The Ring
"And next up, folks..." Wanderer announced.
o/~ Oh, Danny boy... Danny boy... o/~
"DAN HIBIKI!" (SF)
"Yahooey!" Dan jumped out of the ready room and came rolling down the aisle in a whirling ball of pink. He popped to his feet and bounded into the ring, fist extended in the mighty Saikyo-Ryuu Chohatsu. In the audience, people who were ordinarily perfectly sane stood, ripped away long coats to reveal their pink gis, and cheered their hero on.
o/~ I GET KNOCKED DOWN! I GET BACK UP AGAIN! YOU AIN'T EVER GONNA KEEP ME DOWN! o/~
"HANZO HATTORI!" (SS4)
In the clamor that accompanied Dan's entry, everyone managed to lose track of Hanzo. Even the security tapes showed no sign of his entry into the RumbleDome; he had been in the ring for a solid minute before anyone realized he was there. Upon that realization, Hanzo caught Heavy D! in the Strike Heads.
"Hmnh," Birdman said. "We should've messed with the draw a little. Imagine Hanzo, Zangief, Galford, and Hugo all in the ring at once. It'd be Piledriver-Fest '99."
"Whatever turns you on," Wanderer replied.
"RED CLOUD!" (I&B)
On his way down to do battle, Red Cloud was uneasy. These warriors had, so far, managed to handily dispatch every last one of his companions with very little trouble. Perhaps they had, finally, bitten off more than they could chew.
He teleported into the ring and stood ready. The time for such thoughts was over.
Sub-Basements, RumbleDome Hotel
"He's vanished from our scanners, sir," the Shadoloo second lieutenant reported. "Maximov has evidently found a way to evade the security net."
Daniels, First Lieutenant, ground his teeth in frustration. "We'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way. He must have left some trace of his passage; there are too many people down here for *none* of them to have seen him, vampire or not. We'll continue the search until we reach the other side of the--"
His sentence was interrupted by a shadowy figure running into the midst of his troops. The first two brought up their guns, but were dispatched almost instantly. A third reversed the hold on his rifle and swung; there was a brilliant flash of orange flame, and the trooper hit the floor, his body armor smoking.
By that time, the rest of Daniels' men, seven of them, had their rifles up and pointed at the intruder. One of his fists was still faintly aglow, casting shadows across a Japanese face and a brown jacket.
"Hold it right there, friend," Daniels said crisply. "Hit the floor and put your hands behind your head."
"We don't have time for this, you moron," the newcomer snarled. "Get out of my way!"
"Not after what you did to that man. Floor. You. Now--"
Both Daniels and the newcomer heard a faint whining sound at the same time. Daniels had no idea what it was, but the newcomer evidently did, as he threw himself to the ground. As he did, a brilliant line of blue traced its way through the Shadoloo patrol, cleaving through armor, cloth, and flesh indiscriminately. Daniels himself moved too slowly, and fell to the basement floor with a six-inch hole through his sternum.
"Aw, *crap*," the newcomer muttered, rolling to his feet. As he disappeared down the corridor in the opposite direction, stepping over dead and dying Shadoloo troops, the whining sound began again.
The Ring
"ROGUE!" (X-M)
As Captain America blocked a series of hard punches from Hornet's front tires, the car abruptly flew up into the air.
Rogue hammered it back down to the mat and landed in front of him, clapping her hands together. "Evenin', sugar."
"Thanks." Cap wiped off his forehead. "I needed the break."
"I know. Remy's placin' bets on you as we speak," Rogue said. "What's the plan?"
"It's getting more complicated by the moment." Cap started to explain.
