Battle Of The Luminaries 3

by Tinyhammer

Votefic. UVR Spinoff. Cross-Pasted On ArchiveOfOurOwn. After at least a decade when the second tournament was unfortunately been cancelled, the Battle of the Luminaries is finally back with its largest roster yet. Who will win? YOU DECIDE! Also, I WILL NOT TAKE MYSTERY FIGHTER REQUESTS!

38. Section Seventeen Results

(The Arena)

There was always a lot of buzzing about in the arena but now things had been taken to its literal extreme with the amount of jellyfish floating (or swimming depending on how you look at it) around the arena. The new stage change was Jellyfish Fields so not only did the fighters have to deal with a lot of jellyfish.

Spongebob Squarepants smiled as he watched the different jellyfish fly around the area. Yes, this was better than defiling the Krusty Krab with violence.

"Eyes front, you literal square!"

Spongebob's eyes bugged out before looking forward. Just in time to swing a tennis racket at an incoming ball and send it back where it came from. Despite this, Snoopy just narrowed his eyes and swung his own racket, sending the tennis ball back. Momo Karuizawa just sneered before swinging her racket and sent the ball towards Garfield. The cat just groaned before hitting it back.

Ever since Momo entered the arena, she made a makeshift tennis court and made Spongebob, Snoopy and Garfield enter a double tennis match to decide "who was the cutest tennis player". While the entire thing made everyone else raise an eyebrow, they all tried to ignore and avoid interrupting the tennis match. For better or for worse, they seem weirder overall.

The rally went on between the four tennis players for a while. However, Garfield did a lob over to Spongebob's side. The sponge smirked before getting ready to hit it.

"MINE!"

That was when Momo moved towards Spongebob and shoved him down before leaping up and swinging her racket downwards towards the ball, sending him soaring back to Garfield. The cat could not react in time and took the ball to the face, knocking him down. Momo smirked as she piped her racket in the air.

"Ha! Fifteen-Love! Or should I say Fifteen-Loveless!" Momo sneered before walking back into position. "Keep at it, partner. We are going to win!"

Spongebob sat up with a groan. "Um, yay?"

Meanwhile, Snoopy glared at Garfield who was sitting up with the latter not sporting an unsightly black eye.

"I know being lazy is your thing but how could you mess up an easy overhead smash!?" Snoopy scolded.

Garfield looked at Snoopy in disbelief. "...At least Scooby is having fun."

As if on cue, we immediately cut to Scooby Doo running in fear. However, Landis flies reading his scythe, on the Great Dane's heels.

"You can run, but you can't hide from the Grim Reaper!" Landis taunted with a dark grin.

"I could live with that!" Scooby shouted back.

A glint appeared in Landis' uncovered eye. "Oh, really? Let's see if you can do that."

With that, he threw his own scythe like a projectile, causing it to embed in the path where Scooby was running in, causing the canine to yelp. Landis then flew forward while kicking both of his feet out and knocked Scooby to the ground. After the latter sprawled while groaning, Landis smirked before pulling his scythe out of the ground and rushing forward.

However, Scooby finally snapped out of his daze to yelp and get out his shovel and raised it to block Landis' slash. The two then got into a power struggle with Landis slowly gaining ground but Scooby, despite his scared disposition, managed to hold his ground. However, Landis flapped his wings to fly forward and shove Scooby forward. The Great Dane staggered back which gave Landis the chance to swing his scythe in a horizontal fashion.

Only for Scooby to suddenly spring up into the air, leaping over Landis' attack entirely. The winger blinked his uncovered one twice before looking up to see Scooby high in the air with springs on his feet. The Great Dane then did a downwards kick but Landis thought quickly and raised his scythe to block the incoming kick. Landis then shoved his scythe forward which sent Scooby back but the Great Dane self-righted himself before landing on all fours.

"Heh, I knew that you had potential. The Grim Reaper was wise to have their eye on you." Landis smirked.

Scooby glared at Landis. "I never WANTED to deal with the supernatural! I don't even want to deal with regular masked crooks!"

"Then, why did you go on so many supernatural adventures?" The Grim Reaper fanatic shot back with his smirk growing larger.

(Announcer's Booth)

"So Landis' little Waluigi fakeout is his personal revenge for the latter doing the same with HIM at the Tournament of Kikai?" Nine asked.

"Yyyyyyep! That and apparently Landis was ACTUALLY going to be in said tournament." Drake added.

"Oh? I have to ask, why did Xero scrap him?" Nine asked. "He seemed like the exact person to fit into his tournament."

Ashley gave a grumpy look. "Two words. Zack. Fair."

Nine blinked twice. "You mean the one guy Xero forgot and tried to have him as a Mystery Fighter in a vain attempt to gaslight everyone that he never forgot about him. Even AFTER he did far worse blunders like engulfing the entire multiverse in despair?"

"Yeah, because of THAT, Landis was taken off of the roster." Drake groaned, rolling his eyes. "So I took it upon myself to invite Landis into MY Mystery Fighter roster."

Nine paused. "...I mean I heard of dumber reasons to invite a Mystery Fighter."

"Oh, speaking of Mystery Fighters, I have to warn Danglars and Tybalt!" Drake gasped before getting out his phone.

"Why? Is one of the next Mystery Fighters a Disney one?" Nine asked.

"AND possibly going to appear in the SECOND Tournament of Kikai AND they are actually proposed by Ashley WHICH he did so based on a Mystery Fighter schtick as these things AND they and the OTHER Mystery Fighter have a connection with one of the main fighters in the section!" Drake grinned. "I am SO going to tell them all of this!"

With that, he started to type in the phone excitedly. Nine just blinked twice while Ashley looked exasperated.

"...How could someone who is technically considered dead be so full of over-the-top energy?" Nine asked.

"I don't have the foggiest idea…" Ashley muttered.

He then sighed before smiling.

"But I suppose that is part of his charm."

(Killer Instinct Locker Room)

Tusk put his hand on his chin. "I knew that Sadira is confident in her assassination skills but I still think she is taking a big risk taking on Sora. Or at least this early."

Sabrewulf merely scoffed. "Just as long as she meets a humiliating end."

"Indeed. I do not wish for her to get an elimination." Maya said, sternly.

Everyone else agreed. However, one person paused.

"Why?"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice.

"Jago?" Glacius asked.

"Why did you not wish for her to get an elimination?" Jago asked.

Maya blinked twice. "Um, because she is an assassin for UltraTech?"

"Indeed. She is a villain and a rather unsavoury one at that." Jago admitted. "However, she is still our nodal companion."

Chief Thunder's eyes widened at this. "What foolishness is this!? That woman is loyal only to the spiders she associates herself with!"

"Indeed. And if we ended up in the same section as her, we would most likely fight each other." Jago admitted. "But would that matter in the end?"

Aganos paused. "...Jago. Please explain yourself."

"It is not that complicated. Sadira is a Killer Instinct fighter and we are here to show the might of Killer Instinct." The monk said, matter-of-factly with a shoulder shrug.

"That may be true but do we really want someone like THAT representing us?" Tusk frowned.

"Perhaps not. But if you are really THAT upset about her doing better than you, then use that as determination to do better than her." Jago scolded.

Glacius gave an unseen frown. "T-True but…"

"Also, furthermore, Sadira is the only new fighter of the first season of our reboot besides Shadow Jago." Jago reminded. "If she fails then that could possibly mean our node shouldn't evolve and create new characters alongside us."

Everyone looked at each other while Jago continued.

"Also, we all KNOW teamed up with each other before against Gargos so why not here?" Jago asked.

Maya's eyes bugged out at this. "Please tell me you are joking!"

"I am not. Why would I be? Because THAT situation is more dire?" Jago said, bluntly. "True. I will not deny that the two situations are different in scale. However, my point still stands. Our main goal is to get as many eliminations as we can for our node. Regardless of hero or villain. Sure, no one wants to see the bad guy win but whether Rival Schools like it or not, Kurow Kirishima single-handedly saved their node from ending the tournament with a pitiful showing."

Everyone paused. Thunder then spoke up.

"...Is this related to not being able to enter the second Battle of the Luminaries?" The Native American asked.

Jago stayed silent for a moment before looking up at the screen.

"...I suppose that incident has clouded my bias. However, while I admit my words are based on pure emotion and little reason, I do not think my way of thinking is wrong." Jago said. "I had the chance to show the world what our node could do and yet due to the crystals and vines, I am unable to have that chance."

"Jago…" Thunder frowned.

"Which is why I am in some way supporting Sadira and by extension the other villains because at the time of the day, they are still a part of Killer Instinct as us." The brown-haired man before sighing. "Something that I admit the Jago before the second Battle of the Luminaries would have some doubts on as well. But at the end of the day, we are all representing our node and an elimination from any of us is a win."

He then glared at his nodal companions.

"You don't like it? That is completely understandable. But if you wish to gripe about it, my only condition is for you to use that anger as your strength." Jago said.

Everyone frowned but otherwise didn't have a rebuttal before looking at each other.

"...Very well, Jago. We will think about your strategy." Aganos admitted.

The monk nodded before looking at the screen. Everyone looked at each other.

"Wow… Jago really didn't take what happened at the second tournament that well, did he?" Tusk frowned.

"You have NO idea." Sabrewulf sighed.

(The Arena)

Rilla Roo put on his arm cannon (that looks like a tank gun) and fired two orange energy balls at Infinite. However, the jackal swung his sword at the incoming projectiles, negating them. He then lunged forward while engulfing himself in red energy. Rilla Roo yelped before running to the side to avoid the incoming attack. But when Infinite broke out of his attack, Rilla Roo spun around with his kangaroo tail out, smacking him in the face.

Infinite staggered back but recovered in time to jump back from a punch from Rilla Roo. The former was about to punish his previous ally. However, Kinta Kokuin leapt from behind him and kicked Infinite in the back with a dropkick. Infinite found himself staggering forward to which Rilla Roo gave him another punch, this time, actually hitting Infinite in the face.

The edgelord grunted in pain before growling and leaping up at Rilla Roo, swinging his sword downwards. Rilla Roo yelped before getting out his metallic hammer to block Infinite's sword before using his larger size to shove him away. Rilla Roo smirked before rushing forward while swinging his hammer downwards. However, Infinite recovered in time to not only run out of the way but also left behind a mass of floating red cubes with his face on it.

The moment Rilla Roo ran into it, his entire vision was completely red with cubes everywhere, causing him to freak out. Normally, this would be the part where Infinite punishes Rilla Roo but he immediately stopped when he saw Kinta rushing forward while wildly swinging his arms around. Infinite just scoffed before doing a flip, kicking Kinta and sending him flying into the air.

…That was a poor mistake on Infinite's part as he immediately remembered a certain part of Nine's roast for Infinite. Needless to say, he put his hands over his mask and started to scream in agony.

"My eyes! I am supposed to ruin people's vision!" Infinite cried out. "Not the other way around!"

By this time, the effects of Infinite's trap Rilla Roo wore off. While confused why Infinite was covering his face while screaming, he didn't waste any time by running over to Infinite and swinging his hammer into Infinite's side and sending him flying away towards Kinta who just got up. Then, Kinta then smirked before summoning a giant carp out of nowhere and riding on it as it went upwards and struck the incoming Infinite, knocking him down. The jackal groaned before getting up and glaring at Rilla Roo and Kinta.

"You have a lot of gall, Rilla Roo, going against me." Infinite spat. "Just because I refuse to ally with you any further."

The hybrid's eyebrow twitched before jumping up and down in anger. Kinta blinked twice before turning to Infinite.

"Um, he says that he never wanted to ally with you again because you never acted like an ally." Kinta shot back.

Rilla Roo and Infinite both jumped for various reasons.

"Excuse me!?" Infinite said, appalled. "ME!? A bad ally!?"

"You can understand me!?" Rilla Roo asked.

"Of course! I DO fight with animals, after all!" Kinta offered.

Rilla Roo leaned towards Kinta. "Dude, you have NO idea how much torment that idiot put me through!"

With that, he started to rant towards Kinta. The latter put his hand on his chin, nodding along to Rilla Roo's ranting. Kinta then looked at Rilla Roo.

"First off, he says that when you ran into the national stereotype boxers, whatever that means, you actually nearly walked off to leave Rilla Roo to fight them alone." Kinta pointed out.

"You can NOT be serious. Would ANYONE even know what Black & Bruised if they never watched the Megamix Tournament?" Infinite asked.

"Yeah, no, apparently Rilla Roo said that they kicked your tails." Kinta said without missing a beat.

Infinite AND Rilla Roo winced before the latter glared down at Kinta.

"I do NOT remember telling you in those words." Rilla Roo spat.

Kinta ignored Rilla Roo and continued. "Also, after you lost, you ran off and left Rilla Roo unconscious."

"Wait, you were unconscious." Infinite said before scoffing. "No wonder you were so slow coming back."

Rilla Roo growled as Kinta blinked twice.

"...But we just went over that you lost." Kinta pointed out. "Heck, they most likely wouldn't put a homing pin on Rilla Roo's fur if you took him with you."

"What? It is not like I am put in charge of him!" Infinite scolded.

Kinta paused. "Um, dude? You were the only one with him! Hell, the more you talk, the more I think that it was Rilla Roo who was sent to keep YOU under control."

Infinite scoffed. "Spare me. No one could control, let alone a Moveset Clone and nothing more."

Rilla Roo gritted his teeth while Kinta looked with a blank look.

"...Would it do ANY good to point out that he was actually winning against that lizard Digimon and then you interrupted his fight by throwing the OTHER Digimon towards him?" Kinta asked.

"You have NO idea what said Digimon said to me!" Infinite spat back.

Kinta frowned. "Wow, Poochy really thought that you would do better after the second Battle of the Luminaries but it seems you are getting into crap like this."

"Tell me about it." Rilla Roo muttered. He then realised something before looking down at Kinta. "Oh, wait. You are Poochy's nodal companion, remember?"

"More than my nodal companion! He is my transformation!" Kinta grinned.

Rilla Roo blinked twice. "Transformation?"

Suddenly, Kinta pounced onto Rilla Roo's face, startling him AND Infinite. Before he could say anything, Kinta started to bite into Rilla Roo's face and suck on it causing everyone to grunt in disgust. Kinta then jumped off.

