(The Arena)

Everyone cheered as the spotlight continued to shine on the entrance curtain. They were waiting in anticipation for the first fighter to come out.

The fighter's theme song started playing. It was a rock song done with nothing but classical instruments, almost as if it were a royal tune.

"And now, to start the fight," SSBFreak's voice came through the speakers all over the dome. "The fighter that that drew number one…"

Someone behind the curtain pulled it aside as the fighter walked onto the ramp leading to the ring.

"MARTH!" (SSB)

Prince Marth looked around. Not only was he receiving a lot of cheers, but every single female in the audience was going crazy.

The blue haired prettyboy shrugged and took to the ring.

Once he was in the ring, Marth swung his sword a couple of times to stay fresh. As soon as he heard his music fade away, Marth turned to the entranceway and saw the fighter that drew number two was coming out.

"ROBERT GARCIA!" (KOF)

"No matter what the clothes you wear or how you do your hair"

"No matter what you try to change, I'll always feel the same"

"No matter what the car you drive"

"No makeup face to disguise"

"I'll always see you from the inside"

"The inside out"

As the voice of Nate Sallie came through the speakers, Robert stood outside the curtain entrance, dressed in his 2K3 getup. Tossing a coin to himself a few times, Robert waited for the chorus to his song to finish before running down the ramp. Making a leap of faith, Robert leapt into the arena and lashed a fireball at Marth. The blue haired prince quickly blocked and prepared to rush at Robert.

"SAGAT!" (SFA3)

Deciding not to go with a theme song, Sagat stood tall and charged down the ramp. Sagat felt pretty confident as he leapt into the ring and nailed Marth with a Tiger Shot. Ryu was supposed to come out in only a few sections, and Sagat felt that he could last until then.

Robert quickly jumped into the air and landed a kick to the giant man's back. Although he staggered forward a few steps, Sagat did an instant about face and performed a Tiger Uppercut, striking Robert before he even hit the ground. This caused a lot of people in the stands to go nuts.

"HUGO!" (S3)

Everyone listened as Petra began to play.

"There's a higher place to go (Beyond belief, beyond belief)"

"Where we reach the next plateau (Beyond belief, beyond belief)"

"And from faith to faith we grow"

"Towards the center of the flow"

"Where he beckons us to go (Beyond belief, beyond belief)"

Hugo, the young, Karayan boy from Suikoden 3, felt good as he charged his True Fire Rune. He was the main character in the game. Coming out this early only meant that he could eliminate that many more fighters.

The instant Hugo was in the ring, Marth perform his Dolphin Slash, firing the airborne boy into a Tiger Knee from Sagat that was intended to strike Robert. Hugo slammed into one of the hard, metal corners of the arena and groggily got to his feet.

Narrowing his eyes, Hugo drew his dagger and charged…Straight into Robert's fireball.

"JULIA CHANG!" (T5)

Being the first female fighter of the tournament, Julia was feeling confident. All four fighters in the ring were either resting or having duels with each other.

Julia sighed as she walked towards the ring. She had hoped to get a later draw. That way, she'd have hope of winning the tournament and getting money for her reforestation program.

Because that was pretty much a slim chance now, Julia decided to use the tournament as a way to meet new friends.

Once she got into the ring, Julia had to drop to the floor as Hugo sailed over her, a victim to Marth's charging power slice.

Seeing that he had almost hit her, Marth ran over and helped Julia to her feet. "I'm terribly sorry about that, miss." Marth said. "Had I known you were there I would have sent that boy in a different direction."

"It's quite alright." Julia smiled. "Say. Until some more people get into the ring, how about a spar?"

Marth lifted an eyebrow. "That wouldn't exactly be fair. I have a sword and you don't."

"Believe me. I'll be fine."

"If you say so."

(Hotel; Bison's room)

Bison watched as Vega and Birdie pulled Johnny Maximum into the room. As soon as the clueless football player was in, Bison dismissed his two henchmen, who left him alone with the World Hero.

J. Maximum got straight to the point. "What's this all about, Bison?"

Bison smirked. "I understand that you claim to be an amazing fighter."

J. Maxx stood straight. "I am. I can crush anyone in this tournament I want."

"Good, because I need a little job done."

