Tournament of Champions part 5

"Thanks. Keep the change." With that transaction done Amy turned back inside to find Tails still glued to the screen." Tails!" She called to him." Pizza is here." She set it on the kitchen table just behind the couch and opened it, ready to help herself to it. Only to be disappointed with what she found inside." Uh" She let out a disappointed groan." Pineapple."

Tails hadn't heard her and was already helping himself. With hot pizza in hand and a cold drink waiting he returned to the couch. Amy following right behind.

"Alright." she said with a relaxed exhale as she sat down." The final round. What are you thinking Tails?"

"Ithenajkther" The young Fox had already taken a bite of his pizza.

"Don't talk with your mouth full. "Amy said pointing a finger at him. Tails gulped down a breath.

"Sorry." He answered. He turned to his drink and washed down the taste of pizza with his soda.

"I'm guessing Knuckles will win. "Amy said crossing one leg over the other." Now if Sonic was here, it'd be no contest. But Knuckles is a good enough second." The slurping of Tails' straw came to a stop and he turned to her.

"I hope Knuckles can win." He agreed." But the Chairman is clever. He'll find some way or turn this in his favor."

Knuckles looked up and saw his reflection in the mirror. He took in a deep breath before raising his fists up. He had taken a few good blows in that last fight but he was still ready. To prove to himself he threw a few punches into the air. Dancing back and forth with his shadow, throwing blow after blow.

After a flurry of punches he stopped and looked himself in the mirror. This was it, the match the decided it all. He'd come too far to be turned back now.

"All or Nothing!" He said pounding a fist into his open palm. He smirked to himself in the mirror before turning for the door. But when he opened it two big figures blocked his path.

At the announcer's table Syrup was busy applying her lipstick. Given the momentary break between her fights, she wanted to look her best for when the Camera came back on. However just like last time her break would be interrupted.

"Syrup! Syrup!" came the distressed cries of Wario. It was like nails on a chalkboard, forcing her head to drop between her shoulders.

"Oh." She let out turning to him." What is it this time?" The Chairman waddled up to her." You need to start paying me more for all these breaks you don't let me take."

"I need you" Wario panted." To start the fight early."

"Hm?" She answered, turning away from him and turning back to her lipstick.

"The fight. The Final Fight." He told. "Start it early."

"No." Syrup closed her mirror as she did so.

"WHAT?!" Wario let out.

"You've already pulled that trick." She told crossing one leg over the other." Besides these people came here to see blood-pounding action. "She tightened her hand into a fist." If you deny them that a second time, ESPECIALLY" she stressed "For the final fight their not gonna be happy. She leaned back in her chair." They might even want a refund." Wario gulped down a frightened breath.

"R-Refund."

"Yep." Syrup said with a smile, driving her point home. Clearly this was not the answer wanted to hear." But don't worry" Syrup said getting his attention." You've still got a chance."

"R-Really?" Wario asked hopeful.

"Oh yes." She answered with an enthusiastic nod." Use all your special fighting know-how and I'm sure you'll be fine!" She couldn't hold it any longer and on the last few words of her sentence burst out into an uncontrollable laughter. Wario's face turned bright red. Both angry at her joke at his expense but also from embarrassment since he allowed himself to fall for it.

"Bah!" He grunted. "I'll handle this myself." He stormed off past her." I didn't become CEO of WarioWare Industries by playing the rules." He continued on his march down towards the ring. But some little fan had caught sight of the hated chairman and tossed a drink at him. Hitting the chairman right on the head." HEY!" Wario grunted in the general direction it had come from.

He grumbled as he continued on his way towards the ring. The sight of him as usual caused the crowd to fill the stadium with Boos. And because of Wario's last trick they were not eager to see it happen again. Fortunate for them Syrup's voice clarified this on the loud speaker.

"Attention Fight-Fans. Just because one competitor is waiting in the ring does not concluded the Intermission. Five Minutes still remain before the bone crunching finale of tonight's Tournament." When she finished she set her microphone down and looked to the ring. Wario had turned bright red and was glaring at her.

"So" Sonic let out. He extended both of his arms and took one of the Mario brothers in each." What's say we get some popcorn and some seat, eh? Get a nice front row view of the butt-kicking to come."

"Nothing will be better then watching my cousin beating from the front row." Mario commented. The only bad part was that Mario himself wouldn't be giving that butt kicking.

