(The Arena)
The chaos had largely died down after the end of the previous section, though things were a little noisier due to Crash and Pac-Man still fighting over a wumpa fruit that was no longer there due to a hungry Pikachu. At this point it looked like the two were throwing punches at each other for so long that chances are, when they finally stopped, they'd have forgotten why they were fighting in the first place. Most of the others seemed content to just wait around for the next section to begin, blocking out the angry gibberish coming from Crash's mouth as he continued to fight Pac-Man.
As the spotlights started shining on the entrance curtain again, everyone in the arena got ready, Pikachu even finishing up the wumpa fruit he stole and getting into a stance. Black Knight seemed overall disinterested, though he did glance towards the curtain from his corner of the ring on the off-chance Shovel Knight decided to enter. The other gathered fighters got ready to welcome the next wave of fighters, preparing for more and more battles ahead of them…
"SHUN'EI!" (KOF)
Emerging from the curtain to the main theme of KOF 15, the newest protag of KOF seemed uninterested in the crowd reaction that he was getting as he glanced around the arena. Shun'Ei decided to make his way down the ramp and see which opponent he settled on first.
Hitting the arena, Shun'Ei wandered across the arena and ended up coming upon Daphne and Lammy. The former looked at him and froze, her face falling a bit. "Oh, my!" She said. "What…Happened to you? Did you get into a fight outside of the arena?"
Shun'Ei paused and blinked a couple of times. "Uh…No? Why?" He asked.
"Oh! That's…That's just how you dress normally." Daphne said, looking a little embarrassed. "Sorry. It just…Well, it looks like you were roughed up with how disheveled your outfit looked…"
Shun'Ei groaned. "Am I seriously about to get FASHION ADVICE in a fighting tournament?" He asked flatly.
"Oh, no! Don't worry! You…Um…Actually pull it off nice?" Daphne said, forming a nervous-looking smile that told Shun'Ei she didn't really believe what she had just said.
Shun'Ei stared flatly for a few seconds before igniting his hands, creating what looked to be talons of flaming energy around each hand. "I don't focus as much on fashion as I do on fighting and…You know, saving the world." He said before flashing a smirk. "Care to see for yourself?"
"Hey! I didn't mean anything by it! I was just commenting on your…Fashion!" Daphne insisted before looking over her shoulder at Lammy. "Back me up here, jam buddy!"
"Uh…Um…C-Can I sit this one out?" Lammy asked timidly as she tried to slip away unnoticed.
"Nope! We're in this together now!" Daphne said as she grabbed Lammy by the arm and pulled her into battle to fight Shun'Ei.
"JAK AND DAXTER!" (PAS)
Emerging from the curtain next was a familiar pointy-eared young man with a huge, futuristic gun in his hands and a furry otter-like creature perched on his shoulder. The elf man (and the small creature) looked around as the crowd gave them a huge positive reaction.
The furry creature flashed a smirk as he turned to the elf man. "Check it out, Jak! They still love us!" He said with a laugh.
Jak, in response, smirked and cocked his gun. "You ready to give 'em what they want?" He asked.
"You bet, Jak! Let's go tear the arena to shreds!" Daxter said eagerly.
Jak nodded and ran down the ramp with Daxter on his shoulder, leaping in headfirst. Landing on the canvas, Jak set his sights on Black Knight, whom was still standing off in a secluded corner of the ring.
Black Knight seemed to take notice of the mismatched duo coming over and grunted. "Cease your approach. I have no quarrel with you and I don't intend to waste my energy while I wait for my rival." He said bluntly.
"Hey, you've chosen to stand alone away from all the action in a big free-for-all. You kinda broke the main rule of a royal rumble." Jak retorted with a smirk as he hoisted his gun. "I just wanna make sure that you're roughing it out like everyone else."
Black Knight stared coldly at the duo, sending a chill down Daxter's spine as he did. "You do NOT want to start a battle with someone that has little to lose." He said simply.
"Funny. That's kind of been something I say to my enemies before I shoot them in the face." Jak smirked.
Black Knight grunted and pushed himself away from the corner her was standing against. "FINE. I'll humour you for now but know that you brought this on yourself." He said, drawing his shovel blade and getting into a stance.
"ARCADIA!" (BH)
Emerging next was a dark-skinned fairy-like girl with curly hair and pointed ears, armed with a huge broadsword as tall as she was. Glancing around at the cheering crowd, Arcadia gave a smile before giving a glance to her sword. "I think it's high time we gave the crowd a taste of what the Fangwild can do." She said as she spread a pair of fairy-like wings and flew down the ramp, into the arena.
Toadette saw Arcadia come over to her and lifted an eyebrow. "Uh…Can I help you?" She asked.
"Sorry. I just saw that big sword of yours and I was wondering if you wanted to have a duel." Arcadia smiled. "I feel like I can take it easy for a bit until a certain evil dark elf warlock enters the arena."
"Oh. Um…This actually isn't my sword." Toadette shrugged as she glanced at the Star Dragon Sword. "I mean, I've been doing okay with it but I'm technically just borrowing it."
"Believe me, I see it as a vacation." The Star Dragon Sword sighed.
Arcadia's eyes widened. "Oh! Yours talks, too?" She asked aloud as she held out her broadsword. "This is Orma, the Singing Sword of Legend where I'm from."
Toadette blinked. "A singing sword?" She checked.
"You sound surpriiiised, mortaaaal~" An airy voice sang out from Arcadia's huge broadsword.
Even the Star Dragon Sword seemed speechless at the sight of another talking weapon. "Well, this is a new experience for me. Usually I'm the only talking weapon being used." It said flatly.
"You get used to weirdness in Valhaaaaaallaaaaa~" Orma sang back.
"CHARGE MAN!" (MM)
The large, train-shaped Robot Master emerged from the curtain to a mixed reaction. Paying the reaction no mind (in addition to seemingly-ignoring that the Sound Booth trio were playing the theme song to Thomas the Tank Engine through as his intro music), Charge Man glanced down at the arena and saw that Dr. Wily was already eliminated. "Ugh…So much for teaming up with the boss." He lamented as he made his way down the ramp.
Remembering that he had received reports of a Star Piece being held by someone in the arena when Dr. Wily entered, Charge Man decided to see if he could find out if any of the last section's survivors had it, by any chance. After watching Wily fighting Mallow for so long, however, he also realized that the cloud prince probably didn't actually have it if Wily wasn't able to get it off of him. Setting his sights on a target, Charge Man got into position and, much like a train, barreled forwards on his feet, smoke puffing from his head, as he charged ahead.
Fishbunjin turned in time to see Charge Man chugging towards him. Turning in place silently as Octodad scrambled aside, Fishbunjin held up his hands and stood his ground. Charge Man plowed headfirst into Fishbunjin and was quickly grabbed by the buff fish, slowing down to a crawl as he pushed Fishbunjin backwards on his feet, looking like he was actually managing to make the muscled fish thing falter. Charge Man's ramming attempt was slowed down to the point where neither of the two could gain any leverage over the other.
As he was straining against Fishbunjin's pushback, Charge Man pulled his foot back and engulfed it with flames before lashing out with it, striking the huge fish in the torso with a powerful Charge Kick that managed to knock Fishbunjin backwards, stunning him long enough for the train-based Robot Master to continue sliding forwards, his Charge Kick giving him more energy as he struck Fishbunjin in the face.
As Fishbunjin recoiled, Octodad leapt on Charge Man's back while the Robot Master was making an attempt to keep the assault going against the buff fish. Charge Man grunted as he stumbled about with Octodad on him while the eight-limbed dad was striking him from above, trying to disorient him.
"Just…Hold still for a second!" Octodad insisted as he flailed about on top of Charge Man as Fishbunjin pushed himself up.
"Let go of me, you slippery-" Charge Man said just before Octodad let go and leapt off of him, which was just before Fishbunjin's huge fist made contact with his face.
