The Olympic Games had officially begun in Emerald City, and the Olympic Spirit was in full swing. One of the most anticipated events was the first round of men's soccer. Today, at 4:00 PM in Bromley Stadium – located in Downtown Emerald City – the Mobian men's soccer team was taking on the Roseinian men's soccer team. The atmosphere in the stadium was very passionate, for both countries were known to be fierce rivals in professional soccer. The Mobian team wore white jerseys, red shorts with blue stripes and blue socks with red and white stripes, while the Roseinian team wore red jerseys, white shorts and red socks. After the national anthems of both countries were played, the coin toss was next. Being that the Roseinian team was considered the "away" team, they got to decide the coin toss. Team captain Vladimir Baumer picked "heads". It was "tails", no pun intended. Thus, Sonic – the captain of the Mobian team – elected to perform the kickoff.
Once the referee gave the signal, Sonic kicked the ball to Tails, and the game began. Because the Roseinian team was mostly composed of human players, they easily towered over many of the Mobian players. However, Tails wasn't going to let this get in the way of him contributing to the victory of his team. He'd always been passionate about showing the world that he could fly high and succeed in his own right, and this was no different. Even so, the Roseinian players proved to be quite determined, and midfielder Illarion Shumakher managed to steal the ball from Tails and proceeded onto the Mobian side of the field. However, when Shumakher attempted to pass the ball to Arseniy Yakovlev, Espio the Chameleon managed to steal it and proceeded a considerable distance before being confronted by Abrasha Pavlovsky and Genrikh Vais. Neither Roseinian player had counted on Espio's ninja training, however, and the Purple Phantom juked around them and passed the ball to Silver, who was that close to the Roseinian goal and attempted to score a goal for the Mobian team. Unfortunately for Silver, goalie Valeriy Shukhart blocked the ball and passed it to Erik Mikhailov. While Silver was understandably disappointed about failing to get a goal, he reminded himself that not so many minutes had elapsed since the game had begun and that it was anybody's game at this point.
Owing not only to the fierce rivalry of both teams, but also the fact that Sonic was barred from using super speed and that the Roseinians proved to be just about on par with the Mobians, the game went on without any score for a while…that is, until the 23-minute mark, when Robotnik managed to score the first goal of the game. Considering his penchant for trying to conquer the world, he was very much pleased with himself for getting that goal. However, this did not go unpunished by the Roseinians, and Pavlovsky kicked the ball past Vector the Crocodile – who was serving as the goalie for the Mobians – to score a point for the Roseinians at the 37-minute mark. By the time halftime rolled around, both teams were tied at one point each. Here, the Mobian team convened to discuss their strategy for the second half:
"Sonic, the Roseinians are really playing hard today," said Tails. "What do we do?"
"Well, one thing I noticed is that those cats really like to find holes in our defense," replied Sonic. "Seein' that, I really think we oughta play up the whole defensive side…5-3-2 oughta do it."
"But Sonic, what if the Roseinians have the same idea as us?" asked Robotnik.
"Uncle Ivo's right," said Snively. "The Roseinians haven't exactly been lax with their defense, either."
"And that's why we can't be afraid to switch it up if the game calls for it!" said Sonic. "I mean, don't all go after the ball at once, but if ya see a good opportunity, take it, ya know?"
"Right!" said the rest of the Mobian players.
