(The Arena)

"Why don't you think for once, you loser! Do I have to do everything around here that concerns the two of us? What a lousy attack! I could do ten times better than that and I don't have any hands!"

Again, Edge pulled the Star Dragon Sword in front of his face and looked at it. "You may not have any hands, but you have the biggest mouth I've ever come across!" The redhead roared.

The Star Dragon Sword paused, looking at Edge with an odd glare. "…Yeah. Sooooo?"

Edge looked up and screamed in fury.

Larcen Tyler and Scorpion stopped double-teaming for a second to look at the redhead. Larcen looked at his undead ninja friend. "Should we go put him out of his misery?"

Scorpion shook his head. "The way his sword is arguing with him, I don't have the heart to give him any more torment." He replied.

The 40's cat burglar shrugged. "I guess you're right." He said. "Who knows? Maybe all that shouting will make him spontaneously combust."

Suddenly, a green-clad figure flew past the two Mystery Fighters, screaming in terror. About half a second later and three completely different figures flew past Larcen and Scorpion, all of them chasing the evil villain down.

Electro looked back. "WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?" He screamed.

Chang Koehan, still under the guise of 'The Koehan' smirked as he continued to jog. "You are a villain. 'The Koehan' will not stop until all villains are defeated!"

"Uh…What he said." Lei Wulong added simply.

Andy Bogard had a slightly better reason. "Ever since coming here, I've felt a strange, evil presence." He explained. "I know you know something, and I want to find out what's going on."

Chang looked down at Andy in surprise, but neither stopped running. "You have sensed an evil presence?" He asked. "Interesting. 'The Koehan' must do what he can to find out more about this."

Andy looked at Chang in shock. "Chang, when did you become a superhero, anyway?"

Chang looked around nervously as he ran. "Uh…'Chang'? I don't know any 'Chang'. I am 'The Koehan', evil's worst nightmare."

Andy shook his head. He knew by now that something must have happened to Chang before he came into the arena, but he decided not to press the matter any further. "Let's just take this guy down and find out what he knows."

Chang grinned. "Let's do that!" He looked down at Lei. "Are you with us, fellow freedom-fighter?"

"Uh…Sure. Why not?"

The three continued to chase Electro down, none of the four fighters showing any signs of slowing down.

King and Bruce were still dueling. This duel was going far longer than the duel Bruce had had with Sagat in Section Two. So far, King was winning, because Bruce was weighed down by so much fatigue.

"You know, if you wish, we can stop fighting so you can rest up a little." King suggested as she lashed out a Trap Shot.

Bruce shook his head and blocked the projectile. "No. I'm fine, really."

"Are you sure?" King asked in concern. "You're looking pretty rough."

"Hey, never once have I stopped in the middle of a fight, unless someone is trying to interfere." Bruce explained. "I'm not about to stop now."

King sighed, realizing that Bruce wouldn't stop at all now. "Okay. Don't say I didn't give you the option."

(Dome; Hallway)

Lucky Glauber breathed heavily as he tore down a hallway, looking around desperately for Ryoko and Bridget, both of whom had run off to find Amy Guile when Lucky started the fight with Setsuna. Ever since defeating the dark assassin, Lucky had been searching for the two kids, hoping to find them before something happened.

"Come on, guys. Where are you?" Lucky asked. "You couldn't have gotten too far ahead of me."

Suddenly, after running for what seemed like an eternity, Lucky found his target. If he hadn't seen something blue and white going around a corner, he would have missed it, but luckily, he managed to catch it out of the corner of his eye.

Running around the corner, Lucky was relieved to see Ryoko and Bridget continuing to search for Amy Guile.

"Guys! There you are!" Lucky gasped as he stopped running and clutched his knees.

Ryoko and Bridget stopped running and turned to see Lucky standing there. Ryoko brightened. "Mr. Glauber! Did you manage to beat that guy?"

Lucky was too tired to say anything, so he simply nodded.

Bridget nodded. "That's great. Uh…Why are you so tired?"

"I was…Trying to…Find you guys…Before…Something…Happened to you." Lucky explained through his heavy breathing.

"Well, now we can continue searching for Miss Guile together." Bridget nodded.

"We'd better hurry." Ryoko said. "I think Mr. Glauber is supposed to enter the ring in a couple of sections."

(The Crowd)

RAX's eyes widened as he returned to his seat with popcorn. "Hey! What's Larcen doing in the arena? I didn't know he was in this thing!" He said.

Jetta shook her head at the cyborg kick boxer. "He's a Mystery Fighter. NO ONE knew he was in this thing."

RAX sat down and looked at the ring. "You think that maybe he could get an elimination?"

Jetta shrugged. "There's always the hope. Ever since he entered the arena he's been teaming up with that undead ninja friend of his from the Mortal Kombat node." She pointed at Scorpion. "I wonder if either of those two notice that Scorpion has a ninja star stuck in his back."

"How's the kick boxing duel going?" RAX asked, looking at Bruce and King.

"They've been going at it ever since King entered the ring." Jetta explained. "So far, I'd say she's winning." She looked at RAX. "Kinda makes me wonder how well you'd fare against one of them."

RAX sighed. "Let's face it. The only Thai fighter I'd be able to beat is that Shura character from the World Heroes node. Anyone else could mop the floor with me because none of us have seen work for years."

Again, Jetta shrugged. "Maybe next year, our whole node should enter this thing and see how we do."

RAX nodded. "Good idea, but we'd just need a lot of practice. Even the Eternal Champion should sharpen his skills." Looking out into the arena, RAX raised his fist. "Go get 'em, Larcen!"

(The Arena)

Muscle Power slowly got up and shook his head to get rid of the stars. It seemed like ever since Brian and Mickey said what they said when the American wrestler entered the arena, he was thrown off his game and wasn't doing as well as he thought he could.

Muscle Power looked around for someone to take on and saw the sword-duel between Link and Hibiki. Grinning, the Hulk Hogan lookalike charged at the two and let out his traditional battle cry.

"I'M NUMBAH ONE!"

Link and Hibiki had locked swords for what seemed like the tenth time when they heard a strange shout coming from behind Link. The Hero of Time looked over his shoulder and saw Muscle Power sprinting over.