"Ow! What was THAT…" Rilla Roo roared.

Kinta then did a pose. "HENSHIN!"

With that, he leapt up and rolled in midair. Suddenly, the roll grew bigger and red. When "Kinta" landed, someone else took his place. A well-built humanoid wearing a red and white dog outfit. Rilla Roo's eyes lit up at this.

"POOCHY!" Rilla Roo beamed.

"Hey, Rilla Roo! Long time no see!" Poochy spoke.

"I'll say… I never thought we would meet again, especially when you weren't on the roster." Rilla Roo grinned.

Poochy let out a sigh. "To be fair, I think Drake based the roster for this tournament on the latest Power Instinct game. Thus why Kinta got the invitation is because I am merely a transformation."

"Well, as long as you are here!" Rilla Roo offered. He then looked grumpy. "Even if you did have to bite my face."

Poochy sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, sorry, that is the only way for Kinta to transform into me."

"...You Power Instinct guys need to learn the value of personal space." Rilla Roo muttered.

Despite this, the two started to have a fond talk. In fact, they were so busy talking that they actually completely forgot Infinite. Needless to say, the jackal was flabbergasted. He then growled before his mask as he shook violently.

"They're… They're ignoring ME! Someone who is a meme for being a forgettable Crash Bandicoot character and the least popular character in Power Instinct!?" Infinite said with a twitching unseen eyebrow. "I should be ignoring THEM! Not the other way around!"

With that, he let out a loud shout, startling Rilla Roo and Poochy and turning their attention to him. To see a violent red aura around him. He then rushed forward while engulfing himself in a ball of energy. Rilla Roo and Poochy yelped before running to the side.

…Letting Infinite go past them completely and towards the doubles match where they passed Snoopy and Garfield's side, making the two pets yelp. Spongebob then narrowed his eyes before leaping up.

"I got it!" Spongebob shouted.

With that, he yelped up into the air and spiked Infinite with his racket, knocking the edgelord out of his attack and sent him soaring toward Snoopy and Garfield's side of the court. He painfully bounced off of it and flew away until he went over the ropes. Momo, Snoopy and Garfield watched with wide eyes and slack jaws while Spongebob cheered.

"Ha, that's our point!" Spongebob grinned, pumping his racket in the air. He then paused. "Wait, was that the ball?"

"Nope, just something unimportant. We should just ignore it." Momo muttered.

Meanwhile, Rilla Roo looked in awe at what had happened. Suddenly, Poochy put his hand on his shoulder with an apologetic look on his face.

"I am so sorry, Rilla Roo. I could only imagine how much you wanted to be the one to eliminate him." Poochy frowned.

"...I WOULD be lying if I said I didn't want to be the one to do him in." The gorilla-kangaroo admitted before smirking. "But this is just as good!"

Infinite landed in Pokemon, particularly on Newmoon Island. He groaned before getting up while dusting himself off, grumpily.

"Ugh, I can't believe that not only I didn't get a single elimination AGAIN but also the FIRST one out!" Infinite muttered. "What is worse, I don't even know who was the fool who eliminated me! I didn't even think they did so on purpose! Isn't it like an unwritten law that the first elimination of every section has to be a 'traditional' fight? Ugh, this can't get any worse!"

Suddenly, he heard something to the side. Turning his head, he saw Darkrai heading towards him with an annoyed look in his eyes.

Infinite rolled his uncovered eyes. "Ugh, I almost feel sorry for you. Thinking that you could start a fight with me in a NORMAL mood, let alone a bad move."

With that, he sent out a wall of red cubes at Darkrai, hitting them head on. However, it didn't affect them. Infinite jumped as Darkrai just floated confused. The latter then narrowed his eye before moving forward, summoning his own dark energy.

"H-How!? How could anyone shrug off MY attack?" Infinite asked.

Infinite would probably never learn this lesson but he was about to face a harsh reality: No matter what kind of psychic you are, they are useless against Dark-type Pokemon.

Yukiko Amagi winced as she threw a couple of fans forward. However, Lion Rafale smirked before running to the side to avoid the projectile, he then rushed towards Yukiko. However, the pyromancer summoned Konohana-Sakuya. Lion's smirk vanished as he ran to the side to avoid a wave of fire before continuing his advance, but Yukiko commanded her Persona to smack Lion with the latter's face, resulting in a small burst of fire.

Lion was sent sprawling on the ground before quickly flipped back onto his feet. Just in time for Yukiko to send more fans at him. Lion then narrowed his eyes before getting into his fighting stance (which looked like a praying mantis) before sending his knife-hand at the fans, knocking him out of the air. Leon then ran forward to which Yukiko responded by summoning her Persona.

However, Lion was expecting this and ran to the side to avoid the incoming waves of fire. Yukiko then sent Konohana-Sakuya forward but Lion proceeded to dance around the fiery swings with his footwork. Soon, he found an opening by sliding underneath the Persona before quickly getting up. Yukiko gasped before swinging her fan at Lion but the Frenchman quickly raised his wrist to block the incoming swing.

Lion then proceeded to do a series of knife-hand to Yukiko's body causing her to stagger back. Lion ran forward to continue the assault but Yukiko reacted by resummoning Konohana-Sakuya to create the pink pillar of light around her, striking Lion and sending him flipping backwards onto his stomach. Lion groaned before propping himself on his hands. Only to notice Yukiko panting heavily.

Lion smirked before getting up. "You can heal the wounds but you can't heal your fatigue! Seriously, surviving THREE sections is just begging you to go down here!"

Yukiko glared at Lion for a moment. She then puffed her cheeks before laughing, making Lion jump.

"Really? We are STILL doing this!?" Lion asked in disbelief.

"I-I-I am sorry but your voice…" Yukiko said during laughs. "It sounds more like people MOCKING you than an actual voice!"

Lion's eyebrow twitched. "Out of all Persona 4 Arena representatives, how is it YOU that made it all of the way here?"

Deciding that he didn't want to wait patiently for Yukiko to finish, he ran forward to do a short hop and punched the still-laughing Yukiko in the face and knocked her down. The red-clad girl was sent sprawling back before Lion ran forward and did a sliding kick, striking Yukiko forward. The latter yelped before swinging her fan at Lion, but the blond young man managed to roll out the way.

Yukiko then started to throw as many fans as she could but Lion smirked before running around the incoming projectiles. He then crouched down before doing a flying kick. Yukiko's eyes bugged out before closing her eyes and preparing for the worst.

"CHUUUUUUU!"

Suddenly, a yellow blur came out of nowhere and crashed into Lion right before he was about to strike Yukiko which sent Lion soaring out of the air and over the ropes. A second later, Yukiko opened her eyes to see Lion was long gone.

And Pikachu was looking around with a confused look on his face.

Yukiko's eyes lit up. "Oh, wow, thank you! I must admit that boy with the hilarious voice was getting the better of me!"

Pikachu turned to Yukiko before scratching the back of his head, sheepishly. Meanwhile, Samus and Duke watched the entire scene with different reactions.

Duke blinked twice before laughing. "Okay, WOW! Looks like the little rodent has gotten Sonic-cocky about his speed! All I did was sidestep once around his incoming Skull Bash and went off like a rocket."

Samus on the other hand, had a worried look behind her helmet.

Lion landed in Kung-Fu Panda where after finding out that Mantis uses… Mantis Kung-Fu, he challenged the literal tiny fighter to a fight. …He lasted about one minute.

Wan-Fu let out a loud shout before swinging his pillar at Link. However, the Hero of Time raised his sword to block the incoming attack. But it wasn't the Master Sword but rather a large two-handed sword, thus making it easy to get into a power struggle with Wan-Fu. However, due to Wan-Fu being more larger and muscular, he was winning the power struggle, albeit barely.

Link gritted his teeth trying to keep his ground. However, Wan-Fu smirked before swinging his head forward, slamming it against Link's own which sent the blond man onto his back. With his smirk growing larger, Wan-Fu leapt onto Link rear-first onto the latter's stomach. Link's eyes widened as he felt the wind knocked out of him. Wan-Fu laughed in success due to completely having his opponent helpless.

So he didn't have time to react when Link displayed a surprising amount of strength and shoved Wan-Fu off of him. Despite this, Link was still in pain from being pinned down and weakly got up. A major contrast to Wan-Fu who merely got up and swung his pillar. Link yelped but raised his sword to block, but due to how last-second the attack was, Link was sent staggering back which gave Wan-Fu enough time to kick his opponent in the stomach.

Link fell onto his back but slowly got up while putting away his two-handed sword and getting out his bow and arrow. However, Wan-Fu just scoffed seeing that he faced Mina, another archer in two different games (especially V where Mina was broken) and raised his pillar to block an incoming. Suddenly, he froze when he saw that on the end of Link's arrow tied by rope was…

"...Is that one of the jellyfish?" Wan-Fu asked.

"Yes, seeing that I can't eat them OR their jelly, I might as well do the next best thing." Link shrugged. "Waste not, want not, after all!"

Wan-Fu just laughed at this. "Ha, just like the Breath of the Wild version to take advantage of their environment as much as Spongebob himself."

"I shouldn't doubt it but I still try." Link said.

With that, he aimed his arrow at Wan-Fu, but the Chinese man merely raised his pillar to block. But Link aimed for Wan-Fu's legs at the last moment and fired, causing the jellyfish-tied arrow to fly into Wan-Fu's leg. The latter yelped in pain, dropping his guard and causing Link to get out more jellyfish-tied arrows and fired them towards Wan-Fu, causing him to get stung multiple times.

Then, an arrow stung Wan-Fu's in his dominant hand and made him drop his pillar. Right onto his foot. Wan-Fu's eyes bugged out before hopping up and down on one foot while holding the hurt one. Link then got out a blue bomb before rolling it like a bowling ball towards Wan-Fu. When said bomb got close enough, Link got out some kind of ancient tablet and tapped on it, resulting in an explosion of blue energy which sent Wan-Fu flying away from the pillar.

Link smirked before getting back out his double-handed sword and ran towards Wan-Fu, who was getting up and looked up to see Link coming. Despite this, Wan-Fu just narrowed his eyes before stepping to the side to avoid a downward slash from Wan-Fu. The warlord then gave Link a hard punch in the face.

With the Hero of Time stunned, Wan-Fu then pounced to do a series of punches to Link's face and stomach, not giving him a chance to block or counter. Wan-Fu then ended with a kick to the chest causing Link to be sent sprawling. The latter groaned before weakly looking up.

"H-How?" Link asked in awe.

"I may be from a weapon-based fighting game, that doesn't mean I can't fight unarmed if forced." Wan-Fu smirked, flexing his bicep. "In fact, I have a move that allows me to go unarmed. Allow me to demonstrate!"

With that, he walked over to his pillar and picked it up. He then leapt up into the air before throwing it at Link with a flaming aura around it. Link's pupils shrank.

"RECALL!"

Suddenly, Wan-Fu's pillar stopped in mid-flight, causing the Chinese man (and other people) to look in awe.

"...What in the hell?" Wan-Fu asked.

Then, the pillar went straight BACK at Wan-Fu, causing the latter's pupils to shrank.

BOOM!

The moment Wan-Fu's own pillar collided with him, resulting in an explosion of fire which sent Wan-Fu flying over the ropes.

Link just stood the entire arm while holding out his right arm. It was then some people had noticed that said arm didn't look normal but rather made of Sheikah technology from his node. He then sighed in relief.

"...Never thought I would use my new abilities from Tears of the Kingdom to protect myself from a projectile PILLAR but here we are." Link said.

Wan-Fu landed in Shadow Hearts: Covenant where he and Joachim had a boisterous duel with their respective pillars, much to everyone's annoyance.

Seth and Kid Cobra both narrowed their eyes as they encircled each other, not keeping an eye off of each other. Kid Cobra then got into a defensive stance and started to charge up his ARMS. Seth's eyes widened before running forward. However, Kid Cobra immediately broke out of his dodge to send out his Slamamander. Just like when the two first met, Seth easily caught it.

However, this time, Kid Cobra was prepared by sending out his Coolerang, an ice-elemental boomerang ARM into Seth's face and sending him staggering back. Kid Cobra smirked before his helmet before charging up his ARMS again. By the time, Seth looked up only for his eyes to widen in horror. Kid Cobra immediately started to dash around over the place at… Well, snake-like speeds.

Seth winced as he struggled to try to keep an eye on Kid Cobra and ended up not only getting smacked in the face by a burst of wind which sent him sprawling away. Kid Cobra then sent out his Coolerang at the downed man. However, the dark-skinned man snapped out of his daze before seeing the attack and barely managed to roll to the side before managing to grab onto the "wrist".

Kid Cobra's eyes bugged out before Seth pulled on the former's arm and sent him crashing back-first into a corner post. The snakeboarder groaned before weakly looking up. Only to see Seth rushing forward, not giving him a chance to dodge to the left or right. Kid Cobra yelped before getting up and leaping high into the air, allowing Seth to punch the corner post instead.

After landing on the ground behind Seth, he kicked his foot back and struck the agent in the back which sent him crashing into the corner post and knocking the wind out of the wind. As Seth slowly staggered back, trying to get his wind back, Kid Cobra crossed his arms.

"I gotta give it to ya, old man, you are making the livestream more interesting than I thought you would." Kid Cobra admitted before gesturing his head to the flying drone that was just a few feet away.

Seth glared at Kid Cobra. "That is the point with you youngsters. You always go out of your way to be flashy but at the end of the day, you are all style, no substance."

The snake-themed fighter looked in disbelief. "Bruh. Did you not see this tournament? SSSSSure, maybe during the pre-resurenge era, those types of fighters are still rare but nowadays?"

"That may be true but people like Ryu managed to do well and he is arguably the most traditional fighting game character of all time." Seth admitted.

"Well, if you truly believe it, prove it to you." Kid Cobra pointed out. "I didn't promise my viewers a lecture!"

With that, he swung around to hit his Slamamander with a vertical attack. However, Seth saw the attack coming and leapt up into the air. However, after he jumped up, he got out his jellyfishing net. For those who didn't see the beginning of the section, Spongebob requested that everyone would get their own nets due to the nature of the stage change so Seth having one was not out of the ordinary.

