(Mute City; Dr. Clash's Bar)
Dr. Clash, an F-Zero participant himself, owned a bar, one that many of the other racers visited on a daily basis. Normally, he was steady, but tonight, the night of the tournament, most of the other racers had showed up to watch the show on Clash's TV that he had hanging above the counter.
Everyone was going about their usual business, occasionally taking a look at the screen to see how things were going. However, the instant Captain Falcon's name was announced, everyone turned their attention to the screen. It had taken longer than expected for Falcon to make his entrance, so people were starting to bet on how well he'd do.
Right now, the person with the most money from the bets was Super Arrow, because he had great faith in the captain. Seeing Falcon get several eliminations surprised some, but everyone was intent on seeing if he could actually win now, considering that it was now down to the last ten fighters.
"Come on, Falcon." Super Arrow said with a smirk, folding his arms. "Show these guys what you've got."
(Hotel; Nakoruru's Room)
After getting eliminated, Nakoruru was feeling a little drowsy, so she had gone to her room to lay down and watch the rest of the tournament from there. However, before her sister had even entered the arena, Nakoruru had fallen asleep.
"Zzzzzz…Galford…Zzzzzz….Save me from….Earthquake…Zzzzzzz…" Nakoruru mumbled.
A few minutes later, Nakoruru awakened slightly. Sitting up, Nakoruru stretched and glanced at the TV casually. Her eyes widened when she saw her sister in the ring as one of the last ten fighters in the tournament.
Seeing Rimururu still in the arena made Nakoruru wake up completely, moving to sit at the edge of her bed to watch her fight.
"Make me proud, dear sister." Nakoruru said, slightly quiet. "You just need to hold on a bit longer."
(Dr. Light's Lab)
Megaman shook his head with a sigh, sitting on a table. "I thought you said that this would make Roll forget about being a battle robot, Dr. Light." He told his creator. "Look at how well Roll's done! If anything, this will just make her want to become a fighter that much more!"
Dr. Light sighed a rubbed his temples. "Indeed. I was completely in the wrong for allowing Roll to go to this." The good doctor said. "I was thinking that Roll wouldn't last this long and lose interest in fighting Dr. Wily's robots."
"Well, now what do we do?" Megaman asked.
"I'm afraid we can do very little." Dr. Light replied. "If Roll still wants to be a fighting robot after this, I'm afraid there's not much we can do to change her mind."
As Light and Megaman continued to watch the tournament, a lone figure was standing outside, looking in through a window. He watched the TV and saw Roll eliminate a few people.
Bass stared at Roll intently. "Wow. She's actually kinda cute when she's fighting people."
(Star Wolf HQ)
Leon returned from the training room and saw Wolf and Panther still watching the tournament. After seeing Falco go through his 'Leon Stage' earlier that night, the real Leon had spent most of the night in the training room, taking out his aggression on dummies. When he returned, the tournament was almost over and Wolf seemed more interested in the tournament than before.
"You calm, now?" Panther asked with a smirk.
"Shut up, furball." Leon growled. "What's up with Wolf?"
"Fox McCloud was the last entry in the tournament." Panther replied. "They're now down to the last ten fighters and McCloud is one of them."
"Uh…Huh…And Wolf in interested in this…Why?" Leon asked again.
"Fox is the only one in the galaxy worthy enough for me to call my rival." Wolf replied without taking his eyes off the screen. "If he doesn't do well here, I shall be extremely disappointed in him."
Leon paused for a second, then shrugged. "Okay, Wolf. Whatever you say."
(Dome; Hallway)
D!, Lucky, Chang, Ryoko and Sagat continued to race through the dome in an attempt to find their goals quickly. The group had remained silent ever since Jack's stunt a few minutes earlier, but that was mainly because they were a little worried about him.
"Are you sure Jack's gonna be okay?" Ryoko asked.
"Against Ash Crimson?" Chang asked with a laugh. "Fear not."
Lucky, in the meantime, looked at D!. "I sure hope Brian's having a good time, at least." He said.
D! nodded. "He's probably enjoying himself, sitting up in the stands and stuffing his face with popcorn." He mused.
"You got that right, D!."
Eventually, the group came upon a hallway splitting off in two different directions. D! looked back an forth between the two.
"Okay, I think Vivian said that this hallway would take us to King's brother." D! said, pointing down the left halway.
"Okay. Sagat, Chang and I will go down there then." Lucky nodded.
"Be careful." Sagat warned D!. "Bison is no pushover."
D! nodded. "Thanks, man. Ryoko and I will be careful."
With that, the group split off, going in the two different directions.
(Parker Household)
Mary Jane Parker whistled a tune as she entered the house after a long day's work. Mary Jane hung up her coat and put her keys away as she walked into the living room. However, once she glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, her eyes widened and her whistling stopped.
"Oh! The tournament Peter entered!" Mary Jane said in realization as she rushed over to the TV and switched it on. Mary Jane quickly sat down and watched the rest of the fight. She was relieved to see her husband still in the arena, meaning that she could still see him eliminate some people, even if it was down to the final ten.
"Thank goodness. I thought I missed him." Mary Jane said in relief as she continued to watch.
Mary Jane watched Peter fighting off the large football player and smiled. "Come on, honey. Finish things up and win this." She said.
(Southtown)
A lone figure walked down a sidewalk, his head low. People were walking around and cars were driving by, but that was to be expecting in a busy and hectic city like Southtown. The figure didn't seem to have a destination, as he seemed to be more wandering around then anything.
However, as the man was approaching a video store, he saw a group of people gathering around the front window, watching on of the TVs. Because it was night, the man raised an eyebrow, wondering what was so interesting.
"What's going on?" He asked.
Someone in the crowd turned to him. "The big tournament going on is almost over! It's at the final ten!" He replied.
The man took a glance at one of the TVs in the window and his eyes widened slightly when he saw Kasumi Todoh in the arena.
