Introduction Part II

By Daredevil3181

The 64 contestants had all checked into their rooms and were spending their free time in different ways. Some were snoozing. Others were heading down to the hotel lobby and seeing the amenities Trump Towers had to offer. And a few of the more adventurous ones were exploring the city (which they later found out was named Grandis Somnium) to see what exactly this place had to offer.

The Blue Rogue was never one to sit around on his keister. When adventure beckoned, he was always right there in the middle of things. This city was very different from any area he had previously been to. As he stared into the sky, he did so with a little smirk on his face. 'I'm used to traveling up there, not down here on the ground all the time,' he thought.

Vyse was promptly knocked out of his reverie by a passing car. The vehicle missed smashing into him by mere inches. He scowled at the vehicle, only to be greeted by scathing laughter behind him.

'I'd know that laugh anywhere,' Vyse mused. 'Especially after hearing it quite a few times during my match last year.'

"You humans really are idiots," said Laharl.

"Back for more punishment?" Vyse asked in a light-hearted tone.

"Yeah, but this time I'll be the one sending my opponent home," Laharl explained, full of confidence. "You got the drop on me last year. This time it'll be quite different. I'm against an asinine dinosaur in the first round. You?"

"Some hot chick named Tifa," Vyse smiled. "Heck, maybe I can even convince her to join my crew afterwards if things go well."

"Ugh," shuddered Laharl. "Good thing you got her and not me. I hate girls like that!"

"What, you mean pretty ones?" Vyse wondered.

"Shut up, mortal," shot back Laharl. "You should know better than to mess with the Lord of the Netherworld! I could kill you by merely thinking about it!"

Neither the diminutive demon nor the energetic youth noticed the seething figure walking by them on the other side of the street. He knew he could lay waste to the two of them and a good deal of the city if he really wanted but it was better to let others guess about your true power rather than announcing it for all the world to see. 'Amateurs,' thought Diablo.

As the unlikely pair continued walking around the area, they began to discuss the tournament even more.

"And that's the gist of what Cloud said on the television," Vyse finished. "So even if you lose, at least you have the experience of making friends and having a good time. You get sent back to your home, no worse for the wear."

'So naïve,' Laharl thought. 'No way I'm going to blindly trust a bunch of mortals like this. But for the time being, I'll play along.'

"Yeah, it seems like they've thought of just about everything," he agreed. "But I don't have to worry about being sent home anytime soon. You, on the other hand…"

"Says he who got beat by an 'idiotic mortal pirate'," Vyse interrupted with a smirk, echoing the demon's words from the previous contest. "Just relax a little. So long as I'm around you have nothing to worry about. I fight for what I know is right and to help those around me. Nothing bad will happen."

'Sucker,' glared Laharl.

Little did the two know that another odd couple was observing them from the rooftops. There was an eerily cloaked figure standing next to some familiar blonde spikes. As they were chatting, the man was absentmindedly swinging around his huge sword, as if he was swatting some pesky flies.

"That was quite a nice speech you gave on the airwaves," the cloaked one hissed. "It seemed to have done the job quite nicely."

"That was the point," Cloud said, matter-of-factly. "Are you here to tell me some more things I should know or just to annoy me to no end?"

"Well, you do want to have the advantage in this power struggle, don't you? I suggest you begin to assess those that would be most advantageous to your cause and begin to convince them. You know he has already began to amass a strategy on his side."

"Already ahead of you," spoke Cloud, feigning even more annoyance. "I know he's going to cheat, so I'll one-up him. I'll play dirty before he can. Sephiroth won't know what hit him when I begin to grow stronger at an alarming rate and he's just standing there with a stupider look on his face than normal."

"What of the other one?" the cloaked one asked, prodding Cloud even more.

"You mean, Link?" Cloud chuckled. "What about him? He's all about keeping the 'balance'. He barely beat me last year before we both ascended into our positions. With just a little more power, I'll kick his ass too. No one could possibly stop me from my goals."

"Aren't you a little worried about your methods, though?" the figure wondered.

