Thousands and thousands of people were crammed into the huge domed stadium. All seated. All tense. All prepared to cheer their favored gladiators on to victory (and/or boo the heels into oblivion.)

The appointed hour drew near. The Championship would again be decided. It was all on the line.

Titles. Championships. Undercard Matches!

All the signs of a WrestleMania... (tm)

...but it wasn't.

"WEEELCOOOME BACK TO THE CLASHDOOOOOME!!!" Hiro roared. "IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER CRAAAZY DARKFIGHTER TOURNAMENT!!"

A more sedate young man sat down beside him once the echoes had begun to fade. "Since my partner has, as usual, been too exuberant to bother with introductions, I will. I'm Dai, and this is Hiro beside me with the loud voice. We'll be your announcers tonight, and please, if anyone wants their own guest announcers in our place this time, just *ask* instead of tossing us in closets or out windows?" he finished with an exasperated sigh.

Hiro laughed heartily. "No worries, partner! This time, we have... SECURITY! We made so much last time, I was able to hire a Brute Squad from the WWF to guard the announcer's room! HAHAHAHAHA!"

(Note: Feel free to pick a hapless WWF wrestler to abuse if you *do* wanna throw out Hiro and Dai, or just point to some nameless "tied-up wrestler", possibly substituting "knocked out" or "hospitalized" for "tied-up", if you don't wanna name anybody. Heh heh heh heh!)

Dai sighed. "This does not bode well..." he murmured before realizing his mike was still on. "Oops!"

Hiro, predictably, picked up the thread. "Anyway, we're back in the ClashDome this year, and let's all say thanks to the owner/operator, Darkfighter's very own RACEWING!" The hyper announcer-boy pointed to a private box in which Racewing and the tourney's organizer Iczel were sitting, and there was much cheerage. (Yay!) Hiro then swept his arm back down to aim at the door to backstage. "And without further ado, let's introduce the competitors!!"

Dai got over his embarrassment and nodded. "All right, down to business it is. First up is possibly our oldest Earthy competitor. Hailing from ancient Egypt and with lots of bandages around him is the ancient Pharoah, Anakaris!"

The mummy in question walked out from backstage, accepting the adulation of the fans as his due.

"Annnd next," Hiro took up the call, "The armoured warrior, the self-proclaimed protector of the Earth, the mechanoid 'Q'!!!"

Q walked out and took his place on the stage beside Anakaris, not reacting overmuch to the cheering.

"Now, a young girl in the midst of tragedy, perhaps hoping a win will do her good, let's welcome Marionette!" Dai urged the crowd, and they did.

The girl-turned-Darkstalker bounced happily onto the stage and waved at the cheering crowd.

"Next up, it's the purple guy we all love to hate, in from Mikai, Heeeeere's JEDAH!" Hiro roared.

The boos were deafening as the self-proclaimed Dark Savior took his place beside Marionette. Both Darkstalkers went on guard at once.

Dai sighed. "Bad placement, there... And here's another unfriendly face. Dio's trusted hawk guard, Petshop!"

The hawk didn't bother to touch ground, instead forming a perch out of ice beside Jedah, who spun back to keep both Marionette and the new arrival in sight.

Ignoring the byplay onstage, Hiro roared on. "Annnd entering as a pair, but fighting separately, everyone give it up for our fave Dark Hunters... DONOVAN AND ANITA!!"

More cheering as the normally-inseparable duo took their places on stage, Donovan keeing himself between Anita and the possible Darkstalker/Stand User brawl.

Dai came on again. "And since Hiro's going to nosebleed about now, I have to introduce the... 'scantily clad Mistress of Magnetism'? Who wrote this? Anyway folks, here's Mariah."

The young Stand User came out glaring at the booth for the mediocre intro, but lined up with the others anyway.

"ANND an old favorite of mine, most macho of the Stand Users, POLNAREFF!" Hiro yelled.

The crowd cheered as the wielder of Silver Chariot strode boldly onstage and lined up beside Mariah, who glared at him now.

"Here's one I can actually show some enthusiasm for. She's been in every tournament so far - will this be the year she goes all the way?" Dai asked. "High hopes for Makoto!!"

The karateka stalked out onstage and took her place after a quick bow to the crowd.

Hiro came back with: "Now for another fave - Here's the Satsu Schoolgirl, the Adopted Aensland, the-"

Dai cut him off, incredibly enough. "-Princess of Fanservice, Sakura Yugure, also known as Dark Sakura. Get *on* with it."

That made *two* competitors glaring at the booth on the way out.

Seeing Hiro was too shocked to go on, Dai took the next announcement. "And in from Taiyo High School and an assortment of local troubles, Ran Hibiki - and next in is her brother, the 'famous' Street Fighter Dan Hibiki."

The siblings came out a bit unsure of whether they'd been insulted or not, but when the crowd cheered them both like crazy they decided it was all good and lined up.

Hiro finally recovered. "whoa, Dai..." he muttered before going on. "Anyway, folks, up next is Darkfighter's Dynamic Duo! They even have the spandex uniforms to prove it! All hail the Overthrowers of Shadoloo... JUNI AND JULI!!"

The two DOLLS came out blushing bright red as the arena nearly erupted in cheers and applause. Taking their places, they bowed to their fans. "They'll be fighting as a team this year, using the Dramatic Battle Mode where they share one lifebar, so let's pray for teamwork!" Hiro cheered.

