(The Arena)

The seven guys in the arena watched as Master Hand and Crazy hand laughed and started floating around above the ring. None of them wanted to move just in case something happened. Everyone quickly realized that the two pieces of the arena joined back together, eliminating the gap in between.

Suddenly, both hands flew underneath the arena. Before anyone could react, a good sized square of the canvas elevated about two feet, taking the fighters on it, Watari and Mario, up above the ropes. Another portion of the arena was also lifted on the other side of the arena, lifting Heavy D! up above the ropes as well.

As both hands floated back out from under the arena, everyone heard the usual announcement from the hosts.

"Folks, as you can see, two parts of the arena are now actually ABOVE the ropes!" SSBFreak's voice came through the speakers. "Because of this, people on those platforms only need to be pushed off the edge to get eliminated!"

By now, everyone in the arena knew what was coming next. Looking at the entryway, everyone waited for the next fighter to come out.

"KING!" (KOF)

The female bartender came out from behind the curtain and tightened the gloves on her hands as the crowd cheered wildly. King waved to her little brother Jan in the crowd before running headfirst down to the ring.

Leaping into the arena, King's first goal was to try and get Chang Koehan to snap out of his daze in thinking that he was a superhero.

Bruce Irvin, one of the two longest-running fighters so far, saw her and walked over. "You're a Thai fighter, aren't you, ma'am?" He asked.

"I am." King nodded. "Say, you've been doing amazing in the arena so far and I think that you make the name of Maui Thai proud."

"Thanks. Hey, how about a fight?" Bruce asked. "I think that you could definitely hold your own."

King smirked and put up her fists. "You're on."

"HAYATE!" (KE)

"At long last, the second Kizuna Encounter warrior has entered the arena." SSBFreak said. "Let's just hope that he makes up for Max Eagle's performance in Section One."

To a mixed crowd reaction, Hayate stood straight and walked down to the arena. On the outside, he looked calm and confident, but on the inside, he was a complete and nervous wreck. Max Eagle hadn't done very well and the chances of anyone else from the Kizuna Encounter node getting an elimination were pretty slim.

Still, Hayate decided to give it all he had. Leaping into the arena, Hayate ran at the first person he saw, Reed, and lashed out his sword.

Without looking, Reed pulled his sword back and blocked the attack. The blonde man looked over his shoulder and glared at Hayate, who quickly realized that he made a dumb decision and ran off.

"JANNE!" (WH)

Brandishing her sword, Janne confidently walked down to the ring. She was definitely one of the more popular characters in the World Heroes gang, and she figured that she could at least get ONE elimination.

Janne leapt into the arena and decided to help Watari with Mario. With one slash of her sword, the portly plumber was sent flying across the arena.

Watari sighed in relief. "Thanks for the help" He said. "I don't know how long I could have lasted against him."

"No a problem." Janne chuckled. "I always prefer to assist those that have proven their strength. You and Mr. Irvin are currently the only ones who fit the bill."

"I appreciate the compliment." Watari said. "But now, I must find another person to eliminate."

"I shall aid you, dear sir." The Frenchwoman offered.

After pondering this, Watari nodded. "Okay. Thanks in advance."

(Dome; Main Hallway)

Two very distinctive figures walked down the hallway, towards the doors leading to the hotel. One was completely black/dark blue from head to toe and had a set of razor sharp teeth with a long, green tongue hanging out. The other had a full head of hair, a half blindfold over his right eye and a pair of wings sprouting from his back. He also held a scythe in his hands. Both figures were laughing hard as they had a friendly conversation.

These two were Venom (of the Marvel node) and Landis (of the Suikoden 3 node). After annoying the rest of his nodal companions when he saw Vivian encounter the Grim Reaper after getting eliminated, Landis was ejected from the Locker Room until he calmed himself down. After walking for a little bit, he encountered Venom, and the two became fast friends.

"And so the guy says 'Yeah, but you should see the OTHER truck'!" Venom finished his joke.

Landis let out a loud, hearty 'Yuh-Huh-Huh!' and turned to his new friend. "The Grim Reaper is pleased that he found such a friend!" He said. "You are a lot like the Grim Reaper!"

"We are glad to have met you, Landis." Venom laughed. "We have spent so long without having any real friends. People just see us, scream and run."

"The Reaper knows how you feel." Landis patted Venom on the shoulder.

Suddenly, the two heard loud footsteps coming in their direction. Looking back, they saw a giant mountain of man and a short, green hunchback coming over, more talking to each other than looking forward. The giant man was making the loud footsteps.

