(The Arena)
The first thing Landis did once he landed in the arena was help Venom with Donkey Kong. The Grim-Reaper fanatic swung his giant scythe at the oversized ape, but the funky monkey saw the attack coming and jumped over it as it sailed underneath his body.
Once he landed, DK swung a giant fist and connected it with Landis' face, firing the Winghorde to another part of the arena.
In fact, he collided with Goh. Said assassin glared coldly at the crazed lunatic.
"What seems to be your problem?" Goh asked. "Looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson."
Landis smirked. "The Grim Reaper shall destroy you." He chuckled.
Rugal wasn't really in the best of moods at the moment. Shabon was now in the arena (fighting Haohmaru) and it was his mission to eliminate her so Bison's men could abduct her, but he didn't have the chance to go after her. This was mainly because Kazuya was kicking the tar out of him, furious that he had just met a colleague of his father, the man he hated the most.
Kazuya crouched low and spun around with a leg outstretched, knocking Rugal off his feet. The younger Mishima quickly grabbed Rugal, hauled him to his feet and thrust his fist into his stomach. Kazuya then grabbed Rugal's arm and flipped him over his shoulder.
Rugal, having enough of this, leapt to his feet and pulled his hands back. Sending his arms forward, Rugal fired a projectile that looked very similar to Krauser's Kaiser Wave at Kazuya. The black-haired man wasn't expecting this and took the blow head-on. The sheer power of Rugal's attack sent Kazuya back several feet.
The evil man smirked as he walked over to Kazuya, whom was just getting to his feet again.
"You caught me off guard, there." Kazuya said. "I'm impressed. Not a lot of people can catch me off guard."
Rugal flashed an evil grin. "Then I shall continue to do so until I eliminate you."
Kazuya put up his fists. "I wouldn't get so cocky if I were you."
(Eliminated Seating)
"Hmm…We've got three representatives in the arena again." Geddoe stroked his chin. "And all of them might be able to do well."
"AND Cecile's got two eliminations already." Mel pointed out. "We may be able to do better than we thought!"
Geddoe nodded before looking around. He then looked at Queen. "Where's Joker?"
"He's gone to the bar with a few friends." Queen explained. "He's been gone for a while now."
"Man. This is REALLY going to hurt our wallets."
(Dome; Outside Recovery Room)
Dan opened the door to the Recovery Room and walked outside. He suddenly saw the rest of the group, along with Mika and Ryoko, waiting for him.
"Took you long enough, man." Lucky sighed. "Okay, now that we're all here, can we go to the Lobby and meet up with the others?"
Vivian double-checked the monitor to make sure no one in the strike team was in the arena, then turned back to Lucky. "Yep. Everyone's here."
Lucky nodded. "Okay! Let's go!"
With that, everyone turned and ran off down the hallway to meet up with the others.
Had any of them stuck around just a few seconds longer, they would have seen Sodom stagger down another hallway, panting something about finding Lily Kane.
(The Arena)
Hanzou's fist swung at Cecile, who ducked to avoid the blow. The blue-clad ninja quickly thrust his foot out, but Cecile quickly rolled out of the way.
In all honesty, the only reason Cecile hadn't attacked was because she didn't want to hurt her opponent. But she knew that no matter how much she would try to reason, Hanzou would still press the attack due to the fact that he was still mad with her for hitting him with her shield.
But she still tried anyway. "Look! Can't we just stop this?" She asked. "I don't want to fight!"
"All the easier for me." Hanzou replied. "Now, come on! Start fighting!"
"No! I don't want to hurt you!"
"You won't hurt me." Hanzou said confidently. "You should be more worried about yourself."
Cecile sighed. "Okay. But just remember that you asked for it."
Hanzou swung his fist again…
*CLANG!*
And struck Cecile's shield with it. Hanzou howled in pain as he gripped his hand. This made him an easy target for Cecile to boot out of the arena.
Hanzou landed in Soul Caliber. Thinking that he was an enemy ninja, Taki ran in for the kill.
Luigi ducked as Dhalsim's fist soared over his head. Although the fact that the rubbery Street Fighter was actually on the other side of the arena when he did it confused Luigi, the green-clad plumber decided to continue the fight.
Dhalsim lashed out his fist again, sending it across the arena. Luigi lashed out a fireball, striking Dhalsim's fist before it could reach his head. Dhalsim pulled his hand back in pain as Luigi rushed over, seeing his chance.
Once he got close enough, Luigi threw himself at Dhalsim, hoping to push him over the ropes. However, Dhalsim saw him coming and bent his body in a way that Luigi would sail right past him. Luigi was unable to stop himself and ran into the ropes, flying between two of them, starting his fall towards the elimination vortex.
Luckily, Luigi caught one of the ropes with his hand, stopping him from falling to his elimination. The green-clad plumber pulled himself back into the arena, stood up and stared down Dhalsim. Without looking, Luigi snapped his fingers and created a green flame in his hand.
"Your skill with fire is impressive, friend." Dhalsim commented. "However, mine is better."
"So you can control fire, eh?" Luigi asked. "Well, let's see what you've got, Mr. Fantastic."
Luigi, in all honesty, was expecting Dhalsim to use his hands to throw a ball of fire. However, when he saw the rubbery Street Fighter take a deep breath, Luigi decided to run.
A huge stream of fire (much like the one Joker performed back in Section Eight) shot forth from Dhalsim's mouth. Because Luigi had seen this coming, he started running, hoping to avoid the flames. Dhalsim saw this and started turning in place, trying to fry Luigi with the fire.
