LINK TO FINAL VOTEFORM BELOW

"It all started in 1994. Chris "Birdman" Bird, Bob "Boobwod" Wood and Brant Rogers collabed on a fanfic called the Ultimate Video Rumble. A story where various fighting game characters enter an arena twenty at a time and fight off against each other in a Royal Rumble."

We now see Haohmaru standing as the sole survivor in the ring, grinning while pumping his katana in the air.

"And the very first winner from Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown, all of the way from Section Two. The story was a moderate success and like most successes, it spawned a sequel, improving several things like size roster and adding Side Stories."

We now see Guy giving a small smile as HE stood in the middle of the ring.

"Next is Guy from Final Fight in the second tournament and…"

We now see Geese Howard standing proudly while crossing his arms with a smirk.

"...Geese Howard from Fatal Fury. Which is surprising because he is a VILLAIN. There was supposed to be a fourth tournament, but it has gotten cancelled. It DID spawned many spin-offs but few saw completion. However, one particular author managed to do it all in the way to the end and created his own tournament based on the Ultimate Video Rumble called the Megamix Tournament."

We now see Kasumi Todoh standing in the ring with a smile.

"Kasumi Todoh from Art of Fighting was the winner of the first one, making the first time a woman ever won an UVR tournament, let alone making it to the Final 2 and just like the Ultimate Video Rumble, it spawned a second one."

We now see Sakura Kasugano standing in the ring, grinning widely as ever.

"Sakura Kasugano from Street Fighter won that one. The host, SSBFreak inspired his friend, Tinyhammer, known at the time as Tinyrocket, to create his own tournament."

We now see Pikachu standing in the ring, smiling cutely and brightly.

"Pikachu from Pokemon was the winner. It seems that the tournaments will be going on for years to come and at first, it seemed to be the case as SSBFreak and Tinyhammer created a Megamix Tournament and Battle of the Luminaries respectively. But tragedy struck…"

We now see several fighters wandering in the dark in the arena, confused.

"When the Joker from DC Comics tried to use Pikachu's electricity for Bison's plan in the third Megamix Tournament, the Pokemon acted in retaliation at a cost. He ended up causing a power surge that stopped the entire tournament and inadvertently stopping Bison's plans."

We now see everyone looking in dismay at a destroyed Megamix Dome as it was covered in vines and crystals.

"The fate of the second Battle of the Luminaries was even worse. Because of a tussle between Soul Calibur and Soul Edge, both swords got out of control and destroyed the Megamix Dome. This went on for many years with it destroyed. It seemed the UVR tournament was dead…"

We now see SSBFreak standing next to Sheogorath from Skyrim, the former looking in awe at a good-as-new Megamix Dome.

"However, thanks to a mysterious and very… Eccentric Daedric Prince, the Megamix Dome was fixed up as if nothing bad had ever happened. Because of this, GreyRaine was able to buy and host HIS own UVR tournament, the Okron Tournament."

We now see the crowd cheering on… A blank figure.

"Unfortunately, we are unable to reveal the identity of the winner of the Okron Tournament. HOWEVER, it was more than enough to inspire Orange-Ratchet, someone who's helped do a recap for the two Battles of the Luminaries, the Tournament of Kikai. A tournament of hope, insanity and… Well, Chance."

We now see two figures. A teenaged black girl clad in a red and a purple feline-like Pokemon.

"Only two remain. But the question is… Who?"

(V.I.P. Room)

Ashley, Wally and Catherine looked in awe after Drake finished his speech.

"Mate, that was awesome!" Wally noted.

"Thanks! Can you believe that this isn't even scripted?" Drake laughed.

"No, I don't. It sounded like you rehearsed it over and over." Ashley said.

"Well, to be fair, I kinda did." Drake said, scratching the back of his head. "In my head."

"Well, it worked out." Ashley chuckled before looking at the camera. "But yeah, here we are: The Final Two!"

"Both have their own reasons for coming this far and while we have already gone over their status, I think a recap is still more than worthy." Drake offered.

"Yeah, the Death Battle format works in Xero and Maurice's segment because at the time, people don't realise that the Death Battle crew are full of hacks." Catherine nodded.

"Catherine…" Wally groaned.

"Just saying." The pinkette said, rolling her eyes.

Drake chuckled. "In any case, do you two want to start us off?"

