Grand Prix dimensional gate

The Grand Prix dimensional gate, the portal through which almost all of the competitors in the IGP tournament reached the tournament grounds from their home nodes. Yesterday the streets around it were packed as eager fans watched their favorite fighters coming in through the portal.

Today, the streets were deserted. All the fans were either at the arena watching the fighting or enjoying the other attractions offered by the grand prix. Only the occasional loose flyer, blown across the street by a gust of wind, indicated anyone had been on the street since then.

The dimensional gate however, was in fine working order. As demonstrated when Chizuru Kagura, the latest in a long line of female priests charged with containing the threat of the Orochi, stepped through the vortex carrying a large suitcase containing some clothes, some special seals, and a certain mirror.

Chizuru looked around the deserted streets, then at the nearby clock tower. She frowned to herself, from what Kyo had told her there wasn't much time to lose. Grunting, the young priestess hefted her suitcase and trudged towards the hotel.

She took three steps when she heard a faint buzzing sound, indicating someone else using the dimensional gate. Turning, Chizuru saw a stranger dressed in an orange robe. Chizuru did not recognize the stranger, but she did not sense any malice from the young man either.

"Need any help?" The man asked softly as he walked up to Chizuru, indicating her bag.

Chizuru looked down at the bag and sighed, although she would like some help, she didn't want to trust a total stranger with her things, even if he did seem nice.

"No thank you," Chizuru said, extending her hand to shake, "I'm Chizuru Kagura."

The stranger did not accept her handshake, instead showing his respect by bowing, "Forgive me, but I am trying to remain covert, so I cant give you my name."

Chizuru nodded in understanding and picked up her bag, heading towards the hotel. The stranger walked towards an alleyway, as if tracking something.

"I advise you take care Ms. Kagura," The stranger yelled to Chizuru before vanishing into the alley, "Here, there be monsters."

Chizuru laughed to herself as she walked on, "My friend, you have no idea."

IGP: The infinity Grand Prix

Section three results

The Arena

The Corporation forces of the state of emergency node were among the best-trained Orwellian jack-booted thugs that one could hope to find this side of Oceania. Their big business employers had charged them with one simple task: Restore order to china town by any means necessary.

As soon as the troops turned the street corner into Chinatown however, they took one look at the carnage, and decided that now would be a prudent time to take there paid vacation early.

Naraku had a simple battle strategy for when he got into ring. It was a strategy that had served him well for most of his career as a demon: Find a place to hide, let his enemies wear each other down, and occasionally use demon puppets, hell wasps and miasma to wear down more stubborn opponents.

Unfortunately, thanks to the demon-controlled fighters currently in the ring, Naraku would never get to implement his strategy. Instead he was getting the crap kicked out of him.

Naraku would get thrown into the air by a hurricane mixer or a capture and deadly blow, only to get swatted back down by a metal wolf claw or a Death Hurricane. Then once he was on the ground he would get stomped on, slashed, and shot at, if he didn't have the misfortune of landing on Buffaloman's horn or a well timed Rising soul blade from Hsien-Ko.

Needless to say, Naraku wasn't happy, and he was getting less happy as the fight progressed.

Then suddenly, they were gone, all the fighters who had been pulverizing him since he got into the ring were suddenly thrown away from Naraku by some sort of massive energy.

That energy came from Happosai, who had jumped right into the fray and used his battle aura to send the other fighters reeling. Naraku had just enough time to right himself before Happosai began pummeling the living daylights out of him. A few moments later, the other fighters rejoined the fight, beating down the half demon as he grew ever more agitated.

It was a great show, but almost no one was paying any attention, they were too busy watching the fighting in the stands.

Jedah stumbled back, his semi liquid body sporting several indentations from where Heavy D! had hit him. The humans had definitely proven more skilled than Jedah originally thought, but the only real reason any of them were still breathing was due to the fact Jedah was splitting his concentration between fighting the sports team and controlling his new corpse puppet. But even with that in mind, Jedah was still dominating the three sports heroes, who all sported various cuts and scrapes that were dangerously close to full blown injuries.

"Had enough sucka?" Heavy D! asked, cracking his knuckles.

"As a matter of fact I have," Jedah stated with a smirk, "I think its time I kill you pests."

Jedah shot out his hand, his arm extending to an impossible length, and grabbed Brian Battler by the face, hoisting him upward. Almost immediately the dark messiah started pumping blood down the football legends mouth, causing him to swell like a balloon. Brian would have exploded for sure if a gunshot did not sever the demons arm.

Vash had been watching from the sidelines, waiting for an opportunity to try and help. He wanted to do more, but he couldn't get a clean shot with the sports team fighting close range. Ironically, Brian's near loss was Vash's gain as he ran over to join the sports team.

"Get out of here right now! It's dangerous." Vash yelled.

"You kiddin?" Lucky yelled back as he patted Brian's back as he spit up blood, "This guy almost killed Brian, he's going down!"

"Yes gunman," Jedah snarled, as he re-grew his arm, "Even if they wanted to run, I would never allow it. They will all pay for insulting me."

"Blow it out your ass ugly!" Lucky yelled as he lobed a basketball at Jedah, the demon lord cut through the ball with a well place thrown blade, then dashed forward, intending to maim.

What actually happened was more like Jedah flying straight into a R.S.D, reeling, Jedah spun uncontrolled in air towards Lucky, who was ready. Running forward, Lucky struck Jedah with a well-placed Lucky driver, sending him upward. Not being idle, Vash morphed his right arm into the angel arm and took aim. Vash was confident that he could hit Jedah with it and not kill him, and after having its power toned down by Washuu, the ensuing blast radius would be small enough to leave the seating unharmed.

Unfortunately Brian chose that time to recover from Jedah's blood pumper and, seeing him in the air, leapt up to hit him with a American super nova. Vash, Lucky and Heavy all gaped as the angel arm struck just as Brian grabbed Jedah.

When the smoke cleared, Brian was laying flat on his back, his clothes burned off by the angel arm, Jedah was laying nearby, his body having took on a rubbery sheen.

"BRIAN!" The three conscious heroes yelled as they ran over to Brian and looked over him, checking to see if he was alive. Suddenly, the football player's eyes opened and he sat up, rubbing his head.

"Ow, how much did I drink last night?" Brian asked as he rubbed the back of his head. Lucky and Heavy D! sighed in relief, Vash stared.

"Huh? But how… you should… why aren't you…" Vash stammered, Brian just shrugged.

"It didn't hurt that bad, I've been through a lot worse. You should try blocking the Packers offensive line sometime, now THAT hurts."

Vash decided too not to press the issue any further, and walked over to Jedah. The force and heat of Vash's angel arm had caramelized Jedah's liquid body, reducing him to a rubbery mummy.

"I should get him to medical so he can be patched up for his spot in the tournament, you guys need to go there?"

Heavy and Lucky looked at their wounds and shook their heads. Brian stood up shakily and laughed.

"Only medical attention I need is a nice cold one, stat!"

Everyone laughed, except for Jedah of course.

