(The Arena)

The eight remaining fighters stood still as they waited to see what surprises the two hands would have in store for them. Several of them quickly noticed that the ropes had regenerated as the hands circled each other in midair.

Suddenly, the hands started spinning even faster. Soon, they started forming a small twister, which quickly shot down to strike the center of the arena. Ryu, Larcen and Chang had to dive out of the way to avoid being hit.

Everyone watched in shock as the twister the hands were creating suddenly caused the whole middle area of the arena to spiral upwards up until reaching well more than twenty feet high. Due to the newfound spike being twisted as it was pulled, a thin ramp was created alongside of it, providing a pathway to the top of the tower.

"With this new 'tower', people can be tossed easily due to that spike being higher than any of the ropes around the edges of the arena!" SSBFreak's voice shouted.

Everyone quickly looked in the direction of the entrance ramp, because this meant that the next fighter was about to enter.

"JIGGLYPUFF!" (SSB)

The pink, round Pokemon came out from behind the curtain and merrily bounded down to the ringside, ready to please the crowd with her beautiful songs (if they weren't put to sleep by them). Leaping into the air, Jigglypuff inflated and floated into the arena.

Larcen turned in time to see the big ball of pink floating at him. Jigglypuff pulled one of her flippers back and slammed it into the gangster's face.

The 40's burglar stood straight, holding his face. "That hurt, you little ball of fluff!"

King rushed in and pushed Larcen over. "How could you say that to such an adorable little thing?" Bending over, King scooped Jigglypuff into her arms and hugged the little Pokemon.

(Sound Booth)

"Hey, Astaroth!" Shadow said as he held up a CD. "Play this for the next fighter!"

Looking at the CD, Astaroth looked down at Shadow in confusion. "What for?"

"Believe me. This kid deserves it."

The giant humanoid shrugged. "Okay. If you say so."

(The Arena)

"SHINGO YABUKI!" (KOF)

The young, confident fan of Kyo Kusanagi ran out from behind the curtain to a huge cheer. He waved to the crowd and signed a couple of autographs as he continued down the ramp.

"I don't care what you're thinking, as you turn to me"

"Cause what I have in my two hands is enough to set me free"

"I can fight the feeling to resist it over time"

"But when it's just too much to take, you sneak up from behind"

Shingo stopped going down the ramp as he heard 'What I'm Made Of' coming from the speakers. Looking up at the Sound Booth, Shingo saw Shadow giving him a thumbs-up. Shingo smirked and returned the gesture as he continued down the ramp.

"Is it me? You say you're looking for?"

"Let me show you who I am and what I'm here for"

The young man was, in honesty, a fan of the song, and paused to wait for the chorus to start. Shingo bobbed his head a couple of times just before the chorus started.

"Try to reach inside of me!"

"Try to drain my energy!"

"Let me show you just what I'm made of!"

"Simple curiosity!"

"Try to take a bite of me!"

"Let me show you just what I'm made of!"

"NOW!"

As soon as the chorus started, Shingo leapt into the arena and dashed at the fight between Falco and Lion.

"Shingo Kick!" Shingo shouted as he lunged forward in a flying kick.

Falco and Lion turned in time to see Shingo flying at them. Shingo slammed into Lion, knocking the young man away from Falco.

The avian shook his head. "Man. What next?"

Suddenly, something bounced off the back of his head. Falco looked over his shoulder and saw some sort of rubber juggling ball laying on the canvas. Curiously, Falco looked at the entranceway.

"TOPPO!" (S3)

The silent juggler stood outside the entrance curtain, tossing another juggling ball to himself. His gaze was focused on Falco, and his eyes narrowed in anger.

Gripping the juggling ball in his hand, Toppo raced down the ramp to meet up with the birdman. Falco had been the one to eliminate Nei, Toppo's friend, and the silent juggler was clearly out for revenge.

Leaping into the arena, Toppo broke into a run and charged at Falco as fast as he could. As he ran, Toppo hurled the juggling ball he was holding at the avian.

Falco ducked as the ball soared over his head. "You've got a serious problem, man!" He said to Toppo. "What is it?"

Toppo, obviously, didn't speak. He simply pulled another ball from his belt and hurled it at Falco. After throwing it, Toppo pulled his fist back.

