Game Over

by MaveriKat

In a world where videogame productions are more of an emphasis on production and the stars are very real people, how do they handle life in the limelight? In general? Or more importantly, the rise and fall of popularity? Two foxes on either end of the spectrum will meet and find out from one another. Rated M for Drug Abuse, Violence, Adult Language, and Adult Situations.

6. There Will Be Brawl

Disclaimer: The "Star Fox" videogame series is owned by Nintendo and Platinum Games. The "Sly Cooper" videogame series is owned by Sony, Sucker-Punch Productions, and Sanzaru Games. There are also many other videogame properties but rest assured, I credit their creators and developers for the wonderful IP's that inspired this story. Said story itself is a fan-based non-profit work of fiction written strictly for entertainment purposes only. Please support the official releases.

Game Over

By MaveriKat & Nanya,

Beta Read By Innortal

Chapter 6: There Will Be Brawl

Silence. The Game Over club was deathly still, the only sound being the groans of the hedgehog as he rolled onto his side, his right hand coming up over his mouth as he moaned piteously into his palm; considerable amounts of red spilling through between his fingers. No one could comprehend that Mario just sucker-punched Sonic like that on a dime, nor the sheer amount of force that was behind it. The plumber was nowhere near being seen or thought of as physically weak to be certain, but the sheer amount of strength behind that intense blow was almost mystifying, leaving onlookers trying to wrap their heads around what they witnessed.

"So," the mustached Italian spoke, his words echoing through the club as the man's voice was booming; almost akin to the clanging of church bells through the Notre Dame cathedral. "Did dat knock some sense into you or do you need a de lesson repeated?" He placed his left fist into the palm of his right hand and began cracking knuckles. "Because, quite frankly... I am a good teacher. If I can instruct little tykes how to properly type at de keyboards in school then I can sure as'a hell get your sorry blue bigot butt in line." He snorted. "So tell me, hedgehog. You gonna apologize to my friend here, or do you need Doctor Mario to prescribe another knuckle sandwich!?" he snarled through clenched teeth.

Fox was looking over the scene before him, his eyes daring back and forth not only between the angered Italian and the downed furry speedster, but to the other two as well. For someone who could brag about having all sorts of, 'Intel inside' Raiden just didn't seem to have the processing power to comprehend what he'd just witnessed. And Carmelita? The poor vixen was just plain gawking! Obviously the two Sony alumni had no clue what the mustached paisano was capable of; a testament to just how effective Nintendo's PR team was at suppressing the truth concerning Mario's little outbursts. Yep, he thought glumly. We're so getting thrown out on our tails. I just hope Carmelita doesn't try to avoid me because of this.

It was a moment more before the hedgehog finally got his bearings. Pushing himself to his feet, the blue-quilled fur fixed his hat's placement atop his head while glaring daggers at the human before him; hate prevalent in the hedgehog's emerald-green eyes. He ground his teeth back and forth as if testing his jaw, showing off a set that were stained a deep pink with red between the spaces and his right top incisor missing. "You greasy, oily-skinned WOP! What the fuck was that for!?" he snapped. "You are going to pay for that!"

"Oh believe'a me, I already regret going outta my way to help you when you were down on your luck, you cub-loving shit-eater!" Mario snapped back just as venomously as Sonic. "We were never friends! And if'a you think you can get away with talkin' smack to those who are mine, you are sorely mistaken!" The mustached plumber turned his body to the right side. Bending his knees slightly but not a rigidly, the man brought his hands up to just under his eye-level so that he could see over his fists without blocking his vision while keeping his clenched hands close to his body to also keep some form of defense. "Last chance to take back dat shitty attitude of yours before I knock'a your blue block off!"

"With pleasure you overweight, greased-up ginzo," the anthro hedgehog spat at the man as he took up his own stance, his fists coming up with his right arm slightly in front of the body to act as a first line of offense and defense. Bouncing on the heels of his feet as he prepared to rush the hot-headed Italian icon, the fur sneered, "You ain't getting shit from me but a trip to the hospital, fatty! It's time someone took your obese ass down a peg or ten!"

Seeing that a fight was about to commence broke the multi-facial pierced member of the club's security into action. "THAT'S IT!" Volt shouted at the top of his lungs as he pointed towards the pair of short-tempered short-stacks with his right arm. "YOU TWO! YOU'RE OUT OF HERE!" the blond bouncer roared as his arm then went swinging, motioning to the exit. When neither made a move to leave, he continued to bark out, "DID I STUTTER!? OUT! BOTH OF YOU! LEAVE BEFORE I DRAG YOU OUT!" And considering he was more physically imposing than either of them, they knew it was a warning he was willing to carry out.

Both men turning their gazes towards the muscular form of the six-foot tall bouncer and seeing the rage in his red eyes, they both knew that their time was at an end. However, when they turned back to glare at each other, both plumber and speedster knew that this wasn't over by a long shot. There was going to be more blood before either of them were satisfied; one angry for their friend, and the other for their self-image.

Surprisingly, it was the hedgehog that was the first to speak. "Fine. Whatever," he snorted in annoyance. He looked over to the Liberian. "Raiden, you heard the man. Let's go. No skin off of my nose; this place is a shit-hole anyway." He smirked before telling his friend, "We'll just continue a real party elsewhere. Bring the girl."

His hand immediately clamped down on Carmelita's shoulder, the Liberian laughed, "With pleasure."

Hissing as she realizing the cyborg bastard had his mechanical mitts on her again, the Hispanic vixen cursed herself for not stepping away further, before audibly cursing him out. "Listen here you mecánicas pene-queso! Let go of me now before I make you regret—" she was cut off suddenly as she felt a blade against her neck... a sharp metal that was humming.

Fox's eyes widened in anger. "LET HER GO ASSHOLE!"

"Ah-ah-AH! I wouldn't come closer if I were you," the silver-tressed cyborg cooed. "Do you see this knife I'm holding against her pretty neck?" With both men glaring at him, he continued, "It's a little something left over from my time working on productions for Konami. A high-frequency knife. This sweet little piece of self-protection is charged by an alternating current from the handle so it resonates at extremely high frequencies. This weakens the molecular bonds of anything it cut, thereby increasing its cutting ability... be it slicing metals... stone... or flesh."

Her eyes going wide, the vixen brought her hands up, gripping onto the forearm holding the blade to her and pulling firmly with all her might, trying to force the hydraulic-enhanced prosthetic away from her. "You crazy cabron!" she snarled as she kept tugging with all her might. "Let me go you puto pinchazo!"

"Careful, Miss Fox..." Raiden cooed in a patronizingly sweet tone. "You might cut yourself... and this baby will make you bleed far worse than a simple paper-cut." He was grinning wide, showing off his perfect fake teeth. "And we don't want to wear you out before we've all had fun, would we?"

Her heart thundering in her chest, Lara was slowly withdrawing her Colt 1911 from her right hip, being careful as to not draw attention to herself. Her eyes moving to the left, she felt relief as she saw Richard standing there at the door-frame. The man was gazing towards her direction, waiting for her to give him the signal. He was making this her call. The brunette nodded her head in affirmation and watched for a moment as the blond man turned about and rushed back into their shared office before turning her attention back to the stand-off that threatened her new employee, waiting for an opening to act.

"Well then, if there will be no further interruptions," Sonic chuckled darkly. "We must be off. And anyone try to stop us, this sweet spic is going to find herself needing some serious cosmetic surgery..." he walked past the smoldering Italian and the traitorous fellow fur, strutting his stuff as if he were all that. That'll teach them. No one makes a fool of Sonic the Hedgehog! We'll just drop the bitch off somewhere once we get far enough away and enjoy a real night out... he thought to himself with a bit of glee. He wasn't a monster but he would go to whatever lengths it took to put uppity assholes in their place!