Back in the ring, Hsien-Ko was slashing at Naraku when suddenly the slip of paper on her forehead snapped in half. Lord Raptor, who was on Jedah's payroll and knew about the dark lord's master plan from the start, knew something bad was about to happen.

"What the… where am I?" Hsien-Ko looked around, the last thing she remembered was being attacked by Jedah in the women's locker room, then nothing.

As the stood there, trying to make sense of things, no one could deny that Hsien-Ko was the cutest thing currently standing in the ring. (That would have been Shippo, but a few seconds after Naraku entered the ring Shippo had been pounded flatter than a pancake, then eaten by Chang Koehan, but then he knew the job was dangerous when he took it.)

Lord Raptor, who always lusted after his fellow zombie, allowed his heart to overtake his common sense and approached the confused and agitated Hsien-Ko.

"Hey beautiful, what's shaking?" Lord Raptor crooned as he pulled out his guitar, "Here's a little number I wrote just for you, It's called, 'Zombie love', hope you like it."

Hsien-Ko wasn't paying attention to Raptor and his "Music", she was too busy trying to put together her train of thought, but it was just to difficult to concentrate. If only Lei-Lei would help explain…

Hsien-Ko's eyes opened wide, "Lei-Lei! Where's Lei-Lei?"

Raptor stopped jamming and looked at Hsien-Ko, "Lei-Lei? You mean your sister? I don't know where she is."

Hsien-Ko swung at Raptor, who narrowly dodged by leaping back, Hsien-Ko was growing more irrational by the minute. "You're LYING! WHERE IS SHE? WHERE'S MY SISTER?"

Hsien-Ko continued slashing and kicking at Raptor, who kept moving back, civilians nearby were getting torn to ribbons by Hsien-Ko's attacks.

"I WANT MY SISTER AND I WANT HER NOW." Hsien-Ko bellowed. Raptor knew she was beyond reaching at this point, in her present state, without Lei-Lei to direct her, she was totally crazy. So he did the only thing he could do: he bolted.

Unfortunately, he had the brilliant idea of running towards what would come to be known as the "great Naraku dog-pile", which meant that every fighter that was currently beating the crap out of the demon lord was about to get a big blue mildly psychotic distraction.

Hinata Hyuuga was running, but for entirely different reasons.

Akuma was considered by many to be the ultimate warrior, a god like master of offense and defense that could crush a lesser opponent like a T-rex stepping on an aphid. The fact that Hinata was actually managing to dodge Akuma's relentless and ever quickening attacks, by however small a margin, was a true credit to her skills as a junior ninja and (to a greater extent) her genetic heritage.

But natural advantage can only compensate for so much, Hinata was not skilled enough to barely dodge Akuma's attacks, but not nearly enough to put up any sort of effective counter attack. To make matters worse she was beginning to tire, which means that she was starting to get clipped by some of Akuma's attacks. And judging by how much getting grazed by one of his punches hurt, Hinata didn't want to think about what would happen if the master of fists got a direct hit in.

Hinata's fears where confirmed when Whip, having used her trademark to get out of the way of the now psychotic Hsien-Ko by launching skyward, landed right in the middle of the two fighters. One punch from Akuma was all it took to reduce the young Ikari warrior's head to a bloody stain on the pavement. Seeing this, Hinata decided to evade, and using the art of ninja disguise, transformed herself into a bystander and melded into the crowd. Akuma looked around, snorted with contempt, and went to look for other battles.

Hinata had barely enough time to catch her breath when a massive bazooka shell hit the crowd she was in, sending pedestrians flying. Through the smoke, Hinata could see Blanka, holding a bazooka in one hand and a machine gun in another. The street fighter had never seen firearms before, but having gotten a taste for them he decided he liked them.

"Aroo!" the beast man hooted enthusiastically.

Hinata groaned, reassuming her proper form, "You've got to be…"

"…Kidding me!" Sakura snarled angrily as she fell flat on her back yet again. The young street fighter was not faring much better against Starface than Hinata had against Akuma. Every time Sakura got close enough to attack Starface would take to the sky and kick Sakura upside the head, or grapple her and put her in some manner of grapple. And whenever Sakura did manage to hit the Chojin SHE would somehow end up on the ground instead of him.

"Why don't you give up?" Starface said mockingly, "You're obviously not cut out for…"

"HADOKEN!"

Starface saw a bright light, then blacked out for a couple of seconds. When he came too, he noticed he was smoldering, and Sakura was making a compact motion with her hands.

"HADOKEN!" Sakura let fly another fireball, Starface attempted to freeze time, but the fireball hit him before he could even extend his face dial. Sakura smiled and cracked her knuckles as Starface rose again.

"Now who's not cut out for fighting? What the matter, no chi manipulators where you come from?" The young Shotokan fighter taunted. Livid, Starface took to the sky, hoping for the security of air maneuverability. Sakura threw three Hadoken's at the airborne wrestler, who dodged easily.

"Hah!" Starface sneered with confidence (Or he would have if he had a face), "When I'm in the air I'm untouchable!"

"We'll see about that," Sakura muttered. Bending her knees, Sakura super jumped straight up, soaring above Starface and everyone else. Starface began to dodge, but stopped when he saw something interesting.

Central office

Crinos knew it would come to this, which is why Gary Andrews's employment was so essential. Assembled in his office, in angry mob form, were foaming mad Parents, teachers, religious figures and professional tight asses from six different nodes. Leading the mob was Sheila Broflofsky of South Park Colorado, quite possibly the biggest bitch in existence.

"This must stop!" Mrs. Broflofsky shouted, prompting Crinos to cower behind Wolfwood and Knives, who were standing at attention behind Gary the rat, in case things got out of hand, "You show is promoting violence and sex and it MUST STOP! WE MUST PROTECT OUR CHILDREN!" The crowd roared it support of its self appointed spokesperson.

Gary Andrews however, had dealt with this sort of thing before, he knew exactly what to do. "Now Madam, I should point out that this television program is pay per view, and is rated mature for adult themes, violence, and partial nudity. You have no real grounds to demand the shows removal from the airwaves, and if you continue this slander I will be forced to take immediate legal action." Gary gave a smile that made it look like he ate babies as a hobby. "Do I make myself clear?"

The crowd said nothing, they just stared in stunned silence. At first Gary thought it was because of his appearance, it certainly wouldn't be the first time he got that reaction from a mob, but it was soon apparent they were looking at something behind Gary.

Turning around, Gary stared in shock at the image on the monitors, Crinos just shook his head in disbelief, while Knives and Legato held back a sadistic chuckle.

As most fans of the street fighter tournament realized, Sakura liked to fight in her schoolgirl fuku, which meant that whenever Sakura performed any type of leaping action that made her to go higher than six feet upward, the surrounding witnesses would get a tasteful shot of her underwear.

Unfortunately, thanks to a certain diminutive pervert, Sakura's underwear was AOL.

Gary Andrew's ears flopped down, as Crinos asked the obvious question.

"I'm not much for legal stuff Gary, are we boned?"

"Yeah," Gary muttered, "Were boned alright."

"I'm extra boned."

"Shut up knives." Crinos said.