"AKUMA!" (SF3:2I)
The lights dimmed ominously for Akuma's entrance into the ring. Dan's fans sat down slowly, their brand of enthusiasm no longer appropriate. Industrial music slowly hummed into the 'Dome, setting the tone.
o/~ passing words distant pain remember trains of thought collide no one view window pushing faces through sharp cold glass poke bloody holes exposed o/~
Akuma Ashura Warped into the ring, passing through the forcefield as if it were no more than smoke. He knew who he wanted, and all those who got in his way were dealt with summarily. Ryu, sparring with Bishamon, was alarmed as Akuma's Go Hadoken crashed into Bishamon's face, knocking him to the side.
o/~ I taught the killing game first... I taught the killing game first... o/~
"Now, Ryu, we shall see what you have learned since the last time we met," Akuma snarled, moving slowly forward. "You shall fall a final time, and take this weak art you call 'Shotokan' down with you."
Ryu blinked. "Who are you?"
Akuma was brought up short. "I am... Bah!" He shook his head. "Whether you are sane or not, your skills are unchanged. Defend yourself!"
"If you say so," Ryu said. "You're certainly the most violent pancake I've ever seen, though."
Their battle began.
"TAK!" (WG)
Silverbolt didn't have to say it this time; it was said for him. The audience, ever-alert for a hip new chant, was shaking the dust off the rafters once more.
"WAR GODS SUCK! WAR GODS SUCK!"
Wanderer peered at Tak as it shambled down to the ring. "Is it my imagination, or is that thing covered in duct tape?"
"Who cares?"
"That's a valid point."
Tak did not feel such human things as pain. If it did, it wouldn't've been able to move. It was only the sixty-three rolls of tape wrapped around every inch of its skin that allowed it to stay in one piece. In defiance of that tape, Tak still shook the ring with an Earthquake Punch, knocking everyone but Tak, Akuma, and Ryu to their back.
In the RumbleDome, en route to the bazaar, Wulf and Musashi looked at one of the monitors, looked at each other, looked back at the monitor, and smiled viciously.
"THE BLOB!" (CF 63 1/3)
A green substance oozed out from the ready room doors. It immediately slithered into the shape of a small car, dashed down the aisle, and poured itself into the ring. Yuri Sakazaki, watching this intently, was nearly cut in half by the buzzsaw it became a moment later.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Birdman said, "here's another mystery fighter for your entertainment tonight, from Clay Fighter 63-and-one-third, the Blob! Let's watch."
Sub-Basements, RumbleDome Hotel
"Clear," Ibuki said, and waved Shinesta forward. "Do we have any idea where this guy is?"
"He is down here," Ichiro replied. "That is all I know."
"Wonderful," Ibuki muttered. The basements were a patchwork battlefield. Dead and unconscious bodies littered the floor at irregular intervals, most of whom were wearing Shadoloo uniforms. Many of the hallways they'd walked down were partially destroyed or riddled with bullet holes, and the air was filled with the reek of cordite, the acrid tang of both old and new blood, and distant echoes of open war.
They cautiously advanced through the passages, Ibuki in the lead and Ichiro at the rear. Erland kept an arrow on his string, and constantly shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Ibuki wanted to knife him.
Suddenly, they all heard footsteps at the same time, starting distantly and coming rapidly closer. As they flattened against the walls of the corridor, the sound of labored breathing became audible.
Kyo Kusanagi came flying down the hallway towards them at full tilt, running like all the demons of Hell were on his heels.
Immediately after that, they heard rapid gunshots, spaced so closely together as to almost form one continuous sound. A blue streak cut through the hallway, not aimed at anyone in particular, but shaving off enough of the wall to pin Shinesta under a chunk of stone bigger than she was.
"Shinesta!" Erland cried out. He immediately ran to her side, trying to shift the rock. Ibuki cursed and pulled her knives, trying to get her night vision back.
As Kyo ran by, Ichiro reached out and caught him, snaking an arm around Kyo's torso and moving his back up against the corridor wall. "Kusanagi-san," Ichiro said in quiet Japanese, "we are friends. What is happening?"
