Mugen Universe: Tournament of Champions- The Fanfiction Series

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Honour among thieves . . .

Xelloss smiled as he looked down on the arena from his private balcony. In a few minutes, that upstart trickster's team would be humiliatingly defeated by his own hand-picked warriors. Seriously, Vellinor's team didn't stand a chance -- only that vampire and that psychic were a real problem, and they were mere insects against the likes of Inu-Yasha, Cutie Honey and Juggernaut. That would teach that other trickster to ambush him . . .

The Mazoku's thoughts were interrupted, however, when he heard an odd sound . . . something that sounded vaguely like a clucking chicken . . . . somewhere behind him. Curious, Xelloss stood up and looked behind his chair, only find nothing there. Shrugging, the Mazoku turned around, and saw a grinning Vellinor sitting in his chair.

"Nice seat you got here, Xella . . . Xeno . . . . Xolloss . . . . Mazoku Guy!" the Trickster God exclaimed cheerfully.

Xelloss' eyes narrowed in anger. "You," he hissed. He extended his hand, and, before Vellinor could react, incinerated both him and the chair in a blast of flame.

Satisfied that he'd gotten rid of this little intrusion, Xelloss conjured another chair and sat down -- and found Vellinor sitting in another chair opposite him, still grinning.

"Aw come on, just because I got your name wrong doens't mean you have to attack me, Xelloss!" Vellinor said. "See, I got it right this time!"

"Actually, that was for that unprovoked knee to the balls you gave me a few days ago," Xelloss replied icily, ready to for any dirty tricks on Vellinor's part.

"That? Pppph! You Mazoku get irate over the most trivial matters!" Vellinor scoffed.

Xelloss leaned back warily in his chair. "What do you want, exactly?" he asked. "You haven't come to pick a fight, have you?"

"Pick a fight? Please!" The trickster chuckled. "If I came to pick a fight, you'd be little more than a bubbling smear on the ground by now, wannabe!"

"You talk big for a lowly prankster," Xelloss countered with a slight grin.

Vellinor's own grin did not waver. "If I'm so lowly, then why, pray tell, are you and your Hell Lord masters having a collective hernia over me?" he sneered. "You can't hide stuff from me, sucka! I've got eyes on the back of my head!" With that, Vellinor pulled back his hood and tilted his head forwards, revealing a pair of toy google-eyes taped to the back of his head.

"Oh, how very amusing," Xellos muttered. "If you're not here to pick a fight, then why are you here? Other than to inneffectively taunt me, that is."

Vellinor sat back upright, his grin widening. "Why simple, my dear Xelloss!" he said cheerfully. "Are you a betting man?"

Now it was Xelloss' turn for his grin to widen. "Oh, I make bets all the time!" he said. "Usually on peoples' souls, but that's beside the point!"

"In that case, hows about we make a little bet?" the Trickster God offered. "If my team wins, you owe me . . .. oh, about five billion dollars. And a Vespa. And a PSP."

"Done!" Xelloss replied. "And if my team wins, you owe me your soul. And the command of your God-Killer."

"Dealio!" Vellinor extended his hand. "Let's shake on it, pal!"

"Kindly remove your hand buzzer first," the Mazoku said warily.

The Trickster sighed and slipped his buzzer off. "Aw, you Mazoku are no fun . . . "


Coming Soon: Team Vellinor vs. Team Beastmaster begins!

[Golden Darkness]

The Battle Between the Halves of Light and Darkness, Prelude - The Player's Headache

The Player's Main Base of Operations:

"So... do you think the Player has calmed down now?" Leo wondered loudly, as the two VG Cats walked down the hallways of the massive complex that housed the center of the Player's major operations.

"Are you nuts? Don't you remember how angry he was when he stormed out of his own meeting?" Aeris interjected. "Or how angry he looked when he returned without being able to talk to this Celes-person?"

"He left a note with that Rayden guy, didn't he?" Leo stated, oblivious to Aeris' being a bit miffed that he wasn't getting the picture, yet.

"Of course he did, but that isn't the point," Aeris replied, "Don't you know how long it takes him to work out his anger?"

"No, and that's why I'm asking," Leo answered, "I just don't want him angry when we tell him what happened to Carmen."

"Rrrrrr... you're hopeless, you know that?" Aeris shook her head. They were at the door to the Player's office now. Strangely, the usual sounds of rapid fire typing that was usually present when he was in his office, were not to be heard.

"Hmmm... maybe he isn't in his office?" Leo pondered. Aeris slapped her forehead.

"He's hasn't left it, you dope, or security would have known." With that Aeris opened the door...

... only to find the Player slumped over his desk.

"OMIGOSH! HE'S DEAD!!!" Leo exclaimed. Aeris ran up to the desk and quickly confirmed that was not the case.

"Leo, he's not dead."

"Oh... drunk with a hangover?"

"I don't think the Player is going to give up that bit of morals because of what happened yesterday." Aeris sighed. "Quick, get something with caffeine."

"Hot coffee?"

"No! I heard the Player has an aversion to hot coffee after that trouble with Take Two or something. Get him a hot chocolate or one of those Red Bull drinks or..." Aeris quickly stopped when there was suddent movement from the Player.

"No... no... this can't be... I can't be responsible for this... I... can't... be... responsible..." Aeris quickly took a step back, as the Player's flailing movement revealed that he was dreaming, and that what he was seeing in his dreams, he really really didn't like.

"Hmmm... so he's dreaming," Leo remarked. "I wonder what he is dreaming."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO!" Both cats took a step back as the Player's head shot up from the desk as he was trying to break out from the dream.

"On second thought," Leo commented, "Maybe I shouldn't know."

Coming Soon: More buildup, the dream revealed, the scheming of the Boss and the Deadly Alliance, and finally the explosive match between Team Savior and Team Darkside.

OOC: Sorry about this damn short post. I'll try to have most of the next stuff up tomorrow sometime.

[OverMaster]

-The Bloody Insane Loli Syndrome: Bulleta vs. Evil Tomoyo, Round 2-

A couple of hours ago:

As the dawn approached, both opponents sized each other, each one of them with a perturbed glint in her eyes, while everyone around them fell into a stunned silence. Tomoyo Daidouji kept her crowbar firmly gripped between both small hands, and Baby Bonnie Hood took a more swashbuckling approach to her casual handle of her huge, sharp machete; nonethless, both of them seemed all too ready to lunge forwards and kill the other at any moment.

The impulsive Hood made the first move on the more cold-blooded Daidouji. Tomoyo dodged aside the machete swipe with ease, and swung the crowbar aside, just to have the red hooded blonde quickly ducking under it. Hood countered with a leg sweep, bringing her down to the floor on her butt. Then she swung her weapon down to the now sitting Tomoyo, but she blocked the machete with the Evil Crowbar. They struggled then, with Hood's superior strenght giving her more and more advantage at each moment, making the shorter, younger girlie to lose ground quickly, the blade nearer to her face at each passing second.

"ENOUGH!" Miroku yelled again. "Stop it!! This is insane; you're going to kill yourselves!!".

"That's the idea, Padre!" Hood snarled back angrily, but then Tomoyo took advantage of her momentary distraction to kick her hard in the stomach and make her to stumble back gasping for air.

"Oh man, this is great!" Deadpool seemed fascinated. "So wrong, yet so... alluring in a way..." he sighed. "Might I suggest to bring some mud and--".

"Do it and you die, sicko" Nami and Naga chorused at once.

The girls' weapons collided once more, and then the crowbar's mass and thickness edge trumped the machete, rendering it useless by actually bending it and almost breaking it. Cursing under her breath, Hood threw the weapon back as she gracefully avoided another of Tomoyo's strikes. "WADE! THE PIPE!".

Deadpool stuck a hand into the picnic basket left next to him and pulled out a long piece of leadpipe. "Here, catch it!" he said as he threw it to his teammate. The blonde caught it in the air with a hand and used it to block Tomoyo's next hit. Sparks flew from the clash of both metal pieces, and the girls groaned in unison, frustrated.

"Give it up" Hood snarled. "I can see you lack training... Your rage, your passion, is strong, but you sorely lack focus, and skill...".

"Passion?" Tomoyo smirked in a disturbing way, but then again everything is disturbing in this subplot. "Why, thanks. That's what Sakura-chan always tells me...".

Then, much to Hood's surprise, she just waved the crowbar in the other direction... and quickly, with an arc trajectory, brought it down on her head, breaking through her skull.

"OH GODS!!" Miroku cried in horror, eyes bulging out, as Nami gasped loudly. "She killed her!!!" he shouted, seeing Hood to crumple down to her knees with her hands on her bleeding head.

"Ha, hah" Tomoyo laughed pointing down at her. "Not bad for an amateur, right, Miss Bigshot Huntress?".

"Hood-chan!" the monk rushed to the Darkstalker's side to help her. "Hold on, please! I will--".

"Hands offa me" the blonde grumbled throatily, pushing him aside, her wound beginning to heal with inhuman quickness. "This is only a flesh wound...".

"Huh?" Miroku looked at her head. "What sort of--".

"We have... a gift granted on us by the Authors" Deathstroke explained calmly. "As long as they want, we just can't be killed, ever".

And right then, with above peak human speed, Hood took advantage of the moment to surprise Tomoyo... impaling her through the stomach with the leadpipe. She snickered. "Gotcha... Amateur".

"GAHH!" Nami was bewildered. "Another murder! They didn't say anything about this when they recruited me!".

Tomoyo coughed up some red, gasped wildly for air... and then just grinned perversely. "Very good... But I have that very same gift since the day I was born. Why, Sakura-chan and me always are killing each other just for kicks...".

She dislodged the bloody pipe from herself and handed it to Hood as her own huge wound also healed. "You are very skilled, I must admit it" Tomoyo monotoned, even though she was smiling. "Tell you what. Have you heard about that clandestine side-event they'll be having tomorrow?".

"Yeah. I am so going to enter it" Hood eyed her with interest. "Why?".

"Let's end this there" Tomoyo suggested. "At a field of honor. If I beat you, you'll be my personal slave just like Sakura-chan was. If you beat me, I'll do whatever you want, as your slave, instead. What do you say?".

"Is this... for real?" Skinner doubted, still in disbelief.

"Kids nowadays, huh?" Deadpool smirked under his mask.

"You got a deal, sister!" Hood smiled back at Tomoyo, confidently. "I'll beat you silly and make you my own private punching bag!".

"And I thought Lina was a twisted kid when I first met her..." Naga groaned.



Next: The Golden Glory- Mara vs. Booster Gold.

[T51R]

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark...DETONATE!





“So,” he frowned as he shot through the roads on the fringes of the Tournament grounds, opening up the throttle as far as it would go, the deep blue Yamaha screaming at the top of its metallic lungs as it tore through the landscape, “The Mirror of the Yata‘s been stolen. Not good.” His thoughts wandered back to the half-Jurian who was still being held in stasis, floating weightlessly in the back of the Black Ops van, the mobile base of the Office of Area Reclamation and Reconstruction. “And to top it off, it looks like Celestine‘s pulling out all the stops this time.” He remembered the fight he had watched the previous day. Something was off, he thought to himself as the wind ripped through his pale white hair, especially with the ones who had tried to fight him before. He recognised the suit of living armour as well as the diminutive State Alchemist, not to mention the blue-haired android and their white-suited, airborne striker. Something was different about the way they had fought in the arena, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

The Orochi bore down and streaked towards the nearest town.

Wait, he thought, as he remembered the first time Celestine’s teams had seen action in the Tournament venue, when they had fought over the young man and women who had seemingly gone insane. He cursed himself for not realising it earlier; they had been holding back then but in the arena, all hell had broken loose. Not in the literal sense, he speculated, but in their hearts and minds. He had seen it before in countless cases; during both World Wars that had been the result of his efforts to cleanse the planet of mankind, the Orochi had watched with interest as men on both sides of the conflict abandoned reason for raw, primal instinct. He had watched, the God of Destruction, as soldiers had abandoned empty weapons to charge into the entrenchments of their enemies, bayonets in hand. He had watched, the Destroyer of Humankind, as every brutality committed damned the souls of men. “So. That‘s what happened.” He swung the bike around on its front wheel and plunged down a flight of stairs leading to the sleepy town below, the back wheel hopping uncontrollably as he throttled up and finally found purchase again on the blacktop. “Desperation.” He slammed on the brakes, and cruised to a stop. Stepping off of the elder Morisato’s bike, he kicked the stand down and began down a dingy alleyway full of society’s dregs. He glanced around, at the once-affluent denizens of a society that was slowly being eradicated by the Kaiju as well as numerous other natural disasters around the globe.

“So, this is all of them?” he mumbled, as a scrap of newspaper highlighting a UFO sighting years ago blew onto his leg. He picked it up and browsed through the article with passing interest, then looked over the human toll of Heaven’s Will: hundreds of injured and homeless lined the alley, bloody bandages piled high near the medical stations where makeshift surgical bays built out of tents and plastic sheets muffled the wind upon which screams of pain swept skywards. They were running out of supplies, he reasoned, the screams, the humans were performing life-saving operations without the patient benefits of anaesthetics. “Damn you Belldandy,” he cursed the Goddess, “damn you…not even the humans deserve this, even though they‘re scum.” The God of Destruction stopped beside a young man, his face contorted with pain as he clutched the stump of a leg. The torn flesh and gnawed bone spoke of how he had lost it: a Meganula. Beside him, two young girls clutched his hands, beseeching him not to give in to the agony. “What‘s your name?” the God of Destruction asked.

“His name,” one of the girls next to him replied, “is Kamishiro. Kamishiro Maiku,” she began to sob. “We…we were being evacuated, and suddenly, all these monsters fame from the sky…they…he tried to protect us…he…Maiku…” she began to sob uncontrollably. Next to her, the other girl, this one with emerald-green hair looked up at him with eyes devoid of hope.

“Why…why is this happening!? We haven‘t done anything wrong, we‘ve only started living…as a family...we‘ve only known each other for such little time…”

The Orochi looked with scorn upon them at first, but then reason overcame his raw hatred of the human garbage at his feet. “How old are you?” They did not look old enough to have been making much money, he thought to himself, and as if to answer him the girl on the left of the dark-haired boy opened up her wallet, and then threw it aside. Empty.

“Please,” she grabbed at his coat, pleading with him with her eyes. “Please, lend us some money! I have to get Maiku bandages! Please, he‘ll bleed to death! His…his leg‘s getting infected!” The Orochi looked down at the boy, and saw that she spoke the truth.

“Who are you,” he asked her, “and how old are you?”

“Miyafuji, Mina…” she grabbed harder to his coat, and the God of Destruction realised that she didn’t know exactly who or what she was talking to. “We‘re…we‘re only in high school, Maiku was taking care of us, please! He‘s dying! Help us!” Three children, the Orochi thought to itself, surviving on their own with the eldest the main breadwinner as the younger ones pitched in however they could. They could not have contributed much to the planet being in the state it had been in before the great Tournament began, before his hand had been forced.

“And you?” he looked to the other girl, and then into the distance where a long line of injured awaited medical attention. He could tell that the boy wouldn’t make it; his Ki was fading. Rapidly.

“Onodera, Karen” was her reply.

“You will have to choose how he will be saved,” he answered. “He can drink of my blood, and become one of my Heavenly Kings when he comes of age. He can now sacrifice to me his soul, and live forever within the Place of Nothingness. Or,” he turned back to the long line of injured, many in worse shape than the boy was. “you can choose to remove these people from your path, and bring him to the doctors in their stead. I will take their Ki, their life force, and leave Maiku as the only one left to be saved. Choose.”

Mina looked up at the God of Destruction with nothing but sheer determination in her eyes. “No. If those are our only choices, then we‘ll take care of him ourselves. To the end, if that‘ what it takes. He‘s our brother,” she explained. “The three of us, we have the same mother. We were born at the same time. And if it comes down to that, then I‘ll gladly be here when my brother…” she began to weep, but found several American bills thrust into her hand as the man before here turned and left. Without another word, she sprinted for the closest store. A store on the other side of town, a place that had not yet been besieged for supplies, medical or otherwise. All the while however, in her head, a voice echoed.

“You know that all of you are going to die eventually,” the voice of the Orochi spoke to her, “why do you insist on fighting for your brother‘s life, even when death is inevitable for humans?”

“Because,” she gritted her teeth though the pain of a once-shattered knee playing up again, “Because he‘s all we have, we‘re the only family we know, because he‘s my bother!”




-Across town, several minutes later…-




“Boss,” the Monkey King made his way onto the now-abandoned playground towards where the God of Destruction sat alone at the top of the climbing frame, sipping on a can of beer. “These were all I could find. I‘m sorry, but the Pantheon that I used to know have fortified themselves inside the Celestial Fortress. They fear the same fate as the four Multiverses that have disappeared.” Wukong handed over his list, and the God of Destruction frowned at how short it was.

“Shit,” he muttered. “You‘d think that Gods and Goddesses these days would at least have some balls.” He began to read the list over. “The Greater, Intermediate and Lesser powers of the Realms. The Demi-powers of the Realms. Asgorath and Zorquan. Aerdrie Faenya, Hanali Celanil, Rillifane Rallathil, Titania of the Faerie folk, Sekkerit, Eachthigern, Amalinator, Tyche…” he continued reading. “so these are the only ones who were willing to help?” The Orochi crushed the can of beer as soon as he had finished it, threw it aside and sighed. “The Realms dieties, huh? They haven‘t been seen or heard from for ages, sitting pretty in their own little corner of His creation, that little handful of dimensions given t them at the beginning of time. Think we can depend of them?”

[T51R]

The Great Sage jumped onto the climbing frame and sat next to the deity he served, his Naibo, Ryui now feeling as natural in his hands as it did thousands of years ago when he first reigned chaos in Heaven. “The truth boss? They don‘t know what happened to those aspects of Creation that went missing. I didn‘t tell them about the Dimension Tide anomalies either.”

“They wouldn‘t understand it anyway,” the Orochi replied, folded the list and stowed it away in his pocket. It was, after all as good as a contract when it came time to summon allies. “They locked themselves away for so long I doubt that they‘d understand how Yggdrasil functions here and now. Hell, throw them in a room with Washu and they‘d all go nuts inside of ten minutes. The most important thing is,” he cracked open a couple of brews and offered one to is subordinate, “if they‘re willing to put everything on the line. We know that something is out there, we just don‘t know what it is that could overload Yggdrasil‘s sensor grid just by showing up is all.”

Wukong took an envelope from under his cape and handed it to the God of Destruction. “Alaniel‘s report. Managed to get a copy of it from Flonne. Lady Washu‘s report on the anomaly‘s also in there in the second stack. There‘s also a study on the Dimension Tide activity I thought you‘d be interested in.”

“Looks like you‘ve grown up some,” the Orochi chuckled, “I remember when you first started out with us, we couldn‘t get three hours worth of sleep before you started pranking on us like crazy! And look at you now, forward-thinker and all. Guess becoming enlightened really does something for you, huh?”

“I guess,” the Monkey King shrugged, lighting up a cigarette. “even a monkey has to grow up sometime.” He watched as the Orochi thumbed through the documents, its face devoid of emotion. Wukong exhaled, and watched the smoke curl away into the still air of the tiny town. He had hated it at first, the Great Sage, considered by many to be the Equal of Heaven, being told that he would have to work in a completely new system. Over time however, almost a thousand years worth, he had come to appreciate the intricacies of the establishment. More often than not finding loopholes which allowed for his trickery to go unpunished.

“Holy shit,” the God of Destruction stared at a particular piece of paper with a Chousein’s seal stamped at the bottom of it. “Dimensional Cascade!? Multiplanar engagement capabilities!? Spatial-reality/dimensional-reconstructive manipulation!? Can‘t the woman write stuff in plain English!? I don‘t get any of this!”

“Maybe we should have Shader take a look at…” Both the Great Sage and the God of Destruction looked up, and found the Neko-Demoness standing proudly in front of them. “Well speak of the devil-lady.”

“Well now,” the God of Destruction crushed his second can of beer. “Guess we all know what this means, huh?” he turned to the Monkey King. “So, whose side are you on?” Around them, Uruk-hai appeared from the alleyways and from the bushes while Mazoku manifested. Devils as well as Sinners burst forth in clouds of ash spewed from the earth itself in geysers. The Nazgul soared overhead, the shrill cries of the Fell Beasts piercing the air. The Orochi’s answer came soon enough as Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven stood with his back towards him and twirled the Naibo under his arm. “Nice to see I‘ve got one friend left in the Multiverse.” Behind the pair, the Black Ops van pulled up, and several more Devils together with their Contractors dismounted. More Uruk-hai joined in the ambush, and finally Aion himself appeared atop the van.

“Ah, how the mighty fall…” he sighed, while pushing his glasses further up his nose.

Wukong glanced over at the God of Destruction, who nodded back and then spoke to the unholy gathering around them. “Hope you guys got your act together…” a cryptic smile formed across his lips. “Because whoever can‘t hack it is gonna be taking that long sleep!”

Moments later, bolts of Heavenly Lighting and thunderous impacts of Wukong’s Naibo split the sky and earth amidst clouds of ash, as screams of Sinners, Devils, Mazoku and Uruk-hai filled the air.



Next...Storylines finally converge, as the unthinkable happens and Twist of Fate begins!

[J Dog]

Mimi and Sora- Conclusion

"Let me get this straight," Jack told the misfortuned duo with a frown on his face. "You got annoyed at me laughing at a video on YouTube, so in order to buffer out my obnoxious laughter, you put on your suits so you may talk to each other in peace, and NOW you can't get your helmets, and thus, the rest of your suits, off. Do you know how dumb that makes you two?"

"Jack," Mimi sobbed, "Just help us. Don't be sarcastic." But Jack wasn't finished just yet; he had walked to the door. "Okay, you two, I will teach you a simple lesson to avoid problems like this." He grabs the door. "This is called a door. What you do with it is that you close it for privacy and to muffle out any outside noises... unless the noises are coming from near the door iteslf." He demonstrates by closing the door, when it broke off and nearly hit Sora. "Now, usually, you don't see that."

"Look, Jack. I know you don't believe us, but what happened has just happened, okay?" Sora bitterly said. "Stop being a jerk and help."

"I'm not being a jerk!" Jack told them. "I just fail to understand that you two would just PUT ON suits when you could've gone outside or closed the door or even have written what you were going to say. Have you two gone bonkers?!!!" It was that when Mimi slaps him in the cheek. "Quit acting like one, and help us NOW!" She yelled.

"Okay, okay, okay. Don't pull an air hose." Jack told her. "Damn." He starts by placing the two under his arms. "Normally, this would look mean, but I don't have much ideas." He then starts to pull and move at the same time, hoping to dislodge the female Digidestined's helmets.

"Careful, Jack." Mimi told him. "I don't want my head pulled off, too." But he dosen't even pull off her head, much less her helmet, because he trips and falls onto the carpet with Mimi and Sora.

"You know, I still fail to understand what you did." He moaned "And, as I said, I don't have much ideas up my sleeve." It was that he figured that grease would make the section that combines the helmet with the abdomen armor slippery, and thus, easier to dislodge. Or so he thought. "If I were you, Sora, I'd take care of Mimi right here before she loses it. I gotta get some... 'things'." He runs off.

In the kitchen of the dorm, two chefs were busy preparing the meal at the time, when Jack barges into the kitchen, still thinking about that line where they say that Jar Jar Binks can defeat Battle Droids instead of Mace Windu, accidentally trips over his own shoe and stumbles, face-first, into a cake. The first chef, a Koopa Troopa, seeing this, rushes towards Jack and hits him.

"Ack! Zee fool!" Chef Torte yelled as he hit Jack with a spatula. "Whaz you'ze doing?!!"

"Aagh! What the hell is wrong with you?!!" Jack yelled. "My god! It's just a cake!"

"It'z not just a cake, but ze cake, youz fool!" Torte replied with another whack on the face. Not enjoying it, Jack instinctively unslinged his hammer and hit Torte, knocking him across the kitchen into a room with a door that said "Rat Traps".

"Oh boy." Jack said with a sweatdrop as Torte came out covered with activated rat traps. "Dude, I'm so sorry about the cake and that, but really, what gave?"

"Um... if ze would listen for a moment, than I'd be more then willing to tell ya." Chet R. Chase, the other chef, replied. "We were making this cake for the winner of the next matchup at ze dome."

"Dudes, there are THREE domes now." Jack told them. "I don't know if you are behind schedule or you primarly focus on the de facto winner.

It was that when Torte and Chet looked at each other with a glance that said "You are the biggest moron that ever cooked". Jack saw a stick of butter on a counter and grabbed the butter. "I came here to borrow this butter, is that okay?" Rather than getting a reply, the two chefs started bickering. It was best to leave.

*********

"Sora... I'm... a dummy for all of this." Mimi said. "Sorry about the suits and everything."

"Mimi, it was MY idea to put them on. It isn't your fault." Sora calmly said. "It's alright. Don't panic about it."

"Well... you say it. But, this isn't really the best thing to happen to us. I mean, if Jack can't get us to get the suits off, we might spend a good part of the tournament wasting our time reloading our airtanks, like, twice a day. And the rations that are in these things don't really taste good. I tried one, and, bleh." She stuck her tounge out. This was that when Jack came in with the butter, somewhat melted. "You aren't going to cook us?" Mimi said, laughing a bit.

"Hah hah hah." Jack impersonated Krankor dully. "Look, just follow along, okay?" He placed the stick on both of their suits and started to pull them off. Instead of the best-case scenario in which the helmets plopped out almost instantly, the worst-case scenario happened; Jack fell almost immediately. "This is starting to piss me off, gals!" Jack said. "Sorry for saying that, but this isn't supposed to happen." He thought for a moment. "I know someone who can help you two out."

Within moments, Jack had Mimi and Sora with Monty Montahue. Jack explained the situation to the man who created Robotman, with Monty nodding. Mimi and Sora added about the upcoming duel with Cosette.

"I see." Monty said. "Dave-7, do we have the tools for this job?" With that, Dave-7 (or Mr. Pi) opened up a Craftsman tool box. "Nope, not really."

"Crud." Monty moaned. "Look, we have to see Dilbert, the guy who updated your suits. Is that cool?"

"Fine by me." Jack told him. It was that with the alien, the nerd, the two Digidestined, and the H-Towner walked to Dilbert's trailer and opened it... to see Kaiba passed out on the couch, still hogtied. Jack went in first.

"What the hell is Kaiba doing here?" Jack asked out loud. The door slammed shut, leaving him seperate from the other four. Dogbert appeared near him. "Bad time to see this, pretty boy." He smiled.

That was short-lived; Monty had managed to pick the lock and the door opened. "You all are persistant." Dogbert frowned.

"Look, Dogbert." Dave-7 said to the canine, "We need to see Dilbert."

"To be honest, I don't know where he is?" Dogbert replied. However, that was a bit of a lie; he knew where Dilbert went.

"You know, this dosen't help much." Mimi whined a bit, with Sora holding her.

(Oh, OM, it's cool about that, I understand. This oughta keep me busy for a while)

[OverMaster]

-The Golden Glory: Mara vs. Booster Gold, Part 1-

The Joker advanced with his head high towards the Arena, ignoring the boos and hisses the public was throwing at him, a look of half-comical smugness on his long facial features. However, when a tomato was thrown to his head, he finally gave an angry glare back at the crowd, and the mass murderer's reputation, coupled with the sheer viciousness of that silent stare, managed to drive almost everyone into a sudden stunned silence.

Satisfied with that, the Clown Prince continued advancing following the rest of Team Nifelheim. When he passed near the seats the rest of Batman's Rogues Gallery was at, though, something made him to stop, catching his attention.

Another grinning Joker was sitting there, looking straight at him.

The bat-clad Joker blinked, then frowned. "Oh. Oh, I get it. Very funny! Har der-har har, Clayface!!".

Then the other Joker's face distorted itself, changing to a still grinning, but in a much more bestial way, mess of mud with two deformed yellow eyes on it. "Try not to be mauled too much, Joker" Clayface mocked him.

"But in any case, we will lament your decease, if it happens..." the Penguin smiled caustically, "with a party in your honor!".

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, fellas" the Clown Prince replied. "No wonder you all are like brothers to me!".

"Puddin'!" Harley Quinn leaned forwards and gave him a big sloppy kiss on a cheek. "For the good luck!". She winked an eye at him.

Two-Face flipped his silver coin, and saw it landing showing its scarred side. "Hm. The bad side. I guess that's a good omen for you...".

"Whatever will be, will be!" Joker shrugged, and walked away, covering the rest of his way to his team's bunker. "But if we win, I'm counting on you guys throwing a victory party for me!".

"We will, Mistah J, we will...!!" Harley yelled enthusiastically.


At the same time, Goenitz walked up to Hanagata and gave him a card. The thin blonde man nodded, and read through the microphone, "Aaaaaand, dear public, this is the lineup Team Nifelheim will be following! Lady Mara as First Fighter, Powerpuff Girl Bell as the second attacker, and The Joker as the third fully active member! Leopold Goenitz will be acting as their designed Striker!!".

Mara walked up onto the Arena, and Hanagata continued, "So, the first round will be Lady Mara vs. Booster Gold, the Justice League's famous 'Man of Gold'!".

"Good luck, Booster" Blue Beetle shook his best friend's hand.

"Thanks for the wish, Teddy, but you'd better worry for that demon-babe instead" Jon Michael smirked with a wink. Then flew into the Arena with the Stark-improved armor he was wearing, and landed in front of Hanagata and Mara. "OK, I'm all ready!". He gave Mara a roguish look. "Care for a date after this? I normally go for the good girls, but I could make an exception in your case" he joked.

"You wish" she grumbled.

"Scenario Setting Number 453: Paradise Island, around Queen Hyppolita's Royal Palace" Washu's recorded voice came to life again, as the ring took the shape of a paradisiac landscape of green fields and lucious trees.

"Ah, what a pretty place" Booster looked all around himself. "Now I don't understand why Diana doesn't spend more time at home with her Mom".

"You know the rules, friends!" Hanagata yelled through his mike. "No killing! No hurting poor lil' me! First one to get thrown out of the ring, pinned down or knocked out at a count of ten, or to surrender like a crybaby, loses! I repeat again: no killing and no hurting me!".

"We got it already, buffoon!!" Mara yelled. "We aren't idiots! Just start over with this already!".

Mitusurugi cried some streams of cartoon tears. "I never get any respect... Fine, fine, then! TEEEEAM NIFELHEIM...! VEEEEEERRRSUS! TEEEEEEEEAM JLAVENGERS! ROUND! ONE! FIGHT!!!!".



Next: Mara vs. Booster Gold, Part 2- Going for the Gold!

[KingEli]

Marvel Super Villian Team-Up:

Doom's Quaters:

"Hmmmm.........Interesting." Said Doom working on a Computer with The Demoness Mara's File on it. "Power over Fire and Lighting, weaknesses: Garlic and Rock n' Roll. Next." Said Doom to his computer showing the next file on the computer showing Bell

"I must thank Loki for this......."

Last Night, Just outside of The Grounds:

"I see you've called me Trickster.............what for?" Said Doom

"To call for an alliance, as we done in the Past." Replied Loki

"Is this some sort of game Asguardian?" Said Doom

"No Game, I need thys assitstance Doom. It seems that another player in this game of chess. Another Trickster it seems. Thou goes by Vellinor."

"Oh Jealous are we?" Said Doom with a Chuckle

"Don't take this lightly Von Doom. He maybe the most Dangerous foe in this game, I have herd Rumors that he is also in the hunt for ultimate power...........Something you care about very much."

"Doom does not fear his Rivals..........yet you make a point Loki. Why be aganist one another where we can combine our forces to fight our Rivals?"

"My point exacly, and for 'payment' here these 'disk' as you mortals call them have information on Every Fighter in the Tournament. Use them well." Loki said before disappearing.

Present:

"I must thank him indeed. Next Computer.......Jedah Doma, maybe the biggest obstacle in the tournament."

[Golden Darkness]

The Battle Between the Halves of Light and Darkness, Prelude - The Player's Headache, continued

The Player's Dreamscape:

Gone.

All gone. Everything was all gone.

Well, not everything. The tournament ground still remained. But everything surrounding it was nothing but a swirling abyss of colors, signifying that reality was surely being erased from existance.

In the middle of the grounds, a shadowy figure stood, consuming the souls of those who have died to increase its power, so it could lay waste to the many opponents that sought to stop it.

"No... this can't be..." the Player gasped, as the figure proceeded to kill all who faced it.

*This shall be the ultimate result that will stem from that choice you made so long ago... Wes... *

"I can't be responsible for this... I... can't... be... responsible..."

*But you are. Your choice will create this event. That's why you must use what we have given you wisely, so you can change the future...*

The Player looked up to see the figure now aiming a blast at him. The light of the gathering energy illuminated the figure's face, allowing the Player a clear look at it.

Before the Player to react to the realization who he was looking at, the energy blast was fired towards him, engulfing his vision in pure whiteness.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO!"

The Player's Office:

The Player woke up with a gasp, ignoring the looks of the two VG Cat protagonists.

Leo was the first to speak. "Um sir... are you alright?"

The Player turned to the gray-colored anthromorphic cat. "No Leo... not especially what I saw..."

"What did you see?" Aeris inquired. "It must have been heck of a nightmare. And why did you go to sleep anyway? I heard you went a couple of months without sleeping."

The Player paused, trying to catch his thoughts for the moment. "You two, can you promise me to keep what I tell you a secret for the moment."

"Um... sure?" confusingly went Leo.

"That will do. Anyway... you know all that Pantheon info? I've never told anyone this but I was given that info by a janitor in Heaven."

"A janitor in heaven?" remarked Aeris.

"Yes... kinda surprised me too. Well, it turns out that janitor was a plant from a group of high level deities, similar to those Authors bandied about, known as D.E.M. And this group was responsible for inducing me to sleep and sending me this dream."

"And what did you dream?" asked Leo.

"The dream was a message from them... telling me that a choice I made in the past... will result in the rise of the one who will destroy everything. And I mean everything."

"Who?"

"Belldandy's... dark side..."

The Boss' Base of Operations:

The Boss smiled as he contemplated the recent events. Two of the Player's teams have loss, with the Player's main power house team, the Troubleshooters, out of the picture with a devastating defeat. And what a defeat that was.

Of course that won't compare to what will happen today.

"Sir." The Boss looked up to see Jadeite enter the room. "I have some updates for you."

The Boss nodded and allowed Jadeite to speak.

"It seems General Grevious is apparently in place to strike the tournament grounds, with some of them targeting the surrounding hotels."

The Boss, being privy to what the Sidiouses were planning, just nodded. He knew that those two Siths were plotting behind his back, apparently showing that they were more concerned with having loyal apprenticies than supplying forces to his cause. Of course, he had only wanted their resources anyway. Most of the people manning their fleets were concerned with keeping the peace and eliminating what they thought were terrorists and anarchists. Not exactly pure evil.

While he wasn't going to put a stop to these plans, and he may suppliment the attacks himself, he was going to show those two Sith that planning behind his back wasn't a good idea. Not that he was going to keep them around for much longer anyway. He had a real Sith in the wings.

"The reason the hotels are targets is that apparently those close to the Force users in the tournament are staying there."

"Ahh... I see. Well, then maybe we should put some of our suicide bombers to good use, hmmm? And I think some of the plans made by the foes of the Power Rangers can fit into this. Anything else?"

"Yes... the clone of Sailor Mercury that has been created... it's flawed."

"Flawed how?"

Jadeite pulled a piece of paper and handed it to the Boss. "The cloners were using this as a reference to how that Senshi looked like. And I know she doesn't look like this."

The paper in question was a sketch from an H-Manga, that showed the Senshi of Water in all her glory. However the artist who drew the sketch gave her a figure comparable to one Koyori Kokubunji, at least according to some otaku.

"How are we going to switch the Senshi if they can see such an obvious difference in her figure? I demand you punish those cloners and oversee the creation of a perfect clone."

The Boss looked at the Dark General's face and gave a stern look. "Fool, I gave them that piece of paper. I wanted her altered. But no worries, the monster I intend to send has a special technique that affects woman. The Senshi will think Mercury will have fallen victim to it. Now, is there anything else?"

Jadeite, keeping his thoughts of how the Boss was very perverted out, quickly answered him. "Those in your mecha building divisions are not happy with your command that they provide good parts to that Team Rocket group in the tournament, especially the stuff that came from those raids on the Gundam worlds. They want to know why."

"Simple, I think thsoe so-called criminals have potential. I thought it should be... nurtured. It's possible that Team Nuisance will prove to be... more than a nuisance for everyone else in the tournament. Of course if they fail... well... they are always expandable... and that will make their boss very happy."

OOC: Finally, gotten past all this stuff I wanted to write. Next up, a set of twins meet the mother they never knew, and the two teams get ready for the fight...

[Saint_007]

"The dream was a message from them... telling me that a choice I made in the past... will result in the rise of the one who will destroy everything. And I mean everything."

"Who?"

"Belldandy's... dark side..."
Okay, GD, I'm just a bit confused...
Since the whole tournament's point was to see if the Universe was worthy fo saving or not, wouldn't that mean that Belldandy will destroy everything anyways if the heroes fail?
"Dark side"? Okay, if there was anything "dark" in Belldandy, don't you think that Hild would have had her under her complete control already?! Hell, they implanted a fricking Demon in Belldandy in the canon, and she purified it into an Angel without so much as realising it.
Just wondering:p

[Golden Darkness]

Okay, GD, I'm just a bit confused...
Since the whole tournament's point was to see if the Universe was worthy fo saving or not, wouldn't that mean that Belldandy will destroy everything anyways if the heroes fail?
"Dark side"? Okay, if there was anything "dark" in Belldandy, don't you think that Hild would have had her under her complete control already?! Hell, they implanted a fricking Demon in Belldandy in the canon, and she purified it into an Angel without so much as realising it.
Just wondering:p

It's all his interpretation of what he dreamt.

It doesn't mean he's actually correct anyway. Besides, the futre is very very much in motion. He may be all worked up for nothing.

Everything willl be explained in the future anyway.

[OverMaster]

-Going for the Gold: Mara vs. Booster Gold-

"OK, here it goes!" Booster yelled as he shot himself towards Mara, his personal forcefield zumming to life around himself. "LIGHTNING TACKLE!".

The demoness shot herself upright high into the air in turn, and avoided the tackle easily. As soon as she was floating over him, she conjured a hail of lightning bolts and shot them down towards Booster. The bolts bounced on his defensive shield, but still managed to rattle him a bit.

"Neato" Joker sucked on a lollipop. "This could take them a while".

Mara muttered a curse when she saw Booster hadn't been really too affected by her attack. She side-dodged a Power Beam the hero shot up at her, and then he decided to go flying after her. "Oh, so you want to get me..." Mara smirked evilly, and quickly flew towards him in turn. The audience gasped as they both apparently headed for a straight collision course.

"Take her down, Green Lantern...!!" Mihoshi yelled at him from her seat, her heart somewhat worried about him, and then shook her head and blushed, "Um, I mean, Booster!".

But then, Mara deployed a full demonic aura around herself, and even accelerated ramming head-on against the hero. The personal energy shield and the evil aura collided with a boom, causing both of them to be shot back in opposite directions.

"What a stupid strategy" Joker muttered, licking the lollipop with abandon. "Hit 'im with your head and hope he takes the worst part?".

Mara cursed while stopping in midair before she could be sent out of the ring. At the other side of the Arena, seconds later, Booster also screeched to a halt. Her attempt to nullify that accursed forcefield that was protecting him using her own energy had failed; that had to be very high level technology indeed. Oh well. Time to put Plan B in motion.

As she avoided another of Booster's Power Beams, she pulled out her bottle and yelled, "Get out, Sembei! My Guardian D'Jinn!".

"What??" Booster blinked, and saw how from the bottle erupted a column of grayish smoke, amidst which appeared a tiny man with long, blond curly hair, flashing a smile of perfect white teeth and wearing a fine suit. Booster's eyes became diminutive black points for only a second. "Man... Now I've really seen everything!".

"It's no big deal, Booster" Beetle's voice spoke through his armor's headset. "It must be something like Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt...".

"It may be a freakin' Thunderbolt, and you tell me not to worry??!" Booster yelled at him.

At the Judges' seats, Asuka Langley Soryu raised from her seat and pointed up at Mara. "Ah-hah! She's using outside help! Breaking of the rules! The man wins!". She had to admit, she found that guy kinda very handsome, a bit reminiscent of Ryouji Kaji. And what the hell, it was better to see him winning than granting the win to that creepy woman.

"No rules are broken" Loki spoke flatly. "It counts as an invocation or summoning, so its is valid".

"WHAT??!" Asuka yelled at him, while Shinji Ikari tried to calm her down, as fruitlessly as ever. "Don't give me that crap, hornhead!".

"He is right" the Phantom Stranger nodded matter-of-factly. "She has not broken any rules yet. She can use her guardian genie if she wishes so".

"Great" the redhead mumbled sitting back. "This stinks...".

Meanwhile, Sembei smiled proudly and exclaimed with an odd accent, "Sembei here for you, Mistress! You want Sembei to give mortal bad luck, hmm? It's done!!". He snapped his fingers. "SHAKIN'!!".

Right at that instant, Booster's armor core seemed to fail, crackling sparks with sudden ferocity, and disabling the forcefield, which just fell down as the hero was shaken by the shocks screaming, "ARGH! What's happening now?!".

"A probability alterer" the grim Phantom Stranger explained for the two puzzled teen Judges sitting next to him. "The genie is causing Booster Gold's armor to malfunction by attacking the probabilities".

"Basically, giving him bad luck" Iron Man concluded, since Team JLAvengers' bunker was close enough to the Jury to overhear him. "Kind of like Wanda's powers... BOOSTER!" he screamed then. "USE THE STRIKER!".

He didn't need to be told twice. And besides, he was always happy to see Jessica Drew around. "SPIDER-WOMAN! COME!".

"On my way!" the red-clad heroine flew to the Arena using her glider wings, and began to quickly shot venom darts to the demoness. Mara dodged some, and stopped the others deflecting them with her cape.

"GOENITZ!" she yelled in turn, and Hld's priest floated into the Arena using his control over winds, then shooting a huge spiral of tornados towards both heroes. It hit them sending them down to the arena ground.

Mara smiled thriumphantly. "Well, his damn shield's over. Now he's ripe for the plucking".

"You the best, Mistress! The best!" Sembei clapped in flattery. "Even if Sembei really did it himself...".

But then, Booster shot up again from the ground as fast as he could, his chest still sizzling out. He had lost the shielding, and Mara apparently had the edge on long distance battle, so he would have to do it up close and personal. He surprised her with a left to the jaw, then a right. He half-smiled as he saw her putting on a face of pain; he was hurting her. Once you got past her magic tricks, she wasn't so tough...

But then, she gave him a vicious madly angry glare, eyes glowering in yellow. She thrusted both hands forwards and unleashed a barrage of massive electric bolts straight on his chest, sending him flying back and breaking through several trees of the simulated stage on the way. "FOOLISH INSECT!".

"Hey... Ted is the insect..." Booster gasped, still joking defiantly even as the pain ripped through him. And he shot another Power Beam at her. It hit one of her flanks, actually drawing out some blood. Mara groaned in pain, and shot even more bolts down at Booster, making all the ground around him to explode in a big boom.

"BOOSTER!" Blue Beetle screamed, rushing towards the arena. His best friend laid there, groaning, struggling to get back to his feet.

"I won't... go down so easily, girl..." he said, but then Mara quickly flew down in a swoop and kicked him in the middle of the face, sending him down again. Then she put a foot on his head and held him against the floor, as his costume continued spazzing.

"Hey! Referee!" she called out. "This one's ready for the count!".

"OK, OK!" Hanagata slided next to them clumsily. "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!".

Booster struggled some more, but Mara shocked him again to keep him quiet.

"Six! Five! Four! Three!" Hanagata continued, more and more nervous at each number since he also had wanted that hunky stud to win (1). "Two! ... One! And... this settles it!" he had to say to his own regret. "Miss Mara wins this first round for Team Nifelheim!!".

"HAH!" She raised her arms up in victory. "I knew it! I'm a high level Soldier of hell! I couldn't be denied so easily!".

"Booster! You okay, pal?" Beetle worriedly asked his friend as the medics carried Booster away in a stretcher.

"My pride's my most hurt part, Ted..." Booster gave him a thumbs up weakly. "I'm just stunned, that's all... The armor absorbed most of the damage. I'll be okay...".

Mara quickly applied a basic healing spell on her bleeding flank as the next challenger landed on the ring. The tall, majestic figure of the red-and golden Avenger, clad in special Hulkbuster Armor, was cheered on by the masses.

Iron Man looked at Mara with stern eyes. "Demon. Your luck streak ends here".


Next: The Iron Age- Mara vs. the Invincible Iron Man.


(1) Yeah, Hanagata is as gay as they can come.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

And so it begins . . . .

C Dome

Ash couldn't help but be impressed when he stepped into the arena. The place had looked bg on TV, but then actually standing inside the darned place was a lot different from seeing it on a little screen.

"Nice place," he said, his eyes drifting across the stands and seeing various cheering female fans pointing at him and holding up signs saying "WE LUV U ASH." "Very nice."

Alucard merely grunted. "It isn't bad," he muttered.

"I'll say! It's even bigger than the arena in Corneria!" Fighter exclaimed. "Or was it a stable? Thief told me it was a stable. Maybe it was a horse arena!"

At the opposite end, meanwhile, Ryoga, Inu-Yasha, Cutie, Kagome and Juggernaut entered. "Wow," Kagome said, "it seems a lot bigger from the bottom of the grounds!"

Ryoga merely snorted. He didn't really care about how big this place was -- he just wanted to get this fight over with. The sooner he was done here, the sooner he would be able to move on and face Ranma.

He only wondered if Akane was watching . . .the thought of her, cursed as she was with vampirism, made his muscles tense up. Soon, Akane, I will save you, he thought. I'm gonna smash that Demitri bastard's head open for what he did to you.

In the stands, meanwhile Team Anzell stared down at Team Vellinor. "They don't look so tough," Marv commented. "Hell, I could take 'em on by myself."

"Appearances can be decieving, Marv," Anzell replied calmly. She had seen this team train, and knew that they were not to be underestimated -- particularly that teenager with the makeshift red cape, a psychic of immense power. She couldn't see Vellinor anywhere, though: either he was observing the fight from some secret location, or he was in disguise. Either way, if he tried using any underhand tricks to help his team win, then she would be ready to stop him.

Eventually, the Tenchi Budokai announcer stepped up to the mike and cleared his throat. "Would representatives of the two teams please present their fighting order?"

Both Alucard and Cutie Honey walked away from their respective teams -- for a brief moment, the two locked stares, Cutie's determined expression meeting the vampire's sinister grin -- before they both calmly approached the announcer, handed him their respective cards, and walked back to join their teams.

"Thank you," the announcer said, before reading the cards. "Team Vellinor's lineup will be the following! First up will be the legendary warrior and Undead-fighter, Ash Williams! Following him will be the skilled swordsman Fighter, and third will be the vampire Alucard! Tetsuo Shima will be acting as the team's striker!"

He turned to the other card. "And Team Beastmaster's lineup is as follows: up first will be the martial artist Ryoga Hibiki, followed by the demon Inu-Yasha, followed in turn by the android Cutie Honey! The massive Juggernaut will be acting as striker!"

In the Other Team's seats, meanwhile, Black Mage was practically giddy.

"Would you look at the size of that guy?" he said excitedly, pointing at Juggernaut. "Fighter doesn't stand a chance! He's finally going to kick the bucket!"

"You do realize that this 'Fighter' is on our side?" Sesshomaru said flatly.

"And that killing is not allowed in the first round?" B-ko added.

If they could have seen Black Mage's face, they would have gone mad. But before then, they would have noticed his sour expression. "Quit raining on my parade!" he huffed.

"Scenario Setting Number 622: random graveyard in England!" the announcer shouted, as the ring morphed into a creepy, moonlit graveyard dominated by a small, deserted-looking church atop a hill. Alucard allowed himself a grin at the sight: this place seemed a lot like the place where he had first met Seras.

"Groovy," Ash said as he walked into the arena, readying his weapons. He knew it was probably wrong, but for some reason he felt right at home in a graveyard: maybe it was because of all the fond memories of zombie-blasting. Ryoga walked in as well, looking as determined as ever.

"You know the rules!" the announcer said. "No killing, and no attacking the referee! The first to get knocked out by a ten count, thrown out of the ring or made to surrender loses. TEAM VELLINOR VS. TEAM BEASTMASTER! ROUND ONE! FIGHT!"

Next: Ash vs. Ryoga!

[Golden Darkness]

Just to let you know, I'm going to take a programming test for a possible job tomorrow, so I probably will not get all the needed posts to start the third fight out yet.

[OverMaster]

Okay, GD, I'm just a bit confused...
[list=1] Since the whole tournament's point was to see if the Universe was worthy fo saving or not, wouldn't that mean that Belldandy will destroy everything anyways if the heroes fail?