Making his way past the tables, the hedgehog and the cyborg made their way over to the bar where Shepard was sitting. The blue-quilled fur narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he saw that Link was sitting next to his goffer lackey while nursing on a bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon without a care in the world. "Hey! Shepard!"

Upon hearing his name called, the man lowered the beer bottle from his mouth. Turning about, he looked over his shoulder. Immediately catching sight of the color blue, he began to stutter, "AH! Suh-Sonic! I was coming over with the beers! Really!" He said as he held up a bottle in each hand. "I just got distracted talking... to..." he trailed off as upon turning on his seat, he saw the sight before him. He felt the color drain from his face as he saw that Raiden was holding a woman–likely one of the dancers from hoe she was dressed–hostage. "Oh shit..." the brunet male whispered. "Damn it, Sonic! I can't go back to prison!"

"Shut up and take out that douche!" Sonic shouted at his human lackey, the blue bastard's eyes glaring at the Hylian for a moment before turning back towards his human lackey. "We don't need anyone trying to attack us from behind on the way out!"

Blinking his eyes once, twice, the man with hair in a military buzz-cut who smelled as if he hadn't seen a shower in a month queried, "Who?"

"Link!" the hedgehog snapped at him. "The blond in the black leather!"

Hearing that, Shepard began looking about past the blue-quilled anthro and the mechanical Liberian, looking for Link. Blond in black leather, blond in black leather, blond in black leather, was the mental mantra as he gazed about at all the angry faces that filled the place–both on the floor and on stage–particularly that of Mario and the foxy guy with him who were slowly making their way towards them, as if trying not to attract the blue man's attention. He quickly grabbed one of his still awaiting beers for protection.

Yet, despite the obvious threat, the former space game star's attention was drawn to the door in the back that opened, a pair of people coming out. One of the club's strippers was entering the room with a man who was a...

"Blond in black leather!" Shepard roared as he threw the full bottle in his left hand at him, the brown glass containing cheap beer sailing through the air before coming to a crash against the side of the blond's head. "Bulls-eye!" he cheered. Damn, it was like fighting the Flood in his game all over again! No matter how much time passed, he still had it!

Sonic looked towards where the beer bottle landed and his eyes went wide. Rounding about on the member of his posse dressed in the rather smelly fur-lined coat, the short anthro hedgehog screamed, "YOU IDIOT! THAT WAS CLOUD STRIFE!"

His head throbbing in pain, Cloud blinked his eyes once, twice as he brought his right hand up to the side where he'd been hit. Lowering his hand, he saw the glistening of blood on his glove. "...Okay..." he said slowly as he rubbed his fingers together, feeling the stickiness of his life's essence and the cheap alcohol as it clung between the fingertips of his leather garment. "Unless that was either my girl Tifa, Squall, or Mario... whoever hit me with that is dead." He raised his head to look out into the club, catching sight of Mario and Fox standing together.

As if on cue, both members of the Nintendo Alumni pointed towards the trio by the bar. "It was'a them!" the mustachioed Italian shouted.

"They're trying to kidnap Carmelita!" the Papetoonian vulpine sounded out in alarm, letting the guy know just what he was getting himself into when he walked back in from the VIP room.

That made the blond human blink his eyes, ignoring the pain that was throbbing from the side of his skull for the moment. "Well..." Cloud said as he stood up. "And here I was, just trying to have a good time. Maybe fondle a few of the strippers..." he started strutting towards the grop, fists clenching tight enough to make the leather of his gloves creak. "And what do we have here but a couple of punks trying to ruin the night for everyone?"

The crimson optics sensor in the silver-tressed man's left eye socket flashed from behind the lenses of his sunglasses. "Don't even try it," Raiden warned as his Patriot HF knife started to press against Carmelita's neck, the vixen inhaling in nervousness through the spaces between her teeth..

Shrugging his shoulders in a nonchalant manner, the ex-soldier queried, "Try what exactly? I mean, I'm not the one holding a malfunctioning electric fork in my hand." He smirked as Raiden blinked his right eye in confusion. However, before the cyborg could question him, the blonde human opened his hand, causing the Liberian to let out a yell as an electric bolt suddenly zapped the knife as the crackling blast originated from the leather-clad male's hand. "Ooooh... you really got to watch out. Who knows when a maniac with lightning materia is running around," the spiky-haired blond said with a smirk as he closed his hand back into a fist.

Gritting his teeth, the Liberian's cybernetic eye began lighting up as it gave him a HUD view concerning the real-time reflex-actuators in his hand were offline as he replied, "So it seems I'm not the only one who keeps a memento or two from work..." he held his arm close to the woman, not wanting her to use the moment to escape. It was a standoff. "But as you can see, I still haven't dropped my HF knife..." with his eye going green and showing the signal connection from his brain chemistry to his hand were reestablished, the man smirked as he pressed it against the vixen's neck further, for emphasis making the woman do her best to push his arm from her, the damn mechanical piece seemingly locked into position. "I wouldn't try that again. You might cause my arm might swing the opposite way of what you want. Wouldn't want to decapitate the poor girl, would we?"

Cloud narrowed his icy blue eyes, glaring at the smirking cyborg. He had been hoping to disable the mostly mechanical misfit of MGS outright but it seemed the silver-tressed pretty-boy's prosthetics were insulated to protect against the EMP effects of powerful electric surges.

It was that moment the hedgehog's impatience started to show. "Shepard! Come on! Get your ass off of that stool now! We're leaving!" Damn it, this was supposed to be a quick but cool exit with the hostage but his posse kept either posturing or fucking up. This was supposed to make the plebeians think but now they might try more heroics! "NOW!"

"Right!" the brunet with a buzz-cut replied as he moved to get off his stool... only to stumble off and crash to the floor as Link–who Sonic HAD been warning him about before–suddenly struck out with his mug, breaking white ceramic across the human's face.

The menacing shonen male's eye flashed again as if it were proximity alarm. "What the hell?" the cyborg queried at the loud noise as he turned to look over his left shoulder.

It was just the opening Lara needed. Bringing her handgun up suddenly, she took aim and pulled the trigger. The loud bang of her firearm resounded in the club, the bullet hitting the sunglasses dead on and drilling right into the silver-tressed douchebag's cybernetic eye. He screamed as he released the Hispanic vixen, both hands coming to his face in reflex.

Carmelita knew a good thing when she had it. With the opportunity at hand, the female fur immediately rushed away from the taller man, only to yelp in surprise as another set of arms grabbed her. She was about to slug the person but only stopped as she realized it was, "Fox?"

"Don't worry, I got you!" He said in reassurance as he gave her a tight hug. Easing up, he quickly grasped her wrist and pulled her back further away from the Liberian cyborg so the mechanical man wouldn't be able to grab her again. The Papetoonian was so quick about it that he had to press himself up against her so she wouldn't trip over her high-heels.

"Well then," Mario cracked his knuckles as he started to step closer towards the trio of trouble-makers. "Looks like you ain't got a hostage no more, blue boy!" And with that said, the Italian lunged for Sonic, intend to deliver a beat-down.

Sadly, the plumber hit the floor as–like the fur's name suggested–the blue hedgehog took off running, ducking underneath Volt and going between the bouncer's legs before slamming the door open and exiting with a cry of, "You're too slow!"

