Section One Results
(The Arena)
The sound of bullets and rockets being fired were all anyone could hear, the bullets coming from BB Hood's machine gun as she continuously fired shots at Orion and Meta Knight while the rockets came from Soldier, whom was repeatedly firing the explosive projectiles at Kaya, Young Link and Chris Lightfellow. Between the constant noise, Pete and Sackboy playfully skating around and jumping off manually-placed ramps and Lord Hater's screams of pain and terror as he tried to claw away from Mimikyu, the arena had already devolved into chaos so loud and intense that no one could hear SSBFreak's announcements as they came through the speaker system.
Bullets deflected off Orion's golden armour as he rocketed down at the red-clad bounty hunter, rocket lance in hand. BB Hood rolled out of the way as Orion launched past her and then fired her gun again, deflecting several more rounds of bullets off his armour.
"Ugh! How can that stupid armour be bulletproof?!" BB Hood cursed as she slammed another ammo clip into her gun. "I can't even find any openings!"
"And you'll find none, I can promise you that." Orion said just before rocketing towards BB Hood and smashing her in the face with the side of his spear, knocking the bounty hunter to the side and causing her to tumble for a bit before she landed in a crouched position. BB Hood stared icily at Orion as he floated in midair, hovering via jet-propelled back thrusters and drew a hunting knife.
"My bullets may not be able to pierce that armour but maybe I can cut off your chestplate and THEN put a few dozen bullets in you!" BB Hood snapped.
BB Hood suddenly heard the sound of someone flying towards her from behind as the red-clad bounty hunter spun in place, holding up her large knife just in time to block a swing from the incoming Meta Knight.
In spite of barely blocking a surprise blow from the masked puffball, BB Hood flashed a dark smirk. "You'll get your time, swordy, but Golden Boy's got the higher bounty." She smirked. "Wait patiently until I ice him and THEN I'll give you my attention!"
Meta Knight narrowed his yellow eyes behind his mask. "You're a reckless fool who gets in way over her head FAR too often!" He snapped as he deflected BB Hood's knife and backed away, landing gracefully on his feet as his wings morphed into his cape again.
BB Hood quickly drew her machine gun and fired several more rounds, this time at Meta Knight, only for the masked swordsman to swing his blade wildly, deflecting each shot fired at him expertly. The instant BB Hood's magazine emptied, Meta Knight flew at her and kicked her in the face, knocking the red-clad bounty hunter backwards.
Orion saw his chance and rushed BB Hood before she could get up, leaping above her and slamming the jet thrusters of his rocket lance down onto her face while she was down. BB Hood screamed in pain as she shot blindly upwards, causing a few bullets to deflect off Orion's helmet. It didn't hurt the golden knight but it surprised him enough to get off her and let her get up. BB Hood snarled angrily as she looked back and forth between Meta Knight and Orion. Refusing to back down, BB Hood spun her knife in her hand and raised her machine gun again…
Soldier's rockets, as mentioned, were the other huge source of sound coming from the arena, and he was firing them at all three of his opponents at once in an attempt to keep the trio at bay. Young Link had already turned back into his Fierce Deity form and was trying to keep the deranged merc at bay with his sword strikes while Chris was using her knight's armour to tank rockets and bear the brunt of the explosions to keep Young Link and Kaya from getting hurt too much. Kaya, in the meantime, was forced to wait for an opening as she readied her bow; She would never be able to get close to Soldier while he was firing off rockets in seemingly every direction and so constantly.
"I don't get it!" Kaya exclaimed as Chris stood in front of her protectively. "How can he have this much ammunition?!"
Chris narrowed her eyes. "Perhaps his gun is powered by a rune of some sort…" She muttered. "Try to find an opening to get him to stop, Kaya! I'm fine taking the explosions but there's only so long my armour will hold up against this onslaught!"
"Ha! Even three-on-one you can't hit me! My training is immaculate! I would nominate my teacher for a medal but, since my teacher was myself, I doubt they'd accept it!" Soldier laughed as he struck Young Link in the face with his shovel, knocking the transformed youth away from him and causing him to turn back into his child form again.
Young Link shook his head to regain his bearings as he gripped his sword. "Okay…I definitely wasn't expecting a fight like this from ONE GUY." He admitted.
Soldier, seeing that Young Link was back in his child form again, gave a smirk and raised his rocket launcher again, only to stop when he felt something tap against his leg. Soldier looked down and saw Sackboy and Pete staring up at him, having stopping their reckless skating for now.
"Sorry, but you're kinda in the way." Pete pointed out. "We wanted to set up a couple ramps near the two big guys and you're standing where we want to put one of them."
Soldier gave a laugh. "Son, the battlefield is NO place for a child!" He said. "So, unless you or your walking voodoo doll there can turn into an older teenager or something, I suggest the two of you run along and play elsewhere!"
Pete stared with a flat expression before pulling a metal bat into view (having taken it from his backpack). The small, wooden doll wound up and lashed out with the bat, striking Soldier in the knee and causing his knee to buckle the wrong way as he and Sackboy reluctantly went off to try and have fun elsewhere.
Soldier stood in silence, his mouth open mid-laugh as his brain seemed to be registering the pain he was feeling. He slowly looked down at his knee, which was still bent the wrong way, and cursed. "Oh, not again!" He complained. "Give me a second while I deal with this, okay?"
Kaya and Young Link could only react in disgust as Soldier grabbed his own leg and started twisting it...
(Announcer's Booth)
SSBFreak was currently on his personal phone as Khall watched him curiously. Neither of them seemed to be paying much attention to the goings-on in the ring at the moment due to the chaos and loud noises drowning out any announcement either of the two made, and SSBFreak considered it a miracle he had heard his phone ringing in the first place with the sounds of Soldier firing off rockets blaring in the background.
"…Catherine, you have every right to feel this way…Trust me, I'm going to watch that girl like a hawk. However, there's still something you can't deny…She's not Morrigan or Felicia." SSBFreak said into the phone, receiving a response Khall couldn't make out every time he paused. "…Fair enough. I have to go back to keeping my eye on BB Hood, anyways. Maybe next time, you can talk to Khall instead…Oi…"
SSBFreak rolled his eyes as he hung up his phone. Khall blinked in confusion. "Uh…What was that all about?" He asked.
"Some of Tiny's OCs are doing a recap show for this tournament as it's happening live and…Well, as it turns out, one of the ones he hired for the job was an animal-lover that, for obvious reasons, didn't take too kindly to me having BB Hood here." SSBFreak informed.
"Does…Meta Knight count as an animal or is that golden knight guy a furry underneath that armour or something?" Khall asked.
"It's more what she does in her home node, and the fact that she spent a good portion of the second Battle of the Luminaries working for someone who hunted animals." SSBFreak replied.
"Wasn't that the tournament that had to be cancelled because it destroyed the dome here? I remember you wouldn't shut up about it for, like, six months." Khall tilted his head.
SSBFreak rolled his eyes. "YES. And that makes BB Hood at least partially-responsible for the dome being in such a state of disrepair for so long since it was the machinations of her group that caused all the damage." He replied.
"Sooo…Why is she here, then?"
SSBFreak sighed and glanced towards Sheogorath's private booth. "Sheogorath thought it'd be fun to invite one member of the group responsible for the dome's near-destruction, and I relented since there's literally no arguing with that guy." He admitted. "Either way, I've promised to keep my eyes on her while she's in the ring and make sure she's under strict supervision while she's not."
Khall blinked again. "So, which members of the security team are you assigning to keep a watch over her when she gets eliminated?" He checked. "The crazy rabbit-thing, the guy that talks to his tattoos, the plastic pyromaniac, the literal TWELVE-YEAR OLD or that Homsar guy?"
SSBFreak sat in silence for a few seconds before hitting the desk in front of him with his forehead.
"Ah. Didn't think that far ahead, huh?
(Dome; Hallway)
Walking down one of the many maze-like hallways of the dome, leading towards what they hoped was a door leading to the audience bleachers, was a tall, lanky, rodent-like creature dressed as a gangster and holding a mafia-style tommy gun under his arm. Beside him was a humanoid robot with a v-shaped boomerang on his forehead. It appeared that neither of the two seemed thrilled to be doing what they were doing.
"I still dunno why dose two doctors want us to find dis Eggman guy." Pinstripe rolled his eyes.
"Because the two need the brainpower." Quick Man snapped. "Perhaps if you cared enough to listen, you'd know this."
"Whatever. Cortex is always ramblin' on and on about how he's dis super-brilliant scientist or somethin', so why is he suddenly lookin' fer help NOW?" Pinstripe scoffed. "Fer dat matter, why are youse not questionin' dat Dr. Wily guy about dis, either?"
Quick Man narrowed his eyes as he stopped walking. Pinstripe noticed this and stopped walking himself. "It's BECAUSE Dr. Wily is seeking Eggman's help that makes me know that this is serious." He retorted. "Dr. Wily has never been one to ask for help from anyone, and yet here he is seeking someone he's reportedly got some sort of history with that none of us Robot Masters even know about! That tells me that he NEEDS the help and he KNOWS it!"
"Fine, fine, whatever." Pinstripe moaned. "Cortex never told any of us about his history with dat Eggman guy but, to be honest, he never mentioned Wily either. Just makes me a bit suspicious dat dere's some stuff he ain't tellin' us."
Quick Man rolled his eyes. "It's not our business to ask questions." He reminded. "We're there to provide the manpower because both doctors clearly need it."
Pinstripe paused and lifted an eyebrow. "Dat's another thing I'm wonderin' about. Why ain't ALL youse Robot Masters workin' fer dat Wily guy?" He asked. "There're eighteen Robot Masters here but only nine of em are workin' fer Wily?"
"It's…Complicated. Guts Man, Cut Man and Fire Man were actually reprogrammed by Dr. Wily to fight for him and Light has since reprogrammed them back; Pharaoh Man, Skull Man and Drill Man are actually robots made by Dr. COSSACK and only fought for Wily to keep him from harming Cossack's daughter; And Plant Man, Knight Man and Blizzard Man were robots entered into a worldwide competition that Wily hijacked and reprogrammed so they aren't technically loyal to him, either." Quick Man sighed as he looked away.
Pinstripe couldn't help but give a smirk. "Sounds ta me like dat doctor of yours ain't as capable as he sounds if only half the Robot Masters he gets ta fight fer him are actually HIS, y'know?" He taunted.
Quick Man was quick to get in Pinstripe's face. "You're one to talk, fleabag! How come it's never consistent as to which villains are actually on Cortex's side? Is Brio working FOR him or AGAINST him? Does that giant tiger work for Cortex or Brio? Is Dingodile even a VILLAIN anymore?!" He snapped. "If anything, Cortex's history is far more-spotty than Dr. Wily's!"
Pinstripe didn't falter and backed away. "Y'see, I actually agree on dat. Ta be fair, I'm only workin' fer Cortex cause he PAYS me. I'm da only one of his henchmen smart enough to get some moolah fer his services, and I'm smart enough ta know ta keep my mouth shut about dat." He said. "I gots me my own outfit these days, but from time ta time I end up helpin' Cortex when he needs a bit more…Firepower." He chuckled as he waved his tommy gun around a bit. "Look, do I care what happens ta Cortex? Do I care if dis plan of his and Wily's succeeds or fails?...Nah, not really. I'm helpin' cause I'm on da CLOCK."
Quick Man growled. He hated working with this guy already. "Why are we even working together here?" He asked. "I'd already be at the audience entryway by now if I was alone."
"Not everyone is as fast as you are, hotshot." Pinstripe shrugged. "I ain't fussy on dis little arrangement either, y'know. Believe me, the sooner we track down dis Eggman guy, the sooner we get back and go our separate ways, capiche?"
"Fine by me." Quick Man grunted. "Try to keep up for once, will you?"
"Whatever ya say, tin can." Pinstripe chuckled as he followed Quick Man, the two unlikely allies continuing down the hallway.
(The Arena)
Boom Boom and Abigail continued to clash, swinging massive hands left and right in an attempt to get through the other's defenses. While Abigail was just happy he had someone tough to tussle with, Boom Boom was looking to finish the fight fast so that he could move on to deal with Mario. If Bowser knew he had shared the arena with Mario and had done nothing about it he'd have his head. Blanka had been trying to help Boom Boom with Abigail but, shortly after he had entered the ring and stepped into the fight, the huge man had picked the green-skinned man-beast up and had tossed him away to start a fight elsewhere.
Unfortunately for him, Abigail was too persistent and refused to let Boom Boom break away from their fight from the moment the large human stepped into the ring. Boom Boom received a hard hook to the face, making the huge koopa stagger to the side a few steps, but he managed to recover in time to catch Abigail's fist to block the next attack, countering by slamming a huge fist into the huge brute's face. Abigail released Boom Boom as he staggered backwards, trying to regain his bearings, before he stared angrily at the huge koopa, rubbing his jaw.
"Stop it with the cheap shots!" Abigail snapped.
Boom Boom snorted, exhaling steam from his nostrils as he did. "Like you're one to talk about playing fair!" He snapped. "If you're gonna rile me up, you're gonna regret it!"
"Ha! You'll regret making ME mad first!" Abigail shouted. "Now come here and let me get my arms around your neck!"
Boom Boom flew into a rage and spun wildly, arms outstretched as his fists seemed to go in every direction. Abigail held up his arms and blocked the blows, but Boom Boom was steadily chipping away at his defense. The giant thug tried to hold up his arms as much as he could but Boom Boom was able to break through, striking the huge human with a flurry of huge punches, finishing with a blow that managed to knock Abigail off his feet slightly as he was launched backwards.
Abigail landed flat on his back and growled as he pushed himself to his feet, watching as Boom Boom came stomping over. Abigail started noticeably turning red as he clenched his teeth. "Oh, you're askin' for it!" He roared as he pulled his arm back and lunged forward, aiming for Boom Boom's face. Boom Boom likewise held up his arms but was shocked when Abigail's punch flew straight through his defense, striking the huge koopa in the face and setting him up for a heavy-hitting combo from the larger man.
Abigail roared in fury as he smashed his fist into Boom Boom's face at the end of his combo, launching the huge koopa backwards and into the ropes, stretching them a bit and actually bouncing Boom Boom off of them, launching him back at Abigail. The huge man gave a smirk as he leapt up, grabbed Boom Boom by the neck in midair and slammed him into the canvas.
However, this did little other than make Boom Boom angrier. The instant Abigail let go of him, Boom Boom rolled backwards and got up again. The two angry fighters stared each other down for a while, glaring daggers at the other as they let their anger build up. They each knew that it would likely take everything they had to take the other down. All they needed to do at this point was land one good, clean, hard punch and that would probably be all they needed to win. Boom Boom and Abigail both shouted in fury at the same time, charging at each other and winding up their fists, preparing to finish the fight. The two lashed out with their fists, aiming for the face of the other…
*CLANG!*
Both fists struck a metal wall that had been placed between them just before they swung. As Boom Boom and Abigail pulled their fists back and held onto them in pain, the two giants turned towards the person who placed the wall and saw the culprit already picking the wall back up and adding it to his inventory again.