"Isn't that Earthquake and Gen-An Shiranui?" Venom asked as he pointed at the two.

Landis nodded as the two thieves finally saw the new friends. Earthquake looked down at the two. "Get out of the way, small fries." He ordered. "Gen-An and I have somewhere to go."

Venom smirked. "Such as?"

"None of your business!" Gen-An shouted, pointing his claw at the two. "Quake's really upset about his performance in the ring and you do NOT want to make him angrier!"

Landis and Venom looked at each other and grinned evilly, then turned back to the two thieves.

"You two are obviously up to no good, and Landis and us want to see how well we fight together."

Landis' dark grin got darker. "The Grim Reaper comes…"

(The Arena)

"BAEK DOO SAN!" (T5)

Baek, dressed in his beige coat, pants and hat, came out from behind the curtain and looked around at the people cheering.

Like Bruce, Baek felt amazing to be back in action again. Also like Bruce, Baek hadn't been in a canon Tekken game since Tekken 2, and was itching to find some good fighters to test his rusty skill on.

Entering the arena, Baek was about to go over and help Bruce (whom Baek was amazed at how long he was lasting in the arena) against the woman in the red jacket. However, a certain overweight man who thought he was a superhero saw him first.

"Baek Doo San!" Chang Koehan greeted. "It is an honour to finally meet someone as skilled at Tae Kwon Do as you are!"

Baek nodded. "I appreciate it. I have been using the art of Tae Kwon Do most of my life and have mastered the style completely."

Chang's eyes lit up. "A challenge!" He said. "'The Koehan' is also a master at Tae Kwon Do, and wishes to challenge you to a friendly duel!"

"You're a master at Tae Kwon Do?" Baek scratched his head in confusion. "Well, I guess I can accept your challenge. The only one in my node who knows Tae Kwon Do besides me is my pupil, Hwoarang, and he can never seem to defeat me."

Chang got into a Tae Kwon Do stance and smirked. "Come on, then! Let us do this!"

"DEE JAY MAXIMUM!" (SFA3)

As 'Dancing in the Streets' blared through the speakers, Dee Jay came out from behind the curtain, shaking maracas. His ever-cheerful personality was definitely showing, as his huge grin was plastered on his face the entire time his walked down to the arena.

Placing a Jamaican rhythm in his head, Dee Jay leapt over the ropes of the arena and landed a kick to the back of Mario's head. As Mario stood, Dee Jay thrust his fist forward, firing an orange projectile into the plumber's face.

"Yer good, mon." Dee Jay chuckled. "But no one can stand up ta the rhythm of Dee Jay!"

Mario narrowed his eyes and threw a fireball at the Jamaican man. "We'll a-see about a-that."

(Street Fighter Locker Room)

"Well, he's taking on Mario." Chun-Li sighed. "Dee Jay's chances of survival just went down."

"Don't judge his skills just yet, Chun-Li." Dhalsim cut in. "He may surprise us."

"Yeah, and maybe the next person that comes out will get his theme song changed on him." Ken muttered.

(The Arena)

"BORUS REDRUM!" (S3)

The blonde knight, also called the 'Swordsman of Rage', came out from behind the curtain to a mixed reaction. His armour was exactly like that of Percival, which was expected considering the fact that the two of them were knights in the same unit.

Borus started walking down to the arena confidently, hoping that he could improve on Percival's performance.

Suddenly, a goofy, circus-like theme played by horns blared through the speakers, making Borus freeze (and making everyone in the Street Fighter Locker Room glare at Ken). Borus looked up at the sound booth in question as the W's started singing.

"This one guy got arrested"

"His presence was requested"

"It seems he was suspected"

"Of breaking and stealing from vending machines"

Borus looked around at the audience. Like with Sonic and Maxi, several members of the audience were laughing heavily.

"Well, he swore that he was innocent"

"So he paid off his bail and home he went"

"But soon back to jail or hero was sent"

"Because he paid off his bail with quarters and dimes"

Borus narrowed his eyes, his rage starting to build up. By now, a lot more people were starting to laugh. Even a couple of the fighters in the arena were chuckling.

"Stupid! That was stupid!"

"No, you can't say that that was smart"

"Stupid! That was stupid!"

"Our brains must be falling apart"

Roaring in anger, Borus charged into the arena, drew his sword and threw himself at Heavy D!.

(Sound Booth)

A young Karayan girl with brown hair grinned evilly as she walked away from the sound system, towards her two new friends.

