Sonic Pandemonium
Written by Crystal Crazyshot and Mike Wolfskin
Issue Five- The Decision of the Counsel = War Games
In the secret underground village of Knothole, a discussion was under way. Concerning the new and old threats that faced Mobius. All the core Freedom Fighters of Knothole assembled by the long table as numerous monitors were displayed in the middle.
"It has become apparent that we have more than one threat has been made clear this day" Princess Sally proclaimed "The problem is which one do we deal with first?"
Then Bill on one of the right monitors spoke "From what we know, this Black Eggman character can control pretty much anything that contains a piece a Negative Chaos Emerald inside of it. This includes anything living as well as machine."
From another monitor appeared Lily, Nike and Tails. Nike appeared to have bandages on his right arm and over his chest. He also looked weak and worn out from his fight with Metal.
"He has control of this mean looking hedgehog-like robot" he said "It destroyed an entire village in his name and nearly tore me apart."
Knuckles crossed his arms over his chest as he heard what Nike had said.
"That sounds like Mecha Sonic" he thought "But even it wasn't that atrocious."
"If he takes control over Robotropolis, his power will surely make him unstoppable!" Mike said slamming a fist on the table "We have to take out any of Robotnik's robots before any these Negative Chaos Emeralds have the chance to be activated again."
The president of Station Square spoke up on one of the middle monitor "Maybe we make a truce with Robotnik to join forces against Black Eggman."
"No way! Don't even trust that lying snake!" Sonic exclaimed "He'll go back on his word!"
With his good arm, he pushed himself forward in a wheel chair. Where some of his bandages were now were stitches across his chest, back and forehead by the corner of his left eye. He appeared very weak and his breathing was still labored, but was mild compared to how distressed it was when Crystal had found him. Several bandages covered the right side of his head and lower torso. The right arm was held in sling.
Seeing his friend in bad shape, Knuckles ran up to Sonic and looked him over trying to believe how weak the blue hedgehog looked.
"Sonic, are you alright?" he asked in concern.
Sonic had slight trouble breathing, which started show when he was tired.
"Hey there, Knux," he said weakly "How've ya been?"
From another monitor, three voices said in surprise "Sonic?!"
It was Sonia, Manic and Amy from the Triple Trouble Freedom Fighters.
"But didn't he die almost three months ago?" Sonia said "How is that he's alive?"
Manic stepped up to th monitor to see for himself. "Hey, man. I can't believe it's really you, bro!" "What about those shards we found from that plant that attacked recently?" Amy piped up "They were similar to the ones found by the others."
"A good point, Amy" Sonia said "Other groups found emerald shards that they reported something that attacked."
"Hey, Ames." Sonic said short of breath "You look .....younger."
"Sonic, are you okay?" Amy said in a worried but panicked voice.
A sharp pain then tugged at Sonic's left side as he closed his eyes tightly and clutched at the wound. Knuckles became even more worried about him.
"Maybe you should go back to the medical ward and rest more" he said "you look terrible!"
Sonic just looked at the red echidna with pale green eyes. The stress he had been through physically started to wear on the hedgehog as he began to feel very tired.
"I'll manage" was the reply from him, but his voice almost faint and weak.
Shadow appeared on the same monitor that Bill was on previous and said "Long time no see, blue hedgehog!"
Seeing Shadow alive, made Sonic almost forget his injuries as he asked excitedly "Shadow?! Is that you? I thought you burned up in Mobius' atmosphere! How are you? How did you survive?!"
Shadow's ruby red eyes brightened slightly to hear Sonic's voice. In the same confident manner as Sonic did he replied "What can I say? I die hard. You actually save you know."
Sonic couldn't help but laugh a little when he heard the exact same thing he said to Shadow when they were on the ARK.
The black and red hedgehog then saw that Sonic was in stitches and bandages. "Well, I'm feeling a little better than you probably are, Sonic" he said "Take care of yourself and get some rest so that you can recover. Okay?"
"So, Shadow's here too huh?" Knuckles thought "and so is Tails and Amy."
"We could start organizing an attack force to get rid the threats before us," Geoffrey St. John said " It wouldn't take very long to train some people for this."
"An interesting suggestion." Sally said "Any others?"
"With more strength is needed than just a small team" Mike said "Why don't we hold a tournament for everyone around Mobius from every Freedom Fighter group. It could even bring back th System Outcast Freedom Fighters together. It's just the thing to sharpen our skills"
The skunk crossed his arms and looked away from him saying something about what good are out of practice "trainees" going to do and more experienced fighters would be more effective.
"You know what your problem is, St. Jerk?!" he said with a clenched right fist "Why don't you say that so that the whole class can hear you!"
With unrestrained anger, Mike hit Geoffrey straight in the face with enough force to give him a bloody nose.
"Anyways, it will be open for any to participate and in the meantime for those that are injured like Sonic and Nike. " Mike said "We should set something up so that they can rehabilitate from their wounds and later join the this tournament if they want."
