I couldn't help but feel something was missing from the last chapter. Oh wait, that's it. QUALITY! I hope this one is a step up from the last one.

Sonic the Hedgehog:

Tournament of the Stars

Chapter 19

Last time, Jet and Eggman ruthlessly defeated Cream and Jet. There were only four fights left now.

"Our next fighter is the king of pirates, it's Gale the Hedgehog!"

Gale received a few cheers as he came on, carrying a jar of rum. Thorn yelled at him and Gale was forced to hand it over.

"You know that you can't fight properly while drinking" the sorcerer scolded.

"Oh, come on, Thorn. Whoever I'm up against should be easy!" Gale said.

"And his opponent, the mysterious assailant who came out of nowhere, Starbright!"

Starbright walked out in a clam fashion, ignoring the cheers and applause. Her full attention was on Gale. When he saw her, the pirate could tell she was going to be tough.

In the stands, the Sonic Heroes stared at her. "Hmm, who is that girl?" wondered Shadow.

Armand, who was also suspicious, began checking his watch. On it were files on nearly every single person in the world. But there were no matches to Starbright.

"It's almost like she came out of nowhere" the tiger voiced out loud.

Sonic turned his attention back to the arena and, for some bizarre reason, became concerned for Gale. But why? Just who was he?

Back in the arena itself, Gale stared at Starbright as they met in the centre. It was hard to tell what she was thinking due to the fact her mask concealed her face. He decided to play friendly and extended his hand.

"Good luck, I suppose" he said but Starbright did not take his hand.

"I think you're the one who needs luck" she sneered. Suddenly, she jumped and aimed a kick at Gale. But the hedgehog was faster than he looked and easily blocked it with his arm. Starbright leapt back and ran as fast as she could, her fist drawn back. But Gale was still ahead of her. He jumped and performed his own version of the Homing Attack, only he extended his leg so his heel came crashing down on his enemy's head.

Starbright reeled back, giving Gale the upperhand. He ran at her and began to throw kicks at her, not giving her the time to block. Surprisingly, the mysterious girl managed to dodge every one of them. She bent back to dodge a high one and kicked upwards into a pressure point in Gale's leg. The pirate grasped his leg in pain, giving Starbright a free punch to the face.

Fighting the pain, Gale stood back up and prepared himself. Even though he couldn't see it, Starbright smirked. The hand began to glow with a blue aura, making Gale's eyes widen.

"Surprised? My suit allows me to maximise my own power with my own kind of Chaos energy. I suggest surrendering now" she threatened but Gale didn't back down. Sighing, she lunged for him, throwing her fist into his stomach. There was a flash of blue as he was thrown into the wall. Starbright walked over to him and, to everyone's astonishment, picked him up and held him by the neck. She then threw him behind her like a javelin, resulting in him crashing head first into the dirt.

But Gale wasn't done for. He steadily got back up and ran full speed at her. The two began to exchange kicks, neither getting a hit. Finally, Starbright ducked under a kick, whipped out a strange looking weapon and fired it at point blank range. It let out a bolt of blue energy that slammed into Gale and sent him across the whole width of the arena. He was about to get back up but Starbright was already above him, her gun aimed at his head.

"I win" she said quietly, before putting her gun away. The crowd didn't cheer and the commentator didn't announce her victory. He was probably in just as much shock as them.

Before she walked off, Gale asked "Who are you?"

Starbright stopped and turned to face him. She then looked towards the crowd and opened her mouth to speak until another voice was heard.

"Allow me to handle the explanations."

Then, a purple orb appeared and out of it appeared Mephiles. Sonic and Shadow immediately jumped down, avoiding the bouncers and faced the time demon.

"Mephiles! What are you doing here?" Shadow demanded.

"Why, I'm here for a simple act of revenge" he said, nonchalantly but he turned to Sonic and said "Don't think about fighting me, otherwise you'll be expelled from the tournament."

"I will get you for what you did!" the blue hero snarled.

"Well, I look forward to it. Come, Starbright. We have matters to discuss" Mephiles said as he turned to his companion before taking them both in a purple orb.

Shadow stood there, thinking. "Who is that girl? And why is she working for Mephiles?"

