(I do not own Sonic X, R…etc.)

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

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

Last time on Sonic X;

The race could have gone either way, that is until Metal Knuckles gained equal ground with Knuckles and as he did so his eyes flashed open and a flare of bright light shot out from them, blinding the Echidna. Knuckles stopped holding his gloves over his face, his eyes stinging in pain. He stumbled backwards, eyesight blurred. The ground gasped in horror and surprise. Metal Knuckles stopped to give him one last contempt glare, before shooting over the finish line.

The race was over. Knuckles had lost.

"I don't believe it!" Sonic exclaimed, clenching a fist. "That cheating son of a…" he was about to launch himself over the edge of the stands at Metal knuckles when Metal Sonic put out an arm, stopping him.

"Sonic, Metal knuckles didn't directly attack Knuckles, so that wasn't against the rules." Sonic's eyes widened.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Dr. Eggman blew a sigh of relief. That was close. Too close. He had an experimental robot in the shop and his team had gotten into the Semi-Finals by the skin of their teeth. All in all, they could have gone far better. Tails Doll was in need of drastic repairs and upgrades, which would take days, meaning that he was out of the Tournament. Everything depended on Metal Knuckles and Egg Robo now.

Episode 18: The reactive Factory

The preliminary races were finally over and the four finalist's teams had been selected. The Semi finals were about to begin. Whoever won the next two races would face each other to race for the Chaos Emerald itself. The four selected had already arrived at the Reactive Factory Track were the remainder of the races would be held. Chaotix had pushed themselves very hard to reach this position and now that they had, they were guaranteed at least one of the second prizes, which was enough to pay off their debts and afford a better place to set up headquarters, not to mention all the publicity their detective agency was gaining in the process. As far as Vector was concerned, Chaotix had already won.

Sam Speed on the other hand had entered this tournament for a reason other than money. Sonic had stolen his title as the world's fastest being and he was here to reclaim it. Tails couldn't wait to race against Sonic, just to see if his Tornado car could keep up with him.

Team Mecha had to be the most unpopular team here. Being constructed by the feared Dr. Eggman and then their leader, Metal Knuckles used a trick to distract his counterpart in the last seconds of the race. They had however abided by the rules of the tournament and could not be disqualified from competing in the finals.

Team Sonic entry into the finals had been expected. Sonic and Shadow were the two fastest creatures alive and most people were too scared to pass Metal Sonic on the open track.

Knuckles had returned to Angel Island after finishing his race with his metal counterpart, he lost, but the mechanical Echidna had had to resort to a cheap trick in order to win. Prooving to Knuckles that Eggman's robot was no threat to him. This infuriated the robot to no end.

"Well its come right down to this people, the Semi Finals are set to begin." Scarlet Garcia announced, continuing her career as the commenter for the tournament alongside Stuart. "But before we start, let's have a run over of the new rules." Sonic looked up towards one of the loud speakers, blinking in confusion.

"New rules?" He repeated questioningly.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Shadow asked, giving him a glare. "The rules for the races changes once we get to the Semi Finals. They told us that when we got here. Don't tell me you forgot?" Sonic rubbed the back of his head with a large goofy smile over his face.

"Sonic has the memory span of a goldfish." Amy remarked, folding her arms.

"With Amnesia." Metal Sonic added. Most of the crowds had gathered in the Stadium on the island to watch the races happen on the large screen at the top as there weren't enough seats in the Reactive Factory course. This was going to be the peak of the tournament and the race officials were doing everything they could do to sell tones of merchandise to those gathering to watch.

"From here on in, only one racer from each team is required to race in each event. So it'll be one on one racing today people. Also, each event will be unique with different rules and conditions the racers will have to adapt their strategies if they expect to advance."

"What do you suppose that means?" Espio asked, thinking over Stuart's announcement. All four teams were standing on the outside of the old abandoned oil refinery that served as the course. There were over ten possible routes through this place, and it was up to the racers which ones they used.

"Who cares?" Vector replied, chuckling to himself. "Even if we win or loose, we're swimming in money before the end of the day Espio. Our finical troubles will be over tomorrow." The chameleon crossed his arms solemnly.

"They'd better be." He added. "I'm a ninja and all this racing doesn't agree with me."

"Only two more races at the most buddy."

"We'd also like to remind those competing, that the first to loose in this next race, go away with nothing." That attracted the Crocodiles attention.

"What?!" He exclaimed. Stuart continued on talking despite his outburst.

"A member of each team will race each other in one big free for all sprint to the finish line. Those who come in first and second place will advance to the finals to face each other. Whoever grabs third gets the five hundred thousand dollar runner up prize and whoever is unlucky enough to come in last place are eliminated from the tournament with nothing to show for their efforts."

"So it's high stakes today people." Scarlet added. "It's going to be one dosey of a race." Vector began cursing. He hadn't counted on this at all.