Pushing himself up off the ground, the mustached Italian with a doctorate in ass-kicking roared, "COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE BLUE BITCH!" He was on his feet and about to run out the door when he stumbled once more. His blue eyes went wide and he grit his teeth as he felt a very sharp and painful sensation explode throughout his shoulder. He looked back to realize he had a sharp red blade sticking out of him–the same one that had been at the Hispanic vixen's neck. "Mother-fucker!"

"Fuck you too!" Raiden snarled as another blade slide out from the palm his out-stretched hand, obviously having been a part of the pretty-boy's machine-oriented interior anatomy. The pretty-boy with the busted optic sensor then whirled about with the blade, waving it at Lara. "And you, you fucking cunt! Do you have any idea just how much repairs to this body cost!?"

The British woman held up her hands, continuing to train the sights of her Colt handgun at the man. "Just try it! Bullets always beat blades!" she said in all seriousness. "Now sit your ass down and wait for the cops or I'm going to blow you away!" The gun made an audible clicking sound as she cocked the hammer.

Raising an eyebrow, the man stared at the chromed pistol. "Please. These are high frequency blades, bitch," the pale man with a prosthetic body snapped as he held up his other hand. As with his right hand, the palm of his left opened and out came another high frequency knife, allowing him to duel-wield the crimson-colored blades. "These babies are designed with the specific ability to reflect bullets." He smirked deviously at her direction then, a dark chuckle reverberating in his throat. "Maybe you'll be less of a bitch if I return the favor. So which eye's your favorite: right or left?" he queried in a threatening manner.

"Think again, punk." A deep voice spoke up as Duke walked out onto the floor. He didn't even give Raiden a chance to respond before he opened fire with the double-barreled shotgun in his hands with a resounding...

*BLAM*!

"FUCK!" Raiden screamed as he went stumbling back, flailing his arms to keep his balance. He may have been a cyborg but those things packed a punch. "YOU ASS—"

*BLAM*!

"—HOLE!" The silver-haired male yelled again as he took another shot to the chest, being forced past the podium as Volt stepped aside and made his way out of the blast radius; the bouncer with numerous facial piercings not wanting to be anywhere near the Liberian turned into a mobile target. "WOULD YOU STOP—"

*BLAM*!

This time the man screamed; not from pain, oh no. The blasts were starting to strip the golden coating, his paintjob effectively being scratched. Raiden stared down at the superficial damage before glaring up at the over-muscled blond decked in the brown suit holding a Remington at the ready. "YOU FUCKING—"

*BLAM*!

"GAH!" Raiden yelled as he twisted his body, barely evading taking another blast, and instead ending up covered in wood as the top of the podium was blown to pieces. "Fine! FINE! I get the hint! I'm going!" he shouted before the silver-haired pretty-boy ran for the door...

Only for Duke to smirk as he took aim with his shotgun once more. "Still can't beat the classics."

*BLAM*!

"AAUUUGH!" Raiden cried out, more so in humiliation than pain as he took another load of buckshot, only this time to the ass; the force of the blast ruined the trajectory of his leap, causing the cybernetic individual to literally crash through the door and out into the parking lot.

Even as much as it hurt when Volt tore the blade out of his shoulder, Mario couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the cyborg fallen into a, 'cheeks up and face down' position. "Nope! The classics are always de best! Why do you think I keep'a up with de Super Mushrooms..." he made an experimental movement, rotating his left arm in the socket. "Nnnngh... dat hurts a bit more then I'd-a like..."

Tearing his gaze from the fallen form of Shepard as he lay groaning on the floor, the Hylian turned his head towards the sound of his pal's voice; blue eyes going wide. "Geeze, Mario... you okay?" the pointy-eared blonde queried as he got off his stool and made his way towards the shorter human. "Take it from someone who's been stabbed way too many times. Go easy with that until you're patched up."

Snorting, the mustached plumber said, "I got stuff in de Mario Mobile dat will take care of dis little scratch. Dat, however, has gotta wait for a bit." His eyes narrowing, the plumber took the HF knife from the blond bouncer's grasp, making Krueger shout in surprise. Then, waving the crimson blade, the mustached man roared the battle cry of, "SAY YOUR PRAYERS SONIC! I'MMA COMIN' FOR YOU!" With that said, he leapt out of the club, landing on and stomping Raiden's ass as if he were a Goomba or Koopa Troopa to get more air-time.

Giving the two vulpines one more look, Cloud faced towards the front of the club and started walking towards the entrance as well. It wasn't his fight but he had gotten involved. There was no way was he going to be able to stay out of it now...

Besides, he wanted to pay that cyborg back for being a putz. Hmm, am I forgetting something? He thought curiously.

"Uuuugh..." Shepard groaned as he finally tried to push himself to a standing position, but only making it as far as to getting onto his hands and knees. The dazed man started shaking his head, trying to clear the shock of getting smacked upside the face with a thick ceramic mug.

"...Oh yeah," the spiky-haired star of the seventh installment of Final Fantasy chirruped before he suddenly turned about and gave the downed space hero a swift kick to his side. "Kidney Kick!"

The fallen man's eyes went wide before his mouth framed with a grimy five o'clock shadow parted open to allow a stream of vomit to go cascading across the carpeted floor, making others patrons back away from him and for Lara to shout, "Damn it, Cloud!"

The leather-clad blond grimaced. More-so from the pathetic sight of this shell of a man that was Shepard than the woman's chastisement. He was used to his drinking partners being a LITTLE bit tougher than that. Heck, even Yuffie could take more than that!

Shaking his head, all Cloud sighed at those memories. He had forgotten the amount of times the little ninja bitch had shown up for work on Final Fantasy VII drunk off her ass and still took worse beatings than what Shepard just did. It had gotten so bad that the producers had pushed her back into a 'secret character' status because they had lost out on so much material meant for her.

"Tsk," the blonde co-owner of the Game Over snorted in annoyance. "Will someone get that fool out of here!?" Duke yelled as he motioned to the former game star with his shotgun–gun safety be damned! After all, this was going to be a pain in the ass to clean up.

Holding a hand up, the bouncer with devil horn piercings mumbled, "I got it, Boss. I got it..." he picked up the trembling form of Shepard, wincing as his nose was assaulted with the stench that came off the vomit-covered man and his coat in particular. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up. Then we'll call you a taxi to take you for a ride..." the fact the man wasn't really out to cause problems being the only reason Volt was going as easy on the former videogame star as he was.

Watching the man lead the broken form of Shepard towards the bathrooms, the Hispanic beauty shook her head. "Jesus..." Carmelita whispered as she looked at the craziness before her. Bar-fighting, highly-armed bosses, puke all over the floor, broken doors, overturned tables. "What have I gotten myself into?" she murmured, not really expecting an answer.

However, she got one. "Such is life, dealing with your peers in the gaming industry..." Fox murmured in understanding. "It's why when I was in a rut after things went sour with work and life in general, I stayed at home for five years. I didn't want to deal with life in any way, shape, or form. I became a shut-in of the worst degree." He chuckled slightly. "Although I have to admit, crazy as it sounds... this is the most excitement I've had in years."

"I know what you mean," the blue-tressed vixen murmured. As much as she didn't like to think about it, she had been something of a homebody for the past few years herself. "I just wish I had a gun," she muttered, wanting to make that spiky blue punk pay for making her feel so... so helpless.

The Papetoonian considered the woman's statement for a moment. "Well..." Fox slowly muttered. "How badly do you want a gun?" he asked her honestly.