"I don't know," Kyo replied. He was breathing in ragged gasps. "Some freak in a tuxedo is trading bullets with this chick with the biggest damn gun I've ever seen in my *life*."
Ichiro nodded. "Then let us--"
"DUCK!" Ibuki saw a flash of light off metal, and instinctively hit the ground. Kyo, who wanted to collapse anyway, followed suit a moment later. Erland and Ichiro, who didn't have a clue what was happening, were both knocked to the ground by a fusillade of bullets, coming from *behind* them.
A man in a tuxedo stepped forth from the shadows a moment later, guns in hand. One was a pistol, coated in gold chrome; the other was a shotgun, with the barrel cut so short it looked like a derringer with a case of the mumps. He made a short compact gesture with both hands. "Come on, Hood! Show me what you have!"
A girlish chuckle came from the other end of the hallway. "I have, Vermie! It's all sorts of pretty, and shiny, and it makes the *neatest* sounds when I'm blowing people in half with it, and..."
There was another blue streak, preceded by a rising whine. This time, it found no target, disappearing off into the darkness at the other end of the corridor. Vermilion stepped back into line with Hood and fired a single round from the shotgun. He was rewarded by the sound of a small explosion and a stream of not-at-all-girlish cursing.
"That was my favorite gun in the world! I'll get you, Vermie! Come on, Lassie!" Hood came marching into the light, slightly charred, with a blazing Uzi in either hand. Vermilion responded to her assault in kind.
As the air above them filled up with death, Ibuki and Kyo looked at each other.
"What's your plan?" Kyo asked.
"I'm going to try not to die," Ibuki said. "After that, I don't have one."
"Great."
The Ring
"SHUN DI!" (VF3)
Chin Gentsai jeered at Shun as he entered the RumbleDome. "C'mon... you panshy. I bet you drink... Zima. Yeah. I bet you drink that schtuff. Don't'cha." He chortled. "Zima."
Shun staggered down to the ring, either ignoring Chin's taunts or too drunk to recognize the language. Whatever his mental state, though, he was able to accidentally bump into a beer vendor on his way down. The vendor didn't realize that he had been robbed dry until twenty minutes later.
"APOCALYPSE!" (X-M)
"Here we go," Birdman muttered. "Why did we invite this guy again?"
"It was your idea."
When he entered the RumbleDome, En Sabah Nur was ten feet tall, and as he strode towards battle, he swelled into immensity. He was twenty feet tall as he stood outside the ring, and he just kept growing. His attack satellites flew in after him, raking the unwary with ricocheting laser blasts. His fists became maces, and he struck the mat with blows that registered on the Richter scale.
And he kept growing.
"Let only the strongest survive!" Apocalypse bellowed. "Let the weak perish at my hands! The rule of humanity across the dimensions ends with the death of its champions!"
And he kept growing. His feet took up most of the ring by themselves. Dan barely managed to roll out of the way of Apocalypse's drill. A stray laser beam struck Heavy D! in the shoulder. Captain America dove in front of Yuri, shielding her from an explosive blast, as Hornet, left with nowhere to drive, was forced to deliberately veer into the "ropes".
Then his head hit the roof of the RumbleDome. For a crucial moment, he was surprised, and shrunk a bit so he could stand without crouching.
By that time, it was already too late.
Rogue had ahold of his foot, and was flying straight up, trying to budge a hundred tons or more. Sweat poured off her brow, but she did not yield, even though she knew she didn't have a chance in hell. As she did, Apocalyse's balance shifted, and he found himself wobbling on one foot.
"HIT HIM!" Captain America yelled, and struck his balancing foot with a Hyper Charging Star. Those who were able moved closer, striking Apocalypse's foot as hard as they could, crushing the pseudo-metal of Apocalypse's armor inward with the force of their various attacks.
Slowly, so slowly it wasn't certain that they were making any progress at all, Apocalypse began to fall.
Birdman hit the comm button with the heel of his palm. "TRISTAN!"