"Oh! Nice timing!" Pete told Sackboy as he came over. Sackboy, in the meantime, had just placed the wall back into the menu floating above his head. "Any later and you would have missed the chance!" Sackboy, obviously, didn't give a verbal response but flashed a happy grin.
"H-Hey! What gives?!" Abigail snapped, holding his hand.
"Hey, we were having fun as much as we could but we figured we needed to start picking opponents eventually." Pete shrugged. "You guys looked like you needed something better to do anyways."
Boom Boom looked increasingly angry as he snarled. "Oh, when I get my hands on you!" He shouted. "Come here, you little rodents!"
With that, the huge koopa charged at the two pranksters full-force. Sackboy opened his inventory, grabbed a log and placed it on the canvas just ahead of Boom Boom. The huge koopa stepped on the log and suddenly started wobbling on it, trying to keep his balance as it rolled forward on its own with Boom Boom still on it. This effectively took Boom Boom out of the equation and left Abigail to fight the two small fighters alone.
In spite of this, Abigail scoffed. "You think I need that idiot's help to beat you two?!" He snapped. "I'll rip your stuffing out for that!"
Abigail charged forward and Sackboy rushed in between his legs as the huge man made an attempt to grab at him. Missing his intended target, Abigail looked ahead and ran straight into a metal bat swung by Pete. As Abigail was stunned, Pete delivered a few quick punches and kicks to his torso, finishing with a headbutt that seemed to hit harder due to Pete being made of wood.
As Abigail recovered, Pete ran around him and towards a ramp leading out of the arena that Sackboy had place earlier. Slapping Sackboy's extended hand as if to tag him in, Pete charged up the ramp…
Sackboy opened up his inventory again, grabbed another banana peel and dropped it in front of the ramp before stepping in front of it and grabbing a large rock out of his inventory as well. Sackboy hurled the rock at the distracted Abigail, breaking it over his back and getting his attention.
"You!" Abigail roared as he turned red again, charging at Sackboy full-steam. Sackboy stood patiently with a happy expression on his face, even bouncing on his feet for a second, as Abigail rushed headfirst at him before simply stepping aside at the last second, allowing Abigail to suddenly see the banana peel on the canvas.
Unable to stop or change his directions, Abigail stepped onto the banana peel and slid on it straight up the ramp, shouting in surprise as he soared over the ropes and out of the arena, to where Pete was floating in midair with an open umbrella. Seeing Abigail flying towards him, Pete pulled a hammer out of his backpack in midair, wound up and swung down as soon as Abigail was near him, striking him in the head and spiking him straight downwards before swapping back to the umbrella and floating back into the arena safely.
Abigail, in the meantime, could only scream in disbelief as he flew straight down, past the bottom of the arena with no hope of grabbing it to try to climb back in. Abigail fell into the black void for about ten feet below the bottom of the arena before the elimination vortex kicked in, making the huge thug vanish in a bright light.
A portal opened up on a forest path and dropped Abigail onto his face. The huge thug roared in anger as he punched the ground, shooting himself into a standing position. He may not have been expecting miracles due to his early draw that put him in the first section but Abigail was at least hoping he'd do better than the first elimination of the entire tournament.
Looking around, Abigail saw wildlife running past him in terror. Suddenly, before he could get a look at what the animals were running from, a blur of red shot past him, similarly fleeing in terror. Abigail looked back and saw a square being made of meat running away and getting further away as he ran into the distance.
As Meat Boy ran away, Abigail looked ahead to see what everything was running from…And found himself staring down a gigantic deforester armed to the teeth with active buzzsaws that was barreling towards him…
Yashiro held up his arms as Athena fired another Psycho Ball at him. Blocking the pop singer's projectile, Yashiro lowered his guard and swung his fist, catching Athena in the face and sending her sprawling. Athena quickly got to her feet and teleported behind Yashiro as he swung his fist again, striking him in the back with her palm and igniting it in psychic energy, creating an explosion that launched Yashiro forwards.
Landing on his face, Yashiro couldn't help but chuckle as he pushed himself up. "You've still got fight in you after all this time, I see." He commented. "You'd think that after so long you'd be rusty…Though I'll admit that I was hoping you'd have learned some new tricks in the years since I was DEAD."
Athena looked mad at that comment. "Are you saying that I'm not original anymore?! Look, I've been trying, okay?!" She demanded. "I've spent the last tournament trying to reinvent myself!"
"Yeah, and my band coming back is STILL taking away some of your fans." Yashiro smirked.
Athena narrowed her eyes and gathered up more psycho energy into her hands. Athena lashed out with another Psycho Ball, but Yashiro lunged forward and punched straight through it, surprising the pop star and striking her with another punch. Yashiro followed up with a few more heavy-hitting punches before grabbing Athena and tossing her aside. Yashiro was about to charged forward to continue the assault when he heard a noise coming from overhead.
Looking over his shoulder, Yashiro saw the first Power Stone spawning in above the arena, dropping down past Orion, whom was still flying in the air but seemed to preoccupied with dodging BB Hood's bullets to notice. Yashiro abandoned his fight with Athena for a moment as he raced over to where the Power Stone fell and scooped it up before anyone else could grab it.
Athena got up and noticed that Yashiro had rushed off. "H-Hey! I'm not done with you!" She called out. "Don't think about quitting the fight now!"
"Oh, I'm not. I'm just getting started on my collection." Yashiro assured as he held up the Power Stone he had grabbed. "We both know what form I'll take when I get all three, right?"
The colour drained from Athena's face as she realized that she knew all too well what form Yashiro was likely to take if he collected three Power Stones; she knew what forms ALL THREE of Team Orochi would likely take. Realizing that she needed to stop Yashiro before he got his hands on three stones, Athena levitated off the canvas and used more psycho power to fly headfirst at Yashiro, igniting her hands again.
Yashiro swung his fist at Athena, trying to counter her before she got to him, but Athena activated a teleport mid-flight and warped around the white-haired fighter, delivering a kick to the back once she was behind him. As Yashiro staggered forwards, Athena went on the offensive, striking Yashiro with several psycho-powered punches and finished up with a fully-charged Psycho Ball to the back, sending Yashiro flying forward several feet and landing on his face again.
Pushing himself to his feet, Yashir held up his arm and caught Athena's leg as she was attempting to kick him. Throwing Athena into the air, Yashiro swung his fist, striking her in midair with a powerful blow, then leaping up after her to spike her down into the canvas with an overhead punch. Yashiro landed on the canvas and cracked his knuckles as Athena pushed herself to her feet again.
"What say you just step back for a while?" Yashiro chuckled. "My team and I can pick up the slack for the fans while you're gone."
Athena narrowed her eyes and held up her arms as Yashiro attempted another hard punch. Athena quickly drove her knee into Yashiro's chest while he was being blocked, forcing him to step back a bit, as she rushed forward and delivered a flying kick to his face, sending him sprawling.
"As if my fans would listen to your music! They have SO much more class than that!" Athena shot back as she pulled her hands back and lashed them out, firing a huge Psycho Ball into Yashiro's face, stunning him as she rushed forward and drove an elbow into his stomach.
Yashiro tried to break away from Athena's onslaught of attacks but found himself on the receiving end of a flurry of punches and kicks from the much-faster Athena. The pop star noticed that she was forcing Yashiro back towards the ropes and, deciding to end the fight, delivered another flying uppercut, lifting both her and Yashiro off the ground. In midair, Athena pulled away from Yashiro and swung her leg with all her might, striking the white-haired fighter and launching him clear out of the arena, the Power Stone he had collected getting flung from his grasp upon impact.
Like Abigail before him, Yashiro tried reaching out for a rope to grab onto so he could pull himself back into the arena but caught nothing but air as he tumbled down into an elimination vortex as Athena landed gracefully on her feet.
Yashiro landed in Parodius. Unfortunately, he was gigantic when he landed and found himself under fire from a swarm of bullets fired from a paper airplane that mistook him for a level boss.
Blanka jumped backwards as a series of needle-like spikes truck the canvas around his feet. Blanka narrowed his eyes and, with a primal yell, leapt onto Needle Man's back to hold him place for Darunia to hit with his huge hammer. Blanka leapt off Needle Man just before the hammer hit the Robot Master, preventing himself from getting thrown aside.
After having been knocked off Boom Boom's back, Blanka had been thrown into the scuffle Darunia was having with Needle Man and ended up getting roped into the fight somehow. He had originally been looking for a way to get out of the fight to continue helping Boom Boom with Abigail but, seeing the two no longer fighting each other, the green-skinned man-beast opted to help Darunia with his opponent instead for the time being. Darunia was definitely stronger than Needle Man but the Robot Master was leaps and bounds faster than the Goron chief, and that was what told Blanka that Darunia needed the help for the time being.
Darunia laughed as Blanka landed beside him. "These tournaments are loads of fun!" He admitted. "Where else can you say that you've fought a living machine?"
"Uh…" Blanka lifted a finger, thinking back to Seth, before stopping himself. "You gotta stay wary! He's a lot faster than he looks!"
Needle Man proved Blanka's point by lunging at the two in a blink of an eye, firing several more spikes from his arm cannon. "Teaming up on me isn't going to help either of you!" He called out. "I'll perforate you all the same!"
Darunia quickly got in front of Blanka and turned his back to Needle Man, allowing the spikes to strike his armour-plated back and bounce off uselessly. While Darunia was acting as a shield, Blanka leapt over the larger fighter and latched onto Needle Man again, lighting himself up with electricity and sending a thousand volts through Needle Man.
Needle Man, however, seemed unaffected and laughed as he fired a spike into Blanka's face and knocked the green-skinned man off of him. "You seriously thought hitting a robot with electricity would do anything?!" He taunted.
"Ugh…I can't do much against him, then…" Blanka grunted. "He's got plating I can't claw through and he's immune to shocks…"
Darunia gave a wink and hoisted his hammer. "Then let me soften him up for you a little, brother!" He replied as he charged into battle and swung the Megaton Hammer, only for Needle Man to dodge the blow. While Darunia was distracted, Needle Man got underneath him and extended the top of his needle head upwards, spiking it into the Goron chief's chest. Darunia shouted in pain as he recoiled, clutching his chest, as Needle Man jumped at him and smashed his leg into Darunia's face.
As Darunia fell out of view, however, Blanka sprung up from behind the giant rock creature and kicked Needle Man with both legs, knocking the Robot Master backwards. Blanka leapt over the downed Needle Man and landed on his chest, jumping on him a few times before suddenly noticing Darunia getting up again. Seeing Darunia pulling his hammer up, Blanka quickly jumped off Needle Man and allowed the Goron chief to bring his hammer down directly on top of the downed Robot Master.
The arena shook with the force of Darunia's hammer strike. It was just one hit but the canvas vibrated with the force, knocking several fighters off their feet. At the center of the strike, however, was a flattened Needle Man that looked like he was half-buried in the arena canvas. Darunia gave a smirk and hoisted the Megaton Hammer onto his shoulder.
"Looks like you bit off a bit more than you can chew, friend!" Darunia laughed.
"Ugh…Spare me…" Needle Man muttered as he pushed himself into a standing position again and aimed his arm cannon square into the Goron's face. "The only reason I haven't flattened either of you yet is because you're teaming up on me!"
"Eh, believe what you will." Darunia shrugged. "I don't know why you're still pointing that thing at me, though."
"S-Shut up! I'm working with what I've got, here!"
"Yeah? Well, so are we, I guess." Darunia chuckled as he stepped to the side, showing that he was blocking Needle Man's view of Blanka again. Blanka was flying straight at him in a rolling, airborne ball, slamming into the Robot Master's face with full force and bowling him over. Knowing that his electric attacks wouldn't do anything to Needle Man, Blanka resorted to beating him with his fists, slamming them into his face while Needle Man was down several times before he hauled the Robot Master to his feet.
Needle Man tried to fight back but his aim was too disoriented and he wasn't able to get a shot lined up before Blanka performed a backflip, striking the Robot Master with both feet as he reached the height of his flip. The force from the blow lifted Needle Man up off his feet with enough force to send him tumbling over the ropes, bouncing off the top rope clumsily and falling into a portal.
Needle Man materialized in a swirling vortex of rainbow colours, seemingly floating in midair. Needle Man looked around to try and get his bearings to figure out where he was but saw nothing but a rainbow void; almost as if the elimination portal had dumped him into another one. Unfortunately, with nothing to do and nowhere to move, all Needle Man could do was wait…
Sparks flew wildly as Roy and Raiden clashed swords again, something they had been doing almost the entire time since Raiden had entered the arena. Every time Raiden used his ninja abilities to attempt to get behind Roy, the latter showed quick awareness and was able to keep up with Raiden's rapid-fire sword-swinging. At the same time, when Roy lashed out with a flame-charged sword swing of his own, Raiden was quick to see it coming and get out of dodge. The two continued to clash, Roy holding his own against Raiden's sword, surprising the cyber-ninja with his ability to block the attacks from his sword, which had been known to cut through anything.
Raiden had abandoned Ripper Mode for the time being. It gave him a power boost, sure, but it took a lot out of him and he didn't want to burn himself out this early in the tournament, especially when it seemed that not even Ripper Mode was helping him with Roy. Raiden lashed out with his sword several times, only for Roy to hold up his own blade and parry each blow, his sword starting to turn a shade more-red with each blow.
Raiden narrowed his eyes. "Ugh. I wasn't counting on you being so fast…" He muttered.
Roy, in the meantime, gave a smirk. "There's more where that came from." He said as he pulled his red-hot sword into the air and swung downwards, striking the canvas with all his might. Raiden's eyes widened as he rushed to bring his guard up but was caught off guard when an explosion erupted from the canvas, burning Roy himself a little bit but striking Raiden with full force, launching the ninja several feet away.
Managing to upright himself in midair, Raiden landed on the canvas as Roy swung his sword to the side, putting out a bit of smoke on the blade. "Huh. Okay, that one I wasn't expecting." He muttered. "It's bad enough that I can't cut through that sword like I can with everything else; now I need to worry about things exploding!"
Roy got into a stance as he waited for Raiden to make the next move. The cyber ninja rushed at Roy as fast as he could go and the redhead swordsman quickly held up his sword in an attempt to counter. However, that was what Raiden was anticipating and, in the blink of an eye, he ninja-teleported behind Roy, slashing the young swordsman across the back with his own weapon. As Roy staggered forwards in pain, Raiden pressed the assault and swung his sword wildly, striking Roy several more times before kicking him forward, launching himself into the air.