Now it was Charge Man who flew backwards on his feet several steps, coming to a grinding halt as he dug his feet into the canvas. Charge Man narrowed his eyes as his whole body started burning when he stared at the mismatched friends.
"Fine. I can take you both on if I have to!" Charge Man said as he charged forward again.
"YOSHI!" (SMB)
(Let me tell you how it will be…)
(There's one for you, nineteen for me…)
(Cause I'm the Taxman! Yeah, I'm the Taxman!)
(Should five percent appear too small…)
(Be thankful I don't take it all…)
(Cause I'm the Taxman! Yeah, I'm the Taxman!)
The audience cheered as the familiar green dinosaur emerged from the curtain, giving cheery, friendly waves as he made his way down the ramp. Yoshi heard his entrance song and cast a confused, questioning glance up at the sound booth, scratching his head as he watched Astaroth laughing his head off. Unable to come up with any reasoning, Yoshi gave a shrug and continued his way down the ramp before leaping into the arena, flutter jumping his way in.
Suddenly catching a scent of fruit as he hit the canvas, Yoshi sniffed the air a few times and glanced over to where Crash and Pac-Man were still fighting. Crash was firing several wumpa fruits out of his bazooka. His eyes lighting up and his mouth already drooling at the sight of fresh fruit, Yoshi charged forwards and lashed out with his tongue, stretching it out and aiming it for a fruit that Crash and Pac-Man seemed to be ignoring.
However, this fruit had also caught the eyes of Pikachu and the mouse Pokemon had just managed to put his hands on it when Yoshi's tongue made contact. Before Pikachu could act, he was pulled off his feet and back towards Yoshi as the green dinosaur prepared to chomp down on it.
*WHAM!*
Pikachu slammed into Yoshi headfirst just before the wumpa fruit went into the latter's mouth, knocking both fighters onto the canvas, flat on their faces. Pikachu and Yoshi lay there for a few seconds before pushing themselves up, holding onto their respective heads. As they returned to their senses, Pikachu and Yoshi glanced at each other, and then down at the discarded, still-uneaten wumpa fruit that had come to a stop in between the two of them. The two quickly looked at each other and narrowed their eyes.
"Pika! Pi-Pika Pikachu!" Pikachu shouted, pointing at the discarded fruit.
"Yoshi! Yosh-Yoshi!" Yoshi shot back, shaking a fist at Pikachu.
The two stood in silence for a couple seconds more before charging at each other and starting a fight over the single wumpa fruit, forming what almost looked like a moving cartoon fight cloud of flying limbs, tongues and Iron Tails.
"Mystery…Fighter…FIFTEEN…"
"PEPPINO!" (Pizza Tower)
Emerging from the crowd next was a somewhat familiar-looking pizza chef dressed in a standard apron and chef's hat. Looking around with an…Unsettling smile, the chef waved to the cheering crowd as he waddled down the ramp, shuffling a little awkwardly as he did. For once, Peppino looked almost…Pleasantly happy? Friendly? Nowhere near the on-edge-of-a-mental-breakdown expressions that he was usually known for, in any case.
Peppino seemed to not pay any attention to the fact that people were so confused about his new demeanor as he continued to make his way down to the ring. All that seemed to matter was that he was here and people were eager to see what kind of antics he would get up to in the ring…
…And then his hand fell off mid-wave.
With a loud, wet splat, Peppino's hand struck the entrance ramp. The chef stood in silence, staring at his hand awkwardly for a few seconds, before picking it up and casually reattaching it, weirding out the audience member sitting nearby. During this process, people started to notice a bit of a change in Peppino's face; his eyes started drooping and getting further apart somehow, while his face-long smile seemed to start sagging his entire face. Peppino glanced around, giving people a full view of his face seemingly melting, resulting in a series of screams.
As this was happening, everyone heard a loud 'thud' noise come through the speakers, followed by what sounded like SSBFreak grumbling under his breath, before speaking again. "Uh…Sorry about that, ladies and gentlemen. I appear to have misread the fight card." SSBFreak apologized. "This is, in fact…"
"FAKE PEPPINO!" (Pizza Tower)
Now identified as Fake Peppino rather than normal Peppino, the unmasked Mystery Fighter looked around with his dumb-looking smile before continuing his cheerily-looking waddle down to the arena that looked…Somehow…WRONG.
Fake Peppino landed in the ring (with another, even louder, splat) and lumbered his way over to Toadette and Arcadia, whom were about to start their duel when one of them spotted the chef doppelganger coming over. "Um…Hello?" Toadette asked.
"Salutationary, little toppin!" Fake Peppino greeted cheerily in a strange-sounding voice that sounded unexplainably 'off'. "I am Peppinos Paghetti! Disowner and proprietary headboard-member of Peppino's Pizza 2! I search long and short to scrounge up the toppins needed for the P-Rank pizza!"
Toadette blinked, trying to process what Fake Peppino was saying. "Wait…Why're you calling me a 'toppin'?" She asked hesitantly.
"Oh, such a silly-ous question! Peppino gave Peppinos a checking list to make sure I refrain from using humans in my recipe for disaster!" Fake Peppino laughed as a piece of paper suddenly formed in his hand, showing a small series of drawings of what looked to be different pizza ingredients with eyeballs. Fake Peppino was quick to point out the one that looked like a mushroom. "See? There you are, peeking back at me with those beads you call eyes!"
Toadette stepped back in shock. "I-I'm not a topping!" She said.
"I didn't say 'topping', though! I said 'toppin'! Don't put rogue letters in my mouth; they taste terrible and then the posting offices won't accept them!" Fake Peppino said with a grin that was now big enough that it was stretching his lower face in every direction, forming a nightmare face as his left hand shapeshifted into a half-melted blade. "Now chop, chop, little toppin…"
"Okay. This guy is starting to weird ME out, now." The Star Dragon Sword said flatly.
"Looks like we may have to hold off on the duel for a bit." Arcadia told Toadette as she drew Orma and readied for battle.
"Just as long as I can avoid being put on a pizza!" Toadette said frantically as Fake Peppino stepped forward.
(Announcer's Booth)
SSBFreak sat in his chair, his forehead on his desk. He had been in that position ever since he had realized it was Fake Peppino making his entrance into the arena and had been silent ever since making the announcement over the speakers. In the meantime, Khall sat in silence, looking between the host and the arena a few times, scratching his head in confusion.
"Uh…You…Didn't actually misread the fight card, did you, boss-man?" Khall checked. "That sounds more like something I would do."
Before SSBFreak replied, a warp pillar appeared in the booth, revealing Sheogorath once it had dissipated. Khall blinked in confusion. "Wait. Boss-man didn't call you in here yet this time." He mentioned.
Sheogorath shrugged. "Eh, I knew it was coming this time. I figured I'd stay ahead of the curve so I can go back to watching the fun stuff." He mentioned before looking at SSBFreak and giving a playful smirk. "Can I go ahead and guess what you're going to whine about this time?"
SSBFreak slowly turned his head towards Sheogorath without lifting it off his desk. "…WHY?" He asked simply.
"You, of all people, know that my answer to a question of 'why' will simply be 'because'." Sheogorath shrugged casually.
SSBFreak turned around and looked at the mad god. "Oh, COME ON! Why did you even BOTHER with this one?! I figured that, out of all the Mystery Fighters I picked, you'd have the least amount of problems with Peppino since Pizza Tower is so chaotic and madness-inducing that it'd be right up your alley!" He insisted.
"Eh, you're not wrong. I just felt that swapping out the anxiety-ridden chef for his goopy doppelganger would be fun, and a change you wouldn't even notice right away since they're both technically named Peppino." Sheogorath admitted with a laugh.
"Just…How many of the other Mystery Fighters that I picked did you make alterations to?!" SSBFreak asked. "I gave you free reign to pick two Mystery Fighters of your own!"
"I know, and I definitely appreciate you keeping your end of the bargain in that regard."
