Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, blah, blah, blah. You've heard this sht before.

But I do own this story.

A Wily tale

Part 25

The group, including the King and his company, entered the arena room. The new residents marveled at the vastness of the room, both height and width. A large congregation of robots and Mobians had taken their seats in the stands, and where eagerly awaiting the upcoming arena battle.

Snake man was standing with his back to the door as they entered, he turned and bowed graciously to the King and his entourage. "Welcome to Ssssskull tower's battle arena magesssssty." He hissed.

The sight of Snake man gave most of the King's guard's a shiver down their spines. Snake man was a green and white humanoid robot modeled after a snake with slit like 'pupils' and a face that looked out of a helmet shaped like an open snake's mouth with fangs extended ready to bite. He may have seemed cold and violent looking, but he was actually a patient and kind soul who simply liked to take it easy.

"So Snake man, who's fighting?" Jonny asked the green robot.

"Elec man and Sssspark man." Snake man said, crossing his arms.

Jonny groaned, "Those two are at it again?"

"Who are they?" Asked Elias.

"Two of the Robot masters who use electric based weapons." Jonny explained, "They have a bad history, Elec man is known for having a short fuse as well as having a bit of a mischievous side. While Spark man can bore you to death with useless statistics and poor sense of humor."

Quick man made his presence known by zipping past the group like a red bolt of lightning, many of the king's group thought they where seeing things. That was until the quickster turned around and made a dead stop next to snake man. "Spark man boasted since he can generate twice as much voltage as Elec man, then he went on about how he was superior to him and yadda yadda yadda. And then, well, you know Elec man." Quick man said this like a man who was disappointed that his brother had just been in a fight. And lost.

Geoffrey gave a laugh at Jonny's expense. "Having problems controlling things here huh? Maybe you need a new chief of security."

Jonny shrugged. "No, like I said my robots are alive, they think and feel like you do. And these little squabbles are just as normal as with true living creatures. And I'd be careful what you say about Knight man, he might be listening."

Geoffrey snorted. He didn't like this, he took his job as the king's personal bodyguard very seriously.

Jonny saw Ali-Su in the stands, waving for him to come over. "Well, this is where I momentarily leave you. Please enjoy yourselves, and be glad I had wheelchair ramps installed after my accident."

Jonny then left the group, who took their seats in the higher section. Jonny managed to lift himself out of his chair and sit next to Ali-Su in the stands.

"Hey Jonny." She said, smiling up at her best friend. "You sure it's okay to be out of your chair?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me Ali." Jonny told her, he sounded like he was tired.

Ali-Su leaned against the human. She still felt sorry for putting in a wheelchair, but was glad that he'd be able to walk on his own soon. The only thing Jonny did was smile a little at being with her.

Both Spark man and Elec man where both inside the arena as the walls rotated, closing the robots inside.

The damage meters appeared on the screens. Elec man's bar was a combination of yellow and gray, and Spark man's was a light shade of orange.

Jonny patched his cell phone into the PA system, 'Time to make the normal announcement of the rules...' He thought, "Elec man, Spark man. You know the rules, there are no rules unless you agree on a set of rules before hand. If you agree on said rules you must abide by them."

"We agreed on none!" Elec man yelled back, he was eager to show up Spark man in front of this large a crowd. He was truly sick of all of Spark man's annoying talk of his 'superior power', as were most of the other Robot masters.

"Who do you think will win Jonny?" Ali-Su asked, thinking that Jonny could foretell the outcome, after all he did build them.

Jonny rubbed his chin in thought for a second. "Well, Spark man DOES have twice the electrical power that Elec man has." He turned to the echidna. "However, Elec man was the robot that Quick man was designed from.'

Ali-Su turned to face her friend. "What you mean is, although Spark man has the more powerful attack, Elec man is a lot more agile? That means the odds are rather even then right?"

Jonny smiled, glad she could figure it out for herself. "Exactly. And that's not even taking into account their psychological strengths and weaknesses, but let's not get into that."

Both of them turned back to the screens.


Elec man started things off. He dashed around the taller bot, firing his Thunder beam. Spark man wasn't the kind of bot to simply stand around and let you hit him, using the powerful hydraulics in his legs he leapt into the air, Elec man's attacks did nothing but scorch the ground where Spark man had been standing. Spark man touched his diode like hands together and fired off balls of pure energy, which Elec man had little difficulty dodging.

