(The Arena)
After Shrek's theme song (Well, not officially, but it might as well be) ended, the ogre was feeling much better now.
"Well, Shrek, as the Superstar for this section, you have earned the right to choose a stage." The Millennium Star offered.
The Scotsman nodded his head with a smirk. "Well… It may not be flashy. But I think it is more than enough to make the crowd go well."
Several people cheered at this, making Shrek's smirk go larger.
"That's right! I want to go to the next stage… To be my home swamp!" Shrek announced, pumping his finger in the air.
Everyone went wild at this.
"Gee, what a shocker." Nova muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Non-climax aside. It WOULD be nice to fight on familiar ground." Etalus noted. "Even if the platforms will not be there."
This resulted in everyone giving the polar bear a weird look.
"...What? It was a created stage in Workshop." Etalus reminded. "Trust me. Fighting on Shrek's Swamp is actually considered NORMAL."
"Considering what Smash stages the community created with Stage Builder, I do not doubt that." Fox sighed, shaking his head.
The Millennium Star chuckled nervously. "Well, this should be simple enough. Just need Tumble to input a full three-dimensional view of your home and…"
"WAIT!"
Everyone jumped before turning to the Announcer's Booth.
"Sorry, MS, but could you carry Shrek over here?" Drake asked.
The silver star groaned while rolling his eyes. However, he still obliged and slowly floated Shrek's star platform over to the Announcer's Booth where the green-skinned man was confused. When he was closed enough, Drake turned off the microphone and started to talk with Shrek. Everyone looked confused.
Then, Shrek slumped his arms with a look of disbelief on his face. He then looked at Ashley and Nine, however the former just rolled his eyes and the latter merely shrugged. Drake frowned, getting the hint.
"Look, I am sorry that I had to do this on YOUR stage choice, but I had to just like last time." Drake offered.
"Would it do ANY good to point out that it is not even Oc…" Shrek started.
"No." Ashley and Nine said, matter–of-factly.
Shrek groaned, slapping his forehead.
"Please?" Drake asked.
"Ugh, fine… I don't even find anything wrong with this request." Shrek muttered, rolling his eyes. "In fact…
He then looked to the side.
"Yo, Tumble! Come over here!" Shrek shouted.
The die raised a non-existent eyebrow, but shrugged before floating over.
"Look up Scared Shrekless Swamp." Shrek instructed. "The internet should find SOMETHING."
Tumble nodded his head before he proceeded to push a few buttons on his phone. After a few buttons, his eyes lit up.
"I found it!" Tumble exclaimed before showing it to Shrek.
"Yeah, that's it, alright." The ogre said with a small chuckle.
Tumble nodded his head before floating over to the Millennium Star and showed him the picture. The Millennium Star did raise an eyebrow.
"Very well. I believe I could work with that." The Millennium Star said.
With that, he started to spin and emit a light, engulfing the entire arena. When everything cleared, the arena was changed once more. It was just as Shrek initially asked for. The entire arena was on swamp grounds. There wasn't much in terms of the environment but obviously there was a house built into the base of a tree with a grassy stone path around the side, leaving the top. However, there were two things that everyone noticed. The first one was that the corner post that Dedede tore out was replaced, along with the ropes.
And the second one was the abundance of Jack O Lanterns lying around. Everyone blinked twice.
"Um, Drake…? What is with the pumpkins?" Shadow asked.
Drake just smirked. "You all did great to survive the last section! Especially when it was somehow even MORE chaotic than previous sections. That shows how brave you are!"
"Oh Great Mother Isis, you are really going all of the way, aren't you?" Ashley muttered.
"However, I want to see exactly how brave you are!" Drake continued. "That is why… This section… Will be a Halloween one!"
The fighters blinked twice as the crowd cheered while Ashley, Nine, the Millennium Star, Tumble and Shrek looked on in disbelief.
"Huh? That's weird." Lemmy said, scratching the side of his head. "I thought we were in January."
"That's because it IS January, Lemmy!" Fox recalled.
"To be fair, the Halloween section at the Tournament of Kikai wasn't taking place in October either." Yu admitted, rubbing his chin. "So it is hypocritical to call Drake out on this."
Dedede looked at Yu in disbelief. "Are you serious, man!?"
"But yeah, after all of the fun we had doing the recaps for the holiday sections, I KNEW we should have our own holiday specials!" Drake nodded. "Honestly, I was a little worried that the numbered section would clash with the stage pick of the Superstar. Thank Dracula that swamps and Halloween fit like peanut butter and jelly despite the combination being uncommon!"
"Geez, thanks…" Shrek muttered before sighing. "But yeah. I don't mind having a bunch of pumpkins around."
"Ha! Is this supposed to scare Zim!?" Zim boasted, pointing at Polar's bat. "Zim laughs in the face of fear!"
"Yeah, King Dad obviously has a lot of Ghost Houses under his name so I have experience!" Lemmy nodded.
"...I mean this Halloween in non-October is stupid but hey, at least it is not snowing." Nova shrugged.
Shadow gave Nova a cold look. "Oh really? Then, what just happened just now better be a one-time thing."
Nova winced as everyone agreed, grumpily. The monkey chuckled nervously as the Millennium Star let Shrek down to the ground.
"MEWTWO!" (SSB)
"Aka the face of Legendary Pokemon. Even though we got Pokemon that are time lord, space lord, the reasons why humans have emotions, knowledge and willpower. Basically God AND Satan." Nine counted off. "Hell, I remind you that he is MewTWO? He is not even the original. First gen bias is strong with this one."
The purple feline-like Pokemon and runner-up of the first Battle of the Luminaries AND Tournament of Kikai just ignored Nine's rant. Instead, he looked up a part of the hugely-cheering crowd. There, he saw the Proud Family where Penny was grinning and waving at her. Mewtwo gave a small smile and nodded before floating down the ramp.
Once he was close enough to the ring, he vanished before reappearing close to Shadow.
Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Heh. This is weird. Despite showing up at a similar tournament four different times, this is actually the first time we met since our Death Battle together."
"I noticed that too." Mewtwo nodded, crossing his arms. "What is even weirder is that I completely forgot about said Death Battle until I realised that our draws were close to each other."
"Well, how about you and I have a little rematch?" Shadow smirked. "You beat me fair and square, but that doesn't mean I am just going to settle for second best."
Mewtwo paused. "...Very well. But could we wait until both Mystery Fighters for this section are revealed?"
Shadow's smirk vanished. "Why? What do you mean?"
Mewtwo groaned before holding his forehead. "It is too early to confirm, but I sensed a powerful aura from one of the Mystery Fighters in the Ready Room. And seeing that this is a HALLOWEEN level."
Shadow winced. "Oh, crap… Not even XERO invited a horror Mystery Fighter. Beetlejuice and Vivi may be traditional 'scary' characters, but they are more on the wacky side. "
"Indeed… Don't misunderstand. I do want to have our rematch too." Mewtwo said. "But it would be unwise to do so with such a potentially dangerous person entering the arena."
Shadow sternly nodded. "Yeah… The last thing we need is another Blunder Witch Project."
"KULA DIAMOND!" (KoF:MI)
"Okay, I know that Kula is far from the biggest offender, but how in the hell does she manage to eat so much ice cream and not have any consequences because of it!" Nine asked in disbelief. "Seriously, the kid shouldn't be able to pull pro-figure skaters moves or have a cute smile!"
The strawberry blonde cryomancer glared up at the Announcer's Booth before showing the bottom of her eyelid while sticking out her tongue before grumpily making her way down the ramp, ignoring the warm reception she was getting. She was already not having a good time so far.
She literally just woke up after being knocked out, only to find out that Ace, a potential lead to help her find Maxima and Ralf was long gone and now she had to enter the arena, unable to help Whip's group find any leads if they could.
As if that was bad enough, she also had to deal with a Halloween section. She just only stopped recently having nightmares about Beetlejuice and Jack Skellington's Limit Break in the Tournament of Kikai's own Halloween special.