"So why haven't YOU been keeping up YOUR end of the bargain?!"
"Hey, we both know that the last thing ANYONE in this dome wants is me getting bored." Sheogorath handwaved.
SSBFreak sighed. "Why Peppino, anyways? Why would you go through the trouble to bring FAKE Peppino when the normal one is chaotic enough?" He asked.
Sheogorath laughed. "Believe me, I would have liked to see that portly Italian as well. But, as it turned out, Peppino has a MUCH more-important job to do tonight." He mentioned.
"What JOB?! His pizza place barely gets any customers as it is!" SSBFreak insisted. "What job could have come up for him that's more-important to him than a chance to promote his business in front of the entire multiverse?!"
(Outside)
"I'm sorry, sir, but unfortunately I can't let you in unless you're on the list or have a pre-existing appointment." Superball said dryly as he stood outside the entrance to the dome and hotel.
Standing in front of Superball this time was a familiar middle-aged Italian man dressed like a chef, holding a pizza box in his hand. He was already looking like he was at the edge of having a mental breakdown, as if he had already been standing outside of the dome, trying to get in for a while now.
Peppino, the real one, slapped himself in the forehead as he clenched his fist. "L-Look…We've a-been over this ten times already! I'm a-here to deliver a a-pizza!" He insisted. "It's a-very important!"
"I'm afraid I can't help you, sir. Do you have an appointment?" Superball replied stoically.
"An appointment?! To deliver a a-pizza?!" Peppino demanded. "I…I was a-given an order by…Uh…" Peppino took the time to fish a note from his pocket and inspect it. "…Someone a-named 'Shawn O. Gorman'? Anyways, he a-ordered a custom pizza with a-thirty-two types of cheese and I need a-to deliver it to him within a-thirty minutes because he a-promised a big tip!"
"I apologize, sir, but delivering a pizza is not the same as having an official appointment."
Peppino started shaking in anger as his eye twitched several times. Finally, he stopped himself before he let his violently-destructive anxiety get the better of him again. "Look. I-I'm just a-trying to do my job and a-make some money. Right?" He asked, forming a desperate grin.
"Yes, sir. I can acknowledge that."
"And I've a-proven to you MULTIPLE TIMES that I have a delivery to make inside this a-building, correct?"
"Yes. The address on your receipt is indeed correct."
"And you've already a-said that, since you a-can't leave a-your post, you can't a-take the pizza to Mr. Gorman yourself, right?"
"Yes. If I were to leave my post I would be reprimanded and I value my work too much to suffer a reprimand. It would be sure to leave me an emotional wreck." Superball replied casually.
"So, by that a-logic, the easiest way for me to a-get this a-pizza to Mr. Gorman and a-get paid is a-to take it to him myself, would it a-not?" Peppino said, looking like he was barely able to contain his seething rage through an overly-large, fake smile.
"Yes, I suppose it would." Superball gave a casual nod.
"S-So then, by default, I should a-be allowed to a-enter and deliver this a-VERY EXPENSIVE a-pizza…" Peppino said through his teeth.
"No can do, sir. Now please step away from the entrance to the dome before I'm forced to implement the anti-Monokuma security measures."
Peppino's eye twitched several times as his body started shaking violently again. After several long seconds of Peppino shaking violently in place, he let out a loud scream to the sky before charging headfirst at the wall beside the doorway Superball was standing in front of.
*CRASH!*
With the force of a moving train and the subtlety to match, Peppino burst clean through the wall of the building, creating a Peppino-shaped hole in the wall. Superball stood in silence for a few seconds, examining the odd-shaped hole in the wall for a moment, before casually reaching for his headset and activating it.
"This is Agent Superball. Keep your eyes open for an overweight, middle-aged, unkempt Italian man. He is angry, unstable and armed with a cheese pizza." Superball said into his headset.
As Superball was busy talking on his headset, a familiar black-and-white bear was seen poking his head around a nearby corner. Seeing the hole in the wall, Monokuma tiptoed over to it, slipping past Superball while he was reporting. Monokuma snuck up to the hole Peppino had made in the wall, trying to make as little noise as possible, and silently peeked into the hole.
Realizing that he had an opening to get into the building again, Monokuma slowly lifted a leg and prepared to step through the wall, trying to make as little noise as possible while Superball was distracted. He wondered if he'd be able to beat his previous attempt…
*ZING!*
Monokuma froze as something shot through his torso. If he had looked to his left he would have seen a laser gun pop out of the nearby wall and fire a beam straight through his stomach, but he was unable to look around as he found himself frozen to the spot.
Slowly, Monokuma's top half slid backwards until it finally fell off his bottom half, landing flat on the ground as his legs collapsed in a different direction. Monokuma looked up and saw his lower half sitting away from him.
"…I sense that this is becoming a running gag…" Monokuma said, in pain.
(Multiversal Matchup)
A portal opened up in the sky, dropping the eight selected contestants several feet onto a grassy, ground-like surface. Mr. Mime was the first to push himself up, slapping the side of his head to eject a small bit of dirt from where his opposite ear would be. As everyone else stood up, they looked around and saw the landscape of the world that they had ended up in…
The group was standing on what looked to be a series of small islands in the middle of a body of water. The islands seemed normal enough, though they were all adorned by ruins of old buildings and even a couple of crashed planes. Other than that things looked relatively-normal compared to some of the other places used in the Multiversal Matchups as the group looked around to try and find some defining feature that could help let them know where they were this time.
"Hmm…Islands in the middle of a lake? Quite frankly, we could be almost anywhere…" Killey mused before looking at the wreckage of a plane. "Though I would probably rule out somewhere fantasy-related if those things are here."
"Maybe we're in one of those war shooters?" Shadow noted. "It would explain the plane crashes and ruined buildings."
"But why stick us on these islands and not on the mainland, then?" Killey countered.
"Yeah, it doesn't make sense." Andy shook his head. "Putting us on these islands won't make for a lot of action if we're expected to shoot at enemies."
"So where the heck ARE we, then?" Shadow countered.
Something caught Lana's attention out of the corner of her eye; Mr. Game & Watch peering over the side of the cliff the group had landed on. Curiously, Lana wandered over and peered over the cliff herself, her eyes widened at what she saw. "Uh…Guys?" She asked, getting the attention of everyone else.
Everyone else wandered over to the cliff and looked over, purposefully staying away from Juri as they all knew she was liable to just push them over the cliff for the sake of it. Looking down at the ground dozens of feet below, the group saw what looked like a small collection of worm-like creatures with floating hands arming themselves with weapons out of a fallen supply crate.
"Great. So we've landed in a world occupied by worms that have mastered the art form of handling dangerous weapons." Juri shrugged. "And how does this apply to us?"
Munin blinked as she looked at Mr. Mime, whom was looking increasingly-worried, as if he had just realized where the group had landed. "I…Think you may have just answered your own question, crazy lady." She mentioned.
"It looks like you all have noticed the locals!"
Everyone turned around as they saw SSBFreak's hologram materialize on the ground not far away. Everyone walked away from the edge of the cliff they were standing on and closer to the hologram so that they could hear the rules. "You've landed in a world of warfare, explosions and comical earth-dwellers that know how to use everything given to them solely to blow each other up." SSBFreak explained. "For this round of the Multiversal Matchup, we've landed in the world of Worms!"
"Yeah, we noticed the worms. We figured they were the locals." Juri rolled her eyes. "But which node did we land in?"
"I just said: The world of Worms. In the Worms games, the main goal is to strategically move around the island-like battlefield and utilize provided over-the-top weapons to blow your opponents up until your team is the last one standing. You're only allowed a small amount of movement to plan and execute your movement and item usage per turn, and certain items are more used to either get around the terrain easier or dig tunnels to get out of harm's way." SSBFreak explained. "I know that this is a bit more of a simple premise compared to other nodes we've gone to but, I mean, after the last few matchups I felt that we were due to something a little more straightforward."
