Chapter One: The Challenge, The Race (All set-up, no Metroid!)

Sub-Chapter 1: Little Secrets

Sonic was sitting in his apartment in Station Square, playing one of his favorite games, Super Metroid. Even though Nintendo and Sega were bitter rivals, Sonic secretly played Metroid all day long. This secret was so deep that not even Sonic's closest friend, Tails, knew about it. If anyone found out, Sonic would be canned for sure. But he loved Super Metroid.

Samus was sitting in her spaceship. The ship was on autopilot because Samus could not be bothered while playing Sonic Adventure. Even though she knew the dangers if one of her colleagues found out about her addiction to the game, she still loved the game. Fortunately, Samus never had a sidekick, so her secret could easily remain hidden.

Sub-Chapter 2: The Nintendo World

Sonic was playing Super Metroid when he heard the doorbell ring. He hastily shut off the SNES, stashed it in his closet, and answered the door. Tails was there, and he proudly announced, "Sonic, I have made another new invention!"

"What else is new?" Sonic replied. He had to interrupt Super Metroid for this? I had just beaten Ridley! I was two feet away from the Save Room! he thought.

"This is a special one," Tails explained. "It will allow us to explore the worlds of Nintendo!"

"Why would you design a machine like that? Planning on assassinating Mario?" Sonic replied sarcastically. Or meeting Samus... he thought.

"The real reason is that soon, Nintendo will be holding a 'Super Smash' tournament, or so I've heard, and one of the participants will be someone named Captain Falcon. He has a machine that he claims can travel at the speed of sound, and I thought it would be interesting if you raced it," Tails explained.

"Ah, I'll beat him, no sweat," Sonic boasted. "Any other characters going to be there?" Like Samus?

"Well," Tails recalled, "I know I read that Mario was going to be there."

"I mean other than the obvious."

"Let's see, Link, Donkey Kong, Samus..."

Tails continued, but Sonic's mind had locked onto that third name like a Homing Attack to a Badnik. If Samus is there, Sonic thought, I can finally meet her! But I'll have to keep it a secret. If Sega found out, I'd be fired, or worse, ridiculed and mocked out for the rest of my career! "Sounds like a plan!" Sonic finished.

That night, Tails fired up the teleporter and issued the challenge.

Sub-Chapter 3: The Challenge Accepted

Unlike the place's name suggested, Mute City was never quiet. During the day, average people like you and me rushed to their jobs. By the light of the moon, the city's main attraction, its exciting nightlife, came out full-force. Luckily for Tails, Captain Falcon chose this night to train on the outskirts of the city. Tails called Falcon over and began talking. "I have come from the Sega world with a challenge," Tails began. "How'd you get here?" Falcon replied. "And, more importantly, what's your challenge?" "I got here using a device I invented, and as for the challenge," Tails continued, "I understand that you have a machine that can travel at the speed of sound, and that you can pilot it quite skillfully."

"Yes, go on."

"As you probably know, Sonic can also run at the speed of sound."

"Yes, I think I see where this is going. You want me to race your buddy."

"Exactly. I will bring him here when your upcoming tournament begins. You will bring your machine. With an audience of Nintendo and Sega characters, the two of you will race to see who's the fastest."

"The tournament begins tomorrow at noon."

"Then it's settled. You will race tomorrow at noon."

Sub-Chapter 4: Return Home

Tails promptly returned home and told Sonic.

"Tails, do you have any idea how late it is?"

"That doesn't matter now. I..."

"Tails, this is no time to recite my old theme songs. What is it?"

"I've scheduled the race with that Falcon guy."

"When?"

"Uhhh...tomorrow at noon."

"TOMORROW? How much time does that give me to prepare?"

"If you sleep for eight hours, starting now, at eleven o' clock, approximately five hours."

"Anything else?"

"Well, that's only if you don't eat and if we don't have the transporter running on time."

"Great."

On that happy note, Sonic proceeded to not get a wink of sleep, instead opting to train all night.

Sub-Chapter 5: The Race

"I'm sure I'm ready!" Sonic told Tails for the hundredth time. Tails was unsure of Sonic's condition, him having not slept all night, so he was more than a bit cautious. They both walked into the transporter and were greeted less-than-happily on the other side by 11 of the tournament's combatants: Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Samus (When Sonic saw this, his heart nearly stopped), Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Fox McCloud, Ness, Kirby, and, of course, Captain Falcon. To Sonic's surprise, though, some of the faces were friendly. He immediately picked out Knuckles, Amy, Big, E-102, Eggman, NiGHTS, Chaos Zero, and Metal Sonic, all of whom were cheering loudly (yes, even the evil ones. It was a matter of pride).

Then Tails headed to a flagman's stand opposite another one, occupied by Luigi. One Nintendo character and one Sega character would co-referee the event to avoid favoritism. Sonic walked up to the starting point, spines blowing in the wind, and Falcon glided the Blue Falcon, with the huge number 7 on its side, to line up with Sonic. With the wave of two green flags (one Luigi's, one Tails's), the race began. The race started in the Mario Speedway (like in Mario Kart 64) and ended off-road, at the bridge into Peach's castle. The crowd (all 17 of them, since Mario and Tails were the flagmen) started watching at the grandstand by the speedway's opening straightaway, and they would then be airlifted to Peach's castle, courtesy of the Star Fox Team.

You could tell that the race was intense by the sweat beading on Falcon's forehead (not that you can see it) and the stress on Sonic's ankles (it takes a lot of flexibility to spin your legs like that). Falcon rammed Sonic a couple times, and to catch up (and to retaliate), Sonic spindashed Falcon's bumper a bit. When push came to shove, it was Sonic ahead by a (small black) nose. The whole audience cheered even though they were nearly deaf from all the sonic booms. That is, until the Nintendo half found out that Falcon lost. Then it was just the Sega characters cheering. Lakitu got in one last shot of Sonic and Falcon side by side, and then the Sega crew got ready to leave. That is, until they realized that Sonic was missing.