(The Arena)
Terry and Billy clashed again. Every time Terry attempted an attack, Billy blocked it with his staff, and every time Billy swung his weapon, Terry either caught it or dodged the blow altogether. This seemed natural, as the two had always been evenly matched, even when they were enemies rather than friendly rivals.
"In all honesty, you brought this on yourself, Bogard." Billy said, "If I remember correctly, you were asking for a challenge just before I entered the ring."
"But you would have come to challenge me even if I had said nothing." Terry replied.
Billy shrugged as he blocked another of Terry's punches. "Yeah. I admit you've got me there."
Terry stepped back and straightened his hat. "Well, if we're evenly matched, how do you expect either one of us to win? We could be going at this all night."
Billy was silent. Indeed, he wanted to fight Terry, but he didn't want to spend the entire night with just one opponent. He raised his staff. "Ten more minutes."
Terry smirked. "Okay!"
Across the arena, Xigbar, the latest Mystery Fighter, fired a laser bolt from his left-hand gun, sending it into Juzoh's back. The Organization member would have used both guns, but he found that hard to do with Zelda latched onto his right arm like a rabid fangirl.
Zelda purred and nuzzled against Xigbar's shoulder. The gunslinging Nobody sweatdropped. "Now I know how Axel, Roxas and Demyx feel." He muttered as he fired another laser bolt, this time at Ken Masters.
Xigbar took a quick glance up at the Eliminated Seating and scanned it. He sighed in relief when he noticed the Link wasn't there. Xigbar wasn't afraid of many things, but he knew that angering Link would be suicide.
(Eliminated Seating)
Marth scratched his head. "That's weird. I've never seen Zelda act like this before."
Sitting beside him, Peach shrugged. "Well, anything is possible."
"I know, but something tells me a certain hotshot racer had something to do with this."
(SSB Locker Room)
Captain Falcon sneezed, falling onto his back.
(Kizuna Encounter Locker Room)
Rosa sighed and looked around. SSBFreak and Unknown1 had been generous enough to give their node a half-decent locker room, which was in itself something that she hadn't been expecting.
The swordswoman sighed. Over he course of the night, most of the fighters from the Kizuna Encounter node had entered the arena and were tossed almost instantly. Max Eagle had lasted the longest, and he didn't even get an elimination before getting tossed. Only four were left to enter: Herself, the giant cop Gordon, the old Chung, and Gozu, whom, like Mezu, had been absent from the Locker Room the entire night.
"Look, it's not that I don't want the elimination," Gordon told Chung, seemingly oblivious to Rosa. "It's just that I don't think Joker should be the one to get one."
"I didn't say I disagreed with you, sonny." Chung replied. "Someone needs to take that punk down." A sly smirk floated across the old man's face. "Maybe Terry Bogard."
Gordon chuckled. "You know? I find it weird that I'm looking at you AND watching Terry, whom in our node is at least twenty years older than you."
"As do I, but this just means that he's in his prime!" Chung said. He then held onto the baseball cap on his head. "Terry gave me this cap when I was just a kid! Seeing him fight in his younger years again is a dream come true for me!"
Yeah, it's confusing. But nodes set in the future can do that.
(The Arena)
Ness was keeping a close eye on Joker, whom was skating around Luigi. The young boy's eyes were narrowed in concentration as he tried to read Joker's mind.
However, in order for Ness' psychic abilities to come into use, his target had to be standing still, which was something Joker definitely wasn't doing.
"Hold still, darn it!" Ness muttered as he tried concentrating harder. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get into Joker's mind. Growling, the young boy charged forward.
Luigi swung his fist at Joker, but the rollerskating clown ducked under the blow and proceeded to kick the green-clad plumber in the stomach.
As much as Luigi hated to admit it, this guy was surprising him. "Well, seeing Gabby Jay get three eliminations, I guess anything's possible." He thought.
Joker swung his fist, laughing maniacally. Luigi avoided the blow and, seeing his chance, retaliated with an uppercut. Joker flew back several feet and landed on his side, but he was nowhere close to being eliminated. The evil clown jumped to his feet and charged again, sliding forward with one foot forward.
Luigi wasn't expecting this, and the attack knocked him off his feet. The green-clad plumber quickly jumped up again. "Okay, so I've been letting my guard down because you're from the Kizuna Encounter node. I'll remember not to do that anymore.
Joker cackled. "I guess this means that I'm the best of the bunch if I could surprise you like that."
Joker advanced on Luigi again, and took about three steps before Ness entered the picture and jumped onto his back, knocking and pinning him to the canvas.
Luigi sweatdropped. "Uh…Ness?"
"I had to find some way to make him stand still." Ness replied simply as he pressed his hands against the sides of Joker's head and started concentrating.
After a few seconds, Ness stopped and sighed. "I was right. Something's definitely going on."
The psychic boy got off the Kizuna Encounter fighter, lifted him up using his mind and chucked him out of the arena. {Now I just need to survive until Mewtwo enters the ring.}
Joker landed in a dark warehouse. He stood up and looked around. Seeing the warehouse was empty, he sighed in relief, figuring that he was one of the luckier fighters from his node.