The ring

Starface fell flat on his back, courtesy of another Hadoken, and Sakura landed right next to him. Immediately she knew something was wrong.

Everyone had stopped everything they were doing and was just staring at her. The fighters, the gang members, the rioters, everyone. Even Hsien-Ko and Voldo, who were previously trying to tear each other a new one, halted their attacks to look at Sakura. (Why Voldo, who was blind anyway, even noticed something amiss was immaterial to the situation.)

Sakura shrugged, "What's going on?"

Suddenly, the wind picked up, and Sakura felt a draft.

"Oh my god," Sakura said quietly, turning a deep red out of embarrassment. An entire city block…Arena… "Oh my god!" Sakura said louder as she realized the fight was being broadcast in countless nodes, which meant half the known multiverse just got a look at her private parts.

The crowd stared as embarrassment consumed the young Shotokan, they didn't know really how to react to what they had just seen.

Hinata had an idea on how to react, thanks to her Byakhyugan she could see Sakura's chakra becoming dark and growing rapidly, as if the floodgates of her body was overflowing.

"Get back!" the young ninja yelled as she retreated back, "She's gonna blow!"

Sakura's embarrassment turned to shame, shame turned to anger, and anger then turned to hate.

Then, as the floodgates of her mind burst, hate turned into Killing intent.

IGP Meditation chambers

Sakura would have been happy to know that her hero Ryu had not seen her little "Peek show", he was too busy meditating and mentally preparing for the upcoming fight. For this, the IGP facilities included extensive meditation chambers, which were large, dark, and well fortified. (So insulated from the world outside that Ryu barely even heard the fight between Blackheart and Buffaloman, which occurred in the gym adjacent to the chamber.)

However, no amount of fortification could keep Ryu from sensing the dark power emerging in the ring. Ryu knew Akuma was in the ring, but now it felt like two Akuma's. Ryu knew this could mean but one thing.

"Another has embraced Satsu no Hadou." Ryu said quietly to himself. He didn't know the implications of this, but he didn't like it.

IGP Shopping district

"Yes, and now you too can master the secret art of the worlds greatest martial arts style! And right in the comfort of your own home! Yes, its SEVEN MINUTE SAKIYO!"

Dan Hibiki held up his arm in his traditional power pose, a video in his hand, several more videos stacked in front of him on a table. He had been hocking his work out video all morning, but as expected, no one wanted to buy.

(Which isn't to say there wasn't a crowd. Dan may have been stupid, but he knew enough to hire some pretty girls, dress them in pink Gi's which mirrored his own, and have them perform some of Dan's traditional "Moves" for the public to see. If nothing else Dan drew attention, which is all he really wanted.)

"Hey Hibiki, how's things?"

Dan looked up to see Ken Masters, along with his student Sean and his wife Eliza, standing in front of the booth. Ken was carrying bags in each hand, which he handed off to Sean as he approached Dan's booth.

Dan Hibiki laughed nervously, "Oh everything's fine! My school is getting all kinds of exposure here. Speaking of which, why don't you quit Shotokan and join my school? I could teach you to be REAL strong."

Ken would have normally laughed, told Dan to go fuck himself, and be on his way. But instead he was staring at the arena with an angry determined look. Dan noticed that Sean was doing the same exact thing, only he looked more nervous than determined.

"Ken San, do you sense…"

Ken nodded, "Yes, I feel it."

Dan, as per usual, was clueless, "What are you feeling? What's going on?"

Ken sighed, "Try sensing the chi coming from the arena."

Dan did as he was told, then felt the same evil energy as Sean and Ken. Strangely though, it didn't seem to phase him too much.

"So? Its just Sakura, no big deal."

Ken and Sean stared at Dan, "No big deal?" they said together, then they blinked, "SAKURA!?!"

Dan nodded, "Yeah, she gives off energy like that from time to time when she's pissed off. Never felt it this intensely before. All I can say is, heaven help whoever she's mad at."

The ring

The panicky mob was running again, but for an entirely different reason.

Sakura screamed like a bat out of hell, her energy flaring out like a fire out of control. The ground beneath her feet cracked from the force, nearby windows cracked, cars exploded with tremendous force. Every fighter who was paying any attention to recent events and had enough common sense backed away.

Starface was not among this group however. Still disoriented from a combination of eating a Hadoken and getting a look at Sakura's privates, he didn't get a bearing of the situation until it was far too late. When he did get his wits upon him and saw Sakura, he was stunned.

Sakura's entire body was a deep tanned color, here eyes had an evil reddish glow about them, and her face was twisted into a perpetual scowl. The newly christened Dark Sakura glared at Starface, her eyes drilling holes into his very soul.

"You…" The fallen Shotokan in training muttered, her voice comparing a depth of hatred unknown to most nihilists, "Did you do this?" Sakura pointed to her skirt, Starface understood what was she meant instantly.

"Who me? Uh, no! Never, I swear!" the Chojin stammered, but she could tell that Dark Sakura didn't believe her.

"I don't believe you," Dark Sakura muttered, confirming Starface's fears, "You have ten seconds to convince me," Dark Sakura gave a smile that made her look like a Olympic class baby eater, "Or run, you seem to excel at that." Sakura held up her fist and extended her index finger.

"One…"

Starface gulped, "Uh, listen, I'm not going to run, we can discuss this…"

"Two…" Sakura held up another finger.

"I didn't, look, I take it back, I'm sorry!"

Sakura began to gather energy in her other hand, "Three…"

Starface was shuddering with fear, he looked around desperately, and trying to think of something he could do. The suddenly he remembered something he saw when he first engaged Sakura.

"THE OLD MAN!" Starface yelled out, almost making Dark Sakura jump out of her skin, "The little old man, I saw him near you while we were fighting!"

Sakura looked over to Happosai, who currently tussling with Jack, in the sack on his back the fallen Shotokan could see her underwear hanging out.

Dark Sakura turned back to Starface, "Congratulations, you get to die second." Before Starface could react, Sakura delivered a Haru Ichiban to Starface's face, cracking the pentagram on his face and sending him into the claws of a waiting Metal Garurumon. Dark Sakura then Asura warped over to Happosai.

Happosai didn't see it coming, and even if he did there wouldn't have been a damn thing he could have done about it. The instant Sakura got within striking distance the immediate area was plunged into total darkness, the only light coming from the flashes caused by Sakura's blows, the only sound Happosai's piercing screams. The bystanders thought that it was the end of the world, as did some of the more paranoid fighters.

When the lights came on, Happosai was gone. The only evidence of his existence was a small black stain on the ground, and a pair of ladies underwear. A fitting memorial if you knew enough about the old pervert. Sakura picked up her underwear, then looked around.

"NOBODY LOOK!"

You hear that? That's the sound of 60 billion people across just as many different nodes turning around at the same exact time. Fifteen seconds later Sakura had her underwear back on.

"OKAY!"

Everyone turned back, and the fight continued as normal. Sakura, still in the grips of Satsu no Hadou, decided to turn her rage back on Starface, who was being harassed by Metal Garurumon.

