SONIC TOURNAMENT

Chapter One

"Invitations"

It was a sunny day in the spring that the letters arrived. Cosmo, going to get the mail for Vanilla, whose house she was staying at, saw them first. There was one for her and one for Cream. She brought them both to Cream, who was watching television.

"What are those?" Cream asked.

"I don't know," Cosmo said. "Here's yours." She handed the envelope to her best friend, and then opened hers. There was a single sheet of paper inside.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have been chosen to participate in the upcoming Battle Tournament, for your brave work in the war

against the Metarex. Each team will consist of up to five participating members and two substitutes. You may decide between yourselves which of you will be the substitutes. These members will battle only if a regular team member is unable or unwilling to battle. If you are interested in participating, be at Mystic Mountain in three days. The tournament will last eight days, so please bring sufficient clothing and equipment for that time period. Food will be supplied by the staff. Looking forward to seeing you!

"That's weird," Cream said. "Nobody signed it."

"There's no stamp on my envelope!" Cosmo said.

"Mine neither!" Cream said. "I don't think I want to go, Cosmo!"

"Neither do I," Cosmo said. "I'm going to call Tails.

"Prower residence," came Tails' voice over the phone. "I'm currently indisposed. Please leave a message at the beep, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you." Beep!

"Tails?" Cosmo said. "Cream and I both just got strange letters in the mail. It's a little scary. Please call me back as soon as you can. Thank you."

Meanwhile, Amy, watching her soaps, got up off her couch during the commercial to check the mail. "Hey, what's this?" she wondered. "Cool! I am so there!" She decided to call Cream and Cosmo. But before she could find her phone, the commercial ended. Patricia was supposed to finally come out of her coma today, and Amy didn't want to miss that. She'd call after the show. "No, Beatrice! Dr. Brenner just wants to make Laura jealous!"

Knuckles stretched. Guarding the Master Emerald was a chore, but since Eggman didn't seem to want it as much as he wanted to get the smaller chaos emeralds, and Rouge had been behaving herself lately, he'd had a lot of spare time. He'd heard the mailman a few minutes ago, but hadn't felt like checking his mail. All he ever got were advertisements and "You may already have won…" tripe. Well, he had nothing better to do. He got up and sauntered over to his mailbox, which was made of stone.

"What's this?" he asked. "Huh. Interesting." He grinned. "Very interesting!"

In his workshop, Tails put down his blow torch, and took off his protective goggles. He'd been working half the night to make a brooch for Cosmo. It looked like the one he'd given her the night of that long ago party on the Blue Typhoon, but it was multi-colored. Her birthday was coming up. He was going to ask her to be engaged to be engaged. His parents would have fits if they knew, but Tails had no doubt whatsoever that Cosmo was his soul mate. After all, hadn't even death been unable to separate them?

Tails rubbed the back of his neck. He was feeling a bit stiff. He decided to take a walk over to Cream's house and see Cosmo. On the way, he noticed the flag on his mailbox had been raised. He went through his mail. Junk. Junk. Scientific journal. What was this? As he read it, his keen brain came to one conclusion: "This is a trap! I'd better tell Sonic!" He called Sonic's number.

"Yo! You have reached Sonic the Hedgehog's private number. Please leave a message after the beep. Unless you're Egghead, in which case…nanny nanny nanny! Pbbbttt!" Tails rolled his eyes. "Sonic! I've got to see you right away! I'll be at Cream's house!"

Rouge lived in a cave. Not because she couldn't afford a better place. She could. She just liked it that way. As a bat, too much sunlight hurt her eyes. When she'd learned that Knuckles shared that problem, she'd been fascinated. They were more alike than she had thought. She didn't precisely have a mailbox. Just a slot between two rocks that she'd put up a little sign next to, saying, "Leave mail here." She was just going to visit Knuckles when she noticed she had a letter. Like Tails, she immediately thought, "This is a trap." Like Knuckles, she grinned. A tournament meant a lot of rich people. Rich people with jewels! "Come to Mama, my precious little sparklies!" She flew off, cackling like a witch in a fairy tale.

Sonic ran through the city, not going anywhere in particular. It had been quiet lately. No Eggman attacks. Most of his other enemies were in jail or presumed dead. No new menaces to worry about. It was a nice, sunny spring day. He decided to run laps around the town. On the third lap, he stopped at his house to get a drink from the hose in his front yard. He noticed the mail. After reading his letter, he decided to see Tails and Amy. Cosmo was at Cream's house, so he decided to look for them there. If they weren't with the two girls, he could always call them.

"Doesn't sound like Egghead," Sonic mused. "Or Mammoth Mogul, or any of the other losers we've taken care of. So I guess we've got a new villain to beat up on!" He grinned. "Hope this one doesn't try to talk me to death!" He sped off to Cream's house.

"Hey, boss!" Bokkun cried. "You got a letter!"

"Why don't we ever get mail?" Bocoe asked.

"The master gets all the breaks!" Decoe complained.

"What's this?" Doctor Eggman asked, opening his letter.

"Is it a trap?" Bocoe asked, looking over Eggman's shoulder.

"Sounds like a trap to me," Decoe suggested, looking Eggman's other shoulder.

"Of course it's a trap, you two nitwits!" Eggman said. "But it's an intriguing one! I think we should show up. What do you say, Bokkun?"

"Free food?" Bokkun said. "Count me in, boss! Hahahahahah!"

While none of them knew it, this would be an event they would never forget.

I know this chapter is short, but it's just the beginning. Next time, everyone discusses their letters, and the big day arrives. Who else will be joining the tournament? Silver? Blaze? Any suggestions? Will they join the tournament or refuse? Well, there wouldn't be a story if they didn't participate, would there?