...5! 4! 3! 2! 1! BRRRRRrrrr!
In the midst of Scorpion's dominance within his opening minutes in the Rumble, another entrant emerges...
What would top a hellbound ninja who could manipulate fire? A man who quite legitimately personifies fire.
[/watch?v=cRmwFBK0cyk]
Entrant #26: Cinder [Killer Instinct]
Woolie proclaims, "Cinder's here, and shit's only gonna get more heated heading into the last stretch!"
Max wriggles an intrigued eyebrow, "Couldn't help yourself, huh?"
The man of plasma and flames formerly known as Ben Ferris, heads into the ring with a quick slide-in and stands with a bit of a hop in his step, adrenalized and ready for battle.
Dino notes, "Guess we must be lucky the ring's capable of handling a guy who's literally on fire."
"You and me both – must be the magic of the Royal Rumble..." Max assumes.
In the ring, Scorpion and Cinder are already starting to get up in each other's faces, with Cinder especially attempting to provoke the Shirai Ryu ninja. What starts as some shoves from one side turns into a brawl enacted by the other, with Scorp making the first strike and then beginning to throw fists back and forth.
About six seconds later, Reinhardt suddenly charges in from a few steps south of where Scorp and Cinder brawl, ramming against the two of them to knock them back. Both still remain on their feet when they retaliate in unison with a dropkick to stagger the German knight, and Scorpion afterwards charges at him, rushing into him with a tackle similar to the one that eliminated Sub-Zero just moments ago. The tackle is in turn directed towards the bottom right corner, where King had just settled himself moments ago after the clash with Scorpion, and he winds up smashed against the back of Reinhardt.
On the other hand, Widowmaker seems to have slithered out of the way for a brief couple of minutes, sitting near the top right as King and Rein collide, before running at Scorpion. Scorpion catches her upon quick notice, grabbing her into a front necklock and whipping her around into the ropes. With some shifting around in position, this leaves Widow hanging halfway back into the ring for a hangman's DDT...
...only for Cinder to break it all up by kicking Widow in the face to knock her out of Scorp's hands, and then start throwing kicks and fists at the ninja. Scorpion then whips Cinder towards the top left to cast him off, but as if timing wasn't any more perfect, B. Orchid happens to be dashing out from that corner, leaping up and nailing the human wildfire with a knee to the face!
Right afterwards, Tracer joins in the attack, as she jumps over Orchid while the Europe-residing agent was mounted over Cinder for some bonus punches, and jumps at Scorpion for something... something we don't see fully connect, as Scorpion catches her in a bearhug-esque grapple.
With a turn-around and a toss across, Scorpion sends Tracer back the direction she ran from with a belly-to-belly suplex, and in turn, knocks her into her partner in Orchid; specifically, one of Tracer's legs catches Orchid right across the face, and they both go down!
Max grunts, "Ohh! Hell of a toss across the ring!" he says, chuckling afterwards.
Dino afterwards says, "That's why you always check your surroundings in a Royal Rumble match!"
10! 9! 8! 7! 6!
"Entrant number 27 – 4 entrants have won from this number in past Rumbles," Max notes to put over that specific entrant about to be revealed. Who could it be?"
5! 4! 3! 2! 1! BRRRRRrrrr!
As Cinder kips up from his grounded position and locks eyes once again with Scorpion, the next entrant's song [/watch?v=ppEfCxwzASA] plays.
Entrant #27: Alisa Bosconovitch [Tekken]
A bit of a mild positive response for Alisa when she emerges from the back, upright posture and open, curious hands.
Max says, "The fourth to represent superstars of the King of Iron Fist tournament – and a interesting pull from the cast – Alisa is... a bizarre case, to say the least, and that's pretty much all I can really say at the moment..."
"I saw her show up on the pre-show..." Woolie mentions, "...and she doesn't look any less weird seeing her now."
Preparing for her dash down to the ramp, takes position in a three-point stance for what looks to be a running start...
...and then suddenly sprouts her android jet wings to soar her way down the ramp! Quite an alternative for this brief but brisk hover down the ramp to a quick screeching halt at the other end!
