(The Arena)
The ten remaining fighters waited patiently for the next round to begin. They knew that a couple more fighters than usual would come up so they needed to make as much resting as possible. Suddenly, they heard cheering. Everyone looked up to see who was next.
"BONNE JENET!" (KoF: MI)
The blonde pirate captain came out to a loud cheer (especially from the men.) She smirked at the warm reception before blowing kisses to the crowd. Once she was done, she ran down the ramp and jumped in.
Once in, she strutted over to Knuckles the Echidna who was looking in her in awe.
"Hey there, shorty…" B. Jenet said with a seductive smirk. "Care to show a lady like me a good time?"
"Um, sure." Knuckles said raising his fists. "I rarely turn down a challenge."
B. Jenet raised an eyebrow before smirking. "Is it me? Or is your face bright red?"
Knuckles' eyes widened realizing that he was blushing. "Don't be stupid! My face is ALWAYS red!"
"Then, why are you so mad about me stating the obvious?" B. Jenet challenge.
"Great. It's a human Rouge." Knuckles muttered.
"MOSES SANDOR!" (To)
The red-haired tan-skinned bandit let out an energetic cry carrying his quiver of spears over his shoulder. He then darted down the ramp and jumped into the ring with a big shout.
"YEEHAW!"
He then landed right next to Pikachu startling him. Not liking the scare, the Pokemon got upset.
"Pika Pika Chu!" Pikachu said angrily.
Moses looked down and smirked crouching down speaking in his Southern accent. "Ah, aren't you cute trying to look tough?"
Pikachu took offense of this and walked over putting his finger on Moses' knee causing the spear-fighter to blink his good eye in confusion.
"Pika… CHUUUUU!"
Moses was then having electricity surging through his body. Once Pikachu was done, Moses collapsed on his knees black, charred and smoking.
Moses coughed out a bit of soot. "Okay, maybe you DON'T need to look tough."
"JACK!" (PS)
Those unfamiliar to Power Stone look in fear as a green-clad figure came out of the Ready Room with bandaged all over his body save for his one eye and held two knives. Crawling down the ramp like a cockroach.
Once in, he made a beeline for Estelle. Thankfully, the princess saw the serial killer coming and immediately raised her shield to block a knife slash.
"What… What are you?" Estelle asked freaked out.
"You look like a princess and princesses usually have shiny gems on them!" Jack said in a creepy voice. "I will slash you to get those from them."
"Get away from her, you sicko!" Sailor Jupiter said rushing forward to help Jack.
"SKULLOMANIA!" (SF:EX)
The skeleton-costumed stood outside the curtain with the crowd cheering him with his red scarf blowing through the non-existent wind. While normally he would play to the crowd, he already had something else in mind. Dashing down the ramp, he leaped high up into the air.
Landing straight on top of Jack's back pinning him down.
"Thank you for the help." Estelle said sighing in relief.
"No problem, princess." Skullomania said giving a thumbs-up. "I have no respect for serial killers like these!"
Jack grunted in annoyance getting up. "Get off!"
Skullomania cracked his knuckles. "Very well. I want to pound the hammer of justice on top of your skull anyway."
"And now, Mystery Fighter… Number… Twenty-One!"
"KAIN HIGHWIND!" (Final Fantasy IV)
The purple-clad Dragoon Knight came out to an enormous cheer. Despite this, he acted as if he was unfazed by this. With his spear, he dashed down to the ramp and jumped up. He leaped so high that he almost reaching the arena lights. The already-cheering crowd went ballistic.
"Poor Luigi." Ike said looking up. "When he finds out that he been out-jumped, he will be devastated."
However, he noticed that as Kain was descending down, he was falling close to HIM.
Kain landed on the ground with a huge thud making Ike jump.
"What in the world?" Ike asked.
Kain got up and readied his spear. "I heard a lot about you, leader of the Greil Mercenaries. You better not disappoint me."
