Somewhere else in the ring, Hol Horse was still sprinting for dear life. He peered over his left shoulder to see that fortune smiled upon him as Kagemaru intercepted Lord Raptor. Still running, he laughed to himself...
Right before colliding into Yoshimitsu, knocking both contestants down.
Hol sat up and put his hat back on. He noticed that Raptor had split from fighting Kagemaru and was stalking his way. And he still had that damned chainsaw. The gunslinger panicked and tried to get back up. Yoshimitsu helped him, but held him up by the collar so he wouldn't get away.
"And what are you running from, Speedy?"
The cowboy merely gave a mix of gasping, wheezing and stuttering as he pointed over Yoshi's shoulder. "Zo-zo-z-z-z-zo-zo-zo--!"
"Spit it out!" Yoshi smacked Hol upside the head and across the face a couple times.
"Zo-ZO-ZO--!"
"What are you talking about? 'Zonka?' You're being chased by football great Larry Zonka?"
"No-no-no! Zo-zo--!"
"General Zod is in the ring?"
"Z-ZOMBIE!"
Yoshi calmly looked over to see an angry Lord Raptor coming their way.
"That? You're afraid of that?"
"Yep!"
Yoshi smacked Hol around some more. "What's the matter with you?!"
Hol looked down and huffed. "I don't know."
"Look at you! You call yourself a cowboy?"
"I guess."
"Would Clint Eastwood run from a zombie?"
"I don't know."
"Would Gary Cooper run from a zombie?"
"I doubt it."
"Would the Duke run from a zombie?"
"I guess not."
"Then why are you running?"
Hol looked down and gave a sad puppy dog face. "I'm a baaaaaaad little boy!"
Yoshi turned around and pointed at Raptor, while his right arm was around Hol's shoulder. "Come on, kid! There he is! Show 'im what yer made of, ya bum! I want you to go over there and give him what for! I want you to eat lightnin' and crap thunder! Murder him, kid!"
Hol Horse went straight faced and pushed Yoshi's arm away. "You know what? You're right!" He tipped his hat downward and marched over to the blue menace before him.
Yoshi looked away from the showdown and merely admired the Reality Gem in his hand. "Precioussss... precioussss..."
"So, ready for the slaughter, eh?" Raptor chuckled while his arm-saw gave a loud hum.
"Hey," Hol started. "Put down that chainsaw and listen to me. It's time for us to join in the fight."
"What?!"
"Listen, you want blabbermouth out of here, right?"
"The robot? Oy, you bet!"
"Good. So let's you and me team up and he won't have a chance!"
Raptor considered the proposition. "Okay. But I get to eliminate Laughing Boy, got me?"
"Done and done." The pair nodded at each other. Hol turned around and they both faced the confused Yoshimitsu. Both Hol Horse and Lord Raptor gave slow, synchronized smiles and swaggered in the Manji's direction.
"Survey SAYS!" Yoshi pointed behind him. "This might suck!"
Hol made the first move by summoning his magical snipe gun into his right hand and firing three times. Yoshimitsu bent backwards and made windmill motions with his arms, while still on his feet. The bullets from the Emperor missed their target and dissipated into the force field before Hol tried changing their directions. Yoshi stood straight with a look of bewilderment.
"Whoa... Morpheus was right."
Raptor twisted his body and attacked Yoshimitsu with the Death Hurricane. Yoshi sidestepped the move and met the rocker with a mule kick to the chin that sent him flying back. He cautiously held his blade in front as Hol Horse still had his gun drawn.
"Come on, Sundance. Show me what you got."
Hol fired four shots, each one deflected by the green, glowing sword. He smirked and shot a fifth one. Despite Yoshi's effort to parry it, the bullet arched around the blade and pierced his shoulder.
"Gah! That wasn't in the script!"
Raptor grabbed him from behind and laughed maniacally. "Don't worry, love! We're just ribbin' ya!" He then impaled the Manji with his knife-like ribs. Yoshi quickly tilted his head back, smashing Raptor's teeth in with his enormous, UFO-shaped melon.
"There can be only one!"