"WHOA!" Dino yelps in surprise, one of only a handful in the arena who didn't get the memo on the participant apparently installed with a rocket boost.
Max follows up on his previous statement. "To be honest, I'm glad I didn't bother mentioning that – guys out there, having no idea about this chick, are gonna get a surprise from the get-go!"
Well, after Reinhardt came in with a charge boost installed into his armor, it probably shouldn't be even more surprising the second time around.
Anyways, the arrival of Alisa brings in attention from the fire-fueled combatants in the ring, as Scorp and Cinder look towards the new arrival clad in a smorgasbord of purple and pink – and from the slight fade in her smile as she responds with a glare towards her competition, the Bosconovitch android already senses danger ahead for her.
Or at least, some danger that's partially extinguished when Reinhardt comes back from the ropes to go after Scorpion as a continuation of earlier. This leaves Cinder and Alisa to a fair 1v1 in the center of the ring, one of a few still standing out of all currently remaining in the Rumble, as the latter crouches down to her Namco-repping partner (one of, at least) in Pac-Man to tend to him, and all the while, Cinder looks and taunts down to her.
"Alisa's selflessness to her fellow competitor, does not seem to budge Cinder's guard here," Max notes.
"I don't think he cares, Max," Woolie retorts, "Cinder's in it to win it, not to be friends with the competition."
A bit more of a push-and-shove occurs when King, recovering off a recent bump, gets up behind Cinder and shoves the personification of conflagration closer towards Alisa, who capitalizes with a sweep that knocks Cinder off his feet!
"What a sweep!" says Max.
Alisa gets in a short jump to double-stomp down on Cinder to force him into a sitting-up position, and it's quickly followed up with a basement dropkick deal from King. An effective combo to say the least.
"The Tekken competitors are already working together!"
Meanwhile, Reinhardt is lifting Scorpion over his head in an attempt to eliminate the ninja, but it's reversed, and Scorp dropkicks Rein into the ropes. The yellow-garbed warrior is set with wearing down the heavy German glory-seeker, backing away for a potential running start that could prove to drive another competitor closer to elimination... only to get booted out of the way from the side by King. Bit of a rude move against someone in the middle of his own motives...
With that, we're already heading back to the focus on King and Alisa, and on the while, Pac-Man is beginning to get his bearings back together after some time on the ground. Rather quickly, he takes notice to the supine Cinder laid out in front of where the Namco mascot stands, and on first sight, he's a little intimidated by the man made of fire in front of him.
However, with some support from the Russian-made android and the jaguar-masked wrestler that make up Namco's current representation, Pac-Man begins to climb the turnbuckles behind him – a feat slightly more difficult than usual because of the yellow mascot's somewhat small and abnormally shaped stature...
"Oh boy... what's Pac-Man looking for here?" Woolie asks, intrigued.
"A dive, obviously..." Max answers "...but for him, he's gotta make the most in this high-risk district!"
"Do a flip!" Dino casually shouts out.
Among the thousands of fans watching live in Hammerstein, Pac stands as tall as he can be atop the turnbuckle...
...and is sent tumbling straight to the outside! has just shoved Pac-Man off the turnbuckle and caused his elimination!
Woolie proclaims, "And there he goes!"
"Everyone for themselves, no exceptions!" Max reminds rather quickly, justifying the bump-ruining moment that just occurred before everyone.
17TH ELIMINATION: Pac-Man [by B. Orchid]
Time: 10:11
"Straight out the window and onto the asphalt...!" Dino sets a metaphor up front to describe perfectly what happened there.
Following that elimination by her hands, Orchid is halfway hanging off from the ropes at the top left corner – it comes to realize at this point that she seems intent to try and use the ropes for her benefit, but at this point, her stamina is fading.
On the other hand, Cinder begins to get up and takes notice to Pac-Man sprawled on the outside – he looks more confused of what the hell that was than surprised that they got eliminated, as he looks between the outside and up to Alisa and King in front of him. King simply boots the flamin' Ferris in the face to knock him back down, as the clock winds down to #28...
10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! BRRRRRrrrr!
