Finally, got this one finished. You know, for a minute, I actually thought I was going to make it before Thanksgiving, if not the day of.

Anyway, here are the battles between MegaMan NTWarrior and Sonic X. Also, we learn more about my deus ex machina 3 chapters ago. See R1B3 and R2B1 for details.

Disclaimer: If I did own these, this would be more official than a simple fanfic (not that it hasn't been fun so far).

A/N: For this battle, I have used battlechips that have, to my knowledge, remained absent from the anime. If the chips used here are in the anime, let me know and correct me on anything I might have goofed up.

Round 2

Battle 3

Amazing Moves

"Well, at least that explains why my back doesn't hurt so much," Knuckles thought out loud, referring to the Master's previous speech.

Sonic and the group had been traveling for a long time, finding no one else. Rouge did occasional aerial recon, but so far had turned up nothing. After what she thought was her ninth attempt, she spotted a gleam of light shining through the trees.

"Hey, guys," she called, "I got something you might want to see." When everyone looked up she pointed toward the direction of the flash. Everyone ran over to find out exactly what Rouge saw.

While everyone was running, Rouge went on ahead and landed in the flash's area. What she saw was the last thing she expected. Before she could think, she heard rustling behind her. She turned to find Sonic leading the pack. He was amazed by what he saw, too.

"What on earth," Rouge asked, "would some stupid looking biplane be doing here?"

"Hey, watch what you say, Rouge," Sonic said. "That's the Tornado."

"I thought the Tornado looked much more impressive than this," she said.

"That's the X-Tornado, built to hold a Chaos Emerald's power. This baby was our first plane."

"But what could it be doing here?" Amy asked.

Sonic thought hard. He, too, found it strange that the old Tornado could just show up in another dimension, especially since it was nowhere near a place that could be affected by the Master.

Then a thought hit him. He approached the plane and started examining it. He spent most of the time looking into the cockpit and the compartments. But he didn't find anything.

"Uh, Sonic?" Knuckles said. "What are you doing?"

"Do you remember what brought us here in the first place?" Sonic said.

"I try to forget," Knuckles said.

"Chaos Control," Shadow answered. "But what does that have to do with…?"

"I remember Tails leaving one of our Chaos Emeralds in here for safe keeping." Sonic replied. "I was looking for it. It was a possible explanation as to how the Tornado got here. But I can't find it."

"Speaking of which," Shadow said, "during my battle with Kakashi, one of his attacks actually dug up a Chaos Emerald, right here in the Crossroad of Worlds."

Everyone simply stared at Shadow in disbelief, partly because they didn't really believe him. "Are you sure it was a real Chaos Emerald?" Amy asked him.

"I'm positive. I recognized the energy pulsing through it."

"But what would a Chaos Emerald be doing here, of all places?" Rouge asked rhetorically.

"I believe I can answer that," the Master's deep voice rang through their minds. "Since this is a dimension between dimensions, the properties of time and space are known to run rampant. Because of this, many of the properties are contained within the minerals of what you call the Chaos Emeralds. One of these gems became so big, that it threatened to distort reality beyond repair. To counteract this, I had to send it to another dimension where its impact could be weakened, if such an impact even existed. As a further safeguard, I sent with it seven smaller gems to absorb the big one's power."

"And that's why we have the Chaos and Master Emeralds in our dimension," Knuckles concluded.

Sonic was still rummaging through the Tornado. "Aha!" Everyone turned toward him, thinking he had found the Emerald. Instead, he held up a number of power rings. "These might help."

"Sonic, quick question," Amy said. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I could use the power boost," he answered. He slid one ring around his wrist. "This number should definitely last for the remaining battles."

"Seeing as you have more than you need," Rouge pointed out, "you may be right."

"Well, they're not all for me." Sonic picked up one of the rings and threw it to Shadow. "Since you're my double, I figure they should work for you."

"Maybe, but I already said I'm not doing this next bout," Shadow replied.

"Just keep it anyway," Sonic said. "It'll save you the trouble of having to get it later. Besides, you found that last Emerald by accident. At least with this, you know you'll get a boost."