A couple of seconds passed and tears found their way to Ryuhaku Todoh's eyes. "Kasumi, my daughter…" He whispered. "You are making me proud."
(Eliminated Seating)
To any normal person, Kim Kaphwan was a psychotic soldier of justice, wanting to reform criminals by beating the living daylight out of them. But to the person that actually knew about him…
…Never mind. He was a psychotic soldier of justice to them as well.
Kim would have normally thought that Chang's success in the arena would have been thanks to the rigorous training he had given the giant man. However, because of his apparent memory loss, Chang had become an even more insane justice fanatic than Kim was, and Kim just couldn't find a way to take credit for what Chang had done.
And now Choi was still in the arena, one elimination to his name and in the final ten. Well, nothing seemed to be wrong with Choi, so Kim didn't have a problem with taking credit for it.
"I am extremely proud of Choi." Kim said, arms folded. "And just think. Because of my rigorous training, Choi managed to get that elimination."
Sitting around him was everyone from the Galaxy Fight node (except Musafar, whom was still wandering around with the malfunctioning Gadget Z), whom instantly glared at him.
"EXCUSE me?" Rolf asked. "You're taking credit for HIS elimination when you yourself, the 'master' of the style, didn't get ANY?"
"I don't believe you!" G. Done added. "Their success had nothing to do with you! The first one's mind was snapped and the second one hasn't done ANYTHING similar to your style!"
"You are a very bad man!" Roomi shouted.
"Let's get him!" Rolf shouted.
Everyone instantly jumped Kim, forming a huge fight cloud. Everyone else sitting around ignored this.
"It's about time someone shut him up." Kyo sighed. Benimaru nodded.
(New York; Training Room)
A blonde boxer punched a bag hanging from the ceiling several times. After finishing, he stepped away and looked at the clock hanging o the wall.
"It's getting kinda late." The blonde boxer, whom went under the name 'Kid USA', mused as he wiped his forehead. "I guess that's enough training for tonight."
Kid USA walked over to the TV and turned it on. His sister Ally had told him that she had gone to this tournament in another node to watch and he decided to see what it was all about. As the TV turned on, Kid USA took a sip of water from a bottle.
"ALLY GATOR!" A voice announced on screen.
Kid USA promptly spat out his water. "ALLY?" He asked
Indeed, there was his sister walking down to the arena. Kid USA had no idea what Ally was doing in the ring, but ever since he turned the set on, he refused to take his eyes off the screen.
Kid USA ended up watching the tournament the rest of the time, watching Ally score an elimination. A smirk found its way to his face. "You can finish this, Ally." He said. "Go all the way."
(Budehuc Castle)
Thanks to an accidental sneeze courtesy of the elder Viki, a mystic screen had appeared in the bar, allowing the residents to view the fight. Everyone had been amazed at their surprising amount of success in the ring, especially after seeing someone like Watari manage four eliminations.
Anne, the bartender of Budehuc, was particularly interested in watching Samus fight when he entered the ring. Watching Samus get an elimination made Anne feel happy, and she was already pretty happy with all the business she had been getting throughout the night.
Beecham saw his fellow Karayan watching the fight on the mystic screen and made his way over. "You seem interested in watching Samus fight, Anne." The elder man chuckled. "It's almost as if you have a crush on him."
Anne looked at Beecham and blushed. "Is it THAT obvious?"
"Yeah. Even when Samus is here, you seem a little timid around him." Beecham replied.
This just made Anne blush even more furiously. "Uh…You won't tell anyone, right?"
"I'm afraid a lot of people already know."
Anne sighed as she looked towards the screen again, figuring that she may as well cheer for Samus again.
(Announcer's Booth)
SSBFreak grabbed the phone by his desk and dialed a number on it. After a few seconds, he spoke. "Hey, Jay! I know you guys at the merchandise department have been making a lot of shirts for us, especially after I ordered all those 'Koehan' shirts. However, I think I'll need one more set of shirts." He said. After a couple more seconds, he started talking again. "How about plain white shirts with the entire USA Sports Team on the front? Great! Thanks a bunch, man! You guys are the best!"
Unknown1 watched as SSBFreak hung up the phone. "Why shirts of the Sports Team?" He asked. "I mean, we've already ordered shirts of 'The Koehan', Gabby Jay, Mario fighting Sonic and a stare-down between Ryu and Terry Bogard, among several others." He said, counting off his fingers.
"Well, when you think about it, the Sports Team is pretty much the only KOF team here where all three members got at least one elimination."
"Huh?"
"Kyo's team was eliminated pretty easily, and Ash's team didn't fare much better. Terry, Athena and Yuri were the only ones to score an elimination for their respective teams, and Kim Kaphwan fell pretty quickly, while his students did better than he did." SSBFreak explained. "Leona failed to get an elimination for the Ikari Warriors, while Kula was the only one on K's team to eliminate someone."
"Yeah. I guess you're right." Unknown1 nodded. "The Sports Team has been full of surprises tonight."
"You said it."
(The Arena)
Ducking a kick from Fox McCloud, Roll rushed across the arena in an attempt to get to her potential opponent. Roll ran past Captain Falcon (giving him a swift kick to the shin as she did) and Samus until she finally saw Choi Bounge kicking Rimururu away. Seeing her chance, Roll charged her Roll Buster and fired it into the small man's back.
Choi flew forward several feet, but managed to land in an upright position. Turning around, Choi saw Roll advancing on him and smirked. "So the lady robot wants a piece of me, eh?" He chuckled. "Okay. Let's do this."
With that, Choi lunged at Roll and slashed his claws wildly. Roll saw Choi coming ad jumped to the side, giving the midget a kick to the head and making him recoil that much more.
Choi was quick to recover, and proved this by leaping at Roll and kicking her in the face, making her stagger back.
"You seem to be picking up the pace a bit." Choi remarked.
