(The Arena)
The chaos in the ring had died down after the Power Stones were forcibly despawned. Most of the survivors from the previous section looked to be recovering energy for the next wave of fighters, though Engineer was still constructing a new sentry gun now that he apparently had the time. Grounder was poking a bit of exposed wiring under his eye and quietly asked Scratch if the two could ask Engineer to fix him up (he was promptly swatted upside the head for his question). Sakura and Squirtle were noticeably looking a little worn from their fierce battles so far but they both looked eager to continue the fight in their own way.
All of a sudden, the spotlights started shining on the entrance curtain at the top of the entry walkway, signifying to everyone present that the next fighter was about to enter. Everyone waited patiently (or impatiently, depending on how eager they were to see another fight start) for the next fighter to make their appearance as the entrance curtain was finally brushed aside…
"EMBER!" (BH)
Emerging from the curtain was a young-looking elf girl dressed in a green cloak, alongside what looked to be a full-sized wolf. Ember took the time to pet the wolf a couple of times before the wolf vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Ember to draw her bow and run down the ramp to the arena.
The Duck Hunt duo saw Ember land in the arena and making her way over. Thinking quickly, the dog pulled another clay disc from nowhere and prepared to throw it at the elf warrior. Ember was quick to fire an arrow with pinpoint precision, shooting the disc out of the dog's mouth and causing the dog to yipe and jump backwards.
"Stay your hand, beast." Ember scolded as she came over. "I'm not here to fight."
The dog tilted his head a bit and sat down curiously. The duck, on the other hand, seemed to be eyeing Ember suspiciously. The elf girl continued. "I make it a habit of fighting for and with the animals of the forest where I come from. Or…Well, where I originally came from, anyway." She explained. "If you'll give me a chance I'd like to see how well we can mesh as a team."
The dog and duck paused for a moment before the two looked at each other. The dog barked a couple of times while the duck was shaking his head, angrily squawking as he did before he sighed and seemed to relent on a bit further insistence from the dog. The dog turned to look at Ember and gave a nod.
The elf girl smiled. "I'm glad to see that you're willing to take the chance of a bit of a team-up." She mentioned. "I hope we don't disappoint each other."
"PLANT MAN!" (MM)
The plant-based Robot Master emerged from the curtain and played to the crowd a bit by extending a few vine-line whips from his hands and flailing them about a bit as he marched down the entrance ramp. Reaching the end of the ramp, Plant Man lashed out with another vine, grabbed one of the light fixtures hanging above the arena and swung himself into the arena on it, resulting in another cheer for the show.
Landing in the arena, Plant Man was suddenly hit in the face by a purple arrow-like projectile, making him stagger back a bit. Plant Man, with an annoyed expression, looked ahead and saw Toxtricity coming over, having shot the incoming Robot Master with a poison shot. However, the smirk Toxtricity had on his face seemed to falter when Plant Man didn't really look affected by the poison shot.
"Did you seriously just throw a poison projectile at me?" Plant Man asked. Toxtricity looked around awkwardly and shrugged. "Do…You not realize that the plant I'm based on is toxic already?"
Plant Man didn't bother letting Toxtricity answer and lashed out a couple of thorny whip-like vines from his hands at the Pokemon. Toxtricity quickly backpedaled away from the plant-based Robot Master, striking the vines with electric shot with enough force to get them to back away.
Plant Man cursed in pain as he retracted his vines that were now surging with electricity. "Forgot about that part." He muttered to himself. "Well, it's time I showed you a thing or two about flowers. I may not be reprogrammed by Wily anymore but I've still got a few toxic moves of my own."
"E. HONDA!" (SF5)
Coming out to a crowd cheer, the boisterous sumo wrestler gave a laugh and waved a few times before turning his attention to the ring and giving a determined smirk. Getting into a sumo stance, E. Honda charged down to the ring and leapt in headfirst, looking for a good opponent to face.
Grounder looked behind Scratch and saw E. Honda approaching from behind him. "Uh...Sumo wrestler at...Uh...Behind-you-o'clock, Scratch." He pointed out.
Scratch turned around as he eyes snapped open. "A sumo wrestler?!" He asked. "Oh, absolutely not! Those guys are WAY too tough to deal with!"
"Aw, come on, pal! I've never really clashed with a couple of robots before!" E. Honda laughed as he came over. "Might give me a little bit of a new experience while I hone by sumo!"
Before giving the two badniks a chance to react, Honda leapt into the air and lunged forward in his flying headbutt, slamming into Scratch's face and sending the chicken badnik sprawling. Grounder's eyes widened. "H-Hey! Jumping?! FLYING HEADBUTTS?!" He asked. "T-That isn't even sumo!"
"Of course it is! Allow me to demonstrate!" Honda laughed as he lashed out and slammed a palm into Grounder's face.
Scratch pushed himself to his feet and watched as Grounder was in the process of getting hit by Honda's Hundred Hand Slap. "Great. We end up against a sumo wrestler and he's one that doesn't even sumo properly..." He moaned as he jogged in to help Grounder with Honda.
"LUCAS!" (SSB)
(You make me feel invincible!)
(Earthquake powerful!)
(Just like a tidal wave, you make me brave!)
(You're my titanium!)
(Fight song raising up!)
(Like a roar of victory in a stadium!)
(You make me feel invincible!)
Nervously stepping out onto the entrance ramp and giving a timid-looking wave to the crowd, the blonde psychic boy glanced down at the ring and took a deep breath before quietly making his way down to the ring, stepping in before he decided to second-guess himself.
Stepping into the ring, Lucas set his sights on Crash, whom was still occupying himself by performing yo-yo tricks. Lucas silently approached Crash and cleared his throat while the bandicoot was mid-trick, causing him to jump and pull back on his yo-yo at the wrong time, causing the long string to wrap around him several times, tangling him up in a comically-long yo-yo string.
Lucas blinked. "Um...S-Sorry about that." He said, rubbing the back of his head. Crash mumbled to himself as he pulled himself free of the yo-yo string. "If...If you don't mind, I've always been curious about something, Mr. Bandicoot."
"Buh?" Crash asked curiously.
"I've...Just been wondering what it is about you that makes you tick." Lucas said. "Would you mind if I poked into your mind for a bit?"
Crash scratched his head and shrugged before nodding his head (complete with rattling sound). Lucas smiled. "Oh! Thank you! I promise it'll only take a second..." He said.
With that, Lucas focused his mental energy on Crash, trying to see if he could read his mind and find out what went on inside his head in order to have the kind of success he did in battle. Lucas honed in on Crash's mind for a moment as he could feel an image appear in his own mind, the inner workings of Crash's mind materializing before him.
...An image of hundreds of tiny copies of Crash himself simultaneously doing his trademark shuffle dance.
Lucas pulled himself out of Crash's mind and appeared confused for a moment, wondering what he had just seen. "Weird...Is there truly no method to his madness?" He asked himself. "He just...Does things for the sake of doing them?"
Crash grinned and held out a Wumpa fruit for Lucas. The young boy glanced at it for a second. "This may require a few more attempts..." Lucas mused as he got into a nervous, uneasy stance.