He then cracks his knuckles and said "Besides, it'll be fun!"
At this time, everyone starts thinking- -
Crystal: Damn Mike. Troublesome! I wanted that first hit!
Knuckles: Damn Mike. Troublesome! I wanted that first hit!
Antoine: Damn Mike. Troublesome! I wanted zhat first hit!
Lily: Damn Mike. Troublesome! I wanted that first hit!
Nike: Damn Mike. Troublesome! I wanted that first hit!
Mike then turns towards Bill who is once again on screen. "Speaking of getting the S.O. team back together, we'll need all the help we can get. You think the others will want to join up once again?"
"Once they hear what's goin' down, I'm sure they will be more than happy join up for the alliance!" Bill answered "But it will take some time for the repairs on the Advance to be complete, right?"
"I got it covered, guys" Tails said "You can use the Tornado in the meantime!" "That's a great idea, Tails!" Mike exclaimed "Lets get started then."
"Great. We'll split up to look for the others" Bill said "that way, we'll cover more area. Besides, they'll want to all chew you out for losing the System Outcast blade."
Mike then fell over after hearing what Bill had just said.
"Ah! Come on!" he said "Give me a break!"
"Well, take better care of that sword" Bill stated flatly "And you won't get yelled at"
"Back to business!" Princess Sally said " We will send out the word about the tournament first thing tomorrow morning."
Within the next several months, the preparations were made and the tournament is now about to begin. Within the ring, the first round starts with Mike and Knuckles. "Just so that you know" Knuckles said " I don't lose easily!" His eyes shone brightly with confidence as he brushed back a dread lock. "Neither do I, Knux!" replied Mike.
The two stared each other down as the judges announced the start of this match.
On the word "go", they went at each other with fierce determination. Each blocked hit resulted with sparks forming between them. This brightly illuminated the area with in a twelve yard radius even though it was still day time. They then broke off and skidded back several paces. Knuckles then came back with a flurry of fisticuffs as he ran at his top speed. Several hits and punches were connected with great strength. Mike dodged the last couple of them and reversed the echidna. Landing a hit to the back. "Argh! Stand still!" yelled Knuckles as he whirled both fists like two spiky wheels. They came at each other again and Knuckles' hit connected sending his opponent several yards back. "Not bad, Knuckles." Mike said "But now we will end this match!"
At that same moment, they ran towards each other at top speed. Both held back their right hands to deliver the finishing blow.
In a short twelve seconds, it was over as they were both hit in the face at the same time. Both Knuckles and Mike fell over backwards. "We have a tie!" the judges announced as a flag was flown over the arena.
Up next was Crystal and Shadow. As the match was about to start, Shadow couldn't help stare frozen for several minutes. In his mind he had thought he had seen his friend from the Space Colony ARK. "Maria." he said with a slight broken tone to his voice. "What?" Crystal said confused "Me? But I'm not..."
"Is that right?" Shadow said "You do look exactly like her though." Putting a hand to his left side then looking another time to make sure his eyes weren't just playing tricks on him. "I must be kidding myself if I think Maria is still alive." he thought "She died when we were to escape from the ARK when those Overlanders boarded
it over fifty years ago."
Shadow's ruby red eyes then shone intensely bright, like two red Chaos Emeralds. Determination shone clearly in them as he started running towards Crystal on his hover skates. His first hit was blocked and reversed with a sweep. Knocking him to his knees for a few minutes before he got up and avoided a hit and countered with a back flip kick to the side.
"Is that all you got, Shadow?" Crystal said "C'mon!"
The black and red hedgehog then came back with a lightning fast hit to the back side. It unbalanced Crystal for the moment, but did a jumping back flip and landed opposite of Shadow. Before a hit was landed, he used Chaos Control to warp time and get out of the way. He then held up one hand to summon a Chaos Spear as hr did when he and Sonic fought on the run to the Eclipse Cannon. His concentration was broken by a series of kicks in rapid succession of each other.
"I haven't fought like this since Sonic and I were on the ARK" Shadow thought "Time to take this to the next level!"
He then came back with several strong punches as the last one was blocked and then reversed, but he didn't give any quarter this time and used Chaos Control to faze out again and reappear right behind Crystal.
She caught his arm and threw him to the other side of the arena.
A last minute flip prevented him from falling out. "Wow!" he said "Not everyday I find some one who fights just as well as I do!"
Confidence shone in Crystal's emerald green eyes in the exact same way Sonic's does when he's confident he going to win.
"Ready, Shadow?" she asked "You do know that neither of us lose easily. Let's give it everything!"
"You're on!" Shadow said with a challenging smile.
Shadow ran towards Crystal as he picked up speed with each step he took. Eventually turning into a blur of blackish-red color. His hit missed as Crystal jumped up out of the way and knocked him face first in to the ground. Before she could get another hit in, he reversed it and flipped her on to her back. In the next second, the move was countered and met with a strong hit in between the shoulder blades. "Is that your best shot, Overlander?" Shadow said "I have had worse from Sonic!"