Needless to say, that comment made Carmelita raise an eyebrow; whether from surprise or curiosity, she wasn't sure. That wasn't something she was asked very often. "What? Don't tell me you have some outside."

The male pilot shrugged his shoulders. "...Maybe?" Fox offered in response. "I have no clue what Mario put into his car's trunk but he admitted to me earlier that he grabbed a lot of random surplus from Nintendo's supply depot... surplus that had to do with the Super Smash Bros. series." As her brown eyes went wide, the Papetoonian vulpine shrugged his shoulders again. "I know how crazy this might seem, but trust me, as a person Mario is a bit more... erm..." he paused, looking for the right words.

"Psychotic?" Link offered as he came up to the pair of vulpine furs.

His right ear twitching, the currently grounded pilot replied, "While a bit crasser than I would have said it, my friend here is describing it best. Mario's a bit more psychotic than the Nintendo Reps would have you believe." Thumbing over to the Hylian, he added, "You should have seen the shape Link was in. Apparently Mario's efforts to get us to lighten up had my poor friend here tripping balls like a PokéMon Master."

Whether it was despite the seriousness or perhaps in spite of the insanity... Carmelita actually giggled for a moment. She couldn't believe it! Sweet, innocent, family-friendly Mario a psycho? Although, the Hispanic vixen started to think. Considering everything that's gone on tonight, I probably could. It's just he seems so—

*KA-BOOM~WHOOSH*!

*TWHUMP*!

Everyone bounced and shook as something hit the ground and hard! Whatever it was, it the ground hard enough that all those gathered felt the resulting tremor! "...I REALLY hope that wasn't a Thwomp." Link muttered as his gaze went towards the door.

When various items came rolling into view across the open entrance of the club, things like Capsules, Freezies, Super Mushrooms, and even a Franklin Badge rolling on its side, the pair that had arrived with the mustachioed paisano realized this wasn't good at all. Looking at each other, the Papetoonian and the Hylian realized all this crap suddenly all over the parking lot could only mean one thing. "The Mario Mobile!"

Blinking her eyes once, twice, thrice all the female vulpine could query was, "Mario Mobile?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Damn, damn, damn, DAMN!" Sonic hissed as he ran around to the driver's side of his Hummer H2 SUT. Grasping he door handle, he pulled it open before hurriedly climbing into his seat. Slamming the door shut and hitting the lock, the Hedgehog began fumbling with his keys. His numerous car keys. "Dodge Viper, Chevy SSR, Toyota Prius... come on, come on... where's my fucking Hummer key!?"

The troublesome fur then let out a little shriek and dropped his keys on the floor when something suddenly slammed against his door. Turning his head to the left and gazing out the window, he saw Mario was standing there, looking super pissed. "OPEN THIS DOOR NOW, YOU BLUE SON OF A CUNT!" the mustached man roared as he slammed on the door with the handle of one of Raiden's Patriot HF blades. "DE LONGER YOU TRY AN' STOP'A ME, DE GREATER DE ASS-KICKING YOU'RE GONNA GET!"

"Shit, shit, shit..." Sonic cursed as he turned over to his right and reached between the seats. He began to blindly feel about the floor with his extended right arm. "Where is it, where is it!?" The blue-quilled hedgehog squeaked as he pawed all over the ground, feeling all kinds of trash that had been building up back there. However, the anthro was soon smirking wide as he felt something considerably solid. Pulling up the weighty item, the hedgehog's grin stretched from ear-to-ear. "Oh thank you, Shepard!"

The blue quilled-fur then turned about, taking aim with a futuristic firearm. It was an item comprised of black polymers and purple-sheened metals, decked with blue and gold trims, and pulsing with the promise of power and pain. "FUCK YOU, PLUMBER!"

The Italian's eyes went wide as saucers as he saw Sonic holding a Geth plasma shotgun of all things! A triple-barreled weapon that was designed to fire off small but powerful cluster rounds of superconducting projectile plasma. "OH SHIT!" the man screamed as he ducked for cover, just as the furry fucker pulled the trigger. Electricity arced between the two top barrels, flash-converting the air to conductive plasma before firing it off and practically incinerating the driver's side door of the Hummer.

However, the shot of energy kept going though as the steel of the hedgehog's vehicle was unable to offer the barest of defense against the weapon the crazy blue bastard held, the metal barrier unable to deter it or change its trajectory. The plasma kept on going before hitting a black Hardy-DAYTONA motorcycle in the lot, the impact, resulting in a conflagration of heat and electrical discharge that sent the motorcycle flying high...

...Only to slam into the back seat and crash down atop of the trunk of one particular Cadillac with a loud, 'THWUMP' ruining both upholstery and car frame, particularly with the weight that hit the trunk, bending the steel inward and torqueing the frame. The sudden assault on the vehicle's suspension also caused the Caddy to bounce in place, which resulted in a good deal of the trunk's contents to go flying and rolling all over the parking lot.

Slowly raising his head up from where he lay down on the asphalt parking lot, the Italian male's eyes widened in sheer horror at the sight that greeted him. He gulped in dread as a flaming heap of scorched and mangled metal that was lying in the back of his now damaged ride. "Muh..." he gasped out in shock before he finally screamed. "MY MARIO MOBILE!"

Holding up Shepard's favored piece of self-defense, the hedgehog was feeling mighty cocky now. "Sucks to be you!" Sonic taunted the downed human, smirking rather nastily at him. "Now then, why don't you kindly—"

He was cut off as the mustached plumber snapped, "You asshole!" he was trembled with unbridled rage. "Dat... dat car was a gift from my dead grandpappy." Mario growled, his eyes were practically glowing as he grabbed an item off the ground. "YOU SPIKY BLUE SONNUVABITCH!" Mario roared as he spun about in place, his outfit taking on a familiar color pattern of white and red as balls of fire pooled in his hands. "TAKE'A DIS!"

His eyes widening in shock, the Sega mascot realized what the plumber had grabbed: a Fire Flower. "SHIT!" Sonic cursed, managing to jump out of the way just in time to save his spiny blue ass before he could be pelted with fireballs.

"Fuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyou!" was the Italian's train of non-stop cursing as he continued to blast fireball after fireball... however, it became apparent that he wasn't even aiming for the hedgehog! The man's fury was focus on blasting the Hummer again and again with projectile balls of flame; the steel starting to turn a bright and sizzling red as it began to slowly melt... before the front of the vehicle exploded, the engine and gas tank having ignited and blown up! The resulting concussive force of the shockwave was enough to send the vehicle flipping over onto its back, causing the glass tubing of the club's neon sign to explode, and fling both the plumber and the hedgehog away from it. As he landed on his rear, the colors of Mario's clothing went back to their previous pink, white and blue Hawaiian colorations as well; the shockwave enough to end the Fire Flower's effects.

Shaking his head for a moment to try and clear the ringing in his ears, the hedgehog exhaled slowly. "Oh... fuck me..." Sonic murmured as he soon lifted his gaze. His eyes went wide as he caught sight of his own vehicle now, the furry blue being screaming, "MY CAR!"

"MY BIKE!" Cloud hollered in rage as he stood in the doorframe behind his fellow leather clad blond and the shorter vulpine. His hands going to their shoulders, he pushed past Link and Fox, stepping closer to the devastation to get a better look. Yes, he realized his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. That mangled heap of flaming metal had been his motorcycle. "Who the fuck did that to my bike!?"

Forcing himself to a sitting position, the plumber pointed in the direction of the hedgehog. "De same asshole who'a ruined my grandpappy's car with your bike!"

