Knuckles Vs. Penelope Thorndyke
"Keep away from me!" The red echidna panicked, his arms raised. Penny stood in front of him. Since Sonic had forfeit their match, she had to fight Knuckles. Penny felt more comfortable with this. The human girl let out a yell and dodged over to him. However, Knuckles jumped right over her.
"Please, Penny, I don't want to fight you!" Knuckles pleaded, raising his hands.
"I don't understand, Tails." Scarlet told the fox as the two watched Penny and Knuckles. "Why is Knuckles running away?"
Tails turned to her. "Knuckles probably doesn't want to fight, because he's afraid Penny's going to get hurt for real this time!"
"Knuckles, come on! Eggman ruined my last match, it's only fair!" The girl said, running to try to punch the Echidna. But being more skilled at battling, Knuckles managed to dodge the girl easily. "Come on!" Penny said. "Just let me give one punch!"
"I'm not going to fight you!" Knuckles yelled. Soon, their fight was all about dodging. No matter how hard Penny tried to pull her first punch on Knuckles, the red echidna dodged her charges with ease.
"Fine." Penny said. "How about forfeiting the match? So I could win?"
"Okay." Knuckles said. He pointed over to the match chart. "But look who's on the next round!"
Penny followed his gaze, and she sweat dropped. "I have to go against Amy or Rouge?! Amy hates me, and Rouge will do anything to get that Chaos Emerald! There's no way to win!"
Penny frowned. She had to get herself out of the match somehow. She had an idea. Getting up, the girl pretended to trip over her shoelaces. "I think I sprained my ankle!" The girl cried, clasping her "injured" ankle with her hands.
Knuckles won.
...
"I think you made a wise move, Penny." Chuck said as he stood next to his granddaughter. Penny nodded in agreement.
"I see you have your mom's acting talent." Nelson smirked at his daughter, and Penny blushed a tiny bit, and laughed.
Lucky Vs. Mr. Stewart
"Mr. Stewart," Scarlet called as she walked up to him. "How would you rate your opponent?"
When he turned around, Scarlet gasped when she recognized him as Franklin, the reporter who'd helped her collect information of Project shadow. "Franklin?!" She asked, shocked. "What are you doing here?!"
Completely panicked, Mr. Stewart yelled, "I JUST LOOK LIKE ME!" And just like that, he ran out of the tournament, yelling, "MY COVER'S BEEN BLOWN!"
Lucky once again one. What a lucky guy!
Emerl Vs. Mr. Tanaka
"Brace yourself, my little friend!" Mr. Tanaka warned Emerl, holding up his bow staff. "I am going to stick it to you!" Letting out a yell, Mr. Tanaka jumped high in the air and was about to smack the robot with his staff. But Emerl quickly copied Mr. Tanaka's moves, and grabbed the staff before Mr. Tanaka could lay a blow on the robot.
Mr. Tanaka looked stunned. He gulped nervously as Emerl took a leap into the air, staff raised.
"I think I'm on the wrong end of the stick!" Mr. Tanaka gulped. He braced himself for impact, but it didn't come. "I give up..." Mr. Tanaka whimpered.
Emerl had won.
"Yay, Emerl!" Cream cheered.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese cheered as well.
Amy Vs. Rouge
"Let's go!" Amy growled, unleashing her hammer.
"This oughta be interesting!" Rouge smirked as she flew up in the air. The two were soon throwing punches and hammers.
"I'd really be going into the hospital if I ended up fighting one of them!" Penny said, relieved that she made the right choice for forfeiting the match she had with Knuckles.
Rouge and Amy faced each other. With one punch, Amy lost her hammer. Penny and Chuck yelled and got out of the way before the giant hammer could hurt either one of them.
Amy breathed heavily as she faced her opponent. Rouge smirked. "This just proves a hammer is no match for for a bat."
Amy growled furiously.
