Chapter 5: Team Urogi

Sonic, Knuckles, and Brutis all met Tails after the match. All with welcoming arms and satisfaction. From their looks, Tails could tell he had done a marvelous job.

Knuckles tried not to show his delight, but the tone in his voice was a dead give-away. "Nice going Tails."

"We knew you could do it! That was great!" A large grin spread over Sonic's face. Not only was he glad that Tails proved himself worthy, but he also got them into the tournament. "Round one, here we come!"

Although content with the results, Tails still felt overwhelmed. He still felt like he had to prove himself, as this was only the tip of the tournament. If the preliminary rounds could even be counted as part of the tournament. The real opponents were yet to be revealed, and he knew he would go into the Primo Battle Tournament as the weakest link of the team, and he would have to pull through each time.

Brutis bowed his head before Tails and congradulated him. "Team Sonic, you have advanced to Round 1, very good performances I must admit. I wish you guys luck in the first round."

"We're going to need it," Knuckles glanced at Tails and then looked back at Brutis.

Sonic closed his eyes, "Not as much as you think, all three of us are more than enough to win."

"I must escort you to your room now, Team Sonic," Brutis interrupted.

Team Sonic was lead to a large building, which was empty when they entered it. Then Brutis lead them down a dark blue hallway until they got to room "32," where Team Sonic was to stay.

"Nifty little place you got here, Brutis," Sonic complimented.

Brutis chuckled, "You can think Zealous."

His fist clutched, and Sonic scowled, "Well, I guess I'll have to thank him when I'm kicking his butt!"

"Let's get some rest," Tails suggested, "it wouldn't be wise to go into round 1 worn with fatigue."

"That true," Knuckles agreed. "I could use a nap anyway."

Something had caught Sonic's attention, "Don't get too comfy yet, it sounds like we have some visitors outside the door."

Sonic swung open the door, and found Team Urogi outside of their room. He didn't know who they were, but he knew they were contestants in the tournament. He grinned, and looked down at all three of them. Within the team, he spotted an aging fox with a strange pendant, an elf wielding several weapons and a hidden face, and an armadillo on all fours with turrets clingint to its back.

They were an interesting bunch, but something about the elder fox's necklace sparked Sonic's attention. "So, who are you guys?"

"We like to be called Team Urogi. And according to the bracket, you're our first opponents. Pleasant to meet you," the fox spoke, "I am Dolmon, and these are my teammates, Regil and Kize."

Sonic grinned, "Nice to meet the first guys we eliminate from the tournament."

Tails and Knuckles had joined Sonic's side, and were staring down Team Urogi as well. Observing their first opponents. Brutis was behind the team, ready to break up any unnessecary battles.

"Who are these fools?" Knuckles asked with a wry look.

The leader of Team Urogi, Dolmon, laughed, then quickly shot a dirty look at Knuckles, "You echidna, will be the first to be sacrificed."

Knuckles pointed his fist at him, "Get ready to have your face mashed, you old idiot."

He let out a chuckle, "Let's see if you're bite is as strong as your bark. I have to admit, your words are strong. I can easily see how you intimidate your opponents well before they see you perform."

It was a game that Dolmon was famous for. He loved to play mind tricks with his opponents before their show down.

"You'll be nothing but old skin after I'm done with you fool. Don't say I didn't warn you," Knuckles began to walk back into Team Sonic's locker room, but was stopped by a voice inside of his head. It wasn't his conscience, it was the voice of his opponent, Dolmon.

"Our fight will begin tommorow, let's see who is the strongest of the two. Let's see if you can defeat a psychic."

Knuckles looked over his shoulder at Dolmon, who was grinning. "Get out of my head!" He shouted to him in his mind.

"Have a nice rest, echidna."

Out loud, "The name is Knuckles. Just letting you know who it is that is going to kill you."

Dolmon turned back to Sonic, "Anyway, we just stopped by to see who our first opponents were going to be. We want to wish you luck, Team Sonic."

Sonic smiled, "Thanks, but we don't need it. If anyone needs luck, it's you pal."

Dolmon laughed, "Funny. We'll find out who the victor is tommorow. Team Urogi or Team Sonic? Who will come out on top?"

After Team Urogi was out of view, Tails turned to Sonic, "I felt something weird while they were here, Sonic."

"Yeah, something about that Dolmon guy creeped me out too," he admited.

"It was like he was tapping into our minds, and trying to break us down in the inside. Like if he was trying to get an early advantage."

"You mean like a pyschic?" Sonic was worried.

"Yes, exactly that."

Sonic turned to where Knuckles was standing, to find him absent. "Where'd Knuckles go?"

Tails feared his prediction was right. Dolmon had gotten under his skin, he had the early advantage as he had planned. Tails was hoping that Knuckles would still be enough to defeat him in a fight.

Morning came, and the sun poured in between the blinds of Team Sonic's room. Sonic awoke, and found Knuckles already up looking out of the window. He walked over to his side, wondering why he was up.

"Hey, what's up Knuckles?"

Knuckles hadn't realize he was standing next to him, "Oh, hey, Sonic. Nothing, just looking at the arena."

Over Knuckles' shoulder, he too could see the arena. It was similar to the arena of the preliminary rounds, only surrrounded by a barrier where the audience would be seated. The asphalt area was much larger than the other arena also.

"Looks like the preliminary arena, only larger," Knuckles pointed out.