Link shook his head and looked at Hibiki. "Shall we take care of this guy before we continue?"

Hibiki nodded. "That's fine with me."

In the blink of an eye, Link had pulled a lit bomb from a pouch on his back. Without even looking, Link rolled it behind him, in Muscle Power's direction. The American man stepped over the bomb just as it exploded, sending the egotistical wrestler into the air.

Hibiki smirked and drew her sword. "It's my turn."

The young girl ran past Link and pulled her sword back, waiting for Muscle Power to come within range. Once he did, Hibiki lashed out, taking a good bite out of Muscle Power's energy. The American man fell close to the ground, but Hibiki prevented him from touching the canvas by an upwards swing, sending the wrestler into the air again.

Hibiki quickly ran to the other side of the falling wrestler and looked at Link. "You take a shot at him!" She called out as she lashed out her sword again, firing Muscle Power in Link's direction.

The Hylian quickly whipped out his boomerang and threw it at Muscle Power, making it bounce off his head. Link caught the boomerang and ran in close for some melee attacks. Running underneath Muscle Power, Link swung the aster Sword three times above his head, juggling Muscle Power even more.

As the American man fell closer to the canvas, Link crouched low and leapt into the air, spinning around wildly with his sword outstretched.

The Spinning Sword attack was way too much for Muscle Power to handle, and the wrestler was sent off the canvas and out of the arena.

"And the award of 'Longest time in the arena without touching the ground': Muscle Power." SSBFreak's voice came through the speakers.

Muscle Power landed in Blast Corps. Unfortunately, he landed on the roof of a building that one of the giant mechs was about to powerbomb.

Back in the arena, the trio of Chang, Andy and Lei were still chasing Electro down, trying to get some answers from him.

"Halt, evildoer!" Chang ordered. The phrase that came from his mouth was something that Andy thought he'd never hear coming from Chang.

Electro looked back and thrust his hand out, firing several bolts of lightning from his fingers at his pursuers. Although Chang and Andy saw this and leapt to the side, Lei wasn't so lucky and got a severe surge of electricity to the leg.

"I've had just about enough of this guy." Andy growled. Lashing out his hand, Andy fired a blue projectile at Electro. The projectile made contact with Electro's back, stunning him for a second. Andy lunged forward and spun several times before slamming his foot into the electric supervillain, pinning him to the ground.

"Well done, Mr. Bogard!" Chang laughed as he and Lei ran over. "I never doubted your skills for a second!"

"Okay, pal!" Andy said as he looked into Electro's eyes. 'You're going to tell us what you know! What are you planning!"

"Okay! Okay! I'll talk!" Electro said, not really wanting another chase to happen. "Look, all I know is that we villains are kidnapping specific targets around the dome."

"Who ARE the targets, exactly?" Lei asked, pulling out a notebook and pen.

"I don't know!" Electro insisted. "Bison's the head honcho, not me! He doesn't tell anyone who's next until he's gets to the name on the list!"

Andy narrowed his eyes. "I knew something was up." He said. He then looked at Chang. "He's told us all we know. You can go back to your 'beating the tar out of him' if you like."

With that, Andy stood up and walked off to find another fight. Electro looked up into the eyes of an angry Chang Koehan.

"You criminal scum." Chang spat as he grabbed Electro by his outfit. "Your plan will NOT succeed! 'The Koehan' will see to that."

With one hand, Chang threw Electro over his shoulder, making the lanky supervillain fall out of the arena.

Of all the places an electric fighter would want to land, over the ocean of Ecco the Dolphin wasn't one of them.

Lucia cracked her whip again, hoping to deliver some damage to her opponent, Lion Rafale. Lion, however, saw the attack coming and sidestepped as Lucia's whip struck nothing but the air beside him.

"You're an annoying little pest." Lucia said.

"Yeah, well if your opponent was trying to strike you with a whip, you'd want to avoid the blow, too." Lion replied.

"Well, you can't avoid my attacks forever, you know." The Karayan chief said confidently.

Lion smirked. "You're right about that."

The young man charged forward and struck Lucia's stomach with an open-palmed punch, knocking the older woman away.

Landing on her side, Lucia looked up to see Lion walking over to her. Not wanting to be eliminated this quick (much like her son, Hugo), Lucia lashed out her whip again, hoping to take out Lion's feet from under him.

Lucia's attack was a success, and Lion was knocked to the ground. Lucia quickly got up and looked down at Lion.

"You let your guard down, boy." Lucia said. "You should never let your guard down in a tournament like this."

Again, Lion smirked. "Good advice." He said, lashing out his foot, tripping the Karayan chief.

As Lucia got to her feet, Lion noticed that she was dangerously close to the edge of the arena. Another smirk floated across his face as he ran forward, straight at the Karayan woman.

Lucia looked forward and pulled her whip back to try and do some more damage, but Lion was quicker. The younger man pushed Lucia's shoulders, making her stagger back. Lucia quickly realized that she was too close to the edge of the arena, as she was now falling off the canvas.

Lion smiled slyly as Lucia vanished into a portal. "You let your guard down." He repeated Lucia's words. "You should never let your guard down in a tournament like this."

Lucia landed in SSX 3. Unfortunately, she landed at the top of the snow-capped mountain and started rolling down, creating a huge snowball around her. Just when it looked like she wouldn't stop until she reached the bottom, she hit a rock, making the snowball explode.

Lucia slowly stood up. "This is why I hate snow."

(Dome; Storage Room)

Jin Chonrei opened the door to the Storage Room and walked in, Vivian following him. Neither of them had any worry of anyone spotting them because Chonrei's footsteps were light and Vivian didn't have feet anyway. Both of the young-looking fighters looked around curiously.

"Chonrei." Vivian said as she looked at her friend. "Why are we here? I thought we were supposed to go to the SSB Locker Room to find Ness and Mewtwo."

"We were." Chonrei explained. "But I recently felt a strong burst of dark aura coming from this room, and when I sense something like that, it either means that someone's in here or someone's about to enter the room." He looked around the dark room. "But there's no one here."

