Ready for the second half of the tournament?

As you all know (if you read the last chapter), the first 5 racers have been eliminated from the tournament.

Let the second half of the tournament begin.

Disclaimer: Sega owns Sonic and co. OCs belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 18: Snow Valley Survival Battle

The first half of the tournament is over, and Nightscream, Axel, Tails, Storm, and Howl had been eliminated. The second half of the tournament would begin with a Survival Battle, then would continue as usual.

The racers were in the break room, waiting for the call to come out.

"Man, I can't believe that Tails got eliminated." Sonic said.

"Axel got eliminated as well." Armand reminded them.

"All teams lost a member. But we have to continue. Besides, this isn't a team tournament." Rector told them.

Just then, Gerald came in.

"Hey, the next event will begin soon. You might want to get out there." Gerald told them.

"We're on it, bro." Sonic replied.

The 10 remaining racers headed out to the arena. Gerald began the announcements.

"Alright everyone, it's time for the next Survival Battle at the Snow Valley Stadium, located just outside the White Cave track. You all know that there will only be 10 racers going for the right to race in the finals. One member of each team has been eliminated. There are currently 4 speed types, 3 power types, and 3 flying types remaining. Now, before I go on with the main announcements, I'd like to introduce a new announcer. Everyone, meet Damien Angels."

Then a golden-colored dog came out of the entrance. He was wearing a white sleeveless hoodie, black jeans, black sneakers (In case anybody cares, they're Reeboks. I usually don't put real-world franchises in my stories. The only exception is the cereal, Frosted Flakes, as that's what causes Armand to go into Berserker's Rage.), a black bandanna, and he was wearing black sunglasses. If you looked behind them, you would see he had black contacts. Like Gerald, he held a microphone, since he was an announcer.

"What's up, everyone. I'm Damien Angels, and yeah, I'm an announcer. If anybody has a problem, prepare to face Nightshade, my dark side." Damien said.

Nobody complained. Damien may have committed some crimes, but he had been caught, and was told he could either perform community service, or go to jail. Damien had chosen community service since going to jail would have "cramped his style". Gerald had learned of this, and since he needed a co-announcer, he chose Damien.

"Yeah, everyone, I had him be my co-announcer since I needed one, and he had to perform community service. It works out, if you think about it." Gerald said. Damien then continued.

"At any rate, have you all enjoyed the tournament so far?" Damien asked. The crowd let out a huge cheer. "Good, because it just gets even more exciting from here. With only 10 competitors left, the tournament will only heat up more. Now, Gerald has filled me in on the remaining racers, so give it up for Sonic, Knuckles, Galeon, Rampage, Armand, Basil, Jet, Wave, Rector, and Raine, the 10 racers who all made their way through the first half."

The crowd went wild as the 10 remaining competitors came out onto the arena, holding their boards.

"And now, it's time for the Survival Battle. You all remember the rules, right? Everyone has 3 hit points. Lose all three and you lose the battle. Collect power ups as often as you can. Red is attack, blue is guard, green is speed, and yellow is air. The Egg is also available. Pick it up, and you're nearly disabled for 20 seconds. Once it hatches, you gain level 3 attack, level 1 guard, double speed, and half air consumption. There's also a power up unique to this arena. If you pick up a cloak, you turn invisible. But just because you can't be seen, doesn't mean you can't be hit. About 1:30 into the battle, Dr. Eggman will come in and drop 2 Egg-Snowmen. At 2:15, they'll start bouncing around. Well, that about covers it. You gain points based on how long you survive. Winner gets 5 points, and last place gets one point. Remember, you only have 5 minutes, so I suggest you hit your opponents early and hard." Damien said, reminding everyone of the Survival Battle rules. Gerald then took over.

"Alright, since there are only 10 left, we'll bring in our randomizer to determine who all will face off in the first of two battles. And the first 5 are…"

The randomizer started up. The photos that appeared shifted in this order: Sonic, Knuckles, Jet, Wave, Galeon, Rampage, Rector, Raine, Armand, and Basil. Soon, the randomizer stopped on the 5 that would start it off.

"…Sonic, Basil, Rector, Rampage, and Jet." Gerald announced.

The 5 racers took 5 different spots. They were around the center pedestal, which contained the air pit.

"Alright racers, before we begin, here are some details about this arena. There's only one air pit, and it's in the center. There are a few sets of air power up capsules around the track, and each one of them refills 30 air. If you're real low, one may change to a 50-air capsule. Remember to watch out for the cloak, and good luck." Damien told them, then he and Gerald headed to the announcer's booth.