"Of course." Roll nodded as she pressed a button on her arm cannon. "It's the final ten after all."
Choi smirked. "All the more a reason for me to make it to the final two." He said as he launched himself at Roll again.
Thinking quickly, Roll deposited another Rock Ball on the canvas and gave it a kick. This one bounced off Choi's head like usual, but instead of destroying itself, the Rock Ball ricocheted off the small man and flew up to the beams hanging above the arena. The ball bounced off one of the beams and flew back into the arena, where it slammed into the back of Brian Battler's head.
Roll quickly chose to ignore this and rushed Choi again. Choi snapped out of his daze and slashed at Roll once. Roll took the attack and flew back about three feet before landed on her back. Seeing his chance to eliminate her, Choi advanced.
However, as Choi got close enough, Roll sprang to life, kicking the small man in the face and jumping to her feet. Choi stepped back, holding his head.
"You've got amazing skill. I can't deny that." Roll said sympathetically. "However, in order for me to stay in the ring, you have to be eliminated."
With that, Roll rushed at Choi, picked him up and threw him out of the arena, marking the first elimination of the final ten.
Choi landed in Zelda: Twilight Princess. He saw Link in wolf form, thought he was an attacking monster and jumped in for the kill.
…Yeah. Stupid mistake, eh?
"Oy. What the heck was that?" Brian asked, looking around as he rubbed the back of his head, where Roll's Rock Ball had bounced off
Ally Gator shrugged. "I dunno. I wasn't really paying attention because I was mainly focusing on avoiding that shoulder pad of yours because when you attack with that thing, it's really hurts." Rubbing her shoulder, Ally continued. "You know? I've played KOF before and I'm surprised at why your team hasn't been invited back. If this is how all three of you fight, then you deserve a second chance."
Brian smirked. "I appreciate the gesture, lady." He said. "Heck, doing this tournament may give us enough spotlight for people to notice us again."
"The same goes for me." Ally replied as she lashed out her fist at Brian (he dodged it). "After the game I was in released, the gang and I were forgotten. I just hope I can get some more people interested by fighting here."
"Hey, we've each gotten an elimination." Brian said as he kicked at Ally's stomach (she blocked it). "Already, we've done better than some of the more popular fighters here."
"You've got that right." Ally nodded.
"Hey, you seem like an okay lady." Brian said. "After this is over, I'm gonna fine my homeboys D! and Lucky and go out for a drink. You wanna tag along?"
Ally smirked. "Why not?" She asked. "I'll try to find you guys at the award ceremony after the tournament, but before that, we need to finish our fight."
"No problem." Brian said, crouching low and lunging at Ally in an American Supernova.
Ally quickly held up her hands and Brian torpedoed straight into them. Pushing against the force, Ally shoved back and spun the football player around, making Brian shoot off in the other direction.
Brian saw that he wasn't going to right way anymore and stopped himself. Turning around, he saw Ally rushing at him. "Man. She's stronger than I thought." Brian mused. "The only other one able to parry my American Supernova was Chang Koehan."
Ally thrust her fist at Brian. The football payer easily caught the punch, but wasn't prepared for Ally to continue the attack with her other fist, nailing him in the side of the head.
Brian stepped to the side a couple of steps and Ally jumped onto his back from behind. As Brian staggered around, Ally repeatedly punched him in the back.
Doing his best to ignore the pain, Brian looked at some of the ropes around the arena. Unable to come up with another plan, Brian charged forward at top speed. Ally stopped attacking to hold onto Brian's jersey.
When Brian got close to the ropes, he stopped running and came to an abrupt halt. Ally, unprepared for this, flew from Brian back and over the ropes.
Brian laughed. "That's two! Now who's next?" Brian stopped when he felt a slight draft. Looking himself over, Brian saw that he was wearing his shoulder pad over top of a blue tee shirt. His jersey was gone, meaning that Ally probably didn't actually let go when she flew from his back.
Seeing as how there wasn't anything he could do, Brian sighed and rushed off.
Ally, still holding onto Brian's jersey, fell headlong into Sonic Riders. Seeing Jet riding by, Ally hijacked his board and sped off.
(Eiji's Subconscious)
Eiji Kisaragi wasn't sure if his eyes were closed or not, because he could see nothing but black all around him. Eiji tried moving, because he knew Julia had no chance against the likes of Setsuna, but he couldn't move a single muscle. Eiji found that he wasn't even capable of speaking.
Suddenly, a hue of red light appeared on the left side of his vision while a blue light appeared on his right. Eiji couldn't turn his head to see where the lights were coming from.
"This is all your fault!" An angry voice shouted as the red light deepened a bit. "If you had just given me control, he wouldn't be in this mess!"
"I'll admit that I am partially to blame." A calmer voice said as the blue light deepened. "But you are just as much at fault as I am."
"WHAT?" The angry voice raged.
"You were the one to lash out at me." The calm voice continued. "I was merely acting in self-defense."
"Well, we can't go back and change that, now can we?" The angry voice shouted. "He's lying in the hallway, unconscious, as that foolish assassin is about to take that woman's life!"
"We may not be able to go back, but we CAN do something about the crisis at hand."
"And what might THAT be, genius?"
"We have to share his body equally. At least for the next few minutes."
"And THEN what?"
"We must each leave him."
"WHAT? Why would I do that, fool?"
"Because we have caused him enough pain as it is. Don't you see? In order to make it up to him, it HAS to be done."
"…..Fine. I'll admit that we DO owe him for getting us away from those wannabe ninjas."
"That's EXACTLY what I want to hear. Now let's get him up! Quickly!"
"Right!"
(Dome; Hallway)
Eiji's eyes fluttered open and he found himself getting to his feet. The first thing Eiji felt when he woke up was the fact that he wasn't in pain. It was almost as if the fire and water elements had finally chosen to work together.
Once he had stood up, Eiji looked at his hands and felt the raw power of the elements going through his arms.
