The platform slowly rose, the sounds of gears churning and motors humming filled the heads of all the contestants. Twilight looked to her side to see Sonic nod towards her as he said over the sound of the gears, "Just stick with the colorful ones, we'll keep you safe for sure!"

Twilight looked towards Naruto, he crossed his arms and stuck out his chest, "Just stand back and watch the future hokage take care of everything."

Alex leaned over towards Chief as he whispered, "Five bucks says the kid's the first to go."

Master chief nodded his head and laughed a bit, he then pulled his weapon from his back and readied it. Twilight watched as all the other strangers did so as well, she watched as Marcus shook his weapon into roaring life as the teeth spun along the weapon. She watched as Alex nodded towards Kratos and said with a smirk, "Hey, nice tats."

Kratos snorted, "Don't look at me, mortal."

Twilit watched as Link drew his sword from its sheath, he swung it a few times to make it whistle through the air. She watched as Mario cracked his nuckles and whispered to himself, his brows lowering into an aggressive look.

Twilight turned to see Scorpion snap his neck back, his head nearly making a 180 before pulling it back to normal. She quietly gulped as she said to herself, "Oh Celestia please keep me safe."

The platform suddenly stopped, it had slowly made its way to the next floor and revealed a hallway with a light at the end. Twilight used her unicorn magic to light up the darkness that hadn't been touched by the light and called to the group, "Remember, everyone. We fight together and as a team we will succeed."

Naruto was the first to sprint past her as he boasted, "Ha! I don't need help from a horse!"

As Naruto sprinted down the hallway, sonic dashed in front of him as he said in a frustrated tone, "Listen you little dipstick, you were about to run into a game probably filled with enemies you don't even know. I don't care how strong you are, you will be torn to crap without us."

Naruto stopped, he stared int the green eyes of the blue hedgehog. He calmly sighed before saying, "Alright, but stand back when I tell you to." Naruto then waited for the rest of the group to catch up, after rejoining them he said in a curious tone, "So... does anyone know where we"

The entire group shouted in anger, "NO!"

Naruto backed away as he said, "Alright, just asking."

As the group made their way towards the exit, Twilight felt her heart sink. She began to fear what lurked out there as noise began to pierce her ears, the sound of... cheering? Twilight turned to the rest of the group to inform them of what she was hearing before Alex stopped her and said, "Scorpion here, the ninja dude,"

Before Alex could continue, Naruto snickered, "He doesn't look like a ninja."

Alex turned to the boy as he said with a mocking expression, "And you don't look like a guy. Anyways, Scorpion here said he's familiar to fighting in front of a crowd. He said to expect gruesome outcomes at the worst."

Twilight gulped, "Oh dear."

The group finally made it to the end of the tunnel, the light blinded them before revealing a large Roman coloseum. Crowds of shadowy figures filled the seats as they cheered loudly, shouting out different names of all sorts. The group slowly walked up to the white line that boxed them in, making sure not to step outside the lines in case. As they stood there, a large deep voice boomed thorough the stadium, "Welcome to the very first multiversal tournament. This year, being the first, we decided that it would be best to let them die as one. Make it a short night due to budget costs, hopefully they'll all die within the first wave."

Twilight began to panick, "Waves? Waves of what?" Twilight's heart began to race, horrible thoughts began to invade her mind before Sonic tapped her back and winked at her.

The voice continued, "Let the games... begin!"

The ground began to shake, a rumbling noise enveloped the entire stadium as the entire wall opposite to the group began to rise. While the shadows did block the physical appearances of the creatures, tiny white and yellow eyes bobbed amongst the darkness and amongst the hissing. Twilight took a step back before Chief called out, "Hey! It's the covenant, only in a swarm 500 times the size I usually face."

Naruto shouted out loud and charged, "Get ready to feel the rath of the Shadow-jut" Before he could finish his sentence, a ball of light blasted through his skull. The headless Naruto fell to the ground, lifeless. Meanwhile, Master Chief was handing Alex Mercer five dollars on account of a bet they made (Alex was quite proud).

Twilight screeched, "Naruto just died!" She truly felt like vomiting at that moment, she was a mixture of scared and disgusted by the brutality she had witnessed.

As Twilight scurried back to the back of the group, Alex and Chief slowly stepped out into center ring. Chief nodded as he pulled out a bright glowing blade and said, "Care to join me, Alex?"

The man only smirked, "My pleasure." he said. Alex began to walk forward, Twilight watched as his arm began to morph into a black mass of veins until it revealed a large and extremely sharp blade. She watched as Alex's other arm began to flatten itself out into a shelf as he shouted out, "Like the purple horse said! We fight as one!" And with that, they all charged. Twilight closed her eyes and charged with her head down, her horn glowing brightly in order to ward off some of the "covenant" as Chief called them. A couple of the reptilian freaks approached her, their weapons drawn at her head.