"What are you going to do with the rest?" Amy asked.

"Simple; you're gonna carry them." Sonic threw the remaining rings to Amy.

"Where am I supposed to put them?" she asked, irritated.

"Wherever you put your hammers," Sonic retorted. ("Very funny," Amy whispered.)

"So remind me," Lan said, "why are we doing this?"

Chaud sighed in irritation. "For the thousandth time, Lan, we weren't having any luck simply sitting around waiting for someone to come. And as a personal preference, it wouldn't have been a good idea to hold any more battles at SciLab; the workers there are fixing the wreckage from the last battle, and I don't want to give them any more to work on."

As they continued walking, Lan noticed that Maylu appeared to be lost in thought. "Hey, Maylu," he said, "you in there?"

Maylu's head jerked up. "Wha…? Oh, sorry, Lan. I was just thinking about our last battle."

"What about?" Lan asked.

"Well, you remember how it ended right? Only one person from the other side won her battle. It got me thinking, if there are only three people on our side, nobody's going to take the final results well, no matter how it ends up."

"Maylu," Chaud said, "you know as well as I do that this isn't a competition. It's a training phase for a larger battle that will decide the fate of reality."

"I can't help it," she argued. "The only times I don't treat our NetBattles too seriously is when there aren't any major consequences for either winning or losing. And since there aren't any consequences for these battles..."

"Maylu," Lan said, "Chaud's right. We can't worry about who wins or loses, as long as we remember why we're fighting in the first place."

"Wow, Lan," Chaud said, "it's about time some of my wisdom rubbed off on you."

"Hey, Chaud, when I want your input on what I say, I'll ask for it."

Maylu started to perk up at seeing the classic Lan/Chaud rivalry. But her thoughts remained on their numbers and how that might affect the outcomes, for both the opponents and for her team.

Suddenly, Lan heard a beep coming from his PET. Lan knew who it was. He pulled it out and held the screen to his face. "What's up, Dad?"

"It appears we've found your next opponents. The radar system shows five life forms not far from your current position." A map of the area appeared on the screen. Lan spotted five blips on their left front.

"Come on, guys. This way," Lan said. He led the others in the direction of the blips. It didn't take long before they heard voices. Soon they found the source of the voices, but they could only stare in wonder at what they found.

"Lan, what are they?" Maylu asked.

"You're asking me?" Lan responded. "All I can think of is Rush's long lost cousins." Rush gave him a small, disapproving bark.

"Lan," MegaMan said, "hold the screen up to them. I'll send the image to Dr. Hikari." Lan did as he was told. A few seconds passed before they heard Dr. Hikari's voice.

"As near as I can tell," he said, "they appear to be some form of anthropomorphic creatures."

"Speak English, Dad," Lan said.

"They have characteristics of both animals and humans," Hikari clarified.

"But what kind of animals?" Maylu asked.

"Well, four of them appear to be genetically similar to hedgehogs… no, wait… never mind, that fourth one is an echidna. And the fifth is a bat. And there's something about one of the hedgehogs that makes it seem… different."

"This is turning out to be the strangest day I ever had," Lan said.

Shadow told everyone to stop, saying he thought he heard voices. Everyone froze in their tracks. They attempted to listen for whatever Shadow heard.

"I think they know we're here," they could barely make out. "Dr. Hikari."

The next thing they knew, they could hear a clearer sound from above. They looked up and saw multi-hued hexagons forming together. They progressed outward and began to form downward, making a dome-like structure.

"All right," Knuckles said, fists in front of him. "Who's there, and what's with the theatrics?"

"Forgive us," a voice said, "but we figured it would be a good idea to set this up so we wouldn't waste much time." They turned to find three figures approaching them with some sort of thing that looked like a dog. All of them appeared to be in their teenage years. The one wearing red and black clothing was the one who was speaking.