"Did you guys see the look on that butchering ironhead's face?" Aila asked. "Thanks for letting me do that, guys!"

Shadow smirked. "No problem. And here I was thinking coming here wasn't going to be fun."

Astaroth laughed heartily. "I can't believe I can have so much fun doing something that doesn't involve killing people!"

Suddenly, before the trio could Chaos Control out of the room, the door to the Sound Booth flew open, revealing three armed guards.

"Freeze!"

The three intruders paused, then raised their hands.

"The bosses want to speak with you three." One of the guards said.

(Hotel; 30th Floor)

Seven of Bison's temporary henchmen stood in one of the larger rooms on the floor, planning their next move. The leader of the group was King Lion. However, he had an argument breaking out between two of the others.

"You mean to say that three of the security forces actually beat you guys?" Lee Chaolan asked.

Yuber nodded, the mere thought of losing to such mortals enraging him. "I'll be sure to take care of those three when we're finished here."

"I don't know about that." Lee smirked. "I mean, from what I heard, you lost every fight thrown at you in the Grasslands."

One of Yuber's twin swords shot from under his dark sleeve almost instantly. Catching the handle, the dark knight lashed out with it, stopping himself only two inches from Lee's neck. The silver-haired man remained calm, smirking.

"One more crack and I won't stop myself from slitting your throat." Yuber hissed.

Lee chuckled. "I'm your ally, Yuber. You know that you're not allowed to kill us."

Yuber snarled. As much as he hated to admit it, Lee was right. In fact, Bison had said that if Yuber killed any member of his team, he'd pay dearly.

"Stop it! Both of you!" King Lion rushed over and pushed the two of them apart. "Look, we're here just to wait for Setsuna to return and give us a report. There's no need for any of us to be at each other's throats."

However, it was almost as if the two didn't hear him. Lee kept smirking at Yuber triumphantly as the dark knight looked closer to losing his last shred of sanity. King Lion looked at the rest of his team, hoping that at least one of them would give him some support. However, he was out of luck. Carnage, a red version of Venom, looked around casually and whistled. Ripper and Hopper, Geese Howard's two bodyguards, simply stood aside, uninterested, although Hopper was fooling around with one of his knives. Finally, Birdie, the man of Shadaloo, stood there, unmoving, not really wanting to give King Lion a hand.

King Lion turned back to Lee and Yuber. "Look! It's just for a few more minutes! If you guys can keep yourselves from pestering each other, it'll be alright."

Yuber snarled and walked away from Lee. "Fine. I'll wait, but I won't like it."

Suddenly, everyone heard a knocking at the door to the room. Scratching his head, Birdie walked over to the door, twisted the doorknob and opened it, looking out into the hallway.

"Yes?"

The answer Birdie got was a hard kick to the head, making him lean back. The attacker, clad in a pink gi, flew over Birdie, still doing the flying kick. Birdie was then grabbed and thrown back into the room. When everyone looked, they saw a female wrestler and dark-skinned swordsman enter the room.

"Intruders!" King Lion raised his gloves. "How did you find us?"

Dan Hibiki smirked. "We followed your friend Carnage from the lobby." He replied.

All of the villains (except Birdie, whom was standing up) instantly turned to glare at Carnage.

"Look, they may have found us, but what chance do they have?" Yuber smirked evilly. "I mean, there's seven of us and just three of them!"

Dan, Mika and Samus suddenly realized that the villains were right. With this many opponents, they'd get worn down quickly. If only they had a little more help…

"Make that four of us!" A new voice shouted. "Criminal Upper!"

The next thing Yuber knew, he was lifted off his feet and was sent flying into the ceiling. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and saw Cody, dressed in his prison attire, smirking slyly.

"Cody?" Dan asked.

"Heya, Dan." Cody greeted as he rushed over to stand side by side with the three 'good' fighters. "Reed told me about how you found out this plot and I decided to lend a hand."

The seven villains quickly took action. King Lion pounded his fists together, Carnage curled his fingers, Yuber summoned his other sword, Lee got into his stance, Birdie stood straight and prepared to charge, Ripper loaded his gun and Hopper pulled out a small knife.

Dan smirked. "Let's rumble!"

(The Arena)

"ROUWE!" (GF)

After Musafar managed to get an elimination, each of the Galaxy Fighters were starting to feel a little more confident about managing to survive a section. However, after Alvan got tossed out quickly, they started having second thoughts.

