The twelve fighters in the ring awaited the next wave of fighters patiently. Well, most of the fighters were waiting. Luigi and Sonic were sparring and Bowser was still fighting Pyron, although J. Talbain was helping the koopa king (much to Bowser’s chagrin).
Suddenly hearing the crowd cheering, some of the fighters turned to the entrance curtain to see whom was entering next.
“MILLIA RAGE!” (GG)
Her hands behind her back, Millia strode down to the ring, her long hair barely touching the floor. When she got to the end of the ramp, Millia lifted herself into the air using her long hair and lifted herself into the ring.
Jeffry saw Millia and wandered over. “How long has it been since you’ve seen your barber?” He asked.
Millia looked up and raised an eyebrow. “I could say the same for you.” She noted. “Well, I suppose you’re looking for a fight?”
“Uh…I guess.” Jeffry shrugged.
“Okay.” Millia replied as she wrapped the end of her long hair around Jeffry’s ankle and lifted him into the air, slamming him into the canvas.
“TERRY BOGARD!” (KOF)
SNK’s mascot character came out to a loud cheer. Taking off his cap and waving to the crowd with it a couple of times, Terry placed it back on his head and charged down to the ring.
Landing in the ring, Terry made a break for Pyron. “BURN KNUCKLE!” He shouted, lunging forward and slamming his fist into Pyron’s face.
“If I want your help, I’ll say it!” Bowser roared at Terry. Suddenly, a light went on inside Bowser’s head. “Actually, do you think you and the wolf here can fight him for a second while I take care of something?”
Terry smirked. “Sure thing.” He nodded.
Bowser grinned darkly and he stalked over to the fight Sonic was having with Luigi.
“BASARA!” (SS)
Creepy music started playing through the speakers as the undead samurai slid out from behind the entrance curtain. Holding his unusual, triple-bladed, circular weapon in his hand, Basara strode down to the ring and jumped in without a sound save for the chains connecting his weapon to his wrist.
“That guy looks pretty creepy.” Bridget said. “Maybe he’s working for Bison.”
Bridget was about to step forward to challenge Basara when Galford held him back. “Don’t get too close to him.” The knight instructed.
Luigi, however, stepped forth to fight him, as he was without an opponent (now that Bowser was chasing Sonic again).
“FRANCO BASH!” (FF)
Pounding his boxing gloves together, Franco Bash charged down to the ring and jumped in.
Jeffry saw Franco come in and shoved Millia away. “Another boxer.” He noted. “Let’s see how well this one fares.”
King looked at Lilly Kane. “You think we should tell him?”
“I think he’ll find out eventually.” Lilly shrugged.
Franco’s foot connected with Jeffry’s face, showing that he was a kickboxer instead of a regular boxer.
“Looks like this tournament is just full of surprises.” Jeffry chuckled.
“Bring it on, big guy!” Franco challenged.
“And now, Mystery Fighter…Number…Seventeen!”
“NEMESIS!” (Resident Evil)
Receiving a mixed reaction from the crowd, the huge, towering form of Nemesis paid it no mind and charged down to the ring. Leaping high into the air, Nemesis landed on the canvas, shaking the arena and knocking most fighters off their feet.
Bowser, whom was too heavy to be knocked off his feet, looked at the monster with wide eyes. “What the freaking crap is that thing?!” He asked.
“S.T.A.R.S…” Nemesis said as it pulled out a rocket launcher and shot a missile straight at the king of koopas.
“VEGA!” (SFA3)
Cackling loudly, Vega stepped down to the ring, mask on his face and claw in his hand. The Spanish matador leapt into the ring and directed himself at Galford, taking a big swing with his claw before he hit the ground.
“What’s YOUR problem?” Galford asked as he blocked the blow with his sword.
“You eliminated Bison, my friend.” Vega replied with a chuckle. “But I guess that works out.”
“How so?”
“Because now he can work on the plan he and Maximov have been brewing together.” Vega replied.
Ashelin narrowed her eyes and fished out her communicator. She pressed a few buttons before talking into it. “Torn, this is Ashelin. Our suspicions were right.” She explained. “You and Jak keep an eye open for anyone working with Bison.”
(Dome; Snack Bar)
“You got it, Ashelin.” A brown-haired male elf nodded before turning off his communicator and looking at his friend, a male elf with yellowish-green hair. “You hear that, Jak?” Torn asked.