"Hey! You copycat!"
Joker turned to see a crazy girl dressed in a jester outfit charging at him with a gigantic hammer.
"No ones steals Mistah J's look while I'm around! Nobody!" The clown girl screamed.
Back in the arena, Xigbar growled as he hit Ryofu over the head with one of his guns. This fight would have been so much easier for him if Zelda wasn't still latched onto his other arm.
Zelda squealed in delight as Xigbar held up his gun and blocked a swing from Ryofu's spear. "You're, like, fighting so well! You can totally beat this guy with one hand!"
"Well, I would use both of my hands if you would just let go of it!" Xigbar said. "So let go!"
"Nah-uh!" Zelda shook her head and nuzzled against Xigbar's shoulder again.
Ryofu paused his attacking and scratched his head. "You mean that you've got a fangirl and you're actually trying to get rid of her?"
"Having a fangirl I can handle." Xigbar muttered. "It's just the fact that this one won't give me back my arm!"
"But you're, like, doing so well without it." Zelda said dreamily as she tightened her grip on Xigbar's arm.
Xigbar sighed, realizing that nothing would get through to this girl. Deciding to continue the fight, Xigbar fired two laser bolts at Ryofu, whom easily used his spear to block them.
Ryofu charged at Xigbar, preparing to run Xigbar through with his weapon. Xigbar rushed to the side, although he struggled due to the fact that he was dragging Zelda with him. As soon as Ryofu passed, Xigbar clocked him in the head with his gun, making the giant man stagger forward, towards the ropes.
With Ryofu distracted, Xigbar tried to run forward, but with Zelda being dragged along, his speed was slowed down considerably.
Ryofu turned in time to see Xigbar raising his foot.
With no other alternative available at the moment, Xigbar landed a well-placed kick against Ryofu's face, making him tumble over the ropes.
Zelda, hearing the announcement, squealed again. "You did it! Oh, you're totally amazing!" She told Xigbar. "Doesn't that, like, feel great!"
"Peachy. Now will you please let go of my arm?" Xigbar said.
"Never!" Zelda said.
Ryofu landed in New Super Mario Bros., where a gigantic Dry Bones stepped on him.
Kuroko wasn't going to admit it anytime soon, but he was fighting a losing battle. Being a judge, Koroku had always assumed he had more authority over the others. However, right now, things weren't looking too good for him.
No matter how many times he slapped Ken Masters and Jin Kazama with a penalty for assaulting a judge and demanded they eliminate themselves, nothing worked and the double-teaming juts got more intense.
Jin landed a hard kick against Kuroko's back, and Ken continued with a Dragon Uppercut to the judge's face.
As Kuroko was still in midair, he held up a red flag. "Penalty!" He shouted as he fell towards the ground. "You have each received a penalty for disrespectful and brutal double-teaming! As punishment, you must allow me to eliminate you!"
"Are you kidding me?" Ken shouted as he jumped into the air and kicked Kuroko, kicking him towards Jin, whom caught him and slammed him into the ground.
While Kuroko was getting up, Jin pulled his fist back and engulfed it in a strange electricity.
Kuroko saw what was going to happen, but instead of doing something about it, he pulled out another flag and stared waving it. "Penalty! You finish that move and you would have done a-"
That was all the black-garbed judge could get out before Jin's fist slammed into his stomach. The sheer power of the punch sent Kuroko flying towards the battle Terry and Billy were having.
With Kuroko gone, Jin looked back at Ken. "Well, it doesn't look like either of us will get the pleasure of eliminating him."
Ken shrugged. "Eh, at least we got to whale on him."
"True."
In the meantime, Billy saw the black-clad judge flying at them and smirked. "Heads up, Bogard."
Terry glanced over his shoulder and saw Kuroko flying at him. Quickly acting, Terry spun around.
"OVERHEAT GEYSER!"
Terry slammed his fist into the ground, sending a huge wave of fire-like energy into the air. The timing was perfect, as Kuroko was directly in the line of the attack when it was put into action. Taking full force from Terry's most powerful super move, Kuroko flew clear out of the arena, waving both flags and screaming "PENALTYYYYY!".
Terry turned and saw Billy leaning on his staff, patiently waiting for his rival to finish. "Thanks."
"Hey, I couldn't just stand by and let that loudmouth take you by surprise." Billy replied with a chuckle.
Kuroko landed in Mario Tennis, where he and the judge (whom looked kinda like Mario) exchanged penalties while screaming at one another.
With Kuroko gone, nothing was stopping Ken and Jin from their battle. Each of the two was throwing punches and kicks wildly and fiercely, but each and every one was either blocked or countered.
Ken knew that he had a very special trump card in this battle: He had the ability to use projectiles. Ken quickly used this to his advantage and sent a fireball at Jin. The raven-haired young man, expecting this, held up his arms and blocked the projectile like it was nothing.