Sakura's newfound bloodlust did not go unnoticed, Akuma, who had taken to a nearby streetlight because of the lack of "Worthy foes", had observed Sakura's seduction by bloodlust, and he saw what she saw.

"At long last, a worthy opponent." The master of fist mused as he dismounted the street light and gave chase to Sakura.

Meanwhile, Naraku realized that due to the confusion cause by the "Sakura Incident," that no one was paying attention to him anymore. Ever one to take advantage of a good situation, Naraku ducked down a nearby alley and pulled out a small hive and several wooden figurines.

"I'm sick of taking abuse," Naraku chortled as he observed the tools of his trade, "Now's the time I start dishing it out."

IGP hotel ground floor

She remembered going to the concession stand with her best friend, being hit on the head from behind and then nothing.

Sora Takanuchi came too with a splitting headache, looking around she saw her faithful Digimon partner sprawled unconcious next to her. And a pair of ninja fighting a Zombie and a witch right in front of her.

Sora, at this point, decided she was still unconcious and then fainted.

Taria was growling in pure annoyance, nothing he threw seemed to work against the fox possessed ninja. He could dodge force bolts and fireballs all day, and was skilled enough at hand to hand to fend off her close ranged fighting.

Truth be told, the only reason the fight had lasted this long is because Naruto, as per usual, was being a ham.

"Ha! Woah! Hiyaa!" Naruto power-posed as he dodged mystical attacks, which annoyed both Taria, and Gaara, who wasn't even paying attention to Sir Dregan as he tried to cut through Gaara's sand shield.

"Naruto, stop acting like an ass and end it!" Gaara shouted, surging his sand forward and knocking off Dregan's shield arm.

Naruto sighed and gave a playful shrug, then he held out his outstretched hand and began to form an energy sphere, Gaara recognized it as Naruto's ultimate attack, the Rasengan.

Taria didn't give a flip what it was, but she knew that it would most likely hurt to get hit by it, so she prepared her own special attack, which would end the fight in her favor if it worked.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto hollered as he charged with energy sphere in hand, at the same time, Taria launched her spell, there was a massive flash of light, and the sound of screaming.

When the smoke cleared, Taria was still standing, and Naruto was gone. In his place, a large chicken stood. Gaara was understandably confused.

"… The hell?" The sand ninja asked the world at large.

Naruto had no idea what the hell had just happened. One minute he was a ninja, now he was poultry. The situation confused and disturbed him. Taria on the other hand was pleased as punch. Until she realized that the sand ninja would now likely kill her once he finished with Dregan. Not even bothering with Gaara or the hostage, Taria up and fled the scene. Shang Tsung, who had seen enough of the debacle, decided to do the same and vanished into the shadows.

This just left Gaara and Dregan. Dregan, despite the loss of his arm, was not discouraged. He continued to strike at Gaara's sand shield with his broadsword. Gaara was so confused by Naruto's condition that he didn't notice Dregan was still attack for a full three minutes.

"What are you doing?" Gaara asked, finally noticing Dregan.

"I'm slaughtering you knave! No one can defeat the covenant of seven!"

Gaara just stared, "What do you… YOUR ARMS OFF!"

"No it's not."

"Yes it is, its right there!" Gaara pointed at the ground, Dregan looked at it and shrugged.

"I've had worse."

"You lie!" Gaara exclaimed, then he thought about it.

"No, no, no hell no." Gaara said, "I'm not gonna do it."

"Do what?" Dregan asked.

"Go through the tired old black knight Monty Python sketch. I don't have the time or the patience for it right now. I've got magic gems to steal, a clan enemy to face, A crazy super friendly black chick to reconcile with, my ninja partner has been turned into a chicken, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW FUCKING BUSY I AM?"

Dregan faltered, "Um, well…"

"AND NOW YOU WANT ME TO GO THROUGH THAT TIRED BIT FROM 'MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL' WITH YOU? NUH UH, NO FUCKING WAY. YOU DIE NOW!"

One desert coffin later and what was left of Sir Dregan fell to the floor in pieces. Gaara could have checked on the still unconcious Sora, but he really didn't give a rat's ass. He picked up Naruto-Chicken, and walked down the hall towards the hotel room with the other hidden leaf and sand members.

A few minutes later, Sora came too and found Sir Dregan's head staring at her, she promptly fainted, again.

The ring

Thanks to Hsien-Ko and Sakura's respective freak outs, all the fighters who had been chasing Naraku had either completely forgotten about their quarry or were wrapped up in other fights. They quickly remembered their mission when a horde of poisonous insects and giant wooden golems appeared out of nowhere, supplemented by thick clouds of poison gas. Soon all the fighters broke away from their current battles to deal with Naraku's secret onslaught.

From his hiding place, Naraku watched with glee as his carefully thought out plan worked perfectly, all he had to do was keep hiding himself away and using his pawns to fight for him, and he would come out on top.

Of course, his plan didn't bring Voldo into the equation.

While everyone else was desperately looking for Naraku, Voldo had never lost track of him. He sensed him as he ran into the shadows, and followed the half demon quietly and silently. A few katar slashes and a heel kick later and Naraku was out in the open again, and right in the path of Buffaloman.

"Hurricane Mixer!"

When Naraku went spinning upward this time, two items went flying off his person, the first item a small purple gem the size of a gumball, undoubtedly the Shikon jewel. The other items a larger glowing white sphere. The latter rolled to the feet of Demitri Maximov, who was still engaged in a three-way fight with Morrigan and Chipp. The vampire lord knocked the pair away with a demon cradle, picked up the glowing sphere, and observed it.

He had it for all of three seconds when Q arbitrarily punched him in the back of the head. Dropping the sphere, Demitri turned around just in time to get picked up and by Q and get his head slammed against the cyborg's knee. As Demitri bounced away, Q picked up the sphere and pocketed it.

In the green room, wind sorceress Kagura watched the scene on the big monitor, and she smiled.

By the time Demitri got back up, Q was long gone, and Morrigan and Chipp were staring him down.

"You may as well give up" Morrigan said, "You cant beat us both."

Chipp looked at Morrigan, "Who said I'm working with you? I just want that gem you got."

Morrigan pulled out the gem and looked at it, "Oh this? What is it?"

Demitri smiled and drove a chaos flare into Morrigan's chest, sending her reeling back. As she did she dropped the gem, which fell into Demitri's waiting hand.

"It's mine now." The vampire sneered.

Chipp replied with a Beta blade to the face of Maximov, sending him reeling and making him drop the power stone. Chipp reached out to grab it when Morrigan, still disoriented from Maximov's attack, launched into a poorly aimed shell kick, which ended up striking Chipp in the back, and causing all three gems to go flying.

The gems landed at the feet of Hinata Hyuuga, who was using her Kunai to cut down poisonous insects mid flight. Looking down, she noticed the huge chakra reserved the power stones afforded, and reached down to pick them up.

One explosion of light later, and Hinata was a different person. She looked relatively the same, except she was wearing clothes similar to her father, the current head of the Hyuuga main house. But she felt different. For the first time in her young life, Hinata felt the boundless confidence and self-assurance that she had longed for her entire life.

