Round 3:

Wolverine and Marluxia vs Stitch and Leroy

The Garden where Logan found Marluxia smelled of a few dozen varieties of flowers. He tried not to be sick.

"So do you really think it's a good idea to fight every match in the same place?" He asked. "People aren't going to have much trouble finding us if we stay here."

"The garden is big enough that we I can fight in a new setting each round." Marluxia responded.

Logan blanched at the masculine voice.

"Are you… a man?"

Marluxia hmmphd, "Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"The hair for starters."

Marluxia's eyebrow twitched and Logan threw up his hands to stop the defensive remarks.

"Sorry, geez. Let's talk about the fight. Where do you think we should wait for them? Storm said our opponents are weak against water so what about a pond or something?"

Marluxia thought a minute. "Maybe, but if they see the water they'll probably retreat to a spot of their choosing. Besides there aren't as many plants I can use there. "

Wolverine shrugged. "Just as well," he said, "I can't swim either. Metal bones and all."

"I know a spot that would work well. It's over this way." Marluxia led him towards a small forest.

"So how do you fight?" Wolverine asked.

"I have a scythe and I control plants to attack my opponent, or aid me. "

Logan muffled a snicker, this guy was a total fairy. "Do you know anything about our opponents besides the water weakness?"

Marluxia nodded, "I fought one of their cousins earlier in the tournament, she used riddles as an alternative to fighting, but she looked pretty able. I've heard that they're skilled in many martial arts and weapons."

"What a coincidence," Logan smiled, "So am I, though usually I don't use extra weapons."

"You might want more than just fists, I'm pretty sure they will. "

Logan smiled and extracted his claws, "I've got that covered."

"Impressive." Marluxia acknowledged.

The trees thinned and revealed a small clearing full of lush plants. Dragonflies and other insects buzzed around.

"I suggest sticking to the grass if you don't want any nasty surprises." Marluxia said.

"Why? What kind of killer pants do you have here?" Logan asked.

"You'll see." Marluxia smiled.

"I think we should try to take them each separately." Logan said.

"I'm fine working on my own. Which do you want?"

"I think they're pretty much the same. I'll take the blue one I guess. If you need any help just yell." Wolverine eyed Marluxia's slim figure without confidence.

"Same to you." Marluxia said coolly.

. . .

Leroy and Stitch arrived fifteen minutes later. Leroy broke into a run as soon as he saw the other two, determined to be the best. Stitch started to race him, but held back. He should see what he was up against first. Suddenly a swarm of sakura petals surrounded him.

"All yours." Marluxia smirked.

Logan shook his head in amazement. He hadn't expected control of flowers to be so powerful.

Leroy made a flying kick for Marluxia, who pulled a scythe from seemingly nowhere and slashed the experiment across the middle.

"Careful!" Wolverine yelled. "Don't kill them."

"Don't worry," Marluxia called back as Leroy rose and shook himself off, "They're indestructible."

Wolverine briefly wondered what that would mean for his own 'indestructible' adamantium. Then he ran for the orb of Sakura petals.

Stitch was trying to fight his way out of the petals, but whereever he went they moved with him.

"Leroy, can you see anything?" He called.

Wolverine burst through the screen and started attacking. The wide sweeps of Logan's claws dispersed the petals that Marluxia wasn't concentrating on anymore. He swung at Stitch ten a more times, the fluffy blue creature dodging each strike, before he finally scored a hit. Both he and Wolverine gasped as the most powerful metal met indestructible hide. It didn't pierce Stitch's skin, but it left horrible bruises and Wolverine had felt the iron resistance all the way up his arm.

Logan knew he couldn't keep attacking this way, he also noticed that Stitch's eyes were closed with the pain and he hadn't seen Wolverine's reaction. 'I can bluff him.' Logan thought and crouched low, ready to attack again.

Stitch growled and rushed to meet Wolverine. However, as he met the large man Stitch ducked and ran past him. Then he turned and drew his gun. Stitch knew he couldn't keep fighting in close combat with this inhuman strength. Hopefully he would be able to hit Wolverine. It would at least give the advantage.

Logan scowled, but got ready to attack again. He could take a shot or two and wrestle the gun away from Stitch. If that wasn't possible he's have to call for Marluxia's help. "Come on!" He yelled and charged stitch again.

Stitch blinked. Why would wolverine charge straight for the gun? 'Oh well' he though and pulled the trigger.

Logan knew he'd made a mistake as soon as he saw the laser shoot out of the gun instead of bullets. Why had he been in such a rush? Then the ray hit him and he was thrown back to the ground.

Rogue screamed. She and Storm had just found the battle sight with help from Angel. She started to run forward but Storm caught her shoulder.

"He's fine Rogue."

He was still barely conscious of what the others were doing, but he knew it would take him a while to regenerate. Stitch could easily knock him out with another blast. Logan played dead and hoped stitch would fall for it.

Stitch nudged Logan's body a few times, then pressed his ear against the mutant's chest.

"He's okay." He said to Rogue, "Sorry I had to shoot him."

Rogue nodded numbly.

Stitch pointed to Angel. "I'm not sure I want you so near the battle. Make sure you don't get hurt."

"I won't." Angel promised.

Stitch nodded and ran to help Leroy.