"W-w-w-w-w--"
"Turn the dimensional field up to full, NOW!"
"G-g-g-g-g-g--"
"JUST DO IT!"
As Apocalypse scrambled to keep his balance, Bishamon sliced his attack satellites out of the air. The attack continued, every man and woman in the ring fighting with as much power as they possessed.
Finally, Dan, who had been assisting the war effort by Super Taunting (it was, after all, a rare opportunity) rolled up to the ankle Rogue was holding up, and struck it square in the big toe with a Shinkuu Gadoken. At the same time, Yuri fired off a HaohShoKohKen, and Hornet smashed into the other foot at a hundred miles an hour.
Apocalypse fell, and was swallowed by the dimensional field. There was a momentary warping of space and time as the field swelled up, trying to accomodate an object far larger than it had ever been designed to handle. A fierce wind kicked up in the aisles as loose candy wrappers and bits of paper were sucked into the field, and those audience members unlucky enough to have scored front row seats held onto their armrests for dear life.
After a good five minutes, the last bit of Apocalypse disappeared over the "ropes". With a sound like a drawbridge closing, the dimensional field slid back into its normal shape.
Birdman sat roughly back into his chair. "We *really* didn't think that out as well as we could've, did we?"
"Nope..." Wanderer leaned forward. "That's interesting."
"What?"
"As big as Apocalypse got, he's still not as big as Lizzie."
"What?" Birdman repeated.
Wanderer pointed at the DimensionCam. "Rampage World Tour."
Both men, watching Lizzie trying to choke Apocalypse down, winced.
"We'd probably better speed up the draw," Birdman said, after a moment. "Poccy couldn't have been in the ring longer than a few minutes."
"So what? He still lasted longer than the average War God..."
"It's the principle of the thing, Wanderer," Birdman said loftily. "Besides, Apocalypse violated the terms of his contract by getting that big; if you do anything that endangers the structural stability of the RumbleDome, you're kicked out. He's no longer a Rumble participant."
"If you say so. Does that mean we need a new #200?"
"Eventually, yes. Send the next fighter in, willya?"
"CHOI BOUNGE!" (KOF96)
Sounding something like a monkey on cocaine, Choi skittered down to the ring and dove in, spiking Rogue in the chest, making high-pitched squeaky noises the whole time.
"ELENA!" (SF3:2I)
o/~ The color the color the color of your skin don't matter to me/As long as as long as long as we can live in harmony/I kinda I kinda I kinda like to be the president/And I could and I could and I could show you how your money's spent o/~
"Let's dance, everyone!" Elena bounced down to the ring, swaying to the beat. As Smashmouth launched into the chorus, she hopped the "ropes" and walked up to Choi.
o/~ Why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends... o/~
"Hi!" she said brightly. "What's your name?"
Choi looked away from Rogue for a second. "What the hell is wrong with--"
"I'm Elena! I'm really excited to be here!" She kicked him in the face. A lot.
Geese's Room, RumbleDome Hotel
"Here you are, Master Howard," Stellarex said smoothly. "One Infinity Gem, as ordered."
Geese frowned. "This isn't the Power Gem, is it."
"No. That is the 'Mind Gem'. We found it in a supply closet, of all places."
The Gem disappeared into Geese's pocket. "One down, five to go, then."
"Do you know where any of the rest are?" Drew asked, standing next to Geese. He and Yamazaki were staring at each other. The air between them was thick with violence.
"I believe that someone has found one, for it is moving around in the basement," Stellarex began. He was interrupted by a crackle of static from the hotel's public address system.
"STELLAREX. PAGING STELLAREX. COULD YOU PLEASE COME TO THE READY ROOM? YOUR DRAW HAS BEEN SPED UP."
"Tough luck," Geese said. "Get back here as soon as possible. We'll search the basement while you're gone."
"As you say, Master Howard." Stellarex showed himself out.
