Mugen Universe: Tournament of Champions- The Fanfiction Series

[T51R]

~Celestial Alignments, Gear two: Prisoner Exchange~





-Fighter‘s Lodge, Tea Skuld Headquarters



“Dammit Kadachi, hold the thing steady!” a metallic voice came through the speaker, while all that was visible on screen was Hild’s back loosely clad in its low-cut dress. “Its going! We‘re losing it!” In Team Skuld’s headquarters, eyes across the room watched the titanic mound of scaly flesh begin to sway towards them then back again in a ever-quickening rhythm.

“Just what in, well, Hell is going on down there?” Urd muttered, still trying to put her finger on the thing swaying closer and closer to the woman who had given her life. Whose back, at that moment, was pressed against the screen trying to get further away from the mangled mess of scales and nerves. “Come to think of it, those things do look very familiar, but where have I…”

A sharp ‘twang’ split the air followed by an equally sharp yelp the moment the TV screen suddenly fell to blackness. A resounding echo filled both the room and Hell’s dark chambers a split second after. “What..what happened to her!?” Keiichi stammered, creeping forwards towards the television and stopping level to Urd. “Uhmm, are those…” He pointed at a pair of slender, shapely legs poking up from the midst of a scaly sea of flesh. He lifted his view when he heard Keima’s yelp of shock and fixed his eyes on a huge man with a black cloak loosely wound around his shoulders and a crimson cape failing around behind him. Next to the behemoth, a much shorter man in bondage gear held a thick length of snapped rope in his hands. He turned around slowly, and found Keima a nervous wreck clutching his mallet with quaking hands. “Hey? Are you…”

“Its him…” the boy’s lips quivered even as Beenuel entered the room again and put his warm hands on his shoulders. “God…mom…mom told me..” He pointed at the enormous man in black on the screen, who had hijacked a forklift out of nowhere and was trying to get the prongs under the gigantic scaly thing. “That’s him,” Keima stuttered, pointing at the screen. “The one my mother told me about…the God-Killer!”

“Shit, we need a freakin‘ CRANE!!!” the big man on TV abandoned the forklift, and began running aimlessly around the room.

“Yellow pages!” the smaller blonde man called, produced a grotesque hamster, jammed its mouth open with his head and foot, then began to burrow into its guts throwing out everything from hand grenades, several kitchen sinks and the odd tentacle monster to IDD cards that enabled one to call parallel universes. “Got it!” He pulled a huge tome out of the rodent, along with the furry beast’s tonsils.

Belldandy recoiled at the sight of the bloody fountain spewing from the hamster’s gullet, while Skuld began inching closer to Nudoru and his towel. “Are you sure that‘s the God-Killer?” Urd deadpanned while pointing at the screen, “because he acts just like Kaarage with a wardrobe change.” She watched as Kadachi stopped Tiki’s bleeding by jamming a boot into his mouth, then began flipping quickly through the pages.

“Here!” he exclaimed, dialled a number on his cell and threw it at his partner-in-crime. Only for the phone to spear Kansai through his eye socket and pin him to the back of Thanos’ vacant throne.

“DEAR GAWD…” Keiichi spat, watching in horror as yet another bloody fountain exploded from the other corner of Hell’s Council Chambers. “Wait a minute, if the two of them come from the same place then…” he glanced over at where Nudoru was busy with his fly, trying to get his manhood unstuck from his zipper under the towel. That Skuld was getting dangerously close to. “Keima,” he sighed, “I think your mom was right.” Skuld had found her way to the first God-Killer by then, and snagged herself a firm handful of towel.

“HEY!” she tugged sharply, “Is that him?” She indicated the screen with her mallet, “that‘s him, isn‘t it? The one everyone‘s talking about?” Her eyes glinted with a hint of memory, and her hand found its way to the wound on her shoulder. “I saw him. I saw him almost kill Anzell. The other one,” she moved her hand away from her arm to, “he did this to me.”

Nudoru turned his attention away from his zipper, and finally to the TV. “Sonofa…” He waddled to the screen and stopped beside Urd. “Dude. What‘s with those things?”

“I‘ve been asking myself that ever since this started,” the Goddess of the Past muttered with her finger thoughtfully on her chin, “ah…but I haven‘t been able to make the connection!” Her eyes wandered to the towel still fastened securely around her Herald’s waist. “Will you take this thing off!? It‘s getting on my…” With a sharp tug she whipped it away, and eyes around the room almost bulged out of their sockets. Well, all except Belldandy’s, who ran screaming to the balcony while covering her eyes. “WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY IS…” she shrieked, averting her attention from the grotesque visage of the first God-Killers mangled manhood and instead turning it to the equally horrible display on screen, where Kadachi had been caught in the winch of the newly-arrived crane and was being shredded as though he had been introduced, very personally, to a mincer. All while his host was busy operating the thing. “DEAR GOD!” she screamed again, then noticed the familiar mess of scaly flesh that was being lifted off her mother. “This is…” she glanced back at the gory scene that was Nudoru’s crotch, then back at the TV. “This is…” her lips quivered while massive drops of sweat began falling from her head.

In the end, it was Beenuel who took it upon himself to state the obvious. “Lady Urd, I believe those are,” he began in a soothing tone. It wasn’t to be however, as the first God-Killer beat him to it.

“Man, those are the BIGGEST pair of whale‘s balls I have ever freakin‘ seen!”

All Hell burst forth the moment the words left his mouth, Urd’s broom once more cracking his skull in several places simultaneously. “YOU DON‘T HAVE TO REMIND ME WHAT THEY ARE…” she bellowed, hitting her herald over the head until all that was left was a bloody pulp on the floor. Pent-up frustration took over, and she seized his still-intact ankles and began whirling him around in circles. “AND THAT!” she spat, referring to the profusely bleeding bologna still caught in Nudoru‘s zipper, “I DIDN’T NEED TO SEE THAT EITHER! I DIDN’T NEED FOR YOU TO TELL ME WHAT THOSE THINGS ON TV WERE EITHER!!! DO YOU HAVE AY IDEA WHATSOEVER HOW DISGUSTING YOU ARE!?”

“Oh man, he really went and did it this time,” Keiichi thought it best to take refuge for the time being and started towards the balcony where his beloved was still trying to overcome a bout of aggressive nausea. He stopped for a moment, and glanced at the screen; the Dragon’s Balls had been successfully lifted off of Hell’s Daimakaichi, but there wasn’t any sign of life. At least, until a bruised hand shot through the windscreen of the crane’s canopy and clamped down on Kansai’s facemask. “If,” he thought aloud to himself, “if Urd’s really Hild’s daughter, then…” His curiosity held merit, more than he knew; with a primal scream Hild pulled herself through the reinforced glass window and slammed her forehead into the black-clad being’s, smashing his nose in and driving the bone up into his brain. “GEEZ…” he stepped backwards, and almost broke into a run for the balcony before Belldandy’s soft gaze stopped him cold. “They…they…” he stabbed his finger at the blood-soaked scene unfolding both on the TV screen as well as right before them; Urd had somewhat managed to reduce every bone in Nudoru’s body to powder leaving him to flop around like a rag doll as she hammered him, face-first, into the Japanese Pine floorboards again, and again and again. The entire living area had turned a bloody crimson, and on screen the onslaught wasn’t any kinder to the pair’s albeit low resistance to blood; Hild stood with her stiletto heels buried deep in Kansai’s back, heaping curse after curse upon him while tearing the spine from his body. In the background, Kadachi had been nailed to the wall with a stretched-out Tiki driven through his chest. Finally, real-life and the TV broadcast from hell took on a simultaneous display as both mother and daughter began to whirl their victims around in circles. Before releasing them at their respective screens.

A faint crackle, a spark, and the sound of tearing was all the warning they got before the fabric of reality itself ripped asunder as Nudoru found himself being thrown through the TV portal head-first. In Hell, Kansai began to regenerate his spine, as well as his ego. The second Hild rammed Kadachi through his chest and slammed the pair of them into the screen that showed Nudoru’s face coming through the portal.

Heaven, Earth and Hell itself shook when both ends of the portal connected, a fresh Nexus of All Realities forming out of the titanic stress of colliding trans-dimensional matter. “Dude…” Nudoru’s bloodied pulp stammered painfully to Kansai’s and Kadachi’s as they passed each other in mid-transport. “This really, really, really sucks!”

“No…shit…Sherlock!” the second God-Killer choked, blood spewing out of his mask from the angel lodged in his gut. The beep of a ring tone came from Kansai’s right eye, and he plucked Kadachi’s phone out of it and answered. “It‘s yo momma.”

“FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE!” was all Nudoru managed before the Currents of the merged Multiverse sped them both in opposite directions, towards parts unknown.



~To be continued…~

[Saint_007]

Okay, for the Team Vendetta vs Team Evil Scientists, the line-up for Neron's Vendetta team is as follows:
First Player: Forte
Second Player: Negaduck
Third Player: Iori Yagami
Striker: Scorpion
This might change depending on Sandman's line-up, provided he posts soon. We had an agreement on how the general flow of the fight would go, including a showdown between Forte and Dr. Albert Wile (AKA Wily in the English versions)

[OverMaster]

Comedy of Errors, Act Seven: Wario Wario vs. Kikyo, Prelude.


Secondary Dome C:


"Go, brother, go! Go, go!" a tall and thin cartoon of a man jumped up and down on his seat, waving a flag with a big 'W' emblazoned on it. He looked like a demented distortion of a mustachoed plumber in overalls, with a huge nose and long, limber limps not too unlike those of a scarecrow's. Other than him, not many did any cheering at all when Team Nuisance entered the ring under a triumphal fanfare, other than the few dozens of Koopa Paratroopers and Goombas in cheerleader dresses doing the wave for King Bowser as best as they could.

"BWA HA HA HA! YEAH!!" The obese and plump Wario made a few 'V' signs for the gathered, unresponsive public, while behind him, Bowser dragged his huge weight around smirking evilly, James and Meowth posed trying to look cool and dashing, and Jesse struggled to keep Happosai off herself, finally just resorting to stomp the gnomish old man against the ground with rage. "The W Man is in the house!!!".

At the same time, at the other side of the Dome, Hanagata watched on as the women of Team Shin Sacred Treasures stepped into the Arena, walking elegantly, keeping a discret silence all four of them. The public did explode into clappings then, with a few whistlings and wolfcalls added in for good measure. Kikyo flinched very slightly at that. "Fools" she whispered. "Treating this as some sort of trivial entertainment, when we fight for their very same lives. It makes me to want to reconsider this...".

"They cannot live in perpetual fear and tension" Kagura Chizuru replied calmly. "They must relieve themselves in some way, or they will go insane. Try to understand them, please".

"Yes, things are bad enough as they are right now, they don't need any more reminders of the situation's grimness" Sailor Pluto quietly agreed. She looked around, and was glad to see Team Light and Darkness (with Sailor Venus), and Team Saviors (with Sailor Moon herself) there cheering her up. They both had passed on to the next round already, and now she wold have to follow in their example. "I promise I won't let you down, Princess..." she whispered very softly.

"LAAAAAAADIESS ANNNNND DEAR GENTLEMEEEEENN!!" Hanagata yelled through his mike. "WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THIS FINAL DAY OF MUGEN'S FIRST ROUND, WITH OUR FIRST MATCH OF THE DAY, PITTING THE SLIPPERY AND TRICKERY MEMBERS OF 'TEAM NUISANCE' VERSUS THE LOVELY LADIES OF 'TEAM SHIN SACRED TREASURES'!!".

New cheers and ovations all across the dome, while Rose and Meowth each walked to the middle of the ring and gave Hanagata the bout cards for their respective teams. The thin blond man read them and nodded, then shouted. "ANNND HERE WE HAVE THE FIGHTING ORDER FOR THIS EXCITING BATTLE!! TEAM NUISANCE WILL SEND WARIO WARIO FIRST, THEN KING BOWSER, AND FINALLY, THE TEAM ROCKET UNIT, WITH HAPPOSAI, MASTER OF ANYTHING GOES MARTIAL ARTS, ACTING AS THEIR STRIKER!!". He stopped and panted, and continued with renewed beath, "AS FOR TEAM SHIN SACRED TREASURES, THEY WILL USE NO STRIKERS! LADY KIKYO WILL GO FIRST, THEN TO BE FOLLOWED BY CHIZURU YATA KAGURA, WITH MISS ROSE AS THE THIRD FIGHTER, AND SAILOR PLUTO CLOSING THE LINEUP!!".

"Well, I think they have this one in the bag" Sailor Venus commented for her teammates. "Those buffoons won't know what hit them when they come to Setsuna, even if they can beat the others".

"We will see" was all of Batman's quiet reply.

Kikyo, stonefaced, and Wario, grinning wickedly, walked in to the middle of the huge ring as their partners all retreated back. They stopped a few steps away from each other, with Mitsurugi Hanagata standing between them. "Arena Setting Number 5643906: Savage Land, Marvel Universe 616" Washu's recorded voice stated, and the ring morphed to a luscious, wet tropical jungle in an instant, even with sounds of animals lurking around bewteen the trees and bushes.

"I am ready" Kikyo deadpaned, emotionless.

"Ready to be pounded into hamburguer, girlie?" Wario snickered, assuming an odd fighting stance. "Fine with me, but I'll still try not to be too rough! Well, Girly-man? Give us the go-around!".

"OKAY, MISTER!" Hanagata nodded quickly, and raised an arm. "TEAM SHIN SACRED TREASURES VS. TEAM NUISANCES, ROUND ONE! KIKYO VERSUS WARIO WARIO! ONE! TWO! THREE! FIGHT!!". And he sweeped his arm down, marking the beginning of the battle.



Next: Gags and Offerings.

[J Dog]

Hey, guys. I'm going to get something in this week, just not at the moment.

[OverMaster]

Comedy of Errors, Act Eight: Gags and Offerings.


MUGEN Training Fields:

"Well, speak then" Vellinor rolled up one of his sleeves, revealing a myriad of watches of all kinds, sizes and colors, around his wrist, and he looked at all of them. "I'm scheduled on a date in a few minutes; such's the life of a busy trickster, I'm afraid...".

"You should try a date with a rampaging truck, head-on, someday" Joker piped in. "I guarantee you'll have tons of fun with that one".

"And to get your Mom in trouble with her Butch Truckers' Guild over that? Never" the god smiled back, with tiny sparks coming out of his eyes. Seeing they would just escalate further if he didn't reply soon, Nagi sighed and shook his head.

"I have learned you are on a hunt for all sorts of... unusual and powerful artifacts, Lord Vellinor" he began. "I happened to overhear...".

"... You mean spy..." the Joker said.

"... Well, okay, I happened to spy Team Mercenary receiving their orders from their masters a couple of days back, and they mentioned that. Later, I got a confirmation on that when I researched on the goals of that Anzell Team opposing you, and, well... I think I have a few items that could be useful to you". He locked eyes with the interested trickster. "Tell me, would you like to own your very private door to Valhalla, hmmm?".

"Valhalla!" Mara spat in awe. "Do you mean you can get him a direct entrance to Yggdrasil's dependences just like that?!".

"Well, yes, I think so..." Nagi laughed shyly, scratching the back of his neck with a hand. "My sometimes ally, sometimes enemy, Mashiro-chan and me used it a few months ago, after the Obsidian Lord's death. I have no use for it currently, but I figured Lord V could find it a good use...". Again, his gaze met the trickster's. "Couldn't you?".

"Hum, mayybe..." Vellinor tilted his head aside a bit, twirling his cane around slowly. "Tell me more about it. Where can I find that gateway, and how can I open it?".

"Ah-ah-ah, not here, not now, and most certainly, not in front of THEM" Nagi casually pointed over his shoulder back at the members of Team Nifelheim, all of which just humphed angrily. "And besides, this place has ears all around, everywhere. Suffice to say for now, not anyone can pass through it. You need someone of a special nature to grant you access to it, and those ones are just, that I know of, Mashiro-chan, who never would help you, and, well... me".

"Nice little story" Bell grumbled. "But it has 'lie' written all over it".

"And besides, if you deal with Lord Vellinor, then you are dealing with our Mistress as well" Goenitz added sternly. "You cannot just dismiss us, young man. That would be... a most serious mistake on your part".

"I have no problem on speaking with your dear mistress, but you are another matter entirely" Nagi stated matter-of-factly. "Nothing personal, but these matters are not intended for YOUR ears". He watched Joker's, Harley's, Mara's and Goenitz's faces souring, and he shrugged. "Hey, what can I do? It's true, you are best left ignoring such things. There's a reason why Lord V and Lady H are the bosses and not you, you know...".

"Heh, that's right" Vellinor chuckled cagily. "Don't worry, guys, I actually agree with Lil' Nagster here, but that doesn't mean I don't value you... well, except for the one with the kinda greenish hair, that is...".

"The feeling is most definitely mutual" Joker crossed his arms. "Damn, and this is what I get out of setting you two on a date. Serves me right for helping ungrateful pric--".

"LANGUAGE!" Vellinor extended his cane out and bonked him on the head before he could react, then turned to Nagi and handed him a calling card. "Listen, as I said, I'm in a hurry right now, but I'm definitely interested in that gate to Valhalla you mentioned. Call me this afternoon and I'll arrange for a more private meeting...".

"... hopefully involving candlelights and romantic music..." Joker groaned, but Vellinor ignored him.

"... and then we'll debate our terms better" the god concluded. "Meanwhile, don't you lose this number to anyone else or, well, I'll have to eviscerate you. 'Twas a pleasure to meet you, I'll never wash this hand again" he joked, showing the hand he had used to handshake him. "Remember, this afternoon, around 3:00 PM. I'llbe waiting for your call".

And he disappeared into yet another flash of light.

"Hnh, always pulling the same old exit" Joker scoffed. "What a pitiful lack of imagination!".

Meanwhile, Goenitz sighed deeply, pulled a Nokia out, and made a call. "Yes? My Lady? Um, sorry, I ignored you were busy...". A really, really, long pause, as his teammates, their hang-ons, and Nagi, all looked up at him with curiosity. "... Oh dear. THAT bad?? Ungh. I am sorry to hear about that. No, I won't take more than a minute to disturb yo--". Someone yelled loudly from the other end of the line. "Okay, okay, sorry, I'll make it really quick. I think your Herald is ready for his first outside test run".

Joker's eyes lit up all of a sudden.

"Yes, he just manifested himself in a different way last night, so... Yes, yes, well, I just thought..." more screams from a woman's voice over the cellphone. "Yes, yes, I'll take full care of him, don't worry! But, I really think we'd be better being out of MUGEN Grounds for a few hours...".

"Oh goodie!!" Joker materialized a picnic basket between his gloved hands. "We'll go for a walk through the wastelands!!".

"Yes, I understand. Sure. You can trust me, O Majesty. I--". He couldn't finish the line before the communication was quickly cut by his interloper. He breathed in deeply. "Lord Joker, prepare yourself. I just got confirmation from Lady Hild, for a test of your current abilities out of these Grounds. You will come with me, Lady Mara, Miss Rei, and Miss Quinn. Miss Bell and Miss Kuno will stay watching over our rooms".

"Oh, sounds fun!" Nagi piped in cheerfully. "Can I go too? It'll be a nice way to kill time until my encounter with Lord V!".

"You said we were unworthy of our time" Goenitz growled icily. "So you are equally unworthy of ours".

"Ahh, don't be a butthead, Leo" Joker waved a hand around. "Let the little prick to come with us. Maybe we'll be lucky and he'll get himself killed".

"Yes, I am curious myself about what can he do out there" Mara nodded. Goenitz pondered that last point carefully, and he finally agreed.

"Very well, then. But then you will have to be helpful for us along the name, Mister Homura".

"One hundred percent!" Nagi nodded vitally, and snapped his fingers, summoning on a huge, towering dark creature with a massive body full of sharp spikes, out from the ground, floating like a ghost to his side. "Me and this little pet of mine, we'll be as helpful to you as we can! Allow me to introduce you to an Orphan".

"Looks groovy..." Joker chuckled, his interest piqued anew, as his companions stared on in awe. "Well then, gang, let's get going! I've waited for so long, for a chance to stretch my legs and just cut loose...".



Next: Team Young Duelists vs. Team Smash Brothers, Round One!

[OverMaster]

Team Young Duelists vs. Team Smash Brothers, Prelude.


Main Dome A:

The public cheered on with fervor as both teams walked in from their respective corners, their members waving back to the crowd and smiling. The following for them seemed to be almost equally distributed, with Team Young Duelists having a slight advantage in that regard: Many had heard about the exploits of famed Duel Monsters champion Yami Yugi, and about Pokemon Trainer Ash Ketchum.

"Ahh, it's such a big, impressive place..." Takato was in awe. "Are you nervous, Guilmon?".

"Guilmon is not nervous because I'm with you, Takatomon!" the childlike Digimon shook his head. "Together, Takatomon and Guilmon can beat anyone!".

"Don't be so trusting, friends" Yugi said while shuffling his card deck between his hands, his eyes fixed on the advancing lineup of Team Smash Brothers. "All of the teams The Player picked are more than a match for anyone. Remember Team Saviors' victory, or how close was Team Troubleshooters to succeed".

"Well, yeah, but that puts us in their same ballpark, too" Ash gave him a thumbs up. "After all, we were chosen by him as well".

"And about that, I wonder where is he now?" Hikari Netto, master of Rockman.EXE looked all around, intrigued. "I know he must be near, but where...".

"PIKA! PIKA!" Pikachu, sitting on Ash's right shoulder, pointed to a honor seat at the top of the domed stadium, where the tall and imposing youthful figure of the God of Gaming sat surrounded by two humanoid cats, one pink, female and gruff-looking (but cute), and the other gray-furred, and smiling dumbly.

"Ah, yes, there he is!" Ash waved a hand high. "Hello, Mr. Player! How are you doing?!".

"Ash, I doubt he can listen to you from there" Yugi sighed. "It must be hard for him, having to sit there watching how, no matter what happens, one of his teams goes down".

"Yeah..." Takato nodded a bit sadly. "And after all the work he took to recruit us all...".

"Yes, did you see his face after the Troubleshooters lost?" the young King of Games reminisced. "He looked devastated...".

"I wonder... if he trusted them more than us to win this whole Tournament" Hikari pondered.

"No sense on dwelling on that now, guys" Ash shrugged. "Let's just forget we are in the same side for now, because, well, we aren't in the same side anymore. Not as long as we are at the ring. That's something I had to learn from Pokemon tournaments. Our friendship out of the arena must not affect our battle".

"You're right on that one" Yugi agreed. "Let's do it, then". He jumped up at the squared circle, and approached the Tenkaichi Budokai Announcer with his lineup card. From the other side, Mario Mario did the same thing. The Annoucer read both cards, then spoke through his microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are very pleased to welcome you to the first fight of this final day of MUGEN Tournament's preliminaries, where we will see Team 'Young Duelists' against the power of Team 'Super Smash Brothers'!!".

New cheers and howls of support for both parties, until they died down enough for the blond man to continue.

"We have the lineup for both teams here! Team Young Duelists will send Takato Matsuki and his Guilmon first, followed by Yami Yugi, and Ash Ketchum and Pikachu closing the battle! MegaMan EXE will be their Striker! As for Team Smash Brothers, they will start with Mario Mario, hero of the Mushroom Kingdom! Link of Hyrule will follow, with Kirby of DreamLand being their final fighter! Samus Aran will be their striker! So, I call forth Mr. Mario and Mr. Matsuki to the Arena for the match to start!".

As the obese plumber in overalls and the young boy and his Digital pet walked in, the Arena morphed to a military-like environment covered by artillery shells and even a few huge Metal Gear units.

"Beautiful" Sousuke Sagara commented dryly from his seat at the sidelines. He turned to his companion and asked, "That is how I should describe it, am I correct?".

Kaname Chidori groaned passing a hand over her face. "Describe it as you want. I'm sure it must be beautiful for you...".

"Battle Setting number 3076554467: Metal Gear battlefield, Southern Alaska, USA" Washu's recorded voice stated.

"Well, are all three of you ready?" the Announcer asked.

"Guilmon and me are all prepared!" Takato nodded quickly.

"Here we go!" Mario said loudly, taking a fighting stance.

"Excellent, then! TEAM SMASH BROTHERS VERSUS TEAM YOUNG DUELISTS! ROUND ONE! ONE! TWO! THREE!! FIGHT!".



Next: Supervillain Karaoke Team-Up!

[KingEli]

MUGEN Hotel:


Guy Gardner was in a foul mood, being kept up all night would do that to a person. When he got downstairs he saw a few of the teams looking down, real down....

"Hey what's wrong with you guys...........did somebody die?" Asked

"Well that's one way to put it........" Said Ted Kord recalling his dreams.

"Hey Guy did you experiance any..............wreid dreams?" Asked Booster Gold

"I wish Carter, I didn't get to sleep a wink. Thanks to my 'teammates'" Said Guy

"Lucky you." Said Luke Cage

"Geez what the hell happemd?"

"One of your villians, The Joker, somehow entered our minds during when we were sleeping, entering our dreams and showing us his sick & twisted version of the future." Said Jessica Drew

"Wait.....The Joker? Ok I know the clown is fucking nuts but how the hell--"

"Those powers he got." Said Tony Stark "He got Doom's attenion, so one would think he's getting more powerful by each passing day."

"So basically we're dealing with a worse psyco than Purple Man with Psychic ablities." Finish Luke Cage


"And we don't his full capablites, and the bigger problem he dosen't remember doing any of this......or is a good liar." Said Kord

"And he could know your secret Idenities." This is bad. Guy Thought. Real Bad.

[OverMaster]

Comedy of Errors, Act Nine: Drama is Easy, Comedy is Difficult.


Tokyo:

He stood there at the top of the Gainax's building wreckage, his green hair dancing in the chilling breeze from North, looking disappointed beyond all measure. His eyes scanned all the desolation around them, and he balled his gloved fists up and yelled, "NOT FAIR!! You drag me out here, promise me I'll have a willing audience at last, and now, we find nothing but a broken graveyard right where my stage of triumph should be!". He turned angrily to Goenitz, who calmly stood up near him looking at the horizon.

"Well, it was to be expected" Nagi sighed with a slightly mocking smile, sitting atop his huge Orphan monster at the other side of the shattered street. One of his hands wandered to pet the creature's head wantonly. "The Kaiju have razed this area way too badly in the last few days. Those who haven't died have left for MUGEN, or for other cities". He produced a map out and began to read it. "What if we take a detour to Osaka? I've heard it's lovely at this time of the year, and it hasn't been attacked as much as the capital...".

"No" Goenitz denied. "As you said, this is the capital, and thus the spirit itself of Japan... still the best place to prove our point for the world, to make our declaration of principles... And I have listened to the reports. There are still many living between the ruins, but most of them stay underground at these hours. They come out when the night falls, when Kaiju attacks are less frequent, and shadows offer protection and refuge. They are there; we just have to get the rats out of their holes".

"Oi, I don't like the turn this is taking" Mara complained, floating high in the air above them all. "And, after we have lured them outside, what do we do, O Leader?" she asked sarcastically.

"What else?" the dark priest replied as if dealing with an idiot. "Then, Lord Joker will test his new skills on the vermin. We cannot do that at the sacred Grounds of MUGEN, but those rules stop concerning all contestants when we leave the Tournament behind, even if only for a short while. The Gods have declared the rest of the world a warzone, and stopped caring about it. This forsaken place is the best training field for Lady Hild's Herald".

Mara cringed in mild disgust at the meaning of that, while Joker half-chuckled. "So, I can kill everyone I want out here. Well, you should have said that from the start". He dusted his hands off and hopped down the building, stopping next to Harley Quinn, who was eating a sandwich sitting on a huge piece of broken pavement protuding from the razed grounds. "Harl!".

"Yeah, Mistah J?" the harlequin asked between munchings.

"What do you suggest?" he asked. "What do we usually do when we want to get someone's attention and get the cowards out of their hideouts?".

"Like we did to the Colombian gangs last year at Gotham? Umm, we... we wreak some merry havoc... and... lure them out into the open?" she hesitated, fearing a new outburst from him.

"EXACTLY!!" Joker cheered, making confetti to rain all over her with a handwave. "GIVE THE LADY A PRIZE!!".

"Gangs..." Goenitz mused darkly. "This accursed place is overran by such elements nowadays. They prey upon their fellow men; as always, mankind falls lower into the gutter whenever chaos strikes. The wicked impose themselves upon the weak".

"Good thing we are the most wicked of the wicked then, huh?" the Clown Prince grinned madly, and crossed his arms behind his back. "Ah yes, what this city needs is something to bring some life back into it... so we can strangle it away after that. I always wanted to make a good tour of Tokyo". He began to prance around through the deserted street covered by dust and dried skeletons, scaring a few crows picking on the last pieces of meat in some of these. "Let's make a revival party for Tokyo, Joker-style! I want to experience the full range of offers modern Japan can give us! Let's go pick on Ko-gals! Let's find a snack bar and stuff ourselves on old rotten sushi! Let's find the subway and push grannies left behind to the railroads, that's always a blast! Let's... let's...". Then he stopped dead on his tracks, eyes fixed on a small building in front of him.

His companions, intrigued, all approached him and saw he was staring at an old, rundown karaoke bar, with broken windows, and a half-caved in roof. "It's... This is great!!" The Joker opened his arms and laughed madly. "See, this is what I'm talking about!! Karaoke!! You can't visit Japan without giving a karaoke bar a good visit, and embarassing yourself in front of your friends with your off-key singing! And I haven't had a single chance at karaoke at the Fighter's Lodge! Geez, you'd think Yuubaba and her frogs would have done something about that...".

"Umm, karaoke..." Nagi smiled placidly. "I love the idea. Ahh, how I remember that night with the HiMEs at karaoke...". His memory wandered back to that wonderful time right before the lives of his favorite ladies plummeted down into misery. The boy chuckled. "I'm all for it!".

"Surely you jest" Goenitz scoffed. "I was thinking of something better, and bigger, more adequate to--".

"Bahh, you seem to be thinking we'll do it like everyone does it, Leo" the Joker walked to the bar's door and easily broke it open with a kick, then walked inside closely followed by Harley and Rei XV. "Think again. This will be karaoke Joker-style, guaranteed to rock the whole town and wake up all the weasels".

"Yeah, well" Mara snorted, walking in right behind them, "This place doesn't even have electricity. How do you--".

She had to stop when Joker touched casually a wall and allowed his power to flow out. Immediately, the bar's electrical systems repaired themselves; the roof's lights shone again brightly, the broken karaoke machines fixed themselves, and even the fluorescent sign at the facade came back to life.

"Okay, this is a good start, yes, I guess..." the demoness had to admit, blinking. Something else caught her attention, and she walked to a nearby refrigerator holding a single bottle of sake inside; all others, by the look of it, had been stolen in a rush by rioters, who had cracked the refrigerator open and then left in panic over something, perhaps a kaiju, judging by the dirty footprints all across the floor. "Oooohh, they left one..." she said avidly, and took the bottle as a prize, holding it for Joker to see. "Hey. Chill it for me. It's too warm".

The Joker blinked, then snorted. "What a waste of my talents". But in any case, he still touched the bottle and chilled it much to Mara's delight, who promptly opened it up and took a long, anxious drink.

Nagi chuckled once more. "Well, I see we are getting in the mood for the party, aren't we?". He hopped up to sit on a table, letting his legs to dangle down carelessly. He took a hold of a microphone from the nearest singing machine, and cheerfully said, "In that case, who will go at it first?".


Next: Painful Music!

[OverMaster]

OOC: I really wanted to post today, but the board's been acting wonky for me, and now I don't have the time to post. :( I should add the continuation of the Supervillain Karaoke and Wario vs. Kikyo this Saturday.

[OverMaster]

Comedy of Errors, Act Ten: Painful Music.


Downtown Tokyo:


"Okay, before we begin with... this" Mara snarled coldly, crossing her arms after slamming the already empty bottle on the table, her voice slurring very slightly, "I want to make something clear. NO ROCK 'N ROLL. You guys know that's my weakness, so, just NO". She shook a finger before them.

"ONE of your weaknesses, you mean" the Joker rolled his eyes back. "And you're such a bore. Do you expect us to sing nothing but cheap J-Pop?".

"I'd expect us to do something more... impressive, something that will put the fear of Hell in all of this miserable city" Goenitz countered gruffly. "Not this travesty, this waste of our precious time, this--".

"Later, Leo, later" Joker began to look over the list of available songs sticked to a wall, only to notice, in frustration, they all were written in kanji. "Hey, Rei" he called out. "Read this for Dad, will you?".

"Fine-o!" she nodded approaching him, hummed lowly while reading up and down the list, and finally poked with a finger against one of the song titles featured there. "Ah, I wanna start with this! It's a classic! 'Cruel Angel's Thesis' For The Win!!".

"Cruel Angel?" Joker enarched an eyebrow. "Well, that's kind of adequate for you, I guess. Go ahead, then" he gave her permission, and Rei squealed in glee.

"Wheeee!!" she chirped, snatching the mike away from Nagi's hands. "Rei-chan will sing, Rei-chan will sing! Daddy, do you think you can give me something pretty to wear while I sing? Please??" she gave the clown a huge pair of red Bambi eyes. "Pretty pleasey? It's not karaoke at its fullest if you don't cosplay while you do it!".

"Fine, fine. Sheesh" the Joker sighed in mild exhasperation, and snapped his fingers. At that instant, Rei's clothes changed into a slinky, dark red cocktail dress with matching high heeled shoes, much to her delight. "Honestly, young lady, I'm spoiling you just too much...".

Harley gave him a jealous glare again, but he simply shrugged his shoulders and chuckled apologetically. Meanwhile, Rei stood in front of the others, smiling brightly and making sure of showing some leg as she did so. Goenitz absently noticed she looked genuinely happy instead of just maniacally unbalanced as was usual in her. And as the music started to sound, she began,

"Zankoku na tenshi no you ni
Shonen yo, shinwa ni nare...".

"Oh God" Harley buried her face between her hands. "What the hell is she singin'? I can't understand a single frickin' word...".

"Hey, she doesn't do it badly at all" Nagi told her with a smile of his own. "Pretty voice, actually".

Joker had to admit he was right. Apparently, when Rei was not cackling madly or spouting lame puns, and put her effort into it, she could put in quite a nice voice. Then again, she had done it before, when she conned Keiichi into walking into that trap a couple of days ago. Even Goenitz seemed to be paying attention to her now.

"Aoi kaze ga ima mune no doa wo tataitemo,
Watashi dake wo tada mitsumete
Hohoenderu Anata
Sotto Fureru mono
Motomeru koto ni muchuu de,
Unmei sae mada shiranai itaikena hitomi.
Dakedo itsuka kizuku deshou
Sono senaka ni wa
Haruka mirai mezasu tame no
Hane ga aru koto...".


Meanwhile, outside, in the broken streets, with the giant Orphan mounting guard at the front door, some pairs of inquiring eyes watched from a safe distance. They had been attracted by the sounds, and now they saw something they had not thought possible for weeks now.

"See that?" one of the men whispered. "They have power there... They got the electricity back!".

"Yeah, I wonder how they did it..." another shadowy man nodded quietly. "And what's with that big monster out there... Some sort of pet, or somethin'?".

"It looks like it's just watchin' over the place, sittin' there..." yet another thug commented under his breath. "Who is that people anyway?".

"I dunno, but the Boss will want to know about it" the first man grumbled. "If ya ask me, something about all of this gives me the creeps, but he'll know what to do...".

"Let's go back with him, then" the third gang member replied, his voice betraying his wishes to be away. The other two nodded, and they scurried back away amidst the ruins, always taking great care of not attracting the beast's attention.


Back inside, Rei seemed to be in a singing ecstasis, putting on her best Megumi Hayashibara impression while gesturing at the rythm of the music's final accords. She looked to be totally immersed into the song, her outside world forgotten while her voice travelled all around her surroundings, even across the city's wreckage.

"Hito wa ai wo tsumugi nagara rekishi wo tsukuru
Megami nante narenai mama
Watashi wa ikiru...
Zankoku na tenshi no te-ze
Madobe kara yagate tobitatsu
Hotobashiru atsui patosu de
Omoide wo uragiru nara
O-zora wo daite kagayaku
Shonen yo, shinwa ni nare!".

Finally, the music stopped, and she stopped as well, panting at the effort, but still smiling widely, satisfied at herself. She smiled even more when she saw Joker clapping at her, grinning from ear to ear. Nagi also was clapping his hands, and even Mara, Goenitz, and Harley Quinn gave some colder, much briefer claps as well.

"Bravo, my child, bravo!" Joker laughed, patting her on a shoulder. "You know, I'm finally starting to feel fatherhood like something else than a burden!".

"Gee, thank you, Daddy...".

"Yeah, well, rest a bit, Sweetie". He grabbed the microphone away from her hands, twirled it around a bit, and finally pointed it straight at Harley. "HARL!" he shouted cheerfully. "YOUR TURN, BABE!".

"M-me?" the harlequin pointed with a finger to her own chest. "Golly, Puddin', I'm not sure... Maybe Mara or Shorty should go first..." she hesitated.

"Nonsense, Harley! You have such a cute voice, why won't you give it a try?" Joker insisted, gesticulating with the mike a bit more. Harley blushed slightly at the rare recognition, and spurred by it, she jumped up to her feet and accepted the microphone.

"Awww, Puddin', you're so sweet!!" she giggled girlishly, making Mara and Goenitz to groan discretely. "OK!!" She pointed a finger high. "HERE I GO! LEGEND OF IDOL SINGER HARLEY, STARTING NOW! LET'S JAM!".

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Just letting people know that I won't be able to write anything until after the 16th, since I have exams to worry about.

[T51R]

Same here, I got to put a few proposals together for Wednesday and Thursday so I'll only be able to post again on Thursday. All the best with your exams bro!

[J Dog]

I myself am getting ready some materials to present Mech, so don't be surprised if I don't post for another week.

[OverMaster]

*Sits in the middle of Ghost Town and begins to sadly play the harmonica*

:D :o

[OverMaster]

Interlude: Recapitulation. (AKA Convenient Jumping On Point with Not so Subtle Info on what has happened so far, Courtesy of our always Plot Devicey Mashiro).


MUGEN Grounds, Underground Citadel Cafe:


"So, I hope you have a few very good explanations for us here" Nao Yuuki grumbled, leaning back in her chair, watching Mashiro quietly sipping on her cup of tea, while Arika Yumemiya ate her piece of cake at a surprising avid speed. "Why did you call us all? What are you up this time?".

"Well, it is quite a long story, and the details will have to wait" Mashiro finally sighed, her eyes half closed in apparent sadness. "Since the Obsidian Lord's defeat and his purging from Reito-san's body, Nagi and me left through the door to Valhalla, and then parted ways".

"Wait, what's a door to Valhalla?" Mai Tokiha asked curiously. "I seem to remember that name from somewhere, but--".

"Valhalla, the Norse afterlife for heroes and champions, especially those felled in battle" Miyu Greer began to montone encyclopedically, with the diminutive Alyssa Searrs sitting on her lap munching on a piece of bread very politely. "Paradise, for a lack of a better term".

"Sort of" Mashiro said. "Suffice to say for now, it is a place with connections to Yggdrasil, the System that rules all realities, maintained by the very same gods who are staging this tournament. I went from there to travel through several different worlds, always searching for myself, and for a new path to my life after the breaking of the HiME cycle. It was on those travels where I met Arika-chan and enlisted her as my new aide".

"And Arika-chan will always be thankful for that...!" the taller girl raised a hand cheerfully, her mouth still with some tiny pieces of cake all over it.

"Let me guess" Natsuki Kuga crossed her arms. "It was on those travels where you learned about the end of the world as well".

"Indeed" the wheelchair bound petite lady nodded. "Basically, most of Heaven desires to follow the Almighty's Will, the orders from God Himself, and destroy the Universe, to punish sentient beings everywhere for our sins. Only Lady Belldandy and a few more opposed to the idea. In desperation, with no other way out, she offered her life in the line for a last gambit for our survival. If any of us can beat her in fair combat, we will be spared. Otherwise, we all will perish".

"We know that much by now" Midori Sugiura replied. "Go to the point, please".

"However, it's not as simple as that, Sugiura-sensei" Mashiro answered. "There are many other factions with their own goals, all opposing each other, making this a mined field to walk through for everyone. Of course, Hell is in direct conflict with Heaven's goals, and they aim to use this to take control over Existence in its total. The different factions of Hell, which have a tenuous alliance between them at best, have enlisted several teams in the Tournament of Champions. Out of them, Team Bad Girls, Team Beastmaster, Team Devastation, and Team Malebolgia, have been defeated already, and pose no inmediate threat. Most especially Team Beastmaster, which was made of good fighters tricked by evil to fight in its behalf".

"But that still leaves other teams of such a bent continuing in the competition, right?" it was Reito's turn to ask.

"Yes, Team Nifelheim has secured its pass to the next round, and Team Neron, Team Destruction, and Team Vendetta will fight soon as well" the former Director of Fuuka confirmed. "Team Nifelheim is particularly worrying, since they answer to the current Queen of Hell herself, and one of its members is on his way to obtaining the power of a god. The Joker, they call him".

The HiMEs, all except the oblivious Nao, all shuddered upong hearing that name. "The Joker, huh" Nao huffed. "What's wrong with all of you, getting so scared at that name?".

"Y-you didn't have the nightmares last night??" Shiho turned her head to the young delinquent. "We all had them, about him, all so horrible, all so...".

"I didn't sleep at all last night" Nao excused herself with a shrug of her shoulders, then yawned. "So, he played Freddy Krueger on you guys, eh? You all are so easy to scare...".

"That certainly would be a possibility, him pulling off something like that" Mashiro observed with worry. "They are far from being our only concerns, though. While not directly sponsored by Hell, many other teams are in the move, with evil and destruction in their minds. There seems to be random attacks perpetrated by miscarriants and monsters who say they serve the Four Gods of Chaos, misfit entities opposing Heaven as well".

"I heard about something like that, people being kidnapped and killed by nuts called the Followers of Chaos" Natsuki pointed out. "Some ritual sacrifices with unknown purposes".

"Yes" Mashiro confirmed it. "If they stay true to their past form, they should have four main vassals, one for each one of them, leading their dark agenda around these Grounds. Another group seems to be behind the events who almost drove a member of Team Saviors insane, and behind the suicide bus bombing against MUGEN Hotel a week ago. We have almost no info on them, other than they answer to someone called 'The Boss'".

"Great, surrounded by all flanks like trapped rats" Yuuichi Tate groaned, watching his coffee to go cold, untouched. "And what are the Angels doing about it?".

"Even the forces of Heaven are fighting an uphill battle" was Mashiro's new reply. "The opponents are too many, and they act in secret, hiding their footprints too well. Then, there is the most worrying matter of them all... the God-Killer...".

"Yeah, about that, what's the deal with that guy?" Mai was afraid to ask, but she did it anyway. "All we've heard are rumors, about what happened with Team Skuld and someone who pummeled them. They said it was some God-Killer, but he didn't even put any of them in the hospital for long".

"He was restraining himself, no doubt" Mashiro said, and even Arika's expression turned grimly sour. "He is the biggest threat of them all, trust me on this. He is worse than Team Nifelheim, the Chaos Gods and the Orochi all put together. He could kill all of us here, all teams, staff and public, at these Grounds, with barely any effort at all".

"Then why hasn't he done it yet?" Tate questioned, scratching himself on a cheek.

"Because there is another, the only thing keeping him from taking control for himself or his masters, if he has any. You might know him. They call him Nudoru Kaarage".

Haruka Suzushiro spat her tea out. "N-NANI?!! The idiot who follows the camera crew around and is always getting himself killed? THAT Nudoru Kaarage??!!".

"It may seem difficult to believe, but yes..." Mashiro lowered her head a bit. "The thing is, Kaarage-san is a far more benevolent God-Killer, a gentle soul just looking for a place to live between us. But his power is comparable to that of the evil God-Killer".

"And then why doesn't he just fix all of this?" Tate leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. "Why doesn't he beat the other God-Killer, the evil teams, and stops Apocalypse already?".

"You look at it in a far too simplistic way, Tate-san" Mashiro let out a breath. "It is not that easy. Kaarage-san works for Heaven, they are the only ones who can give him the life he craves for. He cannot win MUGEN for us. That is something mankind must achieve for itself. As for the other God-Killer, if they ever clashed, their mere conflict could destroy all reality as we know it. They are THAT powerful. Imagine two billions of atomic warheads being sent against each other. That is what their fight would be like".

All the Fuuka visitors shuddered in earnest then, the full gravity of the situation sinking in on them. Mashiro nodded in confirmation, and extended her cup to Arika, who refilled it quickly with a small pink teapot.

"That's... that's horrible!" the mousey Yukino Kikukawa gasped loudly, while Shiho hugged herself against Tate in terror, and Mai took her younger brother Takumi in a protective hug, her face now pale all of a sudden. "But, there must be something we can do...".

"Otherwise, we wouldn't be even here, ne?" Midori crossed her arms, trying to keep her blood cool despite the icy sensation running up her spine. "Tell us now, Director. You mentioned something else as well, an Orochi... what role does that play in all of this?".

"Yamata no Orochi, the God of Destruction. Accessing to related databanks" it was Miyu's turn to deadpan again. "The Searrs Foundation gathered good amounts of info on him. Agent of destruction in a planetary scale, self-named destroyer of mankind, but interested on the wellbeing of the planet itself and its wildlife. He played a key role in the King of Fighters crisis of 1997, when he physically manifested himself on Earth for the first time in centuries".

"And now, he has done it once more" Mashiro interrupted her quietly. "He wants to defeat Lady Belldandy himself, although we still are unsure of the reason. Oddly, he has been seen around the headquarters of Team Skuld, with that team's leader being the younger sister of Lady Belldandy. We think they might be in negotiations with him".

"I'll investigate them then" Natsuki said with decision. "I'll ask them what are they trying to do".

"I entrust you with that, Kuga-san" Mashiro gave her a graceful short nod. "As for the rest of us, like Sugiura-sensei said, we cannot stay unmoving while all of this goes on. I have designed a plan of action for us, for the next few days".

She put her cup down on the table, and looked really determined, almost fiery, for a moment, as she added,

"We must help to avert this Crisis, at any costs!".


Next: Wario vs. Kikyo. For real now.

[J Dog]

Well, actually, I got this:

Mel and Mr. X

On the far corner of the Ground's Tavern, Mel was busy reading the latest outside news via a Tokyo newspaper, and using what little kanji he knew, he tried to piece together the big stories.

"Um... Tokyo Proclaims... Disturbance..." He struggled, "In... Southeastern Moonlight? Dah! That's not right." Giving up, he put it down and got a drink of joe into his system. Placing the mug down, he thought about his son. "Poor Dorado. He's stuck in that room with that horrible cheap character I clearly know he flat-out hates. He'll be glad to know that today is the day they'll discharge him in exchange for strict guidelines on what he does."

And then his cellular rang. Picking it up, he listened to a quick reply.

"Mr. Kompson, I'd like to speak with you about a certain matter." The voice came through. "It's about a recent chain of events."

"Sure thing, X." Mel replied. "What's the problem?"

"Well, since we are the same, I should tell you that we did this stunt, but I felt regret and didn't complete my duties." Mr. X, on the other end in a crowded internet cafe in Jakarta, said. Mel showed some concern to this comment.

"Look, I'd like to know what was the assignment, and then I'll agree with you." After hearing a little more, he proceeds to search around his laptop, another item he had brought over to the tavern to observe his few stock investments as well. "I'm at CNN.com... looking around... Ah! Here it is! Phenomenon Occurs Over Indonesian Waters." Mel then started reading. "... folks called it a fireball of red around the area as it crashed into a remote island 60 miles to the south of Java. However, when the government saw the crashsite, there was no evidence left besides a burned out crash area and a strange piece of clothing?" Mel paused to think, then asked Mr. X a little bit of his involvment. "Where do you come in?

"My assignment was simple: Capture the human involved and take him to a secret dropoff point. But after I saw the person, I gave in and instead helped him escape."

"...escape?"

"Escape. I helped him get his flight out of the swamp and took him to Tokyo and the MUGEN Grounds. I emailed you the satellite photos of the documented crash, and I'd like to ask if he did come."

Mel then took a quick look at the photo and was in shock as he saw the few pictures featuring Brett leaving his ship, taking off his helmet, and observing.

"Confirmation is a yes. He's with my son's best friend, Jackson Stallwall. Anything else?"

"We did this, because we used a project designed to make the fabric of dimensions look easy to pierce and weave in order to take people to a certain point. It's a project the previous leader frowned upon until his death. Take a good guess on who took over the reins."

Mel growled. "The Blitz?! Hate that guy! He didn't care about humans, and only himself. How can a low-level flunky MANAGE to BECOME the chief administrator of The Organization?!!!" His anger was taking over.

"I'm pissed about it, too, but there's nothing we can do. I want you to eventually tell him what REALLY happened back there, and that there is no such thing as a place for wasted parts of a dimension: Either a universe joins the multiverse via the Dimension Tide, or a universe never joins. His universe was to never join the tide due to its placement in an unknown part of all existance in all planes of reality. But I don't want you to tell him that we did another test on that same universe, and took two people in. I assume they are his allies, and even the slightest mention would set him off. I'm not supposed to tell you this, and if it gets out, both of us could be facing the mercy of Blitz's latest project: The Annihalation Device, as mere guinea pigs."

Mel didn't want that to befell him, so he agreed to tell him a part of the story, but only when the time was proper. He also agreed to not mention the part of his friends being captured, even though it ate the elder Kompson up.

"I'm going to see my son in a moment, so I have to bid you farewell." And he hang up. Packing up his items, he headed to his son to tell him the good news... and to listen to the obvious scorn that Dorado will unleash on the Goth."

Meanwhile, Jack and his company finally managed to reach the Main Dome A to observe the latest fight: Team Duelists vs. Team Smash Bros.. Stallwall figured to show the Cadet a little bit about fights between all of existance's greatest.

Next: Dorado's Rant, and Operation: Luna

[OverMaster]

Kikyo vs. Wario Wario: Opposites DO Repel.