[/watch?v=PDM2qukzKwg]
Despite the next song blaring to bring in the next entrant, there's no current camera turned towards the ramp, as the focus remains inside; the reason of this comes from B. Orchid suddenly springboarding off the ropes and landing on her knees on Cinder, before front-rolling back to her feet and making a short leap to bonk King across the face, both of the mask and what's under it, to catch his attention.
The next entrant, given a moderate response by the fans, quickly makes his on-screen presence all the while, coming in the form of an average-built person in a red flame-retardant suit and a black gas-mask, brandishing a fire axe.
Dino realizes, "Wait, I recognize that gas-mask pervert; don't think we can't see you sneakin'!"
Entrant #28: The Pyro [Team Fortress 2]
A bit of an odd inclusion when it comes down to the wind-down to the final entrants, but an interesting one to say the least. Also I doubt he (She? Probably he...) is a pervert. At least, no one thinks he is. As Orchid and King brawl, and Scorpion and Reinhardt are going at each other again, finds his first victim in Alisa, as he swings the blunt end of the axe at her face to knock her down in one go, and then muffles out a laugh through his gas-mask, while raising the axe over his head like a Tusken Raider.
Too much showboating already, weirdo; Pyro pays the price with a boot to the mask from Orchid, as she knocks him out of the way with a spinning kick to make more room for the brawl between herself and King.
Max briefly laments, "Welp... we can't say he has eyes on the back of his head, or even on the side, at least."
At this point, Cinder is on his way back up, as he begins to get into a rough grapple with Alisa, and all the while, Tracer is now busy dealing with a semi-groggy Mario attempting to shove her off the apron. It doesn't take long for the British agent to fight back enough to keep the heroic plumber at bay long enough to return into the ring. She drops both knees onto the gut of the laid-out Pyro in front of her, and front-rolls into a run into the bottom right corner – where Widowmaker has been waiting for a good minute for a target.
The agents of opposing factions wind up in a bit of a clash that starts with Widow managing a back body drop on Tracer to send her over the top, but it doesn't lead to an elimination. Quickly recovering from a potential dilemma at the ring apron, and after heading into a trading of punches between the ropes, Tracer fights back with a few elbows to the face of the Talon agent to knock her back.
Orchid takes up on the follow-up by grappling Widow from behind and sending her even further up the ring with a back suplex that knocks her closer to the ropes.
Dino says, "With that suplex, it may lead to what could be a failed mission for Widowmaker!"
"The teamwork seems relatively consistent between Orchid and Tracer, it looks like!" Woolie notes.
King wants to add in his part to the combo by leveling Widow against the ropes with a clothesline that sends her over... but this was an elimination not to be, as Widow keeps her grasp on the ropes and keeps herself on the apron.
Meanwhile, Tracer springs around from the apron with a kick to the back of Scorpion's head to prevent him from trying to eliminate another Overwatch agent in Reinhardt, and she again lands back in the ring to rough up Scorpion enough to help Rein get the upper hand once again. With that, she moves on once she notices Widow on the apron, looking to recover. It looks like she's heading through the ropes for something...
"Uh-oh; what's she looking to do?" Max asks.
"I'm thinking he wants to try something regarding Widow on the ropes over there..." Woolie replies. "She took one look and it seems like she's got an idea."
Running around the top left ring post, and keeping Mario out of the way – and into the grasp of the Pyro – Tracer proceeds to let herself share the side of the apron that Widow stands by just a couple feet away. It's at this point that Orchid involves herself again to get Widow's attention towards her and catch her with a backhand to try and loosen her grip on the ropes. As Widow staggers briefly, Tracer springs up using the middle rope and hops onto the Talon agent's shoulders...
...where she flips backwards and spikes Widowmaker atop her head with a brutal reverse Frankensteiner!
"Jee-zus Christ!" Max shouts with surprise and glee intent.
"Whoaaaaaa! Re-verse Fran-ken-stinaaaaah!" Dino does his best Japanese announcer impression to authenticate just how crazy that bump was; the crowd cheering insanely across the arena says doubly as well...
Woolie feels the hype, "That was the best possible outcome!"