With Raptor's grip loosened and his ribs retracted, Yoshi spun around in a full circle, decapitating the zombie in the process. On the second spin, he kicked Raptor's head away and shouted, "Fetch!" It bounced off the force field and rolled around the ring. The body immediately went after it.
Instead of taking the more direct approach, Hol Horse fired upwards, destroying a piece of lighting equipment and sending the shards of glass down upon Yoshimitsu. The swordsman rolled out of the way and took Hol out with a thrust kick to the chest. He pinned the gunslinger to the ground and made sure he couldn't move his gun hand.
"Okay, now stop me if you've heard this one: A robot, a zombie and a cowboy enter a ring. Now the zombie says--"
Hol struggled to talk. "What about the mummy?"
"What mummy?"
"The one right behind you that's about to turn you into scrap?"
Yoshi, cautious as not to let Hol go, looked back over his shoulder to see nothing attacking. Obviously, it was just some sort of ploy.
But the reflection of the lens of a nearby camera said otherwise. In that mirror image, the Hanged Man crept up behind Yoshi and stabbed him in the back with its wrist-knife. Yoshi reeled in pain from the surprise attack, which allowed Hol Horse to free his hands. Quickly, he aimed the Emperor up at Yoshimitsu's torso.
"BUSAMAKERO!"
The relatively small handgun that Hol Horse held fired dozens of bullets that tore into Yoshi and boosted him off the ground. When the attack was finished, the cyborg was already well over the force field. He fell through the dimensional field much to the dismay of the fans in attendance.
Seemingly the entire Rumble Dome booed the cowboy, who merely sprawled on his back and laughed at the turn of events.
Yoshimitsu landed in a strange, psychedelic world filled with blackness and a long chain of arrows that moved by like a river. In the middle of the chaos danced Boldo and Emi, who stopped their contest when they saw the wounded robot. Boldo removed his shiny, purple coat and draped it across Yoshi's shoulders.
"Ugh..." the fading Yoshimitsu said as the dancers helped him up. "Note to self: see into getting bulletproof armor." He walked away from the scene with his two aids until the music started to pick up. It was "Gotcha", the theme to Starsky and Hutch.
Yoshi instantly popped up, discarded the jacket and pushed Boldo and Emi away. Despite his damage, he still danced James Brown-style without the slightest look of discomfort.
"Hooah! Ow! I got to dance, baby! I gots to dance! Haow! Hey!"
For the next fifteen minutes, nobody in the world of Dance Dance Revolution could hope to keep up with the robot.
Back in the ring, Lord Raptor finally got his head back on thanks to Le Malta's help. The fish sidekick then swallowed his master and the two teleported over to Hol Horse.
"Oh, heh. Hello, partner," said the worried cowboy. "W-what's wrong?"
"You stole my elimination. This partnership is over. And so is your pathetic life."
"Feet don't fail me now!" Hol took off once again, leaving Raptor bemused.
"Let's not start this aga-- OY!"
Sophitia's sword finally landed, knocking Raptor into the force field. Raptor bounced back and was sliced by a three hit combo that ended with an upward slash, which dispatched him out of the ring.
"I have abolished the vile demon in return for your chivalrous act moments before. Consider it a way of saying 'thank--" Sophitia noticed Hol Horse was long gone. "--you'?"
Sure, Hol heard what sounded like Raptor being tossed out of the ring, but he figured he would play it safe and get the hell away anyway. If it weren't for the sweat in his eyes, he would have clearly seen that Kirby was in his way.
Sophitia didn't follow as she found something lying on the mat. She kneeled down to pickup the strange orange Gem that the eccentric swordsman left behind when he was riddled with bullets.
Lord Raptor, on the other hand, landed on a frail wooden floor. He sat up and admired his surroundings.
"Swanky digs, man."
He stood up and looked around the grimy cabin, noting that it looked really familiar. He couldn't help but recognize the entrance to the attic, the deer head trophy, the dirty mirror and the fireplace.