(Dome; Snack Bar)

Julia Chang pulled Eiji Kisaragi into the Snack Bar and looked around. Due to the conflicting energies within the ninja's body, Eiji had almost collapsed in pain a couple of times, and had only continued on because Julia was practically dragging him, determined to find a cure for Eiji.

So far, Julia and Eiji had been around about half the dome looking for someone from the World Heroes node in hopes of finding Rasputin.

Julia sighed, as there wasn't anyone from the World Heroes gang in the Snack Bar. "Sorry, Eiji. No one's here either."

Eiji shook his head. "It's not your fault, Julia. We just need to look elsewhere." He, unlike Julia, noticed from some holes in the wall and broken tables that a fight had taken place in the Snack Bar recently.

"Where else could we look?" Julia asked. "No one in the World Heroes Locker Room knew where Rasputin is."

Eiji shrugged. "Well, there's always the Hotel." He suggested. "Maybe he's somewhere in there?"

"Maybe." Julia shrugged. "Let's try it."

Just as Eiji and Julia were about to leave the Snack Bar when a huge figure walked in. Eiji bumped into the giant man and looked up.

"Uh…Could you let us through?" Eiji asked.

"You step aside!" The Juggernaut said. "I don't step aside for anyone!"

Julia grabbed Eiji by the shoulder and pulled him aside. "Just let him through, Eiji. You don't want to mess with someone that big."

Eiji reluctantly stood aside and let the Juggernaut through. However, as the duo was about the leave, they heard the Juggernaut mutter to himself.

"Man. I'm starving." The Juggernaut muttered. "I need to get something to eat before I go meet up with Gozu and Mezu."

Eiji's eyes snapped open when he heard the names of the two ninjas he had gotten these stupid elemental powers from.

"What is it, Eiji?" Julia asked, seeing Eiji stopping.

Eiji turned. "That guy mentioned meeting up with Gozu and Mezu." He said. "Maybe we can get him to take us to them and find out some answers."

Julia bit her lip. "Look at his size!" She whispered. "He's not going down without a fight!"

"I'm aware of that." Eiji replied.

Drawing his ninja sword, Eiji leapt at Juggernaut, who turned to see the ninja coming at him. Juggernaut quickly held up one of his huge hands and blocked the attack.

"You're making a very stupid mistake in challenging me." Juggernaut said.

"Please! Don't fight!" The man behind the counter pleaded. "This place has already been torn up once!" His cries went unanswered, as the giant and ninja started fighting.

Julia sighed as she rushed forward to help Eiji in the battle.

(The Arena)

"GENJURO!" (SS)

The purple-haired samurai couldn't believe his horrible luck as he walked down to the ring. Haohmaru had managed to get a later draw than he, meaning that Genjuro would have to work is he was to stay in the arena until his rival showed up.

Reaching the arena, Genjuro leapt in and instantly went for the one with a sword, which happened to be Link.

Link saw Genjuro coming and raised the Master Sword, blocking Genjuro's attack. "What are YOU so mad about?"

"I need to survive as long as I can until Haohmaru comes out." Genjuro replied. "That way, we'll be able to fight and I'll be able to kill him."

"Why is it that samurai seem to want to kill each other all of the time?" Link asked himself as he pulled a bomb from the pouch on his bag and tossed it and the purple-haired man.

Genjuro was sent into the air by the resulting explosion and landed on his back. His thoughts as he was getting up were how surviving until Haohmaru came out was going to be harder than he earlier anticipated.

"LEE CHAOLAN!" (T5)

Surprisingly, no one came out from behind the curtain.

"Uh… I said 'LEE CHAOLAN!'"

"Just go to the next one, Unknown1." SSBFreak sighed.

"Okay."

"RAINBOW MIKA!" (SFA3)

Lee's absence was quickly solved when he burst out from behind the curtain with Mika right on his tail. Lee ran down the ramp as a determined Mika chased him down to the ring. What the female wrestler was doing chasing Lee questioned most of the audience, but no one spoke up.

Lee jumped into the arena and sighed in relief. "Finally! I'm safe!" He breathed.

"RAIN-BOW!" Mika screamed as she jumped into the arena, hip-first.

The prettyboy turned in time to see Mika's hip coming at him once more. "Not again!" He managed before Mika's hip slammed into his face, knocking him away.

Standing aside, Larcen and Ryu stopped fighting in time to see Mika pick Lee off his feet and slam him into the canvas. Larcen looked at Ryu. "So, that girl is actually from your node?" He asked.

