Mugen Universe: Tournament of Champions- The Fanfiction Series

[OverMaster]

MUGEN Omake Theater, Part II!

Hey, kids! It's here at last! The First Wave of MUGEN Universe action figures!

*First, we see on screen a Nudoru Kaarage toy, and then it suddenly collapses into a heap of parts, with fake blood spurting all off it*

Introducing the Nudoru Kaarage action figure, complete in a two-pack with Miso the Angel, and fully detachable into pieces, bleeding to death with non-toxic artificial blood! Nudoru's blood packets are sold separately.

*Then, we see a figure of Booster Gold in his new Tony Stark-designed armor, in a pose much more heroic than Booster's usual attitude, and looking kind of buffer as well*

Booster Gold, the Justice League Superhero Powerhouse, in full upgraded power armor, with Skeets accesory mini-figure!

*Next, we see a Joker figure. Someone presses a tiny button on its back, and it laughs in Joker's signature maniacal, macabre way*

The Joker, deadly Clown Prince of Crime!

*Now, a Belldandy figure is shown, with Holy Bell fixed to its back*

Belldandy, the Goddess! Complete with Guardian Angel and Kikuko Inoue-voiced voice chip!

Buy them NOW, before their existences, and the world's, are over! With the buying of all four of them, you get a coupon, and with all four coupons, you can buy a Deluxe Figure of world beloved old Martial Arts Universal Champion, Hercule Satan, just by ordering to our website! WOW!

*A grinning action figure of Mr. Satan from Dragon Ball Z is shown, giving the TV viewers a 'V' signal with both hands. Recorded applauses are heard on the background*

ACME Toys, bringing you the Fun since 1936!

****************************

Team JLAvengers' Room:

An astonished Blue Beetle, Spider- Woman,Max Lord, G'Nort and Tony Stark are looking to the TV screen in front of them, still in disbelief.

Ted: Michael, you... you...

Tony: You went and sold your likeness for toys in a moment like this?

Michael shrugs: Hey, a percent of the profits will be used for the benefit of the Kaiju attacks victims, okay? The... small amount of money I got in the proccess was just a collateral incentive, honest...

Lord: Yes, and that little incentive must explain why you could buy that Lamborghini yesterday, right?

Spider-Woman: Is it me, or someone else thinks it's wrong they made a kids-targeted toy out of a real life mass murderer like the Joker?

Lord: Yes, can't wait for the Jeffrey Dahmer doll to come out... Hm. Let's better change the channel, okay?

Tony: ...In moments like this, I miss a little drink so much...


:D


Next: The Distance!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

I hereby claim the 1000th post for the "Mugen Universe: Tournament of Champions" as my own!
Curse you, Saint! Curse you I say!

Anyway, just a question, J Dog: how the heck did Dorado know about Vellinor?

[OverMaster]

Curse you, Saint! Curse you I say!

Anyway, just a question, J Dog: how the heck did Dorado know about Vellinor?

IIRC, most of J Dog's characters have Fourth Wall Breaking moments.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Oh . . .right.


"..." Anzell almost gasped, then added, "But, Miss Urd... when you looked into the Joker's memories... didn't you learn anything about his connection to Vellinor? Because he mentioned being angered at him last night...".

"Nope. There was nothing about Vellinor in his mind when I looked at it...".

"Meaning Joker only met Vellinor *after* you took his memories into your mind, most likely" Batman deduced. "So perhaps it will still pay to question him". He then looked at the Boy Genius. "Dexter, call Blossom. If the Bell girl tries to oppose us when we try to question Joker, we'll need some backup on her own level behind us".

"Fine, and I'll talk with Setsuna in the meanwhile" Minako sighed. "I'll talk with Usagi too... if everything else fails, there's no one her Silver Imperium Crystal can't purify. Although I really hope we don't have to get so far".


Anzell said nothing for a minute. She glanced up at the red sky, wondering exactly what was going on.

"Could he be . . . .a singularity?" she wondered aloud.

This seemed to catch Batman's interest. "A what?" he asked.

The goddess looked back at the Dark Knight. "It's a phenomenon we deities of Evermere have observed and theorized over," she said. "It seems that occasionally, a mortal will wind up gaining powers that border on divinity. In most cases, these are usually be artificial or purely accidental methods, but every million years or so, a mortal winds up gaining powers of divinity seemingly out of nowhere, or else gains extraordinary powers with alarming frequency. We classify such mortals as singularities -- mortals who seem to attract otherworldly power."

"So . . . you're suggesting the Joker is . . . is a magnet for divine power?" Urd asked.

"It could be," Anzell replied. "It would explain a lot of things. Even for a herald, he seems to already possess powers that almost put him on par with a god. Even with Hild's power sustaining him, there is no way he could be that powerful unless, somehow, the divine power is somehow accumulating within him."

"But . . . .but that is physically impossible!" Dexter said. "Such a buildup of power would kill him!"

Anzell turned to Dexter. "Divine energy works a little differently than any other form of matter you're used to, Dexter," she replied. "It could potentially kill him . . .but then it could also potentially cause him to evolve into a higher being."

"So you're saying the Joker could potentially increase in power until he dwarfs us all?" Urd asked.

"Well, according to one theory, at least," the goddess replied. "It's not exactly definite, and there could be a variety of other explanations for the Joker's power increase. I'm not about to discount the possibility that his power is artificial, or else that he's siphoning power off of some artefact."

Batman's expression became grimmer. "Either way, we should all be on our guard," he replied. "Miss Anzell, if we're to interrogate the Joker, then we'd best be prepared."

The goddess nodded. "I'll contact my team -- we'll no doubt need plenty of backup if we're to confront him. And, judging by what Lady Urd just said, reaching into his mind telepathically is not an option." Batman grimaced slightly at the thought of having to deal with Marv again, but said nothing.

Calmly, Anzell pulled out her cell phone and dialled a number. "Master Chief? I want you and Alita to . . .. " She paused for a minute. "What kind of disturbance?" Her expression twisted into a frown, raising the concern of those around her. "But how could she break out of the hospital? She was too badly wounded! No, I'll check back with Alita myself: I'll need her to cover this situation. In the meantime, head on down to my position. I'll contact Marv and Zarabeth as well."

With that, Alita hung up. "It seems things are getting more out of hand each second," she muttered.

"Why? What happened?" Minako asked.

Anzell turned to the Sailor Senshi. "Sakura Kasugano -- the girl who was injured when Team Dan was ambushed -- has just blasted her way out of the hospital and escaped. Apparently a number of orderlies were injured."

"What, you mean the girl just got up and went crazy?" Spawn said gruffly. "That' doesn't make any sense."

"No, it doesn't," Batman agreed. "But that's something we'll have to worry about later: right now, the Joker is our main concern."

[OverMaster]

-The Distance-

"I want to train!" Joker then angrily went back to his feet and stomped his way to the door, dragging Rei along with him.

Mara almost choked on the popcorn she had been munching, as onscreen KOS-MOS stepped onto the Arena to face Vegeta, who smirked arrogantly. "What?!! You, wanting to train?! The Apocalypse truly must be upon us!".

The clown gave her an annoyed back glare. "I'm going to become strong enough to stomp everyone in here even if it kills me. I've just received a war declaration, and General J is ready to go to arms!".

"Holocaust! Butchery! The fresh scent of napalm in the morning!" Rei XV clapped over him.

Goenitz smiled knowingly, then raised up from his seat. "Good. Very good. At last, a true warrior spirit is born on you. The Mistress shall be greatly pleased...".

"To hell with what she thinks" the Joker huffed as he stormed his way out. "It's just I can't continue being pushed around anymore. No more Mr. Nice Buffoon, no sir!".

"He has been being nice so far?" Bell asked Mara.

"You learn something new every day, eh, brat?" the demoness shook her head as they followed him. "Bah, at least this will be a good excuse to kick his pasty butt again".

*****************************

Heaven:

"He's apparently just wandering around the corridors, more lost than Ryouga Hibiki blindfolded, drunk and stranded in Dagobah" Dokuro-chan informed as she looked at the surveillance screen in front of her. She and the blonde Callindra were at the Watch Room # 15, right after receiving a call from Azrael telling them about the 'intruder'. "Shall I go to stop him?" she asked, grabbing her spikey cub and lunging it around like a baseball bat.

Callindra was scandalized. "What?! And risk us to have you killing him?! If he truly is a protegee of Lady Rind, she'd skin us alive and behead us in the public park! And besides, he's only a poor, little, scared child!".

"That's what he wants us to think" Dokuro-chan muttered, lowering her weapon. "I'll bet he's really an agent sent to sabotage us under that frightened sheep facade...".

"Lady Rind would never fall for that" Callindra persisted as she prepared to go for him. "You stay here and don't move unless we tell you to. Okay...?".

"Fine, fine" the Pummeling Angel sighed, disappointed. "But you don't whine to me when he kills you, contaminates your system, and makes half of this place to blow up!".

"Oh, just stay quiet, you...".

*****************************

"Ouch". Elsewhere, Yolei picked up the stone that had been thrown at her, rubbed the numb on her head, and unfolded the piece of paper tied to the projectile. "Now, what's this...?".

"What does it say?" Poromon asked with curiosity.

*****************************

The female Dan Hibiki, Cosette Sara and Excel Excel, in the meanwhile, were on the search for Sakura near the woods. Dan grunted to herself as she walked, tears on her eyes; it was bad enough he had been transformed into a woman and now Cosette claimed she ignore how to undo the transformation, but her best student had vanished into thin air.

"YOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO! Sakura, Enemy of ACROSS...!!!!" Excel yelled loudly, looking all around herself. "Show yourself, we still have a bone to pick with youuuuuuu...!!!!".

"Please, Excel-sempai" Cosette sighed. "We are supposed to be helping these poor fools for now, not scaring them away... if you yell that, you'll just make the girl to stay out of our sight, assuming she's hearing you".

"Ahh, I'm just using inverse psychology babble-ology!" Excel laughed crazily. "A psychiatrist tried that with me once, and it almost worked! At least, that's what he was claiming as they dragged him away in a straightjacket after the last of our sessions! Psychiatristology is a very, very mysterious and complicated science, though, and few minds short of Lord Il Palazzo's unmatched intellect can grasp it fully, I have always said!"! she began another mad rant, ignoring, amongts too many other things, an eye hidden behind some bushes was spying on her and her companions.

"Ahhhhh... it's the Loli goddess again, and she has company..." Blokk the Hentai Tentacle Monster slobbered as he muttered to himself, eyeing first the cute assassin, then Excel's shapely figure, and then Female Dan's awkward form. "Unh, the pink clad karateka girl is too ugly, but the blonde's a real looker... Heh, heh, heh. This time, things will finally work in my favor...".

********************************

To be continued in the next post.

[OverMaster]

-The Distance, Act II-

Yggdrasil:

That was such a horrible, mean place.

In the span of the last two hours, Keima Morisato had seen more blooodshed at expenses of Nudoru Kaarage than he had ever seen in the rest of his short life. He also had learned that very same being was, in fact, a God-Killer who had murdered countless thousands of gods, and his mother's companions were likely to be his next targets, in his opinion. Then, he had learned his mother had married her sister's boyfriend, and he had even made his aunt to cry. Then he had ran into the Angel of Death himself...

It was too much, just too much for him. He couldn't take it anymore. He wanted nothing but to break down at cry at the cruelty of this place they dared to call Paradise. He would have liked nothing better than to be back at home, in his mother's warm arms again, away from this horrible nonsense, away from that antiseptical, cold environment that scared him so much...

He ran through the halls with no pause. "Aunt Belldandy...!!" he cried time and time again, tears forming on his eyes as he looked for her desperately. "Wait, please... don't leave me... don't leave me alone... alone again...".

Out of breath, he finally had to sit down on a corner and sob to himself, lost and helpless. He continued shaking until that young blonde woman with glasses approached him. Then he sprang back to his feet, his mallet ready, his redened eyes fixed on her.

"Don't come any closer!" he suddenly warned.

"Oooops!" the girl gave a step back, and raised her thin arms. "Hey, hey, it's all okay! I'm not going to hurt you!" she pleaded.

