(The Arena)
Bison found out all too late how much villains were hated in the arena. The evil dictator currently had Guile, Mika, Lucky, Johnny Maximum and Fred ganging up on him, and none of them were showing any mercy whatsoever.
The dictator wasn't about to beg for mercy, so he leapt to his feet and shot forward in a Psycho Crusher, knocking Mika and J. Maxx away. Bison was quickly brought out of the Psycho Crusher when Guile slammed his hand onto the dictator's head, knocking the evil man to the ground.
Bison slowly got to his feet and looked around at the five people he was fighting. Guile narrowed his eyes and held his fists in the air, preparing to continue the onslaught. Lucky Glauber and Johnny Maximum cracked their knuckles, although J. Maxx glared at Bison darkly as he did so. Fred swung his sword a couple of times, obviously looking fresher than the others.
The evil dictator looked at Mika just in time to see the female wrestler bounding at him, then lunging into the air, hip-first.
On the other side of the arena, Kojiroh and Roy had locked swords again. Everyone was quickly noticing that Kojiroh was proving to be a far better fighter than the other Last Blade fighters before her, and Roy was showing a lot more energy than Marth was in Section One. Roy was wanting to show the audience that he was a better fighter than Marth, and was putting all of his skill and energy into this fight. Kojiroh, on the other hand, wasn't fighting with energy as much as Roy.
(Eliminated Seating)
Marth shook his head. "That Roy. Still as stupid as ever."
Pai Chan turned to face the blue-haired prince. "What makes you say that?"
"You'll see."
The Chinese girl shrugged, then went back to cheering Akira on.
(Hotel; Outside Sagat's Room)
"This way!" Sagat shouted as he charged down the hallway with Chun-Li and E. Honda on his heels.
After Bruce had created the distraction by fighting Bison, Sagat had wasted no time in finding help. Making a quick pit stop at the Street Fighter locker room, Sagat had told Chun-Li and Honda about the predicament and now the giant man was leading the two to his room to help Bruce with Bison before something happened.
Now, Sagat had no doubt of Bruce's fighting ability, but leaving the Thai fighter to take on Bison alone was a very stupid mistake.
"Are you sure he's still in there?" Chun-Li asked.
"I can only hope so." Sagat muttered. "Bruce has fighting talent, but taking on Bison is going to be too much for him."
The trio quickly arrived at the door to Sagat's room. The giant man quickly kicked open the door and led the way in, but froze two feet into the room. Chun-Li couldn't stop in time and slammed into Sagat's back. Honda quickly followed, smashing into Chun-Li's back, knocking all three fighters to the floor.
Sagat quickly stood up and looked around. The room was a total wreck, as furniture was overturned and, in some cases, in pieces. There were several dents in the wall, where Bruce and Bison had collided with on different occasions.
And the worst part? Bruce and Bison were nowhere to be seen.
Sagat's good eye widened. "No." He breathed. "He took him. Bison's got Bruce."
"This doesn't make any sense!" Chun-Li looked around. "What would that freak want with Bruce?"
"I don't know, but I don't really want to find out." Sagat said.
(The Arena)
Kojiroh continued locking swords with Roy. Every time one fighter swung their sword, the other quickly and easily blocked it. From the looks of things, neither of the two were winning the fight, and were mainly fighting to prevent being eliminated.
However, Roy took this opportunity to put the battle in his favour a little, and cheat. Breaking his sword away from Kojiroh's, Roy slammed it into the ground, creating a small explosion of fire, which sent Kojiroh flying away.
The female fighter landed on her side, clutching her arm. She stood up and glared at Roy, preparing to charge him again. However, just before she started to run, Futch came over and stopped her.
"Excuse me, miss Kojiroh." The Dragon Knight said. "I currently don't have anyone fighting me and I notice that you aren't battling anyone either at the moment."
"I'm sorta busy at the moment." Kojiroh said, not taking her eyes off Roy.
"Oh, come on! It'll just be for a little bit. We both know that you won't be able to beat me. I just need someone to entertain me for a while."
Kojiroh froze in her tracks and slowly turned her head to glare at Futch. "You really think I can't beat you, don't you?" She asked.
Futch nodded. "No offense, but look at the size of my weapon and compare it to yours." He said as he hefted his huge sword. "I don't think you really stand a chance."
"Okay, then. We'll fight." Futch didn't quite catch the monotone voice Kojiroh was using.
"Good." Futch said with another nod.
Before Futch could do anything else, Kojiroh grabbed him and chucked him out of the arena. "I win." She said with a smirk before running at Roy.
"And with that, Last Blade now has their first elimination!" SSBFreak shouted through the sound system.
Futch landed in Super Adventure Island. Master Higgins, riding his skateboard, tripped over him, then started chucking stone axes at him.
In the arena, Guile staggered back from where Bison had hit him. Narrowing his eyes at Bison, the American soldier was about to charge into battle again when J. Maxx suddenly collided with his stomach, courtesy of one of Bison's throws.