Secondary Dome C:


"Hama no Ya!" she said as she shot a first arrow as soon as the bell rang, forcing the short mustachoed man to jump aside, with surprising agility for someone so obese. Wario rolled between the bushes, then raised his fists high and plummeted them down against the ground, making his surroundings to quake a bit, much to Kikyo's mild astonishment.

The little man was far stronger than he seemed, even more than what his muscular arms suggested. Nonethless, she still was mostly unfazed, her cold expression remaining the same. The undead miko drew another arrow out and loaded her bow again, then shot once more between the vegetal life. Wario ducked easily under the projectile, aided by his short size, and rolled ahead while he pulled a special red cap of one of his pockets, placing it on his head.

"MWA HA HA!" he laughed bousterously. "FIRE WARIO IS HERE, HONEY! LET'S TURN UP THE HEAT!". And he shot a few fireballs from his gloved hands at her. Kikyo jumped aside quickly, but one of the balls still managed to hit her in a leg. Ignoring that, the miko readied yet another arrow, and shot it as she landed with a screech sweep through the humid ground. The arrow passed neatly through Wario's Fire Cap, ripping it off his head and nailing it against a nearby massive palm tree. "HEY! What's wrong, I thought you gals liked it better hot and--".

"You talk too much. Cretin" Kikyo deadpaned, and then gathered spiritual power in her delicate hands, channeling it through some rolls of paper swiftly pulled off her long sleeves in an instant. She threw the charged rolls at Wario's head, keeping him immobile for a few seconds where he stood much to his dismay. Then she shot him with an arrow through an arm. Wario yelled in pain; they never did anything like that in the Mushroom Kingdom! And now he... he was bleeding!

Cursing under his breath, the rival of Mario grabbed the arrow with a chubby hand, and pulled it off the muscles of his arm with a single pull, then broke it between his fingers with a loud snap. "DARN, YOU ASKED FOR IT!" He britted his big teeth in rage. "OLD MAN!! GO WILD ON HER!!".

"YAA-HOOOO!!!!" With that shrill scream of pure joy, the tiny Happosai jumped out from Team Nuisance's bunkers, and landed straight on Kikyo before she even could react, burying his wrinkled ugly face in her cold chest, hugging her tightly. "Hello, Lovely Missy, I'm so glad to have a chance to meet such a beautiful, courageous legend up close and personal!".

Kikyo's pale face, for the first time in centuries, ever since her past life with InuYasha, gained a deep crimson blush then, feeling that old gnome almost molesting her, cuddling against her that way. Indignated, without even thinking about it, she tried to punch him off herself, but he moved out of the fist's way too quick, and just grabbed himself to her back instead, grabbing her breasts from behind, making her to yowl.

"Oooohh, I feel so happy to be alive!!" he laughed almost in tears, fondling over her clothing. She finally could use his distraction to grab him in turn by the head and slam him down against the ground and stomp on him angrily.

"Stupid old pervert!!" she shrieked. "What manners of dishonorful acts are those, in the middle of what is supposed to be a battle of honor!!".

"I..." Chizuru Kagura twitched an eyebrow slightly at what she was seeing. "I thought Kikyo-san was supposed to be dead to emotions...".

"She is on the ring with him, suffering that humbling in front of everyone in the Omniverse. Can you blame her?" Sailor Pluto sighed.

"Ouchie! Ouchie! Ouchie!" Happy repeated between stompings of her sandaled feet against his face, waving his prize in his hands. "Oh, you're so bad with a poor old man at Death's gate! Can't you grant me a final last moment of happiness before I plummet into the abyss of old age?!".

"You. Deserve. All. Abyss. Of. Hell. PERIOD!!" The priestess, Wario forgotten for now, continued stomping on him furiously, until she realized what did he have in his hands at last, clutching it tightly as if his very life depended on it. And her blush went even deeper, taking on an almost purplish tone. "Th-th-that...".

It was a long string of freshly ripped white bandages, like the ones the women of her time period at Japan used to... to... With a sudden feeling of doom in her mind, she lowered her gaze quickly to her own chest, and found it... exposed, the front of her white shirt ripped open for everyone to see.

"EEEEEEEEKK!!!!!! HENTAI!!!!!!!".

"Wow..." Kyo Kusanagi sweatdropped on his seat, being thankful Yuki was not next to him right then. "When did he do that? I couldn't even see when he--".

"That's the old freak for ya" Ranma Saotome groaned from the seat next to Kusanagi's. He watched with some satisfaction how Kikyo kicked the old man out of the ring, sending him crashing down against Jesse, who in turn yelled and slapped him against a wall. Then Ranma blinked in realization. "Wait a blasted second. Where did Fatso go?".

As soon as Kikyo hurriedly finished composing her chest's coverture as best as she could, she noticed that too. Wario had seemingly disappeared between the tropical vegetation. She looked all around, and finally her eyes narrowed. As soon as they did, she aimed another arrow and shot it through a few bushes, only to have Wario jumping out of them, high and towards her, at the same time. The fat man twirled in the air, falling on her with his butt going ahead.

"WARIO WAFT!!".

Immediately, a most foul odor filled all the dome, along with a loud farting sound that rippled through the air prompting several espectators to puke, some to faint, and most of them to cover their noses and mouths in disgust.

"W-What kind of attack was that?!" Shingo Yabuki protested, tightening his hands against his own face, now tinted green in displeasure. "Was it even an attack?!".

"That ain't martial arts, but it sure must have worked!" Ranma coughed. "Man, not even my Dad can fart that way!".

"Damn, and just when I thought I had seen everything..." Kyo mumbled while trying to stare through the greenish mist currently covering most of the ring. Finally, he saw Kikyo stumbling back, hard disgust etched into her features.

"Foul creature!" she said. "Not even the worst youkai would fall so low... or stink so badly!".

"Heh heh heh!" Wario laughed, putting on a new cap with white bunny ears. "You haven't seen nothing yet!". And he started to float high above her, bombarding her with small black Wario Bombs from high. "How do you like these, huh? Ready to quit now?".

"Never!" she yelled as the impact of an explosion sent her flying back against a tree. She raised her hands and said, "BARRIER!". Instantly, a big shield of spiritual power appeared all around her, deflecting the bombs back to Wario and shooting him down back to earth, where he landed with a thud and a semi-obscene expletive.

Kikyo straightened herself out, and took a grab of a nearby small twig, chanting something under her breath. "... Mayose..." she finished, and quickly drew a pentagram on the ground with her bow, then planted the twig firmly at the middle of the figure. In a second, the twig grew up becoming a huge, monstruous tree, which trapped Wario between its branches and lifted him high in a matter of seconds.

"HEY! What the heck...".

"Begone, foul being" Kikyo aimed an arrow high at him, her eyes brimming quietly with blueish fire. "This shall not kill you, but it will keep you sealed against that tree, hopefully forever! That is a small price to be paid for someone as wicked as you!".

"Like hell it will!" Wario kicked free from the branches with a mighty push, then in midair, avoiding Kikyo's sealing arrow, pulled a small bottle out and drank from it in a hurry... vanishing from sight as he fell down. Kikyo was shocked for a second, but then heard the subtle crackle of twigs, leaves and grass right behind her. Something heavy had just landed there.

"Invisibility shall not help you..." she charged Miko Holy Powers in her hands and spun around to grab Wario's invisible shape, finding it with her fingers right before feeling the devastating headbutt against her midsection, and then a flurry of rapid fire punches against her stomach, punches almost able to crack stone, while the rotund body of her adversary began to reappear slowly, allowing the public to watch, gasping, how Wario ignored the power affecting him and continuing hammering blow after blow on her, until Kikyo finally collapsed with a last choked sound that sounded slightly like a whimper, unconscious at the panting fat man's feet.

"YEAH!" Wario's fists rose up high, as Hanagata quietly walked in and gave Kikyo the full countdown. "Who's the man now, huh? Who's the man?! Mario, your butt will soon be mine!!".

"Kagura-san..." Rose began, looking at the descendant of the Yata.

"I know. I am aware of what to do against him now" Chizuru Kagura elegantly stepped up into the arena. "There is no need for concern, I assure you. That bloated arrogant excuse for a man will run out of undeserved luck against me. Just watch and see".



Next: Panther vs. Zarabeth, Round One!

[OverMaster]

Zarabeth vs. Saber Doll Panther, Prelude!


Oswald Cobblepot's Underground Arena:

"Well, here we are" Mai Tokiha sighed while slumping down on her seat, with Takumi, Akira, Tate, Shiho, Reito and Mikoto following her example. They all looked down at the ring, where the green haired Princess Lum of the Oni watched on how Deadshot and a dozen of Cobblepot's men carried a screaming and vehemently struggling Ataru Moroboshi again between his protests about wanting to act as the referee again. "Hmm. What a shameful man. And that girl is his fiancee? I think she could do better than that...".

"The love has its reasons reason can't know..." Yuuichi Tate mused quietly, speaking for experience. "But I wonder if we really should be here right now. Everyone else's out struggling to find the truth, and we come just to sit down and watch a fight in the meanwhile".

"We can learn a lot by being here, though" Takumi calmly pointed out, looking at him. "And Mikoto-san is going to need all info she can get on the people who is going to be her opponents in the future".

"But I find this boring..." the feral girl whined while slumping her face against the steel bar in front of the seats and separating them from the battle area, then yawned very loudly, stretching her mouth to almost gigantic size. "I don't like just to watch fights. What's the point on being in a fight if you aren't a part of it? It's better to stay away in that case...".

"But..." Reito sweated a bit, "Experience and knowledge can be very useful for you in the future, remember that. You must learn who your enemies are to beat them, not to rely only on your own power and skill".

"Yes, pretty much" Akira agreed with a short nod. "And besides, who knows. Maybe we can find someone around here with information about the God-Killer, after all".

"I kinda doubt it..." Mai let her words to trail out with some pessimism, then looked at Mikoto's unconcerned cute face. Always the same Mikoto Minagi, even after the whole incidents of the HiME Festival, which actually seemed to have left less hidden sorrows in her than in the others. Mai actually envied that kind of innocent, carefree attitude, allowing Mikoto take almost everything with such ease. Even the Joker nightmares from last night seemed to have been forgotten by her by now.

Then, the public went wild with cheers as the tall blonde with the eyepatch entered the Arena, followed by her two robotic sisters in arms and the imposing figure of Gerhard von Faust. Mai watched her with interest as well; she had heard she was a robot, pretty much like Miyu, but the wolfish, confident way the blonde was smiling while crackling her knuckles together certainly was a far cry from Miyu's peaceful and stoic nature. The schoolgirl saw the redhead android and the blue haired one giving Panther some final advice and patting her on the shoulders reassuringly; the distance made impossible to listen exactly what they were saying, but their expressions said it all for them.

"They look very close to each other, don't they?" Shiho Munakata echoed Mai's thoughts aloud, craning her neck forwards curiously.

"Yeah, I guess" Tate shrugged. And tried to keep his eyes away from the Marionettes' massive busts before his friends noticed him staring at them. Wow, they almost made Mai to look small.

It was then when the pale, black-clad vampiress also entered the squared circle, drawing new cheers from the crowd, all of them ignored by the undead warrior. She just stood here, with an icy stare fixed on Panther. Her hands seemed about to reach for her sword at any given moment.

With both fighters already present there, Lum cleared her throat, stepped in between them, and spoke through her microphone at the top of her lungs. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-TCHA, WELCOME TO OUR SECOND DAY OF THE UNDERGROUND TOURNAMENT!! GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE!!".

The mini dome erupted in claps; Lum had become a fan favorite for MUGEN's public in the last few days. The alien laughed, flattered, until the cheers died down a bit, and then continued, "INTRODUCING! OUR EXCITING FIRST BATTLE F'R TODAY, NTCHA! WITH LADY ZARABETH, VAMPIRE WARRIOR, REPRESENTING TEAM ANZELL! AND PANTHER OF GARTLAND, REPRESENTING PLANET TERRATWO!!".

Again, the vitors and hoorahs became deafening all around them, as confetti ran all over the ring. On his special seat overlooking the show, the diminutive Penguin smiled with satisfaction. This was almost guaranteed to be another crowd-pleaser, and the money incomes continued in an all time crescendo for him. Who said the end of the world was a bad time for business, after all?

"REMEMBER THE RULES, TCHA!" the Oni looked at both fighters. "NO KILLING ALLOWED, AND NO FIREARMS EITHER, INCLUDING GUNS AND CANNONS!".

"Where would we keep a cannon anyway?" Zarabeth mumbled. Lum just gave her an odd questioning look, and pulled a small hand cannon of Oni manufacture out of her cleavage.

"Like, say, here?" the green haired alien asked innocently. Zarabeth sweatdropped. People around that place was simply SO weird.

"Question" Panther asked surprising both of them, then leaned forward and whispered a question into Lum's ear, out of the vampiress' earing range. The shapely referee blinked.

"Mmmm, lemme see..." she asked, and thumbed through a small rulebook also pulled out of her cleavage. "Um, yeah, you can do THAT... There's nothing in the rules against THAT, tcha... But...".

"Excellent" Panther interrupted her, widening her smirk. "Let's go right now, then. I'm itching to start as soon as we can".

"I say the same, machine" Zarabeth shifted into an even more battle ready pose, frowning in a distrustful way. "I wish you good luck, while I also ask you to give me a real challenge. Don't hold back on me! Or I'll consider myself insulted!!".

"That's my line! And don't worry about that, you'll meet more than your match here!".

"Okay, then!" Lum shouted. "Panther-san versus Zarabeth-san! One Round match! Ready! Set! Start!!".



Next: More Painful Music!

[T51R]

~Celestial Alignments, Gear two: Prisoner Exchange~





-Fighter‘s Lodge, Team Skuld Headquarters



“GET BACK!!!” Belldandy pushed both Keima and Keiichi out of the way of the forming portal, a tunnel of dancing lights from which swirled a maelstrom of wind, flames and energy, “Urd, what did you do?” she felt her body reacting before she could think, her feet moving apart and her knees loosening up as she sank lower into a fighting stance in front of them, “This is…” Again the Lodge trembled as aftershocks from the forced opening of a gateway between Hell and Earth rocked the Tournament Grounds. “Urd, this is a portal to Nifelheim, isn’t it? To Hild‘s realm!” Her hands flicked themselves up in front of her before she knew it ending in a loose stance with elbows tucked in, coiled and ready to strike. “Something is coming…” each and every one of her instincts honed through countless hours of time-dilated combat were screaming for her to run, even as another part of her urged her to stay: the part that knew she could not abandon those she loved. “This…this pulse…” she muttered as the portal began to expand again, bolts of hellish energy now searing the pinewood floors and walls. “Keiichi!” she screamed over the winds howling through Team Skuld’s headquarters and down the halls even as Holy Bell sprang from her shoulders, “Take Keima! Take Keima and run! Its coming!”

Next to her, a small cloud swirled around Skuld and wisped away to reveal a skin-tight bodysuit of white and red, with miniature circuits running up and down her body and limbs finishing their journey at her wrist then flowing as energy into the end of her lengthened mallet that now stood as tall as she was.

“Skuld…”

“I‘m not leaving sis,” the Goddess of the Future swung her weapon around in a backhand grip and slid her own feet apart, standing as loosely as her elder sister.

“Skuld, if that‘s what I think it is coming up from Hell then we will have to fight!” Urd retorted, almost instantly changing into her red-and-black battle dress as World of Elegance rose above them all with her majestic wings spread. “Skuld, listen to me. Please.”

“NO!”

Behind them Keima Morisato had drawn his own weapon, standing even though his knees quaked in front of the young man who would one become his father. Beenuel on the other hand had taken a more defensive approach, bringing scores of hard-shelled flying insects together in an effort to cloud the area. If anything he thought to himself, his children would give them a chance to escape if they needed it. Next to the God of animals stood the only human in the room, Keiichi Morisato, who kept gazing at the angular shapes now glowing brightly on the backs of his hands.

“BELLDANDY!” She glanced backwards slightly and nodded once without ever taking her eyes off the shadow rapidly coming through the tunnel of light and flames. “WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!!! IT‘S HIM!” He noticed Keima’s quaking knees, every story his mother had ever told him about the being about to arrive filling his mind once again. Alright, he thought to himself, if this thing’s as powerful and as dangerous as Keima said it is, then there’s no point in running anymore. I mean, we’re on a planet. Where can we run if this thing can just blow the whole galaxy away or even the whole universe? He glanced towards the portal again to find all three Norn Goddesses slowly inching away from the portal as the black centre of it continued to grow. “How do I use this thing,” he swore quietly; it didn’t “work” the same way as Blue Lance or Cool Mint did when he had hosted them; the Angels at least felt like they were there. The Divinity Instrumentation Drive….didn’t. He knew it was there however; the angular symbols on his hands confirmed it. He just had to find out how to turn it on. “Dammit…” The shadow in the eye of the vortex grew larger still, and he could begin to make out the red cape and black cloak Keima had told him about. “Dammit…what the hell am I supposed to do with this thing? Does it only work when I get attacked or do I have to turn it on somehow!?” He clutched his wrist. “Dammit…”

“BEENUEL-SAN!” Urd screamed as tendrils of black shadow and fog burst from the portal and filled the room with darkness, “TAKE KEIICHI AND KEIMA! GET THEM OUT OF HERE, AS FAR AWAY AS YOU CAN!!!” She inched even further backwards, trying to gauge the size of the thing coming through. The portal wasn’t big enough for it to be Midgard or Fenrir-sized, but by all accounts, it didn’t need to be; it did what it did in novel, frightening ways, and apparently, size didn’t matter. “Belldandy, can you sense anything?”

The Goddess of the Present mirrored her sister’s movements, slowly moving backwards, baiting the thing to strike only at her, leaving it open for both her sisters to move in from either sides. “This pulse…” her eyes narrowed, “this isn’t a God, Urd. Its pulse…is disintegrating the fabric of Yggdrasil as well as destroying the language the Almighty One used to describe the universe when he created it!”

“So it really is…” Skuld’s grip on her mallet tightened.

“The God-Killer,” Urd finished. “IT’S HERE!” The rest of Team Skuld’s headquarters fell to blackness in that instant. The floor, walls, ceiling and windows vanished and all within it found themselves standing in an unending sea of creamy white. “Dirac sea?” she gritted her teeth, “it couldn‘t be…” She recoiled when the black, shadowy tendrils shot past her and began to spread out, turning the place of infinite emptiness to a dimension of black nothing. “Skuld.” Her younger sister, sweating bullets, glanced at her. “Do you hear something?”

The three listened as hard as they could, trying to hear it again. “It…sounds like screaming,” Urd noted, stepping towards the portal to Nifelheim. “The souls of all his victims, they‘re scream…”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEE…..!!!!!!!!!!” Two black bullets shot past the Goddesses, between Keima and Keiichi then finally whizzed past Beenuel’s head with inches to spare before tearing out through the dimensional walls of the Dirac Sea, and slammed head-first into the pine-board walls of the Lodge with a deafening crash spraying the occupants of the room with a fine mist of blood and brain matter.

Belldandy was the first to get back to her normal footing, and in shock pointed to where two arses were poking out of the back wall in the centre of a bloody splatter. “Urd, I think they‘re…dead!”

The Norn of the Past’s eyebrow began to twitch uncontrollably while she began to turn a sickly shade of blue, then fell over as something hit her in the small of her back, sending her to the floor. “What in the nine Hells of Nifelheim is this,” she turned over and her eyes filled with a grotesque, misshapen creature barely six inches tall covered with patchy fur, an obscenely large eye and a mouthful of horrible teeth. “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?!” she screamed hysterically as the thing disappeared down the front of her dress and began to skittle around under her clothes. “GET IT OUT!! GET IT OUT!!!!!!”

At the back of the room, thins took on a more sombre mood as the two pairs of legs began to twitch, then to move, and finally the smaller pair vanished in a plume of shadowy black mist that swiftly wisped around the room and disappeared the larger one. A crackling of splintered wood, then a loud crunching noise filled the living area as two enormous hands clad in black armour burst from the walls on opposite sides of the protruding arse.

“Motherf…” the thing swore, pulling itself free then towering over Beenuel, Keima and Keiichi.

A soft rattle caught Keiichi’s attention, and led his vision to the shaking mallet in Keima’s quaking hands. He looked at the back of his own hands, at the angular symbols glowing bright red. “Who are you,” he whispered, his words catching in his throat while beads of cold sweat began to roll down this forehead.

“Kansai…”





….To be continued!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Coming up from around the corner of the wall, Anzell swore as the saw the two figures slowly stirring. The goddess broke into a cold sweat as she recognized the figure that had nearly killed her a few days ago...

In an instant, she summoned her spear and engaged her battle aspect: her form was instantly covered in elegant silver armour as she powered up. "BEENUEL! GET BELLDANDY, KEIMA AND KEICHII OUT OF HERE!" she shouted as she hurled her spear at the monster. The divine weapon hurtled past the God-Killer's face and smashed through the opposite wall. Anzell had missed on purpose, though: she knew that her weapons wouldn't hurt Kansai, and the backlash of a direct hit from her spear on the God-Killer might hurt or even kill Keima and Keichii. Besides which, she just wanted to get that thing's attention.

Dammit, she thought as she re-summoned her spear and began to charge up. This isn't good. If Kansai kills Belldandy, it's all over. "Urd..."

"GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT!" the Goddess of the Present shrieked as she tried to extricate the furry...thing...from under her dress. Skuld, meanwhile, readied her hammer, trying her best to hold back her fear as she remembered what Kansai had done before...

******

Meanwhile, in the lineup of the Mugen cafeteria, Silent Bob suddenly tensed.

"Hey Fatso, what's with the deer-in-the-headlights eyes all of a sudden?" Black Mage huffed from where he stood in line behind the Author.

Silent Bob didn't bother to reply. He felt the weirdest sensation...as though a thousands souls had simultaneously cried out "Oh shit" all at once. Usually, this signified one of two things: either Uwe Boll was going to make a Metal Gear Solid movie (which was doubtful, since the Council of Authors had kicked Boll off the galactic plane several weeks ago), or another God-Killer had arrived on Earth. Again.

He shrugged to himself. Meh, it was probably nothing but a bit of post-stonage dizziness. After all, Vellinor wouldn't sic Kansai on Earth except under very, very special circumstances. He made a mental note to stay off the Jamaican hash for a while, though...

[OverMaster]

Coming up from around the corner of the wall, Anzell swore as the saw the two figures slowly stirring. The goddess broke into a cold sweat as she recognized the figure that had nearly killed her a few days ago...

In an instant, she summoned her spear and engaged her battle aspect: her form was instantly covered in elegant silver armour as she powered up. "BEENUEL! GET BELLDANDY, KEIMA AND KEICHII OUT OF HERE!" she shouted as she hurled her spear at the monster. The divine weapon hurtled past the God-Killer's face and smashed through the opposite wall. Anzell had missed on purpose, though: she knew that her weapons wouldn't hurt Kansai, and the backlash of a direct hit from her spear on the God-Killer might hurt or even kill Keima and Keichii. Besides which, she just wanted to get that thing's attention.

Dammit, she thought as she re-summoned her spear and began to charge up. This isn't good. If Kansai kills Belldandy, it's all over. "Urd..."

"GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT!" the Goddess of the Present shrieked as she tried to extricate the furry...thing...from under her dress. Skuld, meanwhile, readied her hammer, trying her best to hold back her fear as she remembered what Kansai had done before...

******

Meanwhile, in the lineup of the Mugen cafeteria, Silent Bob suddenly tensed.

"Hey Fatso, what's with the deer-in-the-headlights eyes all of a sudden?" Black Mage huffed from where he stood in line behind the Author.

Silent Bob didn't bother to reply. He felt the weirdest sensation...as though a thousands souls had simultaneously cried out "Oh shit" all at once. Usually, this signified one of two things: either Uwe Boll was going to make a Metal Gear Solid movie (which was doubtful, since the Council of Authors had kicked Boll off the galactic plane several weeks ago), or another God-Killer had arrived on Earth. Again.

He shrugged to himself. Meh, it was probably nothing but a bit of post-stonage dizziness. After all, Vellinor wouldn't sic Kansai on Earth except under very, very special circumstances. He made a mental note to stay off the Jamaican hash for a while, though...


Elsewhere at the MUGEN Grounds:

Motoko Aoyama stayed silent and quiet, sitting on the edge on a fountain, as Nabeshin tried his luck with a nearby UFO Catcher machine, trying to catch a doll of himself for Poemi. Meanwhile, Wolverine flipped through a magazine from a newstand, and the tentacled Mars People took photos of their surroundings while emiting a series of muffed beeps and boops.

She was starting to feel like this current state of chaos and unease would never end. She was getting sick of it. Her heart longed for the good old days at Hinata Inn; she was a warrior, true, but what good is a warrior for in a place where everyone seems to outmatch her? The men (and alien) seemed to be taking it well though (Logan just mumbled about this being still nothing compared to all of his run-ins with the Shi'Ar and the Brood and even Kulan Gath, and Nabeshin was always almost unfazed by everything happening). She almost envied them by now. The samurai girl heaved a weary sigh only for herself.

Then, the team leader stiffened, as his afro took in a weird yellowish glow, startling his teammates. "Bub?" Wolverine asked. "Don't look at ya now, but you're--".

"Yellow Alert!" Nabeshin screamed all of a sudden. "Oh, SHIT, no!! He must be here, altering the plot yet again!!".

"He?" Motoko pouted a bit. "May I ask what do you mean this time?".

"The random wildcard, the man from beyond!" Nabeshin turned around forgetting the UFO Catcher, and tightened his fists powering up to SSJ state. "I can feel him, back at the Lodge!".

"Bee-boop ba-ba-pi-pio?" Mars People said. "Ba-ba-pee-poo booop booop beep beep?".

"No, not that one!" The Director shouted vehemently. "The God-Killer, I mean! I can feel the disturbances all across the Creative Force!".

Motoko jerked back at the mention of it. God-Killer. Nabeshin had told them little about that thing, but it had been enough to even scare her to a point. She tilted her head in direction to the Lodge. "B-but that can't be! Naru-sempai and Keitarou-sempai must be there!".

"Crap, I just hope you're wrong again, Bub" Logan threw the magazine aside and got ready to run for the attack.

"Boop beep bop! Bap bap be-bop!" the martian pulled his ray gun out of its tentacle mass, and nodded his massive bulbous head.

"I'm never wrong, not even when I'm not right! LET'S GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE...!!" Nabeshin began to run in the opposite direction to the Lodge, his legs becoming whirlwinds of cartoony appearance, until Motoko, with a grunt, threw a Rock Splitting Maneuver at him, stopping him in the spot and sending him down to the ground.

"Baka, we can't leave them facing that beast alone, if what you're saying is true!" she grabbed the Director by the collar of his shirt and pulled him along with themselves, as they ran back to the Lodge.

Although a part of herself, a very tiny part of her back consciousness, still couldn't stop telling her he might be right after all.

[OverMaster]

Painful Music, Continuation.


Downtown Tokyo:


The spotlight. Harley Quinn was used to it. It had come to be her whole life, to share it with her dear Puddin'. Through the last few years with him, she had lost pretty much any inhibitions about it she could ever have had. That was why she now was confidently walking her way in front of the others, keeping her chin high. With a calculated movement, she spun around towards her man and softly asked, "Clothing, please?".

"Clothing?" the Joker huffed, apparently not getting it.

"You know, like you did to her!" the harlequin barked, pointing at Rei with a finger. "I want a special costume for singing too!".

"Oh, you mean cosplay..." the Clown Prince snapped his fingers. "I knew I was forgetting something". He touched her in the head and allowed part of his power to flow out, changing her red and black costume to a colorful cheerleader outfit, complete with very short skirt and pom-poms. The white makeup vanished from her face, and her blond hair now was stuck into a single long ponytail falling past her shoulders. "There. Happy now?".

"It's not exactly... what I was expecting for..." Harley sighed, slightly disappointed. "But it'll do". She struck a charming bubbly pose. "Okay, here I go!".

The music for Sakura Saku began to play on, and the American young woman began to sing along with it, in a very bad Japanese, mauling each word in a way that made Mara and Goenitz to cringe, even though her voice itself was not really bad.

"Yaah-ne no-ue de sora o aoguu, hik-zashi wa uraraka.
Miageru soh-rah, karadajuu genki gha minagitteku. THAAT'S SO WONDERFUL! IIIIkiterunda!
Ya-meh-rarenai, akirameru da nanteeeehh...".

Mara sighed fornlorly, and stared at her bottle of sake again, regretting to have left it empty so soon. She then watched at Nagi smiling pleased, and snorted to herself. Apparently, that little punk was easy to satisfy with just anything.

Meanwhile, around the building, numerous shadows gathered across the ruins, cautiously watching over like vultures, listening to the music coming from inside the building. Greed, curiosity, killer instinct, fear and puzzlement warred inside of them, and the men only ocassionally whispered to each other, unsure of what to do. The giant monster at the door made them to fear by itself. Yet, it was evident most of them were simply irked, and really wished nothing best than to burst in there and let the bullets and the death to fly, their weapons uneasily nested into their hands.

"That sounds like a woman" one of them dared to say under his breath.

"A gaijin" the man next to him nodded austerely. "Damn foreigners".

"You sure about this idea of the Boss? Waiting for his new allies to come, and then go in? I don't trust those freaks. Especially not the mon--".

"Shhh" a larger man hushed the first gang member, as the Orphan seemed to twitch a bit, as if hearing something. "Be very quiet there, okay?".

The Orphan seemed to sniff the air then, growled lowly, and relaxed back at its post, like a halfasleep dragon from Hell, its breathing heavy and steady, almost thundering in barely restrained doses. It spoke of sheer raw power, and the men respected that. Yes, they did. Even so, they still respected their superiors even more, and their orders where their orders; to stay there and mount guard while the reiforcements arrived. And then, to strike at the invasors.

"ToO-houh ni kureeta kinnou nee sayooh-nara" Harley Quinn continued, scrambling the words. "Fut-sufutututusu to wakiagaru kono kimochi
nando demo yomigaeru, ham-na o sakaeE-seEyoou
omoide wa itusu mo amai nigger bash-on
dakedo tachi kire, asu o ikiru tame
shuku-fuku no toki wa kuru, te o no-bash-ite o nobashite, ryoute ageteeee...".

And she stopped, panting, her tongue hanging out. She looked all around for approval, but her face soured at seeing Rei laughing at her, and Mara and Goenitz with stony faces.

"Eeehh" the Joker gave her a few lukewarms applauses. No one else but Nagi clapped. "Not that bad. You still have to practice more". He snatched the microphone away from her unceremoniously and offered it to the demoness. "Yo, Mara-lara. Your turn!".

"Never" the blonde agent of Hild flatly stated.

"Oh, come on, Mara!" the clown said, pointing the mike at her almost as if it was a gun. "Don't be such a spoilsport! Ladies go first, after all!".

"I won't be making a fool of myself, and giving you the chance to put me on a skin-showing costume of your sick choosing!" she protested.

"What the hell are you babbling about?!" Joker shot back. "Your regular clothes show a ton of skin anyway!!".

"That's a totally different matter!" Mara screeched angrily, standing up. "I refuse to be a mere tool for your stupid entertainment!". She turned around for the door, only to then feel her clothes changing in the spot to a schoolgirl sailor fuku. She gritted her teeth together, clenching her fists up. "Joker, I'm being serious here... When I say no, I really mean no...".

"Ahh, please, don't be so mean" Nagi chuckled. "We're all friends here, after all! You don't have to feel embarassed!".

"You keep yourself out of this!!" she warned with a yell. "And I'm NOT embarassed at all! I don't have why to--".

"Then prove it. Give it a spin" Rei snarled from her chair, letting her head to hang back carelessly. "C'mon, you ain't no chicken, are ya?".

"Little brainless slut..." Mara's eyes burned. "I'll show you, spoiled brat...".

Joker smiled wickedly to himself. As easy to play on as a child. Always true to form, that Mara.


Next: Mario vs. Guilmon!

[OverMaster]

OOC:

Le sigh.

You know, for the first time ever since we started with this, I'm feeling a bit... sad about MUGEN. It's funny, because two days ago I was so full of ideas, and hopped up for the future, and ready to go...

And then I had to go back and reread the first pages of the thread. I kinda miss those days when participation was so high and frequent, now. And I begin to wonder, after so much time, so much great stuff read and done, if we will be able to see it end before we have another board crashdown, or before we die of old age, and I ask myself if I should have done things differently from the start, like making the tournament of single contestants instead of teams to make it go quicker, or made the plot simpler, or put a stop when people began to enlist teams by the bucketloads just to leave them and the story later on, and that all makes me to feel so down, and so unfit to tackle yet another fight scene right now (I have found those are the ones I have the most problems with doing, ironically). Oh, if only we could foresee these things, or turn time back.

Well, that, and after talking a bit with T51R about the final omake episode, I kinda began to miss my original idea of giving a theme to each episode, and making each episode more coherent within itself, thus making the whole deal more episodic in nature. I really want to see a proper finish to MUGEN, but now I have my doubts if we'll ever be able to do it if we go on like this, and that prospect fills me with so much sadness, because this is such a work of love for me, and we've worked for it so hard for all these months...

In other words, please excuse my emo trip, but yeah, I feel somewhat down now. I just had to get that out of my system. Thanks for the continued support, and I'll now go to try and reload myself for continuing. But if any of you has any workable ideas for fixing the current problems, please let me hear them.

Mario versus Guilmon tomorrow, I'll try to have it ready for then.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

(Hits OM repeatedly over the head with a blunt shovel) Snap out of it! The last thing we need is a goddam emo trip!

All I can say to that is that there's absolutely no way in hell we're quitting Mugen now-- not after we've spent so much time, effort and creative energy on it. My only suggestion is that all of the still-active writers pitch in and help out as much as they can in writing the actual arena fights, since that might help Mugen speed along quicker.

That, and point accusatory fingers at those writers of ours who have been completely inactive. (Points fingers at inactive writers-- you know who you are) Shun the proctastinator! SHUUUUUUUUN!

(I mean seriously, Saint, Sandman, you guys were practically front and centre in the writing of Crisis on Infinite Threads. What the heck?)

[T51R]

^^^Hell yeah, my essay's over and done with and I have another 4-5 weeks before the next one. PRISONER EXCHANGE CONTINUES TONIGHT! [For those of us downunder that is:D ]

[J Dog]

I may have a limited time base for my parts, but I'm not giving up just yet. You, me, Lord, and Mech will handle this ourselves if we have to. Saint and Sandman virtually have been no-shows for the last few months. They just come in, do some things, and in Saint's case, tend to bitch about it then do it.

We may have to alter the fighting part. I mean, at the beginning, the tournament was the driving point. However, as of late, we have gone off to other parts that have little relation to the fighting tournament, like the Bugs, ore the Battle for Tenchi, or to a lighter extent, Dorado's Bad Luck.

Just a little altering, and I think we can finish this thing in a few months.

And, OM, nobody likes an emo. Snap it.

[T51R]

~Celestial Alignments, Gear two: Prisoner Exchange~





-Fighter‘s Lodge, Team Skuld Headquarters



“I’m telling you, step back!” Anzell kept her eyes fixed on the thing that was slowly making its way to the centre of the room, its heavy footfalls sending tremors through the Lodge’s foundation and in turn into the ground. She moved as it did, step for step while keeping the others in sight as best as she could, keeping her spear trained on the creature as its stabbing tip gleamed with Evermerean magicks. “BACK!” She crossed the floor in a single bound, putting herself between the God-Killer and Belldandy. “Get out,” she spat over her shoulder, without taking her eyes off her adversary, “If you die here, it‘s all over! Take the rest, take them and run!”

“No.”

Anzell crept slowly to where she could see both her assailant from almost a week ago, and the Goddess of the Present. “Dammit, listen to me! Belldandy, it‘s here for YOU!” She crept closer trying to get into range for a quick thrust at the thing’s eyes, the only place that wasn’t protected by seemingly-impenetrable armour. Through the corner of her eye she caught Keiichi running up to the woman he loved, grasping her arm then trying to pull her towards the door. “Good Morisato, quickly!”

“I…can‘t!” the only one of mortal blood in the room gritted his teeth and leaned towards the door. He stopped, noticing exactly where Belldandy’s feet were: her left was close to his while her right had been planted almost perfectly perpendicular to his body, taking away whatever leverage he may have had at the beginning. “Come on!” he pleaded, taking hold of the doorknob while snaking his arm around her waist, “Belldandy, you cant fight this thing!” He gritted his teeth as he leaned into the direction of the door, for all the good that it did him; the harder he pulled, the more energy it felt like he was wasting trying to get the Goddess out of the room. “Dammit, I‘m not gonna stand here and watch you…” He felt her give just then, just a little. “Oh thank goodness, now…” She collected his hand in hers, and brought it close to her face. Several feet away, Anzell tightened her grip on her spear yet again when the God-Killer began to express some manner of interest in the goings-on behind her.

“What is this,” the Goddess asked of her beloved, looking with worry upon the angular symbol by then glowing brightly under the skin of Keiichi’s hand, “Kei? Kei what is this?”

Another heavy footfall shook the Lodge, snapping Yubaba’s spellbinds and enchantments as it echoed through the halls. “A Divinity Instrumentation Drive?” a metallic voice croaked from behind the black mask, “Interesting. And its settings?” Kansai began to walk slowly forwards, prompting the sigils on Keiichi’s hands to glow more intensely.

A strong gust of wing filled the room, Anzell springing to life in the precise instant Urd finally got her hand around the thing skittering around under her clothes and threw a shield up in front of Keima and Skuld. “I SAID GET BACK!!!” She cast her spear straight at her mark; the monster’s left eye socket. Sparks filled the room together with the high-pitched sound of metal screaming against metal forcing all within Team Skuld’s headquarters to shield their eyes from the white-hot flames that erupted from the God-Killer’s face. A sharp “snap” and a resounding whistle caused the more battle-hardened ones present to find cover, Skuld ducking close to the floor while Anzell threw herself at Keima pinning him between the wooden floorboards and her armoured breastplate. Behind where she previously stood, Belldandy had thrown herself over Keiichi and forced him to the ground just in time for the tip of the enchanted, Evermerean weapon to strike the door above their heads and blow a good chunk out of it and into the corridor in the form of deadly shrapnel. “Shit,” she swore while holding Keima’s head down; the damned thing was still standing with the heft of her spear in its left hand, the shaft of it still spinning while glowing white-hot with mystical writings surging up and down its length. “The bastard‘s armour,” the Goddess of Evermere extended her arm and formed another spear, taking up her stance once again. “It’s neutralizing…”

“GOTCHA!!!” across the room, Urd finally managed to extract her tormentor from the front of her dress, took a glance at it and screamed loudly enough that it even collected the attention of the bring at the centre of the room. “WHAT IN THE NAME OF KAMI-SAMA…” she hysterically swore, trying to keep the squirming, clawing thing as far away from her face as she could. “JUST…JUST WHAT KIND OF GERBIL IS THIS, ANYWAY!?”

For the first time the God-Killer began to show some semblance of emotion, turning away from Belldandy and Keiichi, throwing his arms up and slowly speaking with a frustration-laced voice. “FOR F*CK‘S SAKE, IT‘S A HAMSTER!!!”

“Oh. Really,” veins again began to bulge and convulse across Urd’s forehead, her twitching eyebrow again coming to life. “Is this a gerbil or a hamster,” she held the thing at arm’s length and thrust it at Skuld.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” the youngest Norn screamed, then pummelled the tiny, furry grotesquery into a bloody pulp on the floor with her mallet, with several bits of it clinging to the ceiling for good measure. “Don’t …” she panted, “DON‘T YOU EVER BRING THAT THING NEAR ME AGAIN!!! Huh?” she looked downwards and found Tiki, eye bulging, once again whole and looking up the mithril-reinforced crotch of her armour. “KYAAAAAAAAA!!! DON‘T LOOK!!!” she screamed, this time stomping him into a fine red mist.

A good, solid ‘thud’ from Anzell banging the back end of her spear into the pinewood floor resounded through the living room. “Excuse me people, but we have a situation here?”

[T51R]

Ice-cold shivers shot up and down Anzell’s spine the second the black gauntlet clamped down on her shoulder quicker than she could perceive, the other scraping up the hairy remains off the floor. “YOU!” Kansai spat as he pushed Tiki towards her, stopping the patchy-haired thing a foot away from her face. “Is this a hamster or a gerbil?!”

The Goddess of Evermere stabbed the tip of her spear into the floorboards and leaned forwards for a better look at the swiftly-regenerating, miniature beast. “ASTRAEDON‘S BEARD!!!” It was her turn to become hysterical at the sight of the thing with its ribs protruding at strange angles under its floppy, warty and wrinkled skin. “What…WHAT IS THIS THING EXACTLY!?”

“It’s a hamster. What, can’t you tell the difference?”

“WHICH ONE ARE YOU, BLIND, IGNORANT OR JUST PLAIN STUPID!?” Anzell screamed back while trying to scramble backwards against the thing‘s massive weight.

“Ah f*ck you lady, I don‘t need this shit.”

“EXCUSE ME!?” Her eyes began to glow while flames erupted from her shoulders. “How dare you speak so to a Goddess of Evermere…hey. HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!?” she fumed; her prey, the thing which she had haunted her waking dreams for the last week had cornered Keiichi and Belldandy and was dangling its ‘pet’ in front of them as well. “Hey, hey you! I am talking to…” her spear began to quiver as her grip threatened to snap it in half, Kansai swiftly crossing the room, passing her without so much as flinching with a determined glint in his glowing eyes.

“You, boy!” he pointed at Keima. “Come here and identify this creature!” He waited for moment. “Hey, you okay? You look like you‘re about to sh*t yourself or something!” He waited a moment longer. “I guess that just leaves you.” He stomped over to Beenuel, and thrust Tiki before him. “Well?” He got no answer; the God of Animals turned a sickly green and sprinted off to the bathroom. “Great, just great.” he muttered to himself, then turned to the only source of code left in the room: Skuld, who took several steps back when his head spun around 180 degrees to look at her. “Holy…crap!” The rest of him spun around. “Uhmm, hi.” He crouched in front of the youngest Norn. “Want some candy?”

Everyone in the room face faulted, while Skuld‘s expression turned sour. “Just…what do you think I am, anyway?”

“Uhmm, I dunno…cute?” Kansai began to twiddle his fingers this way and that, glancing at Urd who was still trying to get the front of her dress under control. “Every little girl likes candy now, don’t they?” he produced a handful of sweets, right before Skuld split his head open with her chainsaw, the aptly-named ‘Murder-Kun.’

“BAKA NO HENTAI!!!!” she screamed while tearing into the God-Killer with almost animalistic rage. “ECCHI!!! ECCHI!!! Ecchiecchiecchiecchiecchiecchiecchi…” Pieces of flesh and bone filled the living room as though they were caught in a crimson tornado of bloody vapour, a hand landing in Keiichi’s lap while a piece of spleen smacked Anzell in the face. Beenuel found himself greeted by some brain matter and quickly retreated to the bathroom once again, while Urd and Keima found themselves ensnared by loops of intestines thrown from the eye of the Skuld-induced storm of viscera at the centre of the room. Belldandy of course, had run off to the balcony again at the sight of the carnage and was by then trying to get her breath back. Until at least, she noticed a badly beaten, black-clad angel crawling his way across the floor with his entrails hanging out like a wedding train behind him. He gathered up his guts, stuffed them back into his body cavity, walked calmly past her and sat himself down on the railing.

“Geez, from here on in I‘m NEVER going anywhere in HIM again!” Kadachi swore loudly, then noticed the Goddess looking up at him. “Oh,” his maniacal grin returned, “its you.”

“Excuse me, but I believe there is some spine on your forehead,” she pointed out.

“Where, here?” the Angel wiped his face with his sleeve.

“No, right there!”

“What, here?”

“No, right there!” Belldandy indicated the spot by pressing his forehead slightly, just before a thunderous shout came from several balconies below. “Oh, Mr. Kenshiro! Is something the matter?”

“Yes,” the big man replied. “Forgive me, but I could not help but to notice the commotion; my roommate has requested to borrow some sugar for dinner tonight. Also, I must point out that you have just pressed the vital pressure point known as Gak-Ju on that man‘s head.”

“Oh! Is that a bad thing?”

“It could be, for you see that man now has seven seconds to live. After which his head will explode, his tongue will hang out from his lower jaw while a geyser of blood will shoot up to the ceiling, and finally he will die with his body convulsing while it breaks its own bones.” The Goddess of the Past hardly had time to react when, true to form, Kadachi’s head exploded a foot away from her and the rest of his body went through the motions that the Hokuto Master had just described.

“Oh dear!” she turned her attention to where Skuld had reduced Kansai to bloody, cleanly, sliced cubes while screaming ‘paedophile’ at the top of her lungs, amongst other things. “SKULD! Skuld, stop it!” she called, right before the door came down to reveal a panting Natsuki Kuga, pointing her twin pistols at the bloody stain on the floor that used to be Kansai.

“WHERE‘S THE PAEDOPHILE!?” she sternly said, right before an eyeball landed at her feet. "Eeeeeeeewwwwwwwww......"






~To be continued…IN HELL!:D

[OverMaster]

(Hits OM repeatedly over the head with a blunt shovel) Snap out of it! The last thing we need is a goddam emo trip!

All I can say to that is that there's absolutely no way in hell we're quitting Mugen now-- not after we've spent so much time, effort and creative energy on it. My only suggestion is that all of the still-active writers pitch in and help out as much as they can in writing the actual arena fights, since that might help Mugen speed along quicker.

That, and point accusatory fingers at those writers of ours who have been completely inactive. (Points fingers at inactive writers-- you know who you are) Shun the proctastinator! SHUUUUUUUUN!

(I mean seriously, Saint, Sandman, you guys were practically front and centre in the writing of Crisis on Infinite Threads. What the heck?)

Well, I don't want to point blaming fingers on anyone. I'm sure they have their own reasons, I just wish they actually talked about them or tried to make a difference even if they can't fully colaborate. But I reckon some of the blame may be mine if I have made the plot too convoluted for them to follow, or something like that.

And actually quitting never crossed my mind, BTW. Just wanted to vent some frustration out, that's all.


IC:

Mario Mario vs. Guilmon: Heat of the Moment.


Main Arena A:

"Guilmon!" Takato ordered as soon as the starting bell rang echoing through the dome. "Cover the area with fire, now!". He remembered Rika's advice given to him before coming to MUGEN, about playing for keeps, for a sure victory as soon as it could be achieved; Juri, Henry, and all of their other friends depended on it.

"PYRO SPHERE!" the dinosaur-like red Digimon began to charge fireballs in his mouth, then spitting them across the Arena in a wide range, one after another, forcing Mario to rush back rolling behind some small hills. One of them grazed part of his hat, and he had to shake it around to extinguish the little flame.

The plumber rummaged through the bag of powerups that had been given to him by The Player, and fished a white feather out. Immediately, the magical feather's energy ran through him, and made a yellow cape to appear wrapped around his shoulders. With a smirk, Mario used his new power to fly high above Guilmon, then to make a quick drop on him, hitting the Digimon suarely with his chest and sending him screeching back.

"Guilmon!" Takato said again. "Tail Swipe!".

"Okay, Takatomon!!" the Digital Pet swung his long tail at Mario, but missed just barely, and the Italian plumber retaliated by spinning like a top against him, pushing him further back. The Mario Tornado had worked well, making the adversary even to groan out loud in pain; the small fat man followed by jumping on his head, but then the dinosaur reacted and managed to swat him away with his tail this time, making him to lose the cape. "Gee, he's good, Takatomon!".

"Try the Rock Breaker!" his Tamer told him, and Guilmon obeyed readily, making flames to appear bursting all around his claws, slashing with them at Mario and seriously hurting him. The audience gasped, watching the small mustachoed man screeching to a halt right before being pushed out of the ring, then jumping over Guilmon's head and landing right behind him, pulling out a Super Mario Golf golf club and hitting the reptile with it, making him to yelp. Guilmon kicked the club away. "Guilmon!" Takato shouted, wishing to finish it before his friend was too drained to fight the next adversary. "DIGIEVOLVE TO GROWLMON!!".

At that moment, the Digimon was enveloped in light, and Mario had to stand there in awe as he changed to a bigger, more agressive looking form towering over both humans, opening his jaws in a bestial roar.

"Mamma mia!" Mario ducked for cover as Growlmon began to spit out larger fireballs aimed at him, through all the landscape. The man jumped to a foxhole of the battlefield and dug in his bag for another powerup. He found it soon enough. It was there, shining faintly in red, inviting him with each petal.

Fire Flower.

He touched it, allowing the power to flow into his hands and to expand all through his body. He tightened a fist then, and felt the familiar change surging across himself. He smiled again.

"Mr. Mario, come out!" Takato called, as Growlmon peeked in, craning his neck over the foxhole, jaws open and ready to spit a finisher fireball, right before Mario sprang out with a dragon punch to his face, sending him sprawling back.

"Here we go!" the plumber landed on his feet right in front of the quickly recovering Digimon, and shot him with a few fireballs from his own hands, rocking him back and forth between yells of the Digimon. "Sorry, Bambino, but it's my duty-a! I know-a you can understand-a!".

But Growlmon did not stay down, and quickly jumped back to his feet, trying to chomp at the little man; Mario simply ducked under it and punched him in the stomach. Recoiling back from it, Growlmon gathered fire in the blades of his claws and tried to slash at him with them, but Mario's own fireballs kept him away, and even stunned him long enough so he could grab him by the tail and, straining his strenght to its limits, lift him high and begin to twirl him around at high speed.

"GROWLMON!!" Takato yelled.

"I learned this maneuver-a when dealing with-a Bowser, my friend!" Mario said in a high tone of voice, then hurled the surprised Digimon out of the arena. "Bon Giorno!!".

"AAAAHH!!" Growlmon crashed headfirst against the protective barrier separating the audience from the ring, and then slumped down a bit dizzy, blinking his eyes several times. "Takatomon, what did I do wrong...?".

"RINGOUT!!" the Tenkaichi Budokai Announcer shouted. "Mr. Mario wins this round for Team Smash Brothers!!".