"You'll see, Shadow" Crystal answered "Just keep it comin'!"
"With pleasure!" he said.
Shadow's fast moves momentarily confused Crystal for about three minutes.
That was until he was blocked and countered with back handed hit to the side.
"That hurt" Shadow said ".....a little. I wasn't even bruised!"
Both fighters came at each other blocking and countering every move. Crystal ran towards Shadow and attempted to land a solid hit. Only to see him faze out again.
This time she arrived at the exact same spot where Shadow reappeared and hit in the back with her elbow.
"Im-impossible. My Chaos Control defeated" he said " This cannot be. I am the ultimate..." Three seconds later he collapsed.
"And winner by knockout" the judges proclaimed "is Crystal Crazyshot!"
The crowd cheered excitedly as Crystal caught her breath.
"That was awesome, Crystal" Sonic said as they each exchanged a high five "Way Past Cool!" "Thanks" she replied "Isn't your best pal up next?"
The drums then sounded the start of the third round. Both fighters entered the arena.
"Round Three! Tails versus Lily" announced the judges.
"What?! Not her!" Tails exclaimed" Why her?!"
"Hi there, handsome," Lily said, waving to Tails in a flirty manner.
"Go get her, Tails!" Sonic encouraged from the audience.
Tails then ran towards Lily at full speed, propelled by his twin tails spinning like fan blades. She jumped out the way, but was thrown to the ground with strong hit to the back. Catching herself Lily tried to land a hit on the two-tailed fox, but he flew out of the way. Almost falling out, she then tried again. Only to be met with the same result. "Cheater!" Lily yelled "come back down here!"
"All's fair in love and war, Lily!" Tails said back.
He then did a flying swoop and dive bombed her from below. This was dodged in time with duck and roll to the other side. At the last minute, this maneuver was countered with a swift tail-whack that knocked her on her back.
"You won't dodge this one!" Tails called "Take this!"
Without warning, he tackled her from the air as they both tumbled in a blue and orange heap. Finally stopping several centimeters short of falling out of the arena. They both caught themselves at the last minute. Lily dodged the second attempt and jumped to the right.
For several minutes the two exchanged hits and punches until Lily was thrown to the ground again. Tails stood before her as she got up and dusted herself off.
"What do say, Lily? Ready to give up?" he said.
"Not quite" Lily replied "Tee hee."
Getting up, Lily got behind Tails and pinched him on his butt.
All of the sudden he flushed bright red with embarrassment and ran of the stage.
There was a long silence from the judges' booth as they didn't know what to say about this recent event.
"And...the ..winner of round three...i...is Lily" they said finally.
Lily jumped up and down excitedly.
"Well. Looks like I'm up next" Sonic said stretching his arms above his head "Wish me luck."
"Alright, Sonic," Crystal said "good luck up there!"
Sonic stepped up from the crowd on to the arena as he everyone started cheering "Yea! Sonic! Sonic's back!" As they did in his dimension when he changed into Super Sonic to fight Perfect Chaos.
His emerald green eyes shone with pride and confidence like a pair of Chaos Emeralds as he flashed his trademark grin. The crowd continued to cheer for the blue hedgehog as he waved back.
"That's right." he said "I'm back, everyone!"
"So, you're Sonic" Nike said "I've always wanted to test my skills against yours."
"Oh, really." Sonic said cracking his knuckles "It's been awhile since I've had a good fight. I need the exercise."
The drums sounded off the start of the fourth round as Sonic avoided a hit from Nike and came back with a spin-dash. Knocking the echidna flat on the ground.
Nike jumped back up and reversed a sweeping kick, but got countered with a strong hit from behind.
"Ya gotta be faster than that to get me!" Sonic said doing a mid air flip.
The crowd cheered even more when he landed on one foot and started running at about two hundred miles an hour.
In less than ten seconds, Sonic was running so fast that after images trailed behind him. Creating a streaking blue ring around the arena. Nike then broke the circle with a strong kick to the side. Knocking him to the ground.
"Ha. I have a higher developed sense of smell than most echidnas" he said "All I had to do is pick up your scent."
"Ha! I can win without doing that trick again anyways" Sonic said doing a figure-eight peel out.
With a series of lightning fast hits, Sonic threw Nike to the other side of the arena.
He caught himself with a back flip and came running towards the blue hedgehog.
Upon impact he got run over with the figure eight.
"That was my Super Figure Eight Peel-out" Sonic said "How do like it?"
"I 'eight' it" Nike said " Argh! That does it! I'm going to use my sword!"
"No prob' " he yawned "I don't really think it'll help though"
From the Nike's back he pulled out his sword and ran towards Sonic."This boring routine again?" Sonic said "You could at least try something more original!"
