Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Guess who's back, back again!  That’s right, a brand new Tournament of Kikai is on the horizon! Before I go any further with this, I have a few things I’d like to say that you guys might want to know just so any new people that discover this story are not in the dark.

Question 1: What the heck is UVR?

Answer: The UVR, or Ultimate Video Rumble, is a crossover votefic series, which this very story was inspired by. And it’s not the first story to be created either, since this was inspired by other votefics in the past on a different website, like Battle of the Luminaries by Tinyrocket and the Megamix Tournament by SSBFreak.

Question 2: Why is there a mix of fighting games, cartoons and anime?

Answer: That’s what makes this spinoff unique from others. Some UVR spinoffs restrict themselves to fighting games, so I wanted to mix it up a bit by putting in a few fighting games, some RPGs, and even a couple of cartoons and anime I grew up with. However, this is still a fighting tournament to the core.

Question 3: What are 'Big Guys'?

Answer: Big Guys can be one of two things: Boss characters or people that are just really big. For each Big Guy in the ring at a time, one extra fighter will get eliminated at the end of the section. For example, four characters classified as Big Guys all get into the arena. Instead of the usual fifteen fighters getting eliminated, nineteen will get the boot instead.

Question 4: Wait…I remember the last tournament you did. Didn’t you do rounds where there were forty contestants, and you had a lot more Big Guys?

Answer: Yes, I did do that, mainly because the Smash and King of Fighters roster was a bit large in comparison to the other nodes. For those that don’t know, in the last tournament, I did a couple rounds where instead of thirty characters in the ring, I focused on forty fighters. It was a little difficult, but it was VERY doable, at least for me. Plus, the nodes keep expanding, like Super Smash Bros, and I have a LOT of new nodes coming in, alongside a few returning ones, making the roster pretty big. However, I’m going to be doing a little experimentation this season, as while I will do forty players for a couple of rounds or so, the rules will be a little different. So, think of this as more of an expansion on more story elements!

Question 5: How do the elimination counts go?

Answer: The top fifteen fighters in each section will get at least one elimination, no matter if they survive the section or not. However, if there's a Big Guy in the ring, the top fighter will get two eliminations instead of just one. So if there are four Big Guys, the top four fighters will get two eliminations.

Question 6: What exactly is Fatigue?

Answer: It doesn't matter how strong they are. Everyone gets tired after a while. So for every section a fighter survives, one automatic 'die' vote is given to them at the beginning of the next section, making their survival that much harder. For example, one character has survived for four sections and another character has survived for three. At the beginning of the next section, the first character will have four automatic 'die' votes and the other character will have three.

Question 7: How do I vote?

Answer: It’s a very simple process. You can fill out a voteform and post it in your review, if you want. You must give out fifteen 'live' votes for the people you want to see survive the section, and fifteen 'die' votes for the people you want to see get eliminated. If there's an uneven amount, I'll even them out myself.

Also note that there are side matches going on outside the arena with each section. If there are, simply say whom you'll like to see win the side matches.

Question 8: Why the HELL do you have Tokyo Mew Mew on your roster?

Answer: This is simply because I like the characters from Tokyo Mew Mew, and while it DID start out as a manga and anime, it also had a video game, an RPG video game. So yes, while you’ll see the characters having their anime abilities (original and reboot), you might also see some video game references on there. I also modified the cast a bit so that I replaced a couple of TMM non-fighters with characters from the game. So yes, only three Saint Rose Crusaders this time…

Question 9: Why are there characters NOT from Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl in with the other characters that ARE in?

Answer: Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Nickelodeon and the characters, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is an amazing game, but the Nick fighting games did start out as online AND there was technically an app before that had Nickelodeon characters in a fighting game called Super Brawl Universe. I decided ‘why not combine the app and the game’? So, I did just that, with the only exceptions to the rules being Tommy Pickles and Angelica Pickles. Also, while the 80s version of Leo and Mikey are going to be used as per Nick All-Star Brawl, the Donatello and Raphael being used will be the Rise versions. So, keep that in mind.

Question 10: I just noticed that you have a node called ‘Disney Television Animation All-Stars’. What is the idea behind that and why?

Answer: Here’s the thing. The winner of the last Tournament of Kikai was a Mystery Fighter, and said Mystery Figher’s node was a Disney animated show. Not just A Disney television animated show, but a SLICE OF LIFE Disney television animated show. Since I know the node the winner was from didn’t exactly contain fighters, I decided, for compensation, to have an entire node consisting of stars from Disney television animation, from the 80s to today. I also divided them into four categories to have fifteen fighters in each. So, in the Disney Television Animation All-Stars, we have the Disney Afternoon (consisting of shows from the 80s to mid-90s), Disney’s One Saturday Morning (shows that ran from mid 90s to early 2000s), Disney Channel (2000s shows) and the Disney XD/Modern era (2010s to today). And I made those choices based off characters I knew would do great, and some that I really liked and want to see battle. So, I hope you all enjoy seeing these all-stars.

Question 11: Hey… you just split off the Smash Bros. node! Why?

Answer: Like SSBFreak pointed out in his Megamix Tournament 4, Smash Bros Ultimate has a lot of fighters, so like him, I decided to take some of the reps and gave them their own node. I did the same to a few other fighters in the Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion section, but yeah, you know what I mean.

Question 12: Are you going to be listing the Mystery Fighter nodes in the tags like you did last year?

Answer: Unfortunately, the tag system has been a little restrictive since I started the first Tournament of Kikai, so I'm going to just going to have the main nodes competing AND the security team members and any extra hosts that are participating listed... so that way, I can have the Mystery Fighters remain a surprise this tourney... which works out great, because it does keep you guys on your toes, and I'm hoping to see a lot more reception, depending on the fighter!

Chapter Text

Here’s the roster for the upcoming tournament. Now, like the other tournament spinoffs before and after this, I will be marking the Big Guys with a (!) next to their names, so that way, you’ll know they’ll be coming. I may alter some of them as the tournament goes on, depending on how long they go, but for the most part, this is the roster!

STREET FIGHTER (30):

Ryu, Ken Masters, Chun-Li, Zangief, Dhalsim, E. Honda (!), Blanka, Crimson Viper, Sakura Kasugano, Ed, Rainbow Mika, Makoto, Guile, Cammy White, Yun, Yang, M. Bison (!), Akuma (!), F.A.N.G., Juri Han, Rashid, Luke, Dee Jay, Jamie, Kimberly, Manon, Marisa, Lily, JP (!), A.K.I.

FINAL FIGHT (18):

Mike Haggar, Cody, Guy, Maki, Carlos, Lucia, Dean, Abigail (!), Belger (!), Thrasher, Edi E., El Gado, Hugo (!), Kyle, Poison, Rolento, Sodom, Two P.

KING OF FIGHTERS XV (50):

Benimaru Nikaido, Shun’ei, Meitenkun, Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Chizuru Kagara, Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi, Yashiro Nanakase, Shermie, Chris, Ralf Jones, Clark Still, Leona Heidern, Blue Mary, Vanessa, Luong, Ramon, King of Dinosaurs, Antonov (!), Mai Shiranui, Athena Asamiya, Heidern, Isla, Dolores, Whip, K’, Maxima, Angel, Krohnen, Kula Diamond, Ash Crimson, Kukri, Elisabeth Blanctorche, Rock Howard, Gato, B. Jenet, Geese Howard (!), Billy Kane, Ryuji Yamazaki, Haohmaru, Nakoruru, Darli Digger, Shingo Yabuki, Kim Kaphwan, Sylvie Paula Paula, Najd, Rugal Bernstein (!), Goenitz (!)

ART OF FIGHTING (21):

Ryo Sakazaki, Robert Garcia, Ryuhaku Todoh, Jack Turner, Lee Pai Long, King, Mickey Rogers, John Crawley (!), Yuri Sakazaki, Eiji Kisaragi, Temjin, Kasumi Todoh, Karman Cole, Rody Birts, Lenny Creston, Jin Fun-Ha, Wang Koh-San, Mr. Big (!), Takuma Sakazaki (!), Sinclair, Wyler (!)

SUPER SMASH BROS. (60):

Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Bowser (!), Bowser Jr., Wario, Rosalina & Luma, Piranha Plant, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, King K. Rool (!), ROB, Mr. Game & Watch, Link, Zelda, Ganondorf (!), Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Wolf O’Donnell, Samus, Dark Samus, Ridley (!), Ness, Lucas, Captain Falcon, Ice Climbers, Marth, Lucina, Roy, Chrom, Ike, Robin, Corrin, Byleth, Pit, Dark Pit, Palutena, Solid Snake, Captain Olimar, Villager, Isabelle, Mega Man, Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Pac-Man, Shulk, Pyra/Mythra, Duck Hunt, Bayonetta, Inkling, Simon Belmont, Richter Belmont, Joker, Hero, Banjo-Kazooie, Min Min, Steve, Kazuya Mishima

KIRBY (30):

Kirby, Metaknight, King Dedede (!), Bandanna Waddle Dee, Waddle Doo, Poppy Bros. Jr, Simirror, Chef Kawasaki, Adeleine & Ribbon, Rick, Kine, Koo, Gooey, Daroach, Magalor (!), Knuckle Joe, Prince Fluff, Landia, Susie, NESP, Wester, Bonkers (!), Bugzzy, Mr. Frosty, Marx (!), Jammerjab, Vividria, Zan Partizanne, Francisca, Flamberge

POKEMON (40):

Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Pichu, Mewtwo (!), Blastoise, Venusaur, Charizard, Lucario, Greninja, Incineroar, Meowth, Psyduck, Magikarp, Cubone, Skitty, Treecko, Phanpy, Axew, Audino, Delphox, Quagsire, Scovillain, Raichu, Weavile, Machamp (!), Garbodor, Clodsire, Toucannon, Espeon, Heracross, Aggron, Runerigus, Krookodile, Alolan Exeggutor, Metagross (!), Galarian Weezing, Suicune, Groudon (!), Regigigas, Moraidon

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (30):

Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, E-123 Omega, Cream the Rabbit, Big the Cat, Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Charmy Bee, Silver the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat, Mighty the Armadillo, Ray the Flying Squirrel, Sticks the Badger, Merlina, Bean the Dynamite, Bark the Polarbear, Nack the Weasel, Gemel, Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, Storm the Albatross, Chaos (!), Zavok (!), Infinite, Metal Sonic (!), Dr. Eggman (!)

SPYRO THE DRAGON (30):

Spyro, Sparx, Cynder, Hunter, Bianca, Sheila the Kangaroo, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley the Yeti, Agent 9, Blink, Toasty, Dr. Shemp, Blowhard, Metalhead, Jacques, Gnasty Gnorc (!), Ripto (!), Crush, Gulp, Yeti, The Sorceress (!), Buzz, Spike, Scorcher, Bluto, Sleepyhead, Ineptune, Red, Gaul, Malefor (!)

SLY COOPER (20):

Sly Cooper, Bentley, Murray, Carmelita Fox, The Panda King, Dimitri, The Guru, Penelope, Sir Raleigh, Muggshot, Mz. Ruby, Rajan, Jean Bison (!), The Contessa, Don Octavio, General Tsao (!), El Jefe, The Grizz (!), Miss Decibel, Cyrille Le Paradox (!)

KINGDOM HEARTS (56):

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Ventus, Aqua, Terra, Vanitas, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo, Isa, Lea/Axel, Ansem, Xemnas (!), Xigbar, Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia (!), Larxene, Roxas, Xion, Maleficent (!), Pete (!), Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Tarzan, Aladdin, Genie, Ariel, Jack Skellington, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, Beast, Mulan, Auron, Captain Jack Sparrow, Simba, Tron, Prince Philip, Hercules, Stitch, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Sulley, Mike Wazowski, Marshmallow, Baymax, Dumbo, Bambi, Mushu, Chicken Little, Wreck-It Ralph, Meow-Wow

DISNEY TELEVISION ANIMATION ALL-STARS (60):

Disney Afternoon- Scrooge McDuck, Launchpad McQuack, Della Duck, Flintheart Glomgold, Chip & Dale, Monterey Jack, Gadget Hackwrench, Baloo Bruinwald, Don Karnage, Darkwing Duck, Megavolt, Negaduck (!), Bonkers, Goliath, Timon & Pumbaa

Disney’s One Saturday Morning- T.J. Detwiller, Ashley Spinelli, Pepper Ann, Doug Funnie, Patti Mayonnaise, Connie Benge, Tino Tortellini, Lor McQuarrie, Mira Nova, Booster, XR, Gravitina (!) Captain Crandall, Skate Lad, Rope Girl

Disney Channel Originals- Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Dr. Drakken, Shego, Penny Proud, Suga Mama, Jake Long, Todd Daring, Riley Daring, Agent K, Dick Daring, Perry the Platypus, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, Milo Murphy, Melissa Chase

Disney XD Originals/Modern Disney Toons- Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, Wander & Sylvia, Lord Hater, Lord Dominator (!), Star, Marco, Heckapoo, Anne, Sasha, Marcy, Lord Andrias (!), Luz, Scratch

PLAYSTATION ALL-STARS BATTLE ROYALE (22):

Big Daddy (!), Cole MacGrath, Colonel Radec (!), Dante, Emmett Graves, Fat Princess, Heihachi Mishima, Isaac Clarke, Jak & Daxter, Kat & Dusty, Kratos, Nariko, Nathan Drake, Parappa the Rapper, Raiden, Ratchet & Clank, Sackboy, Sir Daniel Fortesque, Spike, Sweet Tooth (!), Toro Inoue, Zeus (!)

EHRGEIZ (18):

Ken “Godhand” Mishima, Han Daehan, Prince Doza, Yoko “Yoyo” Kishibojin, Lee Shuwen, Sasuke, Dasher Inoba (!), “Wolf Girl” Jo, Koji Masuda, Clair Andrews, Django, Red Scorpion (!), Cloud Strife, Sephiroth (!), Tifa Lockhart, Vincent Valentine, Yuffie Kisaragi, Zack Fair

TOKYO MEW MEW (15):

Ichigo Momomiya, Minto Aizawa, Retasu Midorikawa, Pudding Fong, Zakuro Fujiwara, Berry Shirayuki, Ringo Akai, Kisshu Ikisatashi, Pai Ikisatashi, Taruto Ikisatashi, Masaya Aoyama, Royal Highness (!), Happy Child (!), Blue Bayou (!), Gateau du Roi (!)

SKULLGIRLS (18):

Filia, Cerebella, Peacock, Parasoul, Ms. Fortune, Painwheel, Valentine, Double, Squigly, Big Band (!), Eliza, Beowulf (!), Robo-Fortune, Fukua, Annie, Umbrella, Black Dahlia, Marie (!)

CARTOON NETWORK: PUNCH TIME EXPLOSION (17):

Dexter, Monkey, Johnny Bravo, Samurai Jack, The Scotsman, Aku (!), Numbuh One, Father (!), Toiletnator, Mac & Bloo, Ben Tennyson, Kevin Levin, Vilgax (!), Chowder & Kimchi, Flapjack, Captain K’nuckles, Captain Planet

THE GRIM ADVENTURES OF BILLY & MANDY (15):

Grim, Billy, Mandy, Hoss Delgado, Boogey (!), Dracula, Eris, Fred Fredburger, General Skarr (!), Irwin, Jack O’Lantern (!), Lord Pain, “Mogar”, Nergal, Nergal Jr.

THE POWERPUFF GIRLS (13):

Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, Brick, Boomer, Butch, Mojo Jojo, HIM (!), Ace, Big Billy (!), Fuzzy Lumpkins (!), Princess Morbucks, Sedusa

NICKELODEON ALL-STARS BRAWL/UNIVERSE (35):

Garfield, Reptar (!), Ren & Stimpy, Powdered Toast Man (!), Rocko Rama, Heffer Wolfe, Oblina, Arnold Shortman, Helga Pataki, CatDog, Nigel Thornberry, SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks, Squidward Tentacles, Timmy Turner, Invader Zim (!), GIR, Hugh Neutron, Jenny Wakeman, Danny Phantom, Aang, Toph Beifong, Korra, Lincoln Loud, Clyde McBride, Luna Loud, Lucy Loud, Leonardo (80s), Donatello (Rise), Raphael (Rise), Michelangelo (80s), April O’Neil, Shredder (!), Kid Danger

LOONEY TUNES: WORLD OF MAYHEM (56):

Bugs Bunny, Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Melissa Duck, Porky Pig, Petunia Pig, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Witch Hazel, Marvin the Martian, K-9, Sylvester, Sylvester Jr., Tweety, Granny, Hector, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Solid Tin Coyote, Taz, Tasmanian She-Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, Barnyard Dawg, Miss Prissy, Egghead Jr., Henery Hawk, Pepe Le Pew, Penelope Pussycat, Gossamer (!), Hippety Hopper, Ralph Wolf, Sam Sheepdog, Nasty Canasta (!), Blacque Jacque Shellacque, Hugo the Abominable Snowman, O’Pat, O’Mike, Dr. Frankenbeans, The Mighty Angelo, Babyface Finster, Rocky, Muggsy, Cecil Turtle, Beaky Buzzard, Playboy Penguin, Toro the Bull (!), The Crusher (!), Casper Caveman, Babbit, Catstello, The Do-Do Bird, Giovanni Jones, Big Bad Wolf, Big Chungus, Michigan J. Frog

MULTIVERSUS (19):

Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Black Adam (!), Iron Giant (!), Gizmo, Stripe (!), Finn the Human, Jake the Dog, Steven Universe, Garnet, Shaggy Rogers, Velma Dinkley, Rick Sanchez, Morty Smith, LeBron James, Arya Stark, Reindog

TOM & JERRY: WAR OF THE WHISKERS (10):

Tom, Jerry, Butch, Spike (!), Tyke, Robot Cat, Eagle (!), Lion (!), Nibbles/Tuffy, Lil' Quacker

Chapter Text

(Fictograph City; Cafe)

It was another bright, sunny day in the world of Fictograph City, a world that was the main hub of not only Dreamland (not unlike Kirby’s Dreamland, but a different Dreamland altogether), but the main entry point for a lot of gaming, cartoon and media nodes throughout the multiverse. To a lot of people visiting or living in the world, it was a pleasurable experience. Once a land that was dedicated to the study of literature, now it was a place for fictional characters to roam around. In a way, it was like VG Central, the other gaming hub for all nodes to visit.

Well, both places were wonderful places to explore, but for the story’s sake, the setting is Fictograph City, and the morning starts not at the Crossover Dome, where these places usually start, but rather at a local cafe that most people visit when wanting a little quiet time. In the case of one man sitting in the cafe, sipping his hot chocolate, he was waiting for the new arrivals.

“They should be here any minute now…” The man muttered to himself as he gave a sigh. “Curse myself for making characters that always run behind.”

The figure sighed before sipping his hot chocolate. The person in question was a young adult raven haired man wearing an orange shirt, with blue shorts and brown sandals. He hummed a little bit as he tapped his foot for a moment, before looking up to see two characters walking in the door of the cafe and getting in line for coffee. One of the characters looked around and spotted the man sitting at the table, giving a small smile as he waved towards him. The human man nodded as he waved back to the character, and patiently waited for them to get their order done.

Soon enough, the two figures walked over as the large figure led the small figure over as they joined him. The first character, and the rather tall one, was a large black furred bull with glasses, wearing a green tye-dye shirt and blue shorts. The second character was a small, tan furred rabbit with one ear, wearing a red shirt and orange shoes. To some people, these two were pretty well known in the multiverse… a few a little negative towards one, but a few more positive towards the other.

To this man, though, he knew these characters longer than anyone as he gave a nod. “Maurice, Xero, glad to see you can join.”

The rabbit, Xero, gave a smile. “Of course! You didn’t think we’d miss out on this small meeting amongst friends, right?”

“Though, why a coffee shop?” The bull, known as Maurice, asked. “The only time you ever go to a coffee shop is to get a hot chocolate and just look at your phone.”

“Yeah, sometimes, you just want a hot chocolate to relax you. You guys know I’m not a coffee drinker.” The human said as he sipped some hot chocolate. “And anyway, my computer’s a little beat up from taking it everywhere, so it’s currently at home. I would have asked you guys to transfer a few files, but yeah, I figured it’d be best to talk to you in person.”

“Probably for the best, sir.” Maurice nodded. “So, first of all, do you have the keys to the Crossover Dome?”

The man nodded as he handed the keys over to Maurice. “Ashley and Drake hand delivered them to me this morning.”

“Cool!” Xero grinned as he was about to reach for the key, but Maurice swiftly slapped the rabbit’s paw, causing him to retract his hand and blow on it. “Hey!”

“I think I’ll hang onto the keys… for safekeeping.” Maurice frowned. “After all, we don’t want these to fall into the wrong hands… especially after all the trouble you caused in the FIRST Tournament of Kikai!”

“Oh, come on! At least the people enjoyed the show, and nobody quit fighting no matter the circumstances!” Xero pointed out.

“You let a girl with a despair fetish run things behind the scenes in our tournament, HIRED her after she hijacked our arena, fell for her charms and wiles while paying her off in novelty snowglobes, which I’m pretty sure she was never enthralled by, and you also didn’t screen the security team, letting someone who could potentially RUIN the tournament INTO our ranks! Oh, and did I mention that your little bias of your stupid Steve meme caused you to kidnap two innocent people that were both in the Battle of the Luminaries once upon a time, and forced them to various node hopping scenarios all because you didn’t like the way a battle happened in one tournament?” Maurice glared.

Xero groaned as he held his head. “If it helps you any, I’m so over the Steve thing! You won’t hear anything about Steve ever again from my mouth!”

“Didn’t I hear you say something about buying all the Red Pikmin merch last week?” The man raised an eyebrow. “Not to mention you said in excitement you would be the first in line to buy and play Pikmin 4 when it came out.”

Xero looked between the man and Maurice as he gave a nervous chuckle. “Okay, so MAYBE the Steve hype won’t die down… not by much…”

The man groaned as he held his head. “Wow, why did I ever write you with that obsession…”

“To be fair, you sort of moved onto other things after Battle of the Luminaries 2 got canceled, including that Oh Rhonda thing you were writing for three years, and then wrote more fanfiction for years, before finally doing your first tournament, so really, it was your own fault for ignoring us, Orange Ratchet.” Maurice pointed out.

The man, known as Orange, pouted a bit, before giving a sigh. “I suppose I had it coming…”

“Yeah, it was your own fault for letting your own original characters host a tournament you should have been preparing ALL because you wanted to focus on your Arnold x Rhonda fanfictions!” Xero frowned. “Speaking of, what is up with that pairing, Orange? Why do you ship those two together?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I know Arnold and Rhonda had a few interactions in the show, but they weren’t really romantic… and I’m pretty sure Helga is the CANON love interest, anyway.” Maurice pointed out.

Orange crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “Hey, I don’t tell my friends who to ship and who not to ship, so don’t judge me for my ships! Anyway, I will admit Arnold x Rhonda has its flaws, but I think it’s an interesting idea that could be canon, if given a few possibilities. Besides, have you SEEN the Hey Arnold fanfiction section on that side? There is a WHOLE lot of Arnold x Helga on that site, and while I’m not opposed to writing for that pair, heck, I’ve done a couple myself, I find myself liking writing for Arnold x Rhonda more!”

Xero and Maurice looked at each other with pure, knowing looks on their faces, before shrugging as Xero said, “Sure, whatever you say, man.”

“Number 48 and 49, your coffees are ready.” The barista called from behind the counter.

The bull and bunny turned as the former gave a nod, before getting up. “I’ll go get them.”

Xero nodded before turning to Orange, as he tried to change the subject. “Okay, so, you saw the sneak peek, right?”

Orange looked at Xero with an incredulous look on his face, causing the bunny to chuckle nervously. “Right, dumb question. So, have you finalized the cast and all that?”

“Yeah, we’re just about ready to go, Xero. I’m just waiting on our final guest.” Orange sighed.

Xero blinked. “Uh, final guest? What do you mean, final guest?”

“Well…” Orange chuckled nervously. “The thing is, somebody was interested in the idea of hosting the second Tournament of Kikai alongside you guys, and was inspired a little bit by Monokuma and Junko.”

Xero’s eyes widened in shock as he opened his mouth, but Orange quickly waved his hands. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. This girl, while she can be a little nuts at times, she’s not Monokuma OR Junko… OR Tsumugi. In a way, I guess you can say she’s sort of like a… goddess?”

Xero raised an eyebrow. “A goddess?”

“What’s up?”

Xero and Orange looked up to see Maurice returning with the coffees as he handed Xero his drink. Xero quickly said, “Orange wants us to have a third host with us… someone that works like Monokuma and/or Junko.”

Maurice’s eyes widened in shock, before narrowing his eyes at the author. “Orange, I know you’re our author, and Word is God to you, but there has to be a line crossed somewhere!”

“I know that, but… I don’t really have control over this one.” Orange sighed sadly. “Besides, she says she’s been watching you guys since the first Tournament of Kikai… and all the other tournaments before and after.”

“Before and after? What do you mean? Tournament of Kikai was the first tournament to be released after the breaks that happened…” Xero frowned.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. You know how in the tournament, there were these strange references to something called the “Okron Tournament”?” Orange asked.

Maurice and Xero blinked twice, as if wondering what Orange was talking about. During that time, two black boxes suddenly appeared above them as words appeared on each of the boxes.

’Xero.OkronTournamentMemories: increased 500’

‘Maurice.OkronTournamentMemories: increased 500’

The boxes suddenly disappeared as Xero’s eyes widened. “Oh, right! When Volcarona turned into a giant moth thanks to that stray Triforce piece and started destroying VG Central!”

“...how did we forget that part?” Maurice blinked.

“Considering it’s a GIANT MOTH POKEMON that could easily resemble Mothra, you’d think we WOULDN'T forget that part… and yet… in all the times the Tournament of Kikai referenced the Okron Tournament, not once did we mention a giant moth wrecking everything.” Xero pointed out.

“Yeah, why did everybody pretend that there was a winner in the Okron Tournament, when there never WAS one? Does this mean that Penny Proud is actually the seventh winner of these UVR spinoffs?” Maurice frowned. “What happened?”

“That’s a question I can easily answer for you.”

Orange didn’t look too surprised as somebody else literally ‘popped’ in, causing both bunny and bull to jump at the new figure, who was sipping coffee herself.

“Whoa, where did this cute girl come from?” Xero asked in surprise… before opening his mouth.

“Utter one word about how you want to take me out to a nice place, and I will make sure you are not only deleted from existence, but everybody forgets about you.” The figure said calmly while sipping her coffee.

Xero’s eyes widened. “Whoa, whoa, come on! I’ve been trying to hold off on that since society has changed.”

“He’s been doing a good job at it as well, surprisingly.” Maurice said as he examined the figure. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

The girl giggled as she turned her head towards the two as they fully examined her. This woman sitting in front of them looked like a young brown haired young adult eighteen year old girl wearing a white bow atop her head, a gray school uniform with a brown sweater vest and a white shirt underneath it, a red ribbon around her neck, a blue pleated skirt, dark high socks and white and pink shoes. She gave a little smile.

“Hi, it’s me! Monika!” The teenage girl smiled. “And it’s a pleasure meeting you two for the first time!”

“Monika… wait, THE Monika, as in Doki Doki Literature Club Monika?” Maurice’s eyes widened in shock, before turning to Orange, who gave a nervous shrug. His eyes narrowed towards the young man. “Orange…”

“I don’t know HOW this happened! She’s like Sheogorath in a way, but she has not only fourth wall awareness, but also a curiosity and excitement for the tournament.” Orange explained. “She HIGHLY insisted she be part of the crew…”

“So… you’re our third host, then?” Xero asked in curiosity.

Monika gave out a cute giggle. “In a way, I suppose you could say that. I’ve been watching the first Tournament of Kikai from the beginning, alongside every and all tournaments ever since the revival, and well, let’s just say, I had the itch to be involved in all of them. The way you’ve done a lot in the first Tournament of Kikai… it was crazy, amazing, astounding! And… well, I’ve been wanting to be a part of that.”

“Wait… you watch EVERY tournament? INCLUDING the recent Battle of the Luminaries that finished?” Xero asked.

“...well, finished, still in probably in the works of the Section Fifteen Results and Section Sixteen fighters by the time this gets put up, and even looking over future tournaments like the Okron Tournament: Revisioned AND Megamix Tournament 4… speaking of, I think you have a memory of a Council of Steves somewhere?” Monika smirked.

Xero narrowed his eyes at the young woman in annoyance, before Monika giving a giggle. “You’re right. It WAS a stupid question.”

“Wait, then… if you were watching, then YOU KNEW about Junko’s plan and what she was going to do! Why didn’t you stop any of this at any point?” Maurice frowned.

“What, and undermine all that character development the heroes in the side stories had to go through?” Monika rolled her eyes. “Besides, Junko’s stupid little despair plan was made to be foiled anyway. And before you ask if I have a plan to interfere with the Okron Tournament Revisioned, Megamix Tournament 4 OR if I was involved with the Battle of the Luminaries 3… I don’t usually involve myself in those… well, unless the writer asked nicely or said, ‘Hey, you know who’d be an interesting person to have? Monika!’. And even then, I’d probably be relegated to a short cameo. Otherwise, my powers of deleting every character would be pretty pointless, as there’d be no conflict. Heck, if you knew my source material slash node, I’d have easily delete every single one of you in existence… well, except for that Khall guy, the only reason I’m excluding him and other meta characters is that they’d somehow find a way back into existence.”

Maurice gave a nod. “Yeah, I guess I can sort of get it…”

“So, you’re going to essentially be our new Monokuma/Junko?” Xero asked, before giving a shrug. “Eh, I can live with that. Like it or not, the third host having a little say in the tournament and messing around with things in the arena were probably the best things that ever happened in this tournament, and with your god-like powers, we’d be having a lot of chaos in the ring!”

Monika giggled as she put her hands together. “Oh, believe me, I know there’s going to be a lot of fun…”

“Just…” Maurice frowned. “Don’t try to be all ‘muhaha, I was the villain all along’ and betray us at the last minute or kill the contestants or whatever? We already went through that mess with Junko, I do not want a repeat of what happened!”

Monika scoffed as she crossed her arms. “Oh, come on, it’s not like I’m going to take over the world or anything? Sheesh, have a little faith.”

Orange sighed as he noticed the slight tension in the room, before trying to diffuse it. “Look, I know that there’s a lot to take in, ESPECIALLY with Monika being involved, but if you two want to prove yourselves to be great hosts, you need to take in Monika. And hey, I could have done worse.”

“How could you have done worse?” Xero asked, the bunny looking over.

“I could have brought Solara in.” Orange rolled his eyes.

The bunny and bull’s eyes shrank in horror as Monika looked over to Orange in confusion. “Isn’t Solara, like, your character?”

“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure asking her is just asking for trouble.” Orange sighed. “One fourth wall breaking goddess is enough, especially if it’s a canon fourth wall breaking goddess. I don’t want a second one messing things up, especially since it’s one of MY characters.”

“Thank goodness for that. I mean, you already have a rabbit that gives Chris McLean from Total Drama vibes, a bull that is trying to keep the peace, and I recall you have a dinosaur running the gift shop that freaks out whenever he sees an actual dog because of some unresolved trauma.” Monika frowned. “Seriously, how did you EVER come up with these characters?”

“Hey, at least when I get to them, I’m attempting to give them more character.” Orange argued.

“...I’m sorry, HOW do I give off Chris McLean vibes? Even Chris has his fans.” Xero pointed out.

“Maybe so, but yeah, the way you want to keep the show going, despite the disasters?” Maurice sighed. “It would be something Chris would do…”

“...I hope you’re not doing this for a reserved Mystery Fighter slot, because Orange and I always discuss Mystery Fighters before anything else…” Xero sighed, turning his head to Monika.

Monika scoffed. “Please, like I want to be involved in the arena fights. I can easily do the wheel and delete anything that follows the rules, but I am NOT going to go in, only to have my face punched in by someone like Isabelle. Honestly, that’s Sheogorath’s thing. I mean, unless the voters want me in… which I’m happy to appease… I strongly expect to see a lot of Die votes in my debut section. I wouldn’t blame the voters. Unless they believe I deserve Live votes, because, well, this face is just too cute to punch.”

The girl turned her head as she cocked it, giving a giggle and a smile, before turning to the others. “No, no, what I want is something bigger. I want to have a selected choice for when each round ends, and the top player has to select an envelope with their choice.”

Xero and Maurice blinked in surprise as they looked at each other, with Xero asking, “How do you know we’re bringing the wheel back?”

“It’s like, the Tournament of Kikai’s thing. I mean, Megamix Tournament has its second chance Multiversal Matchup thing, Battle of the Luminaries, I’m pretty sure, will likely keep the Arena Change twist if this keeps continuing, and the Tournament of Kikai has the wheel.” Monika giggled. “And once you introduced THAT concept, I don’t think anybody else is going to associate the Tournament of Kikai with anything else except the wheel.”

Xero and Maurice could only stare flabbergasted as they looked at each other. Sure, the wheel was the biggest twist of the Tournament of Kikai, which was the main gimmick of the UVR spinoff. And probably one of the most infamous as well, since that also inspired the main hosts of Battle of the Luminaries to come up with their own unique gimmick. Still, despite the problems and quirks the wheel provided, it did provide some good entertainment on their end, so, all in all, to Xero, the wheel was worth it.

Xero gave a nod as he turned to Monika. “Okay, we’ll give you an envelope choice. Monokuma forced his choices there anyway, so it’s only fair we’re giving you one.”

“Yeah, just… what’s your idea for a next round twist?” Maurice asked.

Monika giggled as she crossed her arms. “Sorry, but that’s for me to know and you to watch for yourselves.”

The two anthropomorphic animals groaned as Maurice held his head. “Of course it’s not going to be that easy to weed it out of you…”

“Well, just as long as you don’t flirt with our audience, and I mean the voters doing the votes, as I’m pretty sure some of them have different sexualities.” Xero frowned. “Then I guess you’re good.”

Monika scoffed. “Oh come on, no promises on that end. You know I simp for my adoring fans… and the writer writing this story.”

Orange narrowed his eyes. “You know I’m sitting right here…”

“No, Orange, not your stupid avatar sitting next to me, the person typing our words on this computer.” Monika rolled his eyes before giving a wink towards the front. “Don’t lie, Real Orange, you know you and my audience all want me…”

Orange, Xero and Maurice winced a bit as Monika turned towards the others. “Oh, gosh, did I make you all uncomfortable?”

“Yes.” Xero said in a blunt tone of voice. “Anyway, since we have you here, do you want to have some Mystery Fighter choices as well? Maurice and I are doing an equal share of selecting Mystery Fighters this time, with Orange’s approval, so you’re welcome to put in a couple choices.”

Monika giggled. “How sweet of you. But no, I much prefer being surprised by the Mystery Fighter list… or not. I already know ALL of your Mystery Fighter choices for the Tournament of Kikai 2, so why would I want to ruin that perfect list?”

Maurice jumped in surprise. “Wait, you have OUR Mystery Fighter list? HOW?”

“Oh, I have ALL the Mystery Fighter lists from all the tournaments, including ones that haven’t been released yet. But I know to keep secrets… I know not to spoil the surprise. You wouldn’t want to ruin somebody’s surprise gift someone else wanted to give for their birthday, would you?” Monika said as she aimed a smirk towards Xero.

Xero’s eyes widened as he narrowed his eyes. “If you’re referring to the Mushroom I gave to Mario, it was right there in Peach’s locker!”

“...And you wonder WHY there’s these scanners next to the locker rooms now.” Monika sighed heavily. “At least you’ll have to actually TRY in the Christmas section, if there is one.”

“Oh, we can guarantee, holiday sections WILL be a thing!” Maurice smirked. “It may not Halloween or Christmas when we do these specific rounds, but hey, you know how these votefics work.”

Monika giggled as she crossed her arms. “I wouldn’t ask for anything more…”

Orange just gave a small sigh as he looked towards the three characters. Sure, it did look like Xero and Maurice were still looking distrustful of Monika, but despite everything, the two seemed to be trusting her well enough… in fact, it was like she almost fit in with the other two. He couldn’t help but give a small smile, knowing that they’d get along just fine.

Orange quickly sipped his hot chocolate before grabbing the three’s attention, “All right, well, if we’re all done getting acquainted and settling on a few pre-tournament ideas, I would LOVE to discuss our next course of action… the final checks of the tournament planning.”

Xero nodded as he and the others turned to Orange. “But of course. Let’s go over one more time the plans for the Tournament of Kikai 2.”

And go over them, the four did as Orange looked over and listened to each idea Xero and Maurice had, with Monika chiming in with a new idea every now and then. Of course, there were a couple ideas Orange liked that were approved, but other ideas, like Xero’s suggestion for a bikini round, was nixed right away (after a glare from Maurice, Monika AND Orange towards the one eared bunny). This went on for a few minutes until each of them were finished with Tournament of Kikai 2 talks.

“All right, seems like everything is in order.” Orange smiled as he looked between the three. “Well, you guys now know Monika, and Monika, I think you’re going to make a GREAT addition to our ranks.”

Monika gave a giggle. “I’ll be sure to impress when the audience watches and the fighters get into it.”

“I can say one thing, you are a good step up from Monokuma.” Maurice nodded, with Xero giving an approving smile.

Orange laughed a bit as he got up. “Well, I guess I better get going then. Now, remember, just wait until SSBFreak’s done with his tournament before we get going with this one. Of course, by the time we start this, he might be starting up his next section, so… just remember, most of them are under an NDA.”

“Meaning, don’t reference Megamix Tournament 4’s future sections until the timing is right. Don’t worry, every time this story updates, I’ll be sure to add the memories. It might take a minute of programming, but I’ll insert those memories, little by little.” Monika smiled as she put her hands behind her back.

“Glad to hear of it.” Orange said before nodding his head towards the two. “Okay, you two, the tournament is in good hands. Preparations are all yours… oh, and Xero?”

“Yes?” The bunny asked in curiosity before looking at the author in curiosity.

“If there’s been any signs of characters being kidnapped or node hopping WITHOUT approval from anyone, you can forget about becoming the host for the NEXT Tournament of Kikai!” Orange said with a narrowing glare in his eyes. “I can easily replace you with canon characters.”

“Like who?” Xero asked, looking a little concerned.

“Hmmm… I wonder if Moltar and Zorak would be up for hosting the Tournament of Kikai… I know they’re busy with Space Ghost’s talk show, but… I’m sure he won’t mind lending them…” Orange said with a smirk.

Maurice gave a chuckle as Xero yelped, before giving a nervous smile. “Uh, yeah, got it, Orange.”

Orange nodded, before giving a nod. “Well, I’ll be going, then. If any of you need me, I’ll be working on my next Arnda story.”

With that, Orange gave a small whistle as he skipped out of the cafe, the three characters watching him go.

Monika blinked twice, before giving a small smile. “He looks nice…”

Maurice gave a sigh as he turned towards the other two. “Well, I guess there’s no sugarcoating it. I think it’s about time we got to work…”

“Fun!” Monika smiled as she gave a stretch. “Mind if I hang out with you two for a bit? I’d like to get to know my future co-hosts better.”

“Eh, if it means we can get to know where you stand, sure.” Xero said as the three got up. “So, are you friends with that Sheogorath guy that SSBFreak knows about?”

Monika just scoffed before crossing her arms. “He’s a constant annoyance at best, but I made it perfectly clear to him that he should stick with his own tournament, lest he faces deletion. Of course, he treats it like a joke, but I do have the power to delete his file. It’s just him constantly coming back despite him being deleted being the problem…”

“Not good with getting rid of fourth wall breakers, huh?” Xero asked in curiosity.

“Why do you think I say that I never delete Khall? Because, again, I just know he’ll manage to come back somehow.” Monika rolled her eyes.

Maurice and Xero chuckled as Xero gave a smile. “You know what? I think we can manage to work this new partnership out…”

“Here’s to a brand new generation.” Maurice smiled as the three walked out of the coffee shop, satisfied.

“So, when do you think we’ll start this tournament?” Xero asked.

“It might take a few months after SSBFreak finishes his tournament, but to the folks back home?” Monika smiled. “Probably by the first or second week of June, if we’re lucky.”

“...say, isn’t Orange working on a fic that takes place AFTER the first Tournament of Kikai, or something? How is that going to correlate?” Maurice asked in curiosity as the three continued to walk down the sunset filled path.

“I’m pretty sure Orange can multitask. After all, he does have a lot of fics, and with the Tournament of Kikai having two weeks in voting, it gives him plenty of time to focus on his other stories while the votes pile.” Monika said.

“...I guess you’re right.” Xero nodded.

Indeed, as the bunny, bull and teenage girl god walked down the road, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

Chapter Text

(Fictograph City; Crossover Hotel Lobby; A Few Months Later)

It had taken a few months of preparation, and at least a year or so after SSBFreak’s fourth Megamix Tournament, but it was safe to gather that the Tournament of Kikai was officially making its grand return back in Fictograph City. Xero and Maurice were promoting the heck out of it in all of their social media platforms, even having their friends from their world help out in promoting once in a while. Commercials, streams… the works. To say that it generated a lot of excitement for all the people in the multiverse was an understatement, as most of them were looking forward to fighting in the tournament once again. Of course, there was a lot of worry that the wheel would be involved, but it was true in what they say, in that the Tournament of Kikai wouldn’t be the same without that wheel. Either way, preparations were beginning to form.

The tournament was due to start in about a week. More than enough time for Xero, Maurice and their new co-host to start with the preparations. Starting with being introduced to the new security team.

Speaking of which, the bunny and bull were sitting down and discussing plans when they heard the hotel doors opening up. They looked over as they noticed the familiar face of a dark green haired girl with two long pigtails wearing a red female school uniform, long red stockings and brown shoes peeking inside the door as she looked around, a bit wary.

“If you’re looking for the security cameras with the specific Monokuma stickers, don’t worry. We took those down and replaced them with regular security cameras.” Maurice called out.

The girl gave a sigh of relief as she nodded to her friends. “All right, I guess it is safe to come in.”

With that, the girl went inside, followed by three other figures as they took their seat respectively. The second figure that sat down was a young adult man with black hair, wearing a mostly black male school uniform with long black pants and black shoes. He also had an ahoge sticking out from the top of his head.

The third figure sitting down as a red haired female teenage girl wearing the long sleeved black school uniform shirt, along with a red skirt, a black mage hat on top of her head, black stockings and beige boots.

And the final figure sitting down was a white feathered anthropomorphic duck with with white hair, wearing pilot goggles atop her head, alongside a brown pilot’s uniform, blue scarf and a robotic left leg.

The duck grinned as she settled down in her seat. “Ha ha! Man, this place has not changed in the slightest since we last been here!”

“We’ve only been in here a few times.” The lone male human of the group pointed out.

“I know, but being here for the Tournament of Kikai 2 itself… man, I wonder if Psymon and Max always had nostalgia whenever they got reinvited back to these Megamix Tournament security things?” The duck smiled.

The long haired female teenager cracked a small smile. “Only you, Della, would compare returning here to those loon’s times in the security team…”

“Maki, Shuichi, Himiko, Della, thank you all for making it in.” Maurice said as he nodded to each character respectively, before turning to Della. “Now, Della, I trust you got your invitation in advance…”

“The one telling me that I got invited as part of the tournament itself?” Della grinned as she pulled out her invitation. “You bet! Uncle Scrooge got his as well, and like me, he’s just as excited to be a part of this. Although, I do have one question that’s bothering me…”

“What’s that?” Xero asked, raising an eyebrow.

“...why the heck is my invitation saying that ‘I’m part of the Disney Afternoon team’? I mean, I get that the original Ducktales was released in 1987, but at least THIS version of me is from 2017… and I don’t even HAVE a 1987 iteration!” Della argued.

“To be fair, as much as we LOVE the Ducktales original, there’s just something about this version of Scrooge that was appealing, so we decided to include you and your uncle for the Disney Afternoon team… may as well, since your third season made a huge shout out to that block, anyway.” Xero shrugged.

“Be thankful you got in, because it was a rather tough decision on who to select for teams on the Disney end.” Maurice pointed out.

Della paused briefly, before giving a big smile of excitement. “Either way, I am SO excited to be part of the tourney!”

“Glad to hear it.” Xero smiled before looking at the four people. “Now, as agreed on our little agreement, I allowed you guys picks for the security team…”

“On the account that YOU didn’t do a screen check on ANY of them last time, including Della and I.” Maki frowned as she glared at the rabbit darkly.

“Hey, I didn’t think I needed to! Nobody screened the security team before in the other Ultimate Video Rumble spinoffs!” Xero argued.

“To be fair, the bunny has a point.” Himiko noted.

“Nevertheless, we have made our choices, and we’re ready to introduce them to you, one by one.” Shuichi said.

Maurice gave a nod. “I suppose that’s fair enough. I’m sure the three of us will be happy to see what you guys have in mind.”

This caught the four people off guard as they looked at each other in confusion, before Maki cocked her head. “THREE of you?”

“Yeah, we got ourselves a new co-host to be our third host for the Tournament of Kikai.” Xero said. The tone in the room quickly soured as Xero noted the death glares he was being given. “Okay, before you complain, this wasn’t exactly my idea. She pretty much inserted herself in.”

“And don’t worry, she’s not like Junko.” Maurice sighed. “That much we can say.”

“Forgive us if we’re in a disbelieving state, BUT…” Della frowned as she crossed her arms. “What makes you think that this person is trustworthy? How do you know this ‘third host’ won’t just be playing you two for saps?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you judge for yourself?”

The four immediately jumped as suddenly, from out of nowhere, someone phased in via some strange computer like glitch, as if someone had adjusted the picture on a television screen. Sitting right between Xero and Maurice was the very familiar teenage girl with the grey school uniform, white bow, red ribbon, blue skirt and pink shoes. She was giving a small wave before giving a small smile towards the four shocked characters.

“Hello, young adults and duck girl! It’s me, Monika!” The new girl said as she gave a smile and a wave. “I’ve been sitting between these two the whole time, and I figured now would be a good time to make my fabulous appearance.”

Della blinked twice, before frowning. “Uh, no you weren’t! Where in the heck did you come from?”

Maurice gave a small sigh as he waved his hooves towards Monika. “Everyone, meet our new third host for the Tournament of Kikai, Monika, the computer program/high school student/President of the Literature Club/fourth wall breaker/goddess of Doki Doki Literature Club.”

The four blinked twice, before Maki slapped her forehead in annoyance. “It was bad enough that you let Junko have free reign in the last tournament. What makes you think that having MONIKA around is a good idea?”

“Hey, just so we’re clear, I’m not a bad guy anymore, okay? I saw the error of my ways! I brought my friends back to life, didn’t I?” Monika pointed out.

“After SIMPING for the audience AND deleting them or manipulating your friends' personalities in order for you to get your way!” Della pointed out.

Monika frowned a bit, as she gave a sigh. “I admit that it does look bad out of context, but look, I can REASSURE all of you, I’m not going to be like Junko. Heck, what would I GAIN for ruining the tournament? At the very least, if I were to ruin the tournament, I’d probably just flirt with the voters.”

With that, Monika gave a small wink towards the security camera nearby, before sticking out her tongue happily.

Maki, Shuichi, Himiko and Della looked at each other in awe before giving silent nods. As soon as they were done, Maki gave a nod. “All right, we’ll give you the benefit of doubt for now, but rest assured, if this is all some elaborate scheme…”

“No schemes. Cross my heart.” Monika giggled. “Sheesh, ever since the Monokuma hijacking thing, all of you have been so paranoid… speaking of which, I do believe you said something about the security team? What’s that all about?”

“Yeah…” Xero sighed as he held his head. “Last year, before we left for home, those four, along with the others, pulled me aside and berated me… a lot… for including Junko in the first place.”

“Yeah, what you did was extremely dumb.” Shuichi frowned. “What was even more dumb is how you did not even NOTICE that one of your security team members YOU invited could very well have not been a good guy from the start.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Xero groaned, shaking his head in annoyance. “You already berated me on this when we met up. Anyway, after a few back and forths, I made the reluctant agreement to give the security team of the first Tournament of Kikai, the four of them, new successors.”

Monika gave a smile. “Oh, well, that is an interesting way to do a security team. But… aren’t Crunch and Wigglytuff going to join us?”

“I don’t think Wigglytuff can talk, and Crunch was still a little upset about what happened, but they were good sports and decided to let Himiko and I have their picks instead.” Shuichi explained. “So, that’s pretty much why WE’RE here and not them.”

“Because we were pretty much involved in the plot to stop Junko from the beginning.” Himiko said with a small smile.

“Hm. Shame they aren’t here, but I guess you two WERE involved, so compensation does get rewarded.” Monika sighed, before giving a smile. “Okay, one by one, then? Maki, why don’t you go first, since you were sort of the ringleader of the last security team?”

“When you put it like that…” Maki frowned, before giving a shrug. “But yes, we discussed it quite a bit, and I figured, it was only fair I pick a character that was more familiar with the workings of security teams and hopefully would be one to make a quick getaway if power overcomes us. The power itself, being, our good friend, Himiko.”

Himiko beamed a bit as she got up and gave a small bow. “I’m just excited to work with all of you… it’ll be hard to adjust to new faces, but I think I can get the hang of it…”

Xero, Maurice and Monika blinked twice, before Maurice frowned, “Uh, Maki, are you sure you want to have Himiko LEAD the security team? I mean, she does stage magic, at best…”

Himiko, hearing Maurice’s comment, puffed her cheeks a bit before pouting. “I’m a mage!”

“I know she’s known as the Ultimate Magic- Ultimate Mage back in our world…” Maki explained as Himiko looked back with a small smile. “But if you’ve seen her in action during that festival that was held a few months ago, you can see how well and capable she can be in magic. Plus, learning from all the Final Fantasy spellbooks she collected, I think Himiko can channel out some of that inner magic.”

Himiko smirked as she pulled out her arms. “Allow me to give you a demonstration, if you don’t believe me.”

She closed her eyes and started to wiggle her fingers as the three watched in curiosity… only to feel themselves lifted up in the air. Monika, looking in disbelief, felt around for any strings that may have been attached to her, which, strangely enough, there were none. Xero just looked amazed.

“Okay, okay, I’m TOTALLY convinced!” Xero said as Himiko stopped her magic and the three of them landed back on the couch, Xero missing and landing on the cold, hard floor. “DAH!”

“Oops.” Himiko said with a smirk, causing Maurice and Monika to chuckle.

Xero groaned as he held his head and climbed back into his seat. “Okay, then, welcome to the security team, Himiko from Danganronpa V3. I’m sure you’ll fit in just fine.”

Himiko gave a cute smile before nodding. “In that case, I guess I can get the rest of our choices inside. Hang on, I’ll go get them, and we’ll introduce them one at a time.”

With that, Himiko quickly walked out the doors as the others watched. After at least a couple minutes, Himiko came back in with four figures, each of them different from the others. “Here we are, everyone, the Crossover Dome. I know you’re all anxious for your first ever exploration, but we have to introduce you all to your hosts. Everyone, this is Xero, Maurice, and the new co-host, Monika.”

Upon seeing the four people’s disbelieving faces, Himiko gave a sigh. “I know, I don’t trust her either…”

“That just hurts.” Monika frowns, before getting that smile back. “All right, now, who are your lovely choices?”

“Since I was selected, I guess I’m going first. I decided to have a fellow magic user in the field, because, after all, two magic users is better than one.” Himiko smiled as she motioned someone to step forward. That said someone was a short anthropomorphic cloud with a smily face, two arms, a pink curl of hair atop his head, wearing blue and white pants, a brown belt with a blue buckle, and pink shoes. “It was a little difficult to select someone, but I thought, why not have this person, here? He’s very good with magic, offensive AND defensive. So, in case my skills aren’t up to par, he’ll be here to pick up the slack! This is Prince Mallow, hailing from Super Mario RPG.”

Mallow smiled as he turned to Himiko. “I’m truly honored that you see me as a great mage… I figured you would have picked Geno…”

“What can I say? You have a very cute design.” Himiko smiled as she patted the cloud on the head.

“Awww, shucks!” Mallow said as he started to blush a bit… a few drops of rain coming out from his sides.

Xero paused as he, Maurice and Monika gave nods. “Okay, Mallow from Super Mario RPG. An odd choice, but rather unique. Della, you’re up.”

“Sweet!” Della smiled as she got up. “You guys are going to LOVE my pick! Hey, come on up, buddy!”

The figure Della called for gave a small smile as she stepped forward, flaunting her long ears. This was a female anthropomorphic bunny with blonde fur, light purple eyelids and green eyes. She’s wearing a purple leotard and black belt. She also had a grey robotic left arm and grey robotic legs, making her a sort of cyborg rabbit. “Okay, okay, so, I took a while in thinking about who’d I want for my pick… did I want a space guy, did I want someone from Overwatch… sheesh, the choices were tough… but I had to go with my fellow girl that not only has TWO robotic legs, but also a robotic arm as well, and never gives up, Bunnie Rabbot from the Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday Morning cartoon!”

“Well, sugah, I must say, it’s a pleasure to be chosen to be part of this little ol’ security team.” Bunnie smiled as she looked towards Della. “The minute you talked to me about the benefits, I just knew that I had to join in. Plus, with Knothole Village and Mobius safe from Robotnik and his minions for a while, I figured, why not help out with this tournament in the best way possible?”

Xero gave a big smile. “Hot!”

Bunnie, upon hearing that, marched up to Xero, reeled back her mechanical arm, and punched the male rabbit clear in the face. “Don’t you try and get fresh with me. I’ve heard plenty about your antics.”

Xero groaned as Maurice shook his head. “I’m sorry about Xero. He has been controlling himself pretty well for the past year and a half.”

“Owwww…” Xero groaned before shaking his head. “Bunnie Rabbot from the SatAM cartoon, got it. Shuichi, you’re up last. Who did you pick?”

“Well, technically, I didn’t pick one character, but two. And this was one I toyed with for a while, but figured it would be the best idea.” Shuichi smiled as he motioned for the two characters to come over.

The first figure in question was a large brown furred Great Dane with black spots and a black nose, having only a blue collar, with a dog tag that had the initials ‘SD’ on it. The second figure riding atop him was a small Great Dane puppy with a similar blue collar. Shuichi gave a nod as he said, “I did have in my mind to select the best detectives, but at the same time, there were many choices… Professor Layton, Naoto Shirogane, Inspector Gadget… all of them interesting choices. But I knew that his friends were going to be in this tournament, which, don’t deny, you were inviting a certain node to this tournament… so, I figured, since Multiversus is going to shut down its servers temporarily until 2024, why not invite a character that might be helpful in solving mysteries? So, I give you, Scooby Doo from… well, Scooby Doo.”

“Rello!” Scooby grinned as he gave a wave.

“I also decided to include his nephew, Scrappy Doo, into the mix, since I always liked the pup.” Shuichi smiled. “He’s always helpful most of the time, despite what people think of him in modern times.”

“Shucks, Shuichi, that’s pretty nice of you to say.” Scrappy said with a smile.

Monika blinked twice. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Scrappy nowadays shown as the guy that nobody really likes and was the one who, quote-unquote, ‘ruined the franchise’?”

Scrappy frowned. “Oh come on, I’m not even a bad guy! And no, that live action Scooby Doo movie directed by James Gunn DID NOT COUNT!”

“Also, the pup once threw a monster into a volcano after Shaggy wished that the monster would just go back into it. Do you really want to threaten a guy who can do that effortlessly?” Xero pointed out, causing everyone to look at the rabbit in shock. Xero looked around in confusion, before shrugging. “Guys, I watch a lot of Scooby Doo reruns, it’s not a big deal.”

“I’m sorry, Scrappy did WHAT, now?” Himiko said in shock.

Scrappy then gave a small laugh as he crossed his arms. “Never underestimate puppy power, am I right, Uncle Scooby?”

“Reah, you’re right.” Scooby smiled towards his small nephew as Scrappy hopped down and joined in with the group.

Monika paused as she turned to Shuichi. “I didn’t want to bring up Mallow because I understand he’s under that NDA for the Megamix Tournament 4, but… you REALIZE Scooby was part of the third Battle of the Luminaries, right?”

“Yeah, I’m well aware of that.” Shuichi said. “However, even without the fact he had UVR experience in the third Battle of the Luminaries, I wanted Scooby and Scrappy here with us. I think they’d be perfect… what Scooby can’t do, Scrappy will be along to pick up the slack. I mean, Scooby is a good fighter as well, but I figured he’ll step in if he has to. Isn’t that right, Scoob?”

“Ruh huh. Ruh huh. Ri ran re a rauable rasset!” Scooby grinned.

“Even when you have to face up against monsters and spooks?” Monika smirked.

Immediately, Scooby’s grin faltered a bit as he shook nervously. However, Scrappy, oblivious to Scooby’s fear, gave a laugh. “Hey, don’t you worry about that! My Uncle Scooby is the definition of tough! If he can survive the Battle of the Luminaries 3, he can survive anything! Right, Uncle Scooby?”

“R… right…” Scooby gulped, his body still shaking nervously.

“Okay, so… Himiko, Mallow, Bunnie, Scooby and Scrappy.” Maurice said as he wrote down the list. “Huh, I have to admit, you guys have some solid choices.”

The group gave a smile as Himiko looked over towards the other four characters. “And I’m sure we won’t let each other down.”

“Of course, sugah! With us on the job, and all of us say that we are who we are, I think we can take on the world!” Bunnie smiled.

Monika frowned as she looked at the security team. “I don’t know… one human, one cloud figure, one rabbit and two dogs… granted, I know that Maki was the lone human in the last group… I mean, if you don’t count Tsumugi… but even with the choices, that’s still four nodes for the security team.”

“...so what’s the big deal?” Maki frowned. “The security team is usually five to seven characters. As far as I’m concerned, we got the minimum.”

“Maybe so, but there’s not really a lot of variety in terms of nodes… there’s usually five characters from five different NODES representing the security team.” Monika said.

“Most of us had that same THOUGHT PROCESS, and in case you’ve forgotten, there were technically TWO Danganronpa reps in the security team!” Della pointed out. “Tsumugi! She used her Ultimate Cosplayer skills to disguise herself as Sans, a character that never got his invitation!”

“Yeah, now that I think about it, it was strange that Sans arrived quickly a day or so after the letter was sent.” Xero pointed out.

Della and Maki shut their eyes in annoyance as the former called out, “You are not helping!”

“Nevertheless, we do need another node representation, so I’ll take it upon myself to put in our next security team member.” Monika suggested.

“Excuse me?” Della and Maki said in shock as Shuichi and Himiko’s mouths just dropped. Xero and Maurice looked up in curiosity, with the other security members looking curious.

“Indeed, your security team is good, but with two mages, a robotic strongman, a cowardly Great Dane, and a fighting Great Dane puppy, I think we need some heart… the hot girl, if we’re going by Xero rules.” Monika grinned.

Xero’s lone ear perked up. “I’m listening…”

“You are N- we already selec- this is enough security-” Della waved her arms towards the other people as she noted Shuichi, Maki and Himiko’s defeated faces. Della groaned as she held her head. “Who did you have in mind?”

“Well, considering the author’s taste in cartoons, it would make sense to have something from a show he particularly likes. On the other hand, I could just cheap out and suggest a character from my world, but unfortunately, that ship has sailed. Plus, I don’t want simps all over Yuri…” Monika spat out in disgust, before giving a smile. “On the other hand, we already have plenty of cartoon representation in our security team, so maybe a game that Orange likes? Hmmm, but it wouldn’t feel right if I just took someone from a game that was already represented… maybe I can pick from one of the nodes NOT being represented this year? Considering you guys got along with a few DC characters, any of them would be a good slot…”

The others just looked a little annoyed as Monika crossed her legs and smiled. “Though, on the other hand… hmmm… it would be best if we DID have another cartoon representative, considering that last security team had a few others… oh, oh, I have a wonderful idea!”

“Well, what is it?” Maki frowned.

“Rather than tell you, why don’t I bring her right to you?” Monika smiled as the world glitched out around her for a brief moment.

All of a sudden, as if in thin air, a new person just randomly appeared in front of everyone, though she didn't notice what was going on because she was in the middle of eating a salad that she had ordered for lunch. Just as she was about to take a bite out of her salad, she suddenly noticed her surroundings had suddenly changed, and the new people looking straight at her.

“AHH! Oh my stars and garters!” The figure screamed as she jumped in the air and looked around in shock. “Who are y’all? Where am I? How did I get here? Is this another fiendish trap by the Hooded Claw?”

This woman just looked around frantically as most of the others took a good gander at her. She was a beautiful blonde haired woman, around her mid twenties, rather attractive for her age. She was wearing a purple racing helmet with white goggles, with a pink racing uniform, red pants, white gloves and white boots.

Xero paused for a brief moment, before giving a small smile. “Okay, I can see your thought process…”

“...Penelope Pitstop. You chose PENELOPE PITSTOP as a security member. WHY?!” Maurice frowned as he and the others turned to Monika.

Monika gave a shrug. “Hey, if not the ring, that I’m sure Orange will probably have Penelope in this show in some way… after all, she, along with Olga, is on the top of the list of Favorite Female Fictional Blondes somewhere.”

“So, this is mainly fan service not just for old cartoon enthusiasts, but also Orange’s appeal?” Maurice frowned.

“What can I say?” Monika shrugged. “Penelope IS one of Orange’s favorite Hanna Barbera characters, so she had to be in this sequel somewhere… and before you say anything, yes, she does have skills, and good fighting styles… Wacky Races, the Wacky Races reboot, and she is very good at escaping traps on her own in Perils of Penelope Pitstop… speaking of which, I specifically chose the ‘Perils of Penelope Pitstop’ design for Penelope, but don’t be too surprised if some aspects of the Wacky Races, original and reboot, make their way into her character.”

“Right…” Maurice sighed before turning to Penelope, who had by now stopped panicking and was looking towards the others in confusion. “Sorry to take you out of whatever you were doing… probably saved you from a kidnapping by the Hooded Claw... but my associate took you out of your world and into this one to offer you a small job, to be part of the security force in the Tournament of Kikai.”

“Really?” Penelope blinked twice, before giving a small smile. “Oh, I do believe I heard of that little ol’ tournament! That’s the one that brought back the Ultimate Video Rumble style of fighting, right?”

“Correct in one!” Xero smiled as he pointed towards the others. “This’ll be your partners… five of which are your new security team, and the other three, training you guys to make sure you know the buildings in and out and what to do if a riot happens… or if you have to investigate a villain plot.”

“Oh, well, it’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” Penelope smiled as she nodded towards the others. “Oh, Scooby! I didn’t know you were here as well!”

“Ri, Renelore!” Scooby smiled as he waved to Penelope with a smile.

“Hold on a minute, we need to run a test first.” Della frowned as she turned to Penelope. “First of all, how do we know you’re the real Penelope, and not just some person in disguise that’s infiltrated the team?”

Penelope looked a bit confused as she scratched her head. “Gosh, what’s there to say about me? I am as real as I can be.”

“All right… then you don’t mind if you answer a couple of questions for us… questions that only the real Penelope would answer, then a trick question.” Shuichi said.

“Of course.” Penelope nodded as she sat in front of the others, looking a little nervous.

“Hmmm… this’ll be entertaining…” Monika grinned as she summoned some popcorn and started to eat out of the bowl.

“First, what do you know about the Hooded Claw?” Shuichi asked.

“Well, he’s a horrible cad, always captures me when I’m trying to mind my own business, puts me in elaborate death traps that I could probably find a way out of if given the chance, I also know that outside my node, he’s Sylvester Sneekly, my guardian, though some people say he’s also my uncle…” Penelope frowned as she crossed her legs. “I never really got that, but I can understand the point of view of those people…”

Shuichi paused as he turned to Scooby, who gave a nod, with Scrappy saying, “There was a Scooby Doo crossover comic where Uncle Scooby and the others helped Penelope and unmasked the Hooded Claw… and a 2017 Wacky Races episode where the Hooded Claw was the prosecutor in Dick Dastardly’s trial and he exposed himself to be Sylvester Sneekly, but it was a quick gag, didn’t mean anything.”

“Okay, okay… makes sense.” Shuichi said as he turned to Penelope. “Who are your rescuers and what are their names?”

“That’s an easy question… the Ant Hill Mob, and their names are Clyde, Dum Dum, Zippy, Pockets, Snoozy, Softey and Yak Yak… though they’re mostly a new generation of Ant Hill Mob, the originals from the Wacky Races joined a choral group.” Penelope smiled.

The others blinked twice as Shuichi asked, “A… choral group?”

“Well, Clyde told me that they were in Sing Sing.” The blonde haired girl explained with a smile.

This caused a few eyebrows to be raised, but they decided to bring that up as Maki asked, “Final question… what are the Bully Brothers' actual names?”

Penelope blinked twice as she took time to think. “I’m not sure. Come to think of it, I’ve seen them with the Hooded Claw a lot, but I’m not quite sure they were ever given names… or at least, if they have them, they never said it.”

After a moment of silence, Shuichi, Himiko, Maki and Della looked at each other and nodded as Himiko said, “You know what, that’s good enough for us. Welcome to the security team, Miss Pitstop!”

“Well, thank you! It is an honor to come along and join in with all of you.” Penelope smiled.

“Mah goodness! It is certainly wonderful to have another Southern speaker join our group! Ah’m sure we’ll all get along dandy!” Bunnie smiled as she offered her hand to Penelope.

“Aww, thank you, sweetie.” Penelope giggled as she sat down with Bunnie.

After a moment, Shuichi, Himiko, Maki and Della turned to the three hosts as Della said, “Is that a good enough security team, or do you have any more last minute additions to make?”

“Actually…” Xero said. “It would be a shame to leave the other three out, so, I have a bit of a proposition for you guys. Maki, Della, how would you two like to be the leaders of the security team again?”

Both girls jumped as Shuichi’s eyes widened in shock, the others turning towards the two in surprise as Della laughed, “Whoa, whoa, hold on! We, uh… this is sort of on the spot for us!”

“We only came here to bring in the new people, to help them learn.” Maki pointed out.

“Actually, Maki, maybe that isn’t a bad idea.” Himiko pointed out as she and Della turned. “Think about it. Who else became repeating security team members in these types of tournaments?”

“Psymon and Max, but is that really a good thing?” Della asked as she raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe not in your point of view, but they did provide great entertainment and work… and considering they appeared in four Megamix Tournaments in a row… Psymon, four, Max technically three… you may as well call them the LEADERS at this point.” Shuichi pointed out. “Leaders that do a good effective job.”

“You realize that they were the ones responsible for turning Maggey Bryde into a complete monster in Megamix Tournament 3, right?” Della frowned. “She would have almost killed someone had that power outage not happened.”

“Come to think of it, I don’t know WHY Sheogorath wanted Psymon and Max back, considering that they would have been the bad guys for changing Maggey into something she wasn’t.” Xero frowned.

“Do you think those two secretly wanted to make amends with what they done, which is why Sheogorath wanted them back on the security team?” Maurice asked.

“If you ask me, you’re either reading too much into it, or I have the answers, but I won’t leak them to you guys until SSBFreak either updates the next section and shows off more Psymon and Max, or if SSBFreak somehow writes an epilogue to Megamix Tournament 3 beforehand…” Monika grinned. “Either way, their story is THEIR story…”

“Regardless of that, it is one thing to be security team once, but it is another to become permanent members.” Shuichi smiled.

“Come on, Maki. You could be our good leader again, and Della, you could easily help out the others with your positive attitude!” Himiko smiled. “Besides, I could use all the help I can get, especially with the newcomers…”

Maki and Della looked at each other in silence, then at the other security members for a moment, before Della gave a smile. “You know… it would be a nice change of pace…”

“But Della, if we do accept it, what about your invitation to the tournament? You’re one of the fighters in the tournament, remember?” Maki asked.

Della scoffed. “So? It’ll be interesting… a member of the security team gets to partake in the tournament! It’ll be a win for all of us! Besides, if I’m not here and go on a streak, the rest of you can pick up the slack! When I get eliminated, I’ll just call you guys and you let me know where you are! I can try to get back on track, no problem!”

Maki paused briefly, before giving a smile. “I guess when you put it like that… very well…”

With that, she and Della turned as they both said, “We’re in!”

Xero applauded vigorously as Maurice gave a smile. “You two won’t regret it…”

“So… what about me?” Shuichi asked as everyone turned to him. “Since everyone else is part of the security team, does this mean I get to be part of it, too?”

Xero, Maurice and Monika remained silent as they looked at each other, before Xero snapped hsi fingers. “Shuichi, I won’t lie… I think we exceeded the number of security members allowed. However, I have a job for you that I’m sure will be MUCH better… allowing you to look at all the fighters, allow them in AND make sure they’re ready.”

Shuichi smiled a bit as he looked up. “So, what is this job?”

“Congratulations, you’re our new janitor!” Monika smiled as a janitor’s hat appeared on Shuichi’s head, causing everyone (save for Shuichi) to snicker.

“WHAT?!” Shuichi said in outrage.

“No, no, she’s kidding. We’re not relegating you to that.” Xero frowned. “That would just be disrespectful. No, rather, we’d like you to be our demonstrator.”

“Demonstrator?” Shuichi asked as he took off the hat.

“Let’s just say, a tester for how our new twists are going to work.” Maurice explained. “You come in when the wheel is spun, and you push a button so that the arena changes to adjust… whenever Monika’s powers get too limited to do it.”

“There’s only so much my programming skills can do.” Monika shrugged. “So, I think it’s only fair that you sit down in a secluded spot, where there are computers and monitors. Listen to my instructions and who the punishments or awards are given to, and push some of the lit up buttons that are labeled as such.”

“So… a mere button pusher.” Shuichi sighed.

“Look at it this way. You could be helping out this tournament in more ways than one.” Xero smiled. "Also, you'll be stationed in the Ready Room with the other contestants, so that way, you can screen them and see who's real or not."

"Really?" Shuichi asked in interest as he paused. "Well, that does sound a little better..."

He then turned to the others, who gave nods to him. The black haired detective gave a sigh as he shrugged. “Well, if I have nothing better to do, then, I guess I’ll do it.”

“You’re a good man, Shuichi Saihara.” The rabbit grinned as he looked around. “Slowly, but surely, this tournament is about to take shape!”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, when is the tournament taking place?” Della asked.

“Not for another week. That’s why we sent the invitations in advance, so that people can come the day before and rest up, before we start the meeting, draw the numbers and get ourselves started.” Xero explained.

“Plus, the Mystery Fighters coming in separately two days before so that they can get the hang down from all three of us, and draw THEIR numbers, based on Mystery Fighter line ups and what number Mystery Fighter they are, so that they know when to go in.” Maurice explained.

Monika giggled as she noted Himiko, Maki, Shuichi and Della gathering the others around as they started their tours. “This is going to be an extremely interesting tournament, that much I can say…”

(The World That Never Was; Castle That Never Was)

The day that the invitations for the Tournament of Kikai 2 arrived was a momentous occasion for a lot of the Nobodies. Sure, they didn’t show a lot of emotions, but they did show some excitement for when it came to getting these invitations. A very good occasion for some… but not for one person.

Xehanort, who was sitting atop his throne, was frowning as he crossed his arms. Sure, there was the talk of the Tournament of Kikai 2, and how people were excited… but Xehanort couldn’t show that same excitement. Maybe it was because the trauma he experienced in the tournament was still recent, but he still remembered that blue haired girl coming in, killing him in cold blood after he somehow got tricked into entering that virtual world… how his mind was being controlled by Junko’s personality itself…

Xehanort angrily slammed his fist towards the armrest of the chair, growling to himself. From what he was told, apparently, somebody disguised as him went into the tournament and started planting seeds. He didn’t even know about it, considering he called and dropped out of the tournament early on… but no, apparently, Junko intercepted his call and had his stooge go in as himself to plant seeds about a villain plot that wasn’t even happening…

In fact, that psychopathic teenage girl went and hijacked a lot of his plan assets, changing them completely to suit her needs… and this infuriated him to no end. Even if he were to go back and try again, the memory of Junko was SO recent for him… that anytime he saw a knife, trauma would immediately set in.

“So… I couldn’t help but notice you’re not holding YOUR invitation.”

This snapped Xehanort out of his funk as he turned to see his number two minion, Xigbar, getting up to his seat and looking towards him.

Xehanort frowned as he rolled his eyes. “I requested the hosts to NOT invite me this year.”

“Really? I’m surprised.” Xigbar noted. “You know, if it’s about that Junko girl that killed y-”

“DON’T!” Xehanort growled in anger as he turned towards the eyepatch wearing Nobody, before taking a deep breath. “Don’t… mention that name in my presence.”

“No, no, I get it. Totally get it.” Xigbar frowned. “She ruined our plans, she brainwashed most of us, relegating to the other half of the villains to be trapped in a cage by the other DC heroes and those friends of the security team in the Recovery Room… believe me, I was in the latter group. But we can totally try again… I mean, I heard the Grim Reaper society of the Underworld are all going to watch the ring from the inside AND the outside to capture that girl and her stooge! We can totally try again!”

“We could… but you mentioned a problem with that… the Grim Reapers are going to keep watch for Junko…” Xehanort frowned. “And even if we could do our plan, have you seen the other plans of the other Ultimate Video Rumble spinoffs that happened after that? Disastrous consequences all around! No, I think it’s best we hold off on plans for now… if anybody else wants to try a plan, they’re welcome to, but I just don’t have the strength or the brain capacity to TRY a plan right now.”

Xigbar frowned as he looked around at the other Nobodies and a few of the new recruits, discussing their plans for their performance as he frowned. “A little harsh, but like I said, I get it. We’ll just perform in the tournament as best as we can… if we’re not going to focus on a villain plot, I guess I might as well focus on the tournament, and why not? I got a good number of eliminations in the original Megamix Tournament, and didn’t do so hot in the first Tournament of Kikai… maybe I should have more focus on the tournament for THIS Tournament of Kikai, heh?”

“Whatever you plan, plan it. I’m just going to chill at home… maybe curl up and watch the tournament…” Xehanort said with a heavy sigh.

“Eh, suit yourself. As if I want to miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity!” Xigbar grinned as he teleported out his chair and back towards the others.

Xehanort could only watch with a small sigh emanating from his lips. Maybe next tournament, he’ll be more than up to go back, but for now, sitting out was probably the best move.

(Disney Plaza; Train Station)

“I’m certainly glad you decided to accept the invitation this time, Suga Mama.”

“Like I was going to miss out on this! I may have missed out last year, but seeing as how you did me proud, I think I’m going to give this round a go this time!”

Penny Proud could only giggle in delight as she was sitting down with Suga Mama, the two of them sitting down and waiting for their train after most of the people on the Disney Channel Originals team were sitting down and talked through a meeting about this tournament and what it implied. Of course, Penny, being the current winner of the Tournament of Kikai, knew best as she tried to offer tips to each of the new fighters as best as she could, but to some, she felt they didn’t need the tips. Still, it was nice to be a celebrity after a while as they looked back at the place.

While Disney Plaza wasn’t much, it was a nice little place for all the Disney Television Animation alumni, new and old, hung out for a wonderful time, whenever they weren’t busy with their shows. In fact, while there were some occasional Disney Theatrical characters and Pixar characters like Stitch or Buzz Lightyear that came here every so often, this was mostly a plaza for the Disney television stars to mostly hang out. As a matter of fact, as of current, everyone that was participating in the tournament coming in the week were having these meetings, mostly to discuss strategy or what they were going to do while waiting for their time in the tournament.

For Penny herself, she was feeling a little excited, yet at the same time, she had a feeling that she wasn’t going to be so lucky as last time. Still, she knew she was just going to roll with it and have fun, whenever possible. As for the team she was on, she had to admit, it was an interesting team for the Disney Channel Originals. Kim Possible, Jake Long, Perry the Platypus, Dr. Doofenshmirtz… she was even surprised to see the main characters of the Replacements getting an invitation as well. If these characters were good enough to be selected, she couldn’t but wonder who else would have been selected.

“PENNY! MY BFF!”

Penny and Suga Mama immediately turned to see two familiar faces approaching. One was a blue ghost with small yellow eyes, curled up corporeal hair and a large blue nose. The second figure, the one shouting her name, was a young teenage Thai-American girl with dark brown hair that was tied to a ponytail, wearing a white T-shirt with black edges, covered by a ripped jean jacket, black bike shorts with a purple zig-zag diamond patterned skirt over the shorts, white socks and pink and yellow shoes.

Penny smiled as she recognized the girl immediately. “Molly! Hey, girl! What brings you and Scratch over to the Plaza?”

The girl, Molly McGee, chuckled a bit as she said, “Oh, you know, we’re just visiting, walking around… I’m also escorting Scratch to the meeting place to discuss that new Tournament of Kikai!”

Penny gasped as Suga Mama raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Penny then gave a scream as she and Molly jumped up and down in excitement, with the African American girl saying, “No way, girl! You got an invite?”

“Well, no, but Scratch did! But my family and I are coming to the tournament to support him, because we are family!” Molly grinned.

Scratch, the floating ghost, couldn’t help but smirk. “Heh, believe me, I appreciate the support. Although, I don’t know about some of the competitors in the ring… I mean, I don’t mind doing a few good scares, but in combat?”

Penny chuckled as she looked up at the ghost. “I don’t think you have a lot to worry about, Scratch. Yeah, true, most of us came from Slice of Life shows, but I think if I can make it to the end and win by luck, maybe it’ll rub off as well.”

“Hmmm… maybe so. From this invitation, we were selected as Disney Television Animation All-Stars.” Scratch smirked. “So, maybe somebody saw some potential in us.”

Suga Mama smirked. “Well, if they did, then we’re going to be up against a lot of competition.”

Scratch paused briefly as he looked around the area, seeing Luz talking with Anne, Sasha and Marcy as they were holding their invitations to the Tournament of Kikai and walking along with glee. Scratch chuckled nervously. “Do you think we’ll be lucky to move far?”

“Hey, I could always try to stick together with other people if you’re not that confident in your abilities. After all, there’s nothing wrong with doing a little teamwork.” Penny smiled. “I mean, that’s how I got far alone, and managed to win it all.”

“Hey, even if you don’t get in a far position, you are all going to be wonderful! No matter what!” Molly smirked as she crossed her arms. “Besides, if you, Penny Proud, could handle this tournament last time, maybe that same power will take you further beyond!”

Scratch paused as he looked over at Penny as the girl gave a smile towards the Thai-American girl. “Well, thanks for the support, Molly! Hey, come hang out sometime whenever I get eliminated or if I don’t have to go to the tournament for some time. I’m sure we’ll do something together!”

“Ohhh, fun!” Molly smiled as she clapped her hands. “Well, I’m looking forward to this new tournament already!”

“Come on, Moll, we got to get going!” Scratch frowned as he held up his invitation, motioning his friend to move along. “Remember, we have that meeting to go to?”

“Right, sorry!” Molly grinned before waving good bye to her friend. “See you in a week!”

“Bye, Molly!” Penny waved happily as she watched Scratch and Molly walk off. She paused as she gave a smile. “You know, Molly may be the most over-enthusiastic girl I’ve ever met.”

“True that, but she’s probably a better friend for you than Dijonay is…” Suga Mama said.

Penny lowered her eyelids in annoyance, before pausing for a moment. “Yeah, you may have a point…”

As Penny and Suga Mama were getting back on the train for home, Scratch and Molly were walking along the streets (well, Scratch floating while Molly was walking) as Molly noticed Scratch’s solemn face. “What’s wrong, Scratch? You’ve been pretty quiet.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry, Moll, didn’t mean to worry you… it’s just, I’ve been looking over at your new friend, and I’ve noticed something… off about her.” Scratch said.

Molly blinked in confusion. “Off?”

Scratch waved his hands in shock. “I don’t mean in a bad way. I mean, that Penny girl is still who she is, there’s no question about it… but well, I sensed something spiritually in her soul…”

“Her… soul?” Molly asked. “What about Penny’s soul?”

“...I can’t explain it, but it was like… her soul was radiating a more powerful energy… moreso than usual.” Scratch frowned. “I don’t know why, but this is starting to remind me of a certain legend.”

“Legend?” Molly asked.

Scratch sighed. “It might be nothing, but I don’t want to worry about that for now. Let’s just focus on the task in hand. Onward, Molly, to the meeting place!”

Molly paused slightly as she looked back towards the spot where Penny once sat, a little troubled and concerned. Still, she shook her head as she gave a nod to her best friend, Scratch, giving a smile. “You’re right, Scratch! Let’s see what awaits you!”

With that, Scratch floated off, with Molly following close behind.

(Genius Grove; Dexter’s Laboratory)

As per usual, this was another, quiet day in the suburban home of Dexter… or rather, it was unusually quiet in Dexter’s secret lab located behind the bookcase as rather than work on an invention, Dexter, boy genius, was walking through all of his creative weapons to see what he would take for next week. The boy was nodding silently as he was jotting down a few notes, before moving onto the next item on display.

Of course, as he was looking around at the weapons on display, he almost didn’t notice three familiar girls standing on one of his laboratory tables as they seemed to be doing a balancing act. The blonde girl in the pink dress at the bottom was busy waving her two friends around and spinning them by the feet respectively as the two seemed to be dancing. Both African American girl in the purple ballet dress, and Chinese-American girl in the green ballet dress respectively dropped down doing splits, before pulling themselves back up as the girl in pink cartwheeled around and knocked down a few dangerous beakers.

That sound snapped Dexter out of his studying as he turned in annoyance, before lowering his eyelids.

“HI, DEXTER!” All three girls shouted as they waved to him.

Dexter gave a small sigh as he shook his head. “And of course it’s Dee Dee, and she brought her friends along, because why not?”

He took a deep breath through his nose, before exhaling as he walked over to the girls and tried to talk calmly. “I know you girls are doing your usual ‘annoy the heck out of Dexter’ routine, but can you take that elsewhere, like…”

Dexter then jumped up and shouted, “ANYWHERE BUT HERE!”

The sound of his voice was enough to send Dee Dee and her two friends, Mee Mee and Lee Lee, off their feet. As soon as Dexter stopped yelling, he turned back towards his inventions as Mee Mee rubbed her rear upon getting up as she scoffed. “Dee Dee, no offense, but your little bro is being a little rude.”

“Ah, that’s just Dexter for you. He’ll come around sooner or later.” Dee Dee said as she walked over. “So, what are you doing, Dexter?”

The short boy genius opened his eyes as he gave a sigh. “I suppose you’re not going to leave until I tell you what I’m up to. Fine. If you must know, I’m doing a little inventory AND seeing what weapons I should go with for next year’s tournament.”

“You mean, that Tournament of Kikai thing you attended last year?” Lee Lee asked, looking a little curious.

Dexter nodded. “Yes, ma’am! After examining my skills in the tournament last year, I knew they were pretty good, but I thought I can do better. And do better, I intend to do. Also, when I get back, I want to get my lab that I built over at the hotel in Fictograph City repaired so that I can do my work while I wait for my turn. Hopefully, I don’t get roped into another villain plot, but… heh, if somebody tries again, I’m just going to vaporize them.”

Lee Lee gasped as she held her head. “Oh, that’s right. You were part of that whole ‘taking Junko down’ plot a year or so ago, weren’t you?”

Dexter paused briefly as he gave a nod. “Yeah, I’ll admit it was a little throw off on my plans, but nobody kidnaps a test subject and gets away with it.”

“You mean that cute mermaid, Ariel, right?” Dee Dee smiled in glee. “Oh, I can’t wait to actually meet her!”

“Yeah, she’s like an icon for all of us!” Mee Mee said as she held her hands up in excitement.

Dexter blinked twice, before giving a small groan. “Dang it, I was hoping you wouldn’t remember the promise I made you after I told you in private about the whole ‘Ariel’ ordeal.”

“Please, Dexter, we may be girls, but we’re not dumb.” Dee Dee frowned as she crossed her arms. “And besides, you made your promise, so I want you to do good on keeping it, or I’m telling Mom and Dad that you weren’t at space camp that week the Tournament of Kikai aired!”

Mee Mee chuckled as she snapped her fingers. “She got you good, Dexter.”

Dexter slapped his forehead. “Yeah, yeah, okay… just promise me you won’t disturb me while I work on my lab and during the tournament?”

“No promises!” Dee Dee sang as Mee Mee smirked, and Lee Lee looked at Dexter with a blush.

“All right, fine, you know what I’m doing, now… GET OUT OF MY LABORATORY!” Dexter shouted in anger, causing Dee Dee and Mee Mee to giggle as they danced off. Lee Lee was the only one to stay behind as Dexter looked over towards her. “Well?”

“I… just wanted to say you’re a good man, Dexter… and quite brave, too. I hope to see you in action during that tournament.” Lee Lee said with a blush.

“Is that all you want to say?” Dexter asked.

Lee Lee gave a swift nod. “I’ll just be going… uh… good luck…”

With that, Lee Lee turned around and walked off as Dexter watched her in confusion. He could have sworn that Lee Lee had momentarily looked back, her cheeks flushing a bright red color before continuing onward.

For now, Dexter decided to ignore that moment and focus on what to take. After all, he, along with his fellow Cartoon Network co-stars, weren’t going to sit there and take the punches. He needed to be very prepared…

(Looney Tune Land)

It was another hectic day in the world of the Looney Tunes, as a lot of the Tunes were doing a lot of their usual, normal antics that they were known for in different parts of the world. Sylvester was chasing after Tweety and failing to catch him, as per usual. Wile E. Coyote was just recovering from another failed plan involving ACME rockets and a net that would have been used to ensnare the Roadrunner. And even the Goofy Gophers were busy trying to get their carrots back from a dog all whilst talking in their usual polite tone. To say that most of them were practicing for when they had to appear for the new Tournament of Kikai was an understatement, as most of the characters, except for the Goofy Gophers, had got their invitations to fight in the Tournament of Kikai. And the best part was, it involved all the characters from the gacha mobile game, “Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem”, so needless to say, everybody that was within the game was invited.

The only two that weren’t practicing were two of the biggest stars in the Looney Tunes fandom, a gray rabbit and a black duck, who were sitting together at a bench as the rabbit was munching on a carrot.

“What a turn out this is!” Daffy grinned as he held up his invitation. “Most of us Looney Tunes are finally getting the recognition in fighting tournaments we deserve!”

“Yeah, but try to lower your hopes and dreams a bit.” Bugs said as he crossed his legs. “After all, we may have a big roster, but there are even more powerful opponents than just us.”

Daffy scoffed. “What are you blathering on about, rabbit? May I point out that YOU earned NINE eliminations and got into the FINAL FOUR?”

“That may be true, Daff, but you’re forgetting one factor of this tournament… the audience.” Bugs pointed out. “Don’t get me wrong, our audience loves us, but will that counter their love for Disney? For Street Fighter? And let’s face it, Daffy, the love for Super Smash Bros is FAR out than what we’re used to.”

“So what? As long as we provide the entertainment, the laughs and even our star power, we’re going to be raking in the glory!” Daffy chuckled. “Just think of it, Bugs, if one of us can cinch a win, then we’re in the money, in for the gold! Why…” He grinned as dollar signs appeared in his eyes. “I’d be the richest duck in the world!”

“You mean, Scrooge McDuck?” Bugs smirked, causing Daffy’s eyes to widen in shock.

However, the momentary shock that Daffy had passed as he gave a sinister grin. “Richer…”

“Oy vey… we haven’t even gone to the tournament, and already, he’s letting the power go to his head…” Bugs said as he got up, leaving Daffy alone to his musings.

“Bugs!”

Bugs’s eyes lit up as he turned to see a familiar blue-eyed, blonde haired, orange furred female rabbit wearing a blue basketball uniform running towards him. “Lola, hey! What’s up?”

“I just heard the news that we all got the invitations for the Tournament of Kikai!” Lola smiled as she gave a smile.

“We sure did! In fact, the only people that didn’t get their invitations were the ones that were announced a little late. So, up to Cecil Turtle and the Big Bad Wolf, unfortunately.” Bugs sighed, before giving a grin. “But the other toons are going to give all their support as best as possible.”

“That’s great to hear.” Lola smiled… before giving a slight pause as she looked to the side.

Bugs raised an eyebrow in confusion as he noted Lola’s unusually depressed look. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you excited to fight?”

“No, no, I am. More than excited. It’s just… I never got my invitation.” Lola explained.

Bugs shook his head. “What? But you have to be in, Lola! I mean, World of Mayhem had you included!”

“Yeah, but I only had three forms… my Space Jam 2 outfit, my Wanderer outfit, and the Lunar Lola that I wore for the Year of the Rabbit.” Lola explained. “Other than those outfits, I don’t really have much. I just thought I’d be invited, that’s all.”

Bugs blinked twice. “How could it be possible that you ain’t invited, Lola? I mean, you have plenty of other costumes… and heck, while she may be a different personality, the Looney Tunes Show Lola proved to be-”

Bugs and Lola’s eyes snapped opened as they looked around in shock, before Lola said, in pure astonishment. “...they didn’t…”

“I think they just did…” Bugs groaned as he held his head. “Well, at least it gives people a taste of the other sitcom show…”

(Los Angeles; Bugs’s House)

“So let me get this straight.” Bugs frowned as he inspected the strange letter that was given to his girlfriend. “You somehow got an invite to a tournament?”

“I know, right? It was so weird!” Lola said as she waved her hands in a jazzy style.

Bugs could only roll his eyes before looking at the invitation in curiosity.

This may look like Bugs and Lola, but this was the two in an alternate universe. Actually, main nodes would usually be spun off from different worlds, and have characters that act similar, but can have different personalities altogether. In the case of the Looney Tunes, they had a lot of spinoffs, and in this particular case, this was a world where although the characters still acted looney at times, they mostly lived in the suburbs.

“World of Mayhem? Tournament of Kikai 2?” Bugs frowned as he examined the invitation in curiosity. “Sorry, Lola, but I can’t make heads or tails of this invitation…”

Daffy Duck, who had been settling in on the couch, watching reruns of Off Duty Cop, immediately looked up, suddenly very interested in the conversation. “Did you say Tournament of Kikai 2?”

“Uh, yeah?” Bugs asked as he raised an eyebrow.

“Get out of town! I was actually attending the first Tournament of Kikai as a spectator!” Daffy grinned. “It was all these people cheering for fighters to go into the ring and duke it out, trickling one at a time until one was left standing! Needless to say, it was a wonderful time! I was even rooting for you to pull through in the end, but you fell out after pulling out that rocket and it ran out of fuel.”

Bugs looked weirded out as Lola gave a gasp. “Oh my gosh, you were in the previous tournament? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Lola, I wasn’t at this tournament! Daffy, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I wasn’t even AT where you said you were!” Bugs argued.

“Oh really? Then why did I see a gray rabbit come in that looked like you, huh?” Daffy frowned as he narrowed his eyes. “Answer me that!”

Bugs paused briefly, before giving a sigh. “You probably saw my alternate self in a different timeline…”

“Alternate self?” Lola asked in confusion and curiosity, before gasping. “Oh my gosh, there are TWO of you out there?”

“Probably more out there.” Bugs sighed. “Heck, you probably have an alternate universe version of yourself out there…”

“Really?” Lola gasped, before grinning. “Oh my gosh, like, this other Lola and I are so BFFs… we are so going to play tennis together… oh, wait, maybe she doesn’t play tennis… maybe she’s a swimmer? On the other hand, I can see her as a total lamp shopper… oh, that reminds me, Bugs, we need to get you a new lamp, that one doesn’t fit the room…”

“Oh boy…” Bugs frowned for a bit, before giving a pause. “Hmmm… you know, maybe it would be good to get out of the house and watch you compete, Lola.”

“Oh, fun! Maybe we’ll meet our alternate universe selves, and we can totally hang out… wait, would it be weird seeing two Bugs-es and two Lolas at the same time, dating? Now that I think about it, would I disappear if I met myself?” Lola asked, before giving a gasp. “Are we going to disappear if we cross paths with each other?”

“Lola, you’re thinking of time travel. Time traveling and alternate universes are two completely different things.” Bugs pointed out.

“Are they, though? Are they?” Lola frowned as she shifted her eyes… before pausing briefly and gasping. “Oh my gosh! If I’m going to be part of this, I’m going to have to train! Don’t wait up for me, Bun Bun!”

All of a sudden, Lola quickly got up as she started to run out the door, leaving alone a moderately blank-faced Bugs, and Daffy, who had turned his head back to watch TV once again… before looking back at Bugs as if he had something to say.

After a few minutes of silence, Daffy snapped his fingers, getting an idea. “You know, I should order us both tickets. I’m curious to see how you’re going to fight again.”

Bugs turned to Daffy with an annoyed look, before sighing as he held his head and shook it. “This is going to be a long week…”

(Fictograph City; Crossover Hotel Lobby)

“All right, well, it looks like we’re all set to go.” Xero smiled as he, Maurice and Monika looked around the area for the final time in a while. All members of the security team had left a while ago as Xero, Maurice and Monika were finished going over the sponsors, and calling up both Mung Daal’s Catering from Chowder’s world and Cafe Mew Mew from Tokyo Mew Mew to help out with the serving of dishes. “Granted, we still have to prepare just a few minor things, but other than that, I think we’ll be ready to start up that tournament… I’m looking forward to doing this!”

“As am I.” Maurice smiled, before giving a brief pause as he looked over the roster numbers. “Though not counting the Mystery Fighters and any potential Mystery Reserves if that’s an option, we’ll be having… 684 fighters…”

“Wow… this is going to be quite a big tournament.” Monika said. “You think you guys can handle all that?”

“With the new twists of the wheel and all? I think we can manage.” Xero smiled before turning towards the camera stationed above. “Although with how Orange likes to pause time, don’t be too surprised if the author takes an occasional break to focus on his other stories.”

“Well, Orange told me he's a good multitasker, so I trust you both.” Monika nodded. “But I have a feeling that with over seven hundred fighters, this is going to be quite a long tournament…”

“Hey, I’m more than looking forward to what happens!” Xero grinned as he looked outside. “And whatever happens… I’m sure we’ll be able to keep the masses entertained!”

“I hope you’re right…” Monika sighed as she crossed her arms… before giving a small smile to herself.

Little did they realize though was that at the moment, a red butterfly with a devilish face was looking in on the three as he gave a chuckle to himself. Then, before anybody could notice, the butterfly left through an open portal, before it closed up…

Chapter Text

(The Arena)

A week came and went as the hype immediately went up for the new Tournament of Kikai. All of the fighters, including the Mystery Fighters that have chosen to remain anonymous as per tradition, already checked into their rooms two days before the tournament began, as the characters of each node mostly kept to themselves or talked with friends they made outside of their nodes.

As expected from these types of tournaments, the stands were packed to the brim with fans, old and new as they came from all aspects of the multiverse to watch this spectacular event. Even characters from various nodes, whether it be from people’s home nodes that were participating in the tournament, but aren’t exactly fighting themselves, or other nodes that weren’t part of the fray, but were just as excited to see all of these players duking it out, were sitting alongside the various stands and bleachers as they were looking in anticipation for the main event to begin.

Near the center of the area, of course, was a large wrestling ring, surrounded by rubber ropes and corner posts, looking like a rather large arena that could fit thirty people at once. Although, considering the nature of this tournament, that wouldn’t last for very long. It was still floating in midair, with the original swirling green portals that were originally under the arena having been changed to a large night sky like portal, that would seem to suck anybody in randomly falling in. Oddly enough, this was the only remnant of the third Battle of the Luminaries that stayed behind, since Xero could not figure out how to change the portal’s looks. Still, he thought it looked pretty enough.

The only thing that Xero was not thankful for, however, was that the Announcer’s Booth, which would be located near the top, was settled outside the barrier. Xero looked back to see that said invisible barrier being activated, which was there so that nobody could avoid enemy attacks.

“I really wish we could fix this flaw…” Xero sighed before holding his hand out the windows of the Announcer’s Booth, before sighing. “I also wish that there were WINDOW GLASS added to these windows.”

“Maybe Orange thought it’d be funny to see you specifically getting hit in case you decide to screw something up with the fighters.” Maurice chuckled.

Xero lowered his eyelids. “Of course it’d be amusing… anyway, mikes are on, lighting is all good, and the sound booth is in perfect condition!”

“And by sound booth, you mean us.” Maurice sighed. “Because Shadow refused to work without Aila and Astaroth.”

“Don’t worry. I had a feeling this would happen, so I hired someone to play the songs in the booth whenever they’re needed.” Xero smiled as he pointed towards the Sound Booth.

Maurice paused before looking over to see a smiling cartoon black furred horse wearing a backwards red cap, a blue jumpsuit, and white shoes giving a grin and a wave towards the hosts, before stretching back and relaxing. Maurice blinked before turning to Xero. “Horace Horsecollar is our Sound Booth guy?”

“Well, nobody liked me picking their songs, so I figured, why not have somebody who can play the songs! I remember how Horace would usually run the cartoons or the sound effects in his little booth in House of Mouse, so, in a way, I think it’d be more like home to him.” Xero shrugged.

Maurice gave a nod. “Right…” He then pushed a button on the intercom as he gave a cough. “Shuichi, are you ready with the buttons?”

“As ready as I can be.” Shuichi’s voice called out. "Also, all thirty fighters, including both Mystery Fighers, are in the Ready Room with me right now!"

“Great to hear! Monika? Ready to make your grand appearance?” Maurice asked as he pushed another button on the intercom.

“Heh, I was born ready. Bring it on.” Monika giggled in delight through the intercom.

Maurice gave a small grin as he turned to his friend. "Okay, I believe we are good to go, Xero!”

“Okay then!” Xero smiled as he pushed a button. “Hit it, Horace!”

Over at the Sound Booth, Horace smirked as he pulled out a large mallet and hit the CD Player with it, nearly smashing it. The CD Player then recovered as it spoke for the first time in its life. “Sheesh, I hate that saying!”

Everybody immediately went silent as the lights went out as one of the screen came on… then, cheerful music came on as clips of the first Tournament of Kikai were shown, with Stitch shooting, Mushu and Donkey teaming up, Kisshu playing guitar, Luna going on her winning streak as she avoided Vivi, Mac and Bloo rode on Eggman’s Egg Walker as they chased after Alex, Bison and Chun Li, Bugs and Mickey were doing their Limit Attack, the wheel was seen being spun, all culminating with Penny Proud, Bubbles, Ellis, Isabelle and Garnet talking amongst themselves before the camera panned over to see the title ‘Tournament of Kikai 2’ on display.

All of a sudden, the screen changed as it showed the arena from the day before as it seemed like it was about to show a musical number… and a musical number did start as Bugs and Daffy, all dressed up in their familiar yellow outfits, followed shortly by Mickey and Sora, Mario and Luigi, and Sonic and Tails respectively as they were dancing alongside with the music, as they started to sing.

(Overture)

(Curtain lights)

(This is it, the night of nights)

(No more rehearsing and nursing a part)

(We know every part by heart)

(Overture)

(Curtain lights)

(This is it, we’ll hit the heights)

(And oh, what heights we’ll hit)

(On with the show this is it!)

With that, the eight backed off as they started to dance in the background, as a line up of fighters representing each node came on the stage, with Ryu and Ken, Cody and Mike Haggar, Kyo and Benimaru, Ryo and Robert, Kirby and King Dedede, Mewtwo and Meowth, Spyro and Sparx, Sly Cooper and Murray, Scrooge McDuck, T.J. Detwiller and Dipper Pines, Jak and Ratchet, Ken Mishima and Cloud Strife, Ichigo and Kisshu, Filia and Peacock, Dexter and Mac, Billy and Mandy, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, Spongebob and Patrick, Batman and Shaggy, and Tom and Jerry marching out respectively.

Then, as soon as they joined the other eight to dance in the background, Haohmaru, Guy, Geese Howard, Kasumi Todoh, Sakura Kasugano, Pikachu and Penny Proud came walking out in pure delight (Geese doing so in protest, looking like he didn’t want to be involved in this).

(Tonight, what heights we’ll hit!)

(On with the show, this is it!)

The seven winners posed before animated dice came rolling in, showing two sixes as the large word font of ‘Tournament of Kikai 2’ appeared on the screen.

As soon as the screen turned off, the audience began applauding like mad as Xero turned on the mike. “How did you like that little opening number? Believe it or not, it took us all of yesterday to get all of that.”

“Seriously, the amount of outtakes that came with the marching… you would not believe the trouble we went through.” Maurice sighed as he held his head.

“Regardless of that, after what seems like a long time, the Tournament of Kikai 2 is finally here!” Xero said in excitement. “I’m your host, Xero the Lop Sider, and joining me, as per usual, is my co host and best friend, Maurice the Bull!”

Maurice smiled. “Here we are again, folks! And yes, Xero is going to make sure he behaves himself this time, and not try to hire someone mid tournament that wants to destroy the arena and everyone in it.”

Everybody laughed as Xero frowned, lowering his lone ear. “Ha ha, very funny…”

The bunny shook his head before giving a smile. “Before anything else, though, I have, in fact, hired a brand new host that’ll be in charge of the wheel and the twists for the sections. Don’t worry, she’s not Monokuma or Junko, but with her behavior, she might act like it if you cross her the wrong way! Introduce yourself!”

All of a sudden, the screen flickered on as the smiling teenage girl came on and gave a smile. A lot of people who played Doki Doki Literature Club let out a large cheer as some clapped indifferently. Monika grinned as she cocked her head a couple of times. “Hello, fighting fans! It’s me, Monika, of Doki Doki Literature Club, and I’m going to be your third host for the Tournament of Kikai 2! Now, don’t worry, I’m not going to be like Monokuma and threaten to kill contestants every section. I’m not that type of girl. I’m more of an upfront girl that would love to see the twists and turns these contestants have to pull through. So don’t worry about your lives being threatened. The only people I would threaten are those who decide to personally attack me.”

Monika giggled girlishly as she put her hands together. “But yes, I’m looking forward, more than ever, to play the game with all of you, and I hope there are no hard feelings for any punishments that I take away from you. And by the way, it may be wise you don’t talk mean behind my back… because I have powers beyond your imagination, and I might just alter a small personality quirk that can be exaggerated hard if played right…”

The girl crossed her arms. “That’s enough of me for now, but expect me to come back in the near future. Xero, Maurice, feel free to explain the rest for me!”

With that, Monika’s monitor turned off as Xero gave a nod. “That was Monika, everyone! Hope she’s a better pick than Junko, am I right?”

Everybody gave out massive rounds of applause as the rabbit laughed. “All right, I hear you! Okay, in a few minutes, we’ll be starting the Tournament of Kikai 2… and we’ll be playing by Ultimate Video Rumble rules!”

“Basically, it works like a Royal Rumble, where fighters enter in the ring, usually thirty at a time, as they duke it out. The way the fighters usually get eliminated is by being thrown out of the ring and into that pretty portal below, where the player will land in a random node for ten minutes. And during those ten minutes, said person must fend for themselves until they arrive at the Recovery Room, where our expert teams of nurses… well, maybe not quite ‘experts’, but they are good at what they do… will help heal any broken bones or bruises they may have suffered.” Maurice explained.

“Basically, we separate by rounds, as each section will have a few Big Guys, and every section that has fifteen or less fighters, we fill out the arena again with fifteen or more fighters. This goes on until we reach the number of fighters, and then we continue until one person is left as the winner, where they will join previous Tournament of Kikai winner, Penny Proud, in the ranks as champion.” Xero smiled.

“Now, there have been a few changes to the arena since we’ve last done this, so for those of you who know about the last Tournament of Kikai, I direct your attention to the arena.” Maurice said as he pushed a button to send for Shuichi to press one of the buttons in the room.

Shuichi got the message as he pushed the button, causing the arena to expand a large path that lead to a large circular platform, with a small tent occupying the spot… and a door leading to this area.

“You’re all probably wondering the significance of this tent.” Xero explained. “Well, I can answer that as simply as possible. This tent is known as a ‘Safe Zone/Changing Room’.”

Everyone suddenly looked intrigued as Xero continued, “As you may know, we have invited the Looney Tunes to the tournament, and not just the Looney Tunes, but all the characters that appeared in the mobile game, Worlds of Mayhem. Usually, you play as hundreds of characters, some of them having different designs… so yeah, there’s over a hundred characters if you’ve played the game. However, not counting the costumes, we actually have fifty six characters, most of them having a variety of costumes. So, to experience a lot of the Looney formats, while the characters have agreed to come out with their normal forms, they are free to use this tent to change into any costume in order to fit their fighting style.”

“In other words, if Yosemite Sam is in his cowboy gear, but needs to change into his pirate gear to fit his fighting style, he can go to the Changing Room to do that!” Maurice pointed out. “HOWEVER, and this is a big however, this changing room is not just limited to the Looney Tunes.”

“Right! Anybody can go into the tent, in order to take a small rest, or change tactics and skills, before going back into the ring. In that tent will be an assortment of weapons and items that were used in people’s respective nodes, corresponding to them only. Anyway, they cannot be eliminated from there, NOR can they be pushed in between the walk. Thus, why this area with the tent AND the path is considered a Safe Zone. I should caution, only ONE person at a time is allowed in the Safe Zone.” Xero explained.

“However, the Safe Zone DOES have a time limit.” Maurice pointed out. “And if a person already entered it once in a round, they cannot enter again until the section fills up with thirty contestants. Anyway, a person can only stay in the Safe Zone for two minutes before they have to go back out. Exceed those two minutes, and Monika might take away the Safe Zone, and kick you back in the ring, probably landing you in the middle of a random fight.”

“And believe me, you do NOT want to make people mad if you stay in the Changing Room for too long.” Xero sighed. “Anyway, that should be that covered. Moving on to the most important aspects…”

Everybody turned their attention to the arena as Shuichi pushed another button from within his room as a hologram of a Smash Ball is shown. “Now, all of the Smash Bros representatives, whether they are representing Smash Bros or not, alongside the Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion characters, whether they’re representing Cartoon Network or not, and the Playstation All Star characters, whether they represent Playstation or not, alongside a few Nicktoons, will come equipped with a single-use Smash Ball, to unleash their Final Smash, Punch Time Explosion, Level 3 Super OR Smite moves, depending on the character. Like I said, it’s a one time use, so they’ll have to use it at the right moment…”

“However, if they’re lucky with the wheel, they might get a second Smash Ball as a reward, but that’s if we get generous with it, and it’s a one percent chance.” Maurice explained, as he heard the gasps from everyone. “You heard correctly, folks…”

As if by magic, a familiar looking wheel, with a random amount of contestants, appeared as it started to spin around for all to see. Maurice continued, “We will be bringing the wheel back! And after fighters are introduced, the wheel will always spin and depending on if it’s a reward or punishment, the fighter has to endure it for a certain number of rounds, or until they’re eliminated, whichever one comes first. It could be something simple like ‘weapons get taken away’ or ‘vision is impaired’, but it can also affect people around you, like the floor is lava, or mines getting planted all over. The possibilities, as they say, are endless!”

“The wheel will usually get spun after the final fighter of the section gets in, every five eliminations, and at the end of the round, where we spin the wheel to determine the person who will choose the next round twist!” Xero smiled. “And what are those next round twists? Well, I don’t want to say yet, as I want to have the fighters experience these choices for themselves, so, consider these starting rounds warm ups and see what is to come!”

“One other thing we should mention are the Limit Breaks.” Maurice smiled as the hologram switched around once more to show two faceless people looking ready to battle. “Now, the name of the game when it comes to these tournaments is being the last one standing. However, sometimes, teamwork makes the dream work.”

With that, the faceless people looked at each other before lowering their fighting stances and shook their hands as a hologram of Xero (dressed in a villain’s cape) was seen laughing like mad and throwing stuff around.

“Either you are working in synergy with your teammate, or your fight with your opponent keeps getting interrupted at inopportune times, forcing you to stick with the opponent as a temporary teammate.” Maurice explained. “What do you do? Well, Kingdom Hearts characters, mostly Sora, had this ability to use Limit Breaks with partners… but as the last Tournament of Kikai has proven, anybody can perform a Limit Break, as long as it’s under the right circumstances. But be warned, you can only perform a Limit Break ONCE. Anybody who wants to pair up with anybody who did a Limit Break, are out of luck.”

As Maurice explained the rules of the Limit Break, the two people nodded as they surrounded the hologram of Xero as the holographic bunny looked between the two. The hologram’s lone ear went down in worry before both faceless opponents held hands together and slammed Xero down on the ground, before tossing him up in the air and kicking him like a football several times, before the holographic rabbit was seen flying out of the ring.

The real Xero, meanwhile, just glared at the ring as people were heard laughing in the background. Xero sighed as he reached for his microphone. “Really feeling the love here, folks.”

“We do have a few more rules to go through before we start, so let’s give you all a reminder.” Maurice said as he took a deep breath.

(Outside the Dome)

It was a rather unique experience for a set of people as they were gathered around to the outside doors. What made these people rather strange was that they all had a similar feeling of dread if one were to approach. From the Underworld itself, the personifications of Death from different nodes were gathered around as they were having their first meeting as most of them were idly chatting amongst themselves…

That is, until a chilling whistle was heard. That was the immediate sign for everyone to remain silent as they turned their heads towards the new leader of the Underworld… a tall, silvery-white wolf with red eyes and a black cloak, holding two razor sharp sickles in his hands.

Gripping them tightly, the wolf, hailing from the Shrek universe, gave a smile as he looked around at this fellow Reapers. “Attention, all of you. First of all, I thank you all for coming over, but now is the time to discuss why we’re here in this tournament…”

“Why, exactly, ARE we here?” Landis from Suikoden III asked as he cocked his head in confusion. “Don’t make any mistake, I’m all for the Grim Reaper, but having most of us here is…”

“A little surprising, I know, mon.” Grim, one of the fighters of the tournament, sighed as he gave a nod. “But as you remember from last year, we had a familiar face show up in this tournament…”

“Junko Enoshima…” Death the Wolf said as he licked his lips. “An interesting soul, the only person to escape from Death in her own way… and also grabbing that Tsumugi Shirogane girl before we could get her with us…”

Death from Castlevania growled in anger as he swung his scythe, causing Gregg the Grim Reaper from Conker’s Bad Fur Day to go backwards a bit. “Easy there, mate, you almost took my head clean off.”

“Sorry, it’s just… the way you describe her stupid looking face AND the way she smirks whenever she escapes from death’s grip… UGH! How does she do it? Even when we think we have her, she keeps downloading personalities onto other programs or possessing other people to think like her!” Castlevania!Death growled in anger as he stomped his foot to the ground.

“Look, as much as I feel for you, she’s quite the hardest capture.” Regular Show!Death explained as he gave a sigh. “Thus, why he called a lot of us out here…”

“Dusknoir…” Dusknoir said in a heavy whisper as he held up his ghostly fists.

Reapermon from Digimon patted the Pokemon on the back. “Yeah, I feel the same way, buddy…”

“All right, I get it!” The wolf frowned as everyone remained silent. “Junko Enoshima has been a thorn in our sides in the past, and considering that some of her items were leftover during the Battle of the Luminaries 3… and the occasional appearance by her stupid bear companion in Megamix Tournament 4… every time we try to get close, she just slips away from our fingers! Thus, why Xero had hired a lot of Grim Reaper forces to keep an eye out for Junko! If she or her partner even tries to approach this building, we’ll be there to get her!”

“What if she escapes?” Mr. Grimm from Twisted Metal asked.

The wolf paused, before giving a sinister grin. “Don’t ever doubt our power. While Junko has been lucky to escape death plenty of times, we’re going to make doubly sure she NEVER escapes. And if she doesn’t come… then we’ll just keep trying every year until we finally get her. Like I’ve always told my fellow victims, everyone thinks they’ll be the one to defeat us, but no one’s escaped us yet.”

The other Grim Reapers looked up at the wolf in awe as they applauded his speech. The wolf could only grin as he nodded, “Right, well, it’s fair if we split in groups. Grim, since you’ll be fighting way later in the tournament, you’ll be sticking with me and Dusknoir to explore the outside. Mr. Grimm, Landis, Reapermon, you’ll be assigned to the Recovery Room. Report if there’s anything off. Don’t worry about the Recovery Room team, they have been told in advance. Gregg, Regular Show Death, Gregory Horror Show Death, stick around to the hotels. Castlevania Death, you’re going to be our look out on the roofs and the remainder of the dome. Rest assured, with a lot of eyes out for Junko and Tsumugi, we’ll be able to catch our prize… and if we don’t get them… well, the bunny said he’d pay us for compensation…”

The other Grim Reapers gave a nod as the wolf smirked. “All right, we all have our assignments, so let’s spread out!”

The reapers saluted as Grim and Dusknoir went up to join Death the Wolf, with the others going to their assigned places. Grim could only watch as he turned to the wolf. “So, fearless leader, do you think we’ll get our goal tonight?”

“Honestly, after the majority of you appeared here last year, I highly doubt Junko or Tsumugi will come here… it’d be a dumb move on their part… but when they least expect it, I’m sure we’ll find a way to get them.” The wolf said, before smirking. “Besides, it does give us a good excuse to kick back… and essentially do our jobs for pay.”

“Dusknoir…” The ghost Pokemon whispered in a happy tone of voice.

(Hotel; Room 483)

The legendary demon known as Aku was standing in front of the door as he reached for the doorknob and walked into the room. The demon with his great flaming eyebrows looked around in curiosity as he frowned. He then took a deep breath.

“Hello? What is it that you want from the great Aku?” Aku frowned as he crossed his arms. “This had better not be a waste of my time!”

“Now, now, is that any way to treat an old friend?”

Aku jumped for a mere moment before turning towards the made up bed that a red faced demon with facial hair, lobster claws and in his red and pink coat ensemble, alongside his long black boots, giving a small laugh to himself as he looked up at the demon.

Aku’s eyes lit up as he gave a bow. “Ah, HIM. Sorry for the rude outburst, I did not realize that you were the one who sent for me. What can I do you for?”

HIM smiled. “I’m glad you asked. My old friend, how would you like to play a little role in my villain plot?”

Aku raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “You have a villain plot?”

“Why yes.” HIM said with a smirk. “But it’s not really a villain plot where you… I don’t know, take over the world, get a new body, throw the world to despair… none of that hullabaloo that comes with these tournaments. Rather, I have a brand new plan that’ll take the cake.”

Aku paused briefly as he kept his eyebrow raised. “Hmmm, well, if you’re not interested in power or whatnot… and I mean, with our looks, we can easily take over the world at any time… I know I did in MY world…” He laughed briefly. “But I have a feeling you’re aiming for something more…”

“Oh, yes. You see, I have been studying the past Ultimate Video Rumble side stories and the spinoff side stories to see where people have gone wrong… and here’s the situation. You see, people aim for power and resources, plunging the world in darkness and despair… but seeing as how we’re devils of a different nature…” HIM explained.

Aku looked over at HIM in curiosity, before giving a sinister smirk. “Ah, I think I can see where you’re going with this. Why take over the world…”

“...when people of different taste have perfect minds to play…” HIM nodded as he gave a nod. “Yes, yes, and when I was studying the original Tournament of Kikai, I noticed that paranoia was a settled theme. And while that is an interesting idea, it was all building up to that mystery. Well, what if I turned paranoia against everyone?”

“What do you have in mind?” Aku asked as he gave a grin. “Any people you’re willing to take in?”

“Hmmm… well, considering I want to keep MY villain plot on the down low, I don’t want to involve a lot of the people… but there is at least TWO people I want as part of our group.” HIM said. “I already have him on speed dial, and he says he’ll be running a little late. However, I DO know that one of them is already here and is more than willing to help out.”

“Oh?” Aku asked. “And who do we have?”

“Hell-ooooooo? HIM? Are you in? You better be, because I better not have wasted my time!” A loud voice shouted.

Aku’s eyes widened, before looking over to HIM. “You invited THIS guy?”

“He is a fellow devil, like us. Maybe not as devilish, but he’s a riot in parties…” HIM smiled as he called out, “The door is open!”

With that, the door opened as a familiar red devil came walking in… on his butt cheeks for some reason as he looked up and laughed. “Ah, HIM! AND Aku! My, my, my, this IS a cartoon devil’s reunion, isn’t it?”

“It certainly has…” HIM laughed, before pausing. “Red Guy, I called you here because I want you to scout around the area. See what’s going on, report back to me if you see any particular groups that could potentially be of interest. If we’re going to set up our game, we’re going to need ALL of the information I can get…”

“Ohhhhhh, I think I can work with that!” Red Guy laughed a bit as he crossed his arms. “And with no Cow or no Chicken or Weasel or Baboon around, I can have all the free access to anything!”

“I’m glad to hear it. Just remember, BE DISCREET! I don’t want you to be seen by either the Powerpuff Girls or any other heroes that can be a problem… and here’s something important you need to know…” Him said as he pulled out two pictures. One was of Penny Proud, and the other was of Mewtwo. “These two are the essential puzzle pieces. Make sure both of them are in the same group. That should not be any trouble… right?”

The Red Guy scoffed as he narrowed his eyes, swiping the pictures from HIM’s claws. “What do you take me for, an incompetent idiot! I’ll be sure to get these guys together!”

“Glad to hear of it.” HIM grinned as Aku crossed his arms and nodded. “Now, run along, my friend, and let the spying commence!”

The Red Guy saluted, before laughing goofily as he walked back out of the room on his butt cheeks once again. As soon as they were sure Red Guy was gone, Aku turned to HIM with a frown. “We really want to recruit this guy?”

“He may be goofy, but he’s very competent at making people as miserable as possible.” HIM explained.

“So, what about the other villains, ones like Bison, Eggman, the like? What about them?” Aku asked.

“I’ve already sent a letter to each villains of the respective nodes to hold off on any planning until at least the seventh section has passed, because I have my own plans.” HIM chuckled in glee. “And don’t worry, this is a plan in the making.”

“What plan is that?” Aku asked in curiosity.

HIM sighed as he gave a smile. “Like I said, the idea is to plant seeds of paranoia… and what goes good with paranoia? Nothing other than personal greed…”

Aku’s eyes widened in shock, before giving a sinister smile. “This must be a pretty good plan…”

“Oh, not to worry. This plan is certainly going to be a hundred percent fool proof…” HIM said with a smirk.

(The Arena)

“...and that should pretty much cover everything, I think.” Maurice said. “Xero, do you have anything to add?”

“No, that’s pretty much good. Monika, you good to go?” Xero asked as the screen in the arena flickered on to show Monika.

“Yeah, I’m ready. And I’m pretty sure the audience and our voters are ready as well.” Monika giggled. “So, let’s get this show on the road!”

Everyone gave a loud cheer as Xero gave a nod. “Agreed on that front! Okay, folks, it is time to officially start the second Tournament of Kikai!”

With that, the spotlight turned on towards the curtain that led to the Ready Room as the audience started to cheer, and music began to play. In just a few moments, the first of thirty fighters would be entering the ring…

Chapter Text

(The Arena)

The audience continued to cheer in anticipation as they watched the curtain, spotlight still shining on it, awaiting the words of the very first fighter to come out. And they knew that once that person had entered, the tournament would truly begin, as over seven hundred fighters will be coming in, little by little, with new twists and turns about. Needless to say, it was the biggest moment of their lives.

“And now…” Maurice announced. “The player that drew Number One!”

The cheers started to grow as the person pulled the curtain aside and walked out, his name just getting announced…

”RAPHAEL!” (NAS)

“Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles version! Just so we’re clear!” Xero quickly announced.

The rather large musclebound turtle with the red bandana rolled his eyes at the fact that the rabbit had to mention which show he was from, but he couldn’t blame him. After all, he and Donnie were the only Rise characters that came, while the versions of Leo, Mikey, April and Shredder that came stemmed from the 1980s show. Still, that wasn’t going to deter him slightly as he spun his sais around, performing a few tricks for the audience that gave out a loud cheer, all while the theme song to ‘Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ was playing in the background.

“Heh, thank you! Thank you all!” Raphael laughed as he marched up to the ring from the entrance ramp. “Yes, yes, Raph aims to impress all of you! And to prove that first means the best!”

With that, the large turtle climbed up in the ring and got himself settled as he nodded, before putting on a determined face. He gripped his sais and looked back towards the curtain, wondering if his next opponent was going to provide him a good fight… or if he was better off waiting for a better opponent.

“And now, the fighter who drew number TWO…” Xero announced as the background music changed.

”SIR DANIEL FORTESQUE!” (PSASBR)

The crowd began to go wild as the familiar looking armored skeleton from MediEvil came marching in calmly, his sword in one hand, and his shield in another. Of course, he still had one eye socket full, and the other eye socket empty, and a missing lower jaw. The theme of MediEvil kept playing as the skeletal knight of Gallowmere comically waved before giving a comical bow to his audience, making them applaud the man even more.

Raphael couldn’t help but study the skeletal man as he approached the ring, before climbing on as best as he could as Raph narrowed his eyes.

“Huh. Well, I’ve fought stranger.” Raphael said as he approached the skeletal man. “Hey, bag for bones! You look like you'd be a perfect first opponent.”

Sir Daniel looked over at the large turtle as he gave a small grin as he said, as best as he could, “Ah, honorable turtle, you approach me with an honorable battle? Then it shall be done! Let our fight commence, and with it, pure fairness!”

Raphael blinked twice as he tried to make out the skeleton’s sentence, only to sigh. “Yeah, no, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“You dare mock the hero of Gallowmere? I’ll show you!” Sir Daniel Fortesque growled as he swung his sword forward.

Raphael, expecting the attack, quickly swung his sai forwards as he blocked the sword strike, causing Sir Daniel to fall backwards on his back. The turtle couldn’t help but shake his head sadly at this little display.

Quickly, the skeletal hero got up as he looked at Raphael with a hateful glare in his lone full eye, which only fueled Raph’s anger as the musclebound turtle held up his sais.

”ESPEON!” (PKMN)

A lilac furred purple cat came bouncing in, much to the cooing and sweet ‘awww’s of the audience. The psychic cat then laid on its back and started to bat its legs around before getting itself up and shaking its fur. She then ran forward towards the ring and leaped into the air, before landing directly in the ring itself.

Upon doing so, Espeon immediately started her battle by summoning stars and aiming them directly at Sir Daniel Fortesque, causing the skeleton to quickly lose balance. Raph was rather taken off guard at this unexpected attack, before turning towards his helper. However, upon setting sight, Raph almost dropped his sais, before his eyes widened adorably. Much to everyone’s surprise, Raph ran over and scooped up Espeon in his arms.

“Awww, aren’t you a furry little cutie!” Raphael grinned as he held the psychic Pokemon close and patted him in the head, which Espeon found a little comforting. Raphael then looked around as he narrowed his eyes. “I only knew this little girl for like ten seconds, and if something happens to her, I will personally BODY SLAM anybody in this arena, including myself!”

Espeon blinked twice as she looked up to the person cuddling her, before putting her down as the large turtle bent over and grinned. “So how about it? We team up?”

The purple cat looked rather surprised at this offer, before giving a small smile as it gave a small chirp of happiness. Raphael laughed as he held up his sais. “Then let’s do it! Raph and Saikou the Espeon!”

Espeon blinked before turning to Raph in confusion, as Raph started to smirk. “I already gave you the nickname, it’s going to stick!”

”Already one minute in and ALREADY I’m being owned by someone else.” Espeon rolled her eyes in annoyance.

”FUZZY LUMPKINS!” (PPG)

Everybody gave nervous applause on the pink furry creature with the large green nose, two antennae atop his head, and holding two items in his hand… a large gun (which Fuzzy was instructed to put NON lethal bullets into) and a banjo. Fuzzy looked around, giving an angry glare towards anybody who looked in HIS direction, before spotting the tent that was nearby.

“Ahhh, well, I plumb reckon that it’s a good thing dose hosts told us about this Safe Zone! I can easily make it into a base should I ever need it.” Fuzzy said to himself as he gave a chuckle before hopping into the ring. “Yeah, I only have two minutes, but they didn’t say anything about guarding the door to the OUTSIDE, since it's the INSIDE that has the two minute mark!”

Fuzzy laughed in glee as he ran past the annoyed Espeon and Raph (who was still cooing over Espeon) and the downed Sir Daniel as the skeleton was trying to get up. The pink bear-like creature could only laugh as he found the door that led to the Safe Zone and settled himself next to it.

“DERE! Now NOBODY can take this away from me! And if anybody dares approach mah property, they’re gonna get a taste of mah boomstick!” Fuzzy chuckled as he patted his gun. He gave a nod before setting his boomstick on his lap before hanging onto his banjo before strumming it a couple of times. He hummed a few bars, before playing a tune to himself.

Despite the little claim, so far, Raphael, Espeon and Sir Daniel weren’t really interested in going in Fuzzy’s direction. However, even they knew that Fuzzy’s lazy ways weren’t going to last forever as somebody was bound to need the changing room.

”R.O.B.!” (SSB)

The Robotic Operation Buddy came out to a moderate round of cheers. After the robot seemed to be taking in the cheers as best as a robot could, before using its thrusters to fly towards the ring, before landing directly inside. Once inside, the robot started to blink as it used its scanners to look for a free opponent. But seeing as how Fuzzy was playing his banjo in peace, and Espeon and Raph were sitting together as they looked ready to fight, his only option was Sir Daniel, who had just gotten up.

“TARGET ACQUIRED.” R.O.B. called out as it shot a laser towards Sir Daniel.

The skeleton knight saw it coming before blocking the attack with his shield, before narrowing his eyes on the robot. “You have messed with the wrong knight, foul mechanical beast!”

”...I AM SORRY, BUT I DID NOT CATCH WHAT YOU JUST SAID.” R.O.B. said before spinning his arms forward and denting Sir Daniel’s armor.

Sir Daniel lowered his skeletal eyes in annoyance, before letting out a gutteral roar, before charging straight at R.O.B. with his sword, in an intent to attack the toy robot.

”...OH DEAR. I FEEL I MAY HAVE MADE AN ERROR.” R.O.B. said before going backwards to avoid the swinging of Sir Daniel’s sword.

”GARNET!” (MV)

(Take a moment to think of just)

(Flexibility, love and trust)

(Take a moment to think of just)

(Flexibility, love and trust)

(Here comes a thought that might alarm you)

(What someone said and how it harmed you)

(Something you did that failed to be charming)

(Things that you said are suddenly swarming, and oh!)

(You’re losing sight, you’re losing touch)

(All these little things seem to matter so much)

Everybody let out a large amount of applause as the bright pink and black wearing, afro swinging Crystal Gem from Steven Universe came out as she gave some nods towards the audience, before turning her attention towards the ring.

“It feels strange to come out early, doesn’t it?” Garnet said to herself, before giving a smirk. “Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time, now, can we? Besides, if we’re right, then we might have some help coming in… maybe not right away, but hopefully soon.”

As Garnet climbed into the ring, she gave a nod before noticing Raph and Espeon, the former scratching Espeon on the ears as Espeon rolled over and purred in a content way. Garnet couldn’t help but give a small smile, but knew that if things were going to go anywhere, she’d have to initiate a fight. “Ahem…”

Raph jumped in shock as he looked at Garnet, blushing in embarrassment. “Wha-what?! Lady, it’s not weird to see a turtle giving googly eyes to a cute looking Pokemon!”

“I understand your plight, but I should inform you that we ARE still in the arena.” Garnet said as she motioned for the turtle to fight. “So, you might want to focus your fighting skills.”

“I’m doing it, I’m doing it.” Raphael sighed in annoyance before looking towards the Espeon before cooing over the Pokemon. “I’m gonna be fighting this girl now, Saikou, but when I’m done, I’m giving you a LOT of cuddle time!”

Espeon’s ears lowered a bit, but its face showed that it wasn’t quite complaining as it stood back. Raphael smiled before turning back towards the tall Crystal Gem, readying his sais. “Okay, sweetheart, let’s see you try to get past a Ninja Turtle! You know, even if I am from the Rise series, we Turtles STILL show great prowess!”

“Let’s test that, shall we?” Garnet said as she looked ready to pull out the works, summoning her gauntlets as they settled nicely into her hands.

”BENTLEY!” (SC)

The turtle in the wheelchair came wheeling himself out as he heard the amount of people applauding for him as the turtle looked around, looking a little shy… before giving a big smile and jumping up in the air, waving to the people in the crowd before the thrusters in his wheelchair activated as they carried him all the way to the edge of the ring. Once he was inside, he adjusted himself before looking around, noticing the only free opponents were Espeon and Fuzzy, the former watching Raph and Garnet fighting, and the latter playing his banjo while guarding the door to the Safe Zone.

“Hmmm… well, it would be unwise to get into a fight with that pink furred bear creature right away.” Bentley frowned. “And while I could fight Espeon… its amount of psychic powers could probably predict my every move. So, while I could try and fight her, it’ll be a miracle if I can get that Pokemon out. No, I think I better stay back for a while, maybe try my luck with a new opponent.”

With a nod to himself, Bentley wheeled himself forward to get himself to the nearest corner post before settling himself there, as he looked over the curtain, carefully analyzing himself.

“This is a perfect viewpoint. Once I get my opponent spotted, I can easily pull a surprise attack!” Bentley said as he looked over his inventory. “The main thing now is to wait…”

The wheelchair bound turtle then settled himself as he gave a sigh… before pulling out a book and started to fumble with it, before turning the pages over. “I guess now would be a good time to catch up on my light reading. “Chapter 4, Atoms and Elements… ah, I love this book…”

”SPIKE!” (T&J: WotW)

The large gray-ish brown dog came walking out on two legs as he looked around at the mixed reaction he was given. Spike at first frowned upon receiving half jeers from the audience, but decided to go along with it as he let out a huge, guttural growl to the audience, to show that he was NOT one to be messed with.

As soon as he was satisfied with showing off, he decided to casually walk towards the ring before climbing inside. He looked back towards the ring, worried that he had left his son, Tyke, in the Locker Room with Tom, the last person he’d leave his son with. But he knew there was nothing he could do. He can always chalk up to yelling at Tom for any incompetence he may pull while Tom was watching Tyke, but that wasn’t going to be an issue for now.

After taking a short, deep breath, Spike turned and spotted Espeon sitting nearby as it was licking itself nonchalantly. The bulldog gave a small frown before marching up towards the small cat Pokemon and grabbed Espeon by the scruff.

“Listen up, pussycat! I’m just gonna cut to the chase! I need to rack up at least one or two eliminations, then get back to my son as soon as I’m done, in hopes to give him a little training. So, either jump out of the ring, or I will have to get rough with youse!” Spike said in a rather gruff voice, before giving a smile as he turned towards one of the floating cameras. “You see that, son? This is how you handle an opponent!”

Espeon’s ears lowered before the Pokemon’s eyes started to glow a bluish color. All of a sudden, Spike found himself surrounded by a psychic aura as he dropped Espeon to the ground, before finding himself being flung towards the ropes, springing backwards.

“Ugh!” Spike groaned as he pulled himself back up, only to see the little gem on Espeon’s head glowing as a large psychic beam shot out of its head, hitting Spike directly in the stomach. Spike growled in anger as he held up his hands. “Okay, pussycat, that was a lucky shot, but you’re not going to be so lucky when I’m THROUGH WITH YA!”

With that, Spike went down on four legs and growled before letting out some loud barks to try to tackle the Espeon, who stood her ground.

”ELMER FUDD!” (LT: WoM)

Coming out to an amount of cheers, the familiar hunter came sneaking out from the curtain, holding his infamous double-barreled shotgun. Quickly pausing, he looked around and noticed the crowd, before putting a finger on his lips.

“Shhhhh… be vewy, vewy quiet. I’m huntin’ ewiminations.” Elmer said, before giving his traditional chuckle.

Everybody quickly applauded upon hearing a variation of Elmer’s classic line, before the hunter turned back and resumed walking towards the ring, before climbing into the ring and settling himself. Immediately, he noticed Fuzzy still strumming his banjo, guarding the door leading into the Safe Zone/Changing Room. Giving a small frown, the hunter decided to walk forward towards the pink bear creature.

“Excuse me, sir, but can you not stand by the door?” Elmer frowned. “I need to get in to change into my other outfits!”

“Uh-wha?” Fuzzy asked as he momentarily snapped out of his peaceful slumber, before noticing Elmer standing in front of him. The pink creature narrowed his eyes in anger before aiming his boomstick at Elmer. “HEY! YOUSE GET OFFA MY PROPERTY!”

“YOUR PWOPEWTY?” Elmer asked in astonishment, before narrowing his eyes. “Hey! That Safe Zone is techincawwy for EVEWYONE! NOT JUST YOU!”

“Ah don’t care! You want to git near mah property, you’re-a gonna have to git past me! Now git!” Fuzzy said as he shot some blank shot towards Elmer, knocking his hat clean off his head.

Elmer grabbed his cap and put it back on his bald head, before narrowing his eyes angrily. “Aww wight, you pesky cweature! If you won’t move, I’ll MAKE you move!”

With that, Elmer aimed his gun and started shooting at Fuzzy a few non-lethal bullets of his own as the pink creature jumped up.

“Ooo, mama! Looks like we’s got ourselves a fight!” Fuzzy growled in anger before aiming HIS gun towards the hunter, both of them narrowing their eyes.

”PATTI MAYONNAISE!” (DTAAS)

The orange skinned, blonde haired girl wearing a blue shirt with purple polka dots and navy blue jeans came walking in to a moderate round of applause as the girl gave a bit of a nervous wave. People who were a little familiar with the show she was from looked a little confused, as the show SHE was from wasn’t exactly action oriented.

“All right, so I’m great at athletics, I can probably work my way around that…” Patti said to herself, before holding her head. “But will it be enough. That bunny DID invite a few other Slice of Life people in the Disney Television Animation category, but the real question is, can we hold ourselves as well as Penny did?”

She bit her lip as she took a deep breath. “What’s worse is that of all the characters from the Saturday Morning era I’m familiar with, only Doug, Connie and I were selected. I get me, and I guess I can understand Doug, but… why CONNIE, of all people? And why did Connie change her appearance to how she originally appeared when our show aired on Nickelodeon?”

The young girl shook her head as she climbed into the ring, figuring that it was best not to think about it. She looked around and noticed a few fights going on, with Elmer trying to get a lucky shot at Fuzzy, Garnet’s gauntlets colliding with Raph’s sais, R.O.B. attempting to dodge a swing from Sir Daniel’s sword, and Spike rushing forward to dodge a Zap Cannon from Espeon. In fact, the only person that wasn’t fighting was Bentley, who seemed to still be reading whilst looking up from his book, waiting for an opponent. Giving a smile, she approached the turtle, who looked up from his book with a raised eyebrow.

“Is it alright if I wait for an opponent alongside you?” Patti smiled.

“Really? You’re not going to take your chance with me?” Bentley asked in surprise.

Patti gave a sigh. “I could, but I’m not even sure about my chances. I’m hoping to wait for someone I can AT least have an even match with.”

Bentley paused slightly as he looked over at Patti. “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have some company. All right. But, uh, don’t be too surprised if I leave you behind once I find the perfect opponent.”