The public boomed wild with cheers as Mario made the 'V' sign for them, and Takato rushed to Growlmon's side to pet him sadly and explain him he could not go back to fight now, even though he still was in physical conditions for it. While the naive Digimon struggled to assimilate all of that, Yami Yugi, with a grim expression, walked into the ring, hands into his pockets. "Not bad at all" the King of Games nodded knowingly. "But it will be Game Over for you now, Mister Mario, I must warn you". He raised his glare to meet the plumber's, and their eyes locked challengingly with each other. The younger man whipped some cards of his deck out. "Let's start with this now".


Next: Tenchi's Return to MUGEN, and Kansai versus... Wolverine's Jobber Aura?!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Mario vs. Yugi will be coming soon: I've just come out of a hefty exam period (only one left to go, on the 24th), and to top it all off, my laptop is experiencing technical difficulties again. That said, Mario vs. Yugi will be a 2-parter, so hold on...

[Mr.Sandman]

Hey guys, just stopped in to say a few things. *nod*

First of all, I'm really sorry for my general attitude towards things here.....the lateness with posting, vanishing for weeks at a time, etc. It's not that I don't wanna help out...but sometimes I get bogged down with soo many others things that when I finally get to post something....nothing ever seems to come to mind.

Frankly, I get rather disapointed with myself whenever I come over to read Mugan. Everybody else here has contributed way more material then I'll ever be able to make*, have much longer posts and grasps over the situations....and are generally superior quality compaired to well.....my little post every 3 months.

I have ideas that I wanna use, and things I've introduced that I wanna improve upon....but I never seem to know the right way to put em down in words or fit them into the scheme of things. Me and Saint have the entire battle already planned out....and now as usual it's my inablility to actually write it thats slowing things down.

Theres no fault on you OM, your leagues above me in plot development.....I'm sure it's mostly just me who doesn't understand half of whats going on. ^^ (A thing I'll fix some day soon by reading the whole thing from start to finish.....)

This doesn't mean I'm gonna stop helping, as soon as I can clear the cobwebs from my brain I'll start writing out the fight....assuming saint doesn't beat me to it. But beyond that I can't even wonder how I'll be able to add to a plot with already so many interesting(and confusing) things going on.

*(No....I'm dead serious. Even adding together all the stuff I did on the YvTW threads, I think theres at least one or two here that have surpased that in size...)

*LoN: Yeah....about the Crisis.....Go back and read that. Note how I kinda....got shoved into the background over the course of the thread and overshadowed by Watcher and Yeo(Both of which are very good writers too). Thats kinda like here....only everybody is watcher level. ^^;

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Hey guys, just stopped in to say a few things. *nod*

First of all, I'm really sorry for my general attitude towards things here.....the lateness with posting, vanishing for weeks at a time, etc. It's not that I don't wanna help out...but sometimes I get bogged down with soo many others things that when I finally get to post something....nothing ever seems to come to mind.

Frankly, I get rather disapointed with myself whenever I come over to read Mugan. Everybody else here has contributed way more material then I'll ever be able to make*, have much longer posts and grasps over the situations....and are generally superior quality compaired to well.....my little post every 3 months.

I have ideas that I wanna use, and things I've introduced that I wanna improve upon....but I never seem to know the right way to put em down in words or fit them into the scheme of things. Me and Saint have the entire battle already planned out....and now as usual it's my inablility to actually write it thats slowing things down.

Theres no fault on you OM, your leagues above me in plot development.....I'm sure it's mostly just me who doesn't understand half of whats going on. ^^ (A thing I'll fix some day soon by reading the whole thing from start to finish.....)

This doesn't mean I'm gonna stop helping, as soon as I can clear the cobwebs from my brain I'll start writing out the fight....assuming saint doesn't beat me to it. But beyond that I can't even wonder how I'll be able to add to a plot with already so many interesting(and confusing) things going on.

*(No....I'm dead serious. Even adding together all the stuff I did on the YvTW threads, I think theres at least one or two here that have surpased that in size...)

*LoN: Yeah....about the Crisis.....Go back and read that. Note how I kinda....got shoved into the background over the course of the thread and overshadowed by Watcher and Yeo(Both of which are very good writers too). Thats kinda like here....only everybody is watcher level. ^^;

Ouch. I think I got owned just now.

Nah, I understand perfectly. Far more often than not, the real life tends to interfere with fanfiction writing. That, and I can understand how difficult it can be to actually put your ideas down on paper. So, no biggie. As long as we know you're still with us, and that you're going to put in at least some effort.

[Mr.Sandman]

Ouch. I think I got owned just now.

Nah, I understand perfectly. Far more often than not, the real life tends to interfere with fanfiction writing. That, and I can understand how difficult it can be to actually put your ideas down on paper. So, no biggie. As long as we know you're still with us, and that you're going to put in at least some effort.


*nod* Yeah....Although I can't say it's as much the fact that I can't get the words down as much as I'm afraid theres either too stupid or odd 'too' go down...or that I'm stepping on other peoples toes in doing so, so to speak. With so much going on, I'd hate to put something generally nonsencial into things.....or worse, have an entire idea planned around it only to fall flat on my face when I find out. ;_;

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

*nod* Yeah....Although I can't say it's as much the fact that I can't get the words down as much as I'm afraid theres either too stupid or odd 'too' go down...or that I'm stepping on other peoples toes in doing so, so to speak. With so much going on, I'd hate to put something generally nonsencial into things.....or worse, have an entire idea planned around it only to fall flat on my face when I find out. ;_;

Nonsensical? Stupid? THIS! IS! MUGEN!

I mean, seriously, thus far, no idea has been too crazy or two nonsensical. Any and all contributions have been respected and applauded thus far. If you're afraid of interfering in other people's plans, well...thats what PM discussions are for. At least half of all the arcs I've written for Mugen have been co-planned with my fellows writers or presented for their approval. So, yes, you can actually coordinate your efforts and thus prevent yourself from interfering too badly in other story arcs.

[T51R]

Sandman, I do have to agree with LONC's put forward; weve been coordinating our efforts very well thus far and with that, we've had some incredible interactions! PM us your plans and what you want to do with your boys and girls; don't worry about how things will pan out we'll work it out eventually! Check out how much JDog's improved since his first post here!

[Saint_007]

OOC: Okay, after all the verbal owning I just received (and not to mention the verbal bitch-slap OverMaster gave me over at the Games thread some time ago) I think I've been shamed enough to get writing again. I could try and give you some excuse, but as it turns out, I'm just too damn lazy for my own good.

IC:
Alaniel's Conference Room:
"So," Alaniel said as he eyed the monitors, "how are things at the moment?"

Spark was in a corner, happily over his trauma with Thrall's wolf as he gorged himself on the abundant fish that had spawned from Dominic's (temporarily) returned curse. Dominic for the most part was glad it stopped raining fish on him; he desperately needed a bath to get rid of the smell of tuna.

"Well, things have, apparently, returned to normal," Protoman replied. "Bug activity has decreased on Mugen grounds, where the damage had been limited. However, you were right concerning the solution; all the bugs have been relocated to a pocket dimension. A temporary solution, at best. Furthermore, the whole affair seems to have wreaked havok on the passing of time."

"Really? How?"

"The whole tournament started in January, right? So how come we're in mid-April? Heck, there seems to be a few more time continuity errors in the whole mess, and Yggdrasil's systems have tallied quite a few errors..."

"So what caused this bug infestation to begin with?"

"Short version or long one?"

"I think I'll skip the long one, thanks. I still feel a bit fatigued after all that insanity..."

"Okay, it was an inside job, traced back to Azrael's administrative account."

The angel just looked at the robot in mute surprise.

"Yeah, I know. Sucks when one of your guys turns out to have planned his Benedict Arnold act some time ago. Just ask Dr. Light."

"Sonuva..." Alaniel was silent for a moment. "So how'd the bug work?"

"Basically by working off Team Expendables' instant death tendencies. Since they're a team in the tournament, any time they die, there has to be a new line-up to fight. Except that they die anyways and a new line-up is chosen. Who's in the line-up matters little as long as they die horribly in the space of a few seconds. Now let's throw them into the ring...

"As you know, there has to be a few rules. You can't fight until the teams are both assembled, though there is a time limit to how long you can wait. And Team Expendables showed up and got killed, so you can't really kick them out for tardiness. Then there's the fact that the judge has to announce the fight first-"

"And somehow Hanagata got knocked out cold. It's like Azrael had this planned all along..." Alaniel mused bitterly.

"Of course, I'm no Yggdrasil programming egghead," Protoman continued, "but I'm guessing that whatever coding he used was meant to throw the system into a loop, making it think that it wasn't in a fight yet somehow it was. The loop just caused the bugs to sprout like daisies in spring."

"Damn that Azrael," Alaniel thought angrily. "So what's the damage report?"

"Aside from the watches going haywire? Everything seems to have gotten back under control; most random transformations have already been reversed, and those few left are slowly reverting back. Speaking of which, Nurse Joy - whichever one she is - has some good news on the rest of the crew."

On cue, a door opened and there stood a pionk-haired woman in hospital garb. "Good evening, Mr. Alaniel. I'm glad to say that Miss Bunny is back to normal. Her molecular structure is back under control, and I think it's safe to say that she's no longer in danger. Still, I would reccommend rest and staying away from strenuous activity; she was especially vulnerable to the sudden metamorphosis due to some serious strains on her body recently."

"Got it. Thanks, Nurse Joy."

The nurse gave a polite bow and walked out. As she did, Alaniel looked over to see Bunny, who was out bed, a bit pale but otherwise healthy. In her arms she was carrying Courage, now reverted to normal.

"How's it going, kid?" asked Protoman.

"I'm fine... thanks to Courage who managed to get me here in time," she replied, rubbing the contented dog's head. She had Bubble's soft touch, the dog thought, no wonder that they're sisters.

"So what are you going to do now?" inquired Alaniel.

"I... I think I'm going to have to go to my sisters, sooner or later..."

"Why the change of heart?" Alaniel asked in confusion. "I thought that you wanted to stay low until-"

"Yes, I did," said Bunny downcast. "But this last brush with death has made me think twice. Maybe I don't have as much time as I thought I did. Maybe I'm not going to live this through. All I need is just to talk to the girls one more time, get to see how they're doing, even if it does turn out to be the last thing I do..."

Team Vendetta vs Team Mad Scientists:
"ATCHOO!!" sneezed the three PowerPuff Girls in unision as they were seated in the C-Dome for the next match.

"Girls, are you okay?" inquired a concerned Dexter. "Given your extraordinary biological sees-tems, i find it highly improbable that you have caught a spring cold..."

"Ah, blow it out your ears, Dorkster," grumbled Buttercup as she wiped her nose with her forearm.

"Now, Buttercup, mind your manners," cautioned Professor Utonium. "That's not how we talk, and we certainly don't wipe our noses like that."

"Yes, Professor," Blossom replied. She had already pulled out a handkerchief.

"I don't know, Professor, I feel kinda sad all of a sudden," said Bubbles in her squeaky voice. "It's like somebody's calling out to me for one last time..."

"Oh, would you quit worrying about that stupid dog, Bubbles. I'm sure he's just fine..." the dark-haired Powerpuff replied. She turned to Blossom. "So this fight is about Dorkster's enemy Mandork, what's it got to do with us?!"

"Blossom, whatever happened with Mandark, I-"

Blossom cut off the boy genius' words by squeezing his hand slightly. "No. I just want to be here, that's all..."

"Ugh," growled Buttercup. "Somebody give me a-"

"PUUUKE BUCKEETT!!" screamed Gipple as he jumped in out of nowhere.

After a moment of initial shock, Buttercup punched him into a billboard six blocks away.

"Owww... and I'm still no closer to finding Nike and Kukuri after that bug mess..." mumbled the bloodied wind sprite as he slowly slid off the billboard.

"So," Dexter said, clearing his throat, "where are Miss Hakubi and Miss A-ko?"

"A-ko's checking on Ryoko..." Bubbles started. "It's... kinda awkawrd... She did get her head back on after it floated around... but..."

"But what?" blinked Dexter.
*Ryoko's talking to the doctors as her head is on backwards*
Ryoko: "Will somebody HELP ME OUT HERE?!"
The billboards displayed the Line-ups for both teams:

Team Vendetta:
First: Forte
Second: Negaduck
Third: Iori Yagami
Striker: Scorpion
Team Evil Scientists:
First: Mandark
Second: Dr. Albert Wiley
Third: Sandy
Striker: Dr. Eggman AKA Ivo Robotnik
Rockman was sitting in one of the front row seats, watching the lineups, with Roll and Uran exchanging dirty looks. He was wondering about Forte when he heard someone next to him.

"Hey, bro, this seat taken?"

Expecting Protoman, he saw...

"X? What are you doing here?"

"Well, our match is over," replied the Reploid, "so I hope you don't mind if I brought my team over to watch. Our match was a mess, and we need something to ease our minds..."

"Yeah, I heard..." Rockman replied. "What do you think happened?"

"No idea," X replied. "All we know is that ring authorities have disqualified Team Expendables for the insanity and then we're back into the tournament, business as usual."

"Except it's not..." Sonic grumbled. He shouted to the arena. "Hey, Ro-Butt-nik, can you hurry up, I'm dying of boredom here!!"

"What's eating him?" Rockman inquired.

"Like the rest of us," Zero answered. "We're all still kind of peeved at our match."

"Oh..." Rockman turned to the hedgehogs, Sonic and Knuckles, offering a bag of popcorn. "Want some?"

"Uh, no..." Knuckles said a bit queasily. "I'm... fine, thanks..."

"Yeah, must be that granite you ate when you were in devolved form, Red," Sonic snickered. Knuckles didn't reply.

OOC: Okay, Sandman, feel free to start the match.

[OverMaster]

Blood and (no) Glory, Part I.


Fighter's Lodge, Team Skuld's Headquarters:

"Oh, dear God!" Yukariko Sanada clamped both of her hands over her small mouth as her eyes widened, taking on the horror of the gory scene displayed in front of them at the living room. Various body parts laid everywhere, and the walls and the ceiling dripped blood down, urging her to bury her face against Shizuru's shoulder before the need for vomiting overcame her. Shizuru herself seemed pale now, watching at the place with blinking incredulous eyes, while her beloved Natsuki shook the eyeball off her foot, trying to keep her calm.

"Uhm..." Beenuel sweated bullets, as the three HiMEs just stood there at the door in shock. "There is a good explanation for this, rest assured... Usually, these rooms are not this way...".

"Who... who did this?" Natsuki finally could stutter, her gaze travelling all across the room, from the hyperventilated, terrified Keima who was clinging to Keiichi's side, to the Belldandy who was profusely apologizing to Kadachi's remains, to the slowly panting Skuld, who seemed to be recovering some semblance of peace. "Was it the Orochi...? Or... was it the... God-Killer...?" she gasped.

"Actually, ermm, we think this IS the God-Killer..." a somewhat embarassed Urd pointed down to the almost liquified Kansai, then narrowed her green eyes. "But wait just a damn second. Who are you, and how do you know about him?".

"Natsuki Kuga" the shortest girl of the three newcomers made a formal, dry bowing for her. "My friends are Shizuru Fujino and Yukariko Sanada. Forgive us for intruding this way, but--".

"Hum?" Urd cut her words short with a slight huffing. "Those names... I think I have heard about those names somewhere...".

"I think they are some of the Earth-borne Valkyries from the Festival Cycle, Urd..." Belldandy dared to point out, while trying to reattach Kadachi's disbeheveled head to his shoulders. "Remember? Rind told us about them right before MUGEN started...".

"Oh. Yeah" the Norn of the Past groaned. "Anyway, that still doesn't answer why you are here. You aren't MUGEN contestants. What business do you have with us?".

"We... we came to ask about him, and about the Orochi..." an unusually unsure Shizuru pointed down to Kansai's very slowly regenerating frame.

"That'll have to wait, then" Anzell said between clenched teeth. "We'll ask you to abandon the area, and take whatever friends you may have around with you. This sector has just turned into a maximum danger area, and--".

Right then, however, Kansai regenerated back all of a sudden, and sprang back to his feet startling everyone. "Damn, why are the cutest ones always the most stuck up ones, too?" the God-Killer pondered, then, before anyone else could react, stretched an arm down and snatched Tiki from the floor. "Hey, you, let's get the hell outta here. Kadachi?". He looked into his Angel's direction, and Kadachi snapped his eyes open much to Belldandy's surprise, securing his own head back and licking the residual blood from his lips.

"Understood" the blond winged man nodded. He outstreched a hand forward, and his voice came out as a whisper, silky and twisted at the same time. "Luminosity alteration, Escape Screen. Now".

Then the blinding flash filled the whole room, with a bang, bathing everyone's eyes out and stunning them in the spot. "What the hell?!" Natsuki spat, finding herself blind as a bat. "I can't see! What did he do...".

"Okay, this is our big chance, let's go!" Kadachi quickly turned to his host, and sweatdropped seeing him stumbling around blinded as well, finally clashing with a couch and falling down, smashing his head against the floor, pieces of brains and skull flying everywhere. "DAMNIT KANSAI, YOU SHOULD BE WISE TO THIS BY NOW! WE HAVE DONE IT HUNDREDS OF TIMES BEFORE!!".

"I'm bliiiind!! I'm bliiiiiiiind!!!!!!!!" Tiki squeaked desperately, pulling a tiny cane out of his mouth and waving it around, as 'Three Blind Mice' sounded around him. "Damn you, Kadachi! Damn you to Hell!!".

"Oh, stop whining!!" the tainted angel grabbed him by the neck and picked him up, then pulled Kansai's corpse over his right shoulder and rushed out the front door, pushing Yukariko, Shizuru and Natsuki aside. "Out of our way, dear ladies! No one has to get hurt today... especially not us!".

"They are escaping!"
Beenuel shouted, putting his other animal senses to work, his wolf's smelling trying to sniff the way taken by the trio... only to find itself overcame by the massive scent of blood and guts filling the whole room, masking all other smells out. "We... we cannot let them to get away...".



"Dude, why don't we just perform a transdimensional shift and jump anywhere else?!!" Tiki squealed as he grabbed for dear life to Kadachi's side, as the Angel rushed through the Lodge's halls in a mad escape, as fast as he could. "I'm begging you, man!!".

"Don't be a fool, this place is full of mystics and godlings!" Kadachi snarled while continuing running. "Anything we do can leave a beacon signal for them to track us down, unless we do it the old way!".

"YEAH?! WELL, EINSTEIN, I THINK WE AREN'T BEING TOO DISCRET AND STEALTHY RIGHT NOW, EITHER!" the aberration of a hamster screamed. "AS A MATTER OF FACT, I'M AMAZED WE DON'T HAVE ALL ANGELS AT THE GROUNDS ON US BY NOW, THE WAY YOU'RE RUNNING AROUND LIKE A MADMAN!!".

"WE COULD BE A LOT MORE DISCRET IF YOU STOPPED YELLING!!" Kadachi yelled back, then stopped when Kansai came back to life and shook himself off his shoulders, landing back on his head and killing himself yet again. He returned a lot quicker this time, though, and in a second was back on his feet, mumbling while rubbing his aching head.

"Report of situation?" the God-Killer questioned.

"Bad. That stunt won't last long, and soon they'll be after us, with reinforcements to boot" Kadachis said. "We can't blow the place without making the Master hella angry at us, and teleporting out of here is too risky, since I think they have found ways of tracking us down".

"You sure we can't just kill a few dozens of them?" Tiki asked, chattering his teeth together nervously.

"The Master told us no, and that's it" Kadachi was definitive. "We'll have to find a place to hide as we think of something else to do, and very quick".

Kansai nodded, and then looked at a nearby door. He read the katakana written on it, and seemed to brighten up a bit. "Hey, but just look at this! Team Nifelheim's rooms! We can hide here!".

"What?" Kadachi recoiled back. "B-But... are you sure that is wise? I mean, that freaky chick Rei must be there, and you know she gives me the creeps...".

"Idiot" Kansai slammed a massive fist on his head, splitting the Angel's skull open. "A crazy babe has the hots for you, and you freak out over it?! No wonder Vegeta and his pals thought you were gay!".

"STOP ARGUING AND LET'S JUST HIDE!!" Tiki's voice raised shrilly, as he cruelly bit on one of Kansai's hands. "I CAN HEAR 'EM APPROACHING DOWN THE HALL!!".

"OK, OK, sheesh!" the NODE approached the black door and knocked on it several quick times. "HEY, JOKER! IT'S US!! OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR, PRONTO!".

[OverMaster]

Then, sooner than they expected, the door opened itself from the inside, and out peeked the head of a darkly beautiful young woman with silky black hair tied into a long ponytail. She wore a dark purple kimono with black rose designs stamped all over it. "Yes?" she said. "May I ask what brings you gentlemen here?".

"Hummm, is the Joker in here?" Kansai rushed to ask, as Kadachi stood behind him still wiping some blood off his head and Tiki stayed hidden into one of the God-Killer's pockets.

"No, Joker-sama is out, running an errand with Goenitz-san and Mara-san" the girl shook her head quietly. "I am Kodachi Kuno, and I am staying with them and Bell-chan. Do you wish to talk to her?".

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Kansai forced his way inside much to Kodachi's shock, with his angel following him at a more decent pace. The living room was decorated in a very spartan manner, no doubt thanks to Goenitz's leadership; only some discarded party balloons here and there, and a couple of MAD magazines on the table spoke about the Clown Prince of Crime's stay in that place.

"Please, forgive my associate's manners, Ma'am" Kadachi bowed and took Kodachi's hand, kissing it lightly. "Kadachi, at your service". He discretely pushed the door back to its closed state with a foot. "I see we almost share a name, if not for a mere letter. What a graceful coincidence!".

Kodachi smiled at this other man, who seemed to be much more of a gentleman than his strange friend, and a lot more handsome as well. Not as handsome as Ranma, of course, but nothing to sneeze at either. "OHH, HOHOHO!" she laughed, shattering Kadachi's own smile with the sound of her mad laughter, and making Kansai to shudder and Tiki to die of an earbleeding, letting a pained whimper out. "Indeed! Well, welcome to our humble quarters, Kadachi-sama! Oh, please, Bell-chaaan...!!" she called out. "You have visits here! Be a dearie and come out for them, will you?".

"What?" the white Powerpuff Girl peeked out of her room, and then she gasped. She recognized the two men now standing at the middle of their living room. "Mr. Kansai and Mr. Kadachi!".

"Ah!" Kansai also recognized her, snapping his fingers as the memory hit his head. "It's you, the girlie who was with Joker at that meeting!". He allowed his gaze to go up and down her small cute frame, making her to feel somewhat uneasy for some reason.

"What... what are you doing here?" Bell hesitated, having a bad feeling about all of that.

"I regret to inform you, Miss Bell, we are being chased around by our cruelest enemies" Kadachi knelt down in front of her; she was a prized servant of Lady Hild, after all, and well worthy his respect. "We beg you for your protection, since we are allies and because of the deep bond between both of our leaders... UNGH!!!" he had to finish shouting, after Kansai brutally pushed him aside and slammed him against a wall, bursting his guts out much to Kodachi's horror.

"Why, hello" the God-Killer crouched down in front of Bell, hearts appearing floating all around his head. "Um, you know, I never got to tell you this in front of Hild and Thanos, but--".

"KANSAI, YA BIG DOPE!!" Tiki popped his head out of his pocket, desperately trying to stop him, although his words fell into deaf ears. "DOT'CHA EVER LEARN OF PAST EXPERIENCES!? SHE WILL--". His rant was cut short when Kansai, almost absently, his senses almost fully focused on drinking from Bell's innocent beauty, squished him to a tiny blood pulp with a thumb to shut him up.

"Bell" the NODE took her small hands between his huge ones, making her to sweatdrop. "I want us to become good friends. It must be hard for you, to live here with that Joker freak and that stuck up Mara, but I want you to know you can count with me. Hell, you can come with me an' the boys if you want". He squeezed her hands a bit tighter, and the drops of sweat on Bell's head multiplied themselves. "I just can't allow those vultures to continue crawing around such a cute, lovely, perfectly innocent creature as yo--".


Meanwhile, outside, the already recovered Urd, Anzell and Natsuki searched around. Beenuel, Yukariko and Belldandy had taken another way down the Lodge, and Keiichi, Keima and Skuld had stayed behind at the room with Shizuru. "So, if he is that fabled God-Killer..." Natsuki was asking in a whisper, never letting her guard and guns down, "... how comes we found him just dead, like that?".

"It's a long story, but God-Killers are... that way, you know?" Urd grumbled, advancing slowly. "They're... complex creatures, I guess you could say that. And... Wait...". She finally stopped in front of Team Nifelheim's door, as a sudden inspiration jolted her. "The nest of Evil... What better place to hide than--".

She did not get to finish the sentence, since half a second later, something dark and huge was punched through the wall straight at them, falling on her and pinning her against the floor, one gigantic hand falling over her breasts. "YOU DAMN PERVERT!!!!!!!!" Bell appeared standing at the other side of the hole on the wall, panting in rage, her fists clutched up, while behind her, Kadachi sweated cold and Kodachi just blinked in confusion. "HOW DO YOU DARE TO SUGGEST SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO ME!!?? I'M ONLY 10 YEARS OLD!!!".

Urd shook her wobbly head, tried to rise it up, then noticed the heavy God-Killer laying over her, with his fingers embedded between her mammaries. A moment later, the loud yell made the whole Lodge to shake, and a Divine Lightning broke in through the ceiling frying Kansai to a crisp...


To be Continued!

[OverMaster]

OOC: Okay, after all the verbal owning I just received (and not to mention the verbal bitch-slap OverMaster gave me over at the Games thread some time ago) I think I've been shamed enough to get writing again. I could try and give you some excuse, but as it turns out, I'm just too damn lazy for my own good.

Good. Now go bring me a sandwich. :D

Bad jokes aside, it's very good to still have you around.

[KingEli]

The billboards displayed the Line-ups for both teams:

Team Vendetta:
First: Forte
Second: Negaduck
Third: Iori Yagami
Striker: Scorpion
Team Evil Scientists:
First: Mandark
Second: Dr. Albert Wiley
Third: Sandy
Striker: Dr. Eggman AKA Ivo Robotnik
Rockman was sitting in one of the front row seats, watching the lineups, with Roll and Uran exchanging dirty looks. He was wondering about Forte when he heard someone next to him.

"Hey, bro, this seat taken?"

Expecting Protoman, he saw...

"X? What are you doing here?"

"Well, our match is over," replied the Reploid, "so I hope you don't mind if I brought my team over to watch. Our match was a mess, and we need something to ease our minds..."

"Yeah, I heard..." Rockman replied. "What do you think happened?"

"No idea," X replied. "All we know is that ring authorities have disqualified Team Expendables for the insanity and then we're back into the tournament, business as usual."

"Except it's not..." Sonic grumbled. He shouted to the arena. "Hey, Ro-Butt-nik, can you hurry up, I'm dying of boredom here!!"

"What's eating him?" Rockman inquired.

"Like the rest of us," Zero answered. "We're all still kind of peeved at our match."

"Oh..." Rockman turned to the hedgehogs, Sonic and Knuckles, offering a bag of popcorn. "Want some?"

"Uh, no..." Knuckles said a bit queasily. "I'm... fine, thanks..."

"Yeah, must be that granite you ate when you were in devolved form, Red," Sonic snickered. Knuckles didn't reply.

OOC: Okay, Sandman, feel free to start the match.


OOC: Hey sorry I've having been not posting, but I've working and my job takes alot outta of me most of the time. Well that and The NBA Playoffs have started.

OC:

C-Dome:

Wily looked across the ring to see his creation with his "teammates" on the other side. A bunch of oddballs if you asked him. But this torunament is full of them, he said to himself. He decided to look up into the stands and see if Mega Man was there and as if he wished, the Blue Bastard was there. With his annoying brat sister and that other Mega Man-wannabe's sister. As he looked over to anybody else with them, he saw Sonic & Knuckles, Ivo's Nemesis(What was it about Heroes and Blue? Superman, Blue Beetle, Rock, Sonic, Captain America and Captain Commando from his own Earth), and two more and after he saw them he got the shock of his life.

Rockman X & Zero.

He instanly turned green.

X & Zero. Sitting together, and getting along. With the Original Rockman.

He rubbed his eyes to make sure it wasn't The Blue Beetle & Iron Man.............and nope still X & Zero.

Ok how can this be? He made Zero to KILL X and Rock, not get "buddy buddy". Two Megamen? Wait scratch that. He heard there was Another one fighting in this thing and he was on team Young Dulelist. Great, fate was Really having fun with him. No villian can have it worse right now. He felt even more sick.


Looking over to theother side Forte saw his master looking up to the crowd, looking sick. He probly saw the Deweeb. So as Forte thought, there he was, his arch rival. Looking over at Wily again he saw that the Doc wasn't looking at Mega Man directly but he looked over to he was--

No way. NO FUCKING WAY.

Girly-Bot*?! The one Wily had plans for to kill Mega Man?! He was chatting with him?! Oh this was just too good. Once again Wily fucked up. And whats this? An Older Mega Man? Who's this? Mega Dork 2.0?


Forte played this into his head. Not only will get a chance to stomp Wily's ass in, he'll get a shot at: His Rival, some older 2.0 version and Wily's "greatest creation". And from what he has heard there was another Mega Man running around, so he can wail on him too. God, Fate was on his side.



*=What Forte calls Zero.

[Saint_007]

Saint: "OKay, OM, here's your sandwich. Thing is, I didn't know which one you liked, so I asked them to airdrop - er, I mean, deliver it here..."

OM: "Wait, what did you order?"

Saint: "...the Brobdingnag Special..."

OM: "The Blobby-what again...? Say, what's that giant shadow blotting out the sun...?"

*OM gets squashed by a Godzilla-sized sub sandwich*

Saint: *into comm* "Thanks guys, that was great." *turns to OM* "The Brobdingnag Special. Literally has everything from BBQ steak to deep-fried pistachio ice-cream. Like it?"

OM: *muffled under the sandwich* "...you're...dead...meat... Saint..."

Saint: "That's that? You want to eat? Well, guess I gtg now... bye!" *zooms out*

J Dog: *offscreen* "GAAAHHH!! SAINT'S BITING MY ANKLE AGAIN!!"

OM: "Damnit... looks like I'll have to eat my way out of here... say, are those M&M's baked into the bread...?"

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

WTH? It says that Saint recently made a post, but I don't see anything by him at all after KingEli's post. Please don't tell me the website is crashing again...

EDIT: Oh wait, nevermind.

Saint, stopping biting J Dog's ankle, dammit! Otherwise, I will (a) completely sabotage all your teams in one way or another, (b) hack into your bank account and buy myself a frikkin Gundamn, and/or (c) get either VG Cat Aeris or Evil Tomoyo to write a shonen-ai fanfic featuring Alaniel.

Yes, I am that evil.

[Saint_007]

WTH? It says that Saint recently made a post, but I don't see anything by him at all after KingEli's post. Please don't tell me the website is crashing again...

EDIT: Oh wait, nevermind.

Saint, stopping biting J Dog's ankle, dammit! Otherwise, I will (a) completely sabotage all your teams in one way or another, (b) hack into your bank account and buy myself a frikkin Gundamn, and/or (c) get either VG Cat Aeris or Evil Tomoyo to write a shonen-ai fanfic featuring Alaniel.

Yes, I am that evil.
*Starts running away yelping like a whipped dog*

BTW, I checked the Bleedman comics website for the Doujinshi... and it seems to be offline. OM, can you get us the link (or the site, if it moved)?

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

It’s All In The Cards- Mario vs. Yugi Mutou


“So, what’s the deal with this Yugi Mutou guy, anyway?” Brett asked as he munched on some chips in the audience’s stands.

“He’s a repeated Duel Monsters champion, that’s what,” Jack said as he observed the fight. “He currently holds the title of King of Games, and a lot of people are saying he’s probably the skilled duelist in the history of Duel Monsters.”

Brett’s eyes widened. “So, what…is he your idol or something?”

Jack gave Brett a perplexed look. “Idol? No…not really.” He glanced back at the arena. “Yugi’s a cool duelist, but he’s not my role model or anything. Even so, I respect him for his skill. One day, maybe if Ragnarok blows over, I might challenge him to a duel or two.”

“Hey, can we just watch the fight without the commentary?” Dorado grumbled. “They’re starting!”

Slowly, Yami Yugi stepped onto a platform that appeared next to him, with a what appeared to be a digital counter set into its surface. “You’d better be prepared, Mario,” he said as he readied his duel disk. “I can see that you’re a formidable opponent after you defeated Growlmon the way you did, but I have absolutely no intention of holding back. It’s time to duel!”

With that, Yami Yugi slammed a card onto the table. “I summon the Beast of Gilfer in attack mode!”

As Mario watched in amazement, the arena before him suddenly seemed to twist and shift. In a matter of seconds, Mario suddenly found a massive, black, flame-wreathed dragon standing before him, glaring menacingly down at him with a fanged growl.

“What is it with this team and giant lizards?” Link muttered from the sidelines.

Samus frowned as she fiddled with her visor. “That’s weird,” she said. “My suit’s spectrographal anaylsis shows that those cards are nothing more than hologram emitters.”

Link glanced at his teammate. “Holo…grams….?”

“Basically illusions of light,” the bounty hunter explained. “What Yugi is doing fighting Mario with illusions is beyond me.”

In the arena, meanwhile, Mario, remembering that the Mushroom Kingdom was depending on him, regained his composure and stared up at the towering Beast of Glifer. “This-a lizard donna look so tough,” he said. “I fought-a worse monsters than this! Do-a your worst!”

Yami Yugi’s narrowed. “Beast of Glifer, attack!” he commanded.

With a tremendous roar, the Beast of Glifer opened its mouth and let out a tremendous blast of fire at Mario. Confident in the anti-flammatory protection that the Fire Flower granted, Mario leapt forwards, straight at the fire blast…

…and, a second later, was nearly knocked out as the fireball exploded violently, hurling him backwards and sending him smashing into a Metal Gear unit with enough force to dent the metal.

“Mario!” Link shouted.

Samus was flabbergasted. “Okay…maybe they aren’t illusions after all….”

Cursing slightly, Mario pulled himself back to his feet, and was surprised to see that he was slightly singed by the blast. Either the Beast of Glifer was capable of delivering more powerful attacks than Growlmon, or else the Fire Flower’s protection was fading. Either way, he couldn’t let that thing land another hit on him.

With an earth-shaking roar, the Beast of Gilfer unleashed another fireball at Mario. This time, however, the plumber was ready. Cupping his hands, Mario unleashed a fireball in retaliation. There was a tremendous backwash of heat as the two fiery blasts collided in midair with explosive force, sending a shockwave rippling through the arena.

Ash jumped in his seat. Even from here, he could feel the heat of the fireball. “Wait a minute…those machines, do they have fuel in them?”

“What?” Lan gasped. He turned to Rockman. “Rock! Scan those mechs to see if – ”

Lan was cut short when the Metal Gear behind Mario suddenly exploded as the heat of the blast caused its fuel to ignite. Neither Mario nor the Beast of Gilfer had time to react before they were enveloped in the massive fireball.

“MARIO!” Link cried. Samus hissed a curse and tried to scan for life signs with the sensors built into her visor. Much to her dismay, the interference thrown up by the sheer heat of the explosion.

“Oh….oh no….” Lan mumbled. “If….if Mario got killed, then…then…”

For a moment, both teams could only stare in mute horror at the massive blaze that engulfed the center of the now smoke-filled Metal Gear hangar. Sirens began to wail as sprinkler systems were activated. Yugi eyed the blaze intently, looking for some sign of life from either Mario or the Beast of Gilfer…

And then, suddenly, there was a tremendous roar as the Fire Beast flew out of the blaze, fire and smoke trailing from its form. The crowd gasped as they saw a battered and singed, but still very much alive Mario clutching onto the back of the Fire Beast’s head while sending punch after punch into its skull. His overalls were in their normal colour now, indicating that the effects of the Fire Flower had worn off, but he was still fighting nonetheless.

“Holy cow!” Dorado gasped. “How can this guy still be alive?”

“Hmm, obviously he’s an unkillable brick,” Tiffany noted. “Not unlike you, Dorado.” Dorado didn’t bother to reply to this comment, but his sour expression told all.

“Samus, now!” Mario shouted from where he sat atop the Beast. “Like-a we practiced!”

“Got it!” Samus shouted as she engaged her rocket boosters and jetted towards the Beast.

“Counter it, Rockman!” Yugi shouted. Engaging his own thrusters, Rockman flew into the arena, powering up his blasters as he took aim at Samus…

..only to have the bounty hunter skillfully swerve to the side at the last minute, avoiding Rockman’s blast as she fired her grapple beam at Mario. Ash nearly jumped in his seat as he saw the grapple beam pull Mario off of the Fire Beast and slingshot him straight towards Rockman, hitting him with a perfectly-timed punch that hurled him back out of the arena. Disengaging her grapple beam, meanwhile, Samus landed in a crouch on the still-flaming floor and activated the Omega Beam setting on her blaster.

“Eat this!” she shouted, letting the Beast of Gilfer have it with the full force of her Omega Beam. The Beast shrieked as the beam slammed into it, sending it staggering back as the superheated energy burned away at its skin. Enraged, the beast lashed out with a massive claw, only for Samus to stop firing and engage her Morph Ball setting, rolling out of the way as the Fire Beast’s claw shattered the ground where she once stood.

With its attention diverted, however, the Fire Beast was left open to an attack by Mario. Swinging up on a nearby lifting crane and jumping onto the back of a Metal Gear, Mario propelled himself in a leap straight towards the Fire Beast’s head…

There was a sickening crack as Mario’s jump propelled him feet and rump-first onto the Beast’s head, in the exact same manner as he had done to so many Goombas and other baddies in the past. The Beast went wide-eyed, and then, much the Team Duellist’s shock, disintegrated, causing a surprised Mario to fall to the ground with a crash.

“Oh no! Mario beat his monster!” Takato cursed.

As the audience watched, the counter that was set in next to Yugi’s seated position suddenly went down a few hundred numbers, indicating that he had just lost life points. If Yugi was concerned at all, however, then he didn’t show it: his stern expression remained unchanged and unfazed.

“That wasn’t bad, Mario,” he said. “I’ll admit, I should have known you would probably beat my Beast of Gilfer. But I’m afraid your luck is about to run out.”

With that, he drew another two cards and slammed them down. “I summon the Dark Magician Family in attack mode!”

Once again, the air seemed to distort around in front of Mario. In an instant, two floating figures appeared in front of Mario. The first appeared to be a middle-aged man clad in ornate armour wielding a strange staff, while the second was a young, smiling blonde-haired woman who had a staff and helmet similar to the other apparition.

Link’s eyes narrowed. “He’s summoning two monsters at once? Is that even allowed?”

“From what I can tell, Yugi isn’t the kind of person who would cheat,” Samus replied. “I don’t know the rules of this game either, but I guess we’ll just have to trust him.”

In the audience, meanwhile, Jack visibly tensed up. “The Dark Magician Family,” he mused to himself. “I’d heard those were Yugi’s trademark cards.”

“Are they any good?” Brett asked.

“Well, they aren’t the most powerful cards in the game,” Jack admitted. “But they’re very good all-rounders, and combined, I’d say they’re easily more powerful than the Beast of Gilfer.”

On his private jet, meanwhile, Seto Kaiba, en route to his meeting with Saint Dogbert, couldn’t help but grunt as he watched the fight from a TV screen. “Still using those damned magicians, Yugi?” he muttered to himself. “You’re so predictable sometimes, it’s a wonder I don’t beat you more often.”

Yugi emphatically pointed his hand at Mario. “Dark Magicians, split up and attack!” he commanded.

“Got it!” Dark Magician Girl replied enthusiastically. A second later, Dark Magician Girl disappeared in a blur of movement as she flew down the side of the arena, taking cover behind the various Metal Gears and large crates dotting the hanger and keeping out of Mario’s sight. As Mario tried to keep his eye on her, he was nearly distracted as the elder Dark Magician charged up a blast of magic and unleashed it at him. The plumber yelped and leapt back to avoid the blast as it shattered the ground where he had once stood. “Hey, no-a fair! This is-a two against one!”

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

“I’m fighting in accordance with Duel Monsters rules, Mario” Yugi replied calmly while elder Dark Magician continued to blast away at his opponent, forcing him to continue dodging. “You’ll just have to deal with it.”

“Deal-a with THIS!” Mario shouted as he leapt over another of Dark Magician’s blasts, his powerful leap propelling him over the card monster’s head and sending him straight towards Yugi himself. If I can knock Yugi out, then I’ll be able to end this quickly… he thought to himself.

A second later, however, pain exploded in his right side as another magical blast slammed into him, courtesy of Dark Magician Girl as she flew out of cover. The blast hit hard enough to hurl Mario across the arena and send him crashing into the hangar floor with enough force to shatter concrete.

“Great work, Dark Magician Girl!” Yugi said with a faint grin. “Now, team up and finish him!”

Cursing and trying to ignore the pain, Mario pulled himself up and flung himself to the side, just in time to dodge a combined blast from both Dark Magicians which completely vaporized a large crate behind him. This wasn’t working: there was no way he could defeat both of these opponents at once, especially since they had the advantage of both range and hitting power. “Samus! Help-a me out!”

“I’m on it!” the Bounty Hunter shouted as she engaged her suit’s Morph Ball setting and rolled into the arena at top speed. Dark Magician swiveled and unelashed a magical blast at the incoming red ball that Samus had become, but Samus was too fast, and the beam simply obliterated a chunk of ground behind her. The explosion did, however, propel her upwards towards the Dark Magician and send her spherical form crashing into him hard: the card monster could only give a startled gasp before the impact hurled him backwards and sent him smashing into a nearby bulkhead.

“Rockman! Counter!” Yugi shouted. Samus, disengaging the Morph Ball, instinctively spun back, just in time to avoid Rockman’s slashing Beta Sword. Reacting quickly, she engaged her own energy sword to parry a second attack, and the two quickly engaged in a clash of blades. Too late, Samus realized that Rockman had merely been a distraction, as the sweetly smiling Dark Magician Girl suddenly appeared next to her.

“Hi there!” Dark Magician Girl said. “This is for you!” And with that, she hit Samus at point-blank range with a magical blast which hurled her across the arena and sent her smashing into the arena wall.

“Samus!” Mario cried, running up to attack Dark Magician Girl—only to be hit by a second magical blast as the senior Dark Magician recovered. Mario could only give a muffled cry of pain before the force of the blast sent him smashing through a cluster of massive crates.

“Now,” Yugi commanded, “COMBINED ATTACK!”

The two magicians nodded, and, turning to the slowly recovering Mario, both cupped their hands together to charge up magical power. As Mario staggered back to his feet, the two unleashed their spells simultaneously, the two arcane blasts fusing into a single, titanic beam of energy that caused the ground to shake as it blasted towards Mario.

“Oh n—“ was all Mario managed to say before the blast slammed into him. His entire world went white for a few seconds, and his body went completely numb. He had the vaguest sensation that he was flying, and then he was brought painfully back to reality as he went smashing right through a Metal Gear, the combined magical blast obliterating it instantly.

“MARIO! NO!” Link shouted. Next to him, Kirby could only watch in silent horror as his friend came to a crashing halt near the edge of the arena, where he lay unmoving.

“I guess this is it, then,” Takato said. “Even Mario can take so much damage.”

“Yeah,” Ash agreed. “He put up a good fight, though, so—“ Stopped in midsentence when he saw Mario slowly but surely trying to stagger up. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Gingerly, Mario tried to push himself back up. His head was swimming, he was hurting all over, and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to take another of those combined blasts. He had to win, though. Luigi, Toad, Princess Peach and all the others were counting on him back home. Gritting his teeth, he reached into his magical bag to pull out something he knew would help even the odds.

“Once again!” Yugi commanded. “Dark Magician Family, combine your attacks and finish him off!”

“One finisher coming up!” Dark Magician Girl replied cheerfully as she and the silent Dark Magician cupped their hands and charged up their power. The ground began to shake as the power buildup began to reach critical levels…

And then, the two magicians unleashed their spells, combining them into another single, titanic blast that shot straight towards Mario. In their stands, Link, Samus and Kirby watched in horror as the beam headed straight towards Mario…

…only for the plumber to wrench a glowing object free from his bag and swing it into the oncoming blast. To everyone’s surprise, the beam split, parting like water around a rock as the separated beams carried onwards and smashed with their full force against the Washutech shields surrounding the arena. Eventually, the blast dissipated, leaving a path of perfectly fused glass surrounding Mario, who, as everyone could now see, was holding onto a glowing hammer.

Link’s eyes widened. “The Smash Hammer!” he exclaimed. Kirby’s mouth lifted into a smile, and he began to clap as a means of cheering his teammate on.

“Holy crap!” Dorado nearly spewed his drink. “He just deflected that blast! Do you think that hammer is anything like yours, Jack?”

“I dunno,” Jack replied sheepishly. “I think we’ll find out soon enough, though.”

Bursting into a charge, Mario raised his hammer. Frantically, Dark Magician Girl shot at him with a magical blast, but Mario simply deflected it with the hammer before swinging his magical weapon at the card monster and causing her to explode into sparks of light. The elder Dark Magician tried to fly away, but hadn’t counted on how far Mario could jump. No sooner had he spun around when Mario jumped in front of him and swung his hammer at him, banishing him as well with a single swing.

“Oh no!” Lan gasped. “Damn it, the Magicians were some of Yugi’s best cards!”

Elsewhere, on his private jet, Seto Kaiba’s eyes narrowed as he saw the Dark Magicians disintegrate. “This is ridiculous. You can do better than this, Yugi,” he muttered to himself. “Quit holding back and toast this little greaseball already. You and I both know you can do so…”

Yugi’s expression remained stern and unfazed, even as the screen to the side, showing his life points, decreased by five hundred. The fact that Yugi seemed so unfazed, even after losing his Magicians, stunned Mario. It was a tremendous change from fighting Koopa, who flew into a violent rage whenever he was defeated.

Tiffany blinked in confusion. “He must be planning something,” he said. “His Magicians just got toasted, but he isn’t even blinking!”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Jack said. “From what I’ve heard about Yugi Mutou, he always has a backup plan of some sort. It’s not for nothing that he’s the King of Games.”

Yugi’s eyes remained fixed on Mario. “I’m going to give you a last chance to surrender, Mario,” he said. “I don’t want to have to hurt you any more than I need to.”

Mario blinked in surprise. “Surrender? Are-a you crazy? I’m-a winning, boy!”

“That may be so,” Yugi replied, “but you have only one of those hammers, don’t you? And by the looks of things, you had to use it up in order to defeat my Magicians.”

Mario glanced down at his hammer. True enough, it was fading away as magically as it had appeared. He grimaced as, eventually, it disinitegrated into particles of light. He had to admit, this boy was pretty smart.

“I don’t-a need this to defeat you,” Mario replied defiantly. “Go on, send out your next monster!”

“Gladly!” Yugi slammed down another card. “I summon Kuriboh in attack mode!”

On his plane, Seto Kaiba grimaced. Not that annoying Kuriboh again…

There was a brilliant flash of light in front of Mario, and a second later, he found himself confronted by a small, furry, cute…thing.

“He’s gotta be joking, right?” Bandit Keith grunted from where he sat. “This guy toasted both that his Fire Beast and Magicians, and he’s going to fight him with a furrball?”

“That Italian guy is going to stomp all over him….in America!” the alternate-universe Bandit Keith agreed.

“Will you please stop ending every sentence with ‘in America’?” the original Keith snapped. “For the love of God, I do NOT say that in real life!”

“Hey, I can’t help it if you’re not patriotic enough, my fellow American,” Abridged Bandit Keith replied.

Mario merely raised a confused eyebrow. “What is-a that thing, a furry meatball?”

“Not quite,” Yugi replied calmly. “You’ll find out soon enough what it can do. Kuriboh, attack!”

Emitting a strange, trilling noise, the hovering Kuriboh shot towards Mario. Not wanting to take any chances, Mario dodged and lashed out with his fist, backhanding the Kuriboh and sending it tumbling sideways. He was about to follow-up with a second punch to finish it off when he suddenly noticed that there was not one, but five Kuribohs now surrounding him.

“What the….” Mario watched in bewilderment as more and more Kuriboh began to materialize, forming a purring wall of fur around him. Each second, more and more materialized, until he found himself trapped in a cage formed by them.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

“Those things just keep multiplying!” Samus cursed. “What the heck is Yugi planning to do with them?”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be good,” Link muttered.

Yugi clenched his fist. He had Mario right where he wanted him. “Now, Kuriboh,” he commanded, ”DETONATE!”

”Whaaaaaat?” Mario exclaimed from within the barrier of Kuriboh. A second later, much to his horror, the Kuriboh began to glow all around him….

Link’s shout of alarm was drowned out by the deafening blast as the Kuribohs simultaneously exploded, sending shockwaves ripping across the arena. The Tenchi Budokai Announcer was nearly blown off his feet by the blast, and was then nearly crushed as several Metal Gears were ripped off their hinges and sent flying backwards.

“Wow! Looks like those things are effective!” Bandit Keith exclaimed, impressed.

“In America!” Abridged Keith agreed.

“MARIO!” Samus shouted. Shee couldn’t see anything past the cloud of smoke that had been thrown up by the explosion. Yugi merely watched the smoking crater sternly, his expression unchanged.

“The old Kuriboh trick,” Jack muttered knowingly. “If that didn’t knock Mario out, then I don’t what will.”

Slowly, the Tenchi Budokai edged his way closer to the crater, checking to see whether or not Mario was still conscious (or alive, for that matter). He was quite startled, however, when the heroic plumber suddenly staggered out of the blaze right in front of him. Mario’s coveralls were ripped and torn, and he was scorched and bleeding in many places, but his defiant expression was still there.

“You’ll….have to-a do more than that…to take-a me out,” Mario managed to say weakly.

Takato’s jaw dropped to the floor. “This is unbelievable!” he exclaimed. “What does it take to knock this guy out?”

“He’s fighting for everything he cares about,” Ash replied as he stared in awe at the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. “He’s not going to give up, no matter what Yugi throws at him.”

“Pika,” Pikachu agreed.

Yugi allowed himself a faint smile. “Your bravery is truly admirable, Mario,” he said. “You’re probably the most courageous opponent I’ve ever dueled against. But I’m afraid it ends here.”

“What? You’re-a going to throw-a more fuzzy things at me?” Mario said sarcastically.