Each swipe of Nike's sword was skillfully avoided as Sonic jumped from foot to hand and back. The crowd got more excited as he did a mid air flip landing on the side of the blade.
"I'm th fastest thing alive, echidna" he said "Your sword isn't enough to beat me."
Jumping off the blade, Sonic did another flip and landed a double heeled kick to the back. Trenching him in to the ground.
Before Nike could land a hit, Sonic ran to the side and landed another kick and knocked him out. The crowd went wild as the judges announced Sonic as the winner.
Confetti was strewn about the place as wild and excited cheering roared from the crowd as Sonic stepped down to meet Crystal. They each exchanged high fives and various other friendly gestures. Crystal had missed seeing Sonic since his death. In fact, they were very close friends and would do anything for each other.
"That was a great fight, Sonic!" she said "Way past cool."
"Hey. It isn't often I find someone who talks the same way I do!" Sonic said surprised "Want to come with me to the snack bar?"
"Sure," Crystal replied "We can talk over chili...."
"Chili dogs?!" Sonic exclaimed "That sounds like a great idea!!!"
The blue hedgehog's emerald green eyes lit up like two brilliantly shining Chaos Emeralds at the mention of his favorite food item. Before anything else could be said, he took off like a shot towards the snack bar.
"Bleech! Chili dogs!" Mike and Knuckles said in the same corny voice "Eating too many, a side effect of hunger! We suggest eating a Snickers Bar! Peanuts, caramel and......" Suddenly they both look at each other with an astonished look on their faces and broke out into hysterical laughter.
"We could always take the ingredients from the kitchen so they can't make any," suggested Mike.
"Are you kidding me?" said Knuckles.
"What's the matter, Knux?" before Mike could finish his words, Cream the Rabbit pops her head up over the hill and says "Are you chicken?"
"What?! Knuckles afraid?!" Knuckles said "You wanna play a chili dog game with Sonic?! Fine! I'm team player! Lets play tricks!"
He then marches into the kitchen with a proud look on his face.
Meanwhile, Lily is chasing Tails and Tails is running for his life with a look of much embarrassment on his face. When he stops in the middle of his running and stares her in her eyes. "Listen, Lily I...." Tails begins to say when she looks deeper into his sapphire blue eyes as she says "You're cute when you're angry, Tails."
"I.... I.... I" he then starts to feel himself flush bright red through his golden orange fur. Unable to speak for several minutes. Then the next minute, he grabbed her into his arms and kissed her passionately. Thus giving into this strange, new overwhelming, feeling that he's never felt before. As they sat there passionately
kissing for what seems like hours until a familiar red echidna walks by.
Knuckles and Mike side by side walk past them to achieve their chili dog mayhem, try not to say anything about the lovers. Though they can't hold in the joke that they come up with.
"Can you feel the love tonight~~?" Mike broke out singing as Knuckles whistles the tune. "All the world in perrr-fect harmony in all its living things~~" the red echidna adds.
Back in the kitchen, Crystal and Sonic arrive to find only one can of chili in the cupboard and a Snickers Bar on the counter. Sonic lifts it up to reveal a note that reads "Sorry, guys. There's nothing here. Try a Snickers Bar instead"
"THAT DOES IT, MIKE! YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!!!" yelled Crystal.
He then bravely taps her on the shoulder while holding the single can that had been accidently left behind.
"Why get mad, Crystal," Sonic said "When we can get even!"
A sly look then crept across the blue hedgehog's face as a slight glint shone in his emerald green eyes.
"You're right, Sonic," she then said calmly "Why get upset over this when we can do something TWICE as sneaky. Right?" "Right!" Sonic replied "If they want to play games with our food. We'll play the same game with theirs!"
After sharing a high five, they begin to make a mixture from the chili sauce, Snickers Bar and some left over cookie dough. Within minutes, the batch of what Sonic dubbed "Chili Snicker dough" was ready.
Meanwhile several yards away, Mike and Knuckles are surprised by a familiar flash of blue streaking right in front of them.
"Hi, guys!" Sonic said " 'Sup? Heard you've been playing games with my chili sauce!" Knuckles then begins to rub at the back of his neck nervously as he looks towards Mike thinking "I KNEW this was a bad idea!" "You aren't ...uh...mad are you, Sonic?" he said in a nervous tone. "Me? Mad"" Sonic said placing a hand on his tan chest "You know me better than that, Rad Red! By the way, ya gotta try this! It's outta this world!"
Both look curiously at the mixture in the bowl and then at the blue hedgehog.
"Go ahead, guys," he then urges " I've already had enough."
Knuckles cautiously dips a finger into the mix and tastes it. For the moment he starts to like it.
"Not bad. What do you call this?" he asked.
A large grin almost covers Sonic's face as he answers "What else? Chili Snicker bar cookie dough!"
The red echidna's face then turns completely green as he covers his mouths and runs for the nearest bathroom. Crystal then joins Sonic as he's laughing out loud.
