(This is the Prologue for my Side-Story for Orange-Ratchet's Tournament of Kikai, his own UVR-spin-off. That's right, for those you don't know, he is finally doing his own story similar to SSBFreak's Megamix Tournament, my Battle of the Luminaries and Grey Raine's Okron Tournament. However, there is a catch: The story is on Archive and because of that, he needs all of the support he could get. So I am trying to help, seeing that he did something similar for my own tournament.)
Our story begins in a town. At first, it seemed like your standard town. However, this town was different. It was covered by a cloud of eternal darkness. That was Night Town. A place where the likes of vampires, werewolves or even humans who prefer darkness could live in peace.
And an unlikely mayor of the town was standing at his desk. He was a sandy-brown-haired man in a purple and white suit. The most noticeable thing about him was the bat wings on his back.
He grumbled as he looked through some more paperwork.
"How the crap did that old man managed to do all of this? He made it look so easy…"
He then let out a deep sigh before continuing his work. Suddenly, he felt a vibration. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and put it to his ear.
"Hello?" He answered.
"Hello, Drake?"
The vampire's eyes bugged out when he heard this.
"Tinyhammer!?"
A nervous chuckle could be heard. "Long time no see, huh?"
"Y-You're telling me!" Drake sputtered while sitting up.
"Yes, I know… I am sorry about the league, I was swamped with other stuff." Tinyhammer apologized.
Drake just gave a scoff. "So I noticed."
"...Listen, Drake, I know that you are mad for abandoning you." Tinyhammer started.
"AND Ashley? AND Fenrir? AND Shane?" Drake pointed out. "No, seriously, do you realize that you left a good number of us in pain!"
"I know, I know, words couldn't describe how sorry I am." Tinyhammer apologized.
Drake again scoffed. "Yes, well, this better not be a simple hello. I got work to do."
"I know, I made you mayor of Night Town." Tinyhammer admitted. "However, I need a huge favour from you."
Drake raised a suspicious eyebrow. "And that is?"
Drake heard Tinyhammer took a deep breath.
"You know Orange-Ratchet?" Tinyhammer asked.
"Um, duh? Me and Ash collaborated with Danglars and Tybalt a few times?" Drake answered.
"Yeah, but here is the thing…" Tinyrocket started. "He is hosting something called the Tournament of Kikai."
Drake raised an eyebrow. "The Tournament of Kikai?"
Tinyrocket then chuckled.
"It is his UVR spin-off."
Drake's eyes widened at this.
"That's right! Orange-Ratchet is actually his own UVR spin-off!" Tinyhammer explained.
"R-Really?" Drake asked.
"Yes, it is around the same time as the Okron Tournament." Tinyhammer explained. "But there is just one problem."
"And this is?" Drake asked.
"He is going to need voters. So he needs advertisement." Tinyhammer said. "And considering we did that schtick for the THIRD tournament."
"YES!" Drake shouted, immediately.
"W-Woah!" Tinyhammer exclaimed.
"I would love to run the show again!" Drake exclaimed. "Hell, I may convince Ash to do the show with me again?"
"R-Really? Just like that?" Tinyhammer asked.
Drake's face hardened. "It is pretty much hyping up someone else, but anything to do something new."
"...Heh. Fair enough." Tinyhammer asked. "So I'll trust everything to you!"
"Oh, you know it!" Drake grinning before beating his fist against his chest.
"Great! Now I will send you the location of the studio where the side story for the Tournament of Kikai will happen." Tinyhammer offered. "I already paid for stuff like staff, lights and the light. The rest is up to you!"
"And don't worry! We did this before and we'll do it again!" Drake grinned.
"Great! See you later?" Tinyhammer asked.
"Yes, I will! Thank you again for this!" Drake thanked.
"Yes, same to you. Goodbye." Tinyhammer said.
With that, he hung up the phone. Drake just breathed in and out before pushing a button on the home phone.
"Cacey?"
"Yes, sir?" A female answered.
"Do I have any free days in the week?" Drake asked.
"W-What?" Cacey sputtered.
"Please! It is important!" Drake asked.
"Umm, technically there is Sunday, but that is your drinking day with the boys…" Cacey pointed out.
"That's cool! I will make them understand! Just book that day and see if there are any gaps to prepare for it!" Drake pleaded.
"S-Sir, what is going on?" Cacey asked.
Drake then smirked.
"Something big has come up."
/-/-/-/-/-/
A few days later, Drake was sitting together in a dark room. However, he wasn't alone. He was with an androgynous man with long, purple hair and glasses and clad in a mixture of a wizard's outfit and a suit. Drake was bouncing in his seat excitedly.
The purple-haired man couldn't help, but chuckle. "Someone is excited?"
Drake looked at Ashley in disbelief. "And you are not?"