“All of my previous cards were simply meant to buy me some time to assemble a very special card,” Yugi replied. “Now that all the necessary pieces are in place, however, I can now summon my ultimate monster.”

On his jet, Seto Kaiba nearly jumped. His ultimate monster…no. It can’t be. He’s not going to summon—

“EXODIA!” Yugi shouted, slamming a fresh card down. “I summon you!”

The card began to glow on the table. A second later, the Metal Gear hangar began to shake uncontrollable as raw power began to surge from the card throughout the entire arena.

“Uh oh,” Link muttered as he saw a massive shape beginning to take form between Yugi and Mario, “this can’t be good….”


To be continued….

[OverMaster]

*Starts running away yelping like a whipped dog*

BTW, I checked the Bleedman comics website for the Doujinshi... and it seems to be offline. OM, can you get us the link (or the site, if it moved)?

Yeah, the whole Snafu Comics page seems to be down for now. But you still can check Bleedman's galleries, including his comics, at Devianart:

http://bleedman.deviantart.com/

[J Dog]

WTH? It says that Saint recently made a post, but I don't see anything by him at all after KingEli's post. Please don't tell me the website is crashing again...

EDIT: Oh wait, nevermind.

Saint, stopping biting J Dog's ankle, dammit! Otherwise, I will (a) completely sabotage all your teams in one way or another, (b) hack into your bank account and buy myself a frikkin Gundamn, and/or (c) get either VG Cat Aeris or Evil Tomoyo to write a shonen-ai fanfic featuring Alaniel.

Yes, I am that evil.

Yeah, I will take you down with a Steel Chair of Doom(tm)* myself if I have to, Saint!

On another note, let me work up another article:

Up In The Stands

As Yugi Motou summoned Exodia the Forbidden One, Jack turned to Dorado, who met up with them before reaching the stadium. Finally getting the chance, he asked him about the release.

"Release? Hah! I couldn't stand that dump!" Dorado said in his normal, bitter style. "The food was crappy, the television's receptor was poor, and as I got out, the doc gave me this stupid chest plate!" Getting up, he lifted his Calgary Flames jersey to reveal a large, plastic barrier over his chest and the weakened part of it that was damaged during the squash match with Isabeau.

"Hey, at least it's not your head." Jack joked a little. Dorado got down and muttered a bit. "Speaking of which, did you..." He knew that as he left, he probably gave out a verbal lashout to the Gothic fiend. Dorado nodded.

"You want to know what I said to her?" And that is when we flash back to him leaving the hospital.

*********

"Mr. Kompson, do you understand what you are not supposed to do?" The doctor reminded him. The Gatorboy then recited that list in a emotionless term, as he hated the restrictions.

"You can't go out on extreme sports, dangerous adventures, or tease wild animals for fun. You can't eat spicy foods for two weeks, and you have to sleep on your back." Thinking, he considered why spicy food got into that list.

"Plus you must wear this for a while to protect your chest. It hasn't fully healed, so this is a neccecity." He showed him that plastic guard.

"Oh, Jesus, no!" He whined. "I gotta wear THAT?!" Not to far back was the Goth herself, who chuckled. Dorado finally knew that he was free, so he decided to lash out.

"Hey, Freakhead." Dorado started his tirade, "I got a few words to say about you, ready?" Isabeau nodded. "Go ahead, curse all you want." She smiled. The Gatorboy breathed heavily and then released.

"YOU STUPID COMBO-WHORE! NOBODY LIKES YOU, BECAUSE YOU ARE A SPAMMER CHEAPIE! YOU DON'T LOOK ORIGINAL, AND YOU I THINK YOU SLEPT AROUND FOR THE LAST..." He goes to his fingers and starts counting, "One, two, denominator?" but gives up on that. Returning to the tirade, he continued where he left off, "HOW LONG?! AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON YOUR EYELINES! OH, YOU LOOK LIKE A MATTED PIECE OF ROADKILL RACCOON!"

"Finished?" Isabeau asked. Dorado had one more thing. "AND YOU SUCK!" Exhaling, he was finally finished with what he wanted to get off of his bruised chest. But that didn't faze her. "Gotta give you dues, lizardface. But if you think this is bad enough, wait until I get my own form back." Dorado froze in his tracks.

"Scared you?" Seeing the icy jerk dead in his tracks, she confirmed it. "Well, I have been harvesting energy from people over time and through dimensions. This person, a project made in the King of Fighters dimension, was the last person needed, so I had her reluctantly gain access for the moment. Now that I got what I need, I'm going to get out of this body-holding and get back to my true form!" He imagined a superdemon, complete with titanic horns and wings.

"Didn't you say that..." He was referring to an earlier mention to Jack.

"Lie! The afterlife would never want one like me." She then pointed at something. "There's your group. Get to them, and join them, for all I care. I got other issues to take care of." And that is when Dorado ran off.

*********

Back to the stadium, we see the giant beast unleashed much to the horror of Mario and Team Smash.

"I don't know whether you are childish or just plain dumb." Brett examined Dorado's story. "I guess this is what I get seeing people not in the year 2050**." The others stared at him. "What? In my time period, it was 2050 when I got sucked into that wormhole that brought me here, which was worse than the time I got trapped between black holes and the Jet Siegel broke in two***. At least then I knew what was happening." Grabbing some more chips, he went back to the fight. "I'm starting to like this place after all, though." That was news to Tiffany.

"Hey guys, something's about to happen!" Jack pointed out the upcoming attack.

Next: Exdeath explains why the Moon must be obliterated & why is Stephen Colbert so upset (http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/21/stephen-colbert-vs-sean-penn/)?

*You know those wrestling matches that involve steel chairs banging on people's heads? This is what I call them.
**By doing a little research on YTV's website (Canada's answer to Cartoon Network and Nickelodean), I discovered that the time period in his show was probably in this year.
***What happened in a "Team Galaxy" episode called "Brett Squared"

[Mr.Sandman]

"Alright, Your up Suzan!" Sandy motioned to Mandark, who was at the moment dawning what would be his battle gear. "First fight of our first round, I'm counting on you to give us an early lead in this alright?"

Mandark paused from strapping on a pair of powered gauntlets to shot an almost comical stare at the female genius, a stare that was added to by both Eggman and Wily. It had been the first time since they arrived that Sandy uttered anything even remotely close to encouraging without following it up with a insult or cheapshot, yet here she was wishing Mandark a good fight and helping him get ready. It was like looking at an entirely different person, who her teams members almost considered even more scary then her normal self.

"Err....Thanks...?" Mandark edged away from the smiling Sandy. "I won't have much trouble with them, you three won't even have anything to fight!"

"Don't Underestimate Forte, He may be a failure but he is one of my creations." Wily added from the background, but Mandark paid only slight attention to him while adjusting the controls of his new combat armour, Sandy meanwhile continued to cast cheerful looks all around...to the point that even nearby spectators were starting to change seats in an vain effort to get away.

"Alright, I'm ready to go..." Mandark made a final adjustment and then with a look of confidence he walked past Sandy and on towards the middle of the arena to begin the fight. Behind him, Wily rose from his seat and walked up besides the still smiling Sandy.

"So....You think the boy has a chance I take it?" Wily turned to look at sandy, but it was the look on her face that told him everything he needed to know. The smile on her face was anything but well meaning or friendly.

"Nope, Actually.......He hasn't got a chance in hell..." Sandy snickered and sat back in her seat. "Why the hell do you think I put him as the first one? He's Cannon Fodder who’s only use is to soften the enemy up....I give him 3 minutes tops."

Wily sighed and sat back into his seat as well, since things were already in motion it was best to just see them out now.

----------------------------

Upon seeing Mandark enter the arena, Forte was quick to share Sandy's general opinion of the boy. For the most part, he was far more interested in his battle with his former master then having to brutally beat some human kid with a bad taste in clothes. But, a warm up was a warm up after all.

The arena had been randomly selected as a generic city setting, and Washu's tech did a very good job of imitating it. But what else would one expect from Washu tech.

Both fighters stopped at opposite ends of the city square at the very centre of the arena, and within moments the bell rang and the first fight had started.

(Just starting things off for now...Until I get an idea for the actual fight. Just to let you guys know though, I suck at fight scenes. :p)

[OverMaster]

The Games that Authors Play.


The Council of Authors' Secret Base, somewhere beyond the Fourth Wall:


"Sirs" the short and unremarkable figure wrapped by a white labcoat of Professor John Nerdelbaum Frink Jr. approached the small group waiting outside of the laboratory, followed by the taller man with glasses and four metal arms quietly snaking sprouting from his back. "It's highly borderlining the truly unbelievable, ng-hey!". It came out as a strange mix of an excited chuckle and a gibberish snorting. "That Masaki young man, sirs, with the way his potential is so unlimited, so far even beyond our wildest imaginations, and the things we have just scratched the surface of when dealing with all of his systems, and the OHMYGODIT'SLIKEASCIENCEGASMWEHAVEAREALDEITYHEREFOR RESEARCHALLFORUS... (pant, pant)... we just have to keep him for a while longer, sirs!".

"Excuse me, please, Professor" Otto Octavius, frankly annoyed by now, pushed the smaller man aside with a tentacle and addressed the four Authors and the Editor at charge. "Gentlemen, while it is true we have... made extraordinary findings on Tenchi Masaki's divine nature, and we could develop fascinating fields of research on them, basically, all we have found has its roots on what Mister Kajishima has told us about him. The real surprise we got came when we scanned over his body, and found a few things well cloaked by some devices of unknown origin".

"Details, Doctor" the bald Editor at the head of the group asked impatiently.

"Well, you see, Mr. D" Frink fumbled around a bit nervously, "It's like this, um... During the medical checkup on the specimen's body, we found not only a well-encoded program of subconscious commands deeply encrypted into his mind, but also a really, really, really, really, really, tiny set of, mgh-nhey, let's say, nanotechnology around his heart and brains area, basically set up as a sort of failsafe, that will go up at the moment Masaki is tried to be freed from them...".

"How so?" the Editor asked again, apparently not getting it, his brow frowning down in mild exhasperation.

"What Professor Frink tries to say is, we think Vellinor's forces implanted into him, not only a list of mental commands of unknown nature, but also... something... that will make him to blow up from the inside if we try to rewrite or erase that programming" Octavius said, clamping a tentacle over Frink's mouth. "We still think Tenchi may survive it, in virtue of his Light Hawk Wings natural defenses, but we cannot establish a 100 percent safe declaration about it. The problem is, the damage would come from inside the boy himself, thus forcing the Wings to deploy INSIDE OF HIM to stop the damage... and that might be harmful for him in its own way, as well".

"Interesting" The Editor nodded quietly. "What about those messages, or orders, whatever, you found into his mind? Haven't you read them yet?".

"They use a specific code of quite random nature, Sir" the six armed scientist replied. "That makes it rather difficult to decipher. It would be easier for us if we could cut his brain open and investigate each synapse by separate, but then again, you have forbidden such actions, and that really is not my field of expertise. Perhaps Farnsworth would be better suited for it".

"No" the bald man gestured with a hand towards them. "Leave it that way. Actually, no, make just one change to it. Place even better cloaking measures around all those findings. We don't want Tenchi's friends, not even Washu herself, knowing about them when we return the boy to MUGEN".

"Eh-WHAT?!" Frink finally managed to free his mouth, since even Doc Ock seemed shocked at those words and relaxed his grip over the Springfieldian's lips. "Sir, you can't be serious, n-hey! Gayvin! I mean, we barely know anything about Vellinor's plans for him! If we just unleash him like that on MUGEN, there's no way to say what he'll do--".

"Exactly" the Editor nodded knowingly. "Consider this as an experiment, a test for MUGEN, and especially for Kajishima's creations. If they can't pass it, perhaps they aren't worthy of inheriting the future...".

"And Vellinor would be...?" Octavius frowned deeply.

"Probably. He has shown competence and skills so far. And at least, unlike Kami-sama, he has shown he wants to preserve our Cration instead of destroying it. If he shows he can do a good job ruling over our domains, let him to have them. The Authors still will reign above him, as long as we have eliminated the true threat, the God-Killers".

"I don't know, mm-ay..." Frink scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Vellinor hasn't given us good reasons to trust him yet, has he? And the other Authors all mistrust him... and he might even have kidnapped Miss Takahashi, by golly! That would be--".

"Not a single word to the rest of the Authors about this, then" the Editor icily commanded. "In time, they will see the errors of their ways. Just give them a sucessful, uneventful report about Tenchi's state, and get us the authorization for his liberation back at MUGEN. That should set the scene nicely enough for the next stage in our drama".

"Yes... sir..." Professor Frink sadly nodded, seeming to shrink back down.

"As for you, Doctor Octavius..." the bald man slowly turned his head to the six armed scientist.

"Yes, my Lord?".

"Quesada has given us the go-ahead for the Spider-Man powerup. You and Mr. Baker will visit him today and will deliver our offer to him. I trust you will do it in a decent, outright manner".

"Our... past relationship won't blind me to our goals, no" Octavius quietly answered, smirking a bit. "But maybe he won't take it, just because of his distrust for me".

"And to lose his only real chance to beat the Goddess?" the Editor almost laughed at the idea. "His only chance to save his loved ones? Not likely. Now go, and make as you were told. Your rewards will make it all worthy at the end".


Next: Wario vs. Chizuru Kagura, Panther vs. Zarabeth, and Kansai vs. Team Nabeshin!

[OverMaster]

Blood and (no) Glory, Part II: Days of Whine and Roses.


Right outside the Fighter's Lodge:

The yell came first. Then, seconds after, the lightning came down from Heaven, piercing through the upper layers of the atmosphere with amazing power, and it crashed through the roof of the Lodge, shocking and terrifying everyone around it. Everyone except for the four fighters currently running towards the building. The most mismatched team at the Grounds.

And then it came; the agonic howl of a man from inside, making even the hardened heart of Logan to freeze for a second; it was a voice full of pain and despair, and yet so brutal and bestial as Sabretooth's most feral roar. "What the--" he stopped, and Motoko and the Mars People also screeched to a halt behind him.

"I told you, that guy's no joke!" Nabeshin protested, freeing himself from Aoyama's grasp and jumping up back to his feet. "Fighting him head-on like this is nothing but a suicide!!".

"What's up, bub?" the mutant growled back at him. "This ain't like ya. I've never seen ya scared of anythin', no matter how crazy the situation is".

"Make no mistake, I'm not an easy fellow to scare... but that thing in here is the ultimate danger, the biggest challenge we ever might find multiplied by tenfold" the Director nervously lit a cigarette and began to smoke it quickly. "He's the greatest terror this universe has ever faced, the most destructive force beyond all limits of reason, he is a real, true, undeniable--".

"HEENNNTAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!" the shrill yell came from inside then, the voice of a woman, and then someone was hurled out through a window, crashing through it and cutting himself to death in the shards of glass, blood jumping out all around. Two smaller bodies were thrown out after the first one, and all three of them instantly fell down like dead weights (literally) on Nabeshin and the shocked Motoko.

"Oh dear" Kodachi Kuno peeked her head out of the window, looking down with concern at the three red splorts full of protuding shards lying over the members of Team Nabeshin. "Why did you have to do that to Kadachi-sama, too? He was innocent, after all...".

"They are partners in crime!!" an enraged Urd peeked out as well, her face blushed crimson red, and she madly started to make all sorts of obscene gestures down at the dead bodies of the God-Killer and his accomplices. "STUPID JERK!! PERVERTED GOOD-FOR-NOTHING, HALF-A-MAN, USELESS BLOODBAG! WHY, I SHOULD--".

"We should go down there and bag them before they revive again" Natsuki Kuga ran down the nearby stairs as fast as her legs could carry her, almost stumbling on her way down with Beenuel, Belldandy and Yukariko, who had been similarly attracted by the commotion. "There's no time to waste!".

"Out of my way!" Bell, the white Powerpuff Girl, came flying out of the window, passing over Urd's head and zooming down to land feet first on Kansai's already fractured head, making pieces of skull and cerebelum to rain all over a perplexed Motoko. The little girl began to stomp down on the God-Killer angrily, time and time again, making even Urd to sweatdrop at the sight. "This bastard's mine! Disrespect me now, will you?! Make lascivous comments at me now, will you?! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!".

"Whoa, whoa, now" Wolverine grabbed the frantic child by an arm and pulled her back and away from the corpse. "Chill down, kiddo. This man's already dead, can't you see it? Now, who pushed him through that window?".

"Beep boop-boop babapipio?" the Martian asked.

"It was... her" Bell huffed, pointing up at Urd with a pout. The Norn of the Past cringed seeing the blaming eyes of Motoko and Logan on her, then she flew out the window waving her hands at them.

"Hey, hey, hey, wait just a second here!" she started, landing softly in front of them just as Natsuki, Yukariko, Belldandy and Beenuel also arrived to the scene. "Before you call the cops on me, allow me to explain--".

"DON'T LISTEN TO HER!!" the still broken-headed Kansai suddenly rose up from his pool of blood, scaring Motoko and the Mars People, and making Yukariko, Belldandy, Nabeshin and Logan to gasp hard. "SHE'S A KILLER! SHE TRIED TO MURDER ME... AND SUCCEEDED!".

"Holy f**k!!" Logan unsheathed his adamantium claws by instinct with a loud SNIKT. "Quiet there, bub! What the hell are ya?!".

"He's the God-Killer!" Bell pointed a blaming finger at him, mentally sending all alliances with Vellinor to heck for now, her anger over being molested overcoming any other thoughts. "He's a mass murderer! Scourge of all existence! The biggest villain ever born! And... And... And... AND HE'S A PAEDOPHILE TOO! HE TRIED TO SEDUCE ME!!".

"NANII??!!!" Motoko's hair stood up in point, her eyes bulging out like saucers.

"DAMN YOU KANSAI, I TOLD YOU!!" Tiki raised his regenerated head from the ground, still spitting tiny shards of glass out. "BUT DO YOU EVER LISTEN TO ME?! NOOOOO!!! WELL, I'M FEELING INCLINED TO JOIN THE BEATING YOU MUST BE ABOUT TO GE--". He was not able to finish the sentence, since, not even noticing him, Logan advanced over him and stepped on him, dousing all of his boots with a shower of hamster blood. The Canadian man gritted his teeth nastily, holding his claws up, fixing murderous eyes on the Killer of Deities.

"Izzat true?" he growled viciously.

Natsuki, Urd, Beenuel and Yukariko all nodded quickly. After a brief moment of hesitation, Belldandy nodded as well.

"Well, then I'd say it's time to give 'im what he deserves..." the X-Man readied his claws for the kill, his eyes narrowing. "Ya know, if there's something that makes me mad, it's a child molester. Start praying to whatever gods you haven't killed off yet, bub...".

But before he could lunge forward, Motoko was faster and slashed her sword down on Kansai's head, splitting him by half with a loud yell of primal fury. As the two halves of the NODE flew in opposite directions at an amazing speed, Aoyama panted with red eyes, her breathing erratic and a burning aura all around herself. "Ano, Motoko-chan..." Nabeshin tried to pipe in cautiously. "Don't you think you maybe should, um, how should I put this--".

"NABESHIN-SAN!" Motoko shot him a fierce stare. "PERVERTS HAVE NO EXCUSES, EVER! PREYING ON THE WEAK AND INNOCENT! HAUNTING THE CHILDHOOD, CORRUPTING THIS WORLD WITH THEIR FILTH!!".

"I couldn't agree more with you there... but, still...".

"AND THEIR ACCOMPLICES CAN'T ESCAPE THE FAIR RETRIBUTION OF JUSTICE, EITHER!!" ignoring him, the young woman pointed her sword at Kadachi, making the Angel to squirm in terror. "JUST LOOK AT YOURSELF, EMISSARY OF PERVERSION! DRESSED IN SUCH AN IMMORAL MANNER, EXPOSING YOUR DISGUSTING BODY LIKE THAT!". She pushed the weapon's edge against his throat. "Tell me a good reason why you shouldn't die today!".

"Uh, erm, ahh, because... I already have died fifty six times today, Ma'am?" Kadachi tried to plead, but then was hurled by an Evil Splitting technique against a nearby tree, breaking it by half, and with it breaking him by half in turn when it fell down on him. Once again, Motoko panted while sheathing her sword, and turned around with a humph.

"Dirty liars, scum of Earth" she mumbled.

"Well, too much for the fabled God-Killer, apparently..." Logan blinked, then lit up a cigar and gave it a deep smoke. "It was nothing but a bluff, after all...".

"A BLUFF??!" Kansai sprang back to life again, both halves of him, and they all looked in shock how both parts dragged themselves to each other, pulling themselves back together. "OH, SO I'M A FRAUD NOW, RIGHT??! FOR YOUR INFO, BUDDY, I WAS KILLIN' WORLDS LONG BEFORE YOUR FIRST ANCESTOR ROSE UP FROM THE PRIMAL SLIME! I AM KANSAI! DEATH INCARNATE!! I AM THE--".

Then Natsuki just shot him three times through the head, and he fell back on his back, dead as a dodo.

"Oh, just shut up" she muttered, mostly annoyed by now.

"Umm, okay, so he's a paedo, and he comes back from the dead again and again... and that's all?" Nabeshin looked really disappointed, poking at Kansai's warm body with a foot. "With the way the Authors were freakin' about him, I thought there'd be more to him than this...".

"Actually" Anzell arrived to the scene followed by Zauriel and four Guardian Angels of the Eagle Division, "There is a lot more to him than this display. You all should leave this area while you can. There's no way of saying what will they do next".

"What? They'll hang themselves from a branch next time?" Wolverine almost chuckled grisly. "I haven't seen these losers to do anything but dyin' so far, darlin'. If they were so mighty, they'd have defended themselves by now".

"Boop, boop" the Mars People nodded in agreement.

"Listen to her" Zauriel said sternly. "The God-Killer is unpredictable, given to random swings of mood, and highly dangerous despite all appearances. Leave this situation for us and evacuate the area. We--".

Right then, however, he was sent flying back when Kadachi materialized right in front of him and elbowed him in the face, breaking his nose and mouth and making them to bleed profusely, with the precision of a martial artist, no move wasted, swiftly and fluidly. "The gentleman is right, friends" the twisted angel grinned evilly, turning around gracefully to face the assembled heroes. "We are no one's laughingstock. We are Death. We are Destruction itself. We are the horrors your puny minds could never assimilate, even after millenia of torture at our hands". He flashed his katanas out masterfully, and his manic grin widened. "We are... your doom. Now, who wants to get his or hers first?".


Next: Wario vs. Chizuru Kagura!

[J Dog]

Operation: Luna Explained

Exdeath was generous that night, since he didn't wake Father up at any time, and giving the exhausted villain some well-needed rest. However, something did have the sorcerer from the Forest of Moore observe his shadowy body. On his left arm was a bulge that was starting to grow on a distorting limb. To top that, the fingers started to fold inward, as if they were becoming claws.

"He's starting to metamorphisize into a beast of little containment." He said to himself during observation. "If this is continued, he may wind up destroying the world in a blind and uncontrolled rage." Looking again, he wondered what would cause such a thing, and quickly thought of something that Father talked about: The Orb of Elque.

The Orb was an artifact hidden deep within a cavern on an island in the French Polynesia (though France didn't control this island, despite the location within the boundries), and according to the legends of the natives, contained incredible power. The price, however, was steep. Those who take the orb wind up channelling the spirit of a sealed monster called Elque. Should one foolishly attempt to take the entire energy within, they automatically channel in Elque, who begins to transform the host to his form. The only way to counter this is to place the orb on the person who has withdrawn the powers from it. But Father made a slight error: During his stay on the Dreadnaught, he dropped the orb, and since the ship is now in the Pacific Ocean, getting to it is a lot harder.

"It seems that while he was worrying about his 'villain decay', he went for the panacea, unaware of the poisons within." Exdeath now understood what was happening, because he had seen such legends. He didn't yet know of the wherabouts of the orb. At the moment, now, that would be secondary. The first job is to cause destruction of a certain rock. Seeing his associate waking up, he nudged him to enforce his senses to regain control.

"Great... first night in a long time I had to sleep on rocks!" He complained while getting up. Father then noticed the bulge on his arm and looked concerned. "Oh no... it's happening..."

"Forget about it." Exdeath chided him. "We have one goal at the moment, and here it is: There is a huge astroligical object orbiting the Earth that the people call 'the Moon'. The Moon is a symbol to many, and is part of everyday life. It controls the tides, and animals. Should this object... no longer exist, what would happen will be on the verge of chaos!" The slits that were his eyes grew fiery. "The whole world would suffer and virtually every known venture that they foolishly planned for it shall we vanquished. It would be sweet!" Father knew that the Moonbase was also up there, so annihalation of the Moon would be a foolsafe way to eliminate the KND, even though he still thought that only HE made it here to this new world. Still, better play it safe.

"Tonight, the moon will be at its foremost and most noticable form in the sky. In common terms, this is when it's 'full'. We must use this to start a panic and use this as the catalyst for doom. Besides, I know of a greater threat that would benefit from this."

"And what is that?" Father asked in wonder about this threat.

"I have made observations around this world, and I can tell you that when the one they call Tenchi Masaki is released, his altered state will usher in great harm to the eastern world, and with the natural satellite ceasing to exist as well, every villainous scourge will be flushed out and capitalizing on it."

"But that's not what we want!" Father tried to break that down. Exdeath was way ahead of him. "Fool!" He scolded, "We can use this to our advantage by taking their resources and using those for our gain. When we are done, the two of us will eliminate those villains. But one more thing, and this is about your arm... it appears that the condition is worse than I thought. By tommorrow, you will become the creature known as Elque, so we have to use that orb before hand, but after we finish our duties."

The semidemon had concern, because he knew he left it behind on Orion's ship. He was screwed.

Next: More problems and more understanding

[OverMaster]

The Fart and the Furious: Wario Wario vs. Chizuru Kagura.


Secondary Dome C:


"So, ready to lose now, broad? Ah? Ah? Bwa-ha-ha-hah!!" the short fat man boasted with his fists on his wide doughy hips, his mouth fully open. "Your pally had to get it the hard way, but you look way smarter than her, so maybe you'll just give up now and save yourself the pain! Ah-ha ha!".

Ignoring him, Chizuru just closed her eyes and mumbled a low, humming sound as she channeled her own energies, her whole body achieving perfect inner peace readying her for battle, then to slowly extend a hand forward in absolute calm..

And then she danced.

Wario stood there, wide-eyed, as she began to give a few weird steps around while chanting, always pointing her hand in his general direction, as if somehow trying to exorcise him, or something like that. Finally, she stopped, and reopened her eyes, smiling slightly at him. "Shall we begin with this?" she softly asked.

"Uh... sure...".

Ranma facefaulted on Team Hero's seats. "Kyo?" he asked. "Why... why did she--".

"Eh, that's just a detail of her style, that's all" the Kusanagi heir shrugged. "Don't let that to fool you, though. She's perhaps the strongest female I've ever battled, for your info. Although she usually saves the dance for after the fight... maybe she changed her style a bit after recovering from Ash's attack?".

Meanwhile, down at the vegetation-filled arena, Wario rushed to Chizuru in a straightforward charge, like a rhinoceros, swinging his meaty fists into her direction. Gracefully, the Yata woman sidestepped him, then jumped over his head and slapped him down with a long-sleeved hand, making him to recoil back. She followed that with a knee to his prominent stomach, and finished with a roundhouse kick to his face, making his nose to bleed.

"Wow, an air combo!" Cosmo the fairy excitedly yelled from the Judges' stand. "I never could pull off one of those when playing King of Fighters! I'll have to ask her for her advice!".

"Darn witch!" Wario growled wiping a baseball bat out of his coveralls, and swinging it with amazing speed for Chizuru's midsection as soon as she landed, taking her by surprise and allowing him to connect two bat hits more, until she reacted and kicked the blunt object off his hands and off the ring. She retaliated slapping his face again, then grabbing his collar and slamming his face against a tree's trunk. Wario grunted in pain, but managed to fish another of his hats out, this time a helmet with long sharp bull horns.

The fat reverse-Mario tried to headbutt the guardian of the Orochi seal, but she dodged the effort and connected a kick to his ribs. Then she jumped up and seemed to float hovering over him for a moment, then to make several blueish afterimages of herself to appear while she slammed on him from above with both hands, the illusions dazing his mind as she pummeled his body, noticing his bulk made him very hard to knock down for good. She had to be content for now with sending him against a palm tree, and buy some moments to think of what to do next.

Wario groaned loudly as he worked back to his feet, rubbing his butt with a hand. "Ouch, gotta hand it to you, lady, you're a tough cookie!" he growled. "But you're nothing next to Wario! Har! Har! I'll crush you yet!!".

"Lemme go help him out!!" Happosai shrieked while trying to kick free from the hands of Jesse and James. "He's going to be mulched there! And I want to get a touch at that lovely young lady! PLEASE!!".

"Old fool, you can't go there until Wario calls you!" James whined, trying to ignore the intensely painful kicks the tiny old master was giving to his stomach, tears welling up in his eyes. "Owie! Ow! Stop that, I tell you!!".

"Try this for size, a hot time at town for ya tonight!" the fat man lamely joked, donning a green dragon-shaped cap, and spitting long lines of flame from its snout. Kagura blocked with her sleeves and only received minimal damage herself, but the fire still burnt the sleeves until she waved her arms around extinguishing the fire. She grimaced, and slided forward passing below the fire, tackling Wario down and slamming an outstretched hand on his face, quickly mumbling a spell at the same time. "ANCIENT SEAL!" she shouted, and instantly, the magical cap vanished from the confused Wario's head. He tried to don the bunny eared cap to fly out of reach, but much to his astonishment, it did not work at all.

"What the heck's this?!" the man protested.

"I have placed a seal on your special abilities" Chizuru fell into a defensive stance again. "For the rest of this match, your tricks shall be all useless. You have no choice but to surrender now. Without those tricks, you are nothing but raw strenght with no brains... no match for any of us at all".

"Yeah, right!" Wario dashed forward with a punch, but Chizuru rolled out of his way and slapped him yet again, then apparently splitted herself into two different versions of herself much to Ranma's awe. Wario was flabbergasted. The Illusion Chizuru gave four rapid slaps to his face, as the real Chizuru gathered chi behind her, and shot a small stream of energy from a hand straight at the greedy antihero.

"Wario!" she yelled, while the illusion copy vanished in midair like a dream. "You were warned! Let your downfall to be a warning to all your teammates, for they shall fail at their petty purposes as well! Moon's Decree!!". The woman waved an arm around, and sent a huge invisible force against the grunting Wario, making him to go flying out of the ring and against a wall, which cracked at the clash with a resounding WHAMM. Wario gurgled groggily while slumping down to the floor, slowly closing his eyes to unconsciousness.

"No luck... damn it... and I was so close... to hit... jackpot...".

"WELL, THAT SETTLES IT!!" Hanagata yowled through his microphone. "CHIZURU KAGURA-SAN WINS THIS ROUND FOR TEAM SHIN SACRED TREASURES!!". The audience went wild, while Chizuru smiled... and then did another, much longer and much more silly looking, dance all around, making the members of Team Hero and her own teammates to sweatdrop in embarassment.

"I really wish she wouldn't do that..." Rose sighed.

"Tell me about it..." Sailor Pluto nodded, trying to avert her glare away.

"Brother...!!" Waluigi howled from his seat. "How could you?!... You bastard, I betted big money on you, now how will I pay the loan sharks!!?".

Bowser von Koopa huffed gruffly as he jumped on his Clowncopter unit and flew it over the Arena. "Never send a human to do a Koopa's work, no sir!!" he roared. "Okay, missy, you asked for it! I'll leave you flat as a pancake!!".

Chizuru sighed inwardly as she looked up at the extravagant sight of that giant horned turtle piloting a clownfaced metal ball. Well, this looked like it would be a harder battle, anyway.


Next: Zarabeth versus Panther, Round One!

[OverMaster]

Hell Hath no Fury...: Zarabeth versus Panther, Round One:



The Underground Arena:


"You know..." Mai Tokiha casted her gaze definitely down on the two quickly moving slender figures dancing in a frantic ballet of dashes and strikes all across the ring, springing into movement as soon as the go signal had been given, "... Now I wonder, what is the point for these women to participate in this tournament? What do they have to win being here, instead of doing anything else in what could be the end of the world?".

"I don't understand you now" Mikoto gave her a half-perplexed stare. "What's so weird about it? They got invitations, just like me, and they want to prove their strenght. There's nothing strange about that".

Mai sighed. "Maybe. I know I'm not a warrior like you, so maybe it's just me. It's only that... I dunno, I just can't get it... why would they choose to spend what could be our last days this way...".

Down at the squared circle, both females paused for a moment, icily staring at each other, fuming ever so slightly between grimacing lips. Neither of them had managed to hit the other yet, despite all of their attempts during the few minutes of the fight so far. Finally, Panther's mouth slowly curved itself upwards, in a sly, somewhat sinister, little grin.

"Well" the blonde Marionette cooed poisonously. "Not bad. You fight a bit like Bloodberry, a bit like Tiger. This won't be such a walk in the park after all".

"Heh" Zarabeth smiled even more humorlessly, fixing her sharp pupils on her. "That was half-good, for a test run. Still, I'll hold on any judgements until I can see you actually doing anything but to dodge...".

"As you wish!" the robot jumped up in the blink of an eye, and then swooped down on the vampiress before she could even blink, grabbing her by the shoulders and twisting her around, then to brutally headbutt her and slam her down against the mat. "Like this?!".

"Very good" Lynx patiently observed from the sidelines. "Panther drew the first blood". She listened to the audience roaring all around them, as if excited to perverse bliss while Zarabeth's body hit the floor with a thud. "If she can use this to her advantage, she should be able to gain a decisive early edge".

Such indeed seemed to be her sister's intention, for she immediately swung a tight fist against the vampiress' head, but the intended target rolled out of the way in time and countered with a quick kick to Panther's head, then pulled her twin short swords to the forefront and thrusted them against the blonde's shoulderblades...

... Just to find them clashing with a resounding KLANG against the artificial skin, doing no real damage, only leaving slight scratches on her. Zarabeth's eyes widened against her own will. Panther just smirked again, cruelly.

"Sorry, hon. I am metal given life. You'll have to try something better to cut me". She swung a balled up fist up against the paler female's jaw, almost cracking it, sending him to fly a couple feet up, where the android bycicle kicked her back down to the floor, then landed feetfirst on her chest, grinding her feet against her, making her to gasp aloud in pain.

"What do you say? Give up?" Panther paused for a moment to ask calmly. "You really should, you know...".

"In your dreams, machine" the vampiress shook her off, and then unleashed a manic barrage of lightning sword slahes against the blonde's midsection, pushing her back as she unleashed her berserker warrior rage, her eyes glowing in red. "Maybe you don't have any blood to spill, but it means the same to me!!".

"How cute!" Panther recovered quickly and swung both of her hands down on Zarabeth's head, bringing her down again, then punting her against one of the ring's corners as if kicking the winner goal. "I suppose you indeed are fully undead, save for your brain, which stayed dead!".

Zarabeth angrily looked at her. The android had the clothes all over her stomach area fully ripped to shreds by now, but there barely were any scratch marks over her flawless skin. At this rate, she'd have to resort to the spells soon. Still, she wished to be sure first. With a grunt, she dashed forward in a confusing zigzag, managing to confuse her opponent long enough to grab her, then slam her down. However, the android almost immediately jumped up back to her feet, and shot a thin heat beam from her eyepatch to Zarabeth's right shoulder, making a small fountain of dark blood to jump out of it, and forcing her to stagger back in pain.

"HEY, YOU!" The undead furiously looked at Lum. "That's cheating! She is--".

"She isn't technically using any guns or external aid, so it's valid, tcha!" the green haired referee said. "Objection nulled!".

"Damn".

"Heh, heh" Panther advanced towards her, cracking her knuckles together. "Will you quit it now, sweetie? Believe me, it'll be much, much better for you that way. You are like a mouse struggling to break free from a trap, and only snapping its own neck while doing it. Just let me to get you out of that trap, and there'll be no wounds, no hard feelings".

"Sorry, I'm not that kind of person" Zarabeth hissed lowly. "I've never done anything but to fight until the bitter end... my opponents' end, that is. Ready to meet yours?".

"Figures..." Lynx sighed, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "That woman is too stubborn for her own good".

"Perhaps she is" Faust pointed out quietly. The former tyrant looked on with an enigmatic expression which worried Tiger a bit. "Still, Panther is too often guilty of the same, and I'm not sure she isn't being that same way again this time. No war is over until the final move is made, and that woman still can give us some surprises, I am sure...".



Next: Kansai vs. Wolverine- Claws and Effect.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Hell Hath No Fury—Part 2

With a snarl, Zarabeth unfolded like a spring, leaping at Panther in the blink of an eye. Metal clashed on metal once, twice, three times as Zarabeth’s blades slashed against Panther’s blocking arms. Seeing the android’s eyes beginning to glow, Zarabeth kicked back, bringing her blades up in a cross shape to deflect the laser blast. Seeing her opponent on the defensive, Panther leapt forward with a punch…only to find that Zarabeth was no longer there…

The screeching of metal on metal told Panther that Zarabeth had darted behind her. “Nice try,” she smirked, whirling around and shattering both of Zarabeth’s blades with a single punch, “but as I said, your efforts are useless!”

Damn it, I just got those fixed, Zarabeth thought bitterly as Panther at her with a punch. Zarabeth whipped her head back to avoid Panther’s right hook, the momentum allowing her to launch a kick at her opponent as she cartwheeled backwards. Panther was just as quick, however, blocking the kick on her forearm and launching a spinning kick back. The kick hit Zarabeth a glancing blow across the midsection as she flipped back to her feet, causing her to grimace as she leapt back to give herself some much-needed breathing space.

As expected, Panther didn’t give Zarabeth the chance to recuperate. In a flash, she closed the distance between her and her opponent and unleashed a blinding flurry of punches and chops. Zarabeth tried her best to deflect them, but she was relatively unskilled at kung-fu. A knife-edge chop lanced past her defences and hit her in the throat, causing her to gasp. A second later, a palm strike smashed into her face, causing colours to explode across her vision as blood erupted from her nose, before a spinning kick to the midsection sent her flying backwards.

She’s good, the vampiress thought to herself as she spat blood from her mouth. Not a single movement of hers is wasted. Plus it’s obvious that she has the advantage of speed and strength. I’ll have to rely on my bladework and magic here.

Gritting her teeth, Zarabeth quickly recovered, flipping in midair and, in a single motion, whipping a cluster of throwing knives at Panther. The android simply smirked as she swept her arm to the side and knocked the knives out of midair, before breaking into a charge at Zarabeth as she deftly landed on her feet. Moving in a blur of motion, Panther leapt up into a flying kick at her opponent….

…and recoiled backwards as her foot simply bounced off the haft of a very big steel blade. Landing in a crouch, Panther barely had time to dodge as Zarabeth’s greatsword came down in a silvery flash, barely missing her by an inch but nonetheless tearing a gash across her metallic shoulder-- and, more impressively, tore the ring they were fighting on perfectly in two.

“So you finally decided to use that big thing,” Panther said with a chuckle as she barely dodged a second slash, jumping back to put some distance between herself and her opponent as she exited the shattered ring. “Took you long enough.”

Zarabeth did not bother to reply as she leapt clear of the wreckage and swung her blade one-handed in a circular arc, before crouching low in a duelist’s stance, her blade held over her head as she locked eyes with her opponent. In the stands above, the audience watched dumbfounded: that sword was almost as big as its owner, and yet Zarabeth was wielding it one-handed as though it were as light as a feather.

Mikoto’s eyes widened. “How can she wield that huge thing so lightly?’ she wondered aloud.

Mai stared at Mikoto in a brief moment of dumbfounded shock. “Um….Mikoto…you do realize how weird a question that is coming from you, right?” she said, taking a glance at the massive sword Miroku that was strapped to Mikoto’s back.

The feral girl looked puzzled. “What do you mean, Mai-chan?”

“Er…nevermind.” Mai muttered to herself.

Without warning, Zarabeth exploded into action, lunging forwards with a fast, spinning slash that Panther barely managed to avoid. No sooner had she done so, however, when the Saber Marionette was forced to avoid a second slash a split second later that narrowly missed her, followed by a third and a fourth. A blurry whirlwind of steel seemed to form in front of Zarabeth as she unleashed a devastating series of nonstop slashes, her swings kicking up gusts of wind as Panther was forced to call on all her agility to stay out of harm’s way.

Back-flipping to avoid yet another blow, Panther landed in a low crouch, lashing out with a leg sweep that Zarabeth leapt over. It was obvious that her opponent had been holding back until now, Panther thought. The speed and precision of her assault was almost worthy of a Saber Marionette. Almost worthy, she thought with a smile: in the end, she still suffered from the limitations of flesh and blood.

With a cry of exhilaration, Panther leapt at her opponent, side-stepping a sword slash with a fist aimed at Zarabeth’s face. Too late, however, she realized Zarabeth had been anticipating this move, as the vampire side-stepped at the last moment, the punch merely grazing the side of her face. A second later, the heavy greatsword slammed into her side, tearing into her with a shriek of metal as it knocked her off her course and sent her hurtling to the side.

“Panther!” Lynx cried as she saw her sister crash onto the ground with a thud, the momentum of her impact sending her rolling along the arena floor. Hissing a curse, Panther leapt back to her feet. A sizeable hole had been opened up in her side, revealing twisted metal and crackling circuitry, but Panther knew that the damage wasn’t too serious. Far opposite her, Zarabeth spun her blade with both hands and crouched into a ready position, as though daring her to charge.

Instead of charging, however, Panther suddenly leapt skywards, her robotic legs propelling her high over Zarabeth’s head. Screaming in battle-rage, Panther blasted down at Zarabeth with her eye-laser, forcing the vampiress to deflect and dodge the laser blasts. Leaping to the side and rolling as Panther landed opposite her, Zarabeth hurled another cluster of throwing knives at the android. Once again, however, the Panther’s reflexes were too quick, and she deflected the projectiles with a single sweep of her arm.

“Got any more tricks, Miss Zarabeth?” Panther asked with a playful smile.

Zarabeth’s eyes narrowed. “Do you?” she said back.

Panther didn’t bother to reply, instead breaking in a charge straight towards her opponent—a charge which Zarabeth broke into a run to meet head-on.

The sound of metal clashing on metal rang across the arena as Zarabeth’s flashing greatsword connected again and again with Panther’s metal arms. A storm of silvery flashes seemed to surround the two fighters as they clashed again and again, evenly matching their speed and skill against one another. Past all the slashing, parrying and striking, however, Panther noticed that Zarabeth was chanting something in a language she didn’t recognize…

Zarabeth’s chant reached a crescendo as she shouted a single, commanding word: instantly, a blast of dark energy erupted from her eyes and struck Panther head-on. The Saber Marionette gasped as the blast hurled her backwards, sending her crashing onto her back. Panther gritted her teeth: that blast hadn’t caused severe damage, but it had still hit her with a lot of force. The android leapt back to her feet, just in time to see Zarabeth lunging at her, her blade lowered for a stabbing thrust…

There was a blur of movement as Panther counter-attacked, spinning to the side so that the greatsword narrowly missed her as she turned her back to Zarabeth and sent an elbow slamming back into her midsection. As the vampiress grunted on the impact, Panther’s other arm shot out and trapped Zarabeth’s wrists between the android’s forearm and side. Panther smiled slightly as she brought both hands around Zarabeth’s wrists and began to twist at them. An agonized shriek escaped Zarabeth’s lips as she felt bones snapping under that iron grip, pain shoot up her arms from where Panther was slowly but surely twisting her wrists. She tried desperately to pull her arms free as her greatsword fell from pain-numbed fingers.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

“D-damn you…” Knowing that there was only one way she could attack at this close range with her arms immobilized, Zarabeth lunged forwards with her he head and sank her fangs deep into Panther’s shoulder. A shock of electricity and metal greeted her mouth, nearly making her recoil.

“That wasn’t very nice of you,” Panther hissed, releasing Zarabeth’s wrists and instead grabbing back on the vampiress’ long ponytail. Before Zarabeth could react, she was forcefully hurled over Panther’s shoulder. She grunted in pain as she hit the ground hard. This wasn’t good: without her sword, she would be fighting Panther on her own terms, and the android clearly superior when it came to hand-to-hand combat.

Gingerly, Zarabeth pushed herself back to her feet—just in time to receive a powerful punch to the midsection that felt like it was mashing her insides. Snarling, Zarabeth lashed out with a return punch, only to watch as Panther lithely danced out of the way and sent a spinning kick crunching into her face. Spitting out blood, Zarabeth managed to block a second kick, only to be sent staggering back by a knife-chop to the eyes that temporarily caused her vision to go white. Instinctively, she dodged to the side, avoiding another uppercut, only to walk right into a powerful knee-strike that hammered into the small of her back and caused a faint cry of agony to escape her lips. Damn it, she was just too fast…

A second later, a fist slammed into Zarabeth’s face with the force of a speeding train, hurling her across the arena. The audience watched, stunned, as Panther zipped across the arena in a gust of sand, seemingly disappearing and reappearing at the other end of the arena, from where she lashed out with a spinning kick that connected solidly with the airborne Zarabeth and sent her hurtling in the opposite direction with a cry of pain. Smiling slightly, Panther zipped across the arena again, and smashed Zarabeth back in the opposite direction with a forearm blow.

“Th-this is crazy!” Mai gasped. “She’s batting her back and forth like a volleyball!”

“Wow, that’s gotta hurt,” Mikoto noted.

In the stands, Marv observed the fight grimly, wincing slightly as he watched Zarabeth being pummeled by her opponent. This was almost as painful to watch as when he saw Anzell getting roughed up by the God-Killer. Whatever happened in this fight, Zarabeth would be walking out with more than just a bunch of bruises.

After smashing Zarabeth back and forth across the arena five times in a row, Panther ran towards the middle of the arena and slammed into the speeding vampire with a bone-crunching uppercut. The crowd gasped as the blow sent Zarabeth hurtling upwards, thin blood trailing from the corner of her mouth as she flew high above the seats of the audience.

“Hmmm, you don’t think Panther is overdoing it, do you?” Tiger wondered aloud.

“Relax,” Faust said with a slight smile as he leaned back in his seat. “You and I both know that Panther knows exactly what she’s doing. She’ll be careful not to accidentally kill her opponent.”

“Besides which, if that ‘vampire’ is strong enough to lift that sword so easily, then she can obviously take a lot more damage than any human,” Lynx added. “Not that that will help her in any way now that Panther has her…”

With a single powerful leap, Panther shot upwards, intercepting the airborne Zarabeth. Before the dazed vampire even knew what was going on, a knee-strike slammed into her midsection with such force that she felt her spine crack and a rib shatter. A split second later, a fist smashed into her face, followed by an elbow-strike to her neck and a knife-chop to her collarbone. Far below, the crowd gasped as they watched Panther rain a hurricane of blows upon Zarabeth, her arms and legs little more than a blur as she unleashed hundreds of inhumanly powerful blows each second with precise, brutal efficiency.

Finally, after hitting Zarabeth with that seemed to be a thousand strikes, Panther spun around in midair and slammed a drop-kick into the vampire’s face. The blow propelled the limp vampire earthwards, and sent her shooting back-first into the arena floor with enough force to kick up a sizeable cloud of dust. No sooner had Zarabeth hit the ground, however, before Panther came plummeting down after her, fist-first. Zarabeth couldn’t even gather the strength to move out of the way before Panther’s fist slammed down onto her midsection with the force of a speeding train, the vampire’s muffled cry drowned out by the sonic boom of the impact as it kicked up a second dust cloud.

“WAAK!” Cobblepot squawked in alarm. “These ladies are brutal!”

“Well they aren’t here for a dance.” Deadshot turned towards his employer. “Your hired doctors don’t actually specialize in healing the undead, do they?”

The Penguin stroked his chin. “Oh dear…that’s one thing I didn’t think of.”

Slowly, the dust from the impact began to clear. Zarabeth was lying on her side in a foetal position, clutching her midsection and breathing in shallow gasps. It was plain to anyone who could see that she was badly hurt: her dress was tattered, her pale skin was now a patchwork of bloody cuts and bruises, and the way she was lying on her side and quivering spasmodically as she clutched her midsection indicated that she was in quite a lot of pain. And yet, the crowd noticed, she was still conscious. Any normal human would either be unconscious or dead after receiving such a vicious pummeling. As the audience watched, the vampiress slowly and agonizingly rolled onto her front and propped herself up on a trembling arm as she continued to hold her midsection, coughing up blood as she did so.

Panther calmly eyed her opponent, impressed by her resilience and tenacity. She guessed that she must have ruptured some of her internal organs and shattered several of her bones. The pain Zarabeth must have been in right now had to be incredible, and yet she was still trying to get back to her feet and continue the fight, even in the horribly battered state she was in.

“Give it up, hon,” the Saber Marionette said with a smirk. “You’re outclassed, and right now you’re in no shape to continue. There’s no point in killing yourself over this fight.”

The shaking vampiress slowly looked up at her opponent, doing her best to ignore the pain that burned in her midsection and the swimming of her vision. “N-never,” she said weakly. Her eyes burned with a defiant flame that told Panther that she would continue to fight on until she was either unconscious or dead. “You…haven’t won yet…”

Suddenly, Zarabeth burst upwards, lunging forwards and tackling Panther around the waist. The android grunted in surprise before the two went down in a crash.Ataru jumped in his seat as he saw the two hot women crash onto the ground in a tangle of limbs. “Catfiiiiiiight!” he exclaimed excitedly.

Doing her best to ignore the slight pain in her scalp as Panther pulled at her hair, Zarabeth began to slam her fist down again and again into the Saber Marionette’s face. It felt like hitting a steel wall, but she kept punching anyway, her fury lending her strength.

A second later, however, Panther’s eyes glowed bright red. Zarabeth didn’t even have time to react before the android’s eye lasers blasted out, slicing across her face. The vampiress shrieked and rolled off her opponent, clutching at her face. The laser had burned a jagged scar across her features, cauterizing flesh and narrowly missing her eyes. Dammit, she’d forgotten about that laser. As Zarabeth stumbled back, Panther leapt back to her feet and kicked the vampiress squarely in the face, nearly knocking her out then and there and sending her crashing onto her back. Not giving Zarabeth time to recuperate, Panther ran forwards in a charge and brought her knee slamming down on her fallen opponent’s throat.