A tiny nitpicking for you now: If Belldandy wins, she wouldn't destroy the Universe herself. She still would be dooming it, true, but she wouldn't pull the final trigger on it. That'd be Kami-sama's job. :)

[OverMaster]

-The Iron Age: Mara vs. the Invincible Iron Man-

"Teeeeeam Nifelheim versus Teeeeeeeeeam JLAvengers... ROUND TWO...!" Hanagata yelled out. "ONE! TWO! THREE! FIGHT!!". And with that, he ran back to his shelter so fast his legs became twirling circles for a second.

As soon as the starting bell rang, the Golden Avenger thrusted his hands forwards and let out a massive barrage of repulsor rays from his palms. Mara uttered a curse as she tried to dodge every last one of them, having many more difficulties with it than she had with Booster; this opponent was a lot faster, and his beams covered a lot more of suface.

She flew snaking her way through the onslaught shot at her, and began to pull out the bottle again. "Go forward, Semb--" she started, but then Iron Man shot the bottle off her hand and broke it. A slightly charred Sembei then hovered over the shattered glass now spreaded through the floor, and went pale looking down at it.

"GYAAH! Human go and broke Sembei's home!".

"Quit whining!!" his mistress commanded. "I'll get you another one!! But right now, you have to-- UNNGHH!!!" She woulped, while receiving a blast in the middle of the chest sending her sprawling back to a nearby lake.

"Alright!" Blue Beetle cheered on, with the crowd also going wild. "That's the way to go!!".

"Hnnn..." Mara's wet-soped head peeked out of the water instantly. "GOENITZ!!".

In cue, the priest entered in again and attacked the Avenger with more tornados. Tony flew out of their way and opened beam fire back on him, forcing Goenitz to retreat.

In the meanwhile, Mara flew near him and shocked him from behind with a straight line of flames shot from her hands, while laughing evilly. The mighty armor absorbed all the damage with no major problems, and then Stark turned around to face the woman. "UNI-BEAM!".

From a diamond shaped imprint on his chest, a light projectile was shot, hitting Mara squarely again and sending her down once more, although his time she managed to stop her fall before hitting ground level.

"Not good" Bell observed quietly. "This one fights smarter, and has the firepower to counter Mara's...".

"Whatever" the Joker shrugged finishing his lollipop.

Angrily, losing her temper, the demoness flew up to Stark as she readied a spell. She dodged his new barrage of open fire, until he shot, for a change, a set of twin rockets from his shoulders. She managed to avoid the first one, but the second one hit her in the stomach; he knew she could take it and live, being a demon. Oofing, Mara fell again, this time colliding back-first against the ground. Iron Man swooped down to her.

"That's it..." the demoness, with her nose bleeding, smiled wickedly as she finished readying the spell. "Closer... closer... come for it...".

"Sorry. Maybe another day" the hero said, and then from his armor, the loud sound of Metallica music began to blare through high powered speakers. Mara's face twisted and twitched as she began to spin around uncontrollably.

"AIIIIEEEEE! HOW...??! How did you know...??!!".

"I talked to Skuld recently" Stark smiled under his faceplate, although she couldn't see it. "She had some tips for me. I only wish I had had time to put one of these in Booster's armors too". He channeled the armor's power into one fist, and brought it down in a true Hulkbuster punch on her face. A punch guaranteed to put even a demon down. "This one's for him, by the way!".

"Mara's eyes snapped open for a moment, then closed themselves sleepily. Her arms fell to her sides.

"And that's all she wrote!" Joker sighed shaking his head. "Looks like it's your turn, Toots!" he cackled to Bell.

"Yes" the little girl walked out of the bunker, still with an unfazed expression. "No big problem" she added as Hanagata gave Mara the full countdown.

"AAAND IRON MAN WINS THIS ROUND!!" The thin man from Terra Two beamed a grin, while the public erupted in glee.

"IRON MAN! IRON MAN! IRON MAN!" They sang happily, but then fell silent when Bell entered the Arena. She was only a child! And this would be the next challenger? They were suddenly confused, and shocked.

"That was a good showing" Bell calmly said to the adult fighter in front of her. "But I can do it better than Miss Mara. They told me that thing you're wearing is a Hulkbuster armor...". A sick, wicked grin found her way through her thin lips, as her warrior persona began to overcame her. She held her little tightened fists in front of herself, and proudly announced, "But I have the only two Hulkbusters I need right here!".


Next: Iron Man vs. Bell- The Foils of War... and Miroku meets Kagome again!

[J Dog]

Relieving the Suit Pressure

Dogbert, under pressure by Jack's sledgehammer and Dave-7's advanced skills, finally admits that Dilbert had rushed to Optimus' trailer, but hasn't appeared in a while. And as for Kaiba? He didn't explain his ultimate goal; worldly domination. Meanwhile, Monty moved in and grabbed Dilbert's tools and rushed outside.

"Listen up, girls, I want you to relax for a few moments, and I will get those helmets off." Monty calmly said, "And I'll fix them so that it wouldn't happen again."

"Alright." Mimi smiled. "This is the guy who made these suits' tools, so I'm more than sure about usage of them."

With that, Monty dismantled the neck collar of Mimi's helmet and she finally took it off. Mimi sighed happily. "Now, do Sora! Hurry!"

"Alright, alright, alright. Geez. I don't know what's worse; you or the breakfast burrito I ate today?" Monty grunted as he dismantled Sora's. After the helmet came off, both Mimi and Sora hugged each other.

"Mimi, thank goodness for this!" Sora gleefully said with a tear in her eyes.

"Me too, Sora!" Mimi replied, also crying, but more like someone crying when getting out of something bad.

"Now, girls. I'll focus on fixing the helmets so that you may wear them again, but I'll make sure that you won't focus so worrysome on it in the event of this locking, got that?" With that, he immediately worked on the helmets; cutting this, slicing that.

***********

"...why the hell is Kaiba here, Dogbert?" Jack snarled. "Tell me, before I bat you to Waco!" He lifted his sledgehammer in front of Dogbert's face.

"Well, put that down, Mr. Junior Chamillitary." Dogbert calmly spoke. "I was just talking a business agreement." As he said that, Kaiba regained consciousness.

"Jack... help... me..." Seto moaned softly as he slumped again. For once, Kaiba WANTS Jack rather than to fight him. "Alright, Dogbert, I've seen enough. It's time for doggy to see the stratosphere!" Jack growled. "Dave, get Seto out of here; I'll take Dogbert on."

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

"Hey, girls, help me out!" Dave yelled to Mimi and Sora as he carried Kaiba's body out of the trailer. "We got to take him to the hospital, quickly!"

"Alright, but why?" Mimi asked, "Because Kaiba isn't nice."

"Just help me out!" It was then that Satchel and Bucky appeared.

"Bucky, look!" Satchel said to the siamese cat. "It's Dave!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Keep your butt hair on." Bucky grumbled. "Let's just walk over there."

"Oh, it's you two. Hey, can you keep an eye on Jack in there?" Dave asked the two. Satchel nodded, but Bucky wasn't too intrested.

"Hey, Monty?" How's the helmets?" Mimi questioned Monty, who just finished. He rushed over with the helmets, with them slightly sawed open. "I modified it so that you can open up the faceshield in the event of a problem so that you won't face suffocation, and I've added this... thing. I'll tell you more about it." He looked at Kaiba. "What's with the guy?"

"Just help us out." Sora said. "Mimi, I want you to stay here, instead. Jack might be in trouble." Mimi nodded, grabbed her helmet, and rushed to Jack's side, taking pieces of her suit off and placing it back in her duffle.

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

(for this part, it's best to visualize Chamillionaire's "Talking that Talk" from his CD "Houston, We Have A Problem!!!". I'm suggesting, but I wouldn't do it if you are the faint of heart)

"You don't know who you are messing with." Dogbert grinned. "I am Dogbert, and someday, I will RULE THE WORLD!!!!" He holds up a sceptor from out of nowhere. "Saintdom! Give me power!!!!" He jumped outside and the sky turned violent and stormy with a lightning bolt struck the canine. Jack, Bucky, Satchel, and Mimi looked aghast as Dogbert became golden and gained a crown.

"I am... SAINT DOGBERT!!!!" He barked into the newly made void.

"Oh boy..." Jack said, with a sweatdrop, "I'm kinda screwed."

NEXT: Rivermen on LOST, and Jack vs. Dogbert- Thundaga!

(OM, I'm also considering the training part, but I need to know what the heck a Mecha Tama turtle is?)

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

"Sorry. Maybe another day" the hero said, and then from his armor, the loud sound of Metallica music began to blare through high powered speakers. Mara's face twisted and twitched as she began to spin around uncontrollably.

"AIIIIEEEEE! HOW...??! How did you know...??!!".

"I talked to Skuld recently" Stark smiled under his faceplate, although she couldn't see it.

Elsewhere, in the middle of Metallica's band practise, James Hetfield suddenly shuddered.

"Dude, what is it?" Lars Ulrich asked.

"You know that feeling I get whenever someone is using 'Enter Sandman' to combat evil?" James replied.

"You mean someone is doing that now?" Kirk Hammond asked.

James nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure something like that just happened."

Lars abruptly stood up from his drums. "This can only be the nefarious work of . .. . NAPSTER!" With that, Lars grabbed a nearby shotgun and ran straight through the wall, leaving a Lars-shaped hole in his wake as he shouted all manner of Napster-related curses.

"We have GOT to keep him off the caffeine," Kirk groaned.

REMEMBER, BOYS AND GIRLS: DON'T DOWNLOAD MUSIC, OR LARS ULRICH WILL PERSONALLY COME AFTER YOU.:D

[OverMaster]

(OM, I'm also considering the training part, but I need to know what the heck a Mecha Tama turtle is?)

Giant mechanical turtle from Love Hina that looks like this:

http://www.anime-ni.co.uk/anime/lovehina03/03.jpg

[J Dog]

Giant mechanical turtle from Love Hina that looks like this:

http://www.anime-ni.co.uk/anime/lovehina03/03.jpg
Gothca! Boy, that's a big turtle; even bigger than Gamera, I think.

[OverMaster]

OOC: Been too slow around here lately. Come on, pals... :( ;)

IC:

-The Foils of War: Bell vs. Iron Man-

"Round Three... one... two... three... FIGHT!!" Hanagata screamed.

The little girl decided to use superspeed from the beginning. She flew on a lightning speed zigzag towards the armored hero, avoiding each one of the Repulsor Rays shot at her, and managed to get close enough to land a solid punch on his faceplate, sending him flying a few feet back.

Stark halted, and felt his nose bleeding under the iron mask. That had been quite a punch. Almost as strong of one of Thor's...

The crowd watched in with awe. Even after Buttercup's incident last day, it was still hard to believe such a little, innocent looking little girl could figt like that. The fact she was so young made harder for many to be as vocal against her as they had been against Mara, as well.

"Okay" the Avenger sighed. "I'll try my best to be gentle against you, but--".

"Don't hold back!" Bell barked, frowning. "My warrior blood would consider that an insult... Never mind my age! Do your best, or I'll pummel you to a bloody pulp!".

"Thanks for the advice" IM said, and raised his arms over his head. "REPULSOR BEAM!".

A big ball of energy was shot from his jointed palms, and split itself in several beams of light, each one going for Bell at a different angle. Once again, with uncanny agility and speed, the girl managed to dodge every last one of them, evn though this time it took her a lot more effort. She sweeped down to Stark in the proccess, and threw a punch to his stomach. But he was waiting for it. He sidestepped it, and then threw a fist of his own against her face, hard.

The public didn't know if to cheer or boo when Bell staggered back, muttering something not pleasing at all.

Iron Man followed with another punch, but she managed to elude it this time. He lashed out with a kick, and she received it in the chest. Finally, she stopped another kick catching his right leg with a hand, and used the grip to slam him against a nearby tree, splitting it by half.

"Beeeell...!!" Joker yelled. "Kick in the nuts! Kick in the nuts! That never fails!". And he laughed.

Ignoring him, Bell just ducked under Tony's next Repulsor Beam, and when he called Spider-Woman for assistance, she jumped over her Venom Stings, grabbed her by surprise around the midsection, and threw her out of the ring while avoiding one of Iron Man's shoulder rockets.

"Whoa, she really can fight!" Harley Quinn mused.

"Still too green" Khalia opined. "She's mainly relying on her speed edge, and has some solid skill, but she still lacks experience".

The next of Stark's shoulder rockets hit Bell and shook her, making her to yelp. The armored man flew to her, hoping to finish her before he was forced to put too much damage on her. But he was stopped at midway when Bell shot him with heat vision, gritting her teeth.

Then she swooped down to the floor. Iron Man followed her quickly. Before she could rip off a chunk of the ground to hit him with, he landed a jab on her face. Snarling, never hesitating, Bell countered with a right to his stomach area. They began to trade mighty punches that made the ground to tremble around them, as Asuka, Shinji and the public watched in mute shock, Joker laughed maniacally, the Phantom Stranger just sat stoically, and Loki smirked, pleased. Stark had been a thorn on his side often.

Finally, the armor's power battery had started to run out of reserves. The little girl seemed a bit wore down, but Iron Man's suit had suffered far more apparent damage. And she finally took advantage of it by jumping with superspeed to his face, grabbing the golden faceplate with a hand... and ripping it off with a powerful yank. Revealing Tony Stark's face for everyone to see, to the public and cameras. For the whole world.

"Damn! NO!" Spider-Woman yelled. The secret was out... again. (1)

As a general gasp sweeped through the audience, the Joker pointed at the Arena and gasped melodramatically. "Oh, NO! It can't be! Iron Man really is... is..." then, not being a native of the Marvel Universe, he just scratched his head and grunted, "Who the hell is he anyway?".

To his credit, Iron Man didn't allow it to distract from the fight too much. He still was throwing a new punch at Bell one second after that. But still, the momentaneous distraction had given her the scarce time she needed. She ducked the punch using her small size to her advantage, ripped out a really huge chunk of the Arena Ground, and squashed it down on Iron Man's head, making the whole dome to tremble.

"OH, CRAP!!" Blue Beetle yelled.

"F**k, no..." Wolverine mumbled on his seat. "Now you too, Tony...?".

Bell stood there over a huge mess of arena parts and the lying body of the Golden Avenger. She zapped him with heat vision a bit more for good measure, and called out, "Mister Referee. Come here, please".

The public watched with helplessness how Hanagata gave Iron Man the countdown to ten. Bell had won, although she was panting and seemingly somewhat spent.

"That's my sweetie...!!" Joker cheered on. "Just one last guy to go!!".

Blue Beetle silently stepped into the ring, facing the girl with an unusually serious attitude. She was a Superman-level being after all, he mused as they eyed each other. Finally, he spoke, a bit slowly.

"Girl. I think you need some discipline. And Blue Beetle's Discipline School's just in".


Next: Bell vs. Blue Beetle- The Spoils of War... and Ryouga Hibiki vs. Ash Williams- The Lost and the Groovy!

(1) Tony Stark had been, the MU public thought, 'retired' as IM for a while after his identity was revealed some years back.

[T51R]

~Twist of Fate: Interlock~



The room remained silent, even for its inviting ambience; he walls were tan, with pottery and plants lining the beams, making it look like the inside of a Swiss cottage. Soft leather and dark oak made up the furniture, with careful application of glass at the dining table and the entertainment area. The balcony itself however, was a different story; it faced the forest behind a large clearing, in the middle of which a large natural pond sat with reeds jutting towards the sky. Keima noted that there were several doors that led to the living area where they were. Bedrooms no doubt, he thought to himself, and began looking around. He found the remote control for the TV, and soon enough Rind and himself were watching Mara being carried off of the battlefield while the Iron Avenger stood triumphantly.

“At least,” Rind observed, “this one knows that he is a hero, and acts like one.” Like many others, she too was disgusted with the actions of one of Celestine’s premiere teams. “It will not be long now,” she patted Keima on the head, “so please be patient.”

She walked out to the balcony, and looked up at the blood-red sky. “Something evil is on the wind,” she whispered to herself, small flashes of light coming through the trees where the hills once stood. She grimaced. The hills. They weren’t there anymore. To credit their absence however, the view had become even more dramatic; in the distance, standing like a symbol of hope, was the majesty of Mount Fuji itself. Thunder came over the horizon. Akira, she thought to herself. He must be enjoying himself, especially with so many groups of heroes and villains turning up to challenge him at the Icy Cold Sphere beneath the streets of Tokyo. Action was everywhere, she surmised, and things were going forward at an incredible pace. She gripped her battleaxes harder; she would have liked to be a part of it, to be testing her own skills against Earth’s finest, but for the moment more important matters needed attending to. She turned as a knock on the door filled the room, Keima jumping to his feet and turning the TV off. She looked at the boy, and nodded. “Come in.”

Keima felt himself twitch as the doorknob turned, his body becoming electrified by the prospect of finally being able to meet and talk with his father once again after so long.

“Hello, Keima.” Urd smiled as she entered the room, looking more confident than she had been when they last met.

“AUNT URD!!!” The boy raced to meet her, before a thousand and one profanities filled the room, followed by Nudoru and Miso, the former clutching his forehead and bleeding all over the rug. Rind acknowledged her peer, then stepped away from the balcony and stood before the massive Aberration of an angel.

“What happened to him this time?” she sighed.

“Il a frappé sa tête sur l'armature de porte et je pense que son crâne est criqué.” It answered, and almost as if to confirm the fact, Nudoru’s brains began seeping onto the floor. Much to Rind’s disgust. “Yup. Defininitely a fendu,” it shrugged as its host fell onto the lush carpet, dead again.

The Valkerye sighed. “I trust that your little…excursion was beneficial?” She turned to the Goddess of the Past with an inquisitive expression on her face.

Urd nodded. “I think I have the key now. To why he is the way he is.” he thumbed towards the bloody mess beside her with the nine-foot tall monster plopping itself down beside Keima on the sofa causing the by to squirm a bit. “What about him?” The Valkerye handed her a sealed envelope in reply with a grim look on her face. She and Urd exchanged glances, while the Goddess of the Past slowly opened it and began reading through the contents. All the while, Rind remained silent and grim. Urd indicated the balcony, and the pair left the boy and the Angel to their own devices while near the doorway, the God-Killer got back to his feet. Outside, as soon as they were out of earshot, Urd drew the shutters and breathed in the clean air. Air free of the stench of crime, so unlike the atmosphere of old Gotham. “Washu‘s sure about these?” she held up the Chousein’s report. “Because frankly, this is impossible.”

“It is accurate,” Rind nodded towards the bottom of the page at where Washu’s personal seal had been embossed in pink wax. “I personally thought that your Herald was possessed of some manner of super-speed. However, that would be redundant; according to Washu,” she looked out at the forest, the pinpricks of light nowhere to be found. “He was shifting between multiple dimensions so fast to different coordinates within this one that it looked like it was speed. The truth was in fact, according to her, that he hadn‘t moved from the same spot while fighting Athena’s Knights. Are you familiar with the Kameis, or Holy Cloth that the Greek Gods and Goddesses wear as part of their ceremonial armour?”

Urd nodded.

“It has been thought to be unbreakable, yes? I saw with my own eyes your Herald shatter it. The interesting thing is exactly how he managed it. I believe you are familiar with the mortals and their Unified Field Theory?” Rind watched as the Goddess of the Past flipped back to the contents page and found the correct paragraph halfway through the report. “He managed it by literally moving, at increasing velocity through our time stream in both positive and negative temporal and spatial orientations, then coming back to a singularity point in the present where he dumped the energy he had gathered along the way. According to Washu, this could only have been achieved if it were done at the very same moment in the same spatial locality but yet…”

“Rind, this…” Urd snapped the thick pile of paper shut. “This is bullshit,” she muttered under her breath. “You‘re telling me that he went to both the beginning and the end, just to build up enough kinetic energy while remaining in the present!? That‘s not possible, it just isn‘t!”

“It didn‘t happen only once,” Rind explained, “the Kameis has been proven to be all but indestructible except under very specific conditions. This was not one of the situations that it was engineered to cope with. When the experiment ended, Athena‘s Knights were almost naked. The confusing part was, when he started shifting, he kept doing the same thing over and over again. Washu concluded that he is what you said he is; something designed, engineered and built to destroy beings like you, like me, like…”

“My Father,” Urd finished for her, “did Washu have a theory about how all this was possible?”

Rind remained quiet for a moment. “She thinks that, to an unknown degree, he exists on multiple planes. However, this was only through monitoring the elements surrounding the testing area. Her instruments did not register him. A conundrum. Here, but not here. There, but everywhere.”

“Omnipresence used as a weapon, is that what you‘re trying to say?” Urd huffed. And peeked into the room where Keima and Miso were watching the Iron Avenger and Bell going toe to toe amidst repulsor-basts and super speed blows. She threw open the doors, and pointed to the mess on the floor behind the sofa. The God-Killer’s facial features had been mangled beyond belief as a girl with impossibly long black hair, dressed in a tattered and dirty white dress crawled her way back into his PSP that was between his cold, dead fingers. “How the Hell did he manage to summon SADAKO WITH A PSP!?” Urd cursed, veins beginning to bulge all over her forehead. She approached the God-Killer’s corpse, and pried the PSP out of his armoured gauntlets. She popped the card out, and began to blush. Rind swiped the card away from her fingers.

“Goddess Love Session number…isn‘t this the pornographic file that you send to mortals so that…” She stopped, noting Urd beginning to grow fangs and glowing eyes. “Never mind. It appears someone has overwritten it with another file.” The screen on the PSP began to glow again, a silver ring forming amidst the static. “Don’t even think about it,” Rind muttered as she looked straight into the screen at the woman brushing her hair in the mirror, and began to shake the unit rather harshly. “Don‘t even think about it, or I‘ll slap you with so many seals you‘ll be working overtime when you get out!” Promptly, the PSP turned itself off. The Valkerye looked down at the corpse of the God-Killer and sighed. “Again.”

[T51R]

~Twist of Fate: Interlock, cont'd~



A knock on the far side of the room filled the air. “Looks like it‘s time,” Urd brushed her hair away from her face. The pair entered the room again, while Urd tucked the file under her arm. “I‘ll read the rest later. If anything it will give us an idea of what we may be fighting if this…thing…should come to Earth.” She made her way towards the door, and turned the knob.

“Mistress Urd,” Beenuel entered the room first, followed by Skuld, Occult and Nakoruru. In tow was a thin black-haired girl who seemed rather nervous at being in the same room with two Goddesses, a Valkerye, an Angel without a face and a corpse. “Allow me to introduce Melody,” the God of Animals presented the girl, “from the Magic Kingdom.” He indicated that she was to then make her way around the room properly presenting herself to the others, which she did. And then she came to the God-Killer, who had just gotten back to his feet and twisted his face back into its normal shape. Beenuel smiled approvingly when she finally looked back at him. All the while, Keima tried to keep himself under control as Rind had told him to, so that his father would get the impression that he was a strong boy.

“I‘m sorry to hear about your home,” Urd led her to the sofa, which Miso had conveniently vacated in order to fuse back into is host. “Keima, come here.” The boy did as she asked, and Skuld opened the door.

“Keiichi, get in here!” she whispered while peeking out of the door.

Slowly, the elder Morisato entered the room. Keima willed himself to stand fast, and wait for his father to enter. Soon, he found himself standing face to face with a young man a bit taller than his mother was. He took a step forwards, not knowing what to say, not knowing if his father would accept him at such a young age. “I…” he started stuttering, but willed himself to stop. He locked eyes with the young man before him, just as Rind said he should, and bowed deeply. “I am Morisato. Morisato Keima. I am your son, and I am honoured to meet you.”

The room fell into silence as the boy sprang forwards and embraced his father, tears flowing freely at last as he buried his face in his father’s chest. “Dad…”

[T51R]

Next...Interlock continues, as two very unlikely guests join the party! Rind finally gets the workout she's been waiting for, and the action comes to the Fighter's Lodge as Aion and the Office of Area Reclamation and Reconstruction makes it move, under new management!

[J Dog]

Thundaga- Jack Stallwall vs. Saint Dogbert, Part I

"Behold my ultimate form!" Dogbert roared as the four "combatants" stared in horror at what had now became of a cynical, heartless canine; he became a cynical, heartless canine with supreme power! "I shall smite you all for being idiots dumb enough to battle me!"

"Dogbert, time out!" Jack said, knowing that Dogbert ISN'T like this in the comics. "What the hell has gotten into you? This ain't you!"

"Well, well, well. The rival of Seto Kaiba actually cared about him for a moment." He bit back with his rapier-like wit. "Well that ain't you either; you are actually a punk-ass kid who listens to too much hip hop music and brands that sledgehammer like a know-it-all! And besides, being kind to that Tachikawa girl is B.S!"

Mimi didn't like that one bit; Jack was, and always will be, kind to others in her heart. "That's enough, you bad dog! Jack will make sure he'll neuter you in no time flat!"

"When I'm done with him," The Supreme Ruler of Dilbert's World said, "I'll deal with your yappy mouth, got that?" It hit all four that Dogbert wasn't just becoming powerful, but he was also losing every last shred of decency to humankind, no matter the origin, and possibly, the entire cosmos; becoming cold and ruthless in the process.

"Alright, that does it! You don't mess with Texas!" Jack yelled as he struck first blood by leaping into the air and pounding Dogbert's body, causing him to slam into the earth with a quaking thud. But, even with that move, Dogbert came out unscathed.

"Oh, you call that a strike. I'll show you a true strike!" He said as he lifted his sceptor and the darkness in the sky returned. "I'm going to make a fool of you and run off with your funds! Behold; THUNDAJA!"

"Thunjaga?" Jack confusingly said, knowing that you don't go beyond 'Thundaga' (the only -aja around is probably 'Curaja', but that's it)! But, he felt his true wrath by being struck with a gigantic blow. Satchel covered his eyes in ghast, not wanting to see him get electrocuted. "How do you want to be, Jack?" Dogbert smiled as Jack was screaming with all the volts cruising through his body. "Deep fried, or extra crispy... what the?!!!"

Jack lifted up his sledgehammer and diverted all of the bolts into it. "I forgot to tell you; I'm a bit of a dynamo myself, and that just isn't my jersey." He smiled, referring to the 'Dynamos' jersey he was wearing. "Granted, you shocked me for a while with that move." He chuckled, but that died out with a frown. "But, I'll love doing this to you!" He slammed the sledgehammer into the ground, and caused the area to shake. "Behold my next move; Thor's Wrath!"

A giant orb of electricity rammed into Dogbert, with it combining with the dog. Little was said out of the Patron Saint of Technology; he was whammed into a wall. Jack ran towards the knocked-out Dogbert. "I guess I won this fight. You didn't have much." He said, but Dogbert got back up, though he started showing fatigue. "It ain't over, Stallwall! Observe my next move!" He lifted out a laser gun. "You say you are from Space City, eh?" He barked, mentioning the oft-mentioned nickname of Jack's hometime, Houston, "Well, prepare to be the first private citizen to travel to the Moon! SONIC OBLITERATOR!"

It was that with Dogbert fired the gun, releasing a giga-sized laser beam. Jack avoided it with a somersault from "Star Wars: Battlefront", and Mimi dodged it as well. Satchel and Bucky were looking at this battle.

"Bucky, we gotta do something! That crazy dog is going to blow up everything."

Bucky blew a raspberry. "Yeah, right. Like that'll effect us." Satchel grabbed Katt. "That includes US, you dumb cat! Now, we gotta help those two kids out!" He roared, returning to the scene where he finally stands up to Bucky (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/59/Satchel_threatens_Bucky.JPG). But rather than cowering, Bucky agreed. "I'll pound that guy and food him at the same time."

Dogbert panted a little. "Lucky move, you fool. But, I'll make sure that I can obliterate you." He lifted up the Sonic Obliterator again. But that was futile; he was wrapped up in vines. It was Palmon, who showed up, that did the deed.

"Palmon! Thank you!" Mimi smiled. "Now, digivolve and help out Jack!"

"Gotcha!" With that, Palmon digivolved into Togemon and jumped in front of Saint Dogbert.

"You gotta be joking!" He sneered. "A cacti with boxing gloves?!! You gotta be out your your tiny minds."

"No, Dogbert. It's the beginning of the end. You should've seen her fight Kazuma Kuwabara. And I might as well show you something cool as well." Jack said. With that, he charged into Dogbert, knocking him in the air. "Rocket Away!" He yelled as he leaped up in the air, slamming through Dogbert and the fiery halo that was made with a hot launch, and knocking him into the ground.

"Give up, Dogbert?" Jack asked. "You might as well."

"Kid... you got something. But be warned; in a few moments, you'll be fearing your life. I'll show you why I'll become the ruler of the universe someday!"

Coming up: Dr. Rivermen tries to escape from "The Others", with MechaDorado held hostage, and Dogbert reveals his ultimate attack, that could effect the tournament for the remainder of the series.

[OverMaster]

-Team Nifelheim vs. Team JLAVengers, Finale: Bell vs. Blue Beetle- The Spoils of War-

Bell felt something was odd, even slightly wrong, when she tried to analyze the Blue Beetle's new armor with her supersenses. It just didn't allow her a good hearing of the man's heartbeat, nor his breathing. And then there was something else that could be chalked to intuition if she had believe in it. It was as if there had been something... slightly sinister about the power that man was wielding now. And after hanging around with Mara and Hild, she knew evil mystic powers when she ran into them by now.

Never mind. Her duty was still the same. She had to make her Father proud.

"Rouuuuuuuunnnd Four..." Hanagata started. "One! Two! Three! And FIGHT!!!!". He jumped out of the way again, as Bell began shooting Ted Kord with scorching eye beams. They just bounced on the man's suit's supernatural aura, barely making him to stagger a couple of steps back.

"Hnnnhhhhh..." Joker raised a green eyebrow. "Funny. That laughingstock never seemed so powerful before. Then again, neither was I week and a half ago".

The Beetle's antennae sparked, when he rushed towards the white Powerpuff Girl, throwing her a punch that she barely could block in time. Then he used his other hand to punch her in the head at the same time. Bell actually whimpered a bit, in surprise, when she learned that had caused her some actual pain. Even in her battles with Blossom and Iron Man, very few attacks had caused her pain, and now this man had done it in his first try.

She retaliated with a vicious headbutt to his gut, and followed with a roundhouse kick that made him back away. He merely reacted then by shooting her with a stungun, but she dodged the shot.

"Not good" Yuusuke Urameshi grunted from the first row. "No matter how many powers that scarab-thing has, they're for nothing if he can't reach her speed and actually hit her".

"Have faith" Koenma frowned, sitting next to him. "The Scarab's powers are almost equal to those of a Green Lantern ring!".

"Big deal" Yuusuke snorted, crossing his rams behind his neck. "And I still tell you that's for nothing if he can't hit her with those powers in the first place".

Koenma just intensified his frown, but said nothing. He hated to admit it, but Urameshi had a point there.

Bell was flying all around Kord now, shooting eye beam after eye beam at him, forcing him to stay at the move and block with his mystical shield continuously to avoid being rattled. Eventually, he got tired of it and decided to deploy his new Beetle wings and fly after her in turn. Once he was airbone, he shot her with the scarab's electricity cannon, sending her tumbling back in the air, slight burnt marks now on her face.

Damn, I really hate to do this to a child... he thought. But this kid's no normal toddler. Anyone who's in cahoots with Joker is just asking for it...

Bell stopped her spinning back in midair and speeded like a bullet straight into him, tackling him down even though the armor's shielding was hurting her. As she grinded him against the floor, and headbutted him again and again even though her head was feeling in fire, she forced herself to remember him. Father. Doctor X, the man who had created her, the one who trusted her. He was counting on her skills, on her might. She thought back of Susan, and how he would probably be watching her fighting now. Of GIR. Never mind her current teammates were three unlikable jerks. This wasn't for them. This was for her real team, her family.

She was used to the strain, from all the training sessions with Zim and Samantha back at home. This was nothing to her, right?

With a wild grunt that almost sounded like a growl, she grabbed Beetle by the throat as he was calling, "SPIDER-WO--", and chucked him out of the ring, her eyes burning with savage intensity, her hands burned with the shield's touch. Beetle stopped in midair and tried to go back at her, but she instead bulleted her way at him and strongly planted her feet on his face with a bestial grunt, kicking him definitely out of the ring. Once he tumbled down out of the Arena, for good measure, she finished by ripping off another big piece of the ring and throwing it on him, pinning him down long enough for the off-ring countdown to reach ten.

She then smiled, and weakly whispered, "I did it... I really did it...".

And fell flat on her face.

Blue Beetle bursted from under the huge mass pining him down, still willing to fight. He still looked like he could do it, too. But Hanagata, after a consulting look at the Jury, was already announcing for everyone, "AND THIS IS IT, FOLKS!! The Judges have decided, Miss Bell wins this round for ringout, thus granting the win to Team Nifelheim!!!".

"What??!!" Beetle yelled. "No way!!!".

But then he fell silent, seeing the sorry state his tired opponent had been left in. She was thriumphant, and yet the most hurt of both of them. The magic had shielded him against most harm, but she hadn't had that luck. She laid there, panting, wheezing, as Beetle felt, in a way, pity for her.

Joker crouched down and happily patted Bell's fallen form on the head. "Yo, Sweetie, you da man!! But you could have left one for me!".

"Joker..." she weakly smiled up at him. "I need to rest for a while, okay...?".

The public was sourly disappointed, but also moved in a way. After last night's Ifurita incident, they wanted to see the heroes winning. This was another low blow to their hopes, and it showed. Yet, part of them also were feeling it for the hurt child, and the paramedic units were faster than usual on their way to the ring.

"What..." Asuka Langley was muttering. "I know she's evil, but...".

"Child, even black has its shades of gray" the Phantom Stranger brooded gravelly. "Sometimes, even those who have darkness on their hearts can push themselves to sacrifice for others. We will see far more of that in the future, I fear".

"I don't like this at all..." Shinji groaned sadly.

As they carried Bell away to the Medical Wing, and Joker was left behind chuckling and alone with an expresionless Goenitz, the public began to leave the Dome, with both confusion on their hearts and fear for the future. Another supervillain team had gained its way to the next round.

The feeling of doom seemed to be everywhere.


Next up: Ryouga vs. Ash, and Mel Kompson's Training reaches a New Stage!

[KingEli]

Aftermath:

"Dammit!" Said Kord

"Don't feel too bad Teddy, I mean you gave it all you got." Said Booster

"Yeah.............but I held back a bit. I FELT REALLY uncomformable fighting kid. She's not even old enough to be a Titan for God's sake!"

"Hey nobody faulting you man." said Luke Cage "I Mean would any of us Good Guys REALLy fight a kid at our full potenial?"

"Yeah your right, we wouldn't.........but Booster Would." Ted said with a chuckle

"HEY!" Said Booster "Just Because in 25th Century, all people are equal and it dosen't matter who we hit dosen't mean I Would do such a thing."

"Suuuuuuurrrrrreee."

"You mean, you just run up and hit a girl or your wife, no problem?" Asked Spider-Woman

"Well, Yeah."

"That's one @#$% uped Future." Said Luke.

[Golden Darkness]

OOC: Ok... I'll probably get my next post ready some time tomorrow... most likely I'll get the matches started Sunday.

[J Dog]

Thundaga- Jack Stallwall vs. Saint Dogbert, The Shocking Conclusion

Dogbert was looking stranger and stranger, based off Jack's actions. He had three ideas about what was with the canine:


Dogbert was truly evil, and he was actually hiding the true actions in the comic strip and TV series
He was possessed by something else, and that using him beyond his actual feats and abilities.
Dogbert just got lucky, but at the same time, lost his mind


"Okay, this crazy fight is going to end soon, and you know it." Jack told Saint Dogbert, who was holding his sceptor with both paws. "Apparantly, if this drags on, something crazy is going to happen to both of us."

"Yeah. You wouldn't like that?" Dogbert smirked, but his voice was started to evolve into a demonic tone, a sign that the second idea was the actual reason of this. "I got one final act to perform, and you shall get your money's worth on it." He started to shake a little and struggled to lift the sceptor up into the air. Normally, that would look stupid, but maybe the final stunt will be the reason of this.

"Jack," Mimi asked. "Do you really think that Dogbert is really mean now? He's acting a lot funnier now than he was a few minutes ago, and I mean a weird kind of funny."

"I'll see if I can make sure that he won't cause any more damages. I got one final move as well. Let's just wait and see which one deals the more extreme blow to the opponent. Just wait, ok?"

"Don't hurt yourself." She replied. Jack then laughed. "No offense, but when you fight, odds are you are going to get hurt. But I'm not going to die just yet. That'll be years from now, got that?" Mimi nodded.

"Show me that move, then." She grinned. "I want you to now knock some sense into Dogbert!" After saying that, Jack jumped into the air, and lifted his sledgehammer up into the air. He channeled electricity back into the hammer and planned for another Thor's Wrath instead of the ultimate move he was talking about.

At the same time, Dogbert was almost finished with his move, with the sceptor glowing in a rainbow of colors and haloed a strong light. "I give you my ultimate move, the Ray of Elimination! Enjoy!" It was at a cost that Dogbert would probably not survive this move, but he decided to unleash it as well. The sceptor unleashed a shining ray that grew in size much like a tsunami and moved towards Jack. Jack unleashed the Wrath on the ray, but that barely slowed the ray. Togemon slammed into the ground and aided into slowing the ray, which might have destroyed the whole grounds if it was left alone.

"Do not... belittle me..." Dogbert said with a grunt. "I will defeat you all! Will defeat you all!" Bucky and Satchel snuck up behind Dogbert.

"I'll show him who's the boss around here!" Bucky grinned. "Me!"

"Uh... Bucky, the boss is that woman Belldandy." Satchel corrected him. "You should might as well realize that."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." He walked towards Dogbert with a golf club. "Prepare for a whacking of feats!" He bit as he swung at Dogbert.

"What?" Was Dogbert's only reaction as he got hit by the club, and lost his balance. With that misfortune, his ray weakened.

"Time for me to end this nonsense!" Jack said as he jumped upwards and aimed towards the stunned saint.

"Jack's Ultimate Dynamite Megaton Kick of Giga Destruction!" He roared as each word was echoed and pouned his feet into Dogbert, with each kick creating a sound boom and pounded the saint into submission.

"Game over, Dogbert." Jack quietly said, knowing that he finally won the battle. Of course, it was strange enough to see that a strange form appear out of Dogbert and then it floated off.

"What on earth was that?" Mimi asked Jack, wondering about it. "Never mind that, the important thing was that we beat him. Now, let's go to the hospital." Jack didn't reply. "Jack? Jack?"

"Dogbert, why the heck did you get yourself that way?" He said with a little emotion. He turned his head towards Tachikawa. "Listen, this pretty much gave me a little to think about. You gotta figure out that your foes aren't all that seems. I just hope Dogbert improves after being knocked down like so."

"What about Kaiba?" Mimi questioned. "Will you focus on that?" I mean, Dogbert really hurt him."

"In some parts, Kaiba deserved that. But, I know that it wasn't Dogbert. I know you have Cosette coming up in a while, so I might as well teach you a little trick of the trade. Wanna learn?"

Mimi nodded. "Yep!" She said.

"I knew you'd say that."

Meanwhile, Bucky told Satchel to get Dogbert's body. "We will find a use for him."

"Can't we just take him to the hospital?" Satchel questioned. But Bucky insisted instead that he'd be looked at first.

**********

Dr. Rivermen was in a cell in one of the bunkers, with one of The Others holding guard. He figured that soon, he'd bust out, and get out of this hellhole. But how?

Next: Rivermen's escape, and Jack shows Mimi a trick only Houstonites had known.

[OverMaster]

-The Lost and the Groovy: Ryouga Hibiki vs. Ash Williams, Part 1-

C-Dome:

"Okay" Ryouga gravelly said as he headed for the bathroom, that is, out of the ring. "So, let's begin with this...".

"Hey, I'm over here, moron!" Ash yelled out. The Eternal Lost Boy of Nerima stopped then on midway to the ring's border, and turned around to face him.

"Ah. Yes, I see. Gomen".

"I can't believe it" InuYasha groaned. "What kind of braindead gets lost in a fighting ring as soon as his fight starts??".

"No need to excuse yourself, kid!" Ash replied as he shot his shotgun at Ryouga's legs. "I'll be more thankful if you just stay quiet there and let me to finish this off easily, instead!".

"Like hell I will!" the martial artist roared, jumping over the shot and launching a flying kick at the American, which he eluded rolling to a side just in the nick of time.

At the seats of Team Beastmaster's companions, Kagome Higurashi, sitting next to Honey's best friend, the thin and serious Detective Aki Natsuko, cheered on, "Do your best, Ryouga-kun! He's no match for you!".

Then something else caught her attention. Someone had just arrived to the seats next to theirs. It was a group of four, including a fully bandaged odd man wrapped in a gray trenchcoat, a little black haired girl, a buxom redhead young woman, and a young Japanese monk... and old friend of hers.

"Miroku!".

"Miss Kagome!" The lead newcomer smiled pleasantly at her. "It eases me to no end seeing you are still alive and well! And I must say, this world of yours really is as... fascinating as you always had told us, even if we happened to arrive at a far from adequate time...".

"B-but what are you doing here?" she blinked, puzzled. "I didn't think you could--". Then she sweatdropped, noticing he wasn't paying her any attention anymore. Instead, he had slipped to Aki's side and held her hands between his, sighing with fascination as little hearts floated all over his head. "... I should have expected this...".

"Fair lady, are you a friend of Miss Kagome's?" the amorous monk was putting the old charm on the dark haired Detective. "Truly, your beauty outshines that of the sun and the blue sky. I wonder, would you make me the happiest man in the world and bear my--".

But then he had to stop and shut up, since Aki was now pointing an official gun of the Tokyo Police Department on his face. "The answer is no" she coldy replied. "Kagome-san told us a few things about you, and I know enough about you by now to know better, Miroku-san. Now just give it a rest before my hand is forced...".

"Ah-ah hah..." He nodded, quickly slipping his right hand away from Aki's butt.

"Men" Nami shook her head. She smiled at Kagome. "Hey, nice to meet you. I'm Nami, one of the monk's new partners, and friend to Zoro, member of Team Swordsman!". She offered her a hand.

Kagome shook the hand offered in a friendly way and smiled back. "Pleased to meet you too, Nami-san". She then looked down at the Evil Tomoyo, and cooed, "Aaaaawwww, and you're such a cutie!!".

"Thank you. You have great legs and a nice ass, too" the girl replied in a dry, yet interested, tone. Kagome did a shocked double take.

"W-what...?".

"Eh, excuse Tomoyo-chan, please" Now it was Nami's turn to sweatdrop. "She is a bit... odd, too". And she whispered on Kagome's ear, "But if she offers to take a picture of you, NEVER ACCEPT IT, okay? For your own good".

Slowly, Kagome nodded in agreement, since she was now feeling some sort of evil aura coming out of Tomoyo's petite body.

"And the bandaged gentleman is Mr. Skinner" Nami tried to drift the conversation to another topic as she gestured towards the Invisible Man.

"Hello" was all of Skinner's greeting, and Kagome, somewhat rubbed the wrong way by now, just waved a hand a bit on his direction and smiled weakly as response.

"But..." the black haired Japanese teenager doubted, looking again at Nami, "What are you doing here? Are you going to challenge that Akira character, or--".

"Nothing like that" Nami shook her head, sitting next to Skinner. "We'll tell you about it later. We can't speak about it in public". Her eyes turned slightly bitter as she looked down at the Arena, where Ash and Ryouga faced each other once more. "But it is big, that I can tell you from now".


Next: Ryouga vs. Ash, Continuation. Also, Mel learns Nabe-Fu, and Blokk gets his own Camera Crew!

[OverMaster]

OOC:

T51R, a couple of questions about Akira's battles that are supposed to be happening right now.

What are the purposes of those? I mean, obviously, it's not 'Beat me and get to challenge Belldandy', because then the Tournament would be redundant. I'm guessing it is, instead, a kind of 'Beat me and Heaven will stop attacking Earth with giant monsters, volcanos, earthquakes and Uwe Boll movies until MUGEN is over. But if Belldandy wins, we'll still eliminate you all anyway', deal. Am I right?

Also, could we have some of the discarded, eliminated MUGEN teams going to challenge Akira now that they can't advance in MUGEN? They may not beat him, but I figure they'll think trying is still better than just sitting there watching how the others continue fighting.

[Saint_007]

which really begs the question, why would Heaven perform such a large-scale genocide? I mean, if I were religious and this sort of crap happened, I'd switch allegience to the Devil. I know, Ragnarok and all... but why the need to start massive upheavals like that?

[T51R]

which really begs the question, why would Heaven perform such a large-scale genocide? I mean, if I were religious and this sort of crap happened, I'd switch allegience to the Devil. I know, Ragnarok and all... but why the need to start massive upheavals like that?

Basically its to bring out both the best and worst in humans and give the human race a chance to either prove their worth and shine, or for it to damn itself and embrace chaos. Remember, plenty of elements in Heaven oppose this plan, and thus MUGEN is possible. MUGEN is happenning because a tiny part of TOAA/Kami-Sama believes that mankind is inherently good, while at the same time wanting to eradicate evil. THis is the reason that he agreed to his daughter's terms of competition between light and dark; so that it would be pretty damn clear that good prevails even though the cost may be high.

The thing is, mankind itself has to believe this, and it has to believe that they can decide their own fate for the better[free will]

[T51R]

~Twist of Fate: Interlock…Part 2~



“And this was where I used to live,” Keiichi flipped through the pages of an old album as Keima looked on, in awe of how many happy memories his father and aunt had shared during their brief time together, before she perished in battle against an enemy that was all but incomprehensible. “That‘s Tamiya,” Keiichi pointed to the tanned mountain of muscle, “he‘s one of the Motor Club‘s directors. We used to live in the same dormitory. Well, at least until I got kicked out.” It had been that way for the last our or so, not counting the time it took for the elder Morisato to come back to his senses when he was told how Keima’s mother was. He did not question it; he knew better than to mention the Ultimate Force in front of others who were not familiar with it. “And here‘s where we live now,” he turned the page, and the boy gasped at the panoramic spread of the entire courtyard of the temple Keiichi and the three Norn sisters called ‘home.’

It was beautiful, the boy thought to himself, so unlike the bio-sphere he had grown so accustomed to; after all, it was where he had been raised. In a barren wasteland where humanity as well as many other races lived out their twilight. He looked up at Keiichi, the pair of them sitting on the sofa which had been shifted around to face the rest of the room. Sitting around them, the rest of the occupants went with the pair on their journey of nostalgia. Beenuel, ever-attentive, caught every word; he wanted to know more about his young apprentice. Especially why it was that she was so enamoured by technology when her own divine powers were just beginning to blossom. Skuld however seemed a bit preoccupied, staring across the room in the opposite direction of Keiichi, trying her best to hide her blushed cheeks. Occult and Nakoruru simply sat with their own thoughts on the matter, while
Urd’s herald paced about the room, looking curiously over Keiichi’s shoulder every once in a while if he passed that way. Melody however, was busy exploring the place and seemed uninterested in the conversation that was going on; she wasn’t accustomed to events of such magnitude and to her, the goings-on looked like a family reunion. And she couldn’t stand those; being continually pinched was annoying beyond belief.

Keiichi himself was enjoying the trip down memory lane; it had been quite a while since he had seen his beloved, and the pictures he held in his hand brought her warmth back into his heart. He selected a few random snapshots, and handed them over to Keima who took his time with each one. “That‘s when Aoshima first set up another motor sports club back at Nekomi Tech,” he placed another picture in the boy’s hands. “This picture wasn’t taken very long after your mother showed up.” He pointed at the corner of the frame, where a younger Skuld was busy sneaking into the Motor Club’s tent-garage. “She was a real handful at first, I gotta admit!”

“Dad?” Keima handed the pictures back, “could you tell me more about my aunt? I mean, you‘ve told me about her, but I wanna know what she was like when the two of you were…” he thought for a moment, trying to find the right word. “Happy.”

“Well,” Keiichi sighed, and tried to think of how to explain it. “I really don‘t know. It‘s just how I feel when we‘re together, and when she looks at me, when she calls my name, it‘s like being in a whole new world. When we‘re together, there‘s this feeling, a feeling that nothing‘s impossible and no mater how bad things could get, we know that we‘ll always be there for each other and that we‘ll make it. That‘s something that I want you to experience too, Keima. It‘s called hope,” he let his hand come to rest atop Keima’s head, “every day, because of her, there‘s hope. Hope that tomorrow will bring something better. Hope that in the end, everything is going to work out.” Keima looked at his father with a blank expression on his face; he had never thought that the feelings between them could possibly be that strong. Even worse, the boy knew that the inevitable question would be coming his way none too soon. “Well, that’s more or less it.” Keiichi finished his side of the story, and looked over at the boy seated opposite him. “Why don‘t you tell me about the future you came from?”