"And another Stand User," Dai picked up, "even if he seems to lack a spine sometimes, Hol Horse!"

*Three* competitors glaring at the booth.

"Dai, work with me!" Hiro groaned. "You're killin' us here! Now *this* is how you announce an entry!" Pausing for a deep breath, he roared into the mike, "LET'S HAVE A BIG HAND! HERE'S THE AMERICAN SHOTOKAN, THE RED KARATE MASTER, THE BEST-LOOKING KARATEKA YET... **KEN MASTERS!!!**"

The roof nearly came off the ClashDome from all the cheers.

Dai was unimpressed. "And from Taiyo High School again, hoping for a win to bring his finances above zero, Hayato!"

*Four* glaring competitors....

Hiro decided to just ignore it and go on with the show. "OK, here's the Queen of Makai! Show how you feel for Morrigan Aensland!!"

Cheers, wolf-whistles, and one fan trying to climb onto the stage ensued as Morrigan flew out. The fan almost made it over the edge before a Hadoken from Dark Sakura met him in the face, and back he went.

"Yugure's in a bad mood tonight," Dai noted, then went on, "Our next two competitors are siblings - formerly caring deeply for each other, now possibly out for blood. Hokuto and Kairi, ladies and gentlemen."

Cheering, especially from the more hardcore fans. Hiro nodded.

"Hey, Dai, that's getting better! Keep it up!" he said before addressing the crowd again. "In from Tamagawa Minami High School, the self-taught Shotokan Schoolgirl, she can fight here without family getting on her case! Sakura Kasugano!!"

Many more cheers as the creator of Sakura *Yugure* gave her twin a wave while taking a place in line.

"And in from Justice High, the fighting schoolteacher nurse, Kyoko!" Dai announced.

A few more cheers and wolf-whistles. The ecchi fan tried to scale the stage again, only to get fireballed from *both* Sakuras this time.

"And here's the cute-but-deadly servant of Jedah, in from Mikai by way of Makai, Q-Bee!!" Hiro exclaimed.

Q-Bee buzzed out on stage, was promptly disoriented by the noise and lights, and flew around like crazy. Some stagehands finally managed to entice her into the line with a pot of honey, and Dai concluded the announcements...

"And in from Gedo High, he's got big hair and a thing for knives, Edge!!"

Some more cheering for the gang-punk teen.

After things quieted down and the fighters filed backstage again, Hiro pointed to the JumboTron screen. "Okay, all you fight fans, listen up! We've got all the fighters' names in a randomizer, and the computer will plug their names into the tournament tree!"

Dai went on, "We have twenty-four fighters here, so Iczel_prime, the tourney's organizer this year, came up with this system. Like last year, the fighters are divided into brackets. This year, we have three brackets of four matches each. When each Bracket has a champion, two of the Bracket winners will fight each other, while the third - determined by random lot - will fight a Mystery Match."

Hiro broke in, enthusing, "and you all remember what happened with last year's Mystery Match, folks! Dark Sakura met Evil Ryu in a battle of the Dark Shotokans..."

"...which turned more than a bit disturbing when Evil Ryu apparently developed a stalker-type crush on Dark Sakura as the match began," Dai finished. "Moving on, if the bracket winner also wins their mystery match, they face the victor of the match between the other two Bracket winners for the Darkfighter Championship. If they *lose* the Mystery match, the winner of the Bracket Winners' Match will be the Darkfighter Champion on the spot."

"And don't forget, folks, we have fighters on the premises who aren't in the main tournament! They might get into non-tourney matches, interfere in official ones... who *knows* what might happen?? This will be the most exciting tourney EVER!!" Hiro enthused.

"Just push the button, Hiro..." Dai sighed, and Hiro did.

Names flashed into and out of slots, gradually slowing down their blurred movements and finally settling one by one into spaces to stay.

The final board looked like this.

LINEUP!

Bracket A:

Juni&Juli (DB Mode)
VS.
Edge

Jedah
VS.
Q-Bee

Dark Sakura
VS.
Kairi

Polnareff
VS.
Donovan

Bracket B:

Ken
VS.
Dan

Marionette
VS.
Morrigan

Anakaris
VS.
Anita

Q
VS.
Hayato

Bracket C:

Petshop
VS.
Hol Horse

Mariah
VS.
Ran

Kyoko
VS.
Hokuto

Makoto
VS.
Sakura

For a few moments, even Hiro was silent.

Dai, surprisingly, was the first to speak.

"Darn... what a schedule..." he breathed. "Look at Bracket A... Jedah against his own minion Q-Bee while Dark Sakura faces off with the more-than-a-bit psycho Kairi..."

Hiro, to no one's surprise, went off at that. "And Bracket B!! Ken and Dan!! Marionette and Morrigan in a Darkstalkers' fight!! Anita against one of the Darkstalkers she so hates in the form of Anakaris!! And Q's thoracic furnace against Hayato's fiery spirit!! WHO WILL PREVAIL!?"

"And Bracket C's no slouch either," Dai came back. "The psycho hawk against another Stand User in Hol Horse, and three, count them, *three* catfights - Mariah and Ran, Kyoko and Hokuto, and finally Makoto versus Sakura as old training partners meet again. Stay in your seats, folks... this one will be interesting...!"