Ike blinked twice before narrowing his eyes. "Don't worry, you will not be."
"DR. NEO CORTEX!" (CB)
The vertically-challenged mad scientist came out to a mixed reaction. However just like his fellow mad scientist, Dr. Eggman, he not only didn't mind the positive AND negative receptions but he also ENJOYED it.
"Yes, yes." Cortex said playing to the crowd while walking down. "Keep the love and hate coming."
Readying his laser, he stepped in. Once in, he saw Gatomon about to help Skullomania, Sailor Jupiter and Estelle with Jack. With an evil smirk, he shot at the cat.
However, Gatomon's feline instincts had picked up the attack and easily jumped out of the way avoiding the attack.
"Hey! What was THAT for?" Gatomon demanded.
"You Digimon folks had always intrigued me." Cortex said. "I always wondered what will happen if I use my Evolvo Ray on you?"
Gatomon's eyes widened at this. "Do you honestly think I am going to let you use me for your sick experiments?"
Cortex merely scanned the arena before whistling with his fingers in his mouth. Ripper Roo (who was spinning around in place) surprisingly stopped and bounced over to the two short figures standing at Cortex's side.
"That's just the thing, dearie." Cortex said with a dark smirk. "You don't have a choice."
"RAN HIBIKI!" (RS)
The dark-haired school journalist excitedly looked at the arena taking several pictures of the carnage.
"All right! So far, I already got some good pictures here!" Ran said with a grin.
She then charged down the ramp and jumped in. She was about to walk somewhere until Rainbow Dash came into her line of sight.
"Um, may I help you?" Ran asked.
"I heard about you. You fight to get some pictures for yout school paper." Rainbow Dash said before smirking. "Why don't you fight me? Anything with ME in it has to be gold."
Ran raised an eyebrow. "Why not? You ARE the current holder of eliminations thus far. I could deal with a camera-hog for a while."
Rainbow Dash's smirk vanished. "Hey!"
(Boiler Room)
Snake's group took the bound pair of Momo and Wave to the boiler room to avoid any unwanted attention. After closing the door, he put the two girls to a wall to talk.
"All right. It is about time we get some answers around here." Snake said reaching down and pulling Momo's gag from her mouth.
"How dare you do this to me? I am just a cute little girl!" Momo snapped. "You call yourself heroes and yet you do this to me!?"
"I can't speak for the others but I'M no hero. Never was. Never will be." Snake said before giving a dark smirk. "Which means I can do anything I want to you."
Momo shrank back in fear.
"Wave, why are you doing this?" Tails asked. "I know that you aren't exactly heroes but you are siding with BISON!"
"It's no use. She is under Kurow's power." Momo sneered.
Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Is Wave the only victim?"
"Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't." Momo said. "But one thing is for certain."
"And that is?" Chloe asked.
"I am not telling a woman who tries too hard to be an Amazon." Momo said sticking out her tongue.
Chloe's eyes widened at this with a gasp. She then narrowed her eyes.
"Looks like it may take a while to get her to spill the beans." Tails lamented.
"For some reason, I don't really mind the long time." Chloe said rolling up her sleeves.
Momo's little smirk vanished. She was in trouble.
(Hotel; Hallway)
The group of Shoma, Roberto, Nagare and Richard walked down the halls looking around for any villains. Shoma was leading the pack looking around frantically.
"Dang it! Where are they?" Shoma asked.
"Now is this a small suggestion, Shoma but I don't think they would stand outside in the open waiting to get caught." Richard said crossing his arms annoyed with Shoma's impatience.
The young man angrily looked back. "I know that! I am not an idiot!"
Roberto shook his head before looking at Nagare. "Nagare, do you have any idea where to look?"
"No. Richard is right. They are too smart to be in the open." The swimmer said. "All we can do is hope we get lucky with finding a villain."
"Great." Shoma scoffed walking forward.
