(I do not Sonic X, Sonic R etc… I do own Koji Naoko Okida and the fic itself.)

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO! GO! GO! GO! LET'S GO

Episode 16: Radical City Mayhem

Espio wasn't sure how Vector had managed it, but the crocodile had managed to obtain information that told them that they would be racing next and on the Radical city track. A day had passed since the Emerald Grand Prix had begun and many other racers had advanced and others eliminated from the competition. It was actually a relief to know they were next, preferring the knowledge to the uncertainty. In this tournament, all Chaotix had to do was to advance three rounds to make it to the semi finals for a real shot at winning that Chaos Emerald. Knowledge of the course' twists and turns was kept secret until the start of the race itself to ensure no one cheated by adapted their racing strategy before hand.

"We'll have to keep ourselves adaptable." Vector stated, tapping his foot. "Luckily we've been spared the torture of having to race Team Mecha or Team Sonic quite yet as they've already advanced." All participants in the grand Prix were given their own room in the stadium to stay while the others took to the tracks. Vector had already seen many teams loose on the Regal Ruin track, which was nearly impossible to traverse with it's near unlimited twists and turns. No one had raced on Radical City yet, so the crocodile realized that many of the other teams would be watching the race to see how they would traverse it. "I know this goes against everything we hold ourselves by, but each of us has to concentrate of winning that race, so resist the urge to look back to see how the others are getting on." Charmee and Espio exchanged glances. "We're still team mates and comrades, but we have to win this tournament at all costs."

"Understood." Espio replied. Charmee just nodded with an innocent look on his face. Vector seemed satisfied with the replies.

"Good." He added, before folding his arms behind his back. He didn't want them to see his disappointed face. Knowing that they were going to race next only allowed a short period of preparation time, what Vector really wanted to know was who they'd be racing.

"Team Chaotix?" Captain Okida repeated. "You're sure?" Rouge looked unimpressed.

"I'm a spy." She replied, crossing her legs. "It's my job to find out these things." As federal agents, not proper contestants Team Dead shot consisting of Bean the Dynamite Duck, Bark the Polar Bear and Captain of Freelance Division Koji Naoko Okida, were privileged enough to learn who their opponents in the tournament were before the actual races. That way they could concentrate their efforts on watching the tournament for the spy. They were sure Eggman's agent was present at the tournament, probably doing everything in its power to make sure Team Mecha won. Most of G.U.N was keeping their eyes on the robotic team, so they didn't have to worry about them too much. "Now, if you excuse me." The female bat announced, spreading her wings as she slowly tilted herself out the window. "I've places to be." She then disappeared out the window.

"Bean, any progress?" Their captain asked. The duck shook his head, looking up from his notes.

"Nothing. If that spies here, he's covered his tracks pretty well. I haven't found a single case of sabotage to the team that Eggman's robots humiliated in the last race." Team Mecha had been put against a Team from the north in the Reactive Factory course. Metal Knuckles had proved the fastest of them all, clearing the entire courses three laps in less than two minutes, leaving any competition in the dust.

"Bark?" Okida added. The polar bear simply shrugged, having even less information than Bean had. The vampire bat sighed. They certainly weren't making much in the way of progress. Looking at his wrist watch, he could see what they were due to race in an hour. The race itself was only a formality as far as he was concerned, whether they won or lost, their mission would continue regardless.

As Sam Speed crossed the finishing line, the race was over. The crowds cheered as the human stepped out of his race car, removing his helmet as Tails came in second.

"I wish we could skip all these and go straight to the semi finals. Maybe then I can get some real competition." Sam sighed. Their last opponents, while fast in their own right, were no match for the S-Team.

"Right about that pal." A voice from nearby stated. Sam looked up to see Sonic sitting on the top his race car. "Team Sonic'll wipe the floor with you."

"I wouldn't count your chickens until they're hatched Sonic." Tails commented as his own Tornado racer pulled to a stop. Sonic and the fox exchanged glances be for a smile broke out on their faces.

"Just because we're pals doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you." Tails simply nodded.

"Ditto." Team Mecha had been watching them from the top of the commenters box. They had been observing every race, analysing each and every racer, reading their movements and actions. With the data they absorbed, their understanding of a racers weakness' grew. They knew who was best at acceleration, stamina and sharp turning and who was the most skilled out of all the racers put together.

They had already deduced that Sonic and Shadow were by far the fastest competitors in this tournament, followed closely by Sam Speed and Metal Sonic. Metal Knuckles opened an internal com channel to the Egg Carrier 3. There was a brief moment of static before Eggman's face appeared on the screen that flipped up from a concealed panel on one of Metal Knuckles' bracers.

"Report." He said sharply.

"We have advanced in the Tournament, following your instructions; we also humbled our rivals by completing the three laps before they started their second." Metal Knuckles replied.