The football player quickly turned around to leave. "Sorry. Not interested."

"Not even when someone you care about is at stake?"

This caught J. Maxx's attention. He spun around to face Bison. "What did you just say?" He demanded.

"Two of my men are keeping an eye on your son, my friend. At my word, they will abduct him." Bison replied simply.

"If you harm one hair on my son's head…"

"I'm the one holding all the cards, Maximum."

J. Maxx was silent for a few seconds before looking at the ground. "What do you need done?"

"I understand that you are in the same section as Fred Maximillion."

"So?"

"I want you to eliminate him. He poses a threat to me and my plan, so I want him out of the tournament as quick as you can get him."

J. Maxx started shaking violently. He would really hate himself for this, but his only son was at stake. What could he do? "Okay. I'll do it."

Bison smirked as J. Maxx turned and left. "Splendid."

(The Arena)

"JUBEI YAGYU!" (SS)

The one-eyed samurai slowly walked down to the arena, shaking the occasional hand. He was actually somewhat excited at entering this tournament so early. This meant that he could fight so many different styles.

The first person that Jubei encountered was Robert. "Ah, Robert Garcia!" Jubei said. "I have heard of your fighting style and wish to challenge you."

Robert thought and nodded. "Sure thing." He suddenly saw a beam of fire coming at them, pushed Jubei out of the way and dove to the side. The beam cut through nothing but air.

Jubei stood up and looked in the direction the beam had come from. Hugo stood there, sweating at the fact that his plan for a double-elimination didn't work.

"But first, let's take care of this minor annoyance." Jubei grunted and gripped his twin swords.

"Way ahead of ya, Jubei." Robert replied.

Hugo gulped and ran.

"PAI CHAN!" (VF)

As traditional Chinese music played through the speakers, Pai merrily ran down to the ring in hopes of finding someone to spar with. She quickly came upon the only one currently not in a fight, Sagat.

"Hi! I'm Pai! Wanna spar?" The girl asked gleefully.

Sagat looked down at the young girl and shrugged. "Why not. I could use some exercise before Ryu comes out."

(Virtua Fighter Locker Room)

"She's actually taking on SAGAT?" Wolf cried. "She's dead meat!"

"I give her a minute. No more." Sarah added.

"Now, now." Lau pointed out. "Don't underestimate my daughter. She may surprise us."

(The Arena)

"JIN CHONREI!" (FF)

To a positive crowd reaction, Chonrei, the elder Jin, made his way down to the ring. Now that he and his brother were no longer bent on evil ways, they had both decided to have fun with the tournament. In fact, Chonshu made a contest to see which of the two could do better in the ring.

Hugo saw Chonrei come in. "Finally! Someone I can take on!" He drew his dagger, charged his True Fire Rune and bolted straight at Chonrei.

(Hotel; Lounge)

Electro folded his arms and looked down at the boy in front of him. The blonde boy was, for some reason, dressed like a nun.

"YOU are the bounty hunter Bison told us about?" Electro asked.

Bridget nodded. "Don't be fooled by my appearance, mister. I'm perfectly competent."

Electro shrugged. "Okay." He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled down a name and description. "This girl is somewhere in the dome. She is extremely dangerous." He handed Bridget the paper. "Find her, capture her and bring her to our room on the 57th floor. Once you do, we'll give you your pay and the next bounty."

Bridget nodded. "I will, mister Sparky. I'll be there within ten minutes."

With that, Bridget turned and left the room. Electro rubbed his chin. This boy seemed really confident that he could do this. It was almost a shame to lie to him.

(The Arena)

"MUSAFAR!" (GF)

As the first fighter from Galaxy Fight, Musafar, the giant robot, made his way down to the arena. There was a mixed reaction from the crowd, but Musafar paid next to no attention.

When Musafar entered the ring, everyone quickly saw that he was the biggest fighter in the ring yet and the first Big Guy of the tournament. Even Sagat, for once in his life, felt short.

Musafar took this time to nail Marth with a hard punch, firing the blue haired prince straight into Julia Chang, knocking them both to the ground.