"Gladly." Wally said before looking at the camera. "The reason we are starting off is because Cat and Ah are both rooting for the first finalist."

"Sure, we were rooting for Bugs and Terry respectively, but seeing that they were eliminated, we asked Josh to give us some final minute shirts!" Catherine nodded. "Insert the music for the people reading on Deviantart!"

LINK TO PENNY'S THEME: youtube / 5Ui1o32uEag

PENNY PROUD

NODE: THE PROUD FAMILY

"Penny is an interesting case ta talk about because if Xero had things he planned, she wouldn't even be here. Her grandmother, Suga Mama would." Wally explained. "You see, Xero gave HER the Mystery Fighter invite, not Penny."

"However, Suga Mama thought it was a good idea to give her granddaughter the invite itself. I could only imagine how shocked and confused Penny was when this happened." Catherine giggled. "Same with Xero when Suga Mama asked if the invitation would go to Penny instead, but whether immediately or after taking a long while to think, he agreed."

"Personally, I think it is just Xero being Xero." Wally said, rolling his eyes. He then brightened up. "But hey, it actually worked out! Though not everyone knew it at the time. Not even Penny herself."

"Who can blame her? She is from a Slice of Life cartoon and unlike Eduardo in the second Megamix Tournament, she doesn't have the capabilities to be a fighter." Catherine said. "She ended up teaming up with Isabelle from Animal Crossing to team up against Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls and Ellis from Battle Arena Toshinden."

"Needless ta say, she was intimidated by Ellis' sharp weapons and Bubbles'... Everything sooo out of the heat of the moment, she blurted out that the four should team up with each other." Wally added. "Granted, she clearly said that so she could have more allies to count on, but this ended up helping not only her, but the rest of her alliance."

"Yeah, Bubbles managed to make it all of the way to the final section despite all of her fatigue, Isabelle, or rather THIS tournament's Isabelle, became more confident in herself and Ellis even became the MVP for her node, getting more than one elimination." Catherine grinned.

"First off, Penny used a secret weapon of hers. One of the few, if only, Proud Snacks that is actually good. Not only that, but under the right moonlight." Wally noted. "It also turned her into a superhero!"

"However, she not only has to deal with a Big Guy three-way between Big Daddy, Jean Bison and Gnasty Gnorc, but also Urien and Fo Fai interrupting butting in. And Urien slapped away her Snacks. So what does she do?" Catherine asked. "Why, a Limit Break with Isabelle, of course!"

"And what does Penny loves ta do? Dancing! She went full on Dance Battler Urien who is too 'proud' to dance. Well, he got served!" Wally grinned. "Oh, and she earned ANOTHER ally. This time, it was Garnet!"

"However, with such a strong alliance, it comes at a price. Someone decides to form their own counter alliance. And we will NOT talk about said counter alliance. YET." Catherine said. "Just know that Penny's alliance has someone going after them."

"But Penny stayed strong by showing off her… Common sense and intelligence." Wally said.

Catherine looked at Wally in disbelief. "I know that we should make this as hype as possible and it is not really HER fault, you are really trying to hype up THAT elimination?"

"...Fair enough. Moving on, So aye, Penny made it into the Final Thirty. But at the cost of Ellis." Wally lamented. "It doesn't get better that she lost Bubbles, Isabelle and even Garnet, fighters who most people thought had a better chance of making the Final Twelve than her. She then showed that along with her karate, she does have SOME wrestling experience."

"And she was able to face off one of the remaining counter-alliance members. Keep in mind, said opponent was a pirate with a cutlass and bombs, something that Penny would have been afraid of previously." Catherine noted. "She managed to defeat him and avenge her fallen ally, Isabelle."

"Finally, her final elimination as of right now was Ichigo, the freshest face in the tournament. But despite all of the fatigue she went through, she still managed ta pull out a sneaky win!" Wally grinned. "Now despite not too many people having faith in her, including herself, she managed to make it all of the way to the Final 2. A teenage girl from a Slice of Life cartoon."

ELIMINATION LIST:

Kat & Dusty from Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

Urien from Street Fighter V

Nathan from Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

Charmy Bee from Sonic the Hedgehog

Captain Jack Sparrow from Kingdom Hearts

Ichigo Momomiya from Tokyo Mew Mew

"Six eliminations…" Wally said. "The more ya look at it, the more surprising it is."