Bison smirked as he backhanded Mika away. He then grabbed Lucky's arm and spun him around, sending him flying into Fred. "You fools are no match for me!" He cackled. "Even though you outnumber me five to one!"
Guile suddenly saw Bison's vile smirk get ever bigger. The soldier knew that this meant something bad was about to happen. Out of instincts, Guile spun in place.
"FLASH KICK!"
When Guile landed gracefully on his feet, he saw Kuma flying straight out of the arena. Turning back around, Guile saw Bison sneering again. This probably meant that the giant bear was somehow in league with Bison.
Kuma landed in Deerhunter. Let's just say that the hunter can't really tell the difference between a bear and a deer.
Almost right after Kuma was eliminated, J. Maxx torpedoed into Bison's side, knocking the evil dictator onto the mat, laying across what must have been seven streaks of the searing hot energy on the canvas.
"I thought I told you that if you helped me, your son would be alright!" Bison said through his teeth. "Why do you double-cross me?"
"You lied to me, you scum!" J. Maxx roared. "I'll see to it that you pay dearly for betraying me like this!"
The others were wondering what the two were talking about, but they didn't have time to press the matter any further. Bison kicked J. Maxx in the chin, knocking the dark football player off of him. Bison then threw himself at J. Maxx in a Psycho Crusher, sending the World Hero into Liquidator, who started attacking him.
R. Mika slowly got to her feet and cracked her knuckles as she looked at the Bison fight. J. Maxx was now trying to fight off the Liquidator and Fred had gone off to fight Akira Yuki. This left Guile and Lucky fighting Bison on their own, and they looked like they were starting to lose.
Mika got into her stance and charged.
(Hotel; Lounge)
Dan, Reed, Samus, Cody, Asuka Kazama and Nei stood inside the Lounge nervously. They all knew that they'd need to try and take out Bison and stop this plot, but in all honestly, they didn't like their chances. Including Mika, there were only seven of them and Bison had a lot of people on his side.
"What do you guys think?" Dan asked. "Mika said she'd get some more help, but I don't think we'll get enough help in time."
"What choice do we have?" Asuka asked. "This plot needs to be stopped and we're the only ones that know about it."
"AND we can't run the risk of letting everyone here know." Reed sighed. "It'll just make the villains suspicious."
"Well, we may as well start forming a plan." Cody shook his head.
"Wait!"
The six 'good' fighters turned to see Heavy D!, Ryoko and Bridget running into the Lounge.
"We hear you're trying to stop this plot!" Bridget shouted.
"You know about it, too?" Dan asked.
"Yeah!" D! replied as they arrived at Dan's side. "In fact, so does-"
*BAMF!*
The next thing everyone knew was seeing a familiar blue-skinned mutant appear in a cloud of purple smoke.
"Where the heck have you been, man?" D! asked.
"Uh…I've been tryingk to find you guys eever since I vas eliminated." Nightcrawler said nervously.
"Uh…Okay."
(The Arena)
Seiger and Gambit circled each other, each of them looking at the other carefully. Seiger knew that Gambit was quick and agile, and wanted to make sure he didn't underestimate the smaller fighter. Gambit, on the other hand, had taken one look at Seiger and instantly knew that he was as strong as an ox.
The larger man lunged at Gambit and thrust his fist out. The Cajun mutant leapt to the side and swung his staff, striking the metal plating on Seiger's giant arm, creating several sparks.
"You should really try to make your attacks a little quicker, mon ami." Gambit smirked. "You will just lose quicker that way."
Seiger quickly slammed his fist into Gambit's face, knocking him back twenty feet.
"And you should really learn to attack while you talk." The giant man added. "That will leave you open to attack."
Suddenly, a glowing card attached itself to Seiger's foot. The resulting explosion sent him flying away to another part of the arena.
Gambit smirked. "Good advice, mon ami."
Seiger wasn't sure what he landed on, but whatever it was, it was way to soft to be the arena canvas. Curiously, Seiger looked over his shoulder to see what he had landed on, but once he did, his eyes snapped open.
Princess Peach, laying on her stomach now, was looking over her shoulder at Seiger, a menacing glare in her eyes.
Seiger tried apologizing, but there was very little he could do.
Peach, showing a shocking amount of strength, lifted Seiger over her head and tossed him over the ropes. With Seiger eliminated, Peach smoother out her dress, turned around and resumed her fight with Hon-Fu.
Seiger landed in Snow Brothers. The heroes of the game, not really the brightest bulbs in the box, instantly began pelting Seiger with snowballs.
(Announcer's Booth)
Unknown1 scratched his head. "I had no idea Seiger could be turned into a snowball that quickly."
"That's nothing. I heard that the Snow Brothers were the ones to turn Hoth into a frozen wasteland in the first place."
(The Arena)
Gambit chuckled as he spun his staff in his hand. "I may not 'ave been de one to get de elimination, but dat was a blast to watch."
"Trap Shot!"