“No, I understand.” Patti said before sitting cross-legged next to Bentley. “I think I can afford the wait…”

(Disney Television Animation All Star Locker Room)

Even though the number of Disney Television Animation All Star characters were pretty massive in numbers, only a select few have decided to stick around in the locker room, while a few of the other Disney characters decided to meet up with some old friends outside the dome to hang out and talk, at least, until their time to go in the ring was called for. In fact, the only people that were in the Locker Room were most of the fighters, including Bonkers, Goliath, and Kim Possible, and a couple of people who preferred to kick back and relax, ala with Wander playing his banjo and Sylvia exercising to maintain her mojo. Sitting near the large TV that was stationed were two familiar people, two friends of Patti who looked out in amazement.

“Patti seems to be pretty confident, and playing smart.” Connie smiled.

“Yeah, she does…” Doug said with a small smile, seeing his crush up on the screen as she seemed to be conversing with Bentley to pass the time.

Connie paused briefly as she blushed a bit, looking towards Doug. “Say, Doug, do you think that we might have a chance in the ring? I mean, me, you and her, we are from a Slice of Life show… even before that, we WERE on Nickelodeon…”

“I have a feeling we were invited because we were one of the opening shows on Disney’s One Saturday Morning.” Doug explained, before giving a shrug. “And anyway, it’s not all bad, considering we have a chance to talk with our old Nicktoon friends again. It has been quite a while.”

Connie giggled as she gave a smile. “Yeah, I suppose it does…”

“I’m just saying, it’s not only amazing that Patti and I are here, but the best part of it is tomorrow’s Fictograph City Dance. I’m planning on asking Patti tonight.” Doug sighed a bit as a little imaginary heart started to flow around him.

Connie noted Doug’s lovesick look as she gave a nervous smile. “Is that tomorrow night? You know, I’ve been so busy with, uh, training a bit, I guess it slipped my mind!”

“It’s okay, this tournament, and that dance is all that’s on anybody’s mind anyway.” Doug said. “And it’s either one or the other for other people… so, I guess Patti and I won’t be seeing you after the tournament is over.”

Connie stayed silent for a couple minutes, before looking down. “No, I guess not… I’m going to go out for a while, Doug, maybe get a little snack before the ring. Do you want anything?”

“No thanks, Connie. I think I’ll wait until later, once Patti and I are done with our time in the tournament…” Doug said, before giving a smile. “Oh, but maybe I’ll see you in the ring? Our numbers WERE pretty close to each other, last I checked.”

“...yeah, I guess…” Connie nodded before getting up and sighing sadly. “See you later, I guess…”

With that, Connie walked out of the Locker Room in hopes of heading for the kitchen. However, somebody else had spotted her walking out, noticing the depressed look on her face. Pausing briefly, said person ran out to catch up with Connie, in hopes to talk with her…

Little did said person realize was that from out of the corner of his eye, the Red Guy was seen lying on the floor, watching his target. Gleefully, he rolled over to follow his targets…

(Recovery Room)

Usually, the Recovery Room had a set of nurses from various nodes, some that weren’t part of the tournament, like Hello Nurse from Animaniacs and Mikan from Super Danganronpa 2, but others that were part of the tournament, but are willing to help out anyway they can, like Valentine from Skullgirls and Baymax from Kingdom Hearts/Big Hero 6 fame. However, one person was a little new to the Recovery Room team, and was currently setting up his couch when three of his friends decided to come visit him when they learned that he was there.

The first friend of said person was a raven haired young girl with a red shirt, black pants and red shoes. This was the fashionable girl, Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, from Hey Arnold.

The second person was an African American boy with tall black hair, a red sports shirt with the number 33 on it, blue jeans and orange and white sneakers. This was Gerald, also from Hey Arnold.

And the final friend visiting was a young blonde haired girl whose hair was done in braids, similar to a spider’s legs, wearing a teal shirt, a dark brown skirt and black shoes. This was Nadine, also from Hey Arnold.

“So, let me get this straight, Arnold…” Rhonda Wellington Lloyd blinked twice as she, Gerald and Nadine watched the blonde haired football headed boy wearing a green shirt over a red plaid shirt, blue jeans and black shoes as he was sitting down next to the couch, looking over at his friends. “The Recovery Room, who is full of capable adults that can heal people, want YOU to be part of the Recovery Team… as a PSYCHOLOGIST?!”

“I’m more surprised that they wanted YOU, my man.” Gerald said as Arnold gave a shrug.

“What can I say? The people running the Recovery Room saw me when I was calming down Nack and Olimar last year when they went node hopping in the first Tournament of Kikai, and figured that if I had THAT type of calming power to ease their minds, and considering the fact that trauma doesn’t easily go away, they hired me to be more of a conversationalist with people. I’ll still try to fight when it comes my time in the arena, BUT when it comes down to it, the Recovery Room sees me as a perfect asset.” Arnold explained.

“...and the fact that you’re ten years old doesn’t bother them.” Rhonda rolled her eyes.

“I did ask them that, and they said ‘despite your age, you are the most mature person of your group, so why not have you along? You look like you knew what you were doing, calming down the fighters’.” Arnold said before giving a smile. “That, alongside the fact that things kept dropping in our home last year, including the whole meteor incident… it sort of inspired me to see what I can do next time for if a fighter came down, and they were a little too shocked and horrified by the way they were taken out or whatnot.”

Rhonda paused, before giving a small sigh. “I guess I can’t fault you for that. You truly are one of the best helpers of Hillwood that we know.”

“Yeah, and you’re a very bold kid, Arnold.” Gerald smiled. “Anyway, we WERE going to ask if you wanted to hang out with us, but I can see you’re going to be a little busy at the new job.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Arnold sighed. “With all the fighters and the tournament going on, I have a feeling that there’s going to be a lot more trauma to handle than physical stuff. So, that’s why I’m going to be talking people through their worries… inside the tournament and outside the tournament.”

“Outside the tournament?” Nadine asked in confusion.

“Yeah, from what I hear, there’s a few people that were quite affected by the Monokuma thing from the last Tournament of Kikai.” The football headed kid sighed. “And there might be people with their own issues that I truly want to help them get through. Needless to say, I’m going to be here for quite a while.”

Rhonda sighed heavily as she looked towards her friends, before giving a shrug. “Well, I guess I can understand. Hopefully, we’ll do something together after the tournament? That is, if you’re not swamped with other people…”

“I’m sure I’ll have time afterwards.” Arnold laughed. “But hey, if it helps, I’m sure Helga would be MORE than happy to hang out…”

“Helga, really?” Rhonda frowned as Gerald walked towards his friend.

“Arnold, no offense, I know Helga has been trying to be a bit better since things changed, but she can still be a bit of a bully.” Gerald frowned. “And a bit of a jealous person whenever you’re involved with something else.”

“Yeah, I think she gave Rhonda the stink eye upon finding out that there was written fanfiction that shipped her with you.” Nadine pointed out.

Arnold and Rhonda blushed for a bit before looking at each other, before giving nervous chuckles as Rhonda said, “I mean, it’s an INTERESTING IDEA, but…”

“Just give her a chance. She said she was picking up Phoebe at the restaurant, so she might still be over there.” Arnold smiled upon recovering from the slight mention.

Rhonda and Nadine looked rather unsure, but upon mentioning Phoebe, Gerald looked up as he gave a smile. “All right, if that’s what you think, then, I guess we’ll give it a try.”

“...all right. I guess that could work…” Rhonda sighed before getting up. “Just… don’t overexert yourself, okay?”

Arnold gave a light chuckle. “I’m sure things will work out fine. Thank you for your concern, though…”

With that, Arnold watched Nadine, Rhonda and Gerald walk out of the Recovery Room as the young boy waved good bye, before turning to his new workers as Baymax gave a nod.

“Are you ready to commence your work?” Baymax asked.

“As ready as I can be…” Arnold said as he took a deep breath.

“All right, then, Arnold. Now, remember, just because the people can arrive and be hurt physically, psychologically, they’re still a little damaged. It’s up to you to ask for problems, get them to talk about your feelings… and as for people who visit outside when they don’t have to go into the arena, well, they are welcome too, as long as they have a psychological issue to work out.” Madame Pomfrey explained.

“So, essentially, try to soothe them over as best as you can… and if you have any problems, feel free to ask one of us.” Hello Nurse said as she bent over to the young boy. “Can you handle that?”

Arnold gave a nod. “I think I can manage, thank you, Miss Nurse.”

Hello Nurse gave a slight giggle as she patted the boy on the head. “Miss Nurse… not often I hear a miss in the name.”

“Excuse me, I hear there’s a young psychologist in the room?”

Everyone turned and gasped as they saw someone rather familiar walk in. Arnold nodded as he raised his hand. “Y-yeah, that would be me…”

Mai Shiranui paused slightly, looking a little confused at seeing the young kid before her… as she gave a sigh. “My name is Mai Shiranui, and… I have an anger issue to sort out…”

(The Arena)

”ED!” (SF)

The blonde haired boxer came running out as he heard the fangirls squeeing in delight. As of current, he was wearing his current Street Fighter VI uniform, with the open blue jacket to reveal his muscly chest, blue trousers and red boots. He knew his DLC hadn’t been released yet, but his picture was, but he knew he had to stick with his Street Fighter V fightset for the time being.

But it was more than enough for Ed as he showed off his muscles and posed, in a rather cocky form, the opposite of what he was originally seen as in the Tournament of Kikai. He laughed before jumping into the ring.

Raphael was a little busy trying to make good work of Garnet as she slammed her fists into Raph’s face, causing the turtle to stumble. Garnet gave a smirk as she was about to ready another punch, before sensing a projectile coming her way. As quick as possible, she turned around and dissipated the dark ball that Ed had sent out towards their fight.

“Not even in the ring for three seconds, and already you see the need to interrupt a fight.” Garnet said.

“That’s the name of the game, isn’t it?” Ed smirked as he held out his fists. “I hear you’re a really powerful Crystal Gem. Well, why I don’t put those abilities to the test against Psycho Power? While Balrog may not be on the roster, that doesn’t mean I’ll have good practice for if I ever have to face Bison in the ring.”

“Oh? Do you know when he’ll enter?” Garnet asked.

“Well… no. But it doesn’t hurt to practice.” Ed smirked as he readied his fists.

Garnet looked back towards Raphael, who had taken his eyes off Garnet for the time being as he was trying to separate both Spike and Espeon (with the turtle mostly hitting Spike in the noggin, calling the bulldog out for what a bad dog he was), before giving a nod. “I suppose when it comes down to it…”

“Great!” Ed said with a grin before readying his fists.

All of a sudden, everybody noticed the ring shifting on as most everybody fighting had noticed that large circles, each of them blue and red, appeared from thin air as everyone looked at them confused… at least, until the next fighter was announced.

”CRUSH!” (StD)

The rather large purple Riptoc came rushing in, chicken leg club in his hand as he gave a loud roar to his audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen, for those who don’t know what’s going on, we had a bit of a complaint from a certain wizard and vampire from the side stories last year about how we handled Crush, when we gave Gulp a little bit of a special treatment for him and others last year. So, to compensate, we’re going to have these circles to indicate his boss battle. When someone steps on a blue circle, they’ll be surrounded by a protective force field, and when jumping up and down, you will send out an electric wave until the field goes away. For the red buttons, same force field, only jumping up and down on them will force you to send out at least two to three fireballs. Crush can use these, but I’m also allowing ANYBODY the chance to use them as well.” Xero explained.

“...will these changes be for EVERY Spyro boss that enters, or for bosses that have special quirks?” Raphael asked as he narrowed his eyes.

“...yes.” Xero quickly said.

“THAT IS NOT AN ANSWER!” Raphael screamed as Crush jumped into the ring.

However, Crush, hearing this, gave a small smirk as he said to himself, “I may be early, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have my fun! And this time, no Spyro to stop me!”

With that, Crush moved forward to the first grate he saw and slammed his feet down towards the ground as he sent out two fireballs, heading directly towards Elmer and Fuzzy respectively.

Of course, both hunter and pink creature didn’t see the fireballs coming until it was too little, too late.

“YOWCH!”

Both fighters yelped as they turned to see Crush giving a laugh at those that he got. Elmer and Fuzzy looked at each other with frowns, before shaking hands, as if reaching a mutual agreement. Then, as quickly as possible, both characters with guns ran forward towards the Riptoc, aiming them right at the creature, little realizing that they were going to be in for a rough time.

”DEAN!” (FF)

The blonde haired, musclebound man came out to a moderate amount of cheers as he waved to the crowd, giving a small smile towards them, before taking a deep breath.

“Okay, so the only thing I know is that Hugo is going to be the next Final Fight character entering after me, but the question is, I don’t know which section he’ll enter…” Dean growled to himself before punching his fist. “I guess I’ll have to make due with some fodder until he arrives… if I survive that long.”

Ignoring the crowd cheering him on, Dean ran forward towards the ring and jumped in before noticing Raphael berating Spike as Espeon’s ears drooped in worry.

“And what’s more, you don’t just hit on an innocent little Espeon like that! BAD DOG!” Raphael growled in anger as he slammed his fist on Spike’s head, causing the dog to groan.

“Funny, you seem to be picking on that dog and hitting him. Hypocritical, are we?”

Raphael jumped as he noticed Dean approaching with a small glare on his face. Raph returned the glare. “Raph don’t need to hear constructive criticism from the likes of you!”

“Oh? Well, then, maybe Raph would be interested in a small fight?” Dean smirked as he readied his fists.

The musclebound turtle readied his sais before moving forward. “Buddy, you have no idea who you’re-”

All of a sudden, before Raphael could land an attack, Dean punched the turtle in the face a few times, electrocuting the turtle with the last punch as Raphael fell directly on his shell. Giving a groan, Raphael got up, thankful that his shell wasn’t big enough to leave him completely helpless.

“Okay… electrical fists. Shocking, but not impossible to bypass…” Raphael said before holding up his sais. “Okay, pal. You caught my attention.”

Spike and Espeon just looked on in pure astonishment, before the dog turned to Espeon. “That toitle has a few screws loose, doesn’t he?”

”You have NO idea…” Espeon sighed as she shook her head.

”FRED FREDBURGER!” (TGAoB&M)

”Fred Fredburger, Fred Fredburger, Fred Fredburger, Fred Fredburger…” The little green elephant demon casually hummed to himself as he ignored the mixed response of the crowd. As he was bobbing his body to the tune, he climbed up to the ring before walking forward… most notably, towards the spot where Patti and Bentley were at. The two could only look on in astonishment.

“Hello! My name is Fred Fredburger, and I can spell my name! I can spell my name real good!” Fred smiled before giving a pause. “F… R… E… D… F… R… E-”

“No, please, please, don’t spell it.” Bentley said as he pushed a button on his wheelchair to summon a mechanical hand to push Fred aside. However, as Fred was continuing to spell his name, the wheelchair bound turtle could only give a sigh. “I guess he isn’t going to be moving for a while…”

“I think he’s kinda cute.” Patti smiled as she patted the elephant on the head, the green elephant unaware that Patti was petting him.

“...R! Fred Fredburger! And I can put my trunk in my mouth and… and… and make sucky noises out of it!” Fred Fredburger said as he proceeded to move his trunk towards his mouth and sucked on it.

Patti’s eyes widened as she slowly stepped away. “...on second thought, I don’t think he’s THAT cute…”

All of a sudden, the lights on the entrance curtain darkened as the spotlight shined even brighter than before as everyone was looking in anticipation. The screen that was floating nearby quickly turned on to Monika’s face as she gave a giggle, knowing what was to come next.

“And now… Mystery Fighter… Number… ONE!” Monika announced as she pointed to the curtain.

It opened up immediately as the lights turned back to normal, as it revealed the following character, none other than…

”BOYD!” (The Rumble Fish)

Much to everyone’s confusion and surprise, the familiar bulky old man wearing glasses, a yellow Hawaiian shirt, tan brown pants and a tan brown fedora came walking out as he gave a big grin. He patted his hat and smirked before running towards the ring and jumping in.

“Well, it seems people didn’t expect me to be back… good! That means it’s time to really redeem myself after the poor score I got last time!” Boyd smiled before patting his head. “Which means, I think it’s time for you to have a little exercise, little one.”

With that, Boyd took off his hat and dropped it towards the ground. All of a sudden, the hat sprouted legs and a tail as it followed around Boyd’s feet. Boyd took a deep breath through his nose, before walking forward towards the battle between Sir Daniel and R.O.B. Seeing an opportunity, the man started to lumber towards the fight…

(Announcer’s Booth)

Maurice raised an eyebrow as he turned to Xero. “Why did you decide to invite Boyd back? Considering he didn’t do so well last time, you’d think he’d be off the list for potential returning Mystery Fighters…”

“Well, I always like to give people second chances, and I think Boyd might be good to give a second chance to. However, at the same time, I can see him being a sort of fodder type character as well, but I think it can go both ways.” Xero explained.

“...and to think, he’s one of the twelve returning Mystery Fighters to be Mystery Fighters.” Maurice sighed.

“Well, like I said to you before, he was one of my six returning. And besides, I was fair and let you have your six returning Mystery Fighters that weren’t part of the nodes being represented.” Xero pointed out.

“...fair enough.” Maurice sighed. “But considering some of the choices you MADE…”

“Look, I’ll bring them up when it comes time, just… bare with me until then.” Xero groaned.

(The Arena)

”KUKRI!” (KOFXV)

The dark cloaked figure came out to a mixed crowd as he looked around at the people surrounding him. At first glance, he seemed to be glaring angrily at the crowd, but as he kept walking, he ignored the crowd for the most part as he gave a sigh.

“...Dolores won’t be coming out for some time…” Kukri said to himself, before giving a sigh. “Tch, fine by me. I won’t be needing her help when I’m through with the arena…”

As the dark cloaked man climbed into the arena, he narrowed his eyes towards Boyd, as he was about to pull a sneak attack on Sir Daniel. As quick as he could, Kukri jumped in between the fight, surprising the old man before Kukri used his powers to throw sand into the man’s eyes.

“Ah!” Boyd yelped, before narrowing his eyes towards Kukri. “Listen here, whippersnapper! You almost ruined my surprise attack!”

“I wasn’t going to let you start surprising people without me.” Kukri smirked as he held his hands. “Forget that skeleton and robot. As far as you’re concerned, I should be your MAIN worry.”

Boyd huffed a bit as he rolled up his sleeves. “Just so you know, I do NOT go light on anybody.”

Kukri gave a scoff. “Like you would try…”

”NUMBUH ONE!” (CN: PTE)

The main leader of Sector V of the Kids Next Door came walking out to a moderate round of applause. The bald kid in the red shirt and tan shorts quickly adjusted his sunglasses before pulling out his red gumball machine gun.

“Okay, so my mistake last time was going straight to the teens and adults and attacked head on.” Numbuh One said to himself. “Fortunately, there seems to be a few kids in the ring. Maybe if I recruit that Patti Mayonnaise to my side and convince her to help, I might have a chance. Maybe I’ll even get her to become part of the Kids Next Door…”

With that, Numbuh One activated his rocket boots before flying towards the ring and landing in there. However, as he tried to approach Patti, he immediately took notice of a familiar face as his eyes blanched.

Fred Fredburger immediately turned and smiled as he gave a grin. “Oh! Hello there!”

“Oh no…” Numbuh One said as he aimed his gun towards Fred. “S-stay away from me, I’m not going to let you talk! I have a gun filled with gumballs, and I’m not afraid to use it!”

“Oh, did you say gum? I like gum, with all the chewiness, and the blowing bubbles… oh, oh, sometimes, I can blow bubbles with my trunk, but I can’t blow square bubbles… it’s possible, but not very likely… I can only blow those round ones… but I would love to blow a square bubble if possible…”

Numbuh One screamed in horror as he started to run, with Fred Fredburger casually following him. ‘Wait! Come back, friend! I haven’t told you about the time that my favorite show about the imaginary friends got cancelled unfairly…”

Patti and Bentley, who had been watching the exchange the entire time, just blilnked twice before looking at each other.

“That… was a strange interaction.” Bentley said.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at Numbuh One’s reaction to Fred, though.” Patti sighed. “In the crossover episode, Mandy used Fred’s talking as a method of torture while he was dressed up as Billy.”

“Really now? I haven’t caught up on the show, what happened there?” Bentley asked.

“...believe me, it’s something you got to see to believe.” Patti sighed before shaking her head.

”BERRY SHIRAYUKI!” (TMM)

As with last time, the young rabbit eared Mew Mew came out to a series of jeers and boos as she looked around at the audience, rather hurt at the jeers.

“After what happened last year, I was expecting it, but it still hurts…” Berry gave a sigh, before shaking her head. “Okay, don’t think about the audience, focus on your abilities! I’ll prove everyone that I’m not just a Mary Sue! I can do this!”

With a deep breath, she summoned her Loveberry Rod before running forward towards the ring.

Bentley noted Berry running in as he analyzed her, before giving a smile. “Ah ha! A Mew Mew! I didn’t think I’d see one here so early… I think I got my opponent…”

As the turtle put away his book, Patti raised an eyebrow in concern. “Are you sure this might be your best opponent to try?”

“I know the odds are cast against me, but how often do I get to study how the Mews fight up close!” Bentley said as he wheeled himself over. “Well, thanks for the great talk. If you want to partner up with me, you’re welcome to!”

“Thank you. In a way, you remind me of my dad.” Patti said with a warm smile.

Bentley paused, before giving a brief nod towards her and a smile, before turning back towards Berry as he started to wheel forward.

Of course, as Patti watched Bentley talking, she couldn’t help but give a sigh as she looked around nervously. “And here I am once again, open target… best I can do is hope nobody notices me and I get somebody easy… hopefully, that’s easier said than done…”

Over with Berry, she looked surprised to hear Bentley’s offer to fight her, before giving a smile. “All right! I’ve seen you kick butt back in the first Tournament of Kikai! I think you might have some potential, even in that wheelchair! Show me what you got!”

“Believe me, I wouldn’t mind studying your attacks up close… though be prepared for my OWN abilities to counter yours!” Bentley said as he readied himself with a bomb.

”SULLEY!” (KH)

The theme tune to Monsters Incorporated began to play as the large, blue and purple furred monster came walking out to the crowd, as he looked around and smiled. He quickly gave a wave, before getting into a scary position. After showing off some impressive roars to everyone, Sulley laughed a bit before walking towards the ring. Unlike last year, he and his friend Mike, weren’t as lucky with getting together in the draws, but Sulley knew that Mike could handle himself just fine.

For now, he was going to focus on getting eliminations. After prepping himself up, he charged forward towards the ring.

At the same time, Crush was swinging his club towards Elmer and Fuzzy, as Elmer yelped and ducked from the swing. With Fuzzy, the pink creature was not so lucky as Crush swung at the pink creature and slammed his club at Fuzzy, sending the hillbilly away from the battle.

Elmer looked up and gave a gulp before aiming his gun nervously. “Uhhh… suwwendew?”

Crush could only laugh before running towards another sewer grate and jumping up at the ground, before slamming down, this time, a blue shockwave coming in. A few saw it coming and jumped out of the way.

However, Sulley was too distracted as Fuzzy had slammed into the monster, both of them being knocked down right before the shockwave electrocuted both creatures… and as luck would have it, Sulley had also crushed Fuzzy’s banjo.

Sulley’s eyes widened upon seeing the ruined banjo before turning towards Fuzzy, who shared a similar look of horror. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry about your ban-”

All of a sudden, Fuzzy’s eyes glazed over as they turned red in anger, alongside his body as he let out a guttural scream.

“YOU… BROKE… JOE!”

Sulley yelped as he avoided a punch from Fuzzy before backing away, readying his claws. “Oh boy… so much for hoping this would be a clean fight…”

”JACK TURNER!” (AoF)

The rather large, musclebound leader of the Neo Black Cats came lumbering out of the ring to a large, applauding crowd. He looked around and gave a small chuckle to himself before posing to the audience, to play with their expectations a bit.

After that, the man gave a small smile to himself before rushing forward in the ring and jumping right in. Right away, he looked between two fights, Sir Daniel and ROB, with the latter throwing a top towards the skeleton warrior as Sir Daniel easily blocked the projectile, and the battle between Raphael and Dean, as Raph used his sais to slash at Dean’s arms, with Dean uppercutting Raph with an electrical punch.

Giving a smirk, Jack leaped into the air and slammed both fighters down to the ground, before getting up.

“Ugh!” Raph groaned as both he and Dean got up, turning to the new opponent before them. “Where did you come from?”

“The Ready Room.” Jack said in a nonchalant way, before getting into a pose. “And you ladies don’t know fighting until you see me in action! Consider your two way fight a three way!”

Raph and Dean blinked twice, before Dean narrowed his eyes as he readied an electrified punch right at the musclebound man.

Raph, on the other hand, smirked as he readied his sais. “Well, I did secretly wish for this fight to get tougher… looks like I’m getting it!”

(Hotel; Restaurant)

Most of the Mew Mews looked over at the television screen as it switched from Raph, Dean and Jack’s fight to Berry and Bentley’s fight, as Ichigo, who was dressed in her Cafe Mew Mew outfit, gave a smile. “Well, at least Berry looks like she’s having fun, despite the happenstances against her…”

“...say, Ichigo? Do you think this tournament could be our year?” Retasu asked.

“I’m not sure.” Ichigo paused. “Sure, we did relatively well, but with a bit of a roster change, and with Ringo added amongst us, and with other new nodes this year… while I doubt we’ll reach the same success, we can sure try.”

“I hope so too…” Retasu nodded. “I want to, at the very least, get an elimination score that’s great without the resonance of a villain plot towering over my head…”

“After the Junko plot last tournament, I highly DOUBT anybody’s going to try something of that calibur again…” Ichigo said.

“Ichigo! The order for Table 30 is ready!” Mung’s voice called out.

“On my way, Mung!” Ichigo smiled as she picked herself up and started to walk towards the orders as she picked up the dish.

Like last year, Mung Daal’s catering employees from Schnitzel, Truffles, Mung and even Chowder himself was hosting the restaurant, but not only that, Ichigo and the other Mew Mews got hired on to do waiting tables, with Keiichiro and Ryou coming along with them to oversee the charges. Ichigo knew that Xero said that it was to boost a lot of morale, but she knew it was because Chowder and Pudding were friends somehow, and their friendship when working together REALLY shined back in the tournament. While she was a bit leery on that new friendship, so far, it didn’t seem to be bothering anybody… and the two often broke off and did their own thing anyway, so it wasn’t all that big of a bother.

Still, compared to the near emptiness of the restaurant last year, now the place was full of a few fighters and non-fighters (some of them hanging out with their fellow friends who were fighters for the tournament), since the roster of fighters has grown VERY considerably this year. Not that anybody was complaining, in fact, it was quite a relief to see a lot more customers than usual. And with workers like Min Min, the Mews, and cooks like Mung, Schnitzel, Spongebob and even Remy from Ratatouille working behind the kitchens, the restaurant was soon finding itself to be one of the more popular places in the hotel.

Still, Ichigo couldn’t help but sigh as she noted the dish that was made… it looked simple enough, sushi rolls and an assortment of eyeballs. Ichigo grimaced at the dish for a moment, before realizing who would order something like this. Still, she held up her pride as she walked past a few tables with some customers talking amongst each other, before finally approaching a table that had one lone resident… a spherical green skinned monster with one eye.

“Here’s your order, Mr. Wazowski.” Ichigo said as she put the order in front of him. But she noted that the monster’s eye wasn’t on her, but on the screen. She turned to see Sulley kicking away Fuzzy’s boomstick as the pink creature roared angrily. “Seems like your friend ran into a little bad luck.”

“Yeah, but Sulley’s tough. I’m sure he’ll be able to survive it.” Mike laughed a bit before taking a bit of the sushi and popping it in his mouth, before giving a smile. “You know, your chef friends make amazing sushi. Don’t know how they do it.”

“Helps that the characters are crazy…” Ichigo laughed a bit as she paused. “You’re not upset that your friend and you have far apart draws, are you?”

“Nah, not really.” Mike shook his head. “But still, me being separate from Sulley gives me a golden opportunity to make plans in the event I have to face things alone.”

“Oh? What are those plans?” Ichigo smiled in interest.

“Oh, well, I was thinking more of a…” Mike started to say, before his eye widened, realizing who he was talking to. “Ha ha ha, nice try.”

“What? I don’t think my number is anywhere NEAR yours.” Ichigo said.

“Maybe not, but there are still OTHER fighters who can hear my words, and they can easily plan around me!” Mike pointed out before crossing his arms. “So, I’m not going to tell you what I’m planning.”

Ichigo blinked twice, before shrugging. “I guess it’s your funeral…”

Mike smiled a bit as he picked up a bottle of ketchup from the table and opened the top of the bottle as he tried to squeeze the bottle… only for nothing to pop out. Ichigo raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she knew that all the ketchup bottles were full the last time she saw them.

“Say, is there something wrong with this ketchup? I can’t seem to get any out.” Mike frowned as he handed Ichigo the bottle.

“There shouldn’t be anything wrong with the ketchup. All the bottles are fine… maybe someone forgot to pull the seal off.” Ichigo suggested as she unscrewed the top and looked up at the top… but angled the bottle in a way that faced her face as…

PLOP!!

A lot of ketchup came slamming right on Ichigo’s face, causing Mike’s eye to widen in shock. This momentarily got the attention of everybody in the room as they looked at Ichigo’s literally red face, before the room started to fill with laughter.

Mint, on one of her tea breaks, just laughed at Ichigo’s face as she said, “Wow, Ichigo, I knew you were always embarrassed, BUT to be THIS way? Oh, what a cute look!”

Ichigo glared angrily at Mint, before turning to Mike with an angry face. The spherical one eyed monster’s eye widened, before waving his hands. “Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! I was trying to get the ketchup out! I didn’t know THAT was going to happen!”

“Really? Then why was it on YOUR table?” Ichigo growled in anger.

“B-b- the only time I left my table was to go to the restroom real quick and come back! I swear! I-” Mike started to say before hearing hysterical laughter on the next table over.

“Oh, what a classic!” A familiar looking blue blob creature said as he munched on his French Fries, sitting next to his eight year old brown haired, red shirt wearing friend. “The old ‘tape a full bottle of ketchup from the inside, and open the cap for a surprise’ trick! Hilarious!”

“Bloo, come on…” Mac groaned as he held his head in annoyance, causing the three other people sitting with him, a tall red skinned imaginary friend with one arm, a working eye and a bruised eye, a purple furry monster and an airplane-bird like creature to shake their heads in annoyance.

“Wait a minute!” Mike frowned as he turned towards the table in anger, pointing towards Bloo. “It was him! He did this!”

Bloo, upon hearing this accusation, spat out his French Fries… well, choked on them first, before Coco slammed his back with her foot to make him spit them out… and shook his head as he glared at Mike. “Excuse me? While I do like a good prank, this is not one of mine!”

“I’m sorry to say, but it’s true. Bloo’s been with us the whole time.” Wilt explained.

“Well, somebody tricked that poor girl into having ketchup ALL over herself…” Mike said as he pointed towards Ichigo, who was wiping her face clean with a cloth, listening to the conversation. “...and unless somebody else fesses up, you’re the only person here who’s laughed harder than most!”

Bloo narrowed his eyes towards the monster as he gave a growl. “I’m telling you, this isn’t one of mine! What do I have to do to prove it to you?!”

“Simple! Apologize to her, and to me, for wasting our time!” Mike growled in anger.

“You want me to apologize for something I didn’t do?!” Bloo returned the growl with a glare of his own before getting up. “Okay, you want to make something of this, then let’s do this…”

“Bloo, no, come on! We’re here to have a little down time until our time in the arena. We’re not devolving into a fight!” Mac tried to explain as he waved his arms, in hopes to calm the situation down…

However, most of the restaurant patrons were already watching Mike and Bloo as each of them were chanting the words ‘FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT’ all around.

Mike growled as he narrowed his eye, before pulling out a dodgeball.

“You leave me no choice… come on, Mac, we’re fighting this guy!” Bloo said as he dragged Mac away from his chair.

“Do I get a say in this?” Mac asked quickly.

“No.” Bloo said in a nonchalant voice.

“Aye carumba…” Eduardo groaned as he held his head. “Here we go again…”

“Coco coco co.” Coco nodded solemnly.

“Yeah, once Bloo gets accused, he’s just going to prove a point… but now I’m wondering who DID do that ketchup gag?” Wilt said in confusion.

By the time Ichigo finished rubbing her face, she looked up to see Mike and Mac and Bloo facing up against each other as she blinked. “Oh boy… I guess I better get the security team here and now…”

With that, Ichigo turned face and ran off, all the while most people were distracted as they were looking either at the television screen, or at Mike and Mac and Bloo’s battle as it was about to commence. The only person who was doing neither was casually enjoying a hot fudge sundae as she gave a snicker. The person sitting next to said person looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?”

“What can I say? Since I don’t have to be anywhere, I’m allowed to let loose…”

(The Arena)

”KEN “GODHAND” MISHIMA!” (E)

The white haired shirtless muscled man came walking in to a moderate round of applause, which he expected. While it wasn’t as big as Heihachi or even Kazuya, Ken smirked as he punched his fists out.

“Well, it would seem that everybody is too occupied in a battle to face the likes of me…” Godhand muttered to himself as he went into the ring, and looked around.

Patti yelped as she decided to make herself scarce, trying to hide behind another fight. She was thankful that both Sulley and Fuzzy’s fight cloud was big enough to cover her body.

“Oh, I heard about those Mishimas. Always the most powerful beings with their fighting styles… I am NOT messing with them…” Patti yelped nervously to herself.

Patti had definitely made the right call as Godhand gave a scoff and turned his head. “Hmph, fine. I guess I’ll settle for ANOTHER person…”

”CEREBELLA!” (SG)

Everybody gave a huge round of applause as the circus girl with her large muscled hat came in, with both the hat and her arms doing a great juggling act with a few red and blue balls. After that momentary act to get the crowd hyped, Cerebella quickly let out a laugh, before her Living Weapon, aka Vice Versa, propelled her into the ring, by slamming his arms and swinging her forward. She quickly landed in the ring, doing a cartwheel as she gave a pose. “Ta da!”

Everybody let out a huge round of applause as she ignored Godhand for the moment (who did the same to her, figuring she’s not worth the fight) as Sir Daniel and R.O.B. momentarily stopped their battle to watch the act, with the skeleton knight applauding her as R.O.B. pulled out a sign that said ‘10’ on it.

”ANALYSIS CONFIRMED. CEREBELLA IS TRULY A GREAT PERFORMER.” R.O.B. said.

Cerebella giggled before giving a nod. “Thanks. You two wouldn’t happen to be interested in a three way battle.”

Sir Daniel shook his head as R.O.B. simply replied, “NEGATIVE. WE ARE GOOD FOR RIGHT NOW.”

“Just want to be sure.” Cerebella sighed as she turned towards the ring and sighed. “Guess I’ll be sticking and waiting for an opponent then…”

”LANDIA!” (K)

Everybody looked a little surprised as they saw something flying out of the curtain… a four headed, red scaled dragon flew around before all four heads let out a roar, causing the audience to applaud the unusual looking contestant(s) as Landia gave a smirk.

After the dragon was done spiralling around for cool points, one of the heads growled as it pointed towards the ring. The rest of the heads nodded before swooping forward, aiming for one of the fights.

Spike, who was about to hit Espeon with a punch, noticed the shadow of the dragon coming as he yelped and ducked to the side. Landia shook its heads before turning towards Espeon and gave a small chirp.

”Greetings. We are Landia, and we desire a battle against you, Espeon.” The four headed dragon said simultaneously while bowing their heads.

”Hmmm… not that I’m complaining, but why are you entering as a four headed dragon? Don’t you have an attack where you can separate yourself into four versions of yourself with one head?” Espeon asked in curiosity.

”Yes, but consider us a bit of a hive mind.” Landia explained as they flew up in the air. ”We may separate to shoot our fire, but we also work as one.”

Espeon cocked her head a bit, before giving a small smile. ”As long as you remember THIS guy is after me, I think we can work something out…”

Landia turned their heads to see Spike slowly getting up and shaking his head, before narrowing his eyes at both contestants. “Okay, cat, I don’t care HOW many people you have working for you, but that won’t stop me from taking you down!”

”We can see why HE’S a problem.” Landia said as the four headed dragon shot a fireball towards the bulldog, making him yelp. ”Very well, we shall assist you in eliminating that brute.”

”Thank you kindly.” Espeon nodded before turning her head towards Spike as the little gem on her head glowed to release another Psybeam attack.

”INFINITE!” (StH)

Immediately, the crowd started to let out a universally negative reaction as the armored jackal came walking out. All the jackal could do was sneer at everyone, before walking forward as he tried to ignore the number of jeers being thrown at him.

Godhand immediately looked up in interest, before smirking. Immediately, he charged forward just as Infinite climbed into the ring. However, the jackal immediately noticed the man coming as he charged forward and slammed the man to the ground.

“It is rather unwise of you to face the likes of me!” Infinite frowned as he held out his hand to clench a fist.

“On the contrary, I’ve heard of your ultimate skills with unimaginable strength. And I’m going to show you what it takes to fight against the likes of you!” Godhand smirked as he punched his fist. “Yes, you may have fought against those that you deem ‘weak’, but how are you compared to a Mishima?”

Infinite paused briefly, before jumping up into the air as if to strike him. Ken quickly recovered as he punched his own fist, giving a small smirk.

“All right, NOW we’re getting a battle…”

(We are Splitsboro kids and we go to sidekick school)

(Learning to be second best while playing by the rules…)

Everyone looked a little confused by this new song change, as they found it a little familiar, but couldn’t, for the life of them, get it on the tip of their tongue. All eyes immediately drew the curtain as the next player stepped out of it and into the entrance ramp.

“And now… Mystery Fighter… Number… TWO!”

”KITTY KO!” (Sidekick)

(Maxum Man is missing, now we rule the school)

(Flyin', smashin', bashin' stuff and looking super cool)

(I'm a Sidekick! Sidekick!)

(That’s the life for me!)

Some people were rather confused, but others that at least knew who this character was and the show she was from immediately applauded as the young eleven year old Chinese American girl in raven hair, wearing a short-sleeved white shirt with a green and yellow striped tie, a red and green plaid skirt, two red hairclips in her hair, knee high white socks and black shoes. She gave a big grin as she waved her hands in the air, before giving a shout.

“I’M DOING THIS FOR YOU, ERIC!” Kitty shouted happily… before yelping as she blushed nervously, as if reacting to something else heard. “What?”

Shaking her head, she headed straight for the ring as Patti looked over from the fight cloud as her eyes lit up.

“Oh, thank goodness! I was worried I’d have to fight the last person coming in…” Patti sighed in relief as she ran over to Kitty, who had just climbed up to the ring. “Hey! You look like you’re on the same level as me, right?”

Kitty blinked in surprise as she turned to see the orange skinned girl before her. “From first glance, yes.”

“Perfect! Then I guess we can warm up our own skills!” Patti smiled as she pulled out a baseball bat and ball. “Get ready, because it’s time to beat you down like I take down in Beetball!”

With that, she threw the ball up in the air before swinging her bat as the ball towards Kitty. All of a sudden, Kitty gave a small yell before jumping up and slicing the ball in two. Patti’s eyes widened as she stood there, speechless as Kitty gave a small giggle. “Don’t underestimate what you see in first glance. I’m smart and a little strong…”

She then gave a loud yell as she ran over and slammed her feet on one of the corner posts, demolishing it completely to dust. Kitty then hummed to herself as she skipped back over to a shocked Patti.

Patti could only blink twice, before giving a groan. “Well, I can’t back out of this now… I already said I wanted to battle…”

As Patti and Kitty continued to fight, Monika appeared on the screen and noticed the wrecked corner post.

“Ugh, already I have to make a quick fix… just a moment…” Monika said as a black box appeared over the arena.

‘Arena.FixIt’

The arena with everyone glitched out for a minute, but then came back to normal as if nothing had happened, with the corner post all fixed up. Monika, seemingly satisfied with her work, gave a nod. “Carry on.”

With that, the monitor had switched off. Most people that had noticed the glitchiness of the arena paused slightly, as Xero quickly says, “Yeah, sometimes with Monika, this happens. You’re just going to have to adjust, that’s all…”

“Anyway, to continue…” Maurice coughed.

”BOWSER!” (SSB)

“HECK YEAH! DID SOMEBODY PAGE THE KING OF AWESOME?!” A familiar, gravelly voice shouted as everyone cheered and chanted.

(This one, is for my one and only true love, Princess Peach)

The familiar large green shelled king of the koopas came walking out as he posed for the audience, as he listened to his special song request, ‘Peaches’ from the new Super Mario Bros movie playing out from the radio.

“Ah yeah, that’s my jam!” Bowser smirked as he bobbed his head. Sure, he was with Asgore now, but even he had to admit, the love song he wrote for Peach WAS pretty catchy.

(Peach, you’re so cool)

(And with my star, we’re gonna rule)

(Peach, understand)

(I’m gonna love you ‘til the very end)

“Sing it with me, everybody!” Bowser smirked as he and everyone sang along to the tune.

(Peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches)

(Peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches, peaches)

(I LOVE YOU!)

With that, Bowser climbed into the ring and waved his arms in the air… only to get shocked by an incoming shockwave from Crush’s push of the blue button, in an attempt to get Elmer as the hunter was jumping and zig-zagging as best as he could.

“HEY!” Bowser growled angrily, before noticing a nearby red grate. Giving a smirk, he stepped on the grate. “Nobody’s using these except for that blue dinosaur, well, let’s see how HE likes a taste of his OWN MEDICINE!”

With that, Bowser ground pounded right on the grate, sending out a fireball towards Crush’s direction.

Crush yelped out as he felt the burn from the fireball colliding with his face. The Riptoc immediately turned his head and noticed Bowser giving a laugh. Crush grunted in anger before rushing forward with his club at the ready.

Elmer blinked twice, before giving a sigh of relief. “Well, at weast I won’t have to wowwy about that warge dinosauw…”

Elmer paused slightly as he turned to see Fuzzy was busy trying to whale on Sulley, Raph, Dean and Jack having their three way match, Fred following Numbuh One as the latter looked rather panicked, Bentley taking on Berry as she sent out an attack with her Loveberry Rod, with Bentley dodging out of the way, and finally, Landia taking on both Espeon and Spike at the same time as Spike was focusing on Espeon and dodging Landia’s attacks at the same time.

“Wow… so many animals… I know it’s NOT WEAWWY the wespectable hunting season for these animals, but I just can’t help mysewf…” He shook his head before looking back towards the Safe Zone. “On the othew hand, nobody’s guawding the Safe Zone wight now… maybe I shouwd make this a pewfect oppowtunity… heh heh heh heh heh…”

”DEMYX!” (KH)

The young, blonde Nobody came out rocking on his sitar as everybody let out a massive cheer. Demyx quickly opened his eyes as he took in the crowd, and welcome the cheers as he continued to play to his heart’s content. Of course, the man was feeling a little nervous, since while he had some decent draws for his time, this was the first time he got himself an early draw. Still, he was going to make the best of his appearance as he continued to rock out on his sitar, casually walking his way through the ring.

Cerebella, who had been waiting near the ropes, noticed the sitar playing Nobody as she gave a smirk. “Now THIS is a guy who knows how to entertain… the question is, can he fight as well as he entertains…”

With that, the entertainer girl came rushing forward as she jumped up, Vice Versa’s fists at the ready as the Nobody reached the curtain.

Demyx gave a yelp as he dodged to the side, avoiding Vice Versa’s fist as it collided with the floor. Demyx yelped before giving a frown. “Sheesh, watch it, will you?”

“Sorry, but I can’t help myself. I saw you entertaining, I had to interrupt it by reminding you that it’s time to fight!” Cerebella laughed, crossing her arms.

Demyx blinked twice, before lowering his eyelids. "I don’t suppose I have a say in this…”

“Nope!” Cerebella grinned as she looked ready.

Demyx blinked twice, before giving a groan. “Now I REALLY wish I traded numbers…”

Nevertheless, the blonde haired Nobody took a deep breath before playing his sitar to summon a water pillar to shoot out from in front of him in hopes to throw Cerebella off her game. Cerebella could only laugh to herself before charging through…

”GATO!” (KOFXV)

The brown haired martial artist came out in his yellow gi as he noted the amount of applause he was receiving. Personally, he gave no further thought to it as he decided to go into the ring, before looking around.

“Hmph… seems all the good people have been taken…” Gato muttered to himself as he noted Garnet still fighting Ed on one side, and Kukri and Boyd on the other end. “Hmmm… I wonder what that Safe Zone offers…”

He looked around to find the Safe Zone, only to see Elmer ready to approach it. Narrowing his eyes, Gato zipped over and punched Elmer in the face, knocking the hunter backwards.

“HEY!” Elmer shouted as he narrowed his eyes. “What was that fow?”

Gato frowned. “In respect, I cannot let you near that Safe Zone.”

Elmer’s eyes widened before giving a small groan. “Fiwst, that pink cweatuwe, and now YOU? Well, wet me tell you one thing, mistew, I’m NOT going to wet this wie!” He aimed his gun right at him. “Say your pwayers!”

Gato paused briefly, before giving an amused hum. “Well, well… you may not look like a strong opponent, but I guess you’ll do…”

”BEAKY BUZZARD!” (LT: WoM)

Everybody let out a loud cheer as they turned to the curtain… only to find nobody had came out of the curtain, much to everyone’s confusion.

“Uh, I said… BEAKY BUZZARD!” (LT: WoM)

Still no response.

(Announcer’s Booth)

Xero blinked twice as he looked at Maurice in confusion. “That’s strange…”

Maurice frowned as he pushed the button. “Shuichi, is Beaky in the Ready Room?”

(Ready Room)

Shuichi gave a sigh as he sat at his chair, looking over to see Beaky and the last fighter in the ring playing a board game. “Hang on, I’ll get his attention…”

Shuichi then turned off his microphone as he gave a cough. “Beaky, it’s time for you to get on! You got to fight now. Come on, get up!”

The black feathered buzzard (who, at the current moment, was wearing his Undertaker outfit from World of Mayhem) looked up at Shuichi before giving a loud laugh as he hopped around a bit. “Uh, nope, nope, nope, I don’t wanna, no, no, no, no, no…”

He then slowed down a bit before looking up in confusion. “Huh?”

Shuichi sighed as he got up. “Are you embarrassed to get out, or… just shy in fighting?”

“Uh… well, I… hmmm, I, uh…” Beaky paused as he tried to think, before turning back to Shuichi as he chuckled. “Uh, no, no, no, no, don’t tell me, don’t tell me…” Beaky then turned his head backwards as he tried to think… before snapping his whole body as he gave a nervous chuckle of embarrassment. “Uh, er, uh… yep.”

Shuichi groaned as he held his head. “This is WHAT I have to deal with, huh…”

“Hey, no need to worry, pal! It’s my first time out in one of these things too, but I’m not going to let nerves define me! Tell you what, what if I come out to the ring with you, you know, to show that you can be a great fighter?” The other fighter smiled as he put away the board game.

“Uh, buh, uh, gosh, I guess I could do that…” Beaky chuckled as he gave a dopey grin.

“And don’t worry about embarrassing yourself… heck, the best embarrassments turn out to be hidden fighters!” The other fighter smiled before turning towards the Ultimate Detective. “Why don’t you introduce Beaky and me at the same time! We’ll walk out together like champs!”

“If you’re sure about this…” Shuichi paused as he seemed to be listening.

“As positive as I am about crashing!” The other fighter grinned.

“...I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…” Shuichi sighed as he returned to his seat on the desk and pushed a couple buttons. “Introduce Beaky and the last fighter at the same time, that might get him out…”

“If you’re sure about that…” Maurice’s voice said through the intercom.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Shuichi sighed. “I must be going a little insane, but I’m sure.”

“All right…” Maurice said as Shuichi gave a nod.

“Okay, you two, they’re ready for you!” Shuichi said. “Go on out there and get some good eliminations!”

“Uh, no, no, no…” Beaky laughed a bit as he covered his face in embarrassment, before the other fighter started to drag him along.

“Come on, this’ll be fun!” The other fighter grinned.

(The Arena)

“As we were saying before… BEAKY BUZZARD!” (LT: WoM)

“Walking alongside… the final fighter of the section!”

”LAUNCHPAD MCQUACK!” (DTAAS)

“Ducktales 1987 version, by the way! It’ll be clear why later!” Xero quickly said.

A huge round of applause came abound as Beaky was a little bit pushed out, before looking at the crowd, before laughing as he held his face in embarrassment. The other fighter that got him out, on the other hand, came walking out dressed in a classic brown pilot’s outfit, complete with brown pilot’s goggles and white scarf. The rather large anthropomorphic duck grinned as he waved to the audience.

“You see there, Beaky? Everyone loves you out there!” Launchpad grinned as he turned to his short friend. “Come on, let’s get to the ring lest we get disqualified just for standing around.”

“Uh, nope, nope, nope, we, uh, wouldn’t want to do that.” Beaky chuckled to himself before following Launchpad up to the ring. The anthro duck quickly climbed up to the ring before Beaky quickly used his wings to fly inside and land. As soon as Beaky landed, Launchpad looked around and used his hand as a visor to notice everyone else was busy with their fights.

“Gee, I guess in one way or another, EVERYBODY is busy with an opponent.” Launchpad said.

“Yep, they certainly look like it…” Beaky nodded, before looking up at Launchpad. “Still, would it be, uh, best, if we interfered with a fight…”

“I don’t know, I hate to be rude…” Launchpad said… before snapping his fingers. “Hey, how about we continue our game of Scrabble to pass the time? I’m sure by the time we finish, someone will be bound to notice us.”

“Uh, yep, yep, I love that idea!” Beaky nodded as Launchpad pulled out the board and the pieces the two were playing with earlier.

“Okay, then, in that case, go ahead and spell your word…” Launchpad smiled as he sat cross-legged.

Beaky paused briefly as he put a hand to his beak. “Hmmm… oh boy… uh, that’s a toughie…”

“I have all the time in the world.” Launchpad said in a rather reassuring voice.

Beaky paused as he gave a nod, before turning back to the game… as he studied the letters he had, which were ‘M’, ‘O’, ‘N’, ‘I’, ‘K’ and ‘A’ respectively. However, despite looking at the letters, he just couldn’t come up with a word…

(Announcer’s Booth)

“How do you like that?” Maurice chuckled. “The final two fighters out in the ring, and they choose to play a round of Scrabble…”

Xero gave a smirk. “That’s just a good sign of sleeper fighters… or a good sign that the tournament is off to a great start…”

Maurice paused slightly, before giving a smile. “I suppose you’re right, Xero… I suppose you’re right… although, they don’t know about the surprise in the Safe Zone, do they?”

Xero smirked. “I’m sure one of them will find it in time… it’s just a matter of when…”

The bull and bunny chuckled to themselves before turning back to the ring, where, even now, the chaos had just begun…

Chapter Text

(The Arena)

Chaos reigned everywhere in the ring, and while a lot of gunshots were heard from Elmer’s gun, a lot more gunshots came from Fuzzy’s shotgun as he continually fired shots at Sulley, whilst Elmer was busy trying to shoot at Gato, who dodged his gunplay with a Demon Flip, before rushing down and slamming his legs onto Elmer’s face, knocking the bald hunter down a peg. Between that and Numbuh One’s constant screams, Fred Fredburger’s constant talking, Demyx’s splashing of water being summoned by his sitar, nobody could hear anything from the constant announcements Xero was making… or rather, the clicking sound he was making with his tongue.

Sulley winced a bit as he felt a blast of buckshot slamming on his arm as Fuzzy raised up his gun and let out a deranged howl. “You is gonna pay for hurtin’ mah banjo!”

“Listen, I swear, it was an accident!” Sulley called out as he raised his arms, trying to calm the pink, furry monster down, but to no avail as he continued shooting at the monster.

“Yew hurts Joe, so now you’re gonna pay dearly!” Fuzzy growled in anger as he jumped up in the air and slammed his fists onto the ground, creating a power quake that caused Sulley to slip and fall on his feet.

This caught everyone else off guard as they fell down to the ground momentarily. The only people that avoided the power quake all together was Landia, who was flying in the air as he noted Spike and Espeon being thrown off by the quake, before picking themselves up, Bentley and Berry, who had jumped over the quake entirely, and Infinite, who only laughed at Ken as he got knocked down to the ground. Ken growled angrily before getting up and punched Infinite directly in the face.

Sulley quickly got himself back up as he tried to get himself in position, heavily huffing and puffing to himself before shaking his head. “Right…”

The blue monster then let out a loud roar as he charged directly at Fuzzy and slashed him a few times, causing the pink creature to yelp. Fuzzy recovered as he angrily growled at the blue monster, before swiping at Sulley with his own hands, causing some brutal damage on the blue monster’s arm.

Sulley groaned as he rubbed his arm, before getting up. He growled as he pulled out his dodgeball, seeing that reasoning with the monster was out of the question…

All the while, Raphael was giving a small smirk of his own as he managed to charge forward and use his sais to block Dean’s electrical punch. Dean panted heavily as he narrowed his eyes at Raph, before charging forward towards him with another punch. Raph quickly side stepped out of the way so as to reveal Jack Turner, who had jumped up in the air. Dean yelped as he rolled to the side, avoiding a Drop Kick from the heavyset man himself.

Dean growled as he looked at the two of them. “What are you trying to do, double team against me?”

“That’s the idea!” Raph called out as he waved his sai. “No offense, man, but between the three of us, it’s easier to get rid of the person that stands no chance against heavyset players like us!”

“Yeah, the turtle has a point!” Jack Turner smirked as he punched his fist into his hand. “So, let’s see if we can change up the fighting style, shall we? Get started with an elimination right off the bat? Right before the wheel spins?”

Dean narrowed his eyes as he held up his fists. “If you think you can-”

All of a sudden, as quick as a flash, Jack Turner jumped up and slammed his legs on Dean, sending him flying out of the ring… when all of a sudden, a large trampoline appeared from out of nowhere to bounce the electromancer fighter back into the ring and sending him flying up in the air.

This caused Jack and Raph to stare in shock as they saw Dean flying back into the ring… and landing right on Demyx, causing Cerebella to yelp, before turning her eyes towards the two fighters responsible.

“Uh, what the heck was that?” Raph asked.

“That, my dear Raphael…” Xero’s voice sounded, causing everyone to be silent as they all turned to the announcer’s booth (fighters included, save for Numbuh One, who was still running from Fred Fredburger, still constantly talking). “...is the first instance of a rule in place. During the times the wheel gets spun, nobody is allowed to make any surprise eliminations. I let that slip by last tournament when Mulan eliminated Boingo during the wheel spin, but I have to make that a rule now. No eliminations when the wheel is about to be spun, or if it’s spinning currently.”

“And speaking of spinning the wheel!” Monika appeared on the monitor, all dressed up like Vanna White as she pointed to a new wheel on her monitor screen. “I’ll be like a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, and spin the wheel. For those who don’t know how the wheel works, before a match and every five eliminations, and at the end of the round, the wheel will always spin, and whoever it lands on during a round, they will either suffer a punishment or earn a reward, depending on what’s on our minds at the moment. As for the end of the round spin, it plays differently, but we’ll get to that when we get to it.”

“All right, then, shall we see who gets the first wheel reward or punishment?” Maurice called out as everybody let out a large cheer.

Patti frowned as she held her head. “Good to know people are still here to enjoy us suffer as the rounds go…”

“Believe me, as somebody who’s been here last tournament, it’s always going to be a thing.” Garnet said from nearby as she gave a sigh.

“All right, let’s get the wheel spun!” Xero smiled. “Monika, do the honors!”

Monika giggled as she grabbed the wheel and started to spin it. Most of everyone in the ring were looking nervous as the wheel continued to spin around and around… until slowing down to a crawl, and landing on the face of a familiar gang leader.

Jack Turner yelped as Raph gave a small oomph. “Sucks to be you, man…”

“Heh, don’t count me out yet! I could be getting a sweet reward!” Jack smirked as he crossed his arms.

“Nack in the first round had his weapons taken away, and got eliminated almost instantly.” Raphael pointed out.

“Yeah, but that was because the host had that stupid bias! No way there’s going to be a bias against me!” Jack laughed.

“Jack Turner, since you’ve been landed on, let’s see what we’ll do with you… I think it would be fitting if the first thing we do is PUNISH you.” Monika said. “You’ve been relying on that drop kick move a LITTLE too much. Seriously, probably the most devastating thing in your debut game.”

Jack’s eyes shrank as he narrowed his eyes. “I do not like where you’re going with this…”

“Thus, for two rounds, you’ll have to fight whilst your legs are bound together. You can’t jump very far, and your kicking attack will be nerfed.” Monika said as a pair of handcuffs glitched out as Jack looked down at his feet to see the cuffs getting attached.

“HEY! How am I supposed to fight without my feet?” Jack frowned.

“Use your fists. You’re a boxer, aren’t you? So box!” Monika called out, before giving a giggle. “Okay, see you guys in five eliminations! Have fun!”

“Hey, wait a minute! You can’t-” Jack tried to protest, only for Monika’s screen to turn off. “UGH! DARN IT, this can’t get any worse…”

“Hey!”

Jack groaned as Raph shook his head towards him. “You seriously had to say that cliche line, didn’t you?”

Jack turned to see Cerebella walking forward towards the gang leader as the circus gal narrowed her eyes. “I don’t care what you do, but you do not throw your opponents towards my potential fights!”

“Look, lady, I was trying to eliminate HIM out of the ring. How was I supposed to know the other glitch lady would summon a trampoline to bring him back?!” Jack frowned.

“Fair point, but regardless, I’m not letting this opportunity pass by!” Cerebella called out before giving out a loud yell as she jumped in the air, using her hat, Vice-Versa to do an elbow drop on the strongman.

Raphael frowned as he crossed his arms. “Hmph. Well, it would seem you’re busy, so… I’ll just come back when you’re in a better mood…”

Jack didn’t hear the large turtle as he was focused on punching Cerebella’s strong armed hat. Raphael gave a small smile as he turned to where Dean was. “Hey, pal, sounds like we’re back on for…”

Raphael suddenly stopped to see Dean, having recovered, was now fighting against Demyx. He gave a small frown. “And you’re busy… great! Just great! Now what do I…”

The large heavyset turtle then heard the loud screams coming from Numbuh One as he turned to see the small kid running away from the green elephant. Raphael gave a small frown. “Hmph, that elephant is a little more annoying than anything… but I guess I better help that kid out…”

With that, Raph readied his sai as he charged forward towards the kid and elephant demon.

(Announcer’s Booth)

Xero was smiling as he crossed his legs, looking excited for the tournament with each waking moment. As he was keeping a watchful eye on the tournament, however, Maurice was on his cell phone, giving some last minute instructions to the security team in their room.

“All right, glad to see everything’s in order. Just remember, if you have to split up, you’ll need to come up with a code word, in case something happens.” Maurice said as he gave a nod towards his phone. “Yes, I agree, we can’t take any chances in case someone tries to knock one of you unconscious and someone comes in posed as one of the security team members. Just remember, be extra wary. Of course, you already know what I mean. Okay, thanks again, Maki.”

With that, Maurice hung up the phone as he gave a sigh of relief. “Okay, I just gave the word to the security team members to have one last meeting before they do their rounds.”

“And thanks to Ashley and Drake’s little side story thing for the Tournament of Kikai, hopefully, we’ll be getting more rallies in terms of viewers!” Xero smiled as he looked around at the stationary cameras. “TVs, Twitch, YouTube, old radios…. hopefully people out there manage to catch the second Tournament of Kikai somewhere in their homes.”

“Well, they should buckle in, because we might be in for a LOOOOONG night… or couple years, depending on what’s going down.” Maurice said as he gave a small yawn.

Xero nodded as he was about to speak, before hearing his phone ring. Xero looked over and smiled as he picked up the phone and answered it. “Penny, my girl! My first ever Tournament of Kikai champion, how’s everything?!”

“Hey, Xero. Glad I managed to catch you. Listen, uh, is it all right if I change numbers with somebody else?” Penny’s voice asked.

Xero blinked twice in confusion. “Sort of a last minute thing, isn’t it?”

“I know, I know, and I’m sorry, I know you wanted to hype me up for the next round, but there’s someone who needs a little comfort right now, and boy, she really needs it.” Penny sighed. “I’m currently following her right now, but I did give an advance on who I want to switch with. I’ll still be entering the early rounds, it’s just going to be a round later. He’s already agreed on the switch.”

Xero raised an eyebrow, before giving a smile. “Well, if you already got someone willing to switch last minute, I guess it’s okay. We can just hype you up in the round you’re going to appear in later.”

“Ah yeah! All right, this is the person I’m switching with…” Penny said as she put her voice in an inaudible whisper, for only Xero to hear.

Xero looked surprised at the choice, before giving a smile. “You know what, I can respect that. Very well, consider it done! I’ll just let Monika and Shuichi know there’s been a slight change in the line up.”

“Thanks! Again, sorry to call for the switch at the last minute.” Penny said. “But I’m hoping to help someone in need and give them a small cheer up.”

“All right, then. Don’t run into any trouble.” Xero smiled before hanging up the phone.

As he did so, Maurice turned to his friend as he raised an eyebrow. “What’s that all about?”

“Just our champion requesting a number change. She already made the arrangements, and her partner already agreed, just need to get the word to Monika and Shuichi.” Xero said as he reached for the phone, before pausing. “Or just Shuichi. I have a feeling Monika already knows.”

Maurice took a deep breath through his nose before giving a small sigh. “Boy, I’ll tell you one thing. It certainly won’t be boring with these contestants running around.”

“No argument there…” Xero chuckled. “And that’s not even getting into the Safe Zone’s twist…”

(Dome; Security Room)

Deep within the security team’s room, it was basically a bit of a hangout… a coffee pot with coffee settling on a table, a box of donuts, a large table with a few papers scattered… and a few old magazines on the side, with even a television screen showing the tournament’s outcome. And a phone stationed near the door, for anybody on the security team to pick up.

At the current moment, however, most of the security team was sitting down as Della and Maki, both of them sitting at the head of the table, gave nods. “All right, everybody, attention please! Glad all of you could make it in one piece.”

“At least, we all hope it’s all of you.” Himiko said. “Quick check to be sure you’re not Tsumugi or some imposter?”

Scooby looked up as he tried to pull at his face, in an attempt to unmask himself, before retracting his face as he fell backwards. Scrappy could give a shrug. “Believe me, if I were an imposter, I’d just tell you! And my uncle Scooby and I are just as real as we can be.”

“My word, I do declare that I’m me. If you don’t believe me, then ask me what I’m good at.” Penelope grinned. “I can assure you, I’m good at any sport. How do you think I try to escape out of the Hooded Claw’s traps on my own?”

“And I know I’m real, because my robotic parts are pretty hard to duplicate.” Bunnie said as she knocked on her robotic legs. “Della, you know the feeling, sug.”

Della laughed a bit as she removed her robot leg for a moment to wave it around. “Heh, of course I do.”

As Della reattached her leg, Mallow proceeded to wave his arms and jump out of his pants to summon lightning from out of nowhere, causing Scooby to yelp in fear as he clung onto the table. Mallow hopped back down his own pants before giving a smile. “Are you convinced?”

Himiko gave a small, quiet chuckle before turning to Maki. “And you know me, Maki. I’ve been close with you and Della since this morning.”

“A wise point.” Maki nodded. “Okay, I guess we’re all ourselves. That’s good to know. And that’s the main goal. While we are scouring around both the dome and the hotel to make sure any evil plans made by the villains are to be stopped…”

“And hey, eighty percent of this tournament’s behind the scenes IS basically ‘evil plot central’.” Della pointed out.

“...our main goal is that we managed to stick close to our partner.” Maki explained. “That’s why we’ve all been given a chance to know each other, depending on what our likes are and our interests…”

“That would explain the constant meetings we had to do every morning since we first came to the building.” Scrappy pointed out.

Himiko sighed. “Scrappy, we explained why we had to do this. It was to build bonds and trust for everyone, so that way, we got to know each other, and try to spot any differences in case an imposter captures us and poses as one of us.”

“Ever since Tsumugi, it’s the rightful thing to be wary about.” Maki sighed. “Even with SSBFreak’s and Drake’s choice of security team members, it has been a little bit of a worry that they’d make the same mistake and have an imposter amongst them.”

“I don’t think Sheogorath would have let an imposter be part of the security team roster.” Mallow pointed out.

“Yeah, sug, that Daedric Prince of Madness would flip his lid if he had imposters…” Bunnie pointed out… before pausing. “That is, if that Monika girl could extend our memories beyond what was shown so far…”

“That’s another thing I’m worried about…” Penelope said as she crossed her arms. “Monika. I know she randomly chose me, but looking at her, I don’t think I trust her as far as I could run.”

All the other security team members nodded in agreement, with Maki giving a silent nod. “I agree with you, but we don’t really have a choice. We have to play this by ear, and besides, if what Monika says IS true, she’s not going to be taking over the world or whatever.”

“It does feel uncomforting that she’s watching our every move though…” Himiko said as everyone silently nodded.

“Oh come on, I’m not THAT awful!”

All of the security team members yelped as they turned to see a new face sitting down on the other end of the table. Monika could only giggle as she waved her head around. “Besides, as I’ve already established to all of you, I don’t have an ulterior motive… other than to flirt with my audience and readers AND see if I can go to the outside world… but that’s unrelated to the tournament, so just being the one in charge will do.”

The other security members looked bewildered by the random appearance of Monika, but Maki was the only one who shut her eyes in frustration. “What do you want, Monika?”

“I just figured you’d be interested to know there’s a bit of a ruckus in the restaurant back at the hotel. I was wondering if you were going to go check into that.” Monika smiled.

“Why would you come here to tell us this? By the time we come here, the chaos will have already disappeared.” Maki sighed.

“I’m just saying, you guys would be bad at your jobs if you didn’t investigate it, at least.” Monika pointed out.

Maki sighed as the others looked towards her. “You raise a point… look, can you give us a few more seconds?”

“Oh fine, but they could be gone by the time you get there.” Monika said as her whole being blinked out of existence.

Maki groaned as she tried to speak up, trying to stop the omnipotent school girl, but could only stand there, feeling useless. Her eyes darkened a bit as she muttered, “This girl is going to be the death of us, I can feel it.”

“Well, at least we got somethin’ to work with.” Penelope pointed out… before pausing.

“Okay, I guess now’s the time to split off into teams. Della and I will be scouring around the entire dome, keeping an eye out for anything strange or related. Penelope, Bunnie, you’re going to be downstairs patrol, where the restaurant, arcade and mainline activities for hotel are. Find out what’s going on at the restaurant and report back here. Himiko, Mallow, Scooby, Scrappy, you four are together for the time being. We need you to look around upstairs for any signs of villains. If you hear anything that may sound suspicious, tail them, and if they’re planning anything, report to us right away, and try to hold them off for as long as you can.”

Everyone paused as Bunnie gave a smile, “Well, shoot, that sounds fair. All right, Penelope, let’s get down to business!”

“All right.” Penelope said as she got up. “I have to admit, I am a little new to this security team thang, but it’s still exciting to be part of the team.”

“Oh, and one other thing. If you see a bookcase moving in the lobby, and you see a door behind it, with a keypad, don’t worry about it. That’s just Dexter’s lab, where he’s most likely going to spend the majority of the tournament until his time to enter comes.” Maki pointed out.

This caused everybody (save for Maki, Della and Himiko) to look at Maki in bewilderment, as Mallow asked, “I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s a long story, and it’s basically Dexter’s place. It’s best not to disturb him during his work.” Maki sighed. “All right, we all have our assignments. Now we just need a code word.”

“I got a good suggestion.” Scrappy raised his hand. “It has to be a code only WE know, right? So, how about whenever one of us repeats a certain word, the other answers with another?”

“Hmmmm… I guess that could work…” Della paused before looking back at the monitors, before giving a smirk. “How about something related to our hosts… what can we describe as Xero?”

“Many things.” Bunnie frowned as she crossed her arms. “Some of which I don’t think I’m allowed to say.”

Della smirked. “How about this? The code word will be ‘Irresponsible Lagomorph’. That’ll be easy to remember.”

Maki and Himiko just gave light chuckles as Bunnie crossed her arms and smiled. “Now that’s a code word I can get by!”

“That’s an interesting code to go with.” Penelope said as Scrappy, Scooby and Mallow gave respective nods.

“All right, I think we got everything, so let’s get started on our jobs, right now!” Della said as she pointed out the door, with everyone giving a nod, as they got up, ready to go out and investigate every nook and cranny, just as Ichigo had arrived.

(The Arena)

Ken let out a grunt as he was pushed back by a series of red blocks. By the time the man recovered, he was met with a punch in the face by none other than Infinite, as he was surrounded by red energy. Ken quickly fell backwards to the ground as he looked dazed for a moment.

Infinite gave a small chuckle as he crossed his arms. “Hmph. For a Mishima, you’re pathetic…”

Ken’s eye momentarily twitched before getting back up in anger as he raised his fist and swung towards Infinite’s chest, causing the jackal to let out a loud yell of anguish. Ken smirked as he stretched his hand out.

“We Mishimas aren’t as pathetic as you know…” Ken growled as he narrowed his eyes. “True, Heihachi, Kazuya and I don’t talk much, but we are still related by blood, and I’m going to show you just WHY we have a lot of potential.”

Infinite narrowed his eyes. “A foolish effort for one so confident…”

Recovering quick, Infinite got up and started to run forward as he summoned his sword and jumped up in the air, slashing at Ken’s chest. The tall man stumbled backwards before making a quick recovery… however, another round of red energy projectiles hit the man as he looked around in confusion, his sight leaving him.

Infinite gave a chuckle as Ken turned towards the sound, giving a growl. “Fun fact. Any of my abilities can impair your vision temporarily, so you won’t know when I’m coming…”

As the jackal spoke, Infinite charged forward before landing a punch on Ken, making the man slide backwards. Ken started to blink his eyes twice before managing to get his vision back. He then turned to Infinite, who could only let loose a small laugh. Giving a growl, Ken charged forward and landed a sharp kick to Infinite Face, causing the masked jackal to fly backwards to a corner post.

Infinite growled as he quickly recovered and summoned his sword once more in an attempt to push back Ken. However, the musclebound shirtless man saw the attack coming and quickly dived out of the way, causing Infinite to miss the attack. The jackal blinked twice, before narrowing his eyes in anger. He turned around fast and started to raised his sword to attack once more.

Ken smirked as he pulled out a couple of grenades, throwing them towards Infinite as the jackal stopped to look at the items in confusion. This was a big mistake on his part.

KABOOM!

The small explosion threw Infinite off his game as he fell directly to the ground. Infinite growled as he got up and narrowed his eyes at Ken. “Hey! That’s cheating!”

“Hey, man, anything goes. And by the way…” Ken smirked as he pulled off one of his gloves to reveal a gun that was attached where his hand should be. “You should look before you leap.”

Before Infinite had a chance to react, Ken shot a bullet from his gun hand as it penetrated Infinite’s mask, causing Infinite to stumble. Seeing the chance of a lifetime, Ken rushed forward and grabbed Infinite in a grappling sort of style before holding him up to his neck…

CRACK!

Everyone watching this fight winced at the sounds of Infinite’s back cracking, causing the jackal to whimper in pain, before his lone eye activated. “You…”

“Probably shouldn’t have been so cocky to fight me.” Ken smirked before tossing the jackal out of the ring and into the portal below. Ken gave a smirk as he looked at the cameras. “How do you like that, folks? First elimination of the night goes to Ehrgeiz!”

Everybody applauded as Ken’s face appeared on the monitors, showing his elimination of Infinite countless times in instant replays. Ken smirked as he looked down. “I feel sorry for anybody who has to face that cocky individual…”

Infinite landed in Mega Man X: Commando Mission, more specifically in a chrome like area as the jackal recovered from his fall. Giving a low growl of anger, he stomped on the ground.

“I don’t freaking believe it! It’s bad enough I was kicked out of the first round and humiliated by a samurai who should have minded his own business, BUT now I’m the first one out of the FIRST round! Ugh, I will NEVER live this down! I guess the only good thing about this is that I can wait for ten minutes, probably beating up the WEAKEST person next to me…”

“Weak?”

Infinite stopped talking as he slowly turned to see a large green robot like figure with red metal wings staring at him angrily. “You dare call the great Steel Massimo WEAK?! You’re going down!”

Infinite’s visible eye shrank as Steel Massimo grabbed him and threw him against a wall, knocking him out.

(Announcer’s Booth)

“First world… Mega Man X: Command Mission.” Maurice wrote down.

“What are you doing?” Xero asked in confusion.

“Writing down all the nodes that everyone is visiting. I want to see which node is the running gag node this time around.” Maurice suggested.

“Ah…” Xero smiled before pushing a button. “No need to worry about Infinite, folks. He’ll be back in the Recovery Room in about ten minutes, where our expert team of healers, both in physical AND mental health, will be able to help them back on their feet.”

(The Arena)

Jack grunted as he tried to hop on his legs, trying to get used to the way they were bound together by the handcuffs. Still, he had gotten quite used to it as it managed to help him avoid the giant arms from Vice Versa. Cerebella narrowed her eyes angrily as she rushed forward, hoping to get a good swing at the large musclebound man.

However, the gang leader could only stare smugly before using his fist to stop the swinging fist of the hat, engulfing it into flames. Cerebella yelped as she shook her head, getting rid of the flames before looking towards the man in anger.

“You really know how to set me off, don’t you?” Cerebella frowned as she used her mouth to blow a bit of her hair away from her.

Jack just crossed his arms with a smug expression. “You’re the one who approached me, lady! I’m just going with the flow here.”

Cerebella puffed her cheeks in anger, before rushing forward and jumping up in the air as she used the large arms on Vice Versa to slam them into the ground, causing the musclebound man to let loose a gutteral roar before jumping up in the air in an attempt to drop kick her… only to forget that his legs were a bit bound by handcuffs, and thus, was thrown off his game.

He slammed down onto the floor with a dizzy look on his face, before recovering as he got up and shook his head. Jack then turned back to the grinning girl, who could only give a chuckle.

“All right, Jack, focus! You managed to subdue a circus bear at a young age, you can subdue a circus girl with a musclebound hat!” Jack said to himself, before letting out a guttural yell.

He charged forward as he blocked the swing of Cerebella’s hat with his punches once more. Cerebella grunted a bit as she tried to push Jack away with a kick of her own, using Vice Versa’s hands to stand on as she swung and kicked the man in the jaw.

Jack yelled in pain as he stumbled backwards… only for another stray fireball (sent by Bowser from the red grates on the ground) to hit him forward. Cerebella saw this as an opportunity as she rushed in and grabbed Jack with her musclebound hat. She momentarily took off the hat and hopped up in the air, landing on Jack’s head before slapping him in the face, multiple times.

She quickly hopped back towards her hat and put it back on, before tossing him up in the air.

“And now, for my next trick! Watch this man disappear into the portal before your eyes!” Cerebella called out as she hopped up in the air and used Vice Versa to slam one of its fists into Jack Turner in midair, sending the man flying out of the ring.

Jack Turner landed in Paperboy, slamming the hapless little paperboy trying to deliver the newspapers to the houses as the Grim Reaper of that world noticed the boy on the ground and slowly approached him. Jack quickly got up and just watched the crazy antics going on in this strange neighborhood.

“DANCE, WATER, DANCE!”

Dean growled in frustration as once again, Demyx was playing heavily on his sitar with watery clones of himself being sent out of his person as they slammed forward towards the young man. He could only growl as he punched each water figure into droplets, with an occasional fourth punch triggering an electric shock, causing Dean to yelp as he got electrocuted.

“Damn…” Dean growled as he looked towards Demyx with a small frown. “Think you’re so clever, trying to use your little instrument to throw me off?”

“Hey man, I’m just playing here.” Demyx pointed out as he opened one eye, still strumming his sitar.

“I can see that, and yet, you are SO annoying to fight!” Dean growled. “Are you sure you were labeled as the coward of the group.”

Demyx blinked twice, before narrowing his eyes. “Okay, I am not a coward. I’m just lazy. There is a difference!”

“Well, Mr. Lazy, why don’t you stop playing your little sitar for a minute and get serious!” Dean said as he charged forward with a punch ready.

Demyx narrowed his eyes before leaping forward, dodging the incoming attack, but also leaving behind water geysers that spouted from above, damaging Dean as the man got splashed and damaged.

Dean grunted a bit before turning towards Demyx as he gave a smirk. “Like it? Come on, get to the beat!”

The everyman growled as he ran forward, an electrical fist at the ready as he slammed his fist towards Demyx, the Nobody feeling the electrical shock going into his body. Demyx let out a small yell as Dean quickly chained his punches into a combo, before grabbing the Nobody by the cloak.

Demyx yelped as Dean jumped up in the air, electrical lightning surging from his fists before Demyx got tossed into the ground, getting him to land on a nearby blue grate. Demyx recovered quickly as he noted the blue grate under him. Getting a quick idea, Demyx jumped up in the air just as Dean landed back on the ground.

By the time Dean had noticed where Demyx had landed, he was too late to react to the incoming shockwave that dazed the man (and caused Cerebella, Patti and Kitty to jump over the shockwave as they did see it coming). Demyx laughed a bit before running forward and used his sitar to slash at Dean, whilst more water spouts came rushing out.

Dean readied his electrical fist as he landed on the ground and punched Demyx once again, throwing the man off his balance as the Nobody started to get near the edge of the ropes. Dean gave a small chuckle to himself as he rushed forward to push Demyx off the ring…

However, Demyx quickly recovered and stepped to the side as he strummed his sitar one last time, sending another huge bout of water from the ground, sending Dean flying up in the air. Then, using his sitar as a bat, he swung and hit the everyman in the air, sending him flying clear out of the ring as he landed in the portal below.

Demyx gave a small sigh of relief as he looked at the score. He had to admit, this was pretty good, but he knew this round wasn’t over yet. He quickly eyed all the fights, looking ready for anything.

Dean landed in Hammerin’ Harry, where he helped the titular character defend himself from any goons coming for his head.

Spike took a deep breath as the dog looked inbetween his two opponents… Espeon was looking at Spike with a small glare on her face, while Landia’s four heads were growling towards the dog. Spike eyed each opponent, knowing that any minute, they’d be making a first move.

“All right, fellas, you want to double team against me?” Spike said as he curled up the fur in his arms, to show an anchor tattooed to his bare arms. “I ain’t afraid of no dragon or pussycat, and that ain’t gonna change anytime soon!”

“You truly have no idea how much WE are capable of.” All four Landia heads rolled their eyes.

”Just forget it, you know he’s just going to keep rambling about how he’s going to rid the arena of all cats. That’s apparently how his little mindset works.” Espeon sighed as she got into position and leaped up in the air.

“Ah ha!” Spike smirked as he jumped forward and punched Espeon in the air, sending the pink Pokemon down to the ground. “Gotcha, cat!”

Landia took this as their cue to shoot fireballs from their respective heads as they trinkled down and aimed towards Spike. Two of the fireballs missed, BUT the other two landed directly at their target, causing Spike to let loose a loud scream.

The bulldog landed on the ground, sprawled out. He quickly shook his head as he narrowed his eyes angrily at Landia, before turning his attention towards Espeon, who was quickly recovering from that punch. Espeon’s gem glowed as she stretched itself. At that moment, Spike looked up at the open night air and noticed a peak of sunlight peeking out from the clouds. The dog just blinked in confusion as he checked his watch. “8:34 PM. Now, this time can’t be right…”

Spike looked back up and yelped to see that Espeon had gotten up, feeling more refreshed and healed after having the sun’s rays shining through and healing Espeon as the Pokemon looked relatively fresh. Spike growled in anger as he rushed forward with a fist ready… only for Landia to fly upwards into the air and flap its wings to summon wind wave projectiles towards the dog.

Sure enough, Spike was unprepared for the projectiles as they slammed Spike in the back hard enough for him to fall on the ground. Espeon took this opportunity to have her eyes glow blue as she started to pick up Spike in a blue aura.

“H-hey!” Spike struggled in anger as he was trying to get out of his predicament.

Espeon focused a bit as Landia was examining the struggling, floating figure in front of them.

“And, and sometimes, I like to have those little hot dogs… you know, the ones that come in a can… like, like sardines, but not like sardines at all? Came from Vienna? Anyway, I like those little hot dogs… oh, oh, and French Fries! I like to dip them in mustard and ketchup and mayonnaise… have you ever tried dipping French Fries in mayonnaise? It’s actually a good combination!”

Espeon blinked twice as he turned his head slightly to see Numbuh One shaking fearfully in the corner post as Raphael was busy trying to maintain peace with his sais, but failing as Fred Fredburger just kept talking, as if not being phased by being attacked at all. Espeon lowered its ears as she turned towards Landia, the eyes breaking concentration as Spike fell to the ground below.

”I have to go take care of something. Would you mind taking care of the dog for me?” Espeon requested.

”Of course! This won’t take long, I assure you!” The four heads assured her as one of them gave a smirk.

As Espeon bounded over towards Raphael and Numbuh One to help them out with Fred Fredburger, Landia gave a smirk as he turned towards Spike, who was trying to follow after Espeon. However, Spike stopped short as the four headed dragon blocked his path.

“HEY! Out of the way, you four headed freak! There’s a cat I’m trying to take care of!” Spike growled as he tried to walk around Landia, only for the dragon to follow Spike by blocking his path in front of him. After a bit, Spike growled in annoyance. “Fine! Then it looks like we’re gonna have to do ‘dis the HARD way!”

Landia laughed before swooping up in the air and flying towards Spike, before ramming the dog down. Spike quickly got up as he looked around in anger, trying to locate his new target… only for Landia to go up in the sky, then fly back down as two of the heads started to breathe fire down towards their target.

Spike yelped as he got affected by the fire, forcing him to whimper as he ran around for a bit, his rear end smoking and roasting. Upon recovery, Spike growled as he looked up in anger… his face growing red in frustration. A train whistle was then heard as Spike started to grow red as Landia looked down, all four heads raising eyebrows in confusion.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first Berserk mode from Tom and Jerry: War of the Whiskers active!” Xero announced.

“For those who don’t know, Berserk Mode is basically what happens when someone gets hit too many times. At any point if a Tom and Jerry character withstands blows to the point where they can’t take it anymore, they glow red and blow off some steam by beating up their opponents.” Maurice pointed out.

“Meaning, their attacks have just gotten stronger, and they have a very strong attack resistance, so unless someone is equally as mad as Spike here, any blows that hit Spike won’t be as effective.” Xero explained.

“All I can say is, if a Tom and Jerry character starts to glow red, BEWARE.” Maurice called out.

Landia, hearing that announcement and the cheers of the audience upon seeing Spike’s Berserk mode, didn’t need to hear a second opinion as they flew up in the air, taking a deep breath before unleashing a barrage of fireballs in hopes of slowing the dog down.

The Berserk Spike looked up in anger as he punched the fireballs away, as if by toon force, causing them to go their separate ways (with Fuzzy taking a few of the fireballs respectively, making the pink creature even more mad than before), as he jumped up in the air and landed a hard punch on Landia, causing the dragon to spiral out of control, the crown it was wearing on one of its head momentarily dropping to the ground with a clanking sound.

However, Landia hadn’t noticed as it was more focused on trying to get Spike off his back. ”Let go of me, you slobbering ignoramus!”

But Spike remained firm in hanging tight as he gripped his paws on the four headed dragon’s back, and using his legs to beat up on the dragon’s back. Landia gave a small groan before flying directly up into the air, before doing a divebomb down towards the portals, all without the Berserk-induced Spike noticing what was going on. One of Landia’s heads gave a small smirk as it gave a nod towards the other heads. One barrel roll later, and that was enough to throw Spike off his game, causing the dog to slip and fall, with having no way to get back to the ring as he fell directly into the portal below.

Spike landed in The Dog Island, where, upon calming down, he noticed the large dinosaur fossil that came to life charging towards him. Spike, however, didn’t care as all he saw were beautiful bones as he dived right in.

To go back to a few minutes before this fight, Numbuh One was looking behind Raphael’s back as he looked fearful towards the smiling elephant demon. Raph, on the other hand, looked rather annoyed as he readied his sais.

“Look, kid, I get it. Something happened between you and him and he’s annoying. VERY annoying.” Raph frowned. “What I don’t get is why you’re still afraid of him now.”

“Well forgive me if a little trauma from the past is still affecting me a bit.” Numbuh One frowned as he held his head. “Look, Fred Fredburger, he’s a nice person, but when used as a torture device, one can’t stand his voice. It just causes you to reveal all of your secrets. Just listen to this guy!”

Raph turned over to Fred Fredburger, who was now holding a frying pan with his trunk as he continued to talk. “And then there was this one time when I went to the dog show and there were these dogs in dresses and doing tricks… and… and there was this one dog that kept being funny by disobeying its master and ketp going back to the baby carriage, because it was a baby carriage act, and they had to get the dog off the carriage, but they couldn’t do that until finally, they tempted it with a treat… oh, and did I mention this one time, at the county fair, when I went to this cat show, and all the cats started to roam around, scratching each of the judges because they hated getting dressed in those suits… oh, oh, and there was this all pet show I went where all the dogs and cats started to fight each other in brawls, it was amazing, but, but, I didn’t go mainly because…”

Raphael quickly winced as he narrowed his eyes. “I can understand what you mean.”

Numbuh One groaned as he held his head. “Look, you’re a teenager, and I’m a kid, and normally, in my world, teens and adults are the Kids Next Door’s enemies. I know that that’s not how this works here, but… I need someone to have my back, and admittingly, if my team and I WERE to cross in the teen territory someday, I will admit, I hope that it’d be like the Ninja Turtles.”

Raphael raised an eyebrow in surprise, before giving a smirk. “Well, I’ll be. Never thought you’d be fans of our work.”

“Numbuh Four and Numbuh Three are… the former for the kickbutt action scenes, and the latter… because, well, turtles are now her newfound favorite animal of the month.” Numbuh One shrugged. “Regardless, I acknowledge you’re a good fighter, and I’m more than willing to put the teen and adult tyranny angle aside to work with you.”

Raphael smirked a bit as he held out his hand. “All right! You got a good deal with the Raph!”

Numbuh One smiled as he shook Raph’s hand before turning towards Fred Fredburger, looking at him nervously. “What do you suppose we can do with him?”

“Leave him to me, dude! Just watch a pro in action, and back me up if I need assistance!” Raphael smirked as he rushed forward towards Fred Fredburger as he kept talking and moving around, waving his frying pan erratically.

Raph gave a smirk as he ignored the annoying ramblings of the demon elephant and dodged the frying pan nimbly, before blocking the weapon itself with his sais.

This caught the attention of Fred as he gave a smile. “Oh! Hey mister! Those are some great looking knife thingys you got there! Can I have them? I want them to carve my name on the floor! Because I can spell my name real good!” Fred grinned.

Numbuh One looked between the two fighters as he noticed Raph had got Fred in a standstill. Giving a smile, Numbuh One quickly pulled out his G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A as he took careful aim at Fred, sticking out his tongue. “Okay… got to take it easy now… target is in plain sight… don’t miss, Nigel… gotcha!”

The boy smirked as he pulled the trigger and shot three gumballs, managing to strike Fred in the face as the demon elephant yelped, tripping on his own face.

“Ha! Now you’re about to witness the taste of RAPH!” Raphael boastfully shouted before swinging his sais and charging forward for a quick attack, sending Fred up in the air. Readying his sais, the red bandana wearing turtle quickly jumped in the air…

Only for Fred to quickly recover as he spun in a circle, clinging onto his frying pan as the demon elephant slammed Raph in the head with it, sending the turtle down to the ground. And he still kept rambling.

Numbuh One just stood in awe. “How is that even possible…”

“And, and sometimes, I like to have those little hot dogs… you know, the ones that come in a can… like, like sardines, but not like sardines at all? Came from Vienna? Anyway, I like those little hot dogs… oh, oh, and French Fries! I like to dip them in mustard and ketchup and mayonnaise… have you ever tried dipping French Fries in mayonnaise? It’s actually a good combination!”

Numbuh One backed himself to the corner post in fear as Raphael was recovering, trying to maintain himself as Fred kept talking. The turtle narrowed his eyes before getting up. “You think you can be clever, you little demon! You haven’t faced the wrath of-”

Before Raphael could charge in once again, Espeon suddenly leaped between Raphael and Fred as the large musclebound turtle stared at the pink Pokemon in confusion. Espeon’s eyes then glowed blue as a blue aura surrounded Fred, much to the demon elephant’s notice.

“Oh, hey, I’m glowing! Am I like, a magic fairy or something, because I like magic, and those card tricks that magicians always-” Fred Fredburger started to talk, but that was as far as Fred could say before he got tossed all the way over to another fight. Espeon’s eyes went back to normal before licking herself causing Raphael and Numbuh One to stare dumbfounded… before Raphael began to squee.

“Oh my gosh, you are so adorable, Saikou! You managed to wipe out that elephant for us, he won’t be a pwoblem anymore, will he!” Raph said as he swooped up Espeon in his arms and gave him a hug, much to Espeon’s chagrin.

”I already regret saving you…” Espeon said as her ears went down.

Numbuh One just blinked twice, before looking over to see where Fred Fredburger was headed…

Around that time, Sulley had rolled backwards to avoid another gunshot from Fuzzy’s rifle. Fuzzy laughed as he pulled the trigger… only to hear a clicking sound. Sulley, hearing the clicking sound, looked up with a laugh. “Sounds like you ran out of ammunition pal.”

“That may be true, but I STILL have my OTHER secret weapon!” Fuzzy said as he dug around in his pockets and pulled out ANOTHER gun, aiming it directly at Sulley as the monster gave a yelp. “And unlike my boomstick, THIS never misses.”

With that, Fuzzy pulled the trigger and shot a laser out of it, aiming directly for Sulley. Sulley yelped as he tried to back away, only to be surprised when Fred Fredburger flew between him and the shot.

ZAP!

Fuzzy blinked twice as he noted the place where Fred Fredburger once stood was now a large slab of steak… still talking in Fred Fredburger’s voice as it looked around. “Wow, what a rush! This is such a good rush, I feel like I’m not myself!”

Fuzzy blinked twice. “Uh, not what I had in mind, but now you know that my Meat Gun is still as effective as ever!”

“...meat gun?” Sulley said as he looked a bit disturbed.

“Oh yeah, I made it myself! It can turn anything or ANYBODY into meat!” Fuzzy grinned, as if looking rather proud of this accomplishment. Fuzzy then picked up the slab of meat that was ‘Fred Fredburger’. “Unfortunately, seeing that this meat is a little… green, I lost my appetite…”

“Fuzzy, just to remind you, NO eating contestants, even if you have turned them into meat!” Maurice announced with a frown on his face. “That applies to the ‘no killing’ rule.”

“Whatever.” Fuzzy frowned as he tossed the Fred Fredburger meat aside and threw it out of the ring.

Fred Fredburger immediately got back to normal as he landed right in the Disney version of The Jungle Book. He immediately began to throw off Colonel Hathi’s march by saying random numbers… and just talking in general.

Fuzzy crossed his arms as he gave a smirk. “Feel threatened?”

“So let me get this straight. You’re a simple creature that wants nothing more than to have people off the property, yet you have computer knowledge and invented a gun that can turn people into meat?” Sulley asked. “Why aren’t those girls treating you as more of a threat? At least you’d be more threatening if your banjo hadn’t been destroyed.”

Fuzzy’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh yeah. You just reminded me…” His eyes narrowed in anger. “YOU HURT JOE!”

Sulley slapped his forehead. “I just had to open my mouth…”

Regardless, Fuzzy started firing willy nilly as Sulley dodged each blast, but not before each blast shot Cerebella, Demyx, Landia, Sir Daniel, ROB, Bowser and Crush respectively. As soon as those respective characters turned to meat, Bowser said in anger, “Okay, this pink menace is clearly a big threat! Is there a time limit to how long we’ll be meat?”

“Not to worry!” Monika said as she once again appeared on the monitor, with the wheel all prepped and ready to go. “As soon as two minutes wears off, you’ll be back to your fighting selves. Until then, we’ve got our first five eliminations out of the way, so let’s spin the wheel!”

Everyone’s attention turned towards the monitor as the wheel was spun once again by the omnipotent schoolgirl. After a few seconds, the wheel stopped before it landed directly on Boyd.

The old man, who had been fighting with Kukri for a good while, looked up as he gave a sinister chuckle to himself. “Okay, so Jack had a punishment, right, and didn’t do too hot. Only fair I get myself a good reward to balance it out.”

“How right you are, Boyd.” Monika giggled as she wiggled her hands about as a glow started to surround Boyd for a minute, much to everyone’s concern. As soon as the glow went away, Monika gave a giggle. “Congratulations, you have a good power increase on your projectiles that will last for two rounds.”

“Ah, a power boost!” Boyd laughed as he turned to Kukri. “You better be prepared for what I’m about to do to you.”

Kukri blinked twice, before giving a scoff. “It doesn’t matter how powerful you get, you still have a weak point amongst you.”

Boyd smirked as he shot a couple more finger gun lasers at the geomancer, only for that to get blocked with a sand force field. Boyd laughed before cracking his knuckles.

Numbuh One, all the while, kept a sharp eye on both opponents as he gave a smirk to himself.

“Whoever is left in that fight… is the one I face…”

(Hotel; Lobby)

“At last!” Dexter smirked as he backed away and smiled at the new shiny outer door that led to the inside of the brand new, upgraded laboratory. “My scientific upgrades to Dexter’s Laboratory 2.0 has been completed.”

Dee Dee, Lee Lee and Mee Mee looked up in awe as they watched Dexter crossed his arms, feeling proud of himself for a moment. Dee Dee smiled as she looked over towards her younger brother. “I have to admit, Dexter, you certainly outdid yourself.”

After a moment of silence, Dee Dee laughed as she jumped up and screamed, “LET’S GO BREAK IN THE NEW LAB! COME ON GIRLS!”

Dee Dee and Mee Mee then let out screams of joy as they both rushed towards the door of the lab, only to stop short as they noticed that, one, Lee Lee hadn’t joined them, two, Dexter was giving a smile, and three, the doors were still shut.

“Uh… Dexter? How exactly do we get in the lab?” Mee Mee asked in curiosity.

“Well, unlike voice activation, which I have a feeling you’ll manipulate somehow, I decided to embroider the entrance to my new laboratory with a keypad, where I will enter a five digit code.” Dexter explained. “And no, I am not going to give you three the code, because the laboratory is for me and me alone. And before you ask, “But Dexter, what about letting your friends from the Tournament of Kikai in, like Ariel and Grim?”, they have already been informed of this, and I gave them the code that they strictly promise to keep secret, and never to share with my dear, stupid sister and her equally stupid friends.”

Dee Dee rolled her eyes as she looked over towards Mee Mee, and then Lee Lee, the former having the same annoyed look, and Lee Lee having a bit of a disappointed look, much to Dee Dee’s notice. Nevertheless, Dee Dee turned back towards her younger brother as she said, “Oh, please, Dexter. The code is so obviously your birthday.”

With that, Dee Dee walked over to the keypad and pushed a few numbers… before hearing a loud blaring horn sound, causing the girl to fall on her feet. As Dee Dee rubbed her head, she turned to Dexter in annoyance as the boy genius crossed his arms. “Nice try, but no.”

Dee Dee paused for a brief moment. “Then… is it 00001? 00002? 00003?”

“Dee Dee, if you’re going to stand around and guess my code, we’d be here all night.” Dexter frowned. “Now, understand that I have NO other secret entrances to this lab, and the only way IN is to go put the code in. So, while you three can have all the fun you wish, I will actually be busy in my own lab.” Dexter explained. “And believe me, with me working in peace without the three of you running amok in my secret laboratory, it’ll give me a good moment’s rest. Now, turn around.”

“WHAT? Why should-” Dee Dee started to protest.

“Dee Dee, just do it.” Lee Lee sighed as she turned around.

Dee Dee fumed as she turned around, alongside Mee Mee as Dexter quickly punched in his code.

“Access granted. Welcome, Dexter.” A female, robotic voice said as the doors opened.

Dee Dee, Mee Mee and Lee Lee turned around as they took a look at the lab from the inside, looking like it was before Ripto came in and wrecked everything in the last tournament. Lee Lee couldn’t help but look in awe as she said, “Wow, Dexter, from the outside, your lab looks amazing!”

Dexter just crossed his arms with a big smirk. “Heh, of course it does! But that’s as far as you can go. All right, that’s it, stay out. I have some work to commence.” Dexter said as he walked into the laboratory as the door shut behind him.

The three girls could only watch as the painting rolled back into position and settled itself behind the wall, covering up the door to the lab, as if nothing was there to begin with.

“...do you girls ever wonder what the extension of the outside lab is like?” Mee Mee asked. “Like, is it somewhere underground, or does it connect to another room?”

Dee Dee huffed a bit as she crossed her arms. “Whatever, we don’t need Dexter’s stinkin’ lab! We can have fun with or without him. After all, there’s a lot to do in the dome and hotel… so let’s go!”

“You guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up.” Lee Lee said as she settled herself on the couch.

Dee Dee and Mee Mee looked towards their friend in surprise as the blonde haired girl asked, “Are you sure?”

“I’m fine. Just need to collect my thoughts. Maybe we’ll catch up in the karaoke room later?” Lee Lee offered.

“Oooooo, yeah, I love me some karaoke!” Dee Dee said in awe.

“Come on, Dee Dee, let’s belt out some tunes!” Mee Mee said as the two girls ran off.

Lee Lee looked back towards her friends as she gave a small sigh, before turning back towards the painting that had the secret entrance to Dexter’s Laboratory all sealed up. She sighed as she looked down, sadly.

“I know you say you want to be alone, but…” Lee Lee shut her eyes a bit. “Sometimes, I wish I were with you… admiring you every step of the way…”

Pausing for a brief moment, she got up as she was about to walk off, when the doors of the hotel opened up. At that time, Lee Lee had accidentally ran into someone coming in.

“Oh, sorry!” Lee Lee said as she backed away, but raised an eyebrow as she noticed the person she ran into. “Hey! Aren’t you Connie Benge… the one from Doug?”

Connie’s eyes lit up as she smiled. “Yeah! And I think I know who you are! Lee Lee, right? One of Dee Dee’s friends from Dexter’s Laboratory?”

“The one and only!” Lee Lee giggled. “What are you doing out here?”

Connie paused for a brief moment, as she gave a sad sigh. “Honestly, I just wanted to get away from my locker room for a while.”

“Oh yeah, I did see that your name was on the roster list for the tournament. Honestly, I’m surprised the hosts picked YOU over… well, Skeeter or Porkchop.” Lee Lee pointed out.

Connie gave a sigh. “I was just as surprised to see an invitation sent to me, but… if it meant getting closer to Doug, since he was invited as well, I figured, why not take a shot, hm?”

Lee Lee blinked twice, before her eyes widened. “Wait, I thought that crush on Doug thing was only relevant in the Nickelodeon series… and that it was only for one episode.”

“Didn’t you have a crush on DEXTER himself, and said he was cute in one episode? Girl, I may have had more appearances than you, and even I’m surprised you would have a crush on Dexter, of all people.” Connie pointed out.

Lee Lee bit her lip nervously. “Honestly, yes, but… uh… I don’t know. With our show being canceled and all, things haven’t been quite looking up for me and Mee Mee. There were the IDW comics, but that’s up to you whether they’re canon or not…”

Connie paused briefly as she nervously chuckled. “Oh yeah, I forgot Dexter had a comic series by IDW at some point…”

Lee Lee giggled a bit before raising an eyebrow. “Anyway, you’re in the same boat as me, then?”

Connie blinked in surprise. “Well, pretty much. You see, ever since our show ended, my friends and I have always hung out, often talking amongst ourselves, still going to school… which I guess being kids, it’s a mandatory requirement…”

Lee Lee sighed. “Sometimes, it’s a little annoying being a kid that’s been created as such.”

“Tell me about it.” Connie scoffed. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but… sometimes, you wonder about what could be, you know. And with a lot of reboots and remakes that have been coming out in modern times, part of me wishes that a Doug reboot would actually happen.”

Lee Lee’s eyes widened. “Wait, I did hear something about that. What your creator said if he did do a reboot of Doug.”

“Yeah…” Connie sighed as she looked down. “I mean, looking at Jim’s potential ideas, there is some interesting thoughts. I mean, the idea of if a reboot did happen, and Doug and Patti DON’T end up together?” Connie chuckled a bit. “Okay, I get that if it ever got made, it would be a bit heartbreaking, but it’s life, I suppose. And from what Jim’s ideas have been revealed, Doug would have eventually found someone else.”

Lee Lee’s eyes widened. “And you’re hoping that if that ever happened, that someone could be you?”

Connie giggled a bit as she looked up. “I know that it’s a little farfetched, and yes, part of me is hoping that I’d be that girl, but…” Connie sighed. “I don’t know if that hypothetical reboot will ever happen, or if Jim is just messing with our heads or what… but being stuck as kids, Doug will always have eyes for Patti Mayonnaise, no matter what.”

Lee Lee paused briefly as she motioned for Connie to sit down. The green skinned girl did so as she continued, “I get that Doug and Patti will always be seen as the ‘canon’ pairing, but… with the possible idea if our creator ever wanted to do a reboot… you wonder to yourself… if only I could work up the feelings to tell him how I REALLY felt about him.”

Lee Lee sighed. “Believe it or not, I’m in the same boat, concerning Dexter. Don’t get me wrong, I get that the point of the show isn’t romance, but Dexter’s inventions and how a boy genius survives his day to day life with the occasional rival coming in, and how Dexter has to solve a problem, but ever since the one episode I did, where I said Dexter was kind of cute… I don’t know, it just felt right that I might have a teeny, tiny crush on him. Unfortunately, I never appeared in any other episodes beyond the ones in the Gennedy days, and even when I was in a few comics, either the DC runs or the IDW ones, while my crush on Dexter was explored a bit, it didn’t really expand on much.”

“Ohhh…” Connie sighed as she looked down. “Wow, I never thought of it that way.”

“...man. I hate to say it, but it sucks that we’re the girls that have crushes on the main protagonists, and yet, nobody really expands on these ideas.” Lee Lee pointed out.

“Tell me about it.” Connie said as she looked depressed as unaware to the two of them, the lobby doors opened up as a familiar face was leaning in and listening in, her face giving a small range of emotions. “I guess when you’re a side character to another person’s story, you just have to grin and bear it, you know.”

“You know you girls shouldn’t feel that way.”

Lee Lee and Connie immediately looked up as they noticed the comforting smile of Penny Proud approaching the girls. Lee Lee and Connie looked excited as Connie said, “Penny! Hey! I didn’t hear you come in.”

Penny chuckled nervously. “Sorry, Connie. I just noticed you were depressed over Doug, and thought I’d follow you to try cheering you up, but from what I can see, it looks like I need to cheer two people up.”

Lee Lee chuckled nervously. “I guess that’s spot on, but how can you cheer us up?”

“Well, let me relate to you a story I had about when we had to do Louder and Prouder.” Penny explained. “You know, our new show. Do you remember the Proud Family Movie? Remember 15 Cent?”

Lee Lee and Connie both nodded, as Penny gave a small smile… before sighing. “Yeah, turns out one episode retconned that whole movie out of existence… and probably retconned a love interest I would have had.”

Lee Lee and Connie gasped as they both winced at that. Little did they know that as the three were talking, the Red Guy was on the floor, cleverly hidden under the couch that the girls were sitting on as he overheard every word of the conversation, with the devil pulling out a cell phone and calling Him.

“Hey, Him, Red Guy calling. I’m following that girl like you asked, and you better listen to this conversation. Could be important.” Red Guy whispered as he leaned the phone towards the couch.

(Dome; Hallway)

“I don’t know about this, Babbitt!” A small, fat black cat with a white underbelly and a tan face said nervously as he turned towards his friend, a skinny black cat with white paws and a similarly tanned face. Both of them seemed to be looking at a vending machine filled with an assorted number of snacks. “Are you sure we can get those snacks without payin’?”

“Of course, lunkhead! We’re starving, and we lost our meal tickets for the restaurant because SOMEBODY misplaced them.” Babbitt, the skinny cat, said as he glared towards his partner in anger.

“Well, don’t glare at me, Babbitt! I wouldn’t have lost the tickets if you said to place them in a specific spot.” Catstello argued.

“I said, ‘place our tickets in the locker room’. I THOUGHT I was clear on the ‘locker’ part.” Babbitt frowned as he shook his head.

“Well, how was I supposed to know that throwing them under the lockers and have them be lost means that we have to go hungry?!” Catstello argued.

Babbitt frowned as he slapped his own forehead in frustration. “Look, it doesn’t matter. The vending machines are here, let’s see what we can do to get these snacks out!”

Catstello groaned as he looked up at the snack machine in awe. “Please don’t tell me you have a wonderful scheme in mind.”

“Don’t worry, little friend. My idea is as simple as possible. Use your head.” Babbitt smirked as he grabbed Catstello and started to back up.

Catstello’s eyes widened as he tried to squirm out of his friend’s grasp. “Put me down, Babbitt, put me down! I don’t want to use my head! I bruise easily! Don’t you dare do it, don’t you dare do it!”

But his pleas fell on deaf ears as Babbitt ran forward towards the vending machines, aiming Catstello’s head towards the glass as the cat was panicking. “BABBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITT!”

SLAM!

Both cats recoiled as they dropped down to the ground, but the snacks have not moved an inch. Catstello quickly got up, looking rather dazed as he shook his head. “Ohhhhhh… do I have a splitting headache…”

Babbitt frowned as he recovered from his blast and got up and examined the vending machine. “Okay, so it’s a very flexible machine.”

Catstello groaned as he rubbed his head. “I just don’t see why we can’t eat any of the boids or mice around here.”

“Look, I’m all for chasing and eating those mice and birds, but I don’t think the hosts would liked it if we eliminated their competition…” Babbitt frowned as he crossed his arms… before his eyes widened. “Hmmmm… or maybe we can! We can eliminate our competition quickly by eliminating someone before they have a chance to be announced on stage! I mean, there’s plenty of small rodents and birds around, right? What’s the harm in grabbing one little bird that’s competing and swallowing it whole between us? Nobody would have to know we took out ONE little bird!”

“But who can we even take out without noticing? I don’t think we can go after that canary from our node… especially not with that old lady and dog guarding her.” Catstello pointed out.

“Yeah, and even then, we’d have to contend against Sylvester… and heaven knows that didn’t end well for us when we met them during that hockey adventure.” Babbitt frowned.

“So we just find ANOTHER bird…” Babbitt pointed out, before looking over and noticing something in the distance, his eyes widening in interest. He quickly turned Catstello around as he said, “And I think we spotted our target!”

Catstello looked over and yelped as he noticed a familiar little duckling being carried by a familiar looking, boyish angel. “That duckling from the Tom and Jerry node?”

“That’s the one!” Babbitt smirked as he crossed his arms.

“I don’t know, Babbitt. He seems to be close to that angel person. And did you SEE the amount of weapons he has? I don’t even want to know what holy powers he possesses!” Catstello shuddered in fear.

“Things to work out as we try to nab the bird. Now come on, let’s follow!” Babbitt said as he started to run off, dragging Catstello with him.

The short, fat cat gave a small sigh as he looked up towards one of the cameras. “Yep, this is gonna be a LOOOONG night.”

(The Arena)

Boyd gave a small smirk as he started to rush forward, hoping to hit Kukri where he stood. Ever since he had that power boost from the wheel, he was starting to grow a little MORE confident as he continued to battle it out against the best. Quickly, he readied his fist for a punch.

Kukri gave a small smirk from behind his hood as he quickly vanished into sand, causing Boyd to fly right through him, but he managed to save himself by skidding on the ground. Quickly turning around, he noted Kukri standing on the other end as he crossed his arms.

“Is that the best you can do, old man?” Kukri taunted as he motioned the old man over with his hand.

Boyd frowned as he narrowed his eyes. “Son, I know my fighting techniques, and I will admit, I’ve never fought anyone with as evasive moves as you, but I am still a veteran!”

“...didn’t you lose in your first tournament? By accident, and with Mario touching you because he had an invincibility star?” Kukri asked.

Boyd growled in anger. “I am WELL aware of how I managed to get myself out, thank you. And I’m also well aware of how I failed to eliminate Captain Falcon.”

Kukri gave a small chuckle. “It was pretty funny that you threw him into the fight between Donald and Rajan.”

“SHUT UP!” Boyd growled in anger as he jumped up and aimed his fingers to shoot out more lasers, hitting Kukri where he stood. Kukri backed away a bit upon feeling the sting, but quickly recovered as he narrowed his eyes towards the large man. He quickly rushed forward before giving a quick, swift kick to Boyd’s feet, tripping the old man up.

Boyd quickly got back up on his feet before looking back towards his pet turtle, who had managed to follow him the whole time. “Keep close to me, Harry! We have ourselves a fighter!”

Boyd then jumped up in the air to avoid a sand wave from Kukri, before landing down and punching the man in the face. Then, as quick as he could, Boyd chained his punch into a fist combo, before grabbing the geomancer and kicking him hard to make him fall to the ground.

The old man gave a small chuckle to himself as he approached Kukri from the side. “A nice little effort coming from you, but…”

Before Boyd could even pick Kukri up, the geomancer teleported out of the way, leaving behind another sandy figure as the old man gave a yelp. He quickly turned to see Kukri slamming his fist down hard as he was sent flying… not out of the ring, BUT…

“Uh buh… hmmm… ha ha! Oh oh oh, I think I got a word, I got a word!” Beaky laughed a bit as he picked up three letters and placed them next to an open ‘I’. “I can spell Icon with your ‘I’!”

“Oh, that’s a triple word score right there!” Launchpad grinned as he was writing something down on a notepad. “You’re ahead of me by about fifty points!”

Beaky gave a small chuckle. “Oh, uh, shucks! That, uh, that really means a lot!”

Yeah, Launchpad and Beaky were still playing Scrabble whilst fights were going on. It was an unusual way to go through the tournament, but so far, it was working for both birds. Nobody was even paying attention to them…

That is, until Boyd landed right on the gameboard, causing Launchpad and Beaky to jump up in surprise, with Boyd’s eyes looking rather dazed.

“Hey, buddy, that was a good game we have going!” Launchpad pointed out.

Beaky blinked twice as he examined the man before pulling out an old timey tape measurer and examined it. “I, uh, I don’t think he can hear us, uh, uh, Launchpad.”

Launchpad paused as he looked over in concern. “Hmmmm… I guess he DOES look a little dazed. Well, we can’t let him lay on our pieces. He needs to see a doctor right away.”

With that, Launchpad picked up the large man bridal style as if it was nothing, all while Boyd’s pet turtle hopped up and landed right on Boyd’s head. With a nod, Launchpad casually tossed the man out of the ring. “There we go. Hope he gets a good doctor where he lands.”

“Gee, I hope so too.” Beaky said as he put a hand behind his head, looking rather concerned.

Boyd landed in Team Fortress 2, where he was constantly blown up repeatedly by the Soldier.

Kukri just stared in awe, before slapping his head with his left hand. “Typical! Why did I expect ANYTHING else from these tournaments? Is this arena, like, CURSED or something because eliminations didn’t go people’s way? Was this arena built over some Native American ground that was cursed?”

Kukri growled in anger as he readied his sleeves, about to teleport over to both buzzard and duck with the intent to eliminate them both… however, he got stopped by a squirt of mustard on his back, causing the young man to scream loudly. Kukri turned in anger to see Numbuh One holding his M.U.S.K.E.T., giving a small smirk of his own.

“Oh, you’re so dead, kid!” Kukri shouted as he ran over towards the small Kids Next Door operative.

All the while, Launchpad and Beaky had decided to go back to their game, as if Boyd was never there. Most of the others just ignored them, but to Patti and Kitty… they were just staring at them rather dumbfounded.

“...Are you freaking kidding me right now?” Kitty asked as she gave a frown. “How the HECK did that large duck… pelican… like bird thing just ignore that he got an elimination?”

“...Is it sad to say that this is how most tournaments with some fighters go?” Patti asked.

Kitty gave a small frown as she turned to Patti. “Tell you what, friend. How about we truce for now and let’s see if we can take the two of them out?”

Patti’s eyes widened. “Wh-what? I don’t know if I can do that! Launchpad is a nice person, with a lot of bulk to back him up, AND Beaky can be stupid, BUT he is VERY powerful in his punches… helps that he’s a Looney Tune, and all Looney Tunes are practically known for their stamina and iron bodies of steel!”

“All the more reason to pack it in and pull out the punches! Come on!” Kitty smiled as she started to run over to where Beaky and Launchpad were at.

“H-hey!” Patti shouted as she tried to rush over to catch up with Kitty.

Just as Launchpad was about to place his letters, both he and Beaky heard Kitty calling to them as they looked up towards the kid.

“Are you two just going to sit around and play Scrabble all tournament?” Kitty asked.

“That, uh, seems to be the initial plan…” Beaky pointed out.

“Shucks, we’d love to be in the battlefield, but we don’t even know where to look.” Launchpad said. “We’re just playing to pass the time.”

“Well, no need to sit around, because Patti and I are going to be your opponents for a two on two battle!” Kitty smirked as Patti finally caught up, the orange skinned girl looking a bit exhausted.

Beaky looked up and gave a blush. “Uh, well, uh, I don’t know if I, oh oh, gosh, I…”

Launchpad, on the other hand, gave a big smile as he pulled Beaky to the side. “Oh, come on, pal! Let’s at least show off what we’re capable of! You still have your skills from World of Mayhem AND your toon abilities from your cartoons, right?”

“Uh, well, on the top of my head, I suppose I could give a small whistle for my special, uh, weapon…” Beaky paused as he tapped his head.

Patti’s eyes shrank. “Special weapon?”

Kitty narrowed her eyes at the two of them. “Oh no, we’re not going to let you pull that out! Patti, take care of the buzzard! I got the pelican-duck creature!”

Launchpad blinked twice as he felt his beak. “I can see why the beak would be confusing, but I am actually classified as a duck. Heck, there are rumors that Donald was considered more goose than duck. Of course, he does have some geese as cousins, but-”

Before Launchpad could say another word, Kitty leaped up in the air and slammed Launchpad in the face with a karate kick, causing Launchpad to stumble backwards.

Patti yelped as she turned to where Beaky was standing… only to see that he had mysteriously disappeared. “Huh?”

Patti’s eyes widened as she tried to look up at the dome and sure enough, noticed Beaky flying up in the air as he was flapping his wings slowly and humming a small little tune to himself.

“Baaaaaah… bah doo bah doo… doo… da da da da… doooooo…” Beaky hummed to himself as he started to search around and noticed Patti looking up at him, before giving a grin. “Oh boy! I think I spotted my opponent! Doh ho ho ho!”

With that, Beaky started to wind himself up for a landing and aimed directly towards Patti Mayonnaise, about ready to hit her.

Patti yelped as she pulled out her baseball bat and readied for a swing, hoping to get the timing right. Then, as soon as Beaky went close to her, she swung her bat.

CLANG!

The sound from the bat made Beaky shake a little bit, leaving a few afterimages for a moment, before landing down on the ground, looking a bit dazed. Patti blinked twice as she looked down, only for Beaky to look around. “Uh, did I get her?”

“Uh… no.” Patti said sheepishly. “As you can plainly see…”

Beaky looked up towards Patti as he narrowed his eyes a bit, before standing up as he took a bit of time to examine her… before pulling out a large coffin and held it up in the air. Patti gave a loud scream before diving backwards to avoid the large coffin coming down on the ground.

“I don’t know why I had to say it…” Patti said as she panted a bit… before yelping as a stray shot from Fuzzy’s meat gun came in her direction. The good news was, it didn’t hit her entire body… on the other hand, her left leg had now transformed into a form of meat (specifically, bacon).

“Oh no…” Patti yelped as she looked at her transformed bacon leg.

Beaky blinked twice as he looked up towards the booth. “Hey, uh, you said no eating contestants, because it would count as killing contestants, but, uh, uh, what about if PART of their body turns into meat? Is that fair game?”

“NO!” Xero, Maurice and Monika shouted in anger (the latter appearing from the monitor as she glared angrily at the buzzard’s request).

Beaky winced a bit. “Ah, shucks, I actually wanted to pull off an old routine. Now you just gone and hurt ma feelings.”

He sighed as he pulled out a bottle of ketchup and a bag of hamburger buns and threw both of those items out of the ring. “So much for the whole ‘trick person into eating their own leg routine’...”

Beaky then turned back and noticed Patti was trying to get away. As quick as a flash, the buzzard somehow zipped over to Patti, making her yelp. “Now, uh, you weren’t trying to sneak out of our fight, were ya?”

Patti looked around nervously, before giving a small, clever smile. “Now you ought to know better than that…”

“Oh, good!” Beaky smiled. “Because, uh, I think I’m just getting warmed up!”

Patti smiled nervously as Beaky started to fly back up in the air as Patti readied her bat again, hoping to get another pass at the buzzard.

All the while, Launchpad was getting walled by Kitty’s kicks as she managed to corner Launchpad to a corner post. Kitty smirked as she hopped backwards before looking up and motioning him to come closer.

Of course, Launchpad, being naive, walked over and leaned down. “Uh, yes?”

WHAM!

Launchpad winced as he got hit by another punch to the beak. The bird rubbed the sore beak before turning towards the small girl. “You know, I have to admit, you really pack quite a punch.”

Kitty gave a smile. “Thanks! It’s to make sure I can be a great sidekick.”

This immediately got Launchpad’s interest. “Oh, you’re looking to be in the sidekick business? Let me tell you, when I became DW’s sidekick, he always commends me for my good work!”

“...aren’t you, like, the guy that always crashes any and all vehicles?” Kitty asked in confusion.

“Hey, my crashes are a wonderful part of the experience! I’m also a great mechanic on my off times!” Launchpad smiled. “Hey, look up my number, I can give you some tips!”

“How thoughtful… but nevertheless, I still want to battle you, and I am just about to corner you good!” Kitty laughed as she jumped up and kicked Launchpad in the stomach, causing the large bird to go backwards.

However, much to Kitty’s surprise, Launchpad managed to maintain his balance before taking a deep breath, as he tried to charge towards Kitty, hoping to grab her gently… only for Kitty to reach for his hand and lift him off the ground, surprising a lot of people as she slammed Launchpad directly on the ground.

The pilot coughed a bit as he looked up towards Kitty. “Wow, you are surprisingly strong!”

Kitty laughed as she showed off her muscles (by literally growing into a muscle girl for a brief moment). “All that lifting heavy objects that are twice my size is totally worth the strength upgrade…”

Launchpad panted a bit as he took a deep breath. “Okay, I can see I’ll need help… BEAKY! The weapon!”

Beaky, still up in the air and about to swoop down on Patti, heard Launchpad’s call as he stopped himself, before looking down. “Uh, sorry, but uh, uh, Launchpad actually needs me.”

With that, Beaky flew towards Launchpad as the orange skinned girl gave a yelp.

“H-hey! Come back here!” Patti shouted as she tried to wave down Beaky.

Kitty looked over to see Beaky flying over to Launchpad as she tried to charge towards Launchpad for a kick. “I am not letting you pull off your Limit Break!”

However, Kitty’s punch missed as Launchpad grabbed onto one of Beaky’s feet as the two of them were now up in the air.

“The only way to fly!” Launchpad called as he pointed towards the arena, with Beaky using one of his other feet to pull out a car key alarm as he pushed the button.

The sound of whirring is heard as a light engulfed the two of them, with Beaky being heard saying, “We’re-a huntin’ down some victims!”

The light then went away as it was revealed that a flying black helicopter had appeared in thin air, with Launchpad sitting in the passenger seat, and Beaky manning an old machine gun (with non-lethal bullets.

“Oh boy… RUN!” Patti shouted as she tried to turn around.

Kitty didn’t need to be told twice as she followed Patti, trying to avoid all the fights coming as Launchpad drove the helicopter around, with Beaky shooting at his opponents.

Going back to a couple minutes before the Limit Attack happened, another fight was taking place as Garnet was taking a deep breath before throwing a punch towards Ed. The boxer gave a small nod before countering her punch with one of his own, colliding his fists. Ed yelped as he felt the painful side of Garnet’s gauntlets.

He blew on his hand and waved it a bit before looking up towards the Crystal Gem with a determined look. “I’ll admit, you’re pretty rock solid, but I’m not one to back down from the likes of you!”

Garnet just stared at Ed with an emotionless expression. “Better be careful with your overconfidence. Sometimes, it can be quite a factor!”

“Maybe so, but hey, now that there are no distractions with those electric forcefields and fireballs… and the only thing to worry about is that gun the pink creature is using, I think it’s safe to say there’s a fair fight to play!” Ed pointed out.

“Fair enough.” Garnet said before motioning herself and readying herself for another attack.

Ed thought quick as he backed himself up before summoning a ball of Psycho Energy, before punching it forward towards the Crystal Gem. Garnet simply punched through the Psycho Energy ball as if it were nothing, before zipping forward towards Ed, thanks to the star she had placed on him earlier to get a good hit in.

However, Ed, expecting Garnet to charge forward, side stepped before punching Garnet at least three times, counting the number of punches respectively before kicking his opponent in the chest, causing Garnet to step backwards.

Nevertheless, Garnet had recovered nicely as she now focused her attention on Ed as he charged forward, his fists glowing purple as he readied another induced punch of Psycho Energy. Garnet took a deep breath before bending down and charging up her punches before hitting Ed directly in the chest, sending him upwards.

While still airborne, Garnet saw her chance to rush forward and punch Ed with her fists, sending him flying.

“You were quite a good opponent, but I’m afraid it’s just not your day.” Garnet said as she crossed her arms.

Ed landed in Dragon Ball Z. He managed to somehow get into an argument with Vegeta, and found himself in a one sided match.

Garnet gave a small sigh of relief as she crossed her arms. “Well, that’s one down… hopefully, we’ll be able to wait it out unless one of the futures happen…”

All of a sudden, she saw Kitty and Patti rushing past in a panic before looking up to see Beaky and Launchpad still in their Limit Break attack, as Beaky and Launchpad had now switched positions, with Launchpad firing off the machine gun, and Beaky driving the helicopter.

Garnet groaned as she gave a shout, “EVERYBODY, GET DOWN!”

All but Fuzzy, Patti and Kitty quickly ducked down as machine gun fire started to go rampant around the arena. In fact, as Demyx, Cerebella, Sir Daniel, ROB, Landia, Bowser and Crush had been transformed back, they found it wise to duck down.

Sure enough, as Fuzzy was still rampaging around in anger, he didn’t see the gun shots shoot down his meat gun as it went flying past. “HEY! MY MEAT GUN!”

All the while, Xero, Maurice and Monika were eagerly watching the chaos, with Monika casually munching on some popcorn as Xero applauded this turn of direction. “You know, THIS is exactly what I missed about these tournaments. You never know what might happen next!”

“First Limit Break of the round, folks, and as you can see, they’re about as chaotic as ever, so watch yourselves!” Maurice called out.

“A little late for that, aren’t we?” Patti called out in annoyance.

All of a sudden, both Beaky and Launchpad were sitting in the pilot’s seat together as they nodded. “Uh, shucks, uh… happy landings!”

“Let’s give this a three pointer!” Launchpad smiled as he drove the helicopter up in the air, before somehow getting it upside down.

Everyone yelped as they ducked to the side, avoiding the crash as the helicopter sent out a large shockwave, nearly knocking everybody down. But the ones that got sent flying were Patti and Kitty respectively, as they both flew out of the ring and into the portal below.

Both Patti and Kitty landed in StarFox. Thankfully, it was on StarFox’s main ship, rather than one of the main Arwings as they were given a chance to relax.

“Note to self. Don’t let yourself get dragged into dangerous situations to the point where a Limit Break can happen…” Patti groaned.

“Yeah, probably not my best play…” Kitty sighed as she held her head. “Oh, I bet Eric watched all of that! This is super embarrassing, I might die!”

Back in the arena, both Beaky and Launchpad crawled out of the wreckage as Monika decided to quickly make work by blinking the helicopter crash out of existence, but leaving the cracked impact where the area once stood. Launchpad smiled as he looked at the impact. “Wow! I have to admit, I crashed a lot of aircraft before, but this is the first time I ever crashed in a fighting arena!”

“Uhh… do you think we can do that again?” Beaky suggested.

“I don’t think so. As fun as crashing into the arena was, that’s probably going to be a one time thing for me…” Launchpad said before looking around. “Huh. Guess we got the girls out. I feel bad, but it’s the nature of the tournament…”

“Uh… think we should send them an apology gift basket when we get out?” Beaky asked in curiosity.

“We’ll see.” Launchpad said as he looked back at the discarded board game. “Now come on, I believe we were in the middle of our game.”

“Oh boy, oh boy!” Beaky clapped his wings happily as he followed Launchpad back to the center.

Everyone just stared stunned, before making a mental note to NEVER approach Launchpad or Beaky while they were playing their game.

“...am I the only one who remembers the fact that Beaky drove a helicopter before in Looney Tunes: Back in Action?” Demyx asked as his question got ignored.

After a brief moment of silence, Fuzzy paused, before giving a glare at Sulley.

“YOU HURT JOE!” Fuzzy growled in anger before jumping right at Sulley.

Bowser and Crush, now no longer being meat, nodded to each other before heading towards the battle between Sulley and Fuzzy, in hopes of helping the blue monster out.

Gato swiftly avoided the two gunshots that came directly for him as he quickly snapped back into position, before charging forward towards the opponent who shot him. Elmer gave a small gulp as Gato proceeded to strike Elmer with his knee, leaving an explosive impact as Elmer got sent flying in the air.

The hunter immediately landed all the way down to the ground before getting up and rubbing his head.

“Ooooo… this fightah is starting to wub me the wong way…” Elmer grunted to himself as he managed to get himself back into position as he held his gun closely.

Gato gave a small grin to himself before charging forward and striking Elmer Fudd in multiple blows, sending the hunter into the air. Elmer tried to get himself out of the combo streak the man had going, but it was too useless for the hunter as he got juggled into the air, with another punch forward afterwards as Elmer got flattened to the ground.

By the time Elmer picked himself up from the floor, Gato quickly got up on his head and straddled it, causing Elmer to grunt in protest before turning his body around to snap Elmer’s neck in a different direction, before flipping off the man as he was sent flying upwards into the air.

As soon as Elmer landed on the ground, he used his own hands to get his neck back into place before narrowing his eyes. “You’re so wucky I’m a cartoon charactuh, or that would weally hurt!”

Gato frowned as he went back to a fighting position. “Your naivety is cute, but not threatening enough. If you can’t even shoot a rabbit, what good are you as a game hunter.”

Elmer growled in anger before aiming his gun and shooting towards Gato. The man could only jump over the bullets before landing in front of Elmer and palm-thrusting the hunter in the face, causing Elmer to stumble backwards.

“Ooooooo…” Elmer growled in anger before charging forward to dodge one of Gato’s attacks.

Gato laughed before giving a taunt. “You foolish hunter, you really think you have what it takes to be in the big leagues? All I see is a big disappointment.”

Elmer then yelled in anger before using his gun as a club and slamming it on Gato’s head, causing the man to yelp as he stumbled backwards.

“HEY!” Elmer shouted in anger as he aimed his gun. “Maybe I’m not the best huntuh, but I’m pwoud of my accompwishments!”

With that, Elmer shut a couple more bullets as Gato narrowed his eyes, before rolling out of the way. However, much to the man’s surprise, the bullets immediately turned and followed him as they stopped in front of his face, opened both heads up and fired gunshot respectively in the man’s face, causing the man to falter a bit. Elmer quickly saw this as his opportunity to strike and hit Gato hard with his gun, pushing the man and causing him to trip over the ropes as he fell out of the ring and into the portal below.

Gato landed in Ninja Gaiden, where the man found himself battling against ninjas for ten minutes.

Elmer gave a sigh of relief as he took a few deep breaths. “Whew… that was an ordeal…”

Elmer quickly turned around to see who was left in the arena and quickly counted the number of players… before realizing something. He turned behind him to see the Safe Zone tent located a bit outside the arena. Giving a smirk, he had an idea. And if his math was right…

“Ladies and gentlemen, ten eliminations have passed AND we’re about halfway through the round!” Xero smiled. “That means it’s time to spin the wheel!”

Seizing the opportunity, as soon as Monika’s face turned on with the wheel on the monitor, and with everybody looking up in awe, Elmer walked on the path of the Safe Zone, carefully balancing himself before diving right into the tent.

At that time, the wheel landed on a certain Nobody’s head as Demyx’s eyes shrank. “Aw, come on, I just got out of being turned into meat!”

“Sorry, Demyx, but you’re going to be facing a punishment this time.” Monika giggled as Demyx felt a puddle of glue forming around him. “Inspired by Xero’s idea from way back when, you’ll be facing the Sticky Shoes punishment. Meaning you can only stay in one place, and have to rely on long distance attacks for the remainder of the round.”

Demyx narrowed his eyes as he strummed his sitar. “All right… then I guess I’ll have to rely on a forcefield for a while…”

With that, Demyx strummed his sitar in a hard motion as water clones started to appear, going around the arena as everyone who was still fighting did their best to avoid the clones for a while.

Monika, on the other hand, gave a small smirk as the monitor went off…

(Safe Zone)

Inside the tent, Elmer landed face first on the ground before getting up, giving a small groan as he rubbed his face. “Ooooo, that smarts.”

Upon shaking his head to recover, Elmer took a quick look around the place as he stared in awe. The inside of the tent was LARGER than it was on the outside. There, as promised, was an abundance of outfits and clothes, from the Looney Tunes to even Smash Bros alternate costumes. There was a privacy part of the room to give him time to change clothes. But there was one particular area that drew his attention.

A monitor and a table with three cloches stood in front of him. Another thing that Elmer noticed was the timer, that had started counting down from… TWENTY MINUTES?

“Hey, wait a minute…” Elmer frowned as he examined the counting time. “I thought I onwy had TWO minutes to choose…”

“Two minutes OUT THERE.” Monika’s voice said as the monitor turned on, causing Elmer to turn towards it in curiosity. “Hello, Elmer. I’m not too surprised that a Looney Tune would be the first one to use the Safe Zone. I knew the idea of ‘changing into your other outfits from Worlds of Mayhem’ would grab your attention.”

“I just wanted to gwab one of my outfits to change my fighting styah.” Elmer pointed out.

“Ah, but take a peek out from the Safe Zone for just a moment.” Monika grinned.

The hunter, looking rather confused, turned around as he peeked out… only for his eyes to widened.

All of the arena was at a standstill. Nobody was moving around. Looking rather concerned, Elmer was about to charge out.

“Uh uh uh! If you step out of the Safe Zone, only a second will pass, and time will resume as if nothing has happened.” Monika warned.

Elmer blinked twice before turning towards Monika with a frown on his face. “What did you do to the world?”

“Relax, it’s nothing bad, I promise. In fact, I ran this idea by Xero and Maurice to do something regarding this Safe Zone. There was more to it than what the bunny and bull described.” Monika explained. “So, Elmer, considering you’re the first person IN THIS ROUND to enter the Safe Zone, how would you like to complete a challenge in the time allowed on that clock you see?”

“A chawwenge?” Elmer asked, looking rather interested.

“Yes, a challenge.” Monika giggled. “These can range from ‘easy to difficult’, depending on the cloche you pick before you. And each prize you win will AFFECT the arena in any way you choose, all depending on if you are still in the ring.”

“Well… what are the pwizes?” Elmer asked in confusion.

“Well, before I get into that, I should probably explain to you the new twists of the Tournament of Kikai rounds, and how each round will be affected in each area.” Monika explained as her monitor switched off to another screen. “Consider this a bonus for you, because you’re going to know the twists ahead of time, rather than be surprised. How this will work WILL affect how the tournament is played.”

The screen then showed the first option, marked ‘You’re The Boss’. “First, the “You’re The Boss” rounds. That one is not changed. Basically, the last person who gets landed on the wheel after the round ends will be a Big Guy for one round. If that person was already a Big Guy by default, then their status upgrades to a ‘Really Big Guy’ for one round. And if someone is a Really Big Guy, that means there is a chance that a player will earn THREE eliminations, instead of one or two. However, that person who is a REALLY Big Guy will get TWICE the fatigue, or in vote terms, will get TWO Die votes instead of just one. However, if the person that got Big Guy or REALLY Big Guy status survives the end of their next round, they get a prize.”

“That makes sense.” Elmer nodded.

Monika giggled as she switched to the next screen, showing two arenas, with the words ‘Arena Split’. “This is basically the King of Smashers replacement, called ‘Arena Split’. If someone selects this card, the arena will split into two, and an assortment of characters, both mixes of veterans and new fighters, will be on both ends of the ring, meaning that for voters out there, there will be TWO voteforms. One arena will consist of popular characters, and the other arena will consist of underrated or characters not expected to do well. In a way, it’s still forty fighters, but it might give you a chance to improve your scoring if you wish to stay.”

“Ahhh…” Elmer nodded.

Monika giggled as she pushed the next button showing a large audience. “Mystery Reserves. Basically, we pick a member from the audience to be part of the tournament so that they can be a Mystery Fighter. However, suggestions are NOT OPEN YET! Wait until the first Mystery Reserve round is played, THEN we’ll talk.”

Elmer blinked in confusion as he cocked his head. “Huh?”

Monika giggled. “Sorry, just wanted to make it clear for the readers. Anyway…” The screen switched to see the arena as a few were surrounded in a circle in a chairs, while others were fighting OUTSIDE the circle of chairs. “Big Guy Blocker. You remember Monukuma forcing a fifteen survivor round? Well, Xero and Maurice actually liked the idea, and decided to adapt it. Basically, anybody who has Big Guy status will not affect the ring in anyway, and will be played like a normal round. One elimination per player. Once a player gets an elimination, they will be forcibly dragged to a table and sit down until the player is ready. The downside is, the Safe Zone will not be used during that time.”

Elmer sighed as he shook his head. “Well, there had to be a catch somewhere…”

Monika giggled as she clicked the button. “Now here’s a sneak peek at a favorite of mine, inspired by Round Eighteen of the Tournament of Kikai.”

The screen showed the arena having some problems as characters were high on the ground, T-posing, or just using cheats to get their way. Monika grinned. “GLITCH FEST! In those rounds, the arena will be glitched out, and everybody is allowed to use cheats or various ways of glitching in the arena in order to get their eliminations. Just beware of one spot that can get you stuck in a T-pose, because you will be STUCK like that for a round. The only good thing to come out of this? No wheel spins, just chaos and fun!”

Elmer yelped as he made a mental note that if this was ever a choice, he would NOT go near that card.

“And last, but most certainly not least… Redemption Arc!” Monika smiled as she turned to the last screen on the board, showing off the arena as a few dots fall into the portal, only to show on the other half of the screen to see one dot returning to its post. “In Redemption Arc, a character selected at random from the last round, as long as they had one elimination or zero eliminations, will return ONLY once to play through the game… basically, a contestant will grant someone a Get Out Of Jail Free card to return them to the game.”

“Say, that does sound pretty nifty.” Elmer smiled… before pausing. “Uh, what depicts how Redemption Arc players are picked?”