With that, she stomped inside. Zim saw her come in and narrowed his eyes while still fighting with Etalus.
"Humph. I do not wish to send you to your doom anymore." The Irken scoffed. He then walked off with his invisible nose in the air. "I wish to send you to your doom over there."
Etalus blinked twice as he watched Zim. A part of him wanted to go after Zim for revenge for Polar but he could tell that something was up and decided to go after Kula for now.
"There, there. Nine does that to everybody." Etalus reassured. "Best not to let it bother you."
"I mean I wouldn't be THIS grumpy if it was just that." Kula insisted.
Etalus looked confused. "W-Why? What happened?"
Kula was about to say something. Then, she noticed Zim still stomping over.. However, he and he was associated with at the moment didn't interest her in the slightest. HOWEVER, she was reminded about something really important.
"Who cares? Let's fight!" Kula said, suddenly.
Etalus jumped at this. "E-Excuse me?"
"What? This IS a fighting tournament! So we should fight!" Kula said. With that, she put her hands through her hair and made it turn light blue.
Etalus paused. "I mean… It HAS been a long time since I tested my skill against a fellow cryomancer."
"Perfect. So let's fight." Kula said before getting into a stance. "Please… I don't care about doing well. Just give one bad guy. ONE bad guy."
"SHIRO TOKISADA AMAKUSA!" (SS)
"He is supposedly the very first Big Bad of Samurai Shodown. And yet we never even HEAR of him in the first two Megamix Tournaments." Nine snarked. "And it is not like SSBFreak is against bringing in bosses because I remember Mizuki being invited. Twice! Maybe it is just him but he clearly doesn't respect Amakusa enough to invite him so why should we?"
The red-haired effeminate sorcerer winced before glaring up at the Announcer's Booth. As much as he hated to admit, but the fact that he missed out of the first two Megamix Tournaments was a sore spot for him. Especially since SSBFreak invited SANKURO.
Sticking up his nose, he made his way down the ramp, ignoring the mixed reaction he was getting. He stepped in before summoning his weapon. A purple floating orb.
"Oh, wow!"
Amakusa raised an eyebrow before turning his head to see Lemmy running over.
"You fight with a ball too, Miss?" Lemmy asked with his eyes sparkling. "So did I!"
Amakusa blinked twice at the Koopa's naivete. "Um, I am a man."
"Oh, sorry, mister!" Lemmy apologised. "But yeah. It is hard to find someone who could fight with a ball! Do you perform tricks with it?"
Amakusa paused. He then narrowed his eyes. "You poor child. Your father's blind disgusting pursuit of power and romance have affected your mental stability. When we are done here, I will grant salvation to all of your Koopa Troop, including him, to save everyone from his dark ambitions."
Lemmy blinked twice. "...I didn't know theatre kids could DO ball tricks."
Amakusa shook his head before spinning his orb around him. "Come, child. Let's begin the 'performance'."
(Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood)
(Where Christopher Robin plays)
Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing before looking up at the Sound Booth in confusion.
(You'll find the enchanted neighbourhood)
(Of Christopher's childhood days)
"And now, Mystery Fighter… Number… TWENTY-FOUR!"
"CHRISTOPHER ROBIN!" (Winnie the Pooh)
Everyone did a double take when they heard this. Indeed, standing outside of the Ready Room was a British brown-haired adolescent boy with a gentle smile.
(A donkey named Eeyore is his friends)
(And Kanga and little Roo)
(Tigger too)
(There's Rabbit and Piglet and there's Owl)
(But most of all, Winnie the Pooh)
Christopher Robin smiled before waving to the crowd. Nearly everyone was slack-jawed with only a few near the Entrance Ramp, waving back. He then hummed to the classic Winnie the Pooh theme while skipping down the ramp as if he was playing hopscotch. However, he was close enough to the ramp, The Millennium Star floated down to him.
"Now Christopher Robin, I know that Drake already told you this, but this is nothing like the Hundred Acre Wood." The Millennium Star said, looking worried.
"Yes, I know that I won't be able to have as much fun as I would back home." The child nodded. "Still, I want to make the best of this."
The Millennium Star let out a sigh. "Just as long as you are careful. You may continue."
Christopher Robin nodded before sitting down at the edge of the ramp to properly leap in. Once in, he skipped past the fighters, completely oblivious to all of the bewildered looks he was getting.
"...Well, looks like we are waiting for the other Mystery Fighter, huh?" Shadow asked.
"N-No…"
Shadow looked up at Mewtwo who looked thunderstruck.
"D-Drake doesn't seem like a genius, but despite some people saying otherwise, he is not Xero-stupid." Mewtwo said, actually sputtering his words. "T-This is just some elaborate prank. It has to be…"
"Um, Mewtwo?" Shadow asked, not liking where this was going.
Christopher Robin then skipped over to Zim, looking just as stunned as everyone else.
"Heya!" Christopher Robin said, cheerfully.
"Um, hey." Zim said.
"I saw what you did to those polar bears last section." Christopher Robin said in awe. "You really are a baseball star!"
Zim's eyes lit up. "But of course! I am Zim! In fact, I think I am better at baseball than my fellow Nicktoons!"
"Oh, really? In that case, could you hit a few baseballs for me?" Christopher Robin asked, getting out a baseball. "Please?"
Zim just scoffed. "Normally, I would roll my eyes, however, I suppose even Zim needs rest from all of this non-stop fighting. Very well. Throw me your ball of beans!"
Christopher Robin eagerly nodded his head before the two got into proper baseball stances. Zim just sneered, pleased that he had a chance to just show off without having an aggressive force breathing down his neck. Christopher Robin threw the baseball which Zim swung at.
…Only for the baseball to go at the speed of a bullet, zooming past Zim and flying straight over the ropes until it collided with the barrier, causing an enormous portion of it to flash red, indicating the strength it endured. Everyone went slack-jawed as Zim continued to keep his sneer, despite still in his swinging position.
"...Huh?" Zim said, finally.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to throw it THAT hard!" Christopher Robin gasped, putting his hand on his chin.
Suddenly, Christopher Robin gave his innocent smile. Though something was… Off in his eyes.
"After all, a god isn't known for holding back." Christopher Robin said in an ominous tone.
By this time, Zim's face was completely caked with sweat.
"I gotta say I am mixed on entering this tournament. On one hand, well, it is a UVR tournament. No matter which one it is, it is always big and I am honoured to be given an invitation." Christopher Robin said, throwing his baseball to himself before sighing. "Unfortunately, I am… Not good at the no-killing rule so I was worried that I would do something that would get me banned for life."
He then leaned over.
"Good thing I chose to go after you first, huh?" Christopher Robin said, creepily while still keeping his smile. "Surely that all of your gloating just now isn't just that. Gloating. So I am allowed to go all out on you, right?"
Zim gulped nervously with tears of fear forming in his eyes. "R-Right…"
Everyone just looked in shock and disbelief. They then glared up at the Announcer's Booth.
(Announcer's Booth)
"...Drake. PLEASE say sike right now!" Nine said, looking like she was barely containing her temper. "Not even YOU could be that stupid to invite Christopher Robin based on that Home-Run Derby game!"
"Aw, come on! The setting for one of the hardest Flash games of all time is WINNIE THE POOH?" The vampire laughed. "And that is not even getting into all of the memes surrounding Christopher Robin!"
"I-I can't believe I am saying this… Literally everything I wrote about stupid you are." Nine said, holding up her list. She then set it on fire. "Irrelevant. Nothing comes close to what YOU did just now!"
"Relax, despite what Christopher Robin said just now, he is genuinely going to try to make sure that he doesn't kill anyone!" Drake insisted.
"And you believe him!?" Nine asked in disbelief.
"Of course. I merely told him one thing to help him remember not to kill." Drake said before smirking. "You don't have to murder someone to make people afraid of you."
Nine paused. "...My sister is literally doomed wandering random nodes forever."
