It's time for the next race, which is the last one in this half of the tournament.
There has been a change in the elimination rules. During the story, Gerald will reveal it.
Well, I'm getting excited, and I know you all are, so I'll get to it.
Disclaimer: Sega owns Sonic and co. OCs belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 16: Forest Race in Green Cave
All of the racers had reported to a deep part of Soleanna Forest, where the Green Cave track was located. There were only a few events before the 5 racers in 11th through 15th places were eliminated from the competition. The standings looked like this: Wave (55), Jet (54), Rector (53), Armand (51), Galeon (51), Sonic (48), Raine (48), Howl (45), Basil (42), Storm (40), Rampage (40), Tails (39), Axel (39), Knuckles (37), and Nightscream (36).
Sonic and Galeon were worried, and they had a reason to be. The other members of their teams were about eliminated. If they weren't able to pick up their game, Sonic and Galeon would be the only ones of their teams remaining. That wouldn't go too well for them.
Gerald was ready with the announcements, so as soon as the audience was settled, he began.
"Before I go through with the usual, I want to make a revelation. It's about how elimination will work. After the White Cave Survival Race, the last 5 in the standings will be eliminated."
This bit of news caused the crowd to gasp, as well as cause the racers to become a little nervous.
"Afterwards, the second-half of the tournament will begin, with the remaining racers starting out with a cleared score of no points. Later, after the Sega Illusion Survival Race, those in 6th through 10th will be eliminated. In the Space Theater Survival Battle, we'll bring out Teams Star, Velocity, Music, and Legendary for a free-for-all battle to earn the last two spots. In that race, the last two standing will earn the right to fill in the two final spots for the final race."
With that information out of the way, Gerald started the main announcements.
"Now, for the main announcements. Welcome to Soleanna Forest, where the next race will be held in the Green Cave track. This track is known for being one of the most natural tracks ever designed. A lot of it is actually made up of the forest itself. This is a standard race, so standard rules apply. You all know them, so I'm not going over them. Oh, and this small note applies to Rampage, Tails, Axel, Knuckles, and Nightscream: I'd start racing harder if I were you. With your totals, you'll be eliminated if you don't pick up your scores by the end of the next Survival Race. Now that that's over, get into position, and get ready to race."
Gerald wrapped up the announcements, and headed to the announcer's booth.
The 15 racers took positions at the starting line.
5…4…3…2…1…
GO!
The race began. Sonic was the first one out of the gate. Right after the starting line was a downward slope that led to a ramp at the bottom. Sonic, who was speeding down the slope, left a trail of turbulence that the others rode. The ramp led to a long spiral wrapping around one of the biggest trees anybody had ever seen. Sonic jumped off of the ramp, followed by the others. Armand was right behind him.
After landing, the start of the spiral was one of the areas where attacks were common. Armand, Howl, and Nightscream made a good example of that by attacking Sonic, Storm, and Axel, respectively, with level 1 attacks. This caused a lead change.
Before the spiral started, speeders could access a rail that took them all the way down it. Armand noticed it, but he was too far ahead of the start of the rail, so he had to pass it. Howl was in the same position, so he couldn't access it. Sonic, who had been attacked before it, could access it. Galeon and Jet, who had just landed from the first ramp, could also access it. They jumped on, and it took them a little ways before a gap in the rail. They jumped it, and landed on the second part of it. It took them to the bottom.
Knuckles and Rector, in the lead until Sonic, Galeon, and Jet came off the rail, saw a barricade. As the others made a turn, Knuckles punched through the barricade, with Rector following him.
"I never even knew this was here." Knuckles said.
"Well, when you actually pay attention, you notice things you never even knew was there." Rector told him.
"I'm going to ignore the 'pay attention' part." Knuckles told him.
They went through the shortcut, and emerged into the lead. There was a nice space of free riding before they saw some of the biggest vines ever. There was a small ramp on the left, and a flying launch pad in the center.
"Whoa! Have you ever seen vines that big?" Knuckles asked Rector.
"No, but you will!" They heard a voice behind them.
Sonic came barreling through them both at level 2, sending them spinning. Due to the twisting vines, they fell off, face-first.
"Ow. Now I 'see' what he meant." Rector said.
They got back on their boards and continued the race. Some of the flying types had hit the middle ramp and were on their way to a shortcut. A few racers managed to trick off of turbulence on the vines, and reached higher vines. One of those vines led to a cave that had a 100-ring capsule, and Basil happened to be that lucky racer.
"This is my lucky day. A 100-ring capsule all for me."
Basil picked it up, sending him to level three.
"Now it's time to rock!"
The caves led to drop-offs, as all of the racers noticed. But just as they were about to hit the drop-offs, giant red centipedes came out of nowhere and gave them a ride to the next area. Those who hit the top vines landed in the right cavern exit, which was shorter than the left cavern exit, which was where a racer went if he/she took the lower vines. Most of the flying racers, as well as some of those who hit the top vines due to turbulence, came out of the right exit. Sonic, Armand, Knuckles, and Rector were the ones who came out of the left exit. They were now in the last 4 spots.