Marluxia was keeping the red experiment out of striking range with his scythe. Leroy had found a tree branch to fight with, but Marluxia's longer reach gave a much needed advantage. Leroy was having trouble keeping the blade of the scythe from cutting staff, and finding offensive strikes to make. 

Marluxia had already cut off three feet of the branch. Stitch shot at Marluxia when he though the nobody was distracted. He wasn't and dodged it neatly.

"I don't need your help Stitch!" Leroy growled. He was angry that Stitch had won against his opponent so quickly.

Stitch sighed and sat back to watch. After many minutes of combat Leroy was growing more used to Marluxia's style and better at counter attacking. Marluxia soon tired of this and called for the roots of a nearby tree to grab Leroy.

Stitch was watching, though, and noticed. He ran over and pushed Leroy out of the way just as the roots started to close around his legs. Leroy cursed and swung his staff at Stitch. Stitch caught it and pointed at the still squirming roots.

Leroy stared. Then they both jumped apart as Marluxia reappeared, swinging his scythe masterfully.

"All right Stitch." Leroy called, you can help look out for more of those plant things." He jumped over a low sweep of Marluxia's scythe and cracked his stick against Marluxia's leg, "Oh, and feel free to yell a warning instead shoving me."

Stitch could tell that he was thankful, if grudgingly, even though he covered it with sarcasm.

Leroy and Marluxia continued to dance around the garden. Stitch grabbed another branch and scraped it smooth with his claws. After a minute or so he blocked an attack for Leroy and the experiment was able to hit the nobody. Leroy glared at stitch but didn't tell him off and stitch continued to fight by his side.

Marluxia bit his lip and managed to defend against both experiments, though he was taking more and more hits, and these little creatures hit hard . He called once again for the plants around them to grab and trip his opponents. Stitch and Leroy were able to dodge most of these and when a few did get through they were strong enough to tear free of the plant's grip without Marluxia having time for even one hit.

Logan groaned and finally sat up. He was still sore but he was healed enough to continue the fight. He rose, watched the fight for a minute to gage the tempo, and then rushed over.

Stitch noticed him first. "Chugga, he's back up."

"Go stitch, I've got this one." Leroy said. It was true, Marluxia was weakened enough from fending off both of them that Leroy could soon defeat him.

As Stitch charged Wolveruine, Marluxia back flipped and landed on a small rock in the middle of some springy green vegetation. Leroy grinned.

'Now he's running scared' He thought and ran forward. The ground dropped suddenly as the plants on top of the small bog melted away to reveal the swampy water underneath. Leroy thrashed and floundered but he still sank. He tried to climb up the plants but they were too flimsy to hold his weight.

Stitch heard the splash and stopped short of meeting Wolverine. He turned and saw bubbles rising to the surface of the newly uncovered water. Marluxia and Logan paused as well, waiting for Stitch to make a move.

Stitch knew how it felt to be underwater with no way up; it was the worst feeling in the world. He also knew that they would let Leroy stay there until he passed out. That would take minutes. Stitch shuddered.

"Wait." He said. Stitch took a deep breath, this wasn't easy, "This tournament is fun, but Ohana needs to come before fun. Get Leroy out of there, I surrender the match."

Wolverine looked to Marluxia who shrugged and looked to Death-By-Chocolate as the demon appeared next to the spectators.

"Marluxia and Wolverine are the winners." He declared.

Marluxia hopped from the rock and started to walk away.

"Aren't you going to get him out?" Logan asked.

Marluxia half turned and spoke over his shoulder. "Let them take care of it."

Angel hurried towards the bog, but Logan knew that it would take a long time for her to find Leroy since she would have to dive down to reach the bootom of the bog. He also knew what it was like to be stuck under water and decided to cut off of Leroy's torment that much sooner. He waded into the bog sweeping with his foot until he hit something that grabbed tightly to his leg. A couple steps back and he was able to lift Leroy out the water that had barely reached his hips. He pried the experiment loose and set him on the ground.

Leroy sat dizzily trying to figure out his surroundings.

"Are you okay cousin?"Stitch asked helping Leroy up.

Leroy coughed. "Yeah... but why did they let me up before I lost consciousness?"

"I had to give up the match." Stitch said "I couldn't let you suffer down there while I kept fighting."

Leroy gaped, then something else clicked. "Cousin?" He asked.

"Ih." stitch smiled. "Come on cousin."

Logan watched the touching reunion with a small smile. It was all so goddamn Disney.

He felt Rogue by his side and turned,

"It was good of you to help them." She smiled.

"Don't spread it around." He warned her.

Rogue laughed and promised to keep it a secret. Then she went over to Stitch's group to 'aw' over their cuteness.

Wolverine's thoughts returned to Marluxia. The man had been a valuable ally, but Logan certainly didn't want to fight against someone so callous to others. Though he had fought cruel villains many times before and he was sure he would many times again, there was something about Marluxia that sent shudders down his spine.

A/N: I hope that I did alright in characterizing Stitch, Leroy, and Marluxia. They were very fun to write for and I gope I did them all justice.

I got the idea for the bog garden from the same kind of garden in the Missouri Botanical Garden's Climatron (greenhouse). That place is really great to visit if any of you find yourselves in St. Louis.