_Rooftop, RumbleDome Hotel_ Ryo caught himself before he fell off the edge of the roof, literally digging his fingers into the concrete to break his momentum. As Demitri flew towards him, Ryo grabbed double handfuls of the roof and flung them into the vampire's face, blinding him for a crucial moment. Ryo capitalized with a Ranbuken, delivering four punches so quickly that the fourth had landed before Demitri noticed the first. The vampire wiped his eyes as he stumbled, tears of blood coursing down his cheeks, and Ryo kicked him in the face while he had the chance, chaining into a HienShippuKyaku, knocking Demitri prone. The vampire kicked himself up and grabbed Ryo around the waist--once again, Ryo underestimated Demitri's speed--carrying both of them across the roof and into what remained of the cornerstone. It broke, predictably, and Ryo felt the distance keenly behind him as he was thrust out over the edge. For a moment, they both hovered above the edge, above the portal. Demitri pulled himself up, levitating slightly, and let go of Ryo. Ryo scrambled madly, feeling gravity kick in, and managed to latch onto the corner of the roof with one hand. He began to pull himself up, and felt Demitri's heel grind into his fingers. Demitri grinned. "So, Sakazaki. I wonder if your newfound powers will help you as you plummet down into Hell?" Ryo grimaced as he desperately scrabbled for a better grip, hanging onto the parapet precariously. "Do you *have* to gloat?" Demitri shook his head. "No. As a matter of fact I'm just going to finish you off. Then I'll leave this dimension before the Dark Guy can get his hands on me." He placed one foot over Ryo's hand and ground down. Hard. Ryo groaned in pain as his handhold fell apart, and he swung away slightly, with only one hand keeping him from falling to his near-certain death. Demitri looked down at him. "Goodbye, Sakazaki." Ryo waited for the vampire's foot to eradicate his remaining handhold. "HAOHSHOKOHKEN!" Demitri turned around quickly, just in time to be hit head on by the wall of flame. It didn't hurt Demitri in the least, but the impact drove him slightly back to the point where he was precariously balanced right at the edge of the roof. Takuma lowered his hands. "Leave my son alone, you bastard." Ryo saw his chance, and flipped up, using his free hand as leverage, planting both feet in Demitri's back. The vampire pitched forward as Ryo hit the roof. "DAD! GET OUT OF HERE!" Takuma shook his head. "Not without you!" "How touching." Demitri slammed Ryo with a kick from the ground, directly into his sternum. "How futile." As he took to his feet, Demitri spun around and threw a Vampire Rage, striking Takuma as he ran towards the vampire. Takuma went down in flames. "DAD!" Ryo screamed. "If you'd like to join him, Sakazaki," Demitri snarled, "I can help you with--" Ryo's fist slammed into his face. Demitri's head moved slightly, rolling with the impact, but in that time, Ryo's knee found his stomach. Grabbing Demitri, Ryo flipped the vampire over his head and slammed him into the roof; as the vampire bounced up, Ryo juggled him with a point-blank HaohShoKohKen. The blast didn't cause Demitri any harm, but it did knock him towards the edge. Demitri flipped over in midair, onto his feet. "I'm impressed--" "SHUT UP!" Ryo flew at Demitri in the middle of the speech, wildly slamming his fists into Demitri's head and chest. Demitri moved slightly with each attack, smiling at him. Ryo stopped attacking Demitri, his knuckles bleeding, and stared at him. "It's been amusing, Sakazaki." Demitri drew his fist back. "But not anymore--" Ryo took a step forward, and as Demitri's arm went all the way back, threw a Koho, focusing everything he could into his fist, his aura coalescing into a globe of radiance at the end of his arm. The searchlight faded into irrelevance. To Demitri, the light seared his eyes. He screamed as it came closer, annihilating his vision, and struck him in the chin. His preternatural resistance wasn't enough to save him from its full impact, and he rose up in the air, pain reaching him like a distant dream as he fell... ...and fell. Demitri disappeared over the edge of the building. Ryo slumped to his knees. Suddenly, the word "exhaustion" defined him. His glow faded somewhat as his hand lost its light, and he felt the tingling start to leave him. He wasn't sure whether he was glad to lose it or not. "Son?" Takuma, a fresh burn on his chest, walked forward. "What's...what's wrong with you? Why are you glowing?" "It's a long story, dad..." Ryo got to his feet. "Are