What DID take everyone off-guard was Seth however was him using his net to somehow glide towards Kid Cobra. Needless to say, the snakeboarder was taken off-guard and had no time to react to Seth doing a dropkick to Kid Cobra's face and knocking him down. After he did so, Seth looked at the camera with a smirk.

"For those who are confused, Spongebob could use his jellyfish net as a gliding tool in Revenge of the Flying Dutchman." Seth explained. "Granted, it is only in his jellyfishing costume and even then he could glide regardless, but still."

Kid Cobra groaned before getting up while rubbing his chin. "Noted."

Seth then went to continue the fight by running forward and punching his fist out. Kid Cobra yelped before swerving his body to the side like a snake. However, he was wide open for a knee to the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. While Kid Cobra staggered back while holding his gut, Seth ran over for another punch. However, Kid Cobra snapped out of his daze in time to throw himself to the ground to avoid said punch.

Kid Cobra then slithered underneath Seth's legs before kicking behind him and catching the dark-skinned man in the rear, causing him to stagger back. Before Seth could recover, Kid Cobra did a breakdance with his ARMS outstretched, managing to trip up Seth and send him onto the ground. Kid Cobra then got up and sent out one of his ARMS.

…At the ground between him and Seth for some reason. This gave the agent ample time to get up and move into a stance. Kid Cobra narrowed his eyes before actually running over. Seth raised an eyebrow, wondering why a long-range fighter was APPROACHING him?

Only to be taken back to see Kid Cobra zooming forward, despite not charging up his ARMS. When Kid Cobra was close enough, he grabbed Seth before doing an upwards hurricane kick to his opponent, striking him multiple times before ending with a punch which sent Seth soaring over the ropes.

When Seth fell into the portal, Kid Cobra gracefully landed on the ground. He then turned towards a path of ice which he made with his Coolerang to slide on the ground. He then looked at his camera drone with a thumbs up.

"The moral of this story is, ssssserpents? You can have both flash AND substance!" Kid Cobra boasted.

Seth landed in Animal Crossing New Horizons where he spent his next ten minutes in the Able Sisters' shop window-shopping for ties.

"Ice Needles!"

Adeleine & Ribbon yelped before running to the side to avoid a series of ice shards. The artist then got out a small easel and started to make a picture to create a Waddle Dee carrying a parasol to send it forward. Despite this, their opponents weren't fazed. Meredy then blew into a whistle.

Quickie then ran forward towards the incoming Waddle Dee and did a flip, striking the round creature in the chin(?) and sending him flying in the air before disappearing into smoke. While this was happening, Meredy started to cast another spell. However, Ribbon narrowed her eyes before aiming her crystal gun and fired some shots at Meredy. However, the mage saw the projectile coming and stopped her spell to run to the side.

However, Ribbon didn't stop shooting crystals at both Meredy and Quickie, causing the two to run away while trying to avoid the gems. Meanwhile, Adeleine got out a large easel and started to paint onto it. Said painting of a green Eeveelution-like creature with a red jewel on their forehead. Soon, Adeleine managed to nick Meredy in the arm. The dark-skinned girl cried out in pain while holding her arm before glaring at Ribbon.

She then blew into her whistle, making Quickie perk up and leapt up to do another flip to strike with his tail. However, Ribbon saw the attack coming and flew out of the air. But Meredy blew into her whistle again which made Quickie leapt at her again. By this time, Meredy started to cast another spell.

"Fire Ball!" Meredy shouted, sending three fireballs at Ribbon. By this time, the fairy was too busy dodging Quickie's attack and didn't notice in time.

Suddenly, a green barrier surrounded Ribbon which not only protected her from the incoming fireballs but also sent them back to Meredy. The mage yelped before ducking down, narrowly avoiding the magic projectiles. Ribbon looked back to see Adeleine smirking while patting her latest drawing.

"Good old Final Fantasy Carbuncle!" Adeleine congratulated. "Always with the magic-deflecting spells."

Meredy narrowed her eyes before casting another spell. However, Adeleine and Ribbon both got ready to dodge anything.

"Deep Mist!" Meredy shouted, summoning a bunch of mist around Adeleine and Ribbon, startling the two. Then, Meredy blew into her whistle and sent Quickie into the mist and tackled Adeleine to the ground, causing her to cry out in pain.

"Adeleine!" Ribbon gasped.

"Ribbon! Let's dance! Please!" The artist cried out in the pain.

The fairy didn't even have to be told twice as she flew over to Adeleine and when they got close together, they did a spinning dance upwards while linking hands which created a pink whirlwind around them which blew away the mist. However, Meredy was casting another spell. Before Adeleine and Ribbon could do anything, Meredy already completed and summoned purple rain onto the two girls. They both blinked twice before looking at each other.

"Wait, isn't that Acid Rain just like the white mage did in the first section?" Adeleine recalled.

"Doesn't that lower PHYSICAL defence? Isn't she a mage?" Ribbon asked.

They then turned towards Meredy to see her casting another spell. This time, summoning a red aura around Quickie.

Adeleine scratched the side of her head. "Isn't that Sharpness which raises an ally's attack power?"

"I didn't even know that she could use buffing spells on her pet." Ribbon added.

Meredy then blew into her whistle which made Quickie run towards her. The pet then leapt up into Meredy's eyes while curling up into a ball. Meredy then pulled the arm that Quickie was back, causing Adeleine and Ribbon's eyes to bug out. Meredy then threw Quickie forward with all of her might.

POW!

Quickie collided with Adeleine's face. While normally, that would hurt but not that much, due to Quickie being buffed by Sharpness and Adeleine being DEBUFFED by Acid Rain, it did not hurt more but sent the artist rolling backwards, crashing into Ribbon and sending her rolling around with her. They continued rolling until they ended up tumbling over the ropes.

"Baiba! I knew that they weren't known for their resilience but I didn't think it would work THAT well!" Meredy said in awe before smiling. "Good job, Quickie!"

Adeleine & Ribbon landed in Art Academy where the former impressed Vince with her paintings.

Charizard breathed in and let out a stream of fire forward. However, Flint Hammerhead raised his stone axe (and father) to block the incoming attack. When the stream ended up, Flint ran over to Charizard and swung Rocky at him. However, the Pokemon narrowed his eyes before flying backwards to avoid the attack. He was about to punish Flint for his missed attack.

"And his name is John Cena!"

Donkey then ran in from behind Charizard and did a flying dropkick to the winged lizard's back and sent him forward. While Flint didn't expect this, he smirked before swinging Rocky upwards, striking Charizard and sending him high into the air and right into a bunch of jellyfish. Said jellyfish did not like getting knocked into and zapped him all over.

Charizard cried out in pain while Donkey, Flint and Rocky laughed at this. Charizard saw this and growled. He then flew downwards while engulfing himself in fire towards Donkey and Flint. Rocky's eyes opened up, only for his pupils to shrink.

"Flint! Donkey! Think fast!" Rocky shouted.

Flint snapped to attention with a dumb look on his face. Almost immediately, he pushed Donkey out of the way and took the Flare Blitz, being sent towards the ropes. However, the moment Flint flew over them, he managed to grab the top rope to not only save himself from elimination but also used the momentum from grabbing it to launch himself back at Charizard.

Charizard's eyes bugged out but then narrowed his eyes before flying away and avoiding a swing from Flint. The caveboy then tried again but Charizard just flew harder to avoid the Pokemon.

"Ugh, despite being a so-called heavyweight, he is just flying away from me!" Flint scoffed.

"Of course! You are fighting him with a STONE axe. He is a dual Fire AND Flying type!" Donkey pointed out, rolling his eyes. "He is terrified of his wea… Um, father because he is a… Um, living embodiment of his 4 times weakness!"

Flint and Rocky both blinked twice before shifting their eyes towards each other before back at Donkey. The latter paused.

"Umm, it means that you could hit him very, very, VERY harder than usual." Donkey pointed out.

"Ohhhhh!" Flint and Rocky said.

Charizard overheard this (how could he not? The comment came from DONKEY) and was not pleased. Sure, Donkey was accurate about Charizard being wary of Flint's stone axe but did he have to phrase it like THAT? Immediately, he summoned another rock from Rock Smash but instead of headbutting it, he merely threw it at Flint and Donkey. Donkey yelped but Flint narrowed his eyes before swinging Rocky at the incoming boulder, destroying it.

But that was when Charizard did a flying tackle towards Flint while he was recovering from his own attack, knocking the time detective to the ground and startling Donkey. Charizard then swung his tail at the burro but the latter yelped before ducking under the attack before doing a short hop and kicking Charizard in the stomach with his hind legs.

The winged lizard's eyes bugged out before staggering back with the wind out of him. By this time, Flint flipped back onto his feet and ran towards Charizard to do a horizontal swing. However, Charizard recovered in time before using Fly to zoom over the attack. Flint growled in frustration. Donkey noticed this and frowned.

Then, his ears perked up. "Hey, I think I know how to take that guy down."

Flint turned towards Donkey. "Really?"

"Yeah, think fast!" The quadruped smirked.

With that, he ran towards Flint and did a charging headbutt towards him out of the blue. This ended up with Flint flying up. Donkey then did a handstand on his front legs before managing to balance Flint on his hind legs. Charizard blinked twice as Flint flailed his arms in confusion.

"Um, what kind of circus act?" Charizard asked.

"What? Everyone in Shrek Super Slam could perform grabs!" Donkey reminded. "I… Just have to take some creative liberty for MY grab."

"Uh-huh. And what do you intend to do?" Charizard continued while crossing his arms with a bored look on his face.

"THIS!" Donkey smirked.

With that, he leapt up and somehow threw Flint at Charizard. At first, the time detective was even more bewildered but the moment he saw Charizard's look of horror, he smirked while reading his stone axe.

POW!

Swinging Rocky as hard as he could like a baseball bat, he sent Charizard soaring like a bullet towards the barrier, crashing back-first into it. After lying there out cold, he peeled off before dropping into the elimination portal like a stone, unaware to fly back.

Flint gracefully landed on the ground before giving Donkey a thumbs up and a grin. "Hey, thanks, man!"

"Indeed! That was quick thinking!" Rocky agreed. He then had a grumpy look in his eyes. "Even though you could have warned us!"

"And let that glorified lizard potentially get away again?" Donkey asked before laughing. "Sorry, not sorry!"

Charizard landed in Paladins. Particularly he landed on top of Drogoz who was flying behind Moji for a sneak attack, sending the two winged lizards into the ravine Drogoz was flying over. Moji and her familiar, Po-Li, turned towards the direction where the two fell to see no one. They then looked at each other, shrugged and proceeded to help their team capture the point.

(Dome; Electrician's Office)

Cole MacGrath winced as he watched the screen showcasing the tournament or rather at the moment, what happened to Charizard in his elimination node.

"I am SO glad that Charizard was unconscious when he fell into the water. Too bad about the other dragon-wannabe." Cole noted.

Suddenly, he heard knocking on the door. At first, he looked at it confused. Then, he groaned before walking over with a grumpy look.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it is Lien Neville for more or less throwing her off her game when she entered the tournament." Cole muttered. "Hey, I didn't tell her to react like the grace of Drake from Drake of the 99 Dragons."

Realising that there was no controlling his fate, he sighed before walking over to the door and answering it.

Imagine his surprise when he saw that it was a certain smirking serial killer. standing outside of the door.

"F-F-Freddy Kreuger!" Cole jumped.

With that, he was about to get out his amp to defend him but it was too late as Freddy blew green dust from his hands into Cole's face. The electromancer's eyes widened as he stepped back. Then, his eyelids started to go heavy before collapsing on his back, unconscious.

Some of the cast of Xuan Dou Zhi Wang then joined the sneering Freddy.

"Heh. Credit with credit is due, nice move." Jack admitted.

"Thanks. I got it from Mortal Kombat." Freddy smirked.

With that, he walked over to Cole before crouching down and putting his hand on top of the latter's head. Shirley raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, I thought the Entity prohibited you from killing." Shirley said.

"They did. I don't have to kill him! I just have to trap him in a nightmare coma." Freddy admitted. He then got back up. "Andddddd he isn't coming back up anytime soon."

Ell Blue smirked. "Perfect. Now onto the next phase."

Freddy nodded his head. "Yo, Geese! Shall we?"

The despair clone of Geese nodded before walking forward. The two then went over to the control panel. Freddy then put his hand onto the clone's shoulder before he started to shapeshift again. This time, into Diaboromon.

"You're sure that you are able to hack into everything?" King asked.

"Are you kidding!?" Freddy laughed. "If the dude could hack the ARENA ITSELF, then this is child's play."

"Yeah, even now, I am still stunned that MAGIC could be HACKED." Ell Blue admitted, rubbing his chin.

"Well? Where do I begin?" Freddy asked.

"Nothing yet." Ell Blue said.

He then smirked.

"Let's do it at the END of the current section."

Everyone else shared the same smirk while they all silently nodded. This would definitely change up the tournament."

(Dome; Rooftop)

Cruella De Vil, Jasper and Horace continued to sit on the roof while holding their arms and shivering. Yes, they were still trapped up there.

"Did I mention how much I regret ever working for you?" Jasper muttered.

"Oh, I think you have mentioned it." Cruella admitted. She then got angry. "The last thirty-seven times!"

"I must admit, Jasper, even I am starting to get annoyed by it." Horace muttered, glaring at Jasper. "Even if she deserves it every single time!"

"Well, if I am going to freeze to death, I just want to know how much I hate her." Jasper spat.

"Well, I hate the both of you too!" Cruella spat.

"Shocker." Jasper muttered.

Before the three could say anything, they heard a voice.

"Cruella De Vil?"

Cruella, Jasper and Horace's eyes bugged before turning their heads to Oume Goketsuji looking shocked. However, after a few seconds, she narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, I get it. This is for the washed-up villains of UVR to feel bad for themselves." Oume spat.

Cruella immediately got offended. "How dare you!?"

"Well, am I wrong?" Oume asked. "All of your power came from Soul Edge. And considering that Soul Calibur thought about not coming back in risk of history returning itself, you won't be seeing it anytime soon."