"KRATOS!" (PAS)
Standing proud (and very angrily) outside of the entrance curtain was the very-familiar Ghost of Sparta. Those familiar with Kratos, however, noticed that he looked a bit younger; this wasn't the old Kratos from his more-recent journeys, but rather his young, vengeful version that showed up in Playstation All Stars. Brandishing his trademark chained blades, Kratos set his sights on one person in the ring and stalked down with a determined look on his face that somehow still looked angry.
Squirtle saw Kratos stepped into the arena and smirked stepping forward and cracking his knuckles. "Squirtle!" He shouted at Kratos, as if signifying that he was ready for a fight.
Kratos walked right past him.
Squirtle paused and turned around to watch Kratos stalk away. "Squirt?" He asked, wondering why Kratos was passing up a fight with him.
Kratos set his sights on his target and drew his blades. "You." He said simply.
Sakura turned and saw Kratos coming over. "Uh...Me?" She asked.
"Yes. You're the strong one here." Kratos replied gruffly. "Until someone of otherworldly power enters, you're the one most-worthy of my time."
Sakura blinked. "Um...Well, I'm flattered that you think that highly of my abilities, but it's been a long time since I was champion here." She said.
"It matters not. You still possess a warrior's spirit and I don't see that often in someone so young." Kratos shook his head before giving a very-light smirk. "Don't worry, though. You have yet to do anything to anger me so I won't be fighting you to the death today."
"Um...Today?"
Kratos decided not to bother follow up and got into a stance. "We waste too much time! Let us begin!" He said gruffly. "Show me that champion spirit of yours!"
Sakura took a deep breath, wondering if she was ready to fight someone like Kratos. Telling herself that she had faced Bison and Akuma before, she got into a stance and flashed a smirk. "Okay! I'll try not to let you down!" She said eagerly.
"TINKER KNIGHT!" (SK)
Tossing a wrench to himself, a small, dark-haired man in a welder's mask and apron emerged from the curtain. Paying no heed to the audience reaction to his entrance, Tinker Knight casually made his way down the ramp and stepped into the arena, contemplating who he should go after first.
His first instinct was to go see if Engineer was up for exchanging schematics (Tinker Knight could really use the blueprints to those sentries for the next time Shovel Knight clashed with him), but when the mercenary's fully-built sentry turned its attention to him and started firing rockets at him Tinker Knight decided to try his luck elsewhere. He eventually found himself wandering over to Lord Hater, flanked by Mimikyu and Petey Piranha.
"Ah! Another potential minion, perhaps?" Lord Hater grinned in anticipation.
Tinker Knight chuckled sarcastically. "Hardly. I more consider you a big threat, and...Well, I suppose half of that is because of your help." He mentioned.
Lord Hater's smile promptly vanished. "H-Hey! I'll have you know that I'm VERY dangerous! I don't need HELP when I'm completely capable on my own!" He said.
"I've been keeping a tally on the amount of injuries you've sustained thus far." Tinker Knight mentioned as he produced a notepad from his apron and pausing a couple of seconds. "On second thought, maybe I can study you to see if I can unlock your secrets of durability. That would definitely help me in my endeavors."
"You think I would just spill my secrets to anyone, let alone someone who thinks he's too GOOD to work for me?!" Lord Hater roared. Mimikyu was quick to get into an aggressive stance next to Lord Hater and Petey just stared dumbly for a few seconds before glancing down at Tinker Knight, smiling and waving with a leaf arm, as if he didn't even notice the small knight until now.
"Well, I had anticipated that reaction, too." Tinker Knight shrugged as he pulled a remote-like device from his pocket.
All of a sudden, Tinker Knight was engulfed in a white light that expanded to enormous size. When the light cleared, Tinker Knight was now piloting a steampunk-looking mech with tank-like treads and a giant drill-like arm. The mech was so big that is was not only by far the tallest thing in the arena (very likely out of everyone for the entire night), but it towered over Petey, standing at least twice the giant plant's height.
Tinker Knight leaned out of the cockpit. "So...You going to start talking before or after we fight?" He asked.
Lord Hater stared up in silence, dwarfed by Tinker Knight's mech. "...Uh..." He said.
"You know what? Never mind. I feel like I want to see that durability in action firsthand anyways." Tinker Knight said as he started up his mech, bringing it to life.
Lord Hater screamed.
(Announcer's Booth)
SSBFreak held his head as he stared out at the ring in horror. "Oh, crap! Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!" He shouted.
"What did the cheesy guy do this time, boss-man?" Khall asked.
"Nothing! I-I completely forgot that Tinker Knight only uses his mech to fight!" SSBFreak said. "I-I should have registered him as a Big Guy because of that and I DIDN'T!"
"Uh...So?"
"Tinker Knight is now the biggest fighter of our ENTIRE ROSTER! That ALONE should have made him a Big Guy!" SSBFreak exclaimed. "And that says nothing of the fact that the mech multiplies his power by at LEAST a HUNDRED TIMES!"
"And...Why can't you just change it so that he's a Big Guy?"
"Because he's already in the ring! I may be able to alter Big Guy status of some fighters if I needed to but once they enter the arena things are set!" SSBFreak said in a panic. "Tinker Knight is literally driving a two-story mech around the arena and I can't do anything to change his status!"
"Couldn't we get help from the cheesy guy?" Khall asked. "Like, I'm sure he could make that mech disappear with a snap of his fingers."
SSBFreak held his head in his hands. "Not only is he likely ENJOYING this but he's probably in hysterics at the thought of something like this slipping under my radar while I was busy worrying about stuff HE'D try to pull." He moaned. "Knowing him that was probably the plan the entire time..."
(Dome; TF2 Locker Room)
Heavy Weapons Guy was holding his head in dizziness as Medic had a healing beam on him from his Medigun. The rest of the mercs sat around (minus Demoman, whom was draped over a bench, flat-out drunk, with a bottle of scrumpy in hand) as the Security Team looked to be asking Heavy questions, though Estel was noticeably favouring her side and holding her head in pain while Psymon was taking the time to wrench his dislocated arm back into its socket.
"Okay. So, just to clarify, you have no idea why you suddenly turned into a feral monster that tried to destroy everything in sight?" Estel checked.
Heavy shook his head in shame. "Memory is all fuzzy. I just...Remember catching person in locker room that wasn't supposed to be in here, then getting weird dust blown into my face. Things went blurry after then." He recounted. "Next thing I remember, I'm chewing on sandvich and falling asleep again."
"Wait! Someone was in the locker room when they shouldn't have been?" Scorch lifted an eyebrow. "But we have tech installed that is supposed to completely-prevent that from happening!"
Estel sighed. "Well, it appears that someone found a workaround, and it's also highly-likely that whoever you saw in the locker room was also the one that stole Mr. Hale's Australium." She said.
Spy lifted a curious eyebrow. "There was Australium HERE?" He asked quietly.
Scout rolled his eyes. "I know. If only we'd known 'bout that earlier." He lamented.
"Wait. How do we know it wasn't the guy in the suit?" Max asked. "I mean, maybe he used his disguise kit to turn himself into someone else?"
