(I do not own Sonic X...etc.)

Flip Card 2:

Name: Sam Speed

Age: 22

Sex: Male

Job description: Retired formula one race car driver, Sam Speed had been known as the fastest thing alive until Sonic showed up. Now he wishes to reclaim his title.

Thousands of people bought up tickets and merchandise in a whirlwind of consumerism, everyone trying to get a front row seat to what promised to be the greatest competition the States had ever seen. By the time all the seats were full, the stadium that held the spectators had over five thousand people in it and many more had gathered outside to watch the giant screens they had put up for those who didn't manage to get into the stadium in time before it filled up. The Stadium that had been constructed for the Tournament was the entrance to every single track the Grand prix was to feature. It was constructed on an artificial island just off the coast of Station Square. A large bridge connected it to the majority of the Radical City track in the city centre itself, a sharply turning road down into the Resort Island and another bridge that could either lead to the Regal Ruin of Reactive Factory courses.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is First class news reporter Scarlet Garcia serving as commenter, welcoming you to the start of the new Emerald Grand Prix." The roar of the crowd around those who had already gathered inside the stadium to participate increasing to a deafening yell as thousands of balloons floated into the air, large blimps carrying adds flew overhead. This event was being broadcast across the entire country and to many other nations oversees as well. Ratings had sky rocketed for any channel that showed it in England and France. It had stopped snowing for the moment and the track had been gritted.

Scarlet Garcia, who had been the commenter for the near historic race between Sam Speed and Sonic was back to host it inside the commenter's box at the top of the stadium. "We've got some famous faces competing for a shot at winning the grand Prize of a priceless Chaos Emerald. Let's introduce the first of the three man teams." She waited until the crowds roar died down. Chris, Chuck and Helen were already in the crowd. Chuck had decided to threat himself with a giant foam hand and large Nacho dip. Cream and Vanilla were there as well and so was Emerl, although in case any one recognised him as the robot that tore apart the last stadium, he had disguised himself in a trench coat and hat. "Patrolling our streets, a retired formula racer as their captain, introducing the S-Team. Give them a big hand!" Sam Speed, another of his own racers and Tails walked out into the light from a side passage leading to the starting post. Tails and Sam had decided, since their mode of transport was the same that they were better on the same team. Many people knew them both and cheered as they waved up. "These next three have made themselves quite a name for themselves around Station Square. Many of our viewers may recognize them from my coverage of the Egg Fleet disaster; give it up for Team Chaotix!" As Vector and his comrades walked out, quite a lot of people from Station Square began cheering and the rest of them just clapped. Vector had every intention in beating the pants off the competition here. "That's not all folks; we have three of G.U.N's greatest pilots and athletes racing together today. Let me introduce, Team Dead Shot." Okida had removed the red drape he had over his shoulders. It would just get in the way of his flying here. Bark had been ordered to remove his scarf but that was one order he paid absolutely no attention to. "We've got so many great racers already people, there can't possibly be anymore lurking the wings can there. There can, because here they come now. Three so famous you'd have to have been living in your mother's basement for years not to know who they are. Come on out, Team Sonic!" The cheers that radiating from the Stadium as Sonic, Shadow Amy and Metal Sonic as a reserve walked out might have been heard from space. It took them a full three minutes to stop cheering at the sight of the blue hedgehog, so renowned for great deeds throughout the entire world. Now that he was here, nearly every television set on the planet had tuned in to see the tournament.

"Team Sonic?" Shadow asked sourly as the roar began to die down. "Why did we name our group after you?" Sonic simply smirked.

"Because I'm the most public spirited one." He answered smugly, putting his hands on his hips.

"Vanity, sheer vanity. Amy added. Sonic gained a sweat drop and a nervous laugh. After a moment for the crowd to absorb Sonic's arrival, Scarlet began announcing the arrival of other teams from up and down the country and other nations. Men and Mobians alike were here to race. Some for the glory, others just to get their hands on the Chaos Emerald, which they had up in the President's private viewing box, high above the stadium next to the commenters room. He would hand it personally to the winner of the tournament. Sonic couldn't wait to get started. He started hoping from one foot to the other impatiently until Metal slapped him on the back of the head.