Cruella growled before looking away while crossing her arms.

"Well, fuck off, it is my turn." Oume spat.

Cruella, Jasper and Horace turned to Oume confused.

"Wait, what?" Horace asked.

"Look, I really, really, REALLY don't want to talk about it! All you need to know is that I am the latest washed-up UVR villain and I need a place to sulk so I get lost!" Oume spat, jerking her thumb towards the door.

Needless to say, Cruella, Jasper and Horace were confused but even someone as self-centred as Cruella knew not to complain about water when in a desert.

"Um, alright." Cruella said before turning to Jasper and Horace. "Come on, boys."

The two didn't need to be told twice as they ran off towards the door while passing Oume. The elderly woman didn't need to pay them a single glance, even when Horace closed the door behind him. Oume just sighed to walk over where they were previously sitting and squatted down.

"At least I should be alone from both heroes and villains at the moment." Oume muttered.

(The Arena)

Duke punched his fist forward but Samus Aran raised her arms to block the incoming attack. However, the bounty hunter ended up skidding back on her feet. Regardless, she recovered in time before charging up her arm cannon. Despite not having projectiles, Duke just narrowed his eyes. Samus then fired a fully-charged shot at Duke but the dark-haired man just sent out his arms which sent a giant wave of dark energy which acted as a shield to negate the projectile.

Suddenly, he felt a painful jolt in his leg. Wincing in pain, he glared down at the guilty party to see it was Pikachu after kicking at his leg. Duke growled but tried to punt Pikachu away but the electric Pokemon ran to the side. Pikachu then had his tail glow white before spinning around but Duke jumped back to avoid Pikachu's Iron Tail.

However, that left him wide open for him to have a missile fly into Duke's back and exploded. Duke crashed onto the ground hard before he weakly looked back to see Samus aiming her arm cannon at him. He growled before getting up while getting out his jellyfishing net.

"...I can't believe I am saying this but I am glad that I didn't break or throw this away." Duke muttered.

With that, he looked above him. As if by chance, he saw one jellyfish flying over him. Giving a smirk, he swung above himself and managed to catch it with his net. Samus and Pikachu blinked twice before looking at each other in confusion. Then, Duke pulled on his net as if it was a slingshot. He then launched the jellyshot straight at Samus. The bounty hunter wasn't expecting this and took the jellyfish to the helmet.

While this didn't hurt Samus, obviously due to her Power Suit, it still stuck to her as she struggled to get it off. Duke smirked before running over and doing a leaping dropkick forward. The dropkick hit Samus head on, knocking her down. Duke then got up and made his way over to pin onto Samus and grabbed her head before slamming it against the ground. Pikachu's eyes widened before narrowing them and summoning a ball of electricity before getting ready to hit it towards Duke.

Only for him to see Pichu's writhing on the floor in pain.

Pikachu's eyes widened as he sent out his Electro Ball forward. However, it missed Duke and ended up flying away to the side. Ironically, Duke noticed this and was stunned how the projectile flew up like a mile. Samus took her chance and slammed her arm cannon against Duke's head, stunning him long enough to put her arm cannon into his chest and shot an uncharged burst of energy, sending him off of him.

The two then got back up with Duke making the first move by punching forward but Samus turned into her ball form and rolled away while leaving behind a bomb which exploded and sent Duke staggering back. Pikachu looked determined and charged up electricity.

"Pika…."

"CHUUUUUUUUU!"

Pikachu's eyes widened before sending out his lightning bolt. However, it went into an erratic fashion. Somehow, managing to zigzag AROUND Duke. As the red-and-black-clad man looked with wide eyes the lightning bolt continued onwards.

Until it hit Clairen dead on. Her ally and opponent, Ike and Gill respectively looked in shock as the force from the lightning bolt sent Clairen out of the ring.

Clairen landed in StarFox where Panther Caroso hit on her. The former blinks three times before punching him in the face with her free hand.

Back in the arena, EVERYONE was thunderstruck by what was happening.

"Um, wow, I know that clumsy eliminations are common at these things but…" Poochy said before frowning. "For some reason, this feels… Off."

Rilla Roo turned his head to the side while scratching the side of his cheek, trying not to look like he was remotely responsible.

As several people started to talk among themselves, Pikachu looked around at the reactions. His ears then dropped before looking down. Samus felt sorry for him.

"Most disappointing."

Samus and Pikachu (and Duke) raised their heads to see Gill walking towards them with a frown.

"I could forgive the accidental elimination of the young man with the… Unfortunate voice." Gill explained. "However, after seeing what happened to that panther, it is clear that your head is not in the game."

Pikachu winced as Samus glared at Gill.

"Hey, Kasumi didn't start off too hot either!" Samus scolded.

"True, she also started with two clumsy eliminations. But that was mostly because the entire arena was covered in mist." Gill retorted.

"In hindsight, it is a miracle that Kasumi was the ONLY one who had an elimination like that in that section." Duke muttered.

Gill ignored him as he continued. "Not only is the air clearly… Well, clear, Lion and Clairen weren't even near your fight when Pikachu accidentally eliminated him. Once is forgivable but twice? Yes, it is clear that he isn't ready."

"S-So?" Samus shot back. "Pete came into the Tournament of Kikai with… Whatever he was trying to accomplish he got three eliminations!"

"Well, Pete's introduction was… Ungraceful, it more or less made him more determined to make up for what happened." Gill admitted. "Which is the complete opposite of Pikachu right now. If I was you, I think you should put him out of his misery and throw him out of the ring."

Samus growled behind her helmet. "And where do YOU get off deciding that?"

"I respect your determination to defend your nodal companion, but it is clear that it is blinding your judgement." Gill said before getting into a stance. "I have no choice but to take matters into my own hands."

"Then, I have to do the same!" Samus snapped, aiming her arm cannon before looking down at Pikachu. "Just take a short break to focus! I will be right back!"

Pikachu weakly nodded as he walked to the side. Duke blinked twice before grumpily crossing his arms.

"Anddddd I am being completely ignored." Duke muttered.

"Pyrokinesis!" Gill shouted, making the first move and started a fireball from his hands. However, Samus sent out an uncharged energy ball forward, causing the two projectiles to cancel each other out. Samus then fired a missile at Gill but the half-red, half-blue man easily swatted it away. However, this left him wide open for Samus to launch her energy whip beam at him.

When the grappling beam connected with Gill, Samus pulled him forward towards her and proceeded to punch his face in. Gill grunted in pain before kicking his foot forward, catching Samus in the stomach. Despite Gill being in pain due to him kicking an armoured person with his bare foot, Samus was still sent flying back. Gill then ran forward and leapt up before diving down knee-first and crashing onto Samus' stomach.

Despite being fully armoured, Samus still felt the wind being knocked out of her. However, while still in pain, she aimed her arm cannon at Gill's torso and fired a missile, knocking the blond man off of her. But while Gill had a painful crash onto his back, he got up with Samus doing the same as well. Samus then fired another missile. This time, blue. However, Gill calmly raised his blue hand and caught it, startling Samus.

"As much as I am glad that we would get to see more weapons besides the ones you use in Smash, do you really think an ice OR fire attack would be that effective against me?" Gill reminded. "CRYOKINESIS!"

With that, he used Samus' ice missile to send out a sphere of cryomancy forward. Normally, it would just be as big as Gill's earlier fireball but due to Samus' projectile, it got bigger. However, Samus was able to act quickly and turned into her Morph Ball for the projectile to go back. She then rolled forward but Gill just frowned before slamming his blue foot on the ground which froze part of the grass and made it harder for Samus to roll, forcing her to get back into her standing position.

"Ugh, no wonder people who played Street Fighter III despised him so much." Samus muttered. "Good thing I only have to throw him out of the ring but how."

Suddenly, her eyes widened in realisation. She then aimed her arm cannon and fired another blue missile. However, it ended up going OVER Gill's head.

Gill blinked twice before shaking his head. "It seems that you Smashers are letting your usual streak at these things get the better of…"

SMASH!

That was when a frozen jellyfish dropped from the sky and right onto Gill's head. The long-haired man's eyes widened at this. His eyelids then started to go heavy before collapsing on his knees. Samus smirked behind her helmet before running over and using her grapple beam to throw Gill out of the ring before he had a chance to snap out of his daze.

Gill landed in Kingdom Hearts II where he got surrounded by Volcanic Lord and Blizzard Lord. He promptly defeated him in three minutes.

Back in the arena, Samus proudly nodded to herself before turning to Pikachu (With the jellyfish used to land on Gill's head grumpily flying away). She then made her way over to him.

"Hey… Are you okay?" Samus asked.

Pikachu slowly nodded.

"...You two done?"

Samus and Pikachu's eyes widened before turning around to see Duke stomping over while looking grumpy. The former two then paused before looking down at each other.

"Well?" Samus asked.

Pikachu paused before nodding again.

"Okay, let's try this again…" Samus said.

Meanwhile, Ike watched with blinking eyes. Donkey then walked over to Ike's side, sharing the same expression.

"Umm, what's going on?" Donkey asked.

"I'm… Not sure. I WANT to say that it is related to what happened in Section Four but I think it is more than that." Ike frowned.

"Section Four?" Donkey asked. His eyes then widened in realisation. "When Pichu entered the arena!"

"That's right. He and Samus left the locker room together." Ike explained.

"Do you think it is another villain plot?" Donkey asked.

"I don't see how it could be not." Ike sighed, shaking his head.

"Dang…" Donkey frowned with his ears drooping.

The two then shared an awkward silence.

"...So wanna fight?" Donkey asked.

Ike let out a deep sigh. "Sure, why not… So do you have to fight you AND your ally?"

"Nah, we split up because I wanted to go solo for a bit." Donkey shrugged. "Besides, he already found a new ally."

Landis's uncovered eye bugged out before flying to the side. Just in time to avoid a vertical stone axe swing. Flint Hammerhead frowned after missing him as he landed on the ground. Or rather the back of somebody.

"Um, nothing personal, Scooby but you have to bounce a little higher." Flint offered while sitting on top of Scooby.

"Hey, get me some slack, I usually use these to AVOID enemies!" The Great Dane insisted while looking at the springs on his feet.

"That's fine, I am not used to riding on someone other than my Ridon." Flint admitted. He then brightened up. "Just keep at it and leave the combat for me!"

Scooby nodded his head before bouncing off again using the springs on his paws. Landis' uncovered eye widened before flying backwards but Scooby continued to bounce after Landis. Then, after one big bounce, Flint leapt off of Scooby and swung Rocky downwards. However, the Winger thought quickly and blocked the incoming attack.

But Flint had super strength and while Landis blocked the attack, the latter was still sent flying back. Flint then smirked before throwing Rocky like a javelin. Landis' eye bugged out before flying to the side out of the way. But while Flint was still in the air, he managed to grab Landis by his leg and did a flip before throwing him onto the ground hard. The Grim Reaper groaned as he laid on his back, staring at the ceiling lights.

Then, from the side of his uncovered eye, he saw Rocky climbing onto the nearest corner post (somehow seeing that he didn't have any hands). He then turned around before leaping off of it to land on Landis head-first. The Winger's eyes widened before rolling to the side to avoid being smashed into the ground by Flint's attack and acted quickly by swinging his scythe into Rocky, knocking him away.

However, Landis had no time to breathe as Flint ran over and did a jumping dropkick so the former flapped his wings and flew up to avoid the attack. He then swung his scythe downwards but Flint leapt backwards to avoid the attack. Then, Scooby ran underneath Flint so the latter could land on top of him. While the caveboy was taken back, when he saw Scooby looking at him with a smile, he smiled back.

"Now, go get my dad!" Flint shouted. Scooby nodded his head before running towards Rocky who just now got up just in time to his son and their ally running towards him. Wasting no time, he jumped back into Flint's hand. The three then faced Landis who frowned.

"Ugh, out of all the luck for the Grim Reaper to run into." Landis muttered. His uncovered eye widened in realisation. "Wait… Luck?"

Narrowing his eye, he flew straight towards Scooby and Flint. But while Scooby yelped, Flint just narrowed his eyes while swinging Rocky at Landis. However, the Winger flew to the side and avoided the attack before swinging his scythe for a counter attack. But Flint was strong AND fast as he quickly turned around and blocked the incoming attack. Landis merely flew back to retreat and started to encircle the alliance.

"Scooby, start bouncing!" Rocky shouted.

The Great Dane nodded before bouncing on his springs again so that they wouldn't be so easily hit. However, Landis was anticipating this and merely continued to circle around Scooby and Rocky. Suddenly, Landis flew UNDERNEATH Scooby while the latter was coming back down. Landis then flew up and did an upwards attack which struck Scooby and sent the canine and Flint falling down.

Landis then smirked before spinning his scythe at Flint and striking him multiple times. The time detective cried out in pain before he crashed onto the ground along with Scooby. The Great Dane groaned as Rocky got up.

"Alright, edgy-boy, I admit that you are stronger than you look!" Rocky boasted. "But my son has been hit worse!"!"

"D-Dad…"

Rocky's eyes widened before looking down to see Flint on the ground, looking like he was struggling to move.

"I… Can't move." Flint frowned.

Rocky gave a worried look in his eyes. "W-What?"

"Oh no! What's wrong!?" Scooby asked, running over.

Before the two could figure out what was wrong, Landis zoomed past them, startling the two and grabbed the downed Flint before flying over the ropes and dropping him into the elimination portal.

"Flint!" Rocky gasped.

"Yuh-yuh-yuh!" Landis laughed as he tapped his scythe against his shoulder. "Another victim for the Grim Reaper!"

Rocky glared at Landis. "Why you!"

With that, he lunged at Landis. However, an aura surrounded Rocky keeping him in place.

"H-Hey! Let me go!" Rocky demanded as he watched the Millennium Star float downwards.

"Apologies, but rules are rules. As Flint is the main fighter, you can't stay in the arena." The Millennium Star scolded.

With that, he threw Rocky out of the ring.

After being thrown into the elimination node, he got up to see Flint dusting himself off.

"Flint!" Rocky gasped, getting his son's attention. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I am." The caveboy said before sighing. "Whatever happened to me only lasted for a minute."