"We're down to the final six now. Emerl Vs. Lucky, Knuckles Vs. Rouge." Scarlet announced. "Kat, Hiro, Cloud, and Silver have both decided to forfeit their rounds, so let's wish a good luck to the remaining fighters!"
...
While all of this was happening, Decoe and Bocoe gasped as they ran, the army at their tails.
"I need a break!" Decoe cried.
"Do not stop!" Bocoe gasped, his eyes wide. "They are gaining on us!" They ran ahead, with Eggman flying above them. Sonic dashed after them. He was still pretty angry with Eggman trying to shoot his laser at Penny. "You won't get away!" The hedgehog yelled.
"If you wanna keep up with me, you've gotta take flying lessons!" Eggman growled as he flew off.
...
"The semi-finals begin with a showdown between robotic rivals."
Lucky Vs. Emerl
Lucky beeped excitedly with his few victories that he had had over the last few matches. Emerl just stood there. Soon enough, Lucky fell face down on the ground.
"Uh-oh!" Scarlet said. "Looks like Lucky's grandstanding has used up his power supply!"
That made Emerl the winner of this match, and Cream and Cheese cheer excitedly.
"That means Emerl's made it to the final round!" Cream cheered happily.
Knuckles Vs. Rouge
Rouge smirked at Knuckles from across the ring, however Knuckles stared at her with a stern expression. Rouge hummed to herself. "Knuckles is a heavy hitter." She thought. "But when it comes to brain power, he's a real lightweight. I'll have to figure out someway to outsmart him. That's the only way I'm getting my hands on that gorgeous Emerald."
An idea suddenly hit her head.
"Hey, Knuckles." Rouge smirked at him, crossing her arms. "Maybe you and I oughta settle this little thing in private."
Knuckles' glare got deeper. "In private?" He asked in confusion.
Rouge nodded, winking at the Echidna. "Just you and me."
Soon, the audience was complaining about a huge black tent in the middle of the stadium. They couldn't even make out what was happening on the inside of the tent!
...
"I can't see a thing in here!" Knuckles grumbled. "Rouge? How am I supposed to fight?" He questioned.
He couldn't see her, but he did hear her. "Like this!" And soon he was caught off guard by a kick. Soon, fighting sounds and grunting was heard inside the tent.
Scarlet looked confused at this. "We don't have any way of knowing who's winning the match right now but it sounds like Knuckles and Rouge are in a slugfest." Scarlet looked down at Tails. "Who do you think is winning, Tails?"
Tails leaned into the speaker. "Bats have solar ability to sense things in the dark. So I'm pretty sure that Rouge has the edge here."
Finally, after a few minutes, a grunt was heard from inside the tent, and Rouge the Bat walked out, batted and bruised, but there was a proud smile on her face. "Things get intense in tents, but I'm still standing!" She announced, smirking at the cheering crowd.
"Rouge the Bat is on her way to the final rounds!" Scarlet announced, but suddenly a thump was heard.
"Hey! Wait!" Tails cried. The tent was lifted up, and Knuckles was surprisingly still standing!
The Echidna smirked. "I guess I stood up to her!" He huffed.
"Knuckles is moving on to the final round!" Scarlet announced, and the crowd cheered with excitement.
...
"Go away!" Eggman yelled down at Sonic. "You're like a wad of bubble gum I've sat on, and no matter how hard I try to shake you off, you stick to my tail!"
"I'm not going to let you get away!" Sonic yelled as he ran after Eggman. "I don't know what new plan is brewing in that messed up mind of yours, but I won't rest until I stop ya!"
"Oh, yeah?!" Eggman shot back. "Well, my latest and greatest scheme is so rarely planned in every detail, that not even a loose cannon like you can blast it apart!"
"Sure!" Sonic smirked. "That's what you always say, doc!"
"You think you're funny, don't you?" Eggman growled. "Well this time, I'm going to crack you up! Once and for all!" Eggman turned around to fight, but once again Sonic managed to kick Eggman out of his Eggmobile, and the genius flew off, screaming.