Rouwe, the oldest fighter in Galaxy Fight, was no exception. He was secretly hoping that at least one more person from his node would get an elimination and prove to everyone that they weren't jokes.

Reaching the arena, Rouwe leapt in and looked around for someone to eliminate. His first target was Hayate.

Rouwe smirked. "Well, someone from the Kizuna Encounter node must be easier to take out than others." He said. "Perhaps I should focus on that fellow first."

Seeing Rouwe charge him, Hayate's eyes bulged. "Crap!" He shouted as he turned and ran.

"K'!" (KOF)

"Here's a chance to show you how I feel"

"Here's a chance for you to see it's real"

"To see just what I feel inside"

"And who it is that's by my side"

"I will never change my mind"

"Try to torch me and you'll find"

"You can't turn me or deter me"

"No matter how you try"

"You can't burn me"

As Pillar's song 'Fireproof' came through the speakers, the audience went nuts as K' appeared outside of the entrance curtain, his eyes narrowed. Taking his shades off, K' put them in the pocket of his jacket before walking down the ramp, almost ignoring the pictures of him being taken or the audience screaming for autographs.

"I know where I stand and what'll happen if you try it"

"I am Fireproof!"

"I know my heart and I just can't deny it"

"I am Fireproof!"

"I tried to tell you but you wouldn't be quiet"

"I am Fireproof!"

"I'll never bow down and you won't buy it"

"I am Fireproof!"

Reaching the arena, K' ran over to the scuffle Geddoe was having with Heavy D!. Lashing out his hand, K' created a wave of fire and sent it forward to burn Geddoe to a crisp.

Luckily, Geddoe saw this coming and raised his hand, creating a shield of electricity, preventing him from harm. "Do you have some sort of issues?" The mercenary asked.

D! shook his head in hopelessness. "Man, K' has so many issues it's wise not to bother prying."

Geddoe nodded and lashed out his sword, sending K' into the battle between Mario and Dee Jay.

"LI XIANGFEI!" (FF)

The young, Chinese girl absent-mindedly walked out from behind the curtain, looking down at the dumpling she was carrying. Suddenly, Xiangfei looked up and saw that she was no longer in the cafeteria. Looking around, she suddenly remembered the tournament. Shoving the dumpling into her mouth, Xiangfei ran down to the ring and leapt in.

Watari and Janne saw the Chinese girl jump into the arena. Seeing that she currently didn't have an opponent, the two stopped sparring and went over to her.

"I've heard of you." Janne said. "You've been known to have a bottomless pit for a stomach."

Xiangfei smirked. "You might say that. I just really love to eat."

"And yet, with as much as you eat, you never get any fatter." Watari added.

"It's great, isn't it?" Xiangfei asked happily. "I can eat as much as I want and never get fat!"

Watari looked at Janne. "Let's continue sparring." He suggested. "This girl confuses me."

Jane nodded. "I'm with you." With that, the two walked off, leaving Xiangfei to scratch her head.

Xiangfei shrugged, pulled another dumpling from her pocket, downed it in one gulp and rushed off to help King with Bruce Irvin.

Suddenly, all of the arena spotlights went to shine on the entryway, meaning that the next Mystery Fighter was about to come out.

"And now…Mystery Fighter…Number…FIVE!"

The curtain was pushed aside, allowing the next fighter to come out.

"SCORPION!" (Mortal Kombat)

Everyone's favourite yellow-clad ninja came out from behind the curtain, his eyes fixed on the arena. The audience cheered wildly as Scorpion ran down to the ring and leapt in.

Scorpion ran about five steps before stopping and looking at the battle Geddoe and Heavy D! were still having. The yellow ninja lashed out his hand.

"GET OVER HERE!" The audience went nuts when Scorpion shouted that.

Scorpion's grappling hook launched towards the two fighters, aiming for D!'s back.

Geddoe saw the grappling hook coming and looked at D!. "Incoming pointed object at six o'clock."

D! turned around and saw Scorpion's grappling hook coming at him. Lashing out his fist, the boxer created several streaks of energy, which slammed into the grappling hook, knocking it off course.

Scorpion, seeing his attack getting nullified, ran at Heavy D! furiously.

(Dome; Outside SSB Locker Room)

Hyo Amano walked down the hallways, smiling as he approached the door to the SSB Locker Room. It took him a little bit to find it, but Amano could finally talk to Ness and Mewtwo and see what the heck was going on.

Amano was about to knock on the door when it flew open, slamming into his face. As Amano staggered back, he watched as a huge, Reptilian figure lumbered out of the Locker Room.