"My, he sure is a hot-headed fellow, isn't he?" Richard noted.
"Yes, Shoma is known as the biggest hothead at Gorin High." Roberto said.
"Indeed, Shoma means well but sometimes he needs someone to calm him down before acting out of spite." Nagare noted. "Unfortunately, it may be a little difficult seeing how high the stakes are."
Meanwhile, Shoma walked forward with a look of determination on his face.
"I WILL find those kidnapped hostages and stop Kurow's plot."
(The Arena)
"IMPMON!" (DRA)
The black imp-like Digimon swaggered out of the Ready Room holding his hand like a pistol. With a smirk, he noticed Gatomon fighting Cortex and Ripper Roo. Nodding his head, he made his way down to the ring and stepped in.
"Bada-Boom!" Impmon shouted throwing a fireball at Cortex. The attack connected with the short man's strange Mohawk. Cortex immediately freaked out and started to run in circles.
"My hair is on fire! My fair is on fire!" Cortex yelled trying to put it out.
Ripper Roo hopped onto his back laughing and kicking his feet up while Gatomon struggled to stifled a few laughs herself.
Once Cortex had finally managed to make the flames died, he glared at the guilty party.
"You! How dare you!?" Cortex said with a snarl.
"You are the boss of that muscular koala and wannabe-gangster right?" Impmon asked.
Cortex's eyes widened as Gatomon raised an eyebrow.
"Muscular koala? Wannabe gangster?" Gatomon asked. "Impmon, what are you talking about?"
"Long story short. There is this big kidnapping plot and the mooks of Baldie here tried to kidnap." Impmon said flatly.
Gatomon's eyes widened at this as Cortex cursed Pinstripe and Koala Kong for this.
"Hey, toots. Remember when I said that I didn't want to double-team with anyone?" Impmon asked. "Well, I am in a good mood so I'll take back that statement and help you out. Just don't get in my way."
Gatomon gave Impmon a strange look. "Y-Yeah… Same to you."
"YURIKA KIRISHIMA!" (RS)
The blue-clad lady played her trademark violin resulting in a rather smoothing song. The audience gaped in awe at the beauty of it. Once she was done, she bowed resulting in a cheer.
"I haven't seen Kurow at all in this tournament so far." Yurika said walking down. "I sure hope that he isn't making trouble. Though that may be asking for too much."
She then stepped in. Deciding on Ness as her first fight, she walked over.
"Ah, shall we fight?" Yurika said getting the young boy's attention. "Normally I would avoid fighting a child but you are demonstrated that you are stronger than you look."
"Indeed I am." Ness said before eyeing Yurika's weapon. "You fight with a violin?"
"Indeed. I assume you are surprised." The white-haired girl said.
Ness merely shrugged. "Meh. Can't say I fought that kind of weapon-user before but I faced off against stranger things.
"KRATOS AURION!" (To)
The red-haired angel came out to a loud cheer. In fact, it was the largest of all of the Tales of nodes so far. Getting out his sword and shield, he coolly walked down the ramp and stepped in.
Once in, he ran over to Estelle who promptly to stay back to cast back-up magic.
"Estelle, need any help?" Kratos said getting the princess' attention.
"Oh, Kratos! Thank goodness you are here!" Estelle said pointing to Jack. "I think we need all the help we can get fighting this person!"
"So I noticed." The purple-clad man said narrowing his eyes. "Demon Fang!"
With that, he sent a wave across the arena striking Jack in the leg.
"Ow! That hurt!" Jack said angrily.
"Any attack with those knives of yours would have hurt a lot more." Kratos pointed out. "You shouldn't be complaining."
"Don't talk that way to me!" Jack said pouncing forward.
"TESSE!" (WW7)
The blonde robot maid came out to a decent cheer (which besides Arina is the biggest cheer for the Waku Waku 7 node so far.). Taken back by the reasonably warm reception, she nervously floated down to the ring with a small blush.