After halftime, both teams took opposite sides of the pitch, and having lost the initial coin toss, the Roseinians got the kickoff for the second half. Initially, Sonic's idea to have five defenders, three midfielders and two attackers seemed to work, as the Roseinians were unable to effectively penetrate the Mobian defensive line, and at the 11-minute mark, Sonic scored another goal for Mobius. However, the Roseinians proved quite flexible as well, and they switched up their strategy accordingly, sending as many attackers as they possibly could to take on the Mobian defense. What worried Sonic was that the Roseinians seemed to be spending quite a bit of time on the Mobian side of the field, and to add insult to injury, at the 29-minute mark, Knuckles accidentally slid into Miron Markvart and tripped him, thereby granting the Roseinians a direct free kick at the Mobian goal and consequently earning another point for the Roseinians. With the game tied at two points, Sonic and the rest of the Mobians desperately looked for an opportunity to break the tie and win the game, but no matter how hard they tried, the Roseinian defense proved difficult to break. Granted, the Mobian defense was a tough nut all of its own, but still, something had to give sooner or later. Then, at the 42-minute mark, Sonic's Hedgehog Sense alerted him to the fact that Shadow was in a good position to score a goal for Mobius.
"YO SHAD, THINK FAST!"
Sonic kicked the ball to Shadow. While Shadow's own Hedgehog Sense had alerted him to the fact that Sonic was going to kick the ball to him, the moment that Shadow made eye contact with Sonic, the world got that much more Gaussian, as if somebody had smeared Vaseline on his camera lens. Consequently, Shadow stood there frozen, having completely forgotten that he was playing soccer. It was only when the ball clocked him directly in the nose that he came back to his senses. Noticing that the trio of Mikhailov, Shumakher and Baumer was bearing down on him, Shadow took the ball and attempted to break through the most likely opening, that is, through Mikhailov and Baumer. It worked: Shadow's attempt at scoring a goal netted a third point for the Mobians, and by the time the second half had ended, the Mobians had won, which put smiles on a lot of people's faces.
After the game, Shadow was minding his own business, heading on out.
"Hey Shad!" said Sonic.
Shadow ignored Sonic and kept walking.
"Yo, over here, Shad!"
Shadow stopped walking and turned to face Sonic.
"What do you want, Sonic?"
"Hey, you OK, man?"
Shadow sighed. "Why are you asking me this?"
Sonic fiddled with his hands. "Well…it's just…ya seemed out of it on that last goal there…"
Shadow crossed his arms. "And this matters to you because…?"
"Hey, we're on the same team, ain't we? I mean, don't teammates look out for one another?"
"Hmph. Just leave me alone."
"If ya say so…"
Sonic hurried off to catch up with Tails, while Shadow's stance relaxed, and he shook his head.
(Sonic's right. If I can't keep focused on the events on hand, how will I ever get him to love me?)
Shortly after the Mobius-Roseinian Empire soccer game, at 7:30 PM, Amy and the female members of the Mobian Olympic Team were at Zephyr Field – located in the Johnson's Corner neighborhood of the City Center – taking on Chun-Nan in round 1 of the women's softball tournament. Like Bromley Stadium, Zephyr Field was packed with fervent eventgoers hoping to see their favorite team win. The Mobian team wore uniforms similar to the men's soccer team, with white jerseys, red pants with blue stripes and red caps with a white letter "M" for "Mobius", while the Chunanese team wore red jerseys, white pants with red stripes and red caps with "CHUN-NAN" in yellow letters.
After Amy – the captain of the Mobian team – and Chunanese captain Zhou Yuan met with the empire to go over the ground rules, the game was on. Blaze the Cat was pitching, being that Chun-Nan – the visiting team – got to bat first. With Chun-Nan fielding Huang Li as their first batter, Blaze threw as hard as she could, getting a strike for her first pitch. Though Blaze put just as much force into her next pitch, Li hit the ball on this one, though Marine the Raccoon tagged her out at first. In spite of this early advantage for Mobius, Chun-Nan ultimately ended up getting a run when Yuan hit on the second out and Yong Mah ran from third to end up safe at home.