"HYO AMANO!" (LB)

Amano popped his neck and stretched lazily before he started walking down to the ring. It was a pity that he got a draw this early. Hibiki wasn't supposed to come out for a while and that made chances of double-teaming and wasting everyone in the arena next to impossible.

Chonrei saw Amano come in, knocked Hugo away and walked over. "Are you Hyo Amano?"

The young man nodded with a smile. "I am."

Chonrei looked around. "I've heard that you were on the side of good. I'm detecting a very dark force coming from somewhere in the dome or hotel."

Amano shrugged. "It could be the villains. A good amount of them were invited to this."

"Maybe, but I don't want to take any chances." Chonrei said.

"Well, let's fight. We aren't supposed to be talking and if we talk and fight at the same time, no one will get suspicious."

"Agreed."

"GADGET Z!" (S3)

Not a lot of people were surprised when Johnny Q. Public blared through the speakers.

"My eyes can't help my ears"

"My ears can't see"

"Why do I try this way?"

"There's probably something wrong with me"

"If I can't see that something's wrong"

"When all my pieces become pieces and not all one"

His bolt-shaped hammer slung over his shoulder, Gadget Z rumbled down to the arena, rolling down on his three wheels. He saw Hugo getting his behind kicked and decided to lend a hand.

"Where…Where would my body be? Body be!"

"Where…Where would my body be? Body be!"

"Finally! Help!" Hugo said and he tried to block Marth's swings.

Gadget Z rumbled over to Marth and swung his hammer, striking the prince's foot. This gave Hugo the opportunity to knock Marth away.

"Thanks for the help, Gadget." Hugo said to the barrel-shaped robot. "Did Belle tell you do come help me."

"That she did." Gadget Z droned. "She is of a rubber boomerang. We will soon be eating of the glory that is the one of victory, while the ones that are not the winners will be eating of the agony that is of defeat. We will be reigning of victorious in the tournament!"

Hugo slapped his forehead. "What a time for Gadget Z to have a malfunction." He gently tapped the small robot on the head. "Gadget, snap out of it."

Gadget look up at Hugo, blinked a couple of times and let out a scream. "DARTH VADER! Stay away!"

Gadget Z swung his hammer at Hugo, who barely managed to dodge. Hugo ran from the crazed robot as Gadget Z decided to pick a fight with Robert, calling him 'Richard Nixon'.

"MAX EAGLE!" (KE)

Eagle shook a good amount of hands as he made his way down to the ring. He felt pretty good. Not a lot of his opponents looked like a real threat. The only real threats were Sagat and Robert. Musafar would also have fallen into this category, but he was now being double-teamed by Marth and Julia.

The young man got into the ring and saw Gadget Z look at him. The small robot knocked Robert away and raised his hammer.

"HAOHMARU! I SHALL SMITE YOU!" Gadget Z roared, imitating Genjuro's voice perfectly.

Seeing Gadget Z charge at him, Eagle decided to add the small robot to his list of threats.

(Hotel; Arcade)

Dan Hibiki smiled and sweated at the same time as he continued to play Dance Dance Revolution. He was currently working through a tough song on the highest difficulty setting and was well on his way to getting a good grade.

For some odd reason, while Dan was never a very good fighter, he could absolutely trounce anyone he wanted at video games, especially DDR. In fact, the only one able to keep up with him so far was Duck King.

The song finally ended, giving Dan a ranking of AA. Dan smiled as he watched his name go into the top ten. Wiping his forehead with his sleeve, Dan took a drink of water and jumped off the dance pad.

Dan was about to leave the arcade and start getting ready to enter the tournament when something caught his eye. He saw two figures standing aside, both of them looking like animals despite both being human. One was green and had a tail and the other was gray and had a horn on his forehead.

Now, Dan wasn't as stupid as people thought him to be. He had read comic books and recognized these two as the Rhino and the Scorpion, two of Spider-Man's hated foes. Knowing that they were up to no good, Dan sneaked closer and hid behind a pinball machine to listen in on what the two villains were talking about.

"Are you saying that Electro wants us to kidnap him?" Rhino asked.

The Scorpion nodded. "Yes. He and the other villains said they need a few more men. Heck, we haven't had any good work in a long time. How could I refuse?"

