©1999

GFD

"You're out of your league, old man! Go take up residence in a retirement home. If you try me, you'll be dead."

"Pathetic! Pitiful! At least you should try to have a spine! At least Dan was willing to fight and not try to weasel out!"

"You're old and senile too, trying to compare me to that worthless weakling. He won't even make it past his first opponent."

"And what makes you think that you will get past me, whelp?"

"Several. First, I can. Second, I know how. I know what I can get away with, and what takes a little work. Justice is so pitiful when you look at it. There are so many ways for guys who want to be like me to slip through. The rich think they are so smart, trying to come up with new ways to stop us. What they don't realize is that we can simply take what they find, and come up with a way to get past it. They waste their time trying to figure out ways to beat their competition into the ground, while guys in my position steal from all of them, making crime THE profession. Then, they try and cover it up by releasing a bunch of press talking about corporate spies, sabotage, and that crap. In reality, it's nothing but a smoke-screen. While the rich try in vain to distract the poor misguided fools, The Black Dragon will devour them all. When this spit-ride's done, Jarek and I will take care of business back home on Earth. Hell...we'll probably own the toilet!"

"All of the reasons you have given are the reasons that I alone shall rule! But don't worry, you'll get to meet your torment in the after-life!"

As they made final preparations for their fight, they were engulfed by the same aura that had transported them there. In a blink, they were in Akuma's old cave.

"How did we get here?" demanded Akuma, who found it impossible to believe they were on the same island he had destroyed some time ago.

"After the pleasant conversation you two just had, and considering whose domain you were talking about, this seemed an appropriate place for the two of you to compete!"

"What is that--freak! (And I thought Goro was ugly) He obviously knows you Akuma!"

"As do you, Kano. As I said, I am everyone; and no one. This is just one of the many forms I have assumed. The being from the Inferno whom Akuma had fought with seemed an ideal host for this match, wouldn't you agree?"

"Enough! Metsu Gou Hado!" shouted Akuma as pure evil began to form around him, take shape in his hands, and fire into a pulverizing beam of power.

Kano got up, and was just able to dodge a second beam. DAMN YOU! was at the front of his mind! He could barely take the first, a second could probably kill him. If that wasn't bad enough, he had heard that Akuma had a move that would allow him to warp through any attack. After that, he would often follow up with a move known as The Raging Demon, a move that was rumored to kill it's victims, and in time, it's wielder.

Akuma went for a high leap, and dived into his foe. As his foe was able to block it, he tried to follow up with his electric hurricane kick. Kano easily ducked under it, and when he was done, Kano ran up to he and shook him. One error, and the tide had turned.

Kano began his own assault, and nailed Akuma with his own huge combo, ending with a swipe from his blade, cutting deeply into Akuma. This staggered Akuma, not used to being hit so heavily. Then, he laughed the way he had as the Shotokan warriors had each fallen into his deadly game.

"It's good to see that you find death funny, old man. Now, you die!" Kano finished as the light in his right eye began to glow.

He was concentrating hard, and in an instant, the laser shot straight for the vulnerable Akuma, and exploded!

"Woah! I doesn't usually do that to human flesh...wait, I don't see any body parts! Where...hurk!"

Akuma warped through the beam, past Kano. He took the few seconds he need to prepare, knowing that he couldn't waste time for allowing Kano to turn around. He felt certain that the Raging Demon would work just the same. It did. For a moment, there was a glow of the symbol on the back of his gi. It too glowed, then they both faded. There was a slight glow in Akuma's eyes as he turned back to look at his defeated foe.

"THE RAGING DEMON! Winner of Fight 12, Round 1, Akuma!"

Upon their return, no one greeted either of them, for both of their sides had hoped that they would simply kill each other. We can't always get everything exactly as we want it, can we?

"Hm, how appropriate. We are in the lost woods!" exclaimed an enthusiastic Shang Tsung.

"Yeah, whatever. It still won't be enough to save your sorry self! I'll stick beat your butt!" retorted Balrog.

"You are as pathetic as always, Balrog! You can't win."

"Akuma? Impossible, you just had a match! No, I know it's you, Tsung. I heard you've the power to morph into anyone. Cute, but it won't save you."

"Perhaps not, but this will." he quickly changed into Subzero and froze Balrog.

However, Balrog was able to deliver a hard dashing punch to his opponent before being frozen, knocking Shang Tsung back to his former self. This gave Balrog the necessary time to recover. This time, he morphed into Scorpion, and speared Balrog, or so he thought. At the last second, Balrog seeminly dashed through it, and knocked Shang Tsung into the reach of a few of the trees. Out of desperation, he summoned up his volcanic attack, sending those that were nearest to him ablaze, giving him time to get away from them.

So, it seems I may have underestimated him. He maintains his motto: "Whoever hits hardest wins!" and he seems to have some brain work behind his attacks (though not much). Just a little extra work to do, no problem.