"I'm Lan Hikari," the other male said. "Meet Maylu Sakurai, Chaud Blaze, and Rush." He motioned to the other two and the dog-like being with them. "Oh, and of course…" Lan reached into his pocket and pulled out something that looked like a handheld videogame with the letters PET on the top. He pointed device's screen toward Sonic. He saw something that looked like a man inside the screen.

"Hi, I'm MegaMan," it said. The other two humans were pulling our similar devices, holding two other beings called Roll and ProtoMan.

Sonic had never seen anything like this before. Chuck may have turned out a good invention every so often, but this was something he couldn't even describe. "What are these guys?" he asked.

"Internet Navigators," MegaMan answered, "better known as NetNavis."

"Of course," Lan said, "we could probably ask you the same question."

"What, you can't tell?" Sonic said. "The name's Sonic. Me, Amy, and Shadow are all hedgehogs, Knuckles is an echidna, and Rouge is a bat."

"Could you maybe be more specific?" Lan asked.

"I don't know if it would do you any good," Sonic said, "But I guess you could call us Mobians: residents of the world of Mobius."

Knuckles cut into Sonic's conversation. "Now, if you don't mind, could you please tell us what this thing is supposed to be?" He pointed up at the dome.

"That's a dimensional area," Chaud answered. "Think of it as a manmade dimension where the real world fuses with the cyberworld."

"Oh, okay," Knuckles said in a sarcastic tone, "now that makes a lot of sense."

"Perhaps it would be better if we showed you what we're talking about," Maylu suggested.

"And the best way to show," the Master said, "is to act. The pairs for these bouts are: Lan and Sonic, Chaud and Knuckles, and Maylu and Amy. Battlers, take your positions." Everyone went to a different section of the dimensional area, while Rouge flew herself and Shadow to a safe observing spot. Lan and Chaud each pulled out a computer chip. Amy noticed that Maylu didn't have one, but instead, Rush was following her.

"Three…" The NetOps had their chips ready and Rush knelt to the ground. "Two…" The Mobians stood ready for battle. "One! Start the battle!"

"Synchro Chip in, download!" Lan yelled as he inserted the chip into his PET. "Begin Cross Fusion!" The PET broke up into several bits. Many of them surrounded Lan's limbs. Other bits formed a circle with a curious design. The circle struck his chest and a brilliant light poured out of it. When it was gone, Lan's body was covered in dark blue fabric. Suddenly, a helmet appeared over his head and his face became obstructed by a face plate. Sonic looked at Lan's new form and realized something.

"Isn't that MegaMan?" he asked.

"In a way," Lan said. "Cross Fusing is the act of combining the appearances of a Navi with its NetOp."

"And I bet you don't use it just to give you a nice look," Sonic said.

"You got that right, and thanks for the compliment," Lan added in a whisper. He held his arm out. Sonic stood amazed when he saw his hand transform into a barrel-shaped object. "Mega Buster!" Lan held the Buster toward Sonic and started to fire.

Sonic swerved left and right to dodge the shots. Lan was impressed by Sonic's speed. He decided to switch tactics. "Cyber Sword, battlechip in, download!" His arm transformed again to sport a light blue blade. He stood there and waited for Sonic to come to him. When Lan saw Sonic coming he tried to swing the sword, but Sonic proved to fast for him, as he sped through without a scratch. To make matters more difficult, Sonic ran passed Lan immediately after with his hand out, striking him as he passed.

"So much for that," Lan said to himself. "Long Sword, battlechip in, download!" The sword on Lan's arm grew longer.

"Oooh, a longer sword," Sonic said sarcastically. "Tell me that isn't your best move."

"Oh, I've got better," Lan returned, "but there's nothing wrong with using the other moves." Sonic resumed running at his usual pace: fast. Lan simply stood there waiting for a good opportunity to strike. But Sonic didn't seem content to stay in a straight line, as he curved and zigzagged almost constantly.

"Invis, battlechip in, download!" Lan's body began to fade and eventually disappeared from view. Sonic stopped for a moment to see where he went. Almost immediately, he felt a sharp pain on his back. He rolled into a ball and began to charge in the direction where he thought Lan was. However, he didn't hit anything. He thought Lan must have moved after doing his damage or the sword was long enough to strike him at an angle.