Roy staggered forward and spun around, instinctively holding up his sword as Raiden came down again, blocking an attempted finishing blow. Roy shoved Raiden backwards and ignited his sword in flames, swinging it upwards and knocking Raiden into the air. Raiden crashed onto the canvas again as Roy got into a defensive stance, choosing to wait for his opponent to get up again.
"Heh…You're a lot faster than you look, kiddo…" Raiden chuckled darkly, and only then did Roy notice that Raiden's aura had turned red again.
Roy narrowed his eyes. "Why did you decide to go into your dark mode again?" He asked. "We both know I can keep up with it!"
Raiden's eye glowed a bright red as a dark smirk floated across his face. "Oh, buddy, believe me. I'm just subbing in for Raiden for a while. Gotta let him recover for a bit, you know." He said. "It's time for JACK to have a little fun…"
Roy sighed as he stayed in his defensive stance, waiting for Raiden to make the first move. He was far-more unpredictable and dangerous in this advanced mode of his and he needed to be careful…
"HELP MEEE!"
Roy and Raiden paused in silence as they turned their heads to see Lord Hater scrambling over to them desperately, still being chased by Mimikyu. The latter had been chasing the former ever since Mimikyu had entered the arena and it seemed that Lord Hater had wanted nothing more than to get away from the Disguise Pokemon, or at least distract him long enough to slip away.
"Wait. You're still running?" Roy asked, an eyebrow lifted.
Lord Hater latched onto Roy's torso in an attempt to get away from Mimikyu. He pointed fearfully down at the cloak-covered Pokemon as Roy stumbled about, Lord Hater's weight throwing him off-balance briefly. "Get that thing away from me! It's the devil incarnate!" He shrieked.
"G-Get off me!" Roy said as he stumbled about blindly with Lord Hater latching onto his face.
This left Raiden, still in Ripper Mode, to glance down at Mimikyu, whom turned to stare up at the cyber ninja with a look that could only be described as "cute-but-in-a-weird-creepy-way". Raiden gave a dark, mocking laugh. "What's so scary about this little rodent?" He asked. "It looks like it's made out of cloth!"
Deciding to put Mimikyu out of commission as a way to at least get Lord Hater out of his and Roy's hair, Raiden swung his sword at the Disguise Pokemon, striking the head of his cloth disguise. A loud snapping was heard as Mimikyu's disguise head tilted downwards, dangling limply while still attached to Mimikyu's body.
Mimikyu stared up at Raiden, whom seemed oblivious to what he had just done likely due to Ripper Mode clouding his mind slightly. Mimikyu turned his attention to Raiden, seemingly forgetting about Lord Hater for now, as the fringe of his disguise lifted up, letting a shadowy hand emerged from underneath it. Before Raiden knew what was happening, Mimikyu had latched onto his chest, pulling him down and dragged him underneath his disguise.
"HE'S DOING IT AGAIN!" Lord Hater screamed as he started calling down electric magic into his hands. "SOMEONE STOP IT! KEEP IT AWAY FROM MEEEE!"
Roy managed to look up while Lord Hater was holding onto him and his eyes widened when he saw dozens of bolts of lightning magic flying from above, making a beeline for Lord Hater's hands. Unfortunately, said hands were currently wrapped around Roy's torso in a desperate bear hug. "Oh, son of a-"
That was all Roy got out before the lightning magic struck Lord Hater and sent thousands of painful volts of electricity through Roy simply because the evil space villain was holding onto him at the time. Roy's screams of pain blended together with Lord Hater's screams of desperation as the two lit up in a bright, electric explosion while the sounds of Mimikyu repeatedly striking and clawing Raiden were occasionally being heard in the background.
Finally, the lightning stopped, though Lord Hater was still latched onto the now-unmoving body of Roy. "D-Did I get him?" Lord Hater squeaked, looking over his shoulder at Mimikyu. However, in doing so, he caused Roy to lose balance as the redhead swordsman fell flat on his back, making Lord Hater step off him and only then noticing that the electric magic had fried Roy and he was out like a light, likely while he was even on his feet. "Uh…Oops?" He muttered, standing over Roy and scratching his head.
With Roy down, Lord Hater looked at Mimikyu and saw the Disguise Pokemon, still with the cloth head dangling limply to the side, standing over a beaten, mangled Raiden. Lord Hater looked back and forth a few times, lifted the bottom rope of the arena and brushed Roy's prone form underneath it, sending the unconscious swordsman tumbling out of the arena as Lord Hater tiptoed away while Mikikyu was busy using a shadowy hand to pick up Raiden and toss him out of the arena himself. By the time Mimikyu would turn again he would have lost sight of Lord Hater so all the poor Pokemon could do at the moment was sulk and lament the loss of his disguise's head…
Roy and Raiden's unconscious bodies tumbled into Dynasty Warriors. When they finally woke up, they laid waste to the enemy army all on their own, leaving a trail of bodies and destruction in their wake.
Volkov's scythe swung down and struck Pyra's huge broadsword. Volkov snarled in anger and swung a few more times, but Pyra proved to be quick enough to block all the attempted blows from the vampire lord and, while the two weapons were locked, gave Volkov a kick to the face to send him sprawling.
Seeing Volkov down, Pyra held her sword up and rushed at the downed vampire, swinging it with all her might. However, Volkov turned his head to look at her coming at him while he was down, his eyes glowing red and fangs bared before his body split into several shadowy bats, dispersing from the area and causing Pyra's sword to swing through the air where the vampire had been.
Before Pyra had time to react, the shadowy bats swiftly moved behind her and formed together again. Volkov emerged from the shadowy swarm and swung a battleaxe down, striking Pyra in the back and knocking her away, causing her to tumbled across the canvas for a few feet. "I may not be able to drain your blood but I can still cut you like the rest of them, fool!" Volkov snapped.
Pyra grunted as she used her sword to prop herself up and push herself to her feet again. "You think you can scare me with that edgy vampire charade?" She smirked. "I've taken down WAY creepier than you."
Volkov stared angrily. "Charade, you say? You DARE mock the lord of Castle Batavia by calling him a charade?!" He demanded as he gripped his battleaxe and ignited it in what looked like blood magic.
Pyra held up her sword and blocked a barrage of fast axe swings from Volkov, and then when she saw him vanish into another cloud of shadowy bats she turned around and instinctively swung behind her, where she was anticipating the vampire to appear, only to cleave through the air in between a few shadows just before Volkov materialized again. Seeing that Pyra had been too quick on the draw, Volkov smashed his axe into her face, sending the redhead sword-woman sprawling. Volkov raised his axe and leapt into the air, using his vampiric powers to hover as he floated over Pyra and swung downwards.
However, Pyra had enough awareness in her to ignite her sword in flames and swing it upwards while she was on her back. Volkov recoiled in pain at the burning flames, dropping to the canvas as Pyra got up again, taking another fire-cloaked swing of a sword at the vampire lord. Volkov backpedaled away, still hovering a foot off the ground, as he attempted to keep away from Pyra's fire, and the red-haired sword-woman gave a sly smirk.
"Don't like the heat?" Pyra asked. "How about I crank it up a little?"
Pyra swung her sword again, this time letting it go and physically throwing it at Volkov. Pyra's sword spun wildly, still caked in flames and ember as it flew straight at Volkov. The vimpire's red eyes snapped open as he dispersed himself again, trying to teleport away from the flaming sword as he knew exactly how much that weapon would burn him if it struck him head-on.
Switching to his scythe in midair, Volkov flew overtop of Pyra and attempted a downward strike while she was waiting for her sword to return to her hand. Because she didn't have a weapon in hand to guard against the blow, Pyra received a sharp slash to the back, and held up her arms as she turned around to at least try and negate the damage from Volkov's following attacks.
"You can't keep this up forever, child." Volkov smirked as he hacked away at Pyra with his scythe. "Sooner or later your guard will break."
"Maybe…Maybe eventually it will." Pyra said before giving another smirk. "But at the moment I've still got a lot of fight left in me!"
Pyra, while blocking with one hand, held out her other hand and caught her still-returning sword. Re-igniting it in flames, Pyra swung outwards, clashing with Volkov's scythe. The vampire lord continued to try and attack Pyra but found himself recoiling slightly at the intense heat coming off the red-haired sword-woman's weapon. Seeing Volkov backing off slightly, likely to put some distance between himself and the fire, Pyra shoved the vampire backwards and rushed him, swinging her sword as fast and as hard as she could. Volkov held up his scythe and tried to block or parry the attacks but found that Pyra's attacks were too strong and she was able to break through his guard after only a few swings.
Volkov staggered backwards with every swing Pyra lashed out at him, trying to lift his weapon to block but not getting the chance to before Pyra got another hit in. Volkov tried teleporting away but was too disoriented to get his thoughts together and simply found himself stepping closer and closer to the ropes as Pyra continued to force him backwards. Before too long Volkov had felt himself push against the ropes around the arena.
Pyra had seemed to notice this as well, as she lashed out with her sword in an upwards swing, striking Volkov in a way that knocked him upwards, tumbling over the ropes. However, while Volkov was outside of the ring he tried to fly back in, using his vampire powers of teleportation to do so, but Pyra seemed to anticipate this as she sent a flaming projectile into the airborne Volkov's face, stunning the vampire lord and shooting him out of the sky, sending him falling into a portal.
Volkov materialized in the same swirling vortex of rainbow colours as Needle Man, finding himself floating in midair near the eliminated Robot Master. Needle Man saw Volkov trying to upright himself in the space-like void, as he had materialized upside-down, sighed and simply went back to waiting for something to happen…
(Dome; Mario Bros. Locker Room)
Bowser grumbled and folded his arms as he watched Boom Boom getting into a fight with Meta Knight on a nearby TV screen. "Ugh. I shoulda figured that getting someone to deal with Mario before I entered the ring would likely be wishful thinking." He muttered.
Peach giggled and patted the back of Bowser's shell as he pouted. "I thought you would have wanted to fight Mario yourself, Bowser." She noted.
"I DO! But you'd think my minions'd be able to soften him up a bit!" Bowser whined. "Boom Boom hasn't even been able to get CLOSE to Mario!"
"Well, I don't think that's HIS fault." Peach shrugged. "I mean, he's just gotten unlucky and gotten involved in other battles."
Bowser folded his arms and continued to sulk. "Yeah, yeah…"
Suddenly, the door to the locker room opened, getting the attention of the two. Peach and Bowser watched as a familiar wooden doll clad in a blue cloak entered the locker room looking a little annoyed and frustrated. Peach's eyes lit up. "Oh! Geno, there you are!" She greeted as she went over to the newcomer. "We didn't see you when we checked in and we were wondering if you were even going to show up when you weren't here yet when the tournament started!"
Geno gave a sigh. "It's good to see you again, princess. I apologize for not checking in sooner but something big and important came up that's been eating up all my time." He informed. "In fact, the only reason I'm here at all is to tell you what's happened to fill you in."
Peach blinked in confusion as Bowser came over. "Um…What in the world happened, Geno?" She asked.
Geno gave another sigh. "A couple days before the tournament was scheduled to start, the Star Road was broken again." He folded his arms.
Bowser groaned and rolled his eyes. "AGAIN?! Seriously, what kinda guardian are you if the thing you're tasked to protect keeps getting destroyed?" He half-joked.
"Wait, the Star Road got destroyed again?!" A new voice asked. The three turned to see Mallow coming over with his Froggie Stick in hand. "So wishes are off the table again?!"
"I'm afraid so, at least for now." Geno shook his head.
"Do you know who destroyed it, Geno?" Peach asked hopefully. "It…Wasn't Smithy again, was it?"
"You kidding, princess? We blew that bearded metalsmith to bits!" Bowser reminded.
Geno looked away. "Unfortunately, I don't know who destroyed the Star Road. It all happened so fast and the next thing I knew all the pieces were gone. It was like they had teleported away the instant the Star Road was destroyed." He explained.
"So…What does that have to do with you being late to the check-in?" Mallow tilted his head.
"I tracked all the pieces to the dome and hotel. I don't know where they are but they're all here somewhere." Geno replied. "I tried looking through the dome and hotel as best as I could before the tournament started but the security team told me to come here and check in. Normally I'd just ignore them but then the white rabbit-creature threatened to gnaw my leg off and use it as a toothpick."
Peach sighed. "You get used to that one." She admitted. "But if you need help finding the pieces again then you can be sure that we'll do what we can to help!"
"Hey! I never said I wanted to help!" Bowser said indignantly. "All I wanna do tonight is face Mario in the ring and stomp him flat in front of a live audience!"
Geno looked around and seemed puzzled. "Wait. Mario's not here. Is he in the ring already?" He asked.
"I'm afraid so. You missed him by about ten minutes." Peach shook her head. "But he should be able to hold on long enough for one of US to enter the ring to let him know, and even if he DOES get eliminated, we'll just need to wait for him to show up again."
Geno sighed. "I suppose so. Either way, any help I can get finding the Star Pieces would be appreciated, especially since I know there are a LOT of dangerous villains in the dome and hotel that would be sure to be looking for the pieces once they knew what they were." He said.
"That shouldn't be a problem." Peach said as she looked at Bowser and gave him a sweet smile that Bowser knew all-too-well was hiding a cold, judging stare. "…RIGHT, Bowser?"
Bowser sighed. "Okay, FINE. I'll help out where I can but I have a few things I need to do beforehand." He reminded. "That said, I beat Bison before at one of these things so if he tried something again I know I could take him."
Geno narrowed his eyes. "There are FAR more villains here than just him." He reminded.
"He's probably the most-dangerous…And persistent, for that matter." Bowser shrugged.
(Dome; Hallway)
Juri Han gave a whistle as she flipped through a wad of bills she had just been given. "Heh. Looks like it's all there." She noted as she pocketed the money. "Okay. You've got my attention for now."
Standing in front of Juri was a familiar tall being dressed in black robes and wearing a large, intricate, stone mask. Juri heard a scoff come from inside the helmet. "I recall you saying that you would be willing to work for Lord Ganondorf tonight in exchange for the payment." Zant said coldly. "If you're smart, you'll do as you say you will."
Juri gave a cold smirk. "Sure. For now, anyways." She reminded. "You still haven't really told me what it is that big-nosed bandit wants, anyways."
"You ALSO said that you didn't CARE what he was planning." Zant replied, staring icily at Juri through the mask he was wearing. "You got your payment so Lord Ganondorf expects your service."
Juri gave a shrug. "Yeah, yeah. I guess it could be interesting to crack a few skulls. Saves me having to worry about throwing my lot in with whatever Bison's planning tonight." She admitted.
Zant paused. "…Is he actually planning something tonight?" He asked.
"Eh, I dunno. I mean, he usually does." Juri shrugged. "What would make tonight any different?"