Sonic, Basil, Rector, Rampage, and Jet got ready to battle.

3…2…1…

GO!

All 5 racers hopped on their boards at the same time to begin the battle. They immediately started heading for one another. Rector targeted Basil, and Sonic targeted Rampage, leaving Jet out of it.

"Leave me out of the fun, will you? No way!" Jet said.

Jet then kicked it into high gear, attacking Rector, Sonic, Rampage, and then Basil. It was amazing. Jet had attacked all four opponents in a row.

"Jet pulled off 4 consecutive attacks. That's 3 bonus points for him!" Gerald announced.

Jet smiled at what he had done. But it wasn't long before that smile disappeared.

"How about this!?" He heard someone say.

Basil then attacked Jet with his Aqua Sword. Jet took a hit. All racers were left with only two hits left. Now Sonic was after Rector, and Rampage, Jet, and Basil went on a 3-way battle. Sonic dashed towards Rector, who laid a tornado to trip up Sonic, and he took a hit as the tornado caught him. Sonic was in danger of losing. But would he allow that? He didn't think so. He picked up a level 1 attack, and targeted Rector. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for Rector, Basil, who was targeting Rampage, had passed in between them. He didn't notice Sonic until it was too late.

"Basil, watch out!" Armand called, but it was too late.

Sonic hit Basil with the attack and knocked him out of the battle. Basil couldn't believe it.

"I lost? Damn. No way!" Basil cursed.

Basil left the arena, and he wasn't too happy.

"Well, four racers left. Let's see who gets knocked out next." Damien announced.

The battle continued. 1:30 had passed since the battle had started, so the Egg-Snowmen started dropping in. They landed with a thud. The others knew that the battle had just gotten harder. Sonic couldn't believe that he had hit Basil instead of Rector.

"He just HAD to get in the way. Why did that have to happen?" Sonic asked himself.

"He was going after Rampage. Your attack path just happened to cross his targeting path." Jet said as he came up.

"Shut up, Jet. I didn't ask you." Sonic said.

"Hey, I was just…" Jet began, but he stopped for some reason.

And there was a good reason why. They both were headed straight for an Egg-Snowman. They tried to dodge, but couldn't. They both hit the giant snowman and lost a hit. Jet was left with one, but Sonic, who had lost one to Jet and another to Rector's tornado, lost his last one.

"Aw, I lost. Dang!" Sonic said.

"Ow. That hurt." Jet said.

Sonic left the arena in a less-than-happy mood. He met Basil at the entrance to the arena.

"Next time, don't get in the way of my attack." Sonic said as he passed.

"YOU were the one who didn't look before you attacked. It's your fault." Basil retaliated.

"No, it was yours."

"Shut up, you blue rat!"

"You shut up, you orange water freak!"

They were about to fight when Armand came up.

"BOTH of you shut up!" Armand said. They did. They knew not to ignore Armand.

"Alright." They both said, one after the other.

Outside, the battle raged on. The timer had reached 2:30, so the Egg-Snowmen had already started bouncing around. Jet, Rector, and Rampage stayed in the center, only diverting to the outer edges of the arena when it was clear. Rampage noticed a light-blue power up. He picked it up, and all of a sudden, he disappeared from view. He had picked up the invisibility power up. He went on the offensive. He attacked Jet, knocking him out of the battle. Unfortunately, he didn't see an Egg-Snowman hop up into the air…and it was coming down. He tried to boost out of the way, but it was no use. The giant snowman landed on him. He was shot out, but he had lost a hit point. Rector now had the lead. Rampage had lost the cloak due to the hit, so he was visible again. Rector boosted towards Rampage, who led him right to an Egg-Snowman. Rector hit it, and lost a hit point. It was now a showdown. The timer had reached 3:00, so the snowmen stopped bouncing around for the time being. Rector and Rampage were the only ones left. They charged towards each other in the center. They would meet near the air pit. The crowd was on the edge of their seats.

"GROUND POUND!"

"LEAF WHIRLWIND!"

The two racers attacked with their level 2 moves. The arena quieted down. Rector hoped what had happened at Dual Towers didn't happen here.

"It seems it was too close to call. We'll check a replay to see how it went." Gerald announced.

Gerald, Damien, and a commissioner watched the replay. After they saw, Damien made the announcement.

"And the winner is…Rector!"

"YES! I won!" Rector said as he jumped into the air. The crowd went wild as the result was announced.

"No way! I lost!" Rampage said.

The replay came up as the crowd looked on. Rector had barely dodged Rampage's attack and just connected enough to count as a hit. The results were: Rector (+5), Rampage (+4), Jet (+3(+3 bonus points)), Sonic (+2), and Basil (+1).