Looking around, Hinata saw Dark Sakura trading blows with Akuma. She remembered how Dark Akuma had tried to kill her earlier, and how Sakura, despite being similar to Akuma now, had tried to help Hinata.

Hinata ran towards the fight, hands clenched.

Dark Sakura had held her own against Akuma, matching the master of fist blow for blow. But Killing Intent notwithstanding Sakura was still a novice of the Shotokan style of martial arts.

(And yes, I know its really called Anatasuken style, but Shotokan is easier to spell, so Nyah.)

This of course meant that Akuma has a rough idea of what Sakura could throw at her and how to counter it. Conversely, while Sakura knew what to expect from Akuma, the master of fist attacks often came too fast and too hard for it to matter. Slowly but surely Akuma was gaining the upper hand.

This all changed when the power stone enhanced Hinata appeared between the two. Both Dark Hadou users paused to observe the girl, and her massive chi reserve. Hinata said not a word but went straight to work. Reaching out, the Hyuuga clan noble reached out and tapped Akuma in the chest in rapid succession.

Akuma was a bit confused by what had occurred, but then realized what happened, Hinata had used the dreaded five point seal of doom. Which meant he had lost.

Akuma smiled to Hinata, "Congratulations, I was wrong about you."

Hinata sighed as the power stones magic dissipated, reverting her to normal. "No, I am a weakling, it was just the stones that made me strong."

Akuma watched as the gems flew to the far corners of the ring, then smirked.

"Perhaps, but I know of those gems, they can only bring out ones hidden potential. I believe that one day you will become that strong without the gems."

Akuma turned away from Hinata, then looked back.

"When that day comes, I will seek you out, and we will have a rematch, you and I. Train hard young ninja, I will be."

Akuma walked away from Hinata. On the fifth step, the five point seal of doom kicked in, and his heart exploded. Akuma stumbled forward, lay still a few minutes, then vanished.

Dark Sakura just scratched her head, unsure of what had just transpired.

IGP hotel, room 123

Neji, Kiba and Shino stared at the screen, their jaws hung open, they were unsure of what had just happened as well.

"Dude, was that… Hinata?" Kiba asked at last.

Neji regained his composure and cleared his voice, "Perhaps I have… underestimated my cousin. Magical power up or lack thereof, she has demonstrated massive potential I never noticed before."

Shino smiled wryly, "Takes a big man to admit he's wrong doesn't it?"

Neji glared at Shino, but said nothing. "I… suppose I should invite her to train with me and her father when we get home."

"Yeah," Kiba said, "Afterall, you don't want her to beat on you for always picking on her after she becomes super powerful and such now do ya?"

Neji was about to reach out and peel Kiba's head off when Gaara came in carrying a big chicken under his arm.

"Hey Gaara," Jiraya said, crossing the room to meet the sand ninja, "Sorry you got beat in the tournament, but its probably better you're here." The toad hermit looked around, "Where is Naruto."

Gaara sighed and held up the chicken, which clucked sadly.

"We… have a problem."

Room 78

"Listen, can we talk about this?"

"NO!"

Simon sighed as he rolled out of the way of Mousse, who charged forward slashing at him with claws hidden inside his cloak. Belmont for the life of him could not figure out where all these weapons were coming from, but in the course of five minutes Mousse had thrown everything from an Iron ball and chain to a kid toilet shaped like a duck at him. The entire hotel room had been torn to pieces by the fighting as Simon desperately attempted to avoid being torn apart by the angry Amazon.

"Hey could you guys keep it down?" Ranma yelled from his spot on the floor. He and Akane were watching the television and for some reason had avoided getting hit by anything. (Ukyo was in the next room resting, and Faust had left to secure Kodachi, despite Ranma's protest. No one had heard anything from Kenshin since his elimination.)

Simon looked over at Ranma in disbelief, "Are you insane? He's trying to kill me!"

Mousse saw his opening, and decided to take it. Leaping into the air directly above Simon, Mousse's feet inexplicably morphed into a pair of bird talons.

"Prepare to die! HYAA!"

Simon grumbled in annoyance and grabbed Mousse out of his attack with his whip, sending him to the floor. As Mousse rose to his feet, Simon produced a flask of holy water.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no alternative." Simon muttered as he threw the flask. When it struck Mousse, he turned into a duck, then promptly burst into flames.

"What the…" Simon muttered, looking over the now charred Mousse, scratching his head.

"That's his Jusenkyo curse, he gets wet with cold water, he turns into a duck. Hot water changes him back."

Ranma looked at Mousse for a second, then looked to Simon. "Why did he burst into flames?"

"Enchanted Holy water," Simon explained, "Simple white magic, must react badly with Chinese dark sorcery."

Akane looked up, "I thought all that dark sorcery Mousse bragged about was bunk."

Ranma shrugged, "Guess the holy water didn't know that."

Simon walked over and picked up the roasted Mousse by the neck and looked it over. "In my country, it's customary to prepare a feast for a marriage. If I and this 'Shampoo' woman might want a nice duck dinner. Where's the kitchen?"

Akane and Ranma looked at each other nervously. "Uh, Simon…"

The Ring

When Naraku dropped the Shikon Jewel, Naraku ceased to be a target. Almost all of the fighters that were attacking him before dropped what they were doing in order to search for the mystic gem.

Naraku would have joined them, but a still berserk Hsien-Ko was trying to tear him limb from limb.

"WHERE IS MY SISTER! TELL ME TELL ME RIGHT NOW!!!" The Chinese ghost howled as she tore into Naraku. The half demon sprouted spider legs from his back and leapt back, blocking the wild zombie's claw swipes and kicks. Unfortunately without his Shikon Jewel, Naraku was unable to keep up with Hsien-Ko in her berserk state. Even more unfortunate was Q being nearby. The cyborg calmly stepped between the pair, grabbed them both, and slammed them together. Naraku fell to his knees, clutching his now bleeding face. Hsien-Ko clawed at Q, attempting to tear the robot into pieces. Q clutched his mask and breathed heavily, then wrapped his arms around Hsien-Ko.

The exploded knocked the unexpected Naraku across the street into lord Raptor. The undead lord of the dance got up from looking for the Shikon jewel and glared at Naraku, who confidently smirked.

"Doesn't anything get you down?" Raptor inquired, "You've been getting piled on since you got into the ring but you still got that smug look on your face."

"I've got a great poker face, what can I say?" Naraku mused. Raptor chuckled and pulled out his chainsaw, lopping off Naraku's right arm. Naraku didn't flinch.

"Great poker face." Naraku repeated, as his fallen arm morphed into a worm-like demon, reattached itself to Naraku, and morphed back into an arm.

Raptor nodded, genuinely impressed. "Oh right, now I remember, your made up of numerous minor demons, I forgot that part."

Naraku smirked, "You're a bigger fool than Inuyasha, and that's saying something. You should realize you can't beat me with a chainsaw."

Raptor smiled, he had been waiting for this, it was time for the ultimate undead.