"Hmm…I'll have to run that possibility by Lord Ganondorf. If Bison IS planning something, he may want to know." Zant noted. "I'd suggest you keep your ears open in that regard, human…"
Juri gave a smirk. "Aw. Did I pwant seeds of doubt in dat widdle head of youws?" She teased.
A blade shot from the emptiness of Zant's sleeve as the helmeted being pointed it at the unflinching Juri. "Do NOT test me, girl." He warned. "I've already been getting paranoia about trust issues with my colleagues after the last Megamix."
"Oh, right. I remember hearing about that. You were shaking in your shoes at the thought of a CLOWN betraying you, weren't you?" Juri snickered.
"I SAID not to TEST ME!" Zant roared as he lashed out with his sword. Juri backflipped away as Zant swung at her and landed gracefully on the floor several feet away. Juri stood up and gave a smirk as Zant was heard breathing heavily a few times before he retracted his sword back into his sleeve.
"My, my, my. Quite a sensitive topic for you, isn't it?" Juri teased. "Maybe I'll stick around and see where this side of you goes. Could make for an interesting night…"
Zant stood in silence, as if mulling over some things in his head, before looking at Juri again. "Lord Ganondorf and his business partner don't have much more money to spare to hire anyone after you. We're going to focus on hiring others with offers of power." He explained. "If you know of anyone that would be willing to work with us in exchange for a little power, then feel free to tell them to come to where I told you to come to check in."
"Thanks for being so trustworthy." Juri smirked. "I know of a guy or two that'd probably be up for that. If I can get to them before Bison can then I'll send them Ganondorf's way."
"Fine. Just remember not to push my buttons like that and we'll be all good." Zant said coldly as he turned around and strode off down the hall, leaving Juri alone as the dark-haired woman watched him turn a corner and vanish from sight.
"I wonder how long it'll take before he snaps." Juri chuckled as she turned around and walked off herself, down the opposite way of Zant. "This night could be a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be…"
(The Arena)
Pahn held up his arms and blocked a jumping punch from Mario with his forearms. The dark-haired monk broke his own guard, knocking Mario backwards as the shorter fighter landed on his feet and skidded to a halt. Pahn pressed the assault and rushed forward with a flurry of bare-fisted swings, managing to get a few lucky hits in but otherwise striking Mario's arms as the plumber guarded against the blows.
The two had been clashing mostly since Mario had stepped into the arena, though they had to be careful of their surroundings as they fought: Mario had nearly been hit by a couple of stray rockets courtesy of Soldier and Pahn had been grazed by a few rouge bullets BB Hood had been firing off in an attempt to get Orion. The two had been pretty evenly-matched in terms of strength and speed, so it seemed that the duel the two were in was going to come down to a test of endurance to decide the winner.
Mario rubbed his arm after kicking Pahn away, feeling where he had blocked a blow from the bare-fisted monk during the flurry of punches. "You've a-got some power in a-those punches…" He mentioned. "It a-hurt just blocking those."
Pahn clutched his chest, where Mario had kicked him, before getting into a stance. "I put a lot into my punches." He replied simply. "There are things that I...Regret doing and I strive to keep myself stronger to keep myself from making those decisions again."
Mario gave a smirk and adjusted his cap. "It a-sounds like you have a a-chip on your shoulder." He mentioned. "Look. Just a-let yourself relax for the night, huh? Have a little of a-fun here."
Pahn exhaled and gave a light smile. "I'll…Try to, anyway." He replied.
Pahn rushed forward with another flurry of blows, which Mario swiftly ducked under and backflipped away from as Pahn swung at the air. However, Pahn stepped forward as he continued the flurry, managing to take the airborne Mario by surprise, striking him in the stomach. Seeing that he had hit his target, Pahn stepped up his game again, striking the plumber in midair with several lightning-fast punches without giving Mario the chance to react or even hit the ground.
Mid-punch, Pahn activated his Boar Rune, igniting his fist and powering up his attack, finishing a powerful flurry with a hard blow to the chest, knocking Mario backwards at least fifteen feet. As Mario landed on his back, Pahn wobbled in place for a second before stumbling forward and dropping onto his knee briefly before standing back up.
Mario, on his back, groaned a bit before kicking himself back into a standing position. He rotated his arms and gave a smirk as he jogged headfirst at Pahn while the monk was still recovering from his use of his Boar Rune. Leaping over Pahn, Mario kicked him in the back with both feet, knocking Pahn to the ground and springboarding off of him. Mario landed on the canvas, spun around and drove his fist into Pahn's face, following it up with another punch and finally a kick, knocking Pahn back further and clearly disorienting him.
Pahn skidded to a halt and looked up, quickly holding up a hand on instinct and catching Mario's fist as it was coming at his face, starting a power struggle between the two. Pahn pushed back against Mraio's strength as he pushed himself to his feet to get a better footing, surprised at how strong Mario was despite being quite a bit shorter than Pahn. Pahn swung his other hand at Mario while the two were locked in the power struggle, hoping to knock Mario away from him and give himself some breathing room.
Mario saw the attack coming, however, and caught Pahn's free hand with his own, locking the two in the struggle even further. Pahn tried to wrestle Mario to the ground using all his force and clenched his teeth as he felt like he was using all his strength to push back against Mario in hopes he could get the plumber to back off.
Pahn opened his eyes and he continued to struggle and he froze in shock when he saw Mario pushing against his efforts, looking like he wasn't nearly as exhausted as Pahn himself was. "You…You're not even sweating…" He muttered.
"You've a-got skill. I a-guess I'm a-just more-experienced." Mario admitted.
"Am…Am I really that far outmatched?" Pahn breathed in disbelief.
Mario pulled his arms back, breaking away from the power struggle while Pahn still seemed to be processing how much stronger than him Mario actually was. As Pahn stepped back in surprise, Mario lashed out with a fist, striking the bottom of Pahn's chin and launching both fighters into the air in a jumping uppercut. When the two reached the apex of Mario's jump, the plumber pulled away, pulled his feet back and lashed out with them, striking Pahn in midair with both feet and launching the monk clear across the ring. Pahn flew over the heads of almost everyone in the ring (flying past an airborne Orion) as he fell outside the ropes on the other side of the ring, tumbling headfirst into a portal.
Pahn crash-landed onto the beach of Dee Jay's stage in Street Fighter 2, where the Jamaican street fighter tried to get him to loosen up with some music and dancing.
Orion hovered in midair, having watched Pahn fly past him and fall past the ropes. "Where did that guy COME from?" He asked aloud as he glanced over his shoulder to see who could be so powerful to launch a man Pahn's size that far. He was stopped when BB Hood, still on the canvas, fired another volley of bullets up at him and into his armoured chestplate. "Will you STOP that?!" He demanded, sounding more-annoyed with the red-clad bounty hunter than anything.
"Get your shiny tin keester down here and fight me!" BB Hood snapped, pointing two smoking machine guns up at the flying knight. "I'm not leaving you alone until I collect that bounty!"
Orion sighed and summoned his rocket lance into his hands again, using it to fly straight down at BB Hood, firing a volley of laser blasts from it as he did. BB Hood backpedaled away as Orion's lasers struck the canvas, and then instinctively swung a machete at the armoured knight, managing to strike him in the shoulder as he got close. Like usual, BB Hood was unable to get through Orion's armour, but the strike was enough but the strike was enough to stop the armoured knight long enough for the bounty hunter to leap at him and deliver a flying kick to his face, knocking Orion out of the sky.
"Okay…Maybe I can't get through the armour but I just need to peel it off you!" BB Hood snarled as she spun her machete in her hand. BB Hood leapt on top of Orion's downed form and slashed at him multiple times with her machete, getting more-and-more frustrated when she saw that none of her attacks were even making a dent in his armour. Orion saw her frustration and activated his jetpack, rocketing on his back out from underneath BB Hood, knocking the red-clad bounty hunter into the air with a spin.
Orion turned around in midair and rocketed at BB Hood while she was still in the air, swapping his rocket lance to his spear and slamming it into the airborne bounty hunter, knocking the wind out of her and spiking her into the canvas. Swapping to the lance again, Orion again took aim and the downed BB Hood and fired another volley of lasers from the lance, this time finding a target and burying the red-clad hunter in a sea of light.
All of a sudden, a grenade was thrown at Orion from within the blinding lights and the armoured knight, out of instinct, ended up shooting at it with his lance. However, the grenade had gotten too close to Orion when he did that and the explosive blew up in Orion's face, blinding and disorienting him long enough for BB Hood to leap into view and throw a few more grenades, causing them to explode all around Orion and disorient him further. As Orion was trying to look through the smoke caused by the grenades to try and find his opponent, BB Hood leapt through the smoke, latched onto the airborne armoured knight and stuck a machine gun under his chin.
BB Hood pulled the trigger and sent several bullets into the bottom of Orion's helmet. None of the bullets pierced the plating but BB Hood noticed that the bullets had actually embedded themselves into Orion's helmet rather than deflect off it entirely. Realizing that she was making progress, BB Hood spun her Uzi in her hand and pointed it straight into Orion's visor.
"Let's see you deflect THIS!" BB Hood shouted.
BB Hood suddenly felt something poke into his stomach. Looking down, the bounty hunter saw Orion's rocket lance preparing to fire another volley of laser, this time point-blank. Before BB Hood could get a curse word out, Orion opened fire and shot the young hunter with countless laser volleys, keeping her airborne as he backed away, floating in midair.
"You're persistent. I'll give you that…" Orion muttered. "I shudder to think how powerful you'd be if you somehow ended up in Valhalla in the future…"
Stopping his firing, Orion let BB Hood fall, crashing back-first onto the canvas and then lowered himself down until he was still hovering above the canvas a few inches. Charging up his jetpack and rocket lance, Orion waited until BB Hood had pushed herself to her feet before flying straight at her, rocket lance aimed at her torso.
BB Hood snapped to attention just in time to jump into the air, letting Orion fly by underneath her. As Orion was passing by, BB Hood latched onto his back as the two of them shot forward together, flying up higher as they zoomed around the arena above the heads of everyone else.
"Get…Get off me!" Orion grunted as he struggled to keep his rocket lance steady while at the same time trying to get BB Hood off him. The two ended up flying towards the arena ropes though neither of the two seemed to notice it.
"I'm getting that bounty!" BB Hood yelled as she pulled something from her basket and slammed it onto Orion's back. "One way or another, I'm getting it!"
BB Hood planted both feet onto Orion's back and kicked off him, launching him beyond the arena ropes and herself back into the arena. Orion flew forward a few feet further as he came to a halt and spun around in midair, raising his lance and glaring down at BB Hood, preparing to charge her again.
Orion faltered when he saw BB Hood smirking triumphantly and holding what looked like a detonator in her hand. As BB Hood jammed the button on the detonator, Orion suddenly realized what the hunter had done and what she had placed on his back…
*KA-BOOM!*
The C4 BB Hood had planted on Orion's back exploded, destroying his jet thrusters and preventing him from staying in midair. Without a way to fly back into the arena, Orion fell headlong into the void and into an elimination portal.
Orion crashed into Terraria, straight through the Eye of Cthulhu as a group of heroes were trying to fight it off. Orion spent the next ten minutes working to repair his jetpack using provided materials that the heroes had given him for helping them slay the boss monster.
In the arena, BB Hood exhaled in relief as a smirk floated across her face. "Well, that's that. All I need to do now is…" She trailed off as her smirk vanished, her eyes widening in realization. Digging out her contract for Orion from her pocket, she scanned over the fine print…
…DEAD ONLY.
BB Hood's blood started boiling at the realization that she couldn't collect the bounty on Orion until she had actually finished him off and had just let him slip between her fingers. BB Hood screamed as she stamped her foot and looked up. "Aw, SON OF A BI-"
Boom Boom's fist connected with Meta Knight's face and, because the huge Koopa's fists were the size of the blue puffball's entire body, resulted in Meta Knight flying backwards several feet, flying into one of the corner-posts of the arena. Boom Boom, in the meantime, approached Meta Knight, cracking his knuckles.
"Stay down, you little runt!" Boom Boom snapped. "I gotta give that Mario a beat-down and I ain't getting' near him fighting YOU!"
Meta Knight grunted as he pushed himself to his feet. "If I recall correctly, YOU hit ME first." He countered.
Boom Boom flailed his arms in fury. "Because I slipped on a log and rolled into you!" He insisted. "You just started attacking me back!"
"Maybe so but you could have stopped the fight anytime." Meta Knight responded as his cape morphed into a pair of wings. "You intend to finish the fight."
Boom Boom roared in anger as he spun around wildly, fists flying in every direction as he flew towards Meta Knight in a tornado of punches. Meta Knight spread his wings, took to the sky and flew gracefully overtop of Boom Boom as the huge Koopa flew by underneath him, and swung his sword down as he passed by, striking Boom Boom across the top of his head, knocking the angry Koopa out of his attack phase and sending him flat onto his face.
Pushing himself up, Boom Boom shouted in anger again as he jumped at the still-airborne Meta Knight in a feeble attempt to grab him. "Quit fooling around!" He shouted. "Take the fight seriously!"
"You let your anger get the better of you. It makes you far too-easy of an opponent to read." Meta Knight responded. "And, by the way, THIS is a tornado."
Meta Knight spun in a cyclone with his sword pointed outwards, spinning straight down towards Boom Boom. The angry Koopa's eyes widened as he tried to raise his arms but Meta Knight was far too fast as he drove straight into Boom Boom's stomach. After giving Boom Boom several powerful strikes, Meta Knight broke out of his tornado move and swung his sword upwards, striking Boom Boom in the face and knocking him backwards.
To any other opponent, the attack would have launched them upwards. However, due to Boom Boom being so big, all the attack did was make the huge Koopa stagger backwards a few steps. Boom Boom's head snapped down to stare at Meta Knight as a fire lit up in his eyes. Meta Knight swung his sword again but Boom Boom showed fast enough reflexes to hold up a hand and block the masked puffball's attack bare-handed.
The sight of Boom Boom blocking his attack seemed to momentarily surprise Meta Knight; not for long but long enough for the larger fighter to strike him in the face. Boom Boom was on top of Meta Knight in a flash, striking the swordsman with punch after punch, the power behind his attacks amplified due to the size of his massive fists. Deciding to finish the fight, Boom Boom lifted both hands into the air and swung the down, aiming for Meta Knight's face…
Boom Boom's fists hit the canvas, and when the large Koopa looked down again he saw that Meta Knight wasn't there anymore, having used his cape to warp out of the way and free himself from Boom Boom's grasp. Boom Boom stood up and looked over his shoulder just in time for Meta Knight to fly by and slash the back of his shell, causing him to shout in pain. Boom Boom swung a fist in Meta Knight's direction but the puffball had already moved around him, slashing his arm in the process.
