LINK TO TOURNAMENT BELOW
For those who usually read the recap shows for the UVR tournament, they would know how the story goes. We would turn into the home node of the lead host of the show and show how they do their everyday life. However, this time, it was different.
Instead of a home node, the story starts inside of Fictograph City, particularly the Crossover Dome. The same place that held not only the first Tournament of Kikai, but also the third Battle of the Luminaries.
One particular man stood in the middle of the arena while looking up at the sky. He was a sandy-brown haired man, wearing a purple dress shirt with matching dress pants and shoes and a dark red tie and black and white pinstripe vest. The only noticeable thing about him was his sharp fangs and his wings on his back, showing that he was a vampire.
He continued to stare through the sky from the roof of the dome with a solemn look on his face. There was a single star in the sky and he had his eyes on it the entire time.
Standing a good distance away from him, four people looked at him in concern. The first one was an androgynous man with glasses and purple hair tied in a ponytail while wearing a sapphire blue robe top with a sky blue collar, blue pants and brown boots.
The second one a small, tan furred rabbit with one ear missing while wearing a red shirt and orange shoes.
The third one was a bulky bull with black fur and wore glasses, a green tye-dye shirt and blue shorts.
The last one was a teenage girl with brown hair tied in a ponytail tied with a red bow and wore a school uniform.
"...I have to ask, when the third Battle of the Luminaries ended, how long had he been staring at the sky?" Maurice asked.
The teenage girl, Monika, shook her head. "At least an hour."
"Must have really needed to remember why the UVR tournaments were done." The rabbit, Xero, mused.
The androgynous man, Ashley, stayed silent. Finally, the vampire breathed in and out before turning around and walking over to the others.
"Guys, thank you for letting me into the dome just to do this." Drake said.
"H-Hey, it's fine!" Xero said, waving his hands in front of his mouth.
"Yeah, Ashley told me that this was your coping mechanism after the tournament ended." Maurice added with a solemn nod.
"I just… Wanted to remember why we are doing so." Drake added. "Why are we doing these tournaments when we have so many other projects that we could be doing?"
"True… You haven't touched such projects like Survivor Xover Version, Sanguine Sin and even your One-Minute Melee in ages." Monika noted.
"Things are going to go to crap at these things… I knew that…" Drake admitted before frowning. "But I think that there would be such a personal attack against me."
"Tell me about it!" Xero spat, narrowed his eyes. "I could see why they got so angry but what they did in retaliation."
"Hospitalising three vampires as collateral damage, killing Terry Bogard and giving his spot to Ace, oh, and we cannot forget that they teamed up with a SERIAL KILLER." Maurice scoffed.
"I'll threaten to delete everyone's memory of them just to spite them, but I doubt I have to do much." Monika spat, shaking her head.
"Well, they made people remember them…" Ashley said, gritting his teeth with pure venom in his face.
Xero and Maurice shuddered at Ashley's reaction while Monika just frowned.
"...That is the reason why I asked to come back here." Drake said. "I thought that doing the Battle of the Luminaries would make everyone happy. But you saw how quickly THAT idea was dashed."
"You can't please everyone, Drake." Xero frowned. "There are some nodes that you have to brush over."
"It is not your fault that what happened happened." Maurice nodded.
"Oh no, fuck those guys. If they wanna be remembered that badly, they got their wish." Drake said before sighing. "Still… I tried to treasure each and every node and I almost got killed because some jackasses think I am not doing enough."
"But you DID do enough!" Ashley scolded, stepping forward.
Drake looked up. "Ashley…"
"You reunited the pairing of Eduardo and Vivian, you showed that Dot could work in the long term WITHOUT getting too repetitive!" The wizard reminded. "Hell, you even reunited Tinyhammer's classic trio of Snoopy, Garfield and Scooby!"
Drake paused.
"Hey, that's right! And you know why you did that? Because I took a chance outside the box and accepted Suga Mama's request to have Penny instead of her!" Xero nodded. "Her winning showed that any and every node has a chance to get in! THEY may have a chance but THEY squandered it!"
"Exactly! You did nothing wrong! All we can do is continue to do what we do!" Ashley agreed.
Drake paused for a moment. He then gave a small smile.
"Guys… Thanks…"
"It is more than alright." Maurice offered.
"Your enthusiasm for the UVR is one of your most adorable traits." Monika said before frowning. "I don't know what will happen if you lose it."