Written by Crystal Crazyshot and Mike Wolfskin
Issue Five- The Decision of the Counsel = War Games
In the secret underground village of Knothole, a discussion was under way. Concerning the new and old threats that faced Mobius. All the core Freedom Fighters of Knothole assembled by the long table as numerous monitors were displayed in the middle.
"It has become apparent that we have more than one threat has been made clear this day" Princess Sally proclaimed "The problem is which one do we deal with first?"
Then Bill on one of the right monitors spoke "From what we know, this Black Eggman character can control pretty much anything that contains a piece a Negative Chaos Emerald inside of it. This includes anything living as well as machine."
From another monitor appeared Lily, Nike and Tails. Nike appeared to have bandages on his right arm and over his chest. He also looked weak and worn out from his fight with Metal.
"He has control of this mean looking hedgehog-like robot" he said "It destroyed an entire village in his name and nearly tore me apart."
Knuckles crossed his arms over his chest as he heard what Nike had said.
"That sounds like Mecha Sonic" he thought "But even it wasn't that atrocious."
"If he takes control over Robotropolis, his power will surely make him unstoppable!" Mike said slamming a fist on the table "We have to take out any of Robotnik's robots before any these Negative Chaos Emeralds have the chance to be activated again."
The president of Station Square spoke up on one of the middle monitor "Maybe we make a truce with Robotnik to join forces against Black Eggman."
"No way! Don't even trust that lying snake!" Sonic exclaimed "He'll go back on his word!"
With his good arm, he pushed himself forward in a wheel chair. Where some of his bandages were now were stitches across his chest, back and forehead by the corner of his left eye. He appeared very weak and his breathing was still labored, but was mild compared to how distressed it was when Crystal had found him. Several bandages covered the right side of his head and lower torso. The right arm was held in sling.
Seeing his friend in bad shape, Knuckles ran up to Sonic and looked him over trying to believe how weak the blue hedgehog looked.
"Sonic, are you alright?" he asked in concern.
Sonic had slight trouble breathing, which started show when he was tired.
"Hey there, Knux," he said weakly "How've ya been?"
From another monitor, three voices said in surprise "Sonic?!"
It was Sonia, Manic and Amy from the Triple Trouble Freedom Fighters.
"But didn't he die almost three months ago?" Sonia said "How is that he's alive?"
Manic stepped up to th monitor to see for himself. "Hey, man. I can't believe it's really you, bro!" "What about those shards we found from that plant that attacked recently?" Amy piped up "They were similar to the ones found by the others."
"A good point, Amy" Sonia said "Other groups found emerald shards that they reported something that attacked."
"Hey, Ames." Sonic said short of breath "You look .....younger."
"Sonic, are you okay?" Amy said in a worried but panicked voice.
A sharp pain then tugged at Sonic's left side as he closed his eyes tightly and clutched at the wound. Knuckles became even more worried about him.
"Maybe you should go back to the medical ward and rest more" he said "you look terrible!"
Sonic just looked at the red echidna with pale green eyes. The stress he had been through physically started to wear on the hedgehog as he began to feel very tired.
"I'll manage" was the reply from him, but his voice almost faint and weak.
Shadow appeared on the same monitor that Bill was on previous and said "Long time no see, blue hedgehog!"
Seeing Shadow alive, made Sonic almost forget his injuries as he asked excitedly "Shadow?! Is that you? I thought you burned up in Mobius' atmosphere! How are you? How did you survive?!"
Shadow's ruby red eyes brightened slightly to hear Sonic's voice. In the same confident manner as Sonic did he replied "What can I say? I die hard. You actually save you know."
Sonic couldn't help but laugh a little when he heard the exact same thing he said to Shadow when they were on the ARK.
The black and red hedgehog then saw that Sonic was in stitches and bandages. "Well, I'm feeling a little better than you probably are, Sonic" he said "Take care of yourself and get some rest so that you can recover. Okay?"
"So, Shadow's here too huh?" Knuckles thought "and so is Tails and Amy."
"We could start organizing an attack force to get rid the threats before us," Geoffrey St. John said " It wouldn't take very long to train some people for this."
"An interesting suggestion." Sally said "Any others?"
"With more strength is needed than just a small team" Mike said "Why don't we hold a tournament for everyone around Mobius from every Freedom Fighter group. It could even bring back th System Outcast Freedom Fighters together. It's just the thing to sharpen our skills"
The skunk crossed his arms and looked away from him saying something about what good are out of practice "trainees" going to do and more experienced fighters would be more effective.
"You know what your problem is, St. Jerk?!" he said with a clenched right fist "Why don't you say that so that the whole class can hear you!"
With unrestrained anger, Mike hit Geoffrey straight in the face with enough force to give him a bloody nose.
"Anyways, it will be open for any to participate and in the meantime for those that are injured like Sonic and Nike. " Mike said "We should set something up so that they can rehabilitate from their wounds and later join the this tournament if they want."
