This chapter is quite long so I'll just say a few things. The OCs that appear towards the end won't have very important roles so I stuck them in there. Also, fellow ShadowXRouge fans will be shocked.

Sonic and co owned by SEGA

Strike, Aqua, Axel and Sally owned by me

Other OCs owned by respective authors

Sonic the Hedgehog:

Tournament of the Stars

Chapter 21

Last time, Cesare and Amelia defeated Wrist and Zero, ending Round 1. At the moment, everyone was doing their own thing around the park. Fang, Bean and Bark had left, since they had blown their chances to win the emeralds and Rothion was gone too. He probably couldn't face anyone after losing to Elise.

The scene shifts to the medical ward. It was virtually empty since everyone had healed from their injuries. The only one who was still in there was Sally. Sonic, Strike, Axel, Shadow and Gale were all there with her. She was still hooked up to the respirator.

"I swear, Mephiles will pay for what he did!" Sonic cried.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure he gets what's coming to him" Shadow told him.

"Well, be sure to save some for me" said Strike.

"Is there any reason why you're here?" Axel asked, with distain.

"Hey, she's just as much my sister as she is yours!" Strike yelled.

"Do you want to start something, because I'm gonna finish it!" Axel growled.

"Will you two SHUT UP!" Sonic yelled at them both. This got them quiet.

Gale stood there in silence, staring at the group of hedgehogs except for Shadow. The black hedgehog was getting slightly suspicious of him. Why did he show so much interest with Sonic's family?

Before his thoughts could go any further, a nurse appeared. "I'm sorry but I have to ask you to leave. Sally needs treatment badly so we're going to need the place empty" she said but they understood.

The group soon arrived outside. Gale left for somewhere else while Axel decided to do something to get his mind off of Sally. This left Sonic, Shadow and Strike with the rest of the group from Soleanna, plus Shade.

"Well, I have to say that was an interesting start" said Sonic.

"Agreed. Plus, we now know what kind of people we could be fighting" Knuckles replied.

"For some of you, maybe" Amy said, in a somewhat sad tone.

"Oh, cheer up Amy. It's not the end of the world" Sonic said, attempting to cheer her up. It worked because the pink hedgehog gave him a hug, which made him cringe.

Omega's attention was distracted to Shadow and Rouge. The two were trying to avoid eye contact. The others didn't seem to notice. They were busy talking about some of the fights that had occurred.

"Hey, Blaze. Don't you think you should apologise to Charmy for burning him?" suggested Tails.

"He started it" was the reply.

Rouge decided to speak up. "Well, that's what tournaments like this can do. They make people do STUPID things" she said, emphasising the word 'stupid'.

Shadow seemed to snap. "You want to say something, bat? Well, let's hear it!"

"I think we both know what I want to say! You tried to blow me up!"

"You brought Maria into the conversation, which was unnecessary!"

"That's no excuse to flip out! I'm beginning to wonder why I fell in love with you!"

"Same here!"

Shadow and Rouge immediately turned their backs on each other and walked off, leaving a stunned crowd.

Omega began to walk after Shadow, going past Aqua. He said to her "I suggest you talk to Rouge. I'll go and talk with Shadow."

Aqua nodded and began to chase after Rouge.

Omega found Shadow staring out into the horizon on the edge of the floating park.

"I am sensing high levels of anger" Omega announced, prompting Shadow to turn his head towards the robot.

"What do you want?" he asked, clearly still in a foul mood.

"I know that as a robot, I do not understand the concept of love but what I do know is that you should apologise to Rouge" Omega told him.

"She insulted Maria and for that, I'm not forgiving her until she apologises for mentioning her" Shadow replied coldly.

Omega shook his head. "I don't want to see you two angry at each other. You love her and she loves you. So, just say you're sorry" Omega seemed to ask. He almost sounded like he was pleading. Shadow stayed quiet, causing Omega to walk off.

Meanwhile, Aqua had caught Rouge at on a bench, sipping a cold drink. Aqua didn't want to see Rouge like this. They may not look like it but the two were actually close friends. They had shared a room while staying in Soleanna and the two had developed a sister like relationship, especially when Rouge found out Aqua could steal as well as she could.

The watery hedgehog sat down next to the bat, who didn't seem to notice.