Realizing he was getting yet another person his case, the blue-quilled male held up his left hand in a warding manner. "Hey, to be fair now," the hedgehog chirruped. "The greasy WOP here just blew up my car too. So no harm, no foul... right?" he asked hopefully.

Cloud's response was to grab a large piece of flaming wreckage that had been one of his bike's tailpipes and threw it at Sonic; the hedgehog having to roll over quickly to avoid it.

Having finally gotten up, the cybernetic-enhanced pretty-boy made his way over to the blond who shocked him earlier with a blast of electricity. "Excuse me!" Raiden chimed in, just as he punched Cloud in the back of the head, causing the man to nearly fall over. "Sorry, about that. But I can't let you kill him." Not that Raiden blamed the ex-soldier–that was a nice bike–but still, the silver-tressed man couldn't have him killing his buddy.

The blond clad in a full ensemble of black leather stumbled for a bit and was about to rush the male cyborg... before he paused in his tracks and merely smiled. "Hey, Jack? A bit of advice... when stabbing a back, watch your own!"

"The name isn't Jack, it's..." the silver-tressed pretty-boy trailed off as he blinked his one good eye. "What are you talking ab—"

"HIYAH!" Was the battle-cry of the pointy-eared blond, the elven male striking the cyborg across the back of his skull with his left fist; the Liberian's head about the only thing of him that wasn't metals, plastics, or some other composite of polymers.

The strike was enough to send Raiden back to the ground, his face making violent contact on the asphalt with a solid crunch. Rather unsteadily, the man got to his hands and knees, his pink, artificial blood flowing freely from his caved-in nasal cavity. "Buh... by dose!" his shocked cry was muffled by the broken facial structure. "You broke by dose! BY BOOTIFUL DOSE!" he roared as his eye began to glow red while his body released a crimson miasma; the man entering his, 'Jack The Ripper' persona.

Seeing this, the mustachioed man knew he had to help Cloud and fast. Seeing a glint of metal in the corner of his eyes, he turned to his left and saw a pair of silver handles. Grasping them in either hand, the short man was quick to rise to his feet. "Link! Fox!" Mario yelled as he threw the items at the two; cringing as his shoulder wound throbbed in aggravation. "Careful with them, dey have a limited battery!" He warned them before turning his attention back to Sonic. The quill-covered prick had gotten back onto his feet as well and was aiming that futuristic shotgun at him. "Dis is all'a your fault, blue boy... you could have either just calmed de hell down and enjoyed a party or simply walked away. Now look at de mess you made!"

The hedgehog's eyes widened in shock at the accusation... before they started narrowing in growing anger. "The mess I made!?" he snapped. "Look, pal! I wasn't the one throwing Miyamoto-damned fireballs around, zapping your buddies with lightning materia, or even shoot them in the eye! That was all you crazy fuckers!"

"YOU BLEW UP A MOTORCYLE INTO MY CAR!" the plumber shouted in rage; spittle flying from his lower lip.

"YOU WERE ASKING FOR IT!" Sonic retorted at the top of his lungs as he took aim once more with the Geth shotgun and fired in Mario's direction.

"FUCK'A YOUR MAMA!" the Italian icon roared as he dodged to the side, the blast from the hedgehog's weapon going wide and slamming into an orange Ford Excursion that was settled atop a large set of monster-truck tires and adorned with a pair of radioactive symbols on the doors' paintjob. As with the Cloud's Hardy-DAYTONA motorcycle, the vehicle was no match for the pulse of the conductive plasma and blew up on contact... except this time, the target went VERY high due to all the compressed air in the massive tires. From there, the vehicle went travelling in a wide arc before it came crashing down atop the remains of the blue anthro's hummer.

The Ford's charred license plate them came down to the ground, spinning in place on one of its corner numerous times before it finally fell over, landing face up to reveal it was imprinted with the registration, 'D NUKEM'.

"MY MONSTER TRUCK!" the strip club founder and co-owner roared from inside the establishment's doorway before he aimed at the hedgehog with his own shotgun. "BANNED FOR LIFE!" He was the badass blond's battle-cry as he began unloading both barrels in the direction of the blue fucker that just destroyed his precious Pussy Wagon.

Sonic screamed as he started dodging and weaving about, using his God-given ability to pump those crazy legs of his to evade the wild blasts of the angry muscle-bound club-owner's shotgun. "IT WAS A MISTAKE!" The quilled anthro screamed from behind someone else's vehicle as the man was loading more shells into his shotgun. "IT WAS MARIO'S FAULT! IF HE HADN'T DODGED, YOUR FORD WOULD STILL BE HERE!"

"Bullshit! That was a Geth weapon! It would have killed him and kept on going!" Richard snarled as finished putting more buckshot casings into his barrels. Clasping the barrels closed, the man in the fine brown suit growled, "You're still banned for life you miserable furry fucker!" he turned his gaze to Lara and told her, "Croft! Get inside and call the cops! We'll keep these bastards pinned until the authorities get here."

The woman nodded her head firmly, in complete agreement. "Right," his female partner replied as she rushed away from the entrance where most of the patrons and staff were gathering, making a beeline for their shared office. She needed the phone, ASAP.

Igniting the silver handles that Mario had given them, Link and Fox watched as the sabers of pink light suddenly formed from them. "Beam Swords..." Fox murmured as he held his at the ready. Giving his copyright-friendly version of the lightsaber an experimental swing, he turned to his elven friend. "You think these will be enough?"

Nodding his head in affirmation, the Hylian grinned rather cheekily as he saw something else on the ground: a golden winged-pattern shield with a round amethyst gem in the center. "Oh yeah. For now, I want you to cover me for a moment while I get what I need." He chuckled at the shocked look that the vulpine gave me. "Trust me."

His broken left optic sensors firing off sparks, Raiden growled and glared at the two of Mario's friends and that Strife jerk, maneuvering himself to stand between them and his own spiky blue pal. "None of you are leabing here!" He growled in as threatening manner as his broken nose would allow. The man then pulled free a number of high frequency blades, the numerous knives pulling together from his palms until they cascaded into a katana! "If you ffought by knives were bad before..." he left the voice-altered statement hanging as he swung his weapon a few times for emphasis, the weapon sending visible vibrations through the air as it did so.

Needless to say, Cloud decided to make that opening, not wanting the vulpine to risk himself. So with that thought in mind, he reached down and grasped an errant Freezie. "Catch!" the leather-clad hero shouted as he threw the icy-cold object at Raiden...

Who merely scoffed before he seemed to go hazy as everything around him blurred, his movements going faster than the eye could scarcely to keep up with, cutting the block of frozen water to pieces. As ice shavings went fluttering about in the air around him, the silver-haired Liberian smirked haughtily at them. "If dat was your plan, your shit outta luck!" He then sniffed to the point of snorting, trying to open his aching nasal passages.

However, Raiden would be made to eat those words. With the cybernetic fighter's attention on the ex-soldier, Link went dashing over towards a further section of the parking lot and picked up an item known as the Back Shield. While normally a defensive item that automatically floated behind the person, the elven male was holding it over his right arm like a proper shield. And with the Beam Sword in his left hand, the pointy-eared sylvan certainly felt like the Hero of Hyrule he knew himself to be. "HIYAH!" He called out as he rushed towards the sword-wielding cyborg.

The silver-tressed katana-swinger snarled as his HF sword came into contact with the plasma blade, annoyed that in being an energy saber, the edge of his high frequency weapon was merely held in place by the bolt of energy. "You really ffink you've got what it takes to beat be!?" he snapped at his opponent heatedly.