Andy's eyes widened. "Wait…Are you saying that we're supposed to use the weapons on each other?!" He asked.
"Indeed! After matchup challenges involving races, treasure hunting and endurance, I figured it was high time we had a challenge that was a good old-fashioned battle for survival. It's just that, here, you will be mostly using the same weapons as the Worms as opposed to your natural abilities, though we'll let you use them in a pinch if you find yourselves backed into a corner." SSBFreak nodded. "In a minute, you will all be allowed to move around the islands and pick a starting point to try and attack each other from. Then, once we start, you will be given a few weapons to begin with and will need to collect more from the periodically-dropped supply crates. The goal here is simple: Be the last one left standing."
"W-What about those worms? We saw them handling weapons themselves." Lana reminded.
"Oh, they'll be competing as well. They're going to be trying to blow each other up because, quite frankly, that's…Kind of what they do. But they'll also be targeting you guys as a means to keep the matchup from dragging on too long. In addition, I would advise staying as close to the high ground as possible because the water level will rise in increments as time goes on and if you go in the water that's an instant elimination." SSBFreak explained. "As a reminder, the winner of this Multiversal Matchup will be the last one of you eight left standing. So, as a recap; collect weapons, use weapons and stay out of the water at all costs. So, without further delay, let the seventh Multiversal Matchup…Begin! Uh…Try not to blow YOURSELVES up, okay? The blast radiuses on some of these weapons are BIG. Good luck!"
With that, SSBFreak's hologram shut off, leaving the eight players stranded on top of the Worms island and officially starting the challenge. Hearing movement down below, a few of the group looked over the cliff again and saw the gathered worms starting to move around the islands to get into a good starting position themselves.
"Uh…Kinda looks like we need to start moving." Lana mentioned.
"Why not just stick around up here? We've already got the high ground for the most part and we're all already gathered." Juri shrugged with a smirk. "What's stopping us from just attacking each other here and now and playing a high-stakes game of sumo?"
Killey shook his head as he turned around. "That'd leave us as huge targets for the worms, and I'd much-rather make sure I get my hands on some good weaponry to help me survive." He said as he made his way towards the edge of the cliff. "You can stay up here if you want but I'm going to find a place out of the way from the rest of you."
Killey jumped off the cliff and down towards another island that was a little lower down to start his way towards an untouched supply crate. Mr. Game & Watch got similar ideas and leapt off the cliff in another direction, activating his parachute and floating out towards one of the islands further out.
"Yeah, I'm bouncing, too. I've seen what happens when you get too close to an exploding bomb and I'm not staying in a group of easily-shootable targets." Munin agreed as she gave everyone left a peace sign before leaping into the air, spreading her wings and flying towards another island.
"Me too! If I can't rely on my spellbook here I need to find weapons!" Lana nodded as she ran after Killey and started climbing down towards the same island as him.
"Aw, fine! Be a coward, then!" Juri called out before turning to the remaining players. "How about the rest of you?"
Andy and Shadow glanced at each other silently before make a series of similar-looking hand gestures and vanishing in clouds of smoke, clearly going off to other islands to start their searches as well.
This left Juri alone on the top of the first island with Mr. Mime, whom cheerily waved at her after a few seconds of silence. Juri groaned. "Forget it." She lamented at last as she turned around and sulked over to the edge of the island and started working her way down to another island herself.
Mr. Mime scratched his head for a few seconds before shrugging, miming putting on an invisible backpack and wandering off himself, finally kicking off the next Multiversal Matchup…
(The Arena)
"MACHAMP!" (PKMN)
(Baby, only the strong would survive)
(Over mysteries of life)
(Only fantasy keeps you away)
(In the lonely fields of these broken shields)
(So keep on kicking; the bomb is ticking!)
(Don't stop; don't be a runaway!)
(Go for the fire!)
(Baby, are you Tough Enough?)
Machamp seemingly didn't notice Meowth's off-pitch singing coming through the speakers as she made her way down the ramp as her mind was elsewhere. She knew she needed to keep her eyes and ears open for potential allies but also knew that no one currently in the arena except for Pikachu could understand her and…Well, he was still preoccupied with his fight with Yoshi over the discarded wumpa fruit.
Hitting the arena canvas, Machamp glanced around to see if there were any villains likely to be involved with Ganondorf's plans in the ring, though the only villain (other than Lord Hater, who she ruled out entirely) she saw was Charge Man and it looked like he currently had his hands full trying to deal with both Octodad and Ultra Fishbunjin 3000. Plus, she didn't actually know if any of the Robot Masters were actually involved since there had been no word or sightings of them joining Ganondorf's forces otherwise.
Deciding to spar with someone for now while she waited for a potential villain to come in (or wait until Pikachu finished fighting with Yoshi), Machamp wandered over to Kasumi, whom appeared to be one of the only ones currently in the arena without someone to spar with. The blue-haired young woman saw the muscled Pokemon coming over as she stepped out of her meditation. "Hmm…Hello, there." She greeted.
Machamp clasped her two sets of hands together and gave as polite and respectful a bow as she could; with her four arms it still looked a little awkward but Kasumi reciprocated the greeting as she gave a polite bow herself. "I take it this means that you wanted to start things off with a spar?" She asked.
"Champ!" Machamp nodded.
"Well, I'll be happy to oblige. I guess I feel honoured that a Pokemon as strong as you wants to have a duel with me." Kasumi nodded as she got into a stance. "I hope you won't take it easy on me just because I'm a human."
Machamp nodded as she got into a stance as well; she had already seen first-hand that people were capable of withstanding her full strength here, after all. She knew that she shouldn't underestimate someone like Kasumi just because of her smaller frame; she just needed to watch out for any surprises the young woman could pull…
"SAMUS!" (ST)
Emerging from the curtain, the dark-skinned swordsman casually adjusted his gloves as he made his way down the entrance ramp to a cheer from the audience. Doing a quick glance of the arena, Samus checked to see who was in the arena to see which one he should try going for first.
"I'm glad Lilly got tossed already. She'd probably make me act as her shield." Samus sighed. "At least this frees up a little extra time for me in the arena myself…"
Charging a spell in his wind rune, Samus stepped into the arena and looked around the arena before spotting Mallow standing aside, finishing topping up his MP to give him full range of his spells again. Drawing his sword, Samus made his way over. "You trying to avoid the conflict, kid?" He checked.
"Oh, me? Nah, I'm just making sure my magic is good before I keep going." Mallow shook his head. "Why? You wanna fight me?"
"Well, I don't exactly want to start a fight with the muscular fish or the four-armed Pokemon." Samus mentioned. "So does that mean you're a spellcaster?"
Mallow gave a smirk. "You can say that. How about a taste?" He said before waving his staff and casting a spell, creating a snowstorm above Samus and starting to generate a huge snowman again, preparing to bring it down on Samus' head.
Samus looked up and saw the snowman starting to form before giving a smirk himself. "You obviously don't know that people in my world can cast magic as well." He replied as he cast his spell with his wind rune, creating a torrential wind that tore apart the snowman in midair while it was being formed, blowing the dispersed snow in every direction, making Mallow step back in surprise at seeing his spell getting dispersed.
In the meantime, as snow was getting blown around the two of them, Samus got into a stance. "You still up for a spar?" He asked.
Mallow narrowed his eyes and got into a stance himself with his staff. "I'll slip through those defenses eventually. My magic is super powerful even if I can't control the wind!" Mallow said defiantly. "I'll bring a storm right down on you!"
"BIRDIE!" (SF5)
Emerging from the entrance curtain with a cheeseburger in hand (recently received from the recently-fixed restaurant), Birdie seemed to pay little attention to the audience reaction around him as he seemed to blissfully eat the burger, licking his fingers a couple of times after he was done. Once he was finished, Birdie glanced down at the arena. "Hmmm…I wonder which o' those people'll to try my hand at first…" He mused. "Haven't been in one o' these tournament things in a while now."