He saw Balrog rush at him, getting set to do his infamous knockdown uppercut. Shang Tsung knew it's weakness, so he merely ducked, waiting for the oath to miss, and then rip him apart. Unfortunately, Balrog had learned some things since his last match. One of those things was to mix his old style with his newer moves. His Dashing Uppercut hit ducking opponents once more!

As he wasn't prepared for that to happen, Shang Tsung was stunned on impact from the attack. Now, Balrog had been doing a lot of training before this tournament in an attempt to get back into shape. He sought to obtain his speed, strength, and stamina from the days of The World Warrior. Not only had he succeeded, he had even surpassed it; he had taken all of his new moves, and incorporated them into his old style, making the best of both of his worlds. He struck Shang Tsung with a series of Dashing Punches and Uppercuts, until the demon was knocked down. When he arose, he was in a daze. Balrog lifted him up and they bashed heads repeatedly. Balrog seemed to enjoy this part most of all, for he laughed after each time their heads crashed. He did not even seem to feel the pain, as Shang Tsung did. As their head smashed for the last time, Balrog threw his punching bag away. He was setting up for another Super Dashing Uppercut.

"Now!" hollered Balrog, he rushed in for the kill.

There was a loud explosion that came from Shang Tsung. He morphed into Kintaro, and as Balrog tried to stop, he was halved by the beast's fist.

Quickly, Shang Tsung morphed back, and lifted the corpse of Balrog, and proceeded to take his soul in an eerie green aura.

"I have what I need, I have no need for this!" so saying, he threw both halves to the trees to devour.

"Winner of Fight 13, Round 1, Shang Tsung! Fatality!"

"So, I meet yet another worthless mortal from the backwards Earth Realm. You really are a pitiful bunch. However, you do have some good points that I like."

"And what, oh magnificent elder god, may that be?"

"Cute. Your mockery is a perfect example. More and more, you ignore the rules of those who rule over you. Closer and closer you fall into the realm of Chaos, where I rule supreme. Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, humans show more rebelliousness for the 'natural order of things,' which is one of your best features. The more people like you try to save you from your selves, the further you plunge into darkness. Ironic, isn't it? You beg, plea, pray, dream, and hope for a better tomorrow. Yet when a noble soul comes to bring you the opportunity, you turn on him like wolves on a dying beast. Why? Simple, you don't want to work. None of you do! You expect the work to be done for you, so you may simply sit on your butts and attempt to make sense out of nonsense. You refuse to give up your old ways for new ways, even if they prove to be better. Why? It is for the simple reason that it is too hard to change. What a pitiful excuse! This world will fall, and I'll be waiting!"

"Are you done yet? Now shut-up! That's all easy for you to say, you are a 'god,' and are not altered by emotions. Humans are, the same goes for memories, morals, and ethics. You don't have our limitations. You'll have a long wait before we fall to chaos. We have numerous people who help us through our troubles, two of whom died recently. One was a real princess, the other a Mother. They are prime examples of the goodness we have, and will be the reason we will continue to fight for what's right. Those like you who don't like it, go somewhere else!"

"A great speech, for a man about to die. Good-bye!"

With that, Shinnok fired a deadly blast at Oro. Oro would instantly be wasted by the move, had their host not intervened.

"Ah, ah! When I said gods weren't allowed to use their powers other than what they used in their actual tournament, I meant it. Now, for the rest of this tournament, I shall confine your powers to that alone!"

The bright aura surrounded Shinnok. He screamed as his powers were stripped from his core, for the Alpha-Omega made sure Shinnok would think before breaking the rules again.

"Ah, home sweet home! It's good to be back, even if only temporarily."

As Shinnok got up, Oro leapt up into the air, and stomped on the god's head. Then, while Shinnok was still stunned, he went for his super-slam, slamming Shinnok from left to right twelve times. Then, he fired three slow, yet powerful green orbs at Shinnok, one after another. Though dazed, Shinnok neutralized them with three green skulls. He then flew up in the air, attempting to stomp Oro into the ground. The experienced old man simply blocked, causing Shinnok to bounce harmlessly away, into a corner. Oro made a quick gesture, and was quickly surrounded by rocks, tools, and plants, and moved in on the stunned god. Shinnok switched to many styles, freezing, spearing, and others, but for each object he destroyed, four others hit him.

After a while, it faded. Shinnok wasted no time in countering. First, he created a ground quake. As Oro arose, he was smashed in the face by Shinnok's dashing fist. He was then grabbed for a quad-slam. Finally, Shinnok froze his foe, and in a blaze, disappeared under the earth. In a moment, two enormous hands came up on both sides of the still frozen Oro, and slammed shut, crushing their helpless victim.

Shinnok emerged, victorious, and gloated aloud, "It makes no difference what you try, I will win! A Flawless Victory!"