As soon as Jin blocked Ken's attack, he rushed forward and lashed out his foot. The attack caught the blonde-haired man in the chest, making him stagger back.
Ken regained his composure in time to see Jin rushing him. Thinking quickly, Ken swerved to the side and allowed Jin to pass him. He then grabbed him and tossed him over the ropes. Ken dusted his hands off and started walking away confidently.
Jin, however, chose that time to grab hold of the ropes, slide back into the arena and kick Ken in the back.
Ken growled as he stood up and turned around. "You're tougher to eliminate than I hoped." He said. "Very minor setback, though. A little longer and I'll eliminate you for real."
"Remember what I said about dropping the overconfidence?" Jin asked.
"No. Not really." Ken chuckled.
Jin's fist slammed into the side of Ken's face. "Maybe THAT will help you remember." Jin said as Ken wiped blood from his mouth.
Once again, Ken growled. "You'll pay for that." He said as he charged forward.
However, Jin was ready. Ken swung his fist, but Jin leaned to the side, allowing the fist to pass him by. Jin, still leaning to the side, then thrust his own fist into Ken's stomach.
Ken backed off, clutching his stomach. Jin rushed forward and delivered an uppercut, launching Ken out of the arena.
Ken landed in the node of the Avengers, where he helped Captain America defeat Galactus.
(Dome; Hallway)
Toppo once again jumped over the obstacle that was the exhausted form of Sodom as he swung the Master Sword at the brainwashed Seth and Vanessa. The silent juggler really didn't think it was fair to be fighting people that couldn't control their actions, but the one thing that kept Toppo attacking was that he was attacking out of self-defense.
Vanessa lashed out her fist, sending a spiral of energy (which looked remarkably similar to Heavy D!'s R.S.D.) at Toppo. The Suikoden juggler threw himself to the ground as the attack went over his head. Once the attack went by, Toppo jumped to his feet and rushed at his opponents.
Vanessa was the first to attack, lashing out both fists at different times in rapid succession. Toppo gracefully avoided the attacks, ran beside Vanessa and struck her with the Master Sword's handle. With Vanessa distracted, Toppo then advanced on Seth. The dark-skinned man lashed out his foot, which Toppo easily blocked with the Master Sword s blade.
The silent juggler tried swinging the Master Sword, but Seth dodged to the side and kicked Toppo in the face. As Toppo staggered back, Seth ran over to him and jumped on his back.
Toppo wasn't that strong to begin with, so trying to stand with a man that had about thirty pounds on him on his back was a feat in itself. Realizing that he would collapse if he didn't get Seth off of him, Toppo threw himself backwards, straight into the wall. This knocked the wind out of Seth, making him release Toppo and fall to the ground.
While Seth was on the ground, Toppo prepared to attack him, and he would have if Vanessa hadn't chosen that time to jump in. Toppo turned in time to see Vanessa lunging at him in a flying kick. The silent juggler dodged to the side and allowed Vanessa to hit the wall as well.
Toppo knew that he had to finish the fight quickly, so as Seth and Vanessa were getting up, Toppo reached out and grabbed the first thing he could find.
Seth and Vanessa looked forward, but instead of Toppo, what they saw was the body of Sodom getting thrown at them. The American samurai slammed into the two brainwashed agents, knocking them both to the ground.
Toppo stood victorious, breathing heavily. He was about to turn around and continue running when he saw all three figures on the ground getting up. Toppo once again prepared for a fight.
"Ugh…My head." Seth moaned, holding his head. "Man. What happened?"
"I think we were brainwashed, Seth." Vanessa replied. "It certainly feels that way."
Toppo sighed in relief and lowered his guard. When Sodom collided with the two agents, he had hit them in the head hard enough to break Bison's brainwashing on them.
"Uh…Hey, you're that Toppo guy from the Suikoden node, aren't you?" Seth asked once he noticed the juggler.
Toppo, being Toppo, didn't reply. He simply nodded.
"Did you just break us out of the brainwashing?" Once again, Toppo nodded. "Hey, thanks a lot." Toppo shrugged with a light smile, as if telling Seth not to mention it.
"Oh, no!"
Toppo and Seth looked at Vanessa, whom was looking worried.
"You're friends with that Shabon girl, aren't you?" Vanessa asked.
Toppo was now very interested in what the redhead woman had to say. He nodded.
"I sorta remember what was going on while I was brainwashed!" The redhead replied. "Your friend has been kidnapped!"
Toppo's eyes snapped open and silently urged Vanessa to continue.
"I don't know what she was kidnapped for or where she is now, but all I know is that Bison's stationed her somewhere in the hotel!"
The juggler's breathing intensified. Something like this had never happened before. Shabon had never been put in danger once, not even during the Fire Bringer War at Budehuc Castle.
"If that's the case, you need to find her before something happens!" Seth said.
Toppo nodded, turned around and prepared to start running.
"Wait."
Toppo turned again and saw Sodom walking over to him.
"You might need these." Sodom said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a string of grenades, the ones he had swiped from the Street Fighter locker room earlier. "I'd go with you, but Bison is targeting Lilly Kane as well and I need to find her before they kidnap her."