Vivian gasped. "Then that means that-"

Suddenly, the two could hear the doorknob to the room being twisted, meaning that someone was about to enter. Realizing that there wasn't anywhere Chonrei could get to in time to hide, Vivian did the only thing she could think of.

She lunged at Chonrei and latched onto him.

"Wha?" Chonrei stammered. "Vivian! What're you doing?"

Chonrei's question was answered when Vivian sunk into the floor, taking Chonrei with her. Both young-looking fighters were now nothing more but a circular shadow on the floor. And just in time, for as soon as they were in the floor, the door opened, allowing two figures to come in.

"Okay, so let me get this straight." Vega said as he walked into the room. Setsuna followed him and shut the door behind him. "Not only did you fail to kill that basketball player, but he pounded you into the floor."

"He caught me off guard." Setsuna grunted. "I've never seen a fighter like that guy before. I had no idea what to expect." He narrowed his eyes at Vega. "But from what I heard, you weren't exactly making a lot of progress. In fact, I heard that Geese Howard actually tried to stop Bison."

Vega nodded. "He did, but I managed to knock Geese out from behind. A little of Bison's mind-control and Geese should help us again."

"Well, I came back from Floor 30, where I was supposed to report back to King Lion." Setsuna continued. "Not only did his team get wasted, but Rainbow Mika chased Chaolan off to get some answers. Our plan may end up not being such a secret anymore."

"I guess the only thing we can do is hope that no one else figures out the plan." Vega stood in silence for a few seconds. "Who's next on our list of targets, again?"

"After we get Amy Guile, our next target is Jan, that little brother King has. As long as she's still in the arena, we'll have no problem nabbing her brother."

Vega nodded again. "Okay. Let's get going."

With that, Vega and Setsuna left the Storage Room. Once the door shut behind them, Vivian rose from the floor again, bringing Chonrei up with her.

Vivian looked at Chonrei. If he could've seen her eyes, he would have seen that they were wide with shock. "Did you hear that, Chonrei?" She asked.

Chonrei nodded. "Yes. Those guys are planning to kidnap King's little brother." He looked at the Shadow Siren. "It looks like the SSB Locker Room is going to have to wait. We need to find Jan before those two do."

Vivian nodded. "I'm behind you all the way, Chonrei! Let's go!"

As Chonrei and Vivian left the Storage Room, they could only wonder what the heck happened to Amano.

(Somewhere in the Dome)

Amano screamed as he continued to slide down another hallway in the Dome. No matter what he had hit, nothing would stop him. So far, Amano had hit two janitors, a journalist, a dessert cart, Wan Fu and Glass Joe from the Punch Out node. Even after colliding with all of these things, the effects of Bowser bowling the pink-clad man were still there.

Taking a break from his screaming in terror, Amano looked up to see where he was going next. He suddenly saw a huge, glass window coming up. Amano's eyes snapped open.

Amano went through the window headfirst and fell four stories into a dumpster. After landing inside the dumpster, Amano slowly climbed up and barely managed to climb out before falling out and landing on the sidewalk, directly on his back.

Laying on his back, Amano looked ahead. "I hope you appreciate the fact that I'm doing all of my own stunts."

(The Arena)

Larcen spun his grappling hook above his head, slamming it into the side of Edge's head. The redhead boy staggered away, the Star Dragon Sword heaping further insults on him.

"I'm telling you, if we don't get to that boy, his sword will." Larcen shook his head.

Scorpion nodded. "I never really feel sorry for anyone, but I must say that I pity that boy." The ninja replied.

"Hey, you!"

Scorpion and Larcen turned to see Jin Chonshu coming over. "You know? I'm surprised at how many people seem to call me 'hey, you'." Larcen said. "I really hate being among the obscure."

Chonshu cracked his knuckles and ran at the two Mystery Fighters, a sly smirk on his face.

"What's his problem?" Scorpion asked.

Larcen shrugged. "Maybe he has a thing against gangsters and ninjas." The cat burglar suggested. "I mean, let's face it. We aren't exactly the best-looking guys around."

"Yeah." Scorpion nodded thoughtfully. "You may be right."

"You want me to take him, or do you want to?" Larcen asked.

"You go ahead." Scorpion replied. "I've already gotten an elimination."

Larcen nodded and quickly reached into his trench coat. Lashing out his hand, Larcen fired a Sai at Chonshu, hoping to slow him down.

Chonshu saw the Sai coming and quickly kicked the air, striking the weapon. The Sai sailed off course, going out of the arena (where it punctured Needle Man in the Megaman node).

Larcen lunged forward and crouched low, lashing out his grappling hook. The weapon slashed across Chonshu's stomach, but it didn't really do much to damage him. The younger Jin twin thrust his fist out, followed closely by his other fist. Larcen managed to avoid the first blow, but the second one caught him off guard, punching him in the chest. As Larcen staggered back, Chonshu shoved his foot into the burglar's stomach.

The 40's burglar clutched his chest and glared daggers at Chonshu. "You're really asking for it, punk." He said.

Chonshu shrugged. "Nothing personal, but I need to get more eliminations than Chonrei did if I want to win this contest that we're having." He replied.

Larcen's eyes narrowed. "You shouldn't have said that."

Scorpion watched as Larcen lunged forward, knee outstretched. His knee collided with Chonshu's face, making the young-looking fighter stagger back. Taking his chance, Larcen pulled out his grappling hook, swung it around a few times and tossed it up until it latched onto one of the light racks hanging above the arena. Leaping off his feet, Larcen swung at Chonshu and held his feet in front of him.

Larcen's feet slammed into Chonshu's chest with amazing power. This sent Chonshu flying back. Now, if there had been ropes around the edges of the arena, he would have been fine, but since there wasn't, Chonshu fell from the arena.

Retracting his grappling hook, Larcen suddenly looked around the crowd. "Is that RAX and Jetta I hear cheering?" He asked himself.

Chonshu landed in Goldeneye. He was so relieved that he didn't see Chonrei sitting in the Eliminated Seating to watch him lose that he didn't notice the gunfire going on behind him as Jaws fired a Moonraker Laser at Baron Samedi.

Back in the arena, Bruce ducked as King's foot sailed over his head again. Despite having a lot of fatigue, Bruce was definitely holding his own, although it looked like King was now winning the battle.