Zarabeth gagged and gasped for breath as she felt Panther’s knee pressing tight against her throat. She flailed wildly with her arms and legs, trying desperately to dislodge the android straddling her. In response, Panther caught one of her flailing legs in one hand, and, with a slight smirk, twisted it to the side. Zarabeth gave vent to a rasping cry of pain as she felt her leg being bent twisted and bent at an unnatural angle, and slapped the ground in agony. Her entire body was in pain, and her head was beginning to swim from lack of oxygen. She felt like her body would shut down at any moment now…

No. She would not be defeated here, not like this. With a rasping cry of rage, she rolled abruptly to the side, with enough force to hurl Panther off of her. Not wanting to waste any time, Zarabeth staggered back up to her feet and threw herself at Panther as she got back up. The vampiress sent punch after punch crashing into her opponent with all of her diminishing strength, doing her best to ignore both the feeling of her knuckles being smashed against the hard surface of Panther’s body and the frightening cracking noise she heard with every movement she made…

Shrugging off Zarabeth’s punches, Panther calmly kicked Zarabeth in her already-damaged midsection, making her double over as though shot. The vampiress gagged as thin blood erupted from her mouth, before a right hook smashed into her face. Everything went dark for a fleeting second: Zarabeth could only see faint lights fluttering before her vision, and didn’t even feel herself hurtling across the arena and crashing onto her side, the impact jarring her already-damaged ribcage.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

For a minute, the audience watched silently as Zarabeth lay unmoving on her side, her long ponytail forming a semicircle around her head. Marv clenched the railing. He had a sinking feeling in his gut that this was it, that Zarabeth was now too beaten to fight on. After about a minute, Lum rushed over to start the countdown. Before she could start however, Zarabeth groaned and began to push herself up once again. The crowd was now clapping and stomping in a steady beat as they called for her to get up. Cobblepot allowed himself a smile at this. Come what may, Miss Zarabeth had definitely won the crowd’s favour in her stubborn refusal to give up.

The vampiress gritted her fangs as she shakily pushed herself up, glaring across the arena at Panther through hazy vision. The Saber Marionette was simply standing there, as though patiently waiting for her to pull herself back up. Ignoring her body’s seeming urge to shut down, Zarabeth began to push herself to her feet. Her hands grasped something in the sand—it took her a while to realize that she had landed next to her fallen greatsword. She gripped the handle tightly: she didn’t know whether or not Panther had intentionally knocked her next to her sword to give her a fighting chance, but she didn’t care.

“Won’t…let you win…bitch…” Zarabeth managed to rasp as she slowly and shakily propped herself up on her sword, even though her arms and legs were beginning to go numb from the pain.

Panther raised an eyebrow at this. “Bitch? Alright, I was going easy on you, but now that you’ve resorted to namecalling….” She settled into a fighting stance. Her opponent was clearly on her last legs. It wouldn’t take much to defeat her now. “I’m going to REALLY mop the floor with you now.”

For a moment, the two stared at each other from across the battlefield. An uneasy silence fell over the arena as the two warriors glared at one another. A unanimous feeling passed over the audience that a final clash was now going to take place.

Then, abruptly, the two broke into a charge at one another. Zarabeth shouldered her greatsword as she began to chant something in a strange tongue. Panther’s eyes narrowed as she accelerated to a superhuman speed, ready to dodge another magical blast from her opponent…

As Zarabeth shouted out the final word of her incantation, she suddenly disappeared in a dark blur. Shocked, Panther tried to halt her charge, but reacted too late—a silvery blur flashed across her vision, and the next thing she knew it, pain was searing through her body as her right arm was torn from her shoulder.

The audience watched, stunned, as a dark blur zipped back and forth around Panther, flashes of silver surrounding the android. Tiger and Lynx jumped from their seats in alarm, stunned at Zarabeth’s sudden display of speed. They both immediately realized that Zarabeth had been holding back on that spell until, waiting until the moment arose when she managed to catch Panther up close at a range from which she couldn’t dodge.

Eventually, the blur halted in its tracks, revealing itself to be Zarabeth, who, exhausted, slumped down over the hilt of her greatsword as her legs gave way beneath her. Behind her, Panther stood still, as though transfixed. The audience collectively jumped when sections of the android’s back and midsection suddenly ruptures and exploded. The damaged android swayed for a minute as her legs began to buckle, before tipping over and collapsing onto her front.

“PANTHER!” Lynx shrieked. Tiger and Faust merely stared aghast in horror. “But…but she was winning…” the ruler of Gartland mumbled to himself in shock.

Zarabeth held herself upright as Lum started the countdown, doing her best to fight off the clouds of unconsciousness that began to march across her vision. Dizzily, she began to mumble a healing spell, and winced as she felt shattered bones sliding back together, torn muscles and ligaments re-knitting, and ruptured organs closing once more.

“…eight, nine, TEN!” Lum grabbed one of Zarabeth’s arms and raised it, the vampire being far too exhausted to object. “ZARABETH IS THE WINNER-TCHA!”

Marv leaned back in his seat and allowed himself a brief smile. “I knew you were gonna win, Fangs,” he thought to himself. “You’re a fighter. You wouldn’t accept anything but a win, even if it killed you.”

Wiping the blood from the corners of her mouth as the healing spell did the last of its work, Zarabeth wearily turned around to face her downed opponent. Panther was slowly but surely pushing herself upright on her remaining arm as electricity crackled around her damaged body.

“You…you won,” Panther managed to say, her voice now tinged with an electric vibration from a damaged vocal unit. She managed a wry smile. “I…I underestimated you. How did you know where to strike in order to cripple me?”

“I was just acting on a friend’s advice,” Zarabeth replied wearily. This was for you, Alita, she thought to herself.

Slowly, the vampire edged closer to the android. “You fought well.” She extended her hand to the Saber Marionette. “You’re probably the toughest opponent I’ve ever faced in a long time. It was an honour fighting against you.”

For a moment, the damaged android stared at the hand, as though suspicious that it might be holding a concealed knife. Then, slowly, she extended her arm and took the offered hand. “Thanks,” she said as Zarabeth pulled her to her feet. “The honour was all mine, Miss Zarabeth.”

The crowd burst into enthusiastic cheering at this sign of good sportsmanship. Despite beating down and very nearly killing one another, these two fighters still showed a mutual respect for one another.

The moment was interrupted, however, when Ataru suddenly ran up and slapped both of their bottoms. “Hurry up and make out already!” he exclaimed. “I am soooo gonna post photos of that on my MySpace account!”

The two fighters whirled around on Ataru: Zarabeth’s teeth were clenched in a scary, fanged growl, while Panther’s eyes were literally burning with rage.

A few seconds later, Ataru was screaming in terror as he ran for his life, closely pursued by the enraged vampire and android. In the stands, the Penguin’s cigar fell from his dumbfounded lips.

“Why did you hire him, again?” Deadshot asked.

“I don’t even know any more,” Cobblepot groaned.

In the stands, meanwhile, a blonde-haired girl smiled to herself. “Hmm, it appears that your predictions were wrong, Chachamaru-san,” she said. “Zarabeth has triumphed after all…just as a proper vampire should.”

“My calculations were only sixty percent in Panther’s favour, Master,” droned the tall green-haired girl sitting next to her. “And I did not possess full data on this vampire’s magical capabilities at the time.”

“Indeed. Well, life is full of surprises, isn’t it Chachamaru?” Evangeline A.K. McDowell gave vent to a bemused sigh. Slight miscalculations aside, this fight had given her much valuable insight into her potential future opponent. Her magical skills were mediocre compared to the high-level mages of her own dimension, but her prodigious martial skills (which Evangeline had to admit were fairly advanced for such a relatively young vampire) more than made up for that, as did the sheer stubborn willpower she had demonstrated in this fight. If she got past that pigtailed girl (which was highly likely, the Mahora student thought to herself with a smirk), then Evangeline might actually look forward to battling this other vampire.

Of course, she would have to crush her underfoot like the insect that she was, but some things just couldn’t be helped…


Next: Mario vs. Exodia!

[T51R]

Bump + Interlude: Get ready for "Returning Fire"...as a cobbled-together crew from space begins to take back the Earth from the Kaiju infestation! Next post tomorrow!

[OverMaster]

Blood and (no) Glory, Part III: Claws and Effect.



Right outside the Fighter's Lodge:


"Well?" Kadachi invited them, smiling and poking his tongue out in an almost obscene manner. Psychological warfare, even the one based on the slightest acts and postures, millenia had taught him, was often as big of a key to victory as the brute force favored by his host. He twirled his swords around to add to the effect. "Chickening out already?".

"Oh gawd" Tiki mumbled from the floor, shaking the blood off his fur. "You're trying to act all cool again. Just be careful you don't decapitate yourself swingin' those things around this time".

"Shut up" the angel hissed, annoyed. He was ruining the moment, the damn rodent.

Dozens of angels were flocking to the scene from all angles, all of them with flaming swords unsheathed and ready. From the windows of the Lodge, several members of the staff and a few fighters peeked out, including Skuld, Keiichi and Shizuru, looking down at the group in a mix of fear and confusion. "God-Killer" Zauriel stood up again, not bothering to wipe the blood off his handsome face. "Angel. Hamster. You all are under arrest now, in the name of Yggdrasil, by the Supreme Will of the Presence, Kami-Sama the One Above All. Surrender now, and we will guarantee your safety and the rights you have as a visitor to this Omniverse. Don't force our hands against you".

"Ahhh, can it up, Pretty Boy!" Tiki mocked him, pointing his mishapen behind into his direction and slapping it with a tiny gross paw. "Squares like you should just crawl into a hole and die already!".

"An unusually sharp observation from you, Tiki" Kadachi snickered with a glint in his eyes. "Tell you what, friends. Leave, all of you, now, or we will cut loose on you. Death is giving you a rare chance to escape, so you'd better take it while it lasts. I'll give you to the count of ten--".

"DUDE!!" Kansai then sprang back to his feet, startling everyone around him, his allies and enemies alike. "THAT'S NOT HOW YOU DO IT!! THEY WON'T TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY THAT WAY!!".

"K-Kansai, I have this under control, I don't need your advice now!" his Angel tried to keep the big goof from messing it all up, sweatdropping nervously. "Just stay down there and let me handle it!".

"MORON!" The God-Killer slammed a giant fist on his head and snatched one of his katanas away. "Lemme show you how it's done!". Unfortunately, he grabbed the sword the wrong way and cut his own right hand with it. "OH F**K! MOTHAF***ER SH*T!!!!!".

A long list of abominable expletives and curses in all manners of languages followed, as Kansai yowled and jumped around with his hand stump bleeding out by fountains, showering the angels around him. Nabeshin calmly pulled an umbrella out of his afro and used it to protect himself from the red rain, then passed umbrellas to Motoko, Logan and the Mars People as well. Urd shrieked when another long line of blood stained all of her dress. "ARRGH, WATCH OUT!! I BOUGHT IT JUST LAST WEEK!!".

"I COULD STOP IT IF ANY OF YOU JERKS GAVE ME SOME MEDICAL ASSISTANCE NOW...!" the God-Killer howled madly, then stumbled down and perished due to massive blood loss. Immediately, the guardian angels rushed to his side, all pointing their swords down at him, gasping hard.

"L-Lord Zauriel, what are your orders now?" one of them stammered. Zauriel sighed; a hardened veteran from the wars against Neron, and yet the creatures from beyond had him, Colonel Sasarael, afraid like a puppy.

"Lady Urd" Zauriel turned to the eldest Norn. "Can you please produce a seal for him before he regenerates?".

Urd nodded. "Good idea". She outstretched her hands open and began to mumble a sealing spell, but right then, one of the God-Killer's huge hands shot up and grabbed Sasarael by the neck, twisting it around with a sickening snap. The angel's eyes went white and lifeless, and everyone recoiled back as Kansai stood up, and threw the dead angel aside like a ragdoll.

"Now, I'm starting to get fed up with this crap, ya know..." the God-Killer growled guturally, and with a mere handwave, he hurled half a dozen of other angels against a nearby building. "I wanted to solve this in good terms, but if you want it this way, fine with me...".

Panicked, and before Zauriel could say anything, his angels all rushed down on Kansai, piercing him through with their swords from all directions again and again. All the while, the NODE just laughed thunderously, and then slammed his hands away at left and right, breaking some of the angels' heads at contact in explosions of gore, and throwing the luckiest of them away, at an amazing speed that startled everyone; in the blink of an eye, all angels around the savage trio except for Zauriel were either dead or knocked down.

"Sonuva..." Wolverine mumbled, his cigar falling off his mouth.

"See? See? I told you!" Nabeshin pointed with a finger to Kansai and his accomplices, and sighed deeply, taking a battle ready stance. "Now look what you've forced me to do. If I die, tell Poemi I loved her... and don't even think about hitting on my widow. I've noticed the way you look at her, Logan-san".

"..." Wolverine felt somewhat uneasy now, especially with the perplexed look Motoko was giving him all of a sudden.

"Hm?" Kansai stared at Nabeshin. "It's odd. This one... somehow feels different from the others. Kadachi?".

"I feel it too" the angel nodded warily. "It's as if he doesn't fit in, somehow, but in a different way than us... I suggest to act with caution, just in case".

"To hell with that, you know that isn't my style, pal" Kansai blurred out from sight, then reappeared at a side of Nabeshin and kicked him hard in the ribs, sending him crashing through one of the Lodge's windows.

"NABESHIN-SAN!!" Motoko yelled.

"Okay, bub, ya asked for this!!" Wolverine howled furiously, and rushed towards Kansai with his claws leading the way. Kadachi tried to stop him short, but the mutant just clawed his way through him, neatly cutting him by half before diving into Kansai's body clawsfirst, sinking them as deep as they would go in. Then he madly began to slash up and down as fast as he could, growling and roaring, guts and blood flying everywhere.

"I-I don't get it..." Natsuki blinked in total puzzlement. "He killed all those angels in a second, and now that man is killing him all by himself...? But how--".

"Jobber Aura at work?" Nabeshin opined, peeking his head out the broken window, wiping shards of glass off his afro. "Combination of two massive PIS fields working in exact opposite directions towards the same result? I think... that God-Killer fellow has the right aura about himself to match Logan's, even if--".

"I DON'T GET A SINGLE WORD OF THAT, NABESHIN-SAN!" Motoko yelled at him. "STOP TALKING IN RIDDLES AND SAY SOMETHING THAT MAKES SENSE FOR ONCE!!".

"Actually, nothing ever seems to make sense when it comes to God-Killers..." Urd sighed in grim resignation.

"My theory is this is further helped by the Main Character Clause" Nabeshin pulled another cigarette up and lit it up, watching how Logan was making mincemeat of Kansai's stomach. "Those angels were just Nameless Cannon Fodder, thus making them expendables according to the rules of dramatic fiction. Stormtrooper Effect, if you want to put it that way. However, Logan-kun is an important, main character, and sells a story, so his chances to hurt the bad guys skyrocket even against the laws of logic. He isn't new to that at all, actually. He's done it before, and will do it again, I'm sure".

".................." Everyone else around them, from Belldandy to Natsuki to the Mars People, just looked dumbfoundly at him with eyes reduced to black tiny spots. A crow passed flying over their heads, crawing over the dying screams of the God-Killer.

"Eh, you'd understand it better after some of my Afro Training" the Director shrugged nonchalantly. "Or some classes of Creative Writing. Whatever".



Next: Chizuru vs. Bowser, Mara's Karaoke Stardom, and Kansai takes a Hostage... the Hard Way!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Mario vs. Yugi, Part 2: Enter Exodia

“W-what is that thing?” Link stammered as a monster began to materialize in front of Mario. The monster in question was truly gigantic, standing about several stories high, its head actually coming above the railing of the wall separating the audience from the arena. It seemed to be humanoid for the most part, though its huge body seemed to be made entirely of interlocking golden armour rather than flesh. Its head seemed forged in the likeness of an Egyptian pharaoh’s headdress, though the audience could make out the necrotic purple flesh and jagged teeth visible beneath the helmet. All in all, this new monster looked incredible huge, strong and powerful.

“I….I can’t believe it!” Jack stammered. “That’s Exodia the Forbidden One!”

“Exodia?” Brett stared in fascination at the massive beast. He had to admit, even in his space travels, he’d seen few monsters that impressive. “Is that like a super-rare card or something?”

“One of the rarest!” Jack replied. “In fact, most people agree that it’s probably the strongest card in Duel Monsters!”

Taking a deep breath, Jack calmed down. He had to admit, it was truly exciting to see Exodia summoned right here before him. He’d heard rumours that Yugi Mutou had Exodia under his command, and an even vaguer rumour that this same Exodia had once destroyed three of Seto Kaiba’s Blues Eyes White Dragons with a single blast.

One his platform, Yugi remained stonefaced as he watched Exodia materialize. Normally, he wouldn’t have had to resort to summoning Exodia unless in dire circumstances. But then, he knew, these were dire circumstances. The fate of existence was at stake, and he had to win by any means possible. If that meant summoning Exodia, then so be it. If it meant sending Mario to the hospital if necessary…then so be it.

“Exodia, attack!” Yugi commanded. With an earth-shattering roar, Exodia brought a fist slamming down in Mario’s direction. The plumber barely managed to jump out of the way in time before the fist crashed into the ground where he had once stood, splitting the concrete floor open and sending shards of it flying everywhere. The shockwave of the punch didn’t stop there, however, as it rippled across the entire arena, shattering the floor and sending debris flying all over the place.

“Mammia mia!” Mario exclaimed as the shockwave thrown up by Exodia’s punch nearly bowled him over—and then he was forced to dodge to the side yet again as Exodia’s other fist came down, punching another sizeable crater into the floor of the Metal Gear hanger. This time, however, the shockwave slammed into Mario with the force of a speeding train, and he found himself being propelled forwards and sent smashing into a Metal Gear unit and knocking it down.

On his balcony, the Player grimaced slightly. Even Mario could not stand up to a monster as powerful as Exodia. The very fact that Yugi had summoned it told him that the young duelist was willing to go all-out to protect his homeworld. A part of him was already deeply regretting the fact that two of his teams were kicking the living snot out of each other. Damn it, if only Rayden hadn’t drawn up the fights in this way.

The die has already been cast, he thought to himself. Whatever happens, I’m just going to have to sit by and watch it unfold.

Cursing, Mario staggered back up to his feet—just as Exodia’s house-sized fist came speeding towards him. Moving quickly, Mario jumped over the speeding fist as it obliterated the Metal Gear behind him, and came plummeting down on it with a perfectly-timed jump drop. As he came slamming down on Exodia’s metal fist, however, the only result he actually felt was his pelvis cracking slightly from the impact.

With a roar, Exodia swung its hand to the side, almost dismissively flicking Mario across the arena. The plumber screamed as he was sent smashing through several obstacles in his path before crashing into a loading tower with the force of an artillery shell. The foundations of the tower were completely shattered by the blow, and with a massive creak, the tower suddenly toppled over and collapsed with a tremendous crash, kicking up a massive cloud of dust as it did so.

“Crap!” Samus cursed. “That thing is just too powerful for Mario to handle alone!”

“Can you see him in there?” Link asked frantically.

The bounty hunter adjusted the scanners of her visor. “I can’t see any life signs,” she said slowly. “Link…I think Mario might be…”

She was cut short when a hand burst free from the rubble of the tower. The crowd gasped as, slowly but surely, a bruised and bloody Mario began to claw his way free. Throughout this fight, Mario had been blasted, burned, and generally hurled around like a ragdoll, and yet, in spite of all of that, he was still fighting on.

Slowly, Mario crawled free from the rubble, trying his best to ignore the fire that burned in his broken ribs. This wasn’t working, he thought to himself: Exodia was simply too powerful for him to beat. Without his Fire Flower or Hammer, he couldn’t possibly hurt that big monster, and there was nothing left in the Player’s bag of powerups that would be of any use.

Or…was there? Rummaging through the bag, Mario found a familiar looking mushroom and what appeared to be a shiny, silver sphere. A quick idea raced through Mario’s head, just as Exodia’s fist came racing towards him….

There was a tremendous flash of light that momentarily engulfed the entire arena. When it cleared, there was a tremendous clang of metal on metal. If Exodia could produce facial expressions, then it would have looked quite surprised as its fist was stopped as it collided with a large, blocking silver fist. A second later, a second silver fist slammed into Exodia’s midsection with enough force to the monster back several metres.

Team Smash instantly jumped in their seats. Mario, standing up from the rubble pile, had just grown several stories high, and now seemed to be made entirely of a silvery substance.

“WHAT THE HECK?” Dorado nearly fell over. “Is it just me, or did he just transform into a giant Silver Surfer wannabe?”

“I’m… as confused as you are, Dorado,” Jack admitted.

Link was nearly jumping with excitement. “He used multiple power ups!” he exclaimed.”He might win this one yet!” Beside him, Kirby was grinning happily now, and clapping enthusiastically as he cheered his teammate on.

On his balcony, meanwhile, the Player smiled slightly. Mario had just turned a losing situation around by cleverly combining a Metal Cap with a Growth Mushroom. He knew he had been justified in recruiting the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom onto his team.

“HERE-A WE GO!” the now-gigantic Mario shouted, lashing out with a metal kick that slammed into a nearby Metal Gear (one of the few that hadn’t been toppled or destroyed thus far) and sent it flying towards Exodia. The massive Duel Monster didn’t even have time to block before the Metal Gear slammed into it, exploding violently as its fuel tanks ruptured. A massive fireball bathed Exodia, the sheer force of the explosion causing the beast to stagger back some more. This gave Mario the time he needed to lunge forwards and slam a powerful fist into Exodia’s midsection, making it roar in pain, before following up with a headbutt to the thing’s huge, pharaoh-esque head that made it stagger back even further.

With an enraged snarl, Exodia struck back. Despite the immense size granted by the Growth Mushroom, Mario still only came up to Exodia’s waist, and so the monster’s height and weight advantage were really felt when the monster slammed a golden fist into Mario’s face with enough force to nearly crack his metal surface. The impact sent Mario careening through the hangar, shattering everything in his path and leaving a trail of
destruction behind him.

Groaning, Mario tried to pull himself back up. That monster punched harder than Bowser on one of his meaner days. This wasn’t working: even with his power-ups, he was still outclassed by Exodia’s sheer, raw power. The way things were going, he was eventually going to be beaten down, and right now he felt like he would collapse any minute now. It was all or nothing: he’d have to hit Exodia with everything he had and hope it was enough. He had to win this, for Luigi, for Peach, for the Mushroom Kingdom and for his team.

Springing back to his feet, Mario propelled himself straight towards Exodia. The monster didn’t even have time to react before Marioslammed into him with a body-check that sent a shockwave rippling through the arena. Before Exodia could even recuperate, Mario began to hit him with an endless barrage of punches, kicks and headbutts. The tremendous clash of metal on metal echoed across the arena as Mario hit Exodia again and again, never relenting as he poured all of his remaining strength and energy into this last-ditch assault as his blows caused the arena to tremble in a miniature earthquake.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

For a minute, Exodia was being driven back by his smaller opponent. The crowd gasped in anticipation when they realized that the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom might actually win this battle after all. That was, until Exodia grabbed Mario’s arm, and with an almost disdainful grunt, began to swing him back and forth, smashing him again and again into the arena floor with brutal force, before spinning him around like a rag and hurling him forwards with the force of a meteorite. This time, none of the obstacles in the arena could even slow down the airborne Mario: he crashed through vehicles, reinforced steel bulkheads and hangars alike before crashing through the arena boundaries and crunching into the stadium wall with enough force to punch a small crater into it on impact.

“RINGOUT!” The Tenchi Budokai Announcer shouted. “Yugi Mutou and Exodia win this round!”

Team Smash watched in horror as Mario slumped limply to the ground. A second later, Mario instantly returned to his normal size and form, and lay unmoving on the shattered arena floor. Paramedics quickly rushed to the unconscious Mario and, putting him on a stretcher, rushed him off to the infirmary. A murmer of disapproval began to ripple through the crowd, many of them remembering what had happened in the battle between Team Troubleshooters and Team Heavy Metal. Yami Yugi couldn’t help but grimace slightly as he watched Mario being carried off, and heard the discontent of the crowd. He had probably overdone it, he realized. He’d used excessive force to defeat Mario. But he was doing what was necessary: he had to win the tournament, for the sake of everyone in his home realm. He would worry about the repercussions of his actions later.

He turned back to face the arena, and saw Link already stepping into the fighting pit, his eyes burning with fury as he held his sword and shield ready. “Don’t think you’re going to get away with what you did to Mario,” he growled.

Yugi was unfazed. “Mario knew the risks when he entered in here, just as you did, Link,” he replied. “We’re both expected to fight to the best of our ability in this tournament. I regret that I had to hurt Mario as much as I did, but I am not going to hold back when my world is on the line.”

Link adopted a fighting stance. “Then you’d better be ready,” he said, “because I’m not going to hold back either.”

The King of Games nodded grimly from where he stood. “I wouldn’t expect you to,” he replied.

The Tenchi Budokai Announcer stepped up, keeping a nervous eye on the towering form of Exodia. “Fighters ready?” Both Link and Yugi nodded silently. “Right! Team Smash! Versus! Team Duellists! Round Three! BEGIN!”


Next: Vellinor returns to Nifelheim, and Link battles Exodia!

[T51R]

~Celestial Alignments Gear two: Return Fire, Pt.1~




~Main refugee gathering area, Parking lot B, outside the MUGEN Tournament Grounds~


“I thought you said you managed to find some help!” a bruised and battered Kazuma shouted upwards at the young man sitting atop his humanoid fighting machine, a golden Vanguard-type mech. Around him swarmed the latest batch of refugees, many from the outlying prefectures of Japan that had until only recently been spared from Kaiju attack. “If he‘s so special then where the hell is he?!” The lanky youth caught a man struggling to hold on to his family despite his broken leg and dislocated shoulder, an expression of confusion and terror still spread across his features. He trembled slightly, almost overcome by panic at the latest horrific development that had arisen from the depths of the oceans: two hundred foot long reptilian vertebrates that had made landfall in Okinawa.

Slowly, gently, the slender Kaname approached him and put her hands on his head. She gasped, at the memories surging though his mind like wind-stoked wildfires; thousands of the creatures had arisen from the Oceanic Trench not far off the coast of Northern Japan, a completely new species, consuming everything in sight from animals to humans. That horror however, paled in comparison to what came next. The seas began to boil, and from the depths came nuclear fire that cooked alive almost ever one of the previous invasive species. Those that had made landfall could bask only in a temporary reprieve from the atomic flames burning in the deep, for their origin soon set thunderous foot upon the Okinawa shoreline. Three hundred feet in height, its 50-thousand tons crushing pavement and concrete underfoot, the King of the Monsters had finally appeared laying waste to everything in its path. The man’s memories began to assail her, memories of beaches turned red with reptilian blood as dozens of the previous creatures crashed against the rock that was Godzilla only to be torn apart, limb from limb, or reduced to irradiated crisp by the titan’s atomic ray. Then the true horror came: finished with its kin, standing in a sea reminiscent of Normandy, wading though skeletons with burnt flesh still bubbling on bone, the King of the Monsters turned its wrath upon humanity. “Kaza-kun,” Kaname whispered, fear burning in her eyes as she turned them back to Kazuma.

“What is it, Kaname?”

The pair of them fell silent when the man between them began muttering in an almost inaudible tone. “Gojira…Gojira…”

“What the hell?” Kazuma, the self-proclaimed ‘Shell Bullet’ gritted his teeth when he noticed the expression of sheer terror on the mans face. “What the hell‘s he so scared of? The world‘s about to end, there‘s nothing left out there to be afraid of because soon enough its all gonna be gone!”

The sea of refugees parted slightly, revealing a scarred man in black with many a nurse running towards then away from him. “Humans, at an almost subliminal level, understand many concepts. One of those things Mr. Kazuma, is rage.” He raised a device at a small group of refugees that had just arrived by dilapidated bus, then signalled for them to stop. “They‘ve been exposed to extremely high levels of radiation, and we‘ll have to decontaminate them before treatment can begin.” Black Jack Hazama gave a nod, and several dozen suited figures ran out from between the makeshift tents to hold the wave of refugees back.

“What kinda doctor are you,” Kazuma spat, “THOSE PEOPLE NEED YOUR HELP! AND YOU‘RE GONNA TREAT THEM LIKE SOME KINDA DICTATOR!?”

“Look carefully Mr Kazuma,” Dr. Hazama indicated for the Alter user to look through the visors of the Majerean battle suits. “Those are the medical staff that Captain Magno deployed to assist us. What they are doing is for the good of the people who have already found their way here; we cannot afford for them to contaminate anyone else!” He spoke in a low whisper, not wanting to be heard by either his nurses or patients.

“DAMN IT!” Kazuma swore openly, looking above at the Nirvana ascending slowly into a low orbit above, moving towards the Stellvia with yet another load of sick and wounded from around the nation. He found Black Jack’s hand on his shoulder, and the doctor looking into his eyes with a steely gaze of his own.

“I need to know, what caused all this? These people are terrified, to the point that many of them will probably have to be prescribed sustained medication for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Tell me Kazuma, tell me what they saw!” He pointed the same device at the youth in front of him, a Geiger-counter, and true to form it registered trace amounts of radiation. “How long were you in contact with the refugees?”

“What, four days tops? I mean we had to find them the buses and everything so that was pretty quick…”

“Did you see anything?” Hazama began to quickly but thoroughly examine a small child one of the Majerean women brought to him. “Kazuma. I need to know. What were these people running from? I have been in contact with several rescue groups and I know for a fact that the Titanus was moving towards Okinawa when all contact with the city was lost.” A flash caught his peripheral vision, and he exchanged quick glances with a young woman clad in shades of pink, with reddish-brown hair and a black tank-top. “Miss Dita!” he called out, as she joined Hibiki Tokai on the shoulder of his Vanguard to hand him several boxes worth of food. “This is not the time, please, help us out down here. We‘re short-handed as we are!”

“Might not be time for that Doc,” Hibiki stood and dusted his bum off, then locked eyes with Kazuma. “Remember the help you were talking about?” He pointed at where refugees were scrambling away from a man wearing a red, hooded cloak over black-and-red biker’s leathers. “He‘s here.”

“Sonofa…” Kazuma spat, holes appearing in the ground around him as his Alter Power took form: a golden right arm gleaming in the evening light. “Its you!” he swore, beginning to move forwards. “Its you! Bastard!”

“MR. KAZUMA!” Dita nearly screamed, “He isn’t here to hurt us!”

“I don‘t care,” the man once known simply as ‘The Treasoner’ spat vehemently. “Because when you‘ve done what this bastard‘s done, then that makes you worse than any freakin‘ monster we could ever fight! You know why? Because monsters don’t know any better. They‘re doing what they‘re supposed to do. This guy,” he pointed at the man before him who in turn never once broke his stride, “This guy knew. He knew exactly what he was doing. And when he took out that city…HE KNEW EXACTLY HOW MANY PEOPLE HE’D BE KILLING!!! AKIRA! I‘m your enemy now, so why don’t you come try and kill me!?” Something took hold of him then, iron fingers forming a cage around his mind, forcing him to dissolve is Alter and to power down. “Bastard…”

The man stopped as he passed Kazuma by, just a little ways off to the side. “I am not here to fight you nor kill you,” he said, not even acknowledging his presence. However, he did not once take his eyes off of Hibiki’s. “I am not here to play the role of judge, jury nor executioner of these people for such is not my place and well outside the jurisdiction of a mere Herald such as I. I am here…to fulfil a promise.”

Hibiki jumped from the Vanguard’s shoulder and slowly walked over to where the Telekinetic stood, his back to Kazuma while still maintaining his psionic hold over him. “Hey, Akira? It might be a bad time to say this? But it generally isn’t a good idea to piss off the people you‘re gonna be fighting together with.”

The telekinetic caught a blur of motion, but responded too late as Kazuma clocked him across the chin with his ordinary fist.






~Next…Prisoner Exchange continues, as Nudoru Goes to Hell!:D

[J Dog]

The Delta Suit, Part I

Main Dome A

"What the hell had just happened?" Dorado was trying to figure out the mass chaos that occured in the last few minutes of the fight in which Mario became metallic but still lost to the sheer power that was the Forbidden One. "The Italian went silver and all that, and then when I blinked, he was down for the count."

"It's hard to understand, but in the end, infinite power triumphs." Jack tried to make of what had just happened. "But the card itself is limited to a match. Once the effect is used, it's over. In other words, Link is safe from Exodia... and considering how many cards Yugi has used, he is pretty much going to lose this round."

"He is going to lose the fight because of his cards?" Brett wondered. "How is that possible?"

"Unless he has any certain cards that allows him to replenish his deck by combining all the cards he has and used back into one deck, he's going to wind up losing in a matter of turns by either running out of cards, or just plain losing to any of Link's sword spins." Jack then recalls how the spin is like Dorado's Behemoth Slash strike, except it goes in a 360 degree circle several times in blinding speed.

"I have seen many things in my adventures, but never something like this. These battles really have compromising factors in them that are hard to understand." Brett then realized his bag was empty. "Great, just my luck. Where's that guy at who hands out consessions by walking the aisles?"

"Relax, sport, Meems has that covered." Jack realized that she was taking a bit too long. Either she left to meet up with her friends, or there was a long line at the snack bar. He didn't consider her to be in any danger.

It turns out she was just finished getting said edible foods when all of a sudden, she vanished after a person appeared behind her. The place she came to was a stark white hall that contained virtually nothing. After seeing an armored hand, she realized who it was.

"Oh, Mari. I see that it's time, huh?" She asked. "You know..."

"You read that note this morning. I have been waiting for you, but you weren't anywhere. It was then I figured that you would be at the tournament dome watching a match." She sees that the end result of doing teleportation had caused a mass stain on Mimi's clothing. "We'll clean that up and offer up some other meals to consume. First, however, we need to show you what we have been working on for the past 2 days." The two proceed to go down the hallway.

"Can you tell me what you did?" Mimi asked the Suit Valkyrie.

"For starters, we knew that you had a prior upgrade that plated it. And then there was your helmet, which, apparantly, you couldn't get off at one time. Let me remind you what a chin guard is. It is what secures the helmet and ensures it can't be knocked off. You forgot about that, right?" Mimi felt embarrased about that incident. "But we hit a snag. The suit was of a padded sort underneath the armored exterior, as if its intentional purpose was that of bomb defusion protection."

"You mean, a bomb suit?" Mari looked at her and understood. "We had to get those out, but then... we wound up destroying it." At that moment, Meems' heart sank.

"You mean... it's ruined?" She started to cry. Mari went to her and consoled.

"Not really. We did piece some of it back together, but we had to overhaul the rest. Once we get into the next room, we'll show you what we did. For starters, its a complete armor suit, so you have protection in all parts of your body. You also got a way to fight, but its not guns. Exactly what, you'll have to see."

"I'm hoping that turns out well." She said with confidence.

***********

Forsaken Fortress

"It's about time for Kaiba to come." Dogbert said to himself. "Let him arrive undeterred, but he'll have to learn not to mess with anyone with the likes of me."

The Leader then stared at the horizon with advanced binoculars. "I'm starting to see a jet coming in."

"Then let's get the party started."

Next: The New Battle Suit

[T51R]

~Celestial Alignments Gear two: Prisoner Exchange~




~Nifelheim Council Chamber~

She stood panting, beads of sweat glistening on her perfect, bronze skin before the gaping tear in the fabric of reality where her screen had been. Her knuckles were bruised from relentlessly pounding on, to her, what seemed a wall of pure Adamantium. He head ached, and the bruise that wet along with it brought a chuckle from her thin, perfectly curved lips. Ignoring the fear-filled stares of her three Succubus servants tied to the rack at the far end of the room, the woman began to chuckle. Softly she started, then burst into a mad fit of laughter as she tore a section out of the pulpit, flinging it into the portal, into the newly-formed Nexus of All Realities with all her might. “AND STAY OUT!!!” Hild screamed while the huge chunk of black marble disappeared into the currents of the merging multiverse. “AND IF YOU EVER…EVER COME BACK HERE…” shaking her fist at the rift she breathed in deeply, then let out a sigh. “Just…ah, never mind.” Hell’s Sovereign Ruler slowly crossed the hall, straightened out her dress and slumped back into her throne to relish the quiet. Her eyes wandered over her hallowed hall, now filed with quickly defrosting dragons’ gonads. “You,” she called to the white-faced Shinagami standing close to the doors at the far end of the room, “bring the servants, and have them clean up this mess. God-Killer indeed,” she muttered under her breath.

A soft but shrill whistle swept through the hall just then, catching both her attention and the pale-faced God of Death, both hellish beings scouring the massive space with their eyes but to no avail. At least, until a faint sound came from the portal still spinning in space before her. Slowly she rose from her seat of power; something just didn’t feel right. She knew that the portal should have closed by then; a Nexus of all Realities would be impossible to maintain without authorisation from On High and especially without the acknowledgement of Order and Chaos. She stepped closer, and the whistle came again. This time however, there was a metallic tinge to it that she couldn’t ignore. Something was coming through. “Femto!” She kept her eyes fixated on the portal, just in case. “Femto! To my side!” Hild called again, and with the sound of clanking spears and rattling sabres the doors to the great hall were thrown open causing Hell’s janitorial staff to scatter. In rushed the Apostles, quickly surrounding their queen with weapons drawn.

“My queen,” Griffith spoke calmly with his usual demeanour. “What ails you?” Hild simply pointed into the maelstrom of light and shadow, crackling pockets of energy bursting this way and that between its folds in the form of black lighting. “Yes, my queen.” He turned to his troops, the second incarnation of the Band of the Hawk. Without a word they understood their leader’s intent and drew weapons, fixing steely gazes upon the pinprick of light at the centre of the surging portal.

Behind the elite of Hell’s soldiers though, their Daimakaichi’s brow began to furrow; something was coming through indeed, something that was stabilizing the portal by itself all while stitching the fabric of space-time back together as it went. “Beware Femto.” She began to smile. “Or should I say Griffith?” The commander of the Hawks glanced at her over his shoulder at his queen who returned to her throne and sat with her usual, confident grin. “For whatever comes now, you may have your way with.” She sensed his inward, sadistic grin. One that all but disappeared when the demonic members of the second Band of the Hawk found themselves blown every which way across the great hall as a white, black and red bowling ball shot from the rift and scattered them like pins in a strike. It didn’t do much for the projectile’s momentum; careening onwards while leaving several craters in the marble floor, it collided head-on with Hell’s throne and its resident Daimakaichi sending the whole shebang to the back end of the place of honour.

With a groan Hild slowly opened her eyes and began to rub the back of her head; the force of the impact had been so much so that a sizable bump now protruded from between her silky white hair. “Just what in the name of…” She caught a glimpse of hair so much like her own in a tousled mess between her thighs. “Urd?” Through the dizziness and hazy vision from the impact a smile began to cross her lips. She reached for the crown of white and silver and then recoiled, aghast to find that instead of her daughter resting her head on her bosom, there was instead a large man with his face buried in her crotch. “WHAT THE…” she stuttered, her eyebrow twitching so much liker her daughter’s while, with a groan, the man raised his head to reveal a white faceplate, black chin guard and opaque black goggles. “YOU?!” she screamed, skittering backwards to no avail; the man on top of her did the same then planted his forehead right back where it had been eliciting yet another shriek.

“Hey Miso, check this!” he called as a pale aberration, scarred with techno-organic fibres intertwining seamlessly with its heavily muscled frame emerged from the portal and spread its ten wings across the length and breadth of the hall, “I‘m diving someone‘s muff!”

Across the hall, trying to get back to their feet in spite of aching limbs and a sprain or two, Grunbeld and Zodd exchanged confused glances. “Has he, you know, done this before?” the giant asked, only to receive a shrug for an answer. Their eyes found their way to the titanic Angel, which by then was cradling his head in his massive hands with drops of sweat landing on the floor around it; a sure sign of embarrassment.

“BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKA!!!!!” Hild’s shrill scream filled the hall followed promptly by a shower of blood, brains and gore as she rammed her forehead into her assailant’s, cracking his skull open. Quick as a flash she was on her feet, ripped the monolithic table from its moorings and brought it down on her target causing a plume of bloody vapour to fill the area around her. And as if that wasn’t enough, she stormed her way onto the upturned table and began to jump up and down on it, all while throbbing veins crept across her forehead and her eyes glowed bright red with frustration. A thunderous crash echoed throughout the hall as Hell’s Queen flipped the table off her quarry’s mutilated corpse and sent it splintering through the front doors. “WHAT KIND OF PERVERT ARE YOU?!” she swore at the top of her well-developed lungs and kicked the mangled remains so hard that they collected the monstrous Angel as well, sending both it and the bloody mess through the stained glass window above her in a shower of blood. “This cant be happening to me,” Hild muttered, her hair stained red together with the rest of her clothes and a good part of the floor. Above her, in the smoky skies of Nifelheim, the first God-Killer and his Angel disappeared in a pinprick of light.



~Next…On the run, and Elemental Serenade begins

[J Dog]

The Delta Suit, Part II

Upon further explaining of the technical aspects of the new battle suit, Mari had finally reached the end of the hallway in the seemingly-plain building. She stared at the door for a moment to prepare for Mimi's reaction to the latest, and hopefully, final upgrade she needed. But the young female was too ready and broke her prose.

"Can we come in now?" She whined a bit. Snapping out, Mari agreed and opened up the large doors, while then automatically whirled into slots like a screen.

"It seems that you are ready for the latest upgrade to your suit, Tachikawa." Mari told her. "And here it is. The Delta Suit." The two then observed the new design of the suit which was on a table. It consited of a red and pink color on the entire armor, with the notable exception of a flame that had been inserted on the breastplate of the armor. "We did that as a symbol. In this case, your passion for the greater good in the form of a roaring flame." The helmet consited of an entirely different form that Mimi wasn't used to. Her old versions had a full-head visor, while this one only showed her face: all other aspects, such as her hair or cheeks, would not be seen. It also had a spike jutting out from above the visor, and also had a hole in the back for her hair to leave in order to avoid problems with vision.

"Um? It looks like I'd be wearing a baseball cap." Mimi looked at that part with slight confusion. "Why is that there?"

"Two reasons: aerodynamics, and the fact that it's a homage to what the pilots of Gundam mecha tend to wear as protection." Mari then grinned. "They always had unnecisarry features on them anyway."

"Oh. Continue." Mimi was then searching for the "weapon" by looking at the full-leg covers that connected to the pelvic armor. "Where's that dealie that I fight with?"

"You mean this?" She grabbed the left arm of the mech and showed an inclusion to it. "It's a stungun. Considering your nature, you wouldn't want to harm people, so this would actually pause any threat for you to either escape or counter."

"So... I fight with a built-in taser?" Mimi asked, pointing to it. Mari then stared at her with a little bit of embarassment. "It was either that or a weapon based off vocal power. You know, your voice. Problem was we had a heckuva hard time figuring THAT one out, so we wound up scratching that."

"Well... I'm going to try this out in a sec." Mimi then told her, but Valkyrio stopped her for a second.

"There's one more thing: You need to wear this as well." She pulled out a jumpsuit that appeared to be quite a form-fitter. Mimi sweatdropped at that.

"I have... to wear that?" Mimi complained a tad bit at the idea that she would have to wear something like that underneath a suit that she felt was going to be hot.

"It's going to help you keep your cool, actually, so I would recommend it." Mari then walked to the door. "I'll give you some privacy, okay?" She nodded back as confirmation. Upon leaving, Mari stood out for a minute until she heard a crash. Rushing back in, she saw Mimi on the floor with parts of her suit all distorted, and her helmet was slightly off.

"I think I have a problem... I can't get this thing on right." She sheepishly stated with blushed eyes. Mari slapped her face. "I'll help you." She muttered. After a few minutes of rearranging the armor in their proper positions, Mimi looked at it.

"I think I'm actually going to enjoy this suit." She smiled. Mari then told her about a communications link that was included, plus gave her snacks as stated before deciding to take her back to the Dome... in full armor.

Back at the dome, Jack was wondering if Yugi would probably pull off one last trick... the feared Mind Crush. "If he does it, he'll run the risk of killing Link and thus disqualify his entire team, Brett." He was figuring it out. He then recalled what Seto probably had to endure when he faced it. At that, Mimi then came, panting.

"What took you so long?" Dorado snapped at her. "I'm famished!"

"Forget that, birdbrain." Brett insulted. "I'm curious, who gave you THAT?" He pointed to her new armor suit.

"It's a gift from an ally of Jack... supersmart and advanced young women." Brett then imagined such a group of them and smiled a bit. "Wow."

"Um... Meems, why are you wearing that?" Jack asked her with confusion. She took off her helmet at that. "She warped me back, and it takes a while to get this on. I don't know how I'll get it off, but I'm not worrying about that. Who won, by the way?"

Next: The brouhaha between the dog and the duelist

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Welcome To Hell


A second later, Hild heard a door slamming open, followed by the sounds of a few hellish vases being accidentally knocked over.

"Oh honey! I'm home!" Vellinor declared in an ostentatious voice, carefully sweeping the vase's remains under a carpet with his foot. "Aren't you going to come and give me a ....." he trailed off when he noticed the endless pile of round, fleshy....things....in Hild's throne room. "....kiss?"

A second later, Hild was in front of him, her face a huge, hellish mask of fury. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, VELLINOR?!!!!" she screamed in his face, causing him to shrink back against the floorboards in terror.

"Wh-wh-what do you mean, Hild?" Vellinor stammered nervously. He'd never seen Hild angry before, and was finding out firsthand that she was downright scary when she was. "I-I-I don't know w-what you're talking about--"

Hild grabbed him by the ear and wrenched hard, pulling his head forwards so that his face was nearly shoved into one of those round....things. "THESE!" she snapped. "Might I ask what THESE are doing being brought into MY throne room?!!!!"

The Trickster's face went white. "You mean....th-these aren't yours?" he stammered

Hild's face turned beet red. Vellinor could have sworn that he saw fire exploding out of her ears. "DO THEY LOOK LIKE THEY WOULD BE MINE?!!!!" she snapped. "YOUR HERALD BROUGHT AN ENTIRE UNIVERSE'S SHIPMENT OF DRAGON TESTICLES INTO MY THRONE ROOM! WOULD YOU CARE TO EXPLAIN WHY?!!!!"

Vellinor's face went from white to green. "Dragon....testicles?" He turned back to the sea of gonads that littered the throne room, and nearly threw up. "Eeeeeeew......"

By this point, Hild has stopped screaming and had let go of his ear, but she was still glaring at him with the type of glare that would drill holes through a person. Had she been glaring any harder, Vellinor would have been a bleeding, crispified corpse by now. "Well?" she said impatiently. "Have you any answers Lord Vellinor? Because I should point out now that this prank is most unappreciated."

"P-PRANK? But I would never prank you, O Fairest and Loveliest of Hell Queens!" Vellinor shouted frantically, now laughing nervously. "Besides, w-why would I use DRAGON TESTICLES? I mean, I'd only use those on someone I really, really hated...."

The Trickster stopped in mid-rant. Wait a minute....dragon testicles....dragon....balls?

"Did...Kansai by any chance say that I had sent him on an errand to get these?" he asked.

Hild remained silent, her face set in a stoic expression of wounded dignity, as she slowly nodded.

"Oh. I see." Vellinor stood straight, his expression now strangely serious. "And where IS my herald?"

The sound of a body hitting the ground heavily and messily in the background—followed by the sound of a second body landing on top of it with bone-crunching force-- provided Vellinor with his answer.

Slowly and painfully, Nudoru pushed Miso’s corpse off of him and pushed himself up on regenerating arms. “My heeeaaad….” He moaned. “Hey Miso, where the hell are we?”

Miso, sadly, could only give a wet gurgle in reply. Seeing that Miso was useless for now, Nudoru grabbed onto a nearby gothic statue and pulled himself up. “Man, that was some freaky shit,” he muttered. “I mean, first we were kicked into a TV, and then….”

It was then that Nudoru became dimly aware of a dark shadow behind him. Whirling around, Nudoru found himself face to face with a cloaked figure whose eyes were literally blazing with fury.

”Kaaaansaaaaaaaiiii…….”

The God-Killer blinked. “Er, dude, I’m not….”

Sadly, Nudoru didn’t have time to finish before he was crushed by a falling piano. Followed by a falling safe, then a falling elephant, then a Boeing 747 and, finally, to seal the deal, a falling Transformer.

“Me Grimlock! Very confused!” the aforementioned Transformer exclaimed.

Eventually, a groaning (and very flat) Nudoru pulled himself free from the falling debris—only to have the stranger start hitting him again and again with a spiked baseball bat.

“I SAID THE DRAGON BALLS, NOT THE DRAGON’S ACTUAL TESTICLES, MORON!” Vellinor shouted as he switched from the baseball bat to a lawnmower. A second later, bits of Nudoru began to fly everywhere. “DID I PUT AN ‘S’ AFTER THE WORD ‘DRAGON’ IN THE LIST? HELL NO! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, YOU DUNDERHEAD? THAT MEANS I THAT I SPECIFICALLY AND CLEARLY MEANT THE MAGICAL ARTIFACTS CALLED THE DRAGON BALLS, NOT A PAIR OF FRIKKIN DRAGON GONADS, YOU INSUFFERABLE, BRAINDEAD, CLICHED INCOMPETENT ASSISTANT-TYPE, WALKING PIECE OF WORMFOOD! LEARN TO FRIKKIN READ PROPERLY IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE MY HERALD, MORON!”

“Er, Lord Vellinor—“ a sweatdropping Hild tried to interject.

Casting the lawnmower aside, Vellinor took out a broom and dustpan, swept up all of the bits of Nudoru, and threw them in a traschan. As the God-Killer began to slowly regenerate in the traschan, Vellinor pulled out a small box labeled ACME: INSTANT MONGOOSES, twisted the lid slightly, and threw the box into the can before slamming the lid down on the can. A second later, animalistic snarls were heard from within the traschan, accompanied by screams of agony and the sound of flesh being ripped apart.