A flash of light later and Raptor turned into a large yellow version of himself. Before Naraku could even scream Raptor chopped his head off, then kicked it away. Then he lopped off his arm, then his other arm. Soon Raptor went as crazy as Hsien-Ko and began chopping and re-chopping Naraku into little pieces. By the time Raptor's dark force wore off all that was left of Naraku was a finely chopped demonic salad, which vanished in a flash.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish." Lord Raptor said, leaning on his chainsaw. It was at that moment he noticed Hsien-Ko's irrational screaming was gone. Looking around, he soon found out why.

Those who had saw the scene were uncertain on how exactly Q had survived blowing himself up, never mind getting out of it without a single scratch on his entire body. But there he was, standing over a badly charred and semiconscious Hsien-Ko.

"Sister… where is sister…. Got to find sister…" Hsien-Ko muttered pitifully as she lay there. Q leaned over the ghost's body, and nudged it with his foot, causing Hsien-Ko to crumble to dust.

"Hey oi!" Raptor snarled, pointing at Q., "That's my girlfriend you just roasted!"

Q tilted his head, "…. (So?)"

Raptor blinked, "Stop trying to confuse me! You die now!"

Raptor yelled and charged, waving his chainsaw as he did, Q walked back slowly, blocking the blades with his forearms as he did so.

So furious was Raptors attack that he nary noticed Demitri flying over his head and landing on the pavement. Morrigan strutted over as the vampire got back up. Demitri rubbed some blood off his face then smirked.

"You've gotten soft my dear, what's wrong? Become too dependent on that little sister for a power boost?"

Morrigan responded by slamming Demitri to the ground with a vector drain. Demitri responded by vanishing from the ground and reappearing in mid air, coming at Morrigan with a bat spin. Morrigan leapt up and dashed towards Demitri. As a second Morrigan appeared behind him, Demitri knew he was in for a world of hurt.

Across the street, Jack sat crouched, the Shikon jewel in his hand. The strange old man had offered him many shinnies in exchange for this large shiny, and jack was at least cognizant to know that was a good deal.

That is, until Voldo mantis crawled onto the scene. (In the VIP seating, Marilyn Manson screamed lawsuit at the top of his lungs.) Getting up, the blind vault guardian pointed at Jack and this Shikon jewel, indicating with heavy breathing and groaning something that could roughly be determined to be a challenge. Jack pocketed the jewel and pulled out his daggers, giggling madly as he did so. If there was one thing Jack loved more than shinnies, it was stabbing. Slowly the two freaks began to circle one another, their blades held out in front of them.

Up in the seats, Eric Cartman and the other boys of South Park sat. With their parents preoccupied with yelling at the Grand Prix owners, the young boys were free to go where they wished in the arena, and they had the good fortune of finding some vacant seats in the back. (The seats belonged to some of the boxers from the super punch out node, but they had all cleared out to try and get Balrog and Dudely's autograph in the back.)

As the four kids watched the fighting, Cartman's attention fell to the Voldo/Jack duel. Cartman, being Cartman, came out and said what everyone else was thinking.

"CRIPPLE FIGHT!!!"

This was like a sounding bell for the two freaks. Jack lunged forward and swiped at Voldo, who leaned back and twirled, with his Katar, nearly taking the stabbing loony's head off. Jack then rushed forward and slashed Voldo across the chest.

As this was going on, Demitri fell to the ground groaning, Morrigan chuckled and hoisted Demitri up by his collar.

"Say it again." Morrigan slapped Demitri, "Go on," She slapped him again, "Say I'm useless without my sister." Three more slaps, "SAY IT!"

Demitri's eyes shot open, a smile on his face, Morrigan watched as his body began to break up into a swarm of bats.

"Alright…"

Morrigan screamed as a horde of giant bats tore her systematically to shreds. As this occurred, Jack finally managed to get a decisive blow against Voldo, stabbing the blind madman in the neck and eliminating him. When Jack turned around, he saw Morrigan, torn up horribly with cuts and bites, with Demitri standing over her.

"Your not useless without your sister. Your useless even WITH her help." Demitri picked up Morrigan by the hair, bearing his fangs. "But without Lillith, your especially pathetic, just like your father."

Morrigan would have killed Maximov for his last comment if she could, but right now it was all she could do to stay awake. She didn't even notice Jack coming in from behind as Demitri continued to gloat.

"So you found out why I'm here did you? No matter, those so-called 'allies' of yours won't be able to stop me. I know why you're here too, you want to use that psychopathic doctor to heal Belial." Maximov frowned at the thought, "Well it won't happen, I will claim my brides, and kill Faust, and there's nothing you or anyone else can…"

Demitri was interrupted when he felt something sharp poking him in the side. At first he thought a piece of glass or loose debris had gotten stuck in his side, but when he investigated he saw it was really Jack, stabbing him again.

"Oh," Maximov snorted with contempt, "Its you again."

Jack didn't know Maximov was a vampire, and thus stab-proof. And if he did know he most likely would not have cared, afterall, he was in it solely for the stabbing. Therefore he was more than a little surprised when Demitri threw the barely conscious Morrigan into him, sending them both reeling back. Maximov finished the pair off with an EX chaos flare, roasting the pair to a cinder.

Genjuro… Demitri said telepathically. The rogue swordsman, who was recuperating in the hotel lobby after his embarrassing defeat at the hands of Remy, snapped to attention.

Get moving, Its time to go after Kodachi Kuno, oh, and there's another thing I need done… I have someone I want you to kill.

IGP concession stands

Sesshomaru leapt back, narrowly avoiding getting shanked by Cervantes soul edge. As much as the demon lord hated to admit it, Cervantes was far more skilled than he had originally thought. The immortal pirate's soul edge protected him from Sesshomaru's poison mist, and Cervantes could parry energy cords all day. Fighting close was risky business too. Not only were Cervantes swords strong enough to tear into Sesshomaru and make him feel it, but at least twice the pirate had reached out in close combat and nearly stolen either the Tokijin or the Tensega from their hilts, which annoyed Cervantes to no end.

"HAH HA!" Cervantes cackled as slashed at Sesshomaru from above, forcing the demon back, "You may as well give up, you can't keep this up forever, and with one arm you cant fight me even with your swords."

Sesshomaru had a poker face most gamblers would kill for, and it held up against Cervantes' taunting. "You should realize I am merely toying with you, a bit of diversion before I enter the ring. I could shatter your so called 'super sword' with a single stroke of the Tokijin." Sesshomaru rested his hand on the hilt of his blade as if to indicate. Cervantes gave a wicked grin and put away the Nirvana, holding the soul edge with both hands.

"Is that a fact? Well then, PROVE IT!" The pirate charged at Sesshomaru, the Soul Edge in front of him.

Sesshomaru drew the Tokijin so quickly Cervantes didn't see it happen, in a flash the two swords were clashing. Demonic energy encircled the two swordsmen as they struggled against one another.

After a solid minute of struggling, the sound of cracking metal began to ring through the food stands, Cervantes watched on in shock as cracks began to form in the Soul Edge.

"No…" The Pirate said in a near whisper, "It cannot be…"

Sesshomaru forced the Tokijin forward, and the Soul Edge cracked more so. Sesshomaru's expression never changed.

"Do not be surprised human, it is just as I said. I have been toying with you, and this sword of yours is no match for me."