Spy stared flatly. "If I had a twenty-five pound brick of Australium on me, TRUST ME, I wouldn't even be here." He said.
"Well, what ELSE could it be?" Estel asked aloud. "I mean, Ditto didn't show up with the Pokemon and I don't think there are any OTHER shapeshifters in the roster lineup."
Max lifted a finger. "Uh...TECHNICALLY there's Zoroark." He mentioned. "He can shapeshift like Ditto; he just can't mimic moves."
Psymon grunted as he finally wrenched his arm back into its socket (Lucia looked horrified at the sight as Medic look momentarily intrigued). "Oh, and don't get us started on the Zelda baddies. Almost all of them are masters of illusion." He added.
"Oh, right! Sometimes I forget that behind the huge sword and cave-your-face-in punches Ganondorf is actually a master sorcerer." Max scratched his head.
Estel groaned. "Look, ignoring...ALL OF THAT...There's still the issue of how they got into the locker room in the first place!" She insisted. "None of them could get past the ID scanners!"
Max smirked slyly. "Zoroark could." He said.
Estel froze. "...What." She asked flatly.
"Like I said, Zoroark's a shapeshifter. He may not be able to mimic abilities but...I mean, fingerprints are technically doable, aren't they?" Max reasoned.
Estel was silent. "...And what, pray tell, would a Zoroark do with a brick of Australium?" She asked.
"Who knows? Maybe he's planning on posing as Saxton Hale and making a lucrative business decision with it?"
Saxton Hale paused and shrugged. "Eh, he'd probably make better business decisions than some of the ones I made." He said.
"Max literally just said that Zoroark may try to perform identity theft on you!" Estel exclaimed.
Saxton Hale laughed. "I'd like to see him try! I have a security inspection every day so that my employees know it's me and not a body double, so unless this mongrel can wrestle a two-hundred pound crocodile then he ain't gonna fool anyone!" He assured.
"He makes US go through the same security inspection once a week." Sniper folded his arms.
"I still can't feel my left kneecap." Scout whined.
Estel groaned and held her still-hurting head. "OKAY. Just...Is this a lead?" She asked. "Is Zoroark a viable-enough candidate that warrants us to look into him further?"
"I hope it isn't him." Lucia mentioned. "I kind of like the Pokemon...Well, except Gengar. That thing scares me."
"Hey, if it turns out he's the culprit then we gotta bust his skull like anyone else." Max shrugged. "I call dibs on his hair! I always wanted a red pompadour!"
After asking a few more questions, the security team filed out of the locker room to start their search, likely to hunt down Zoroark before he entered the arena. Homsar stayed behind, however, standing in silence, as he looked up at Heavy.
"...AaAaAaAaAaAahhhh! Mah sandwich-taster got turned inside-backwards!" Homsar said before levitating off the ground and doing stationary, airborne cartwheels out the door after the rest of the security team.
Scout blinked. "Uh...Do you guys just see that?" He asked.
"...Oh, you guys saw that too?" A very-drunk Demoman slurred as he pushed himself off the ground. "Clearly I ain't drunk enough, then..."
(Mushroom Kingdom...?)
Mario walked through the halls of what appeared to be Peach's castle. That said, everything about the castle seemed a bit...Off. Mario glanced around at the walls as he looked around; he could tell that it was still Peach's castle but...It wasn't the one he was familiar with. There was just something...Wrong...About it.
And then there were the holes. Holes EVERYWHERE. Holes in the walls, holes in the doors, holes in the walls BESIDE the doors; everywhere Mario looked there was another giant hole in the wall that either led into another room or into a void of black nothingness.
And that said nothing of the screaming, mangled and disfigured Goombas and Koopas littering the floor everywhere he went.
Mario cautiously approached a Koopa with a cracked shell, a bent leg and a crooked nose. It looked like he had been run over by a train and was somehow still alive. Mario looked down at the injured Koopa in shock. "What...What a-happened here?" He asked.
One of the Koopa's eyes snapped open (the other one was swollen shut) and started screaming. "N-NO! Get away! How are you not done yet?!" The Koopa shrieked. "Is once not good enough for you?! You need to come back for seconds?!"
Mario stepped back. "W-What are a-you TALKING about?" He asked.
"Oh, just stop! Just stop and end my suffering, already!" The Koopa yelled. "Go and beat King Bowser like you always do and we'll just be back at this next week! My bones won't have even healed by then and you're still just going to crush my skull with a door again!"
Mario looked around awkwardly as he backed away, ignoring the Koopa's repeated accusations of "You did this!". He turned around and continued on his way, stepping around the mangled minions and castle debris as he walked. The Koopa's words echoed in Mario's head as he explored the wrecked castle, peering through holes and doing his best to ignore the carnage around him.
Walking up a set of stairs leading to the next floor, Mario approached a star-door-with-a-massive-hole-in-it as it slid open anyways. Mario took a deep breath and started walking forward. Perhaps this world's Peach or Bowser had answers for him. He just needed to find them...
All of a sudden, Mario started feeling a little light-headed. Knowing what the feeling was, as he had felt it in all these tournaments he had entered in the past, Mario glanced at his hands and saw that he was starting to glow a bit, signifying that his time in this weird world was up and he was about to be whisked away back to the Megamix Dome's Recovery Room. Mario sighed, a little let down that he didn't find out more about this creepy parallel world of his but at the same time relieved that he didn't need to think about it anymore.
Suddenly hearing a high-pitched voice that sounded eerily similar to his own coming from behind, Mario spun around just in time to see a blur of red and blue flying up the stairs and straight at his face. Mario screamed and shielded his eyes as everything went white just as the blur was about to come into contact with him...
(Dome; Recovery Room)
Magyar groaned as they sat up in what looked like a hospital bed. The possessed suit of armour glanced around the room, seeing a couple of the other eliminated fighters from his section also recovering in beds, in addition to a couple more materializing in beds, having just finished the time in their respective elimination nodes.
"Oh! That was a fast recovery!"
Magyar glanced in the direction of the voice and saw Nurse Joy, one of the doctors on the medical staff, walking over with a clipboard. "Not many fighters are up almost instantly." She admitted as she flipped through her notes. "Honestly, I didn't even realize you were here since we've been a bit busy healing the...Less-fortunate losers of the Multiversal Matchups."
Magyar grunted as they pushed themselves into a seated position at the edge of the bed. "Yeah, well, there are a hundred of us in here. It's not surprising that we can recover quicker." One of Magyar's souls admitted plainly.
"I still think the concept of a being such as yourself is fascinating...A hundred souls possessing a suit of armour even after death in the afterlife of Valhalla?" Faust (the bag-headed doctor of Guilty Gear) admitted as he leaned into view from the other side of Magyar's bed. "You wouldn't mind if you stayed a bit longer, would you? I would like to run a few more tests."
"Aaaaand we're done here." Another of Magyar's souls said as they pushed themselves off the bed.
Nurse Joy sighed. "Just...Be thankful that the TF2 Medic is a fighter in this tournament because he otherwise would have likely been on the staff as well." She said.