Without looking, Gambit swung his staff to the right, blocking the projectile that was shot at him. Turning, Gambit saw King coming over, all the fatigue looking like it was really starting to weigh her down.
"You don't know when to give up, eh chere?" Gambit asked. "From the looks of things, you should be in the Recovery Room about now."
King acted like she was oblivious to the fact that she had two black eyes and her hair was completely messed up. "I bet I could still beat you here!"
Gambit shook his head. "I cannot bring myself to harm an injured person."
King smirked. "I'm not injured. Not by a long shot."
Gambit sighed. "Okay, mon chere. You are askin for it." Gambit pulled his staff into the air and charged at King, who simply put up her fists and got into her stance.
The instant Gambit was close enough, King leapt into the air and kicked with her left foot, which was now her good foot. King's foot landed against Gambit's cheek, knocking the mutant man back several steps.
King, despite not being able to feel either of her legs anymore, ran at Gambit and plowed into him with her shoulder, forcing the Cajun back. King quickly forced Gambit over the ropes and stood straight as she watched him fall from the arena. If King would have been feeling her legs, she would have felt a searing heat burning through them from the energy streaks on the canvas.
Now that J. Maxx was assisting him, Wile E. Coyote was having a little easier time fighting Liquidator. The brown coyote could tell that J. Maxx wanted to tear Bison to pieces for some odd reason, but this strange water-dog was preventing him from doing so.
"Let me through, waterboy!" J. Maxx ordered. "I wanna eliminate that Bison creep, and nothing's gonna stop me!"
Liquidator created a pillar of water from the ground, which blocked J. Maxx's next punch. "For a limited time only, you too can get a severe beating by the one and only Liquidator! All you need is to make him mad! WHICH HE IS!"
Everyone left in the arena suddenly caught sight of a huge tidal wave leaping out from underneath the arena. People scattered. Guile, Mika and Lucky ran away from Bison, who quickly teleported to safety once he saw the wave coming. Everyone else ran to the ropes and prepared to hang on for dear life.
Wile E. quickly pulled out a stick of dynamite, lit it and threw it at Liquidator just before activating his jetpack and flying to safety.
The tidal wave hit the arena and swept through in a flash. Everyone hanging onto the ropes had to grip even tighter. If they had any looser of a grip, Liquidator would have had at least six eliminations easily.
Once the wave died down, Kim Kaphwan was the first to climb back into the arena. "That scum!" The freedom-fighter glared at Liquidator with hate. "Such a cheap move should not be permitted! I say we all gang up on that villain! Who's with me?"
It was then that Kim suddenly saw that no one else had climbed back into the arena yet. Looking down, Kim suddenly saw Wile E's stick of dynamite laying by his feet.
Even if Kim had any time to block, there was nothing he could have done. The insane soldier of justice was sent arcing over the ropes and out of the arena after the explosive went up.
As soon as they heard the explosion, everyone climbed back into the arena.
Kim landed in Rayman, where he used his Tae Kwon Do skills to take out Mr. Dark well before the limbless hero even showed up.
(Unknown Field)
"I just don't understand it." Gambit sighed as he sat on a low stool. "This woman was so weighed down by fatigue dat I was sure I would beat her."
The Cajun mutant looked at the black-haired little girl who was running the wooden psychiatry stand. "But she still managed to defeat me. Is it me?"
The black-haired girl pondered this, then looked at Gambit. "Boy, you blockhead. It sure sounds like it. I mean, you underestimate your opponent for a few seconds and she clobbers you! What you need to do is not let up! And then let your opponent have it!"
Suddenly, the young girl sent her fist flying into Gambit's face, making the grown man spin head over heels three times in midair before landing on his back.
"Five cents, please." The black-haired girl said, holding out a tin can.
Nearby, a bald-headed kid saw this and sighed. "Good grief."
(Hotel; Lobby)
"TAKE NO PRISONERS!"
Musafar again took Gadget Z's statement into account and stepped up the attack rate he was delivering on Gannondorf. The Gerudo King was seriously beginning to reconsider his opinion of the Galaky Fight node.
Gannondorf quickly rolled out of the way as Musafar's giant fist soared past him. Jumping to his feet. Gannondorf lunged at the giant robot in a Gerudo Dragon. The evil king swung his fist in an upward arc, hoping to break off Musafar's arm.
Unfortunately for the Hylian villain, the punch did little more than make a dent in Musafar's shoulder. The giant robot looked down at Gannondorf, annoyed, and swung his fist, connecting it with Gannondorf's chin, firing the Gerudo King into the wall again.
Gadget Z, in the meantime, swung his hammer at Joker. The roller-blading crime boss skated to the side as the malfunctioning robot's weapon struck the marble floor of the lobby. Gadget Z swung again, this time making contact. The wind knocked out of him, Joker staggered back.
Gadget Z raised his fists into the air and screamed. "QWAAAAAAAAAAAAA- *bzzt*" Gadgzet Z suddenly stared forward in a odd expression as a strange voice came from his systems. "Go, go, gophers! Watch'em go, go, go!"