Smirking, Link heartily replied, "YOU BET I AM!" After all, even with as shitty as he felt, the elven guy realized that what Mario did to him now had some definite use...

"Hey! Look! Look! Listen! Look!"

Yes, he may have still been hallucinating that pain-in-the-ass Navi... but he was also seeing the Z-Targets the fairy was plastering all over the mechanical menace for him as well! "For once, it's good to be High-lian!" He cackled at his own joke.

"Tsk!" Raiden hissed as he ducked a swing from Link and lashed out with a kick. As he did, the extended blade from his heel struck out, only to slide off of the shield that the blond was using. Still, such an action gave the Liberian enough room to straighten back up and swing his sword at the smirking elf's face.

Had he been just a little less skilled with fighting sword-users, Link may have had his head taken off right then and there. Thankfully all the times Nintendo had him fight Stalfos, Ganondorf, and–at times–even his own friggin' shadow did improve his combative skills. The blond was quick to bring his sword back up to block the attack.

And that was when Link discovered that–despite his skewed perceptions from being high as a kite–the cyborg did have him beat on physical attributes. Link pushed off from the locked blades and jumped back, twisting away from the following downward slash and jumping over an attack at his legs before slashing at Raiden. Said mechanical sword-master blocked it with ease and thrust forward to pierce him in the chest, which in turn failed as the Hylian again moved his shield in the way to deflect the attack.

It was likely that when his anger abated later, Raiden would come to admit he was impressed by his pointy-eared opponent. He hadn't seen swordplay this good since Nariko and Dante.

Seeing that Link and Raiden were matching up with one-another so closely, the male vulpine was feeling tension. "Damn it! I've got to help him," he said in all seriousness, only to find himself stopped in his tracks; Cloud's hand gripping his shoulder tightly. "What?" he asked of the taller human.

"Don't be stupid," the man with spiky blond hair told the shorter furry individual firmly. "You're not a professional swordsman. Jack would strike you down in an instant with the state he's in." He released Fox's shoulder and went over towards where one of the items had landed. Kneeling down, the soldier grasped a blue and gold-banded handle with emerald pommel that was connected to an immense mass of sharpened rock. Rock which–interestingly enough–had a flaming feline eye motif shine upon the surface once he held the weapon aloft. "But me on the other hand?" He gave the Ore Club a few experimental swings. "This is more my speed."

Although the thought he wouldn't be much help in this situation annoyed him, Fox could admit that Cloud was right in this regard. He was nearly useless in a sword-fight. For Christ's sake, he could barely handle a staff! Guns or even fists were more his speed but still, to do nothing? "So that's it? You want me to sit this one out?"

To that inquiry, the blond merely smirked knowingly. "No. I think you could give Mario a hand. Sonic's firing blind," and thankfully in shooting more often, the Geth shotgun couldn't power up to its usual level of destructive force. "He's so focused on hitting our pal, that the blue bastard might not notice someone else sneaking up on him until it's too late."

Smiling back at the taller person, the Papetoonian gave his new human friend a thumbs-up. "Roger that." With that said, he turned about from the blond and began to make his way around the perimeter of the parking lot while Cloud started rushing up to the pair with their blades locked.

With another Fire Flower in hand and shots of energy flying overhead, Mario grit his teeth and squeezed the flower; his body flashing to white and red colorations once more in response. He waited moments more for there to be an opening in the volley of plasma blasts. When it came, the human quickly threw himself over the hood of the car he was using for cover and tossed several fireballs at Sonic. "BURN, BABY! BURN!"

Even as he got closer to the dueling pair of Gaming Icons, McCloud couldn't help but stare at the destruction they were causing. Even though he knew he needed to help, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe he should have taken his own advice and sat this one out...

"Oh well... too late to back out now..." Fox muttered to himself. Once he was in range, he waited for the opening. It came when Sonic pulled the trigger rapidly, firing another volley of shots at Mario as the Italian did his best to return fire. Letting out a yell, Fox jumped out from behind the distracted blue fur and swung the plasma blade at Sonic; its length extending with the swipe and giving him just enough extra reach from the motion to slash the blue fool in the side and send him flying into a tree in an explosion of rings that went rolling all over the parking lot.

Considering how hard he was struck by the beam sword, he Hedgehog was lucky that his wallet was in place to take the blow for him. As he came back up to a sitting position from where he'd been knocked down, the blue-quilled prick in pink skinny jeans shrieked, "NO! MY MONEY!" He started to stand up, only to find a pink blade slash across the front of the Geth shotgun, slicing free one of the top twin barrels. His green eyes went wide as the weapon began to pulse and he threw the futuristic rifle into the streets where it promptly blew up and caused a portion of the road to cave into the sewer system beneath.

Fox went wide-eyed at the resulting destruction, realizing just how close he came to taking them both out of the picture. However, before he could do anything else, the vulpine male took a solid punch across the face, making him stumble back.

"Backstabbing bastard!" the hedgehog snarled as he glared daggers at his fellow furry. "This is all your fault! You're the one who had to be a little whiny bitch! Couldn't just let me and my boys have a fucking relaxing evening! Now look what's happened! Everyone is gonna think I'm some Goddamn criminal!"

The fox met the glare with his own. "Because you are!" the Papetoonian shouted back as he quickly threw a punch, one which the blue-quilled prick easily side-stepped. He followed up with that my slashing horizontally with the light blade in his other hand, but again, his fellow anthro dodged it, going into a spin dash before rocketing straight into McCloud.

His eyes going wide as the speedily spinning body slammed straight in the stomach, Fox would have sworn he felt a rib or two crack from the pain that exploded. That wasn't the end of the pain train though; te force of the impact was enough to send the vulpine flying; the pilot slamming into the door of a parked car and causing it to bend into the vehicle's interior. "Damn..." he coughed as he tried to clear his lungs to breath easier. "You really are a speedy little bastard, ain't you?"

Taking a moment to gaze over his handiwork, the blue anthro nodded his head. "What can I say?" the devious hedgehog said with a grin. He stopped by the fallen beam sword long enough to pick it up. Igniting the blade of pink plasma, the smarmy son of a bitch replied in a very haughty tone of voice, "You're too slow."

However, just as Sonic brought the sword up to slice down into Fox, he was interrupted. A green laser was fired off, hitting the quilled prick in the side of the head; the force of the blast throwing the hedgehog off his feet and sending him rolling.

"Consider that your wake-up call to reality," the Hispanic vixen shouted as she stepped closer. "You leave him alone, you hijo de puta!" Carmelita snarled as she held up one of the many laser weapons the Smash series had made semi-famous. "Leave now and take your worthless ass and shitty attitude back to wherever you came from!" She fired several shots around him, letting the blue fur know she was more than willing to fire on him again.

Growling angrily as energy rained down around him and causing asphalt to mist around him, Sonic rose to his hands and knees, shaking his head as he tried to shake off the effects of that blast of green energy. He raised his head to look towards the direction of the vixen slut, the stripper keeping the ray gun trained on him; the symbol of Smash Bros. clear as day on the front lense of the barrel. He noted the sides of the red and gray weapon were still glowing brightly with a lime-green light, indicating it was nearly fully powered. "I dare you to try that again, you fucking cu—"

Miss Fox didn't give him the opportunity to continue his tirade, merely pulling the trigger again, causing another blast to hit the hedgehog firmly. "Fucking BITCH!" the blue speedster shouted again as another energy projectile sent him further away from both vulpines. He shook his head irritably, gritting his teeth in rage as he glared at her. His temper flared as he saw the confidence in those brown eyes that proved she wasn't going to back down. Realizing he was in a pickle, the blue blur shouted out, "RAIDEN! A LITTLE HELP HERE?"