"I just hope that I am not getting in over my head." Tesse mused.
Yoshi saw her come in and decided to fight her. Tesse saw him running over and yelped.
Turning the bottom of her legs into a bell, she swung it forward striking Yoshi in the face. Yoshi fell onto his back before getting up.
"I think I am in trouble." Tesse said getting out a parasol to block a head-butt from Yoshi.
"RACHEL ALUCARD!" (BB)
The rabbit-eared vampire looked at the arena with a bored look on her face.
"Ugh… What a bunch of ruffians." Nago (the cat umbrella) said in disgust.
"Indeed. And not even interesting ruffians too." Rachel said in a bored tone. "I don't even know why I agreed to this tournament. Oh well… As long as I am stuck here."
With that, she walked down the ramp with the red devil-like creature Gii flying after her. After she stepped in, she pulled out a frog out of nowhere.
"George XIII. Attack that red-haired Neanderthal." Rachel said referring to Moses.
The frog croaked and hopped over to Moses who was still fighting Pikachu. When the frog was close enough, he emitted electricity making it surge through Moses' body. Again.
Pikachu watched in surprise as Moses collapsed on his face charred all over again. The latter got up looking annoyed.
"Aw, come on! Where did THAT come from?" Moses demanded.
"I was the one who called for the electric attack." Rachel said getting their attention. "That rodent was taking too long to eliminate you even though it is as clear as day how much of a waste of flesh you are."
She then looked at Pikachu. "Scamper off somewhere. If you can't even eliminate this buffoon easily, then you are better off riding on the coattails of someone more capable of fighting."
Moses and Pikachu blinked twice before looking at each other. They then narrowed their eyes.
"Truce?"
"Pika!"
"I'll take that as a yes."
"MIGHTY THE ARMADILLO!" (StH)
The black-furred armadillo came out a surprisingly warm-reception. Taken back by this, he nervously scratched the back of his head with a small blush.
"Gee, it feels weird getting back into the spotlight again." Mighty mused.
He then stepped in. Seeing Knuckles fending off B. Jenet, he made his way over.
"Hey, Knux!" Mighty said.
"Oh, hey, Mighty!" The echidna grinned. "Good to see you back in the ring."
"Same here." The armadillo nodded. "Need some help?"
"Um, why? I am not having problems so far." Knuckles said.
Mighty merely smirked. "Yeah. PHYSICALLY."
Knuckles' eyes widened at this. "What are you talking about!?"
"Face it. For a tough, no-nonsense guy, you suck at hiding your embarrassment." B. Jenet smirked.
"SHUT UP!"
(Recovery Room)
"Aw, come on!" Kanji said in disbelief. "Tell us!"
"No." Barbatos said in a hospital bed.
"Why not?" Hunter whined.
"Because for all you know, that Astaroth fellow is just as big as candidate for me being part of this "conspiracy"." Barbatos lied.
Mel shook her head. "WHY were you fighting him in the first place?"
"Because I like fighting." Barbatos said flatly.
"So you choose a narrow HALLWAY for your fight?" Ally asked in disbelief.
Barbatos merely shrugged. "I was bored."
Ally narrowed her eyes. "You are confined here until further notice."
Barbatos merely scoffed. "The only reason I didn't break out of here is because I am not even at half of my full strength. You can confine if you want but it would just be a waste of time."
"We'll see about that!" Ally scoffed before the security team walked off.
"Thank you for your time." Vivi said to Nurse Joy.
"It is no problem." Joy said shaking her head as she watched the security team left the room.
"Another dead end." Ally grumbled.
"Why didn't we threaten him like with that potoroo?" Kanji asked.
"Are you kidding me!?" Hunter said in disbelief. "I don't think he CAN get threatened."
Vivi slumped his shoulders. "Now what?"
Ally then narrowed her eyes. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you but I am getting tired of walking in circles!"