"Not even! "Winner of Fight 14, Round 1, Shinnok! Fatality!"

"For a creature that is supposed to be a big lizard, you are rather pretty, Chameleon. Perhaps after our fun here, we can have some fun away from prying eyes!"

"Don't flatter yourself, psycho. Besides, you probably wouldn't like what you saw. You probably don't have much yourself, especially for a human."

"She who makes the most excuses IS the one who wants it the most. Very rarely have I seen such beauty, next to my own, of course. A great prize indeed. Are you flattered?"

"Here's what I think, you sick-o!" in an explosion, she disappeared and as Vega turned, he was nailed hard in the face.

The results were not as Chameleon had thought. Instead of going insane like she had heard, she heard cold laughter.

"Ah, the pretty lady has overheard what some of my opponents have said about striking my gorgeous face. No more! I no longer have that old worthless mask of mine. This new one I have is made by a super metal that was purchased myself personally from the Canadian government. This is of the same kind they have now enlaced Victor with. I also imagine your hand is hurting after it hit my mask. If so, you are lucky, your hand could have been broken, if it is not already!"

Vega laughed louder when he saw Chameleon hold onto her hand, and then flinch in pain. Vega was right, she had unwittingly broke her own hand (which is why you should NEVER BELIEVE EVERYTHING you hear!).

"...How did we get to my arena? It's good to be back, but where's my audience? How can I perform for cheers if there's nobody to cheer for me?"

"I am the one who brought you here."

"My butler? How..."

"What, are you as stupid as you are insane? That's the Alpha-Omega. I'm getting the same aura as when I was transported here."

"Fair enough. Now, where were we? Your broke hand, I believe!" and Vega ran toward the still pain-stricken Chameleon.

Only one shot, and I have to make this one count. He's almost here, now! At the thought, she put her hands back and started to gather a force of pure cold around her, and shot it at Vega.

"Fool!" said Vega as he backflipped, avoiding the blast entirely, and hitting Chameleon with both feet as he flipped, knocking her off balance.

"You are most impressive, my dear. Give up now, and you shall be allowed to live. What do you say?"

She said nothing, but her response was clear enough. As she arose, she teleported up to the sky, reappeared behind Vega, and slammed him to the ground. She then created a double of herself, which threw Vega to her, setting him up for the kill. However, Vega quickly rebounded in mid-air, and landed behind Chameleon.

Vega was about to thrust his claw through her spine, only for her to flip, and froze Vega. She then kneed him in his stomach, and delievered a high kick to his chest, making sure to miss his face.

Vega attempted to trip her up, only for her to leap over him. As she turned, he drove his claw through her chest, and she fell, dead.

"How pitiful! Your race is near extinct. Now, one man AND one woman have joined your ancestors. It's is a shame!" and Vega finished by removing his mask, and giggled in his high-pitched voice!

"Winner of Fight 15, Round 1, Vega!"

"So, this time I fight a big, stupid, oath! This will be easy!"

"You are confident, woman. You will soon learn to respect the power of the strongest man on Earth, from the motherland of Russia, Zangief!"

"Cute speech, I'll bet you couldn't repeat it."

"What would be the point, you would merely mock me."

"Well, it seems that you do have some intelligence after all. So have you noticed yet that we are in the frozen wastelands in the middle of..."

"...Siberia, in Mother Russia!" he declared with pride.

"I don't suppose you use fireballs, do you?"

"Fireballs are a cheap way of fighting. Only those who are weak must rely on them."

With that, Jade tossed her star at Zangief. After being momentarily stunned, he began to approach again, only to be hit by it on it's return.

"You are one of those cheap weaklings I was just talking about. You are a coward to not face me man-to-man!"

"For your information, I am a woman! Second, if you don't like it, tough! What are you going to do about it?"

"Something new that Zangief has learned, something that you will not believe!"

"Hmph! I've seen more than your puny mind could probably ever hope to understand. What the..?"

Zangief laughed, saying that she would be pulverized! The young man who claimed to be from the future with the fancy machines was the first to feel this power, he told her, and she would face the new-and-improved model.

She rushed in for her big combo, thinking that while she may be unable to take him down, she could push him back. She was sunk the instant he threw up his arms to block her!

As soon as she stopped, he grabbed her, and went in for the finish. He performed a back suplex, two body slams, and finished with a high spinning pile driver. He got up, changed back, and laughed, raising his arms in victory!

His victory was cut short when Jade took a low cheap-shot from behind with her pole, flooring the giant bear wrestler.

Between gasps, he bellowed, "How can you still stand. You should be near death after that."

"Obviously, you had not counted on the thickness of the snow. It has me real woozy, but I'll be able to make it. You, on the other hand, won't!"

"Winner of Fight 16, Round 1, Jade!"

Keep on watching, they're just getting started!

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MKvSF
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