“The host decides through a random number generator, posing from either 10 to 30, 11 to 30, 12 to 30, 13 to 30, 14 to 30, and finally 15 to 30, if Big Guy Blocker was the last round played.” Monika said. “Speaking of which, if Big Guy Blocker was chosen for a round, Redemption Arc is closed off as an option for next round.”

“Ohhhh…” Elmer said in surprise.

“Now, the reason I’m telling you these twists NOW is because you could have a chance to influence the twists, depending on what is chosen.” Monika explained. “And for this first challenge, it’s pretty simple. Just pick the cloche that is covering a prize. One contains no prize, the second contains a prize that could benefit you, and the third contains a prize that benefits OTHERS. You won’t know what it is until the choice is selected… and you only have… uh, the time remaining on the clock to make your choice.”

Elmer looked over to see eighteen minutes still remaining. Monika giggled. “Of course, you don’t HAVE to go for the challenge. You can choose your outfit AND be on your merry way, but think about what you could have.”

Elmer paused slightly as he started to think about it… before giving a smile. “Okay, I feel wucky today. I’ll take… THIS one.”

Elmer pointed to the middle cloche. Monika looked over as she raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you want that cloche?”

“Positive.” Elmer smiled.

“Okay, you have your cloche chosen. You can stick with that choice, OR… see what’s behind this door.” Monika said as a door randomly appeared next to him. “Inside that door could be a beneficial tool that can help you in battle, like a form that isn’t even IN your World of Mayhem game.”

Elmer paused briefly as he thought about it. On the one hand, he was hoping that even if the wheel didn’t land on him, maybe it’ll change the course of the game. On the other hand, that door could lead to something more helpful. He drummed through his fingers, wondering what the outcome was… before giving a smile, making his decision right then and there.

“I’ll stick with this one.” Elmer said as he put his hands on the cloche.

“You may reveal it.” Monika smiled.

Elmer nodded as he opened the cloche to reveal… a purple token. Elmer just looked at it in confusion.

“Ah, the ‘Last Round Players Comeback’ token. I have a feeling you’re going to like this.” Monika smiled.

“What is it?” Elmer asked.

“Let me explain to you what it does, then I’ll be out of your hair, and you can change into your costume…” Monika said as she turned to the camera and gave a wink. “As for you, my lovely audience… shouldn’t you all be reading about who the players eliminate out of the first round?”

(The Arena)

After Raphael decided to let go of Espeon for the time being, the purple cat like Pokemon returned to Landia, who had just recovered from being transformed into meat thanks to Fuzzy’s meat gun. However, once the two were reunited, they decided to make good on their promise to battle each other as both of them stood their ground, ready for anything.

”Ready for this?” Landia growled as they turned their heads.

Espeon narrowed her eyes as she got into position. ”Buddy, I am MORE than ready!”

Landia smirked as they started to fly up into the air in hopes of catching Espeon offguard before swooping down in the air and did a large tail swing. Espeon quickly hopped over the move as the four headed dragon missed the attack. Hoping to retaliate, Espeon quickly used Swift to summon some stars on the field as they were sent to attack Landia, striking him down as the dragon gave a loud yell.

The four headed dragon quickly recovered as it gave a loud roar, before flying up and turning to side, two of the side heads breathing fire down on the ground. Espeon ran towards the fire, before swiftly moving to the side, using Agility to boost up its speed sharply. However, one of the fire streams did manage to singe Espeon’s tail a bit as she leaped into the air and wagged its tail a bit, getting rid of the fire. However, upon seeing Espeon’s tail wagging, Landia noticed a blue aura surrounding him.

“Wait, what the-” The four headed dragon shouted in shock before looking towards the announcer’s booth for an explanation.

Xero, watching this, coughed before announcing. “OH! Espeon used Tail Whip! Landia’s Defense has been lowered!”

All four of Landia’s heads could only look down in annoyance as they shook them respectively. Xero quickly announced, “Hey, you were the one who looked at Espeon’s tail wagging! It would be wise if you didn’t WATCH the tail wag, but you did!”

Maurice, hearing this, groaned as everyone else was heard facepalming. “Do you realize what you just said that can be easily taken out of context?”

Xero blinked, before giving a nervous smile. “...uh, no?”

Back with the fight, Landia decided to not let the distraction bother them as they continued to soar into the air in the hopes of swooping down and catching Espeon off guard. Espeon could only keep an eye on the dragon in confusion, before trying to dive out of the way of the attack, only for Landia to swoop down fast and headbutt the cat Pokemon, sending her into the air.

Espeon then landed on the ground and rolled over a couple of times before getting up and shaking its head, narrowing its eyes towards Landia as the gem started to glow blue. Quickly, Espeon unleashed a Psybeam as the laser shot from the gem and hit Landia square on one of the heads.

”OW!” Landia roared, before narrowing its eyes at its target. ”Okay, that is just pushing it to the edge! I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no other choice! Boys, let’s separa-”

”DAZZLING GLEAM!” Espeon shouted as a bright light began to flash from its gem.

Landia stopped flying for a brief moment. ”Wait, Dazzling wh-”

A bright light suddenly appeared in front of Landia, causing the four headed dragon to twitch twice before falling to the ground.

Espeon could only shake her head as she said, ”Look at my movepool and the TMs I learn, buddy. It may not be STAB, but I can learn a FAIRY TYPE move, and Fairy is strong against Dragon types. Honestly, try to keep up.”

With that, Espeon used her psychic powers to levitate the four headed dragon and tossed them out of the ring. Espeon quickly noticed the crown that was laid down next to it, before levitating it out of the ring as well. ”And to make sure THIS doesn’t start a running gag…”

Landia found himself floating in an office building somewhere as he looked around, noticing that no door was available. Much to their confusion, they wondered what node they landed on. All of a sudden, Monika suddenly appeared in front of the dragon, causing the dragon to jump backwards… as its crown landed directly back on its head.

“Hello, Landia. So I see you got eliminated.” Monika giggled as Landia cocked its head in confusion. “I would love to explain why you’re here, but why don’t you watch the rest of the round first? Don’t worry, all will be clear soon enough.”

Monika snapped her fingers as a television appeared to show the arena and what was going on beyond it. Looking curious, and deciding it had nothing better to do, Landia approached the monitor in curiosity.

Raphael looked over towards Espeon as he gave a smile. “Good for the little guy! Certainly knows how to kick butt.”

“Hey, pal! Focus on the fight in front of you!”

The red bandana wearing turtle quickly snapped out of his trance as he noted Ken charging straight at him, readying another punch. Raphael narrowed his eyes before pulling out his sais to block the attack. Then after doing a couple of flips backwards, Raph jumped up in the air in hopes to slash Ken in the chest.

Ken saw the attack coming as he rolled over to the ground just as Raph landed on the ground, missing the attack. Seizing the opportunity, Ken charged in and rapidly punched Raphael in the face multiple times before uppercutting him in the air.

Raph quickly recovered as he narrowed his eyes. “Listen, pal, if your mission was to disrupt my mojo, congratulations. You accomplished your mission!”

Ken gave a light chuckle to himself. “I’m just riding on a little high right now, since I managed to get the first elimination of the round. I say I’m pretty impressed.”

Raph frowned as he readied his sai. “Guess what, hotshot, just because you got an elimination for your node doesn’t mean JACK if you don’t keep it up with a hot streak.”

Ken smirked as he took off his glove to reveal his gun hand. “Oh, but I’m just getting warmed up.”

With that, Ken used his gun to shoot at Raphael. Raph growled before putting away his sais and pulling out a pair of tonfa, clutching onto them before slamming his fists together to reveal red mystical power surging through his veins as it blocked the bullets. Ken jumped in shock as Raph looked up, a cocky grin on his face.

“The best thing about being from a DIFFERENT version of the turtles? They get access to different sorts of abilities. Do you see the 2003 Raphael summon mystical powers like these?!” Raph laughed as he jumped up in the air, a red mystical hand coming down to slam on Ken’s face, sending the man flying.

Ken quickly recovered as he looked at the smirking red wearing turtle. “You think you’re being cute right now? I am a MISHIMA! I am one of the most powerful beings on earth, and you will respect that!”

With a loud yell, Ken charged up, readying another attack as he ran forward and punched Raph in the chest, sending the turtle backwards just a smidge.

Raph grunted as he narrowed his eyes, before waving his hand to make the mystical power arm slam Ken in the face, sending him down to the floor. Raphael then proceeded to charge forward and raise his arm. “POWER PUNCH JUTSU!”

Ken quickly got up, but got slapped hard by a giant fist as Ken rebounded by the ropes. Ken grunted a bit as he pulled out a mine and tossed it to the floor in front of Raphael, before pushing a button.

KABOOM!

The mine exploded as Ken gave a small smirk, noticing the smoke it left behind… only for two red glowing arms to grab him from behind as he found himself floating in the air. Ken turned his head to see that Raphael was still there, but was now inside a red, mystical version of himself as Ken yelped.

“And now, to take you out like a boss!” Raphael shouted before swinging Ken around a couple of times before tossing him out of the ring and into the portal below.

Raphael gave a small chuckle to himself as he turned off the mystical powers and stood there. “I have to admit, I didn’t think the mystic powers would be useful here, but I’m glad I gave them a try!”

With a nod, he turned to see Espeon licking herself, so Raph decided to keep the psychic Pokemon company. As he did so, he passed by the Safe Zone, little realzing that at around that time, Elmer had came out with a smirk on his face, and he was now wearing a yellow Viking armor suit with a golden helmet with horns and holding a spear. Elmer smirked as he ran out and jumped back into the ring, looking around.

“Well, that took no time at all.” Elmer smiled as he patted his chest. “And my wittle token is safe until the time is wight… now who do I disturb…”

Elmer looked around before spotting his target and pointing towards him, before charging forward towards another fight.

Ken landed in the same office that Landia was as he looked around and noticed the dragon casually watching the tournament.

“What’s this?” Ken asked himself as he joined Landia. “Don’t tell me this is one of those Multiversal Matchups. Is that even a THING in these tournaments?”

Landia’s four heads grunted, looking as inquisitive as Ken was. Ken gave a sigh before sitting down next to Landia as they watched the remainder of the round.

Berry was slowly looking around as she held her Loveberry Rod close to her chest. Just a moment ago, she had been distracted by the monitor and the wheel spin, and the next minute, her opponent was missing by the time she turned around. The girl narrowed her eyes as she tried to look around.

“All right, I know you’re here. A turtle in a wheelchair is not hard to locate…” Berry whispered to herself as she looked around sharply.

Little did she realize was that right atop of the corner post, Bentley was settling down, activating some sort of cloaking device to make himself invisible.

“Note to self, thank Professor Xavier from the X-Men node for this little ability.” Bentley said to himself before pushing a button, making himself visible. “Of course, I had to modify it my way, but hey, the task of invisibility STILL works.”

Bentley nodded before pulling out a bomb from his wheelchair and tossing it directly at Berry. The young girl felt the bomb tap her feet as she curiously looked down…

BANG!

Berry was sent flying to her side as she laid down on the ground. Berry quickly got back up on her feet before turning towards Bentley as she gave a smirk.

“Neat new trick.” Berry noted. “Granted, I don’t remember you turning INVISIBLE in ANY Sly Cooper game, but I commend you for it.”

“Well, when your game abilities are limited, you have to get inspiration somewhere.” Bentley pointed out before pushing a button on his wheelchair arm to summon a few mechanical arms that were holding bombs. “The real question is, can your Mew skills withhold a few more bombs?”

Berry took a deep breath as she looked ready. With that, Bentley threw the bombs towards Berry as the rabbit-cat Mew sidestepped on a few bombs… but not before getting slapped by a few bombs that exploded in her face. She shook her head a bit to get rid of the smudges from the explosions before taking a deep breath.

“RIBBON… LOVEBERRY… CHECK!” Berry shouted as she waved her small wand, sending out a few heart shaped rays of light towards Bentley.

The wheelchair-bound turtle yelped a bit as the rays attacked him, blowing him and his wheelchair slightly off kilter, but the turtle managed to hang on to the best of his abilities. Of course, this gave Berry more than an ample opportunity to charge forward and slam her fist at Bentley herself, punching him in the face.

Bentley grunted and groaned, but shook his head as he crossed his arms in annoyance. “All right… well, you have very impressive skills in magic… which I’ll admit, I still don’t quite understand Mew DNA myself, but you are a good fighter.”

Berry beamed at the compliment. “Thanks!”

“Unfortunately, I’m gonna need a little backup… and I just know how to get it…” Bentley said to himself as he pulled out a couple of rage bombs and spotted two targets of his choice. He quickly threw the bombs…

Cut back to a couple of minutes before Bentley’s attempt. Over near the other end, it was a three versus one battle, with the one holding himself up fairly well. Fuzzy huffed and puffed in anger before trying to slash towards Sulley, only for Bowser to jump in his path and slam his fist into the pink creature. Fuzzy growled in anger before turning his attention towards Bowser as the Koopa King took a deep breath and breathed fire on the hillbilly.

“YAHHHHHH!” Fuzzy let out a loud scream as he backed away before growling in anger, turning to Sulley. “It ain’t no fair that you have three people against one on me!”

“Hey, buddy, I was more than ready to ignore it, but your little meat gun fiasco forced me to take care of the problem!” Bowser growled as Crush came stomping in, stomping on one of the still working red grates to send out a fireball towards Fuzzy’s direction, burning the pink creature’s fur as Fuzzy let out another scream. Bowser then turned to Sulley as he looked a little relieved. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

Sulley gave a small sigh of relief. “I just hope this goes better than the last time I was in a three to one battle.”

Fuzzy yowled in anger as he waved his arm in a threatening way. “If only I were allowed my family in the ring with me, then all of youse would be in for a wrasslin’ time!”

“Yeah, well, as much I want all my minions in the ring, save for permission, I ain’t willing to put them in danger.” Bowser pointed out before jumping up and slashing Fuzzy up.

Fuzzy growled in anger as he held up his gun to block Bowser’s slashes… however, the pink creature wasn’t watching his back, the most vulnerable side as Crush moved in and whacked him in the back with his chicken leg club, sending Fuzzy to the ropes.

Fuzzy quickly rebounded back before steadying himself as he noticed one of the corner posts nearby. Fuzzy laughed as he climbed up the corner post and started to jump up in the air, in hopes of landing on one of the three opponents.

“Oh no you don’t!” Sulley growled as he readied his claws before getting Fuzzy in the stomach as he was midair.

Fuzzy yelped as he clutched his stomach as he immediately dropped to the ground. Crush, seeing this as a golden opportunity, ran forward as he slammed Fuzzy in the head with his club, causing the pink hillbilly creature to get dizzy.

Bowser laughed as he crossed his arms. “Well, it looks like we got our mission accomplished. Now, let’s see who eliminates him, shall we?”

Sulley and Bowser stared at each other, before looking at Crush, who was about ready to throw Fuzzy out of the ring. Nodding, both of them charged towards Crush as the blue Riptoc looked over and yelped, being slammed on the floor by both heavyset monster and Koopa respectively. That caused Fuzzy to be dropped to the ground even more.

All three of them quickly got up as they backed away, eying each other as they seemed ready to go on the attack. Before anybody could react, a bomb thrown by Bentley appeared in front of the three of them. Sulley was the first one to notice as he jumped backwards and hid behind the unconscious Fuzzy, but Bowser and Crush failed to notice it in time.

BOOM!

Both Bowser and Crush were blasted away, still dazed for the moment as Sulley yelped. Both Riptoc and Koopa were now surrounded by a green aura as they slowly came to. Not wanting to know what happened to them, Sulley quickly tossed Fuzzy out of the ring and into the portal below before investigating what was going on.

Fuzzy came to as he found himself in the same office room where Ken and Landia were sitting. “What th- oh, you’ve got to be kidding me right now!”

“Well, hello to you too.” Ken said as Fuzzy sat down. “It would seem that either the three of us are part of a Multiversal Matchup OR there’s something else that’s just as big.”

“If we was part of some Multiversal Matchup, shouldn’t there be more characters with us? At least two others.” Fuzzy pointed out.

“Yeah, I’m just as lost as you…” Ken sighed before Monika appeared.

“Ah, so all three of you have made it. Welcome.” Monika smiled. “Before you question anything further, I think a few minutes of your time will be perfectly necessary…”

The three looked a little confused as Landia cocked their heads in confusion. Fuzzy and Ken, on the other hand, looked at the schoolgirl warily as they sat down, little realizing that being in the room was healing the characters within.

Berry’s eyes shrank as she witnessed Bentley’s attack on Bowser and Crush, before turning to him in shock. “Why would you do that?”

“Like I said, I know my abilities won’t be enough, and I do need a lot of backup. As much as I hate doing this sort of thing, I think a few of my Rage Bombs will be more than enough to temporarily change those two’s minds about attacking anyone else…” Bentley pointed out.

Berry yelped as she turned in fear to see Bowser and Crush getting up as they looked around, the green aura still active. Both of them turned to Berry as they growled at her… but then they turned to each other with a growl.

Swiftly, Crush slammed Bowser on the head with his club, causing the Koopa King to yelp before growling in anger. Quickly, Bowser grabbed Crush by the neck and swung him around before tossing him out of the ring and into the portal below.

Crush recovered as he landed in My Pet Monster, where upon meeting Beastur, tried to beat him with his club. It didn’t end too well as Beastur showed his own natural strength.

Bowser’s green aura went away as he took a few deep breaths, before blinking twice in confusion. “What was that all about? What just happened?”

Berry blinked twice as she turned to Bentley. “Uh, that did not go to plan.”

“Didn’t it?” Bentley said with a smirk as he was now holding a remote with one button on it.

Berry blinked twice as she saw Bentley pushed the button. Berry looked down to see a small trap below her as it opened up and started to pull the Mew in as she was spinning around. Bentley smirked as he said, “You see, I knew that by saying I was going to get back up were you to draw attention elsewhere while I set up my REAL trap. Yes, using Crush and Bowser respectively was a bit much, but if it meant distracting you with the idea that you were going to fight both of them, it allowed me time to set up my real trap. Now, normally, this traps enemies inside and leaves health behind, but I modified this beauty to suck people in… and only I’ll release the people out. Get the picture?”

Berry’s eyes lowered as she gave a pout. “Clever trick… clever trick.”

With that, Berry got sucked in as the trap shut tight. Bentley smiled before using one of his mechanical arms to pick up the trap as he aimed the opening directly towards the outside, to the portal below. One push of a button later, and Berry was spat out in that direction.

Berry landed in the 2003 Teen Titans as she decided to team up with Raven to fight off against Jinx for ten minutes. Raven felt embarrassed to even be standing next to Berry in the first place as Jinx taunted both of them. Of course, that proved to be a mistake on Jinx’s part.

Bentley crossed his arms as he gave a nod.

“I have to admit, kid, you got a little devious this time…” Sulley’s voice sounded.

Bentley’s confidence quickly shattered as he turned his head to see Sulley’s glare, and from the look on his face, he had witness what had happened.

Bentley gave a slight chuckle. “Uh, well, you have to improve on your fighting skills from last time, and there were a few devices I didn’t use… uh, well… SMOKE BOMB!”

The wheelchair bound turtle then grabbed a smoke bomb from his pocket as he slammed it down on the ground, covering Sulley as Bentley quickly wheeled away from him. When the smoke cleared, Sulley looked around to notice that Bentley had disappeared.

Sulley just stared, before sighing. “I’ll give him this, he’s certainly upping his gameplay…”

“Okay, everyone, we’re just about done with the round, but before we see who makes it to the next round for the next three eliminations, let’s spin that wheel!” Maurice announced as Monika once again appeared on the monitor, with the wheel in hand.

Sulley could only watch as the wheel span around and around until finally… it landed on his face, much to his curiosity. “Oh? So, what did I get?”

“Sulley, for doing pretty well for yourself, you earn yourself a reward in the form of a Smash Ball.” Monika giggled as she snapped her fingers, a Smash Ball appearing in his hand. “Be sure to use it well.”

Sulley paused as he looked at the Smash Ball for a bit, before shrugging as he put it somewhere in his fur. “Well, I suppose it could be useful. I just hope Mike didn’t SEE that embarrassment of an elimination I got… or the fact I got outsmarted by a turtle.”

(Hotel; Restaurant)

Retasu was ducking down behind the counter as she noted the various amounts of food being thrown around in the area. “How did this chaos all even start here?”

“Trust me, you get plenty used to it.” Mung said as he peeked out behind with Retasu.

“Radda radda radda.” Schnitzel agreed as he peeked from Retasu’s right side.

All this time, while there were some people looking at the tournament, there were others who had turned their attention towards a battle that was taking place between three characters… or two characters with one reluctantly being dragged into the battle as he was hiding behind his friend and groaning in frustration.

“Look, man, I already explained that I had nothing to do with that practical joke!” Bloo shouted in anger as he picked up a bottle of mustard and shook it, before aiming it at Mike Wazowski. He then pushed the mustard bottle to squirt the dodgeball away from him, but in a mustard and dodgeball battle, the yellow liquid can only do so little to slow a fast curve.

“Practical joke, maybe, but to push it this far on a WAITRESS of all people, a girl who not only WORKS in this restaurant, but could very well potentially BE your opponent… you’re asking for trouble, kiddo!” Mike said as he charged forward. “ESPECIALLY when what you did was cruel!”

“But I’m telling you, I didn’t tape over the ketchup bottle!” Bloo said before being hit by Mike’s body, the imaginary friend screaming in pain as he flew off.

“He’s telling the truth, Mr. Wazowski!” Mac said as he tried to calm the atmosphere.

But Mike was too furious to remain calm as he put up his fists in an attempt to draw him out. “Come on, you little Pac-Man reject, is that all you got? Come on, come on!”

Bloo growled in anger before jumping up as he ran over to Mac. “Mac, throw me like a dodgeball! I’ll show him what for!”

“Bloo, you cannot be-” Mac tried to argue, before lowering his eyelids. “Ah, heck with it, what’s the use of trying to reason with you!”

The young kid quickly threw Bloo towards Mike was he was about ready to throw another dodgeball at the two. As if on cue, Bloo and the dodgeball collided with each other as Bloo dropped to the ground.

“Oh yeah?!” Bloo shouted in anger before getting up and grabbing a few people’s plates, much to their anger.

“Hey!” Vector the Crocodile shouted in protest as he narrowed his eyes at the blue imaginary friend, but he was ignored as Bloo threw Vector’s plate at Mike.

The plate of spaghetti immediately landed on the green cyclops’s face as Mike growled in anger. “OH! So we’re turning this into a food fight, huh? FINE! FOOD FIGHT!”

This caught the attention of most everyone in the room as everyone was either throwing food around, ducking through the tables OR just trying to sneak out of the restaurant. Two people in particular were noting the damages being caused.

“I think now’s a good time to amscray.” The person smirked as they got up.

“Are you really going to just leave these people here? What if someone finds out YOU’RE the cause?” The other person asked.

“By the time they figure it out that it wasn’t the imaginary friend, I’ll be long gone. Now, come on, let’s see what else we can mess up!”

“...there are times like this I wonder if you even have a conscience that says that what you’re doing is wrong…”

“Just come on! Oh, and let’s forget you saw me taking the ketchup bottle when nobody was looking.”

“Forgetting!” The owner of the second voice chirped adorably.

The two quickly scampered off and started to wander away. Little did the two mysterious people realize that at this very moment, someone had been watching them leave, having been the only person to have witnessed what had happened… and crossed their arms with a frown on their face.

“Well… it would seem a job is never done…” The voice sighed before hopping off as they left the room.

All the while, as food was being flung everywhere, the blue ghost like imaginary friend was holding a few plates of spinach and goulash as he looked around, before spotting Mike as he gave a shout. “GOTCHA! TASTE SPINACH AND GOULASH!”

With that, Bloo threw the plates of food towards Mike… only for them to drop short and crash everywhere, leaving tons of spinach and goulash on the floor. Bloo’s eyes shrank as Mac joined in with his hand holding his forehead in annoyance.

“Nice aim, Bloo.” Mac said in a sarcastic tone of voice.

“Really? I didn’t think it was that good.” Bloo said as he gave a sigh. “My throwing arm must be off.”

Mike smirked as he held up two bowls of hot scalding soup. “Let me tell you something, buddy! I think it’s time ‘pho’ you to talk to the soup!”

With that, Mike rolled forward and dumped the scalding soup on both Mac and Bloo as both of them yelled out in pain, before going down. Mike crossed his arms with a smirk. “Guess you two… aren’t of ‘soup’-reme quality!”

Mac groaned at both the pun AND the scalding soup. Immediately, Wilt, Coco and Eduardo ran over to both Mac and Bloo as Wilt asked, “Are you two okay?”

“No… I’m wet, there’s scalding hot soup on my head!” Bloo groaned.

All of a sudden, a whistle was heard blowing as everyone stopped what they were doing. They turned around quickly as they noticed Penelope Pitstop and Bunnie stepping into the restaurant, Penelope blowing the whistle as Ichigo came in, crossing her arms.

“All right, all of you, break it up! We will not be having ANY foot fights in this arena as long as the security team is here!” Penelope called out.

“Now, which of you little rascals started this food fight?!” Bunnie asked as she looked around.

Everybody in the room immediately pointed to Bloo and Mike as the green cyclops blinked twice, before looking around. “Wha- oh come on, why am I getting fingers pointed at me?! I was defending a lady’s honor because he taped over the ketchup bottle.”

“I’ve been trying to tell you, I didn’t!” Bloo yelled in anger.

“He’s telling the truth!” Mac groaned. “Bloo’s been with us the whole time.”

“Wait, wha-?” Mike blinked.

“Si, it’s true!” Eduardo nodded. “Azul has been sitting with us the whole time and we were chatting over what he was going to do in the ring once he entered, since he had higher number.”

“That’s exactly what was going on! We only noticed the ketchup bottle being spilled on this girl’s face AFTER she spilled it.” Bloo frowned. “In other words, you got the wrong guy!”

Mike blinked as he looked rather awkward. “Oh… uh, I feel embarrassed…”

Penelope paused as she looked around and picked up the ketchup bottle in question, noticing the tape under the cap. “Yep, story checks out…”

“If anybody is still in here and they taped this ketchup bottle, step up.” Bunnie called as she looked around… but silence filled the room. The rabbit robot frowned. “Well, either they’re very good at keeping secrets, or they’ve been long gone.”

“It’s fine, really…” Ichigo sighed. “The main question is… this restaurant is now a mess! Looks like we’ll have to clean everything up…”

“Allow me to hire assistants for you this time, Ichigo…” Ryou said as he stepped over, watching this from afar, before pointing towards Mike, Bloo and Mac. “You three may not have intentionally humiliated my employee, BUT you still caused this destruction. So you clean up EVERY spic and span of this place UNTIL it’s spotless!”

Mike’s one eye widened… before lowering it. “Okay, fair enough…”

“Fair enough? FAIR ENOUGH?! NO! NOT FAIR ENOUGH! SOMEWHERE OUT THERE IS A MYSTERIOUS PRANKSTER WHO JUST STRUCK IN THE RESTAURANT! YOU TWO!” Bloo barked as he turned towards Penelope and Bunnie. “YOU’RE THE ONES IN SECURITY! TRACK DOWN THAT PRANKSTER AND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE!”

Bunnie and Penelope paused before looking at each other… before Penelope sighed. “Sorry, dear. I wish we could, but…”

“Darling, we’re only looking for villains intending actual HARM on people. And as far as the ketchup bottle tape gag is a bit cruel, I think it was just intended to be a harmless prank.” Bunnie pointed out.

Ichigo sighed. “Yeah, you guys sort of escalated this fiasco by turning the restaurant into a warzone, so…”

Mac sighed as he gave a nod. “I guess a lot of us did overreact. All right, we’ll clean up. We don’t have to enter the ring until a lot later, so Bloo and I should have time.”

“Yeah, and I do want to make up for causing this mess.” Mike said in embarrassment. “Just let me know when I’ve done a good job cleaning everything, okay?”

Ryou nodded towards Mac and Mike. “Fair enough. Once I feel you’ve cleaned up everywhere, you’re good to go.”

“Uh, hey, would it be okay if Eduardo, Coco and I helped too?” Wilt asked. “We are technically with Mac and Bloo and we intended to just be in the restaurant for a short while, but seeing as how we don’t have anything to do…”

Ryou sighed. “Fine, whatever.”

As everyone was quickly discussing the damages to the dining area and what to clean (with Coco already laying down eggs to get a mop, bucket and broom respectively), Bloo was the only person frowning as he crossed his arms.

“Oh no, I’m not giving up this easily! I don’t know who you are, mysterious prankster, but rest assured, I will have my revenge! You won’t get by me for long!”

Bloo paused before looking back as he noticed everyone else talking. Nobody was watching him. Giving a snicker to himself, Bloo quietly slipped away and ran out the doors.

“All right, so it’s settled?” Mike asked as everyone nodded. “Okay, let’s get to work so that I can get back to training for the tournament, hm?”

“Fair idea.” Mac said as he picked up a mop. “Come on, Bloo, let’s just do this quick.”

After a moment of silence, Mac paused as he turned towards where Bloo was standing, only to find he wasn’t there. Mac slapped his forehead in annoyance. “Oh no…”

Everyone had noticed the blue imaginary friend took off as well as Wilt, Eduardo and Coco’s eyes lowered.

“Coco coco coco co?” Coco asked in a very sarcastic tone.

“I agree Coco, I guess it’s not too surprising Bloo took off on his own… again.” Wilt frowned as he held his head.

“Do you want us to go find him?” Penelope asked. “He couldn’t have wandered TOO far…”

“Please do.” Mac sighed. “Like I said, we don’t have to be in the ring until way later, but it’d be better to have him closeby.”

“All right, sug!” Bunnie nodded as she and Penelope walked out of the room. “We’ll keep a lookout for your blue imaginary friend for ya.”

With that, the two security team members departed as everyone stood in silence… before Ryou looked around.

“Well, don’t just stand there! GET WORKING!” Ryou shouted.

Everybody immediately jumped up as they started to get to work around the restaurant area, little realizing that Pudding and Chowder, having come out of the kitchen, and holding deliveries, looked over and winced at the damages.

“It’s a good thing we were all inside the kitchen keeping track of the orders.” Chowder said with a smile.

“And holding you back from eating each one.” Pudding rolled her eyes, before giving a nod. “But yeah, by the time we get our deliveries done and we get back here, the restaurant will be spic and span!”

“How long will that be?” Chowder asked as he and Pudding walked out of the restaurants.

“Section Three results… Section Four at the latest. Give or take.” Pudding said. “It IS going to be a longer tournament than normal, so let’s just kick back where we can.”

(The Arena)

For the first section of this tournament, things have been dying down mostly on the chaotic end of things, with only three battles remaining… well, two battles, but one person was getting bored as they interrupted a three way fight as they dragged that person away.

“How dare you try to drag me away from a battle! I am this close to getting that robot… and that hunter man with the spear!” Sir Daniel Fortesque complained as best as he could without his lower jaw as Bowser settled him down.

“Look, buddy, I don’t know what you’re saying, but I’m feeling a bit antsy right now, and I didn’t want to wait until ONE of you two eliminates the other. Let’s just say, I’ve been compelled to battle even more since I got blinded by a momentary amount of rage… I still don’t know how that happened…”

Sir Daniel narrowed his eyes, before lifting his sword. “Ha ha! In that case, you beast, you have made the mistake of challenging the likes of the hero of Gallowmere!”

Bowser paused, before giving a small eyeroll and a grunt. “Yeah, pal, I still don’t know what you’re saying.”

Sir Daniel growled in anger. “I’ll show you!”

With that, the skeleton raised his sword and slashed Bowser in the chest, causing the Koopa king to hold his stomach in pain. “Okay, THAT I understood.”

Before Bowser could get a chance to retaliate with an attack, Daniel jumped in the air and threw an ethereal axe in the air, charging at Bowser before nicking him on the nose. The skeleton hero immediately grabbed the axe as it went back in his hand, before pocketing it. Sir Daniel immediately then pulled out a large hammer as he slammed Bowser multiple times in the head, before kicking the Koopa forward.

Bowser groaned a bit, before shaking his head, giving a narrow glare towards Sir Daniel. Noticing the ropes, Bowser got an idea as he went near them, before withdrawing in his shell and started to roll around like a ball before going near the ropes as he used them as a catapult to rush forward and bowl over Sir Daniel, sending the knight and his skeletal bones flying in the air for a moment.

As quickly as possible, Sir Daniel reassembled himself as he growled at Bowser angrily, the Koopa only holding a smug look on his face as the large Koopa king was taking a deep breath. Figuring that Bowser’s next move was going to be fire breath, the hero of Gallowmere quickly pulled out his shield, only for Bowser to switch tactics as he pulled out a strange looking weapon from his shell. A large gun like weapon that the Koopa king hoisted on his shoulder.

“All right, pal, say hello to my Bowzooka!” Bowser laughed before pulling the trigger as a large fireball projectile came in and struck Sir Daniel’s shield. The impact from that left an explosion that sent Sir Daniel up in the air. Seizing the opportunity in and of itself, Bowser quickly ran forward and punched Sir Daniel so hard, he was sent flying out of the ring.

Bowser laughed as he crossed his arms, giving a small smirk to himself. “Nobody outdoes the king!”

Sir Daniel landed in Killer Instinct, where he went toe to toe with Spinal.

Numbuh One was having a little bit of a tough time, but at least compared to someone like Akane from last tournament, he was seemingly tracking Kukri’s every move. Although, to Sector V’s leader, it was getting annoying having to fight against someone that can use sand to teleport behind them.

“YAH!” Kukri shouted as he kicked Numbuh One in the back as the kid was sent flying. Then, using his hand to summon some sand, Kukri began to fly in the air as he started to cycle the bald kid with multiple kicks before sending him flying and landing on the ground. Kukri gave a light chuckle to himself. “Is that the best you got?”

Numbuh One could only chuckle. “You think your little sand tricks are going to annoy me? Buddy, my friends and I have been to the beach plenty of times, and I’m pretty sure Numbuh Four and I get buried in the sand a few times. I’ll admit I’ve never fought a geomancer like you, but I’ll consider it good practice for if I EVER have to face one of those.”

Kukri gave a light chuckle as he readied the floating sand in his hand. “You think you can outbest me, when you couldn’t even get an elimination last time you were in one of these things?”

“You didn’t get an elimination either in the last Tournament of Kikai.” Numbuh One pointed out.

Kukri stopped for a short, brief period as he tried to come up with a response… before growling angrily. “SHUT UP! And taste my wrath!”

With that, Kukri zipped forward, leaving more sand illusions before slamming Numbuh One in the chest. However, just at that moment, the jets on Numbuh One’s shoes began to activate as he took to the air. As quick as he could, the kid pulled out the S.P.I.C.E.R. and shot a pepper cloud below him as it covered Kukri in the face.

This caused Kukri to stop as he took in the pepper and started to sniffle. “Ah… ah… ah! ACHOO!”

Kukri sneezed as he stumbled backwards. This left Numbuh One with an opening as he circled down as he pulled out his G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A. and shot a rapid fire amount of gumballs to the man’s head.

Kukri shouted in pain as he quickly got up and narrowed his eyes at the kid. “You know, for a little squirt, you’re certainly annoying!”

The man then let out a loud shout before rapidly teleporting forward, leaving behind a few sand illusions, before trying to make his move and get Numbuh One from behind.

But the kid saw it coming as he shook his head. “Not this time!”

Numbuh One flew up with his boots quickly, leaving the geomancer to whiff his attacks. Numbuh One panted before pulling out a familiar looking Smash Ball.

“I didn’t think I’d be the first one to use their Final Smash/Punch Time Explosion, but desperate times call for desperate measures!”

With that, Numbuh One crushed his hand on the Smash Ball as he started to glow a blue aura. He smirked as he gave a shout. “ATTACK!”

With that, the kid pulled out two pepper spice guns, ones that were known as S.C.A.M.P.P. or Soup Can And Magnified Photon Phlaser. With that, he used his rocket boots to go up in the air and spray around the area Kukri was.

The man began to cough as he tried to get through the pepper clouds, but he felt like he was being damaged at every turn. “What is this…”

Numbuh One laughed a bit before aiming his gun in the air and shooting out bottles in the air… yes, BOTTLES. The laser functionality in the guns weren’t quite working, but Numbuh One found that quirk interesting enough to keep, and he did use those specific guns in Punch Time Explosion, so it was merely details at best. Those bottles were enough to knock Kukri off his feet as he fell down to the floor.

Seeing as how Kukri was done, Numbuh One swooped in and grabbed Kukri by the hood as he gave a smirk.

“Where you’re going, you won’t be able to cause trouble.” Numbuh One said before tossing the man out of the ring and into the portal below.

Kukri landed in Final Fantasy Tactics where he went one on one with the Geomancer.

Numbuh One gave a sigh of relief as he landed down on the ground. Noticing one fight left, he figured that the best he can do at the moment was go over and check over with Raphael. After all, for better or worse, the red bandana wearing turtle WAS his alliance partner.

”CRITICAL DAMAGE IN THRUSTERS!” R.O.B. panicked as he tried to keep himself afloat, but it was pretty useless as the robot cursed itself.

Ever since Elmer decided to interrupt the robot’s fight with Sir Daniel, the two of them found themselves working together against the man who was wearing his ‘What’s Opera, Doc’ uniform, but during the battle, his nodal companion, Bowser, came by and took Sir Daniel, leaving the robot to fend for himself.

Elmer, at the moment, seemed to be enjoying himself as he raised his arms up in the air to summon lightning clouds as rain started to pour down in the arena. “Well, well, Mr. Wobot! Considah youwsewf swowed down! Now that I got a good costume from the Safe Zone, I think I have moah of a goahden oppahtunity!”

”HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ONE COSTUME CHANGE TO GIVE YOU POWERS?” R.O.B. asked in confusion.

“You just watch as I do it… with my spear and magic helmet!” Elmer sang as he pointed to his helmet as it started to glow gold.

”YOUR SPEAR AND MAGIC HELMET?” R.O.B. blinked twice.

”Spear and magic helmet!” Elmer declared as he raised his arms up.

”MAGIC HELMET?”

”MAGIC HELMET!!”

R.O.B. lowered his eyes in annoyance. ”MAGIC HELMET…”

”Yes, magic helmet! And I’ll give you a samplllllllllleeeee!” Elmer sang in an operatic style as he held the note long. As soon as he was done, everybody in the audience applauded the reference (even Xero, Maurice and Monika were applauding hard).

Elmer gave a small smile, before raising his arms up in the air. “WIGHTNING, STWIKE THE WOBOT!”

He then pointed his arms towards the robot as lightning struck down near the robot, causing R.O.B. to yelp as he pushed himself backwards, before throwing a few gyro tops towards the hunter, dinking his armor a bit. R.O.B. then proceeded to shoot some lasers out of his eyes to throw Elmer off kilter as the hunter got affected by the lasers.

“YEOWCH!” Elmer shouted in pain as the laser hit his arm, causing him to hold it as the rain and lightning temporarily stopped. Elmer growled in anger as he pulled out… a rather wooden hammer as he wiggled it.

R.O.B. jumped back. ”ERROR! ERROR! YOU DO NOT HAVE A HAMMER IN THIS FORM?!”

“Technicawwy, yes I do! This costume had me wield this magic hammer in a boss fight one time!" Elmer smirked, before looking up at the announcer’s booth. “Isn’t that wight, wabbit?!”

Xero gave a small deep breath. “Figured that Elmer would point to me and call me ‘wabbit’, since Bugs isn’t around…” He then went to the microphone. “Yes, the hammer is a legit weapon for Elmer to use as part of his Siegfried Elmer costume. It wasn’t in ‘What’s Opera, Doc’ or World of Mayhem, but Elmer DID don the costume and wield this weapon in Bugs Bunny and Taz: Time Busters.”

R.O.B. blinked as he said, ”CALCULATING CHANCES. RESULT… OH NO.”

Elmer gave his trademark laugh as he ran forward and raised his magic hammer, before slamming the robot’s head down, causing the robot to get down.

Elmer smirked before using his hammer as a golf club, aiming it at R.O.B.’s midcenter. “FORE!”

The hunter/Viking then swung his hammer as R.O.B. was sent flying out of the ring and into the portal below, giving everyone a chance to applaud the efforts of the hunter.

R.O.B. landed in Robots, where Rodney and Fender were examining the new arrival in curiosity, wondering what type of robot he was.

Elmer smiled as he held up his arms in victory, a fanfare playing that signified the end of the round. The hunter quickly looked around to see who was left out of everyone.

Beaky and Launchpad had long since ditched their Scrabble game and were now moving onto checkers, as the buzzard was busy contemplating a move, Launchpad waiting patiently. Bowser was playing to the crowd a bit as he was showing off his muscles and laughing, while Sulley was sighing in relief and relaxing near the ropes. Demyx, knowing that his Sticky Shoes punishment was over, felt relieved as he felt movement in his legs again, before strumming his sitar for the audience. Raphael was holding Espeon close and petting her on her lap, the purple cat Pokemon oddly finding the lap of the turtle comforting, with Numbuh One watching in curiosity. Cerebella was busy performing circus tricks with her hat Vice-Versa, right as Bentley turned visible, looking relieved that nobody had noticed him. And finally, Garnet was looking towards the monitors, knowing that any time now, the end of the round wheel spin was about to commence.

Elmer gave a nod as he patted his pocket, having an idea for what to do with this token given to him in the Safe Zone.

“Okay, folks, the end of the first round is here! And before we get to the second round, it’s time to spin the wheel! Monika, do the honors!” Xero announced as Monika came on screen, with everybody turning their heads.

“With pleasure!” Monika giggled before the wheel started to spin around and around… before landing directly on a certain duck’s face.

Launchpad looked rather surprised, before giving a chuckle. “Oh wow! I get to choose the new round twist? Hey, that’s an honor! Hey, Beaky, you don’t mind pausing the game for a moment, do you?”

“Uh, buh, uh… sure, pal.” Beaky nodded as Launchpad got up as he approached the monitor.

“Okay, so how does this work? What are my choices? Do I select three envelopes or…” Launchpad asked.

Maurice held up his hands to silence Launchpad for a moment before explaining, “For those who don’t know how this works, basically, the player who gets landed on in the wheel at the end of the round will get a chance to select the twist for the next round, which could help them, help others, OR even give any of you in the audience a chance in the next round! Either way, the twist will go into effect in the round after all thirty players… or more, depending on the twist… comes in!”

“Anyway, we got some new twists this time, and we want to specialize in THOSE first, before doing anything else.” Xero said before three envelopes appeared before Launchpad, floating in the air. “So, Launchpad, you will have the choices of ‘Arena Split’, ‘Monika’s Twist’ and ‘Redemption Arc’.”

Launchpad raised an eyebrow as he looked at the three choices, with everyone looking intrigued. “What do they do?”

“We can’t tell you that. Pick an envelope you think might be best for the round, and then we’ll speak then.” Xero said as Launchpad paused to think.

Everyone paused as they waited for Launchpad’s choice. Elmer was waiting nearby, patting his pocket, crossing his fingers in hopes Launchpad could select the right envelope…

Launchpad paused briefly… before snapping his fingers. “Redemption Arc must mean a returning fighter, right? I mean, there were a lot of fighters that didn’t get a chance to shine in the last round, and… you know what? I’m a fan of the underdogs, so… I’ll pick Redemption Arc!”

With that, Launchpad picked up the envelope. This gave a shine to Elmer’s eyes as he reached into his pocket.

Xero and Maurice nodded as Maurice said, “A good choice. And a good guess, Launchpad. With Redemption Arc-”

“WAIT!”

Everyone stopped as they turned to see Elmer Fudd walking up, and pulling out a token. “Earwiah in the Safe Zone, as I went in to change, I was given a chawwenge by Monika hersewf. It happens once a wound, and ANYBODY can enter the Safe Zone, not just Wooney Tune chawactahs like me! The point is, the first person to enter a Safe Zone in the round will have a chance to pway a chawwenge. Time stops outside, so yes, two minutes IS twue on the outside, but on the inside, you have more time… wike twenty minutes, not onwy to change into your outfits, BUT to pway this random chawwenge! Anyway, I took a gamble and it paid off! I wanna pway my token now!”

Everyone jumped as they looked at Elmer in shock. Even the next fighters that were waiting in the wings were just as shocked to hear Elmer’s declaration…

(Office Building)

On the TV, Ken, Fuzzy and Landia looked a little surprised as they found themselves perfectly healed and their weapons perfectly fine. Ken paused before giving a smirk. “Well, well, well, this could prove interesting now…”

“Uh, what does that mean for us, though?” Fuzzy asked in curiosity.

All of a sudden, the screen turned off before two more monitors appeared, each of them labeled with Ken, Fuzzy and Landia’s names… as they immediately turned green. A portal immediately opened up as Monika’s voice was heard through the speakers.

“Ken “Godhand” Mishima… Fuzzy Lumpkins… Landia… welcome back to the ring.”

RESULTS: (13 Votes)

LAUNCHPAD MCQUACK (DTAAS): 12:1= 11 (Boyd, Kitty Ko)

BOWSER (SSB): 10:3= 7 (Crush, Sir Daniel Fortesque)

ELMER FUDD (LT: WoM): 10:3= 7 (Gato, R.O.B.)

GARNET (MV): 10:3= 7 (Ed)

DEMYX (KH): 9:4= 5 (Dean)

SULLEY (KH): 9:4= 5 (Fuzzy Lumpkins)

BENTLEY (SC): 9:4= 5 (Berry Shirayuki)

BEAKY BUZZARD (LT: WoM): 8:5= 3 (Patti Mayonnaise)

NUMBUH ONE (CN: PTE): 8:5= 3 (Kukri)

ESPEON (PKMN): 8:5= 3 (Landia)

RAPHAEL (NAS): 8:5= 3 (Ken “Godhand” Mishima)

CEREBELLA (SG): 7:6= 1 (Jack Turner)

(ELIMINATED)

KEN “GODHAND” MISHIMA (E): 7:6= 1 (Infinite)

FUZZY LUMPKINS (PPG): 7:6= 1 (Fred Fredburger)

LANDIA (K): 6:7= -1 (Spike)

JACK TURNER (AoF): 6:7= -1

FRED FREDBURGER (TGAoB&M): 6:7= -1

SPIKE (T&J: WotW): 6:7= -1

SIR DANIEL FORTESQUE (PSASBR): 6:7= -1

KITTY KO (SK): 5:8= -3

BERRY SHIRAYUKI (TMM): 5:8= -3

CRUSH (StD): 5:8= -3

ED (SF): 5:8= -3

PATTI MAYONNAISE (DTAAS): 5:8= -3

INFINITE (StH): 4:9= -5

R.O.B. (SSB): 4:9= -5

KUKRI (KOFXV): 3:10= -7

BOYD (TRF): 3:10= -7

DEAN (FF): 2:11= -9

GATO (KOFXV): 1:12= -11

SIDE BATTLES:

”Where’s Your Sense of Humor?”

MIKE WAZOWSKI (KH/MI) disciplines MAC & BLOO (CN: PTE/FHfIF)

11 to 2

TOP 10 ELIMINATIONS: Launchpad McQuack (2), Bowser (2), Elmer Fudd (2), Beaky Buzzard (1), Demyx (1), Cerebella (1), Sulley (1), Numbuh One (1), Bentley (1), Garnet (1)

Strong Start for Cartoons: So far, Elmer and Launchpad have earned two eliminations each, with Garnet, Sulley, Beaky, Numbuh One AND Raph getting one elimination each. Even Fuzzy himself got an elimination, even if he didn’t survive the section. However, that may change considering the first round is Redemption Arc...

Speaking of Redemption Arc: I’m actually surprised to see how many people voted for Numbuh One, considering he didn’t survive his debut section in the last tournament. Maybe with new voters and returning ones, it could mean redemption for some fighters. And I’m looking forward to those possibilities!

Chapter Text

(The Arena)

As the arena was resetting itself around the contestants by getting rid of all the grates (since Crush had been long since eliminated), the eleven remaining players looked at Elmer with a mixture of shock, confusion and raised eyebrows. None of them could believe what Elmer had just said, how could this even be possible? What type of trick was Elmer Fudd trying to pull on everyone?

“Wait a minute!” Numbuh One said as he waved his arms, before walking over to Elmer. “Now, I know a lot about how this tournament works, heck, I was part of it last year… what is this about you pulling this stunt now?”

“Yeah, come on man!” Demyx said as he looked at Elmer in exasperation. “Don’t take over Launchpad’s credit like that!”

“But it’s twue!” Elmer said as he held up the token. “This token is vewy much weal, and I want to pway it.”

The others looked at the hunter with pure exasperated looks on their faces before Raphael gave a small growl. “You have some nerve to ruin the moment, pal!”

“Rude as it is, I’m afraid what Elmer says is accurate.” Maurice announced as everybody immediately turned to the Announcer’s Booth. “We did say earlier that the Safe Zone CAN be used by anyone, not just the Looney Tunes. And Elmer just revealed that reason.”

“There’s a lot more to the Safe Zone I didn’t quite reveal, and I wanted to wait on revealing those details until AFTER one of the characters stepped up and showed off their prize.” Xero said. “You see, like Elmer says, people can spend their time in the tent for two minutes to change… but there’s a lot more to it than that.”

“Once you’re inside the tent, if someone enters it for the first time in any round, that person gets to play a first come, first serve little game where they can get a chance to play for something extra, that could benefit themselves or others.” Maurice explained as most everyone looked at the announcer’s booth in awe.

“So that’s why you hyped up that Safe Zone so much…” Bentley said as he looked curious. “Interesting note…”

“Yeah… however, while you guys can come into the Safe Zone at any time to change clothes, deep inside, if someone enters it first, time will freeze for them, and they will have twenty minutes in there, because, again, there is the option of a game that Monika sets up.” Xero explained as Monika appeared on one of the monitors.

“Guilty!” Monika giggled in glee. “So yes, during all the rounds that are played, the first person to enter the Safe Zone while the fights are going on in said round get a chance to play a small little mini game of my choosing, and depending on how well they do, they get a prize, that could benefit them or others.”

Now everyone was interested as they looked back at the Safe Zone in interest. Monika then took a deep breath. “BUT… the games will not be set up until AFTER all the fighters in the round are introduced. You can enter the Safe Zone quick to change as the fighters are called out, but there’s no game to be played during that time. And hey, if any of you want to go to the Safe Zone if you feel like you need something OR you want to play it safe… well, you may want to have to fight for that, as I’m sure a lot of you are NOW interested in that Safe Zone.”

Everybody was now looking rather curious as some of them looked rather interested.

“One other thing. I reiterate, only the FIRST player to come in the Safe Zone during a round WILL get a chance to play one of my games. Other players can still come to the Safe Zone, but if they do, there’s no game to be played. Just keep that in mind.” Monika explained.

(Announcer’s Booth)

Xero nodded as he turned off his mike for a minute before turning to the camera. “Now, while Elmer was a bit of a freebie to show off how the Safe Zone works… the writer will now be opening a new section of the voteform, which is to select the five players currently in the round to be involved in one of the Safe Zone challenges. The catch is, you guys can only put ONE character per franchise in the top five Safe Zone form. What I mean is, you can only have ONE Smash Bros character on your list, ONE Looney Tunes character, ONE character per node each round. The character that gets the highest number of votes WILL get a chance to play a minigame in the Safe Zone for a prize. What happens in the Safe Zone will be decided by the writer, YOU’RE going to be the ones to select characters… and yes, if you put any characters for Die Votes, let a few of them in to get a chance in the Safe Zone too. Chances are, if they get chosen, they don’t make it, but that’s a story for another time. All right, back to the tournament.”

(The Arena)

“You guys think this’ll be worth the trouble? Excited to see who gets the Safe Room first?” Maurice asked.

Everyone looked around as now each of them were as eager as before, looking more ready than ever.

“All right, then! Now, before all this happened, I believe Elmer was about to play his token.” Maurice pointed out.

“Wight. Hewe you are.” Elmer said as he held up the token.

The token disappeared in Elmer’s hand (being glitched out) before appearing on Monika’s screen as she looked at it, before giving a grin.

“The token is real, all right!” Monika giggled. “I oughta know, I gave it to the hunter.”

Xero coughed as he said, “Now, before Elmer interrupted, we were just about to explain how Redemption Arc works.”

“Launchpad is right that Redemption Arc gives a player from the last round a second chance to return to the arena, being teleported out of their trapped node and back into the ring for a new chance to fight, as long as they have at least zero to one eliminations in their name.” Maurice explained. “And that’s usually decided by me and Xero through who we think had a lot of potential and deserves a second chance.”

“Via the writer using a random number generator.” Xero pointed out… before pausing. “Not that I’d know about that.”

“Anyway, that’s what normally would happen. HOWEVER…” Maurice said as Monika held the token up. “Elmer came in and played the Last Round Players Comeback Token. That token can only be played while Redemption Arc has been chosen.”

“If that token is played, instead of using a random number generator to bring someone out of a node back to play the game, we bring back EVERYBODY that got an elimination in the round prior to play for another shot in the tournament!” Xero grinned. “REGARDLESS if they have more than one or zero eliminations.”

“The number usually ranges from one to five, depending on the number of Big Guys from the previous round.” Maurice explained. “So that means the three people that just got eliminated last round? All three of them got an elimination EACH last round… and every round except for Big Guy Blockers or Redemption Arcs, the players that got an elimination but didn’t survive the section, will be kept in a separate room to see if they get a chance to make it back into the game. If nobody plays the Last Round Players Comeback Token WHEN Redemption Arc is in play, they will just be sent to a random node together. However, with Elmer playing the token… well, let’s start by bringing back the three fighters that got eliminations, but didn’t survive the section last round!”

“Starting with…” Xero smiled as a portal appeared next to the ring.

”KEN “GODHAND” MISHIMA!” (E)

Immediately, the Mishima walked back out of the ring, giving a smirk as everyone was cheering loudly. Giving a small chuckle to himself, he walked back into the ring as he gave a wave to the crowd.

“It is wonderful to see my story’s not over yet.” Godhand laughed before clapping his hands. “And I’ll be sure to not disappoint…”

With that, Godhand looked over towards Raphael, who looked at the man in surprise. Godhand sneered at the turtle, before shaking his head and turning towards the arena.

Raphael paused as Numbuh One raised an eyebrow, turning to the turtle. “You know, I’m surprised he’s not coming after you.”

“Because he’s seen what I can do.” Raphael said before giving a light chuckle to himself. “Not that I blame him, he’s making a smart choice to avoid me unless we have to meet on the battlefield again.”

Numbuh One paused slightly as he examined Ken, looking a bit weary.

”FUZZY LUMPKINS!” (PPG)

Sulley’s eyes popped wide opened, before glaring at the announcer’s booth. “YOU LET HIM BACK IN?!”

“Hey, he had an elimination last round! Therefore, he’s eligible to come back!” Xero argued.

The crowd started to hype themselves up as the pink hillbilly creature came running in as he gave a light chuckle, blushing a bit, before shaking his head and noticing Sulley was in the crowd. Giving a low growl, he held up his gun.

“YOU HURT JOE!” Fuzzy said as he showed his perfectly fine banjo. Fuzzy stopped shortly as he examined the banjo, before narrowing his eyes at the monster. “LAST ROUND!”

“Oh, for goodness sake!” Sulley groaned as Fuzzy started to charge towards the blue monster.

All of a sudden, Bowser came in and body slammed Fuzzy as he sat down on the pink creature, Fuzzy muffling on the floor in anguish as Bowser looked towards Sulley. “Yeah, we are not having a repeat of Fuzzy vs Sulley.”

Sulley gave a small sigh of relief, nodding towards Bowser as a sign of appreciation. Bowser gave the blue furred monster a thumbs up.

”LANDIA!” (K)

Espeon lifted her head in surprise as she saw the four headed dragon fly back in, with everybody cheering the dragon on. The four heads looked around before giving a nod as they flew over to where Espeon, Raphael and Numbuh One was.

”Uh, no hard feelings about what I did?” Espeon said sheepishly as her ears lowered down.

”Don’t worry. I will commend you for a good Dazzling Gleam. I’ll admit, I didn’t see it coming.” Landia said as it gave a low, happy growl. ”In fact, I think you and your friends are worthy enough.”

”...that turtle’s not my friend.” Espeon said. ”But I’ll be glad to team up this time.”

Numbuh One raised an eyebrow as he watched the psychic cat and the four headed dragon talking before turning to Raphael. “Uh, do you know what they’re saying?”

“I’m not quite sure of it, BUT… it would seem the dragon is going to be on our side for the time being.” Raphael said as the four headed dragon turned towards the red bandana wearing turtle and nodded swiftly.

Numbuh One paused as he lowered his shades a bit in surprise… before giving a smile. Somehow, his new alliance was growing a bit more bigger than he thought…

Xero smiled as he gave a nod. “Those three have been given a second chance in the game, and they will be playing the round once again. The only catch is, while the others will get a fatigue vote, due to being eliminated, Ken, Fuzzy and Landia will NOT get one, and start fresh.”

Godhand smirked as he looked up. “Well, I know I’m not letting this second chance go to waste!”

Fuzzy muffled under the ground as Landia gave a small growl.

Elmer gave a small chuckle as he looked around, before nodding. “At weast I made a small impact…”

“Wow… I did not know all this would happen when I picked up that envelope…” Launchpad said as he rubbed his head. “Sheesh, it’s all confusing, even to me. I think I want to go back to checkers… something simple…”

With that, Launchpad walked back over to Beaky as he sat down on the other side of the checkerboard, with Beaky moving his piece.

“Uh, buh… your move, Launchpad.” Beaky said.

With everyone else, there was a lot to take in… with the brand new Safe Zone twist, AND the fact three people that were eliminated last round just came back in… they knew it was just going to be as chaotic as before.

Pretty soon, the spotlight shined on the curtain, meaning this time, fifteen new fighters were about to join everyone in the fray. All of a sudden, the music started up as the HampsterDance, of all songs, was playing through the speakers, causing everyone to blink twice.

”RICK!” (K)

Everyone cooed and squealed adorably as the large hamster came walking in before looking around and giving a wave towards the audience. Rick smiled as he climbed up to the ramp and looked around before spotting Cerebella. As he approached the circus girl, Cerebella noticed Rick coming forward as she gave a smile.

“Well, aren’t you a cutie!” Cerebella smiled as she leaned down. “How did you end up in a tournament like this?”

“You’d be surprised at the many things we get to do.” Rick said, speaking in an Australian accent. “G’day, mate, my name is Rick, and seeing as how you’re the strongest by a mile, Ah figure we could do a good battle.”

Cerebella jumped in shock, being thrown off by the Australian accent. “Whoa… I didn’t think you could talk!”

“Well, the Kirby anime gave us all voices save for Kirby.” Rick explained. “Why do ya think Dedede speaks in that Southern accent all the time?”

“...huh. I never thought about it that way.” Cerebella scratched her head, before giving a smile. “So, a battle huh? Well, let’s see what you can do!”

Rick laughed as he readied himself. “You better watch yourself, mate, I’ve been practicing a fair deal.”

Cerebella could only blink twice as she scratched her head. “I am not sure I’ll ever get used to this voice…”

”TASMANIAN SHE-DEVIL!” (LT: WoM)

A brown mini-tornado immediately came swirling in as everyone was giving a mixed reaction to the newcomer in the ring. However, the person spinning didn’t notice as she had passed by the ramp and went into the arena via destroying an entire section of the ropes.

Monika appeared onscreen and sighed as the box appeared again, showing ‘ArenaRopes.fixed’ appeared, with the ropes glitching back into existence once more.

Once the spinning creature stopped, everyone got a good, closer look at her. The creature seemed to be a female version of Taz, only with lipstick and red hair, wearing a pink dress and a pearl necklace as she was hopping up and down, babbling in anger. She was a little growly because she knew her no-good husband, Taz, was probably lying around somewhere, acting like he was back in his teenage years.

Still, she had no reason to complain, since she knew his number was FAR beyond hers. All she could hope for was a streak, but it wouldn’t hurt to beat up anybody in her path.

As the Tasmanian She-Devil looked around, she immediately spotted Sulley looking around before his eyes looked towards hers. The She-Devil, suddenly looking rather interest, started to spin towards her new target.

Sulley yelped a bit as he noted the angry glare in the She-Devil’s eyes. “I think she’s serious about battling… well, who am I to turn down a lady, right?”

”DOCTOR SHEMP!” (StD)

The yellow shaman gnorc came walking in to little applause, but he gave a laugh as he waved his wooden staff with glee, hoping to grab the attention of everyone. He still couldn’t believe that he, along with the other Spyro 1 and 3 villains were included in this shindig of a tournament, but he wasn’t complaining. No, Shemp was going to climb into the ring and prove that he was the one in charge of the Peace Keepers Realm for a reason.

As soon as Dr. Shemp climbed into the ring, he immediately noticed Beaky and Launchpad still focused on their checkers game. Frowning and figuring he’d put an end to that madness, Dr. Shemp waddled over to the birds before lifting up his staff and slamming the checkerboard, destroying it, causing Beaky and Launchpad to jump in surprise.

“Awww, shucks! And I just figured out the best move.” Beaky said as he looked down.

Launchpad frowned before turning to Dr. Shemp, crossing his arms. “Hey, pal, I don’t know who you are or what your deal is, but that was a perfectly good checkerboard you just destroyed, and me and my friend can’t finish my game now!”

Dr. Shemp stared at Launchpad, before pointing and laughing at him, before hopping away. Launchpad gave a small groan before turning to Beaky. “Will you be okay on your own? It seems this guy needs to take a little hint.”

“Uh, well, uh…” Beaky paused briefly, before giving a small nod. “Uh, yes, I suppose I could wait…”

“All right! Great! Try to stay alive out there!” Launchpad said as he started to chase after the yellow Gnorc in armor.

This left Beaky alone as he leaned towards the ropes… as the buzzard quietly hummed to himself.

(Hotel; Arcade)

“No way, I can’t believe you actually did that!”

“Seriously, how did you even get AWAY with all that?”

“Heh, I’m just full of surprises…”

The two figures that had left the restaurant earlier had met up with three familiar figures as they headed straight for the arcade, where an assortment of people were playing through different games, with a few people not scheduled to enter the arena until sometime soon. However, the figures secluded themselves to a small corner of the room where they couldn’t be seen talking to each other as the figure at the head of the table was recounting her tales at what happened at the restaurant.

The blonde haired girl with the pink bow and pink jumper was chuckling wholeheartedly at recounting the story as she said, “And the food fight that escalated from that little prank! Wow, I knew I was good, but I didn’t think I’d get smooth with that delivery! And the best part is, I actually got away with the tape in the ketchup bottle bit!”

Gerald groaned as he shook his head. “Helga G. Pataki, you are something else.”

“...I’m more surprised you resisted doing this BACK when the third Battle of the Luminaries occurred.” Rhonda frowned.

“Because I’m not dumb… and I wanted to get a good layout of the place and where things were before I went all out.” Helga explained. “Of course, being in the arena during that time certainly gave me a few ideas…”

“Helga, look, we don’t mind a good natured practical joke as much as the next person, but with that last one causing a food fight in the restaurant… aren’t you worried security might be on your tail?” Nadine asked.

“That’s the best part.” Helga smiled. “As long as they know it’s just a prank, it’s harmless at best. It’s the people that overreact to the prank where it starts to get a bit funny…”

Phoebe sighed as she shook her head. “Helga, I know you have a REALLY late draw, so it gives you ample opportunity to do whatever you want until it’s time for you to enter, but… it does feel a little like you’re messing with everyone just for the sake of messing with everyone.”

“And?” Helga asked, crossing her arms and raising part of her unibrow.

“Phoebe has a point, Helga.” Rhonda nodded as she gave a groan. “Maybe it’s best to look deep in your conscience before pulling out any hasty moves…”

Helga paused slightly, before scoffing. “Please, I don’t need a conscience. I’m Helga G. Pataki! Come on, you all know me for who I am, I’m the bully girl that always likes picking on the football head. Speaking of which, where is Arnoldo?”

“All the way in the Recovery Room. The nurses hired him to do psychology on the characters, since he helped out with Nack and Olimar last year.” Gerald explained.

Helga raised part of her unibrow in surprise, before scoffing. “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me. The football head was ALWAYS a huge help to everyone, so I guess it’s no surprise he’s part of the Recovery Room team.”

“Besides that, what do you think Arnold would say if he knew you got away with that prank?” Gerald frowned as he crossed his arms.

“Oh, I’m sure that he’ll be cross, but understanding all the same. Probably going to get me to tell the truth to everyone, which… ugh, I get it, I’ll do it on my own time.” Helga rolled her eyes, before giving a small smile. “But still, it gives me a good idea on what I want to do for the remainder until my time comes in.”

“...Helga, you wouldn’t dare…” Rhonda said in shock.

“I am going to set up a lot of pranks, and I’m going to get away with every single one!” Helga said with a huge grin. “And you guys here are going to help me out!”

“US?!” Nadine asked as the kids looked at Helga in awe.

“Hey, I’m bored, it’s not easy to do a lot of things, and I could use the help I can get.” Helga smiled. “Look, I promise these pranks won’t be anything bad, and if someone overreacts to them, that’s their own fault…”

Phoebe, Rhonda, Nadine and Gerald looked at each other in bewilderment, not believing what Helga was saying… before Phoebe sighed, “Well, I guess if we don’t have a lot to do…”

“You better know what you’re doing, because if these pranks go terribly wrong…” Rhonda frowned.

“They won’t. Promise.” Helga said… before giving a grin. “Of course, I’m going to need a little help… someone outside my world… another person for the group, if you will…”

The four kids raised an eyebrow as Nadine asked, “You want another person to help us with the pranks?”

“Maybe one or two…” Helga smiled. “What do you guys think?”

The others paused as Gerald gave a slight frown. “Helga, you have got to be the most craziest girl we’ve ever met. I thought Arnold was a bold kid, but… please don’t step on any boundaries…”

“What could happen?” Helga devilishly chuckled as she crossed her arms with a smirk.

Little did the kids realize that the same figure that followed Helga and Phoebe out of the restaurant had been spying on them as said person gave a frown.

“I have a feeling that this prank after prank idea is NOT going to end well…” The small figure sighed… before perking up. “That rich girl said that Helga doesn’t have a conscience… well… that settles it.” He wiped the gold badge on his jacket before taking a deep breath. “I did pretty well with Pinocchio, maybe I can try it with this Helga girl… and believe me, she’s going to need a conscience… to be her guide…”

(Dome, Trophy Room)

Inside the Crossover Dome, settled in a nice little corner was a trophy room filled with a lot of accomplishments each player had made. Inside the room were various trophies and accomplishments, with names on the side, but the main attraction was the large wall that had portraits of the Ultimate Video Rumble and their spin off winners. The centerpiece of the area was the portrait of Penny Proud, the first ever Tournament of Kikai champion, resting up in its place as the other portraits of the winners (Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown, Guy from Final Fight, Geese Howard from Fatal Fury, Kasumi Todoh from Art of Fighting, Sakura Kasugano from Street Fighter and Pikachu from Pokemon) were featured prominently. The photos of the other winners of both the Battle of the Luminaries 3 and Megamix Tournament 4, alongside the Okron Tournament’s winner were there, but they were either too crowded by some interested onlookers or Monika intentionally left them blank to mess with people.

But the main focus was at Penny Proud’s portrait as a familiar ghost and his best human friend/family member was looking up at the portrait in awe.

“Wow, you know, I never would have imagined seeing Penny’s portrait up there amongst the greats, but OMG, it’s so wonderful!” Molly squealed in delight… before turning to Scratch in curiosity. “So, why did you bring me here?”

“Well, considering you’re not only my best friend, but also pretty smart when it comes to putting our heads together, I want to get here to compare Penny’s status to the other winners of these sorts of tournaments.” Scratch explained as he floated around.

“Yeah, you’ve been acting a lot stranger ever since we met up with Penny a few days ago. What’s the deal?” Molly asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Scratch paused briefly, before letting out a sigh. “You’re probably way too young to even KNOW or REMEMBER this sort of thing, but when the first Ultimate Video Rumble came around… it was a little unpolished and simple, but it still managed to get the job done. Well, the second Ultimate Video Rumble came around, and a lot of people seemed to be obsessed over Haohmaru.”

Molly raised an eyebrow. “The crazy samurai guy that always shouted his words?”

“Yeah, the guy that spoke like Speed Racer because of that coffee addiction.” Scratch nodded.

Molly blinked twice. “Who the heck’s Speed Racer?”

“Bless you and your young mind.” Scratch sighed as he shook his head. “Anyway, in the second Ultimate Video Rumble, that’s when everything started to get sinister. Villains were teaming up together, heroes were banding when they heard they were going to do something… and what did that amount to? Why did this all occur? It was because of Haohmaru.”

Molly blinked twice. “You immediately lost me.”

The ghost gave a sigh as he said, “Now, this is only a legend I’ve been hearing, but it’s said that whoever wins an Ultimate Video Rumble OR its spinoffs always gets a supercharged soul, powerful enough to charge up spells, power up armies… even be able to summon monsters from a realm that far exceeds our understandings. And that power came because of these specific tournaments.”

“And you’re saying Haohmaru MANAGED to get his soul supercharged when he won the first Ultimate Video Rumble?” Molly asked as she raised an eyebrow.

“Not only that, but one of the Darkstalkers that was part of the tournament came in and tried to sacrifice Haohmaru to get that power. But when Guy, the next winner, won the tournament, the power disappeared, and with Guy being the new champion, he managed to get the same untapped power that Haohmaru had.” Scratch explained. “It’s been brought up a few times, and when the spinoffs started up, new untapped power came flowing in to every winner of the Ultimate Video Rumble spinoffs. Heck, in the Megamix Tournament 2, another Darkstalker wanted to get Kasumi for her quote-unquote ‘untapped potential’ because of her status as a winner.”

Molly blinked twice at this explanation, before lowering her eyelids. “Wow, Scratch, that IS a story… but with all these tournaments that were stopped in the middle because of what happened beyond the hosts of the Battle of the Luminaries 2 and Megamix Tournament 3’s control, that power stopped, right?”

“Ehhh… not necessarily. Now, this is a theory I crafted, but what if that power WASN’T gone from those people? Sure, the power is less dormant within them, but what if, as champions, these people STILL had the untapped power?” Scratch explained. “They’re just lying in wait, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.”

“So, you’re saying, these six winners, Haohmaru, Guy, Geese, Kasumi, Sakura and Pikachu… THEY still have their untapped soul powers?” Molly asked in surprise.

“I don’t want to assume anything, but I think they might still have them. They just haven’t really REACHED into their inner soul because either it’s been a long time, OR they just didn’t think them too important.” Scratch frowned. “But the biggest soul supercharge is if another tournament like the Tournament of Kikai happens… and the most supercharged form of that soul is the previous winner of the Tournament of Kikai.” Scratch explained.

“So…” Molly paused… before her eyes widened as she gave a big grin. “Penny Proud won the tournament last year, and her soul got supercharged! She’s actually one of the most powerful characters because of that!”

Scratch gave a small chuckle. “Not bad for a Slice of Life character… but this is serious! Now that Penny’s won the tournament… what’s stopping someone who remembers these details from… say… taking her power?”

Molly blinked twice as the horrifying thought of something hurting Penny was finally catching onto her. “Oh, this is bad…”

“YEAH! And with new villains around, what’s to say one of THEM will be coming for her?” Scratch explained.

“We got to tell her she’s in possible danger!” Molly said as she looked ready to run.

“Yeah, way ahead of you! She’s already entering in the tournament early, so she won’t be in the locker room! But when she comes back to the Recovery Room, we’ll come for her there!” Scratch explained.

Molly nodded as she and Scratch started to run off, little realizing that someone had overheard their conversation.

Sephiroth, who had been hanging around the trophy room to brood to himself, had listened to the little girl and ghost’s conversation before looking towards the large picture of Penny Proud as this new information was slowly trickling inside. “So… Penny Proud’s soul is supercharged…”

He stared at the picture silently before giving an evil smirk. “Well, this changes things by a lot…”

(The Arena)

”ROCKY!” (LT: WoM)

The short gangster came walking in, his hat covering his eyes as he looked around the arena with a serious frown on his face, ignoring the mixed cheers from the crowd.

“So, ‘dis Safe Zone is a way to earn a prize, huh?” Rocky said as he gave a smirk to himself. “In that case, I think a little information is required.”

With that, the short gangster walked up to the ring before climbing up. He looked around and noticed Elmer Fudd was looking towards his spear. Without an expression, Rocky walked forward and put a pistol to Elmer’s head, causing the bald hunter to yelp.

“Oh! Wocky! I didn’t expect to see you heuh.” Elmer said with a chuckle.

“Shut up about da business, Fudd. Just give me the information, since you were in dat Safe Zone. I have a feeling there is more to it than meets the eye…” Rocky growled in anger.

Elmer chuckled nervously as sweat started to form from his head. “Well, there WAS a little info on what all the twists are.”

Rocky put the gun to Elmer’s head even further. “Spill it, or I may consider you fish food.”

Elmer yelped nervously as he turned to Rocky. “Come on, Wocky, you’re from my node, and we both had pwobwems with that wabbit…”

“What that rabbit does to us is NOT our concern. I want that Safe Zone secured so that nobody gets in on my watch! So talk!” Rocky said in a stern tone of voice.

Elmer chuckled nervously. “All wight, all wight, you talked me into it! Heuh’s what I know…”

Rocky stood there as Elmer was nervously spilling out all the information privately, a small smirk forming on his face.

“And now… Mystery Fighter… Number… THREE!”

”GUMBALL!” (The Amazing World of Gumball)

The blue cat wearing the tan sweater and grey trousers came walking out to the crowd as a large amount of applause came out. Gumball gave a smirk as he waved in confidence at the crowd.

“Oh yeah! You all love me! Everybody in this universe loves me!” Gumball said with a cocky expression in his voice… before pausing briefly as he put a hand to his chin. “No, no, that came out wrong. I didn’t want to be cocky!” He then turned to the announcer’s booth. “Hey, can I get a do over? I don’t think I hit what I wanted.”

“What? NO!” Maurice announced. “We already announced you, you already came out!”

“Well… just announce me again! It’s not that hard to do!” Gumball pointed out.

Maurice groaned as he rubbed his head. “I can’t believe we both decided YOU would be a good choice for a Mystery Fighter…”

“Hey, your fault for picking someone indecisive on how they wanted to enter.” Gumball rolled his eyes.

“Get in the ring!” Maurice shouted as he pointed to the ring.

Gumball scoffed as he raised his hands. “Fine, but don’t come crying to me when better introductions get made…”

The blue cat gave a sigh and shook his head before walking casually to the ring, before climbing up as he took a deep breath. “All right, Gumball, you got this, buddy. I’m from a crazy world that can do anything on the fly, so I have a lot of that… plus I do have my Battle Crashers moveset, so that’s a start. Okay, just find an easy opponent and work from there…”

Gumball took the time to scan the arena before noticing Beaky was humming to himself, sitting all alone while looking up at the lights in the arena, trying to count them. Gumball perked up as he readied his gear, before moving forward.

“ALL RIGHT, YOU LITTLE BUZZARD! BE PREPARED TO GET DOWN, BECAUSE YOU’RE ABOUT TO MEET YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!” Gumball shouted as Beaky looked up and saw the cat.

Beaky blinked twice. “Uh… you mean, a pickup truck going down a highway at fifty five miles an hour?”

Gumball stopped shortly as he looked confused. “Wait, what?”

“You said my worst nightmare was coming to meet me, but uh, buh, I don’t see the truck?” Beaky said as he scratched his head.

“Wha- buh- no, dude, it’s me! I’M the worst nightmare?” Gumball said as he motioned his hands.

Beaky blinked twice as he looked over Gumball. “Pickup trucks sure change a lot these days…”

“I’m not a pickup tru-” Gumball argued, before slapping his forehead. “Never mind. Let’s just battle!”

”LINK!” (SSB)

The Hero of Time, all dressed up in his Breath of the Wild getup, came walking out to the crowd as they started to cheer. The Hero of Time gave a small smile as he waved to the crowd, before giving a nod as he pulled out his sword.

Godhand immediately looked up and smirked. “Perfect…”

As Link climbed into the ring, he was immediately met by a gunshot to the face as the Hylian was knocked down. Link got up and rubbed his cheek before turning towards Godhand.

Link furrowed his eyebrows into a glare as he asked, “What on earth did you do THAT for?”

“I wanted to get a new opponent, and you just happened to be the perfect person on the block for me to take care of.” Godhand said as he readied his gunhand. “Plus, I hear you have an assortment of weapons…”

Link frowned as he pulled out one of his bombs and threw it towards Godhand, who countered with a grenade, as both collided with an explosion. Everyone applauded at the mere sight as Link gave a growl.

“You have crossed the wrong hero, my friend.” Link said as he readied his sword. “If you really think you can get on my nerves, then come at me!”

Godhand gave a small laugh to himself as he readied himself in a battle position. “With pleasure…”

”PATRICK STAR!” (NAS)

(Twinkle, twinkle, Patrick Star)

(I made myself a sandwich)

(My mommy named it Fred)

(It tastes like beans and bacon)

(And it smells like it’s been dead)

Everybody immediately cringed at the song as Espeon’s ears lowered as she used her paws to cover her ears. Raphael and Numbuh One reacted with the same looks as they cringed.

“AHHHH! What is this horrible song?” Numbuh One asked. “The lyrics, the music… why is this the most powerful force in the world destroying our eardrums!”

Bentley winced at the horrible song as he tried to cover his ears, with everyone else either cringing at the horrible song or dropping their weapons to cover their ears.

Over at the Announcer’s Booth, Xero and Maurice cringed as Maurice pushed a button on the console. “Horace, why are you playing that song?!”

“Well, Mr. Star requested THIS song specifically, so I’m just complying to the request.” Horace Horsecollar said with a shrug, the camera turning over to the Sound Booth to see the horse putting cotton in his ears.

“Well, turn it off!” Maurice shouted.

“You want it louder? OKAY!” Horace shouted as he turned up the volume, with everybody cringing even more… even Monika’s monitor turned on as she was seen glitching and looking appalled at the song.

During that time, the heavyset starfish in his green with pink flowers shorts came running out as he motioned to the crowd, waving to them happily as the song continually played.

“Awww, I knew you would all love my song!” Patrick smiled, oblivious to everybody cringing at the sound of the song.

As soon as the song ended, Patrick gave a bow, oblivious to the boos that surrounded him… though thankfully, a few of them cheered, not for the song, but for Patrick coming out as he entered the ring, before giving a small smile.

“All right, all right, so I’m here for another chance in this tournament…” Patrick said to himself… before pausing. “Uhhhh… I’m starting to get a little hungry.”

”GARBODOR!” (PKMN)

Everybody immediately started to get repulsed by the smell as gas masks were immediately provided for the audience. Even Xero and Maurice were putting on gas masks as well as a large garbage monster came waddling out of the Ready Room.

The simple garbage monster just gave a smile as there were a few fans and detractors, though the cheers were more louder than the boos. Giving a simple smile, Garbodor immediately jumped into the ring as he let out a loud noise of excitement, looking at the crowd.

Patrick then looked at the large garbage monster in front of him as Garbodor looked down at the starfish… before Patrick smiled. “OHHH! Hey, a pile of garbage! Maybe there’s some good food still in there!”

With that, the starfish dived into Garbodor’s stomach, surprising the garbage monster as he gave a loud yell. Garbodor growled angrily before breathing in and out to get Patrick out of his stomach. Then, with a well aimed Gunk Shot, purple bubbles came pouring out of Garbodor’s mouth as they popped in Patrick’s face, causing the starfish to scream.

“Come on, garbage! I just want to have a snack!” Patrick said as he tried to dive into Garbodor again.

(Announcer’s Booth)

“Should we… remind Patrick that eating contestants is against the rules?” Maurice asked.

“It’s Patrick, you think he would listen?” Xero pointed out. “Besides, Garbodor’s trash is considered inedible, so it’s not like he’d find a way to eat it anyway. Biting is fine, you can’t chew and swallow the contestant whole.”

“Well, if just biting is fine… still, you think Patrick will catch on?” Maurice asked as he and Xero looked back at the arena.

“Ehhhh… no.”

(The Arena)

”ANTONOV!” (KOFXV)

The crowd started to cheer loudly as the boisterous wrestler came in and posed for everyone a few times. After showboating for a while, the man gave a small laugh before casually walking up to the ring.

Raphael immediately looked up in interest as Espeon, Numbuh One and Landia noticed Raph’s excited look. Numbuh One, being the only one who could speak, said, “I can’t help but notice you’re admiring this man.”

“You kidding? Antonov is a part of the Galactic Wrestling Federation, and he’s allowed some great wrestlers for his time!” Raphael smirked as he got up, Espeon leaping off his lap as the turtle stretched. “I’m going to go up there and see if he’s looking for turtle wrestlers!”

“Aren’t you a ninja?” Numbuh One asked, much to the other’s confusion. But the red bandana heavyset turtle ignored him as he started to walk over towards Antonov.

By that time, Antonov had climbed into the ring as he gave a smile, before looking around in the ring, and much to his delight, spotted the one person he wanted to see approach him.

“So… you must be the Raph, huh?” Antonov chuckled. “I’ve seen you fight against that Mishima character. Very impressive, if I do say so myself.”

Raph gave a smirk as he crossed his arms. “All in a day’s work, of course…”

“Yes, there’s no doubt about it… you’re certainly a good qualifier for the Galactic Wrestling Federation.” Antonov smiled. “Sure, it’s not off the ground yet, but I think with you in hand, we could have some potential.”

Raph laughed as he readied himself. “Well, I’ll be sure not to let you down!”

“I’m looking forward to this fight!” Antonov laughed as he and Raph started to charge at each other.

(Dome; Hallways)

“And stay out of my bar if you’re going to cause trouble!”

A large body was seen being thrown out and hitting the wall as the character gave a groan and rubbed his head. Said person turned towards the one who threw him out, King from the Art of Fighting node, as she clapped her hands. “Maybe THIS will teach you not to start a bar fight with someone who didn’t want one!”

“Hey, he’s the one who refused to share!” Colonel Radec complained as he waved his arm.

“Consider yourself banned, buddy!” King growled before slamming the door in the man’s face.

Radec growled in anger as he stomped away. “I don’t need this bar, I can vent my frustrations in the locker room!”

The soldier angrily stomped off as he passed by two little creatures that seemed to be minding their own business. The first creature was a pink cat with a moon shaped face, pink paws, a white underbelly, and a paw shaped tail. The second creature was a green lizard like creature with a pink belly. This was a Skitty and a Treecko walking together. Now, normally, it wouldn’t be seen as strange… but this particular Skitty and Treecko came from a different world than that of the regular Pokemon world… as while they were in a Pokemon franchise, they were more specifically from one of the Mystery Dungeon games, as a duo. And this duo just so happened to be…

”Are you sure you saw something come this way, Chamomile?”

”I’m positive, Willow! It was like… a strange looking anomaly around the corner! Oh, you think it came from space? That’s where the world’s balance is at!”

”...okay, just because you were right about ONE thing…”

The Skitty gave a small grin towards the Treecko, who could only look at his friend in exasperation. Anyway, this Skitty and Treecko were no ordinary Skitty and Treecko. They were, in fact, Team Rose Thorn, from the Mystery Dungeon node… one of many Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon nodes as there were multiple universes. And Xero just happened to invite both Chamomile the Skitty and Willow the Treecko because, to quote his words, “I need to reference Chuggaaconroy in some way”. Needless to say, both members of Team Rose Thorn were so excited that they immediately accepted the invitation to the tournament, no questions asked.

However, there wasn’t much for Chamomile and Willow to do except wait around and wonder when their time would come. However, Willow knew that she would be entering soon, since she had an earlier draw. Chamomile wasn’t so lucky to reunite with his friend, though. So, seeing nothing to do, Chamomile decided to explore the area, and noticed something he thought particularly strange… an anomaly that blinked in and out of existence for a second. He didn’t have to think as he quickly turned tail and went to grab Willow, leading him back to the same place.

”Trust me, when you see this anomaly, your mind is going to be blown wide open!” Chamomile said as he bounded through the area.

”...do you want big eye surprise or faint to the ground surprise?” Willow snarked.

”Come on, Willow!” Chamomile said in annoyance as they immediately turned the corner… only to stop short as the corner looked bare. ”Huh? But… there was something here, I swear!”

Willow frowned as she joined Chamomile as they were looking at the corner of the room with lowered eyes. ”Okay, it’s a corner. Is my mind blown yet?”

”I swear, it was right here!” Chamomile meowed in worry. ”It couldn’t have just disappeared!”

Willow shook her head in annoyance. ”Chamomile, you’re a great friend, but we can’t be spending our time chasing after false alarms. We have a lot of work to-”

“Hey, Babbit! What’s the plan for catching that boid from the angel, huh?”

Both Chamomile and Willow jumped up as they turned and quickly ducked in the corner as they noticed Babbit and Catstello walking by as Babbit explained to his little heavyset sidekick, “Well, it’s a simple fact, my friend, that the angel is not exactly up to school intuition, yes?”

“Yeah?” Catstello asked.

“Yeah, so why don’t we challenge the angel to a math competition? We pull off a few old comedy bits, confuse the man, then we grab the bird, hide away somewhere and have ourselves a little feast!” Babbit smiled. “After all, no harm in eliminating the competition… right?”

“I don’t know, Babbit… won’t we be getting in trouble if they learned we ate a fighter for the tournament?” Catstello asked.

“...maybe, but let’s not forget, unless you have the ability to get our MEAL tickets out, WE need to get food! And I say, let’s get the bird.” Babbit said. “Any objections?”

Catstello paused as he heard his stomach growl. “Even though my head has plenty of objections, my stomach doesn’t.”

“Well, clear those objections out of your head, and come on!” Babbit said as he was about to leave with Catstello following.

Chamomile and Willow paused briefly as they turned to each other and narrowed their eyes.

”Chamomile, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Willow asked.

”That those two are going to be trouble? YES!” Chamomile meowed a bit as his fur started to grow tense.

”We better slow them down a bit, and beat down a lesson on the two!” Willow said as she started to charge up a Dragon Breath before shooting it out towards Catstello’s back.

Catstello let out a loud yell as he jumped up in the air, causing Babbit to turn around. “What’s with the yelling? Quit your fooling!”

“Something hit me, Babbit!” Catstello yowled in pain.

“What even hi-” Babbit asked before noticing the small Treecko and Skitty approaching them, with Treecko readying another Dragon Breath, with Skitty getting into attack position. “Oh, I see. How cute. You think you two little animal like creatures can try to mess with us, huh? Please, like you can…”

All of a sudden, Chamomile ran up towards Babbit and jumped up, using his tail to perform multiple Double Slaps, causing Babbit’s face to turn red, showing the visible paw print of Skitty’s tail embedded to his face.

Babbit shook his head as he glared at the two. “Oh, a couple of wise guys, huh? Come on, Catstello, we have work to do!”

“Oh boy…” Catstello groaned as he went into a fighting position. “This is not gonna end well…”

(The Arena)

”WOLF O’DONNELL!” (SSB)

The grey furred wolf in violet clothing came walking out to a loud cheer, with a few detractors amongst the audience, although they were minimal at best. Wolf grinned as he looked around and laughed, taking in the audience.

“Yes, yes, cheer for me, my audience. Your cheers only fuel me and inspire me to fight harder.” Wolf laughed to himself before approaching the ring’s ropes, climbing them and entering in the ring as he looked for a target to fight. “Well, since it’s early game, I won’t go after my nodal companions right away… but I do need a threat to take down…”

Wolf looked around before spotting Demyx strumming his sitar. Giving a small, sinister grin on his face, Wolf charged forward and caught Demyx by surprise by punching the Nobody in the face, sending him flying. Demyx recovered quickly as he strummed his sitar to summon a pillar of water to erupt out of the ground.

Wolf dodged the attack with a quick hit on Demyx’s face as soon as the Nobody hit the ground. “You might want to prepare yourself. You can’t just be seen laying around all day…”

Demyx frowned as he rubbed his face. “That’s an understatement…” He quickly turned and narrowed his eyes towards Wolf as he said, “So, I guess no questions asked?”

Wolf responded with another swift kick in the stomach, causing Demyx to wallow out in pain. “Right… stupid question…”

Back with Rocky and Elmer, the latter was shaking nervously as the gangster looked down at the hunter. “So, dat is all you can tell me about dose twists?”

“Yes, yes, that’s all I know…” Elmer whimpered.

Rocky paused, before frowning. “Very well. You are free to go, but I may need your assistance later…”

With that, Rocky walked off, as Elmer looked nervous. Without a second thought, Elmer immediately ran into the Safe Zone to change into a new costume, leaving Rocky behind as he looked up at the Entrance Curtain, awaiting the next person to fight.

”KING ANDRIAS!” (DTAAS)

Immediately, everybody started to jeer for the large newt king as the large heavyset person came walking out of the ring before giving a small frown.

“Oh come on! I’ve changed at the end of the final season!” King Andrias protested to his audience… before giving a small groan. “Sheesh, stab a girl in the back with a sword one time, and you never live it down.”

Despite everything, the king shook his head as he pulled out his sword and walked forward towards the ring, not wanting to think about the jeers. He was invited to this tournament for a reason, and he was going to prove his worth.

Around that time, Rocky had looked up and noticed the large newt king with a crown on his head. The crown getting the gangster’s interest, he walked over and pulled out his gun behind the newt’s back. “Okay, lizard, you have a lovely crown. Relinquish it to my possession, along with any money, or you will be filled full of lead.”

Andrias looked over at Rocky with a raised eyebrow, before giving a chuckle. “You don’t seem to know who you’re messing with, pal…”

“Shaddup and give me the crown.” Rocky growled as he held his gun up, still firm that he was going to do something to the large newt.

Andrias laughed as he pulled out his laser sword. “You, my friend, have a death wish…”

”BAMBI!” (KH)

The small baby deer came trotting out as he started to prance around cutely for the audience. However, as the deer approached, a bit of dread came through as he noticed that… there were an amount of guns that the players seemed to be holding. Something looked ready to snap inside him as he entered the ring.

Bambi shut his eyes as the deer started to breath in and out, trying to keep himself in control. Espeon looked curious as she left Numbuh One and Landia (the former was trying to figure out how Landia’s four heads worked) as she walked over to Bambi.

”Are you okay?” Espeon asked in curiosity.

”I… I’m just not used to seeing all those guns… the last time I saw one of those, it reminded me of the gunshot I heard back in winter and my mother…” Bambi shuddered. ”I’ve been trying hard not to think about it, but… fate is rolling a cruel set of dice.”

Espeon sighed as she looked down. “Try not to think about the guns, okay? They’re all non lethal. Besides, how about trying to focus on a fight with me. I promise, there will be no gunplay in MY moveset…”

Bambi cocked his head curiously, before giving a smile. ”Okay! Thank you. You look nice.”

Espeon could only smile before nodding. “You’re great too, kid.”

“And now… Mystery Fighter… Number… FOUR!”

”JAZZ JACKRABBIT!” (Jazz Jackrabbit)

To a decent cheer, the green furred rabbit with a red banana and futuristic looking LFG-2000 gun came running out and laughing as he readied his gun.

“Man, it’s been too long since I’ve been seen by the general public!” Jazz laughed as he waved to the crowd. “Of course, Epic Games is more focused on that stupid Fortnite game… I say, put down those dumb games and bring me back to the limelight! And I’m here to prove it!”

With a laugh, Jazz aimed his gun up in the air and shot up the roof, causing the audience to cheer immensely. Of course, at around the same time, Elmer had came back out, this time, wearing a Canadian Mountie outfit. This, was, of course, his Mountie Elmer form, as Elmer readied his gun, trying to relax himself.

“Okay, so Wocky threw you off… no big deal, just twy and focus on the touwnament.” Elmer said to himself… before looking over and gasping, noticing Jazz climbing into the ring. “Hey! It’s not the wabbit, but it’s A WABBIT!”

Elmer gave a small chuckle to himself as he charged over, aiming his rifle right at Jazz. The green rabbit looked up and noticed Elmer charging towards him. Jazz lowered his eyelids.

“Somehow, I had a FEELING that he’d still be here…” Jazz sighed, before giving a cocky grin. “Ah well! At least I have my BIG GUN!”

And so, with a yell, Jazz came rushing forward, shooting fireballs towards Elmer as the hunter and jackrabbit charged directly at each other.

The only four characters that seemed to be waiting around for an opponent were Numbuh One and Landia (who were clearly on the same team at this point), Garnet and Bentley. (Fuzzy had long since pushed Bowser off of him, and the two were now facing each other in retaliation). Bentley gave a small smile as he laid back in his wheelchair.

“Ahhhh… feels great to have a little away time from everyone… and the best part is, nobody’s keeping an eye on me.” Bentley smiled as he pulled out a glass of juice he snuck into the ring. “Yep, it’ll be a matter of time, but I think I’ll kick back and-”

BANG!

A bullet came crashing into Bentley’s glass, breaking it and spilling the juice out. The turtle yelped in surprise as he turned towards the direction the bullet had come from… as Bentley yelped.

”NASTY CANASTA!” (LT: WoM)

Nobody was cheering in the audience, though most of them were looking at the large cowboy in fear for good reason. The black haired cowboy with the angry, tired look on his face sneered around at everyone, before casually walking towards the ring’s edge. Bentley’s eyes shrank as he readied his dart gun, realizing that this was the man that ruined his drinking glass. And what a large man he was. Even after climbing up the ring, the cowboy kept walking until he stopped in front of Bentley.

“Uh… may I help you, sir?” Bentley asked nervously.

“Yeah… fight.” Nasty Canasta said in simple terms as he held up his gun.

Bentley chuckled nervously as he tried to pull out a bomb to throw at him… only for Canasta to open his mouth and eat the bomb whole, crunching it down to powder before swallowing it. Bentley yelped in fear.

“I knew this good streak wouldn’t last for too long, but I was HOPING for at least a reprieve…” Bentley groaned as he followed Canasta to the center, the cowboy wandering over there.

“And now… the final fighter of this section…”

”MEWTWO!” (PKMN)

The runner up of both the first Battle of the Luminaries AND last year’s Tournament of Kikai came out to a rather well rounded cheer, receiving a lot more fans than usual. The psychic clone of Mew could only give a small smile towards the audience, before giving a nod to himself.

“I’m surprised both Penny and I have early draws this time…” Mewtwo mused to himself, before taking a deep breath. “I’m going to assume it was done so that we wouldn’t be close to the end again.”

With a nod, Mewtwo floated over to the arena before looking around and seeing Garnet all alone. Giving a smile, Mewtwo floated over to the Crystal Gem, who looked up to see the psychic Pokemon.

“I figured a member of my old alliance would be coming out next.” Garnet noted.

“She switched numbers with me at the last minute. Said she had an emergency to help with, hoping to get a friend cheered up.” Mewtwo explained.

Garnet briefly smirked. “Heh, I’m not surprised. Penny’s always been one of the good ones. So, she has your number, then?”

“Yes, and thankfully, it’ll be soon.” Mewtwo nodded before pausing. “I suppose you and I would benefit for a team up?”

Garnet smiled. “I know that’s what she wants.”

Mewtwo nodded. “Then no objections from me.”

The two of them heard the growling of Landia nearby as they turned to see the four headed dragon and Numbuh One approaching as Numbuh One readied one of his 2x4 weapons.

“Normally, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance against you two, but with the four headed dragon by my side, I think I’m feeling lucky today. So… which of you would like to fight the both of us?” Numbuh One challenged.

Garnet and Mewtwo paused as they looked at each other, with Mewtwo nodding. Garnet tapped her shades, and summoned her gauntlets, ready for another battle. “No rest for the weary…”

With that, the four remaining fighters charged towards each other for their next battle, as everyone was currently battling to survive to the next round.

Chapter Text

(The Arena)

Garbodor let out a loud roar as it was trying to shake off Patrick, who had latched himself to his body as he tried to bite down on Garbodor’s body. The trash heap Pokemon gave a glare at Patrick before using its gas nozzle hands to peel the starfish off and sent him blasting towards the ropes.

“Awww, come on! I haven’t had a decent meal before coming in!” Patrick whined before charging forwards towards the garbage heap.

”Then why didn’t you eat before coming here? The hosts gave us early sectioners ample time to do so!” Garbodor roared out a complaint.

Patrick, not understanding Pokemon speak, just rushed forward as he used his belly to knock back the large garbage Pokemon, causing him to trip over Espeon as the purple cat like Pokemon yelped. Espeon looked over at the garbage Pokemon in annoyance as Bambi, who was standing nearby, just blinked twice.

”DO YOU MIND! YOU’RE STINKING UP MY AREA!” Espeon shouted as she glared at Garbodor.

The trash heap Pokemon got up as he gave a nervous chuckle. ”I’m sorry to disturb you, but I’m sort of trapped between a rock and a hard place here…”

Both Espeon and Bambi turned towards Patrick as the starfish quickly recovered, before setting his sights on Garbodor as the trash heap Pokemon quickly let out a girlish scream. “There you are, garbage! Come on, I want to dumpster dive into ya!”

Espeon groaned as she lowered her head. “For goodness sakes… fine. I’ll go take care of this guy. Bambi, will you be okay in occupying Garbodor here?”

Bambi’s ears went down a bit as he looked over at the large, smiling Pokemon. ”Do I have to? I don’t think that smell coming from him is… natural…”

”Of course it wouldn’t. Your forest isn’t polluted with garbage where you’re from unless Man is at camp.” Espeon shook her head before bouncing over towards Patrick. ”I’ll be back… hopefully!”

With that, the purple cat like creature bounded away towards the two as Patrick looked up and gasped, seemingly forgetting the garbage monster he was chasing a while ago. “Whoa… uh, I don’t know what type of creature YOU are, but you look fascinating! Do you know Sandy Cheeks?”

Espeon groaned as she held her head. She could tell that this was going to be a long day…

Bambi, watching this scenario taking place, just blinked twice before turning to Garbodor, who gave a small smile. Giving a sigh, Bambi hoisted himself up to prepare himself for a fight against the garbage monster… before hearing two bullets rang out. Bambi’s eyes shrank as images of him running out of the wintery field with his mother flashed before his eyes… and the same dreaded gunshot that got her… just didn’t sit well with the fawn.

Garbodor noticed Bambi’s concerned look as he raised his gas nozzle hand. ”Hey buddy, are you feeling ok-”

Bambi let out an inhuman roar before charging in the direction where the gunshots were.

“Aw wight, you pest! Slow down so that I can shoot you down!” Elmer Fudd shouted as he chased after Jazz Jackrabbit, aiming his gun directly towards the green furred rabbit.

“Not a chance, pal!” Jazz smirked as he pulled out his own gun. “And besides, I do believe I have the upper hand when it comes to guns. Your gun is a namby pamby rifle, while mine is a real, manly space gun! Like so!”

With that, Jazz shot a large missile from it as the missile flew out in a V shaped fashion, before blasting Elmer in the face. Elmer shook the blast’s affects off of his face, before growling angrily before aiming his gun and shooting at Jazz, the bullets grazing Jazz’s fur.

All of a sudden, the green rabbit shuddered as he started to feel chilly. He looked over to Elmer as the hunter smirked, explaining, “My Mountie outfit gives my buwwets the power of fweezing you in youw twacks, but for a few short minutes. Still, it gives me pwenty of time to fiah another shot! So say your pwayers, wabbit!”

With that, Elmer aimed his gun right at Jazz as the hunter gave a small chuckle to himself…

All of a sudden, Elmer’s guns suddenly disappeared from the hunter’s hands, much to the hunter’s confusion. “Huh?”

It took a few seconds for Elmer to realize what had happened as he looked up to the wheel, to see that it was already spun and that it landed right on his face. “H-hey!”

“Sorry, Elmer, but the wheel DID land on you.” Monika said as her face appeared on the monitor. “Thusly, you have to suffer the punishment, which means you can’t use your guns for two rounds. No firearms of any kind.”

“Sorry, Elmer, but them’s the breaks.” Xero said with a shrug from the announcer’s booth.

Elmer shut his eyes angrily. “Ooooo… if you weren’t up in that announcah’s booth, I would easiwy make wabbit stew out of you!”

“Sure, threaten the bunny. No big surprise.” Xero sighed. “However, we will give you a reprieve by going to the changing room for two minutes to change into a new outfit. I’m sure that’s fair, right?”

“Wait, then… doesn’t that mean he’s going to do another challenge? You said, first to enter in that Safe Zone tent gets to play the challenge? How is that fair?” Gumball shouted as everyone looked indifferent.

“Elmer will be using the Safe Zone room JUST to change. He will not be participating in the challenge. And anyway, if the hosts say that someone can use the Safe Zone room to just change, that means no challenge for him.” Monika rolled her eyes.

“But you said, and I quote, “Only the FIRST player to come in the Safe Zone during a round WILL get a chance to play one of my games. Other players can still come to the Safe Zone, but if they do, there’s no game to be played”.” Sulley pointed out.

“Yeah, mate, how is that even fair?” Rick explained. “If Elmer is allowed in the Safe Zone to change, doesn’t that mean he’s the first to enter in the round?”

“Sort of contradictory, isn’t it?” Demyx frowned as he crossed his arms.

Monika blinked twice as she sighed. “Look, it’s simple. The rules still apply for that. It’s just, it will not apply to someone who had recently been punished and has no choice but to go to the Safe Zone changing room. They will go in to change, but I will not appear to them for a challenge. Is that clear?”

Everyone remained silent as the new information slowly processed. Monika groaned as she held her head. “Great, fine. Glad we cleared that up. Now, Elmer, better go back in the Safe Zone and get yourself a new costume.”

Elmer frowned but shook his head. “Fine. I don’t need this Mountie outfit to get you, wabbit!”

With that, Elmer charged towards the Safe Zone as everybody watched. Jazz gave a small pause as he gave a chuckle. “Hmmm… well, maybe I should make myself scarce before…”

All of a sudden, a flying deer came ramming towards Jazz as he gave an uncharacteristic scream and slammed his hooves on the rabbit.

“AHHHHH! NO! THE BABY DEER’S TRAUMA BUTTON GOT PUSHED! WHY?!” Jazz shouted in agony as Bambi started to jump up and down on him.

Garbodor watched in pure concern as he waddled over. ”Maybe I better go help…”

(Announcer’s Booth)

Both Xero and Maurice were sitting back as Maurice was watching Bambi jumping up and down on Jazz, stomping him in anger. “So much for hoping that Bambi was going to have an easier time…”

“Well, considering we have WOLF O’DONNELL, FUZZY LUMPKINS, ROCKY, ELMER FUDD AND JAZZ JACKRABBIT, all of them having GUNS as their weapons… sooner or later, Bambi was unfortunately going to break.” Xero groaned as he held his head. “There was nothing we could do about that…”

“I know, but… props to the baby fawn, he at least managed to hold himself together for a few minutes until things got underway.” Maurice smiled.

“Yeah, true…” Xero crossed his arms as a teleportation sound was heard from nearby. Both heads swivelled over to see Monika crossing her arms in a huff. “What’s got you all tizzed up?”

“Ugh, you know, the same ol’ thing.” Monika frowned. “Only the second round and already we’re getting complaints…”

“Tell me about it.” Maurice frowned as he looked at his phone. “Maybe we’re being a little too ambitious with the Safe Zone?”

“No, no, the Safe Zone is a good idea, it really spices things up!” Monika smiled… before frowning. “No, it’s the complaints about me I’m getting.”

Xero snapped his fingers. “People are still talking about how you might be the next Monokuma?”

Monika rolled her eyes. “There are a lot of people out here AND in the real world that still think that I’m going to outright betray you. There’s even a few people that SUPPORT the idea of deleting the entire world just so I can get close to our voters.”

Maurice groaned as he held his head. “I take it the empathetic audience is STILL here?”

“Yep, even after Drake’s little rant for them when Kruger did his whole ‘Psycho Mantis’ impersonation, there are still a few audiences wishing to see you screw up.” Monika frowned.

“Are they THAT desperate to see you pull out a Monokuma?” Xero groaned as he held his head.

“Yes. Yes they are.” Monika huffed as she crossed her arms.

“Look, the best thing to do is to not worry about those guys for now. You did check every angle to see if there were no raiders in the dome or hotel, right?” Xero asked as he looked up towards Monika, an eyebrow raising in curiosity.

“No raiders. And the Legion of Grim Reapers, as I like to call them, are scouting out for any signs of Junko as well.” Monika explained. “As for villain plots, so far, there haven’t been any that I’ve seen. I did oversee something with Him and Aku, but they were both old friends, so I just let that be.”

Xero raised an eyebrow as he turned to the high school girl. “Him and Aku?”

“Last I checked, they were both inside Him’s hotel room, and they were catching up with each other.” Monika explained. “Which is the strangest thing, considering that’s the only villain to villain interaction that’s been seen all day.”

“Well, Him and Aku are basically cartoon devils, so it makes sense why these two in particular…” Maurice paused. “Although I don’t think they’re going to be that big of threats…”

“Maybe not now…” Monika paused.

Xero and Maurice noticed Monika’s apprehensive look as the latter frowned. “Uh, Monika, you know you can just TELL us if a plan is being held…”

“Yeah, I could… but where’s the fun in that?” Monika giggled. “I’m only telling you about those two because I saw them interacting earlier.”

As Monika instantly vanished out, Xero and Maurice blinked twice as the former held his head. “Ugh, I hate it when our third co-hosts tend to be cryptic…”

“Should we call the security team and tell them to keep tabs on Him and Aku?” Maurice asked.

“...for now? Not yet.” Xero shook his head. “If something comes up, we’ll know first thing.”

Maurice nodded before looking over the phone and giving a nod. “And no calls from the Recovery Room… no bias this time…”

“Oh come on, you’re never going to let that go, are you?” Xero frowned as he glared at Maurice.

“Well, nobody is EVER going to stop reminding you about what you did to Nack and Olimar!” Maurice frowned. “So no.”

(Hotel; Room 483)

HIM and Aku were sitting around a bit as they were looking through some makeshift monitors of their own as the former sipped some hot coffee. From the way they were examining each monitor, they were curious as to who they should follow.

“Let’s see… Red Guy is currently on our prime target…” HIM noted. “And our other target is in the arena at the moment…”

“Although not for very long…” Aku frowned as he stroked his beard. “Our prime target is going to be entering the arena soon after all…”

“Too true, too true…” HIM paused briefly, before giving a grin. “Well, even if she goes on a streak, we do still have back ups… AKA the people she’s talking to at present.”

Aku raised an eyebrow in surprise. “An annoying girl and a formerly fat rocker girl? Those are pretty random picks…”

“True, true, but they are the key components to lure our prime target over to us.” HIM chuckled. “Besides, we don’t really need THEM, we just need the Proud girl.”

Aku frowned a bit as he sighed. “Do you really think we can pull this off? Considering we have not only the security team splitting themselves in different areas, AND the Grim Reaper Association combing the area for Junko, they are bound to figure our plans out…”

HIM looked over at his devilish friend with a small chuckle on his face. “Don’t you worry about that, Aku. I already have plans to throw them off the trail… in fact… I think I’ll have a couple from each group be part of my little game, along with the forming hero groups…”

Aku raised an eyebrow. “Forming hero groups?”

HIM gave a slight chuckle to himself as he pointed to a monitor with Molly and Scratch running in a hallway in one, then to another monitor showing Babbitt, Catstello, Treecko and Skitty fighting in another, then to the next monitor showing Helga, Gerald, Phoebe, Rhonda and Nadine sitting around and talking in the arcade, and then finally, to one more monitor as Bloo was seen angrily walking the hallways. “Sure, it’s all starting slow and steady, but give it a little more time. We’re going to have a helluva game for sure!”

Aku chuckled a bit as he smiled. “What joy! Oh, this is going to be such a fun experience!”

HIM joined Aku in the small laughter. “Yes, yes, it’s all fun and games, but we can’t let our guard down so easily. Remember, even one little tiny thing could topple everything down…”

Aku raised an eyebrow as he turned to his fellow cartoon devil. “Oh?”

Him sadly nodded, before giving a smile. “But not to worry, my friend. I can easily assure you, once our next team member gets here, we’ll have a ball…”

Aku raised an eyebrow. “Next team member? So it won’t just be you, me and Red Guy?”

“Oh no, no…” HIM laughed a bit. “Our newest team member is a devil in his own right… he says he has to prepare for his own moment in the tournament, not the next section, but the section after next. But he will be joining us soon…”

Aku raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

HIM smiled a bit as he sipped his coffee. “Well, that character would be…”

(The Arena)

Rocky adjusted his hat a bit before pulling out his pistol and shooting multiple bullets towards his opponent. King Andrias, thinking fast, summoned his shield to block a few of the bullets in hand before narrowing his eyes at the small man.

“You know what I’m capable of, right?” Andrias said as he got rid of the shield. “I am, after all, a KING of my world. Well, used to be.”

“I don’t care if you are king of a latrine. You have valuables, and I will stop at nothing to get dem.” Rocky growled as he shot another bullet towards Andrias, this time, grazing his cheek a bit.

Andrias roared out in pain as he rubbed the tender area where he was shot, before growling. “For a little guy, you sure pack a whallop!”

Rocky frowned as he gritted his teeth. “Shaddup.”

Andrias returned that frown with one of his own before pulling out his laser sword. “Okay, rude. I think you need a time out…”

With that, Andrias charged over with his sword to slash right at the small gangster, sending a surprised Rocky stumbling backwards. Once the gangster recovered, Rocky gritted his teeth before shooting at Andrias multiple times with his pistol, a straight line of bullets charging forward at the large newt. Andrias narrowed his eyes as he quickly rolled over to the side to avoid the small bullets as they quickly headed towards the Safe Zone tent, which by that time, Elmer had just came out, wearing a prehistoric toga and hat, and holding a spear, the same outfit he wore in ‘Bugs Bunny Lost in Time’.

Elmer yelped as he avoided the bullets before narrowing his eyes at Rocky. “Oooooo… if I wewen’t forbidden to use my gun… but Wocky cweawy has the wight idea.”

Elmer chuckled as he started to walk back into the arena, holding his spear close in hopes of catching up to Jazz, little realizing he was about to come into chaos.

All the while, Andrias quickly recovered as he looked towards the short gangster in anger before rushing out and slashing his sword. Rocky jumped backwards to avoid the sword slash as King Andrias growled in anger.

“How is a pesky little man like you a big problem for me?” Andrias shouted in anger before jumping up and sending down his sword to the ground to strike it.

This caused an immense shockwave to fly towards the small gangster as it sent Rocky flying… though not to the edge of the ring as Andrias had hoped…

All the while, Fuzzy was growling in anger as he charged directly at Bowser, fist at the ready. The Koopa King just snorted before raising up his hand to block Fuzzy as the pink hillbilly creature was now running in place, flailing his arms around pathetically.

“Seriously, you’re wasting your breath.” Bowser frowned as he narrowed his eyes at Fuzzy. “Yes, you got lucky in getting back with a second chance, but may I demonstrate the reason you got eliminated?”

“No, youse may not! I came back for a reason, and I ain’t wasting any time trying to get close!” Fuzzy growled as he grabbed Bowser’s arm and lifted him up in the air before tossing him directly towards the ground, causing the large Koopa king to yell out in pain.

Seeing his opponent down, Fuzzy wasted no time in climbing the ropes as he quickly positioned himself on a corner post and turned towards the direction of the slowly, getting back up on his feet, Bowser. The Koopa King turned to see Fuzzy standing on the corner post, bending his legs a few times as if preparing to leap…

And leap, the pink hillbilly creature did as he body slammed himself directly on Bowser’s head. Of course, he also felt the piercing of the horns on the Koopa’s shell, which Bowser took advantage of retracting into for defense.

“YEOWCH!” Fuzzy yelled out in pain before jumping around comically, trying to rub the painful spots. After a minute, Bowser recovered as he crossed his arms and gave a smirk.

“Maybe you’d like a little hint that I’m just as stronger defensively as much as I am offensively!” Bowser smirked before raising his fist and charging forward to send a blow right at the pink hillbilly creature.

Fuzzy quickly pulled out his blunderbuss to shoot at Bowser multiple times in hopes of slowing him down. However, though he felt the pain of the bullets, Bowser tanked them pretty well before punching Fuzzy in the face, sending him flying towards the ropes. The pink creature turned and grabbed onto the ropes, before bounding himself backwards.

Bowser crossed his arms in anger. “Oh, we’re really playing THIS game, huh? Well, how about I show you how-”

The Koopa King would have finished his sentence, had a flying Rocky not slammed against the Koopa, causing Bowser to yelp as he stumbled to the side (though he did save himself in time for getting close to the ropes). Bowser recovered as he looked down towards the little man that bumped into him as he got up, before looking over towards King Andrias with a frown.

“Hey, pal! Watch where you’re throwing your opponents!” Bowser growled in anger.

King Andrias coughed as he held his laser sword tightly. “My deepest apologies, but this man seemed determined to get my crown…”

“I’ll be getting more than your crown if you do not cooperate…” Rocky grumbled in anger as he pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Bowser. “And you, ugly turtle! If you get any ideas about helping him or doing a Limit attack, you will be filled full of lead.”

Bowser looked at the little man in bewildered anger… before closing his eyes and letting loose a laugh. “Pal, do you even KNOW who you’re talking to? The King of the Koopas?”

“Yeah, and you can’t even hold onto a princess for very long because some plumbers come into save her. Princes, I can get, but plumbers? It just shows how pathetic you are.” Rocky said.

Bowser’s eyes widened before narrowing his eyes at the little man. “Oh, you just threatened the WRONG Koopa King, buddy!”

At this time, Fuzzy, just watching Rocky looking between King Andrias and Bowser with his gun pointed to both of them, realized that all three of them seemed distracted. Giving a smirk to himself, he turned towards the Safe Zone’s entrance and started to walk towards the area…

But as quick as he could, Rocky turned around and shot straight at Fuzzy, causing the pink hillbilly creature to yelp.

“And where do you think YOU is going?” Rocky frowned. “If anybody is going to take the challenge of da Safe Zone, I am going to do it.”

Fuzzy growled in anger. “OH NO! I already lost mah property one time, I ain’t losin’ it again! You back off away from me and mah property!”

“Your property? Don’t make me laugh, you mug.” Rocky frowned as he walked forward towards Fuzzy. All the while, King Andrias and Bowser were watching the two in bewilderment as Fuzzy and Rocky seemed to be focused on each other. Andrias opened his eyes, before raising an eyebrow as he put a hand on his chin, thinking up an idea. He quickly motioned over to Bowser as he whispered a plan in his ear.

“Hm? Oh? Ohhhhh…” Bowser mumbled as he gave a small smirk, getting the gist of Andrias’s whispered plan.

Fuzzy narrowed his eyes towards Rocky as he carefully aimed his blunderbuss at the little man. “Well, it IS mah property, I was aiming to camp here in da first section, and now that I know what this here Safe Zone is capable of, I wanna compete in dat dare challenge!”

“Take one step towards that Safe Zone, and you will wish you hadn’t.” Rocky threatened.

Fuzzy growled in anger before charging forwards in anger. “I don’t care if you ARE a lead gangster in your funny picture shows, you ain’t the boss of me!”

“We’ll just see about dat, won’t we?” Rocky said as he aimed his gun at Fuzzy, intending to shoot…

Before a shockwave came over and caught both Fuzzy and Rocky off guard, sending them down on the floor. Before Fuzzy could get up, Bowser ran right in and lifted him up in the air.

“Now… to make sure you’re PERMANENTLY OUT this time!” Bowser yelled in anger as he threw Fuzzy out of the ring and into the portal below.

Fuzzy landed in Big City Greens, where he tried to take out his anger on the local townsfolk, but even he wouldn’t last against Tilly’s creature and animal loving nature.

At that time, Rocky groaned as he slowly got up to his feet, trying to get himself together, before getting grabbed from behind by King Andrias.

“Hey! You lousy lug! Put me down right dis minute!” Rocky said as he growled in anger.

King Andrias gave a smirk. “Are you sure you want that?”

“I demand it!” Rocky growled before pulling his gun and aiming it at King Andrias’s face.

“If you insist.” Andrias smirked before throwing Rocky out of the ring and into the portal below, causing the gangster to realize his poor choice of words too late. Andrias gave a small chuckle as he held up his hands. “Heh, seems like I still have my tactical advantages…”

Rocky landed in Grand Theft Auto, during a car chase with the police. His tough firm attitude slowly turning into a panicked one, he quickly stole a man’s vehicle to get himself out of there.

Bowser laughed as he turned towards Andrias. “Heh, you know, pal, we make a good team.”

“Agreed.” King Andrias smiled as he walked towards Bowser. “Look, it’s clear that even though this wasn’t an official Limit, I think we may have the potential to work together… get a BETTER Limit the next battle we come across. With your brawn and my brains, we can easily be unstoppable.”

Bowser laughed. “Heck yeah! Last tournament proved that partners worked out great, so I am more than up for anything!”

King Andrias gave an evil smirk to himself. “Perfect… what would even be more perfect is if we have an advantage…”

Bowser paused as he looked over towards the Safe Zone tent, before smirking towards his new partner. “Ah, I follow. You want me to complete the challenge in the Ready Room and reap the reward, and we use it together, right?”

King Andrias smirked. “Right. I will say, my fellow king, you catch on quite well.”

“Heh, and Kamek says that I have a one track mind!” Bowser laughed as he gave a nod. “You watch me, newt guy! Imma gonna go in that Safe Zone and I’ll be doing it right-”

As Bowser talked, he crossed over the ropes and was about to walk on the Safe Zone path when all of a sudden, a flying blur dived down and knocked the Koopa King on his back.

Bowser yelped as he lost his footing and slipped down, landing in the portal below.

Bowser found himself unceremoniously dropped down in the world of Resident Evil. He spent most of his ten minutes fighting off against Nemesis in pure anger.

King Andrias just stared in shock before looking towards the character that had managed to eliminate Bowser in the first place.

A dazed Beaky Buzzard was getting up and shaking the stars off his head before stumbling over and holding Andrias’s robe and wiped his face with it. King Andrias just stared in bewilderment before giving out an annoyed cough.

“Uh, buh, uh, buh buh…” Beaky looked up and waved. “Yes?”

“You, little birdy, just eliminated a partner of mine.” Andrias frowned as he lifted his sword up in the air.

“Uh… oh, uh… gosh, I, uh… I was just thrown by my opponent, and I, uh… couldn’t quite see him. So… uh, buh… sorry?” Beaky asked as he gave a nonchalant, confused shrug.

King Andrias pulled out his sword and was about to eliminate the small buzzard in retaliation… but then, much to his surprise, the bird got tackled by a blue blur. Andrias jumped back as he looked over at the new fight that was occurring between the two animals.

The blue blur in question, Gumball, was panting heavily as he narrowed his opponent in the eye. “Dagnabbit, I can’t believe I accidentally gave you an elimination! I mean, how is that even a thing in these tournaments?”

“Uh buh… it’s a lucky coincidence, I, uh, suppose…” Beaky said before giving a small chuckle to himself.

Gumball growled in anger as he held up his hands and small cat claws came out from his fingers, before taking a deep breath. “Mom, I’m taking a cue from your book if you’re watching this…”

With that, Gumball yelled in fury before attempting to jump on Beaky to slash him, but the buzzard managed to slip out of the cat’s grasp as he gave a dopey smile.

“Temper, temper, Mr. Kitty.” Beaky waved his finger (which was part of a fist that somehow formed with his wing), before Gumball pounced on him again. Beaky was getting pretty good at side stepping Gumball’s attacks as this kept going for a few seconds.

“Ugh, stay still so I can punch you directly in the beak!” Gumball shouted.

“Oh no, no, no…” Beaky blushed as he shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that.”

Gumball growled angrily as his eyes began to glow an eerie white… before letting out a shout as he sent a shockwave around the arena, causing everybody to trip up for a second, before recovering and resuming their battles.

Andrias, on the other hand, just watched the battle in pure awe as he examined Gumball’s fury. He paused, before giving a smirk to himself.

“Hmmmm… I wonder…”

Beaky was seen knocked out flat on his stomach after Gumball’s furious yell knocked him over. As the buzzard got himself up, he quickly pulled out a large coffin to slam Gumball in the head with. However, Gumball, noticing the large coffin, smirked as he seemed to be… holding a pose with his hands, his right hand grasping at something invisible. And somehow, the coffin was smashed by itself into teeny, tiny pieces.

“Huh?” Beaky blinked twice in confusion, wondering how Gumball managed to break the coffin without touching it.

The young blue cat snickered a bit before patting something that wasn’t there. “Invisible shield.”

He flicked his finger on nothing, and oddly enough, the hollow sounds of a shield was heard dinging. As Gumball threw the “invisible shield” away, he quickly rushed forward as he made a motion with his hands as a fireball somehow formed in his hands.

Andrias’s eyes popped open in shock as he gave a small smirk. “Hmmm… fascinating…”

Gumball shouted out in anger before unleashing the fireball as if doing Ryu’s Hadoken attack, sending the fireball straight towards the confused Beaky as he got incinerated. When the fire cleared, Beaky was now seen standing without his Undertaker uniform… or any of his feathers. A loud whistle was heard as Beaky looked around at himself, before covering himself as he gave a laugh and a blush.

“Oh, no, no, no, no…” Beaky laughed as Gumball rushed forward and uppercutted the buzzard in the air.

“And now, here comes the SPIKE!” Gumball shouted before slamming his hand right on the buzzard, sending Beaky flying out of the ring and into the portal below.

All the while, Launchpad was still fighting against Dr. Shemp as he managed to kick Shemp’s butt, causing the witch doctor to jump up in the air in pain. The pilot quickly turned just in time to see Beaky being launched out of the ring.

“Aw, shoot. I was really hoping Beaky and I would finish that game…” Launchpad sighed, before giving a shrug. “Oh well, I guess I’ll have to settle for fighting…”

The tall pilot then managed to get struck in the head by Dr. Shemp’s pole, as the witch doctor let out a long laugh.

Beaky landed in Hank the Cowdog, where he and Junior the Buzzard managed to bond by singing a tune together, much to Junior’s father, Wallace’s chagrin.

Gumball panted a bit as he took a few deep breaths.

“Hey, kid.”

Gumball jumped as he turned to see King Andrias approaching him. “I’ve noticed your skills and I must say, you look like the perfect person to have an alliance with.”

Gumball’s eyes widened in shock, before narrowing his eyes. “I don’t know, I’ve heard of the cartoon you’re from, and I know you’re not a good guy!”

Andrias groaned as he held his head. “Has anybody even SEEN the third season of Amphibia…” He shook his head. “I can assure you, I won’t stab you in the back… literally, I mean. Look, what if I make you an offer… and I can insure your stay in the ring for a while?”

Gumball raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Go on…”

Raphael narrowed his eyes as he charged forward and used his sais to slash forward towards Antonov, as the wrestler smirked and jumped backwards, all the while sending out his fist to punch the rather large ninja turtle in the face. Raph quickly shook his head and took a deep breath through his nostrils before leaping forward and slashing with his sais.

That attack connected as Antonov shook his head and laughed. “Heh, I can see the potential you have for the G.A.W.”

“Really?” Raph said in shock as his eyes grew wide with a cute look to them. “You think I have a chance?”

Antonov laughed. “Buddy, I think you have more than proven yourself quite worthy of a fighter! With those skills of yours, you might have a chance.”

“Sweet!” Raph’s eyes lit up in delight, before shrinking down as he held up his position. “Then I ain’t gonna hold back.”

“You mean you weren’t already?” Antonov asked in mild curiosity.

The bulky turtle decided not to comment, but rather rushed forward and jumped as he performed a kick to Antonov’s face, causing the wrestler to bound himself backwards. Giving a smirk, the wrestler grabbed the bulky turtle and tossed him over his shoulder, causing Raph to land on the ground with a thud.

Antonov took a deep breath before smirking as he held out his hands and slammed the ground, causing a small tremor as Raphael to stumble as he got back on his feet.

“Whoa…” Raphael groaned before closing his eyes. “Okay, okay, let me see if THIS helps…”

Raph then opened his eyes and gave a smirk as he vanished in sight. Antonov blinked in confusion as he looked around.

“What the heck?” Antonov mumbled to himself as he tried to look around… little realizing that Raph had managed to reappear from behind as he struck Antonov in the back with his sais, causing the wrestler to trip and fall.

Raph nodded to himself as he said, “Huh, so those SMITE abilities aren’t limited to the 80s versions of us… this is going to be fun…”

With that, Raphael pulled out a skateboard and started to ride it forward a bit before hopping off and slamming his body right on Antonov.

Antonov grunted as he tried to push the bulky turtle off of his back, pushing him backwards. Antonov quickly got up as he gave a laugh.

“Heh, clever move! But can you beat THIS?!” Antonov yelled out as he pulled away his fist, then punched forward to directly hit Raphael in the face. Before Raph could recover, another punch, followed directly by a kick, sent him straight in the air. Before the turtle could fall back down, though, Antonov spiked Raph in the air, followed directly with a kick as the large Ninja Turtle fell directly on his stomach, letting out a small groan.

“Heh, I say you’re worthy enough…” Antonov smirked as he pulled out a business card and tucked it in Raph’s belt. “Look me up when I get out of the ring, and we’ll see about signing you up.”

With a nod, Antonov lifted the ninja turtle in the air and casually threw him out of the ring and into the portal below.

Raphael landed in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games where he had somehow scored perfect 10s for a perfect dive, despite still being unconscious. When the cold splash of the water woke him up, he was a little frustrated, yet proud to see those scores when he saw the board.

Antonov took a deep breath before taking the cigar out of his mouth and tapping away the ashes from it as he laughed. “Heh, if this one was willing to come with me… imagine the other possible people that could join me in my G.A.W.! Heh, I’m just tingling all over, thinking of the possibilities!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, the first five people of the round have been eliminated, which means it’s time to spin the wheel!” Xero announced as the wheel appeared once again as it started to spin.

Monika appeared on the screens as she gave a giggle. “Wheel, spin, spin, spin. Tell us what happens to one of our players…”

Not everybody stopped fighting, but some had turned their attention to the wheel as it continued to spin… until slowing down as it landed right on Antonov’s face.

Antonov blinked twice. “Huh. Didn’t think I’d be an option to be landed on.”

“Well, you are.” Monika nodded. “And as a special reward for still being here, you get the choice of whatever weapon you want from anybody still in the arena.”

This caused everybody (that HAD weapons) to jump as they turned to Xero and glared at him. Xero happened to be eating a nice sandwich when he noticed all eyes on him. “Oh, what? I’m not just going to push a button that can teleport a weapon someone has over to someone else. Heaven knows people were mad at me when I caused THAT can of worms.”

“So, you say I have a choice, huh?” Antonov asked as he gave a smirk. “In that case, no choice for me. I ain’t gonna steal anybody’s weapon!”

“Are you sure?” Monika asked in curiosity. “It could be a big chance to explore different fighting styles…”

“No way! As far as I’m concerned, THESE…” Antonov smirked as he showed off his muscles. “Are going to be carrying me!”

Monika paused before sighing. “Suit yourself, but you might regret that choice later.”

With that, Monika’s monitor switched off as Antonov gave a smirk as he turned around to see other fights going on… he looked over towards Gumball and King Andrias as they seemed to be fighting themselves… his attention turned towards the Safe Zone as he contemplated entering it to do the challenge.

He shook his head as he decided to just show off for the audience for the time being. Little did he realize was that Gumball and Andrias were actually fake fighting as they seemed to notice the crowd. “Now?”

“Not yet.” Andrias shook his head.

(Dome, Hallways)

“YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

A screaming baseball shouted at the top of its lungs as it hurled itself over towards Treecko, who rolled and dodged the ball with ease. Babbit, who had thrown the ball, snapped his fingers in annoyance as he narrowed his eyes. “Hold still, you little freaky lizard thing!”

”Ehhhh, make me!” The female lizard stuck out her tongue and stretched her bottom eyelid down while blowing a raspberry.

Babbit narrowed his eyes in anger before throwing some TNT towards Treecko, then pulling out a plunger and pushing it down as it exploded, sending the little lizard flying towards the wall. Thankfully, Treecko used its hands and feet to stick to the wall like a gecko. As soon as Treecko slid off the ground, it opened its mouth to form a large green ball of energy, before firing it towards Babbit.

The tall cat yelped as he tried to duck the attack, but unfortunately for him, the attack engulfed the cat and sent him off his feet, sliding him towards Catstello, who was having trouble trying to get Skitty off his face, as the cat Pokemon was using its tail to Double Slap him multiple times in the face.

“Come on, quit your foolin’, what’s the matter with you!” Babbit said as he looked up in annoyance at his partner.

“Hey, I’m tryin’ to work here, Babbit! But this cat is way too strong! What does that cat take to make its tail THAT powerful, steroids?” Catstello asked as Skitty jumped up and slammed its tail towards Catstello, sending the short, fat cat flying.

”Rainbow Gummies, actually!” Skitty mewled with a large grin on his face.

”Chamomile, focus!” Treecko narrowed her eyes as she shot another Energy Ball towards the two cats. Catstello let out a scream as both he and Babbit ducked.

“AH! BABBITT!” Catstello let out a scream as Babbit grabbed him and pulled out a jack in the box before stuffing Catstello inside. “Oh come on, don’t do it, Babbit, I hate going into the box! Stop, STOP IT, STOP IT!”

Babbit then closed the box quickly and aimed it towards the two Pokemon before letting the latch loose and sending Catstello flying into the air.

“AHHHHHHH!” Catstello screamed as he came close to the ceiling, before falling straight down on Treecko and Skitty, body slamming them before the cat bounced off the two.

”AHHH!” Treecko groaned as she got up and quickly shook herself to recover before narrowing her eyes towards the recovering Catstello, who had just taken the springs that he received from the jack in the box off of his paws.

“Ooooooooooo, I HATE it when you do that!” Catstello frowned as he glared towards Babbit.

”Let’s get him, Willow!” Skitty mewled before readying himself for an attack.

”I couldn’t have said it better myself.” Treecko nodded as she jumped up in the air and opened her mouth, sending out a red and blue like breath aura towards Catstello, directly hitting the cat in the butt.

“YEOWCH!” Catstello yelled as he jumped up in the air and covered his rear before running around comically “BABBIIIIIIIIIIIT!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it, I’m on it!” Babbit said in annoyance before pulling out a baseball pitching machine and turning it on.

The machine whirred as both Chamomile and Willow turned towards the machine, as it started to throw baseballs out towards them.

”INCOMING!” Chamomile the Skitty shouted as it used Double Slap to slap away a few balls, but ultimately got slammed in the face with a few of them.

Willow the Treecko tried to use Iron Tail to bat away a few balls, but even the overwhelming amount of baseballs became too much for this gecko Pokemon. The small Pokemon got knocked down on its rear as it rubbed its head. ”Ugh, those cats are a lot tougher than I thought. If only we were allowed our final forms to take them down!”

”Look, as much as I wanted to stick with my Delcatty form, Xero INSISTED we had to stick with our original forms.” Chamomile pointed out.

Willow frowned. ”All right, change of tactics! Chamomile, tactical room nuke.”

Chamomile grinned as he jumped up in the air and started to breathe in.

“Uh oh… Babbit, I think that cat is up to somethin’!” Catstello said in worry as he looked towards his tall friend.

“Oh come on! From what I’ve seen, this cat is a Normal type! What can it do?” Babbit asked.

“Uh, would now be a bad time to say that Normal types are very versatile in ANY moveset?” Catstello asked as Skitty started to form an icy breath.

Babbit, noticing the cat’s breath forming large clouds surrounding the room, frowned. “Yes, now would be a bad time.”

“I thought so.” Catstello sighed.

”BLIZZARD!” Chamomile the Skitty shouted as a freak snow storm suddenly showered down, not only hitting both Babbit and Catstello, but knocking them down as they began to shiver. Willow, hanging on to Chamomile, just watched as both Babbit and Catstello were standing in the snow, freezing.

”Heh, nice trick, Chamomile.” Treecko smirked. ”Good to see your Blizzard tactics coming into use!”

”Hey, it’s always been my most powerful move back in my homeworld that’s not STAB, so I have to make it count, right?” Skitty smirked… before its eyes changed to worry. ”WILLOW! LOOK! THE FREAKY PORTAL! It’s back!”

”Hmm?” Willow blinked twice before turning towards what seemed to be a portal suddenly appearing. ”WHOA! What is that?”

”I don’t know, but it looks a little… scary…” Skitty shook nervously.

As the Treecko and Skitty talked with each other, Babbit and Catstello, who had just now recovered from their blizzard, suddenly noticed the portal in curiosity as Babbit raised an eyebrow. “What the… where did THAT come from?”

With that, the tall cat slowly approached it in curiosity as Catstello yelped. “Babbit, don’t! I don’t like the look of that thing!”

Catstello pulled Babbit away from it as the portal suddenly turned dark and began to show a minor glitch, as if coming from a video game. Pretty soon, the portal closed up, much to the four’s surprise.

”...you don’t think…” Chamomile said in worry as he turned to Treecko.

”...this is bad. Really bad…” Willow said with the same worry on her face.

Both Babbit and Catstello looked at the two talking Pokemon in confusion, wondering what they were saying. Before anything else was said, Shuichi’s voice came from the speakers.

“Attention, please. Will Treecko please come to the Ready Room? Your number just came up.”

Treecko looked up in worry as he turned to Skitty. ”Well, I guess it’s my time… so here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m going to try and get Mewtwo and tell him what’s going on. Chamomile, try to find some other people for help, someone that can hopefully try to understand us!”

”...I suppose maybe I can stop by the gift shop to get a translator collar.” Skitty nodded. ”And I’ll get one for you too. You have fun out there, and I’ll meet you back in the Recovery Room!”

“Right!” Willow nodded before rushing off.

Chamomile paused before nodding as it started to head off. Babbit and Catstello were just standing there, looking rather flabbergasted.

“What in the name of heck is goin’ on?” Catstello asked.

“I don’t know, but forget food right now.” Babbit frowned. “Maybe that small cat has some answers…”

“Forget food? Babbit, you know what you’re sayin’, right?” Catstello asked in shock.

“I know, I know, probably a bad idea, but you’ve seen the bad guy plots in the past few tournaments on TV. If this portal is involved in that… I can’t help but be concerned that we just ignored it… it wouldn’t feel right to ignore something like that, you know?”

Catstello looked up at Babbit in concern, before nodding. “Yeah, I guess you’re right… I just hope that along the way, we get somethin’ to eat…”

“I’m sure we’ll see what we can do. For now, follow that pink cat!” Babbit shouted as he and Catstello began to chase after Skitty, as if their lives depended on it.

(Announcer’s Booth)

Xero and Maurice were a little busy looking over their schedules and eating lunch at the same time when they heard the phone ring.

“Hm?” Maurice raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he picked up the phone. “Maurice here.”

“Hey, uh, Maurice? This is Shuichi.” Shuichi’s voice sounded.

Maurice raised an eyebrow as Xero perked up and listened in. “Hey, Shuichi. What’s up?”

“Uh, well… I was calling up the fighters for Section Three like you requested, and I just noticed… you didn’t have Mystery Fighters LISTED in that round.”