As he left, Geese turned to Drew. "Here's your chance, fake Bogard. Go get King and bring her here. Let's see if she has a Gem for me, hm?"
"Sure." Drew looked at Yamazaki, drew a finger across his throat, and walked out of the room.
Room 667, RumbleDome Hotel
"Howard's busy," Mordos commented. "You sure you don't need to listen, Long?"
"I need no tools," Xiao Long said. "My senses are the only things I need."
"If you say so." Mordos pressed his ear back up against his glass.
Faintly, through the pinhole he'd made in the wall, he could hear Geese making his plans. "We're in luck. Apparently, they're going down to the basements in force after some kind of jewelry. We might be able to force our way in there later on."
"Perhaps," Xiao said. He sat patiently in the hotel room's desk chair, his legs tied up in the lotus position. It looked extraordinarily uncomfortable.
Behind them, in a closet, Vallah squirmed against her bonds without success. The War Goddess had been asleep when they entered her hotel room, and hadn't awakened until well after they had tied her up with her bedsheets.
"Okay." Kull moved away from the wall. "He's leaving two men as a rear guard and leading the rest down to the basements. We can overcome two men, I think."
"It seems likely," Long said. "Is that the extent of your plan, then?"
"Did you have a better one?"
"Perhaps." The monk smiled enigmatically.
Sub-Basement F313, RumbleDome Hotel
Ryo had to admit it to himself; he was hopelessly lost.
After he'd separated from Kyo, he'd taken turns recklessly, one after the other, trying to find someplace where he could put his back to a dead end. Instead, he'd gotten further and further away from the Juggernaut, and had wound up wandering the hallways without the slightest clue how to get back up to the 'Dome.
What was worse, he kept running into small knots of open warfare. A short woman in a red cloak had chased him for at least ten minutes, cackling maniacally and firing off bursts from a machine gun. Another woman, who was quiet and nearly naked, with a sword in either hand, had surprised him as he turned a corner. He caught one glimpse of her, and then she was gone again, leaving him to wonder if she had ever been there to begin with.
Now, he wasn't sure where the hell he was at all. He'd gotten pretty good at finding his way around the subbasements last year, but since then, the hotel had been almost totally rebuilt. The floor plan had changed into something he only barely recognized.
The only light he had was the faint radiance cast by the emergency lights, and what little he could produce on his own, and that wasn't much. Throwing a Kohken wrecked his night vision, and by the time his eyes cleared, the light had faded. Ryo squinted in annoyance at a sign on the wall; for all he could read of it, it could've been a map to the hotel, or it could have been a page from the Bible. He just didn't know.
To his surprise, the hallway suddenly lit up with florescent light. The sign *was* a map. He read as much as he could before the light faded, then turned around to see what in the hell had happened.
A figure raced towards him down the hallway, dodging from side to side as if dizzy. As Ryo watched, a bolt of lightning came from behind the figure, streaking by on its right side and down the hall, chasing away the dark. As the bolt passed, he got a good look at the figure's face.
As Demitri ran by, Ryo spun on his heel and kicked, catching him on the side of the head and driving him, face first, into the wall. The vampire fell to one knee and looked up at him, eyes glowing a eerie reddish green.
"Sakazaki. It figures."
"You've looked better," Ryo said. "Making new friends?"
"As much as I would enjoy ripping your throat out and bathing in your blood, Sakazaki--"
"Sakazaki." The shadows seemed to race into one place, and a pillar of ice erupted between Ryo and Demitri, sheathing the wall and floor in frost. Both men rolled to their feet, Demitri holding the club in one hand. Blackheart watched them stand with thinly veiled amusement; Ryo could barely see him in the half-light cast by Demitri's eyes. "Your souls are worth a saint's ransom individually. But together..."
"Two souls?" Ryo turned in the direction Demitri had come and watched another creature appear out of the darkness. The new arrival was blue-skinned, and flew on massive batlike wings. "*Two* souls? Why, as I unlive, that's one for each of us!"