"I guess you're right." Rhino scratched his head.

"Alright! That's it!" Dan shouted as he leapt from his hiding place. "I've heard enough! You both will fall before the might of…" Striking a heroic pose, Dan continued. "Dan Hibiki!"

Both supervillains looked at Dan strangely. "Let's take him out." Rhino said.

The Scorpion shook his head. "No. I can take him on myself. You go back and report to the boss."

Rhino nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Don't take long."

"It won't."

Rhino ran from the arcade, leaving Dan to face the Scorpion alone.

Dan motioned for the mutant man to come forward. "Bring it on, greeny!"

(The Arena)

"JACK!" (WH)

The clawed madman cackled as he ran down to the ring. He had been looking forward to this chance for ages. The perfect opportunity for some real violence.

Jack leapt into the arena and instantly went for Sagat, the biggest fighter he could damage. The madman knew he couldn't attack Musafar, with him being a robot and all, so the tall Thai fighter would have to do.

Sagat saw Jack coming a mile away and slammed him with two Tiger Shots, firing the madman over to Marth.

Jack looked up and saw the blue-haired man standing over him. "Killing for fun. I can't stand people like you." Marth said coldly.

The clawed man jump to his feet. "Bring it, girly-man!"

Marth didn't hear that sentence. He was focusing on what was going on behind Jack: Max Eagle running by, screaming, as Gadget Z rolled after him, calling him 'Haohmaru'.

Up in the announcer's booth, SSBFreak smirked. "It's time to bring out the first Mystery Fighter."

Unknown1 nodded. "You go ahead."

Back in the ring, SSBFreak's voice echoed through the speakers.

"And now, Mystery Fighter…Number…ONE!"

The curtain opened.

"CONAN!" (River City Ransom)

Dressed in his normal light blue outfit, Conan pushed his glasses higher on his nose as he ran down to the ring in the manner of every RCR character did: By just moving his legs.

The crowd cheered Conan, but no cheers were as loud as the ones coming from the rest of the Generic Dudes Gang, all of which were hoping that their hero would at least get an elimination.

Hugo saw Conan jump into the arena. "I've heard that you aren't a very good fighter."

Conan smirked. "Is this coming from the guy that's been attacked by everyone in the ring, even his own nodal companion?" He quizzed.

Hugo opened his mouth to come up with a comeback, but found himself drawing a blank.

"CAMMY WHITE!" (SFA3)

Cammy smiled at all the cheers she was getting. It sure was great being a main character.

Upon reaching the ring, she instantly got Gadget Z off Eagle's back by kicking the robot into Robert's back, sending the two of them flying into Jack and Jubei.

Eagle sighed in relief as he stood to his feet. "Much obliged, miss."

Cammy smirked. "Not a problem. That robot just needed to find a new opponent."

"Say, would you care to help me with some of these fighters in the ring here?"

"Such as?"

"The giant man with the scar and the large robot, mainly."

Cammy nodded. "It'll be a pleasure."

"SAMUS ARAN!" (SSB)

Samus loaded her arm cannon and made sure that her bomb supply was fully-stocked. Looking through her visor, Samus saw that Marth and Julia Chang were trying to take down Musafar without much luck. The bounty hunter charged down to the ring to help her fellow Smash Brother.

But was cut short by Pai Chan.

Pai stared at Samus curiously. "I've heard of you, Samus." She said. "I've always been curious of one thing…"

"Yes?" Samus asked.

"Are you a guy or a girl?"

"…Girl."

"Oh, really? Thank you for clearing that up for me." Pai slammed her palm into Samus' helmet, firing the bounty hunter into the middle of the ring. "Now we can fight!"

Everyone fighting in the area instantly ran, because they knew that Samus' arsenal was almost limitless. Even Musafar moved to get out of the way.

"ABANDON SHIP!" Everyone heard Gadget Z cry out.

(Dome; Hallway)

Ryoko shook her head as she watched the fight on the monitors. "I can't believe it. Jack is our only representative at the moment and he's an absolute maniac." She looked down. "Hopefully, we'll have a few normal fighters enter soon so we won't get laughed at."