Instead of burning Luigi, the flames spread around the rest of the arena, at everyone else in the arena. Cecile and Kung Pow blocked the fire with a shield and frying pan respectively, Kula froze the flames that came at her, Venom and Landis took to the air and Guy used his 'ninja skillz' to balance on top of one of the turnbuckles at the corner of the arena. Everyone else had to really move to avoid getting burned (although Haohmaru ended up with his hair on fire).
Much like what had happened with Dee Jay and Mario earlier in the tournament, the sprinkler system kicked in, drenching the arena with water. Because of all the water falling, Dhalsim's fire attack was put out. The elastic monk stood straight and looked around the arena for Luigi.
"Maybe he jumped out of the arena when he realized he was backed into a corner." Dhalsim mused.
"Not likely!"
Dhalsim turned just in time to see Luigi throwing his fist at his face. The loud crack that followed echoed throughout the arena as Dhalsim flew out of the arena. He tried to extend his arms to grab the arena and pull himself back in, but Dhalsim missed and flew into the elimination portal.
Dhalsim landed in Sly Cooper, on top of the head of Clockwerk. Despite the fact that Sly Cooper was bombarding the huge, mechanical owl Dhalsim was sitting on with fire, the rubber man wasn't aware and sat down.
The first thing Venom did when he landed on the arena canvas again was continue his fight with Guy. The orange-clad ninja rushed at the human/alien and lashed out his foot. Venom easily caught the kick, but wasn't prepared for the punch the followed directly after it.
Venom staggered back as he held his jaw. "Very quick, human. We didn't see that one coming." The black mutant said.
"Instead of asking why you always talk as though there are more than one of you, I'll thank you for the compliment." Guy said, not dropping his guard.
"Heh. Now GET OVER HERE!"
"Copyright infringement! Copyright infringement!" Scorpion shouted from the Eliminated Seating.
Venom shoved his hand out, firing a lie of webbing at Guy. "Heehee. We always wanted to say that."
Venom's webbing connected with Guy, and Venom reeled him in. However, he quickly saw that what the webbing was wrapped around was not Guy but instead a log.
"Stupid ninjas." Venom said as he looked around the arena, wondering where Guy had gone.
Venom suddenly got his answer, as Guy dove down from the light rafters hanging above the arena. Because of all the rain still falling from the sprinkler system, Guy was harder to see, but Venom was able to spot him.
Just not quick enough. Guy landed a hard kick to the back of Venom's head, making him stagger forward.
"We must admit that you are persistent." Venom said. "But we SHALL be victorious!"
"Bring it on!"
Haohmaru suddenly ran between them, screaming about the fire currently going in his hair. That was like a starting bell for Guy and Venom, as they lunged at each other once Haohmaru had passed.
The two exchanged blows for a bit, but that ended as soon as Venom lashed out with his claws, scratching Guy in the stomach. The orange-clad ninja packed away, clutching his stomach in pain.
"You'll pay for that one." Guy said as he jumped at Venom.
Venom smirked.
(Marvel Locker Room)
"Bye-bye, Guy." Spiderman sighed, folding his arms.
(The Arena)
"DEATH BITE!"
Two mouths launched from the ground at Venom's feet and bit at Guy with their sharp teeth. Guy, not expecting this, took the attack and flew back a little bit. Venom rushed at the airborne Guy, leapt into the air after him and delivered a hard kick, firing Guy out of the arena.
In the crowd, Mike Haggar wondered how BOTH Cody and Guy could be eliminated so easily.
Guy landed a casino of some kind. The orange-clad ninja stood up and walked away, unaware of Danny Ocean and the rest of his crew preparing to rob the place. People may have found the sight of Guy appearing out of nowhere strange, but they were all focused on the Malloy brothers, screaming at each other, making a distraction.
Eventually, the water still falling from the sprinkler system put out the fire in Haohmaru's hair. The strangest thing was that despite the fact that his hair had been on fire for about two minutes, none of it was actually burned off.
Well, using a full tin of hair gel at once can do that.
Haohmaru smirked. "Well, now that I've got that under control, I should start a fight again." He looked at the remaining contestants in the arena. "But whom should I fight?"
Someone suddenly landed a flying kick to Haohmaru's back.
Haohmaru turned and saw little Shabon staring up at him, in a fighting stance. "Please. I've told you already that I do not wish to fight you."
"What for?" Shabon asked. "You afraid?"
"On the contrary, it's because I'm an armed adult and you're a mere child." Haohamaru replied. "I would slaughter you."
"No, you wouldn't!" Shabon replied. "In fact, Shabon thinks she could kick your butt!"
Haohmaru looked down at the little girl. "You think you could take me? Okay. Let's see what you've got."
"Yay!" Shabon shouted in glee as she kicked Haohmaru in the leg and charged her Wind Rune.
Shabon swung her fists several times, and each of the swings struck Haohmaru's sword, doing no damage to the master swordsman at all.
Because she was so young, Haohmaru held back. He figured that he greatly outclassed Shabon in strength due to him being so much older and didn't need to show his full potential.
However, Shabon had a severe trick up her sleeve.
Shabon leapt over Haohmaru's sword as it went underneath her. By the time she landed on her feet, her Wind Rune was fully charged.
The small dancer jumped back and lashed out her hand. Haohmaru watched in shock as a small twister sprouted from the canvas. The twister quickly reached the wild-haired swordsman, whom was too stunned to move out of the way.
Haohmaru was swept up into the small twister and spun around wildly. The twister kept going until it reached the edge of the arena, where it launched Haohmaru over the ropes and out of the ring.
