"So what did Billy say?" Treecko asked as Sonic returned.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. He was just trying to scare us into forfeiting."
'Like that'll happen.' Glover wrote quickly.
"Right." Ray said, grinning widely. "We're going to fight them hard and give it our all!"
"We'll make them fall, we'll sock it to them."
'We will be the last ones standing and make them bite the dust.' Glover scribbled out.
"Okay, before we have to change our team name to the Hollaback Boys, can we cut the Stefani?" Sonic laughed. He looked to Roy. 'We're ready whenever they are!"
"Oh, we're ready!" Mega Man shouted as he launched himself onto the far right platform. "And I can't wait to get going!"
Roy turned to Sonic's pit. "You may now have a few minutes to decide on your first fighter of the match!"
"I say Sonic." Ray piped up, looking to his teammates."
"Second"
'Third.'
"What?" Sonic asked with a raised brow. "Why am I such a unanimous choice?"
"Well, I really want to give my all to fighting that egg headed Hatcher, so I don't want to fight until then." Ray stated.
'You're obviously our power hitter.'
"And we've already discussed me." Treecko said matter-of-factly. "Besides, you and Mega Man are known by nicknames that have the word blue in them. You're the Blue Blur, he's the Blue Bomber."
"Oh, come on. That last reason was kind of stupid." Sonic chuckled. He then sighed, saying, "Alright, I'll go first. To tell the truth, I wanted to go first, I just didn't think you guys would be so agreeing with it." Sonic returned to the arena, jumping to the left platform
Roy, who had ascended to the high, middle platform, shouted, "Alright then! Let the match, begin!" he launched himself up, grabbing a shy guy who was to take him from the field.
"Showtime." Sonic said to himself
Bar
"Another." Luigi told the bartender, slamming his shot glass onto the table. As it was being refilled, Luigi sighed. 'Why did I do it? Why'd I let myself be bought out? It was all Mario. He's the one who wanted to sell out, but I let him drag me into it.' Luigi drained the glass. "Another."
"You're really pounding it, huh, Luigi?" the Mario Bro turned to see Link walk up. The Hyrulian sat down next to his friend. "What's troubling you, pal?"
"Link, can I trust you not to tell anyone something?" Luigi asked, his speech a little slurred.
"Uh, sure, dude."
"Well, you know, there's cheating out, and pay offs, and eight, and NUMA NUMA!" with that, Luigi fainted, falling back off the stool.
Link looked to the bartender. "Hard liquor this early?"
"Hey, he was paying 100 a glass."
"Whatever." Link picked his friend up, taking him back to his room.
Meanwhile, across the room, Spike's teammates were among the many groups preparing to watch the fight from the hotel bar. This included the big headed Bomberman, the plucky and tiny Death Jr., and the team's silent leader, Shadow the Hedgehog. The last was looking forward to seeing his rival's first match. "Sock it to them, Sonic."
Smash Stadium- Entrance
'Dang it, this thing is fast.' Spike thought to himself, barely able to keep up with the creature. It had just entered the stadium, and Spike planned to follow. However, the second he stepped inside, the room flashed red, and section of the floor shot up, not stopping until they hit the roof. In a few seconds, Spike was looking at the start of a labyrinth. "Not good.There was about 100 feet between here and the inner arena. I should probably stay out."
He turned to walk away, but quickly spun back, a determined look on his face. "I gotta do it. That thing's going to try something, and I have to do something, especially if it plans to sabotauge the tournament." Spike took a step back before charging forward, putting his hand on the left wall. "Hope what gramps said works all the time."
Smash Stadium-Arena
"Any day now, guys!" Roy shouted from his perch high abovethe arena. "We have an audience to impress!" Sonic and Mega hadn't really moved since the start. Sonic had prepared to charge forward eventually, while the other was holding his blaster down, fully charged.
"Your move, Mega."
"Oh, please, you go first." Neither of the two wanted to hit the offensive, hoping to launch a counter attack, not get hit by one.
"Maybe the rest of us should go ahead and start fighting so this can get finished today." Billy huffed, sitting with his arms crossed.
"Be patient Billy." Sora told his teammate. "This can't go on forever."
"Whatever." Billy sighed, leaning back.
"Guys!" Mega shouted over his shoulder. "Could you please shut u-whoa!" he was thrown off balance as the surge holding up the platform increased, sending it flying upward.
Sonic took his chance, He charged forward, jumping to the middle platform, then straight at Mega Man. However the Blue Bomber recovered fast, letting loose his Charge Shot. The hedgehog pushed himself to the side, only his shoulder getting singed.
"Aagh!" Sonic grabbed the burned spot, rubbing it. "You'll pay for that one."
"Try it!" Mega jumped high into the air, firing a flurry of blasts at the hedgehog. Sonic jumped, curling into a ball as he did. He bounced a few times before sending his bouncing self through the shots and going for the robot. As he was about to hit him, he opened up, punching Mega hard in the jaw. The bot went flying backwards over the edge. "I'm not going down this early! Rush Jump!" Mega's red dog shot out of nowhere and hit his master hard in the feet, sending him into the ring.
"Nice move. Try this one!" Sonic kicked off the ground, pulling out a Chaos Emerald. "Sonic Wind!" Blasts of blue energy shot at Mega, who dropped under the middle platform to dodge the strike.
"Ditto on the nice move comment." Mega then charged out, the match continuing.
Smash Stadium- Labyrinth
Spike yawned, using his right hand to cover his mouth. He didn't dare lift his left hand, knowing it might screw him up. He had been going for twenty minutes, and he was starting to think it might have been a bad idea coming in here. It could take him hours to get out, even with his wall tracing trick.
Suddenly, his hand went flying through a large hole, and he went with it. He got to his feet on the other side, seeing that the wall had melted away. He looked the other way to see similar melting. He also noticed the holes were curving away from the inner area, so he figured the creature had plans different to what he had originally thought.
He started to jump through the holes, following the creature's destructive path. He also wondered if trying to stop this being was smart. He had read that the security walls were three feet thick, made of a substance stronger than diamond. Something that could get htrough that would probably crush him in an instance. He shook these thoughts of and continued, eventually coming to a stairway. After a moment of hesitation, he began his ascent.
Bar
After the long stretch at the beginning, the bar had been filled with cheering as they watched Mega Man and Sonic trade blows. But no one watched as close as Shadow. The hedgehog wanted his rival to win until he had the chance to take him out personally. And if that never happened during the Prelims, he expected both of them to make it into the Top 8.
Suddenly, Shadow jumped from his chair. It was because he knew what Mega was about to do.
To Be Continued…