Sonic smirked as he landed on the ground. "Well, looks like I hit a grand slam!"
...
"And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for the final match! The winner gets to take home a Chaos Emerald! In this corner, we have the worlds' toughest fist fighter, Knuckles! And this corner, we have the master of computerized combat, Emerl!"
"Go show everybody you're number one, Emerl!" Cheese cheered excitedly.
"With fighters this closely matched, I'd say we're in for the most grueling doubt of the tournament." Scarlet announced.
Knuckles let out a battle yell, and he and Emerl dashed towards each other. Soon, Knuckles found himself kicking and punching Emerl. However, Emerl gave Knuckles a screw kick, however Knuckles managed to grab Emerl from behind.
"Come on, Emerl!" Cream cried with worry.
Knuckles yelled in surprise as Emerl had the echidna caught in a spinning ball move. "HEY, KNOCK IT OFF!" Knuckles yelled.
"EMERL COPPIED THAT FROM SONIC!" Chris and Penny yelled at the same time.
Knuckles let out a yell as Emerl smashed him into the ground. Soon, Knuckles was the one getting beat up by Emerl.
"Knuckles is totally outmatched, Grandpa!" Penny gasped, covering her mouth in shock and horror.
Swathed in bandages, Rouge watched the whole thing from a nearby bench. "Looks like Knucklehead won't be winning the Chaos Emeralds either." She mused.
Cream couldn't take it anymore. She had to help Knuckles somehow! "Poor Knuckles." The little female rabbit whimpered. "He's hurt! He could use a hankie!"
"Chao!" Cheese whimpered in agreement, and Cream tossed Knuckles a hankie. However, Mr. Johnson thought it was a white flag.
"That's it!" Johnson called. "Knuckles gives up!"
Emerl had won the tournament. Knuckles hit the ground in frustration.
"No!" Cream cried. "He thought the hankie was a white flag!" The little bunny, with Cheese following her, ran up to Johnson. "Please, sir!" She cried. "There has been a mistake! I was only trying to help Knuckles! He didn't quit the match! Honest!"
"But I did quit," Knuckles said, much to Cream's surprise.
"Hu?" The bunny asked. The white cloth fell on Cheese, and the little chao started chaoing furiously as she tried to get the cloth off. Cream smiled. "I feel a lot better now that I know you didn't lose the match because of me!" The bunny smiled.
Knuckles walked up to Emerl. He put out his hand for Emerl to shake it. "Not bad, Emerl." Knuckles smiled at the robot. "We'll have to have another match when I'm not feeling so beat!"
"I deserve some credit since I'm the one who wore Knuckles out." Rouge smirked from her seat.
Emerl looked at Knuckle's hand and shook it.
The crowd cheered.
"Now it's time to present the grand prize to our champion!" Scarlet announced. She turned to face Emerl, who was standing with Cream, Cheese, Penny, and Vanilla. "That's you, Emerl!" Cream cheered happily. "Go up and get your Chaos Emerald! Then everybody will cheer for you and you can take a bow!"
"You did very well." Penny smiled, playfully nudging the robot.
"Let's hear it from Emerl!" Scarlet announced. Emerl walked up to the President and shook his hand. "Congratulations, Emerl." The President smiled. "That was great!" He looked up to Cristina. "Bring me the award!"
Cristina plucked the Chaos Emerald and handed it to Emerl.
"The Chaos Emerald that the President is presenting to our winner is the most valuable prize ever awarded in a sporting competition!" Scarlet announced.
"Emerl, as we build a fighting force to combat Dr. Eggman, your victory is an inspiration to all our fighting robots!" The President smiled as he handed the Emerald to the robot.
Emerl grasped the jewel in his hands.
...
"I could've snatched that Chaos Emerald if it wasn't for you two flatheads!" Eggman growled at his robots when they were back in their secret layer.