"For the benefits of those who haven't been told yet, this how the Tournament works." Scarlet began. "The Preliminary races consist of six racers, three from each team. Whoever finishes first advances to the next round; those who don't are eliminated from the competition. This system stops at the Semi finals, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The two teams that wins the Tournament, as you know, race each other for the grand prize of an actual the Chaos Emerald. Those in second places are given prize money of a staggering five hundred thousand dollars." The dollar signs in Vector's eyes returned and Espio groaned. "This Tournament is 'no holds barred'. Racers can use whatever vehicles they want in order to win, but be assured ladies and gentlemen, every safety precaution had been taken into account when designing the course. Since I've already introduced the teams, let's get on with the Preliminary rounds."

"NOT SO FAST!" A booming, familiar voice from the air shouted and suddenly a giant holographic head of Dr. Eggman appeared above the stadium, projected from the Egg Carrier 3 that was hovering just outside of the island perimeter, away from any attack by G.U.N forces. People started screamed at the sight of Dr. Eggman's face sneering down at them from above. Sonic groaned, that guy allways ame along to spoil the party. "I, the infamous Dr. Eggman, also have a team to enter into the tournament." Before any of them could say a thing, three metallic figures literally leapt over the top of the stadium and landed directly at the start of the course with a loud thud. Metal Knuckles was the most striking one there, glaring intently at Metal Sonic as if to say, 'I'm here to replace you.' The two robots exchanged glares, hostility already filling the air between them Tails seemed freaked out by the appearance of Tails doll. While the toy come to life didn't look exactly like him, it still managed to unnerve him to the core. Egg Robo didn't attract anyone's real attention. It was the other two that managed to intimidate the crowds and millions of viewers. "Meet, Team Mecha!" At first the race officials were simply going to call the authorities until the President himself made a surprising announcement. He was actually going to let Dr. Eggman's robot's compete. That stunned the crowd in the stadium to compete silence for the first time today. Michael wasn't sure exactly what Eggman was up to, but he was certain it had nothing to do with the Grand Prix. He was going to play along until he was certain of what the Doctor really wanted.

"I should have known he'd show up." Sonic groaned as Dr. Eggman's face vanished after the announcement was made, safely assured his robots would not be attacked while they were competing in the tournament.

"What do you think our chances of winning are now Vector?" Charmee asked the crocodile, who was sizing up the new metal competition.

"Doesn't matter what they are Charmee. We're still going to win that Emerald."

"If Eggman thinks he can intimidate me with a few androids he's got another thing coming." Sam remarked casually, even though the same could not be said for Tails, who was cowering at the sight of Tails Doll's emotionless black eyes.

"It's been a strange start folks, but this just makes the Grand Prix a whole lot more interesting." Scarlet remarked once order had been restored. "Let's just hope one of our other contest teams rises to Doctor Eggman's challenge." The crowd started to chant curses at the robotic team, until Metal Knuckles silenced them with a sharp glare. "So then, let's begin with the first race of the day. In order to make this tournament fair, who the contests will be fighting will be kept secret until the beginning of the race. So now I can reveal that the opening race is between the renowned Team Sonic and Team QuickStream from France." The stadium audience applauded as Sonic, Amy and Metal Sonic approached the starting line. Shadow had lost at rock paper scissors and had to sit this first race out. Amy put some skates on to help her go faster. While she could travel fast on her own two feet, she decided she could use all the advantage she could get in this race. Team QuickStream was made up of two Mobians and a human in a flashy sports car that a technician drove out to the starting line. The two Mobians were a pair of blue birds, each with a pair of pilot goggles. Their names were Kane and Maxwell. Back on Mobius they had both been professional racers and were no stranger to the environment. The two of them, who had never even met Sonic before, even believe that one of them was fast enough to beat the blue hedgehog in speed. The human was a-wanna be racer called David who they'd picked up later down the line. His hair was chestnut brown and eye bright blur, a scar on his left check telling of some accident in his youth. His ambition had been to defeat Sam Speed in a race, but since Sonic had beaten him to it, the human had had to settle for this tournament. His car was a royal blue with golden streaks all over the bonnet.

