"Is everyone ready for the last event?" the announcer blared. The reaction was a bunch of different cheers on both sides. "Well, then get ready, because here comes the ever popular Trampoline event!!"

Blaze glanced at Amy. "Well, I guess that we're up right now, Amy," she commented. "Are you ready so soon after performing in the fencing event?"

Amy smiled and winked. "Hey, you know it! There's no way that I'm going to lose this one!" She punched her fist into the air, proclaiming, "Yeah! Team Sonic all the way!!"

Peach raised her eyebrows. "Hunh? Daisy and I are up so soon?" she asked. Daisy smirked.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to show these Sonic-heads what teamwork is all about. To the trampolines!"

All the teams huddled towards the huge trampolines situated on one side of the Stadium. Espio walked over to the front of the trampolines and spoke into a microphone.

"The contestant Amy will be performing first. Please give her your undivided attention, as you have done with the past events."

Amy blushed. "Wow, their undivided attention! Hope I don't screw up."

The hedgehog slowly climbed up to the top of the giant trampoline and bounced around a bit, testing it. Finally, she gave a huge bounce and seemed to fly up into the air. The audience was amazed as Amy flipped repetitively until her feet touched the rubber again. Sonic waved.

"Yeah, go Amy! Show 'em what you can do!"

However, Amy was completely unaware of Sonic's cheers. To her, everything was silent. All the noise had died down, and now the only thing that was clear to her was the trampoline under her feet. As she bounced again and again, she flew higher and higher. Finally, on the last bounce, she nearly touched the ceiling. As she came down, she somersaulted in the air until her feet finally touched the solid ground.

"That was amazing!" Vector gawked. "I've never seen anyone perform on a trampoline event before!!"

Bowser crossed his arms. "Pretty impressive, I have to admit," he noted. Wario looked irritable at the King Koopa.

"Hey! Who's-a side are you on, anyway?!" he fumed.



Espio spoke into the microphone again. "Now we will go to Ms. Cream for Amy's score."

Cream typed something into the huge machine next to her, and finally said, "Pass!" The machine projected a final score of 8.75 for Amy.

The hedgehog squealed. "Alright! How was that, Team Mario??"

Knuckles snorted. "Y'know, I don't think that's she gettin' the whole 'be nice to the other team' thing," he pointed out. Shadow nodded silently.

"Next up is the contestant Peach," Espio reported. "Please give her your full attention."

Peach took a deep breath and stepped up to the trampoline. OK! Time for me to shine! She thought. Bouncing a few times to test the rubber, before long, Peach was flipping in the air like a true Olympic champion.

Waluigi smirked. "Hey, she's-a even better than the pink hedgehog!" he grinned. Mario nodded.

"Well, don't get-a too cocky just yet," he replied. "She still hasn't finished her performance." Waluigi raised his eyebrow.

"I thought you liked her, Mario. I-a guess I was wrong."

"What?! Of course I—"

"Can it, you two!" Luigi hissed. "She's coming in for a landing."

After a few more somersaults, Peach came down not on her feet, but on her hands. She hopped into the air with her arms, did one last flip, and finally landed flat on her feet.

Eggman was clearly impressed. "Oh my. It would take many years to master that kind of trick!" he observed.

Mario gawked heavily at the princess. "That…that was amazing! I've-a never seen anything like that!"

Peach fluffed her ponytail. "Well, I do a little gymnastics sometimes in my down time. You know, just for practice."

Waluigi crossed his arms. "A little?? Geez, you-a like do it in your sleep."

After the audience died down, Espio turned to Cream again. "Pass!" she announced. The machine next to her displayed a score of 9.22.

Bowser cheered. "Alright!" he growled. "This is gonna be a snap!" Yoshi yelped in agreement.

Espio cleared his throat again. "Let us turn our attention to the next competitor: Blaze the Cat. Please give her the respect you've given our previous contestants."