"Who-who are you?" Keima sniffed some tears back, trying to act intimidating. He remembered his mother's final words; he had to be strong. He couldn't let them to get to him.

"I am Angel Assistant Callindra, at your service, young sir" she bowed in front of him. "Why are you afraid? You have the facial markings of a god. This is your place, you know...".

"This is not my place!" Keima protested, never loosening his grip on the mallet. "This is a den of cold blooded murderers who planned to wipe the whole world out, never minding if they sacrificed my mom and aunts in the proccess!".

At the Watching Room where Dokuro-chan was overviewing the action on a giant screen, the Angel of Beatings scowled cutely. "I knew this had to be some sort of mad rebel without a cause...".

Back at the scene itself, Callindra sighed and crouched in front of the boy, trying to smile at him. "I know, I know. Believe me, I don't like the idea of the Omega Initiative myself, but we have to trust the ones who will save Existence, okay? Now, I think it all will go better if you are a good child and just give that mallet to Aunt Callindra before you hurt yourself with it...".

"NO!" he shouted, making the easily impresionable rookie Angel to scurry away a bit, shocked at his tone.

But then, an elegant female voice coughed behind him. "Ahem. Mon petit, I think this has been enough".

He turned around to face a scantily clad young woman in black, with short dark hair and diamond shaped markings on her face, looking down seriously at him.

"You must be her..." Morisato whispered, unsure of what to do of it. "Peorth...". Then, in a much shriller tone, he pointed up at her with a finger and cried, "The one who stole Mom's whole manga collection once!!!".

Peorth facefaulted for a moment, then regained her usual cool. "Ah, Skuld will never forget that, will she? And I suppose you must be the one Flonne told me about... Morisato Keima" she said with interest, eyeing him. He really looked a lot like a much younger Keiichi, and yet just like a male, smaller Skuld, at the same time. The mere idea of it gave her the creeps, and yet... "Callindra, it's all okay" she finally spoke again. "Leave him with me. I have some things I want to ask him myself".

"But, Mistress..." the Angel hesitated. "Lord Azrael told me to--".

"Tell Azrael to come to me if he wants him, then!" Peorth snapped, obviously not in a very good mood. "Need I to remind you which one of both of us has the higher hierarchy here?".

"No, you don't, My Lady" Callindra gulped, shaking her head.

"Good. Come with me, then, darling" she took Keima by a hand and began to walk away with him. "Poor little thing, alone and lost here... I always got lost here when I was your age too, you know...".

"Will... will you bring me to Auntie Belldandy?" he asked with some slight hope.

"Of course I will, my dear. But first, you and me have to talk a bit about some things, okay?" she smiled down at him.

*****************************

MUGEN Grounds:

The imposing, black figure of Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, sat quietly at the middle of his meditating chamber at Team Darkness' quarters, unmoving and completely silent for long hours.

Outside, the Evil Coop just yawned as he took a new look at the chamber. "Hey, Beryl!" he called out. "For how much longer is Tinhead going to stay in there. He's gonna rust at this rate!" he chuckled, amused at the idea of Vader moving like a clunky old tinfoil robot.

"I have told you, boy, you REALLY should call me 'Majesty', or 'Queen', at the very least..." the redheaded Beryl hissed from her throne, watching the current fight with Astronema. "As for Lord Vader, I ignore it. At least he is focusing his time on developing and strenghtening his mind and warrior disposition... it is more than what you have been doing since we arrived here!".

Meanwhile, oblivious to them, Vader sat and synchronized with the Force, avidly listening to its Dark Side, pondering the facts. Young Luke Skywalker was not at the Grounds after all. However, he had found out there *was* another one named Skywalker there. The young woman? No, it was not her. It was another young man. He could feel him already.

And his presence in the Force... it was too oddly familiar. He had had one like that himself, in the far flung past.

Could it be, perhaps...?

No, of course it could not be. That made no sense at all. And yet, the feeling he had about it... It was just too strong to ignore.

He finally reached a decision. He had to know it before the time of their match came.

Vader stood up at last, and walked out of the chamber, his steps resounding through the floor. Coop looked at him with interest.

"Hey, man, good to see you weren't dead in there after all. Had a good nap?".

Ignoring the young man's bad irony, the Sith Lord headed for the door.

"Where are you going, Lord Vader?" Beryl immediately wanted to know.

"I am going to find out some truths" was all of his inhuman sounding reply.


Next: Peorth and Keima have a heartfelt talk! Hood, Naga and a shocking guest vs. the Vampire Tendos! And the Joker battles Team Nifelheim!

[J Dog]

I think that guy's a spy- Conclusion

Suau was staring at Dorado Kompson and wondered why Vellinor wanted her hired. Then, Dorado asked, "So, why did Vellinor hire you?"

"He didn't tell me. He just said, 'That Guy Violated My Manhood'." Suzu told the gatorboy. "I still don't get that."

"Well, I fail to understand how come he wanted me to go bye-bye. Unless of course it was about his 'MySpace' account. You see, a while back, he was a member and his username was 'GodFunny103'. For a guy who's main purpose is to outtrick and outjoke everyone else, he had a lot of friends. I was wanting to join his brackets, but I accidentally sent an image I found from a 'Dateline' special. What was it? 'Playing with Predators'? 'To Catch Tainted Super Markets'? Whatever it was, I didn't mean it and I regret it."

"Have you considered talking to Vellinor, if you can find him?" Jack told Dorado. "If you can get this straightened out, I believe that everything will be straightened out... or made worse. Hell, it's 50/50."

"Jack's right." Mimi said. "It's best to talk about it and make due with it. I heard of him, but I want to see him!"

"Well, that's all nice and cool for you two, but what about me?" Dorado remarked. "I was the one who sent the image. I was the one who got the ninja girl on me. I was the one who backed his car up one time!" Dorado then got an 'Oh Crap!' face.

"Time out!" Mimi said. "What was that?"

"Something about a car." Palmon told Tachikawa.

"Hmm. This is getting weird." Mimi said. "Well, we gotta get going."

"I'm coming with. This job wasn't good enough." Suzu said. "And, another thing, what is 'MySpace'?"

************

"It says," Yolei read. "Jack, I can't duel you now." With that, Seto Kaiba's voice echoes. "I was hoping to cream your pathetic deck with my dragons, but as soon as I got away from you, I was grabbed by a green dinosaur and hauled into a trailer. I wrote this and bribed the rat $10 to deliver this. You won this round.- Kaiba"

"So, this Kaiba fellow, is he mean?" Poromon asked.

"Judging by 'creaming your pathetic deck', yes."

At the same time, Seto woke up, as he was hogtied on a couch that looked aged. A small, white dog walked up to him, carrying a coffee cup in tow. "So?" Dogbert told the CEO of KaibaCorp, "What's it like to be on the verge of a merger?"

"Merger? What merger?" Kaiba scoffed. "I'm not merging KaibaCorp with the owner of Path-e-Tech." Because Dilbert's company has no name, I'm using the name from an episode of the show.

"Oh, you will. It's either that, or your life. If you don't comply, I'll make you my mind slave."

Coming up next- Melvin gets started, Kaiba's in a hole, and Tiffany gets a little visit.

LONC, you may want to think about a meeting between the imbecilic gatorboy and the Trickster God soon.

[J Dog]

Dogbert Talks Merger- Part I

Dogbert was prancing around Dilbert's trailer, gleefully singing "Singin' in the Rain", and parodies several scenes. He skips around the files of Dilbert' inventions and alternations. And then, he uses a halogen lamp to twirl around twice. Meanwhile, Kaiba wasn't too happy to be given a Theater of the Absurd. He was considering his options, but at the time, there were only two, maybe three:


Agree with the merger, and watch his proud hologram company falter with a combination to obsolete technology, ignorant management, and parades of useless, money-driven cow-orkers. Not something to come home and talk to your future children about.

Refuse the merger, but in the process join Dogbert's army of people who will do his whims. Again, not something to be proud of.

Agree to the merger, but hire hitmen to take out Dogbert and then hire B-15 Spirits to secretly destroy his headquarters in San Francisco. Possible, but this is DOGBERT! He has conned more people than anyone else, and is a billionaire! How many stupid billionaires are there?



"Dogbert, will you please stop this annoying dance routine?" He grunted, now annoyed by the stench of the sofa, which smelled like mildew and rain. "I have limits, and I'm more than prepared to lash out at you."

Dogbert, still doing his jig, replied, "Well, you wanna 'lash' out at me? Do you best? Although it'll be rolling around and sticking your tounge out! HA ha!" With that, he was about ready to talk, when he turned on the radio to DMX's "Party Up" (that song you heard about 6000 times on the radio back at the turn of the century). This is the radio version, so Kaiba won't be forced to here the dumb line: "How the **** you gonna cross the dog with some bum ****?"

"Oh, great. Are you going to continue dancing, or do you want to talk about WHY you want me?!!"

"Simple," Dogbert said, "You are an example of the alpha male. You swiped this company from your father and turned a 180° on it. It became Hologram 101. Bravo!" He begins to clap, with "Party Up" reaching lyrics 2. "But, you are also futile. You never have beaten Yugi Motou, and you don't have any friends. But, we are also in common. I have never... well, I have conquered the world twice. And I have friends. But, the common thread is that we both believe most people are idiots, and we are the ultimas of the planet. That's why I want to merge companies with you."

"Spit on my cupcake and call it frosting, that's what you are doing." Kaiba scoffed. "That stunt has been preformed dozens of times; I am not a merging type of guy. I don't have cobuyitaphobia (the phobia of synergy), but I don't like other companies being introduced into my style."

"Just listen well. I'm not doing this for me, because if we merge, I'll fire all of my workers on MY side of the merge. It'll still be KaibaCorp. In exchange, I want you to help me become Ruler of the Omniverse." Seto stared at the dog, and wondered how evil he can become.

***********

Still crater-faced by Mel's rules on the stuff Vellinor is good at, i.e. Anvilology, Nabeshin begins to train Mel by teaching him how to bend the rules of a fight his way.

***********

The foursome return back to Yolei. "Hi, Yolei!" Mimi said happily. "What happened?"

"I got hit by this rock. And I got this note. I think it's for you, Jack." She told Jack. He then read Kaiba's note. "Serves him right! I hope he gets the what-for!"

"Why do you have schnadenfrude all of a sudden?" Suzu asked him.

"I sometimes wish something like that will happen to that nutcase who's getting at me." Mimi pouted. "Maybe something will happen to Cosette that will affect her really bad... maybe... And normally I don't want bad things to happen."

"Well, why now?" Palmon asked.

"She is scary, that's all."

(OM, want to continue this? If you don't know Suzu, she's the ninja character from "Tales of Phantasia")

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Your Necrodermis Is Showing

After the incident of the ninja attack, Marv and Zarabeth had contacted Anzell, who suggested that they go to Washu to determine the source of Zarabeth's new powers. The Chousein, however, had been unable to find any scientific reason for Zarabeth's new powers, and Marv and Zarabeth had decided to leave when Washu started expressing an interest in performing all manner of experiments on Zarabeth's undead body. After being briefly questioned by the Angels on the ninja incident, Marv and Zarabeth, taking Anzell's advice, sought out Dr. Strange to see if there was a more arcane reason behind Zarabeth's powers.

At the moment, Marv sat on a chair in Strange's quarters, reading the newspaper while Strange inspected Zarabeth. The vampiress stood still, holding onto a few mystic gems in her hand while Strange occasionally held strange artefacts in front of her while muttering things in long-forgotten languages. Zarabeth admittedly felt rather uncomfortable as she stood there and let Strange inspect her: from time to time, he would press a hand against her shoulder or arm, or even her forehead, and she would always feel slightly numb where he had touched her afterward. Thankfully, he wasn't leering at her at all or place his hands where he shouldn't -- otherwise, she would have been pounding him into the dirt by now.

Eventually, Dr. Strange stood back. "You say that the discharged power of the Necronomicon flowed into you?" he asked.

Zarabeth nodded. "It felt . . . .odd . . . " she said. "Almost as though a thousand voices were filling my head at once." Her eyes suddenly widened. "I'm not possessed, am I?"