"Let just see how fast they really are." The human commented to his two team mates, placing his helmet on his head and climbing into his car. "The course stretches out the Stadium's own road and down across the beach." Scarlet explained as a rendering of the course appeared on the large screen on the outer rim of the stadium. The Resort Island stretch ran out of the stadium, onto the five mile long beach before heading into a twisting path through the hills. Shortcuts through a forest on the edge of the map were allowed, so long as the racer could navigate through it without crashing. As Scarlet had said before, anything went in this tournament. "The first racer to finish three laps wins the round for their team. I would like to remind our contestants that this is supposed to be a clean race, no trying to trip your rivals up Efforts to slow them down however, are permitted. Racers, on your marks!" Sonic smacked a fist into his palm as the others cleared the path for the six of them. David's racing car growled angrily, just as anxious as Sonic was to hear the word GO.

"I'm so going to enjoy this." The blue hedgehog remarked, smacking a fist into his palm. "You up for this Metal, Amy?" The two bay his sides gave him a thumbs up. The two bird Mobians gave them all sneering side glance as a human holding a red and green flag approached the side of the finishing line.

"I wonder how much Sonic's improved since our race?" Sam began, looking thoughtful.

"A lot I'd say." Tails remarked. "From what Amy's been telling me, Shadow's been teaching him to use Chaos Control." Sam suddenly looked worried. Chaos Control would mean Sonic had the ability to almost be in two places at once, throwing the odds heavily in his favour. "But I think they've both agreed not to use it for the Tournament." Sam breathed a sigh of relief. Not even Eggman could have known that everything was being observed from some far away place by a being with intentions of his own. Radiant Emerald, the secluded dimensional prison did not allow Void very much invention. One of the few things he could do here was watch. Void was a small creature no bigger than the average mobian child, with a thin streamlined blue body. His eyes were a mixture of blue and black, stars of an entire universe seemingly filling them. His hair was a mint green, gently floating in the air like he was underwater. Around his wrists and ankles were bracelets made of crystal, glowing bright white. A short blue cape flowed from his shoulders. Radiant Emerald had been his home; or rather his prison for many years now and there was nothing he wanted more than to escape it. This, he realized as he watched them prepare for the race below, could very well be his one and only chance.

"GO!" Sonic flew off the starting line with Metal Sonic following close behind, Kane and Maxwell taking flight and souring after them. Amy came in fifth with David's race car taking up the rear. The roar of the crowd echoing in their ears, all six of them rocketing out of the stadium nearly immediately down towards the beach. Helicopters with live camera feeds had been standing by since this morning and were hovering in the air waiting for them as Sonic's feet in the sand. He wouldn't admit this to Chris, his girlfriend or Chuck, but all that training with weights had actually helped him a lot. He wasn't loosing his footing as much on the sand anymore. Amy had a little problem with the sand but she overcame that by skating along the rocks that lined the beach, passing Maxwell and coming neck and neck with Kane. David's car wouldn't be able to handle the sand, so he had little option to take the long road that curved around the beach, instead of the straight line through the sand.

"And Sonic and his robotic counterpart take an early lead." Scarlet announced as the shots from the helicopters doing their best to keep up with the racers came up on the screen, as well as shots from various planted cameras along the track side. All that was caught of the two in the lead were a faint pair of blurs.

"Not bad." Shadow remarked causally. "But just wait until they see me out there." The beach was cleared quickly as the racers entered the track sending through the hills. David had had to floor it just to maintain the ground on the long course. Metal Sonic took the leader, heading down a narrow road through two large hills towards a ravine, Sonic quickly following. Amy stumbled and Maxwell took back his fourth place position.

