"I swear, this sounds like a story we heard once." Red commented.
"I know that we've heard it at least once before, but I can't place my finger on it."
"I understand Tai, but for now, we are a team." Clank commented, "Until we can reunite with the others, we should probably follow the rules of this planet."
"What's to know?" Daxter pointed out, "A pair of us enters against another pair, and only one pair walks out. There. I just listed the rules of the planet."
"Is it really the rules of the planet, or the rules of the dictator though?" Clank asked.
"I don't think it really matters in that regard." Red pointed out, "at least we have some experience in overthrowing bloodthirsty dictators, so maybe if we can plan a strategy-"
"-Combatant Red, you're up!" A guard called.
"Figures…" he muttered, "here's hoping this isn't a 'to the death' fight."
"You do remember the name of the series that brought us together right?"
"It was worth a shot…" Red shrugged.
"Well, good luck out there."
"In this corner, hailing from Sector 14, it's the combination of Greiger and his Ferocious Catbear beast! And in the other corner, hailing from one of our newest combatants, it's Red and his Fire Dragon!" an announcer called out.
"I hope that this fight can end amicably." Greiger said as he held his hand out to shake Red's.
"Likewise…" Red sighed. It was pretty obvious that Greiger was new here, "What's your Catbear's name?"
"Name?"
Red grimaced. This usually wasn't a good sign. The ones that named their partners, or whose partners had a name already typically didn't get tossed into a death match… Admittedly, there were only eight of them, and they were the ones that didn't get a death match, but still.
He got called in more often because he also had Venusaur and Blastoise to utilize. Considering that the announcer had singled out his 'fire dragon', that typically meant Charizard.
"Well, let's get this over with." Red grumbled.
"This will be a battle to knock out!" The announcer called out, ignoring Red's sigh of relief that he wouldn't have to shed any blood today, "With that said, both combatants… Ready your pets!"
"Partner!" Red snarled.
"Shut it." The referee sneered, "Just call out your charred lizard or whatever."
"Fine. Go! Charizard!" Red declared as he threw his Pokéball and called on Charizard.
"Catbear, prepare for battle!" Greiger called out as his partner lept to the field and readied its claws.
"READY!" The referee held his hand high, "FIGHT!"
"Gotta say, I kinda miss that…" Red muttered under his breath, "Charizard! Swift!"
Charizard responded as he launched several star-shaped projectiles that tracked the Catbear as it tried desperately to evade them.
"And Red opens up with a vicious Swift attack!" The announcer spectated, "It appears that Red is acting strategically!"
"Knock out, huh? Go figure." Jak commented as he and the rest of the stranded fighters watched on the monitor, "At least he doesn't have to do any killing."
"Honestly, I think we've seen enough death. Ironic, considering what brought us together." Clank noted.
"Yeah, this planet's messed up. I wonder if the tyrant that runs this place would want to be on the losing end of a Death Battle."
"Kinda dark there, buddy." Tai commented, "But yeah. Wouldn't mind giving him a few punches to the jaw…"
"Just the tyrant? We've seen the way the crowd reacts. Especially the big wigs." Daxter sneered, "Those guys would gladly murk some homeless guy if it gave them a laugh."
"I really do not care for the accuracy of that statement." Clank sighed.
"Yeah, well… I hate it too." Daxter muttered.
"It sucks, but if we try to do anything, then Dictator McDictatorface up there drops a bomb on all the civilians." Tai pointed out.
"Did you really just call that Red King wannabe 'Dictator McDictatorface'?" Jax asked.
"You're the one who compared him to the Red King." Tai pointed out.
"Yeah, but… 'Dictator McDictatorface'? Was that the best you had?"
"It's the best that I'm comfortable saying out loud." Tai replied.
"Okay. That makes more sense."
"And the winner is Red, and his Fire Lizard by knockout!"
"Oh hey, Red won." Daxter noticed.
"At least he didn't have to deal with killing his opponent's partner. Guy's got enough problems without that on his conscience." Jak said.
"Plus, death isn't cheap here." Tai added, "If he, or any of us die, we're staying dead."
"Man, we really took that for granted, huh?" Ratchet asked, "If anything, that point about civilians is even more intense now. We can't take chances here."
"Well, either way, Red deserves a rest." Tai said, "And that was the first battle of the day, so we should be prepared for more."
Pinkie: Okay, how the heck do all these squares make a circle?!
Alexis: Chirp chirp tweet?!
Pinkie: I don't really care that we're in the middle of a box canyon, there's a circle here, and it's made of squares!
Alexis: Tweet tweet chirp…
Pinkie: Yeah, I know. I miss them too…