The room was plunged into silence; all of them except for Keiichi had heard the boy’s story and more than anything they had been shocked. Urd looked towards her sister and the both of them locked eyes; they understood that if Keiichi found out what had happened in Keima’s timeline, the young man’s heart would surely break. The last thing they needed, Urd thought, was for the young man to put himself at risk trying to avert something that seemed inevitable. Skuld on the other hand was more concerned about what would happen to Belldandy if Keiichi did get himself hurt searching for the second God-Killer, or worse. Their fears were averted if only for a moment, when Keima asking if he could have some more milk and a few more cookies; he hadn’t eaten for quite a while, and wolfing down the snacks on the table had only begun to satisfy him. “Sure,” Urd tilted her head towards the kitchen. “Help yourself!” Her eyes met Rind’s, and the Valkerye immediately understood.

“Excuse me,” the white-haired arm of Heaven rose, and followed the boy into the kitchen.

Urd turned to her herald next. “Will you just sit down already,” she snapped, “you‘re going to make us all sick, what with your circling like a vulture!” He complied, taking a seat on the floor next to his liege. “And what what‘s eating you, you‘re acting weirder than usual…”

In the kitchen though, things were very different; Keima was on the verge of tears as he huddled into a corner next to the window. Rind shut the door quietly behind her, and softly brought a chair across the room and set it down right in front of the boy. “Are you going to tell him?” Keima looked away, not knowing what to think. “Well,” Rind brought her fingers to his chin and gently turned his face towards hers. “You‘re going to have to decide that for yourself.” She rummaged through several cabinets as well as the fridge, finally, carelessly chucking a huge stack of cookies and an enormous jug of milk onto a tray. She had never been good at hospitality. “Just a thought, Keima. Don‘t underestimate how strong your father is in his heart; I‘ve told you this already. Also, do not underestimate his capacity for positive action. Do what you feel is right, not what you think is right. Sometimes, the best answers are not the most logical ones.” The boy looked up at her with a puzzled look in his eyes. She didn’t speak again however; she just left the room, and him to his own devices.

Urd again met Rind’s eyes with her own as soon as the Valkerye emerged from the kitchen. “You should have taken him to the bathroom if he wanted to wash up,” Urd forced herself to smile.

“He will be along soon,” Rind replied, and sure enough the door to the kitchen opened moments later. Keima walked out, ready to repeat his story one last time. Across the room, Melody noticed the grim expression on his face and joined the group. Keiichi stood, realising that whatever his ‘son’ was about to tell him, it wouldn’t be good.

[T51R]

“Listen, Keima,” he knelt so that he would be at eye-level with the boy before him, “remember what I said earlier about having hope, no matter how bad things get? Well, it looks like this is one of those times, huh?” He smiled wile looking his ‘son’ right in the eye; truly he felt as if the woman he loved was there with him. Always. If anything, he thought to himself, the boy before him needed hope, above anything else.

“Dad…” Keima began, it was the first time he ever had any trouble addressing the man whose face was the first he had seen. “Dad…mom is…aunt Belldandy is…they…he‘s going to…” tears began to well in his eyes as memories of his mother flooded back into him, out of control, flashbacks of the last time he saw her smile, her final goodbye to him came rushing in, overwhelming him. “Mom is…you…” he stammered, the words just not coming out. He inhaled, and then shouted at the top of his lungs. “DAD, AUNT BELLDANDY‘S GOING TO…”

A flash, and the curtains tore off their moorings. Glass shattered, furniture was thrown across the room by the shockwave and flames of hellfire died revealing the damage they had done. Keima opened his eyes and found himself in the tight embrace of his father’s arms, Keiichi’s own back turned towards the window in a bid to protect him. Behind them, Urd, Beenuel and Rind stood in shock as Nakoruru and Occult held Melody between them behind a table they had flipped over out of sheer instinct. Half a room away, Nudoru and Miso’s arses protruded from the wall they had been half-blown through. It was the young woman in front of them however, who had been the source of their surprise; Skuld stood ready, in a stance that Urd had never seen her in with her arm across her face and a shield thrown up less than a foot in front of the group. A shield that had withstood a stray shot of pure Mazoku hellfire. The Goddess of the Past looked her sibling over; the youngest Norn’s suit had changed, now pink and black with her prerequisite gadgetry melded with the suit’s skin-tight lines in fluid but sleek forms that extended down her forearms and shins, coming to angular peaks at her knees and elbows. He shoulders bore light armour, and several ore angular shapes ran down the sides of her back coming from a half-collar that had been seamlessly blended in with the small plates of armour. Around her floated several metallic objects that encircled her, looking like metallic shields; the two largest of them joined by a thin section behind her shoulders.

Rind took it in easily, and checked on the others before heading out to the flame-blasted balcony. “Mazoku,” she cursed, watching a black van tearing through the forest almost a mile away with a figure standing atop its roof swatting away Devils, Mazoku and Nazgul with a staff that seemed to lengthen or shorten as its owner saw fit. “It can‘t be…” She turned at the sound of the door slamming, and found Keiichi sitting on the floor. She looked around the room while taking a brief head-count. “Everyone stay here.”

[Golden Darkness]

The Battle Between the Halves of Light and Darkness, Prelude - The Player's Headache, final?

The Player's Office:

The two VG Cats were astounded to hear that the most unlikely person to destroy the world was going to really destroy the world and somehow their superior was going to cause it to happen.

"I... I don't believe it!" exclaimed Leo. "I mean... I don't watch anime much... but I do know that Belldandy is the sweet goddess girl of that Oh My God show."

"It's Oh! My Goddess, you twit!" groaned Aeris. "Of course, you claimed that InuYasha was nothing more than Dragonball Z for girls."

"It is!" Leo retorted. "Just make all the warriors effeminate men and toss in more romance, and bingo, DBZ for girls."

Aeris looked like she was about to blow her top. The Player wisely said nothing, knowing how aggravated Aeris was when it came to her reasons for watching anime. The reason was, and still currently is, primarily the 'yaoi' potential factor, and the Player himself was definately not a fan of yaoi. If one would ask him in private how much of an anti-fan he was, he would admit that he personally led a brutal smackdown of the minor goddess of yaoi and yaoi fan girls and her underlings, before sealing all of them away.

Seeing that Aeris was about to bash him a new one, Leo decided to return to the subject at hand. "Anyway, do you know what I am saying, sir? There's no way that person could be Belldandy's dark side. She can't have one."

"Don't you think I know that?" the Player, exasperated, said. "Yes, it's true that Belldandy's the nicest diety you could ever meet. But it does not change the fact I saw an evil version of Belldandy malicously killing off everyone in her sights, including her fellow deities. Not to mention the color scheme of her facials features just screamed at me... dark."

"Um... ok?" a passive Leo answered.

"I don't know how this is going to happen. Whether it is one of the god killers, an evil clone, or that she's really gone evil, I don't know. All I know is... this was somehow a result of a choice I made in the past, and I'm not even sure what to make of that." With that he pointed to the office doors. "You two heard enough. Please, let me have a moment to myself."

"But sir..." Leo was quickly stopped by Aeris by having her paw over his mouth.

"If that's was you wish, sir." Aeris knew better than to not allow the Player have a chance to calm down. She quickly dragged Leo out, leaving the Player alone for the moment.

*My god,* he thought to himself, as he opened a drawer in his desk. *It can't be the future. It can't.* Reaching into the drawer, he pulled out a frame picture. Depicted on it was a well dressed couple and a young boy, standing in front of their suburban home. *Mom... dad... have I failed you? Have I failed to protect you from what your son's actions are going to unleash?* Feeling tears in his eyes, he quickly wiped it off, lest it stained one of his few momentos of his mortal life. *No... I won't let this happen... I'll keep my promise to you... I'll stop the Omega Initative... I'll bring my Gaming Revolution... and more importantly... I'll save you...*

The Hotel outside the MUGEN Tournament Grounds:

Despite the air conditioning, the denizens within the hotel sought to keep cool. Sure it oddly flucuated between the maddening snow of the first day of the tournament to today's 85 degree Farienheit weather, but no matter the temperature, being comfortable is always a priority.

As such, there were many beings headed towards the many ice dispensers located on each floor of the hotel. Among them were a brown haired man in a space-fairing smugglers get-up, and his 2.28 meter tall furry alien companion.

"You know Chewie, as soon as this mission is over, we are definately leaving this blasted planet." Having arrived on Earth late last night, Han Solo quickly found himself disliking Earth and its backwards inhabitants. After all, who would hold an important tournament on a planet which looked like it was about to blow up with all the disasters happening on it. Of course, there were the fact he couldn't stand some of the stares he was getting.

Then again, it was his idea to join Luke, Leia, and the other rebels headed here, since they did risk their lives to free him from the now-dead Jabba the Hutt. Han Solo was a man who rather not have any debts on his head, after all. And even though the mission was to confront the man who had ordered him carbon-frozen so Rebel High Command can ascertain the location of the Empire's new Death Star's construction site, he felt easy going in since apparently there were rumors of Jedi participating in this tournament as well.

Of course, the recent revelation that the Jedi were involved, and more importantly, that they were apparently Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, was pretty much a shock to Luke, which was no surprise to Han. After all, Luke did see Kenobi killed in front of his eyes by Vader, and Luke had said Vader was responsible for his Vader's murder. Chewbacca was pretty much surprised as well, having fought in the Clone Wars and heard about the exploits of the Negotiator and the Hero with No Fear.

So right now, the gang is going to stay in the rooms provided by the hotel until the match was over, since it was pretty much too late to get stadium tickets. They do intend to visit the tournament grounds later in order to confront Vader.

Which is why right now Han and Chewbacca was out in the halls getting ice for the gang, so they could having something cool to drink.

"From what I hear," the Wookie roared in his own language, "Earth is normally not this bad."

"Not bad? Not bad?" the smuggler said, incredulous. "Being rocked by natural disasters and giant creatures worldwide is just 'bad'? What do these Earthers think is a good day on this mudball then?" Paying attention to his Wookie companion, Han failed to see that a golden humanoid droid was about to walk into him.

Naturally they collided. The droid was the first was to react and apologize.

"I'm dreadfully terribly sorry for running into you sir. Hopefully, you won't tell my mistress to scrap me."

Han quickly looked up at the droid's face and frowned. "3P0, what are you doing here?"

If the protocol droid's eyes were real, they would have blinked at the question. "Sir, do you know me, because I surely don't. Are you an associate of Miss Padme?" The droid quickly paused in thought. "Wait a minute, of course not. She would never associate with someone like you. And he probably wouldn't allow it either."

Han's eyebrow's twitched. Was this a joke set up by the others? "For Criffin' sake, it's me, Han. You know, pilot pal of your Master Luke and..."

"Master Luke? Impossible!" the droid interrupted. "My only master has been Master Anakin, and I doubt he would know you. Now please if you can direct me to where the ice is kept, for my mistress is in need of some. I have told here it was a bad idea to come here, especially for someone who is pregnant as she is and..."

With a flicked of a switch, the droid was deactivated. Han sighed at the scene. "Chewie, you get the ice. I'll take Goldenrod back to our rooms and figure out this mess."

The Wookie roared in acknowledgement, taking the ice bucket from Han's hands, and allowing Han to drag the droid back to the rooms.

Of course during this entire conversation, the Wookie stayed silent as he pieced together a theory of the droid's behavior. He had come up with one, and had decided not to share it with Han, thinking it was better for Han to learn for himself.

OOC: Sorry no start of my fight like I promised, but I have to get that particular scene of Han meeting prequel-era C-3PO down.

Maybe I shouldn't promise any more firm dates, since I have been breaking them.

LoNC, I just realized you have the announcer from the DB series as your match announcer. My match is supposed to have that announcer, while you're supposed to have Mandy.

[Saint_007]

I got a job.

Well, actually, I've gotten this job a long time ago, but I'm going to be working full time starting of today, so my writing may be sporadic in future, depending on the job. Hopefully, I'll manage to balance things out so that I have time to post.

[T51R]

~Twist of Fate…Interlock, Part 3~



“They just keep coming!” the Monkey King shouted in frustration as he batted a careless Nazgul into several Mazoku who had swarmed to his left in preparation for a en-masse attack, then swung his staff around and did the same to a pair of Sinners who had closed in while he had been preoccupied. Atop the speeding van which tore its way through the forest he ducked branches and leaped between the roof and trees to throw the attackers off-guard. Below him in the driver’s seat, the God of Destruction spun the wheel this way and that like a wheelman gone mad; the prize in the back of the armoured vehicle was simply too important to lose. He tugged hard at the handbrake, throwing the vehicle sideways and reached out of the window to fire several discs of dark energy into the distance only tom kick the throttle hard. The van abruptly changed course, and veered through the tiny space between the lush forest causing the Pursuers to slam head-first into the thick trunks as they closed in for the kill. Topside, Wukong leapt clear of the treetops and lengthened his staff dozens of times over, using it to swat a good number of Devils and a pair of Nazgul clear over the horizon. “We gotta wake the girl up, the damn van‘s slowing us down!”

The Orochi chanced a look over his shoulder at the Stasis Pod that had been anchored to the floorboard with huge rivets, the body of Achika Masaki held in its containment field barely moving even though the vehicle it was in lurched this way and that. “No damn way,” he shouted at the last member of his former office loyal to him, “We don‘t know if she‘s gonna attack us, or them!” He spun the wheel again as the Monkey King dropped on all fours to avoid being hit by the low-hanging branch, the limb of the tree catching a Nazgul in mid-swoop and sending the black warrior to the ground. The Great Sage flipped backwards, and landed on the roof of the cab in time to break a Devil apart against his own stone chest. “Nice,” the God of Destruction gritted his teeth buried the noisy pedal and the van took flight up an embankment, landing hard on the road leading out of the tournament grounds. “We‘re out,” he checked the mirrors which hadn’t been torn off by demonic claws, and then slammed hard on the brakes as the giant before him raised a gargantuan mace. “Shit!”

Sauron’s blow had been well-placed, and the front of the vehicle buckled under the impact while the bumper buried itself in the ground causing the van to flip over lengthwise, clearing his spiked helmet. It landed in a heap, the Great Sage being thrown from the roof while the God of Destruction was pulverised inside the cockpit. It flipped over again, wheels coming loose and the engine leaving the chassis in a display of mechanical gore. Finally, it came to rest atop the narrow bridge that marked the boundary of the tournament’s control area. The massive Maia menacingly, purposefully began striding towards the wreck of the vehicle while the minions of darkness surrounded him, waiting for their turn to mangle and tear at the flesh of their former allies. The Dark Lord of Middle Earth raised his mace again, and bludgeoned away the doors between himself and the stasis pod. “I see you…” his deep croak filled the interior of the van, weapons lying about his prey not to mention other items considered verboten in Heaven. He reached for her, the ancient armoured fingers barely reaching their mark before Wukong landed a surprise blow which knocked him into the valley below.

The Monkey King glanced over his shoulder at the amassed forces on the Office of Area Reclamation, and as though on cue shafts of Heavenly Lightning burst from the skies to incinerate a good many of them. The air shimmered and the body of the Orochi reformed, the being’s eyes opening quickly only for their pupils to shrink into feline-like apertures. “You bastards,” he spat as he teleported forwards and ripped out the soul of a particular Devil. “Who put you up to this,” he crushed that being’s essence like glass, “WHO?!”

“Wouldn‘t you like to know,” Aion’s callous voice called out as the Sinner appeared floating in mid-air. “Let‘s just say that we have now a better offer than the one offered to us by both you and the one you answer to. And les us just say that when we are done, He will understand what it is to be judged He will understand the pain he has visited upon we who have suffered, because He will see his own flesh and blood endure these atrocities! No Angel shall be spared, no Seraphim will remain chaste; Heaven and Hell shall both fall as the old gives way to the new!”

“You know why you never got anywhere, Aion?” the Orochi growled, and rose to draw level with the Devil. “IT‘S BECAUSE YOU TALK TOO DAMN MUCH AND YOU DON‘T HAVE THE BALLS TO DO ANYTHING!!!” The earth shook, and the Devil found himself being drawn towards the God of Destruction by some manner of irresistible force. He stopped but a foot away, his reinforcements swooping in and firing wildly at the pair with Hellfire bolts and assorted magical energies. “Too late,” the Orochi glowered as a fountain of blood erupted from the Sinner’s chest. In a split second, he was wrestled back down to the ground by weight of sheer numbers. He teleported clear, but more Mazoku and Uruk-Hai swarmed in from the trees. Suddenly, seals began flowing across his body. “What the…”

Shader, the Neko-Demoness strode out confidently from the small army holding onto a small device. “This is a field emitter,” she explained, “and it emits precisely the same frequency as the Mirror of the Yata. While it isn‘t an official seal, it will still cause you greats deals of both discomfort…and pain!” She began to snicker madly as beside her, Aion got back to his feet clutching his bleeding chest. “You okay, boss?” The shockwave surprised her, several dozen Mazoku being sent skywards by Wukong’s single hit as the Monkey King fought his way towards his senior. Away from the action, Sauron had arisen from the valley below and was prying the rear of the overturned van apart in a bid to reach the stasis pod.

“Humph,” the sinner tasted his own blood, smiling at the pain. “It‘s been such a long time since anyone has cut me so deeply. Are you sure it will hold him?” The Devil rose, helped up by the Demoness who did his bidding. She smiled and nodded, indicating the God of Destruction now in agony from the seals that threatened to crush his physical body and seal him once again in the Place of Nothing.

“It‘ll hold him, but it can‘t seal him. As long as it‘s active he‘ll be neither sealed nor unsealed; he‘ll be stuck in between. For an Astral entity,” she smirked, “that‘s about as hellish as it gets!” She nodded, indicating to the forces of the Office that their prey was ripe for the picking; Wukong had been swamped by hordes of opponents and had been whacking them away easily, but as soon as an elderly man approached him, he fell to his knees clutching his head in pain. “The headband he wears as a tribute to his former teacher Tripitaka,” she smiled as an aged Joshua Christopher walked forwards, the sea of Mazoku and Devils parting just for him. “Was a means of control. And we can turn that to our advantage!”

“The only advantage you‘ll have,” both of them turned at the voice as a massive bolt of heavenly light sent Mazoku and Uruk-Hai back to the dust from which they came. “is if you start running now!” The Valkerye steamrolled over two Nazgul, burying blessed weapons deep in their undead bodies causing them to crumple into nothingness. Her Angels however kept the rest of the Office’s forces off-balance with bolts of lighting fired at random, giving her time to engage and dispatch several of the more powerful Mazoku.

“Oh no,” Shader began steering Aion towards the forest, “of all people, why her!?” The device in her hand shattered as the spiked tip of a four-foot long battleaxe collided with it, thrown with incredible accuracy and speed.

“Rind,” Aion cursed. “So, the Valkerye Battle Division has become involved in this as well.”

Her eyes flashed her intent as the battleaxe returned to her hand, Cool Mint and Spear Mint maintaining their vigil over the Goddess. “There is no place in this for the likes of you,” Rind spoke matter-of-factly.

“Oh, but what about the importance of the balance between good and evil?” Aion replied, now standing on his own. “Surely one such as you would understand how all-important that is!” The cynical glint in his smile almost drove the Valkerye out of her mind with frustration. He had her just where he wanted her, and he knew it. At least, until bolts of lighting shot skywards and the God of Destruction produced a pillar of energy with a bloody skull within it as a morbid climax sending no less than a dozen Sinners into oblivion. He watched as the Orochi locked eyes with Rind.

Aion knew then, that the fight had really only just begun.

[OverMaster]

which really begs the question, why would Heaven perform such a large-scale genocide? I mean, if I were religious and this sort of crap happened, I'd switch allegience to the Devil. I know, Ragnarok and all... but why the need to start massive upheavals like that?

The short answer: because we wouldn't have a story in the first place then. :D

[OverMaster]

LoNC, I just realized you have the announcer from the DB series as your match announcer. My match is supposed to have that announcer, while you're supposed to have Mandy.

OOC: Well, it has been already started with the Tenkaichi Budokai announcer, so I guess Mandy will have to be left for your match instead. Hope you don't mind about it.

IC:


-Lost Causes: Ryouga Hibiki vs. Ash Williams, Part 2-

Ranma Saotome sat grimly while he watched the fight. Dr. Strange, Duo had told him and Spider-Man when they visited the Defenders HQ, was currently in the middle of an important investigation that couldn't be interrupted. Duo had told them to come back at the afternoon. In the meanwhile, Ranma had decided to come and see Ryouga fight, while Spidey left to check on Juggernaut's team.

"Ryouga, you big slob..." he groaned, seeing his rival to connect a punch on Ash's chest, sending him sparwling back. "You told me I was fighting sloppy, not focused... but you're doing it even worse than me now. You can't let your emotions to drag you down like this...".

Ash coughed as he quickly went back to his feet. "Okay, kid. You have spunk, I'll give you that. Yeah, spunk for someone who looks so much like a ton of shit right now. Why that long face?".

"MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" The martial artist threw some of his sharp bandanas at him, but Williams blocked them with his chainsaw.

"Sorry, boy, but these pieces of cheap cloth can't beat real-deal S-Mart products!". He then took another shot with his 'broomstick' at him, and Ryouga dodged him once more. The dumb bastard was definitely fast, Ash decided.

"TIME TO FINISH THIS!" Ryouga then ran towards him, and punched him in the stomach literally blowing the air out of him. He hit like a ton of bricks, too. Ash was about to actually lose consciousness for a moment, but his shee stubborness kept him even on his feet as he took advantage of the momentary closeness to bring down the chainsaw on the boy's back, which even though it was still tough like a block, received the impact so bluntly it even bleeded. "YYEAAARRRRGHHH!" Ryouga howled in pain, backing away quickly.

"STUPID!!" Ranma yelled at him. "DON'T LET THAT MERE--".

But right then, he had to stop, and Ryouga also froze on his place, when they both heard a concerned scream coming from the other side of the Dome. "RYOUGA-KUN!!".

Both of their glares travelled quickly to where Akane Tendo, extremely worried, was sitting alongside Kasumi and Ukyo, even though the rest of their team wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Akane..." Ranma's voice choked on his throat.

"A-Akane-san..." Ryouga trembled, paling. And Ash saw his big chance. He ran towards the boy and used his distraction to land a square punch on his jaw, then called out, "TETSUO! NOW!!".

The whole Dome shook and trembled as a powerful humming sound filled the air, and Tetsuo Shiima entered the Arena levitating, with an inhuman white glow on his eyes. He thrusted his hands forwards, and hit Ryouga with a mighty psychic blast that sent him flying straight through a few gravestones.

"DAMN IT!!" Ranma and InuYasha cursed at once.

"RYOUGA-KUN, NO!!" Akane and Kagome... also yelled at once.

"Um, Akane..." Ukyo said with a slightly uneasy calming smile, "Maybe you should stop screaming things up at him? You're just distracting him...".

"Yeah!" Ash grinned. "Hail to the kings, baby!".

Tetsuo also grinned wickedly while floating back to the bunker. King Tetsuo, he had to admit, had a nicering to it...

But then, Ryouga got back up, coughing. His hands trembled slightly, but now more with anger than shock, as the ferocious expression on his face told when he looked at his opponent again. "YOU... YOU BASTARD!!". He jumped at him and kicked him square in the face, making him to fall. "I won't lose this, you hear me?! NEVER!! No when she needs me!" he yowled bestially while landing another punch on his face. "GET IT?!".

Ash cursed in his mind. He was about to go to Nappy Land again. He had to try the thing Vellinor had told him about before that wacko got another hit in...

He rolled out of the way as best as he could, and pulled the water vial out of his pocket. He opened it quickly, and splashed it on Ryouga's direction. "You are too much of a hothead, kid! Here, refresh that empty head... with THIS!".

Ryouga cringed in horror with the water on its way to him. He couldn't allow himself to be transformed in front of the whole world, much less Akane. He opened his umbrella and stopped the slash with it right in the nick of time before it hit him.

Then, he turned his head on Ranma's direction and angrily growled, "RAANMAAAA!! How could he know about this?! You told him, didn't you?!! Honorless dog!!".

"I didn't do anything like that, moron!!" Saotome yelled back. "And keep your eyes on him, idiot!!".

Ryouga then noticed Ash was trying to splash him with more water from the vial, now coming from another direction. With a yipe, the teenager eluded it again, and wacked Ash on the head with the umbrella. "S-STOP FIGHTING DIRTY!" he yowled. "Damned cheap--".

Ash smiled to himself. The kid really was afraid of the water; Vellinor was right on the money for once. Now he only had to get closer, and...

"NO MORE!" Ryouga grumbled, frustrated. He also knew hecouldn't get closer without being wet, so he thrusted an index finger against the arena ground and yelled at the top of his lungs: "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!!!!".

"What the hell?!" Ash said, and then the whole ground exploded in front of him into hundreds of pieces which bombarded him, hitting him everywhere, like high-powered machinegun fire.

"YES, RYOUGA-KUN!" Kagome cheered on.

"He is a good fighter indeed, although I can feel he is not going at the fullest of his skill" Miroku pondered thoughtfully. "He also seems quite temperamental. I assume he and InuYasha haven't been getting along too well?".

"That's an understatement if I've ever heard one" Aki Natsuko replied.

Ash fell down facefirst, knocked out cold by all the debris hitting him. After the count to ten, the public cheered Ryouga on as the parademics patched the chainsaw wound on his back as best as they could, while an angry Fighter jumped up onto the ring.

"You hurted one of my bestest friends!" he screamed at Ryouga. "You'll pay for that! FEEL THE RAGE OF MY SWORDCHUCKS!". He began to charge.

"You have to wait for the starting bell, imbecile!" Alucard reminded him.

"Oh, yes" Fighter stopped right there. "Sorry about that, everyone".

B-Ko looked at Black Mage. "You know, I can get why you want to kill him so much".

"Welcome to my world, babe" Black Mage nodded knowingly.


Next: Blokk's misadventures continue, the secrets of Nabe-Fu, and the Joker throws a victory party!


OOC Again: Well, over to you for Ryouga vs. Fighter as we agreed, LoNC. I'm sorry I couldn't make your Ryouga turned into P-Chan idea to work, but I eventually found it couldn't work at this point when I tried to write it in. I hope you don't mind about it.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Pigs and Punching Bags: Ryouga Hibiki vs. Fighter

Ryouga tensed up as he saw Fighter walk into the arena. He didn’t seem that tough – he didn’t have the same confident attitude that Ash had carried – and yet there was something odd about him that the lost boy couldn’t quite figure out. He would have to be on guard against this warrior.

In the stands, Black Mage also watched Fighter enter, albeit more eagerly than Ryouga: after seeing the way that martial artist had pummeled Ash, he was confident that Fighter was finally going to get squashed once and for all. He only hoped that the idiot didn’t see him in the stands . . . .

As if on cue, Fighter suddenly turned up, looked in his direction and shouted “HEY THERE BLACK MAGE, MY BESTEST BUDDY IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!” Needless to say, Black Mage sank back into his seat, muttering all manner of curses as he did so.

Turning back to Ryouga, Fighter drew his swords. Vellinor had told him the awful truth about his opponent: namely, that this “Ryouga” person was really one of the sword-destroying pig-warriors of Gibblegibble V. Well, no evil pig-alien was going to destroy HIS swords!

“BEGIN!” the announcer shouted. Instantly, Fighter raised his swords and broke into a charge with a shout of “FOR ALL THINGS SWORDYYYYYY!”

Ryouga nearly facefaulted at this antic: THIS was his opponent’s strategy? Just run at him waving his swords like a madman? The lost boy groaned: he might as well end this one quickly. Channelling his ki, Ryouga slammed his fist into the ground, unleashing a concentrated bakusai tenketsu at Fighter. The swordsman didn’t even have time to react before the ground around him was ripped apart in a seismic explosion.

“SCOOOOOORE!” Black Mage shouted as he jumped up and raised his arms in celebration. He then noticed that everyone was staring at him, and sheepishly sat down.

Ryouga narrowed his eyes as he tried to sport Fighter through the dust cloud. Admittedly, he might have overdone the bakusai tenketsu, and he didn’t want to kill the poor guy. As he watched, the dust cloud began to part . . . .

The lost boy’s jaw dropped when he saw Fighter standing there, looking slightly battered but more or less unhurt.

“Dude, that was so cool!” Fighter exclaimed. “After I beat you, will you please teach me your evil pig-warrior techniques?” And with that, Fighter lunged at Ryouga, his blades little more than a silvery blur. Ryouga barely leapt back in time, one of Fighter’s blades ripping across his shoulder in a spray of blood. Gritting his teeth, Ryouga continued to backpedal, another sword-swing barely missing him by a fraction of an inch. This guy was good – Kuno had nothing on him. He might be in trouble here . . . .

Thinking quickly, Ryouga whipped out his umbrella and opened it to defend himself. Fighter did not relent – his blades weaved a silvery pattern around the umbrella. A second later, the umbrella suddenly fell apart in the lost boy’s hands, falling to the ground in tiny slivers of fabric and metal.

Ryouga felt his eye involuntarily twitch. He . . . . he had LIKED that umbrella. With an enraged growl, he lunged at Fighter – he felt a sword-blade slash across his chest, but he maintained his charge, slamming a fist hard into Fighter’s forehead. To Ryouga’s surprise, it felt like punching a steel wall, but it was still enough to send Fighter staggering back slightly.

“Juggernaut, now!” he shouted. With a roar, Juggernaut leapt into the arena and came charging at Fighter, smashing headstones to powder as he thundered across the graveyard.

Fighter, however, merely raised his arms dramatically. “Counter-attack, Tetsuo!” he shouted. A second later, Juggernaut was hit hard by an unseen force that sent him shooting across the arena like a giant red cannonball, before slamming into the far wall of the arena with ground-shaking force. Groaning, Juggernaut slumped to the ground – and, a second later, had that particular section of the wall give way and collapse onto him, burying him under several hundred tons of rubble.

Shocked, Ryouga turned to Team Vellinor’s stands and saw a beaming Tetsuo give him the finger. A second later, Ryouga barely moved back in time to avoid getting decapitated. Seemingly unaffected by the punch Ryouga had landed earlier, Fighter unleashed yet another hurricane of blows that forced Ryouga to backpedal.

“This isn’t good,” Inu-Yasha muttered. “This guy is keeping Ryouga on the defensive. I don’t know if he can keep up for long.”


Indeed, this was the case: Ryouga was finding it extremely difficult to strike back at Fighter. Once or twice, he would manage to strike through a gap in Fighter’s defences and hit him with a punch or kick, but the red-haired swordsman would merely shrug it off as though it were a fleabite. Ryouga gritted his teeth as he felt his frustration build – and, a second later, felt a blow from Fighter slice across his arm as well. This warrior was making a mockery of his strongest blows, and was humiliating him by keeping him on the defensive like this. If Akane saw him now, she wouldn’t want to associate with him ever again! In short, Ryouga was getting very, very upset.


“SHI SHI HADOKEN!” he shouted, before letting loose a massive chi blast at Fighter. The swordsman didn’t have time to dodge before the attack engulfed him, obliterating the area he was standing in in a mighty explosion.

“YES! THERE IS A GOD!” Black Mage exclaimed. He then turned and noticed that everyone was staring at him. “What?”

Panting, Ryouga nearly collapsed: that blast had taken a lot out of him. Hopefully, though, it would be enough. Hopefully, that annoying warrior must have been knocked out by now . . . .

Slowly, the cloud of dust kicked up by the Hadoken cleared. Ryouga nearly screamed in frustration when he saw Fighter standing there, once again unhurt.

“Wow! If you can throw chi blasts, maybe I can too!” Fighter exclaimed. With that, he pointed his blades at Ryouga and shouted “Sword-doken!”

Of course, nothing happened. Before Fighter could comment on this situation, however, he felt Ryouga’s fist slam into his forehead. With a yell of pure frustration, Ryouga cut loose and began to wail on Fighter, punching and kicking him with a strength borne of pure frustration.

“WHAT! DOES! IT! TAKE! TO! FREAKING! HURT! YOU!” he screamed as he pummeled Fighter again and again with enough strength to shatter bedrock, trying desperately to somehow hurt this freak of nature.

“Hey, that’s what Black Mage always says!” Fighter exclaimed, seemingly ignorant to the countless bone-crushing blows Ryouga was raining down on him.

“I . . .I can’t believe this!” Ranma stammered in the stands. “Ryouga’s hitting him with enough force to knock ME out several times over! How can this guy still be standing?”

Eventually, after nearly seven minutes of nonstop pummeling, Ryouga finally staggered back and fell to his knees, completely exhausted and bewildered by the insane durability of his opponent. He could barely stand anymore: he had practically used up all of his energy in that last-ditch assault of his.

“Hey, don’t feel too bad, pig-guy!” Fighter exclaimed (Ryouga was beginning to wonder if Fighter ever said anything in a normal tone of voice). “I’m a good sport, so I’ll even the odds by letting you use my Armoire of Invincibility!” With that, he raised his arms to the heavens. “I summon the Armoire of Invincibility!”

Ryouga was wondering what the hell this moron was rambling about when suddenly something heavy fell on him from above, pinning him beneath its immense bulk. The crowd collectively gasped when an . . . .armoire . . . .fell from the sky and flattened Ryouga. Normally, he would have shrugged off such an impact, but due to his weakened, exhausted state, the impact knocked him out instantly.

“Ryouga! No!” Akane shouted as the referee began the countdown.

“. . . . eight, nine, ten!” The referee stood up. “Fighter and Team Vellinor win this round!”

“Yaaaaay! Go me!” Fighter shouted.

Black Mage merely groaned. “I shoulda known it was too good to be true,” he grumbled.

Kagome stared in shock at Fighter. “He can’t be human!” she said. “I don’t see any Shikon shards on him . . . . .Inu-Yasha, is he some kind of demon?”

Inu-Yasha snorted. “I don’t smell any demon-scent on him,” he said as he walked into the arena. “But I’ll find out if he can bleed!”

In the stands, Black Mage perked up when he saw Inu-Yasha enter the arena. “Hey, is that thing a relative of yours, Sessho?” he asked.

“He’s my half-brother,” Sesshomaru replied flatly, glaring down at Inu-Yasha.

Beneath the shadows of his cap, Black Mage grinned. Now THIS was a win-win situation: either Fighter got pummeled, or a relative of Sesshomaru’s would instead. Either way, he would enjoy the outcome.

Fighter watched Inu-Yasha enter, his eyes quickly falling to the sword at the demon’s side. “Hey, you’re a swordsman too? Neat! This gives me a perfect chance to test out my new swordchucks!”

Inu-Yasha looked confused. “Sword . . . . .chucks?” he managed to say as Fighter pulled out a pair of long blades attached to one another by a chain. “Are you mad?”

There was a short pause as Fighter seemed to consider the question. Finally, he answered with a cry of “I like swords!”

“Ahem,” the referee said. “Are you two ready?”

Inu-Yasha crouched down into a position of readiness. “Oh yes,” he growled, “I’m ready.”


Next: Fighter vs. Inu-Yasha!

[J Dog]

Doctor Rivermen; An Other, or something else?- Part 1

Dr. Rivermen was focusing on what had just happen (and figuring out HOW the hell did it happen): He was nearly killed by Forrester, even after showing the potential of Project 1090, and forced, by his sworn rival, to take out someone he never heard of. Then he crashed onto this island by mechanical wasps, and was captured by this bearded dude. And the robotic Dorado is missing from him.

He hated himself, for a guy who believes everyone around him is a loser had sunk to depths after getting revenge on Forrester. It wasn't easy to swallow it; but to him, he'll make sure to go ass backwards of Clayton once he returns. "I'll get back at that guy for making a mockery out of me, Jules Orion!" He said, screaming in his cell. He was lying on his bed, and he figured that the best chance to get out was to look crazy, but at the same time vent out his fury. "I'll show him! He'll get it in the ass! And if he dosen't get it in the ass, I'll cram a bullet into that ugly face of his!" His monocle fell off of his face and fell onto the ground. "And if he dosen't go down with a bullet wedged in his nose, I'll kick him hard! And if he dosen't fall, I'll end his life in ANY way, no matter how disturbing! Doctor Clayton Forrester deserves to die!" The guard looked puzzled and came over to the cell.

"Hey, you oka-" Was all that he could say, for Rivermen leaped out of the bed, grabbed his shirt collar, and pounded his face onto the bars. Rivermen searched through the unconscious man's pockets and found a key. Unlocking the door, he walked out and grabbed his personal ray gun, that was taken away before being locked.

"I'm going to teach these crazy nutcases that they messed with the wrong person, the great Jules Orion!" Rivermen growled as he barged out of the bunker and figured that before he'd go gung-ho on everyone, he'd have to find MechaDorado 1090 before they deassemble him.

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

"Okay, Mimi." Jack said quietly. "You should be aware that Houston, the city where I came from, is not the type of town you'd be focused on. In some parts, it's a daily struggle, and I believe you might not stomach all of the violence there." He paused for a moment. "I'm different from you in many aspects, but I believe there is a common line between the two of us. I'll find about that as soon as possible. But now, I shall teach you a move I'd like to call the Houston Screw & Chop! I don't expect you to duplicate it, but at least think about it for a moment."

He jumped into a tree. "As you can tell, I'm an athletic type of guy. Watch this carefully." Jack leaps out of the tree, and performs a 180 spin. "This is the Screw part!" He yells as he pounds into the ground and spins into a tornado that picks up some dust around the area.

"Mimi, what's going on?" Palmon, who returned to normal after Dogbert's battle, came up to Mimi and said.

"He's teaching me a move that I could use on Cosette. But I think I'd get dizzy just thinking about it." Mimi replied.

The tornado slows down and Jack leaps out of it. With it dissolving in the background, Jack lands on the ground with a lightning-quick karate chop that hits the earth. "That is the Chop part." He gets up. "I know you don't like fighting, but sometimes you can't avoid it. I want you to try it out."

"I will." Mimi smiled. "But, don't expect me to do it like that."

Next: Rivermen saves MechaDorado, and Mimi unleashes her own mix

[J Dog]

Basically its to bring out both the best and worst in humans and give the human race a chance to either prove their worth and shine, or for it to damn itself and embrace chaos. Remember, plenty of elements in Heaven oppose this plan, and thus MUGEN is possible. MUGEN is happenning because a tiny part of TOAA/Kami-Sama believes that mankind is inherently good, while at the same time wanting to eradicate evil. THis is the reason that he agreed to his daughter's terms of competition between light and dark; so that it would be pretty damn clear that good prevails even though the cost may be high.

The thing is, mankind itself has to believe this, and it has to believe that they can decide their own fate for the better[free will]
Well, I expect my characters and Mimi to prove their worth, but I expect that others won't be as lucky. I mean, Jack and Dorado don't look positive, but deep below their personalities lie something decent. As you see, Jack is capable of being nice to Tachikawa and helps her out a lot. Dorado, on the other hand, probably isn't going to have something like that happen any time soon.

To be honest, this idea of Heaven creating this mass demolition kinda gives me the creeps a bit.

[Golden Darkness]

The Battle Between the Halves of Light and Darkness, Prelude - Begin the Duel of the Fates?

The Hotel outside the MUGEN Tournament Grounds:

While Han and Chewbacca were on their excursion for ice, the remaining Rebels were gathered in one hotel room, keeping on the holographic viewer that was tuned into the match. Among the Rebels present in the room were Lando Calrissian, who was here since he wanted to pay back Vader for the events at Cloud City, Leia Organia, who wanted to personally interrogate the Dark Lord, considering what he put her through, C-3P0, who wasn't exactly excited at the turn of events, R2-D2, who was only here since it accompanied these particular rebels most of the time, and of course, Luke Skywalker, who needed to face the man who was undoubtedly his father.

"So... are you going to talk to your father after his match with Vader is going to be over?"

"I don't know, Lando. The whole thing is still too surreal to me." Even after realizing that his father existed in two forms in the tournament, one pre-fall and the other fallen, Luke was still having a hard time grasping the concept. If this was the will of the Force exhibiting a twisted sense of humor, he wasn't laughing. Besides that, he wished he was down there so he could confront Vader, and hopefully coax out the good man he was. And not only for his sake, but Leia's as well.

"I guess so, since it looks like your father was brought back from the beyond so he could have a chance of getting back at the one who murdered him," Lando remarked, turning from the holographic viewer. "But I figured you would want to know who your mother is, don't you?"

Luke blinked, having not realized that he had the opportunity to find out who his mother was. Not bothering to correct Lando about the reason the good version of his father here, Luke admitted, "I guess so. After all, the people who probably knew my mother are gone. It would be nice to find out who she really is."

"Hey," Leia chimed in, "Looks like they're announcing the fighters." With that the three humans and one Astromech droid turned there eyes on the screen.

Dome A:

As Anakin walked up to the stage where the little blond haired girl stood, he was trying not to show emotion as the Sith Lord on the other team also headed towards the girl. He knew that undoubtly they will clash in this stadium, and he knew that he must be victorious. Of course the tricky part would be to become victorious without tainting their team's rep, as that is what happened to Team Heavy Metal Impact. If anything, he can't even make that same 'decision' he did with Dooku, unless he wanted to disqualify the team.

The two Force users arrived on the stage, quickly gave their lists to Mandy, and returned to their teams, not leaving the other out of their sight.

Mandy, ignoring the actions of the two competitors, read off the lists. "Team Saviors' lineup will be the following: The Pink Galaxy Power Ranger, followed by Sailor Moon, with Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker as the final fighter. Seed Commander Squall Leonhart will serve as their striker. And Team Darkside's lineup will be following: Princess Astronema of the United Alliance of Evil, followed by Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom, with Sith Lord Darth Vader finishing up. Evil Coop, with his mech GIGAS, will be their striker."

In Team Savior's ranks, Anakin quickly became concerned. "You know, we should have put Tommy in the striker position."

"Unfortunately my former Padawan, Thomas isn't here," Obi-Wan replied. Due to the fact the Tommy Oliver had received a message to come to the rescue of a friend alone, it was understandable he could not participate in this match. "Let's hope Squall has something to counter that machine of theirs."

"Scenario Setting Number 066," Washu's recorded voice blurted out through the speakers. "The installation on the planet Mustafar."

"Mustafar?" Darth Vader gasped as the stadium ring began to reshape into the grounds of the Seperatist Base located on Mustafar, a location he knew personally as the place where everything started to go wrong for him.

"Oh... a pathetic looking base that's stuck on a volcanic planet," Evil Coop remarked. "Nice."

"Mustafar... isn't that..." Anakin began to ask.

Obi-Wan nodded. "a Seperatist held planet? Unless things have changed since our arrival here, it should still be the case."

"Will the first fighters for both Teams enter the battle field?" Mandy called out, prompting both Karone and Astronema to enter the grounds. "Remember the rules. The first to get knocked out by a ten count, thrown out of the ring or made to surrender loses. There will be no killing. And most importantly don't attack me or the ref, or you will really regret it." With that Mandy marked the opening of the match. "TEAM SAVIORS VERSUS TEAM DARKSIDE! ROUND ONE! FIGHT!"

[OverMaster]

-Blokk's Road to Stardom, Prelude: Party Animals-

Inside of one of the MUGEN Hotels' Rooms, early that morning:

Blokk the Hentai Tentacle Monster groaned to itself as he... it... whatever, awakened slowly. He... it... oh, it's so hard to tell, felt his, or its head spinning. Even though technically he/it didn't even have a head to begin with.

In any case, the monstrosity still felt the same. Last night had been too wild. He had snaked his/its way into a big party being thrown by some rich tourists. A real wacky and wild 'end of the world' party, where people lost all inhibitions since they thought they were going to die soon anyway. It was the kind of place Blokk liked, and he figured he could finally get lucky in there. Beyond that, he remembered nothing but crawling his slimy way to the bar, hoping to catch some easy drunk preys, getting quite drunk himself, and... No memories after that.

But apparently, he had been busy last night. Blokk chuckled roguishly, seeing lacy underwear hanging from the ceiling fan, and sake bottles everywhere around the bed he was in. Then it hit him. He still hadn't seen who he had spent the last night with. He looked at his side, sure he was going to find a real babe next to him, and asked, "Hey, honey. You were really great. Wanna try for seconds?".

And then he froze, horrified, in place. Laying next to him was... a hairy female ape in crimson dominatrix gear, a mess of makeup on her face, smiling dumbly, still drunk as a fish, at him.

"Mmmm..." Ari purred seductively. "Whatever you say, Blokk dear... You are a real MONSTER! So much better than that good-for-nothing bum ex-husband of mine...".

Blokk's only big eye stared at her in sheer, undiluted mute horror. Now he remembered it all. And he felt sick. Crushed. Sickened beyond all reason about what had happened. Which was saying a lot, considering we are dealing with a Hentai monster here.

Finally, he slided off the bed, sweating bullets. "Ummm... Yeah. Great" he excused himself to the bathroom. "But first, I gotta, uh, pee, okay?".

"Surrrrree..." Ari slurred lustily, pouting her lips in a simian fashion that almost made Blokk to puke. "But be back here soon... I still have a few new positions I want to try...".

Blokk lost no time in rushing to the bathroom then, slamming the door shut behind him.

After he vomited on the sink, he looked at his tentacled mass in the mirror and weeped. He opened a drawer, and looked through it until he found what he was looking for: a shaving razor. Sharp. Big. His ticket out of his misery.

He filled the bathtub with water, sank himself on it, and began to slit his tentacles open at the aproximate site where a human would have his wrists. Greenish blood soon started to ink the water...


MUGEN Medical Center:

Suddenly, Bell snapped her big eyes open. She sat up on her bed and grumbled, shaking her head.

"Had a nice nap, Champ?" Mara snickered from her chair next to the bed. The blonde demoness had a few bruises on her face, but otherwise looked unhurt; the wound on her right flank was covered by the clothes she was wearing.

"Yes. I'm okay now" the white haired Powerpuff Girl nodded. "I only needed a rest after that. Where are Mr. Goenitz and Joker?".

"At the Lodge. That bastard clown is celebrating without us, and Goenitz is making sure he doesn't get into trouble. But forget them. You have other visits here".

"Visits?" Bell blinked, then looked at the door. And gasped in surprise. There were a girl with odd looking brown hair...

"Hey, Bell" Samantha gave her a thumbs up and a cocky grin. "Congrats. Your dad sent me to tell you he's proud".

... a little robot wearing a stuffed toy dog's skin...

"I LIKE SLOBBERKNOCKERS! Whatever they are!!" GIR piped in stupidly as he ran into Bell's arms.

"Girly!!" the Powerpuff Girl hugged him tightly. "I've missed you so much!!".

... and then, her glare travelled to the final person at the room. Tall (in comparation to her, at least) and thin, with smart blue eyes shining behind thick glasses. Her heart began beating a bit faster then, as he smiled at her. She knew he didn't smile often, and knew how much did that mean.

"Susan..." she whispered.

He didn't lose his smile even when he heard that. For some reason, he didn't feel angry when she called him like that. She was the only one who could call him that and not anger him. Well, DeeDee also could have fit that role as well, but she never spoke to him in the first place.

"Hello, angel" Mandark walked up to Bell, and caressed her head tenderly with a hand. "Good job. Good job".


Fighter's Lodge, Main Hall:

"FOR PUDDIN'!" Harley Quinn raised a glass high, crazy with enthusiasm. "Because he's gonna knock them all dead when this all is over!".

"Can I get an Amen? Amen!" Joker grinned, tingling his glass against hers. He was still wearing that mocking of Batman's suit, except the cowl.

"Big deal..." Edward Nygma, the Riddler, huffed from his seat between his henchwomen Query and Echo, pouring herself a glass of fine wine from the bottle one of Yuubaba's frog-men was offering him. "Riddle me this, Joker, what is your colaboration to this team of yours?".

"Yeah, you didn't even lift a finger!" Scarface noted. "I donna know why you're takin' dis victory as if it were yours!".

"Shut up, Pinocchio" Joker flicked a finger against the head of the Ventriloquist's wooden dummy. "I'll make you know I am their powerhouse, and that those Jerkstice League losers were lucky they didn't get to fight me!".

"Yeah, right!" Killer Croc said, wolfing down pieces of cake savagely, much to Goenitz's disgust. In moments like this, he hated the amnisty that had been declared on Tournament Grounds allowing all those sinners to walk freely around. They were a collection of monstruous freaks you would be hard pressed to find an equal for even at the bowels of Nifelheim. No wonder Joker felt such at home with them around.

The Penguin, the most refinated of the bunch and the one Goenitz found most bearable of them all, just sat there silently, buttering his bread. Unlike most of his current associates, he knew better than to question Joker's current role. He still remembered the Shadow King incident.

Android 18 and Livewire also were there with Hild's priest and he Batman Rogues. Khalia had prefered to go watch the fight with Evil Coop on it, having been intrigued by the MEGAS and wanting to see another machine like that in action. But the rest of Team Bad Girls had stayed there with Harley and Ivy. Those were pretty much all the ones in assistance for Team Nifelheim's victory party, since the team was almost universally hated and despised around the Grounds.