you...?" "I've had worse. Of course, I was a lot younger then." Takuma winced, walking towards him. "Why were you fighting Demitri? I thought it was Shao Kahn..." "I'll explain it all later," Ryo said. "Let's get out of--" The roof exploded underneath his feet. Ryo pitched backward, his balance gone, Takuma screaming his name, and caught a glimpse of Demitri, in freefall, smirking, his hands and aura smoking. "Did you forget I can fly, Sakazaki?" Demitri screamed, laughing, beginning to shapeshift back to his bat form. "Goodbye!" Ryo yelled something unintelligible and reached out for him. Demitri's laugh cut off sharply as Ryo's hand clapped onto his ankle; unable to pull his leg free, the shapeshift went unfinished. Demitri reached down to dislodge Ryo and received a Kohken in the face instead. Both of them began to fall, inexorably, towards the portal. _The Ring_ Bishamon swung his sword, and nearly cut Guy right out of his Bushin Leap. In midair, Guy changed his plan and dropped to the ground with his weight behind his elbow, the sword sweeping behind him as he fell, crashing into Bishamon's chest. The armor took a lot of the impact, but it still drove Bishamon back. They were both running out of tricks. The fight had reached the point where both fighters, knowing exactly what the other was capable of, were merely carrying out a dance. Guy led for now, his speed carrying him through and around Bishamon's swordplay. Both were on the other side of exhaustion, where it was so great that neither noticed it anymore. Guy flung himself through the air, kicking at Bishamon's head, hitting only air as Bishamon ducked. A flame flew once more, and was blocked, Guy dropping the block almost instantly and lashing out with a Rising Spin Kick. Bishamon took the first hit and was sucked into the second, hitting the mat. As he rose, he lashed out, his blade biting deeply into Guy's arms. Guy cried out even as he ran at Bishamon, abandoning all pretense of caution. Bishamon slashed downward, cutting Guy's chest deeply, but not able to make the killing blow he'd intended. Guy cried out again, hitting Bishamon in the face with his knee, jumping up and adding two more hits by flipping over into a kneedrop. Bishamon grunted, the equipment adding their own commentary, and slashed Guy away from him. "This is getting intense!" Wanderer practically yelled into the mike. "How much longer can they keep this up?" "Not too much longer, I hope," Birdman muttered. Wanderer looked at him. "Am I being exuberant?" "Yes, newbie, you are." "I'll have to watch that." "Thank you." Both of the combatants stood still for a moment, trying to figure the extent of their injuries. Guy was, once again, the first to move, Bushin Running across the space between them as fast as he could. Bishamon met him with a tentative jab that made contact for a second, and swept the blade across and around, where it was blocked. As Bishamon brought the sword back into position, Guy backfisted him to the mat. As Bishamon got up, he raised the sword in a sort of salute. "I have to give you credit for lasting this long!" Guy nodded at him and waved one hand. "No big deal." His attention was elsewhere. Bishamon rushed in at Guy, and feinted a stab to Guy's throat. As Guy dodged it, Bishamon let go of the sword, and it rushed forward-- --right past the slightly airborne Guy. "Gotcha," Guy murmured. Bishamon swallowed, waiting for the sword to come back to him. He didn't have that kind of time. Guy crashed into his chestplate with a crushing kick, followed it in with an overhand punch, and knocked Bishamon away with a final Bushin Roundhouse. The samurai skidded across the ring and hit the "ropes", frying for a moment before he could wrench himself free. As he did, Guy was on him again, trailing blue shadows in a second, equally vicious, Bushin Rage. The first kick connected squarely with Bishamon's armor, crushing it inward. The followup kicks abused him viciously-- --but the sword came back right then. Bishamon, frantically, grabbed at the sword, but not in time to block the rest of the Rage. He went sprawling, and came up in front of Guy with a string of six hits that had to be seen to be appreciated. For what seemed the thousandth time, Guy went down, slashed to ribbons, and fell to the mat's already bloodstained surface. Bishamon crouched down to pick Guy up. As he did so, though, Guy's head jerked up, dripping with sweat and blood, and slapped Bishamon's hand away. With a Bushin Leap. As Bishamon saw Guy glow, he tried to back up, to get out of the Leap's way, but