The former Shadloo operative spotted Fake Peppino (leaping at Toadette with his huge mouth open while Arcadia slashed at his torso) and, thinking that he was a genuine pizza chef, decided to go over and see if the imperfect doppelganger could make him a pizza. However, before Birdie could get very far, he heard a voice that made him stop.
"Hey! You with the weird hair!"
Birdie stopped and looked over his shoulder with a confused expression, seeing Lord Hater coming over with a hopeful, almost-desperate look in his eyes. "I-I know you from my research of these nodes!" He said. "I need some minions and I know how much of a brute you are! You're just the type of person I need!"
The thug lifted an eyebrow. "What? Ain't you been in the ring since the first section?" He asked. "Why're you still lookin' for 'elp when you can manage fine by yerself?"
"Look, I've been trying to get some decent help ever since my first minion got eliminated because I…Work better when I have people working for me!" Lord Hater insisted.
Birde shrugged and turned around fully. "I mean, I ain't gonna turn ya down if yer able to pay me in some decent foot." He mentioned.
Lord Hater, catching sight of Birdie's physique, pulled a picture out of his cloak and inspected it, revealing an image of what Birdie looked like in the Alpha games and double-checked between the picture and the thug in front of him to make sure the details were right. Other than the obvious difference of the sizable gut Birdie now had, his past self looked more-muscled, taller and much more-imposing compared to what he looked like now. His Alpha design seemed to exude an aura of coolness that even made that ridiculous hairstyle he had back then look cool. Lord Hater looked at the overweight, out-of-shape and not-nearly-as-cool Birdie in front of him and blinked in confusion.
"Uh…Do I have the right guy?" Lord Hater checked, showing Birdie the picture of his old self.
Birdie groaned. "What izzit with people bein' obsessed with how different I looked in the past?!" He demanded.
"PIT!" (SSB)
"DARK PIT!" (SSB)
The audience cheered as two similar-looking angels emerged from behind the curtain, the one dressed in white happily waving to the crowd and the one dressed in black with his arms folded and giving a grumpy-looking pout.
Pit looked back and saw the dismal look on the face of his doppelganger. "What's eating you, Pitoo?" He asked.
"That boss of yours has a sick sense of humour. That's what wrong." Dark Pit retorted flatly.
"Aw, come on! She said this would be a good way for the two of us to iron out our differences and she went through a lot of trouble to ensure that we entered at the same time!" Pit said before shrugging. "She told me it was because she didn't want either of us to get an unfair advantage over the other, at least."
"And WHY does she think that either of us will actually want to WORK with each other?" Dark Pit asked flatly.
"Because Lady Palutena trusts us!" Pit said with a grin as he jogged ahead. "Now let's go down there and team up against-"
*POW!*
Dark Pit landed a sucker punch to the back of Pit's head, knocking the white-clad angel into the arena. Dark Pit gave a smirk as he jumped in after him. As Dark Pit landed on the canvas near him, Pit had already pushed himself up.
"Hey! You…You just attacked me! Why?!" Pit demanded.
Dark Pit stood in silence. "…I literally told you SEVERAL TIMES on the way to the Ready Room that the first thing I would do when we entered was attack you." He said flatly.
"I thought you were joking!"
"Why would-"
*WHAM!*
All of a sudden, Pac-Man entered the scene, being hit in the face by a hard right hook from Crash, and barreled straight into Dark Pit, cutting him off and knocking him to the canvas. Pit blinked in confusion as he glanced to the side and saw Crash coming over, smirking and cracking his knuckles. "Uh…We were kinda in the middle of something." He supplied.
"Buh?" Crash asked in confusion.
"Yeah, we were about to have a fight before you two showed up. It was kind of rude, to be honest." Pit noted. "Like…Were you two wanting to join in on the fight or something?"
Dark Pit pushed himself onto his knees in a panic. "Don't give them ideas, you idiot!" He snapped just before Pac-Man took that as initiative and bounced off his head.
Pit shrugged and turned back to Crash. "Well, I guess that settles it." He mentioned.
Crash nodded his head rapidly (accompanied by a rattling noise) as he pulled his bazooka out and pointed it at Pit.
"KING!" (KOF)
The crowd cheered as the slender, kickboxing bartender emerged from the curtain and waved to the audience before making her way down to the arena. King glanced up at the eliminated seating and saw Ryo giving her a cheer as well and she waved back before glancing down at the arena and checking out the potential competition.
Landing in the arena, King set her sights on a potential target and jogged over, lashing out with her legs and shooting a couple of energy projectiles as she ran at her targets. "Let's see if my aim is still good." She mused to herself as she ran.
Daxter clung to Jak's shoulder in an attempt to keep himself from flying off as the gritty elf ducked under a swing from Black Knight's dark shovel blade. As he was scrambling to stay focused on Black Knight, however, Daxter was unprepared for the energy projectile King had launched from behind, slamming into his back. Taken aback by this, Daxter was launched clear off Jak's shoulder, taking both Jak and Black Knight by surprise.
"Daxter!" Jak shouted before turning around and instinctively aiming his gun, only for King's second energy projectile to slam into his face, knocking him back on his feet.
Black Knight looked ahead in time to see King leaping over the stunned Jak and lunge at him with a flying kick. Black Knight raised his blade and used it to block against King's attack, pushing forward and forcing the bartender to backflip off his blade, landing gracefully on her feet a few feet away.
"I take it there's a reason you decided to step in an interrupt the fight we were having?" Black Knight said aloud as he slipped into another stance. "I mean, those two are annoying but I still don't take kindly to people interrupting my business."
"Maybe so, but I know the most out of all of us that you need to be able and willing to fight multiple opponents in these things." King said. "Want a little more of a challenge?"
Black Knight scoffed. "Very well. Far be it from me to turn down a warrior's challenge and it's not like these two idiots were slowing me down much." He mentioned.
"HEY!" Daxter said indignantly as he rushed back to his perch on Jak's shoulder. "Come on, Jak! We can take 'em both!"
Jak nodded as he swapped to a larger gun, one that he needed to use both arms to wield. "You just stepped into the wrong minefield, lady." He warned. "I'm packing a LOT of firepower."
King casually shrugged. "I've fought Ralf and Clark for years." She countered. "Dealing with those guns of yours would probably hurt less, to be honest."
(Dome; Outside Recovery Room)
Toon Zelda left the Recovery Room and into the hallway outside of it, only to stop herself when she saw that a large group of people had gathered outside of it, seemingly waiting for something.
"Heyooooo!" Streve greeted with a friendly wave from somewhere near the back of the group.
"Uh…Hello?" Toon Zelda asked before she looked at a few of the people who were gathered. "Um…I…Don't suppose you're waiting for that Bear Hugger guy, are you?"
"Oh, he actually got someone to help out before he was eliminated?" Lola Pop asked. "That's good to hear."
"Welcome aboard, eh." Blizzard Man waved. "So…Uh…What did Bear Hugger fill you in on?"
"Just that Ganondorf may be involved in something that's got other villains involved as well." Toon Zelda mentioned. "I tried getting info out of that creepy Street Fighter guy after I was eliminated just to be safe but I really don't think he was involved at this point."
"We…Don't really know much about what's happening, to be honest. Just that something's going on behind the scenes, involves several of the villains and it may be that Ganondorf could be in charge of it all." Choi sighed. "Not a lot to go on right now but we're trying to get numbers because we know that THEY have numbers."
"Well, I'm certainly happy to help regardless. I know that, if Ganondorf is involve, it's not good."
Darunia gave a laugh, arms folded. "I said the same thing! Is he as much an issue for your timeline as he is for mine?" He asked.
"Actually, no. My Link's ancestor killed Ganondorf once and for all; I only know how dangerous and horrible Ganondorf was because of stories and books." Toon Zelda rubbed her head. "So…Now what? I assume you were just waiting for me?"