"I'M BUSY!" the cyborg screamed as he was doing his best to take on two opponents at once. Despite his vast abilities, he was finding himself hard-pressed. While he had the superior weaponry and a body that wouldn't tire, their actual skill with a weapon was on par with him. The silver-tressed male couldn't help but be impressed as he was getting the best workout he'd experienced in years.

"Fucking useless bot," Sonic scoffed irritably. Realizing he had to take care of this himself, the blue fur curled up on himself and went into the spin dash once more; the ball of spinning cerulean rotating in place wildly before homing in on the female vulpine. He sped across the parking lot, closing the distance quickly.

Realizing that he was coming right for her, the Latina tried to jump and dodge... only to find the spinning ball break the laws of physics and rise up into the air with her. Only then did she realize that what Sonic did was a lock-on technique, the homing ball of hedgehog coming up behind her and striking the vulpine woman in the back, sending the blue-tressed beauty slamming into the asphalt of the parking lot. "Mierda! Le duele alguna vez..." the vixen grumbled as she forced herself to her hands and feet, only to realize that her weapon was missing...

Until she heard the hum of it powering up behind her.

"Stupid spic. That's no good," the Hedgehog chuckled as he pressed the ray gun to the back of the woman's head. "Prepare to take your just desserts you bi~IITCH!?" Sonic cried out in shock as he was tackled by the Papetoonian, the two struggling on the ground.

Rolling on the ground with the hedgehog, the pilot struggled to pull the weapon from the quilled male's hands. "You leave her alone you assh~AAAAAARGH!" McCloud screamed as the blue anthro pressed the ray gun right to his chest and pulled the trigger at point-blank range. The male vulpine was sent flying off of him in a flash of light, smoke, and cinders. As he went sailing for a distance, McCloud eventually came to crash landing against the ground; the fox rolling for a number of turns before coming to a complete stop.

"MCCLOUD!" the Latina vixen with navy-blue tresses screamed as she rushed over to the downed form of Fox. Jesus Christ, I don't think I could forgive myself if he's not okay, she thought with worry as she opened up his buttoned shirt, getting a good look at the scorch over his chest. A shiver of relief went up Carmelita's spine as she saw that even strained, his torso was rising and falling with breathing. She didn't know what she would do if someone had gotten killed trying to defend her.

Breathing heavily, the blue bastard stared at his handiwork; the vulpine lying there with a smoldering spot on his chest as that bitch who spurned him was fretting over her fellow vulpine. Forcing himself to a standing position, all the hedgehog fur could mutter between heavy breaths was, "Fucking foxes... all of 'em... fucking insane..."

As the mascot of Sega panted for breath, he blinked his eyes in shock at feeling a hand grab him by the shoulder... the grip tightening. "Well, as the old saying goes," Mario whispered into his ear a dark, heated tone of voice. "Crazy like a fox."

With a sense of dread chilling him to the core, Sonic slowly turned to look... only to get slammed in the face by Mario attacking him with a head-butt. "FUCK!" The anthro screamed out in pain, his body trying to fall... only to find himself held aloft by the death-grip the Italian had on his shoulder. The cerulean speedster's eyes widened with terror at the look in that angry glare and he brought the ray gun up to fire!

Only to find his action halted as the mustached man did it again and again, slamming his forehead against the battered hedgehog's face. Holding the spiky asshole aloft for a moment, the Icon of Nintendo glared at the now puffy eyes and bleeding nose of his former console rival. "All you had to do was walk out," Mario muttered before he tossed Sonic over his shoulder and slammed him into the ground. The force of the move was powerful enough that the asphalt cracked.

The blue-quilled asshole went bouncing away from the point of impact, the inertia of it continuing to the point where he back-flipped twice before finally coming to a stop; the ray gun skittering away across the asphalt from fingers losing their grip. Laying there, the hedgehog groaned, feeling his bones aching from the vicious attack. "Oww... fuck that hurts..."

The short human had no sympathy. "Hell!" He snapped angrily. "You could have just, you know, act like a fucking human being!" The Italian continued to rant at the downed hedgehog as he stalked towards him. As he stalked towards his target, the man bent over to his right and picked an item off the ground. A shiny black baseball bat with golden hilt adorned with a red rubber grip... perfect for should the hands get soaked with sweat or... other fluids.

Standing tall and projecting a commanding presence despite his short stature, the mustached human continued to close the distance, a yellow light pattern shimmering over the surface of the black bat: an image of the Evil Eye which saw all wrong-doing. "But no..." he said slowly as his hand gripped the Homerun Bat tighter. "You had to act like a fuckin' animal with no respect for'a anyone. No show kindness or human decency to others! Had to treat these girls... DIS GIRL," he motioned over to Carmelita with the baseball bat as she knelt by his friend. "So shamefully..." he was practically atop of Sonic as he glared down at him. "You know, I was perfectly willing to placate you in the beginning... but you had to open that motor-mouth of yours... go insulting those I actually care about!"

The Italian held the bat up, turning it about in his grip to inspect it. "And then worse! Worse! You actually HURT someone I care about? And why?" He held the baseball bat in both hands before holding it aloft, ignoring the pain that rocketed from his shoulder's stab wound as he bent his arms back so it was behind him for maximum swinging range of motion. "Because all you want to be is a wild animal!"

His eyes going wide, Sonic held is left hand up in a warding gesture. "MARIO! WAIT!"

"AND WILD ANIMALS GET PUT DOWN!" the mustached man roared as he slammed the bat down with all his strength on the hedgehog's leg, eliciting both a shrill, high-pitched scream and a sickening dual crack from the hedgehog's left tibia and fibula bones.

"OH GOD! MY LEG!" Sonic screamed at the top of his lungs as the pain coursed through him. "Sweet Jesus, Mario! You broke my le—NO!" He screamed as the overweight Italian raised the Homerun Bat high once more. "No! Nonononon~AAAAAAAAAAUUUGGH!" He screamed in sheer agony as the manic mustached avenger brought the bat down on his right hand that time, the metacarpals of the palm and the phalanges of the fingers broken on impact, leaving a mangled mess of digits on the appendage.

Bringing the bat up and turning his body to the right for another swing, Mario was breathing heavily, the man's frame shaking form how deeply he was heaving; a wild look in his eyes. "For years you were a fucking pain in my ass! Decades even! Always'a breathing down my neck with dat attitude of yours! But now..." he clenched his teeth. "For fuck's sake, I really didn't even care about you tryin' to kill me! Even ruining de Mario Mobile was something dat was between us: a grievance between two rivals! But now you try and kill one of my friends!?"

Tears in his eyes, the hedgehog tried to crawl away using his left hand to pull and his right left to push hid body along the parking lot. "MARIO! PLEASE!" he screamed out as the raging Italian stomped towards him to keep close. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I'M SORRY!"

"Oh, you're gonna be sorry all right you blue cocksucker..." he snarled angrily; all he could see was red as he glared down at the terrified anthro. "YOU CAN BE SORRY IN HELL!" He released an inhuman scream as he swung the Homerun bat, smacking the hedgehog across the head.

*Whack*!

"All dat shit about Blast Processing!"

*Whack*!

"All de times you'd rub in'a my face how Genesis does what, "Nintendon't"!"

*Whack*!

"The Sega Saturn and Dreamcast crashing so hard dat they effected de entire industry!"

*Whack*!

"How you don't appreciate me saving you from obscurity!"

*Whack*!

"Mistreating women!"