Drake's smirk vanished. "Oh, don't be a drama queen! Besides, like I said, this is a HALLOWEEN Section. Of course, one of the Mystery Fighters will be spooky."
Nine blinked twice. She then spoke into the microphone.
"Attention, everyone. Due to some… Miscommunications in the Announcer's Booth, Ashley shall be the only one announcing the incoming fighters for a while." Nine explained. "A part of me wants to apologise to those who love hearing my burns for the fighters, especially since I genuinely love doing them but I won't because I will not apologise for having my priorities in order."
Drake's pupils shrank at this. "Um, what do you mean by that?"
Nine then grabbed Drake by the collar before engulfing her hand in fire.
"YYYYYYEEEEEOOOOOWWWWW!"
Ashley, who had been surprisingly quiet the entire time, just rolled his eyes at this before taking the microphone.
"Where were you during the Tournament of Kikai…?" Ashley muttered.
(The Arena)
"LINCOLN LOUD!" (NASB)
(It's the Loud House!)
(It's the Loud House!)
(Duck, dodge, push and shove)
(That's how we show our love)
At first, the white-haired adolescent boy came out looking nervous due to the appearance of the last fighter. However, when he hears the cheering crowd and them to the Loud House (and the fact that he didn't have to worry about a humiliating roast), he immediately brightened up at the warm reception before he proceeded doing a series of poses and dances.
(It's the Loud House)
(It's the Loud House)
(1 boy, 10 girls)
(Wouldn't trade it for the world)
"Luna really left a mark at the Tournament of Kikai." Lincoln mused before high-fiving some of the audience. "I hope that Lucy and I will actually do just as well. Especially since Luna isn't in the All-Star Brawl roster."
With that, he stepped into the ring. However, he immediately froze when he saw Christopher Robin pelting baseballs at Zim who was struggling in vain to hit them. He frowned before walking over to the nearest fighters which were Mewtwo and Shadow.
"Um, shouldn't somebody do something?" Lincoln asked. "Like seriously."
"...I admit that at first I thought we would, but for the most part, Christopher Robin seems to be actually holding back." Mewtwo sighed.
Lincoln looked stunned at this. "Wait, really?"
"Indeed. While the Creepastas fans have a tendency to… Over-exaggerate the strength of his targets, there is actually proof in Christopher Robin's insane strength as evident by the difficulty of his final boss battle." Mewtwo recalled, rubbing his chin.
"In other ways, if he was putting even a LITTLE bit of more effort, the entire arena would truly be like a horror movie?" Shadow asked.
"Affirmative." Mewtwo nodded.
"Okay, yeah… But still that is not very nice to make Zim the fall guy." Lincoln frowned.
"What? You think he probably didn't do or say something that would attract him to karma before this section?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, I just think it is not very nice to make Zim the fall guy." Lincoln said, matter-of-factly.
"Eh. Not wrong. I suppose there are worse people than Zim." Shadow shrugged. "Still not our problem."
"Indeed. We may not be villains anymore, but that doesn't make us traditional heroes." Mewtwo nodded. "However, if you feel THAT strongly about leaving Zim alone then help him, then I strongly recommend waiting until a certain fighter enters."
Lincoln's eyes widened in realisation. "Oh, right! Good point! In that case, I should stay to the side and hope that Zim will be able to survive until then."
With that, he walked off, making Shadow blinking twice.
"Um, what certain fighter?" Shadow asked.
"What?" Mewtwo asked with a shrug. "It is not your problem as you claimed so what is the point of detailing it."
Shadow paused before returning the shrug. "Fair enough. So are we still on for that rematch?"
"Is Splash useless?" Mewtwo asked with a smirk.
"KYLE DUNAMIS!" (ToAS)
The blonde, young swordsman excitedly pumped his sword into the air before looking into the Eliminating Seating to see Reala, along with his father from the past, waving at them. Kyle smiled and returned to the wave before making his way down the ramp.
"Not only is Dad watching me, but also Reala." He said to himself. "I can't let them down if I want to be a hero! But even if I have to prove myself on my own, I can't do it alone! Fortunately, I got the perfect ally in the Ready Room, but until then."
With that, he made his way down the ramp, he ran over to the fight between Lemmy and Amakusa.
"Azure Edge!" Kyle shouted, swinging his sword and sending a blue ball of energy into Amakusa's back.
The red-haired man cried out in pain before glaring behind him. "You have a lot of gall to attack me, let alone from behind."
"You are a villain that is fighting a child!" Kyle scolded, narrowing his eyes. "As a hero, I can't let injustice let this go!"
"...Would it do any good to point out that HE'S a villain too?" Amakusa said, blinking twice. "Tch. This actually works out because it seems that you desperately need as much salvation as the Koopa."
"You call THAT salvation!?" Kyle asked in disbelief. "You're mad!"
"No, I am not!" Amakusa smirked.
Lemmy looked back and forth between the two. "Wow, they are really getting into the kayfabe."
(Unknown Location)
Oume's team all smirked as their machine started to work for another time. Just like Shizu and Rena before them, they looked around bewildered at where they had appeared. However, they weren't a young fragile-looking woman, but rather a bulky, older man. There, he saw not only all of the villains, but also five brainwashed people.
"W-What the!? Where am I!?" The man demanded.
"There, there. All will be revealed soon enough." Oume offered with a chuckle.
The man narrowed his eyes. "W-What is the meaning of this!? How dare you!?"
Terumi gave a descending whistle. "Got a lot of moxie for a boomer."
The man blinked twice. "...What kind of insult is an explosion?"
Terumi's smirk vanished. "Oh crap… I nearly forgot we have to deal with one of THOSE people."
Before they could continue, they heard the door opening up. Turning their heads, they saw that Rilla Roo was entering with a few bruises.
"There you are, Rilla Roo!" Infinite said, crossing his arms. "I knew that you were slow, but it shouldn't take you THAT long to come back."
The gorilla-kangaroo's eyebrow twitched, knowing for a fact that Infinite left him for dead with the boxers. It was a miracle that for some reason, they left him alone.
"Okay, then, let's start with where you are." Oume explained. "You are in the Crossover Dome."
The man's eyes bugged out at this.
"Oh, I assume that you already know." Oume said, raising an eyebrow.
"Y-Yes… That is what I was told by my daughter…" The man said, softly. "Or at least… The daughter in the future?"
"That's right, Ryuhaku Todoh!" Oume smirked. "Welcome to the future!"
"B-But… How?" Todoh asked in disbelief.
"Oh, you know the machine you are standing in?" Cortex pointed out.
Todoh turned around to see the very machine that teleported him here.
"I am able to link into the tournament's random node generator after your daughter got eliminated." Cortex explained before smirking. "Though 'random' is an inaccurate note seeing that we rigged the node to be your home node."
"H-Huh? You can do that?" Todoh asked. "No, really, ten minutes was not enough for my daughter to explain everything to me."
"Well, it is. Usually the hosts could only do it, but from the start, us villains have been transporting potential targets so they would appear in our clutches instead of the Recovery Room." Cortex explained. "However, this is a first for this tournament to transport fighters from the residents of the nodes."
Todoh narrowed his eyes. "W-What do you intend to do?"
"This is the part where I'll come in!" Kurow said, stepping forward. "But before we start, I have to ask. Was the reunion between you and your daughter emotional?"
"T-That's none of your business!" Todoh roared.
"Eh. I suppose it serves me right for expecting a straight answer." Kurow shrugged. "I just wanted to set-up the punch-line."
Todoh raised an eyebrow. "And that is?"
Kurow then gave a dark smirk, getting out his flute.
"That I intend to make your reunion even MORE emotional."
With that, he started to play his flute. Almost immediately, Todoh winced before gripping his head in pain. As Kurow continued to play his song, everyone looked on with smirks as Todoh's eyebrow twitched, trying to control the pain.
However, he had enough before crying out in pain and falling onto his knees in agony. Despite this, Kurow continued playing his flute. Todoh kept writhing around before finally passing out.