"Man, now how are we going to catch up?" Armand asked.
"We'll just have to race hard." Sonic responded.
"And how do we do that?" Knuckles asked.
"I'll tell you how. We're going Sonic Bowling!" Rector told them.
They knew what that meant. Armand, Knuckles, and Rector formed a triangle while they held Sonic above them. Sonic was in a spin dash.
"Ready?" Rector asked.
Tails looked behind him and saw what was about to take place. He was in 11th. He backed down and went to them.
"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Tails asked.
"We're about to go bowling." Armand replied.
"Well, now that there are 10 racers in front, I think it's possible for a strike." Tails told them.
"I'll agree to that." Knuckles said. "Ready?"
The others nodded. Lucky for them, the racers had lined up in bowling pin formation. The first "pin" would unfortunately be Storm.
"GO!" All 5 racers said at once.
That's when they released Sonic, who sped forward. Howl and Raine looked behind them and saw Sonic being launched.
"Oh no." Raine said.
"What is it, Raine?" Howl asked before seeing it. "Oh crap…"
At that moment, the pins started being knocked down. Howl and Raine timed it so that they would move out of the way when they were about to be hit.
Sonic bowled through each racer, ending with the one in the lead, who happened to be Nightscream.
"Strike!" Sonic said.
Rector noticed Howl and Raine. He thought Sonic had hit them when they had unleashed him.
"Howl, Raine, did that attack hit you?" Rector asked, worried.
"No, it didn't. We timed it so that we would move out of the way at the time Sonic was to hit us. We're okay." Raine told him. Rector breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good. I thought you would have been hit." Rector said.
The race continued. In the area they were in, exiting the cave, on the left was a power barricade. Through that barricade were some giant grapes. On the right side of the main path, there was a quarter-pipe. It led to some flight accelerator rings. Just past it was a left turn, followed by a right turn. At the end of the quarter-pipe, there was a grinding rail. After the right turn was a small left turn, and at the end of the path was a ramp.
No racer could get high enough to hit the spider-web shortcut, so they had to land on the track and make a sharp right turn to head to another ramp. This one led to a bigger spider-web, and it launched them temporarily out of the forest.
"Whoa! We're so high up!" Sonic said.
"Cool!" Rector said.
"Hey, hey, let me down!" Galeon said.
They didn't stay up there long, as they started dropping down…right into the starting block to begin lap two.
"That…was weird." Jet said.
"Uh-huh." Wave agreed.
The second lap began with the downward slope and ramp. As the race went on, the lead changed several times. Everyone was at level 3, and they all were trying to attack everyone else. It was total chaos during the race. There was no telling who would win this one. During the spiral, all of the speed types were hit by level 3 attacks, causing a setback. After the spiral, and before the vines, all of the power types were hit by a mix of level 3 and level 1 attacks. After the vines and the centipede's nest, the flying types were hit by level 1 attacks. Everyone had been reset to level 1.
On the third lap, the same thing happened. Constant lead changes, level 3 attacks, and constant running out of air due to boosting kept happening. This was a race where the winner was a mystery to all.
As the race winded down, Basil had the lead, but he lost it quickly. But that wasn't surprising. The racers hit the big spider web one last time and came down to the starting block. Sonic crossed the finish line first.
"And with that, Sonic wins the Green Cave race!" Gerald announced.
"Sweet!" Sonic said.
Amy, in the stands, looked on with happiness.
"Alright, Sonic!" Amy cheered.
The results were like this: Sonic (+15), Basil (+14), Rector (+13), Jet (+12), Rampage (+11), Knuckles (+10), Armand (+9), Wave (+8), Raine (+7), Galeon (+6), Axel (+5), Nightscream (+4), Tails (+3), Storm (+2), and Howl (+1).
"And with that, the Green Cave race is over. For those in 11th through 15th, you have one more event left. If you don't come back up into the top 10, it's good-bye for you. Well, weather reports say that a small snowstorm is inbound. This will be perfect, as it will open the White Cave track. That's where we'll have the Survival Race, which will be the final race of the first half of the tournament. See you whenever."
Gerald wrapped up the announcements, then left. The heroes decided to head back to Jet's airship, and wait for the snowfall.
End of Chapter 16.
Short, as usual, but I'm not complaining. I hope you all liked the race. Now, just wait for the next Survival Race, and if you read Gerald's message in this chapter, you should be in suspense as to who will get eliminated.
Here are the results:
Jet: 66
Rector: 66
Wave: 63
Sonic: 63
Armand: 60
Galeon: 57
Basil: 56
Raine: 55
Rampage: 51
Knuckles: 47
Howl: 46
Axel: 44
Storm: 42
Tails: 42
Nightscream: 40
Howl, Axel, Storm, Tails, and Nightscream are REALLY in danger. If they don't pick up enough points in the Survival Race, it's over for them. They'll need a LOT of luck if they want to pull through. So, to give them a fair chance, they'll earn double points in the next Survival Race. SO DON'T START COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW THEY WON'T HAVE A CHANCE!!
Read, and you may review if you want.