In the bottom of the first inning, Amy was first at bat, with Guanting Fan pitching. Fan wound up, pitched, and Amy made a most valiant swing. Unfortunately for Amy, this turned out to be a foul ball, which resulted in one strike for the Mobians. Amy swung and missed on the next pitch, thereby resulting in another strike for Mobius. Though the game was barely on, Amy couldn't help but think about how disappointed Sonic would be if her team lost the game. For her, this translated into heightened focus, and not only did she get a valid hit on her third try, but she ended up safe at first base. Next up for Mobius was Blaze, who managed to hit the ball on her first swing and also ended up safe at first, with Amy safe at second. However, this would prove to be as far as Mobius got in the first inning, for not only did Rouge strike out, but Amy was tagged out at third after Honey the Cat had her turn, and Blaze was out at third after Marine got a hit. By the time the first inning was over, Chun-Nan led Mobius 1-0.
Though most of the game went without either side scoring a run, by the bottom of the ninth, the score was 2-3 in Chun-Nan's favor. After the second out, Mobius had a lady on every base, and it was Amy's turn to go again. Knowing that she was facing what the late Phil Rizzuto would call "a real pressure cooker", she was sweating nervously and trembling quite a bit. Nevertheless, she was hopeful that somehow, she would hit that ball and win the game for Mobius. Amy eagerly awaited that first pitch from Fan, and when it came, she swung, and…missed. She hit the second pitch, but this one turned out to be a foul ball. Down to her last strike, Amy figured that if she blew this, she would lose out on another chance to impress her darling Sonikku. Why she called him that was beyond her, but whatever. She prepped herself for the next pitch, made her most valiant swing yet, and…she hit it. Not only did she hit it, but it was going, going, going, and…it went right over the famous "Blue Monster", the 39-foot leftfield wall at Zephyr Field, so called because of its blue color. With that, she not only earned a grand slam for Mobius, but put them ahead 6-3, and though Blaze struck out, it didn't matter; Mobius had won again.
After the game, Amy was exiting Zephyr Field when somebody glomped her.
"SONIC!" Amy nevertheless had a good laugh. "I'm supposed to be the one glomping you!"
"I'm sorry, I just can't help myself when one of my favorite mamas of all time hits a grand slam over the Blue Monster!" said Sonic.
"Oh Sonic, you're the sweetest! Now would you mind letting go of me?"
"Ain't no thang!" Sonic let go of Amy.
"So, got any plans for tonight?"
"Actually, I was thinkin' that you, me, Tails and all those other cats could get down at the Glitter Palace. How's that sound?"
Amy gave a thumbs up. "Count me in! Hopefully, Mario and his friends will be there, too!"
That night, to celebrate their first day of victory, the members of the Mobian Olympic Team went to the Glitter Palace discotheque in the Greenville neighborhood, a few blocks south of Downtown Emerald City. Sure enough, the members of the Mushroom Kingdom Olympic Team were in attendance as well. Constructed from the ruins of the old Imperial Theater, the Glitter Palace wasn't the first disco in Emerald City, but it was by far the largest and most popular. In the lobby, there were some paintings by artist E.L. Pendelbury, each illuminated with blacklights. As the partygoers paid their entry fees and received their drink tickets, they proceeded to the main dance floor area, the "bump, bump, bump" of the disco beat getting louder as they got closer.
As everyone entered the dance floor area, the array of lights and sound struck them like boogie lightning. Aside from flashing multicolored lights, the main feature of the Glitter Palace's ceiling was a 16-point "starburst" of flashing multicolored neon tubes protruding from a large flashing orange neon ring in the center of the ceiling. Each point of the "starburst" was sectioned into three neon tubes, and the whole thing could be programmed to flash in different patterns. Hanging from the center of the "starburst" above the dancefloor was a four-foot disco ball. Much of the dancefloor itself was Plexiglas, sectioned into squares underneath. Each square contained a small strobe light surrounded by a flashing square neon ring, and the strobes and neon rings could be programmed to flash randomly or in various patterns. At each corner of the dance floor was a pole with two rows of flashing lights running parallel to each other, and each pole was topped with a Mark XII "police" rotating light. There was a staircase to the left and to the right of the dance floor, each newel of the staircase being topped by a two-foot disco ball.