"Anddddd that is it!" Oume grinned. "We finally got our final party list!"
"Wait a minute." Infinite piped up. "We only kidnapped and brainwashed the loved ones of the champions of the pre-resurence UVR era. We still have to kidnap two people close to the winners of the Okron Tournament and Tournament of Kikai respectively."
This made everyone groan.
"Infinite, did you already forget why we can't use them?" Oume asked.
"Most likely. Your speech was too long so I mentally went to sleep." Infinite said.
Oume's eyebrow twitched. "You are aware of the recap shows, right?"
Infinite raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "I believe so. It is just as you describe. Recap shows for the UVR tournaments."
"If a recap show is completed, that means their win is officially confirmed in the multiverse." Oume said, sounding like she was barely controlling her anger.
"...How does THAT work?" Infinite asked in disbelief. "Isn't it broadcasted all over?"
"For once, Infinite actually has a reason to be clueless." N. Gin admitted. "Why would a show run by four people have so much influence?"
Infinite jumped. "Clueless!? How dare you…"
"I admit that I don't know why that is the case as well." Ridley shrugged. "But as someone who has already been to the Okron Tournament AND the Tournament of Kikai, I could confirm that despite it ending, it still didn't feel complete… If that makes sense."
"Hey, do not ignore…" Infinite roared.
"You say that, but doesn't it feel like the Tournament of Kikai's ending became complete during THIS tournament?" The Shredder asked, scratching the back of his head.
Malomyotismon's eyes widened at this. "You noticed that too!? I thought I was the only one!"
"No, no, I definitely noticed!" Pinstripe nodded.
Everyone then agreed, completely ignoring Infinite. The jackal shook in anger.
"Well, regardless, we fucking wasted enough time! Even if Penny Proud is eligible now, I don't think it is worth it to go get her!" Sho said.
"Especially since while the hero team opposing us are just a bunch of foolish mortals, they are not THAT foolish." Gargos added. "Or at least not to connect the various dots we left around."
"Agreed. I think we left our audience in suspense long enough." Oume nodded before smirking. "Now is onto Phase Two."
Cortex, Ridley and K. Rool looked worried at this. Terumi noticed this and smirked.
"Aww… The Big Bad villains are scared of teenage Valley Girl?" Terumi taunted.
The three growled at this.
"You wouldn't be so cocky if you were there!" Cortex roared.
"Yeah, and may I remind you that you would have been a victim even if you weren't there if the hero team lost!" K. Rool scolded. "Seriously, after all of the crap Junko put everyone though, why didn't anyone destroy this hideout of hers?"
"Correct me if I am wrong, but I think everyone found out about this place because the 'true' hideout was some tower between the hotel and the dome." Rugal piped up.
"I don't care if she DID have the Skull Heart, the Ultimate Cosplayer AND a bunch of brainwashed villains." Cortex muttered. "How in the hell did she manage to create it ONE night?"
"Especially since by the time K. Rool and I, along with the other villains at the time, were brainwashed, a good chunk of the tournament has long passed by." Ridley sighed.
"But yeah, Danganronpa 3 contrived nature aside, at least it affected us this time without bringing Junko into the equation." N. Gin reassured. "Seriously, I am in awe with all of the stuff she left in here that she didn't bring up the tower.
"I think they are just there as a failsafe?" Kurow asked before shrugging his shoulders. "You know in case her Skull Heart plan failed?"
"Well, her loss is our gain!" Oume scoffed.
"Why is everyone so worried about Junko, anyway?" Infinite asked. "It is not like she engulfed the entire multiverse in despair."
Everyone gave Infinite weird looks.
"Um, chile, anyway so…" Oume muttered.
Rilla Roo just scratched his back. Unaware that there was something attached to his fur.
(Dome; Hallway)
Everyone that was involved in the opposing hero group to Otane's team (except for Ryu, Lilly, Kasumi and Genjuro) all looked on in pure horror.
"I-I-I can't believe I am muttering these words…" Samus started. "But I am DISAPPOINTED with Ridley!"
"AND K. Rool and Cortex! After what Junko put them through at the Tournament of Kikai, how could they willingly use Junko's stuff?" R. Mika agreed.
"It is a common human trait. It is not okay unless they themselves do it." Edna said, rolling her eyes.
"Um, am I the only one that is concerned that those villains could literally pull out any person from an ELIMINATION node at any time?" Leonardo asked.
"Indeed. Doesn't that cause some timey-wimey stuff?" Magilou asked.
"Especially since the Rena, Shizu and Todoh that were kidnapped and the Rena, Shizu and Todoh in OUR timeline are co-existing." Guy frowned.
"I, THE LEGENDARY HAOHMARU, ALMOST WANT TO COMMAND THE VILLAINS FOR WILLING TO GO SO FAR! HOWEVER, IT ONLY FUELS MY DESIRE TO SLAY THEM EVEN MORE!" Haohmaru roared. "EVEN IF THE SHIZU THEY KIDNAPPED IS TECHNICALLY NOT MY SHIZU!"
Guy narrowed his eyes. "Agreed. I refuse to stay idle just because this Rena is from another timeline."
"Why not? You already did so in Final Fight 2." Edna snarked.
"Yeah, isn't that the only way where you actually had stakes beyond being Cody and Haggar's buddy?" Magilou asked. "Not a good look, buddy!"
Guy's eyebrow twitched.
"And I do not doubt Kasumi feels the same way." Hinako nodded. She then hung her head. "Well, after finding out the truth…"
"Yeah…" Sakura sighed. "I am still reeling at what I had heard."
Geese nodded his head before turning to the side.
"Good work, Hopper. It seems that sending you and Ripper to get that tracking gun from the item shop really worked out." Geese praised.
"Thank you, sir. I am glad to be of help." The gun-wielding bodyguard nodded.
"Well, you could be of help WITHOUT giving us a heart attack!"
They all turned to see Mickey and Tiny glaring at Ripper and Hopper.
"Seriously, I saw my life flash before my eyes when we saw you aim that gun!" Mickey scolded.
Hopper shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, not sorry. If we would have told you that shooting at Rilla Roo while he was unconscious with my gun wouldn't do any damage, you wouldn't have believed us."
"Besides, we can't afford someone to come up and save them. It happened with Billy and Dan." Ripper nodded. "We HAD to use that tracker gun!"
Tiny sighed. "I guess…"
"Speaking of tracking, according to the Tournament of Kikai DVD, Junko's hideout should be underneath the Announcer's Booth." Static mused, rubbing his shin.
"In other words, Junko was right under the hosts' noses?" Impmon muttered before scoffing. "Say what you want about Junko, but she is definitely creative when it comes to irony, that's for sure."
"Come on! Let's see if we can nip this in the bud before it is too late!" Veemon nodded, clenching his fist.
With that, they all pumped their fists into the air while shouting.
"Alright, let's go and…" Geese started.
"W-Wait, hold on!" R. Mika shouted.
"H-Huh?" Sakura asked. "What is it, Mika?"
"Is it just me or does that yell don't seem… Loud Enough?" The wrestler asked.
"Ugh, what are you going on now?" Geese scoffed. "It is loud enough even if Haohmaru…"
Then, everyone's eyes widened in realisation before turning towards Haohmaru. The ronin jumped.
"W-WHAT?" Haohmaru asked.
"...How come you didn't shout at us?" Leonardo asked, concerned.
"Yeah, normally, you would be the loudest in our yells." Yuri frowned.
"UM, RIGHT… RIGHT… FORGIVE ME… HOW SHAMEFUL FOR ME, THE LEGENDARY HAOHMARU, TO NOT PROVIDE EVERYONE WITH THE MOTIONIVAL SHOUT!" Haohmaru apologised. "I WILL ATONE FOR MY MISDEEDS BY LEADING US TO JUNKO'S HIDEOUT!"
With that, he walked off with everyone looking stunned.
"Um, what was that?" Mickey asked.