"Wait, isn't this that cabin where--"
rrrrrrrowwwwrrrrrr
A chainsaw sliced Raptor's head clean off. The zombie's noggin landed with it looking straight up at the big chin of Ashley "Ash" Williams who pointed his boomstick and muttered, "Say hello to disco for me."
*BOOM!*
_Room 114, RumbleDome Hotel_
Lion hopped over Vice's outstretched arm and kicked the left side of her face. "C'mon, lady! I have maids you can fight better than you!"
Vice staggered back and sent out a barrage of kicks at her attacker. "How dare you speak to me like that!?"
"Maybe you're right." Lion ran around the kicks and poked Vice a couple times in the head with his clustered fingers. He grabbed her, slammed her into the wall and gave an upward knee to the chin. Vice collapsed to her knees.
"I mean it's wrong for me to compare, considering I've yet to see you in a hot maid's outfit. So let's forget about this Iori Yagami stuff and we can go visit this great tailor I know together. What do you say?"
Vice gritted her teeth. "How about we don't?" She swept Lion and backed away. Lion bounced back to his feet upon landing and barely ducked a tossed vase. Vice backed away, over to the door and hesitated. She stood there and decided that if she was to continue fighting, the chances were that Lion would stand victorious. So instead she bolted out the door.
Lion, just as fast, chased after her. "Wait, stop! At least let me tell you about our dental plan!"
The two disappeared into the Rumble Dome hallways, leaving Hsien-Ko to contend with Zankuro and Rimururu to tangle with Mature. With an ally gone for each team, the strategy for the remaining fighters was to try and make it two-on-one as quickly as possible.
In the battle, there was something Rimururu couldn't comprehend. Mature didn't seem to be armed, but when her blade-like swipes clashed with Rimmy's dagger, there was no damage at all. In fact, the impact sounded a lot like two blades colliding. What she did understand, though, was that when they landed, they hurt vastly.
Mature backed Rimururu into a wall and lashed out at her. Rimmy ducked under the attack and responded with an uppercut slash. She called for Konril, and drove her attacker back with a series of conjured icicles. Mature ignored the pain and hopped into the air in an attempt to slash Rimmy from above. Rimmy ducked the attempt, but didn't avoid Mature's whip-like arm, which snagged her leg. Rimururu crashed into the wall and landed on her feet. She still had enough to continue.
Unfortunately, Hsien-Ko didn't. She took one too many of Zankuro's hacks and lay in an immobile heap. Zankuro decided against an effort to see if it was possible for him to finish off a ghost. His teammate was in trouble and reducing Rimururu's vitality was a more important task.
The bad news was that Rimmy was outnumbered, two to one, and she knew it. She was going to fight to the end, but she was aware of just how futile it would be. The good news was that the odds were still a lot better than before when Iori and Taria were still around.
The odds changed even more when part of the wall behind her was broken down by a shockwave of energy. She, Zankuro and Mature looked to see a triad of warriors: a female martial artist with blue hair and a hakama, a medieval mercenary, and a seemingly blind monk.
"Oh please oh please oh please be on my side," she whispered to herself.
Mordos Kull surveyed the combatants in the room. "Okay, monk. Which ones are we after?"
Xiao Long pointed at Mature and Zankuro. "There and there. The others seem to lack evil, though I sense some malicious intent with the fallen one."
Mordos readied his morning star. "Okay, then. So it's just Blondie and the gruesome guy."
Kasumi Todo noticed the angry expression on Zankuro's face. "Ew, he's so ugly."
Mordos nodded in agreement. "Oh yeah. He's an ugly guy." He ran in Zankuro's direction, shoved Rimururu out of the way and dished out his own rendition of the Charging Star, right into Zankuro's stomach. Mordos followed up with an uppercut attack with his morning star. Mature jumped at the mercenary, but stopped in midair. She was stuck in a bubble-like prison made of green energy, compliments of Xiao Long. The monk repeated the attack to cease Zankuro's attacks.
"So this is it?" Mordos questioned to Xiao Long. "This is that big evil you sensed? I've seen swine tougher than these two."