He tried to attack and counter, but Boom Boom found that he couldn't catch or hit the much-faster Meta Knight as the small swordsman flew around him at all angles, slashing him with his sword at every turn. Every time Boom Boom lashed out with a fist, Meta Knight had already flown past him and had attacked him on his other side. Of course, with every failed attack he threw, Boom Boom only got madder at the flying puffball as Meta Knight continued to slash at him from every angle without giving him a chance to counter.
"Stop doing that! You're makin' me MAD!" Boom Boom snapped.
"You need to control your temper." Meta Knight's voice said from the left. Boom Boom swung blindly and missed his target, Meta Knight having already moved on and suddenly spoke from the right. "You lack control and that makes you an easy target." Boom Boom lashed out again, trying to hit Meta Knight, only to miss completely.
Steam emitted from Boom Boom's ears as he started turning red in anger. "Come on! You're just toying with me!" He shouted out. "If you gonna fight me, then take it seriously!"
"I am."
Boom Boom turned around just in time to see Meta Knight flying at his face, sword outstretched. Meta Knight hit Boom Boom with a lightning-fast flurry of sword swings, staggering Boom Boom and making him stumble backwards with every attack he was given. Boom Boom triedto fight back but every time he tried swinging a fist Meta Knight slashed his arm with another sword attack to counter the potential blow.
Meta Knight, deciding to finish the fight, backed away from Boom Boom, landed on his feet and readied himself as Boom Boom stepped back, still trying to recover. However, Meta Knight was in his face again, this time delivering a deceptively-powerful kick with enough force to send Boom Boom tumbling over the top rope that he didn't even realize he had backed up against and sending him down into a portal.
Boom Boom materialized in the same vortex as Needle Man and Volkov, in between the two. The Koopa looked at Needle Man, seeing that Volkov was still trying to get himself turned right-side-up with little success. "Uh…What's going on here?" He asked.
Needle Man gave a shrug. "You got me. At this point I'm just waiting for something to happen but I'm getting bored." He sighed. "You don't happen to have a deck of cards on you or something, do you?" Boom Boom paused and looked down at his unclothed form before staring back at the Robot Master with a questioning glance. Needle Man sighed. "Didn't think so." He muttered.
Meitenkun's head drooped to the side as he swerved around Great Tiger's punch. The Indian boxer had seen firsthand how powerful Meitenkun was while half-asleep and realized that perhaps, even in his dozy state, he WAS fully-aware of the fight. Great Tiger had to admit that he felt guilty about fighting someone half-asleep but he was actually starting to think that he wouldn't stand a chance if Meitenkun fully woke up.
Great Tiger received a sharp kick to the face from the half-asleep youth as he staggered backwards. Meitenkun quickly followed up by grabbing Great Tiger by the face, leaping up and slamming the Indian fighter face-first onto the canvas, onto the pillow Meitenkun was always carrying around.
Meitenkun yawned as he got up, allowing Great Tiger to get up as well. "Ugh…Can we finish this?..." He asked as he stretched tiredly. "I'm already starting to...Tire myself out…"
Great Tiger grunted as he pushed himself up. "How can you be so fast and powerful when you're half-asleep like this?" He asked, though more to himself than anything.
"Oh, that?...I dunno. I guess I'm just lucky like that…" Meitenkun mumbled drowsily.
Great Tiger sighed, knowing that he'd need to have a strategy to beat the younger fighter as he stepped forward and lashed out a right hook. Meitenkun showed more surprising awareness by swerving his head to the side in what looked like a tired stumble, cleanly avoiding Great Tiger's blow, before swinging his arm using his momentum and clubbing the Indian man in the face with his forearm.
While Great Tiger was stunned, Meitenkun stumbled forward and struck Great Tiger with a few more blows that looked clumsy but hit hard, as shown by Great Tiger looking like he was getting the wind knocked out of him. As Meitenkun lunged forward in a flying kick, the jewel on Great Tiger's turban flashed in a bright light.
Meitenkun stumbled forward, his leg striking nothing but air as he flew past where he thought Great Tiger was just a second ago. The young narcoleptic caught his footing as he looked at where he had thought Great Tiger had been, only seeing a few wisps of red smoke.
"Ugh…Maybe I'm just getting tired…" Meitenkun mumbled as he rubbed his eyes. "…Startin' to see things…"
Suddenly, a fist flew in from the right and struck Meitenkun in the jaw, making the youth stagger to the side. Meitenkun held his face as he looked at where the punch had come from, only to see nothing there except for a few more red wisps of smoke. Meitenkun internally wondered where the punch had come from when another punch came in from the left, striking him in the side. This continued a few more times before Meitenkun managed to block an attempted blow, only then seeing that it was indeed Great Tiger behind the attacks.
Meitenkun narrowed his eyes, or at least looked like he was trying to in his half-asleep state. "Huh…You can teleport…" He muttered.
Meitenkun saw the gem on Great Tiger's turban flash again as the Indian man vanished into thin air while Meitenkun was holding onto his hand, reappearing a few feet away and out of reach of the younger fighter. Taking a moment to adjust his gloves and breathe a few times, Great Tiger cleared his mind and got into his stance again. "I can." He replied simply. "I suppose there are a few things that you've yet to be taught to counter."
"Eh, not really…" Meitenkun shrugged lazily. "Athena over there…Kinda does it all the time…"
Great Tiger gave a smirk as he started levitating into the air and engulfed himself in a whirlwind of magic. "Ah, maybe so. But can she do…" He said before swinging his hands at Meitenkun. "…THIS?!"
Meitenkun stepped back as two identical clone versions of Great Tiger appeared on either side of the boxer and flew straight at Meitenkun, fist outstretched. Meitenkun tried to counter the first clone but stopped when the clone harmlessly struck him and dissipated into thin air, revealing itself to be nothing but a ghost-like image of Great Tiger. The second clone, however, delivered a blow to the jaw, revealing that it was Great Tiger himself throwing the punch rather than a second illusion.
The force from the surprise blow had staggered Meitenkun enough that he was unable to block Great Tiger's next blow, which came after sending two fake clones of himself at the younger fighter to fake him out before going in himself and landing another hard punch. Great Tiger, noticing that Meitenkun was approaching the ropes, sent everything he had at the younger fighter, causing at least a dozen copies of himself to charge headfirst at Meitenkun and pull back for a punch.
Meitenkun raised his arms as the clones hit his body, not sure which of the clones was real but at the same time knowing that Great Tiger could be anywhere in the crowd. All he could do was keep his arms raised and hope it would be enough to block the Indian man's next attack. After what seemed like an eternity, the real Great Tiger's fist connected with Meitenkun's blocking arms. However, because the younger fighter had been blocking for a while, the punch managed to break through Meitenkun's guard and stagger the younger fighter.
Seeing his opponent staggering backwards, Great Tiger gave a smirk and swung his fist upwards, striking Meitenkun with a powerful uppercut that sent the younger fighter clear over the ropes and out of the ring.
Meitenkun crashed into a bed in Tomodachi Life, where he promptly curled up and fell asleep, seemingly-oblivious to the hand reaching down from the ceiling and erasing his face…
Soldier stood in the middle of a circle of constant explosions, laughing like a maniac, as he held two rocket launchers on his shoulders. Where he had gotten the second rocket launcher appeared to be anyone's guess, but the fact that he was firing rockets at three moving targets that had surrounded him had shrouded all sight of the crazed mercenary.
"Come out, you filthy wizards! I know your magic is no match for my human ingenuity and supply of highly-explosive rockets!" Soldier laughed as he looked around for his opponents. "And you can take that back to Merasmus!"
Soldier looked around, wondering if he had actually managed to hit one of his opponents, and suddenly found himself staring down the ghostly image of a wooly mammoth spirit, Kaya riding on its back, as he emerged from the flames created by his rockets. Kaya gripped her spear as the mammoth spirit grabbed Soldier with its trunk and tossed him into the air. "Link!" She called out as the mammoth spirit dissipated.
Young Link jumped through the smoke cloud, once again in his Fierce Deity form, huge sword raised over his head as he jumped at the airborne Soldier. Young Link roared as he slammed his sword into Soldier's helmeted head, spiking the mercenary down into the canvas. By the time Young Link had landed on his feet as well, the smoke caused by the numerous explosions had faded out, giving the audience a view of Soldier again.
Chris Lightfellow approached the downed Soldier and started casting magic with her True Water Rune. "Keep him down, you two!" She directed. "If I can freeze him in a block of ice we can just push him out of the ring!"
Young Link and Kaya nodded as the three approached the downed Soldier. However, Kaya suddenly noticed Soldier's hand moving slowly as Chris stood over him, his finger hovering over the trigger of one of his rocket launchers. "Chris, GET BACK!" Kaya shouted as she jumped backwards.
Soldier snapped to life and lifted his rocket launcher, giving a smirk as he pointed it straight into Chris' face and fired. The resulting explosion was not only enough to knock Young Link away and out of his Fierce Deity form but it was enough to launch Chris clear across the ring, effectively removing her from the fight entirely.
Kaya rushed over to Young Link as he got to his feet, taking note that he was in his kid form again. "We need to wear him down!" She said. "He's…A LOT tougher than I thought he'd be!"
Young Link sighed as he clipped the Fierce Deity mask to his belt again for now. "I know. If Ganondorf hired this guy I'd probably have a lot harder time getting through his forces." He muttered. "I kinda worry what the REST of his team is like if we're having this much trouble with just HIM."
"Chris had a good idea; maybe I can still freeze him." Kaya assured as Soldier got up and hoisted his rocket launchers again. "We should at least try to hold him off until Chris can come back."
Young Link nodded. "We're faster. Let's try using that to our advantage…" He suggested.
Soldier appeared to have heard the two, as he started laughing again. "Ha! You kids think that you'll be able to take me down with SPEED?!" He laughed. "Scout can run circles around me but once I get my hand on his scrawny neck he loses every time! Need to remind you that I have TWO rocket launchers! I shall call my second one 'Left Leg' because it'll be key to removing said limb from your torso!"
Young Link acted first and raced at Soldier, using his small size in his kid form to avoid the rockets Soldier fired at him. Young Link was quick to get into Soldier face and give him a few slashes as he zipped around, making Soldier stay still as Young Link slashed at his ankles. By the time Young Link stopped running, Soldier noticed that he was standing in the middle of a triangle seemingly drawn in the canvas with the edge of the youth's sword.
"You think art skills will help you achieve victory, boy?! Art skills will get you nowhere in war! You really think that I will allow myself to be defeated by a glorified pencil?! Don't make me laugh! Seriously; don't! My doctor told me that I'd give myself a hernia!" Soldier said before pausing and looking down, noticing that the triangle Young Link had drawn into the canvas was starting to glow and that his feet were suddenly getting hot. "Were my feet ALWAYS on fire?"
Suddenly, a triangular pillar of light erupted from the canvas underneath Soldier, launching the deranged mercenary into the air. Kaya made her presence know, leaping high into the air riding the back of a spectral snow owl as she raised her bow, taking aim with three frost-coated arrows. Firing the arrows, Kaya landed several direct strikes to Soldier's torso, stunning him in midair as he started falling back down. Kaya leapt over him, aimed more arrows directly down and fired a shot straight into the airborne Soldier's chest, launching him straight down into the canvas.
However, much to the surprise of the two youth, Soldier was quick to roll into a seated position once he was on the ground. Taking a moment to grab his head and give it a sickening crack to iron a kink out of his neck, Soldier stood up and drew his shovel, holding it up as Young Link tried to attack him again.
"You're going to have to do a lot better than that, kids! I barely felt that one!" Soldier laughed as he noticed Kaya landing on the canvas, swapping to her spear as she made a run for him while he was clashing with Young Link.
Taking aim with one of his rocket launchers, Soldier fired it at Kaya, whom seemed too surprised that he was still standing to avoid or block the rocket and took it to the face, launching her backwards and leaving Young Link facing Soldier alone. By this point, Young Link was starting to worry; only a minute ago there were THREE people fighting Soldier and he was able to fend off two of them all on his own.
Soldier seemed to notice Young Link's faltering expression and smirked. "You're regretting your choice to fight me, eh? Took longer than I thought but here we are." He mused with a shrug.
"I'm not! I may be young but I'm still a bearing of the Triforce of Courage!" Young Link snapped as he pulled back and gripped his sword with both hands.
Soldier blinked. "Tri-what of Courage? Sounds like one of those sissy plot devices in one of Scout's Japanese cartoons!" He snapped. "I am more-than-immune to that stuff!"
Young Link slashed his sword a few more times, managing to get some hits in as Soldier staggered backwards. Seeing his opponent distracted, Young Link reached for his Fierce Deity mask. However, Soldier saw what Young Link was doing and swung his shovel downwards, striking Young Link's hand and swatting it away from the mask clipped to his belt.
With Young Link stunned, Soldier swung his rocket launcher like a club, striking the smaller fighter with it several times before finishing up with a boot to the face, knocking Young Link backwards and causing him to tumble to the canvas in a stunned daze. Seeing Young Link down, Soldier took aim with his rocket launcher and pointed it at the canvas by Young Link's feet.
"Take your voodoo magic back to Canada, wizard!" Soldier shouted as he pulled the trigger, firing a rocket into the canvas at Young Link's feet. The resulting explosion launched Young Link into the air, over the ropes and out of the arena with no way to get back in.
Soldier laughed as Young Link vanished into a portal. "Ha! That's one wizard down! Merasmus should know better than to send his cronies after me, even if he's too much of a coward to come at me himself!" He guffawed before pausing in thought. "Wait…Wasn't there another one?"
Soldier turned just in time to see a furious-looking Kaya charging at him, swinging her spear at him like a club. The end of Kaya's spear was coated in a block of ice, so smashing it across Soldier's face was like a solid brick shattering on impact as Soldier was sent sprawling. Kaya approached the downed Soldier, a cold wind surrounding her as she walked.
The deranged mercenary looked up and pointed his rocket launcher forwards on instinct, only for it to be snatched away by Kaya's mammoth spirit's trunk. Kaya was already riding atop the spectral mammoth as she stared down at Soldier, the mammoth spirit tossing Soldier's rocket launcher out of the arena like a stick (and into Saint's Row, where the Boss would be sure to have a lot of fun with it later). Without giving Soldier a chance to fight back, the mammoth grabbed Soldier using its trunk and tossed him upwards, allowing Kaya to swing her ice-coated spear, clubbing the airborne Soldier and knocking him over the ropes as well.
"SON OF A CUSSING CUSSWORRRRRRR-" Soldier shouted, shaking his fist at Kaya, as he fell headlong into an elimination portal.
Soldier materialized in the same rainbow vortex as the previously-eliminated fighters. Looking around, he saw Needle Man and Boom Boom floating around with bored expressions while Volkov was sputtering about uselessly in the space-like void, still trying to upright himself. Soldier spotted Young Link floating nearby, whom was quick to cast a glare at him.