It was time for the other 5 competitors to go at it.

"Will Knuckles, Wave, Raine, Armand, and Galeon report to the arena?" Damien asked.

The 5 racers took positions around the center. They waited for the start.

3…2…1…

GO!

The 5 racers hopped on their boards and started to go on the attack. Armand and Galeon went at it, and Wave and Raine targeted each other, leaving Knuckles out of the fun.

"I'm getting into this battle! It's what I do!" Knuckles boasted.

He then went on the attack. Raine was hit, then Wave, and then Galeon. Armand dodged it, however, and countered with his own after Knuckles passed him.

"Nice try, knucklehead!" Armand said.

"Oh yeah? Well, go eat some Frosted Flakes, grr-EAT tiger!" Knuckles said. His eyes went wide and he covered his mouth. He had slipped his tongue, and now he was going to pay for it.

"DON'T EVER SAY THAT TO ME, KNUCKLEHEAD!!" Armand yelled.

Armand then went into Berserker's Rage mode. Wave, Raine, and Galeon steered clear. Galeon had made the same mistake at Dual Towers, and he knew not to do that.

Emily saw what happened. She noticed Shaun, Team Music's flying type, nearby.

"Shaun, did somebody call him a…you know what?" Emily asked.

"I'm afraid somebody did. Who it was, I don't know." Shaun replied.

Then, Emily's flying teammate, Alan the Tiger, came up.

"I heard who it was. Knuckles was the one responsible this time. Emily, it's time to work your magic." Alan said.

"I heard it too." Someone said.

They turned and saw Velocity the Rabbit, Team Velocity's speed type. Apparently, she had heard Knuckles slip.

"Knuckles didn't realize what he said until it had already been said." Velocity said.

Emily turned to where Armand was. He had just taken his anger out on Knuckles, hitting him once, and then after he recovered, hit him again, taking him out. Emily, who didn't like this, hoped Tobias would channel her prayer to Armand like he did last time.

"Armand, please calm down. I beg you." Emily said to herself.

As if he was alive, Tobias had heard Emily, and he channeled her prayer. Armand soon settled down.

"Thanks, Emily." Armand said to himself.

Emily looked at Armand from a distance. She knew he had calmed down. Armand got back on his board and continued the battle. Up in the announcer's booth, Damien was amazed.

"Uh, Gerald, what happened out there?" Damien asked.

"Apparently, I'm told that Knuckles told Armand to go eat some Frosted Flakes, then called him a grr-EAT tiger. You know, what Tony the Tiger says about them. If you say that to him, then you better get ready to take a beating." Gerald told him.

"I'll know not to say that." Damien said.

Back at the battle, nobody was getting a hit off of anybody else. The Egg-Snowmen had started bouncing around. The time elapsed was 2:20, so there was 2:40 left in the battle. Galeon finally did some damage about 10 seconds later, when he attacked Armand. Everyone now had 2 hits left, except for Knuckles, who had been eliminated.

"Darn it." Armand said.

"Well, that's the object. Attack your opponents." Galeon said.

The battle continued. Wave was attacked by Raine, who was attacked by Galeon, who was attacked by Armand, who was attacked by Wave. It was now a 4-way showdown.

Raine charged at Galeon, but missed with her attack. Armand attacked Galeon next, and his attack connected. Galeon was out. Wave then attacked Armand, knocking him out of the battle. It was now between Raine and Wave. They charged at each other. Wave pulled out her wrench, and Raine pulled out a stomach virus powder. They attacked, but Wave ducked the powder and hit Raine. She didn't hit her too hard, because she didn't want to face Rector. Wave had won the battle.

"Wave wins the battle!" Gerald announced.

"Yes! That's what I bring to the competition!" Wave boasted. And that was true.

The battle had ended. The results were: Wave (+5), Raine (+4), Armand (+3), Galeon (+2), and Knuckles (+1).

"Well, that's it. Meet us at the Desert Coliseum for the Dark Desert Survival Race. There have been predictions of a solar eclipse, so it will be perfect. See you all there." Damien said.

Gerald and Damien took their leave. The racers boarded Jet's airship to head to the coliseum.

End of Chapter 18.

That wraps up the Snow Valley Survival Battle. I hope you all enjoyed the races. Here are the results:

Jet: 6

Wave: 5

Rector: 5

Raine: 4

Rampage: 4

Armand: 3

Galeon: 2

Sonic: 2

Basil: 1

Knuckles: 1

Well, the second half of the tournament is underway.

Read, and you may review if you want.