“I mean, come on, is it so much to ask for you to NOT embarrass me in front of Hild?” Vellinor fumed as the screaming in the trashcan continued. “A minor screw-up now and then is funny, I’ll admit, but when you do something like drag a fridge full of gonads into Hell’s throne room—“

“Lord Vellinor,” Hild tried to cut in.

“Later, Queen Hild, I’m in the middle of a lecture,” Vellinor politely interjected. He turned back to the trashcan. “What the hell is up with you, anyway? Labour Day isn’t for another two weeks, so what the hell are you doing wearing white? And furthermore—“ He turned to the regenerating Miso “—what the hell happened to Kadachi? True, he looked pretty freaky before with all the bondage gear and everything, but now just looks like a freak! Don’t tell me Tiki tried to perform surgery on him again, did he?”

“That’s not Kadachi, Lord Vellinor,” Hild finally managed to say.

The Trickster God glanced at Hild with a stunned expression, then whirled back on the trashcan. “You mean you guys LOST Kadachi?” He angrily kicked the can, causing its bloody contents to spill out (along with a bunch of rapid mongooses). “Oh, fantastic! Now you’ve gone and lost the only one of you three who actually has a SHRED of intelligence! Great, I need a bloody Advil now…”

“NO, Lord Vellinor!” Hild shouted in exasperation, feeling a vein bulge on her forehead. “They DIDN’T lose Kadachi, because that isn’t your Herald!”

“Huh?” Cartoonish question marks were now surrounding Vellinor’s head. “Saywha?” He glanced down at Nudoru’s corpse. “Whose herald is it then?”

“My daughter’s,” Hild said between clenched teeth. “There’s been….an accident, of sorts. Your herald and my daughter’s have switched places somehow. The one you just killed several times over was Kaarage.”

A painful silence fell over the room as Vellinor went white as a sheet, his eyes turning into little more than tiny black specks.

“Kaa….ra…..ge?” Slowly, his head turned back in the direction of the trashcan. He was greeted by the sight of a regenerated Nudoru’s face staring back at him.

“Dude, that was so NOT cool,” the God-Killer said.

For a minute, it seemed as though Vellinor was about to give an effeminate shriek and run off to hide behind the nearest piece of hellish architecture. Instead, however, the Trickster simply gave the God-Killer a charming smile and extended his hand.

“A pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Kaarage,” he said. “Allow me to welcome you to –PSYCHE!”

A second later, a concealed extend-o-glove under Vellinor’s sleeve punched out, sending Kaarage’s head flying across the room in a welter of gore. Miso was about to say something objection, but he was quickly silenced as a billboard sign for The Late Show fell on him, squashing him.

“Me Grimlock! Hate Letterman!” Grimlock shouted from where he lay on his side.

In a flash, Vellinor had retreated to the back of the throne room. “What the hell is Kaarage doing in Hell?” he shouted. “ And where’s Kansai?!!!”

“I don’t know!” Hild replied as she nervously watched Kaarage’s headless body running around. “I tossed Kansai through the TV, and—“

“YOU TOSSED MY HERALD THROUGH A TV SCREEN?!!!” Vellinor gasped.

“HE’D BROUGHT A BOATLOAD OF DRAGON GONADS INTO MY ROOM!” Hild snapped back. “WHAT DID YOU EXPECT ME TO DO???!!!”

“THAT’S NO EXCUSE!!!!” Vellinor shouted back. He turned and began to scrabble madly at the walls. “DON’T YOU HAVE A HIDDEN EXIT HERE OR SOMETHING?!!”

“I’M THE QUEEN OF HELL! WHAT USE WOULD I HAVE FOR A HIDDEN EXIT?!!!” Hild fumed.

“YOU’RE THE QUEEN OF HELL, YOU TELL ME!” The Trickster screamed. He paused for a minute. “WHY ARE WE SHOUTING LIKE THIS ANYWAY?!!!”

Not bothering to reply, Hild turned back to her bodyguard. “Griffith! Deal with Kaarage! Distract him somehow!”

Femto saluted sharply, before turning on Kaarage and raising his sword. “Guardians of Hell—WITH ME!” And with that, he broke into a charge with the departed Band of the Hawk at Kaarage, who was still busy looking for his head.

“Wow, this has been a crappy day so far,” Vellinor muttered under his breath.

“You’re not the one who received a special delivery from your idiot herald today,” Hild grumbled.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

******

Meanwhile, in the Mugen Grounds, the angel headquarters had been in something of a panic. They had recently received a mysterious envelope, with no identity as to its sender save for a large letter V emblazoned on the front. Specialist teams were brought in to make sure the envelope wasn’t booby-trapped, and after careful inspection and deliberation, it was finally opened. Thankfully, there had been no bomb, poisonous gas cloud or doomsday device inside—just a normal letter.



Dear assorted chicken-winged freaks and Christopher Lambert impersonaters,

It has recently come to my attention that two members of my team are currently being held in your custody. (re: Ashley J. Williams and Nosferatu “No-Life King” Alucard). Far from being upset by their detainment, however, I applaud you guys for taking the trouble to keep them under lock and key in contradiction to the arena laws you’re usually supposed to uphold. It is always wonderful to see how reliable and corrupt you fine young officers can be. And no, I am not being sarcastic. Bravo, gentlemen, bravo.

That said, however, if you are holding them because of any association to little old helpless me, then you can stop worrying. As of now, I would formally like to declare that Mr. Ashley J. Williams and Mr. Al Ucard are hereby dismissed from my team. I have found their in-game performances, overall team spirit and willingness to blindly follow orders without question quite disappointing, and have found no alternative but to give them the boot and the finger (in no particular order). Normally, I would come down to Mr. Rayden’s office to make this declaration myself, but pressing business (and your own over-eagerness to arrest fine fellows like myself, not that I mean any offence) have kept me from doing so.

What you decide to do with my two former flunkies is up to you: I am already well on my way to finding fitting replacements for them. As of now, they’re your problem.

Hugs and hand-buzzes,

Vellinor, Trickster-God Extraordinaire, esq.


PS: You needn’t worry about this letter self-destructing at all. Just worry about the hornet I planted in the envelope.


After dealing with the aforementioned hornet that had popped out of the envelope (it stung poor Zerobael before they swatted it, which was a pity, because Zerobael was the one who had an allergic reaction and immediately had to go to the hospital as he broke into hives), the angels debated what to make of this message. On the one hand, this could very well have been a trick on Vellinor’s part to release his agents back onto the Mugen grounds. Furthermore, if Vellinor was indeed changing his team’s roster, then they could still legally hold Williams and Alucard prisoner, since they were no longer held legal protection as arena fighters.

It was Rayden who made the final judgment call. Even if they are no longer part of Vellinor’s team, he said, we still cannot legally hold them. If anything, the very fact that they have been officially dismissed means that our grounds for keeping them prisoner have become more tenuous. We can still keep a careful eye on them, but for now we must release them all the same.

A few minutes later, Ash Williams walked out of the front gates of the angels’ headquarters, blinking a few times from sleep deprivation. The angels had been kind enough to return him his shotgun at the front desk, and had been cordial and polite in releasing him (even though he hadn’t returned their politeness). Even so, Ash felt and looked awful. In part, this was because he hadn’t slept much the previous night. True, he never slept much most nights (since he always had recurring nightmares about that night at the cabin, when the Evil Dead had been unleashed), but this time the nightmare had been a little different.

Ash grimaced as he thought back to his nightmare, which was still glaringly clear in his memory. Like the other nightmares, this one had taken place back at the cabin. This time, however, the Deadites hadn’t attacked him in his dream, but instead had sat back and laughed at him while grinning crazily. It was that creepy way they had silently mocked him, more than anything else, that that had freaked him out. And he also remembered having a dead-ified Lisa, grinning crazily like the rest of them, sneak up on him and hack him to bits with a chainsaw. He had felt pain, and yet, oddly enough, he hadn’t died, even though he had been reduced to a pile of dismembered, bloody body parts. He remembered being hurled into an open grave, and the last thing he had seen was his evil Deadite doppleganger smiling down at him mockingly before turning and kissing Lisa in front of him. And then the earth had fallen over him and then there was blackness…

Ash shook his head. No, it was better if he didn’t think about nightmares. He was out of prison now, and he could finally stretch his legs and go have a beer. Or several—he probably needed it.

“Thought I’d never see the sun again any time soon,” he muttered to himself as he looked up at the red sky.

“I wasn’t missing the sunlight that much, myself,” grumbled a voice behind him as Alucard exited the angel precinct.

“Why am I not surprised,” Ash replied dryly. He glanced back at the vampire. “Hey, why do you think that crazy bastard released us, anyway?”

Alucard frowned.“Vellinor?” The vampire shrugged and pushed up his glasses. “Clearly, he has no use for us any more. Which means he has obviously found suitable replacements for his team.”

“Wow. Fan-friggin-tastic,” Ash grumbled. He didn’t know what to feel more pissed about: the fact that Vellinor had no doubt thrown in some evil, over-powered bastard to replace him, or the fact that he had been so easily replaced and discarded to begin with. Next time he saw him, he was DEFINITELY going to give Vellinor the royal asskicking he deserved.

The Undead-fighting hero flexed his robotic arm. He was definitely sure that that crazy Washu lady had done something to his arm, but he still couldn’t figure out what. He turned back to Alucard. “Anyway, I’m going to try and find that Anzell lady and join her team,” he said. “I’ve gotta do something while I’m stranded in these tournament grounds, and I might as well help out the good guys. Wanna come?”

The vampire gave him a fanged grin. “No thanks, Williams. Even if Lady Anzell does believe my story, its quite plain that her team won’t give me the benefit of the doubt. And after they’ve seen what I am and what I’m capable of, I can’t blame them.”

Ash shrugged. “Eh. Shit happens. So what are you going to do then, now that you’re out?”

The vampire glanced up at the red sky, and grinned slightly, as though savouring the sheer madness that could be seen above. “I have business to take care of, and people to contact,” he replied. “I intend to do what I can to stop Vellinor, even without Lady Anzell’s help. And besides…” his grin widened unsettlingly, “…I might as well enjoy the End Times while I can.”

Ash blinked a few times. “Yeah…” he mumbled. Alucard was alright for a bloodsucker, but he creeped or confused the hell out of him more often than not. With a nonchalant shrug, he turned to leave. “Well….see you then.”

“Try not to screw up too badly, Williams,” the vampire replied with a sneer as he turned and walked away.

Ash stopped in his tracks. “WHAAAT?” He angrily whirled around. “Hey, what the hell did you mean by—“ He stopped when he realized that Alucard wasn’t there any more: the vampire had disappeared from sight altogether.

“Bloodsucking asshole,” he grumbled as he turned and headed back in the direction he was originally going. Now that he was free, it was only a question of figuring out where Team Anzell was located.

He stopped. He could have sworn he heard sounds of a commotion from somewhere near the Fighter’s Lodge. Eh, he might as well check it out. For all he knew, Anzell and her group might be there already…


*******

It didn’t take Alucard long to find a telephone booth near the precinct—or, in this case, a videophone booth. Alucard couldn’t help but smile at how handy this was—especially since he knew that there was one just like it, usable by only one specific person, back in London.

Calmly, he put a coin in and dialed a number, and then re-dialled a second number that put him in to a very, very special directory. After he waited for a few minutes, the automated voice on the other end politely asked that he state his ID and verification code. The vampire did so, and then threw in a few more very, very specific codes as well, just for good measure. This did the trick, and finally, the phone connection began to click and redirect towards the line he was looking for, just as a familiar crest of arms flicked into view on the videophone screen.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

This coat of arms, however, soon changed into the image of a very neat, modest-looking desk in a dimly-lit room. Sitting at this desk was a very familiar, blonde-haired woman, wearing a faded brown business suit that gave her an androgynous look. Thick-rimmed spectacles covered her eyes, catching and reflecting what little light the room had in such as way that enhanced her stern, impassive expression. Slowly, the blonde woman raised a gloved hand and pulled the cigar she was smoking from her mouth.

“You’re late,” was all that Integra Wingates Hellsing said in greeting.

Alucard smiled and bowed respectfully. “My apologies, Master,” he intoned. “I was detained for quite some time by Heaven’s authorities after my capture.”

Integra’s steel expression did not waver. “We’re facing the End Times, Alucard,” she said humourlessly. “Tardiness can’t be excused at a time like this.” Slowly, the director of the Hellsing Organization stuck the cigar back in her mouth and leaned back in her chair. “I take it your observation of the Trickster went well?”

The vampire nodded. “Indeed. And it appears the prediction by the Canterbury Scrolls was correct: Vellinor has gained the servitude of a being who could snuff out all of the gods of Yggdrasil if he so desired.”

“Then it is as we feared,” Integra said. “The Trickster God will indeed be the one to bring about Doomsday.”

Alucard lifted his head so that his eyes leveled with that of his human master. “I should say that remains to be seen, Master,” he said. “From what I’ve observed, he seems more interested in preserving existence than in destroying it, if only so that he can continue to have his fun and games. I can say that he probably will not use this so-called ‘God-Killer’ to wipe out Existence any time soon, though I should be more worried about this being breaking away from Vellinor’s control. Come what may, this is ultimately Heaven’s main concern. Mortals like us are out of our league here.”

The vampire cocked his head to the side slightly. “By the way, how are things in London? I heard vague stories about monster attacks that have been going on down there.”

If Integra’s expression could have become any grimmer, it would have done so. “Those stories were not ill-founded, Alucard,” she replied. “The city and the country have been ravaged by monsters- both by those things the Japanese call “kaiju,” and by those creatures whom Heaven has called ‘Angels.’ The death toll is currently in the hundreds of thousands, and the rest of Europe is in an even worse state. Members of the Justice League and the Avengers have been helping out as best they can against the onslaught, but we’re fighting a losing battle.”

The director of Hellsing tapped her cigar against the ashtray before continuing. “You would be pleased to know, however, that Seras has distinguished herself well in the battles,” she said. “The other week, she mounted a helicopter-borne ladder and took a Kaiju out with a Harkonnen shot to the eye. She’s been elated ever since.”

Alucard’s smile widened. “She is of my blood,” he said. “I would expect nothing less of her. The next time you see her, please tell her that I said hello.”

Stretching slightly, the Nosferatu lazily leaned back against the door of the booth. “In the meantime, have you any fresh orders for me, Master?”

“Indeed.” A definite change came over Integra’s expression now—the faintest hint of amusement came forth. This was usually a good thing, Alucard knew, since a smile on Integra’s lips almost always meant he would be going on a hunt soon. “I have a very special assignment for you, Alucard. You’d be surprised to learn that, in the midst of all the chaos going on down here recently, Iscariot came forward and contacted us.” The smile on Integra’s lips became more definite now. “Believe it or not, they want our help.”

Behind his tinted sunglasses, Alucard’s eyes widened as his fanged grin widened even more. “Oh? Now this is a pleasant surprise.” Section XIII Iscariot, the Vatican’s Undead-hunting agency, had always been a fierce rival of the Protestant Hellsing Organization (a rivalry that had, in the past, led to bloodshed). For the high-and-mighty members of Iscariot to actually ask for help from “godless Protestant heretics” like Hellsing would be unthinkable (and no doubt embarrassing).

“I wish I had been there when they came to beg,” the vampire said with a sneer. “And what, pray tell, would Section XIII Iscariot, ‘the Sword of God’s Will,’ want our help with?”


Next: Link vs. Yugi! (For real this time)

[OverMaster]

Grabbing the Dragon by the Horns: Chizuru Kagura vs. Bowser von Koopa.



Secondary Dome C:


"Let's start with this" the woman extended a hand slightly forward as Hanagata gave a nervous starting countdown. Her adversary, floating up in his ClownCopter, gave her a wide predatory grin down, full of huge fangs and bigger malice.

"Hey, that's totally unfair" Ranma Saotome complained with a loud snort. "That big lug is pilotin' that huge-ass thing so high she can't even reach him. That's just insane!".

"Of course it's unfair! That's the point!!" a still irked Waluigi bellowed from the seat below his, mocking him with several quick hand gestures. "That's the way my bro's team rolls, see, numbskull?! HAH! Your prissy friend's luck is over! She's toast! Roasted! She--".

Ranma, annoyed, silenced him up by slamming a foot down on his face, then turned to Kyo. "Hey, anyway, she doesn't have anything that could hit him so high, does she?".

"Not that I know, but let's wait and see" the older boy pondered quietly. "Relax. If they can't stop those Nuisance freaks, we'll stomp them instead later on".

"GO!!" Hanagata finally shouted, then ran away for his dear life; but not fast enough so the first barrage of bombs immediately thrown by Bowser between bousterous laughs wouldn't send him crashing against a palm tree, from which several huge coconuts fell down on the unfortunate blond's head. "OI!!".

"Ooops! I didn't mean that! I'm sorry! Well, not really!!" the King of the Koopas laughed even more, then fixed his glare down on Chizuru, who unlike the referee, had managed to roll out of the way in time. He snapped his clawed fingers in frustration. "Darn it!!!".

However, far from being fazed by that, he just shot two MechaKoopas down from the smiling vehicle, and they immediately latched down on Chizuru. The woman yelled in pain for a moment, before slapping the mechanic turtles away, kicking one of them away, and grabbing the other and throwing it up back at the ClownCopter; it exploded against its hull causing slight damage.

"Is that the best you can do, Dear? BWA-HA HAH HAH!!" the Koopa King laughed madly again. "Pathetic!! Even that Toad pipsqueak can do it better than you!".

To prove his point, he pressed another button, and the Copter immediately shot a rain of black bowling balls down at the female fighter, who had to jump over them, only to be hit in the face by a Koopa shell launched by the tricky King of Koopas, amidst a deluge of boos and hisses from the audience.

Kagura fell down on the grass, and barely could roll away when Koopa shot a fireball from his outstretched mouth. She rushed to the still dizzy Hanagata's side, grabbed him by the shoulders, and used him as a human shield to block the next fireball.

"OWWIEEE!!".

"Domo arigatou, Hanagata-sama" she formally bowed for him right before unceremoniously throwing him aside. "I'll never forget your brave kindness".

"B-BUT I DON'T REMEMBER OFFERING MYSELF FOR IT!!".

On the Judges' seats, Shinji Ikari blinked. "Ano... Aren't they supposed to never harm the referees at all, and yet both of them have done it already...?".

"Bah, nothing of that can hurt Hanako!" Asuka waved his worries away. "So it doesn't count!".

"Surrender, Lady, you have nothing to do against me!" the reptilian behemoth roared. "I'd hate to have to scar such a cute face like yours!!". He grinned; truly, she was almost as pretty as Peach, in her own way. And she had a similar brave spirit, as well. He was starting to like her, not that it meant he wouldn't squish her if he had to.

"Save me your concerns" Chizuru spat angrily, splitting herself in a real herself and two illusion copies of her persona. For all the good it did her to confuse Bowser; the giant Koopa just bombarded the Arena down with bombs, sending her flying away, landing on a small swamp; she sprang from it all covered in mud, a thin line of blood running down her mouth.

"Very good..." Bowser purred guturally, narrowing his eyes greedily, his Clown Copter hovering and placing itself right over her again. He noticed she had a slightly trembling right leg now, most likely hurt because of the explosion that had thrown her away. He outstretched his mighty arms and challenged, "Come forth, try and hurt me! Come up here, if you can, and beat me, darling! AH, HA HA HAHAH!!".

"That bastard..." Kyo huffed angrily, tightening a fist. "He knows she can't reach him, and he has the guts to make fun of her because of it...".

"Yeah, well, she might as well throw the towel before she's hurt, then, huh?" Ranma sighed. "Spidey or me could reach to him, but there's no way you or her could do it. Unless--". An idea suddenly dawned on him, but right then, one of the giant screens of the stadium blared a triumphal fanfare, signaling what had just happened at another of the Domes; the huge screen showed Mario being hurled out of the ring by Exodia, and then carried away in a stretcher by the medics.

Bowser's attention fully snapped away from his current adversary at that moment, as he casted widened marveled eyes at those images. His jaw fell down. "It-- It can't be...". Then he grinned crazily, and his pupils burned in evil glee. "... YES!!! THE PLUMBER IS DOWN!! THE MEDDLING HUMAN FELL!!! AHH, BWA HA HA HAH!! MY DAY OF GLORY IS COMPLETE NOW!!! NOTHING STANDS IN MY WAY ANYMORE!!!". He raised his giant fists up, feeling like Heaven itself was welcoming him. "BOWSER WILL REIGN SUPREME FROM NOW ON!!".

"Like Hell you will..." Chizuru hissed, and took the chance to quickly jump at one side of a slightly diagonally-shaped trunk of a huge palm tree, and much to the surprise of even Ranma, forcing herself and her hurt leg to the max, ran up it, as fast as she could. In mere seconds, she reached the tree's top, and jumped up high, finally landing on the Clown Copter and on Bowser's head much to his awe. She wasted no time in harshly slapping him across the face. "You VERMIN!! Pretentious fool!! You disgust me!!". She slapped him, and slammed a kick on his stomach and a Moon's Decree on his snout in quick succession, actually making him to wince in pain.

The Clown Copter slightly went down in discontrol when Bowser forgot the manning to reach for another Koopa shell to hit her with, but Kagura, using her speed edge, snatched it from his claws and slammed it down on his own head instead. The force of the impact definitely sent the grinning vehicle spiralling down and crashing into the Savage Land duplicate, where Chizuru jumped back away from the Koopa King, who stumbled out of the damaged Copter, coughing and stunned.

"Let's finish this face to face" the human sternly grumbled, showing her fatigue but also her indomitable will. "No more dishonorful advantages. No more dirty tricks. Just you, me, and the end result".

Bowser still managed a fanged grin. "And the Striker". He reminded her, then threw his head back and howled, "HAPPOSAI!! I SUMMON YOU!!".

"YIIII-PEEEEEEE!!!!" the tiny old pervert zoomed out of Team Nuisance's bunkers and shot himself facefirst against Chizuru's chest, tackling her down while fondling the tired woman's breasts. "OH, BOWSER, HOW COULD YOU! To hurt such a fair maiden, you should be ashamed of yourself! Women aren't for hurting, even in battle, you must be gentle and loving to her...".

"Y-Y-You... YOU CALL THIS 'GENTLE'??!!!" Chizuru slapped the old man away from herself, blushing deeply, as she noticed he somehow had reached under her shirt and now had her bra firmly grabbed into a hand. "YOU MISERABLE PERVERT! GIVE THAT BACK TO ME!!".

"Sorry, but I can't do it! This is a fair reward of battle!" the old man pulled his pipe out of his wrinkled mouth, and then he blurred out of sight, reappearing at one side of Kagura and gently hitting her on a flank with the pipe... sending her flying out of the ring with that mere casual touch.

"Whoa!" Kusanagi gasped. "He really is fast *and* strong, like you said! Even Ignitz would have had problems pulling that sh*t!!!".

"See?" Ranma bitterly grumbled, crossing his arms. "The old freak's no laughing matter. I should know well enough...".

"R-RINGOUT!!" Hanagata popped out from behind a bush, branches and leaving sticking out of his hair everywhere. "KING BOWSER WINS THIS ROUND FOR TEAM NUISANCE!".

"Meh, he'd have been lost without me..." Happosai took a deep smoke from his pipe, and angrily turned to the Koopa Sovereign. "And I won't help you again if you dare to hurt the next lady! That's a shame for any ally of the Anything Goes Master, you big brute!".

"Ah, shut up, Grampa!" Bowser snickered gruffly, rubbing his nose as he eyed Rose, quietly stepping into the Arena at its opposite side. "I won't need you to handle this wacko with the ugly hairdo! I won't even need the Clown Copter!".

The newly arrived woman just smiled at him, wiping a Tarot card out and showing it to both of them. The Fool.

"Allow me to disagree, being of darkness" the female Street Fighter said softly. "Behold, for this is your face if you believe you will win today. The cards have foretold your defeat already".


Next: Painful Music Continues, Blood and No Glory Continues... and Dan Hibiki vs. Killer Croc!

[OverMaster]

Blood and (No) Glory, Part IV: The Hostage Dance.



Right outside the Fighter's Lodge:


"Anyway", Nabeshin finally commented with a weary, cynical sigh, putting his hands inside of his pockets, "We should wrap this fiasco by figuring out a way to put these guys down for good ASAP, otherwise we'll simply be killin' them again and again with no pause 'til they kill us".

"That seems obvious..." Natsuki gave a distrustful look at where Wolverine STILL was slashing away at what remained of Kansai, reducing him to bloody ribbons, "But it's easier said than done. How do we prevent them from regenerating back?".

"There's no known way to do that" Urd had to admit. "Believe me, Washu and me have tested for it with Kaarage, and even after weeks of it, we haven't found how to do it. Of course, we won't be able to pull it off in such a short time now...".

"That's why everyone should get away while they can!" Anzell insisted. "Mr. Logan can't keep that forever, and--".

"Well, then, I'll take it after he's done" Urd grimly said, advancing towards the carnage scene while bolts of power charged around her hands. "Anzell, you take my sisters, Keiichi and Keima away with you. Lord Zauriel, you handle his guardian angel".

"HEY, AREN'T YOU FORGETTING SOMEONE?!?" an offended Tiki shouted from the ground. "BITCHES, YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT KANSAI AND KADACHI, BUT OVERLOOK ME AS IF I'M NOTHING??! WHY, I OUGHTTA--".

"Quiet, you" Bell the Powerpuff Girl stomped a foot down on him, turning him into a splatter of blood and guts once more. "You're just their pet, why should we care about you?".

"I think we should try this..." Zauriel sighed as he thrusted his flaming sword down through the chest of Kadachi, who was beginning to squirm attempting to rise again. "... Just to keep them continuously regenerating, never giving them a chance to fully heal back, simply trying to keep them dead for as long as we can... Otherwise, there is no way to say what will they do until we can properly contain them". He remarked his point by stomping Kadachi's head to bits when the tainted angel tried to move again.

"Isn't that... excessively cruel?" Belldandy seemed aghast. "I'm afraid I must protest! They have their own rights, even if they are--".

"Dammit, Belldandy, you just saw what the God-Killer did to those poor angels!" Urd almost despaired. "We can't allow ourselves to show them any mercy!".

"I'm afraid I must agree with your sister, My Lady" Zauriel sighed, slashing with his sword down again and again at Kadachi's trembling pulped mass each time he tried to revive. "It truly disgusts me, to have to perform such rash actions against sentient beings, but if we don't do it, everyone at these Grounds, including you, might die!".

"They are perverts" the white Powerpuff mumbled bitterly. "They deserve no pity in the first place".

"So, basically, what ya sayin' is..." Wolverine paused for a moment between pants, keeping his claws firmly embedded down into the already unrecognizable mangled body of Kansai, "... all we have to do is to keep those jokers dead for as long as we can? Fine with me. This one won't be revivin' anytime soon with my claws still through his heart... or what passes for it".

"But..." the Norn of the Present still seemed sad and downcast, "We should try to talk this down... P-Perhaps they simply felt threatened... Haven't we all been too agressive to them since they arrived? Maybe we are guilty of those deaths as well, if they felt forced to act in--".

"There's no excuse for them" Nabeshin grumbled crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Even way before arriving here, they acted in willing genocide, and I doubt they came here just for milk and cookies!".

"Agreed" Natsuki Kuga nodded dryly. "Based on what I've been told about these... beings, mercy is nothing but a waste on these monsters".

Belldandy, still hesitating, looked all around, and found almost everyone's dead serious expressions seemingly agreeing with that as well. Only Yukariko, Beenuel and the Mars People seemed to be actually considering the middle Norn's words, although it was hard to say in the case of the Martian, with its expresionless face and all that.

"Go away". She found Urd's reassuring hand on her right shoulder. She looked at her older sister's face, and found a resignated smile on it. "Go with Skuld, Keiichi and the others. Leave this for us, I'll be okay, I swear. Knowing Kaarage, he'll be back at any moment and help us to deal with his counterpart".

"But--" Belldandy's lips quivered a bit, nervously, and her voice came out as a fearful whisper, "Isn't that right what Keima-kun feared about? Urd, if Sempai and him actually do cross paths... wouldn't that be the worst scenario for everyone?".

Urd grimaced at the realization of it, and tried to open her own mouth in an answer, but found nothing to say for once. She stared at Belldandy's worried blue clear eyes, and saw her panic mirroring her own in them. The elder Norn still was at a loss for words when, suddenly, the loud shout came from behind her, and she turned around to see how, all of a brisk sudden, the red pulp that was Kansai healed back to full health in the blink of an eye, still with Wolverine's claws inside of him, much to the discomfort and shock of the X-Man. The huge NODE sprang back to his feet, pulling the much shorter mutant up with him, and, without dislodging the metal claws from himself, grabbed Logan by the head, like a cruel man grabbing a puppy, and held him up for everyone to see, catching him in a wrestling hold against himself, holding a massive armored fist against one of the Canadian's temples.

"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE, CHANGE OF PLANS!!" Kansai yelled. "I'VE A HOSTAGE NOW! ALL OF YOU, STEP AWAY FROM ME OR SHORTY GETS IT! AN ADAMANTIUM SKULL WON'T PROTECT HIM FROM A STAR-SHATTERING BLOW TO HIS HEAD!".

"WHAT??!!" Wolverine howled furiously. "You must be joking, bub! I'm no one's hostage!! Now lemme go, or I'll gut you like a fish aga-- UGHH--". He had to gasp in pain when Kansai tightened his grasp on him.

"No more of that, Hairy" the God-Killer boomed in a threat. "You're the best one there is at what you do, and what you'll do will be to stay quiet and be a good hostage, mmkay? Now, all of you clowns, let Kadachi and Tiki go or say goodbye to Fleabag here".

"Whoa, Kansai, you're badass for once!" an impressed Tiki peeked out from below Bell's sole. "Not bad for someone who's never taken a hostage before!!".

"Well, shucks, I've watched a lot of action movies, you know" the NODE shrugged his immense shoulders and chuckled dumbly. "It came out very cool, didn't it? Heh heh, huh huh".

"You... You've done this for ages, if you really are half as old as Kaarage..." Urd's eyebrows twitched a bit, nervously, "You have been pillaging Multiverses for untold eons... AND THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YOU TAKE A FRIGGIN' HOSTAGE?!".

"Um, yeah, usually, we just kill everyone from the get-go and leave no eyewitnesses, it's just easier that way..." Kansai commented rather matter-of-factly, as it talking about the weather, with no particular malice, but neither any regret. "But it's not like any of that matters now, righto? Now, just let my buddies to go and we'll walk away in peace, capice? Refuse... and this runt will be the lucky one, 'cause he'll be the first one to die... and the one to suffer the less...".

With a grunt, Logan himself replied by sinking his claws even deeper into Kansai's insides. The God-Killer then yelped like a schoolgirl, and his goggles overflowed with sudden tears of abject pain. "EEEEK!!! HEY, I'M BEING NICE TO YOU, AFTER ALL! DON'T BE SO UNGRATEFUL!!" Kansai said. "Why can't you be a good hostage and just stay put while I fix this mess?! Why is everyone against me?! Can't a guy simply try to get through living without getting nothing but disrespect from everyone???!!" he whined, rocking back and forth, fountains of blood splurting from the claw wounds. "THIS HURTS LIKE HELL, YA KNOW! I'M A VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCES HERE!! I DIDN'T EVEN ASK FOR ANY OF THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE--".

As he ranted and ranted madly, still not letting Logan to go, Tiki in the meanwhile buried his own head between his deformed paws, feeling a major headache coming up.



Next: Crisis in Crescendo!

[OverMaster]

Bump. Tomorrow, Mara gets her turn at karaoke, while the whole Tokyo underground closes in to Team Nifelheim!

[OverMaster]

Painful Music, Continuation: Demonic Noise.



Tokyo:


Rei sing-sang happily to herself, in that way both Mara and Harley hated so much, as the demoness took her place at the karaoke machine, and the tainted angel took notes in a small pocketbook. The results the machine had given so far: 95% for Rei herself, and a 71% for Harley. "I'm the be-eest, far from the re-eest. Go ahead, be my gue-eest, but you won't pass the te-eest" she hummed with a goofy vacant little grin in her pale face.

Mara snorted in disgust; she knew that was directed to her. Not like she really cared, anyway. Deciding to ignore the young punk, she ran a finger over the list of songs at the machine. "Let's see... something that isn't too sappy or fluffy... something befitting me...".

"We don't have all day!" the Joker shouted from his seat, prompting a new grunt from her. Finally, she settled for a song. "Okay, let's do it" the blonde mumbled as the first accords of the music began to sound, and Joker, Rei and Nagi sat upright in expectation.

Mara took in a deep breath, and started with the lyrics displayed before her eyes. Damn, she felt so stupid. The clowns might have no problems with that kind of idiotic stuff, but she sure had! "Ah..." she tentatively started, "Hirusagari no shakou goshi ni michite'ru zawameki yuubae sasu GARASU goshi ni yurete'ru tokimekikagiri areba yume mo tada setsunaku. Hey Mr. Dandy, Hey Mr. Joy. Kagayaki nagare nagareru. Hey Mr. Dandy, Hey Mr. Joy. Nakushita ai no omosa yo...".

Nagi Homura cringed. "Well, Priss Asagiri, she isn't" he dryly commented.

"She sings like a cat being tortured to death" Joker rolled his eyes around and leaned back on his chair. He then whipped out a recorder and pressed the PLAY button. "Ah, blackmail material. Excellent" the mad clown chuckled.


Outside:


The groups gathered around the block, hidden in ambush between the wreckage, had grown larger, and better armed, for the last few minutes. Most of them were men dressed in black, as best as the current disarray status of the whole city would allow them to. Men carrying guns, many of them with large scars across their faces. The top of the surviving scum, the fittest of the Tokyo underworld.

Yakuza, starting to adapt to a world gone mad in its death throbbings.

"That... sounds awful" one of them whispering while listening to the amplified sounds coming from inside the bar. "What kind of people is that, anyway? Are you sure they are worth our time?".

"Just look at that huge thing they have there, Shinichiro" a larger man discretely pointed to the Orphan yawning next to the door. "Anyone who can manipulate something like that, and bring light to Tokyo after all of this, is no laughing matter. We'd better either recruit them or rub them off before they make another move".

"If the Boss says so..." the first man grumbled. "But we'll need extra muscle to take on that beast in the first place. Where are the freaks now, anyway? They should--".

"We are here" a deep male voice took him by surprise, coming from behind them. The mobsters turned around to face a tall, imposing dark figure, with several others following it across the ruins. "Is there any problem, mojo?" the first newcomer gruffly asked, in an almost animalistic manner, the manner of an angry feral thing.

"N-no, none now you're here... Sir...".

"Good" the hairy tall stranger casted sharp malign eyes in direction to the karaoke bar. "So, is that the monster you want us to destroy, huh? No problem-mojo!! My new Robo Mojo will take care of it very quickly!" he promised. "I calculate no more than seven minutes for it!".


Inside the bar:


"Hey Mr. Dandy, Hey Mr. Joy
kagayaki nagare nagareru
Hey Mr. Dandy, Hey Mr. Joy
nakushita ai no omosa yo...
(Babe!)
Hey Mr. Dandy, Hey Mr. Joy...".

Mara breathed in again as the music finally stopped, thanking Morningstar for the end of that odious chore. She raised hopeful eyes to the screen with the results, and immediately frowned deeply.


75%


"Just 75%?!?!?" she howled. "That damn thing's rigged!!".

"HEY!" Harley Quinn shrieked. "NO FAIR, PUDDIN'! Why does she get a better score than me, with a voice much more awful than mine?!?".

"Maybe because she handles the language better, duh!" the Joker snapped, shaking his head wildly. Then he seemed to slump down in defeat. "Drat, what a disaster. You all stink on ice... Only Rei has given something close to a decent performance so far...".

"YAY ME!" the albino laughed.

"Well..." Nagi smiled, standing up and dusting his clothes off. "Since all the ladies have had their turn by now, I guess it's our turn, huh? Please, Joker-san, let me go first! I love karaoke!".

"Eh, sure, whatever" the Clown Prince waved a gloved hand in his direction, dismissively. "Give it a shot. You surely can't do it worse than the Bimbo Squad... I hope".

"Nice!" Nagi walked cheerfully to the machine and cleared his throat. Then he snapped his fingers. "But first, Joker-san, give me a costume too! I don't want to be the only one left without cosplay!".

Joker grinned evilly. "Oh, sure, as you wish, pal...". And he waved the other hand around a bit. Right then, Nagi's clothes instantly changed... to a black set of female lingerie. "Happy now? I think that sort of suits you well...".

Rei and Harley immediately fell down bursting in sudden laughter. And Goenitz and Mara quickly averted their eyes in utter, absolute disgust.


Next: The Horror of Nagi's singing, and Dan meets Croc!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Just letting people know that Link vs Yugi might take longer than I expected, since the file I was writing the fight on was accidentally deleted. That, and my laptop is acting flunkily-- I think I'll have to get it replaced. In the meantime, I'll try to post the next fight as soon as possible.

[J Dog]

Just letting people know that Link vs Yugi might take longer than I expected, since the file I was writing the fight on was accidentally deleted. That, and my laptop is acting flunkily-- I think I'll have to get it replaced. In the meantime, I'll try to post the next fight as soon as possible.

Hey, it's no problem. Try to fix that first, then post.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Ultimate Power: Yugi vs. Link

“BEGIN!”

No sooner had the Tenchi Budokai Announcer shouted this than Link had burst into a green flash of movement as he darted towards Yugi, his sword raised for a slashing blow. If I can just knock him out early, the Hero of Time thought, then I can end this match before I have to deal with Exodia.

Yugi remained as calm and impassive as usual as Link charged towards him, A second later, a shadow descended over Link, and he instinctively spun to the side just in time to avoid being turned into a pancake by a descending giant golden foot. Link landed back on his feet in a ready crouch, cursing as he saw Exodia position itself between its opponent and its master.

Dorado blinked in surprise. “Wha? I thought you said Exodia would be gone for this round, Jack?” he asked.

Jack stared in confusion at the battleground. “Hmmm, I didn’t think Exodia would stay active on the basis of a technicality,” he muttered.

“What do you mean, Jack?” Tiffany asked.

“Exodia can only be used for one match, after which he will disappear and have to be reassembled,” Jack explained. “However, I think what’s going on here is simply an extended match. Most Duel Monsters matches are just one-on-one battles between individual duelists, but what we have here is an ongoing battle with multiple competitors and an elimination system. My guess is that because this is still technically one match, Exodia’s ‘one-use-only’ rule hasn’t come into effect yet.”

For a minute, the two members of Team Stallwall stared mutely at their de facto leader.

“Sorry, you lost me after ‘Exodia,’ Dorado said.

Jack sighed. “Somehow I knew I would,” he muttered.

“Exodia, attack!” Yugi commanded.

With a low growl, Exodia brought its foot down on Link, who was forced to call on his agility to dart out of the way. Spinning, Link slashed the Master Sword hard down across Exodia’s heel. Much to Yugi’s surprise, Exodia grunted and took a step away from Link. The King of Games could just make out a crack in Exodia’s heel, faint blue soul-energy seeping out through the hairline wound.

Takato’s jaw dropped in surprise. “Link….hurt him?”

That sword pierced Exodia’s armour, he realized. As long as he holds that sword, Link will be fighting on even terms with my monster. I’ll have to go all out and defeat Link as quickly as possible.

“Exodia! Take him down!” Yugi roared.

With an earth-shattering roar, Exodia brought its fist slamming down towards Link. Once again, however, the Hyrulian reacted with amazinging agility, leaping over Exodia’s fist as it shattered the ground where it once stood, and, upon landing in a crouch on the monster’s wrist, began running up its arm towards the creature’s head. Alarmed, Exodia’ swung its arm to the side in an effort to shake Link off, but the Hero of Time leapt off at the last moment, his leap propelling him towards Exodia’s exposed chest.

This is for you, Zelda, he thought as he unleashed a devastating series of sword-slashes at Exodia’s chest. The crowd watched, awed as Link was seemingly surrounded by a flashing spiral of silver as he unleashed a hundred strikes with the Master Sword, causing Exodia to roar and stagger back. Kicking off against the monster’s chest, Link avoided the thing’s swiping fist and plummeted downwards, deftly landing on his feet in a crouch. Exodia’s chest was scored with crisscrossing slice marks, each one glowing with leaking soul energy, as a testament to Link’s onslaught.

“He’s actually beating it!” Samus exclaimed. “We might win this!”

Yugi grimaced. Link was simply too fast and too agile for Exodia to land a solid hit on, and while the Hero of Time was only doing minimal damage to the ancient monster so far, the mere fact that he was hurting Exodia meant it might be only a matter of time before he pulled out a win. He could not let that happen.

“Attack the ground around him, Exodia!” he commanded. With a grunt, Exodia brought a fist slamming down just a few metres away from Link, splintering the concrete floor and causing it to crumble outwards as the tremor of the impact ripped the floor apart. Cursing, Link tried to leap free, but quickly discovered that that had been just what Yugi had been anticipating: Exodia’s other fist came slamming down in his path, sending up a shockwave that slammed into Link in mid-leap and blew him backwards. Caught in midair, Link could only barely avoid Exodia’s swinging arm, which nonetheless caught him a very heavy glancing blow and sent him hurtling across the arena.

Righting himself at the last moment, Link landed on his feet and grimaced: his right side burned with pain from where Exodia had gotten a glancing hit. With a roar, Exodia’s fist came swinging down again. Cursing, Link recovered just in time to leap backwards, slicing out with the Master Sword as he did so. The enchanted blade sliced a neat line across Exodia’s fist as it crashed into the floor, but Link didn’t have time to follow it up before the backlash of the attack slammed into him, hurling him across the arena once again. Link barely managed to right himself in time, landing on his feet perilously close to the arena’s edge.

I can’t keep this up, the Hero of Time thought to himself. Even though the Master Sword can hurt that thing, I’m not doing nearly enough damage to even slow it down. I’m going to need backup.

“Samus!” he shouted as he sprang forward in a charge. “Help me out!”

“I’m on it!” Samus shouted as she rolled into the arena at top speed.

Yugi leaned back confidently as the two members of Team Smash charged towards Exodia. He already knew what was going to happen, so he didn’t need to summon Rockman at all—doing so would be adding unnecessary injury to his opponents, and he wanted to minimize the amount of damage inflicted on the opposing team after seeing how badly Mario had been hurt.

Predictably, Link dodged Exodia’s swiping hand and leapt up, slashing the ancient monster across the chest. Enraged, Exodia tried to swat away at Link, forcing him to dodge. This distraction, however, gave Samus the distraction she needed to charge up her Omega Cannon for a second time.

“This is for Mario, bastard!” she shouted, before unleashing the full force of the Omega Beam at Exodia at point-blank range. For a minute, the whole arena was bathed in a blue-white glow as Samus unleashed a massive blast of superheated energy at her opponent.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Then, as the beam died down, the crowd collectively gasped as the smoke cleared. Exodia turned to face Samus, slightly scorched in some areas, but unhurt. That thing had just taken a point-blank attack powerful enough to potentially raze the whole arena to the ground, and it didn’t even seem hurt!

“Oh sh—“ was all that Samus managed to say before Exodia’s palm slammed into her. The bounty hunter was sent hurtling backwards in a red thunderbolt before she slammed forcefully into the arena wall, nearly shattering it on impact.

“SAMUS!” Link cried as he saw his teammate slump unconscious to the ground, before realizing that he shouldn’t be distracted at a time like this, and instinctively dodged. While Exodia’s house-sized fist did not catch him with its full force, the backlash of the impact did, slamming into him with the force of a speeding truck. Link nearly blacked out as he hit the ground with a thud, the impact dislocating his shoulder in an explosion of pain.

“It’s no use, Link!” Yugi said from his platform as Link struggled to get up. “You can’t defeat Exodia, no matter how hard you might try! Even with your Master Sword, you are simply outmatched! I don’t want you to suffer unnecessary pain, so for your own sake, surrender while you still can!”

Link coughed as he staggered back up to his feet, clutching his dislocated shoulder. “N-no,” he managed to say. “I already said from the beginning that I wouldn’t hold back, and I meant it. Not…not while Zelda, Mydna, or anyone else in my realm can still be saved!”

A slow smile crept across the Hyrulian’s face as he held the Master Sword in a ready stance. “Besides…you’re wrong when you say I can’t beat your monster. Just watch me.”

It was then that Link’s sword suddenly began to glow with a brilliant light. Yugi’s eyes widened slightly as the glow soon enveloped Link, surrounding him in a coruscating nimbus of arcane power. He could have sworn that he briefly saw a strange, triangular symbol light up on Link’s forehead.

He’s using some sort of hidden power, the Pharaoh realized. This couldn’t be good: given that Link’s sword-slashes had actually succeeded in hurting Exodia, Yugi didn’t want to find out what this unsealed power could do. He’d have to end this match now.

“Exodia,” he shouted, “OBLITERATE!”

With an earth-shattering roar, Exodia raised its hand, a sphere of raw power radiating around its palm. A second later, a titanic blast of arcane energy erupted from Exodia’s hand, blinding the entire audience as it shot towards the glowing Link.

That is, until Link raised his Master Sword and unleashed a massive energy blast of his own as he let loose with the full power of the Triforce. The audience gasped as the two massive magical blasts collided in the center of the arena, the backlash of their collision bowling over everything that remained standing in the Metal Gear hangar.

“Holy cow!” Lan gasped as the two beams pressed against one another in the center of the arena, the pressure of the two forces cuasing the ground beneath them to shake and crack. Even here, behind the shielded stands, he could feel the waves of heat being thrown out by the raw, arcane power being unleashed. “This is just insane!”

“I agree!” Ash exclaimed. “If those two aren’t careful, they’ll blow up the whole stadium!”

The crowd watched tensely as a miniature sun seemed to form in the middle of the battlefield as the two powerful beams strained against one another. Those with excellent (or even infared) vision would have noticed that Exodia’s surface was beginning to crack under the pressure. Link looked no better: his brow was beaded with sweat, and it looked like the blast was steadily draining him, physically and spiritually. Any minute now, it seemed like Link would collapse out of sheer exhaustion.

On his balcony, the Player grimaced. It had come to a point where Link, against all of his expectations, had unleashed a Triforce god-blast at Exodia. He tensed when he noticed something that only someone with an understanding of arcane blasts would notice, however: a sphere of coruscating energy was beginning to form between the two beams, and was steadily growing in size. The young god gritted his teeth: the pressure of the two beams pressing against one another was causing a buildup of energy that could go critical at any moment, taking a huge chunk of the arena with it.

I have to stop this match….I have to warn them…

A sound akin to a giant firecracker going off told the Player that he was too late. The entire arena was engulfed in a brilliant light for a second, before the energies unleashed by Exodia and Link suddenly blasted backwards in a titanic explosion. Link didn’t even have time to dodge before the shockwave hit him and blasted him backwards, while Exodia could only give a dying roar before it was instantly vaporized.

“YUGI!” Ash screamed as he saw his teammate scrabbling backwards to avoid the explosion. He was too late, however, as a second later the duelist blown off his feet by the shockwave and sent flying into a charred bulkhead, before he was obscured by a cloud of dust and flying debris.

Eventually, the explosion died down, leaving a massive cloud of dust covering the arena. Team Duellists watched the dust cloud nervously, looking for a sign, however, vague, that their teammate was all right.

“I can’t see anything,” Ash said. “What if…what if he’s….”

“He can’t be!” Lan cut in. “He…he just can’t be!” The despair in Lan’s voice, however, told Ash otherwise.

Eventually, the dust cloud began to part, revealing the devastation that had been wrought by the explosion in full, gruesome detail. A massive, charred circle of scorched earch indicated where the explosion had originated, while everything around it was little more than a plain of fused glass. Of Exodia, there was no sign, by Link was visible, lying unmoving near the arena’s edge. The front of his body was burnt, and the Master Sword lay on the ground inches away from his unfeeling fingers. At the opposite end of the arena, Yugi lay slumped on the ground, blood dribbling from a nasty cut on his forehead. He looked smaller and younger now—his older persona of the Pharaoh had receded. But he was definitely out cold: of that, there was no doubt.

“YUGI! NO!” Takato cried. Paramedics were already rushing into the arena, putting the two fallen fighters onto stretchers. The judges had burst into a hubbub of frantic chatter, and the crowd seemed to be in a general state of shock. In his balcony, the Player’s shoulders slumped dejectedly. He had not wanted this. He had wanted his fighters to prove themselves, yes, but not to all but kill themselves in the process.

What the hell am I doing? he thought to himself. I’m letting mortal fighters—brave, heroic people—nearly kill each other for the sake of my Revolution. How can I justify this? How can I justify the pain that was inflicted here today?”

“This….this is ridiculous!” Dorado stammered. “They both knocked each other out! That was just brutal!”

“And blew up a huge chunk of the arena while they were at it,” Jack muttered in shock. “I thought this was going to be a rough match, but…”

The Tenchi Budokai Announcer, meanwhile, had been in an animated discussion with the judges. After a minute, he nodded to them and walked back to the centre of the arena, hopping slightly as he made his way across the still-hot fused glass of the arena floor.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” he exclaimed. “Because both Link and Yugi Mutou have suffered a simultaneous knockout, the judges have declared that this match is a DRAW!”

A murmur of discontent rose from the audience before the Announcer continued.

“THEREFORE,” he shouted, “the next fighters from both teams will advance forwards to battle each other—Ash Ketchum, representing Team Duellists, and Kirby, representing Team Smash!”

In Team Smash’s stands, Samus, who had recently been brought back to consciousness by Kirby, watched bitterly as paramedics took the badly burnt Link away. Reaching up with her one good arm (the other had been broken by Exodia), the bounty hunter pulled her helmet off, causing her singed blonde hair to spill out over her shoulders, before she turned to Kirby.

“Kirby, I’m in no shape to continue,” she told the pink creature. “My suit’s too badly damaged to operate effectively, and my arm’s broken. Once you go in there, I won’t be able to give you any help.”

Kirby nodded understandingly and gave Samus what vaguely passed for a thumbs-up. With a determined look on its face, Kirby leapt over the barricade and began to walk into the arena.

At the same time, Ash began to walk into the arena as well, Pikachu perched on his shoulder. “Good luck, Ash,” Lan said as his teammate walked away. “It’s all down to you now.”