"Jedah," Demitri hissed. "You should not have healed, worm. You do not know when to just give up and bleed."
"I know," Jedah replied. "It's a character flaw. Now, then... your soul, and that little trinket of yours, if you don't mind."
"Just give them the damn club, Maximov!" Ryo hissed.
"There is no chance," Demitri said back. "Work, damn you!" He shook the club.
Blackheart sneered. "Having problems with the Mace, Maximov? I suspected as much."
"So... a useless weapon and you're outnumbered," Jedah mused. He counted off Demitri's disadvantages by cutting off his fingers, starting with the index. "Oh, and you're probably lost, and let's not forget, that human there hates you!" He stopped short of slashing his thumb. "Just give up, Demitri. For old times' sake."
Demitri looked from the two demons, back to Ryo, clenching the mace. Ryo couldn't track his movements, but suddenly, Demitri was slamming something into his chest.
"Take it, damn you!" Demitri hissed. "If you want to live another few minutes, take the Gem!"
Ryo reached up and took the jewel from Demitri's hand. It was about the size of a golf ball, and seemed to vibrate in his hand. Just holding it made him feel stronger.
Blackheart reached forward. "NO!"
"Yes," Demitri said, holding up the Mace. "This makes things a bit more even, does it not?"
Ryo stepped next to Demitri, the gem clutched in his hand, and brought his fists up. "All right, then. Let's go."
"Don't sound so eager, Sakazaki," Demitri said. "If we live through this, I'm still going to kill you." He brought the Mace up into a guard position, blasting one of Blackheart's summoned imps into the ether.
"Thanks, Demitri." Ryo ducked underneath a swipe of Jedah's claws. "Makes my day."
The Ring
"JUGGERNAUT!" (XM)
Walking out, Cain Marko was a little irritated. It wasn't Demitri's manipulation that bothered him, so much as missing a chance to crush Apocalypse.
At least Rogue was in the ring. With as much gold as he'd just gotten, he could afford to be philosophical.
"HELL KNIGHT!" (M:tDA)
The Mace had recently changed hands, but the Hell Knight was unable to do anything about it. It knew full well the value of a contract, and of keeping the terms described within it.
As it entered the ring, it drove its axe blades into Bishamon's back violently enough to strike sparks off of his armor. Guy, trying to get at Bishamon, was taken off-guard by a tail swipe and thrown across the ring.
Obviously, though, just because it understood the value of its contract didn't mean that it had to be happy with it.
"QUAN CHI!" (MK4)
A demon, Quan Chi thought. Was it a coincidence that, so soon after the debacle with McWild, that one should show up directly ahead of him in the draw?
Quan Chi was a sorcerer. He did not believe in coincidences. It was in that spirit that he grabbed the Hell Knight, spun it around, and broke both of its knees.
Up in the booth, Wanderer watched Hell Knight's knees straighten back out as it lashed out at Quan Chi. "Wait a minute..."
Birdman held up a hand. "It's Midway anatomy, man. Don't try to understand."
And, the final fighter of this Section:
"STELLAREX!" (I&B)
Red Cloud reappeared after a teleport and watched the other mage flying towards the ring, his mouth set in a grim smile. As Stellarex entered the ring, Red Cloud lifted his staff and ran towards him, dodging around the smaller battles all around him.
Slowly, Stellarex reached into his tunic and produced a small metal object. As Red Cloud drew near, he pointed it at him; only Red Cloud's instincts saved him. He threw himself headlong to the ground as the object barked loudly, and something caromed off of the forcefields behind him. He looked up to see the object smoking.
Stellarex grinned. "The wizards of this age are cunning, are they not?" He pointed the .357 Magnum at Red Cloud's head.
WHO WILL LIVE?
WHO WILL DIE?
WHO THE HELL SOLD A GUN TO A MAGE?