"I-I don't know… It is not like him to miss a chance to shout." Sakura said, looking worried.
Haohmaru just continued going on ahead, looking surprisingly worried.
"What is going on? This feels like the final battle with Oume's crew and yet it is only Section TWELVE." Haohmaru thought. "Are we just going to miss them?"
(The Arena)
"BANJO-KAZOOIE!" (SSB)
The brown bear & red breegull duo came out to a large cheer. They both smiled before waving to the crowd before looking at each other and nodding. They then got out their namesake instruments and started to perform their theme song, making the crowd go even wilder. After they were done, they put away their instruments before Banjo bowed and walked down the ramp.
"Feels kinda weird, doesn't it?" Banjo asked.
"...You're going to be more specific, Banjo." Kazooie snarked. "Unless you were talking about the Disney character in the ring that got more demonised than Mickey Mouse."
"Oh, it is just that our first very UVR appearance was in the first Battle of the Luminaries." Banjo recalled.
"Oh, right. We were Mystery Fighters long before appearing in Super Smash Bros." Kazooie realised.
"At the time, I thought that the only way to be invited to these things was to get invited without our home node." Banjo noted. "But here we are. We are basically mainstays at this point."
"Yeah, it just goes to show how popular you get after appearing in Smash." Kazooie smiled. She then looked grumpy. "Now if only Rare could see that."
Banjo chuckled nervously. "L-Let's not think negatively."
"Yeah, you're right. I should save that for whichever our first opponent is." Kazooie snarked. She then paused. "Incidentally, who should be our first victim?"
"I don't know… I know we should go after the ones without an opponent, but I actually don't want to fight right now." Banjo mused.
"Tch… Even in combat, you are lazy." Kazooie muttered. "Fine. But you gotta have at least ONE opponent before the final fighter comes in. That's the rule!"
Banjo blinked twice. "What rule?"
"Don't overdetail things when you don't have the first thing about detail!" Kazooie scolded.
"MAKOTO!" (SFAS)
The androgynous dark-haired karateka girl came out to an enormous cheer. She was actually taken back by this and tried to look professional while trying (and failing) to hide her blush and she walked down the ramp.
"It seems that I am still popular despite not showing in a newer Street Fighter game or UVR tournament after so long." She mused. "That's good because I already got some potential patrons for the dojo. Regardless, that is no reason to be sloppy! I need to start off big!"
With that, she stepped in the ring and made sure to avoid Christopher Robin and Zim's fight (She may be bold and reckless, but she was not stupid). She then made her way over to Nova.
"Hey, you!" Makoto shouted.
The monkey turned her head with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah."
"I saw you did that fiery attack on that gorilla." Makoto explained. "You clearly have a lot more power than you look."
Nova frowned. "Um, I know you meant that as a compliment, but considering I had most of the surviving fighters mad at me, I don't think that is really a good thing."
"I will not deny that what happened was more than ungraceful." Makoto said, sternly. "But the past is the past. And at the end of the day, you still proved that you are one of the biggest threats in the arena."
Nova scratched the back of her head. "Wow, you really are serious, aren't you?"
"Why not? Only one of us can win, but regardless ALL of us are intending to show the world what we can do!"
"I mean you are not wrong." Nova said before cracking her knuckles. "Just don't cry when I send you flying across the arena."
Makoto just smirked. "Oh, I could assure you that it is ME who should be saying that."
"BYTE & BARK!" (A)
Those unfamiliar with ARMS were stunned to see a clockwork robot policeman-and-dog duo standing outside of the Ready Room. Byte, the policeman waved to the ground while Bark did a monotone bark.
"AS POLICE OFFICERS, WE SHOULD KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR POTENTIAL VILLAINS, BUT THE EFFEMINATE SORCERER AND POSSIBLY THE YOUNG BOY SEEMS TO BE PREOCCUPIED." Byte explained, looking down at his partner. "I THINK WE COULD AFFORD TO HAVE A BIT OF FREE TIME."
Bark again barked before the two made their way down the ramp. As they did so, Banjo & Kazooie looked on in awe.
"Isn't it against the rules to have a dog partner?" Banjo asked.
"Well, Max Brass seems to be buddy-buddy with the guy who allowed Nakoruru to have her attack hawk to his fighting tournament." Kazooie retorted. "It's true what they say. Strange minds think alike."
They then noticed Byte and Bark approaching them.
"PARDON ME, CITIZENS, BUT MIN-MIN INFORMED US OF YOUR TEAMWORK RIVALLED ONLY THE ICE CLIMBERS." Byte explained. "AS YOU COULD SEE, WE ARE ALSO A DUO FIGHTER SO WE ASK IF WE WILL FIGHT EACH OTHER."
"...Why not?" Kazooie snarked. "We haven't faced all of the weird things in the world."
"Kazooie, come on!" Banjo scolded before looking in thought. "But yeah, I don't think there have been many duo fighter match-ups at these things."
"AFFIRMATIVE. PEOPLE ALREADY WITNESSED DUO FIGHTERS' TEAMWORK, BUT THEY DIDN'T SEE WHAT THEY COULD DO AGAINST EACH OTHER." Byte nodded.
"Tch. Sure, we will make you our first victims. After all, there is a reason why there have been so many Banjo & Kazooie games." Kazooie snarked.
"INDEED. BUT HOW MANY OF THOSE GAMES ARE RECENT?" Byte asked.
Banjo & Kazooie both winced at this.
"...That was a low blow." Kazooie growled.
"Not wrong, but you did a low blow first." Banjo corrected.
Bark did a monotone version of Muttley's laugh.
"DIABOROMON!" (DRA)
The spindly spider-like Digimon came out to a mixed reaction as he clanged the claws of his long hands together while giving a dark chuckle. He then made his way down the ramp, looking like a horror movie antagonist.
"It is a pity that I may be a little late to seeing Oume get into the next phase of her plan." He lamented. "Especially since I won't be able to see if my little trap would work if you-know-who decides to come. Ah well. I better make my time in the arena. Maybe I could help give the Halloween spirit to this section."
With that, he jumped into the arena. However, almost immediately, he leapt to the side to avoid being smashed into the ground by a hammer.
"Got a death wish, fool?" Diaboromon said, narrowly his eyes.
"Okay, first off, death, kings don't DO death." Dedede snarked. "Secondly, I heard about what you did in that first Digimon movie! You'll fit right into the final boss gallery for the Kirby node!"
Diaboromon gave a dark smirk. "Oh, I'll take that as a compliment."
"Yeah, I know that you caused that family's divorce!" Dedede roared.
Diaboromon's smirk vanished. "...Come again?"
"You were the one that hacked that Angela Anaconda short into the start of the movie!" Dedede added. "There is no way that Digimon and Angela Anaconda had anything in common before the first movie so SOMEONE must have forced it in! And who else but the almighty computer virus Digimon!"
Diaboromon paused. "I suppose that this would be a good thing that us villains have a REALLY hard time trying not to break the no-killing rule in the ring."
Suddenly, singing could be heard through the speakers. There weren't any words. However, a good chunk of the audience recognised it and started to go wild.
"And now, Mystery Fighter… Number… TWENTY-FIVE!"
"FOXY!" (Freddy in Space 2)
At first, everyone was expecting the pirate fox animatronic from Five Nights at Freddy's and they got that. However, he looked quite different. Sure, he still had his red fur, eyepatch and hook hand. But those were the only similarities.
Fox looked up and his eyes widened. "Woah-oh."
Indeed, this Foxy's fur actually looked organic. So did the abs on his torso. Yes, abs. He was also wearing a green short-sleeved jacket. The most noticeable changes were his other hand was an arm cannon and his lower body was completely mechanical.
He then smirked before doing a quick pirate jig before doing a "ta-da" pose.
"Swiggity-Swooty." Foxy said in his pirate accent. "I be comin' fer that booty!"