"I know." Eggman added with a narrowed eye. "I was watching the coverage on the sports channel. Very good work. If any of G.U.N's forces try to interfere with your races, let me know at once." The com link dissolved and the screen retracted back into Metal Knuckles' bracer.

"It's been an exciting few races and we're ready to start another one." The crowds had gathered again in the stadium heralding the start of another race. Metal Knuckles looked down to see another two teams entering the stadium's arena through the two large side doors. "And this one promises to be one heck of a scrabble for the finish line, as our teams will be competing on the fierce Radical City track. So give it up, for Team Chaotix and Team Dead shot." The crowds cheered as from opposites sides of the stadium, Chaotix lead by Vector and Team Dead shot lead by Captain Okida approached the starting line. "It's guaranteed to be an explosive race today, wouldn't you say Stuart?" Chris blinked and looked up towards the commentors box.

"Do doubt; no one has raced on the Radical City track yet so none of their members will know what to expect until they get out there." Both Chris and Helen recognised the voice alongside Scarlet Garcia's.

"Mr. Stuart?" They both exclaimed in surprise. Stuart had been appointed secondary commentor by the President after Team Mecha turned up. The Government wanted every spy they had to watch those robots closely. Up on the large screen, the first broadcast images of the Radical City course being shown, showing a mess of twists and turns through Station Square itself.

"Our racers will have to charge out of the stadium and straight down Main Street to begin with, but after that there are several alternate routes they can take. One of them even through the sewers, but how and where they race, is up to those competing. Over to you Scarlet."

"While the techs are running final safety checks, let's take a look at the team leaders on both sides." Images of Captain Okida and Vector appeared on the large screen opposite the tracks, their age, sex, species and various other bits of miscellaneous information typed next to them. Okida was a good three years older than Vector with a distinct advantage on speed since he could fly. "Vector has made it quite clear since signing up to the tournament, that he and his team will do everything in the race to win that Chaos Emerald. You've got to admire determination like that."

"Too true, but he's going to have to push himself and his team mates to compete with Captain Okida. He's the best pilot G.U.N presently has; trained to take advantage of any strategically gifts he may be given. And so far his two team mates Bean and Bark. It's determination against Government training. This race could go either way." The two team leaders approached each other, paused for a moment to size each other up before shaking hands.

"Good luck to you." Okida stated before they broke away and all six of them turned to face the track leading out across the large bridge towards the city. The final safety checks complete, the race was set to start. A startled expression suddenly broke over Charmee's face.

"Oh oh oh oh, WAIT!" He cried. Espio glance over to him.

"What is it now?" The bee looked his hand, biting his bottom lip as he screwed his face up.

"I've gotta go to the bathroom!" Vector and Espio stared at him, eyes wide.

"Well it's too late now. You'll just have to go after we finish the race."

"But I really gotta go!!" The bee added as the human who started the races approached the starting line with his two flags, one red and one green.

"Racers, on your marks." He began, raising his green flag. Okida crouched close to the ground, tensing his legs to push himself off from the ground, his wings ready to spread out and take to the air.

"The faster you finish the race, the quicker you get to go!" The vector snapped, before turning back towards the race. Charmee paused, considering the statement for a moment.

"And GO!" The green flag flew down and Charmee was away, flying across the bridge as fast as his wings would carry him becoming a black and yellow blur. Espio looked stunned.

"Wow, he really does have to go…" Vector didn't waste any time, launching himself across the course to catch up with Charmee. Okida's wings spread out and he took to the air, gliding through the air with intense speed, racing out of the stadium, Bean and Bark following, although Bark was quickly overtaken by Espio.

The bridge was a suspension bridge, the only link to Station Square itself. Charmee, so desperate to relieve himself was already half way across it by the time Okida made his bid for first place, Vector following closely behind him.

The bat found it actually hard to pass the little bee. He was moving so fast Okida found it nearly impossible to take first place from him. He was a regular speeding bullet. The streets of Station Square had been cleared for the race, but all along the sidewalks were thousands of people cheering them on. Helicopter with mounting camera filled the air above the building, trying to get a shot of the racers as they came off the bridge and into the course itself.

Bean and Espio were tied for fourth place. Neither one of them could run as fast as Sonic or other extreme mobians, but still they managed to keep a high speed duel between them, each on desperately trying to keep the other from going past them. Vector was pushing himself to keep up with Okida and Charmee, his short thing legs becoming a blur as he inched closer and close to the bat and bee. The Radical city course would stretch down the main street until they came to a divide in the road. This was the first option open to the competitors, whether to go right or left? There was a distinct possibility that one route led to a short cut and the other was the long way around.