Bruce lunged his knee out as King leaned to the side, avoiding it. "You're amazing, King." He complimented. "You've lasted longer than any other Thai fighter so far."

"Not quite." King said. "You're the only other one. I don't know if I'll actually be able to match your skills here. You've lasted even longer than Jubei Yagyu. I think that you're going to last even longer."

"Well, I'm not sure about that, but thanks."

Both Thai fighters continued to duel until they heard a loud (yet very common by now) shout.

"Why don't you actually TRY to fight, wimp!" The Star Dragon Sword shouted as Edge ran over to Bruce and King with hopes of eliminating one of them. "You're so pathetic that-"

"SHUT UP!" Edge screamed at his sword as he ran at Bruce and King.

Bruce looked at King. "I'll take him." Although he looked like he was limping a little, Bruce walked in the direction of the oncoming Edge.

Just as Edge came close enough, Bruce thrust his knee out, slamming it into the redhead's face. Edge staggered back, holding his face, but quickly snapped out of his daze and lashed out with the Star Dragon Sword.

Bruce quickly dodged the attack and drove his foot into the side of Edge's head. King looked on as Edge was easy pickings for Bruce's kicks. Despite all the fatigue, Bruce continued to lash out kicks, forcing Edge closer and closer to the edge of the arena.

"You moron!" The Star Dragon Sword shouted. "You haven't even gotten an elimination yet and you're looking amazingly pitiful! If I was in the arena on my own, I would have demolished this guy by now without even breaking a sweat!"

Edge wobbled on the edge of the arena, trying to keep his balance, as he ignored the sword's insults.

Bruce shook his head. "I may as well put this poor guy out of his misery." He thought aloud.

The Thai fighter leapt into the air and slammed his foot into Edge's face, knocking the redhead off the edge of the arena, where he fell headlong into the vortex.

Edge landed in the Carmen Sandiego node. Because of his sword's constant insults, several policemen jumped him for 'disturbing the peace'.

In the arena, Heavy D! lashed out his fist, sending another R.S.D. at Shen Woo. The younger boxer swerved to the side, dodging the attack cleanly. The two boxers had been at it since Shen Woo had come into the arena and, despite D!'s slight fatigue, the battle was looking like an even fight.

Shen Woo lashed out his fists in a quick flurry of punches. Although D! managed to block the first few, the rest of the punches ended up getting through. D! staggered back, his guard gone.

The younger boxer smirked. "You're finished, man." Shen Woo smirked. "You've had your day back in 94. Maybe it's time to let another boxer, like me, take the spotlight."

D! narrowed his eyes. His shades had been broken long ago, allowing everyone to see his eyes. "You really think that you can beat me?"

Shen Woo nodded. "You have no chance, especially with the fatigue weighing you down. I give you about thirty seconds before I reduce you to begging me to eliminate you."

Heavy D! responded by slamming his fist into Shen's face, knocking the younger man to the ground. "I hate overconfidence." He muttered.

As Shen tried to stand up, D! continued the onslaught by grabbing him and throwing him over his shoulder. As Shen landed on the ground, D! lashed out his hand, sending several more energy streaks at the younger man.

Shen Woo slowly got to his feet and looked at his opponent. Heavy D! was charging at him.

"I've been waiting all night to do this move." D! muttered.

"Is D! doing what I think he's doing?" Unknown1's voice was heard.

"I believe so!" SSBFreak replied.

"D! Crazy!" D!, SSBFreak and Unknown1 shouted at once.

Using his most powerful move, D! attacked Shen with a rapid sequence of punches. The final punch sent Shen Woo flying out of the arena.

(Jeffry McWild's Stage)

Craig Marduk rubbed his chin as he slowly got into a sitting position. "Okay. So you're not such a pitiful fighter, but you're STILL way too old to-"

*THWACK!*

As Marduk rubbed his sore head, Cranky Kong stood aside, brandishing his cane. The old ape looked down at the large man. "You, sonny, are a disgrace to Vale Tudo fighting everywhere!" Cranky accused.

Marduk looked up at Cranky and narrowed his eyes. "What do you know about-"

Before Marduk could finish, Cranky had lifted him off the ground and performed a Vale Tudo grapple. Cranky released his opponent again and slammed his foot down on Marduk's stomach.

Marduk's eyes widened. "But…How?" He asked.

Cranky smirked as he got into a crane stance. "I'm the oldest video game character in existence." He explained. "I know every move and style there is to know."

"Oh, really?" Marduk challenged. "Prove it!"

The old ape got out of his stance and lashed out a hand. "Fire!"

Before the giant man had time to react, an explosion of fire sent him off his feet and into the air. His eyes widened in disbelief, Marduk landed on his back.

Cranky continued the attacks. "Hadoken!" The old ape shouted, shoving both hands in Marduk's direction, firing a very familiar fireball at the large man.

Marduk collapsed, pretty much defeated by now. Cranky, however, had one more trick up his sleeve. Holding his cane like a gun, Cranky aimed it at Marduk.

"PHOTON CANNON!"

Marduk's eyes sprang open, knowing what was coming next.

A huge beam of energy fired from Cranky's cane, plowing into Marduk with full force. Marduk was sent flying into the air, spun several times and landed on his stomach.

Cranky placed his cane on the ground in victory when he suddenly heard a light clapping. Looking at the little hut just off the arena, Cranky saw Shun Di clapping for him.

"Well done, Cranky, old friend!" Shun said. "You showed that young whippersnapper that we old folks still have a little fight left in us!"

"Ah, he had it coming anyway." Cranky laughed. "Say, what're you doing here anyway? This isn't your arena."

"Jeffry asked me to look after his place while he's at the tournament." Was the reply from the old man. "Hey, since you're here, how about a drink?" Shun asked the obvious, holding up a bottle of gin.

Cranky smirked. "Thanks. I could use a drink right about now."

Cranky passed by the defeated Marduk and joined his old friend for a drink. However, as they were doing so, Marduk was slowly regaining consciousness. He pushed himself onto his arms to prop himself up as he tried to stand up.