Bocoe scratched his head. "Why is it our fault?" He asked.
"Why do we always end up losing the blame?!" Decoe asked.
"Hmm." Eggman hummed. "Speaking of games..." He turned on the TV just in time to see Emerl taking the Chaos Emerald from the President.
Eggman and his robots shrieked in shock and fright.
...
"On behalf of the hole nation, I congratulate Emerl!" The President smiled, motioning his hand towards the winner of the Tournament. The crowd cheered. Emerl was in the spotlight.
Penny was applauding for her friend as well when the sound of something sparking grabbed her attention. She looked at Emerl, and to her shock the Emerald in Emerl's hands glow a bright red. Soon, the emerald seemed to disappear inside of the robot, and Emerl's eyes turned red.
All around her, chaos was soon present as Emerl smashed buildings and terrorized the people.
"Emerl!" Poor Cream cried, wringing her hands. "Is there something that made you angry? Why are you attacking everybody?!"
Emerl walked forward, his eyes gleaming red. This of course was Rouge, Knuckles, Silver, and Sonic's cue to try to stop Emerl. However, they forgot that Emerl could copy abilities. The four yelped as Emerl smashed into them.
"Stop, before it's too late!" Cream cried.
Penny's eyes widened with fear as Emerl nearly gave Cream's mother a screw kick, but luckily Sonic jumped in and rescued Vanilla just in time before she got hurt.
"Emerl, that's it." Cream whimpered sadly. "I can't be your friend!"
"I'll knock Emerl out so we could open up his control panel and check out why he's malfunctioning!" Amy volunteered. The fierce pink hedgehog raised her hammer and gave a battle yell. Unfortunately, Emerl had copied her abilities as well, and grabbed a weapon of his own. The two fought for a while, but Emerl gained the upper hand. Amy yelped as her hammer was knocked out of her hand, and she toppled to the ground.
"SONIC, COME HELP ME!" Amy screamed, and Sonic immediately came to her rescue by smashing the weapon from Emerl. Cream watched with wide eyes. "Emerl, this isn't a game!" She yelled. "You've gotta stop right now or someone's going to get hurt!"
Emerl turned to her, and Cream's face went pale when she realized he was attacking her. She gave a frightened cry, but luckily Sonic moved her out of the way before Emerl could lay a blow on her.
"That was close!" Sonic said, looking at the female bunny in his arms. "Are you okay, Cream?"
"I am..." She whimpered.
Penny watched with wide eyes as Emerl hopped out of the stadium.
...
Soon, the whole town she knew was in ruins. People everywhere were screaming as Emerl caused destruction.
Watching from the rooftop of a nearby building, Penny whimpered a little. Blaze squeezed the girl's hand as the purple cat watched the destruction with a serious expression on her face.
"Why is he acting this way?" Cream whimpered.
"My guess is that the Chaos Emerald suddenly caused Emerl's memory unit to reprogram itself, but I don't have any idea how or why it happened!" Chuck said, a worried look casted on his face.
Chris looked at Chuck. "Can't we just fix Emerl and change him back to the way he was before?" The boy asked.
Chuck sighed, closing his eyes. "That would be very tough." He said, his voice full of seriousness and honesty.
...
"Wow!" Decoe said, his eyes wide as he watched the whole scene in the air with Dr. Eggman and Bocoe. "It looks like Emerl was a big hit in this neighborhood!"
"He is a real block buster!" Bocoe added.
"Emerl was designed to destroy." Eggman explained. "He was built a long time ago as a combat robot, and when he got that Chaos Emerald its tremendous energy activated its original programing, and changed it from a nice bottle robot into a mean machine!" At that, Eggman started chuckling.
...
Sonic stood alone as he watched Emerl dash towards him. Ready for action, Sonic rubbed his nose. Soon, Knuckles hopped down by Sonic's side, his face full of determination as the echidna clenched his fist. "I'm ready to fight you!" He smirked. "Only this time I'm adding a little twist!"