"You gotta do better than that Sparky." Elec man taunted.

Spark man landed and propelled himself at Elec man, attempting to impale him on his sharp metal diodes. Once again Elec man dodged Spark man's attack, but got hit in the back of the had by a well placed kick, Spark man had never meant to impale his opponent, he proved that he was much more cunning than he let on.

Elec man stumbled and feel over his own feet, landing face up on the ground. He winced and tried to get up put found that his arms where pinned by two large, and heavy, orange legs. Spark man towered over him and was charging up his diodes to give the masked robot a super charged version of the Spark shot.

Elec man proved that he was just as cunning by grasping each of Spark man's feet and unloading a full dose off his electricity, knocking him off balance and falling to the ground. Elec man leapt to his feet and then crashed down on Spark man's face with a leg drop. The masked robot then leapt back, getting some distance before his diode handed brother could get up and counter attack.


Elias looked away from the screen for a second and looked around, finding that Jonny was, as usual, sitting with Ali-Su. "Who's that Echidna Jonny's talking to?" He said aloud.

"That's Ali-Su." It was Amy, who was sitting behind the prince . "She and Jonny really like each other, but they're both too shy to admit it. Sad huh?"

"Hi Amy." Elias said turning to the pink hedgehog. "Those two would make the oddest couple."

"Maybe, but I'm certain they'd be happy together. Who's your friend?" Elias asked, motioning to the gold robot that sat beside her.

Amy smiled. "This is my friend Star man, when Robotnik's taken down he says he's going to go on tour and play his guitar for people."

Star man smiled at the prince, he gave off an air of a man who was both intelligent and confident, and perhaps a little arrogance. "Hey dude, what's up?" he asked.

"Not much. Are these fights common?" Elias asked.

Star man leaned back in his seat. "Nah, we only use them to settle scores and prove who's better." Star man said, "The boss battled us before he got hurt. And sometimes youngsters use the M.I.S. units and the Dark man drones to practice battle. It's a lot o' fun."

"Have you been in the arena?" Elias asked, grinning a little.

"Not yet, I've stayed out of the way of the others mostly, but the boss wants to fight all of me eventually." Star man said, giving Amy a smile before turning back to the prince. "He wants to earn my Star Crash attack by winning it in a arena battle."

Elias looked back at the screen, and smiled, he was going to like his stay here.


Spark man had managed to ram and pin Elec man to the wall with his left diode through the masked robots shoulder. Elec man's face contorted with pain for a second until he shut off his pain program. He then began to pummel Spark man's face with a flurry of punches from his undamaged arm. Spark man struggled to keep his balance and stumbled backward, releasing Elec man from his hold and revealing the extent of his damage. Sparks jumped from the large hole in Elec man's shoulder,

'This is bad, my diagnostics say that if I use that arm to fire Thunder beam I could blow up or, at worst, the electricity would travel through my systems like an EMP and wipe my CPU's programming clean.' He winced at the thought of being little more than a drone. He looked at his left arm, the one that was undamaged. 'That means I'm reduced to half power.'

Elec man snapped to attention as he heard Spark man touch his diodes together again. But this time, no electricity came from his hands. The reason was that in pinning Elec man to the wall, Spark man had damaged his diode on the reinforced stone wall of the arena. So now Spark man was going to have to rely on his brawn to win this fight, something he never had calculated in his statistics.

This time Elec man charged, knowing full well he was agile enough to avoid all of the strikes from Spark man's needle sharp diodes. Elec man managed to roundhouse kick the larger robot on the side of the head, disorienting him for a vulnerable second, while he leap into the air above Spark man, planting his left hand square on his orange brother's face.

"EAT THIS! THUNDER BEAM!" Elec man emptied his power reserves into that attack, giving Spark man all the electricity he could muster in one attack. Spark man fell backward, smoking.

The alarm sounded. The fight was over and the walls instantly rotated to release the combatants.

Jonny picked up the microphone to declare Elec man the winner.

"The battle is over! Elec man is the winner!" The crowd roared, the Robot masters had wanted someone to finally shut Spark man up even since they knew him. And someone finally did.