He then cracks his knuckles and said "Besides, it'll be fun!"
At this time, everyone starts thinking- -
Crystal: Damn Mike. Troublesome! I wanted that first hit!
Knuckles: Damn Mike. Troublesome! I wanted that first hit!
Antoine: Damn Mike. Troublesome! I wanted zhat first hit!
Lily: Damn Mike. Troublesome! I wanted that first hit!
Nike: Damn Mike. Troublesome! I wanted that first hit!
Mike then turns towards Bill who is once again on screen. "Speaking of getting the S.O. team back together, we'll need all the help we can get. You think the others will want to join up once again?"
"Once they hear what's goin' down, I'm sure they will be more than happy join up for the alliance!" Bill answered "But it will take some time for the repairs on the Advance to be complete, right?"
"I got it covered, guys" Tails said "You can use the Tornado in the meantime!" "That's a great idea, Tails!" Mike exclaimed "Lets get started then."
"Great. We'll split up to look for the others" Bill said "that way, we'll cover more area. Besides, they'll want to all chew you out for losing the System Outcast blade."
Mike then fell over after hearing what Bill had just said.
"Ah! Come on!" he said "Give me a break!"
"Well, take better care of that sword" Bill stated flatly "And you won't get yelled at"
"Back to business!" Princess Sally said " We will send out the word about the tournament first thing tomorrow morning."
Within the next several months, the preparations were made and the tournament is now about to begin. Within the ring, the first round starts with Mike and Knuckles. "Just so that you know" Knuckles said " I don't lose easily!" His eyes shone brightly with confidence as he brushed back a dread lock. "Neither do I, Knux!" replied Mike.
The two stared each other down as the judges announced the start of this match.
On the word "go", they went at each other with fierce determination. Each blocked hit resulted with sparks forming between them. This brightly illuminated the area with in a twelve yard radius even though it was still day time. They then broke off and skidded back several paces. Knuckles then came back with a flurry of fisticuffs as he ran at his top speed. Several hits and punches were connected with great strength. Mike dodged the last couple of them and reversed the echidna. Landing a hit to the back. "Argh! Stand still!" yelled Knuckles as he whirled both fists like two spiky wheels. They came at each other again and Knuckles' hit connected sending his opponent several yards back. "Not bad, Knuckles." Mike said "But now we will end this match!"
At that same moment, they ran towards each other at top speed. Both held back their right hands to deliver the finishing blow.
In a short twelve seconds, it was over as they were both hit in the face at the same time. Both Knuckles and Mike fell over backwards. "We have a tie!" the judges announced as a flag was flown over the arena.
Up next was Crystal and Shadow. As the match was about to start, Shadow couldn't help stare frozen for several minutes. In his mind he had thought he had seen his friend from the Space Colony ARK. "Maria." he said with a slight broken tone to his voice. "What?" Crystal said confused "Me? But I'm not..."
"Is that right?" Shadow said "You do look exactly like her though." Putting a hand to his left side then looking another time to make sure his eyes weren't just playing tricks on him. "I must be kidding myself if I think Maria is still alive." he thought "She died when we were to escape from the ARK when those Overlanders boarded
it over fifty years ago."
Shadow's ruby red eyes then shone intensely bright, like two red Chaos Emeralds. Determination shone clearly in them as he started running towards Crystal on his hover skates. His first hit was blocked and reversed with a sweep. Knocking him to his knees for a few minutes before he got up and avoided a hit and countered with a back flip kick to the side.
"Is that all you got, Shadow?" Crystal said "C'mon!"
The black and red hedgehog then came back with a lightning fast hit to the back side. It unbalanced Crystal for the moment, but did a jumping back flip and landed opposite of Shadow. Before a hit was landed, he used Chaos Control to warp time and get out of the way. He then held up one hand to summon a Chaos Spear as hr did when he and Sonic fought on the run to the Eclipse Cannon. His concentration was broken by a series of kicks in rapid succession of each other.
"I haven't fought like this since Sonic and I were on the ARK" Shadow thought "Time to take this to the next level!"
He then came back with several strong punches as the last one was blocked and then reversed, but he didn't give any quarter this time and used Chaos Control to faze out again and reappear right behind Crystal.
She caught his arm and threw him to the other side of the arena.
A last minute flip prevented him from falling out. "Wow!" he said "Not everyday I find some one who fights just as well as I do!"
Confidence shone in Crystal's emerald green eyes in the exact same way Sonic's does when he's confident he going to win.
"Ready, Shadow?" she asked "You do know that neither of us lose easily. Let's give it everything!"
"You're on!" Shadow said with a challenging smile.
Shadow ran towards Crystal as he picked up speed with each step he took. Eventually turning into a blur of blackish-red color. His hit missed as Crystal jumped up out of the way and knocked him face first in to the ground. Before she could get another hit in, he reversed it and flipped her on to her back. In the next second, the move was countered and met with a strong hit in between the shoulder blades. "Is that your best shot, Overlander?" Shadow said "I have had worse from Sonic!"