*THUMP!*

The next (and last) thing Marduk knew, a newly eliminated Shen Woo landed on his back, knocking him out again. Shen Woo looked around to find out where he was.

"Ah! Hello there, youngin!" Shun greeted.

"You up for a drink, sonny?" Cranky added.

Shen Woo smirked. "Sure!"

(Dome; Security Room)

"So you guys actually fought off a couple of creeps during a kidnapping?" Knuckles asked.

Master Chief nodded. "Yeah, but unfortunately, the one with the boy got away." He rubbed the back of his helmet. "We honestly don't have any idea where they went."

Joanna Dark sighed. "We've tried searching for leads ever since we defeated those two. We've come up with absolutely nothing."

"Haven't you guys tried looking for the ones you defeated?" The red echidna questioned.

"We did." Samurai Goroh nodded. "We have found no traces of either Gannondorf or Yuber. From the way things stand, we'll have to wait until one of them gets eliminated from the tournament and stand by the Retrieval Room to wait for them to return."

"We may have had more of a chance if SOMEONE had decided to do more than argue with his tattoo." Joanna added, casting an accusing glare at Psymon.

Psymon simply smirked innocently. "It wasn't MY fault. I was simply defending you, Joanna!" He jerked his head in the direction of his shoulder. "Mr. Loudmouth here insulted your mother and I told him to shut it."

Before Joanna had time to rush at Psymon and wrap her fingers around his throat, the door to the room was suddenly kicked open. All five of the Security Officers looked at the door in time to see a severely ticked-off Eliza Masters storm into the room.

"Mrs. Masters?" Master Chief asked. "What seems to be the problem?"

Eliza glared at Master Chief. "You guys are supposed to be in charge of the security here!" She said. "My son left the audience to get a snack back in Section Two and he hasn't returned yet!" She held up a little book in her hand. "When I got to the vending machines, I found this: My son's autograph book!"

Master Chief, Joanna and Samurai Goroh looked amongst each other, a little worried about what Eliza would do if she found out her son had been kidnapped.

"Uh…Don't worry, Mrs. Masters." Goroh assured. "We'll find your son."

Eliza nodded. "Make sure that you do." She said coldly as she turned and stormed out of the room as quickly as she came in.

Knuckles shook his head. "Man. I'd hate to get on her bad side."

(The Arena)

King and Bruce continued to spar, neither of them showing any weakness. King lashed out two Venom Strikes at her opponent, hoping to take down his guard. Bruce blocked the first projectile, but the second one managed to get through and slam into his leg.

As Bruce quickly clutched his leg in pain, King drove her leg into his face, knocking him back. King quickly charged at Bruce and prepared to deliver a hard kick to push him from the arena.

However, Bruce snapped out of his daze in time to see King coming. "Oh, no you don't!" He said as he leapt into the air and arced himself in midair so King would run underneath him. King wasn't prepared for Bruce to jump and indeed flew underneath him, running towards the edge of the arena. King came to a screeching halt two feet from the edge of the canvas, barely managing to prevent herself from being eliminated.

Bruce landed on the ground and turned around to see King getting close to the edge of the arena. Deciding to end the duel, Bruce ran at King and prepared to kick her off the edge.

King quickly spun around and lashed out another Venom Strike, firing it at Bruce. Bruce saw this coming and blocked, but this allowed King to run from the edge of the arena, saving herself.

"I think it's just about time to end the duel." King said, breathing heavily.

Bruce exhaled ever heavier. "Yeah. One of us needs to go."

King smirked. "But it won't be me!" She said.

Bruce and King ran at each other and they each delivered a hard, high kick. The two fighters' feet connected with each other, canceling each attack out. The resounding force was powerful enough to create a loud boom that echoed throughout the audience.

Once the noise died down, each of the kick boxers lowered their respective feet. King felt a severe pain erupting from her leg and was reduced to limping on it, trying not to put too much weight on it. Bruce, however, collapsed to the canvas, the last of his energy used on that last kick.

King sighed. "You were an amazing opponent, Bruce." She complimented. "Maybe the next time we meet, we'll be evenly matched."

With that, King simply pushed Bruce off the edge of the canvas with her good foot. Bruce, way too exhausted to try and come back in, fell into the vortex.

Bruce landed in Street Fighter 1. He slowly got to his feet and looked around.

"Hey! Who the heck are you?"

Bruce turned to see Joe, a generic fighter, coming over.

"I don't recall giving you permission to step into my battle zone." Joe said.

Needless to say, even with all the fatigue weighing him down, Bruce demolished Joe in less than thirty seconds.

In the arena, Nei looked around. Due to the fact that Edge and Lucia had both been eliminated, the elf girl was once again the lone Suikoden fighter in the ring. She was tempted to go over and try to eliminate Lion Rafale, but stopped when she saw him dueling with Falco Lombardi. Knowing better than to interrupt a fight, Nei looked around, seeing if she could find any allies.

Nei quickly spotted Lei Wulong. She knew that he was a policeman, thus being an officer of the law. Deciding to go see if she could get his help, Nei started running in his direction.

Meanwhile, Falco zoomed through Lion, doing his Falco Phantasm. The attack slammed into Lion with enough force to make him airborne. The young man flew in midair for a bit before landing on his back.

Quickly jumping to his feet, Lion lashed out his palm, slamming it into the giant bird's face. Falco staggered back, rubbing his beak. The blue avian glared at Lion and grit his teeth.

"You're in for it now!" Falco growled. "It's time for me to stop holding back!"

Lion smirked. "I guess that means that I can, too."

Falco leapt into the air and dove at Lion in a downward kick. Lion quickly sidestepped the attack and watched as Falco struck the canvas beside him. Lion quickly grabbed Falco and tossed him over his shoulder. The hotshot of the Starfox Team landed roughly on his side, but quickly jumped to his feet and looked at Lion again.

Lion saw the anger in his opponent's eyes, smirked, and motioned for Falco to come on.

Falco drew his blaster and started firing shots at his opponent, hoping that one of the bolts would stun the young man. Lion, however, was proving that he was indeed incredibly flexible, dodging every single one of Falco's laser bolts with ease.