"Well, look who dropped in." Young Link sighed. "You know, you jumping to conclusions like that is why were both here."
"Ha! I'll have you know that I don't just JUMP! I ROCKET-jump!...Uh…Now where are we?" Soldier said.
"We don't know. I've been floating here ever since I got eliminated and nothing's happened expect more people trickling in." Needle Man rolled his eyes.
"The tin can speaks…WHY IS THE TIN CAN SPEAKING?!" Soldier shrieked. "More wizardry!"
Young Link watched as Soldier started spinning around uncontrollably as he lashed out with his limbs and tried to pull his rocket launcher out. "This could last all day…" He sighed.
(Announcer's Booth)
Khall blinked in confusion as he watched the gathered fighters appear in the void on a small desk-mounted screen. "Uh…Hey, boss-man? Why are so many people appearing in that weird void of nothing?" He asked. "I mean, may be an expert on portals and voids but that can't be good TV to just watch a bunch of people float around like that."
"Just give it time." SSBFreak assured with a handwave. "We just need a few more fighters to appear there and we'll get things going."
"Oh, is there still more to this tournament that you haven't told me, yet?" Khall tilted his head.
"I literally told you about it before we started the tournament." SSBFreak said flatly.
"Ah. Must've zoned out when you told me that, then."
"Your mind does that a LOT."
All of a sudden, a pillar of light erupted in between the two. Sheogorath materialized between the two hosts, sitting in a chair of his own and leaning back in it. He glanced at SSBFreak and grinned. "Ah! There you are!" He said. "I do hope I'm not interrupting anything funny because I'd sure hate to miss out on it!"
SSBFreak sighed. "No. What can I do for you, Sheogorath?" He asked.
"Ah, I'm glad you asked! See, I was wondering if I could push up my first Mystery Fighter reserve to enter in the next section." Sheogorath explained.
SSBFreak blinked. "Wait, already? You want one of your hand-picked Mystery Fighters to enter in Section TWO?" He asked.
"Hey, I noticed a certain someone in the arena and I didn't realize he had this early of a draw." Sheogorath shrugged. "I figure sending Number One out there sooner rather than later would be best since I don't exactly have confidence in him to last until my pick is SCHEDULED to enter."
"You DO realize that, in the original UVR, Haohmaru entered in Section Two and went on to win the entire thing?" SSBFreak asked flatly.
"YOU realize that you've never had an entrant in your tournaments that last anywhere NEAR that length?" Sheogorath countered with a smirk.
"He's got you there, boss-man." Khall piped up.
SSBFreak sulked for a moment before sighing. "I guess I can make it work since the next round of fighters hasn't checked in yet. I'll just swap your Mystery Fighter for the one I was originally going to have enter." He admitted. "I'll just make an announcement and see if they hear it."
"Glad to hear it, boyo! I anticipate a comical reaction from a certain someone in the ring!" Sheogorath laughed as he rubbed his hands together. "It'll be fun to watch!"
SSBFreak and Khall watched as Sheogorath vanished in another pillar of light, taking his chair with him. Khall blinked as he looked at the main host. "You're SURE he's not evil?" He asked.
"Evil?...Not entirely. Insane? YES." SSBFreak sighed.
(Hotel; Hallway)
"A fight between Ryuji Yamazaki and Bryan Fury?!" Max demanded as Psymon got off a radio call. "They expect us to get between THOSE two THIS early in the tournament?!"
Psymon shrugged. "I know. Usually we don't get called to one of these things until, like, Section Five or so." He admitted. "With our luck the fight will have wrapped up by the time we get there, though."
"That suuuuucks! I wanna get involved in a fight between two bloodthirsty maniacs!" Max whined.
"AaAaAaAaAh! The blood moon's callin' for mah blue suede shoes!" Homsar said randomly as he floated around somewhere behind the group.
Estel rolled her eyes. "It's just two guys. What could they do against a team of us?" She asked. "We just need to break up the fight."
"You…REALLY don't know much about those two, do you?" Max mentioned.
"We're sharing a dome and hotel with astral beings, nightmare monsters and a twelve-foot, Earth-moving Pokemon, and you're worried about two human guys?" Estel folded her arms.
Psymon draped an arm around Estel's shoulder. "Stelly, word of advice: It's ALWAYS the normal-looking ones that are the most-dangerous." He said.
"Don't call me Stelly." Estel said flatly as she removed Psymon's hand from her shoulder.
"Where's that fight breakin' out, anyways?" Scorch asked.
"An unspecified hallway somewhere in the dome." Psymon replied casually.
"That'll take us FOREVER to find it if it wasn't specified!" Estel reminded.
"Trust us. Psymon and I know EXACTLY where the fight's breaking out." Max grinned.
"Attention, Mystery Fighters. Due to some shuffling, there has been a slight change in draw order." SSBFreak's voice announced through a nearby intercom. "Would Sheogorath's first Mystery Fighter pick please report to the Ready Room? You will be taking the place of the fighter currently entering as Mystery Fighter Three."
Scorch looked at the intercom as the Security Team walked by. "Yeesh. Somethin' about that Sheogorath guy don't sit right with me." He admitted.
Lucia gave a shrug. "He's not that bad when you get to know him and learn to understand that…Well, you're never really going to understand him." She admitted. "I mean, Uncle Sheogorath is a Daedric Prince and he STILL treats us better than some of the people in Skyrim, so that has to account for something."
"I still say that it feels like looking at him the wrong way will get him to turn your head into a pumpkin or somethin'." Scorch sighed.
"Sweetroll, actually." Lucia said casually. "Cheese wheel if you do something REALLY egregious."
Estel lifted an eyebrow as she stared at Lucia. "You don't seem old enough to know what that word means." She mentioned.
"Hey, Uncle Sheogorath thinks it's a funny word and he encourages it when we say funny words." The small girl shrugged. By now, the team had walked in front of the doorway to the Lounge again and Lucia looked inside, pausing momentarily, noticing that something seemed to be missing. "Uh…Hey, guys? Didn't there use to be a piano in the Lounge?"
(Dome; Hallway)
Ryuji Yamazaki crashed back-first into the wall of the hallway with a loud grunt, and then instinctively ducked out of the way as Bryan Fury's fist slammed into the wall where his head had been, using enough force to leave a fist-sized hole. Bryan ripped his fist out of the hole in the wall and turned to face Yamazaki again, only to receive a massive headbutt for his troubles, making him stagger backwards several steps.
While Bryan was staggered, Yamazaki reached out, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, gave him another headbutt and then tossed him to the ground, making sure to kick Bryan while he was on his back several times as the white-haired maniac was struggling to get up. One hard kick to the torso while he was on his hands and knees was enough to send Bryan sprawling again, but it put distance between the two and allowed Bryan to get back up again.
Grunting to himself, Bryan rotated his head a few times as he stared daggers at Yamazaki. "I'd forgotten how hard you hit when you play dirty." He muttered.
Yamazaki laughed. "Well, ain't that the pot calling the kettle black! Name one time since you started this path of destruction of yours that you DIDN'T play dirty!" He shot back.
Bryan growled back and chose not to counter Yamazaki's point and instead rushed the maniac headfirst. Dodging a lightning-fast slash of Yamazaki's hand, Bryan slipped a punch past Yamazaki's defenses and struck him in the jaw, opening him up for Bryan to deliver several more hard blows to the chest, finishing the flurry by grabbing Yamazaki and driving his knee into the Yakuza's face, making him stagger back.
In spite of this, Yamazaki's smirk remained, showing that he was still aware enough of his surroundings to counter back as he lifted his arm to block Bryan's next blow and swung with his other arm, slamming his fist into the side of the white-haired maniac's face, knocking Bryan face-first into the wall. Yamazaki quickly grabbed Bryan's back, pulled him back and started slamming his face into the wall multiple times, laughing like a maniac the entire time. Bryan managed to stop the attack by slamming his hands into the wall and bracing himself against it, keeping Yamazaki from pushing his face into it. Bryan swung his head backwards, smashing it into Yamazaki's face and making the Yakuza let go of him.
Yamazaki laughed as he felt his nose, checking to see if he was bleeding. "You always know how to put up a fight, Fury! It's what makes you such a fun opponent to dismantle!" He cackled.
Yamazaki drew his hand from his pocket, revealing his knife, as he lunged at Bryan and slashed wildly. Bryan was aware enough to dodge the knife swings, but Yamazaki got a lucky hit and struck him in the leg with the last slash. Bryan shouted in pain as he fought through the feeling and lashed out, slamming his fist into Yamazaki's face. Bryan rushed forward and continued to attack, striking the Yakuza with several more blows and making him drop his knife to the floor. Seeing this, Bryan swung his leg and gave Yamazaki a roundhouse to the side of the head, sending the tall Yakuza tumbling head-over-heels several feet away.
Yamazaki sprung to life as he watched Bryan pick up his knife. "You let go of that!" He snapped. "That's MY knife!"
"You got a personal attachment to it or something, deadbeat?" Bryan chuckled as he inspected the knife. "Funny. I usually prefer to shoot guys with rockets if they get annoying enough."
Anger flared up in Yamazaki's eyes as he lunged at Bryan. "I said give that BACK!" He shouted as his hand made a reach for Bryan's throat. Before Bryan had a chance to react, Yamazaki had grabbed him by the neck and had thrown himself into the air, dragging Bryan with him. The next thing Bryan knew, he was getting dragged along the ground by the neck for a few feet before getting picked up and on the receiving end of multiple enraged headbutts from Yamazaki before he was thrown straight into the wall again.
Bryan collapsed onto the floor, the wind knocked out of him, as Yamazaki snatched his knife back from the floor, as Bryan had dropped it at some point during that last frenzied attack. Yamazaki pocketed the knife and smirked as he stared down at Bryan's barely-conscious form. "Looks like I win again, Fury. I thought you'd be smarter than to take a grab at my knife, but I guess I gave you too much credit." He said casually. "Now then…Where'd you pocket that money?..."
Yamazaki dug around in Bryan's pockets for the payment Kuma had given him. Bryan tried to stop Yamazaki but was too weak to put up much of a fight as Yamazaki found what he was looking for: a thick wad of bills, which he pulled into view and started flipping through it himself.
"You…That's mine…" Bryan seethed as he struggled to push himself up. Yamazaki pressed a foot into Bryan's back, forcing the white-haired madman back onto his face.
"Correction: It WAS yours." Yamazaki smirked as he pocketed the money. "Hey, don't worry about it too much; you probably would've failed this job anyways. I think I heard you say it was Mishima paying for this gig? I'll just go and report in your place. I'll be sure to succeed where you quite-obviously wouldn't have, so know that the money will be going to good use."
With that, Yamazaki strolled off down the hall, laughing like a maniac, leaving Bryan on the floor, beaten and near-unconscious. Bryan struggled to push himself up as he stared hatefully at Yamzaki's retreating form before he finally blacked out.
(The Arena)
Riptide backflipped away as a water shuriken hit the canvas, exploding into a puddle when it made contact. In response, Riptide created a dagger of water in her hand, which she threw at her attacker in hopes of doing some damage. Greninja saw the projectile coming and used his ninja-like agility to leap out of the way, rolling to the side and slashing Riptide with a blade of water when he got close to her.
Staggering backwards a bit, Riptide clutched her arm as she watched Greninja generate another water shuriken in his hands, throwing it at her when it was fully-charged. Riptide quickly spun around, vanishing in what looked to be a splash of water into nothingness, before appearing right behind Greninja, slamming her leg into the side of his head from behind.
"Ja!" Greninja shouted in pain as he tumbled forward, only to vanish in a cloud of smoke as he rolled, leaving behind a small doll. Riptide looked down at the doll for a second, only to suddenly receive a flying kick to the back of her head herself, revealing Greninja had teleported behind her much like she had done to him. "Gren!"
Riptide landed flat on her stomach and rolled herself over as Greninja leapt down from above, baring another blade of water. Riptide pulled out her dagger and swung while she was on her back, slicing through Greninja's water blade as she kicked him away from her, letting herself get up.
"Huh. I thought fighting you would be like fighting Shadow but you've got a different skillset." Riptide muttered as she pocketed her dagger again. Lifting her hand, Riptide generated a ball of water in the air and hurled it at Greninja.
Greninja stepped back and held his arms up, not knowing what the ball of water would be able to do, but it struck his arms with the weight of an iron ball and slashed at him with multiple water blades as it exploded. "J-Ja!" Greninja shouted in pain as he backed away, only for Riptide to rush in and give him a hard left hook followed by a few more punches and kicks.
Somewhere in the middle of Riptide's flurry of attacks, Greninja kept his awareness up long enough to pull off Substitute again, vanishing in a cloud and replacing himself with a small doll mid-attack from Riptide. The pirate woman struck the doll with her fist on instinct and Greninja suddenly appeared again, striking Riptide in the face and making her back off, leaving her open for a counter-attack from Greninja.
Now on the offensive, Greninja lashed out with several quick strikes of water blades, injuring Riptide and keeping her stunned, and then finishing by grabbing the pirate woman, leaping high into the air and throwing her straight down, slamming her into the canvas as he started charging another water shuriken from above.
"Oh, crap!" Riptide shouted aloud as she slapped her hands together while on the canvas and vanished into another splash of water just as Greninja's huge shuriken struck the canvas. Riptide reappeared a few feet away and looked up just in time for Greninja to pounce on her from above, having anticipated her teleportation.
"Ja! Gren-gren!" Greninja shouted as he gave Riptide a few punches to the face while she was down, then pulled her to her feet, giving her a massive water blade to the face that knocked her away and sent her sprawling.
Riptide pushed herself up with a groan and instinctively ducked as Greninja flew over her head in an attempted tackle. Riptide could tell that she was fighting a losing battle unless she finished her opponent now. Greninja was too fast for most of her attacks to hit and Riptide realized she was a little in over her head picking a fight with him with the way the fight seemed to be going.
Riptide rushed Greninja, throwing a few more water-daggers at him as she ran forward while at the same time pulling her real dagger into view. Greninja dodged and blocked the first few projectiles but by the time one got past his defenses he was stunned as he staggered backwards. Riptide saw her chance and lunged forward, swinging her dagger…
However, this turned out to be what Greninja was expecting. The instant Riptide got close, Greninja swerved to the side and let her pass by. Greninja spun around, grabbed the passing pirate woman and spun around a few times, winding up a throw before hurling Riptide forward with all his might, sending her flying over the ropes around the arena. Riptide tried to teleport back into the arena but by the time she had realized what had happened she was already too far out to make it as she vanished into a portal.
Riptide fell onto the top of a tower in Q*Bert, where she spent the next ten minutes trying to keep herself from getting jumped on while at the same time trying to understand what the heck Q*Bert is saying…
Meta Knight flew through the air, dodging around a volley of flaming lasers. He stared down at the canvas, where Pete was standing with what looked to be a lance that was firing lasers into the air that in turn turned into a volley of fire. It looked like Pete was just firing off the shots because it was bright and colourful but now that Soldier was gone from the arena Pete had turned into the biggest source of chaos due to the amount of Power Stone weapons he appeared to have snuck into the arena.