"Yay! Shabon got an elimination!" Shabon shouted, jumping into the air excitedly. "Now she, Nei and Toppo each do well!"
In the Eliminated Seating, Toppo smiled in satisfaction.
Haohmaru landed in Army Men. General Plastro, thinking he was an enemy, ordered his men to start bombing the samurai.
Yet another very stupid mistake made.
(Hotel; Lobby)
Reed lifted his sword, blocking the swing of a dagger. The owner of the dagger, psychotic gangster Ryuji Yamazaki, smirked evilly as he lashed out with his free hand, striking Reed in the face.
The Tinto swordsman staggered back, holding his face. Yamazaki used this to his advantage and shoved his foot at Reed's stomach. Reed snapped out of his daze in time to see the foot coming. Reed quickly grabbed Yamazaki's foot and twisted it, lifting the thug off his other foot, spinning in the air. Yamazaki landed on his back as Reed grabbed his discarded sword and walked over to the fallen thug.
Yamazaki looked up in time to see Reed swinging his sword. In the blink of an eye, Yamazaki had his dagger raised, blocking the attack. He smirked up at the blonde swordsman. "You're fast. I'll give you that. However, I'm faster."
"Oh, really?" Reed asked.
"Yeah! Really!" While Reed wasn't paying attention, Yamazaki lashed his foot out again, slamming it into Reed's stomach, this time being successful. Reed gripped his stomach with the hand that wasn't wielding the sword and backed away a couple of steps as Yamazaki jumped to his feet.
"Should we help him?" J. Maxx asked.
"No. Let's see if he can take care of this himself." Chonrei replied. "If Reed can beat Yamazaki on his own, I'd say he'll be ready for anything Bison dishes out."
Reed honestly wasn't sure of his chances anymore. Sure, he was one of the best soldiers Tinto had to offer, but he was up against a ruthless psycho that seemed almost as much a lunatic as Yuber. Yamazaki was dishing out moves that caught Reed completely off guard, and he wasn't sure if he could actually beat him now.
"You may as well give up now, pal." Yamazaki said with a smug grin. "I'm way better than you."
"I'm still gonna try!" Reed said determinedly. "And if there's one thing I hate more than selfish brats named Lilly Pendragon, it's people that think they're better than everyone else."
Yamazaki merely shrugged, although he didn't take the grin from his face. "I'm just telling it like it is."
The two rushed each other again, swinging their respective weapons at the same time. The two weapons clashed, creating a few sparks when they made contact.
Yamazaki gave off a yawn. "It was fun for about twenty seconds, but now this fight bores me."
The psychotic gangster rushed forward, swinging his dagger wildly. Reed held up his sword and blocked the slashes that came at him. After the fifth time his dagger clashed against Reed's sword, Yamazaki lashed out his fist again, nailing Reed in the face, harder than the first time. This was enough to send Reed to the floor.
Deciding to end the fight, Yamazaki bent over, with one hand in his pocket. His other hand dangled limply just above the ground.
"…Ikuzo…"
Reed slowly stood to his feet.
"…Ikuzo…"
Now standing upright, Reed held his head for a few seconds.
"…Ikuzo…"
Seeing his last chance, Reed rushed forward.
"SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Reed wasn't quick enough. Yamazaki's Snake Arm move was a direct hit. The psychotic gangster lashed out with the fist that had previously been dangling in the air, snapping it at Reed's face.
Yamazaki's fist cracked against Reed's head, making him stop. Reed stood in silence for a few seconds before collapsing to his knees, then to his stomach, where he lay unconscious.
"Reed!" Nei and Samus shouted as everyone ran over to their fallen friend.
Samus arrived and tried waking Reed up. He sighed. "You know, Reed? Sometimes, your ideas border on a death wish. You know that, don't you?"
Yamazaki smirked as Samus and Guile tried to haul Reed to his feet. "Let that be a lesson." Yamazaki said. "Don't mess with me."
Leaving everyone else, Yamazaki casually walked out of the Lobby as if nothing had happened.
(The Arena)
The sprinklers had finally stopped spraying water all over the arena, so most of the fighting was getting back to normal. Goh and Kung Pow were still in their little alliance, fighting Kula as a team, although Cecile was running in to assist the ice girl. The brainwashed Vanessa was currently taking on Nina Williams and Shabon, and was looking like she was losing. Venom and Landis were chasing Kim Sue Il around the arena together as Luigi, Duck King and Gabby Jay were exchanging blows.
Kazuya continued whaling on Rugal, and wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. Rugal was trying to find some way to get away from the psychotic mass murderer so he could continue his mission and eliminate Shabon.
"Had I known this guy hated Heihachi so much, I wouldn't have gone to him first." Rugal thought as Kazuya kicked him in the head. "Why is it that we've been getting cursed with bad luck in the ring thus far? I just don't get it."
The mad Mishima roared and swung his foot again. Rugal was aware enough to duck under the blow, providing him a long-awaited opening. Leaping into the air, Rugal kicked Kazuya twice with immense power, sending the black-haired man across the arena.
Rugal stood straight and smoothed out his tuxedo. "Now to get back to the mission." He said to himself.
Suddenly, a huge hand grabbed Rugal's head from behind and slammed him into the ground. Although Rugal was confused as to whom could have such a big hand, the loud, Tarzan-like cry that followed gave the identity away.
Rugal stood up and turned, finding himself staring at Donkey Kong, whom was beating his hands against his chest.
"I must admit that you Smash Brothers are an interesting bunch." Rugal said, getting into his stance. "I have to say that I've never seen anyone much like most of your little group."