"Same here but what can we do?" Hunter asked.
Ally merely smirked. "Easy. Huddle around and find out."
The security team did what they were told.
(Dome; Hallway)
The group of Samus, Fox, Lucas, Olimar and Bean wandered down the halls with Samus leading using her X-Ray vision
"Found anything yet?" Fox asked.
"Ugh… No." Samus said shaking her head.
"Incidentally, what are we supposed to be finding?" Lucas asked.
"Something. Anything." Samus said. "Any kind of clue to help us uncover this conspiracy."
"Do you think Ganondorf is part of the conspiracy?" Olimar asked.
"Wouldn't put it past him." Samus said rolling her helmet. "In all seriousness, I haven't seen him in the locker room while waiting."
"Me neither." Olimar said before shuddering. "I do hope we don't face him."
"Can't say I am looking forward to facing him myself but if we have do, we need to fight him." Fox said.
"True…" Olimar said looking down.
"I am not looking forward to him either." Bean said grumpily. "I mean he wears armour. How do you blow up armour?"
The Smashers gave him strange looks.
"Remind me again how we get stuck with him?" Samus asked Fox.
"You and Shoma had a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors and you lost." The vulpine noted. "And letting him go with the same group as Astaroth is simply out of the question."
Samus grunted in disbelief.
"Are you kidding me? THIS is our opposition?"
The five turned to see Relius Clover, Ignis and Nina Cortex.
"Indeed. I wasn't expecting a skilled team of specialists but yes, this is quite disappointing." Relius said coolly.
Fox and Samus immediately went on their guard.
"You! We know what you and the others villains are up too!" Samus said aiming her arm cannon. "Surrender the hostages at once!"
"Pfft. Like you would make us?" Nina scoffed.
"Make you? Yes, we can!" Fox snapped. "It is five against three!"
Relius gave a smirk. "Oh, are you really that sure?"
With that, he snapped his fingers. Suddenly, three people came around the corner much to everyone's surprise. They were Crunch Bandicoot, Nash and…
"BARK!?" Bean said surprisingly looking the most horrified.
"What in heaven's name are you doing?" Olimar exclaimed. "You are supposed to be on OUR side!"
"It's no use." Fox said narrowing his eyes. "They must have been victims of that Kurow guy."
"Indeed. But it couldn't hurt to get some more recruits." Relius said with a dark smirk.
Samus growled. "If you think we are going to get ourselves brainwashed, you got another thing coming!"
Nina rolled her eyes. "Ugh… They always have to do it the hard way."
Bean got out a bomb looking surprisingly angry. "You will pay for doing that to Bark!"
(The Arena)
"BAIKEN!" (GG)
The pink-haired samurai coolly stood outside the curtain. Those who are unfamiliar to Guilty Gear noticed that one of her arms was missing. Despite she made her way down the ramp and stepped in.
Once in, she made a beeline for the fight between Ike and Kain. The Dragoon Knight saw her coming and raised her spear to block a katana.
"You are faster than you look." Baiken noted. "This should be interesting."
"Go fight someone else." Kain scoffed.
"Yeah, I am not going to fight someone who has only one arm." Ike said coolly.
CLANG!
Ike and Kain looked in awe as a metal claw attached to a chain came from the sleeve of the missing arm.
"Well? Still think I am helpless?" Baiken asked.
Ike and Kain looked at each other.
"All right. You earned my interest." Kain said.
"NAGASE!" (KoF: MI)
The yellow-clad ninja did a few practice stretches outside the Ready Room.
"It is about time I got some action!" Nagase said impatiently. "I had been nothing but errands for the entire night."
Adjusting her glasses, she darted down the ramp before jumping in.
However, Kratos crashed right in front of her as a victim of Jack's throw.
"Hey! Watch where you're failing!" Nagase snapped. "You nearly crashed into me!"
Kratos slowly got up and stood up straight glaring down at Nagase. Suddenly, the ninja was loss for words and nervously poked her fingers together.