"I…I can control it…" Eiji thought.
Suddenly remembering Julia, Eiji turned around. He saw Setsuna holding Julia against the wall, the blade of his sword dangerously close to slitting her throat. Julia looked horrified, but seemed afraid to struggle against the assassin's grip.
Eiji narrowed his eyes. "Hey!"
This caught Setsuna's attention, making the assassin turn his head and take his sword away from Julia.
There stood Eiji, two separate auras of energy flowing around him. His entire left side was emitting a red light and flame-like energy was sprouting from his arm, going from his shoulder all the way to his fingertips. His entire right side was emitting a blue light and drips of water-like energy were dripping from his arm, vanishing the instant they hit the floor. And for the first time the entire night, Eiji looked like he was fully capable of controlling each element.
Julia's eyes widened. "E-Eiji?"
"Get your hands off of her." Eiji said coldly.
Setsuna smirked and did as he was told. "Well, it appears that the elements have decided to come forth." He remarked. "Very well. I'll kill you, and then extract those elements from your body."
Eiji didn't reply and instead walked forward to challenge Setsuna. Eiji hadn't had that many friends in his life, and Julia had proved to be the best friend he could have ever asked for (and he figured he probably didn't even DESERVE). Julia had done so much for him ever since she met him.
And now it was time for Eiji to repay his dept.
(Hotel; Geese's Room)
Lilly Kane continued to watch Geese stare off into space with a blank expression. Just seeing him like that broke Lilly's heart. Yes, Geese had been known to be ruthless, but he had always treated Lilly like family, much like how he treated Billy. And now, Geese had been reduced to this, doing whatever Bison told him to.
Although she almost knew the outcome, Lilly tried again. "Geese, please snap out of it!" Lilly begged. "You're stronger than this, Mr. Howard! Please, stop this and come back!"
Alas, her attempts were once again in vain, because Geese didn't respond. Lilly felt tears come to her eyes. "Nothing's going to work." She sobbed as she slumped in the chair she was tied to. "Nothing's going to make him come back."
Suddenly, the door was kicked open. This caught the attention of both Lilly and Geese, as they both watched Joe and Sodom enter the room, the former being responsible for kicking the door in.
Lilly's eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of her boyfriend. "Joe?" She asked.
Seeing tears in Lilly's eyes just made Joe angrier. "I'll be with you in a second, Lilly. Just let me beat some sense into Geese!"
"Joe, Bison took over his mind!" Lilly insisted. "If he was thinking straight, he wouldn't have even done this!"
"Then if that's the case, the way to make him snap out of it is to defeat him." Sodom added.
"Well, let's do that, then." Joe said, cracking his knuckles.
"Targets pose a threat to Master Bison's plan." Geese droned. "Targets must be destroyed."
"You ready?" Joe asked Sodom.
"No." Sodom sighed.
"Neither am I." Joe replied. "Let's go!"
(The Arena)
Laser bolts shot through the arena going in every direction. It's not like Fox was wanting this, but rather because all of his shots were getting deflected off of Samus' sword. The dark skinned swordsman, being extremely skilled with his weapon, was able to predict Fox's attack pattern out pretty quickly and was definitely proving this.
"The way you keep reflecting my shots is annoying me!" Fox shouted.
"Annoying YOU?" Samus asked. "You're the one who keeps using the one attack! Why don't you try something NEW?"
Fox smirked. "You want new, eh?" He asked as he put his gun away. "Okay. You'll get new."
Fox flew forward in another Fox Illusion. The attack was so quick that it even took a trained swordsman like Samus completely by surprise. Fox didn't go far enough to touch Samus, so when he broke out of his attack, Fox delivered two punches to his stomach, following with several kicks to the face.
Samus stepped back, but quickly recovered. He looked ahead in time to see Fox rushing him again. Thinking quickly, Samus grabbed Fox's hand in mid-punch and threw the young pilot's light frame over his shoulder, making Fox land on his side.
This time, it was Samus to advance, rushing at Fox with his sword drawn. "Time to go, fuzzy!" He shouted as he swung his sword.
Fox did the only thing he could think of in his situation: He held up his blaster and blocked the sword with it. His blaster received a bad-looking scratch, but Fox himself was unharmed. He quickly demonstrated this by kicking the surprised Samus in the face, knocking him back.
"Things are getting down to the wire, now!" Fox shouted. "I'm not going to let you stand in my way of making it to the final two!"
Samus narrowed his eyes. "I beg to differ." He said as he rushed Fox again.
Samus swung his sword, but Fox rolled to the side. Samus, however, was expecting this, and shoved the handle of his sword backwards, striking Fox in the forehead and stunning him.
Turning around, Samus smirked as he grabbed Fox. "Looks like you'll have to settle for eighth." He said as he pitched Fox over the ropes and into the elimination portal.
Fox landed in Animal Crossing. The game's playable character came by and started whacking him with a net, laughing playfully.
Said playable character was then seen running through town with his hat set on fire, screaming in terror.
Captain Falcon, the longest-running fighter still in the arena, attempted a punch at Rimururu. The maiden of ice jumped to the side easily, being much fresher than the hotshot F-Zero racer. Rimururu then proceeded to kick Falcon in the head, knocking him away.
Falcon quickly recovered and lunged at Rimururu in a Raptor Boost. The young girl took the attack and was sent flying several feet away.
"Maybe you should call it a day." Falcon said with a smirk as he watched Rimururu get to her feet. "I mean, isn't it past your bedtime?"
Rimururu glared at Falcon. "You should watch what you say." She warned as she flew forward and struck her opponent with an uppercut, knocking him backwards. "Your words might come back to haunt you. Need I remind you that I'm a lot fresher? So please, just give up now and I won't be forced to use drastic measures!"
Falcon stood up and shook his head to regain his senses. "Yeah, right. I bet that you don't HAVE any drastic measures." Falcon pointed out. "You're a pacifist! Even if you were capable of drastic measures, you'd be so reluctant to use them that you would just go on without them!"