Musafar scratched his head and smacked Gadget Z on the noggin.
"*bzzt* -AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRK!"
Joker used this to his advantage, kicking both robots in the head before running over to Gannondorf and pulling him from the wall.
"Let's take these two annoyances out!" Joker said.
Gonnondorf rubbed his aching chin and nodded. The two villains approached the robots together.
"Do a Barrel Roll!" Gadget Z cried out suddenly.
Musafar stood in silence for a few seconds, shrugged and flipped forward.
Gannondorf and Joker suddenly froze when they saw where Musafar was going to land. Before either of them had time to react, the giant robot had landed directly on them, creating a loud crash and shaking the floor of the hotel.
Musafar got up off of the unconscious bodies of Gennondorf and Joker and looked at Gadget Z.
"We're the champs!" The small robot shouted, looking like he was jumping in place.
The two were then on their merry way, leaving the two villains on the ground.
(Hotel; Lounge)
Dan slowly stood up and looked out the door. "What the heck was that?"
"An earthquake it seems." Bridget replied.
"Well, whatever it was, it's finished." Nei sighed in relief. "Okay. Back to business."
"Quite." D! nodded. "Okay. We're all aware of this plot, so now we've just about got enough people on our side."
"Yeah, but we don't have any clue as to where these villains are hiding out." Ryoko scratched her head.
"I think we might be able to help you with that."
Everyone turned to the door and saw Jin Chonrei and Vivian coming into the room, lugging the unconscious form of Anna Williams.
"We found her talking to Vega about picking up the next target." Chonrei explained.
Dan was about the reply when Andy Bogard rounded the corner, Lee Chaolan draped over his shoulder. Lei Wulong followed behind.
"Your friend Mika threw him from the ring in a fury and knew he was up to something." Andy explained.
Dan's face lit up. "Great! Maybe we can get some answers out of these two!"
(The Arena)
The triple-teaming against Bison continued. J. Maxx would have joined Guile, Lucky and Mika in fighting the dictator, but Liquidator wasn't giving him a chance.
Guile was curious as to why J. Maxx and Lucky were so intent on fighting Bison, but had welcomed the help in taking him down. Lashing out a Sonic Boom, Guile was able to stall Bison long enough for Lucky to drive a basketball into the back of his head. Annoyed, Bison turned around to kill the tall basketball player when he noticed a sly smirk staring back at him.
"What could possibly be so funny, foolish man?" Bison sneered.
"BANZAI!"
Bison turned just in time to see Mika leaping from a turnbuckle. The female wrestler landed directly on Bison's head, but it did little more than surprise the evil dictator.
With Bison distracted, Guile turned to Lucky. "I appreciate the help, but why are you so intent on taking Bison down?"
Lucky looked around to make sure that no one was looking, then turned back to Guile. "Bison's in on some sort of plot. We don't know what he intends to do, but it involves kidnapping a number of specific people gathered here."
Guile looked at Bison with his eyes narrowed. "Such an evil plan, but this doesn't surprise me."
Lucky sighed. "Well, I don't think you'll be saying that when you find out who one of the targets is."
Guile turned back to the basketball player. "Who?"
Lucky shrunk back and started to wince. "Your daughter."
Guile ran at Bison less than a second later, screaming psychotically.
The American soldier pounced Bison and pressed him against the canvas. "WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER?" He screamed.
Bison looked at Guile strangely. "What? How did you know that I had my men kidnap her in the first place?"
Guile didn't answer that. He simply continued the interrogation. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER?"
The red-clad dictator smirked. "Harm me and your daughter dies." He threatened.
Guile shoved his face closer to Bison and stared him in the eyes. "You harm HER and I will personally see to it that you don't survive the night." He said icily.
There was enough hate in Guile's eyes to make even Bison shiver.
Grasping Bison's collar, Guile got up and looked at another of his apparent allies. "Hey, Maximum!"
J. Maxx slowly turned around.
"Catch!" Guile shouted just before throwing Bison in J. Maxx's direction.
J. Maxx saw the dictator coming his way and his already red eyes deepened even more. "Bisoooooooooooooon…" He seethed as he crouched low.
Everyone in the stands watched in awe as J. Maxx leapt into the air in a flying tackle and collided with Bison's torso, launching the evil man over the ropes.
"This…Isn't…HAPPENING!" Bison screamed as he fell into the vortex.
Bison landed in the pit in Mortal Kombat, where he suddenly remembered that he could teleport. He spent the next ten minutes taking his aggression out on Reptile.
Lucky smirked. "Well, so much for him."
Mika sighed. "Yeah, but that was also our only hope of finding out where he's hiding."
"…Not so…"
Lucky and Mika turned to see Guile looking at the floor.
"One of you can eliminate me." Guile said, his voice sounding like it was starting to crack. "My daughter is counting on me and I'll kill myself if I let Bison do anything to her."
Lucky and Mika looked at each other, then back at Guile. "Okay." Mika said. "Once you return, keep an eye open for either Dan or Heavy D!. Both of our groups have probably met up by now."