Ryu nodded as he watched Mika start suplexing Lee into the canvas. "She's a valuable ally, but I don't understand why she's taking all of this pain out on Mr. Chaolan…"

The two looked at each other, shrugged and continued fighting.

(Dome; Washrooms)

The door to the ladies' washroom opened as Amy Guile stepped out. Now she had to start her trek back to the bleachers to meet up with her mother again.

Amy turned to the left and started walking off until she heard something behind her.

"Just a moment, young lady."

Amy froze, then slowly turned around. Standing in the hallway were four strange-looking figures, and she didn't recognize any of them. Sigma stood up front, looking down at Amy with a smirk. Valgas stood beside Sigma, rubbing his head from his earlier fight with Chang Koehan. The Rhino folded his arms and snorted. Finally, Ash Crimson smirked evilly as his finger ignited with green flames.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to come with us, Miss Guile." Sigma said, hoping to make Amy think they were security.

Amy, however, simply backed away slowly. "N-No way." She pointed at the four mismatched villains. "Whatever you guys want from me, I'm not going with you!"

Sigma frowned, seeing his plan fail. "Very well. We'll just have to take you by force, then."

"That's what you think, tinhead!"

Sigma turned in time to see a basketball coming at him. The orange projectile bounced off the giant machine's head, stunning him. The other villains turned and saw Lucky Glauber standing there with Ryoko and Bridget on either side of him.

Ryoko quickly lashed out her hand, firing an energy blast at Valgas. The giant man easily blocked it.

"Run, Miss Guile!" Bridget shouted as he pulled out his yo-yo and lashed it at Ash. "We'll hold these guys off!"

Amy nodded as she turned around and ran down the hallway, her ponytail looking like it was struggling to keep up with her.

Sigma looked at the other three villains. "I'll go after her. You guys defeat these pests." Without another word, Sigma turned and ran off after Amy.

Lucky ran forward and tried to stop Sigma, but the Rhino blocked his path, and wouldn't budge. The basketball player snarled. "Looks like we have to take you guys down!"

"We have to make it quick!" Ryoko said. "The quicker we finish, the better chance we have of catching up with that giant metal creep and saving Miss Guile!"

Ash smirked slyly. "You three are in for a real rough ride." He ignited his fist in green flames.

Lucky smirked. "Said the guy who was tossed from the arena in a matter of minutes."

Ash's smirk dropped. "First that stupid barrel robot and now you." He growled. "I'll make sure that I'm the one to kill you, my friend."

"Bring it!" Lucky challenged.

(The Arena)

"SHIBA!" (S3)

The giant lizardman came out from behind the curtain to a reasonably big cheer. Shiba looked around at the people cheering for him and smiled. He was really wanting to give his fans a good show, and was hoping that he could at least get ONE elimination. After all, only a select few from his node thus far have done any good.

Shiba walked down to the end of the ramp and stepped into the ring. His first instinct was to go help Toppo with Falco, but after seeing the psychotically angry look on the juggler's face, the lizardman decided not to interfere.

Seeing Chang Koehan, Shiba smirked. "Ah! There's someone I can fight! Not only is he my size, but he's done pretty well in the ring! I love a good challenge!"

Chang turned and saw Shiba running over, holding his giant sword-like weapon. "Ah! Hello, good sir! Have you come to challenge 'The Koehan' to a fight?"

Shiba nodded. "I think it's only honourable that two fighters of the same stature fight each other, don't you think?"

Chang smirked. "Quite right, my reptilian friend!"

However, unknown to Chang, things were about to get a little more reptilian in the ring.

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

"BUSUZIMA!" (Bloody Roar 4)

As the theme song to 'Wacky Races' blared through the speakers, everyone's favourite green-haired mad scientist came out from behind the curtain with a wide and stupid grin on his face. Busuzima scurried down to the arena with his arms trying to keep up with him.

Once he reached the arena, Busuzima ran over to the fight between Ryu and Larcen. The mad doctor slammed one of his bare feet into Larcen's head, knocking the gangster away, leaving only him and Ryu standing there, facing each other.

"What was that for?" Ryu asked.

"I just wanted to ask you if you were interested in becoming my latest test subject." Busuzima replied in his high-pitched, scratchy voice. "You are without a doubt one of the world's best fighters and I could use someone like you to fight for me."