I wanna get out, Daddy... Rei XV's voice tickled on the back of Joker's mind again. I wanna meet your friends. Come on...

You will stay there, quietly, young lady the Clown Prince of Crime thought back. Now shut up your trap and I'll eat some more cake for you, okay?

Then, Goenitz seemed to perk up on his chair. He had just felt it. Somewhere nearby, the Orochi was releasing large amounts of energy. It had to be him.

"Why the sudden spook, Father?" Two-Faced asked with grim interest, right before the Lodge shook when the Hellfire blast of Mazoku power shot through one of the upper floors above them.

"OHHH!" Joker blinked. "Right what we needed to liven up the party!!".

Now you really gotta me let go out, Daddy! I want a piece of the action! I have to--!

For the last time, Rei, just shut your mouth up!


The screams of the other guests filled the air, as they all saw Rind speeding her way out the Lodge and into the conflict in the distance.

"Hey, she is quite good looking" the Mad Hatter observed with interest.

"Puddin', what's goin' on now?" Harley clinged herself to Joker's left arm. "I don't get it...".

"Whatever it is, looks like it'll be a ton of fun" the alternate future blonde android smiled perversely. "Maybe I go should check it out...".

"Not a bad idea, Eighteen" Joker nodded. "Oh, if I only had something to deal major hurt with right now..." he mused, raising a hand.

He only thought about it for a second.

And yet, at that right very same moment, it appeared out of thin air on his hand. A long sword, with a sharp, shining blade. He blinked, surprised of himself. All the villains around him also looked at him in disbelief.

Goenitz almost sweated cold. The Joker's building powers had just taken a new step, even if only in a minor scale for now.

He had just warped reality.


Next: I know Nabe-Fu!

[T51R]

~Twist of Fate…Interlock, Part 4~



“Like I said,” the God of Destruction spat, suddenly vanishing and then re-appearing in front of the aged Joshua Christopher, “You talk too much!” The old man found himself being flung across the bridge and slammed hard into the guard rails, crumpling to the ground unconscious and broken. Wukong began to regain his composure, shrugging off the pain that was still threatening to split his head asunder from the slowly loosening headband. He stood, bloodshot eyes beginning to glow as he began to twirl his staff with incredible velocity only to unleash a massive, extending sweep that knocked more than fifty Mazoku and Sinners into deep space. Nearby the Orochi grinned coldly at the Devil, the one who had once sought to bring about Ascension and demonic rule over the Earth. “If all you‘re gonna do is keep pulling strings Aion,” he did nothing as the bleeding Sinner formed in his hand into a sword of cursed metal, “then you‘re gonna find out why exactly it is that I practice what I preach!” he sharp sound of shattering glass filled the air, Aion crumpling back into Shader’s arms bleeding profusely.

“Magic mirror…” he spat black blood through his clenched teeth, Shader pulling him to his feet and hurrying into the forest.

At the other end of the bridge however, things were very different, Sauron, the Dark Lord of Middle Earth had managed to rip the stasis chamber containing the uncurious Achika Masaki from the crushed van’s mangled floorboard and had surrounded himself with legions of Orc, Goblin, Battle Troll and Balrog. He quietly turned and began to leave the battlefield, leaving his minions to keep safe his egress. At least, until they began to fall as bursts of holy light and the blades of twin battleaxes swept them aside, Rind cleaving her way through the black tide of bodies as if they were no more than a passing thought. The earth shook when she reached him, dark mace and holy axe clashing for an instant releasing a tide of chaotic energy across the landscape. Not that it mattered though; to the heavier hitters it was one more than an inconvenience. To the Lesser Demons and lower-ranked Devils however it was devastating; the shockwave threw them far from the bridge upon impact. “Insect,” Sauron growled as he swatted away, the Valkerye too quick for him to draw a bead on. The fact that she was also wielding dual weapons didn’t make things any easier; she was driving him backwards while her angels Cool Mint and Spear Mint ran interference, sending multitudes of black warriors and winged beasts helter skelter, running for their continued existence. He knew that he would have to choose: surrender the pod and the girl, or face oblivion imprisoned in the Lunar Dungeon for his crimes against all living beings within his own world.

“BOSS!” Wukong shouted, done with his own groups of attackers and tearing into a pair of Balrogs, their flames not potent enough to give him pause, “The whole world‘s gonna be coming after us if we don’t wrap this up!” Heavenly lighting lit the woods near the bridge, hot in the heels of Shader and Aion as they vanished into the tree line.

“Right,” the God of Destruction spun around, his telekinetic grip drawing in the Witch King of Agmar and bringing both the Black Rider and his Fell Beast before him. A fountain of ash darkened the ground they hovered above as the Lord of the Nazgul fell backwards, the Orochi sending a black disc of energy over his flailing form to strike at a particular Balrog who had gotten smart enough to try a sneak attack on Rind. She reciprocated in kind, hurling one of her axes past the Orochi‘s head and catching two Lesser Demons in a single strike.

“Now we‘re even,” she renewed her offensive on Sauron, the three beginning to work as a more cohesive team; Wukong kept Rind clear of the hordes of Devils, Mazoku and Mordor’s troops, while the God of Destruction thinned their ranks out just enough to be manageable.

“Next round,” the Orochi sent out a a thought, and the stasis pod began to crack. Sauron paused for a moment, allowing Rind just enough time to break apart his weapon with a shatter-strike. It was hardly over; a blade of blue light caught the Dark Lord off guard and again he found his fingers falling to the ground along with his prize. The pod broke asunder, the transparent shielding blowing outwards as Achika Masaki awakened with the Master Key in her hands; the God of Destruction had seen fit to at least have one wild card in his hand. Sauron staggered backwards, ducking and weaving as best as his gargantuan form allowed. Until the Orochi bellowed across the landscape. “TAKE COVER!!!”

White light filled the area, thousands of micro-meteorite strikes pummelling the landscape to a barren wasteland the moment he crossed his hands over his head.

Moments later, Rind opened her eyes. She found herself unhurt, and the shadow at her feet explained why; the Monkey King had called upon the shape-shifting abilities he possessed and turned himself into a bomb-shelter, protecting both her, her angels, and the young woman beside her. Achika Masaki shook off the Riot of the Blood as the Orochi released his psychic hold, her eyes slowly turning back to blue. Wukong landed softly next to them, changing back into his humanoid form.

“Boss,” he turned to the God of Destruction who was cautiously approaching them, the Valkerye in their midst clearly the cause of his agitation. “We have more company coming, very fast. Looks to be one Angel.”

Rind took several steps forward, looking up without fear nor concern at the taller man. “Aion?”

“Got away,” the Orochi answered. “Sauron?”

“The same.” the Valkerye gritted her teeth beneath her small, thin lips; she was at least as frustrated as her counterpart was. That they had just been forced to work together did not make things easier for either of them; one was a flippant delinquent who flouted regularly every rule in the book. The other, his polar opposite; by-the-book and seemingly caring for only protocol at the expense of all else. This moment however, Orochi felt something that he was loathe to put in words. He had found a reason to enlist in her cause. Rind herself had found a reason to not banish the God of Destruction; after all, he had no other choice. To preserve the world he had sworn to return to perfection, he could do nothing else but to align himself with Yggdrasil. And the Gods and Goddesses who had chosen to help pull existence through. And right now she knew that he had no other choice. The Office of Area Reclamation and Redevelopment had gone renegade, and the Orochi had no-one left to turn to. It was truly his darkest hour. “It looks like you‘ve been having management problems,” Rind deadpanned; deep inside however, she was smiling to herself.

“Tell me about it,” the God of Destruction cursed under his breath. “Guess this is it huh?” he spat, lighting up this last cigarette. “Lunar Dungeon for all eternity, soul stuck in a level 6 non-life form, yadda yadda yadda…” He hoped for the best but somehow he was sure that things could, and would get worse.

“Unfortunately,” the Valkerye drew her cell phone out of her white leathers, flipped it open and hit the speed-dial. “It seems that we will be best served as colleagues, as much as I am loathe to admit it.” He took her eyes from his as Urd picked up on the other end, and told her to expect guests. “We have incoming,” she finished, “so have your pet perform a retrieval operation with all due secrecy and haste.”

“Her pet?” the God of Destruction snickered, Wukong dancing up a tree and looking into the distance at the blue-haired angel closing in fast. “What, you mean that…”None of them had the time to think as techno-organic feathers appeared and enveloped them in great translucent wings, reality re-synchronising around the four as they were drawn back into Team Skuld’s quarters at the Fighter’s Lodge as the feathers finally met from opposite sides.



-Team Skuld‘s private quarters-



Beenuel, Urd, Skuld and the rest of their team-mates stepped backwards and Miso unfurled its ten wings, four figures emerging from the pool of light that had formed between them. Keima panicked; his mother had told him about the God of Destruction, and his exploits beginning from the extinction of the dinosaurs. And about his actions at the Tournament of Champions, within his own timeline. Keiichi on the other hand ran forwards without fear; after all, the Orochi was bound to him by Contract. Beside him Rind led a tired Achika into the room by the hand.

“Isn‘t that…” Keiichi pointed at the young woman, who was by now struggling to stand. “Wait, she‘s the one…”

“Uhmm, yeah.” the Orochi muttered. However, he had more pressing concerns at the moment; Skuld and Urd were slowly moving across the room. Flanking him. Yet another issue was the monstrous aberration of an Angel behind him, a white, faceless goliath whose feathers where slowly sharpening into pointed stilettos. And right in front of him, leaning against the opposite wall, the anomaly. The thing that he had heard so much about. Its red gauntlets glowed briefly, the Orochi recognising the patterns of light as the Code of Yggdrasil, the language that the omniverse had been written in. “So it‘s come down to this, huh?” he spat the butt of the cigarette onto the floor. “Well, lets get this over with…”

“Wait.” Rind stepped into the centre of the circle, the kill zone, right in front of where the God of Destruction was. “Before this goes anywhere else, there are things that all of you should know.”



Next...conclusion!

[J Dog]

Dr. Rivermen; An Other, or Something Else- Part II

"Where the hell is MechaDorado?" Rivermen muttered as he was prowling the campsite of The Others, when he heard a scream from one of the tents. It was clearly 1090, for the screech was robotic. He ran towards the tent as fast as he can, but really, how many mad scientists are fit? It'll be a little while.

Two of The Others were busy examining MechaDorado, and wondering about the grandeur of this gigantic mecha. But, at the same time, they dissected him slowly much like the government does to aliens did so in Area 51 before the Multiverse came to. "Ow, hey! Dammit!" He screeched with a curling cry as they took off his mechanical sword attachment. "That hurts!" One of them grabs a mallet and bangs his second face, which covers his right "eye" and attempts to knock it out. "Don't do that! That's my image! I was the one who chose to keep it there!"

The second Other reached for a bonesaw and started to plow off several fingers of the left arm. MechaDorado had it, but he couldn't use his Missle Kaboom! attack on them. You see, while he did snap at Orion a while back, it should be noted that he didn't violate Asimov's Laws of Robotics, but rather the Laws of Robotics are not in him perfectly, and the time he needed it, the damn system kept telling his circuitry that it was a no-no.

"I have... had it with you guys!" 1090 yelled as he struggled to break free of the bonds. "When I get out, I'm going to----" The next thing said was a built-in voice that said "VIOLATION OF THE LAWS OF ROBOTICS!!! ACTIVATE REBUTTLE!".

"Rebuttle?" Mecha said weakly as he was punished by having a strong electrical shock. When it stopped, 1090 looked like he hadn't been activated in 15 years.

"Let's finish him off bef-" It was that when Dr. Rivermen appeared in front of the two.

"Lay your grubby hands off of him, Morlocks!" He snarled with clenched teeth, weilding his gun. "I'll fry you if you put another tool in him, got that?"

The first one agreed to stop, but the second one ran off. Jules responded by firing shot after shot, but the target was too fast. Within minutes, he was in sight of Henry Gale and Mr. Friendly. "What the hell have you been doing, Louiz?" Gale said with a wiff.

"You know that guy and that giant machine that we have found in the jungle? Well, I hate to say this, but the man somehow got out of his cell... and, you aren't going to believe this, is holding the other person in charge of examining the robot hostage." The two didn't believe that one moment.

Next: Rivermen vs. the entire set of The Others, and Mimi's new move

[J Dog]

Mimi's Mix- Part I

"So, you're telling me that if I do this attack, which is..." Mimi asked Jack with a look, but had forgotten the name of this move. "What's it again?"

"The Houston Chop & Screw." Jack replied.

"Why the heck is it called that? I know there is a 'screw'." She airquoted the last word. "And there is, indeed, a chop. But, why does it have your town on it?"

"Because it was originated in Houston. What do you want it call it; the Dallas Chop & Screw? The El Paso Chop & Screw? Come on! Houston has more music coming out of I-20 than most of the other parts of Texas combined!"

"You don't have to be sarcastic about it." Mimi frowned.

"Alright, alright. That was a poor remark." Jack sighed. "But I'm just putting my point; you are from the largest city in the world. Well, a suburb of it. My manners and remarks differ because I'm from an entirely, and, maybe to you, alien city. But I've been going long enough; time for you to try out the move."

"Okay. So, what's the first step?" Mimi asked.

"Simple; you gotta spin as fast as you can." Jack begins by unleashing a gigantic spin. "In Texas, tornadoes are nothing to make fun of," He said as he spun, "They can be monstrosities that can deal mass chaos. If given enough strength, they can even make Hurricane Katrina look like a wuss, because most of that damage came from storm surges." He finished the spin, and staggered a bit. "Try it. It's a little fun."

Mimi began spinning a little, but then fell to the ground. "I feel... dizzy." She moaned.

"Happens instantly the first time around. Eventually, the fluids in your ears will adjust to the rapid movements and keep balance." He smiled. "I may not look like it, but I'm kinda smart."

"Yeah. Well, give me a few minutes." Mimi said. "Boy, everything's moving quickly."

Next: Mimi tries again with some results.

[OverMaster]

-Nabeshin trains Mel Kompson, Part 2: I know Nabe-Fu!-

Dorado Kompson was applying a bag with ice to his wounds suffered at hands of Motoko and Mecha Tama when he heard the explosions, the screams and the commotion. He looked in that direction and asked, "Now what's going down? Looks like trouble!".

"As always, you're a master of pointing out the obvious, Dorado-kun" Nabeshin replied, puffing some smoke from his cigarette. "But don't mind about that. They're just the Gods and Devils sorting their own problems out" he spoke in a wise, yet casual, tone. "If you butt in there, you'll just end up having your butt kicked. You aren't ready for those Leagues yet".

"But I'll be after you finish with our training, right?" the gatorboy asked hopefully. "I mean, I sure didn't go through all that pummeling routine for nothing!".

"Have faith in your sensei!! BAKA!" The Director backslapped him across the head. "And yeah, now that we're done with the first stage of the Endurance Test, we'll go to the Move Copying phase. Each day, we'll go through the smae routine until your training is over. First Motoko and Suu pummel you to test your endurance, then you'll learn my moves, and we'll close each day with a test combat to see how much you have progressed. When you guys get to beat me, I'll see fit to declare you have fully learned the arts of Nabe Fu, and will have nothing more to teach you. Then I'll give your afros, and--".

"That sounds like daily hell to go through" Dorado moaned.

"BAKA!!" Nabeshin repeated. "Do you think you have any other option to get strong enough to beat Superman, Akira, and Belldandy herself?!".

"Excuse him, please, Sensei" Mel asked. "We're both ready to continue with Phase 2 of this day".

"What?!" his son yelled. "So soon after the beating those chicks gave us?!".

"Quit whining, boy!" Nabeshin barked again. "Hell, now I truly can see why that Vellinor got sick of you and cursed you! Anyway..." He then took an odd fighting stance similar to a Crane Kung Fu stand, but more ridiculous looking, "This is the first pre-fight stance you'll learn. I call it the Purple Lotus Quiet Desperate Stand. It'll help you to confuse your adversaries and catch them unaware. Now imitate it, okay?".

Dorado groaned, annoyed, as he and his father obeyed. This sure better had some results other than being embarassing at the end...

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

MUGEN Medical Center:

Mara stood next to the window of Bell's room, looking outside intently, while the white PPG talked with Mandark and Samantha. Sappy human sentimental bondings always made her to feel ill. So she prefered to be as far from them as she could.

Then, she noticed the noise in the distance, and saw the squadrons of Guardian Angels and Valkyries, Zauriel at the lead, flying through the red skies towards the site of the battle. "Well, there goes the Useless Bunch again" she muttered, raising her golden eyebrows. "But I wonder who is wrecking havoc this time...? I only hope it isn't that stupid Joker with another of his bad taste pranks...".

"No" Bell shook her head, her superhearing sharpening to listen carefully. "It's not his voice there. There are lots of others, though. And one of them is..." she recognized the voice of the god she and Joker had run into a couple of nights ago, "... the Orochi...!".

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

Fighter's Lodge Main Hall:

"H-How did you do that?!" Black Mask blinked, puzzled. "Don't tell me it was...".

"... Magic!!" Harley Quinn squealed happily. "Puddin', you couldn't do that before, right?! You really are gaining Magic Mojo!".

The Clown Prince then, slowly, wickedly, gained a new, wide grin. She was right. He had never been able to do that before. This obviously was a new power that had popped up in him, just like Hild had said back when she named him her Herald.

"Hoo-hoo!" he gladly shook the sword high. "Thank you! Thank you, dear public! And now, for my next trick, I'll make a bunny to appear out of this hat...". He swiped the top hat off the Mad Hatter's head then, pushed a gloved hand inside, thought about it, and effectively pulled a small white rabbit out of it, grabbing it by the long ears. "Presto!".

"Wonderful! Wonderful!" Harley clapped delirantly, as the rest of the Batvillains gave a few careful steps back. There was no way of knowing what would Joker do now with that strange new power. "More! We want more!" she yelled.

"And more you will have, dear public!" Joker smiled at her, in a swift showman fashion. "For my next trick..." he made a chainsaw to appear on his right hand, "... I'll amaze everyone by cutting a real girl by half! Now, someone bring me that Narusegawa cutie and we can start!". He laughed madly, but then cringed suddenly. A mighty headache had struck him, feeling like it was crushing his skull. "YEEE-OWWW!" he screamed. "Now what?! Now what?!".

"You have abused your new power, obviously" Goenitz calmy pointed out. "You should take it easy at first. Don't overdo it until you have gained a good control over it".

Joker gave him an annoyed glare, his head still feeling about to explode. "Whachoo talkin' about, Leo? I'm sick of going slow with this! I-- I--". Then he paused, and sighed. "Ahh, what the heck. Perhaps you're right. After all, I don't want to spoil the act before the time is right for it. I'll take it slowly by now".

Then three Angels bursted through the door, inviting them all to retreat to the local safety shelters until the situation of public danger near the Lodge was contained.

Joker smiled once more. "Ah, so sweet. They're worrying about us, the scum of the Earth...".

"Well, it's their job, after all" Ivy replied, never taking her mistrustful emerald eyes off him. "They have to care after all teams, no matter who we are working for".

"True" Joker nodded knowingly. "It's a shame that, when the moment comes, I'll have to pay them in such a bitter coin..." he quietly mused to himself.


Next: I love Swords! Fighter vs. InuYasha.

[OverMaster]

-I like Swords! Fighter vs. InuYasha, Part 1-

C-Dome:

"Are you sure they will be here, Usopp-kun?" the young woman with long brown hair, in a pink kimono and sandals, with the freakishly huge wooden boomerag fastened against her back, asked as she walked into the Dome looking all around herself, followed by her small furry pet and the boy with the long and thin Pincchio-like nose and the curly black hair, wearing blue and green clothes.

"Well, that's what Miss Takahashi just called to tell me about" he shrugged, looking down at the strange artifact known as a 'cellphone' he held on his hands. It still amazed him to no end how two people could communicate like that in this strange new world. "She said he and Nami would be somewhere around here, Miss Sango...".

The two agents of the Authors looked at the Arena, where the young half dog-demon and the stupid Light Warrior were facing each other, with the referee between them. "Ah, InuYasha's about to start!" Sango mused. Usopp perked up in attention. If this InuYasha was half as good as sango had told him about, then he could be even a match to Zoro... and odds were Zoro himself would be somewhere near, watching the swordsmen go at it with interest.

"TEAM VELLINOR!" The Tenkaichi Budokai man screamed through the mike. "VERSUS! TEAM BEASTMASTER! ROUND THREE! FIGHT!!".

As soon as he saw the man in the black suit and tie get out of the way, InuYasha smiled as he pulled Tessaiga out of its sheath. Fighter watched in awe how the old, rusty sword instantly morphed into a huge, magnific curvy sword the likes of which he had never seen before.

"Wow!" he beamed. "Now that's an excellent sword! Hey, do you know where I can get one like that?".

Snarling, the silver-haired figure just waved his weapon in front of himself, unleashing a powerful slash-blast that hit Fighter across the chest and face, sending him flying back against a few gravestones, crushing them all.

"WIND SCAR!!".

He had seen that caricature of a man absorbing the best punishment Ryouga could dish out. He knew he would survive that, and also he couldn't allow himself to give him any rest.

Fighter tried to get back to his feet, coughing, only to find his opponent rushing straight at him, and slashing him across the face with the claws on his left hand, while continuining gripping Tessaiga with the other one. "Ow! That actually hurts!" he complained.

InuYasha said nothing, but followed with a sword slash down and across his chest, drawing out blood. "Oww, now you really are pushing it...!" Fighter exclaimed again.

"YES! YES! I LOVE YOU, INU-MAN! I LOVE YOUUUUU WITH ALL MY MAN-LOVE!!!" Black Mage cheered in ecstasy, right before Sesshomaru clonked him on the head forcing him to sit down again.

"That was good!" Fighter smiled, stumbling a few steps back, apparently unbothered by the gaping bloody wound on his chest, and prepared his swordchucks. "But now, it's my turn!".

"Heh" IY gave him a cocky, fangy grin. "Bring it on then, little loser!".

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

The forests near the Fighter's Lodge, at the same time:

"B-Boss..." Shader almost sobbed, kneeling next to her superior and attending to his wounds. First Chrno, now Orochi. Aion didn't seem to be able to ever catch a break nowadays. "Boss, don't worry, you'll be like new on no time at all. I-- I--".

"Damn him..." Aion interrupted, in an inhuman hiss, coughing up some blood after that. "He thinks he can brush me off just like that, doesn't he? Mock my mission, my vision... while he continues with his shortsighted goals... Fine, if he wants to play it dirty, I'm not afraid of playing it dirtier...".

"Take it easy, Boss" she begged, as the surviving Devils of their party regrouped around them. "Now, as soon as we patch you properly, we'll hightail it out of here. Zauriel must be doing an area sweep for us, and--".

"Shader" Aion spoke again, sternly. "What you told me the other day about Hild's jester. Go get him. I want to talk with him".

"Huh?" she blinked, almost scared.

"You said he would grow strong enough to squash Orochi eventually. I want him on our side".

"But Boss!" she protested. "You know he's too much of a wildcard! And besides, Hild...".

"She's in cahoots with Vellinor, just like us, isn't she?" Aion spat, losing more of his cool at each moment as he panted in pain. "We are on the same field for the moment, anyway! So get me the Joker!". A pause. "Do you know if he's had any progress?".

"Let me check" she sighed, and pulled a small device with a liquid screen out of one of her pockets, calibrating it and evaluating it. "Hmmmm. Yes. He has just had another power boost... But still not enough to match the God of Destruction...".

"It will be enough, soon" Aion grunted. "And when that happens, I want him with us. Go for him, Shader. The sooner, the better".

She gasped, then nodded slowly.


Next: Soul of the Sword: InuYasha vs. Fighter, Conclusion... and Shader meets the Joker!

[OverMaster]

-Soul of the Sword: InuYasha vs. Fighter, Part 2-

"Swordchucks! HO!!" Fighter yelled, while charging forwards again. InuYasha sidejumped his attack and struck him in the back with Tessaiga, causing only superficial damage. It amazed him; his adversary had taken unholy amounts of hurt, both from him and Ryouga, and still kept on going. His speed didn't seem to be affected at all, as evidenced when he twirled around quickly after being hit and lashed at InuYasha's chest, almost actually cutting all the way through his red clothings.

"InuYasha!!" Kagome yelled out. "Look out!".

"I don't need to be told!" he grunted, and waved Tessaiga around, making it to clash with the Swordchuck now being slashed towards him. Sparks flew from the clash of both weapons, and the two warriors barely could held their ground as the momentum threatened to hurl them back in opposite directions.

"STUPID DOG BREATH!!" Black Mage howled. "Why are you struggling? Slice 'im open! Cut his throat! He's no match for you, damn it!".

"SHUT UP!!" Sesshomaru and B-Ko both yelled at him at once.

Fighter began to wave his Swordchucks around in a whirlwind, circular motion, so fast he took InuYasha by surprise and managed to hit him in the face, making blood to jump out of his right cheek.

"Oh, no!!" Kagome gasped.

"Patience..." Miroku calmly said. "He has been in worse binds than this one, and fought his way out of them".

As if confirming his words, one second later, taking advantage of the momentary pause Fighter had after his attack, InuYasha balled up a fist and sent it up against the Light Warrior's jaw with all his strenght, making him to stagger back.

"Now that's the way to go!" Black Mage cheered. "Go, go, Fido!".

B-Ko just malleted him on the head, bringing him old White Mage memories. "I thought we told you to let us enjoy the fight! Creep!".

Fighter slashed with his bladed weapons again. InuYasha ducked.

InuYasha threw another Wind Scar. Fighter ran aside to elude it, jumped at him, and cut him through the chest again.

InuYasha wasted no time in reacting by cutting him on a shoulder with Tessaiga.

Sesshomaru sneered. As expected, his half-brother was having problems with that retarded pitiful human. He felt embarassed just by seeing him, knowing those who knew of their blood relationship were also watching. He really would have to prove they were not alike at all later on, when his turn at the Arena would come.

At the other side of the Dome, Kikyo, next to Rose, watched with an inescrutable, glacial expression on her pale face.

InuYasha followed with a vicious kick to Fighter's gut, which only felt like kicking a mountain. He was starting to get sick of this. The man was taking all he threw on him and kept on ticking. He kicked him again, and swung with Tessaiga, but once again the other managed to block with a souped-up Swordchuck.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Fighter was saying, like a child high on sugar. "You're one of the bestest warriors I've ever seen! If you weren't an evil warrior from Planet Dogaloon 7 allied with the evil Pig Overlords that Like to Steal Swords, I'd even ask you to join the Light Warriors!" he babbled on, while their weapons collided once again with amazing strenght.

"I'll be a part of a team with you the day Hell freezes over!!" IY growled, and finally relented on his mind. If this continued the way it was, he'd be too drained and tired to fight the vampire next. As much as he hated the idea, he would have to call...

"JUGGERNAUTTTT!!!".

Once again, the ring trembled when the huge mass of the X-Men's enemy stampeded into scene. He ran forwards past InuYasha, and, with a speed notable for one of his size, grabbed Fighter between his massive hands, as he yelled, "NOTHING STOPS THE JUGGERNAUT! NOTHING!" at Fighter's attempts to hit him to get him to stop and release him.

"You aren't a dog or pig warrior!" Fighter exclaimed, confused. "Who are you?!".

"ME?!" Cain Marko chuckled grisly, then headbutted him hard enough to stun the Hulk, and threw him hard against the floor, following with a storm of concrete shattering punches to his fallen form. "MORON! I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH!!".

"OH, YEAH!" Black Mage jumped up. "JOYGASM!!".

"Hrnh" Wolverine grumbled at his seat, taking a deep smoke of his cigar. "As subtle as ever, I see".

"Oooooo..." the battered, pummeled Fighter groggily muttered, seeing small multicolored Juggernauts dancing around his head. "Pretty colors...".

"I take it back from here" InuYasha huffed, and waved his sword again. "WIND SCAR!!".

It hit Fighter full on, finishing him for good. Even his inhuman stamina had been depleted by that point. As he fell into uncosciousness with a weak, "I looooove... goooood fiiightsssss...", InuYasha kicked him out of the ring for the victory.

"Fighter lost!" Black Mage started to dance all around his new teammates. "Fighter lost! Was pummeled, beaten, humbled, Fighter lost! This is the most! This is the most!".

"Your lack of control over your emotions is sickening" Sesshomaru hissed gruffily. Meanwhile, Alucard stepped in, grinning wickedly.

"Well, well" the creature of the night said. "Never send half-men to do a vampire's work. I hope you have enjoyed the rush of this victory, animal. Because now you are going to suffer the exact opposite...".

"Big talk, Big Mouth!" InuYasha smirked, while the paramedics quickly patched the wounds on him as best as they could in preparation for the next round. Not that his fast healing factor didn't help them with that. "But I'll be the one shutting that fanged trap of yours for good!".


OOC: Over to you for IY vs. Alucard as we agreed, LoNC.


Next: Shader gets the Joke!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Top Dog - Alucard vs. Inu-Yasha

Inu-Yasha eyed his opponent warily. Alucard stood across from him, grinnign in a rather unnerving manner -- Inu-Yasha had faced down terrifying demons before, but there was something downright sinister in Alucard's grin that chilled him. A slight breeze blew past, causing Alucard's heavy red trenchocoat to flutter for a bit. Inu-Yasha felt a strong, unnatural scent coming off of this man -- whatever he was, he definitely wasn't human, though he certainly wasn't a demon either. He had better be on his guard.

"BEGIN!" the ref shouted in the background.

No sooner had the red made his shout than both the red-clad figures burst into action: in the blink of an eye, Alucard had whipped Joshua and Jackal from their holsters and opened fire. Just as quickly, the Tetsusaiga hiised free from its scabbard, the vampire's bullets bouncing off his father's fang in a showe of sparks.

The demon was quick to launch a counter-attack, the Tetsusaiga moving in a complete blur as it whistled towards Alucard, who merely stood there, smiling . . .

. . . .suddenly, Alucard wasn't there anymore, the pressure of the Tetsusaiga shattering gravestones in the area where the vampire had once stood. Surprised, Inu-Yahsa didn't even have time to react before a pentagram-gloved hand tore straight through his chest from behind. Inu-Yasha gasped in pain and surprise, coughing up blood from his ruptured lungs. How the hell had that freak gotten behind him?

"No hard feelings, dog-boy, but you're a tad bit slow," the grinning Alucard said, before pressing Jackal against the back of Inu-Yasha's head. The demon cursed and leapt forwards, just as Alucard fired. The shot missed his head, but still ripped a perfect, bloody hole through his chest.

"INU-YASHA!" Kagome cried from the stands as Inu-Yasha fell to the ground. The half-demon coughed up more blood and rolled as Alucard fired again, another round punching through his shoulder.

With an enraged snarl, Inu-Yasha sprang back to his feet, his hand clutching his bloody wounds. "CLAWS OF BLOOD!" he shouted, whipping his hand out and unleashing several claw-shaped projectiles of blood at Alucard. The vampire was fast, dodgning one blood-claw before another tore across his shoulder, nearly severing his arm.

"Hmmm, you can use your blood as a weapon, huh?" Alucard observed with amusement. "Damn, I wish I could do that." He spun to the side, avoiding another blood claw, firing his pistols rapidly and once again forcing Inu-Yasha to raise his sword to defend himself.

Inu-Yasha gave vent to a low growl: his opponent seemed to be just about as fast and as strong as he was, and showed a lot more cunning than Fighter had. He lunged forwards, swinging the Tetsusaiga with all of his might. A shockwave of pressure ripped across the landscape as the pressure of the swing lashed outwards. Alucard moved at the last minued, trying in vain to get out of the way -- a second later, he was sliced perfectly in two by the keen blade of the Tetsusaiga.

"That was it?" Marv grunted as he watched the shorn halves of Alucard's body fall to the ground. "He wasn't so tough."

Zarabeth bit her bottom lip. She had to admit, she was a little disappointed by the other vampire's performance -- she had expected him to be a little tougher than that.

"Aw crap, don't tell me the bloodsucker's dead," Ash groaned from where he lay recuperating. "That's it. We've lost. Show's over guys."

Tetsuo merely glowered from where he was sitting. "Dammit . . . goddam stupid vampire . . . "

Inu-Yahsa lowered the Tetsusaiga and gave a feral grin -- a grin that quickly disappeared when he realized the colossal mistake he had just made. He turned and saw the judges glaring down at him disapprovingly.

"Killing is not allowed in the first round of the competition," Dhalsim said sternly. "You have ignored this rule, Inu-Yasha. I hereby declare Team Vellinor winners by def -- "

The yoga master's words died in his throat when the arena suddenly descended into darkness. Inu-Yasha's hair stood on end as he whirled around in horror to find wipsy, shadowy forms flowing into the shorn halves of Alucard's body. As he watched, an amorphous mass of pure shadow rose from where the body had once been. Slowly, it began to form the outline of a figure wearing a broad-rimmed had and trenchcoat. Inu-Yasha staggered back when he saw a pair of gleaming red glasses and a grinning, fanced mouth form out of the wispy darkness. His demonic, canine senses were aflame: the aura this thing generated was unlike anything he had encountered before.

Slowly, Alucard returned to his previous form. "Aw c'mon judge, the kid just made a mistake," he said nonchalantly. "And as you can see, I'm not dead. Just let the match continue, okay?"

An admittedly befuddled Dhalsim turned to his equally surprised colleagues. The judges murmured for a bit, then turned back to Alucard and nodded in unison.

The vampire flashed them a fanged grin, then turned back to Inu-Yasha. "So demon, what do you say we continue our little battle?" Before Inu-yasha could answer, Alucard raised Joshua and blew a clean hole through his chest.

"AAAAARGH! Why you -- " Raising the Tetusaiga, Inu-Yasha lunged at Alucard, and the real battle began in earnest.

To be continued . . .

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

The battle sped up as the half-demon and the vampire engaged in a furious duel, each moving too fast for most of the audience members to follow. Alucard swiftly ran back and forth across the battleground in a red blur of motion, firing his twin pistols as he ran, but despite his remarkable accuracy, Inu-Yasha would always managed to deflect the shots on the Tetsusaiga or dodge them. Inu-Yasha, in turn, unleashed wide-effect slashes from his demonic sword, only for Alucard to dodge or leap out of the way. So far, neither warrior seemed to hold the advantage – Inu-Yasha’s wounds didn’t seem to be bothering him, and Alucard was practically unscratched after his regeneration. The two seemed evenly matched in speed, strength and durability, and at the moment the most they seemed to be accomplishing was tearing up the graveyard.

“Jeez, how long can they keep up this stupid “strike and parry” routine?” Marv grumbled. “You can tell neither of ‘em are really trying!”

“They’re gauging each other’s capabilities,” Alita observed. “This is just a warmup.”

Zarabeth nodded as she stared at the fight, carefully taking in each move and strike from the two combatants with a critical eye. “When they start fighting for real, though, I have a feeling it’s going to be nasty,” she added.

As Zarabeth spoke, Alucard leapt backwards to avoid being sliced in half a second time, raising both his pistols and emptying the rest of their clips at Inu-Yasha. Predictably enough, the dog-demon deflected the shots, and then, a second later, leapt skywards with a mighty bound, raising the Tetsusaiga for a downward swing.

It was the opening that Alucard had been waiting for: quickly sheathing his pistols, he suddenly leapt upwards at the airborne half-demon. Inu-Yasha’s eyes widened – he hadn’t expected this guy to be able to leap so high – before Alucard slammed a gloved fist right through his midsection, ploughing through flesh and bone with horrific ease. Inu-Yasha gasped in pain before Alucard slammed a fist into his face, the blow sending him plummeting downwards and slamming onto his back with a tremendous thud. Groaning, Inu-Yasha nonetheless mustered his strength and rolled to the side, just as Alucard came plummeting downwards, fist-first. The impact of Alucard’s fist caused a small explosion of durt to burst upwards. Rolling back to his feet, Inu-Yasha watched the dust slowly clear, revealing Alucard kneeling in the middle of a small crater.

“Hey doggie, this bloodsucker’s owning your little brother!” Black Mage commented.

Sesshomaru said nothing. He was admittedly disappointed by Inu-Yasha’s meager performance – he knew his half-brother could do much, much better. For our father’s sake, Inu-Yasha, stop putting up such an embarrassing performance.

Slowly, the vampire stood back up and brushed dirt off of his coat. “Come on demon, quit holding back already,” he said, removing his tinted glasses to reveal a pair of calm red eyes. “If I wanted to fight half-rates, I would have stayed back in Britain to fight against Millennium. I can tell you’re probably capable of a lot better than this piss-poor charade.”

Inu-Yasha allowed himself a feral grin. "Alright, if it’s a real fight you want, then you have one!” With that, he lunged forward at a blinding speed, the Tetsusaiga nothing more than a silvery blur. Stunned by the demon’s demonstration of speed, Alucard leapt to the side, barely avoiding Inu-Yasha’s attack. He whirled around to face his opponent – and quickly realized that his right arm had been neatly severed and was now lying on the ground.

“Damn, I liked that arm,” he muttered, just as Inu-Yasha came charging at him again, swinging his magical blade fast and furiously. Alucard was forced to call upon all of his agility to avoid Inu-Yasha’s blows, darting from side to side as the pressure of the Tetsusagia shattered the ground around him. He had to admit, this puppy was actually pretty good: there was a lot of skill and strength behind his attacks, and he was doing a good job of keeping him on the defensive (not to mention literally disarming him). Compared to him, Anderson was a pathetic amateur.

Still, he had other tricks up his sleeve.

As inu-Yasha brought his sword down in a massive slash, Alucard suddenly seemed to disappear, leaving the grave he had been standing in front of to shatter against the Tetsusaiga’s swing. Cursing, Inu-Yasha whirled around and lashed out with a clawed hand, punching through Alucard’s chest as he reappeared behind him.

“I see you’re a quick learner,” Alucard said with a grin, despite the fact that blood was beginning to dribble down the corner of his mouth as a result of his injury. “But you’ve lost a lot of blood, puppy. Think you can continue?”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Inu-Yasha snarled, forcefully hurling Alucard backwards. The one-armed vampire spun slightly, landing on his feet, whipping out a pistol, and quickly reloading it with his teeth as Inu-yasha ran towards him, blade ready.

At the last second, Inu-Yasha leapt skyward, causing a brief look of confusion to pass over Alucard’s face. “JUGGERNAUT, NOW!”

With a roar, Juggernaut came charging into the arena. Without looking away from Inu-Yasha, Alucard raised his pistol to the side and fired shot after shot at the incoming behemoth. The high-calibre shells merely bounced off Juggernaut’s armour, however, and the superhero slammed a massive fist into Alucard, hurling him backwards. A second later, Inu-Yasha, in a perfectly-timed move, landed lightly on Juggernaut’s shoulder and used him as a springboard from which to leap at Alucard, bringing his sword down with all of his might.

Alucard quickly returned to his feet and tried dodging – Inu-Yasha was just as quick, redirecting the swing to rip across Alucard’s front in a shower of blood. The vampire seemed to stagger back, disoriented and hurt by the seriousness of the wound, while Inu-yasha landed deftly on his feet. Inu-Yasha narrowed his eyes: he could see the Scar of the Wind running perfectly through the vampire. He lunged forwards, putting all of his strength into a single, final stroke that would defeat the vampire instantly . . ..

And then, abruptly, the Tetsusaiga stopped in mid-swing as Alucard suddenly appeared in front of Inu-yasha, clamping his remaining hand around his wrist. Before the dog-demon could react, the grinning vampire gave a sharp twist: there was a wet snap, followed by Inu-Yasha’s scream, and the Tetsusaiga fell from his pain-numbed fingers. Alucard released Inu-Yasha, letting him stagger back clutching his broken wrist, before punching him in the face with enough force to hurl him onto his back a few metres away.

“Clever bastard was playing possum the whole tome,” Marv noted.

As Inu-Yasha lay stunned on the ground, Alucard made an odd gesture with his remaining hand, revealing the pentagram on his glove in full detail.

“Releasing art control restriction, level three, level two, level one,” he said, seemingly to himself. “Situation A. Cromwell Approval is now in effect. Hold until threat is nullified.”

And then the arena went black.

Inu-Yasha looked up, and saw Alucard suddenly become shadowy, his red eyes and grinning fangs sticking out in shary detail against the bilious mass of shadow he had become. Slowly, something seemed to grow out of his shoulder, as though it were trying to push itself free. Inu-Yasha’s senses were aflame as he saw countless eyes open up out of the darkness, along with slavering fangs and what appeared to be a dog-like head.

“It’s time you found out who the top dog is, mutt,” he heard Alucard’s voice say. He barley had time to scream before the hellhound sprang out of Alucard;s shoulder and came lunging at him.

A few seconds later, the darkness lifted: Inu-Yasha was lying bleeding on the ground, with numerous cuts and bite marks on him, shaking and staring blankly in a state of shock. Alucard was standing a few feet away from him, completely reformed and grinning as usual.

“INU-YASHA!” Kagome screamed as the referee began the countdown.

“What . . .the hell was that?” Marv managed to say as he stared in disbelief.

The stunned Zaraeth could not reply. None of the vampirs of her realm could do . . . .that.

“. . . . nine, TEN!” The referee stood up as orderlies loaded Inu-Yasha onto a stretcher. “Alucard and Team Vellinor win this round!”

“Wow, that guy’s mean!” Black Mage noted. “I think I like him already!”

Sesshomaru merely stared silently into the arena. Even at his very best, Inu-Yasha had still been beaten by that freak. He idly began to wonder how powerful this Alucard person really was, and whether or not Lord Vellinor was wise to trust him . . .

Kagome and Miroku rushed over to Inu-Yasha as the orderlies walked past them. “Inu-Yasha! Say something!” Kagome pleaded.

“F-fangs . . . .” the half-demon mumbled as he stared blankly at the sky. “Fangs . . . fangs everywhere . . . .. “

Distraught, Kagome turned to the last team member. “Honey-chan – “

“I know,” Cutie Honey said as she climbed into the arena. “It’s up to me now.”


Next: Alucard vs. Cutie Honey!

[OverMaster]

-Interlude: Shader gets the Joke-

As soon as he stepped into his room and closed the door behind him, he saw her sitting on his bed.

The Angels had just declared the whole imminent danger situation to be over, and dispatched Team Bad Girls and Team Nifelheim back to their own headquarters. Once there, Joker had slipped to his room to continue scheming, with Goenitz reluctantly allowing him to do so; the priest was sure he was up to something, but couldn't openly confront him about it without risking to open another breach on the team's always shaky dynamics. Anyway, it bothered him to leave the buffoon alone at any moment, especially now that he had started to show minor reality warping symptoms.

Sure, Hild's decree had stated Joker could not use his magical power on his teammates, but Goenitz was still sure the Clown Prince could find a way around that given enough time.

As usual, Joker hadn't cared a rat's ass about his concerns, and locked himself up to stay alone for a while. But then he found her there.

Pretty, with her long black hair and her thick glasses that gave her a cute appearance. She looked similar to that Yomiko bookfreak to him, if not for those weird cat ears growing out of her head. Never mind, he was getting used to having all sorts of weird species hanging around him lately. So he just put on his best smile and cooed,

"Why, Helloooo, Kitty. Room service, right? Whoa, they're getting a lot better lately. But today I'm having a killer headache, sorry! Come back tomorrow, and wearing a french maid outfit, okay?".

"Mr. Joker" she bowed formally in front of him. It had been hell for her to make her way there. With the Angels searching through the zone, she had been forced to sneak in like never before, using each shielding device spell and each protective spell Aion's devils had could come up with. Luckily, the last thing they expected was any one of the Sinner's group making way back to the Lodge so soon after what had just happened. "Very pleased to meet you. My name is Shader, and I work for a party interested about a... friendship with you...".

Then she shrieked when he just grabbed her by the ears and pulled them, asking, "Hey, are these real?".

"Yeeeoww!!" she shook his hands off her, pained. "That hurts!!".

"HA, HAH!" Joker laughed obnoxiously, Nelson Muntz style, pointing at her with a finger. Then straightened out, and quickly added, "Friendship, huh? Good! The last group that came here tried to choke me and manhandled me with Guantanamo-like interrogation tactics, instead. But any group that sends a pretty catgirl to my room must be OK on my book...". Then he paused. "No, wait a minute, I just remembered, I *hate* Catgirls. They remind me of that Catwoman slut back at Gotham".

"Mr. Joker, please, listen to what I have to say" Shader asked patiently. "I am here because--".

"Oh, don't bother, darling". Joker then grinned widely, and placed both of his gloved hands on her head again, almost sinking the long fingers on her scalp. "I'll find out myself. You just relax there...".

"Wh-what are you doing to--". Then it hit her. Surely he wasn't going to try...?

Joker was curious to see if that would work. So far, he had tried to copy some of the skills he had stolen from Urd's contact with success, like flight, miniaturization, subdivision and lightning attacks. It was time to test another trick of Urdie's, namely...

"MEMORY REWIND!" he shouted.

It shook Shader making her to yelp. He was inside of her mind now, probing, looking into each one of her memories, each once of her dreams, each one of her hopes and likings and dislikings. It felt horrible, like something slimy and spiky at the same time was squirming through her brain, burning it from the inside. Tears of pain came to her eyes as he finally let her go, himself blinking and slightly dazed from the mindlink.

"You... you..." she tried to yell angrily, but it came out more like a hurt sob.

There were hard knockings at the door. "Joker, what are you doing in there?!" Goenitz's voice protested.

"Just watching TV, Leo!!" the Joker screamed back, while regaining his full senses. "Go bother Bell or someone else!".

It had worked well enough. Maybe absorbing the Shadow King's dead psychic self had given him some added mental edge? He would have to test it again later.

And then he looked back at Shader, grinning in a devious fashion. "How cute, Kitty! You have a crush on the Boss! That's so Harley from you!". And his pleased expression changed to one of demonic anger. "But you guys are working for HIM! The cheap trickster! Vellinor! Why does his stinking presence follow me wherever I go lately?!". He stamped a foot hard on the wooden floor. "Vellinor! It's always Vellinor this, Vellinor that! Why doesn't he just jump into a well and break his goddamn neck already?! Vellinor!".

He stopped, clenching his fists to his side, and hissed in frustration, eyes injected in blood. He breathed heavily for a few moments, then regained his calm and smiled weasely at Shader.

"Excuse my outburst, pleeze. I've been under a lot of pressure lately. So, you're a genius girl to boot too, hmmmm? It's good to find someone in this place of illiterate barbarians who also is a fellow science lover. Why, I also do what I can at science". Shader's dazed mind was awakened again with the sharp pain of a dart biting her right side, between some ribs.

Joker now had a dart gun with a smiley face painted on it in a hand, and lowered it after the shot. "Take this, for instance. This is one of my biggest achievements on Chemistry. You can call it SmileX, or Joker Venom, or Joker Juice, or Mary. It acts as a fast-effect agent affecting blood circulation, skin pigmentation, nerves and muscles. The victim, you see, soon suffers from slight nausea, face distortions, muscular clenchings, decoloring of the skin, and eventually death between tons of merry laughs. I've proved it on 78 species already and counting, including common cockroaches, Doomsday (1), Urd and one Powerpuff Girl. Now let's see if it works on demons too. Hey, we all have to make sacrifices for the good of science...".

Shader had said nothing as she felt herself soon starting to shake violently and chuckle against her own will. But she had come prepared. She knew who she was going to face, after all. Quickly, she pulled out a small injector full with a blueish liquid and injected herself on an arm. Joker watched curiously how the effects of his toxin almost instantly vanished from the Nekodemoness, who immediately breathed better at last.

"Impressive. But my antidote is far better, I must say" She smiled thriumphantly at him. "Now, let's be clear about this, Mr. Joker. You aren't a man of teams, and we know that. Still, the point continues standing. You can be of usefulness to us, and we can be of usefulness to you...".

Joker snorted. "What could you guys give me that Hild can't give to me?".

Shader smiled even more, with a sharp glint on her eyes. "Access to Heaven, to begin with. Full databanks on the Orochi. The total backup of a whole demon army".

"Temptiiiiiiiiiiiiing" the Joker yawned. "But I'm not a man of such ambitions, actually. I'm sure a Luthor or Doom would be drooling like mad after your offer, but I'm more of an... artist, you see? I prefer to work on another, more personal level. And besides, I'm already working for Hildie, and better the Devil you know than the Devil you don't. But since I kinda like you now, even though you're still a catgirl, tell your boss to arrange matters with mine, and then we'll talk".

He pulled out another playcard and wrote something with black marker on it. He handed it to the Nekodemoness. It was a Joker card, with "I'll give it serious thought. Kisses, J-" written on it.

Shader blinked. "Is that all you have to say for now?".

"Yep. Come to visit again if you want to talk to me again". He paused, and grinned once more, "And remember, that time, come in the french maid outfit, okay?".

She barely repressed her urge to slap him.