DK decided to take that as a compliment and smiled.
"You all fight together, and yet you all fight so differently. Such an amazing amount of unique talent I haven't seen in years." Rugal continued. "In fact, if you lot had chosen the right side, I would have welcomed you to work for me. I'm not easily impressed, but your group has shown an impressive amount of talent and so much that I wish we had more of you helping us. However, there's one thing that you all have in common: You're all incredibly annoying."
It was then that Rugal noticed what Donkey Kong was doing during his little speech: Picking his ear. DK pulled his finger from his ear and scratched his head.
Rugal sighed. "Great. I get the stupidest one. Well, I suppose I must eliminate this nuisance now and be done with it." With that, Rugal charged forward.
And slipped on something after about three steps. Rugal spun into the air and landed on his back. Looking at what he had slipped on, Rugal saw the yellow peel of a banana. Looking up at DK in surprise, he saw the large simian peeling another banana, before quickly downing it in one gulp and tossing the peel behind his back (where Goh slipped on it).
Instead of asking where DK had gotten the bananas, Rugal jumped to his feet and pulled his hands back, charging up an attack. At the same time, DK started winding up a fist.
Once his power had reach its full potential, Rugal lashed out both hands, firing an energy projectile at the huge monkey. However, Donkey Kong was smart enough to roll out of the way.
DK got into a standing position again and slapped the ground with all his might. And considering he's a half-ton ape, that's a lot of might to have. The force from DK's slap created a shockwave that sent anyone that was on the arena canvas (everyone but Landis, whom was flying) up into the air.
This included Rugal. While the evil man was in midair, DK leapt up after him and lashed out with his fully-charged fist. The sheer force and power of DK's Great Punch sent Rugal straight out of the arena.
Luigi walked over to his nodal companion, whom was raising his hands into the air, playing to the crowd. "That was a nice elimination, DK, but did you HAVE to attack me as well with that shockwave?"
DK looked down at Luigi and flashed a peace sign.
Rugal landed on a city street. Looking around, Rugal saw from the people's clothing and passing vehicles that he was somewhere in the 40's or 50's.
Suddenly, Rugal saw a little Chinese man standing beside him. "Does mysterious and utterly suspicious man have any idea that he is blocking road?" The Chinese man asked.
Rugal stood up, showing that the little Chinese man came up to his thigh. "I'm not exactly in the best of moods, so I think I'll take out my aggression on you."
The huge, toothy smirk never left the face of the squinting Chinese. "Oh, so you want to have lesson, hmm?" He grabbed Rugal's arm. "Observe."
No one walking on the streets paid any mind to the scene that followed, because they were so used to it by now. The little Chinese man, with one hand, was slamming Rugal onto the road on either side of him, and was doing it without any effort at all.
*WHAM!* "So sorry." *WHAM!* "Excuse, please." *WHAM!* "So sorry." *WHAM!* "Cannot oblige." *WHAM!* "So sorry." *WHAM!* "Begging your pardon." *WHAM!* "Ohohohoho! So sorry." *WHAM!*
Rugal was suddenly aware that he had landed in the node of the animated Dick Tracy series, and was being given the 'Joe Jitsu treatment'.
(The Arena)
Venom and Landis continued chasing Kim Sue Il around the arena, both of them with psychotic grins on their faces. The Kizuna Encounter fighter had been running for a while now, and he was starting to understand how Hayate was feeling earlier in the tournament. The only difference between the two instances was that instead of two ordinary men chasing him, bent on elimination, Kim Sue had two psychotic, inhuman lunatics chasing him as a team.
Deciding to do something about the two chasing him, Kim Sue did something incredibly brave (or incredibly stupid): He turned around and swatted Venom across the face with his staff.
This made the two psychos stop running (or flying, in Landis' case) as they stared at Kim Sue, whom was in his stance, preparing to take them both on if necessary.
Landis flew lower to the ground and landed on his feet. "You want to take him?" He asked with a smirk.
Venom looked at Landis and nodded. "We thank you, buddy."
"No problem. Now if you'll excuse me, the Grim Reaper sees another fight to charge into." With that, Landis lifted off the ground and swooped low at the fight between Shabon and Duck King. This left Venom to take on Kim Sue alone.
Not that it mattered.
Kim Sue lunged at Venom, hoping to do some damage. The black spider mutant lashed out with one fist, landing it against the Kizuna Encounter fighter's chin, making the Korean stagger back.
Venom grinned and waited for his opponent to do the next attack. Kim Sue narrowed his eyes. "I'll take you on! I'll eliminate you and finally prove that my node is great!"
"Show us, then." Venom said as he motioned for Kim Sue to commence.
"Okay then, I will!" With that, Kim Sue swung his staff at Venom, aiming for the chest area.
But before the staff made contact, it stopped. Kim Sue wondered what had happened, but suddenly saw his answer. Venom had caught the staff with his right hand and was now preventing it from going any further. Kim Sue started sweating, realizing that he was in deep trouble.
Venom pulled the staff above his head, taking Kim Sue with it. Then, Venom started spinning the staff and it's owner in circles in the air. After a few seconds, Venom released the staff, sending Kim Sue barreling through the arena.
Kim Sue plowed over Luigi, Kung Pow and Nina before reaching the edge of the arena. If he was going at normal speeds, the ropes around the arena would have stopped him, but because he was going so fast, the ropes snapped, leaving Kim Sue to fall headfirst into the vortex.
Kim Sue landed in Crono Trigger. Looking around, he saw Crono standing nearby with an unusual expression on his face.
The Kizuna Encounter fighter sighed. "Well, at least it'll be quiet here."