"Yeah, she's got a point." Another of Magyar's souls piped up. "That guy's likely to try and trap us in a pumpkin just for the sake of doing it."
"Shut up, 13!" Several voices inside Magyar snapped at once.
Magyar stepped onto the floor and took a few steps towards the door to the Recovery Room, intending to leave and likely end up at the Eliminated Seating. However, after only a couple of steps, Magyar slowed down before stopping altogether. "That's...Odd..." One of the souls mused.
"What's wrong, Magyar?" Nurse Joy asked curiously.
"Does anyone else feel...Different?" The soul asked again. "Like...They're a bit lightheaded?"
"Yeah, I definitely feel weird. Something's not right..."
"...Yeah, I feel it, too."
"Are you sure you don't want to stay, Magyar? If any of your souls are feeling lightheaded then we may need to take a look at it." Nurse Joy explained. "The head doctor is out at the moment but when he gets back he can look at you."
"No, it's not that..." One of Magyar's souls insisted. "Something just feels...Wrong."
"How so?"
Magyar was silent for a few seconds, unsure of how to answer, before a lone soul piped up. "Um...Is it just me or...Does it feel a bit more...Roomy in here?" The soul asked uneasily.
Magyar froze, seemingly in terror. "Head count! NOW!" One soul boomed.
Nurse Joy and Faust stepped back as a lone soul flew out from the suit of armour and shouted "ONE!" before flying back into the armour. The instant it did, another soul left the armour, flew out a bit and shouted "TWO!" before turning around and returning to the armour.
Thus started a chain of souls leaving the armour to announce the next number in a line, as if each soul had been assigned a number, before they each returned to the armour one by one to let the next one have their turn. This went on for several seconds as the souls of Magyar continued to count their way towards 100. Faust appeared to be taking a few notes as he watched the perfect teamwork and synchronization of the souls despite how at odds they always seemed.
After what felt like half a minute of continuous counting upwards, the countdown seemed to finally be reaching the end as Magyar's souls continued to perform a head count.
"EIGHTY!"
"EIGHTY-ONE!"
"EIGHTY-TWO!"
Silence. Long, awkward silence.
Magyar looked at their hands and started a panic. "W-Where's 83? Where's 83?!" One of the souls demanded.
"I-I don't know! Nothing happened to us in the elimination node!" Another soul replied.
Magyar quickly turned to Nurse Joy. "Did any of you do anything to us to remove a soul?!" They demanded.
"N-No! I swear we didn't! Like I said, you recovered almost instantly and we've been so bogged down with healing injuries from the Multiversal Matchups!" Nurse Joy insisted.
"Fascinating! So...You somehow LOST one of your souls?" Faust said with great interest.
"H-How is this possible?! We've inhabited this armour for so long I thought we were all BONDED to it!" A soul insisted. "When did we lose 83?!"
"Dude, we were sharing an arena with SEVERAL soul-stealers!" Another soul reminded. "We musta came in contact with all of them at least once!"
"Things were so chaotic in the arena...Did we seriously not notice that one of us was missing until now?!"
"How long has 83 been GONE?!"
"Wait! Calm down; all of you!" Nurse Joy urged as she stepped up. "Surely there's something that can be done? The missing soul couldn't have gone far."
"We know. That's why we're going to FIND THEM." A soul said determinedly before turning and charging out of the Recovery Room, bursting through the door on their way out to start their search.
Nurse Joy sighed as she watched Magyar go. "Why, of all times, did this happen when the head doctor went for coffee?" She lamented.
(The Arena)
"LEONA HEIDERN!" (KOF)
Standing at attention outside of the entrance curtain, Leona glanced around at the cheering crowd before gazing out at the arena. She didn't see anyone in the arena she was told to watch for, Leona set her sights on Engineer, whom was putting some finishing touches on his now-level-three sentry gun, and leapt into the ring to make her way over to him.
Engineer's sentry came to life as Leona got close and opened fire with a barrage of bullets. Leona acted quickly by lashing out with her hands with lightning-fast reflexes. By the time Engineer turned to look at the sight, his sentry had used up its ammo clip and Leona looked unharmed. The blue-haired soldier stood up and opened her hand, dropping a handful of bullets to the ground.
"What in tarnation was that all about?!" Engineer demanded.
Leona adjusted her gloves. "You gun's tech is surprisingly well-crafted for the time period your game takes place in." She mentioned. "With a little modern upgrading it would be a huge tide-turner on the battlefield. We may be interested in purchasing your schematics later."
Engineer sighed and scratched the back of his head with his wrench. "Aw, shucks. It ain't like Ah appreciate the opportunity, ma'am, but Ah got a bit of a contract with Mann Co." He explained. "It ain't somethin' that can be broken that easily, either. Mr. Hale's made sure of that."
Leona sighed. 'Well, perhaps we can pull a few strings with him. The commander is nothing if not persuasive." She said as she put up her fists. "Perhaps I can give that tech of yours a bit of a test run in the meantime."
Engineer pulled out his wrench and turned to face Leona. "Y'see, Ah believe ya just said that my guns were hi-tech as it is." He said.
"Sure, but are they capable of handling someone with Orochi blood?" Leona asked, giving a very light smirk as she did.
"Huh. S'ppose Ah never really found that out." Engineer replied. "Just don't come cryin' if y'get shot in the face, ma'am."
"SCYTHER!" (PKMN)
(Seasons don't fear the reaper)
(Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain)
(We can be like they are)
(Come on, baby! Don't fear the reaper!)
(Baby, take my hand! Don't fear the reaper!)
(We'll be able to fly! Don't fear the reaper!)
Emerging from the curtain was a winged bug/dragon-like Pokemon with a pair of sharp-looking scythes for hands. Not bothering to cast a glance up at the music booth as the song was playing (he had to admit he at least appreciated the song choice even with Meowth's buthering of it with his singing), Scyther made his way down to the arena and started buzzing his wings, flying into the arena once he reached the bottom of the entrance ramp.
Plant Man looked up from his fight with Toxtricity just in time for Scyther to slice through a thorny vine like butter using one of his scythes. Plant Man yelped as he let go of Toxtricity and backpedaled. "Oh, no you don't!" He shouted. "I've seen sword-based Robot Masters so I KNOW what you're capable of around my vines!"
Scyther landed beside Toxtricity and looked down. "You okay?" He asked in Poke-language, though Plant Man could obviously only hear him talking his own name a few times.
"Hey, I was doing FINE." Toxtricity insisted. "No need to be a killjoy."
"Yeah, and that's why I had to save you from the killer PLANT." Scyther rolled his eyes. "Look, you're poison-electric. You obviously can't do much to a ROBOT."
Toxtricity grunted. "And you CAN?" He asked aloud.
"He's a PLANT-based robot. I can cut through him as easy as anything else." Scyther reminded, showing off a scythe.
"Look, bro. I was having FUN here. Taking him on is a CHALLENGE. That's kinda what I like about it." Toxtricity explained. "Now how bout you let me get back to it? You're kinda killing the vibe, here."