Toppo nodded and accepted the grenades. Sodom was then on his way, running off again to continue his search.
The silent juggler then rushed off down a different path, leaving Seth and Vanessa by themselves. Toppo swore that he would protect Shabon, and he wasn't going back on his promise now.
(The Arena)
Jin kicked Luigi in the stomach, sending the green-clad plumber back a couple of feet. Luigi quickly jumped to his feet, jumped at Jin and delivered a karate chop to the head. Ever since he had eliminated Ken, Jin had picked a fight with Luigi, and the two were pretty evenly matched.
Luigi landed on his feet and charged again. The green plumber leapt into the air and kicked several times. Jin was lucky enough to see the attack coming and used his hands to block each kick. As soon as Luigi stopped kicking, Jin shoved his fist into his face, knocking the thin plumber backwards again.
However, Luigi turned himself over in midair and landed on one knee, sliding for a couple more feet. Grunting, Luigi stood up and charged once again. Jin, however, remained standing, unmoving, his eyes narrowed in determination.
"Let's see if you can counter THIS!" Luigi shouted as he clenched his fist, creating sparks of electricity.
Jin smirked. "Gladly." He pulled his own fist back and engulfed it with the strange electricity from before.
Once Luigi got close enough, he swung his fist, sending a powerful surge of electricity through his hand. At the same time, however, Jin had also lashed out his own fist, overflowing with its own powerful electricity.
The fists of both fighters collided, and when they did, the sheer force and power of the combined electricity sent a bolt of lightning into the air, straight into the light fixtures hanging above the arena, instantly taking out four lights. This, in turn, sent an overload of power through the rest of the arena lights, making them shut off, dousing the arena and audience in pitch darkness. The only sources of light were coming from the Announcer's Booth and the Sound Booth.
"Hey! What happened?" Terry's voice came from somewhere in the arena.
"We must've blown a fuse or something." Ness observed.
"Let go of my arm!"
"Never! You're, like, too hot for me to ignore!"
"Will somebody PLEASE turn on a freaking light?" Wolverine shouted.
(Announcer's Booth)
SSBFreak quickly looked at his partner. "We'd better fix this. The tournament can't continue until the lights are back on." He explained.
Unknown1 was already on the phone. "Way ahead of you." He assured.
(The Arena)
Suddenly, two small sparks of light lit up from the blackened arena. The sources? Jin and Luigi, creating their respective lightning. The light wasn't much, but the electricity created enough light to show the face of the person wielding it. Both Jin and Luigi smirked at each other.
Despite that they were each using one hand to help them see, Luigi and Jin rushed each other again. Luigi leapt into the air and kicked Jin in the chest, but before he landed on the ground, Jin had spiked him into the canvas with his free hand.
As Luigi stood up, Jin backed up a couple of steps, only to feel himself bump into the ropes around the arena. Luigi, not knowing this, ran forward and delivered an uppercut to Jin's chin.
Jin didn't go up very high and didn't travel very far, but he was so close to the ropes that he tumbled over them and fell out of the arena.
As soon as Jin was eliminated, the lights came back on, save for the four lights that had been blown out earlier.
Jin landed in Zelda: Majora's Mask, where he spent the next ten minutes fighting off random enemies as the moon above grinned.
Xigbar growled and looked at Zelda, whom was still latched onto his arm. His current opponent, Sarah Bryant, simply stood aside and waited patiently for him to finish.
"I've already eliminated ONE person with you holding my arm like a deranged fangirl!" Xigbar shouted at Zelda. "Could you at LEAST let go of my arm for a bit? I've lost all feeling in it by now!"
"No way!" The princess of Hyrule replied.
Xigbar, finally fed up, pulled his arm back. "GET OFF!" He shouted as he hurled his arm forward, finally making Zelda let go of his arm, launching her across the arena. He then resumed his fight with Sarah.
When Zelda landed on the canvas, she quickly jumped to her feet. "Oh! He's, like, SO strong!" With that, she ran at Xigbar, but one fight was in her path.
Wolverine slashed his claws at Venom, but the alien Spiderman easily avoided the attack and kicked the Canadian mutant in the face. However, Venom wasn't prepared for Maxima to attack from behind, striking the anti-hero in the back.
Venom looked back and forth between the two Candians. "So, this is how it is? You resort to teaming up on us?"
"You're a dangerous creature, Brock." Wolverine pointed out. "We NEED two people to take you down."
"We'll take that as a compliment to our skills." Venom replied.
Maxima looked down at his partner. "Why does he talk like there's more than one of him?"
"Long story." Wolverine sighed. "I'll relay the message after the tournament."
"Fair enough."
Venom advanced on the two, but stopped when he heard a loud squealing noise coming from the side. The three fighters looked in time for Zelda to run onto the scene on her trek to get back to Xigbar. However, she was running in a straight line, and torpedoed into Venom, taking him with her. When Zelda ran by, Venom was gone.
Maxima scratched his head. "Okay, maybe we DIDN'T need two of us to take him out."