"WHADDYA MEAN, QUIET?" Crono shouted, making Kim Sue jump. "I DON'T SEE HOW ANYTHING COULD BE QUIET HERE! DO YOU SEE ANYTHING THAT MAKES IT QUIET?"
(Announcer's Booth)
SSBFreak and Unknown1 stared at the monitor in shock as Crono continued yelling at Kim Sue.
"What the heck happened to him?" Unknown1 asked.
"My guess is that Peggi got to him." SSBFreak shook his head. "Great."
(The Arena)
Shabon lashed out her hands at Duck, but all she managed to do was hit open air. Duck had jumped over Shabon's hands, clear over the small child and did a hand-plant on the canvas behind her. Duck spun around on his hands and sprang onto his feet, ending the dodge.
Duck stood straight, only to realize that he had taken too long to avoid Shabon's attack, as the small girl quickly drove her foot into the breakdancer's stomach. Duck slouched over in pain, grasping his stomach, as Shabon stood in a stance.
"You can move pretty fast, Mr. Duck, and your friend is really cute!" Shabon said, the last part directed at little P-Chan. "But Shabon can do better!"
"Really, now?" Duck asked. "Let's see what you've got, then!"
"Shabon says bring it!" Shabon said enthusiastically.
"Okay!"
Duck curled into a ball and rolled forward, straight at the small girl. Shabon quickly leapt on top of the rolling Duck and started running on top of him like a barrel. P-Chan, seeing his owner being used as a barrel, angrily chased after them.
Shabon suddenly noticed that Duck was rolling dangerously close to the snapped ropes Kim Sue had made during his exit only minutes earlier. She decided to fix that by starting to run on an angle, changing the direction to avoid elimination for both fighters.
"Look out!" Shabon shouted as she and Duck bowled over Kung Pow. "Shabon can't stop!"
The two continued rolling around the arena uncontrollably, much like Larcen Tyler from several sections ago. While most of the fighters managed to avoid getting run over or knocked aside, and the few that were knocked away were lucky enough not to get eliminated.
Soon, Duck was able to outstretch his hands during the roll. Trying to stop the uncontrollable roll, Duck slammed his hands into the canvas and almost instantly stopped rolling. This, however, launched Shabon from his back.
This wouldn't have posed a problem if he had been facing any of the three side of the arena with the ropes across them, but this side was the one with the snapped ropes. Because there was nothing to stop her, the small girl flew out of the arena.
Duck King unrolled and sat down, his head spinning.
In the Eliminated Seating, Toppo sighed, stood up and left the area to go pick Shabon up at the Recovery Room, taking the Master Sword with him.
As soon as Toppo left, Link arrived, coming from a completely different direction. He scanned the Eliminated Seating for Toppo and sighed. "Man. Where the heck is he? I need to find the Master Sword before Zelda kills me."
Shabon landed in Peanuts, where she beat Charlie Brown's baseball team all by herself.
Duck, in the meantime, groaned as he tried to regain his senses. In fact, he had been so out of it that he didn't hear the announcement crediting him for elimination.
"Oy." Duck said as he staggered to get to his feet. "Now THAT was a wild ride, P-Chan."
"GRIM REAPER!"
Duck spun around just in time for Landis to swoop into his stomach. P-Chan watched as Landis soared high into the air, his head still plowing into Duck's stomach. Once Landis got high enough, the Winghorde pulled away, dropping Duck about twenty feet into the elimination vortex. P-Chan quickly jumped out after his owner.
Duck landed in Dance Dance Revolution. Needless to say, he demolished the competition.
(Dome; Hallway)
"Fall before the might of 'The Koehan', evildoers!"
Heavy D! had actually been counting the amount of times Chang had shouted a random phrase about fighting evil (right now, he was up to about six), but he chose to ignore it as he slammed his fist into Heihachi's face.
The old man stepped back and growled. "You remind me of Steve Fox, but with skill." He said. "I shall enjoy defeating you and your pathetic team here."
D! pushed his shades higher on his nose. "You can't defeat us, old man. Especially when we've got a psychotic hero of justice on our team."
"'The Koehan' shall smite you, villain!" Chang roared, smashing Toad over the head with his wrecking ball.
"Okay, so you've got a couple of skilled fighters, but that won't help you win." Heihachi said.
"We'll just see about that." D! said, raising his fists.
Ryu and Sagat, surprisingly, were fighting side by side for once, taking on Earthquake together. The giant mountain of man held up his weapon and blocked Ryu's Hadouken, but failed to block Sagat's Tiger Shot, which slammed into his oversized stomach.
Because of this, Earthquake dropped his guard in surprise. This allowed Ryu to run in and perform his Dragon Uppercut to his chin, lifting the giant into the ground. On his way down, Sagat continued the onslaught with a Tiger Uppercut, further keeping the large man in the air.
"Sagat, get out of the way!" Ryu said, crouching low.
The tall, one-eyed man realized what Ryu was talking about and nodded. Once he landed, Sagat ran to the side to allow Ryu to do the move.
"HURRICANE KICK!" Ryu screamed, leaping into the air and kicking at the air wildly.
Earthquake fell straight into Ryu's attack and was kicked about twelve times in the face.
The brainwashed Seth and Roy were fighting Falco together, but the blue avian looked like he was handling things fine.
"You guys must have very weak minds if you could let Bison take over them." Falco said as he lunged forward in a Falco Phantasm, sending Seth into the air. However, Roy, even in his brainwashed state, knew about how Falco's moves worked, and lashed out his foot.