Xiao Long continued to stand still, his white eyes staring into nothingness. "No. There were more. I sense the trail of dark sorcery. One was Taria. There were... three others, it seems."
"He's right!" Rimururu said. She pointed at Mature. "One of them looked like her, only with black hair. She ran off. The others all disappeared to another place in the building." Realizing her safety, Rimururu exhaled and sat on the bed. "Anyway, who the heck are you guys?"
Kasumi kept her foes in view and answered the question. "I am Kasumi Todo. This is Mordos Kull and Xiao Long. We were searching for the office of a man named Geese Howard, but the monk got us sidetracked. And you are?"
"I'm Rimururu. That's Hsien-Ko. Lion was with us but he ran off to--"
"Enough of this introduction nonsense," Mordos Kull interrupted. "Little girl, was one of the others a blonde wench in an armor skirt?"
"Yes."
"Then Taria really is involved. Okay. That makes getting to the bottom of this my first objective. Now let's see what our prisoners can tell us."
_RumbleDome, Lower Mezzanine_
"So, uh, do you have any idea where Ryo might be?" Sie Kensou asked. He may not have liked the idea of Athena fawning all over someone who wasn't himself, but at the moment, being pouty wasn't going to help anything. Especially if there was another Multiverse-threatening plot going on. Those were never good.
"I don't think I do, really," said Athena as her search party -- herself, Sie, and Jeffry McWild -- turned a corner into a dark corridor. "The last I saw of him was--"
From the darkness, something shot out, barely seen. However, as it soared closer, it was revealed to be a very sharp, pointed object. And it was heading straight for the Virtua Fighter.
"Whoa! Jeffry, look out!" Sie said, pushing Jeffry out of the way of the thing, which now glinted in the dim light. Now the object, which seemed to be a spear of some kind, was heading directly for him. This was going to hurt. Sie braced himself...
"No!"
Before anyone could stop her, Athena went in front of the spear's flight path... directly in front of Kensou. A second later, it finally found its mark, embedding itself directly into Athena's shoulder, and eliciting a shrill, pained scream from the incarnated goddess, which echoed through the hall.
"ATHENA!" Sie rushed to her side, wrapping an arm around her.
"GET OVER HERE!" a voice called, from the shadows.
And soon, Athena found herself being pulled towards whoever -- or whatever had thrown the spear. The damn thing refused to dislodge itself. And it hurt like hell. The only way to keep the pain at a low level was to go with the pull.
Jeffry, assessing the situation, promptly pulled Sie's arm off of Athena. The young psychic resisted, but lost in the end.
"Hey! What did you do that for?!" Sie swiped Jeffry's arm away. "Why did you make me let her go?!"
"I am sorry, friend," Jeffry replied. But with that sharp object in her, your pulling would have only hurt her more."
"Athenaaaaa!" Sie yelled as he stood, helplessly as his not-so-secret love disappeared into the darkness. He rushed forward, arms flailing, trying to keep up, but soon lost his way and had to backtrack before his vision returned to him.
"She appears to be completely gone," Jeffry remarked. He always had been he master of the obvious.
"Gone?! I know she's gone! But where did she go?!" Kensou yelled, his mood now bordering on "frantic". "We've gotta go find her, man. If
anything, and I mean ANYTHING happens to her... shoot, it'll be harder for me to get a girlfriend than it is for me already. Damn that girl and her martyrism."
Jeffry nodded. "Let us waste no time then! We go now to find out who this fiend is, and where he has taken Athena!"
"And I have a feeling I already know the answer to that first question," Kensou said grimly.
The Ring
"Hadoken! Hadoken! Hadoken!"
"Ow... ow, ow! Damn it, those things are annoying!"
Staying true to Kyo's request, Sakura had indeed stayed out of Kyo's way, and was now resorting to hit-and-run and projectile attacks. It was working like a charm. Kyo had been able to dodge a few of them, but he was unable to fully escape the wrath of the annoyed schoolgirl, which came at him from all sides, and from above as well.
"Good! I hope they keep annoying you! Singe my dress, will ya..."