"Blaster!" Sonic heard Lan say. He turned to find the voice, but he was too late. A barrage of energy shots seemingly erupted out of thin air and hit him. No matter where Sonic ran, he couldn't find a place to avoid the blasts.

"Synchro Chip in, download!" Chaud said as he inserted the chip into his PET. Knuckles expected ProtoMan to appear in between him and Chaud. Instead, the PET exploded and the bits began to surround Chaud's hands and feet. The remaining bits came to form a circle with a peculiar symbol, which struck Chaud's chest. His body started glowing and was covered in some kind of armor and helmet. Knuckles saw Chaud's hair extend in the back. Chaud finally flashed a battle-ready pose.

They didn't waste any words; Knuckles didn't know what happened nor did he care for that matter. He simply charged in with a fist ready.

"Cyber Sword, battlechip in, download!" Chaud's hand transformed into a hilt that sported a crimson blade. Knuckles moved his fist forward and connected with the flat edge of the blade. Knuckles raised his other fist but Chaud caught it just in time.

"Laser Blast, battlechip in, download." Knuckles quickly looked to Chaud's free hand, expecting it to do something. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain at his back, like he was being shot at. He quickly moved to one side, knowing another blast was on its way. He guessed correctly and Chaud took the second shot. Knuckles used the distraction to his advantage and turned to find a stationary cannon. He ran up to it and punched. The cannon bent below the "head" before disappearing in a series of cubes.

Knuckles watched the strange disappearance with curiosity. Suddenly, he felt something strike him from behind again, this one like a slashing motion. He turned and found Chaud, still sporting the Cyber Sword on his arm.

"You wanna watch it?" Knuckles said with a growl. "I just got this back healed."

"Then maybe next time you won't allow yourself to be so distracted," Chaud said. Knuckles just ignored him and began to unleash a salvo of punches. Chaud swerved left and right to avoid him.

"Stay still, will ya?" Knuckles said.

"Sound advice," Chaud returned. "Perhaps you should do the same. Rock Cube, times four, and Area Steal, battlechips in, download!" Chaud immediately zoomed out of sight. Meanwhile, Knuckles noticed three shadows surrounding him. He looked up and saw three giant, stone-colored objects that looked like Rubik's Cubes. He braced himself. The cubes landed around him in a triangle formation. He relaxed his stance.

"Hate to tell you this…" he said. "Well, actually I don't, but you missed."

"Did I?" Chaud replied. "You'll recall I called for four Rock Cubes." Knuckles thought for a second before realizing Chaud was right. But before he could ask where the fourth one would end up, he saw the area around him growing darker. He looked up and saw a similar cube falling, this one directly above him. Knuckles ducked into the surrounding cubes so as not to be hit when the fourth cube landed. It finally stopped on top of the other three.

The good news, Knuckles thought, was that he wasn't hurt. The bad news, however, was that he was trapped; with three cubes surrounding him and one more covering the only exit wide enough for him to get away, he was definitely stuck. Knuckles started punching at the rock walls.

Outside, Chaud could hear Knuckles grunting, almost as though he was struggling. "You might as well give up," Chaud suggested. As soon as he said it, he heard Knuckles stop. But the noises soon started up again; this time, though, it sounded like something made of metal was scraping against the rocks.

Rush jumped into the air in a blinding flash. When he came down, he was the shape and size of a small computer ship. "Rush Synchro Chip in, download!" Maylu placed the new chip into her PET and held it out in front of her. "Begin Cross Fusion!" The PET then scattered into tiny bits that began to reconnect themselves on her hands and feet. More bits connected and arranged into a symbol that stuck itself to Maylu's chest. Her body became surrounded in some kind of pink fabric and her hair grew longer. To finish the ensemble, a helmet covered her head with thin, yellow streamers flowing around it from the front.

When Maylu finished transforming, Amy simply said, "It's a good look for you, but looks aren't everything, you know."