Scyther suddenly saw Plant Man moving out of the corner of his eye and kicked Toxtricity away as a giant, thorned vine slammed into the canvas in between the two Pokemon. "You two done bickering? I may not understand you but I can tell you two have beef." The Robot Master mentioned. "But it can wait until AFTER I'm done with you."
"Dude, look at what you did." Toxtricity whined. "Now he thinks we hate each other."
"If I had hands the first thing I'd do is strangle you." Scyther retorted flatly as Plant Man prepared to take them both on.
"SIMON BELMONT!" (SSB)
The crowd cheered as the classic Castlevania protagonist came out from behind the curtain (appropriately to a remix of the Castlevania theme), his whip and holy cross attached to his belt. Simon glanced around the ring at the people in it, as if scanning for unholy demons.
"No sign of any of the vampires or werewolves that were showing up tonight." Simon muttered to himself. He was tempted to go see if he could fight Lord Hater (the space tyrant SEEMED evil enough), but decided against it since it looked like he had his hands full trying to keep himself from getting crushed by Tinker Knight's giant mech.
Deciding to put off his quest to slay the forces of darkness until one actually showed up in the ring, Simon hit the canvas and wandered over to Dawson McShane, hoping that the cowboy could give him a bit of a spar until the next demon entered the arena. Dawson saw Simon coming over from his position leaning up against a cornerpost and lifted the brim of hit hat. "Somethin' I can help ya with, friend?" He asked.
"Indeed. You possess an interesting, versatile arsenal and I wish to test it for a bit." Simon admitted. "At least until the next unholy demon or monster enters the arena."
Dawson chuckled a bit as he turned to face Simon. "Y'got a bit of a one-track mind when it comes to this quest of yours, ain't ya?" He asked.
Simon narrowed his eyes. "Where I'm from, Dracula's forces are everywhere and ruthlessly taking innocent lives by the day." He informed. "If my goal to stamp out the darkness is what defines me, it's because it's what I use as motivation to SLAY Dracula in the first place."
"Huh. Sounds like a sucky place t'live." Dawson admitted.
Simon paused for a moment before sighing, sagging his shoulders. "It is." He lamented.
"Well, I suppose I could humour you for a while." Dawson admitted as got into a stance. "I may not have the experience fighting' monsters like you do but I fight a half-vampire regularly and I'd say that's pretty close, huh?"
"That's what I wanted to hear." Simon smirked as he got into a stance as well, reaching for his whip. "I hope you realize that I won't hold back."
"Wasn't askin' you to."
"Mystery...Fighter...NINE..."
"...AND...TEN..."
"SHAGGY!" (Multiversus)
"MATT!" (Wii Sports)
To a loud audience cheer, two recognizable characters emerged from the curtain to a song that players of Friday Night Funkin' recognized as 'Final Destination' from their shared mod. As Matt threw a few practice punches with his orange, ball-like, floating hands, Shaggy reached into the entrance ramp itself, pulled a sandwich from the ground and ate it in one bite.
"You finished the pre-fight snack yet, Shaggy?" Matt asked as the Mii reached behind his back and pulled a baseball bat into view.
"Like, ready when you are, Matt!" Shaggy said as he clenched his fists and engulfed himself with a bright, Dragonball-like aura of energy for a second as his eyes stared glowing brightly. "Normally I'd be a little scared about all this but since I unlocked that untamed power of mine I'm looking forward to getting to fight a bunch of famous people!"
Matt smirked. "Good to hear. How about we go for the big guy first, then?" He asked.
Shaggy flashed a thumbs-up. "Sounds good, Matt-man!" He said.
The two ultra-powerful memelords ran down to the ring and jumped in together as the audience still continued to cheer for them. Landing in the arena, Shaggy and Matt made a lightning-fast beeline for the backside of Tinker Knight's mech, each one of the two landing a hard punch at the exact same time with enough combined force to rattle Tinker Knight's huge mech and knock it forward on its treads for a couple of feet.
"W-What?! What the heck was THAT?!" Tinker Knight demanded as he poked his head out of the mech cockpit and looked behind him to see Shaggy and Matt standing there, each one surrounded by more Dragonball-like energy auras. "H-How did two ordinary humanoids shake my machine that much?!"
"Sorry. We underestimated the durability of your mech." Matt admitted as he pulled his bat into view again. "We were expecting that attack to break it apart completely."
Shaggy, in spite of his normally-fearful demeanor, gave a laugh as he magically plucked another sandwich from the ground. "Like, it looks like we're gonna need to use more than one percent of our power on this guy, Matt." He said with a grin.
"One percent EACH or COMBINED?" Matt half-joked, flashing a smirk.
Shaggy laughed. "That was a good one! I gotta remember that one for next time, man!" He said.
"You two DARE make a mockery of my machines?!" Tinker Knight demanded as he turned his huge mech around and stared down at the two newcomers. "I'll destroy the both of you for this!"
Shaggy held his hand out for Matt; the Mii low-fived it as the two unlikely friends prepared to take on the huge mech together. "Like, bring it, man! You totally aren't ready to take the two of us on at once!" He said.
"Try me!" Tinker Knight shouted as he revved up his mech's huge drill arm.
Lord Hater blinked in confusion as he, Mimikyu and Petey Piranha watched Tinker Knight forget all about them and turn his attention to someone else. "Uh...Want to just forget all about that guy?" He asked his 'minions' hopefully.
Mimikyu gave a nod as he followed Lord Hater away to another part of the arena. Petey turned around and wandered after them, his ever-present dumb smile never leaving his face.
"LILLY PENDRAGON!" (ST)
The young aristocrat of Suikoden 3 emerged from the curtain to a mixed reaction. Adjusting her gloves and muttering a few things to herself, Lilly glanced around at the audience's reaction, at least somewhat thankful that the reaction was mixed this time compared to the negative reaction she had been getting in previous tournaments. Perhaps it was because her franchise had cooled down a bit since her last outing in the tournament...
"I don't know why I keep accepting the invites to these things." Lilly muttered. "And I won't have any allies in this section so I can't get any help..."
Stepping into the arena and brushing herself off, Lilly took a couple of steps towards the fight between Leona and Engineer before a stream of water struck her in the face, making her stagger to the side from the force of the shot. Lilly spun on her feet after regaining her balance and found herself staring down at an eager-to-fight Squirtle.
"Oh, what do YOU want, you little twerp?!" Lilly demanded. "Ugh! You even got my outfit soaked!"
"Squirtle! Squirt!" Squirtle shouted as he got into a stance.
"You know what? Fine! I'm sick of the treatment I get in these tournaments anyways!" Lilly snapped. "You've got this extra power and strength? It doesn't matter; I'm so mad at this tournament that I'll cut through it all anyway!"
Squirtle, in defiance, shot another Hyrdo Pump at Lilly's face, hoping to send her across the arena with the force of the pressure. Lilly drew her sword and held it out, causing the jet-stream of water to strike the sword and cut clean down the middle, separating on either side of the aristocrat and leaving her unharmed.
"I told you I would cut through that power of yours!" Lilly snapped as she swung her sword again. Squirtle leapt backwards to avoid the blow and landed on his feet, screeching to a halt as Lilly prepared to take him on, likely just because she had a lot of pent-up frustrations about...Well, everything.
