Chapter 2

Narrowing down the Competition

Kirby ran through the cafeteria. He checked every station, but most of the food had been taken. If Kirby found food, he would eat it and move on to the next section. Then he saw it, a plate that had five chili dogs left. Kirby looked around. The last time he tried to take the last chili dogs, he had to fight Sonic. During the fight, Sonic ran off with the chili dogs. When Kirby saw that Sonic wasn't around he grinned and picked up a chili dog.

He was about to throw it into his mouth, but Sonic ran in and grabbed Kirby's arm. "Put the chili dog down," Sonic said.

Kirby stared at Sonic for a few seconds before taking a quick breath and sucking the chili dog into his mouth. Kirby broke free and made a desperate effort to get the other four. He managed to swallow one more before Sonic grabbed the others and ran off.

Sonic headed toward the rooms of the assist trophies. He tried his best to avoid meeting anyone else and being asked what he was doing. He made it to Shadows door and knocked. "Hey Shadow, I have something to tell you."

"Go away faker," Shadow said. "What would you have to say to me?"

Sonic looked around before whispering, "It has to do with the next tournament roster."

"They're coming up with the next tournament roster?" Jeff said as he opened the door. Sonic groaned as all the other assist trophies rushed out of their rooms and swarmed Sonic.

Shadow opened his door, pulled Sonic in, and quickly slammed it shut. "What about the next roster?"

"I was told that I got to choose one person from my world to join the next tournament."

"And you came here to invite me."

"Actually, I haven't decided who I should take yet."

Shadow gave a small smile and nodded. "Oh, I see." His face suddenly became serious as he pointed to the door. "Get out."

Sonic looked at the door. He shrugged and said, "Okay."

He ran out the door so quickly that all the assist trophies on the other side weren't able to react. He ran toward the lake to see if he could find the Rayquaza. He stopped as he saw what was approaching him from the distance.

A large ship of Dr. Eggman's was slowly approaching from the distance. Sonic got ready for a fight, but he was stunned when he realized what was hanging on the ship. The largest sign said, "Sonic, if I could do this in ten minutes, imagine what I could do in the next Super Smash Bros tournament."

Sonic turned to another sign. "Smash Bros needs another villain." A third said, "I'd be more unique than any other fighter." There was a high pitch sound that turned into Dr. Eggman's voice. "Sonic, I have been your arch enemy for over twenty years. A history of hatred that long deserves to be commemorated by fighting against each other or together in the next tournament."

Sonic saw something approaching him from beneath the ship. Sonic screamed a little when he realized what it was. Hundreds of his friends were running straight at him. Tails suddenly came down and landed by Sonic on the Tornado. He turned to where Sonic was looking, "I guess you already know."

Sonic grabbed Tails and shook him while saying, "Take me with you."

"Okay, just stop shaking me and get on." Sonic quickly jumped on. Tails got back into the cockpit and got it ready to take off. Amy, Espio, and a metal Sonic was quickly closing in. Tails took off before Amy and Espio reached them, but Metal Sonic simply created a jetpack and took off. Sonic jumped off the Tornado and hit Metal Sonic hard enough to send him crashing into the ground. He barely reached the Tornado.

Tails landed the Tornado by a shack in the middle of the woods. Tails landed the Tornado a distance off. The two of them headed toward the shack they saw. They entered the shack slowly to make sure no one had followed them there. After the two of them closed the door, they both released a sigh of relief. They both screamed when an arrow struck the door right in between them.

They both looked up to see Link. He was standing with his bow out. At the other end of the shack, about ten yards away, was a large target with a covering. All four of the arrows were in the bullseye. "What are you two doing here?" he said. "This is my private hideaway."

"Dr. Eggman chased us here because he wants to be a part of the next tournament," Sonic said.

"You led an outside villain here?"

"Hey, compared to your psychotic Ganondorf, Dr. Eggman isn't really that maniacal."

Link was about to say something, but he was interrupted when Dr. Eggman made another announcement. "Sonic, I followed you and Tails here. If that doesn't show you how I am worthy to be in the next tournament, then you shouldn't choose anyone else."

"What does he mean by choose?" Link said.

"Apparently Sonic gets to choose one person from our world to represent it with him," Tails said.

Link started saying, "But Master Hand-"

"Sh," Sonic said. He could see Big the Cat and Knuckles meet outside the shack. They motioned to it and began walking over. Sonic quickly turned to Link, "Please, you have to hide us."

Link groaned as he began pulling arrows out of the target. He zipped the target open and pointed inside it. "Hide in this, they won't expect it." Tails started protesting, but Sonic pulled him over and shoved him into the target. As Sonic got in, Link said, "Whatever you do, stay in the exact same position you are in now." Sonic nodded and got into it. Link zipped it shut and headed toward where he fired from.

Sonic and Tails sat in the, trying to ignore their discomfort. They heard a knock on the door. They heard the door open and Link say, "Yes?"

"Do you know where Sonic is?" Knuckles said.

"Yes, because I know everything he does," Link said sarcastically. "I'm sorry, but I came here to be alone. So if you don't mind, go away."

"What do you do here?"

"I practice skills that help in tournaments."

"Well, why doesn't that target have any arrows in it? I mean, the door does."

"Well, Sonic did come here, I bet a knucklehead like you could figure out that much." They could hear Knuckles growl. "I shot one arrow, and they dashed off into the woods."

"Then you don't mind if we search."

"As long as you do it quickly."

Sonic listened as they heard Knuckles walk around. Big didn't seem to be helping. Knuckles suddenly stopped and said, "Feel free to keep practicing."