"Then how about this look?" Maylu returned. She held her arm out and it began to transform into what looked like a bow without the arrow. She held the front of the bow in Amy's direction. A sphere of energy formed where the arrow's tip would be. "Roll Arrow!" The energy sphere launched itself a sped toward Amy.

Amy reached behind her back and stood still. Just as the blast was almost next to her, she moved her hand in front of her. Maylu thought she could see something in it, but a burst of smoke obstructed her view. It wasn't long, however, before the blast that she had fired was coming back at her.

"Barrier!" A large, clear sphere surrounded her before the blast hit. When she could see the field more clearly, she saw Amy holding a large hammer in her hands. "Where did that come from?" Maylu asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Amy said. She ran toward Maylu and held the hammer to her side, intending to hit her as she passed.

"Tornado, battlechip in, download!" A cyclone appeared between the two competitors. Amy tried running to the side to avoid it, but the wind currents were too strong. She felt herself being lifted up and spun around the tornado. She was thrown off as she came toward the other side. As she got up, the tornado began to move closer to her.

Amy knew that if it collided with her head on, she could be thrown almost a hundred feet up. She quickly thought of something that could work as a defense and attack at the same time.

She threw her hand, with her hammer, behind her back and quickly brought it to the front again. Maylu saw that either the hammer had changed or she pulled out a different one, because the mallet was now considerably bigger than before. Amy held it to her side in an attack stance and ran toward the tornado. Just before the two collided, Amy swung at it. The cyclone engulfed Amy.

What was that supposed to do? Maylu thought. But soon, she saw Amy fly out of the tornado, spinning at an incredible pace, holding her hammer in front of her. Maylu didn't have time to calculate the speed before Amy finally stopped in front of her. The hammer made contact with her body and threw her behind the pink hedgehog.

"Area Steal!" Maylu disappeared and reappeared back on the ground, still a little disoriented from the near fall.

"What happened?" she said as she tried to gain her balance.

"Easy," Amy said. "Because this hammer is so big, it's also pretty heavy. Normally, any attacks with it are slow, but thanks to your tornado…"

"You could stay on the ground and build enough speed for a more powerful hit," Maylu finished.

Sonic tried to zigzag, curve, and weave his way around to avoid getting hit by the blasts of energy. But no matter how hard he tried, the blasts were able to connect. Up until that point, the shots had only glanced him. Finally, though, his luck had run out and he was struck full in the chest and was blown away. Lan stopped firing.

Sonic landed on the ground flat on his stomach. As he opened his eyes, he saw his arm in front of him; he still had the ring on his wrist. Before getting up, Sonic removed the ring and held it in his palm. He felt a surge of power rushing through him.

"All right, time to finish this up," Lan said. "Step Sword, battlechip in, download!" Sonic got up. He heard Lan move, and he could tell he was moving fast. Sonic immediately ran so that Lan's invisible blade only sliced thin air. "What the…?"

"Lan, get out of the way!" MegaMan yelled, but before Lan could comply, something had hit him. He fell to the ground and saw his invisibility was wearing off.

"What was that?" he asked as he got up.

"Hard to say," MegaMan said, "but I think that was Sonic."

"No way," Lan argued. "Sonic didn't move that fast before."

"Then consider this 'after,'" they heard Sonic's voice say. Lan was suddenly knocked off his feet again. He turned to find a blue energy trail left by Sonic's speed.

"I've got an idea," Lan said. "Landmine and Body Double, battlechips in, download!" Lan stood up and waited for Sonic to pass by again.

Sonic saw Lan standing stationary. "This is just too easy." He sped over to Lan once more and hit his body. Seemingly out of nowhere, the ground beneath them exploded.

Lan was a few yards away in hiding, safe from the explosion. "That was easy," he said to himself.

"Think again!" he heard. Lan didn't even have time to be baffled before he was thrown up into the air by Sonic. When he landed, Sonic stopped in front of him. "So much for that idea, huh?" he taunted, But what really got to Lan was Sonic's condition; he didn't have a scratch on him.

Shadow had been focusing on Sonic's battle ever since he saw him use the ring. He held up his wrist with his own ring attached.