Maurice blinked twice. “Wait, did we not? I could have sworn we requested the next two Mystery Fighters to come down…”

“Yeah… you didn’t. You just sent a list of twenty people, NONE of which were Mystery Fighters. And I already called all of them down.” Shuichi pointed out.

Maurice and Xero blinked twice as Xero chuckled nervously. “Ohhhh… that must have been my bad. I was so busy compiling the numbers, I forgot to include our fifth and sixth Mystery Fighters…”

“Here’s another weird thing. You said you accounted for ALL Mystery Fighters, right?” Shuichi asked.

“...yeah?” Maurice nodded.

“Yeah, I saw the numbers you gave me, but none of them say five OR six on any of the lists.” Shuichi explained.

Xero and Maurice stared vacantly… before the latter slapped his own forehead. “Oh GOD… we neglected FIVE AND SIX? I don’t believe it…”

“Okay, okay, easy fix… the next Mystery Fighters that have seven and eight… they’re five and six now.” Xero frowned.

“I’m afraid it’s NOT that simple.” Shuichi chuckled nervously. “See, we have to keep reserves in mind in case the person who wins the end wheel spin chooses a card that expands the arena. So, I sort of have ALL of them booked, and I think the last thing I would want… and they would want, is to learn that a spot has been taken out…”

“Oh boy…” Maurice frowned. “Monika?”

“Yes?” Monika suddenly appeared between the two, making the bunny and bull jump.

“What are the chances that THIS card will be picked?” Maurice asked as he pointed to a choice of the cards that were labeled on the piece of paper before them.

Monika paused as she held her head. “Hmmm… hard to say. But I think a few of them MIGHT have a good chance at picking it, depending on who wins the round’s spin. Ninety percent chance.”

Maurice and Xero looked at each other and nodded as Maurice turned to the phone. “Tell you what Shuichi… we’ll have Monika comb around the area for two Mystery Fighters we didn’t invite, and if this particular card gets chosen, we’ll lump those two in with them.”

“All right, if you’re sure that’s for the best…” Shuichi sighed. “Just… please hurry. I’m about midway through the Section Three fighters, and I still have to call them all up.”

“No worries.” Maurice said as he hung up the phone, before turning to Monika with a raised eyebrow. “Hey, Monika, you just got two free Mystery Fighter slots… any choice you make, they’ll both be in the same section.”

Monika’s eyes lit up as she gave a grin. “Oh good! And I already know which characters I want!”

This caused Xero and Maurice to jump as Xero blinked twice. “Eh? Already?”

“Yep. All I have to do is search through Orange’s last game he played and last movie he watched and… yep, yep, I think I can work with that…” Monika grinned before snapping her fingers, disappearing, leaving both bunny and bull in a rather confused state.

After a moment, Xero turned to Maurice. “Why do I have a feeling that we’re going to get some silly picks?”

“Well, silly or not, all we can do is hope that someone picks the ‘Arena Split’ option…” Maurice sighed. “Otherwise, we may as well be the first section to accidentally exclude Mystery Fighters…”

(Hotel; Lobby)

“Wow…” Lee Lee sighed as Penny finished her story up. “I”m sorry to hear that your first ever boyfriend had to be declared non canon.”

“It wasn’t really so bad.” Penny shrugged. “I mean, I get why they had to do it, but it really disappointed me that the guy I shared a kiss with and the whole peanut people thing… never really happened at all.”

“And to think, people were still thinking that the movie was canon after twenty years, only for them to back out of that now?” Connie asked, before wincing. “Rough, really rough.”

“Still, I picked myself back up.” Penny shrugged. “And I’m pretty happy with who I am hanging out with now. Kareem is treating me quite well.”

“But… don’t you ever miss the guys you originally liked?” Connie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“...sometimes. But… yeah, after only being introduced in one movie, did 15 Cent really leave an impact at all? I mean, other than being the person that started the whole ‘sixteenth birthday cancellation’ conflict I had with my daddy and I, there wasn’t much with him. I mean, when the reboot/revival came along… I mean, look at me!” Penny grinned as she got up and showed off herself. “I’ve never looked so good. Especially with the new animation.”

“Yeah, you really swing that new animation quite well.” Connie giggled… before sighing. “But at least you’re a main character in both original and revival series. I’m lucky to even get a starring role in one of the Disney episodes… I mean, don’t get me wrong, Disney treated us pretty well, but I missed the old days on Nick. Sure, I didn’t have much to do, but at least I was treated pretty well… but it didn’t get me any closer to Doug…”

“Tell me about it.” Lee Lee sighed, before looking over to Penny. “We’re not main characters, like you are, but we wish we were…”

Penny sighed a bit as she sat between the two girls. “I get it. It’s not easy having to get a love interest, especially since the boys you’re interested in are either too dedicated to their work, or too dedicated to another girl. Me? Heh, I may be lucky in the newer series with Kareem, but you girls have your own lives to look out for…”

“How’s that?” Connie asked as she looked over at Penny.

“I’ll admit you may not have much, but your own life can be like your own story… heck, when I was in the first Tournament of Kikai, and I got the number I did, I half expected to at least get lucky with maybe one elimination. I didn’t expect to be creating an alliance, I didn’t expect to survive to the final section, and I certainly wasn’t expecting that I would be the first ever Tournament of Kikai winner.” Penny explained.

The girl grinned as she got up. “What I’m trying to say is, you two are very unique characters in your own right, and maybe, like Samus and Reed in Megamix Tournament 1 or O’Chunks in Megamix Tournament 2… or heck, I suppose even Dingodile and Komodo Joe in the third Battle of the Luminaries. Sure, they were seen as sort of minor characters in their games, but when it came to tournaments like these, they got bigger roles and helped out a lot of people…”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but Megamix Tournament 2 seemed a little TOO O’Chunks focused…” Lee Lee pointed out.

“Nevertheless, it’s what you make of your time in these areas that makes you important.” Penny smiled. “Whatever you do with your story… they’re yours to make. You understand that, right?”

Lee Lee and Connie looked at each other, before smiling as they turned to Penny and nodded, Connie saying, “If you really think we can be the masters of our own stories, then maybe we’ll try!”

“Why not?” Lee Lee giggled as she turned to Connie. “Hey, Connie, why don’t we try this whole ‘our story’ thing? Maybe it’ll take our minds off the whole ‘unrequited romance’ that we’re experiencing.”

Connie smiled as she eagerly nodded. “That sounds like fun!”

Penny looked between the two as she gave a small smile, until she heard the call from Shuichi.

“Penny Proud, your number just came up. Will you please come to the Ready Room?”

The young African American girl nodded as she turned to the girls. “Well, that’s my number. I gotta go. But you two remember what I said, right?”

Lee Lee and Connie nodded as Penny started to run off. After a moment, Lee Lee turned to Connie. “So… I’m not doing anything. Are you willing to go on an adventure?”

Connie’s eyes lit up as she smiled. “Sure! Where should we start?”

From underneath the couch, Red Guy was listening in as he gave a small smirk on his face. Lee Lee tried to think. “Hmmm… honestly, I’m not sure. I haven’t seen any villains since we got here, AND nothing seems to be jumping out in mind…”

“...stupid little… I’m gonna get whoever tried to frame me for that prank…”

Lee Lee and Connie (along with the Red Guy) paused as they turned to see Bloo coming from the east hallway, growling in anger as he seemed to be carrying some type of briefcase. The small imaginary friend looked inside and snickered. “Oh, that mysterious prankster is going to rue the day they messed with Blooregard Q. Kazoo!”

Lee Lee and Connie looked at each other, before looking over at Bloo, now curious to see what he was talking about. Giving a nod, they decided to get up and approach Bloo. All the while, the Red Guy was smiling to himself as he watched his new curious targets. Sure, he was told to follow Penny, but with her going to the arena, there was no point. Still, maybe HIM and Aku would be interested in what was going on with THESE three in particular…

(The Arena)

Godhand took a deep breath before charging forward and gave out a flurry of punches towards his opponents, before uppercutting him into the air. Link managed to land on the ground on his back, but quickly got up as he shook his head. Narrowing his eyes, Link pulled out his sword and ran forward, slashing Godhand’s chest a couple of times, making the man stumble backwards.

Godhand scoffed as he narrowed his eyes, before using his gun arm to shoot directly at Link. The Hero of Time quickly pulled out his shield to deflect the bullets that came towards him before frowning.

“Wow… Kazuya never mentions you a lot, but I can see why he doesn’t like to talk about you…” Link frowned.

Godhand just chuckled darkly as he put his glove back on. “You have to take what you can get. It’s not just a romp on the playground, you know.”

Link frowned a bit before rushing forward and slashing up Godhand with a few more slashes before holding up his sword until it began to glow blue. He then spun around and let out a wave of energy from his sword, sending Godhand flying towards the ropes. The man managed to hang on by a thread before bouncing himself back with the ropes as he pulled out a couple of grenades and sent them over towards Link.

Link quickly responded by pulling out a couple of bombs and sending them flying towards the grenades, as both made impact and exploded, sending the two opponents flying backwards for a short moment.

Link quickly recovered and got back on his feet as he noticed Godhand was slowly getting up. Not wanting to give the man a second chance of pulling out a cheap tactic, Link quickly pulled out his bow and arrow and shot an arrow towards the man, causing Godhand to grunt in pain. Godhand growled angrily before getting up and rushing forwards, dodging Link’s sword swing before jabbing Link in the stomach, sending him down.

Godhand could only give a small laugh as he looked at the downed Link before picking him up. “You are a very interesting opponent indeed, but not even THAT was enough to slow me down…”

All of a sudden, much to Godhand’s surprise, he found himself frozen in place. Link, smirking as he got off of the man, thanked himself for remembering his Sheikah Runes, more specifically, his Stasis Rune, as he pocketed it before holding out his sword and slashing at the Mishima multiple times.

Link then stopped slashing as Godhand found himself moving again, only to feel the effects of Link’s sword slashes as he let out a scream before bending down to the ground. Seeing an opportunity, the Hero of Time quickly grabbed Godhand and threw him out of the ring and into the portal below.

Ken “Godhand” Mishima landed in Tekken, where he took out his frustrations against Eddy Gordo for ten minutes.

Link gave a small sigh of relief as he nodded. “Well, that takes care of him…”

“WHOAAAAA! Hey, pal, watch the keister!”

Link turned towards the source of the voice as he saw Launchpad rubbing his rear end as the laughing Dr. Shemp pointed and snickered as he waved his staff in the air. Seeing that there was nothing better to do, Link decided to help out Launchpad against this new opponent.

Landia looked up with their heads before spitting out multiple fireballs towards the two opponents at hand. Mewtwo’s eyes glowed before pulling out his fingers to deflect at least two fireballs before getting engulfed by the rest. Garnet, on the other hand, seemed to be dodging quickly thanks to her hand-eye coordination, before using her rocket gauntlets to aim directly for the four headed dragon. However, much to her surprise (or maybe not, considering she had future vision), Numbuh One came flying in with his rocket shoes, before pulling out his G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A. and shooting out some gum at the gauntlets, causing the fire from the rocket fueled fists to go out and fall.

Garnet frowned before holding up her hands and summoning her gauntlets back, waving them up and down to get rid of the gum. “I can see how persistent you two are.”

“Nothing personal, but the dragon and I need to make sure your psychic powers don’t become a problem later on down the road.” Numbuh One noted as he patted his G.U.M.Z.O.O.K.A. and aimed it directly for Mewtwo to throw the psychic Pokemon off.

After getting pelted by some gumballs, Mewtwo, annoyed, attempted to use a Shadow Claw to deflect a few gumballs back towards his opponent, only for Landia to fly in and shoot out some more fireballs at the Pokemon. Garnet turned to try to deflect some fireballs off her back, only for Numbuh One to spot her and jetted forward to uppercut her in the chin.

Garnet fell on the ground and groaned as she got up and used her rocket gauntlets to charge forward to punch the kid forward. At that moment, Landia quickly separated themselves into four dragons as one of the dragons came in and saved Numbuh One from falling down a portal.

“Thanks.” Numbuh One acknowledged one of the dragons.

”Don’t mention it.” Landia roared positively before flying upwards to shoot a few more fireballs.

Mewtwo and Garnet quickly noted that each corner had a dragon flying around as Mewtwo gave a sigh. “I didn’t think these two would be more of a problem than they’re worth…”

“They are, indeed, improving… but they forget they battle with psychics. Even THEY can’t predict us.” Garnet smirked. “What do you say? Should we pull it off?”

Mewtwo paused briefly as he shut his eyes. “I believe it may be for the best.”

Garnet nodded as she got into a pose, with Mewtwo levitating her up as she said, “It’s the true kind of strength that can give us strength.”

“Psychic Disassemble…” Mewtwo nodded as Garnet felt herself glowing as if… detaching herself.

All four dragons and Numbuh One looked a little confused at first as two new characters landed next to Mewtwo. One character was a red skinned little figure wearing the same black jumpsuit Garnet did, having the same headshape as Garnet, and a red ruby on her left hand. The second character next to her was a blue skinned beauty with light blue hair that covered her eyes, wearing a blue dress and white gloves.

Ruby smirked as she looked up at Mewtwo. “How rare it is for us to make our debut here!”

“Let’s focus, Ruby! We have a lot of work to do!” Sapphire said as she looked over towards Mewtwo. “Circle us around!”

“With pleasure.” Mewtwo said as he levitated the two Gems and himself up off the ground as they started to levitate.

Numbuh One yelped as he finally realized what was going on. “Oh no, it’s a Limit Break! Listen! Try to dodge the attacks! We need to know what’s…”

Before one of the dragons could react, Ruby came in with a fiery dash and slammed one of the dragons straight down into the portal. This was followed immediately by Mewtwo sending two Shadow Balls towards the second dragon, and Sapphire freezing the other dragon with her hands. The fourth dragon’s eyes shrank as they watched the two dragons spiraling down towards the portals as they entered in.

“...uh, right. Well, maybe we can still…” Numbuh One said as the fourth end of Landia charged forward towards the three characters. “W-wait! We need a plan!”

Landia scoffed as he dodged each fireball, ice ball and shadow ball that the three provided, until the three figures stopped as Ruby, Sapphire and Mewtwo stood together and held up their hands, a large ball of fire, ice and darkness, complete with psychic energy began to form.

“Let’s do this!” Ruby smirked.

“Fusion Fall!” Mewtwo said as he sent the large ball towards the fourth dragon and Numbuh One, engulfing both kid and dragon inside as the two shouted in pain… as soon as the ball dissipated, both kid and dragon fell directly to the ground, looking to be unconscious.

As soon as their Limit was done, Ruby and Sapphire immediately went into their fusion dance as Mewtwo looked over towards the unconscious people.

“You put up quite a fight.” Mewtwo noted as he picked up the unconscious Numbuh One with his powers. As soon as Garnet was formed into one once more, she came over and picked up the fourth dragon. “But your story ends right here…”

With a deep breath, both Mewtwo and Garnet tossed both of their respective opponents out of the ring and into the portal below.

Both Numbuh One and the fourth dragon of Landia landed with the other dragons of Landia as they fused once again, this time, finding themselves in How To Train Your Dragon. As soon as Numbuh One regained consciousness, he decided to fly Landia around for a bit to get a feel for the world, as a curious Hiccup and Toothless watched in curiosity.

Garnet gave a swift nod as she turned to Mewtwo. “I didn’t think we’d have to unfuse for our first battle…”

“It was pretty inevitable.” Mewtwo sighed. “Once Numbuh One and Landia decided to face us and try to double team us, we needed to get a Hail Mary done and out.”

Garnet gave a smirk. “You just want to save your Smash Ball.”

“...maybe I am, maybe I’m not…” Mewtwo smirked. “Well, now that we got these obstacles out of the way, who should we go after next?”

Garnet paused before looking over her visor. “From the looks of things, I see two possible opportunities… battle the newt and cat for a chance for the Safe Zone challenge… or try to separate the cowboy and the turtle…”

Mewtwo turned respectively as he noticed King Andrias whispering to Gumball’s ear as the cat’s eyes widened in delight and devilish glee. As concerning as it was, he heard another gunshot and the scream of a turtle from nearby as he turned to see Bentley dodging a few gunshots from Nasty Canasta, the large man giving a laugh.

Mewtwo closed his eyes. “You distract the cowboy, I’ll take on the turtle?”

Garnet paused briefly, before giving a small nod. “I figured that was what you had in mind.”

As the two decided to move forward, Elmer was sneakily trying to approach the ongoing battle between Jazz, Bambi and Garbodor as he looked at the chaos.

“Ooooo… well, that is a wittle TOO chaotic fow me…” Elmer said to himself… before narrowing his eyes. “But I still have a wabbit to catch!”

Elmer gave his trademark laugh before carefully sneaking over and looking towards the fight, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

At the same time, Jazz was trying to push away the baby deer from his stomping fury, only to find that the deer was actually tougher than he anticipated. Jazz groaned heavily as he turned towards a worried Garbodor. “Hey, trash boy! Could really use your assistance here!”

”I’d help, but, uh…” Garbodor paused in concern as he looked towards the deer in worry. ”I don’t want to actually throw a Gunk Shot at both of you.”

Jazz growled angrily as he looked up at Garbodor. “I may not know what you’re saying, pal, but I know that’s quitter talk!”

Garbodor whimpered a bit, before shutting his eyes in anguish. ”Fine, fine, I’ll see what I can do…”

Garbodor took a deep breath and held out its nozzle hands as two trash bags were summoned, before throwing them at both Bambi and Jazz, making impact on both animals.

Bambi quickly stumbled backwards and fell, giving Jazz the chance to hop back up, recoil from the smell, then quickly recovered as he laughed.

“Ahhh, sweet release! Not the way I pictured getting out, but… oh well, I can wash the stink off later!” Jazz smirked before pulling out his space gun and aimed directly at the fawn. “Take this, you little annoyance!”

Bambi got up and yelped as he noted gunshots approaching him. Bambi let out a large scream in terror before dodging each shot, in sync to the tune of the beginning of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.

Jazz laughed a bit before shooting towards Bambi some more. “Ha! Can’t take the pressure, can ya!”

Garbodor looked a little nervous before shooting out a Sludge Bomb towards Jazz to slow the rabbit down. The rabbit felt the splash of the exploding gunk making an impact on him as he fell straight down.

Bambi gave a sigh of relief before turning towards Garbodor. ”Thank you, sir.”

”Come on, pal. Let’s just take down that crazy rabbit!” Garbodor said as he positioned his gas nozzle to shoot another poisonous attack.

Bambi positioned himself as he looked ready to be ferocious, giving a small growl towards the rabbit.

Jazz smirked as he looked between his two opponents, readying his gun. “Oh ho ho, buddies, you just made one crazy looking space rabbit PRETTY happy…”

With that, Jazz cocked his gun… but before anybody could make a move, Elmer came running in and jabbed Jazz from behind using his spear.

The green rabbit gave out a loud yell as he jumped up in the air. Bambi and Garbodor jumped, honestly not expecting the hunter to come back so soon, especially with a new costume in hand…

”Has he already finished changing?” Garbodor asked in shock.

”I think he has, he was just waiting for the right moment…” Bambi nodded.

”...so, any plans on going ballistic on THAT hunter over there?” Garbodor asked.

”...are you crazy? This is Elmer Fudd. Even if he is one of Man, he’s pretty dopey as they get.” Bambi said. ”I’ll try to keep calm and let HIM take care of that crazy rabbit. Elmer doesn’t have a gun on him right now, so he’s safe… that’s a sentence I’d never thought I’d say, but there you go.”

”...yeah, you’re right. Let’s just stay away from that and continue what we were doing… maybe FURTHER away from GUNS…” Garbodor said as he grabbed the deer and stuffed him in his trash body, much to the deer’s protest. ”Sorry, but if you can’t hear the gunshots coming out, there’s no reason for you to go ballistic.”

With that, Garbodor turned, carrying the trapped Bambi with him, leaving Jazz and Elmer alone for the time being as Jazz recovered and glared at the hunter. “Dirty move, buddy!”

“Well, wabbit, you were wetting youw guard down. I was just taking the open oppahtunity.” Elmer explained before laughing a bit.

“Wha- buh- you’re not even wearing a World of Mayhem outfit… at least, not one I’m aware of where you’re dressed as a caveman…” Jazz explained.

“You know that game, Bugs Bunny: Wost in Time?” Elmer smirked. “This is my pwehistowic outfit from that game.”

Jazz blinked twice before looking up and glaring at the announcer’s booth. Xero, noting Jazz’s glare, shrugged. “Hey, I said that the Looney Tunes can change into various costumes. I didn’t say they were STRICTLY for World of Mayhem.”

Jazz growled angrily before looking right at Elmer. “You know what, whatever! That spear of yours doesn’t intimidate me!”

“Oh no?” Elmer smirked before charging forward and jabbing Jazz with his spear, causing the rabbit to yelp in pain. Jazz growled in anger before pulling out his gun to shoot out bullets right at the hunter.

The hunter felt the graze of the bullets on his face as he stumbled backwards, but quickly recovered as he narrowed his eyes. “OOooooooo!”

Jazz, giving a small smirk, decided to run fast as Elmer gave a low growl. “Ooohhh, you come back here, wabbit!”

Jazz snickered like a certain mutt from a racing show before noticing a hole in the ground. He quickly dived in and started to dig through the ground. Elmer only noticed Jazz diving into the hole, but didn’t see the wormsign that followed as Elmer curiously peeked into the rabbit hole. “Yoo hoo… wabbit…”

Jazz quickly popped out of another hole and smirked before running over and lifting his right foot up, before giving Elmer a swift kick in the butt, sending the hunter flying to a corner post.

The dazed hunter momentarily started to see stars before recovering and growling before getting up and charging straight at Jazz.

The green space rabbit could only smirk as he went over to dive into the hole again, only for Elmer to throw his spear and stop the rabbit short as it struck right in front of him. Jazz turned to see Elmer charging through and jumping right at Jazz, tackling him as a dust cloud formed around the two, a classic cartoony fight starting up as bonking sound effects were heard.

Pretty soon, the dust had cleared up as Elmer was chuckling to himself, holding Jazz up by the scruff of his neck.

“You’re pwetty wucky, wabbit. If not for the wules of the touwnament, I would easiwy have a nice wabbit stew!” Elmer said as Jazz opened one eye weakly, narrowing his anger towards the hunter.

“Oh, screw you!” Jazz growled before pointing a rocket launcher point blank at his face. Jazz then took a shot.

BANG!

For a moment, a cloud engulfed the two before clearing up as Elmer was seen headless, with Jazz giving a smirk, expecting Elmer to drop him… however, much to Jazz’s surprise, Elmer’s head had poked out from underneath his toga as the hunter glared at him.

“Did you weawwy think that wast despawation pway would work? You must weawwy be dumb!” Elmer frowned before tossing the rabbit out of the ring.

Jazz growled angrily as he pulled out a grenade and threw it over Elmer’s head before falling into the portal below.

Elmer couldn’t help but give a chuckle. “Heh, you missed-”

BOOM!

As Elmer found out too late, Jazz had actually thrown the grenade at the nearest fight, rather than at the hunter in general. And that was the fight between Espeon and Patrick, just as the former was shooting a Psybeam from its head. However, just as the grenade made contact with the Psybeam attack, the attack caused a major explosion, throwing Patrick backwards towards Elmer, causing the hunter to trip and fall out of the ring and into the portal below.

Elmer blinked as he landed smack dab in Garfield: Caught in the Act. The hunter groaned as he recovered, before noting a hammer next to six holes. “What the-”

Jazz Jackrabbit popped out of one of the holes as he gave a smirk. “Confidentially, I didn’t miss. Sure, I let someone else eliminate you, but I’ll take that as a win.”

Elmer narrowed his eyes angrily before slamming the hammer down at the hole where Jazz popped out of, only to duck back down and pop up in another hole. “Nope, over here!”

“Oooo, stay still, you wabbit!” Elmer shouted in anger as he tried to hit every hole Jazz appeared in, only to miss each shot. This went on for the remaining ten minutes…

Patrick groaned as he held his head. “Uh, wha, what just happened?”

The starfish shook his head, before looking around as he scratched his head. “Man, either I haven’t eaten yet, OR I feel dazed, because I see my picture up on one of those television thingies…”

Sure enough, Patrick had noted the television screen showing the starfish himself getting an elimination, although the sea star remained unaware of that fact. He shook his head as he tried to wander off, only to find himself being dragged back through psychic powers.

”Oh no, you don’t, you’re not wandering off on me!” Espeon growled. ”I do NOT want you to find Garbodor again…”

With that, Espeon used her psychic powers to slam Patrick on the floor… as the starfish got up, dazed as he shouted out, “FINLAND!”

“All right, folks, ten people are out… which means another spin of the wheel is due!” Xero shouted as the wheel appeared once more. “Monika, if you could do the honors…”

“With pleasure…” Monika giggled as she started to spin the wheel.

At that time, Mewtwo, who had managed to get Bentley away from Nasty Canasta and was now fighting him, much to the turtle’s worry, stopped his onslaught as he looked at the wheel in suspicion.

“Hm?” Bentley paused in curiosity as he, too, looked over at the wheel. Sure enough, to Mewtwo’s suspicions, the wheel landed directly on him.

Mewtwo groaned as he took a deep breath. “I figured this was coming… so, what’s the worst I have to endure…”

“Well, Mewtwo, seeing as how you’re a single stage Pokemon… and a legendary at that… the only punishment we can put on you is… No STAB moves for two rounds.” Monika grinned.

Some people just blinked twice as Nasty Canasta, who stood nearby, just laughed. “What stab? That furry creature ain’t got no knife!”

“Uh, not necessarily what that means. STAB is simply Pokemon talk for Same Type Attack Bonus.” Bentley explained. “Same Type Attack Bonus is when Pokemon use the same move as its typing, and the effects it would normally do to others, if the move is the same type as the Pokemon, it gets 1.5 times the damage it can do, unless said Pokemon as Adaptability for its ability, thus making the damage TWICE the damage it can do… it’s actually quite an interesting…”

“NEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRD!” Gumball shouted, causing Bentley to turn to the cat in anger.

“Hush now.” Andrias whispered harshly.

“Hey, I’m just saying!” Gumball shrugged.

Mewtwo paused slightly as he gave a nod. “So, I can’t use psychic powers for two rounds? Fair enough? I do have a few Pokemon moves that AREN’T Psychic type that I can take advantage of…”

Bentley turned back to Mewtwo, looking a little relieved that with the repression on the psychic cat’s abilities to use psychic powers, his match up felt a bit more even, but in regards to Mewtwo’s other moves, he knew he needed a plan. He gave a sigh. “Right… well, let’s see what you can do…”

Mewtwo chuckled a bit as he summoned some stars. “SWIFT!”

“Oh come on, starting with a move that never misse- AH!” Bentley yelped as he felt the stars attacking him.

Mewtwo gave a slight chuckle as he crossed his arms. Even without his psychic powers, he knew he’d have to find a way to have fun with this…

(Recovery Room)

R.O.B. was wheeling himself out the door as fast as he could, letting out a scream and trying to avoid some medical equipment that was being thrown at the robot.

“Oh, now really!” Madame Pomfrey puffed in annoyance as she glared towards Mai Shiranui, as she was angrily holding random supplies she stole from a pushed down Mikan, who only whimpered in embarrassment upon her legs being spread to show her… unmentionables.

Arnold, who had been sitting by and observing everything, just groaned as he shook his head, trying to keep his eyes up at Mai’s. “Miss Shiranui, PLEASE try to restrain yourself. The last thing we need is an aneurysm.”

Mai took a few deep breaths before pausing and groaning as she laid back down. “I’m sorry… it’s just… every time I look at one of those characters from Smash, my desire to pummel them to the ground just increases, you know?”

“Hmm…” Arnold nodded as he kept his clipboard close and wrote a few things down. “I couldn’t help but notice that you let your anger control your issues, rather than just think them out logically.”

Mai sighed as Mikan got up, moaning in embarrassment as she quickly collected the items around her and wisely moved away from the area. “It’s not that I hate Smash, I mean, I get it, Smash Bros is like, the most popular fighting game in the world. But when the day Terry Bogard was announced for Smash and the new stage invited a lot of our old friends for cameos… and the fact they didn’t include me… it just… hurts, you know?”

Arnold paused briefly as he looked Mai in the eyes. “Do you think maybe this whole thing with the Smash Bros not letting you be a part of their series, even if it was for a brief cameo, caused maybe a tiny bit of insecurity from within? Like, your heart was broken from inside, but outside, you felt the need to lash at anybody that talked about Smash in a positive light?”

Mai paused briefly as she looked over at Arnold with a frown on her face… before her eyes opened up. “I really don’t know. What you’re saying… I get where it’s coming from, but… I guess now that you say it, maybe I am experiencing a little heartbreak… I mean, Terry’s been announced to Smash since 2019, and I guess when it came to 2020, the time of the Tournament of Kikai, I needed to lash out… now we’re in the year 2023, and everything about Smash still bugs me to the core.”

“Hmmm…” Arnold tapped his fingers on the desk as if to think. He looked over to Baymax, who was observing the two from a distance. “Hey, Baymax, do you have any observations you’d like to point out?”

“I believe that Mai is still overcoming anger, but with the fact that what happened in the Battle of the Luminaries 3 AND the Megamix Tournament 4 did not help with her mindset, she still has problems that need to be overcome. May I suggest she hangs out with a character that has been in the Smash Bros games at one point or another?” Baymax suggested.

Everyone looked over at Baymax in worried shock as Valentine groaned. “Oh boy, Baymax, I know you mean well, but…”

“Why not?”

Everybody turned to Arnold in surprise as he looked rather thoughtful. “Look, I get that Mai doesn’t exactly have the best… ‘relationship’ when it comes to Smash characters, but that was just a GROUP from last time. And from what I learned from the last Tournament of Kikai, Mai was more focused on her grudge than taking down the Slenderman when she and the others came to that world after getting eliminated.”

Mai frowned as she looked towards Arnold. “You realize that’s asking a LOT, right?”

“Maybe so, but it’s a risk that’s worth taking.” Arnold pointed out as he got up. “How about it, everyone? The next Smash character that returns here, Mai will have to stick close to said person to help hone in training?”

Everybody stayed silent as they looked over at the young kid in shock… all but Baymax as he said, “I am detecting a lot of doubt and worry in this room, possibly due to the Recovery Room’s temperature. May I recommend a round of hot chocolate to calm the nerves?”

“Hmmm… that actually sounds good.” Arnold nodded, before looking towards the others. “I know that’s asking a lot, but in order for Mai to overcome her unrightful anger with Smash Bros, she needs to hang out with a Smash character outside the arena… maybe even fight together, hang out, play board games… who knows? They could be the perfect duo to take on whatever goes on outside the Recovery Room…”

All the nurses and doctors looked at each other as Hello Nurse looked towards Arnold. “If you think this is the best course of action, kiddo, then I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot…”

“Just make sure that SHE…” Madame Pomfrey glared at Mai as the red wearing ninja whistled innocenctly. “...and her Smash Bros partner takes it outside, where they don’t DAMAGE medical equipment!”

Mai scoffed. “Oh come on, that was a moment of instinct!”

Everyone just looked over at Mai with doubtful looks in their eyes… except for Baymax, who had gotten up and was waddling out of the room. “I shall go fetch some hot chocolate now.”

“Please do…” Mikan whimpered in worry.

Arnold sighed as he looked over towards the monitors to see the first Smash character available to arrive after their ten minutes were up… as his eyes widened.

“Ohhhh boy…” Arnold groaned. “Well, this should be an interesting pair up…”

(The Arena)

Bambi didn’t really appreciate Garbodor stuffing him down his trashy belly as the trash Pokemon waddled a little far away where he hoped guns wouldn’t be heard. Thankfully, the only two people with guns at this moment in time were both Nasty Canasta and Wolf O’Donnell, and while the latter was using his own bare fists to fight his opponent, Nasty Canasta had found himself wrestling with Garnet to even use his pistol against her.

Regardless, Bambi still took the time to calm down before staring up at the large trash monster before him. Despite the smell the Pokemon emanated from its pores, it wouldn’t stop the fawn from attempting to fight. After scraping his hooves against the dusty floor a couple of times, the deer attempted to jump forward and hopped directly on Garbodor’s head.

This caused the simple trash monster Pokemon to wince a bit before looking back towards Bambi, using its nozzle hands to summon more full trash bags and threw them towards the deer for another Gunk Shot. Bambi yelped as he dodged the attacks, trying to find an opening as the deer looked around, but with the trashy smoke surrounding the arena, it was pretty hard to find a good grasp at it.

Actually, those that were unlucky to be part of the smoke, like Launchpad, Link and Dr. Shemp, stopped fighting as they coughed at the sight of the smell.

“Aw, man! I haven’t smelled anything this foul since Mr. McD planned that adventure into the Lost Mines of Doctor Stale!” Launchpad groaned as he held his beak.

“Tell me about it…” Link held his nose for a bit as Dr. Shemp was waving his staff around to get rid of the smell.

Bambi, all the while, was looking around for an opening, trying to spot Garbodor… when all of a sudden, two familiar trashy hands slipped in and grabbed the deer, causing Bambi to yelp.

”Sorry, buddy, but I need a little Double Slap action!” Garbodor shouted as he let Bambi fall, before the trash monster let its nozzle hands glow for a moment before slapping the deer in the face.

Bambi quickly fell on the ground after that hassle as the deer slowly got up. By that time, the smoke and stink started to clear up (thanks to Monika glitching in some fans to blow away the smoke and stink… purposefully at Xero as the bunny winced in pain, causing both Maurice and Monika to laugh a bit, before the former caught a whiff and held his nose) and Bambi had a clear view of Garbodor in his sights. The deer tried his best to hold his breath in before hopping up and jumping right on Garbodor once more.

The slight hit of the deer’s hooves caused Garbodor to yelp as he rubbed his head, before giving a look towards the deer as he shot green sludge from its nozzles, spraying them on Bambi. ”VENOSHOCK!”

This liquid drenched the deer as Bambi recoiled in disgust. ”Aw man, my fur… my body… ugh, that smell…”

Garbodor blinked twice before shrugging. ”What did you expect? I thrive by my trashy ways!”

With that, Garbodor grabbed the drenched baby deer with his hand and started to toss him into the air. The fawn tried his best to get his way back into the ring, but could only grab onto the ledges… and even then, with no fingers to grasp on, the deer easily slipped off and fell into the portal below.

Bambi landed in Deer Simulator, where he was thrown off by a deer running past him on two legs. Then again, with the world of Deer Simulator where someone controlling a deer can do anything, it tends to be wacky and weird.

Cerebella flipped backwards before using Vice-Versa to use its hands to wave around to hit its opponent. The opponent, Rick, gave a small smirk before forming himself into a boulder and rolled forwards before tripping up Cerebella as she fell into the ground.

Rick formed himself back into the cute hamster everybody knew him for as he gave a slight wave. “Aight! You must be very surprised to see someone like me gettin’ the best of ya.”

Cerebella groaned as she got up. “Thrown off? Maybe. BUT you’re still a small opponent, all I have to do is grab you and throw you out!”

Rick gave a slight chuckle as he rubbed his hand behind his head. “Well, good luck with that, mate. Like Ah told you, Ah’ve been training quite a bit, and with my appearance in Star Allies, Ah’m about ready for anythin’ that gets thrown at-”

Rick would have finished, had it not been for Vice-Versa growing its horns and turning it into goat horns as Cerebella charged and headbutted Rick towards the ropes. The thrown off hamster bounced backwards before landing on the floor. Quickly recovering, Rick rubbed his head as he looked towards Cerebella, who was charging towards the hamster again.

Thinking fast, Rick stepped to the side and let Cerebella hit the side of the ropes, bouncing her backwards. Once she found herself confused, Rick took the opportunity to strike by breathing fire right at Cerebella, causing her to yelp as she found herself lit on fire.

“YOU CAN BREATHE FIRE?! WHAT TYPE OF HAMSTER CAN BREATHE FIRE?!” Cerebella complained.

“Only the best fire breathers in the world have taught me this magnificent trick. Oy, don’t be a flaming galah!” Rick rolled his eyes.

Cerebella gave a slight frown before running forward as her hat started to windmill around her body, in an attempt to hit Rick out of the ring. The hamster gave a small yelp as he rolled to the side. “Crikey! Ah’m gonna need to come up with a plan, and fast…”

Rick quickly looked around as he quickly noted Demyx playing his sitar and sending Wolf away with one of his clones. Getting an idea, Rick ran over to Demyx. “Excuse me, mate, but would you be so kind as to lend me some of your powah?”

Demyx noted Rick with a confused expression. “Uh, why?”

“Ah need to get this sheila off mah back, and Ah think the only way Ah can get rid of her is through this trick Ah learned in Star Allies.” Rick said as he posed, a heart surrounding the hamster. “Go on, mate, give me some of your water.”

Demyx blinked twice, before giving a shrug as he played his sitar. “Come on, get to the beat!”

With that, a splash of water appeared next to Rick as it went into the heart… which was enough as Rick started to metamorph into a curling puck with his face on it.

“Oh, OH!” Maurice shouted in glee as he held the mike. “There you have it, folks, we’re seeing our first ‘Friend Ability’ in action! Friend Abilities are a thing in Kirby: Star Allies, in which Kirby or another player can combine their attacks to form some interesting moves. In the case of Rick and Demyx, Demyx gave Rick some of his water abilities, giving the hamster a chance to use Splash Curling, in which… well, just watch for yourselves, folks!”

Cerebella, hearing the announcement, turned to see Rick’s curling puck face smirking at her before looking back at Demyx. “Thanks a lot, mate! Ah owe ya!”

“Uh, think nothing of it…” Demyx blinked twice upon seeing the strange sight of the hamster/curling puck hybrid talking to him.

Cerebella frowned as she shouted, “You think using someone’s abilities will save you? Don’t make me laugh! Vice-Versa here can STILL-”

Cerebella would have finished had it not been for Rick charging up his water and sliding forward, knocking the circus girl off her feet. The curling puck Rick collided with the corner post before ricocheting backwards toward Cerebella as she tried to get up, only to get knocked back once again on the floor. Once the curling puck stopped, Rick immediately transformed back to normal as he waddled over towards Cerebella, who was about to get up again, had it not been for Rick transforming into a boulder.

“Ah will say, it was an interesting experience for mah first battle, and you certainly gave your best. Thank yah for showin’ me a good time, mate.” Rick said as he rolled forward and blasted Cerebella out of the ring as she fell into the portal below.

Cerebella landed in Disney’s Dumbo, where the Ringmaster seemed to be impressed with her and her circus tricks. The man immediately begged her to be part of his circus, but Cerebella sadly had a commitment to her world…

(Announcer’s Booth)

“...and there’s the running gag of this tournament.” Xero smirked as he nodded at Cerebella’s landing of the world.

“Wait, what?” Maurice blinked as he looked up. “But… that’s the world of Dumbo… the 1941 version. That world wasn’t listed in ANY of the Section One nodes that eliminated people ended up in.”

“That would be because…” Xero smirked. “Remember where Fred Fredburger landed in the last section?”

“Disney’s animated 1967 classic, The Jungle… Book… wait…” Maurice paused… before putting a hoof on his head. “Of course… Disney nodes… that’s the new Crash Bandicoot…”

“Well, yeah. I mean, with Disney having its 100th anniversary, it felt right to have Disney nodes be the main focus. Plus, I’m pretty sure it would please Orange if we had characters landing in Disney nodes.” Xero said.

Maurice gave a small groan, before shrugging. “Well, if it pleases the boss…”

(The Arena)

Demyx had to admit that he was impressed on seeing Rick’s ability in action as the hamster started to yawn, getting ready to sleep. “Something tells me that hamster is going to be quite the interesting…”

Before Demyx could finish his sentence, he felt a big kick on his back, causing the sandy blonde Nobody to trip and fall on the floor. Demyx got up and noted Wolf O’Donnell giving a small smirk as he wiggled his fingers, ready to fight.

“...oh yeah…” Demyx frowned before getting up and playing his sitar as fast as he could to summon more water geysers, causing Wolf to double back as he narrowed his eyes.

“You can’t hide behind your little water forever, you know.” Wolf smirked as he readied himself for another attack. “After all, water is basically harmless…”

“You kidding, man?” Demyx laughed. “Did you not WATCH the Tournament of Kikai side stories last year and how we aquamancers could handle ourselves?”

Wolf frowned as he looked up. “So you managed to be one of those big shot heroes. So what?”

Demyx could only blink twice in confusion. “Weren’t you part of one of those hero groups as well…”

“NOT BY CHOICE!” Wolf roared as he gave a growl. “Forget it! Let me just get rid of you right here and now!”

With that, Wolf jumped up and slashed up Demyx multiple times before kicking him in the stomach, sending the Nobody falling on his back. Demyx got up, a bit dazed, but still ready to fight as he played his sitar and moved forward, more geysers of water popping out from the ground to try to throw off the melee-oriented Wolf.

“Come on, get to the beat!” Demyx taunted before jumping up and strumming his sitar to blast more water right at the leader of Star Wolf, soaking him with a big blast of water. Wolf narrowed his eyes at the sitar playing Nobody, a bit drenched, but otherwise looking fine. Quick to think with his trigger finger, Wolf pulled out his blaster and shot a few blasts right at Demyx’s sitar, causing Demyx to yelp as he almost dropped it.

This, however, gave Wolf more of an opportunity to charge forward and kicked Demyx up in the air like a football. Demyx panted as he got up, a bit dazed, but still determined as he started to strum his sitar quickly, sending out more water clones to overwhelm Wolf.

“Insignificant little punk!” Wolf growled in anger… before giving a nod as he pulled out his Smash Ball. “I didn’t think I’d have to use this early, BUT…”

With that, he smashed the Smash Ball as he started to glow a bluish aura. “WOLF PACK!”

Quickly, he ran forward towards Demyx as he jumped in the air. At the same time, a red reticle appeared in front of Demyx and shot the Nobody, causing him to fly into the air…

Up in space somewhere, Wolf had landed right in his Wolfen as he was leading his team (Leon, Pigma and Andrew), flying around the area as the leader of Star Wolf gave a laugh. “The hunt is on, boys!”

With that, Wolf started to shoot at a floating Demyx that was in the air as the rest of Star Wolf unleashed their lasers towards the floating Nobody. Demyx yelped in fear as every shot hit him directly, before Wolf finally got one last hit in, causing Demyx to fly upwards as the world flashed away in a bright light…

Back in reality, Wolf watched as Demyx was sent flying out of the ring and into the portal below. Wolf took a deep breath in satisfaction. “I didn’t think I’d have to use my Smash Ball early, but desperate times call for desperate measures, they always say.”

With that, Wolf, wanting a little more of a battle, looked around to see if he could fight anybody, and spotted the first battle he saw, the one between Patrick and Espeon as Patrick was looking a bit dazed, upon Espeon unleashing a Dazzling Gleam at the starfish.

“Ooooooo, pretty lights…” Patrick said in a dazed coma like state.

Espeon growled as she tapped her foot, ready to knock the starfish out of the ring.

Wolf paused, before giving a large smirk to himself.

Demyx landed in Guitar Hero, where he and Axel Steel proceeded to do a good duet number together.

Sulley gave out a small yelp as he avoided the spinning tornado that was the Tasmanian She-Devil. The female Tasmanian Devil stopped spinning around before turning towards her opponent as she babbled angrily.

Sulley frowned as he held his head. “I don’t know what you just said, but I have a feeling it wasn’t anything good.”

With that, Sulley went into a fighting stance before slashing upwards with his claws, trying to get at the spinning marsupial. But being the crafty woman she was, and the wife of Taz, the She-Devil proved herself too fast for Sulley as she spun forward and jumped up before drilling a hole into the arena. Sulley groaned before putting out his arm to reach for the female tasmanian devil, only for the She-Devil to pop out from behind Sulley and scare him.

Sulley yelped as he tripped backwards before shaking his head. “Oh come on! I thought I was the one who was supposed to do the scaring around here!”

The Tasmanian She-Devil could only give out a small snicker before spinning around once again…

Sulley frowned before jumping up in the air and stomping the ground with his feet, as if doing a ground pound in hopes to shake the She-Devil off her groove. Much to his surprise, the spinning tornado kept going. Sulley closed his eyes tightly before taking a deep breath as he pulled out a couple of dodgeballs and sent them flying towards the She-Devil, only for the marsupial to catch them in her mouth and deflate them hard.

“So much for that strategy…” Sulley groaned… before pausing. “Hmmm… I wonder if this could work!”

Giving a nod, Sulley quickly pulled out a yellow canister and aimed it directly at the She-Devil. The female tasmanian devil held herself back, as if ready to counterstrike, only to stop shortly as she noted Sulley just standing there, doing nothing.

This caused her to scratch her head in confusion as she walked over to the tall, blue monster and waved her hand in front of his face. She then looked at the canister, which she just now noticed too late that it was flashing red.

”HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

The loud sound of a little kid’s laughing came out of the canister, causing the Tasmanian She-Devil to yelp as she fell down. With that, Sulley saw an opportunity to strike as he rushed forward with his claws and slashed up the Tasmanian She-Devil, being careful as not to hurt her pride. Eventually, the She-Devil recovered before babbling in anger, then spun around as she knocked Sulley down to the ground.

However, that only deterred Sulley for a brief amount of time as he got back up, before charging forward and headbutting her, sending the spinning tornado backwards as she fell directly into the portal below.

The Tasmanian She-Devil landed in America’s Next Top Model: The Game as she found herself munching down on all the healthy food she could muster, leading the poor models trying to play to eat their greasy foods… needless to say, none of these models were pleased with the new arrival…

Sulley took a deep breath of relief as he rubbed his head. “Well, I suppose that’s that… now, who do I-”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Sulley, hearing the sound of screaming, turned to see himself getting smacked in the face by a punched out Patrick Star, who had just been thrown away by Wolf a few seconds ago. Sulley rubbed his face as he noted Wolf smirking towards Espeon, the psychic Eeveelution looking less pleased about his battle being interrupted. Sulley frowned a bit, before looking towards Patrick as the starfish was rubbing his head.

“Huh.” Sulley raised an eyebrow, before getting into a fighting stance. “I guess that works…”

Patrick shook his head as he looked over to see Wolf was now occupying Espeon’s time as he rushed forward and slashed her. As Patrick was about to mindlessly walk back towards the fight, Sulley blocked his path.

“Hey, pal, I wouldn’t bother wasting your time with those two. They seemed to be preoccupied at the moment.” Sulley said.

“Awww, but I wanted to see if that creature’s abilities tickle my mind some more!” Patrick moaned.

Sulley blinked twice, before giving a shrug. “I’m sure you’ll find other opportunities, but in the meantime, maybe try to keep the focus on someone else?”

“Ohhhhh… you’re right!” Patrick grinned as he held up a microphone, causing Sulley to blink twice in astonishment.

“What the-?” Sulley stammered before Patrick turned to the camera nearest him.

“And we are here with our next guest on the Patrick Show, we have the most famous monsters of all monsters from Monsters Incorporated, who managed to help bring the team from screams to laughs, James P. Sullivan!” Patrick grinned before turning towards Sulley. “Indeed, he’s going to be my next opponent on the Patrick Show!”

Sulley just stared blankly before giving a sigh. “I should have known you’d attempt to try your show here.”

“It’s an audience must watch! You can’t possibly miss, like this watermelon!” Patrick said as he pulled out a random watermelon as he aimed it at Sulley. “Like so!”

With that, Sulley got hit with the impact of the watermelon as seeds and watermelon chunks split everywhere. Sulley backed away a bit as he got dazed, before recovering from the hit as the monster gave a narrow glare.

“Okay, pal… you want me to do an interview… you just got it…” Sulley said as he prepared his scary face, before twiddling his fingers. “ROAAAAAAR!”

Patrick blinked twice in confusion as he just looked at Sulley… before giving a smile. “Oh wow! That’s quite the scary face! I can see why you’re considered the Top Scary Man of the Monsters Incorporated.”

“Top Scarer, and yeah…” Sulley said, looking rather deflated, before shaking his head as he swung his tail around, hitting Patrick as the starfish stumbled backwards.

Patrick recovered quickly before jumping up in the air and putting on an ice cream cone on the bottom of his body before diving down and slamming the blue monster on the head, causing Sulley to fly backwards for a brief moment. Sulley frowned as he reached out towards Patrick and grabbed him to try to throw him, only for Patrick to slip out of the monster’s grasp and cartwheel towards him before using his belly to slam at Sulley, sending the monster towards the ropes.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!” Sulley yelped as he managed to grab himself right in time. All the while, Patrick was giving a big grin as he turned towards the camera once more.

“It would seem I have this man in the ropes! And now, for our special segment which I like to call… MOVE OR GROOVE!” Patrick said as he wandered over to Sulley. “Let’s see what happens when I push our special guest near the ropes… will he be able to move or will he groove himself out? That’s the million dollar question!”

With that, Patrick quickly pulled out a green ball shaped weapon as he aimed it directly at Sulley. Those who had played the Spongebob game known as Plankton’s Robotic Revenge immediately recognized said weapon as the Pickle Blaster, one of seven weapons that the characters could pick up. With that, Patrick shot actual pickles at Sulley, causing the monster to yelp as one of said pickles hit him in the eye.

“GAH!” Sulley yelped as he tripped backwards, feeling the stinging effect of the pickles as he fell into the portal below, not getting a chance to recover.

Patrick blinked as he looked out. “Awwwww, and it looks like he couldn’t move OR groove? Oh well… maybe I’ll find a new player to talk to…”

Sulley landed in Monster Rancher, where he hung out with Suezo for ten minutes… mostly because the one eyed yellow monster reminded him of a certain one eyed green monster friend of his…

Gumball groaned as he was tapping his foot impatiently as King Andrias was standing near the edge of the ring where the Safe Zone was. The blue cat groaned as he held up his hands. “Seriously, dude, it’s been, what, a few minutes, and nobody’s even come here! Heck, one of us could have entered the Safe Zone while the others were fighting. I don’t get the point of…”

“Sh.” Andrias shushed as he pointed up towards the wheel.

“Ladies and gentlemen, fifteen down, five more to go. But another wheel spin to reward or punish.” Maurice announced as the wheel started to spin. “Let’s see who we get…”

As most of the people stopped fighting to see the wheel spinning, Andrias grabbed Gumball, making the kid yelp. “Okay, NOW! Get going, get going!”

“What? Seriously, dude? We could have done this at the TENTH elimination!” Gumball complained.

“Yes, but at least with less of a crowd, nobody will be interested in the Safe Zone. Just go inside and do the challenge! Then let me know what you got and we’ll see if this can be beneficial to us!” King Andrias whispered as he gave a wicked grin.

“And the wheel has landed on Dr. Shemp.” Maurice said.

“Uh oh…” Launchpad was heard saying.

“This could be bad…” Link groaned.

“Just get in there!” King Andrias whispered as he threw Gumball like a football, sending the cat flying right inside the Safe Zone tent. “And let me know what you managed to scour up!”

King Andrias frowned as he held his head. “Okay, patience now… good things come to those who wait…”

(Safe Zone)

Inside the newly constructed Safe Zone, Gumball screamed as he was seen flying in and landed directly on his face. The kid quickly got up and recovered as he rubbed his face before glaring towards the tent. “You know, I could have just walked!”

Gumball frowned as he shook his head before turning over towards the inside of the tent… before stopping as his mouth dropped in awe. “What the what?”

Yes, the clothes were to the sides as before if anybody wanted to dress up, BUT the inside of the tent was scarcely different as it looked to be designed like a Mario level, with Koopas and Goombas roaming the area. Gumball paused before his eyes lit up in pure ecstasy.

“Oh my gosh, is that an actual Mario stage, that looks amazing!” Gumball said in excitement… before blinking. “Uh, wait. How is there a Mario stage inside of a tent?”

“Because I designed it that way.”

Gumball jumped as he turned to see Monika appearing at the beginning as she gave a smirk. “Welcome to your next Safe Zone challenge. I thought about having another gambling game, but Xero and Maurice insisted that we have at least some challenges that relate to video games, and… well… who was I to deny that? After all, the majority OF characters that compete in tournaments like these COME from video games.”

“Yeah, I suppose it makes sense when you think about it.” Gumball noted before looking up. “Still, what you did in this Safe Zone looks cool!”

“Thank you. I made the design myself.” Monika giggled. “Anyway, for this challenge, you’ll be getting a special prize… something that might help you or not in the next round. However, what you get depends on how you complete the challenge. If you can complete it in the span of one minute, thirty seconds, you’ll get a good reward. Complete it in three minutes, and you’ll get an average reward. If you fail too many times after five minutes have passed, you’ll be leaving with nothing. But I won’t tell you what the reward is UNTIL you have either passed or failed.”

Gumball scoffed. “Please, you’re talking to somebody who’s PLAYED a Mario game! I’m pretty sure this is going to be a snap!”

Monika giggled. “All right, that’s fair. As you may have guessed, this IS a Super Mario Bros stage, more specifically, World 1-2. Your task is simple, actually. You have to go to the end of the stage, BUT you have to go up to the area where the three warp pipes are located… if you can pick which is the one that leads to World 4, you get the prize. Fail after five minutes, and… well… sorry, but you’re outta luck.”

“Got it.” Gumball nodded as he readied his feet. “You may as well just start the timer now, I’m about to run circles on this course!”

Monika smirked. “I should mention… each question block you hit, you won’t be able to get a normal item or coin out of them, but more enemies. Since… this is World 1-2… MARIO MAKER style.”

“Wait, wha-” Gumball stopped short as he looked at Monika, who had already pulled out a stopwatch and clicked it.

“Time’s moving, better go, Gumball!” Monika smirked.

“Oh, snap! Uh, right!” Gumball said as he jumped down into the beginning of World 1-2 and started to run.

As he ran towards the five question mark blocks, his curiosity got the better of him as he decided to jump and hit the block… and sure enough a large Goomba in a boot came out of it and started to hop around.

“Yipe! So it IS Mario Maker style…” Gumball yelped as he went to the next question mark block and hit it, only for the block to reveal a fire bar activated as it started to rotate around. “AHHH! What the-”

“Oh, did I forget to mention the moving firebars that are present in this level?” Monika called out as Gumball looked further into the course to see a lot of fire bars now activating and moving around the area in conveyor belts.

Gumball yelped before glaring at Monika as he tried to dodge the fire bars. “As a matter of fact, yes. That fact would have been nice to-”

One of the fire bars then hit Gumball in the back as the cat jumped up and fell off the stage.

Monika sighed as she snapped her fingers, Gumball reappearing once more as he looked traumatized. “Thankfully, it doesn’t matter how many ‘lives’ you lose, as long as you just focus on getting to the end in under five minutes. So, try to focus on getting to the end…”

“Are you crazy, woman? This level looks impossible to complete!” Gumball complained as he motioned over to the level that was now full of firebars surrounding the area. “How am I supposed to get past any of THAT?!”

“Well, you better figure it out if you’re committed. Remember, you’re still on a time limit.” Monika smirked as she blinked out of existence.

“Wha-HEY! You can’t-” Gumball complained, before groaning. “Aww, come on!”

Gumball looked towards the course and groaned as he pulled his sleeves up before jumping back into the level and started to run, ignoring the question mark blocks as he tried to avoid the fire bars. Gumball narrowed his eyes as he hopped on one bar to another, all the while trying to avoid the fire. Gumball thought he found an opening and hopped to the next platform, only for a fire bar on the ceiling to graze the cat as Gumball yelped, falling the same way Mario does.

Once he found himself back to the beginning of the stage, Gumball frowned as he tried to run again, hoping to avoid the same mistakes… this time, he avoided the firebar on the ceiling, but tripped over the Koopa that was walking along the path after hopping off the ground, causing the cat to fall off the stage. The Koopa just looked back in confusion, wondering what hit him. An undetermined amount of seconds later, Gumball came back and leaped over the Koopa as he stuck his tongue out at him… only for the cat to get hit by a fireball.

“Caution, a minute-thirty has passed, so you will not be able to get the GOOD prize.” Monika called out.

“Awwww!” Gumball shouted, but nevertheless kept going as he jumped down before looking around. “Okay, okay, think, Gumball, think… these Mario Maker levels are usually made by experts, so they must have a dev door in here somewhere…”

Gumball looked around at the beginning of the level, all the while trying to avoid any fire bars that came near him. “Come on, come on, there has to be a door I can get through and cheese the level. Uh, uh… maybe if I jump around for a moment?”

Gumball started to breathe in stress as he jumped around, all the while trying to avoid firebars… until Gumball’s head made a collision with a hidden block, a coin popping out of said hidden block.

“Huh? AH HA!” Gumball laughed as he hopped on the coin block and jumped up to reveal another hidden block. Giving a smirk, he hopped up and continued finding hidden blocks for about another few seconds before finally, he noticed a strange door.

“I knew it! Somebody ALWAYS hides a dev door when a level proves too difficult!” Gumball smirked as he was now at the front of the door as he opened it and hopped in. “Ah ha… wha?”

Gumball blinked as he noticed the familiar flag that always appeared at the end of World 1-2 as Monika’s voice called out. “Congratulations, you reached the end of the level… but the main goal is go to the pipes that lead to the OTHER worlds.”

“OH COME ON!” Gumball shouted in anger as he growled, before jumping off the coin blocks, landing on the ground with his feet as he looked in front of the bars, before sighing. “All right, all right… just keep calm… keep focused… don’t let that hard level get to you…”

Gumball took a deep breath, before opening his eyes. “Mom, I don’t know if you’re watching this, but I’m about to pull what I call a signature ‘Mom’ move…”

Gumball growled as he closed his eyes, a large ball of white forming around him as he felt his anger levels rising… all of a sudden, Gumball’s eyes shot open as a white glow was seen around them as he flexed and screamed, sending a shockwave towards the level as the fire bars got obliterated in his path.

Noting that he was on the right track, Gumball quickly floated along as he yelled in anger, sending more shockwaves to obliterate any fire bars, Koopas and Goombas in his path as he continued on. Eventually, Gumball reached the path with the floating platforms as the blue cat managed to jump over and land on the platform going down, before jumping on the platforms going up. Giving a smirk to himself, Gumball landed on the top of the level and started to run and jump down towards the three warp pipes.

“Okay, World 4… or what I’m assuming is back to the beginning of the stage is… THIS one!” Gumball said to himself as he went to the far left pipe and went down.

Gumball reappeared up on the warp pipe near the very beginning to find Monika giving a smile.

“Congratulations, you made it in…” Monika looked at the watch. “...three minutes and forty three seconds.”

“Wait, what? So I don’t even get the AVERAGE prize?” Gumball frowned.

“Unfortunately, no. But don’t fret. You still completed the task in under five minutes, so you at least get something.” Monika smiled as she pointed towards two doors. “Over to my left are two doors. One of them contains a prize, the other… a booby prize. If you get the one with the prize, you won’t be able to change the game, BUT you will go home with something. The booby prize? Well… I’m sure you’ll be able to use it against Xero in some way…”

“Ah, so a ‘Door Number One or Door Number Two’ scenario, huh?” Gumball sighed. “All right, all right… let me get a feel here…”

Gumball shut his eyes as he tried to feel each door, knocking on them both, testing the air… and taking a deep breath through his nose… before nodding. “I’ll take… the door on the right.”

“Are you sure you want that one? You still have a chance to change your-” Monika noted as she raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, I’m sure!” Gumball shouted.

Monika paused, before giving a shrug. “All right. Door Number two is…”

Gumball’s eyes widened in excitement as the door slowly began to open… to reveal a plate of rotted fruit.

“The rotted fruits of yesterday’s stock! Good for throwing items.” Monika smirked. “Too bad, Gumball. That was the bad prize.”

Gumball’s eyes deflated as his mouth dropped in shock. Monika shook her head as she turned to the camera. “So you see, not EVERYBODY will get a good prize if they go to the Safe Zone. In fact, they could very well leave with nothing. And as for the next round, looks like it will be played as normal… or well, as normal as it gets, depending on the card chosen. That said, let’s get back to the game… where did we leave off… oh yes!”

(The Arena)

Right after Andrias tossed Gumball into the Safe Zone tent, Launchpad and Link looked at each other in worry as Dr. Shemp seemed to be grinning maliciously. At that moment, Monika’s monitor came on as she gave a nod.

“All right, Dr. Shemp, you get a reward from the wheel this time, and for this reward… ooooh… well, this is interesting… you earned yourself special shaman powers for two rounds.” Monika giggled a bit as she looked over the list.

Link’s eyes widened in pure shock as he gave a gulp. “Well… this went from bad to worse…”

Launchpad, on the other hand, just scratched his head in confusion. “Uh, what do you mean by shaman powers, exactly?”

Dr. Shemp stood still for a moment, as if he had received a power boost (no thanks to a square box that adjusted Shemp’s character, thanks to Monika). Shemp laughed as fire started to surge through his staff before waving it as a fireball narrowly missed Launchpad, but grazed his head a bit.

“...Oooooooohh. Now I see.” Launchpad nodded. “That makes sense.”

“RUN!” Link yelled as he grabbed Launchpad and dragged him away as Dr. Shemp laughed, now waving his staff to use magic to throw fireballs. With the arena shrinking down in terms of contestants, the fireballs became a lot more tolerable and easy to avoid for most fighters, but for Launchpad and Link specifically, it was quite an endeavor.

“Whoa!” Launchpad yelped as he felt a fireball hit him in his rear end as he held his buns. “Sheesh, I never would have thought this guy would be a pain to take out… I mean, in the Spyro games, he’s usually easy to take out.”

“Only because he has a weakness on his back… and this guy is not even trying to turn around!” Link groaned as he used his shield to block a fireball. “Man, if only we can get him to turn around…”

“Hmmm… well, I don’t know if this’ll help, but one time, while I was assisting D.W. in fighting crime, we were battling with this guy that wouldn’t turn around. So, when it came to it, D.W. got out his gas gun and unleashed smoke to confuse the guy, giving him a chance to attack in the back.” Launchpad suggested. “Gee, it’s too bad we don’t have D.W.’s gas gun here… and that he appears in a later section… otherwise, he would be a MASSIVE help…”

Link paused at Launchpad’s words as an idea formed in his head. “Perhaps we don’t HAVE a gas gun… but maybe I have something similar…”

With that, Link started to dig around in his pack before pulling out what looked like a large mushroom. The elf man’s eyes lit up as he pulled out his bow and arrow next before attaching the mushroom. “I KNEW I had something in there!”

“Uh, what is that?” Launchpad asked, looking at the strange mushroom.

“It’s a Puffshroom. If I can aim it at Dr. Shemp, maybe… just maybe…” Link mumbled as he narrowed his eye at Dr. Shemp, who laughed and pointed at the two before waving his staff around to summon more fireballs. “And… NOW!”

With that, Link fired the arrow with the Puffshroom on it as it made contact with the Gnorc. While it may not have been much for the armor, the Puffshroom did its job by exploding on impact as a smokescreen now covered the witch doctor. Dr. Shemp looked around in confusion as he tried to wave his staff to get the smoke away.

Launchpad watched in curiosity before giving a grin. “Ohhh, I see! That mushroom thing is like a smokescreen, blinding that witch doctor guy!”

“Exactly! Come on! Now’s our chance to strike!” Link called out as he pulled out his sword and started to charge.

“Oh, uh, right! Be right with ya!” Launchpad said as he readied himself, before charging forward like a football player.

Shemp, on the other hand, was trying to see through the smoke, a little distracted when he felt Link’s sword jab him on his rear. Shemp yelled out before hopping around and up and down. He would have been able to recover, had it not been for Launchpad knocking him down.

“I think I got him!” Launchpad said as he tried to wave his hand through the smoke. “Uh, hey, where are you?”

“I’m over here, Launchpad!” Link called out as he noticed Launchpad stumbling around in the smokescreen, before looking back to see Doctor Shemp getting up. “Uh oh. Stand back, Launchpad, he’s up on the rebound!”

“He is? Wow, nothing can keep this guy down!” Launchpad stated the obvious before taking a deep breath to himself. “Nothing a little charge can fix!”

With that, Launchpad decided to go backwards and out of the smokescreen to take a running start. At the same time, Link had noted Doctor Shemp yelling angrily before waving his staff to slam it on the ground, sending lightning bolts the Hero of Time’s way. Link was quick to dodge the lightning bolts before using his sword to clash with Dr. Shemp’s staff, causing the dark sunglasses wearing witch doctor to shuffle his feet backwards.

Doctor Shemp recovered as he waved his staff to summon another fireball, only for Link to jump in the air and spin around, before slamming his sword on the ground to make a large crack summoning green smoke to appear. The green smoke affected Doctor Shemp as the witch doctor coughed and hacked. Link noted Doctor Shemp turning around as he readied to jab him once again.

“Ready or not, here I come!”

Link’s eyes widened as he turned to see Launchpad charging directly at Doctor Shemp… while the Hero of Time was standing in between the two. “Launchpad, no, WAI-”

BAM!

Launchpad collided with Link as the Hero of Time was sent flying out of the ring and into the portal below, getting no time to recover. As for Doctor Shemp himself…

WHACK!

He too, was sent flying thanks to a headbutt by Launchpad as the witch doctor fell directly into the portal below.

Launchpad laughed a bit as he noted Shemp’s disappearance in the ring. “Heh heh! I guess we sure showed him a thing or three, isn’t that right, little blue buddy!”

Silence filled the area for a minute as Launchpad looked around. “Uh… little blue buddy?”

Launchpad stood in confusion at first… before his eyes widened, realizing what he had just done as he gave a nervous chuckle. “Ohhhhh… heh heh… guess I don’t know my own strength…”

Both Link and Doctor Shemp landed in Diablo III, where they faced off against the main titular antagonist for ten minutes. Unfortunately for Dr. Shemp, he lost his magic abilities the minute he got eliminated, so while he was eliminated swiftly, Link proved to be harder to take down.

Andrias could only watch as he gave a small laugh in amusement around the same time that Gumball walked out of the Safe Zone, looking rather peeved and holding the plate of rotted fruit in his hands.

King Andrias noticed as he looked at the plate in shock. “Uhhhhh…”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” Gumball grumbled angrily as he grabbed a rotten apple and looked up at the announcer’s booth. “Just throw a fruit at the announcer’s booth up there! Apparently, the bunny thinks it’s a wise idea to give us BAD prizes!”

“What?!” King Andrias shouted in anger, before narrowing his eyes as he picked up a rotten orange and threw it directly at the announcer’s booth.

“AHHHH!” Xero shouted as he felt the orange hitting him in the face before rubbing his head. “I take it they got a bad prize…”

“I think Monika is trying to make sure she’s more likable in comparison to you…” Maurice snickered a bit.

“Ha ha…” Xero groaned, rubbing his head. “It was your idea to put the fruit as a bad prize… why would you suggest that?”

“Honestly, I’m sure a lot of people would like to have their stress relief by throwing fruit at the least likable host… and between you and me… I think you earned that title of least favorite.” Maurice said. “Plus, I can always say it’s a courtesy gift if they do know it’s me…”

Xero held his head and groaned. “Ashley and Drake are going to be LAUGHING at this when they see this, aren’t they?”

The only answer he got was the rotten apple thrown by Gumball as it made direct contact with him. “AHHHH!”

Back towards the arena, Bentley was wheeling himself backwards as he jumped with his wheelchair, activating his jet thrusters as he used his dart gun to shoot a few tranquilizers towards Mewtwo. Mewtwo could only dodge to the side before summoning stars to throw at Bentley, all of them hitting the turtle with ease.

“Ugh… I forget that Swift is a NORMAL type move…” Bentley groaned as he rubbed his head.

“Keep in mind, I’m only banned from using MY Psychic Type abilities. Not any other type. So, Swift was pretty much free game.” Mewtwo said. “Along with this move. ICE BEAM!”

Mewtwo took a deep breath and shot out an icy breath of wind as the beam directly hit Bentley’s wheelchair. Bentley grunted as he felt the cold air chilling his skin, but thankfully, his tactical brain was already thinking of a good way to get past this Pokemon. As quickly as possible, Bentley hopped backwards with his chair before throwing some bombs towards the psychic legendary.

Mewtwo felt the impact of the bomb as one of them exploded in his face, causing the psychic Pokemon to slide backwards. The Pokemon quickly recovered before giving Bentley a bit of a side eye and rushed forward, holding up its clawed hands, fire surrounding it.

“Oh boy, here comes the Fire Punch…” Bentley said as he rolled backwards to duck the fiery hand.

Mewtwo had to admit, the turtle was pretty crafty, but he didn’t doubt that he could easily take down this turtle. Mewtwo closed his eyes before opening them, as he held out his hands, summoning another Shadow Ball, sending it flying towards Bentley.

Bentley yelped as he hopped with his wheelchair to avoid the Shadow Ball. However, this was EXACTLY what Mewtwo was counting on as he leapt up in the air.

“FOCUS BLAST!” Mewtwo shouted as he sent out a white aura that made an impact on Bentley as the turtle yelped.

“Oh no… I didn’t think you’d be a Focus Blaster…” Bentley groaned as he was trying to recover from the attack.

“It’s one of my midair moves in Pokken. How could I NOT use it?” Mewtwo smirked before rushing forward and punching the turtle with a Drain Punch, getting a little recovery from his injuries as the turtle groaned, feeling rather dazed.

“Ooooooo…” Bentley groaned as he shook his head, trying to pull out his dartgun once again in the hopes of getting Mewtwo.

However, when Bentley shot his dart towards Mewtwo, the psychic legendary already formed another Shadow Ball and sent it out, easily demolishing the small dart before rushing forward and grabbing Bentley’s wheelchair, containing Bentley inside.

The smart turtle gave a yelp as he asked, “What are you going to do now?”

Mewtwo paused briefly, before giving a small smirk. “Oh, I’m going to do the best I can.”

With that, Mewtwo threw Bentley and his wheelchair out of the tournament and into the portal below, as Mewtwo looked on in satisfaction.

Bentley landed in X-Men. He decided to have a one on one chess match with Charles Xavier to pass the time.

Garnet was seen sliding backwards as she felt the impact of Nasty Canasta’s punch. Shaking her head to recover from the injuries, she looked towards the cowboy as he gave a small smirk.

Garnet frowned, not liking this smirk one bit. “Do you honestly think I’ll be intimidated by your looks? Because you’re not just facing an ordinary person… you’re up against a Crystal Gem.”

The cowboy stared straight in the eyes before snapping his finger as a table appeared, much to Garnet’s confusion. After a moment, Canasta smirked as he said, with a simple smile. “Let me treat ya to a drink.”

Garnet paused as she looked in confusion, before seemingly talking to herself (which makes sense, considering she is a fusion of two gems). “Are we sure we should take it? Don’t fret. Remember, I was a cowboy back when we separated temporarily. Can we take it, though? Only one way to find out.”

Garnet smirked as she leaned her arm against the table. “Since you’re treating me… sure…”

“Waitress!” Canasta called out as Monika appeared, wearing a cowboy bartending outfit (intetionally sexy to drive people in the audience (AND players at home) wild). “Give me two of my drinks… on me!”

“Coming right up.” Monika giggled as she snapped her fingers, a welding mask suddenly being put on. This caught most of the people in the arena’s attention as Monika put on some rubber gloves and summoned a cabinet marked ‘DANGER!’ as she opened it up, revealing three bottles… one marked ‘Cobra Fang Juice’, another marked ‘Hydrogen Bitters’, and one more marked ‘Old Panther’.

Andrias and Gumball stopped pelting fruit at Xero as they looked over in shock as Andrias gave a gasp. “Ooooooohhh, I would NOT want to be in HER shoes right now.”

“Yeah, I SAW that cartoon… I can’t believe we’re actually witnessing THIS drink being made…” Gumball muttered in awe.

Mewtwo leaned towards the ropes, trying to look cool, but looking concerned for Garnet all the same. Antonov, Patrick, Launchpad and Garbodor looked over nervously as they stood back, looking rather concerned as Monika started mixing in the drinks using the tongs. Patrick, looking at how the drinks were made, could only smack his lips in curiosity and concern. Antonov blew out some smoke from his mouth as even the muscled man looked worried.

Monika then carefully used the tongs to put two ice cubes in the drink… only for the ice cubes to somehow yelp in surprise as they started hopping around, before diving out of the ring and into the portal below (and landing in Ecco the Dolphin, where the cubes started to feel better inside).

“Wow…” Launchpad whispered in awe as Monika proceeded to make the same drink and handed it to Garnet.

Nasty Canasta and Garnet stared each other down as they each grabbed the drinks, as everyone looked in awe.

“Holy cow… they wouldn’t dare…” Xero whispered.

“I’m more surprised that Canasta REQUESTED this form of attack to be here… I mean, I’m glad he’s not using this on children, BUT…” Maurice sighed as he turned to the camera. “Kids, don’t try this at home.”

With that, Garnet and Nasty Canasta started to guzzle down the drinks as they stared at each other, looking at them menacingly… Nasty’s hat momentarily doing a flip as Garnet’s eyes from underneath her visor… started to go wild for a moment, but nobody could tell. Still, Nasty couldn’t help but look curious. “Hmmm… I never seen a lady like you who could take a drink like that…”

“I’m just full of surprises…” Garnet said before using her gauntlet to punch Nasty Canasta towards the ropes.

Both Andrias and Gumball yelped as they ran to the side as Nasty landed on the floor. That didn’t deter the cowboy as he got up and noted he was next to the Safe Zone changing room. Giving a smirk, he ran right in.

Garnet could only raise an eyebrow in curiosity as Wolf and Espeon, who had stopped fighting to watch the spectacle, approached the tall Crystal Gem in curiosity.

“All right, how did you NOT get affected by the drink?” Wolf frowned.

“Trust me, I did. I just can hold it better…” Garnet explained.

“Really…?” Wolf frowned as he patted the table. “Yo, waitress! Give me one of those drinks!”

”Me too!” Espeon said as she hopped on the table.

“You sure?” Monika raised an eyebrow as she seemed ready to pack up. “Because I warn you, those drinks are…”

“Just give them to us!” Wolf frowned.

Monika shrugged as she quickly made two more drinks (putting one of them in a doggy bowl for Espeon) before sending them down Wolf and Espeon’s way. Quickly, the two downed the drink down, with Wolf guzzling it down to the last second, and Espeon lapping every drop.

After a moment, the two waited… before their eyes widened in shock as Wolf and Espeon went into a daze… as Wolf then pulled down his ears and looked at everyone with a cute expression on his face. “Mawy had a wittle wamb, its fweece was white as snow!”

”And evewywhere that Mawy went, the wamb was sure to go!” Espeon said cutely as the two of them had their skins turned green (Espeon looking like her shiny form) before moving like robots and having dazed looks in their eyes.

All of a sudden, the two of them rocketed up in the air, before landing down on the ground with a thud. Both Eeveelution and anthropomorphic lupine got up from their daze as they shook their heads.

Monika just shrugged as she glitched out, saying on the way out, “I warned them.”

Garnet just blinked twice as the table too, disappeared out of existence. After backing away for a brief moment, she blinked twice, before giving a shrug. “Hmmm… well, that was something…”

All of a sudden, a flying hat came hitting her from behind as the gem nearly fell over. Garnet quickly got back up to see the hat returning back to its owner. Nasty Canasta smirked as he put the metal hat on as he was showing off his new form… Ronin Canasta! The cowboy wearing his ronin outfit readied his sword before giving a smirk towards Garnet.

Garnet narrowed her eyes. “So, not only are you a cowboy, but you’ve trained in the ways of the ronin… very well… let’s see what you can do…”

Nasty Canasta just laughed before rushing forward and raising his large katana before making a swing at Garnet, causing Garnet to stumble backwards a bit. The Crystal Gem quickly recovered as she took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes as she charged forward and landed a direct punch on Canasta, sending the man backwards. Nasty Canasta then pulled out his gourd and drank what seemed to be a green liquid from it, before licking his chops, laughing a bit before rushing forward and swinging his sword once more.

Garnet quickly grabbed the sword, blocking the hit as Canasta’s eyes widened in surprise. The cowboy then narrowed his eyes in anger as he tried to push his sword against Garnet’s gauntlet, hoping to cut it up, but the tall Crystal Gem quickly pushed the sword aside, causing Canasta to fall to his feet.

Before Nasty Canasta could get up, though, Garnet managed to grab the cowboy by the feet and started to swing him around in the air… before tossing him forward.

“To paraphrase a certain plumber… so long-a, cowboy!” Garnet smirked as Nasty Canasta was out of the ring.

Nasty Canasta landed in Red Dead Redemption, where he decided to spin around and change back into his cowboy clothes, before heading out to the bar to shoot up the place, giving a sinister laugh along the way.

Garnet took a deep breath as she looked towards the only characters that were still in a fight as they were recovering from their little ‘drinking’ episode and were now focused on each other. Knowing that this would be the final fight of the round, she decided to join up with Mewtwo to discuss plans for the next round…

Wolf took a few deep breaths as he recovered from the massive headache he got from that drink he received. Still, he was not going to let that slow him down as he ran forward and slashed up Espeon. The psychic Eeveelution, however, put up a Reflect to make the attacks less harmful to him before using a Psybeam to blast the lupine straight in the face.

Wolf groaned before shaking his head and giving a short growl. “Oh, you wish you hadn’t done that…”

Espeon calmly licked her paw like a cat would, before shaking her head in style as her ears wiggled. Wolf gave a short growl, before pulling out his blaster, as if to shoot right at Espeon. However, Espeon’s eyes gave a sharp glow before using its Psychic move to deflect the blast away, hitting the force field that protected the audience from stray attacks.

Xero gave a sigh of relief, thankful that for once, that attack didn’t hit him.

Wolf narrowed his eyes as he gave a short growl, before rushing forward. Espeon hopped backwards to avoid the attack as she took a deep breath.

”I was hoping to save this… but…” Espeon shook herself before a Smash Ball came out of her fur.

Wolf jumped backwards in shock as he raised an eyebrow. “Wait, have you HAD that…”

As quick as possible, Espeon chomped on the Smash Ball, crushing it to pieces as a blue aura began to glow. Everyone looked in awe, wondering what was going on.

“Oh, snap!” Maurice said as he reached for the microphone. “Did not think this would happen early, but yes, all the Pokemon here, not just the ones from Smash, all have Smash Balls. And when a Pokemon gets the ability to use a Final Smash, they have three choices. One, Mega Evolution. Two, Dynamaxing OR Gigantimax, if that’s an option for some. And the third, and we’re about to see it in action…”

Espeon started to glow before flashing in a white light… when the light cleared, Espeon stood at attention, now looking like a ceramic crystal figure, with a large purple hat that was shaped like an eye. Espeon let out a loud cry as it looked ready for fight.

“TERASTALIZATION!” Maurice called out as Wolf looked at the Pokemon in awe. “And unlike most Final Smashes, this Pokemon will stay Mega Evolved, Dynamaxed, Gigantimaxed OR Terastilized until either the end of the round OR if they’re eliminated.”

“In the case of Terastilization, they rely on STAB moves based on the Tera Type… in that case, Espeon has Psychic Terastilzation! Now, even though Espeon is already a Psychic Type, it just means Espeon’s psychic abilities are doubled!” Xero announced. “Plus, if a Pokemon has a Tera Type that blocks a weakness, then they won’t receive double damage it would usually get when hit by said moves.”

“So, one better be careful when it comes to Terastilization!” Maurice announced.

Wolf blinked twice, before giving a snicker. “So, you think turning into a crystal is going to slow me down? I think not… I take down weaklings like you for supper!”

Espeon tapped her paws twice, as if to say, “Want to test that?”

Wolf smirked as he rushed forward. With that, Espeon quickly shot out a Tera boosted Psybeam, causing the lupine to yelp in pain as he got hit by it. Wolf groaned as he rushed forward using his Flash ability to zoom forward and kick the crystalized Pokemon off of the floor.

Narrowing her eyes, Espeon decided to send out another Psybeam towards the lupine, only for Wolf to be smart this time as he activated his Reflector, deflecting the attack away from him. Before Espeon could pull off another attack, Wolf rushed forward and slashed her up a few times, despite being Terastilized. Eventually, the damage became too much as Espeon tried to reach for a new ability… only to collapse to the ground in exhaustion…

Wolf laughed as he picked up the crystalized Pokemon. “What’s the matter, too weak? Too bad for you, I don’t intend on leaving any time soon…”

With that, Wolf gave a laugh before tossing Espeon out of the ring and into the portal below.

Espeon landed in Stardew Valley, landing on a nice little field of flowers. Giving a small yawn, Espeon decided to take a small nap after its Terastilzation had ended.

Wolf couldn’t help but give a smug laugh as he crossed his arms before turning around and looking over the remaining contestants.

Mewtwo and Garnet were standing near the corner posts as they seemed to be discussing some plans, as was Andrias and Gumball, the latter looking unsure of the tall newt king as the tall newt gave a small, jovial laugh. Antonov couldn’t help but pose for the people as everybody cheered, which woke up Rick from his small nap as he quickly looked around. Launchpad was sitting down and playing a round of jacks while Patrick was standing around, drooling a bit. And finally, Garbodor was looking around the audience as he happily waved to the audience, not realizing he had let out another round of stench towards the audience, causing them to recoil.

Wolf’s eyes lit up as he realized this was the final opponent of the round, meaning a new round was about to start soon. Posing himself, he looked up at the announcer’s booth, waiting for what the hosts had to say…

And sure enough, Xero spoke, getting everybody’s attention. “All right, everybody, Round Two had ended, and we’re about to get into Round Three! But before we do that, we have to spin the wheel! So, shall we get right to it!”

The audience roared an intense amount of applause as the wheel appeared. Xero grinned as he shouted, “We hear you, folks! Let’s spin it!”

With that, the wheel started to spin right around as everybody looked up in awe… before the wheel finally stopped on Mewtwo’s face.

Mewtwo looked up in curiosity as he gave a small chuckle. “I should have figured… is one of those cards a ‘Get Out of Punishment’ card? Because I would like my psychic powers to be available…”

“Sorry, you’re not THAT lucky.” Monika frowned as her face appeared on the screen, before giving a smile. “But we are going to be giving you four choices…”

With that, four envelopes appeared before Mewtwo as the psychic Pokemon looked between them, reading each of them aloud. “You’re The Boss… Mystery Reserves… Arena Split… Big Guy Blocker… so, three old choices and one new one, hm?”

The others raised an eyebrow in curiosity as they were wondering what Mewtwo’s line of thinking was, before looking at the envelopes and nodding. “The only new one here I haven’t heard of is Arena Split… so, I’ll be taking that.”

Xero and Maurice’s eyes lit up as Maurice said, “We were hoping you would do that.”

“Before we explain any further… I’d like you ten fighters to line up in a straight line, in the order that you entered in the arena. Can you do that?” Xero asked.

The others looked a bit unsure, but obliged anyway as they started to form a line (Patrick taking a while to find his spot)... before finally, each of them were lined up in front of Xero.

“...sheesh, I feel like I’ve been placed in front of a firing squad…” Gumball sighed.

Maurice nodded as he looked at the order. “Okay, when I call your names, go to the left side of the arena. The ones we haven’t called, go to the right side. Garnet… Rick… Patrick Star… Antonov… and King Andrias.”

The five looked confused, not sure where the hosts were going with this as the five went to one side of the ring. The other five, Launchpad, Gumball, Garbodor, Wolf and Mewtwo went over to the other side of the arena.

All of a sudden, Monika appeared with a large sword in hand as she raised it high. “ARENA… SPLIIIIIIIIIT!”

With that, Monika slashed the arena straight in half as the others yelped, the arena shaking.

“What the what is going on?!” Gumball shouted in shock as he fell to the side.

“Whoaaaa…” Patrick shouted from the left side as both sides of the arena started to glitch in new areas… with the Safe Zone moving between the split arenas as two bridges formed. Pretty soon, the shaking stopped, and the two arenas were now seen.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is our replacement King of Smashers! Because while we will still have the forty fighter format in THOSE rounds, we’re going to be changing it up a bit!” Xero smirked.

“Because… this concept and idea was inspired by… get this… an unused idea from the planned Ultimate Video Rumble 4!” Maurice smiled.

Everyone (including those of the arena) looked in awe as the next twenty fighters (plus ten future ones) looked in awe, wondering what that could possibly mean…

Before anybody could question anything further, Monika appeared as she snapped her fingers. “First, though, a word from our sponsor…”

RESULTS: (15 Votes)

MEWTWO (PKMN): 13:2= 11 (Numbuh One, Bentley)

GARNET (MV): 13:3= 10 (Landia, Nasty Canasta)

WOLF O’DONNELL (SSB): 12:3= 9 (Demyx, Espeon)

LAUNCHPAD MCQUACK (DTAAS): 12:4= 8 (Doctor Shemp, Link)

PATRICK STAR (NAS): 11:4= 7 (Elmer Fudd, Sulley)

RICK (K): 11:4= 7 (Cerebella)

KING ANDRIAS (DTAAS): 10:5= 5 (Rocky)

ANTONOV (KOFXV): 10:5= 5 (Raphael)

GARBODOR (PKMN): 10:5= 5 (Bambi)

GUMBALL (TAWoG): 10:5= 5 (Beaky Buzzard)

(ELIMINATED)

BOWSER (SSB): 10:6= 4 (Fuzzy Lumpkins)

ELMER FUDD (LT: WoM): 10:6= 4 (Jazz Jackrabbit)

LINK (SSB): 9:6= 3 (Ken “Godhand” Mishima)

SULLEY (KH): 9:7= 2 (Tasmanian She-Devil)

BEAKY BUZZARD (LT: WoM): 7:9= -2 (Bowser)

BENTLEY (SC): 7:9= -2

RAPHAEL (NAS): 7:9= -2

FUZZY LUMPKINS (PPG): 6:9= -3

KEN “GODHAND” MISHIMA (E): 6:9= -3

DEMYX (KH): 6:10= -4

NASTY CANASTA (LT: WoM): 5:10= -5

JAZZ JACKRABBIT (JJ): 5:10= -5

LANDIA (K): 4:11= -7

CEREBELLA (SG): 4:12= -8

ESPEON (PKMN): 4:12= -8

BAMBI (KH): 3:12= -9

ROCKY (LT: WoM): 3:12= -9

DR. SHEMP (StD): 3:12= -9

NUMBUH ONE (CN: PTE): 3:13= -10

TASMANIAN SHE-DEVIL (LT: WoM): 2:13= -11

SAFE ZONE FINAL VOTES:

SEVEN VOTES: Gumball (Winner of Safe Zone Poll)
SIX VOTES: Garnet
FIVE VOTES: Bowser, Antonov
FOUR VOTES: Mewtwo, Garbodor, Link, Launchpad McQuack
THREE VOTES: Demyx, Numbuh One, Bentley, Rick, King Andrias, Fuzzy Lumpkins
TWO VOTES: Cerebella, Wolf O’Donnell, Patrick Star, Beaky Buzzard, Raphael
ONE VOTE: Elmer Fudd, Nasty Canasta, Sulley, Ken “Godhand” Mishima, Doctor Shemp, Rocky, Bambi, Tasmanian She-Devil

Side Battles:

”Obstacle to the Bird”

SKITTY & TREECKO (PKMN) freezes BABBIT & CATSTELLO (LT: WoM)

12 to 3

TOP 10 SO FAR: Launchpad McQuack (4), Bowser (3), Elmer Fudd (3), Garnet (3), Mewtwo (2), Wolf O’Donnell (2), Patrick Star (2), Beaky Buzzard (2), Sulley (2), King Andrias (1)

Getting Close with Safe Zone Votes: While I did expect to see a spread of Safe Zone votes, I was surprised to see a battle for the top between Gumball and Garnet. It was only by one vote that Gumball managed to clinch the Safe Zone spot.

Which Segues To…: In the event that there are two or more people in the Safe Zone top votes, I’ll use a random number generator to determine which character goes into the Safe Zone. That’s going to be different than the fighting votes, where normally, the person that draws later gets an elimination, which, while THAT is the same, Safe Zone votes will NOT be following those rules.

Chapter Text

(On the Monitor)

Inside a gift shop somewhere, a red dinosaur wearing a tye die shirt and yellow shorts was seen manning a gift shop as he looked towards the camera and smiled. “Hi, friends! My name is Josh Tyrannosaur, and I’m today’s sponsor for this tournament! Hey, do you want a piece of Tournament of Kikai memorabilia that you want to carry in your pocket… or at home? Then swing on by to the Kikai Gift Shop!”

The camera then backed away from the monitor to reveal the Tournament of Kikai 2 gift shop in its glory. “That’s right, located in the very dome is the Gift Shop, where all spectators and fighters come together to buy stuff from the previous tournaments, whether it be the first tournament or our recent one!”

The camera switched over to Josh once again as he held up some plushies of Penny Proud and Mewtwo. “Come swing by and buy some plushie sets of our Final Two of the Tournament of Kikai! Seriously, these are selling like celery sticks, and everybody knows how much I LOVE celery! Especially as a good friend!”

The camera then panned over to the dinosaur as he walked over and waved over to some shirts with assorted characters on it. “We’ve also got some cool shirts from the last Tournament of Kikai, and we’ll be making some new ones based off our current tournament in the future, so keep an eye out for these events. But yes, we still got classic shirts like ‘Maleficent raining meteors down on the contestants’, ‘Pete doing his Boom Da Boom dance’... yes, that is apparently a shirt…” The dinosaur said in a deadpan voice.

Josh shook his head as he dug around and gasped as he pulled out a few more shirts. “Don’t forget to get these special shirts of our MVP fighters of last year, including Bubbles and Luna Loud! We even have some special orders for the figurine of Kisshu playing his guitar, like so!”

With that, the dinosaur turned his arms towards a small figurine of the familiar green alien of Tokyo Mew Mew wielding said guitar.

The camera then went back to Josh as he gave a grin. “And, for a limited time only, we have the complete box set of…”

Josh ducked under the camera and pulled out a DVD boxset showing the first Tournament of Kikai, with Xero, Maurice and Monokuma on top of the logo, and at the bottom, showing various contestants like Bubbles, Luna Loud, Bugs Bunny, Sakura Kasugano, Yuri Sakazaki, Ichigo Momomiya, Kisshu Ikisatashi, Mewtwo and Penny Proud displayed at the bottom.

“The Tournament of Kikai DVD boxset! Now with some behind the scenes footage, how Xero and Maurice select their various Mystery Fighters, and best of all, the recap show made by our own Ashley and Drake, the same hosts of the Battle of the Luminaries 3!” Josh then flipped to the back. “Indeed, six discs packed with hours of content, it’ll sure to bring the whole family here!”

The camera then zipped back to Josh as the dinosaur gave a grin. “So come by and spend your hard earned cash at the Tournament of Kikai 2 gift shop! And don’t worry, all purchases will go to a very charitable outcome! I think it’s called the, uh… National Organization of People’s Earnesty Over People’s Love of Engorgement… or N.O. P.E.O.P.L.E.!”

Josh then whispered, “Don’t worry, folks, the name doesn’t hate people, they just want people to protect animals and eat healthy! Ooo, that’s a cause I can get behind!”

The dinosaur shook his head. “Anyway, that’s it! Come visit our gift shop! We’re selling like hot cakes, and we’ll be meeting your demands as the tournament goes on! Okay, Xero, Mr. Bull and Miss Lady, I’m done here!”

With that, Josh waved as the camera faded to black…

Chapter Text

(The Arena… Er, ArenaS)

This was where things had stood for most of the players. Two arenas were now seen, with five people inside each arena as they looked confused at the ad.

“...was that ad break really necessary?” Gumball snarked. “Because it just seems like an excuse for somebody to kick back after they got sick for so lo-”

“ANYWAY…” Xero yelled as all attention turned back to him. “As you may see, there are NOW two arenas, as part of Arena Split. Forty fighters are going to be part of the round, but only TWENTY EACH can enter the ring. So, consider this a combination of the first Megamix Tournament days when only twenty people at a time can enter the ring, combining this with the unused idea of the Ultimate Video Rumble 4 with two arenas.”

“Yeah, what’s that all about?” Wolf frowned as he looked over towards the other arena. “And what about the other five?”

“I’m getting to that.” Xero nodded. “You all remember Wolfgang Krauser?”

“Isn’t that Geese Howard’s half brother? What does HE have to do with this?” Antonov asked in confusion as everyone else raised an eyebrow.

“Well, originally, he bought the rights to the Ultimate Video Rumble from the original hosts sometime after Ultimate Video Rumble 3. And one of his plans for bringing back the Ultimate Video Rumble involved having two arenas, the ones you see before you.” Maurice explained.

“We wanted to bring that idea here, but make it a twist for the wheel! That way, whenever Arena Split is played, it’ll be like we have the spirit of Ultimate Video Rumble 4 on our hands.” Xero said. “Credit goes to Wolfgang Krauser for this idea.”

“But how does Arena Split work? It’s quite simple. The leftover fighters will be separated by two sides… the arena on the left, and the arena on the right… based on the order you entered in, and each new fighter we announce, we tell them to go to either Arena A or Arena 2.” Maurice explained.

“Arena A or Arena 2? Why not Arena A and Arena B?” King Andrias asked in confusion.

“It was a creative choice.” Monika said in one of the monitors. “Another thing. If you guys happen to have alliance mates in your previous rounds, but you guys got separated in different arenas… well, you guys are going to have to work harder in eliminating people in hopes of reuniting with your alliance mates.”

“The same goes for if you guys have enemies that happen to be in the other ring. You guys have to work hard if you want to get close to them… but here’s another thing. While you guys WILL know what you’re getting into and know which contestants are entering… Arena A won’t know who eliminates who from Arena 2 and vice versa until AFTER the round ends.” Xero explained.

“And that’s because of these…” Maurice said as he pushed a button, causing the ten players (five from each arena) to look in awe as they saw two domes forming around the arena and enclosing them around the area. Then, on each dome, three quarters of the dome became clear to all BUT the sides FACING each arena, aka the interconnecting bridge leading to the Safe Zone. “These domes will sort of act like a King of Fighters staple, in which you won’t get eliminated right away, but you will if you get hit out of the dome by too much force.”

“That also goes for the Safe Zone challenges as well.” Monika grinned. “That’s right, there are going to be rule changes for the Safe Zone whenever Arena Split comes into play. When that happens, TWO people are allowed to come in the Safe Zone to do the challenge… HOWEVER, it must be one from EACH arena. Meaning, depending on the situation, they will have to compete AGAINST each other for this advantage.”

(Announcer’s Booth)

Xero turned off the mike real quick as he turned to the camera. “That just means you guys have to do TWO Top 5 lists, one for each Arena. You’ll see once you read the rules. Oh, and I would also pick from people that might compete against each other, but also might be able to work together. After all, you never know what might happen when Arena Split occurs, and a challenge happens. A little food for thought. Anyway, back to the show.”

(The Arenas)

Everyone looked in awe as the domes went down temporarily before everyone blinked.

“Don’t worry, folks, we won’t put those domes up until AFTER the fortieth fighter enters one of the Arenas. Until then, you guys might have to plan around who you’re going to fight against…” Maurice said.

“Any other questions, or are you guys good?” Xero asked. “Mewtwo, do you have any two cents you’d like to fill in?”

Mewtwo closed his eyes. “No, I’m good. I just figured something like this would happen.”

“You didn’t exactly know WHAT, though…” Gumball snarked. “And you know, for being a psychic legendary, you’re sure not being perceptive.”

“I’d be careful what you snark about.” Mewtwo turned his head towards the kid. “Unless you want to get eliminated early, and I don’t think that’s allowed during fighter announcements… are they?”

“No they are not.” Xero pointed out.

“All right, all right, just saying!” Gumball waved his hands nervously, knowing better than to provoke the psychic cat.

Over at Arena A, Andrias growled as he seethed in anger. “Ugh, so much for my partner coming into this… I was really hoping for a meat shield…” The newt king shook his head. “No big deal, I still have plenty of time, so let’s see what we have…”

Garnet took a deep breath as she adjusted her visor, looking ready for anything. “All right, just fight through to the end, and hope your friends made it too. That won’t be too hard… I hope…”

With that, the lights went on again as all attention was turned towards the curtain as both arena’s combatants looked towards it, wondering who was entering next…

“And now, the first new fighter to join Arena A!”

”PYRA!” (SSB)

A red haired woman holding a red sword came out to a good amount of cheers as she gave a small smile. Pyra looked between the two arenas before noting entrance to the curtain had two bridges leading to each arena. Seeing as how the right arena’s door was closed, and the other one was open, Pyra had no choice but to walk across the left arena… or Arena A, as Xero dubbed it.

She stepped into the arena as she looked over the five players, with Rick waving to her.

“G’day, mate! And welcome to the left arena!” Rick smiled as he approached her with curiosity. “So, you’re fighting alone again? Even after the whole Megamix Tournament hullabaloo, I’m still surprised that you’re entering without that other lass.”

It was then Pyra gave a smirk as she said, “Oh no, this time, I’m not going to be fighting alone. I’m doing what the Battle of the Luminaries did with me and my friend!”

“Uh, what do you-” Rick asked in confusion before a flash of light came over as the hamster jumped back, covering his eyes. “Crikey!”

“Pyra will also be tag teaming alongside her friend and partner…” Maurice smirked.

”MYTHRA!” (SSB)

“So, in a way, we’re sort of allowing this tag team function.” Xero said as he shrugged. “I mean, after all, Pyra and Mythra are basically part of the Aegis.”

This caused a huge amount of applause from the audience as where Pyra once stood, a blonde haired woman with a white dress and black pants stood, holding a similar futuristic sword, looking a little confident and ready.

Everybody’s mouths dropped in awe as Rick blinked twice. Mythra couldn’t help but smirk as she said, “That’s right, Pyra and I are back to being a tag team partnership once more. While SSBFreak wanted us separate, that didn’t mean the rules won’t apply to us. Besides, Pyra and I wanted to make sure we BOTH got our fair share.”

“...well, I can see that ya might be tough for me, sheila, so I’m gonna hit the frog and toad.” Rick said as he turned about face and scampered off. “Uh, good luck!”

Mythra paused briefly as she gave a smirk before looking around at everyone’s faces. “Hmmm… none of you REALLY strike me as an exceptional first opponent anyway…”

With that, Mythra took a deep breath before holding out her hand and transforming back into Pyra, who looked around cautiously as she gave a nervous chuckle. “Uh… well… maybe I’ll wait for a new person… heh heh…”

“And now, the person entering Arena 2…”

”TRON!” (KH)

The computer program A.I. once again came out to a good amount of applause as the program gave a small wave towards the audience.

“Hmmm… a lot of users seem to be very supportive.” Tron noted before frowning. “Unfortunately, the arena I’m going to doesn’t seem to have anybody I can fight… I suppose I’m just stuck waiting around until a potential opponent comes by…”

With a nod, he noted the door to Arena A closing, and the one to Arena 2 opening up. Tron nodded before heading through the doors and walking down the path.

Once he got up on the ramp, Wolf walked over and gave a small smirk. “So, you’re one of those computer A.I.s given physical body form, huh?”

“Not exactly. As a security program, my main job is to help make sure no bad programs manage to destroy the main dataframe…” Tron pointed out.

“And yet, here YOU are in the real world. How does THAT function, exactly?” Wolf smirked.

Tron paused slightly to think about it, before giving a nod. “I suppose they put me in a new body, the same way that my real owner, Ansem the Wise, managed to give Namine and Roxas new bodies in Kingdom Hearts III.”

Wolf opened his mouth to snark, before closing it as the lupine tapped his foot, looking rather annoyed. “Huh. Come to think of it, that does sound logical… if only we can use your sort of technology, then maybe I could slow down StarFox for good…”

Tron bit his lip a bit as he looked at Wolf nervously, noting the smirk on his face.

“Next fighter, for Arena A!”

”SHUN’EI!” (KOFXV)

The recent protagonist of the King of Fighters games came out to another mixed reaction as he gave a small smile, ignoring the jeers from the crowd as he waved his arms in the air, giving a small laugh. After giving a high five to a nearby person leaning towards his seat, Shun’ei went to the door on the left.

Antonov noted Shun’ei coming in as he gave a laugh, approaching him with all of his excited vigor. “Ah, Shun’ei, my fellow King of Fighter, welcome! I didn’t think you’d be entering already!”

Shun’ei gave a smirk. “I had some good luck with a nice draw. It’s just a shame it’s not one of the later ones, because I was ready to clean house if that were to happen.”

“Ah well. I guess things weren’t meant to be.” Antonov smirked as he posed himself for a fight. “Hey, up for a battle? I want to see if you’d be good enough for the G.A.W.!”

“Uh… no thanks. We have seven fighters on this end of the ring right now, I’d like to wait until more fill up.” Shun’ei said as he passed by.

“You’re missing out!” Antonov called out as Shun’ei walked past the smoking man before crossing his arms and puffing out a smoke cloud. “Hmmmm… I know that kid has potential, he just needs more time to unlock it…”

“Next fighter for Arena 2…”

”LILY!” (SF)

Waving her dual ball-headed pogamoggans, the young warrior of the Thunderfoot tribe came walking in with a small smile and a giggle, before taking a deep breath.

“Okay, Dhalsim won’t appear until later, and I know Blanka’s in the next round…” Lily took a deep breath. “If I’m going to have a chance to battle against Blanka, I’ll have to survive this strange setup… well, that sounds like a good plan for a Thunderfoot warrior like myself!”

With that, Lily closed her eyes and smiled as she let out a scream before rushing forward the open door to Arena 2, a blast of wind following behind her as she jumped up in the air, and slid forward in the arena, causing the six that were currently in that arena to jump in surprise. She then stopped as she gave a grin.

Launchpad, looking over towards the girl, could only applaud. “Wow, that was quite an impressive entrance!”

Lily giggled as she looked up towards the tall pelican. “Thank you! I only help in fighting for my tribe, and pleasing the spirits of the wind, after all.”

“Ah, so you’re like an ancient tribe, huh? Mr. McD, the boys and I went on a lot of adventures with ancient tribes, but I don’t believe we had an adventure that had tribal people worship wind… and I should know a lot about wind, I am a pilot, after all!” Launchpad smiled.

“So I see.” Lily smiled as she held her dual clubs with a smirk. “Then you do not mind if I fight against you, O mighty pilot? A spirit of the wind against the person who fights against it?”

Launchpad blinked twice in confusion, before shrugging. “Eh, anything’s worth a try at least one time… sure, I’m up for a challenge!”

“Next fighterS for Arena A and Arena 2 respectively…”

”PUDDING FONG!” (TMM)

”CHOWDER & KIMCHI!” (CN: PTE)

Everybody who remembered how this team up went down in the first Tournament of Kikai immediately applauded as both little girl and the cat-bear-rabbit hybrid kid came out, with a brown stink cloud with eyeballs following the latter kid. Both kids seemed to be wearing Broadway outfits (Pudding wearing an orange dress, Chowder a tuxedo) as Horace from the Sound Booth played a familiar tune, Chowder starting to sing.

(Has anybody seen and anybody heard)

(All the different ways for saying a word?)

(I tell you, my friend, it’s really absurd)

(You see…)

The two started to do a soft shoe routine as Chowder grinned, turning to Pudding. “I’d say AB-stract.”

“I’d say ab-STRACT.” Pudding smiled back.

“I’d say COM-pact.” Chowder said, using his hands to smash them together horizontally.

“I’d say com-PACT.” Pudding did the same with her hands, only vertically.

“...I would say… CON-tract.” Chowder pointed out.

“I’d say con-TRACT.” Pudding giggled as both of them sang.

(Who cares how you pronounce it?)

(We might as well announce it)

(We’re not exactly John Von Neumann!)

“Hey, I’m only a cat… bear… rabbit thing…” Chowder shrugged.

Pudding smiled as she sang.

(And I’m only human!)

Everybody watching this spectacle looked a little confused, but shrugged as Mewtwo said, “Eh, we’ve seen a lot of entrances like this in the last couple of tournaments…”

“Yeah, it looks like they PLANNED that one…” Gumball said as Pudding motioned for Horace to skip to the bridge.

Chowder then pulled out a caramel cake before devouring it down as he grinned. “Car-a-mel?”

“Caramel!” Pudding smiled as she pulled out a stick of caramel.

Shuichi then walked out wearing a black Mardi Gras outfit as Chowder pointed to him. “New Orleans?”

“New Or-leans!” Pudding grinned as she pointed toward Monika, who appeared out of nowhere wearing a similar Mardi Gras outfit, holding a saxophone.

“Saint Louis?” Chowder raised an eyebrow.

“Saint Louie to me.” Pudding rolled her eyes before pointing upwards to see Monika and Shuichi, back in their regular clothes, sitting atop the Saint Louis arc of Missouri that had somehow teleported towards the main area.

“Lever.” Chowder said as he pulled a lever on the ground.

“Lee-ver.” Pudding smirked, pulling a lever from on top as Monika and Shuichi landed together.

Chowder and Shuichi were now side by side, wearing pirate outfits as Chowder swung a sword. “Ca-rib-bean!”

“Carib-bean!” Pudding smiled as she and Monika were now on beach chairs, holding sun visors.

“Paris!” Chowder said as he was painting a posing Shuichi as if he was a model.

“Pronounce it Paree…” Pudding sang as she danced around, with Monika snapping her fingers as she and Shuichi went back to their regular seats as Pudding and Chowder reunited and danced once more (Monika snapping her fingers to put Pudding and Chowder back in their regular clothes).

“Now I say root…” Chowder said.

“And I say route.” Pudding smiled.

“Now don’t you poot.” Chowder giggled.

“I think you mean pout.” Pudding smirked, before the two started to sing again.

(Maybe someday we’ll figure it out)

(But as long as we’re together)

(It doesn’t matter whether)

(We ever learn our words like crewmen…)

(‘Cause we’re friends…)

“Me, the… hybrid.” Chowder paused.

“And I’m full human!” Pudding sung as the two soft shoed their last words.

(Ba ba doo bop!)

Everybody… in a reverse situation where they were stunned silent, applauded the two as they gave bows as Pudding called out, “Thank you all, thank you! We planned on doing this the minute we had our numbers come up again…”

“It sucks that we have to be separated though, because of this Arena Split twist…” Chowder frowned.

“Yeah, boo Xero! Boo the bunny for separating a power team!” Pudding shouted. “Our words will not go silent!”

As if listening to Pudding’s words, the jeers were heard as Xero’s lone ear flopped in anger. “Well, I did enjoy that number right up until Pudding turned it on me…”

“You have to admit, it was pretty good…” Maurice smiled, before hearing the phone. “That would be Ashley or Drake calling about the musical number that just happened…”

“You answer it, I am not in the mood after what Pudding did…” Xero pouted before crossing his arms in annoyance.

Maurice sighed as he shook his head, before turning to the camera. “Before anybody asks, this was the House of Mouse song “Me The Mouse and I’m the Duck”, originally sung by Mickey and Daisy, but the words had to be changed a bit to fit the rhymes and their species… okay, taking this call now.”

Back towards the entrance curtain, Pudding sighed as she turned to Chowder. “Will you and Kimchi be okay on your own?”

“Well… if anything goes wrong, at least we can still find some other alliance mates… and hey, if the worst happens, I do have Gumball on my side.” Chowder smiled. “And as a fellow meta person, I’m sure we can get along fine…”

“...just be careful.” Pudding said as she walked towards Arena A, and Chowder waddling towards Arena 2, Kimchi following the latter.

Over at Arena A, as Pudding climbed up towards the arena, Garnet approached the little girl as she bent down and patted her on the shoulder. “For what it’s worth, that was a pretty good number.”

Pudding couldn’t help but give a small smile towards the Crystal Gem. “Thank you…”

Chowder, on the other hand, climbed up in Arena 2 as he walked over towards Gumball with a smile. “Hey, Gumball!”

Gumball just stared at Chowder with a nonchalant look. “So, what is your relationship with Pudding, exactly? Is she like your girlfri-”

”NO.” Chowder narrowed his eyes towards Gumball, who shrank down a bit. “She’s just a friend who just so happens to be a girl. Besides, she has her eyes on that Taruto person… I think.”

“Oh, I see… hey, listen, I had an alliance member, but, uh, we separated. Do you want to team up for a bit?” Gumball asked. “Two meta animals together on a whirlwind adventure, am I right?”

Chowder squealed in delight before standing before him. “Tell me all you know, o meta one…”

“Dude, it’s just a team up. Chill.” Gumball pointed out.

“Next fighter for Arena A…”

”IKE!” (SSB)

The bulky blue haired man came out to a loud amount of applause as he ignored it for the most part as he pulled out his sword, Ragnell and started to head to the arena on the left. Normally, when there was a small arena such as this one, there would be a difficult choice as to who would be a good choice to fight, or if there was anyone worth fighting, but for Ike, there was ONE particular character he had his eye on.

King Andrias, still a little mopey that he had no partners in the ring (and that his last partner was in the other arena), looked up to see Ike getting into the ring and charging straight through him, swinging his sword right at the tall newt. Andrias felt the slash as he was sent backwards.

Andrias rubbed the area where he was slashed before narrowing his eyes towards the man. “If you think you’d try to slow me down, you’re sadly mistaken.”

“You are NOT a worthy king.” Ike frowned as he readied his sword. “I’ve heard plenty of stories about you, King Andrias, about how you tried to take over not only your kingdom of Amphibia, but also Earth…”

Andrias groaned as he held his head. “Again, trying to redeem myself here…” He shook his head before pulling out his own sword. “Fine. You wish to battle me. Then you got it.”

Ike nodded before gripping his sword, ready to attack.

“And now, the next fighter for Arena 2…”

”DJANGO!” (E)

The white wolf with red markings came out, growling as he looked ready to go on the defense. Despite the mixed reaction (some applauding how adorable he looked, some looking fearful at how fearsome he looked), the wolf let out a howl before rushing towards the arena on the right.

The wolf immediately hopped in as he looked around fiercely, trying to make his mark. He spotted Wolf and Tron, who were still talking to themselves. Django growled before turning his head towards Chowder and Gumball, both characters yelping as they hid behind Garbodor. Django looked up at the large trash monster as he looked back with a smile and gave a wave. Django growled angrily, pawing the ground twice before charging forward and leaping in the air…

Only to stop in midair once he got a whiff of Garbodor’s natural body odor… the wolf immediately flopped down on the ground, before running towards the corner of the ring.

“YIPE! YIPE! YIPE! YIPE! YIPE!”

Garbodor blinked twice as Chowder and Gumball carefully walked out from behind the trash monster and ran off to the side of the ring. ”Huh. What do you suppose got into him?”

“Next fighter to Arena A…”

”MR. FROSTY!” (K)

A walrus like figure in black overalls came waddling in as he got a rather warm welcome by the fans. The walrus gave a small smile as he waved towards the people before waddling his way towards the ring, looking rather excited for the new tournament up ahead.

Patrick looked up to see the rather large walrus character coming into the ring, before smiling as he pulled out his microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, our next guest has just arrived, with his icy ways and his cold, cold powers, he’s sure to bring snow to our land… I welcome… SANTA!”

Mr. Frosty’s eyes widened in shock as Patrick walked over and shoved the microphone right into his face. “Welcome, Santa, to the Tournament of Kikai… I know this is a little bit of a time waster, but we’re glad you could make time in your schedule to be here. So, how’s the North Pole?”

Mr. Frosty blinked twice in confusion, before pulling out a snowball and throwing it Patrick’s way as the snowball hit his face.

“AHHH! That’s mean, Santa!” Patrick said as he shook his head and narrowed his eyes at the man. “All right, I was hoping to be nice, but if I have to be on the naughty list…” Patrick roared as he pulled out a Krabby Patty and ate it one bite. “SO BE IT!”

Mr. Frosty could only position himself, getting ready for battle.

“Next fighter for Arena 2…”

”HUGO!” (FF)

The large wrestler came out of the Ready Room to an amount of applause as the man smirked, making muscly poses for everybody before doing a nod. He paused slightly as he pointed between the two arenas, as if adding something… his eyes then widened as he gave a growl, stomping on it, before angrily marching towards Arena 2.

As Mewtwo was contemplating what he was going to do at the moment, he heard angry footsteps. The psychic legendary Pokemon turned his head to see Hugo jumping into the ring, before angrily waltzing towards the psychic Pokemon. “YOU!”

“Yes?” Mewtwo raised an eyebrow.

“I had an opponent backstage that I was eager to fight, BUT I can’t fight him now because he’s going to be in the other arena, if my numbers are CORRECT! Therefore, I need a substitute to take down until the arenas merge, so that he and I may have our proper wrestling fight! And seeing as how you’re the strongest here, YOU’LL have to do!” Hugo growled in anger.

Mewtwo rolled his eyes. “You really want to do this? Facing off against a character who’s a PSYCHIC is a dumb move.”

Hugo snorted. “But YOU don’t have your psychic abilities available until at least Round Four, so I think it’s fair game to take you out… and I’m NOT dumb! I’m as graceful and symbolic as a potato!”

Mewtwo’s eyes widened in shock as he looked at him with a confused expression on his face. “...Huh. That’s a new one.”

Hugo growled angrily as he jumped up high and grabbed Mewtwo as he slammed the psychic legendary down to the ground. The psychic Pokemon groaned as he rubbed his head, before narrowing his eyes. “All right… you convinced me. You’re a threat that needs to be GONE… NOW…”

(Hotel; Swimming Pool)

A few people were seen hanging out by the pool, taking a little time for swimming before their inevitable call in by the others, but for now, they were taking the time to relax. And in the case of one character, they were having that time to relax.

Vector sighed happily as he found himself sleeping on a pool chair, his headphones off and to the side as he had a drink in his hand. Laying down and sipping on the drink, he put it to the side and gave a small smile. “Ahhh, this is the life… no need to worry about the other Team Chaotix, no need to worry about Eggman and the others… since he’s actually with us for once, instead of planning with the others… it’s good to kick back…”

The large crocodile grinned as he sipped on his drink and hummed to himself. Indeed, what Vector’s exposition said was true. All the Sonic characters DID check into the locker room, even Eggman, much to everybody’s surprise, especially after the past few times he was in a villain plot. Maybe it was because Eggman was vital in helping out the heroes in the Tournament of Kikai, but either way, none of the others seemed to be complaining. At this moment, the crocodile was there to just relax and enjoy himself, trying to get away from the hustle and bustle until his number was called.

Vector paused as he looked at the paper slip containing his number. Counting right, he’d guess he’d be somewhere in the middle of the rounds, probably in the 300s side of contestants at best, between 340 and 350. Again, depending on when the Mystery Fighters entered. Still, it was a good, ample opportunity to just kick back and relax…

“Relaxing as well, huh?”

Vector paused as he lifted his sunglasses and looked up, smiling to see a familiar face approaching. “Yeah. You’re taking it easy too?”

The person he was talking to happened to be a grey sloth bear wearing a pilot’s outfit as he was having a drink to himself as he was sitting near the pool, dipping his feet in the water to get them wet. The bear laughed as he sipped his drink. “Well, you know what they say, always take it easy while you can, because you never know when your number gets called.”

Vector laughed a bit as he looked up. “I couldn’t have said it better myself. Say, Baloo, when do you enter?”

“Eh, if I had to guess… Section Eleven, maybe Section Twelve or Thirteen, if we’re lucky. Who knows with these twists and turns.” Baloo shrugged.

“You said it…” Vector said as he got up and walked up to Baloo. “I’m more surprised that girlfriend of yours gave you time off.”

“Ah, Becky understands. Even though she knows Higher for Hire is important, she knows this tournament is a big thing too! Heh, she half expects me to win this…” Baloo laughed a bit, before pausing. “Though we’re up against a lot of competition, come to think of it.”

“Yeah… more nodes, more players… if we’re lucky, we’re going to have an easy night…” Vector smiled as he sipped his drink.

Baloo paused in concern. “Uh, maybe don’t jinx that.”

“Why? What could possibly go wrong?” Vector asked.

“Come on, you idiots! The sooner we get this in, the better.”

Vector and Baloo yelped as they heard voices, making the bear glare at the gator. “Do you hate it when you jinx people?”

“Sh!” Vector said as he pulled up a magazine and put on his headphones, turning off the music playing before handing Baloo a magazine as the two of them leaned down, pretending to read from them…

Though in reality, they were peeking up as entering through the doors of the pool were five familiar characters… certain enemies of the Powerpuff Girls… that no good group of villains known as… the Gangreen Gang!

“Okay, okay, we all know what to do. Grubber, you hang up that poster as asked.” The tall green member with black hair and sunglasses, Ace, requested to a stubby little green person with a troll-like face and hunchback.

Grubber responded by blowing a raspberry and saluting before clutching onto the poster and carefully walking over to the bulletin board. Ace nodded before turning towards a shorter green skinned character with a red shirt and black shorts. “Lil’ Arturo, you and Snake guard the outside and make sure nobody gets in.”

“Si, you got it boss.” Lil’ Arturo nodded before turning to Snake, a slim green figure with a snake like appearance wearing white and orange. “Come along, Snake. We have a job.”

“Of coursssssssssse we do.” Snake smirked and hissed before following Lil’ Arturo outside the pool doors.

“Duh, what do you want me to do, Ace?” Big Billy asked.

“Billy, you stick with me. We need to make sure there aren’t any witnesses here.” Ace said as he looked around the area. From Ace’s point of view, most of the others seemed to be ignoring them, but in the corner of his eye, he could swear he saw one character pulling his eyes back to the magazine, hoping they wouldn’t be noticed.

Ace frowned as he motioned for Billy to follow him as he walked over towards the two pool chairs containing Vector and Baloo. “Hmmm…”

Vector looked at Baloo with his eyes and tried to motion at the bear to keep still. Baloo noticed and obliged before turning his eyes back towards the magazine as Ace examined the two from every angle. He waved a hand in front of Vector, before pausing briefly. “Hmmm… they seem to be as cold as a stone… but I ain’t buying it. Billy, hit ‘em in the knees…”

“WHAT?!” Baloo shouted before getting up. “Excuse me? I do not appreciate my reading time being interrupted! And I’m pretty sure Vector here doesn’t like being interrupted when we’re listening to your conversations… oops.”

Vector groaned as he slapped his forehead, as Baloo caused himself to be embarrassed.

Ace frowned a bit as he narrowed his eyes. “So, youse WAS listenin’ in… I’m afraid we can’t have any witnesses…”

“Uh, hey, folks! The Gangreen Gang is here to cause a ruckus! Ain’t anybody going to come and help?” Vector called out.

To the two’s surprise, nobody seemed to respond… and as for the lifeguard… Lightning from Total Drama had headphones on and was listening to music. Vector frowned as he turned to Baloo. “Why would Xero hire THIS guy for being a lifeguard?”

“I have no idea…” Baloo sighed.

“Anyways, you two have heard too much as far as we’re concerned… Billy, help me take those two out…” Ace smirked as punched his hand twice.

“Duh, sure thing, Ace! I’m gonna do just that, punch that gator and bear in the faces!” Big Billy laughed dumbly before posing, ready for a fight.

Vector groaned as he turned to Baloo. “Hey, Baloo… you know that fight we were relaxing for? Well, relaxin’ time is over!”

Baloo frowned before sipping on his drink once more. “I was afraid it would come to that…”

(The Arenas)

“Next fighter for Arena A!”

”DANTE!” (PSASBR)

Unlike last time when the reboot version of Dante came out to boos, this time, there was a bit of a mixed reaction. Pulling out his pistols and looking around at the audience, he was at least a little thankful he got a little more of a cheer section this time as compared to the overall negative reaction he got in the last tournament. The only thing that sucked for him was that he actually got an early draw this year, but to him, it was no problem.

“All right, a lot of people are still dissuading me and want the original Dante, but I’m not going to let that get me down.” Dante smirked as he circled his pistols around before walking towards the left arena. “All I have to do is focus on the fighters and survive for a round… maybe I can get an elimination on the board for my node, like Lilly Pendragon did for Suikoden in the Megamix Tournament. Won’t that be something?”

Giving a smirk and readying his handguns, he immediately ran over and jumped into the ring, before aiming and shooting at the first person he saw.

Unfortunately for him, that just so happened to be Garnet, whose back was turned as she felt the pangs of the bullets bounce against her. She gave an annoyed sigh before looking towards Pudding. “You best stay back. I have to take care of business.”

“Take your time… I’m still waiting for my first opponent, na no da.” Pudding nodded before walking towards the ropes and leaning back, all the while looking towards the other ring to see Chowder and Gumball talking gameplans. Pudding couldn’t help but give a small, sad sigh.

Dante smirked as Garnet approached him as she said, “A little risky to be shooting a Crystal Gem, don’t you think?”

“Hey, lady, you’re the first person I saw, so I HAD to get SOMETHING started.” Dante said as he waved his guns around. “Plus, you’re the biggest threat so far. If I take you down, this could be a good start to my comeback!”

Garnet frowned as she rolled her eyes behind her visor. “So, we were in the same Final Thirty seed last tournament, and it seems to me you’ve learned nothing.”

“Not true!” Dante smirked. “Sure, I had some bad luck, but that’s going to change this time!”

“We’ll see about that.” Garnet said as she readied her gauntlets, ready to fight.

“Next up for Arena 2!”

”BIG BAND!” (SG)

(I see trees of green)

(Red roses too)

(I see them bloom)

(For me and you)

(And I think to myself…)

(What a wonderful world)

The cybernetic man wielding a number of musical instruments within his trenchcoat walked in to an amount of applause as he took the time to wave to his fellow audience members. He bobbed along to the tune of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” as he walked towards the right ring, before jumping in.

The police officer took his time to scan the ring before noticing a smiling Garbodor approaching him as he gave a wave. Big Band narrowed his eyes at the large trash monster Pokemon as he gave an amusing anecdote. “Ah, Garbodor, the trash Pokemon of the Unova region. A lot of people say you stink, but personally, I don’t see it…”

Garbodor’s eyes lit up at the compliment as he gave a small growl of thanks. Big Band immediately got the compliment as he gave a chuckle. “You’re quite welcome. However, this IS still a tournament after all, so I’m going to take you down and out…”

Garbodor blinked twice, before narrowing his eyes as he went into a fighting position. Big Band looked up with a gleam in his eyes. “Can you feel the beat? Well… can you? Because I’m about to swing you right around this ring!”

Garbodor responded by shooting a Gunk Shot (creating another trash bag and throwing it at the large man, before Big Band stepped out of the way to avoid the Gunk Shot. However, this turned out to have saved an unsuspecting Launchpad and Lily, as they were too distracted by battling to notice an incoming Django approaching and leaping, about ready to go for the throat… of which person, it remained unknown as the trash bag landed right near the two fighters… causing Django to stop short as he caught another whiff.

“YIPE! YIPE! YIPE! YIPE! YIPE! YIPE!”

Django immediately ran away to the corner and settled itself on the other side, away from the fighters as he held his nose and cringed.

“And now, next fighter for Arena A!”

”IORI YAGAMI!” (KOFXV)

The red haired pyromancer came in as he looked up towards the Sound Booth, hearing a rather edgy tune coming out of it. He gave a small smirk, relieved in hearing no jazz this time. After a moment of ignoring the applause, he casually walked through the door to the left arena.

“Hmmm… well, Kyo’s not going to be entering the ring for a long time. I could amuse myself by challenging Shun’ei, but what’s the point?” Iori said to himself before looking around the ring and spotted Antonov, still waiting on a potential fighter. “And I sure as HELL am not fighting Antonov, lest I risk the fact that he wants me to join his stupid cult… no, I’m better off waiting for another fighter… yeah, that’s EXACTLY what I’ll do…”

As soon as Iori climbed into the arena, he looked around the area as he noted a few things, like Patrick body slamming on Mr. Frosty, King Andrias and Ike fighting against one another, Garnet and Dante trading blows, Pyra humming to herself as she swung the Aegis around, practicing her fighting skills before switching to Mythra as she swung the Aegis in a different way, and finally, Rick and Pudding, the latter was still looking towards the other arena with a sad sigh, and Rick noting Iori as the hamster gave a small wave.

Iori paused and scoffed. “Yeah. DEFINITELY waiting for a better opponent…”

“The fighter for Arena 2 is…”

”BARK THE POLARBEAR!” (StH)

The yellow furred polar bear came out to a moderate amount of applause as he looked around the area, before giving a nod.

“All right, Bark, you can do this. If Nack… er, FANG can manage to get a comeback in the recent Sonic games, maybe there’s a chance for me and Bean!” Bark smiled before running towards the right side of the ring. “Yeah, yeah, I can totally do this!”

With that, the large polar bear quickly ran forward before jumping into the ring as he looked around… only to find himself disappointed at the number of contestants that were busy. Hugo and Mewtwo were currently on their battle, Launchpad and Lily were in the middle of their tussle, Wolf and Tron were in the middle of discussion, AND Garbodor and Big Band were battling it out as of now. The only free characters at the moment were Django, who seemed to be recoiling from Garbodor’s stench, and Chowder and Gumball, both of them still discussing what to do…

“Hmmmm… well, this is going to be tougher than I thought.” Bark sighed as he went over to the ropes. “I just hope the next challenge I get is a good one…”

“Next up for Arena A!”

”TREECKO!” (P)

The small green lizard came in to a large amount of cheers as the small gecko Pokemon gave a few waves towards the crowd, acting cutely, before shaking her head. She glared up at the Announcer’s Booth before pointing towards the right arena.

”Dude, come on! I know you said I have to be in Arena A, but I need to be in Arena 2! This is important!” Treecko shouted in anger.

Xero and Maurice stared at the wood gecko Pokemon in confusion as Maurice asked, “Do we have any idea what she just said?”

“No.” Xero said before sighing. “But I get the general idea. Sorry, Treecko, but you can’t enter in Arena 2. I already said you’re going to Arena A. Whatever you want to say to somebody, you have to wait until the round is over, where the rings will merge again!”

”UGH! That person might not even BE here… or worse, I might not even be here!” Treecko complained, before groaning. ”Ugh, forget it. I’m screwed…”

A dejected Treecko grumbled to herself as she walked to the left arena before climbing up. Pudding couldn’t help but notice the dejected Treecko as she approached the small gecko.

“What’s the matter, Willow? Can’t get your message to the other ring?” Pudding asked.

That caused Treecko to look up at the little girl in surprise. ”How the heck did you know my name is Willow? And how do you understand Pokemon speak?”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, but the way you responded makes it sound like I was accurate that your name is Willow.” Pudding sighed before looking up at the announcer’s booth. “And I guess it makes sense, considering Xero is a BIG Chuggaaconroy fan… of course there was going to be Chuggaaconroy references… at least it’s not that Steve meme he always supports… seriously, how annoying is he going to get with that?”

Treecko just blinked twice at this somehow meta little girl before the young Mew turned towards Treecko. “Hey, you want to team up for a bit? My partner is kind of in the other ring, and I do need some companionship.”

Treecko paused as she began to think for a moment. Sure, the partnership would be a good benefit, but hopefully, she can survive long enough to meet up with Mewtwo. Giving a nod, she gave out her name and held out her arms.

”I humbly accept your proposal!” Treecko grinned.

“YAY!” Pudding smiled before Treecko hopped on the little girl’s shoulder. “All right, Willow, let’s wait out on some good opponents… maybe something we can take on…”

”Good deal.”” Willow nodded as she looked around, looking ready to fight.

“Next up for Arena 2!”

”THE PANDA KING!” (SC)

Xero immediately shuddered as flashes of him and Maurice being dragged and tied to fireworks the large panda made himself came to mind. But it didn’t matter to the audience, as they applauded the return of the tall panda as he looked around at the crowd. Immediately, he spotted his daughter in the crowd as she gave a small wave towards him. The Panda King could only smile as he bowed towards Jing King, before turning towards the right arena and running forwards.

Bark’s eyes lit up as he immediately got up and met up with the Panda King, who had just climbed into the ring. “Thank goodness! I was hoping you’d be on MY end of the ring!”

The Panda King cocked his head towards Bark in curiosity. “Have you now?”

Bark eagerly nodded. “I’ve been wanting to fight you in the last tournament, but everything went a little crazy on my end… but now that we’re both here again, I’m more than eager to battle with you! So… let me see what you got… uh, sir!”

The Panda King paused in curiosity as he put a hand to his chin. “Hmmm… an interesting proposal… but regardless, one I am more than willing to accept, as long as you fight with honor.”

“But of course. I’m WAY more honorable than anybody else in this ring!” Bark smirked as he got into a fighting pose.

The Panda King nodded before bowing towards Bark. “In that case, we shall begin our duel…”

“Next fighter for Arena A!”

”HECTOR!” (LT: WoM)

The large brown bulldog that is owned by Granny came walking to the stage as a medium amount of applause came forward for him. As Hector smirked towards the cheers, he paused as he had to think. He knew Sylvester wasn’t going to be out for a very long time, so that was a problem. The only person he knew would come out the nearest was Granny, but even then, she was still pretty far away. The bulldog knew when to swallow his pride and just hope he can stick it out for at least a while.

As the bulldog climbed into the ring, Rick noted him in interest as he waltzed over towards Hector. “G’day, mate! My, you’re a big, ornery fella, ain’t ya?”

The large bulldog turned towards Rick in curiosity as he pointed to himself.

Rick nodded. “Yeah, mate, Ah’m talkin’ about ya! As a matter of fact, you’d be a perfect person to challenge mah skills with. So, what do you say? Do we have a battle?”

Hector blinked twice at the hamster’s odd request… before giving a small shrug and readying himself, posing for a fight.

Rick couldn’t help but give a smile. “Heh, fighting you will be better than a kick up the backside!”

Hector quickly rushed forward as he tried to uppercut the hamster into the air, only to whiff as Rick dodged the attack. “Blimey, mate, at least wait until Ah prepare myself, hm?”

“Next fighter for Arena 2!”

”ARIEL!” (KH)

(Up where they walk, up where they run)

(Up where they stay all day in the sun)

(Wanderin’ free, wish I could be)

(Part of that world!)

The young, red haired mermaid came swimming (Yes, SWIMMING) out of the Ready Room, as she saw an immense amount of applause. Giving a slight giggle, the mermaid waved as blue puddles of water appeared from a distance. Giving a nod, she dived into the puddles, looking as excited to enter the ring to the right as she looked ready for anything.

“If there’s anything Dexter told me before I got my number, it’s that no matter what happens in the ring, you have a good time… and I intend to do just that.” She said to herself before diving into another puddle, then flopping towards another one.

All the while, Chowder and Gumball were discussing strategy as Gumball was instructing the cat-bear-rabbit thing. “Another thing you’re going to want to know is that sometimes imagination can go a long way. I should know, I used the power of imagination one time to try to stop Tobias because he ripped us off.”

“Oooooo…” Chowder nodded in awe as Kimchi blew a raspberry. It was at that moment he looked over and noticed Ariel diving up into the ring, as a pool of water was surrounding her, wherever she went on the ground. “Hey, that’s Ariel! Hey, Gumball, do you mind if…”

Gumball shrugged as he gave a nod. “Eh, knock yourself out, dude. You can even battle her if you want…” The blue cat gave a smirk. “I’m taking the next one.”

“Thank you!” Chowder said before rushing over towards Ariel. “Hey, Ariel! I didn’t know you’d be in the ring! You finally figured out that whole ‘mermaid can’t enter in ring due to water’ problem?”

“Let’s just say, thanks to works with Dexter, I’m now able to swim around the arena as long as I have this pool of water underneath me.” Ariel explained as she pointed to the ground. “It helps my feet a bit…”

“Ooooohhhh…” Chowder nodded. “Makes sense, I guess. Hey, uh, would you mind if I be your first opponent? I’m more than willing to see what you can do.”

Ariel giggled as she readied herself to fight. “Ask and you shall receive…”

“Next up for Arena A!”

”GNASTY GNORC!” (StD)

The original Spyro the Dragon final boss came out to a mixed reaction, but he didn’t mind as the large gnorc gave a loud laugh.

“Well, unlike my last time I entered one of these things, at least I have some decent challenges awaiting me… none of those stupid animals or EVEN that Guru hijacking my brain!” Gnasty laughed. “This time, it’s all me!”

With that, Gnasty rolled up his imaginary sleeve before marching towards the left arena and hopping into the ring. The minute he got in, he immediately set sight on Iori Yagami as he raised his staff, the staff glowing blue before slamming it down on the ground, sending a shockwave the man’s way.

Iori, noting the attack coming a mile away, immediately prepared himself as he hopped over the attack, and used his Orochi powers to slam Gnasty in the face, causing the large gnorc to tumble over backwards.

“That was a stupid move, even for you.” Iori frowned as he gave a dark, sinister grin.

“Maybe so, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try.” Gnasty laughed. “After all, you’re the toughest person I’ve seen so far…”

“Heh, ready to take that challenge to the next level?” Iori said as he snapped his fingers.

“I have not even BEGUN to fight!” Gnasty laughed, raising his staff in the air as magic began to flow around.

“Next fighter for Arena 2!”

”PERRY THE PLATYPUS!” (DTAAS)

(Doo bee doo bee doo bah)

(Doo bee doo bee doo bah)

(Doo bee doo bee doo bah)

(Doo bee doo bee doo bah)

(PERRY!)

A small teal platypus came wandering into the arena, looking rather normal at first as he gave a small platypus chitter, before waddling over to the right side of the ring and climbing up, much to everybody’s confusion.

“So… somebody’s pet platypus just came in to a fighting arena?” Gumball asked as he came over and approached the platypus. “I have to say, that’s very irresponsible for the people that own this platypus. I mean…”

Immediately, the platypus uppercutted Gumball in the end as the cat yelped. “What the what? How did a platypus uppercut me like that?”

The platypus rolled his eyes before pulling out a brown fedora and putting it on.

Gumball then gave a gasp. “PERRY THE PLATYPUS?!”

Chowder, who was about ready to fight Ariel, quickly turned to Gumball. “Uh, yeah. The hosts clearly said his name. Have you not been paying attention?”

“No, dude, I have been paying attention!” Gumball pointed out. “I was just doing a bit!”

“Well, that doesn’t sound like a good bit.” Chowder explained.

“No, no, dude, see sometimes, Perry does this bit where he’s in disguise, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz doesn’t realize it’s Perry, and when he gets out of the disguise, he gets confused on seeing a platypus until he puts on the hat. It’s a hilarious bit, dude, I swear!” Gumball pointed out.

Perry just rolled his eyes as he and Ariel looked at each other, as Ariel asked, “So, uh… how did you manage to get THIS secret kept from Phineas and Ferb? After all, isn’t this show pretty much streaming and airing everywhere?”

Perry paused as he wanted to say that thanks to O.W.C.A., Major Monogram and Carl made sure to block EVERY channel that the Tournament of Kikai was on in his world, even internet channels and piracy channels, so that his secret was kept safe. But alas, he couldn’t speak, but rather chitter.

Ariel paused briefly as she gave a shrug. “Well, I’m sure whatever you did, it worked out fine.”

(Hotel; Lobby)

Lee Lee and Connie hadn’t quite left the area since they heard a certain blue imaginary friend complaining about a mysterious prankster as the two girls managed to sit him down as he was spilling everything.

