Final part of Round 2. I hope DS92 likes what I did with Chrono. R&R!

Sonic the Hedgehog:

Tournament of the Stars

Chapter 29

Last time, Shade was able to eliminate Eggman from the tournament while Omega was defeated by Metal Havoc. Now only four more contenders remained.


"Our next fight is Starbright VS Metal Sonic!"

As the two fighters entered the arena, Sonic stared at both of them. Normally, he'd place bets on Metal winning but after seeing Starbright in action, he wasn't entirely sure. Either way, sparks were gonna fly.

The two met in the centre and merely glared at each other. Unknown to anyone, Metal was actually scanning the mysterious girl but his results proved fruitless.

"That's strange. There's no record of you in any databanks. Who are you?" Metal asked.

"That's something you don't need to concern yourself with" she threatened, reeling out her foot but Metal was faster. He grabbed her ankle and threw her across the ground behind him. Starbright quickly flipped back up and charged again but as before, Metal was a step ahead of her. He turned round and kicked her in the stomach, knocking her to the floor. Groaning, she got back up in time to avoid a blast of lightning from Metal. With electricity crackling between his fingers, Metal made a dash at Starbright. Any normal person wouldn't have been able to dodge something that fast. But Starbright wasn't normal.

Metal lunged his claw out but the girl leaned back to avoid it. She struck her foot up to knock away Metal's fist before slamming her elbow in the robot's centre. Metal staggered from the hit and was unable to defend himself from Starbright's flurry of punches. The last one sent him spinning through the air before crashing on his front.

As he lay there, Starbright pulled out her weapon, stood on Metal's back and aimed it at his head.

"I suggest you give up!" she threatened but Metal was laughing.

"If there's one thing I don't do, it's give up!" he replied, rolling across the ground, knocking Starbright off. He got back up and slammed his claw into the space where she would be standing if she hadn't moved. Metal growled and tried to pull his claw out but it was stuck firmly into the ground. Smirking behind her helmet, Starbright aimed her weapon and fired. The bolt of blue energy struck Metal, freeing him from the ground but he was badly damaged as he rolled across the ground.

As he slowly stood back up, he heard a beeping noise.

"Warning! Energy levels depleting! Immediate shutdown in approximately five minutes!" a voice said.

"Damn!" Metal cursed. "What kind of weapon is that?"

Starbright began to explain. "This thing shoots Chaos Energy in a condensed form. On a normal person, it does heavy damage. But on robots, it causes a side effect that leaves them running on minimum power. You've lost!"

"Don't count me out yet!" Metal roared, making a dash at Starbright. Despite his low energy, he still moved with amazing speed. He aimed his claw for Starbright's face, intent on scarring her. But she dodged at the last second. His claw scraped past her helmet, ripping some of it off. She quickly turned round and fired at Metal's back, injuring him more.

"WARNING! Energy levels nearly depleted. Immediate shutdown in approximately two minutes!"

Metal growled. His next hit had to count. Using his remaining energy, he charged up a large amount of electricity in his claw and fired it. Sadly, Starbright flipped over it. Her hand began to glow with a blue aura as she charged it with Chaos Energy before slamming it down on top of Metal's head. He was sent into the floor as the warning alarm got quieter.

"WARNING! Energy levels nearly depleted. Immediate shutdown in…"

The voice died away as the light in Metal's eyes faded.

"Starbright is the winner!"

Like in Gale's fight, the crowd sat there in awe. Shadow stared at her in interest and caught a glimpse of her face. Metal had ripped off the part of the helmet that was covering the left side of her face and he caught a glimpse of her left eye. It was blue. And it was familiar. Starbright caught Shadow staring at her and quickly left the arena. Shadow was thinking of chasing after her when he decided against it. He was probably imagining it.

Meanwhile, Sonic was staring at Metal's body as it was dragged away by mechanics. That girl defeated both Gale and Metal, he thought. He didn't know Gale for long so he couldn't really tell how good of a fighter he was but Metal was tough. Anybody who could beat him single handily was clearly someone who didn't mess around. He'd have to keep an eye on her. After all, she is working with Mephiles. His attention was taken back to the arena as the commentator announced the last fight.

"Our final fight is Alexander VS Chrono!"

The crowd let out a boo as the snake entered. Both snake and tanuki were clearly serious about the fight, judging by the looks on their faces.

As they met in the centre, Alexander spoke. "So, Chrono. I believe you're a master of time."

Chrono nodded. "What's it to ya?"

"Nothing" the snake replied. "I just think it's slightly cowardly. I mean, you barely give anyone a chance. Sometimes you don't even let them see you. Why? Afraid of suffering a humiliating defeat?"

Chrono was getting irritated by Alexander's remarks but he saw what he did to Silver and he was trying not to fall down the same road, so he played it cool.

"Fine. I'll beat you, with or without my powers!" he declared.

The snake smirked. "Very well." Suddenly, he lashed out with his fist, slamming it into Chrono's gut. The tanuki was taken aback by the sudden attack and was unable to defend himself from the numerous punches he got.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Alexander mocked as he punched. "Come on. Use your powers! Take the coward's way out!"

"I… am not… A COWARD!!!"

Chrono shoved the snake away from him and knocked him away with his claymore. The sadistic reptile was knocked to the floor but he was laughing.

"Hahahaha. Anger. There's an emotion I'm familiar with. You're almost like that white hedgehog" Alexander said.

Chrono snarled at the snake, slamming his claymore into the snake's back. Despite the pain, the snake continued to laugh.

"That's right. Let it out. Let it all out!" he demanded but Chrono grabbed him by the neck and glared at him.

"I think it's pretty clear who wins this!" he growled.

"Really? Well, just before I lose, let me ask you this. Why do you use your time powers? I mean, is it because you're afraid of losing? Or is it because, you feel useless without them?" the snake asked.

Chrono raised an eyebrow at the last sentence.

"You know the word useless, right? It's like… Pathetic, weak, helpless. Helpless!" the snake cried, as he said the last word. "That's the reason! You feel you can't protect anyone! You failed to protect didn't you? Were they special?" Alexander questioned.

Chrono was getting fed up with the reptile. He was getting angrier with each word he said and each one was jabbing at a nerve in his brain. He bore his teeth as he whispered, "Any last words?"

"Yeah," the snake replied. "You need to pay more attention."

A gunshot went off and Chrono dropped Alexander as he held his bleeding stomach. The brown snake had pulled out his gun as he was distracting the tanuki. He aimed it at the defenceless Chrono.

"One more shot" he sneered, moving the gun towards the GUE agent's leg.

Chrono growled but at himself. He was manipulated so easily. It looked like he had lost when he heard a voice. It was Silver's.

"Chrono! Don't give in! He's using your weakness against you! You have to fight back!" the white hedgehog yelled.

"Oh, be quiet" Alexander responded. "Chrono's lost. Haven't you?" He turned to the tanuki but he was gone.

"TIME BOOSTER!"

Suddenly, Chrono began to dash past Alexander several times, striking him with his claymore. He continued this until the snake was unconscious.

"I'm not a coward" Chrono spat before fainting.

"Alexander fell first, making Chrono the winner!"

The crowd cheered for the tanuki as both fighters were dragged off to the medical ward. Silver looked pleased. Blaze turned to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"That was really sweet, Silver" she commented.

"Well, rather him and that snake" Silver replied. The two exchanged smiles as the commentator said "Well, that's the end of Round 2. Don't forget. Same time tomorrow for Round 3!"