"Yeah. All we need is a determined fangirl." Wolverine shook his head.
"Well, I'm gonna go challenge that old boxer."
"Go ahead."
Zelda ran across the arena in record time, completely oblivious that she was pushing Venom as well. The black spider tried to get away, but Zlda was running so fast that Venom found it hard to even move.
Once she reached the other side of the arena, Zelda turned and leapt at Xigbar again. This, however, launched Venom forward, sending him flying out of the arena. Venom was too disoriented to try and fire a webline back into the arena.
Xigbar sighed in frustration when Zelda latched onto him again, this time on the back.
Venom landed in Donkey Konga, where he proved that he could keep up with even the toughest beat.
Billy swung his staff at Terry, but all he succeeded in doing was attack the air, as Terry had ducked down, allowing the staff to swing above his head. While Billy recovered from his attack, Terry jumped to his feet and punched him in the face.
As the British stick fighter staggered back, Terry shot his fist out and lunged forward. "Burn Knuckle!" He shouted.
Billy was lucky enough to snap out of his daze to see the attack coming. In the blink of an eye, Billy had his staff raised and had blocked the attack. Billy quickly countered with a kick to the stomach. This time it was Terry to stagger back.
Seeing his chance, Billy ran at his rival, stuck his staff into the ground and vaulted headfirst at Terry. On his way over, Billy swung his staff a couple of times. The first swing missed Terry, but the second one was a direct hit, smashing against the side of Terry's face.
Terry paused to rub his face, where Billy had just hit him. "You're getting better, Billy." He complimented.
"Heh. I see you've been practicing, yourself." Billy replied with a smirk.
"I always do." Terry added.
Billy suddenly realized that he was close to a turnbuckle. A smirk floated onto his face, realizing that he could pull a fast one and take Terry by surprise. Billy quickly plunged his staff into the ground and leapt into the air. Billy did a twist in the air, as his staff remained implanted in the ground. When Billy completed a full loop, he stuck his feet out and prepared to kick off the turnbuckle.
However, the turnbuckle, or what he thought was the turnbuckle, fell backwards as soon as Billy's feet made contact. When Billy realized this, he was already starting to fall over the ropes.
Thinking quickly, Billy grabbed one of the ropes and slid back into the arena from underneath them.
Billy looked around in surprise before looked at Terry. "Uh…What happened?"
"You kicked the psychic boy out of the ring." Terry replied.
"But I thought I was against one of the turnbuckles."
"You were."
"Huh?"
Ness had been sitting on one of the turnbuckles, hoping to avoid conflict and survive until Mewtwo entered. The next thing Ness knew, he had fallen into the world of Ape Escape. As chaos erupted all around him, Ness sighed and sat down.
(SSB Locker Room)
Mewtwo slapped himself in the forehead.
(The Arena)
Maxima swung his fist, catching Gabby Jay in the jaw. The old boxer, gripping his face, collapsed to the ground.
The large, Canadian cyborg bent over to pick up the old man to throw him from the arena, but Gabby suddenly sprung to life and gave Maxima a hard right hook to the face. While Maxmia was distracted, Gabby jumped to his feet and lashed out his fist, attempting a body blow.
Maxima, while unable to block the first body blow, managed to cover his stomach with his hands for the second one that followed. Maxima then thrust his foot out, kicking Gabby Jay in the stomach.
Gabby coughed a couple of times. "I HATE getting old." He said at the pain one kick had managed to deal.
Maxima used this to his advantage and grabbed the old boxer, powerbombing him into the canvas. Once Maxima got up, Gabby slowly followed, although he was struggling to do so.
"You know? As much as you say otherwise, I would say it's about time for you to retire." Maxima said.
Gabby coughed. "In your dreams, boy!"
Maxima sighed and advanced on the old man. Once he got close enough, he attempted a hard punch. Gabby was fortunate enough to block the attack, protecting his face from further harm.
While Maxima was still recovering from the punch that his opponent had blocked, Gabby took advantage of the situation and quickly rushed around the large cyborg. Once he gone around his opponent, Gabby lashed out a hard punch and struck Maxima in the back.
The surprisingly-strong attack from Gabby Jay took Maxima by surprise, making him step towards the ropes to try and regain his balance.
Seeing his chance, Gabby ran at Maxima, unaware that his boxing gloves were starting to glow, much like Little Mac's do when he powers up.
Maxima turned around, only to seeing Gabby lunging upwards in an uppercut.
The mysterious powers making Gabby's gloves glow had made his punch ten times stronger than normal, and it was more than enough to send Maxima rocketing out of the arena.
Gabby looked at his glove in awe, only to see that the glow had stopped.
Maxima landed in Sly Cooper 2, directly on top of Jean Bison. This made the heist for Sly's gang that much easier.
Chris Lightfellow swung her sword at Vega, but the Spanish matador quickly lifted his claw to block the attack. The result was a quick spark when the two metal weapons clashed.
"It really IS a pity, me having to do this." Vega said.