And within seconds after getting spiked onto the apron and left knocked out, Widow's body slowly slumps off and onto the floor.
"And she's gone!" Dino shouts in confirmation.
18TH ELIMINATION: Widowmaker [by Tracer]
Time: 14:39
Widow's elimination probably would get more of a reaction that what currently stands, but the crowd is a bit busy chanting "HO-LY SHIT!" at the bump that led to her downfall, and after knocking the Pyro closer towards the ropes with a knee to the back, Tracer stands in the center of the ring, out of the way of the chaos around her as she celebrates the success of her spot.
Dino proclaims, "She may have been in this match from the beginning, but she's still giving it her all! Absolutely goddamn amazing!"
Don't be too cocky, Cadet Oxton; the second-to-last entrant is just about to head out!
10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! BRRRRRrrrr!
[/watch?v=ZLDXIowUxv8]
With the arrival of one of the last entrants in this Rumble... well, after what we've seen prior to the show's beginning, let's say there isn't any need of a full introduction for this kunoichi...
Entrant #29: Mai Shiranui [Fatal Fury / King of Fighters]
With a hand fan, her regular weapon of choice, waved around in her grasp, Mai makes her way to center stage with a clear sway of the hips in her walk, and an even clearer bounce in her bust – it's very obvious that she's completely confident in her sex appeal, and given the unanimous cheers from the fans, it'd be real difficult to find someone who objects.
Dino quips, "I think things just got a little more heated, and I don't mean what's going on in the ring!"
Max announces, "Ladies and gentlemen, Mai Shiranui - probably the most iconic character in SNK history, and... well, I'm sure it's easy to guess the thing that helps that opinion."
Woolie then says, "It's easier to guess two things..."
starts her sprint down the ramp after a smooth cartwheel, with her hand fan now held in her mouth, as she speeds off towards the ring and onto the apron real quick – although it's a fairly normal speed when it comes to ninja standards – and she is already getting a pretty good start to her part of the match, as with a perfect short leap, she gets a hold of the Pyro, who was still leaning on the ropes at this point.
With her legs wrapped around his neck, Mai drags the Pyro over the top rope, and brings him right down to the floor for a swift and sudden elimination!
All Max could say is "Wow!" as Pyro has just gotten dragged out of the match in a moment's notice.
19TH ELIMINATION: The Pyro [by Mai Shiranui]
Time: 1:49
Dino says, "Mai already making an impact upon her arrival to the Video Game Rumble!"
"And she didn't even need to fully get into the ring yet!" Woolie adds.
Dino then asks, "Say, how long was he in?"
Max replies, "Easily longer than Mignon, that's as much as I can say."
Surveying the ring currently: King and Alisa have switched opponents, with the former facing off against Cinder and the latter against Orchid; Mario has been on a low point of participation, but he's starting to get back into things; Scorpion and Reinhardt are still brawling like hell against each other; lastly, Mai rolls into the ring at the same time as Tracer returns following that irresponsible bump, and it looks like they're already going at each other, as Mai jumps onto Tracer's shoulders and whips her across the ring with a hurricanrana!
"Whoa! Sendin' her tumbling around from that!" proclaims Woolie.
Cinder winds up stumbling towards Mai's general direction after getting stuck into a brief hammerlock and shove-away from King, so she nails him with a dropkick that brings him down on his back again. Challenger #3 comes as Mario goes for a dropkick of his own, but is blocked, and taken down with an interesting head-scissors whip akin to what just eliminated the Pyro a moment ago.
"She's got quite the energy, I can safely say that!" says Dino.
The sparsely-dressed kunoichi swiftly evades Reinhardt getting whipped across the ring by Scorpion, in her direction, as the German agent of Overwatch keeps his arms intertwined briefly in the ropes as he tanks a kick to the face from the Shirai Ryu ninja that knocks him back and his legs up into the air for a brief second – thankfully, he still manages to stay within the ring as he hangs on tightly to the top and middle ropes behind him.