(1) In the Joker: Last Laugh crossover.


Next: The Beauty and the Undead- Cutie Honey vs. Alucard.

[T51R]

~Twist of Fate…Conclusion P1~



“So you‘re telling me that you‘re bound to Keiichi by a Contract!?” Urd spat in disbelief, before her the God of Destruction helping himself to a fresh brew while Skuld and Beenuel eyed both him and the Monkey King with suspicion. Occult and Nakoruru had left, taking Keima and Melody out of the room for their own safety and to feed them; they were still growing after all. Rind was the one pacing now waiting for Urd and Skuld to come back to their senses while keeping a watchful eye on both Nudoru and Miso; she hardly trusted them, at least not to the point that Urd did. And that wasn’t very much at all. “You have no idea,” the Goddess of the Past began, “what‘s going to happen to you, Orochi. Some people would think you‘d at least have learnt a thing or two after what happened in ’97. And this!?” She motioned to Achika, who had decided to spend her time in the kitchen, “You‘re the one responsible for her being this way!? And why, pray tell why did Father assign the Monkey King to your office, of all places!?” She sighed to herself in resignation; she knew better than to question His will. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you get worse than Celestine did when all this is over. And you have no idea what Peorth wants to do to you because of the anomalies you caused when you manifested in the material plane one years ago.” Keiichi’s eyes darted around the room from where he stood, the young man unsure of what would happen next.

“IF,” the God of Destruction gritted his teeth; in another place an another time he thought to himself, her broken body would be at his feet devoid of life as mankind burned around him. “we survive this.” He glanced over his shoulder, at where the God-Killer had been standing. Gone, he barely finished thinking as the clunk of boots came from behind him and Nudoru wandered into his peripheral vision. A swish. Glowing, razor-sharp, techno-organic feathers swept past the Great Sage sitting on the armchair to his left. “If the two of you are trying to make us nervous?” the Orochi muttered at the two beings shifting around the room, in and out of existences, “Maybe you should try harder.”

Urd took quick glances around the room; the pair were shadows and silhouettes, here, not there, and everywhere. “Kaarage. Miso. Return to my side.” Her Herald obeyed without a word, taking his place at her right while the Aberration took its place at her left. “Give me a threat analysis,” she turned to the God-Killer while nodding towards the Great Sage and the God of Destruction. “Overview only.” The Code began to dance again, Orochi and Wukong for a moment dissolving into their datastreams and then reforming.

“Mmm‘kay,” the God-Killer thumbed towards the Great Sage. “Shape shifter, assorted martial arts, magic, indestructibility, immortality, high-speed assisted flight, high-speed burst movement, unassisted, standard flight, enhanced strength, optical modifications, magical weapon capable of proportion and form modification. Threat level: negligible.” He turned to the Orochi. “Molecular regeneration, elemental modification, life-energy uplink; planetary scale, teleportation, psionic manifestation, physical host real-time suppression and modification at the molecular level, limited dimensional travel. Threat level: negligible.”

“Silence now,” Urd held her hand up, and then turned back to Wukong and the Orochi, lifting her eyebrow to make her point felt.

“Urd,” Keiichi butted in. “Look I know that none of you trust him, but if he‘s bound by a contract the same way the Belldandy and I were then…”

“Keiichi, you cannot assume anything with these two!” the Goddess glanced quickly at the pair in front of the TV, now watching Alucard finishing off Inuyasha. “You have no idea what they‘re capable of, Wukong himself once defeated Heaven‘s 100,000-strong army and almost laid waste the entire place. Orochi‘s responsible for the last Great Extinction, for crying out loud! And I‘m sure he‘s told you about what he intends to do with humanity…”

“Ahem!” Rind coughed sharply from the corner she had been standing in all the while, watching the events in the room. “If all of you are done?” She looked them each in the eye sternly. “Perhaps Orochi, you would be best served telling us all what exactly happened out there. About how it is that you came into possession of the late Mrs. Masaki, and why it was that you decided to betray your own office. It might help all of us to believe you, although I assure you that it is not likely.” She glanced across the room at Skuld, who was more than ready to fight for the first time. “Stand down,” the Valkerye ordered. “There is a time for diplomacy, and there is a time for action. The time for action has since passed.” The young Goddess slipped the cylindrical object she was holding onto back into is housing on her left thigh. “Now then,” she picked up the remote and turned the TV off. “Enlighten us.”

“You might wanna take a seat,” the God of Destruction helped himself to a cigarette after Miso slowly slid a pack of Reds across the coffee table towards him. “Because this is gonna be one long story.” He waited until everyone was somewhat comfortable, and finally began after getting the nod from Keiichi. “Bet you Kei here‘s already told you about our little arrangement,” he breathed a plume of smoke. “so maybe we should start with my side of things.” He looked across the room, Nudoru eyeing him with passing curiosity. “And since Urd‘s boy-toy there can pretty much literally read us, there‘s no point in lying, is there?” he grinned.

“Speak,” Rind commanded.

“Alright already,” the Orochi chuckled. “Yeah, it’s true my Office was prohibited from taking any part in the Omega Initiative. And yeah, that was an Executive Order signed by the Office of High Administration itself. Least, until Keiichi here went and called us. And made a brand new wish to be granted by the Office of Area Reclamation and Redevelopment.” He locked eyes with the human sitting next to Urd and Skuld. “That wish was for us to save his girlfriend, little miss goody-two-shoes herself. Through any means possible. His secondary condition was the weird part; he wanted us to help her to save reality and to save her in the process. Since the Wishes System was shut down though, it wasn‘t official. However, since he managed to reach Heaven again, it was as good as a contract, you following me?”

Urd and Skuld gritted their teeth in frustration; the Ultimate Force. Keiichi’s wish. For better or for worse, the Orochi had now been tied into both Keiichi’s and Belldandy’s fates thanks to the Ultimate Force. By one wish. “So what‘s your angle?” Skuld interjected.

“My angle is simple.” the Orochi replied cryptically. “I‘m gonna get this contract off of my head. The conditions of the contract were to, and I quote, to help Belldandy save existence and to return her safe and whole to Morisato. Makes no difference to me…if Keiichi’s the only human left alive on this planet.” The young man grew pale, and Beenuel had to stifle his own rage at the proposition of planetary genocide. “You never said anything about everyone else being left alive now, did you?” the God of Destruction chuckled. “All I want is for the planet to be returned to its pristine state, before humans started polluting, consuming, ravaging…only to breed, and breed again so that they can continue strip-mining the meagre resources they have to live on just to satisfy their own vanity and greed! And for that to happen, the planet has to survive MUGEN. Get my drift? All my life I‘ve worked to save this world, to preserve it at all costs if need be. And when you humans arrived…”

“WE‘RE NOT LIKE THAT!” Keiichi spat, much to everyone’s surprise. “Yeah, there‘s plenty of people destroying the planet but I told you already, there are pole who are working to protect it! You‘re judging the entire planet by what most people are doing but don‘t you think that there might be at least a few of us who want to live peacefully without destroying it!?”

“And like I told you Morisato,” the God of Destruction replied casually, “humanity is ultimately self-destructive. Take a look around…”

“You can rattle off all the statistics you want, but that‘s all they are in the end.” Keiichi cut him off. “You can make statistics say a lot of things, but you gotta take a step back from the big picture and look at the people who live here! Everyone‘s different, you, me, Urd, Rind…we‘re all different! How can you simply judge the human race just by looking at what the majority of people are doing!?”

“ENOUGH!” Rind screamed across the room, causing a minor tremor. “Hey…hey Kaarage,” she turned as the God-Killer brushed past her heading for the balcony as Miso fused into his back. “Stand fast Kaarage, you have not been dismissed!”

“I will address this,” Beenuel followed the big man towards the door to the outside. “I believe,” he looked the Orochi in the eye, followed by Wukong. “That Destruction hasn‘t finished telling his story yet. Lady Urd, if I may, perhaps I should speak with your Herald?” Urd nodded her reply, and the God of Animals took his leave.

“Looks like you aren‘t in full control of him after all, are you?” the Orochi grinned, Urd’s frustration becoming obvious. “So. Yeah. That‘s what it‘s about, end of story.”

Rind and the two Norn sisters looked with disbelief at the God of Destruction and his subordinate, noting that Keiichi wasn’t done yet either. “So,” the Valkerye smiled. “what about why I found you fighting your own people?”

“Aion,” Wukong muttered, looking over his staff. “That Devil…betrayed us. And we have no idea why.” Beside him, the Orochi tried to hide his disgust at the Sinner’s actions.






~To be concluded~

[KingEli]

Mecha Madness:

Location, Inside The Matrix-

"So..........Brainiac Sigma was it? Why have you seeked Counsel with me?" Asked a Man who looked like Colonel Sanders

"Well, it's about survival. You do know about The Crisis That is going on, Right Architect?" Said The Maverick.

"The One That Thretens The Humans? Yes. But why should that bother us?" Said The Creater of The Matrix

"Because it Threatens us as well. The Fools in 'Heaven' belive ALL are acounted for, for these.............damned Humans." Spat Sigma

"I Find That illogical, why do they decide if we must fall as well due to the humans?"

"Because they belive that since we are made from humans, we must suffer as well. But I belive we should be the next step. The New Age of Earth........No The Universe. That WE, The Machine must be next in line to Inhernt Earth. Think about it join with me, and I lead us to victory aganist all comers. I Know ways to Empower your Empire, that you wouldn't need these fucking Flesh Bags. It's High Time that we Rise up, against these so called 'Gods' as you did against the Humans of Your Earth. So what do you say?"

"I have said Before that everything revoles around a chioce, and that The Gods destruction of Machines, since we have no concep of 'Sin', witch I doubt that it would matter to them. But I find you decision to Fight Back most intriuing. And since we belive in self perservation...........I Agree to join you in your Battle." Said The Architect.

"I Knew you would." Sigma Said with a Sly Grin.

[J Dog]

Dilbert In Space

Dilbert had originally planned to visit the trailer of Optimus Prime for a little advice about a reversal device that would possibly seperate the universe, and violate all of the rules. Of course, Dilbert wouldn't create such a thing... or would he.

What he didn't expect would be that a few parties heard word of this plan, and the next thing you know, Dilbert had faced the same fate that only cows and hillbillies faced.

Within moments of the incident, Dilbert was placed on a table and observed by a few aliens. These aliens wren't the standard "green guys with big eyes" type. They looked slightly human, with the exception being that their faces has four eyes, and they were much taller than Dilbert, or even Maunte Bol. Surprised, Dilbert asked the aliens about what was going on. One of them turned towards him and walked up to him. It stared at him for a mere second, then replied:

"You plan on dissipating the universe, no?" It asked. It knew English.

"You can talk?" Dilbert said with wonder. They were indeed geniuses; after all, they had a ship. "You know, English, right?"

"Indeed." The alien nodded. "But we know more about Earth's languages other than English. We know Japanese, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Mandarian, you name it. We also know of Sanskrit and Latin, which, to you, are those so-called "extinct" languages."

"I'm amazed about you folks." Dilbert gaped. "But, are you going to probe me and erase my memory?"

The alien chuckled a moment. "You Earthling have humor. But we don't work like that, because we repsect the human race. But, somehow, one day, hundreds of human groups became emerged onto one Earth. The one you just left."

"You mean you... kidnapped me?" Dilbert asked, with a little concern. The alien looked at him puzzledly.

"Kidnap? Heavens, no! We are merely taking you to a galactic conference to discuss this matter. I've assumed you have been in space before, no?"

Dilbert recalled using a cubicle to reach the moon, where he had discovered that it could bear life, much like the Red Moon from "Final Fantasy IV", and inhabited women who loved engineers. Unfortuantely, Dilbert and other engineers got involved in a drinking contest in which the loser would leave the Moon. The women got invovled and easily kicked the two parties out by accident. The other time being a trip to Mars, but a little weways into the Death Star.

"...you made a bomb from all of that?" The alien said, a little shocked at intellect. "My lord, you are the smartest human on Earth, besides Washu, of course!"

"Yup." Dilbert agreed. The alien then asked what was his occupation, because it forgot to note that Dilbert was an engineer from the previous story. Dilbert confessed to working for a heartless corporation with that resembled Enron meeting a dystopic megacorp. He had quit once, but was pulled back due to clauses in the original contract, saying that they will always extort him, no matter what he does.

"...Shame that it had to happen, sir. Because of that, I shall grant you one wish that you desire. We can supply it if you need it."

"Well, that galactic conference is tempting, but I have to ask that I return to Earth. You'll have to explain your concern about seperating the Multiverse another time."

The alien sighed. In his native tongue, he asked that the ship return to Earth. Rematerializing above the MUGEN Hospital, he waves to the ship... and sees it smash into Mt. Fuji.

Do you think that they really would last?

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

Seto Kaiba was now at the hospital, and Sora had left to party to find out what happened between Jack and Dogbert, but the main priority is to see if her best friend, Mimi, came out unscathed. Dilbert looked at Kaiba's body and figured that Dogbert was partially responsible. "That dog really needs to be given a lesson." He muttered under his breath.

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

As he said those fateful words, Dogbert regained consciousness and looked at Bucky Katt's figure. "Hello, dog!" He grinned, eating rubber bands. "I'm Bucky Katt, and you will work for me from now on!" He laughed, and then ached a bit due to the bands.

[J Dog]

Mimi's Mix- Part II

"Okay, Mimi, so far we have observed you falling three times..." Jack said, a little grossed out. "...and threw up once."

Mimi was lying on the ground. "Maybe learning this move was a very, very, VERY bad idea." She moaned. "My tummy is achy."

"We, that's because you keep turning, and your body can't handle that." He stoops down near her. "I'm not torturing you; in fact I like you. I just want you to toughen up a bit. There's two things you need to know."

"What are they?" She asked.

"The first one is that there will always be fighting, because that was the only way to solve problems in the beginning of time. Even being diplomatic dosen't help. I know you don't like fighting because of the fear of death. But, sometimes, there's no other option."

"I see. But, plenty of my friends died in the Digiworld." Mimi said, a little upset, for this brought back several unpleasant memories. "I didn't want them to die."

"You know the reincarnate. I'm sorry if I opened up wounds." He cleared his throat and jerked his head a bit. "The second thing is that you a fight never has to end with one person actually dead or critically injured. You can end the fight with moves like these. I prefer them for that sake." He stared at her. "Now get up, because we aren't even done."

At that moment Sora had came up. "What the heck are you doing with her, Jack?" She asked, very surprised.

"Sora, I'm just teaching Mimi here a little trick to avoid that battle with Cosette from getting out of hand." He gestured. "It looks a bit odd, but I'm from an odd city. You know that I'm not a bad guy, cause I've helped you before, and I'll still help you guys out."

Sora accepted the gesture. "Just make sure that Mimi dosen't get hurt. That's all I ask."

"Relax!" He grinned. "I'm not shooting her or sucker punching her. I'm just showing her a trick. You might as well watch. Mimi'll want moral support. I can't supply that, even if I tried, but I know you can do so." Jack turned to Mimi. "I think you have the hand of the spinning, so now we'll get to the karate chop."

"Like this?" Mimi said as she karate chopped Jack's right shoulder. A face grew on Jack, and he crumbled the ground and writered a bit.

"Mimi! What did you do?" Sora asked, slightly shocked.

"Oops! Sorry, Jack." Mimi said to Stallwall, who was rubbing the shoulder.

[OverMaster]

-The Beauty and the Undead: Cutie Honey vs. Alucard-

Honey Kisaragi. Office Girl. Android. Magical Girl. Superheroine.

She entered the ring under Alucard's cold but amused glare, a small frown on her pink lips as she walked stopping a few steps in front of him. Vampire and living machine stared at each other's eyes icily, while the referee cleared his throat.

"Are the both of you ready?" he asked.

"Yes" they said at once, never taking their eyes off each other.

"Fine, then! Team Vellinor vs. Team Beastmaster! Final Round! One! Two! Three!! FIGHT!!".

The buxom redhead in the skintight outfit jumpedup high as soon as she heard that, in time to pass over the hail of bullets her opponent shot from Joshua right then. She flipped over in midair, and fell down with a swoop kick, hitting Alucard between the eyes so hard she made him to slide a few meters back, his glasses shattered.

"Damn it" the vampire muttered, snarling a bit. "And I had such a liking for those glasses. Well, child" he continued while barely avoiding another kick of hers; she was actually faster than InuYasha, and seemed to have a comparable strenght. "You have made it personal now...".

Back at the stands, Aki Natsuko frowned. "I only hope Honey's impulsiveness doesn't get over the best of her again".

"How so?" Evil Tomoyo asked calmly.

"She is a great fighter, but can get too emotional at times" the Japanese detective explained. "Of course, in a way, that also is her biggest asset... her heart can get her through any fight. She never quits, and will do anything for others' good...".

Alucard teleported behind Honey then and shot her on a shoulder. Aki gasped in horror, while the techno-organical tissue jumped out of her friend's shoulder in the place hit by the bullet. Honey merely snarled, feeling the pain but refusing to let it slow her down, and taking advantage of Alucard's closeness to elbow him back on the face. Hard.

As he stumbled back, the Hellsing agent realized both things. First, he now knew this was some sort of living machine. And she indeed was, most likely, even far stronger than the demon boy.

Good. I don't need to hold myself back, then.

He is an undead. And he couldn't be killed by Inu's best attacks, she was thinking at the same time. I don't need to worry about hurting him too much, meaning I can go all out... but at the same time, it'll be hard to put him down. My best hope is a ringout!

They both rushed against each other at the same time. When they were really close, Alucard backslapped her across the face with Jackal, but before he could follow it with another hit, she grabbed him by a wrist and bodyslammed him against the floor, almost burying him deep next to a grave.

This isn't working. She is faster than me. I have to rely on my powers and intelligence instead of my velocity... he thought as she buried a fist on his face. He rolled out of the next punch's way and stood up fast. Then, with a bestial scream, he jumped up and floated over her by a moment, then grabbed her before she could react. He shot him twice in the stomach, making her to grunt loud in pain, and threw her back down. That should give me some time to think of my next move...

But that actually did not make her to pause. Instead, she pulled a boomerang out of somewhere and quickly threw it up at Alucard. "HONEY BOOMERANG!!".

It was as quick as herself; it slashed the hunter across the face, making blood to jump around everywhere. It came back to her hand, and a split second later she jumped up, headbutted him with vicious strenght, and made him to go down. Once there, she followed with a kick to his throat that almost sectioned it by half.

"That's good!" Nami observed. "At this rate, she'll be forcing him to play on the defensive until he drops, as long as he doesn't pull any of those big tricks again".

Alucard huffed while she stood up once more, as quick as he could. And grinned. "You know, I think I like you, robot. For a mere thing, you have lots of spirit".

"That's my Father's work" she replied with a knowing hard smile. "Not that a monster like you could understand how love can move even a machine to live!". She lunged forward with her sword and pierced Alucard's hat all through.

"Oh, first the glasses, now the hat" he observed. "Spirit or not, now you really have brought it on yourself, child". He began to unseal his right glove, but once more, she used her superior speed to send herself in a furious frenzy of sword slashes against his chest, piercing him through again and again to the public's combined awe and horror.

"Whoa, that babe's turning him into a shesh-kebab!" Black Mage let out a whistle. "I like her! Her skills are as good as her cans!".

All the while he received the massive onslaught that pushed him more and more against the ring's border at each pasing moment, though, Alucard kept on muttering, until he finally raised his voice to utter the final words, "... until threat is nullified".

And then the Darkness engulfed her.

For a moment, the whole ring was wrapped in a deadly, odd quietness. Meanwhile, Aki watched horrified. Tetsuo was merely interested. Tomoyo just sipped her glass of Coke, waiting for the big finale.

And then, much to everyone's surprise, the Amorphous Dog of Chaos was split by half with a sword of shining light, and Cutie Honey jumped out of it, her now shining weapon firmly grasped in a hand. There were bruise marks all over her, but she still looked ready to fight when she landed on her feet, with Alucard regenerating to his normal form at the other side of the arena.

"SHEEEESSHH!!" She cringed. "Boy, it was scary in there!!".

"Honey-chan..." Aki sighed, fully relieved.

"The f**k?!" Ash Williams blinked. "She broke through the thing that finsihed the mutt off!".

"She's something else, all right" Tetsuo grinned to himself. "Maybe the vampire finally has found his match after all".

"I like her sword a lot!" Fighter piped in.

Alucard actually was panting slightly when he faced her again. "Very, very good... No one had given me a fight like that in decades...".

"Heh" she dryly chuckled, with a wheeze. "Looks like both of us are on our last steps, right? It's best to finsih it off while we still can...". She raised a hand high, and yelled, "HOOONEYYY TRANSFORMATION!!".

For a brief moment, an aura of radiant white light bathed her and her surroundings, actually making Alucard to feel burnt at its touch. He groaned, then reacted when he saw that, where seconds before Honey had stood, now stood...

Celas.

Vellinor, meanwhile, gave Xellos a surprised stare. "You little dirty...".

"Come on, there is nothing written about researching other teams and giving some info to your recruits, remember?" the Mazoku priest smiled plafully.

Celas/Honey, with a smile, took advantage of the vampire's momentary confusion to shoot him squarely on the chest, then to kick him sending him dangerously near the ring's edge. But then he reacted.

"Trying to play mindgames with me, kid?" Alucard grunted, then grabbed her by an arm and slammed her down. "How 'cute'. How useless. You wish you were half the warrior Celas is".

She punched him on the face, broke free of his steel grasp, and jumped back, dividing herself in ten different Honeys while screaming, "HONEY MIRAGE!".

"Oh, that is nothing..." Alucard almost chuckled. "Vampire Illusion" he muttered, and apparently split himself into ten other Alucards at the same time, as well.

"Ladies and gentlemen, and the arena is now really crowded!" the Tenkaichi Budokai announcer yelled through his microphone, sweatdropping. "Who will emerge thriumphant of this massive showdown?!".

The ten Honeys threw themselves against her adversaries while deploying a series of energy shieldings around themselves. It looked like they had them. But then they all just passed through the Alucards just like they were ghosts. "Huh?" the Honeys all chorused.

And then, behind them all, a final Alucard, the real one, appeared teleporting. He snickered. "Game over, children. Unleashed Power".

The ground below the Honeys shone then in the form of Alucard's seal, and it exploded into a huge pillar of energy that divided itself into several streams of eerie light, each one hitting one Honey and sending them all flying out of the ring, crashing down.

"He did it!" Ash exclaimed. "The bloody bastard did it!".

"Oh, crap..." Juggernaut hung his head down. "It can't be!!". He punched the floor in front of him so strongly that he shattered it. If only he could have been called in again for this round... Stupid rules about Strikers Abuse...

"Dear public, sure looks like a ringout!!" the referee yelled. "And the Jury agrees on it! Alucard wins this round, granting the victory to Team Vellinor!!".

"Damn" Ranma slapped a hand on his own face. "I hoped I would be able to fight Ryouga again later on...".

Then he turned his gaze to where Akane, Ukyo and Kasumi had been.

They weren't there anymore.


Next: The God-Killer and the God of Animals!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Coming tomorrow: the aftermath of Team Vellinor vs. Team Beastmaster, and Team Anzell take matters into their own hands!

[Golden Darkness]

OOC: Sorry about not posting again... it's just I'm trying to prepare for a job interview and all. Hopefully I'm going to land a programming job soon.

But maybe tomorrow I'll really get the fight started.

[chilled monkey]

OOC: Sorry about not posting again... it's just I'm trying to prepare for a job interview and all. Hopefully I'm going to land a programming job soon.

But maybe tomorrow I'll really get the fight started.

No problem, take all the time you need. Good luck with the interview.

I am really looking forwards to your next update.

[OverMaster]

-The God-Killer and the God of Animals-

Team Skuld's Dinning Room:

Nakoruru took advantage of the moment, with Keima and Melody being too busy eating, to silently slip to the corner Doctor Occult was standing at lost in thoughts, and ask him in a concerned whisper, "So, Occult-sensei... What do you think about this all?".

"Hard to say" the mystic frowned. "These are games of deities, and humans often come burned out of them. I wouldn't be so trusting of Orochi... his one-tracked mind clearly makes unreliable, too fanatical, too devoted to his cause. Then again, it's not like we just can brush him off and make an open enemy out of him... Heaven knows we already have enough of those... So I think they should simply keep an eye on him throught that... alliance".

"I have met a man who was rumored to be of the Orochi bloodline, back at my time" the young Ainu priestess whispered back. "A killer named Genjuro Kibagami. He often suffered from murderous fits of rage, and prided himself on being the best in the arts of the sword... often leading him to bloody conflicts with Haohmaru-san. If this god is as merciless as his ilk, then I fear for the whole of us".

Richard Occult stared at the window, with distant eyes. "I have been fearing for the whole of us since the first day of this trip to hell, Miss Nakoruru".

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

The Fighter's Lodge rooftop:

Nudoru looked all around himself and drew in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the fresh air coming in breezes from the south. Then he looked over to the spaceship crashed in the distance at Mount Fuji, and was so distracted by it, he slipped and fell down to his death several stories below.

Beenuel sighed. This was the third time in the last five minutes.

He tapped a bare foot on the rooftop waiting, and then the air hummed and Kaarage rematerialized next to him, with Miso in a nurse oufit applying some bandages to his fractured skull.

"If you have finished with your death pantomime at last, can we start with our conversation?" the God of Animals asked.

"It's not a pantomime. This is serious, and hurts like hell each time" Nudoru pointed out. "Do you think I do it for kicks? Think again. I just can't help it. And why the talking in blue, anyway?".

"I cannot help it either" was all of his answer. "Now, as Lady Urd's herald, I suppose you have been already inducted to the whole knowings of standard Yggdrasil protocols, am I right?".

"Yep. Z beat most of them into my head the hard way, and Urd hammered the rest of the points into me" the God-Killer said, nonchalantly. "Why? From what little I've heard about you, you don't care much about those... and that's why you chose to live apart from the rest of your race...".

"Very true. I am a friend of formalities to a point...".

"Tell me about it" Kaarage muttered. "You're as stiff as a plank".

"... Ahem. No interruptions, please... As I was saying, I like to observe formalities, but the way they enforce them at Yggdrasil is not of my full liking. I pretty much prefer the quiet, relaxed peace of the wilderness than the claustrophobia of the Divine City...".

"That, and you don't like to mingle with others, do you?" Nudoru interrupted again. Beenuel gave him an annoyed glare. "Oh, c'mon, Hippy-boy, Masks Off. I've seen you long enough by now to figure it out... the way you look so antsy when you are surrounded by others... the most people surrounding you, the uneasiest you are. I don't need to read your Life System to read your emotions; they're pathetically clear!".

"H-how do you..." the Patron of Beasts stared at him at the edge of outrage now, "... dare...".

"Sorry, pal, but I'm not used to dance around matters. I like to speak my mind as openly as I can".

"Big words for the one hiding his origin like the deepest of shames...".

"Hey, I'm not very proud of it, 'kay? But I did what I had to do. I'd like to see you in my shoes and doing something different, buddy. Given the same circumstances, and given the same choices, I'd do it all again. But enough of that. The world's crumpling around us, we have more pressing matters at hand now...".

"Indeed" he admited. "What did you think about Orochi?".

"Eh. Big mouth, big dreams. He thinks he has the big power to match, but is so wrong it's funny. Only a Planetary? Shit, there are players at this game out there that make the Planetary scale look like a kiddie playground. If he keeps on going like this, he's going to get himself killed... maybe even if he gets the Jurai power for himself".

"And what do you think about his ambitions? The thoughts that drive him?".

"A loose cannon. Too wrapped in the ends to think about the means. Apparently he lacks a lot of empathy... he's willing to cause pain on others without really thinking about them. He's conviced his cause is right and fair, yeah, but I bet he'd be seeing it another way if the pain he has brought on others had been brought on him".

The masked being paused for a moment, then looked at the bearded figure.

"But I figured you'd share goals with him? You both are nature lovers, and what Man has done to your dear critters...". He spat as Beenuel slapped him across the head with his walking staff, "Yow, sorry, I know, 'critters' is an offensive term for you... I mean, after what they have done to your creatures through History, I thought you would be quite fed up with humans too!".

"Sometimes. Sometimes, I even see things the Orochi's way... and just wish for them all to disappear. But you know why I cannot keep seeing it that way? Because in a way, they are my creatures as well. I saw them emerging from the primordial slime, climbing their way through the Evolutive Scale..." He took a long look at the Tournament Grounds below and the people thriving through them. "I saw them evolving from the apes, and in a way, they still are apes. I still can feel the connection to them. They are both my greatest shame, and my greatest achievment. I watched them rise to the dominant species... and honestly would like them to do something good out of it. Not to mention...".

He stretched a hand at the sky, and a tiny bluebird landed on it gently.

"... If I just helped to obliterate them because of what they have done to my subjects, that would be revenge. And animals are above revenge, above the petty motions of getting even. They would be ashamed of me if I went that way. There are worlds of wisdom in them, Lord Kaarage. They see the simple side of life... and act according to it. Just taking what they need. Never tainted by baneful ambitions, never stooping to the levels humans, demons and even gods can reach when pushed by their emotions. And of course, Skuld, even if she will not admit it, would be crushed if humans were killed off...".

"I thought she and you were kinda... at odds with each other?".

"She sees the world in a way different from mine, of course. I cannot help but think at times she would be best suited for another mentor, and I know she is sure about it. But I have elluded my responsabilities about her for too long. It is time I started with it".

"Well, good luck with that" Nudoru said as he analyzed his Code again, peeking curiously into his living databanks. "Because I can't believe how weak-ass you are for a god, dude. Really, I can't believe you are even Second Class... I know you don't like to hang around Yggdrasil, but that has caused you to be left behind by the ones who live there, big time! If you ask me, I--".

Then, suddenly, a huge flock of crows fell on him and began to peck him to death, while the sound theme for 'The Birds' sounded in the background.

"YEEEAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!".

Miso looked down at Beenuel and said, "Um, wasn't that taking it too far...?".

The God of Animals just stood there with a bulging vein on his forehead. "... The hooligan still needs to learn a lot about manners!".


:)


Next: Fool's Errand, Prelude!

[T51R]

~Twist of Fate…Conclusion~



“That‘s why you found us fighting our own people,” the Monkey King explained, leaving his staff on its own as he stretched, and then continued with the pair’s explanation. “We don’t know what happened exactly, I had several errands to run and our Offices boss had gone to meet with either Keiichi or someone else. The next thing I know, I‘m reporting back and we‘re being jumped by Sauron‘s, Aion‘s and just about everyone else‘s boys. We tried to get to the Masaki girl so that we could get her out,” the Great Sage continued, “but that bastard Aion…he set it up a bit too well. Sauron would have gotten away with her if she hadn’t shown up.” He chanced a glance I Rind’s direction. “The rest, well that‘s history.”

“Doesn‘t sound like the Monkey King daddy told us about when we were little,” Skuld whispered to her older sister, glanced at Keiichi and blushed.

“I guess…” the Great Sage stood before her. “Several centuries of Enlightenment will do that to someone.” He looked into her deep back eyes, his own bloodshot orbs burning themselves into her memory. “You‘re still young,” he muttered. “Once upon a time I was…well, pretty carefree.”

“Now that‘s an understatement,” the God of Destruction chuckled. “He caused so much chaos when he first started working with us I ripped his soul out like a dozen times in a row and it still didn’t do anything!”

“You are getting away from the point,” Rind spoke sternly. “What was your purpose in taking the Masaki woman? And what did you want with the Urashima boy?”

“Urashima and Mrs. Masaki were already in combat when we found them,” the Great Sage began again. “And the Orochi decided to break their fight up before either of them got too badly injured to be useful.” Urd’s stare prompted him to be at least a bit more thorough. “Urashima seemed to have been possessed by a dark Ki, all other details would be best delivered by him.” He nodded towards where his office head sat.

“You still haven‘t said what you wanted Achika for,” Rind pointed out. “Remember, your honesty will determine the odds of your survival. I am sure that you are aware of the entity that has supposedly followed Kaarage into our Omniverse?”

“Ah, the second God-Killer.” Wukong summoned his staff back to his hand, the Valkerye reaching behind her back to grasp the handle of a battleaxe. “News has come about yet another incident. Less than forty-eight hours ago there was an incursion into the Source Wall. The Source himself is now recovering, the injuries he sustained were serious, although non-threatening.” The three Goddesses fell into shocked silence. “However, he did on several occasions request legal counsel for hit-and-run traffic accidents. One could only wonder why. The damage that the Wall sustained however, was critical. If it were not for the Dimension Tide already being close to complete, we would have experienced rather severe repercussions according to our Intelligence and Technology officer‘s scenario simulations.”

“So the God-Killer has struck in this Multiverse,” Urd’s face was a blend of seriousness and grim realisation. “That means he’s already here. He‘s come through the Dimension Tide. Has Peorth gotten a bead on its whereabouts?”

“No,” Wukong replied, “I did not speak with her directly though. You know how she is regarding dealings with our part of the…establishment. However, from all the data that our systems intercepted,” he paused, waiting for the God of Destruction’s consent to divulge the information, which he received. “It disappeared from Yggdrasil‘s sensor grid immediately after striking the Source Wall. It has not re-appeared.”

“First,” Rind locked eyes with the Monkey King. “You will explain exactly why the Orochi was so interested in Achika. Then, we will talk about the second God-Killer.” Wukong nodded and took a seat next to Keiichi, who seemed suddenly nervous that a being that had managed to devastate Heaven’s army single-handed was now less than an arm’s length away from where he was sitting. Wukong’s glowing eyes met his, and the young Morisato felt his blood run cold as the Great Sage crossed his arms across his chest, the golden rod tucked snugly under his arm. The Monkey King nodded towards the God of Destruction, as the Orochi helped itself to a chair. Keiichi wasn’t as restless this time; at least he had a vague idea of what to expect with the white-haired deity.

“When the Omega Initiative started,” he began, “it basically meant the destruction and recreation of the Earth Realm. A planet that is intrinsically perfect, in balance as well as in the diversity of its life-forms. At least till the damned humans appeared. I swore a long time ago to my boss that I‘d keep this place as beautiful as it was back in the day. Both for its own sake and because it was something unique. I think,” he grinned at Skuld, “your mentor might see things the same way.” He glanced at Urd this time. “Yeah. I was one of those who opposed the Omega Initiative, but unfortunately after what happened in ‘97, I wasn‘t in a position to make any kind of objection that could carry any weight. When your little sister decided to play the darling daughter card though I was wrapped, but I didn‘t exactly guess that she‘d propose this…well, freak show. Needless to say, the day after your Father and our Big Boss decided to allow Belldandy‘s proposition to go though, my Office and me were slapped with one mother of a restraining order. It had one loophole though: the Wishes System. Problem was…the Wishes System had already been shut down. Nothing out, nothing in. Best way to keep things stable, in case someone simply wished for everything to have never happened in the first place. So the only thing left, was a wish by someone in some way connected to the Tournament. And what did you know,” he dropped his cigarette and stubbed it out underfoot. “Keiichi here was our saving grace.”

“And what about Achika?” Urd eyed the God of Destruction with obvious mistrust.

[T51R]

“There‘s no way anyone in the Office of Area Reclamation and Redevelopment has enough self-contained firepower to go toe-to-toe with your little sister with her seals off,” the Orochi explained, “and that‘s where Achika came in. Due to some…issues with her breeding, she inherited not only the Jurian bloodline, but the Yagami‘s.” His eyes roamed around the room, Achika joining the group with a tray-full of snacks and sweets. “That‘s the reason why she passed away so soon after giving birth to her son, Tenchi. She also bears the curse of the Yagami Clan; a contract with me. A contract…for great power in exchange for short lives.”

They turned as Achika dropped the tray she was holding, spilling everything on it onto the floor. “Then…Tenchi…”

“Yup.” the Orochi lit up another cigarette. “He‘s also bound by the contract between the Yagami‘s and yours truly. Better face it, he might have been engineered by the Chousein, but the contract he was born under gives me first bite. That‘s the way the cookie crumbles, believe it or not. And believe it or not, he was dying from the day he was born. In the literal sense.”

Rind held her hand up, silencing Achika. “And your plans for her?”

“We needed something that would give us an edge against Belldandy,” Wukong sighed. “And the closest thing to an Unsealed Goddess…would be the power of a Chousein. And with that power…comes the Light Hawk Wings. Not that it matters anyway; I‘m the only one who can actually access your bloodline,” he looked Achika straight in the face. “And from every result we‘ve had so far with your tests…accessing Tsunami‘s power would kill me inside of eight minutes. Not that I‘d need much more than five though, I‘d gladly make that sacrifice if it meant this world would be returned to perfection.” He locked eyes with Urd. “According to the plan, if Shader gave me five minutes worth if fight time before I was consumed by the Light Hawk Wings just for using them…Belldandy would be dead and the world would be safe. The problem came when Morisato made his wish for her to survive,” the God of Destruction grimaced. “and that plan went out the window. And when she started showing very strange capabilities two weeks before the Tournament started, things really went south for us. Now that Aion‘s in charge of the Office however…there‘s no harm in telling you what the game plan was because we‘re pretty much done.”

“I…see,” Rind began to smile, but at the same time did her best to hide it. The Orochi, powerless and within her grasp. Neither she, Urd nor Skuld could have imagined the day would ever come. “Now. Report on the second God-Killer,” she eyed the Great Sage.

“We do not know why it attacked the Source Wall,” Wukong back-pedalled to earlier in the conversation. “But we do know it suppressed the Wall‘s defences and defenders with no trouble at all. It pierced the wall and demolished an eighth of it, however Yggdrasil was able to ignore the damage. As I said before; with the fusion of Multiverses, the Source Wall is no longer a necessity. All will become as a single Omniverse…unto Him. The One who Stands Above All. The Eternal Presence…Kami-Sama himself.”

“I have just such an answer,” the Valkerye requested the thick envelope that Urd was holding. From it, she took a stack of paper abut a centimetre thick and handed it to the pair in two parts. “You will not believe it, but it is true.”

“Holy shit,” the Orochi spat the cigarette out of the window in shock, while Wukong again began to demonstrate his more primal side, rocking his chair back and forth on two legs while still keeping in perfect balance. “It…it hit Lucifer‘s Multiverse!?”

“Among other things,” Rind whispered, still in disbelief. “Other things, like reversing a Demuirgos Reaction, modifying its base elements and then re-starting it. Which is why we are now waiting for Kaarage to get himself back here, along with Beenuel.” She sat next to where Urd was, at the far end of the sofa from the God of Destruction. She took the stack of paper from him, and handed it to the Goddess of the Past. “Does this look anything like what your Herald has thus far demonstrated?”

“Well, I…” Urd thought or a moment. “I‘ve…I‘ve seen him produce a Big Bang right in front of me, but this…this is way beyond even doing that. To be able to suppress a Demuirgos explosion…that‘s impossible! I don‘t think even the Genesis entity could do this!”

“It couldn’t,” the Valkerye muttered, “believe it or not, we have doctrines dedicated to either the capture and sealing, or the destruction of Genesis.”

“Either way,” the Orochi butted in, “This looks like a job for the big players. The Chousein themselves, the Lord of Nightmares, and the others on that particular playing field. Wukong, any news about the Celestial Ark?”

“No, its already been sealed. Both Belloc and Richards are secure. However, Heaven has begun to recall its Proto-Gods as a defensive measure since the Source Wall was struck.”

“You‘re kidding me…” the God of Destruction sat up with a jolt. “He’s calling back his potential replacements!?”

“That…that was a secure transmission!” Rind whispered; it was her turn to be dumbfounded.

“Look, we weren‘t without our own intelligence networks,” the Orochi grinned back at the Valkerye. “Besides, it makes our jobs easier to do if we don‘t have to rely on information from Yggdrasil or its demonic equivalent. So,” he lay back almost in resignation. “Suzumiya. And the others. They‘re being recalled.”

Rind again began grinding her teeth; if anything or anyone ever knew too much for their own good, then the Orochi was definitely it. “So, since you are now clearly without office and without staff, what are you going to do besides wait for the end of all this…and your punishment for interfering with the Tournament? I doubt that He will be very pleased that you choose to ignore a direct order that was signed with His own hand.”

[T51R]

“Its better than chasing something that would do worse to you and your Battle Division than the Chaos Gods,” he replied smugly. “You‘re gonna go chase after something even if you have no idea what it looks like or what it can do? There‘s a difference between heroism and suicide girl, and from where I‘m sitting it sounds a lot like you‘re still trying to make up for that debacle when you entered the Eye of Chaos!”

“Its still better than waiting here for it to strike,” the Valkerye snapped back. “If you wait to wait for this…thing to kill you then be my guest. There are plenty of others who are working around the clock to stand a chance. If you‘re going to just sit here and do nothing, lying to yourself that nothing an be done then you‘re no better than the average human!” She winced as he slapped her square across the face hard enough to send her backwards into the TV. For his trouble tough he found her drawing weapons. The God of Destruction left the ground, electricity beginning to arc as he became as a mirage. “You‘ll pay for that insult!”

“Yeah? Make me! I swear if you ever compare me to a human again I‘ll tear your soul out and…” He knew it was a futile effort, that the Valkerye had him outmatched by the greatest of degrees, but at that moment he heard only the fires of rage burning within himself.

“STOP THIS! RIND!!!” Keiichi stood between her and the Orochi, while Wukong extended the golden rod across his superior officer’s chest.

“Boss. Now is not the time. You used to tell me to always think with my head and not with my heart, remember? Kind of ironic that I‘m gonna be telling you the same.” Wukong spoke matter-of-factly from the balcony. “Remember the time I put holy water in Shader‘s bath?” He lowered his weapon as the Orochi’s feet returned to the ground, and the Valkerye lowered both her weapons.

“Yeah, I remember.” The Orochi replied, not taking his eyes off the Valkerye who was giving him the dirtiest of looks while rubbing the side of her face. “Took her a whole month to regenerate from that. Come to think of it, right now I‘m wishing she drowned in it.”

“Alright,” Urd stretched herself, stiff from the long conversation. “Now that the both of you‘ve gotten that out of your systems,” she winked a sly wink at her youngest sister, and then rose and approached the pair standing opposite each other. “I know that neither of you are going to like this, but I think its for the best seeing as you need to be kept in check.” She looked the God of Destruction in the eye. “And you, quite obviously will need reinforcements other than the Valkerye Battle Division. We’re gonna need to help each other if we’re gonna have any hope of making it through MUGEN.” She nodded at Keiichi, who stepped away from Rind, who was still very much fuming mad. “What I‘m proposing now…is a Joint Operation. Between the Battle Division, The Technical Division, Yggdrasil Administration…and what‘s left of the Office of Area Reclamation and Redevelopment.”

“WHAT!?” Skuld, Rind and the Orochi all face-faulted in horror.

“Think about it for a minute,” Urd stepped closer to the pair. “We don‘t have an information network that’s effective enough to track the God-Killer. You have enough contacts between Heaven and Hell to quite possibly manage that. With Washu‘s help, we should be able to come up with something. You on the other hand,” she smiled at the Orochi. “need both support and firepower. The Battle Division can provide just that. Adding to that, we possibly have enough firepower in Kaarage to level every Multiverse our Father has ever created several times over, along with Heaven and Hell themselves. And coming down to how the both you and Rind work, we‘re gonna have to learn how to think outside the box on this one.” Skuld nodded in acknowledgement. “So, I do believe we have what it takes to contain at least one of these threats. But only…ONLY…if we agree to work together.” She turned to her youngest sister. “I guess your mentor‘s gonna throw a fit, huh?” Skuld’s expression was an answer in itself.

As the God of Animals and the God-Killer entered the room, followed by Nakoruru and Occult with Melody and Keima in tow, Urd quickly ushered them to their seats and began to brief them on the unthinkable: that for the first time in the history of the universe, the lines between good and the not-so-evil had finally been, partially at least, dissolved.

[J Dog]

Dr. Rivermen: An Other, or something else?- Part III

As fast as he could, Dr. Rivermen removed the bonds from his prized mecha and then used them to tie up the Other that was unfortuante enough to stay behind. After words, Jules and 1090 started to consider a strategy to get out of this crazy island, in which much of it being that they'd shoot everything in their paths that was stupid enough to stand still. However, they knew about one key part of the plan that they should put into mind: The Others should never be taken lightly. After all, the way they are written, is as if they are superhuman themselves.

"Why can't we just blow everything up?" 1090 whined. "I want to to smash everything that I see because they were probing me with things that I wouldn't want even NEAR me!!!"

"There is a reason why I didn't put that Law of Robotics into you perfectly. And that is because you'd act like that, and you'd be punished every time you'd snap off." With that, 1090 snarled and lifted one of his claws up to his face and scratched his metallic snout.

"So now you are supporting them, eh? That's how it goes; I'm the brawn of the operations, and you don't want me to lay a finger on them?!! You're from Def-Freaking-Con! I think you might as well undo that!"

"At what cost?" Orion said with irritation, for he knew what would happen. He then consided. "Alright, I'll let you take them on. All I gotta do is hack into your server and program you so that you'd defy everything for, oh, about, 20 minutes. How does that sound?"

"Good enough!" 1090 nodded. Rivermen grunted as he opened up 1090's backside and saw a small computer. He typed a series of coding into the system and finally finshed it within minutes.

"The damn reason why you have that system, again, is because DefCon is a defense corporation, and they'd frown if I let you look crazy! I got a job to keep!" He looked at 1090, who didn't like that remark one bit. "However, for the next 20 minutes, it no-holds-bar!"

"Me likey!" With that, 1090 stormed out of the tent, and knocked down a few supporters. The result is that the canopy falls on Rivermen, blinding him. "1090, you stupid machine, wait!" He muffled.

As MechaDorado stormed the site of The Others' operations, with the scene slowing down a bit for dramaticization. What first had happened was that 1090 swung at a tent, knocking it down as if it were nothing. Then, he saw one of their armories, and fired a missle directly at it. What happened next was expected; an explosion.

Tom and Henry Gale finally believed that Louiz's tale was indeed correct and rushed off towards the inferno, where they saw the most horrific sight to them; a machine with a titanic sword, missle launchers, and a titanium hull. "So?" 1090 said, with a demonic growl, now that the "Anti-Asimov" code was in full effect. "Ready to be blown away?" With that, he started firing at them, and slowly turned the site into a muddle of wasteland.

As soon as he got out of the tent, Jules Orion was in disbelief at MechaDorado. He collapsed to the ground and muttered out loud:

I've turned my bad mecha into a demonic twist of machinery!

Unfortuately, MechaDorado turned to his direction. "I'd like to thank you for making me into my full potential! Kah-ha-ha-ha!!!" He grew a jet booster on his legs. "And, now, to satisfy my need for crazy carnage! I bid you adieu!" With that remark, he blasted off towards the direction of the Tournament Grounds. Dr. Jules Orion, the former master of medicine, and now a mere crazed mad scientist, couldn't believe what had happened.

"This wasn't what you were supposed to become, you fool!" He screamed. There was one final option for him to make sure that MechaDorado didn't satisfy his bloodlust; call forth Dr. Forrester and get his help, even if it means sinking to new depths.

NOTE: MechaDorado is now heading to the grounds, and it looks like that mere 20 minute defection might evolve into something else. I'd take this into some consideration, because this moronic robot is now a WMD!

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Prelude: Sing Along-

He sat in his room, alone, in front of a table, a table full of photographies. Photos he had taken himself at the Grounds from afar, or photos he had otherwise adquired from others.

So, they were interested about him. He couldn't blame them. He always had been an interesting person, the most interesting one he had ever met.

The thing is, they were interested about his new powers, not his natural talents. Hild's powers were both a blessing and a curse. They opened millions of new doors at him... but they also were an imposition. He hated being imposed things, even if they were for his own good. His anarchic nature tended to go against them just based on principles alone.

Still, he was used to make lemonade with the lemons gave him. Building criminal empires with bumbling henchmen, starting from scratch from each asylum escape. Making himself one of the most feared names through the world criminal community without any fancy rolly polly superhuman powers. Hild's conditions, although annoying, would be no big problem at the end.

Finally, they all would get what they deserved.

"We are what we're supposed to be. Illusions of your fantasy. All dots and lines that speak and say. What we do is what you wish to do" he began to softly sing to himself, as he took a Nabeshin photo and slowly shredded it to bits with his scissors. "We are the cartoon symphony. We do the things you wanna see. Frame by frame, to the extreme".

He then took some photos of Mara, Bell and Goenitz, and shredded them to rip between his gloved fingers, continuing with inner delight, "Our friends are so unreasonable. They do the unpredictable. All dots and lines that speak and say. What we do is what you wish to do".

He grabbed a drawing he had made himself of Hild, since he had no photos of her at hand, and stomped on it with a foot, all the while singing, now slightly louder, "It's all an orchestra of strings, doing unbelievable things. Frame by frame, to the extreme. One by one, we're making it fun!".