Dodging around another laser, Meta Knight pulled his sword back and flew straight down at Pete as the wooden doll continued to wave around the laser-shooting lance…
*CLANG!*
Meta Knight flew straight into a steel block that was place directly in his path. As Meta Knight comically peeled off the side of the block and floated down to the canvas like a pancake, Sackboy lifted the steel block and put it back into his inventory.
Pete laughed in approval. "That was amazing! I wish the two of us could fly indefinitely like that, though…" He mentioned as he put the Lance of Lava back into his backpack. "It looked like a lot of fun dodging the fire volleys in midair."
Sackboy gave a goofy, wide smile, showing his approval as Meta Knight's flat body popped back into its natural shape. Meta Knight jumped to his feet and stared at the two pranksters with what looked like a controlled rage. "You two are not taking this tournament seriously…And somehow you're STILL able to pull things like that off?!" He demanded.
"Hey, I've learned to have a little fun now and then, even during my matches with the other Power Stone fighters, and I think Sackboy feels the same." Pete shrugged as Sackboy gave a rattly nod. "You should be used to it; I mean, Kirby fights you all the time."
Meta Knight breathed heavily for a few seconds before mentally calming himself down and drawing his sword. "No. Kirby may be a childishly-innocent fool but I know for a fact he takes every fight he has seriously in his own way." He shook his head. "You…You're just acting like clowns for the sake of acting like clowns!"
A pie suddenly splat against Meta Knight's mask. The pie slowly slid off Meta Knight's face, revealing a pair of eyes that now appeared to be portraying tranquil fury. Sackboy was giving another silent laugh, an empty inventory slot above his head, as Pete gave another shrug. "Hey, you were the one who SAID it." He reasoned.
Sackboy suddenly saw Meta Knight staring at him, likely due to the fact that he had been the one to throw the pie. Sackboy grinned as he plucked a rocket out of his inventory and clambered on, igniting the fuse. Meta Knight realized what Sackboy was doing and flew headfirst at him with a swing of his sword, missing Sackboy by just a few feet as the cloth doll took to the skies on his rocket. Meta Knight started shaking in anger for a few seconds before shifting his cape into a pair of wings and torpedoing into the air to give chase.
"Hey! That's no fun! I don't have a way to follow you guys!" Pete called out from the canvas.
Fleeing Meta Knight, Sackboy glanced backwards with a grin as he rode his rocket around the arena, weaving around several of the remaining fighters as he did. Meta Knight gave chase, skillfully weaving around everyone Sackboy steered him towards as he started to close the gap between himself and the cloth doll.
Sackboy reached into his inventory and dropped a few heavy-looking objects behind him, hoping to trip Meta Knight up. Meta Knight swung his sword as he flew, cutting cleanly through a boulder, a fridge and even an anvil as he continued to fly after Sackboy's retreating form. Sackboy glanced back as he rode, seeing a furious-looking Meta Knight getting within an arm's reach of him, and quickly opened his inventory again to find something else to throw.
Meta Knight swung his sword and struck the end of Sackboy's rocket, causing it to explode and launch Sackboy into the air, closing his inventory in surprise. Meta Knight saw Sackboy getting launched and flew up at his, striking Sackboy with several lightning-fast sword strikes in midair, seemingly juggling the cloth doll for a few seconds. Meta Knight pulled back, waited for Sackboy to fall into his line of sight and spun at him in a drill-like tornado, spiraling into the airborne cloth doll and, due to the latter's lighter weight, launched Sackboy away at least twenty feet. In this case, it was more-than-enough to send Sackboy out of bounds to send the cloth doll falling into a portal.
Pete stamped over in anger as Meta Knight landed on the canvas. "Hey! What'd you do that for?!" He demanded. "He was just having fun!"
Meta Knight took the time to brush the last bit of pie crust off his shoulder pads. "He was being a nuisance. You both were." He pointed out simply.
Pete grunted and pulled a large, steel hammer from his backpack. "Then maybe it's time I showed you what it's like when I stop having fun!" He challenged.
Blanka rolled out of the way as Great Tiger's fist flew past him. The Indian boxer teleported and quickly reappeared next to Blanka, delivering a powerful uppercut as Blanka popped out of his roll. Blanka rolled backwards with a yell as he kicked at Great Tiger, managing to catch the older man in the face with a backflip kick.
Landing on his feet, Blanka instantly threw himself at Great Tiger while his opponent was distracted, rolling through the air like a cannonball. However, Great Tiger managed to snap himself to attention and saw Blanka coming at him in time to teleport out of the way, causing Blanka to miss his target, land on the canvas awkwardly and skid to a halt.
"Hey! Stop doing that!" Blanka shouted.
"It's the only way I can keep up with your speed." Great Tiger insisted as he stood in a defensive stance, waiting for Blanka to make the next move.
Blanka growled as he ignited his hands in electricity and lunged at Great Tiger, who stepped backwards as Blanka hit the canvas and slammed his hands down, firing off a blast of electricity that Great Tiger failed to get out of range of. Great Tiger shouted in pain as he was shocked by Blanka's attack, and staggered backwards in a daze when the green-skinned fighter finished, leaving him open for Blanka to cannonball-roll into his torso, knocking him away.
All of a sudden, before Blanka had a chance to continue the assault on Great Tiger, a projectile slammed into the back of his head and knocked him down. Blanka landed flat on his face, but shot up and spun around to see Darunia facing off against Athena Asamiya, the latter being responsible for attacking him due to a misaimed Psycho Ball that Darunia avoided.
Darunia saw Athena's attack strike Blanka and turned to face the idol with a fierce expression. "Hey! Your fight is with me! Leave brother out of this!" He snapped.
Athena frowned as she dodged an overhead hammer swing from Darunia. "I was aiming at you! You dodged it!" She reminded.
Darunia held up his arms and blocked Athena's next Psycho Ball, but when he lowered his guard to strike back Athena was faster and drove a fist into his chin, launching them both upwards in a Psycho Upper and catching the large Goron Chief off-guard. Darunia landed on his back and instinctively rolled onto his stomach as Athena landed feet-first on top of his shelled back, allowing Darunia to throw her off of him by shoving himself to his feet.
Darunia suddenly took note of the shiny stone poking out of Athena's pocket as she pushed herself to her feet. "Hey! You've got some of those Power Stone things!" He exclaimed. "I tried eating one of those things when I grabbed it earlier but they're too tough even for me…"
Athena paused. "Wait. You've got one?" She asked.
Darunia smirked. "I've got two." He said, pulling two Power Stones of his own into view (where he had gotten them was anyone's guess).
Athena smiled cheerily. "Oh, great! Then you won't mind if I took one, would you?" She asked.
"Well, actually, I kinda would since I know these things'll give me a powerful new form and…" Darunia trailed off when he saw Athena dashing at him using her teleport move. Darunia backpedaled and pulled his hand back as Athena took a swipe at the Power Stones. "Hey! Get your own!" He accused.
Meanwhile, Great Tiger had created a couple of clones of himself and was attempting to rush Blanka with them in a similar vein as what he did with Meitenkun, throwing himself at Blanka along with his copies in an attempt to throw the green-skinned fighter off. Rather than block, Blanka crouched low and ignited himself with electricity again. Each clone that tried to strike Blanka burst into a cloud of smoke upon contact while the original, seeing what Blanka was doing, ended up throwing himself over Blanka in an attempt to keep himself from getting electrocuted again.
Blanka looked mad as he turned around to face Great Tiger as the Indian boxer stood up. "You keep making copies of yourself! How is that fair?!" He demanded.
Great Tiger, trying to keep his composure, brushed himself off. "You're one to talk, my friend. You're a walking battery." He countered.
"Hey, I need to have SOME way to counter Honda spamming his flying headbutt attack!" Blanka shouted
Blanka rushed Great Tiger again, lashing out with clawed hands in every direction, anticipating his opponent to start teleporting again. Great Tiger tried warping around Blanka but found himself teleporting into the path of Blanka's fist, receiving a hard blow to the stomach for his troubles. Blanka saw he had landed an attack and pressed further, striking Great Tiger a few more times with some punches and kicks before finishing the combo with another backflip, striking Great Tiger with his feet and launching him into the air.
Great Tiger landed on his back, feeling the wind knocked out of him. He tried pushing himself to his feet and looked up in time to see Blanka leaping at him from above. Thinking quickly, Great Tiger teleported again as Blanka missed his attack, striking nothing but canvas now that his opponent had warped out of the way.
Blanka looked around, seeing that Great Tiger hadn't reappeared yet and had chosen to remain invisible. Narrowing his eyes, Blanka scanned the arena as he looked amongst the dwindling number of fighters, taking a sniff of the air as he did. Catching a scent, Blanka's gaze snapped to his right and his instinctively threw himself forward in another cannonball roll, slamming into an invisible object with enough force that it caused the object to turn visible again, revealing that Blanka had thrown himself into Great Tiger's torso without actually seeing him.
Great Tiger was launched backwards, landing on his back and skidding for a few feet, as Blanka approached the downed fighter, who looked like he was pretty much out of it by this point. "Im…Impossible…How did you know where I was?..." He asked.
"A perk of living in the jungle for years." Blanka narrowed his eyes. "You learn to pick up the scents of your enemies."
Grabbing the downed Great Tiger by the ankles, Blanka spun around a few times and let go, showing surprising strength as he threw Great Tiger clear out of the ring, so far that the Indian boxer nearby hit the forcefield protecting the audience from stray attacks.
Great Tiger landed in the jungle of Alien vs. Predator. Realizing where he was, he quickly turned invisible and teleported to high ground.
In the arena, Blanka was about to turn around and help Darunia with Athena when he saw something sparkly fly up into the ring after Great Tiger vanished into a portal. A green crystal gem landed at Blanka's feet, revealing that, at some point after eliminating Meitenkun, Great Tiger had managed to pick up a Power Stone once it had been spawned. Blanka curiously picked it up and sniffed it a couple of times.
Suddenly hearing a loud explosion coming from behind him, Blanka spun around and saw that Athena was engulfed in a white light, Darunia having shielded his eyes. When the light cleared, Athena was standing in full gold warrior armour, holding a shield and wielding a sword. She looked the same otherwise but the bore an air of confidence and power that she lacked in her normal form. Blanka realized that Athena had managed to pick up a third Power Stone and had transformed into a super-powered form to continue her fight with Darunia.
Darunia held up his arms as he tried to block a swing from the powered Athena's sword, but she managed to break through his near-impenetrable defense and he ended up getting caught in a flurry of sword attacks before Athena finished with a shield bash to the face, knocking Darunia backwards and sending the Goron Chief rolling back several feet.
Managing to land back in a standing position, Darunia ignited his hammer in flames and lashed out, aiming for the transformed Athena's head, but the latter held up her shield and managed to block to blow, even bouncing Darunia off of it with the force of the attempted hit getting nullified.
"Is this the type of power you get when you take another form? Amazing!" Darunia laughed.
Suddenly hearing a whistle, Darunia looked over his shoulder and saw Blanka with a Power Stone in hand. "Here!" He called out, chucking the Power Stone at Darunia. The Goron Chief grinned widely as he reached for the stone.
Athena, in the meantime, saw what Darunia was about to do and remembered that he already had two stones. "No!" She called out as she swung her sword at Darunia, hoping to catch him before he could grab the stone Blanka had just thrown at him.
Before Athena could make contact, however, Darunia got his hand on the stone, engulfing him in an explosion of light that knocked Athena backwards. Digging her sword into the canvas as she skid to a halt, Athena looked up as the light cleared and saw Darunia's transformed state.
Darunia had bulked up in size considerably and his muscles looked far more rock-like than before, in addition to his eyes glowing a burning yellow and his beard and hair being made of actual flames. Darunia laughed, spewing a burst of fire from his mouth as he did, showing that he was less a Goron and more a literal walking volcano now.
"Wow! I feel so much stronger!" Darunia cheered as he looked over his new form. Seeing Athena getting into her stance again, Darunia hoisted his Megaton Hammer onto his shoulder. "Right. Let's test out this bod of mine and see how that armour holds up NOW, eh?"
Darunia rushed Athena and lashed out with his hammer, lighting it up with flames a she did. Athena held up her shield in an attempt to block but Darunia's weapon smashed through her defenses and left her open to attack. Every blow Darunia landed on her armour hurt, even with the powered-up state Athena was in, and it felt like any of the Goron's attacks could break off a piece of armour at any time.
Athena saw an opening and took it, swinging with her sword and managing to strike the transformed Darunia in the shoulder. Unfortunately for Athena, the attack did little other than bounce off the transformed Goron with little more than a chip off the shoulder. Darunia kept swinging the hammer and Athena realized that she needed to back off and play keep away from Darunia until he transformed back, knowing that now SHE was playing defense.
Unfortunately, Athena backed away at the wrong time and just as she was putting distance between herself and Darunia, her thirty seconds with the Power Stones was up and, in another flash of light, Athena was back in her normal form and the three stones had launched away in different directions, leaving her in her base form against a towering, flame-coated rock monster with a hammer as big as she was.
Before Athena had time to register what had happened, Darunia swung his huge hammer and slammed it into her torso. With a mighty strike that sounded like an exploding volcano, Darunia launched Athena clear out of the ring with a single strike. As Athena vanished into a portal, Blanka came running over to the still-transformed Darunia. By the time Blanka reached him, Darunia had turned back to normal as well as his Power Stones scattered.
Darunia laughed as Blanka reached him. "Thank you for lending me that stone, brother!" He said. "I definitely needed that power boost against her!"
"I remembered you saying you had two. It made sense." Blanka shrugged.
Darunia gave Blanka a hard slap on the back with a hearty laugh, knocking him over.
Chris Lightfellow held up her sword and parried a bolt of lightning thrown at her. The culprit, Lord Hater, growled and fired a few more bolts at the silver-haired knight in an attempt to break through her defenses.
After being knocked away by Soldier, Chris ended up in a fight with Lord Hater in her attempt to get back over and help Kaya and Young Link. Even after watching Young Link get tossed (and Soldier getting tossed in revenge), Chris had been unable to break away from Lord Hater ever since the two had started fighting.
"Oh, come on! The last sword-guy I took down with my electricity with ease!" Lord Hater cursed. "How are you not feeling any of this?!"
Chris smirked. "My metal armour is acting like a lightning rod, my friend." She mentioned. "You'll find that any of those magic bolts you throw at me wll just go through my armour and into the floor."
Lord Hater's eyes flared up in anger. "That's cheating! That's MY job!" He shouted. "Oooooh, I'm going to obliterate you so hard that your ancestors will feel it!"