However, the laser bolts had to go somewhere, and that just so happened to be in the direction Nei was running in. The aqua-haired elf girl quickly found her trek to reach Lei more hazardous than she thought, as she was getting bombarded with red laser bolts.

Nei ducked as she ran, allowing a laser bolt to fly over her head. The elf girl only had a few more feet before she reached Lei…

Suddenly, a laser bolt slammed into Nei's back. Letting out a scream of pain, Nei flew forward, straight at Lei, whom turned to see her flying at him.

As much as Nei tried to stop herself, she couldn't. The elf girl collided with Lei, pushing the Hong Kong cop off the edge of the platform, where he fell into a vortex.

Nei landed on her stomach just in time to hear the announcement. Growling, Nei got to her feet, turned to look at Falco, the one that had fired the shot, and charged.

Scorpion was still double-teaming everyone with Larcen, taking down anyone that came upon the duo. The combined power from Larcen's Sai and Scorpion's grappling hook was enough to take anyone out, but by some amazing chance, neither of them had eliminated anyone since Larcen tossed Chonshu from the arena.

The undead ninja slammed his fist into Andy's head, knocking the younger Bogard away. However, once Andy flew off, Scorpion's line of sight saw Ryu walking over, his gaze remaining neutral.

"So, you wish to challenge me?" Scorpion chuckled. "This'll be quick."

"I HAVE come for a challenge from you." Ryu said, then looked at Larcen. "But I wish to do it without your friend helping you."

Scorpion looked at Larcen, who nodded. "No sweat, pal. You don't need me to take him out. I'll go find a fight with someone else."

The yellow-clad ninja nodded as he watched Larcen run off to start a fight with Heavy D!. This left nothing to stand in Ryu's way with fighting Scorpion.

The two warriors charged at each other, each delivering a hard punch. The two fists connected, making the other fist stop flying. As their two fists were still connected, Scorpion quickly slammed his other fist into Ryu's face, making the Martial Artist step away a few feet, holding the side of his face.

Ryu narrowed his eyes and pulled his hands back, gathering up some energy. "Hadoken!" He screamed, lashing out his world-renown fireball at his undead ninja opponent. The blazing projectile slammed into Scorpion's stomach, where it quickly burst apart. Shaking his head in annoyance, Scorpion lashed out his hand.

"GET OVER HERE!" He screamed (earning a loud cheer from the crowd). The familiar grappling hook fired from Scorpion's hand and soared at Ryu with amazing speed.

Now, this was exactly how Scorpion had eliminated Basara in the last Section. However, Ryu was a much better fighter than the undead, blue-haired man, and saw the spear coming at him. Thinking amazingly quickly, Ryu dodged to the side and allowed the spear to pass by him. However, instead of letting it continue, Ryu grabbed the spear with one of his hands and allowed himself to be pulled in towards Scorpion.

Although Ryu's action confused Scorpion, he shrugged and figured that it made the elimination easier. However, something suddenly caught his eye when he saw Ryu's free hand start glowing with orange flame energy.

The young Martial Artist waited until he was close enough to Scoprion when he put his plan into action. "Shoryuken!" He shouted, throwing himself upwards with his fist outstretched, doing his famous Dragon Punch.

The punch successfully landed against Scorpion's chin, sending the undead ninja into the air. Ryu touched the ground and casually let go of Scorpion's grappling hook as he watched his opponent fly out of the arena and into the vortex.

(Eliminated Seating)

Sagat nodded once in satisfaction. Hwoarang, sitting next to the giant man, saw this.

"Why are you so happy that he got an elimination?" The redhead asked. "Isn't he your sworn enemy?"

Sagat looked down at Hwoarang. "For Ryu and I to have a fair fight, we must be evenly matched. Because he has now gotten an elimination, he and I are now evenly matched, meaning that I must now resume my training for my rematch against him." With that, Sagat stood up and left the Eliminated Seating.

Hwoarang shook his head. "Whatever."

Scorpion, in the meantime, landed in Timesplitters: Future Perfect. In fact, he landed in a very dark and creepy mansion. Scorpion had about three seconds of silence.

"ZOMBIES!" Jo-Beth Casey shrieked from behind Scorpion.

The undead ninja turned in time to see Sgt. Cortez aiming a shotgun at him. The spaceman quickly fired the shotgun two times, making holes in Scorpion's outfit.

Scorpion looked down at his outfit, then back at Cortez, who seemed a little shocked to see that this particular zombie wasn't falling down.

"Uh…You may want to look back." Scorpion suggested.

Cortez turned in time to see the Deerhaunter burst out of a wall and charge at him and Jo-Beth.

Scorpion watched the battle and shrugged. "Ah. I'm here for ten minutes. I guess I can help these two out." He aimed his hand at the undead, mutated deer and shouted the predictable. "GET OVER HERE!"

(The Muppet Show)

Lei Wulong nervously stood on stage, standing behind a microphone. After appearing on stage, Lei was trying to impress the audience with whatever he could think of.

"Uh…" Lei said as he wiped his brow. "So, how about them Packers?"

The Hong Kong cop was greeted with silence.

"Uh…I just flew in from Hong Kong and…Boy, are my arms tired."

In the theatre box to the side of the stage, the two familiar hecklers stared at Lei, slack-jawed.

"I don't believe it." Statler said in shock. "This guy actually makes Fozzie seem…Good!"

Lei continued on with his act. "Uh…A funny thing happened on my way here tonight…I made it."

Statler and Waldorf started banging on the railing of their theatre box, chanting "We want Fozzie! We want Fozzie!".

Seeing that his comedic career had just ended before it even started, Lei quickly looked down at Dr. Teeth, whom was sitting in the orchestra pit. "Quick! Play 'Singing in the Rain'!"

Dr. Teeth shrugged and started playing the song. Lei waited until it was time for the words to come up, and when the time came, he opened his mouth.

But instead of singing, he gargled the words.

Standing aside the stage, Kermit the Frog shook his head. "Yeesh, this guy is a disgrace." Looking to the side, he beckoned for a certain fuzzy-haired thing to come over. "Animal, take care of the guy out there."

Animal looked out onto the stage and saw Lei gargling the song. Animal quickly went out onto the stage and went behind Lei. Opening his really big mouth, Animal was about to take a bite out of Lei's behind, but froze. Animal stood straight and looked up at Lei, whom still gargled on. Animal looked at the crowd and shrugged.