"I was starving, Roy!" Bowser shouted back into the room. "How was I supposed to know those were your sweat socks?"

Bowser turned around to continue walking and saw Amano getting to his feet, holding his nose. The huge Koopa raised an eyebrow. "What're you doing here, punk?" Bowser asked. He suddenly realized who it was. "Hey! Aren't you the guy that American ninja eliminated in Section One?"

"Uh…Yeah." Amano replied, a bit intimidated by Bowser's size. "Is that a…Bad thing?"

"Nah. I was just wondering." Bowser was about to lumber off when his original question sprang to mind. "Say, what ARE you doing here, anyway?"

"Uh…I'm here to speak with Ness and Mewtwo, if I could." Amano managed to say.

Bowser thought for a second, then gave his reply. "I don't think so, buddy." He smirked. "I can see right through your little ruse."

Amano stepped back. "Huh?"

"I know of you!" Bowser said. "You seem to like the ladies a lot! You're just here to try and sweet-talk Peach, aren't you?" By now, Bowser was starting to get mad.

"I-I'm not! Honest!"

"Talk to my claws, pal!" Bowser shouted. "No one gives Mario competition to win Peach's heart but ME!"

(The Arena)

"NEI!" (S3)

Nei, an aqua-haired elf girl, came out from behind the curtain to a positive crowd reaction. Nei shook several hands and waved a few times before running down to the arena.

When she hit the arena, Nei looked around for allies. Watari was sparring with the French swordswoman, Geddoe and the tall boxer were currently double-teaming the strange man in the yellow outfit and Borus, still screaming insanely, was joining the old man in chasing down the younger man with the sword. Nei suddenly spotted Reed, and rushed over.

"Hey, Reed!" Nei called out.

Reed turned from his battle with Li Xiangfei and saw Nei coming. Reed quickly knocked Xiangfei away and looked at Nei. "Nei, come over here!"

"What for?" Nei asked as she arrived in front of Reed.

"We've got a major problem." Reed said.

"BASARA!" (SS)

Slinking out from behind the curtain, Basara, the pale, blue-haired man, moved down to the arena, somehow avoiding to make any footsteps. The crowd gave him a mixed reaction as Basara went into the ring.

This seemed normal. Basara was never really as popular a character as Jubei Yagyu or Galford in the Samurai Showdown series. Still, despite this fact, Basara grinned darkly as he moved over to the battle between Bruce and King.

Lashing out his hand, Basara sent his bladed disk flying at the kickboxer closest to him, which just so happened to be Bruce.

King, however, saw it coming, preparing to take her opponent's head off. King gasped. "Get down!" She order, pushing Bruce to the ground and leaping back as Basara's disk shot overtop of Bruce's head and stopped only a few inches away from King's stomach. As quickly as it was sent out, the disk retracted back to the undead man's hand.

King helped Bruce to his feet. The two stared at Basara, then turned back to each other. After shaking hands, Bruce and King advanced on Basara together.

Basara only chuckled. "So you want to kill me, eh?" He asked. "That'll be kind of hard to do."

"And now, the final fighter of this section…"

"FALCO LOMBARDI!" (SSB)

"I pack my bags and I'm leaving today"

"I hit the road and make my getaway"

"Cause they'll control you and put to up on a shelf"

"You gotta break away so you can be yourself"

"So now I'm running. I got the night on my side"

"It's revolution and I'm along for the ride"

"And I spell trouble with a capital 'T'"

"I don't go looking for trouble, it just keeps following me"

Falco, the blue hotshot of Starfox, came out to Squad Five-O's song 'Renegade'. The audience cheered him as he ran down to the arena and leapt in.

"When it's all been said and done (Like a Renegade!)"

"I am on the run (Like a Renegade!)"

"Running through the night (Like a Renegade!)"

"To the other side!"

Landing in the arena, Falco pulled his blaster from his belt and charged at Li Xiangfei. He was tempted to go interfere with the fight between Chang and Baek, but he knew better than to interrupt a fight, especially when it involved a fat man wearing a spandex cap.

As he ran, Falco fired his blaster several times at the Chinese girl. Xiangfei showed a keen sense of awareness and dove to the side, avoiding the laser bolts.

Xiangfei smirked. "That was a big mistake, mister bird." She said as she raised her hands and prepared for a battle.

Falco smiled slyly as Xiangfei rushed at him. "Maybe she'll put up a better fight than I thought…"