Rimururu sighed. "You leave me no choice, I'm afraid."
With that, Rimururu advanced on Falcon again. However, this time, she waved her hand, sending a wave of ice at the hotshot racer. Falcon's eyes widened as he jumped to the side and allowed the ice wave to fly past him.
However, the attack still managed to land a hit, although it was to Falcon's arm, which he didn't manage to get out of the way in time. The ice wave washed over his hand and when it vanished, everyone stared at Falcon's arm, which was frozen from the hand all the way to the elbow.
Falcon's heart skipped a beat, realizing what could have happened if he didn't avoid the attack at all. Still, he was now down to one arm, and fatigue was starting to weigh him down by now.
Unfortunately, Falcon decided to open his big mouth again. "Okay. So you've got some skills, but I don't need both arms to beat you!" Falcon challenged as he raced forward.
Rimururu narrowed her eyes. "Please forgive me." She said as she swerved to the side and allowed Falcon to pass her. Rimururu then pushed Falcon over the ropes and out of the ring.
Captain Falcon landed on a floating platform of some kind. He stood up and looked around. "Where the heck am I?" He asked himself. Suddenly, the platform he was standing on tilted. Falcon staggered, but managed to keep his balance.
A monkey suddenly chose that time to roll by in a ball, knocking Falcon off the Super Monkey Ball level and sending him falling down towards the lake far, far below.
Back in the arena, Spiderman was swinging around, confusing his current opponent, Brian Battler. Attaching another webline to the rafters, Spiderman swung down and kicked Brian in the chest with both feet, sending the larger man flying away. Brian tried to recover, but Spiderman had come back around and kicked him again, sending him in the opposite direction.
Landing on his back, Brian managed to get to his feet and shook off Spiderman's attack. "Hey, web-head! Come down here and fight me!" Brian challenged, getting frustrated. "Unless you're too chicken to face me!"
That brought Spiderman down. The masked superhero landed gracefully on his feet a foot away from Brian. "Okay. I guessing that you REALLY want a beating now." He said. "Okay. Let's see if you can keep up."
Brian's fist was instantly in Spiderman's face, making him step back.
"Fast enough?" Brian chuckled.
"Eh. Not bad." Spiderman shrugged. "But it's still nothing compared to my stealth."
With that, Spiderman leapt into the air again. Brian looked around for a couple of seconds before Spiderman came crashing down on top of his back, knocking the wind out of him.
"How'd ya like that?" Spiderman asked.
"Get off…My freaking…Back!" Brian growled, shooting into a standing position and launching Spiderman from his back.
Spiderman went flying over the ropes, but quickly fired another webline to a turnbuckle and pulled himself back in, saving himself from elimination.
Brian, however, was under the impression that he had eliminated the superhero, and was thus playing to the crowd. However, Spiderman quickly proved him wrong by jumping in and kicking him in the back.
The American football player slowly got to his feet. "You sure are a tough one to beat." He mused.
"Well, what did you expect?" Spiderman asked. "I have amazing agility and can fire webbing from my wrists."
"Yeah. I gathered that." Brian grumbled.
The two clashed again. Spiderman, feeling confident, swung his arm downwards, attempting to strike Brian's head. However, Brian saw the attack coming and leaned to the side, then punted Spiderman in the stomach.
This made Spiderman grasp his stomach in pain, which made it easy for Brian to kick him out of the arena without having to worry about Spiderman getting back in somehow.
Spiderman landed in Super Mario Bros. 2. He promptly whacked Triclyde with a fist several times defeating him before any of the four heroes showed up to face him.
(Dome; Storage Room)
"Sonic Boom!" Guile roared as lashed his arms forward, sending his trademark projectile at Mystique. The shapeshifting mutant quickly avoided the blow easily.
Mystique quickly pressed the barrel of her gun against Guile's forehead. "You'd better watch it, pal." Mystique warned. "I won't hesitate to pull this trigger on a human."
"I'm aware of that." Guile said, his eyes narrowed. He quickly kicked Mystique in the stomach. "And that's also why I didn't hesitate to do that."
Mystique was quick to recover and leapt at Guile, kicking at his face. The American soldier caught Mystique's foot and threw her away, sending her flying into the wall. Guile then rushed at her in an attempt to knock her out.
However, Mystique snapped out of her daze just in time and thrust her foot into the oncoming man's stomach, making him back away from her. Mystique quickly got to her feet and shot an energy shot from her gun into Guile's back, sending him flying away.
"Looks like I've gained the upper hand." Mystique smirked.
Guile ignored his pain and turned. "Allow me to show you otherwise." He growled.
The two rushed each other again. The only thing that kept Guile going was the fact that his daughter needed rescuing and he wasn't about to let her down. By the time he and Mystique reached each other, both fighters had attacked, Guile with a fist and Mystique with a foot. However, both attacks hit, make both Guile and Mystique stagger away from each other.
"You may as well give up now, human!" Mystique shouted. "You have no chance!"
"That's what you think!" Guile roared and charged ahead.
Mukuro was having a grand time, swinging his weapons wildly at Reed. The undead psycho was having such a good time that he failed to notice that Reed was blocking all of his attacks with amazing swordsman skills.
Like Samus still in the ring, Reed was an amazingly skilled swordsman, but unlike Samus, some would consider Reed the better one. This was mainly thought to be the fact that Reed was a full-fledged Tinto soldier, while Samus had come from another town and had to learn the Tinto style.
"I've never had such a blast making mincemeat out of someone!" Mukuro laughed.
Reed raised an eyebrow as he blocked one of Mukuro's swords, then quickly moved his sword behind him to block the second one. "You DO realize that I'm blocking your attacks, right?"
Mukuro paused. "You are?"
"Uh…Yeah." Reed nodded. "What's the matter? Can't you see straight with those bandages over your eyes?"