"In a way, yes," Strange replied. "The trapped souls of the book's original writers have now transferred inside of you. However, they are not powerful enough to break free, disrupt your own consciousness or cause you any harm: they have been completely absorbed by your own life-essence. It seems, though, that you have assimilated a good portion of their combined arcane knowledge. As a result, it seems that your magical aptitude has increased dramatically."

"Meaning?" Marv grunted from where he watched.

"Meaning that Zarabeth here now instinctively knows many more spells from the lore of necromancy than she did before," Strange replied, "and now has the increased magical power necessary to cast those spells. If I may demonstrate . . ."

The mage held up his hands, which began to glow with power. There was a sudden flash of light, followed by a stench of sulphur, and four fiery, demonic-looking figures suddenly appeared behind Zarabeth, each wielding a burning glaive.

Startled, Zarabeth dodged away from a swinging glaive and shouted something in an incomprehensible tongue. A second later, the room seemed to partially descend into shadow as a blast of pure darkness suddenly shot out of her eyes. The fiery beings dissipated instantly under the blast, which carried onwards and smashed right through the wall.

"Doc!" Dante shouted from down the hall. "Are you blowing stuff up again?"

"No, it was a client of mine this time!" Strange shouted back.

Zarabeth staggered back, staring aghast at the hole that had been blown through the wall. Marv stood up abruptly and stared as well. She'd seen that spell used before by necromancers and other vampires.

"The Gaze of Nagash," she muttered. "And that previous spell I cast . . .that . . .that was Hellish Vigour, I think."

"Wow," he muttered. "What else can you do, darlin'?"

"Anything from her realm's lore of Necromancy, it would seem," Strange replied for the vampiress. "And if I would remember correctly, this would include being able to raise the dead, turn living beings to dust with but a touch, and cause people to age at a very, very rapid rate."

Zarabeth's eyes widened. "What? That can't be right!" she exclaimed. "Only the oldest and most learned vampires of my realm are that powerful!! You can't tell me that I simply know them all by default simply because I accidentally absorbed that stupid book's bound souls!"

"I know this is a lot for you to take in, Miss Zarabeth, but it is the truth," Dr. Strange replied. "As of now, you would probably be classified as a higher-ranking spellcaster."

Zarabeth said nothing. She remembered how, about a week ago, her unlife had seemed relatively normal for once. And now, here she was, in some strange futuristic dimension populated by weirdoes, fighting to save all of existence from a trickster god, and to top it all off, she had suddenly ascended to a vampire lord's level of magical mastery in just a few minutes. She began to seriously wonder whether or not she was dreaming the whole thing.

Without a further word, she turned for the exit. "Come on," she muttered to Marv, not bothering to thank Dr. Strange. Slowly, the big man stood up, and glanced at Dr. Strange. "Sorry 'bout that, doc," he said. "She's always like temperamental."

"I heard that!" Zarabeth shouted from down the hall.

The big man groaned. He was in for it now . . .

[Saint_007]

Okay, when I tried to archive "Crisis on Infinite Threads", I cam across a dead end. Doing a search yielded...nothing. Basically, the thread seems to have been erased.

I apologize for being a worthless gnat who has failed miserably at doing what he should have done months ago.:(

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

S'aright, I have it all copied onto my computer, so I can actually send it to anyone who wants to officially post it on some site somewhere.


LONC, you may want to think about a meeting between the imbecilic gatorboy and the Trickster God soon.
Good idea. I can just imagine him taunting him with various reptile-related insults and repeatedly calling him "Klap."

[OverMaster]

-The Distance, Continuation-

MUGEN Practice Fields:

"You're for it now!!" Mara yelled as she flew after Joker, bombarding him with several rounds of lightning spells, making the ground to shatter and boom around him as Rei shielded him with AT Fields. The Clown Prince kept himself on the move, running from his teammates as he avoided their attacks as best as he could.

He had a handicap when fighting them; thanks to Hild's decree, his new magical powers wouldn't work on them at all, and yet they could use all in their arsenals to use on him. If Bloodlusted, they would have had him dead long ago at that point. The mere thought of that made Joker frustrated, and angry. He had to stop playing the defensive and think of a way to put those three powerhouses down somehow.

"Hey, Wings!" he shouted to the symbiotic Angel hovering over him. "Can you be a good daughter and, I dunno, kinda liquify them a bit? Or some funny crap like that?".

"Sorry, Dad, but Mommy told me never to hurt Lady Mara, Lord Goenitz and Miss Bell" Rei said as she stopped another of the priest's wind compressed projectiles in the nick of time. Hild had made sure her orders always took priority in Ayanami XV's mind before any commands Joker might give her.

"Great, so I'm the weakest link after all, huh?" the clown huffed, seeing how Bell merely slapped aside the hand grenade he had thrown her, the explosion not even making her to flinch. "I hope you aren't so much of a dead weight up at the Arena!".

"Hey, I'm protecting you, or not?" she asked, as she dragged him out of he way of another of Mara's spells, which turned the ground where he had been standing into ice.

"You're just delaying the unavoidable that way!" Mara chuckled perversely then. Joker knew she was right. They couldn't keep on playing the defensive forever. No fight is ever won if you can't hit who is attacking you. Quickly, he pondered his options. As formidable as Leo was, his main troubles were Bell and Mara, especially Bell, the quickest of the bunch by far.

Fortunately, he had a contingency specially planned for Mara, just in case...

"Fly me to her" he whispered to Rei, trying not to be heard.

"Why?" she asked him, curious. "In close quarters, you'll be an even easier target...".

"Dammit, are you here to help me or not?" he hissed up at her. "Do it!".

"OK, Dad. Your and my funeral" she shrugged, then grabbed him and flew with him straight as a bullet into Mara. The demoness smirked.

"Crazy tactics won't help you here, Jokes..." she chuckled, gathering enough energy at her hands for a final blow. "This kamikaze attack won't save you from my Hiroshima....!".

"Hiroshima? I have your Little Boy right here!" Joker laughed as he threw something right into her face as soon as he was close enough. Bell blinked in surprise at recognizing those things; a series of Japanese good luck charms tied together. Mara's holy weakness.

"Aggghh!!" she took her hands to her face and howled, as she felt as if her skin was burning at the amulets' touch. "Why, you, stupid jackanape...!!".

"Heh!! I think you aren't in conditions to call others stupid, my dear!" he laughed again, viciously, as he took advantage of her weakened state to hit her in the face with a crowbar, sending her down. Rei blocked another of Goenitz's tornados right then, as Joker grabbed the stunned Mara and pressed her body against his, using her as a human shield. "OK, you, quiet or Blondie gets a few laughs!".

"Hey, that's not fair at all" Bell protested.

"In Love and War all is fair, Toddler, and we are in sweet, sweet love here!" Joker chuckled, caressing one of Mara's cheeks with a thumb, and then replied fast, "But if you want her so much, here you go!". With that, he quickly threw her into Goenitz, and a second later he made the ground beneath them to explode. Maybe he couldn't hit them directly with his powers... but he could hit them with the debris resulting of his powers' use! A freakin' lot of debris!!

Think outside of the box.

When the huge explosion's echoes stopped sounding on the background, and the dust settled down at last, Mara was KOed on the floor and Goenitz was coughing on his knees, having been hit several times by several large boulders. Joker panted, thriumphant, as Rei clapped her hands above him. "That's comedy, Daddy! You truly had the stones to pull it off!".

He looked up at her with a crooked grin. "You know, we have to work on your repertory...".

"More like we still have to work on your attention!" Bell cried out, flying straight out of nowhere like a bat out of hell, and using superspeed to punch him in the face, hard enough to take him down but barely hard enough to not knock him out. She stood over his fallen body and said, "You are improving a lot, but you still lack how to counter a real lightning-quick attack. As for Miss Mara, we'll need to keep strikers to help her if she's ever hit by one of those good luck charm attacks..." she coldly analized.

"I... I can see your white panties from here" Joker observed groggily, but smiling, and the White Powerpuff blushed and jumped back some distance while holding her short skirt tighter against her body.

***************************

Not too far:

"Very well" Nabeshin told Mel. "So, you want me to train you? Deal. Come here tomorrow at the same hour and we'll start with your training. But be warned, this is not for sissies. I'll put you through all nine kinds of the seven levels of training hell!".

"I'm not afraid!" the gatorboy smiled confidently.

"You'll be!" Nabeshin chuckled, then yawned. "But first, I need to take a rest. First that MegaMan, now you... It has been hella day".

"I thought you never got tired at all..." Motoko observed, with a huge drop of sweat hanging over her raven haired head.


Next: Keima and Peorth, and Mercenary vs. Vampire!

[T51R]

~The enemy of my enemy, is my friend…~




“Gimme a break,” Edward collapsed into the sofa next to Lucy, and promptly jumped out of I after realizing exactly how close he was to her. It had been days since the three Diclonius had arrived, as well as the tiny family who seemed to know them. Nana at least, was content, or so Ed thought; she was rather happy to be reunited with Mayu. The girl still looked sad though; she had lost her puppy in the riot. He half-dragged himself to the next room; like everyone else, he wasn’t very comfortable being around Lucy. Kouta, he thought to himself, the two of them seemed to be close, but with Yuka and the two little girls to watch over he never did have any time to spend with her. “Oh.” He stopped in his tracks at the doorway, and promptly changed direction. Mariko. If Lucy wasn’t bad enough, the little girl with pink hair who had a habit of trawling the combined quarters of the three teams on her mountain board unnerved him even more so. There was an air of innocence about her, but there was also something else. Like a foreboding presence that seemed to follow her wherever she went. He headed for the kitchen.

It had gone from bad to worse, he thought to himself, a simple tournament to decide the fate of the world. He had spoken with the other teams, or at the very least some of the people on them. This kind of thing seemed to be a weekly occurrence for them. Tenchi, at least, wasn’t very surprised that the world was under threat. He had then gone on to explain what things were like at home, with a space pirate, two Galaxy Police officers, a Goddess, and two Princesses of an alien civilisation taking up residence within a month, not to mention finding out that his own grandfather, Yosho, was royalty and that he was himself a crown prince of Jurai. At least, that was before the young man had disappeared during one of the massive attacks that had occurred on the Tournament Grounds.

“Hello Mr. Elric,” a little girl greeted him with a smile, beside her at the sink the last of the three Diclonius who had shrugged their duties as a camera crew for the now-absent “higher being” dressed in white. Bandeau had mentioned something about their pay checks not coming through before he and Ichi began freelancing for the Living Tribunal; his own camera crew had been decimated while taking a short trip to Kyoto right before the Kaiju attacks began. From their latest email, the three-faced Judge of Multiverses paid exceedingly well. And there was other news, as well. Alarming news. He nodded in acknowledgement.

“Hey Mayu, Nana.” He grinned at the pink-haired girl who was chopping up vegetables, in preparation for dinner. They hadn’t been to the Dining Hall for a few days; Mayu and Nana had decided to cook in lieu of Raven’s suspicions of sabotage. And cook they did. Even Yomiko had been impressed with what they produced, considering their age. “What‘s going on? Don’t the two of you ever get tired of being in here?”

“Not really, it‘s better than being on the street.” Nana looked towards the TV that had been set into the cupboard, for a moment watching the monster Baragorn slowly trundle its way through Baghdad, over the palace of the deposed dictator Saddam Hussein. Scores of bodies lined the streets, and the lack of medical services mean that the death toll was still rising. “And its…we‘re lucky.” She tore her eyes away from the screen as it changed to a scene of Rodan ripping through the landscape of Paris. “Mr. Elric, why is this happening? Why are the Gods doing this to us? They’re supposed to be good, aren‘t they? They‘re supposed to protect us, right?” Nana watched her, a worried look on her face.

“Who knows,” Edward replied as Nary, Robin and Ifurita returned to the room with Chii in tow after having decided to watch the match live on TV instead. “I mean, there‘s been a lot of rumours going around and Celestine hasn‘t told us anything except to bunk with these guys.” He set himself down a the counter.