“You can do it, Ashmon!” Guilmon added enthusiastically.

Ash looked back, gave his team a smile and a grim nod, and walked towards the centre of the arena.

This is it, he thought to himself. I’ll have to win this…for Yugi, for Takato and the others, and for Mom, Brock and Misty as well. I can’t fail them.

Eventually, Ash and Kirby stood opposite one another, staring one another down. The pink creature reminded Ash vaguely of a cross between a Jigglypuff and a Clefairy. He’d have to be on guard, though: as small as it was, Kirby might actually turn out to be the most powerful member of Team Smash.

“Ready?” the Announcer asked. Both Ash and Kirby nodded to him. “Right!” The Announcer took a step back. “TEAM DUELLISTS! VERSUS! TEAM SMASH! ROUND FOUR! FIGHT!”


Next: Aftermath in the Citadel, Havoc in Hell, and Alita wakes up!

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Double-post, ignore please.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

A vampire, a HiME and an android walk into a bar...

“I don’t see why we have to leave anyway,” Zarabeth huffed as she and Marv made their way through the crowd towards the Citadel’s exit. The spectators were eying her appreciatively as they passed, some simply because of how attractive she looked, others because of her recent victory in the arena, but they were nonetheless keeping their distance—the first few of them who had tried to get her autograph, a picture, or even a free grope had already been punched through the roof. That, and none of them wanted to risk anything while Marv was at her side.

“Like ya don’t know already,” the Sin City thug replied. “Anzell and the others will probably be wanting us back there to help look for those little gem shards, so there’s no point in staying here until next round.”

Zarabeth shot him a bitter look. “In case you’ve forgotten,” she said, “there’s already a gem shard down here in Cobblepot’s keeping,” she said. “How do we know he won’t try to run away with it if we leave?”

Marv simply chuckled. “He won’t,” he replied. “He knows that if he does so, I’ll come after him, and he does NOT want that.”

The vampire bit her lower lip. “Aren’t you the least bit curious about the next match?” she grumbled. “You could wind up facing either that ugly man….woman….thing….or that Lizardman.” Personally, she knew from experience how viciously Lizardmen could fight, and she would have liked to see what this one was capable of.

“Meh, I can take either of ‘em,” Marv grunted. He slowly grinned. “Never thought you’d be so worried about my well-being.”

“Go jump off a bridge,” Zarabeth grumbled in reply. Normally, she would have been in a better mood at the moment—after all, she had just won an impressive victory over a formidable opponent (and one whom she had become quick friends with) and had advanced to the second round. But her mood had soured when she and Marv had noticed the name at the bottom of the fights list. That bastard the Joker was here, fighting in this competition, and no doubt he was going to pull every dirty trick in the book to win.

Let him try then, she thought to herself. I’ll be more than happy to slice a scumbag like him to pieces.

“Jeez, sorry,” Marv said. “I also wanna get out of here before the Penguin finds a reason to kick us out.”

“What to you mean?” Zarabeth asked as she absent-mindedly punched away a man who was trying to grope her.

“I mean you can’t ever sit still without trying to pick a fight with someone,” Marv replied.

Zarabeth shot Marv a dirty look. “Don’t be ridiculous!” she snarled. “I do NOT go and try to pick a fight with every passerby who just so happens to look like a fightrer or be wearing a sword—“

She stopped all of a sudden, and looked visibly tense. Marv was about to ask what was going on when he noticed that she was flexing her fingers, as she often did when she was itching to draw her swords. Pure instinct that had developed after years of living on the streets made Marv glanced backwards. A young pigtailed girl, dressed in some weird schoolgirl outfit with this gigantic sword strapped to her back, was standing with her back turned to them, looking similarly tense. An older teenage girl with orange hair was standing next to her, looking similarly befuddled. “Mikoto-chan?” she asked her friend. “What is it?”

It was then that everything clicked into place for Marv: Zarabeth and that girl had passed each other by just now, had noticed one another’s swords, and were now preparing to fight a duel, here, in the middle of a crowded stadium. Great. Just bloody great.

Abruptly, Zarabeth and the girl turned to face one another, eying one another intently. Marv felt the air grow cold between them: any minute now, they would start drawing their swords. He’d have to stop them, before they—

Zarabeth suddenly smiled, causing Marv’s fears to dissipate. “That’s a nice sword,” she said with a fanged grin. “What’s your name, girl?”

“Mikoto Minagi,” the girl replied with a feral grin of her own. “With any luck, I’ll be facing you next round, Zarabeth-san.”

There was the sudden sound of laughter from further to the side. “Your misplaced optimism is quite amusing, Miss Minagi,” a young female voice said.

The four of them whirled around in the direction of the voice, Zarabeth and Mikoto nearly reaching for their blades. Before them stood a young girl, probably ten or eleven, with long blonde hair and dressed in a brown shoolgirl’s uniform. She had an amused look on her face, as though there was something funny about the whole picture. Next to her stood a taller, older girl with green hair. At least, she LOOKED like a girl: Marv noticed all sorts of funny lines along her visible body parts, a pair of wacky antennae rising up from just above her ears, and a strange plastic sheen to her skin. She was an android, just like the one Zarabeth fought.

“What the hell?” both Marv and the orange-haired girl said at once.

Zarabeth’s mouth curled back into a fanged snarl. There was a definite smell of magic about this girl, and the inescapable smell of Undeath. She was a vampire, just like her. She readied herself, and prepared to hurl some throwing knives in case she tried anything. “Who the hell are you?”

The girl bowed. “Evangeline A.K. McDowell, Student No. 26 of the Mahora Magical Academy,” she replied. “This is my assistant, Student No. 10, Chachamaru Karakuri.” At this, the android simply nodded.

“McDowell?” The orange-haired girl tensed up. “Mikoto’s future opponent? What do you want?”

“Merely to inspect my future competition, Miss Tokiha,” the vampire girl replied with her ever-present smirk. “And I must say, I’m quite pleased to see both of my future opponents here.”

“Don’t talk like you’ve already won!” Mikoto growled. “Save the bragging for when we actually fight!”

Evangeline chuckled. “I have absolutely no intention of bragging, Miss Minagi,” she replied. “However, I must say, if swordplay is the best you have to offer, then I will be sorely disappointed.” She turned to Zarabeth. “And as for you, Miss Zarabeth…the magical abilities you displayed in the arena were quite impressive. However, you still do not have a full grasp of the magical arts as an experienced vampire should. Without any improvement on your part, I sadly don’t anticipate your chances of victory later on.”

“Are you done?” Zarabeth spat. “Because I have no time to spend trading banter with a spoiled little girl.” And without a further, word, Zarabeth turned her back and stormed off.

Mikoto decided to take her cue from Zarabeth. “Come on, Mai-chan,” she said as she walked off in the opposite direction. Marv and Mai glanced at their respective teammates, then at each other, shrugged, and followed them off.

A minute later, Marv and Zarabeth had exited the Citadel and were entering the main streets of the Mugen grounds. “Hey Z, you aren’t bothered by what that creepy little girl said, are ya?” he said.

“The hell I am,” the vampire spat. Inwardly, though, she couldn’t help but wonder if that girl was right. She only had a very faint grasp of magic, but then she was still a novice compared to many of the more ancient vampires of her realm (many of whom were several hundred years old, whereas she was only seventy-five). She was in an arena full of demigods, monsters, and people capable of doing things no mere human was capable of. Maybe…just maybe…she ought to try to gain better control over her magical abilities somehow—

She stopped abruptly when she saw a familiar red-coated figure walking down the street. “It’s him,” she snarled.

Marv froze when he saw the figure as well, just before it turned and disappeared around the corner. “What the hell’s he doing walking free?” he growled, fingering Gladys.

“Hell if I know,” Zarabeth replied. “Those idiot angels must have let him go!”

Marv’s scarred face became set into a bitter frown. “What are we waiting for, then?” he said. “Let’s follow the bastard.”

Just as Marv was about to walk off after Alucard, however, Zarabeth’s hand shot out. “Don’t be an idiot!” she hissed. “You couldn’t sneak up on a deaf man! I’ll go after him; YOU get Anzell!”

The Sin City bruiser stared incredulously at his teammate. “You crazy or what?” he growled. “You saw what he can do. He’ll eat you for breakfast!”

“You forget, moron, I’m a vampire,” Zarabeth replied. “I can heal myself if necessary. And besides, what the hell will we do if he BITES you, idiot?”

With that, Zarabeth started to walk off in the direction Alucard had gone. “Let Anzell know what happened,” she said. “And don’t screw up!” And without a further word, she disappeared into the crowd.

For a chick, she’s got balls, Marv thought to himself as he gave a nonchalant shrug and walked off towards Team Skuld’s headquarters. Lucille would have definitely had the hots for her if she were alive….


Next: Not All Is Well In Hell

[OverMaster]

Dan Hibiki vs. Killer Croc, Prelude.



The Underground Citadel, Oswald Cobblepot's Arena:


The tall boy with his hair bleached blond sighed as he pulled some cash out from his pocket, counted it, and finally paid the boy who was selling ice-cream. Then the small redhead with the octopus pigtails anxiously received the twin cones of sweetness, quickly starting to wolf down on one of them. All the while cuddling closer to him, a fact the other, dark haired boy sitting next to Tate noticed, and couldn't help but to chuckle at.

"What's so funny?" Yuuichi Tate casted a cold glare on him.

"Nothing" Reito Kanzaki/Minagi shook his head, still smiling. "I just... was reminded of something, that's all".

"Oniichan, thank you very much!" the girl looked up at Tate then, beaming a huge smile at him. "Ah, I'm feeling SO glad we came here instead of going to the Lodge with Kuga! This is almost like a date..." she giggled, prompting a groan from him.

"Just don't go overboard with it, Shiho..." Tate warned, not really in the mood to discuss. "Remember, we are starting to get short on money, and things are getting more expensive with each passing day".

"I always could take a job here, if that helps you, Oniichan" Shiho Munakata offered helpfully. "That Penguin guy told me I could make for a good receptionist, that I was cute enough for it--".

"Hell, no" he rushed to discard the idea, looking adamant about it. "No way you're going to work for such a scumbag!". He still felt pretty defensive of the girl who was like a little sister for him, even after all the events of the Festival. "We'll find a way to make ends meet, any other way...".

"Perhaps now Kazahana-san is back with us, she will lend us some money" Reito mused, more serious now. He still felt somewhat he could not put his finger on was wrong about Principal Mashiro, but any help would be welcomed at this point. His mood brightened when he saw Mai and Mikoto approaching. "Ah, you're back at last! But... why the worried faces...?".

"Other than the God-Killer matter, you mean?" Mai sighed as she slumped down on a seat between his and Tate's, with Mikoto going straight to snatch one of the icrecream cones from Shiho's hands and shoving it down her mouth in a single gulp much to Munakata's shock. "We just ran into Mikoto's next two opponents, and both of them seem to be very sure they're going to win. And after watching what just happened in that battle with the android...". She did not want to finish the sentence, but the worry still was evident in her dangling tone.

"Ah, who cares about that, Mai-chan" Mikoto seemed totally unfazed by it all, licking some leftovers of icrecream from her own lips. "I'll beat both of them, and then win this Tourney for you. We have to trust ourselves, right, Ani-ue?" she asked her older brother.

"Very true, Mikoto-chan" Reito nodded, satisfied.

"Yes, well, but still, you must be very careful" Mai added. "That Joker guy is in the list of contestants now, too". She saw how Shiho suddenly gasped in horror and paled wildly at the mention of that name that had haunted her nightmares, but decided to ignore her, even when the terrified girl inched closer to a grumbling Tate looking for his protection. "The men Natsuki asked to about him told her he's as evil as they come, and he has... killed dozens of people. Just like the croc-man who's about to fight". She frowned. "They come from the same city, the city Cobblepot comes from, too".

"Looks like that city is a real breeding ground for the wicked, then" Reito observed thougtfully. "And speaking of the Devil...".

They all looked down then, to see how, between the howls and cheers of the crowd, a giant of man, a mountain of muscles and green scaly skin, stepped out of a bunker and walked for the ring, wearing only a pair of old, worn out jean pants. He looked really sinister, and powerful, with arms thick as oaks, and clawed hands. His eyes looked far more reptilian than human, with thin pupils shaped like almost perfect verticals; no hair on his head or any part of his body at all. Bulging biceps and stony torso, that went up and down with his deep, gruff breathing at short intervals. The man-beast irradiated fear and respect all around himself.

When he hopped up into the ring, even Ataru Moroboshi, acting as referee again, with his face all covered by band-aids, and a black eye courtesy of Zarabeth, inched back away a couple of steps. Only the pink-clad man at the opposite corner of he arena seemed unafraid, smiling from ear to ear as he fastened his black belt on.

He was feeling really lucky now. After the Bug plague had struck, his body, turned female by Cosette Sara's potions, had been magically restored to its male state. The change had stayed in even after the Bugs were wiped away, maybe because Dan being a man (or what passed for one) was a part of the natural order of things after all.

He did not care about the specifics. All he knew now was he was going to stomp that Gotham loser's slimy ass into the bayou he had crawled out from. He struck a classical Saikyo Taunt Pose, and yelled, "YA-HOOO!! So, you finally got over your fear and came here, Greenie! Good! Now I won't have to chase you around to make me my own pair of new croc leather shoes! Thank you, pal, I really mean it!!".

"HAW!!" Killer Croc laughed in a roar, showing a multitude of pointy yellowed teeth at his opponent. "Them's some funny last words, girly-man! You look awfully confident for someone who's about to have his face caved in! You have a death wish, or your just too stupid to notice the ass kicking you're in for?".

"Ass-kicking? GET REAL!!" Dan laughed back. "Come here, Big Guy! Let's mambo, man!".

Up at his VIP seat, the Penguin sighed, extinguishing a cigarette's butt against an armrest of his chair. "... And after such a good fight, now we have THIS. I never have had any showing of Mr. Jones having any brainpower, but that young man is making him to look so sophisticated. Even Croc shouldn't have any problems handling him. Do you agree, Mr. Lawton?". He looked at Deadshot.

"Yeah, pretty much" the assassin nodded quietly. "This is basically nothing but a time-filler until the next fight. By the way, Kingpin called in while you were congratulating the vamp. He said they would be arriving around the time the first round of this Tourney is over".

"Huh, don't tell me" the Penguin replied. "Well, that leaves us some time to enjoy this while we can, doesn't it?". He leaned back on his chair. "Even if it's not high art, sometimes, it CAN be amusing to watch a fool being pounded on getting what he deserves. And in this match, no matter who wins... that is right what we will get".


Next: Rose vs. Bowser, Nagi Homura vs. music, and... Kansai vs. Hikari Horaki?!

[J Dog]

Let The Brouhahas Commence!

"Yugi, you fool!" Seto was muttered with rage as he saw what had happened: Exodia exploded and the whole arena was distorted in a violent array, taking out the duelist and his opponent. "You should have not underestimated your opponent and pulled such a gambit. That was... unlike you."

Hoping to take his mind off from that battle, he saw the Forsaken Fortress becoming more and more visible. "Mokuba, I'm coming!" He reminded himself.

At the fortress, the Leader of The Group was looking concerned about the upcoming foe. "Listen, it's not too late to pull out the safe defense." His hand was on a lever that would have activated a mechinism devoted to destroying a target about the size of a B-52 military grade bomber easily.

"Can the lasers, you twit." Dogbert quipped at him before getting off his couch and walking towards the sweating headhoncho. "Seriously, all those hours with that stupid Cryptode of yours has put a damper on everything." Looking at the Fighter Jet nearing the tower, Dogbert smiled.

I'm not going to fight him., he thought. I'm letting the puppet guy and that cheapo deal with him. But in the rare event they screw up and fail, well... I got the power of corporate mastery on my side.

The jet now was over the fortress and proceeded to activate the landing gear in order to safely get onto the narrow platform below. "You rotten mutt! I'll get you for this pathetic decision!" Kaiba said with teeth so clenched that a crowbar would break in an attempt to snap them free. Coming up was the two mercenaries: The Ventriloquist and The Nightmare.

"Let the games begin!" Dogbert yelled out in jubiliation. "Goons, Kill that brat!" He pointed to the incoming opponents.

Getting out, Seto saw the figure of the muscle-bound freak and grunted. Knew he was afraid to fight me, so he brings this guy., he reminded himself mentally. He may look tough, but if this is relevant to how things work out, he's as dumb as a rock and is going to just throw his lumbering arms around. If I play it right and wait for an opening, he'll be nothing.

Was he going to be correct on the first part. Little did he know of the puppeteer who relies on mind mutilation that was clinging on the alternate Broly's back.

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

Main Dome A

Dorado was looking at the carnage and figuring out what had happened, though it was hard for him to do so. "Um... that thing blew itself up and... took everything out, including that Yugi dude. And I thought your attack on Superman's head was destructive, Jack."

"That dosen't make sense, really." He confessed. "I've heard of Exodia brandishing power, but to selfdestruct? Didn't see that coming."

Brett was amazed at how anything can be possible in this dimension. He shrugged in confidence, knowing that if he's going to be stuck here from now on, at least it's something like this that he can get used to. "Can't wait to see the end of this round." He turned to Jack for a moment. "So, can you do something like that?"

"I did when I fought the Last Son of Krypton. It wasn't as big as this, but I'm capable of smashing terrain." Jack then smiled for a quick second. "Joking, man. I actually refrain from doing that."

"Unless he's pissed." Dorado added. Jack hit him in the nose with his elbow. "Shut up, man!"

"You two are something." Tiffany then said to both.

Next: The Big Fight, and Vellinor's strike team gets screwed again

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Er, J Dog, just to clarify, Exodia didn't explode: instead, the buildup of power from the two clashing beams overloaded and exploded. Exodia was simply caught in the blast and destroyed. I agree, though, maybe the way I wrote it was a little confusing.

[J Dog]

Er, J Dog, just to clarify, Exodia didn't explode: instead, the buildup of power from the two clashing beams overloaded and exploded. Exodia was simply caught in the blast and destroyed. I agree, though, maybe the way I wrote it was a little confusing.

Yeah, I was kinda confused a little, but it came out okay.

BTW, can we brainstorm on the upcoming plot arc involving Vellinor's strike force? I'll PM you and ask.

[T51R]

~Celestial Alignments Gear two: Elemental Serenade~




-In the forest surrounding the Fighter's Lodge...


“So I take it you have some sort of plan?” Achika muttered softly while she walked, her hopes of being reunited with her son fading with every step that took her further away from the Lodge, further away from the Saviours from Space. It had been a difficult thing to do, she reminisced, looking over her shoulder at the shrinking building while through her mind replays of a young child cooing in his cot bubbled to the surface. She choked, hiding it as a cough while quickening her pace; he had told her to stay a little way behind. Even a God isn’t sure exactly what’s around the bend she thought, how much worse could things get? It didn’t matter she realized, she had but her one purpose: to be reunited with her son, and to tell him the things she couldn’t when he was simply too young. “Tenchi,” she whispered, taking a last long look at the Fighters Lodge in the distance before it vanished from sight around the bend between trees. Another glance over her shoulder, and she walked into her contractor’s back; Orochi, the God of Destruction stood frozen in his place with a pale sheen across his features.

“Orochi.” She slowly walked to his side, then peeked upwards at the much taller man. “Orochi, what do you see?” Achika followed his line of sight, but found nothing except a lush forest of pine and tall grass, wet with evening dew.

Without a word the Orochi began to stride forwards into the sea of green, feeling the plant life as it passed through his fingers. “This place…” his voice, almost lifeless, reached her ears in a whisper of awe. “This place…no way. Stay here,” he locked eyes with his ward as his feet left the ground and he began to shimmer as if he were a mirage. Behind him, Achika drew the Master Key from her sleeve, gripping it tightly to her chest.

“I‘m coming with you.” She struggled to follow, the floating God whisking quickly through the trees and grasses while she repeatedly found herself caught up on branches, tripping over roots so well hidden in grass that could have been growing there for a decade. “Orochi!” She finally broke into a run and managed to draw abreast, only to be caught by her arm and dragged low to the ground.

“If you‘re gonna come along then stay quiet,” the God of Destruction motioned for her silence. “You see this place? About two weeks ago it was a barren freaking wasteland; I hit it with a rain of micro-meteorites, then one of Celestine‘s boys went and levelled it a second time with a particle weapon. That alone should have cut right down through the topsoil and cooked the fertile earth under it. If that isn’t enough I made damned sure that all the meteors I called down were packed so densely that you‘d have to be able to dodge lasers just to get between them, and there were enough of them to smash stone shelters like they were made out of clay. By right, nothing should be growing here. Because there‘s nothing to grow from; the soil should be dead, and it should be dead for another thirty years at least!”

Achika noticed her Contractor’s puzzled expression before he wet on.

“This isn’t a natural regeneration of the local vegetation,” he plucked several full blades of grass from close by and showed them to her, “Look at the roots, they‘re way longer than normal for Japan. Grass with four-foot long roots? That’s more common on the edges of deserts because there‘s hardly any water in the topsoil; this is Japan, and there‘s more than enough rain around here that this just can’t happen naturally.”

“So what are you saying?” She whispered as the Orochi raised the crown of his head just high enough above the field for a quick look around.

“I‘m saying that something or someone grew this whole damned place back in give or take maybe a week, and they did it in such a way that every damned thing here‘s been almost perfectly keyed to its environment. Now right off the top of my head there‘s two things that I could think of that have that much experience and maybe knowledge; either an Earth Spirit like me, or it’s The Earth Spirit herself, Gaia. It definitely isn’t an ambient Ki-user, because those just drain the surrounding area of all its life energies. If its another Earth Spirit we don’t have much to worry about; most of them don’t have combat-oriented skill sets. But if it really is Gaia, then we‘re gonna be in for a really pissed off mother.” He noticed Achika’s confused expression. “She‘s still kinda cut about when I wiped the Dinosaurs out and started both World Wars.”

“Ah.”

Slowly they began to move, ducking between trees and depressions in the ground that seemed like gigantic footprints. In that time Orochi became aware of the speed his ward possessed, as well as aware that she was slowly getting used to being alive again. “Maybe I should of applied for that apprentice stint on Jurai instead of rotting in this hell-hole,” he muttered with a smile; Achika for once seemed to be relishing the forest and the peace it brought. Birds were coming back, flocking to the last bastion of wilderness that hadn’t been blown down by human weapons, burnt out by spreading fires or simply crushed underfoot by Kaiju. “Kaiju?” he stopped head in his tracks, watching as his companion disappeared into the overhanging vines that obscured the path, each one in majestic bloom with yellow flowers, their petals slowly covering the almost naturally-formed walkway. He shook it off; there was only one Kaiju that could have caused such a mutation in the local fauna, and that one was busy spreading all manner of terror in the rainforests of tropical Thailand. And, he reasoned, Biollante spores could not have reproduced any of the native species in such a pristine way; Biollante was an invasive species, and its impact upon the local flora would be obvious. “Hey! HEY!” he called after Achika. Soon enough he found her standing in a field of buds and young grass while butterflies flitted to and fro. “These are young,” he noted, kneeling to inspect the young flowers. Achika, it seemed to him, couldn’t be bothered; she was too busy forgetting her troubles in the beauty of the place.

[T51R]

And what a place it was; here in the clearing he recognised as Ground Zero of his Meteor Storm the remains of Alchemic constructs still stood even though moss and ferns had taken hold in their nooks and crannies. He recognised the enormous ditch that had been cut into the earth by the Geno Breaker’s Charged Particle Gun, and the scuffs in the ground from the impact of bodies. However, those features had been overtaken; where they were once proof of battle they had been used as canvasses for living art. In the ditch, almost a small canyon, he counted at least our different species of low-lying ferns as well as brush, and in the craters and deep scuffs several different plants of hardier nature sank their roots into the hard soil. Green was the colour of the day, a hundred shades of it painted the landscape which had once been barren. A rustle. He spun around, and found the buds unfolding into beautiful light blue petals that coaxed a squeal of delight from Achika. A sea of blue began to unfold from where the young Jurian was kneeling and kept on going until it reached a new treeline sprouting from the parched earth several hundred feet away, almost out of sight. “Let‘s go,” the Orochi began to smile; it had been almost aeons since he had beheld such a work, and if anything he was aching to know the hand that had blessed the site of such destruction.

They sprinted across the now-pale blue field sending showers of petals up into the fragrant air, and finally reached the newborn treeline as foot-thick pines shuddered the moment their growths stopped. “Not far now,” he called to Achika, who held her sword ready through its blade remained to be seen.

“There!” she panted; even on foot, the Orochi’s long legs carried him further than hers did. Her tattered Jurian battle dress didn’t help things very much either. Through the trees her eyes caught a glimpse of a female figure before it was obscured by even more flora springing up around it. Finally they burst from the undergrowth and into a small place that was still somewhat barren, a circular clearing of scorched soil, molten pebbles and blackened rocks that was quickly being returned to its former glory. And in the centre of it all, at the core of the majestic forest so quickly sprouting stood a red-haired woman in her mid-twenties.

“Impressive,” the Orochi drew a cigarette from his fresh pack of Marlboros with his teeth. “Look, I don’t know which Office you‘re working for but it’s a bit too early to be cleaning up.” She looked back at the pair then, causing the cigarette to fall from his lips as they quivered. He recognised her, felt it in her life-force as emerald-green eyes met his own. “Sonofa…” he whispered, “you‘re…a mortal?”

“Pamela Lillian Isley, Doctor, specializing in botanical toxicology.” She turned to face them, revealing a stunning woman whose skin was pale, just off-white with a thin veil of leaves making up what looked to be the only thing she was wearing: a one-piece, form-fitting and low cut skin-suit of vegetation. Her fiery hair fell in tousles around her shoulders when she moved, cautiously eyeing both Achika and the Orochi while she walked towards them. “However, you may use the name that I am better known by: Poison Ivy.”

Grudgingly the God of Destruction drew his hand from his well-worn and tattered coat, and pushed it forwards while gritting his teeth behind his lips. “That’s some great work, for a mortal.”

“And may I know just who you are?” Isley cautiously asked, never taking her eyes off the wooden sword that was slung loosely across the man’s shoulder’s with his other arm.

“Orochi,” he stubbed the cigarette out underfoot, “God of Destruction, Earth Spirit, and once upon a time, I used to work for Heaven.” A thin smile crossed the woman’s lips as she shook his hand.

“Charmed, I‘m sure.”






~Next…On the run!

[OverMaster]

Blood and (no) Glory, Continuation: Come for the Blood, Stay for the Fanservice.



Right outside the Fighter's Lodge:


"Well?" Kadachi snorted, lining up next to his host, while Bell begrudgingly lifted her foot and allowed Tiki to scurry out under the tainted angel's protection. "That's better. Smart girl. Now, all of you just stay frozen there and we'll go off your hairs, no need for any further bloodshed...".

"Like hell..." Natsuki trained her guns on them again. "The needs of many outweight the needs of one. I feel bad for that poor man, but no way we're going to let you go to kill more just like that. Hell, how do we even know you won't kill him after you are away, in any case?".

"Damn true, darlin'" Wolverine grunted, still struggling in vain to break free from Kansai's steely grasp. "Don't any of ya worry about me, just do what ya have to do. Nabeshin, Motoko... don't hesitate! Waste these suckers already... again!".

"Shit, man, stop playing the noble brainless hero!!" Tiki shouted up at him. "I liked you better as an antihero badass!".

"Don't worry, they still won't have the guts for it..." Kansai grumbled, pressing a fist tighter against Logan's temple. "They know that, if ONLY ONE MORE of 'em makes a move against us, Fleabag here bites the bodybag...".

Nabeshin, however, merely shrugged and aimed one of his own guns at the God-Killer's head. "Meh. If he wants it that way himself, that's okay with me too. But I swear this has nothing to do with the way he stares at my wife. Really"

With a short nod of her head, Motoko unsheathed her sword once more and got ready to strike. "Your brave sacrifice will never be forgotten, Logan-san" she respectfully added. "If something is left of you, I promise we'll honor your ashes at my family's shrine...".

Yukariko Sanada sighed sadly. "It torns my heart apart, to watch such tragedy befall a hero. However, to punish Evil is the duty imposed by God to us. Because of that, sometimes martyrs must die, and gain their place at Heavenly afterlife". She aimed her HiME bow and an arrow of light between the NODE's eyes as well. "We salute you, Logan-san, and may the Almighty to have mercy of your brave soul!".

"Beep beep boop ba-ba-bop bop. Bop" the Mars People also aimed its ray gun at Kansai.

And Kansai grew a truly gigantic sweatdrop on his head. "HOT DAMN, WHAT KIND OF FRIENDS ARE YOU FREAKS?!" he shouted. "YOU'RE SO DESPERATE TO KILL ME YOU WON'T CARE ABOUT THIS FREAKY CLAWED RUNT'S LIFE?!".

"I do care" Belldandy gave a step forward. "That's why I beg you, release him. Take me as a hostage instead if you must..." she opened her arms offering herself to him, much to Urd and Anzell's horror. The oldest Norn wasted no time on grabbing her sister by the arm and dragging her back to herself, away from Kansai's suddenly tempted reach.

"BELLDANDY!!" she scolded her. "ARE YOU OUT YOU MIND?! YOU KNOW THE FATE OF THIS WORLD DEPENDS ON YOU!! THINK, DAMMIT! WITH YOUR BRAIN INSTEAD OF YOUR HEART FOR ONCE!".

Kadachi sighed far too deeply, slumping his slender shoulders down. This wasn't working, after all. The X-Man's stupid sense of self-sacrifice had infested his companions to the point of making the hostage negotiations nearly impossible. Another approach was needed for this problem. With that in mind, he cleared his throat and spoke again.

"Well, well" the angel said, closing his eyes for a moment. "Since you will be so stubborn, and foolishly waste the chance we give you so generously, you have forced my hand in a manner I never wanted to". Before they could shoot him once more, he quickly raised a hand as high as he could, and shouted, "BEHOLD!! STUPID MORTALS AND DEITIES, FOR NOW I SUMMON OUR ULTIMATE ATTACK AGAINST YOU!! THE TIME OF YOUR DEATH IS HERE!! LOOK UP! LOOK UP, AND WATCH THE HARBINGER OF YOUR INMEDIATE DESTRUCTION!!!".

Those words suddenly made everyone to freeze in absolute horror, their hearts skipping a beat or two. And by instinct, everyone fearing the worst, all of them at hearing range, from Kodachi, Skuld and Keiichi at the Lodge's windows, to Urd, Anzell and Belldandy and Zauriel, even up to the captive Logan, looked up at the point of the crimson sky Kadachi was pointing at, expecting to see something far too horrible for words, something that would kill all of them right there and then...

But there was nothing up there.

Urd blinked. "Um?" she made a double take. "What is the--".

Too late, however; taking advantage of the momentary confusion, Kadachi grabbed Tiki with a hand, and Kansai (stuck Wolverine and all) with the other, and ran out of there as fast as he could, causing a small sonic boom to expand all around them, even sending everyone else flying a few steps back. Urd was slammed on her back against a wall, and her hair stood up as she saw, through her stunned stupor, the trio running away like Hell with their hostage, soon becoming a tiny spark in the distance in a cartoony manner. "WHAT THE F**K?!?!? THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!! THEY FOOLED US LIKE KIDS?!??".

"Well, we all had reasons to be paranoid about it..." Zauriel groaned, jumping back to his feet. "After them!! I'll call reinforcements!!".

"Oh my..." Belldandy said in a concerned tone. "Poor, poor Logan-san...".

"At the very least..." Bell the Powerpuff Girl monotoned watching the impossibly long red trail of intestines and blood left behind on the ground by the wounded God-Killer, "... following them won't be hard at all...".

[OverMaster]

"LEMME GO, YOU BASTARDS!!" Wolverine howled as he was dragged away, trying desperately to pull his claws back and out of Kansai's bleeding gut. All those attempts were useless; the claws were firmly stuck into the creature from beyond's belly, who still could run like the wind despite it, and the fact all his guts were hanging out and falling behind them in a continued fashion. "I'M NO ONE'S KIDNAP BITCH!! I'LL GAUGE YOUR EYES OUT!! I'LL--".

"I regret what I said, I don't wanna hear you as a badass rude rulebreaker anymore!!" Tiki, now sitting on Kadachi's right shoulder, spat a huge band of Uru metal from his mouth and threw it at the God-Killer. Understanding for once, Kansai quickly secured it around a protesting Logan's mouth, thus silencing Wolverine up effectively. "So simply shut up an' try ta enjoy the ride, willya?!!".

"Anyway, do you think he still can be useful for us?" Kadachi sneered. "I mean, look at what happened back there...".

"Belldandy's the only one of them who matters, and she's a sucker for this kinda things" Kansai snorted gruffly, never stopping running even after his liver fell down and was left behind in the dust. "Not to mention... well, I just can't seem to get him outta me" he had to admit, with an ashamed blush creeping even over his mask.

"WHAT?!" Tiki spat. "You can't get him outta you?!".

"Gee, that's right what I've just said, or not?!".

"Have you tried to change your configuration and shift him out of yourself?" Kadachi sighed in mild exhasperation.

"Can't do it in the fly like this!" the NODE protested. "I want to slow down to try it! There must be some place where we can hide 'til Vellinor sends someone to fish us out...".

Tiki fished a touristic MUGEN map out of his mouth and looked at it. "What about the Judges' trailers, over there?". He pointed a deformed paw towards the south. "They must be empty at these hours, since those guys are busy with the current matches...".

"Great thinking, hamster" Kadachi nodded, taking that direction. "Let's not waste any time! The sooner we find a hiding place, the better!".

Logan protested with incoherent muffles and new attempts to squirm away, but Tiki pulled a baseball bat out of his mouth and whacked his head with it to quiet him down.



Misato Katsuragi's Trailer:

Hikari Horaki hummed to herself as she stepped into the bathroom and began to take her shirt off. She already had made breakfast for Major Katsuragi and Kensuke, who were eating at the living room watching the fights on TV. Due to their duties as Judges, Asuka and Shinji ate almost always out with the rest of the Jury nowadays. Now she could relax and take a good, fresh shower, the way she liked it, before soaking into the bathtub and enjoy a quiet time of peace all for herself. Cleaning after her housemates' mess was a demanding job, after all.

She discarded her skirt aside, and pulled her white socks out, neatly folding them and placing them at the basket at her feet. She undid her short pigtails, and allowed her brown hair to cascade over her thin shoulders lightly. The teenager walked to the shower and opened the flow of water tentatively, testing its temperature with a hand, and smiling when she found it satisfying enough. She threw her white bra aside and kicked her panties away, and stepped into the shower, closing her eyes under the comforting rain over her skin.

"Ahhhh..." she sighed. She reached for a bottle of shampoo and began to rub her hair with the product. "It feels so good...".

Right then, however, she thought she heard something right outside the trailer, like a bump. That startled her for a moment, but then the freckled girl simply shook her worries away. Surely, it was nothing but another Angel making the rounds too close again.


Outside the trailer:


"Stay silent, just in case..." Kadachi whispered as they squirmed closer to one of the trailer's windows, and Kansai and Tiki nodded at once. "OK, let's get in. One..." He carefully reached his arms up and grabbed the window. "Two..." Even more carefully, he lifted it open. "And THREE!".

All at once, both he and Kansai jumped in through it carrying Tiki and Logan in with them just when the hamster was about to say he was hearing to some running water from inside, the NODE's massive frame barely fitting through the window, and getting stuck in it at the height of his crotch. The Angel, in contrast, went all the way in, and stumbled facefirst down into a small, clean bathroom, landing stepping badly and falling through some courtains and into a tiny shower room.

Smacking his face by mistake right into the crotch of a shocked, wet from head to toes freckled brunette girl, naked and with her eyes suddenly wide as plates. He blushed, looking up at her face, and gulped down hard.

"Oh... hello, Ma'am. S-sorry, for intruding, we thought this place was empt--".

"EEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!!! HENTAIIIII!!!!!!" With a full body blush, she rushed to cover herself with a towel, and then slammed Kadachi's face against a wall, splattering his features into a wet collage of blood and splintered bone. "MISAAAATOOO!!! HELP!!!! SOMEONE'S HERE TO RAPE ME!!!".

Tiki, terrified, ran for cover under the toilet.


Next: Rose vs. Bowser.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

An instant later, Misato and Kensuke came running in. "Hikari! What's wrong? We heard you--" Kensuke was cut short when he slipped an fell on a puddle of blood, hitting the ground hard. "Owww! What the hell?"

It was then that Kensuke noticed two things: firstly, there was blood all over the place. And secondly, Hikari was naked. Well, half-naked, but still...

Thanfkully, Hikari didn't have to slap the staring Kensuke-- Misato did that herself. "Hikari! Who the hell is he, and what is he doing lying dead in here?" Misato exclaimed.

Hikari pointed a shaking finger at Kadachi's corpse. "He...he came in....and tried to rape me!" She stammered. "And....and...and..."

The sound of shattering glass caused the three to whirled around, just in time to see Kansai crash into the room, swearing violently as he began pulling shards of glass from his crotch. "SONOVA BITCH!" he shouted. "This is THE LAST TIME I follw Kadachi's goddam advice!"

"Er....Kansai...." Tiki said from where he hid under the dresser.

"What?" the NODE spat as he looked up...and froze as he saw the three NERV staff staring at him...and then staring at the unconscious Wolverine he was holding in the scruff of his hand. "Er...hi."

Moving quickly, Misato drew her gun. "Who the hell are you?" she snarled. "Are you here to rape Hikari too? And what the hell are you doing with that hairy guy?, you pervert?"

"Hey, it's not like that! He's my hostage!" Kansai replied. "Speaking up which...." He held up the unconscious X-Man. "No one move, or he gets it. So be a nice hottie, and put the gun down, okay?"

Misato, Kensuke, and Hikari glanced at one another. Slowly and warily, they began to back away....

The sound of a revving chainsaw caused everyone to jump in alarm. None of them had time to react before a chainsaw blade burst through the back wall, carving a semicircle through it. A second later, Ash Williams kicked the hole through and burst into the room, chainsaw and boomstick at ready.

"I heard screaming!" He saw the bloody splatter all over the floor, levelled his shotgun at a cowering Kensuke. "Okay, who killed this guy? Was it you, Poindexter?"

"N-n-n-no," Kensuke stammered as he tried to desperately backpedal.

"Oh yeah?" Ash cocked his rifle. "Then why's there blood on your nose, kid?"

"BAKA!" a frustrated Misato snapped. "There's a guy in here who wants to RAPE THIS GIRL standing right behind you, and the best you can do is threaten Kensuke?"

Surprised, Ash whirled around, and found himself face to face with Kansai. "The hell? You were there when we were attacked by Anzell and her crew!"

The God-Killer blinked. "Oh yeah, you're on the boss' team. Could you maybe give me a hand? I'm kinda on the run from a bunch of god-types."

"Yeah, well, I'd hate to tell you this, but--" Ash pointed his shotgun right at Kansai's face "--I officially quit."

Cursing, Kansai dodged to the side, just as Ash pulled the trigger. The resulting shotgun blast tore Kansai's arm clear off on a spray of blood, and sent him slamming into the wall with a crash.

"OW! THAT FRIKKIN HURT!" Kansai screamed. "That's it! I'm gonna get medieval on your ass now!"

Ash simply holstered his shotgun. "Look, pal, I know medieval, okay? I've lived it." He raised his chainsaw and revved it up, a manic grin crossing his face. "And I'm gonna show you exactly what medieval is, you rapist asshole."

A few minutes later, Urd, Anzell, Natsuki, and all the others burst into the trailer, only to find Ash standing over Kansai's perfectly-sliced body. Wolverine also lay pinned to the ground, Ash's chainsaw impaled in his chest.

"WHAT THE F**K DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Logan snarled.

Surprised, Ash wrenched his chainsaw free. "Oh. Sorry, man, I thought you were with him," he said.

"DO I F**KING LOOK LIKE I'M WITH HIM?" Wolverine screamed.

Urd sweatdropped. "Okay....this keeps just getting weirder and weirder," she muttered.

Ash and the NERV crew spun around. "Oh, Miss Anzell, hey," Ash said, wiping his chainsaw clean on a nearby towel. "I was kinda looking for you. Vellinor officially kicked me off his team, so is it alright if I crash with you guys for a while?"

The goddess' eye twitched. "Um....Mr. Williams.....no may not be the best time," she said.

"Well, all the blood kinda makes this kinda awkward, I agree," Ash admitted, "but no worries, he's not getting up any time soo--"

He was cut short when Kadachi suddenly sprang back to life-- and in the process of regenerating, accidentally tore Hikari’s towel off with his right wing.

A scream of “BAKA NO HENTAI!” later, the trailer was significantly redder than before.


******

“Hey, you hear something?” Robin asked from where she sat meditating.

“It’s probably nothing,” Yomiko replied as she shoved another pile of her books aside: she wanted to keep them well out of harm’s way for when Ifurita and MEGAS’ crew made their jump to rescue Coop. “Could you give me a hand, Robin?”

“Of course.” As the Witch Hunter started to help Yomiko with her books, she thought to herself that she had definitely heard something. Or, rather, felt something, somewhere nearby. She had felt it a few days ago when there had been that conflict in the tournament grounds, and she hadn’t liked it. Whatever it was, it was a far worse sensation than what the Orochi had exuded.

A knock at the door caused Team Holy Sword to look up. Glancing back, Rosette sighed when she saw that Lucy was too busy helping the others to get the door with her vectors though experience had taught her that Lucy probably would have told her to go jump off a cliff in response. Some sympathy I get for having a near-death experience, she thought to herself as she walked over and opened the door.

The nun nearly jumped when she saw the familiar red-coated figure towering over her, gazing down at her with those reddish sunglasses of his. “Sister Rosette Christopher?” the man asked politely.

The rest of Team Holy Sword stopped what they were doing and turned to face the newcomer. The mood became tense as they stared suspiciously at him. Rosette’s eyes widened slightly as she remembered the name. “Alucard?”

The vampire nodded, allowing himself a slight smile. “May I come in?” he asked.



Next: Alita wakes up

[Saint_007]

I got a bit confused here, so just a question. Which arena is the Vendetta-Evil Science match going on in?

[OverMaster]

I got a bit confused here, so just a question. Which arena is the Vendetta-Evil Science match going on in?

The Secondary B-Dome. The Tenkaichi Budokai announcer acts at the A-Dome and Hanagata at the C-Dome, so you should have Mandy as the referee for your bout.

[OverMaster]

Excuse me for not posting lately, but my personal life has been crap these last days. I even had something of a stress-induced stroke yesterday. And the Bowser/Rose fight is a real bitch to plot out.

Next: The Reptilian Brain, Spider-Man gets visitors, and Tenchi comes back to MUGEN!

[T51R]

Stroke? Dude you aight?:eek:

[OverMaster]

Stroke? Dude you aight?:eek:

Yeah, nothing too bad. I might even post later today, but boy I'm feeling down.

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Yeah, nothing too bad. I might even post later today, but boy I'm feeling down.

Take your time then: there's no need for you to stress yourself out over this.

[J Dog]

Yeah, nothing too bad. I might even post later today, but boy I'm feeling down.

Might as well lay off for a few days. If your brain falls apart, and it's not a creative drought, then it might be more serious. than you think

I assume that you got medical attention. If so, just take it easy. There is no rush around here (there hasn't).

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Rusted Angel

Alita was alone, standing in the middle of a sandstorm in a desert of red ash. She could feel the sand whipping against her face, slashing across her synth-skin, though it didn’t really bother her. Through the swirling curtains of ash, she could see the distant sun setting behind the horizon, illuminating the dunes around her in a blood-red glow. Alita didn’t have to search her memory to know where she was, and that she had actually been here before.

Mars. This was where she had been born. This was where she had been taught the Panzer Kunst so very, very long ago. But that had when she had been a different person, with a different life. She wasn’t Yoko* anymore: she wasn’t a ruthless, emotionless killing machine. She had learned that life was too precious to devote oneself purely to killing.

“Is that truly what you believe, Yoko?” the voice caused her to whirl around: there, standing atop a nearby ash dune, was a mysterious robed figure, his face shrouded in shadow. She could only make out his arms—gleaming steel arms that glowed in the crimson sunlight.

“If you desire to preserve life, then you lose touch with your killer instinct,” the figure said—Alita realized she knew him, from the distant folds of her memory. “To lose your killer instinct is to fail as a warrior.”

The robed figure turned away in a manner that exuded disappointment. “You have grown soft and weak, Yoko. You have failed.”

The cyborg was taken aback by these words. After everything she had gone through in her life—her battles and struggles, both physical and emotional—such a statement felt like a very real slap in the face. She was about to rush at the figure, to furiously deny it, to tell him to his face that he was wrong—when a powerful gust of wind slammed into her. She lost her footing, and suddenly found herself submerged in ash, lost in it, drowning in it…

There was darkness—pure, terrifying darkness. She couldn’t even hear her own scream of terror. And yet, in the midst of the darkness, she heard laughter—familiar, manic laughter, followed by a voice.

“My my, Alita, are you having problems with your psyche?” The darkness subsided: Alita realized that she was strapped to a rusted operating table in a dimly-lit laboratory. She remembered this place…she struggled to get free, but found that the binds were far too tight.

“How unfortunate. It stands to reason that you would not be having such a bizarre dream unless unresolved issues in your unconsciousness were coming to the fore.” Desty Nova walked into her field of vision, holding onto a bizarre-looking surgical device festooned with sharp and painful-looking blades. And as usual, he was smiling madly. “This is quite problematic, as you must realize: you will never completely actualize your karma if you cannot conquer your own deep-rooted problems!”

“Nova…” Alita struggled with her restraints. “You’re not real. This is just my dream. You’re wrong when you tell me I’m weak!”

“Dream?” Nova’s grin seemed to widen in a sinister manner—his skin seemed to be getting paler now, standing out amidst the shadows of the laboratory. “Whoever said this was a dream, my dear Alita? No, I’m afraid this is a nightmare.”

Nova pressed a button, and instantly the multiple saws and blades on his tool whirred to life. “You see, Alita, you’ve always straddled the line between becoming a perfect warrior and being held back by hopeless naivete. You hope and dream to one day be able to fight without killing, to become the best there is without needing to spill any more blood. But experience should have taught you differently by now, Alita: you’ve seen the barbarism that is at the core of humanity, and you’ve see how dreams exist only to be dashed time and time again. You should know by now, Alita, that hope is an aberration, that existence is, in itself, an ongoing ordeal of misery from which there is no escape.”

The Tipharean scientist turned to face her, his face set in a horrible, mad grin as he held onto a device that looked quite like a buzzsaw. “Ah, poor Alita,” he said mockingly, “if only you hadn’t held onto your foolish dreams! What would poor Dr. Ido think of you now if he saw you?”

Alita tried to fight back tears at the mention of Ido’s name. “Y-you’re wrong,” she stammered. “You….you’re wrong…”

Nova simply continued to grin madly as he advanced on her. “Now hold still,” he said, engaging the saw blade. “Your brain is highly valuable, my dear.”

Alita tried to scream, but the blade flashed across her vision, and a second later there was only pain and redness….

*****

A second later, Alita bolted upright from her bed, gasping. If she had been a flesh-and-blood creature, she would have been in a cold sweat. That nightmare was still fresh in her memory. It had felt so real, so disturbingly…real…

Wait a minute… Alita cyborg jumped when she noticed that she was on some sort of operating table in the middle of a laboratory. The last thing she had remembered was getting hit by a punch to the face from Sakura, and then she had been hurled into that nightmare, and then….

“Where the heck am I?” she asked to no-one in particular.

“Ah, you’ve finally woken up!” another voice exclaimed. Alita whirled around to see a familiar, red-haired woman standing near a computer monitor. “It was only a matter of time, though, since your brain synapses had started working again.”

Alita blinked. Now she remembered this place: it was the Chousein’s lab. “Washu? What…what am I doing here?”

Washu stood up from her desk and walked over to Alita, handing her a steaming mug. “Drink this: the glucose in the hot chocolate will will boost your brain’s energy levels,” she said. “You were knocked comatose in your battle with Ms. Kasugano, and suffered significant brain damage. Furthermore, your body was all but shattered in the course of the battle, and in some cases your body’s nano-cells were completely fused and burnt out.” A mischievous grin lit the Chousein’s face. “Thankfully, your teammate had the presence of mind to bring you to me—the most brilliant technician in Existence—and with a teensy little bit of help from Mr. Elric and his alchemy, we not only fixed your body, but I managed to get rid of your brain damage as well. Sooner or later, you should be up and walking again.”

Alita accepted the cup silently. “Sakura….” Fuzzy memories from the battle were beginning to come back to the fore. She remembered how Sakura had shrugged off everything she had thrown at her, how she had nearly smashed her apart, how she had knocked Karin out just by backhandeding…

The mug fell from Alita’s hand and shattered on the floor. “K…Karin!” she gasped, leaping up from the operating table. Washu was suddenly in front of her, trying to restrain her.

“Miss Alita, try not to make too many sharp movements!” she cried. “Your brain is still readjusting! You need time to rest!”

Alita looked up at the Chousein and stopped moving. If wasn’t careful, she could have hurled the frail Chousein across the room with a flick of her wrist. “Where’s Karin?” she pleaded frantically. “Sakura, she…she hurt her! Please, you must tell me what happened to her!”

Washu’s expression became somber. “Miss Kanzuki? Well….from what the infirmary told me…she’s in a coma. Her future condition remains uncertain.”

The cyborg’s eyes widened in horror. A second later, Washu was nearly blown into the wall as a powerful gust of wind blew through the room, hurling beakers and papers all over the place as Alita ran out the door.

“Alita!” Washu shouted. She cursed: in an emotional state like that, Alita would simply make things worse for herself….


*******

It didn’t take Alita long to reach the hospital. After asking for Karin’s room, and frantically edging her way through the lines of injured combatants and refugees, Alita arrived at Karin’s room.

She didn’t have to get hurt, Alita thought bitterly to herself as she opened the door. Especially not for my sake…

The door swung upon, and Alita froze. Karin was lying on a sickbed, a breathing tube fastened over her mouth as a nearby machine read her heartbeat. But it wasn’t the sight of Karin that hit Alita the hardest: rather, it was the somber figure in the white gi who was sitting by her bed, his right arm encased in a cast.