"Well, now that you mention it, these bandages HAVE been obstructing my view lately." Mukuro mused as he lifted a bandage covering his eyes. However, Reed took this opportunity to give the undead assassin a punch to the face. "Oh, so THAT'S how you want to play, eh?"
"Bring it on." Reed said, eyes narrowed.
"Chonshu, please snap out of it!" Chonrei pleaded as he avoided an energy blast from his younger twin. "I won't fight you like this!"
"You don't have a choice, Chonrei!" Vivian said as she appeared from the floor behind Chonshu and punched him in the back of the head. "He can't hear you!"
"Destroy threats to Master Bison's plan." Chonshu droned. Chonrei still couldn't believe that this almost mechanical voice was coming from his own brother.
Chonrei sighed as he caught Chonshu's hand. "I didn't want to do this, brother. But I really don't have a choice, now."
With that, the older Jin twin lunged at his brother and struck him in the face with an energy blast. This sent Chonshu flying into the wall, but he was quick to get to his feet. The brown-haired fighter rushed Chonrei again, but Vivian quickly stepped in the way and caused the ground underneath Chonshu to explode.
Seeing his chance, Chonrei rushed at Chonshu and delivered a strong punch to his face, sending him flying into the wall.
"Now, Vivian!" Chonrei shouted.
Vivian nodded and snapped her fingers. This time, the explosion that occurred erupted on the wall rather than the floor. The explosion sent Chonshu falling to the ground.
Mystique stepped back, still feeling the effects of Guile's last punch. "Okay. This human is more skilled than I thought he would be." The blue-skinned mutant thought. "Maybe it's time for me to try a different strategy."
With that, Mystique stepped forward. Guile watched in surprise as Mystique transformed into an exact likeness of Ken Masters.
Mystique smirked. "There." She said in Ken's voice. "You wouldn't hit your own brother-in-law, would you?"
Seeing Guile smirk and pull his arms back, Mystique's heart dropped.
"Sonic…HURRICANE!"
A huge Sonic Boom emerged from Guile's hands, circling around him and attacking Mystique several times. After the attack finished, Guile punched Mystique in the face several more times, sending her into the wall and knocking her out.
"On the contrary, I've been wanting to knock some sense into Ken for years." Guile replied.
Guile turned around and rushed over to release his overjoyed daughter. Before he got that far, he saw that Chonrei and Vivian had succeeded in defeating Chonshu, as he was out cold. This meant that Bison's grip on his mind would go away when he woke up. Reed, on the other hand, had also managed to win his fight, as Mukuro lay at his feet in a crumpled heap.
"You okay, sweetie?" Guile asked as he untied Amy.
The instant she was free, Amy had her arms around her father, telling Guile all he needed to know. Guile smiled and returned the embrace.
Reed sighed in relief. "We actually did it."
Vivian nodded as Chonrei was helping a recovered Chonshu to his feet. "I'm just as surprised as you are, Reed. I just hope that everyone else was just as successful."
(Dome; Roof)
"Why the heck did Bison choose the ROOF to be one of the locations?" Rugal thought bitterly. "It's so cold up here!"
Indeed, Rugal was right. Because of the height of the building, the wind was much stronger on the roof, making it feel that much colder. Rugal looked and saw that Rhino and the brainwashed Bruce Irvin would agree with him, as they both looked cold themselves. Jan, King's brother, sat tied to a chair several feet away, shivering.
Rugal, being Rugal, couldn't care less for how the boy felt. It was his own fault for not choosing to wear a sweater, after all.
Rhino, on the other hand, seemed to have a larger heart, as he felt sorry for the kid. He had to admit that if there was a free coat available, he would have draped it over the kid's shoulders. But there wasn't anything around, so there was nothing Rhino could do.
"How much longer do we have to stay up here?" Rhino asked.
"Not long, I hope." Rugal sighed as he looked at his watch. "Bison said to keep him up here until the tournament finishes. Give it about ten more minutes and we should be good."
"Fine."
Suddenly, the door leading down the stairway to the dome opened up. Lucky Glauber, Chang Koehan and Sagat emerged.
"Man. What the heck was Bison THINKING?" Lucky said, panting after the long run up the stairs. "The roof is a horrible place to put someone!"
"Tell me about it." Rugal muttered before facing the three 'heroes'. "I see that you're here to save the boy."
"That's right." Sagat growled, staring Rugal into the eye (which was something very few people could do). "So hand him over and no one gets hurt."
Rugal chuckled. "So you want to die? Very well."
"Sagat, I'll take him." Lucky said. "I know how he fights. You don't."
Sagat stood in silence before nodding. "Okay. Just don't get yourself killed, Glauber. I respect your skills." He said.
Lucky smirked. "Thanks, man." With that, he turned to Rugal. "Okay, Berenstien. Time for round two!"
Sagat turned and his good eye widened. There stood Bruce Irvin, an emotionless, brainwashed look in his eyes. "Bruce." The taller man breathed. "How could you let Bison do this to you?"
Rhino looked in time to see a huge wrecking ball swinging down at him. The muscled man rushed out of the way as Chang's weapon crashed into the roof.
"You foul villain!" Chang roared. "It is time for 'The Koehan' to unleash his mightiest evil-thwarting moves!"
Rhino raised an eyebrow. "Man. This guy's crazy." He said as he got ready for a fight.
(The Arena)
Samus ducked as Kasumi Todoh's hand shot above his head. The blue-haired girl quickly made up for her missed attack, sending her foot into Samus' stomach.
It was now down to the final five and people were trying as hard as they could to stay in this. Both Kasumi and Samus were showing this with the fierceness and power of their attacks against each other, because they wanted to make it to the finals with as little effort as possible.
Deciding to try again, Samus lashed out with his sword. Kasumi gracefully avoided the attack and quickly thrust her palm at Samus' face. The dark-skinned swordsman leaned to the side, then gave Kasumi a quick punch to the face, making her step back.