Twilight was almost obliterated when one of them blasted the area she was once standing in, she quickly jumped out of the way and used her magic as a pulse of energy to launch the alien into the air. She watched as the three aliens flew through the air only to be smashed into by a flying blue ball, the blue ball bouncing off of certain covenants before landing in front of Twilight to reveal Sonic. Sonic brushed his bristles back as he said nonchalantly, "Pretty cool, I know. That's what I'm all about." Sonic's eyes widened with surprise as he exclaimed, pointing behind Twilight, "Behind you!"

Twilight quickly ducked, a large bright blade brushed the tip of her ears and burnt them ever so slightly. Twilight snapped backwards and pointed her horn at the creature, she used her magic to once again send a pulse of energy at the covenant. As it flew through the air, Twilight turned to Sonic as she said with a smile, "Thanks."

Sonic tapped the tip of his nose before saying, "No problem." With that said, Sonic dashed off into the sea of creatures.

Twilight quickly turned around to see Chief chopping away at the covenant, the aliens disintegrating into light at every deadly swing and stab. Suddenly, a long black veiny arm zoomed past her head and grappled a covenant behind her. She turned around to see Alex at the other end of the arm, throwing the covenant into the air only to pull it back down and slice it in half. Alex turned around to see Twilight stare at him in awe, she couldn't tell whether to be grateful or scared. Alex simply nodded before running off as well, only to be leapt over by Kratos as he weilded ether two chained swords. Kratos smashed into the ground and shouted in anger, "Are you going to stand there or are you going to help?"

Twilight quickly backed away, she closed her eyes and told herself she needed to be part of the team as well in order to help. Mario shouted from one end of the stadium, "I can't-a keep throwing fireballs all day!" (keep in mind this is the smash bros. Mario here so he works differently.)

Twilight inhaled deeply before shouting at the top of her lungs, "Get down everyone!"

A sudden blast from her horn caused the ground to tremble, a large wall of violet energy ruptured from her horn in every direction. Each and every single covenant that hadn't already been eliminated was pretty damn dead after that blast, being vaporized and whatnot. She continued to push herself to the limits, creating a louder and louder whistle until a blow horn sounded. Twilight began calming her energy, it felt like pinching the end of a hose at first until the water supply is cut off. Twilight had eventually used up all her energy, her eyelids drooping shut. She began to wobble to her side, slowly falling unconscious. Luckily, Sonic had rushed to her side just in time to catch her as he said, "Woah, that was freakin' intense!"

Chief and Alex opened their eyes, the two had taken shelter in Chief's drop shield. The two slowly got to their feet to look at the surrounded area, littered with disintegrating covenant bodies. Alex looked towards the unconscious Twilight as he murmured, "Holy shit."

Chief shifted his armor and replaced his sword as he replied, "Damn straight. Haven't seen that much kick in such a small creature before. Then again, I've never seen a horse before... or a unicorn for that matter."

The rest of the group slowly gathered around Twilight, worried looks upon some faces as they completely disregarded Naruto's quick death (he had it coming). Sonic had his two fingers up against her neck, he motioned them to be silent and put his ear to her chest. A look of relief came upon the blue hedgehog as he sighed, "She's alive."

Almost everyone seemed to slump their shoulders in relief, most faces showing sings of hopeful joy. Before long, the large booming voice returned to silence the booing crowd, "It seems... as though they managed to pass the first challenge. They musn't have realized they had already gone through all twenty waves, using teamwork. The next challenge will begin tomorrow, return to your bunkers!" As the voice spoke, a string of lights lit the way down the hallway revealing the extreme cleanliness of the halls covered in reflective tiles. As the rest of the group walked towards the hallway, Alex stayed behind with Sonic as they attempted to lift Twilight.

After several failed attempts, Alex s0said breathlessly, "Damn, she's as heavy as a horse." Alex motioned for Sonic to step back, he slid his arms under Twilight before lifting her up like a feather onto his shoulders.

Sonic wolf-whistled In an impressed manner as he smirked, "Boy, it's not often I come by humans with strength like you."

Alex smiled a bit as he began to walk, it felt good to smile sincerely for once as he said, "And it's not often I come across a genetically enhanced hedgehog."

As the two began to walk down the hallway, Sonic turned to Alex and asked, "So tell me," the blue hedgehog began, "how did you get those radical powers?"

Alex sighed, "Well, bud, I think we'll be explaining where we're all from soon."

******