Cervantes screamed as the Soul Edge shattered to pieces, the pieces flying into the air and scattering all around the Grand Prix City. Cervantes fell to his knees, totally catatonic.

"My sword…. It cannot be…. Its impossible…."

Rin chose this moment to exit the ladies room, and Jaken this point to regain consciousness. Sesshomaru's two retainers came over and observed the shell-shocked pirate.

"Who is this man lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked. Sesshomaru gave a faint smile, the first sign of emotion he had given all day. "No one Rin, lets get going now."

Sesshomaru and Rin took off towards the arena together. Jaken stayed back just long enough to give Cervantes a good whack upside the head with his staff before rejoining the others.

The Ring

Matt and Metal Garurumon were not up on current events. They did not know that Sora was no longer a hostage of the covenant of seven, and he did not know that Jack, and the Shikon jewel, been eliminated.

The reason for this being that he was currently fighting with Starface. The flying Chojin darted around the air then flew at Metal Garurumon like a missile, striking him feet first and knocking him down. Once on the ground, Metal Garurumon righted himself and launched a bevy of missiles at Starface, knocking him from the sky. Once on the ground, Metal Garurumon pounced on him, pinning him down.

"Alright, tough guy." Matt said from the back of Metal Garurumon, "let's see you try those fancy time tricks now."

Starface managed to get a hand free and reached for the star on his face, "If you insist…"

This proved to be a mistake. After the blow to the face from dark Sakura a few minutes prior, Starface's time freezing dial was severely damaged. Once he turned the dial, the crack in the pentagram began to grow, forming more cracks, cracks that eventually spread across the chojin's body.

Metal Garurumon and Matt looked at Starface, then at one another, then realized they were totally boned.

Starface's body exploded into a reddish light, which promptly collapsed into a vortex which, sucked both Matt and Metal Garurumon in. Nearby, Q noticed the dimensional vortex, and used a deadly double combination to force Lord Raptor back into it, causing him to be sucked up into the vortex just before it vanished. Q then walked away into the shadows, disappearing from sight yet again.

Raptor, Matt and the now de digivolved Gabumon re appeared in a purple wavy void. Lord Raptor looked around and scratched his head.

"Oy, reminds me of the dead concert of 67, man what a show that was."

Matt looked at Raptor in surprise, "You played with the grateful dead?"

Raptor nodded, "Yeah, and Hendrix and Ozzy, and Alice Cooper too."

"Kiss too?"

"Yep, Kiss too, Gene Simmons actually owes me five bucks now that I think of it."

Matt smiled, "Would you consider joining my band? Our lead guitarist recently quit and were looking for a replacement."

Raptor smiled back, "Sounds smashing mate!"

Both Gabumon and La Malta rolled their eyes and groaned.

IGP Central office

Knives and Legato leaned against the barricaded door, the protesting parents outside trying to claw there way in. Crinos wasn't paying much attention though, he was too busy watching what was going on in the ring.

"Washuu," Crinos turned to the female scientist, "Please explain."

"Its simple really," Washuu stood in front of projection screen as various graphs and charts flashed by, "You see, Starface's control over time and space was always tenuous at best, though he never realized it before. When he activated the time freeze after Sakura damaged his controlling mechanism, it well, broke time, depositing Raptor and Gabumon outside of time."

Crinos nodded, dumbly, "Okay…so how do we handle the elimination counts?"

Washuu shrugged, "Sakura caused Starface's elimination, albeit in a second hand way, so she should get credit for that one. Starface was fighting Gabumon at the time, so he should get credit for eliminating the Digimon. And Raptor was thrown into the vortex by Q, so that resolves that part."

Crinos nodded, "Makes sense, incidentally, you can get those guys back right?"

Washuu shrugged, "The dimensional retrieval program can pluck people in from any time or place. But those guys are not any time or any place. It may take a while to get them back."

Crinos sighed, "No worries, I don't think anyone who matters is gonna miss em."

Washuu blinked, "But what about the other Digidestined? And Jedah?"

"Like I said," Crinos leaned back in his chair, "nobody who matters will miss them."

The ring

Hinata and Sakura chatted idly as they continued their running battle. Although she was still in the thralls of Satsu no Hadou, without anyone to incite her rage, Sakura was still acting like Sakura. And without the power stones to empower her, Hinata was back to her mousy and fragile self. Which meant there conversation consisted of the usual girl stuff: Boys, hair, fashion, more boys, stuff like that.

Blanka, who had ducked under an overturned car after being stung by a poison insect, crawled out from underneath a upturned car just in time to nearly get stepped on by Hinata and Sakura. Hooting madly, Blanka kicked Hinata, knocking her over, then electroshocked Sakura. Blanka hooted madly as the girls rolled away and got up.

"What IS that thing?" Hinata asked, staring at the monster.

"That's Blanka, he's friends with some pathetic wannabe fighter I know, he's pretty tough, but mostly harmless." Dark Sakura said calmly. "Why don't you fight him? I'm gonna go pick a fight with that vampire or the guy in the mask, they look pretty tough."

Hinata stepped forward as Sakura Asura warped away. Blanka hooted wildly and launched into a beast roll towards Hinata. The hidden leaf ninja saw it coming a mile away and dodged beneath it. Blanka rebounded off a nearby wall and came right back, prompting Hinata to dodge again. Blanka then bounced off the light poles and at Hinata again and again the green beast missed.

Hinata realized that she could not keep this up forever. Eventually either she would get tired or Blanka would get lucky, she had to end this quickly. Hinata got up from after ducking another beast roll, then stood there, her eyes closed. Blanka took this as a sign of surrender and charged yet again, this time apparently hitting his target.

What he really his was a log. Blank stopped rolling and looked at the pile of splinters in confusion. Hinata then burst from underneath a nearby manhole and delivered a few well-placed light as a feather touches to the beasts forehead.

Before he knew it Blanka was brain dead, the gentle fist blows to the forehead having bypassed his skull and reduced his brain to pudding. The green beast fell flat on his back drooling, and vanished in a blinding flash. Hinata leaned against a nearby car and breathed a sigh of relief.

Room 997, IGP hotel

M. Bison cradled his hands as he watched the fight on TV, the dictators winning smile plastered on his face.

"Juni, Juli," Bison pointed to his twin brain controlled assassins as they stood at attention, "Get down to the eliminated seating and pick up miss Hyuuga when she is eliminated. The fact that someone like that is not already on my payroll indicates a gross failure on the part of our recruitment offices."

"Shall we liquidate the current members of the recruitment offices sir?" Juni inquired.

Bison shook his head, "No, I am feeling uncharacteristically generous today, have their families killed as a warning."

"But sir," Juli remarked, "Most of the recruitment office members are unmarried."

Bison nodded, his head, "I see, alright then. Here is what we will do: Plan a mandatory Sadie Hawkins dance for next month, and for each consecutive month until each member of the Recruitment office is in a loving meaningful relationship, then kill the girl friends and boyfriends."

Juni and Juli both saluted and spoke at once, "Very good sir. Your are brilliant as always sir."