“Ryu….”

The Street Fighter turned to face her, a brief look of surprise crossing his face. “Alita?”

Much to Ryu’s surprise, Alita suddenly collapsed onto her knees as tears began to stream down her face. “I’m…..I’m sorry!” she exclaimed as sorrow and guilt overwhelmed her. “P-please forgive me! I…I should have protected Karin! But….but because of me….because of me….if I had only protected Sakura better in the first place…”

The cyborg trailed off as she broke into heavy sobbing. For a minute, Ryu could only watch with silent, jaded detachment as Alita fell to pieces in front of him. Then, with bitter look of regret, he clenched his fist.

“You are not at fault, Alita,” he mumbled. “You did what you could, both for Sakura and for Karin. No, the blame is entirely mine.”

Alita looked up at him. “R….Ryu?”

The Street Fighter’s eyes turned downards to the floor. “I tried to instill in Sakura the values taught to me by Master Goukan,” he muttered. “I…I tried to ensure that she wouldn’t stray down the dark path, just as Akuma had. I tried to teach her about the responsibility required by a martial artist, and about the dangers of trying to exceed oneself.“

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Ryu raised his unbroken hand and looked down at it. It was then that Alita noticed that he was holding a small red cloth—Sakura’s headband. “But I failed,” he said through clenched teeth, obviously trying to hold back tears of his own. “I failed my own disciple, and because of that, she’s become a monster, and Karin got hurt as a result.”

Alita stared at the Street Fighter. “Ryu…” Now she knew why Sakura had spoken nothing but praise for Ryu before she had turned. He was an embodiment of what a martial artist should be—honourable, responsible, and compassionate.

The cyborg stood back up. “Don’t ever think that, Ryu,” she said, wiping the tears from her face. “Don’t ever think you failed Sakura. When I met her on…on the day she got shot….” Alita clenched her fist, bitterly trying to say the words, “she spoke nothing but praise for you. You were her idol, Ryu, and I think despite all that has happened to her, you still are.”

Ryu’s unbroken arm swung out suddenly, smashing aside the small vase of flowers on the table next to Karin’s sickbed. “That makes it worse!” he suddenly shouted. “I was there after your battle, Alita! She…she told me that it was all my fault, that I didn’t respect her enough simply because she wasn’t strong! Her turn to evil is all because of me!”

As Ryu slumped back down on his chair, the surprised Alita eyed him for a few seconds before she straightened up. “And is that true?” she asked.

The Street Fighter glanced up at her “What?”

The Battle Angel took a few tentative steps closer. “Did you ever see her as weak or unworthy of your respect?” she asked. “Because I don’t believe that for one minute. You were proud to have Sakura as your apprentice, weren’t you?”

Ryu blinked. “I….” He paused for a few minutes, and slowly nodded. “No matter what she did, I was always proud of Sakura and her achievements. But the fact remains, she feels I neglected her.”

“Then she’s wrong!” Alita’s expression hardened. “It’s not yourself you should be angry at, Ryu, it’s those monsters who brainwashed her! She’s your student, Ryu: while she’s under their control, you’ll have to fight your hardest to free her!”

Slowly, the cyborg turned and glanced at the unconscious Kanzuki heiress. “For Karin’s sake,” she muttered, “and for Sakura’s, and for yours, I’m going to fight those creatures who took control of her, Ryu. I promise you that much.”

And with that, Alita turned to leave. “Alita, wait!” Ryu called from behind. “I need to know…why have made this a personal matter? You hardly knew either Sakura or Karin, so why fight for them?”

The cyborg paused, as though searching for the right words. “I don’t know,” she muttered. “Maybe it’s because…” she glanced back at Ryu, “..because they both remind me of myself a little.”

Ryu gazed at her for a minute, as though trying to gauge her warrior’s spirit, before nodding. “Then I thank you, Alita-san, for your help,” he said. “I must ask you, though, not to take too much of this burden on your shoulders: Sakura already nearly killed you once. If anyone is to exact justice for what has happened to her and what she has done, it must be me. I won’t have anyone else get hurt for my sake or for hers.”

Alita nodded. “I understand, Ryu,” she said. “But remember that you have me and my team to rely on for help. Together, we’ll bring Sakura back.”

And with that, Alita exited the room. Instantly, any confidence that her face must have once held melted. A part of her felt awful for having put up a brave face in front of Ryu, for having tried to give him confidence when she didn’t even have any confidence in herself. How could she save Sakura when she coluldn’t even defeat her in battle? How could she protect people from Chaos if she couldn’t even protect Karin when she needed her?

Maybe the figures in her dream were right? Had she really lost the killing edge needed to be a warrior?

Glumly, Alita walked down the crowded hallway in search of a phone. She might as well go meet up with Anzell and the others and let them know she was alright…


Next: Hell in Hell, and Holy Orders


*Yoko is the name Alita had in her previous life, before she crash-landed on Earth, lost her memory and was recovered a few hundred years later in the Scrapyard.

[OverMaster]

The Reptilian Brain, Part 1: King Bowser vs. Rose.



Secondary Dome C:

"Well, come here, then, and pay the price, woman!!" Bowser roared defiantly, opening his jaws full of pointy huge teeth. "You'll learn to never challenge the Emperor of Koopas!!".

"Foolish brute!" Rose's eyes seemed to spark with determination as she floated up for a moment, with two ghostly auras swirling around her shoulders. "You are drunk with the defeat of your nemesis, and the rush of your own previous victory! However, since the moment I stepped here, your defeat became a fact!".

"Umm, yeah, well..." Hanagata, well hidden behind a tall palm tree, laughed nervously. "Anyway, you guys can start now. Try to play nice and without hurting me this time, okay?".

And the starting bell rang. Bowser quickly jumped on Rose, attempting to bodyslam her down, but the woman gracefully twirled around and out of the way. The huge reptile fell on his stomach on the ground, shaking it violently. As he attempted to stand back, cursing, Rose took her chance with a strong crouching jab to the middle of his head, right between his horns. That stunned him long enough to allow her to follow with a kick to his throat.

Roaring again like an unbound beast, Bowser sprang back up with a massive headbutt to her chest, then a swift tail swipe at her legs, making her to stumble back. He tried to bodyslam her down again, but once again, she rolled out of the way and extended her hands towards him. "Soul Spark!!" she yelled, and ghostly shades of Psycho Power flew from her hitting the Koopa King all across his face and chest, shocking him. Bowser recovered quickly, though, quicker than Rose after the effort she had needed, and pulled a black round Bob-Omb out from his spikey shell. He threw it at the woman, laughing evilly, but she deflected it quickly back at him with a wave of a psychically-charged hand.

"Oh, sh--" Bowser stuttered as he saw the small living bomb flashing red as it flew back to his face... split seconds before exploding with a very loud boom.

"Whoa, that gotta hurt" Ranma Saotome let out a whistle from his seat.

"Yeah, it breaks my heart, to watch it" Kyo Kusanagi snickered. "Man, Ryu should be here, cheering on his weirdo friend...".

"He is... handling other important matters, right now, Kusanagi-sama" Shingo Yabuki replied, a bit gloomily.

"Oh?" Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Is he still looking for that Sakura girl?".

"Yeah, and I think we should help him, too" the boy nodded sadly. "Now that you recovered Akane-san, and while Spider-san is still busy in the negotiations with Alaniel-sama, I thought--".

"Yeah, you're right" the Saotome heir agreed. "That's a martial artist's duty, after all, to help those who need us, especially a friend and teammate. Count with us on it!".

"Well, yep, what Femboy said" Kyo sighed.

"Kusanagi-sama, Saotome-sama..." Shingo's eyes watered up in a cartoony fashion. "WAAAHHH!!! THANK YOU!! I'LL NEVER FORGET THIS, AND I'M SURE NEITHER WILL RYU-SAMA!!".

"OK, OK, but stop making a secene in public!!!" Kyo shouted angrily, trying to hold the emotional boy down. "Sheesh, when will you learn?!?".

Meanwhile, Bowser had flown through several thick trees, impacted by the force of the explosion, and landed on his back against a small rocky hill, slumping down with a pained groan. However, he staggered back to his feet just as the fortuneteller dashed to him and connected him with a Soul Spiral of pure Psycho Power to his face, stunning him even more. The purple haired woman continued pressing him on with a whip of her shawl to his snout; she knew his belly was naturally armored, and his back even moreso, so she had to concentrate her attacks on his face and head if she wanted them to be effective at all.

The big reptile stopped her next punch with a blocking of his mighty claws, and then slapped her away. He opened his mouth fully and spat a fireball from it to her, but she merely smiled, and extending her hands forward, absorbed the fire energy with ease.

"WHAT?!" the villain blinked in disbelief.

"These are the arts of the Psycho Power, greatly surpassing your puny natural talents" she explained, and shot the firey energy back at him, setting his face in flames. "We call this particular technique the Soul Reflect!".

"RRRARRGHHH!!" Bowser had to slam his own face against a tree to put the fire out quickly, but that gave his opponent an opening, and she took it by grabbing him by his belly, and exerting her strenght to the max, slamming him down. She was fast to jump up, and land with a devastating flying kick on his ugly kisser. "OWCH! YOU WITCH--".

"Yes. I am, indeed, that" the modern sorceress modestly nodded, and then gathered energy all around herself, her eyes glowering for a moment. "And I am proud of my magical heritage. It allows me to vanquish evil... like this!! SOUL SPIRAL!".

The big spiral of chi shot itself forward and impacted Bowser head on, weakening him even more, and he stumbled down to his fat knees gurgling incoherently. Rose then grabbed him by the head using both hands and muttered something.

"Wait, what's she going to do now?" James blinked, confused.

"I don't know..." Jesse gulped down, "But better get the Meowthinator ready, I get the feeling it'll be up to us very, very soon...".

And indeed, Rose began to shake the Koopa leader's head back and forth while his energy flowed out of him and into her. She rattled him making him to yowl, and she shouted, "SOUL DRAIN!". Not that she actually was draining his soul itself, but she still was draining him, alright. So much that when she finally let him go, he could do nothing but to plummet down unconscious, at the feet of the much smaller purple haired female, the Beast falling before the Beauty.

*THUD*

For a second, the whole audience fell into a shocked silence. And then some man gave a wild, enthusiastic cheer. That prompted the rest of the Dome to break into jubilant cheers and clappings as well, just as Hanagata, sweatdropping, cautiously walked next to Bowser and gave him the full count to ten.

"IT'S OVER!!" the lanky blond man sentenced. "MISS ROSE WINS THIS ROUND FOR HER TEEEAAAAM!!".

Even more hoorays followed, while Bowser was carried away in a stretcher by two hulking angels, much like Mario had been, in an ironic twist. Rose allowed herself a brief moment to take in a breath and lament the brutality the tournament imposed on them all, right before turning her glare to the corner where a giant cat-shaped robot now stood, towering over her.

'Prepare for trouble', indeed.


Next: The Nadesico delivers Tenchi to Team Saviors from Space!

[OverMaster]

OOC: Edited last post to correct a few typos (like Shingo saying 'Forgive' instead of 'Forget'). What was I thinking?

[OverMaster]

Coming Back to You.


The outer space, right above MUGEN Tournament Grounds:

Captain Seina Yamada of the GXP leaned back on his command chair and muttered something weary and tired to himself. The thin young man had had a hard day so far, and it wasn't even 10:00 AM. Not like that was strange at all for him, but still...

Those who knew about his bad luck problems were now blaming him on the recent rash of bad luck and constant difficulties surrounding the Grounds. An official petition had been raised to the Galaxy Police by the Get the Unlucky Bastard Away from Us Commitee, just to be turned down by the higher ups of the GXP. Amane had laughed at that and reassured him there was nothing to worry about, but Seina still felt badly at being on a post somewhere he was not really wanted.

Even all other spaceships around the Kamidake II, from the Stellvia to both Enterprises to the Nirvana, were keeping a prudent distance from them. That was why it came to a surprise to him when his old childhood friend, and now wife, Kiriko announced to him from her surveillance chair, "Seina? We have a ship approaching us, asking to deliver a message to you. It doesn't look too advanced. They claim they come from Earth... from a parallel, future Earth. Apparently, the ship's name is the Nadesico".

The young man sat up straighter on his chair. "Roger. I'll talk with them, then". He nodded.

Immediately, a huge holo screen appeared floating in front of him, and on it, there was the beautiful face of a young woman in a white uniform, with long dark purple hair, and huge round eyes. "Captain Yamada, from the Galaxy Police Federation?" she asked in a lively, but very serious, voice.

"Yes, I am" Seina tried to talk in the same regular tone. "May I ask you to identify yourself?".

"Captain Yurika Misumaru from the NERGAL Heavy Industries' Nadesico, sir!" she gave him a martial salutation. "Pleased to meet the man who beats fate in a routine basis, overcoming all grisly infortunes thrown into his way by life!".

Captain Yamada sweatdropped a bit. "Domo arigatou, your words honor me... I think...".

"Sir, the purpose of our transmission is a highly important one" Yurika continued. "We understand you, and the Jurai Holy Empire, recently lost one of your royalty icons, Prince Masaki Tenchi, in a violent incident in which he was kidnapped".

Seina's eyes snapped fully open at the mention of his old and dear friend. "Y-Yes!" he stammered. "That's right, he has been missing for weeks now... but what does it have to--".

"Sir, the group we represent recently found and retrieved Prince Masaki, after a battle with the renegade group holding him prisoner" the woman replied, making Seina's heart to skip a beat. "We have him right here, onboard of the Nadesico, on our Medical Bay, where my trusted Medical Officer. Dr. Inez Fressange, is giving him a few last checkups".

"Nani?!" Seina stood up like a bolt, as his female crew all around him seemed to smile at unison at the news. "Are you totally sure it's him?!".

"Totally positive, Captain" Yurika said. "He says it has been a hard ordeal for him, but he can't wait to be rejoined with you, and with his old comrades down there at the Tournament. We ask for nothing in exchange, since our mission is to deliver him safe and sound without expecting anything in return".

"Um, why, thanks... that's very kind of you..." Seina blinked, trying to remember the official GXP protocol for this kind of situations. "May we talk with him now, please?".

Yurika gave him a single nod. "I'll call him right now". She turned to a thin pale little girl sitting near her, wearing an orange uniform with a black skirt. "Ruri, contact Dr. Fressange and tell her to bring Tenchi-kun here. His friend wishes to talk with him".

"Tenchi-kun?" the blonde, leggy Amane snickered from her seat near Seina's. "Boy, looks like they're feeling at ease around him by now. Then again, he tends to have that effect in women...".

Apparently, Captain Misumaru heard that, because she quickly turned back around and protested, "Hey, we've only made good friends with him! My heart already belongs to someone else!!".

"Yurika, please!" another male voice came from somewhere behind her, almost whining painfully. "Don't start with that again!".

"Um, sure, whatever you say, Akito!" she blushed a bit, and Seina noticed, with a sweatdrop, she sounded way different now than when she had started talking to him. Well, love did that to people, he knew it all too well.

All too well.


To be Continued.

[T51R]

I can only post again on Thursday evening; I have a pre-presentation that I need to work out for the day. Sorry about the lax activity on this end m8's.:o

[Lord of Nonsensical Crap]

Hell in Hell

The sound of blood splattering all over the stone floor, of organs rupturing and of blades slicing again and again into soft, squishy bits, echoed across Hell as the re-animated Band of the Hawk ruthlessly massacred Kaarage and Miso, making sure to kill them again every time they regenerated. Further back, sitting around a table of Hild’s that had been nearly accidentally shattered by Kaarage’s mishaps, the Triumvirate held a meeting.

“So in other words,” Thanos said, crossing his arms, “by some extraordinary mishap, Lady Urd’s herald entered Nifelheim just as Lord Vellinor’s herald was thrown through the screen?”

Both Hild and Vellinor nodded in mute embarrassment.

“I see.” The Titan idly flexed the Infinity Gauntlet. “And do we have any idea where Lord Vellinor’s herald went?”

“No,” the Trickster God grumbled. “My agents are still looking for the idiot. though when he gets back, I’m going to have him
molested by the cast of Will and Grace for completely embarrassing me.”

“The feeling is mutual, Lord Vellinor,” Hild sighed. She turned back to the Mad Titan. “Incidentally, Lord Thanos, I don’t suppose you have any ideas on how we can reverse this little problem?”

“I fail to see how this problem is ‘little,’ Lady Hild,” Thanos said humourlessly. “I highly doubt your minions can keep Kaarage perpetually dead for long, and when he breaks free…”

“Yeah, tell us something we don’t know,” Vellinor grumbled. The Trickster frowned suddenly. “Although…if Kansai is where I suspect he is, then the forces of Heaven may be in the same boat….”

As if on cue, Vellinor’s cell phone rang, and he picked it up. “Moe’s Delivery Service! You mail ‘em, we nail ‘em!” He paused for a minute. “Oh, Aion, it’s you. He’s WHERE? Hold on, he’s holding WHO hostage? Wow, I knew he was dumb, but….yeah? How many times has he croaked by now? Wow, that many? Aright, keep tabs on him.” With that, Vellinor closed his cell phone.

“Well?” Hild asked.

“He wound up in Team Skuld’s headquarters,” the Trickster replied. “And, predictably enough, he’s been reduced to a red smear several times over by now. The Heaven guys have already laid several charges on him from mass-murder, to property damage, to attempted pedophelia, to arson, to jaywalking…”

Thanos raised an eyebrow. “Jaywalking?”

“Hey, that’s what Aion said,” Vellinor replied. “Personally, I’m just a LITTLE more worried about how the hell we get him—“ He pointed at the puddle that was Kaarage “—outta here. I, for one, am all for firing him into the edge of a galactic plane through a very big cannon.”

Thanos leaned back in his seat. “As amusing as that may be to you, Lord Vellinor, that would never work,” he said.

“Oh, and I suppose you have a better plan, Thanos?” Vellinor grumbled. “If so, please enlighten us.”

A slow smile crept across the Titan’s grey features. “We simply need to organize a prisoner exchange,” he replied. “Heaven knows it is in the same boat as us: they cannot keep Kansai on their plane for long without running the risk of him killing them all—“

“Or annoying them to death,” Hild muttered under her breath.

“—so we simply need to organize a trade with them: Kansai for Kaarage, for our mutual safety and wellbeing.”

“Eh. Good so far, except what with the Heaven types being all so good and noble and crap like that, they’ll probably refuse.” A slow smile crept over the Trickster’s face. “Unless…we give them a good incentive to. Am I right, Queen Hild?”

Hild smiled in return as she caught the Trickster’s drift. “It’s been quite a while since Mr. Morisato last enjoyed my hospitality,” she said. “I’m sure he’ll enjoy a second visit to my realm.”

“Then we are agreed,” Thanos said. “Is there any other business that requires our attention?”

Vellinor straightened up. “Well, there is ONE tiny little detail I need to mention to you.” And with that, he told them of his encounter with Nagi and about what the boy had offered.

“I see,” Hild said. “And you believe this Nagi is divine like us?”

“Hey, your herald made extra sure of that,” Vellinor replied with a grin. “Besides, I doubt he could show us Valhalla if he wasn’t divine in some way. And, call me crazy, but my Trickster’s instinct tells me he isn’t trying to fool us: he genuinely wants to serve us.”

Thanos frowned. “It is impetuous of him to even believe he is worthy of our attention without first proving himself,” he said in a low tone.

“Oh, I don’t know, Lord Thanos,” Hild replied with a grin. “I say we ought to give him that chance. Lord Vellinor, I give you leave to contact this Nagi again and find out more.”

Vellinor bowed. “Thank you, Queen Hild. I gotta ask though…who the hell are they?”

The other two members of the Triumvirate glanced at the far corner of the room, where several lean-bodied figures—each wearing nothing but a loincloth and a red cape, and armed with a spear, shield and helmet—began the enter in through the ruined gates. “What the…”

The lead figure slammed the end of his spear against the brimstone floor. “SPARTANS!” he roared. “Tonight we dine in HELL!”

The assembled Spartans let out a collective roar, and, as one, broke into a charge, roaring demands that they be fed. Looking up from Nudoru’s ruined body, Femto raised his sword, and, shouting for the Hawks to follow him, broke into a counter-charge against Leonidas and his band. Before long, a fierce melee broke out in the centre of the throne room.

“This is madness,” Thanos groaned as he buried his face in his hands.

“Madness? This is Nifelheim,” Vellinor replied. “Any idea where they came from, Queen Hild?”

“They’ve been lingering in my dungeons for nearly thirty centuries or so,” the Queen of Hell replied. “Which means…” her eyes widened “…Kaarage must have damaged my realm’s prison gate system when he arrived!”

The Triumvirate went silent. The thought of a hell-wide jail break was, admittedly, something that they were less than enthusiastic about.

The Queen of Hell stood up and instantly summoned a squad of demons. “Seal off those gates and put the prisoners back in their places,” she said calmly. “I want my realm completely orderly in about an hour or so, understand?”

“Lady Hild!” Thanos suddenly shouted. Hild and Vellinor whirled around, just in time to see a recently-regenerated Nudoru and Miso limping towards a still-open gate.

“Aw dammit, can’t he stay dead?” Vellinor grumbled as he pulled out a bazooka, just as Thanos charged up his Infinity Gauntlet. The two gods fired simultaneously, a large energy blast and an anti-personell missile both hitting Kaarage at the same time and eveloping him in a massive explosion.

“Did you get him?” Hild asked. She soon got her answer, however: before long, the dust cloud kicked up by the explosion cleared, revealing an empty patch of scorched earth where the God-Killer had once been. Of the God-Killer and his angel, however, there was no sign, which could only mean one thing: Nudoru had escaped the blast, and was now running amok in Hell.

Vellinor was the one who summed up the Triumvirate’s thoughts best. “Oh. Shit.”

Next: Holy Orders!

[J Dog]

School's almost out, so I'm going to get that out of the way.

You know, I have a home computer now complete with Microsoft Office so I can be able to type up decent additions for the fanfiction upon which I can transport with a USB flash drive whenever I go to the library (I'm opting not to get the Internet for my computer for now).

BTW, Mech, I'm going to try to bring in a few more things that I'm going to fix up by using PhotoStudio (something that I had downloaded onto my computer while it was being fixed up).

[J Dog]

The Fight at the Forsaken Fortress

Glancing at his opponent, Seto sneered due to his physique; he had always thought of musclebound fighters as inferior because of their apparent lack of knowledge. “Stupid brute,” he said to himself while inserting the Realistic Duel Disk onto his right arm. “I’ll show him what’s to expect from a guy like me.”

On The Nightmare’s back, The Ventriloquist was referring to the proposed plan against the duelist. “Knowing you, you’d want to hit him head on and try to obliterate him quickly. Don’t do that.” Naturally, his proxy scoffed and demanded that he would defeat his opponent quickly with a Buster Missile. However, the master of puppetry stood on his stance.

“Don’t… do… it…. Or else.” He warned with a bitter tone.

Dogbert was watching this from one of the main towers that loomed over the battleground and awaited the match to begin. “Kaiba… Kaiba… Kaiba. You could have gone the easy route and offered your technology at the beginning while the two of us were in my so-called owner’s trailer, but no. You had to be bitter and offer your point of view. That’s why I had to strike you with the Pink Slip of Annihilation. Lucky that you survived. Then that stupid Jackson Stallwall kid came along…”

He flashed back to the fight in which Jack had struck him with a Dynamite Kick and survived his ultimate attack even at his powerful Saint form. Having lost, he wanted to form a team devoted to taking him down. However, that fell apart:

*Hector con Carne and Boskov were captured after trying to become the rulers of Qatar in an attempt to coup the current ruler, Pearl Forrester (the mother of the possibly deceased Clayton Forrester) and were subjected to a few hours of torture by having to watch “Puma Man”, “Devil Fish”, and “The Incredible Teenagers Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!”. Neither the brain (or stomach) of Hector nor the host have been heard from since.

*Catbert opted for this lucrative deal, but eventually found himself getting a new job as the Head Director of Human Resources at Globex Corporation, and cooperates with head boss Hank Scorpio on ensuring that the nuclear-powered Climate Changer will be built on time.

*Catastrophe stayed with Team Bandits, a team that Kaiba manhandled with his new device.

At that bleak hour, being subjected to Bucky Katt’s inane poetry slams, he remembered The Group. And at that point did the outlook change. Now he has who he wants in a dangerous situation, and it feels great.

“Just beat the snot out of him. Nobody says no to Dogbert!” He held his paw and wanted the fight to begin.

“Okay, I want you to understand this: This is going to be a specific match.” Seto told the alternate Broly. “I will fight with my cards, and you’ll fight with whatever you use. If you can beat all the cards I have and get my life points to zero, than you win and I’ll do whatever Fido wants. But, my cards are much more realistic than you think. Don’t be surprised if one of your attacks backfire and destroys you in the process.”

The Nightmare grunted in agreement. “Good, we’ll have you dead in no time.” At that, the deck was set, and Kaiba drew his cards. The fight was on.

“I’ll start!” He yelled as he inserted a card into the disk. An armored reptile with robotic implants appeared in defense mode. “I give you Cyber Alligator!”

“Bah!” The Nightmare scoffed at the monster that had just been summoned. “I’ll destroy that in one hit!” Charging up a ki blast, he threw it at the Cyber Alligator and easily destroyed it. That pleased Seto, much to his dismay.

“Good work.” He smiled, “I applaud how you did that, but I must remind you that it was just one monster, and I didn’t lose anything. You used your hit, so it’s my turn!” By saying that, he drew another card, and inserted two face down cards.

“What?! No monster?! Are you suicidal?!!!” The Nightmare screamed before laughing in hysteria. “Of course you are! It’s my turn, and it’s time to die!” Throwing an even larger ki blast, he aimed for Seto. Before it got to him, one of the cards raised up.

“Negate Attack!” Seto ushered in this trap, and the blast vanished. This irritated The Nightmare, who a few seconds ago felt he was sure of a victory. I had you build confidence, so I can destroy it and send you into a fit of rage., was going through the CEO’s mind. That is what makes a fighter lose; when he forgets rationality and goes head on in an attempt to finish off the fight. Such is the fate of these cheap characters. Oh well. I’ll have him out of the way soon. Talking again, he reminded that it was now his turn. “Bring it on!” He told his infuriated opponent. Drawing a monster, he summoned what was most dear to him.

The Blue Eyes White Dragon.

“I want you to look into the dragon’s eyes and consider the anguish that the both of us have to deal with in our entire lives. I’m not letting you take it away!” followed with a close shot of Seto’s eyes.

The Nightmare was indifferent to this, since all he ever cared about was torture and destruction. All that he saw was something else that could be obliterated with one hit. However, it was still his turn and he opted to attack.

“Go, Blue Eyes! White Lightning!” he ordered his dragon to attack. An energy beam was charging in its mouth and was unleashed towards the hulking foe above, who stared at it with callous.

“That is nothing!” He braced for impact and took the blast head on. However, the force was strong enough to knock The Ventriloquist of his back and sent him down to the hard stone floor. He didn’t notice that until Kaiba reminded him. “Your partner couldn’t take the force and wound up plummeting to the ground. You ARE aware of that, aren’t you?” Glancing downward, he saw the unconscious body of the puppeteer.

“Bah! He’ll be fine! It’s my turn!” That surprised Seto, though a part of him believed that this was such the case involving the preference to battle over allies. “What did you say?” he asked. “You didn’t even think about your partner?!”

“I said he’ll be fine! It’s just a bruise! I don’t care about him now, I want to kill!” The Nightmare responded coldly. “If he dies, then so be it! But I want you to suffer because…”

Kaiba interrupted. “Because what? I’m your target? I’m your foil? I’m your what?”

Annoyed by that, the brute continued. “I want you to suffer because all life dosen’t deserve to live if they are so pathetic. No single being should live except for me!”

“Then… obliterate my dragon, and maybe the next turn you’ll get what you want.” Turning to his card, he apologized. Forgive me, he thought. Now that it was his opponent’s turn, it was time to face the ultimate attack now that he encouraged the beast. Charging up his finisher, The Nightmare cackled madly. “You better prepare for this: Final Obliterator!” Launching the blast towards the Blue Eyes, Seto shielded his eyes, not wanting to see what would happen next. The dragon faces the blast and slowly was vaporized by the intensity. The surrounding terrain was morphing and melting and the waters were becoming chopped and waves started crashing mercilessly onto the towers. Dogbert was enjoying the fight, but the true joy came from the belief that it was going to be over for his adversary. “Finish him, you beefhead.” He told himself.

Once the smoke cleared and everything settled down, the alternate Broly observed his wrath and looked pleased…

[J Dog]

…until seeing Seto still standing. “WHAT?!!! How can this be?!” He screamed in shock.

Smiling, the duelist told him how he survived. “You did destroy my dragon and cause a lot of damage, but the impact of the attack was actually calculated at 6999 attack. The goal is to get me to zero. If you suck at math, and I assume you do, the dragon had 3000 attack points, and I have 4000 life points. Add the two and you get 7000 points. By subtracting your attack from my dragon’s attack, you deal 3999 damage. Take that away from my 4000 life points, and I still have 1 point. Good enough, though I believe it’s dumb luck that I was able to survive.”

Frustrated, the freak of nature had to admit that meant he would live another turn. And maybe that would be it. It was now Kaiba’s turn, and maybe, just maybe, then it would be the final blow. “Now, I’ll show you the ultimate punishment for destroying my dragon!”

“But you let me!” He waived his fist. “How can you avenge what you allowed?”

“Because in the end, it wanted it to be that way… so I can beat you. But I’m not just going to beat you. Apparently, you are a CHEAP character. Cheap characters are generally disliked, so I’m going to do the whole world a favor and make you vanish!” Looking at the card he drew, he felt like the card he picked would be it. The coup de grace.

“I insert this card face down… and end my turn.”

Surprised at not placing in a barrier, The Nightmare felt like he had given up. So, what better way to humiliate your foe by dissolving him. “Prepare for Final Assault, you worm!” He triumphantly called out before firing a gigantic shot that looked like it would destroy the entire area and cause a massive change in the water levels on the nearby islands.

“What the? The fool! He’s going to kill us all!” Dogbert didn’t like the looks of this. This may subdue his foe, but maybe vanquish his chances if he’s killed in the process.

“Take this!” Seto yelled out and revealed his card. “Mirror Wall!” A gigantic mirror appeared and took the blast, yet stood firm. “Now face what you made. Oh, did I forget that I had this card down as well?” Revealing the other card, it showed a burning landscape. “Widespread Ruin, in addition to your attack, will come and end you once and for all!”

“Yeah, you think you are…” The Nightmare was trying to bluff his way out, but as he saw his attack come back magnified, he felt that it was going to be it.

And so he felt its wrath, and screamed horribly. This managed to wake up the Ventriloquist, who watched this go on. “Dear God… he’s been beaten!” Once the blast ended, the hulking Saiyan was defeated as his lifeless body now fell downwards into the moat and, with a resounding splash, went to his watery grave.

It was over. The Nightmare That Was Broly was dead. By his own attack. That made Seto smirk. And it made Dogbert wonder whether this was a blessing of a curse.

“That was good of him to succeed, although I think its time that I rock his world a little bit.” And with that, Dogbert left the room in route to the arena floor. Meanwhile, Seto walked to the survivor of the duo. “Cur,” he called him out, “A pathetic human who couldn’t help his friend one bit and observed his demise. Such is the fate of unholy creatures that plague the existence of all life.” Giving a large kick to the face, he knocked out his opponent before even getting the Mind Pollution.

“Well done, Kaiba Seto.” Dogbert clapped, now on the arena. “You managed to pull the unthinkable and beat these two that I hired. Makes you look tougher than expected.”

“Can the talk; where’s Mokuba?” He demanded. Dogbert looked at him with frustration.

“I’d avoid that. You see, there is one final obstacle to your goal: you must go through me. Remember last time? Your ‘friend’ managed to beat me, and he couldn’t defeat a Superman. You just gave someone 30 times tougher what they got.” Dogbert reminded, even though he had to believe that it was his attack that was the Nightmare’s undoing and not Kaiba. “Let’s fight!” Grabbing his staff, he began to transform. “SAINT MODE!” A blinding aura had encircled Dogbert as powers of the business world began to enter him and a pope hat had appeared. Landing, bolts of static were emitting from his body. “Well? Bring it on. It’s not that hard.”

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

Back at the domes, Dorado had to believe that even worse things were going to happen to him. “Eventually I’m going to meet Velli-jerk again, and when I do, I’m going to punch him in the face and convert that smile of his into a hillbillies’!” He vowed.

“He IS a God, so I’d think that’d be difficult.” Brett had placed logic into the situation. “Tiffany and you couldn’t even hit him during the time he was at the hospital. What are the odds you will succeed the next time? Or after that?”

“Listen. I do things on the fly. That’s me.” Dorado told the ex-Cadet. “Just understand that you got your own problems, as do the rest of us. At this time of day, planning won’t do a bit of damn good.”

Brett looked at him with disdain. “You’re nuts!”

“And you’re in denial.” Dorado countered. Brett had to agree to that; no matter how good this place is, it could never be the same as the dimension from where he came.

“I guys you’re right: I do miss my domain. But I know that there is no way possible for me to ever return, so I’m going to make the best of it.” He then thought to himself, On the bright side, Principal Kirkpatrick isn’t going to expel me or give me lavatorial duties for this if I’m not there, so it works out fine.

Next: The First Steps To Operation: Luna

[OverMaster]

I'll be There for You.



Team Hero's Headquarters:


Spider-Man allowed himself a brief sigh as he walked in and closed the door behind himself, then walked towards the couch and slumped down on it, snatching the remote control to him with a webline, then turning the TV on. He had just came back from Yggdrasil with Kukuri and Nike, and managed to lose the annoying 'warriors' on his way back to the Fighter's Lodge; okay, they were good kids, but also rather annoying, especially the boy.

Right now, he wanted to see the results of the fight which had Kyo and Ryu's female friends on it. He flipped through the channels filled with Kaiju attacks news and reports of Angel sightings all across the world, shaking his head to himself, saddened, until he finally found the channel showing that particular battle. Looked like Chizuru Kagura was already down, and now Rose the fortune teller was fighting that giant cat-shaped robot. Spidey remembered its pilots, the two wacky kids who always made a lame motto before entering the Lodge's Dinning Room at each meal. He couldn't help but chuckle at that. Man, not even the Kangaroo was *that* dumb...

Parker began to take a grip of his mask to pull it off, when the soft buzzing in the back of his head convinced him to stop. Spider-Sense, tingling. Forgetting Rose, he quickly jumped up and stuck to the ceiling, muscles tense to spring into action, a fist clenched. "Okay, I know there's someone else in here!" he shouted looking all around. "Come out, whoever you are!". He strongly suspected they were Ranma's fiancees, coming to look for the young Saotome, or for Akane.

He never expected what happened when the door leading to Kyo's room exploded from the inside, and out of it stepped two tall, imposing figures. One of them obese and wearing an elegant white suit with tie and matching shoes, as well as glasses and a bowl cut. And with four long metal tentacles coming out of his back. The other one, a taller, bulkier man in a shirt with black and green stripes.

"Octopus and Sandman" Spider-Man's eyes narrowed behind his red mask. "Well, now this is a surprise. Okay, Vulture, Kraven, Mysterio, Electro, you can come out now, too! I guess I shoulda known the Sinister Six wouldn't miss the chance to drop by and wish me good luck!".

"There are not Sinister Six this time, Spider-Man" Doctor Octopus stated stoically, staying quiet back where he was, a frown etched onto his face. "For once, my hated nemesis, we come here for something else than vengeance".

"Oh, really" Spidey humphed, feeling something was wrong now, definitely wrong. His Spider-Sense was not buzzing anymore. "Why, that's very kind of you, Doc. And you too, Sandy. Well? If you aren't here to pulp moi down, then why--".

"We come... to offer a gift, Bug" Sandman growled, looking up at him with steely eyes. "Not a gift from us. Rather, a gift from our current bosses. They say you're the only one who can wield it, and that maybe you're the one fated to use it to save us all".

"No kiddin', huh" the arachnid hero scoffed. "You two sure you haven't spent too much time under the sun? Or maybe they haven't been giving you the correct meds back at Ravencroft Asylum...".

"Listen to us, damn you!" Ock roared angrily, swinging a tentacle into his direction, one the superhero ducked under, before Sandman restrained the annoyed scientist from behind. "Stop being the witless jester you always are, just for once!! Don't you realize this is of the utmost importance?! Don't you see it must be, if it forces us to come here looking for your damned help?!?".

Spidey jerked back, feeling the desperation on Otto Octavius' raging voice. Okay, that sounded sincere enough, somehow. Normally, Ock was not good at lying when he was on a short fuse.

"Please..." Sandman added, lowering his head a bit. "Pay attention, 'cause we're going to say this just once. Your boss, the Alaniel guy, must know what are we talking about. I was there when my superiors summoned him. The Authors. Does that ring any bell to you?".

"He mentioned a few things about them. Mostly to warn us" Parker replied, still distrusting. "They are the kooks who think they created us all, even Belldandy and her Dad, right?".

"Bite your tongue" Octopus spat venomously. "You have no idea of all the things they can do. In our time with them, we have seen things you never could imagine even in your wildest dreams. You know I don't ever give any respect lightly to anyone, but the Authors... they have proved to be worthy of it. Even worthy of my obedience...".

"... For a price they offered you, I'm sure" Spider-Man countered.

"Of course. They know I deserve the best payment I can get for my contributions" Octavius nodded.

"Yeah? Okay, if they are so fantabulous, why do they need my help? Or even yours?".

"As great as their power is, it is slipping away with this Crisis" Octopus answered, as if talking to a very dumb child. "You must understand, the arrival of the men from beyond changed the whole balance. The Authors fear them, for they are all they need to fear. And if the Authors fall, so will all of us".

"The men from beyond? You mean--".

"The God-Killers, yeah" Sandman snorted. "The Authors want to keep reality alive, but with the triple threat of the God-Killers and that Bell chick's tournament, they have their hands more than full. That's why they need all the help they can get... even from runts like you".

"So, you're suggesting me to join your ranks of happy patsies working for the la-la guys, right?" Spider-Man questioned. "Hey, do you get a good dental plan from the job?".

"The mere idea of it sickens me, but yes, it will work best for the interests of all of us if we are in the same side... for now" Ock spoke again. He gesticulated with a tentacle for a better effect. "Right now, Spider-Man, your foolishly named 'Hero' team is pathetic, a real underdog in a game of deities. You should not make it farther than the next round. Even the clueless cretins of Team Justice can beat you handily. You need something to tip the balance in your favor...".

"Oh, I knew it. Here it comes, the 'Pact with the Devil' part" Spidey snorted. "Oooohh, I'm so tempted..." he mocked.

"No, we are not the devils in this piece, young fool" the scientist sneered. "The real devils... they are controlling the rest of your enemies in this drama. The second God-Killer's master is even directly commanding two of them. Carnage and Norman Osborn".

Peter froze in place, shocked at the mention of Osborn's name.

"And his co-conspirator, the female devil, holds the reigns of a new, globe spanning villain army. A real Society, biding for the moment to strike at her command. Electro, Hammerhead, Rhino, Vulture, Kraven, Mysterio, Spot, Hydro-Man, they all are there. Just waiting for the order, for the right time to finish plummeting our world... and your loved ones... into the final darkness. But we two are smarter than that. We can see the real danger of following those devils, because devils honor no promises".

Peter thought frantically. The female devil. The one who had called Yggdrasil while he was there. Hild, they had called her.

"And... what does your totally non-evil, non-dark, faction of impolute angels have to offer me?" he asked very cautiously. "With which thing do they expect Poor Ol' me to turn the tides and save all our bacons, humm?".

"You might remember it from that 'Acts of Vengeance' fiasco a few years back" Octopus replied, shocking Peter even more. Surely he didn't mean... "Then, you had ultimate power at your disposal for a time, before it slipped away from your meager grasp. Now, I guess Lady Luck really favors the fools, because you have a chance to regain it once again. The Captain Universe power, Spider-Man. That is the gift the Authors have for you".


Next: Rose vs. Team Rocket, and Kansai vs. the Powerpuff Girls Z!

[T51R]

~Celestial Alignments, Gear Two: War Machines~


-Fighters' Lodge, Mech Hangar

Chains clattered against molybdenum pulleys, straining against the several hundred tonnes of metal they now bore in mid-air. Pneumatic hisses and clangs filled the mech hangar while a mechanical hum signalled the better part of the roof opening its gaping maw several feet before the “head” of the titanic machine being hoisted aloft towards its goal: the immense sphere of ancient El Hazard technology looming above. The Eye of God. “Easy now,” Dr. D called to his buxom cadre of assistants, some operating the cranes in perfect synchronisation while others monitored the leviathan above, checking for any deviations in its course then relaying the information back to Ifurita for correction. “We only get one shot at this. The Eye of God looks to have been designed primarily as some kind of warship; there are places inside it, according to Ifurita‘s schematics, that are large enough to hold the MEGAS securely. They looked a bit like hangars to me,” he indicated several drawings on a nearby table, “and if that is so, then it stands to reason that…”

“There is no time for further postulations, Doctor!” Kiva called from atop the mountainous mech, its torso clearing the hangar’s roofline while Yubaba’s protests went largely unnoticed; the Lodge’s interim manager and her two assistants ran around in circles, insisting that the operation of loading the MEGAS onto the Eye was simply too risky to attempt.

“IF YOU SO MUCH AS SCRATCH THIS FLOOR YOUR SPONSOR‘S SECURITY DEPOSITS WILL BE FORFEIT!” the witch bellowed, to no avail.

“ARE YOU SURE THIS WILL WORK?” Kiva continued, the winds beginning to howl around her lithe body as she was lifted higher into the crimson skies, ever-loser to the behemoth above. “With everything Coop did to this thing, are you sure that we‘ll be able to operate the MEGAS in any capacity at all?!” All eyes fixed themselves on the ZOID researcher then, from Heavy Metal Impact and the Troubleshooters, sans Lina, who were still edgy about being so close to each other to Hearts of Fire and the Holy Swords who had come to see their room mates and comrades-in-arms off.

“Yeah,” Jamie echoed her sentiments, “every time I been on this thing, something weird always happened because of just that!”

The Doctor touched his chin in thought, and finally replied. “Well yes,” he began, “and even though we haven‘t been able to get around most of the modifications he made, I can assure you that Kiva will be able to use its primary weapons systems to an extent that cannot yet be determined. You see, we have not had the time to test both the improvised ‘Beek’ system that will assist her combat strategies and help to navigate the command pathways that Coop put in there, but we haven‘t even been able to run a practical test on the new ZOID/Pilot Interface!”

“The…what!?” Jamie stuttered; he couldn’t believe that almost everyone had taken a liking to the big mech after its debut(and only) official fight, and several members of the resident technical staff had attempted to make their own modifications to it, with Dr. D being the most successful in navigating the labyrinth of Coop’s wiring to date.

Dr. D fetched a loud-hailer and pointed it up at the MEGAS’ cockpit. “The ZOID/Pilot interface,” he explained, “is a system that was under intense research by the Imperial Republic. It interfaces the machine directly to the pilot, and with the Beek AI helping in the targeting and weapons selection, the two of you should be able to use the MEGAS effectively enough until you find Coop!”

A thunderous ‘clang’ filled the skies above the Fighter’s Lodge, the sound of the mech’s feet being clamped into place by twin catapults aboard the Eye. Smaller protrusions shot from the walls to secure its arms and shoulders, fixing it in place. The hanger filled with two hums then, one from the closing roof ad the second from above as the armoured hull of the Eye began to close around the MEGAS’ bay. Kiva and Jamie descended as well, holding onto the hooks that had borne their machine into its temporary home above. No sooner had they touched the ground, they briskly approached the Doctor. “Yes, we‘re sure about this,” Kiva said matter-of-factly. “According to Tournament rules, any member of a defeated team can be recruited to replace an existing one. We aren‘t out of this yet, and wherever he is, Coop knows it too.”

“You realize, Kiva Andrew, that the Eye of God sends its target to a random location when programmed to do so. In this case, as it was essential that the pilot survive, our objective could have been sent anywhere, to any time period. In such a case as this, it is best to be prepared.” Ifurita monotoned, with Chii nodding enthusiastically beside her.

“YOU‘RE ONE TO TALK,” Jamie snapped, “You‘re the whole reason we‘re in this mess to begin with!”

“Enough,” Kiva smacked him over the head, “it is enough that they have agreed to correct their…” her eyes narrowed, then filled with disgust, “mistake.”

Punching a set of coordinates into the small laptop on the desk, Dr. D pushed the schematics of the Eye aside and spread a huge piece of paper filled with abstract calculations over it. “Now,” he signalled for those present to gather around, “these are the closest coordinates we can get. We have to assumer that wherever he was sent, Coop was sensible enough to find the safest place possible. That being said, we must factor into our calculations that he will have moved. Also, it isn’t possible to replicate completely the precise dimensional coordinates where he was sent. Not with these systems, anyway. So. The best we can do with what we have is, to give you the same dimension and the same time period he was sent to, and the location where he landed correct to ten kilometres.”

“You gotta be kidding me, ten miles!?” Jamie practically spat.

“Kilometres,” Kiva corrected him, “Our search area will roughly be equal to six-point-two-one-three miles.”

“Oh, is that all?”

Kiva let herself lean against a nearby tool chest. “It’s the best we could do. If the place where Coop landed was friendly, then we have nothing to fear. However, if it is hostile, then…”

“Then we will locate and retrieve him. By any means necessary,” Ifurita interrupted her, and for once, she and Kiva were in agreement.

The click of the laptop being closed nearby caught the attention of all. “Well, for now, we‘ve done all that we‘re able to. I suggest that all of you get as much rest as you can before we launch, and that Chii has a full charge before you leave. There is no telling where you will end up because even though we have maps of three-dimensional space, there are no maps that I know of that were drawn for interdimensional travel. At least, none that are available to us.” Dr. D motioned to the door, and the lights in the hangar began to dim. “You realize that you will be on your own once you make the jump, don’t you?”

The eyes of Heavy Metal Impact and the Troubleshooters said it all.





~Next…Take off Every Zig!

[OverMaster]

Blood and (No) Glory, Continuation: Slippery is as Slippery goes



Misato Katsuragi's Trailer:


"And... there. All done" Ash Williams let out a brief sigh of satisfaction at a well done job as he finished cutting the whole area of Kansai's guts clutching to Logan's claws with supernatural fierceness, finally letting the Canadian mutant free to wipe the bloodied remains of God-Killer flesh from the adamantium laced sharp protuberances. The Evil Dead killer could turn his chainsaw off at last, and breathed in deeply, with a confident smile. "I save the day again! Don't rush in, ladies, there's enough room for gratitude for everyone...".

Misato rolled her eyes back and decided to ignore him. Dear God, he was worse than Kaji. "That's good and all" she said, casually placing her hands over her own hips, staring at the corpulent NODE tied to the chair, his belly spluttering floods of crimson onto her carpetting. "BUT YOU COULD HAVE DONE IT OUTSIDE, YOU KNOW!!".

Meanwhile, the combinated sounds of violent pukings came again from the bathroom, where Yukariko Sanada and Hikari Horaki had retreated after finally not being able to stand watching anymore of Ash's 'session' to separate Kansai from his hostage. Belldandy herself looked pale and was sitting very stiff at a nearby couch, her hands clutched over her knees. Kensuke just looked and looked at Urd's exotic figure, having forgotten about anything else, slightly drooling at the oblivious goddess' curves. Right now, Urd was too worried about the God-Killer to care about the boy.

"Now, you are caught for good. Trying to run away won't do you any good" she told Kadachi, who was similarly tied to a lamp, with Natsuki Kuga frowning and holding a gun against his temple at all times just in case. "So you'll better start talking right now. Where is Kaarage??".

"We have nothing to say" the Angel stated flatly. "Do your worst if you must, but we stick to our right to stay silent no matter what".

"This is no police movie! As an invasor with lethal intent, you only have as many rights here as us, the Yggdrasil representatives, decide to give you!" the eldest Norn shouted into his face, not even making him to blink or change his stoical expression. "Don't try to play with us, and better spit it out quick, or Rind and her interrogation squad won't be as soft as us! Now, I ask again, where is Kaarage!?".

"Lady Urd, maybe you should calm down..." Zauriel tried to intercede, from where he stood behind her. "Leave this procedure for us. It even hurts your sister's moral, to watch you acting like this...".

"Oh please" Kansai finally snorted, watching down at his slowly regenerating guts. "How sad. The bad cop, good cop routine stopped working fifteen billion years ago, guys. Face it, even if we knew something about where did that shithead end up, we wouldn't talk. He can sink into the pighole he crawled from and stay there for the rest of Eternity for all I care".

"What are you two, brothers?" Ash asked with the slightest tone of interest. "From the sounds of it--".

"Just neighbors. Former neighbors, thank God" the NODE grumbled. "That loser always managed to get on my freakin' nerves".

"He had told us..." Belldandy finally dared to speak, in a tiny, distant, emotionally weakened voice, "He has told us you were the one bothering him. Why must you and Sempai to hate each other, like so? You are from the same kind, you should try to focus on what makes you similar, not on what makes you different...".

Kansai spat angrily, a splort of black saliva hitting the floor caustically. "SIMILAR?! KAARAGE AN' ME?!? Lady, don't be insulting me!! That milksop, feeble, nerdy, faggy, stupid, gay, tree-hugging, clueless, retarded--".

"There is no need for such discriminating, narrow minded language" Belldandy frowned a bit, raising her voice somewhat.

"-- imbecile, nancy-boy sissy an' me have nothing in common!!" the second God-Killer finished roaring. "I'd prefer you to compare me to that fanboy over there!!" since his hands were restrained, he pointed at Kensuke with his chin.

"It stands to reason, however..." Zauriel spoke again, watching for a moment at the Powerpuff Girl Bell, who currently was holding Tiki prisoner between her hands, covering his mouth with her fingers, "... that, if they were at Nifelheim while you were talking with Hild, then Kaarage would have exchanged places with him, and so--".

"Oh my" Belldandy gasped. "Sempai is at Hild's domains right now?! But... but there are so many things there he could hurt himself with... He could be, right now, falling into a lava pit, or empaling himself with a demon's trident, or--".

"I'd be more worried a