"Amazing that so much power can be contained in something like this," he mused.

"You said it," Rouge said from behind him. "You really think that it'll work for you, too?"

"Don't look at me," Shadow replied. "All I know is that Sonic seems to think so. It does make some sense, I suppose, seeing as we both have the same basic abilities. But I guess we'll find out soon enough."

The metal scraping continued from inside the group of stones. Finally, one of the cubes was beginning to shake until it disappeared. Knuckles was in the now open gap, breathing hard. But Chaud noticed something different about his hands; each now sported a metal gauntlet that had two large, curved blades where his spiked knuckles would have been.

"Wha… What are those things?" Chaud asked.

"What, these?" Knuckles responded. "Just a little thing I call… the Shovel Claws."

"Where did they come from?" Chaud asked, as that was puzzling him the most.

"Tell you what," Knuckles said. "I didn't ask you about your little costume changing gimmick, so don't ask me about these. Instead, just go with it." Knuckles took his own advice and charged at Chaud with his new weapons.

Chaud held up his sword in defense. Knuckles brought his hand forward so that the blades made contact with Chaud's. The red sword broke in two. The severed piece fell to the ground before disappearing and the hilt dissolved back into a hand.

"Guess digital swords aren't all they're cracked up to be," Knuckles joked.

"They're also not the only things I've got," Chaud said. "Oh, and as a word of advice, I wouldn't stand this close if I were you." Knuckles immediately got the hint and jumped back a few yards.

But just before he landed he realized something. Why would he warn me like that unless it was… "A trap!" he said aloud. He hit the ground and it exploded beneath his feet.

"A Landmine, actually, but that was a good guess," Chaud said. But when the smoke cleared, Knuckles was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was a large hole where the mine had rested. But looking at it gave Chaud an uneasy feeling.

Suddenly, he heard a rumbling near the now-abandoned Rock Cubes. The ground finally broke and revealed a Shovel Claw. Knuckles jumped up on top of the rocks. Chaud realized what had happened; Knuckles had managed to get through the blast and dug into the already weak earth.

"I'll admit, you surprised me," Knuckles said, "but I've been known to bounce back from even the worst ruse."

"You say that like it's happened before," Chaud said.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Knuckles said. "Instead, I'd rather do this." He jumped behind the rocks. One of them suddenly flew over to Chaud.

"Gold Fist!" he yelled. He barely had time to punch the rock as it came to him. The stone exploded into tiny bits. But he wasn't allowed to rest yet, as Knuckles pushed the other two cubes forward.

"Looks like we're not dealing with a pushover," Maylu could hear Roll saying.

"Especially since we're the ones getting pushed over," she returned. She moved her arm toward Amy and tried another Roll Arrow.

Amy saw the energy sphere headed toward her. She held her hammer and swung at it, sending it back like the last time.

Maylu knew she couldn't dodge the blast in time, so she didn't try to run. Instead she said, "Damage Copier!" She held out her arm toward Amy and a small circle appeared on the hedgehog's body. The blast still hit Maylu, but Amy also felt a sudden pain as if she had gotten hit instead.

As she got up, she said, "What happened?"

"Damage Copier does damage to a competitor when an attack hits another one," Maylu explained. "Simply put, you took the same damage I did."

Amy continued the battle by running over to Maylu with her hammer in hand. But as she held it above her head she tripped under the weight of it. The hammer fell out of her hands a few inches away.

But as she reached for it, Maylu held her hand out and said, "Rush Hole!" A large hole appeared under the hammer and it fell in. Amy tried to go after it, but was stopped by common sense. The hole grew smaller and eventually closed. Maylu retracted her hand and held the other one above her. The hole reappeared and the hammer fell out of it. It landed in her hand but she was caught off guard by the weight.

"Gold Fist, battlechip in, download." Maylu's hand took on a golden hue. She found the hammer much easier to lift. With her newfound strength, she threw it at Amy, who jumped up to avoid getting hit.