As luck would have it, Falco ran straight into the foot. The blue hotshot staggered back a few steps, holding his beak. Roy took this chance and swung his sword at Falco. Falco quickly saw the attack coming and swept Roy's feet out from under him. While Roy was on the ground, Falco turned and fired his blaster at Seth a few times, stunning him for several seconds.
"You two really need to try harder than that." Falco smirked. "I'm barely even working up a sweat here."
"HADOUKEN!"
Falco spun around in time to see a fireball slam into Roy's side. He looked and saw Ryu standing straight.
"Watch your back, bird." Ryu said. "Your nodal companion was about to slice you to ribbons."
"I'll keep that in mind." Falco sighed. Before resuming his fight, he saw Sagat kicking the tar out of Earthquake.
Jacky, in the meantime, was having a little more difficulty against Borus and Percival. The fact that he wasn't used to standing up against armed fighters may have had something to do with it, but Jacky pressed on anyways.
The blonde man leapt into the air and kicked Borus in the face. The Swordsman of Rage stepped back, but was otherwise unharmed by the weak kick. Borus readied his sword and charged again.
Jacky looked and saw that Percival was doing the same. Thinking quickly, Jacky jumped again, kicked off of Percival's chest, soared through the air and landed another kick to the side of Borus' head.
"This is getting pretty rough." Jacky said to himself. "Funny how these guys are doing better here than they did in the arena."
Indeed, Jacky was right. Borus and Percival were proving to be better fighters than they had shown in the arena, and had gotten a few hits in to the Virtua Fighter. But even though he was struggling a bit more, Jacky was still winning the fight.
The brainwashed Percival lunged forward with his sword, hoping to run Jacky through. Luckily, he was too slow, and Jacky avoided the attack. He responded with a quick kick to the brown-haired knight's head, making Percival collapse.
Jacky sighed in relief. "Well, that's one down." He said as he turned, only to have Borus' fist connect with his face.
The World Hero Jack was having a grand time. The clawed psycho was currently in a fight with Ash Crimson and Jin Chonshu, and figured that he had it easy. In fact, Ash was proving to be the only decent fighter on the two, and to Jack, even that wasn't saying very much.
Jack slashed at Ash with his claws, only to have the prettyboy avoid the attack. "Chonshu, attack!" Ash ordered.
Chonshu mechanically nodded, got into his stance and rushed at Jack. The clawed psycho saw him coming and did a backflip over the young-looking fighter. Jack landed gracefully on his feet as Chonshu collided with Ash with a sickening crunch, sending both of them to the floor.
Ash stood up, annoyed, and looked down at Chonshu. "You fool! You should have stopped!"
Jack snickered. "And now they argue with each other. This'll be easier than I thought."
"Don't get cocky!" Ash sneered. "I shall eliminate you, being nothing but a minor threat!"
"Sure. Sure. Like you didn't show it already in the arena." Jack taunted.
Ash's eye twitched. Letting out a battle cry, he charged at the clawed lunatic. "YOU DIE!"
As Chang mopped the floor with Toad, Mystique and Marrow all at once, Clark was in the process of fighting Balrog and Gen-An. The Ikari Warrior slammed his rock-hard fist into Gen-An's face, sending the green-skinned freak flying back a few feet. Balrog took this chance to nail Clark with a hard uppercut.
The fallen boxer then thrust his fist out in a left hook to the stomach, hoping to do more damage. Clark was lucky enough to see this coming and blocked the attack with both hands. He then shoved his foot out, striking Balrog in the face.
"Gah!" Balrog shouted as he gripped his face. "I hate kicks! Why are you kicking?"
"Because I want to counter those dirty tricks of yours." Clark replied, putting up his fists.
Barlrog growled. "You'll pay for that remark."
"I'm sure I will." Clark said as he thrust his fist out beside him, nailing Gen-An, whom was sneaking up for an attack, without looking.
"Crazy Buffalo!" Balrog shouted as he lunged forward in a powerful punch.
Clark smirked and leaned to the side. Balrog's fist connected with Gen-An, firing the green-skinned mutant into a wall. Seeing his mistake, Balrog growled and lashed out his fist again, hoping to hit the Ikari Warrior in the face.
"Not this time, pal!" Clark shouted as he grabbed Balrog and tossed him into the air.
If anyone had been paying attention, they would have seen Clark simply standing still for a few seconds before holding his hands out, catching Balrog. Clark slammed Balrog onto his shoulders, ran a few steps and tossed the boxer to the ground, piledriving him at the same time.
D! held up his hands, blocking a punch from Heihachi. The older Mishima quickly tried sweeping the boxer's feet out from under him, but D! quickly jumped over Heihachi's foot.
"Maybe you should think about retirement, old man." D! said with a smirk. "I can see your attacks coming a mile away."
Heihachi narrowed his eyes. "Young fool, I can defeat you by myself in necessary!"
"Good, because it looks like it's gonna be that way soon." D! replied.
Heihachi growled. "Fine. You win this round, but you haven't won the battle!" With that, Heihachi turned around and ran off.
D! was about to run after him when something collided with his back, knocking him to the ground. On closer inspection, the boxer saw that it was Watari that landed on him.
"What the heck happened, Watari?" D! asked.
"Yuber caught me off guard and threw me." Watari replied simply.
"Attention, please." Unknown1's voice came through the speakers. "Will Yuber please report to the Ready Room and prepare to enter the arena?"
Standing aside, Yuber smirked. "Well, would you look at that. It's time for me to go."