“So then I managed to get in trouble for something *I* didn’t do!” Bloo frowned. “At least when it comes down to my pranks, they’re clever and more ingenious!”

Lee Lee and Connie looked at each other with half-lidded eyes, before looking back towards the imaginary friend. “How do you know it was a prankster behind this?”

“I mean, duh? That person happened to be in the same area that green one-eyed monster, me and my friends were at! THAT person tampered with the ketchup! Sure, I never saw SAID person, but the fact that they could manage to turn it around on me… it’s ludicrous!” Bloo explained, before giving a smirk. “But the joke’s on them, because I have a perfect plan to expose the prankster once and for all!”

Connie and Lee Lee paused briefly as they looked at each other while Bloo was rambling on. The green wearing ballerina girl whispered to her green skinned friend, “THIS is our plotline?”

“I realize that’s not much, but it’s something!” Connie pointed out. “Still, a mysterious prankster? I don’t know about you, but this could very WELL be villain material…”

“I don’t know.” Lee Lee paused as she put a hand on her chin. “Had this happened in any OTHER tournament?”

“Not that I’ve heard of, but why a ketchup bottle prank?” Connie whispered.

“Hey, hey! Pay attention, I’m just getting to the good part!” Bloo snapped his fingers (though how that was possible was anybody’s guess) as he got the girl’s attention back to them. “I’m about to get to the part where I set up a pie to spring towards the mysterious prankster!”

“Uh, Bloo, was it?” Connie chuckled nervously. “As much as this is a really interesting story about how you want to get back at this prankster… maybe it’s best we follow some clues as to WHO or WHAT this mysterious prankster is?”

Bloo opened his mouth, before closing it as he put a hand to his invisible chin, looking contemplative. “Huh. You know, I never thought about it that way… you’re right, purple hair! I can’t just set up pranks willy nilly until I find out just WHO I’m dealing with!”

“Right!” Lee Lee nodded as Bloo turned to her. “If it is true that this… prankster… is still in the area, then he or she can’t be far off.”

“Or THEY!” Bloo smirked.

Both girls blinked twice as Connie then asked, “Uh, they?”

“Yeah, they! Either one gender-fluid person or an entire group of people could be conspiring behind my back!” Bloo said as he shuffled his hands with glee, giving a sinister smile. “But in order to find out who we’re dealing with, we’re going to need a team of crack experts.”

Lee Lee and Connie looked at each other in surprise, wondering how Bloo would come at a conclusion so fast, but before either could ask where to go between the Recovery Room or the Eliminated Seating (which, even they felt was too early to go there), all of a sudden, a fourth person appeared by stationing his hiney on the chair between the three, making them gulp.

“Hell-ooooooo!~ It’s me, a good prankster expert!” The Red Guy, now dressed up in a green sweater vest and tie, alongside geek glasses as he shook Bloo’s hand, followed by both girls’ hands respectively, before pulling out his card. “Call me Lance Sackless, Prank Extraordinare and Private Investigator! I help set up pranks AND investigate fellow pranksters setting action!”

“Ohhhh…” Bloo paused in awe as he took the card and looked at it with a grin on his face. “So you’re a prank expert?”

“Aaaaand a private investigator!” The Red Guy smirked as he pulled out a magnifying glass. “That’s me, Lance Sackless!”

Lee Lee and Connie looked at each other with pure exasperated looks before whispering again, Lee Lee saying, “Okay, we seriously both know that’s the Red Guy from Cow and Chicken, right?”

“Has he just been… here this whole time?” Connie whispered in concern.

“I’m not sure, but maybe we should just play along for now…” Lee Lee whispered.

“Play along with what, per se?”

Both Connie and Lee Lee yelped as they now noticed a third head joining the conversation… that of the Red Guy’s head as he poked his head between the girls as they yelped. The Red Guy laughed a bit as he turned towards Bloo. “But anyway, I’m here to help assist in finding and exposing any prankster we come across! All I need is a minute of your time!”

Bloo’s eyes widened as he gave a grin. “Buddy, since you seem to be eager to join the cause… YOU’RE in!”

“Excuse us?” Lee Lee and Connie asked in shock as they looked at each other in concern, starting to have second thoughts about this little adventure.

“Come on, ladies, walk with me, and we’ll continue our discussion!” The Red Guy said as he started walking on his buttcheeks to the elevator.

Bloo gave a laugh in awe as he motioned to the girls. “Well, come on! The sooner we can get close to our prankster, the sooner I can get back at them for messing with Blooregard Q. Kazoo!”

With that, Bloo followed the Red Guy to the elevator as Lee Lee and Connie looked rather concerned, before sighing in exasperation as they had no choice but to follow for now…

(Pleistocene Ice Age; Field)

It was another cold day for most of the animals in the Ice Age, as most of them were either hibernating or surviving the harsh winter times… but for one little saber toothed squirrel, as usual, he was clutching onto an acorn as he looked desperate to look for a place to hide it.

The small squirrel sniffed around the area, trying to find a perfect place as he felt the ground a couple of times. Feeling rather unsatisfied with this place, the squirrel scurried along before moving further to a field of wild flowers that had survived the harsh frostbitten environment. He would have taken the time to smell them, had it not been for his instincts telling him to put his beloved acorn in the middle of the soft ground.

The annoyed saber toothed squirrel felt the ground there and frowned, as he felt it way too soft. Scurrying along, he then found a knothole on a tree as the squirrel looked at it with eager eyes. The small squirrel snapped his fingers and chuckled before scurrying upwards to hide the acorn in said knothole. He couldn’t believe that he had never thought about hiding it in a tree before…

When he entered the knothole, he quickly looked around and smirked. It seemed to be quite empty, the floor seemed pretty solid, and the inside of the tree was plenty warm… perfect to hide an acorn in. Immediately, the small saber toothed squirrel immediately went to work as he tried to push the acorn into the tree… only to hear a loud cracking sound as the squirrel stopped nervously. He then noticed a large crack forming around the tree.

The squirrel’s eyes shrank before attempting to grab the acorn out of the tree… but much to the squirrel’s surprise, the acorn just somehow… disappeared. The saber toothed squirrel’s left eye twitched before screaming to the high heavens… before realizing the danger he was in as the tree was about to fall on him. He tried to run but just as he was about to leap, he tripped and fell near the entrance. The saber toothed squirrel then looked up in worry before giving a loud yell and closed his eyes…

Thankfully for him, the saber toothed squirrel vanished in a glitchy like instant before the tree could squash him down… followed by falling down on the ground, making a loud sound that disturbed the hibernators surrounding the area.

(PNF-404; Serene Shores)

A loyal two legged yellow dog was seen roaming around the area in hopes of collecting and finding some treasure or maybe a few castaways as ordered by his fellow friend and rookie of the Rescue Corps. The dog barked happily and whistled towards the Pikmin that were following him. Rocks, Ice and Winged Pikmin were the creatures that were chosen to go with the dog while the rookie would take the other Pikmin and investigate to see if there was a cave around the other area.

The dog took his time to sniff around the area before raising its head, as if sensing something. The small Pikmin looked over at their large friend in curiosity, before the dog barked happily. He quickly followed the scent as he and the Pikmin ran along the beach’s shoreline, careful to avoid any Peckish Aristocrabs in their path. Sure enough, the dog stopped as the three Pikmin types looked over to see a large jelly blob in their path. The dog barked as he turned towards the Pikmin.

The Ice Pikmin looked ready to be thrown at that blob, ready to freeze it in place, as the Rock Pikmin were ready when it was about to freeze. And the Winged Pikmin flew in place, knowing they would get the treasure and fly over the water if need be.

The dog barked happily towards the others as he whistled towards the Pikmin as they all hopped on his back. The large then readied his paws as he scraped his feet against the ground a couple times, ready for a Rush forward…

But before he could charge, the dog and Pikmin found themselves being surrounded by a strange glitchy aura. The dog whimpered in worry as he thought he heard his friend, the rookie of the Rescue Corps calling him over, but before the dog could respond, the dog disappeared into a glitchy light.

(The Arenas)

“Next fighter for Arena A!”

”SHULK!” (SSB)

The Xenoblade Chronicles theme song began to play out from the Sound Booth as the Monado wielding blonde came walking out, a little calm, but still cautious as he gave a wave towards the excited crowd. He looked over towards the other ring to see if he could sense something. Thankfully, no Future Vision came that threatened anything, so for now, things were safe.

Giving a sigh of relief, he walked over to the left ring and stepped inside, only to be greeted by a familiar, smiling, red haired face.

“Shulk!” Pyra smiled. “Color me surprised! Mythra and I figured you’d be out until later!”

Shulk gave a sigh. “Like last year, most of us had our numbers changed by random, and Shuichi randomly called out our names. Weirdly enough, he only called out eight names, as compared to the usual ten.”

“Oh?” Pyra blinked. “What happened?”

“I… I’m not sure. I guess it’s strange because… hey, Pyra, did you see any Mystery Fighters in the backstage?” Shulk asked in confusion.

“Uh… now that you mention it… no, I haven’t.” Pyra frowned, looking concerned. “Do you think Xero and the others might have forgot?”

Shulk paused, before frowning. “I wouldn’t put it past the bunny…” He looked over towards Ike and King Andrias as he got a strange feeling. “Pyra, Mythra, would you two be willing to help me out. Maybe help Ike out in taking down that king.”

Pyra immediately disappeared in a flash as Mythra stood in her place as the blonde gave a smirk. “A bulky guy like him? Heh, I think he can take care of himself…”

“Maybe, but I think the extra help wouldn’t hurt…” Shulk pointed out.

Mythra paused briefly, before giving a shrug, readying her Aegis. “All right, I suppose it’s whatever. There’s no interesting contestants coming in anyway…”

“Next fighter for Arena 2!”

”JACK O’LANTERN!” (TGAoB&M)

The pumpkin headed man from the Halloween special came out to chills and thrills from the audience as the man couldn’t help but give a small laugh as he wiggled his arms and did a strange ghost sound to the audience… before saying “BOO!”.

The crowd screamed in terror as the pumpkin man laughed before going to the right ring. “Ah, man, that felt good! I really wish I was in the Halloween section… if there is one… but oh well, beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose!”

With that, Jack laughed before waltzing his way over to the ring on the right, before climbing up as he looked over to see who would be perfect to fight… until his eyes settled on the battle between Hugo and Mewtwo. The pumpkin man paused before giving a sinister grin.

“Perfect…”

With that, Jack walked over towards the two just as Hugo was about to grab Mewtwo and slam him to the ground. Jack smirked as he grabbed Mewtwo away from Hugo and slammed him to the ground. The tall wrestler didn’t like that as he roared. “What are you doing?!”

“It’s a tournament, my friend! Can’t I spread my own chaos?” Jack laughed a bit as Mewtwo groaned, rubbing his head.

“I don’t mean to prod, but we WERE in the middle of a fight…” Mewtwo frowned as he was about ready to throw a Swift towards Jack in hopes of shooing him away. But before he could unleash the stars, Jack jumped up and swung his Halloween sack and slammed the psychic Pokemon in the face with it… before giving a grin as he lifted his hat.

“Hot cha cha cha cha!” Jack laughed as he did a soft shoe dance before putting his hat back on.

Hugo growled angrily as he walked over towards Jack O’Lantern. “Now see here, you pest! I’m trying to have a clean battle to get ahead!”

“Oh, no need to tell me about how to get ‘a head’!” Jack growled angrily before giving a laugh. “Man, you’re so lucky that I was allowed to come here on this night instead of HALLOWEEN night, because who KNOWS what I might do Halloween…”

Hugo blinked twice as he growled. “All right, pal, you want a piece too? You have to get by ME!”

Jack could only laugh as he readied his Halloween sack. “I’d like to see you try…”

Mewtwo could only look in exasperation as both Jack and Hugo were now battling against one another, before sighing. “This just turned into an odd night…”

“Going to Arena A next is…”

”E. HONDA!” (SF)

The sumo wrestler came out to a huge amount of applause as the man couldn’t help but give a laugh as he waved his arms around, posing and grabbing the attention of the audience. Once he was done playing around to the audience’s expectations, he entered the door to the left side of the ring and jumped in.

Antonov’s eyes lit up as he readied his fists as soon as E. Honda entered the ring. The smoking man immediately approached E. Honda as he called him out. “Yo, E. Honda! I’ve heard plenty about you and your sumo!”

E. Honda looked up as he gave a laugh. “Nice to know my style of sumo is still respected in the world of wrestling!”

“I just think YOU might have a spot in the G.A.W.! Fight me, and we’ll talk!” Antonov grinned as he readied himself into a fighting position.

E. Honda smirked before getting into a fighting position of his own. “Let me just show you that my way of sumo is the best amongst YOUR wrestling!”

“Heh, it’s on!” Antonov said before rushing forwards and charging straight at E. Honda, only for the sumo wrestler to headbutt Antonov as the muscly man stumbled backwards.

“Another fighter for Arena 2!”

”SHINGO YABUKI!” (KOFXV)

The goofball of the King of Fighters series came out to a large amount of applause as the young man looked around and pumped his fists up, giving a smile towards the audience.

“Thank you all, thank you!” Shingo shouted before giving a grin. “This time in the arena goes out to my idol, Kyo Kusanagi! This one’s for you, sir!”

With that, the man let out a loud yell of excitement as he charged towards the ring and leaped up towards the air… before pausing as he landed, face flat right on the arena floor. Wolf, who had finished his conversation with Tron, noted the man on the floor as he laughed.

“Heh, pathetic!”

Shingo immediately got up and narrowed his eyes towards the lupine as Wolf gave a shrug. “Kid, I get you’re a major fan of Kyo, but come on, have you SEEN his track record in these tournaments so far?!”

“So he’s got a little rusty! So what? I’m more than dedicated enough to make sure that I can carry on his legacy, as a hopeful student of his!” Shingo said as he gave a smile. “And you know what? I think I’ll start by taking you out!”

Wolf paused, before giving a chuckle. “Such cocky words coming from you…”

“I’ve managed to improve my skills…” Shingo said as he waved his fingers, red flames coming out of them. “So don’t put me down even for a second!”

Wolf laughed a bit as he said to himself. “This is going to be a scream…”

“Next fighter for Arena A!”

”FRANCISCA!” (K)

The Frozen General of the Three Mage-Sisters came flying out as she stroked her blue hair, giving a giggle as the audience applauded for her. She looked between the two rings, before nodding as she floated over towards the left ring, having seemingly made up her mind as to who she wanted to battle.

As soon as she flew into the ring, she immediately charged towards Shun’ei, who saw her coming as he engulfed his right hand with fire and charged forwards to punch Francisca away from him. “You got a lot of nerve trying to surprise me!”

“Bonjam.” Francisca said as she nodded.

Shun’ei blinked twice in confusion. “Uh… what?”

“Bonjam is a greeting on MY planet, a fancy way to say hello.” Francisca said. “But I didn’t come here for pointless chatter. I came here to battle you.”

Shun’ei paused before giving a scoff. “You wouldn’t be the first one lady… so, what makes you think you’ll best me?”

“Oh…” Francisca giggled before pulling out a rather large ice wand. “I have my ways of putting you… ON ICE!”

“And now… Mystery Fighter… Number… FIVE!”

“And going to Arena 2…”

All of a sudden, the dog and Pikmin from the other world suddenly teleported in as the dog looked a little disoriented, before shaking his head.

”...OATCHI?” (Pikmin 4)

The yellow dog responded as it looked up at its new surroundings, wondering where he was. Oatchi whimpered in confusion, wondering where his master had gone. He looked back and noticed that the Rock, Ice and Winged Pikmin were still with him as he gave a sigh of relief. All of a sudden, the door to his right opened. Seeing that Oatchi had no choice, the confused dog waltzed over to the ring and hopped up with Pikmin in tow.

It was around that time that Django had finally recovered from the smell as he looked around angrily… before spotting Oatchi jumping into the ring, sniffing around in confusion. Django gave a small smirk before leaping in front of the dog.

”Hello, fresh meat…” Django growled as he narrowed his eyes.

”...excuse me? I don’t mean to interrupt, but I seem to be lost. Do you know where my friend or the Rescue Corps are?” Oatchi whimpered in concern as he looked around. ”It’s just… I don’t feel comfortable around…”

”Ah, then you’re a perfect target!” Django laughed before leaping into the air, causing Oatchi to whimper as he ducked out of the way, before throwing a few Rock Pikmin at the large wolf.

”Guys, I don’t think he wants to play!” Oatchi whimpered as he turned to the other Pikmin on his back. ”We better take him out and fast!”

The other Pikmin nodded as they clutched onto Oatchi’s back, ready to follow the dog.

(Announcer’s Booth)

Maurice looked down in concern as he scratched his head. “I’ll be honest, I would have expected the Pikmin Mystery Fighter to come from you, Xero…”

The bull turned to see his bunny friend looking like he was in a foul mood. “MONIKA!”

The high school girl immediately came in as she gave an innocent smile. “Yes?”

“DON’T YES ME! What the hell is this?” Xero frowned. “You said you would pick one of the Mystery Fighters based on a game Orange played previously!”

“Well, Orange played Pikmin 4 last, so it felt fitting that a Mystery Fighter come from there, and come on, you can’t deny that you love seeing Oatchi come in and play.” Monika giggled.

“I mean, yes, I’m excited to see a Pikmin Mystery Fighter, except…” Xero slapped his forehead. “I HAD A PIKMIN MYSTERY FIGHTER PLANNED!”

“Oh, yeah, I know. I saw the list.” Monika frowned. “And quite frankly, putting it in the same section as Fang the Sniper is just cruel. Come on, Xero, you’re better than this.”

“But… I can’t use my Pikmin Mystery Fighter idea now, because Oatchi’s here!” Xero groaned. “What am I going to do with it?”

“Most of the Pikmin creatures are non sentient anyway, so… you may as well dump it nearby.” Monika smiled. “You want me to take care of it?”

“...no, no, I’ll find someplace for it.” Xero sighed as he picked up the phone. “Just let me call security and I’ll let them know to take care of it…”

Monika smirked. “Glad to see we got that resolved…”

“Oh, uh, Monika. If Pikmin 4 was the last game Orange played… then what was the last movie Orange WATCHED?” Maurice asked.

Monika smirked. “Just look for yourself…”

(The Arenas)

Over at Arena A, Rick had managed to roll out of the way of another attack by Hector as the dog gave a loud bark. “I have to admit, mate, you’re flexible.”

Hector could only give a smirk… before something fell on his head, causing Hector to yelp. As the bulldog rubbed his head, Rick noticed the object next to Hector as he picked it up.

“Is that an acorn? Who threw an acorn?” Rick asked in confusion.

“And now… Mystery Fighter Number… SIX!”

“And going to Arena A…”

All of a sudden, the familiar saber toothed squirrel appeared out of nowhere as he was whimpering, still holding himself back as if he was being squashed.

”...SCRAT?” (Ice Age)

The squirrel (Scrat, by name) immediately opened his eyes as he heard… a loud amount of applause. The saber toothed squirrel picked himself up and looked around, wondering how he got here… but then, something caught his eye… his acorn, being held by some strange looking creature!

Scrat narrowed his eyes angrily before letting out a loud scream, causing everyone to jump as they turned to see Scrat charging through and leaping at Rick as the small saber toothed squirrel began to kick and punch at Rick.

“Oy! What’s that for! Hey, stop it! OW! That hurts, mate!” Rick yelled as Scrat kept beating his head.

Hector could only watch the spectacle in confusion, wondering whether to save Rick or get both the hamster AND the squirrel out while they were distracted.

(Announcer’s Booth)

“...ICE AGE? Didn’t that franchise… well… go through a lot of rot?” Maurice asked.

Monika gave a shrug. “Well, Orange thought the first two Ice Age movies were great, the third one okay, and the others… meh. But he always enjoyed Scrat, so I figured… why not put the little guy in? He’d be an interesting character to see in a tournament.”

“...I guess I can’t argue with that logic…” Maurice sighed as Monika disappeared, with Xero still on the phone. The bull sighed. “Guess I’m announcing the rest of the fighters…”

(The Arenas)

“Next one going to Arena 2…”

”TEMJIN!” (AoF)

The Mongolian wrestler gave a jovial grin as he waved towards the cheering audience. The man could only give a laugh before waving to all of the audience, before walking towards the arena on the right and climbed in.

Tron immediately looked over towards Temjin in curiosity as he seemed pumped. The computer A.I. curiously walked over as he raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised to see you’re enjoying yourself.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Temjin laughed a bit. “Knowing that this tournament is going to be a godsend, it’s going to be a lot of fun! And I’m here fighting amongst the greats!”

Tron blinked twice as he raised an eyebrow. “Well, it would seem like you’re eager to get started…”

“Oh yeah, I haven’t seen work in a WHILE, so I might be a bit rusty, but that doesn’t mean I won’t stop to enjoy the pleasures this tourney gives me!” The man then flexed as he looked over at the A.I. “Hmmmm… well, you don’t look strong, but I’m willing to fight ANYBODY, and the ones I want seem to be busy… so, how about it, huh? Would a spar work?”

Tron paused for a brief moment as he gave a sigh. “Well, if I didn’t have any other choice…”

Over near the Ready Room, Shuichi sighed as he was coming out of the ring and carrying what seemed to be a green metal box towards the left arena, much to everyone’s confusion. Pudding immediately noticed as she turned to Treecko. “Hmmm… wonder what he’s carrying?”

”Considering that the contestant is coming in a small box, it has to be one of two fighters… either Gizmo or that singing frog.” Willow paused. ”I guess we’ll have to see…”

Pudding nodded as she walked over towards the edge of the ring as Shuichi handed her the box. “Why is this next fighter in a box?”

“He insisted on entering this way…” Shuichi sighed before turning around and walking back inside the Ready Room before calling out. “Okay, continue!”

“Uh, right… the final fighter coming for Arena A is none other than…”

Pudding opened the box in curiosity as Treecko looked over inside.

Immediately, two small eyes poked out of the box and lazily blinked… then the creature… a frog, hopped out of the top of the box and positioned itself before holding still. “Ribbit…”

Pudding and Treecko could only look at each other before turning towards the frog… before it suddenly stood up and reached in the box, pulling out a top hat and cane as he put the top hat down… and began to sing and do a soft shoe dance.

(Hello, my baby)

(Hello, my honey)

(Hello, my ragtime gal)

(Send me a kiss by wire)

Pudding smiled as she bobbed her head to the tune as Treecko just stared with a surprised, blank expression.

(Baby, my heart’s on fire)

(If you refuse me)

(Honey, you lose me)

(Then you’ll be left alone)

(Oh baby, telephone)

(And tell me I’m your own!)

”MICHIGAN J. FROG!” (LT: WoM)

Everybody immediately applauded at the musical number as the frog couldn’t help but smile as he gave a bow, surprising even Pudding and Treecko. “Thank you, no, thank you all! It’s a pleasure to be performing with all of you…”

“Wait… I thought your cartoon was all about keeping your singing a secret except for the one guy that you caused insanity to.” Pudding pointed out. “How are you taking in praise… and TALKING, for that matter.”

Michigan could only laugh as he turned to the two characters. “Kid, trust me, I used to be the mascot of the WB Network. And I’ve always talked… I mean, haven’t you seen my appearances where I have talked? Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, the new Tiny Toons show… and as much as it pains me to say this, I HAVE talked in that recent Teen Titans Go episode…”

“That show is still on?” Pudding blinked twice, before groaning.

“Afraid so. But we were desperate to celebrate Warner Bros. 100th year anniversary, and if Zaslov wasn’t going to give us something… we had to go to the bottom of the barrel…” Michigan groaned. “At least we were paid for the cameos, so that was something…”

Treecko paused in awe. ”To think, that frog can do so much more than just sing, dance and traumatize people into insanity…”

All of a sudden, a familiar theme song from a show came playing as all attention turned to the Ready Room curtain, which was now blocked by a large banner that said ‘Incoming Tournament of Kikai Champion’. It had become obvious that Monika had placed that banner there sometime during Michigan J. Frog’s performance.

(Family, a family)

(Proud Family)

(They’ll make you scream)

(They’ll make you want to sing)

“And now… the final fighter of the section, rounding off Arena 2’s fighters…”

“Not to mention defending champion of the Tournament of Kikai!” Xero’s voice shouted, apparently having finished his call.

Someone then ran through the curtains as the crowd applauded with pure joy, as someone was waving to the crowd happily, no nervousness spotted on her face at all. That person was none other than…

”PENNY PROUD!” (DTAAS)

(It’s a family thing)

(A family thing)

(Proud, proud family)

(Proud Family)

(They’ll push your buttons)

(They’ll make you want to hug ‘em)

(A family, a family)

(Proud, proud family)

Penny giggled a bit as she waved to the crowd, before looking towards the door opening to the right, ready to begin another run. As she walked towards the path to the right arena, she felt pretty calm, though on the inside, she did look nervous.

“Oh sure, when I want to have an early number last year, I enter late. Now I’m eager to play, and I get that early pick.” Penny sighed, before shrugging. “I mean, fair enough, I guess the hosts wanted to make sure I would have a long road ahead of me… but if I can work this right… maybe I have a chance.”

Taking a deep breath, Penny grinned as she ran over towards the ring and hopped in before looking over towards the other arena, noting Garnet still battling against Dante. She gave a small sigh, really hoping she would team with Garnet again. She then looked over towards Mewtwo as he was still watching the fight between Jack and Hugo. “Mewtwo, hey!”

The psychic legendary turned his head and gave a small smile as she joined up with him. “I see you managed to make it. After we switched numbers, I was thinking you weren’t going to show up.”

“I, uh… finished with my talk a bit early… I think I still have a ways to go, but the people I talked to… I think I’m getting them on the right track.” Penny smiled. “Well, since we’re here, how about we team up?!”

“Hoping to start an alliance again? I mean, it worked well for you last time… so I guess we can work together…” Mewtwo nodded before motioning towards Jack and Hugo as the pumpkin headed man and the wrestler were still fighting. “I know these two look tough, but believe me, I think I can work a way to get rid of them both… and I’ll need your help.”

“I think I follow…” Penny giggled as she readied herself. “Let’s do this!”

As everyone continued their battles, Monika appeared as she coughed, getting a lot of people’s attention. “Okay, folks, remember, both arenas will be sealed off to the other so that nobody will know who eliminated who until the section is over. And we’re allowing two people into the Safe Zone, but only one from Arena A and one from Arena 2. You all better hope you get a partner or an opponent, because you could be facing off against each other or working together…”

With that, she snapped her fingers as the domes from earlier appeared, with the walls going concrete as to block the views of the others… that way, nobody would know for sure who would be out unless the round was over… all they could hope for was to get to the next round…

Chapter Text

(Arena A)

As of right now, two arenas were seen in front of the audience as all eyes were watching either the monitors OR one of the two arenas to see which people would survive each ring… and with two arenas, it was pretty chaotic enough as it was.

For example, Hector had been sent flying towards the ropes in an attempt to save Rick from an angry Scrat. The bulldog could only rub his head before looking back towards the angry sabertooth squirrel in bewilderment, wondering just HOW the heck this particular squirrel was strong.

“Oy, come on now, mate, be reasonable!” Rick said as he was unintentionally waving the acorn in front of him. “Ah don’t know what’s got you all cut snake, but Ah can tell ya this, you’re interrupting a perfectly good battle!”

Scrat, having his eyes only for the acorn, growled angrily before jumping up on Rick’s arm and biting him, causing the hamster to yelp as he waved his arm around.

“OW! Oh, you little bugga!” Rick shouted angrily as he tried to let loose the small sabertooth squirrel. Hector could only watch as he frowned, before pulling imaginary sleeves up his arms.

All of a sudden, Hector charged over as he raised his arm, and punched Scrat off Rick’s arm, sending the small sabertooth squirrel up in the air as he hit one of the hanging light fixtures… which caused the sabertooth squirrel to get electrocuted. Scrat began to scream loudly through being electrocuted as most of the fighters stopped what they were doing for a moment to look over at what was happening.

“Oooooo… pretty lights…” Patrick said as he pointed to the electrocuted squirrel in awe.

Rick could only look over at the currently electrocuted squirrel in awe before turning over to Hector, who seemed pretty pleased with his attack. “Thanks, mate. I don’t know what’s got over that little bugga…”

Hector could only give a nod as they watched Scrat land back on the ground. The sabertooth squirrel quickly got up and recovered, before looking towards his attacker and the person holding his acorn in pure rage. As Scrat gave a loud scream once more, Rick readied himself in a fighting position. “What do ya think, mate? Can we take him?”

Hector paused, before giving an affirmative nod.

“Then let’s do this!” Rick said as both hamster and dog charged towards the sabertooth squirrel, with Scrat letting out his scream of rage as he charged forward…

“WAIT!”

All fighters (including Rick, Hector and Scrat) stopped what they were doing as all eyes turned towards the monitors as Monika turned her monitor on. “You’re all probably wondering how we’re going to do the wheel this round.”

“...we weren’t, but now that you mentioned it…” Pyra frowned.

All of a sudden, everyone looked in awe as two wheels suddenly appeared, each of them showing people’s faces. Monika gave a small chuckle to herself as she said, “You all are in for a RARE treat, because the day before everyone was set to fight, Xero and Maurice gave everyone some forms to fill out… and one of those questions asked about ‘Battle of the Luminaries 3’. You all, of course, remember that?”

“How could we forget?” Shun’ei said in a dry voice. “It’s the same tournament that those Xuan Dou Zhi Wang folks tried to ruin…”

“Must you guys focus on the bad memories?” Xero called out as he frowned, as he turned to Arena 2. “And I see you complaining over there, Bark! I don’t want to hear it!”

Most of Arena A’s fighters figured it had something to do with Bark’s loud protests about how Nack the Weasel… er, Fang the Sniper got kidnapped and sent through various nodes, as they looked up at the two wheels.

“Anyway, as we were saying, one of the questions on there was ‘if you were given the chance to change the arena the way you could in Battle of the Luminaries 3, what would you do?’. Well, you all answered, even the Mystery Fighters. And if you haven’t guessed by now, we’re doing the wheel differently this round.”

Everyone looked a little confused at first, before a few finally caught on, as Garnet asked the obvious question, “So that one question on the form wasn’t just a random question for the Battle of the Luminaries 3… it was ALL of our stage choices…”

“Correct you are!” Monika giggled. “We took in mind ALL of your stage suggestions, and while it did take some red tape, we thought ‘why not do something fun with this gimmick’? Originally, we wanted to do the Stage Change gimmick as part of one of the twists…”

“But Drake and Ashley were a little STERN about the idea, so we eventually compromised.” Maurice explained. “And how the idea behind this works is going to be different…”

“Now, we can all agree that Playstation All-Star Battle Royale is a rather… lackluster game, with a lackluster cast. Sorry guys, but it’s true.” Monika frowned as she looked at the cameras.

“HEY!” Dante narrowed his eyes in anger.

“No, no, I think she’s onto something.” Pudding said as she walked by, with Treecko on one shoulder and Michigan J. Frog on the other.

“But while the cast is lackluster, the way they approach the stages are… interesting. So, starting from this point, and after every five eliminations, up to at least twenty eliminations, the stage you’re on will be spun, and while one aspect of the original stage idea will change… an idea from the OTHER stage choices will be changed to adjust to the areas… sort of like how you start at Sandover Village from Jak and Daxter, but then it turns to Hot Shots Golf midway through.” Monika explained.

“Ahhhh…” Everyone nodded, looking rather excited and curious about what was going to change…

“So, yeah, consider this a blend of King of Smashers, with a hint of ‘Unleash the Despair’s newer twists, only instead of rewarding or punishing players with the wheel, the wheel chooses someone’s stage choice. Speaking of which, let’s spin both wheels and start out with a base for each stage, to see what you guys are working with for each arena!”

Everybody watched in curiosity as the wheels began to spin. However, because the other arena couldn’t see the other wheels, they were left guessing with what was going to happen… but for now, Arena A’s wheel spun around and around before landing on King Andrias’s slot.

“Oh no!” Ike’s eyes widened in shock as Andrias gave a small smirk.

“Heh, well, looks like you’re about to get a taste of my stage choice!” Andrias laughed as Monika looked up.

“Interesting choice… all right, Arena A’s base is coming right up! Arena 2, wait for a minute…” Monika said as she snapped her fingers, causing the area to fizzle for a minute, before the arena began to transform.

The ropes were still there, alongside the corner posts, but replacing the small arena was a castle-like structure, with technological computers surrounding the area, with a tree-like structure in the back. It felt more like a combination of a castle AND a laboratory rolled into one.

Andrias looked around and gave a smirk. “Ah… the inside of Newtopia Castle… I feel a little nostalgic just looking at it…”

Monika giggled as she leaned her monitor towards King Andrias. “I figured you’d like it… plus, there is ALSO the other surprise you have with this stage…”

“Surprise?” Pyra asked nervously as the others eyed the monitor.

“Uh uh, sorry. That would be spoilers for the others. You’ll have to wait and see for yourself.” Monika giggled as she nodded towards everyone. “Okay, taking care of Arena 2’s fighters now…”

Ike’s eyes shrank, before shaking his head as he held up his sword. “This doesn’t change a thing! We’re still going to take you down!”

“Right!” Shulk nodded as he held up the Monado. “You may have a homefield advantage, but we’re still going to take you down!”

“R-right!” Pyra nodded as she gripped the Aegis, a little nervously. “Oh boy…”

”Don’t be afraid, Pyra.” Mythra reassured her descendant. ”Whatever that newt has up his sleeves, we’ll make sure nothing happens…”

Pyra bit her lip nervously, not sure about her chances… as she looked around, keeping an eye out for the ‘surprise’ of the ring…

(Arena 2)

Most of the fighters (save for Oatchi and Django, the latter growling at the yellow pup as he and the Pikmin riding him were cornered) were waiting for a bit as they heard Monika’s announcement, all the while, everyone was looking towards their wheel, Penny’s face having been landed on.

Penny paused briefly as she put a hand on her chin. “Something tells me they decided to have this be a freebie for me, considering I’m the champion.”

“How do you figure?” Mewtwo asked.

“Oh, I don’t know, the fact that Xero and Maurice aren’t hiding their huge smiles upon seeing that they landed on me?” Penny snarkily said as she pointed up to the announcer’s booth… before giving a shrug. “Oh well, if my stage choice is going to be used as a base, I think I’m okay with that… though I may have accidentally benefitted another fighter.”

“Really?” Mewtwo raised an eyebrow… before lowering his eyelids. “Oh… I just read your mind… I think I know what stage you picked… well, I don’t think that should change our tactics any…”

“I hope not…” Penny whispered back as she kept an eye on Hugo and Jack, both of them had stopped fighting to listen to the announcements at first, only for Jack to notice Penny eying them. “Uh-oh…”

“Can I help you?” Jack frowned, staring down at Penny.

Penny grinned nervously before Monika’s monitor came over. “All right, I’m done with Arena A’s changes. Let’s get Arena 2’s changes underway. We landed on a certain person, so let’s see what her arena stage is… shall we?”

Just like that, the arena flashed in a glitchy-like state, causing everyone to yelp… when everything cleared up, they looked around to see that they were surrounded by a pier/dock like area with a large pirate ship in the background, with barrels situated on the right side, with a large big one near the right side, and to the left area lied a stand of sorts.

Hugo looked around as his eyes lit up, recognizing the stage. “Hey, that is my home stage from Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact! Even the large barrels are over there!”

“Huh.” Jack blinked twice as he, along with everyone, turned to Penny in confusion. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t picture you suggesting this sort of stage. This is more German-like than anything that would specify your interests.”

“Well, I didn’t either, but I was a little stuck on what I wanted to have for a stage, and I figured ‘why not go with a stage that has great music? An R&B, hip hop sort of sound’... and after looking up potential stages, believe it or not, Hugo, your stage from Street Fighter III was the closest I could find that had that sort of vibing music I was looking for…”

“Oh, and just so the mood fits with THIS particular stage…” Monika nodded towards the Sound Booth. “Hit it, Horace!”

(Sound Booth)

Horace pulled out a mallet and hit the CD player with it as the now anthropomorphic CD player grumbled, “Sheesh, I hate that saying…”

(Arena 2)

The stage theme to Hugo’s Stage, “Bottoms Up” from Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact began to play out as Big Band started to bob his head to the tune. “Ahhhh… I can see why you would pick this stage…”

“Good music all around, I have to admit.” Launchpad chuckled.

“Yeah, nice idea, Penny.” Chowder agreed.

Hugo gave a slight chuckle as he turned to the teenage girl. “Well, that does lift my spirits a little from not having my destined opponent… but that doesn’t change the fact I’m going to take any and all of you down!”

Penny gave a nervous chuckle as she waved. “Uh, yeah. I figured that to be the case…”

“All right, we got our stage change, so let’s get on with the show, huh?” Jack smirked as he pulled out his bag. “I really want to get some swings on!”

“Just one last thing…” Monika giggled as she turned to the audience. “While I won’t reveal what the stage changes are in public until AFTER the round is over, I’m sure people within the arena knows what’s going on, and can keep track. Okay, that’s it for now. See you in another five eliminations… or, if one from each arena is lucky, the next Safe Zone challenge…”

With that, Monika’s monitor switched off as Arena 2’s fighters looked at each other and gave a nod. Despite the new stage change and the bopping music that was playing, it didn’t change a lot of how they had to adjust their fights, so they continued…

But for Mewtwo and Penny, they were now looking at Hugo and Jack face to face as Mewtwo looked ready for battle. “So much for the sneak attack plan…”

“Heh…” Hugo smirked before turning to Penny. “Tell you what, sweetheart, because you gave me my stage choice, I’ll spare ya elimination…”

Penny looked at Hugo as she looked a little relieved… before feeling the hit of Jack’s trick bag, sending her flying to the ropes. Jack laughed a bit as he patted his bag. “I, on the other hand, won’t be so merciful…”

Mewtwo looked back towards Penny as he asked her, “Are you okay, Penny?”

“Y-yeah… but man, that guy can sure pack a large punch…” Penny grumbled as she rubbed her face, before narrowing her eyes at the Halloween-esque figure. “You go ahead and take care of the wrestler. I’ll try and hold off Pumpkin Face…”

Mewtwo paused briefly, before giving a nod as he turned towards Hugo, who seemed more than eager to get back to battling.

“Well, well… back to square one… I did say I’d spare the girl this round, but I ain’t sparing you for one minute!” Hugo laughed as he flexed his muscles.

Mewtwo paused slightly before twitching his fingers to ready a Shadow Ball. “Then let’s not delay any further…”

All of a sudden, the two yelped as both Oatchi and Django zipped past them, the ferocious wolf-like creature chasing after the innocent pup. The two looked over at the two for a moment, before turning back to each other and nodding before resuming their battle.

(Announcer’s Booth)

All the while, Xero and Maurice were dealing with phone calls of their own as Maurice was nodding, talking to another person on the other end. The bull had gave a look of exhaustion as he gave a small sigh, talking to the person on the other end. “Look, I’m sorry. Neither Xero nor I realized that your Rescue Pup would be part of the tournament, in fact, it happened out of the blue!”

”A likely story!” The stern, angry voice of Captain Shepherd sounded out as Maurice sat up straight. ”I know that your bunny friend LIKES our world so much, but to resort to KIDNAPPING our adorable Oatchi for a fighting tournament? And the only reason we know about it is because we saw Oatchi on TV, and our rookie officer reported back that Oatchi went missing during an exploring day! We had just finally found another treasure that needed Oatchi, and you took him, along with a few of our Rock, Wings and Ice Pikmin away!”

“I know you have your reasons to hate on Xero, as I’m sure Captain Olimar informed you and the Rescue Corps, but I ASSURE you, this wasn’t on him, but on MONIKA, our THIRD host.” Maurice sighed. “Besides, why are you worried, anyway? Oatchi has proven he can be quite capable in the games.”

”That may be true, but he also had help from our rookie! And we trained him to be the best of the best with his Pup Drives. This is a big time tournament, we’re worried for our pup’s safety!” Shepherd’s voice sounded. ”I mean, he’s currently being hunted down by a wolf right now!”

“I understand your concern, but right now, there’s nothing we can do. Look, we promise that Oatchi will be in safe, capable hands. We’ll make sure our top security team takes care of him for a while, at least until the tournament is over.” Maurice explained.

Silence was heard on the other line, before Shepherd was heard giving a sigh. ”I guess that’s the next best thing… all right, fine. I’ll overlook this incident, but if something HAPPENS to our precious pup while he’s here, either in the arena OR out of it, you and your bunny friend are going to be punished severely… and don’t think your little high school romance-loving lunatic friend is off the hook either!”

Maurice chuckled nervously. “I… get the point. Cross my heart, Oatchi will be fine…”

”You better hope he is, because if we arrive at your arena after the tournament to find that Oatchi’s been hurt in any way…” Shepherd’s voice then went dark and angry at her last words. ”You and your bunny friend will be in a world of pain…”

“Again, not my idea…” Maurice groaned as he heard the phone click off. The bull could only groan before putting it down as he turned to Xero who gave a nod.

“Okay, thank you, Penelope. And don’t worry, just take care of the original Pikmin Mystery Fighter in the crate, and we’ll be scott free.” Xero nodded before Maurice reached over and grabbed the phone, causing the bunny to turn with a frown. “H-hey!”

“Penelope, this is Maurice. Could you tell Himiko or Maki that they’re assigned to pick up Oatchi from the Recovery Room and keep him with you guys at all times?” Maurice asked, causing Xero to give a slight frown.

(Hotel; Arcade)

At the arcade, Penelope was on the phone as she raised an eyebrow. “Ah suppose that could be no trouble, but why do you need little ol’ Oatchi?”

”Let’s just say Monika sort of took him from his world without the Rescue Corps’ consent, and wants us to make sure that he’s not harmed in anyway.” Maurice gave a groan. ”Can you give an update to Maki or Della or whoever’s with you to get to the Recovery Room?”

“Goodness, I suppose that would be fine.” Penelope explained. “I was going to call them for updates anyway. I would have used my little ol’ cell phone, but it ran out of juice. That’s why I’m at the arcade right now to charge it.”

”Anything interesting going on?” Maurice asked.

“Just a little ol’ mess at the restaurant involving a prank gone wrong, but as we noted, it’s been taken care of.” Penelope said. “But don’t worry, we’ll let Maki and Della know…”

As Penelope was talking on the phone with Maurice, Bunnie was sitting nearby and keeping a sharp eye on everything as a lot of people were seen playing the random arcade machines and enjoying a few sodas from the vending machines inside. “Goodness, it seems to be a bit quiet in here… too quiet, in fact… not a single person committin’ crimes in sight…”

Little did Bunnie realize that at this exact moment, a hand had reached out and grabbed a cell phone that was next to her before retracting it backwards. In said bushes were a few familiar kids as Helga was overlooking the pink cell phone.

Helga looked it over as she stuck her tongue out in disgust. “I get that blonde racer’s from an old timey show, but… seriously, this is disgustingly pink.”

“You wear pink all the time.” Rhonda pointed out as the kids raised their eyebrows.

“Yes, but it suits me a little more.” Helga rolled her eyes. “It just fits the… vibe I have going.”

“Why exactly are we hiding behind these bushes, Helga?” Phoebe asked as she lowered her eyelids.

“Yeah, Pataki. Why?” Gerald frowned as he crossed his arms.

Helga shushed her friends before looking back, a small grin widening across her face as she turned to Phoebe. “You’ll see in a minute. Pheebs, the glue?”

Phoebe could only give a small sigh as she pulled out a container of glue from her backpack. Helga smirked devilishly as she flipped the phone over and started to paint the back of it with said paste, making it invisible so that the pink was still seen. After looking at her craft, she smirked devilishly before carefully slipping the phone back towards Bunnie, looking none the wiser as she continued to keep a sharp eye out for anything suspicious.

At that very moment, Penelope had just finished her calls as she hung up the arcade phone before turning towards Bunnie. “Well, Ah just finished with Maurice, and let Maki and Della know about the original Pikmin Mystery Fighter. Maki’s also calling Himiko and the others to join us in the Recovery Room to pick up that adorable little Oatchi fella.”

“Well, that’s good.” Bunnie sighed in relief. “It’s all been quiet here anyways…”

“Yeah, unfortunately…” Penelope sighed sadly, before giving a smile. “But on the bright side, at least things are at a slow crawl so far.”

“Ah’m just as surprised as you are, sugah, but Ah guess we are just gettin’ started with this little ol’ tournament after all.” Bunnie said. “And with a lot of fighters… more than last time, Ah might add… Ah just have a feeling that the bad guys are biding their time this time…”

“Well, Ah suppose we’ll have to wait and see… with the other villains though, who knows what’ll happen…” Penelope shrugged before giving a nod. “Say, Bunnie, would you mind giving me my phone?”

“You got it, sugah!” Bunnie smiled as she picked up the phone by the back and offered it to Penelope.

Penelope smiled as she grabbed the phone from Bunnie’s hand… only to find a problem as the girl was trying to ungrip the phone from Bunnie’s hand, much to the robotic rabbit’s confusion.

“Uh, okay, Bunnie, you can let go now…” Penelope said as she tried to pry the phone off.

“Ah’m trying to! Something is sticking on the other end!” Bunnie said as she was using her other hand to try to unstick the phone from her robotic hand, but that only made the situation worse as Penelope’s fingers grasped the phone and got them stuck between her robotic hand and her phone, with Bunnie’s other hand making it worse.

“Let me-” Penelope said as she lifted up her left foot to shove their hands off her phone, only for her boot to get stuck in the glue, causing the two to scream as they fell down and rolled over.

This caught the attention of gamers as they noticed the messy, sticky situation they were in as some of them were snickering.

“Whoa, a little human girl-on-robot bunny action!” Flynn Rider said giving a small smirk to himself. “I know I have my sights on one girl only, but even I have to admit, this is pretty hot.”

”It is rather curious to see this scenario play out.” Toro Inoue meowed as he scratched his head. ”Is this what humans do in their off-time?”

“Th-th-this is not what it looks like, we swear!” Penelope said as she and Bunnie were struggling to get out of their predicament.

“Whoever the darned varmint is who made us like this, you are in a world of trouble!” Bunnie threatened as everyone surrounding the two Southern belles continued to laugh at their misery.

Helga, still hiding behind the bush with her friends, gave a small snicker as she motioned for them to follow her out of the room. “Come on, let’s get ourselves out of here…”

“Helga, you are one dirty trickster, you know that?” Nadine asked as Phoebe, Gerald, Rhonda and Nadine followed Helga.

“What can I say?” Helga laughed. “I love to please. Besides, it’s not like they were PERMANENTLY stuck forever… a simple dissolve of water and they’d be back to normal…”

“Helga, you just pranked TWO MEMBERS of the security team. And one of them just swore revenge. I think that may be cause for concern.” Phoebe pointed out.

“Yeah, Phoebe has a point, Helga. You got two for two, maybe stop while the getting is good…” Gerald said as he shook his head.

“You kidding?” Helga smirked. “I’m on a hot streak here…”

She then paused as she looked around the hall for a small idea… before her eye spotted something rather… strange. “Hey… has that room always been there?”

Her four friends blinked twice as they looked around in confusion, with Gerald asking, “What room?”

Helga pointed over to a door with strange magical like sparkles surrounding it. The group just stared in awe as Rhonda asked, “No, I don’t think I’ve seen this room before…”

“Where did it come from, I wonder?” Phoebe asked.

“Well, whatever it is, I hear something inside…” Helga smirked as she reached for the doorknob. “And you know what they say, a room like this could be good for pranking!”

Phoebe paused as she started to sense something out of worry. “Helga, maybe we should just ignore that door. Whatever in there’s probably not worth it…”

Helga laughed a bit as she opened the door wide open. “Come on, let’s just investigate and-”

“Well, well, well, I had a feeling you would find this door.”

Helga stopped short at the new voice as she looked around at the strange room before her. “What the- who said that?”

“Over here, on the table!” The voice called out. “You kids may as well come in too.”

Gerald, Phoebe, Nadine and Rhonda looked at each other in surprise, before shrugging as they followed Helga in. However, as they entered, they immediately noted the person sitting on the edge of the table.

Gerald’s eyes lit up as he snickered. “Oh snap…”

“Oh no…” Helga slapped her forehead in annoyance as Rhonda, Nadine and Phoebe’s reactions ranged from smiles to curiosity.

(Recovery Room)

Bowser frowned as he glared at everyone in the Recovery Room. “Read my lips. No.”

The King of the Koopas was a little bit infuriated by what was going on. It was bad enough he got eliminated through dumb luck, but he expected this sort of thing to happen to him in these tournaments. And he knew that getting an early draw would be a hindrance to him, but at least he would be able to catch his fellow node companions as they battled. That much was a given.

But the fact that this little kid playing psychologist was suggesting this… INSANE idea? He just narrowed his eyes at him.

Arnold gave a sigh as he looked up at Bowser. “Look, considering the first Smash character she hurled threats at was the robot, Mai needs to learn to let go of her past hatred of Smash Bros. You’ve seen her overreact in the first Tournament of Kikai AND the third Battle of the Luminaries. Even the original Okron Tournament before the fire moth Pokemon grew and destroyed everything in its path.”

Bowser scoffed as he rolled his eyes. “Kid, where did you even get this information? From what I’ve heard from the tournament, you didn’t even know about it until random people and things from the sky dropped into your world.”

“Heaven knows we will never forget the meteor incident.” Arnold groaned as he held his head. “But let’s just say we’ve been keeping a sharp eye on this tournament and all UVR styled tournaments since the Tournament of Kikai. I guess it helped that Helga was part of the roster in the third Battle of the Luminaries because of her inclusion in the first Nick All-Star Brawl, and with Gerald and my grandma in Nick All-Star Brawl 2, our fighting game chances are skyrocketing towards the UVR styled tournaments.”

Bowser raised an eyebrow. “Fair enough, I guess, but you are asking A LOT!”

“You know I can hear the BOTH of you, right?”

Bowser and Arnold frowned as they turned towards Mai, as she seemed a little miffed. Arnold gave a sigh. “You know, Mai, you can have a say in this conversation if you want.”

“Gladly.” Mai nodded as she sat up. “Bowser, it’s not that I don’t hate you in general, but I have an unfeltering hate for Smash Bros and their community. And I will never forgive Sakurai for excluding me in the game…”

“Lady, they had reasons for that. You were deemed too… well, hot.” Bowser rolled his eyes.

“So is Bayonetta. So is Pyra and Mythra. How are THEY allowed to be part of this and I’M not?!” Mai growled as she held her head. “And the worst part is, you guys aren’t ashamed to admit that your fanbase are all against the idea of having an amazing ninja like myself!”

Bowser held his head in frustration as he turned to Arnold. “Again, you want ME to get along with HER?!”

“Um, I don’t mean to intrude, but even I’m questioning your logic here, Arnold.” Mikan shyly said with a nervous stare.

Arnold gave a sigh. “Like I said, it’s a long shot, and we all know Mai can be a bit fiery and temperamental. Kinda like an old classmate I know… but after a while, I know that in order to get through the healing process, she needs to show that she doesn’t have any hatred for ALL Smash characters.”

Bowser blinked twice. “Fair enough, but why not just get Terry Bogard in here? He’s in Smash too.”

“True, but he probably wouldn’t make her better. If anything, even though Terry may be the simple choice, he could also be a difficult one. And it probably wouldn’t solve Mai’s problem.” Arnold explained.

“I can vouch for that. Terry tried to calm me down, and I threw him over my shoulder because I was furious whenever he mentioned Smash.” Mai said as she looked furious as she looked ready to get up, only for Valentine and Hello Nurse to come over and push her back down on the couch. “H-hey!”

“If you’re going to let your blood pressure rise, we can always put on the straitjacket.” Valentine pointed out. “Or would you prefer the method that was used on you in the Battle of the Luminaries 3?”

“We will NOT hesitate in using the latter.” Hello Nurse said with a glare.

Bowser paused as he gave a sigh. “All right, fine. I was going to find Junior and see if he wanted to hang out at the pool, but I guess if I have to be stuck babysitting a bratty ninja girl…”

Mai narrowed her eyes at the large Koopa as she opened her mouth. “Why, you lousy-!”

“Mai!” Arnold frowned as the ninja pouted and crossed her arms, before turning to Bowser. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but you’re the toughest person that I think could probably take Mai’s anger issues. Who knows, maybe you can make her a better person and make her realize what she’s truly angry at.”

Bowser paused in thought as he tapped his foot… before shrugging. “You know what? Why not? Let’s give this a try.”

Arnold and the other doctors and nurses from the Recovery Room smiled as Arnold shook Bowser’s hand. “Glad to see you’re coming around…”

“But if things don’t improve with her… I’m throwing her back in the Recovery Room… CHAINED UP!” Bowser growled as he narrowed his eyes at Mai.

Mai looked up at Bowser with a ferocious look on her face as Arnold took a deep breath. He could tell that there was going to be a lot of work… but deep down, he had a feeling Bowser and Mai could be the perfect team-up…

Right around that time, Baymax came in holding a few mugs of hot cocoa from a plate. “I have returned with the hot chocolate. It was not easy because of the mess in the kitchen but…”

It was then that Baymax turned his head and saw Bowser and Mai staring angrily at each other… before pausing. “Hmmm… I can see from the looks on their faces that the one called Mai and the one called Bowser will need something more soothing. Tea, perhaps?”

“Don’t worry about it, Baymax.” Arnold said as he turned to the large robot. “I think we got everything covered here…”

All the while, some people that were just returning from their dropped off worlds looked at each other in concern, as they had a weird feeling that whatever happens with Bowser and Mai… probably would not be good…

(Arena A)

Dante smirked as he charged towards Garnet, sword on the ready before jumping up in the air and doing a downward slash towards Garnet. The Crystal Gem wisely dodged out of the way quickly, then quickly charged forward with a shoulder tackle, knocking Dante off his feet.

The Nephilim got up as he narrowed his eyes. “Heh, I’m surprised I haven’t fought you in the final round instead of American Boy.”

“You wouldn’t have lasted against me anyway.” Garnet bluntly said. “I’ll admit, you might have some good skills, but even with you being a reboot version of a beloved classic video game character, you still have a long way to go.”

Dante narrowed his eyes. “Seriously? You really think I don’t have what it takes? I am a respected cast member!”

“Sure you are.” Garnet said before charging up her gauntlets and throwing a punch directly at the demon-angel hybrid, sending him flying towards the ropes. Dante bounded back, before rushing forward. All the while, Dante noticed the monitors that lit up the arena as part of the Newtopia Castle setting were starting to light up to red as he raised an eyebrow.

All of a sudden, some mechanical tentacles came up from under the floor as everyone started to yelp. But Dante was not deterred as he quickly pulled out his gun and shot some non-lethal bullets towards Garnet, who blocked the bullets easily with a green shield surrounding her as she started to dance to some imaginary music. The bullets then ricocheted back towards Dante as the man dodged his attack just as the bullets struck the screen.

The glowing red monitor displayed an eye as it roared rampantly as a black feral machine activated. King Andrias noticed as he gave a yelp.

“Uh-oh…” Andrias said nervously.

Shulk raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean uh-oh?”

“I guess I should have expected this, but… I also put in an obstacle in my stage choice that would only affect people every five minutes.” King Andrias said as he the machine started to shoot tentacles around the area, causing a lot of other fighters to stumble and try to focus their efforts on the large mechanical tentacles, like Treecko using her Dragon Breath ability whilst hanging tightly to Pudding, who was using her powers to trap the tentacles into flan. Michigan J. Frog, deciding a good thing to do was to hide, just jumped off the little girl’s arm to lay himself low on the floor, just as he avoided Patrick and Shun’ei as they were both wrapped up in the tentacles. Mr. Frosty and Francisca decided to help out by shooting their ice powers towards the tentacles to release their opponents.

“An obstacle?!” Ike said as he glared at Andrias angrily.

“Hey, don’t look at me! I didn’t think the bunny would actually USE my stage choice!” King Andrias growled angrily. “At any rate, I wouldn’t worry too much about the Core. If it’s anything like the stage choices of the Battle of the Luminaries, they’re mainly just illusions…”

It was at that moment Monika appeared on the monitor above as she gave a smile. “That would be accurate.”

At that point, Dante was just ignoring the conversation as he pulled out both of his guns and jumped up, spinning around to hopefully get Garnet. As a few people dodged the bullets, Garnet was busy trying to avoid the bullets as she jumped up and jabbed Dante a couple of times with her gauntlets, before doing a big punch towards him, sending him backwards.

Dante shook his head before narrowing his eyes at Garnet before giving out a loud yell as he summoned a scythe to block Garnet’s gauntlets. Garnet shook her head as she said, “Watch your temper, or you’ll lose focus…”

Dante was too angry to respond as he swung his scythe and damaged Garnet a bit, causing the Crystal Gem to back off with a small grunt. She looked over her body to see the small scratch on her armor, before giving a nod as she slammed her fists together, before jumping up in the air and punching the ground. This, in turn, created a shockwave to throw Dante (along with any other fighters who were near them) off-balance as Dante fell directly down to the ground.

Dante grunted as he slowly got back up before smirking as he pulled out a Smash Ball. “Didn’t think I’d have to pull this out early, but-”

Before Dante could break the Smash Ball in hopes of using his Level Three Super, Garnet rushed forward and grabbed Dante as they stopped near the ropes, where Garnet had placed a star there earlier.

“I’m afraid I can’t let that overpowered state of yours dominate this section.” Garnet sighed before lifting him up. “It seems to me you’ve still got a LOT to learn…”

Much to Dante’s protests, Garnet threw him directly out of the ring and into the portal below.

Dante landed in Nidhogg 2, where the pink demon creature (known as the player) wielding a sword mistook Dante for one of the grunts and started to whale on him.

“Forget the aesthetic of the stage!” Mythra shouted to the two sword fighters in annoyance before pointing towards the heavyset newt. “Have we forgotten what we’re supposed to be doing to the real enemy?!”

“You truly wound me…” King Andrias frowned in anger as he held out his sword. “But so be it! I can take on the three of you at once!”

Ike responded by jumping up and slashing Andrias in the stomach as he narrowed his eyes. “You want to rephrase that?”

Andrias grunted as he then got hit with the Aegis before it boomeranged back towards Pyra’s hands. Pyra gave a small giggle as she went into her fighting stance. “I believe you’re about to be overwhelmed, former king…”

Andrias groaned before swinging his sword towards the three sword fighters, narrowing his eyes.

Shulk looked ready to battle before stopping short as his eyes widened in shock, flashing blue.

(Shulk’s Vision)

Ike jumped up in the air as he looked ready to take a slashing motion towards Andrias, who was about to do the same.

All of a sudden, a flying Iori Yagami came in and crashed right into Ike as the violet haired sword fighter found himself falling directly into the portal below.

“Oh no! Ike!” Pyra gasped in shock as Andrias blinked twice.

“Huh. Well, that was unexpected.” Andrias simply said.

(Current Time)

Shulk gave a gasp as he looked over to Ike as he looked ready to jump.

“Ike, wait! Don’t jump just yet!” Shulk said as he ran over and pulled Ike back, surprising the musclebound fighter.

“What? Why?” Ike asked.

All of a sudden, as if to answer that question, a flying Iori Yagami came flying in as he rebounded back on the ropes, causing Ike to jump in surprise.

“Ohhhh… that’s why.” Ike nodded.

“Well… that was unexpected.” Andrias said as he just looked at the display in confusion before Iori got back up.

Iori growled in anger as he engulfed his hand in purple fire. “Who knew this stupid ugly gnorc had some heat to him!”

“UGLY?!” Gnasty Gnorc’s voice shouted out as he walked over to Iori in anger. “You better watch your mouth, you little fool, lest you try and mess with me!”

“Uh, we’re kind of in the middle of our battle, do you mind?” Pyra asked as she sheepishly grinned, getting the attention of both gnorc AND edgy man.

“As a matter of fact, yes, we DO mind.” Gnasty frowned as Andrias gave a smile, an idea forming.

“Excuse me, Gnasty, right? You seem to be strong enough, and I need another person to help take these sword fighters down. I think it would be best if we-” Andrias said as Gnasty turned to him.

Ike, Shulk and Pyra’s mouths dropped as Iori rolled his eyes. “Oh boy…”

Gnasty raised his eyebrow in curiosity, before giving a snicker. “Ah, even after everything, the king is STILL wanting to explore his evil side…”

“NOT evil! But if I have to work with villains to survive, then it’s probably in the best interest, since certain people aren’t going to let me forget everything I did!” Andrias growled in anger as he turned towards the three sword fighters and Iori.

“So… looks like we’ve got an even bigger challenge on the horizon, huh?” Iori smirked, before turning to the three sword fighters. “Tell you what… I’ll help you guys this once to take down the large frog and the ugly gnorc, but you are on your own after-”

“THAT DOES IT!” Gnasty growled in anger as he slammed Iori on the back with his club, sending the edgy teen flying towards Shulk. Before Shulk could get a chance to defend himself, Iori slammed right into the Monado wielding man as Shulk tripped over the ropes and fell to the portal below.

Shulk landed in The Lord of the Rings, where he went one on one with Legolas.

“H-hey!” Pyra shouted in anger as she transformed into Mythra, giving an equal frowning look.

“You just eliminated our ally!” Mythra shared the same sentiment as she glared over at Gnasty Gnorc.

“Technically, he did.” Gnasty smirked as he pointed to Iori, who got up and narrowed his eyes at the gnorc.

“Oh, you’ve messed with the wrong Orochi wielding man.” Iori growled in anger as his hands ignited in purple flames once more as he rushed forward and slashed up the gnorc with his hands, engulfing him in purple fire.

Gnasty yelped in pain as he got slapped once more, before turning towards Andrias. “You know what? I helped take down one of your sword fighters, help me with this guy!”

“With pleasure.” King Andrias smirked as he swung his laser sword a few times before rushing forward to block Iori’s attack.

“Great…” Ike groaned as he held up his sword. “We may be down one person, but now Andrias has more muscle…”

“A little trouble, I will admit, but nothing we can’t surpass.” Mythra said as she readied the weapon. “What are we waiting for?! We need to help Iori out as best as we can!”

“Smart thinking!” Ike said as he and Mythra charged with their weapons in an attempt to throw off both Gnasty and Andrias.

Andrias saw the attack coming as he summoned an energy shield to block Ike’s attack against him. Mythra, on the other hand, aimed directly for Gnasty as she raised the Aegis up.

Gnasty yelped as he got slashed in the face multiple times by the Aegis, before Mythra tossed the musclebound Gnorc up in the air and fired a fireball at Gnasty at close range, causing Gnasty to yelp in pain.

Iori blinked twice before looking towards Mythra. “Thanks, not that I needed it…”

“Believe me, if our opponent is willing to team up with YOURS, we have no choice but to stick together on this!” Mythra sighed. “And besides, with Shulk being taken out for a dumb reason, we need all the firepower we can get!”

“I think I can understand that.” Iori smirked as he looked over towards Ike, who was currently clashing swords with King Andrias. “Okay. Help me take down this gnorc, and I’ll repay ya.”

“Fine with me.” Mythra nodded before noting the Gnorc landing on the ground.

Gnasty quickly got up and shook his head before narrowing his eyes. “All right, if you’re really insistent, then I have no choice but to take you down myself!”

With a loud roar, Gnasty raised his club in the air and slammed it on the ground with a hard whack, sending a shockwave towards the group as a lot of people dodged it, including Mythra and Iori. However, that’s not all it did.

The spotlights that were circling the arena were also shaken loose as each of them began to fall around the arena, causing everyone to yelp as they avoided the spotlights (Garnet carefully picking up Pudding to protect her, Treecko and Michigan once the first spotlight dropped close to them, Scrat cleverly using the falling spotlights to hop on each of them to get a good landing on Hector’s head to bite his ear off, and Patrick and Mr. Frosty BOTH getting hit on their heads with spotlights as they got a bit dazed). Needless to say, Iori and Mythra were careful to dodge the spotlights as Gnasty let out a laugh.

“Think this is funny, huh?” Mythra frowned before rushing forward and slashing Gnasty up. “Personally, I don’t see the humor.”

Gnasty growled in anger before swinging his club to knock the blonde girl off of him… only to be struck once again by Iori’s purple fire as the gnorc stumbled backwards. Gnasty shook his head as he narrowed his eyes. “I refuse to be beaten again, especially after everything I worked up for!”

“You couldn’t even handle a small baby dragon, what makes you think this was going to be any different this time?” Iori scoffed.

“Simple really.” Gnasty laughed a bit as he raised his club. “I wasn’t using the abilities from my OTHER game back then.”

“Other game?” Iori asked. “Other than that Crash mobile game, the only other game you appeared in was…”

“A Hero’s Tail.” Gnasty smiled as electricity started to form around his club. “And yes, while I was considered the first boss of three in that game, I like to think that since my debut, I have improved on my abilities… including the way I do THIS!”

With that, Gnasty sent out an electric bolt towards Iori, zapping the fighter as he let out a loud yell of pain, feeling the jolt of electricity affecting him before going down to his knees. Mythra growled in anger as she tried to rush towards the area, only for the Core to reactivate once more and grab her foot, before tossing her up in the air, causing the woman to yell. Just as everybody was ready to fight against the Core (or avoid it once more) Gnasty could only hold out his club triumphantly as he looked over at the downed Iori.

“I guess you can say my attack was… ‘shocking’.” Gnasty chuckled to himself as he grabbed Iori by the feet and swung him around a couple of times before throwing him out of the ring. Once he had done so, he looked over to see Ike and Andrias still battling, before giving a shrug. “Well, one threat down, at least two more to go.”

Iori Yagami landed in Final Fantasy VIII, where he and Seifer went in a one-on-one battle, due to being the hotheads they were.

At that time, Mythra landed down on the ground as soon as the Core finished its task and retracted back as she gave a growl. “Ugh, this cannot get any worse…”

”Don’t worry, Mythra… I’m sure the people in the other arena will be done soon…” Pyra smiled, before Mythra looked towards the wall blocking the other arena. ”At least, I should hope so…”

(Arena 2)

In between the times Garnet had eliminated Dante and after Shulk got eliminated, but before Gnasty did his elimination, another fight was currently going on, and as expected, thanks to the music that was playing, it was a bit of a ruckus. Bark the Polarbear and the Panda King were still fighting amongst themselves as the Panda King flipped over to the parked pirate ship to launch a few fireworks towards Bark. The large polar bear quickly rushed passed Garbodor and Big Band, just as Garbodor sent out another Gunk Shot, only with not a lot of room in the arena, the poisonous attack landed on the floor and exploded around a few fighters as Ariel, Gumball, and Perry reacted to the smell, with Chowder being a little disgusted by the smell as Kimchi floated around the smell.

But the main focus takes us to two particular battles, one with a huge musclebound man going up against a familiar psychic legendary. Hugo jumped over to throw a punch, only for Mewtwo to throw another Shadow Ball towards the musclebound man’s direction.

“UGH!” Hugo yelped before narrowing his eyes as he walked towards Mewtwo, slamming his hand right at the psychic Pokemon. The purple and white furred cat creature, feeling the slam of Hugo’s large hands, got batted away a few feet before jumping into the air and slamming himself towards the large wrestler’s body.

Unfortunately for Mewtwo, the psychic found that Hugo weighed a lot more than he figured, making his Body Slam attack useless. This did, however, give Hugo an opportunity to grab Mewtwo and bend him like a stick before tossing the psychic legendary down to the ground.

Mewtwo slowly got up as he recovered before narrowing his eyes. “You are so lucky that psychic powers, for me, is off the table right now.” The Pokemon quickly backed away to avoid a kick coming from Hugo. “And of all the times for me to NOT know the move Shadow Claw… why is Shadow Claw NOT in my movepool, I should be able to learn it?!”

Hugo could only laugh to himself before punching his hand with his fist. “Seems to me you are outclassed by even the likes of me!”

“Maybe… but you’d be surprised at what I can do…” Mewtwo said before saying to himself. “I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to use this move… ANCIENT POWER!”

Fossils started to surround Mewtwo before being thrown directly at Hugo, smacking him in the face as it caused the musclebound warrior to stumble backwards for a mere moment. The wrestler quickly recovered as Mewtwo stood still… as he looked around, before sighing.

“No omniboost… was really hoping THAT would come into play here…” Mewtwo said to himself as he noted Hugo getting back up before igniting his clawed hands on fire. “Well, I still have four more to save. For now, guess I’ll have to make due with what I got…”

With that, Mewtwo slammed Hugo in the face with a Fire Punch as the man recovered posthaste. The pro wrestler could only laugh as he shook his head. “You think weak fire would defeat the likes of me? Please, at best, it only tickles!”

“But can you withstand the cold?” Mewtwo smirked before slamming his fist towards Hugo again, this time, encased in ice as snowflakes came out of Mewtwo’s fist, causing Hugo to shiver a bit.

“Y-y-you th-th-think that wil-” Hugo shivered a bit before all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he somehow got encased in a block of ice, leaving a lot of the audience in confusion.

Monika took over the monitors as she explained to the audience. “For those that don’t know, Ice Punch has a ten percent chance of freezing opponents.”

“It’s true, look it up.” Xero called out as Monika’s face switched off.

The psychic Pokemon could hardly believe the luck he had, but shook his head as he carefully lifted up the ice block containing Hugo. It was a little heavy, but Mewtwo managed. “I better get him out of here before the ice block thaws. Even I know freezing doesn’t last very long, until at least either a fire move hits you or you thaw out… and I’m not waiting for EITHER option.”

With a small grunt, Mewtwo threw the ice block containing Hugo out of the ring and into the portal below as the psychic Pokemon sighed in exhaustion.

Hugo landed in Rayman Origins, more specifically in Gourmand Land, where thanks to the fires of the level thawing him out, he decided to enjoy a nice cuisine of roasted red potatoes.

During Mewtwo’s battle with Hugo, Penny was holding herself quite well against Jack’s tricks as she managed to push through the ropes of the arena and spring herself towards the pumpkin headed demon in an attempt to catch him off guard. Jack smirked as he held his bag of tricks and slammed it towards Penny, knocking the fourteen year old girl away.

“Ha ha ha ha!” Jack laughed as Penny got up. “Even if it’s not Halloween, I still got it!”

“Good one…” Penny groaned before narrowing her eyes at the pumpkin headed man before jumping up in the air and slamming Jack in the face with her foot.

Jack grunted a bit as he narrowed his eyes before pulling out a feather from his bag of tricks. Penny blinked twice at the strange weapon. “What are you going to do with a feather?”

“Ohhhh… plenty of things…” Jack said as he wiggled the feather on Penny’s side, causing Penny to get tickled as she started to laugh a bit.

“Hee-hee-ha-ha! Sto-stop!” Penny laughed as she fell to the ground.

Jack smirked as he put the feather back in the bag before pulling out a slingshot to shoot a fiery rock towards Penny. The young girl quickly felt the rock on her face as she gave a small yelp before getting back up.

Jack gave a laugh. “Ahhhh, the ways of pranking… this is slowly, but SURELY getting a lot better by the minute!”

Penny rubbed the burn mark on her face before narrowing her eyes towards Jack. She then quickly ran towards the ropes and sprung forward before grabbing Jack as a cloud fight started to form. When the dust cleared, Penny had Jack trapped in a headlock as Jack grunted to get out.

“Uuuugh… you miserable brat!” Jack growled in anger as he pushed Penny away.

Penny could only chuckle to herself. “That’s what happens when you mess with a Proud!”

“You think you can act all high and mighty just because you got lucky in the last tournament?” Jack said before pulling out a pumpkin bomb, all lit up. “Well, let’s see you try and survive THIS!”

Penny yelped as Jack threw the bomb right at her. Thinking as quickly as possible, Penny looked over towards the barrels as she climbed up as quickly as she could to avoid the exploding bomb. However, this caused the barrel to come loose as Penny was now riding on the barrel, balancing as much as she could before using her legs to roll the barrel forward.

Jack’s eyes shrank as he had just realized what he had just done. “Oh, poop.”

“That’s what I’m talkin’ about, y’all!” Penny shouted as she jumped off the barrel and landed gracefully just as the barrel slammed the pumpkin headed man, sending him flying directly out of the ring and into the portal below.

Jack landed in a dark field as the pumpkin headed man rubbed his head, before giving a growl. “Well, that’s just great… I, Jack O’Lantern, got eliminated by a fourteen year old girl. Oh, I’m never going to live this down…”

Jack sighed before looking around the strange place. “Where am I anyway…?”

Jack paused slightly as he looked over towards a strange light. Jack raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he put a hand to his face. “Well, wherever I am… it sure seems like a creepy place…” He gave a smirk. “Just my kind of style.”

With that, Jack hummed to himself as he continued walking, little realizing he was about to run into a very strange character…

Back with the arena, Penny gave a small sigh as she rubbed her head of the sweat she had gained from the battle, before looking over towards the exhausted Mewtwo as she joined him.

“So… how was your battle with Hugo?” Penny asked in curiosity.

“I’ll say this…” Mewtwo panted. “A ten percent chance at a freeze is a very good chance. How was that pumpkin headed man?”

“It wasn’t easy…” Penny sighed, before giving a smile. “But you know, using the creativity of the stage and the barrels, they helped out a bit. Though his pranks didn’t make things easier…”

“Ah…” Mewtwo nodded as he looked over towards the other fights, before looking back towards Penny with a smirk. “So… ticklish on your sides, huh?”

Penny gave a small huff. “Yeah, yeah, yuck it up.”

“All right, everyone, five eliminations have passed… in both arenas, that is…” Monika said as the wheels appeared once more. Some stopped fighting for a minute as they took the time to notice the wheel slots looked different.

“Really, Shulk’s out?” Wolf said as he squinted. “Huh, I’d thought he’d last at least a round or two…”

“I’m more shocked to see Iori’s out…” Shingo pointed out, before frowning. “Shame, I was actually hoping I could face him so I can show to Kyo how great I picked up his skills!”

“Yeah, not much.” Wolf laughed a bit, causing Shingo to turn to Wolf with a glare.

(Arena A)

Some people stopped fighting as Francisca gave a sigh of relief. “I, for one, welcome this change of scenery… I would LOVE to have my arena change in here…”

“Speak for yourself!” Shun’ei laughed as he gave a stretch. “I could use the change of scenery…”

“Keep in mind, folks, when the wheel is spun, both arenas will change, but slightly.” Monika said as the wheels started to spin around. “And here we go with the wheels… Arena A, Arena 2… what do we have?”

After a few moments, the first wheel landed on Pudding’s face, with the second wheel landing on Perry’s face not too long after.

Pudding’s eyes widened in delight as she clapped her hands. “Ooooo!”

Michigan J. Frog couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow as he leaned on his cane. “So… what can we expect from you? If I have to guess, it’s something related to your personality?”

”I mean, what else is there?” Treecko asked as she gave a sigh.

“Well… my idea for a stage change is as follows…” Pudding smiled as she clapped her hands.

Monika blinked twice. “Seems unnecessary to do the clap when I’m about to do it anyway, but charmed. Coming right up!”

With that, Arena A started to glitch around as some new items started going around. The Newtopia Castle setting was still there, BUT a few circus-like items were added, like a trapeze, a high-dive board with a large tank of water, some lions and elephants, cannons and LARGE balls rolling around the area.

“Nice!” Pudding smiled as she hopped on one of the balls as she began to ride around it.

Garnet raised an eyebrow as a lot of people were looking around in shock at the changes. “So, your stage choice is a circus?”

Pudding smiled with a cute expression on her face, nodding. “I figured, I love circus tricks and I always love doing a lot of fun tricks for everyone, so why not bring the best of both worlds by having fun at the circus!”

“This… really ruins the castle look I have going on here…” Andrias frowned.

Ike gave a smirk as he said, “Heh, on the bright side, no more Core to worry about…”

“I wouldn’t say that…” Monika said as her monitor blinked off.

All of a sudden, the Core’s screens turned on as more Core tentacles came rushing in, spooking the lions and the elephants as they started to rush forward. Most of the fighters wisely decided to use the circus areas to get to high ground as Rick, Hector and Scrat were stampeded on.

Scrat shook his head as he noted one of the elephants had grabbed Rick and was dragging the acorn with it. Scrat gave a loud scream as he began to give chase to the elephant that had Rick.

Antonov blinked twice, looking at the chaos surrounding him and E. Honda, before laughing. “Well, this just got interesting!”

“I know, right?!” E. Honda joined in the laughter. “Not as big as say, sumo, BUT it’s up there!”

Mythra yelped as she glared at Ike as Andrias just gave a small chuckle to himself. “You were SAYING?!”

Ike could only smile nervously. “I guess as more stuff is added, the more chaotic the arena can be.”

“Enough of this! Let’s just keep focus on one thing and one thing only!” Mythra said as she held up the Aegis. “Defeating that newt properly!”

“R-right!” Ike said as he held up his sword, ready for another round with Andrias.

As soon as the Core tentacles disappeared, most of the fighters panted as they decided to resume battle, though with the elephants and lions still spooked and attacking Rick, Hector and Scrat, they looked like they would be there a while.

Michigan J. Frog just blinked twice before noting a small overturned stage as his eyes lit up, before turning towards the others. “If you all don’t mind, I think I want to take my spot and practice a little bit…”

“Your singing? That’s cool.” Pudding smiled as Michigan hopped away and jumped on the bucket as he started to cough to warm up.

“Just remember the REAL reason we’re in this arena in the first place.” Garnet called out before turning to Pudding and Treecko. “I think we both know that he’s aware, and is just waiting for someone to come by.”

“That does look like his plan…” Pudding shrugged. “I don’t blame him, being unassuming is a good tactic…”

”Hmmm…” Treecko paused as she looked around, before noticing the open path towards the door leading to the Safe Zone. ”Say, you know, while everyone else is a little distracted, it does leave some room for one of us to enter the Safe Zone?”

Of course, even though Pudding and Garnet didn’t understand Willow, from the wood gecko Pokemon’s expressions, she seemed to be pointing towards the Safe Zone path. Pudding gave a smile. “Oooh! You know, with everyone distracted with their battles, the Safe Zone is pretty much open for the challenge.”

“The big question though is… how long until someone from the other side comes in?” Garnet pointed out.

“Well, hopefully, whoever comes out from Arena 2 will be just as friendly.” Pudding smiled.

”Hopefully someone with common sense.” Treecko said with a sigh.

Garnet paused as she looked back towards the other fighters as they all seemed pretty preoccupied. “I think you might be in the clear, Mew Pudding, if you or your little lizard friend want a go at the Safe Zone.”

“Are you sure you don’t want a chance?” Pudding asked as Treecko cocked her head in curiosity.

Garnet shook her head. “As much as I would love to play the Safe Zone challenges, I want to bide my time. Besides, I’ve seen a lot of possibilities, and I think you two might have a good chance for it.”

Treecko and Pudding paused as they looked at each other.

“Roshambo for who gets to go to the Safe Zone for a bit?” Pudding offered.

”Why not? But we better be quick before someone gets wise…” Treecko said before turning her head as a lot of the fighters were too busy with their own thing. ”Of course, with all this chaos going on, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem…”

(Arena 2)

While a couple fights were still going on, a few of the fighters waited around until Monika’s monitor turned on. “Okay, we’re back. Arena 2, prepare to have your arena change happen… now!”

Everyone stood in place as Perry crossed his arms, as if expecting something to happen. Gumball looked around in confusion as he raised an eyebrow. “Uh, what-?”

Perry held up a finger to shush Gumball, as if telling him to ‘wait’. All of a sudden, while the hip hop music of the stage AND a lot of Hugo’s stage still remained, something had happened to the lights as they suddenly turned off, with all of the arena combatants in Arena 2 noticing and complaining.

“Hey, what the-?!”

The lights then came back on as everyone (save for Mewtwo, Penny, Chowder, Gumball, Ariel and Perry) had somehow tripped themselves up, being thrown off by the lights being switched off on their side of the arena. After a few seconds, the lights flashed off again, as slipping occurred, with the lights coming back on as most everyone had somehow collided heads (with Tron and Temjin somehow getting in the way of Launchpad and Lily’s fight and Oatchi falling straight on a barrel, separating out his Pikmin as Django had hit his head on a corner post).

Gumball blinked twice, before snapping his fingers. “Ohhhh… your stage change is that every so often, the lights will go off, giving opportunities for people to pull sneak attacks… or throw everyone off their game.”

“Yeah, that might be an interesting idea. Since, as a spy, he can use the cover of darkness to-” Chowder started to explain before Ariel put a hand over his mouth.

“Uh, Chowder, I think this is self-explanatory, sweetie.” Ariel pointed out as the lights went off once again.

“Well, I’m not saying it’s an interesting idea… turning the arena dark every couple of minutes, then lights back on every other couple of minutes… but it’s sort of lacking in the fla- AH!” Gumball explained as he felt a punch in his face as the cat stumbled.

Gumball worked to adjust his eyes a bit as he muttered, “Okay, okay, if there’s anything we cats have, it’s glow in the dark eyes, so maybe I can use those to spot you, you little platypus!”

Gumball squinted a few times just as a pair of eyes came by, narrowing at him before the cat felt a kick in the stomach. “OOF!”

At this time, the lights slowly dimmed to show Perry and Gumball’s bodies as Gumball got up as he squinted over at the platypus as he adjusted his hat. “Okay, a few good sneak attacks, but I’m more than prepared to handle you this time!”

Perry could only smirk before jumping into the air to do a kick motion. However, Gumball prepared for it this time as he ducked under Perry’s attack. The platypus didn’t realize he was heading for the ropes until he felt himself bounding backwards from them. Perry then was quickly sent to the floor, before quickly getting up as he adjusted his hat. Around that time, the lights quickly came back on as a smug Gumball stood in front of him.

“Ah ha!” Gumball laughed as he started to force his palm right onto Perry’s face, striking the platypus as he stumbled backwards. Perry quickly recovered from the hit before dodging another punch from the blue cat.

“Think you can be clever, huh?” Gumball chuckled mischievously. “Well, allow me to show you one of my game abilities from Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers!”

Perry raised an eyebrow before Gumball somehow pulled out a vacuum cleaner from his pocket and put it on his back, before aiming the nozzle directly at the platypus. Perry could only chitter in confusion.

“HA!” Gumball shouted as he shot dust from the vacuum into Perry’s eyes. “Yeah! Take this dust shot!”

Gumball continued to shoot dust out of the vacuum a little more, blasting a lot of dust into Perry’s eyes as the platypus seemed to be backing himself into a corner. Gumball gave a small smirk as he pulled out a frying pan with a fan adjustment added to it and threw it on the ground.

“And… the coup de gracie…” Gumball chuckled to himself as the fan on the frying pan started to spin around before exploding, sending a small sucking void to pull Perry forward. This gave Gumball an ample opportunity to do an uppercut.

However, right at that moment, the lights went off once more as Gumball felt his attack whiff. “What the what?”

However, Gumball’s momentary confusion only led to Perry getting a second wind as he threw his hat and knocked Gumball down to the ground. Before the blue cat could get a chance to get up, Perry slid in and kicked Gumball so hard that the young kid got sent flying out of the ring and into the portal below.

”Elimination: Perry the Platypus!”

Xero felt it necessary to announce Arena 2’s eliminations, since the cover of darkness was now a factor in this part of the arena, so that meant that everyone in Arena A heard the announcements.

“Yeah, sorry to spoil it for Arena A, but one of Arena 2’s changes sort of has a cover… you’ll understand why soon enough.” Xero quickly announced.

Gumball landed in Go! Go! Hypergrind, where he spent a good time of his ten minutes skateboarding around the area.

Perry gave a small nod as he felt a little satisfied in his elimination. However, because of the cover of darkness still on, he didn’t see Chowder sneaking over and grabbing the platypus by surprise.

“Revenge for my fellow Cartoon Network star!” Chowder shouted before tossing Perry out of the ring.

The platypus tried to think fast as he pulled out a grappling hook gun to hook himself back in the ring. However the grappling hook didn’t help him that well since it only latched to one of the ropes, unfortunately, as Perry tried to climb up the ropes in a feeble hope to get back in, the hook didn’t latch, and Perry was sent tumbling down to the ring.

“Elimination: Chowder and Kimchi!”

Perry landed in Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, spending his time navigating through Snow Worries, which, in Perry’s opinion, was the worse Ty level in the first game… not helping was that this level was basically a large winter wonderland of a map.

Chowder felt satisfied (though he could swear he heard Pudding cheering from the other side of the wall) before turning to Ariel, who just blinked twice at the display.

“What? He was literally standing right there? Plus, he eliminated one of my fellow Cartoon Network friends. I couldn’t just ignore the opportunity!” Chowder pointed out.

Ariel blinked twice, before giving a sigh. “I guess you have a point, but it can’t be helped…”

At that moment, both Chowder and Ariel were made aware of the two dogs going up against each other… or rather, Django threatening Oatchi as best as he could with his teeth, with Oatchi letting out a whimper.

Both Chowder and Ariel looked at each other, before sharing the same thoughts. This fight looked a little too dangerous, and it was up to them to split it apart…

Thankfully, due to everybody fighting in Arena 2, the only ones that weren’t fighting were Penny and Mewtwo, who were okay with watching from a distance. After a moment, Penny looked over to see she was right next to the Safe Zone as an idea came to her.

“Going to take that challenge, huh?”

Penny stopped short as she turned to Mewtwo with a nervous smile. “Uh… yeah. Will that be an issue?”

Mewtwo paused, before closing his eyes. “No, I’m okay with waiting. You go on ahead and do your challenge. I’ll keep my eyes peeled if anything comes up.”

Penny smiled a bit before climbing out of the ring and getting onto the path. “Thanks, Mewtwo! I’ll be sure to catch you up on everything once I’m finished.”

“Very well. Good luck to you.” Mewtwo nodded as Penny started to head for the door.

“Thank you.” Penny nodded before opening the door and entering through the wall, before closing it as she headed for the Safe Zone tent.

(Safe Zone)

Pudding had been waiting by the entrance of the tent since she had won two out of three games of Roshambo against Treecko as she looked over towards the other door. She didn’t know how long until anyone else (other than Garnet or Treecko) would notice Pudding was gone, but considering all the circus stuff in her arena, plus the fact that the Core would pop up every occasion, she was glad to get a break from the latter… not so much the former, but she figured, since the circus stuff would be there all round, she’d have all the time in the world to play with it.

“Elimination: Chowder and Kimchi!”

Pudding’s eyes lit up in delight upon hearing that as she gave a cheer. Of course, she had her doubts that Chowder would be the other person entering through the door, but it wouldn’t hurt to hope, right? As she pondered, she noticed the door opening as she noted Penny coming in from the other arena. As the young woman shut the door behind her and crossed the path, Penny looked up and waved to Pudding.

“Hey! So you’re taking the challenge too?” Penny asked.

“Figured I’d wait for you or somebody to enter…” Pudding smiled before looking up to see the large clock on top of the tent, counting down from a minute thirty three seconds. “We better get inside quick.”

“You said it!” Penny nodded as the two of them entered the tent. “So, what’s your arena looking like? Mine has a bit of a German-like setting with a large ship and barrels, and it occasionally goes dark every now and then… with some swinging music playing, may I add?”

“Wow, I guess you don’t have a lot of obstacles…” Pudding chuckled nervously. “Mine was set in a creepy looking castle with mechanical monster like tentacles that came by to disrupt the tournament, followed of course, by my choice, being more circus themed! I thought about doing a lot of tricks, but I figured I had time, and thought, ‘why not take a chance at the challenge’?”

“Yeah, that’s my feelings…” Penny chuckled nervously.

“Your afro friend, Garnet? She’s doing okay. I’m sticking with her.” Pudding noted.

“Oh, great! I knew Garnet would be able to pull through… I mean, she is the toughest one out of my original alliance.” Penny smiled. “And hey, no worries, I’ll make sure your purple cat friend doesn’t get into any trouble.”

“Oh, I’m sure Chowder will be all right, but thanks for letting me know…” Pudding smiled before looking over and raising an eyebrow. “Hm? Now what is all this?”

Penny looked over to where Pudding was staring and looked just as curious to see the setting of the place. There were two boards set up, each of them displaying multicolored bubbles. On the bottom of the boards were cranks attached to bows, with a bubble machine attached to each.

“Daaang…” Penny whistled. “It looks like these two boards were completely set up…”

“I still have no clue what all this is about…” Pudding scratched her head.

“I’ll tell you both!”

Both Pudding and Penny turned to see Monika sitting down on a chair as she motioned over to the boards. “Welcome to our first VS Challenge for the Safe Zone! Whenever Arena Split is played, one player from each arena is allowed to enter the Safe Zone at the same time… and they can do one of two things. One is working together to solve a challenge, and the other is going up against each other in a simple match. For this case, you two are going up against each other to compete for a special prize.”

“I guess that does make sense for the two boards, but not the purpose.” Penny scratched her head.

Monika could only giggle. “As a previous winner, Penny, I’m surprised you haven’t done research. These boards you see are inspired by the Puzzle Bobble games… or as Americans know it, Bust-A-Move. It’s very simple. These little crossbows will shoot out bubbles, and these bubbles are very important. If you match three bubbles of the same color, they will disappear, but you can chain any bubbles attached to said color to delete them.”

“Oh, so… sort of like Tetris or Puyo Puyo?” Pudding asked, her eyes lighting up in excitement.

“Ehhhh… I suppose you could say that. But not exactly. So, your challenge is simple. Play a round of Bust-A-Move, best two out of three rounds wins. But be careful. If you take too long, eventually the board will come crashing down on you. And if the board hits the bottom of the screen, you lose the round. Now, would you guys like to know what you’re playing for?”

Pudding and Penny nodded as Monika giggled. “No game changing twists this time… you’ll be playing for a special Reward. The winner will receive tickets for five to the special access VIP Room.”

“The what?” Penny asked as Pudding cocked her head in confusion.

“The VIP access room, a special room that’s hidden within the crowd. You know those empty special box seats you may see around? Well, if you win, you guys will receive VIP treatment, with four other guests… not only that, you’ll receive a great spa treatment while watching the game… steam rooms, massages, hot tubs… all the kinks and worries that can melt away while watching the rest of the tournament… and a nice all you can eat buffet that regenerates your favorite food… and all of this you can enjoy after you get eliminated… though if you want to go on a streak, you’re welcome to, but… caution, you won’t be getting access to these rooms if you somehow make it to the final three rounds.”

“Ohhhhh…” Pudding and Penny grinned as they looked at each other.

“It may not be a twist to influence the game, but I think it’s worth playing for!” Pudding grinned.

“Sistah, you know it!” Penny squealed in excitement. “Say, even if they’re waiting, would it be fine if I brought along characters that are waiting for their chance to be in the tournament?”

“As long as they know that they have to be in the ring as soon as their number comes up, that’s fine.” Monika smiled. “All right, choose your boards, and we’ll get started.”

Pudding and Penny nodded as they looked between the two boards, before noticing that both boards were mirrored. After a little roshambo round, Pudding chose the left board, while Penny went for the right board.

“All right, this is for reward. Are you two ready?” Monika called out, doing her best Jeff Probst impersonation.

“We’re ready.” Penny nodded as she adjusted the crossbow a bit.

“This is going to be a little hard to control this… I don’t know how Mint can use these easily… na no da…” Pudding said as she tried to adjust the crossbow.

“Three… two… one…” Monika grinned as she flipped a switch. “Begin!”

With that, the game went underway as both Pudding and Penny loaded their crossbow with a yellow bubble. Monika quickly explained. “By the way, the colors of your bubbles will remain the same as you load them in, but the boards, as you may have noticed, are mirrored, so it’s going to be a task to try to find a match!”

“Making it that much harder…” Penny sighed as she looked over her board. She aimed her crossbow to the right to shoot out the yellow bubble to land it under a purple bubble.

Pudding, in the meantime, was doing something different as she shot the yellow bubble in the middle, before a red bubble was loaded in. She squinted her eyes as she concentrated on shooting towards the nearest colored bubble that matched the color on her crossbow. She quickly shot out the red bubble towards another red bubble… which happened to be attached to a third red bubble as all three red bubbles disappeared off the board.

“Sweet!” Pudding smiled as a blue bubble was loaded in next.

All the while, Penny was doing her best to be strategic as she shot a few bubbles to the left, before shooting a couple more to the right, before matching up a purple bubble with four other bubbles, taking out those and two off colored bubbles off the board. “Ah yeah!”

Penny then narrowed her eyes as she tried to concentrate a bit more. Penny nodded before spotting a potential match of two green bubbles and a green bubble not too far, with an empty spot to get one green bubble inside. She looked down to see an orange bubble, before shaking her head as she tried to shoot it towards the edge…

All the while, Pudding was busy concentrating as she tried to find more potential matches, before shooting another green bubble towards a hole that had two connecting green bubbles in between. That was enough to decimate the bubbles, along with two other off color bubbles. All of a sudden, Pudding noticed her board shaking as another row of bubbles got added, sending the mess further down her board.

“Oh boy…” Pudding yelped as she shot a few more bubbles to try to find some matches, getting lucky on a couple of them.

Penny, on the other hand, was doing her best to keep her board from going any further by matching five red bubbles, followed by a good matching four blue bubbles as a few more bubbles jumped from Penny’s board to Pudding’s board.

“Wh- hey!” Pudding gasped as she noted the extra bubbles being added to her board.

Penny gasped as she snapped her fingers. “Oh, so any extra bubbles that gets decimated in the matches will be added to Pudding’s board, to make things more challenging… and vice versa for me!”

“Great, you’ve caught onto the gimmick!” Monika giggled. “Better match those bubbles as quick as you can!”

Pudding huffed before trying to shoot a few more bubbles at the board, getting a few more matches in as best as she could. But Pudding had been thrown off a bit that Penny was able to keep her board steady and with ease… right before Pudding made a fatal mistake by shooting the side of the board when the area was full.

“AWWWW!” Pudding groaned as Penny let out a cheer, upon seeing the green WIN screen on her board.

“Aw yeah! I have got it goin’ on!” Penny smiled as she started to do a small victory dance.

Monika gave a giggle as she crossed her arms. “Well, Penny seems to have taken the first round, but remember, it’s best two of three. Get ready for the second round.”

Pudding and Penny nodded as they watched their boards reset, this time, with different bubbles opposite of each other. Pudding took a moment to take a deep breath, trying to keep her focus on the board. Penny, on the other hand, felt pretty confident in herself as she manned her station, ready to match the bubbles.

“Round 2… START!” Monika ordered as she flipped the switch.

Immediately, both girls were going into action as Pudding spotted a match and shot a red bubble towards the first red line she saw. Penny was doing the same as well as each girl was carefully trying to match bubbles, shooting them through the puzzle board as best as they could.

“Okay, come on, come on…” Penny muttered to herself before trying to look around for a good match, before spotting a good line of purple bubbles, with a gap in the middle. She looked down and noted the yellow bubble that was loaded. “Ugh, no, not the bubble I need.”

She quickly shot the yellow bubble to the side just as the board started to shake and expand by a row. All the while, Pudding, now knowing what she had to do, was taking her time as she put some bubbles to the side to match for later while matching bubbles she found in gaps. However, this time, she was going at a good pace as she had managed to chain a combo of yellow and orange bubbles that caused Penny’s board to get filled up with a few more bubbles on the bottom of her screen, making her board a little more difficult to manuever bubbles in.

“Dang it!” Penny groaned as she tried to shoot more bubbles in the off chance she could get another match, and while she did get a four in a row in terms of gray bubbles, it did cause her screen to go down another row, getting herself more and more screwed. “Aw, man!”

“Okay, just take your time… but be quick…” Pudding said to herself as she looked around before spotting yet another match. She giggled before shooting another green bubble towards a gap, connecting five green bubbles as they popped, sending a few more bubbles towards Penny’s screen.

Penny’s mouth dropped, before huffing up in annoyance. “All right, time to crank it up a notch…”

Penny then started to shoot a few more bubbles to get more matches, but she somehow managed to lose focus as she accidentally put a blue bubble in front of two greens, and stacked a red bubble in between two yellows.

“Aw, what?!” Penny said in shock, before giving a slight frown. “Uh uh, no way! I ain’t losin’ out now!”

Pudding, in the meantime, was humming a tune to herself as she shot another bubble on her board, clearing another match as she gave a smile. “If this wasn’t a tournament right now, I’d go at this all day, na no da!”

Penny concentrated as best as she could as she found her board near full of bubbles, trying to get herself out of hole she dug up, but unfortunately, she found herself getting stuck as she shot one bubble that crossed the line, causing them all to go black.

“Shoot!” Penny groaned as Pudding’s board displayed a green WIN as the blonde little girl looked up.

“Oh, hey!” Pudding smiled as she started to clap eagerly. “Looks like I won this round!”

Penny scoffed a bit, before giving a shrug. “Yeah, well… we’re still tied.”

“Not bad, Pudding. You seem to be getting the hang of the game pretty well. Penny, you’re faltering, and you need to keep focus.” Monika said as she addressed each girl.

“I just fought against a pumpkin headed man, so forgive me if I’m a little out of adrenaline right now…” Penny groaned.

“All right, two rounds down, and now we’re in the final round. This is a ‘in it to win it’ situation for either of you! Remember, match the bubbles, but make sure your screen isn’t full of them, and don’t let your screen reach the bottom. Oh, and to make things a little easier, I’ll also be placing bomb bubbles in your boards. If you match a colored bubble to the same color, and it happens to be near a bomb bubble, it’ll explode and help clear your board faster.” Monika explained as the boards reset as Pudding and Penny watched.

The monkey Mew and the young African American teenager girl paused in awe as they noted the black bubble-like bombs in some squares as Penny raised an eyebrow. “What are those bomb bubbles from, may I ask?”

“Bust-A-Move Bash for the Wii.” Monika giggled. “Or at least, modified versions of the ones from Bust-A-Move Bash. Consider yourselves lucky, I had to dig deep for these references!”

“That looks pretty fun!” Pudding smiled as she readied her station before turning to Penny with a cute smile. “Good luck!”

“Heh, I think you’ll be needing it.” Penny smirked as she manned her station and grabbed her crossbow. “Now that we both know the ins and outs of the game, I’ll be sure to clear this board pretty fast!”

“Not if I do it first!” Pudding smirked as she held her crossbow, ready to shoot more bubbles.

“All right then, I think both of you are ready, so… Final Round… START!” Monika called out as she flipped the switch.

Once again, bubbles were loaded into both Pudding and Penny’s crossbows as each of them were aiming towards their boards, trying to aim at different sides. For Pudding, she shot out a red bubble on the side, before getting a blue bubble to shoot towards a matching two bubbles to clear them out of the board.

And for Penny, she was examining each of the colors before aiming towards the same color in hopes of getting a good match… and sure enough, she found a nearby bomb surrounded by a few different colors, some of them orange and yellow. Penny snapped her fingers as she said to herself, “No problem… just find an orange or yellow bubble, and I’ll have part of the board cleared up in no time!”

With that, Penny took a deep breath as she shot a purple bubble towards another set of bubbles that didn’t match, figuring she’d take care of it later as she kept cycling and shooting through bubbles. With Pudding, the blonde girl was shooting bubbles to get some good matches, clearing out a few of them and matching at least two five in a row colored bubbles respectively. However, as Pudding shot a purple bubble towards a black bomb bubble, it exploded, clearing out a good portion of the bubbles as Pudding’s eyes lit up.

“Oh! I think I’m onto something here!” Pudding said to herself before adjusting her crossbow to shoot another bubble into the board, getting the blue bubble between a second blue bubble and a yellow bubble.

As for Penny, she was struggling to find her matching bubble as she shot to the side to take care of later (getting a red bubble to match with three others to get rid of them quickly) before finally getting an orange bubble. The raven haired African American girl sighed in relief as she shot the orange bubble towards some matching ones near the bomb bubble. As expected, the bomb exploded once the match was made, clearing a section of the board for her.

Penny licked her lips as she felt more than determined to keep an eye out for more matches as she looked around, more than determined to clear her board out as fast as she could. However, she noted that her board was starting to go a little faster. She yelped, realizing that the bubbles she shot earlier to find the matching one was costing her as some rows of bubbles were being added. In a hurry, she had to find matches to prevent the board from reaching any further.

With Pudding, the blonde Mew was having a little difficulty of her own, although she was playing at her own pace. Her board seemed to go faster as well as the monkey Mew did mess up in shooting out bubbles (shooting out a purple bubble in between two blue ones, her aim being off in that aspect, and accidentally blocking a potential match thanks to the edge bouncing her green bubble and sticking it on an orange one). While she did her best to not panic, it did seem a little concerning for the poor Mew.

“Come on, come on…” Pudding said in worry before examining the potential board before spotting another bomb. Her eyes lit up as she aimed her crossbow towards the bomb and shot one of the colored bubbles at it. This caused the bomb bubble to explode, getting rid of a good chunk of bubbles as she noted a good line of red bubbles connected, but not being out. Seeing the potential for a combo, she noticed she had a red bubble in her crossbow next before shooting at the line. This caused most of the board to open up as the line of red bubbles left Pudding’s screen…

Which, unfortunately for Penny, it caused some more bubbles to stack up on her end, getting her screen of bubbles more closer to the bottom as she yelped.

“Ugh, no!” Penny shouted as she tried to find a way to salvage the board… but it was all pointless in the end as once the bubble screen moved down to the bottom… Penny’s screen had turned red.

Pudding gasped as she noted the green ‘WIN’ on her end as she gasped. “YES!”

Penny shut her eyes for a brief moment… before taking a deep breath as she turned towards Pudding with a smile. “Well, congratulations, Pudding. Looks like you got the VIP treatment.”

“I guess I did!” Pudding giggled. “Oh, Ichigo and the other girls will be so excited to be part of this… well, if Ryou is willing to let them leave the restaurant.”

Penny chuckled a bit. “Guess Ryou’s a bit of a serious boss, huh?”

“Yeah, but he has a good heart.” Pudding smiled. “Well, even if he won’t let them go, that’s okay. I can always bring Chowder and a few other friends with me.”

Penny blinked in confusion as she raised an eyebrow. “A few other friends?”

“Let’s just say that… I’m very mysterious in the ways I get my friends…” Pudding gave a small chuckle to herself, causing Penny to look even more confused.

A slight cough grabbed their attention as they turned back to Monika, who gave a nod and smiled at the both of them. “I will admit, it was a little difficult, but you two managed to play good games today. Pudding, as the winner of the first Versus Safe Zone Challenge, you and four other friends will get access to the VIP Rooms in the dome… and that will be right after you get eliminated.”

“That’s fair.” Pudding nodded.

Monika nodded as she turned to Penny. “Penny Proud, you did a good showing, and you certainly proved that you are a good champion in one way, shape or form… and it was close, but you didn’t quite pull it off. But don’t feel bad. You still have your Tournament of Kikai champion status, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess I do have that.” Penny shrugged.

“Well, now that that’s done, I declare the Safe Zone challenge done! You two may return outside to your respective arenas.” Monika nodded as she vanished.

With that, both Pudding and Penny nodded as they exited out of the tent. After giving respectful nods to each other, they turned towards the doors to their respective arenas and headed back in…

(Arena A)

Rewinding back to about a couple minutes before Pudding had entered the Safe Zone, things were still pretty chaotic with the circus items, animals and the fighters in the middle of it all, all the while most of them were looking around warily, wondering when the Core will strike next.

But still, it didn’t deter a certain frog as he was standing on top of a washtub that had appeared with the circus stuff in the area as the frog was busy trying to sing to the audience.

”Laaaargo al factotum della citta largo! La la la la la la la LA! Presto a bottega che l’alba e gia presto! La la la la la la la LA!” Michigan sang out as he was belting out the tune.

Yes, even as Garnet and Treecko were waiting for Pudding, even as Patrick and Mr. Frosty were in their own fight, even as Shun’ei and Francisca were focusing on their fight, even when Scrat was biting lion’s ears and elephants’ trunks just to get at the acorn Rick was holding, and Hector was holding on to a lion with his life, even as Antonov and E. Honda were using the circus items, like the big beach ball to their advantage during their battle and even as Gnasty Gnorc and King Andrias were fighting against Ike and Mythra, Michigan was still out there, belting out tunes.

However, the frog got swiftly ignored with the fighters focusing on their own thing as Ike managed to get a swift combo on Andrias, sending the heavybound newt to stagger down to his feet. Andrias looked up and took a deep breath before getting up to swing towards Ike, only for a familiar red sword to slam into Andrias, throwing fire on the newt. Andrias rubbed his face and turned towards Pyra, who gave a peace sign and a rather innocent giggle.

“Gnasty, help me out here!” Andrias ordered as he turned towards the large gnorc, who was looking over his large club/wand.

“Hang on, hang on… I think I know how to freeze them in their tracks… it’s been a while since I done this spell, so I may be a bit rusty!” Gnasty shouted as he raised his scepter and shot out a beam directly at the two heroes. “HA!”

Ike and Pyra yelped as they ducked to the side to avoid the large beam of magic, which shot directly towards one of the elephants that were holding Rick, Hector and Scrat up, making them getting out of the little stampede they found themselves in a lot easier.

Michigan, noting the events, decided to sing another song. ”The statue got me high, the statue got me high! The monument of granite sent a beam into my eye! The statue made me die! The statue made me die! It took my hand, it killed me and it turned me to the sky!”

Pyra sighed in relief as she turned towards the frog, giving a slight giggle, before feeling an invisible force slap her upside the head. ”Pyra! Focus!”

“I can’t help it, that singing frog is just so adorable!” Pyra smiled as she applauded.

“We’re in the middle of a battle here!” Mythra shouted angrily as Ike and Pyra stayed focus on their foes as Pyra charged forward to slam her sword right at Gnasty, sending the gnorc flying.

“Ugh… you, little lady, are a thorn on my side!” Gnasty growled in anger as he stomped his feet. “And I will NOT tolerate it!”

“Just try and… uh, stop me!” Pyra said in determination as she ran forward, only to trip on a ball and fell down.

Michigan spotted this as he sang once more. ”You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain! Too much love drives a man insane! You broke my will, but what a thrill! Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!”

Pyra couldn’t help but give a small chuckle, as Mythra was heard inside, giving a groan. All of a sudden, Pyra transformed into Mythra once more as she glared at the frog, before pulling out a book from her dress pocket titled ‘Dracula’ (she and Pyra were enjoying some light reading before they were called up for the tournament) as she threw it directly at the frog, hitting him directly.

“There! That should shut you up.” Mythra frowned as she turned her back and shook her head. “And hopefully take this tournament SERIOUSLY… ugh…”

Michigan frowned as he rubbed his head before going to his box and pulling out a large book of his own, titled ‘Return of Dracula’ and threw it directly at Mythra’s head, beaning her down.

Gnasty, stopping his fight to watch the ordeal, gave a smug grin and chuckle as Mythra got up and rubbed her head. She immediately turned and glared at the frog, who just got back up to sing his song. ”I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs! Real nervous but it sure is fun! Come on, baby, drive me crazy! Goodness gracious, great-”

Mythra, getting annoyed, grabbed the frog and stuffed him in the box before shutting it and taping it up before kicking it away, hoping that the box would be sent over the edge… Mythra huffed as she turned her head, ready to fight.

“Right, let’s pick up where we left off!” Mythra said as she turned to Ike, who had King Andrias near the ropes. “Andrias, Gnasty Gnorc, you’re about to meet your end right here and now!”

“Oh, I’m sure…” Andrias rolled his eyes as he swung his sword at Ike, sending him flying towards Mythra. Mythra quickly caught Ike as the two readied their swords for anything. Before Andrias could swing… all of a sudden, he heard his phone ringing, causing most of the fighters in Arena A to stop.

Andrias blinked nervously as he grinned, picking up the phone. “Uh… sorry, I thought I turned this off before I entered… one moment…”

Andrias then answered his cell phone as he raised an eyebrow. “Yes? Oh? Okay, yeah…”

Andrias then turned to Mythra as he handed her his phone. “It’s for you.”

“For me?” Mythra blinked twice as she held the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

”-balls of fire!” A familiar singing frog sounded as Mythra jumped and turned to see that the box, which had NOT been sent over the edge, had some of the tape chewed off by one of the lions as Michigan was now out of the box and talking on a candlestick phone, before hanging up and bowing to his audience.

Mythra narrowed her eyes towards the frog as she heard Pyra giggling. “Awwwww… he’s so adorable when he sings…”

“Yeah, I am SO done with that frog…” Mythra said in annoyance as she turned to Ike. “One minute while I take care of an annoyance?!”

“M-mythra, no, wait!” Ike called out as Mythra started to march over towards the frog as he started to tap his foot, ready to sing once more.

”Yooooooooooooou never know where you’re going ‘til you get there! You never know where you’re going ‘till you get there! The sergeant told us ‘This is it, we shove off in the dark!’ We pulled right into shore again and learned to disembark! Yoooooooooooou never know where you’re going ‘til you get there! You may be off to Egypt or to Nome-!”

Michigan quickly noted an irate Mythra coming his way as he gave a yelp, before spotting two people in the middle of their fight.

Backing up a couple of minutes before Michigan called these two particular fighters up. Mr. Frosty was yelping as he tried to throw some ice blocks directly at Patrick, sliding them towards the starfish as they made direct contact with Patrick, freezing the starfish for a brief moment as he shivered.

“G-g-g-gee, our special guest, Santa, is really pulling out all the stops! His Christmas magic is so c-c-c-cold… I’m shivering!” Patrick said… before getting out of the ice block. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t spread any Christmas cheer around, can we?”

Mr. Frosty twerked a bit a before pulling out another ice block to throw at Patrick, only for Patrick to actively grab the ice block and jump up in the air to slam it directly on Mr. Frosty’s head, causing the walrus-like creature to stumble backwards and fall on his butt. Mr. Frosty quickly recovered as he huffed a bit before leaping up into the air and body slamming directly on Patrick.

“Oooof! Boy, Santa, you really are as…” Patrick grunted as he tried to lift Mr. Frosty up in the air. The pink starfish succeeded before jumping forward and pilediving the small walrus into the ground.

Mr. Frosty then got up as he looked a little more determined than before, taking a deep breath before shooting out some ice breath, stopping the starfish in his tracks as he found himself frozen in a block of ice. Mr. Frosty smiled before jumping up on one of the circus balls and was about to charge towards Patrick for an easy elimination… before hearing a whistle.

Mr. Frosty stopped as he turned to see Michigan motioning over to him. Curious, the small walrus waddled over towards Michigan as he leaned over in curiosity, before Michigan began to whisper in his ear.

At that time, Pudding was just returning with a smile as she climbed back into the ring, Garnet and Treecko noticing.

“So, how did it go?” Garnet asked.

“I was up against Penny in a Puzzle Bobble match. I won the match.” Pudding smiled before turning towards the arena. “Did I miss anything?”

”No… at least, not from what I’ve seen…” Treecko shook her head.

Pudding blinked before looking around herself, before giving a smile. “I guess I can have my fun… hey, what’s the frog doing with the walrus over there?”

Garnet and Treecko turned towards Pudding’s direction as they noticed Michigan whispering to Mr. Frosty. Mr. Frosty just raised an eyebrow, but grinned as he gave a nod. The frog then gave a bow before hopping off as Mr. Frosty climbed up on stage. This caused Shun’ei, Francisca, E. Honda and Antonov to stop fighting as they turned in curiosity, leaving Rick, Hector and Scrat being the only ones to fight amongst the stampede. Or at least, they would have continued had they not heard a surprising sight.

Mr. Frosty coughed a bit as he tapped his foot… before taking a deep breath… and started to sing… in a very beautiful operatic voice. ”He iiiiis an Englishmaaaan…”

Arena 2’s music somehow turned off (much to the fighters’ confusion as they wondered what had happened (not like they could hear the other end anyway)), as Horace quickly put on Gilbert and Sullivan’s final song of the HMS Pinafore as all eyes were now on Arena A, more specifically at Mr. Frosty as he continued to sing.

”Fooooor he himself has said it, and it’s greatly to his credit, that he is an Englishman!”

”That he is an Englishman!” Michigan sang as he stood up, before zipping off.

”For he might have been a Roo-sian, A French or Turk Proo-sian, or perhaps I-Tal-I-An!” Mr. Frosty sang.

As the walrus creature sang, Scrat’s mouth dropped in awe as Rick and Hector blinked twice before rubbing their eyes. King Andrias and Gnasty looked at each other in pure astonishment, Antonov, E. Honda, Francisca and Shun’ei just stared in shock, Ike was looking in concern. As for Garnet, Treecko and Pudding? As if she somehow predicted something like this, Pudding was handing Garnet and Treecko Playbills with pictures depicting Michigan and Mr. Frosty singing together with Patrick and Mythra holding blunt objects behind the two, ready to strike at the two. Garnet took the time to look over the Playbill in awe.

”Or perhaps I-Tal-I-An!” Michigan sang as he rubbed against Mr. Frosty’s body, before zipping away quickly.

At that time, Patrick was recovering as he rubbed his head, before noting Mr. Frosty singing in the center. Forgetting he was battling the walrus creature for a moment, he just clapped and applauded.

Monika joined Xero and Maurice in the announcer’s booth as they were both enjoying popcorn and watching the performance. Monika lowered her eyelids as she shook her head. “So nice to know we have this whole ‘no show numbers’ rule and we don’t enforce it at all.”

“You say something?” Xero asked, turning to Monika in confusion.

Monika could only give a small huff. “Forget it.”

”But in spite of all temptations to belong to other nations, he remains an Englishman!” Mr. Frosty sang as he held a pose. ”Heeeee remaaaains an Eeeeeeeeeeennnnngliiiiiish-”

SLAM!

Mr. Frosty yelped as he weakly sang ”-maaaaaAAAAAAAaaAAaAAaAaAaAnnnnnn…” as he stumbled off the washtub and started to stumble into Patrick’s arms, the starfish catching him.

“Gee, Santa, you don’t look so good. I better get you out of here…” Patrick said before looking over the ropes and putting Mr. Frosty on the top rope. “Here, this’ll make you feel-”

However, Mr. Frosty was too dizzy to sit as he casually fell off the ring and into the portal below.

Mr. Frosty landed in Banjo-Kazooie, at Freezeezy Peak, where he accidentally spooked Wozza the Walrus away from his home.

Mythra’s anger slowly dissipated as she realized what had just happened, before shutting her eyes. “Crap, I hit the wrong one!”

“BOOOOOOO!” Rick called out as the hamster narrowed his eyes. “Ah just found out that one of my node players has a beautiful singing voice, and you hit the poor bloke! BOO!”

Mythra’s eyes shrank as she noted everybody, not just Rick, but the arena, the audience… everyone was glaring at her.

“Wow, and they call ME the bad guy!” King Andrias called out.

“Now wait a minute! You all know I’m trying to get rid of this singing frog, right?! Ike, you can back me up, come on!” Mythra said as she pointed to Michigan… who was now standing like a regular frog… as he croaked. Mythra narrowed her eyes at the frog. “Oh, you little- you can’t just pretend to be nonchalant or a regular frog about it now!”

”Well… you did hit an innocent victim and get annoyed by someone just singing their heart out, Mythra.” Pyra sheepishly called out.

“Oh, don’t YOU start!” Mythra frowned.

Pudding crossed her arms as she shook her head in pity. “Poor Mythra. Getting the crowd to hate somebody all because of one accident with a frog.”

Mythra then looked around as she pointed to the frog in anger. “You ALL seen this frog singing and dancing, right?! You all know that is annoying!”

Silence remained as Mythra’s eyes went bloodshot. She immediately turned to the announcer’s booth as she called out, “If you’re telling them to do this as part of a stupid joke, tell them to STOP!”

“Stop what?” Xero asked in confusion.

“Yeah, clearly we have no idea what you mean.” Maurice shrugged.

Mythra growled as she slapped her forehead. “Forget it! I’m getting rid of that stupid frog now!”

“Ribbit…” Michigan croaked before one of the light fixtures from the stadium fell off and hit Mythra on the head, causing the girl to yelp as she fell directly to the floor. Mythra growled in anger as she got up and narrowed her eyes.

Michigan, noting the angry expression on her face, quickly put on his hat as he started to sing again. ”Everybody do the Michigan Rag! Everybody likes the Michigan Rag! Every Mame and Jane and Ruth, from Weehawken to Duluth…”

Mythra then started to rush forward to try to slash at the frog as Michigan continued to sing, chasing him around the ring, including Michigan hopping on one of the circus balls and riding along it, then swinging around on the trapeze and dancing on a lion. During that time, the Core tentacles had came out, but somehow, Mythra and Michigan were dancing around them as Mythra slashed directly at the Core tentacles, causing the Core to wince in pain before retracting.

”Slide, ride, fly to Michigan; Stomp, romp, hop to Michigan; Jump, hop, up to Michigan Rag!” Michigan sang as he neared himself to the edge, before stopping himself short as he stepped back. Mythra, still angry, had all eyes on Michigan, despite not noticing what was in front of her. ”That loving RAAAAAAAAAAAG!”

”Mythra, wait!” Pyra called out as Mythra felt herself about to transform to save Mythra.

“Hey, Pyra, NO! Don-” Mythra shouted as her body got enveloped in a white light.

At that time, the transforming body tripped on Michigan’s body as they were sent falling out of the ring. By the time Pyra was able to materialize into herself, she couldn’t find the time to recover as she fell directly into the portal below.

Pyra landed in Transformers, where she had to sit down on a bench and pout as Mythra was berating her for ruining her moment. She could only give a small sigh as she shook her head, knowing Mythra was PRETTY ticked…

Michigan held his heart as he started to pant heavily, before taking off the mucus from his brow. “Whew… and I thought THAT was a show stopper…”

Michigan sighed in relief before taking a deep breath, before closing his eyes as he turned to the audience, in an attempt to wow them. Ike, watching everything, just groaned as he held his head.

“For goodness sakes, Mythra, this is what your stubbornness gets you…” Ike said as he walked over to the frog.

”With someone like you, a pal good and true, I’d like to leave it all behind, and go and find-” Michigan started to sing, before Ike just lifted the frog gently and put him in his box before shutting it, causing Michigan to protest. “Wh- hey! I wasn’t done! I had like, a good million songs with me! You saw how I eliminated that transforming woman with just one! Come on, I-”

Ike silently just tossed the box containing Michigan in it as it went directly down in the portal below.

(Peach Creek)

Over at his home, Eddy was looking over plans for the perfect scam as he stuck his large tongue out with a big chuckle. “Oh boy… with all this planning I have to do… I just got the perfect scam! Boy, will Double D and Ed be impressed with this…” The young preteen frowned. “If only they weren’t at that tournament right now… ugh, I hate it when my parents have to hold me back all because of a little prank I caused to the phone lines…”

All of a sudden, a familiar green box slammed into Eddy’s head as the male growled in anger as he narrowed his eyes. “WHO THREW THAT! Kevin, if this is you, I AM-”

But, much to the boy’s confusion, nobody was there as he looked over at the box in confusion. At that moment, Michigan hopped out of the box, with his hat and cane at the ready as he began to sing.

”Hello, my baby, hello, my honey, hello, my ragtime gal!”

Eddy stared in awe before realizing he was looking at something real. Dollar signs appeared in his eyes, as he quickly put the singing frog back in his box and sneakily carried him to town… little realizing that in the next ten minutes, he was about to be humiliated…

(Announcer’s Booth)

Xero heard the phone ring as he picked it up.

“Xero… what the FUCK is this section?” Ashley’s voice asked in pure bewilderment.

“At least we got eliminations out of it, you can’t complain about the results!” Xero argued as he held his head. “Besides, I’m still bewildered at Mr. Frosty’s beautiful operatic voice… who knew he had such good singing lungs?”

(Arena A)

Ike just gave a sigh of relief as he turned back to everyone, who had just stayed silent throughout the whole thing. “Well? Isn’t this a fighting tournament? Shouldn’t we be… I don’t know… FIGHTING?!”

The people in Arena A looked at each other with pure bewilderment, before chuckling sheepishly. Ike then readied his sword as he looked over towards Gnasty and King Andrias, ready to strike.

“Before you do anything!” Monika called out as she appeared on the monitors once more as the wheels appeared. The people of Arena A didn’t need to check Arena 2’s wheel since they heard the announcements over at the Announcer’s Booth. “Ten eliminations have been done, so it’s time, once again, to spin the wheels! Let’s see what stage changes we can expect!”

Everybody just watched as the wheels began to spin respectively before landing on Garnet and Tron respectively.

Pudding’s eyes lit up as she turned to the tall woman. “You have a stage choice?”

“It did take me a little time to think about it, and while it’s not much, I decided to do Sky Arena from Multiversus… it may be Pearl’s training spot in our world, but it does hold significance for us Multiversus fighters.” Garnet explained.

“Sky Arena, huh?” Treecko asked as the stage immediately glitched up to include some statues of tall Crystal Gem like warriors holding swords, pillars with symbols on them, and the ropes around the arena had disappeared. Treecko raised an eyebrow. ”What happened to the ropes?”

“I don’t know what you just said, but judging from your surprised reaction, the ropes have been taken away… per my suggestion for the stage request. After all, the Sky Arena didn’t have the ropes, so I wanted to at least remain faithful to what Pearl would have wanted.” Garnet explained.

“So… without the ropes, it would be easier for fighters to throw people out of the ring!” Ike snapped his fingers as he turned to King Andrias and Gnasty Gnorc with a dark expression on his face. “Good to know…”

Gnasty and Andrias only stood firm as they held their weapons. Everybody else turned to each other and nodded as they noted that even with the ropes gone, and the circus animals and items still around, along with the Core striking any moment, they knew things would just get more chaotic.

(Arena 2)

Let’s cut back to the second arena, about during the time after Horace shut off the music and turned on the HMS Pinafore song. Everyone looked up at it in confusion just as Penny Proud had climbed back into the ring.

“What’s going on?” Penny asked. “What happened to Hugo’s stage music?”

“I don’t know, but whatever’s going on over there doesn’t really affect us.” Mewtwo sighed before turning to her. “So, how did everything go?”

“Well, uh…” Penny chuckled nervously. “Let’s just say that if you would have benefitted from this challenge, considering you WERE the final boss in one of these things…”

“Oh, like one of those Puzzle League boards?” Mewtwo asked.

“Ehhh… Bust-A-Move, actually, but accurate…” Penny said as the lights turned off once more.

Despite the music being turned off, and the attention wasn’t quite on them at the moment, it didn’t stop the fighters from this arena from fighting as each of them were continuing to battle to the best of their abilities.

Temjin laughed as he dodged another disc thrown from Tron, before rushing forward and lifting the A.I. up before piledriving Tron down to the ground.

“Oof…” Tron groaned before getting up as he felt his body being sore. “I never figured my A.I. body would be used to pain, especially outside the Grid.”

Temjin chuckled as he crossed his arms. “That’s just how you know I’m very good at my skills!”

Tron shook his head as he tried to shake off the pain. “Well, they are good skills, I will admit…”

Temjin gave a hearty laugh. “You are quite the smart program, aren’t ya? Let’s continue!”

Tron gave a small yelp as Temjin charged forward with a grab, only for the A.I. to dodge to the side before raising his hand. “Running executable!”

A small lightning bolt came down from out of nowhere to strike Temjin on the forehead, causing Temjin to yelp as he got electrocuted. Noting that the Mongolian warrior was down, Tron sent out another disc and threw it like a boomerang, clobbering Temjin on the head.

Temjin shook his head before cracking his knuckles, recovering from the blow. “Oh ho ho! You think you’re clever with your sneaky magic? Get a load of what a REAL warrior can do!”

With that, Temjin charged directly towards Tron and sent out a wave of blue energy from the ground, knocking Tron off his game. At that time, the lights immediately turned off, but the darkness didn’t stop Temjin from making a blind leap…

CLANG!

When the lights came back on, Tron was just getting up, but looked rather surprised as he saw Temjin body slamming Big Band as the jazzy band detective shook the large man off. Garbodor, who had recently been fighting, looked a bit troubled.

”Hey! That’s my opponent!” Garbodor protested before sending out a Gunk Shot towards Temjin, causing the Mongolian warrior to wretch himself in the stench, getting off of Big Band and backing away…

…right into Wolf and Shingo’s fight as Temjin accidentally brushed against Wolf’s body, getting himself knocked into Shingo’s fist. Wolf immediately turned around and glared at the dizzy Temjin as he gave a growl.

“You have made ONE mistake…” Wolf said as he looked ready to body the dizzy Mongolian warrior.

“Before you do anything!” Monika called out as she appeared on the monitors once more as the wheels appeared. “Ten eliminations have been done, so it’s time, once again, to spin the wheels! Let’s see what stage changes we can expect!”

Everybody in Arena 2 (except for Wolf, Temjin, The Panda King, Bark, Chowder and Django) turned their attention towards the wheels, looking over towards the first wheel to note Mr. Frosty, Pyra/Mythra and Michigan’s absences… alongside the fact that the music for Hugo’s stage had come back on for them. Some of the others assumed whatever happened involved Michigan J. Frog, but they figured they could watch the replays later.

For now, the wheels had spun, and while the first wheel landed on Garnet, the other wheel landed directly on Tron.

Tron looked up with a small smile as he looked at a few fighters. “You guys are in for a good treat…”

“Why’s that?” Shingo asked, thankfully distracting himself from the battle as Wolf was too busy punching Temjin down.

“Well, my stage change wasn’t really much, but I figured it could help out fighting in the dark a few times if possible… just watch…” Tron said as he noted the stage beginning to glitch in and out.

Sure enough, as soon as the glitchiness finished, a few blue motorcycles were seen driving around as Launchpad’s eyes lit up. “Oh my gosh, is that a Lightcycle?!”

Tron chuckled. “I figured, if anybody was interested in using them during their battle, you can’t go wrong with a Lightcycle!”

Lily’s eyes shrank as she turned to the computer A.I. “Uh, Tron, not that we aren’t grateful for this, but you realize you put vehicles in the same section as THIS guy, right?”

Tron looked over to see Launchpad hopping on one of the Lightcycles as he was trying to steer the Lightcycle. “How do you make this thing turn?”

Tron’s eyes shrank down as he realized what was about to happen. “Oh no… Launchpad, WAIT!”

But just like that, Launchpad had already turned the Lightcycle so hard that it aimed directly at Tron and sent the computer A.I. flying directly out of the ring and into the portal below.

Tron landed in Mega Man, where he was treated greatly by Dr. Light.

Lily gave a small sigh as she shook her head. “Somehow, I knew this would happen…”

“You knew this EXACT scenario would happen?” Shingo asked in confusion as the two of them watched Launchpad zip around the vehicle, crashing ALL of the zipping Lightcycles, destroying all of them in one fell swoop somehow.

“Not the EXACT scenario, but I had a bad feeling something would happen in this part of the arena specifically…” Lily explained as everyone was ducking out of the way to avoid a driving Launchpad.

At the same time, Wolf charged forward and headbutted the dizzy Temjin as the Mongolian warrior fell on the ground. Wolf gave a small chuckle to himself as he looked ready to charge up another move. “And now, the coup de resistance!”

Wolf laughed before charging forward and was about to unleash another attack… or it could have been had Launchpad not crashed right into Wolf, sending him flying towards an unsuspecting Garbodor.

Even the trash Pokemon didn’t see it coming as once Wolf’s full frontal force of the attack, combined with Launchpad launching Wolf off, hit Garbodor, the garbage heap creature was knocked off balance as he tripped over the ropes and fell down to the portal below.

Garbodor landed in Super Mario Galaxy, in Dreadnought where a droid was trying to take care of the garbage. The trash heap Pokemon didn’t help the poor droid with littering ITS garbage everywhere.

Wolf groaned a bit as he rubbed his head, before noticing a weird smell. He quickly smelled himself, before wretching at the stench. “UGH! Great, now my suit smells all weird from that funky Pokemon! Ugh, I’m going to need a long shower after I get out of here…”

He then heard the sound of snickering as he turned around. Wolf narrowed his eyes towards Shingo Yabuki, who had started to snicker at Wolf’s shenanigans. The leader of StarWolf growled in anger. “Oh, you think that’s funny, huh? Come here! Let’s see how much you laugh!”

Lily decided it was wise to get away from the crossfire and go check up on Launchpad, who had just crashed the final Lightcycle of the game and was now struggling to get up from the ground. Monika, Xero and Maurice blinked as they noted all the Lightcycles were now scrap metal as the lights switched off for a few seconds in Arena 2’s side.

“Well… so much for a Lightcycle battle…” Xero chuckled nervously.

“Well… at least they can use the scrap metal for the Lightcycles as weapons.” Maurice chuckled nervously.

The Panda King quickly took a deep breath as he held up his hand, engulfing it in flames. “BOOMING CHOP!”

The large panda then swung his fist in a karate-like style at Bark, only for the polar bear to swing backwards to avoid the swipe. Once he had done that, Bark decided to leap forward by slamming his fists on the Panda King’s head, causing the large panda’s head to expand itself a bit. The Panda King quickly shook his head to get it back to normal before looking down towards the determined looking bear.

“You are quite the formidable opponent…” The Panda King said as the arena went dark once more. “But even with the lights off and the music playing, I will not let these distractions get to me…”

“I ain’t lowering my guard down either!” Bark laughed before wildly flailing his fists around, hitting the Panda King for whatever good it would do him. But it was working as the Panda King was slowly getting over to the edge of the pirate ship, more specifically, near the plank.

However, the Panda King noted that he was getting close to the plank before using his big belly to slam Bark away from himself. This gave the Panda King ample time to recover before jumping in the air to send out more fireballs the polar bear’s way.

Bark shook his head and got up just as a fireball grazed his head. Narrowing his eyes, Bark rushed forward and avoided all the fireballs he could before leaping forward and grabbing the Panda King’s fist, before lifting him up in the air and slamming him directly on the ground. The Panda King grunted before getting up as he shook his head and narrowed his eyes, before raising both his palms in the air.

“PALMS OF… THUNDER!” The Panda King shouted before slamming his palms on the ground, shaking Bark off-kilter. The polar bear quickly recovered as he took a deep breath.

“Ugh… that’s the trouble of holding back and being gentle… it can get you in trouble…” Bark groaned before rushing forward and using his legs to swing at the Panda King, delivering a good old fashioned kangaroo kick.

However, the Panda King thought ahead as he held a pose. “FIERY WHEEL!”

Bark yelped as the Panda King spun around, a shield of fire surrounding him as he felt the burning sensation in his feet. This gave the Panda King an ample opportunity to grab him.

“You are quite the honorable opponent… however, I believe I have fared better than you. If next we meet, you try not to hold back your true strength.” The Panda King wisely said to a struggling Bark before tossing him off the ship, thusly, sending the polar bear out of the ring and into the portal below.

Bark landed in Bambi, where he took a walk around the forest to enjoy the beautiful landscapes of the world.

The Panda King looked down in silence as he gave a small salute to his fellow opponent, before hearing a slight groan. He turned to see that below the ship, Temjin was getting up and rubbing his head. Figuring that he had nothing better to do, the Panda King decided to approach the Mongolian warrior for a battle.

(Hotel; Restaurant)

It had been a good while, but Mike Wazowski gave a groan as he put the cloth in the wet bucket before looking around. As of right now, the restaurant had been neatly all cleaned up as Wilt, Eduardo, Coco and Mac had joined him. “Okay… that should be everything all… cleaned up…

“Yeah, as if the whole fight never happened…” Mac sighed. “Doesn’t help that I had to do Bloo’s dirty work after he ran off…”

“Yeah, as much as I like Bloo, even he’s pushed it a little too far this time.” Wilt rolled his eyes.

“Coco coco coco co.” Coco spoke in curiosity.

“Si, Coco. It is quite the conundrum on why Azul would just run off to find this prankster…” Eduardo said as he put his claw to his chin.

“Because, in Bloo’s mind, he is considered the ultimate prankster.” Mac said before turning to Wilt. “Wilt, you said that you secretly pranked Bloo before…”

“A little unintentionally, and I had Eduardo and Coco helping out, but yes, fair to say I’ve managed to prank Bloo.” Wilt said with a small, secret smile on his face.

“Well, if we all know Bloo, he isn’t going to let up his one-tracked mind until he proves himself the ultimate prankster.” Mac sighed. “And with him trying to hunt down said prankster when we don’t even know who they are… this could only end badly.”

“Well, gee, we can’t run the risk of Bloo doing something stupid to get you and him disqualified from the tournament.” Wilt pointed out.

“Si! We even got permission from Senor Herriman to fly out here to support mi amigos!” Eduardo pointed out.

“Coco coco coco!” Coco said in a determined voice as her eyes shifted to determination.

“Then the search for Bloo is on… the only problem is, he could be ANYWHERE…” Mac groaned.

“Hey, uh, mind if I tag along with all of ya? I’m not due in the ring for a rather long time, and after that whole mess in the kitchen… I’m not gonna lie, I kinda want to look for that mysterious prankster myself…” Mike frowned as he curled his fist up. “Let’s just say, I have a LOT on my mind…”

Mac, Wilt, Eduardo and Coco looked at each other for a brief moment, before giving nods to themselves as Wilt turned to the short, green monster with one eye. “Sure, Mr. Wazowski. I think we’re going to need all the help we can get…”

“Ahem…”

The five stopped talking as they turned to see Ryou and Mung approaching as Ryou looked around the area. “Well, it would seem that you guys got everything good…”

“I guess all of you are free to go… but a warning for the future… DON’T be making a mess in the kitchen and dining rooms!” Mung said with a frown on his face. “The restaurant is a beautiful place to hang out, not a place to fight willy nilly!” Mung pointed out.

“Not what the last UVR styled tournaments showed us.” Mike muttered as he and the others nodded towards the kitchen runners before heading outside.

“All right, Mac, where do you think Bloo would go if he was to find this prankster?” Wilt asked.

“Well, it’s a little early to be going to the Eliminated Seating, so… he’d probably wander around and find people scattered around.” Mac said. “Fighters that haven’t entered the ring yet…”

“So, somewhere like the arcade or the pool?” Mike asked as he paused to think. “I have to admit, that DOES sound logical…”

“Uh, I say we check the pool first… see if anybody’s seen Azul…” Eduardo suggested.

“Coco co…” Coco nodded.

“Yeah, that could work.” Wilt nodded.

“Good idea, Ed. All right, I guess if there’s nothing else to do, we’ll move out!” Mac said as the five people started to walk off, leaving behind four watching Mew Mews.

“Oh boy…” Ichigo sighed. “I don’t know what’ll happen, but I have a feeling things aren’t going to end well…”

“What makes you say that?” Mint asked, turning to Ichigo in curiosity.

“I don’t know, just a… theory…” Ichigo said as she looked over towards her friends, all of them having the same thoughts.

(Dome; Crowd Entrance L)

Over near the entrance of one of the stairs leading upstairs to the audience seats of the tournament, Molly was standing next to the stairs as she tapped her foot in worry. She looked over at her phone as she gave a sigh. She had sent Scratch over to the Recovery Room a little while ago in the hopes that he would pick up Penny and inform her of the happenings, while Molly would gather up her group of friends and explain to them what’s going on. It was a little risky, taking a few characters that weren’t part of the tournament, but it was one she would take.

After a minute, she heard a couple of familiar voices from up above as she gave a grin. “Down here!”