Quickly shaking off the attack, Kasumi narrowed her eyes. "It is time that I stopped messing around." She said as she charged forward again, lashing out with her hands.
Samus saw the attack coming and rolled to the side. After breaking out of his roll, Samus swung his sword, hoping to do some damage.
Kasumi got off extremely lucky. Had the sword been over two inches, Kasumi would have gotten a very bad cut in the back, but instead, Samus' sword only made a long tear in her floor-length skirt. Kasumi didn't have time to feel relieved, because Samus was on her again, swinging his sword.
Thinking quickly, Kasumi jumped back and swung her hands downwards, sending her father's patented energy wave at the Tinto soldier. Samus took the attack to the face and fell onto his back.
Kasumi sighed and stepped forward. "You have skill, and had you fought someone less-determined, you might have gone further." She said. "Unfortunately, I have to eliminate you now."
As Kasumi bent over to pick Samus up to throw him out, the Tinto soldier snapped to life, rolling out of the way and getting to his feet. "It'll take more than that to take me down!" He said.
Kasumi sighed. "Very well." With that, she pulled her hands into the air. "I apologize in advance."
Before Samus had time to react, Kasumi threw her hands down, sending a huge wave of energy at him. The dark-skinned man took the attack and felt the full force of it, which sent him flying clear out of the arena.
The portal opened up, depositing Samus in a very familiar bar.
"Hey! Look, everybody!" A dark-haired kid said. "It's Samus!"
After the kid (Melville) said that, everyone in the bar turned and saw Samus getting to his feet.
"Heh. That's him alright!" Martha laughed. "And here I was thinking that he'd land somewhere he'd get killed in."
"Martha, don't say that!" Anne scolded the older woman. "Samus, we're all proud not only at how you did in the ring, but how our node performed as a whole!"
"That's right, Master Samus!" Sebastian, a portly man dressed as a butler, pointed out. "It's a pity that no one from our node won, though."
Samus shrugged. "Eh. There's always next time." He paused. "Man. Have I got a story to tell you guys, but I'm afraid I can't tell you now."
"Why not?" Someone in the crowd asked.
"Because I'm only here for ten minutes before I go back to the dome." Samus replied. "That won't be nearly enough time to tell you guys what's been going on."
"Well, have a drink, Samus!" Anne said, holding out a glass. "It's on the house!"
"Oh. Thanks, Anne."
Had anyone been watching close enough, Samus and Anne blushed when they looked at each other.
(The Arena)
"Folks, we're now down to our final four!" SSBFreak announced. "Rimururu, Roll, Brian and Kasumi!"
"All four of them want the prize, but only one's going to get it!" Uknown1 added. "But which one will it be?"
"I don't know, but we're about to find out!"
On one side of the arena, Rimururu was fighting Kasumi. On the other side, Roll was fighting Brian. All four fighters were giving it their all in order to make it to the finals. After all, things were so close now and it was really anyone's game.
Kasumi sent an energy wave at Rimururu, but the ice maiden rolled out of the way and delivered a strong uppercut to the blue-haired girl's face.
Holding her chin, Kasumi stepped back, but quickly shook off the attack. "You seem extremely determined here." She said.
"Oh course." Rimururu nodded. "This close, I want to give it my all."
"Well, you're proving to be a challenge." Kasumi said. "Be sure that you don't hold back."
"Only if you don't either."
"Wasn't going to."
The two girls rushed each other again, trading blows. Kasumi started to get the upper hand and delivered a chop to Rimururu's back, making the ice maiden collapse.
However, before Kasumi could move to throw her opponent from the ring, Rimururu shot up and darted at Kasumi, swinging her dagger. Kasumi, taken aback by the sudden ambush, stepped back to avoid the swing.
"Roll Buster!" Roll shouted and fired another ball of energy from her arm cannon. Brian charged forward, shoulder pad first, plowing through the projectile and striking poor Roll in the process. This sent Roll flying back several feet, but the robot girl was quick to stand up.
"So you like to announce the name of your attack to the entire world, eh?" Brian asked. "Okay. Two can play at that game." With that, Brian crouched low. "American Supernova!"
Roll's eyes widened. She had seen the attack and knew what was coming, so she ran to the side and allowed Brian to pass her. Once Brian saw that he wasn't running at Roll anymore, he turned around and started again.
However, Roll had another trick up her sleeve. Pressing a button on her arm cannon, Roll created a ring of floating leaves around her. Brian plowed into Roll, but her Leaf Shield proved to be tougher than it looked, because Brian's attack was stopped just before the shield wore off.
"Okay. I have to admit that was pretty smart." Brian said, standing straight up (and towering over Roll). "However, I need a spot in the finals, and you're standing in my way."
"Then I'm afraid I must teach you not to covet something you can't have." Roll replied with a smirk before kicking Brian in the knee.
This made Brian collapse. "Gah! Why you little-"
That was all Brian could get out before Roll punched him in the face.
Rimururu leapt over Kasumi and landed a hard kick to her back. The blue-haired girl stepped forward, but that didn't stop her. Spinning in place, Kasumi sent another energy wave at Rimururu. The ice maiden wasn't prepared for this one and took the attack to the face, sending her flying backwards. Rimururu landed on her side and watched as Kasumi approached her.
"You have gifted talent." Kasumi sighed. "It's such a pity that you couldn't do better than you did."
"I'm not done, yet!" Rimururu shouted as she stood up.
Kasumi took Rimururu by surprise and grabbed her. "No. I'm afraid that you're wrong." With that, Kasumi tossed Rimururu into the air.
Roll kicked Brian in the stomach, but it did little to stop the football player from swinging his arms down, creating a blue, crescent-shaped wave that surrounded his upper torso. The attack struck Roll in the head, knocking her down.
Brian smirked as he stood over Roll. "Looks like I win, kiddie." He said. "Sorry about this."