"You'll see, Shadow" Crystal answered "Just keep it comin'!"
"With pleasure!" he said.
Shadow's fast moves momentarily confused Crystal for about three minutes.
That was until he was blocked and countered with back handed hit to the side.
"That hurt" Shadow said ".....a little. I wasn't even bruised!"
Both fighters came at each other blocking and countering every move. Crystal ran towards Shadow and attempted to land a solid hit. Only to see him faze out again.
This time she arrived at the exact same spot where Shadow reappeared and hit in the back with her elbow.
"Im-impossible. My Chaos Control defeated" he said " This cannot be. I am the ultimate..." Three seconds later he collapsed.
"And winner by knockout" the judges proclaimed "is Crystal Crazyshot!"
The crowd cheered excitedly as Crystal caught her breath.
"That was awesome, Crystal" Sonic said as they each exchanged a high five "Way Past Cool!" "Thanks" she replied "Isn't your best pal up next?"
The drums then sounded the start of the third round. Both fighters entered the arena.
"Round Three! Tails versus Lily" announced the judges.
"What?! Not her!" Tails exclaimed" Why her?!"
"Hi there, handsome," Lily said, waving to Tails in a flirty manner.
"Go get her, Tails!" Sonic encouraged from the audience.
Tails then ran towards Lily at full speed, propelled by his twin tails spinning like fan blades. She jumped out the way, but was thrown to the ground with strong hit to the back. Catching herself Lily tried to land a hit on the two-tailed fox, but he flew out of the way. Almost falling out, she then tried again. Only to be met with the same result. "Cheater!" Lily yelled "come back down here!"
"All's fair in love and war, Lily!" Tails said back.
He then did a flying swoop and dive bombed her from below. This was dodged in time with duck and roll to the other side. At the last minute, this maneuver was countered with a swift tail-whack that knocked her on her back.
"You won't dodge this one!" Tails called "Take this!"
Without warning, he tackled her from the air as they both tumbled in a blue and orange heap. Finally stopping several centimeters short of falling out of the arena. They both caught themselves at the last minute. Lily dodged the second attempt and jumped to the right.
For several minutes the two exchanged hits and punches until Lily was thrown to the ground again. Tails stood before her as she got up and dusted herself off.
"What do say, Lily? Ready to give up?" he said.
"Not quite" Lily replied "Tee hee."
Getting up, Lily got behind Tails and pinched him on his butt.
All of the sudden he flushed bright red with embarrassment and ran of the stage.
There was a long silence from the judges' booth as they didn't know what to say about this recent event.
"And...the ..winner of round three...i...is Lily" they said finally.
Lily jumped up and down excitedly.
"Well. Looks like I'm up next" Sonic said stretching his arms above his head "Wish me luck."
"Alright, Sonic," Crystal said "good luck up there!"
Sonic stepped up from the crowd on to the arena as he everyone started cheering "Yea! Sonic! Sonic's back!" As they did in his dimension when he changed into Super Sonic to fight Perfect Chaos.
His emerald green eyes shone with pride and confidence like a pair of Chaos Emeralds as he flashed his trademark grin. The crowd continued to cheer for the blue hedgehog as he waved back.
"That's right." he said "I'm back, everyone!"
"So, you're Sonic" Nike said "I've always wanted to test my skills against yours."
"Oh, really." Sonic said cracking his knuckles "It's been awhile since I've had a good fight. I need the exercise."
The drums sounded off the start of the fourth round as Sonic avoided a hit from Nike and came back with a spin-dash. Knocking the echidna flat on the ground.
Nike jumped back up and reversed a sweeping kick, but got countered with a strong hit from behind.
"Ya gotta be faster than that to get me!" Sonic said doing a mid air flip.
The crowd cheered even more when he landed on one foot and started running at about two hundred miles an hour.
In less than ten seconds, Sonic was running so fast that after images trailed behind him. Creating a streaking blue ring around the arena. Nike then broke the circle with a strong kick to the side. Knocking him to the ground.
"Ha. I have a higher developed sense of smell than most echidnas" he said "All I had to do is pick up your scent."
"Ha! I can win without doing that trick again anyways" Sonic said doing a figure-eight peel out.
With a series of lightning fast hits, Sonic threw Nike to the other side of the arena.
He caught himself with a back flip and came running towards the blue hedgehog.
Upon impact he got run over with the figure eight.
"That was my Super Figure Eight Peel-out" Sonic said "How do like it?"
"I 'eight' it" Nike said " Argh! That does it! I'm going to use my sword!"
"No prob' " he yawned "I don't really think it'll help though"
From the Nike's back he pulled out his sword and ran towards Sonic."This boring routine again?" Sonic said "You could at least try something more original!"