Turning around, Yuber ran off in the opposite direction Heihachi had run. D! was about to go after him when Watari held him back. "Let him go." The ninja said. "We'll never catch up to him and we aren't allowed to enter the arena again. I suggest we go to the Hotel Lobby and meet up with the others."
D! nodded. "Got it. You guys ready?"
The two looked around and saw that the other battles had pretty much finished. Clark had just delivered the finishing blow to Balrog, as Gen-An lay on the ground by the wall, defeated. Roy and Seth lay at Falco's feet, both of them knocked out. Borus and Percival were the same, but Jacky looked a little more tired. Ash and Chonshu had been defeated as well, and Jack stood over them, laughing. Sagat continued whaling on Earthquake for a few more seconds before letting up and allowing the giant to sink into unconsciousness. Ryu stood aside, arms folded, as he waited for Sagat to finish. Chang looked pretty much untouched, as he had totally obliterated Toad, Mystique and Marrow on his own.
"I'd say we're ready." Clark said. Everyone else nodded.
D! nodded. "Let's go, then."
"Hey, D! Wait!"
Everyone turned and saw Lucky, Dan, Mika and the rest of their group coming over.
"Well, this works out." D! said. "We've got two-thirds of the team here, so now all we have to do is go meet up with the others."
"Let's go, then!" Falco said, getting impatient. "All this waiting around is making me bored!"
Everyone left the hallway, leaving the defeated villains (and brainwashed friends) sprawled out on the floor.
Suddenly, Sodom ran through the hallway, still on his search for Lilly Kane. He tripped over Seth's body, but didn't stop running, which looked more like a tired stumble by now.
(The Arena)
Much like her friend Seth, the brainwashed Vanessa was on the losing side of a battle. The ones fighting her? Venom and Landis, having reunited after their separate eliminations only a few minutes ago. Unfortunately for the redhead woman, the two psychos weren't holding back.
Now, Vanessa had been partnered with Iori Yagami before, so taking on one deranged lunatic she could handle. But she was fighting TWO of them, and thus wasn't having as easy of a time in her fight.
"The Grim Reaper shall enjoy the thrill of eliminating you!" Landis shouted, raising his scythe.
However, Landis had taken too long to swing, and Vanessa struck him with her fist. She then continued to stand still, in her stance, staring the lunatics down.
"We have to admit that you're a brave woman." Venom said. "Standing up to us would make most humans cower in fear."
Although the fact that Vanessa didn't look scared may have been the fact that she had been brainwashed and was incapable of fear, no one in the arena knew that. Venom and Landis advance together, hoping to wear down the redhead woman enough to throw her out of the arena.
Venom was the first to strike, lashing out with his hands. Vanessa quickly leapt into the air and delivered a hard kick to Venom's head, knocking him into Luigi and Cecile. This left Landis to fight the brainwashed woman alone.
Landis swung his scythe, but Vanesa showed a surprising amount of stealth and leapt into the air, arcing over the blade of steel. Vanessa turned over in midair and landed on her feet like a cat.
The Winghorde raised an eyebrow. This woman had odd reflexes. That, to him, meant that she either had a lot of training or someone had her mind wiped. He needed some sort of distraction before he could eliminate her.
Suddenly, as if on cue, a stray frying pan (courtesy of Kung Pow) ricocheted off of Vanessa's head. As the redhead looked over her shoulder to see where the pan had come from, Landis smirked and booted her out of the arena.
Vanessa landed in Fusion Frenzy. As she sat up, wondering what had happened, Dub threw a bomb at her.
Nina Williams swung her fist at her opponent, Gabby Jay, hoping that the punch would do some serious damage to the old man. However, the old, French boxer showed a strange case of awareness and dodged to the side, allowing Nina's punch to soar over his head.
"You know? I played the game you were in." Nina said. "I don't recall you being this much of a pain to knock out."
"Hey, I've just been training for a long time, young lady." Gabby Jay replied.
"Well, let's see if you have what it takes to take me down." Nina added, narrowing her eyes.
"I'll certainly try."
Gabby lashed out with a right hook, which Nina easily blocked. The blonde woman proceeded to knee the old boxer in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.
The old man coughed for a few seconds before standing up. "Looks like I need to resort to my special move to defeat you." He said.
With that, Gabby jumped back several steps. He stood still for a few seconds before crouching low and jumping forward. Nina knew what was coming and thrust her fist upwards in an uppercut. Gabby jumped straight into the attack, but not before connecting with his super uppercut himself.
Both fighters, feeling the effects of the punches, flew back in opposite directions several feet. Both fighters landed on the canvas, Nina managing to land a little more gracefully. Nina turned over and landed on a foot and a knee as Gabby landed flat on his back.
Sensing an easy elimination, Nina charged as Gabby slowly stood up.
The old boxer shook his head a few times to regain his senses and looked forward. When he saw Nina coming straight at him, Gabby took quick action. Gabby leapt to the side as Nina passed him, then grabbed hold of the back of her shirt with both hands.
With one mighty swing, Gabby Jay shocked everyone in the dome (including himself) and threw Nina from the arena.
It took a full eight seconds for Gabby to realize what he had just done, but once he did, he leapt into the air and let out a loud holler. Everyone in the stands went crazy.
"Yes, folks! Your eyes are not playing tricks on you!" SSBFreak shouted through the speakers. "Gabby Jay has just gotten an elimination!"
Nina landed in Unreal Championship. After finding a firearm, she felt right at home, taking out members of both teams everywhere.
As the other fighters continued to fight, Goh and Kung Pow had split up from their small alliance and went to fight their own opponents. Kung Pow was currently fighting Kula Diamond, and was holding his own against her.