On the other side of the ring, there was just as much chaos. And his name was Ryuji Yamazaki. Finally getting back down to business, he strode over to Sophitia, teeth bared.
"May I help you?" the blond warrior asked.
"Yeah, you can help me, lady," Ryuji sneered. "Just gimme that there orange bauble you got, and you can help me not have to slice up your pretty face. How about it?"
"Hmph." Sophitia grinned, and held up the Reality Gem. "Sounds like you want it pretty bad."
"Ain't got all day, sis. Give it here."
"Sorry. You'll have to work for it." With that, Sophitia tossed the Gem to Hol Horse. After all, he seemed like a nice person. He would undoubtedly use the Gem's powers for something positive.
"You stupid bitch!" Ryuji yelled, chasing after the airborne jewel. "I'll be back later to grind you into powder!"
Sophitia shook her head. When would people learn that being uncivilized never got anybody anywhere?
"Hey, sweet!" Sophitia heard Hol's voice from some distance away. "I wonder how much this'll score at the pawn shop back home?"
Sophitia sighed.
Geese approached the cowboy. "Why wait until you get home to cash in? Sell the gem to me now, and I'll make sure you-- what?"
Leona kicked the gem out of Hol's hands. "Not today."
"HEY! That was my meal ticket for the next five months!" Hol wailed.
Leona scoffed. "Whatever."
"All right, kid," Kyo finally said in frustration. "You wanna play hardball? Fine! Kore ga..." Kyo glowed red-hot, and wound up his fist.
"Uh oh. This doesn't look good..." As much of an advantage as the schoolgirl had right now, she was still on the side of the limp ropes, and an attack like THAT would definitely do her in. Following her instincts, Sakura rolled around the glowing warrior, just as he unleashed his technique.
"...KUSANAGI NO KEN DA! ...huh?" Kyo found himself facing the ropes, with no Sakura in sight, fried or otherwise. Until...
"Hey, that looked fun! Lemme try. HARU ICHIBAN!"
Five swift kicks hit Kyo in the knees, and one more straight in the gut, sending him into the elastic force field which sent him back to Sakura...
"Sho-ou-ken!"
...whose uppercut knocked him clean out of the ring. Upon his landing, Kyo, wielder of the legendary Kusanagi flames, and just a plain hothead in general... was frozen to a near absolute-zero temperature ice cube by Kickle Cubicle.
"Oooh, shiny!"
"Not today, little citizen!" WHAP
"Yes!" As Sakura raised her arms in triumph, she unwittingly caught something. "Strange. That usually doesn't happen." She brought her hand back down to inspect it. "Hey, neat! It's one of those Gems I saw before! I wonder how you use it?"
Five seconds later, it was raining icicles over the entire ring.
Very sharp icicles.
"Sweet!"
Geese, seeing the young schoolgirl activate the powers of the Gem, turned around to scowl at the ninja who had just kicked the Gem out of the crime lord's hands moments before.
"Look what you've just done," Geese told Kagemaru.
"What of it?" Kagemaru asked him.
"It's going to cost you."
And cost him it quickly did; Kagemaru's attempt at a baseball slide into Geese's shins resulted in his being plucked off the mat and slammed back down hard. Kagemaru threw a high kick as he stood, hoping to put a bit of breathing room between himself and Geese, but was denied again as Geese caught the kick and flung Kagemaru around in the air before once again slamming him painfully into the mat.
"I do hope this isn't all you have," Geese mocked the ninja as he rolled away and rose to his feet.
Kagemaru hopped in close and went for a knee smash, but once again went down hard into the mat. He altered his strategy as he got up and tried to get in close for a shoulder throw but ended up walking straight into a Reppuken and being forced back, at which point Geese dashed in and landed a quick three hits before grabbing him and tossing him over his head into the center of the ring.
Kagemaru, deciding that he definitely wasn't getting anywhere with this, felt that his best option at this point was to attempt to call upon the newly-found powers hidden away inside him.
"Come on," Geese told him, beckoning to him with his hand. "What do you have?"
Kagemaru concentrated deeply, feeling the fire deep within him begin to swell and come to life as though an unchained beast let free to unleash devastating power.