"Well, it was more than enough for that one-eyed guy to eliminate you." Rocky muttered.

"Well, at least I got at least one elimination." Flint shrugged. He then looked around. "Where are we, anyway?"

Suddenly, two cavemen who looked like they were the same size as Flint, ran past them while screaming their heads off. Raising an eyebrow, Flint and Rocky turned towards the direction where the two were running from.

To see an angry, large T-Rex running towards them.

POW! BIFF! SMASH! WALLOP!

Joe & Mac both winced before looking back at the painful noises they heard. They then turned around… To see Flint and Rocky standing triumphantly on top of an unconscious T-Rex.

Flint dusted his hands together before looking at Joe & Mac with a grin. "Don't worry, guys! I punished the naughty T-Rex!"

Joe & Mac blinked twice before looking at each other.

(Announcer's Booth)

"...Um, how much do you guys know about Joe & Mac?" Nine asked.

"We skimmed the game a couple of times but nothing more." Drake shrugged. "Why?"

"Is THAT why whenever someone shows up in Joe & Mac, it is ALWAYS at that particular chase scene?" Nine asked, raising an eyebrow.

Drake and Ashley's eyes widened in realisation before looking at each other.

(The Arena)

Scooby blinked twice, trying to comprehend what just happened. "W-What?"

"Fret not, the Grim Reaper is not merciless to grant a last request." Landis smirked, getting Scooby's attention. "In Suikoden III, everyone has skills, whether physical and magical, that they are either good or bad at. A skill I am good at is the Freeze where I could sometimes paralyse an opponent with my scythe."

Scooby's pupils shrank. "What!? How is THAT fair!?"

"To be fair, it is not guaranteed all of the time." Landia admitted before spinning his scythe. "So you could say I spin to win. Now where were you before that caveboy interrupted our fight."

Scooby's eyes bugged out before getting up on his hind legs and getting out his shovel. Just in time to block a downwards slash from Landis' scythe. The Grim Reaper's crooked smirk grew bigger as he went for a different slash, this time a horizontal slash. However, Scooby ducked underneath it before quickly headbutting Landis in the stomach. The latter's eye widened in pain as he staggered back.

Scooby then went on the offensive for once and leapt forward while swinging his shovel downwards. But Landis recovered in time to block the attack. As Scooby looked in horror, Landis returned the favour and kicked the brown-furred dog in the stomach, causing him to stagger back. Landis then flew forward. However, Scooby put back on his springs on his hind paws before pouncing over Landis' attack. Despite this, Landis just smirked.

"You can't escape the Grim Reaper that easily!" Landis boasted.

With that, he flew upwards after Scooby and swung his scythe.

…Only to hit nothing. Landis' uncovered eye widened before looking up to see Scooby floating down on a black umbrella. He then looked down before giving a dark smirk.

"BELLY BOMB!"

With that, he closed his umbrella and let himself fall downwards. Landis' eye bugged out.

POW!

After performing a belly bomb onto Landis, the two crashed onto the ground with Scooby's Great Dane weight, completely knocking the wind out of Landis. The latter laid dazed. Scooby sighed in relief as he wasted no time grabbing Landis' leg and dragging him to the ropes to push him underneath the bottom rope.

Landis landed in Spiderman where he reunited with his friend, Venom.

"Heh. I hope the people of the WWE saw me and are proud of what I did just now." Scooby smiled.

He then decided to look towards the tennis match between Snoopy, Garfield, Momo Karuizawa and Spongebob Squarepants. However, he then noticed Yukiko Amagi sitting not too far away. Particularly behind Momo and Spongebob's side. Raising an eyebrow, he walked over to the girl.

"Watching the tennis match?" Scooby asked, getting Yukiko's attention.

"Oh, yes. I know that I should be trying to get another elimination but I am a little tired at the moment." The pyromancer explained.

"I don't blame you." Scooby admitted, raising an eyebrow. "While it is not impossible for you Persona people to get an elimination, it is very rare for you to get two, let alone THREE."

"I know. I don't know how I lasted this long either." Yukiko shrugged. "I just tried not to think about it and the next thing I know, I am here."

"I suppose that is ONE way to survive a few rounds." Scooby muttered, shifting his eyes to the side. He then looked at Yukiko. "But are you sure that you want to be this close to the tennis match?"

The red-clad woman tilted her head to the side. "Why shouldn't I be?"

At the same time, Spongebob hit the tennis ball back to Snoopy and Garfield's side. Particularly at Garfield.

"Garfield, Snack Attack!" Snoopy shouted.

The tabby cat smirked. "Now THAT's what I am talking about!"

With that, he put away his tennis racket and got out… A fork in each hand. Suddenly, a table slide in from the side out of nowhere with a bowl of cat food in it. While most people looked confused, Momo and Spongebob looked on in horror as Garfield started to eat.

"Oh no! Garfield is using his Ultimate Shot!" Spongebob gasped with his hands on his cheeks.

Soon, Garfield finished his meal before kicking the table away. He then got out his racket just as the ball finally came forward before hitting it with all of his might. This suddenly made the ball zoomed forward while a comet. Momo and Spongebob had no choice but to run to the side as the ball continued to zoom.

…Towards a stunned Yukiko.

POW!

Scooby winced as Garfield's shot collided with Yukiko's face, sending the poor girl literally flipping backwards until she fell over the ropes with no hope of return. Needless to say, everyone watching was stunned.

Momo then gave a bored look. "Out."

Snoopy's ears perked up with shock. "Excuse me!?"

Momo turned towards Snoopy and Garfield. "That shot was out!"

Snoopy growled before stomping towards the net. "Are you out of your mind!? That was in!"

Momo narrowed her eyes before stomping forward as well. "I don't understand your language but I know a bad call when I see one! That was out by a mile!"

With that, the two started to argue with their respective partners walking towards them with different yet equally-negative reactions.

"Isn't the point of this tennis match to find out who is the CUTEST tennis player?" Spongebob frowned.

Garfield rolled his eyes. "When YOU are the sane one besides me, that is a REALLY bad sign."

Scooby blinked twice as he watched Snoopy and Momo fight with Garfield and Spongebob trying in vain to keep them apart. He then looked in the direction where Yukiko flew out of the ring and sighed.

"...You had to ask, Yukiko."

Yukiko landed in Tales of Phantasia where she and Arche tied poor Chester to a chair while they worked together to cook something for him. Fun fact: Both are terrible cooks.

(The Crowd)

The two particularly teenagers looked at the arena in interest. The first one was a boy clad in black with dark blue hair. The second one dressed like a mage with red hair.

Himiko Yumeno blinked twice. "Okay, wow, this tournament is not even half as chaotic as the Tournament of Kikai and yet the LATTER tournament didn't have a tennis match in the middle of it."

Shuichi Saihara chuckled nervously. "It just goes to show how wild these tournaments could be regardless of who is behind the Announcer's Booth."

"Tell me about it."

The two turned to see another teenager. This time, a girl with long, dark hair in two twintails while wearing a red sailor fuku.

"Ah, Maki. How goes the search?" Shuichi asked.

Maki Harukawa frowned. "...Well, I can't say for certain if Junko or Tsugumi is involved or even in the Crossover Dome."

Himiko looked worried. "...But."

"Even if they are nowhere near the dome, it seems that a lot of things happening in the dome are mirroring what is happening in the Tournament of Kikai." Maki sighed.

Shuichi and Himiko both looked upset at this.

"Are you kidding me!?" Himiko asked in disbelief.

"Unfortunately, I am not. Having a fighter killed and someone replace them, Junko's hideout underneath the Announcer's Booth being used, a knockout gas attack." Maki said before gesturing to the Announcer's Booth. "Oh, and of course, having a dangerous and powerful woman be the third host."

"...To be fair, Nine isn't THAT bad." Shuichi said, sheepishly.

"Yeah, compared to Junko." Himiko muttered, rolling her eyes.

"It gets worse. Apparently, one of the security team members has been arrested for suspicion of being a mole just like Tsugumi." Maki frowned.

Shuichi and Himiko gasped in horror at this.

"What!?" Shuichi asked. "Didn't Drake learn ANYTHING from the Tournament of Kikai?"

"To be fair, it remains to be seen that said security team member, who is Athena, is actually a mole." Maki admitted before shaking her head. "On the other hand, all of this could have been avoided if Drake bothered to screen the security team."

"It is ESPECIALLY jarring that one of said security team members WAS at the Tournament of Kikai." Himiko winced. "You would think that someone like Carmelita Fox would do this from the start."

"And for the sake of argument, if Athena ISN'T a mole, that means they are wasting time casting doubt against each other when the real culprit is somewhere in the dome." Shuichi frowned. "In other words, being TOO on-guard could cause problems too."

"All the more reason why we have to make sure the security team at the second Tournament of Kikai has to be hand-chosen by us." Maki said before rolling her eyes. "Lord knows we can't leave it to Xero."

"Yeah, ignoring the obvious fact that Xero was the one who brought Tsugumi in for once, didn't he call you hot when you were underage?" Himiko grunted in disgust.

"Ugh, don't remind me. It is a miracle that I didn't kill him at any point." Maki said, gritting her teeth at the memory. "So did you guys narrow down your choices?"

Himiko shook her head with a frown. "I mean I am getting there but it is harder than it looks. I shouldn't have to explain that there are a lot of mages in the multiverse."

"Yes, I called Della before coming back here and she told me that she is having trouble too." Maki nodded before looking at Shuichi. "What about you, Shuichi?"

The black-clad boy paused. "A while ago, I would say ditto."

He then looked at the arena, intently.

"But the more I look at the arena, the more it is easier to narrow down the choices."

(Dome; Security Team Room)

Everyone continued to look at the tablet where Benimaru Nikaido was speaking.

"Benimaru Nikaido, I assume that you have an objection." Carmelita said, crossing her arms.

"O-Of course I have an objection!" The electromancer sputtered. "Athena, you are seriously accusing not only Yan and Cloud but also ALL of the cast of Xuan Dou Zhi Wang as the ones behind everything!"

The attorney let out a deep sigh. "Unfortunately, yes, it matches up with everything that happened previously."

Wave narrowed her eyes. "Oh? Well, in that case, please enlighten us."

"Well, besides the obvious, Gabe IDed Cloud as the one behind the knockout gas attack in the Recovery Room." Athena reminded. "There are several roles that the cast will show. First off, the lock on Wario's locker was burned off. And there are two pyromancers in the cast: Yan and Blast."

"...Please tell me that is your big gotcha moment." Wave muttered.

"Pyromancers are the most common type of mancers in all of fiction." Kula frowned. She then scoffed. "Unfortunately."

"I know and I am just warming up. There, also need not only a pyromancer but an aeromancer as well." Athena added. "And Benimaru, isn't Shirley basically a balance Goenitz."

"Y-Yeah, but…" The blond man said.

"AND there is Sheva. He fights just like you, only with poisonous perfume instead of electricity." Athena added. "THAT could be used for the knockout gas attack!"

"H-He DOES have a large amount of perfumes. However, all of this is circumstantial at best!" Benimaru insisted.

"Yeah, how dare you accuse not only me but my entire node!" Yan snapped, looking furious.

Athena paused. "...Why?"

"Huh?" Naesala asked.

"Why do you think Xuan Dou Zhi Wang can't be the suspects?" Athena asked.

"W-Why?" Benimaru asked. "Isn't it obvious if you know them?"

"Well, we-a don't sooo…" Wario shrugged.

"Look, most of the people are good people. One fights crime fights at night and one exorcists evil spirits!" Benimaru pointed out. "Even Brazel, who ended up being the Big Bad, is one of the main heroes in the Majora's Mask-esque beat-em-up spin-off!"

Yan gave a small smile. "Benimaru…"

Athena again paused.

"I fail to see how that is relevant."

Everyone jumped at this before turning to Athena.

"H-Huh?" Benimaru asked.

"How does most of the cast of Xuan Dou Zhi Wang being heroes mean anything?" Athena asked.

"Umm… Because heroes don't do villainous things?" Rimururu asked.

"Yeahhhh, about that." Athena said. "Take a look around."

Everyone obliged with confused faces.

"Umm, what are we looking for?" Pepper asked.

"Let me be specific. Let's look at Otane's group that isn't in a cage or handcuffs." Athena challenged.

Tiny blinked twice. "Athena means Tiny and friends."

"Yes, despite you previously trying to aid Bison, you are currently here to try to clear Joe's name and by extension Dingodile and mine and find the clear culprit." Athena explained.

Moe sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I mean, he ISSSSSS my brother, after all."

Joe paused at this.

"Regardless, you decided to join us. It is not just us." Athena said. "In the second Battle of the Luminaires, both heroes and villains joined forces when they realised that Veigue Lungberg had gained control of Soul Calibur and became its unwilling host."

"That's because they are trying to save their own hide!" Carmelita scolded.

"As crude as Carmelita put it, her words are not inaccurate." Dhaos admitted. "Sure, the heroes would be just as much trouble but at the end of the day, the main target will be us villains."

"Even still, you still joined them. Also, in the Tournament of Kikai, several villains like Kisshu and Harley Quinn helped against Junko Enoshima." Athena explained. "Hell, even JURI HAN and KANO FROM MORTAL KOMBAT were technically on the hero in the original Okron Tournament before Volcarona ate one of the Triforce pieces and basically went Mothra on the Megamix Dome. Which I somehow just NOW remembered for some reason."

Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

(?)

Suddenly, a certain red-haired teenage-looking girl stood in an abyss with an annoyed look on her face.

"Honestly, I know you are trying to make Athena's point more prominent but there are more… I don't know organic ways for me to have everyone remember."

She then sighed before giving a lovestruck look.

"Lucky for you, there is NOTHING I wouldn't do for you, Tinyhammer."

Anddddddd we are going back to the trial.

(Dome; Security Team Room)

Wave shook her head. "What are you playing at, Athena?"

"Isn't it obvious? We had so many villains doing heroic things, even if it is for their own self-benefit." The yellow-clad woman said. "If it is possible for them to do that, why not in REVERSE?"

Everyone's pupils shrank at this.

"That's right. After everything that had happened, the lines between good and evil had gotten smudged." Athena explained. "So there is a chance that the group could be villains."