he hadn't time to move before it struck. Guy attacked him frantically, every shot he landed tearing his wounds open that much further. It was his last hurrah. With the final hit, Guy fell, and simply collapsed. Bishamon, falling backwards, flailed out. He saw the mat beneath him, and reached out for it frantically. His hand closed on sparking electricity, and convulsively, his hand opened again. Bishamon continued to fall...and passed through the dimensional field. "Is he gone? IS HE GONE?" John asked Brant, shaking him by his shirt collar. "Iiii caaann't chheeeccckkk uuunnnllleeesss yyyoouuu sssttoopp...shaking me. Thank you." Brant turned to the DimensionCam, and tuned it in. The Cam tuned into a war zone. Everywhere, small houses were broken and crushed, like something heavy had fallen onto them. Small blue men ran back and forth, attempting to rebuild. In the middle of the village, Bishamon sat, his eyes unfocused. In front of him, on a hastily constructed podium that reached up to Bishamon's chin, a blue man in red pants and hat paced back and forth. "All right. I've had it up to here. No more Mister Nice Smurf." Papa Smurf confronted the dazed samurai. "Next year, we're going to this 'Rumble', and we're giving them a piece of our minds--" "Don't...worry," Bishamon said, getting up. His equipment was blessedly silent. "I was the last one. "The Video Rumble is over." Guy, back in the ring, staggered to his feet. Glancing around, he noticed the scoreboard was out. The fans simply watched him; some of them ran around the ring looking at the field, trying to find out if Bishamon was really gone. The audience, tentatively at first, but then building up, rose to their feet to cheer. Then, annoyingly, someone looked at the viewscreen showing the rooftop fight. Whoever it was then proceeded to scream "Look!" Birdman looked at Scott. "Find whoever did that and throw them in the brig for a while." Quietly, every eye turned towards the final moments of the fight between Ryo and Demitri. As Ryo delivered his final attack, the tension in the 'Dome was thicker than the air. As Demitri fell, cheering rose, and Guy's shoulders slumped in relief. The cheering cut off sharply a moment later when Demitri flung a Vampire Rage at the side of the building. Concrete powdered and collapsed underneath it, undercutting a large chunk of the roof's edge. As the audience gasped, both men started to fall towards the pavement. "What in the name of all that's holy...?" Wanderer muttered. Birdman didn't answer; his head was buried in his hands. He seemed to almost be crying. Brant leaned forward, all business. "That's just what we needed; more structural damage. They should survive it...they can both just air-projectile just before they hit." "That would be nice, wouldn't it," John muttered. His eyes were on another screen. "Taken a look at the front of the Hotel lately?" "No..." Brant turned to another of the blank monitors and kicked it in, focusing onto the front of the hotel. _RumbleDome Hotel, Front Walkway_ "Osu, demon." WHO ARE YOU WHO SPEAKS TO THE DARK GUY SO? Doom answered. "She is Rose. I am Victor Von Doom. You are not welcome here." HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME IN SUCH CAVALIER FASHION? "Quite easily." Jago's borrowed body took a fighting stance. Rose, her shawl looped around her shoulders, wrapped it around her hands and began to faintly glow. "As he said. You are not native to this dimension. You have no claim upon it. We abjure you." GOOD LUCK, FOOLISH ONES. I AM THE DARK GUY. LEGIONS OF DEMONS CHURN BENEATH YOUR FEET, MORTALS. MY POWER IS THAT OF THE DARKNESS WITHIN THE HUMAN SOUL. I AM THE LORD OF HELL-- "You are the lord of *a* hell," Doom sneered, "and it is a smaller one than you will ever deign to realize." "We cast you out," Rose added. "We give you leave to claim what is yours, and then you will leave." Her glow was now bright enough to read by. "We give you no rights within this world. You are not on your own plane, and you are therefore not the main power within it." YOU'RE BLUFFING. "We do not bluff," Doom said, speaking with aristocratic delivery. "Bluffing is for those who have no power." DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH-- Rose's glow continued to intensify. "I have no intention of doing so." Her radiance began to overcome the reddish tinge of the Dark Guy's portal, casting everything anew in a luminescent glow. Against all odds, the portal began to close. WHAT IN ALL THE NAMES... "We do not bluff, minor demon." Doom did nothing save stand, but he gave the impression of coiled strength. "We have told you that. It was your decision not to listen." Rose said nothing, sweat running down her face as she concentrated upon the abjuration. The portal continued to shut, concrete and pavement running back together as though welded. