Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube main theme hummed proudly as the champions selected their characters: Fox for Dr. Leffen, and Falco for Mang0. The crowd was going rabid. Stream viewers sat at home, typing messages in all caps with spaces between them to express their raw hype.
As scrubs dragged Chillin's body off to scavenge it for tech skill, Scar stepped onto the stage, microphone in his sweaty grip. He wiped his forehead and stood a safe distance from the players. He didn't want to get caught in the cyclone of power this would surely result in.
After a brief discussion of stage bans, Dr. Leffen put in his earphones. Classical music surged into his head, powering him up fully. Mang0 didn't need music. No, he only needed the mad screeches of approval coming from the crowd.
The match began, game 1 on Yoshi's Story. Dr. Leffen and Mang0 seemed perfectly even, lasers flying left and right, the neutral game bending beneath their skill.
Dr. Leffen got a hit. The crowd gasped. Gasps turned into horrified wails as percent after percent was attached to Falco. A zero-death. And then another. And another. A JV5, just as Dr. Leffen had predicted. The crowd screamed in disapproval. The customary chant began, in support of their downtrodden hero.
"Game one goes to Dr. Leffen!" Scar screamed. "Mew2king, are you watching? Are you scared?"
"USA! USA! USA!"
Mango0's tank top turned a darker blue, the white turned into stripes. A winged helmet appeared on his head as he transformed into his true self. He was Captain America. He played for the people, and by God's grace, he was going to give the people a show.
The next match was longer. Mang0 put up the fight he promised. The crowd was reenergized, lending Captain Mang0 their hype as he successfully took a game off Dr. Leffen.
Dr. Leffen growled with frustration. He was no stranger to the crowd's scorn. Memories of that tournament flooded back to him.
Their words. Oh, God, their words came back to him, biting just as they had a year before.
"4-STOCK! 4-STOCK! 4-STOCK!"
"COULD THIS BE IT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN? THIS IS IIIIIITTTTTTT!"
His hands trembled. He let out a yell. "HHHHHIIIIIIIIYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAA!" A blue pentagon flashed around him, reflecting the crowd's mockery back at them. That shut them up.
Dr. Leffen spat, "I'm glad you've decided to actually start putting up a fight."
"ROFLL" said Mang0.
The third game was on Fountain. Mang0's patriotism rippled. The venue began to slowly convert into red, white, and blue, struggling to combat the cyan and yellow of Dr. Leffen's homeland. Mang0 knew that he had to appease the people, to stick up for the common man in their time of need. He couldn't let this man win, not after what he did to his friend.
Alas, game 3 belonged to Dr. Leffen, after a fateful shine spike.
"hey lef," Mango giggled, "i bet u think ur gonna take this set from me huh?"
"At this point, I don't need to think. I know."
"o yea loool check this out dude" He reached into his Vibranium shield's secret compartment and pulled something out of it. It was hard to see at first, shining so brightly, but before long, it was abundantly clear: a 90s era zip file.
For the first time since he stepped into the venue, Dr. Leffen showed an emotion he rarely revealed he had: Fear. "W-where did you find that?! How did you—"
"IS… IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS, D1?" asked Prog, his Rush shirt burning off in reaction to the unadulterated hype.
"YES, MY MAN," said D1, "THAT'S . HOW WILL THE DR. RECOVER FROM THIS?!"
"good luck tryin 2 win now" said Mang0, a devilish smirk lighting up his face.
Dr. Leffen said nothing. He laughed and shook his head, hoping Mang0 couldn't see through the cracks in his composure as he focused back on the game, on what was really important. The sins of his past meant nothing.
"ill just uhh put this right here lol" said Mang0, placing atop the CRT. Leffen refused to admit to himself that it was distracting him.
Game 4 was short. Dr. Leffen couldn't focus on the game, not with the lies and slander of Armada staring him down the whole game. It was just too much.
"Enough." He stood up, grabbing , screaming as it burned his hands. He tossed it into the crowd, watching as it was swallowed up by the ravenous horde. "No more games, Mang0. If you're going to win, it's going to be without childish games like this. What he said about me two years ago is irrelevant. All that matters is this match. Right now."
Mang0 let out a sigh. "no more games huh does that mean u forfeit? loooool"
"USA! USA! USA! USA!" The crowd shouted louder than ever before. Mang0 felt a rush of power. He could do it. Dr. Leffen was about to be wrecked, not just by him, but by America.
Dr. Leffen rolled his eyes. How could this joke expect to beat him acting like this? Sure, he'd beaten him before, but that was then. This was now.
Of the eight minutes the match took, seven and a half were spent in the neutral. Both players analyzed each other, searching furiously for a gap in one another's game.
"PROG, THIS IS MORE INTENSE THAN M2K VS. SALEM."
"I AGREE, D1, ARE WE GOING TO SEE EITHER PLAYER MAKE A MISTAKE? COULD WE BE SEEING THE FIRST DRAW IN SUPER SMASH BROS. MELEE FOR THE NINTENDO GAMECUBE HISTORY?"
"The hype is palpable right now!" shouted Scar. "This game could be anyone's. I cannot believe I'm watching this. Somebody pinch me!"
At last, a hit. In the span of 30 seconds, four stocks were lost. Absolutely smashed.
"THIS GAME'S WINNER IS… FOX!"