Mai watches from the center of the ring as Orchid brings Alisa towards the top right corner and levels the robot girl with a couple knees to the face, before beginning to lift her up onto the top turnbuckle for an attempt at eliminating her from the match. From this point, the kunoichi spontaneously decides to jump in, leaping over Orchid for a knee drop to the gut of Alisa, before springing backwards, spiraling around Orchid...
...and smoothly landing in a devastating Tornado DDT!
"Holy hell, the athleticism!" Max shouts, as the crowd pops from the showcase of speed.
Mai works the crowd further in her favor by taking a bow, one hand behind her back, to thank them for being in witness to what she's done so far...
...but then King comes up from behind, grabs her and throws her towards the hardcam-facing ropes, where she goes over the top, but hangs on!
Cinder is back up now, and he attempts to attack the jaguar-masked fighter, but he fights back and throws the 'man on fire' towards the same ropes to join Mai as one of the next potential eliminations.
Partway through tumbling over the top rope, Cinder gets himself caught in between the legs of Mai, as she drags him further out onto the apron, until they're both in identical 'skin-the-cat' situations!
"Uh-oh!" says Max. "Who's going to lose their grip first!"
From that, King charges back towards the ropes and brings his legs outward between to kick Cinder on the top of his head, forcing him to let go and land on the outside.
"Aaaand there's our answer," Woolie states upon Cinder finding himself with his feet planted at ringside, confirming his elimination.
20TH ELIMINATION: Cinder [by Mai Shiranui and King]
Time: 5:35
Mai manages to return to the ring after what went down, flipping back over the ropes and into the ring, as Cinder called foul to what just happened to the ringside referees despite his elimination being as clear and clean as can be.
King and Mario are now battling against each other; Scorpion and Reinhardt are still at each other's throats; Alisa is attempting to lock in a sleeper hold on B. Orchid to wear down the long-runner even further; Mai finds a good spot at the bottom left corner, waiting for Tracer to get up. This is what the ring looks like currently as the timer winds down from 20 to 10 for the final time of the Rumble...
Max surveys the scene winding down into the arrival of the final entrant. "Eight competitors in the ring... one still left to enter... who is number 30, in this Video Game Rumble?"
10! 9! 8! 7! 6!
5!
4!
3!
2!
1!
BRRRRRrrrr!
The lights go out again.
And then a red kanji suddenly blasts onto the titantron. The crowd explodes in cheers, recognizing the symbol all too well.
[/watch?v=6TzujQGZeWE]
The lights return, and run awash in red and white across the arena, as the arrival of #30 comes to light, under a dark blue gi and a mane and beard of red that combined to look like the petal of an evil flower.
This was a man whose fists knew no equal, and he was looking for a fight.
Entrant #30: Akuma [Street Fighter]
Max speaks seriously on this new arrival. "Ladies, gentlemen and doods alike... if you want to talk about a game-changer... look no further than this man."
Woolie notes, "I know you've had to deal with this guy in a Boss Rage or two, I think you know the most about him out of the three of us at commentary over here..."
Max replies, "Not like this, man. This is different."
Maintaining what was basically a permanent, intimidating look of harm intent, stomped down the ramp towards the ring, as just about the entirety of the eight in the ring beforehand has stopped and stared as Akuma makes his way through the ropes and into the ring.
The final stretch of the Rumble was at hand, with a demon on arrival...
Statistics
Current participants: Black Orchid, Tracer, King, Mario, Reinhardt, Scorpion, Alisa Bosconovitch, Mai Shiranui, Akuma
Eliminated: Reptile, Crash Bandicoot, Paul Phoenix, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Mignon Beart, Lucky Chloe (?), Mr. Karate, Yoshimitsu, Frank West, Yuri Sakazaki, Twintelle, Monster Hunter, Rainbow Mika, Zangief, D. Va, Sub-Zero, Pac-Man, Widowmaker, The Pyro, Cinder
Longest lasting: Black Orchid / Tracer (tied since start)
Shortest lasting: Mignon Beart (0:50)
Most eliminations: 6 (Zangief)
Apologies for the months worth of delay on this chapter: Not enough to count.
The next part of the Rumble coming up is the last! Who will come out on top?!