The crowd went wild, making Foxy nod his head before running down the ramp at an alarming rate and leaping in with a second thought. He then made his way over to Fox and Guile. The latter vulpine was crossing his arms while Guile looked confused.
"Arrgh, fancy 'avin' our draws be so close to each other!" Foxy smirked.
"Fancy you be here at all. Or at least compared to the mainline games." Fox noted.
"I know, right? What's more is it been that there wizard landbubber that was the one that invited me!" Foxy agreed. "An' ye saw 'ow much of a killjoy he could get in the recap show!"
Guile blinked twice. "Wait… I am confused."
"Oh, ye see. I be the Foxy from the spin-off game Freddy in Space 2." Foxy explained. "It be a sequel to the Freddy in Space minigame in Five Nights at Freddy's world. Another spin-off, though definitely lighter an' softer!"
Guile looked in disbelief. "...Right."
"Also, along with bein' an anthro fox in a space shooter game, I also 'ave mechanical legs. Sounds familiar?" Foxy smirked.
"Mechanical legs?" Guile asked before looking at Fox. "That means…"
"Yeah, he is blatantly based off of me." The StarFox leader sighed. "Though definitely not as blatant as Chica who literally just stole Samus' Zero Suit."
"Arr! Don't get cocky, matey. Ye may predate me but that there doesn't mean ye be the superior one!" Foxy said, narrowing his good eye.
"Well, I am more than happy to help you." Fox scoffed before turning to Guile. "Um, sorry, Guile, I know I said that we should complete what we started at the last Battle of the Luminaries but…"
"No, no, it's fine." Guile said, stepping back. He then paused. "Though I think THEY may be a little pushy."
Fox and Foxy raised their eyebrows before turning their heads to see the Pyro eagerly holding up his flamethrower.
"Woah-oh. Looks like the Pyro already knows that your arm cannon is a flamethrower." Fox frowned.
"Looks like it." Foxy noted. He then brightened up. "Oh, what the 'ell? Ye be a pyromancer too, aren't you? Why not let them join us?"
"Eh, not my ideal situation, but definitely better than letting them go off on their own." Fox said, shrugging their shoulders.
With that, the three pyromancers got into a stance. Guile stepped back a few steps while looking in disbelief.
"Um, I will just be right here…" Guile said.
(Announcer's Booth)
Nine blinked twice as she held up a barely conscious Drake up with one hand while holding a flame in the other.
"...What?"
"You know how Christopher Robin is normally a regular little boy that has a spin-off that turned him into an Eldritch Abomination in human form?" Ashley asked. "Foxy is normally a vengeful possessed animatronic that has a spin-off that turned him into a less scary video game that has him as a hero from a potential Saturday morning cartoon."
"...Wait, is THAT what Drake meant by saying that they will be foils of each other?" Nine asked.
"Pretty much." Ashley sighed. "I actually did it to spite him because I am using liberties as what counts as a 'Halloween character', but Drake being Drake, saw this as a golden opportunity."
"Okay, so I am going back to make Drake wish that he could die normally." Nine said.
"Sure, go ahead." Ashley shrugged.
"Nine, no…" Drake groaned.
"Nine, yes." Nine sneered.
"ADELHEID BERNSTEIN!" (KoFAS)
Guile raised an eyebrow. "Adelheid whonow?"
He then looked up at the Ready Room to see the green-clad blond young man standing outside of the curtain, ignoring the huge cheer from the fangirls. He was about to make his way down the ramp.
"DO YOUR BEST, BIG BROTHER!"
Adelheid winced before looking in exasperation in the crowd. There, he saw his younger sister, Rose, holding a megaphone and speaking into it with her pet panther sitting next to her. Several people covered their eyes in pain.
"SHOW THOSE FOOLISH HOSTS WHY YOU SHOULD HAD BEEN IN THE ROSTER FROM THE VERY FIRST MEGAMIX TOURNAMENT!" Rose shouted. "IT IS SIMPLY OUTRAGEOUS HOW SOME OF THOSE OBSCURE FOOLS APPEARED BEFORE YOU!"
"Oi, lady, I am going deaf over here!" Brian Battler roared, glaring at Rose.
"QUIET! NONE OF THESE WEAKLINGS EVEN KNOW HOW GREAT MY BROTHER AND BECAUSE OF THIS, IT IS UP TO ME TO SHOW IT TO YOU PEASANTS!" The blonde roared before getting out a piece of paper. "IN FACT, I HAVE A LIST RIGHT HERE! LET'S START WITH!"
Suddenly, she and her panther started to float up into the air, thanks to the Millennium Star.
"Hey! How dare you!? Do you know who I am!?" Rose roared. "I am Rose Bernstein!"
"And I am the Millennium Star!" The silver star muttered. "That doesn't give you the right to interrupt this tournament! Be grateful that I don't throw her into the elimination portal just like I did with that spectre!"
"No! No! I have to inform everyone how great my brother is!" Rose roared, getting in vain to get free. "You can't do this to me!"
"I believe I just did." Millennium Star snarked.
With that, he transported Rose and her panther out of the audience with said crowd cheering. Adelheid shook his head in hopelessness before making his way down the ramp. Once in, he saw Guile making his way over to him.
"That last name. That outfit. That blond hair." Guile mused. "Are you related to Rugal Bernstein?"
Adelheid let out a deep sigh. "Unfortunately."
Guile narrowed his eyes. "It is already dangerous enough to have one Bernstein at this tournament. We don't need another one."
"I want to say that I am not my father, but I suppose that actions speak louder than words." Adelheid lamented before getting into a stance. "Very well… Even if it is under less than positive circumstances, I always wanted to fight you anyway."
"LEON MAGNUS!" (ToAS)
The dark-haired swordsman came out to a loud cheer from the fangirls. However, he just rolled his eyes before carrying his Swordian in one hand and his dagger in the other.
"It is nice to know that you are still popular with the women after all of these years, Master Leon!" Leon's Swordian, Chaltier, complimented.
Leon just scoffed. "Like I care about what a bunch of vapid women think".
With that, he made his way down the ramp. Once in, he saw Kyle waving over to him. Leon rolled his eyes before making his way over to him and by proxy, the fight he was involved in.
"What is it you want, Kyle?" Leon said, grumpily.
"What else? We want you to team up with this to take down this evil sorcerer!" The blond boy said.
"We?" Leon asked before turning towards Lemmy to see him waving at them.
"Yeah, I came over to save him, but it turns out that he is a good ally!" Kyle offered.
Leon offered his arms. "And what makes you so sure that I would have a reason to choose this when the circus section had just ended?"
"Maybe because as Judas, you just put on the most transparent mask, not even bothering to disguise your personality, voice and fighting style." Amakusa smirked. "No, seriously, Superman had a more convincing disguise.
"Wait… Judas was supposed to be a DISGUISE?" Lemmy asked, looking up at Kyle with surprise. The latter just shrugged.
Leon paused before narrowing his eyes. "I now have a reason to choose this circus."
(Dome; Recovery Room)
"Thank you so much for helping us clean up this mess." Jude thanked.
"It is more than alright. Heroes should always help those in need." Bang reassured as he and Ragna turned over to a cot.
Kanji frowned before looking around. "I can't believe this… What kind of coward targets the Recovery Room?"
"The type that has too much to lose if they DON'T target it." Naesala sighed. "We had Ace, our biggest lead so naturally they would want it."
Storm shook his head. "Yeah, at least Gabe apparently fought the attacker so he could ID them."
"Yeah, about that…" Wave frowned.
Everyone looked towards Wave.
"Why didn't whoever came in here to rescue Ace kill Gabe?" The swallow asked. "The culprits were clearly willing to kill Terry so why did they let Gabe live?"
Carmelita's eyes widened in realisation. "That's… A very good point. Gabe surely must have gotten enough to ID the fighter."
"Maybe… The culprit was confident that Gabe won't be able to ID them?" Jude asked.
"What, as in the superunknown?" Isla asked.
"Basically, yes." Jude frowned.