Sonic agreed with a slight nod. He stared into the arena where they would fight their first opponents, Team Urogi. There match was less than an hour away, they had to prepare.

Tails was at Sonic's side, with a tired look, "Did the battle start?"

"No, we still have a few minutes, go ahead and get some rest. I have something I need to talk to Knuckles about," Sonic told him.

Tails obediently crawled back into bed to catch some more z's. Knuckles and Sonic were standing face to face.

"You have to talk to me about something, huh?" Knuckles was confused.

Sonic nodded, "Yes. Yesterday, when we confronted Team Urogi, did you feel anything odd?"

Knuckles was reluctant to tell Sonic of the telepathic conversation, "Not really, why?"

Something seemed out of place. His tone was unsure, Sonic had a hunch he was hiding something from him.

"Dolmon got under your skin, didn't he?"

"Don't be ridiculous Sonic, he didn't do anything. Stop worrying, I'll go into battle and defeat him, no sweat. If you don't mind, I'm going to go freshen up."

"I do mind, we can't afford you going out and getting assaulted before our first fight."

A knock came from their door, which woke Tails. Sonic opened the door, and Brutis stood before him.

"We need to report to the battle arena, quick!"

Tails, Sonic, and Knuckles quickly left the building and headed for the battle arena, where hundreds of onlookers awaited their arrival.

The announcer, known as Craig, had been introducing Team Urogi. Now he was on to Team Sonic.

"For Team Sonic, we have Sonic! Knuckles! And Tails! They are a rookie team, so go easy on them Team Urogi."

From the opposite side of the concrete arena that separated the two teams, Team Sonic overheard Dolmon say, "They specifically told us to not go easy on them, indirectly."

"Let's see what type of battle this match will be, by watching our random generator decided."

Craig directed the crowd and the Teams' attention to a billboard with words. It was the random battle generator that decided how each battle would be fought. It began to spin rapidly, slowing down after a few seconds. This was the moment of truth, both teams anticipated how they would fight.

The board stopped after about ten seconds. It stopped on: 1 VS. 1 DECIDE. This meant that each member of each team would fight another member on a one-on-one battle. Each team would decide who fights who, and then the order.

Both teams met in the middle of the arena, ready to debate the contestants and the order.

"Upon my request," Dolmon spoke, "I would like to take Knuckles on in the first match."

Knuckles was surprised at his decision, and winced, "What?"

Dolmon snickered, "You don't want to fight me? Oh, but yesterday your confidence was boasting."

"It's fine by me, I just didn't think you wanted to die so quickly," Knuckles taunted.

"Ok, we still have the other battles to decide on, so let's go," Sonic wanted to get the battle started.

"Let's make it fair, so that neither team has an advantage," Dolmon suggested, "my weakest versus your weakest. It's obvious, Regil is our weakest and Tails is your weakest."

"Sounds good, Regil vs. Tails it is. Then I get Kize. We decided on our matches, now let's begin." Sonic began walking out of the arena. Tails was close behind him. And over his shoulder he could see that Regil and Kize were both leaving the arena.

Knuckles and Dolmon stood in the middle of the arena, staring one another down. The first round was about to begin. Both teams watched at the sides as their first fighters were about to begin.

Craig hit the bell, which signaled the beginning of the battle. It was time the fighters in the arena fought.

Dolmon ripped off the necklace that hung around his neck and on his gray chest hair. He held it in his right hand, and power began to surge from it into his whole arm.

"I'd like to inform you Knuckles," he smiled, "this is my psychic power being used physically. It's much weaker than my normal pyshic powers. I like to call it Psychic Punch, let's see how you do against it!"

Knuckles didn't want to listen to him talk any more, he was ready to brawl. He dashed forward at Dolmon. Dolmon didn't even flinch when Knuckles lashed out without warning.

"Foolish idiot, you truly think brute force will be enough to defeat me?"

He was close enough for a punch, and Knuckles let his fist loose. Dolmon easily dodged it, and was behind Knuckles.

"I'm faster, smarter, and more skilled than you are. You're fodder Knuckles, give it up. You actually thought you had a chance?"

Dolmon smacked the back of his head, sending him into the air. A mental pain also shot into Knuckles' head.

Before Knuckles' hit the floor, Dolmon gave him a smack straight into the concrete. Slowly, Knuckles rose his head and spotted Dolmon a few feet away from him.

"You got me by surprise," Knuckles was staggering to his feet, "but I'm not down yet. Don't get cocky."

Little did Knuckles' know that by the time he was back on his feet, Dolmon's Psychic Blast had been fully charger. All of the psychic energy surrounding Dolmon's arm went shooting straight at Knuckles' and pierced threw him like an arrow.

He fell to the floor, grasping for air, feeling nothing but misery. He couldn't help but think that he had been defeated so easily.

Sonic watched as Knuckle's smacked on to the floor, and as the psychic blast shot right through him and out the other end. Blood propelled into the air and splashed on to the slab of stone under the two fighters. "KNUCKLES! Knuckles, are you alright? Get up and beat this guy, you can't lose! You can't!"

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Next time: Don't worry Knuckles' fans, it's going to take more than that to take Knuckles out. He's back on his feet, ready for another battle, but it seems like Dolmon is too much for Knuckles to handle. Not to mention that Dolmon has a few more tricks up his sleeve, for example, being able to mimmic his opponents attacks! Will Knuckles get the win, or will he lose to this powerful psychic? You'll only find out in the next action stuffed chapter!