Wave winced. "Well, yes…"

"OBJECTION!" Benimaru shouted. "E-E-Even if that is true, you said that all of those villains have been forced to do heroic things, then by that logic, that should apply in reverse!"

"Y-Yeah. Why would we do something like that!?" Yan exclaimed.

Athena paused. "Because you feel entitled."

Yan was taken back by this. "E-Excuse me?"

"You felt like you were owed a spot in the third Battle of the Luminaries." Athena pointed out.

"Um, why?" Brio asked.

"Because Yan… Was supposed to be in the second Battle of the Luminaires." Athena said.

Yan's eyes bugged out as everyone looked at each other in confusion.

"Wait… Really?" Kyo asked.

"Anddddd how did you know this?" Jet asked.

Athena winced. "Umm… It is a long story. However, if we called Drake, he would tell us that Yan was part of the Mystery Fighter line-up."

"But… If Yan was supposed to be in the second tournament, then it sucks for him. But for him and his entire node to try to kill Drake, even to the point of killing Terry?" Benimaru asked.

"Because he was the ONLY Mystery Fighter that didn't make it into the third tournament." Athena reminded.

"Wait, really?" Ralf asked.

"Let's review: There is a list of only five known Mystery Fighters. And that is besides, Yan, Fiona from Shrek, Jago from Killer Instinct, Wolfrun from Smile Precure and Wade Hixton." Athena explained.

Joe's eyes widened at this. "Huh. I WASSSSS wondering about that."

"Huh, what do ya mean?" Dingodile asked, looking down at the Komodo dragon.

"Well, before Yan and I fought each other, he sssssaid something about being a better pick than 'a stereotypical hillbilly boxer and a basic wolf twink." Joe explained. "Granted, the desssssscriptions are quite vague but seeing that Wade AND Wolfrun were both in the tournament."

"And Fiona and Jago not only got invited but also got their own nodes." Athena nodded. "Leaving Xuan Dou Zhi Wang in the dust."

Yan winced at this.

"Now, Yan, you can confess to being invited to the second Battle of the Luminaries now or we could call Drake and ask him." Athena offered, narrowing her eyes.

Yan gritted his teeth before sighing in defeat.

"Alright, I admit it." Yan sighed. "I was in the second Tournament of Kikai."

Everyone's eyes widened at this.

"...I knew that these tournaments attract the obscure but Jesus Christ." Kyo muttered.

"I think that this goes without saying but I was supposed to enter the arena a few sections before the crystals and vines grew out of control." Yan frowned, looking down. "So you could imagine how things happen."

Everyone winced before glaring at each other.

"However…"

Everyone looked at Yan who had a determined look on his face.

"I, and by extension, my node, was NOT behind the garlic attack." Yan said. "That would assume that we were the ones who killed Terry Bogard."

"That's right!" Benimaru piped up. "Terry was a Guest Fighter in Xuan Dou Zhi Wang, just like me! We all became friends! Why would they do that?"

Athena frowned. "That's…"

"...Inadvertently giving us the final piece of the puzzle."

Everyone turned towards Carmelita.

"C-Carmelita?" Athena asked.

"Look, I still have more questions but I DO know this." Carmelita said. "We have long established that whoever killed Terry was trusted by them, making it easy to help steal the garlic."

"W-W-Wait, not you too." Benimaru sputtered.

"I am sorry, Benimaru. If it was before Sly 2, I would be casting doubt on Athena's theory." Carmelita said before sighing. "However, after being betrayed by Neyla AND the Contessa. Just because they are on the side of 'good', that doesn't mean they wouldn't be villain-in-disguise."

Athena gave a small smile. "Carmelita…"

"Furthermore, while I admit that all of what Athena suggested is circumstantial at best, the one concrete thing we DO know is that Cloud, Yan's nodal companion, was behind the knockout gas attack!" The Interpol agent said, narrowing her eyes. "Yan, if you know anything about this, you better tell us now."

The pyromancer jumped at this. "Excuse me!?"

"Indeed. The only people who know Cloud besides Terry and Benimaru are his nodal companions." Gabe nodded. "You should know where they are."

"Um, well, what about you, Wave, do you have any objections?" Yan asked, looking at the swallow.

Wave paused before letting out a deep sigh. "I still think that Athena is making up excuses."

Yan's eyes lit up.

"However…"

Yan's smile vanished as Wave glared at him.

"We DO need to know where Cloud is." Wave admitted.

"Yeah, you are his nodal companion. You should have his number at least." Jet noted.

"The sooner-a you'll find him, the sooner we will find out the full truth." Wario nodded.

"But… But…" Yan sputtered.

"Yan, please… Just help out." Benimaru pleaded.

The red-haired young man jumped. "What!? Not you too! I thought you were on my side!"

"I AM on your side! I am doing this BECAUSE I believe in you!" Benimaru insisted. "I don't want to believe that you or Cloud were behind everything that everyone told me but no matter what, covering for Cloud after he was IDed in the Recovery Room would do more harm than good."

"Not everyone believes that we were the true culprits but Cloud DID do something suspicious. It is only fair to interrogate him." Kyo said.

"That's… That's…" Yan sputtered.

Joe paused for a moment. He then gave a dark smirk.

"Besides, sssssurely you would know that you would get creamed if you did enter the second Tournament of Kikai." Joe reminded. "It was a mercy kill for you to not enter it."

Yan paused before looking at Joe.

"A… Mercy kill?" Yan asked.

He then stayed silent before looking down with his hair covering his eyes.

"Yes, a mercy kill. Dude, no matter how you look at it, do you honestly think you wouldn't be an early elimination?" Kyo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yan continued to stay silent.

"Hey, this is no time to contemplate your navels." Carmelita scolded.

Again, Yan stayed silent. Suddenly, he jerked his head up in surprise.

"...Oh, sorry. I was just distracted when I thought about Wade Hixton." Yan said.

This confused everyone.

"...Wade Hixton?" Lloyd asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you interacted with him when he entered the arena, didn't you?" Yan asked. "He was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. Even when he has the coldest reception in the section, even when compared to Prince Charming and Rufus. Even when he was literally a punching bag for Tawna Bandicoot in the first few seconds, he was still happy to be there. Even though he was the first one out of the tournament."

He then breathed in and out.

Yan then narrowed his eyes.

"...What an entitled loser."

Everyone jumped at this.

"He was from a Punch-Out clone that only got released for the Game Boy Advance. It doesn't even have a page on TVTropes and its Wikipedia is lacking." Yan said. "Did he really think that he would get ONE supporter? Like at all."

He then sighed before looking to the side while crossing his arms.

"Xuan Dou Zhi Wang may not have been that big but it was SOMETHING you know. Not only did it get a spinoff but it has TWO Guest Fighters." Yan reminded. "Said Guest Fighters are from the very franchise we are 'ripping off'."

"Y-Y-Yan…?" Benimaru asked, stunned.

"What are you…?" Whip asked.

"Sure, we fell off in the end. But so what? Who DIDN'T fall off?" Yan asked. "Like I don't know… Krizalid and Mukai."

The two King of Fighters characters' eyes widened at this.

"Did you really think ANYONE but Drake would pick you for a King of Fighters roster. Even the USA Sports are more iconic than you two!" Yan said. "You weren't even in the final boss of your respective arcs! You were just the glorified opening acts!"

Krizalid and Mukai both growled at this.

"Also, what are you Babylon Rogues so arrogant not only at these things but in your games? Did you jobbers actually think that you could keep up with SONIC THE HEDGEHOG?" Yan asked in disbelief before rolling his eyes. "Sonic is literally just being polite and a good sport! He could literally run circles around you guys!"

The Babylon Rogues all looked in shock at this.

"...We screwed up." Jet muttered.

"BIG time." Storm frowned.

Wave just continued to look thunderstruck.

"Oh, but people who didn't get invited to the tournament aren't exempt for this! Let's look at the security team!" Yan said before counting down on his fingers. "We have the protagonist of a Metal Gear Solid clone, someone from the Fire Emblem which everyone is getting fatigue on due to their protagonists infesting Super Smash Bros, the unofficial mascot of a glorified depraved bara genre visual novel, someone who is from a clone of Overwatch which by the way, isn't even an official playable character, a worn out joke of having Ace Attorney characters join situations they are way over their heads. Hell, not even the so-called leader is immune! She is one of the most prominent characters from Sly Cooper! Except it didn't get a fifth game or even a TV show despite Sony being hinting at it! They would rather remaster hyper-realistic games that have only been out for five years!"

The security team all had varying reactions to this, all of them negative. Carmelita's eyebrow twitched as she was this close to getting out her shock pistol. Gabe narrowed his eyes while crossing his arms, not looking pleased. Horkeukamui merely frowned, looking more annoyed than angry. Naesala, actually looked the least insulted, merely looking bored. Pepper narrowed her eyes before holding up her potion gun, ready to fire a potion. Finally, Athena merely closed her eyes.

She then opened them with a stern glare.

"...So are you just going to confess or are you really going to make us believe that you are innocent?" Athena asked.

"Yan… Don't tell me… That you actually…" Benimaru sputtered.

The pyromancer let out a deep sigh.

"Ugh… What a lame way to go out like this… I hope the others will have better luck than me…" Yan muttered.

He then smirked.

"But yeah… The garlic attack. Terry's murder. The knockout gas attack. It was all by Xuan Dou Zhi Wang."

Everyone looked on with wide eyes and slack jaws upon hearing what they were told. Except for Athena who just glared at Yan. She was about to say something.

Until something rang out through the intercom.

"Would both Wario and Wave the Swallow make their way to the Recovery Room to enter the arena?" Drake's voice called out.

Everyone paused at this.

"...Well, THAT'S-A anti-climatic." Wario muttered.

"Really, I think this may be the best possible timing." Wave piped up.

Everyone looked at Wave who sat up.

"...Everyone has to know the truth." Wave said, sternly.

"Wait, are you really going to do that?" Kula asked. "Isn't that against the rules?"

"What else could we do? Sure, we may interrogate Yan all we like but he probably wouldn't rat his buddies out." Wave said. "We have to warn everyone."

"...Then-a what?" Wario asked. "I can't believe I am saying this but is entering the tournament really that important right now?"

"Ah mean technically ya ARE right."

Everyone looked towards Dingodile who had a surprisingly serious look on his face.

"But even though ya will eternally be a lock at these things, that doesn't mean ya should take it fer granted." Dingodile scolded. "It is a rare time that ya get ta do things that ya are unable ta do in yer home node. Besides, if ya drop off because of this, ya would be indirectly giving THESE entitled bastards the win."

"Dingodile…" Tiny frowned.

Wario paused for a moment. He then narrowed his eyes.

"Good point… Wave, let's-a go." Wario said, finally.

Wave nodded her head before picking up her board. The two then walked towards the door with everyone watching them. Kyo frowned before looking down at the tablet.

"H-Hey, you've been silent for a while, Benimaru?" Kyo asked, concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yan…" The electromancer's voice sputtered.

The Chinese young man merely looked in the direction of the tablet with a bored look on his face.

Suddenly, electricity surrounded the tablet, startling everyone.

"HOW FUCKING DARE YOU BETRAY OUR TRUST!?"

(The Arena)

Sora narrowed his eyes before swinging his Keyblade as a series of projectiles flew at him.

A series of bones. Despite the bizarre projectiles, Sora merely swatted them away easily. However, Poochy decided to make up for his failed long-range attack by running on all fours. Sora quickly leapt over the incoming Poochy while smacking the dog into the rear with his Keyblade. Poochy yelped before falling onto his face before turning around and glaring at Sora.

Only to see a fireball heading towards his way. Poochy yelped before running to the side and avoided the projectile. He then growled before swinging his ears upwards and somehow summoning a sea green bear cub out of nowhere which ran forward. Sora's eyes bugged out, wasn't expecting this so the bear bowled him over and sent him crashing on the ground.

Poochy then jumped up and… Somehow glided forward towards the downed Sora before landing on top of his back. As the Keyblade-wielder cried out in pain, Poochy crouched down and proceeded to scratch at Sora's back. The latter winced in pain before spinning around and knocking Poochy off of him. Sora then got up and used a Cure spell to summon himself with a green light, healing his wounds.

However, this left him wide open for Poochy to charge forward with a shoulder-charge, striking him in the face multiple times. Despite being in pain, Sora thought quickly and did a flip, kicking Poochy in the face and sending him into the air. However, the dog-like man managed to self-right himself in midair and started to glide away. But Sora narrowed his eyes.

"You are not the only one who can glide!" Sora boasted.

With that, he started to jump up and glide after Poochy, resulting in an odd gliding chase as they moved their way around the arena. Suddenly, Poochy started to shake, startling Sora. Then, Poochy got engulfed in a flash of light before falling and crashing on the ground. When the light, it was revealed to be Kinta Kokuin. He groaned before propping himself on his hands.

"Ugh, I have forgotten that the transformations don't last long." Kinta muttered.

Sora landed on his feet with a frown. "...If it makes you feel any better, I would prefer to keep fighting Poochy longer."

"And WE would prefer to watch Poochy longer." Samus muttered from the side.

Several people, especially women, agreed with Samus. Kinta's eyebrow twitched at this.

"ALRIGHT, ALREADY!" Kinta roared.

With that, he got up and ran towards Sora while flailing his arms wildly. The teenager yelped before jumping to the side. Kinta then turned around, starting to flail his arms at Sora. However, Sora just frowned before aiming his Keyblade at the ground, resulting in a burst of wind which sent Kinta literally flipping back and sending Sora up in the air. Kinta quickly got up and glared at Sora.

Before summoning a giant carp fish out of nowhere and rode it at Sora. The Keyblade-wielder was not expecting this and took the carp to the torso before collapsing on the ground. After leaping off of his carp, Kinta smirked before holding up his hand and summoning a disc of electricity before throwing it downwards. However, by this time, Sora broke out of his daze and yelped before rolling to the side.

"Deep Freeze!" Sora shouted, pointing his Keyblade and shooting shards of ice at Kinta who just landed on the ground. However, the Kindergartener smirked before getting out an axe out of nowhere and swinging it at the incoming projectile like a baseball bat. This actually went the Blizzard spell back at Sora, striking him with coldness. Kinta smirked before rushing over and lunging at Sora. However, the teenager was able to recover in time before holding up his Keyblade to plunge it into Kinta's stomach before throwing him away.