Sonic listened intently. As he listened, he was pretty sure he heard Link pull back on the bow string. Sonic got as flat as he could and covered Tails mouth for what he knew Tails would try. An arrow was lodged several inches above where Sonic was laying. Tails tried to scream as another arrow embedded itself a bit more to the right. Sonic's hand was able to keep Tails quiet enough that Knuckles didn't notice.

Knuckles began to laugh. "I thought you would be a good shot."

"Today isn't my day," Link said as he fired another arrow.

Sonic could hear that Knuckles and Big left. Link fired two more arrows to be safe. After he fired the second arrow, he walked over to the target and opened it up. Tails looked terrified as he slowly climbed out. "I think it might have been better to have just let them catch us."

Sonic laughed as he patted Tails on the back. "Hey, thanks Link. I'm kind of surprised Knuckles didn't punch you after what you told him." Link started to laugh. "What?"

"Well, the statement I made about him being a knucklehead was more accurate than I thought." Sonic and Tails started joining Link in the laughter.

Sonic and Tails hung out with Link for a few hours to give the others time to move on. Link and Sonic talked about whether Tails had any potential as a fighter in the next tournament. The decision they came to was that Tails would definitely be unique if they could figure out his move set. They tried other things to make the time pass. Link took the arrow tips off and began firing at Sonic to see if he could hit him. Despite his best efforts, Link could only hit Sonic twice.

Sonic and Tails decided that they were safe to go. By then, it was night time. Sonic said he would make a run for it, and Tails should take the Tornado, where most of them were probably still watching them. They both got ready and left Link alone.

Tails flew above the tree tops and looked out from where he was. When he was straight above the Tornado, he could see about a dozen robots and even Big from up in the sky. Tails sighed as he landed in front of the Tornado. Before he was even in it, a dozen lights suddenly turned on, and Dr. Eggman shouted, "FREEZE!" Dr. Eggman landed in a small aircraft a few feet away from Tails, "Oh, Sonic isn't with you. Where is he?"

Tails shrugged, "I don't know, we split up. He could be anywhere: Green Emerald Island, Smash Mansion, Canada."

"We know you know where he is. Tell us where, or we'll make sure you can't be in the next tournament."

"I don't know. Wherever he is, he's probably running."

They suddenly heard screaming out in the distance. The cheering got closer as Rouge, Knuckles, Cream, Espio, Silver, and Blaze all walked into the clearing, all carrying Sonic. Sonic was shouting, "Let go of me! And when did you get here!?" Sonic did his best to point at Silver.

"Dr. Eggman wanted to tell everyone he would be in the next tournament. I told Blaze, and we both came to prove we were a better choice than Dr. Eggman."

They put Sonic down next to Tails. Tails sighed as Sonic got back up. Sonic got up and chuckled. "Sorry I got caught. I can take all of them, but not when they work together."

"SONIC!" Sonic turned and saw Amy run straight at him. Sonic turned to run, but he stopped when he realized that his path was blocked. He groaned just before Amy tackled him to the ground. "Oh Sonic, you shouldn't have ran away. I knew I would catch you. That's what love does to a person"

"Amy, I thought you were chasing me because you wanted to be in the next tournament."

"Well there's that,"

"He's choosing me." Tails said.

Everyone burst out into laughter, "Sorry Tails," Knuckles said. "But Sonic is taking me. I'm a fighter."

"He's choosing me," Espio said. "I'm a ninja."

"I'm the main villain," Dr. Eggman said. "It is only logical that I would be his choice."

Everyone started shouting about why they should be the one that Sonic chose. It eventually led to Victor shoving Rouge. Rouge kicked Victor into Knuckles. Knuckles stumbled into Metal Sonic. The two of them began fighting. It eventually spread to everyone fighting. Tails turned to get Sonic, but he saw Amy was still hugging Sonic and wouldn't let go.

"Everyone stop!" Everyone turned to see Shadow enter. Shadow walked down and broke up the few fights that were still going on. "The only way you get into the tournament is if Sonic chooses you, so everyone needs to settle down. Get together and let Sonic choose."

They were saying stuff as they all got together. Tails, Amy, and Shadow also went into the group. Sonic went through and began by taking out anyone he didn't think would be capable of handling it. He told Amy and Tails he wasn't totally confident in them, but he would give them a chance. He then went through the people that he didn't think were close enough to him to be considered big enough for the tournament. When he was done, he had Shadow, Knuckles, Amy, Tails, and Dr. Eggman.

He stared at the three of them for several minutes as the others left saying stuff about how they were worthy enough to be considered. Eventually, Sonic shrugged and said, "I can't decide right now, I need more time to decide between the five of you."

"Well take your time," Tails said.

They were about to leave, but suddenly they heard, "Oh good," they all looked up to see Pit. "You narrowed it down really well. You might actually meet the deadline."

Sonic looked shocked as he said, "The deadline?"

"Did I not tell you?" Sonic shook his head. "Master Hand says that all people smashers are choosing to be in the next tournament must be submitted within the next three days," Pit turned to the others to see that they looked just as shocked as Sonic, "I think I'll go."

Sonic turned to his friends, before he could say anything, they all began saying why they should be in the next game, Sonic tried to block them out, but they all seemed to go louder, "I'm the ultimate life form,"

"I'm your sidekick and have helped you in almost all your adventures."

"I 'm your archenemy and have fought to defeat you in almost all your adventures."

"I'm a strong rival."

"I love you Sonic."

Sonic screamed and dashed off before anyone could stop him. Tails said wait, but it didn't slow Sonic down. Knuckles, Shadow, and Amy began chasing after him. Tails and Dr. Eggman got into their own aircrafts and took off after him.