As the hammer passed under Amy, Maylu came up with an idea. "Time Boomer, battlechip in, download." The bomb appeared on the ground in front of the hammer's path. Amy saw it and attempted to catch it. But she wasn't fast enough and the bomb exploded as the hammer landed right next to it. When the smoke cleared, only parts of it could be seen scattered everywhere.

"Hey," she said angrily, "they don't sell these things in hardware stores, you know."

"Uh, Maylu," Roll said, "I'm pretty sure that you know as well as I do that you don't destroy a girl's possessions." Suddenly, Amy ran up to Maylu screaming in anger.

"Point taken," Maylu said. "Aqua Tower!" She slammed her hand against the ground and a tower of water came gushing out of the spot she touched. The tower moved toward Amy and launched her into the sky.

"How do I hit him when he can't stand still?" Lan asked.

"Easy," Sonic said, "just find something that's faster than me."

"Alright then. Dash Attack, battlechip in, download." A fish-like creature appeared out of nowhere and sped over to Lan. Lan jumped on top of the Fishy and flew toward Sonic.

"Now that's what I call fast," Sonic said. Lan flew to Sonic's position but missed. "Just not fast enough," he finished. He spun into a ball and struck the Fishy with his homing attack.

Lan's situation looked hopeless. "There's got to be a way I can hit this guy."

"Well, the Blaster seemed to work last time," MegaMan said.

"Maybe," Lan responded, "but I don't have any more Blaster chips." He thought for a moment. "But I think I've got something better. Spreader, battlechip in, download." Lan's arm transformed into some kind of gun that Sonic couldn't identify. Lan didn't waste time aiming and just fired. Energy blasts same from the center and edges of the gun. Sonic moved and zigzagged every way he could. Not one blast from the round even touched him.

"This is ridiculous," Lan said out loud.

"You're telling me," Sonic said. "I've had a tougher time dodging Eggman's robots."

Lan thought it better not to ask but took it as a slight insult. "Okay, I've got one more trick up my sleeve. Spreader, battlechips in, double download."

"You realize you're going to need an extra arm to hold three of those things."

"You'll see," Lan said. The second Spreader took up his other arm. He moved both arms close together and a blue light shone around them. When it dissipated, the two Spreaders had fused together. "Program Advance!"

"That doesn't sound good," Sonic said worriedly.

"Hyper Burst!" The attack came out like a normal Spreader, but Sonic could tell it got some new power. He tried running around like he did before, but there were so many blasts he found it hard to predict where they would end up. Finally, one of them hit Sonic dead on.

Lan halted the attack and went to see how his attack did. Sonic was lying on his back, tired.

"So, how's that for fast?"

"I'd call it 'unpredictable' rather than 'fast,'" Sonic said.

"Area Steal!" Chaud said. He disappeared before the cubes could even touch him. Knuckles began to wonder where Chaud was, but he got his answer when he heard a faint sound behind him. He quickly moved to avoid the approaching golden fist.

"Not bad," Chaud simply said before attempting another punch. Knuckles dodged again and jumped. Chaud braced himself, waiting for him to attack. But Knuckles never came close to him. Instead, he prepared to land on the ground with both hands below him. He began to rotate his arms and when he struck the ground, he dug into it and sank into the earth.

"Shovel Claws," Chaud said. "Good name. Salamander, battlechip in, download." Chaud's body was surrounded in flames. He jumped up, creating a stream of fire in his wake. He followed Knuckles into the hole he made.

Knuckles felt the area around grow hotter. He turned and found Chaud charging at him with fire surrounding him. Knuckles quickly dug upward to the surface. He finally broke through and jumped out of the hole. Chaud immediately followed and flew up high.

Knuckles was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but he saw Chaud coming back down. Instinctively, Knuckles dug back into the ground. Chaud scoffed at his actions.

Once again, he followed Knuckles into the hole. Knuckles broke out of the ground with Chaud still on him. The process repeated for a few minutes.

Finally, while Chaud was up in the air he noticed his body was getting cooler. He looked around himself and noticed the flames were disappearing. He quickly tried to lower himself to the ground. But the flames were gone before he was halfway down. Without anything to keep himself in the air, all he could do was fall and think to himself, Air Shoes. That's what I should've loaded into the PET.