“Perhaps we should just wait,” Nausicaa entered the room followed closely by Rosette, behind them Mariko helping herself to a tow by snagging Rosette’s dress with a Vector. “It‘s dangerous out there, and by the looks of the last fight we’re really in over our heads. I really can’t imagine fighting someone like Vegeta, it’s impossible! I mean the only one of us who might stand a chance against him is Ifurita.”

“This is only the first round,” Chrono came through the front door and removed his boots. “No-one‘s brought out their big guns yet. We‘re going to be in for a hard time, but we have to take it. We‘re not fighting for ourselves here.”

“Excuse me,” Mayu interrupted them. “But…have any of you seen Wanta? It‘s been days, and…”

“I‘m sorry, but we didn‘t see him anywhere. I‘m sure he‘ll be fine though,” Nausicaa ran her fingers through Mayu’s hair to comfort her. “from what you told us about him, you‘ll find him again. And soon, too.” The girl slowly made her way back to the sink, and slowly began washing the potatoes for curry later on. Nausicaa stopped herself from going to her; she couldn’t bear to tell her that Wanta had all but disappeared. She looked to where Ed was sitting. “Any news from Celestine?”

The State Alchemist sighed. Chrono gripped Rosette’s hand. It was never a good thing when Ed did that. “No. But I got some news from Bandeau though. He got it straight from the horse‘s mouth too. Looks like there’s nowhere safe these days.” Chrono’s eyes narrowed. “From what they heard, even Heaven‘s under threat. Lots of Universes have disappeared, and just yesterday an entire galaxy went missing. They heard Dee Dee and their new boss talking about it, they think that something else has broken into the Universe, and they don‘t know exactly what it is. Everything‘s going from bad to worse,” he muttered.

“The Goddess, perhaps?” Ifurita sat on the little stool on the balcony taking her shoes off. It had been a long day of reconnaissance, and there was still no sign of the being they had fought in the woods before. “It stands to reason that she is confident enough to step up her agenda ahead of time.”

“Not the way I heard it,” Ed handed her the printout of the email he received that morning. “This is something else entirely. According to…” He turned to Lucy, who had managed to slip past them all while trying to get at the fridge for another can of soda. “Can you tell us anything about the guy you were working for? The guy who got the crap beaten out of him.”

The Diclonius didn’t reply at first, cracking open a can of 7-up and then leaning against the wall. “What’s there to say? None of us got paid, I guess he jumped ship too after what happened.”

“Is something wrong,?” The call came from down the hall. Kenshiro. Ed could of sworn he could hear a conversation a block away. The sounds of thumping came from the rooms closest to the common area; Al and Raven had decided to clean the futons out. It had been a while, and everyone was starting to cough from the dust. Especially the two little girls. “Has anyone seen Kouta and Yuka?” He stuck his head out of the door of his room.

“They went out,” Keitaro called from the room he was sharing with Raven; the ZOID pilot was creepy enough, but still, it was better than sleeping in the woods as he had been doing before meeting the almost-insane Achika Masaki, who had also disappeared. “Yuka said that they‘d be back later, they wanted to bring the girls out for some fresh air.” The Hokuto Master’s silence betrayed his concern. “Mr. Kenshiro, uh, should I go look for them?”

“No, I‘ll go. We cannot be sure if any of the monsters will attack this place, and if that happens the entire place wil be thrown into chaos. We cannot afford for them to be lost in yet another riot like they were.”

“Right,” the younger man nodded as he draped his own Futon out of the window and balanced it carefully on the wooden beam of the balcony. He headed back into the room, and knocked carefully on the bathroom door.

“What?” the frigid voice replied through the thick door.

“Mr. Raven, I‘ve put your futon out, just thought you should know.”

“Whatever. Just don‘t drop it over the side.” The signs weren’t good, Raven thought to himself. The battle against the Orochi had taken its toll on the Geno Breaker; a burst of Heavenly Light had pierced the ZOID core, narrowly missing Shadow. As it was, Dr. D was working around the clock as time slowly slipped through their fingers. The time was coming when he and his Organoid would need to make a choice, and he knew it. Fight, and risk the core being critically damaged, or withdraw from the match and risk the lives of his wife and newborn son back on Planet Zi. He swallowed a snarl of frustration; it wasn’t much of a choice at all. The good Doctor had been straightforward enough; the ZOID core would not take another hit of that calibre, and a violent impact could very well destabilize it to the point where it would irrevocably melt down, taking Shadow with it if he couldn’t bail out in time. And in the middle of a fight, bailing out meant making yourself vulnerable. He rose slowly, towelled himself off and dressed.

The Mech hangar, he thought about the smell of grease, the whirring of pulleys and the crackle of welders as they worked tirelessly to repair the damaged armour of his ZOID.

[T51R]

~The enemy of my enemy, is my friend…~




Shadow was still there, bound to the Geno Breaker, trying to regenerate the core with help from both the Doctor and Kiva. “I‘m going out,” he called towards the congregation in the kitchen as he slowly opened the front door, and watched a quiet figure in black purposefully stride past. Vader. He hadn’t been seen since the start of MUGEN. Raven frowned. The Dark Lord of the Sith wasn’t even supposed to be on that particular floor. “Hmph.” He turned to follow, but found a warm hand on his shoulder. “Celestine.” He fund himself looking into the grimly serious face of the God, followed by Kouta and his little family.

“I come with dire news, son of Earth.” his voice was solemn, unwavering, but yet it held just a hint of concern. “Please, join us.”

As they entered the room, the girls smiled their welcome only to find Celestine’s troubled face looking back at them. The men found their way to the common room on their own, the silence of the place raising their suspicions that something simply wasn’t right.

“Ladies,” he looked around, “and gentlemen. Please be seated.” he motioned to the traditional Japanese Tatami mats that lined the small dining area, too small for the eighteen people who now lived there. “I wish that there were words that could more easily express what I am about to say, but there are not. Miss Yuka, might I ask you to take Mayu and the girls to the next room, if you will? Please join us after that.”

She did as she was asked, and Celestine went around the room pouring everyone a warm cup of tea. “MUGEN,” he locked eyes with all there. “has gone awry. My former protégé, the Goddess Belldandy could not have foreseen this, so please do not hold what I am about to tell you against her. I have only just returned from Heaven, and what I have seen, there are no words to describe it. I watched,” he took a quick sip of tea to wet his throat. “I watched something that shouldn’t exist drive the infinite Sea of Chaos back with its mere presence alone. I watched as it withstood an attack that would have wiped out a continent without issue. And I watched…” he began to grow a massive drop of sweat. “That…idiot! Never mind.” He sighed. It was clear, now at least, why the Tribunal itself had to be admitted for psychiatric counselling and was still on medication for work-related stress. “Something has come into this, the merging Omniverse, which is soon to become a singular Creation under the ever-watchful eyes of the One Above All, Kami-Sama who is the Eternal Presence. Mortals worship and fear Him as God. Now I, along with many others of reputable standing in the establishment that I serve believe that something has entered His creation. Something with power far greater than even His, and with hostile intentions. Things have been set in motion, with many elements of Heaven beginning a search for this being. MUGEN has gone awry, and this creature, I believe, is part of the reason why. We do not know why it has come, we do not know where it comes from. We only know that it is in all probability responsible for the disappearance, as of yesterday, of four separate Multiverses and one galaxy. One of our best minds is now doing her utmost to ascertain its combat capabilities, and by all signs thus far those abilities are immense. As such, I have seen fit, in the absence of Heaven‘s General the late Michael Demiurges to rally our forces in preparation. This thing,” he looked around the table at the disbelieving faces of all those present, “will eventually appear in this Universe when the skies again turn blue. That will be the sign that the Dimension Tide is complete, and that it will exist on a common plane as us.”

“So you‘re here to tell us that no matter how hard we fight, even if we beat the Goddess,” Alphonse’s voice held its trademark calm in the face of incredible adversity. “That this thing is going to come here and destroy us all anyway?”

“As I have said,” Celestine spoke again. “We do not know why it is here. All signs point to it, in all probability, being able to target and strike multiple Multiverses simultaneously. Tests on a similar being have proven Multiplanar Existence on its part,” veins began to bulge across his forehead as he recalled Nudoru clothesline himself across Belldandy’s outstretched arm. “and we will need to find it, before it comes here. And somehow, someway, we will need to find a way…”

All eyes were locked on him at that moment.

“To either contain it indefinitely, or to destroy it utterly. I know,” Celestine nodded, “I am asking for the impossible. But please remember that your first priority is winning MUGEN, and guaranteeing the continued existence of all that is. Let Heaven deal with this creature; yours is the mortal realm, and it is yours so that you may protect it.” He rose, trying hard to find a way to say what he needed to say. He stood with his back towards them. He couldn’t bring himself to face them, not with what they had already been through, and not now, not with what he was about to say. “Do you remember the being you fought in the woods?”

“That man?” Keitaro asked, feeling his ribs, the ones that had been broken. “Kusanagi-sempai said that he was the God of Destruction!”

“That was a battle unlike any I have ever faced,” Ifurita chimed in, and then glanced over at Chrono. “The manner is which he handled Chrono suggests combat capabilities that we can hardly hope to overcome. That his attacks pierced the armour of the Geno Breaker is proof that we may not survive another such encounter with him.” Lucy and Mariko watched as the room began to grow noisy, each and every member of Celestine’s teams voiced their concern at the being returning.

“Orochi,” Celestine silenced them with but a word. “Some call him the Eight-Headed Dragon, others prophesise that he is the Destroyer of Humankind. Orochi. Director of the Office of Area Reclamation and Reconstruction. Lieutenant answering directly to Destruction of the Endless. Orochi. The being responsible for the last Great Extinction. Orochi, the God of Destruction. Licence level, Second Class, Special Duty, revoked. Restrictions, total. Current status, suspended from duty. Current location, unknown. We suspect that he is either somewhere here, on these grounds or in his own Place of Nothing, the Orochi Dimension. And because of his…unique position in the Establishment of Heaven, he is perhaps the only being under our control with the information network necessary to locate the ‘God-Killer’ that has come into His Creation. My hands are tied, I am forbidden to act here on the Material Plane. And as such, I must beg your aid in locating him.”



NEXT: MOB LYNCHING #4! :D And Washu's final combat test as Nudoru takes on Rind, and the entire cast of one series!

[J Dog]

(I was planning to type in a good addition, but when I was going to copy it as a fall-back option, I accidentally chose "cut" and lost everything! So, I'm going to start with a mini-interlude so I can wrap up the arc between Kaiba and Dogbert)

Mini-Interlude: Mimi Wants Cosette To Get It... But Why Want To Be "Urbanized"?

"I didn't mean anything wrong by it," Mimi told Yolei. "I like some people. However, she is a very scary girl. She knows how to shoot weapons and fight and all of that. I have been training a little with my friend, Matt. However, he didn't know ANYTHING about training. It was just some stupid stunts while in that suit I keep talking about. I did meet up with a cool friend... but she vanished after we signed something. I don't know where she went. But, back to the story; This mercenary kid is going to get worse and worse. The sooner I can get this straightened out, the better."

"And, what if she dosen't want it straightened out?" Yolei asked. "You can't expect things to work out."

"I know, I know. I have my alternatives. For one thing, I think I'm going to go as Jack and Dorado."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Simple: Wear a shirt and jeans, and call myself 'Urbanized'." However, that led to inconsistant laughing and howling from the H-Towner and the gatorboy. "Wah ha ha! A girly girl acting 'Urbanized'?!!" Jack howled. "CLASSIC!"

"KAH HA HA HA! I haven't heard anything like that in all my life, and I've been in the sewers!" Dorado joked. Both then sighed.

"Mimi, we are sorry to laugh" Jack said, "But really; you were born to a rich and successful family. You are upper class. Being 'Urbanized' like you is much like... oh, I don't know, Dorado here going to Harvard." Dorado didn't like that. "But that dosen't mean I won't do it. Since Kaiba is going to be held by someone for a while, I'll help you out, and so will Tiffany. Let's just keep it between us. Just, you, me, Dorado, and Yogi."

"Yolei." Mimi said. "How come you keep messing her up?"

"DAMMIT!" He screamed. "Uh... forget that word, please."

"I will." Mimi concluded.