Lord Hater threw himself at Chris, hands outstretched in what looked like an attempt to claw the female knight's eyes out. Chris held up her sword and blocked the blow as Lord Hater wrapped his mitts around the blade and tried pumping it full of electricity. However, like before, the lightning shot through Chris' full-body armour and shot into the canvas uselessly. Chris struggled to overpower Lord Hater's strength, however, as she started straining when the space maniac tried to force her backwards.
Finally, Chris lashed out with a fist and clocked Lord Hater in the face, making him let go of her sword. Lord Hater's head comically spun around a few times before he grabbed it to stop the spinning. As he did, Chris lashed out with a foot and gave Lord Hater a hard kick to the stomach, knocking him down onto his back.
On his back, Lord Hater watched as Chris stood over him and started casting magic of her own with her True Water Rune. Lord Hater saw a huge block of ice starting to materialize in the air above him, screamed like a little girl and instinctively lashed out with his hands, firing another bolt of electric magic up at the silver-haired knight. Lord Hater got lucky and struck Chris in the face, the only part of her body not covered in metal armour, and caused her to stumble backwards, cancelling her spell and letting Lord Hater get to his feet again.
"Okay. Aim for the face. Shouldn't be too hard…" Lord Hater muttered as he rolled up his sleeves and started gathering magic again.
Suddenly hearing a family rustling noise coming from behind him, Lord Hater froze in terror, the magic in his hands dissipating as he slowly looked over his shoulder and found himself staring down at Mimikyu. At some point he had stopped lamenting over his broken disguise, although he still looked a bit downtrodden at the dangling cloth head that hung loosely by his torso.
Seeing Mimikyu focusing on him again made Lord Hater scream in terror and leap away, scrambling to escape the Disguise Pokemon before he got a hold of him again. "NOT YOU AGAIN!" He screamed. "STAY AWAY, DEMON!"
Chris lifted an eyebrow and stepped forward. "Why are you so scared of this little guy?" She asked before kneeling down and noticing that Mimikyu was looking a little depressed. "Oh, you're sad, aren't you? Are you hurt?"
"Lady, I swear! Get away from that thing!" Lord Hater urged before trailing off. "It's…Pure…Evil…" Upon realizing what he was saying aloud, Lord Hater gave a smirk. "Hmm…This may work, actually…"
Chris, in the meantime, cast a spell with her True Water Rune and healed Mimikyu. Suddenly, Mimikyu's cloth disguise head lifted straight up again, as if the damage done to it had been undone. Mimikyu seemed to take notice of this and his eyes lit up in awe, seemingly thanking Chris by nuzzling against her leg before turning and scampering off in an attempt to make her proud.
As Mimikyu wandered off, Chris instantly spun around and swung her sword, striking through a few bolts of electric magic that Lord Hater had fired from his hands while Chris had her back turned. Chris pressed forward and swung at Lord Hater with her sword, though the bony villain jumped back as Chris tried to attack him, and then slammed a palm into her face while she was recovering from an extended swing.
Chris staggered back, holding her face. "Ugh…You'd be quick to attack someone from behind, huh?" She challenged.
Lord Hater wiggled non-existent eyebrows and gave a smirk. "I'm a villain. It's what I do." He admitted with a shrug before receiving a butt to the head from the handle of Chris' sword, stunning him and opening him up for further attacks from Chris. Lord Hater received multiple slashes to the torso and was quickly kicked onto his back. Before Lord Hater had the chance to get up again, Chris jammed her sword into the canvas, through Lord Hater's cloak, effectively keeping him pinned.
"Hey! Lady, do you know how much time it's going to take Peepers to FIX that tear?!" Lord Hater demanded.
Chris didn't respond and instead raised her arms again, casting more water magic. Lord Hater watched as, instead of a huge ice boulder, Chris was surrounded by multiple spears of water, each one pointed down at him. Lord Hater screamed and quickly tried tearing his cloak free of Chris' sword.
Just as Chris lashed out with her hands and fired the volley of spears at Lord Hater, the insane villain managed to yank his cloak free with a loud tear and backpedaled away from where he had been trapped as the water spears struck the canvas one after the other until Chris had fired what looked like twenty into the canvas. Chris finally stopped her magic and opened her eyes, suddenly noticing that Lord Hater had gotten free before she cast her magic. Chris turned to the right just in time to see a fist flying at her face.
Lord Hater decked Chris with a right hook, knocking the silver-haired knight backwards a few steps and stunning her. Lord Hater followed up with another quick couple of punches, forcing Chris backwards as she tried to raise her guard. However, she was unable to get her guard up fast enough as Lord Hater hit her with a running clothesline, sending Chris tumbling over the top rope and finally out of the arena.
Lord Hater, standing victorious in the ring, gave a sigh as he picked up Chris' sword and chucked it out of the ring after her before examining the tear he had made in his cloak trying to get free. "Aw, maaaan…Peepers is gonna give me an earful for this one…" He whined.
Propeller Knight spun his helmet propeller in front of him, sending a magic ball of Soul energy flying off in a random direction. Quickly lifting his head, Propeller Knight took to the sky as Menat lunged at him with a flying kick, only to miss when Propeller Knight started flying. Propeller Knight flew abover Menat as she fired a few more balls of Soul energy into the sky in an attempt to shoot him down, only to see that he was too fast in the air for her to hit.
"Aha! It appears this one hath an advantage, doesn't it?" Propeller Knight said from the sky. "Mayhaps the tide is turning in my favour, eh?"
Menat couldn't help but smirk. "How are you going to beat me if you stay in the air like that. I can't fly myself, after all." She mentioned.
"Alas, this too is true, milady! Me staying up her doth not give me a chance to fight you." Propeller Knight agreed.
Rearing back with his fencing sword, Propeller Knight soared straight at Menat at high speeds, causing Menat to jump out of the way in surprise, not expecting Propeller Knight to be that fast or an attempt a dive-bomb attack. Menat rolled into a crouching position and lashed out with a hand, sending three of her floating orbs at Propeller Knight, striking him in the face while he was getting up from his failed attack.
Menat saw Propeller Knight stagger backwards and rushed him, striking the armoured fighter with her legs a few times as she gathered her Soul energy orb and flung it past her opponent. Propeller Knight tried to lift his sword to counter Menat but she was quicker, kicking him and sending him flying backwards, only to feel Menat's magic orb slam into his back as it returned to Menat.
Propeller Knight groaned as he pushed himself to his feet, Menat watching him as she gathered up some more energy and created a few more smaller Soul orbs around her. "Ungh…It appears I may have underestimated you milady." He mentioned as he got into a stance again. "Nevertheless, you shan't take me by surprise like that again!"
Menat gave a smirk. "Let's see if you can live up to that claim." She mentioned.
Propeller Knight acted first as he lunged at Menat and swung his sword, trying to anticipate her dodging and adjusting his attack accordingly. Menat managed to swerve around his blows the first few times, but Propeller Knight managed to get a lucky hit in, which allowed him to quickly strike Menat a few more times with his sword. Stepping back, Propeller Knight reared back again and prepared to lunge forward.
That, however, was when Menat recovered and backflipped away, avoiding Propeller Knight's attack. Menat fire all of the small Soul orbs flying around her at her opponent once she was back into a standing position, but Propeller Knight seemed ready for that as well since he had already aimed the propeller attached to his helmet at Menat and had turned up the power on it. Menat's magic projectiles were promptly thrown back at her, striking her in the face and torso, as Propeller Knight changed the direction his propeller was moving and instead started pulling Menat closer to him, in an attempt to get her within range so he could attack her again.
Realizing that kicking at propeller Knight while he had his propeller pointed at her was a sure-fire way to lose a limb, Menat threw her Soul orb behind her opponent again and summoned it back, causing it to strike Propeller Knight in the back and knocking him over, causing him to stop spinning his turbine-like propeller and releasing Menat from the wind's pull. Propeller Knight struggled to get up but seemed to forget that he had yet to turn his large turbine propeller back into a regular propeller, thus keeping his head weighed down.
Seeing Propeller Knight down and trying to get up, Menat slammed her hands together and created a pillar of Soul energy underneath Propeller Knight's feet, launching him upwards, and Menat swung her hands a few times to create small explosions of Soul energy that bounced Propeller Knight around while the pillar of Soul energy kept him airborne. Menat continued to attack Propeller Knight while he was hanging in the air, knowing that if he landed he was likely to start up his turbine again.
Propeller Knight swung his sword around as he was getting assaulted, trying to strike something to keep Menat from attacking him. He managed to deflect some projectiles Menat threw at him but most of the attacks were striking him from different angles, causing him to miss entirely or be facing the entire wrong way when he tried to attack. This left Propeller Knight near-defenseless as Menat continued to strike and weaken him and he didn't notice that the purple-haired seer had leapt into the air towards him since he was so preoccupied with trying to keep himself from getting hit.
In the air, Menat stopped her psychic attack on propeller Knight as the pillar she created dissipated in an instant. Propeller Knight looked ahead just in time to see Menat's foot coming at his face. Propeller Knight tried to lift his sword to parry the blow…
*CLANG!*
…But was half a second too slow and received a heavy flying kick to the face for his troubles, Menat using enough force to send Propeller Knight flying clear over the ropes. The flying knight tried to fly back in but realized too late that he still hadn't changed back from his heavier turbine propeller and the weight of his helmet ended up carrying Propeller Knight down into a portal before he could change to his normal propeller.
Propeller Knight fell into the world of Joe & Mac, where he spent the next ten minutes running and screaming from an angry T-Rex.
Back in the arena, Menat landed on her feet and dusted herself off as she stood up, a single Soul orb flying around her. Hearing some teleportation noises coming from around the arena, Menat glanced around and saw that the Power Stones had been teleported out of the arena for the moment, signifying the end of the section.
Darunia and Blanka were still together, and the former had given the latter a rock to eat and recover some stamina (Blanka sniffed the rock a few times and attempted to take a bit out of it before realizing what he was doing was stupid). Mimikyu was in the process of tussling with BB Hood, likely as a means to impress someone, while the latter was swearing up a storm at the apparent loss of two Power Stones she had collected, thus leaving her to fight Mimikyu with no extra power. Lord Hater was watching Mimikyu from far away, looking like a bizarre mixture of fear and interest, while Meta Knight was perched on a cornerpost, observing the rest of the remaining fighters while saving some stamina while keeping his distance from a pouting Pete, whom sat down and folded his arms. Greninja looked to be meditating, Mario looked eager to keep fighting and looked like he had barely broken a sweat while Pyra and Kaya were talking and exchanging details about their weapon properties.
Realizing that the section had come to an end, Menat gave a sigh in relief as she glanced up to the entrance curtain, knowing that downtime would be short-lived as the next wave of fighters was about to enter…
(?)
In the multicoloured void of vortexes, eight eliminated fighters floated in what seemed to be an empty space. Sackboy had brought a deck of cards with him in his inventory so Needle Man and Boom Boom appeared to have something to do to pass the time as they were playing Go Fish with the cloth puppet (who seemed to be happily beating them, much to their frustration), while Volkov simply floated around upside-down, having given up on trying to upright himself long ago. Soldier was no so easily-swayed, however, and continued to spin about, arms flailing as he tried to attack back against the void. Chris and Athena, the last two to arrive in the vortex, were conversing with Young Link to try and figure out where they were.
"This is weird. Usually in these things we're dropped into a random node when we get eliminated." Athena scratched her head. "The host even made that announcement before the tournament started."
Chris sighed and folded her arms. "I'm more-annoyed that I got eliminated so easily…" She lamented.
"Hey, think of it like this." Young Link shrugged. "I got eliminated by THAT GUY."
Athena and Chris glanced over at Soldier, whom was shouting to the void and spinning head-over-heels as he fired another rocket into the vortex. "You won't get my rent money that easily, leprechauns! You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!" He shouted.
All of a sudden, a new voice was heard in the void, startling all eight of the fighters. "SECTION ONE…ENDED." A robotic voice was heard, coming from everywhere all at once. "PREPARING PORTAL."
Volkov looked up (or down, in the case of everyone else) and saw a white light emitting from somewhere in the vortex. "It looks like we're finally getting answers…" He muttered with a scoff. "Great. I've been upside-down for the last fifteen minutes…"
"Aren't you a vampire?" Needle Man asked flatly.
"Shut up!"
Everyone watched as the white light grew stronger and brighter, enveloping all eight of them as the portal finally started to take effect…
RESULTS (15 votes on the Main Event; 14 on the Side Battle)
Main Event
BLANKA (SF5): 12:3 = 9 (Needle Man, Great Tiger)
META KNIGHT (SSB): 12:3 = 9 (Boom Boom, Sackboy)
LORD HATER (WOY): 12:3 = 9 (Roy, Chris Lightfellow)
MARIO MARIO (SMB): 11:4 = 7 (Pahn)
BB HOOD (DS): 11:4 = 7 (Orion)
GRENINJA (PKMN): 11:4 = 7 (Riptide)
DARUNIA (HW): 10:5 = 5 (Athena Asamiya)
PETE (PS): 10:5 = 5 (Abigail)
KAYA (BH): 10:5 = 5 (Soldier)
PYRA (SSB): 9:6 = 3 (Volkov)
MIMIKYU (PKMN): 9:6 = 3 (Raiden)
MENAT (SF5): 9:6 = 3 (Propeller Knight)
(ELIMINATED)
ATHENA ASAMIYA (KOF): 9:6 = 3 (Yashiro Nanakase)
SOLDIER (TF2): 9:6 = 3 (Young Link)
GREAT TIGER (PO!): 8:7 = 1 (Meitenkun)
SACKBOY (PAS): 8:7 = 1
MEITENKUN (KOF): 7:8 = -1
ROY (SSB): 7:8 = -1
RAIDEN (PAS): 6:9 = -3
PROPELLER KNIGHT (SK): 6:9 = -3
YOUNG LINK (HW): 6:9 = -3
CHRIS LIGHTFELLOW (ST): 5:10 = -5
YASHIRO NANAKASE (KOF): 5:10 = -5
NEEDLE MAN (MM): 5:10 = -5
RIPTIDE (EC): 4:11 = -7
ORION (BH): 4:11 = -7
BOOM BOOM (SMB): 4:11 = -7
PAHN (ST): 3:12 = -9
VOLKOV (BH): 2:13 = -11
ABIGAIL (SF5): 0:15 = -15
Side Battles
"Psychos For Hire"
RYUJI YAMAZAKI (King of Fighters) slices and dices BRYAN FURY (Tekken)
10 to 4
Every Vote Matters: This section just goes to show how voting matters in things like this. Great Tiger getting an elimination over Sackboy was decided due to his later draw, and Menat survived the section over Athena and Soldier because she entered FIFTH, while they entered SECOND and FIRST.