As for the music, the DJ was playing some sort of hard rock tune with a sort of disco-like beat, most evident in the bassline and additional percussion. Sonic swore he recognized this tune from somewhere, but he just couldn't place it. What he found weird about this one was that there was a guitar solo near the beginning of the song. Nevertheless, Ol' Blue wasn't one to look a groove in the mouth, and after looking at Tails and nodding, they danced their way through the crowd and found a spot on the dance floor near the center. Here, they boogied their asses off, not caring what anybody else thought. After all, that was how it was supposed to be in a disco: everyone just getting down, escaping from the pressures of daily life, all united by the groove. Anyways, as for the song, Sonic soon heard vocals from Bon Scott, which made him recognize this as an AC/DC tune…"Soul Stripper", to be precise. He grooved even harder when he became aware of this, and Tails did his best to keep up. Then, Sonic's Hedgehog Sense tingled…
"Hey Sonic, it's-a me!" said a familiar voice.
Sonic turned to see who'd addressed him, and sure enough, there was Mario and Princess Peach dancing right near him and Tails.
"Mario! Peach! How you cats doin' tonight?"
"We're doing very well, thank you!" replied Peach.
"Glad to hear it! You two diggin' the groove as much as we are?"
"Yes, we-a need a disco in-a the Mushroom Kingdom!" said Mario.
"Wait, you two don't have discos where you live?" said Tails.
"No, but I'll definitely look into it!" said Peach.
Sonic gave a thumbs up and continued dancing.
Meanwhile, Shadow had hit one of the two bars located on either side of the dance floor entrance, managing to lose Rouge in the process. He slapped one of his drink tickets on the bar.
"Give me a grape soda if you have any," said Shadow.
"Sure thing, pal," said the bartender, a red rhino.
Once Shadow got his grape soda, he took an appreciable gulp from it.
"Hi there, handsome!"
Shadow turned to his right and saw Princess Daisy sitting next to him.
"Why are you bothering me?" asked Shadow.
"I just wanted to get to know you better! I'm Daisy, by the way!"
"I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, and that's ALL you're going to learn about me."
Shadow turned away from Daisy and drank some more of his soda.
"Aw, come on, don't be so shy!" said Daisy. "I promise I won't bite you!"
"HEY! Get away from my Shaddy!"
Rouge had taken the barstool to Shadow's left.
"Excuse me, but who are YOU?" said Daisy.
"Just a woman who cares very much about her loved ones!" replied Rouge.
"But I was just trying to get to know him better!"
"Uh-huh, suuure!" Rouge rolled her eyes. "Come on, Shaddy, let's dance together!"
"Let me finish this drink first, will you!?"
Shadow slugged the rest of his soda and reluctantly let Rouge drag him to the dance floor, much to Daisy's chagrin. Shadow would much rather have been dancing with Sonic, but Big Blue made him feel nervous. Not helping was the fact that the DJ was spinning "I Wanna Be Your Lover" by La Bionda at this point. Also making things difficult for Shadow was the fact that Rouge had got so insistently close when she was dancing.
By the time bedtime had rolled around, Shadow had gotten into deep sleep, and with it, he dreamed that he was back in the ruins of Westopolis.
"Shadow, my son!"
"B-Black Doom!" Shadow backed away. "What are you doing here!?"
"I have risen from the ashes to condemn you for your homosexual impulses!"
"YOU! W-What d-d-does it matter if I'm in l-love with Sonic!?"
"Everything matters! You are my son, and you obey ME!"
"B-but you're…"
"Dead? NO! I live on in your very soul, tormenting you for all your failures! And now that I have you again, I must condemn you for the flagrant misuse of your powers!"
Black Doom raised a hand and shot lightning bolts at Shadow.
"NO!"
Shadow bolted awake again, panting and sweating. Not wanting to be condemned for something that every person had the right to, he cuddled Rouge rather tightly, praying that he could overcome his nervousness about Sonic.
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.