And then he started gargling the song with Lei. Lei looked down at him and wrapped an arm around Animal's shoulder as the solo turned into a duet. Kermit slapped his forehead.

(Dome; Hallways)

Lee Chaolan sighed as Rainbow Mika slammed him into the floor again. {Why me?} He asked. {What did I ever do to deserve such pain?} He was silent for a few seconds as Mika picked him up and threw him into a wall. {Okay. So I'm part of a huge plot being brewed amongst several feared villains. Big deal. Is that a reason to hate me?}

Needless to say, Lee was losing pretty bad. It wasn't enough that Mika was pounding him to a pulp. It actually wouldn't have been as bad if Mika wasn't enraged and determined to get info from him.

Mika hauled Lee to his feet. "Okay, prettyboy!" She shouted into Lee's face. "What do you know about this plot?"

Lee, despite all the pain he was in, managed a smirk. "You really think I'll tell you that easily?" He asked as he slammed his head into Mika's forehead, making her release him.

Holding her forehead, Mika staggered back and glared at Lee through her blue mask. "Let's see you fight!" She challenged. "I could use a laugh."

This time it was Lee to narrow his vision. "You've just crossed the line, missy." He said as he lunged forward and struck Mika's face with his fist. Before the female wrestler had time to recover, Lee slammed his other fist into her stomach. The silver-haired man finished the combo off with his trademark snap kick, quickly jabbing Mika's face with his foot.

Mika shook her head to clear her mind, then grit her teeth as she wrapped her arms around Lee's waist. Dan was counting on her to get info, and she wasn't about to let him down.

The female wrestler, still clutching Lee, bent over backwards, slamming her opponent into the floor. Mika got up, stood over her opponent and took her own legs out from under her, making her elbow connect with Lee's stomach.

Lee grunted in pain from the attack, but used his feet to push Mika off of him and send her flying away from him. Slowly standing up, Lee looked at Mika. "You're good, even after that battle we had in the Hotel." He smirked. "However, I am just warming up."

Mika smiled slyly. "Does that mean that I don't need to hold back any more?" She asked. Quickly turning around, Mika lunged at Lee, hip-first.

Lee's sly smile instantly vanished as Mika's hip slammed into his face, knocking him away a few feet. Mika landed gracefully on her feet and Lee fell onto his back.

Mika walked over to her opponent, picked him up and walked over to the wall. Lee's eyes snapped open, realizing what was going to happen.

The female wrestler pulled Lee back and repeatedly slammed Lee's head into the wall. After the fifth time, Lee was released, and landed on his stomach. However, he couldn't seem to be able to get up, which was a sign that he was defeated.

"Okay. I'll ask again." Mika bent over to look at Lee, her expression one of anger. "What do you know about all of this?"

"Attention: Will Lee Chaolan please get ready to enter the arena?" Unknown1's voice echoed through a speaker on the wall.

Lee smirked and brought his foot to Mika's face, pushing her away. He quickly got to his feet.

"As much as I'd love to stick around, I need to get to the arena." He turned to leave. "Ciao."

"Uh…While I'm at it, could Rainbow Mika also get ready to enter the arena?" Unknown1's voice continued.

Lee's eyes snapped open as he slowly turned to see Mika looking at him with an evil smirk. Suddenly, Mika broke into a sprint, charging at her opponent.

Lee quickly turned around and ran off, with Mika once again chasing after him.

(The Arena)

Hibiki slashed at Link, hoping to break his guard. The Hylian man, however, held up his shield, blocking the attack. Hibiki's sword hit the shield and she was pushed back a bit, and Link took the opportunity to pull out his bow and arrow. Aiming the arrow at Hibiki, Link pulled the string back and fired.

The young girl, however, saw the arrow coming, and lashed her sword out, cutting the projectile cleanly in half. Hibiki narrowed her eyes at Link. "That was a cheap shot!" She accused.

Link shrugged. "It's not MY fault you don't have any weapons besides the sword." He pointed out.

Hibiki growled and lunged at the Hero of Time, pulling her weapon back. Link put up the Master Sword to block the attack, but Hibiki was so mad that she actually broke through Link's defenses, slashing across 'fairy boy's' chest. Link staggered back and looked at the tear in his tunic.

"Do you know how much it takes to get something like this repaired?" Link asked Hibiki.

"No, but I don't really care." Hibiki replied.

Link and Hibiki rushed each other again, locking swords. The two struggled to gain the upper hand, but the other fighter was proving to be too much of a challenge to overtake.

Starting to feel frustrated, Link pushed Hibiki back and crouched low. "Prepare to be eliminated!" Link shouted as he broke into another Spinning Sword Attack, charging at Hibiki.

The younger girl, however, saw this coming and dropped to the canvas as Link's sword sailed over her head. Hibiki quickly slammed her sword holster into Link's ankle, which was a little hard to do considering the fact that he was still spinning.

Hibiki's attack broke Link out of his as he grasped his ankle in pain. Hibiki stood up and ran at Link, hoping to push him out of the arena.

Link, however, opened his eyes in time to see the young girl coming at him. Using quick thinking, Link bent over and allowed Hibiki to push through the air above him. Once Hibiki was above him, Link forced himself into a standing position, flipping Hibiki over his back.

The young warrior landed on her back and found herself looking up into Link's eyes.

"No offense." Link said as he picked Hibiki up. "You're good, but I seem to have gotten the upper hand."

With that, Link tossed Hibiki away, making her fall off the canvas and out of the arena.

Hibiki landed in Spy vs. Spy. Once the black and white spies saw her, they started a deathmatch where the winner would ask Hibiki out.

In the arena, Falco was still fighting Lion, unaware of the angry elf girl running over to them.

Falco smirked as he jumped at Lion. Once he got within range, the blue pilot activated his Reflector, bringing up an octagon of blue energy around him. However, because he was standing within range, Lion was slightly electrocuted.

Lion shook off the effects of the attack and looked at Falco. "You think pulling out all those gadgets and gizmos will make you win?"

"Well, I plan them to." Falco replied.