"Well, yeah, but now we've just got to wait for Ember and run the plan past her. I'm sure she'll be interested but we haven't seen her come out yet." Kaya shook her head.
"Oh, the elf girl? She's back but she's just being treated for…Uh…I think one of the doctors said 'psychological trauma' from wandering into that evil biome in her Multiversal Matchup." Toon Zelda replied.
Kaya sighed. "Well, I hope you don't mind waiting for her with us. At least we know she's back in the dome." She mentioned.
"How did you guys get involved in this, anyways?" Toon Zelda asked as she approached the group to stand with them.
"Some of us have overheard things and have gotten into fights with or, in my case, been attacked by someone we think is working for Ganondorf." Lola Pop replied. "We don't know which villains are working with him or how many he has but we're just trying to be prepared at the moment."
"Sounds serious! Well, you can count on me to help!"
Choi looked around as Toon Zelda joined the group and paused as he did a quick head-count. Standing in confused silence for a couple of seconds, Choi turned to Kaya. "Uh…Where'd your Viking friend go?" He asked.
Kaya looked around for a few seconds and sighed. "Great. He's already gotten distracted." She lamented. "If I know Bodvar, and I do, he's probably gone off looking for a fight; chances are he got bored of waiting around and went to go crack some villain's skull himself."
"And…You're not worried he'll get lost? Do we go after him and see if we can find him?"
"Believe me, it's a waste of time at this point. I don't know when Bodvar decided to dip so he could be anywhere, and even then we'd have more luck trying to pry a polar bear off a hunk of meat than convince Bodvar to abandon his search for a fight." Kaya handwaved.
"So…You're fine with just letting him wander around?"
"Once he's satiated he'll find his way back. Maybe he'll end up doing some of the work for us." Kaya chuckled.
(Hotel; Lobby)
Sybil Pandemik was in the process of typing up some details on her computer and updating a few files, as things had slowed down since the last time Monokuma tried to break into the building. She was currently adding a few numbers to what appeared to be an accounting spreadsheet and looked to be in thought about it.
"How the heck do we have this many expenses solely dedicated to CHEESE?" Sybil asked aloud as she continued to add new numbers to the spreadsheet.
"Uh…Hey, lady?"
Sybil looked up from her computer, half-expecting to see Monokuma trying to sneak in again, only two see large koopa figures coming over with a bored Bowser Jr. trailing behind them. Sybil's eyes lit up. "Oh! Hello, there!" She greeted. "You out for a walk while the tournament's on?"
"Eh, sort of." Pom Pom rubbed the back of her head. "We're trying to find something for the prince to keep himself occupied with now that we're all out of the tournament."
"I can make my own fun, Pom Pom!" Bowser Jr. insisted (again). "I don't need you two watching me the entire time!"
"It's more because King Bowser insisted." Pom Pom admitted. Boom Boom huffed and folded his large arms, clearly not enjoying the job either. "Anyways, we're looking for the arcade to start with. Could…You possibly direct us?"
"Of course! The arcade is on the hotel side of the building, on the bottom floor." Sybil instructed as she pulled a brochure into view and opened it for Pom Pom, revealing a small map. "If you follow this hallway here you should be able to find it pretty straightforward. If you reach the indoor pool, you'll know you've come too far."
"How many activities are there to DO here when you only use it for one night?" Boom Boom lifted an eyebrow.
"That's what I said when I first saw the layout of the place." Sybil shrugged. "I guess the intent is for the building to be used as a fully-functioning hotel and conference center or something when not in use for events."
"I still think it's a bit much. These hallways are a maze trying to get around in this place." Boom Boom rolled his eyes. "So where's the arcade, Pom Pom?"
Pom Pom looked over the map again. "Not far." She replied. "Maybe if we follow the hallways through the doors on the hotel side we should be able to-"
"A-ha!"
Everyone looked up in surprise to see a familiar Viking standing in the doorway leading into the dome side of the building. Spotting the trio of koopas, Bodvar grinned and drew his sword. "I knew if I went looking I'd be able to track down a villain or two on my own!" He said. "I would have preferred to face the turtle king himself but I'll gladly take a couple of his henchmen!"
"…What the heck are you talking about?" Boom Boom asked flatly.
"Isn't it obvious, beast? I'm here to extract some key info from you while getting a good fight out of some multiversal opponents in the process!" Bodvar challenged, pointing his sword at Boom Boom.
"What INFO?" Boom Boom asked flatly.
"You know what I'm looking for! All three of you are villains working for one of the biggest villains around so you HAVE to know what I'm looking for!" Bodvar said. "Now are you going to give the info to me peacefully or do I need to have an epic battle to the death with you first?...Actually, maybe I'll just do that anyways since I've been itching for a fight since I was eliminated."
"Seriously, what are you talking about?!" Boom Boom demanded.
Bodvar grinned as he got into a stance. "Less talking, beast! Prepare for a vanquishing!" He said eagerly as he readied himself.
Boom Boom grunted in annoyance as he stepped forward and slammed his hands together, looking mad. "Pom Pom, keep an eye on Junior. The last thing we want is King Bowser char-boiling us for letting something happen to him." He said.
"Boom Boom, we both know we fight better as a pair!" Pom Pom objected.
"But then the kid'll sneak off while our backs are turned." Boom Boom reminded, looking over his shoulder.
Pom Pom sighed. "Fine. Just try not to let yourself get stabbed too many times because I'm not helping you!" She folded her arms before glancing at Sybil. "Does this happen a lot?"
"I don't know. This is my first year but I DID hear stories about fights starting in the lobby so many rumours of it being jinxed are true after all." Sybil shrugged. "Good thing I moonlit as a paranormal investigator for a couple weeks because now I have an excuse to look into it!"
Boom Boom smashed his fists together as he approached the fight-hungry Viking. "You clearly don't know what it is you're starting, so consider yourself lucky that I've been in a bad mood ever since I got back to the dome." He said gruffly.
"I DO consider myself lucky! I thrive in the battlefield so I enjoy every battle I have!" Bodvar nodded as he got into his stance. "Now don't hold back! I want to get as much out of this battle as possible!"
Boom Boom narrowed his eyes. "I'm gonna enjoy this one…" He muttered as he pulled his huge fist back…
(Hotel; Restaurant)
"How the heck did that thing get away from ALL of us?! We were chasing him down a hallway!"
Estel, needless to say, was frustrated. She had expected things to be straightforward when she accepted this job but it just felt like things were even-crazier than anything she THOUGHT she was preparing for. Completely-ignoring the fact that the veterans of this security group were the two insane guys, it felt like they had made no headway on any leads they had gotten and the one that they DID they were unable to do anything about since Zoroark had given them the slip long ago.
Max sat at a table, holding a bag of ice to his head as his fur still looked singed in places. Lucia, on the other hand, silently sat nearby and looked straight ahead, seemingly mortified and not really paying attention to her surroundings. Max looked up and gave a grin. "Aw, don't let it get ya down, Estel! Psymon and I are used to not making a lot of headway in these things." He explained.
Psymon gave a nod in agreement. "Yeah. By the time we arrive at where we're called to things have already cleared up." He reminded. "Don't let a single slip-up break your resolve; It takes a lot more than THAT to break Max's and my BONES, so how do you think our RESOLVE is?"
"That's not…Ugh! Why do I even TRY to make a point with you?" Estel asked herself before turning to Max. "So what happened? You got into a fight with Zoroark in a storage room, he shapeshifted into you and then Lucia accidentally electrocuted you with a tazer because she couldn't tell you apart?" She checked.
"Uh…Yep. That about covers it." Max nodded. "Didn't really catch which direction he went after leave the storage room since I was too busy re-enacting the feeling of shoving my badge into a light socket."
Estel sighed in frustration. "So what do we have to go on from here? Zoroark knows that we're looking for him so he could literally be anywhere and anyONE in the dome by now." She explained. "Does anyone have any input?"