He stood up, and loudly sang, throwing the photos all around himself, and almost yelling, "We are the Cartoon Heroes, Oh oh oh! We are the ones who're gonna last forever! We came out of our crazy mind, Oh oh oh. And what a town and a feza, baby!".

"Take a Spiderman, an arachnophobian. Welcome to the toon town party!" he sang along, sinking a knife through one Spider-Man pic taken from the Daily Bugle. "Take a Superman from nevernever land! Welcome to the toon town party!" he added while ripping a Superman Daily Planet headline by half, with maniacal glee.

"We learn to run at speed of light. And to fall down from many heights. It's true but just remember that what we do is what you just can too". He danced around, and used a lighter to burn down another photo, this one showing the assembled members of Team Hodgepodge. "I know the route of crazyness... A bunch of dots that's chasin' us. Frame by frame, to the extreme. One by one, we're making it fun!".

He danced to the rythm of the music in his head, really excited by now. He reduced a group shot of Team ACROSS to confetti with his hands, all while singing with enthusiasm, "We are the Cartoon Heroes, Oh oh oh! We are the ones who're gonna last forever! We came out of our crazy mind, Oh oh oh! And what a town and a feza, baby!!".

"Take a Spiderman, an arachnophobian! Welcome to the toon town party" He destroyed a Venom pic. "Take a Superman from nevernever land! Welcome to the toon town party". He did the same with a Bizarro photo.

He made a pause to regain his breath, and followed with a wide grin, softening his tone, "You'll think we're so mysterious. Don't take us all too serious. Be original, and remember that what we do is what you just can do!". And he drove the knife through a photo of Team Hearts of Fire.

"What we do is what you just can do. What we do is what you just can do. What we do is what you just can do. What we do is what you just can do" he repeated, as he destroyed pics after pics, totally absorbed by it. Team Bad Girls. Zauriel. Team JLAvengers. He felt in Heaven. He had a plan. He was enjoying the rush of the moment.

"We are the Cartoon Heroes, Oh oh oh! We are the ones who're gonna last forever! We came out of our crazy mind, Oh oh oh! And what a town and a feza, baby!!" he laughed, and sank the knife through a set of photos he had stolen from Mara. Belldandy, Urd, Skuld and Keiichi. Four in a row. He was feeling lucky.

Finally, he sang the final part, holding one last photo in a hand. One of the Bat. He grinned crazily as he almost whispered to it, "There's still more to come, and everyone will be welcomed at the Toon - Toon-Town - Town Paaaaaartyyy...".

And with a final cackling laugh, he grabbed a handgun and shot the photography through its head.





Moments later, he walked out of the room, still chuckling to himself. Okay, the time for the small biz had passed. Time to get serious, as serious as he could be anyway.

"Did you have fun in there?" Goenitz asked icily, sitting at a corner, mounting guard next to the door. He looked at him in a way that seemed to be an accusation. But Joker didn't mind.

"Tons of it" he smiled slyly. "What if we go for Mara and Bell now? I have... some things I'd like to talk about with them".


Next: Fool's Errand Part 1- Where Team UFO's Mimi is attacked, and Shader reports back to Aion!

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Chapter 1: Blokk's Path to Stardom, Continuation-

"So, what did you get?".

He was sitting in the darkness of their new hideout; the reclusiveness and secretiveness of the place was a must for helping to mantain them hidden from Zauriel's search parties currently looking for them through the whole of the Tournament Grounds. Shader advanced towards him, stopped at a few feet of distance, and delivered her report.

"Ahem. First of all, as you remarked, I made sure no one was able to follow me on my way back here. No easy feat, by the way. The Lodge's surroundings are brimming with Angels. Anyway, yes, I met up with the Laughing Man. Now I am even more convinced he is bad news, Boss. Working with him implies way too many risks. Too unstable, most likely to turn around us at any given moment, just on a whim. Hild can get away with that because she can take anything he could dish out, but we--".

"What did he say about our offer?".

"Didn't take it outright" the Neko demoness meekly replied, "But seemed to express an interest on it". She handed him the playcard. "He... he said this was for you...".

The Sinner took a look at the memento. A Joker card. Next to the grinning visage of a jester's face, there was "I'll give it some thought. Kisses, J-" written in black marker.

"Interesting" Aion calmly spoke.

"Looks like he isn't very fond of Hild, but knows he can't go against her and win. He... he told me we'd have to speak with her before we'd get his aid, but I think that's out of the question, right? Especially after Pandemonium...".

"Maybe we can strike a deal" Aion mused quietly, lost in thoughts, still looking at the card. "We have something Hild might be interested in. A perfect help for her to get Orochi and Wukong before they become a bump on her plans".

"Boss?".

"It repulses me, the mere idea of an alliance with her..." He cringed his teeth in frustration, "Yet, desperate situations force our hands in the strangest manners. Anything more to report?".

"Um, actually, y-yes... He... he read my mind". She gave a step back when he shot her a questioning stare. "A Memory Rewind. We ignored he could do somthing like that. He saw we worked with Vellinor, and went really mad when he learned about it. He seems to hate Vellinor with a burning passion. And--".

"He knows about me" the Sinner sighed softly. "All the more reason to try to gain him for our cause. Because, when he finally blooms in what Hild expects him to be... something worse than Hell will break loose".

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

A stinking body composed mostly of slimy tentacles laid at the area of Garbage Disposal of the MUGEN Hotel. It had been thrown there when the Hotel's staff found a dead tentacle monster at one of their bathrooms, and after some discussion, finally decided to just dump the inhuman thing away and try to forget about it as soon as possible. The female... ape... who had been with the creature last night had just disappeared; they believed she had found the body before, freaked out and ran out.

However, the regeneration factor of the aberration was something they had not counted on. Hours after, Blokk was alive enough again to crawl his way out of the garbage, cursing himself for not dying after that horrible experience.

He needed something to wipe that horrible taste of simian off his mouth. He needed pretty females to have. But first, he needed hentai slaves to help him, or he would just be pummeled around again.

He was looking for Happosai again when he stumbled into a clearing in the middle of which five cameramen for WGBS TV were taking a break from their MUGEN duties. He kept himself between the bushes with interest as he heard them talking. Those humans could be a good start for his ranks, after all. And they handled filming material...

Blokk's big dream had always been to be a pornstar. He envied his cousins who always got jobs at Urutsokidoji and La Blue Girl sequels, while he always was rejected because 'his tentacles were way too short'. It wasn't how long they were, it was about how he could use them!

Although, yeah, he also dreamed about enlarging them someday.

Anyway, he waited there in ambush. Getting his own Camera Crew could be just what he needed to make his day...



Next: Mimi gets attacked, and Blokk attacks! No, not in the same event, pervs!

[T51R]

Next...Akira's challenge has been answered...But who will he find worthy to become MUGEN's Wild Card Teams for the later rounds!?

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Desperate Measures

On the balcony, Vellinor’s grin widened to an impossible degree as he witnessed his team’s victory. Slowly, he turned to the rather disappointed-looking Xelloss.

“Looks like I won,” he said, extending his hand. “Now cough up the fifty million, loser. I’ll let the Vespa and PSP wait for now.”

Xelless’ eyes darted back and forth shiftily. “Ummmm .. . . . yes, about that,” he said. “I . . . don’t have fifty million on me at the moment.”

Vellinor raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?” He snapped his fingers, and instantly two suited men – one with slick brown hair and the other a black man wih an afro – appeared. “Vincent, Jules, take Mr. Xelloss outside and show him what happens to people who don’t pay up.”

Vincent and Jules nodded, and turned to advance on the Mazoku. Xelloss grinned suddenly. “Oh look at the time! I must be leaving!” Seeing that Xelloss intended to escape, Vincent lunged at him – only to receive an energy blast in the face that propelled him off the balcony, just as Xelloss teleported away.

Jules rushed to the edge of the balcony just in time to see his friend plummet to his messy death. “Aw for Chrissake man, why you gotta go and die every f*cking time?” he exclaimed.

Vellinor gave a derisive snort and teleported Jules away. He wasn’t too worried, though: Xelloss now had a deal to live up to, and if he failed to pay up, then this would give him the perfect excuse to shake up the Council of Hells a little and annoy them no end.

Slowly, he turned to his team, where theysat celebrating in the benches. He caused them to disappear in a flash of light as he teleported them away to the training grounds. That done, he fished out his cell phone and dialed a number.

“Hey, Cancer? Er, sorry, Kansai? Yeah, it’s me. Listen, I’ll need you and your chums to meet me in the western training grounds right away. Oh, no reason. I just feel that the good guys might try to tail you, that’s all. Bye!”

With that, he hung up. It always paid to make sure that every angle was covered. Hmmm . .. speaking of which . . . .the Trickster fished a hide-bound book out of his pocket, thumbed a few key passages, and began to read in an arcane, almost grating tongue. The pages of the Necronomicon seemed to glow green for a few seconds, before dying down.

Chuckling, Vellinor pocketed the Necronomicon. That ought to keep the angels busy for a while, he thought. With a final gesture, he caused a bucket of sauerkraut to materialize above Dhalsim’s head and fall on him, before he teleported away.

**********

Anzell jumped when she saw Team Vellinor disappear in a flash. Cursing, she tried to determine the direction of the teleport – she felt the fading threads of the spell with her mind’s eye, tracing it, following it . . .

“The training grounds,” she said. “They’ve gone back to the training grounds!”

Marv cracked his knuckles. “What are we waitin’ for, then?” he said. “No doubt Laughing Boy will be there with them. Let’s get the jump on ‘em while we can!”

“That would be against tournament law,” Master Chief said firmly. “Vellinor and his team havn’t broken any laws yet. If we were to attack them, then we’d be in the wrong.”

Zarabeth fingered her blades. “To hell with tournament law!” she hissed. “This is the only chance we’ll ever have to get that bastard!” Every fibre of her being was itching for payback against Vellinor, and she would not be denied at a moment like this.

The goddess said nothing. Slowly, though, she turned to Alita, who seemed lost in thought. “What do you think?”

The cyborg shook her head. “Zarabeth and Marv are right,” she said. “We might be breaking tournament law, but it may be the only chance we ever get. I say we go for it.”

Anzell clenched her fist slightly. Slowly, she nodded, pulled out a cell phone, and dialed a number.

“Hey, Alaniel? It’s me, Anzell,” she said. “Something’s just come up: I’ll need you to send some Angel squads down to the western area of the training grounds and converge on my location. Tell them to prepare for battle against high-level opponents.”

”I’d love to, but something’s happened down here as well!” she heard Alaniel’s voice shout on the other end – she thought she heard a chorus of crazed yelling in the background. ”We have a zombie infestation down in the central district!”

Anzell’s eyes widened. “ZOMBIES? But . . . .but there aren’t any graveyards or morgues in the central area!” she exclaimed.

”I don’t know where they came from, either!” Alaniel shouted, his voice barely heard over the sound of a zombie dying a messy death from a flaming katana. [i]”All I know is that they appeared from out of nowhere, and there’s a freaking LOT of them! And these aren’t slow shamblers – these are the running variety! I need every angel at my disposal to hold them off – it’s all we can do to keep them from the arena!”

“Alright,” Anzell said, trying to maintain a level of calm in her voice. “Send squads over as soon as you’re done, then.” With that, she hung up and turned to her team. “It looks like we’ll have to go in alone.”

Marv grinned savagely. “About damn time,” he said.

Anzell merely gave Marv a slight nod, and then closed her eyes. Before her team could react, the goddess was suddenly bathed in a bright white light – Master Chief was the only one who did not recoil blindly, the sensers of his helmet instantly darkening the screen of his visor to adjust to the brightness. A gale of force seemed to blow outward from the goddess. Slowly, Anzell’s team thought they saw ripples of energy moving along her form, as though something was growing onto her . . . .

Then, finally, the flash subsided. Team Anzell stared in astonishment at their leader: an armoured breastplate of smooth-looking grey metal now covered her torso, covered with various strange runes and forged in such a way that it made a perfect fit over her slender body. Her lower arms were now covered by long vambraces made from the same metal, and a silver, crown-like headband now circled her head. In her hand she held the same golden spear that her team had, on occasion, seen her wield before. More noticeable than this change of attire, however, was the change in her composure: whereas before she had seemed frail, vulnerable and elegant, she now seemed firm, confident and completely self-controlled. She had the look of a warrior.

Marv whistled appreciatively. “Damn girl, what’s with the fancy getup?” he asked.

“This is my battle aspect,” she replied calmly. “All peacekeeper-gods have battle aspects if they need to tap into any of their sealed power to battle tough opponents, and I’m not exception.”

She turned to the rest of her team. “Get ready: I’m going to teleport us down to Team Vellinor’s area. Once there, we’ll have to deal with them as best we can until help arrives.”

Her team nodded in unison: Marv unholstered Gladys, Zarabeth drew her twin short swords, Alita unfolded her Damascus Blade, and Master Chief flipped the safety catch of his plasma rifle.

And then, in a blinding flash of light, they were gone.

Coming Soon: Confrontation!

[J Dog]

Mimi's Mix- Conclusion: Beware the New Mimi!

After several attempts, Mimi had finally gotten a decent trick out of the "Chop & Screw" move. To demonstrate, she jumps in the air. "Hey, Sora! Check this out!" She says as she starts to spin like a mini-twister, but as she lands, Mimi starts spinning like an ice skater, causing the twister to widen up and broaden its distance. "And, behold this!" She leaps into the air, leaving the tornado, and lands on the ground with her left hand touching the ground. She the uses the right hand to chop down on the ground. "Hi-Ya!"

Sora was astonished; a lot changed in Mimi in one day. When it all began, Mimi was little more than a ditz. Now, she can handle herself! And all of this from a guy who looks tough but actually cares. It's amazing that Jackson Charleston Stallwall knew more than hip-hop and Houston feats.

"Hey, Jack." Sora said. "I'm actually proud of what you did."

Jack rubbed his face, much like a manga shot of "It Was Nothing". "Yeah, thanks for that. Look, I'm just looking out for the Tachikawa-chan."

"Looking out?" Palmon laughed. "You made her into something!"

"I'm just teaching her to handle herself. That's all. I have experience from all this, since I do handle two younger siblings." He grabbed his wallet and showed Sora a picture of Jack, Tiffany, and a third child with black hair. "That's Bernard Stallwall." He said, referring to the third child. That was when Mimi came over to him and hugged him much like the moments before meeting the whacked-out Nudoru.

"Thanks, Jack!" She gleefully said, with starry eyes from shojo manga. "I'm proud that you actually helped me-"

That was short-lived, for there was a sudden report on the speakers around the grounds. The noise boomed with an announcement of a warning of epic size.

"The MUGEN Tournament Security Counsil regrets to inform you that there has been a sighting of an intruder heading towards the grounds. It is dubbed a robotic creation that looks like Tournament Combatant Dorado Laredo Kompson, even though it is noted that this is an entirly different entity."

Jack looked dumbstruck; a mechanized version of Dorado Kompson?!!! He couldn't believe.

"Jack, what's going on?" Mimi asked, now worried.

"Stay close to me and we'll go meet the other Digidestined. Who knows what'll happen." Was what he replied.

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

Annoyed by the crane fu poses, Dorado was surprised to hear about this mechanized version of him coming to the Tournament area. "It just keeps getting better and better!" He grumbled.

"Son! Now is not the name to complain!" Mel reprimended. "Sensei, what should we do?"

Nabeshin looked at Dorado. "A mecha version of this lout?!!" He laughed, and that pissed Dorado off. "I'm sorry, but I doubt that would do much."

How was he wrong. As he jetted forward, a sinister light emerged from its eyes as it muttered destruction.

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Part 1: Foolish Things-

Team Criminal Underworld Headquarters:

"QUICK! QUICK!!" Mimi urged as she put bundles of clothing after bundles of clothing in her luggage at amazing speed, with OM, Paquito and Puttymon watching in mute stupor. "We gotta leave before Lao-sama recovers! She'll be angry as Hell at us for failing at the Arena, and I don't want to pay her by becoming another of her girl-toys!!".

"Um, you sure about that...?" the thin, lanky OM tried to point out. "I mean, Lao hasn't been that unreasonable in all the time we've been working for her...".

"BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!" Mimi turned around for just a second to slap him three times across the face, her head turned into a gigantic SD, before turning around again to package her belongings at top speed. "I can't believe you haven't heard anything about the legend of Madame Lao! She's as merciless as they come! Feared even by the superheroes! Almost as mighty as FBH-sama!" she said, remembering their old boss back at the You vs. Anime World Earth for a moment. "When she recovers from the beating Buttercup gave her, she'll put you guys to work at the coal mines, and me to be one of her private slaves!!".

"Oh, c'mon. You must be overreacting..." OM tried to laugh, sweatdropping, but then noticed Puttymon and Paquito were already quickly gathering heir lugagge as well. "Ehhhh, but thinking about it, maybe it won't hurt just to be safe...".

He went for his own belongings, but before he could reach them, the nearest wall fell squarely on him, burying him under its crumpled weight. The rest of Team UFO spun around to face the robot that had just bursted through into their room.

It was huge. It was titanic in size, as a matter of fact. And its fearsome featues were those of...

... A cat.

"MEEEEOWWWTH!!!" a voice came from inside the machine. "Prepare yourselves, stupid wannabes!!".

"Oh, great" Mimi grumbled sourly under her breath. "Even here, we can't ever catch a break!".

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

Near the MUGEN Hotel:

"So, what do you think, Andy?" one of the WGBS cameramen was asking to one of his colleagues, with a wink of an eye. "About the babes here. Which one do you like the best?".

"Eh, the busty one in the leather bikini... Naga, wasn't she?... has a hell of a body, even if that laugh of hers is hideous" the man with short red hair replied, taking a sip of his Duff Beer can. They had to make the best of the short rests they had between fights. "How 'bout you, Chuck?" he asked to a black bald fellow Cameraman.

"I like the Gotham wacko... the plant lady who's gonna fight versus the Thing's team" he answered with a shrugging of shoulders. "Yeah, I know, she's a full loon, but she's still so hot it hurts...".

"Poison Ivy, huh?" another, shorter man with glasses also opened a beer can. "She's fine, but I prefer the blue haired one, the one who beat the giant robot. What an ass, and she has the tight pants to show it off".

"Word, Dylan. Word" the final member of the team, a blonde with a ponytail, nodded. "But my favorite's the Naru-whatever girl...".

"Dude, she's too young!" the first one that had spoken opined. "What's she, like 17?".

"Hey, she'll grow up soon, won't she? At least if that Akuma freak, or the Joker, or friggin' Magneto doesn't kill her first" the ponytailed guy replied. "How about you, Bernie? Who's your fave?".

"Heh. For me, it's gotta be that Ryoko gal in one of the all girls teams. So exotic... so curvy...!".

Then the creepy, inhuman voice coming out of the bushes took the five of them by surprise.

"Huh, huh, huh. Fellow Hentais at heart... Good, very good!" The monstrosity raised to sight from its hiding place, stretching its stenching tentacles towards them, making the men to scream in panic. "COME TO ME, BROTHERS! DON'T DENY YOUR DESTINY! You and me will soon have all the flesh we could ever wish... and I'll make you my Generals in the-- OOOOOFF!!" He stumbled down and fell on what passed for his face.

"NOW!" Bernie, the least frightened of them, commanded as he took a rock and hit Blokk with it, "While he's stunned, you guys run for help! I'll-- URK!!".

"You won't do anything but obey, human sheep" Blokk wrapped his viscous tentacles around the men's necks, pulling them towards him with superhuman strenght, all at once. "Don't worry, I won't rape you... I only go for the wimmen!" he said a bit goofily, before reassuming a more sinister tone, "But you WILL be my slaves in a new, glorious age... the Age of Blokk!". He chuckled dumbly again. "And NC-17 ratings!!". *



* OOC: Dont believe him. The fic will definitely stay as non-sexual as it can. :)


Next: Fool's Errand Part 2: With Mimi vs. Jessie, Nabeshin vs. Mecha Dorado, and Joker going after Vellinor... and Keiichi... again!

[Saint_007]

If you can't write the fight, maybe we can postpone it for later?

Seriously, though, how was the job interview? Hope it turned out okay... :)

[T51R]

~Sign of the Hammer~



The sound of tearing steel, snapping alloy and crushing composites filled the air amidst the massive ‘boom’ of exploding jet fuel as the Turbokat fell from the sky. Advanced weaponry, armour-piercing shells, a super light airframe with near-perfect avionics and optical stealth technology hadn’t helped it in the least against the enemy below. T-Bone let loose the remainder of the aircraft’s payload while Razor turned the Turbokat sharply into the telekinetic assault which was quickly hacking the plane around them to bits. The missiles did nothing against the man’s shields; seemingly impregnable and invisible barriers either detonated the warheads or simply bounced a good distance away without giving them the chance to explode. Splintering wings and a disintegrating fuselage signalled the Swat Kats returning to solid ground, their battle over. The cockpit hissed as the locks gave, T-Bone and Razor leaving in earnest right before the craft that they had worked so hard to construct in the years before went up in flames followed by a massive blast; its death knell. The pilots looked towards the massive space in the distance, at the centre of Tokyo. The city that they had flown halfway across the globe to save. At the centre of it, their adversary. The red-clad man, his hair as black as night while his eyes seemed to glow with naught but purpose.

“You alive bro?” T-Bone spat a mouthful of blood as he removed his flight helmet.

“Yeah,” his partner panted, the shrapnel wound in his leg obviously causing him great pain. A missile exploding as soon as it had left the Turbokat’s launch bay saw to Akira’s first act in their short-lived combat. “Just barely,” the Swat Kat checked his wrist-mounted blades. “Lets go.” He hadn’t needed to speak; their opponent had come to them. Razor watched helplessly as T-bone was flung yards away by a telekinetic battering ram, then heard a faint crackling as the pressure began to build around him. A huge boom was the last thing he heard, his ear-drums gave out as the column of compressed air hammered him into a crater, leaving him broken, bruised and battered. Le looked at the ground on which he lay, trickling across which were small streams of his own blood. Not enough to put him down, he thought to himself, at least until the shadow of his adversary fell over him.

“Well fought,” Akira looked down upon his fallen foe. “But you did not fight with selflessness in your heart. Yours was a battle fought out of fear, even if that fear was of death itself. Of course self-preservation is a natural instinct. However, it is when a being resigns himself to that fate on behalf of another…that is when a being becomes truly strong. Perhaps this is something the Gods will grant you the privilege of experiencing when my Mistress stands victorious over your brethren.” Razor found himself looking upon the man with not a shred of fear in his heart; rather, he felt shame. It was true; if anything he had personally been fighting out of fear for his own existence. The telekinetic vanished then, and re-appeared close to the battered T-Bone who was now nursing a twisted ankle from his harsh landing. “Your reasons for this battle were indeed more noble,” Akira knelt beside the Swat Kat, T-Bone trying to hide his pain. “However, you have mistaken lust for love, is that not true?” Seeing his foe’s will to carry on extinguished, he rose to leave but found several more opponents ready to take their place. He began to leave the ground, hovering slightly over their heads.

“I pray that you have reasons for fighting me more valid than these…?”





-Later, within the Icy Cold Sphere located deep under Tokyo-




The loading dock creaked and groaned as he willed its cogs into motion, motors humming to life and breaking free of their icy tombs. It trembled as it descended into the dark, upon its platform the red-clad Herald stood unscathed, his arms crossed across his chest. Slowly, purposefully, he began towards his chamber deep in the centre of the subterranean structure with his boot steps echoing through the emptiness around him. The lights of the dreary, cold interior flickered for a moment and illuminated the corridor. Gigantic cables transferring liquid nitrogen into the core as well as cables sending power to the upper levels snaked this way and that. The floor, encrusted with frost, crunched under the soles of his boots. Icicles fell from the frame of the armoured hatchway as the nly heated room in the entire structure welcomed its occupant.

Akira threw off his makeshift cape and draped it over the high-backed chair that was sitting near the door, a large piece of thin, red leather he had happened upon. He removed his gloves, and then his boots and socks. Slowly he went to relieve himself while waiting for the bath to fill, the aroma of coffee beans filling the tiny space that he had been maintaining for himself. Just for himself. Even though he felt a tinge of guilt about doing so; his Mistress was to have been his only solace, his reflection on her every word his source of inner peace. But yet, that particular room was indeed familiar. He gingerly dropped two cubes of sugar into the piping hot cup of joe, and stirred in the milk. Prim and proper, he remembered the Lady Belldandy, and set the up in his hand onto its saucer before sitting down at the study. He rolled the shutter open, and from the lowest shelf took his diary. He turned to a particular page, and began to write the names of those he had defeated that day. He looked across the room at the buzzing Sony cell phone on the tidy little bed.

“Mistress, ” he checked the number, set the loudspeaker and set the phone onto its stand on the study after turning the little screen on. “I beg your forgiveness, but none today have satisfied the requirements. Perhaps I am being to single-minded in your service…”

The image of the Goddess Belldandy seemed disappointed in the viewer, her sigh bringing pain to him heart as it came over the speaker. “Please carry on,” she said, her Herald bowing deeply towards the handset before the screen went black. Akira’s shoulders drooped; he had failed her, he thought to himself. But none of them had met her criteria, nor her expectations. ‘Pure of heart, self-sacrificing, willing to put themselves in harm’s way or worse for the good of everyone and everything while excluding themselves entirely.’ The better part of what she had said to him had been made up of those words on the day she had given him the task at hand. He took a sip of the coffee, and was satisfied with the taste of it. To find those of pure hearts, out of who had come to fight him for the sake of everything else. The ones, those particular ones who thought nothing of their own lives nor limbs, who were there to protect others who they loved so dearly they had already resigned themselves to terrible ends. Those who held hope beyond hope in their hears in these darkest of times. The Sphere trembled from an attack on the ground above it.

He knew what his task was about; it had been covered all too well in Her briefing. Later on in the great Tournament, special challengers would be introduced for the existing teams to prove their worth against. Opponents who they could not prepare nor strategize for, hence proving to the judges that they were truly worthy of advancing to the next round. His job, She had explained, was to ensure that these special chosen ones would be of exemplary quality. No evil would pass his sight, no wickedness could be allowed to stand in his presence; his was an edict signed by Her hand. To eradicate the merciless and those who would crack their whips across the backs of the helpless. This was his task. A living, breathing test of personal purity. He reached across to the little shelf beside the study, and took from it a tin of crackers. It had been several hours worth of fighting, and he had gotten hungry an hour or two before dinner. Again the Sphere shook, but not once did he wince. After all, it was a structure armoured like no other, built to withstand a continuous nuclear offensive.

He switched on the external monitors that had been transferred to his quarters, and found a blue titan standing at the end of the open patch of ground hurling beams of energy at the low-lying buildings at its centre, armoured blast doors absorbing the punishment with ease while the reinforced concrete cracked but refused to give. “Identify yourself,” he sent the thought out, and felt only the raw emotions of the pair in the cockpit. Hope, he thought to himself, they had so much hope in both their hearts. Purpose though, did they have that? Yes. Great purpose. However…

He smiled to himself and rose, putting his gloves and boots on followed by the cape. Again the crackling of frost filled the air, Akira leaving his private chamber in order to face the latest arrivals.

[J Dog]

Nabeshin's thoughts on MechaDorado

"Let me get this straight," Nabeshin said, a little confused about this newfound MechaDorado 1090 (though they didn't know about '1090'), "There is this machine based off of YOU?!!" He was pointing to Dorado. "Forgive me for calling you a lout, but a mechanical version of you would barely even be a threat."

Dorado was a little surprised about this Mecha version of himself. "Come on! This is going to rock!" Mel slapped him in the back of the head. "Son! It won't rock if he blows everything to smitherines! Take into consideration!"

Before they could say anything else, a gigantic mecha appeared in the horizion. "Ah, here it comes." Nabeshin spoke, as he puffed on a cigarette. "I'll show you that it won't do much in combat."

MechaDorado landed nearby and Nabeshin ran off towards the new target. 1090 turned around and observed the new specimen. Inside its metal frame, a system detected his presence.

"Target!" It beeped, "Name: Nabeshin! Series: Excel Saga! Strengths: Unlimited strength, afro! Weaknesses: N/A!" 1090 then stared deeply into Nabeshin. "So, I see you have no weaknesses, huh? Don't matter! I'll grind you to the ground in the name of the Orion Force!"

"Orion Force?!!" Nabeshin chuckled. "That Doctor Rivermen?!! I've heard of his escapades before. He fought Jack Stallwall once... and easily lost, by means of a missle strike... and he still lived. That kid dosen't need my training as much, though this nuthead does." Dorado was miffed when he said that. "But, back to the point: What the hell is 'Orion Force'?"

"A secret strike team that the great Rivermen plans to destroy the evil Doctor Clayton Forrester!" It grumbled. Mel was aghast; there was another combatant to the elimination of Dr. Forrester. "And I won't rest until the threat is gone... even if I destroy everything else!"

"Sensei, this machine looks like my son, but dosen't act like him." Mel asked. "What the heck is going on?!"

"The personality of this mecha has been altered. Usually robots based off flesh counterparts have more in-depth personalities. He's been converted to a generic destroyer... and I'll dismantle him easily." He pulls out a nunchaku from his afro. "Watch and learn."

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

Running as fast as they can, the group, led by Jack, rushed to the other DigiDestined, and met up with them. Jack proceeded to explain what he was doing, and what is going on.

"...so you've done to her in a few hours that a few days in the DigiWorld failed to accomplish?" Tai said, a little astonished. "I have to say; based off Mimi, this is like a monumental leap! A quantam jump!" He paused. "But, why the heck?"

"In a few hours, she'll take on this girl that is crazy as heck. I wanted to give her a little advantage." Jack backed away a little. "Is that okay, Kamiya?"

"Yeah, Tai! He gave me a lot of tips!" Mimi said.

Tai glanced at Jack. "Okay. I'm glad that you did so... but then again... well, I don't see any problem." He gave a thumbs-up to Stallwall. "Man, you sure are better than I had thought when you first appeared."

"Hey, it's nothing! Well, I gotta give her a few more tips." Leaving the group for a bit, Jack and Mimi walked around the grounds, and saw Grim, trying to escape from those two little brats again.

"Why can't I get a day off from those two?!!" He cried. "Stupid Limbo game!" Jack saw this as an opportunity to revive Uckman.

"Hey, Skeletor! I wanna ask you something..."

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Part 2: Dangerous Foolishness-

"Before we get in..." Goenitz suddenly stopped before he and Joker stepped into the MUGEN Medical Wing, "... allow me to clarify one thing to you. Making deals with the Sinner is above your atributions".

The Clown Prince stopped right there, frozen on his tracks, and looked back at the Orochiblooded with a mix of amused stupor and slightly offended surprise. "You were spying on me!" he said.

"It is my duty to watch over you" Goenitz simply replied, trying to keep his voice low so no one would overhear them. "And I see I cannot leave you unchecked. She tempted you, am I right? Tried to wrestle you away from the Mistress' side...".

"If you know that much, you must know I sent her to fly, too" Joker snorted dismissively.

"Luckily for you" the older fighter replied callously. "We have no business to attend to with the Sinner's ranks. Keep that in mind".

"Whatever" Joker grinned widely, winking an eye at him. "But don't get angry about that, Sugar Daddy!" he perversely joked then.

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

Team UFO's Room:

"Prepare for trouble!" a figure raised from the inside the giant intruder mecha, the big red 'R' visible at the middle of its chest.

"And make it double!" another human form raised next to it, also sporting a 'R', and carrying a red rose between its shiny white teeth.

"To protect the world from devastation...".

"To unite all people within our nation!". And upon hearing that, the members of Team UFO cringed horrified by the sheer corniness.

"To dennounce the evils of truth and love!" the female of the duo proudly exclaimed.

"And extend our reach to the stars above!" the male added.

"JESSIE!".

"JAMES!".

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!" the redhaired girl said, while Mimi sighed and grabbed a nearby bazooka.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" her teammate pointed a finger down at Team UFO, not even noticing Mimi was finishing preparing her huge weapon just while they talked.

"MEOWW!" Meowth peeked out of the giant robot between both of them. "DAT'S RIGHT!!".

"Not now. Please" Mimi snorted, unimpressed, and shot them with the bazooka straight in the middle of the Meowthinator XIII, sending them flying out of the Fighter's Lodge, although at least not blasting off into the sky; the metallic giant managed to screech to a halt several meters back, even though Jessie and James had fell hard on the way back, and now laid hurt and dizzied on the ground.

"HAH!" Mimi laughed, thriumphant. Behind her, Paquito and Puttymon snickered together, and OM crawled his bloodied way out of the debris. "That's why we don't make silly mottos! It gives your enemies plenty of time to set an attack, FOOLS!".

"W-Why, you--!!" Jessie spat, her face full of dirt, as she struggled back to her feet. "Cheap, honorless gaijin!! I'll beat your ugly nerd face up into your neck!".

"My, my, we are aggressive today, aren't we?" Mimi giggled evilly. "Really, though, why did you come here, Red? We have no beefs with you losers!".

"You stole our organization's good name and twisted it! You made a public mocking out of it!" Jessie yelled. "When you lost like chumps at the Arena, people began to associate your team and your lousy performance with us! That's why you must be punished, two-bit wannabes!".

"Oh, yes? You'll punish us??" Mimi fumed, walking up at her and looking at her straight into her eyes. "You and which army, bratty witch?".

"I could beat the whole lot of you by myself, blinded and tied to a tree!" Jessie yelled back.

"Um, Jess...?" Meowth piped in from behind, still piloting the Meowthinator, with James climbing into it to sit at his side. "If you get outta there, we might stomp 'er now...".

"SHADDAP, CAT!!" The redhead growled back at him. "This is personal now! If this hussy thinks she can take on me, I'll teach her a lesson with my own hands!".

"If you are talking about lessons on how to hurt freaks like you, I learned that long ago!" Mimi grinned cruelly at her. "But I always can use a refreshing course!".

Jessie pulled out a Pokeball. "You'll swallow those words whole, along with your poisonous tongue!".

"You dream!" Mimi took a hold of some Instant Youma capsules. "When I'm done with you, even that Violator monster is going to puke when he sees you!".

"Allright!" Puttymon sat down on the floor next to Paquito. "Catfight! A shame dey're just humans...".

"Ummm..." At the other side of the scenario, James sweatdropped and looked at Meowth. "Are we going to let her to fight alone just like that?".

"Eh, it's her decision" the Pokemon shrugged. "And if she gets her butt kicked, then we kick her opponent's ourselves. No sweat!".

OM, meanwhile, sighed wearily. "Well, here we go, AAGAAIN...".

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

Back at the MUGEN Medical Wing:

"A plan?" Mara asked with curiosity, as she left the building along with the Joker, Goenitz and Bell.

"A little one, for starters" the Clown Prince of Gotham nodded, smiling untuously. "Nothing too fancy for now, nothing that can get your always worried behinds into the fire, fellas. And yet, such a direct hit to the bullseye, such a crippling punch to Bellybuttony's heart, such a--".

"Wait a second" Bell asked. "Are you talking about messing with Belldandy??".

"Well, not directly her" He admited. "But the next best thing. Think about it!" he extended an index towards them. "We are surrounded by chains! Chains, threatening to crush our ultimate thriumph! And the first thing we must do with those chains is to attack the weakest link of the strongest chain!".

"The strongest chain..." Mara blinked. "Don't tell me..." she whispered in surprised understanding, "Keiichi...? But if we kill him, Belldandy will be more dangerous than ever...".

"For the love of God!" Joker screamed, frustrated. "Why do I must have this reputation of a single minded kill-kill guy?!". His tone swiftly became both more sinister and much softer, his voice only a barely audible thing for his teammates. A devious wide smile was again on his face. "Listen, dears. As fun as the Red Way often is, sometimes the subtler way is funnier... and causes even more pain... and laughs... You must know what I'm talking about...". He looked into Mara's eyes knowingly.

Slowly, the demoness smiled back, an evil glint in her own pupils. Messing with Belldandy and Keiichi's lives always made her day. "Alright, then, Jester. Let's hear what do you have in that dirty mind of yours...".


Next: Fool's Errand, Part 3- Nabeshin fights Mecha Dorado, and Urd goes looking for a soul!

[OverMaster]

EDIT: Accidental Double Post.

[Golden Darkness]

OOC: Yeah, I'm kinda back. As for my interview, it was more of a 'can you answer these programming problems' type thing. So I don't know how things will turn out, or when I'll have a real interview, much know a notice of acceptance/rejection.

The Battle Between the Halves of Light and Darkness, Match One: Pink Galaxy Ranger vs. Astronema (or When the Concept of the Star Trek Episode Mirror, Mirror Begins to Become Overused Real Fast)

The red haired Astronema, the heir to Dark Specter's United Alliance of Evil, started to circle around the landing pad of the Seperatist Base, her opponent doing the same. "So, it seems my dear brother is a coward to face me. To think he would have a Ranger from another team to face me instead of him."

Due to the fact that the Karone was wearing her helmet, one couldn't see her see her face twist into a grimace from hearing her doppleganger's words. "Andros... he's with the other Rangers, trying to ensure that other cities didn't meet the same fate that Angel Grove did."

Astronema let out a laugh as she pulled out her Wraith Staff. "Hah! You're all pathetic, trying to stop the most dangerous giant monsters of this planet's history. However, it'll be I, and those beneath me, who will finish off you and your fellow Power Rangers."

The Pink Ranger responded by pulling out her Quasar Saber. "Not if I can save you from Dark Specter's clutches first."

With a shout, Astronema leapt into the air towards Karone, thrusting her weapon foward, firing off an energy blast towards the Pink Ranger. In reaction, Karone rolled foward to dodge the blast, only to quickly block a downward slash of the Wraith Staff as Astronema had landed near her. "Who says I wanted to be saved by the likes of you? I like who I am."

"I know more about you than you think." Karone quickly backed off, attempting to give herself some space away from her evil twin. "In fact, I know you too well. You're nothing but a false personality made to serve evil, with the real you locked away."

"And you're nothing but a fool to believe in that." Astronema made another swing at the Pink Ranger, only to hit a fence as her opponent dodged her attack again. "And apparently, a coward as well. Why won't you fight me for real?"

Soon the stands were becoming mostly filled with boos as it became apparent that the Pink Ranger was fighting defensively, not once taking the offsensive, causing the fight to not have a much energy as the other ones. There were some cheers though, especially from the contingent made up of various henchmen of the Power Rangers' foes.

"Ha, look at that pathetic Ranger!" went Darkonda, the twisted alien spy for Dark Specter. "To think she can make Astronema good again."

"Yep, you're sure right," replied Elgar, who was sitting next to Darkonda. "But say... I heard that particular Pink Ranger is supposed to be Astronema's good twin or something. Doesn't Astronema only have that stupid brother of her?"

"You're a fool. That Pink Ranger is Astronema, but from this timeline. We on the other hand, are from another timeline, and our Astronema hasn't been purified yet." Looking at the so-call fight, Darkonda smirked. "Of course, our Astronema doesn't know this, yet."

"Oh I see. I gotcha." Elgar remarked. "No wait, I don't."

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

"What is she thinking up there?" Anakin, exasperated, stated, "Why isn't she on the offensive?"

"Calm down Anakin, I believe our Ranger over there has a plan to deal with her other half." Obi-Wan answered. "Besides, you should maintain focus. It is very likely you will face Vader."

"I am focused. It's just that..." Anakin paused, having felt something in the Force. Another person with a Force-strong presense was nearby on this planet. "Obi-Wan, do you feel that?"

The bearded Jedi stretched his senses out in the Force. "There's another Force User out there, but it's no one I recognize."

"Could it be the other Sith?"

"Actually, no, the presense isn't dark. But still, this does bear investigating."

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

"Man... that spandex loser is such a loser," Evil Coop laughed out of his mech. "There's no way Astronema's gonna give up evil."

Darth Vader, who was sitting on the sidelines alongside Beryl, ignored the laughter. He had felt Luke's presense on the planet. He was sure that Luke was here to try to 'save' him, like how that figure in the Pink was going to 'save' his teammate. Undoubtly they will meet. But will that meeting go, he didn't know.

There was only one thing he was sure off. He will face his other self, and in the Emperor's words, he'll have to "See to it that the Chosen One realizes his true place in the Galaxy." That command, he will follow to the word. Anakin Skywalker will know his true place in the Galaxy.

[Golden Darkness]

"If you are talking about lessons on how to hurt freaks like you, I learned that long ago!" Mimi grinned cruelly at her. "But I always can use a refreshing course!".

Jessie pulled out a Pokeball. "You'll swallow those words whole, along with your poisonous tongue!".

"You dream!" Mimi took a hold of some Instant Youma capsules. "When I'm done with you, even that Violator monster is going to puke when he sees you!".

"Allright!" Puttymon sat down on the floor next to Paquito. "Catfight! A shame dey're just humans...".

"Ummm..." At the other side of the scenario, James sweatdropped and looked at Meowth. "Are we going to let her to fight alone just like that?".

"Eh, it's her decision" the Pokemon shrugged. "And if she gets her butt kicked, then we kick her opponent's ourselves. No sweat!".

"After all," the Pokemon continued, "We still gotta test out our new upgrades on somebody, and that wannabe Team's the perfect target."

"Too bad we couldn't get near that blue robot and salvage it for parts somehow. We could make the Meowthinator Mark XIII an even more potent twerp destroying machine than it is," commented James, as the two looked at the female standoff.

"Don't worry. We still got parts from 'da sponser that we haven't made use of yet," Meowth assured. "With all them new gimzos, armor, weapons and stuff, this baby will be an engine of destruction that nobody can't stop, especially all those other Teams. Not Team Magma, Team Aqua, Team Snag'em, Team Cipher, Team Go-Go, Team Galaxy, and definately not Team UFO here." James was about to state that Teams Magma and Aqua were already gone, but when Meowth was on a role, he was on a role. "And when we get Pikachu and the wish for da' Boss, we'll be set for life!"

OOC: Just had to add to Team Rocket's appearance in that post of yours, OM. Have to reemphasize the fact they are upgrading their mech in order to be competative in the tournament.

All the teams mentioned are real villan team groups in various Pokemon games. Magma and Aqua you should know are already in Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. Snag'em is in Pokemon Collesium for Gamecube. Cipher(Officially it's just Cipher, no Team in the name) is in Collesium and the sequal Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. Go-Go is from the DS game Pokemon Ranger, and Galaxy is from the upcoming Diamond/Pearl games.

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Part 3: Dumbstruck-

Xellos Metallium stood straight before his Mistress' throne, expecting for her reaction after he had given her report. The only being in the universe who could actually make him nervous remained silent, quiet and thoughtful, smoking, for a moment, then finally spoke slowly,

"So, I could not be helped, I guess... Some times, things go a way, some times they go another. Not your fault. You only went with the picks you were given. Still, you should not have made that bet. I thought you were far above taking risks on unsure factors by now, Xellos". Her tone seemed slightly chiding.

"They almost had it" her priest tried to explain with an uneasy smile. "If things had turned out just a bit differently, we could have won...".

"Alas, that was not the case" Beastmaster Xellas replied, and shook her head. "They can still be of an use, however. Go with them to challenge Belldandy's lackey. And act directly with them this time".

"Are you sure he will accept us, My Lady?" he dared to ask. "I thought he only accepted challenges from outsiders to MUGEN...".

"Not when the insiders to MUGEN can prove themselves to be worthy of the test, and you can manage that" she answered. "We still have Khalia's team to count on at the Tournament, Hild's team has advanced to the next stage already, and we still can rely on Neron's lineup as well. The Council still can get a good showing at this event, even after this failure".

"Understood" Xellos nodded. "And what about the bet?".

"Pay him, of course. We always honor our debts, and that clown only asked for things worthless to us... money is nothing we cannot give infinite supplies of. Of course, he still will have to pay for his insolence...". A wicked smile formed lingering on her lips, "And we should pay him in the same buffoonish coin he is so fond of...".

Xellos smiled as well. "Leave that to me, please. I have just the right comeback at mind for him".

"Very well. Now you can go, but before you do, I want to tell you one thing more about Inverse's teammate who was transported to Mephisto's realm. He has not spoken yet. Behind all of his human foolishness, he is stubbornly loyal to his cause...".

"So, what will you do with him?" he asked.

"Keep him locked down until he changes his mind. There is no need of wasting time and energies with him. Only a few days at Mephisto's cells should convince him to cooperate...".

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

Back at the Training Fields:

"LET'S GO!!" Nabeshin yelled, swinging his nunchakus around himself expertly, Bruce Lee style. Behind him, Dorado and Mel Kompson watched attently.

"Stupid fleshbag" Mecha Dorado readied to attack as well, balling up a fist and charging it with sparkling energy. "I don't care about your reputation; this place will still be your tomb!".

"Hah! You wish!" the Director glinted a perfect-teeth smile as he jumped over the fist Mecha Dorado swung at him, passing over the machine's head and hitting it with the nunchakus so hard it dented it. "I'll send you back to Oz with Dorothy, Tin Man!".

"Oh, please!" Mecha Dorado threw his other punch back, and hit Nabeshin in the stomach. "I'm the peak of techonological perfection! You are nothing in comparison!".

"That's were you're wrong, pal" Nabeshin grabbed him by an arm and slammed him down against the floor, hard. "I've been fighting worse jokers than you long before you were a design on a wacko's working table!".

Dorado watched how Nabeshin unleashed a savage onslaught of multiple punches and kicks on his mechanical counterpart's fallen body. "Hey, Dad. Shouldn't we help him?".

"Son, if we get into real big fights for now, while we still are in the contest, we might be disqualified for stirring trouble. Let Sensei to handle this one. Then we'll find out who's behind all of this" Mel said.

"YOU CAN'T WIN! ACCEPT IT!" Mecha Dorado shot a set of burning eye beams on Nabeshin's chest, which managed to get him off the robot.

"UNGH!" the human gritted his teeth. One second later, a whole flock of tiny flying Nabeshins came out of his afro and attacked Mecha Dorado like a SD Fighting Plane Squad from hell. "Think again, loser!". He quickly rushed back and gathered energy for his ultimate attack, the ground shaking below his feet while a golden aura surrounded him. "I lost to that MegaMan, and now I'm itching to make another dumb machine like you to pay for it! But I've no more time to waste with you! SHIIIIIIIN NABEHAMEHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!".

The massive energy blast shot from his hands engulfed Mecha Dorado, blowing him up with a horrible scream. Mel and the real Dorado had to cover their eyes to avoid being blinded, and when they opened them again, a piece of metallic chestplate fell on Dorado's head from above. "YOUCH! STUPID BAD LUCK CURSE!!".

Mecha Dorado was laying there, broken, his chest opened showing the damaged circuitry inside. He was missing his arms and legs as well.

"Okay, Bozo" the Director huffed walking to his side. "You lost fair and square. Now tell us exactly what did you want to do here with your moronic destructive antics!".

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

Elswehere:

"Hum?" Grim looked at Jack Stalwall. "Oh, a contestant. Not now, kid. I'm not in de mood for autographs or questions of who will die in de tournament...".

"Hey, don't brush me off before you listen what I have to say" Jack asked. "Listen, recently, we lost a friend of ours...".

"Just like thousands across de world, wit' all de recent disasters" the Reaper interrupted him again. "Say no more. I know what you'll say next; you want your friend back. Sorry, but dat's a no-no. Even if I wanted, I couldn't. We've very strict rules about dat sort of things...".

"But this was a wrong death!" the Houstonite protested. "It wasn't Uckman's time yet!".

"Uckman, huh?" Grim would have raised an eyebrow if he had any. "De talking cat I reaped recently? Sorry, boy, but it WAS his time. Nothin' I can do about it. If you want 'im back, however, get de wish from Belldandy and--". Then his cellphone beeped. "Give me a sec, please". He attended the phone. "Yes? Lady Urd? Are you done with your trip already? You want me to-- what? H-huh, of course I'll try, but... Yes... Yes, I'm going right now. I understand".

He looked at Jack again and shrugged his wide bony shoulders. "Excuse me, kid, but I've other urgent matters to attend to. Duty's calling. We'll continue with dis some other time, okay?".

And with that, he just vanished from sight.

"Dammit!" Jack spat. "I knew it!".


Next: Fool's Errand, Part 4- Ranma meets Dr. Strange, and the Joker gets a go!

[J Dog]

Twisted Metal

"I said, what were you stupid intentions?" Nabeshin asked to the twisted body of MechaDorado 1090.

"I was sent to kill Team UFO's Mimi." Mecha Dorado grunted, with him mouth guzzling engine oil as blood. His circuitry crackled as he spoke. "But, that wasn't what I was originally made for."

"I see that you blathered about 'Orion Force' and the demise of this Forrester character? Where does those two things have in common?" Nabeshin lit another cigarrette as 1090 sparkled like a cheap firework. It moved it's head a bit.

"Simple: Forrester screwed over the Doctor Rivermen, and now he wants revenge. Unfortuantely, at the moment, we are WORKING for that waste of flesh because he was willing to save Rivermen... and use him."