"Look at them go!" Chuck declared, waving his foam hand in the air. Chris hadn't seen his grandfather act so young since he first met Sonic. "S.O.N.I.C GO!"

The path into the long ravine almost had Sonic stopping. It was a narrow road between two large stretches of water, palm trees overhanging them. Sonic hated water, but he had never lost a race yet and he was not about to let a little H2O make him start. Metal Sonic flew right across and encouraged by his example, Sonic followed. Amy managed to come level with Maxwell, skating her hardest to pass him but the blue bird wasn't about to let her carry on without a fight. Sonic overtook Metal Sonic was their road began to elevate again, heading up into a high road that curved around a cliff face before heading back towards the stadium, passing by another crowd of spectators on the way. David was doing his best to try and climb out of the embarrassing last place position he'd been landing with since the start of the race but the road was so narrow where they were, it was nearly impossible.

Amy pushed past Maxwell, closing in on Kane's position. Maxwell however had other ideas, flying sharply to the side, nearly pinning the pink hedgehog to the wall of the cliff as the emerged onto the high road. Sonic looked back to see how she was getting on and Metal shot past him.

"Mind on the race Sonic!" The robot yelled over his shoulder. Sonic grunted and poured on the speed.

The cliff side road curved above a fifty foot drop to the jagged rocks below. A wrong turn threatening to send the unwary falling to their doom. Sonic and Metal Sonic shot past the obstacle and straight into the tunnel that they road lead into, Maxwell and Kane following, Amy keeping pace with them. A second later David's car shot out the edge, skidding a little before entering the tunnel. The tunnel roof was lined with orange lights; casting momentary shadows over their bodies are they shot past them all as high speed.

"And now out of the tunnel, they head back to the stadium for the second lap." Scarlet announced as the large screen showed two blue blurs shot out of the tunnels exit curving down the road back towards the stadium, crowds of spectators out beyond the limits of the course, cheering them on. The road back to the stadium was lined with palm trees all curved to create some kind of tunnel effect as the road entered in the entrance to the stadium itself.

Sonic was the first on to enter the stadium, shooting past the finishing line, finishing his first lap. The cheers of the stadium audience blaring around him as he curved out towards the beach, thundering applause stinging his ears.

"Come on Sonic, I've got fifty dollars riding on you!" Someone was shouting, the voice sounding suspiciously like Chuck. Metal Sonic flew past the finish line closely following his organic counterpart. Metal Knuckles had been watching the robotic hedgehog as he began his second lap. So this was Metal Sonic, the treacherous machine that betrayed Dr. Eggman and his Empire. He was one of the first few robots to actually disobey the Doctor, the only other two being E123: Omega and E102: Gamma. Metal Knuckles, while built in preparation for this tournament, had another purpose. He was Dr. Eggman's renegade hunter. Once this Grand Prix had entertained the Doctor to his satisfaction, Metal Knuckles would be ordered to hunt down and destroy the two remaining robots to have left the Empire. Metal Sonic and Omega.

Amy finally managed to pass Maxwell, closing in on Kane. The third place racer was doing everything he could to prevent her from passing, while trying desperately to catch up with Sonic and Metal. Now all the racers were on their second lap, racing down to the beach again. David had gained some good ground now that he was back on more stable road, passing Maxwell, coming up behind Amy.

Clearing the beach, Metal and Sonic were neck and neck coming up the road towards the cliff side path. A blurring Kane desperately following them, his small wings beating as hard as they could just to keep up with the two in front.