After a moment, three humans, near or around the same age as Molly came down as they looked over to Molly with smiles before one of them looked at her with curiosity, questions surrounding her head. Said person with questions was a female brown haired girl, a year younger than Molly. She wore a green turtleneck sweater, with olive green pants with a tear on the left knee, and gray shoes. This was Libby Stein-Torres, Molly’s best friend.

The second figure to come down was a young brown-haired mail male around Molly’s age, wearing a white shirt, blue jacket, grey trousers and purple shoes. This was Oliver Chen, Molly’s boyfriend.

“Libby, Ollie, glad to see you guys got here!” Molly smiled as the two came down.

“When we got your text, we knew we had to come down.” Ollie smiled as he raised an eyebrow. “So, you say Scratch has found something important about the winners of the past UVR tournaments?”

“Well, just that after a certain tournament, the winner of the last one holds an amount of power or something… and that someone is my BFFFOOW, Penny Proud!” Molly explained.

“BFFFOMW?” Libby blinked twice as Ollie raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah, that would be ‘Best Friend From Out of World’.” Molly smiled big. “Anyway, Scratch went to the Recovery Room to wait for her… but I don’t really know for how long.”

“Yeah, considering the nature of these types of tournaments, she could go either way.” Libby paused.

“Anyway, I need you two and Darryl here with me to meet up with Penny.” Molly explained, before pausing. “Where is Darryl, anyway?” She slapped her forehead. “Don’t tell me he’s in one of his scamming moods…”

“I’m here, I’m here…” A male voice called out as they turned to see one more person coming down. “Sorry, Libby said to distract a certain blue haired girl with my…” Said person rolled his eyes. “‘Convincing ways’...” He smirked. “Not that I blame her, of course.”

Molly rolled her eyes as she and her two friends looked over towards said person. This was a young boy, about a couple years younger than Molly. He was wearing a khaki jacket over an orange hoodie, blue and gray pants, white socks and blue sandals. This was Darryl McGee, Molly’s younger brother.

“So, what’s this I hear about your best friend from another world being in danger?” Darryl asked in curiosity.

Molly took a deep breath. “Okay, so I think due to the nature that these tournaments provide, and from what I’ve heard from a certain friend, Penny managed to get a supercharged soul during her tenure in the Tournament of Kikai a couple years back.”

“Kind of hard to believe…” Libby raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe so, but keep in mind, if there is a person that has untapped potential within them, that means they could be easy targets for a villain to capture.” Molly explained. “And if Penny gets captured with the knowledge of the supercharged soul in mind… the multiverse could be in danger.”

Ollie’s eyes widened as Libby and Darryl looked at him with equal concern. Ollie coughed before nodding, “All right, all right, I guess we can understand, but… what could WE possibly bring to the table?”

“No offense, Molly, but even though Scratch and the other ghosts are supernatural… we’re not exactly from a cartoon with action.” Libby pointed out.

“True, true… BUT… we have an advantage over a lot of other villains.” Molly explained. “Because except for Scratch, none of the other members of our node got invited… which means we’ll be the perfect cover. Libby, do you still have the book about ghosts and how they work?”

Libby smiled as she pulled out a large book. “I brought it with me before I left.”

“Ollie, did you manage to sneak off with the tech that can make a ghost portal?” Molly said as she turned to her boyfriend.

Oliver gave a grin as he pulled out a small device. “You have NO idea how much work my parents have done in an attempt to find ghosts… seriously, I’ve seen them interacting with the Fentons a few times.”

“I can see why Danny would be nervous around them…” Molly shuddered a bit before giving a nod. “All right, well, it’s good to have backup just in case.”

“But how would being wraiths help us?” Libby asked in curiosity.

“Who cares? I personally wouldn’t mind being a wraith again! That time was fun!” Darryl smirked as he crossed his arms… before frowning. “Until it became apparent that it wasn’t fun… but eh… yeah, it was fun.”

“Needless to say, with a secret weapon, and the fact that we’re NOT contestants in the main tournament gives us a good advantage. And even if Scratch has to do the tournament, we’ll still be here to help out Penny if we need to.” Molly smirked. “Kind of like an entourage if you will…”

Libby bit her lip nervously. “I don’t know about this…”

“Awwww, come on, Libs, it’s not like we’re going to be facing imminent danger right away!” Molly smiled. “Besides, we’re just going to make sure Penny sticks with us after Scratch lets her know about his theory?”

“Do you think Penny will believe it?” Darryl asked.

“She IS a champion, and considering she knows Haohmaru and the others, chances are, she knows that being champion can be pretty dangerous.” Molly nodded. “As her entourage, we’re going to make sure Penny is safe from harm.”

Darryl, Libby and Ollie paused briefly as each of them gave smiles. Libby nodded. “All right, we’ll do it!”

“Great! Then let’s get to the Recovery Room as fast as we can and wait for our star to arrive there.” Molly smiled as she was about to leave… when all of a sudden, she yelped as someone jumped in, holding her phone close to her as said person gave a smile.

“You heard my best friend!” The blue haired girl, around the same age as Molly, wearing a pink hoodie, a lavender skirt held by a purple belt, maroon leggings and gray boots smiled as she winked towards her phone. “Fandreas, I’m about to join the entourage in meeting with the champion herself, Penny Proud! She is an inspiration to all girls everywhere… and very cool!”

“ANDREA?!” Molly’s eyes widened. “Where did you even-”

“Your brother’s a good kisser, I’ll admit that, BUT it wasn’t enough to make me notice he and the others left their seats.” Andrea said as she put her phone down before winking at Darryl, who blushed furiously. “We’ll have a private conversation later…”

Darryl chuckled nervously as Libby, Ollie and Molly stared at him wide-eyed. Darryl quickly said, “I didn’t have time to think of a quick scam, so I did the first thing I thought of.”

“The first thing you thought of was to KISS Andrea?!” Molly said in shock, before smiling. “First of all, awwww. Second of all…” Molly glared at him. “WHAT?!”

“How much of our conversation did you hear?” Libby asked in confusion as Andrea put her phone away.

“Only the part where you said we’re going to be Penny Proud’s entourage, and I am ALL in for an entourage!” Andrea smiled, before waving her hands. “Like, come on, put a leg in it! We’re going to the Recovery Room, aren’t we?!”

With that, Andrea started to walk off as the four kids looked at each other as Molly yelped.

“Well… this just got interesting…”

(Arena A)

Shun’ei slowly took a deep breath before looking up towards his opponent. Francisca, the floating Ice Mage, giggled as she waved her large staff and sent a flurry of ice straight forward towards the young man. Shun’ei quickly responded by swinging his hand, summoning a red fiery hand to slam away the icicles heading for him and breaking them in two. Once he had done so, he ran forward and comboed Francisca before knocking her upwards towards the ceiling.

Francisca shook her head as she held her ice ax, flying forwards. “It seems to me that the man has claws!”

Shun’ei smirked as he flexed a bit. “Got to keep up with the big leagues if I’m going to show off how I’m the best!”

“Such cockiness, and yet I cannot help but admire the determination.” Francisca said in a cool disposition before floating in a still formation. “No matter. The more time we spend on this pointless chatter and distractions, the more time we stand around without an elimination to our names. So one of us should finish this!”

“And it’s going to be me!” Shun’ei declared as he jumped up and ran forward before using his giant hands to slap the floating female mage around.

Francisca felt the blows coming from Shun’ei’s large elemental hands as fire and water combined were taking her off her game. Although she quickly recovered as she pulled out a super soaker, and shot a stream of water upward. The water zigged and zagged around until it knocked Shun’ei off his feet.

Shun’ei quickly got up and shook his head before narrowing his eyes. Shun’ei then engulfed both his arms with fire and water before leaping up in the air and punched Francisca with his water arm, causing the Mage sister to stumble backwards. The young lady only chuckled before swinging her ax right at Shun’ei, causing the man to back away a few inches from the ax as it slammed directly to the ground.

Not too far away, deciding that standing around was starting to get a little boring (and because Treecko/Willow wanted a little action), Garnet, Pudding and Treecko have decided to team up with Ike in hopes of taking down Gnasty and King Andrias as Ike ran forward and clashed swords with the newt king.

“I will admit, Ike, you’ve really picked up after more allies came to your aid.” King Andrias said as he looked over and smirked. “Though the Crystal Gem may be more of a threat, I fail to see how a little lizard AND a little girl could try and best me in combat.”

Ike groaned as he looked behind him to see that Pudding was currently climbing into a cannon, carrying a protesting Treecko with her as Ike gave a shake of his head. “You just watch. I admire that you stayed as long as possible, but this is your final curtain call!”

“You keep saying that, but so far, you haven’t had the best of luck this round.” King Andrias said as he turned to see Garnet had knocked Gnasty Gnorc near the edge of the ring. “And with no ropes to save you, and the Core coming in every so often… let’s face it, these ring differences seem to be hurting you…”

Ike growled angrily before swinging his sword once more and tripping up Andrias.

Garnet was just about to deliver the finishing blow to Gnasty, and would have done so as well had Gnasty not recovered quickly and waved his club to summon another electrical bolt at the Crystal Gem. That one bolt of electricity was more than enough to topple Garnet a bit as she gave a small grunt, going down on one knee. “Ugh…”

“What’s the matter, getting fatigued already?” Gnasty laughed. “You HAVE been in two sections, and… what is this, your third? If I can take YOU out, that’ll put me on the top for sure!”

Garnet grunted a bit as she tried to get up as she narrowed her three eyes towards the large gnorc. “I’ve still got enough strength… so don’t get too cocky.”

“Like you’re in a position to talk, missy!” Gnasty laughed before rushing forwards and tackling Garnet down to the ground.

Pudding peeked out from the cannon as Treecko looked a bit worried about her situation. Pudding took a deep breath as she pulled out a match and lit the cannon’s fuse. “We better save Garnet from certain doom before Gnasty decides to not follow the Final Voting Results.”

”May I ask WHY we’re in a cannon?” Treecko asked. ”I know it’s all part of the circus theming from YOUR stage change, but do we really need to use it?”

“Yes, Willow! Besides, I love the idea of shooting myself out of a cannon! It’s pretty fun!” Pudding giggled as she hugged Treecko tightly. “FIRE!”

”Is it a bad time to point out you have the cannon facing the wrong-” Treecko tried to say, but the fuse disappeared and…

KABOOM!

The cannon fired as Treecko and Pudding were sent flying… not towards Garnet and Gnasty Gnorc, but… to another fight entirely…

The loud sound of the kaboom managed to catch both Francisca and Shun’ei’s attention as they turned their heads… and gave loud screams of terror as they stood there, frozen, rather than moving out of the way like smart people.

Treecko had somehow managed to slam Francisca with enough force that she got sent flying straight out of the ring, and at around the same time, Pudding slammed right into Shun’ei, the recent King of Fighters protagonist stumbling as he fell directly out of the ring and into the portal below.

Both Francisca and Shun’ei landed in Rollercoaster Tycoon, where they managed to land themselves on a working rollercoaster, just as the ride began to fall from the highest height. While Shun’ei was having the time of his life, Francisca felt herself ready to barf.

Pudding groaned as she rubbed her head before getting up and shaking it, before realizing what had just happened, before giving a groan. “I was wondering who was going to get eliminations by accident this round… can’t believe I’m one of them…”

She turned to Treecko as the wood gecko got up and shook herself. Treecko grunted before turning towards Pudding with a glare. ”Maybe we should just split up and help another player? You help out Ike with the newt king, and I’ll help Garnet with that gnorc?”

“...I’m not sure what you said, but I think I’ll just help out Ike with that newt king. Think you can help Garnet out with that gnorc?” Pudding asked as she started to rush off.

Treecko blinked twice, before giving a small sigh. ”Not how I wanted my first elimination to go…”

(Arena 2)

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Monika grinned as most eyes turned to her. “We’re almost halfway through the round, and oh boy, we’ve certainly got some good eliminations. But I think it’s time we added another new stage change to the board, so why don’t we spin the wheels.”

“Hopefully, we can get some actual stage changes on our end this time.” Penny said to herself as she looked up at the wheels.

“To be fair, the Lightcycles would have been had it not been for a certain pilot somehow crashing them all.” Mewtwo pointed out.

“Sadly, that is true…” Penny nodded to herself before the others took the time to watch the wheel spin around and around.

Pretty soon, the first wheel landed on Rick’s slice, while the second wheel landed on Shingo’s slice respectively.

Shingo’s eyes lit up as he clapped his hands. “Sweet! I was hoping for a good stage choice!”

“Oh brother.” Wolf rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, a shrine of Kyo?”

Shingo narrowed his eyes at the lupine, as the arena glitched up a bit… before the floor changed to that of a wooden brick-like format, with some statues and lanterns strewn around the arena, the lanterns lighting up.

“What is this supposed to be?” Wolf asked, looking around in confusion.

“Well, I suppose this is what the Japan stage in King of Fighters 2003 looks like… but I guess it had little to work with, so they took a few aspects from the stage.” Shingo pointed out just as the arena went dark once more…

Interestingly though, the lanterns didn’t turn off as the arena was still somewhat seen. After a few seconds, the lights went back on once more as Shingo gave a slight chuckle. “I guess that does fix the darkness problem here, though…”

Wolf blinked twice, before facepalming. “Wow, just when I thought you couldn’t get any worse…”

“Hey!” Shingo frowned before getting into a fighting stance. “My stage choice was a good idea… it just got caught in a little bad luck, that’s all! Never mind! I don’t need the stage choice to show you how tough I’ve been training!”

Wolf laughed as he readied himself. “We’ll just see about that…”

(Arena A)

All the while, the stage had glitched out as a large tree with a face suddenly appeared in the center of the ring. Rick looked up and gasped.

“Blimey! Looks like Whispy Woods is making his debut!” Rick pointed out as the tree began to shake. “Look out, mates! That tree can cause a lot of trouble if you don’t know what ya doin’! Not only that, but it can send apples down towards ya OR blow you away… and with no ropes… crikey, we may be in trouble!”

Rick opened his eyes and noted that everybody else was a little too… preoccupied to notice Whispy. Rick gave a small sigh. “Why do Ah feel like Ah’m talkin’ to myself…”

Just then, a loud scream was heard as Scrat came in and slammed Rick with a kick to the face, causing the acorn to fall from Rick’s paws. Scrat’s eyes lit up as he tried to catch the acorn as best as he could, only to find himself blocked. The sabertoothed squirrel then looked up to see that Hector had stood in front of him, only thanks to him noticing that the Safe Zone was up for grabs, he went in and got a new suit as he flexed it about.

Rick looked up and gave a smirk as he admired the iron-looking suit the bulldog was wearing. “Blimey, mate, an Iron Mutt like suit? I gotta hand it to ya, mate, you look positively dashing in that!”

Hector could only give a robotic chuckle before doing a ‘oh, stop it’ gesture with his hand.

Scrat could only blink twice at the robotic dog, before twitching his eye a bit, looking rather defeated… before shaking his head as he tried to run for the acorn, but Hector quickly grabbed the squirrel and held up up in the air.

“Hey, mate, aim him at Whispy over there! Maybe the wind will take him away, eh?” The hamster quickly suggested.

Hector nodded eagerly as he circled his fist around and punched Scrat up in the air. Scrat gave out a loud scream as he was flying up in the air and looked ready to crash right into Whispy.

SLAM!

The tree didn’t take kindly to the sabertooth squirrel poking it in the eye as Scrat pulled himself away from the tree. Scrat quickly shook his head before looking up towards the tree as it started to send bouncing apples his way.

The sabertooth squirrel then let out a large scream before running away as the apples were somehow following him as he rushed past Rick and Hector.

Both hamster and dog looked incredulously confused at the turn of events, before Rick realized the apples were heading straight for the two. “Oy, mate, no time to get confused, let’s beat it!”

Hector quickly agreed as the three animals were now running away from the rogue apples that bounced around. Not helping the cause was the Core tentacles coming back once more to mess things up as they sent the apples flying towards a few of the lions as they slammed directly towards them. The lions stood at attention before noticing the hamster, dog and sabertooth squirrel running past. Letting out a roar, the lions began to chase them as Scrat looked back.

Scrat let out another panicked scream before facing forward and running faster, trying to get to safety as soon as possible. He quickly noticed the ladder and diving board as he started to run up the ladder. Rick, noting Scrat climbing up, quickly turned to Hector. “Hey, mate, I think the small bloke has the right idea! Come on, let’s climb up!”

Hector nodded as he and Rick started to climb up the ladder leading up to the high dive board, following the small sabertooth squirrel. Much to the surprise of everyone watching Arena A, the lions had begun to climb up the ladder too, following the three fighters.

Pretty soon, all of them were at the high dive board as Scrat, Rick and Hector stopped short as they reached the edge. They immediately turned to see a lot of the lions were about to climb up as Rick gulped. “Well, mates, looks like we’re in a big heap of trouble! I don’t think we have any choice… but to jump to that tank of water!”

Scrat and Hector looked over and down as they noted the large tank of water, and looked at each other, before nodding, both agreeing this was for the best. Rick nodded as he grabbed both squirrel and dog’s paws before saying, “All right then, on three! One, two… THREE!”

With that, all three dived straight down as the lions began to follow close behind. With that, the three splashed straight into the water… although this was followed quickly by a dozen lions landing in said tank of water, causing said tank to…

KABOOM!

…fall apart as the water sent all the lions flying out of the ring and just as they were about to touch the portal, they disappeared in a glitchy-like style. As for Rick, Hector and Scrat? Well, the three were in the same position as they were seen heading straight for the portal themselves.

“Oh, bugger me! Can’t believe we’re about to go down like this!” Rick complained as Hector whimpered and covered his eyes.

Scrat whined as he looked back towards the arena… only to see that his acorn was still laying nearby. Getting a wave of determination back in his body, Scrat climbed up to Hector’s head, then jumped right on Rick’s head before making a big leap towards the ring.

“OY!” Rick called back as Scrat reached the edge of the ring, but before Rick could complain any further, both he and Hector went down into the portal below.

Both Rick and Hector landed in Little Island, where Rick decided to relax with the cute animals at the beach, and Hector to whine and bang his fists around like a baby, whining about how he managed to lose to a sabertooth squirrel.

Scrat just gave a small sigh of relief, feeling glad this chaos was over… and now, he was about to be reunited with his acorn as he turned around… only to stop short as he noted Patrick was chewing on the tip of the acorn and balancing it with his tongue.

“Ooooooo… shiny nut…” Patrick said in awe as he was ready to flip it over and munch down on it.

This caused Scrat to angrily yell out in frustration as he jumped up and slammed right into Patrick, the starfish letting out a loud scream as the cycle began anew once more…

(Arena 2)

Oatchi was feeling a little better after Ariel had taken him far away from Django. On the other hand, though, the pup (along with the assorted Pikmin) looked over in worry as they saw Chowder avoiding a fireball coming from Django’s mouth. Oatchi gave a small whine as he looked up towards Ariel.

The red haired girl gave a warm smile towards Oatchi as she comforted the small pup. “Don’t worry, boy. I’m sure Chowder’s going to be okay. That kid, despite being a little annoying, is something else.” Ariel said as she looked over towards the number of fighters left. “Well, I suppose we can’t hang out here forever. Do you want to have a battle?”

Oatchi gave a small woof as he got up, before jumping up and down and barking. The Rock, Ice and Winged Pikmin that were riding him looked ready to exchange blows as well as they jumped up and down on Oatchi. Ariel gave a nod, not surprised to see Oatchi ready for action. “All right then, let’s try and take it easy for our first battle, huh?”

Oatchi pawed the ground twice before charging over and ramming Ariel in the mermaid tail, sending a horde of Pikmin off his body and onto hers, as they attempted to beat the woman down. Ariel gave a small grunt as she tried to struggle, only to feel the immense impact of the Ice Pikmin’s beatdown and cold bodies as she was beginning to feel frozen herself…

All of a sudden, Ariel found herself encoated in ice, falling down on the ground momentarily and thankfully landing on the pool of water below her. Unfortunately, it left her open for an attack as Oatchi charged again and rammed at the frozen statue of Ariel. This caused the ice around her to break, sending the Pikmin flying as the arena turned dark. Thankfully, thanks to the lanterns, Oatchi was able to see where the Pikmin were as he began to whistle for them.

Ariel groaned as she rubbed her head, recovering from the blow before turning her head towards Oatchi as she got up. “All right… I don’t want to give it my all on Oatchi… he’s still so adorable, after all…” Ariel took a deep breath as she swam upwards. “Hmmm… it’s a good thing the bunny said it was okay for me to use weapons from my other games!”

With a nod, she pulled out a potion and threw it down on the ground as a barrier of wind began to surround her. She then wagged her tail around to summon multiple bubbles, sending them over to some stray Pikmin as they got engulfed in the bubbles. The Pikmin tapped the bubbles helplessly as they were floating around.

Oatchi noticed and barked as he tried to run over to get the Pikmin out of the bubbles, but it was of little use. It was then Ariel swam forward and grabbed one of the bubbles containing the Pikmin as a Rock Pikmin looked over at her cutely.

“Sorry about this, little guy…” Ariel apologized before throwing the bubble directly at Oatchi. It freed the Pikmin from the bubble, but the effect the bubble had on Oatchi caused the pup to roll over and fall.

Oatchi quickly recovered and barked some more before the yellow pup noted a part of one of the wrecked Lightcycles nearby. He quickly scooped it up in his mouth before spitting it right out at Ariel. The young mermaid didn’t see it coming, but thankfully, the projectile got deflected thanks to the wind shield surrounding Ariel. Oatchi whistled for the last of the nearby Pikmin before bounding forward and throwing some more Pikmin at Ariel.

Ariel quickly dodged some of the Pikmin before pulling out her father’s trident (which she had gotten from him to battle before she had left for the tournament), before aiming it directly at the small Pikmin. “Sorry, little guys, I don’t want to destroy you, but-”

She bit her tongue and closed her eyes as a blast of lightning came out from the trident and hit the ground next to the Pikmin. That caused the Rock and Ice Pikmin to panic as they started to run around. Oatchi looked around and tried to whistle them back to his body in order for them to calm down. Ariel took a deep breath as she waved the trident up and down… which caused Oatchi to look up at it, as if seemingly hypnotized by it.

Then… much to Ariel’s surprise, Oatchi bent over and panted happily. Ariel then looked at the trident, then at Oatchi before slowly realizing what was going on. “Ohhh… this is like what Eric does when Max wants to play! Do you want this, boy?”

Oatchi barked happily as he wagged his tail. Ariel smiled as she waved the trident like a stick, whistling before throwing it lightly. Oatchi jumped up in the air and grabbed the trident before handing it back to Ariel.

“Good boy, good boy!” Ariel giggled as she patted Oatchi on the head… before noting a nearby rod from a wrecked Lightcycle and picked it up. “How about fetching this one, boy? Can you do that?”

Oatchi barked happily before Ariel waved the rod and threw it over. “Go get it, go get it, boy!”

Oatchi barked before following the thrown rod as it went out of the portal below. Oatchi leaped over as the Winged Pikmin yelped as they tried to help lift Oatchi up… but as they found out, the dog was a little too heavy as they, alongside Oatchi, the Rock Pikmin and Ice Pikmin, fell directly out of the ring and into the portal below.

Oatchi landed in Nintendogs, where he received a good belly rub from the disembodied hand that appeared there.

Ariel gave a small sigh of relief as she gave a sigh. “I hated to do that to the poor pup, but like me, he was a fighter in the ring…”

“Probably the best thing to do…”

Ariel jumped to see Big Band approaching her. “I noticed you playing with that pup, and I admire your loving nature… but the time for play is over. You have some interesting skills that I know you’re holding back on… and I intend to see all of them, if possible.”

Ariel looked over the trench coat wearing man, before giving a small smile. “I’d be willing for a challenge. Maybe I’ll have a song or two to accompany your little band.”

“Heh, that’s what I like to hear.” Big Band said before getting into position.

All the while, Chowder was seen running around as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him as his floating cloud pet, Kimchi was following him, looking at Chowder in concern. “I can’t believe I did something so stupid! Why did I go after this guy?! And I should not be doing these exercises! Because… they… tire me out… quickly.”

Chowder panted heavily as his small legs started to give out quickly as he stopped, leaning on one of the nearby barrels as he took a few deep breaths… only for another fireball to come close to grazing him, causing the kid to let out a loud scream. He turned just in time to see Django rushing towards the fat little cat-bear-rabbit thing and slammed Chowder with a claw swipe.

“AHHHH! I just remembered why I was running in the first place!” Chowder shouted as he motioned for Kimchi to move with him. The floating cloud didn’t need to be told twice as he joined up with his owner, all the time flatuating to talk to Chowder.

“Yes, I know we have to fight, Kimchi, but this guys is super dangerous!” Chowder complained. “I mean, look at his sharp teeth! It’s enough to grind an ax with!”

All of a sudden, Django was standing in position as Xero was now standing in the arena holding an ax as he was humming to himself. Much to Django’s confusion, Xero was rubbing the ax on Django’s teeth as grinding sounds were heard. Xero then blinked as he looked around in confusion. “How did I end up here? And why am I holding this ax?”

Django gave a growl at the rabbit host as Xero yelped, turned face, ran in position for a moment, before zipping off, out of the arena and back to the announcer’s booth. Maurice could only look at a smirking Monika with an exasperated look on his face.

“SEE? Ferocious!” Chowder shouted as the arena went dark once again. “Not helping is the lights turning off every few minutes, so I don’t even know which way to turn!”

Kimchi flatuated once more as he motioned to Chowder towards the lit lanterns.

“Yes, there’s the lanterns, but even then, that’s a little bit of light. Not enough light!” Chowder complained as the lights turned on, just in time to see Chowder being under the teeth of the ferocious Django. Chowder screamed as he rushed off before Django could get a chance to bite off his hat.

Chowder panted heavily as Kimchi floated ahead of him and flatuated a couple short sentences. Chowder gasped as he grinned. “Thanks, Kimchi! I could use the ride!”

With that, Chowder sat on the little stink cloud as Kimchi started to rush forward as Django started to speed up, looking more determined than ever to catch the little creature before him. Chowder turned and screamed before looking down at his pet. “Better put the pedal to the metal, buddy!”

Kimchi had somehow picked up a pedal from one of the wrecked Lightcycles and slammed them down on the metal parts of the wrecked Lightcycle. Chowder groaned as he held his head. “Man, if we got this far, the people hosting the side stories must be having a blast!”

(Tournament of Kikai Side Stories)

Drake, Ashley, Barry and Rinky were seen wearing construction helmets as they were seen hiding behind some steel walls as they looked out from behind as Drake pushed the plunger down. The TNT that was attached to the old TV suddenly got blown to bits as the four grinned, before applauding their success…

Ashley was the only one applauding reluctantly as he asked, “Why did we blow up our TV? Are we being used for a literal pun?”

“The world may never know…” Drake said as he wiggled his fingers.

“...yeah, well, I’m not mentioning THIS in the side stories!” Ashley grumbled angrily.

(Arena 2)

Django growled angrily before jumping up in the air and catching Chowder in his mouth, causing the cat-bear-rabbit thing to scream in anguish.

“Kimchi, help!” Chowder shouted as the brown stink cloud looked over to see his master in turmoil. Flatuating with a stern look in his eyes, Kimchi charged forward and covered himself all over Django. The smell caused Django to stop short as his eyes started to water as he dropped the young kid.

“YIPE! YIPE! YIPE! YIPE! YIPE!” Django whimpered as he started to cover his nose.

Chowder blinked twice as he noted Django’s reaction towards Kimchi… before his eyes widened in glee. “Ohhhhhh, I get it! The wolf doesn’t like stinky stuff! Okay, then, Mister Wolf, prepare yourself for a large dose of stinky breath!”

Chowder then took a deep breath as he let loose a loud belch, with a stink cloud going in Django’s direction. Django choked on the smell as he fell down directly. Chowder then turned to Kimchi as he gave a nod. “Kimchi, sic’ him!”

The cloud flatuated some more before beating down on the wolf as he tried to recover and do some kicks with his hind legs. But sadly, it was not enough for the wolf as Chowder came in and chomped the wolf down with his mouth, before spitting him back out, sending him flying directly over the ropes, out of the ring and into the portal below.

Django landed in Princess Mononoke, where the young titular character decided to take the wolf in to calm him down, surprisingly making Django very docile.

Wolf rushed forward as he slashed at Shingo with his claws, causing the young man to stumble backwards. Shingo panted a bit before recovering as he leaped over Wolf and slammed his fist into the back of the lupine’s head. “Take this!”

Wolf slid forward as he managed to keep balance, before shaking his head. Quickly turning around, Wolf narrowed his eyes at the young man before him as he gave a smirk. “What’s the matter? Exhausted already?”

“On the contrary…” Shingo panted before shaking his head. “I think that I’ve just getting warmed up! All the while, you stink of garbage!”

Wolf’s eyes widened, before giving a slight growl. “That wasn’t my fault, I was thrown into a literal garbage monster that I just happened to eliminate!”

“Yeah, by accident.” Shingo mused. “For someone who is claiming to find redemption for those two eliminations you received in the Tournament of Kikai, you are doing a terrible job!”

“You taunt me, but you’re not getting to me!” Wolf growled. “Now stop talking and let me beat you to the ground!”

With that, Wolf let out a loud howl before rushing forward and dashed forward with a claw swipe, sending Shingo flying towards the ropes. Shingo groaned before Wolf pulled out his blaster and shot a couple of rounds at Shingo, the effects of the blaster hitting the young man in full force. Shingo shook his head warily before taking a deep breath.

“Just stay focused… stay focused… you’re gonna make Kyo proud…” Shingo whispered to himself before giving a grin as he ran forward and lifted his right leg. “SHINGO KICK!”

The kick landed directly on Wolf’s torso as the lupine coughed a bit, causing Wolf to fall on his right knee. Shingo laughed a bit before rushing forward and slamming his fists towards Wolf a few times, before grabbing the lupine and slamming him to the ground. Shingo then leapt into the air and put his hands together before slamming Wolf down with a fist dive.

Wolf groaned before warily getting up, looking more determined to finish this. He was in the process of rushing forward… but unfortunately for Wolf, Shingo had grabbed him by the ankle and tossed him directly out of the ring.

Wolf landed in Rivals of Aether, in the middle of a battle between Sylvanos and Forsburn. Giving a smirk, Wolf gladly decided to join in the fight, showing a lot more dominance in hopes of his poor performance.

Shingo gave a small sigh of relief as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Before he could collect his thoughts, however, Monika appeared on the screens, and the two wheels appeared.

“So few of you left on each arena… but twenty eliminations have passed, and only seven more to go. Once I spin both wheels and add the last change, you guys will be stuck with these changes until the end of the round, so let’s make these final changes count, shall we?” Monika giggled.

Pretty much everybody in Arena 2 stopped as they watched the wheels spin until they landed right on two players… Treecko of Arena A and Lily of Arena 2 respectively.

Launchpad noticed Lily’s face giving an excited smile as he gave a chuckle. “Hey, congrats! What are we getting for our final stage change?”

“Just wait…” Lily whispered as she held up a finger.

“Oh, sorry.” Launchpad chuckled nervously as the arena started to glitch around them. After a few seconds, the new change had been made.

Although the pirate ship and barrels from Hugo’s Stage, alongside the music was there, with the occasional lights switching off via Perry’s request, alongside with various Lightcycle parts from Tron’s stage suggestion, all decorated with nice lanterns and a brick layout from Shingo’s stage choice from Team Japan’s stage from King of Fighters 2003, now a few bushes and desert sand were decorated the place, alongside a nice little wind that occasionally blew harder every few seconds.

Some people looked a bit confused until Lily gave a smile. “I will admit, my stage choice may not change a lot… heck, it’s not really chaotic, but… it does bring out a little aspect of my home turf… yes, the Thunderbird Settlement from Street Fighter 6… although recent, it is a stage that is home to me. I hope none of you mind.”

Everybody looked at each other, before smiling as they gave a smile and nod towards the smiling girl.

“Yeah, I can relax with this while waiting for the last few fights.” Shingo smiled.

“And even with the dark coming in every so often, the fact that there’s lanterns and a nice wind makes it a cool night by the sea air.” Ariel noted.

“When I picked Hugo’s Stage, I didn’t think it would evolve into this beauty…” Penny smiled as she gave a nod.

“I mean, aside from the scrap metal, but… practice makes perfect.” Launchpad smiled. “Perfect way to relax while having our final seven fights… hey, if this arena is peaceful, the other arena must have some great changes!”

(Arena A)

Arena A had some… interesting choices, to say the least. Sure, the base started off interestingly with Andrias’s choice of Newtopia Castle, with the Core coming in on occasion… but then Pudding’s choice of a circus like arena came in as the chaos started to add up… and with Garnet’s idea of Sky Arena having some Crystal Gem statuettes AND removing the ropes only added to the chaos… and with Whispy Woods in the center of the stage, ala Rick’s choice, it seemed like Whispy was a minor distraction. However… that all began to change when TREECKO’S stage choice came rushing in…

“WHY DID YOU MAKE YOUR STAGE CHOICE GRASSY TERRAIN!” Pudding screamed as Whispy Woods was now shaking wildly, giant apples falling directly from the branches as they bounced towards the fighters, causing them to duck.

Treecko yelped as she said, ”I heard that it helped power up Grass type moves and halved damage of Ground type moves… I was thinking that it would slow the Core down… I did not think it would ENHANCE WHISPY WOODS!”

“What did she say?” King Andrias said as he and Ike were now slicing up apples.

“I don’t know, I’m assuming Willow wanted an advantage because she’s a Grass type!” Pudding called out.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Core tentacles came rushing out some more as they started to wave around wildly as everyone began to scream. Garnet groaned as she looked over towards the others.

“I think we can all agree our stage choices… are a little out of control…” Garnet groaned.

“Yeah… we need to fix this mess…” King Andrias sighed before waving his sword to slice more apples coming his way. “Gnasty?”

“Just a minute! Kind of busy right now!” Gnasty shouted as the stampede of elephants were now freaking out because of the chaos in the ring.

Pudding groaned as she looked over to the two corners of the ring, one corner seeing Patrick being beaten down by Scrat, and the other where E. Honda and Antonov were taking each other on. “Those four are so lucky not to get caught in THIS chaos…”

(Hotel; Pool)

At this point, the few people that were in the pool were watching a battle going on as they all seemed rather curious about the outcome as each of them wisely swam back to avoid the onslaught of weapons that were thrown around. Even then, the battle inside was still as chaotic as ever.

Vector blew a large bubble from his chewed up bubblegum before spitting it out towards Ace as the bubblegum bubble popped right in the Gangreen Gang leader’s face. Ace growled as he tried to shake it off. “Ugh!”

Vector smirked as he rushed forward to charge down Ace… however, much to the crocodile’s surprise, Ace managed to recover as he sucker-punched the crocodile in the stomach, causing Vector to stumble two steps backwards.

“Ugh!” Vector groaned as he rubbed his stomach a bit, trying to recover from the pain before narrowing his eyes at the Gangreen Gang leader. “You know pal, for a juvenile green skinned criminal, I didn’t think you’d pack a punch!”

Ace laughed a bit as he crossed his arms. “That’s what happens when you meet up with the Gangreen Gang!”

Vector narrowed his eyes before rushing forward, only for Ace to reach out and grab the crocodile’s hand

ZZZT!

Vector yelped as he felt himself being electrocuted before bounding himself backwards, the crocodile quickly recovering as he looked over at a smirking Ace.

Ace then lifted up his hand to show a small buzzer that was attached. “The hand buzzer. A classic in pranks!”

Vector narrowed his eyes as he ran forward and jumped up in the air. Bringing his hands together, Vector slammed them down to the ground to shake the area Ace was in as Ace stumbled a bit. The shade wearing prankster recovered fast as he noted a large beach chair and smirked as he grabbed it. He immediately threw it at Vector as the crocodile yelped as he tried to dodge out of the way.

Unfortunately for him, he was not as lucky.

SMASH!

Vector yelped as he felt the chair crash into him, smashed into tiny pieces as Vector slid backwards. The crocodile shook his head as he narrowed his eyes in anger.

“Okay, ya slimy snake, you’re asking for it now!” Vector growled in anger.

“Ehhh… technically, Snake is guarding the entrance with Lil’ Arturo.” Ace said with a snarky tone of voice before lifting up the second pool chair. “But I supposed you ain’t interested in what my gang is doing…”

“Oh, don’t make any mistakes, you and your gang are SO busted!” Vector yelled in anger before rushing towards him with a punch of his own.

All the while, Big Billy and Baloo seemed to be on even grounds as Big Billy picked up a giant rock that seemed to have spawned out of nowhere and threw it directly at Baloo. Baloo took the full hit of the rock as the large sloth bear in the pilot’s outfit groaned, trying to recover from the large hit he took.

“Ugh, you’re a bit of a big guy, aren’t ya?” Baloo grunted as he held his stomach.

“Duh, you could say I am. I am one of the listed Big Guys for a good reason!” Big Billy stood as if proud of himself.

“Good for you…” Baloo wheezed before recovering as he rolled his some imaginary long sleeves. “All right, big guy, let’s see you try to topple me down!”

With that, Baloo ran forward (as fast as he could) before decking Big Billy on the nose, causing the large green skinned teenager to stumble and rub his nose. Baloo sighed in relief as he shook his head. “I don’t normally condone violence, but if you try to push my buttons, pal…”

“Duh, I wouldn’t know how to push them, but I do know one thing…” Billy groaned as he looked over at the large bear.

“Oh, really? What would that be?” Baloo asked as he gave a slight chuckle.

“I can do THIS!” Big Billy shouted as he slammed his foot right onto Baloo’s foot, making the sloth bear yelp in pain.

“AHHHH!” Baloo yelped as he jumped up and down, trying to wave his slightly injured foot around while doing so. However, in the midst of the distraction, Big Billy grabbed a pool noodle and swung it forward, slamming Baloo in the face with said noodle.

The bear groaned as he laid his foot down before blocking the pool noodle with his hands, guarding his face. Baloo then thought quickly before pulling out a paddle-ball, much to Big Billy’s confusion.

“What are you going to do with that?” Big Billy asked in confusion.

The heavyset green teenager got his answer in the form of Baloo using the paddle-ball to slam Billy in the face, by paddling the ball and letting the ball hit Big Billy in the face multiple times. At this point, Vector had just slid in, just on the receiving end of a punch made by Ace. Vector groaned as he turned to Baloo in curiosity.

“A paddle-ball weapon?” Vector asked in confusion.

“Yeah, I wield one in the Turbografx16 and Sega Mega Drive versions of my game. Turns out, this baby is good for short range!” Baloo explained quickly as he continued to use the paddle-ball against Big Billy.

At this moment, Ace, who had noticed Billy being pounded by Baloo. “For goodness sakes, Billy! We have more than brute strength! Use our game abilities!”

“Duh, right!” Billy nodded before jumping up in the air, much to Baloo’s surprise.

But before either the sloth bear OR the crocodile could react, Billy slammed down on the ground, causing Vector and Baloo to fall down, with Baloo dropping his paddle-ball in surprise. Not only that, but it caused the area to shake, with the pool splashing most of the citizens, yelping as most of them got out of the pool. It even got Lightning back up as the teenager looked around in confusion.

“Huh, what, who?!” Lightning asked in shock, before turning to see the four fighters looking ready to destroy each other. “Hey! Lightning does not condone any horsin’ around, especially when is at the pool! SHA-BAM!”

With that, Lightning threw a dumbbell over towards the fight, only for said dumbbell to fall into the pool, causing Lightning to growl. “Ah, man! Lightning is just off his groove!”

By that time, everybody was getting out of the pool in worries that something was about to happen. Vector was about to get up, only to be slammed in the face by Ace’s sunglasses as they boomeranged themselves right back into his hands.

Ace laughed before putting his sunglasses back on. “You big characters don’t stand a chance when it comes to the Gangreen Gang!”

“Duh, yeah! Gangreen Gang is the top!” Big Billy laughed stupidly.

Baloo groaned as he looked over towards the pool, then at the diving board, then towards Ace and Big Billy. Quickly, Baloo leaned over and whispered into Vector’s invisible ear as the crocodile raised an eyebrow.

“Ohhhh… yeah, that could work!” Vector said. “Come on, Baloo! Lift me up!”

With that, Baloo got up and grabbed Vector as Ace and Big Billy looked over to them in confusion as the sloth bear called out, “Hey, broccoli heads! Try to get us!”

Ace narrowed his eyes as he turned to Big Billy. “Did he just call us broccoli heads?”

“Duh, I wasn’t paying much attention, but I think he did…” Big Billy scratched his head. “Uh, I th-”

“COME ON! THAT FAT BEAR AIN’T GETTIN’ AWAY WITH IT!” Ace growled in anger before grabbing Billy as the two ran and chased after the crocodile and bear, circling around the pool.

“Hey, hey! Lightning says no running around in the pool!” Lightning shouted as he watched Vector and Baloo running past, only for Ace and Big Billy to rush past, knocking the lifeguard post as Lightning tripped and almost fell, only catching himself by handing onto the rungs of the ladder.

Baloo looked back to make sure the two were still following him as he gave a smirk, before circling around the pool and getting up to the ladder before putting Vector down. “Okay, Vec, I need you to climb as fast as you can!”

“Let’s just hope they’re mad enough to follow…” Vector whispered to himself before following Baloo upwards as Ace and Big Billy came around as Ace pointed upwards.

“After them, Billy, come on!” Ace shouted as he started to climb the ladder upwards, with Big Billy following.

It took a few minutes of climbing, but pretty soon, Vector and Baloo reached the top of the diving board as they rushed forward, with Ace and Big Billy getting up and cornering them.

“Well, well, well, it would seem you’re cornered.” Ace smirked as he and Big Billy stepped on the diving board.

CRACK!

Ace yelped as he noted that once Big Billy stepped on the board, a crack started to form in the center. “Yo, Big Billy, you might want to step back.”

“No, no, Billy, why don’t you come close?” Baloo smirked as he walked forward. “In fact, I think we can fit you in that big board.”

“Duh, really?” Billy asked as Ace’s eyes shrank.

“Billy, no, what are you-?” Ace asked. “Look, just wait until the word ‘come here’ is heard, all right?”

“Hey, Billy, come here!” Vector said with a smirk.

Ace’s eyes shrank as Billy walked forward.

CRACK!

Vector and Baloo smirked as the sloth bear whispered, before nodding. Ace growled as he looked up at Big Billy as the heavyset teenager realized what he had done. “Duh, sorry, Ace.”

“Oh my go- look, do NOT listen to the crocodile, okay?” Ace said impatiently.

“Billy, come here!” Baloo quickly said.

Billy happily nodded as he stepped on the board. At that time, Baloo grabbed onto Vector as he gave a nod.

CRACK!

Ace yelped as he narrowed his eyes at Big Billy before pushing him. “Don’t listen to the croc. Don’t listen to the bear! Listen to ME! When I say come here, you COME HERE!”

Big Billy blinked twice, before lifting his foot. Ace quickly realized his mistake as he waved his arms. “No, WAIT!”

SNAP.

At that moment, the entire diving board snapped off because it couldn’t support the combined weights of both Baloo AND Big Billy. Thankfully, Vector managed to blow a large bubble from his bubblegum as Baloo clinged on safely as the two glided all the way towards the edge of the pool.

Ace and Big Billy, on the other hand, were not as lucky.

SPLASH!

As Vector and Baloo landed safely on the edge of the pool, Ace and Big Billy landed on the pool, sending a big wave of water around the pool, emptying it about a third of the pool (still swimmable, but a little dense) as Ace and Billy bobbed their heads out of the pool.

Ace narrowed his eyes angrily at Billy as Big Billy just smiled innocently. “Technically, it was YOU who said it that time, boss.”

Ace just slapped Billy’s head in annoyance as a raspberry was heard.

Ace blinked twice as he and Billy turned to see Grubber walking up. Ace gave a small sigh. “You got that poster up, Grubber?!”

Grubber just sent another raspberry as Ace and Big Billy climbed out of the pool, wet and humiliated as Ace looked over himself. “Great… ugh, now I’m all wet. Come on, Billy, we already wasted our time here… let’s just get clean clothes before we report back, huh?”

“Duh… okay!” Billy said as he climbed up.

“HEY!”

Ace growled in anger before turning a hateful eye towards the crocodile and bear as they rounded around the pool as Vector called out, “You still have a lot to answer for! Who are you working for? What’s the villain plot this time?!”

Ace frowned a bit, before giving a sly smile. “You really want the answer to that, I recommend checking out that poster Grubber hung up. When we were told about it… oh ho, me and my boys were all for it… just look at it, and you’ll get your answers. Once you do, try to show up… or don’t. It’s up to you, really.”

With that, Ace turned face and motioned for Big Billy and Grubber to follow. “Come on, boys. We’ll get Snake and Lil’ Arturo and scram outta here.”

Big Billy and Grubber nodded before following Ace as Vector narrowed his eyes. “H-hey!”

But before Vector could follow, Baloo held the crocodile back as he asked, “Let him go for now. If what that teenager says is true… then whatever’s in that poster must be more important.”

“But… we can’t just-” Vector shouted.

“I know, I don’t like this any more than you do, but I need your detective skills here, pal.” Baloo explained.

Vector paused slightly before giving a nod. “You know what? You’re right. Whatever they’re up to, it has to do with that poster…”

The crocodile then turned to the bulletin board that was hung up next to the pool rules. While there were a few advertisements for fanfictions and stories and other papers that promoted activities, the one that stood out was the rather large poster that seemed to have a magnifying glass and the Tournament of Kikai logo on it.

“What do you suppose those green teenagers put up?” Baloo asked as he squinted at the poster.

“Hmmm…” Vector paused as he looked at the title on top of the page. “‘The All-Tournament Mystery War’?”

Baloo and Vector looked at each other, more with curiosity and confusion. What was the All-Tournament Mystery War? Was this a part of the villain plot this season?

These questions filled Baloo and Vector’s minds as they read on in curiosity.

(Arena A)

It was chaos in this separate arena, with not only the Core tentacles flailing along, not only were the remaining animals running around and bouncing along with the circus items, but Whispy Woods, thanks to the Grassy Terrain upgrade from Treecko’s stage choice, had a big power enhancer as its attacks were proven to be more powerful.

Despite this, it didn’t bother Antonov and E. Honda as the two fighting characters were going at it, as Antonov swung his fist very hard at the sumo wrestling man, staggering E. Honda backwards. E. Honda could only shake his head before giving a laugh, rushing forward as he launched himself in the air and bashed himself head first into Antonov’s chest. This caused the cigar smoking wrestler to wince as he felt the pain.

However, this only caused Antonov to start laughing as he turned to Honda. “I knew I made the right decision to fight you, my friend! Tell me, are you interested in joining the G.A.W.? You and your unorthodox sumo methods would be a good fit!”

Honda looked up and laughed. “Heh, I appreciate the offer. However, I already have a job over at Metro City, teaching my students the ways of sumo in my sumo dojo! I don’t just want to abandon THAT job anytime soon.”

Antonov blinked, before chuckling. “I respect your principles, boy! Well, if you change your mind, let me know! I’m eager to have someone like you join me!”

Honda smirked as he held up his hands, a small glow starting to surround him. “Sumo Spirit! It’s nice having a word and exchanging blows with the likes of you, but only one of us shall remain victorious!”

The head of the G.A.W. kept up the smile before getting himself into a good position. “Then by all means, let us decide the victor with this wonderful battle!”

“Gladly!” Honda said before rushing forward and hitting Antonov below the belt, before the sumo wrestler used his elbow and shoulders to smash Antonov’s chest.

The cigar smoking man coughed a bit before dodging Honda’s attack and started to punch the wrestler pretty hard. Each blow that Honda received only became more powerful as the next thing he knew, Antonov threw a punch so powerful, it lifted E. Honda off of his feet and broke a nearby floating camera.

Seeing a good opportunity, Antonov leaped into the air and body slammed Honda, leaving a massive impact on the ring. Honda gave a slight groan at the injury just as Antonov got up.

“Well, that was a fun time, my friend, but I’m afraid that your time is up. But do consider the possibility of joining the G.A.W.!” Antonov said as he bent over to pick up the sumo wrestler.

However, much to Antonov’s surprise, Honda grabbed the G.A.W. promoter and got up, before using his Hundred Hand Slap to stop Antonov in his tracks, before using one final punch to send Antonov flying directly out of the portal below.

Antonov landed in Saturday Night Slam Masters, where he tried to offer Gunloc a spot in the G.A.W. The former mayor could only look at Antonov with an incredulous look on his face.

Honda looked down and gave a small smile as he patted his belly. “That was actually pretty fun! I have a good feeling about my position in this game!”

And he would be feeling good about it if this were a normal tournament. However… due to circumstances… it wasn’t.

“RIBBON… PUDDING RING… INFERNO!”

Honda turned around to the chaos, only to be met by Pudding’s attack as the sumo wrestler had found himself trapped in one of Pudding’s flans. The young Mew yelped in embarrassment as she ran over. “Uh, sorry! I was aiming for the tree, I swear!”

Honda would have responded, but he was too busy trying to get out. Giving a sigh, and knowing that this was going to be an embarrassing elimination, Pudding saw no choice but to give a slight push to the flan Honda was in, sending him directly out of the ring and into the portal below.

E. Honda landed in Sumo Fighter: Tokaido Basho, where he faced off against Bontaro Heiseiyama in a good ol’ fashioned sumo match.

“Pudding cannot believe how I got two embarrassing eliminations in the same section!” Pudding groaned. “Hopefully, I’ll make up for it in the next round…”

“PUDDING!” Garnet’s voice shouted. “Help us out here, would you?!”

“Oh! Coming!” Pudding shouted as she turned around and joined back with Treecko, Garnet and Ike as they were now fighting the powerful Whispy Woods. Not helping was the fact that Gnasty Gnorc and King Andrias had decided to go on both sides of the tree and climbed up to avoid the chaos.

“Get off of there!” Ike called out in anger as he glared up at King Andrias.

The newt king could only smirk as he laid to the side. “No thanks, it’s comfortable up here.”

“Y-yeah! Very comfy!” Gnasty smirked. “You four can have fun with the falling apples and blown wind if you’d like!”

Ike growled in anger as Pudding rejoined the others. Garnet turned to Pudding with a small smile. “Welcome back. I hope you managed to control your attack this time?”

Pudding smiled nervously. “That apple really hit me hard and disoriented me a bit…”

”I’ll say!” Treecko complained, glaring at her companion. ”How YOU managed to send your attack over towards ANOTHER player is beyond me…”

“Hey, I’m trying! There’s only so much I can do!” Pudding frowned… before a jolt of electricity came from Gnasty’s scepter and hit near Pudding, causing her to yelp. “I can try again!”

“And you will. We just need a better, well executed plan.” Garnet said as she turned to Ike and Treecko. “You two, keep to us. I think I may have one more idea…”

Up on Whispy Woods, King Andrias noted the four characters sticking together and whispering to each other as he gave a frown. “Hmmm… something is up with those four.”

“Heh, you want me to zap them up again, boss?” Gnasty asked as he waved his scepter around.

“Hmmm… that won’t be necessary. If they’re whispering their plans in a frequency I can’t hear, they must have something planned…” King Andrias groaned as he shut his eyes. “I just can’t account for what…”

“So… what do we do?” Gnasty asked as he turned to Andrias in curiosity.

King Andrias groaned as he closed his eyes. “I hate to admit it, but knowing those hosts’ stupid rules, even if Whispy eliminates these guys, they’ll be counted as one of the other guys' eliminations, not ours. No, we NEED to get our hands dirty here… so no doubt, they’re going to immobilize the tree.”

“So, what do we do if that happens?” Gnasty asked, tilting his head in confusion.

King Andrias paused, before laughing. “My friend, we’re about to pull off the Ultimate Limit attack! With me so far?”

Gnasty scratched his head, before smiling, slowly getting the idea. “Yeah! I think I get what you’re selling…”

“Excellent…” The newt king smirked as he put his hands together and rubbed them together. “Then let’s see what their move is all about…”

It was then the four people on the ground finally got out of the huddle as they nodded. Garnet cupped her mouth before calling out, “Are you two going to come down here…” She quickly dodged an apple as she readied her gauntlets. “Or do we have to force you down.”

King Andrias chuckled as he held up his sword. “Make your move…”

“All right…” Garnet said as she slammed one of her gauntlets down to the ground, causing the ground around the tree to shake a bit. However, that momentary shake from the tree caused King Andrias and Gnasty to slip so slightly, leading for a chance for Willow to leap up into the air.

”Nature Power!” Treecko shouted as she started to glow. ”The floor is tall grass in Grassy Terrain, and it turns to… STUN SPORE!”

All of a sudden, Treecko’s body began to shake as orange powder came out of her, spreading around the area. As if the timing couldn’t be better, the Core tentacles came out once more, only to get affected by the orange powder as it got paralyzed.

“Did you see that?” Gnasty asked in surprise.

“Yes, and we better get out of the way. NOW!” King Andrias shouted as he and Gnasty jumped off Whispy Woods from both sides, the powder coming directly into contact with Whispy Woods as it got paralyzed as well. Andrias then turned towards Gnasty as he waved his arms. “Come on! We’re doing the Limit now! We may not get all of them, but we can get at least one!”

Gnasty nodded as he leaped towards Andrias’s side. “I am here to serve!”

“Let’s do this!” Andrias said as he and Gnasty lifted their weapons up as an electrified barrier surrounded them.

“Those two are pulling off a Limit attack!” Ike said in worry as Pudding bit her lip nervously.

“Keep your ground.” Garnet called out as Treecko landed beside her. “Little lizard, try to see if you can at least slow the limit down…”

”Already on it! Energy Ball!” Willow shouted as she took a deep breath, a large green ball coming out of her mouth as she spat it out towards the two scaled creatures. Andrias responded by slicing the Energy Ball in two. ”Seed Bomb! Rock Tomb!”

A barrage of seeds and rocks then started to fall towards the two characters as Gnasty and Andrias avoided every move using their electric barrier and powered electric weapons before Gnasty zapped at Treecko with his electrified scepter. ”UGH!”

Andrias laughed before sending an electrified swing towards Treecko, sending the tiny lizard Pokemon near the edge of the ring. Pudding’s worried face then turned into a determined one as she looked up at Ike, giving a nod. They turned to Garnet, who could only give them a smile in return.

“Let’s finish this once and for all!” King Andrias said as the electrified barrier went off as he and Gnasty touched weapons, a powerful wave of electricity is about to emit from the tips.

“RIBBON… PUDDING RING… INFERNO!”

All of a sudden, before anybody could react, a shock wave came towards the newt king and gnorc as they felt the effects, as they were now trapped in a flan. Treecko looked up and laughed before turning towards Pudding. ”Good work!”

Pudding giggled as Ike held up his sword.

“I think I’d like a big piece, if that’s okay.” Ike said as he raised his sword up and sliced the flan clean in half, separating both Gnasty and King Andrias away from each other. Then, with a push from Ike with this sword, and Treecko sending out one last Energy Ball, both Andrias and Gnasty respectively were jettisoned out of the arena with said moves as they were sent flying to the portal below.

Both King Andrias and Gnasty Gnorc landed in Dungeons and Dragons (the animated series), where the kids mistook the two for their regular monsters and started to beat down on the surprised king and gnorc.

Treecko and Ike smiled as the two high-fived each other, with Willow saying, ”Ah yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!”

“Looks like we finally got the big threats neutralized.” Garnet said as she and Pudding joined up with the other two.

Ike gave a small sigh. “It should NOT have taken all round to do it, but at least we managed to get out of this with our heads up high.”

“At least we managed to pull through in the end.” Pudding smiled as Monika’s face appeared on the monitors.

“The round has officially ended! Arena A and Arena 2, I’m about to remove the wall to see what your opponents’ stages could have been like.” Monika smiled. “Please hold still…”

Ike jumped in surprise. “Wait. We’re already at the end of the round? Things really went by quickly!”

“Well, it was chaos here… so no doubt there’s chaos over there, right?” Pudding asked.

”Whatever. I just hope he’s still here.” Treecko grumbled as the walls began to lift up.

Garnet said nothing as she looked back towards the only fighters left beside themselves… and it turned out to be Patrick Star and Scrat, the latter pulling on the former’s head in an attempt for the starfish to release the acorn.

“AHHHH! OW! HELP! HE’S PULLING ON ME!” Patrick cried out in agony as Scrat continued to yell in angry noises.

Garnet sighed as she turned back to see the walls lifting up… as the four of them looked in surprise at the other arena.

”WE COULD HAVE HAD A NICE BEACHSIDE DOCK?! WHAT TYPE OF STAGE CHOICES DID THEY GET?!” Treecko shouted in anger.

(Arena 2)

Rewind to about a few minutes before the round was over. And unlike Arena A, Arena 2 turned out to be quite beautiful, aside from the scrap metal from the wrecked Lightcycles. The only fights that were going on were three remaining battles, whilst everyone else was sitting by the side, enjoying the nice cool breeze of the wind from Lily’s Thunderbird Settlement stage. All in all, combined that with the arena turning dark from Perry’s stage choice every few minutes, the lanterns from Shingo’s stage choice, and the fact Penny’s choice of stage was Hugo’s stage from Street Fighter III, taking place with a ship and barrels… it was peaceful, and a perfect, calming way to watch the final three fights.

Temjin gave a loud shout as he rushed forward and headbutted the Panda King’s belly. All it did was rebound the large Mongolian warrior backwards as he landed near the ropes. At that time, the Panda King was packing fireworks as hard as he could before aiming them towards Temjin. The Mongolian warrior quickly took notice and started to flip around a few times to avoid the incoming fireworks as they exploded in the air, giving off a good effect. The ones that weren’t fighting at the moment were just enjoying the show (with Chowder eating from a bowl of popcorn, which he ordered from Monika. Mewtwo and Penny were also eating from the same bowl.).

The Panda King smirked before giving a bow. “Honorable Mongolian warrior, you seem to have quite the determination.”

“But of course!” Temjin laughed as he crossed his arms. “Do you expect anything else?”

“You are quite fine in dodging, but as with my last opponent, you have a bit of cockiness within you. And you should know what happens when people get too cocky.” The Panda King pointed out.

“Heh, that’s because I follow through on my strength! I intend to win, to show my future students that I am capable of surviving the game!” Temjin said with a laugh. “And if I can take the Panda King out, I have proven myself worthy!”

“Worthiness, no doubt, is to be earned, but it is more than getting the crowd to root for you. It is all about the skill, the showmanship, and most importantly… how you fight.” The Panda King explained.

Temjin laughed a bit before patting his belly. “Well, then I’ll just have to show you how much I’m worth, huh?”

With that, Temjin charged over to the Panda King as he waved his hands to get the blue wall of energy to pop up from the ground to damage the large panda. The Panda King frowned as he raised his hand in the air, engulfing it in flames. “BOOMING… CHOP!”

The Panda King then slammed his fist right at the Mongolian warrior as Temjin stumbled from the received attack. After recovering, Temjin quickly lifted the Panda King up in the air and threw him down to the ground as if in a grappling motion. Despite being forced down to the ground, the large panda quickly recovered as he narrowed his eyes.

“PALMS OF… THUNDER!” The Panda King then slammed his palms down near Temjin as the man fell from the attack. Temjin quickly tried to get back up only for the Panda King to go for a low sweeping move with his hand as he shouted, “FIERY… WHEEL!”

This was more than enough for Temjin as the Mongolian warrior fell down on his back. The man grunted as he tried to get up, only for the Panda King to pick him up by the feet.

“You have fought well indeed, but not enough to stop the likes of the Panda King.” The Panda King said before throwing him out of the ring. “When next we meet, hopefully you will tone down your cockiness.”

Temjin landed in Asterix, where he immediately made friends with Obelix and hung out with him for the next ten minutes.

Ariel gave a small gasp as she avoided yet another brass knuckle punch coming from Big Band before throwing another potion to send down a lighting bolt in hopes of stalling the large trenchcoat wearing instrument wielding cyborg for time. But even though the lightning bolt affected Big Band in a way, it wasn’t quite enough to slow him down.

Big Band, on the other hand, used his saxophone to blast Ariel upwards, before following it up with a tambourine grab, ensnaring Ariel as the mermaid managed to get damaged. Big Band then slammed Ariel to the ground, the girl landing in the pool of water surrounding her.

Ariel gasped a bit as she looked up at the mysterious man. “You certainly have some… skill…”

“It comes with the territory. Plus, being musically inclined, I guess I’m more attracted to your voice.” Big Band explained. “I hear from the grapevine you are the excellent singer.”

Ariel blushed a bit, before shaking her head. “Yes, I’ve sung quite a few times before.”

“Then I believe you should be on stage rather than in a fighting tournament, because, nothing personal sweetheart, but if you weren’t invited to fight last year, what makes you think you’ll make up for here?” Big Band asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Ariel took a deep breath. “I’ll admit that I didn’t get invited, and I admit they had good reasons… granted, it didn’t stop a certain bunny from inviting the ROBOTIC MERMAID into the tournament…” Ariel looked up at the announcer’s booth at that time and glared at Xero, who seemed to be looking at his phone in concern, not paying attention to the tournament. “...but what you’re about to see, you’ll be impressed by how further I’ve developed.”

“I’d like to see that.” Big Band said as he rushed forward and slammed the mermaid with a pair of cymbals. Ariel did a loop de loop to dodge the cymbals a second time before throwing bubbles with her tail in an attempt to distract the large cybernetic figure.

However, all this did was irritate Big Band a bit before summoning his tuba to roll over towards Ariel and knock her backwards. The mermaid quickly recovered before using the trident to send out more electrical attacks, a few of them affecting the large man.

Big Band could only shake off the attacks by blowing his trumpet to maximum volume, affecting the trident a bit. Ariel noted his instrument playing before giving a small nod, an idea forming in her head. “All right, since you love playing instruments… let’s make this a duet!”

With that, Ariel dived into her pool of water, leading Big Band to be a bit confused, wondering what Ariel was up to… all of a sudden, much to his surprise, Ariel came popping out with a saxophone in hand, causing everybody to be surprised.

“Oh, snap!” Maurice smiled as he took the microphone. “For those who don’t know, in promotion for Ralph Breaks the Internet, Pac-Man did a crossover with the characters that appeared in in the sequel, known as Pac-Man: Ralph Breaks the Maze. In that game, while Pac-Man goes through the maze to collect pellets and avoid ghosts, each of the characters from the movie help Pac-Man out in various ways, whether it be Felix building an extra wall in the maze to block the ghosts OR Ralph wrecking walls, like he does in his movie. All the Disney princesses had their time to shine in that crossover, and in the case of Ariel here, she has an attack with a saxophone, where if she plays it… well, you just watch, everyone, and see!”

Big Band looked rather curious before looking up towards the announcer’s booth with a glare. “Sure, cut yourself off before I can figure out a counterpoint to her att-”

At that moment, Ariel started to play a small tune from her saxophone as a big bubble started to emerge out of the horn end of the saxophone before hurtling itself over to Big Band. The trenchcoat wearing cyborg could only chuckle a bit. “Just another bubble attack? You really should think of something-”

All of a sudden, the bubble engulfed Big Band as he started to glow blue, ala the ghosts in the Pac-Man games. Ariel, seeing a golden opportunity, rushed forward as she twirled and hit the bubble Big Band was in, bursting it as the surprised cyborg was sent flying directly out of the ring and into the portal below.

Big Band landed in Gunpoint, where he was having a drink with Richard Conway.

Ariel gave a small sigh of relief as she looked around and noticed only one fight was still going on. Feeling a little exhausted, she just decided to join up with Chowder to watch the final fight of the ring… and to relax on the beachside, as she did agree that it was so peaceful here…

Launchpad tried to stay focused as he avoided yet another hit from one of Lily’s pogamoggans, twirling a bit before staying his ground. Despite crashing all the Lightcycles in one fell swoop earlier, it didn’t deter him nor Lily as the two continued their battle. Lily quickly ran forward and used her pogamoggans as footstools as she spun around and kicked the large bird hard in the stomach.

Launchpad grunted a bit as he held his stomach, before looking towards Lily. “Wow, you certainly are making your tribe proud if you can manage to fight at that level!”

Lily, hearing that compliment, gave a warm smile. “Do you believe that I could even be matched just as good as T. Hawk?”

“Well, considering this is my first time at any of these things, I wouldn’t know. But I have seen the Megamix Tournament before… the first one, that is. DW and I were looking it over because we heard the Liquidator was participating… and you know DW, he’s always on the lookout for what his foes are up to.” Launchpad explained.

Lily snapped her fingers just as she was about to launch herself for another attack, only for Launchpad to dodge it. “RIGHT! I have heard T. Hawk was in the same section as that water dog from your node.”

“Yeah, albeit different sections, but I have watched your idol fighting against that Steve Fox guy from the Tekken 5 node…” Launchpad smiled, unaware that in the Announcer’s Booth, Xero was wincing a bit as he bit his lip. “Yeah, not exactly a proud moment for the latter, but hey, for what it’s worth, even if he did get eliminated, I did love his fight against Duck King from the King of Fighters node.”

“Yeah, I am glad that he managed to get an elimination that tournament, but to get eliminated in the same section… it stings.” Lily sighed.

“Yeah, I get it. T. Hawk was actually one of my picks… maybe not to win, but to at least go far.” Launchpad said. “But still, you are doing a good job in picking up his legacy!”

That made Lily perk up a little as she readied her pogamoggans. “Thanks for the lift up, Launchpad. It’s a shame I have to eliminate you out of the ring…”

“Not like we have much of a choice, considering that we’re the only two people left fighting in this arena…” Launchpad noted as he looked around… only to be met with a club to the face. “Ow! Right, less talk, more battling!”

“You are getting the idea!” Lily smiled before using her aeromancy to launch herself right into Launchpad.

Her petite body managed to hit Launchpad with a good amount of force as the large bird stumbled. Quickly looking around, Launchpad picked up a wheel and a pole from one of the wrecked Lightcycles before using the pole to spin the wheel forward towards a moving Lily, in hopes of tripping her up.

However, Lily saw the wheel coming and quickly leapt over it with grace, before rushing forward and landing a kick at Launchpad’s beak, knocking the pilot backwards a bit. Launchpad quickly shook his head, recovering his balance before taking a deep breath.

“Well, you’re a tough cookie to get out of the ring… but that doesn’t mean I won’t try!” Launchpad said before rolling up his sleeves and charging forward in an attempt to grab Lily and grapple her out of the ring.

However, Lily used her aeromancy to leap forward as Launchpad missed his grab, tripped and crashed down to the arena floor. A dazed Launchpad lifted his head up as Lily landed on the ground and looked down at him.

“You are certainly a good battle, and I admire your determination, but the spirit of the wind, Toyno’Ikonoi, says that it is my destiny to keep fighting for the people to see!” Lily said as she picked up Launchpad by the foot and swung him around, showing an interesting amount of strength as she threw him out of the ring and into the portal below.

Launchpad McQuack landed in Top Gun… specifically, at the video game version where he was driving the plane. Of course, if people knew Launchpad and planes, they could do the math on what would happen at the landing pad.

Lily smiled as she heard the crowd cheering as she raised her pogamoggans up in the air and gave a nice little victory screech. After that moment, she turned around to view the others that were left in the ring. Mewtwo, Penny, Chowder and Ariel were now chatting with each other as Kimchi curiously floated around. Shingo Yabuki was happily waving to the audience with a smile on his face, while the Panda King was unleashing a few fireworks to give a show to the audience.

Lily quickly gave count as she realized that there were only seven fighters in her arena, and she did remember that there were only three Big Guys at her end. Her eyes lit up as she gave a smile, knowing what this meant. But before she could think any further, Monika’s monitors quickly turned on.

“The round has officially ended! Arena A and Arena 2, I’m about to remove the wall to see what your opponents’ stages could have been like.” Monika smiled. “Please hold still…”

The seven quickly held their attention as they turned to see the wall going up… only for them to look at the chaotic arena that was Arena A, with the paralyzed Whispy Woods, the Core tentacles, the laid out circus area, the glowing grass AND no ropes and Crystal Gem statues.

“WHOA!” Chowder shouted in shock as he looked it over. “What happened to THAT arena?”

“Dang, It looks like a small snowball started to grow big and wreck everything!” Penny pointed out.

“I’m glad we were NOT part of that.” Shingo gave a sharp whistle.

“Stand still, because in a few seconds, we will be merging the arena back together.” Monika announced as both arenas started to glitch.

All of a sudden, a bright light flashed around the area, nearly blinding everybody. As soon as the area cleared up, the arena had transformed itself back to normal, with all the fighters (save for Patrick and Scrat, who were still wrestling each other) standing next to each other as Pudding and Chowder grinned as they started to dance around happily.

“YAY!” Pudding smiled as she started to dance.

“Each of us survived our ordeal!” Chowder shouted.

“We’re partners again!” Pudding smiled.

“Garnet, Mewtwo, Penny, Ariel, Ike and Treecko are now part of our alliance and make up a third of the arena!” Chowder said out loud.

Even though Scrat and Patrick didn’t hear that due to being busy, Shingo, Lily and the Panda King lifted their heads and looked over as most of the others looked at each other and gave respectable nods. Lily gave a slight frown. “Oh no…”

“I humbly agree with you, petite one. I am hardly a fan of this big alliance.” The Panda King frowned.

“I feel we’re greatly outnumbered here…” Shingo frowned.

“All right, now that we’re all reunited, let’s get the wheel in order and spin to see who gets to pick the next twist!” Maurice called out as the wheel appeared once more as it started to spin. Everybody turned their heads to see the wheel spinning on and on until… it landed on a certain green lizard’s panel.

Willow’s eyes lit up as she gave a smile. ”Well, I can’t say I’m complaining about this!”

“All right, Treecko, since you’re the one picking the twist, we only have a few to offer…” Maurice said as a few envelopes appeared in front of her. “We have ‘You’re the Boss’... ‘Mystery Reserves’... ‘Big Guy Blocker’... and ‘Monika’s Twist’.”

“Ooo, go for Monika’s Twist!” Monika said in excitement. “I hear that’s a good one!”

Treecko lowered her eyelids in suspicion, before shaking her head. “Yeah, no, after the chaos that was this section for me, I want to go for something simpler. I’m picking Big Guy Blocker.”

With that, the small wood gecko Pokemon jumped up and grabbed the Big Guy Blocker envelope as the rest of them disappeared. Maurice smiled as he gave a nod.

“Ah, so good of you to pick this choice in particular.” Maurice smiled. “A classic from the first Tournament of Kikai is played, and it’s the infamous Big Guy Blocker!”

“Originally a Monokuma choice, our gracious hosts liked the idea enough that you can’t imagine this tournament without it.” Monika giggled.

“Wait, so… is that large table and chairs coming back in or…” Penny asked as she turned to the Announcer’s Booth… only to notice something strange. Maurice was the only person sitting in the Announcer’s Booth. “Hey… where’s the other one?”

“Xero? Oh… right… well… he had to step out for a moment. Said something about needing to mourn.” Maurice said nervously. “Long story short… Xero’s sitting out of the next section.”

Everybody looked a little surprised at this news, even the next seventeen fighters waiting in the ring looked a little shocked at this.

RESULTS: (14 Votes)

ARENA A:

TREECKO (PKMN): 12:2= 10 (Francisca, Gnasty Gnorc)

PUDDING FONG (TMM): 12:2= 10 (Shun’ei, E. Honda)

SCRAT (IA): 11:3= 8 (Rick, Hector)

IKE (SSB): 10:4= 6 (Michigan J. Frog, King Andrias)

PATRICK STAR (NAS): 10:5= 5 (Mr. Frosty)

GARNET (MV): 10:6= 4 (Dante)

(ELIMINATED)

MICHIGAN J. FROG (LT: WoM): 8:6= 2 (Pyra/Mythra)

GNASTY GNORC (StD): 8:6= 2 (Iori Yagami)

IORI YAGAMI (KOFXV): 8:6= 2 (Shulk)

E. HONDA (SF): 7:7= 0 (Antonov)

KING ANDRIAS (DTAAS): 7:8= -1

SHULK (SSB): 6:8= -2

RICK (K): 6:9= -3

FRANCISCA (K): 5:9= -4

MR. FROSTY (K): 5:9= -4

ANTONOV (KOFXV): 5:10= -5

PYRA/MYTHRA (SSB): 4:10= -6

SHUN’EI (KOFXV): 3:11= -8

DANTE (PSASBR): 2:12= -10

HECTOR (LT: WoM): 1:13= -12

SAFE ZONE A FINAL VOTES:

SEVEN VOTES: Pudding Fong, Treecko (Through a coin flip, Pudding gets to go to Safe Zone challenge)
SIX VOTES: Garnet, Michigan J. Frog, Scrat
FIVE VOTES: Patrick Star
FOUR VOTES: Antonov, Iori Yagami, Ike
THREE VOTES: Pyra/Mythra, Rick, Shulk, King Andrias, Gnasty Gnorc
TWO VOTES: E. Honda
ONE VOTE: Dante, Hector, Francisca, Mr. Frosty

ARENA 2:

ARIEL (KH): 10:4= 6 (Oatchi, Big Band)

THE PANDA KING (SC): 10:4= 6 (Bark the Polarbear, Temjin)

CHOWDER & KIMCHI (CN: PTE): 10:4= 6 (Perry the Platypus, Django)

LILY (SF): 10:4= 6 (Launchpad McQuack)

MEWTWO (PKMN): 10:5= 5 (Hugo)

PENNY PROUD (DTAAS): 9:5= 4 (Jack O’Lantern)

SHINGO YABUKI (KOFXV): 9:5= 4 (Wolf O’Donnell)

(ELIMINATED)

PERRY THE PLATYPUS (DTAAS): 8:6= 2 (Gumball)

LAUNCHPAD MCQUACK (DTAAS): 9:7= 2 (Tron)

WOLF O’DONNELL (SSB): 8:7= 1 (Garbodor)

BIG BAND (SG): 7:7= 0

BARK THE POLARBEAR (StH): 6:8= -2

HUGO (FF): 6:8= -2

OATCHI (P4): 5:9= -4

DJANGO (E): 5:9= -4

GUMBALL (TAWoG): 5:10= -5

TRON (KH): 4:10= -6

TEMJIN (AoF): 3:11= -8

JACK O’LANTERN (TGAoB&M): 3:11= -8

GARBODOR (PKMN): 3:12= -9

SAFE ZONE 2 FINAL VOTES:

EIGHT VOTES: Penny Proud
SEVEN VOTES: Mewtwo, Oatchi
FIVE VOTES: Wolf O’Donnell, Chowder & Kimchi, Lily, Ariel, Big Band, Garbodor
FOUR VOTES: Shingo Yabuki, Bark the Polarbear
TWO VOTES: Perry the Platypus, Panda King, Django, Jack O’Lantern, Hugo
ONE VOTE: Launchpad McQuack, Tron

Side Battles:

“Running With Fists At the Pool is A-OK!”

VECTOR THE CROCODILE (StH) & BALOO BRUINWALD (DTAAS/TS) make a big splash on ACE & BIG BILLY (PPG)

14 to 0 (...dang, what a blowout)

TOP 10 SO FAR: Launchpad McQuack (5), Garnet (4), Mewtwo (3), Wolf O’Donnell (3), Patrick Star (3), Bowser (3), Elmer Fudd (3), Scrat (2), Ariel (2), The Panda King (2)

Purely Coincidental: I swear, the parts where Rick, Hector and Scrat at a diving board in the arena and Vector and Baloo at a diving board in the side story were all coincidental at best. But, if you want a clear picture, you can imagine that both events were happening at the same time.

Chapter Text

(The Arena)

Everybody just looked up at the announcer’s booth, looking rather surprised.

“...that doesn’t seem like the bunny at all.” Ike frowned as he rolled his eyes.

“No, I’m not buying it.” Penny frowned. “Xero’s going to come out in one of those chairs from below, acting like Monokuma, isn’t he?”

“It would seem like the better answer here.” Shingo frowned.

Maurice groaned as he held his head. “I know, I know, you guys have a lot of reasons to be suspicious, and you guys are probably right in your thinking, but this time, it’s for real. Xero’s sitting out because he found out some bad news, which I would prefer not to get into right now. Just so you know, Xero might have to retire some jokes for a little while. Or find new things to obsess over. Either way, it’s not good.”

“He’s right, everyone. Best leave sleeping dogs lie for the time being, because this isn’t about the bunny, this is about THE GAME! Which we need to get to right now!” Monika coughed, getting everyone’s attention. “Anyway, Treecko has made the choice of Big Guy Blocker, so let’s go over how that works, in case you’re new to this!”

With that, the center of the arena started to shake as some of the people nearby wisely stepped aside as a familiar setting started to get pushed up… a large round table, alongside sixteen chairs… and sitting in one of those chairs was none other than Monika, who gave a wave as her screen switched off.

“Hello, everyone! I’m Monika, and I’ll be the replacement Monokuma for these sections!” Monika giggled. “Don’t worry, though, I’m not like the crazy bear who prefers to bring despair. My thing is trying to find romance with the audience… our voting audience…” She gave a wink. “You all know who you are!”

Everyone just blinked in confusion… except for Pudding and Chowder, who reacted in disgust as Chowder said, “I’m pretty sure our voting audience doesn’t want to date fictional characters!”

“You’d be surprised, sadly.” Pudding groaned.

“Let’s get right to it. For the Big Guy Blocker rounds, even if a person coming in is a Big Guy, their status will not matter, because for the round, exactly FIFTEEN eliminations, done by individual players, will occur in this round. And if a person gets an elimination, said person will have to sit down at this wonderful table and wait out on the others until they’re done. Oh, and don’t worry about chains forcibly dragging you over… you’ll just be teleported and stuck to the seats, instead. As to why it has to be this way… it’s just so nobody decides to be sneaky by getting a second elimination.” Monika explained.

“So basically, this is the same Big Guy Blocker we know, except no Monokuma present.” Mewtwo nodded. “I suppose that part was obvious.”

“Very much correct.” Monika nodded. “Oh, one more thing. If a Big Guy Blocker round is played, I won’t be able to host the Safe Zone challenges, since I have to be here to maintain the table. However, if someone IS interested in doing a Safe Zone challenge, keep in mind, the replacement I hired to run it will not go easy on you. Keep that in mind.”

Everyone in the arena looked at each other as Lily decided to ask, “Who IS in the Safe Zone tent now, may I ask?”

“Sorry, can’t reveal anything. You’ll have to wait until one of you enters.” Monika giggled. “Let’s just say, there’s an old friend of ours that was willing to set up a few Safe Zone challenges…”

Everyone looked at each other in worry, before giving a nod, knowing that this was going to be a lot of fun…

“All right, now that we got the idea, let’s get the next set of fighters in!” Maurice announced. “Considering Xero’s absence, I’ll be reading through the list…”

As Maurice started to pick up the list and look it over, everybody else (save for Scrat and Patrick, who were still fighting), looked over towards each other as Shingo, Lily and the Panda King frowned at the rather large group.

“This could be a big problem…” The Panda King frowned.

“Yeah, I agree with you, big guy. If that alliance grows any more, it’ll be dominated with half of the fighters the next section…” Shingo whispered back.

“What do you propose?” Lily asked.

The Panda King paused, before taking a deep breath. “I have one idea… not the most honorable method, but we must get all the fighters out by force if necessary!”

Lily and Shingo looked at the Panda King, then at each other as they looked at the big group as Treecko hopped off of Pudding’s shoulder to attempt communication with Mewtwo. Lily frowned as she pulled out her pogamoggans. “I know what you’re getting at. Shingo, do you think you can take on the purple cat?”

“I can certainly try.” Shingo smirked as he raised his fists. “Considering his psychic powers are back now that his punishment is over, we’ll have to give it everything we got!”

“All right! In that case, I’ll take the small gecko thing. She may be small, but from the looks of things, she’s a threat.” Lily said.

“I shall take the purple haired man with the sword. He seems like he could be a powerhouse.” The Panda King nodded.

Over near the large group, Mewtwo raised an eyebrow as he looked down at Treecko. “Is there something you wanted to tell me?”

”Yeah, and it’s big! I was with Chamomile and we both foun-” Treecko tried to explain, only to get swept up in the wind by Lily’s use of aeromancy. ”OH COME ON!”

Mewtwo looked surprised before Shingo charged straight at him, surprising the psychic cat Pokemon. A few of the others looked at this in surprise as Penny looked over to see the Panda King approaching.

“Oh boy…” Penny chuckled nervously. “Guess this new alliance play is getting a little attention.”

“We do have a third of the arena dominated.” Garnet pointed out.

Ike frowned as he held up his sword, noting the Panda King looking in his direction. “I’ll take on the large panda. And it may be best we try and separate as best we can!”

“That’s a good point, na no da.” Pudding nodded. “It is a Big Guy Blocker round, so we need to make these eliminations count as best as we can!”

“Then let’s show these fighters what we can do!” Ariel nodded as the spotlight went towards the curtain that led to the Ready Room. The audience applauded once more as the first new fighter of Section Four came out.

”CLAIR ANDREWS!” (E)

The female teenager came out to a moderate applause as she gave a smile and tipped her hat. As soon as she was done with that, she started to walk down the pathway into the ring.

“Clair Andrews, huh? Well, she may be the most confident fighter, but when her favorite attack is going for the groin or spanking your butt, that causes questions to be raised… not to mention, her dungeon ending if she doesn’t revive Koji? Wow, she is secretly a jerk in that one!”

Clair stopped short as she gave a short wince, before glaring at Monika, who merely giggled at her own line. Clair groaned as she shook her head. “I see the roasts that became part of the Big Guy Blocker have not let up…”

Regardless of that, Clair shook her head and turned back to the arena as she noted the line of people looking towards her. Giving a smirk, she pulled out a dagger and charged towards the first character in her sight, which just so happened to be Garnet.

Garnet sensed the woman coming as she readied her gauntlets and blocked a punch from Clair. Clair grinned as she held her stance. “Wow! You’re so good at blocking! And you are quite a curious rock girl!”

“Crystal Gem is more of the accurate term.” Garnet pointed out before noting the girl’s excitable face. “Let me guess, you’re one of those architects?”

“More of an architect student!” Clair explained. “I came here with Professor Masuda, but considering that we both have to fight separately, he won’t be able to enter the ring for a VERY long time. SOOOOO… to pass the time, I’m going to try to survive until he gets here!”

“Hmmmm… an interesting idea in theory, but even ideas can just be theories.” Garnet said before readying her gauntlets. “If you’re really sure you want to see him… then let’s get it on…”

Clair grinned as she readied her fists before rushing forward towards Garnet, a fight about to commence.

”LION!” (T&J: WotW)

“I’m sorry, other than the one cartoon, “Jerry and the Lion”, has this lion even been a character in other Tom and Jerry shows?” Monika frowned before looking at her phone. “Oh… huh. There was an episode of Tom and Jerry Tales, but he acts as a different character altogether… and there were a couple episodes in the 2014 Tom and Jerry show, but at best, it’s just cameos. Sooo… yeah, no offense to the lion, but the only cartoons I remember with Jerry helping an escaped animal from the circus were the ones where Jerry had to take care of a baby elephant, Jerry and Jumbo, and the one with the seal, Little Runaway. But, considering Jerry and the Lion was the first of those escaped animal cartoons, that lion better hope seniority has the advantage here!”

Regardless of the roast, the quadruped lion came in to a few cheers from people who remembered his debut/only cartoon, Jerry and the Lion. The lion couldn’t help but give a small blush and chuckle as he waved to the crowd… before jumping up and landing on the ring with ease.

As soon as he did so, though, he could only look around nervously as he saw the large group of people looking at each other. Seeing that the only fighters that were available were two little kids, a mermaid and a teenage girl, the lion decided it would be much better not to get involved with any of them… however, it did get him to spot one fight out of the ordinary.

“HELLLLLLP!” Patrick whined as Scrat was biting his head now as the sabertooth squirrel was trying to get the starfish to let go of the acorn in his hand.

“Wait a minute, fellas, wait a minute!” The lion spoke as he pulled Scrat off of Patrick’s head and then the acorn before placing it on the ground as he looked between the two. “Look, little guy, is that any way to treat somebody when they take your food from ya?”

Scrat eagerly nodded… until noticing the lion’s glaring eyes, which immediately set him back as he shook his head no. The lion then turned to Patrick. “And, Mr. Starfish, isn’t it rude of you to take another person’s property without asking?”

“Uhhhhhhh… he should learn to share.” Patrick crossed his arms as he turned his back angrily.

Scrat’s mouth dropped in awe as he made some noise… before growling angrily as he crossed his arms and turned his back.

The lion just blinked twice as he held his head. “Oh no… this is going to be painful, I know it…”

”RICHTER BELMONT!” (SSB)

“Ahhh, a Belmont. He looks so cute when he tries to look serious, but let’s face it. If someone like him could be controlled by Shaft to resurrect DRACULA, he’s a bit of a happy weapon wielding idiot.” Monika smirked.

The vampire hunter/Belmont came out to that roast as he glared at Monika. “It was ONE time!”

Shaking his head (and ignoring the cheers of the fangirls), he decided to climb up to the arena as he readied his whip, looking backwards as he gave a small chuckle.

“That Proud girl is a bit of a threat, but I can take care of her anytime…” Richter said to himself as he looked around the ring before looking around. He quickly took notice of Shingo and Mewtwo’s fight as Mewtwo was now unleashing another Shadow Ball. “Especially since her new ‘partner’ is fighting another player…”

Over where Shingo and Mewtwo were fighting, Mewtwo was glaring right at Shingo as he asked, “I understand the reason you’re fighting me, but really?”

“You were outnumbering the likes of us, and we couldn’t take that risk to just be numbers to pick off!” Shingo argued. “I’m sorry, but I’m taking you down before anything else happens!”

Mewtwo could only give a small groan before using Barrier on himself. “At least I’m allowed to use my psychic powers again, so that’s a plus…”

Richter felt a little sympathy for his fellow Smasher, and as much as he wanted to help Mewtwo, now wasn’t a good time for it… now was a time to get some redemption on his end.

Sure enough, the familiar song of ‘This Is Halloween’ began to play as a lot of stop motion fans, and just in general “Nightmare Before Christmas” fans started to cheer.

”JACK SKELLINGTON!” (KH)

“Oh wow, a Halloween character appearing in a section that’s not the Halloween section! I wonder if this is going to become a theme here.” Monika rolled her eyes. “No, but seriously, I wouldn’t say Jack is dumb, but if he thought that taking over a holiday without permission was A-Okay by SANTA CLAUS, boy, did that backfire on him big time!”

The Pumpkin King came out to wild applause as he laughed and waved towards the audience before looking over at his hand, the Soul Robber ready for action. He looked up towards the audience before tilting his head towards the announcer’s booth.

“I thought maybe they’d have a Christmas or Halloween section when I got an early number…” Jack said to himself. “Hmmm… well, if what that bull and bunny told me is true, then… I eagerly await what they think of my ideas!”

With that, Jack laughed a bit before climbing into the ring and posing for the crowd, letting them cheer even more wildly than before. All of a sudden, he felt the sight of a whip cracking at his bones, causing the skeleton to yelp.

Jack turned around fast as he noted Richter Belmont approaching him. The Pumpkin King smiled towards the vampire hunter though and waved. “Oh! Hello! You must be Mr. Richter Belmont! Man, fighting against your ancestor last year was pretty fun, if I must say so myself!”

Richter immediately responded with a whip crack towards Jack, as the skeleton yelped, backing up slowly. The vampire hunter gave a glare towards Jack as he said, “So I hear. Since Simon is a little far away, and that I’m in the same section as you, I hope to get my revenge.”

Jack noticed Richter’s determined look on his face as he put a hand to his nonexistent chin. “Sheesh, seems like every monster hunter wants a piece of the Pumpkin King…”

The Pumpkin King nonchalantly shrugged before readying the Soul Robber. “Okay, then. Let’s do this!”

”PICHU!” (PKMN)

“I’m sorry, but while I do find the appeal of a baby Pokemon in Smash to be very interesting, the fact that said baby Pokemon’s attacks can HURT itself in recoil? That’s already bad by design.” Monika frowned.

The audience applauded as the small baby electric mouse Pokemon started to bound itself in the arena while scratching its ear cutely. After doing so, Pichu started to walk towards the ring as he took a deep breath in worry.

”Considering what happened last time at the Battle of the Luminaries, to think I wasn’t quite myself was scary…” Pichu shuddered a bit as it climbed into the ring. ”Well, hopefully I can find redemption here and get myself back into the swing of things!”

The small Pokemon looked around as he noticed a good amount of fights happening, with Lion trying to get Patrick and Scrat to make up. Pichu tilted his head in confusion before noting a small acorn nearby. Feeling a small rumble in his stomach, the small mouse bounded itself towards the acorn as it picked it up. “Pichu! Pi pi!”

“Come on, fellas, you’re acting all unreasonable here!” The lion said as he tried to speak to the starfish and sabertooth squirrel.

“Well, the small dummy started the whole thing!” Patrick said as he turned towards Scrat and gave him an accusatory finger.

Scrat’s eyes popped open before turning around and narrowing them at the starfish before babbling in his own language while trying to point to him and where the acorn was… before Scrat stopped short as he looked at the spot where the acorn once stood. Scrat slowly looked over to see Pichu dancing around with the acorn happily.

Scrat stood there for a moment, his eye twitching in anger… before letting out a loud scream as he charged forward towards Pichu. The small mouse Pokemon looked over to see the angry sabertooth squirrel heading his way before getting pounced on as the two were now in a fight cloud.

“Hey, wait a minute!” The lion called out, but Scrat and Pichu’s fight cloud had rolled away, leaving the lion and Patrick all alone, causing the lion to slap his own forehead. “Aw, geeze…”

All of a sudden, he heard crunching as the lion turned to see Patrick had somehow ordered some popcorn from a bag, having seemingly forgotten about Scrat already. The starfish turned towards the lion before offering the bag. “Want some?”

Seeing as how this was going nowhere, and seeing that Patrick would not be worth fighting right now, the lion just reached in with his mouth and took a big bite of popcorn before swallowing the mouthful.

”WAVE THE SWALLOW!” (StH)

“Oy vey, a member of the Babylon Rogues.” Monika rolled her eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they have their moments in those Sonic Riders games, but beyond those games, what other game were they even in? They’re not even mentioned in Sonic Generations, whereas people like Ray the Flying Squirrel, Mighty the Armadillo and even FANG THE SNIPER have gotten modern game appearances!”

The mechanic of the Babylon Rogues came out to the roast before sneering at Monika, before muttering angrily, “You think you’re such hot stuff, don’t ya?”

Grumbling under her breath (and ignoring the mixed reaction of the crowd), she quickly got on her board and started to surf down to the arena before grabbing some air and hopping in. Once she had done so, she looked towards the first person she had in mind.

Penny noted Wave coming her way as she gave a nervous smile. “Oh… uh… hello there, Wave.”

“Oh, don’t you hello me, sweetie!” Wave narrowed her eyes angrily. “I see you’re playing the meat shield strategy again!”

Penny shook her head in shock as she glared at Wave angrily. “I had an alliance of friends!”

“Yeah, MEAT… SHIELDS!” Wave pointed out. “Let’s face it, the only reason you got to the end and won the way you did was because you got lucky AND nobody even turned their heads towards you, thinking anybody could eliminate you whenever they wanted! Well, I’m not a sap! I’m taking you down and out, and none of your new meat shields are standing in my way!”

Wave turned her head, before her eyes widened to see Chowder and Pudding eating some well crafted shields made out of pork chops. Wave blinked as she slapped her forehead. “I don’t mean literal meat shields.”

“Hey! I just happen to make good friends in the ring, that’s all! And did you not see what I did to that pumpkin headed joker last round?” Penny frowned. “Because I’m about to put the hurt on you the same way I did to that guy!”

Wave just laughed. “Oh please, like you could be a threat to me… but I’ll humor you, for fighting’s sake…”

With that, Wave pulled out her wrench as she started to swing it towards Penny, who ducked down as she slid forward and kicked the bird in the back. Wave recovered before turning to the African-American girl, her eyes narrowing down at her, more than determined to take her out…

”BEAST!” (KH)

Everybody applauded as the theme tune to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast came on as the titular Beast came out of the Ready Room and let out a loud roar to the crowd. It only hyped the crowd up more as the Beast couldn’t help but have a small smile on his face. All of a sudden, a long trinkle of water came splashing down on the brown creature, surprising him as he tried to recover, as everybody gasped a bit.

“Oh no, looks like the Beast is all wet. He’s completely useless now!” Monika said the last sentence in a weird voice, causing everyone that had now got what happened to snicker at best.

The Beast narrowed his eyes at Monika as he gave a low growl. “If she weren’t a host or a girl, I would SO throw her out for that stupid joke…”

Beast then quickly closed his eyes as he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, before opening his eyes, before bounding over to the ring and leaping inside. Once in the ring, he took a look around to see a few available fighters, but figured that he’d wait for a better opponent. Until then, he decided to back off a bit, try to calm himself once more as he looked to his left to watch another fight, namely, that of Treecko and Lily.

”Come on, lady! I just want to tell Mewtwo something that could be on the possible urge of life and death!” Treecko begged as Lily rushed over and slammed one of her pogamoggans on the small gecko’s head.

“I don’t know what you said, but I can’t let you join back in that alliance and dominate the ring! Especially if Big Guy Blocker is involved!” Lily said.

”I don’t even want to be in the ring that long, just long enough to tell Mewtwo about-” Willow tried to reason, but was met with another hit with Lily’s war club. Treecko recovered before narrowing her eyes as she spat out a Dragon Breath attack. ”You know what? Screw it. If I’m going to get anywhere close, I see now that I have to knock you out!”

Lily took the effect of the Dragon Breath, causing her to fall down. Once she recovered, she laughed before getting up. “Oh, great spirit of the wind, lend me your power!”

As Lily and Treecko continued fighting, the Beast couldn’t help but be slightly amused by the battle. He then quickly turned his head towards the curtain, wondering who would come out next…

(Dome; Hallway)

It had been a bit since Scratch and Molly decided to split up, with Scratch waiting nearby the Recovery Room while Molly told him she would assemble their friends and get them over there. And… the ghost was giving a small yawn as he laid his ghostly body towards the wall.

“Ugh, how is it that I’m already so bored of waiting…” Scratch muttered to himself as he looked at his wrist, his eyes furrowed as if examining a watch. “Come on, Molly, how long does it take to assemble the team, they are LITERALLY in the same area watching the tournament!”

Scratch paused before giving a sigh as he looked at the monitors, watching Penny and Wave going at each other. “Of course, it all depends on what happens to Miss Proud here when or if she gets eliminated from the tournament… which, considering we have a long time before tournament’s end, and these tournaments aren’t exactly the ones where Haohmaru dominates the ring anymore, that’s saying a lot!”

Scratch couldn’t help but give a small sigh as he floated downwards… before pausing. “I wonder if I’ll have time to portal to the restaurant and get a quick taco or two…”

He shook his head. “Focus, Scratch! Food is the least of your worries right now! Although, there are those food stands around the dome… I could grab a plate of nachos and… ugh, no, the nachos there are terrible. The cheese fixture just doesn’t look natural! I don’t know why the bunny rehired the guy with the nacho stand!”

After a moment, Scratch growled in anger as he held his head. “Ugh, come on, give me something to do!”

“Like what, exactly?”

“I don’t know! Just, anything to do in particular while I wait for Mo-” Scratch started to complain until he stopped in his tracks, realizing he was speaking to someone close behind him. The small ghost slowly turned his head, his eyes beginning to shrink. “Se-se-se-se-se-”

The white haired individual, known as Sephiroth, gave a small smirk as he looked down at the stuttering ghost. “I see even ghosts quake at the sight of me.”

Scratch shook his head as he crossed his arms, rubbing his spectral body. “Scared! Who’s scared? I’m not scared, I was… uh… it’s freezing in here, that’s why I kept repeating ‘Se’, because… well, it’s cold in this hallway, and there needs to be a thermostat here to turn up the heat! Anyway, uh… hey, uh, aren’t you supposed to be hounding Cloud or bothering his blonde presence, or whatever?”

“Normally, I would indulge in a little Cloud suffering… but not this time.” Sephiroth smirked as he turned to Scratch. “I came here in the interest of Miss Proud.”

Scratch’s eyes widened in shock, before narrowing them. “Oh, I see. Of course, one of the villains would just so happen to be interested in the Tournament of Kikai winner for said power. Because why not, at this point? Hate to break it to ya, pal, but I’m not letting you touch her!”

“Oh, really, and why not?” Sephiroth smirked as he summoned his Masamune and pointed it straight at Scratch, who gave a yelp. “Who’s gonna make me?”

Scratch shook in fear of the intimidating man, but growled in anger as he tried to stand his ground. “I-I may not be much of a fighter, but I got invited into this tournament for a reason, and if I have to get down and dirty…” Scratch snapped a finger to make sure the ghost portal was open. He quickly reached in and pulled out a black robe before quickly putting it on. “Then as the Chairman of the Ghost World, YOU, SEPHIROTH, WILL NOT LAY HARM ON THE TOURNAMENT OF KIKAI CHAMPION, PENNY PROUD!”

Sephiroth could only blink twice, before smirking. “Is that meant to be intimidating, because I personally find it adorable.”

Scratch growled in anger as he held up his finger. “Come a little closer, pal, and find out just who exactly you’re messing with here!”

“I’ll curiously take on this challenge… and terminate you in no time flat.” Sephiroth chuckled as he readied the Masamune. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to kill a ghost…”

Scratch’s color drained from that comment as he tried to hold his ground. ”Okay, Molly, I don’t know where you are, but now I really need you here! Or… or anybody in the Recovery Room, can you at least hear this guy? Is this room soundproof?! Ugh, I gotta stall for time until SOMEBODY gets here!”

(Hotel; Lounging Area)

Silence had filled the area as Helga, Gerald, Phoebe, Rhonda and Nadine were sitting at the table, with Helga looking rather annoyed, Gerald and Rhonda looking over with an amused look on their faces, and Nadine and Phoebe having a look of curiosity on their faces as they looked over towards the new figure in the room with them. Or rather, looked down at them ON the table to get close to his eye level.

This small figure looked to be a small man-like figure… well, not exactly a man, more like a small bug. He was wearing a nice blue hat with an orange band near the base, a red vest with a light, orange button in the center, a yellow ascot, a black coat, a high-collared white shirt, tan pants, and yellow shoes with black tips. He also happened to be carrying a red umbrella with him. For a lot of people, he was a fairly recognizable character.

“All righty, then. Let’s talk, Miss Pataki.” The cricket said as he adjusted his hat a bit. “I’ve been watching you pull mean pranks on those people and thinking you can get away with anything!”

Helga blinked twice before narrowing her eyes at the small cricket. “Oh great, so I get told off by the infamous Jiminy Cricket. Criminy, you must be really desperate for conscience work, aren’t you?”

“Hey, I’m still Pinocchio’s conscience from time to time.” Jiminy pointed out. “We just have busy lives, that’s all. Besides, I don’t just conscience for ONE person, you know.”

With that, Jiminy smirked as he showed off the badge he was wearing, a solid gold one that read ‘Official Conscience- 18 KT’ on it. “If anybody is in need of guidance, I’m always there to be a guide.”

Helga just chuckled lightly as Jiminy glared at her. “Oh please, if you think I’m going to take advice from a grasshopper…”

“Excuse me, Mr. Cricket?” Phoebe asked as Jiminy turned to her.

“Oh, uh, call me Jiminy. Jiminy Cricket. None of that ‘Mr. Cricket’ stuff, if you please.” Jiminy chuckled.

“Of course, Jiminy. I’m just curious as to what you’re doing here. I didn’t think a fighting tournament would interest you.” Phoebe pointed out.

“Yeah, I’m curious about that myself.” Rhonda pointed out. “Not that you being here isn’t a delight to see… while you’re not one of my favorite Disney characters, you are in the top 50 at least.”

“I appreciate the honesty.” Jiminy said with a small smile towards Rhonda, before turning back to Phoebe. “If you all must know, I came here with the other Disney characters from Disney Castle, because I wanted to write down the experiences from the others into my journal.”

Gerald snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah! You were a chronicler in the Kingdom Hearts games, weren’t you?”

Jiminy smiled and nodded. “Right! Assigned by Queen Minnie herself to travel alongside Sora and his companions. I’ll admit, I’m not much of a fighter, more of a writer and helper.”

“Man, you and my boy Arnold would get along great!” Gerald chuckled a bit as he crossed his arms. “He’s not much of a fighter himself, save for Super Brawl Universe, but he loves helpin’ people just as much.”

“But of course! I’ve heard plenty about Arnold Shortman’s work, and I will say, he may be young, but he’s certainly a wise person.” Jiminy smiled.

“How true that is.” Nadine smiled as she looked over at the small bug. “Say, Jiminy, I have to ask, regarding your species, are you a house cricket or a European Field cricket? Call me curious, but I’m a bit of a bug enthusiast.”

“It’s true.” Rhonda smiled as she put a hand around her best friend. “Nadine here is known for her love for bugs!”

Jiminy chuckled a bit. “Ah, well, I can assure you that I am, in fact, a-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Helga waved her arms around as she glared at everyone, stopping JIminy short in his tracks. “I think we all get the idea of who Jiminy Cricket is. What I want to know is why HE thinks it’s any of his business to butt in on my fun!”

Jiminy lowered his eyelids as he gave a sigh. “Well, let’s just say I overheard someone saying that she has NO conscience.”

Helga’s eyes widened as she gave a nervous chuckle. “Uh, did I actually say that?”

“Yep.” Phoebe nodded.

“You did, Pataki.” Gerald agreed.

“Very proudly, in fact.” Rhonda pointed out as Nadine gave a nod.

The blonde girl in the pink bow lowered her eyelids towards her group of friends. “Thanks for the enthusiasm…”

“Now, I know that it shouldn’t BE any of my business, but from the way you’re pulling pranks on everyone, that ketchup prank on that poor Ichigo girl, which caused the fight between Mr. Wazowski and the blue blob imaginary friend, dragging his friends into the mess… and now, messing with two members of the security team?” Jiminy explained. “Sure, it may SOUND harmless now to you, but you’re going to meet up with a prank that you won’t be able to get out of… and you’re going to be sorry, that’s all I know!”

Helga rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. “Oh, what are you going to do about it? Besides, I don’t NEED a conscience! I’m Helga G. Pataki!”

“Ehhhhh, I don’t know, Helga. I think a little humility wouldn’t hurt.” Rhonda pointed out with a smirk.

Helga turned to Rhonda with a small glare. “Oh, that’s rich, coming from YOU, of all people, Miss ‘I Am So Haughty About My Appearance Every Single Time’.”

“Not ALL the time, Helga.” Rhonda frowned before pulling out a hand mirror from her pocket and looking at her face. “Ugh, look, now you got me all flustered… I might develop a wrinkle!”

Jiminy gave a small sigh as he looked at the group of kids, before turning to Helga. “This attitude of yours is exactly WHY I’m here to help. Look, you may not say you need it now, but give it time, and eventually, you’ll understand what it means to be nice.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.” Phoebe chuckled nervously.

Helga could only laugh. “Yeah, okay, if I want to have a seminar, I’ll just talk to Dr. Bliss. Thank you for your little input, Mr. Cricket, but I think I can take care of myself! Come along, everyone!”

Jiminy could only frown as he hopped on Helga’s shoulder. “Not without me, you won’t!”

“H-hey!” Helga protested in anger, before giving a groan, noting the others giving small snickers. “Ugh, you’re not going to stop following me until I take you along, is that it?!”

“All I ask is that you let me stick with you and you let me help guide you on right and wrong.” Jiminy pointed out.

Helga paused for a brief moment, before giving a small, evil smirk on her face. “All right, fine. But I’m not listening to you at all!”

Jiminy gave a sigh as he held his head, “Yeah, you say that now, but you just wait…”

Gerald, Phoebe, Rhonda and Nadine looked at each other, each of them having amused looks on their faces, wondering how this new team up between Helga and Jiminy would go. All they knew was that… this was going to either be amusing… or go very horribly wrong…

(The Arena)

”RON STOPPABLE!” (DTAAS)

“Oh yes, the inferior sidekick to Kim Possible… honestly, how Kim manages to tolerate this boy’s antics is beyond me! Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that the two were best friends AND he has a useful naked mole rat on the team, he probably wouldn’t be joining her at all.” Monika pointed out.

Despite the roast, the familiar blonde haired teenager wearing a black spy suit came running out as he gave a wave to the crowd who was cheering him on. Ron felt a small smile on his face, before turning his head towards the arena and narrowing his eyes at Monika. “Oh, come on! I have my uses! And I am a FAITHFUL sidekick!”

It was then a small pink naked mole rat popped out of Ron’s shirt pocket and started to look around, before grinning as he waved to the cheering audience. Ron looked down and gave a smile. “That’s right, Rufus! Let’s show everyone that I’m not just a bumbling sidekick like that Monika girl claims! I am a-”

However, Ron wasn’t watching where he was going as his pants had caught a nail as they ripped apart, showing off his boxer shorts. Ron’s eyes widened as he looked down before giving a scream. “Oh come on! I didn’t even enter the ring yet!”

Ron blushed in embarrassment as Rufus peeked out and winced, already feeling the fact that his owner and friend was getting embarrassed. Thankfully, a spare pair of pants was thrown towards Ron as the boy sighed in relief. “Thanks, KP!”

From out in the crowd, Kim Possible could only give her friend a thumbs-up before heading back to the dome to get back to the locker rooms.

As Ron climbed back into the ring and put on the new pair of slacks, a stray firework came close to his face as the man gave a small yelp. He rubbed his head before looking over to see the Panda King firing some more fireworks towards Ike as the purple haired swordsman tried his best to avoid them.

“You are certainly most infuriating, purple one.” The Panda King said. “And yet, keeping the distance is a smart move.”

“Those fireworks are way too homing for my liking.” Ike frowned as he readied his sword. “If I have to, I’ll be sure to take you down before anything esle.”

“A boastful gesture, and yet a rather welcome one.” The Panda King noted as he laughed a bit. “I shall accept your challenge!”

As the Panda King continued to fight against Ike as Ike charged forward with his sword, Ron could only blink twice before turning to his naked mole rat friend, who poked out of his pocket once more. “You know, Rufus, we seem to have some weird people in this ring.”

Rufus just gave Ron a look that asked ‘As opposed to what?’. This gave Ron a little bit to think as he looked around, before shrugging. “Eh. Good point. I guess ALL the people we face in our missions are weird in their own way.”

”VILGAX!” (CN: PTE)

“The big bad of Ben 10, oooo, I’m so scared. No, but seriously, for being a monstrous conqueror, he can’t even get his hands on the Omnitrix to save his life! If even a little ten year old kid can beat you, then you may as well hand in your ‘world conquering’ badge!” Monika frowned.

The green tentacled-faced alien came in to rather threatening music from the original Ben 10 series that introduced him as he gave a fierce growl towards Monika. But, knowing better than to escalate things, he decided to just climb into the ring, ignoring the mostly negative and fearful crowd, as he decided to get right to business. Pulling out his sword, he looked over towards Ariel and eyed her with a mild curiosity.

Ariel noticed Vilgax as a little fear was struck in her eyes. “Oh no…”

She then saw that Vilgax started to rush forward towards her, sword at the ready. As quick as possible, she pulled out the trident and sent an electric blast right at Vilgax, stopping the alien threat short in his tracks.

Vilgax narrowed his eyes at the mermaid princess and smirked. “Nice little toy. It’ll make a nice souvenir for when I mount you to my wall…”

Ariel growled in anger as she held her trident firmly. “You heard the hosts! No killing players in the ring, just toss them out!”

“Who said anything about killing you in the ring, my little mermaid?” Vilgax grinned. “I’m talking about my plans for you afterwards!”

Ariel stood firm as she held the trident up. Pudding and Chowder looked up her in concern as Chowder said, “Uh, be careful of Vilgax, he’s a really, REALLY big threat here!”

“We haven’t faced anyone like him last year, so we don’t know exactly what he’s capable of!” Pudding pointed out.

“It does help he didn’t join in the final battles in the final section in the last story.” Chowder pointed out.

“True.” Pudding sighed.

Ariel looked towards the two kids with a small smile. “I’ll be okay. I’ve learned a lot from last time. You two kids try to stay as far away from this fight as possible.”

Pudding and Chowder looked at each other and nodded as Chowder motioned for Kimchi to follow. “Just be careful.”

As Pudding, Chowder and Kimchi started to rush off to another safe part of the arena, Ariel turned back to see Vilgax smirking, his eyes twinkling as he readied his sword. Ariel took a deep breath before holding the trident up, ready for battle.

”BLANKA!” (SF)

“Seriously, while I adore Blanka and the whole Blanka-chan thing he has going… seriously, there are moments where Blanka gets a little TOO… moe about it.” Monika sighed as she held her head. “...He’s about to come out dancing, isn’t he?”

As if on cue, Blanka came hopping out to a loud amount of applause as he started to dance around merrily, smiling and laughing in a goofy manner the whole time. Monika could only elicit a small sigh as she held her head in annoyance.

The finalist of the original Final Twelve of the Tournament of Kikai couldn’t help but give a small smile as he started to play to the audience a bit, before jumping around happily. After a moment, Blanka turned towards the ring and hopped in as he started to flex a bit.

The Beast, who had been waiting for a while, couldn’t help but note Blanka’s enthusiasm as he walked over. “You are curiously happy about being in the ring… despite having an early entry.”

“I can’t help it. I’m just feeling a little more in the crowd today!” Blanka laughed as he started to show off. “Come on, my friend, you can afford to smile and enjoy yourself as well!”

Beast paused briefly for a moment, before giving out the best smile he could possibly muster, trying to act as cute as possible… only for his face to fall flat as he shook his head. “I don’t think I can manage to keep the enthusiasm as well as you can…”

“Heh, then why not battle me, and I’ll show you how to smile!” Blanka smiled. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Beast paused slightly before giving a nod, getting into a stance. “There’s nobody else interesting to battle. I may as well.”

“Now that’s the attitude I like!” Blanka laughed before jumping up into a rolling attack and running straight into Beast. The Beast yelped before swiping at Blanka with his claws, “Come on, it wouldn’t kill ya to smile every once in a while!”

“And now… Mystery Fighter… Number… SEVEN!”

”USHI!” (Fighters Destiny)

The first of Maurice’s six returning Mystery Fighters had made an appearance in the ring once more. The mute, antropomorphic cow started dancing around to the crowd as while the old people who attended the first Tournament of Kikai were cheering, the other half, the new people, looked just as astounded as ever seeing this cow in action.

As soon as she was done dancing, Ushi ran towards the ring and hopped in, before dancing once more, dancing towards the lion as he looked up.

“Oh!” The lion noticed Ushi looking down at him as he waved. “Hello there, pal! Uh… can I help you?”

Ushi didn’t respond, but rather kicked the lion in the face pretty hard, sending him down to the ground. The lion gave a small groan before getting up and rubbing his face.

“Ooof… I see, a battle is what you want. I guess it was inevitable… better than eating popcorn, I can say that much.” Lion said before getting up on his two feet. “All right… let’s do it, then!”

Ushi mooed as she gave another dance, before pumping her fists once more and charging straight towards the lion.

Nearby, Pudding and Chowder were watching this battle as Chowder turned towards Pudding. “So, how much are you willing to bet those two somehow end up working together?”

“A lion and a dancing cow? Hmmm… I’d say they’d be gone first round.” Pudding shrugged.

“Those voters could prove you wrong.” Chowder pointed out.

“Maybe, but even I can’t get into their minds… we may be cartoon characters, but we can’t read minds.” Pudding rolled her eyes. “And sometimes, I wish we could…”

“Yeah, it sucks.” Chowder frowned.

”NAKORURU!” (KOFXV)

“For one of the main girls of the Samurai Shodown games, she certainly had a bit of an attitude adjustment… first going from shy, sad and stoic to being cheerful, then in 2019, back to sad and stoic! I don’t know what major steps backwards she took to get to that, but… yeesh.” Monika shook her head.

The nature guardian came out to a loud amount of applause as the young woman gave a small smile and waved towards the audience, before her attack hawk, Mamahaha, came flying by her side and landed on the woman’s shoulder. She looked towards her hawk with a small smile.

“Are you ready for this, Mamahaha?” Nakoruru asked the hawk as the hawk could only screech at her in return. “You’re right, let’s get going.”

With that, Nakoruru walked towards the ring until she climbed up before noting Pudding’s curiosity. She gave a warm smile towards the girl. “Hello, little one. I hear you have a way with the monkey…”

“I’m sorry, what monkey?” Ron asked as he turned towards Pudding, Chowder and Nakoruru… and only NOW did he notice Pudding’s monkey tail as part of her Mew form. He then shuddered in fear. “Holy cow, Rufus! Nobody told me there’d be monkeys in this arena, especially moe monkey girls!”

Rufus looked out from his pocket and narrowed his eyes towards Ron, as if unamused. Ron could only look at Rufus sheepishly. “Well, I know she was announced last section, but I thought she’d be gone by then!”

Thankfully, for the others, they didn’t hear Ron’s conversation with Rufus as Pudding gave a wave. “Hi there!”

“You don’t seem too busy, and if you’d like to pry yourself away from your friend, I’d like to have a good battle.” Nakoruru said. “Let me see how well I can go up against a Mew!”

“Sure, na no da!” Pudding smiled before turning to Chowder. “Sorry, Chowder, but I need to fight this girl now!”

“All right, I can handle myself for a while…” Chowder smiled before looking towards Mamahaha nervously. “Besides, I don’t like the look on that hawk…”

The hawk on Nakoruru’s shoulder screeched at Chowder, making the young cat-bear-rabbit hybrid wince in fear before backing towards the ropes. As Pudding and Nakoruru moved to an empty spot for their fight, Chowder could only give a sigh of relief.

“Man… the next few fighters can’t come soon enough…” Chowder said to himself as Kimchi flatuated.

(Dark, Scary Field)

Jack continued to wander around through the field in curiosity as he scratched his head. It had been at least a couple minutes since he had been eliminated by Penny Proud, and though he was still upset by his elimination being too soon, he kept going forward. However, the more he wandered, the more… scary it felt… just the way he liked it.

But it felt a little… empty. And it felt like he was being watched by someone. Jack frowned as he curled up his hands. “I could have sworn I would have ran into a character by now! A NODE name would be nice as well… but I don’t recognize anything in particular!”

Jack groaned as he held up his head. “Ugh, even with my pumpkin head, I have a splitting headache!”

He then heard the hooting of an owl nearby as Jack turned his head. “Whazzat?”

Not too far away, he saw a strange owl glaring straight at him, as if giving him an evil eye. This made Jack slightly uncomfortable as he started to back away slowly… only to bump into something behind him. Jack immediately turned around and noticed… another pumpkin headed individual. Only, he was wearing blue clothing, twigs for limbs and black boots. The pumpkin had a sinister smile on his face.

“Soooooo… the Wizard thinks he’s so clever into trying to clone me, huh? Thinks he can slow me down in my mission to destroy him for the Devil? He’s got another thing coming!” The second pumpkin headed man laughed as he narrowed his eyes.

“Wizard? What Wizard? I don’t know what you’re even talking about!” Jack O’Lantern said in shock.

“Don’t you dare play that game with me, bucko! Especially when you’ve come face to face with Stingy Jack, or… Pumpkin Jack, as I’m more commonly known.” Pumpkin Jack said as he narrowed his eyes.

“Pumpkin Jack? Seriously? At least Jack O’Lantern has a nice ring to it!” Jack O’Lantern growled as he narrowed his eyes. “And what’s all this talk about the Devil and a Wizard!”

“As if you don’t know! You’re in the Great Arc En Ciel Kingdom, a once peaceful, but boring kingdom, now littered with chaos and ruin thanks to the Devil himself. However, these nice, peaceful townsfolk recruited a Wizard to try to stop this chaos from spreading, and it’s my personal mission to stop the Wizard from breaking the curse! And if I do that, I’ll be able to move freely into the afterlife!” Pumpkin Jack proclaimed.

Jack O’Lantern blinked twice as he scratched his head. “I will admit, that does explain where I am…”

“And I see the Wizard decided to stop me in my tracks by making a clone of me! An interesting clone, but it comes nowhere NEAR who I am!” Pumpkin Jack growled before pulling out a shovel. “So I’m going to destroy this clone once and for all!”

“Wait a minute, mac, this has all been a big misunderstanding! I just got here myself!” Jack O’Lantern protested. “I don’t even know who this Wizard is! I’m just minding my own business until I have to get back to the Recovery Room! I just got out of a tournament, you se-”

However, that was as far as Jack O’Lantern got before the scarecrow-looking pumpkin headed man slammed the shovel directly into the prankster’s face. Jack O’Lantern grunted before narrowing his eyes. “All right, I can see there’s no convincing you! So…” He quickly pulled out his bag of tricks. “...you better watch yourself, because you’re about to be pranked by the great Jack O’Lantern!”

Pumpkin Jack sneered at the pumpkin headed man before him. “That Wizard certainly made a very interesting clone of me…”

Jack O’Lantern resisted every temptation to chastise Pumpkin Jack, and just started to rush forward with an attack.

(Dome; Secret Room)

Somewhere in the dome, there was a room that only the security team members and the hosts had access to. This would be a room where usually, they would take a break or check in on some unusual characters that got invited, but had to be restrained due to their monster-like personality. This was under Maurice’s suggestion, as he knew SSBFreak’s tendency of inviting monster-like characters in the Megamix Tournaments, and had a feeling Xero would follow that pattern.

Regardless, despite everything, there didn’t seem to be any monstrous enemies save for one, and as of now, it was currently lurking around somewhere. The door opened up as Maki and Della Duck peeked inside.

“Hello?” Della called out as she walked in, a lantern held up to her face. “Anybody here?”

Maki followed closely as she looked around for a moment. “I don’t hear anything…”

“That’s because with these Pikmin enemies, you never know when one might be lurking.” Della sighed. “And from what we know about it, said enemy might appear at any time…”

“Fair enough…” Maki said as she closed the door behind her and started to look around as she and Della kept moving forward. “Should we be thankful that the other enemies are kept close to their cages?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.” Della sighed as she heard some other noises from other cages. “Hopefully, that’s just records playing in those cages, and that bunny was kidding about the other monster Mystery Fighters.”

“As far as we’re concerned, there’s only one we need to worry about…” Maki pointed out.

“Okay, so let’s put our heads together! What do we know about this particular Pikmin enemy?” Della asked.

“Well, I talked to Captain Olimar regarding this Mystery Fighter, and from what he’s told me, if you see this creature, panic and insanity starts to set in.” Maki gave a sigh. “Maybe we should have asked for Purple Pikmin, just in case, because the monster were facing hates the thud sound a Purple Pikmin makes when it lands.”

“Loud noises when something heavy hits the ground then, got it.” Della whispered.

“All right, we better stay close, because this creature could land at any-” Maki started before a descending whistling sound was heard.

“It’s the creature!” Della shouted before she and Maki turned around as they both saw an ectoplasmic creature attaching itself to two stone rollers that spawned from the ground.

“The Waterwraith…” Maki whispered, before turning to Della. “Remember the plan?!”

“Yeah, got it!” Della nodded as she pulled out a wrench while Maki pulled out some throwing knives. “Run and hold it off until we find something heavy to crash it!”

“I can only hope we can hold out for long…” Maki shut her eyes. “I do NOT want to be out of commission because of Xero’s stupidity of inviting a WATERWRAITH!”

The Waterwraith gave out a loud roar before charging towards the two women as they turned face and ran, looking back the entire time in the hopes that the creature would keep following it. From the looks of things, it was going to be a tough battle for the two of them.

(The Arena)

”MARX!” (K)

“Yipe, well, I would roast Marx here, but… uh… I don’t want to make him sound like he’s crazy.” Monika shuddered. “So… let’s just say that Marx may look unassuming, but you must be a real idiot if you think THIS face is one you can trust!”

The small pink jester figure came hopping in with a large smile on his face, as he heard the amount of applause being given to him. Being a fan favorite Kirby villain, Marx could only laugh as he rolled down on his ball and laughed before getting some love from the audience. Marx then rolled over towards the ring, before summoning his wings and flying in as he landed with grace.

“Ha ha! Always great to please a crowd!” Marx gave a slight chuckle before looking around as he spotted Chowder munching on another bowl of popcorn (that he got while Maurice was getting his notes together) as Marx’s eyes lit up. He then rode on his ball towards Chowder as he waved to him. “Hello, new friend!”

Chowder stopped eating for a moment before looking up towards Marx in confusion. “Hello…?”

“Hmmm… that looks so yummy! May I have a handful of that popcorn?” Marx asked as he licked his lips.

“Uh, no, get your own.” Chowder frowned. “You look like a creepy guy, and I have played the Kirby games before. Why would I share my popcorn with somebody who tried to destroy Planet Popstar?”

“Whaaaat?” Marx asked as he tilted his head. “Come ooooooooon! I’m really hungry right now, and I get reaaaaaaally antsy when I’m hungry!”

“Yeah… no, pass.” Chowder said as he grabbed his bowl of popcorn and was about to walk off, before a ball was spat on him. “Hey!”

Chowder turned in anger, only for the young boy to see Marx’s crazy face as he flew up in the air. ”YOU SHOULD HAVE SHARED YOUR POPCORN, LITTLE BOY! BECAUSE I’M ABOUT TO DESTROY YOUR VERY PRESENCE… OR GET YOU OUT OF THE RING, AT THE VERY LEAST!”

Chowder let out a loud scream as he started to run away, Marx spitting out more large balls as he chased after the purple cat-bear-rabbit hybrid, with Kimchi following close behind.

Ron just blinked twice as he scratched his head. “Okay, like… that is the weirdest thing that’s happened yet…”

”AGGRON!” (PKMN)

“Hmmm, so this is Xero and Maurice picked for the sole ‘Rock’ type for each Pokemon theme, huh? I mean, outside of the Smash Pokemon, legendaries, and just a few Pokemon picked for fan service, Aggron has, like, rock solid defense, but it’s speed is abysmal! It is also four times weak to fighting and GROUND moves, and we have a lot of fighters in the ring! So yeah, Aggron is toast!” Monika pointed out.

Aggron didn’t let the roast affect him as the large Steel/Rock type rhinoceros like Pokemon came stomping in and roaring as it beat its chest. The crowd roared in delight as the Pokemon took in all the praise.

Ron turned around as Rufus peeked out from his pocket and yelped upon seeing the large Pokemon. “Okay, no way am I fighting that thing! Is there anybody left that doesn’t have an opponent other than me?”

Aggron casually walked over to the ring and went inside before giving out a loud roar… then, as if on cue, Patrick came walking in, looking rather bored, before turning towards Aggron.

“OH! Yippie, a new rock!” Patrick cheered before jumping up and latching himself on Aggron, surprising the rather large rhinoceros/dinosaur like creature. “Hmmm… feels all snuggly too.”

Ron and Aggron blinked twice at Patrick’s statement… before Aggron just shrugged and jumped down to slam on the starfish in an attempt to get him off.

Ron gave a small sigh of relief as he looked down at Rufus. “Looks like I dodged a bullet there…”

“Yeah-huh!” Rufus chuckled a bit as Ron quickly counted the fighters.

“Okay, so I’m the only fighter not occupied, and there are only three left. One of these has GOT to be my opponent!” Ron said with a confident smirk as he pointed to the curtain. “So come on, baby, let’s have it!”

“And now… Mystery Fighter… Number… EIGHT!”

“Booyah!” Ron smiled as he pumped his fist in the air. “I definitely want that Mystery Fighter!”

”THE DEVIL!” (Cuphead)

Ron stopped short in his tracks. “Wait, what?”

Everyone turned their heads towards the curtain as a familiar black furred figure with long horns, a red nose, a devil’s tail and furred feet came walking out with a mischievous grin on his face, holding a yellow pitchfork. It was indeed, the Devil, as the audience let out loud screams… both of joy and fear as the Devil held up his hand and listened to them.

“Ahhhh, I love the sound of fear and joy… especially when it’s directed at me!” The Devil grinned as he started to sing along to the tune that Horace put on.

(Whoooooooaaa…)

(In case you ain’t heard, I’m the Devil)

(I’m real down low, not on the level)

(They call me Old Scratch, Mr. S, the Big D)

(I’m the king of the underworld, yeah, it’s great to be me!)

With that, the Devil laughed as he danced along to his own tune, before using his pitchfork to teleport directly into the ring as he looked over at Ron Stoppable. Ron could only give a small, nervous smile as he waved to him.

The Devil paused as he looked rather unimpressed. “A bumbling sidekick? Really? Oh, those aren’t even WORTH my time!”

With that, the Devil began to walk off, leaving a rather astounded Ron standing on his two feet… before recovering as he gave a yell, “COME ON, PAL! YOU CAN’T JUST INSULT ME LIKE THAT!”

Ron groaned as he held his head. “Fine, fine, I didn’t want this guy, anyway, not worth getting worked up over… okay, THIS one has to be my fighter!”

”KAZUYA MISHIMA!” (SSB)

Ron could only slap his forehead in annoyance as Rufus shook his head in sympathy.

“Oh yes, Kazuya Mishima. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, buddy, but your family history is so messed up. Who tosses their firstborn son OFF OF A CLIFF and expects it to be a life lesson? I know Heihachi did that to you, but come on!” Monika pointed out.

The shirtless man came out to a loud mix of cheers and jeers to the crowd as the man slowly looked around. Once the Mishima fighter spotted Ron, he gave a small smirk before climbing into the ring.

“You! Yellow haired teenager. I can see that you have quite the fight in you… in fact, I can sense a great deal of power within you.” Kazuya pointed out.

Rufus peeked his head out in worry as Ron chuckled nervously. “You must be sensing my Mystical Monkey Power. Heh heh… I am the master of that move, after all!”

“How quaint, and yet curious.” Kazuya said as he went into a fighting position. “But is it any match for the Mishima style?!”

“Uh… is there any way I can back out of this?” Ron whispered as he gave a nervous grin.

Kazuya pondered, before grabbing Ron by the shirt. “No.”

“Come on, please! Reconsider!” Ron whined as Kazuya started to drag him off nearby.

All the while, the Devil was busy blowing on his hand a bit and rubbing it on his chest as he looked up, as if expecting someone to come out.

“And now… the final fighter of this section!”

The Devil’s eyes lit up as a big grin started to adorn his face.

”BUGS BUNNY!” (LT: WoM)

(Ehhhh, what’s up, doc?)

(What’s cookin’, what’s up doc?)

(Are you looking for)

(Bugs Bunny bunting, Duck is gonna huntin’)

(Just to get a rabbit skin, but now the rabbit’s gone again!)

(What’s up doc? What’s cookin’-)

(Hey, look out! Stop!)

(BANG!)

(You’re gonna hurt someone)

(With that old shotgun)

(Eh, what’s up, doc?!)

“Ah yes, Bugs Bunny! Despite being treated like the Mickey Mouse of his company, Bugs isn’t actually the first Looney Tune. No, that right went to Bosko, who, even then, was just a boring character… at least better than BUDDY, the SECOND Looney Tunes character! I mean, he is SO BORING!” Monika shook her head. “Thank goodness Porky came in, because, yes, boring, but he at least had something of a personality that kept him going.”

The gray rabbit came out to a loud amount of applause as Bugs waved to the crowd.

“Ahhhh, my public.” Bugs grinned before walking forward. “How they love me…”

With that, Bugs decided to stop waving to the crowd as he turned his head towards the ring. He quickly ran forward towards the ring and jumped up, while doing some major poses in the air. Once he landed, the audience applauded massively. Bugs couldn’t help but take another bow until he noticed a shadow approaching. The rabbit turned and his ears went down as he saw the Devil standing before him.

“Hello there, Mr. Bunny. It would appear that I’m the only person left to battle.” The Devil smirked as he blew on his nails.

“Ehhhh… what’s up, Devil?” Bugs frowned as he munched on a carrot. “Been getting any souls lately?”

“As a matter of fact, production has been booming quite nicely… and though I don’t have the cup’s soul yet, I think a bunny’s soul would be nice for the collection…” The Devil smirked.

“Ehhh… you’ll have to catch me first!” Bugs grinned as he hopped up and ran on the Devil’s face, wrinkling it massively before rushing forward.

The Devil responded by shaking his head before looking up and smirking. “Oh ho ho… I LOVE it when they run…”

As the Devil started to give chase to the rabbit, Monika could only look around at the players fighting as she could only give a smile. “Thirty fighters are in the ring, but only fifteen can pass through the round. I wonder who they’re going to be…”

The girl giggled as she put her feet up on the table. “Either way, my lovely voters, you’ve got to make those choices count!”

Chapter Text

(The Arena)

This time, the arena rules were pretty simple. One elimination per character, and they would be sent over to Monika’s table in the center to sit the rest of the round out so that no cheating would surmise. So, if anybody was planning on working together this round, they had to be more careful in how they planned this ‘Big Guy Blocker’ round.

And so far, things have not… gotten off to a great start for a few of them were not only separated from their partnerships, but some of them were definitely having trouble with their opponent, as seen by Marx spitting out volleyballs directly at Chowder, the small purple bear-cat-rabbit hybrid screaming as he dodged a few of them, only to get hit by one.

“Owwwww…” Chowder groaned, before looking up at the flying, grinning monster above him. “Look, all you have to do is call out for popcorn from the vendors, and they can get it for you in the arena! Heck, I can even call one for you now!”

“AWWWWW, but they cost money!” Marx whined as he flapped his wings menacingly. “I prefer for people to share their popcorn!”

“Well, you can’t have mine, it’s been solely given to me by a vendor up there!” Chowder pointed out.

”YOU WILL RUE THE DAY YOU DIDN’T SHARE YOUR POPCORN, LITTLE BOY!” Marx shouted as large flames started to surround him.

Chowder continued to scream as he jumped on his sentient cloud. “Ride like the wind, Kimchi!”

Kimchi did a raspberry before flying Chowder away, with Marx giving pursuit. All the while, Pudding and Nakoruru could only watch as the latter raised an eyebrow in concern.

“Uh, you know, sweetheart, if you want to help your friend, I won’t hold it against you. I can wait.” Nakoruru offered. “I mean, look at the poor kid, he’s being tormented by what looks to be a devilish jester!”

“I’m just as concerned for Chowder, but I’m sure he can pull through.” Pudding said as she turned to Nakoruru. “Besides, he and I may have come in the ring together, but I think we proved ourselves well on our own that I want to see if we can continue that streak. If we do have to come together, so be it, but I think we’ll do fine.”

Nakoruru blinked twice as the sound of Chowder screaming was heard in the background. “Uhhh, if you say so…”

“Anyway… RIBBON… PUDDING RING… INFERNO!” Pudding shouted as she separated the tambourine from the hula hoop shaped object as she jumped up and sent the two rings towards Nakoruru.

As if quick as a flash, Nakoruru jumped up and grabbed her attack hawk by the feet as she avoided the rings. Pudding looked up and frowned. “AWWWW! I wish I had a cool attack hawk to ride around on!”

Nakoruru then jumped down before pulling out her cape as she waved it in front of Pudding. The little girl yelped as she jumped backwards to avoid the attack.

All the while, Monika was keeping a close eye on that battle in particular as she gave a giggle. “Oh, that kid. I can’t wait to see what type of shenanigan that Mew will try to get out of now…” She crossed her legs a bit as she examined the fight. “Although, I will say, there is a lot more determination from her than last year. Maybe because her friends aren’t in danger this time around?”

After waiting for a little while, Monika snapped her fingers as she called out, “All right, everybody, just because it’s a Big Guy Blocker, doesn’t mean we’re giving the wheel a rest! Anybody who’s unlucky to be landed on will get punished severely!”

“Too true on that, Monika!” Maurice said as the wheel began to spin. “So, without further delay, who will suffer our first punishment?”

Most eyes turned to the wheel as it kept spinning around and around until finally, it reached… Mewtwo’s face.

Mewtwo, who had been fighting with Shingo, blinked twice before frowning. “I just got out of the last punishment. What do you intend to punish me with further?”

“I’m more curious myself…” Shingo paused as he scratched his head.

All of a sudden, Monika snapped her fingers as the sand from the arena began to whip around and was sent directly towards the psychic Pokemon. Mewtwo yelped as he felt the sting of the eyes of the sand, regretting not moving out of the way immediately.

“One… two… three…” Monika counted as more sand kept getting pelted in Mewtwo’s eyes. “Four… five and… SIX!”

Shingo stepped back as the barrage of sand stopped coming towards his face as Mewtwo tried to wipe the sand from his eyes… as a blue aura that was shimmering down appeared around Mewtwo.

Maurice gave a sigh as he took the microphone. “For those wondering what just happened, Mewtwo has been punished by taking six Sand Attacks directly in the face. Normally, sand in your eyes wouldn’t be an issue, BUT in Pokemon terms, it means his accuracy drops significantly. And since you can’t go any lower than six Sand Attacks in the games, that’s the best Monika can do to Mewtwo here. So… Mewtwo will have lowered accuracy until the end of the round.”

“Lowered accuracy? What do they mean by that?” Shingo asked as he raised an eyebrow.

“It merely means that most of my moves I try to do to you will miss ninety percent of the time.” Mewtwo said as he readied a Shadow Ball. “Watch.”

With that, Mewtwo aimed point blank at Shingo with the Shadow Ball, only for the ball to go WAY off its mark as Shingo’s eyes widened in awe. “Even with moves like Psychic?”

“ESPECIALLY with moves like Psychic, unfortunately.” Mewtwo said as he used his fingers to try to psychic hold Shingo, only for them to hold the Devil (who had been blasting at Bugs with his pitchfork) instead.

“What th- HEY! LET ME GO!” The Devil shouted in anger as he narrowed his eyes. “Do any of you realize just who I am?!”

Mewtwo then waved his arm as he threw the Devil right into the battle between Ike and the Panda King, causing Ike to be thrown off as he turned to the Devil with a glare on his face.

The Devil, noting Ike’s glare, pointed towards Mewtwo. “Before you say anything, he’s the one who-”

Ike then slammed his sword right at the Devil’s face, causing the toonish creature to bound himself backwards and give a small scream, before growling. Ike frowned as he crossed his arms. “It doesn’t matter WHAT happened, but the fact you interrupted a battle is a no-go!”

“ERRRGH! How can you be this DENSE!” The Devil complained… before growling in anger. “You know what? I WAS aiming for the rabbit, but I think you’ll be a more suitable replacement, just for that sword slash!”

“Only for that sword slash, no other explanation?” The purple haired warrior frowned as he readied his sword.

The Devil growled in anger as he grumbled, “You’re lucky that I have a lot on my mind right now…”

The Panda King could only blink twice as he saw that his former opponent was now occupying himself by fighting the Devil. Bugs joined up alongside the large panda as he looked up at him. “Didn’t think that would happen, did ya, Doc?”