Guile nodded furiously. "Okay! Okay! Just do it and get me out of here!"
Mika looked at Lucky. "You do it, Lucky. I don't think I should be the one to eliminate my own nodal companion."
Lucky nodded, grabbed Guile and threw him out of the arena. "Well, now what?"
Guile landed in Tekken, where people kept mistaking him for a guy named 'Paul Phoenix'.
After eliminating Bison, J. Maxx landed on his feet and stood straight. Now that Bison was gone, J. Maxx felt a little better. But that still didn't help the fact that his son was in extreme danger, possibly even more now that Bison was gone from the arena.
"I need to get out of here somehow." J. Maxx muttered. "But how?"
An idea suddenly struck the dark football player. He turned to the Liquidator. "Your father was a weatherman for the National Duck!" He shouted, hoping to insult the water-dog.
Silence.
J. Maxx decided to try again. "Your mother was his co-host!"
Again, silence.
"Your uncle drives a cherry picker!"
Liquidator threw J. Maxx out of the arena and scratched his head. How the heck did that guy know so much about his family?
J. Maxx landed in NFL Street, where he helped the home team score a few points by pounding the opposing team into the ground.
Roy slashed his sword in a horizontal strike, attempting to do some damage to Kojiroh. For the past five minutes, Kojiroh had done nothing but evade his attacks. There was the occasional time where Kojiroh would lash out with her own sword, which the redhead swordsman would quickly and easily block.
"I don't understand this." Roy thought. "She's done nothing but avoid my attacks and she using weak strikes when she DOES attack." Deciding that it was because he was the better fighter, Roy continued the onslaught. "I need to eliminate her quickly if I'm to find a better challenge. I'll just have to step up my attacking."
As Roy took another swing at Kojiroh (which she avoided), he looked up at the Eliminated Seating and saw Marth sitting there, shaking his head in hopelessness with his eyes closed. Roy raised an eyebrow as he turned back to Kojiroh. What was wrong?
The next time Roy swung at Kojiroh, his sword suddenly felt a bit heavier. Kojiroh noticed this and smirked, lashing out her sword, slashing across Roy's chest armour.
Roy knew that he needed to take Kojiroh out now, so he pulled his sword back and started glowing, preparing to deliver his most powerful move.
Kojiroh stepped back, a little surprised as the flames that started swirling around his sword, getting bigger and bigger by the second. The female sword fighter knew that she need to move out of the way or else this move would eliminate her for sure.
"Remember to call the Fire Department, kiddies!" Everyone heard the Liquidator shout.
Suddenly, a blob of water, courtesy of the water-dog, fell from the sky and landed directly on Roy, drenching him and putting out the fire on his sword, negating the attack. Roy, seeing his attack being rendered useless, swung at Kojiroh again in anger.
Except that he was so tired that his swing was slow and pathetic.
Seeing her plan work, Kojiroh grabbed Roy and vaulted him over the ropes and into the elimination vortex.
(Eliminated Seating)
Marth sighed. "That idiot."
Pai Chan looked at Marth again. "Why?"
"Any good swordsman knows that if you're entering a tournament with no breaks, not to use all your energy right away. Roy spent so much time attacking Kojiroh that he wore himself out in a matter of minutes."
Pai sat in silence, realized that she couldn't come up with a good response, shrugged and continued watching the arena, cheering Akira on.
Roy, in his elimination node, stood up, looked around and found himself in a field.
He sighed. "I can't believe that someone as skilled as I am could be eliminated so easily! And by someone from a node that hasn't seen any work in a while! I had entered the arena hoping that I could do better than Marth and I end up doing just as bad! Everyone knows that I'm better out of the two of us, but I can't even score one measly elimination! I mean, Mario and Link doing better than me I can understand, but FALCO did better than I did and PEACH is still in the arena! I don't BELIEVE how much this hurts my pride! And furthermore-"
All twenty people in the Unreal Championship game currently being played instantly sniped Roy from all directions, ending the rant and putting the loudmouth out of his misery.
(Announcer's Booth)
Unknown1 looked at SSBFreak. "What's the deal with sending these people to Unreal Championship? Roy's the fourth one to appear there."
"Hey, according to the ratings, people seem to like these guys getting blown sky high." SSBFreak shrugged. "The nodal computer seems to be reacting to this."
"So what do we do, then?"
"Go with it. I personally liked watching Marduk get blasted."
(Street Fighter Locker Room)
Everyone in the room jerked to attention when Sodom burst into the room, carrying a tray of drinks. If anyone would have been able to see his face, they would have seen that Sodom looked exhausted and frenzied at the same time.
As quickly as he could, Sodom handed out the drinks to the ones that had ordered them. As soon as he handed out the last drink, Sodom turned around and started for the door.
"Hey, Sodom? What's the problem?" Karin asked.
The American samurai turned, but continued backing away. "I…Uh…Just remembered something." He said, trying to come up with an excuse. "I…Uh…Forgot the change."