"Think we've led them on long enough?" Sonic asked Metal as the two of them drew level nearing the entrance to the tunnel The robot looked back towards their competitors behind them. He nodded. "Alright then, let's kick it up a notch." Sonic's legs became a blur and showing near impossible speed, he blasted forward, tearing through the tunnel and out the other side in second, flying down the road and right into the stadium and across the beach to begin his third lap. The output from Metal Sonic's engines increased by fifty percent and he matched Sonic's speed, following the blue hedgehog's own sonic boom with his own. Kane and Maxwell just looked stunned, slowing down and Amy flew past them, stinking her tongue out at them at she took third place.

After that, the race was over in a matter of minutes. Sonic and Metal Sonic shot across the course at record speeds, ending the race and winning a round for their team. Metal Sonic came in first because Sonic paused to see how Amy was getting on again. The blue hedgehog came in second and Amy in third. David had managed to pass his team mates and came in fourth, with Maxwell in fifth and Kane last.

The crowd cheered as Sonic slid to a stop, the friction from his trainers setting the ground on fire. He looked back to see the others cross the finishing line; they looked exhausted and defeat, except for Amy, who looked even more energetic than usual.

"And the first race of the tournament is over." Scarlet announced as loud horn blew, signalling the official end of the race. "Team Sonic advances! Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends have proven their superior speed yet again." Sam simply narrowed his eyes.

"We'll see about that." He said quietly to himself.

"But let's not forget Team QuickStream for giving them such a close race. Give them a big hand for competing folks." Sonic had never felt more alive. This tournament was exactly what he was made for. Speed had been his entire life and this Grand Prix was the perfect outlet for it. He couldn't wait to get out their again and beat the stuffing out of the other competitors.

"Let's not overdo it now Sonic." Shadow said sharply, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Try to be a little more humble. You're going to end up with a lot of enemies very quickly if you humiliate your competition like that." Sonic blinked and looked over towards Team QuickStream, who by now was beginning to walk back into the Stadium interior to disappear from the tournament completely.

"Hey guys!" Sonic shouted over. Kane, Maxwell and David looked back. "Great race, you gave us a run for our money." The depressed look on their faces seemed to lessen.

"We'll beat you next time through." Kane added before they disappeared. Shadow nodded in approval of Sonic's kind gesture.

"That's better." The black hedgehog added.

Eggman had been watching the events from comfort and safety of his flying battleship, remaining out of the reach of any G.U.N forces. So Sonic could run fast, big deal. He was already quite aware of that. But just wait until his team got their opportunity to shine. Metal Knuckles, Tails Doll and Egg Robo were going to destroy the competition at this tournament.

"What a great opening race folks, and you can expect many more like that as the competition gets underway. Only another hour until the next race starts folks, so if any of you need a bathroom break, now is the time to go. You do not want to miss any of the action." Half the stadium began to shuffle out of their seats.

"Great race Sonic." Helen said as the blue hedgehog walked up to the side of the stands.

"Yeah it was wasn't it?" He said with a single hint of modesty. "But serious though, Amy I didn't actually think you could move that fast." He added, turning to look back at the pink hedgehog, who by now had removed her skates. She smiled at him.

"I can do a lot of things you don't know about." Amy winked, before disappearing. Sonic was left there with his mouth open, a distinct shade of red highlighting his cheeks.

Void was impressed. Speed like that was extremely rare, even amongst mobians. He could also sense a great deal of Chaos energy in and around this team Sonic. Now he was certain of it. These hedgehogs were his ticket out of Radiant Emerald once and for all.

"So this is the renowned Sonic the Hedgehog." He said to himself. "Quite impressive skill for a novice." He waved a cloven hand over the crystal and it clarified; the image of the stadium disappearing. This crystal dimension had held him for decades now and in that time he had mastered the secrets it hid, giving him near unrivalled power. The one thing he wanted to do with this tremendous power was always beyond his reach as long as he remained here.

He had to escape.

(In Chris voice)

The Emerald Grand Prix is off to a flying start, but can Team Chaotix compete in the treacherous Radical City Course? And who is this mysterious Void? Find out as the Sonic R Saga continues next time on Sonic X, Radical City Mayhem. Don't miss it!