"Let's go find Knuckles." Sonic said turning them backstage." See if he wants some food before his big fight." The trio turned and ducked into the backstage only to have something big crash before them. In fact it was a big someone they knew. It was Red Brief J who Sonic defeated in his opening round.

"What the?" Luigi let out. The trio's heads all turned to the side where Brief had come from. And there they saw Rudy the clown with Knuckles in his arms in bear hug.

"Another Trick!" Luigi let out.

"I KNEW IT!" Sonic let out. He took his arm away from the Mario brothers and was the first to jump into action. With the duo following right behind him.

Sonic jumped up curling into a ball and hitting Rudy right in the face. Causing him to both let go of Knuckles and then crash to the ground. Knuckles fell back onto his feet.

"You alright?" Sonic asked him.

"Yea."

"What happened?" Knuckles swung his arms rolling his shoulders.

"I was just getting ready for my fight, and these two creeps jump me." Both he and Sonic turned their heads to see Rudy and risen back to his feet. Likewise to their left Bull had cornered the Mario brothers.

All at once the six combatants piled out ontop of each other, rolling out from backstage and into full view of the crowd.

"WHOA!" Syrup let out. "Look at this! It seems a brawl has spilled out from the locker room." Red held Luigi above his head with both hands but dropped him when Sonic charged forward and took the Bull to the ground, spreading im across the runway. At the same time Rudy reached for Mario but was knocked off his feet by the plumber.

The sight was not a good one for Wario. And he feared most what he saw at the end of the walkway. Behind all the chaos not partaking in the fighting was his final opponent. Knuckles the Echidna.

A cold drop of sweat fell from Wario's head. Knuckles regarded him with a glare before leaping into the air. Jumping over the fighting and into the ring to stand before Wario.

"HaHa!" Rouge laughed." Now that was an entrance."

"No use hiding Big Guy." Knuckles said. Wario kept his face straight although he gulped down a breath of fear.

"It seems like there's no point waiting for the rest of the intermission." Syrup commented. "AND NOW! The Final Road of the Tournament of Champions! READY, SET, GO!"

Once more Knuckles started first. Stomping across the battleground and charging towards Wario. The CEO hadn't realized it until now but he did have some small edge over Knuckles. He knew how the Echidna fought.

A big bruiser who would hit hard. Wario couldn't match this as seen in the previous match. If he stayed on his feet while keeping the Guardian at bay he might be able to tire him out. He put his plan into action and instead of taking Knuckles first blow this time avoided it.

He jumped causing Knuckles to hit the ground instead. This early victory changed Wario's fear into joy. This fight was his to win.

He reached forward and tried to slap his hand on Knuckles face. He was taken by surprise when the Echidna lurched back out of his reach only to rear back his other fist to hit him in the face.

"OH!" let out he ground. Syrup was one of them."This start doesn't look too different from the last one." She laughed into the microphone. Knuckles swung up with another punch that struck Wario upside the head.

But the big man was still too beaten from the last time he taken a handful of those punches. He could hardly lift his arms up to block. Taking the hits did it's work quickly. Another strong punch and he felt the whole room spinning. His tongue poked out from his mouth as he went crashing to the ground.

"OH!" Syrup let out as the audience cheered." Wario is down, time for the ten count. ONE! TWO! THREE!" Wario couldn't be sure but it sounded like she was counting faster then the previous time he'd asked her too. Lifting his head he saw Knuckles the Echidna standing over him. He had not continued his assault once it was clear Wario had hit the ground." FOUR! FIVE!" By now the audience had begun to count with her. And it was clear that there was going to be a new Champion. But Wario wasn't about to let this plan go to waste.

He remembered then and there that he wasn't the heroic Garlic Man anymore. He was Wario. And this was his tournament. His master plan!

He swung out both his hands and slapped them around Knuckles' ankles. The Echidna and the audience were all taken by surprise when Wario pulled his legs out from under him and Knuckles landed flat on his back.

"SI-WELL" Syrup continued." It looks like the battle isn't over yet." Knuckles looked up to see Wario standing over him. But the Chairman jumped as high as he could before slamming down on Knuckles. Kicking his legs out and squashing Knuckles beneath him." OH! That had too hurt!"

Sonic turned his attention from his own fight to the one happening in the ring.

"Oh C'mon Knux!" He called out." Show some backbone-GAH!" He was cut off as Bull ran up behind him and kicked him to the ground.

In the ring Wario stood up, only to kick out his legs once more to squash Knuckles beneath him. But Knuckles stretched out his arms to grab into the mat. Once he had a good enough grip he pulled himself out from under Wario forcing the Chairman to land flat on his butt.