Each swipe of Nike's sword was skillfully avoided as Sonic jumped from foot to hand and back. The crowd got more excited as he did a mid air flip landing on the side of the blade.
"I'm th fastest thing alive, echidna" he said "Your sword isn't enough to beat me."
Jumping off the blade, Sonic did another flip and landed a double heeled kick to the back. Trenching him in to the ground.
Before Nike could land a hit, Sonic ran to the side and landed another kick and knocked him out. The crowd went wild as the judges announced Sonic as the winner.
Confetti was strewn about the place as wild and excited cheering roared from the crowd as Sonic stepped down to meet Crystal. They each exchanged high fives and various other friendly gestures. Crystal had missed seeing Sonic since his death. In fact, they were very close friends and would do anything for each other.
"That was a great fight, Sonic!" she said "Way past cool."
"Hey. It isn't often I find someone who talks the same way I do!" Sonic said surprised "Want to come with me to the snack bar?"
"Sure," Crystal replied "We can talk over chili...."
"Chili dogs?!" Sonic exclaimed "That sounds like a great idea!!!"
The blue hedgehog's emerald green eyes lit up like two brilliantly shining Chaos Emeralds at the mention of his favorite food item. Before anything else could be said, he took off like a shot towards the snack bar.
"Bleech! Chili dogs!" Mike and Knuckles said in the same corny voice "Eating too many, a side effect of hunger! We suggest eating a Snickers Bar! Peanuts, caramel and......" Suddenly they both look at each other with an astonished look on their faces and broke out into hysterical laughter.
"We could always take the ingredients from the kitchen so they can't make any," suggested Mike.
"Are you kidding me?" said Knuckles.
"What's the matter, Knux?" before Mike could finish his words, Cream the Rabbit pops her head up over the hill and says "Are you chicken?"
"What?! Knuckles afraid?!" Knuckles said "You wanna play a chili dog game with Sonic?! Fine! I'm team player! Lets play tricks!"
He then marches into the kitchen with a proud look on his face.
Meanwhile, Lily is chasing Tails and Tails is running for his life with a look of much embarrassment on his face. When he stops in the middle of his running and stares her in her eyes. "Listen, Lily I...." Tails begins to say when she looks deeper into his sapphire blue eyes as she says "You're cute when you're angry, Tails."
"I.... I.... I" he then starts to feel himself flush bright red through his golden orange fur. Unable to speak for several minutes. Then the next minute, he grabbed her into his arms and kissed her passionately. Thus giving into this strange, new overwhelming, feeling that he's never felt before. As they sat there passionately
kissing for what seems like hours until a familiar red echidna walks by.
Knuckles and Mike side by side walk past them to achieve their chili dog mayhem, try not to say anything about the lovers. Though they can't hold in the joke that they come up with.
"Can you feel the love tonight~~?" Mike broke out singing as Knuckles whistles the tune. "All the world in perrr-fect harmony in all its living things~~" the red echidna adds.
Back in the kitchen, Crystal and Sonic arrive to find only one can of chili in the cupboard and a Snickers Bar on the counter. Sonic lifts it up to reveal a note that reads "Sorry, guys. There's nothing here. Try a Snickers Bar instead"
"THAT DOES IT, MIKE! YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!!!" yelled Crystal.
He then bravely taps her on the shoulder while holding the single can that had been accidently left behind.
"Why get mad, Crystal," Sonic said "When we can get even!"
A sly look then crept across the blue hedgehog's face as a slight glint shone in his emerald green eyes.
"You're right, Sonic," she then said calmly "Why get upset over this when we can do something TWICE as sneaky. Right?" "Right!" Sonic replied "If they want to play games with our food. We'll play the same game with theirs!"
After sharing a high five, they begin to make a mixture from the chili sauce, Snickers Bar and some left over cookie dough. Within minutes, the batch of what Sonic dubbed "Chili Snicker dough" was ready.
Meanwhile several yards away, Mike and Knuckles are surprised by a familiar flash of blue streaking right in front of them.
"Hi, guys!" Sonic said " 'Sup? Heard you've been playing games with my chili sauce!" Knuckles then begins to rub at the back of his neck nervously as he looks towards Mike thinking "I KNEW this was a bad idea!" "You aren't ...uh...mad are you, Sonic?" he said in a nervous tone. "Me? Mad"" Sonic said placing a hand on his tan chest "You know me better than that, Rad Red! By the way, ya gotta try this! It's outta this world!"
Both look curiously at the mixture in the bowl and then at the blue hedgehog.
"Go ahead, guys," he then urges " I've already had enough."
Knuckles cautiously dips a finger into the mix and tastes it. For the moment he starts to like it.
"Not bad. What do you call this?" he asked.
A large grin almost covers Sonic's face as he answers "What else? Chili Snicker bar cookie dough!"
The red echidna's face then turns completely green as he covers his mouths and runs for the nearest bathroom. Crystal then joins Sonic as he's laughing out loud.