At that precise moment, Charmee didn't care exactly which path he took as long as he finished the races three laps as quickly as he could. Zipping down the street, he took the path to the left while Okida soured to the right with Vector quickly following. Bean and Espio, still trying to pass each other followed Charmee down the left with Bark quickly following.

"The racers have reached the first divide of the track and it seemed most of them have taken the left route, leaving the two team captains along the right." Scarlet commented, looking over the video feed in front of her. "Let's just see which one of them emerges from that route first."

Charmee was so focused on getting to that bathroom break he was desperately promising himself; he didn't notice where he was going and rammed head first into a street lamp, loosing his first place position to Bean and Espio. The two sharing the position is a power struggle, desperately trying to out do each other. The left path curved down away from the high street towards the run down part of Station Square. Here the track splinted off into many others, creating endless possibilities for the routes, which were all marked with electric orange lights so that the racers wouldn't get lost.

Vector and Okida, now neck and neck with each other were still on the right path, heading up through the interweaving highway that ran through the city. This also had many routes to choose from, some heading over the roof tops. Okida took the highest path, hoping his airborne method of travel would give him an advantage up there, while Vector took the lower figuring he could go faster travelling down hill.

"And it looks to me like Vector's taking the sewer route." Stuart started as the monitor showed the crocodile turn and disappear following a track that ran down into an underground parking lot next to a large mall. "We'll just have to wait and see if that decision turns out to be a good one."

Espio had finally overtaken Bean, now in first place. Currently they were racing down an alleyway heading out onto a road that would take them back to the main street; from there it was a fifty yard pelt to the finish line to start the second lap. Just as the chameleon came out of the alleyway, Okida swooped down, gliding past him and stealing his first place position. Espio grunted and started running as fast as he could, trying to catch up. The captain simply angled his wings forward as his speed increased, approaching the second bridge back to the stadium.

Vector would never forgive him for letting him give the first lap away. Espio turned invisible and raced on. The bat looked back and discovered that the chameleon had disappeared. He slowed to see where he was and Espio overtook him, racing across the bridge and through the Stadium entrance. Okida looked stunned that he'd fallen for such a trick and he was even more surprised when Vector came charging out of a subway entrance, taking second place.

Hardly content with third, Okida soured after the two reptiles.

"Close race." Tails commented as Espio followed by Vector and Okida flew past the finish line to begin their second lap. A moment later, Bean, Charmee and Bark followed. "Okida seems to be the fastest of Team Dead Shot. And Espio the fastest of Chaotix. The others look like their capability for speed is ranged." He turned to look up at Sam. "Who do you think will win?" The human glanced momentarily up at the large screen showing the racers as they crossed the first bridge again and re-entered the city. By now, Okida had taken second place and was challenging Espio for first.

"It really doesn't matter to me who wins this race." Tails narrowed his eyes, a disapproving look on his face.

"Oh come on. We could be facing one of them in them semi-finals." Sam chuckled.

"There's only one person I really want to race against the in the finals." He replied, looking straight up at the blue hedgehog who was sitting on the top of the large screen, watching the race with his birds eye view. The blue hedgehog was pleased with how the race was turning out, Eggman however was not. It was getting a little too boring for his taste. What this race really needed was a little spicing up. "I think I need to make this race more challenging for them. "He said to himself as a large grinned crossed the doctors face. He sat up and pressed a button on his arm rest. Instantaneously, a small door on the underside of the Egg Carrier 3 opened and dozens of small robots, each probably no large than a soccer ball flew in a swarm directly towards the track, guiding by the Doctor himself.

Each one of those robots was a Miner unit. So called that went any moving target got within a few feet of them they detonated. They were round with spikes jutting out all over the place, an evil glaring red eye being their own means of an optical device. They flooded the course, becoming dangerous obstacles as the racers re-entered the course for the second lap. Okida nearly flew straight into one, beating his wings a few times as it hovered in his face.

Then it began shaking, a loud computerized voice counting down from five to one. The vampire bat hit the dirt as it exploded, nearly catching him the face. Seeing the danger, Espio tore several shuriken out of his gloves and cast them through the air, impacting several Miners causing them to detonate automatically, clearing the way for him to charge through.

"It seems that Doctor Eggman has left a few surprises on the track that even we didn't know about." Scarlet announced. "And even more spectacular of all, I'm being told that the officials are letting the race continue despite these developments. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the sleaziest attempt to raise national rattings I've ever seen!" Now this was better, Eggman thought to himself with a large grin. A little element of danger to the proceeding gave this far better entertainment value, and he was sure the station would appreciate it when thousands of viewers tuned in to see if the racers survived, let alone finished the three laps.

Flip Card 1:

Name: Vector

Age: 19

Species: Crocodile

Job description: Leader of the Chaotix detective agency.

(R&R)