Karin shrugged. "Okay."
Sodom quickly turned around and flew out the door, taking something from a table with him.
"What's with him?" Guy asked.
"I have no idea." Karin replied with a shrug.
(The Arena)
Fred jabbed forward with his sword, hoping to strike Akira in the stomach. The Virtua Fighter swerved to the side and swung his foot, slamming it into the knight's head. Fred staggered to the side, allowing Akira to grab him and throw him to the ground.
Fred rolled to the side and jumped to his feet. "I must admit that you are incredibly skilled for an unarmed person." He complimented. "People from my node would be envious of you."
Akira nodded. "I appreciate it." He replied. "I am surprised at how well your node has been doing, myself." The serious fighter added. "Some of the people in your node have been getting a fair amount of eliminations."
Fred nodded. "Unfortunately, some of the others in my node haven't done especially well." He shrugged. "I know that when I eliminate you, I'll be able to add to that."
Akira simply put up his fists. "Unfortunately for you, my node needs the elimination more than yours." He said. "I will hold nothing back for eliminating you."
"See that you don't."
Fred charged at Akira and swung his sword again. Akira dodged the attack and shoved his fist out, striking Fred in the stomach.
The knight of justice quickly tried to attack again, this time putting all of his strength into his swing. Something this powerful would be incredibly painful if parried.
Akira quickly held his hands into the path of the sword and shocked Fred by grasping the sword, blocking it. And the most shocking thing? Akira didn't even flinch.
Fred was so shocked about what Akira had just done that he didn't even react when Akira countered his attack, forcing the knight over the ropes.
Fred landed in Altered Beast. Once he saw the transformed heroes, he thought they were monsters and tried attacking them.
Unfortunately, that wasn't a very bright move.
(Suikoden Locker Room)
Ace sighed. "Well, another one bites the dust. Let's face it, we're getting creamed."
"I wouldn't say that." Chris shrugged. "Sure, Lilly, Hugo and Futch got tossed almost instantly. But Watari managed FOUR eliminations, you know."
"Geddoe managed three as well." Kathy chimed in. "Reed, Nei and Toppo got two. Even Gadget Z and Shiba each got one elimination."
"And a good number of us still need to enter the arena." Leo added. "I would think that there's at least a couple more of us left that can score an elimination or two."
(The Arena)
Ryo was furious as he stormed over to where Lucky was sparring with Mika. Even though he was his nodal companion, Ryo was upset that Lucky had just taken his opportunity to have his rematch with Guile.
The Kyokugen fighter approached Lucky from behind and tapped the basketball player on the shoulder.
Lucky turned. "Yeah?"
The response Lucky got was a mouthful of fireball. Lucky was launched back several feet and landed a couple of yards away from the ropes. Ryo stalked over to the fallen sports star. Mika was tempted to help Lucky, but saw the angry glare on Ryo's face and decided to go challenge King instead.
Lucky stood up. "What the heck is wrong with you, Sakazaki?"
"You stole my elimination against Guile, Lucky!" Ryo accused. "I've been wanting to fight that guy since he beat me in the last tournament!"
"Man, you've seriously got issues." Lucky shook his head. "I'm your nodal companion, man! You can't just attack me like this!"
"Watch me." Ryo replied as he pulled his hands back.
Lucky sighed, seeing no way out of this. Raising his hand, he caught another basketball. "You're asking for this, Sakazaki."
Mika, in the meantime, ducked as King's foot soared over her head. Mika quickly tripped the female kickboxer off of her feet and stood up to catch her breath.
The female wrestler had about half a second before King leapt to her feet and charged. King lashed a bare fist out (the remains of her glove still hanging from her wrist), catching Mika in the face. King then leapt into the air and slammed her foot into Mika's face even harder.
The cuff of King's pant leg was already in shambles, and the speed and power of her kick was enough to detach several pieces of lose fabric from her pant leg, sending a few of them with Mika as the female wrestler landed several feet away.
Mika slowly got to her feet and brushed a piece of King's pant leg off her shoulder. She glared at the kickboxer and narrowed her eyes. The blue-clad wrestler broke into a run and charged at King.
King saw Mika barreling at her and quickly prepared to send a Trap Shot into her face.
Unfortunately for King, she couldn't say the words. It wasn't that she didn't want to do the move; instead, it was because she had so much fatigue that she had exhausted herself.
Mika plowed into King like a train and sent the female bartender, now the current leader, out of the arena.
King landed in Mario Power Tennis. In fact, she landed on a grassy hill that overlooked the Peach Dome, where the night's tennis finals were playing. Bowser's blimp (shaped like his head, of course) was floating over the dome.
King sighed and relaxed. "I guess it was bound to happen." She shrugged. "Ah. Seven eliminations is pretty good."
Suddenly, she heard a portal open overhead. Looking up, she saw Ryo fall through the portal and land on his back beside her.
King chuckled. "How'd it go, Ryo?"
Ryo groaned as he sat up. "How do you think?" He sighed. "Well, at least I get to spend the next ten minutes alone with you."