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN STAND AGAINST THE POWER OF THE DARK GUY? With a wave of his hand, the pavement stood firm against Rose's power, and began to pull itself back apart. "It is very simple," Doom replied as Rose's power flared anew. "We know what you have been doing and have done to this node. Very impressive, but it requires a great deal of power. You are also empowering both Mizuki and Demitri, keeping this portal open between your hell and this node, and attempting to maintain that ridiculous guise. Even for a deity, that is not inconsiderable; and the moment you entered this reality, you became weakened by your distance from your home. This is not your Japan, and this is not your node." Rose flared white, and the hole began to wrench itself closed once more. "Do you understand, lord of demons?" Doom's every word sounded like a coiled threat. "She is charged with dispelling such as you, and I have always stood against the forces of Hell. You will leave this dimension, or you will *leave* this *dimension*." The Dark Guy, still wearing his business suit, began to look somewhat peturbed before his face reverted to the same lawyer's smile. IT WOULD APPEAR THAT YOU HAVE NOT BLUFFED AFTER ALL, the Dark Guy said mildly. VERY WELL; I SHALL LEAVE ONCE MY BUSINESS IS CONCLUDED HERE. BUT DO NOT THINK THAT YOU HAVE SEEN THE LAST OF ME. "I would not dream of it," Doom said. "But know that if I see you again, you will face the full might of Victor Von Doom." I LOOK FORWARD TO IT. The Dark Guy descended back into his portal, still smiling. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED, VON DOOM. "Consider yourself promised." As the portal vanished from concrete reality, Rose stopped glowing and slumped to the ground. Doom was at her side to catch her. "You were magnificent." Rose blinked at him through unfocused eyes. "I think...I'm going to...take a very long vacation..." "You have earned it, madame." Doom looked up as he set her down on the pavement. Looking up, Doom saw the fall of Ryo and Demitri. _Falling, Rumbledome Hotel_ "Do you mean to kill us both, then?" Ryo snarled, trying to tear himself free of Demitri's hands. "Hardly! We won't die, Sakazaki; we'll just be in eternal torment! There is a remote difference!" Demitri did not struggle or move; he merely held onto Ryo with arms like iron. His face was discomfortingly serene. "Thank you. That sounds much better." Ryo kicked out at Demitri, his foot hitting the vampire in the stomach with enough force to dent steel, without making much of a difference. Swallowing hard, Ryo glanced down and saw the portal below them, and tried even more frantically to get free. Demitri's levitation abilities were slowing their fall just enough that he had a chance to think about escape, but the aforementioned iron-like grip was making it impossible. "It was no trouble." Demitri's mouth opened, and his fangs lashed out at Ryo's neck; Ryo was barely able to lean back out of the way. "I hope we get matching accomodations in Hell, Sakazaki." Ryo said nothing, concentrating on trying to break Demitri's grip. While Ryo's grip on Demitri kept the vampire from shapeshifting to bat form, Demitri's hold on Ryo was enough to prevent Ryo from throwing air Kohkens to break his momentum. The hotel, next to them, blurred by like shuffling cards. Nothing seemed to work... Ryo looked down, into the closing mouth of Hell, and swallowed hard. This was going to be very bad... Suddenly, next to them, the hotel reversed its downward slide. As both of them looked up in surprise, it actually began to slightly climb back up. Demitri snarled at Ryo, "A new talent? Very nice, but it won't save you." "What the hell are you talking about?" Ryo kicked Demitri in the stomach, again with no effect. "It was not him." The new voice came from behind them. As Demitri whipped them both around so he could see who it was, he missed the arrival of Storm. Storm grabbed the back of Ryo's gi, attempting to blast Demitri away with lightning, but doing nothing more save making the vampire's hair stand momentarily on end. The winds she stirred up held all three of them in the air, against the momentum, Demitri screaming at her. As he raised an arm to hit her with a Vampire Rage, he was forced to take one hand off