Geese advanced cautiously on Kagemaru, noting that the ninja was beginning to quake slightly and had a look in his eyes that suggested of a dangerous attack to come. Kagemaru screamed, a primal scream of war, and with a lunge of his arm towards Geese let off a tiny speck of flame that would have had serious trouble lighting a birthday candle.
Elimination Seating
"Good for him," Hanzo Hottori nodded, leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed. "At the rate that he's progressing, he may have the art mastered within fifteen years."
"Perhaps not so good for him in the meantime, then," Dudley politely suggested from the row behind Hanzo as they both watched Geese Howard slide forward and pummel the crap out of Kagemaru with his Deadly Rave.
"Perhaps not," Hanzo agreed.
"Ha!" Dan laughed, a few seats away from Dudley. "That has to be the saddest attempt to throw fire ever!"
Both Hanzo and Dudley, as well as half the fighters in the area, turned to look at him quizzically.
The Ring
Kagemaru had nothing left by the time Geese was halfway done.
Geese laid another four attacks into the defenseless Kagemaru before capping it off with an energy blast that blew him just over the barrier.
Kagemaru found himself standing in a small stream in a grassy area staring directly at another ninja, who engaged him in sparring seconds after he landed.
"You know," Kagemaru thought to himself as he and Ryu Hayabusa began trading kicks, "perhaps this means something. Perhaps, as combat with a fellow ninja will show me, it is not the way of the ninja to employ magic and other tricks, but instead to simplify one's attacks and forego flashy offense in favor of a straightforward, effective offensive strategy--"
At this point Hayabusa landed a strong kick that sent Kagemaru flying forty feet into the air then disappeared into thin air, reappeared forty feet up behind Kagemaru and twirled dramatically downwards in a slamming attack that knocked all the remaining strength out of Kagemaru.
"...never mind. Silly me," was the last thing Kagemaru thought before he finally passed out.
"You good, friend?" Galford asked Captain America as he took his breather, sitting on the middle turnbuckle.
"In a moment I'll be ready to go again," Captain America said. "And when I am, we will go after Geese."
"Sounds like a plan, dude!" Galford agreed. Poppy barked.
"In the meantime," Captain America suggested, "keep an eye out for anybody coming over here. They might want to try and take me out."
"Like that guy!" Galford said accusingly, pointing at the approaching and smiling Kirby Horse.
"Well, no," Captain America began, "I mean anybody suspicious." Captain America thought for a second. "Well, hang on," he said to himself, "is he suspicious or not?"
"You! I'm onto you, little dude!" Galford said menacingly, advancing on him. "You're trying to get an easy elimination!"
Captain America, watching Galford advance towards Kirby as Poppy stood guard over the American hero, had to admit that he really had no idea if those were the pink puff's intentions or not. Kirby Horse watched with a smile on his face as Galford walked right up to him and glared down at him.
"Hi-i-ii!" Kirby Horse waved up at him.
"You aren't fooling me!" Galford announced, at which point he grabbed Kirby. One vertical leap into a slam straight down -- the Strike Heads -- later, Kirby Horse bounced off the mat and over the force field.
"Good job," Captain America told him as he returned. "Ready?"
"Ready!" Galford gave him a thumbs-up.
"Geese Howard!" Captain America called, walking away from the turnbuckles and in front of Galford.
Geese Howard, taking a break after eliminating Kagemaru, turned around to see Captain America staring him down, Galford also glaring daggers at him as he stood behind his ally.
Geese Howard also saw an inflated pink ball float over the barrier and into the ring, behind the American Ninja.
"We're ready to take you out, Howard!" Captain America announced, holding his shield in front of him.
Geese raised an eyebrow as Kirby Horse, who still looked adorable and happy but gave off an intensity at the moment that conveyed the impression of being quite pissed off, grabbed Poppy and bounced the dog over the field.
"What?" an oblivious Captain America asked, watching Geese's reaction.
Geese let off a chuckle as Kirby Horse grabbed Galford.