Blaze bowed slightly to Espio and stepped up to the giant trampoline. Cream smiled. "Don't be nervous, Ms. Blaze!" she hollered from the sidelines. "Just do your best and everything will be OK!"

Blaze smiled inwardly. Deep down, she really didn't think that Cream was as annoying as she was expected to be.

The purple cat hopped around a bit on the trampoline before coming down with a hard landing on the rubber. With cat-like gracefulness, she flipped around like a star.

Sonic watched in awe. "I…I can't believe that someone like Blaze could do something like that. I mean, I was surprised with Amy, but this…"

Suddenly, Blaze exploded into the air with an especially high jump. Then she performed one technical flip after another, her tail waving in the air with her. Finally, with one last jump and somersault, she landed on the mat. She wobbled a bit on the landing, but was able to stick it in the end.

The crowd speechless for a few moments. Suddenly, members from both sides of the stadium exploded into a flurry of clapping and cheering. Blaze took the moment in for a few moments, then finally opened her yellow eyes.

"I…I didn't mess up…" she told herself. "I was able to perform with a well-balanced act, and…"

Knuckles sighed when it was all over. "Man, I thought she was gonna blow it…but how was she able to not fall over on the landing?"

Tails. "You know what they say, Knuckles—cats ALWAYS land on their feet!"

Espio turned to Cream, who was overjoyed. "Pass!" she proclaimed, and the machine projected a score of 9.75.

Sonic punched his fist into the air. "Yeah! Alright! We're getting gold for sure!!"

Luigi turned to Daisy. "Are you-a ready?" he asked. Daisy nodded.

"But I'm a nervous wreck! I mean, how am I gonna follow an act like that?!"

Yoshi yipped something. Mario nodded, as if he understood.

"Yoshi's right," he pointed out. "Don't let your nervousness be a distraction to your act, Daisy. You'll do great, and even if you don't, it's all for fun anyway."

Daisy shuddered. "All…alright…I'll try to do my b-best…"

Espio's calm, ninja-like voice sounded on the microphone. "Our last competitor for today is Daisy. Please give her the attention she deserves."

Daisy could feel her heart pounding in her chest a million miles an hour. You can do this. You can do this, she told herself. But as she gazed at the huge trampoline in front of her, her knees began to wobble.

"I…can't do this…!" she wailed. "I was never that great at athletics, and I know that I'm going to screw up here! I'm sorry, everyone…"

Everyone could just watch as Daisy ran off the spotlight with a rosy-red face. Peach sighed.

"That's too bad," she commented. "But I guess I can understand what she's going through."

Cream stepped up next to Espio with the microphone. "With Blaze leading with a score of 9.75, unless Team Mario can get someone else to perform, Team Sonic wins the event!"

Waluigi twiddled his thumbs. "I can't-a believe I'm saying this, but…I'll do it!"

The gasps could be heard from across the National Indoor Stadium. Waluigi stretched his legs a bit, and stepped up to the trampoline in a hurry.

Sonic leaned over in Shadow's ear. "Can that guy even touch his toes?" he asked. Shadow shrugged.

"Don't ask me, blue hedgehog. I wish that they'd just forfeit already so we can win."

Sonic crossed his arms. "Hey! What did we talk about this morning? Anything about fairness ringing a bell?"

Interestingly enough, Waluigi started out pretty well. He was making nice, decent flips as he fluctuated up and down on the trampoline. However, when it came to the landing, the Luigi-double landed oddly and fell over.

Espio turned to Cream. "What's the score?" he asked. Cream typed something into the machine.



"…pass!" she announced, to everyone's surprised. Although Waluigi had fallen, he made a final score of 7.90. Mario removed his hat and scratched his head.

"Well, that's-a OK, right?" he asked his group. "I mean-a, we still brought home one gold medal today."

After the awards were given to Blaze, Peach, and Amy respectively, the announcer's voice blared into the stadium again.

"That will be the final event for today! Both teams, please go rest up for the next events tomorrow!!"

Sonic sighed. "I guess that's it, then."

Mario sighed. "Tomorrow's a big day."