“It is to be expected in tournaments like this, but to think a battle interruption would happen to me! It is very dishonorable…” The Panda King frowned. “The fact it is also a Big Guy Blocker also fazes me a lot…”

“Ehhhh, don’t sweat it, doc…” Bugs smiled as he looked up. “Look, tell ya what, seeing as how you and I aren’t busy… maybe we can actually have a proper match this time?”

The Panda King looked down and gave a smirk. “Ahhhh, a fair fight you actually desire this time? Quite understandable, considering our last battle wasn’t much of a battle, and more you kicking me out so that I may set up the fireworks show…”

“Got any plans for that this year?” Bugs asked as he cocked his head. “I’m genuinely curious…”

“It all depends on…” The Panda King paused before looking up towards the Announcer’s Booth and glaring at it. “What happens…”

“Hm…” Bugs pondered for a moment, before grinning. “Well, count me in for a proper rematch, doc! I’m more than ready for anything!”

The Panda King gave a small chuckle as he readied a stance. “You, little rabbit, have no idea who or what you are actually facing. I may have let you eliminate me last time, but I will not back down so easily this time…”

Shingo and Mewtwo could only watch as the Devil and Ike were now exchanging blows, with Bugs rushing forward towards the Panda King, as the large panda used his belly to bounce Bugs backwards towards the ring. Shingo blinked twice as he turned to Mewtwo. “Ooof, sooo… your inaccurate moves is going to make this easy for me to-”

All of a sudden, familiar looking stars started to rush past the cocky man as he merely fell down. Shingo recovered as he noticed Mewtwo being surrounded by floating stars.

“Most of my moves are now inaccurate, but not ALL of them. Because, and as most of Pokemon fans know… Swift. Never. Misses.” Mewtwo said.

Shingo paused, before smirking as he got up. “A star fight, huh? Well, I’m about to burn them out!”

(Announcer’s Booth)

Maurice paused slightly as he noted the Panda King’s glare from earlier. “Something tells me that we’ve got to be more careful in what we do around the contestants…”

All of a sudden, the bull heard a door opening as he turned to see Xero coming in, packed lunches in his hands and tears mostly gone as the rabbit took his place in his seat. “Hey, Xero. Are you feeling okay to host?”

“...honestly, no.” Xero sighed as he looked down. “I just… I can’t believe this all happened to me in one fell swoop. The fact this… this controversy happened… and everything I knew and supported… ugh, and I even had the same Treecko and Skitty from HIS LP on there!”

Maurice looked over in sympathy as Xero gave a sigh. “But I’ve decided to look past that. No, there’s also the fact that… he actually…” Xero held his head as he shook his head. “I had NO idea about the mental health he had… and…” The bunny paused. “How do I move forward after this? Even with everything that all went down and… don’t get me wrong, I’m happy he’s actually getting help, but…”

Xero groaned as he held his head. “I’ve done the Steve jokes for so long, they become synonymous with my personality, and the fact that the originator of the joke had to go through a lot of that…”

“Well, you can’t go and erase the past, Xero. Especially since, as you said, the Steve thing was so associated with you at this point.” Maurice sighed. “But you know what? The best thing you can do at this point is look past all the mistakes and just keep moving forward. Sure, you can’t change the past, but it’s up to us on how to brighten up the future.”

Xero paused as he looked over towards Maurice, taking his words to consideration. “Hmmmm… you know, you make a good point.”

“Exactly.” Maurice smiled.

“I mean, just because the controversy happened… yeah, I can stop the jokes for a while, but it does give me ample time to reanalyze comedy, right? And being the comedic social influencer that I am, it’s my job to see what new memes we can bring in and hope for the best, right?” Xero smiled.

“Exactly.” Maurice nodded.

“Great! Then I just need a brand new obsession and a new player I’m going to be blatantly rooting for!” Xero grinned.

Maurice blinked before frowning. “That is not exactly the lesson I wanted you to learn…”

“Then it’s settled! From now on, the Steve meme is retired! Make room for the brand new meme and my son…” Xero took a deep breath before pulling out a picture of the fat Bugs Bunny from ‘Wabbit Twouble’. “Big Chungus!”

Maurice just stared at his friend blankly. “Xero… that is Bugs Bunny inflating himself to look like the fat Elmer Fudd from that cartoon. And I’m pretty sure that meme died a while back… and how is that your son?”

“Son in the metaphorical sense.” Xero frowned as he rolled his eyes. “Not my actual son. God, Maurice, keep up, will ya?!”

Maurice just slapped his forehead as Xero hopped back onto his seat and grinned. “You know, I think I’m more or less ready to go back to announcing the round! Yep, I feel great, I feel invigorated, and I’m pretty sure Orange found a workaround for Skitty and Treecko being in this story!”

Maurice paused as he raised an eyebrow on that statement. “Wha-?”

“OHHHH! Hey, looks like Mewtwo is getting himself started with his Swift move! Good way to avoid all the sand attack accuracy drops he just inflicted!” Xero smiled, as if nothing had changed.

Maurice opened his mouth as he tried to figure out what had just occurred… before giving a small sigh. “Whatever, I’m just happy to see you’re back…”

(Dome; Hallways)

“Remind me again how exactly we got turned around…” Reapermon grumbled as he turned to Landis and Mr. Grimm, who were getting vending machine drinks. “We were supposed to arrive at the Recovery Room by this point!”

“Yuh huh huh! Is it wrong to say that an associate of the Grim Reaper just wants to kick back and have fun for once?” Landis asked as he took the Pepsi in his hand and opened it before giving it a slight chug.

Reapermon just stared at Landis in exasperation before turning to Mr. Grimm, who just shrugged. “Don’t blame me, man. I’m just following him…”

Reapermon grumbled a bit as he crossed his arms. “You know this is getting really ridiculous right now. We’re the Grim Reapers, part of the Grim Reaper association, and yet I’m stuck with a crazy laughing idiot that’s more of a Grim Reaper fanatic AND a mysterious man who has a very inconsistent backstory with every Twisted Metal game!”

Mr. Grimm looked up at Reapermon with an offended look on his face. “What inconsistent backstory? My backstory is very clear that I am a Grim Reaper, same as you!”

“Oh really? True, the first three games make you very mysterious… but then what about that pirate get-up in the fourth Twisted Metal game… or when you were a kid in that Small Brawl game?!” Reapermon smirked.

Mr. Grimm narrowed his eyes. “Seriously, Small Brawl’s not even canon! That was more of a Muppet Babies sort of ordeal!”

“Yeah, I don’t know why people think making kid shows where the adults are babies would appeal to ANYBODY!” Reapermon frowned. “Sure, Muppet Babies may have started that trend, and I don’t MIND it, per se, but then everybody got in on the act, and they weren’t really all THAT! I mean, come on, We Baby Bears? Kamp Koral? Total Dramarama? These Spinoff Baby shows are oversaturating the market and quite frankly, NONE of them live up to their standards!”

“Oh, I don’t know, I actually like A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.” Landis pointed out.

“...okay, one good Spinoff Baby show.” Reapermon pointed out.

“And Jungle Cubs definitely had its moments.” Mr. Grimm smirked.

“...okay, true, BUT-” Reapermon tried to say.

“Tom and Jerry Kids also had some good moments, even if the slapstick isn’t funny…” Landis pointed out.

“Yeah-” Reapermon agreed, but was cut off quickly.

“And wasn’t Tiny Toon Adventures start off originally as a young Looney Tunes show in production before it got retooled to the show we know?” Mr. Grimm asked.

“WE’RE DIVERTING FROM THE POINT HERE!” Reapermon shouted, causing the other two to stay silent. “The point here is that we’re bored, and we don’t have much to do… and we somehow got turned around from our original destination!”

“And I told you, I wanted a soda.” Landis pointed out as he chugged his Pepsi down, before giving a slight belch. “But I do agree, things are a little boring around here…”

Mr. Grimm gave a sigh. “I’m sure that the boss won’t mind if we dipped out of our search… it’s obvious Junko isn’t coming around here anytime soon, and if she does, we’ll know.”

Reapermon growled in anger before lowering his scythe. “Oh, and what do we do, twiddle our thumbs? We came all this way for action, and I want some of that!”

“You think I don’t want action? Look, I want to do my job too, but I can’t just be sitting around in the Recovery Room, watching for people in case they die again!” Mr. Grimm argued. “Especially when it’s not their time!”

Landis just watched the two arguing as he continually sipped his soda. As he turned around to block out the noise, he suddenly heard a small… sound. Landis turned and looked over to see a small… glitchy like area in the corner.

“Hey, fellow Reapers. Wait a minute… wait a minute… WAIT A MINUTE!” Landis shouted, causing Reapermon and Mr. Grimm to stop arguing. “I think I see something over there…”

“Hm?” Reapermon asked as he and Mr. Grimm joined over to see what Landis was pointing over to. “What… is that?”

“I have no idea, but it doesn’t seem to be… normal…” Mr. Grimm said with a concerned look.

Landis raised an eyebrow as he bent down, with Reapermon trying to hold him back. “Uh, Landis, I don’t think you should be any CLOSER to that th-”

But as soon as Landis leaned his head over to the glitchy thing and touched it with his finger… something horrible began to happen.

Landis started to twitch as the glitchy thing began to react to Landis’s touch, the creature roaring as glitchy textures started to surround the Grim Reaper fanatic. Landis looked at himself with a freaked out look on his face as he started to scream.

“Landis!” Reapermon said as he made a grab for his fellow Grim Reaper associate, only for Reapermon to scream as he suddenly began to glitch as well. “Wh-what is- AHHHH!”

Mr. Grimm yelped as he noticed the two being consumed by the glitchy boxes, before pulling out his scythe to try to separate the two, only for himself to get caught by the glitchy creature as well as he gave a loud scream as some sort of glitchy tech started to form around him.

The three screamed as if they were being tortured as the glitch-like creature grew larger and larger to consume the three in its glitchy body… and then… nothing. The three Grim Reapers were nowhere to be seen. All that was left was the strange glitch creature as it started to blink in and out…

A voice was heard, as strange and creepy as it sounded.

“̶̧̳̪̹͔̗̻̲̩̟͋̅͊̀̒̿̉͒̆͘͝͝M̷̨̭̰̖͖̅̏y̸̡̧̦͔̺̟͔̩͎̜͎͎̺̒̐ ̸̧͇̜͓̥̞̯̝͉͉̄̏̈́̅̋̈̓̓̾͋̉̆̒̽̕͠͝f̶̢̭̦͔̹̦͗͐̓̑̎̆̚i̴̳͋̿r̸̛̛̺̣̖͉͚̞̜̲̰̍̎͑s̵͚̬͕̏͑̇͂͋̇̉̀̌͒͝͝ṱ̸̙̻͚̺̦͎̺͙͙̎̿̍́̊̑́̽̅͊̒͊̕̕̚͝ͅ ̷̡͚̯̼̫̟̩̜̫̮̑͐̓̄̈́̑̏͜č̶̢̪̠̭̹̭͓̭͎͖̖̰̤̝ǒ̵͖̋̑̈́̃̆̎̈́͗́̐ņ̸͎͉̱̼͙̩̗͋̇̋̓̎̀͛͑̃̅̃͘̚͝s̶͓͍̼̣̜̫͉̰̗͚̾͆̓͘ů̶̼̲̺͉̬͔m̴̧̼̞͚͚͓͖͔͙̻̠̎͂̿́͑͋̄̀͘p̷̢͈͎̼͉̭͎̹̝̞̮̦̈́̓́͑̋͛͒t̴̡̛͍̼̟͖̞̘͔̾͑̉̓̈́́͐̒̏i̸͙̰̬̤̪̪͎̞̺͊͐́̆̇͋͋͌͋̒̽͒̿̿͊ͅo̴̖̦̻̣̮͎̜̯͆͑̈̀͑̿͌̒͝n̴̨̠̹̹̤̺̣̲͓͍̣͙̑̑̈́̒́͊͐͒̿̄̽͌͝ͅͅ…̵̤͓̗̖̦̠̞̰̝̞̮̣̺̘̆̈̍͆̅͆͊͌̔̈́̚̕͜͜͝ ̷̛̥̬͎̣͌̽̈́͋͒̓̓͛́̂̌̈́̕ä̶̧̘̗̟̽͒̀́͗̚͘͝͠ͅť̵̡̧͔̙͙̙̫̝̻̗̊̓̀̍̃͊̓̽̏́͐́̃͘͝ ̸̨̫͚̗̯͔̪̓͜ḽ̷̖̳̗̠̥̼̘̙̭͗͑͝a̵̛̗̤͙̖͈̻̗̲̬̭̲̋͐̀͗̌̇̎s̴̢̹̲̩͉̥͉̗͓͕̠̦͇̹̩͔̪̈̃̈́̄̄͂̇̀͘͝͝͝t̴̡̟̖̰̱̜̰̱͒̀̀̅̎̕ͅͅ…̷̛̞̼̼̲̺̠̪̬̳̫̼̞̼͚̣̮͙̒̂̅̂́͐̓̍́̐̍̚͠͝ ̴̨͇̤̪̻̞͎̥̓̓̂͗̏̑͒̀̕ţ̷̠͉͎͇͍͖̻̅̈̑́̒̀̔̂̏̇̐̑́̄͂̾̎h̵̢͈̹̬͍͚̥̳̬̊͗̑͗̇̉́̃̈̂͆̇̏͜͠e̷̛̙̝̪̟̖͎̙̖̜͎̞̪̬̮̪̞͐̑̊͊̄̈́̓͊̈́́̂́̓͋̕̚ͅ ̵̡̗̭̦̭̜̪͖͇̰̾̑̍̽̐̃͌̀̌͗̅͒̚͠ͅb̴̧̝͋͊͑̍̿͂͌̾̓e̸̢͓͖͍̺͖̣̬̮̣̳̗̮̥̞̊͑͆͋̒̒̈́́̅͆͛̈́̏͂̇͘͝ͅg̸̢͙͖͍̤̜̭̉͑͐͘í̴͉̤͎̤͈͎͎̙̙͔̍̓̂̌̕͘͠n̶͖̝̙̫̱͒͊̈́̏̐̽̐n̴̡̨̛̹̲̙͇͔̞͇͉̰̤͕̭̗͆̒̈́͂͊͑͗̔͌͛͌̀̃͌̍i̴̡̧̨̪̻̫̹̪̼͙̟̽̆͗̈̌́̓̎̌̒͝ͅn̷̛̞͉̓͗̄͂̄̏̓̂̿̄͆̃̕g̸̡̡͇̫̥̩̥͔̥̖̫̰̓̇ ̸͉̭͙̗̙̦͇̖̝̫̺̣̹̓̄̈́̄͊̑͂͐̊̚͝w̶̨̛̞̪̳̞̟̹͓̆ì̵̡͎̙͎̞̩͂͑̀̊̑̃̃͌̊͒̚͠ļ̴̫͇̤͉̇͂̌̆̅̍͜͠ͅļ̶̢̧̺̟͚̳͚͎̝̼̖͖̳̲̃̏̂̃̑̒̕͜͝͠ͅ ̸͙̞͇͇̻̿͠ͅs̸͚̬͓̟͔̩̰͖͉͔̖̐͐́̍́͒ỏ̷̧̗͓̥̞̲̑̒̎͋̃̇͝ǫ̷͆̏̿͛́̔́̀̚͝ņ̸̡̛͕̪̹̦̏͑̓̄̈͝ ̵̟̭̦̝̯̑̅̾̐́̓̾̆́̕͝b̸͎̜̠̣̟͒̓̑̄͛ȅ̴̡̹̝̅ ̸̰̾̈́̑͊̿̄̐̈́̀͗̂̌̓̊͛͌̌n̴̢̡̛̤̪͎̭͇̙͈̄̑͋͐̑͂͒̾̈́̆ḯ̷̡̫̮̲̖͙̱̃̈́͂͐̿̑̅̊̐̍̀̊͘g̵̛̛̭̮̮͉͓̩͙͚̤͕̣̬̖̦̤ͅh̷͓̠̱̻̳͙͍̻̜̻͕͑͜…̸̪̹̥͕͈̹̱̞͙̦͔͓̩̯͛̓͐͂̎”̵̡̝̻̏͆̽̂̏̉̑̃̍̄̑ͅ

(Outside the Recovery Room)

Scratch gave a loud yelp as he dashed backwards to avoid another swing from the Masamune. “Sheesh, it’s like you don’t let up!”

“You’re right. I don’t.” Sephiroth said with a small smirk to himself as he jumped forward and swung the Masamune right at the ghost.

Scratch quickly turned intangible as the large sword phased through his entire body. Scratch then quickly appeared before concentrating his powers to summon three ghostly versions of himself. “Okay, buddy, let’s see you-”

“-try to take on-” Scratch 2 said as he started to fly around Sephiroth.

“-four of me-” Scratch 3 smirked as he went under Sephiroth’s legs to trip him up.

“-at once!” Scratch 4 sounded out as he and the original Scratch grabbed the sword to pull it away from him.

Sephiroth grunted as he tried to pull the sword away from the ghost, but he found that this ghost was unusually strong, even with a clone of himself helping out. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes as he snapped his fingers towards one of the ghosts as a dark orb began to fly around the clone. The clone didn’t notice as he tried to pull on the sword… but by the time one of them did notice the orb, it was too late as…

BANG!

The orb slammed right into the Scratch clone, decimating it and throwing off the original Scratch as the floating ghost gave a sharp gasp. Giving a smirk, Sephiroth quickly rushed forward and slashed at the original Scratch eight times (causing the other Scratch clones to disappear out of thin air), sending Scratch towards the wall and phasing through it…

(Recovery Room)

To say Mikan gave a loud scream as Scratch came in out of nowhere and crashed into one of the tables containing medical supplies was an understatement. Most everyone was looking up from what they were doing as the ghost recovered.

“Sorry, don’t mind me…” Scratch said before phasing back out of the wall.

Everyone looked at each other silently as all eyes turned directly to Arnold, who had been looking at a computer screen on his phone. After a moment, the football headed kid sighed as he turned off his phone. “All right. I’ll look into it.”

Most of the nurses gave a smile of approval for Arnold as the kid got up, with Baymax saying, “Do not worry, Arnold. I will go with you to see if there is any need for back-up.”

(Outside the Recovery Room)

Scratch came out with a fist ready as he attempted to land a punch on Sephiroth, only for the one-winged angel to smirk as he disappeared in a ball of black, causing Scratch to whiff.

“What th-” Scratch blinked twice before Sephiroth reappeared in another black ball, his physical body forming as he gave a smirk and waved his sword, slashing right through the ghost’s body. Scratch felt rather thankful that he was a ghost, otherwise, it would have been very painful. Scratch quickly turned around and chuckled. “Big mistake, buddy…”

“Is it?” Sephiroth said with a small smile of glee on his face. Scratch paused uncomfortably as Sephiroth held up his hands as pillars of fire surrounded the area, causing Scratch to yelp as he felt the fire on his ghostly skin.

“Oh! AH! HEY! MY ECTOPLASM!” Scratch shouted in pain as he felt the fire damaging him little by little before puffing up and blowing the flames away.

During that time, Molly had just turned the corner as she gave a small pant. “Sorry I’m late, Scratch, I did get my friends and brother, but then Andrea came in, and they’re currently trying to distract her while-” Molly then stopped short as she gave a gasp. “OHMYGOSH! SCRATCH!”

“Molly? Stay back, this guy is dangerous!” Scratch called out from the fire as a sword swipe was seen slashing straight at the ghost from the shadows.

Immediately recognizing the size of the sword the fighter was holding, her eyes shrank down. “Oh no, we are so screwed…”

Scratch growled as he started to grow big to blow out the flames, and in turn knock Sephiroth backwards. The one-winged angel quickly recovered as he got up and glared at the specter, before rushing forward and slashing him in half with his sword. Scratch yelped as he put himself back together. Scratch gave a growl as he turned towards Sephiroth. “Okay, look, pal, I don’t care what it takes, but you are not taking Penny Proud’s champion powers!”

Sephiroth chuckled as he crossed his arms. “I would say ‘does it look like I need her power’, but considering what I have in mind…”

Scratch gulped as he tried to think of something, before looking over to Molly, who seemed to be looking in her backpack. He then noticed Sephiroth about to zoom forward. In a moment of panic, Scratch held out his hand as a black portal was summoned in front of the man.

Sephiroth entered through the portal… but something had happened to him. His physical body had darkened all of a sudden, with his eyes seem to be devoid of all life, and a permanent frown was clearly shown on his face. As the body collapsed on the floor, a similar body was holding the position Sephiroth was in, as the now black ghost-like Sephiroth was looking at his body, and noting he had no legs and no weapon.

“AHHHH!” Wraith-Sephiroth gasped before turning to a chuckling Scratch. “What did you do to me?!”

“The only thing I can stop you… I made you into a wraith!” Scratch said as Sephiroth looked around and then looked down at his body just as Arnold and Baymax walked out.

Molly, who had just watched this in pure horror, held her head. “Oh, Scratch, what did you do?”

“What is going on out here?” Arnold asked, before stopping short as he noted the ghostly Sephiroth and Scratch floating around each other and then at the body. Arnold gasped as he ran over and picked up Sephiroth’s body as he got him into a standing position, before turning towards the blue ghost. “What did you do to Sephiroth! I know he’s a villain, but he didn’t deserve to die!”

“It’s okay, he’s not dead… well, his body and soul are separated, but otherwise not dead.” Molly chuckled nervously as she and Baymax approached. “Scratch just turned him into a wraith, that’s all! He just needs to get back to his body in order to get to normal, but until then, his body is just a shell.”

Arnold and Molly looked over towards Sephiroth’s body as the man said, in a monotone voice, “What a nothing day this is…”

Arnold shuddered as he looked up at the lifeless one-winged angel in front of him. “Creepy…”

Sephiroth growled in anger as he tried to rush towards his body, but Scratch quickly blocked him by going straight into Sephiroth’s body, yellow eyes now appearing where Sephiroth’s normal eyes were.

“Sephiroth” then laughed in Scratch’s voice. “Okay, you little ghost, now I have the upper hand!”

Scratch then threw the Masamune right towards Sephiroth’s wraith form as the now wraith yelped. Sephiroth quickly dodged the attack from the Masamune as “Scratch” gave a loud laugh. “Well, well, doesn’t feel so good on the other end, does it?”

The wraith Sephiroth groaned as Arnold gave a frown and pulled out a small whistle. “Okay, seriously, I think that’s enough.”

“He’s right, Scratch, he’s already defeated, you don’t need to do anything further.” Molly frowned as she crossed her arms.

“Sephiroth” shrugged his arms before Scratch phased out of his body, leaving the husk of Sephiroth down on the ground as he looked up.

“An eternity of nothing… that is the ultimate path…” The husk of Sephiroth said before Scratch snapped his fingers to summon a ghost portal.

“Well, I believe MY work here is done…” Scratch said as he started to float over. “I need to take a small break…”

“Oh no you don’t!” The wraith Sephiroth called out before ramming into Scratch at full force, before looking towards Arnold and grabbed him.

“H-hey!” Arnold said. “What are you-? AHHH!”

Sephiroth then hurled Arnold straight into the ghost portal, causing both his body and a green wraith form of Arnold to be separated from his body. Sephiroth smirked menacingly as Arnold’s wraith form was holding his head and groaning.

Baymax, who had been standing nearby, could only say, “Oh dear.”

“Oh no!” Molly gasped as she picked up the body of Arnold, whose body was now more paler and depressed looking, with his eyes lidded and looking more like a zombie. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”

“I don’t.” The paler Arnold said as the wraith Arnold quickly recovered.

“Ugh, I’m all right, but I feel a little… out of it.” Wraith Arnold said as he looked down at his body. “Whoa!”

Scratch groaned as he rubbed his head, only to gasp as he looked over to see the wraith Arnold and the body Arnold looking at each other, the wraith looking in shock, and the body… just blinking and staring. “Yeesh, kid, talk about your out of body experience!”

“Indeed… an out of body experience, soon to be a NEW body!” The wraith Sephiroth laughed as he flew straight into the husk of Arnold’s body, possessing him.

“H-hey!” Wraith Arnold said as Arnold’s eyes slowly turned from his childlike/adult likes to Sephiroth’s menacing green eyes.

“What are you-?” Molly asked before Sephiroth/Arnold laughed evilly and grabbed Molly’s hands. “AH!”

Scratch’s eyes widened, before narrowing. “Hey! Let go of my best friend, you little psychopath!”

“Gladly.” Sephiroth/Arnold said with a smirk as he threw Molly over to a wall, causing the young girl to collide with it as she gave a groan. “And now… to take care of you!”

Sephiroth/Arnold then jumped up and punched a thrown-off Scratch on the nose a lot harder than expected… so hard, in fact that it caused Scratch to groan as he somehow managed to lose consciousness.

Sephiroth/Arnold paused slightly before feeling his new body. “Hmmm… I’ll admit, not ideal of me to be stuck in a kid’s body, but you know what? This is perfect for me… I’ll be able to-”

A chair then made contact wtih Sephiroth/Arnold’s football head as the boy’s eyes widened as he fell directly to the ground. Wraith Arnold, who was still recovering, was looking at his now downed body, still trying to process what had happened. He turned around and noticed Baymax was holding a chair.

“It would seem this person who possessed your body had evil intentions.” Baymax said before turning to the wraith Arnold. “On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your confusion?”

“Definitely a seven.” Wraith Arnold groaned as he turned to Molly, who was definitely recovering. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah…” Molly said as she looked at the mess before her… an unconscious Scratch, a motionless Sephiroth that looked like he had nothing, and a very unconscious Arnold whose soul had now been possessed by Sephiroth himself. “Although, I think we should move everyone to the Recovery Room… stat!”

“Y-yeah…” Wraith Arnold said as he held his head. “So much for a normal night for a tournament…”

(The Arena)

The Beast roared as he leaped into the air in an attempt to knock down Blanka. Blanka merely just rolled through Beast’s leap of faith as the brown furred creature landed down on the ground. The Beast immediately recovered before turning his head towards Blanka, who looked like he was having the best time of his life.

“Come on, friend! Try not to let your anger control you!” Blanka laughed as he started to jump around. “Have a little fun out here!”

Beast just looked at the green jungle monster in bewilderment. “How could you act so giddy after everything in the past?”

“Hey, ever since Blanka-chan got introduced to the world, I figured, why not show the people the fun side of me!” Blanka laughed before rushing forward with a roll, causing the Beast to block with his claws. “People always saw my wild side, and the beast mode I always had, but this time, I want people to see that I can be as fun to hang out with… and Blanka-chan certainly helped with that!”

Beast just stared as he momentarily pondered having a mascot Beast-like figure with cute additions, before chuckling. “Hmmm… maybe Belle would love a Beast-chan doll on her side…”

Blanka chuckled a bit as he readied himself for another roll. “Seems to me you’re already thinking of branding.”

Beast saw the attack coming before charging forward and lunging at Blanka, tackling him down. “Far from it. I’m actually thinking about what to give Belle once I’m back to my regular form… so maybe those chee bee Beast toys would be nice for her. Something to at least hug while she reads.”

“It’s pronounced ‘chibi’.” Blanka laughed before engulfing himself in electricity and leaping forward to shake the Beast off and tackle him, causing Beast to let out a pained roar.

The Beast shook his head before narrowing his eyes as he used his claws to slash right at Blanka, only for Blanka to use his own claws to block the blows. Both animalistic creatures then roared out… before pausing as they stared each other down.

“It would seem we’re pretty evenly matched…” Beast panted.

“An interesting observation… yes, as long as we keep battling, we’re not getting anywhere close…” Blanka paused as he raised an eyebrow. “Would you be cool if we just switched opponents?”

Beast raised an eyebrow. “Do you know anybody who’d be able to fight me?”

Blanka looked around, before noting Lily taking a swipe towards Willow the Treecko with her pogamoggans, with the green wood gecko Pokemon using Bullet Seed to distance herself from the human. Blanka grinned as he gave a shout. “Hey, LILY!”

“YES, BLANKA?!” Lily called out as she turned her head.

“I HAVE AN EVENLY MATCHED OPPONENT! DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE OPPONENTS AND FIGHT THIS GUY INSTEAD?!” Blanka shouted as Beast just blinked at this.

“SURE! I CAN SWITCH! THIS LITTLE GECKO IS GETTING TOO MUCH FOR ME, ANYWAY!” Lily shouted as she lowered her pogamoggans… leaving her vulnerable to get a Quick Attack to the face. “AH!”

”You should really stop shouting!” Willow said in annoyance. ”You’re lucky this is a Big Guy Blocker, or you’d be easy targets at that point.”

Lily frowned in annoyance as she turned back to Blanka and Beast. “Tag me in, chief!”

“Got you!” Blanka nodded before turning to Beast. “Take it easy on her. She’s a very eager girl to fight.”

“So I noticed.” Beast sighed as Lily started to approach the large beast, readying her weapons.

Blanka, on the other hand, laughed as he walked over to Treecko, examining the creature. “You look adorable, don’t you… I could really eat you up right now…”

”Oh, sure, like you ate Pikachu in Death Battle?!” Willow asked in annoyance.

Blanka gave a slight frown. “I don’t know what you said, but I’m going to assume that you’re afraid I’ll eat you like Pikachu in Death Battle. First of all, that’s just an alternate reality, that’s not even canon! Second of all, I am not a cannibal! How dare you assume that!”

”Well forgive me for being a worrywart!” Treecko argued before jumping backwards as she spat out seeds towards the green monster in an attempt to slow him down.

Blanka could only leap forward as he surged himself in electricity before rolling over and knocking the wood gecko in midair, catching Willow by surprise. The small lizard quickly recovered before turning towards Blanka with a glare. She then quickly moved fast, attempting to set up a Double Team to raise up her evasiveness.

Blanka tried to keep a close eye on Willow, but the gecko Pokemon moved too fast, even for him. He lunged at her with his claws, whiffing his attack. This left him open, however, for Treecko to rush in as she lifted up a hand, some grass growing in front of Blanka as it seemed to be knotted up. Treecko snapped its fingers as the knot quickly unloosened itself and…

SLAP!

Blanka yelped as he felt the effect of Grass Knot hitting him. Thankfully, since he weighed about 216 pounds, or 97 kilograms, the effect on Grass Knot was only mild at best. The green beast quickly recovered before engulfing himself in electricity once more as he rushed towards Treecko.

Treecko quickly dodged the attack with grace before spitting out some Bullet Seeds towards Blanka. Blanka groaned before noting the ropes nearby. Giving a grin, he ran towards the ropes and started to run towards them, stretching them out, before springing forward. Willow yelped as she tried to duck. But, unfortunately.

BAM!

“Oooooo! Looks like Blanka decided to go with the classic clothesline move there!” Xero laughed a bit.

“Sometimes, you forget you’re in a fighting ring, so of course the ropes can be very well used to your advantage.” Maurice announced as he nodded towards his co-host.

Treecko groaned as she rubbed her head, trying to recover from the attack. Blanka could only give a small sigh before pulling out a small Blanka-chan bomb, lit it up and tossed it towards Treecko.

KABOOM!

The explosion tossed Treecko into the air, and with one claw swipe, Blanka punted the little lizard out of the ring, with Treecko having no room to get himself back in.

Blanka gave a small nod as he gave a laugh. “Ha ha! That lizard put up a good fight, but in the end, I came out trium- ACK!”

Blanka didn’t have much time to celebrate his victory as a chain immediately clapsed itself on his neck and dragged the green monster over to the table in the center, where Monika was waiting.

“Hello, Blanka!” Monika grinned as she gave a wave.

Blanka choked a bit as he recovered, before narrowing his eyes towards the high school girl. “A little warning next time would have been nice!”

Monika could only shrug. “Sorry, but the chains on the table were leftovers from the Monokuma phase that were impossible to get rid of.”

Blanka narrowed his eyes. “You’re literal GOD. A program. Can’t you delete that function?”

“I could, but we’d have to play by the rules here when it comes to Big Guy Blocker, remember? Once you get your elimination, you sit down and wait for the others to finish.” Monika explained.

Blanka frowned, before giving a small grumble. “Well, whatever. At least I get to see the next round.”

Willow the Treecko landed in Donkey Kong Country. She spent her ten minutes riding the mine carts, all the while, grumbling to herself.

“I can’t believe that I lost. And I never even managed to talk to Mewtwo…” Treecko grumbled to herself, before giving a sigh. “Okay, Willow, not the end of the world. There is still waiting in the Recovery Room after all… at least Chamomile will probably see I’m out and he’ll probably meet me back here.”

Back in the arena, the Devil grinned as he spun his pitchfork around a couple times, summoning one red fireball and five blue fireballs as they surrounded Ike in a circle. The musclebound swordwielder thought fast as he jumped up in the air and swung his sword to parry the red fireball heading towards him over to the Devil, hitting him in the face. The Devil yelped before shaking his head as the rest of the fireballs homed in on Ike, only for him to dodge the attacks.

“Ooooooo, you little pest!” The Devil growled in anger as he swung his pitchfork and shot a burning laser beam towards the blue haired man, leaving a burn mark on the mercenary. Ike frowned as he rushed forward and swung his sword upwards to send the Devil up in the air. He quickly leaped up and slashed at him multiple times before following it up with a downward strike, sending the Devil bouncing into the floor.

The Devil groaned as he was looking up to see stars circling his head. But he quickly shook them off as he noted Ike heading towards him with his sword raised up as it started to glow blue. Realizing what was about to go down, the Devil quickly used his pitchfork to block the sword, then grew extra arms, causing Ike to yelp.

“What th-” Ike said in shock, before lowering his eyelids. “Right. I’m fighting a toon, I guess I shouldn’t be THAT surprised.”

The Devil laughed as he used one of his extra arms to pop his head off, as it then transformed itself into a spider. “If you don’t have arachnophobia now, then congratulations. You’re about to get your first taste of it!”

With that, the headless Devil tossed the Devil spider esque-head into the air as it slammed right into Ike’s head, causing the mercenary to yelp and flinch. Ike frowned as he tried to parry the attack, only for the Devil spider head to roll forward and at Ike’s arm, causing the mercenary to fall over. A third slam on Ike’s stomach caused him to yelp before the Devil picked up his head and reattached it, laughing as the extra arms went away.

“You think this is funny to you?” Ike grunted as he slowly got up.

“Funny? No. Hysterical? Maybe. It all depends on your point of view.” The Devil nonchalantly shrugged, before laughing as he spun his pitchfork once more, summoning four crystal balls. “But I’m sure you’re going to have a BALL about it.”

The Devil laughed as he waved his pitchfork and sent the crystal balls bouncing around, causing Ike to yelp as he tried to avoid and block any crystal balls that headed towards him. He quickly tried to rush towards the Devil with his sword raised, only for him to notice that the Devil immediately transformed into a bull and was charging towards him. Before Ike could change course, though…

WHAM!

The Devil collided himself with Ike, sending the mercenary flying towards the cornerpost and hitting it. Ike rubbed his head, still a bit dazed, as he looked over to see Marx spitting out beach balls towards a dodging Chowder, who was busy trying to open his mouth wide to suck Marx in, only to get one of his beach balls instead.

“Ptooey!” Chowder spat one of the beach balls out as it headed towards Ike. Ike, getting an idea, got up and swung his sword right at the beach ball, causing it to fly right at the Devil and hitting him in the face.

“OOOMPH! HEY!” The Devil shouted in anger. “No fair using other projectiles!”

“Last I checked, there’s no rule saying you can’t use other people’s weapons to deal with threats.” Ike said with a smirk before rushing forward and slashing the bull-Devil, causing the Devil to quickly transform himself into a goat as he stretched his arms.

Ike was too busy slashing the black furred creature to notice two long arms surrounding him on both sides, making the mercenary vulnerable to an attack.

CLAP!

Ike yelped as he felt both the Devil’s transformed hands-into-hooves slap him from both sides, sending the mercenary up in the air. Giving a small smirk to himself, the Devil quickly turned himself into an octopus and grabbed Ike on one of his grown tentacles.

“Here’s the Devil making a straight throw for the goal…” The Devil grinned as he winded Ike up for a pitch. “He throws…”

As he said that, the Devil threw Ike right to the wall of the arena seats. Then, his groaning body started to slide down slowly towards the portal below the arena as he entered inside.

Ike landed in Golden Sun, where he helped Issac take on Dullahan in a long, hard battle.

“And it is a good throw!” The Devil grinned as he raised his arms up. “And the crowd goes wild in glee!”

It was then he noticed that the crowd’s attention was on other fights. Giving a frown, the Devil shot a fireball from his pitchfork towards one of the screens, destroying it as all attention turned to him.

“Yes, I eliminated Ike.” The Devil grinned as a lot of fans looked a little mixed. “No need to get that chain, Monika, I am more than capable of teleporting myself…”

With that, the Devil used his pitchfork to teleport himself next to Blanka as Monika gave a frown towards him.

“You realize, of course, that was a new monitor you just destroyed.” Monika frowned.

The Devil scoffed. “Eh, it’s no big deal. It’s not coming out of MY wallet.”

Monika paused briefly as she gave a grin, looking towards the announcer’s booth as she noted Xero staring at the broken screen in awe. “True… it’s coming out of Xero’s wallet.”

Both the Devil and Monika laughed a bit as Blanka looked between the two, saying, “All of a sudden, I’m starting to feel a little claustrophobic…”

“Anyway, the Safe Zone tent is still open for the challenge, if you two are interested in doing that.” Monika offered.

“Eh, I’ll pass.” The Devil shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m just here for the glory and the battles.”

“I haven’t yet considered it, but keep it open for later…” Blanka paused before looking over towards Lily and Beast’s battle, as Beast made a claw swipe towards Lily, who dodged out of the way. “I still want to see which of Lily or Beast will come out on top…”

“Oh? Would you be willing to-” The Devil asked as he turned to Blanka, looking in interest.

”NO.” Blanka said in a blunt voice.

The Devil deflated a bit as he grumbled angrily. “It wasn’t like I was going to take your soul…”

Clair gave a loud shout as she leaped into the air and sent her foot smacking down into Garnet’s face, causing the Crystal Gem to wobble a bit. Normally, attacks like these wouldn’t bother Garnet, but thanks to her being in the arena for quite a while, combined with fatigue, she was starting to feel the effects of the kicks. Regardless of that, Garnet was doing her best to get herself in motion as she tried to dance and sing along to get a barrier up.

“What’s the matter, rocky? Don’t have what it takes after three sections?” Clair taunted as she gave a smirk.

“It’s a little bit bothersome that I’ve been in the arena as long as I have, but I’m still determined to continue.” Garnet explained as she held up her fists and punched Clair with gauntlets. “As long as I’m still in the ring, I only show that I can pull things off without a hitch.”

Clair snorted a bit before jumping up to slam her foot right in Garnet’s face, causing the tall Crystal Gem to flinch, but still hold her ground. “Do you really think that, or are you just trying to believe your little lies that you tell yourself when you feel exhausted? Because I can see it in your body language!”

“I’ll admit being the longest running fighter so far is taking a toll, but I’m not letting it keep me down. Not by a long shot.” Garnet said with a confident grin on her face. “You, on the other hand, are just using the matters of taunting and trying to throw people off their game just so you can have your way. I think you might be a poor loser in that regard.”

Clair sputtered a bit, before growling. “POOR LOSER?! Oh, you son of a- I’ll show you who’s a poor loser!”

With that, Clair charged angrily at the Crystal Gem as she pulled out two knives from her gloves and quickly spun around the arena, slashing at Garnet’s torso a couple of times, causing the tall girl to get thrown off balance. Seeing an opening, the scientist’s assistant immediately rushed forward and grabbed Garnet’s body, before lifting it and slamming her to the ground.

Garnet winced a bit from the fall, but Clair wasn’t quite done yet as she readied a punch and slammed her hand right near Garnet’s groin. However, Clair’s eyes widened as she felt her fist being hurt by the punch as she waved it.

“UGH! What are you, made of ROCKS?” Clair asked as she waved her fist.

“Technically, a Gem.” Garnet frowned before uppercutting Clair up in the air. “A Crystal Gem.”

Garnet immediately jumped up into the air and aimed an electric projectile right at the assistant, knocking her backwards. Clair jumped up in recovery as she rushed forward and grabbed Garnet.

“You’re being such a bad girl! Now take your punishment!” Clair said as she started to spank Garnet’s bottom. However, that only made things worse for Clair’s hand as she gave a yelp and waved it. “AHHH! OW!”

Garnet, feeling the effects of the spanking, but holding in a brave face, could only shake her head before aiming her gauntlets and shooting them out in a rocket formation. “Sounds like SOMEBODY needs a time out…”

Before Clair could recover, the gauntlet collided with her face, knocking her out cold. As the gauntlet returned to Garnet in a flash, the Crystal Gem casually walked over and shook her head.

“It’s a shame, really. I’m sure you’re a fun, excitable girl… but your cockiness proves your downfall.” Garnet said as she lifted the unconscious Clair and tossed her out of the ring and into the portal below.

Clair Andrews landed in Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy. Once she managed to come to after about a minute, she decided to explore Luxor Palace in hopes of finding a treasure there.

Garnet gave a small sigh of relief before giving a nod as she turned to Monika’s table. “No need for the chain, I’m coming right over.”

“I don’t control that, but thank you.” Monika called out as Garnet walked over to her seat and sat next to the Devil without any trouble. As she sat down, Garnet paused as she looked towards the Devil with a slight frown. It took about five seconds for the Devil to notice.

“What?” The Devil asked as he felt his face. “Is there… something on my face?”

Garnet said nothing, but she did narrow her eyes. “I will tell you this. I have future vision, and I know exactly what your plan is. If you were wise, you’d leave her alone.”

The Devil yelped a bit as he gave a nervous grin. “Wh-what? Come on, now! I have no idea what you’re saying!”

“Regardless, she has a lot of friends, and if she’s harmed… those friends are going to make sure you and your little group will be sent back to where you belong. Not even the HEAD of your group will do anything when it comes to me and a lot of people.” Garnet frowned.

Blanka paused as he cocked his head in confusion. “Uh, what is she talking about? Is there a villain plot going on right now?!”

“No. Not yet, anyway.” The Devil frowned as he crossed his arms in annoyance, though muttering the last bit to himself.

Garnet paused briefly as she kept a sharp eye towards the Devil.

Ushi swung her hips around as the dancing cow scraped her hoof against the sandy floor a couple of times before rushing forward towards the lion (from the Tom and Jerry franchise, of course). The lion jumped over Ushi before grabbing Ushi and lifting her up. He grunted as he did so.

“Ooof… you know, nothing personal, but you’re… sheesh… heavier than you look!” The lion said before throwing Ushi towards the ropes.

However, the lion’s throw was short as the cow landed smack dab on the floor, a little near the edge. Ushi quickly got up and danced a bit of the pain off before rushing forward towards the lion. The lion readied a fist, before smacking Ushi in the face with it. Ushi mooed a little, before turning around and using her hind legs to kick the lion twice in the face, before turning around and doing one stretching kick towards the lion, sending the king of the beasts down on his butt.

“Oh boy…” The lion groaned before getting up and narrowing his eyes. “Okay, sweetheart, you are this close to getting me stinkin’ mad!”

Ushi responded by punching and jabbing the lion in the face at least a couple of times. The lion frowned before pulling out a rather large ham and slamming Ushi in the face with it.

Blanka, from his seat, blinked twice as he turned to Monika. “Uh, what’s with the ham?”

“I think that might be a reference to ‘Jerry and the Lion’. Even though the lion doesn’t actually fight with the ham, it is one of the foods Jerry offers him while he’s at the cat and mouse’s home.” Monika paused. “Not sure, but… you know, just a theory.”

Blanka nodded, making sense of the situation before turning his eyes back towards the fight.

Ushi recovered from the hit that ham put on her as the cow looked up to see the lion nonchalantly eating the ham up, before tossing the small speck of food he was holding to the side. Ushi mooed once more before rushing forward and putting the lion in a bear hug. The lion felt himself getting a bit choked from the bear hug.

“Ugh… you… can’t… breathe…” The lion choked out a few words as he tried to struggle against the cow.

Eventually, Ushi let go as the lion fell to the floor. The cow started to dance as if to taunt the lion. The lion got up as he gave the cow the stink eye.

“Soooo… you want to dance, huh? Then let’s dance! Sound Booth? Play the music!” The lion called out.

Up in the sound booth, Horace Horsecollar’s eyes lit up before picking up a CD and putting it in the tray before pushing the play button.

All of a sudden, a tango-like music started to sound out as nearby Ushi and the lion, Chowder stopped and put a door he pulled out of his mouth between him and Marx as the winged pink creature charged right at him, only for him to kick the door and put it between Ushi and the lion as Ushi was about to slam her hoof towards an incoming lion, only for them to run into the door, Ushi now holding the lion in a dance formation.

“Not how I expected that to play out…” The lion mumbled before the cow began to dance along to the music… which a few people recognized as that tango beat that played from “Down Beat Bear”... the music that played where the dancing bear was holding Tom and doing the tangle while a door was between them.

Similarly, the lion felt more like Tom in that scenario as Ushi was just holding him off the ground, with a hoof broken through the door on his back. After three dance moves, the lion frowned as he knocked on the door.

Ushi stopped for a second, mooed and pushed the ‘door’ open, as if to ask ‘who’s there’? She looked around in confusion, before looking up at the audience with a bewildered face… before picking up the door and continued to dance with it… but the lion was no longer at the door. Actually, Ushi had slammed the door right on the ropes after the lion knocked on it, causing the lion to yelp as he fell right out of the ring and into the portal below.

The lion landed in the 2023 adaptation of the Haunted Mansion, landing right inside the Grandfather Clock as his eyes went cross-eyed and his tongue sprawled out while wagging along like a ticking clock.

As the chain immediately got Ushi out of her dancing mood (because she eliminated Lion by chance), another fight was breaking out as Penny Proud was blocking hits from Wave’s wrench. The purple bird gave a small growl as the young fourteen year old jumped backwards and held a fighting stance.

“You are a Slice of Life girl whose main source of attacking is either through a wrestling mini-game with your grandmother, karate classes OR a secret superhero form through Halloween snacks your dad made!” Wave growled. “How are you blocking my attacks?!”

Penny rolled her eyes. “Come on, girl. You’re just THAT easy to predict.”

Wave opened her mouth to argue, before frowning. “Whatever. At least I have you where I want you!”

Penny held a stance, looking ready to jump, only for Wave to throw a bomb directly at the young African American girl’s face.

KABOOM!

The explosion threw Penny off as she got knocked down on her feet. Penny groaned a bit as she started to get up slowly. However, Wave was not one to back down as she rushed forward and jumped on her board, before waving her hands to summon a tornado to speed towards Penny. The tornado immediately picked her up and the next thing she knew, Penny found herself being spun around, giving a small, queasy feeling in her stomach.

“Ha! Where’s your confidence now?” Wave laughed before rushing forward and swinging her wrench at Penny, causing the girl to fly up in the air.

Wave laughed as she leapt up and slammed her wrench right at the descending Penny’s head, causing the girl to fall to the ground. Wave chuckled a bit as she crossed her arms. “Just as I figured. All of your talk about getting eliminations is just pure luck on your end.”

Penny narrowed her eyes at the cocky bird before her, before getting up towards her feet. She quickly ran through the ropes and sprung forward towards Wave, who just laughed… before the next thing she knew, she got herself covered in a fight cloud as the sounds of Penny punching and Wave squawking and trying to fight back were in.

When the cloud cleared up, Penny was holding Wave in a headlock, choking the bird a bit, before letting her go. Penny stood up and gave a smirk. “What was that about pure luck?”

Wave hacked her throat a bit before getting up. “How… how are you-”

“Come on, Wave, we were basically in the same group in the Battle of the Luminaries. Did you think I didn’t come in without abilities, y’all?” Penny said with a smile. “Now, let’s continue…”

Wave just blinked in shock, before shaking her head. “Whatever, fine! I’m sure I’m about to get lucky here! This is my big moment here and now!”

With that, Wave got back on her board and jumped over Penny, using her wrench to hit her on the side, causing Penny to stumble a bit. Penny narrowed her eyes before clicking the heels of her shoes three times and… vanishing without a trace.

“What the-?” Wave yelped before frowning as she looked around. “Okay, you did not just run from me, you coward! Come out and take your lumps like a nice little girl!”

Wave then felt a finger tap her shoulder as the bird looked in confusion… to see a reappearing Penny, giving a smirk, readying a fist and colliding it with the bird’s beak, causing her to fall off her hoverboard.

Wave groaned as she rubbed her head, looking a little dazed, but that didn’t phase Penny any as she took a kneeling position, before getting up and rushing forward, like a football player as she immediately tackled Wave to the ground, not giving the swallow any room to move.

“Ah yeah! Penny Proud’s in the house, y’all!” Penny grinned before pulling the bird up and spinning Wave around by using her hands.

“Uuuuuggh… stoooop… I feel queeeeeasyyyyy…” Wave groaned as she was watching the arena spin from her eyes.

“And now, folks, Penny Proud is about to do the biggest throw in the century!” Penny grinned before rushing forward and throwing Wave like a football. “She shoots!”

“Hey, do not do that! Do not th- PROOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUD!” Wave shouted in anger as she was sent flying to the portal below.

Penny paused briefly, before picking up Wave’s hoverboard and tossing it over the edge. “Hopefully, Wave gets this… I will admit, she actually put up more of a fight this time…”

Wave landed in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, where once she got her board back, she decided to ride the ramps for a while, if just to take her mind off her humiliating loss.

Penny gave a small sigh of relief, realizing what had happened. As quick as a flash, she immediately turned and started to go forward towards the chairs and joined the other four and Monika.

“Glad to see you’re here with us.” Garnet said with a small smile as she gave a wave towards Penny. Penny smiled towards Garnet too as Blanka and Ushi were more watching the other fights, with Blanka being the loudest in cheering for the Lily and Beast fight. The Devil, on the other hand, only looked up and nodded before resuming his position in drumming his fingers.

“A third of the fighters are in the seats, so that’s good!” Monika said as she looked around. “Before I say anything else, do you guys want to go to the Safe Zone? Any people that changed their minds on that?”

“We’re good.” Garnet nodded as Ushi and the Devil shook their heads.

“I’m more focused on cheering right now.” Blanka said.

“Hey, I’ve had my time in the Safe Zone, so I’m good.” Penny nodded.

“Very well, then.” Monika said as she gave a whistle, causing most everyone to turn their attention to her. “It’s time to spin the wheel once more, folks! Who’s getting punished this time!”

“Please, please, PLEASE let it be the crazy guy…” Chowder whispered and pleaded as he felt another ball bean him in the back of the head.

“Hey! You better not be whispering about me! It’s not nice.” Marx said with a sickly grin.

The wheel continued to spin around and around until, at last, it landed right on Bugs’s face.

Bugs, upon noticing, just gave a small nonchalant frown as he yawned. “Soooo… what’s the woist you got for me!”

“Say cheese!” Monika grinned as a camera was dropped in front of Bugs’s face. Before the rabbit could have time to react, a bright flash covered his eyes as his pupils began to shrank.

“AHHH! You blinded me!” Bugs groaned as he shook his head, before giving a frown. “All right, now you just made me stinking mad!”

The Devil, looking up, just gave a laugh as he crossed his arms. “Looks like the great Bugs Bunny isn’t immune to surprise attacks.”

“Don’t get too excited. Bugs is just going to be blind for the rest of the round, so he’ll have to rely on his other senses while he’s in the ring. Because if he can’t do that… he’s immediately out.” Monika explained.

Penny gave a small chuckle. “Well, maybe Bugs’ll be better at taking it to his advantage better than Nathan Drake did…”

Garnet couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “It was pretty funny…”

Both girls gave a slight chuckle as Ushi and Blanka looked at each other.

Over with Bugs and the Panda King, the latter looked over towards the rabbit in concern as he said, “If you would like, I can…”

“Don’t worry, Doc… I think I can find where ya are. They may have taken my eyes, but they can’t take away my acute hearing!” Bugs said as he jumped up in the air. “So, go ahead, Doc. Let’s keep up our battle!”

The Panda King paused slightly, before giving a small nod to himself. “Even when blinded, he still wants to battle… a very honorable thing, indeed…”

As the Panda King started to shoot firework rockets towards Bugs, the Devil could only watch as he gave a scoff.

“Hmph… I would have just blasted the bunny in a minute if he got that…” The Devil grumbled angrily as he tapped his fingers against the table. “Not like I can do anything about that now… I wonder how HIM’s getting on…”

All of a sudden, a loud punching sound was heard as someone was seen flying right over to the Safe Zone tent. Monika looked up and grinned. “OOOOHHH! Looks like somebody just entered the Safe Zone! Oh, I’m so excited to see how THIS turns out…”

(Hotel; HIM’s Room)

HIM was casually humming to himself as he was watching the tournament from the monitors and giving a slight chuckle to himself. “Well, well, it’ll be interesting to see how Bugs gets out of THIS situation…”

“I’m sure it’ll be hilarious…” Aku, who had been sitting next to him, said as he looked over towards the Devil on the monitor, who was currently drumming his fingers impatiently. “Soooo… the Devil is on our team?”

“Oh, most certainly!” HIM said as he turned to Aku. “I managed to meet up with him earlier in the year, and we had a little bit of a conversation. He already knows most of the plans going forward, and he said he’ll be joining us as soon as he’s out. Bonus points if he gets out a certain person by that time.”

Aku raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been meaning to ask about that, why HER in particular?”

HIM chuckled a bit. “Let’s just say that not only was she able to become champion, she also had a special power within her all champions get…”

“Special power?” Aku said in curiosity. “What sort of power are we talking about here?”

HIM could only give a chuckle, but before he could answer the question, both demons from hell heard a knock on the door.

“Oh, HIIIIIIIIIM! I got some su- I mean, some guys here to see yoooooooou!”

HIM paused before giving a small chuckle as Aku raised an eyebrow as the fellow demon turned to him. “Should we?”

“Well, one of them is a masterful part of the plan, so may as well, right?” HIM chuckled. “After all, things are going to get a bit interesting.” He coughed a bit as he gave a grin. “Come in, come in!”

The door opened as the Red Guy, now out of disguise, rolled inside and gave a small chuckle. Not too long following them were Bloo, Connie and Lee Lee, the latter two looking around nervously at the room as Lee Lee gave a frown.

“I knew there was a catch to this…” Lee Lee frowned.

Connie yelped as she shook in fear. “Th-this is rather… nerve-wracking by the second…”

“Hey! Whoever’s there, show yourself!” Bloo shouted through a megaphone he happened to have on hand. “I want revenge on the one who framed me for that prank, and I want retribution!”

Bloo then looked over to see HIM and Aku standing next to him before nonchalantly giving a wave. “Oh, hey HIM. Hey, Aku.”

“HIM?! AKU?!” Connie’s eyes widened as she and Lee Lee looked up to see the grinning devils before the girls.

Aku laughed a bit as he crossed his arms. “Well, well, well, it would seem our reputation precedes us…”

“That or your memes…” HIM smirked at Aku, who only gave a smile back.

“Ah yes, the ‘Extra Thicc’ thing.” Aku chuckled. “Although I’m more into the GREAT, FLAMING EYEBROWS myself.”

Lee Lee growled as she went into a position. “Drop your coy little act, you devils! Why have you brought us here?!”

“Uh, to help us get revenge on the one who pranked me, duh! Have you not been paying attention?!” Bloo asked as he turned to the girls, looking at them with a strange look.

“Bloo! You- ugh!” Connie started to say as she gave a frown before turning her attention to the devils, with the Red Guy quickly joining in. “Okay, who are you working for? Ganondorf? Joker? Bison… again? Or are any of you just Junko Enoshima and Tsumugi Shirogane in disguise?”

HIM lowered his eyelids in annoyance. “Oh please, like they wouldn’t even COMPARE to what we do. We are, in fact, the real deal. And in case you’re not convinced…”

The crab claw devil snapped his claws as Aku raised his hands summoning lava and large scary demons as both girls huddled together and gave loud screams, as Bloo was nonchalantly humming to himself, just waiting for the show to end. Once they were done, HIM and Aku clapped their hands together and all the things that were summoned had quickly disappeared in a flash.

“Convinced?” Aku asked as he gave a grin towards the girls and Bloo.

Both Lee Lee and Connie nodded furiously as Bloo gave a yawn. “Yeah, yeah, all great with the fireworks show and that, but I still want revenge on that prankster! You obviously have the answers, so give!”

“My, my, impatient, are we?” HIM rolled his eyes before crossing his legs. “All right, well, let me cut to the chase… as most of you have guessed, I am, in fact, the Big Bad this tournament. But I’m going to do something a little different this time. No big plans, no ‘take over the world or multiverse’ like scenario… or will it?”

Lee Lee frowned as she looked up. “What are you talking about?”

“Ohhhh, wouldn’t you like to know, little one?” HIM giggled in delight as he looked down at the three characters before him. “But believe you me, while I won’t explain my plans right away… at least, not until the others get here…”

“What others?” Connie asked as she raised an eyebrow.

“Others, you say?” Bloo smirked as he shuffled his hands in delight. “Would one of them perchance be the person who framed me for that prank?”

HIM chuckled in glee. “Mayhaps… though I ask that you wait in short time…”

“Yeah, no, we’re getting out and fast!” Connie said as she tried to drag Bloo away.

“Wh- hey! You’re no fun!” Bloo protested as he felt the tug of his arm pulling him away. “I wanna find out my prankster!”

“Maybe in another time! Sorry, but we don’t make deals with the devil… devils, in this case!” Lee Lee frowned as she turned around to leave.

HIM paused for a brief moment before giving a nod. “Fine, I totally respect that. It’s just too bad that this offer…”

The crab-like demon snapped his claws as the door in front of Connie, Bloo and Lee Lee shut in front of them. Connie yelped before stopping short. “Wh- hey!”

“...is non-negotiable…” HIM said as he snapped his fingers as a cage suddenly sprung around the two girls and blue imaginary friend. “Now, if you would be so kind as to stay with us until we get everything in order, we’re just about to keep watching the tournament. Don’t worry, you three won’t be in there long.”

Connie and Lee Lee yelped as they looked at each other as the Red Guy rolled over to them. “Don’t worry, ladies, you’ll see what HIM and we have in store, so in the meantime… JUST WAIT!”

“And… what about the prankster?” Bloo frowned.

“Believe you me, Blooregard, your prankster will be amongst them, don’t you worry…” HIM smirked a bit as he gave a cackle of laughter. “Just enjoy yourself while you can…”

As HIM, Aku and the Red Guy gave some laughter to themselves, Lee Lee frowned as she crossed her arms. “You know, for trying to be the heroes to distract us from things, this is not going off to a good start…”

“No, really?” Connie asked sarcastically as she looked over in concern, as Bloo was just tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for his time…

(Safe Zone)

The inside of the Safe Zone looked a little more complicated than before, looking more like a boss arena with sixteen squares, half of them blue, the other half white, with open space between them. Maybe to the untrained eye, it looked simple in context, but if one knew the exact purpose of this little set-up, it would be nightmarish to others.

The sound of screaming was heard as a familiar winged being with big eyes was seen flying inside before landing on his head as he gave a groan. Then, shaking his head, the winged figure put away his wings and started to look around in curiosity.

“Huh… it would seem that kid’s burps were more powerful than I thought…” Marx said to himself as he grumbled. “Still should have shared his popcorn with me, though…” It was then Marx looked around the area. “Huh… I must have landed in the Safe Zone tent… and looking at the inside, this must be the challenge… but what type of challenge, I wonder?”

“Well, Marx, I’m here to help you out.”

Marx looked over to see Shuichi sitting down in the same square as him. The Ultimate Detective seemed to be looking up at the sky nervously, before turning to Marx. “Well, since you’re here in the Safe Zone, I assume you’re here for the challenge.”

“Well, uh, not really… I was actually fighting that kid, BUT…” Marx smirked. “Since I’m already here, I might as well have a little fun, right? Besides, I can get that kid later.”

Shuichi frowned as he shook his head. “You just like to find the bright side in everything, don’t you?”

”YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT, ULTIMATE DETECTIVE?!” Marx shouted as an angry look started to form on his face.

“No, no… I’m not trying to offend you, Marx. I’m just observing, that’s all.” Shuichi chuckled nervously, before giving a sigh. “All right, so you want the challenge, then?”

“Yes, please!” Marx grinned as he immediately calmed down and jumped up and down. “So, what’s with these squares, huh, huh, huh?!”

“Right…” Shuichi took a deep breath and sighed. “Well, let me explain to you how your Safe Zone challenge is going to work. When I give the signal, a giant boss will be coming down in the arena to try and cause trouble for you. Your mission? Beat the boss. If you can manage to defeat him in five minutes or less, you will get a special reward.”

“That’s it? Just beat a boss?” Marx laughed a bit. “Buddyyyyyyyyy, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I am the very definition of ‘boss character’. Have you not seen what I can do in Kirby Super Star?”

Shuichi lowered his eyelids and gave a small sigh. “Be thankful Xero didn’t invite this guy as a Mystery Fighter. But yes, this is said to be one of the more difficult bosses if you don’t know what you’re doing in a certain game. Anyway, the boss you’ll be facing off against is none other than a classic Donkey Kong 64 bad guy… Mad Jack.”

Marx’s eyes lit up in a flash. “OOOOO! You mean that cool jack-in-the-box guy that gave the Kongs trouble in Frantic Factory? He was awesome!”

“Not for Tiny, he wasn’t…” Shuichi groaned. “I can’t believe you’re enthusiastic in meeting this guy.”

“Uh, DUH! He’s a jack-in-a-box that jumps around, and he’s a very cool toy!” Marx grinned as his eyes started to boggle. “How could I not love him?!”

Shuichi blinked twice before giving a sigh. “You know what, I’m not dignifying that with a response… anyway, we’re starting the challenge now. Mad Jack is about to come out.”

Marx turned as he looked up to see a small yellow, green and orange jack-in-the-box with a blue rim around it and shapes and question marks on each side falling straight down towards the upper right square… before it hopped one square to the left, one square down, then another square left as it faced Marx, who jumped over to the next podium to get a close look. Shuichi, decided to step back and sit down in the safety near the entrance as he gave a groan.

“Why did I even agree with Monika to do this…”

Marx could only stare at the jack-in-the-box in awe as it started to rumble and shake for a few moments, before the top opened up… and out popped a robotic like figure with a green duck-like head, a red smock and orange boxing gloves. The figure gave a quack like Donald Duck as it looked down at its foe with curiosity.

“Hi, Mad Jack! I’m going to make your life so fun!” Marx said with a psychotic grin on his face. ”SO LET’S HAVE FUN, SHALL WE?!”

The duck-billed jack immediately retracted itself back to the box as it started to hop towards the square Marx was on, only for Marx to leap up and glide around the area, avoiding the squares as he gave a laugh.

“Oh boy! This is just so fun!” Marx laughed as he glided around the area as the jack-in-the-box tried to leap from square to square.

Shuichi, watching this, gave a groan. “I guess Monika didn’t make this challenge with people that can cheese the level in mind…”

Marx whistled casually as he flew around the arena, before landing on another square, just as Mad Jack popped out of his box, landing on a white tile. Marx laughed as he summoned a ball before balancing on it.

“Nah nah, you can’t get me!” Marx taunted as he stuck out his tongue and laughed crazily like a mad man.

Mad Jack quacked a bit before throwing a fireball directly towards Marx. Marx yelped as he jumped in the air, avoiding the incoming fireball. “H-hey!”

Mad Jack laughed before sending over another fireball towards Marx, the winged jester quickly leaped over and started to look around. “Okay, if I remember this battle correctly, there’s a switch somewhere… ah ha HA!”

Marx grinned before jumping up and slamming directly on a switch that appeared in the tile. However, as he did so, Marx found himself getting electrocuted. The jester then started screaming in pain until the electricity from the platform disappeared.

Shuichi, pulling out a megaphone, called out, “Something I forgot to mention. If at any point you get hit three times, the game is over, and you won’t get anything. You just got your first hit.”

Marx frowned as he turned his head towards Shuichi in anger. “Now you tell me…”

“You’re welcome! Oh, and you hit a switch on a BLUE tile. You need to hit the switch on the same color tile Mad Jack is on.” The Ultimate Detective said.

Marx groaned as Mad Jack retracted himself back and started to hop around again. “Yeah, got it.”

The jester then summoned his wings once more and took off to avoid Mad Jack’s box, only this time, Marx was more focused and paying attention to the tiles Mad Jack landed on. As soon as he noted Mad Jack popping his head out of the box on a blue tile, then looking around quickly for a switch on a blue tile, while avoiding the incoming fireballs. This time, Marx spotted a nearby switch on a blue tile and slammed down on it.

This time, a surge of electricity electrocuted Mad Jack as the duck jack-in-the-box squawked in shock. As the jack-in-the-box was slowly recovering, Marx laughed as he spat out a ball and balanced on it with a giggle. “Boy, this is getting VERY easy for me!”

“Don’t celebrate just yet. You only have four more hits to go.” Shuichi called out.

“Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, I can totally do this!” Marx grinned as he flew up in the air as the jack in the box started to hop around tiles once more. After another round of flying, the jester noted Mad Jack landing on a white tile, and after avoiding two fireballs, found the white tile switch, electrocuting Mad Jack once more. Then, it was rinse and repeat on the third hit, though, Marx did notice that Mad Jack was hopping an extra time.

As soon as Mad Jack got electrocuted on the third hit, Marx decided to land on a far away platform to catch his breath. “Whew… man, that is a lot of work…”

Marx looked up to see the jack in the box jumping forward and sideways towards Marx. Figuring that Mad Jack doesn’t go diagonally, as soon as the jack-in-the-box came close to Marx’s position, Marx glided on the adjacent platform diagonally to him, then glided to another platform not too far. He waited until the jack-in-the-box landed a twelfth time before it popped up.

“Heh, I can go on all day!” Marx laughed as he danced around, before pausing in curiosity as he noted Mad Jack’s red robotic eye beginning to glow. “Wait, what are-”

The next thing the jester knew, Mad Jack shot a laser towards the platform Marx was on, electrocuting the jester as he gave a loud scream.

Shuichi winced as he called out. “You’re on your last hit point, Marx. Be careful.”

Marx groaned as he shook his head. “Right… get to the white tile with the switch…”

With that, Marx flew up once more and glided right to the switch in question before slamming on it, electrocuting Mad Jack for the fourth time. This caused the duck jack-in-the-box to squawk and quack in anger before raising his hands, some magical sparkles shining around him before vanishing into thin air.

“H-hey! No fair going invisible!” Marx exclaimed in anger, before laughing as his eyes began to swirl. ”YOU WOULDN’T LIKE ME IF NOBODY PLAYED FAIR!”

However, as Marx took to the air once more, he couldn’t help but notice sparkles hopping around. Marx’s eyes lit up in interest as he gave a slight chuckle, following the sparkles as he kept flying in the air, right up until the sparkles stopped on a blue tile.

Shucihi paused as he pulled out a stopwatch as he gave a hum.

Marx’s eyes lit up as he noted a switch appearing on the blue tile, and the red robotic eye ready to shoot at the pink jester. As quick as a flash, Marx quickly jumped up and glided over to the platform and…

BAM!

The platform Mad Jack was on electrocuted the Jack in the Box once more as it disappeared on him. The jack-in-the-box looked around helplessly before squawking as it began to fall straight through the floor.

“YES! YES! I woooooooon!” Marx laughed as he flipped himself up and down. “Oh, yeah, this feels SOOOOOO good!”

Shuichi paused as he gave a small shrug and smiled as he approached Marx. “Well, congratulations, Marx. You survived on one hit point. And you beat the boss in under five minutes, so good on you!”

“Sweet!” Marx grinned, before pausing as he looked down. “Though I do feel bad what happened to Mad Jack…”

“Don’t worry. The Mad Jack you saw wasn’t actually real. He was just a program created by Monika that followed the same Mad Jack boss fight.” Shuichi said, before pausing. “At least, that’s what she told us… I think she may have actually taken the actual Mad Jack and brought him here to screw with us…”

Marx paused slighlty, before turning his head. “Sooooo… what’s my prize, huh, huh, huh?!”

“Okay, okay, I can tell you’re eager.” Shuichi paused as he gave a nod. “Okay, you will get your choice of three prizes.”

With that, three tables appeared, one with each item. Two were covered in cloches, the other one wasn’t. Shuichi smiled as he pointed to the prize, a green token. “You got yourself the ‘Double Or Nothing’ token. Play this before the next round’s fighters get announced, and you will look ahead to the list of fighters for that round, know exactly who you’re up against, and you will choose someone from that list that you are SURE is going to survive the next round. If said person survives the next round you’re in, you and that someone you chose will get, for one round only, one extra live vote… whatever that means. If the person you chose is out in the next round, you get an extra die vote. Basically, a double-edged sword. The only thing is that this is only eligible IF you survive THIS round.”

Marx paused as he looked at the two covered cloches. “What’s in them?”

“Well, you can keep this prize, or you can trade it for either something better… or something worse.” Shuichi said as he looked over. “Either way, it could benefit or harm you…”

The jester paused as he looked between the token and the two cloches… before giving a nod. “You know what? I think I will trade. The Double or Nothing token sounds cool, but I don’t want to take THAT big of a risk in this early round.”

“Okay, well… do you want Cloche Number One or Cloche Number Two?” Shuichi asked as he pointed to both cloches.

Marx tapped his foot and thought about it… before giving a nod. “You know what? I’ll take the first cloche.”

“Are you sure?” Shuichi asked as he put his hand over the first cloche.

“Yes.” Marx nodded.

Shuichi paused as he lifted the cloche off… to reveal a small glowing orb. It then circled around Marx as the jester looked at it awe. “Absorb this orb, and you will have your final boss powers for the remaining round.”

“Wait… s-so I have my unlocked potential in this orb?!” Marx grinned.

“That’s the general idea. You can keep that, or you can trade for the final cloche.” Shuichi said.

“No thank you! I want my potential!” Marx grinned before laughing crazily. ”I WANT TO GET JUSTICE FOR NOT GETTING POPCORN!”

Shuichi yelped as he shut his eyes. “I almost feel bad for Chowder…”

With that, the orb directly went into Marx as the jester began to laugh, the power of his final boss methods surging through him as he started to laugh maniacally. Shuichi could only watch as he gave a whisper, “Oh, what did I just unleash into this arena?”

(The Arena)

Aggron had gotten a bit annoyed as he finally peeled a certain starfish off of his belly and tossed him to the ground, as Patrick slowly got up.

“Whooooo… boy, what a nap…” Patrick yawned a bit before looking up towards the steel-coated rhinoceros Pokemon. “Oh! Hello, rock! Thanks for the nice cuddly nap!”

Aggron could only blink twice, before bellowing furiously. ”I AM NOT YOUR BED!”

Patrick winced a bit, before frowning and crossing his arms. “Sheesh, somebody is cranky this morning.”

Aggron stammered a bit, before giving an angry snarl, before tapping his foot and tucking his head. Aggron then quickly rushed forward and slammed Patrick with Iron Head, causing the starfish to scream before getting saved by the ropes. Patrick, feeling the impact on the hit, got up and rubbed his head.

“FINLAND!” Patrick said in a daze, before shaking his head and narrowing his eyes towards Aggron. “So you wanna fight, huh? All right, I’m a tough guy! I can whip your butt anytime… do you hear me?”

Aggron roared before rushing forward, this time, jumping up and down on the ground as the arena began to shake, causing everybody to yelp as they felt the tremors.

“Who- hey!” Ron called out as he almost fell out of the ring. “Take it easy on that Earthquake, will ya?”

The blonde haired teenager screamed as he then avoided another uppercut from Kazuya.

”That’s STOMPING TANTRUM, YOU- forget it, you’re not my target.” Aggron frowned before turning towards Patrick, who was getting up from the move as he rubbed his head.

“Oooooo… hot wings…” Patrick groaned as he pointed to the spinning chicken wings circling his head, before recovering. Patrick growled angrily before beating his chest. “You know what, bed? I was going to compliment you, but I don’t think you’re being very nice, in fact…” Patrick growled angrily as he narrowed his eyes. “WHAT YOU DID WAS TOO FAR! YOU KNOW WHAT I’M GOING TO DO TO YOU?!”

Patrick then took another step as he furrowed his brow at the steel rhinoceros.

“DO YOU HEAR ME, YOU MONSTER! I’LL CUT OFF YOUR HORN HEAD AND NAIL IT TO MY DOOR… LIKE… ONE OF THOSE… LION DOOR KNOCKERS RICH FOLKS GOT! THAT WILL BE YOUR HORN!” Patrick shouted in anger.

The Devil, who had been sitting with the others, just raised an eyebrow as he turned to the others. “Did he just reference that horror movie with the succubus… ‘Jennifer’s Body’?”

“His voice actor played a role in that movie with almost the same exact lines.” Monika explained. “Trust me, the line was a lot more dirtier.”

The five people sitting down paused, as each of them nodded, with Blanka saying, “Oh, right…”

“Makes sense.” The Devil nodded.

“Yeah, I’m not big on horror movies, but I know the scene.” Penny swiftly nodded.

With that, Patrick ran forward and did a cartwheel towards Aggron, making contact with the large rhinoceros creature. “Take this!”

Aggron let out a loud yell before looking down in anger towards the starfish, then roaring as it jumped up in the air, and slammed down on Patrick, causing the starfish to yelp out as he felt himself getting choked. Aggron chuckled as he got off of the starfish, having finished that attack.

Xero, noting it, quickly announced, “What Aggron just used was Heavy Slam. A Steel type move that causes great damage the more the user of the move outweighs the target… and in Aggron’s case, he weighs a lot more than Patrick.”

Patrick groaned as he tried to get his bearings… only for Aggron to slide his hands to summon some rocks coming down.

“AHHHHHH!” Patrick screamed as he tried to avoid the coming Rock Slide, before rolling out of the way. Patrick panted a bit before giving a groan. “Okay, now you just made me… uh… FURIOUS!”

Patrick then charged forward and slapped Aggron with his belly… however, because of the rhinoceros’s high defense stat, the large Iron Head Pokemon didn’t feel a dent.

Aggron chuckled a bit, before getting an idea on how to deal with this creature once and for all… and to make sure he didn’t have that four times fighting weakness. He quickly got out a Smash Ball and smashed it in his hand, as the Pokemon started to glow blue.

“Ooooooo… pretty lights…” Patrick paused as he looked at the Pokemon in awe… before his brain cells actually connected themselves as he realized what was about to happen. “Uh-oh…”

“Uh-oh is right, because Aggron is about to use his Final Smash… in this case… MEGA EVOLUTION!” Maurice said as a ball form around Aggron, with the Mega symbol glowing around him as the ball quickly dissipated.

Aggron’s body was now more bulkier, with its head acting more like a helmet. It looked to be completely made of steel as Mega Aggron admired himself for a moment.

“I’ll be! Looks like Mega Aggron has decided to forgo the Rock typing and decided to be pure STEEL! While still weak to fighting, it’s only one and a half times damage. He’s also weak to fire and ground moves, but eh.” Maurice shrugged.

Mega Aggron roared as he started to jump around, causing everything in the arena to shake once more, causing most people to fall down.

Scrat yelped as he almost lost the acorn, but quickly grabbed onto it tightly before giving a sigh of relief as the earthquake caused by Mega Aggron stopped. Scrat then turned to see Pichu groaning as the baby mouse Pokemon was barely shaking off the damage.

Patrick felt the effects of the Earthquake as well as he gave a small groan… before narrowing his eyes at Mega Aggron. “Oh yeah! I have one of those, too!”

With that, Patrick pulled out, much to everybody’s surprise, a Smash Ball. This caught the attention of everyone involved as Monika gave a big grin. “Ooooo…”

“Ahhhh…” Xero said in excitement.

“I can’t believe we’re allowing a lot of the Nicktoons’ Final Smashes, especially since All-Star Brawl 2 hasn’t released around the time we started this.” Maurice grumbled as he crossed his arms.

Patrick then smashed the ball with his head before giving a groan. All of a sudden, Patrick’s house (a large rock) suddenly appeared in his hands as he held it up over his head… before whacking Mega Aggron over the head with it dozens of times.

“SPIDERS! SPIDERS! SPIDERS! SPIDERS! SPIDERS! GET ‘EM OFF ME! GET ‘EM OFF ME! GET ‘EM OFF ME! OFF OFF OFF!”

Mega Aggron did not expect Patrick to be as brutal with his rock (by all accounts, him being affected by that rock shouldn’t even make sense, since Rock resists Steel), but regardless, Mega Aggron felt too dizzy to even try to make sense of it.

As soon as Patrick was done with his Final Smash, he panted a bit before looking over to see Mega Aggron just dizzily standing there. Patrick then ran over to the table and jumped on it, before putting on a cone.

“OOOO!” Monika grinned as she and the other sitting fighters noticed. “Seems Patrick here is going for the classic single scoop strawberry cone… with a caramel coated dip.”

Patrick then leaped into the air and dived straight for the dizzy Mega Aggron as Monika grinned. “Just look at that concentration… and oooo!”

Patrick then slammed his head right at Mega Aggron, sending the large steel coated rhinoceros out of the ring and into the portal below.

Aggron, getting out of his Mega form, landed in Spider-Man, where he went one-on-one with the Rhino.

“A little shaky on that entry, but look at that form!” Monika grinned as a live action strawberry ice cream cone with turtle shell caramel dip was shown.

“...so, wait… did Patrick just tear off part of Aggron’s shell with his head, or…” Penny paused as she tried to think about it.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Garnet advised her as Patrick hopped over with the cone and sat in his seat.

“Oh boy… that was a dizzying experience…” Patrick groaned… before flopping his head on the desk and began to snore.

The others just looked at the starfish in bewilderment, before deciding it best not to wake him up.

Ariel yelped a bit as she swam away from another sword swipe from a familiar alien warlord. Vilgax could only laugh before using his laser eye to hit Ariel in the shoulder, causing the young woman to yelp as she felt the laser hit it. She quickly rubbed her shoulder before narrowing her eyes towards the alien warlord.

“What’s wrong, Daddy’s little princess?” Vilgax chuckled heartlessly before approaching her with his sword in hand, ready to take a stab at her. “Can’t keep up with a powerful warlord? Then again, out of all the Disney princesses, you always did seem to be the headstrong… always acting first before thinking.”

Ariel grunted a bit as she aimed her scythe. “I’ve grown since then.”

The alien warlord could only grin sadistically. “And what did it take you? Right, losing your own voice, getting manipulated by a sea witch AND almost losing your true love and almost your world. If that prince of yours hadn’t dealt the striking blow on Ursula, you probably would be joining your dear ol’ daddy right about now.”

The young mermaid crinkled her nose at the sight of the warlord before her, gripping her father’s trident as she held it to her face, blocking the sword that had swung at her. “I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve grown since then, I’ve learned to take my battles for myself.”

Vilgax quickly rushed forward and slammed his sword right at Ariel, causing the mermaid to yelp as she swam backwards. Vilgax laughed a bit as he twirled his sword around, daring Ariel to come closer. “Seems to me you’re running away from fighting…”

“No… I don’t run… I’m the same girl that managed to befriend a whale, free a wild seahorse, helped defeat the Evil Manta through song, helped Eric and my father when Ursula tried to take over, AND found my true fighting potential while in the first Tournament of Kikai. I didn’t back down then… I’m not backing down NOW.” Ariel growled as she used the trident to shoot a laser right at Vilgax’s head, causing the alien to scream out.

This momentary distraction gave Ariel the chance to dive under the pool of water that was following her as her shadow was seen swimming forward on the floor. Another pool of water appeared and Ariel popped out, before diving back in another pool of water that appeared on the floor. By the time Vilgax had managed to recover from the hit, he had noted at least seven drops of water on the floor as Ariel appeared in the middle and started to dance, the water shooting out from the pools as it started to spray around everywhere, with Ariel giving a giggle as she swam and dance to imaginary music she was humming to herself.

“You hold- AHHH!” Vilgax shouted as the water began spraying right on him.

Garnet, watching the battle with interest, couldn’t help but chuckle. “Lapis could learn something from this girl…”

Vilgax growled in anger as he recovered from the water show, before charging forward and slashing right at Ariel, causing the mermaid to yelp as she flopped down on the ground. Vilgax then put his foot right down on the mermaid’s head, causing the redhead to yelp as she felt the crushing weight of his foot hurting her head.

“Do you really think you can best a warlord like me?!” Vilgax laughed. “I think not. My main goal may be getting the Omnitrix from that brat, but having a mermaid trophy isn’t a bad second goal… I mean, obviously, I won’t kill you here, but I think in the future…”

All of a sudden, the smashing of a ball was heard as Ariel began to glow blue. Vilgax looked down and yelped. “What th-”

A white flash formed around Ariel, causing the alien warlord to fall over backwards as the glowing Ariel got up. As soon as the flash stopped, Vilgax’s mouth dropped in awe as Ariel was now floating once more, only now she was wearing a white armor like plate that covered her upper body, with a royal crown atop her head, her hair down in a ponytail, a black loincloth adorning her lower section. The trident had also transformed to that of a golden spear, with a white shell in the center and a lighting bolt at the tip.

Xero gasped in excitement as he held the microphone. “Well, you’ve seen it here, folks! Ariel is the first person to use her Mirrorverse form! I can’t wait to see what develops from here…”

Vilgax blinked twice in surprise, before narrowing his eyes. “So you have a new form. I STILL have the upper-”

Vilgax probably would have finished his boastful speech, had Ariel not rushed forward and stabbed Vilgax with the pointed spear. The alien warlord yelped out in pain as the little mermaid swung the spear around, meleeing Vilgax. The green warlord couldn’t take much more as he felt the sizzling spark of electricity emitting out of the spear affect his body.

Ariel then spun the spear around a few times before striking Vilgax down, a surge of electricity sparking through the spear. Once she knew Vilgax was weakened enough, Ariel spun around and tossed her spear up in the air as it emitted a rainbow spark. Once she grabbed it, she then flicked the spear upwards and sent Vilgax flying, knocking him back as he tried to position himself to get back, but it was of no use as he fell directly into the portal below.

Vilgax landed in Space Invaders. He hijacked a ship and charged straight down to destroy the tank that was shooting at the invading ships.

Chowder watched as Ariel changed back to normal and gave a small smile. “Wow… Ariel certainly knows how to bring the heat…”

As the tired Ariel swam over to the seats before the chains could activate, Chowder paused as he turned to Kimchi. “Hey, Kimchi, do you think we’ll be as great as Ariel?”

Kimchi could only blow a raspberry.

“...yeah, that’s a good point.” Chowder said, before pausing. “Still, since I sent that creepy jester guy over to the Safe Zone tent, things have been a little too quiet… and he hasn’t come out of the tent yet…”

Kimchi blew a raspberry once more as he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“I suppose I could help, but Pudding seems more busy with Nakoruru, and while I do feel for Bugs, I think he can handle himself, blind or not…” Chowder said, before looking around.

“AHHHH! Hey, no fair!” Ron’s voice was heard complaining as Chowder perked up and turned his head to see the blonde haired sidekick trying to avoid yet another electrical filled punch from Kazuya Mishima. The man chuckled darkly before taking a stance.

“That works.” Chowder pointed as he motioned for Kimchi to follow. The brown cloud obeyed his master as he followed Chowder straight to the fight.

For Ron himself, the blonde haired boy found himself panting as he tried to get his bearings, only for Kazuya to strictly grab the blonde haired sidekick and kneed him in the gut, causing Ron to yelp as he fell down.

“Ugh, pain… why didn’t I just go for somebody like the skeleton man or the mermaid?” Ron groaned as he tried to get his bearings.

Kazuya couldn’t help but give a chuckle. “Seems to me you’re out of practice.”

“Give me a break here!” Ron frowned. “I haven’t seen airtime since 2007! And no, I’m not counting the live action movie released on Disney Channel, because, one, THAT guy who played me? That is SOOOO not me. Why would I want to grow up to be a dog?! That’s weird, even by MY standards.”

Kazuya stared at Ron with a very questionable look on his face, before frowning as he raised his leg to kick Ron straight in the head, causing Ron to yelp as he felt the impact of the kick. “Your babble is distracting!”

“Hey, man, I’m just expressing an opinion!” Ron frowned, before yelping as he avoided another sharp kick from Kazuya.

Rufus popped out of Ron’s pocket as the naked mole rat gave a small gulp towards Kazuya’s strength. Rufus looked up to Ron and quickly chattered to his friend, who overheard him.

“I know, Rufus! I just need a moment to channel those Mystical Monkey Powers!” Ron whispered as he yelped. “But I’m being overcrowded in doing so!”

Kazuya smirked as he raised his fist and punched Ron in the gut once more, giving a slight chuckle.

“Hmph. Too bad, kid. I figured you’d be more of a challenge, but you’re only proving yourself sidekick material…” Kazuya chuckled before raising a fist, ready to uppercut the blonde boy…

When all of a sudden, a familiar purple cat-bear-rabbit thing came in, grabbing a familiar brown cloud and throwing it at Kazuya as the former Devil’s Gene wielder got caught off guard. As Kazuya coughed, taken aback by the smell, Chowder looked over to a surprised, yet very relieved, Ron.

“I figured you’d want some assistance… since Pudding’s a little busy at the moment.” Chowder pointed out.

Ron blinked twice, before shrugging, figuring not to let this gift pass him by. “Thanks, kid! Be careful of him!”

“Oh, don’t worry. He’s not going to eliminate me… I hope…” Chowder yelped as he looked up at the angry Kazuya, staring down at him.

“You dare go up against me? You have no idea who you’re dealing with, kid…” Kazuya growled as he readied a fist.

“I think I do, and I’m already regretting it…” Chowder said as he gave a squeak of fear, Kimchi yelping as he joined back with his master, hiding behind him in fear.

Kazuya smirked as he readied his gloves, before pummeling Chowder with a nasty combo, following it up quickly with a lighting induced uppercut, sending Chowder flying up into the air. Chowder, however, quickly took advantage of that by taking a deep breath and sucking in Kazuya mid-attack before putting him in his mouth and swallowing him.

Chowder paused, before frowning. “Ick! He tastes like spicy stinky gym sweat socks…”

Chowder then immediately spat Kazuya out right into a cornerpost as the former fighter with the Devil’s Gene got up and rubbed his head, before shuddering. “And I thought being swallowed by the pink one in that void of his was bad enough…”

Chowder then jumped forward and used his long tongue to attack Kazuya, the man yelping as he got licked. Kazuya growled in anger as the cat-bear-rabbit thing started to spit in disgust. “Ugh, sheesh, I don’t know why I even tried licking you. You clearly didn’t taste good the first time.” Chowder then continued spitting. “Ugh, I am going to need a LOT of thrice cream to get those taste buds out of my mouth…”

Kazuya growled in anger as he narrowed his eyes towards the kid. “Big mistake…”

Before Kazuya could lay a finger on Chowder, however, Ron suddenly came in and swiftly kicked the Mishima heir with a swift flying kick, throwing Kazuya off his game. Kazuya quickly recovered as he noted Ron holding a monkey fighting like stance, before motioning Kazuya to come closer.

“All right, Kazuya, I think I’m ready to take you down, Mystical Monkey Ninja style!” Ron said with a confident smirk on his face.

Kazuya blinked twice, before giving a smirk of his own. “Well, well… it’s about time I see that potential…”

With that, Kazuya charged forward with a flying kick of his own before Ron backflipped to avoid the kick. As soon as Kazuya landed, Ron then curled his hands into fists as he punched the man in the face, before leaping forward and using his legs to perform a monkey kick, before back flipping like a monkey himself. Kazuya growled in anger as he tried to charge right at Ron, only to get himself whacked in the head by Chowder using a headbutt.

Ron looked down at Chowder as he rubbed his head. “Okay, you little cat-bear-rabbit dude, you rock!”

Chowder groaned as he rubbed his head. “Thanks… although say it to me when I can stop seeing stars surrounding my head…”

Chowder looked up to see actual Hollywood stars circling his head. “Oh… there’s Awkwafina… and there’s Steve Carell… oh and is that Jennifer Lawrence I see?”

“ENOUGH!” Kazuya growled as he rushed forward and collided both of his fists towards Ron and Chowder, sending the two flying over to the ropes.

This caused Rufus to fall out of Ron’s pocket as the naked mole rat landed on the ground. Rufus looked up and yelped to see his best friend and teammate getting surprise-attacked by Kazuya. It was then the naked mole rat heard a raspberry. Rufus quickly looked up to see Kimchi, showing equal concern for Chowder being pummeled as he looked down towards Rufus. The two then shared exchanges for a moment, with Rufus chattering and Kimchi doing raspberries in communication. After a moment, Rufus gave a smile as Kimchi’s eyes looked up, as if both of them had formed an idea.

Chowder groaned as he looked up in fear of Kazuya as the man began to laugh. “Do you think I’m going to tolerate your clowny antics? Well, I happen to have a fun side, but that’s not the point. This is a fighting tournament, and I will be DAMNED if I get eliminated by a goofy sidekick OR an annoying kid!”

“N-now wait a minute…” Chowder chuckled nervously as Ron looked up in worry. “Remember, this is a Big Guy Blocker round! You can only eliminate one of us!”

“Ooooo, now there’s a thought.” Kazuya grinned before grabbing Ron and Chowder by the collars and looking towards the edge of the ring. “Let’s do an experiment. I toss both of you, and only one pops back in. Let’s see who gets eliminated first by my hand…”

“CHARGE!”

“PPPPPPPBBBBBBLLLLLT!”

Kazuya stopped as he turned to see Rufus riding on Kimchi as the naked mole rat had somehow pulled out a frying pan before throwing it and landing it directly on Kazuya’s head.

This hit sent Kazuya flying in the air as he dropped Ron and Chowder on the ground as Ron looked up in surprise. “Rufus…?”

“Kimchi?!” Chowder asked in shock as the pan somehow magically grew into size.

Rufus gave a chuckle as Kimchi blew a raspberry as Rufus waved his arms in the air as Kazuya landed on the frying pan. The next thing the Mishima heir knew, taco meat started to rain down as he felt the pan starting to sizzle as Kimchi and Rufus then returned as chefs, with Kimchi wearing a chef’s hat, and Rufus wearing a hair net (despite him being a naked mole rat) as an assorted number of vegetables started to appear as Kimchi blew a raspberry, a knife somehow appearing as it started to slice up the lettuce and tomatoes before him, before Rufus grabbed a mixing bowl as a few bits of tomato juice, tomatoes, peppers and onions started to go in as it started to combine into a good salsa.

“What are they doing?” Ron asked in confusion. “How are those two even doing this?!”

“I… think Rufus and Kimchi are doing a Limit Attack?” Chowder said, equally in shock. “I guess the author didn’t know where else to put the team up attack for the round.”

It was then the frying pan disappeared from under Kazuya’s feet as the grilled taco meat appeared on the table, with soft taco shells and tortilla chips appearing on Rufus and Kimchi’s bowl as Kazuya was now trapped in a boiling pot of milk, butter, flour and cheese as a whisk and a spoon started to mix Kazuya in the mixture, causing the man to yelp.

“What are they doing…?” The Devil asked in curiosity as he and the others sitting down at the table watched.

“I think those pets are… making food of some sort?” Ariel asked in equal confusion from her seat.

Rufus grinned as he turned to Kimchi as the boiled cheese started to boil, causing Kazuya to get launched like a volcano, sending him flying up high in the air. As Kazuya was about to land down, Ron took this as his opportunity to leap up and kick Kazuya into the air, sending him out of the ring and into the portal below.

Kazuya landed in Black & Bruised, where he got his butt handed to him by Kid USA.

All the while, as Ron landed on the ground, feeling relieved in eliminating Kazuya, he looked over to see Rufus and Kimchi had just finished the dish they were making as an assorted number of plates had a lot of large soft taco shells with meat, lettuce, tomato, salsa, tortilla chips, and (thanks to purifying the cheese), fresh nacho cheese. Ron, immediately, recognizing the dish, grinned. “Boo-yah! Not only did I score an elimination, but we got ourselves a treat, to boot! Nice going, Rufus! You too, little weird cloud thing!”

Rufus grinned as the plates disappeared, all of which were now on the table, and up in the announcer’s booth as Maurice and Xero examined the dish, before Xero grinned. “OOOOOOH!”

“This is a rare treat indeed!” Maurice grinned as he folded up the taco shell and started to eat the treat in front of him.

“What did they make?” Chowder asked.

“Only a little recipe created by yours truly!” Ron smirked. “Taco meets nacho! I call it… the Naco!”

“Naco?” Chowder asked, his eyes widened as his tongue started to slurp.

Over at the elimination table, sixteen plates of nacos had filled up the table as Monika looked at hers. Monika paused as she picked hers up. “Hmmm… I know I probably don’t need to eat… BUT…”

Monika curiously tried a little taste, before giving a smile. “Hey… this is pretty good! That naked mole rat and that cloud REALLY put the whole stop to it…”

Patrick, who had been asleep for a while, immediately woke up and looked at the plate of food before him. “Hey! FOOD!”

Patrick immediately downed his naco, before letting out a belch, giving a smile. “It’s no Krabby Patty, but it really hits the spot!”

The Devil tried a piece himself, before giving a grin. “You know, that sidekick I can barely care about, but I think he may be onto something with this ‘naco’.”

Penny smiled as she started to eat from her plate. “I will admit, this is a pretty good recipe. Kudos, Ron!”

Ron grinned as he gave a smile. “Wait for me! I got my elimination, I think I earned the right! Come on, Rufus!”

“Yeah, yeah, NACO!” Rufus grinned in excitement as he leapt back on Ron’s shoulder as the blonde haired boy joined the others.

“OOOO! Now I want a naco!” Chowder grinned as he started to rush forward towards the table, before getting repelled. “What the-?”

“Sorry, Chowder, but the only people who can sit at the table are those who get eliminations. Remember?” Monika pointed out as Blanka was happily enjoying his naco. The only people that weren’t eating theirs were Garnet, Ushi and Ariel, who could only push away the plates.

“I’m not really physically capable of eating. If it were Amethyst, I’m sure she’d be all over this.” Garnet pointed out as Ushi mooed in disgust. “And I’m pretty sure the cow knows there’s beef in that naco.”

Maurice was about to take another bite, when he suddenly paused. “Wait, what?!”

“Donald Duck and his family literally eats roast goose and turkeys in some Disney specials.” Xero frowned. “And until he learned about it, Porky’s favorite food is pepperoni pizza. The anthro animal kingdom is messed up, when you think about it. Besides…” The rabbit took a bite out of the naco. “I can taste the meat, and it’s the type that’s made of plants.”

“Oh…” Maurice calmed down as he took another bite. “That’s a relief.”

“I literally ate before coming here. I’m good.” Ariel said with a polite smile.

“In that case…” Monika said as the three plates were lifted up. “I’ll deliver these to Ashley, Drake and the others. They deserve something for helping us explain our fighters.”

As the three plates were now covered in a container marked “For Ashley, Drake, Barry, Rinky and Cacey. Compliments of Rufus and Kimchi”, Chowder gave a frown as he crossed his arms. “Sheesh… I really want those nacos… but now I have to get an elimination… but who do I fight?”

”OH LITTLE BOY! SHARE YOUR POPCORN!”

Chowder screamed as he immediately turned to see Marx had popped out of the tent, looking ready to fight… only for Chowder to lower his eyelids and toss Marx the popcorn he had been holding. “Knock yourself out. I moved on to a new food obsession… and that’s those nacos on the table over there…”

“Hey, folks! I guess it should be obvious, but if you get an elimination this round, you will have the option to enjoy these delicious nacos.” Monika grinned as she took another bite from her plate. “So, that’s even more incentive to continue fighting and getting to those seats!”

Marx looked over as his eyes boggled wildly. “OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Marx then looked at the popcorn he had… before tossing it over the arena and into the portal below (where it landed in the hands of Jay Sherman from The Critic, who decided to just eat the popcorn while watching another strange movie he was currently watching) as he looked over at Chowder with a sadistic grin. “Okay, kiddo, new goal. We both fight, and if you eliminate me, help yourself to that naco on the table!”

Chowder’s eyes lit up. “That’s all I have to do?”

“Yeppers!” Marx grinned, before giving a sadistic grin. ”Though good luck trying to get past me… especially since I just defeated Mad Jack AND got all my final boss powers as a reward… let’s see how you manage to survive my onslaught…”

Chowder took a moment to gulp as he looked towards Kimchi, who blew a raspberry towards Chowder. The cat-bear-rabbit thing turned back to Marx, a little nervous… before giving a frown as he held a stance.

“You’re about to get served…”

Shingo leapt up into the air and managed to hit a downwards punch on Mewtwo, as the psychic Pokemon got knocked back a bit from the blow. Mewtwo quickly recovered as he summoned a blue shield to protect himself, just as Shingo began charging forward and kicking at the barrier Mewtwo set up.

The young, energetic fighter, upon hitting the barrier, got knocked backwards before trying to maintain his balance. Shingo laughed as he danced around. “Is that all you got?”

Mewtwo paused in silence before a small grin crawled on his face, the psychic Pokemon chuckling deeply as possible, before diminishing the blue bubble barrier he set up a Shadow Ball and sent it hurling towards Shingo, the energetic fighter getting thrown off guard by the attack.

Shingo, a bit disoriented from the attack, quickly recovered as he gave a laugh. “Heh, this is nothing! I can totally eat your special moves for lunch! AND with your moves missing a lot of the time, I can keep going at this all day!”

“Hm.” Mewtwo paused slightly before looking up. “So you can. You may have some good fiery training thanks to your little fanboy-isms of Kyo Kusanagi, but can you withstand the other elements?”

Shingo chuckled. “Please, I survived fights against Kula Diamond, I think I can take the eleme-”

Mewtwo then charged forward and immediately punched Shingo as a small bit of energy came out of the young fighter and got absorbed into Mewtwo’s being. Shingo groaned as he rubbed his face. “That’s not an elemental move.”

“You’re right. I said that to get you off guard. What I just used was Drain Punch, a move that that I can use to punch and steal your health in the progress, damaging you and healing me.” Mewtwo chuckled.

Shingo shook his head as he gave a smirk. “Okay, lucky hit, but you won’t get me twice with it!”

With that, Shingo jumped up and did a flying kick in the air, knocking Mewtwo off a bit, before quickly following that with an axe kick, colliding Shingo’s leg with Mewtwo’s face. That kick caused Mewtwo to wince at the pain, before his body began to surge blue and his eyes started to glow.

Shingo looked ready to get another attack in, before finding himself being held by psychic energy as the young man started to struggle. Mewtwo paused, before giving a smirk. “Child’s play.”

Shingo was then thrown away with Mewtwo’s psychic, sending him flying towards the ropes before landing on the ground. Mewtwo cursed a bit, realizing that throwing Shingo towards the ropes counted as a miss.

Shingo got up before shaking off the attack, before rushing forward to punch Mewtwo’s abdomen, a little fire starting to surge into the fist. However, the minute he threw the punch, it found itself colliding with Mewtwo’s icy fist, causing the young man to let out a loud yowl as he waved his hand.

Mewtwo, having just delivered an Ice Punch, chuckled deeply before grabbing onto Shingo once more with his psychic powers. “Not to say this hasn’t been an experience, but believe it or not, I am starting to get a bit famished, and those nacos on the table look pretty tempting to me right now. For now, I will bid you adieu.”

With that, Mewtwo spun around and threw Shingo out of the ring as the Kyo Kusanagi fanboy tried to correct himself, only to fall directly into the portal below.

Mewtwo paused as he gave a respectful nod to the contestant he threw out. “I will admit, he’s done slightly better than I anticipated… and at least the Sand Attacks that were sent to me didn’t affect me… TOO MUCH.”

After a moment, Mewtwo paused before teleporting to the seat next to Ron (though actually missing and being ON Ron’s seat at first, making him yelp, before Mewtwo got up and sat down in his proper seat) as, once Monika got rid of the sand in his eyes, he decided to try the naco in front of him.

Shingo landed in Verdict: Guilty!, where he decided to go one-on-one with Si’u the cop.

Richter held out his whip before cracking it towards Jack Skellington, causing the Pumpkin King to jump backwards to avoid the cracking of the whip. “Whoa!”

Jack quickly recovered as he looked towards his opponent with a small smile. “I will admit, Simon was a challenge last year, but you’re really blowing what he did out of the water!”

“That’s because I’ve studied how he lost to you last year.” Richter said with a smirk. “And I swore to myself that if I ever had to face up against you, I’d correct his mistakes. And while I’m not THAT type of person to hurt a benevolent figure like yourself… I am more determined to make sure you don’t progress further in the ring.”

“SOUL ROBBER!” Jack shouted as he waved his hand to let the green sticky creature form itself into a hand and grab onto Richter before throwing the vampire hunter down to the ground. “Coincidentally, I’ve also been improving my fighting abilities as well.”

“Really?” Richter said with a smirk as he threw his axe forward, with Jack using a snowflake-esque Blizzard spell to block the attack. “Hm… you do have a good point. I don’t recall you using a lot of your Kingdom Hearts abilities last year.”

“I know. I guess I just got so excited to use the Soul Robber, I forgot this wasn’t my only means of attack.” Jack chuckled. “It’s funny how forgetful I can be.”

“So you do…” Richter said simply before readying his whip.

Jack decided to charge once more with another hit from the Soul Robber ready, only for the green gooey creature to get blocked by the whip. Richter laughed before jumping around, waving the whip around to throw the Pumpkin King off his game. But Jack wasn’t going to be deterred by this, no… rather, he was smiling, having the best time of his life as he twirled around the whip being thrown at him, before pulling out a small pumpkin.

“Hey, if you want to play, then just say the word!” Jack grinned before lobbing said small pumpkin at Richter, the pumpkin lighting up before making contact with the vampire hunter.

KABOOM!

The pumpkin exploded, causing Richter to get knocked back. This gave Jack more than an opportunity as he summoned three pumpkins on fire before charging straight at Richter, the pumpkins's fire affecting the Belmont as he got blasted backwards.

Richter recovered before throwing down some holy water, making Jack back away… big mistake on the Pumpkin King’s end as Richter followed it by throwing out his cross, bowling the skeleton down like a bowling pin as the cross immediately returned to his hands. Richter quickly rushed forward and twirled his whip to crack it right on Jack’s head.

The Pumpkin King’s head wobbled loose for a moment as his bony hand quickly latched on, making sure not to lose it. As he quickly recovered, Jack turned towards Richter just as he he pulled out some throwing knives and pegged his head with a few. Thankfully, since he was a skeleton, the knives bounced off his head.

“Now, really, Mr. Belmont, what were you hoping to accomplish with that?” Jack asked as he shook his head.

“This.” Richter smirked as he sent his whip over and wrapped Jack up, catching the Pumpkin King by surprise, before twirling him away and spinning him towards the ropes.

However, Jack used the spinning to his advantage as he bounced off the ropes, twirling himself towards Richter as he knocked the surprise vampire hunter up in the air and off the arena. Richter tried to dash back towards the arena, but he ended up coming short as he fell directly into the portal below.

Jack paused as he rubbed his head dizzily, finishing his twirl before noticing his name and picture up on the screen nearby, indicating he had just eliminated Richter. “Oh, wonderful! Guess it’s the start of a brand new tournament for me!”

“Hey, Jack, my man! You better come join us! You have to try these nacos!” Ron called out from the table.

Jack paused slightly before turning towards the table and noticed the spread as most everyone were still eating from the nacos provided to them (save for Garnet, Ushi, Ariel and Patrick, the latter of which was complaining that he didn’t get a meal, despite the fact he had just eaten his prior, and was trying to reach to the table towards Penny’s, only for the young girl to notice, and slapped his fin, causing Patrick to whimper). As Jack sat down and looked at the nacos before him, he paused in curiosity. “Hmmm… they look good, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass. I could eat, but I want to save my appetite for some snacks at the stands.”

“All right, then, this one is going to the ‘Ashley, Drake, Barry, Rinky and Cacey’ collection.” Monika said as Jack’s dish floated over and joined the other three dishes in the box. “In the meantime, we’re down to five fights left, meaning we have to spin the wheel?”

Ushi looked up and mooed in curiosity. Monika looked over to Ushi and sighed. “Unfortunately, Ushi, that’s the way it has to be…”

“Wait, how did you get that through ‘Moo’?” Ron asked, looking at Monika in bewilderment.

“How do you understand that mole rat? How does Chowder understand what Schnitzel is saying?” Monika asked.

“Very easy, actually!” Chowder called out as the remaining fights (save for one) stopped for a minute to see the wheel appearing.

“Then let’s get this wheel spun, shall we?” Monika said as the wheel started to spin.

Most everyone watched as the wheel spun and spun, until finally, it reached Lily’s panel, stopping there.

Lily yelped as she shut her eyes. “Oh no… what is the worst you can possibly give me.”

“Don’t worry, Lily. You’re just going to be punished by fighting with the weapon the last person who got eliminated had… meaning, you have access to all of Richter Belmont’s weapons.” Monika said as a whip suddenly appeared in her hand. “And you cannot get rid of them.”

Lily blinked twice as she lowered her eyelids. “Great… so what am I supposed to do with this?”

As she complained, Lily unintentionally cracked the whip and slammed it on Beast, who gave a yelp. Lily turned her head in shock. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!”

Beast groaned as he said to himself, “I guess it’s just a workaround I’ll have to live with… shall we continue?”

Lily paused as she gave a nod. “Uh, sure… just let me get used to how these things work first…” With that, the young Thunderfoot tribe member turned her back to try a few cracks at the whip, trying to get the hang of it. She paused, before grinning as she switched from the whip to her pogamoggans. “All right, let’s do this!”

Beast smirked as Lily turned towards him and jumped forward. Beast jumped forward at the same time, ready to attack.

(Field)

Jack O’Lantern was seen being thrown against a tree as the pumpkin-headed individual slowly got himself back up and shook himself. He narrowed his eyes towards another pumpkin-headed individual, this one being from the world he was in, Pumpkin Jack. Pumpkin Jack gave a smirk as he held out his hand, a floating sword appearing alongside him.

“Okay, I’ll admit, you certainly have some fight in you, but I can assure you, I fight differently than how you-” Jack O’Lantern tried to explain, but from the way Pumpkin Jack was swinging the sword straight at him, causing the pumpkin headed individual to dodge the attack, it was completely in vain.

“Stand aside, you evil clone, the Wizard will not succeed in his plans! Especially not with a horrible clone like yourself!” Pumpkin Jack proclaimed.

“I am NOT a clone! I came here from another world because of a tournament I happened to be a part of!” Jack O’Lantern exclaimed.

“Your words will not fool me, clone! So suffer my wrath!” Pumpkin Jack laughed as he jumped up and swung his sword directly at the pumpkin-head man in front of him, causing his opponent to yelp.

Jack O’Lantern growled angrily before pulling out a slingshot as he shot a few pebbles right at Pumpkin Jack’s face. At that time, the crow was flying around as he looked over at the pumpkin headed individual as he noted Jack O’Lantern’s expressions. Getting the information he needed, the crow immediately flew right over to Pumpkin Jack’s shoulder.

“Hey, Jack! This clone here is a very unusual fighter. Seems he likes to use mundane items rather than swords and shovels. Best be on your guard.” The crow said to Pumpkin Jack.

“Yes, I seem to be aware of that, bird.” Pumpkin Jack sighed before jumping up in the air as a blue circle started to surround Jack O’Lantern.

The prankster looked around at the blue circle, seemingly a bit confused until he noticed Pumpkin Jack flying up in the air with four more energy swords. “Oh boy… AHHHHH!”

Jack O’Lantern rolled out of the way to avoid the swords coming right at him as Pumpkin Jack landed on the ground. It also gave Jack O’Lantern ample time to get a good distance away from the crazed ‘hero’ as he was recovering.

“Ugh, what do I do here? This crazy pumpkin headed guy will do anything to make sure I stay dead! I mean, I’d prefer if my body comes back intact after ten minutes!” Jack O’Lantern said as he slapped his forehead. “Ugh, I need a little…”

All of a sudden, he saw a bullet whiz past him. Jack yelped as he turned his head to see Pumpkin Jack was now running behind him, holding a gun. Jack O’Lantern grumbled in anger as he held his head. “Sure, why not? Let’s add GUNFIRE to his repertoire!”

Of course, this made Jack O’Lantern pick up the speed as he quickly hid behind a tree as he panted and looked back. “Okay, Jack, get it together! You have a bunch of pranks in your bag, and you have a crazy pumpkin headed guy who thinks I’m a clone of him after me! Think, think, think…”

Jack O’Lantern paused before he quickly took in his surroundings and noticed a lake before him. He then noted some electric eels swimming around in the pond. His eyes lit up as he gave a smirk.

Not too far away, Pumpkin Jack was looking around, his shotgun at his shoulder as he looked around. “No use hiding, clone! I know you’re around here somewhere!”

“You know, Jack, maybe this guy ISN’T a clone for once.” The crow pointed out. “I mean, the only thing he had was a bag. You’d think he’d have your choice of weapons…”

“Heh, that only proves that the Wizard couldn’t even make an effective clone if he tried.” Pumpkin Jack said with a frown. “No, if I’m going to find the Wizard, that clone is going to give me my information! If only I can…” Pumpkin Jack growled angrily as he fired his shotgun at some wooden posts, decimating them into cinders. “FIND that guy!”

“Oh, yoo-hoo! Jackie, boy!” Jack O’Lantern’s voice sounded out.

The pumpkin-headed ‘hero’ of his world quickly turned and noted the pumpkin-headed prankster waving towards him. Pumpkin Jack could only smirk as he started to walk towards him, pulling out his bony scythe, ready to slice the head off of Jack O’Lantern. “All right, clone, you have a lot to answer for…”

However, in his determined rage against Jack O’Lantern, he failed to notice a banana peel in his path as Pumpkin Jack stepped on it. He immediately slipped comically… and landed on a whoopee cushion, causing the cushion to deflate as it made a flatuant noise, causing Pumpkin Jack to widen his eyes, blushing in embarrassment.

This caused Jack O’Lantern to laugh as he held his belly. “Oh man, that is SOOOOO good! I can’t believe you’ve been had by that classic trick!”

Pumpkin Jack growled angrily as he got up. “Oh yeah! Well, you’re about t-”

Before Pumpkin Jack could finish his sentence, he put his hand towards a gate, which shook as a pail of water splashed and landed on his head. Pumpkin Jack pulled the bucket off his head and threw it in annoyance, only for it to land on his foot. Pumpkin Jack grunted as he tried to get the bucket off, only to slip on the banana peel once more and tumble towards a tree, where a beehive fell on his head.

Pumpkin Jack screamed as Jack O’Lantern continued laughing at the antics, with Pumpkin Jack getting up to try to get to a carton of milk as he shook the beehive off of him, the pumpkin head somehow being covered in stings as he drank from the milk carton… only to start breathing fire, as instead of milk, he had drank Peruvian hot sauce. As quickly as possible, he ran towards the lake to get the burning taste out of his mouth… only for the eels to swarm him and electrify him.

“DAHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The crow and the owl could only watch with their mouths agape as Jack O’Lantern could only laugh before wiping a tear from his eye. “Oh man, if it can work on that boy from long ago, it can work on a pumpkin demon! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! I guess he didn’t have a ‘profound’ sense of humor!”

As Jack O’Lantern continued to laugh, a light surrounded the pumpkin prankster, indicating his ten minutes in the node were up. The owl and the crow could only watch as Jack O’Lantern had disappeared completely.

“Hmmm… I guess he really WAS from another world.” The owl noted. “I don’t think this was the Wizard’s magic after all…”

“Do we tell Jack that?” The crow asked as he looked over towards Pumpkin Jack, who had crawled out of the lake, trying to recover from the bruises.

“...no. I’d rather not see the wrath of an angry Jack right now.” The owl sighed as Pumpkin Jack looked around.

“Ergh… where is he? Where is that stupid pumpkin headed clone! He’s going to rue the day he messes with Pumpkin Jack! DO YOU HEAR ME! YOU WILL RUE THE D-”

All of a sudden, a portal opened up and Richter Belmont came down from below, body-slamming directly on Pumpkin Jack, knocking the pumpkin-headed hero unconscious.

Richter groaned as he held his head. “Ugh, sometimes, I forget that this guy is the Pumpkin King…”

As soon as he managed to get his barings, he looked around to see he was in a forest. And the owl and crow watching from nearby were just staring at the newcomer agape. Richter then noted a slight groan as he turned to see Pumpkin Jack getting up. After a moment, Richter smirked as he held up his whip.

“Well, I have some time to kill for ten minutes… let’s see what I can do to this demon!” Richter said to himself before charging forward towards Pumpkin Jack, who saw the demon hunter coming as he quickly whipped out his gun to defend himself.

As the owl and crow watched Richter and Pumpkin Jack duking it out, the crow could only give a sigh.

“This is going to be a weird night, isn’t it?”

(Secret Room)

The Waterwraith gave out a loud roar as it slammed its rollers down once more as it was now on the hunt for its two primary targets. But as it kept rolling around the room, the water made monstrosity couldn’t sense the two girls that had entered the room. This was mainly because at that point, Maki and Della were both hanging onto some ropes from up above as they looked down.

“All right, the monster is still looking for us, so we should be good up here.” Della whispered as she turned to her friend.

“True, but even we can’t last up there forever.” Maki sighed.

“...yeah. Probably should have thought about bringing heavy stuff with us to slow down the Waterwraith before anything else…” Della frowned as she clung on tightly. “All right, you got any ideas, Maki?”

Maki paused as she looked around the room. “Well, you say that thing can only slow down and shudder in fear is if a Purple Pikmin is dropped on the ground, making it shudder nervously, right?”

“Right. It turns purple in fright, and that’s when we go all out. Well, that or maybe Ice Pikmin or an Ice Bomb to get rid of the rollers, but that’s only if it's in midair.” Della explained as she watched the Waterwraith roll its way around the room. “Otherwise, that’s pretty much all we can do to stop the Waterwraith’s wrath.”

Maki paused before looking around the room and noticed some shelves. “So, this thing CAN be frozen… then what we need is something that can freeze the room…”

“Right! But we don’t have any freezing equipment anywhere… oh, it would be sooooo great if we had a cryomancer inside… do you think we can quickly call up Himiko and ask her to come over to the room?” Della asked as she noted Maki staring at one thing as she gave a smirk. “O-oh! You have a plan?”

“I certainly do… if logic doesn’t apply to the area, then we’ll need to turn down the temperature of the room.” Maki said as she pointed over to the thermostat on the other end of the room. “I think I can turn down the thermostat, and let cartoon physics do its work, but I need something to distract the Waterwraith while I’m on my way there…”

“Say no more, Maki Roll!” Della smirked as she swung forward. “I’ll distract it while you go up to that thermostat!”

“You sure you’re up for it?” Maki asked as she raised an eyebrow towards her friend.

“Hey, you’re talking to the duck who managed to survive on the moon for over a decade and is the niece of Scrooge McDuck! This thing will be nothing!” Della laughed a bit before letting go of the rope as she gave a whistle. “Hey! Ugly water demon! You can’t catch a Pikmin if you tried!”

This caught the attention of the Waterwraith as it turned its head slightly as it saw Della making taunting faces. Della smirked as she motioned with her hand to come closer. The Waterwraith immediately turned around as it set sight on its target.

“Aaaaaand… I’m outta here!” Della said before turning around fast and zipping away, the Waterwraith rolling by as it set its sights on the female duck. Maki could only watch and as soon as she saw the Waterwraith had its attention on Della, she immediately dropped down and started to head straight for the thermostat.

Della panted as she turned the corner before looking back to see the Waterwraith following her closely. She gave a smirk, but as she turned her head, the confident smirk slowly morphed itself into a look for worry as she wondered how long it would take before Maki could get to the thermostat. She’ll need to slow the Waterwraith down at the very least… but with what, and how…

She looked up and gasped to see a few heavy paint cans on the shelf. At least, unopened cans. Giving another confident smirk on her face, she quickly took off her robotic leg and hopped over near the shelf’s legs before whacking them with her robotic leg. It took a few hits, but the paint cans were jilted enough to fall as they quickly landed right near where the Waterwraith was about to get close.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

The Waterwraith immediately shuddered before turning itself purple upon hearing the thud of the paint cans huddling itself in fear. Della laughed as she looked up at the ceiling and noticed a sprinkler system attached. Using her robotic leg as a boomerang, she threw it up in the air and watched as it hit the sprinkler system, activating the water as it started to spray down on the Waterwraith.

The Waterwraith was slowly coming to as the purple in its body was slowly starting to dissolve. As Della grabbed her leg and put it back on, she called out, “Maki, I don’t know if you’re at the thermostat, but you better turn it down low now!”

Maki, at the thermostat, heard her friend before turning towards the thermostat and gave a sigh. “I hope this works…”

She shut her eyes and turned down the knob with her hands as she looked over, hoping that something would happen. “Okay… take your course, cartoon physics…”

Back with Della, she could only watch as the purple quickly dissolved on the Waterwraith as it started to lift up its rollers, preparing itself for an attack. But before Della could move out of the way, she quickly noticed that the water sprinkling on the large water enigma monster was slowly turning itself to ice… and as for the Waterwraith itself, it had also turned to ice in a flash. As if in an instant, the frozen Waterwraith had fallen over as the rollers… completely shattered into a million pieces.

“Ha HA!” Della laughed as she called out, “It worked, Maki! The creature got frozen in midair and its rollers broke!”

Maki, overhearing this, nodded before turning the thermostat back to its normal temperature. She watched as the ice melted on the sprinkler, and gave a nod before rushing forward as she called out, “Della, what’s the Waterwraith doing now?!”

Della watched as the Waterwraith recovered and noticed its rollers missing from both arms and legs. The Waterwraith immediately got up and started to run off like a coward as Della chuckled, “Right now, running like a coward! You want me to give chase?”

“No, stay where you are and open a cage nearby! I’ll try to chase him back to you!” Maki called out as she quickly took a left as she tried to spot the Waterwraith… sure enough, coming from a nearby corner, whimpering and weeping in fear was the chunky water enigma monster as it was trying to run away. Maki smirked before pulling out a grenade and pulling the pin out. She quickly threw the grenade near the ground.

KABOOM!

The Waterwraith freaked out before running in the other direction. The Ultimate Assassin could only give a smirk before pulling out a sniper rifle and shooting bullets near its feet, so as to make the chunky water monster scatter its little wet feet.

“You better watch your back, Wade Ripple…” Maki whispered to herself before continuing to shoot towards the Waterwraith.

The freaked out monster looked around fearfully, trying to find a place to hide itself, before spotting an opening nearby. Quickly, it turned its chubby body and ran right into the opening…

CLANG!

…of the cage that Della happened to be sitting on as she slid down and locked the door on it. “And that is one monster out and done for the books!”

Della turned her head to see Maki turning the corner as she put down her rifle and took a few moments to take a breath. “Good thinking with that thermostat, Maki!”

Maki gave a small chuckle. “I couldn’t have done it without you and your useful robotic leg.”

“Heh, yeah, she’s a beaut.” Della smiled as she knocked on her robotic leg, before putting it down as she turned to see the Waterwraith huddled in fear in the cage. “Awww… I do kind of feel bad for the poor thing. Without its rollers, it’s just another scared water monster…”

“True, but it did still try to murder us…” Maki frowned. “Note to self, kill the bunny for making us clean up HIS mistakes…”

“Like he HADN’T made enough of them already?” Della rolled her eyes before shaking her head… at that moment, Della heard her walkie talkie going off.

“Della, come in!”

“Hm?” Della paused as she picked up the walkie-talkie and put it to her ear. “Hey… uh… Irresponsible…”

“...Lagomorph.” Himiko’s voice sounded.

“What’s the word, Himiko?” Della smiled. “We just finished up with our mission on caging the Waterwraith. It wasn’t easy, but we did it.”

“Well… Mallow, Scooby, Scrappy and I went to the Recovery Room and… well, we found something you’re not going to believe. We need you to get down here right away.” Himiko said in concern.

Maki and Della paused as both of them looked at each other in curiosity as Maki asked, “What happened?”

“Well… we went in to check on Oatchi like instructed and… well… it’s complicated. Could you two get down here right away?” Himiko said. “And you better hurry. Scooby just screamed and hid under the bed, and I think he accidentally injured one of the contestants upon seeing what he saw…”

“We’ll be right there…” Maki nodded as Della turned off the walkie-talkie. “What do you think happened?”

“Knowing Scooby? Probably some sort of ghost.” Della rolled her eyes.

“There’s a lot of ghosts roaming around the dome and tournament, that shouldn’t be a thing.” Maki lowered her eyelids.

“Nevertheless, we have to see what’s going on…” Della said as she turned towards the exit. “We’ll take care of the Waterwraith later. Let’s just get going!”

Maki nodded as she and Della followed, walking by a few more cages… little realizing that they had just passed a cage that contained something… a little horrific as something started to breathe and look up… making creepy noises along the way.

(The Arena)

Pudding leaped backwards as she tried to get a good distance away from Nakoruru, but much to the young Mew’s surprise, the nature lover leapt forward and used her dagger to slash at Pudding. That action caused the young Mew to yelp as she fell down.

Pudding got up as she looked up at Nakoruru. “Awwww, I can’t believe you would gang up on me!”

“Are you really surprised by this?” Nakoruru asked as she got up.

“Not really.” Pudding shook her head before rushing forward and using her feet to kick Nakoruru in the legs… causing Nakoruru to yelp in pain. “But it still would be nice to get a heads-up.”

Nakoruru rubbed the spot where Pudding kicked her before giving a sigh. “All right… I’m going to attack you with my hawk. Is that a better heads-up?”

Pudding grinned happily. “That helps tremendously, na no da!”

Nakoruru lowered her eyes before whistling for Mamahaha and motioned for the attack hawk to get Pudding. The bird gave a screech before swooping down and grazing Pudding’s head by a scratch. The young monkey Mew gave a yelp as she balanced herself back up, before ducking another swoop from the attack hawk.

Pudding yelped before rolling out of the way of the attack hawk, before getting up and leaping towards Nakoruru, doing a somersault as she clashed her feet with the nature girl’s stomach. Nakoruru groaned as she tried to get up, only for Pudding to rush forward and used both fists and kicks to beat down on the adult.

“...I am… OOF… a grown girl… AH! How is a litt- OOF! Little girl be- AH! -beating me up?” Nakoruru groaned as she shook her head. “Then again, should I really be surprised?”

Nakoruru then quickly pulled out her cloak and slapped Pudding with it, stopping her ongoing combo attacks as she was sent stumbling backwards. Pudding quickly recovered, only for Nakoruru to rush at her quickly with a sliding swipe of her dagger, causing the young girl to feel affected by the attack.

Pudding panted as she got up, before turning towards Nakoruru, who gave a small smile towards her. “I’m impressed that you managed to get up…”

Pudding panted a bit as she looked up at the nature lover, before giving a small smile. “I’m not giving up… not after I got an early number… I’m hoping to beat my best score from last year… and Ryou also said to make sure that we do better than Kisshu’s number from last year…”

Nakoruru raised an eyebrow as she motioned for her attack hawk. “Sounds like Ryou is upset about the fact an ALIEN actually beat your friends in the Tokyo Mew Mew MVP slot last year.”

“Oh, he was bitter, na no da.” Pudding explained. “Still, the fact that we managed to do well last year, it gives us a little more strength to work harder. And you know what? I’m excited to…”

At that moment, Pudding used her PuRing Rings to block the incoming attack from Mamahaha as the hawk squawked in surprise, with the young girl throwing the hawk to the side. “...live up to everyone’s expectations!”

Nakoruru smiled a bit. “Well, then, by all means… try and defeat me. I’d be proud of you if you tried.”

Pudding gave a small grin, before jumping forward and using a martial arts kick to kick Nakoruru in the face, surprising the young nature lover. Nakoruru gave a nod before getting up as she whistled to Mamahaha once more. The attack hawk, having recovered from the blow, flew to Nakoruru’s side as she jumped up and grabbed her hawk’s legs as Mamahaha carried her towards Pudding, who had her rings ready for action.

“Take this!” Nakoruru shouted as she swung her dagger towards the young Mew, only for her to backflip from the attack as she started to dance and held her PuRing Rings in her hands.

“RIBBON… PUDDING RING… INFERNO!” Pudding shouted as she leapt up and threw her glowing rings towards Mamahaha and Nakoruru.

Nakoruru tried to aim the cloak to deflect the shot, but it was too little, too late as the rings surrounded both nature lover and attack hawk, trapping them in gelatin.

Pudding gave a nod before leaping up, letting out a yell before her kick dissipated the gelatin, sending Nakoruru and Mamahaha flying out of the ring and into the portal below.

Nakoruru and Mamahaha landed in Disney’s Mulan, where while Nakoruru was battling against Shan Yu, Mamahaha was having a one-on-one battle with Shan Yu’s hawk, Hayabusa.

Pudding paused slightly as she took a deep breath, before feeling her stomach rumble.

“Wow… guess I was hungry…” Pudding paused before looking towards the table to see five chairs still with nacos prepared. “OOOOO…”

Pudding happily hummed as she skipped over towards the table and sat down on one of the chairs as she sat down next to Monika as she looked at her plate of nacos. Pudding paused before looking over the remaining battles.

Monika noticed as she asked, “Something wrong, sweetheart? Don’t you want to eat?”

“I do, I do, I just… want to wait and see what happens…” Pudding said as she looked over to the fight between Chowder and Marx, as the former was belching right at the crazed winged jester’s face. “Don’t take away my plate just yet.”

“Well… okay.” Monika nodded as she looked back towards the other fights. “There shouldn’t be too many fights left, though.”

The others, who had just finished with their nacos (or didn’t have any to begin with) nodded as they turned their heads to see what was going on. Indeed, it would only be a matter of time…

Lily was having the best time of her life, despite being punished with holding all of Richter’s weapons (or rather, replicas of the weapons, as per Monika’s strict rules, to make sure Xero didn’t screw around with others again) as not only was she able to get a good distance with the whip, sending Beast backwards, but made good use of her war clubs as she jumped forward and did a Condor Dive towards Beast’s body.

The brown furred creature gave a grunt as he got up and shook himself. “For someone that got punished, you certainly gotten used to the new weapons quite well.”

Lily giggled. “It may not be the way of Toyno’lkonoi, but if I have to be stuck with these for the round, I am more than okay with it. After all, adapting to new fighting styles IS the name of the game.”

Beast grunted as he readied his claws. “Well, that much is obvious.”

Lily quickly rushed forward and leaped up as she shouted, “TOMAHAWK BUSTER!”

Lily then used her war clubs to club Beast upwards into the air as she then followed her attack with juggling Beast into the air before grabbing Beast on the head with both her pogamoggans as he landed on his feet. She quickly spun around before lifting Beast up in the air and doing a somersault before slamming the brown furred creature directly into the ground.

Beast got up before giving a low growl as he faced Lily, his anger about to unleash… before taking a deep breath and calming down, before rushing forward and swiping the Thunderfoot native with his claws. This caught Lily off-guard as she switched from the war clubs to the whip as she tried to tame him.

“Down there! Take it easy!” Lily called out as she cracked the whip at least a couple of times to keep Beast at bay.

However, the Beast was not one to be taken lightly as he stood up and let out a loud bellow, causing Lily to fall on her back, knocked down by the loud roar.

The Beast, having noticed, smirked as he decided to rush forward to grab her, in an attempt to get her out. However, in an unexpected twist of fate, Lily quickly got up and leapt forward, switching from the whip to the war clubs as she dived right towards Beast, knocking him in the gut.

The Beast roared out in pain as he fell down on the floor as Lily landed on the ground. Lily took a deep breath as she looked up.

“Oh, great Spirit, please lend me your power so that I can take down this beast…” Lily whispered as she raised her clubs, some wind appearing out of nowhere as it started to blow around the young woman.

The Beast, who had gotten up from that hit, looked around as he noticed the wind was blowing inside. “How is that even possible?”

Lily just laughed as she held her war clubs. “For a prince turned into a beast, you don’t know much about nature, do you?!”

“I know a lot more than you realize.” Beast frowned as he raised his claws.

Lily smirked as she rushed forward, leaping forward as she drilled her body right into Beast, sending him towards a corner post, not giving him any room to breathe. She immediately followed her attack by swinging her clubs, then slamming them down on his head. Beast groaned as he tried to get his bearings.

Seeing an opportunity, Lily pulled out the whip, looking ready to push Beast down. However, she didn’t expect Beast to just grab the whip’s end, stopping her from finishing the attack.

“Uh-oh…” Lily said in worry as Beast started to swing the whip around with Lily attached to it… before finally releasing the whip, sending it and Lily flying right out of the ring and into the portal below.

Lily landed in Tak and the Power of Juju, landing directly on both Pins and Needles and knocked them unconscious, making Tak’s quest of collecting the moonstones a lot easier than anticipated.

As Beast decided it wise to get to his seat before the chains came in (plus, deciding to try out this ‘naco’ delicacy that everyone at the table was raving about), three fights still remained as each of them were unique in their own way. But the main big fight that was front and center was between a hungry cat-bear-rabbit boy, and a similarly starving jester, who was giving it his all against the boy as Chowder was dodging his attacks.

“Hee hee, I haven’t had this much fun since I pranked Dedede out of his food!” Marx laughed as he teleported away from Chowder’s belch.

Chowder frowned at the whiff he committed, before getting himself hit four times in a row by four crescent blades that Marx sent out with his wings. Chowder immediately turned around and pointed at him before leaping up in the air and spun around with his brown cloud pet Kimchi to hit Marx in the face.

Marx laughed a bit before flying up in the air and dropping what seemed to be seeds on the ground. Once they implanted themselves, vines started to grow from out of the ground. Chowder, knowing better, started to jump up multiple times in the air as Marx lowered himself down… right where the kid wanted him.

Chowder then did a light combo and a headbutt on Marx, causing the jester to yelp in pain before disappearing. Chowder then landed right on the ground as he and Kimchi looked around.

“All right, where are you?” Chowder whispered as he tried to look around, before giving a pause. He then felt something tingling on his feet. “Huh? Weird. My feet feel like they’re being tickled by lightning bolts.

Kimchi looked down and blew a raspberry in worry. Chowder blinked as he looked up. “What do you mean, I have a portal of lightning bolts beneath my feet?”

As true to what the brown cloud raspberried, a circle of lighting bolts DID indeed surround Chowder as Marx appeared from out of it, causing the boy to fall directly to the floor. Chowder groaned as he rubbed his head.

The boy yelped as the jester laughed some more. “You have no chance, kiddo! I’m about to feast myself on those delicious nacos… and I’m going to enjoy every… single… bite…”

Chowder narrowed his eyes as he got up. “No. Not if I have anything to say about it!”

With that, Chowder opened his mouth and reached into it as he pulled out a cooking pot (attached to logs and a fire) and set it down before opening it up and tossing the cooking pot right into Marx, shutting him off.

“Wh- HEY!” Marx protested before Chowder sealed him in the cooking pot.

“There, that should do it.” Chowder grinned before kicking the pot away. “And now, to enjoy some nacos…”

Chowder turned his back around the same time the pot came to a halt, just short of the arena’s edge. The top of the pot then exploded as Marx came flying back out. Chowder, hearing the explosion, turned around and gave out a loud scream as the winged jester glared at him.

”You think you’re SOOOOO clever, are you, little boy?” Marx shouted before puffing himself up.

Chowder screamed as he grabbed Kimchi. “Kimchi, come on! We have to find some place to avoid that laser attack that creepy jester guy’s about to do!”

Kimchi gave a raspberry as Chowder paused in confusion. “What’s a word salad? Is that even edible? Can I have edible word salad?!”

Kimchi narrowed his eyes towards Chowder as the boy yelped. “Right, right! Running away! Hey, let’s go avoid this guy’s attack by jumping over those ropes!”

Kimchi’s eyes widened as he noted where Chowder was pointing towards the arena’s ropes. Kimchi gave a raspberry in warning, but Chowder gave a smile. “Yep! We’ll be safer if we’re out of the ropes!”

With that, Chowder jumped with Kimchi as he gave a grin… only to find out as he looked down that he was floating over the portal in midair.

“...oh yeah. Going OVER the ropes causes you to get eliminated…” Chowder said, before lowering his eyelids. “I can’t believe this is the author’s best way to eliminate me…”

With that, Chowder screamed as he fell directly into the portal below, just as Marx unleashed his laser attack. Kimchi didn’t fall, exactly, but he floated behind a falling Chowder as both of them entered the portal.

“Oh no!” Pudding said in shock as she watched Chowder falling out. “I lost my best partner in this ring!”

Beast, who had just finished his naco with a smile, looked over to the little girl in sympathy. “I’m sorry you lost your friend. But it is the nature of these tournaments, after all. It was bound to happen to any of us…”

Pudding stayed silent as she gave a sigh. “I guess you’re right, but I really wish we were still fighting alongside each other…” She then gave a shrug. “Oh well. Guess I’ll have to do the fighting for the both of us…”

Marx, who had just finished the attack, blinked twice as he looked around in confusion. “Wait, what? Did that kid just stupidly jump out of the arena to avoid my attack?!”

The jester paused, before giving a laugh. “Oh my gosh, that is HILARIOUS! I can’t believe he actually did that!”

After a moment of laughter, Marx’s eyes lit up. “That means…”

The jester laughed as he rushed forward and sat next to Beast as he somehow grabbed the naco and started to eat it. “MMMMM! Very good…”

Pudding looked over at Marx, a bit mad, before giving a sigh as she looked down at her plate. She looked over to Monika as she coughed. “Uh… Monika? Can I ask you for one favor?”

“Uh… yeah?” Monika asked as she turned to Pudding.

Chowder and Kimchi had landed in Cooking Mama, where he was surrounded by a lot of food that he was tempted to try, but just couldn’t find the heart to eat as he looked down.

“I was this close to trying those nacos, Kimchi… I can’t believe I did that stupid move…” Chowder sighed sadly.

All of a sudden, a plate of nacos appeared in front of Chowder, yelping in surprise.

“What the-?” Chowder asked as he noticed a note before reading it. “Dear Chowder, I’m sacrificing my plate of nacos. Help yourself, I’ll try to avenge you. Signed, Pudding.”

Chowder paused, before giving a grin. “It’s nice of her to think of me…” With that, he busily gobbled down on the nacos, before looking over at the food, a second wind coming in as he started to burst in excitement. “FOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!”

Needless to say, Kimchi could only watch as Chowder was enjoying himself for the next ten minutes.

Despite the fact that Bugs was now blind from the camera flash, the rabbit did manage to find a workaround as he tried to listen for the whistle of the Panda King’s fireworks. As soon as he heard the sound, he pulled out his mallet and swung, hitting the firework and parrying it back towards the large honorable panda.

The Panda King frowned as he jumped up in the air to avoid the incoming firework, before turning towards his target. “You are quite commendable for turning a disadvantage into an advantage, little rabbit.”

“That’s nothin’. I once tripped a cocky knight off his horse while blindfolded in one of my cartoons. If anything, this is a walk in the park.” Bugs chuckled a bit as he readied his mallet.

The Panda King frowned, before giving a smirk as he rushed forward. “Well, let us see how well that new blindness treats you… PALMS OF THUNDER!”