(Multiversal Matchup)
The multiversal portal opened up in what looked like a large, open world of bright colours, dropping the eight Multiversal Matchup contestants onto a soft surface that almost felt padded. Pushing themselves to their feet, everyone looked around and saw that they appeared to be on a floating platform suspended in the air, with nothing but bright, rolling hills and colourful sky as far as the eye could see.
"Where the heck are we?" Proto Man asked as he looked around. "This place is just...An overdose of colours."
Sagat shielded his good eye. "Ugh. It's too bright out..." He muttered.
"You guys are just being pessimistic." Lin Fei pointed out. "I think the place is pretty enough."
"Eh, colours are fine. What I'M wondering about is how we're on a floating platform over nothing." Giovanni Potage noted as he peered over the edge of the platform everyone was on.
Lin Fei shrugged in response. "All of the fighting arenas in Valhalla float over nothingness. I guess I'm used to the sight." She admitted.
"That doesn't change the fact that we don't know where we ARE." Sagat informed.
"I'm sure we'll find out eventually." Lucien noted as he glanced towards one of the other contestants and paused. "Um...Who's your friend, Striker?"
Phantom Striker paused. "Friend?" He asked as he turned and jumped, finding himself staring at a strange, vaguely bean-shaped being with stubby arms and legs, dressed head to toe in a copy of the armour of Shovel Knight, complete with a tiny shovel blade. "W-What is THIS all about?!" He demanded.
All of a sudden, more bean creatures started appearing on the platform, some climbing up from below, some falling flat on their faces from the sky above and some just appearing of out nowhere. All of them had the same shape but they were all in a variety of colours and wearing a multitude of different costumes and cosmetics. In a manner of seconds, the platform the eight combatants were on was flooded with small bean-like creatures, each one dressed in a different, over-the-top, ridiculous outfit.
Sagat looked down at a pair of bean creatures that, with their costumes, vaguely resembled Ryu and Chun-Li. "...I'm...Uncomfortable." He relented.
Steve found himself surrounded by beans. He looked around for a few seconds before waving cheerily. "Hey-ooooo!" He said. The crowd of beans all waved back, each one saying nothing but the word "Woo!" at different times and volumes.
"Where in the world ARE we?" Byleth asked as she looked around, trying to see through the crowd of bean creatures on the platform with everyone.
All of a sudden, several more platforms appeared connected to the initial platform, revealing high platforms, floating spinners, rotating hammers and ramps that extended into what could only be described as an obstacle course gauntlet of galvanized rubber and bottomless pits.
"Looks like a race, then." Giovanni said with a smirk as he walked past Byleth. "Looks like something right up my alley, even!"
Sagat shook his head as he gazed out at the obstacle course before them. "This is far more than a normal obstacle course." He mentioned.
"Right you are!"
Everyone, beans included, turned to see SSBFreak's hologram materialize in the air nearby, giving a smirk. "Welcome to this section's Multiversal Matchup, everyone. What you see before you is only one course in a world of obstacle courses, elimination rounds and races that is usually occupied solely by the clumsy, yet very-cute, bean creatures you see around you." He announced. "Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome to the land of Fall Guys!"
"So it IS a race?" Giovanni asked with a smirk.
"In a way, it is. The Fall Guys compete in multi-round competitions where the last one standing in the final round wins the coveted Golden Crown. After a few rounds of either trying to take down a threat or trying to survive in a haunted temple I thought that maybe some light-hearted competition was due." SSBFreak announced. "So, for this Multiversal Matchup, you eight will be competing against each other in a multi-round match of Fall Guys. Your goal is simply to outlast your fellow competitors because there will be eliminations in EVERY round leading to the finals."
"So what about these bean things?" Proto Man asked, arms folded.
"Hey, it wouldn't be a round of Fall Guys if there were only eight of you in a competition that is supposed to hold SIXTY." SSBFreak explained. "So, we filled the remaining slots with some of the Fall Guys themselves, whom you will be competing against as well. Need I remind you all that the Golden Crown is literally all they fight for so they will be competing with all their might as well?"
"So...Wait. Who'll get a win, then? This seems a little unorganized if you're just going to let sixty people compete at once." Lin Fei pointed out.
"THEY'RE competing for a Golden Crown. The winner of this Multiversal Matchup, however, will be whoever either wins the competition or lasts the longest." SSBFreak said. "So, with that out of the way, good luck and let the fourth Multiversal Matchup...Begin! Oh, right. I'd be wary of trollish Fall Guys. We made sure to grab a few grabbers while we were at it."
With that, and without giving anyone a chance to question the meaning of what he had just said, SSBFreak's hologram shut off. As soon as it did, a starting pistol was heard and the huge crowd of Fall Guys waddled forward as fast as their legs could carry them, racing their way through the first round obstacle course.
"Just like that? We just...Start?" Phantom Striker asked. "I'll...Admit I wasn't expecting this."
Lucien glanced upwards and his eyes slightly widened when he saw some floating numbers in the sky: 0/48 Qualified. "Those things already have a head-start!" He cursed as he took off and started running after the crowd of Fall Guys.
The others seemed surprised by Lucien's sudden burst but they seemed to take him running off as a means to get started themselves as the seven remaining contestants chased after the highwayman, Steve bringing up the rear, pumping his arms into the air with another yell of "Hey-ooooo!", officially kicking the fourth Multiversal Matchup off.
(Hotel; Hallway)
"WhatamIdoingwhatamIdoingwhatamIdoing..."
A thousand thoughts went through the head of Choi Bounge (all of them wondering what he was doing) as he crept down the hallways of the hotel, trying to tail Juri Han without her noticing he was following her. He had been doing so ever since he listened in on her hiring BB Hood for something he wasn't sure about and, as far as he knew, he had successfully managed to keep himself unseen as he crept after Juri.
Choi didn't know why he started tailing Juri in the first place; he just started following her on instinct. Why did he want to see what Juri was up to and why did he feel the need to try and stop it? Juri was insane and he knew it all too well; there was a time a long while ago where he was probably just as insane as she was, after all. Perhaps that was why Choi knew whatever Juri was up to wasn't going to be good and convinced him to follow her...
Currently, Choi was hiding behind a trash can (his small stature made it easy for him), listening in on Juri talking to another prospect, this one a familiar raven-haired man dressed in knight's armour, with a huge sword strapped to his back; one Luca Blight, someone just as insane and bloodthirsty as Juri herself, probably even-more so. Realizing that if Juri was recruiting people as crazy and psychotic as BB Hood and Luca Blight then he was likely way out of his depth, Choi decided to stay quiet and hope that the two maniacs vacated the hallway they were talking in soon and without spotting him. All Choi could do now was listen in...
"See, this is why I like you, Luca." Juri smirked. "All one needs to do to get you on board is the promise of chaos and destruction."
Luca Blight, towering over Juri, gave a smirk. "You have good tastes in allies, and are wise to come to me so quickly in this." He admitted. "Surely you heard about how I carve a path of destruction whenever I conquer?"