One vertical leap into a slam straight down -- the Kirby Piledriver -- later, Captain America turned around to see Galford following his dog out of the ring and through the dimensional field. The next fifteen minutes gave Sir Dan Fortesque a lot of exercise as Poppy chased him around the Hall of Heroes, to Galford's chagrin.
"HI HO SILVA!" Kirby piped.
"Oh," said Captain America, turning back around to face Geese. "Fine. *I*'m ready to take you down, Howard!"
"Try," Geese invited him, the two advancing on each other.
_Outside the Retrieval Room, RumbleDome_
When Alex came to, he was disgruntled.
Then again, when you're Alex, you're disgruntled almost all the time. But when he woke up in the devastated Rumble Dome hotel room, he was just plain pissed off. The only thing on his mind, other than getting Torgo some medical attention, was dedicating the rest of the night to tracking down that smug son of a bitch with the beret and breaking all of his bones at least twice over.
After anonymously dropping Torgo off near a nurse's office, Alex angrily stormed through the hallways, looking for Rolento. What he found instead was just as good. A group of a dozen or so men in fatigues could be heard walking in a nearby corridor.
Holly Wood, one of the many in the squad dressed in red, stared at the red jewel that El Gado let him carry.
"Put that away," The Arabian man in gray silently snapped. "We cannot just flaunt these around and let our enemies know what we possess."
Holly Wood sighed and put the jewel in his pocket, next to his many knives. "I guess you are right. I'm sure the Commandant will be pleased. All three of the remaining Gems are ours."
There was no response.
The henchman turned around, causing the others to follow suit. They noted a large hole in the wall -- caused from BB Hood hours earlier -- that they had long passed. Finally, Holly Wood broke the silence.
"El Gado?"
From the hole in the wall, El Gado's body was tossed to the other side of the hallway. Alex stepped out and pocketed the two Power Stones he seized from the Arabian soldier. He glared at the small army of knife-wielding soldiers and rotated his arm.
Alex got into his fighting stance and smirked. "Remember me?"
Holly Wood soared through the air, upside down with knives in both hands. Alex ducked the attack and grabbed Rolento's flunky by the collar. He body slammed Holly Wood and turned around to deflect the series of projected knives with a Flash Chop.
This left Alex open for a clean knife wound in the back from Holly Wood. Unfortunately, for Holly Wood and the rest of Rolento's men, he was in too much of a hurry to distinguish his knives from the red Power Stone. He realized his mistake while the Stone was airborne.
It wasn't until it made contact with Alex's back that he realized just how grave his mistake was.
El Gado and Holly Wood quickly got to their feet and ran around the glowing Street Fighter, knowing that it would probably be safer to be with the rest of the men. The soldiers all ran from Alex until the light died down. When they turned around, they realized that Alex had changed.
Different looking he may have been, the fact was that he was still outnumbered. Alex didn't seem to mind though, as he stalked the eerily identical militia.
El Gado and the others all pulled out knives and stood their ground. Some of the red-clad men held onto Molotov cocktails.
"Prepare to die, you dog!" El Gado shouted while waving his blade. "There is no escape!"
"Heh. Close enough."
After thirty violent seconds, the vigor of the Power Stones had finally been drained and they spread across the tomb of a hallway. The area was filled with smoke, vapor and lifeless bodies. Alex observed his surroundings to see all the men in fatigues lying in the ruins, all dead or badly injured. Some burnt to a crisp, some shivering. All of them beaten by the lone warrior.
Alex rested his head on a section of a wall that wasn't destroyed. He took a couple deep breaths and composed himself.
"Why?" he asked himself. "Of all the things to become, why that?" He stressed the last word by pounding his fist onto the wall.
Looking down, he noticed one of the three Power Stones near his foot. Though vengeful he may have been, Alex still knew that leaving the Power Stones alone would have been the worst idea since nipples on the Bat suit.
Meanwhile, El Gado somehow sustained consciousness. He looked over to see a knife lying on the floor and crawled towards its direction. El Gado reached his hand out to grab it, but ended up getting his hand stepped on by Alex.