(To explain this, I'm going to show my concept of "Urban Mimi". Although it's Mimi with what was mentioned, her being like that personally is going to be a riot. Plus, I'd show you some concepts I drew of her. It's the way I draw her now.)

[Saint_007]

Round Five - Vegeta vs KOS-MOS: Saiyans and Robots and WMD's, Oh my!

"And now," the announcer screeched into the mike, "KOS-MOS, the third and final member of team Epic, steps up to the challenge!"

"Heh, another loser," Vegeta snickered. "I really think you clowns should have just stayed at home and left the tournament to us grown-ups!!"

"You know, I'm beginning to understand why humans have a great dislike to arrogant show-offs. Your ego is overwhelming; I just hope for your sake that you have more than those petty tricks."

"What?! Why you impudent scrap heap-!!"

"Okay, are you two ready!!" inquired the fight announcer. "Very well, then! Ready, get set-"

After saying 'fight', the Budokai announcer, he promptly ran out of the ring. He had good reason to do so; both contestants were extremely powerful fighters.

As soon as he was in a safe bunker, he shouted into the microphone:

"GO!!"

The audience was not disappointed.

The moment the bell rang, both Vegeta and KOS-MOS took to the air; the former to gain an edge in mobility, the latter to deny him that same edge. Vegeta wasted a precious half-second charging up his punch to take out KOS-MOS with a single hit, something that allowed the android to take evasive action. Vegeta's punch created a giant crater in the ground.

"What the-?! Where'd she-"

Vegeta's answer was a direct kick from the android, which he barely managed to block with both hands. The sheer force of the blow sent him skidding at least 100 meters back.

Vegeta grinned through the dust cloud.

"Now we're talking! This is what I've come to find: a worthy challenge!"

He immediately took to the skies again, using his superior speed to try and catch up with his opponent. KOS-MOS evaded his rapid blows and managed to gain breathing space, which she used to transform her arms into massive guns; one arm deploying a multiple rocket launcher and the other firing a triad of heavy chainguns.

Vegeta was dodging the massive barrage, punching away some of the missiles while trying to evade the hail of machine-gun rounds, some of which scored some strong hits on his royal armor.

"Bah! You think this will even slow me down?!"

"No, but it will distract you from this!!"

Vegeta received a full-out blast from a heavy plasma cannon, and was blasted halfway to the ground until he managed to disperse it with his Ki. He was getting more than slightly annoyed at the escalation of difficulty this match was showing.

"You know, I was perfectly willing to go easy on you," snarled the Saiyan Prince.

"Funny, I thought that was my line," came KOS-MOS' deadpan response. She had figured out that Vegeta's main weakness is his ego. He simply had to prove himself the best there was. His reasons to come to the tournament were mostly selfish: he had an overwhelming desire to prove that he was better than everyone else.

"Okay, prepare to be taught some respect, worthless tin can!!"

With that, Vegeta made another charge. Only this time, his speed had increased greatly, so fierce was his desire to shut the robot up.

KOS-MOS responded with a heavy plasma barrage, which force Vegeta to supercharge his ki until it formed a temporary force wall to disrupt the shots. The blasts roared and thundered about him, trying to smash through his shield. With an angry snarl, Vegeta finally dispersed the shots, with the mighty plasma barrage striking the arena and Washu's arena force-field, causing them to shake something fierce, but they stood strong.

With the shots against him deflected by his ki, Vegeta then did a kamikaze charge against KOS-MOS. He was badly hit by some of the nastier blasts, but he maintained enough momentum to slam forcefully into the android.He followed up with a series of lightning-fast blows against the reeling android, then drop-kicked so hard she hurtled into the ground, creating a large crater.

"Aw man!!" Tidus moaned. "Why the hell can't we do anything?! Auron!! Where's the striker?!"

"First of all, the player on the field has to summon the striker," sighed Fei Fong Wong, no more pleased with the situation than Tidus was. "Secondly, even if he did get in, there's nothing he can do against someone that high up in the air."

"Aw, great..." mumbled the blitzball player. "So what? Are we going to lose this match?!"

"I'd be wiser than to say that," replied Auron. "KOS-MOS still has plenty of fight left in her..."

"...five, six, sev-"

Suddenly, KOS-MOS's form began moving again.

"Heh, you're awfully persistent for a robot," said Vegeta, crackling his knuckles together.

"And right now," the android replied, in a more human tone of voice, "I'm extremely pissed off for a robot."

She looked Vegeta directly in the eyes, and everyone could see that her normally red eyes now turned blue(*).

"Whoa," Fei commented. "Is it me, or has robo-girl... changed?"

"I hope that whatever it is, it means she'll kick that blowhard's butt," Terra replied.

"Lobo!!"

"Gotcha! Frag time, ya bastitches!!!"

Lobo sped on the SpazFrag and sent his chain hook flying in an attempt to impale the robotic chick on it. Instead, she merely caught the end, and began spinning it around so fast it looked like Lobo was caught in a slingshot. She then hurled the space bike, Czarnian and all, at the Saiyan. Vegeta dodged.

"WHAT THE FRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCKKK...."

The Czarnian hit the force field's ceiling and bounced off, crashing into the ground.

"Okay, that's it... that frackin' robochick is as good as fragged," growled the space merc.

Vegeta, however, had found that KOS-MOS' attacks had not only intensified, but that her movement had increased. His fireballs had only resulted in missing the mark as the android's increased agility helped her avoid his attacks.

It still didn't make her too fast for him to pummel her to death. He ran up to catch up with her, but suddenly was assailed by a barrage of fast-moving missiles. He dodged them all - only to be surprised from behind.

"Heat-seeking," KOS-MOS replied with a sweet smile.

"Okay, that's it!! You shall taste my fury!!"

Vegeta tried rushing forward for another barrage of punches -

Only to be stopped cold by KOS-MOS' ultimate barrage: both arms had transformed into giant cannons, and she began blasting. Her opponent tried to stop the barrage with his ki once again, but this time the barrage was just too powerful. He was slowly being pushed back.

"GYAAAAHHH!! THIS... CANNOT... BE...!! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!!! GYAAAAAAAARRRGGGHH!!"

Lobo tried to make a final charge to take down the female robot, but was too late.

For at that moment, the android's barrage finally overcame the Saiyan's defenses, and the resultant explosion tossed Vegeta clear of the fighting arena. Lobo and his bike were also consumed by the blast.

When the smoke cleared, KOS-MOS was in the ring, battered but victorious, while Lobo staggered to his bunker, headless. The explosion had caught him good."

"And it's a ring-out!!" the announcer cried out. "KOS-MOS wins! We'll continue this fight - as soon as Lobo regenerates his head."

"Woohoo!" Tidus shouted. "Yeah! That's how we do things in Team Epic!"

"Wow," Terra sighed in relief, "we finally have a winning chance now..."

(*) - In all three Xenosaga games, whenever KOS-MOS' eyes turn blue, her voice and mannerisms become more human, and her powers and abilities increase greatly. It's not exactly clear why this happens, but it probably means that her circuitry temporarily become more human, and thus gaining the necessary human determination to defend that which she holds dear.

[OverMaster]

-The Distance, Conclusion: The Distance Between you and me-

Peorth's office:

"Take a seat, please" she kindly smiled as she gestured towards a floating chair in front of her desk, the sat down behind the desk herself. Keima eyed the translucid seat with odd eyes for a second, then sat down, still gripping the mallet between his small hands. "My, my, my. You look like the shy kind, don't you?" she tried to tease him to lower his tension. "Just like your father...".

He looked straight into her eyes then, with nothing but sad bitterness on his own. Did she realize the seriousness of the situation? Adults were so hard so understand so often...

She noticed his expression, and lost her smile. "Okay, fine, then" she slightly shook her head. "I see you aren't in the mood".

"How could I be?".

He looked somewhat wounded, avoiding eye contact with her again. She was at a lost of exactly what to do with him. Celestine and Belldandy were the ones who were good with children; she had never had an easy time dealing with them.

"Let's start from the beginning, all right?" she tried a new approach. "Why were you running around calling for Belldandy?".

"I... I made her to cry" he admited with sorrow. "When she learned who my Dad was, she... had her heart broken, and ran away... I didn't think she would take it that way...".

"I see...".

"Then I ran into that Angel of Death, and the Angel with red eyes, and I felt fear...".

"Red eyes?".

"He also had gray hair... gray like ashes, and a soft voice...".

"Ah, the second Tabris. It's natural he scared you. He is a Doombringer, despite his aspect...". Then she bit her tongue. She had just scared him even more. "But... but don't worry, mon cher. He won't make a move against us gods, never...".

"But he will against mankind, won't he?" he shot her a sullen look. "He and you will act against the world, against my Dad and everyone else who is down there, won't you? Won't you?" he accused, almost fuming by now.

She sighed. "Look, Keima, it is not that easy... Things are not that black and white. The people down there did many bad things, and that was why we had to punish them...".

"By doing even more bad things?!" he snarled, with a bitterness surprising for someone of his scarce age.

Peorth blinked, then relaxed on her seat as best as she could. "We are not the bad guys here, Keima-kun...".

"The story of my time says different" he insisted. "You will bring Harmaggedon, and soon it will turn against you. Evil punishes itself. That was what I was taught, and I'm sure that's what will happen".

She paused. There was a slightly scary tone to his frail voice now, the tone brought by the bitterness of a shaken young soul.

"I lost my Dad... my Mom... my whole family... My friends... Everyone I ever loved... because of you! Because of what you put in motion! You were responsible for the God-Killer coming here! You were responsible for my Aunt Belldandy putting herself in the front lines! You killed them all!!!" he finished, almost babbling in discontrol by now, tears welling up on his eyes again, held back by sheer stuborness.

"I... I am sorry" Peorth finally replied, somewhat taken aback. "Look, I read Flonne's report. All what you told her about your past. I am very sorry about what happened to your mom, believe me, and to your dad...". She looked bitter for a moment herself, as she remembered the time when she met Keiichi. "I have a spot in my heart for him, you know?" she confessed in a whisper, as Keima did a surprised double take. "Under other circumstances... maybe... I could have fallen in love with him". She sighed. "But that's not important right now. I'll help you to find your Aunt. I have the feeling you will have a better time talking with her than with me".

"Miss Peorth... I... I am sorry if I offended you..." he lowered his gaze. "Looks like I do nothing but create problems whenever I open my mouth...".

She looked at him again. His sadness seemed too sincere.

What to do of him, indeed?

What to do?

She finally crouched down next to him, and hugged him warmly. Keiichi's son. The idea almost pierced her in the heart.

"It's okay... it's all okay" she cooed quietly, as she rocked him back and forth in her embrace. "I understand... Believe me, I do. I know well how it is... to be distanced of the ones you love. It gets to you every time. I know it well...".

A brief pause, as he weakly hugged her back, silently. Peorth almost felt something inside of herself breaking.

"Come with me" she finally said. "I'll help you to look for your aunt. You will explain her you are sorry about it, and together we will find a way to make this to work, tres bien?".

"Okay..." he nodded as best as he could. "Thanks, Miss Peorth".

"Oh, just call me Aunt Peorth, will you?" she tried to smile for him.


Next: I was a Nerima Teenage Vampiress, Redux!

[J Dog]

Urban Mimi- Part I

Jack and Dorado were concerned over making Mimi "urbanized" as a disguise. Think about it; Mimi is not the type who should be shown around playing hoops and listening to the new hits station. But if she was more than willing to undergo a transformation, and keep her old status at the same time, they'd do it.

"So, what's the first thing that you want to know in this department?" Jack asked her.

"Well, I'd like to know about that fashion." She says. "What do you wear?"

"Where I came from, we wear jeans a t-shirts." Jack told her. "But, we also had jerseys over the shirts as well. You know, kinda like a basketball player."

"Cool! I don't know much about b-ball, other than that nickname." Mimi replied. "Could you tell me why you wear stuff like that?"

"The obvious reason is that in Houston, the average temperature in the summer can crack the triple-digits. It's like living in a concrete & mortar version of Venus. In that case, usually we ditch the jeans with shorts. Plus, it represents where we came from." Jack concluded.