“Sure did.” Jak nodded. “Looks like those rumours we heard from last year were true after all.”
“Sorta makes it worth coming here, eh?” Torn chuckled.
“I still would have liked to enter the ring myself.” Jak replied.
“You and me both, buddy.” Torn nodded.
“So what do we do?” Jak asked as he stood up. “Just look for someone that could be working with Bison?”
“Pretty much covers it.” Torn nodded before seeing something at the doorway to the Snack Bar. “Jak, turn around and take a look at the doorway.”
Jak turned and saw Earthquake walking past the Snack Bar with Sankuro. The two large thieves seemed to be talking.
“Is that the big bandit that we heard helped with the plot last year?” Jak asked, pointing at Earthquake.
“It has to be.” Torn nodded. “I can’t think of anyone else that big and fat.”
“Krew.”
“You know what I mean, Jak.” Torn sighed. “Look, let’s go ask those two some questions.”
“And by ‘ask them questions’, you mean, ‘mercilessly threaten them at gunpoint until they blabber everything’, right?” Jak asked.
“You got it, Jak.” Torn replied with a smirk.
Both Jak and Torn each whipped out a gun and aimed it at the two bandits. “Freeze, slime.” Torn hissed.
Earthquake turned and looked down at the two elves. “Looks like we’ve got some company, Sankuro.” The fat bandit explained.
“Can we make this quick?” Sankuro asked. “I’m entering in the next section and I may not get paid if I’m late.”
“Whatever.”
(The Arena)
“NASH!” (S3)
The Suikoden fangirls went wild as Nash came out from behind the curtain. Brushing a strand of hair out of his eyes, Nash scanned the ring for a fight and set his sights on Pyron. Jumping into the ring, Nash walked over to the being of fire and aim his wrist at him, firing a needle from a device attached to it.
The needle struck Pyron’s body and turned to ash instantly. “You actually thought that would have worked?”
“Hey, you can’t blame me for trying.” Nash insisted with a shrug.
“I suppose not, but I hope you realize that you now have my full attention.” Pyron said.
“Give us a hand with this guy!” Terry called out to Nash as he and Talbain continued to fight off Pyron.
“Sure thing.” Nash nodded.
“DRTEMPO!” (FT)
Whistling as he came out from behind the curtain, the brown-haired man walked down to the ring and stepped in, getting himself ready to take anyone on.
When he hit the ring, DrTempo activated one of his powers, changing his appearance to look a little bit like Fenrir from Megaman Zero. Taking aim with one of his guns, DrTempo aimed it at Terry and prepared to pull the trigger.
However, that’s when he laid eyes on Millia. DrTempo looked back and forth between Terry and Millia.
“Talented fighter…Hot chick…Talented fighter…Hot chick…” DrTempo said to himself. “Oh, what the heck?”
With that, DrTempo rushed to Millia’s side as the blonde threw Jeffry away. “Can I help you?” She asked.
“Only if you’ll allow me to buy you dinner after the tournament.” DrTempo replied.
Millia wrapped her hair around DrTempo’s torso and threw him away.
“MUSCLE POWER!” (WH)
The loud wrestler came out from behind the curtain and played to the crowd as he ran down to the ring and jumped in. He instantly made a break for Vega and leapt into the air.
“NUMBAH ONE!!” Muscle Power shouted in midair.
Vega looked up. “What the-” He said before Muscle Power landed on top of him.
Muscle Power laughed as he stood up. “Come on! Fight me! I can take you!” He challenged.
Vega growled and got to his feet. “You, my friend, have a death wish.” He said as he lunged at Muscle Power.
Standing aside, Galford scratched his head. “Did he just forget about us?” He asked.
Ashelin shrugged. “Works for me.”
“KOOPER!” (PM)
A blue-shelled koopa came out from behind the curtain and looked around to see if he had any allies in the ring. After a few seconds, he sighed.
“Looks like I’m on my own.” Kooper said as he ducked into his shell and spun himself down to the ring. Hitting the end of the ramp, Kooper launched himself into the ring.
Landing in the ring, Kooper spun himself at Lilly, whom looked up in time to see the blue shell coming at her. Her eyes widening, Lilly jumped to the side as Koopa slammed into a turnbuckle. Kooper got out of his shell and looked at Lilly.
“I didn’t think you’d see me coming.” Kooper admitted.