Ryu narrowed his eyes. "You have GOT to be kidding me." Lashing out his hands, Ryu sent a fireball at the mad doctor, hoping to knock him away so he could continue his fight with Larcen.

Busuzima, however, swatted the fireball out of the air and raised his arms into the air with an insane grin. "You shouldn't have said that." He said before becoming engulfed in a white light.

When the light cleared, standing in Busuzima's place was a huge, green chameleon wearing the rainbow shirt and beige shorts.

In his transformed state, Busuzima let out a roar and lashed out his extra-long tongue, trying to wrap it around Ryu's foot.

Larcen quickly used his grappling hook to block the attack sent at Ryu. The Martial Artist looked at him in confusion. "Aren't you a little freaked out about this?"

"Are you kidding?" Larcen countered. "In my node, we have an owl, a snake, a monkey and a little dog that fight. I figured it would only be a matter of time before one of these lizards joined the fray.

Everyone in the ring suddenly heard a high-pitched scream. They all turned to see Falco looking at Busuzima in horror.

"It's him! Leon followed me!" Falco screamed as he ran away from a confused Toppo and started firing his blaster at Busuzima. "Kill him! Kill him!"

(Star Wolf HQ)

Leon Powalski stared at the TV, slack-jawed. "That birdbrain actually THINKS that's me in the ring?" The British chameleon asked in shock. "That shirt does NOT go with those shorts! Does he think I have some sort of bad taste in clothing?"

Wolf and Panther looked at the chameleon strangely before they slowly scooted away from him.

(The Arena)

"FUUMA!" (WH)

The red-haired ninja proudly walked down to the ring, looking around at the decent amount of cheering he was getting. After all, he was one of the four World Heroes that had been invited to participate in the Neo Geo Battle Coliseum tournament. He figured that this would only mean he would do great here.

His spirits were dropped as soon as he heard the theme song Shadow and co. had picked out for him.

"Feel the burn and the fury of my pen"

"Feel the fire as I fan the flames again"

"Brace yourself for the mediocre!"

Fuuma froze. This song, played by Roper, sounded vaguely familiar.

"Hail the king of the almost good enough"

"Nothing bold, nothing's flying of the cuff"

"Things might change, but don't hold your breath yet!"

Fuuma grit his teeth, suddenly feeling insulted from the song. Looking at the Eliminated Seating, almost everyone there was laughing heavily. Even Captain Kidd looked like he was snickering a little.

"Try floating with the flow"

"Try not to run too slow"

"Be average, not below. Let's go!"

Looking up at the Sound Booth, Fuuma saw Shadow, Astaroth and Aila laughing their behinds off, per usual by now. They looked like they were enjoying their newfound job a lot. This angered Fuuma even more.

"Hello, lamewads! I'm with you!"

"Raise your fists if this rings true!"

"Hello, lamewads! Never quite our best or finest!"

"Hello, lamewads! I'm predicting a C minus, now!"

Letting out a roar of anger, Fuuma leapt into the arena and threw himself at Heavy D!, hoping to take out his anger on him.

D! sighed and nailed Fuuma with a R.S.D. "You just never change, do you?"

(Announcer Booth)

SSBFreak looked at his friend. "How did that affect our ratings, Unknown1?"

Unknown1 looked at a monitor and pressed a few buttons on the keyboard. "According to our ratings, that was the best theme song change since Sonic got nailed with 'I am the Eggman'."

SSBFreak smirked. "Shadow and the others seem to be helping us more than they thought. Maybe we should get them to come back next year."

(Eliminated Seating)

Robert Garcia wiped a tear from his eye as his laughter started dying down. "Man! That was hilarious!" Looking to his side, he saw Captain Kidd doing the same. "Hey,Kidd? Why are you laughing? Isn't Fuuma your nodal companion?"

Kidd nodded. "Maybe so, but he's way too cocky." The pirate replied. "In my opinion, he's needed to be put in his place for a while now, and I think that song just managed to do that."

Robert shrugged.

(Hotel; J. Maxx's Room)

J. Maxx sat in a chair in his room, holding his head in his hands. He had been in his room ever since the tournament started, and was really kicking himself for what he was being forced to do. But could he risk doing anything to stop it when his son was in danger?

"No." J. Maxx shook his head. "My son means the world to me. I can't risk him getting hurt." He sighed. "As long as I do what Bison says, Junior's going to be safe. That's all I care about."