His girlfriend blushed and looked around, trying to change the subject. "Boy. It sure is a nice night out."
Ryo smirked. "Not as nice-looking as you, though."
King looked at Ryo and managed a smile. The two stared into each other's eyes as they drew their faces closer, preparing to kiss.
Suddenly, in the background, a Bomb-omb shot from the Peach Dome and landed inside the mouth of Bowser's blimp. The giant, floating machine promptly exploded, lighting up the night sky.
This happened just as Ryo and King's mouths touched. A few seconds later and the two pulled away from each other. "That was like an explosion." Ryo said lovingly.
The two quickly embraced, pulling the other in for a long, passionate kiss.
(Eliminated Seating)
Takuma stared up at the monitors with a smile. "Finally. They kiss. It looks like I may end up becoming a grandfather after all."
Robert promptly spat out his drink again, drenching Hugo (although he was now holding an umbrella) for the second time.
(The Arena)
Lucky stood straight and smirked. After charging enough energy, all it took was a Lucky Driver followed directly by a Hellbound to send Ryo out of the arena.
Although Lucky felt a little weird with eliminating his own nodal companion, he shrugged a figured that Ryo was asking for it to begin with.
Hon-Fu's nunchucks struck Peach's frying pan for what must have been the seventh time. The two had been at it ever since shortly before Peach eliminated Seiger, and they both were starting to look like they were getting tired.
The Hong Kong cop normally would think twice about striking a lady, but Peach had proven herself in the ring thus far, meaning Hon-Fu wouldn't need to hold back.
Hon-Fu swung his foot at Peach, but the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom quickly ducked. Despite Hon-Fu being fresher than her, Peach was showing that she still hadn't lost any of her alertness.
Although Peach hated to admit it, this Chinese man was getting the better of her. Hon-Fu kept lashing out his nunchucks, all of which Peach either blocked or parried with her frying pan. She knew that if she didn't do something fast, she'd be eliminated for sure.
An idea suddenly struck the princess. As Hon-Fu prepared to swing again, Peach reached behind her back and pulled out her secret weapon, holding it in front of her.
Instead of striking Peach, Hon-Fu's nunchuck struck the cap of a small mushroom retainer named Toad. As soon as the weapon struck Toad's mushroom cap, countless amounts of spores shot forward, sending Hon-Fu into the air.
Peach quickly pulled out her umbrella and jumped skyward, striking the airborne cop several times. Peach gracefully landed on her feet and pulled out a golf club.
"FORE!" (in the Eliminated Seating, Max Eagle suddenly got bad memories of Section One and ran away screaming)
Peach's swing was a direct hit, and it was more than enough to remove Hon-Fu from the arena.
Hon-Fu landed in Jackie Chan: Stuntmaster. The thugs quickly thought they were seeing doubles and scattered.
Mika backhanded Akira Yuki across the face, knocking the Ryu-lookalike away a couple of feet. Ever since eliminating King, Mika had started a fight with Akira, seeing that he was also currently without an opponent.
Akira thrust his fist out, aiming for Mika's face. The wrestler saw the attack coming and grabbed Akira's hand before it struck her.
Letting out a shout, Mika spun Akira's hand, flipping the karate master around and making him land on his back.
"You're pretty good." Akira said as he got to his feet. "Not a whole lot of people can counter that move the way you did."
Mika nodded. "Thanks. I've been training to be a professional wrestler for a number of years now and I'm used to fighting all sorts of different fighting styles."
"Well, let's finish the fight."
"I thought you'd never ask."
Akira rushed at Mika, preparing to grab her and throw her from the ring. However, Mika proved to be just a little bit too fast for him. Leaping into the air, Mika spun and kicked with both legs. Both of Mika's feet came into contact with the side of Akira's face, knocking the Virtua Fighter to the canvas.
Deciding to end the fight with a bang, Mika ran off as Akira slowly stood up.
Shaking his head a few times, Akira looked around for his opponent. "Where the heck did she go?" He asked. "I wasn't expecting her to just run off on me."
Suddenly, Akira heard a whistle coming from behind. Turning, he saw Mika backing into the ropes, stretching them back as far as she could without slipping out of the arena.
Mika pulled her feet up and the ropes sprung back, launching the female wrestler at Akira. Seeing Mika pull her fist back, Akira knew that he was in deep trouble.
*POW!*
Mika had clotheslined Akira in the face, sending him spiraling out of the arena.
Akira landed in what looked like a factory of some sorts. Looking around, he saw a few mechanical bots wandering around. Akira scratched his head, wondering where he had ended up.
Suddenly, Akira heard a strange noise coming from behind him again. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a beam of strange energy rushing at him, coming from an unknown source.
Akira ran, the energy beam in hot pursuit.
(Announcer's Booth)
"What the heck?"
"Quick Man's stage in Megaman 2. I really hated that stage…"
(The Arena)
Liquidator looked down and saw another bomb by his feet. The water-dog quickly stepped on it, extinguishing the fuse. Wile E. Coyote, the bomb's owner, shook in anger, seeing another perfectly good bomb get nullified.