Sonic meanwhile, ran to Gale, who was having trouble standing. "Woah, take it easy" he told him.

Gale smiled. "Thanks for the sympathy but I'll be alright. I've been through worse."

Sonic stared at the adult and Gale did the same. As he looked at the young hedgehog, he saw someone else in him. It was his eyes really. Gale recognised those eyes.

"Your eyes are a lot like hers" he said, not really paying attention but Sonic heard.

"Like whose?" he asked.

Gale realised what he said and was struggling to find an answer when the medics came for him. He went with them, taking one last glance at Sonic. Sonic and Shadow took back their seats, both thinking completely different things.

Tails saw this and went to the two of them. "Are you guys thinking about Mephiles?" he asked.

Shadow nodded but Sonic didn't. "Who is that Gale person?" he asked, out loud.

Shadow shrugged. "I honestly don't know why you're so wrapped up about him. Let's focus on Starbright and Mephiles. What are they up to and why would she be working for him?"

Sonic shrugged as well, not sure himself but their thoughts were broken by the commentator's voice.

"Our next fighter is a mechanic and a member of the Babylon Rogues, it's Wave the Swallow!"

Jet cheered as loud as he could for his comrade. Wave strolled out, her wrench draped over he shoulder. Tails shuddered as he remembered racing her in the EX World Grand Prix and how she clobbered him with that thing during the race. He felt sorry for the guy who was facing her.

"And her opponent, a super powered bounty hunter, it's Havoc the Hedgehog!"

Havoc came out, ignoring the crowd and focusing on the task at hand. If he was going to get at Metal Havoc, he needed to pay attention. The two stood opposite each other and stayed silent for a few secs.

"So, a mechanic, huh?" Havoc said, breaking the silence.

"Yep, I can make any Extreme Gear good and durable, even for a bonehead like Storm" Wave replied.

Havoc smirked. "Extreme Gear? Those floating plastic planks? Anyone who has an interest in that has some issues."

This ticked Wave off beyond belief. With surprising speed, she clubbed Havoc round the head with her wrench. A normal person would've been knocked out but Havoc was only dazed. He began to back away as Wave continuously swung her wrench. The hedgehog kicked out at her, keeping some distance between them. The swallow staggered but ran back at Havoc, letting out some sort of war cry. But Havoc whipped out a rifle and shot the wrench out of her hand. She ran to grab it but Havoc knocked her over as he sped past her at speeds that would rival Sonic.

Havoc swiped the wrench and threw it into the crowd, leaving Wave defenceless. (Nobody got hit by the wrench)

"Give up. You're only weapon is lost and I have you pinned" Havoc mocked but Wave was smirking.

"Who said that was my only weapon?" she asked, pointing to Havoc's shoulder. He looked and saw a miniature detonator.

"Aw, crap!" he yelled as Wave set it off. The explosion was huge and kicked dust up into the air. Nobody could see a thing but they heard the sounds of punching and kicking coming from the cloud. As it died down, both Havoc and Wave were standing, covered with bruises. The purple avian wasn't giving up and threw a pack of TNT at him but Havoc used Chaos Control to disappear and reappear behind her. He performed a karate chop on her shoulder, knocking her out.

"Wave has been knocked out! Havoc wins!"

The crowd cheered for Havoc as medics came for them both. Jet immediately took off to make sure Wave was alright. In the medic room, Jet saw the other fighters who were being treated. Some were feeling slightly better like Fang and Espio but some were still not looking good, like Silver and Rouge. Sally was the worst. She was hooked up to a respirator and, according to the machine; her heart was beating very slowly. Jet felt sorry for her and Sonic, too.

He came across Wave who was unconscious still, and next to her, wide awake, was Storm.

"Hey boss! Did you win?" he asked.

"Of course I won! Wave wasn't as lucky" Jet told his friend.

Storm looked over at her. "Yeah, I didn't think she did. She didn't go up against either of those pieces of lunar trash did they?"

"Nah, Tagio was beaten by Sonic's bro. Axel, I think his name was. Cesare still hasn't fought yet" the hawk informed.

"Maybe he'll lose" Storm said, hopefully.

"Maybe, but I'll make sure that if I do fight him, he's going down!" Jet growled, clenching his fist. "I swear it!"