"...He is very strong despite his age." Sora noted. "Maybe he would possibly be a fan-favourite if he bothered wearing some underwear."

Meanwhile, Kinta got up with a smirk. "I'll give you credit, mister. You are one tough cookie! It looks like I need more help to take you down!"

Sora raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And how? From what I saw, your ally is still fighting my previous opponent."

Kinta then smirked. "Who said about official fighters?"

With that, he put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. At first, Sora looked confused. Then, he noticed a bunch of jellyfish floating down to Kinta's level. The Asian boy smirked before leaping onto the jellyfish before using them as a collective floating platform. Sora looked in shock as Kinta crossed his arms, triumphantly.

"Wow… You are a beast tamer!" Sora said in awe.

"Yep! I could communicate with animals and befriend them!" Kinta said before throwing down his net. "I don't even need this net to get them to help take you down!"

Sora paused for a bit. He then frowned.

"Um, don't take this the wrong way but you DO realise that you basically just gave this fight to ME?" Sora asked.

Kinta's smirk vanished. "W-W-Wait, what?"

Sora then pointed his Keyblade up.

"Magnet."

Then, an orb with a vortex surrounding it appeared over Sora's Keyblade. Before Kinta could ask what was going on, he felt himself and all of the jellyfish he was standing on towards the vortex where they ended up swarming around it.

BZZZT!

Sora winced as Kinta and the jellyfish were engulfed with electricity. However, the jellyfish were from the electricity, zapping in self-defence and desperation from being sucked by the Magnet spell. Kinta, on the other hand, was not that lucky. When the electricity stopped, all of the Jellyfish flew away in different directions, leaving Kinta face-first on the ground, charred and smoking while twitching. Sora sighed before walking over to Kinta.

"Sorry about that." Sora apologised before picking up Kinta and throwing him out of the ring.

Kinta landed in Crayon Shin-Chan where he made friends with the titular protagonist. Much to everyone's chagrin and horror.

He then sighed before looking down. His eyes lit up when he saw something on the ground.

"Sweet. His net. Now I can go back to jellyfishing!" Sora grinned before picking up Kinta's net and walking off.

Rilla Roo yelped before running to the side to avoid a pair of thrown knives. However, while he was distracted, Sadira did a diving kick to Rilla Roo's face and sent the gorilla-kangaroo staggering back. Sadira gave a dark smirk before rushing forward and slashing Rilla Roo in the chest with the claws on her arm bracers. Rilla Roo winced before spinning around with his tail.

However, Sadira flipped backwards to avoid the attack before getting out more knives and throwing them at Rilla Roo. However, the hybrid was prepared for it this time by getting out his spiked mallet to block it. He then got out his flamethrower pogo and started to bounce towards Sadira while holding onto his pogo with one hand and holding his mallet with the other to swing.

But Sadira rolled to the side to avoid a swing from Rilla Roo's swing. However, the gorilla-kangaroo swung his tail at Sadira, smacking the Thai woman in the face and sending her sprawling to the ground. Rilla Roo smirked before bouncing towards Sadira, intending to burn her with his pogo. However, Sadira snapped out of her daze and sent out her web lines at the ropes to avoid getting burned.

Rilla put away his mallet to get out his arm cannon to fire two energy shots at Sadira. But the assassin easily slashed through them before lashing out her web lines at the ceiling lights before swinging from it and kicking Rilla Roo in the chest, knocking him off of the pogo. Sadira then got out two more knives and threw them at the pogo, making it explode. Rilla Roo yelped in horror before glaring at Sadira in anger.

"Mad? Consider this your punishment for you and your fellow furry ally to interrupt my fight with that Keyblade-wielder." Sadira sneered.

Rilla Roo growled before aiming his arm cannon and firing more energy shots. However, Sadira easily ran to the side to avoid them. Rilla Roo didn't let up and fired more shots but Sadira easily dodged them before the projectiles before rushing towards Rilla Roo while reading his claw at an alarming speed with the hybrid not being able to run out of the way.

…Only for her claw to hit nothing but air. Sadira blinked twice, wondering where Rilla Roo had gone. Suddenly, she heard something behind her. She went to slash behind her but she wasn't quick enough as Rilla Roo punched her in the face and knocked her down. She groaned before getting up.

"Oh, right. I have forgotten that you are part-kangaroo." Sadira muttered.

Rilla Roo smirked before getting into a boxing stance. Sadira narrowed her eyes before dashing forward and swinging her claws at Rilla Roo's legs. However, the gorilla-kangaroo used his tail to hold himself up to put his hands up to avoid the slash. He then returned the favour by kicking both of his feet out and sent Sadira sprawling across the ground.

Rilla Roo smirked before running over and picked up Sadira by her throat, holding her tightly. Sadira winced as she held his hand and tried to free herself but she found herself not able to do so. It was time for Plan B.

"Wait a minute, Rilla Roo…" Sadira asked, struggling to speak. "Did you ever… Have the feeling that you are being watched?"

The hybrid's smirk vanished as he raised an eyebrow.

"That the eyes of strange, eerie things are upon you…?" Sadira asked.

Rilla Roo then started to look nervous as his face was covered with sweat beads. Suddenly, Sadira pointed at the crowd.

"Look, right there in the audience." Sadira said.

Rilla Roo looked up and once he did, his eyes bugged out in horror.

"PEOPLE!"

Rilla Roo then dropped Sadira and ran off screaming bloody murder. However, he ended up running towards the ropes and ended up tumbling over them and out of the ring.

Rilla Roo landed in Donkey Kong Country. Unluckily for him, he landed in Coral Capers, an underwater level. Fortunately, Enguarde was there at the time and carried the gorilla-kangaroo before he could drown.

Sadira merely smirked as she crossed her arms.

"That was admittedly more of a rabbit move than a spider move but I will take it." Sadira noted.

THONG!

Sadira raised an eyebrow to see the tennis match between Momo Karuizawa and Spongebob Squarepants against Snoopy and Garfield still going on. She also noticed Scooby, Link, Kid Cobra and Meredy & Quickie watching it. Though from a distance seeing what happened to Yukiko. Sadira blinked twice before walking over.

"...Why are you all wasting so much time and energy on this farce?" Sadira asked.

"I mean I am not the biggest fan of tennis myself, I won't deny seeing a match in the middle of a FIGHTING TOURNAMENT is too good to not watch." Kid Cobra admitted.

Sadira paused before sitting down. "...So what is the score?"

"Snoopy & Garfield and Momo & Spongebob tied so now they are in a tiebreaker." Link answered.

"So the match should be ending before the section is over." Sadira noted.

Scooby, Link, Kid Cobra and Meredy winced at this.

"Well…" Scooby frowned.

"Out!"

Sadira turned towards the tennis match where Snoopy was grumbling approaching the net and angrily barking at Momo.

"What did you mean 'bad call'!?" Momo exclaimed. "News flash: When the ball hits the exact middle of the outer part of the edge of the front part of the back part of the line, it is considered out!"

Snoopy shot back.

"Of course I have been calling all of your calls bad since we started!" Momo snapped. "Everyone YOU and your partner hit was OUT! Everything ME and my partner hit was IN!"

Sadira gave a bored look. "Ohhh…"

Meanwhile, Garfield had enough before stomping over to the barking Snoopy and grabbing him by the collar towards the end of their side. Despite this, Snoopy was still trying to argue with Momo. Garfield then angrily slapped Snoopy in the face.

The beagle glared at his partner. "What!?"

"Ignore the fact that you are making me exercise, if you and the mixture of Molly Volley and Nermal don't stop arguing with each other, this match will NEVER end." Garfield scolded.

"But I refuse to let that brat beat me!" Snoopy scolded.

Garfield gave an exasperated look. "Look, if we all survive this section and the match is STILL going on, you and Momo will be the first people to make it to the next section WITHOUT getting an elimination under their belt. Which wouldn't be too bad for me but I don't think you could like that."

Snoopy raised his free hand to argue back. Only to freeze when he realised that Garfield was right. He then sighed in defeat.

"Alright, you made your point." Snoopy sighed. He then paused. "In fact, I think I know how to end the match once and for all. But we have to force Spongebob to use HIS Ultimate Shot."

Garfield raised an eyebrow. "Alright, but it better be soon."

"Hey, fleabags, are you going to talk or are you going to play!?" Momo snapped.

Snoopy and Garfield glared at Momo before looking at each other and nodding before going into position. Snoopy then bounced a tennis ball a few times before serving it towards Momo. However, the pink-and-white girl smirked before hitting the ball back. Garfield acted quickly and hit it back with Spongebob doing the same.

This resulted in a rally between the four tennis players with the onlookers in the audience AND the arena looking in awe, wondering how it would end. Then, Momo hit a drop shot towards Snoopy. The beagle then smirked before running towards the ball and hitting it.

BLAP.

Instead of a powerful volley, it was a weak shot that while still going over the net, it was still easy to hit back. Everyone looked confused by this. However, Momo smirked.

"Hey, Spongebob!" Momo shouted, getting her partner's attention. "How about you use your Ultimate Shot?"

The sponge's eyes lit up at this. "Oh boy!"

With that, he put away his tennis racket and got out his spatula to catch the ball with it. He then proceeded to get various ingredients to create the signature Krabby Patty.

However, Snoopy smirked before getting out an item. A green Capital P. By this time, Spongebob had finally created his Krabby Patty with the ball inside of it. Pulling his spatula back, he hit it with all of his might and sent it towards Snoopy and Garfield's side with it turning into a speeding comet.

…At least at the start, it then stopped in mid-flight before freezing in midair. Everyone looked with blinking eyes.

"Um, is this part of your Ultimate Shot, Spongebob?" Momo asked.

"N-No… None of us Nicktoons have an Ultimate Shot that ends up like this." The fry cook admitted.

Momo paused before walking over to the ball. She then went to grab the Krabby Patty ball.

THAT was when it decided to unfreeze.

"AIEEEEEEEEE!"

As if you expected anything else, Momo screamed as she held onto the Ultimate Shot as it took off like a bullet. It would have zoomed clear over the net but due to the last-second weight, it ended up zooming into the tennis net, taking it with her. She ended up sprawling across the ground with the net wrapping around her. By the time she finally stopped, she lay dazed with the net covering her entire body save for her head.

Everyone stared dumbfounded by what just happened. Snoopy on the other hand, smirked before speaking.

Scooby blinked twice. "Um, Snoopy says that seeing that there is no more net, we can't continue our match."

Kid Kobra frowned through his helmet. "Well, THAT'S… Anti-climatic."

"And yet somewhat fitting." Sadira sighed.

By this time, Momo snapped out of her daze before glaring at Snoopy.

"Hey, you used one of your Power Mode items from Snoopy Tennis!" Momo roared. "That's not fair!"

Link blinked twice. "...But by THAT logic, shouldn't the Ultimate Shots be banned altogether?"

"She DOES have a point, Momo." Spongebob frowned. "You never said what TYPE of tennis match it should be."

"Ugh, whatever!" Momo spat. "Just get me out of him."

Snoopy then gave a dark smirk which made the Gorin student shrank back.

"Aww… Pickled plums…" Momo muttered.

Snoopy then skipped over to the tied Momo. The beagle then grabbed onto the edge of the net before pulling on it as hard as he could. This ended up freeing Momo but also sent her rolling across the canvas while screaming at the top of her lungs before moving underneath the bottom rope.

Momo landed in Mario Tennis Aces where she got into a rematch with Petey Piranha. She fared much better than in the first Battle of the Luminaries though she could do without dodging tornadoes.

Samus Aran lashed out her Grapple Beam at Duke. However, the black-and-red-clad man easily caught the beam with one hand, not only startling Samus but also pulling on it to slam her from left to right. Pikachu gasped before glaring at Duke and rushing towards him. However, Duke saw him coming and swung Samus around like a flail, knocking her into Pikachu and sending the two sprawling on the ground.

As the two Smashers were sent sprawling, Duke smirked before running towards the two before leaping up into the air and attempting to land on them. However, Samus managed to snap out of her daze in time to quickly grab Samus with her free arm and fire the Grapple beam to grab a bottom rope and pull herself towards it for her and Pikachu to avoid being stomped in the ground.

While Duke was recovering, Samus sent out an uncharged shot at Duke. However, Duke got out his net and pulled on it like a slingshot. He then fired a jellyfish, causing it to crash into the energy shot. As the poor jellyfish flew away dazed, Duke got out another net and fired another jellyfish. However, both Samus and even Pikachu ran to the side to avoid it.

"...I WAS wondering what you were doing while I was fighting that long-haired man." Samus noted.

"Yeah, I WAS thinking of sucker-punching you and Gill after one of you gets eliminated first as punishment for ignoring me." Duke explained before smirking. "But catching as many jellyfish to use against them is valid."

Samus narrowed her eyes behind her helmet. "You think I have dealt with floating jellyfish in my home node?"

"Oh yeah, let's prove it to me here and now." Duke smirked.

Samus then turned into her Morph Ball and started to roll around in a zigzag fashion. Duke's smirk vanished as he struggled to keep an eye on her. However, he quickly punched the ground which sent Samus (and any nearby people) into the air. Duke then went to kick Samus away. Only for the armoured woman to break out of the Morph Ball to do a dropkick to Duke's face.

As Duke staggered back, Samus ran over and did a series of arm cannon backhands and kicks to Duke's face and stomach. While they obviously hurt a lot to him, the dark-skinned man managed to send his own fist into Samus' face, knocking her away and onto her back. With Samus stunned, Duke readied his net again and sent another jellyfish forward.

However, Pikachu ran in front of Samus to take the jellyfish to the face, shocking him and knocking him down. But due to being an electric Pokemon, he quickly sat up. Meanwhile, Samus snapped out of her daze before firing an ice missile over Duke's head which froze a jellyfish which dropped like a stone. But Duke thought quickly and raised his arm to grab it before it could land on his head.