"As you can see, the Liquidator is also completely fireproof!" Liquidator said in his usual TV salesman voice. "Call right now and receive a beating for your stupid idea absolutely free!"
Deciding to try physical attacks, Wile E pulled out a giant sledgehammer and ran at Liquidator, hoping to do some damage. Pulling his hammer into the air, Wile E swung it down, spiking Liquidator into the canvas.
Wile E pulled his hammer up to see what had happened and saw a puddle where the water-dog had previously been standing. Thinking he had actually knocked Liquidator out, Wile E bent over to pick up the villain and throw him from the arena.
A watery fist shot out of the puddle, catching the brown coyote in the chin. Wile E was launched upwards and landed on his back. Looking at his opponent, he saw Liquidator rise from the puddle, taking full shape again.
Wile E angrily held up a sign that read 'Cheap shot! Cheap shot!'.
"Are you having trouble talking?" Liquidator asked. "Then allow Dr. Liquidator to cure you by mercilessly attacking your throat!"
Wile E quickly took to the air with his jetpack and flew around. He pulled out a stick of dynamite (a genius' best friend) and prepared to throw it down, unknowing of a small, dark cloud that started forming above him.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot down from the cloud and struck Wile E's jetpack, instantly destroying it. Wile E fell back down to the canvas, where he was easy pickings for Liquidator to dump over the ropes.
Liquidator turned and saw the other four fighters left in the arena. Mika was starting to look a little tired, but was otherwise ready for the next wave of fighters. Lucky had a few cuts and bruises, not to mention his jacket had a few burns from his fight with Ryo. Peach straightened her crown and smoothed out her dress again, then everyone noticed that her dress had a couple of rips. Kojiroh, one of the freshest fighters, looked almost untouched, and readied her sword for the next wave of fighters.
As Master Hand and Crazy Hand started laughing again, everyone knew that the arena was about to change and the next fighter was about to enter.
(Looney Toon Node)
Ralph Wolf smacked his lips a couple of times as he approached the box attached to the tree where he would check in. He saw a white sheepdog with red hair over his eyes already checking in.
The sheepdog turned and saw Ralph coming over. "Morning, Ralph."
"Morning, Sam." Ralph said with a smile as he checked in.
After checking in, the two friends went to their respective workstations at the sheep field: Sam at the edge of the cliff overlooking the field and Ralph at the bottom of the cliff.
Ralph waited patiently for nine to arrive. Looking at his watch, he counted down the seconds until it struck nine o'clock. At the same time, the whistle on top of the tree box went off, signaling that work had started.
Ralph was about to start work and try and steal a sheep when a portal open above him, dropping a newly-eliminated Wile E. Coyote on his head.
The two stood up and looked at each other. Once they saw each other, they ended up doing a double-take, seeing that they looked almost exactly alike.
After a few seconds, they both decided that they were staring into a mirror and walked off in separate directions, Ralph going out to start work.
(Street Fighter Locker Room)
"Man! Mika's still in the ring!" Ken said in shock.
"She's full of surprises, it seems." Dhalsim nodded.
Rolento, in the meantime, looked around the locker room and scratched his head.
"What's the matter, Rolento?" Karin asked.
"I left a string of my grenades on this table here, but now I can't seem to find them."
"I wonder where they went."
Rolento shrugged. "I don't know. They were here when comrade Sodom came here with the drinks."
RESULTS
RAINBOW MIKA (SFA3)
PEACH TOADSTOOL (SSB)
LIQUIDATOR (DWD)
LUCKY GLAUBER (KOF)
KOJIROH SANADA (LB)
(ELIMINATED)
KING (KOF)
WILE E. COYOTE (LT)
JOHNNY MAXIMUM (WH)
WILLIAM GUILE (SFA3)
AKIRA YUKI (VF)
HON-FU (FF)
RYO SAKAZAKI (KOF)
GAMBIT (MC)
KIM KAPWHAN (KOF)
NEINHALT SEIGER (SS)
ROY (SSB)
FRED MAXIMILLION (S3)
M. BISON (SFA3)
KUMA (T5)
FUTCH (S3)
BONUS MATCHES:
"The Match Without a Title"
GADGET Z (S3) and MUSAFAR (GF)
land on
GANNONDORF (SSB) and JOKER (KE)
Eliminations: Mika, Peach, Liquidator, Lucky and Kojiroh, 2; King, Wile E, J. Maxx, Guile and Akira, 1
Current Elimination Leaders: King (7), R. Mika (6), Bruce Irvin (6), Heavy D! (5), Chang Koehan (5), Jubei Yagyu (4)
About Darn Time: With Kojiroh surviving the round, Last Blade now has their first two eliminations.
Record-Breaking: This round had a few records broken. King broke Bruce's record for eliminations, R. Mika took only three sections to get to six eliminations, and Peach got more than three eliminations, making her the current SSB MVP.