"Great, so-a the suspect pool is so even flooded." Wario muttered, rolling his eyes. "Now what?"
Everyone groaned at this. Suddenly, Whip's phone started to ring. Raising an eyebrow, she got it out to examine it. Her eyes then bugged out when she saw who was on the phone and wasted no time answering it."
"Maxima!?"
Whip's group's eyes bugged out when they heard this.
"Close. I am currently an ally of Maxima."
"H-Huh?" Whip asked.
"It is me, Dexter, boy genius!" The voice introduced.
Whip's pupils shrank. "The very one that was in the hero group at the Tournament of Kikai!?"
"Very well. Now I do not have much time to spare so I will make this quick!" Dexter offered. "Your friends are safe! However, they are captured!"
Whip sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodness!"
"I can also tell you the coordinates of where Otane's team is being held." Dexter explained. "Some of the villains are busy so there isn't a full team so be careful."
"Understood." Whip nodded. "Thank you very much!"
"It is more than alright. Now…" Dexter started. Suddenly, he paused. "What on Earth…?"
"W-What is it!?" Whip asked.
"Well…" Dexter said before pausing. "N-No… I knew that they were villains, but I didn't think that they would resort to… To THAT?"
"What!? Dexter! What is happening!?" Whip exclaimed.
"T-T-There's no time! Take your team and go to the lobby! When you get there, it should be clear!" Dexter exclaimed.
"Um, alright…" Whip said before looking at her group. "I know where Ralf and Maxima are now, but they are in grave danger!"
"I-I don't know what is going on." Lloyd said, narrowing his eyes. "But all I know is that we got a chance to save Ralf and Maxima!"
"Yeah, let's go!" Ragna nodded.
With that, Whip's group ran out of the room. Needless to say, everyone else watched them with wide eyes.
"Jude!" Carmelita suddenly shouted.
The medic jumped. "Y-Yes?"
"You should have Horkeukamui and Pepper's numbers! Please call one of them and come here to the Recovery Room so they could be my Gabe's side!" Carmelita pleaded.
"R-Right!" Jude said before getting out his phone.
Carmelita nodded before looking at Naesala. "Naesala!"
"Alright, alright, don't need to twist my wing!" The former king nodded.
With that, the two ran over. The Babylon Rogues and Wario paused.
"...We are going after them, aren't we?" Storm asked.
"Duh." Jet, Wave and Wario said in unison.
With that, they all ran after the larger group as well while leaving everyone stunned. Then, F.A.N.G. poked his head from the curtains.
"...Can we come out now?" F.A.N.G. asked.
The larger group passed Kasumi and Genjuro.
"Huh. I wonder what happened." Kasumi mused.
"Unless it is related to Oume's group, I am not interested." Genjuro muttered.
Kasumi looked at Genjuro grumpily. "...You are a chore to be around, you know that?"
Before Genjuro could blow her off, they both heard something.
"Psst!"
Kasumi and Genjuro turned their heads to see Otane, Moe, Tiny, Elliana, Krizalid and Reptile.
"I don't suppose you need six more allies, do you?" Otane asked.
Kasumi and Genjuro looked at each other in confusion.
(Hotel; Secret Laboratory)
Ralf and Maxima both looked in pure horror at what was happening.
The lab was a complete mess, looking even worse than when Otane's team entered it. What's more, most of the people that were there were laid on the ground unconscious, save for four members.
Mukai groaned as he laid in front of the machine that was extracting the stardust from the Star Pieces. The person who knocked him out scoffed.
"I can't believe you actually ran into the path of my No Items Ever move. I don't know whether to command your bravery and scoff at the lengths you would go to using items."
With that, Barbatos Goetia glared at the four remaining villains. Dhaos, Cinder, ARIA and Basara.
"Dhaos, I know that we never got allowed, but even still, you have a lot of gall using items for your plans." Barbatos growled.
"Don't even go there!" The arch-mage scolded. "You weren't even in Bison's room before he split up the teams! You have no right to interfere!"
"You can NOT be serious." Barbatos said in disbelief. "Your plan is basically giving Bison glorified items! Of course that is enough for me to interfere!"
ARIA narrowed her eyes before glaring at three new figures. "FURTHEMORE, WHY ARE YOU THREE GETTING INVOLVED?"
One of the figures scoffed before stepping forward.
"You are hiding Reptile here, aren't you?" Scorpion asked, crossing his arms. "Don't get me wrong. I do not care whether you succeed or fail, but I just want to make sure that Reptile doesn't have any allies or safe spaces."
"Okay, and what about YOU two jokers?!" Cinder roared.
"...He literally dragged us into it." Sub-Zero muttered.
He then narrowed his eyes.
"But even though Scorpion and Barbatos are fighting for selfish reasons, that doesn't mean we can tell that you are up to no good!" Sub-Zero scolded.
"Yeah, don't think we didn't see your hostages!" Larcen Tyler nodded, crossing his arms.
"They started it!" Basara insisted.
"Oh, sure, buddy, that will work out REAL well." Ralf muttered.
"And last and definitely least, YOU!" Dhaos roared, pointing his finger.
I-No just sneered.
"Moi…?"
"Bringing Barbatos Goetia AND Scorpion here!?" Dhaos roared. "What you did is the equivalent of a war crime!"
"Yeah, what the fuck, woman!?" Cinder agreed. "Can't even spare your own team members!"
"Eh. We are a little busy. Don't get me wrong though. Oume and the others will definitely want to stay here to see all of this play out." I-No said before winking. "Ciao…"
With that, she made out her way out of the lab.
"Dhaos… We may have been allies before. But that was because we had a proper goal." Barbatos said, sternly while readying his axe "If you are using items, I will show you no mercy!"
The blond man narrowed his eyes before summoning electricity around his hand. "Fine by me… Truth be told, you are exactly what I hate about humans and I am glad I have an excuse to blast your obnoxious face with magic!"
"Again, I do not care whether you guys succeed or fail, but you made it onto my shit list for protecting Reptile!" Scorpion scowled, getting out his iconic spear
"...Dude. It is a fucking CATCHPHRASE." Cinder said, summoning bigger flames in his hands. "Is this really the part where we should be afraid of a giant man-child!"
"While you are right to call out Scorpion and Barbatos' flaws, don't think that we are going to miss YOUR wrongdoings." Sub-Zero pointed out, creating a knife came out of ice.
"REGARDLESS OF WHAT WE ARE DOING, IT IS UNWISE TO JOIN THIS FIGHT. REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU WIN OR LOSE, IT WILL JUST CAUSE TROUBLE FOR YOU NOW THE LINE." ARIA scolded, summoning her two drones.
"Yeah, I think we will take that risk." Larcen said, getting out his sai. "Don't worry, you two! We will make sure to save you too!"
"Aw, come on! You are making mountains out of molehills!" Basara scolded, readying his weapon. "They are alive, aren't they?"
Ralf and Maxima frowned as both teams of four lunged at each other.
"Dexter… Whip… Please hurry…" Maxima winced.
(The Arena)
"NORM!" (CB)
The pointy-eared mime walked down the ramp while reading a book, completely oblivious to the stunned crowd. He continued walking down until reaching the end. However, he didn't seem to realise that was getting close to the ramp and looked like he was about to fall in.
…Only to continue walking as if the ramp was still going on, only invisible. Needless to say, several fighters looked on in shock. By this time, Norm finally stopped hearing from his book and looked up from it before closing it and looking around. He then saw Banjo & Kazooie and Byte & Bark before walking down invisible stairs towards them. As he did so, he turned into a blue blob of goo (with his beret sticking out).
"GREAT GODS OF SPRINGS!" Byte gasped. "NOT EVEN THE ARMS TOURNAMENT HAVE ANYTHING LIKE… THIS?"
"...Oh, right. ARMS wasn't around in the pre-resurgence era, was it?" Banjo asked.
Then, the blob turned into two. Then, one blob turned back into Norm while the other blob turned into a heavyset, larger version of him, wearing the same outfit (that looked way too big.)