Kula lashed out her hands, sending a wave of ice-cold energy at the goofy-looking Clayfighter. Kung Pow gave off a toothy grin and held up a frying pan, blocking the attack. Kung Pow quickly lunged forward and struck the ice girl in the face with his huge foot.
After stepping back a few steps, Kula narrowed her eyes at Kung Pow. "You're in for it now!"
Kung Pow didn't reply. He simply grinned and pulled out a pair of chopsticks. He rushed forward and started poking Kula with them.
"And stop it with the chopsticks, already!" Kula said as she grabbed the kung-fu chef. "I mean, honestly! What's up with them?"
"You no understand art of cooking." Kung Pow replied, still not taking the grin off his face. "I am artist, and must practice all of time."
"I understand that, but you're fighting with freaking chopsticks!" Kula said. "It makes no sense!"
"So what point?" Kung Pow asked.
Kula sighed, realizing that she was having an incredibly stupid argument with someone that had a brain of clay. Without giving Kung Pow an answer to his previous question, Kula chucked him over the ropes.
Kung Pow landed in Suikoden 2, where he demolished Hai Yo in a cooking competition.
Goh, seeing his ally get tossed, growled. He grabbed Kazuya, his opponent, and threw him over his shoulder, onto the ground.
Kazuya got to his feet and clutched his stomach. "You remind me vaguely of Bryan Fury. You're just about as ruthless as he is." He said.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Goh said, his fists raised.
"Well, good. Because it wasn't meant to be a compliment." Kazuya replied with a cold smirk. "I'm not fond of that guy."
The two stared each other down for a few seconds before lunging at each other. When they got close enough, both adults lashed out a limp, Goh a hand and Kazuya a foot. Both attacks connected as they stepped back to recover, Goh feeling his stomach and Kazuya feeling his head.
Goh knew about Kazuya and his past, so he knew that even a skilled killer like him had to be careful if he wanted to pull on top. Goh had to stay on his feet and prepare for anything.
Kazuya was the first to act. The black-haired man dropped to the canvas and spun on one foot, the other outstretched. Goh jumped out of the way of the first kick, but the second one caught him off guard and tripped him.
Goh landed on his back, but that allowed him to lash out both of his feet and kick Kazuya in the chest. Kazuya flew back and also landed on his back, but quickly got to his feet.
"You're quite the annoying little pest, aren't you?" Kazuya asked. "Well, it's time for me to stop fooling around and finish the fight."
Goh struggled, but he managed to get himself into a sitting position as Kazuya charged forward. As the younger Mishima ran at Goh with the ferocity of a lion, said assassin narrowed his eyes.
Once he got within reach, Goh grabbed each of Kazuya's arms and threw himself onto his back, forcing Kazuya above him. Goh quickly stuck his feet up and planted them into Kazuya's stomach, releasing his arms at the same time. With one kick, Goh sent Kazuya end-over-end over the ropes and out of the arena.
Kazuya landed in 1080 Snowboarding. He landed on top of Rob Haywood during a race, sending both of them tumbling down the mountain.
Back in the arena, Goh slowly got to his feet. Once he did, he looked around and saw that everyone else was resting before the next wave of fighters came out. Venom and Landis looked almost completely unharmed, and were laughing at the thought of eliminating more fighters. Luigi removed his hat and wiped the sweat from his brow, but looked alright otherwise. Kula was also staying cool, but was resorting to lightly fanning her face to do so. Cecile was starting to regret wearing such heavy armour, as she was starting to look tired. Gabby Jay was trying to keep his mind focused, despite the fact that he was still incredibly excited that he had eliminated someone. Lastly, Donkey Kong peeled yet another banana, ate it in one gulp and tossed the peel away.
Everyone knew that the next wave of fighters were going to come out any second now, so they all savoured the rest they had before the next fighter entered.
RESULTS
VENOM (MC)
LANDIS (S3)
LUIGI MARIO (SSB)
CECILE (S3)
KULA DIAMOND (KOF)
GOH HINOGAMI (VF)
DONKEY KONG (SSB)
GABBY JAY (SPO!)
(ELIMINATED)
DUCK KING (FF)
SHABON (S3)
KAZUYA MISHIMA (T5)
HAOHMARU (SS)
RUGAL BERENSTEIN (KOF)
KUNG POW (CF63 1/3)
GUY (SFA3)
NINA WILLIAMS (T5)
VANESSA (KOF)
DHALSIM (SFA3)
KIM SUE IL (KE)
HANZOU (WH)
BONUS MATCHES:
"Good Grief, That's a Lotta Fighters!"
HEAVY D!, CHANG KOEHAN, CLARK STEELE (KOF), RYU, SAGAT (SFA3), JACKY BRYANT (VF), FALCO LOMBARDI (SSB), WATARI (S3) and JACK (WH)
defeat
HEIHACHI MISHIMA (T5), ASH CRIMSON, SETH (KOF), TOAD, MYSTIQUE, MARROW (MC), YUBER, BORUS REDRUM, PERCIVAL FRAULEIN (S3), EARTHQUAKE, GEN-AN (SS), BALROG (SFA3), JIN CHONSHU (FF) and ROY (SSB)
"Lobby Lockdown"
RYUJI YAMAZAKI (FF) cuts down REED (S3)
Eliminations: Venom and Landis, 2; Luigi, Cecile, Kula, Goh, DK, Gabby Jay, Duck and Shabon, 1
Current Elimination Leaders: R. Mika (8), King (7), Bruce Irvin (6), Peach Toadstool (5), Lucky Glauber (5), Chang Koehan (5), Heavy D! (5)