Bison smiled, "So true ladies, So true. Now get going."

Juni and Juli exited the room, as Bison got up. Vega, who had been watching from the shadows, stepped forward.

Bison cast an eye on the psychotic Spaniard, "You disapprove of my decision?"

Vega coughed uncomfortably, "Of course not Bison. As always, your planning is sound."

Bison's eyes narrowed, psycho power emanating from them. "Do not play the yes man Vega. It is the dolls job to agree with me mindlessly, not yours. If you disagree with my policy, I expect you to be honest with me."

Vega nodded solemnly, "Does that mean you wont kill me if you don't like what I have to say sir?"

Bison smiled and shrugged, "We'll play that part by ear, now what's on your mind?"

Vega groaned silently, he hated it when Bison neglected to take his medication. The last time he didn't take his "Dictators little helpers," he came up with the brilliant idea of "Shadow Charlie".

"Three things: First thing, I don't like that Hyuuga girl, she's too mousy and frumpy, not pretty at all. Secondly, considering her power, and the fact she single handedly killed Akuma and that brute Blanka, it is obvious she represents a force that Juni and Juli obviously cannot handle on their own. And as for three, As I understand it Hinata is the successor to an entire ninja family, consisting of men and women with powers similar to hers, but who are better trained and far more ruthless. All of these facts tell me that drafting Hinata Hyuuga to Shadow law is the fevered dream of a madman…" Vega noticed the evil glint in Bison's eye, and decided to back pedal, "Not that there's anything wrong with that sir, but I'm just saying…"

"It's quite alright Vega." Bison gave his most encouraging smile (That is, the one that made him look the least like a total madman, which still came off as monumentally creepy.), "You made several valid arguments."

Vega's fear became replaced with cautious optimism, "Seriously sir? You mean that?"

Bison suddenly frowned, "No, I don't. Once again you allow your foolish comparison of beauty to power to cloud your judgement. As for the Hyuuga clan, I already have a plan for defending against them. Now be gone, go help Juni and Juli extract the Hyuuga woman if you think so little of their skill."

Vega bowed politely and exited the room quickly. As he ran to catch up with Juni and Juli, the implications of what had just occurred sank in.

He, Vega, a masked serial killer who had an irrational hatred for people he deemed "ugly", had just acted as the voice of reason in an argument.

If your not shuddering right now, you have no soul. Yes, I'm talking to you.

The Ring

The ground quite literally shook as Chang Koehan and Buffaloman slammed their heads together, again quite literally. The two giants had been pummeling one another since Naraku's elimination, and neither one was giving up.

Enter on Chipp Zanuff, who had been observing the fight from afar since Morrigan was eliminated and Demitri had gotten a new job as a punching bag for an over tanned schoolgirl. Chipp observed the two giants as they beat each other senseless; he could take one of them by himself if he was lucky, but the young ninja didn't want to risk being double teamed (He remembered what had happened to Tyson Granger in the previous section.). Looking down, Chipp noticed how much damage the ground had taken from the fighting, and also that there was a large bomb resting at his feet.

Chipp smiled as he got an idea. Scooping up the bomb, Chipp charged and hit Chang from behind with an Alpha blade, he then knocked Buffaloman down with a beta blade. Chipp then took off. Chang and Buffaloman got up, shook hands, and took chase.

Chipp ran quickly, barely keeping ahead of the giants as lead them along, dragging his arm blade across the ground as he did so. Eventually, he stopped running, Chang was the first to attempt an attack, lunging at Chipp and nearly crushing him. The ninja rolled away and nearly lost his head to a hurricane mixer. Chipp smiled as the ground began to rumble. The ninja leapt up and grabbed a hold of a light post as the ground beneath Chang and Buffaloman collapsed beneath the two, dropping them into the sewers.

Neither Chang nor Buffaloman were severely hurt by the fall. The C-4 chaser however, hurt bunches.

Chipp observed the battlefield as he sat atop the light post, to his left, Hinata was narrowly avoiding being torn in half by Q, and to his right Dark Sakura was pounding the living crap out of Demitri. As Chipp contemplated whom he would help first, the fighters fell into a dimensional void, indicating the start of the next section.

SkyBox 1

Due to crossover games and mystery fighters, a lot of nodes only had a single representatives entered in the tournament, in a kinda half assed way to make it up to them, the IGP staff was holding a party in a SkyBox, invitation only.

Of course, this didn't stop the party from becoming totally chaotic. The world Heroes and Time Killers had taken over the bar, ("occupying the territory", Brocken said in an attempt to be funny, no one laughed.) Mantou ace and Kuma had raided the snack table, making a mess, and in one of the corners a large dust cloud indicated a fight between Kazuki and Sogetsu which had gotten out of hand and was gonna remain out of hand for the remainder.

Janne sighed as he looked over the food table, the world hero hoped she could find something that hadn't been defiled by some sort of wild beast, but to no avail.

What she did find was a strange piece of metal floating in the ranch dip, tentatively she picked up the shard of the soul edge and pocketed it.

Across the room, Nightmare, formally known as Sigfried of Germany, watched with interest.

Final results:

These are the total votes for all the fighters, out of nine possible live votes.

Hinata Hyuuga 7

Q 7

Chipp Zanuff 6

Sakura 5

Demitri Maximov 4

Line of Elimination

Chang Koehan 3

Starface 3

Lord Raptor 1

Akuma 1

Jack 0

Gabumon -1

Morrigan Aensland -1

Shippo -3

Hsien-Ko -3

Buffaloman -5

Whip -5

Voldo -5

Blanka -7

Naraku -7

Happosai -9

Fighters who got elimination's this section: Hinata Hyuuga, Q, Chipp Zanuff, Sakura and Demitri Maximov: 2, Chang Koehan, Starface, Lord Raptor, Akuma and Jack: 1.

Current Elimination leaders: Demitri Maximov, Chang Koehan and Lord Raptor with four elimination's each.

Bonus matches:

mid-evil:

Uzumaki Naruto and Gaara of the Dessert 5 (N: NH2) broil Taria and Sir Dregan 4 (M: TDA)

Security Smack down:

Vash the stampede (Trigun) with Heavy D!, Lucky Glauber, and Brian Battler 7 (KOF 94) flash fry Jedah Dohma 2

Devil in the deep blue sea:

Sesshomaru 5 (I: AFF) debones Cervantes De Leon 4 (SC2)

Love Stinks:

Simon Belmont 8 (DMTV: WF) roasts Mousse 0 (R1/2HB) with one absentee

Comments:

Sympathy for the ninja: Almost all the people who voted for Hinata did so out of pity. Take of that what you will.

Come from behind victory: In the third bonus match, It looked like Cervantes was going to win until the very end. Just a demonstration that every vote counts in this fic. On the plus side it allows me to go in a bold new direction with the fic which I think everyone will enjoy.

Reverse of fortunes: Almost all of the Darkstalkers except for Demitri were defeated in this section. Conversely, with the exception of the Ranma ½ guys and the Digimon, almost all the anime fighters managed to win their matches and at least get elimination. Again, take of that what you will.

Well, see you guys next section!