Once again, my ordinary life, which I am lacking there-of, has been put aside so that I can update this fic and bring you people some mild pleasure and entertainment. I can't really say that this is going to be a long chapter because this is not a very interesting fight. Crunch, a character of my own creation, is going up against one of video gaming's most legendary icons, Mario Mario. Let us see who will triumph.

Chapter 11: The tournament part

Link was beginning to get nervous with the way that Katama and NiGHTS were staring at each other. Ever since NiGHTS had confirmed that Katama was one of the people out to destroy the barrier between reality and the dream world, he had not taken his eyes off him.

Link was about to ask them to lighten up when Inuyasha beat him to it. "For god's sake, would you two just lay off of each other! NiGHTS, we know that this guy is our enemy, but as long as we are all in this tournament, there is nothing that we can do about it, so just deal with it or leave!"

NiGHTS did not take his eyes off of Katama, but it was clear to see that he was annoyed with Inuyasha now. His eyes narrowed slightly before he extended his middle finger in front of Inuyasha and said, "Go crap in a sandbox, fuzzy."

Inuyasha was about to make a smart-ass comment before one of the other fighters, Mario came up and put a strong arm on his shoulder. "Let him be. It is clear that he does not want to be disturbed now as unnerving as it is to have the two of them staring at each other like that, we are just going to have to grin and bear it."

Inuyasha wanted to snap at the little Italian man, but he found himself calming down as the guy spoke. Inuyasha cast another glance at the two staring fighters before sitting down and started taking in some deep breaths.

Crunch, who was watching the whole thing was disgusted. "I say that if he wants to go over there and ruff them up a little, let him."

Mario frowned. "Crunch, for one thing, fighting outside the ring would get them disqualified so they are being sensible. And two, this tournament is not for grudge matches."

Crunch growled. "I'll deal with you in the ring, moustached moron."

Mario simply turned away. Shadow returned from the medical ward. He walked by all of the fighters until he came across Mewtwo. He extended his hand. "Good match."

Mewtwo smiled and shook the hand greatly. "Glad to see that you aren't sore about losing."

Shadow smiled. "You just happen to have a harder head. The next time that we fight, you won't be as lucky as you were this time."

Mewtwo nodded. "I look forward to it."

Shadow turned back to the others. "By the way, they wanted me to let Mario and Crunch to report to the ring for their match at once."

Mario and Crunch said nothing as they marched out to the ring, silent as tombs, tough as nails, and stiff as boards.

They entered the ring and the announcer yawned again. Obviously, he had seen this scene all to many times for his liking. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Italian plumber that put the M in jump, give it up for Mario!"

Mario listened as the crowed cheered for him and gave the air an uppercut. "Here we go!" he shouted.

The announcer nodded. "And his opponent, a street fighter with a 'tude, please welcome Crunch!"

The crowd did not cheer as much as they did for Mario. Crunch had a bad reputation as a street fighter in the village. He was always the one who started it too.

The announcer raised his hand and both fighters took a stance. He dropped his hand and the match began.

Crunch ran forward and threw a hard right jab at Mario. Mario countered by jumping up. Everyone was startled as he reached an unbelievable height of ten feet.

Crunch stared up in disbelief. "What? That's not possible!"

Mario smirked as he landed again. "Anything is possible if you believe. Just try this for example."

Mario raised his palm so that it was level with his face. It started to glow red and a big fireball appeared in his hand. It was bigger and much more impressive than what NiGHTS had observed from Consume.

Mario continued to smirk as he threw the fireball. Crunch was not the most intelligent fighters there. He thought that brute force could conquer all. He did not believe in defense. So, it would make sense that he did not have knowledge enough to dodge a giant ball of fire that was hurtling towards him at a pretty fast speed.

The attack impacted him head on in the chin. Not only did it knock him backwards, but it left a pretty decent burn mark on his face. "You bastard!"

Mario was holding up something that appeared to be a transparent version of the hat that he was wearing right then. He placed the transparent one over his original. Everyone stared in awe as he disappeared from human sight.

Crunch could not fight what he could not see, so he just lowered his guard and stared out into space. He could hear Mario chuckling. "Which hand do I have behind my back? Is it my right?"

Crunch felt something punch him hard in the jaw right where the fireball had impacted before which only added to Crunch's misery. "Or the left?"

Crunch felt another blow strike him, this time in the stomach. Crunch dropped to his knees."

Mario removed the invisibility hat he was wearing and looked at Crunch. "Your strong, I'll give you that, but you have no strategy. What good is a strong body if a strong mind isn't there to control it?"

Mewtwo observed the match with interest. "This is interesting."

Yusuke shook his head. "What are you talking about? That Mario guy has this match in the bag."

Mewtwo looked at his companion. "I don't mean the fight itself. Crunch, in truth is much stronger than Mario. They only reason that he is losing is because he has no strategy. He's as dumb as a stump. Mario is a seasoned fighter with a lot of experience on his side."

Yusuke nodded and turned back to the match. What Mewtwo said was true. Crunch may be experienced in street fighting, but there was very little to no strategy involved there. Mario probably had been in many strategic battles before this one.

Crunch had recovered from his fetal position and was attempting another rush at Mario. At the last second, Mario withdrew a huge hammer from nowhere it seemed. He swung with dangerous accuracy.

The blow was staggering as it sent Crunch out of the ring and into the brick wall. The resulting hole was not as big as the one that Rouge had made with her opponent, but it was still of fairly decent size.

Mario simply walked off the ring as the crowd cheered for him. He took one final look at the crater where Crunch was now residing. "You can thank Tiger for that swing."

As he approached the others, Zidane jumped up and said, "Dude, you have got to show me how to do that fire trick!"

Mario chuckled. "It isn't easy. I get that power after eating a fire flower that grow on sun mountain. I just kept eating them until they became a natural part of my bloodstream so now I can use that trick without the assistance of a fire flower."

Rouge pulled Zidane away from Mario by the hand. "Excuse me, but if you had that power, the world would be in danger of burning to ashes."

Zidane shrugged. Rouge smirked. "Besides, you already light my fire." They both closed in and shared a deep and passionate kiss.

Inuyasha stuck a finger in his mouth and said, "Gag me."

Mewtwo shook his head and came up to his friend. "Inuyasha, you are just like I used to be. The only reason that you act like that around couples is because you are having trouble finding someone special in your life."

Inuyasha snorted. "Yeah right. What gave you that idea?"

Mewtwo smirked. "The mind is just like a book. It can be read as long as you know how."

Inuyasha blushed, but stayed silent. Everyone laughed at his awkwardness. Then, they headed back into the lounge for preparation for the next match.

NiGHTS and Katama were still staring at each other, just daring the other to make a move against the other. But NiGHTS had one other reason to be in this tournament besides the fact that he was ordered. If he won, his wish would be that he could go anywhere he wanted in either world on his own time without anyone telling him what to do. He would with that he could be as free as... well, a dream.

Like I said, not the most glorious chapter in the world, but it gets us from one point to the other right? I just hope it was satisfactory in your eyes, my readers. I will try to make the next chapter better, I promise. But for now, I have a few other things to do, so just R/R, okay? See ya soon!