Rivermen, what a dumb name!, was what Nabeshin thinking. "You keep mentioning this 'Rivermen' character, but what does he have to do with the 'Orion Force'?"

"Normally I won't spill the information, but now that you defeated me and made a mockery about me, I have little choice." He then sped up his voice and became cynical.

"Doctor Rivermen was this good doctor named Jules Orion, and he made this big medication and then Forrester spiked it, and he lost it and now he wants to make enough robots and tools to blow that guy out of the sky but all we did was blow away his fat assistant and his base like it was garbage!" As he said it the voice became this high pitched whimper, and that was when Nabeshin landed a knee on the chestplate.

"BAKA, you moron!" He grunted. "I have no time for your garbage! Either speak with dignity or I'll pull out your voice box."

"Alright, alright! Damn, you human!" A voice from within came online. "Override expired." 1090 shut off, and then reawoken. "Hey, where da hell am I? Oh right, I got my ass kicked by this afro nut."

"BAKA!" Nabeshin hit MechaDorado's dented head.

**********

"...heh heh! I knew you would fail, like you always did." Forrester smirked as he and Rivermen were on Krankor's chicken-shaped ship. "So, how did he screw up this time?"

Rivermen had it; the time was now, and it'd be time to show the world the Orion Force just to take out this green-coated nut.

**********

"Okay, small problem: We can't get the cat back up, but that's okay, because I..." All of a sudden, an ill wind blew and that froze Jack and Mimi. "What's going on?"

It really didn't matter, for the figures of Cosette Sara and Excel Excel were in the distance.

"Oh great, it's those two." Mimi muttered. She sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

"I thought you'd do this in the Citadel?" Jack asked.

"No! The time is now!" She said, determined. "I got Palmon, I got my suit, and I got your skills! I'll show that demented nuthouse that I'm not a ditzy idiot!"

[chilled monkey]

OOC: Yeah, I'm kinda back. As for my interview, it was more of a 'can you answer these programming problems' type thing. So I don't know how things will turn out, or when I'll have a real interview, much know a notice of acceptance/rejection.

The Battle Between the Halves of Light and Darkness, Match One: Pink Galaxy Ranger vs. Astronema (or When the Concept of the Star Trek Episode Mirror, Mirror Begins to Become Overused Real Fast)

The red haired Astronema, the heir to Dark Specter's United Alliance of Evil, started to circle around the landing pad of the Seperatist Base, her opponent doing the same. "So, it seems my dear brother is a coward to face me. To think he would have a Ranger from another team to face me instead of him."

Due to the fact that the Karone was wearing her helmet, one couldn't see her see her face twist into a grimace from hearing her doppleganger's words. "Andros... he's with the other Rangers, trying to ensure that other cities didn't meet the same fate that Angel Grove did."

Astronema let out a laugh as she pulled out her Wraith Staff. "Hah! You're all pathetic, trying to stop the most dangerous giant monsters of this planet's history. However, it'll be I, and those beneath me, who will finish off you and your fellow Power Rangers."

The Pink Ranger responded by pulling out her Quasar Saber. "Not if I can save you from Dark Specter's clutches first."

With a shout, Astronema leapt into the air towards Karone, thrusting her weapon foward, firing off an energy blast towards the Pink Ranger. In reaction, Karone rolled foward to dodge the blast, only to quickly block a downward slash of the Wraith Staff as Astronema had landed near her. "Who says I wanted to be saved by the likes of you? I like who I am."

"I know more about you than you think." Karone quickly backed off, attempting to give herself some space away from her evil twin. "In fact, I know you too well. You're nothing but a false personality made to serve evil, with the real you locked away."

"And you're nothing but a fool to believe in that." Astronema made another swing at the Pink Ranger, only to hit a fence as her opponent dodged her attack again. "And apparently, a coward as well. Why won't you fight me for real?"

Soon the stands were becoming mostly filled with boos as it became apparent that the Pink Ranger was fighting defensively, not once taking the offsensive, causing the fight to not have a much energy as the other ones. There were some cheers though, especially from the contingent made up of various henchmen of the Power Rangers' foes.

"Ha, look at that pathetic Ranger!" went Darkonda, the twisted alien spy for Dark Specter. "To think she can make Astronema good again."

"Yep, you're sure right," replied Elgar, who was sitting next to Darkonda. "But say... I heard that particular Pink Ranger is supposed to be Astronema's good twin or something. Doesn't Astronema only have that stupid brother of her?"

"You're a fool. That Pink Ranger is Astronema, but from this timeline. We on the other hand, are from another timeline, and our Astronema hasn't been purified yet." Looking at the so-call fight, Darkonda smirked. "Of course, our Astronema doesn't know this, yet."

"Oh I see. I gotcha." Elgar remarked. "No wait, I don't."

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

"What is she thinking up there?" Anakin, exasperated, stated, "Why isn't she on the offensive?"

"Calm down Anakin, I believe our Ranger over there has a plan to deal with her other half." Obi-Wan answered. "Besides, you should maintain focus. It is very likely you will face Vader."

"I am focused. It's just that..." Anakin paused, having felt something in the Force. Another person with a Force-strong presense was nearby on this planet. "Obi-Wan, do you feel that?"

The bearded Jedi stretched his senses out in the Force. "There's another Force User out there, but it's no one I recognize."

"Could it be the other Sith?"

"Actually, no, the presense isn't dark. But still, this does bear investigating."

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

"Man... that spandex loser is such a loser," Evil Coop laughed out of his mech. "There's no way Astronema's gonna give up evil."

Darth Vader, who was sitting on the sidelines alongside Beryl, ignored the laughter. He had felt Luke's presense on the planet. He was sure that Luke was here to try to 'save' him, like how that figure in the Pink was going to 'save' his teammate. Undoubtly they will meet. But will that meeting go, he didn't know.

There was only one thing he was sure off. He will face his other self, and in the Emperor's words, he'll have to "See to it that the Chosen One realizes his true place in the Galaxy." That command, he will follow to the word. Anakin Skywalker will know his true place in the Galaxy.

That is awesome!

Go Karone!

I can't wait to see what happens next!

[T51R]

~Next...Kansai returns to Earth! Along with a crap-ton of jobbery and bloodshed.:D ~ And Akira takes on the Nirvana...and the Vandreads, too!

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, The Fourth Installement: Just for Giggles and Crap-

The procedure was most often the very same each time Mara wanted to call her boss, just like now. At a lonely place, she raised a demonic invisible shield around herself, to prevent the communications to be intercepted by anyone else, then pulled out the Nokia and spoke through it with her, like she was doing right now. Meanwhile, Goenitz, Bell and Joker looked on and waited patiently.

"... Really? Do you think he's actually had a good idea with that?" the blonde demoness hesitated a bit, arching her eyebrows.

"Absolutely" Hild's voice at the other side of the line seemed strangely pleased. "That's the kind of imaginative ideas I recruited him for. It works perfectly; it can't be tracked down to us, and can give us a big psychological edge".

"Very well, if you say so..." Mara had to nod.

"However, I think I have an idea for one addition more to it that could make it even better" Hild continued. "Let me talk to him, please. I'm sure he'll like it when he hears it".

Mara nodded again, then passed the cellphone to Joker. "She wants to speak with you".

"Right" the Clown Prince accepted it, then spoke, "Hey, H-Gal. How are things going down below there? Still Hella busy, huh?" he chuckled. "So, what did you think about my little proposal".

His teammates observed him listening to Hild, then frowning slightly. "One thing more? What do you mean with that?".

Joker listened to the next few lines with attention, and blinked. Mara and Bell were fully expecting whatever he was hearing was about to anger him again, but to their surprise, he actually smiled widely and let out a short outburst of mad laughter. "Hoo hoo ha hah! That one's good, yes! Sometimes you can have some good ideas, Hildie! I already can imagine her face then... Yes. Yes, I like it. I might use it soon, too. Yeah, yeah, no prob. Fine. A pleasure to make business with you, for once" he ironically commented, and handed the phone back to Mara. "Ah, not too bad at all, actually".

"What are you up to this time?" Bell asked curiously.

Joker flinched a finger against her small nose then, playfully, for all answer. "Oh, nothing big yet, dearie. Just an appetizer for K-Boy of all what is coming for him in the future. We'll have some first few chuckles at his expenses...".

And he narrowed his sharp eyes dangerously, as he finished,

"And the best part of it all, there's nothing he and his dear pals can do about it!".

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

The New Defenders' Headquarters:

Ranma Saotome sat uneasily next to Spider-Man, with the massive Duo and the cold-acting Namor the Submariner standing behind them. Somehow, he did not fully like the atmosphere of that place inside of closed doors, and having the arrogant superhero who barely had seen fit to talk to him when they met and the friendlier, yet obviously inhuman feeling, giant robot, behind them only added to his discomfort.

Fortunately for him, just before he could make a casual, usual foot-in-the-mouth comment that would get him in typical Ranma problems against the Sub-Mariner, the austere figure of the Sorcerer Supreme entered the room. There was an aura of quiet majesty around him as he took a seat in front of both members of Team Heroes.

Not that Spidey was fazed at all, as habitual.

"Yo, Doc, sure took you long enough!" the arachnid hero began to quip. "What's been keeping you so busy you can't have some time for an old friend? I mean, other than the demons... and the Chaos cultists... and the supervillains... and the End of the World... and...".

"It is good to see your spirit is as lively as ever in this dark hour, Spider-Man" Strange replied with a half-sigh, cutting his words short. "Yes, I have been wrapped with the investigation of the Chaos affairs lately" he admited. "They are hard to track down, even for me. They have powerful mystic defenses, and each clue we take only seems to lead to a dead end. But we have to persevere".

He then took a glare at Ranma, interested.

"So, you are one of the Jusenkyo cursed. If you came for a cure to your curse, I can do it, but it will take time. The origin of thoses curses, you see, is--".

"Never mind about that now!" Ranma quickly said. Peter Parker was surprised. When he had met Ranma, the Japanese boy seemed concerned about nothing but fighting, eating, and above it all, a cure to his cursed condition. And yet, now, that was in a total second place in his mind behind his concern for Akane. "This isn't about me! It's about Akane, and what that Demitri jerk did to her!".

Strange's attention seemed to grow then, with notable interest. "Demitri Maximoff? The leader of one of the teams opposing you?".

"The ever lovin' same one" Spidey nodded. "A real stinker, as much or even more than the Dracula we have fough in the past, Doc".

"This is... bad" Strange's expression grew somber. "I have investigated about Maximoff. He is far from being an easy enemy. He is one of the top demonic lords of his homeworld. I assume Akane is a friend of yours, am I right, Mr. Saotome? One of Maximoff's teammates?".

Ranma had to nod, lowering his head. Behind him, Namor's face finally seemed to humanize a bit seeing him like that. It looked like the human boy really cared about that young woman.

"Very well, I want the full story about them before I decide what can I do about it" Dr. Strange said calmly, his voice trying to ease Ranma. "Open your heart to me, son, before we can see how to heal it... and redeem your friend in the proccess".



Next: Fool's Errand, Part 5- Cosette and Mimi again, Jessie and Mimi again. And Team Beastmaster goes off to challenge Akira!

[OverMaster]

OOC: Awww, what has happened to everyone in the last four/three days?

IC:

-Fool's Errand, Part V: Hot Commodities-

"HEY, YOU!" Mimi Tachikawa yelled at the pink-haired speck in the distance. "Come here! We have unfinished business!".

"You really shouldn't be forcing it yet..." Jack began to point out. "If you go in this with a hot head and no cares, you'll end up losing...".

However, Cosette had already noticed Mimi's call, and walked to her followed by Excel, whose carefree style of walking was making her to look like she was stepping on rubber legs, apparently moving at random with each step.

"I was looking for you" the little assassin stopped in front of the Digidestined.

"Yeah, well, me too!" Mimi balled up her fists. "It's time for us to have our final showdown!".

Cosette blinked. "What?".

"You heard me! I don't want to wait until tonight! I want it now, now, now!".

"Don't be such a spoiled brat!!" Cosette then yelled at her, in an unusually high for her tone. "Even at war, there are formalities one must observe!!".

"So, that means I can't help you by stabbing her on the head, Cosette-chan?" Excel looked suddenly downcast, wielding a huge knife.

"No, Excel-sempai" the child shook her head, now calmly. "This is a matter of honor, and must be solved as such. In a true field of battle, not in a street like this, like in a mere vulgar confrontation".

"She's right, Mimi" Jack placed a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, in an official battle with a referee, odds are no one will cheat. It's better that way".

"Awwwww..." Excel sobbed, pulling her knife back into its sheath. "Excel wanted to help...".

"Tachikawa, follow me" Cosette turned around and began to walk towards the underground complex. Excel, Mimi, Jack and Palmon went after her, as she said, "We have to get a registration if we want to fight at the event".

"Won't it be enough with my registration at MUGEN?" Mimi complained while she followed. "Why do I must register again?".

"This is another, different event, baka" Cosette hissed softly, without looking back. "God, you sure are dense".

Tachikawa pouted, and continued doing so when they entered the dimly lit inside of the Underground Complex. Jack looked around himself in awe. Lines and lines of people, fighters from all across the Omniverse, were forming to take their places at the contest. Those who were not chosen for MUGEN, some of those others who were dispatched out of MUGEN already, and those who wanted to test their might before going to take on Akira.

In a corner, legendary Street Fighters and action movie stars Fei Long and Johnny Cage were being interviewed by a LexNews camera crew. Somewhere else, a Sabretooth with his face in bandages clutched a ticket in a massive claw and muttered to himself. Elsewhere, the Nankatsu Japanese selection of soccer all-stars chilled out at a lounge, talking to everyone who wanted to know about how their captain, Tsubasa Ozora, was going to try his new self-patented style of soccer fighting. Jack even thought he had seen Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson, his old alliance partners, somewhere around in the crowd.

Cosette approached a registration box, behind which sat a young man with reddish hair and a face full of pimples. "Excuse me, mister, sir" she said with her best good-girl voice, "we want to register at this mini-tournament, and we wish to see if we could have a fight tonight here. She and me". She pointed to Mimi, who gulped down.

The young man looked at her with incredulity. "Aren't you way too young?".

"Aren't you way too idiot??!!!" Excel then loudly yelled into his face. "This contest's open to everyone!! Don't be discriminative!! Or we'll accuse you to the competent authorities! Then Lord Il Palazzo will make you regret it! Foolish sheep born of the ignorant masses! When Lord Il Palazzo cleans this sinner world, you'll be one of the first purged ouuutt!!".

"... Yeah, well. I know" the Pimple Faced Boy sighed, resignated. Days of dealing with all sorts of hooligans who came for spots at the secondary event had left him numb to that sort of reactions by now. "Just let me consult first, 'kay?".

He made a call through a cellphone. "Mr. Cobblepot? Yeah? Yeah, it's me. Yeah, I know you're a very busy man, sorry. It's just... another two girlies came wanting to fight. What do I do with them? They can't be older than ten years old, boss...".

He listened with attention, then nodded, "You really sure? No, no, of course I won't question you... you the boss here, Boss. Yeah. I'll tell 'em". He turned back to Mimi and Cosette. "Looks like you're in luck... if you can call it like that. You won't be able to take a part on our main tourney... that's too dangerous... but I can give you a spot on a special exhibition match if you want".

"That'd be fine with us" Cosette nodded. "We only want to use this for a personal duel".

"Hmm. Kids these days..." he shrugged, then pointed to where another little girl was sitting, waiting, with a little yappy shaggy dog at her feet. "It'll be in a free for all with her and another girl who came to register earlier today. Tomoyo, I think that was her name...".

The sitting girl with the picnic basket on her lap raised her gaze to meet those of Mimi and Cosette. And slowly, she smiled.

"Well, well!" she giggled cutely, but also with some insanity in her voice. "One of the members of Team Digidestined!".

"Oh, I recognize you too!" Mimi gasped. "You're one of those Mercenary guys who fought Spider-Man...".

"Right" a glint shone on the red-hooded girl's eyes. "Bulleta-chan, at your service... sucker!".

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

A secret base at Middle East:

The black-clad Baroness walked with sensual, slow aplomb as she entered the huge meeting room. The men and living machines sitting around the gigantic conference table, who had been watching Astronema fighting Karone on the titanic screens surrounding them, took a few seconds to look at her instead.

The Baroness stopped in front of the bald man in the expensive black business suit, and handed him a classified CD. "Here you have it, Mr. Luthor. As you wished, the fullest report we could get on what has been going on with your old... ally over at MUGEN since it started".

"Thank you" Lex Luthor eyed the disk with interest, and inserted it on a nearby big computer. Its screen then showed a profile of Gotham City's Clown Prince of Crime. "Joker..." Luthor mused to himself, frowning. "What are you a part of this time...?".

"So, he is the infamous Joker" Destro took a look at Luthor's screen. "He looks like an unremarkable man... a ridiculous fool".

"That's what he would like you to think... until he has stabbed you through the throat, Mr. Destro" Lex patiently said, as the CD showed the incident of the Shadow King's destruction onscreen. "But there is far more to him than meets the eye, as our friend Megatron would say". He took a quick glare to where the Decepticon leader was watching the current MUGEN battle. "Especially now, apparently. He intrigues me. I, more than anyone else in this group, fully know what he's capable of. And I don't like having unchecked wild cards in this game".

"What will you do about him then?" Vandal Savage also looked at the screen.

"What else? Contact him. See what he's really up to, and exactly what he's able to do now" Lex allowed himself a slight smile. "And maybe reminisce the old times too. It even could give me a chance to get one on Superman as well. Yes, that could be nice...".



Next: Fool's Errand Part VI: Jessie and the other Mimi go at it, and Xellos leads his team to Akira!

[T51R]

~Heavenly Creatures~



Icicles shattered and frost crunched as the gears of the loading dock, the platform rising to the surface. Armoured rollers creaked to life, fresh grease in the complex of steel beams and concrete filling the air with its acrid odour. The ground began to tremble, Akira’s presence felt as the telekinetic wave washed over the makeshift battlefield, now clear of defeated warriors who had come to face the Herald of the Goddess. None had died, however many had left with their spirits crushed and their wills broken; he had told them of their worst fears, of how desperate they were to simply live on, no mater what the cost. He had reached into many a mind and found them wanting, unworthy of partaking of Her great scheme. He drew in the frost a short line, close to the door before it began to creak open under his will alone; the wall represented exactly how many times he had left the gate. Next to it the many marks, separated by a line that ran down to the ground, was an empty space. The space for the names of those chosen according to Her criteria. It stood empty now, but he had a feeling. A good feeling. This was to be the day, he thought, the first of many when the righteous would come. When the pinnacle of humanity led by selfless hearts and perfect ideals would come forth to do battle for their ilk. He flicked open the Eriksson, and with a leather-gloved hand struck the auto-dial key.

“Mistress? Today will be a good day. Do not despair. I feel in these two…such great promise.” A sigh of relief came from the other end, bringing a smile to his lips. “Yes, I understand. They will be unharmed, but of course, they will have to prove their worth. And that they will survive. Yes,” he waved his hand, the armoured roller doors shuddering and creaking to life, the shockwaves from the explosions outside finally blowing into the holding area, the concrete room in which he stood.

“Akira?” Belldandy’s voice came over the phone. “Remember, remember that I forbid you to inflict any unnecessary pain upon them.”

“Of course, Mistress.” He began to rise, telekinetic shields driving the beams of green energy backwards ricocheting across the battlefield as he moved in mid-air towards the dark-blue titan at the edge of the complex. Above them hovered what appeared to be its mother ship, four enormous stilettos of silver surrounded by a field of octagonal shields arranged in concentric spheres. Surrounding the battlefield, he noted, were three other constructs of different shapes and colours. Akira reached out, and took the thoughts of the pilots into himself. “Hmph,” he frowned with apprehension at the red Dread, piloted by Jura. She fights, he thought to himself, for vanity. For acclaim, for herself. “Meia,” the pilot of the silver machine found her name pulled from her very thoughts themselves. “You fight what you think is the good fight in order to avenge your memories.” Meia found her Dread beginning to quake, as did Jura. “Finally,” he turned to the last Dread, as the other two seemingly tore themselves apart from the inside out while their pilots were set gently upon the ground amidst the wreckage. “Dita and Hibiki, am I correct? You fight not for yourselves, but for each other and for those aboard the ship above. The ship…that you call the Nirvana. After seeing your brethren fall, do you still think that you stand a chance in stopping my egress across this planet‘s surface?” He motioned towards the wreckage of dozens of Mobile Suits, Gears and many other Mecha. “Your Vandreads are indeed potent by way of their weaponry, specifically the sole Dita-Type that you will now have to rely on. However, this battle will not be a test of your machine…but rather, of you both.”

In the cockpit of the Dita-type both man and woman exchanged determined glances, and finally the man spoke after several moments. “Look,” Hibiki muttered, knowing full well that the red-clad telekinetic hovering a mile away across the installation was listening, “I don‘t know why you‘re doing this but it‘s got to stop! You tore an entire city right off of the map! Yeah, we saw what the people there were like when we went in to help but even they didn’t deserve what you did! Who the hell are you anyway, some kinda God? Even if you are, it doesn’t change what you did. People died, plenty of others were hurt. WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT!?” The young man’s rage only seemed to satisfy his enemy, Akira smiling at him through the screen evoking only more anger.

“Divinity,” Akira replied, “this right is granted to me by Divinity itself,” the ground began to shift, enormous slabs of concrete thrusting themselves upwards around him, some breaking into smaller pieces which began hovering close by. “And should you wish to test yourself against the will of Heaven, then come at me with your hearts filled with the will to spare others the same suffering that I have visited upon the City of Sin!” The slabs began to move, then were suddenly flung at the Vandread standing an entire mile away. Solid columns of reinforced concrete hundreds of feet tall slammed into the blue armour, driving it backwards before its pilots could react. The Dita-type fired its engines, narrowly avoiding the second salvo. “And if you prove worthy, then you shall become a sword at the side of Existence, one of the many scrolls that will be read from at the End of Days!” Telekinetic blades hammered into the ground where the Vandread had been, Dita reacting on sheer instinct and women’s intuition just in time to fire the machine towards the sky, which was filling with light fighters.

“We‘re not fighting for any of that,” Dita almost screamed as she pulled the Vandread around in a high-speed arc while Hibiki prepared their return salvo, “don‘t you get it, we‘re not interested in representing anything! That’s what MUGEN is for! We only want you to stop!” She changed course abruptly, and slammed through several buildings flung at them from outside the installation to give her partner a direct line of fire as soon as they got close enough not to miss. “WE ONLY WANT YOU TO STOP HURTING PEOPLE!!!” The mech’s fist slammed hard into an invisible barrier even though the ground around it broke apart from the shockwave, the twin cannons on the Dita-type’s back snapping forwards already charged. “STOP IT!!!” Hibiki pulled the trigger, and all hell broke loose; the cannons had proven themselves capable of destroying Harvester ships whose dimensions were measured in miles when fired from range. The point-blank blast straight into the telekinetic’s shields caused a massive flashpoint of energy that blew across the circular, concrete field with enough force to level half of the evacuated city around it. When the smoke cleared and the ash ceased to fall however, both Dita and Hibiki renewed their offensive; this time with thousands upon thousands of small beams reflected off of the surrounding fighter’s shields. Their first attack had failed; hovering a good distance above the crater with his hands in his pockets, Akira seemed to mock them with his grin. “Damn you,” Hibiki spat, the dual spars on the Dita-type’s forearms sliding forwards into its hands, “You know what?” The Vandread combined both spars into their spear configuration, and the weapon began to pulse with energy. “I‘m tired of this! I‘m tired of all your words! Go ahead, talk as much as you want, because at the end of the day…” The blue titan landed hard, guarding itself well with its left arm while readying its throw with its right, “…at the end of the day, words are just a way of telling other people how we feel! And what we feel right now? What we feel…IS THAT THE GODS NEED TO STOP JUDGING, TO STOP LOOKING DOWN FROM HEAVEN AND JUST COME DOWN HERE, AND FEEL WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE HUMAN FOR THEMSELVES!” The spear left the Vandread’s hand trailing its signature green aura, smashing through everything Akira set between it and its target. It wasn’t over yet; Dita again took t the air, towards the Nirvana.

“OPEN THE Perxis!!!” she screamed into the comms, the Nirvana’s crew responding almost immediately by exposing the ship’s core. That they had coaxed into a near-overload state that would result in a small supernova. The Vandread didn’t stop; it kept going, finally making contact with the Perxis and began to absorb its energy while below the Dita-type’s spear-throw made contact. Another shockwave rocked the city, this one causing a blast front to reach into the suburbs. “MISTER ALIEN!!!” Dita shouted as the Vandread began to glow green with power, almost every system going critical, “DO IT NOW!!!” Hibiki finished for her, the massive machine shooting vertically towards the planet below. This move, they thought in unison, this move took out an entire Harvester mother-ship. There’s no way…

The found their mark. Parfait’s calculations had been spot-on, and the trajectories were perfect. The Vandread’s fist found the back end of the spear that had been caught in Akira’s telekinetic grip, still trying to make its way through his shields.

“Show me,” Akira spat, taking in the thoughts of his assailants as they closed in for their final attack, “SHOW ME THE RIGHTOUS WILL THAT IS WITHIN YOUR HEARTS!” The spear shattered as the Dita-type punched straight through it, streaking into the invisible barrier as green light consumed them.

When the smoke cleared, Meia and Jura stood their ground. Whether it was in awe, or from surprise neither of them could speak; Akira had lowered his shields in the last moment, the very same moment that Dita and Hibiki had stopped their attack. “What…what are they doing!?” Meia stammered, “why…why didn‘t they finish him when they had the chance!?” Across the battlefield Dita and Hibiki had opened their shared cockpit, all the better to look into the face of the man whom they had fought.

[T51R]

“Why did you stop?” Akira landed softly on the armoured hatch in front of the pair. “You could have ended this fight, and my life easily.” The Perxis energy finally dissipated, the Dita-type returning to its usual dark blue colour.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Hibiki climbed out of Dita’s lap. “This isn’t about killing you. It never was! When we came here, we didn’t know what exactly was going on. Then we saw you, we saw you destroy that entire city! And then, when we saw that Tournament start, and since none of us were chosen, we decided to come here and stop you from hurting anyone else the way you did. This was never about killing you, we just wanted to make sure…that no-one else would suffer. Because of you.”

“And what about the monsters that are running rampant across the globe?” Akira asked of them, “Will you defeat and contain them all?”

“Since you‘ve destroyed two of our Dreads we‘re gonna have to work for it, but yeah, that’s exactly what we‘re gonna do.” Hibiki answered, not taking his eyes off of the taller man.

“What if,” the Herald leaned forwards, “what if, you were in a position to make a difference in MUGEN? What if…you were given a chance to defeat the forces of evil that have congregated in the great Tournament?” He sensed more than a passing interest in what he had just then said. Behind Meia and Jura, and destroyed Dreads began to reassemble themselves from scrap, a final flash of light washing across them signalling their completed resurrection. Akira nodded to the pair, signalling that that were to come forward. When they finally arrived, he motioned for them to follow him into the structure in the distance.

“In the name of the Lady Belldandy,” he bowed formally to the three women and singular man when the armoured rollers finally descended behind them. “I bid you welcome. You are the first of many who have been found worthy of representing Her ideals.”

“EXCUSE ME!?” Hibiki spat, “YOU MEAN ALL THAT WAS JUST A TEST!?”

“Of course,” Akira began to smile, “And you, both of you, have proven that you embody the perfect ideals of humanity. You were unwilling to kill, even though your opponent resigned himself to his fate in the final moment. Likewise, your intentions were never hostile, or with lethal intent to begin with; you simply wished to face your opponent in a manner which you thought he would best understand. As such, you brought everything you had to fight with in an effort to ensure at the very least fewer people would be harmed by my hand. You, both of you, are truly a credit to your race. And as such, should you accept the proposal and Holy Contract that I will now place before you, then you will become part of one of the several Wild Card teams that will compete in Her name, later in MUGEN.”

“What about us?” Meia asked, Jura also looking at Akira quizzically. “Since we‘re also part of the Dread team, we should be in on this as well!” Jura finished for her.

“That will be decided at the behest of the Mistress,” the telekinetic explained. “But for now, if you accept the proposal that I have placed before you and are prepared to enter into a Binding Contract at a later time, then please write your names in the frost beside the door, beside the numbers of those who have come before you.” The four pilots did as they were asked. “Congratulations,” Akira bowed again. “I am sure that She will be pleased. However, we will contact you when it is time. Please be prepared.” The armoured shutters began to rise, the three Dreads and the single Vanguard separated and prepared by Akira’s telekinetic ability, ready to depart. “Fare you well,” he motioned for them to leave. “And meditate well upon your purpose.”

In her quarters up in Heaven, Belldandy finally found herself able to genuinely smile, as she watched the Nirvana returning to orbit.

[Saint_007]

“Divinity,” Akira replied, “this right is granted to me by Divinity itself,”
Okay, it's official. I am now rooting for Hild.:evilangry

And yes, I am an unforgiving ass with very little moral fibre.

EDIT: Okay, just cooled off a bit. Though Akira gave me the idea that "I did this because I can!"

Seriously, I look forward to when someone unscrews his overinflated head from his ass in the metaphoric sense and then inserts it up again in the literal sense.

Oh, and OM? you were right not to involve the YvtW threads. Had they been involved, Akira's remains would have to be picked up with an electron microscope. Along with whatever planet they were fighting on.

[T51R]

Okay, it's official. I am now rooting for Hild.:evilangry

And yes, I am an unforgiving ass with very little moral fibre.

EDIT: Okay, just cooled off a bit. Though Akira gave me the idea that "I did this because I can!"

Seriously, I look forward to when someone unscrews his overinflated head from his ass in the metaphoric sense and then inserts it up again in the literal sense.

Oh, and OM? you were right not to involve the YvtW threads. Had they been involved, Akira's remains would have to be picked up with an electron microscope. Along with whatever planet they were fighting on.

Read later in the post; the intent was to piss Hibiki and Dita off to no end, hopefully to bring out their killing intent! However, they passed...because even though they were angry, they remembered that they were there to stop Akira, not destroy him. Only the pure-hearted may pass this stage, so its perhaps the one where evil cannot triumph! :eek:

[Saint_007]

Read later in the post; the intent was to piss Hibiki and Dita off to no end, hopefully to bring out their killing intent! However, they passed...because even though they were angry, they remembered that they were there to stop Akira, not destroy him. Only the pure-hearted may pass this stage, so its perhaps the one where evil cannot triumph! :eek:
And they frikkin' failed miserably. They came to stop Akira, and hence stop the whole rampage of monsters ravaging the planet.

And currently, those monsters are... oh, wait a second - THEY'RE STILL RUNNING AROUND!!

That's like deciding to call off the Invasion of Normandy after taking over the beaches just because we proved to the Krauts that we're capable of doing so and we didn't want to kill anyone. Of course, had we done that, Hitler would have announced a major victory instead of admitting that he was on the verge of being pimp-slapped. And he would have then wiped Russia and Britain off the planet.

My point is, their little show of bravery and goodness didn't do squat. When someone manages to teach that prick Akira that not even his Mistress is right all the damn time, and also to stop using that damn annoying rhetoric, make me a copy of the video, cause I'm going to watch it till I die laughing...

Basically, I'm pissed on the principle of "you didn't create life, or the damn Universe, so don't act like you did and decide arbitrarily what parts of it need to die and which can live".

EDIT: Know what? Never mind. I'm just going to read all the posts that you're not writing, since I seem to notice a direct relation between my depression and the number of posts that you write and
I read.

[OverMaster]

Okay, it's official. I am now rooting for Hild.:evilangry

And yes, I am an unforgiving ass with very little moral fibre.

EDIT: Okay, just cooled off a bit. Though Akira gave me the idea that "I did this because I can!"

Seriously, I look forward to when someone unscrews his overinflated head from his ass in the metaphoric sense and then inserts it up again in the literal sense.

Oh, and OM? you were right not to involve the YvtW threads. Had they been involved, Akira's remains would have to be picked up with an electron microscope. Along with whatever planet they were fighting on.

*Hild peeks her head into Team Nifelheim's room*

Hild: Hey, guys! One of the Authors is with us! We have now more chances to win!

*Confetti falls all around them*

Joker: Yaaaaaaaayyyy!!

Bell: ... Whatever.

:)


Anyway, I didn't involve YvsTW since there were far too many characters from too many other YvsTWers and I didn't have the rights to use without their say-so.

And soon I'm going to have Team Beastmaster (complete with Xellos), along with a bunch of others (like the Alterniverse new Z anime PPGs, and a couple of Z Senshi) going to challenge Akira. You might get your wish, maybe... stay tuned.

[OverMaster]

And they frikkin' failed miserably. They came to stop Akira, and hence stop the whole rampage of monsters ravaging the planet.

And currently, those monsters are... oh, wait a second - THEY'RE STILL RUNNING AROUND!!

That's like deciding to call off the Invasion of Normandy after taking over the beaches just because we proved to the Krauts that we're capable of doing so and we didn't want to kill anyone. Of course, had we done that, Hitler would have announced a major victory instead of admitting that he was on the verge of being pimp-slapped. And he would have then wiped Russia and Britain off the planet.

My point is, their little show of bravery and goodness didn't do squat. When someone manages to teach that prick Akira that not even his Mistress is right all the damn time, and also to stop using that damn annoying rhetoric, make me a copy of the video, cause I'm going to watch it till I die laughing...

Basically, I'm pissed on the principle of "you didn't create life, or the damn Universe, so don't act like you did and decide arbitrarily what parts of it need to die and which can live".

EDIT: Know what? Never mind. I'm just going to read all the posts that you're not writing, since I seem to notice a direct relation between my depression and the number of posts that you write and
I read.

Personally, if T51R left, I most likely would too.

The strenght of this story is we all supply different viewpoints. You excel at the courageous hero fights, LoNC does good plot advancement through presenting several challenges to the characters, J Dog handles the lighter bits, T51R does the big cosmic stuff (which often can seem heartless from a human viewpoint) and wilder comedy bits, King Eli does quicker balance stuff, Golden Darkness and Mr. Sandman supply some neat ideas, and I... uh... I'll tell you when I learn what do I do well, but at least I keep trying. :o

And dude, please, chill out with the depression thing. It's just a story. A long-development one. And obviously, if the good guys just stomp the bad guys' butts from the start, we'd only have a 5-page quickie thread. But my point is, you shouldn't have a simple story like this to depress you. Maybe it's just me, but I don't get it. I depress over things that happen in real life.

Not to mention, that if you want some things to happen, and change, make them happen, and change. I know you are very busy, but you took the time to write this, so I guess you must have the time to make at least short story posts as well. Complaining is easy, and yes, needed at times, but making a difference is even better.

[T51R]

Personally, if T51R left, I most likely would too.

The strenght of this story is we all supply different viewpoints. You excel at the courageous hero fights, LoNC does good plot advancement through presenting several challenges to the characters, J Dog handles the lighter bits, T51R does the big cosmic stuff (which often can seem heartless from a human viewpoint) and wilder comedy bits, King Eli does quicker balance stuff, Golden Darkness and Mr. Sandman supply some neat ideas, and I... uh... I'll tell you when I learn what do I do well, but at least I keep trying. :o

And dude, please, chill out with the depression thing. It's just a story. A long-development one. And obviously, if the good guys just stomp the bad guys' butts from the start, we'd only have a 5-page quickie thread. But my point is, you shouldn't have a simple story like this to depress you. Maybe it's just me, but I don't get it. I depress over things that happen in real life.

Not to mention, that if you want some things to happen, and change, make them happen, and change. I know you are very busy, but you took the time to write this, so I guess you must have the time to make at least short story posts as well. Complaining is easy, and yes, needed at times, but making a difference is even better.


Pretty much it bro, we did not want for a story to be as direct as that. Yes, I admit that I drew inspiration heavily from the Gods playing chess with people's lives in Clash of the Titans[and the intense fanaticism of high priests in older movies]

Next: A Watcher's Wish

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Part VI: Bonds-

Team Robots' Rooms:

"Lime?" Cherry said as she walked into the dinning room, carrying a tray full with snacks. "Where is Otaru-sama? I thought he was here with you...".

"Ah, yes, he was" the other Saber Marionette nodded, while still drawing with crayons portraits of a few of the people she had met at MUGEN on a drawing block Professor Natsume had given her. "But he went out saying he had things to do".

"What?! LIME!!" the smaller Marionette yelled. "How could you let him go out alone?! These Grounds are full of dangerous people!".

"Sorry!" Lime looked at her, pouting childishly. "But he said I absolutely couldn't follow him! He said it was something he had to do alone!".

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

Team Skuld's Room:

Keiichi, Keima, and Nakoruru sat alone in the room, sitting around the table. Urd and Kaarage had left to attend a new meeting with the Grim Reaper, Rind was still in dialogues with Orochi and Wukong, and Skuld had just said she would go to take some fresh air, unable to continue coping with the tension of the recent events. Occult and Beenuel had agreed and gone with her; she was still vulnerable to such drastic developments, after her favorite sister's endangerment, her own training at hands of Nudoru, and Keima's revelations.

So, they were now alone, and Keiichi was more than willing to continue listening to the story Keima had been telling before being interrupted. "So" he said, trying to smile for the little boy, "you were saying...?".

"Em, er, yes, about that..." Keima hesitated again. "You see, it's long and complex to explain. Aunt Belldandy, Dad, she--".

Then someone knocked at their door. Nakoruru snapped into full attention and sprang to her feet, gesturing for 'father' and 'son' to stay quiet where they were.

"I will see who it is, Morisato-domo" the young warrior priestess walked to the door, ready to unsheath her sword at any moment, her eagle Mamahaha perched on her right shoulder, expectantly. "If someone attacks, run for the back door and go with Rind-sama...".

She looked through the little spy eye on the middle of the door, and saw no one but an Angel with a young man, a couple of years younger than Keiichi. The man had somewhat tanned skin, big chocolate eyes, and brown hair. Nakoruru opened the door cautiously, and said, "Yes? May we help you?".

"This young gentleman says he wishes to speak with Morisato Keiichi" the Angel formally replied.

"Huh?" Keiichi blinked on his seat. "What now?".

Keima sighed in relief to himself. Once again, he was saved by the bell.

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

Training Fields:

The Joker whistled as the four of them walked through the lonely fields heading back to the Lodge, where hopefully they would find Keiichi. He had his hands on his pockets, and was enjoying the cold breeze blowing on his white face.

"On a cold, beautiful winter day, Lil' Jokey came out looking for his way" he began to loudly muse. "No; he was looking for the big old Bat, or maybe for some spineless rat, but found someone way better than that".

And then he stopped. He had just seen him. Not too far, he stood talking to the members of Team Vellinor. That cloak. Those clothes. That cane.

"Vellinor..." he hissed, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh" Mara came to a halt behind him, recognizing the trickster as well. "Yeah, that's him".

Bell and Goenitz had never seen the trickster god themselves, and looked over at him with interest.

"Looks a bit scrawny" the white haired girl observed.

"What's he saying to them?" Joker asked her, hiding behind some bushes to get a more secretive view. He wanted to learn a few more things before striking at him again.

Bell focused her superhearing, then shrugged. "Nothing too extraordinary. Just congratulating them over their victory. And making fun of the Ash guy over losing like that".

"Figures" Joker frowned, with Mara crouching down next to him. "Just mocking someone who has failed him... When someone fails *me*, I give him the full treatment, not mere mockings. Goes to prove how much of a hack that Velly-boy is...".

"Shhh" Mara hushed him, also interested on learning more about the man her Mistress was in deals with. "Let the girl to continue hearing. Go ahead, Bell. Tell us about everything he's saying as he says it...".

"Something's funny here" Rei XV then popped her head out of the Clown Prince of Crime's back. "I can feel it, word!".

"Who said you could come out like that, freak?" Joker grumbled, a vein pulsing on his pale forehead.




Next: Bonds Continues- Otaru and Keiichi, and yes, Mimi and Jessie, this time for real!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Coming Soon: Team Skuld realize something's up! And, confrontation in the training grounds!

[Saint_007]

Personally, if T51R left, I most likely would too.

The strenght of this story is we all supply different viewpoints. You excel at the courageous hero fights, LoNC does good plot advancement through presenting several challenges to the characters, J Dog handles the lighter bits, T51R does the big cosmic stuff (which often can seem heartless from a human viewpoint) and wilder comedy bits, King Eli does quicker balance stuff, Golden Darkness and Mr. Sandman supply some neat ideas, and I... uh... I'll tell you when I learn what do I do well, but at least I keep trying. :o

And dude, please, chill out with the depression thing. It's just a story. A long-development one. And obviously, if the good guys just stomp the bad guys' butts from the start, we'd only have a 5-page quickie thread. But my point is, you shouldn't have a simple story like this to depress you. Maybe it's just me, but I don't get it. I depress over things that happen in real life.

Not to mention, that if you want some things to happen, and change, make them happen, and change. I know you are very busy, but you took the time to write this, so I guess you must have the time to make at least short story posts as well. Complaining is easy, and yes, needed at times, but making a difference is even better.
*Sigh*....

In which case, I apologize to everyone involved - and especially to T51R, who I must admit writes a strong story, even if a bit over my head of times.:(

Of course this means that I'll actually have to take Prozac for his posts. Eh, might as well follow my psychiatrist's orders for once :p

EDIT: The reason why I save my emotions for fictional stuff is because I'm something of a nihilist. I've already figured: "eh, the human race is so ****ed up they're probably better off dead anyways". And I don't like my own life that much either :D

Go figure

[J Dog]

Personally, if T51R left, I most likely would too.

The strenght of this story is we all supply different viewpoints. You excel at the courageous hero fights, LoNC does good plot advancement through presenting several challenges to the characters, J Dog handles the lighter bits, T51R does the big cosmic stuff (which often can seem heartless from a human viewpoint) and wilder comedy bits, King Eli does quicker balance stuff, Golden Darkness and Mr. Sandman supply some neat ideas, and I... uh... I'll tell you when I learn what do I do well, but at least I keep trying. :o

And dude, please, chill out with the depression thing. It's just a story. A long-development one. And obviously, if the good guys just stomp the bad guys' butts from the start, we'd only have a 5-page quickie thread. But my point is, you shouldn't have a simple story like this to depress you. Maybe it's just me, but I don't get it. I depress over things that happen in real life.

Not to mention, that if you want some things to happen, and change, make them happen, and change. I know you are very busy, but you took the time to write this, so I guess you must have the time to make at least short story posts as well. Complaining is easy, and yes, needed at times, but making a difference is even better.

You pretty much sum it up. I don't do much gigantic plot points, so I focus on the littler things (not a big fan of writing depressing parts, but I do what I have to do) and focus on a few characters that I know of rather than a bazillion and feel alienated by them. So, I'm proud that my writing is appreciated.

At least I'm glad that several of my ideas pretty much became new focal areas, such as the Underground Complex (Codenamed by Kaiba as "The Citadel"), Mel and Nabeshin, and Mimi and Jack.

[T51R]

*Sigh*....

In which case, I apologize to everyone involved - and especially to T51R, who I must admit writes a strong story, even if a bit over my head of times.:(

Of course this means that I'll actually have to take Prozac for his posts. Eh, might as well follow my psychiatrist's orders for once :p

EDIT: The reason why I save my emotions for fictional stuff is because I'm something of a nihilist. I've already figured: "eh, the human race is so ****ed up they're probably better off dead anyways". And I don't like my own life that much either :D

Go figure

Don't worry about it, but in Watcher's Wish we're headed for orbit! :D Yes, we'll see the Stellvia, the Nirvana and the Tsunami, as well as other classic ships. And we'll also discover exactly why Akira has a 2 x 4 crammed up his arse...

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Part VII and Counting: Bonds, Continuation-

"Allow me to introduce myself, please" the visitor took a seat in front of Keiichi, Keima and Nakoruru, the guardian angel being back to his post next to the door. Banpei-kun, one of Skuld's faithful robots, brought him a cup of tea, and he accepted it. "Thank you" he said, unfazed; living around androids with human feelings made Banpei to look like nothing odd at all for him. "I'm Mamiya Otaru, a friend of the members of Team Robots".

"Pleased to meet you, Mamiya-domo" Nakoruru formally bowed.

"Likewise" Keiichi nodded. "But... but what brought you here?".

"You're Morisato Keiichi, right?" Otaru asked, and Keiichi nodded his confirmation. "Rumor through the Grounds is, you're the mortal boyfriend of the goddess who appeared the other day... the one who is going to be the Final Challenger".

Keima watched as his father's face as he nodded yet again. He saw the emotion in the elder Morisato's eyes, as strong now as every time Belldandy was mentioned in his presence. And cringed. Could it be that his father had loved Aunt Belldandy more than he ever loved his mother? The mere idea silently horrified Keima.

"So, it is true" Otaru sighed. "Very well then, Keiichi. Tell me. Why?".

"Why what?" the young Nekoni student blinked, confused.

"Why did she go along with this? If she's so good as rumored, why didn't she just say 'NO'? Why has she allowed all of this to happen?" Mamiya stamped a hand down on the table, hard, looking straight at Keiichi's eyes.

"W-what are you talking about?" Keiichi almost babbled. "What else did you expect her to do? She's putting her life in the line for everyone!".

"Just like everyone around here, Keiichi!" Otaru almost yelled. "In case you haven't noticed, this is a giant slaughterhouse waiting to happen!". He then noticed Keima's sudden scared expression and bit his tongue. Maybe he had gone way too far, blinded by emotion. "Listen" he sighed, his tone softening. "I really want to believe she has our best interests in mind. But the point is, this really isn't working. People is still suffering by the tons out there. And now, the forces of evil, monsters the likes of which I had never seen, also have a chance to thriumph here, and make it all even worse than it ever was. The way I see it, Belldandy's idea might have made things just worse".

"That's not true!" Keiichi vehemently spat. "She has given us all a fighting chance! Don't you have hope in your friends? On the other good people that is struggling here?!".

"I can be hopeful, Keiichi" Otaru's expression grew somber. "But I'm no stupid. I can see the odds stacked against us. Do you think Belldandy has it bad? At least she's a goddess. She won't go down as easily. I figure she must have a good chance of winning it all, and living. But Lime... Cherry... Bloodberry... and all the others... we aren't gods, Keiichi. We actually can die. And Heaven forgive me, but if my only family... the only ones who would do anything for me, no matter what... if they suffer because of what your girlfriend has set in motion... then maybe I won't be able to do a single thing at her, Morisato... but I'll make you to pay for her!".

Keima instinctively took a hold of his mallet and was ready to swing it in his father's defense. But then he found Keiichi's hand on his chest, stopping him. He followed Keiichi's pained eyes to Otaru's, and found tears welling on the visitor's face, an expression of angry torture etched on his face.

"I..." Keiichi began, gasping. "I'm really sorry. Maybe you're right. Maybe Belldandy paved the road to Hell with her good intentions". He hung his head down. "I understand your pain. I know how it would feel, too...".

"I know I do" Keima whispered, lowering the mallet.

"Do you think that'll make it easier?" Otaru asked once more. "You still haven't answered my question. Why?? Why didn't she just say NO, instead of suggesting this cruel mocking of a chance? Why did she go with a prolongation of the suffering for everyone, instead of just saying, 'No, we can't do it at all'?".

"She had no vote on it" Keiichi stammered. "It was a decision out of her reach...".

"Why does she continue living between those jerks, then?!" Mamiya replied. "If they are all so stuck in their high horses, what's the point of trying to-- to--". He found the voice choking on his throat, and finally shook his head. "Forget it. I'm so dumb to ask. She's one of them, of course" he bitterly grumbled. "It's obvious she couldn't desert them just to perish with us".

"Don't be so unfair to her, please" Nakoruru softly asked. "She has made the best she could out of a desperate situation. As it is, she has already risked it all for us".

"Yeah, but we have lost more. And most likely, we'll lose even more than that in the future" Otaru sighed. "Maybe I'm... being egoist, but I can't... just can't imagine what would I do if I lost them...".

"Otaru-san" Keima finally spoke then, in a tiny voice. "I won't lie to you. I can't promise your friends and you a happy future..." He had to look at his feet as he talked, unable to look at Mamiya's face. "But I have to ask you to have faith. I can give you nothing more than that" the child almost sobbed. "But it's all we got. Faith. And we have to work with that".

Otaru blinked. He was surprised of such a serious tone on a child as young as Yumeji, Hanagata's little brother.

"Onegai, trust my Aunt Belldandy!" he begged. "And your friends as well! You must be strong! That's... that's what my Mom always told me...". He began to sob.

Otaru paused, then passed a hand through the child's short black hair. "I'm sorry. I have caused you pain with my reckleness".

"We understand" Keiichi said. "I would have done the same thing in your position".

"Still..." Otaru mused softly, "I would have liked things to be another way...".

"Me too" Keiichi nodded knowingly. "Me too".