"I mean, the most-obvious thing we can do is wait for him to enter the arena, get eliminated and then wait outside the Recovery Room for whenever he gets back." Max supplied.
"That…Actually isn't a bad idea." Estel admitted in surprise.
Max shrugged. "Well, my first option would obviously be to go throughout the dome and kick the posteriors of anyone we come across in the HOPE that we randomly end up catching him." He replied. "But you'd never go for that."
"NO." Estel said sharply.
Scorch scratched his head. "When is he gonna enter the arena, though?" He asked. "For all we know he could be entering in the last section and I don't think the hairy Australian guy is gonna be happy if we just wait until then."
Estel sighed and rolled her eyes. "Also a good point." She admitted. "We may have to try sniffing him out a different way."
"How? You just said he can be anywhere." Scorch piped up.
"I…I don't know." Estel admitted reluctantly before turning to Lucia, whom still looked out of it. "Lucia, You've been a little quiet. You have any input or suggestions?"
Lucia swallowed. "I…I think…I…" She said before closing her eyes. "…I…Need to go."
Estel lifted an eyebrow as she watched Lucia push herself off the chair she was sitting on. "Need to go WHERE?" She asked.
Lucia paused. "I…I don't really know. It's just…There's someone I need to talk to." She said.
Without giving anyone a chance to talk back or question her any further, Lucia fled the restaurant and rushed off down a hall, leaving everyone's sight altogether. Estel paused before looking at the others. "What do you think that was about?" She asked.
"I dunno. Maybe she's still feeling traumatized about sticking a few thousand volts into my kidneys." Max said. "I already said it was no big deal and that I'd received a lot worse in the past!"
"Well, either way, it looks like we'll be down a member until she can get done what she needs to get done." Estel sighed. "But we still need to find a way to track down Zoroark."
"There ARE a couple Pokemon that can speak English. One of 'em's even psychic." Psymon supplied.
"Are you suggesting that we search out MEWTWO and see if he's actually willing to help us arrest his own nodal companion?" Estel asked.
"Uh…Yeah?" Psymon scratched his head.
Estel paused in silence for a few seconds more before letting out a long exhale. "I guess it's as good a lead as any to start." She relented. "Does anyone want to volunteer to try and talk to the incredibly-dangerous, psychic, man-made Pokemon first?"
"Hey, don't look at me, lady! I still can't feel my tailbone as it is!" Max objected.
(The Arena)
"LUKE SULLIVAN!" (SF5)
The newest protagonist to Street Fighter emerged from the curtain and waved to the crowd, throwing a few practice punches as he made his way down the ramp. It would feel unusual for Luke tonight, representing Street Fighter 5 rather than 6 but did his best to look at it as a means to clash with some new fighters as opposed to people he was more-familiar with.
Spotting Shun'Ei clashing with Daphne (while Lammy was more standing aside awkwardly, not really wanting to get involved), Luke gave a smirk as he landed in the ring and rushed over, pulling his fist back as he ran.
Shun'Ei seemed to notice Luke coming at him and dodged out of the way as Luke lashed out with his fist, firing what looked to be a lightning-fast projectile of air and sand past his head. Shun'Ei stood straight and narrowed his eyes. "What's your deal?! Do YOU have an issue with how I'm dressed TOO?" He asked flatly.
"What? Nah, I just saw you and thought it'd be neat to have a little challenge between the new protags of Street Fighter and KOF." Luke replied casually as he cracked his knuckles.
Shun'Ei sighed. "While I'd LOVE to oblige, I'm in the middle of something here." He said as he ignited his hand and glanced at Daphne, whom had summoned her falcon onto her arm again.
"Hey, all I did was critique your wardrobe!" Daphne insisted. "It's not my fault you were so sensitive about it!"
Luke glanced at Daphne, back at Shun'Ei and gave a shrug. "I mean, I'm willing to help you get her off your back if it means you'll be up for a spar afterwards." He mentioned.
Shun'Ei paused for a few seconds, appearing to be in thought. "Deal." He said simply as he turned his attention to Daphne again.
Daphne blinked and stepped back,glancing at Lammy. "Uh…I could kinda use your help here, music buddy!" She said.
"W-Why do you keep provoking people?!" Lammy insisted in a panic as Daphne dragged her into the fray again.
"DARK CHAMPION!" (EC)
Coming out to a mixed reaction, the main antagonist of Eternal Champions (and the dark double to the titular Champion himself) paid the reaction no mind as he gazed out at the ring and silently strode down the ramp. The Dark Champion could feel his power surging, getting ready to unleash torrents of disasters on the combatants, as he reached the end of the ramp, turned his body into an active, full-sized flame and floating into the arena.
Turning back into his normal form just above the arena canvas, the Dark Champion landed on his feet and turned to face the fight Samus was having with Mallow. His eyes glowing slightly more, the Dark Champion generated a few boulders above the two duelers and swung his hands, causing the huge rocks to rain down from above.
Mallow looked up in time to see a boulder coming at him and was quick to react. "Ack!" He shouted as he backpedaled out of the way and cast a Thunderbolt spell, splitting the boulder in two before it could hit him. "It's raining boulders!"
Samus took notice as well and dodged to the side, avoiding getting crushed himself. "They certainly aren't MINE!" He insisted before looking over his shoulder and saw the Dark Champion shooting another round of boulders at the two. Samus managed to deflect one of the rocks with his sword and rushed at the Dark Champion, kicking him in the chest and making the immortal being stagger backwards.
"Ugh! You think you can do anything other than mildly annoy me?" The Dark Champion challenged in a powerful, booming voice.
"Maybe not but I can still fight back against those attacks, obviously." Samus smirked.
The Dark Champion narrowed his eyes and started engulfing his hand in fire. "Hmm. You're certainly welcome to try if you think you can stand up to my control over disasters themselves." He mentioned.
"So elemental powers? Doesn't sound like anything a Rune can't match."
Mallow watched as Samus started charging wind magic again and narrowed his eyes as he stepped into battle as well, charging elemental magic of his own. "I think my magic is more-than-capable of matching yours as well!" He mentioned. "I bet I can cut through that fire with a lightning bolt!"
The Dark Champion gave an amused-sounding grunt as he got into a stance. "Let this be the biggest test of your abilities…" He mentioned.
As the chaos in the arena was continuing, the audience suddenly heard a new sound coming from behind the entrance curtain; one that hadn't been heard yet tonight but one that still sounded familiar…
"Mystery…Fighter…SIXTEEN…"
…The sound of a revving chainsaw.
"RANCID!" (Time Killers)
Stepping out from behind the curtain, running chainsaw in hand, was the familiar green-haired street punk and UVR veteran. Oddly enough, despite the lesser-known node he was representing, the audience exploded with cheers for Rancid as he smirked and gave a few waves to the crowd, taking in the attention.
Taking the time to gaze out at the arena, he noticed a few fighters that he told himself to steer clear of (such as the Dark Champion and the muscled monster with four arms) before making the choice to leap in and start the rumble. Spotting Fake Peppino fighting off both Toadette and Arcadia, mistaking the goopy doppelganger for a regular pizza chef, Rancid jogged over and held his chainsaw with both hands.
Fake Peppino bounced backwards as Arcadia slashed him with Orma. The slash that the sword made in Fake Peppino's face creepily closed up as he didn't even seem to acknowledge it. "Those are sharply pizza cutters you have there, little toppin!" He said obliviously. "Maybe I should investigate in using them to cut the cheese of my own pizzas! It could make for quite a show if I show my thin-crust customers my skills of pizza cutting! It could leave real impressionable opinionations!"
"I don't think he's gotten it through his skull that I'm not a pizza topping!" Toadette insisted.
"I'm not even sure if he has a SKULL." Arcadia muttered, looking weirded out at watching Fake Peppino heal himself.
