It's time for the tournament to begin.

The teams have already been announced, and the first two teams are about to kick off the preliminaries.

The first round is…

Chapter 3: Sonic vs. Babylon

"Will the two teams please report to the starting gate?" The announcer requested.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Jet, Wave, and Storm took a spot at the 50 m line.

"Ready to race, Jet?" Sonic asked.

"If you mean win, then yes, I am." Jet remarked.

"Let's see who has better skills, Shorty." Wave told Tails.

"Don't worry. He will." Tails replied, obviously referring to himself.

"Time to settle the score from last time." Storm said to Knuckles.

"Any time, you meathead." Knuckles answered.

The countdown started. Sonic and Jet moved back, wanting to get a fast start. Tails and Wave slowly moved forward, wanting to cross as soon as the electric gate faded. Knuckles and Storm just stood there, waiting to dash towards the start.

3…Sonic and Jet started towards the start.

2…Knuckles did a quick feint, causing Storm to start before him.

1…Tails and Wave were a few feet away from the gate.

BZZZT!!

The feint committed by Knuckles caused Storm to start before him, and he hit the electric gate just before it shut off. Sonic and Jet passed him by as they hopped on their boards to start the race. Wave and Tails got on their boards as they passed him.

"See ya at the finish, meathead." Knuckles called as he left the start.

The race had started. The track in the arena was a twisted desert-like oval with a few curves on the straight sections and a loop in the middle. A few shortcuts had been placed. A couple of grind rails for the speeders, a set of accelerator rings for flying types, and a barricaded tunnel for the power players. After the race, the track would change shape.

Sonic and Jet leapt off of the first ramp and performed tricks. Sonic landed ahead of Jet and started to get a good lead until…

"AH-CHOO!"

Jet had sneezed on Sonic and slowed him down.

"Man, now I'll need a bath after this. And I hate water." Sonic complained.

Jet now had the lead. He came up on a light slalom and took it like the board master he was. He came up on a tight turn and performed an air slide to get by. He was just about to boost to gain a bigger lead until…

"HERE I COME!!!"

Sonic had caught up and yelled in Jet's face.

"So you want to play hardball, eh? Well, two can play at that game." Jet remarked.

He then got a capsule that held 30 rings, sending him to level 2. Jet boosted to Sonic and attacked.

"Eat this!" Jet had pulled out one of his fans and swung it at Sonic, suddenly sending him forward, then slowing him down.

A little ways back, Tails was battling Wave for the 3rd spot. Tails boosted and pulled out a plug, which he used on Wave. The shock slowed Wave down for a couple of seconds. Wave regained her balance and sped up. Tails was confident. Up ahead he could see Sonic and Jet battle for the lead. Tails was about to help his friend when…

"How about this!?" Wave said and hit Tails with her wrench.

"Ow. That hurt. I'll get you!!" Tails called as Wave flew by.

Fortunately for Tails, there was a 100 ring capsule nearby. He picked it up and went to level 3 instantly. He caught up to Wave and shocked her with his upgraded plug.

"How's this!?" Tails yelled as the plug hit Wave and burnt her to a crisp. This effectively stalled her for a while. Knuckles and Storm passed by her as she returned to normal.

Knuckles and Storm were constantly tossing punches at each other, hoping to stop the other. Knuckles roared in Storm's face while Storm clapped his hands and tried to flatten Knuckles. Both attacks worked. They were now even further behind. Knuckles broke away from Storm and hit a 30 ring capsule, sending him to level 2. Storm did the same, then boosted ahead of Knuckles. Storm was about to enter the barricaded shortcut when…

"Gotcha. SCREW PUNCH!!" Knuckles yelled as he hit Storm hard and screwed him up, literally. Apparently he had reached level 3 by picking up some rings. As Storm began to unwind from his predicament, Knuckles started to gain a lead over him.

Sonic and Jet had just crossed the start/finish line to begin lap two. Wave passed Knuckles and Storm and caught up to Tails. She was at level 3 by this time. She planted a bomb on the Yellow Tail and hit the detonator. The board blew up and Tails was burnt to a crisp as Wave passed by.

"See ya, Shorty." She called as she moved on.

Tails returned to his normal, non-burnt self.

Sonic and Jet were still fighting for the lead. They both hit the grind rail and sped around the corner. Both of them were at level 3. Sonic and Jet tried to attack each other, but the force of both of them attacking caused them to be pushed back.

"Stand still and let me pound you." Jet said.

"Not a chance." Sonic replied.