And with that, Knuckles let out a yell and twisted his body straight at Emerl, hoping to knock him out flat, but Emerl copied his twist move and returned the blow. Knuckles landed on his feet, then tried it again.
"Emerl's copying ability is giving him a huge advantage!" Chuck said as he watched the whole fight. "Knuckles's fighting skills don't matter! Emerl can match him blow to blow. When Knuckles attacks with all of his might, he gets attacked with the same force! It's almost like he's fighting against himself!"
"Knuckles...Sonic..." Penny whimpered as she watched from the rooftop.
"He can't win." Silver mumbled as he stood next to Sonic. Rouge soon join them. "Give it up, Knuckles!" She pleaded.
"I still have a chance!" Knuckles yelled as Emerl continued hitting him.
"Yeah, a good chance of winding up in the hospital!" Sonic called.
"Let us handle this!" Rouge tried as well.
"I'll stop that robot!" Amy growled, and she and Rouge growled at each other. Amy was so focused on Rouge that she didn't see Emerl dashing towards her. Amy yelped and Sonic miraculously rescued her.
"You saved me again, Sonic!" She said happiness in her voice. At that, Sonic set her down and dashed after Emerl, leaving an annoyed little ball of pink behind. "NOT THAT I NEEDED SAVING!" She growled.
Watching the whole thing, Cream clung to her mother and squeezed her eyes shut.
Sonic growled as Emerl did another spin kick. "That robot must have some weakness!" He thought.
"I'm going to take Emerl apart!" Tails announced.
"Let me have a crack at him first, Tail!" Amy snapped back. Emerl shot up and Amy and Tails accidentally collided heads.
"Sorry..." Tails whimpered, his eyes closed.
"That's okay..." Amy whimpered back.
Punch after punch, Emerl still gained the upper hand.
"Well, now what?!" Sonic asked.
"Maybe if all three of us fight it at once..." Knuckles muttered.
Rouge panted. "It's our only chance!"
"I'm scared, Momma!" Cream whimpered. Cheese chaoed in response.
"I hope they know what they're doing, Chuck." Tails said with worry in his voice. "I don't trust that Emerl."
"I don't either." Penny gulped, wringing her hands.
"That robot's extremely clever..." Chuck frowned. Chris looked at Chuck. "Where do you think Emer's running too, Grandpa?"
The answer hit Penny like a million bolts, and her eyes widened. "Emerl's leading Sonic towards the sea!"
...
They had been running for a while, and Rouge couldn't take it anymore. The female bat gasped as she leaned against a rock, putting her hand over her heart. "Sorry, boys!" She huffed. "I can't keep up with you!"
Sonic's eyes widened when he saw they were near the water. But he and Knuckles continued to fight Emerl.
Penny, Chris, Cream, Tails, Cheese, and Chuck ran towards the scene. Penny's eyes widened when she saw the scene. "I bet Emerl lead them to the sea because he knows Sonic doesn't like water!" She gasped. Penny's eyes widened as she watched Sonic teeter over the edge.
"Sonic, watch out!" Penny cried in fright.
"Let's go, Cheese!" Cream said by Penny's side, and to Penny's surprise, Cream used her long rabbit ears to take off into the air, and Cheese clung to the female rabbit. To Penny's relief, Cream caught Sonic, saving him from falling in.
"Thanks, Cream." Sonic said, and the bunny smiled as she flew him to safety. "I know how much you hate to get wet!" She grinned.
Knuckles gave a yell as he too nearly fell in the water, but luckily Cream and Sonic managed to save him as well.
Emerl lunged...
"EMERL!" Cream shot, turning to face her former robot friend.
Emerl stepped closer.
Cream looked hurt. "You just wrecked the city!" She whimpered. "And you attacked my mother and my friends! I wanna help you, Emerl, but only if you promise not to hurt anybody else!"