"Will two of you guys get Spark man to the lab? From the looks of him, he's gonna need some rewiring." He told the group of Robots that were around Elec man, congratulating him on teaching Spark man a lesson. Freeze man and Tomahawk man managed to carry the non functioning robot off and Elec man followed them out with a slight limp.

"My, that was entertaining." The king said, rolling up to the young man and the echidna.

Ali-Su helped her friend back in his wheelchair. "They put on a good show, and it's a good morale booster." Jonny said.

"It's a waste of time and energy if you ask me." Geoffrey said, "If I were you I'd scrap this arena because your wasting parts on repairs for no reason other than to settle petty squabbles."

"It's not a waste if you have a little fun with it." Jonny said as cheerfully as possible, just to get under the skunk's skin. "Besides, they have fun with it as much as I do. You should try it sometime."

Sonic chuckled inwardly at the thought of tearing Geoffrey a new one in the arena.

"I've got to go repair the bots. Then I'll be going to bed." Jonny said, "Sally, would you mind showing your father and brother around?"

"Sure." Sally said as Jonny rolled off.

King Acorn turned to his bodyguard. "Keep an eye open Geoffrey, I'm still not completely convinced about this place is truly safe."

"I felt the same way sir." Geoffrey said, crossing his arms. "And if I may say so, I personally don't recall an echidna ever coming down here."

The king frowned. "Nor do I. However, I think she is the least of our worries."

"I agree. I'll tell the men to keep their eyes open for anything sire." The king said, turning to his daughter and son as they approached him.

"Ready daddy?" Sally asked, she then lead the entourage around the tower, explaining what each floor had, and showing each of the rooms on the first floor.


Jonny, meanwhile, was heading towards the elevator when Ali-Su caught up with him.

"Hi Ali-Su, what's up?" he asked.

Ali-Su took a few deep breathes. "I just wanted to know what was up? You were kinda quiet during the fight and I just wanted to know if everything's okay."

Jonny sighed, "Things have been a little hectic around here. Well, more hectic than usual anyway."

Ali-Su frowned. "The king and his men kept you busy huh?"

"Yeah, but I personally don't care much for authority ya know? I like doing things on my on schedule."

"I understand." Ali-Su said.

"Thanks Ali-Su, I've got to go. Some robots need repairin'." Jonny began to head off towards the elevator to the lab.

"Jonny wait, there's something I've got to tell you." Ali-Su said, 'Here I go...'

"What's that Ali?" He asked, stopping to look at the echidna.

"I- ... I..." Ali-Su was blushing a deep red. She wanted so bad to tell him she loved him, yet the words just couldn't seem to form together.

Jonny looked at her with a kind smile. "Ali-Su, you tell me anything. You don't have to sugar coat anything."

'God, why'd he have to be so calm about this?' Ali-Su thought, she was just frustrated that Jonny was so calm while she was trying to tell him how she felt. However, at the same time she was also angry at herself for lacking the courage to tell him.

Jonny meanwhile was in the same boat. He wanted to tell her, but he felt like he wasn't good enough for her. All those depressing things the voice in the dark had told him suddenly flooded back to him, and his cheery mood went down the toilet. It was like a wave of depression had washed every shred of self confidence and self Jonny had. Jonny hung his head and rolled off, his smile replaced by a downcast look. "What ever it is, you can tell me some other time Ali. I know you've got better things to do than talk to me."

Ali-Su felt crushed. She had never wanted to give him that impression. "Jonny wait I- love you..."

Too late. Jonny was out of sight and out of earshot.

Ali-Su sank against the wall, her head on her knees. Silently cursing her own momentary cowardness. "Why does love have to hurt so much?" She asked herself, as a tear fell from her eye.


In the bowels of the sub basement, something began to pulsate in it's container. Eager to be released.
"So, Dr. Robotnik, what's the next plan of attack?" Snivley asked his bloated uncle.

"I have plan. Where a frontal assault failed, perhaps a single robot can do the job." The fat man said, putting his hands behind his back, a true feat if there ever was one due to his sheer size. "And I know just the one."

"And which one is that sir?" Snively sighed.

At that Robotnik only said one word. "Metal."

To be continued....