"Remember when we didn't think that Kasumi Todoh would win the first Megamix Tournament and ended up being a sleeper winner?" Catherine asked. "Well, Penny would be that to the max. Along with the Ultimate underdog winner and the first cartoon winner. Of course, there is someone else that has to face to earn that title. Take it away, boys!"

LINK TO MEWTWO'S THEME: youtube / BUQ82HJwEAI

MEWTWO

NODE: SUPER SMASH BROS/POKEMON

The camera went to Drake and Ashley, both looking excited. Just like Wally and Catherine, Drake switched out his shirt for a Mewtwo one.

"That's right! Here is Team Mewtwo!" Drake grinned.

"I was on it from the start!" Ashley nodded. "Though I will gladly take a late recruit!"

"I am STILL stunned that Harley Quinn fell that quickly in the Final Twelve, I knew she was up against a lot of tough competition, but still." Drake sighed.

"Well, I think the same could be said for the other finalists that fell 'early on'." Ashley shrugged. "But this isn't about the past."

"Well, yes and no." Drake corrected before looking at the camera. "Unlike Penny, we will actually go back MUCH further than the Tournament of Kikai."

"All of the way to the first Battle of the Luminaries." Ashley nodded. "It all started when Mewtwo appeared in the penultimate section. Alongside his fellow Pokemon, Pikachu and Pichu. Though he didn't pay them that much mind despite joining the 'Pokemon VS Digimon' fight."

"He didn't make that big of a splash in terms of starting eliminations as well. Make no mistake, they weren't bad as he took down Hakumen and Richter Abend, both strong and brutal fights in their own right." Drake explained. "And it DID help him end up in the Final Two."

"THAT'S when his streak became more explosive. First off, he managed to eliminate the scourge of Digimon Rumble Arena, Reapermon. And then made it to the Final Four where he took down one of the biggest Playstation mascots, Spyro the Dragon." Ashley smiled. "Along with the aforementioned eliminations, he also outlast one of the few Blazblue reps that have gotten a consistent record, a Digimon from one of many childhood shows, a representative from the darkhorse node of the tournament, Rival Schools' surprise 'saviour', Maximum Impact 2's sub-boss and… Um, the Bile Fascination vote?"

Drake frowned at the last part. "...Really, dude?"

"How else do you explain people rooting for Bubsy the Bobcat!? Sure, there are people like SSBFreak who unironically liked him, but you surely know about his hatedom!" Ashley scolded. "Heaven and hell, he is one of the few that Xero hates with a burning hatred that ISN'T related to the Steve meme!"

Drake rolled his eyes. "Anywayyyyy, I think this goes without saying. Now Mewtwo tried his best against Pikachu. Even willing to use a Final Smash when he was out of Super Smash Bros at the time. But despite all of the fatigue weighing him down, Pikachu still managed to pull out an underdog win over Mewtwo and while the fight itself was close, the votes…. Not-so-much. May I point out that Pikachu appeared in Section TEN and the final section was in Section SEVENTEEN?"

"So yes, not a bad ending for Mewtwo, but still harsh for him. Okay, NOW we will finally go all of the way to the Tournament of Kikai. However, this time around, I think he made more of an impact." Ashley said. "Remember that counter-alliance Wally and Catherine mentioned before? The reason why they didn't name-drop them in person was because HE formed the counter-alliance."

"A hyperactive bee, a Hedonistic backstabbing pirate who cares mostly about rum and immortality, a himbo archeologist and a teenage girl from an obscure Canadian cartoon." Drake explained. "Not to knock said counter-alliance, but there was once a time where Mewtwo would scoff at interacting with said people, let alone form an alliance with them. So yeah, while not as blatant as Penny, Character Development!"

"We also didn't mention earlier because that wasn't his purpose at the start, he also showed up in the same section as Bishamon aka the runner-up of both the first AND second Ultimate Video Rumble." Ashley explained. "While inadvertently through Monokuma's penalties, Mewtwo and Bishamon ended up teaming up against Captain Planet and Samurai Jack, taking them down respectively."

"Not only that, but he managed to take down his fellow psychic, the heavy-hitter of Penny's alliance, Garnet. Keep in mind though that she is canonically one of the strongest characters in Steven Universe in terms of strength AND popularity." Drake added.

"I think most people were surprised that Garnet didn't make the Final Twelve, even if it WAS close." Ashley mused.