Chris smirked. "Go ahead. Attack me. I dare you."
"You asked for it." Vega said as he slashed several times at Chris. The silver-haired knight simply stood still, not bothering to raise her weapon.
However, he had failed to remember that Chris was wearing armour on every part of her body except her head. Vega's claws slashed against the Silver Maiden's chestplate, creating several sparks each time they struck.
Chris chuckled. "In all honestly, that wasn't very bright." She said.
"No, you're right. That WAS pretty foolish of me." Vega shook his head. "I'll have to remember things like that in the future."
"You sound like you're going to survive the section." Chis said.
"But I am, my dear." Vega replied with a bow. "After I eliminate you, I must search for someone else to fight until the next section starts up."
"Well, I'm certainly not going to allow myself to be eliminated, so you'd better not sound so confident just yet."
Vega let out a light laugh. "Unfortunately, this fight must finish if the next section should start." He said.
"For once, I agree with you." Chris said, drawing her weapon.
Vega slashed at Chris, harder than before. Chris blocked the attack with her sword, but the resulting sparks slightly blinded her, making her step back a couple of steps.
"It looks like the battle is over." Vega said as he ducked into a ball and rolled at Chris, slashing whenever he got the chance.
Chris held up her sword to block the attack, and then slightly adjusted it to block the next. Although Chris was managing to block each attack from Vega, the sparks that followed each one were making it incredibly difficult for her to see straight. Vega continued rolling, forcing Chris towards the ropes.
Suddenly, Vega broke out of the roll, flipped into the air and wrapped his legs around Chris' head. He then did flipped back to the ground, flipping Chris out of the arena.
Chris landed in Suikoden 2. She looked around and saw a younger Nash looking at her.
"Why, hello there." He greeted.
Chris punched him in the face. "No matter where I go, I just can't stay away from that guy."
(Dome; Outside Gym)
Balrog flew into the wall, a victim of Brad Burns' punch. Brad launched another punch, but Balrog saw this coming and ducked, making Brad's fist strike the wall instead. However, because Brad had such tough fists, it did little more than give him a little sting.
"I need to finish this fight fast if I'm to catch up with the others." Brad thought as he ducked a left hook from Balrog.
Unfortunately for Brad, Balrog wasn't making this easy for him. The banned boxer was dishing out every move he knew, and even a couple he didn't, on Brad. Brad found himself fortunate that he was still standing after everything Balrog was throwing, but he was landing his own hits at the same time, so the two were pretty evenly matched by now.
"You've got skills." Balrog said. "No doubt about that."
"If you weren't fighting dirty, I would say the same about you." Brad replied.
Balrog's eyes narrowed. "You're also a smart-aleck, I see." He stepped back and pounded his fists together. "Okay, let's kick it up a notch."
With that, Balrog charged forward and pulled his fist back. Once he got close to Brad, Balrog lashed out. Brad held his hands above his face to block the blow.
However, Balrog's fist torpedoed into his stomach. In the most powerful body blow one could feel, Brad shot down the hallway for about ten feet, landing on his back. Slowly, he got to his feet and glared at Balrog. "You've just made a serious mistake, pal."
"On the contrary, I'm just getting started." Balrog said with a smirk. "Let's see if you can stop this!" Pulling his fist back, Balrog lunged forward again. "Crazy Buffalo!"
Brad smirked. "That's what I wanted to hear." He said as he stood his ground.
Balrog shoved his fist out and continued lunging forward, aiming straight at Brad's face. However, Brad leaned to the side, so Balrog's fist simply cut through the air.
Brad seized his opportunity and punched Balrog in the face while he was distracted. As Balrog recoiled, Brad followed up with two body blows and an uppercut, knocking Balrog back even further.
The black boxer quickly regained his composure and glared at Brad. "You're lucky. I've saved the most powerful attack for last."
"Is that so?" Brad asked with a smirk. "Let's see it."
"Your funeral." Balrog said as he lunged at Brad again. "Gigaton Blow!"
Brad smirked and held up his left hand.
Balrog's fist slammed into Brad's outstretched hand. The Virtua Fighter felt the force and power of his opponent's punch flow through his body. Pulling his right hand back and clenching it into a fist, Brad felt the pure strength of Balrog's attack surge through his arm and eventually into his fist.
Smirking further, Brad looked at Balrog. "That's some powerful punch you've got there." He complimented.
Brad suddenly lashed out his right fist, catching Balrog in the jaw. However, it was still flowing with the transferred power from Balrog's punch. Barog, attacked with his own strength, flew headfirst down the hallway before slamming into the wall at the end. That was more than enough to render him unconscious.
Brad sighed in relief. "Okay. Now to find the others." He said before looking around. "Crap! I can't remember which way they went!"
Deciding to take a pure guess, Brad went off in one direction, hoping it was the right one.
(The Arena)
Terry and Billy kept clashing. Billy swung his staff, which Terry easily blocked. Terry attempted another Burn Knuckle, but all he succeeded in doing was strike Billy with his guard up.