Unknown to Ryoko, a young boy dressed as a nun was peeking around a corner, looking at her. Bridget quickly grabbed the note that Electro gave him and read it over.

"Long hair done into a ponytail, teenager, incredibly cute." Bridget smiled as he put the paper away. "Target Amy Guile has been found." Drawing his yo-yo, Bridget slowly walked around the corner and sneaked closer to Ryoko.

Ryoko suddenly heard a noise coming from behind. Turning around, Ryoko saw a yo-yo soaring straight at her head. She didn't even have time to scream, and was unconscious before she even hit the ground.

(The Arena)

"ASH CRIMSON!" (KOF)

Most of the people booed the latest addition to the KOF roster as he stepped out of the curtain. Ash shook his head.

"You steal one thing from Chizuru Kagura and you're marked for life." Ash sighed. He silently blamed the makers of KOF2K3 for making him look bad and took to the ring.

Upon entering, Ash ignited his hand with green flames and took a swing at Gadget Z, sending him flying a good several feet away.

Gadget Z slowly got back up. "D'OH!" He shouted in a voice that sounded eerily similar to Homer Simpson.

Ash didn't have time to ponder why the flames didn't set the wooden robot on fire. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around, Ash was staring into the faces of Max Eagle and Cammy White.

"Even though that robot has gone crazy and chased me around the ring five times thinking I was Haohmaru, it is cowardly to hit him from behind." Eagle said, glaring daggers at SNK's newest prettyboy.

Ash sighed as rubbed his temples. This was going to be a very long day.

"MARROW!" (MC)

Marrow, Marvel's first representative, held a bone knife in her hand and smirked darkly. Just by looking at the bones producing from her back was enough to gross out anyone, even Brian Battler, who was munching on a corn dog when he looked at her.

The X-Woman charged into the ring and quickly slashed at the dueling pair of Jin Chonrei and Hyo Amano. Both fighters saw this coming and stepped aside, allowing the strike to miss them.

"What's the big idea?" Chonrei demanded.

Marrow smirked as her eye twinkled darkly. "We're supposed to be fighting. I want to make sure I do nothing but that."

Chonrei and Amano looked at each other, shook hands and charged at Marrow together.

This didn't faze Marrow in the least. "Finally. A good challenge." She hissed quietly.

(Suikoden Locker Room)

Landis stared at Marrow on the monitor, his eyes turned into little hearts.

"Yuh-Huh-Huh. The Grim Reaper thinks he likes this woman." Landis said.

Ace and Joker quickly decided to move away from the winged lunatic.

(The Arena)

"HWOARANG!" (T5)

"Seems like I spent the past the years just struggling with these ideas"

"And the more I learn the less I really know"

"But to the things I do, I will hold tight"

"Because I didn't win them without a fight"

"It's all I have and I'm not letting go"

The redhead youth came out to a loud cheer from the crowd as his theme song, 'Fade Away' by the Supertones, came through the speakers. Hwoarang knew that Jin wasn't supposed to come out for a few sections, so he'd have to do his best to stay in the ring until then. Hwoarang had his eyes set on Robert and was ready to go in and take him on.

But then he saw Julia talking with Marth. Hwoarang's eyes flared up.

"I've never been less perfect than today"

"Is my heart or is my mind what's in the way"

"I'm listening with nothing left to say"

"Savior, make this dimness fade away"

Truth be told, Hwoarang had a soft spot for Julia and the thought of her talking to another good-looking guy instantly made his vision go red.

Hwoarang let out a battle cry, charged into the arena and ran at Marth.

"And now, the final fighter of this section…" Unknown1's voice said.

"GALFORD!" (SS)

"Come on, Poppy!" Galford said enthusiastically. "Let's go in there, kick the bad guys' butts and win this thing!"

"Woof!"

To an insanely large cheer, Galford ran down to the ring and leapt in, Poppy following directly behind him.

Unfortunately for Galford, no one in the ring was a villain.

Galford scratched his head in confusion. "Well, now what?"

"Woof! Woof!"

"Great idea, Poppy! I'll just pick a fight with a great fighter until a villain comes out!"

Amano tilted his head. "You can understand him?"

"Perfect! You'll do!" Galford drew his sword.

"Wha?" Amano stammered.