Suddenly, the door to his room was thrown open, revealing Ryofu and Shura. The two looked at J. Maxx with wide eyes.

"Maximum!" Shura shouted. "Where have you been? Ryofu and I have been looking everywhere for you!"

"I've been here the whole time." J. Maxx said as he grabbed his helmet and put it on. "Why?"

"Shura and I saw your son getting kidnapped almost four sections ago and we wanted to come and find you!" Ryofu replied. "I'm sorry that we took so long to tell you, but Shura and I have honestly been looking for you everywhere!"

J. Maxx's eyes widened his horror as he mouth went completely dry. "What?"

"We saw a big, furry guy carrying your son off, mumbling something about reporting back to Bison!" Shura explained.

"Well…What can I do?"

"We suggest that you wait for now." Ryofu replied. "You enter the ring in a couple of sections, and you're entering shortly after that Bison fellow does."

J. Maxx nodded shakily, silently thanking his two nodal companions as they left, leaving him alone again.

Slowly standing up, J. Maxx looked down at the floor. "He…He lied to me." The football player said. "He told me that Junior would be alright if I eliminated that Fred guy, but…He had him kidnapped anyway."

Suddenly, J. Maxx's dark aura flowed through his body, starting to awaken. His eyes narrowed and glowed red.

"…Bison…" J. Maxx hissed.

In pure fury, J. Maxx ran at the door to his room, threw it open and ran out, starting his sprint to get ready to enter the arena.

(The Arena)

"SETH!" (KOF)

The black, white-haired former agent of NESTS came out from behind the curtain and ran down to the ring. Leaping in, Seth quickly decided to aid in taking out the biggest threat in the arena.

However, since Shiba and Chang were dueling each other rather than anyone else, Seth decided to settle on helping Ryu, Larcen and now Falco with Busuzima.

Seth quickly started things off by attacking Busuzima with his foot. The giant chameleon staggered forward as his energy became fully depleted. In another flash of white light, Busuzima detransformed back into a human again.

Falco looked at the odd man. "Enough with your disguises, Leon! I ain't going to believe you putting on that human disguise!"

Ryu, Larcen and Seth watched Falco continue fighting Busuzima. Larcen looked at the newcomer. "What have you done, man? Now the bird's even crazier."

"SPIRAL!" (MC)

The six-armed beauty came out from behind the curtain and stepped down the ramp, prepared for anything that was thrown at her. Spiral jumped into the arena and looked around for someone to take on.

"None of these worthless foes seem to be worth my time!" Spiral sneered. "Come on! Who can take me on?"

Spiral was almost tempted to go pound Lee Chaolan into a pulp, but stopped herself when she saw that Rainbow Mika was well on her way on doing that already. So, Spiral resorted to going over to the fight between Link and Genjuro.

Once she reached the dueling swordsmen, Spiral lashed out all six of her arms, striking Link with all three of her left hands and Genjuro with all three of her right hands. This knocked both swordsmen away from each other.

Once Link and Genjuro regained their footing, they looked at Spiral. After they did, they looked at each other.

"We'll settle our bout later." Genjuro said. "For now, let us team up against this nuisance."

Spiral smirked as both men advance on her. "Finally. A real challenge."

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

"KAGEMARU!" (VF)

The blue-clad ninja burst from behind the curtain and ran down to the arena. Kage knew how well Watari, a fellow ninja, had done, and wanted to improve on that.

Reaching the arena, Kage looked around. The battle between Ryu, Larcen, Falco, Seth and Busuzima looked pretty hectic. Even a skilled ninja like him wasn't brave enough to interrupt something like that. Link and Genjuro had started double-teaming Spiral, and Shingo was currently fighting Lion.

Kage quickly spotted King and Jigglypuff, fighting Fuuma. Kage quickly moved over to help the two girls with the wannabe ninja.

Jigglypuff saw Kage coming over and looked up at King. "Jiggly! Jig, jig puff!"

King looked in the direction the round Pokemon was pointing and saw Kage dashing over. The blue-clad ninja quickly grabbed Fuuma and threw him over his shoulder.

"Hey. Thanks for helping us, there." King said.

"Ah. This guy deserves it." Kage shrugged. "You up for some double-teaming?"

"Jiggly!"

"Okay. Triple-teaming."

King nodded. "Sure."

Kage put up his fists. "Let's go!"