The two had been fighting ever since Billy had entered the arena, and even they had to admit that things were starting to get old.
However, two others had also decided that it was getting old and started approaching from different angles, preparing to attack one of the two and eliminate them.
Terry suddenly noticed Luigi sneaking up from behind Billy. At the same time, Billy saw Wolverine doing the same to Terry.
"Looks like we've got some bogeys." Terry muttered.
"Yeah. We'll break on three." Billy said.
"Got it."
"One…Two…BREAK!" Billy shouted. As soon as he said 'break', he rushed past Terry and attacked the approaching Wolverine. Terry did the same thing at the same time and attacked Luigi.
Meanwhile, Xigbar ducked as Sarah Bryant's foot soared over his head. He struggled to stand, as Zelda clutching onto his back gave him added weight that made all things harder to do.
"You know? If you're THAT much against her latching onto you, maybe you should just tell her so." Sarah shrugged.
"Don't you think I've tried that? I've tried all things short of nuclear explosives!" Xigbar replied, suddenly starting to think that wasn't such a bad idea anymore.
Sarah sighed and shook her head. "I've never seen a fangirl THIS determined before." She mused. "I think she might be even worse than Amy Rose from the Sonic node."
This time, it was Xigbar's turn to sigh. "Well, we may as well continue fighting. At least once I get eliminated, I won't have to worry about this fangirl anymore."
Sarah nodded and lashed her foot out again. Xigbar held up one of his guns, blocking the attack. Organization XIII member II then took aim and fired several laser bolts from the guns he was holding.
If Sarah were any ordinary person, she wouldn't have been able to avoid the shots, but she was a skilled gymnast and used her flexibility to avoid the shots as they soared out of the arena and struck the forcefield.
Xigbar chuckled. "You're good. The only one to avoid shots like that was that Sora kid."
"That was nothing." Sarah said. "Give me your best shot!"
Xigbar shrugged. "You asked for it, lady."
With that, Xigbar rushed at Sarah and pulled his arm back, as if preparing to attack Sarah with one of his guns. Expecting this, Sarah thrust her fist outward, attempting to attack Xigbar when he got close.
However, she didn't strike anything. As Sarah looked around, she suddenly felt herself getting picked up. She realized all too late that Xigbar had used some serious agility to move around her, then pick her up to toss her from the arena.
Zelda watched Sarah vanished and hugged Xigbar tighter. "Oooooh! You're, like, the best!"
Sarah landed in the node of the Simpsons, where Homer drove over her with his car.
"Funny place to put a speedbump." Homer mused.
Back in the arena, Juzoh swung his club, but his current opponent, Kathy, managed to avoid the blow and duck under the club. The young rancher jumped to her feet and cracked her whip, snapping Juzoh in the shoulder.
Juzoh paused to rub his shoulder, but other than that, it didn't really hurt that much. This was mainly because Kathy wasn't a fighting character in Suikoden 3 and hadn't been using a weapon that long.
While Juzoh was rubbing his shoulder, Kathy tried kicking him in the stomach, but it did little more than make him flinch. With one hand, Juzoh quickly swung his club again, striking Kathy in the side and knocking her away a few feet.
Kathy staggered to her feet and looked at Juzoh, whom was still rubbing his shoulder. "Well, it looks like I'm gonna have ta concentrate harder." She mused to herself.
Clearing her head, Kathy readied her whip again and charged at Juzoh, whom had turned to see her coming.
Juzoh swung with his club again, but Kathy lashed out with her whip, making it wrap around the giant man's weapon and preventing him from attacking her.
Kathy then leapt into the air and jumped on Juzoh's club, kicking off of it. Kathy then landed a hard kick against Juzoh's face, making him stagger to the side.
Standing straight, Juzoh laughed and rubbed his chin. "You took me by surprise there. I didn't see that one coming."
"I'm full of surprises." Kathy said with a smirk. "Y'all may have the strength, but I got the agility."
"Indeed you do." Juzoh nodded. "I look forward to seeing what you can do here."
"Heh. Well, let's git it on!" Kathy said, her slight Southern accent showing.
Juzoh was the first to act, swinging his club downwards. Kathy rolled to the side, holding onto her pink hat to keep it from falling off.
Once she completed the roll, Kathy jumped to her feet and looked up at Juzoh, only to see him swinging his club again, this time horizontally. Kathy jumped and arched over the club as it passed underneath her, and once she was in midair, she cracked her whip again, striking Juzoh in the arm.
Kathy, seeing her chance, snapped her whip again, knocking the club out of Juzoh's hand and out of the arena.
Now that he was without a weapon, there was very little Juzoh could do to prevent himself from getting pushed over the ropes and out of the arena.
Juzoh landed in Cool Spot. The bad news was that he landed in a gigantic bottle of 7-Up. The good news was that he liked it and started drinking.
Billy held up his staff as Wolverine's claws slashed against it. "Oi! You remind me of that furry freak that tried to kill me earlier."
Wolverine raised an eyebrow as he rolled out of the way to avoid getting hit. "Was this punk big and have orange and yellow fur, by any chance?" The Canadian mutant asked.