Byte paused. "...THIS IS NORMAL?"
"Welcome to UVR, Rusty." Kazooie muttered.
The larger Norm just smirked.. "Heyo! We couldn't help but overhear that you were having a fight of duo fighters. Well, we happen to be duo fighters too!"
"UM, CORRECTION. YOU ARE DUO RACERS." Byte corrected, raising up one hand.
Big Norm's smirk vanished. "So? We have been to this tournament more times than you guys!"
"Um, no. You've been to this tournament more times than this rejected cop-buddy show." Kazooie shot back. "WE'VE been to more tournaments than you."
"Yeah, but how many of those UVR tournaments are actually AIRED?" Big Norm smirked.
Kazooie winced as Small Norm laughed at this. Quietly, of course.
"...Maybe you should lay off the roasts this time around." Banjo chuckled, nervously. "It seems to be very easy to counter your insults."
"Maybe YOU should kick your rear into high-gear!" Kazooie shot back.
"JIN KISARAGI!" (BB)
Once again, the fangirls went wild. However, the blonde cryomancer paid it to mind as he looked up at the Announcer's Booth where Nine was still magically tearing Drake a new one.
"Well, at least that vampire did one thing right." He scoffed. "He saved me from one of those stupid roasts. So at least I could actually focus on better things like…"
(I am an asshole!)
(I am an asshole!)
(I am SUCH an asshole!)
(Look at me!)
Jin's eyes bugged out before glaring up at the Sound Booth to see Astaroth and Aila laughing while the infamous asshole song from TheRunawayGuys played through the speakers.
"If it is not one idiot, it is another…" Jin growled.
With that, he stomped his way down the ramp while some people were snickering before getting inside and sitting down with his sheath. While he counts at least ten people that don't deserve to be in this tournament, he already found an opponent in the Ready Room and was waiting for them.
"JACKY BRYANT!" (VF)
The fangirls were having a field day as the blond racer came out of the Ready Room while playing to the crowd. Throwing out a few kicks, he jogged down the ramp and got himself pumped.
"Alright! Let's ride!" Jacky grinned.
Once in the arena, he made a beeline over to Shrek.
"Yo, Big Green!" Jacky shouted, getting Shrek's attention.
"Oh, you are one of those Virtua Fighters, right?" The ogre asked before scoffing. "I think it is only fair to warn you, I have already fought against a skilled martial artist and won. Skill could only get you so far."
"Maybe. But that is no reason to underestimate my Jeet Kune Do!" Jacky smirked, getting into a stance.
Shrek blinked twice. "Wait, what…?"
"Jeet Kune Do." Jacky repeated. "It is a martial art that is based on…"
"No, no, I know what it is. Fiona told me about it." Shrek explained.
Jacky raised an eyebrow. "Then… What is the problem?"
Shrek winced before looking around while scratching the back of his head, trying to figure out the right words.
"Well… You are white." Shrek finally said.
Jacky blinked twice. He then gritted his teeth with his face turning red.
"NOT EVERY JEET KUNE DO PRACTITIONER HAVE TO BE A BRUCE LEE CLONE!" He roared.
Shrek scoffed. "Could have fooled me."
Jacky's eyebrow twitched before rushing forward.
"HYO IMAWONO!" (RS)
The white-haired red-clad swordsman came out with his hands behind his back in a dignified fashion. He then slowly made his way down the ramp with a stern look in his eyes before stepping into the ring.
Almost immediately, he got his katana out of his sheath before slashing through a projectile of ice. He then glared at the guilty party.
Jin scoffed while sheathing his own sword. "Well, it is nice to have SOMEBODY with an ounce of skill."
"You have a lot of gall attacking someone who just entered the arena." Hyo said, coldly.
"Look, I am just going to cut to the chase. While you are far from the biggest eyesore in the arena, you also remind me a lot of a certain nodal companion." Jin said before gritting his teeth. "Why would I leave my own node only to be reminded by a thorn in my side in another node?"
Hyo scoffed. "...Well, I can't imagine it would be any picnic to be with you either."
"Look, I am just going to eliminate you as soon as possible. Because you are in the way of me going after much worse pests" Jin said, getting into a stance.
"...Very well. Someone needs to discipline you, anyway." Hyo said, gritting his teeth.
"RICHTER ABEND!" (ToAS)
The red-haired, brown-skinned man adjusted his glasses before readying his sword with one hand and his axe in the other. He then made his way down the ramp while eyeing the arena.
"Kyle and Leon are teaming up with that Koopa against that sorcerer." He noted while stepping down. "And there are only two people in the arena without an opponent. That white-haired boy seems like he is actually biding his time so…"
Once in, he made his way over to the other one without an opponent.
Yu raised his head. "Oh, I take it that you wish to fight me?"
"Indeed. But first, I have a question." Richter said.
"Oh, sure, what is it?" Yu asked.
"Why is it you only use Izanagi to fight?" Richter asked. "You, and Joker for that matter, clearly have the ability to summon any Persona you want for any situation. So why are you choosing your literal starting one? Doesn't it defeat the purpose of having the power of the Wild Card?
"Well, I suppose that is true." Yu admitted. "Technically speaking, the Izanagi I have is actually Izanagi No Okami. One of my strongest Personas."
Richter's eyes widened. "Oh really? If that's the case, why not it shows up in his unevolved form outside of your Instant Kill?"
"I don't know. Digimon logic?" Yu shrugged.
Richter slumped his arms in disbelief. Unknown to the two, Lincoln was watching them from standing on the top of Shrek's house. Ever since Mewtwo suggested taking a certain ally, he made his way on top so he could get ready. He then got out his skateboard and made his way down.
"Huh. Final fighter. Not too surprising, but still I think this is a first for the UVR series?" Lincoln asked.
He then shrugged before getting on his skateboard and riding towards the Entrance Ramp. Just in time for Ashley to make the final fighter announcement.
"And now… The final fighter for this section."
"YOSHI!" (SSB)
Coming out to the classic Yoshi's Island, the adorable green-scaled dinosaur jumped up and down happily while waving to the crowd with both hands. He then skipped down the ramp before doing his trademark Flutter Jump into the ring.
However, upon leaping in, Lincoln walked over to him.
"Um, excuse me, Mr. Yoshi?" Lincoln asked.
Yoshi raised an eyebrow.
"You see. I have this friend. Well, friend is a really strong word." Lincoln explained. "More like acquaintances that we are willing to invite to friendly fights and kart races despite them being a villain if not that makes sense.
Seeing that Yoshi was from the same node as Bowser, he understood completely what Lincoln meant and nodded his head.
"He is facing that boy alone and while in some ways, he kinda deserved it, Christopher Robin is still too dangerous to be left alone." Lincoln frowned. "So I need your help. Even though you didn't get a single baseball game for a long while, both of your games are still played in a small yet still prominent competitive gaming circle."
Yoshi paused for a moment. His eyes then lit up before getting out a white bat with green spots on it. Lincoln's eyes lit up before getting out his own bat.
"Alright! I knew that you would help me!" Lincoln beamed. "Now let's go!"
"UMPIRE! UMPIRE! BASEBALLS DO NOT ZIGZAG LIKE THAT!"
"This one does."
Yoshi and Lincoln winced before looking in the direction of the exchange, looking worried.
"And fast?" Lincoln frowned.
And thus the Halloween section of the tournament has started. Despite this, one fighter was not satisfied.
"Hmm… This section is already chaotic. But it doesn't feel Halloween-chaotic. Even with Christopher Robin and having five Big Guys for this round. Sure, it is hard to top Beetlejuice and Jack Skellington's performance, but still. Besides Christopher Robin, all we got are pumpkins and…"
Their eyes then widened in realisation.
"Wait… Shrek? Pumpkins? Heh. Heh heh heh. I think I got a good idea to make this Halloween section special! Granted, I have to sacrifice a Smash Ball to do so, but eh. Gotta get into the spirit!"