"I'd wear it, but I'm from Biloxi, and I'm not a true H-Tower like my friend here." Dorado added. "But, then again, I figured that out easily."

"Alright, alright." Mimi said. "I get it. Now, what should I wear first?"

Jack was too busy and too absorbed into this idea. Let's see, he was thinking. She's female, about ten, comes from an high middle-class family and enjoys shopping. This is not going to be easy. After that, he turned back to her and said, "I'll give you a pink shirt with a Houston Comets jersey (that's all I could think of for you), and some small slacks. They will fit you easily."

"We got that set. Now, about your style?" She asked. "What else do you do?"

"I listen to Chamillionaire and T.I.. But I'm not going to go even close to that." He said to Mimi.

Coming up next: Urban Mimi, Part II and Dogbert Talks Merger- Part II

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

"Great," he groaned. "I just had to stare into some sort of chaotic Hell, and forced to see some really nasty rituals up close, than forced to remember what I had this morning. My good mood has officially been butchered..."

"H-hell?" Karin stammered. "R-rituals? Are you saying that -- "

"That Sakura has been transported to some hell dimension and is currently being possessed by a demon?" Deegan cut in. "Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying."

Karin and Alita collectively turned as white as a pair of sheets. turned as white as a sheet. Even Alita looked deeply disturbed by this news.

"B-b-but . . . " Karin stammered. "But how? Why? What are we going to -- "

"Calm down, Karin," Alita cut in, doing her best to remain calm herself. "We'll have to find Ryu. But first . . . . "

She quickly fished out her cell phone and dialled a number. "Hey, Anzell? I just ran into Dominic Deegan, and he tells me that Sakura is being possessed by demons."


**********

"Demons? Are you sure?" Anzell asked as she, Urd and Team Light and Darkness waited for the arrival of more Sailor Senshi. The mention of demons caused everyone around Anzell to glance at her in concern. "Is there any way of pinpointing which dimension she is currently in?"

There was a short pause, and Anzell bit her lower lip. "Alright then. Yes, you probably should inform Ryu. I'll do what I can from here." With that, she hung up.

"What all this about demons?" Minako asked.

Anzell's face turned grim. "It turns out that, according to an oracle working under Alaniel's orders, Sakura has been taken to a hell dimension where she's being possessed by demons."

Spawn clenched his fist. "Is this Malebolgia's work?" he growled.

"I have no idea," Anzell admitted. She turned to Urd. "What about you, Lady Urd? Does this sound like Hild's work at all?" She took care not to refer to Hild as Urd's mother, of course.

[OverMaster]

"Demons? Are you sure?" Anzell asked as she, Urd and Team Light and Darkness waited for the arrival of more Sailor Senshi. The mention of demons caused everyone around Anzell to glance at her in concern. "Is there any way of pinpointing which dimension she is currently in?"

There was a short pause, and Anzell bit her lower lip. "Alright then. Yes, you probably should inform Ryu. I'll do what I can from here." With that, she hung up.

"What all this about demons?" Minako asked.

Anzell's face turned grim. "It turns out that, according to an oracle working under Alaniel's orders, Sakura has been taken to a hell dimension where she's being possessed by demons."

Spawn clenched his fist. "Is this Malebolgia's work?" he growled.

"I have no idea," Anzell admitted. She turned to Urd. "What about you, Lady Urd? Does this sound like Hild's work at all?" She took care not to refer to Hild as Urd's mother, of course.

"Hmmm" she frowned, thinking about it. "I'm not sure. She usually goes for far more subtle approachs... kidnapping and direct mind manipulation are most often below her 'sense of honor'... but then again, ever since MUGEN started, she has been acting... a bit different. Under other circumstances, she would have never recruited the Joker for her ranks. I think she is playing all her cards now, and willing to go far further than ever...". She paused, "But then again, this still doesn't feel right. I don't think she would do something like that even now". The goddess sighed, "I could be wrong, of course, but my gut instinct tells me she's not behind that. And besides, there are too many other Hell lords out there. They surely haven't been staying quiet waiting until now".

"Damn right" Spawn snarled bitterly.

"Possessed by demons... eww" Minako shuddered. "Reminds me of the time when Usagi went down to the Negaverse and had to face her boyfriend, who was under demonic influence... We had a real close call there".

"I'll talk to the Blue Devil, who is with Strange's team" Batman began to walk away. "He is the best demonic investigator I know we have near here".

"Why not to ask for that judge's help... Etrigan?" Spawn asked. "You said you knew him...".

"Etrigan is too far from being trustworthy for my liking" the Dark Knight replied without turning back. "Call me whenever you have that 'time gateway' ready".

And he seemed to quietly vanish to sight at that moment.

"He masters that ninja disappearing act scarily well" Sailor Venus commented. "Sometimes it's hard to believe it's not supernatural".

"Are you really going to take him with you into the past?" Spawn turned to Urd.

"Hey, as I said, he's the Joker expert. And he'll be handy to have around at Gotham City" the goddess replied. "A singularity..." she mused remembering Anzell's words concerning the Clown Prince. "Until now, the only human singularity I had ever met was Keiichi".

"Mr. Morisato is a singularity as well?" Anzell asked.

"He has to be. He managed to get accidental calls to summon both Belldandy and Peorth, against all chances. He even once managed to telephonically contact Yggdrasil *on purpose*, when Belldandy was sick, despite it being theorically impossible for a human being. And when Skuld first showed up at home, the Bugs she was chasing were gravitating around Keiichi... because of his Singularity nature".

"I see..." Anzell blinked. "I didn't know that...".

************************

Elsewhere at the Grounds:

"Shhhhh. Be quiet, please, dear" Nabiki Tendo gently asked as she tried to comfort the little lost boy in front of her. He couldn't be older than five years old, and was crying in fear as she approached him at that lonely section of the Grounds borders. She almost could smell the warm, fresh innocent blood running inside of him.

She did not want to do it. But the call was too strong.

"You don't have anything to fear... You won't suffer, poor little thing... I swear it..." she cooed as her gaze enveloped him, snared him, making him to stop his weepings as he stared into her mesmerizing eyes.

God, what was she doing? she thought, but couldn't stop. Just one, just a little sucking. She would not even kill him. Just a tiny sip to quench her burning thirst.

Nothing more, she told herself as she reached with her arms to him...

And then she heard the scandalized scream behind her.

"Nabiki! No!!".

She turned around quickly. Kasumi had just arrived to the area, her face suddenly pale and transfixied in horror at what her sister almost had just done. Behind her, a little girl grinned to herself, a tiny psycho glint in her blue eyes.

B.B. Hood had just found her target.

Next: Waltz of the Vampire!

OOC: When Batman says he doesn't trust Etrigan, keep in mind Comics Etrigan is indeed far less thrustworthy than the animated Etrigan who joined the JLU.

[Saint_007]

Back at the hospital:

"So what exactly are we doing here, Dominic?" Alita asked.

"Basically, any clues as to what exactly caused all this," the seer replied calmly. "Think about it rationally; what would drive a normally balanced and cheerful teenager into just binding her soul to a demon? Something must have happened *here*..."

"Couldn't it have been the time she was shot?"

"Could be. Which is why I want to see the medical records as well. It could have been from a poison in the bullet. Sakura seemed healthy enough before the incident, am I right?"

"Pretty much," Karin shrugged. "She did seem a bit down from her early defeat, though."

"But not enough to go on a rampage, that's for sure," Dominic replied, looking around Sakura's hospital room.

"Then could we hurry up with this?" Alita commented. "The hospital's still in need of repairs, and we've got work to do."

"In a minute," replied Deegan. He lifted up the trashcan and peered into it. "Damn. They've been working fast - too fast. Whatever evidence I could have used was cleaned out."

"So we're out of luck," sighed Karin.

"Maybe not," Dominic replied, seeing a slight stain on the bed. It was where Sakura had forcefully taken out the IV prior to her escape. A drop of it sprayed onto the metal frame of the bed.

As Dominic reached for the spot, a male nurse stepped in.

"Uh, you guys? I need to clean up the place, so are you done yet?"

"J-just a minute," Karin said. "We're almost done here, so-"

"Look guys," the nurse said, a tad annoyed, "we're still cleaning the place up-"

"Excuse me," asked Alita, interrupting the orderly, "but I was wondering if anyone could have affected Sakura, either by post-hypnotic suggestion or by administration of drugs?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked the orderly in curiousity.

"We believe that someone might have used something to get Miss Kusagano to go berserk like that."

"Oh my god, you're saying someone might have been working from inside the hospital?"

"Well, it's a possibility," replied Alita. "But we also want to see the medical records. It might have been the bullet she was hit with; it could have been coated with something."

"You think?" the orderly asked. "Well, I'll see what I can do..."

During the conversation, the girls and the orderly had their eyes off Dominic. He had passed his hand over the stain, and a look of shock came over his face. It quickly passed to one of cold wrath. He turned to the conversation and looked at the orderly for a bit.

"You know," spoke up the oracle, "that's a nice tattoo you have there..."

"Dominic!!" exclaimed Alita. "this is no time for small talk!!"

"Oh this?" the orderly replied with a grin. He showed a Navy tattoo on his wrist. "I never actually went to the Navy, but I've always wanted to, so I got it. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Actually," Deegan replied, walking up to the orderly, "I was talking about your other tattoo; the one on your back...

"The one shaped like an eight-sided star...

"...demon-worshipper..."

There was a moment of utter shock. Even Alita was stunned by the revelation.

Then the cultist reacted quickly, grabbing a syringe and a female doctor who was passing by. He saw that the jig was up and that he needed a hostage.

What he didn't count on was Alita's speed, for as soon as she recovered from her surprise she became a blur of action. With one swift move, she severed the arm holding the syringe, and grabbed away the hostage. With another flash of motion, she broke the cultist's jaw with a powerful kick.

"Dammit, Alita!!" shouted Dominic as soon as he recovered from his own surprise. "Why'd you do that for?!"

"I had to get the syringe out of his hand, idiot!!"

"I wasn't worried about the syringe, I was worried about his hollowed-out tooth. The one filled with venom!

"The tooth you smashed open when you broke his jaw!!"

Alita realised to her horror that the orderly in her grasp was beginning to shake and have strong spasms. On his broken face was a dark grin of victory, a thin line of green spittle oozing from the corner of his lips, before he convulsed again and spewed a geyser of blood from his mouth. Alita dropped him to the floor in disgust, where he thrashed about in his dying throes.

"Damn..." was all Alita could say.

"It doesn't matter," Dominic sighed. "His worst damage was already done. We'll get his buddies soon enough. But I think I know how he did this. I'll explain on the way..."

At a nearby cafe:

Karin had order drinks for the three of them, but none of them were in any mood for drinks. Dominic looked sour (well, more sour than usual), and Alita seemed very upset.

"Dominic," Alita spoke up.

"Don't fret it," Dominic cut her off. "You didn't know. And he wasn't one to talk anyways. We would have known out about his buddies anyways, so there wasn't anything he could tell us."

"But what about Sakura?" the cyborg asked in concern.

"Well, I've found out how he did it, by 'seeing' that fluid stain. He had come in to remove all traces of his crime, but we beat him to the punch.

"You see, that solution he was using for Sakura's IV feed wasn't normal. It's an abyssal scrying serum. Or rather, a by-product of one."

"What? What's that?" Karin asked.

"Basically, it's a sort of alchemical serum, created mainly by dark magic, that's used to peer into demonic realms. Different demonic realms require different combinations of serum.

"But if you knew how to make it, you also know how to make by-products of it. The serum basically operates as a window into Hell, so to speak. Modifying it could enable you to actually carry out conversations with demons."

"Or even make you into a receiver?" Alita completed the thought.

"Exactly. The cultist was using a serum that basically attuned Sakura to whatever demon realm was needed. Or to receive commands from demons."

"Which explains her escape," Alita nodded faintly.

"And her rapid recovery," Dominic replied. "I don't like it either, but I'm beginning to think that while in her visions-induced delirium, Sakura was conned into making an infernal contract."

"Now that's just sick!" Karin cried out.

"We're talking about demons here," Dominic replied sarcastically. "What did you think they were going to do?"