Juri chuckled. "I did, and that's why I decided to seek you out. I don't know what it is Ganondorf's planning but I figure whatever it is will be more-fun than just waiting around and watching the tournament." She admitted.
Luca scoffed. "Indeed. My time is better suited for conquest. After I finish up in the arena I'm seriously expected to just sit still and watch the other peons fight?" He asked. "Honestly, if you hadn't come to me first I probably would have just razed this entire building to the ground out of boredom."
"Good to see I don't even need to fork over cash for your services; I don't have any on me, anyway." Juri chuckled. "But if this plan of Ganondorf's attracts people to try and stop it, there'll be no shortage of blood to spill."
Luca smirked darkly. "That's all I wanted to hear. Just remember this: Luca Blight is NOT a lackey." He reminded. "I don't care about whatever Ganondorf is up to; I'm just a part of this so that I can kill."
"Hey, we're in the same boat, then." Juri shrugged before glancing to her right and giving a dark smirk. "In fact, how about we get a head start on that right now?"
Juri suddenly lashed out, lunging at the trash can Choi was hiding behind, kicking it hard enough to launch it into the far wall with a dent in its side. His cover blown, Choi yelped as he tumbled backwards, surprised at the fact that Juri had apparently known that he was there.
Luca narrowed his eyes. "Hmph! A little gnat deciding to eavesdrop?" He asked. "Looks like we've already got someone looking to be a thorn in our side."
"D-Did you know I was there the entire time?!" Choi demanded.
"You're not as sneaky as you think, short stuff. I picked up on your footsteps not long after I left BB Hood, which makes me think that you also listened in on my conversation with HER." Juri said with a smirk.
"And yet you still led him to me?" Luca asked flatly.
"Like I said, it makes things more-fun." Juri said. "Plus, I believe this provides us with a bit of an outlet, don't you think?"
Luca paused for a few seconds before smirking and drawing his sword. "I suppose you have a point." He said darkly.
"N-Now, now! Let's talk this over!" Choi insisted, waving his clawed hands in front of his face.
"Oh, NOW you want to talk? You seemed fine with staying quiet while you followed me." Juri smirked. "Don't worry; I know you gotta enter the tournament later so we won't kill ya. But...I won't say you won't WISH you were dead."
Luca smirked as he stepped forward and raised his huge sword above his head. Choi screamed as he shielded his face and waited for the huge man to attack.
All of a sudden, a large boxing glove on a taffy-like spring shot from the shadows and smashed into Luca's jaw, making him stagger backwards and back away from Choi. Juri spun around to look into the shadows of an intersection in the hallway and saw the boxing glove retreat back to its owner. The newcomer stepped out of the shadows, revealing a familiar colourful boxer dressed as a clown with long, taffy-like arms.
"Hmph. First the weirdo with the helmet and now you two." Lola Pop said. "There is definitely something going on."
Juri scoffed. "Back off, candy-pants. This is between us and the shrimp." She said.
"I've already been attacked; I'm already involved." Lola Pop said simply as she hit her fists together. "Plus, you think I'm just going to stand back when I hear you talking about how the two of you are looking to spill blood?"
Juri's eye twinkled a bright purple as she smirked darkly. "Fine. We can make room for one more." She said. "You're not a fighter tonight so I think we're good to kill YOU."
"I wonder if she bleeds taffy..." Luca said as he got into a stance with his sword. "No one hits Luca Blight with a sucker-punch and lives to tell about it..."
Lola Pop stepped forward and got ready to take Juri and Luca on as the two insane villains got into stances. Choi quickly saw that Lola Pop needed assistance and scrambled to her side, screeching to a halt next to her and baring his claws. "Y-You'll need help. These two are insane." He said urgently.
"I literally just beat an insane guy." Lola Pop shrugged. "But you're welcome to help if you want."
Choi gulped as he and Lola Pop prepared to fight Juri and Luca Blight together. From the looks of sadistic anticipation on their opponents faces, Choi had a feeling that he wasn't going to enjoy this...
(The Arena)
"FALKE!" (SF5)
Coming out to a mixed reaction was a young, blonde woman dressed in some sort of military uniform and carrying a long baton in her hand. Ignoring the audience reaction to her, Falke gazed out at the arena and set her sights on a certain pair of youth, whom had so far spent most of the section away from the chaos and talking to each other.
"I dunno. I kinda think spikes a a little bit much, especially if you put them on everything already." Kula admitted.
"Aw, c'mon! Spikes make EVERYTHING cooler!" Bowser Jr. whined. "Sometimes I tell dad that we should invest in making a level out of nothing BUT spikes but then he tells me that we need to draw the line SOMEWHERE."
Kula suddenly noticed Falke coming over, baton in hand. "Oh! Hi, there! You a soldier like Whippy is?" She asked. "That's neat! What kinda military do you have in your world?"
Falke sighed and drew her baton. "I represent Neo-Shadaloo." She said.
Kula blinked. "Shadaloo? Wait, that's Bison's crew!" She said. "What's a nice-looking lady doing working with the bad guys?!"
Falke slapped her own forehead. "We're...We're NEO-Shadaloo! We're helping people oppressed and affected by Shadaloo!" She insisted.
"So...You name your organization after the one you're fighting AGAINST?" Kula blinked. "That's like...I dunno, if a team of people that hated the Sakazakis decided to enter KOF as the 'Anti-Kyokugen Team' or something."
"Yeah, lady. Even I could tell that was a dumb move." Bowser Jr. said flatly. "So...You here to fight or somethin'?"
Falke groaned. She KNEW she should have told Ed that it was a dumb name. Nevertheless, she aimed her baton at the two youth as sparks started to fly from it. "We're making a stand in this tournament to make our presence known." She mentioned. "If you two are up for it, I'll start with a fight with you here."
"Bring it!" Bowser Jr. said as he jumped into the cockpit of his clown car again. "Maybe I can give you a cool new suggestion for a name for your organization while I'm at it!"
"SCARLET!" (BH)
Emerging from the curtain was a redhead woman dressed in a noble-like outfit that looked a bit steampunk at the same time. She already held a large rocket lance in her hands and seemed to be examining it, as if checking the small, working parts to make sure it was working properly. Satisfied with her handiwork (perfect, as always), Scarlet despawned her rocket lance for now as she made her way down to the ring and stepped in.
Engineer was in the process of shooting at Leona with his shotgun, trying to keep her from destroying his sentry gun, when he suddenly heard a clinking noise coming from behind him, where he had stationed his gun. His eyes widened behind his goggles as he saw Scarlet opening the hatch on the back of the sentry and peering inside. "H-hey! Lady, get your paws off my sentry!" He said as he turned his attention to Scarlet.
"Relax. I'm just checking the inner workings a bit." Scarlet said. "Impressive for what they are but I could add a few modifications if you'd let me."
"How'd you get near the sentry without it shootin' at you, anyway?!"
"What can I say? I have a way with machines." Scarlet smirked as she continued to look into the inner workings of the sentry gun.