Roll, for the first time the entire night, smirked slyly. She aimed her arm cannon at the canvas. "Tornado Hold!" She shouted.
Brian's eyes widened at the small pod that shot from within Roll's arm cannon. From within the pod came a small twister, which quickly lifted Brian into the air.
Everyone in the stands watched in amazement at the two fights.
While Rimururu was in the air, Kasumi pulled her arms up, then thrust them down, sending a huge wave of energy out. It struck the airborne ice maiden, sending her over the ropes and out of the ring. At the same time, Roll fired a Roll Buster at Brian, whom was still inside her tornado, and knocked him out of the ring as well.
Brian and Rimururu landed in a large, open field. After standing up, they looked around.
"Where are we?" Rimururu asked.
Something suddenly tapped against Brian's foot. The football player picked it up and saw that it was a futuristic grenade.
"Oh, HECK no." Brian said as he threw the grenade away, making it land behind a rock. The grenade exploded, sending two Unreal Championship players spiraling into the air.
"Come on!" Brian told Rimururu. "I've seen what happens to those who stand still!"
Picking up the small girl, Brian charged off, kicking a third player at the same time.
Back in the arena, the two remaining fighter looked each other over.
On one side of the arena was Kasumi Todoh. She had several bruises, cuts and scrapes, her outfit was torn in several spots and her hair was a complete mess. People were surprised to see her last this long, but were cheering for her nonetheless.
On the other side of the arena was Roll. Being a robot, she was incapable of receiving bruises or cuts, but her outfit still had some tears, her body had a few dents in it and the green ribbon usually holding her hair in a ponytail was gone completely, letting her long hair droop down past her shoulders.
The two girls stared each other down for a few seconds, each of them breathing heavily. They both respected each other for getting this far, but only one of them could win. With that in mind, Kasumi and Roll rushed each other, starting the battle for the championship.
(Catsablanca)
The node was Garfield: Caught in the Act. The level was Catsablanca. In fact, what was going on was taking place on the roofs of a street full of cars going at a hundred Kilometers Per Hour.
Ash Crimson flew back several cars and landed on a flatbed. The white-haired pretty boy stood up and watched as Jack (the World Hero) jumped over a lane to avoid a street sign coming at them.
"So what do you think?" Jack cackled, jumping onto the flatbed with Ash. "I don't think I could ask for a better battlefield."
"I could think of a few better ones." Ash muttered. "But I'm afraid you've reached the end of the line! I'll kill you here and now!"
Jack laughed. "You still mad that I pushed you into here to begin with?" He asked.
"Very."
"Sheesh. You really need to learn to let that stuff go." Jack chuckled.
Ash's eye twitched. "Okay. I'm going to make sure you die in pain for that." He said.
"Bring it, girly-man!" Jack taunted.
(Dome; Secret Room)
How Bison was able to keep this room a secret, let alone build it without anyone noticing, D! would never know, but he wasn't one to question such things. He and Ryoko came up to what looked like a normal-looking door, but when they opened it, what lay inside was far from normal.
It looked like a huge machine room, almost what Ryu and Ken would usually find in Bison's base. Computers littered the room, but what caught the most attention was the huge machine in the middle of the room. A laser-like gun was pointing down at an empty chair.
"W-What's that?" Ryoko asked.
"I don't know, but I Have a feeling that where the main target's going to be placed." D! said.
"You'd be right."
D! and Ryoko spun around and saw Bison come into view, an evil smile on his face the entire time.
"You're a sick freak, man!" D! shouted. "Using the poor kids as targets!"
"It had to be done." Bison replied. "It was essential for me to take the kids in order for my plan to succeed."
"Well, you're too late!" Ryoko laughed. "We're here to stop you and you don't even have the main target yet!"
"Oh, but you see? That's where you're wrong." Bison replied. "I DO have the main target."
"Then where is he?" D! asked.
Bison's smirked got even darker. "You fool. You've brought her right to me." He replied.
D!'s eyes snapped opened as he looked at Ryoko, whom was looking just as shocked and terrified. In the blink of an eye, D! was looking at Bison again. "Forget it!" He shouted. "There's no way I'm going to let you do this to her!"
"Then I'm afraid that I must kill you first." Bison said. "Let's see what you've got."
"Bring it on!"
"D!-san!" Ryoko shouted in worry.
"Stay back, Ryoko!" D! said. "I can't risk you getting too close to him!"
Ryoko reluctantly backed off. She tried opening the door to escape, but she found that it had locked behind her. The only thing she could do was hope that D! would be able to win this.
As the boxer and dictator fought it out and a prettyboy was fighting a clawed maniac on the roof of a running car, a female robot and the heir to the Todoh style fought to become the champion of the first-ever Megamix Tournament.
RESULTS
KASUMI TODOH (KOF)
ROLL (MM)
(ELIMINATED)
BRIAN BATTLER (KOF98)
RIMURURU (SS)
SAMUS (S3)
SPIDERMAN (MC)
CAPTAIN FALCON (SSB)
FOX MCCLOUD (SSB)
ALLY GATOR (B&B)
CHOI BOUNGE (KOF)
BONUS MATCHES:
"Amy's Rescue"
GUILE (SFA3) smashes MYSTIQUE (MC)
"Locking Swords"
REED (S3) slashes MUKURO (LB)
"Brother Battle"
JIN CHONREI (FF) and VIVIAN (PM2) liberate JIN CHONSHU (FF)
Eliminations: Kasumi, Roll and Brian, 2; Rimururu and Samus, 1
Current Elimination Leaders: Billy Kane (8), Rainbow Mika (8), Roll (7), King (7), Xigbar (6), Bruce Irvin (6), Kasumi Todoh (5)
Roll, Queen of Mystery: When Xigbar was eliminated, I said that I doubted any other Mystery Fighter would top his six eliminations. I was wrong.