"We need to tell Anzell," Alita replied.

"Hold on," Dominic replied, drawing a sketch on a napkin.

Unfortunately, Dominic's poor sketch only aroused a chuckle from Marv.

"Sheesh, four-eyes! It looks like an octopus with a seizure!"

"Oh shut up, tough guy," snapped Dominic to the videophone. "I'm not exactly an artist."

"Fortunately," Alita cut in, making a sketch of her own, "my photographic reflexes are better. I've taken a good look at the tattoo on the cultist's body."

Alita's sketch was of a perfect eight-pointed star.

http://z.about.com/d/altreligion/1/0/d/F/2/chaos.jpg

"Hmmm," Spawn pondered. "It's not anything I recall seeing."

"Same here," Batman mumbled. "I ought to ask Etrigan. Maybe he has a clearer idea."

"Wait..." Anzell cut in. "I... I think I've seen it somewhere..."

OOC: OM, LoNC, over to you...

[J Dog]

Urban Mimi- Part II

"How much longer is this going to take?" Mimi said, waiting in her room. She decided to take off her clothes down to her pink-and-green undies (which, for some reason, was also her swimsuit in the second Digimon film). The reason was due to the fact she was waiting for Jack to get the freaking clothes he was talking about. "I understand that he is not Superman or anything, but-" It was then that Jack had finally managed to get back from the Urban Palace store that set up shop at the tournament.

"I got your..." He saw her undies. "Um... could you put some clothes on? You are from a kid anime." Mimi then hits him. "Not funny. I was waiting forever for you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Watch me go fast. Vroom!" He said in sarcasm. "Look, I was slow because some buttmunch was too darn busy grabbing those XXXXXL shirts. Who was it? Wiggum? Eh. I don't care now."

"Can I have them?" She asks as Jack hands over the clothes. "Please get out of here, NOW!"

"Sheesh. And I thought you were nice." He said in sarcasm. "I'll leave, 'Princess Karaoke'."

In a few minutes, Mimi finally dressed up and left the room. "So, Jack? Whaddya think? Pretty sweet stuff, eh?"

Jack looked at her from the top to the bottom. She left her pink hat and red dress behind, and showed off a Houston Comets jersey, pink shirt, royal blue jeans, and her old shoes. Her ponytail was also existant. "It's... good." He grinned.

"Thank you! Sorry for being mean back there, but I don't like people barging in when I'm wearing just what I wear beneath my clothes." Mimi told him. "I'm sorry again."

"What the heck are you sorry 'bout? It's human nature! And that is what I'm going to be teaching you about 'Urban Ettiquite'. What it is that you are still going to nice to everyone, but at the same time be on their level. In other words, you are related to them in all aspects."

"Alright! Let me through." She said, smiling. "I can't wait."

Boy, talk about misplaced enthusiasm. He thought, "Alright, let's begin. The first thing is, what do you say to someone you like as in an intro?"

"Hello?" Mimi answers.

"Yeah. But, I'm more on the lines of 'Hey!', or 'What's up?'. But whatever you do, never, EVER, saw 'WHAZZUP?!!" Jack then follows that word by having the inane dribble dropping and head shaking. "That is so lame."

"Yeah. I never liked it anyway. So. About Houston? I heard it's, like, the 94th largest city in the world. But, that pales to where I came from."

"I know that." Jack told her. "But H-Town has 4 of the tallest skyscrapers out there. I don't know any from Tokyo. Come on. We gotta sit down for the next set of words." Both went to a nearby desk.

******

"Man, I can't wait to train with Nabeshin." Mel said to himself. "One thing or another, I'm going to traverse through a living nightmare. But it's all worth it!"

Next: Urban Mimi- Part III

[OverMaster]

-Waltz of the Vampire: First Step-

Anzell paced around while waiting for the Batman to come back. She wanted to interrogate the Joker as soon as possible.

"Just be patient" Dexter told her as he quietly sipped on his cocoa. "He usually is quite quick at what he does, so he shouldn't take too long to come back".

"He said Joker was our main priority, and yet he went away when he heard about the Sakura possession" the Evermere goddess sighed. "I don't get it".

"Apparently, he had a hunch that would be even more urgent right now..." Urd pondered, unusually subdued, as she took a glance down at her glass of sake. She knew she had hit rock bottom when she was not in the mood for liquor. But after what she had heard Grim say about Belldandy, she could not get her mind out of it enough to truly lighten up as she used to do. "No matter, we had agreed we wouldn't go with Joker until Blossom and her sisters and the Senshi came here anyway..." she looked at her new wristwatch, wondering what could be taking them so long.

She also was curious (and a bit fearful) about what Kaarage was up to now, so she called him through her cellphone. "Hello? Hey, Nudoru? Are you there?".

"Yeah, it's me" his voice said from the other side of the line. "Um, look, I'm kinda busy right now... Couldn't we talk later?".

"Busy? What are you doing?".

"Ehh, see, right now, I'm trying to revive Miso... he went and got himself electrocuted to death when he stepped on one of Washu's devices... After he's back, we'll be taken to fight someone Washu wants us tested against...".

"Try not to do too much property damage in the proccess, okay?" she sighed. "So, what about Keima? What did Washu tell you about him?".

"Hmmm, yeah, about that... I think I don't have too good news... looks like the kid's for real, and you kinda must owe him some belated birthday presents...".

Urd cursed under her breath.

"And furthermore..." Nudoru continued, "Belldandy also happened to learn about it. She had a freakin' attack and ran away like the Road Runner on crack. Sorry 'bout that, but...".

"Damn it, no" she gritted her teeth again. "Not now. She needs all the mental strenght she can have at this point...".

"Well, I think we should continue this later, okay? Washu has it all ready for our match, and Miso's back... puking some blood, but alive again...".

"I want a full report as soon as you are here" Urd commanded. "And be preparing yourself. Tell me... Have you ever time travelled?".

************************

Elsewhere:

"Naga!" the girl shouted then, to someone out of the Tendos' vision range. "The basket!".

And then, with a fwoosh of air around her, the tall dark sorceress came flying into the scene... Hood's picnic basket loaded with weaponry firmly grasped in a hand, and she threw it down to the little girl, much to Nabiki and Kasumi's astonishment. "Here, catch it!".

Hood jumped up and caught it, as with her other hand she took her redhead wig off, her blonde locks breaking free to the cold winter air. Nabiki blinked in surprise as the small Hunter landed back on her feet. "It's you! The Darkstalker hunter!".

The one that had fought Ranma to a close match. The one Lord Maximoff had warned them about. No match for his might, but more than two low rank new concubines like them could handle.

The little girl and the sorceress smiled to them, as Hood pulled a huge stake launcher out of her basket.

"Stakes for two, garcon!" she chuckled as she eyed her preys, Naga behind her ready to back her up. "Ah, I love my job!".

But then, a blur came to her and kicked the weapon off her hand. "Ouch! Hey, what the devil...".

Akane Tendo was between the Hunters and the vampiresses now, in a fighting stance, a hard look in her big dark eyes.

"Nabiki..." she was mumbling to her older sister behind her, "I was so worried about you, and with good reason, I see..." she took a quick glare at the little boy Nabiki had in her grasp, never taking her eyes off the Mercs for more than a couple of seconds. "Let that child go, NOW".

"OK, OK. Sorry, sis" Nabiki sighed as she let him break free. Confused, the child ran away crying. "I can explain it, honest...".

"Oh no, you can't. Because you'll be vampire dust before you can give any half-assed explanations for your evil, miserable foul beeyotch! Eat lead, bloodsuckers!!" Hood took advantage of their momentary distraction to pull out an Uzi and shoot them...


To be continued. Also, Batman and the Blue Devil!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Anzell paced around while waiting for the Batman to come back. She wanted to interrogate the Joker as soon as possible.

"Just be patient" Dexter told her as he quietly sipped on his cocoa. "He usually is quite quick at what he does, so he shouldn't take too long to come back".

"He said Joker was our main priority, and yet he went away when he heard about the Sakura possession" the Evermere goddess sighed. "I don't get it".

"Apparently, he had a hunch that would be even more urgent right now..." Urd pondered, unusually subdued, as she took a glance down at her glass of sake. She knew she had hit rock bottom when she was not in the mood for liquor. But after what she had heard Grim say about Belldandy, she could not get her mind out of it enough to truly lighten up as she used to do. "No matter, we had agreed we wouldn't go with Joker until Blossom and her sisters and the Senshi came here anyway..." she looked at her new wristwatch, wondering what could be taking them so long.

She also was curious (and a bit fearful) about what Kaarage was up to now, so she called him through her cellphone. "Hello? Hey, Nudoru? Are you there?".

"Yeah, it's me" his voice said from the other side of the line. "Um, look, I'm kinda busy right now... Couldn't we talk later?".

"Busy? What are you doing?".

"Ehh, see, right now, I'm trying to revive Miso... he went and got himself electrocuted to death when he stepped on one of Washu's devices... After he's back, we'll be taken to fight someone Washu wants us tested against...".

"Try not to do too much property damage in the proccess, okay?" she sighed. "So, what about Keima? What did Washu tell you about him?".

"Hmmm, yeah, about that... I think I don't have too good news... looks like the kid's for real, and you kinda must owe him some belated birthday presents...".

Urd cursed under her breath.

"And furthermore..." Nudoru continued, "Belldandy also happened to learn about it. She had a freakin' attack and ran away like the Road Runner on crack. Sorry 'bout that, but...".

"Damn it, no" she gritted her teeth again. "Not now. She needs all the mental strenght she can have at this point...".

"Well, I think we should continue this later, okay? Washu has it all ready for our match, and Miso's back... puking some blood, but alive again...".

"I want a full report as soon as you are here" Urd commanded. "And be preparing yourself. Tell me... Have you ever time travelled?".
[/B]

Further in the background, Anzell's pnderings were interrupted when she heard Marv shout "Hey Anzell!"

She turned around and saw Marv and Zarabeth approaching. Marv was smiling and nonchalant as usual, and Zarabeth looked pissed-off as usual. The only odd thing was that Marv's shirt was cut and bloodied slightly.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"Ninjas," came Marv's gruff reply. "That, an Miss Fangs got mad at me when I commented on her freaky new powers."

Anzell raised an eyebrow. "New powers?"

Zarabeth sighed. "It seems that my magical capacity has been increased," she muttered. "A lot."

Anzell slowly turned back to Marv. "And the ninjas?"

"Sent by Mr. V himself," the big man replied. "He even left a nice little note for Zarabeth here."

Surprised, Anzell was about to ask Zarabeth what the note had said when a videophone near the wall suddenly rang. Minako picked it up, then turned to the goddess. "Anzell-san! It's for you!"

"Thanks Minako," she said, going over to pick it up. Dominic Deegan, Alita, and Karin Kanzuki were on the screen, looking rather concerned.

"Miss Anzell?" Dominic said. "It seems we've had some new developments: there were -- and possibly still are -- cultists in the hospital who were instrumental in Sakura's possession."

Anzell frowned. "Cultists? Is there a possibility that there's more of them in the MUGEN grounds?"

"I'm pretty sure there are," he replied. "The one we discovered was wearing this symbol." With that, he held up an image drawn on a napkin.

Unfortunately, Dominic's poor sketch only aroused a chuckle from Marv.

"Sheesh, four-eyes! It looks like an octopus with a seizure!"

"Oh shut up, tough guy," snapped Dominic to the videophone. "I'm not exactly an artist."

"Fortunately," Alita cut in, making a sketch of her own, "my photographic reflexes are better. I've taken a good look at the tattoo on the cultist's body."

Alita's sketch was of a perfect eight-pointed star.


"Hmmm," Spawn pondered. "It's not anything I recall seeing."

"Wait..." Anzell cut in. "I... I think I've seen it somewhere..."

Anzell paused for a minute as she searched back into her memory. Yes: she had definitely seen that symbol somewhere before. She was certain of it.

She fished out a small portable computer from a pocket of her dress and began to go through files at an incredible rate. Finally, she came upon a symbol that matched the one Alita drew.

"Chaos," she muttered. "Great. Just great."