The Panda King slammed his hands down, doing a thunderous shake of the ground as the rabbit felt himself shaking, before falling down on the ground. This gave the Panda King an opportunity as he raised his hand. “BOOMING CHOP!”

The large panda then slammed his hand straight down on the bunny, before engulfing his hand in flame, and sent a fiery punch right at his opponent, sending him flying… straight into the Safe Zone.

The Panda King blinked twice as he gave a pause. “Well, that is somewhat… embarrassing…”

“Hey, mac!”

The Panda King looked up, only to raise his eyebrow in confusion as he saw Bugs coming out of the Safe Zone, only wearing blue ear caps covering his ears, blue mittens and a red and white striped scarf.

“I am curious to see how you managed to get a suit on, especially when you’re blind.” The Panda King pointed out.

“Ehhhh… when I reached for the nearest suit, I recognized my winter gear, so I just put them on pretty fast. Took me a second to find which were mittens and which were my ear warmers, though.” Bugs shrugged before jumping forward and leaping back into the ring, giving a smile.

“Even though I come in a cold place in China, I fail to see how wearing winter clothes will help you…” The Panda King pointed out.

“Like so!” Bugs smirked as he dove straight down into a nearby hole as he dug forward. The Panda King shook his head as he readied an attack.

“Do you honestly believe that diving in a hole will save you…” The Panda King smirked. “You’re as blind as a gopher if you think you can dig holes this…”

All of a sudden, three sticks of dynamite popped out around the Panda King, but the large panda didn’t notice at first. It was when he heard the sizzling sound that he looked down. Before he could react…

KABOOM!

KABOOM!

KABOOM!

The dynamite exploded at the Panda King’s feet, throwing him off his game as Bugs popped back out, this time, holding a snow blower as he activated it and sent a blast of snow right towards the large panda, engulfing him in snow.

“Since your thing is explosives and fire… I figured, why not fight fire and explosives… with SNOW and explosives?” Bugs grinned before using the snow blower to blow out snow around the area, before making a few snowballs.

The Panda King quickly recovered from the blast of snow as he started to stuff his pack with fireworks, before sending them out to destroy Bugs. The gray rabbit, hearing where the fireworks were coming from, quickly raised a snowball and threw one at a firework… following with a barrage of snowballs heading towards the other fireworks. While he did get lucky with one or two, the other four fireworks just averted the snowballs and exploded around Bugs, causing the rabbit to yelp as he went down on the ground.

“I admire your dedication to the craft, but it is not meant to be…” The Panda King chuckled to himself as he started to head towards the downed rabbit, about to reach for him.

Bugs coughed as he started to shake the Panda King’s hand. “That’s fair… you got me fair and square, doc. I only have but one… request…”

The Panda King raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Hold this for me?” Bugs said as he handed the Panda King a very familiar rocket.

The Panda King took it in curiosity before his eyes widened, recognizing the rocket as one of his own firework rockets… and it seemed to have NOT exploded yet…

In fact, the fire from the firework sent the Panda King flying high up in the air as Bugs Bunny got up and shifted his fur a bit. Even though he couldn’t see what was going on, he could clearly tell that the Panda King was about to be done and out.

Sure enough, the Panda King let go of the rocket while he was out of the arena, and had already fallen down to the portal below.

The Panda King landed in Tekken, where he decided to go one-on-one with Kuma II.

It took a bit, but Bugs managed to find his seat as he managed to sit down as Monika looked over towards the rabbit in sympathy. “Okay, Bugs… I know it’s early, but you got your elimination, and I think you can have your sight back.”

A box appeared over Bugs as the words ‘bugsbunny.sight: Increased 100 percent’. The rabbit’s eyes immediately went back to normal as they blinked twice, before looking down at the nacos before him.

“Hmmm… I may be a rabbit that enjoys carrots, but even I’m more than willing to eat other food once in a while.” Bugs grinned as he picked up the naco and ate it. “Hmmmm… not bad.”

Ron gave a small smile as he turned to Rufus. “Seems to me the naco is getting popular in this tournament!”

Rufus gave a slight chuckle of agreement as Bugs looked around. “Ehh, is this everyone?”

“No, not quite.” Penny shook her head. “We’re just waiting on one fight.”

“What fight is that?” Bugs asked.

“AHHHHHH!”

“PI-CHUUUUU!”

The sound of a saber-toothed squirrel screaming and a small baby electric mouse sending out electricity was heard as Bugs lowered his ears. “Really? I’d figured they’d be one of the first fights…”

“I’m more surprised Scrat and Pichu’s fight didn’t affect ANY of us, to be honest…” The Devil pointed out.

Nearby, Pichu took a moment to catch its breath, having just sent out another Thundershock towards the sabertooth squirrel, who seemed more than determined to protect his acorn at all costs. Scrat scratched his ear, before narrowing his eyes at the small mouse, before giving out a yell as he rushed forward and jumped up in the air.

He then slammed his feet into the ground, sending a small shockwave towards Pichu as the small electric mouse went down and out. Pichu gave a small groan as his eyes suddenly turned into spirals, indicating the poor electric mouse had a dizzying experience.

Scrat smirked before charging forward and hitting him with a combo jab, sending the electric mouse flying upwards. Unfortunately for Scrat, getting him up in the air was EXACTLY what the small rodent wanted as Pichu opened his eyes, giving a small chuckle. Quickly, the small Pokemon turned and tucked his head in before flying towards the saber-toothed squirrel at full speed.

Scrat, realizing what the small Pokemon was about to do, gave a scream as he grabbed his acorn and avoided the attack as Pichu slammed himself on the ground, causing a bit of recoil damage.

Pichu groaned as he got up and shook his head. ”Gotta be more careful here… that weird looking rat is more clever than I perceived him to be…”

Scrat chuckled devilishly before holding his acorn and hugging it, making sure to protect it with all his might. Looking over and seeing the snow leftover from Bugs and the Panda King’s fight gave him an idea. Quickly, he dove into the snow and made a small snowball before throwing it straight at Pichu to pelt the small rodent.

Pichu felt the ‘plink’ of the snowball hitting him as the small pre-evolution turned towards Scrat. Taking a deep breath, Pichu started to rush forward, using Agility to run forward, as Scrat looked up…

However, much to Scrat’s surprise, he tried to keep an eye forward on the small rodent, but it only succeeded in getting Scrat turning around in circles and getting dizzy…

Xero, looking over at the fight, gave a grin as he held up the walkie-talkie. “Oh, Horace, play that ‘circle’ tune, would you?”

Horace Horsecollar grinned before putting in a CD and turning it on as a familiar tune began playing. A lot of people who recognized this song immediately started singing along.

(I don’t need to)

(Walk around in circles)

(Walk around in circles)

(Walk around in circles)

(Walk around in)

(Don’t need to)

(Walk around in circles)

(Walk around in circles)

(Walk around in circles)

(Walk around in)

As “Circles” by Soul Coughing continued playing, Scrat groaned as he fell to the ground, still looking dizzy watching the mouse run around him fast. Pichu then put the brakes on running before noting the dizzy sabertoothed squirrel on the ground. The small mouse grinned happily before bounding over and…

Cutely nuzzling the sabertooth squirrel, much to everybody’s confusion. A small electric spark then popped from Pichu’s cheeks, electrocuting the squirrel as he screamed.

Scrat immediately got up and narrowed his eyes towards Pichu as he tried to move forward… only to find himself getting a little shaky as he fell down…

Maurice chuckled as he pulled down the microphone. “That move Pichu just used is Nuzzle, an Electric type move that is a weak move, but it leaves the opponent paralyzed. In other words…”

“Scrat is paralyzed! He may be unable to move!” Xero announced, before giving a laugh. “I always wanted to say that.”

Scrat still felt jittery, but was still determined to battle as he tried to pick up some more snow… only for the jitters to get him as Scrat yelped and fell down. Pichu, seeing this as a perfect opportunity, quickly rushed forward and slammed his head against Scrat, sending the sabertooth squirrel right to a corner post.

The jittery squirrel was trying to get his bearings as he looked forward… only to yelp as he saw Pichu holding his acorn. The small mouse paused before looking at Scrat, pointing towards the acorn, as if to ask, “You want this?!”

Scrat gave a jittery smile as he tried to nod as best as he could, considering his paralysis. Pichu then raised the acorn up in the air and threw it away from the arena.

Now, most animals and humans, when affected by paralysis, would not be able to get cured unless it was through a Paralyze Heal. However, when it comes to a certain sabertooth squirrel and his acorn… all paralysis immediately disappeared as Scrat let out a huge yell, and leaped up, grabbing the acorn and hugging it tightly… before pausing as he realized he was now in the air.

Out of the arena.

Over the portal.

Scrat then screamed as he fell directly into the portal below.

Pudding, watching this, just looked at this display with an incredulous look. “Okay, now the author’s just getting lazy and repeating how people are getting eliminated! This is just how Chowder went out!”

“Eh, I think the difference is, Chowder tricked himself, whereas the little mouse tricked the sabertooth squirrel.” Bugs pointed out.

“Hmmm… yeah, maybe, but not counting your fight, we had someone LEAPING over to the elimination portal at least TWICE in this section.” Pudding frowned.

“Ehhh, I think people just skip to the results and new fighters anyway, so chances are, they probably won’t notice the repeat.” Bugs pointed out.

Pudding paused, before sighing. “Still, you think you know a guy…”

Most everyone was staring at Pudding in confusion as they looked at each other…

“Ugh, of all the people to be a fourth wall breaker that WASN’T one in their continuity, of COURSE it’s the little Mew girl…” The Devil groaned as he held his head.

Scrat found himself back in his own home world, looking around in confusion as he realized where he was. He looked over and noticed the fallen tree where he was trying to store his acorn in. Giving a small sigh of relief, Scrat put down the acorn and took a moment to breathe…

WHOOSH!

Scrat’s eyes widened and his ears went down as he slowly turned to see a raging flood coming in, carrying his acorn away. Scrat let out a loud scream as he pursued the acorn for the next ten minutes. By the time he grabbed it, he and the acorn would be teleported back into the arena (as per the tournament rules, of course…)

Pichu paused before taking a deep breath and giving a sigh of relief before turning towards the table, his eyes widening as he realized he was the fifteenth fighter to get an elimination for the round. Slowly, but surely, he examined the table to see what was going on.

Patrick was pouting as he looked down at his empty plate, regretting that he just finished up his meal, just like that. Mewtwo, Penny and Garnet were talking to each other as the Devil kept a sharp eye around the area, expecting something to happen. Jack Skellington was currently impressing Ushi with a trick using his bombs as Beast had just finished his naco happily. And even though Ariel didn’t eat her naco, she still picked up a fork from nearby and used it to comb her hair. Blanka was trying to play up the crowd as Pudding and Bugs were now speaking to each other, with an annoyed Marx in the center of it all. And finally, Ron was petting Rufus as the little naked mole rat chuckled in delight.

Monika, in the center of the table, looked over towards Pichu as she asked, “Hey, Pichu, do you want to eat a naco? I’m willing to let all of you finish your meals before we continue…”

Pichu just shook his head, honestly not really hungry at the moment.

Monika grinned as she snapped her fingers, the final plate of nacos joining in on the ‘Ashley, Drake, Barry, Rinky and Cacey tray before snapping her fingers as it disappeared. “Bon appetit, fellas!”

Monika then turned to the others. “And as for the rest of you, you may all get up and continue your battle. We are still in a fighting tournament after all. No time to rest.”

“Even though you decided to feed everyone Rufus and Kimchi’s nacos…” Mewtwo raised an eyebrow.

“A recipe which I created, by the way… though Rufus did a good job trying to replicate it through that Limit Attack, didn’t ya, buddy?” Ron grinned as he got up, with Rufus giving a slight chuckle.

“Yeah, yeah, mmmm!” Rufus said as he licked his mouth.

“All right, all right, all of you get up, now. I have to take this table and myself off so that we can prepare ourselves for the next round.” Monika said as everyone was getting up. “Don’t try to make a mistake, now! I don’t want to accidentally take this table with you guys in it.”

Pretty soon, all fifteen fighters got up as Monika gave a nod. “All right, until NEXT Big Guy Blocker… Xero, Maurice, take it away!”

As Monika snapped her fingers, making herself, the table and chairs disappear, Xero gave a nod as he said, “We’re now in the fifth round, folks, but before we do that, we have a wheel to spin!”

“So let’s not waste any time and get right to it…” Maurice said as the wheel appeared and began to spin.

Everyone looked up as they watched the wheel spin around and around… until finally landing on a familiar rabbit’s face.

Bugs looked up as he crossed his arms. “Oh me, oh my! I guess the wheel TRULY loves me…”

“Yeah, and the last time it picked you, you went blind.” The Devil rolled his eyes.

“But look who’s still here, doc?” Bugs said as he crossed his arms. “If anything, I think this is just the start…”

“Okay, Bugs, you got your choices…” Xero said as four envelopes appeared in front of the rabbit. “You’re the Boss… Mystery Reserves… Monika’s Twist… or the return of Redemption Arc! Which one will it be?”

Bugs paused slightly as he tapped his foot. “Okay, so last time I was in this situation, I had to pick You’re the Boss… I wouldn’t mind going for that one again, but… I think the audience wants a little action… so how about this time, I pick ‘Mystery Reserves’?”

All of the audience members got hyped up as Bugs picked up the envelope, making it disappear as Xero gave a chuckle. “I FIGURED that would hype everyone.”

The gray rabbit gave a chuckle before pocketing the envelope as the other fourteen fighters in the ring, the fourteen fighters in the Ready Room, and one lucky audience member were looking forward to the next round…

Needless to say, it was going to get EVEN more chaotic!

RESULTS: (14 Votes)

BUGS BUNNY (LT: WoM): 11:3= 8 (The Panda King)

BEAST (KH): 11:3= 8 (Lily)

THE DEVIL (CH): 10:4= 6 (Ike)

PENNY PROUD (DTAAS): 9:6= 3 (Wave the Swallow)

ARIEL (KH): 9:6= 3 (Vilgax)

GARNET (MV): 10:7= 3 (Clair Andrews)

BLANKA (SF): 8:6= 2 (Treecko)

RON STOPPABLE (DTAAS): 8:6= 2 (Kazuya Mishima)

PICHU (PKMN): 8:6= 2 (Scrat)

JACK SKELLINGTON (KH): 8:6= 2 (Richter Belmont)

MEWTWO (PKMN): 9:7= 2 (Shingo Yabuki)

PUDDING FONG (TMM): 8:7= 1 (Nakoruru)

MARX (K): 7:7= 0 (Chowder & Kimchi)

USHI (FD): 7:7= 0 (Lion)

PATRICK STAR (NAS): 8:8= 0 (Aggron)

(ELIMINATED)

SCRAT (IA): 7:8= -1

THE PANDA KING (SC): 7:8= -1

CHOWDER & KIMCHI (CN: PTE): 7:8= -1

LILY (SF): 7:8= -1

NAKORURU (KOFXV): 6:8= -2

RICHTER BELMONT (SSB): 6:8= -2

SHINGO YABUKI (KOFXV): 6:9= -3

KAZUYA MISHIMA (SSB): 5:9= -4

VILGAX (CN: PTE): 5:9= -4

AGGRON (PKMN): 4:10= -6

WAVE THE SWALLOW (StH): 4:10= -6

LION (T&J: WotW): 4:10= -6

CLAIR ANDREWS (E): 4:10= -6

IKE (SSB): 4:11= -7

TREECKO (PKMN): 3:12= -9

SAFE ZONE VOTES:

SIX VOTES: Marx
FIVE VOTES: Patrick Star, Nakoruru, Bugs Bunny, Ron Stoppable
FOUR VOTES: Blanka, Panda King
THREE VOTES: Wave the Swallow, Scrat, Ariel, Mewtwo, Beast
TWO VOTES: Shingo Yabuki, Kazuya Mishima, Chowder & Kimchi, Lily, Pichu, The Devil
ONE VOTE: Pudding Fong, Jack Skellington, Lion, Aggron, Ike, Ushi, Garnet, Vilgax, Richter Belmont

Side Battles:

”Stalling For Time”

SEPHIROTH (E/FFVII) body swaps to defeat SCRATCH (DTAAS/TGaMM)

9 to 5

”Battle of the Pumpkin Heads”

JACK O’LANTERN (TGAoB&M) pranks the heck out of PUMPKIN JACK (PJ)

10 to 4

”Containing the Beast”

MAKI HARUKAWA (DRV3) & DELLA DUCK (DTAAS/DT’17) freezes up THE WATERWRAITH (P)

13 to 1

TOP 10 SO FAR: Launchpad McQuack (5), Garnet (5), Mewtwo (4), Patrick Star (4), Ariel (3), Pudding Fong (3), Wolf O’Donnell (3), Bowser (3), Elmer Fudd (3), Penny Proud (2)

Major Duo Breaks Up: Chowder, a major comic relief from the first Tournament of Kikai, managed to get eliminated after his second debut round in this tournament. Let’s see how long Pudding will last without him…

Chapter Text

(The Arena)

The fighters were now looking more eager than ever as they eyed each other, then at the curtain leading to the Ready Room, before looking up towards the announcer’s booth as Xero and Maurice were announcing the new twist Bugs Bunny had just recently picked.

“All right, so if any of you were here last year, you don’t need to know what Mystery Reserves are… but for those of you that ARE new…” Maurice smiled as everyone in the audience turned to the announcer’s booth.

“Bugs here has picked Mystery Reserves, in which for this round, a lucky member of the audience will be selected by random to come into the arena, better known as a ‘Reserve Mystery Fighter’.” Xero grinned. “Reserve Mystery Fighters are people that we haven’t considered inviting, BUT they get to participate in the fight anyway, but it’s always by random chance.”

“So, anytime Mystery Reserves is picked, along with our two already selected Mystery Fighters, a third Mystery Fighter will come in and be the last fighter announced for the round, and that third Mystery Fighter could very well be any of you in the audience!” Maurice explained as everyone looked hyped for this.

“So, you guys better take a look at your tickets, and if the words ‘You have been selected’ appears on your ticket, follow the enclosed instructions enlisted in the ticket AND turn it in to Shuichi in the Ready Room.” Xero explained.

Maurice paused as he examined the audience as they were all checking their tickets, and he noticed one near the middle row next to the announcer’s booth getting up, giving a small chuckle themselves before heading towards the Ready Room. He could only blink twice at the choice as he shrugged. “Okay, well, let’s get our fighter announcements out of the way before we do ANYTHING else!”

(Announcer’s Booth)

Xero was looking in disbelief as he turned off his mike and glared at the camera. “REALLY, Orange? REALLY?!”

Xero shook his head. “Uh, anyway, folks that are reading and voting on this, suggestions for Mystery Fighters are NOW open! Read the author’s note at the beginning of the Section Four results if you want to know more details. Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled program!”

(The Arena)

As the lights started to come up, Marx looked around before spotting the Devil, who was spying on . He smirked before flying towards the black haired creature with a grin.

“Oh, Mr. Devil, sir? I am a huge fan of your works, and as you may have heard, I happen to dabble in being ‘destroyer of universes’ myself!” Marx grinned.

The Devil looked down with a raised eyebrow. “Really? I never would have guessed.”

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you being chided by that rock girl earlier! If she suspects something, that means you must have some sort of ev-” Marx said in excitement.

The Devil yelped as he shut Marx’s mouth, whispering to the little monster. “You want in on something I’m doing right now?”

Marx eagerly nodded.

The Devil paused as he motioned for Marx to follow. “We have to talk in low whispers right now. There are too many ears everywhere in this side of the stadium…”

As the Devil led Marx to the side, most everyone else was looking up the curtain as the lights lit up, fifteen more fighters ready to enter the ring once more.

”KING OF DINOSAURS!” (KOFXV)

The man in a red T-Rex costume walked out with a confident strut as he started to play to the crowd, which was more of a mixed reaction. Tizoc, also known as the King of Dinosaurs, took the crowd’s jeers in stride as he smirked. After playing the crowd a bit, Dinosaur decided to rush forward and leap into the ring, before looking around and spotting his potential target.

“Ahhhh…” Dinosaur grinned before approaching the Beast, as the brown furred creature looked up to him in confusion. “You’re in for a rare treat, Beast, because you’re about to face off the best of the creatures, the King of Dinosaurs!”

Beast blinked twice, before lowering his eyelids. “You are still playing that up, Tizoc?”

Dinosaur remained silent before narrowing his eyes towards the Beast. “You dare offend the King of Dinosaurs by mentioning the name of the guy I sent to the tar pits? You have a lot of nerve!”

The Beast groaned as he held his head. “Oh, we’re really doing this, then…”

“You better prepare your claws, Beast, for they will be dull by the time the King of Dinosaurs is THROUGH with you!” Dinosaur said in a confident shout as he started laughing in glee.

The Beast paused for a brief moment, before giving a shrug as he took in a battle stance. “Your cocky confidence is going to be your downfall.”

”BANDANA WADDLE DEE!” (K)

A few years ago, a lone Waddle Dee in a blue bandana and carrying a spear would cause people to raise eyebrows… but considering he was once a contender at the first Battle of the Luminaries, a lot of people recognized him as a lot of cheers started to fill the crowd.

The adorable creature looked around and closed his eyes, as if blushing from the crowd’s cheering. Giving a nod, he lifted himself up in the air using his spear as a helicopter, before landing down on the ground, looking ready to bring in a new target. After looking around, the Waddle Dee spotted Pichu, who looked more than ready to do battle.

Pichu, giving a small yawn, started to stretch when it noticed the Waddle Dee approaching with its spear at the ready. Pichu’s eyes lit up as his cheeks began to spark. Immediately, a Thundershock started to emit from the small mouse’s cheeks as Bandana Waddle Dee quickly blocked the lightning bolt with his spear.

“W-whoa!” Bandana Waddle Dee said in shock as he gave a yelp, despite a missing mouth. “That was quite a shock!”

Everybody in the nearby area Waddle Dee was in quickly turned their heads in pure shock, their mouths dropping in awe.

“Holy cow! You can talk!” Ron Stoppable said in shock as he approached Waddle Dee as the blue bandana wearing creature turned towards Ron in confusion.

“...uh, yes? Why is that surprising?” Bandana Waddle Dee asked (despite not having a mouth to talk) as he tilted his head in confusion.

“Well, it normally wouldn’t be, but… last I recalled, in the original Battle of the Luminaries, I don’t think you uttered a single word.” Blanka pointed out.

“I think that was mainly because I was in games where I didn’t really have lines of dialogue at the time.” Bandana Waddle Dee explained. “And since a lot of Kirby games were released since my original UVR spinoff debut, and I did have lines of dialogue in at least a few newer games, I figured I may as well start saying actual stuff.”

“...So, we’re just going to accept the fact that you talk now?” Pudding asked, still incredulously shocked.

“Is that going to be a problem?” Banana Waddle Dee asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Some silence fell as a few people shook their heads, Pudding saying, “No, no, I think that’s fine.”

“Totally good, man.” Ron said with a grin.

“Love your new voice!” Blanka agreed.

Banana Waddle Dee closed his eyes in glee, before turning back towards Pichu as he readied his spear. “All right, then! Pichu, I’d like to challenge you to a fight!”

”Sweet! I needed a burst of energy after that fight with that weird squirrel thing!” Pichu said as he readied himself for battle.

Waddle Dee grinned before leaping forward, ready to strike at the small mouse.

”ISABELLE!” (SSB)

Penny’s eyes lit up as she looked up to see the familiar yellow Shih Tzu walking out and waving to the audience with a small smile on her face. Penny looked over to Garnet as she gave a small cough. “Hate to leave you alone like this, Garnet, but Isabelle IS…”

Garnet put a hand on Penny’s shoulder, giving her a small smile. “Don’t worry about me. You go ahead and hang out with your friend.”

Penny grinned at Garnet before rushing over. The Crystal Gem could only watch with a small smile, as a sense of dread fell on her. After taking a deep breath, she gave a sigh.

“There’s a lot of possibilities… only time will tell, I suppose…”

Isabelle smiled happily as she waved to the crowd. Unlike the last time where she seemed a bit nervous about fighting, she seemed a little more confident in doing so this time. The small dog wagged her tail in excitement before walking towards the ring and entering inside, looking ready to take on anything.

“Isabelle, hey, girl!”

Isabelle’s eyes lit up as she turned towards Penny before giving a smile. “Oh! Penny, so glad to see you!”

“How are things in Fictonisla?” Penny asked in curiosity.

Isabelle smiled happily, knowing that she was recognized right away. “Oh, you know, things have been quite busy… morning announcements, trying to do a lot of paperwork… working the desk with Tom Nook… talking to the islanders about people wanting to move in and out… the usual fare. I’m just happy to be part of this again!”

Penny laughed a bit, before giving a small smile. “Well, seeing that Bubbles isn’t going to be out for a VERY long time, and unless Ellis comes in as a Mystery Fighter somehow… think we should try teaming up again?”

Isabelle paused for a brief moment, before smiling. “It worked out pretty well the first time… so why not?”

Penny smiled as she and Isabelle high-fived each other, with her saying, “That is what I’m talkin’ about!”

Not too far away, the Devil and Marx were just finishing up their conversation as Marx’s mouth opened in awe. “Wow…”

“Yeah, that’s basically the gist of the plan. If you’d like to help me and the other devils out with it, you’re more than welcome to help out.” The Devil explained.

“...eh. Why not? I was bored anyway, so I’m more than happy to help out with anything!” Marx grinned, before looking towards Penny and Isabelle as he turned to his new partner in crime. “And you’re saying SHE has to be the one?!”

“That’s what HE told me, at least.” The Devil shrugged, before pausing as he gave a smirk. “All right, help me in double-ganging them, and I’ll make sure you have an in.”

“OOOOOOOO! FUN!” Marx grinned eagerly as he started to dance around.

“It sure is… just try to keep it on the down low. That Crystal Gem nearby is already suspicious of me… I say don’t go for them yet UNTIL she’s distracted.” The Devil whispered.

The jester paused, before giving a grin. “So, as soon as she gets a distraction, we go for it?!”

“Yes, yes… let’s just hope the perfect distraction COMES her way…” The Devil said as he and Marx peered out towards the Ready Room curtain as the next fighter walked out.

”PENELOPE PUSSYCAT!” (LT: WoM)

The black cat came out to a bit of a mixed reaction, mostly positive for those who recognized the cat. The female cat grinned before giving a polite wave towards the audience, before giving a slight groan as she looked back, the white stripe painted on her back and tail more apparent.

“I curse that bunny for forcing me to put THIS stripe on…” Penelope muttered angrily, before giving a sigh. “At least he was polite enough to make sure Pepe FOLLOWED his restraining order while we were BOTH invited to this place… I know he’s trying to change, but good lord, not only does he stink, in terms of body odor, BUT he does NOT know the meaning of ‘personal space’... or the fact that he can’t tell the difference between a skunk and a cat.”

Penelope continued to walk towards the ring as the cat shut her eyes and shook her head, trying to shake the bad thoughts out of her head. “I can’t be thinking about this now… I have a tournament to start on…”

As the cat climbed up to the ring, she started to look around as she kept an eye open for available people, which as of the moment, were most of the contestants. She then noticed Bugs was nearby, munching on a carrot, and while she did consider teaming up with her nodal companion, she figured it would be better to fight on her own for a while.

It was then she heard a mooing sound from the left as she turned her head. Penelope grinned as she saw Ushi walking over to her. “Oh, hello! Sorry… this is the first time I’ve ever been in a battle arena like this… and I’m not sure what I should be doing here…” Penelope paused as she thought about the roster. “Then again, a lot of people probably wouldn’t know except for veterans…”

Ushi mooed as she cocked her head towards Penelope in curiosity.

“I guess what I’m getting at is… I’d like to have a good battle… would you be willing to be my first opponent?” Penelope asked, her eyes widening in cuteness.

Ushi paused, before giving a small dance as she shuffled her hooves, giving a very positive mooing sound.

Penelope grinned as she got into a fighting stance, getting her claws out. “In that case, I won’t hold back! Give me all you got, girlfriend!”

Ushi gave a nod before getting into a stance of her own, ready to fight the cat before her.

”KORRA!” (NAS)

The current Avatar ran out of the ring as she started to flex for the crowd, with the audience going wild as Korra gave a small smile. As she continued walking towards the ring, she looked around, before spotting Asami in the crowd, smiling and waving towards her. Korra blushed as she waved back to her girlfriend, before turning her attention to the ring.

“This is going to be great…” Korra whispered to herself as she gave a big grin. “Just got to last for a good while. No pressure.”

With that, Korra immediately got herself up into the ring before making a beeline towards the first person she had her eyes on.

Garnet paused as she turned to Korra, raising an eyebrow. “You are very brave to approach me, young Avatar.”

“Technically, I’m an adult.” Korra pointed out, before grinning. “But I’ve been wanting to test my strength against a Crystal Gem. Plus, you’re the longest lasting by far, so it would be a great start if I managed to topple you down!”

Garnet paused silently, before saying, “Such confidence in your voice. I may have fatigue on my side, but do YOU think you can keep up with me?”

Korra laughed a bit as she held up her fists, ready to battle. “We won’t know until we find out.”

Garnet gave a nod before posing for a battle. “A worthy answer.”

The Devil watched as Garnet and Korra were about to charge at each other for a battle, before turning to Marx. “Okay, she’s distracted! Let’s get going!”

“Already on my waaa-aaaay!” Marx sang happily before balancing on his ball and riding on it towards the talking Penny and Isabelle, before kicking the ball towards Isabelle, causing the dog to yelp.

“Wh- Isabelle, are you okay?” Penny asked, before turning her eyes towards Marx, glaring at him. “Hey, that’s not cool!”

“You know what’s cooler? FIGHTING ME! AND HIM!” Marx grinned as the Devil joined in, his pitchfork in hand.

Penny just stared flabbergasted as Isabelle looked up, having recovered from the ball bean, and gasped. “Wait… you TWO want to fight us?!”

“Well, let’s just say Marx here made some… VERY convincing arguments…” The Devil said as he looked towards the two. “Besides being part of a big alliance from last year, one of you is ALSO the Tournament of Kikai winner… and who am I to NOT battle against a winner?”

Penny narrowed her eyes in suspicion, looking towards a grinning Devil and an excited Marx, who was just dancing around in glee. After a moment, the small frown turned into a smirk as Isabelle looked worried. “When you put it that way… sorry, Isabelle, but it looks like we’re going to need to double-team here…”

“Oh dear…” Isabelle sighed as she looked down. “And here I was thinking that we’d avoid the inevitable at least until near the end…”

(Hotel; Hallways)

Pit, the angel of Skyworld, gave a small hum as he was taking a small walk along the area, looking around the hallways. He was recently heading for the karaoke station settled in the area as he gave a grin.

“Man, this is such a great day! Not only has Xero and Maurice allowed me back into the tournament for good behavior, BUT the karaoke bar is still open! Man, I can’t wait for a great day!” Pit grinned happily.

“Don’t forget about me!” A voice quacked.

Pit paused as he looked down to see the small yellow feathered duckling riding on the angel’s shoulder. The angel could only laugh as he patted the duckling’s head. “How could I forget about you, Lil’ Quacker? You’re going to enjoy such a great day!”

The duckling, known as Quacker, laughed a bit as he gave a small sigh.

To recap how these two met together, it all started when Pit had gotten himself ousted from the tournament due to Palutena helping him cheat, a feat that both he AND Palutena came to regret when Pudding and Chowder pointed them out somehow. However, as Pit was sent out of the ring and going straight to the stands (not even to another world for ten minutes, just walked up the ramp), Pit had a lot of regret about what he done…

However, not too long afterwards, he ran into the cute little duckling who was having trouble with hyenas from the Lion King, part of Monokuma’s Unleash the Despair round as Pit knew he had to defend the duckling. The angel beat them in quick ease, and managed to escort the little duckling back to his seat, Quacker being more appreciative of his new friend and hero.

Needless to say, Quacker has managed to hung out with Pit since that day, the perky angel quickly becoming fast friends with the cute little duckling, who was now aspiring to become like Pit. But even the young duckling knew it was a bit of hard work, so he was just more than happy to be Pit’s little buddy.

And as of right now, the two of them were actually hanging out together, and both of them had a destination in mind… the karaoke set up not too far from the lobby, but close to the restaurant.

“So, after we do a round or two of karaoke, I think we all deserve a small meal.” Pit grinned. “After all, we have all the time in the world before one of us gets called.”

“I’m just relieved both of our draws are very late.” Quacker said with a small smile on his face, before giving a sigh. “I’ll admit my chances are pretty slim, since while I do hope for an elimination, it’ll probably never happen…”

“Awwww, don’t feel so down, little guy.” Pit smiled as he patted the duck on the head. “I’m sure that your time will come. Heck, nobody expects the little guys to come out on top after all.”

“Gee, do you really think so, Pit?” Quacker asked, a little confidence filling up from within.

Pit laughed. “Heh, I know so. Come on, then, let’s-”

All of a sudden, a chainsaw was heard revving from one of the rooms as both Pit and Quacker gave a yelp.

“What was that?” Quacker asked in worry.

Pit frowned as he pulled out his bow and arrows. “Trouble, that’s what. Come on!”

Quacker paused nervously, before trying to give out a small confident nod as he rode on Pit’s shoulder, following the source of the sound.

(Karaoke Bar)

“HA HA HA HA HA HA!” A mischievous, menacing voice sounded as a chainsaw managed to slice a microphone in half, causing people who were waiting for their turns to either scream or protest.

“Awww, come on!” Peacock pouted in anger. “I wanted to sing my song!”

“This was NOT how I wanted to spend my evening!” Athena Asamiya complained.

“This is an outrage!” The normally silly Gooey just growled in anger.

The figure stopped his chainsaw as he turned towards the protesting people, before throwing out a sawblade, throwing all of them off-guard. “SINGING CACA!”

Said figure was a small green abomination of a creature with a white mohawk and creepy looking eyes. The figure, known as Stripe, laughed maniacally as it revved its chainsaw, ready to slice up the stage…

Before hearing a slight whistle. Stripe looked over towards the figure with a glare, but relented as he turned the chainsaw off and waved his hands towards the figure approaching the stage. Said figure is a Middle Eastern woman wearing a purple bandana, a white top and white harem pants held together by a yellow belt as she gave a grin.

“Now, now, Stripe, let’s not get excited…” The figure, known as Sinclair, said with a small chuckle. “I still have to give my announcement…”

She gave a cough as she looked up. “Ladies, gentlemen, is it a competition you so desire? Are you all still eager to battle, but outside of the ring? Well, do we have something special for you all! In just a couple of sections, a gracious host will be showing us something important that will BLOW… YOUR… MINDS! Something that will give a brand new meaning to ‘knowing your friends and enemies’. In due time, if any are interested in this, please head to-”

All of a sudden, an arrow whizzed by, causing Sinclair to jump in shock. “What the-?”

Stripe noticed and looked towards the door as he gave an eager growl.

Pit and Quacker were standing at the doorway, narrowing their eyes at them as Pit called out, “If you think interrupting a nice quality karaoke time for something villainous is going to help you out, you are SORELY mistaken!”

Sinclair lowered her eyelids as she narrowed her eyes at the angel before him. “Kid, please wait until I’m finished with my announcement, THEN we can tal-”

“No way!” Pit shouted as he took a step forward. “I know who you are. Sinclair, the mysterious worker for Wyler! If you’re here, and working with that creepy gremlin guy, that means something villainous is about to occur! Well, I’m not letting you or that gremlin hurt this sweet little room!”

“Y-yeah!” Quacker said nervously as he eyed the dangerous look of Stripe. “S-so you better give yourselves up!”

Sinclair lowered her eyelids in annoyance as she shook her head. “You really aren’t going to let this go?” She shrugged before pulling out her scimitar. “Very well, then. Fight me and Stripe here, and if you win, we’ll happily go… if you two lose, you let us FINISH what we have to say. Deal?!”

Pit grinned as he readied his weapon. “Deal! Come on, little buddy, we need to take these two down!”

Quacker looked over nervously, but decided to get brave, for Pit’s sake. It was time to see if this work would pay off.

Athena and Peacock, who were watching this, blinked as the former turned to the toony girl. “Should we… help him?”

“No, no… I want to see where this goes…” Peacock grinned before pulling up some popcorn and sitting down as she started to eat.

Except for those two, a lot of people took the time to evacuate the room, knowing that this was about to get messy… little did they realize that in the shadows, a man wearing a black suit, tie and sunglasses was watching the fight in key interest…

He gave a small smirk before looking towards the cameras and nodding.

“Hope you’re watching this, HIM…”

(The Arena)

”MARVIN THE MARTIAN!” (LT: WoM)

Bugs, hearing the name, could only roll his eyes. “Oh, brother…”

(Every time you see me)

(You Earthlings turn and run)

(I don’t know what your problem is)

(I’m really super fun)

(I’m a Martian)

(Not a great white shark)

(I’m a Martian)

(I play frisbee in the park)

Everybody immediately went into mixed cheering as a familiar black martian wearing his green helmet with yellow brush, red suit and green skirt came walking down, a piano sound being heard every time the martian took his steps. The small martian quickly stopped as he looked around and gave a small nod towards his fans, the song ‘I’m A Martian’ from “The Looney Tunes Show” still playing in the background.

(Come over to my party)

(It’s not that long a trip)

(You’ll be glad you made the journey)

(For my seven-layered dip)

(I like sharing cheese pizza)

(You see, I’m not so bad)

(Do you like little puppies?)

(I make them in my lab!)

“Yes, thank you, Earthlings, thank you very much!” Marvin waved as he pulled out his pistol and waved it around his finger, before gripping it on his hand, impressing most of the audience. “Yes, yes, thank you! And remember, if I don’t get an elimination in this tournament, there’s a great chance of the Earth being blown up!”

Everyone rolled their eyes at the empty threat, but Marvin ignored it as he shuffled over to the ring.

As soon as Marvin climbed up to the ring, he immediately noticed Bugs approaching him as he munched on his carrot. “Ehhhh… laying it a bit thick on the whole ‘blowing up the planet thing’, doc?”

“Don’t try to worm your way out of this one, rabbit!” Marvin frowned as he narrowed his eyes towards Bugs. “As a matter of fact, I don’t think there’s anything you can do to stop me, even outside the ring!”

“Doc, you realilze that if you lose, that Monika girl will likely do somethin’ about ‘dat laser you set up, right?” Bugs asked.

Marvin could only lower his eyes and chuckle. “Which is exactly why I have my army of Instant Martians guarding the laser. Sure, they may have been announced too late and not get invited… and even if one of them was, I’d have to take the robotic one from the 3rd Dimension short that doesn’t really air at Six Flags anymore… but I have my Instant Martians on the job!”

“Sure, ya do.” Bugs rolled his eyes, knowing this plan was going to blow up in his face.

Marvin, not liking the rabbit’s attitude, narrowed his eyes. “Okay, rabbit, you’re THIS close to making me very angry… VERRRRRY angry, indeed. Prepare to get blasted out of the ring!”

“Oh my gosh!”

Bugs and Marvin stopped their banter as they turned to see Patrick looking over towards their fight with wide eyes, before Patrick ran over and grabbed Marvin. “It’s a real life space alien that wants to suck my brain out! Take that, alien!”

“Wha- Put me down this instant, you insolent Earth creature!” Marvin complained… before Patrick slammed Marvin down to the ground, making the martian groan in pain. “N-not that hard…”

Bugs could only stare at the display, before munching on his carrot calmly. “Ehhh… this guy DEFINITELY needs my help against Marvin, for certain…”

”ROYAL HIGHNESS!” (TMM)

Adjusting his glasses a bit, the polite member of the Saint Rose Crusaders came out to a moderate reaction, mainly to those who remembered seeing him.

“‘Tis a shame that of the Saint Rose Crusaders, only Happy Child, Blue Bayou and I got invites this time… then again, our leader Duke WAS considered controversial due to his outfit last year, AND Sweet Juliet… good lord he tried.” Royal Highness sighed. “Well, I suppose I’ll just have to make due… and hopefully get a better score this time.”

With a chuckle to himself, Royal Highness floated upwards into the air and grinned to himself before landing himself on the floor. Mewtwo, who had been meditating for a little while to maintain focus, immediately took notice of the psychic presence as he opened his eyes.

Immediately, the legendary psychic Pokemon teleported himself directly to where Royal Highness was walking, causing the telekinetic man to look directly at him.

“Your power…” Mewtwo noted. “It seems to be more potent in you…”

Royal Highness paused briefly, before giving a smirk. “Feeling nervous?”

The Pokemon frowned as he got himself into a position to fight. “You wish.”

Royal Highness just chuckled to himself before getting into a position to battle. “Then by all means, don’t hold back on me.”

“And now… Mystery Fighter… Number… NINE!”

”AUDREY RAMIREZ!” (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

The crowd immediately cheered and looked in awe as the beautiful young Puerto Rican mechanic came walking out, a smirk on her face as she readied her wrench. She just rolled her eyes at the men just whistling at her before shaking her head.

“Oy… what some men won’t do these days…” Audrey grumbled to herself, before giving a small confident smile as she ran over to the ring. Once she climbed in, she adjusted her hat a slight bit before giving a nod as she looked over towards Ariel, who was swimming towards her in curiosity.

The mechanic couldn’t help but look excited as she examined Ariel. “You’re a real mermaid, aren’t you? Milo and the others would have LOVED to meet an actual mermaid!”

“Uh… thank you.” Ariel grinned nervously as she shook her head. “I… suppose you want a battle?”

“Why not? We may have shared a similar game in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode… but I’m more than just my wrench!” Audrey grinned as she put the wrench to her side.

Ariel smiled as she said, “I am pretty surprised to see a mechanic trying her hands out in a fighting tournament… but will a mobile game be enough?”

“Try a mobile game AND a Playstation 1 appearance, combine that with the movies… THEN we’ll talk.” Audrey grinned as she posed, looking ready to battle.

”TINO TORTELLINI!” (DTAAS)

A mixed reaction, mostly positive, came from the crowd as the young blonde haired boy came walking in and giving a wave to the crowd, before climbing into the ring.

As he did so, the area around him started to turn black and white, and slowing time down a smidge as he turned to the camera. “Hey there! So, this is an unusual sight to see! Tino Tortellini in a fighting tournament! You never thought you’d see the day, huh? A Slice-Of-Life character in a fighting tournament? Well, after last year with Penny winning, I would say anything is possible. And while I don’t have video games to my name, I think I’ve had a lot of weekends with my friends that I think I can find some abilities from my past to make myself work. You’ll just have to-”

“Whoa, is time slowing down?!”

Tino stopped short as he turned to see Pudding, the only character NOT in black and white, moving around and looking at everything in awe. “Why is everything black and white? How did you make the world slow down like that? WOW! I wish I had the ability to do that!”

“What th- how did you-?!” Tino yelped as he jumped up as Pudding looked over towards the area Tino was talking in.

“OOOOO! Is that the reading audience? HI, READING AUDIENCE, NA NO DA! How are you enjoying this tournament so far?!” Pudding asked with a grin.

Tino lowered his eyes as everything went fast again. Pudding noticed as she looked down. “Awww! Everything’s back to normal speed.”

Tino just stared at the girl with a strange look on his face as he frowned, “I don’t know HOW you managed to get into my narrating bit, but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to do that.”

Pudding paused as she turned towards Tino with a frown. “I pulled a great white shark out of a silk hat, and done impossible circus acts. And thank Chowder for teaching me tricks beyond the fourth wall! Because I’m about to do him proud! Say, if you can break the fourth wall, can you interact with things too? As my newest opponent, we’re going to have the best fourth wall breaking fight ever!”

Tino lowered his eyelids. “That’s… NOT how this works.” His eyes then sprang open. “Wait, did you just say that I’m your OPPONENT?!”

“YEP!” Pudding grinned as she pulled out her rings and combined them into a tambourine. “So let’s play the game, then! Newest fourth wall breaker against one of the oldest fourth wall breakers!”

“Again, that’s not what I do!” Tino pointed out, before groaning. “I can’t believe I’m being FORCED into this fight…”

”CHROM!” (SSB)

The blue-haired leader of the Shepherds came out to loud cheering as the man paid the audience and screaming fangirls no mind as he walked towards the ring with no trouble. RIght now, he didn’t have a lot on his mind, but from the look on his face, he was more than determined to do battle.

After practicing a few sword swings, he quickly climbed in as he looked around to see who was available. Then, spotting Jack Skellington juggling some pumpkins nearby, the blue haired man nodded as he began to make his approach.

Jack looked up in curiosity as he gave a grin. “Ah! Another guest interested in Halloween! How can I assist?”

“Well, for one thing, you eliminated my sparring partner.” Chrom said with a frown.

Jack blinked twice. “Really? I didn’t even know you two were close.”

“We’re not from the same sub-node, no, but sometimes, whenever I need something to do, I always decide to practice spar with both Simon and Richter… and Richter is one of my closest friends. I’m just merely here to avenge him. And with one round of fatigue to your name, as opposed to my fresh arrival, you have a slight disadvantage.” Chrom explained as he raised up his sword.

“A slight disadvantage? Perhaps… but I DO still have some fun new gadgets the Doctor gave me that I haven’t shown off in the first Tournament of Kikai! All right, I’ll fight ya!” Jack smiled as he readied the Soul Robber as the green gooey creature formed into a hand. “The question is, can you keep up?”

Chrom chuckled lightly before readying himself. “I should be able to.”

(Dome; Gift Shop)

The panting Skitty stopped near the gift shop’s doors as it was trying to get its bearings. Not too far away, Babbit and Catstello were looking at the pink cat in confusion as they looked at each other.

“Great. A gift shop. That was a good walk of… what, three sections?” Babbit frowned as he turned to Catstello. “I can’t believe you wanted to follow that confused cat in the first place!”

“Me? Wait a minute, YOU’RE the one who-” Catstello shouted in anger as Babbit put a hand around his associate’s mouth, gagging him.

“Hold it, hold it! A thought just occurred to me.” Babbit said as he tapped his fingers. “Now, let’s go through this slowly, one at a time. We saw a strange thing happen, right?”

“Right.” Catstello said.

“And that moon cat and green lizard know something strange about it, right?” Babbit asked.

“Correct.” Catstello reaffirmed.

“So, if the cat is stopping at the gift shop… he must be getting SOMETHING for whatever that… that strange anomaly is.” Babbit said.

“It could be possible… but how will we know for sure?” Catstello asked as the two cats watched Skitty enter the store.

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to wait and see…” Babbit said as the two waited silently.

As Chamomile the Skitty entered the gift shop, the creature looked around, his once confident demeanor now falling itself to a nervous look. ”H-hello? Anybody there?”

Chamomile waited for a response, but things remained silent as he kept walking… not noticing he was passing by a dark corridor where someone with menacing yellow eyes stared. The eyes came closer and closer until…

“HI!”

Skitty yelped as he turned around, only to see the eyes of a smiling red tyrannosaurus rex wearing a tye-die shirt, brown pants and carrying a VERY wilted stalk of celery close to his cheek. The dinosaur also had a happy smile on his face.

“Welcome to the Gift Shop! Xero and Maurice hired me to do Gift Shop sales since I haven’t seen work with Orange for quite a while now.” The dinosaur said, still with a grin. “He’s hoping to rectify that, but anyway, I’m your store correspondent, Josh Tyrannosaur, and I will be your guide for today! So, is there anything you like to buy! Oh, I know what you’d like!”

Josh then disappeared in the aisles before walking out with a few Funko Pops of the past winners of the Ultimate Video Rumble and its spinoffs. “While you can get these in any ordinary store, we’re selling Funko Pops of the winners of the UVRs and their spinoffs! We got a classic Haohmaru, Guy, Geese Howard, Kasumi Todoh, Sakura Kasugano, Pikachu AND Penny Proud available! We’d have the third Battle of the Luminaries winner on display, but right now, our delivery got delayed. But rest assured, we WILL have the complete set! You want some fresh Funko Pops?”

Chamomile just stared blankly, before shaking his head. Josh paused. “No, huh? Okay, okay… how about this?”

Josh then looked around the area, before grinning as he pulled out a few action figures, with characters like Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny around the area. “We have the Limit Break editiions of our favorite players from last year! Purchase these figures, and you’ll see the action they can produce in toy form! Pretty neat, huh?”

Chamomile coughed a bit before pointing to his throat. Josh paused as he looked at the cat in curiosity, before snapping his fingers.

“Oh, oh, I get it! You want something that can help people understand you better! Fret not, my friend, for I have just the thing!” Josh grinned as he popped back in the shadows, then came back out with some black collars. “These were inspired from the third Battle of the Luminaries when Snoopy and Garfield got involved in the tournament last year… alongside the side stories and trying to take down those meanies known as Xuan Dou Zhi Wang.”

Skitty’s eyes lit up as he bounced up and down.

Josh laughed a bit as he said, “Yep, these are translator collars, fresh from the delivery truck! Wear these around people, and they can understand YOUR preferred language! Would you like to purchase one?”

Skitty nodded, before pausing as he held up two paws. Josh got the message as he gave a grin. “Two, huh? OKAY! Two translator collars for the price of one, coming right up!”

With that, Josh went to the cashier’s desk and hummed as he put the collars through the scanner, then after paying the money, Josh grinned happily as he gave Chamomile the collars. “I hope my service is your satisfaction… and by the way, have a free bag of rutabagas!”

Skitty yelped as Josh put a bag of rutabagas in the cat’s mouth, causing Skitty to yelp. Josh then decided to put on Skitty’s translation collar on before putting the other one in the bag of rutabagas, before pushing it on. “Now, what do we say to the nice dinosaur who helped you with your service?”

Skitty put down the bag of rutabagas before coughing, then smiling, “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome! Have a good day!” Josh said as Skitty picked up the bag and started to walk out with it. Josh paused as he gave a smile. “Ah, so nice to bring service to ev-er-ee-body here…”

As Josh looked around, he noticed something out of order as he picked up what seemed to be a monochrome bear with a normal black eye and a red lightning bolt eye. “Hey, how did this Monokuma doll get into my stocks? Oh well… into the incinerator it goes…”

With that, Josh turned around to open a nearby incinerator that just happened to be behind him and threw the Monokuma doll in, before closing it as yelling sounds came from it. Josh paused as he looked back, wondering if he heard something. The dinosaur gave a shrug before going back to what he was doing best… making sure the shop was in stock and keeping an eye on the tournament to make sure big moments would come in.

Back outside, Chamomile gave a sigh of relief, as he was dragging the bag out, hoping to get to the Recovery Room before anything else.

“GET ‘IM!”

What Skitty didn’t expect was two familiar cats jumping right at him and tying him up as Babbit quickly grabbed the bag from Skitty’s mouth.

(The Arena)

“And now… Mystery Fighter… Number… TEN!”

”QUEEN TYR’AHNEE!” (Duck Dodgers)

Marvin, who had just shot a bubble at Patrick to get him dizzy, jumped up in shock as his eyes widened. “Wait, what?!”

He quickly turned his head, wondering if what the hosts said was a coincidence. Much to his surprise, it was NOT.

Every single man in the room whistled and hollered as a familiar black skinned Martian came walking in, though rather than wearing the outfit she was most known for, her classic Egyptian-like outfit, she was wearing a purple training jumpsuit, her white hair tied to a ponytail, and she seemed to have a determined look on her face. Pulling out a laser sword that started to glow red, she immediately walked towards the ring and climbed up it, before landing on the ground with swift mobility.

Marvin’s eyes could only widen, not only in disbelief, but in secret, happiness. Bugs noted the attention Marvin was giving to the tall queen as he raised an eyebrow.

“Commander X-2?” Queen Tyr’ahnee said as she noticed Marvin in the corner.

Marvin stuttered for a brief moment before giving a nervous salute. “M-my Queen! What a surprise to… see you… here…”

Tyr’ahnee paused briefly as she looked over at Marvin’s body. “Strange. I do not seem to recall you wearing ‘RED’ in your uniform.”

Marvin stuttered nervously. “Uh, well, it’s funny you say that, you see-”

“Hey, doc, who’s the foxy lady?” Bugs asked as he turned towards his head.

Marvin’s eyes widened as he turned to Bugs with a glare. “You will give the Martian Queen some respect!”

“Martian Queen?” Bugs asked in confusion. “Wait a minute, Daffy DID say that in his TV show, he had this Martian Queen interested in him… hey, uh, you wouldn’t happen to know my black feathered friend, would you?”

The Queen turned to Bugs with an inquisitive eyebrow. “I do know Dodgers, yes… why?” Her face immediately changed to that of concern. “Did he say anything about me?”

Bugs blinked twice, before whispering, “She, uh… realizes that this isn’t the same Daffy, right? And you’re not really the same Marvin… or Commander, or whatever?”

“Let’s just say… it’s complicated…” Marvin lowered his eyelids.

“Oh boy…” Bugs groaned as he looked up. “Eh, pardon me, my queen, but, uh, out of due respect, my friend won’t be out in the ring for a VERY long time… so you probably won’t get a chance to fight him… or fight alongside him, I’m not sure what you want…”

“What I want…” Tyr’ahnee said as she narrowed her eyes. “...is to fight Dodgers, and to make sure he understands the meaning of ‘not breaking a woman’s heart’...”

“Personally, I don’t see WHY he would… I mean, look at your beautiful hair and eyes… anybody would be wild over you! And the way you command people… you must be a regular Cleopatra!” Bugs explained.

Patrick, looking up, gasped as he stared at the Martian Queen, his eyes lighting up in beauty as he said, nonchalantly. “You’re hot!”

Tyr’ahnee looked at both Bugs and Patrick in surprise, before feeling her heart beat. “Do you really believe so?”

“Uh, ignoring the pink guy’s rude behavior, you’re a perfect Scarlett Johansson!” Bugs said with a grin on his face.

Marvin narrowed his eyes towards both Bugs and Patrick in anger as he shot both of them with his laser.

“COMMANDER!” Tyr’ahnee growled at Marvin, causing the martian to put down his laser gun nervously. “These nice young men were complimenting me!”

“Y-yes, my queen. S-sorry, my queen…” Marvin said before giving a groan. “Oh dear…”

Tyr’ahnee paused, before turning towards Bugs and Patrick with a happy light in her eyes. “Tell me more about my looks…”

Bugs and Patrick yelped as they suddenly realized what they had done, with Bugs groaning, “Great… this is the SECOND time I flirted with somebody that got so eager for me…”

“Why is she staring at me like that?” Patrick asked, looking more nervous.

”BRICK!” (PPG)

The first of the Rowdyruff Boys was met with a mixed crowd, half of them positive because there were a lot of Rowdyruff Boy fans, and half of them negative because they saw the boys as the stereotypes they are. Nevertheless, the boy in a red cap, orange hair and red shirt with a black stripe and black pants flew in as he narrowed his eyes at the crowd.

“Boo yourself!” Brick shouted in anger. “You’re lucky I don’t fly up and destroy the lot of yas!”

Brick grumbled in anger before flying up to the ring, before taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. “Okay, Brick, don’t think about the audience right now… you’ve got a lot of tournament ahead of you, and a way to best those Powerpuff Girls… that blue blonde bimbo may have been last year’s MVP, but she’s not going to compete with the likes of me!”

Brick laughed as he settled his hat. “And I think I’ll settle for fighting a girl… someone weak I can pick on…”

With that, Brick looked around for potential fights. He looked towards characters like Garnet, Penny Proud, Isabelle, even Ariel and Audrey, but none of them, to him, looked weak. It wasn’t until she spotted Pudding bugging Tino, and Tino holding his head as if getting a headache, did he give a small grin to himself.

“Ah HA!” Brick said as he flew right in to try to punch Pudding in the face.

Pudding and Tino had not noticed as Pudding was holding Tino’s shirt. “Please let’s do this fourth wall fight!”

“I only do it for narrations, I never do it for-” Tino tried to argue, only for Pudding to let go and pull out a large cymbal, causing Tino to yelp. “How did you do-”

Pudding held the cymbal next to her face, just as Brick collided with the cymbal, making a crashing sound before the Rowdyruff Boy groaned, falling directly to the ground.

“Whoa!” Tino yelped at the fact Pudding just predicted that surprise attack from Brick.

Brick groaned as he rubbed his face, before narrowing his eyes at Pudding. “No fair! You cheated!”

“How did I cheat? I’m just merely using my circus abilities and fourth wall breaking antics to predict your every move!” Pudding taunted.

“You don’t have fourth wall breaking powers! You just learned them from a purple… cat-bear-rabbit thing!” Tino argued.

“Sounds like somebody doesn’t want to leave their comfort zooooone...” Pudding sang as she skated around.

Tino held his head. “Fine, you know what? I’ll be your opponent if it means you’ll stop bugging me to be your opponent!”

“YAY!” Pudding smiled as she readied her fighting stance.

“Don’t think you’re getting out of it this easily!” Brick growled as he floated up in the air. “I’M teaming up with my fellow boy to take your pathetic girliness down!”

“Uh, dude, not that I don’t appreciate you teaming up with me, but, uh… there’s a LOT of girls in the ring that I’m pretty sure would not LIKE your attitude WHATSOEVER.” Tino frowned.

“Whatever! This is going to be BIG!” Brick laughed as he readied his arm to punch the monkey Mew’s lights out.

Pudding paused as she looked at the two, before pausing, “Something tells me I’m greatly outmatched here…”

”YANG!” (SF)

The brown haired Chinese martial artist came in to moderate applause as he looked around at the ring, noticing there weren’t a lot of available opponents left.

“Yun won’t be out for a long time, and I don’t know WHEN Chun-Li is going to appear…” Yang said to himself as he walked towards the ring. “I suppose I’ll have to make due with what I have…”

As the young man managed to get himself into the ring, he looked between Blanka (who could only wave at him) and Ron (who was busy looking over Rufus as the naked mole rat crawled around him), before giving a nod and heading towards Ron.

“Okay, Rufus, that tickles…” Ron chuckled a bit as the naked mole rat gave a laugh. Rufus then looked up and noticed Yang heading his way as he poked at Ron. “Wh-what is it, Rufus?”

Ron then looked over to where Rufus was pointing to see the man approaching. “Oh! Uh, hi there! You, uh… must be looking for a fight?”

“Indeed. I’ve heard of your legendary Mystical Monkey Power… but can it compare to something like the Praying Mantis Kung Fu?” Yang asked as he smirked, holding a pose.

“I… I don’t know, why? Do you… have Praying Mantis Kung Fu?” Ron asked. It was soon met with an incredulous glare, causing Ron to stammer. “Y-you’re right, that was a dumb question!”

Yang quickly recovered before giving a slight laugh. “Oh well… it doesn’t matter anyway. I’m more than looking forward to taking you down and out.”

Ron noticed the smirk in Yang’s face as his face started to fall. “Oh boy… what did I get myself into?”

Rufus, crawling back into his friend’s pocket, just gave a small sigh.

”KING K. ROOL!” (SSB)

King K. Rool, the Kremling Krew laughed as he came out to the boisterous crowd before him as he started to pose for the crowd, before slapping his metallic belly. After doing a lot more slapping of his belly and giving some crazy laughter for the crowd, he turned around and started to walk towards the ring.

(It’s great to be a king! I seem to have a knack)

(For taking everything I want and giving nothing back!)

K. Rool stopped short as he immediately recognized the song… and slapped his forehead in annoyance.

(I’ll take away your jellies! I’ll take away your jams!)

(Have a nice vacation while I take away your travel plans!)

Everybody looked a little surprised at the song choice as K. Rool glared at the Sound Booth… before giving a small sigh. “The sad part is, I actually unironically LIKE this song when I sang it in the cartoon…”

(Now that I have the power, this is my finest hour)

(Nothing on this Earth can stop me now!)

Taking a small breath as the song kept playing, the large Kremling boss leaped up to the ramp and landed with a thud, before looking over to the only person not preoccupied at the moment… Blanka.

Blanka noted K. Rool’s serious stance as the green monster frowned, getting himself into a stance himself. “So, you think you have the wits to take me on, when you can’t even destroy a group of monkeys?”

“Hey, these monkeys are tougher than they appear to be!” K. Rool rolled his eyes. “It isn’t MY fault that I got an army as stupid as they are!”

Blanka rolled his eyes before smirking. “Well, I think I can crack that metallic armor of yours soon enough…”

“You dare threaten my belly?!” K. Rool growled as he slapped on it a couple times. “That’s it, you little green monstrosity! You just made yourself an enemy today! And THIS enemy is about to take you out!”

Blanka smirked as he got up, ready to battle. It seemed he was a little more than eager to get started…

All of a sudden, spotlights started to shine on the Ready Room curtain as the audience turned to see what lucky audience member was about to come out of the curtain. A shadow appeared, looking all menacing and ready.

But… the usual enthusiasm from Xero and Maurice were absent as the three of them did not seem all that confident.

“And now… the final fighter of this section…”

“As well as our first Reserve Mystery Fighter…”

“Thus, making it Mystery Fighter… Number… ELEVEN…”

Xero and Maurice groaned as Maurice mumbled, “Gosh darn it, Orange, why is HE the demonstration?”

”BUCKY KATT!” (Get Fuzzy)

Stunned silence as all eyes in the audience turned towards a white Siamese cat with a black head, black paws and black tail, with a lone buck tooth sticking out as the cat started to pose and was trying to act cool. In the cat’s mind, he was being praised for entering in a large fighting tournament, but contrary to reality, this was NOT how people reacted when they first saw Bucky Katt walk out.

Still, for those that did recognize him, a few polite claps were given, and a few yells of excitement were shown, at the very least.

“Yo, people, Bucky Katt in the house! Yeah, this fighting tournament is about to get lit!” Bucky called out, before pausing. “Or however the cool kids are calling it… though I’m more than determined to make sure this tournament is nothing more than a sham! And I will prove it by taking down all of these fighters!” Bucky loudly proclaimed before walking up towards the ring.

(Announcer’s Booth)

Xero, Maurice and even Monika were staring as the latter lowered down her eyelids. “Yeaaaah… he’s going to be lucky if he even gets a few votes…”

“Stranger things have happened… I mean, Snoopy did extremely well in the third Battle of the Luminaries, so maybe he’ll have a chance?” Xero asked, trying to find the positive.

(The Arena)

As soon as Bucky got into the ring, the cat paused as he shifted his eyes, before looking over towards Pudding, who looked like she was ready to defend herself from Tino and Brick, the former looking a little unsure about this, and the latter just wanting to beat her down.

Narrowing his eyes, Bucky quickly ran over to Pudding, got near her ear, and started whispering in it. Pudding’s eyes widened as she turned to Bucky, before whispering back in his ear. Bucky smirked as he gave a nod, before turning back to Pudding and whispering in his ear.

Tino and Brick just looked at the two whispering as they looked a bit… confused. After a moment, Bucky and Pudding nodded as they separated, before turning to the two fighters.

“Okay, I got a new partner to help out!” Pudding grinned.

“Yeah, me and this girl here are about to take you down and out!” Bucky grinned as he pulled out a spork.

Tino blinked. “Uh, is that a spork you’re hol-”

“WAIT A MINUTE!” Brick yelled out as he narrowed his eyes. “What did you two just whisper to each other?”

Pudding could only give a smile. “Ohhhhh, nothing important.”

“...Brick’s got a point, you two, like, whispered for ONE minute… in quiet voices that I couldn’t hear.” Tino frowned.

“You’d like to think we’d have an ulterior motive, wouldn’t you?” Bucky said with a confident smirk.

“...do… do you two know each other?” Tino asked as he looked between Bucky and Pudding. “Because I’m pretty sure I would have remember an official Get Fuzzy/Tokyo Mew Mew crossover…”

“Oh no, we don’t know each other.” Pudding smiled.

“We’re complete, total strangers!” Bucky grinned, as if agreeing with Pudding.

Brick narrowed his eyes. “And yet, you seem to act like you two have met!”

Pudding and Bucky just stayed stone silent as the latter circled his spork around his paws. Brick growled in anger. “You know what, forget it! We’re in a fighting tournament, I don’t want to focus on namby-pamby discussions like this!”

“Then bring it, buddy boy!” Bucky smirked as he turned to the girl. “Pudding, you know what to do!”

“Right on, Bucky!” Pudding grinned as Brick narrowed his eyes.

Tino could only stand there with a very confused look on his face.

“WHAT. IS. EVEN. HAPPENING. RIGHT. NOW?”

(Announcer’s Booth)

Xero, Maurice and Monika just stared in shock and confusion, before Xero’s eyes widened as he frowned. He quickly pulled out his phone and called a familiar number.

Somebody picked up on the other line, with a seemingly trolly voice to him. “Yeeeees?”

“You purposefully put Bucky and Pudding together because you had them both together in fics at some point, didn’t you?” Xero frowned.

“Maaaaaaybeeeeeeee…” Orange’s voice squeaked out with a pure grin on his face.

“...does this explain why the other guy swiped the expectant guy’s Mystery Fighter invitation? I wanted to overlook it because it’d be funny, but now that I see what’s going on… oh my God, Orange…” Xero groaned.

“Hey, Tiny put in Snoopy, Garfield and Scooby together in the third Battle of the Luminaries. I think it’s only fair I put in my trio of Marcie and Solara fanatics!” Orange argued.

“What exactly is a Marcie and Solara fanati-” Monika asked.

“Don’t ask… ju-just don’t ask…” Xero groaned as he hung up the phone. “Hopefully, this is the ONLY instance of this…”

Monika paused as she scratched her head. “I don’t know about that, Xero. From the looks of things, this may be the start of something chaotic… and we always thrive for chaos, right?”

“Y-yeah…” Xero said as he looked back towards the ring. “I just didn’t expect… THAT chaos…”

“What do you think’s going to happen?” Maurice asked as he turned to Xero.

The one-eared bunny paused before shaking his head. “I don’t know, man. I really don’t know…”

Chapter Text

(The Arena)

It was yet another round for the fighters as they were now going through a normal round. Though from a glance, it looked like a normal round… well, that was mainly because it was. After all, Mystery Reserves tend to be normal rounds, with the only difference being that the final fighter coming out was a fighter from the audience…

And in the case of one Bucky B. Katt, the black and white furred Siamese cat was the lucky participant as he was standing alongside Pudding and Tino as Brick was flying around them, keeping an idle eye on all three of them.

Brick laughed as he used his laser eyes to try to slow down Pudding, only for the girl to roll to the side and throw her tambourine disc right at the flying boy, causing him to yelp in anger. Brick growled as he narrowed his eyes towards the girl. He zoomed forward to try to ram right into the young girl, only for Bucky to leap up in the air and pounce him down causing Brick to fall into the ground.

“OOF!” Brick grunted as he felt the impact of the floor before Bucky went ahead and rubbed his paws against the Rowdyruff Boy, before leaping off of the young man.

“Yo, fourth wall! Kick him while he’s down!” Bucky smirked.

“Again, I only narrate, I don’t do crazy stuff!” Tino frowned.

Bucky blinked twice as he looked up to him. “Sooooo… you’re like McGruff the Crime Dog… useless in every way.”

“Wh- HEY!” Tino glared at the small cat. “I’ll have you know that I can do a lot of things… I can roller skate, I can throw a mean horseshoe, AND…”

“...and you can fourth wall break!” Pudding grinned as she noted Brick trying to get up. “Quick, narrate to the audience again!”

“What?” Tino stuttered.

“Just talk to them about anything!” Pudding called out.

Tino stammered, before turning to the camera and narrowing his eyes. “Can you believe what’s going on? How can someone like a little girl and a cat think I have this weird power to break the fourth wall? I mean, yeah, I do it to talk with you guys about my wonderful weekend-”

As Tino started yammering on, both Bucky and Pudding put their paw and hand respectively on Tino’s legs as the world around them went black and white.

“Okay, keep yammering there, we’ll see what we can do…” Bucky said as Tino continued to talk and rant towards the “audience” as he turned to Pudding. “Sooooo… how do you propose we do this?”

“Obviously, Brick is WAY too powerful… even if he IS a cocky Rowdyruff Boy, he’s going to need a little humiliation.” Pudding crossed her arms. “If Chowder were still here, he’d probably chew him up at this point…”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed your little relationship with the purple cat-bear-rabbit thing.” Bucky noted. “What’s up with that?”

Pudding blinked twice, before her eyes widened. “Oh, no, no, no, Chowder and I are just friends. Besides, you know my heart belongs to Taru Taru! Also, Chowder tends to freak out if girls look at him romantically and yells ‘I’m not your boyfriend’ to them. Seems hanging with Panini for his show sort of shook him to the core.”

“Hmmm… well, obviously, we’ll need to get him slowed down just a smidge…” Bucky said as he looked around, and gave a grin as he spotted the frozen battle between Korra and Garnet as he raised an eyebrow. “Hmmm…” He gave a smirk. “Hmmmmm…”

Pudding raised an eyebrow as she turned to Bucky. “Got an idea?”

“A big one…” Bucky smirked. “No matter what happens, just go with it.”

Pudding nodded as she and Bucky immediately returned back and grabbed onto Tino’s legs as Tino looked down, his rant interrupted as everything immediately went back into color, and things started moving fast once more.

“Huh?” Tino asked in confusion as the cat and little girl then hopped off.

“You. Throw me.” Bucky said as he pulled out a spork, just as Brick was getting up.

Tino jumped. “What?”

“DO IT, MAN!” Bucky shouted.

Tino yelped as he grabbed Bucky and threw the cat right at a dazed Brick. Right then and there, Bucky let out a loud, screeching howl and latched onto Brick’s face, causing the Rowdyruff Boy to let out a loud scream.

“AHHHHHH! GETHIMOFFGETHIMOFFGETHIMOFFGETHIMOFF!” Brick shouted as he started zooming around, with Bucky latching on the whole time.

All the while, Korra was using her waterbending skills to shoot out a wave of water towards the Crystal Gem. Garnet rolled out of the way of the wave, before sending out one of her large gauntlets to fly over in an attempt to punch out the newer Avatar. Korra, seeing the attack coming, slid down to dodge the large fist and sent out a stream of fire from her own fists right as Garnet started to raise her fists to the ground, immediately punching the ground to throw Korra off her game.

Korra yelped as she felt the shockwave from the floor, only to recover quickly as she used the ground to send Garnet upwards. The Crystal Gem merely landed right on the ground, trying to catch her breath before looking up.

“Are you sure you can keep up, tough girl?” Korra smirked. “You have been in the arena since Section One, after all!”

Garnet could only give an eyeroll behind her shades. “I’ve been doing a lot of fighting even before learning about this tournament. I think I can hold my own.”

“That’s what they all say…” Korra smirked before sending out a stream of fire towards Garnet…

Or rather, she would have, if not for the screaming missile that was Brick colliding into her while Bucky casually hopped off and joined up with Garnet. The Crystal Gem just barely gave a reaction as the cat casually joined up, holding a spork in hand.

Pudding then ran over to join Garnet as she gave a pose. “Hope you don’t mind, but my friend and I are trying to take out some trash.”

Garnet looked between the two as she raised an eyebrow towards both Bucky and Pudding. “Hmmm… you two seemed to be quite the enigma… I never seen you interact, and yet I see a lot of futures where you two seem to hang out with another kid…”

“Yeah, well, that’s the Craz-E religion for ya. It never makes any sense.” Pudding rolled her eyes. “Now, would you mind helping us with something?”

Garnet paused as she turned to see Korra getting up and glaring at Brick, who seemed to be narrowing her eyes at her.

“Oh great, now I have to face off against another girl?” Brick scoffed. “Well, you should be easy enough to-”

POW!

Korra immediately collided her fist into Brick’s face, giving a growl. “Interesting to see how misogyny doesn’t die when it comes to you!”

Garnet cracked her fists as she looked towards the kid and cat, before giving a nod. “I’ll see what I can do, though I can’t keep promises if my fatigue gets the better of me.”

“Ehhh, don’t worry. Just slow the guy down a bit so we can get some easy pickings.” Bucky said as he noted Tino approaching. “Oh, hey, fourth wall! You may want to stay back.”

Tino stopped short as he blinked twice. “Wait, what? WHY?!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, now that we’re at the start of the round, it is NOW time to spin the wheel!” Maurice announced as the wheel appeared once more as it started going around and around.

Everyone turned and watched in curiosity as the wheel continually spun for a few seconds before slowing down and landing on… Tino’s face.

“Oh… so I’m getting a punishment.” Tino lowered his eyelids, giving out a deadpan voice, as he gave a groan. “Okay, what’s the worst of it?”

“Sorry, Tino, but you’re going to be the first person to suffer… Floor is Lava!” Monika grinned as she appeared on the monitor, before seemingly typing something.

A box suddenly appeared over Tino’s head as the words ‘Tino.FeetTemperature: Increase 500’ appeared on it.

All of a sudden, Tino felt a burning sensation on his feet as he gave a loud yell as he jumped up and clung onto a corner post. “Sheesh! Give me a little warning!”

“We did. You got Floor is Lava. You should have moved quicker.” Monika explained with a smug grin on her face. “But yeah, you and anybody within a two feet radius of yourself will be affected by a very hot floor. Better work around that!”

Tino groaned as he looked over towards Bucky and Pudding, who gave thumbs up as Bucky called out, “We’ll see you at the end!”

“Yeah, if I live!” Tino called out as he gave a groan. “Great… this is a good start to my run. How can things get any-”

“Whoo-hoo-hoo!”

Tino’s eyes shrank as he turned to see Jack Skellington jumping up in the air and landing between the battle of Penny and Isabelle against Marx and the Devil (much to the four’s surprise). Chrom blinked twice before turning towards Tino with a slight frown on his face. Tino’s eyes shrank as Chrom swung his sword a bit before approaching (though the blue-haired Shepherd leader was wincing a bit as he approached).

“Oh, it got worse…”

(Announcer’s Booth)

Xero was busy eating some popcorn that was delivered to the office as he seemed to be watching the fights eagerly. “Man, this is starting to get pretty good out there…”

“Tell me about it.” Maurice gave a chuckle as he continually ate… before hearing the phone ring. “Get that, will ya? Probably Ashley and Drake, STILL trying to figure out what Bucky and Pudding’s relationship is…”

“On it.” Xero sighed as he shook his head. “Though if you ask me, they’re just going to be even MORE confused.”

“Hey, SSBFreak gave Tiny a weirder explanation with Eduardo and Ally Gator’s friendship, and Snoopy, Garfield and Scooby in the Battle of the Luminaries were already an interesting team-up. If you ask me, this is nothing.” Maurice rolled his eyes.

“All right, all right, I’m on it.” Xero sighed before answering the phone. “Yeeeeeeees?”

“Okay, SO I just got word from Tiny, who got word from Orange.” Drake said with a heavy sigh. “What in the world is Craz-E Religion?”

“I’m so glad you asked that, and to further answer that question, I’m going to call in the new hosts of the Battle of the Luminaries side stories.” Xero grinned as he picked up Maurice’s phone and dialed Carver’s number.

After a moment of ringing, the familiar voice of one Carver had picked up. “Yes, Maurice?”

“Actually, this is Xero.” Xero smirked. “I have Drake on speaker, and he just learned about the oddness of Craz-E religion.”

“Oh Marcie…” Carver groaned as the sound of his head being held was heard. “Drake, really, you shouldn’t have dug that deep, dude.”

“WHY? I deserve a right to know why Bucky and Pudding are all of a sudden so buddy-buddy with each other, WHEN they have NEVER interacted in canon material!” Drake’s voice shouted.

“Look, it’s complicated, but… do you remember this girl named Solara?” Carver’s voice asked with a sigh.

“Wasn’t she from that third Survivor season Orange did that never finished?” Drake’s voice asked.

“She’s a little more than that. Solara was my former boss.” Carver groaned.

“...your former boss, who you say is like a devil from hell… is a little girl?” Drake’s voice asked in confusion.

“She is NOT just a little girl! She is demon incarnate!” Carver argued. “I know this because I used to work for her, back when I was just one of the mindless demons she created with her own hands!”

“...why am I now learning this lore from you?” Drake lowered his eyelids. “Is this part of this whole ‘Oh Rhonda’ story Orange mentioned?”

“That two hundred and fifty chapter story? Yes… sort of.” Carver nodded. “As you already know, I used to be a walrus demon that had to turn into human to fit into human society, but I fell in love with the world so much, I didn’t want to destroy it or whatever Solara had planned… I know she wanted to destroy an escaped Anchor that she lulled out of the canon world into an alternate universe…”

“And the whole… Craz-E stuff?” Drake asked.

“Well… Marcie and Solara, the former a good girl and the latter the evil girl, were actually best friends back in the roaring 1920s…” Carver explained. “They had this whole ‘play pretend’ thing with making up their own religion with the craziest things possible, only for it to become real… this was during a time cartoons were starting to take off, so whatever their imaginations brought out, they can reenact it… however, it turns out Solara was actually an Anti-Christ sort of figure, and… Marcie turned out to be this Chosen One, and the two had a fight, and Marcie still saw some good in Solara, so instead of destroying her, she banished her to another dimension…”

“Okay, okay, I get the idea…” Drake frowned, before pausing. “Uh, wait… but she always escapes her dimension, if that’s any indication. Is that a cause for concern for our world… or the tournament?”

“No, no, don’t worry.” Carver shook his head. “While Solara doesn’t mind crossovers, she never usually gets THAT involved. She did try to get into a crossover story once, but she doesn’t like talking about that.”

“Okay…” Drake blinked.

“Anyway, long story short, Craz-E religion sort of fell through the cracks in that nobody took it seriously, except for those that are a little crazy enough to learn about, and learn about… well, loops.” Carver bit his lip.

“Loops?” Drake asked in confusion.

“You know how every fanfiction in the world is written by different authors, based on canon works and events? Well, if someone believes in Craz-E religion from a canon world, they always find themselves looping through canon events in their own worlds, only they see something different that wasn’t there before… thus, a fanfiction alternate universe.” Carver explained.

“...you lost me.” Drake frowned.

“Well, let me put it this way.” Carver explained. “You know how there are these bad episodes of shows? Well, say one were to write an alternate scenario based on bad episode to try to make them better? Well, suppose one of the characters from the canon universe was a looper that looped into THAT universe, knowing how the original events went.”

“Sooooo… like Groundhog Day or Edge of Tomorrow?” Drake asked in confusion.

“...something like that.” Carver sighed.

“Okay, that STILL doesn’t explain why Pudding and Bucky know each other.” Drake frowned.

“Yeah, do me a favor, Drake. DON’T mention ANY of this in the side stories. It’s a lot more complicated than it is already, and I think we’d need a Kingdom Hearts flow chart to follow through with it.” Carver groaned. “To make the long story short of it, both Bucky and Pudding are their canon selves going through various loops of fanfictions in different universes. And unless Tiny decides to take this concept and implement it in some of his favorite characters, it won’t affect anything in the Ultimate Video Rumble-verse.”

“...yeah, I don’t think I’m going to mention this whole “Craz-E” stuff.” Drake groaned. “I’m already getting a headache enough as it is…”

“Good thinking.” Carver sighed. “Okay, well, I have to get going. See you later!”

“Yeah, you too.” Drake sighed as the click on Maurice’s phone was heard.

After a moment, Xero coughed as the rabbit said, “Are we done here?”

“Y-yeah…” Drake sighed.

“Good.” Xero said as he hung up the phone and gave a groan as he held his head. “Hopefully, this is the LAST time we have to reference Orange’s crazy ideas in this fic.”

“Somehow, I doubt it’s going to be as easy.” Maurice sighed as he shook his head. “Okay, can we get back to the ACTUAL tournament in hand? The one that’s going on in front of us? I really don’t want to delve any more into Orange’s crazy mind ideas he always has when it regards some of his favorite characters.”

“Agreed.” Xero said as he got himself comfortable, still munching on the popcorn, before hearing the phone ring. “Oh, now what?”

Xero picked up the phone and gave a sigh. “Announcer’s Booth…” The rabbit then stood up as he gave a nervous grin. “Ahh, Madame Pomfrey, how is my favorite nurse from Hogwarts holding out?! Uh, I didn’t transport any least favorite characters I had to various nodes, did I? Because I swear, I learned my lesson!”

Xero blinked twice as he leaned towards the phone. “Wait, you want me to what? Well, that’s an unusual request, but… why?”

The one-eared bunny paused before his eyes widened. “Wait, that can happen?” He gave a big grin. “Holy crap, I can’t wait to see how that plays out when it comes to the DVDs!”

Xero then winced a bit. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have made light of that! Yes, I’ll delay their numbers until they’re back to normal. Luckily, we still have plenty of tournament left… but if they’re not back to normal within five rounds from the end, we’ll have to force them to the tournament as is… and I think it would be hilarious to watch!”

Xero winced again as Maurice, watching, just rolled his eyes. The bunny groaned as he rubbed his head, “Fine, fine… just see what you can do.”

With that, Xero hung up the phone and gave a small sigh of relief as Maurice raised an eyebrow. “Who was that?”

“The Recovery Room. Apparently, something happened to our psychologist AND one of our contestants that they had a body swap.” Xero explained.

“Oh, okay…” Maurice paused… as he jumped and turned to his friend in shock. “Uh, uh, a body swap?!”

(Dome; Recovery Room)

“A body swap?” Della asked in an incredulous voice.

“A body swap?!” Bunnie Rabbot said in a rather shocked voice.

“A body swap.” Himiko paused as she put a finger to her chin in curiosity.

Wraith Arnold, who had just finished what was going on, gave a groan as he held his head. “It’s not a body swap. A body swap would require my SOUL to be IN a body. No, Sephiroth’s soul ended up in MY body, and Sephiroth’s body is now bedridden…”

“So yeah, a body swap.” Himiko pointed out. “You know, even though those type of episodes happen, I don’t believe we encountered a Body Swap episode in a UVR tournament before…”

As the red headed girl in mage clothing gave a giggle, Wraith Arnold gave a groan. “I suppose that IS something new… but I feel ridiculous right now, even without my body.”

As Wraith Arnold shook his head as he floated over his chair, he couldn’t help but feel a bit watched right now, given his current situation. He looked over towards his right to see Baymax and MIkan were laying Scratch down on the bed as Valentine, Hello Nurse and Madame Pomfrey were checking on his body, which was now being currently possessed by an unconscious Sephiroth. As for the empty, pale Sephiroth body husk, it was currently… not unconscious, but laying down on the bed as it was looking with its pale eyes and muttering sentences about life being meaningless…

However, as Madame Pomfrey felt it was the security team’s duty to know what was going on (considering Sephiroth WAS trying to attack the Recovery Room, with Scratch trying to prevent him from entering), she quickly informed Himiko, who had informed everyone else to gather in the room right away, which was how the current situation was happening.

“Still, it’s soooooo cool!” Scrappy said as he looked around at the new Wraith form Arnold had. “A ghostly soul that’s separated from its body! I bet you've never seen anything like that, right, Uncle Scooby?”

Scrappy turned, only to see his large Great Dane uncle already shivering nervously under one of the hospital beds.

Mallow raised an eyebrow as he cocked his head towards Scrappy. “What about the live action Scooby-Doo movie where you-”

“Not me! Some other rip-off of me!” Scrappy groaned as he held his head. “Honestly, those movies are definitely their own thing at this point… I just hate it when I get bad rep for that, you know?!”

“What I’m curious about is something else…” Maki paused as she looked over towards Bunnie and Penelope’s hands, which were still being held together by glue. “What happened to YOU two?”

“We were in the arcade and we… somehow got our little ol’ hands stuck.” Penelope frowned as she raised her glue hand up, lifting Bunnie up.

“Shucks, whoever thought ‘dis was funny, they are in for a STERN talking!” Bunnie grumbled angrily.

Wraith Arnold blinked twice as he floated over and examined the hands as he tapped a chin in thought. “From the looks of things, I’d say this was a harmless prank.”

“THIS IS HARMLESS?!” Bunnie shouted in anger.

“In terms of Helga… yeah.” Arnold nodded.

“Wait, this is your FRIEND’S doing?” Penelope asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Arnold gave a nervous chuckle as he put his hand behind his head. “Don’t take it too personal. She’s been doing a healthy outlet of practical joking ever since the Jungle Movie finally released and we got together…”

“...I’m sorry, sug, what do you see in her?” Bunnie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Wraith Arnold argued, “I know she’s a bully to most, but she’s a lot more than that. If you’ve seen our show, you would know this.”

“You know, for someone who was dense in his original series, I’m surprised you’re just… suddenly OKAY with Helga.” Himiko pointed out.

“I don’t approve of her bullying AND if she does go too far in her plans, I do often try to reel her in, but…” Wraith Arnold sighed.

“Uh…”

Everyone jumped as they turned to see Mikan, who was helping Molly trying to revive Scratch in the hospital bed. “Not that it’s any of my business, but… maybe we can try to keep things on track?”

“Oh, oh, right. Sorry.” Wraith Arnold coughed a bit before giving a nod. “Anyway, that’s basically the situation I’m at right now.”

“Interesting…” Della paused as she put a hand on the underside of her beak, rubbing it in thought. “So as of current, we have a soul without a body… a soulless body… AND a body that has the wrong soul in it.”

“Not to mention, the ghost that was responsible for the mess.” Molly said as she turned to the others, giving a nervous chuckle. “Look, don’t be too hard on Scratch. He was only trying to defend himself until help came.”

“And… you were the best help?” Maki asked.

Molly sighed. “Look, Scratch was waiting by the Recovery Room, but I guess Sephiroth came in because… well, I’m assuming he knows something about the former champion.”

This caught the security team’s attention as Scooby poked his head out in curiosity. “Ruh? Rormer rampion?”

“Yes, former champion. Penny Proud.” Molly said. “I think Sephiroth might be after her, if what Scratch believes the legends to be true.”

“Regends?” Scooby asked.

Maki paused as she snapped her fingers as everyone turned to her. “I believe I know what you’re talking about. We watched a lot of the Ultimate Video Rumble 2, BUT… you believe that Penny Proud may have some type of power boost since she became a champion?”

Molly nodded towards the brooding girl.

“Power boost?” Della asked as she cocked her head in confusion.

“Well… sources are a little sketchy, but according to the Ultimate Video Rumble 2, or at least what information I could gather, whoever won the Ultimate Video Rumble, or at least a spin-off, would have had their soul supercharged for a year.” Maki explained.

Wraith Arnold just blinked twice. “But… a year’s already passed since the last Tournament of Kikai.”

“Not entirely.” Maki explained. “Yes, it is true that in between the months that had happened, we had had a canceled Okron Tournament, another possibly canceled Okron Tournament, a third Battle of the Luminaries AND a fourth Megamix Tournament, with each of them taking place at different times within the year. True, technically, a year had passed, BUT… and you’re going to find this interesting… the soul supercharge HASN’T passed on from her yet.”

“But… how did this whole thing start with souls being supercharged if someone wins a tournament? That hardly makes any sense!” Wraith Arnold frowned.

“Yeah, I’m curious myself. Looking at Penny right now…” Della paused as she turned to the televisions that were currently showing Penny and Isabelle fighting against Jack Skellington. “She doesn’t SEEM that different.”

“She may not look like it, but believe me, she is.” Maki took a deep breath. “Scooby, you were with Penny at the time in the third Battle of the Luminaries, you remember seeing something unusual going on with Penny.”

“Ruh-huh.” Scooby nodded. “Renny rad rhis unusual glow arout her.”

Himiko nodded as she said, “Maki, Shuichi and I talked with the other champions after everything that happened, and Haohmaru theorized that it was because of the supercharged soul that all champions received upon winning a tournament.”

“But HOW?!” Molly frowned. “Scratch said something about it, but he was being vague! And considering his unconscious state, he’s in no state for explanations right now!”

Maki took a deep breath as she motioned for everyone’s attention. “Okay, well, here’s the thing. Nobody knows how this supercharged soul comes to be. All anybody knows is that whenever somebody wins a tournament, they just have their soul supercharged for at least a year, and it’s caused by some… strange nodal anomaly. Haohmaru told me that during the Ultimate Video Rumble 2, people were after HIS soul because it was the most powerful thing in existence.”

“Why were people after his soul?” Mallow asked in curiosity.

Maki’s eyes darkened as she gave a sigh. “Because… whoever captures Penny… or kills her… if Penny’s soul is obtained, that person will be more powerful than the ruler of half the nodes… maybe even destroying the whole multiverse.”

Everyone listening to Maki just looked at her as Wraith Arnold put his hand over his mouth in shock. Everybody then looked at each other, then up towards the monitors where Penny was dodging another attack from Jack Skellington’s Soul Robber in worry. Something was telling them that Penny was going to be a LOT more important than they thought…

(The Arena)

The King of Dinosaurs let out a loud roar of triumph before leaping forward to do an elbow drop towards the Beast. The Beast could only hop backwards to dodge the attack before swiping forward with his claws, scratching the heel wrestler’s shoulder a bit. The King of Dinosaurs quickly winced in pain before narrowing his eyes towards the brown furred chimera.

“You may have improved your fighting style, but I’m still standing!” The King of Dinosaurs said with confidence.

“Hmph. Seems to me we’re more evenly matched than you think.” Beast said with a small snort.

“Please. All I have to do is make you angry, and then we’d REALLY have a showdown!” King of Dinosaurs smirked.

“And how could you possibly make me angry? This form is only until I get eliminated, so you can’t make me any angrier than this…” Beast said.

“Well, maybe that cute bookworm girl of yours would-” King of Dinosaurs started, before Beast’s eyes widened.

The Beast then gave a growl before grabbing King of Dinosaurs by the throat, making the heel wrestler choke. “Finish that sentence, and forget being eliminated in one piece. You’ll be without at least an arm and a leg when I’m through with yo-”

The King of Dinosaurs choked a bit as he struggled. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! That is not what I’m intending, I swear! I was trying to rile you up! Let me- GACK!- go!”

The Beast paused, before snorting a bit as he released the King of Dinosaurs from his grasp, before Beast gave a growl. “You’re lucky I’ve been practicing restraint.”

“Okay, okay, no more comments about Belle.” King of Dinosaurs wheezed a bit.

“Good.” Beast nodded firmly, before getting into a fighting position. “I’m ready to continue now.”

“R-right…” The King of Dinosaurs wheezed before rushing forward for a tackle, with the Beast leaping forward.

Meanwhile, not too far away from here, a familiar female pussycat got sent flying towards the ropes as she got up, quickly shaking herself off before looking up towards her opponent, who was only doing a dance in retaliation. Penelope Pussycat took a short breath before trying to think and tapping her foot.

“Well, obviously, she’s a cow, so I can’t EXACTLY topple her easily…” Penelope breathed as she looked up at Ushi, trying to examine every angle. “I’ll have to rely on my instincts here.”

Taking a deep breath, Penelope immediately went on all four legs and zoomed as fast as she could, before leaping up and covered Ushi’s face.

The cow could only moo in shock before stumbling around in an attempt to shake Penelope off her head. But the cat just latched on and hissed a bit before scratching the top of the cow’s head. Ushi tried to bang her head against a corner post, in an attempt to get her off, but it was of no use. If anything, bashing her head only dented Penelope a little bit as she started to see stars.

Still, getting dazed was enough to loosen the cat’s grip on the cow’s head as she slipped down. Ushi then turned around and started to back kick Penelope in the face a couple of times, sending her flying towards the battle between Beast and King of Dinosaurs.

By that point, both of them were resorting to their claws as Beast took a swipe right at the costumed man’s chest, with the King of Dinosaurs swiping back towards the Beast in an attempt to slash him up. However, the heel wrestler could only smirk before leaping over the Beast and grabbing the chimera, before taking him up in midair.

“ZETSUMETSU… HURRICANE!” King of Dinosaurs shouted as he spun in the air, with Beast in his arms, before slamming the chimera down to the ground, as he jumped up. “Ah ha ha! Let’s see you try and get up after THAT move!”

Beast groaned as he was getting up. However, as King of Dinosaurs was prepping himself up and getting ready for another punch, he was met with a slam of the face by a flying Penelope Pussycat, whose claws managed to sink right into the dinosaur mask.

“Wh- HEY! GET OFF, YOU MANGY FELINE!” King of Dinosaurs shouted.

From nearby, Bucky, who had just avoided another laser eye from Brick, could only look over at the heel wrestler, looking rather offended. “Hey!”

“He wasn’t talking to you.” Garnet simply said before rushing forward and punching the Rowdyruff Boy towards the ropes.

Penelope was blindly scratching at the King of Dinosaurs as the man gave a grunt and groan, trying to shake him off. Beast could only blink twice before turning to Ushi, who could only pull out a large quart of milk and drink it in victory, before tossing it aside.

It was then Ushi noticed the Beast just standing there, before patting her hoof on the ground, ready to charge. The Beast narrowed his eyes towards the cow before getting ready to move.

And then, Ushi charged forward, mooing as she felt like a train, rushing forward towards the Beast in rapid succession. However, the Beast rushed forward and slammed right at the cow, his strength being more superior as he knocked down the cow. Ushi mooed a bit as she lifted her head, rather dazed.

“You may have distracted my opponent, but you’re too much of a random factor to keep around. Get out.” Beast said before grabbing Ushi by the legs and swinging her towards the arena’s edge as the Beast let go, sending her flying out of the ring and into the portal below.

Ushi landed in Harvest Moon, where the cow decided to just relax and take a small nap on the fields.

“Sorry if my intrusion was a little off-putting, but hopefully, I’m making up for that now!”

Penny could only nod towards the new person who was helping her and Isabelle out. “It’s all right. I’m just more sorry for Tino, since he’s sort of trying to avoid his opponent at the moment…”

Jack Skellington turned his head towards the panicking Tino, who was wielding a pool cue stick in an attempt to block some hits from Chrom’s sword, all the while, trying to get on the ropes as best as he could, trying to get a good balance. “It does seem a little problematic, but I think my opponent’s in a little too deep with him now. Soooo… I’m more than happy to give my scary assistance!”

“Yes, please!” Isabelle nodded as she used her slingshot to slow down Marx.

“Ahem.”

Jack and Penny turned towards the Devil, who was crossing his arms with an annoyed expression. “You realize I’m still standing here, right?”

“Oh, sorry about that, Mr. Devil! Actually, I’ve been meaning to fight you!” Jack Skellington said.

“Oh?” The Devil’s ears perked in interest as he gave a smile. “Do go on.”

“Well, I was thinking since you and I are both good at entertainment… why don’t we see who the best entertainer is?” Jack asked.

The Devil paused as he put his hand to his chin. “Hmmm… a very interesting request… very well, Mr. Pumpkin King, I’ll accept your terms of battle. BUUUUUUT… I get to choose HOW we fight.”

Penny gave a small sigh of relief as she turned to the Pumpkin King. “Do you think you can hold that guy for a while while I go help Isabelle with that crazy winged guy?”

“Don’t worry. I never fail to entertain!” Jack Skellington grinned as he gave a nod towards the winner of the first Tournament of Kikai.

Penny nodded as she started to head off to help her alliance friend take on Marx (but not before waiting for the King of Dinosaurs to run by with an attached Penelope on his forehead, still scratching furiously). With that, Jack turned towards the Devil as the skeleton nodded. “Name your challenge, Devil.”

“You. And Me. Dancing contest. One song.” The Devil said before looking up towards the Announcer’s Booth. “What say you, hosts? Could you talk to your Sound Booth guy and request the following song?”

Xero and Maurice paused as they looked at each other. After a moment, Maurice shrugged. “We’ve had weirder options…”

“I guess this really is a talent show now…” Xero groaned as he held his head. “Oh, the call I’m going to get from Ashley about THIS…”

Back down below, Monika appeared on her screen as she gave a grin. “We’re going to allow it! What song?”

The Devil smirked before leaning in and whispering towards the monitor. Monika leaned in before her eyebrow raised up a bit. She then giggled. “Why not?”

With that, the monitor shut off as silence filled the room (save for the occasional sound of fighting). And then, a familiar, menacing song started to play from the speakers.

Those who were either fans of classical music or were fans of Fantasia immediately recognized the music as ‘Night at Bald Mountain’ as the Devil smirked towards Jack, zipping his lip. Jack nodded, doing the same motions as the Devil before the skeleton narrowed his eyes towards the Devil as he snapped his fingers, a snazzy blue sequined suit now adorning his body before tap dancing.

The Pumpkin King could only smirk before using the Soul Robber to spin around and dance towards the music as he gave a nod, showing that he was having such a great time. The Devil could only respond by doing a few more dance moves, including popping his head out from his body and spinning it around on his body, before using his shoulders to jump the head around before floating it upwards as a stream of fire started to erupt behind him.

Jack frowned, before taking a deep breath to focus as he waving his hands as if to summon ghosts from below the floor as they started circling around the arena (most fighters even stopping their battle to observe the ghosts that have been summoned). Then, Jack rushed forward and leapt back into the spotlight and twirled around before pulling his face, as if to scare people.

The Devil gave a small smirk before doing another soft-shoe dance, before twirling his pitchfork around, summoning five blue energy-fire balls, before sending them out one by one towards Jack. The Pumpkin King, giving a small yelp, immediately countered by using the Soul Robber, attacking the balls as musical notes were produced. As quick as possible, Jack gathered the musical notes before turning around to see the Devil using his pitchfork to turn into a bat to swoop in with the music.

The Devil then turned back into his regular self before soft-shoeing some more, before making a pose. The Devil then turned and shot another fireball from his pitchfork. Jack responded quickly using his Icy Terror attack to form ice crystals to counter the fireballs, more musical notes dropping down. Jack did not hesitate in picking them up right away. Feeling he had enough musical notes, he waved his hands as both he and the Devil were standing against each other in a one-on-one showdown.

Monika’s face appeared on the floating screen as she gave the countdown. “Ready? 3… 2… 1… Let’s dance!”

Jack did not hesitate as he started to dance around, with the Devil following suit. However, as people who played “The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge” would see, Jack turned out to be quite the divine dancer, having used the power of music before as some skeletal dancers suddenly appeared in the background, dancing behind the Pumpkin King.

The Devil narrowed his eyes as he continued to dance, trying his best to hit all the right notes all the while trying to summon some more fireballs. However, when the music started to reach its climax, Jack proceeded to hold his hands out as he summoned all the music notes he gathered and sent them right towards the black furred Devil. The musical notes made contact, sending the Devil flying.

The music itself ended as the dancers disappeared, with Jack turning towards the battle with Penny, Isabelle and Marx as he started to engulf himself in flames and charge towards the flying menace.

“HEY!” Marx yelped as he got pushed back with Jack’s attack, before giving a pout. “Awww, you’re no fun!”

“Oh, Jack! Did you get rid of the Devil?” Isabelle asked.

“We heard the music, but we were a little too distracted with this guy!” Penny smiled before tackling Marx down and punching his eye, causing the jester-like creature to yell out.

“Yeah, I took care of him.” Jack smiled. “Do you want help with this one, too?”

“If you can do that, please.” Isabelle nodded.

“No problem!” Jack smiled as he wiggled the Soul Robber and grabbed Marx, the jester-like creature yelping as he got beaten down to the ground.

Penny crossed her arms in satisfaction as she turned to Isabelle. “It’s nice to have a little help where you can.”

“You said it.” Isabelle nodded, before pausing. “Well, what do you want to do? Should we join Garnet in helping out against that Rowdyruff Boy?”

Penny turned to see Garnet pumping her legs a bit as she and Korra were on one side, with Pudding and Bucky in the other, the latter holding his spork in determination as Brick was eyeing both players. “She looks fine, but why don’t we give them another corner to wo- AHHH!”

Isabelle jumped as she turned to see some sort of black winged creature grabbing Penny by the arms and snatching her, like a hawk.

“What the-?” Isabelle gasped as she turned towards the creature and gasped. “NO!”

(The Arena; Two Minutes Earlier)

However, when the music started to reach its climax, Jack proceeded to hold his hands out as he summoned all the music notes he gathered and sent them right towards the black furred Devil. The musical notes made contact, sending the Devil flying.

However, it was only to the edge of the arena as the Devil slammed his pitchfork just in time to teleport away before he could reach the end of the arena. He had teleported to the other side with relative ease (thankfully, in a less crowded spot where at least two fights were taking place, one not even paying attention to the other). As soon as the Devil got his bearings, he turned around and looked up in the audience, noticing a familiar figure holding a sign.

The Devil squinted and noted the sign that said ‘It’s time!’ written on it. Giving a smile, he turned to see where Penny and Isabelle were, then nodded to see Jack trying to fight off Marx. Chuckling, the Devil then transformed into a winged hawk-like creature with his face on it before flying up in the air. Immediately, he swooped down towards an unsuspecting Penny and grabbed her by the shirt, lifting her up in the air as she gave a scream.

(The Arena; Present Time)

“Hey! That is so not cool!” The young teenage girl shouted in anger as she looked up to see the smirking Devil carrying her.

“Please, you have to expect this gameplay by now… that said…” The Devil used his legs to swing and let go of Penny, causing the girl to scream as she bumped right into Jack, just as he was about to perform another attack.

Jack didn’t see it coming as he felt the impact of the attack right on his back, causing the skeleton to stumble forward. Marx, giving a laugh, flew upwards as Jack tripped right from the ropes, out of the ring, and into the portal below.

The Devil laughed as he joined by Marx’s side, transforming back to normal as Penny recovered, glaring at the two.

“Man, what a good trick, buuuuuuuuuu-ddy!” Marx said. “I can’t wait to see what you do for an encore!”

“Oh believe me, I’m just getting started!” The Devil said as he turned to Penny, who seethed right at the Devil. “Oh, don’t you look at me. You should be thanking me for giving you a free elimination!”

“FREE?!” Penny shouted in anger. “You threw me right at him! Are you really that petty about losing a dance battle that you had to butt in!”

“Yeah!” Isabelle frowned as she joined alongside Penny. “I knew you two were going to be jerks, but now you’re going too far!”

The Devil could only laugh before leaning down and whispering into Marx’s ear. “I have a plan, but I need a distraction. Could you handle the dog for me while I handle the girl?”

Marx’s eyes lit up as he turned towards Penny and Isabelle. The two girls could only frown as they went into a fighting stance. Little did the two know that this wasn’t going to end the way they were thinking…

Jack landed in Just Dance 2, where he decided to dance to the rhythm of the Monster Mash, with the player character just looking at the skeleton awkwardly.

Brick was side-eyeing both sides as he was trying to get a good grasp of his situation. On one end, Garnet and Korra were eyeing him, ready to make a move. And on the other end, Pudding and Bucky were standing side-by-side, whispering to each other, before giving a nod as they turned back to Brick, also keeping an eye out.

After contemplating for a moment, he smirked before flying upwards, then zooming down towards Korra.

Korra smirked before reacting as she held her arm up, summoning a stone wall that launched her in the air before holding out a fist to make some contact with the Rowdyruff Boy. Brick yelped at the pain he took.

“Watch this now! You’re going to love this!” Bucky smirked before rushing upwards on the stone wall as he tried to climb up it.

“Uh, Bucky, I don’t think climbing stone and climbing wood is the same thing.” Pudding called out.

“Oh, come on, how hard can it be?” Bucky scoffed before jumping up as he tried to cling onto the stone wall as best as he could. Unfortunately, as Bucky learned, without having sharper claws (he cursed Rob for cutting his claws before coming over to this tournament), he couldn’t get a good grip on the wall. But he managed to do it.

Upwards, Korra slammed Brick down to the ground as the Rowdyruff Boy gave a small groan, before shaking his head as he narrowed his eyes. “Wow, for a girl, you… certainly hit hard… but that’s not going to deter me!”

Korra narrowed her eyes. “Really? Even after being beaten by the Powerpuff Girls a couple of times, you really think you have any leg room to say that?”

Brick’s eyes snapped open, before giving a growl. “Don’t you even DARE say that! We are a hundred and TEN percent better than the Powerpuff Girls! Maybe even infinity percent!”

“Not the way we saw it, na no da!” Pudding teased a bit, causing Brick to wince.

Brick growled in anger as he turned towards the little girl. “Don’t think you’re getting out of this! I’m still going to beat you!”

“I’d like to see you try!” Pudding smiled as she took off her tambourine and started to her dance. “PUDDING… RING… INFERNO!”

Pudding leapt up in the air and sent a shockwave towards Brick, causing the Rowdyruff Boy to yelp as he got engulfed in gelatin once more. Pudding smiled as she gave a nod to Korra. “You want to take it from here?”

“Gladly!” Korra smirked as she punched her fist to her hand, before leaping into the air and using her firebending skills to shoot fire at the gelatin.

Garnet paused briefly before giving a nod as she rushed forward and fired her gauntlets at the gelatin, splashing it forward as Brick felt the impact of the gauntlet and was sent flying to the corner post.

Brick coughed a bit, spitting out the gelatin in his mouth before narrowing his eyes towards Korra and Garnet as the Rowdyruff Boy flew up and shot some laser eyes to keep her away. Korra smirked as she turned to Garnet. “What do you think? Should we try to trounce this kid?”

“Limit attack?” Garnet asked.

“I got just the one in mind!” Korra smiled as she and Garnet were about to start up their attack…

However, if there was any poorly timed appearances to make, it would definitely be Bucky as he was still focused on climbing that wall Korra made earlier. “Almost… there…”

Bucky groaned as he kicked his back paws aggressively at the wall, only for it to loosen up as he felt the wall falling on his end.

“Whoops…” Bucky said as he looked down and yelped. “INCOMING WALL!”

Garnet and Korra looked over, but before either of them could react, the wall slammed, sending a massive impact as Korra and Garnet were sent flying straight out of the ring. Brick, noticing the girls were momentarily distracted, took his chance to slam Garnet in the stomach before she got sent out. Unfortunately, he was too late to do any damage to Korra as she fell out first, with Garnet following not too far after.

“Okay, uh…” Xero paused as he looked at the instant replay of that moment. “The elimination of Korra goes to Bucky, since he was the one who made the stone wall fall, but Brick gets Garnet’s elimination, since he was the one who touched her last. So… sorry, Buckster, no two eliminations for you.”

Bucky groaned as he rubbed his head. “What’d he say?”

“BUCKY!” Pudding shouted. “You just eliminated our help!”

“Did I?” Bucky groaned as he got up as he shook his head. “I’m still trying to get my bearings here…”

Both Korra and Garnet landed in Sailor Moon, where they decided to share some quaint stories with lesbian couple Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune whilst battling each other for fun.

Pudding groaned as she heard Brick laughing as he quickly flew in to go for a quick punch. Pudding yelped as she fell directly on the floor, groaning. The young boy could only give a laugh as he crossed his arms. “Heh, looks like you and that cat of yours are the only ones here… well, I can take you both on no trouble!”

Pudding groaned as she looked up and growled in anger, before turning towards Bucky with a frown on her face. “You better pick up the pace here, Bucky, because I am NOT losing!”

“Fine, fine, just let me see what I can do.” Bucky said as he waved his spork right at Brick. “Oooh! HA! OOOH! HA!”

Brick could only stare right at the cat as he rolled his eyes. Already, the Rowdyruff Boy could tell this was going to be a bit of an easy battle. “Heh, this’ll be cake getting rid of the both of you!”

“Technically, you can only get rid of one of us!” Pudding smirked. “Considering you just wasted your first elimination!”

“Nah, I’m pretty sure I can get rid of three. After all, it has happened before.” Brick smirked. “Who says I can’t do it again?”

“The vote tally.” Pudding said, quickly pulling out a tally with all the votes, before putting it away. “But either way, you’re not going to-”

That was all Pudding could manage to say before Brick came down and punched her in an uppercut, sending the little girl flying upwards before landing down in the air.

“Ow!” Pudding groaned as she rubbed her head. “No wonder… Orange decided to readapt you in his Powerpuff Girls fanfiction…”

Brick shut his eyes as he slammed into Pudding’s gut. “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR WORDS FROM YOU ANYMORE!”

Pudding yelped as she groaned, rubbing her stomach a bit as she looked over and noticed King of Dinosaurs attempting to pull Penelope Pussycat off of him with his hands. Getting an idea, Pudding rolled to the side as Brick missed his punch before running over to Bucky.

“Hey, Bucky! I have a way to redeem yourself!” Pudding asked as Bucky was just standing there, just waving the spork around as if he was actually trying anything.

“Great. What’s your plan?” Bucky said, not paying attention.

“Do you remember that old movie “That Darn Cat”? Do you remember how the hostage was saved by the police man and the cat’s owner?” Pudding smiled as she grabbed Bucky and lifted him up in the air.

“What the- what are you doing? Hey! Put me down! I mean it!” Bucky called out.

“Oh, Brick! Here’s a special delivery for ya!” Pudding called out as she threw Bucky right onto Brick’s face, the Siamese letting out a loud yowl as he slammed right into Brick.

“Wh- hey!” Brick yelped as he tried to pry the cat off of him.

“What the heck, you threw me at a boy that shoots lasers out of his eyes!” Bucky shouted as he was using his cut claws to try to pry himself off while scratching his face. “Who throws their friend at a guy shooting lasers?”

“Just keep him still!” Pudding said as she pulled out her tamborine once more. “And don’t forget to jump when I give you the signal!”

“Yeah, like THAT’LL help…” Bucky groaned as he kept clawing at Brick’s face as the flying boy was furiously trying to pull him off.

Pudding took a deep breath as she shook the tambourine as she separated the two parts before rushing forward and sending out more sparkles.

“Extra Large Serving… PUDDING… RING… INFERNO!” Pudding shouted as she sent a larger wave towards Brick.

Bucky, seeing this attack coming, quickly leapt off of Brick as the Rowdyruff Boy attempted to recover from the attack, only to be engulfed in the ring as he found himself encased once more in gelatin. From the looks of his face, he looked very frustrated.

“Sooo, Buckster, what attack should we do next?” Pudding asked.

“How about a shout out?” Bucky asked.

“What do you have in mind?” Pudding raised an eyebrow as she turned to the cat.

Bucky smirked as he leaned in and whispered in her ear, Pudding giving some nods and a few ‘uh huhs’ and ‘ooo’s. After a moment, Pudding paused. “Do you have SAID item?”

“Thanks to our other friend, he managed to sneak it in.” Bucky smirked. “It’s as if he KNEW I would be participating in said tournament.”

“I hope we get that far to meet him.” Pudding took a deep breath.

“We can only hope…” Bucky sighed before patting himself, then pulling out what seemed to be a brown barrel with a red and green arrow intersecting together. “Let’s do our Limit attack together, shall we?”

(Super Smash Bros. Locker Room)

Luigi looked up and gasped, before poking Mario as he pointed towards the TV. “Hey, Mario! Is that what I think it is?”

Mario looked up, as the red plumber gasped. “Mama-mia! I never would have thought I’d see THAT particular looking barrel!”

(The Arena)

Bucky then tossed the barrel in the air as Pudding and Bucky looked down and jumped up before a bunch of barrels rained down on the two, about eight of them. Then, four Puddings and four Buckys respectively came out of both barrels, all of them giving a nod before ducking back down.

Then, one by one, the barrels started blasting a couple of Buckys and one Pudding respectively as they bashed the gelatin shield that Brick was in, chipping it away. By the time the third Bucky hit the gelatin, Brick found himself free of his imprisonment.

“What the heck is-” Brick started to say, before a second Pudding Fong slammed him directly at his little body, followed by the fourth and final Bucky as the cat fell to the ground, looking a bit dazed.

Brick yelped as the final two Puddings then blasted over and landed a direct hit in the boy’s stomach, sending the Rowdyruff Boy flying out of the ring, leaving the young lad in shock as he couldn’t find the muster to fly back through.

Brick landed in Trollz as he decided to taunt Amethyst, the main character. The pink haired troll could only respond by using her magic to slam Brick against the floor.

Pudding quickly got up as her clones disappeared as she dusted herself. Bucky got up as he rubbed his head, groaning.

“Ugh, now I see why Limits are a little hard to come by…” Bucky paused as he frowned. “And it has to be the laziest one Orange thought of. Really, the Yoo Hoo Cannon from the Mario and Luigi series?”

“Hey, at least it’s a shout-out that I’m sure some fans will appreciate.” Pudding said as she shook her head.

All of a sudden, Monika’s head came up from the monitors as the wheel appeared once more. “Well, five people have been eliminated, so shall we spin the wheel?”

“Oh yeah… I was so in the groove, I forgot the wheel was a thing…” Pudding sighed as she watched the wheel spin around.

The wheel kept spinning and spinning until finally… it stopped right at a certain cat’s face. More specifically, a Siamese cat’s face.

Bucky raised an eyebrow as he turned to the announcer’s booth. “All right, so you landed on me. I’m assuming you have SOME type of reward, since Fourth Wall over there got a punishment.”

“HELLLLLLLP!” Tino shouted as he dodged another sword swing from Chrom.

“Well, since you asked, Bucky, you DID get a reward from the wheel this time! Look at your claws.” Xero said as he crossed his arms.

Bucky blinked twice as he looked at his paws… only to be shocked as the claws started to extend outwards, sort of like six inches. Bucky’s eyes widened. “Cool! I got Wolverine like claws! Sweet!”

“Yep, and you have them for at least two rounds. Have fun with them where you can!” Xero grinned as he crossed his arms.

Pudding frowned as she turned to the cat with a bit of disdain. “If you ask me, you don’t deserve that reward, considering you were the indirect cause of the eliminations of two of our partners!”

“Can’t hear you, I’m slicing up the ropes!” Bucky called out as he stood in front of the ropes of the arena and started to slice them up with glee.

Pudding groaned as she held her head, before giving a small smile. “Never change, Bucky.”

Meanwhile, the King of Dinosaurs had finally got Penelope off of him as he threw the black cat down to the ground. Penelope shook her head before looking up in terror at the large man that threw her down… the heel wrestler gave a small frown as he rubbed his face, the dinosaur mask he had on obviously showing a lot of claw marks.

“Do you have… ANY IDEA HOW MUCH THIS MASK COST?” The King of Dinosaurs roared viciously before rushing forward in an attempt to uppercut the cat.

Penelope gave a small, nervous chuckle as she tried to speak. “I’m dreadfully sorry, sir, but the cow threw me so hard, I didn’t have time to think! I was just… being a cat, that’s all!”

“Yeah? Just being a cat, huh? Do you LIKE being a cat?” King of Dinosaurs asked politely as he lifted her up.

Penelope’s eyes shrank as he noted the oddly, calm demeanor of his voice. “Y-yes…”

“Well, then… be a cat… ELSEWHERE!” The King of Dinosaurs roared out as he threw Penelope out of the ring and into the portal below.

Penelope landed in The Aristocats, where she decided to discuss proper things with Duchess.

The King of Dinosaurs took a few deep breaths as he held his head. “Ugh… my first elimination, and it involved me getting scratched at by a cat and throwing her out…”

After taking a few deep breaths, he decided to take in his surroundings as he noted his location. Although he was pretty far from the Beast (who had gotten bored of waiting, and was now just watching the fight between Blanka and K. Rool, willing to take on the winner of that match), he turned his head and realized that he wasn’t too far from…

“The Safe Zone…” The King of Dinosaurs whispered as he looked around, wondering who was near it. Bandana Waddle Dee and Audrey looked the closest, but both of them were too invested in their battles against Pichu and Ariel respectively to notice or care.

After a slight pause, the King of Dinosaurs gave a small smirk as he nodded. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt to see what type of challenge I can face… I bet it’s going to be a wrestling challenge… made specially for me! BRING IT ON!”

With a shout like that, the King of Dinosaurs charged right into the Safe Zone tent…

(Safe Zone)

It was quiet in the Safe Zone as the setting looked extremely different. Actually, it looked a little… uh, nice around the area, with a tree atop a hill, a swing attached to the tree, and a nice little river with a bridge flowing in between.

As a matter of fact, the King of Dinosaurs looked rather flabbergasted as he looked around the area.

“What the heck kind of saccharine place IS this?” King of Dinosaurs frowned as he looked around as he noticed the swing up on the tree. “Oh no… OH NO! Do NOT tell me we are doing Winnie the Pooh right now!”

“Indeed we are!”

King of Dinosaurs jumped up as he turned to see Monika appearing, holding what seemed to be a pile of sticks. “Welcome to your new challenge, Tizoc!”

“That is not my name!” KoD frowned as he narrowed his eyes.

“Oh, I know you go by King of Dinosaurs NOW, but hey, I just couldn’t resist, okay?” Monika giggled. “You just KNOW I had to say it at least one time.”

“Anyway, why in the name of heck are we in the Hundred FREAKING Acre FREAKING WOOD!” King of Dinosaurs growled.

“Geez, someone is NOT a Winnie the Pooh fan.” Monika rolled her eyes, before giving a giggle. “Well, this is the spot for your Safe Zone challenge. Normally, we’d have something a bit more complicated, but…” She frowned as she gave a sigh. “Something happened involving the writer getting into a huge tiff with one commenter who kept bugging him and constantly changing his name and…” She gave a small lick. “Long story short, he lost motivation for a while, but after a while, he got it back, and decided to have this simple challenge here!”

The heel wrestler could only blink twice as he scratched his head. “I don’t get it.”

“Look, I put you in Wood: Hill/Starry Hill from the Hundred Acre Wood portion of the Kingdom Hearts games, and that’s what we’re sticking with.” Monika frowned. “Just get used to it.”

The heel wrestler frowned as he crossed his arms. “Fine. I suppose you want me to lead a computer version of Winnie the Pooh up a hill and then throw him from a swing or yeet him out of a honey jar stuck on his head?”

“A good challenge, and one I want to save for another day.” Monika smiled, before shaking her head. “But no, I figured… since we’re at the bridge Pooh and his friends use to play Poohsticks, I figured… why don’t we play a five round game of Poohsticks? If you can win four or five rounds, you’ll get a special prize. Three or two, you’ll get a not so special prize, but good enough for the game. And finally, one or nothing will just leave you with nothing, and you can go about your day. Oh yes, you are welcome to leave and NOT play the challenge, should you desire.”

KoD just snorted a bit, but gave a sigh. “No, I came here to play for a reason… and I guess that was the card I’m stuck with… I can’t believe I’m committing to THIS…”

King of Dinosaurs grumbled as he walked over to the bridge, with Monika following behind as she put down the sticks.

“All right, pick up a stick.” Monika said as she picked up a stick from the pile.

King of Dinosaurs paused as he examined the pile before picking up a stick.

“Okay, so the rules of Poohsticks are simple. When I say go, we both drop our sticks at the same time on THIS end of the bridge, and the stream will take the sticks upstream UNDER the bridge. We go to the other side and whoever’s stick comes out from under the bridge first wins a point. We’re playing to five rounds, and if you win five or four points, you get a special prize. Three or two, a medium prize that could help you in this game. One or nothing, you just go off and fight the rest of the tournament. Does that sound good?”

“Sooo… what am I playing for exactly?” King of Dinosaurs asked as he looked up.

“That’ll be a surprise for later.” Monika giggled. “For now, though, get your stick ready and get into position.”

The King of Dinosaurs grunted a bit before nodding as he went over to the right side of the bridge, with Monika following as the two of them peered over the bridge, the gentle stream going downwards as the two stared over the water.

“Okay, now remember, when I say go-” Monika started.

“-drop the sticks in the water and go to the other side, yes, I know, I’m not freaking two!” the King of Dinosaurs grumbled in frustration.

“Sheesh, touchy.” Monika rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay, let the Poohstick rounds commence. First round!”

The King of Dinosaurs took a deep breath as he held up his stick, readying himself.

“3… 2… 1… go!” Monika called out before both she and King of Dinosaurs threw their sticks down near the water as they started to flow under the bridge.

Immediately, the two ran over to the other side and looked down and waited for their sticks. The King of Dinosaurs patiently waited for his red stick to come out (since the sticks were colored, that was what he picked). He just watched a bit as he noted a couple of sticks coming out from the other side… a blue stick edging it out slightly.

“Looks like the first point goes to me!” Monika smiled as she turned to the King of Dinosaurs. “Next round.”

The King of Dinosaurs could only grunt before picking up another stick (this time a green one) with Monika picking up a brown stick and looking over the river on the right side of the bridge.

“Ready… setgo!” Monika quickly said before dropping her stick in the water.

“Wha- h-hey!” The King of Dinosaurs growled before throwing his stick in immediately after as he followed Monika to the other side of the bridge. “You didn’t tell me you were going to throw me off!”

“Oh, did I not? Come on, Dinosaur King, you should know that I want to make things difficult for my contestants.” Monika giggled before looking down to see her stick passing through the bridge. “Oh, and it looks like I have two points. Guess you won’t be getting that special prize.”

The King of Dinosaurs grumbled a bit as he grabbed the next stick. “I’m ready for the next round… and this time, I’m listening carefully!”

“Whatever you say…” Monika shrugged as she picked up another brown stick and walked over to the side of the bridge. After a moment, she gave a giggle. “You know, I always wondered… have you ever heard of this anime called ‘Dinosaur King’?”

The King of Dinosaurs just stayed silent as he gave a grunt. Monika paused before giving a smile. “I’m only asking because I remember the theme song for the English dub being a bit of a bop. Seriously, Orange listened to this song recently, and yeah, it was cheesy for 2000s standards, but… GO!”

Monika threw the stick, but that time, King of Dinosaurs immediately caught on and threw the stick at the same time, before rushing to the other side.

“Awww, and here I thought I would throw you off.” Monika said in a condescending voice as the two of them watched over the other side of the bridge.

After a moment, the King of Dinosaurs’s eyes lit up as he noted his stick coming out first. King of Dinosaurs then let out a loose laugh as he crossed his arms. “HA! Now who’s got a point, hm?”

“Congratulations. You got your first of three points. But can you beat me in the next two rounds?” Monika asked as she picked up another stick from the pile.

The heel wrestler snorted in confidence as he picked up another stick and joined Monika on the bridge as he kept a close eye on her. The high school girl of Doki Doki Literature Club could only smirk as she started to count down… as slowly as possible.

“Threeeeeeeeeeee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e…” Monika stretched out the number as best as she could, followed by, “Twooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o…”

The King of Dinosaurs frowned, knowing her game as he patiently waited to stretch out the one as much as possible, before hearing ‘Go’ in slow motion as she started to throw the stick in a slow fashion. The heel wrestler, noting her dramatics, just dropped the stick as soon as he heard the word ‘Go!’ and walked over to the other end of the bridge, right as Monika dropped her stick.

The high school girl then ran over to the other side as she looked down to see that the King of Dinosaur’s stick passed through the bridge first by a long shot. “Aw, and you got your second point! Good for you, you’re truly the king.”

“...you just gave that one as a freebie, didn’t you?” King of Dinosaurs frowned in suspicion.

“I’ll never tell.” Monika giggled. “But now that we’re all tied up, this final game of Poohsticks will decide the match. You win, you get a good enough prize to help your game out.”

The heel wrestler gave a slight chuckle as he clapped his hands, before taking the last stick from the pile. “Bring it on, I’m ready!”

“Very well, then!” Monika nodded as she took a stick of her own as she and the King of Dinosaurs stuck their heads outside the bridge. “Let’s begin our final round. This is for the match point!”

King of Dinosaurs grinned as he held up his stick, ready to throw. Monika was ready to hurl her stick too as both of them looked determined to throw.

“Three… two… one… GO!” Monika shouted as she and the heel wrestler dropped their sticks down on the river as the downstream took the sticks under the river.

Immediately, both heel wrestler and high school girl ran over and peered over to the other side as Monika gave some color commentary. “This is it, the marbles are in place, the sticks are in motion. Whose stick will come out first? For King of Dinosaurs, we are looking for a normal brown twig.”

The King of Dinosaurs took a deep breath as he kept an eye out, gripping the bridge as much as he could. A couple moments have passed, and then…

Coming out from underneath the bridge, a brown twig came floating out, with a grey-ish twig following right after.

The King of Dinosaurs laughed as he pumped his fist in the air, with Monika giving a small huff of disappointment. “YES! HA HA! I GOT THE WIN!”

“Dear me, I lost.” Monika sighed as she gave a shrug. “Oh well, what can you do? Congratulations, Tizoc, you won Poohsticks.”

The King of Dinosaurs growled as he turned towards the high school girl. “You know I’m not called by that!”

“Oh, please, like it makes any difference.” Monika frowned. “Anyway, since you got three points out of five, you get the not-so-special, but can help you in the game, prize. Had you won the special prize, though, you would have received an all paid expenses trip to the Bahamas, with scuba diving, safari trips… and you would have enjoyed it after the tournament.”

“Heh, fine with me. I don’t need a vacation anyway.” King of Dinosaurs laughed. “But a prize that can help me with the game can benefit me. What do you have?”

Monika snapped her fingers as a pass poofed right in the King of Dinosaurs’s hand. The heel wrestler looked it over as Monika explained, “This is the ‘Auto Big Guy’ Pass. Play this during either a ‘You’re The Boss’ round OR a ‘Big Guy Blocker’ round, and for one round, you will become a Big Guy!”

The King of Dinosaurs blinked twice as he gave a grin. “A Big Guy benefit, huh… well, I already want to make good use of this!”

“Then you better hope you get two eliminations, or the wheel picks you OR someone picks either Big Guy Blocker or You’re the Boss, because that pass is good for ONLY those rounds. And be cautious, because after two rounds, this pass won’t be good.” Monika said.

The King of Dinosaurs paused as he gave a small huff. “That is going to be a bit of an issue…”

“Well, it’s all up to you and how you try to play it. Just remember… everything is in your hands.” Monika said.

The King of Dinosaurs could only pause before looking at the pass once more…

(Hotel; Karaoke Bar)

Pit flew backwards as he tried to keep away from a sword spinning Sinclair as she gave a smirk.

“Well, little boy? Are you still sure you can beat me in my game?” Sinclair smirked.

Pit groaned as he got up and shook himself off. “Believe me, I’m no ordinary angel!”

With that, Pit let out a large scream as he ran forward with his separated Palutena bow as he used his formed blades to strike Sinclair’s sword, causing her to stumble for a brief moment.

Sinclair groaned, before quickly recovering as she gave a narrow glance towards the angel, before jumping up and wildly swinging her sword towards Pit. The angel took this time to prepare himself as he readied one of his other weapons,the Upperdash Arm, rushing forward in an attempt to knock Sinclair off.

However, Sinclair gave a smirk as she leapt into the air and started to spin around, sticking her sword out as she blocked Pit’s attached weapon, surprising the angel as he fell straight down. Pit quickly got up and recovered quickly before noting Sinclair stopping her spin attack as she started to stand still and hold out her hand.

“Huh? What the-?” Pit asked as he noticed five ghostly swords suddenly appearing underneath him. “Ohhhh…”

Palutena’s ever loyal angel started to scream as he tried to avoid the swords going after him.

Meanwhile, over at the other end of the room, Little Quacker looked up and gave a gasp. “Oh no! I got to help!”

The little duckling tried to run over to try to help, only to get blocked off by an appearing boombox out of nowhere. The duckling yelped as a gunshot was heard, causing the small duckling to duck as the bullet hit the boombox, exploding as it sent the yellow feathered duckling flying at least a couple inches.

Not too far away, the menacing gremlin known as Stripe gave a cackle of delight, putting away the gun and pulling out a chainsaw, revving it up before giving another maniacal laugh.

“Yipe!” Quacker yelped as he dodged to the side, the gremlin whiffing with the chainsaw. Stripe quickly got up and recovered before turning towards the small duckling with a growl.

Quacker took a deep breath before looking up at the large creature, a little fear in his eyes, but still standing in determination. “If you think that I’m going to stand down… you haven’t even seen what I can do!”

Stripe looked down at the small duckling as he blinked twice, before letting out a loud laugh, pointing at the duck. “Duckling caca! Duckling caca!”

Quacker gave a small, furious look before rushing forward and bit Stripe in the leg, causing the gremlin to let out a loud shout of pain. Stripe recovered before giving a small growl, before pulling out a skateboard and jumped on it. Stripe then kicked his foot on the ground, causing the skateboard to move as the gremlin rode on it, charging towards the small duckling.

However, Quacker was wise to leap to the side before pulling out an axe from cartoon space (after all, Quacker IS a cartoon character) and swung it right at Stripe.

The small gremlin let out a loud scream before the axe collided with his body, sending him flying out of the skateboard and right into a karaoke boombox, sending sparks flying as the gremlin started to get electrocuted hard, his skeleton starting to show a bit.

Quacker, watching this in amazement, had an idea spark as he turned to Pit, who was still clashing swords with Sinclair. “Pit! The speakers!”

Pit blinked twice as he looked back at Quacker, then towards the speakers as his eyes lit up. He gave a quick nod towards Quacker, before turning towards Sinclair, who had just swung forward with her sword.

Pit smirked before blocking with his swords, sending the former bodyguard backwards as she stumbled. Sinclair quickly recovered as she gave a growl.

“You think you can easily take me off, little angel boy? You can’t even fly on your own without the guidance of that goddess!” Sinclair taunted.

“Maybe not, but I’m not as dumb as I look!” Pit said with a smirk before leaping forward behind Sinclair.

Sinclair quickly turned around in an attempt to trip him, but Pit managed to land to get out of the way of her attack, before charging forward and spinning his Palutena Bow around, spinning it as he rushed forward.

“YA YA YA YAAAAA!”

This surprised Sinclair as she got sent flying over to the other speaker, knocking it dead center as she got electrocuted by the cord as well. Sinclair gave a yelp before falling down on the floor, getting unconscious.

Pit grinned before putting away his sword. “Heh, we sure showed THEM!”

“Wow, Pit, that was amazing.” Quacker said as the little duckling approached the angel. “You sure are pretty smart.”

Pit blushed a bit as he put a hand behind his back. “Well, you know… I haven’t used my move in Brawl in forever, and figured it was a good time to pull it out.”

“Yeah, smart move, but bad timing.”

Pit jumped as he and Quacker turned to see Athena and Peacock, both of them having watched the fight, approaching them, with the former pouting in disappointment. “Don’t get me wrong, Pit, we’re glad you took down those party poopers, but now the speakers are broken and we can’t do karaoke now! And I was looking forward to doing karaoke night!”

“It just really stings!” Peacock growled before kicking the air with her foot.

Pit blinked twice before looking back towards the unconscious Sinclair and Stripe, both of them inside destroyed speakers. “Uhhhh… whoops…”

“Sorry about that.” Quacker looked down in guilt.

“Awww, don’t worry, little guy. We know what you did was necessary.” Peacock smiled as she picked up the little duckling and patted him on the head. “And seeing your toon physics at work… you’re no ordinary duckling, are you?”

“Well, I have been like this since 1950.” The little duckling explained.

“Well, I’m still a little ticked that karaoke night is destroyed.” Athena pouted in disappointment. “It’ll take a long time before this gets set back up…”

“Well… doesn’t that new girl keep an eye on everything at all times? I’m sure if we wait for a couple of minutes, we’ll have a fresh new karaoke set in no time!” Pit grinned in confidence.

“Don’t get me wrong, but can we really trust Monika? She may be part of the hosting staff, but she’s also… well, psycho.” Athena frowned.

“Well, nothing’s happened to us so far, and it doesn’t seem like she’s going to be pulling a Junko on us, so I think we’re relatively safe.” Pit pointed out, before pausing. “Though, I can’t help but wonder why-”

It was then Quacker let out a loud noise of shock, after turning his head. “Look!”

All four turned their heads as they noticed one other person standing in the room, adjusting his sunglasses before picking up Stripe and Sinclair respectively.

Athena blinked twice, before giving a frown. “Hey! You’re that evil AI guy from the Matrix!”

“Is that how you’re going to know me?” The man frowned as he shook his head. “Pathetic.”

Pit frowned as he readied his bow, with Peacock preparing a cartoony gun, Athena getting into a fighting pose with purple energy flowing, and finally, Quacker… just getting into a determined fighting pose, while trying to look cute.

“What do you want, Agent Smith?” Pit frowned.

“Believe it or not, I’m not here to fight. If you’re looking for one, I cannot provide. Unlike these two, who prefer to rush forward first without giving the announcements…” Agent Smith explained. “So I guess it’s up to me to give it right to you…”

With that, Agent Smith held his hand as the four attempted to charge at them, only to find themselves restrained by some cords that had appeared from the ground and held them in place.

“If I were you, you’d best be careful about what your next moves will be, because if you choose to attack by the time I finish my announcement… who knows what’ll come for you…” Agent Smith chuckled darkly as the four fighters gave a glare. “Anyway… I came to announce a formal invitation… provided, of course, by my… ahem… superior.”

“Superior?” Athena asked as she raised an eyebrow… only to yelp as she felt her mouth being taken away as she felt them being sewn up. “MMMPH?! MMMMMMPH!”

“Please hold all remarks until AFTER the announcement.” Agent Smith smirked before continuing. “Anyway, my “Superior” holds a formal invitation for ALL who listen to come to the main hotel lobby. Please gather who you can by Section Eight, because that is when the superior will come and explain everything.”

Agent Smith snapped his fingers as the cords released the four fighters, with Athena’s mouth unsewn as she took a deep breath, holding her throat before falling to the ground.

“Why Section Eight?” Pit asked as he frowned.

“Oh, you’ll understand soon enough.” Agent Smith smirked before the lights turned off… before quickly turning on, to see that Agent Smith, Sinclair and Stripe were no longer in the room.

Athena was still breathing as Peacock lifted her up. “You okay there?”

“Y-yeah… ugh, that stupid AI! Who does he think he IS?!” Athena shouted.

“Section Eight… Section Eight…” Pit paused as he scratched his head. “I wonder what they’re talking about with Section Eight…”

“Whatever it is, it’s probably pretty big…” Quacker said, looking just as curious.

“Uh, pardon us…”

The four paused as they turned towards the door as they saw Baloo and Vector standing outdoors.

“I don’t suppose you four would be willing to join us for something? We couldn’t help but overhear something about some villains sending out some invite.” Baloo pointed out.

“Yeah, same thing happened with us, except with a pool and a poster.” Vector pointed out.

Pit, Quacker, Athena and Peacock could only look at each other in curiosity.

(The Arena)

Mewtwo felt a slight sting as he got pushed back thanks to Royal Highness’s telekinetic pushback. The psychic Pokemon gave a groan as he turned towards a smirking man as he adjusted his glasses.

“I dare say, dear creature, you are certainly putting your skills to the test.” Royal Highness noted as Mewtwo angrily threw a Shadow Ball towards Royal Highness, only to have him sidestep it as the black shadow just went over his head. “But it’ll only be a matter of time before I draw out some blood from you! What color do you bleed, I wonder?”

Mewtwo raised an eyebrow upon that little statement, but grunted as he narrowed his eyes towards the smirking man. “If you REALLY wish to find out. You’re going to have to pierce through my defenses!”

Mewtwo waved his arms a bit as a blue protective ball appeared around his body, but this gave Royal Highness an opening as he waved his arms, using his own telekinetic powers to lift the ball up, containing Mewtwo before slamming it down onto the ground, shaking the creature around inside a couple of times.

When Mewtwo couldn’t take it anymore, he turned off the ball just to get loose from the bindings. Mewtwo gave a grunt as he shook himself, before narrowing his eyes towards the psychic man. “You made me a little sick, but-”

Royal Highness didn’t wait for Mewtwo to finish his sentence, for he had managed to punch Mewtwo in the gut rather unexpectedly, causing the psychic Pokemon to be sent flying, although while he was hanging over the ropes, he used his Teleport move to get himself back into the ring.