"At ease, loser," the scarred fighter told him. Alex kicked the knife away, reached over and collected the third Power Stone, which he carefully placed in the cap he stole from Holly Wood. Alex set them down and turned to El Gado.
"You like to hang people?" Alex picked El Gado up and suspended him into the air by the neck. "I like to hang people too." His grip tightened to the sound of El Gado gagging. "I'm going to ask you this once: who was the man that attacked me?"
With a raspy, snake-like voice, El Gado responded, "Rolento..."
"Rolento? And where can I find him?" El Gado didn't answer back. Alex tightened his grip even more. "I said where *can* I *find* him?"
"Sub-Base... ment... TH... X... 11..."
"Good." Alex let go and dropped El Gado to the floor. The henchman immediately went into a fit of coughing and gasping for air. Alex rolled him over with his foot and looked down at him.
"I want you to go back to THX-11. I want you to find Rolento and tell him what happened. And tell him that if he wants his precious little jewels back, he has to come and get me."
Alex picked up the bag of Power Stones while being frugal not to touch them. He began his search to find refuge for such a dangerous power.
FINAL TALLY (54 votes):
LEONA (KOF2K1): 37:17 (2.18)
GEESE HOWARD (CvS2): 36:19
SOPHITIA (SC): 35:19
SAKURA KASUGANO (CvS2): 34:20
HOL HORSE (JJBA): 33:21 [Gavok note: And I love all 33 of you ^_^]
CAPTAIN AMERICA (MvC2): 39:26
RYUJI YAMAZAKI (CvS2): 32:23
KIRBY (SSBM): 33:24
========Line of Elimination========
CASEY JONES (TMNT:TF): 31:23
CHARLOTTE (SS4): 30:24
YOSHIMITSU (T4): 31:28
GALFORD (SS4): 28:27
CLARK STEEL (KOF2K2): 28:27
KAGEMARU (VF3): 27:27
KYO KUSANAGI (KOF2K1): 26:28
LEI WULONG (T4): 20:34
LORD RAPTOR (DS3): 18:36
GRENDAL (M:tDA): 9:45
PAGAN (WG): 7:47
SHINNOK (MKG): 7:47
BONUS MATCHUPS:
DR. DOOM, MAGNETO (MvC2), KING (T4), TAKI (SC) and ICHIRO TSUNAMI (M:tDA)
Exorcise
BLACKHEART (MvC2), OGRE (TTT), JEDAH, LILITH AENSLAND, Q-BEE (DS3) and NINA WILLIAMS (T4)
34 to 17 with 3 absentations
RIMURURU (SS4), LION RAFALE (VF3) and HSIEN-KO (DS3)
Tie (!!!)
ZANKURO (SS4), VICE (CvS2) and MATURE (KOF98)
23 to 23 with 8 absentations
CURRENT ELIMINATION LEADERS: Captain America 15, King 7, Ryu 6, Yoshimitsu 6, Chun Li 5, Heavy D! 5, Kirby 5.
CURRENT ELIMINATION LEADERS (LIFETIME, ALL UVRS): Haohmaru 39, Guy 21, Chun Li 18, Captain America 15, Ryu 14, Charlotte 14
NUMBER OF REFERENCES TO "REFORMING EVIL CAN BE TRICKY" IN TERMS OF KYO'S SURVIVAL: 8
YOSHIMITSU -- ONLY TEKKENER WORTH A DAMN: With his 6 eliminations, Yoshimitsu is the only Tekken competitor to ever survive a Section. Let's see if Jin, King and Nina can change that.
VOTE QUOTES:
"KAGEMARU (VF3) Live. Wanna know how incredibly popular Kagemaru is? This year, he's gonna get two votes!"
"HOL HORSE (JJBA) DIE. Hol Horse?!?!?! That sounds like something you'd catch from Pagan!!"
"SOPHITIA (SC) Die 'cause she has a sword"
Black Mage? Is that you?
"SHINNOK (MKG) Live: He's a GOD."
Riiiiight. And we all know how successful Thanos, True Ogre, Shuma Gorath, Super Macho Man and the War Gods were.