"Too bad!" Lion shouted. "Because I will-"

It was then that Nei decided to interfere. However, her feud was with Falco, so Lion wasn't needed. Nei quickly pushed Lion away and looked at Falco with anger.

"What's your problem?" Falco asked.

Nei pointed in the direction Lei had fallen out of the arena. "Your laser blast struck me in the back and made me push Lei Wulong out of the arena!" She replied.

"So?" Falco asked. "You got another elimination. You should thank me."

"I was TRYING to talk to him and get his help!" Nei replied. "I wasn't trying to eliminate him!"

The avian smirked. "So, you wanna fight to make up for it, huh?" He pulled out his blaster and spun it a few times in his hand. "Okay. This could be fun."

Nei lunged at Falco, who fired several shots from his blaster. Using her keen senses, Nei dodged the lasers and continued running at her opponent. Starting to get a little nervous, Falco put his blaster back and did another Falco Phantasm, lunging forward with amazing speed.

The elf girl saw this as well and leapt into the air just as Falco did the move. While in midair, Nei shoved her feet downwards, hoping to strike Falco as he passed underneath. Nei's timing was perfect, and Falco received a hard kick to the head, bringing him out of his attack.

Falco landed on his stomach, but quickly jumped to his feet. Turning around to face Nei, the birdman put up his fists and charged, sticking his head forward in a head-butt.

Nei tried to block the attack, but was unable to stop Falco from driving his head into her stomach. The wind almost completely knocked out of her, Nei flew back and landed on the canvas, looking up at the lights hanging from the ceiling.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Falco picked Nei up and gently tossed her from the arena.

Nei landed in some sort of forest. Looking around, she saw that she was alone.

Well, almost. An elf man saw her and instantly fell in love. He walked over to her and offered her a flower.

"My lady, you are the most beautiful elf woman I have ever seen." Legolas said. "It would be my pleasure if you would accept this flower."

Nei stood in silence for a few seconds before punching Legolas' lights out. She sighed. "If Toppo or Roland was watching that, I'd be so embarrassed." He said.

In the arena, Heavy D! punched Lacren away in time to see Andy Bogard coming over. "Hey, Bogard." D! greeted. "What's up?"

Andy looked around. "Apparently, a good amount." He replied. "I sense a dark force coming from somewhere in the dome. And before Chang eliminated him, Electro said that it was some sort of kidnapping plot."

D!'s eyes widened. "You know about this too?" He asked.

Andy raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"

"Yeah, man. Lucky and I are trying to get as much help as we can so we can take on these villains and find out more." Heavy D! replied.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that I'm not in this alone." Andy nodded. "So, what do you suggest?"

D! rubbed the back of his head. "I just don't know, man. I'm not a leader. Lucky, Ryoko and Bridget are trying to find Amy Guile before she gets nabbed, but I have no clue as to who the next target is." He confessed.

"Well, it's a start." Andy assured. "It's more information than what I had before. We just need to find one of the villains in charge and get him to confess some more."

"But who else is there?" D! asked. "There aren't any more villains in the arena, Electro's waiting to be brought back from his elimination node, and I have no idea where any of the others are."

"Well, I guess that means that I'm going to have to get out of here to find out." Andy said.

D! did a double take. "What? But…You haven't been in the arena that long. I'm starting to get more fatigued, so I dunno how much longer I'm going to last in here."

"You see, D!, that's just the point. If I get out of here now, I'll still be fresh enough to try and locate the villains."

D! sighed. "You're right. Okay, I'll stay in the ring and try to get more help."

Andy nodded. "Okay. Good luck." With that, the younger Bogard turned towards King, whom was resting from her fight against Bruce, and ran at her.

When King looked forward, she saw Andy running over to her with a neutral expression. At first, King was wondering if Andy was actually wanting to fight her, but was surprised when Andy leapt into the air and landed on King's shoulders. Jumping off King, Andy threw himself from the ring, giving King the elimination due to her touching him last.

Andy landed on a field in Harvest Moon. Deciding to save his energy, Andy sat down to start concentrating.

Back in the arena, King was looking out into the vortex Andy had gone into as it vanished. "What the heck was that about?" She asked as she turned around to look at the competition. Link, still feeling fresh, was advancing on her, hoping for a fight. A slightly-fatigued Falco had resumed his little spar with the fresher Lion Rafale. Deciding for a fair fight, Ryu had started a fight with the equally-fresh Larcen Tyler. Chang had several rips and tears in his outfit, as well as on his cap-mask, but still looked ready to take anything on. Heavy D! sat down for a second to regain some of his strength.

Suddenly, the hands floating above the arena starting laughing again, meaning that they were about to change the arena again.

RESULTS

LINK (SSB)

KING (KOF)

CHANG KOEHAN (KOF)

FALCO LOMBARDI (SSB)

RYU (SFA3)

LARCEN TYLER (EC)

LION RAFALE (VF)

HEAVY D! (KOF)

(ELIMINATED)

BRUCE IRVIN (T5)

NEI (S3)

SCORPION (MK)

LEI WULONG (T5)

SHEN WOO (KOF)

EDGE (S3)

HIBIKI TAKANE (LB)

JIN CHONSHU (FF)

ANDY BOGARD (KOF)

LUCIA (S3)

ELECTRO (MC)

MUSCLE POWER (WH)

BONUS MATCHES:

"Respekt Yer Elderz"

CRANKY KONG (DKC) beats down CRAIG MARDUK (T5)

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

RAINBOW MIKA (SFA3) outruns LEE CHAOLAN (T5)

Eliminations: Link and King, 2; Chang, Falco, Ryu, Larcen, Lion, D!, Bruce and Nei, 1

Current Elimination Leaders: Bruce Irvin (6), Jubei Yagyu (4), Watari (4), Athena Asamiya (4), Heavy D! (4), Chang Koehan (4), King (4)

How the Mighty Have Fallen: With six eliminations, Bruce Irvin has finally been eliminated. Not bad for someone that hasn't seen canon work since Tekken 2.

You Guys Must Hate Marduk…: I was expecting Marduk to trounce Cranky and not the other way around. Apparently, you guys hate him for killing Armour King.