"Yeah, same here…" Ashley said. "Words cannot describe how scared I was…"
"Yeah, so was I," Drake said.
He then took a deep breath.
"All the more reason why not only does the second Tournament of Kikai have to give it your all, but also the recap show for it!" Drake grinned.
The four smiled and nodded.
"Now we have a lot of work to do." Drake nodded. "Especially since we will be starting our recap show with two rookies."
"Yeah, about that. Wally and Catherine aren't coming back?" Maurice frowned.
"It can't be helped. Sure, in-universe, the fourth Megamix Tournament is over, OUT of universe, it is only on Section FOUR." Monika shrugged.
"And unlike Carver, Blunny, Danglars and Tybalt, I don't think Wally and Catherine can handle doing two recap shows at once." Ashley noted.
Xero looked exasperated. "Then again, the reason Carver and company are able to do it is because of how slow the Okron Tournament is going, even compared to the Megamix Tournament."
"Also true." Ashley said with a sheepish chuckle.
"Relax, we talked to them about it, didn't we?" Drake reminded. "Not only did they not mind but they implored it."
"I must say that I am pleasantly surprised that you decided to bring them back." Xero noted. "I… Distinctly remembered how those two were not popular in their first appearance."
"Well, that may be true. But two things." Drake said, holding up a finger. "One, YOU were not popular in your first appearance. At all. Even Orange-Ratchet disliked SWSU's portrayal of you."
The bunny winced at this. "You got me there…"
"Secondly, maybe they would work in a different format. Hell, I learned more about Wally and Catherine than I did in their original season so they should work." Drake offered. "Maybe the same could apply to here."
"Well, I am sure that they will do wonderfully!" Monika smiled, putting her hands together.
"Okay, this goes without saying at this point, but no spoilers for the Battle of the Luminaries." Drake scolded.
"Don't worry, we know." Xero nodded. "Out of universe, the tournament is like, on Section Sixteen recently? At the latest, we may name-drop the true antagonists here and there but that's it."
Drake gave a small smile. "Thank you."
"By the by, I have to ask Xero: When do you think you will tell everyone for the Reserve Mystery Fighters?" Ashley asked.
"Not in the first section, I will tell you that." The bunny answered, shaking his head.
"Why? You got a varied list of Mystery Fighter suggestions?" Maurice asked.
"Well, it depends on what you mean by varied but otherwise, yes." Ashley nodded.
Xero, Maurice and even Monika looked at each other in confusion.
"But that's fine. We can wait." Ashley offered. "There is definitely a lot more to offer."
"Indeed. And we hope that you will cover each and every inch of it." Maurice smiled.
"Oh, we will!" Drake grinned. He then pumped his fist into the air. "Now here's to showing that UVR will NEVER die!"
Ashley, Xero, Maurice and Monika smiled before pumping their fists in the air.
"YEAH!"
/-/-/-/-/-/
A few days later, Drake and Ashley were now wearing suits while sitting in seats while looking like they were on a talk show set. Ashley looked confident while Drake looked… Worried.
Ashley noticed this and frowned. "Xero and Maurice will be alright. For better or for worse, those two went through a lot of punishment."
"Still, most of that punishment was PHYSICAL." Drake reminded.
"True… But I know that they will be alright." Ashley offered. "I know that I said a lot of negative things to say about Xero and this tournament will give a lot more to complain about, but… I know for a fact that he and Maurice will stay strong. For your… Nay, for everyone's sake."
Drake gave a weak smile. "Yeah…"
"And worse case scenario, if Xero's actions give you PTSD, I could always neuter him with my electricity." Ashley smirked.
Drake chuckled. "Thanks, man."
"Oh, trust me. I am more than happy to oblige!" Ashley winked.
"And we are almost ready!" A voice shouted from off-screen.
"That is our cue." Ashley said before looking away. "Are you ready?"
Drake smirked at this. "As I ever will be!"
Ashley returned the gesture. "Then, let's begin!"
"Now live from Night Town, we have the talk show results for the UVR-esque tournament, the second Tournament of Kikai! With your hosts, Drake and Ashley!"
The lights turned on as a crowd could be heard cheering. Drake and Ashley smiled before waving to the crowd.
"Yo, I am Drake!" Drake introduced.
"And I am Ashley!" Ashley added.
"And welcome to the recap show for the second Tournament of Kikai!" Drake & Ashley said in unison.