"Hell no," Cloud spat. "Sephiroth is going to cheat just as much as I will, so as far as I see it I'm just leveling the playing field. Besides, you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette. And as much as I'd love to stay and chat, this conversation is over." With that Cloud strapped his sword against his back and jumped down to a lower rooftop in one smooth motion. He then began racing off into the distance.

"Slowly the pieces are lining into position," the figure laughed with a dry cackle.

------

Down in the hotel lobby a few groups were milling about. None stuck out quite as much as the trio in the back, though. Although all of them had been present in tournaments past, none felt entirely comfortable her, especially with all these humans around. Still, even amongst themselves there was a noticeable difference in personalities as well.

"And then I wanna see this match, because Ness has some awesome yo-yo tricks. Oh yeah, can't forget about Samus either," Mega Man chirped. "What about you, Zero?"

Zero looked at the smaller robot. He reminded him so much of a friend and sometimes rival he knew in the future. But as far as exuberance was concerned, this incarnation left the other one in the dust. 'So close, and yet, so far away,' he thought to himself.

"I don't really care about watching other matches to be 'nice'. As far as I'm concerned this contest is war. And I treat that very seriously. I'll probably only look at the ones that have any direct impact on me. Otherwise, I'll let the Tivo take care of them."

"You only have a 16.73 chance of winning here," KOS-MOS interjected. "It would not be smart to prepare too much."

"Oh can it, you scrap heap," Zero fumed. "At least we have interesting personalities in our programming. I didn't know it was even possible for another robot to bore me. Apparently, you've proved that possible."
The beautiful android might have had something to say in retort but it never left her mouth as a strange bipedal crustacean creature barged its way into their little group.

"Ummm…can we help you?" asked the Blue Bomber.

"Oh no!" the red thing exclaimed. "I just thought you row-bits could use some energy!"

He then handed a bottle of some stuff to each of them. There was nothing really remarkable except for the bottle being a garish brown. On the side of each of them was printed the word "Duff" in big capital letters.

"Drink up!" he exclaimed. "Zoidy knows that you row-bits need alcohol to function properly."

"Thanks, but no thanks," said Zero. "I don't need any human food or drink to keep my power cells charged."

"I was programmed too young to drink," said Mega Man, with a puzzled look on his face.

"I detect at least 871 impurities in this drink, with at least 39 of them being highly toxic to both humans and…" began KOS-MOS before Zoidberg ripped the beers out of all three of their hands.

"Dr. Zoidberg was just trying to help protect his investment!" the lobster-like creature said. "But if you don't want them…fine!"

He then scuttled off somewhere while shouting "whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop" in an angry tone.

"I guess they'll let anyone into these tournaments nowadays," Zero scoffed.

"What did he mean by investment?" Mega Man wondered. "Dr. Light built me and I help him out by stopping Dr. Wily from time to time. No one else gave me any money…"

Zero put his arm around the little blue wonder as he began walking him away from the rest of the crowd. "You see, there's a little thing humans and other organic life forms like to do called gambling…"

-------

So, you want me to keep her occupied?" the hitman asked. "It's a little odd for someone to ask for my services requesting that my target stay alive. Sure you don't want me to just finish her off?"

"Do NOT kill her," answered the other man. "I just need to make sure she's out of the room. If you harm her in any lasting way, though, I swear that'll be the last thing you ever do."

"Kid, you might have won some matches here once, but you don't scare me whatsoever," Agent 47 said. "I've sinned and done so many horrible things that it would make you weak in the knees if you heard just one-tenth of it. It's all business to me, though. Don't worry, we have a contract. I won't break it unless you try to double cross me and then you better pray to whatever deity you worship for mercy, because you won't get any from me."

"Here's half," the man indicated, as he dropped some gems into Agent 47's hand. "You'll get the rest when this is all over." With that, the client was gone.

As for the hitman, he'd seen his fair share of shady dealings and other massacres going down. He knew this person had planned something big but he preferred not to concern himself with that. He'd received an assignment and had a contract to fulfill. From here on out it was all business.