of Ryo. The Rage flew, striking Storm in the chest, and the winds faltered for a moment. All three began to fall once more as Demitri laughed maniacally. As they did so, though, Demitri realized what he'd done. He reached out to grab at Ryo's free arm again... ...and his hand closed on air. "DEMITRI..." Ryo screamed, "...GET *OFF* OF ME!" With his free hand, he slammed a fireball directly into Demitri's eyes. There was an explosion like the wrath of God as all the force of his enchantment was released into that final burst, shaking windows the length of the hotel. Echoes thundered throughout the 'Dome. The vampire, his eyes seared by the radiance and flame, his other arm letting go of Ryo as he clutched at his eyes despite himself, fell backward from them. As he did so, Ryo grabbed onto Storm, and the mutant managed to raise her winds again through the pain of her burns. Both of them slowed down as Demitri picked up speed. "How'd you know to come get me?" Ryo yelled at Storm over the winds. "The video board," Storm yelled back, pointing. "You have been drawing quite an audience." Ryo saw the screen and groaned, just before Storm suddenly performed a quick airborne tuck-and-roll with him in tow. He felt his stomach churn as a Vampire Rage streaked by them into the night. Demitri threw another one from mid-air, laughing and beginning his shapeshift to bat form. "I'LL BE SEEING YOU, SAKAZAKI!" "CHUFFLE!" Demitri looked to his left. Sasquatch, standing in a hole in the side of the hotel, the hole the falling Cyrax had made twenty minutes earlier, gave the vampire a jaunty wave just before hitting Demitri with an Ice Laser. A thick coat of ice encased Demitri as arctic cold washed over him. The final look on his face was frozen there. It would stay with Ryo throughout his life as he watched Demitri plummet down towards the portal; it was a look of absolute resignation and rage intermixed. As he reached the mouth of Hell, the ice melted away like smoke, and his final wordless scream of rage and pain was audible to all within the 'Dome. Ryo reached out for him, silently, knowing it was absolutely worthless, but not willing to let anyone suffer like that. Storm turned her head, unable to watch. HELLO, DEMITRI, the voice of the Dark Guy resounded. LET'S GO SOMEPLACE MORE PRIVATE...AND TALK. The portal shut with the sound of crushing bone. _The Ring_ Guy spread his arms inquisitively and looked towards the announcers' booth. Gravely, Wanderer gave him a thumbs-up. Guy smiled slightly, and turned back to the audience. Straightening, he folded his arms. Giving the Multiverse a two-fingered salute, he proclaimed, "Korezo...Bushinryu!" The Multiverse looked back in awe. ***** FINAL TALLY (56 voters): --------------------------- GUY (SFA): 30:36 (ratio: 0.83) *********LINE OF SURVIVAL*********** BISHAMON (DS2): 26:34 (ratio: 0.77) (For the record, Guy was losing badly right up until a couple of people--and I'm not naming any names here--changed their votes at the last minute. Hence him falling out of the ring.) BONUS MATCHUPS: RYO SAKAZAKI (KOF95) defeats DEMITRI MAXIMOV (DS2) by 30 to 24, with two abstentions. ROBERT GARCIA (KOF95) and DAN HIBIKI (SFA) beat MORRIGAN ARNSLAND (DS2) by 27 to 26, with one abstention. IORI YAGAMI (KOF95) punks the hell out of KYO KUSANAGI (KOF95) by 32 to 16, with four abstentions. PYRON (DS2) deep-fries WOLVERINE (XM: COTA) by 25 to 24, with seven abstentions. HEAVY D! (KOF94) knocks out SODOM (SFA) by 31 to 16, with eight abstentions. KINTARO (MKII) shocks us all and beats COLOSSUS (XM: COTA) by 31 to 20, with five abstentions. YURI SAKAZAKI (KOF95) and MAI SHIRANUI (KOF95) draw, 26 to 26, with four abstentions. TERRY BOGARD (KOF95) rocks CYCLOPS (XM: COTA) by 36 to 15, with five abstentions (the widest margin of the night). RYU (SFA) beats MIZUKI (SS2) by 33 to 20, with three abstentions. CURRENT ELIMINATIONS LEADERS: Guy 17, Haohmaru 13, Rose 9, Athena Asamiya 8, Galford 8, Mai Shiranui 6. ELIMINATIONS: Come on. Guess. ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID, NEVER THE BRIDE: Bishamon, for being second best two years in a row. WIN SOMETHING, DAMN YOU!: Yuri Sakazaki. Two Bonus Matchups, two draws. MAYBE IT'S THE PINK: Dan Hibiki, folks: involved in four Bonus Matchups, and on the winning side in them all. Brought to you by: Thomas "Wanderer" Wilde Christopher "Birdman" Bird and the letter "q" ***************** There's a beginning, and there's an end, there's a climax, some would contend, there's a way to signify this, but I don't know what it is --Bad Religion, "What It Is"