The crowd began to move back to the inside of the National Indoor Stadium. Tails trembled nervously. "Oh no!" he muttered. "What if I'm up next?! What will I do if I lose?!"

Sonic laughed and smacked his friend on the back. "Oh, c'mon, big guy. It's not like we're gonna hang you or anything. Besides, I'd like to see you compete."

Eggman cackled. "I'm going to blow away all the competition, that's for sure!!"

As if from no where, the announcer blared once again on the intercoms. "Welcome back to the National Indoor Stadium! The next event will be Table Tennis! All contestants please make your way over to the tennis court."

Amy snickered. "Tennis court…that's a little big for ping pong, isn't it?"

Tails clenched his brow. "Aw man! I mean, I knew that I'd do OK in swimming, but this is tennis – er – table tennis! What am I going to do?"

Eggman crossed his arms. "Stop acting so childish," he grumbled. "Besides, even if you chicken out, I'll still win for both of us."

Mario cracked his knuckles. "OK-a, Bowser, looks like we're up. Are you-a ready?"

Bowser nodded. "I am if you are," he growled. "Let's go."

"The first match will be against Mario and Tails, as well as Eggman and Bowser. Both matches will go on simultaneously until there is a victor in both matches. Afterwards there will be a match for the gold medal. Please start your games, contestants."

Espio and Charmy walked over to Tails' and Bowser's games respectively. The two detectives halted and began to watch the games.

"Start!"

Both Tails and Bowser chucked their balls into the air and smacked them at the same time.

Mario countered cleanly, sending the small ball flying back in Tails' direction. The fox stuck his paddle up and swiped the ball once more. For awhile this continued. Finally, during one Mario charged his paddle into the ball with all his might. Tails was unable to reach it in time and the ping pong ball was sent spiraling backwards. Espio displayed the new score of 1-0 to the audience.

Meanwhile, Eggman and Bowser were squaring off, with both of them striking up a conversation. "I'm the evilest villain there is," Eggman pointed out as he whapped a ball over to the koopa.

"No, I am," Bowser muttered as he returned Eggman's serve.

"I do hear that you're pretty villainous."

"Mmm. I hear that about you, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Eggman was caught off guard by Bowser's comment that he let the ball bounce past him unnoticed. Charmy fixed the two's score appropriately to 1-0.

"Was that one of your infamous acts of villainy?"

"Maybe."

"…you're good."

On the other court, Mario and Tails were locked in heated combat. Each had 4 points and neither of them were letting their guards down. With each power shot was an amazing return, and with each feign there was a fiery return.

Sonic suddenly called from the sidelines. "C'mon, Tails! You can do it!"

The fox looked over for a moment. It was a brief second, probably less than second long. But that was all it took. The ball came flying right into Tails' eye.

Tails fell over to the ground, rubbing his large eye profusely. "Ow!" he screeched as he started to tear up. Not just from the pain, but from the realization that he lost. Espio displayed the final score of 5-4 and had the Mario side of the stadium cheering. The Sonic side was roaring evilly.

"But Tails got hurt!"

"That shot shouldn't have counted!"

"Someone! Go help him! Quickly, see he's hurt…"

Mario dropped his paddle and rushed over to the fox sprawled out on the floor. "Are you-a OK?" he asked, removing Tails' hand to inspect the eye. Tails tensed.

"I…I dunno…" he replied. "How does my eye look?"

"Well, it's-a not black, but…"

"Tails! You alright?" Sonic's voice appeared next to the fox, putting his arm around his shoulder. "C'mon, bro. Say something! Is your eye gonna be alright?"

Tails sighed. "Yeah, I-I guess so…but Sonic, look…I lost the match…"

"Forget about that. C'mere, we'll get one of the medics to take a look at you."

In the meantime, Bowser and Eggman's game was over. It was a perfect tie. The two had gotten so distracted in talking about villainous things together that they completely forgot about the match and decided to call it a draw.

Peach blinked, confused. "So who won?" she asked Espio, who was near by.

Cream talked with Charmy and the ninja chameleon for a few moments before finally deciding on an outcome. "Team Mario wins, since Mario had the win!" she exclaimed, causing massive cheering and booing from either side. Mario graciously accepted his gold medal and stepped back with his team.

"Is that all for today?" Wario asked. Daisy nodded.

"I guess so…I suppose we turn in for today."

Both teams did just that.