Emerl's eyes turned back to blue. Cream smiled. It seemed to have worked...
Emerl took a step forward, but the Chaos Emerald that was still inside Emerl had other plans. Emerl's eyes turned red again, and he made a lunge for Cream.
"CREAM!" Penny screamed. Ignoring Sonic's yells of protests, The human girl ran in front of Cream, protecting the little bunny. Cream and Penny both let out a frightened scream and braced themselves, Penny holding Cream in front of her protectively.
But the pain never came.
Penny's eyes widened with fright when she realized that Sonic had taken the blow. Sonic turned to Cream and Penny. "That was a real close one!" He said with a smile. He grunted in pain, squeezing his eyes shut. "He's almost as tough as me..."
He collapsed.
"SONIC!" Penny yelled in fright, running over to the blue hedgehog and grabbing him in her arms, and shaking him. "Please wake up!"
Cream felt like she was kicked in the chest by a softball, and soon she felt seriously small. Emerl had gone too far.
That was when Cheese took action, letting out an loud and angry chao that Penny had never heard from Cheese. To her surprise, Emerl seemed to be taken down by Cheese's fierce punches.
Knuckles and Silver, who came to aid Penny with Sonic, gasped with surprise.
Cream and Cheese were attacking together, and Emerl couldn't even copy that! Cream and Cheese kicked the robot in the face, and Emerl fell to the ground.
"Whoa..." Penny heard Chris breath. "They're tough!"
"But how could they hurt Emerl?" Knuckles asked, looking at Penny. Rouge nodded. "They're just a couple of squirts! But they got that robot swamped!"
Cream and Cheese were in the air again, fiercely smashing the robot with all they got.
"Emerl could only copy the skills with one opponent at a time!" Chuck said, his eyes widening with realization. He turned to Team Sonic. "If you work together, he'll be overwhelmed!"
"That might work!" Knuckles said with a smile. "Penny, stay with Sonic. Rouge, Silver, and I will take him down." He smiled at Rouge and Silver. "What do you say?"
"I'll try anything to knock off that knock off." Rouge said with a wink.
"No." Sonic stirred in Penny's arms.
Knuckles, Silver, Rouge, and Penny looked down in surprise. "Why not?" Knuckles asked. "Rouge, Silver, and I can take him easy if we attack him together!"
Sonic opened one eye. "Yeah, I know!" He said with a smile. "But I think we should let Cream and Cheese handle this!"
...
"Now, let's go!" Cream announced as she flew higher into the air with Cheese at her side. Cheese chaoed in response and attached herself to Cream. Cream flew at full speed at Emerl. It ached Cream's heart, but she knew she had to do this.
"Emerl, I wish I didn't have to do this!" The bunny thought, her eyes watering at the very thought of destroying a close friend. Memories she had with Emerl played in her head. How they met. How they shared good times with each other.
Cream let out a yell, squeezing her eyes shut as she and Cheese gave Emerl the final blow. With one strong kick, Emerl fell towards the water.
When he crashed, he looked over at his memory, where he zoomed in to Cream's eyes. He had seen and copied her crying.
Emerl's eyes turned blue again, and large tears drifted out of one of Emerl's eyes.
He learned to cry.
...
Cheese sobbed in Cream's arms, and Cream comforted the little chao, even though she was hurting herself. "Don't cry, Cheese..." Cream whimpered. But tears were already forming in the girl's eyes as she kept her pace in the air. "We had to do it..."
Then, a huge water geyser moved from the spot where Emerl had fallen in the ocean, sprinkling water droplets everywhere.
Cream finally started crying. "Goodbye, Emerl..." She whimpered, holding Cheese close.
...
Watching from the sidelines, Sonic, Penny, and the others said nothing, but Penny did utter a soft goodbye to Emerl. She watched as a rainbow formed in the sky due to the water droplets.
It was over now, and Emerl was gone.