Mang0's body was flung backward, rolling off the stage and onto the venue floor. Dr. Leffen rose slowly, turning to look at his work. He chuckled to himself. The chuckle rose to a hysterical, evil laugh. "Are you happy?" he asked the mourning crowd. "Can anyone stop me? First Chillin tried, and he was no match. And now Mang0 too has fallen before my might." He lifted Mang0's corpse, absorbing his tech skill before flinging him into the crowd. "You can have your 'champion.' He is of no use to me."
D1 and Prog sat with grim expressions on their faces. Scar sobbed next to Mang0's corpse. "We believed in you! You were the only one! You were supposed to save us from the ＺＩＰＢＯＹ army." The ground trembled. The laptop showing the stream began emitting noises similar to a dial-up modem.
"G-GimR," said Scar, "your computer…"
"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" D1 asked. "GIMR'S COMPUTER IS ACTING STRANGE…"
Dr. Leffen looked to GimR and grinned.
Scar ran onto the stage. "GimR?"
"you really thought i was on your side, scar?" GimR asked sarcastically. "i can't believe i kept the charade on for as long as i did."
"You mean—?"
"of course! i was with leffen the whole time! videogamebootcamp, #freegimr, streaming [OMITTED], it was all a front. apex 2015 will soon belong to the legions."
"But the entire competitive Smash scene is here! That means—"
"of course!" GimR spat. "it's all lord leffen's now!" With a few quick key presses, his laptop let out an otherworldly sound. Twitch was unleashed upon the venue. The ＺＩＰＢＯＹ army had arrived.
"༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ give leff"
"ＺＩＰＢＯＹＳ"
░░░░░░░░░░░░░▐░░░░▐███████████▄
░░░░░le░░░░░░░▐░░░░▐█████████████▄
░░░░toucan░░░░░░▀▄░░░▐██████████████▄
░░░░░░has░░░░░░░░▀▄▄████████████████▄
░░░░░arrived░░░░░░░░░░░░█▀██████"
D1 and Prog dove under their desk, taking the microphone with them. "WHAT WILL WE DO NOW?!" D1 shouted, not out of hype, but out of terror. He never thought he'd see the day he faced Twitch in person.
"THIS LOOKS LIKE THE END, D1," said Prog.
Stream monsters tore the venue to shreds. Lord Leffen stood center stage, staring towards the heavens as his ＺＩＰＢＯＹＳ did his dirty work. He didn't let them down this time. He'd won.
"Stop," called a meek voice amidst the terrified crowd.
Whispers of "The Robot!" and "It's him," and "I thought he was sick"
"WHO ARE YOU TO STOP ME NOW?" Lord Leffen's voice was backed by that of each and every one of hi S.
"I'm Mew2King," he said. "I'm not letting you do this."
Lord Leffen flicked his wrist. Mew2King's glasses shattered and his hair disappeared completely as he was shot back against the wall, slumping unconsciously to the floor as th chattered in a mad chorus of "lol m2k"
"THIS… THIS LOOKS LIKE IT'S IT, FOLKS," D1 said, "I'M D1, AND THIS IS PROG. WE'RE SIGNING OUT. BE SURE TO PURCHASE A COPY OF SUPER SMASH BROS. FOR WII U AND SUPER SMASH BROS. FOR 3DS."
Trumpets sounded.
The roof was torn off of the Garden State Convention Center and the sky split open, revealing a heavenly light.
D1 and Prog rose nervously from under the desk.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" asked Prog.
"W-WHAT?!" boomed Lord Leffen.
From the fissure in the sky descended a glowing man, his glasses glinting, his velvet robes glimmering. PPMD was here.
Mang0's body began to glow, floating into the sky as his eyes pried themselves open. "P-PP?" he said. "Y-you're here."
"Yes, my son," said the PPMD. "I have come back for all of my children, just as I said I would.
The ＺＩＰＢＯＹＳ burned away, unable to handle the PPMD's glory. GimR stared at his hands as the skin burned from his muscles, and the muscles tore from his bones. Before long, he was nothing but a pile of bones on the floor, a few beard hairs and a black hammer the only signs the skeleton was ever his.
"THIS WON'T STOP ME!" Lord Leffen clenched his fists and absorbed the power of his falle S. Fur sprouted all over his body. His legs disappeared, replaced by metal legs. A tail burst from the base of his spine. He had become Fox at last.
Mang0 looked nervously at his Father, who smiled warmly. Mang0 nodded. They combined their power, and with an ear-splitting sound, a colossal, holy beam of Falco laser beamed for Lord Leffen.
Lord Leffen quickly down-b'd, sending the laser back with a smug grin.
"Not so fast!" shouted the PPMD, raising his reflector and firing it back at the evil Swede.
D1 was quickly back on the mic. "DDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEESTRUCTION!" he screamed as Lord Leffen was vaporized by the red blast. Scar ducked under the stage to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
The crowd ascended towards the sky, along with D1, Prog, M2K, and Scar. At long last, the Beast had fallen, and the good PPMD's work had been done.
The next day.
A pair of sneakers stepped through the rubble and debris of the Garden State Convention Center. Not 24 hours ago, this place had been the site of the largest even in Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube history. But now, the old guard had all gone home, that they may party with Mang0. But who would take their place?
The owner of the sneakers bent down and opened the GameCube to pick up the Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube disc, perfect and scratchless despite the chaos from the night before. He stared at his own face in the reflection of the disc's underside, and smiled widely, fixing his black hair.
aMSa knew it would be him.