“Serves you right for trying to sneak up on me.” Lilly scolded.
“AOI UMENOKOUJI!” (VF)
Taking a deep breath and preparing herself, Aoi gazed down at the ring and ran down to give Jeffry a hand with his fight. Running over to the fight Jeffry was having with Franco Bash, Aoi lifted her hand and gave the kickboxer a hard blow to the face, knocking him away from the large man.
Jeffry nodded at the newcomer. “I’m grateful for the help, Aoi.” He said.
“Think nothing of it.” Aoi said. “Coming into this, I told myself that I would help any of my nodal companions other than Goh and Duraal.”
“Makes sense.” Jeffry shrugged before noticing Franco advancing on them. “Here he comes again.”
At the same time, DrTempo had seen Aoi come in. “My. She’s pretty.” He noted as he wandered over.
“MIDKNIGHT!” (EC)
The half-vampire of Eternal Champions came out from behind the curtain and everyone that wasn’t familiar with Eternal Champions were suddenly grossed out at the fact that Midknight’s ribs were actually visible.
Stepping down to the ring, Midknight set his sights on Basara and advanced, giving the undead samurai a hard blow to the head.
Recoiling a bit, Basara recovered and looked at Midknight. “That was a mistake, my friend.” He said. “I’m going to have to kill you for that.”
“Good luck with that.” Midknight smirked as he advanced on Basara.
(Dome; Hallway)
“I hope we can catch up to the others before they get too far away from the Recovery Room.” Cream said.
“If we hurry, we should be pretty close.” Brian replied. “They left shortly before you guys showed up.”
“Then they may still be there.” J. Maxx noted. “Come on. We need to hurry.”
The small group of fighters, now including Brian Battler and Mickey Rogers, quickly went through the dome, trying to get to the Recovery Room before the other group going after Bison left. Everyone knew that it would be close, and that just made them rush even faster. Cream was starting to fall behind because of her small size and short legs, so Kid USA had taken her into his arms to carry her.
“Where IS the Recovery Room, anyway?” Maiagaru asked.
“Not too much further.” Kasumi assured. “The room’s in the same place it was last year, so most of us know exactly where to go.”
The group rounded a corner, but J. Maxx, the one leading, collided with someone approaching from the opposite direction. J. Maxx found himself on the ground.
“Hey! Why don’t you-” J. Maxx said before seeing whom he had run into. He recognized the furry mane and large sword of the newcomer from Bison’s plot last year.
“You.” King Lion said as he narrowed his eyes, also recognizing the person he had run into. “You have some nerve showing your face, Maximum. You joined up with that band of heroes and humiliated us all.”
“Bison turned on his end of the bargain and kidnapped my son! Of course I’d want to see him fail!” J. Maxx roared. “And now that I know that you with him, I want a piece of you right here right now!”
“Fine.” King Lion said as he got into his stance.
“J. Maxx, don’t you dare.” Kasumi scolded. “You and Brian are the strongest in our group and we can’t risk either of you losing energy.”
“But he has information.” J. Maxx growled.
“Then let meh take care of this.” Mickey McFist said with a smirk as he strolled past the two and approached King Lion. He then looked back at Mickey Rogers. “Ye wanna make yourself useful again, Rogers? Give meh a hand with this guy.”
“Yes, sir!” Mickey Rogers nodded as he leapt forward and landed beside the Irishman.
“Okay. We’ll go ahead.” J. Maxx sighed. “If we find the others, we’ll meet you in the hotel lobby.”
“Be careful, guys.” Cream said as Kid USA carried her down the hallway as the rest of the group continued on their trek to the Recovery Room.
King Lion smirked as the two Mickeys got into their boxing stances and prepared to take him on together. “This shall be interesting.” He noted.
(The Arena)
“BAO!” (KOF)
As ‘Popcorn’ played through the speakers, Bao skipped down to the ring with a mostly-negative reaction from the crowd. Bao gleefully leapt into the ring and landed on the canvas, looking around to find a fight.
Seeing King fighting off Ashelin, Bao skipped over. “Heya, King! You wanna double-team?” He asked.
Ashelin raised an eyebrow. “You know this kid?” She asked.
“Yeah. He’s on another of the teams from my node.” King replied.
“Wait. That kid’s a boy?!”
“And now, Mystery Fighter…Number…Eighteen!”