"Do you really think I didn't see that trick you used on Fabio!" Duke smirked before throwing it forward back at Pikachu and Samus. However, Samus easily swatted it away. Pikachu then ran forward and leapt onto Duke. He then zapped red-and-black-clad man with electricity. Duke cried out in pain while trying to shake Pikachu off of his leg. Samus then smirked behind her helmet before charging up energy in her arm cannon.

By this time, Duke had enough by grabbing Pikachu and throwing him away. While spending a good few seconds zapping, he merely panting heavily.

"Ohhhh, Duke."

The bulky man's eyes widened before looking in the direction of Samus' uncommon sing-song tone to see her firing a fully-charged energy shot. Duke had no time to run out of the way and took the projectile head-on and while being sent flying backwards until he fell over the ropes.

Duke was one of the few people to actually land in his home node. He got up while dusting himself off with a grumpy look on his face.

"Tch… Once again, I got eliminated without a single elimination under my belt." Duke muttered. "At least I didn't go out immediately like Lien or Soiree."

"Ah, President Antonov. Or should I say, EX-President Antonov."

Duke raised an eyebrow before turning around to see five stern and well-dressed people.

"While our meeting is based on pure luck, it is inevitable that we will meet up sooner or later." One person said.

"Do you really think you could put off paying off your debt forever?" A second person asked.

Duke blinked twice before pointing at himself. "Um, I am NOT Antonov."

"Oh, come now. Do you really think your ridiculous outfit will fool US?" A third person shot back.

"To be fair, you REALLY did all-out with your disguise by tanning your skin, restyling and dying your hair and wearing clothes that you don't usually wear." A fourth person said.

"But you can't hide your physique or Russian accent." The last person scolded. "Hell, we saw your node. You may hide your name but your node is still under King of Fighters All-Stars. While there are no other muscular Russians in KoF."

Duke paused for five seconds. He then clenched his fist while charging his fist in dark energy, making the five jumps.

"Umm… Antonov… Since when could you do THAT?" The first person asked, looking scared.

Duke didn't say anything. He just ran forward.

(Eliminated Seating)

The King of Dinosaurs turned towards Antonov who was grinning from ear to ear. "Loving this?"

"Quite." The blond man answered while crossing his arms.

(The Arena)

Donkey yelped before running to the side to avoid a downwards slash from a two-handed sword. He then ran to kick Ike in his side. The blue-haired winced before holding his side with his less-dominant hand. However, he recovered in time to block the next kick. While Donkey was recovering on his own attack, Ike shoved his sword forward while doing the same to the quadruped.

Donkey fell onto his back but quickly got up and ran forward again. Ike then did a horizontal slash but Donkey leapt over it before countering with a double kick with his hind legs. However, Ike wasn't completely slow as he managed to cut underneath the attack in time. As Donkey landed back on the ground, Ike did his own kick, striking the quadruped in the face and sending him staggering back. Ike then crouched down before zooming forward while swinging his sword.

However, Donkey recovered in time and leapt over Ike. He then got out his jellyfishing net with his mouth and used it to glide away. He then made his way towards a low jellyfish before swinging at it, catching it. He then swung his net to send the jellyfish to Ike. …Only for the jellyfish to go past Ike. The blue-haired man blinked twice before looking at Donkey.

Donkey then narrowed his eyes. "Aw, come on! I am a quadruped! Of course my accuracy isn't the best!"

Ike rolled his eyes before making the first move and running forward. Despite this, Donkey narrowed his eyes as Ike ran forward and swung his sword forward. Donkey then did a flip, kicking his feet at the sword. Much to Ike's surprise, the kick managed to deflect his sword back. While the mercenary was stunned, Donkey ran forward and headbutted Ike in the stomach. Ike's eyes widened as he staggered back with the wind knocked out of him.

Ike soon recovered before standing up straight. "You are fighting surprisingly fiercely."

"Yeah, ignoring the fact that I kinda had a… Weak start, I am determined to break the curse!" Donkey said, sternly.

Ike blinked twice. "Um, what curse?"

"Yeah, for some reason, none of my nodal companions have lasted more than two eliminations." Donkey sighed.

"Ah, NOW I get it." Ike noted. "If it was just the supporting cast, it would be more understanding but…"

"But Shrek and Puss have both failed to survive their second section." Donkey frowned. "Which is really weird because I just have a feeling that Shrek was going to survive the section but fell at the last moment."

"So you think you would be the one to end the curse?" Ike asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course! Sure, I don't have my own movie like Shrek and Puss but I am still as prominent as them!" Donkey smirked. "Hell, I appeared in Father of the Pride and not those two!"

Ike blinked twice. "Um, father of the whatnow?"

Donkey's smirk vanished. "Hey, Father of the Pride wasn't great but it wasn't BAD either. Look, let's just go back to fighting."

Ike just sighed, silently agreeing with Donkey. He then did a short hop and swung his sword around him. However, unlike Eizen, Donkey knew of Ike's infamous Nair and yelped in fear before throwing himself to the ground and ducking. Ike then punted Donkey in the head and sent him sprawling away. While the grey-furred animal was on the ground, Ike started to charge up blue fire in his sword.

However, Donkey snapped out of his daze to scream before running away as just Ike planted the sword in the ground. But while he was able to avoid most damage and knockback from the explosion of Ike's attack, he was sent flying forward and crashing onto his face.

"Ugh… I think I got too accustomed to having an ally." Donkey muttered. "I was hoping to survive this section without using this but THIS is an emergency."

With that, he got out something. Ike's eyes bugged out in realisation when he saw it was a Smash Ball.

"Pegasus Dung! I have forgotten that Shrek Super Slam had Final Smashes!" Ike winced.

Donkey then broke the Smash Ball which surrounded himself with a rainbow aura. Letting out a loud shout, he ran forward headfirst. Ike yelped before jumping to the side while getting out his own Smash Ball with his free hand.

Only for Donkey to turn around and zoom back at Ike, managing to plough into his stomach.

SLAM!

Ike was sent flying straight towards the barrier like a rocket. However, the moment he collided with the barrier, he bounced off of it and flew to the other side of the barrier, crashing into it as well. Donkey laughed as Ike continued to bounce around the barrier before finally dropping into the portal like a stone.

"Oh, and FYI, Shrek Super Slam came BEFORE Super Smash Bros Brawl so technically WE had seniority over 'Final Smashes' first!" Donkey smirked.

Ike landed in Shovel Knight where he got into a duel with Black Knight.

Guy narrowed his eyes to jump back again to avoid a slash from a broadsword. However, he had to jump away from an afterimage from the slash. Despite her attack failing, Es hardly had a reaction as she merely swung her broadsword downwards. But Guy easily flipped to the side before getting out his muramasa and running over to the slash Es in the side.

While the attack was a success, when Guy went in for another slash, Es merely raised her sword to block the blow. She then shoved her blade forward, causing Guy to flip backwards. After the ninja landed on his feet, Es swung her sword in a horizontal fashion, sending afterimage (or as she calls them Crests) at Guy like a projectile but the latter easily ran out of the way.

Guy then proceeded to run circles around Es while keeping an eye on her. However, the blonde just watches while managing to keep her own eye on Guy. Then, Guy leapt up into the air and got out his jellyfish net to catch a nearby jellyfish. After landing on the ground, he proceeded to keep running around before finally going straight at Es with a sliding kick. But the swordswoman saw the coming and did a low sweep with her sword.

However, Guy anticipated and not only leapt over the slash at the last minute but also sent his jellyfish into Es' face, zapping her. As she stepped back, Guy ran forward and did a series of slashes with his muramasa, striking her multiple times. Es kept grunting in pain (though they STILL somehow felt monotone) but she found an opening and kicked Guy in the stomach and sent him sprawling back on the ground.

Guy groaned before sitting on. "...When I hit her, she feels organic and yet she never displays a single emotion. Who or WHAT is this girl?"

Es then went on the offensive by running forward and swinging her sword while creating Crest on each slash. Guy kept jumping back to avoid the slashes easily but while he was also doing the same with the Crests, the latter was more trickier to deal with. Soon, a Crest hit Guy in the side, causing him to wince. Es then did a downward slash, hitting Guy and sending him crashing into a corner post. Guy groaned before looking up.

Only for his eyes to widen when he saw Es doing a cross-slash, creating a projectile that was the same shape and sent it forward. However, Guy was able to do a backflip to land on the corner post to avoid the projectile. The red-clad man then jumped off before using his net as a gliding tool to move to the side. But Es swung her sword and sent a projectile Crest at Guy's net.

But Guy stopped the glide of the net (somehow) to land on the ground. Es then ran forward but Guy did a front flip to not only go over Es but grab her by the shoulders and slammed her into the ground. While Es was stunned, Guy did an axe kick into the blonde's back. Despite the hard blow, Es swung her sword and slashed Guy's legs which sent the ninja onto his side. Es then got up and stared down at her opponent.

"You have to leave. You have a mission to complete." Es said, matter-of-factly.

Guy was taken back by this. "W-What do you mean?"

"I do not know the details. But I felt that the will of something is commanding you to do something just like the will of the Azure does to me." Es explained.

Guy paused before pondering what Es meant. However, he didn't have much time when Es knelt down and grabbed Guy. Then, with a surprising amount of strength, she threw him out of the ring.

Guy landed in Sengoku 3 where he helped the protagonist quartet take down mooks for ten minutes.

Es nodded her head. "Target eliminated. Also, said target was elimination number seventeen so Section Seventeen is completed. Scanning remaining opponents."

With that, he looked at the remaining fighters. Sadira was carefully eyeing everyone while Meredy was singing a song to Quickie. Samus and Pikachu sat down with the former worried for the latter while Snoopy, Garfield and Scooby all tried to take a nap from all of the fighting. Finally, Donkey was trying to photobomb Kid Cobra's livestream, much to the snakeboarder's frustration while Spongebob was teaching Link and Sora how to "milk" jellyfish for their jelly.

Then, the familiar aura surrounded the fighters surrounding the audience. Then, they all appeared on the star platforms before the following fell off: Es, Meredy, Sadira, Donkey, Link, Scooby, Snoopy, Sora, Spongebob, Kid Kobra and then Garfield. Leaving Pikachu and Samus.

Garfield rolled his eyes. "Shocker. The next Superstar is part of the original Super Smash Bros twelve."

Donkey paused before inadvertently translating for everyone. "...Is it THAT predictable? We never had one of said twelve be the Superstar."

"Yeah, Kirby, Yoshi and to a certain extent, Link came pretty close but they never got it." Kid Cobra noted.

Samus paused before looking at Pikachu who had a contemplative look on his face.

Then, the final star platform fell on.

"Congratulations, Pikachu! You are the next Superstar!" The Millennium Star congratulated.

The electric mouse was taken back by this before looking around at the enormous cheer for him. Sure, he knew that he was popular but needless to say, he arguably had the worst showing out of the remaining fighters.

He gave a weak smile before waving to thank everyone.

Only for the lights to flicker, startling not only him but everyone else.

"W-What's going on?" Link asked.

"You don't think…" Sora frowned.

Then, static started to happen to all of the screens. Everyone looked at each other in worry.

(Announcer's Booth)

"W-What's going on?" Ashley asked, not liking where this was going.

"I-I don't know!" Drake frowned.

With that, he started to call a number before it started to ring. The two waited impatiently. However, they didn't get an answer.

"Come on, Cole… Come on!" Drake pleaded.

Nine paused before looking at the arena. Then, his eyes widened.

"Hey, something is writing on the screens." Nine pointed out.

Drake looked up. The static was still on the screens.

H.

HI.

HID.

HIDE.

Drake's pupils shrank when the word fully spelt.

"Hideo?" Nine asked, raising an eyebrow. "What does the Rival Schools teacher have to do with anything?"

"I am not sure." Ashley said. "Drake, do you…"

"N-N-No…"

Ashley and Nine turned to see Drake with a terrified look on his face.

"D-Drake?" Ashley asked, concerned.

"I-It can't be… Not here… Not now…" Drake sputtered

Suddenly, a fuzzy image of a face appeared on the screen.

Someone wearing a gasmask. Everyone's eyes bugged out at this.

Then, the screens started to go clear.

"Greetings, people. I am Psycho Mantis. And I will be your Junko Enoshima for the night."

RESULTS (19 Votes)

PIKACHU (SSB): 19:0 = 19 (Lion Rafale, Clairen)

SAMUS ARAN (SSB): 17:2 = 15 (Gill, Duke)

GARFIELD (NASB): 14:8 = 6 (Yukiko Amagi)

KID KOBRA (A): 12:7 = 5 (Seth)

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS (NASB): 12:8 = 4 (Infinite)

SORA (SSB): 12:8 = 4 (Kinta Kokuin)

SNOOPY (P): 13:9 = 4 (Momo Karuizawa)

SCOOBY DOO (SD): 13:9 = 4 (Landis)

LINK (SSB): 11:9 = 2 (Wan-Fu)

DONKEY (SSS): 11:9 = 2 (Ike)

SADIRA (KI): 10:9 = 1 (Rilla Roo)

MEREDY (ToAS): 10:9 = 1 (Adeleine & Ribbon)

ES (BB): 9:10 = -1 (Guy)

(ELIMINATED)

LANDIS (S3): 9:10 = -1 (Flint Hammerhead)

FLINT HAMMERHEAD (FtTD): 8:11 = -3 (Charizard)

SETH (KoFAS): 8:11 = -3

GUY (SFAS): 9:12 = -3

ADELEINE & RIBBON (K64:TCS): 9:12 = -3

CHARIZARD (SSB): 9:12 = -3

IKE (SSB): 8:12 = -4

LION RAFALE (VF): 7:12 = -5

DUKE (KoFAS): 7:12 = -5

WAN-FU (SS): 7:12 = -5

RILLA ROO (CB): 7:12 = -5

YUKIKO AMAGI (P4A): 8:14 = -6

MOMO KARUIZAWA (RS): 6:13 = -7

KINTA KOKUIN (PI): 5:14 = -9

GILL (SFAS): 5:14 = -9

CLAIREN (RoA): 6:15 = -9

INFINITE (StH): 4:15 = -11

Untouched Yellow Greatness: Pikachu is the second person to not get a single Die vote when getting the top slot just like his fellow yellow Superstar, Pikachu.