Now in a seated position Wario had a first hand look as Knuckles jumped to his feet and punched him right in the face. The Chairman fell to the mat like a ton of bricks only for his girth to bounce him back up like a balloon. So Knuckles repeated the process. Punching Wario in the face only for him to bounce back up for another one.

Syrup's laughter rose with the crowds.

"The tables have really turned now." she said. Another jab in the face caused Wario to fall back. But he was tired of taking punches and tried to correct it. As he bounced back up and into the next blow, Wario ducked under the punch. At the same time he lifted his stubby legs and jumped up. Driving his shoulder into Knuckles' stomach as Wario himself rose to his full height.

He raised the Echidna over his head only to turn and toss him across the ring. Knuckles rolled from one shoulder to the other and finally onto his back. Only for the ring to rumble beneath the sound of an mighty fall. He turned to see Wario lifting his stumpy legs as high as he could in an effort to reach Knuckles quicker.

The Chairman then leapt up, taking to the air and preparing to drop on Knuckles with a mighty bodyslam. Once more Knuckles rolled out of the way and Wario's face went crashing into the canvass.

Wario put his arms down and pushed himself up. Only to see an incoming blow from Knuckles coming. But the Chairman was ready for it this time. He ducked his head between his shoulders and the punch flew overhead. His signature yellow cap flew off his head and over the top rope and onto the ground.

Sonic seeing this moved in and quickly grabbed it.

Wario jumped to his feet and punched Knuckles in the chin. What followed as a series of furious punches as the two went back and forth. Blow for blow. It was just the sort of chaotic conclusion that everyone expected for such an event.

Knuckles reared his fist back and when he swung forward hit Wario right on his dimpled chin. The blow caused Wario to drop his fists and spin around gracefully like a little top. When he turned back to face Knuckles the Echidna hit him once right on the nose.

This time Wario fell flat onot his back, his little legs poking out above. And this time he did not get up. What followed was the ringing of the victory bell.

"We have a WINNER!" Syrup announced. Knuckles raised both his fists up and into the air."KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA!" And the audience erupted in cheers.

"YEA KNUX!" Sonic cheered as he stormed the ring.

"Knuckles!" Mario let out as he jumped into Knuckles and hugged him. Beside him Luigi was clapping his hands.

"HAHAHA!" Rouge laughed jumping up and down on the couch." YES!" Shadow hunkered down next to Omega, pushing himself as far away from Rouge as he could. "OH YEA!" She let out with a triumphant kick, hitting the bag off popcorn off the table and across the floor.

Wario slowly picked himself up and crawled out of the ring. He slid under the bottom rope like a snake, falling flat onto his back on the outside. Holding his head in one hand he tried to pick himself up.

In doing so he saw Syrup and the cameras walking towards him.

"Ehhh Syrup." He said extending one hand to her." Syrup... help me-" But she walked right past him and into the ring. Wario, head still spinning stopped trying to stand and collapsed onto the ground once more.

Syrup made her way into the ring. Moving past everyone else so she could stand side by side with the Victory.

"Introducing the new WarioWare Heavyweight Champion. Knuckles the Echidna!" The crowd continued to cheer as Knuckles was flanked by his friends." So Champ" Syrup said leaning down to eye level with him, also so she could get the microphone in his face easier." How does your victory feel?" She put the microphone to his mouth.

"I knew I could do it." Knuckles answered." Fighting is what I do best!" This bravado while blunt was surprisingly loved by the crowd. Syrup seemed to love and and tried to continue the interview.

"So it's safe to say we'll see you defending your title soon?"

"You know it." He answered. The idea of the red scrapper coming back and defeating villains like Wario and Garlic Man thrilled the crowd even more.

"He really has a way with words doesn't he?" Amy commented.

"Doesn't help the smell." said a voice over her shoulder. She and Tails both looked up to see Sonic leaning over the couch and watching the tv with them.

"AH!" Amy shrieked." Sonic!"

"Your back!" Tails let out happily.

"That's right." Sonic nodded." I'm back." He lifted both his hands, each holding an item in them and he showed them to Tails. "I got you a couple of keepsakes little bro. An autograph from Garlic Man." He showed the signed signature." And a Signature Wario hat." He showed the yellow cap. When he was done talking he slapped the cap onto Tails' head. But of course it was too big for him and hell down his ears and covered his entire face.

"It's too big." Tails said pushing it up.

"You'll grow." Sonic said.