“ZATO!” (Guilty Gear XX)
Millia’s eyes snapped open as she spun around to watch her sworn enemy floating down to the ring on his own shadow. Millia growled and readied her hair to take on the newcomer.
Zato smirked as he saw Millia. “Looks like we meet again, Millia.” He noted. “I’d say it’s about time to make you pay for walking out on us.”
“You think I’m going to let you kill me?!” Millia shouted as she turned her hair into a blade-like weapon. “I think not!”
“I wasn’t counting on it.” Zato replied with a shrug. “In fact, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“BOMB MAN!” (MM)
Laughing insanely, Bomb Man charged down to the ring and jumped in, whipping out a couple of bombs at the same time. Bomb Man jumped into the air and hurled his explosives down to the ring at once, sending one flying into Pyron and the other flying into Nemesis (neither of them did any damage).
Bomb Man landed on the canvas and looked around. Before he could get anywhere, Uriko jumped him from behind and kicked him in the back.
“You could seriously hurt someone with those things!” Uriko snapped. “Why don’t you be more careful?!”
“What are you talking about?” Bomb Man asked. “I WAS being careful. Those bombs were right on target.”
(Sound Booth)
“Okay. It’s my turn to go in, guys.” Aila said as she stood up. “Keep the booth running while I’m gone.”
“Good luck, kid.” Astaroth said, flashing a thumbs-up (which, on any other day, would have been considered extremely out of character for the giant).
“Remember what I taught you, Aila.” Shadow instructed as he handed the dark-skinned girl a Chaos Emerald.
Aila smirked. “You bet, Shadow. Okay, let’s try this out.” With that, Aila tossed the Chaos Emerald into the air and caught it. “Chaos…CONTROL!”
(The Arena)
“AILA!” (S3)
A flash of green light erupted from above the canvas and Aila emerged, falling towards the ring, surprising the crowd and making them give her a loud ovation for the amazing entrance.
While in midair, Aila whipped out her bow and started shooting arrows down at the ring, trying to hit random fighters. Sonic avoided the arrows using his speed, any arrows that hit Pyron turned to ash and Kooper ducked into his shell to avoid the shots.
Aila landed on the canvas gracefully and quickly took aim at Vega, sending an arrow straight into his mask from across the ring.
Vega screamed as the arrow buried itself into his mask. Vega quickly ripped the arrow from his mask and glared at Aila, whom was running over to fight him.
“You’ll pay for that, kid.” Vega said as he shoved Muscle Power away. However, Aila was too fast and kicked him in the face when she got close.
“HSIEN-KO!” (DS)
The Chinese ghost girl wasted no time in getting down to the ring. Jumping in, Hsien-Ko landed on her feet and looked around for a fight.
However, before she could do anything, J. Talbain landed at her feet. The ghost girl helped the wolfman to his feet. “You okay, Talbain?” Hsien-Ko asked.
“Yeah. Pyron’s just taking us off-guard.” J. Talbain replied.
“Pyron?!” Hsein-Ko asked as she looked forward and indeed saw the being of fire fighting Terry and Nash. “Need some help?” She asked as she created a spiked ball in her hand.
“Taking on Pyron? We need all the help we can get.” J. Talbain nodded.
“And now, the final fighter of this section…”
“MARIO MARIO!” (SSB)
Mario came out to a huge cheer, waving to the crowd. He rushed down to the ring, but froze when he heard a familiar tune playing through the speakers.
(Swing your arms from side to side!)
(Come on! It’s time to go!)
(Do the Mario!)
(Take one step, and then again!)
(Let’s do the Mario!)
(Altogether now!)
Mario looked up at the Sound Booth and saw Shadow and Astaroth laughing their behinds off. Shaking his head, Mario continued down to the ring and got in.
Bowser looked at the entrance curtain and roared in disbelief. “Now I have to worry about BOTH of those pesky plumbers?!” He asked.
“Hey, Mario!” Luigi said.
“Hey-a, bro!” Mario greeted as he and Luigi high-fived. “How’s a-things going?”
“Good thus far.” Luigi nodded. “Looks like Bowser’s still in the ring, so I wanted to wait until you were in the ring until I went after him.”
Mario waved it off. “He’s a-having fun chasing Sonic around.” The red-clad plumber replied.
“Okay. Come on! Let’s go double-team someone!”
“Let’s a-go!”