"Oh, no you don't!" Engineer shouted as he fired his shotgun at Scarlet, only for her to summon a large, steam-powered sledgehammer into her hand and cloud herself with a screen of steam, blocking her from view and causing Engineer to miss his shot.
The next thing Engineer knew, Scarlet had grabbed him with the end of her hammer, spun around a couple of times and threw him into the surprised Leona, knocking both fighters to the canvas. Scarlet gave a chuckle as she showed off her hammer. "Like it? It took a bit of ingenuity to create a steam-powered battle-hammer but, hey, what better way to spend a few hours in the afternoon?"
Engineer pushed himself up and loaded his shotgun again. "Looks like we've got ourselves a smart-aleck." He muttered. "Why don't ya put yer money where yer mouth is, missy?!"
"I WOULD, but my fleet of airships speaks for itself." Scarlet winked. "But feel free to fight if you want. There's only a couple of other pure intelligent minds back in Valhalla that can match me in smarts so I'm interested to see what you've got."
As Engineer and Scarlet clashed with each other, Leona pushed herself up, quickly checking her earrings to make sure they were still there. Sighing in a bit of relief when she felt the earrings there, Leona glanced at the two builders and got ready to continue the fight, preparing to fight them both if she needed to...
"KOOPA TROOPA!" (SMB)
Marching proudly down the ramp to his theme music from Mario Strikers Charged was a lone, ordinary, green-shelled Koopa. In spite of this or how out-of-place he looked, the Koopa Troopa gave waves to the audience as he reached the end of the ramp. However, when he reached the end of the ramp, the Koopa Troopa suddenly sprouted wings from the back of his shell, lifting off and flying into the arena, surprising the crowd and earning a cheer.
Lord Hater saw the Koopa Troopa land in the ring and smirked. "Finally! An easy win!" He said in glee. "With all the abuse I've endured so far since I entered this stupid arena I think I deserve a little break!"
The Koopa Troopa gave a playful smirk as his wings seemed to despawn, turning him back into a regular Troopa. "You sure you wanna talk like that?" He asked.
"I've already proven that I have a way with words! I already convinced your king's pet plant to abandon him and join me!" Lord Hater announced, showing Petey Piranha, whom seemed to wave happily to the Koopa.
"Oh, him? He kind of just does his own thing. King Bowser gets him to fight for us, sure, but it doesn't take much." The Koopa explained with a handwave.
Lord Hater fumed. "Why you little-" he said as he pulled his fist back and lashed out at the Koopa, whom turned around and faced the space tyrant with his back.
*CRACK!*
Lord Hater's fist made contact with the Koopa's shell, which was now rapidly changing a rainbow assortment of colours. Lord Hater stood in silence for a few seconds before pulling his fist back and examining it, noticing that his fingers were now all bent in odd, painful-looking directions.
As Lord Hater screamed in pain and clutched his hand, trying painfully to bend each finger back into its right position, Mimikyu glanced at the Koopa curiously as the rainbow colouring of his shell stopped, leaving it green again.
"Oh, that? Well, the guys in charge realized that sending me into this thing with just the shell on my back was a bit of a death warrant so they made it so that I could swap shells whenever I wanted." The Koopa said nonchalantly. "I haven't used the Rainbow Shell since Mario World but you can probably see why it hasn't come back since then."
"TINGLE!" (HW)
Tingle seemed to pay the audience's mixed reaction to him no mind as he posed a few times, creating bursts of confetti with every pose. Playing up to the crowd a bit, Tingle jogged down the ring (making odd-sounding noises with every step he took) and generated a balloon on his back that lifted Tingle into the air and into the arena.
While he was in the air, however, Tingle reached into his bag and pulled out a bomb twice as big as he was, tossing it down at the fight between Lucas and Crash. The huge bomb landed in between the two as Lucas screamed and backpedaled to try and get out of range for when the bomb exploded. Crash, being Crash, stood still and silently prodded the bomb with his finger.
*KA-BOOM!*
The bomb exploded in a ball of fire. When the smoke cleared, Crash was standing there covered in soot and still in his bomb-prodding pose. He blinked a few times and collapsed onto his back.
Lucas angrily looked up as Tingle deflated his balloon and landed gracefully on his feet. "A-Are you trying to kill us?!" He demanded.
"Kill you? No, no, no! I'm just trying to get you to use some of your special fairy magic!" Tingle said as he looked offended.
"My...Fairy magic?" Lucas blinked as he looked at his hands. "You...Mean my psychic powers?"
"You make sparkly magic when you wave your hands, Mr. Fairy! Maybe you could teach me how you unlocked the magic's secrets!" Tingle said excitedly. "I've been trying for so long but I can't seem to get it quite right!"
Lucas held his forehead. "I can't just...TEACH YOU...How to have psychic powers." He admitted.
"Could you at least give me a demonstration of your sparkly magic, though?"
Lucas paused and pointed a finger at Tingle, creating a bright sparkle of light as he started charging a psychic attack. "Fine." He said as he aimed at Tingle's face.
"And now, the final fighter of this Section..."
"ANTONOV!" (KOF)
The crowd cheered as the boisterous wrestler emerged from the curtain and flexed his muscles a few times, showboating to the crowd for a moment as he took his time making his way down to the ring. Rotating his arm a few times as he walked, Antonov reached the end of the ramp and leapt headfirst into the arena to start his tenure in the tournament.
Ember and the Duck Hunt duo were about to step into the fight between E. Honda and the pair of Scratch and Grounder (well, it was mostly the badniks flailing about and insisting that Honda was doing nothing that could be considered legal in actual sumo) when Antonov decided to make himself known, lunging towards Ember with a yell and his arm out, ready to deliver a clothesline attack from behind.
The Duck Hunt dog barked, seemingly trying to alert Ember to the newcomer, but the elven girl was quicker on the draw as she spun in place and threw herself backwards, taking aim with her bow, firing a shot that caught Antonov's hat and lifted it off his head, making him stop in his tracks.
Antonov glanced down at his hat, picked it up, yanked the arrow out of it and placed it back on his head before turning to Ember and smirked. "I like your spunk, lady! You'd fit right in at my Galactic Wrestling Federation!" He announced.
Ember narrowed her eyes. "Some of the others at Valhalla speak of wrestling. Can't say I see the appeal." She mentioned. "I mean, why PRETEND to hit someone when you can ACTUALLY hit someone?"
Antonov smirked. "That's what sets us apart! Our fighting is all real, and the federation will be made up of people that love the sport!" He insisted.
Ember shrugged as she drew another arrow with her bow and aimed it at Antonov. "Well, I suppose I can't fault you for being passionate about what you do." She said. "So I take it you came over to fight me?"
"Of course! Consider this your interview!" Antonov grinned as he got into a stance. "Once my federation takes off the ground, you'll be the first one I call if you manage to impress me!"
Ember couldn't help but smirk. "And how, pray tell, do you intend to get in touch with me in Valhalla?" She asked.
"Eh, I'll cross that bridge when I get there." Antonov shrugged. "You need to die in battle or something to get into Valhalla, right? Maybe I can pull a few strings and get in there myself..."
"Something tells me you'd get along with Bodvar..." Ember sighed as she got into a stance.