"In the final section, however, nearly all alliances are off and the two go against each other. However, despite Mewtwo eliminating Bishamon, the battle ended on good terms with the latter warning his fellow runner-up not to end up like him." Drake explained. "This is a simple conversation, but this is especially potent right now."

"But let's not get ahead of ourselves! Mewtwo continued to impress us. But showing us that despite being a clone, he still has Mew's DNA and is able to use a TM to surprise Harley Quinn with an Ice Beam!" Ashley added. "Also, there is his final elimination of Bugs Bunny. At first, I thought for sure when Bugs made Mewtwo dance alongside him and I was screaming "No, you are smarter than that!"

"And he IS. Mewtwo played along to let Bugs' guard down. "Drake smirked. He then smirked. "Regardless, I am surprised that he of all people played along with it."

"I want to bring up that Character Development from before, but still that was quite surprising. In a good way." Ashley chuckled. "But yes, by outfitting THE Bugs Bunny, Mewtwo made it into the Final Two. Again! Despite not all winners and runner-ups doing as well as they did in their original tournaments, Mewtwo managed to improve on HIS run and then some, showing more affable nature along with his stern and strong nature."

ELIMINATION LIST:

Captain Planet from Cartoon Network: Punch-Time Explosion

Bishamon from Darkstalkers

Garnet from Steven Universe

Harley Quinn from DC Comics

Bugs Bunny from Looney Tunes

"Not bad. Despite having a similar draw to the Battle of the Luminaries, he managed to improve on it not just in presentation, but also in numbers." Drake noted. "Hell, he could have gotten six if it wasn't for the Big Guy Blockers."

"Mewtwo may not be breaking that many records just like Penny would if she won, but he would single-handedly become the first runner-up to win." Ashley said.

Wally and Catherine then joined Drake and Ashley.

"So we have the founders of two opposing alliances, one from a cartoon and the other from a video game, we could have our first Mystery Fighter winner or our first runner-up turned winner." Wally mused.

"No matter what, this would be a huge chance for the winner, even more for previous ones." Catherine noted.

"Heh, for all of the faults that Xero did, he knew what he was doing when he called it the Tournament of Kikai." Ashley chuckled.

"Indeed. This is Penny AND Mewtwo's biggest chance so we could see them go all out." Drake grinned. "So onto Side Battles. The Final Battle is Kisshu Ikisitashi from Tokyo Mew Mew versus Junko Enoshima from Danganronpa."

"There is also Retasu from Tokyo Mew Mew and Demyx from Kingdom Hearts versus the Contessa from Sly Cooper and The Flash and Cyborg from DC Comics." Ashley added.

"Maki Harukawa from Danganronpa V3 and Splash Woman versus Luxord from Kingdom Hearts and Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter from DC Comics." Wally continued.

"Della Duck from Ducktales 2017 and Blastoise from Super Smash Bros versus Zeus from Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale and Green Lantern and Hawkgirl from DC Comics." Catherine nodded. "Andddd…"

Then, stardust fell from above as the two figures descended down.

"Pudding Fong from Tokyo Mew Mew and Chowder & Kimchi from Cartoon Network: Punch-Time Explosion and Tsugumi Shirogane from Danganronpa V3." The Millennium Star said proudly.

"And finally, Dynomutt from Dynomutt: Dog Wonder, Captain Olimar from Super Smash Bros and Nack the Weasel from Sonic the Hedgehog versus Superman from DC Comics!" Tumble cheered, brightly. "Ooh, that is so cool!"

"Ah know, right?" Wally grinned.

"Thank you again for letting us do this." The Millennium Star thanked.

"Hey, we are going to be working together so I should at least make you feel as if we were a part of the team in some way." Drake shrugged.

"Well, we appreciate it!" Tumble nodded.

"Incidentally, why DID you pick us as the hosts again?" The Millennium Star asked.

"Oh, right, I was wondering that as well." Ashley said.

Drake paused at this.

"...Actually, I kinda wanna talk to you about that. With Maurice as well. Xero too. If he isn't hospitalised or worse." Drake explained.

Everyone else looked at each other in confusion, but Drake just ignored him and walked over to the camera.

"You have until the 23th of August to vote. Please bring your votes in! After all, it is YOUR support that we have gotten THIS far!" Drake said before grinning. "We vote to see your votes for one more time."

LINK TO FINAL VOTEFORM: archiveofourown / works / 25531129 / chapters / 102541341