The man sighed. "Good question. I must admit, I am surprised that I am able to do this again."
"I know, right?" Drake grinned. "We finally get to do something worthwhile!"
"Yeah... " Ashley said before frowning. "Are you sure we will be able to do this? We ARE pretty rusty."
"Hey, hey, don't worry about it!" Drake grinned, waving it off. "We may not be as well-researched as Carver and Blunny's show, but hey! As long as we put our heart into it, we will be fine!"
Ashley blinked twice. "So… Just be ourselves?"
"Yyyyyep!" Drake smirked.
Ashley paused before chuckling. "That is the Drake I know and love."
"Um, sirs, it is almost time to roll." A man said from off-screen.
Drake's eyes lit up before looking at Ashley. "Ready, Ash?"
The wizard smirked. "Ready, Drake!"
The vampire nodded his head. "Then, let's get it on!"
"Now live from Night Town, we have the talk show results for the newest UVR-esque tournament, the Tournament of Kikai! With your hosts, Drake and Ashley!"
There was then cheering as Drake and Ashley smiled and waved to the crowd.
"Hey, everyone!" Drake grinned. "I am Drake!"
Ashley nodded his head. "And I am Ashley."
"And welcome to the side-show of the Tournament of Kikai!" The two said in unison.
The crowd cheered again.
"Now before we continue, I think a history lesson in order!" Drake grinned.
"Now it isn't going to be detailed as Orange-Ratchet's Carver and Blunny did it better than we could ever will, but we will try!" Ashley smiled.
Drake nodded. "Welp, the Tournament of Kikai is based on the Ultimate Video Rumble. It is exactly how it sounds! A royal rumble where thirty characters from video games have entered an arena and battle it out!"
"Actually, Drake wasn't clear enough. Thirty characters enter AT A TIME." Ashley corrected. "There are actually up to over three hundred character entering the tournament."
"The aim of the game is to throw your opponents out of the ring and survive to the end!" Drake explained. "It sounds easy, but fatigue could catch up REAL fast."
"Agreed. And if you are eliminated, you will land in a portal which will take you to a random node." Ashley smiled. "And you will spend ten minutes in there! ...Depending if you actually survive that long…"
"But don't worry! If anyone dies in said node, they will be revived by the doctors in the Recovery Room!" Drake grinned. "But here is the kicker. Who goes on and who gets eliminated all depends on you!"
"That's right! It is a votefic where you will vote for fifteen out of thirty people in the ring for them to "Live" and the others to "Die." Ashley explained. "Every vote count so vote wisely."
"There are also Big Guys who are people who are bosses… Or plain big." Drake explained. "If they enter the arena, they will make one extra person be eliminated."
"Yes, if there are three Big Guys, eighteen fighters will be eliminated instead of just fifteen." Ashley nodded.
"The Ultimate Video Rumble has inspired several spin-offs. The Megamix Tournament, the Battle of the Luminaries, the Okron Tournament." Drake counted off. "And of course, the Tournament of Kikai."
"The point of this show is to provide support and get so voters for Orange-Ratchet." Ashley explained. "Especially since the site he is hosting it on, he is still new as an author."
"And speaking of Orange-Ratchet, we may not have professional research teams, but we do have fan-favourites doing the research!" Drake grinned.
"Who are you calling unprofessional!? And over TYBALT of all people!?"
Drake and Ashley winced before looking at the source of the voice in annoyance.
"Wait your turn!" Drake roared.
Ashley just rolled his eyes. "Well, may we introduce you to the node researchers?"
With that, the spotlights went over to another table. It shown a well-built anthro tan-furred kangaroo dressed in a suit in a weird mixture of animal prints and camo and a young woman with pink wavy hair and wore a matching pink dress and flat shoes. The latter looked like she was the one who actually yelled at Drake.
"G'day mates! Name's Wally!" The kangaroo smirked, doing a two-finger salute. "Ya may know me from Survivor Xover Version 2 and All-Stars!"
The pink-haired woman then brightened up. "And I am Catherine! From Survivor Xover Version 4 and also from All-Stars!"
The crowd cheered for them.
"Ta fer inviting us on this show!" Wally grinned.
"...Even if YOU did it in the most condescending way possible." Catherine muttered.
Drake chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, sorry, I admit that I didn't invite you two because you are ideal picks, but at the same things, you have charisma and we need THAT!"
Catherine let out a deep sigh. "Fair enough… I guess you need more developed people to find balance off artifacts like you two!"
Drake's anger flared up while Ashley looked disgusted.
"Artifacts?" Drake snapped.
Wally chuckled nervously. "S-So, let's do our best together, shall we?"
Catherine's face turned an 180 before looking at Wally. "Yes, let's! Anything to help that bunny and bull!"
Drake, Ashley and Wally chuckled nervously.
"S-So stay tuned?" Ashley asked.