"Now most of you should already know what it is but we will give those who are just turning in a brief summary!" Drake grinned.
"The Tournament of Kikai is based off of the Ultimate Video Rumble." Ashley explained. "A royal rumble where thirty characters from various nodes have entered an arena and battle it out!"
"Normally, we will have over three hundred fighters. But here, we have a whopping SEVEN hundred fighters!" Drake pointed out.
"The goal is simple: Throw your opponents out of the ring and survive to the end!" Ashley explained. "While that SEEMS simple enough, fatigue will catch up to you really quickly."
"If you are thrown in a ring, you will have to fend for yourself for ten minutes in a random node." Drake said before pausing. "...Or die."
"But don't worry! If anyone dies in said node, they will be revived by the doctors in the Recovery Room!" Ashley said. He then paused. "Granted, most of them are based on the main host's lust but they still get the job done."
"And who makes or breaks the survivors?" Drake asked before dramatically pointing. "YOU, of course!"
"That's right! It is a votefic where ya will vote for fifteen out of thirty people in the ring for them to "Live" and the rest to "Die." Ashley said. "Every vote counts, so choose wisely."
"There are also Big Guys, which are usually bosses or just people who are very, VERY big." Drake pointed out. "If they enter the arena, an extra person will be eliminated. If three Big Guys entered the arena, eighteen people would be eliminated.
"Though there IS the chance that there will be forty fighters instead of thirty or there will be no elimination." Ashley said. "But we WILL get to that."
"Tournament of Kikai isn't the only UVR spinoff as it was inspired by the Megamix Tournament, Battle of the Luminaries and especially the Okron Tournament." Drake grinned. "In fact, the first tournament is what inspired Tinyhammer and SSBFreak to reboot their respective tournaments!"
"The aim of this show is to get voters for Orange-Ratchet, especially since unlike Tinyhammer and SSBFreak, he is not cross-posting on Fanfiction Dot Net." Ashley noted. He then paused. "Which is kinda weird because he DOES still use his Fanfiction account albeit not as much as his Archiveofourown and Deviantart account."
"Eh. Orange-Ratchet got a whopping amount of voters by the end so I doubt that he will need it." Drake said. "But yeah, we are basically introducing the fighters for these sections and give our two cents on them!"
"We will also give a brief history on each node AND subnode with our new research team. Due to the Megamix Tournament still going on at a slow but sure rate, Wally and Catherine are too busy with that show." Ashley explained. "Fortunately, we got two suitable candidates!"
"From Survivor Xover Version 3…" Drake smirked. "Our new investigation team!"
The camera then turned to the side to see two people sitting in their seats. The first one was a muscular black-furred anthro bear. The second one was a small yellow ghost-like creature. Both were wearing suits with the former dressed like a pinstripe-clad mob boss and the second was dark with multi-coloured stars with a matching bow tie and top hat.
"Hello!" The bear greeted. "I am Barry!"
"And everyone's fan favourite, Rinky!" The ghost said before snickering.
"You are probably wondering why we are chosen to be the research team when we are… Unpopular." Barry said, sheepishly scratching the side of his cheek. "It is actually quite simple."
"You know how Tinyhammer and Orange-Ratchet do story trades? Well, for one story trade, Tinyhammer asked Orange-Ratchet to do a one-shot with characters from Survivor Xover Version." Rinky said before smirking. "And guess who he chose."
"Basically, due to Orange-Ratchet being a Sly Cooper… And one of the few people that actually liked us in our season, the story about us." Barry nodded.
"So seeing that Orange-Ratchet liked us that much, Tiny thought, hey, why not have us be the research team for his second tournament?" Rinky asked.
"We are really glad to be here and to do research for this tournament!" Barry smiled. "Especially my node!"
"Yeah, I never got to have screentime in… ANYTHING so this is a breath of fresh air!" Rinky grinned. "Trust me! You will NOT be disappointed! Or at least bored!"
The camera then went back to Drake and Ashley.
"Thanks, guys! I KNOW that you can redeem yourselves!" Ashley nodded.
"Now, we also have an end-of-section segment. It won't be as big as Ronald's role for the recap of the Multiversal Matchup in the Megamix Tournament, but still, aesthetic-wise, it is worth watching." Drake said.
"We will take a short break because trust me, we have a LOT to talk about." Ashley smiled.
LINK TO TOURNAMENT: archiveofourown dot org / works / 47547247 / chapters / 119829871