"We have to get into at least third or we're buggered!" He exclaimed, for the first time during the tournament fear coming into his eyes. Team Mecha were one team mate short. Tails Doll had been retrieved by Dr. Eggman and was undergoing drastically needed repairs after he collapsed during the last race. So for this race it was a choice between either Metal Knuckles or Egg Robo. The two robots stood facing each other, talking silently over a private com link line. After a moment of conversing, they made their decision.

"Rock, paper, SCISSORS!" All of Team Sonic declared, throwing in their heads on last time. Sonic cursed, he had paper and Shadow had just the tools to cut it with.

"Looks' like it's me." The black and red hedgehog remarked smugly. Sonic folded his arms and turned away, sulking. There hadn't been any need for conversation within S-Team. There was only one suited to this sort of race. Tails was upset that he wouldn't be able to use his own car to race and Sam was even more so that Shadow was racing instead of Sonic. He supposed he'd just have to wait until the finals to compete against the blue hedgehog. The human smirked, before placing his helmet on and climbing into his car.

"Ok Espio, you're our fastest racer." Vector said in a panicked rush. "It's up to you to get at least third place, or we go home empty handed."

"I know." The chameleon grunted angrily. "Don't worry Vector; I'll win us that prize money."

"The course for the Semi Finals is up to our racers and as Reactive Factory had near unlimited possible courses to choose from, so this promises to be exciting race." Christmas was only two weeks away now and the Government couldn't believe all the money it was making off the combined events. Millions of people across the entire world had tuned in to watch, and as close to over ten thousand people had tried to cram themselves into the stadium to watch the large screen. Even more were attempting still to get last minute seats in the stands around the Reactive Track itself. "We'll be starting the race in a few short minutes, right after a word from our sponsor." This gave Espio a short time to mentally prepare himself and size up his competition. He was racing three of the world's fastest people and this would be the most draining experience he would ever have to undergo.

Shadow was well known for speed capable of matching even Sonic and Sam Speed was famous as the fabled Speed King. He looked back to see which one of Team Mecha was going to try and participate and too his intense relief, it was EggRobo, the slower of the two that approached the starting line. Thankfully, Metal Knuckles was staying out of it. Espio doubted he had much of a chance against the robotic Echidna and their choice of racers improved his odds slightly. He wasn't however; about to underestimate Egg Robo, what he lacked in speed and power he made up in ruthlessness and intelligence.

Reactive Factory, being an old oil refinery was a twisted maze of roads, pipes and underground parking lots. Various routes had been marked out with orange lights just like in Radical city so the racers wouldn't get lost. The starting and finishing line was

"This will be a one lap race, but not a frantic rush to the finish line." Stuart began to explain over the loud speakers. "The track had been laden with targeting sensors. Whenever a racer gets close to one, they have to touch it and this action will earn them ten points. The racer with the most points is considered to have finished the race first, so this is a test of skill rather than speed. But remember, there is a five minute time limit to the race, so no cheating by going up and down the course to tag sensors you missed the first time before finishing the course." A large grin crossed Espio's face, this helped immensely. He might not be as fast as the others, but in skill he was nearly unsurpassable.

"Egg Robo." The round, egg shaped robot looked down at his communications device to see the face of his creator staring back at him. "The last race was far too close for comfort. Do whatever it takes, but get into the finals."

"Understood sir."The Doctor's face disappeared. Apart from millions of viewers, Dr. Eggman himself, Void was also watching. This last race would produce the two he needed and with their help he would finally be able to shatter this prison and exact revenge of the false angel. Radiant Emerald would not hold him much longer.

"I'm coming for you Illumina." He stated with a smirk. Maginary world did not exist in the true sense of conception. It was rather another plane of existence created by the sentience of human and Mobian. There, life forms born by the collective intelligence of all sentient beings dwelled. These creatures believe themselves higher than all other beings and maintained their isolated, occasionally looking in on mortal kind to ensure they did not foolishly destroy themselves. The greatest and most powerful of their kind was the Angel Illumina, a being of such grace, power and beauty that she in captivated all with her glare alone. Void however had seen past all that to gaze at what she really was.

"Racers, to your starting positions." Sam's formula car slowly edged to the line, its tyres resting on the very edge, his foot poised on the accelerator. Shadow stretched his leg muscles before facing the front and Egg Robo simply hovered their casually. This one race would determine which teams faced each other in the finals. Everything, Chaotix's big break, Eggman's success, Sam's vengeance and Sonic's need to again be proved fastest thing on the planet was riding on this.

"3!" Shadow turned to give Espio a side glare.

"Good luck." He stated.

"2!" Espio narrowed his eyes with a smirk.

"As Sonic would say, I don't need luck."

"1!" Shadow chuckled briefly. "GO!"