Billy nodded. "Yeah. I think his name is…Uh…Sabretooth or somethin." He said. "I never really followed comics all that much."
"Shouldn't be surprised. Ol' Sabretooth is a bloodthirsty killer." Wolverine sighed. "Look, I hope he didn't rough you up too much."
"Eh, not really." Billy shrugged. "I gave him a pounding and he took off."
"…Now that DOESN'T sound like him." Wolverine said with a pause. "Sabretooth usually doesn't run away. He fights until he wins or is knocked out."
The British stick fighter shrugged again. "Meh. Doesn't really concern me. I lived through it."
"Well, I guess we should fight, bub." Wolverine said. "Wouldn't wanna disappoint the crowd."
"You got that right!" Billy said with a smirk.
The two advanced on each other again. Wolverine slashed several times, but Billy was lucky enough to lift his staff in time and block each attack. Wolverine pressed the attack, but Billy eventually found an opening and pushed his opponent away from him. Once he was given the space, Billy leapt into the air and gripped his staff with both hands.
Wolverine looked up, but when he did, his eyes widened.
Billy's staff had multiplied at least six times, and each of those staffs had multiplied as well. Billy was now holding well more than twelve staffs in his hands, which he swung down at the canvas in one big clump.
*KA-WHAM!*
Needless to say, the power from Billy's attack sent Wolverine clear out of the arena. Billy's extra staffs turned back into one again as he landed back on the ground.
Wolverine landed in Kingdom Hearts 2. Unfortunately, he landed in the Atlantica world, which took place underwater.
Only one more elimination was needed to finish the section, and knowing that just made Terry and Luigi step things up even further. Terry's foot swung over Luigi's head as he ducked, which gave the green-clad plumber a good chance to deliver a flaming uppercut to the blonde man's chin, sending him high into the air. Luigi jumped up after him and delivered a hard downwards kick to the stomach, sending Terry straight into the canvas.
As quickly as he landed, Terry was on his feet again. Terry jumped forwards and did a front-flip with one leg outstretched, attempting to hit Luigi with his heel. Luigi saw this coming and jumped back, out of range.
However, he WASN'T out of range for the Burn Knuckle that quickly followed. Luigi flew backwards several feet before landing on his back. Looking up, he saw Terry standing over him with a triumphant smirk on his face.
Luigi's eyes narrowed as he lifted a foot and thrust it into Terry's stomach. As Terry backed off, Luigi got to his feet and charged.
Terry quickly snapped to attention to see Luigi coming. However, it was too late, as Luigi's fist made contact with his face. The lanky plumber followed up with several karate moves, finishing with a hard chop to the back of Terry's neck.
Struggling to stay conscious after that last hit, Terry got to his feet and glared at Luigi. "Are you okay?"
Luigi raised an eyebrow. "What the heck kinda-"
"BUSTAH WOLF!"
The crowd roared in excitement as Terry's fist connected with Luigi's face. Terry then shot his fists out, creating a small explosion. This sent Luigi clear out of the arena, too dazed to try and Green Missile himself back in.
Luigi landed in Crash Bandicoot. Crash, thinking him to be an enemy, spun at him.
Back in the arena, Terry adjusted his cap and sighed in relief. He turned around to see who else had survived and found everyone resting. Gabby Jay, having lasted more sections than anyone left (as hard as it may be to believe), was starting to breathe heavily and had a black eye and several bruises. Xigbar was as relaxed as one could be with a fangirlish princess (Zelda) latched onto his like a magnet. Kathy jumped in place a couple of times, getting ready for the next wave of fighters. Billy and Vega looked as if they had just entered, although the former had a bruise on the side of his face.
Everyone glanced at the entrance curtain, knowing that the next wave of fighters were about to enter.
RESULTS
TERRY BOGARD (KOF)
XIGBAR (KH2)
BILLY KANE (FF)
ZELDA (SSB)
VEGA (SFA3)
KATHY (S3)
GABBY JAY (SPO!)
(ELIMINATED)
LUIGI MARIO (SSB)
JIN KAZAMA (T5)
NESS (SSB)
VENOM (MC)
KEN MASTERS (SFA3)
JUZOH KANZAKI (LB)
WOLVERINE (MC)
CHRIS LIGHTFELLOW (S3)
MAXIMA (KOF)
SARAH BRYANT (VF)
KUROKO (SS)
RYOFU (WH)
JOKER (KE)
BONUS MATCHES:
"Master Defense"
TOPPO {with the Master Sword} (S3) liberates SETH and VANESSA (KOF)
"Boxer Blowout"
BRAD BURNS (VF) bashes BALROG (SFA3)
Eliminations: Terry, Xigbar and Billy, 2; Zelda, Vega, Kathy, Gabby Jay, Luigi, Jin and Ness, 1
Current Elimination Leaders: R. Mika (8), King (7), Bruce Irvin (6), Peach Toadstool (5), Lucky Glauber (5), Chang Koehan (5), Heavy D! (5)