Zarabeth's face seemed to go paler than usual. "You mean to tell me Chaos is involved in the tournament?" she asked.

"Chaos?" Minako asked. "You mean, as in that Lord of Nightmares everyone talks about?"

"No," Anzell replied. "The Lord of Nightmares is an ancient and necessary power. I mean the Chaos Gods -- demonic entities who already have a strong presence in two dimensions, including Zarabeth's home dimension. We gods of Evermere, however, have noticed that their influence seems to spill across dimensions. They are a very, very powerful threwt indeed."

She paused and looked back at the screen. "I"ll need you to contact Alaniel, Mr. Deegan," she said. "He'll need to know the gravity of the situation we're facing here. In the meantime, Alita, I'll need you and Deegan to continue your investigation. But whatever you do, be careful."

[KingEli]

Final Round:Guy Gardner vs. KOS-MOS:


"Geez, Do I have to do everything around here?" Said Guy walking into the ring.

"Is Lobo-"" Said Vegeta

"Nah. He'll regenerate in a little bit." Replied Guy "Now to beat down a Robot."

"You saw what Happen to your team mate when he got to cocky." Said KOS-MOS

"Yeah, but you wont touch me this whole fight." Said Guy with a smirk "Unlike that Nabeshin guy, When I see a Robot I thrash right off the Bat, even cute ones as yourself."

"Ok Guy vs. KOS-MOS, Final Round.............AND FIGHT!!!" Said the Budakai Annoucer

Guy Used his GL ring to Construct a Energy Gun with he saated blasting at KOS-MOS wich she Dodged with Ease, and Guy Soon took to the Sky with the Android Following him.

"R-SHOOT!" KOS-MOS let out a Barraged of Machine Gun Fire from Her arms.

"Please, you not getting me with those tricks." Said Guy Putting up a Shiled to Block the Bullets

"Well then try this, X-Buster!" The Andriod then Blasted Guy with Chared Energy Beam shot

"X-Buster?" Said Megaman X From the Stands.

"Aw, Hell" Said Guy as the Shot hit Dead on knocking him to the Ground.

"Come on Guy Stop Fooling around!" Said Vile from the Sidelines

"Hey Clam up will ya?"

"Beat him down KOS-MOS!" Said Tidus Cheering her on.

"Well it seems you are the one about to get 'Trashed' " Said The Android

"Well my Mom used to say don't count your chickens before they Hatched." Said Guy getting up "Your Done." Guy then Dissapperd

"Huh----AHHH!!" KOS-MOS Screamed as Guy Appeared behind her.

"What the &^& just Happened?" Said Tidus

"Wasn't he just 30 Meters from her." Said Kyo "I'm SURE he was 30 meters"

KOS-MOS' body was heavly Damaged with Sparks forming from her joints, but she got up anyway.

"No.....I Can't lose" She said as Her Eyes turen Blue

"No You Can't win." as Guy appeard Behind her again as KOS-MOS fell.

"1....2....3....4........"

"Get up!" Said Tidus "GET UP!"

"7....8....9.....10!! And She's out! Team Warriors win the Match!" Said the Ref

"Please show a replay of the Last two minutes on the Jumbotron" Said Rayden as the Jumbotron showed the end of Fight "Track Gardner's speed"

"Speed.......5 times the Speed of Light." Was Said Over the Loudspeakers.

"Faster than..............Light?! There is no way!" Said Kyo

"Damn you GLs are full of tricks." Said Lobo, his Head fully Regenerated



OOC: Green Lanterns have the Ablity to up to 35x the Speed of Light when they focus their Ring on a Target they want to go to.

[T51R]

~Drop the Bombshell~



“¿recorrido del tiempo?” Miso asked, its translucent, razor-edged techno-organic feathers rustling as it shooks its wings, warming up as Rind paced the miniature arena encircled by Royal Jurian trees where the portal to the Sea of Chaos had been. She took a few practice swings, flowing with the momentum of her twin axes, letting them carry her body as they would to unwind taut muscles. The barriers were already raised, the shields generated by the Power Jurai strengthened tenfold; Washu had anticipated the magnitude of the trial would be of some proportions indeed. ¿"cuándo el infierno es ella que va? El un montón de esos versos no existe más los gracias a la marea de la dimensión." It cracked its neck, followed by stretching its arms and each of its ten wings individually.

“Who knows?” Nudoru muttered as Washu went over her instruments one last time. “Can‘t she just do a temporal Phase Shift? I mean it‘s a whole lot less risky than a portal.”

“And why would that be?” the pink-haired Chousein nibbled on the back end of a pencil while still watching the screen.

“Well,” Miso began speaking English again, this time with an old Victorian accent, “you can‘t be knocked out of a Shift, and it is rather difficult if not night impossible to intercept something that is in fact fusing and then exchanging its material with its contemporary on a trans-planar set of coordinates while doing the same with the general area of occupation instantaneously, you see. One may intercept a time-portal traveller through a tangential stream that intersects the existing path, or disrupt travel via interlacing that stream with another. One can also disrupt temporal coordinates by causing a localized temporal anomaly at any point along the transient path, sending the traveller to another timeline instead for the sole reason that the temporal vectors will realign themselves to the anomaly.”

“But you don‘t need to do that, do you?” Washu grinned slyly. “Because wherever she wants to go, you‘re already there. Because of the nature of Multiplanar Existences, the time stream doesn‘t work in just one direction for you, does it? Anywhere, anytime, any day of the week. You‘re already there, whether you want to be there or not.” She looked at the pair. “And you‘re here,” she began again, “because there‘s just no wonder in your lives. Is there?”

“By Jove,” Miso exclaimed, “she has us by the scruff of our necks, my good man! Dear lady, might you be so kind as to tell us how you came to such a conclusion?”

“SIMPLE!” the Chousein grinned wide, “They don‘t call me the number one Genius Scientist in the Universe for nothing you know!”

The pair shared a sweat-drop moment, and then turned to watch Rind for a moment as she set her battleaxes on the ground and began to warm up the lower half of her body.

“F..f…flex…ible…” A thin stream of drool began leaking out from behind Nudoru’s mask.

“Anyway,” Washu continued, “HEY! Get your mind out of the gutter! You know, she‘d tear your head clean off with her bare hands for less than that. But anyway, I came to that conclusion because of the sole fact of your being designed to engage and eliminate high-and top-tier deities, and what happened to you earlier. It wouldn‘t make much sense to make something that was vulnerable to temporal attack, and so the system that designed and created you, instead of giving you a defence against that, gave you an offensive option in that same vein. Instead of temporal shielding and reinforced coding, you‘re actually able to intercept a attack midway through the time stream, before it even got to its target! The best defence,” She smiled triumphantly, “is the most potent offence possible: the opponent coming both backwards and forwards through the time stream to intercept the target on the plane it‘s in, or is displaced to. It also eliminates the enemy’s option of a ‘cut-and-run’ strategy, because doing that would only lead to the enemy leaving behind a damaged NODE and then coming face to face with a fresh one with several attack spells ready. Or worse, the other NODES actually attack while displaced from the reality that the actual combat is taking place in. Tell me if I‘m getting warm here.”

“Damn, all that in like what, three hours!?” Nudoru started at her in awe.

“Yup! Like I said, they don’t call me the Number One genius scientist in the Universe for nothing! But anyway, those are all theories, for now. The next simulation is actual combat where the environment that you‘re in will be monitored down to the last iota of particulate matter.”

“Huh?”

“Que?”

“This is the briefing for the next test,” The ground under the three of them began to move, the medical bay severing itself from the main building and heading towards the mini-Arena Dome under its own power. “Pay attention. As well as the both of you, we‘ll also be monitoring the reactions inside Rind as well as the other subjects. The combat zone will be a pocket Multiverse of my very own creation, so if you break it, you bought it! Feel free to use whatever means you feel are necessary to defeat your opponent but remember, you are not to destroy, kill or severely injure the others who are in the test with you. The whole purpose of this test is to give us a rough idea of what this other NODE is capable of, since you have said that each one has about the same levels of offensive and defensive ability.” The platform pulled up beside the arena dome, where Rind stood waiting in the centre of the ring. “From the data we gather today, our best minds will begin to come up with a way to either stop the second NODE, or destroy it. We are hoping that we won‘t have to use you in the plan, because we have no idea how much extra planar-matter the Merged Omniverse will be able to hold. Alright, we‘re here!” The platform stopped silently, no lurches, just a cessation of forward movement. “Out you go! AND DON‘T TRIP AND FALL OFF OF THE PLATFORM AND DIE!!! I DON‘T WANT ANY MORE DELAYS!”

“ALRIGHT ALREADY!” Nudoru half-whined as he made his way safely to the skiting of the Arena Dome, Miso fusing into his back. “There!”

“Good. Now, the first test will be one-on-one combat. Neither of you will be using ranged attacks or projectiles of any kind. The test is strictly hand-to-hand only, got it?” A ghostly white limb emerged from the God-Killer’s back and gave her the thumbs up. “HEY!” She jumped up and rapped a rather large paper fan across the back of Nudoru’s head. “GOT IT!?”

“OW! Yeah, I got it!”

“Good. Enter the ring, and be ready.” He did as she said, and found himself at the centre of an enormous field with grandstands a good ten storeys high around the colosseum-like building. The MUGEN Arena Dome. He recognised it, the crowd, the skies. They were still blue, he noted. Above the building, the Arena Shielding slowly closed and shut with thunderous ovation from the crowds. He sighed; this would be as close as they would get to the real thing, it seemed. Something to fight for, really fight for. A reason to fight as well, not for pride, not for the sake of humanity, or for a Verse or a collection of them either. The thought crossed his mind then. Home. Fight. To protect home. “Dammit.” The image of Shang Tsung appeared again between the God-Killer and the Valkerye.

“Prepare yourselves,” the image smiled as Rind lifter her head, and the match music began to play on the PA; Powerman 5000’s ‘Drop the Bombshell.’

“I will be your opponent today. My name is Rind of the Valkerye Battle Division, Goddess First Class, Special Duty. To part take of this match is my honour.” She bowed slightly; such tests were always formal matters. Old habits were hard to break.

“Kaarage, Nudoru.” The God-Killer nodded, then raised his hand and flipped Rind the Golden Digit. “All your soul belong only to The One Above All, but your ass belongs to me…” Drool again began to flow from behind Nudoru’s mask as the image of Rind stretching herself crept back into his mind. “…ass,” he slurred. Veins began to creep across Rind’s forehead, and her teeth began to grind again in frustration. The hologram of Shang Tsung stood in its seat at the top of the stand and bellowed for all to hear, its voice echoing throughout the Arena Dome in Washu’s pocket multiverse.

“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRTAL KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMBAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!”

The ‘thwack’ echoed through the arena as the tip of the axe handle snapped the God-Killer’s head back as it smacked into his chin-piece, the weapon thrown hard and fast enough right as the call to battle went out. “YOU PIG!!!!” Rind began unloading a barrage of kicks on the falling figure’s head, and then slipped her foot under the body as it hit the ground and flicked it into the air with a fair amount of finesse, catching it on her shoulders. “PERVERT!!!!!” She took off, leaving a small cloud of dust where the pair were. “BAKA NO HENTAAAAAAAAIIIII!!!!!!!” She screamed as the threw Nudoru into the Arena Shielding, causing the God-Killer to pinball around the arena.



:D

[J Dog]

Urban Mimi- Part III... or "How Jack Is Addicted to Hip-Hop"

"For sakes, girl!" Jack tells Mimi, "When you talk to somebody, you DON'T use Snoop Dogg lingo. The '-izzle' speak was denounced YEARS ago!"

"Well, I'M sorry for blurting out that." Mimi tells the Houstonite. "Besides, who will notice?"

"Mwa right here." He says. "If you got a friend, it's okay to give them a nickname. However, the nickname must be one that relates to his or her style or personality, and NOT his or her physical or psychological shortcomings. That's being harsh. Now, I wouldn't do this with the other Destined, because they thought you were an alien spy. It's a joke, but still, don't wanna flip them out. And, it's your way of being nice. You should also enjoy some of their music." It is then that Jack's p