"Um, well…" Nagase said. "Seeing that we are here anyway, um, let's fight."
Kratos raised an eyebrow at Nagase before narrowing his eyes. "Very well. I already got a fight in mind but I can stay here to teach you some respect."
Nagase got into a stance with a small blush. "Aw, man! This guy is SO cool!"
"And now, Mystery Fighter… Number… Twenty-Two!"
"SLY COOPER!" (Sly Cooper)
The blue-clad raccoon came out to a loud cheer. Carrying his trademark cane over his shoulder, he hummed a jovial tune. With the recent release of the fourth game in his franchise and his inclusion in the Playstation Royale tournament, he felt on top of the world.
Ran turned her head to see Sly jump in. With a smirk, she immediately ran over much to Rainbow Dash's annoyance.
Sly looked around until a bright light flash came out of nowhere blinding him. The thief staggered back rubbing his eyes to see Ran Hibiki.
"Yes! I got THE Sly Cooper on camera!" Ran grinned. "This will surely be a great scoop for the paper!"
Sly blinked twice.
"However, a few more photos couldn't hurt." Ran said. "Come on!"
Sly paused for a moment. "I had a few ladies after me but I can't say I ever had one of the press."
"ICE CLIMBERS!" (SSB)
Popo and Nana came out in their respectively blue and pink parkas and waved to the crowd happily.
"Ready, Nana?" Popo asked.
"Ready, Popo." Nana nodded.
The two siblings then darted down to the ring and jumped in. Deciding on helping Yoshi with Tesse, the two darted over. However when they went over, Popo looked in awe.
Tesse blocked an egg with her parasol to see Popo. "Um, excuse me? Is something the matter? Is there something on my face?"
Popo blinked twice.
"You are purdy."
Nana angrily slammed her mallet over Popo as Tesse's blushed bright red and Yoshi rolled his eyes.
"REID HERSHEL!" (To)
The red-haired swordsman let out a big yawn before scratching his stomach.
"Let's get this thing over with." Reid said. "I am hungry."
He then walked down and stepped in. Deciding on helping Estelle, he jogged over.
Estelle saw him coming. "Oh, Reid! Perfect timing!"
"What's wrong, princess?" Reid asked as Estelle bashed her shield over Jack's head. "Need any help with this guy?"
"Yes. This person is quite unpredictable." The healer said.
"Skullo Header!"
Suddenly, Skullomania did a spinning head-butt into Jack.
Reid raised an eyebrow. "Looks like he isn't the only unpredictable one."
"POLAR!" (CB)
The polar bear cub cutely sat outside the entrance curtain staring at the arena. A few people gaped in awe as he walked down to the ramp and stepped in.
Once in, he did a running head-butt straight into Ness (who was still fighting Yurika) knocking him down.
"Huh? What the?" Ness asked in surprise.
"I take it you want to help me?" Yurika asked.
Polar barked happily.
Yurika smiled and nodded. "I appreciate your help."
"And now, the final fighter of this section…"
"DONKEY KONG!" (SSB)
(He's the leader of the bunch)
(You know him well)
(He's finally back)
(To turn some tail!)
(His coconut gun)
(Will fire in spurts)
(If he shoots ya)
(It's gonna hurt)
Coming out to his verse of the DK Rap and a loud cheer, the brown-furred gorilla let out a loud yell while beating his chest. He pounded down the ramp and leaped in.
Looking around, he wondered who his first opponent should be. Suddenly, B. Jenet knocked Mighty straight in front of DK.
The armadillo held his head. "Ugh… Those high heels make her kicks hard!"
Mighty then looked up to see DK looking down on him with a confused look on his face.
"Um… Hi?" Mighty said sheepishly.
DK suddenly grinned before cracking his knuckles.
Mighty gulped nervously before getting into a stance. "Looks like I got myself into a fight