*SPLURT!*
Rancid suddenly made his presence known by running his chainsaw through Fake Peppino's chest from behind. Rancid's confident smirk started to falter, however, when he noticed that Fake Peppino didn't really give a reaction to having been impaled on a running chainsaw and simply looked down at the revving blade sticking through his chest.
Fake Peppino rotated his head 180 degrees to stare the suddenly-not-as-confident Rancid and pointed at his chainsaw. "I'm sorry but is this your pizza cleaver? I'm all for finding out new ways to cleave the pizzas but this thingy looks like it would make too much of a mess." He took the time to sniff the air. "And it runs on gasoline? What kind of one-star pizza cook would I be if my pizza smelled of gasoline and rotting ozone? That's why I deep-fry!"
"Uh…You…Don't feel that?" Rancid asked, suddenly looking a little worried.
"I don't feel many things. I think when Peppinos was cloned from Peppino they used too much 'feeling-dead-inside' seasonings." Fake Peppino admitted. "Or maybe it was because they used all the bones for the chickens and left none for Peppinos."
"Uh…Okay, then…" Rancid paused. "Well, crap."
Rancid yelped as Fake Peppino swung a blade-shaped hand at his head, likely trying to mimic Rancid's chainsaw despite not knowing what a chainsaw was. "I didn't sign up for this!" He insisted as he slashed at Fake Peppino, chopping his hand off but watching as the goopy doppelganger simply picked it up and reattached it again (accidentally putting it on backwards and not realizing it).
As Rancid continued to struggle with Fake Peppino now that he had garnered the imperfect clone's attention, Toadette glanced at Arcadia. "Um…You think we should give him a hand?" She asked.
Arcadia sighed. "Well, I think it'd be wrong NOT to help him." She relented.
"VECTOR!" (BH)
Emerging next was what looked to be a robotic humanoid that looked like he had come out of a robot anime, carrying what looked to be a drill-lance in his hands. Vector glanced down at the ring and flashed a smirk before leaping into the air and transforming. In the blink of an eye, Vector turned himself Transformers-style into a small fighter jet, with the drill-lance as the nose, before flying headfirst into the ring and bypassing the ramp altogether.
Kasumi and Machamp were still fighting when they were suddenly bombarded from above by a volley of laser fire. Looking upwards, they saw Vector in his fighter jet form swooping in, firing more lasers from the nose. Machamp held one of her arms up to block against the lasers and lashed out with another fist, barely missing Vector as he swooped in close but close enough to force the robotic fighter to swerve to the side, forcing him to pull out of his jet form and land on his feet in his humanoid form again, holding the lance that had been his jet nose in his hands again.
Kasumi narrowed her eyes. "So you instantly go for the air to attack." She accused.
"Hey, I need to take any advantage I can get. You're a former champ and the monster is covered in muscles and has four arms." Vector replied casually, though still smirking. "I may be robotic but I still have the common sense to know when I need to play smart."
"Well, I suppose I should feel flattered." Kasumi shrugged as she got into her stance again. "You're welcome to join in if you want but remember that neither of us are pulling any punches here."
"Champ!" Machamp agreed as she slammed two fists into two open palms.
"Wouldn't have it any other way; no punches are ever pulled in Valhalla." Vector shrugged as he got into a stance as well.
"Wait…How'd a ROBOT get into Valhalla?" Kasumi paused.
"Sometimes our backstories are a bit complicated…"
"ROUGE!" (PS)
Power Stone's main heroine emerged from the curtain to a loud cheer. Giving a wave to the audience, the dark-skinned woman made her way down to the ring, ready to start battling again.
"It's been a while since we've done something like this…" Rouge mentioned. "We haven't have a lot of luck so far but I know we've still got it…"
Rouge hit the canvas gracefully and did a quick scan of the arena, spotting Yoshi and Pikachu still having what looked to be a fistfight. Rouge dashed towards the two and swung a leg, striking Yoshi in the face and knocking him away from Pikachu, whom looked surprised enough to stop.
"Pika?" Pikachu said as he looked at Rouge in, ironically, what looked to be the face from the 'Surprised Pikachu' meme.
"Come on, you two. You've been fighting ever since Yoshi entered the arena." Rouge scolded. "It doesn't even look like a spar like how things usually go in these tournaments; it just looked like childish bickering."
Yoshi sat up and rubbed his head in pain. "Yoshi?" He asked, glancing around.
"Now, if you two are willing to give a proper fight, I'll be happy to chip in and make for a spectacle the audience will LOVE." Rouge winked as she got into a stance. "I know I have my Power Stone form and you two have your Final Smashes so, at the very least, it could-"
*WHAM!*
Rouge was cut off when Yoshi, in frustration, wrapped his tongue around her torso, lifted her into the air and, with what looked to be a strange-looking suplex, slammed her into the canvas face-first. Releasing Rouge, Yoshi narrowed his eyes and Pikachu and rolled up imaginary sleeves as he approached the mouse Pokemon.
"Pika! Pi-Pika!" Pikachu shouted as he rushed at Yoshi and swung another Iron Tail, which the green dinosaur blocked with a hard kick, thus starting the fight the two were having all over again.
Rouge pushed herself onto her hands as she watched the two continue their comic-looking battle and sighed. "Well, I suppose there's only so much I can do with beasts that I can't understand anyways." She reasoned.
"And now, the final fighter in this section…"
"LINK!" (HW)
(Link! He's come to town!)
(He's come to save the princess Zelda!)
(Cause Ganon took her away; now the children won't play!)
(But they will when Link saves the day!)
(Halleluiah!)
The audience went wild as the familiar hero in green emerged from the curtain and raised the Master Sword, making it gleam in the light, trying to look heroic while at the same time casting an annoyed look at the sound booth. Lowering his sword, Link jogged down to the arena and leapt in headfirst, setting his sights on a target as he was making his way down.
Landing in the arena, Link pulled the Master Sword back and ran towards the fight Charge Man was having with Octodad and Fishbunjin. Lashing out when he got close, Link set a magical projectile from the tip of the Master Sword and sent it flying straight into Charge Man's face, knocking him backwards into the surprised Fishbunjin.
"Hey! That wasn't very nice!" Octodad scolded as he awkwardly stumbled over to Link and jabbed him in the chest with a tentacle. "I may not be used to fighting but it's still rude to try and butt in!"
"Sorry, but we're in a massive free-for-all." Link shrugged. "I mean, you both were in Fraymakers; you two should know about this."
Octodad paused. "Uh…You can understand me?" He asked.
"Yeah, your speaking reminds me of basic Zora a bit. It's not too much different from it, in any case." Link shrugged before smirking. "So are you wanting to throw down with the Hero of Legend?"
Octodad was conflicted; it wasn't often he had encountered someone outside his family that could understand him. Part of him actually wanted to see if he could strike an alliance with the green-clad hero. Octodad glanced at Fishbunjin, whom had resumed fighting Charge Man. "Um…Can you also understand HIM?" He asked.
Link rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Uh…Sorry. I don't speak 'flex'." He admitted.
Octodad sighed. "Well, I suppose we could still make this work. The train robot is a lot tougher than he looks since I can barely do anything and it takes all of Fishbunjin's strength to match him." He said.
Link nodded. "Well, I've got more than enough weapons to help in that regard since I'm repping Hyrule Warriors." He said as he dug around in his inventory.
Charge Man swung a flaming foot and struck Fishbunjin in the face with it, making the bodybuilding fish stagger backwards in pain. Having a moment to recover, Charge Man spun in place to continue fighting Octodad just in time for a spiked ball on a chain to slam into his face, making the train-based Robot Master fly backwards, landing flat on his back.
Charge Man pushed himself up as Link, now wearing a pair of golden gauntlets and wielding a huge ball-and-chain like a flail, approached him. "You think that stupid ball and chain will be enough to stop a moving train?" He asked. "I'll use my red-hot attacks to burn through it!"
"I'd like to see you try." Link said with a smirk as he tossed the huge ball to himself with one hand and prepared to take Charge Man on…