Jet decided to let Sonic gain a little lead. He hit the air brake for a second. It wasn't long, but Sonic got ahead. Jet then attacked.

"Know the power of Babylon!" Jet said as he pulled out his two paper fans and spun in an upward motion, literally screwing Sonic up.

As he unscrewed himself, he saw Jet go through the loop. Sonic got a speed boost capsule and caught up to Jet. Sonic stayed behind him as two rows of capsules came up. Jet got an air refill and a 10 ring packet. Sonic got two 20 ring packets, which brought him up to level 2. He boosted towards Jet and spin-dashed into him, making him shoot forward, then stopping him. Sonic passed by.

"See ya later, Jet." Sonic called as he passed the start/finish to begin lap three.

"Get back here, hedgehog." Jet yelled.

Tails was still battling Wave as they crossed into their third lap. They had stopped attacking each other and just focused on outracing each other.

"Think you can beat me on that piece of junk?" Wave asked Tails.

"I don't see your board doing any better." Tails retaliated.

"TAKE THAT BACK!!!" Wave yelled.

Wave went on the attack, hitting Tails with her wrench. Tails knew she was at level 2; otherwise she wouldn't have used that attack. He also saw a red trail coming out the back of her board. Green was level 1, red was level 2, and blue was level 3. Every racer knew that a blue trail was a bad sign. If anyone were to be attacked by someone with a blue trail on the last lap, it usually meant you lose the race. Being burnt to a crisp was the worst, because you could be stalled for at least 5 seconds.

Tails recovered and saw Wave going around the sharp turn. He followed her and they resumed their little "battle".

Knuckles and Storm were almost to the first sharp turn on their third lap. Knuckles was at level 3, and Storm was about to be. Knuckles was ahead of Storm, but it didn't last long. Storm reached level 3 by picking up rings, and attacked. Storm's two-fist smash left Knuckles stunned for a few seconds. When Knuckles recovered, Storm had already taken the first turn and was already at the loop. Knuckles would have to race perfectly for any chance to win. He didn't have to wait long. Storm had gotten careless and his board ran out of air. As Storm started to look for an air pit, Knuckles rounded the turn and headed for the loop. Once he was through the loop, Storm had just topped off his air tank. The two resumed their battle.

Sonic and Jet were coming up on the finish line. Jet had the lead, and Sonic wasn't far behind. Sonic boosted and got ahead of Jet, and the two crossed the finish line. Sonic had won, but it wasn't over. Both knew that just one team member winning wouldn't do. The first team to cross would win. That meant that it was over once all 3 members of one team were across.

"I won the race, Jet." Sonic told him.

"It's not over yet." Jet replied.

Tails and Wave had just rounded the final turn and were coming to the finish. Tails was at level 2 and attacked Wave. Unfortunately, the forward force pushed Wave across the line before him.

"Two down, one to go." Wave said.

"Knuckles won't let us down." Tails remarked.

It was down to Knuckles and Storm, both of them rounding the final turn. They were neck-and-neck, or in this case, board-and-board. At the finish line, someone was waiting offside in the case that a photo finish was needed. They passed the finish line. It was so close that the photo needed to be taken. While the photo was being checked, the two teams started talking.

"Who do you think won?" Jet asked.

"We'll just have to wait until the photo has been developed." Tails told him.

"I haven't had this much fun since I was exiled a couple of months ago." Sonic said.

"We all remember that." Wave told them. "Don't we?"

"Exactly." Knuckles agreed.

The photo had just been checked, and the winner was ready to be announced.

"Alright, everyone. The photo has been checked. We will now reveal the winner." The announcer said. Everyone was on the edge of their seats.

"And the winner is…Team Sonic!"

The crowd went wild. Team Sonic had beaten Team Babylon.

"Looks like we won." Sonic said.

"I guess so." Jet admitted.

"You raced well, Shorty." Wave said.

"Thanks. And call me Tails." Tails told her.

"We'll be back next time." Storm told them.

"We'll be waiting." Knuckles said.

"Team Sonic will be moving on." The announcer told the viewers. "Now it's time for the next round. Our randomizer will choose the two teams. Next race is between…"

The randomizer started changing pictures. The left randomizer landed on Galeon, and the right landed on Velocity.

"…Team Dynamic vs. Team Velocity."

Galeon looked at Velocity.

"Looks like we're up." Galeon told her.

"Let's make it a good race." Velocity responded.

End of Chapter 3.

Next is Team Dynamic vs. Team Velocity. Who will win? Find out in the next chapter.

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