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

Near there:

"WOBBUFETT!!!" the blue Pokemon sprang into sight in front of Jessie, and the Rocket girl made a 'Gaaahhh' extreme face.

"NOT YOU! NOT NOW!" she shrieked as she recalled Wobbufet back to its Pokeball, and then had to quickly roll out of the way as Mimi threw a capsule at her and a huge skeletal youma popped out of it, lunging towards her with bony hands. "HEY! I haven't readied my Pokemon yet!".

"What a laugh!!" Mimi said with a huge smile. "Do you think this is one of those stupid Poemon duels?! This is a fight for real, the way we do it back where I come from!". She loudly laughed as the youma tried to grab Jessie once more, forcing her to rush back. "Get her, Euripides!!".

"Sheeshh, and people says we fight dirty!!" Meowth gasped from inside the Meowthinator Mark XIII. "Dis broad's nasty! She goes straight for da adversary instead of da Pokemon!!".

"Well," James blinked, "Jess can fight dirty too, can't she? We have the bruises to prove it!". He closed his eyes tight remembering many night fights over the last food reserves the team had.

The redhead grunted while she stopped, eyeing the monster rushing towards her, and thrusted another Pokeball forwards. "OK, you asked for it! There'll be no Miss Nice Jessie today! SEVIPER! GO!!".


Next: Fool's Errand, XIII: Jessie vs. Mimi continues, and Xellos challenges Akira!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Outside, Skuld stared looked down from the balcony at the MUGEN grounds below her. She felt so tired at the moment, so exhausted. Maybe the stress was finally getting to her; maybe it was the idea of working with that scumbag Orochi. Or maybe it was just tiredness at this whole darned situation and the fact that she could do absolutely little about it.

Beenuel seemed to sense her discomfort. "I understand how you feel, child," he said. "I grow weary myself from all these past events. Every day, I feel the pain and suffering that is happening worldwide; it is all I can do to block it out/"

Skuld shook her head. "I don't know if I have your strength, Beenuel-san," she said wearily. "I'm not sure how much longer I can -- "

She was cut short when Beenuel suddenly seemed to shudder as though he had just drunken sour milk. "Beenuel-san! What is it?" she gasped.

"A . . . .a presence," Beenuel said as he visibly strained to fight off the nausea he was suddenly feeling. "Something that is anathema to nature . . . . something surrounded by an aura of death . .. . "

"I feel it too," Occult suddenly said. "Whatever it is, it's in the training grounds."

Skuld's eyes widened. "The training grounds? W-we must tell Rind!" she said.

"That'll do no good," Occult said. "There's a zombie infestation in the central square. Every angel available is busy fighting it." The was a short pause as the other two stared at him. "What? I just know this stuff."

"We'll have to go ourselves then!" Skuld shouted as she pulled her mallet free.

"Are you sure that is wise, child?" Beenuel asked. "For all we know, we could be heading to our doom."

"Beenuel, I say we're going, and that's final!" Skuld snapped. She turned in the direction of the doorway. "Nakoruru! There's a situation in the training grounds! We have to move, now!"

Immediately, Nakoruru came running out of the building, followed by Otaru, Keichii and Keima.

"Skuld! What's going on?" Keichii asked.

"There's no time to explain!" Skuld shouted. "Keima, stay here with the others!"

And without a further word, Skuld flew off towards the training grounds. Her team, with a collective sigh of exasperation, quickly raced off to follow her.

Next: Confrontation!


OOC: I realize that I may have misplayed Skuld somewhat, for which I am truly, truly sorry. Very sorry. You guys can't begin to imagine how sorry I am.

[OverMaster]

OOC: I realize that I may have misplayed Skuld somewhat, for which I am truly, truly sorry. Very sorry. You guys can't begin to imagine how sorry I am.

*Sweatdrops* Oh, there's no need to worry that much, actually...

[Saint_007]

Sorry, everyone, keep meaning to post, but right now I don't have an ounce of energy left. Hopefully tomorrow morning...

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Part VIII: Longshots-

"SKULD!" Keiichi cried to the distance, reaching vainly with a hand to where the team was disappearing into the horizon. "Wait... You have no reason to go...".

"M-Mom..." Keima bit his lower lip, scared again.

"Huh?" Otaru took a confused look down at him. "Mom, you said? Isn't she just a few years older than you?".

Keiichi gave him a nervous back look. "Ehh, actually, she's... a bit older than she looks" he lamely explained.

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

Right outside of Team Beastmaster's Headquarters:

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!" Juggernaut threw another angry punch at the ground, cracking it open and making it to tremble below everyone's feet. "I knew you had to let me fight, not be just a f***in' striker! If I had been up there, I'd have cleaned house!".

Then the black cone of swirling darkness appeared in the air behind him, soon taking Xellos' human shape. He was, much to everyone else's surprise, smiling. "That wouldn't have done us any good, Mr. Marko!". He cheerfully piped in. "In that case, they just would have used Tetsuo as well, and believe me, the result would have been the same!".

"Xellos!!" InuYasha barked on his face. "You should have warned us better against those freaks! Especially the vampire! This is all your fault!".

"I wasn't the one being outdone at the Arena" Xellos replied. "Don't blame me if your talents proved not to be good enough".

"I'd have liked to see you taking on them!" Ryouga pointed at him with his umbrella, angrily. "To see if you would have fared better!".

"I'd have soloed all of them" the Mazoku priest calmly answered. "But enough of that. My Mistress, in her infinite benevolence, has decided to give you all a chance to redeem yourselves...".

Then he noticed the Agents of the Authors that were there, helping the team to get over the defeat. Miroku, Tomoyo, Nami, the Invisible Man, and even the newly arrived Sango, Kirara and Usopp. The dark aura coming out of Tomoyo caught his attention above it all. It felt delightful to a Mazoku. So alluring, so inviting, so twisted...

"Well, what do we have here!" He regarded the others with a wide smile. "I see that, despite losing, you saw fit to invite your friends to a party?".

"You are this team's sponsor, aren't you?" Nami asked him. "We have some questions we'd like to ask you".

"Good luck with that" Juggernaut grumbled. "He always answers to everything saying 'It's a damn secret' ".

Xellos looked offended. "I never use such a language. And I'm not their sponsor, merely a humble representative of the most honored sponsor. Anyway, my dear friends, questionings will have to wait, I'm afraid. We are on a tight schedule, and we have too many things to do as soon as possible!".

"What are you talking about?" Kagome asked.

Xellos folded out a poster-sized picture of Akira looming over Tokyo. "This young fellow. We are going to fight him. And this time, I'll act with you".

Miroku looked at the image with widened eyes. The Authors had warned him against that person. Akira, the Destroyer Herald.

The Living Omen of Doom.

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

Grim's Secret Stash:

"Jean Napier, dead in Gotham City twelve years ago?" The Grim Reaper read from the card Urd had just passed him. "I guess it could be doable... Nothin' big or fancy in her past, no offenses, no powers... Me, I have no problem wit' it, but you'd have to consult Lord Azrael as well, Ma'am...".

"I know" the dark skinned Goddess nodded. "I'll handle Azrael. I'm sure he won't deny me access to that soul".

"... Anooo..." Nudoru Kaarage cluelessly scratched himself on the crotch again, making Grim to remember Billy with his behavior. "Tell me again, Urd, why the freakin' Hell are you so interested about that soul? Why to bother so much for it?".

"Kaarage, right now, out there, he is on his quick way to become the most powerful being on these Grounds. My mother found a legal loophole. She couldn't register anyone with a godlike supreme power in this event... but she could register a mere human, then awaken a singularity inside of him instead, to turn him into someone who will be able, eventually, to kill Belldandy. And she chose the worst, most terrible, cruel enemy conceivable for that task. If this woman is the key to reach to that monster before he is unleashed, I'll look through Heaven and Hell for her".

"... Come again?" Nudoru stared at her. "And this time in English, please?".

"Forget it!" she said, frustrated. "Joker bad! He becoming a frickin' deity! Dead woman only one who maybe can humanize him before he hurts Belldandy! Do you get it now?!".

"......................... You sound real stupid when talking like that, ya know?" Nudoru chuckled.

"Indeed..." Grim agreed with a nod, but shat up when Urd shot him a piercing stare worthy of Mandy."Hm, I guess it's time to open de portal, okay...?".

He raised the scythe up, then brought it down opening a rift in time and space to Heaven. Urd looked back at the God-Killer. "Well, since you went and made yourself banned from the Celestial Plane, you'll have to stay here while we go for Napier. Don't touch anything, don't blow anything, UNDERSTOOD?!".

"I swear it by my Boy Scout Honor!" Nudoru placed a hand over his own heart. "Good luck, Urd and Bones!" he said as both of them walked through the gate to the Elysian Fields of Paradise. "May the Force be with you!".

Then the gate closed behind them, and Kaarage was left alone in the middle of the huge stash, full with thousands of sandglasses lined up everywhere.

"Well, this sure will be a boring time spent here..." he sighed and leaned against a wall, accidentally making four Hourglasses full of golden sand to fall from their stand to the ground, breaking and spilling its precious life content all through the floor. "OOOOOOOOPSS!".

At the same time, at the other side of the Grounds, the four new members of Team Expendables, a Goomba, one of the Kingpin's former thugs, Hans Moleman, and a holo-baboon from Captain Simian's crew, fell down, dead.

:)


Next: Fool's Errand, IX: Urd in Paradise, and Seviper vs. Euripides.

[T51R]

~A Watcher‘s Wish~




“I have witnessed much, as this universe has ascended from age to age across countless worlds which have come and gone. And yet, I detect something else from this man rising from the Earth. I watch as he comes to them, from his throne below in his place of power, however not a spark of hatred flickers in his heart. Instead, I now watch, as is my dictum, as he enters their ship through his will alone. He has sensed in these humans, these men and women once at war, a kindred spirit so like another he knew. Ah, I see as he goes, through their corridors, through their very ship itself, yet their eyes do not see him as he passes. I wonder now…what the eyes of one such as myself, a Watcher, shall see…?”

~Uatu, the Watcher


-Aboard the Nirvana, in high orbit above the Earth-


“Man, that idiot didn’t get it, did he?” Hibiki Tokai mumbled to himself as he plodded along the deck towards the cafeteria, then turned left slowly towards his own room. The battle earlier had been no different from when he had faced the Harvester ships; fast-paced and brutal. However, the ending of it had been rather surprising; the words of the man in red had shocked all three of the women in his squadron. Dita had been optimistic about what Akira had said; after all, he did say that they could very well have a chance to fight on the side of light should the scales tip towards darkness. Meia had, as always, been sceptical to a tee. She had retired to her quarters as soon as the four of them had returned to the space-borne dock. Jura, as always, had gone straight to Barnette with stories to tell. The door hissed open, and Hibiki entered the lightless room. He stared out into space through the screen, at the Tsunami, as well as several other ships docked right next to them. Here at the Stellvia. He watched as Katies and Biancas zipped this way and that, going about their patrols and daily tasks. Until the clink of porcelain echoed through the room, and the smell of fine dried leaves wafted through his nostrils.

“Tea?”

Hibiki spun around, his eyes still adjusting to the darkness, his nerves still on edge from the battle earlier. “Lights!” He recognised the voice, and remembered the power behind it. Buildings torn off their foundations and flung with such force that they had driven the titanic Vandread backwards. Shields that had blocked, too easily, their machine’s best attacks. And he was here, sitting in front of him, pouring him a cup of piping hot mint tea.

“It‘s good, do you want some?”

“HEY! What’s the big idea anyway?” the shorter man began to show sings of great agitation, “An hour ago you were trying to kill us! And then later you told us it was all a test!? What gives anyway?! You here to laugh at us or something? You‘re gonna laugh at us because you‘ve got some kinda divine edict that makes it alright for you to live and we don’t?”

“Actually, I came because you remind me of someone. Someone whom I knew when I was very young.” Hibiki noticed that the look in his eyes had changed; gone were the glazed-over, hard-edged pupils that had borne into his through the Vandread’s screen earlier. “I guess trying to beat the crap out of you and your girlfriend didn’t help anything, did it?” Akira rose slowly, and set Hibiki’s cup down beside his bed.

“Actually, no. What do you want exactly?” She sprinted across the room, towards the intruder alarm. “Talk. Or in three minutes, you‘re gonna be looking down the gun barrels of Majerean pirates.”

“Look, I didn’t come here to fight some more. Its just…Dita and you. You reminded me of someone.” He watched as Hibiki slowly moved away from the button, and then over to the bedside table, cautiously looking over the cup of cooling tea. “You see, I didn’t understand at first why she chose me. When I was a child, I destroyed the city I was in in a fit of rage. As I grew older however, I came to realize what I did, what I was and perhaps most importantly, I learned to accept it. In the end, in a Universe of my own making, I decided to never again approach the Earth for fear that it would happen again. At least, until several weeks ago. Hibiki, I am not the one who awakened the Monsters. I do not know who did, or if they rose of their own accord. Chances are, that the monsters are the planet‘s way of protecting itself against the humans who have almost destroyed it time and time again.”

“So tell me again why you’re doing this,” Hibiki decided to trust the man, even if it seemed foolhardy enough. “I guess you‘re gonna just go on and on about how and why humans deserve to be exterminated, right? That makes you no better than the Harvesters!”

“Several months ago,” Akira leaned back into the chair he had claimed, “the highest seat in Heaven decided that Evil had spread too far into all his versions of Creation. What I am about to tell you will either make you doubt your very existence, or even worse, curse it. Hibiki, I am not here to reign chaos and destruction. In fact, my Mistress, the Goddess whom I answer to forbade it. I am here to portray an avatar of doom. I am her to face mankind, and to find those like you. Those, who like you will never compromise what they believe in as a means to an end. You believe,” the taller man nodded towards the cup the Vanguard pilot was holding, “that every being, no matter what they are and where they are deserves a chance to live. That is the same thing that my Mistress, the Goddess Belldandy believes. And I am here to serve her ideal.”

“So this Goddess‘ ideal,” Hibiki spat, “Is to eradicate all humanity because there‘s some bad apples in the basket!? What kinda logic is that!?”

“Hibiki, you still live because the Lady Belldandy stood before the Council of Heaven and proposed MUGEN when her Father, the Creator of us all decided that it was time to start afresh, with the recreation of all that is. She knew what it would entail. She knew that it would perhaps be the harshest test that Existence could possibly endure. However, she did it, and she put herself at the mercy of perhaps the most powerful beings in the Multiverses in order to take the fate of every sentient being in her own hands. She was what stood between the immediate eradication of life and the opportunity for all living things to prove that they deserved a chance to exist, that the multiverse, although it had indeed become more corrupt in His eyes, still followed His ultimate plan. I am here,” he decided to say it then, to put all Hibiki’s fears aside, “to weed out evil. Any evil that may be planning to enter later in the Tournament to face Her. My orders are to find the ones who are true to themselves, and true to their race no mater what the odds may be. My task is to select the Wild Card entrants, and to ensure that they embody ideals that best represent mankind. Dita, she represents hope to me. Hope that is undying, that is uncompromising in its brilliance, a hope that will never die even tough its last breath may be drawn. A hope that will draw all beings back into a kinship regardless of who they are or where they came from. Yourself, you represent will. The will to make a difference, the will to never betray what you believe in no mater that the ends might be. For you there will never be a means to an end, because you will always find that third option, won‘t you? This is what I mean Hibiki, when I said that I was here to eradicate evil; the forces of many Hells have been on the move since this tournament began, and in order to fulfil my Mistress‘ wishes I must be the devil in the eyes of those who challenge me. Because it is in hate that the worst in any being emerges. Yes, I know that it could well cost me my life however it would only be in atonement for the lives I have already taken in my youth. Mine is a soul that has already been damned, Hibiki Tokai, and if I am to see an eternity in some Hell or another then at least, let my final actions confirm mankind‘s fear of me.”

[T51R]

“You sure talk a lot,” Akira’s host decided to sit down at last. “You could have just said that you‘re playing the Devil‘s Advocate. But still, tearing that city off of the face of the planet!? Its still wrong! You keep talking about a means to an end, but you‘re the one who went and did just that! WHAT KIND OF GODDESS WOULD PREVENT THE UNIVERSE FROM BEING DESTROYED, AND YET TOLERATE A HERLAD LIKE YOU!? THAT CITY, IT WASN’T HER CHOICE, WAS IT!? IT WAS YOURS! YOU SAID THAT YOU WERE PLAYING THE DEVIL‘S ADVOCATE, BUT LEVELLING AN ENTIRE CITY!? THAT ISNT PLAYING! LIKE IT OR NOT, THE MOMENT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT DOING THAT AS A VIABLE TACTIC, YOU DAMNED YOUR OWN SOUL TWICE OVER!”

“I…”

Hibiki knew it; he had finally hit the nerve that was most exposed; even fanatical devotion had to be translated in some way, in one’s own heart and mind. Inwardly she nodded to himself; his next string of words, they would either cost him his own life, or it could well change another. “If you really cherish your Belldandy‘s ideals so much, then do something about it. I take it she gave you a free hand, didn’t she? And you went and did something that probably made her stomach turn. Even worse, you did it in her name.” Hibiki turned to the Tsunami docked right next door, more Katies zipping past trailing tails of bright blue. “Face it, she‘s never gonna look at you the same way again. If she ever looks at you again. But if you wanna start doing something about it, then fight the Monsters with us. If you really are here to eradicate evil from the later stages of the tournament through some holy order, then show that a heart can change. If anything, you‘ll be showing your Goddess‘ Father that even a bastard like you can change. I‘m going now, but I‘ll wait in the hangar for you at first light in two days. It‘ll take till then for Gasconge at repair and re-arm the Dread force for this mission. If you got the guts, then show up and fight with us.”

As the door shut behind the mortal, Akira found himself unable to move. Tokai had spoken the truth. “Mistress…mistress…what have I…” And then it appeared, at the edge of his consciousness, closing faster than conceivably possible, its presence driving a steel nail into his brain.

“MISTER ALIEN!” Dita ground to a halt in front of her colleague, “Gasconge said that it might be a bit faster than she thought it‘d be! We could be going back to the Earth in two days! Mister Alien?” She looked more closely at him, into his eyes. “Mister Alien, what‘s wrong?”

“GET DOWN!!!” The door to Hibiki’s bunk blew off its rails, embedding itself into the opposite wall as Dita and Hibiki found themselves diving towards the deck against their own wills. It was the same across the all ships docked; the Yamato, the Tsunami, the Voyager and the Enterprise. Aboard the LEXX and the Galactica, the Bilkis and the Andromeda Ascendant as well as the Stellvia they were docked at, every crew member found themselves bracing for impact no matter what they were doing, their bodies seemingly moving on their own as Akira took control of their minds and forced them into braced positions and safety zones. Dita and Hibiki glanced out the reinforced panel, the barrier between the pressurized interior of the Nirvana and the beginning of Deep Space, watching as ripples spread out across the hulls berthed nearby, telekinetic shields raised just in time. However, it wasn’t enough to shield them all from the impact.

The Stellvia rocked with the shockwave, a massive displacement of matter passing them by at speeds beyond trans-warp heading towards the planet below. The Tsunami broke free of its moorings, the Jurian hull thundering into the reinforced steel armour of the Yamato next door. Under them the Nirvana itself pitched, and a sudden severe jolt signalled its impact against the massive Stellvia space station. Dita watched in horror as three Biancas were cast towards the maw of the LEXX by the shockwave, and then stopped dead in their involuntary flights by invisible hands. When the tremblings subsided, staff and crew alike began to recover from their involuntary actions. “What was that…Mister Alien…” Dita pointed a shaking finger at the red-clad telekinetic, crumpled on the floor bleeding profusely from his eyes, ears and nose.

“Get…” he coughed, obviously in great pain, “Get out. It‘s here…run…”

“What‘s here? Dita! Help me!” Hibiki shouted in alarm as he pulled in vain, Akira having difficulties of his own with simply getting back to his feet. “What is it!?”

“God-Killer…it...must be...nothng...else...I…must go. Must…warn…the Mistr…” He began fading away, however, before he disappeared a thought was left on both their minds. “Two days…fight...together.”



“Do I now watch as the tide turns? Do I now watch as even the hardest of hearts finds the humanity within itself? Perhaps it is so then, that good does triumph over evil. But, what of this? What of the Hells aligning, does darkness have the capacity of growing even darker unto nothing? Perhaps it is so then that in this time of dread both the powers of good and evil are at their very peaks. Perhaps it is so, then, that the wishes of men will go unfulfilled. But why is that, for is not every sentient being at least deserving of one reasonable wish? If that is so, then allow me to cast my lot, my wish, with the heroes…and the heroes-to-be. If this pitiful Watcher is allowed, then let his wish be that those with even a glimmer of hope left in their hearts rise now in defence of their own hopes, to protect the dreams which they hold dear…and perhaps, most of all, for the hope that their deepest wishes will one day come true.” ~Uatu, the Watcher

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Part IX: Heaven can Wait-

The Fields were still as beautiful as the last time she had been there. Huge extensions of green grass and flowing rivers of nectar and ambrosy. Impossibly wide trees of branches that extended through the upper bowels of Heaven. Above it all, a crystal clear blue sky, perfect on its shining, no clouds, no red tones at all.

"Not really my kind of place" Grim commented as they walked through the golden gate to the Elysian Fields. "I must admit my tastes lean more towards de darker decoration".

"You're weird, Reaper" Urd sighed, delighting on the pure beauty of the pristine environment all around them. "How can you not love this? This is the prize offered to those who have excelled through Existence. There is no greater glory than this...".

"Different strokes and all dat, Ma'am" the dark being respectfully differed, while they advanced through the fields of glory. A Cherub of rosy cheeks came to greet them, quickly, flustered with excitement.

"My Lady Urd! Lord Reaper!" she bowed in front of them. "What a pleasant surprise! May I ask what brings Your Excellences here?" she nervously fumbled.

"We came looking for a soul" Urd replied very seriously. "Jean Napier from Gotham City, United States, Earth. She died roughly twelve years ago. Where is your boss, Myrine?".

"Um, Lord Azrael has not been here in all of this day" the Cherub admited. "I suppose he must be very busy with all the reapings of lives currently happening on Earth and other planets".

"Yes, I guess" Urd agreed, nodding with a tired sigh. She had not slept in almost two whole days, and really wished for a nap. "Never mind, then. I have given Grim authorization to look for her in Azrael's absence, anyway. Carry us to the soul databanks, okay?".

"Could you give authorizations for something like that, My Lady?" the Cherub blinked, astonished. "Not to be disrespectful, but this is not your department...".

"Just escort us there, okay?!" Urd raised her voice, and the winged being of light gulped.

"Whatever you wish, My Lady. Follow me, please". She turned around and led the way.

While they walked through the sublime fields full of pleasant scences, Urd noticed how the Paradise's population was looking at them with barely contained emotions. It was just natural, she told herself. Many of them still had families in the world of living, and obviously would wish for news about them.

So, she was not really surprised when an improptu commision was quickly formed between the denizens of Paradise and sent to talk with her, as she could peek through furtive glares at the masses, while never stopping her steps. What surprised her was who was leading the small group that went after her.

A red and blue clad figure, tall and powerful despite looking on his early 60s, with white temples and some wrinkles on his square jawed face. Red Boots, red cape, the universally known 'S' shield on his wide, muscular chest. A last hero from a long dead Earth.

Urd stopped at last, forcing Grim and the Cherub to do it as well.

"The Super-Man from Earth Two" she mused as the original superhero, the first one of his kind seen on any Earth, stopped in front of her, followed by a small old man, another, taller old man of kind eyes, and a still young Japanese woman of short black hair.

"Madame" the hero from the Golden Age bowed slightly in front of her. "If 'm not confused, you must be the sister of Belldandy. Urd of the Past, the First Norn?".

"Yes, I am. What is what you want to tell me?".

"We have a petition for you, Madame" Superman gestured towards the rest of his small group. "We are all related to the current champions of MUGEN. Son Gohan, adoptive grandfather of Son Goku. Ben Parker, uncle to the Amazing Spider-Man. And Kimiko Tendo, mother to young Akane Tendo" he introduced them as they all bowed to her in turn. "We are not going to ask for a return to life. We only wish you to allow us to speak to them, only once. To give them courage, and the strenght of spirit to go on".

Urd looked at Grim, and the hooded skeleton shrugged. Then she looked back at the comission. And smiled gently. "Such a wish was to be expected from the pure of heart, concerned about their loved ones' wellbeing. I see no problems with it. As soon as I get a contact with whom I came to look for, I'll ask Azrael for a granting of your desire".

"Who are you looking for, Madame?" Kimiko asked respectfully.

"Come with us" Urd invited them to join their march. "I will explain it along the way".

The four of them nodded their thanks, and went after them as the three leads reassumed their way.


OOC: Sorry I didn't have the time to include Jessie vs. Mimi Part 2 in this installement. GD, is it okay if I write Jessie as having all the Pokemon she has had through the series thanks to her current supernatural sponsor? Otherwise, there shouldn't be that much she could do against Mimi.


Next: Part X. Heavenly BodyCounts!

[OverMaster]

Edit: I hate board farts and double posts.

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Part X: Heavenly Body Counts-

Around the Icy Sphere:

It was all quiet. Chillingly quiet.

Three 13-years old girls advanced towards the gigantic mass of the silent construction in the middle of the Tokyo wreckage. The cute, blue-eyed blonde of short twin pigtails in the blue dress, carrying a long magical staff, put a hand next to her mouth and shouted, "HELLOOOOO!! Mr. Akira, sir?!! Are you here?!! We came to fight you...!!".

"Feh" her tomboyish friend with short black hair in a green similar shortskirted dress, carrying a huge mallet, snorted to herself. "Looks like the coward ran away like a battered weasel after what those guys did to him...".

"I don't know, Kaoru" the third girl, a redhead of long hair tied into a ponytail, with a red bow on her head, paused to contemplate the awe inspiring built of the Sphere around them. "He very well might just be waiting in an ambush. Be careful...".

"Oh please, Momoko!" Kaoru was exhasperated. "We've been looking for, what, fifteen minutes for him already! If he wanted to show up to attack us, don'tcha think he'd already have done it by now?!".

"What are you kids doing here?" A male gruff voice then took them by surprise. The trio turned around to see another group, this one of five, also walking into the cold insides of the Icy Sphere, looking for its inhabitant. The one who had talked had been the older looking man in the green outfit, with a mask over his face and a pointy blond beard on her jaw. He had a bow full with multiple arrows ready in a hand, and looked like he was on a cautious hunt. "This is not a place for children!!".

"This shouldn't even be a place for us" the attractive, long legged blonde woman following the Emerald Archer, wearing a skintight black bodysuit with a jacket over it, and fishnet stockings, examined her surroundings. "I doubt we might be able to even scratch that Akira monster after what he did to Flash and the others at Basin City".

"The League is there where it is needed, Canary" the scarlet figure of the caped android, the Red Tornado, floated behind her. "If we only can at least stall Akira while J'onn and the others vanquish the giant monsters, then so be it".

"Well, having a speedster wouldn't hurt us" Plastic Man yawned exaggeratedly, stretching his mouth and arms as much as he could. "Not to mention a psychic. Or a telekine-whatever. Or a mage. But yeah, barring that, it's nice to have come here to be sitting ducks. I knew I should have gone to chill out with Booster and Beetle at the Tourney instead... Heck, I'd have even got to see Zatanna and Supes, and even Bitter Bats, again there. Instead, here am I, getting bored waiting for Junior to show up and start the party on us...".

"Focus, O'Brien" The Armor-clad Steel asked, crouching down to analyze a part of the Sphere's cooling system. "While our enemy is apparently away, we should take this as a chance to learn as much about him as we can. Knowledge is Power. Perhaps we might even find a clue or two about his weaknesses".

"Yes, but in the meanwhile, you girls get OUT" Green Arrow commanded to the trio of Magical Girls, pointing to the only way of entrance and exit of the Sphere. "NOW".

"Hey, Gramps, cool it off" Kaoru huffed. "We're superheroines as well. You tell 'em, Momoko!". She turned to her team leader.

"Well, we indeed are" the redhead nodded. "Onegai, let us to stay around you! We also want to help protect Earth!".

The archer grunted and passed a tired hand through his face, frustrated.

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

"SEVIPER, POISON FANG!!" Jessie loudly commanded, and the snakelike Pokemon jumped on the youma, biting it on a leg.

"A poisoned bite!" Mimi giggled madly. "Please! Euripides is entirely made of bone and has no bloodstream! Poison attacks are sorrowfully wasted on her! Just accept the truth and surrender before you and your fanged tapeworm are too hurt, kiddo!".

Jessie saw how the demonlike creature, indeed, shrugged off the bit like nothing and stomped Seviper on the head with a foot. Cursing under her breath, she yelled, "Use your tail, Seviper!".

The Pokemon then wrapped its pointy tail around the youma's right leg and used the grab to slam its foe against the ground. However, once there, the undead being just reached with its hands and grabbed Seviper's head in turn, bonking it down against the floor several times, viciously.

"Boy, that thing's strong!" James commented, gasping.

"No kiddin'!" Meowth stared wide-eyed.

At the other side of the battlefield, the rest of Team UFO sat sharing ricecrackers, which OM promptly choked on and had to cough to avoid suffocation.

"Mimi-chan cannot lose" Savior Sapphire said, matter of factly and as flatly as ever.

"I'm starting to think she can't, not against this gal" Paquito nodded.

"Blast it!" Jessie spat, seeing her Pokemon falling down knocked out at Euripides' repeated attacks. "SEVIPER, COME BACK!". She recalled it into its Pokeball, then smiled slyly. Luckily, she had other cards i¡under her sleeve. The new bosses had been very generous, giving her access to some old friends she never thought she would see again...

"LICKITUNG!" She threw another Pokeball. "YOU GO NOW!".

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

Heaven:

"Well, here we are" Myrine the Cherub stopped in front of the gigantic, majestic golden mainframe of the Paradise Soul Databanks, a part of the Yggdrasil System. There, the info was stored on every denizen of the paradisiac afterlife. "You can call on any soul from Heaven you want from here".

"I know" Urd walked to it, and punched a code on the interface, which glowed slightly under her divine touch.

"User recognized. Urd, Norn of the Past, Goddess of Love" a voice came out of the Databanks. "Welcome, Mistress".

"Access to the soul of one Jean Napier, inhabitant of Gotham City, New Jersey, United States of America, Planet Earth, DC Post-Crisis Universe One" Urd asked for. "Wife to Jack Napier, she died twelve years ago in Earth time".

The heavenly computer paused for a moment as it accessed its profiles, then said, "Sorry. That soul was retired from Paradise barely yesterday, along with the soul of one Cynthia Von Doom. She is not longer here".

Urd's green eyes snapped fully open, as behind her, Myrine and Grim also gasped, and Earth Two Superman's group was puzzled. "WHAT??!!".


Next: Fool's Errand Part XI: The Bad Touch.

[J Dog]

Dogbert's New Team: Part I- Enter the Con Carne

"So, let me put it in perspective?" Dogbert asked, confused as hell about now seeing the idiotic Bucky B. Katt, "I now have to serve YOU?!!"

Bucky grinned his sharp teeth (if only his brain was as sharp) like Vellinor. "Indeed! You will serve me with your techno-thingies! I'm hungry, so cook me something." Dogbert muttered, and then thought of something drastic.

"Could you excuse me for a moment?" He asked. Bucky, for once, agreed. Dogbert then picked up a cell phone from out of his fur. He dialed a 15-digit number, and within moments, someone replied.

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

Hector Con Carne's Island

Dogbert only could hear unintelligable roars coming out of a purple furred circus bear that had the phone. It was then that something screamed.

"BOSKOV!" The voice yelled. "How many times do I have to tell you; I ALWAYS get the freaking phone, dammit!" With that, Boskov lifted the phone to that thing. It was a brain inside of a container on top of the bear's head. The brain moved close to the phone.

"Greetings, and who is this?" The brain asked with a plain vocal. Dogbert replied by explaining who he was. "My name is Dogbert, I'm from San Francisco, and I'm as succesful as you. How are you?"

"Well, let's put it in simple terms: Not too good. I got this island back from this girl with an evil glare. However, my weaponry is on the fritz and I haven't found General Skarr." The brain replied.

"And I haven't had a decent meal in days!" That came from a stomach in a similar container, but that one was on Boskov's belly area.

"So, what do you need from the great Hector Con Carne, Dogbert?"

"How's a little proposition; You join me in this tournament over here in Japan, and I will make it your day."

"You mean MUGEN?" The brain of the former mob leader said, surprised. "It's too late to join, and even if I could..."

"No, no, no. Not MUGEN; The Akira Tournament!" As Dogbert said that, an evil aura from the moments before the fateful battle with Jack Stallwall reemerged. Then, it vanished. "It's a little battle for a wild-card spot."

Boskov was scared after hearing the name of the man who created World War III himself by accident. He mumbled and cried.

"My vessel is a little scared of this 'Akira' fellow. Must we fight him?"

"Indeed. However, there are no limits to the way you can fight. I know you have a secret weapon. I'd use it here. And if you join, I'll make it so that you will get a fair share of the world when it's all said and done."

"What share?" Hector asked.

"Oh, Africa, the Middle East, and the lower part of the Pacific Rim. If you do well, I'll throw in Micronesia."

"Africa?!!! The Middle East?!!!" Hector screamed, considering all the diseases and trouble in those areas. But then he remembered about what you can get from these: Oil, diamonds, and LOTS of other resources. "It's a deal! I'll be there in a heartbeat!"

Boskov roared happily. It was all set.

NEXT: Dogbert's next recruit is another cat, and Jack digs deeper into The Underground Complex's backbone

[Saint_007]

*"A Song of Storm And Fire" from the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles OST is being played as background throughout*(1)

Anzell arrived at the area of zombie infestation, and found Alaniel attempting to marshall his forces to block the massive zombie charge.

"You know, Anzell," Alaniel sighed with relief, "I can't stress enough how good it is to see you again..."

"Alaniel, what's the situation here?" inquired the goddess in concern.

"The problem here isn't the zombies themselves," the demi-angel replied. "It's the fact that they're invading an area where we really can't use force properly. There's too many civillians and possible collateral damage for us to simply wipe them out..."

"Then how about some finesse?" Anzell replied with a wry smile.

"That would be greatly appreciated. You take a squadron of angels, tell them Alaniel ordered them to follow you. Try and thin down their numbers a bit. And most importantly, stall them while we try and evacuate everyone else. If you can, try and lure them over to that walled section over there..."

"Sounds like you have a plan."

"It's going to be a bit explosive, that's all I can say."

"You usually show off on the job, or just feeling rather good today?"

"Are we going to have this arguement or will you please just put my mind at ease and help here, okay? This is just not my day..."

"You really ought to lighten up," Anzell said as she took to the skies, followed by six angels.

"Look who's talking," Alaniel murmured to nobody in particular.

Anzell took her group of angels and met up with Zarabeth and the rest, whom she had left to take care of the undead horde. They were already surrounded by a massive pile of severed, rotted limbs, gruesome splatters, and other telltale signs that a large number of zombies should have just stayed dead the first time round. And yet the dead kept coming.

"Glad to see you've brought company, blondie!!" Marv shouted out as he introduced yet another zombie to Gladys, granting its head a much needed ventilation hole. "So how's your boyfriend doing on the other side of the field?"

"Will you cut that out?!" Anzell's face went temporarily red. She thought of reprimanding him for his remarks, but then felt one of the angels put his hand on her shoulder.

"M'Lady," said the winged knight, "I would suggest an idea of Lord Alaniel's. He said that the best way to deal with this deluge of monsters is to set up 'kill zones', into which these foul things will be herded. That way, we can ensure that we can eliminate the greater number of them with minimum force, whereas they will not be able to take evasive action."

"An excellent plan," Master Cheif affirmed. "Their numbers, once forced into thing zones of attrition, will work against them. We'll need to keep them from climbing the walls; they're going to jump in from our exposed flanks."

"Leave that to us," the angel said, taking with his comrades to the skies. From their vantage point, they began picking off the undead attackers who were climbing the nearby walls and obstacles. Alita and MC in the meantime were making a makeshift barricade from which the defenders can attack from unhindered. Anzell was helping Zarabeth take out as many zombies as possible, holding them off while defenses were being set. This was, however, complicated by the fact that they were targetting Anzell, the slower target, instead of Zarabeth, the more dangerous, since to them, Zarabeth's undead smell held no promise of meat or prey. Anzell countered with a flame shield, a force field bubble made of fire, that burned any zombie foolish enough to come near. Marv was already reloading Gladys for the fifth time today; this was the most action his trusty handgun had seen since the whole affair started - well, aside from the ninja deal. And he was sure that Batman couldn't object to him killing zombies, since by definition they were already dead. The Sin City vigilante snickered at the thought.

Master Chief had finally arranged a barricade just the way he wanted it: enough elevation and angles of fire to ensure a target rich environment. He unloaded a group of ammo cells from his backpack, cocked his plasma rifle, and declared open season, having his pistols and other guns ready just in case. Satisfied with her work, Alita then jumped forward and joined Zarabeth and Anzell in close combat, dodging the zombies who were unable to lay a hand on her.

However, Alita then saw a zombie manage to leap right at her - just before Zarabeth splattered it neatly in half.

"Thanks..."

"Don't mention it - and be careful," said the Lahmian vampire. "They won't target me because my flesh doesn't attract them. You, however, are a different matter, even with your cybernetics." She chuckled bitterly. "Figures, for once there are men who aren't interested in my body - even if they are undead- and I have to destroy them all."

Elsewhere, Alaniel had managed to get most of the zombie horde in a straight line - a perfect target. All civillians had been evacuated, which means he no longer had to hold back. He signalled his angelic troops to clear out, leaving the zombies to concentrate on the single remaining target in the area: himself. Alaniel smiled as the undead ran at him, and raised his sword, which was glowing with additional power.

With a mighty downward swing, Alaniel sent forth an immensely powerful fire wave. The wave itself was no more than 4 meters wide, but it created a powerful slipstream that sucked large numbers of the zombie horde into the flames, obliterating them. The boom was heard on the other side of the grounds, and the flame wave continued in an uninterruped straight line as far as the eye can see.

Well, that takes care of those in this sector, thought Alaniel with relief. Let's just hope we can contain the other sections just as fast...

(1) - One thing that Alaniel has that gives him an edge against his opponents... it's the Power Song ability!! He'll also have the Theme Song/Montage Ability as will be shown later on...:D

[KingEli]

Clerks-MUGEN Edtion

Leonardo, New Jersey: The Quick Stop Store

We see Dante, Randall, Comic Book Shop owner Brodie and Jay in the store watich the Teams Saviors and Darkside fight

"............So That's What I'm sayin." Said Brodie

"Bullshit, Brodie and you know it. EVERYBODY know's that Jedis are better than power rangers." Spat Randall.

"And Do Jedi's have Zords. No."

"Randall's right Bro, I mean Jedi's are just that cooler." Said Dante

"Yo, that Andormena babe is Smokin'" Said Jay

"I here that. But hey That Sailor Moon Girl is Pretty hot herself." Said Randall

"She's only what? 16? Come on Randall. Now I know why God WANTS to punish us." Spat Dante

"Hey, don't blame me. You've done your share of sinnin' your self."

"Yeah, but I'm not a clid molester."

"Oh Now I'm a Child molester he says. Anyway Power Rangers, Jedi, or Sith
have Jack on That GL, what his face?" Said Randall

"Guy Gardner." Said Brodie

"There you go. I Mean Lightsabers are cool, but GL rings are Special."

"Only in the Hands of Hal Jordan." Said Dante

"There he goes again with Hal. You STILL Mad about Kyle Dante?" Said Brodie

"No. But it's just the Fact DC didn't have to make him Parallax, it's not Kyle but the way they had hm become to something he's not."

"Yellow fear monster." Said Randall

"Gayest. Retcon. EVER." Said Brodie

[OverMaster]

-Fool's Errand, Part XI: The Bad Touch-

MUGEN Training Fields, but still quite far from where Vellinor was:

"So, we should call this a day" Nabeshin shrugged as he stood over Mecha Dorado's fallen form, hands in his pockets. "Hopefully, you'll have learned a few moves from me for your battle against the Saviors from Space".

"We barely learned anything" the real Dorado deadpaned.

"Well, it's the most I could teach you in such a limited time" the Director explained. "What did you expect? Your fight versus Supes' boys is as soon as the current fight is over... and man, it has took a long while...". He looked at his wristwatch, then shrugged. "The lil' furball, the gunman and the alien princess are tough, but can be overcome. But you still would be screwed against Supes at your current level. However, since I like you fellas...".

Father and son watched how he pulled a small lead-lined silver box out of his puffy afro, and handed it to Mel.

"What is this?" Dorado curiously questioned.

"Open it" Nabeshin said, and Mel obeyed. Then they saw the small piece of glowing green rock inside of it.

"Is this...".

"Yeah, the real-deal genuine article" The Director grinned. "When you're an Author, you get easy access to things like this. I was saving it for an eventual rumble with Flying Boy, but since I'm outta the contest, I prefer to leave it to you guys. If you use it wisely, you can have a chance".

"Thank you, Sensei. Thank you very much. We'll never forget this!" Mel replied.

"Meh, you coulda brought a bigger piece of the stuff..." Dorado groaned, only to have Nabeshin's fist falling down on his head again.

"YOU CRETIN! Do you think I like to carry large chunks of radioactive rock in my hairdo?!".

"Anyway" Mel sighed as he closed the little box again. "What will you do with the android, Sensei?".

"My daughter Poemi is working for an Angel guy named Alaniel. I'll carry this piece of junk to him for further questioning".

"Who you callin' a piece of junk! You are overrated, and your animes too!" Mecah Dorado yelled from the floor. "If I still had my arms and legs, I'd made you pay, otaku!".

"Shaddap, Rusty" Nabeshin kicked him in the face to keep him quiet. "In any case, Mel-san, Dorado-kun, I wish you good luck. If you win, I'll continue with my training and will make you real men! Afro Warriors!!". He struck a dramatic pose.

Dorado imagined himself with a tupid Afro like Nabeshin's, and groaned. "Me not like... I don't like it at all...".


Next: Fool's Errand, XII: Angel of Death!

[T51R]

~The Black Wave~



“Z,” he spat into the crackling phone while wiping the trickle of blood away from his nose, ignoring the pain in his head that was searing down his spine and out into his limbs. “Z, are you there? Are you there, Z? DAMMIT, ANSWER ME!!!” The Eriksson melted away, his anger triggering a breakdown in the magnetic fields that held its molecules together. Can’t contact the Mistress, he thought to himself, dragging himself to his feet and starting towards the armoured rollers about a block away. He had managed to return to the Sphere, here in the middle of Tokyo. The others weren’t as Psi-Sensitive he knew as much, probably the only thing saving them from the agony he felt. Something was coming; he felt it appear on the edges of his own consciousness. However, there had been no disturbances on the Astral Plane nor in the psionic fields. “Impossible,” Akira muttered as he trudged on; he was loathe to admit it, but at that moment he’d have given anything for just a bit of the meds that his earnest rival Tetsuo had been on. Anything to lower his own sensitivity to the psionic signatures of the beings around him. Anything, anything that would help to ease the pain hammering at his neural cortex. And at his sanity. The taste of copper. Blood was on his lips; his own blood. With a red leather glove he wiped the crimson stream away from his nostrils and soldiered on, and wondered if Tetsuo shared in his agony. “Damn you, creature…” he sent a soft, psionic ping out into the ether as he went. “I know you‘re here, on this world…” Heaven had been rife with uncertainty when he had last left, word of a second ‘God-Killer’ disseminating quickly through the ranks of the Higher beings. Drastic measures were now in place. Pantheons recalled into service at the behest of Kami-Sama. The Battle Division had also been placed on rapid deployment orders, as were the Old Gods and many other Celestial beings.

His subtle ping returned to him. Nothing was out of the ordinary, at least, nothing he could identify. He fell against cold, hard reinforced steel shutters as he finally rounded the last gigantic pillar, the entrance to the Icy Cold Sphere. Almost collapsing, he noticed that his glove had left a blood-stained hand-print on the armoured shutters. “Damn it.” The shutters began to tremble, opening for the Sphere’s sole occupant. Or so he thought. To the loading dock he struggled, and finally reached his quarters. Throwing open the creaky door, he slumped into his chair before reaching for the pitcher of water next to the study. And dumped its contents over his head, the ice cold water helping a little, but not enough. His eyes darted around the room as the heavy footfalls echoed outside. Someone was there with him. Inside his private sanctum. The door snapped itself shut; using his telekinesis was proving to be painful. Something was askew; psionic fields around the planet were going haywire in ways that were unprecedented. “Z,” he snapped the study drawer open and half-dragged out a Jurian communications panel. “Z…? Z come in.”

Static crackled across the screen, but finally the Herald of Tokimi appeared. “Well, what is it Akira? Do you have anything to report?” the Jurian casually asked. “You look like shit.”

“Shut up, Z! He is here,” the telekinetic spat up another mouthful of blood then willed the taps over the bath to turn, filling the tub with cold water. “I think…this second God-Killer…has finally entered the 3rd Dimension. It is as your Mistress predicted. Should I go to face him?”

“You should confer with your own Liege as to that,” Z replied. “She has not been seen since you were deployed to the planet, if you must know.”

Akira remained silent; Hibiki Tokai’s words filling his head again. How, he thought, how could such a frail human know what was in his mind and heart? Surely, he could not know. Surely, it had to have been an incredibly lucky assumption to have struck him so hard. “Yes.” He finally spoke after several moments. “Yes, I will confer with the Lady Belldandy. Alert your Mistress, as well as the rest of our Masters.”

“I have no masters,” Z replied somewhat venomously, “I‘m in charge of my own life. Just because Tokimi chose to allow me to serve her doesn’t make the rest of Heaven my masters. Get it? Be on guard, Herald of the Present.” With that, the communicator went dead. Z had severed the connection. Static flashed across the screen, as Akira then attempted to contact his contractor. Nothing; he turned towards the door. Disgusted though she may have been at his actions, he knew it was still his task to ensure her safety. And now that the second God-Killer had finally appeared, it was crucial.

“Hold it right there.” The silhouette of a man in armour blocked the doorway, while others surrounded him.

He cursed himself; with the intense high-level psionic static generated by the second God-Killer’s presence, he had been caught off-guard. He placed the comms unit onto the study table, and slowly rose to his feet in spite of the pain that was almost crippling. “So, you are the next ones who have come to test?” He spoke shakily, taking up his role as the Devil’s Advocate once again. “Then know that should you be found unworthy of Her ideals…your very existence may yet be forfeit…”

“Somehow, I doubt that.” Steel replied, clutching his hammer before him.




~Over to you OM!:D

[J Dog]

Dogbert's New Team- Part II- Catastrophic Decision!

In Krankor's ship, Forrester observed the fate of 1090. "Tut tut." He muttered. "It's a shame that your pride and joy is now going to be some angel's scrap heap." Jules Orion was a little irritated; that robot was his, and that fatal flaw back on The Island had him lose it, possibly forever. However, it isn't as bad as it would be. He had a secret weapon, buried underneath the sun-baked desert of Texas, near El Captlain. This will make Dr. Forrester pay for making him do this unnecisary hit. Inside of a pocket, he pressed a switch.

In the desert, a hangar, much larger than the one that introduced Rivermen to the story, opened. A few robots were inside of a air fortress, and with a few movements, it gained ground outside of the hangar, and into the sky. On the side of the fortress said "The RiverBot Fleet".

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

Dogbert, already getting Hector Con Carne, figured that it wasn't enough. He needs a few more recruits. Another one, in fact, is a lot closer to him than anyone else he can think about. With another call, his target was inside of a dark room with massive bookshelves, dimly-lit candles, and a titanic desk. On a blood-red chair, the figure answered the phone. "Hello?" He said with amusement.

"Hey, Catbert. Normally I wouldn't talk to you, but how would you like to torture humans outside of the workplace." Dogbert asked.

Catbert was busy batting a catnip-stuffed mouse. "I'm listening. What's the case; Business meeting?"

"Tournament of Champions."

Catbert was even more amused; more people, even the biggest ones. It's like Christmas. But, then he remembered that everything this good has a catch. He asked that, and got what he expected: Joining him.

"Alright, I'll join. But only until the end of the tournament, got it?" With that, Dogbert now had three members.

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

"Mimi, I wish you the best of luck here." Jack said. "Now, there's one little matter I have to take into consideration and that is my fight's coming up. If you want to see it, go on ahead."

"I'd like to. But I have this match-up to consider." She then shrugs. "But, I'll visit anyway." Mimi then turned to Cosette. "Look, 'Sette, I've got to go for the moment: As soon as the fight is over with, I'll return and we will get this fight done."

"Go on ahead." She then muttered under her own breath. "It'll buy me a little time." Cosette said quietly.

The three ran off from the complex to the area near the stadiums, where Tiffany was waiting. "There you are, brother! I've been waiting for you!&quo