Knuckles saw Chaud falling and a smile came across his face. He took his Shovel Claws off and jumped up. He met Chaud, smiled mischievously, and punched him in the back, sending back up. When Chaud finally hit the ground, his cross-fused form was breaking apart and didn't last long. The ProtoMan-like suit dissolved and turned back into the PET, which ejected the Synchro Chip.

"Hey," Knuckles said, approaching Chaud as he got up. "Not that I'm complaining, but what happened with that fire thing you were doing?"

"My guess," Chaud answered, "I must have used too much of the Salamander's energy and it just cut out at the wrong time."

Maylu watched as the jet of water lifted Amy into the air. Thinking she'd had enough, Maylu stopped the Water Tower and activated her Roll Arrow. She pointed the bow upward, waiting for Amy.

As she waited, she heard a scream, that almost sounded like a battle cry. She finally found Amy head straight for her. What truly amazed her was what she was holding: a hammer virtually identical to the one she lost. Maylu was about to fire, but the added weight from Amy's hammer got her to Maylu first. She swung and Maylu was knocked sideways.

When she got up, Maylu saw that Amy had already landed. "Where did that come from?" she asked.

Amy sighed and said, "I already said that was for me to know and you to… you know what, forget it." She threw her hand behind her and switched her hammer for one with a smaller mallet.

Maylu looked at the new hammer. No doubt for more agile attacks. She pointed her bow at the pink hedgehog and fired, believing that the lighter weight wouldn't allow her to block it.

Upon seeing the energy blast, Amy knelt down and jumped up. Maylu looked on with both shock and realization. Amy didn't have to block; the hammer was light enough for her to actually jump with it.

Amy finally approached Maylu and began swinging. Maylu dodged but Amy attempted another swing. For every miss, Amy came back with another strike ready. Maylu had to put distance between them if she was going to counterattack.

"MetGuard!" she yelled. A hard hat-like barrier appeared over her. Amy struck the hat. The impact created a shockwave that blasted her back a few yards. Her hammer landed about a foot away.

As Amy stood up, she noticed she was facing Sonic and Lan's battle area. She saw Lan shoot a lot of energy shots, most of which actually hit Sonic. The barrage was over in a matter of seconds and Sonic was on his back.

"No, Sonic!" Amy almost yelled.

"Lightning Strike, battlechip in, download!" Maylu yelled. A lightning bolt struck Amy's hammer and sent electricity through the surrounding area. Amy was zapped before she even knew what was going on.

When the electricity finally stopped, Amy dropped onto her back. Maylu reverted to her original form and walked over to her.

"Hey, how you feeling?" she asked.

"Believe it or not," Amy answered, "I've had better days."

"I hope you won't mind my asking," Maylu said, "but why didn't you try to jump out of the lightning's path?"

"Kinda hard to when you're focused on your boyfriend rather than the battle."

Maylu chuckled a little. "Take it from me," she said, "you don't want to worry about things like that when you're doing something important." Maybe I should follow that advice.

When all six competitors finally felt like they regained their stamina, everyone headed over to the center of the three battle areas. The dimensional area started to disappear.

"Guess that's our cue to get going," Sonic said. "We'll catch you guys later, then."

"See ya, Sonic," Lan said as they shook hands. The Mobians turned and walked away.

"See, Maylu?" Chaud said. "These guys lost one to two as well, and they don't seem to mind at all."

Hopefully Maylu will remember that.

Anyway, here's a list of the battlechips I used that weren't in the anime (they actually appeared in the MegaMan Battle Network video game series, which the anime is based on):
Invis
CopyDamage (Damage Copier)
Lightning (Lightning Strike)
Again, this is just my knowledge only, which actually isn't saying much. If these chips have been used in the anime, and you notice anything that seems off, don't hesitate to tell me.

Next time on Action Anime Brawl, the start of round 3 and Yu-Gi-Oh! vs. Naruto.