The Nano bots that made up Tails Doll, as Eggman had anticipated, would take some time to repair. He cursed himself for not anticipating this. He should have known they would overheat and to be perfectly honest he had been pushing the robot a little hard. The stuffed animal that served as the Nano bots host lay in a waste paper basket some distance away from the workshop table while the thousands of tiny robots lay in a liquid filled contained, the large machinery around them studying their stress levels down that Eggman had bombarded them with regenerative energy. Still however, they remained unaffected. Eggman cursed and rubbed his eyes; bring his face away from the microscope. Nano Technology was a very precise affair, and repairing it was even more complex. This would take, even his main frame computer, months to repair. Eggman growled, this technology was simply too breakable. Hardly practical for use in the military of a world wide empire. It would however, make an excellent repair and construct tool for his robots. He paused to think on that idea and the longer he paused, the more he liked it. Making robots out of Nano bots was simply too complex, yet constructing them with their help was less difficult and had the potential to greatly expand his construction capabilities.

Presently, the one presence he had on Earth was the Egg Carrier 3 itself and a few scant bases here and there. His massive fortress the Egg Moon was still in orbit, strapped to what remained on this planet's satellite. It was highly impractical to begin his conquest of the world there, any forces he tried to pass through the worlds atmosphere would be shot down before they reached the ground, and he was sure that hedgehog would interfere someone. He always did.

He turned back towards the screen at the far end of the room, the one had was showing the coverage of the racing Tournament. They had started and presently, Sam Speed had taken the lead as the four of them shot through the Reactive Factory course, on the look out for hose sensors to earn them points. Becoe and Decoe were up in the Egg Carrier 3's bridge, monitoring the race as well.

Eggman was confident that EggRobo, with its brilliant strategically enhanced mind, would prevail, but after that last close call he could not be too sure.

"Theta!" The large, lumbering form of the Flame throwing robot came entered the workshop through a side door, saluting. "Proceed to that track as once, make sure that EggRobo wins." If it had been possible, Theta would have forged a grin. Finally, a chance for action. The flame throwing android had been getting a little bored since Eggman decided to put his other three robots into the race other than him.

"They'll be scrapping barbequed racers off the track floor tonight sir." As he left, Eggman got back to monitoring the Nano bots with a new purpose in mind for them.

Espio's shuriken sank into one of the sensor target, earning him an additional ten points. He had chosen a different route to the others, which had all sped off in different directions, but he could tell that they were still all going fast since he could hear Sam's engine roar in the distance. He had lost count of how many sensors he had hit, so he assumed that that the other racers had hit a lot of these targets as well, so getting cocky was not an option.

Presently, he was souring across a stretched road that stood on the top of a stretched piece of construction running between two large oil tanks. The orange lights leading him and his sensors desperately trying to lock onto the targeting sensors as they appeared, Espio kept his shuriken close at once. It saved time to simply hit them with these throwing daggers instead of wasting time going up to hit them, according to his watch he only had another three minutes to go before he had to reach the finish line.

Egg Robo was employing a similar strategy, using his portable laser rifle to shot the targets. It nearly destroyed them, but it still counted as a hit, leaving the robot free to focus nearly all his attention on speed. Sam was simply running them over; unable to reach out his window and slap them at these high speeds and Shadow's speed was enough for him to do it the old fashioned way. Simply skating up to them and punching their tops. All their points were more or less even and the race could go to any of them.

"Ahh, I really wanted a go." Sonic said, looking depressed as his arms hung up his sides, seeing how much fun Shadow was having out there. Amy simply grinned and slumped on his shoulders.

"You'll be having the time of your life in the finals, so let Shadow have his moment." Sonic still looked depressed, until of course Amy laid a kiss on his cheek. Had it been a year ago, Sonic would have tried to run for the hills this time he just blushed intensely. Vector was watching the points result on one of the large screens without blinking. Their organisations financial future hinged on this and if Espio didn't pull through for them, then apart from being broke on every convincible level, Vector would probably have to kill his comrade for blowing their one chance to pull themselves out of the grand canyon of debt.

Espio was about to land another hit, when a bellowing pillar of fire shot from the shadows, incinerating his shuriken in mid air before it hit the targeting sensor. The chameleon came to a halt just below Theta flew forward, both flame throwers held at the ready.

"You're not going to win this race." He stated plainly, before fire began dancing all around them.

It was plain that Espio didn't have time for this. The minute he stopped, the other scores went flying past his and Vector nearly had a heart attack. It was his first instinct to stop and fight but Chaotix's future at risk this was something he could afford to waste time on. He leapt through the air and over the flames, another shuriken striking the target, saving Vector from a stroke. Theta about faced and fired another torrent of flames at the chameleon as he tried to race away, nearly catching Espio with red hot fire.

Flip Card 1:

Name: Void

Age: N/A

Sex: Male

Job Description: (I'm keeping his history and purpose secret for now.)

(R&R)