*Whack*!

"Acting like racist asshole!"

*Whack*!

"Destroying my Grandpappy's car!"

*Whack*!

"TRYING TO KILL MY FRIEND!"

*Wha~CRACK*!

The top half of the Homerun Bat went flying as that last strike broke it in two, the Italian's breathing labored as he stared down at the broken, bleeding frame of Sonic the Hedgehog. With bruised eyes swollen shut, teeth missing, nose broken, and body covered in black and purple bruises that showed up through his blue quills as blood starting to pool onto the ground from the mess that was his mouth and broken jaw. Lying there in an unnatural position, the speedster was truly a miserable sight to behold.

Dropping the half of the bat that included the grip, Mario took a few steps back from the brutalized anthro, gazing down at what he did... actually taking it in. He looked at his hands... his trembling hands that were covered in blood. The enormity and seriousness of what he did, the reality of it all suddenly hitting home. With his heartbeat was pounding in his ears in time with the pulse of his shoulder wound, the Italian felt a sensation of vertigo overcome him.

Almost immediately, the short man bent over, hands on his knees for support as he threw up.

The tableau of what happened had brought everything to a grinding halt. Link, Cloud and Raiden in particular had lowered their weapons, all simply staring. It was hard not to as most had to wonder when did Mario was able to kick THAT much ass?

Well, the blond Hylian had an idea. He had worked with the guy for years! However, this was still a shock to see his friend utterly lose his cool like that. In all the years he'd known the plumber hero, he'd never known him to just flip his lid and be so... brutal.

Finally though, it was the spiky-haired blond that was the first to find his voice. "Jack," he said the Liberian's real name. "You should..." he trailed off, staring at the downed form of Sonic for a moment before getting his bearings. "You should go check on him to make sure he's still alive." Even though he'd been super pissed about his motorcycle, Cloud didn't feel like fighting anymore.

The fact he didn't go off into a tirade about being referred to as, 'Jack' was testament to just how deeply affected Raiden was by this turn of events. He nodded almost numbly. His nose still hurt and he still wanted to make a few people pay for the humiliation he was feeling... but seeing the man who was practically the mascot of all gaming snap like that?

"I suddenly feel bad for Bowser," the silver-tressed pretty-borg muttered as he slowly made his way away from the two gaming icons. When Mario didn't react to his presence, he knelt down beside the beaten and bloodied hedgehog, checking for a pulse. While he was genuinely surprised to find one, he was even more shocked when the Liberian realized how much relief he felt from discovering it. "You'll be okay. Just breath slowly," he said as he rolled the blue-quilled mascot of Sega onto his side. "You took one hell of a beating there..."

Finally, of everyone still standing by or inside the doorway of the Game Over club, it was Lara who stepped out. Coming up to the Italian as he finished emptying the contents of his stomach, she carefully reached a hand out. The woman began to gently rub his back between his shoulders in a comforting manner, taking sight of just how torn up his wound was now from all the movement and fighting. "Doctor? Are you going to be okay?" she asked the man, genuine worry obvious in her voice as she feared for both his physical and mental health. She was using his title to be professional about things but the brunette woman still wanted to be there for him. "You completely lost it there."

Inhaling deeply once more, the man released his right thigh. Although he remained bent over, Mario held up his right hand, index finger extended, pointing up as if to tell her, 'give me a minute'. Indeed, it took a bit more but he finally responded by asking, "How's Fox? Is'a my buddy alive?"

The answer came from the vulpine himself. "Yeah," Fox groaned as Carmelita helped him up into a sitting position, the vulpine being careful with his breathing. "I'm alive. Hurts like a bitch but I'll live..." he trailed off as he looked up at his friend, his green eyes wide with shock as he took in the sight before him. "Jesus Mario! What the hell!? You nearly killed him!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, the Italian felt great relief at seeing the Papetoonian up and conscious... hell, the fact that he could bring himself to scream and differentiate right from wrong was an even better sign he'd be okay. However, before Mario could answer, he heard it.

They all heard it. The sound of sirens coming in from over the horizon. "Bloody hell," the British aristocrat cursed irritably. "Oh sure... now they show up!" Shaking her head in irritation, Lara exhaled in annoyance. This was going to be a pain in the ass to explain to the authorities.

Nodding his head in agreement Mario slowly turned towards the two fox anthros, his gaze settling on vixen who was kneeling beside his friend, her hand on his back for support. "Hey... Carmelita, was it?"

The Hispanic woman blinked her eyes, surprised to hear the man she once thought to be the sweetest and most gentlemanly man alive to call her by name. "Y-yes?" she managed to respond, wondering what he wanted.

"You got yourself a car, right?" Seeing the vixen nod her head–her hair bouncing with the motion–the mustached man replied, "Good. I need you to take Fox and get him out of here pronto. If he's caught here, this could'a ruin him." He said in all seriousness. "Nintendo might cancel him game if he's found here!"

The Latina vulpine just blinked her eyes in shock. They wanted her to run away from a crime scene? The thought of doing so went against all her instincts and she tried to argue. "But I—wait!" she yelped as she had to catch a bottle he tossed her from his pocket

"Look, just go!" the mustached plumber told her in all seriousness, brooking no room for argument. "When you're somewhere safe, give Fox two solid blue pills with food and water; de heavy Ice Flower component will help with'a dat burn he's got."

She looked down at a bottle for a moment more before handing it to McCloud. Allowing her fellow vulpine to pocket it, she still tried to get Mario to see reason. "I can't just leave you guys here! It's wrong to..." she trailed off as she saw Mario shake his head at her.

"Oh you sweet, naïve girl..." the mustachioed individual replied with a soft, sad chuckle even as the sounds of sirens drew closer. "If you're-a worried about de police or de media, don't be. De law would need to know you were here and none of us are gonna to tell. As for de latter, they're pretty much lazy, self-absorbed, pathetic attention-seekers who don't do any research of their own and just repeat de same bullshit lines left and right."

Blinking her eyes, Carmelita felt a droplet of sweat trickle down the right side of her brow at that rather crass statement concerning the news. Surely the media wasn't as bad as he said it was...

However, her boss was in complete agreement. "He's right, luv," Lara spoke up. "You should get going. Only a few small name bloggers will figure out what's really going on. With Cloud and Mario involved–especially Mario–I'm pretty certain Nintendo and Square-Enix are going to spin what happened so hard that it'll make Topman jealous."

Needless to say, the Latina red fox didn't look convinced but she could see that McCloud was hurt pretty bad... hurt from a blast he took for her. Taking a deep breath to steel her resolve, she looked up at the pair. "Fine," she replied as she let the slightly shorter vulpine drape his arm over her shoulders as she helped him stand up. She looked at the taller human woman nervously, looking like she wanted to ask something but not sure if now was the right time.

The British woman caught the inquisitive look and smiled sadly. "Don't worry, Carm. I don't blame you for this. Just go. We'll talk more tomorrow when you come back for your clothes. I promise." She heard the sirens getting louder and saw an ambulance was the first vehicle to make its way into the parking lot first. "Just go!" she repeated more firmly; they were almost out of time!

"Right," the vixen with navy blue tresses replied as she aided the Papetoonian in making his way over to her calm. She opened the passenger's door of her Dodge Shadow first before helping him get settled in. Carmelita then practically tore off her high heels and got into the red sports car herself. Flipping open the center console between the chairs, she pulled out her purse; retrieving the car get and slamming it into the ignition before turning it, making the engine roar to life.

She took off with Fox, heading out the entrance to the back street just as police were arriving on the scene.