"Rouge, are you OK?" she asked but she already knew the answer.

"I don't seem to understand him anymore. We got along well but now, he's changed" Rouge sighed.

Aqua turned to her friend. "Listen, I don't know much about this Maria girl, but she must've been important to Shadow and bringing her up like that wasn't the right thing. So, I think you should apologise."

Rouge turned to Aqua, looking quite peeved. "He nearly blew me up, Aqua. He shouldn't have overreacted so I'm not apologising until he does."

Aqua sighed, knowing that Rouge was persistent and left.

Elsewhere, the rest of the Sonic Heroes were walking through the park trying to think of what to do until they headed back to the hotels. As they argued, Silver's ear twitched. He wondered why it was doing that and stopped looking for any reason that would cause it.

Blaze noticed her boyfriend stop and turned towards him. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. It's probably nothing but…" Silver began but he was interrupted.

"Oh, I'd hardly consider myself nothing."

Everyone looked up to see a familiar figure float down, one that made Silver jump back in shock.

"NAZO!?" he gasped. "What's he doing here?"

"He entered the tournament and fought Metal Sonic but lost" Sonic explained.

"Lost? I think you've forgotten that I surrendered" Nazo reminded them.

"But why did you do that?" Strike asked.

"Oh, let's just say I have plans for Metal but that's for another time. I only recently found out that Silver is out of the tournament. And since that means neither of us can be disqualified…" Nazo started to say but Silver beat him to it.

"I get you, Nazo, and you're on!"

Silver jumped at Nazo and threw his fist forward but Nazo dodged it and kicked Silver in the back. The white hedgehog was knocked back into the ground but he wasn't going down that easily. He picked up a nearby hot-dog stand and threw it straight at the evil hedgehog. But Nazo simply threw a red sphere of energy at it, destroying it. Smirking at his work, he failed to see Silver coming towards him, his fist glowing with green energy. He hit Nazo round the face and sent him into a lamppost.

Nazo picked himself up but Silver had picked the broken lamppost up and was clubbing him round the head with it. Getting fed up; Nazo wrenched it out of Silver's grip and threw it away before firing a Chaos Spear at him. Silver managed to block it with a shield but Nazo teleported behind him, where he couldn't defend himself and began to throw successive punches that badly injured Silver. He was thrown forward and before he could get up, Nazo had floated above and zoomed straight down, feet first, and crushed Silver beneath him. Getting off of him, Nazo charged up two Chaos Spears before merging them together. He threw them as a Chaos Lance at Silver but he blocked it with another shield.

The attack bounced off and made a beeline for Axel, who was walking along, oblivious to the nearby fight. Strike saw this and ran towards the prince, shoving him out of the way and taking the hit. Blood splattered all over Axel as he saw Strike get thrown across the ground, a deep cut in his side.

"STRIKE!" Aqua cried, running towards him, hoping he was alive. Sonic joined her while Axel stared in disbelief.

Back with the fight, Nazo had Silver by the scruff of the neck.

"I have to say, despite we haven't known each other for long, you were a good opponent, but now your life ends here. Farewell, Silver the Hedgehog!"

Nazo was about to end Silver's life when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning, he saw a black tentacle that took him by surprise. It slammed down on his head, loosening his grip on Silver who kicked him in the gut. Nazo fell to the floor, dropping Silver and saw the tentacle retreat into his shadow. Nearby, looking quite smug, was Dusk.

"You interfering little girl! You'll pay dearly for that!" Nazo threatened.

"Well, I would be more worried about him" Dusk stated, pointing to Nazo's left. Turning, the evil hedgehog saw Basil firing a torrent of water at him. Nazo was unprepared and was blown back into a bench. He sent a Chaos Spear down the water, cutting it in half but Basil easily avoided the attack.

Before Nazo could do anything else, Blitz and Alan had double teamed on him, with Blitz firing a thunder spell at him that sent him into Alan who used this Thunder Kick to send him crashing into another lamppost.

As he picked himself up, he thought he was seeing double. Two of the same hedgehog was staring at him. He failed to realise it was Gemini. The dark hedgehog used his Double Dark Fang and it sent Nazo sprawling across the ground. He had received several burns from it and before he could heal himself, Mathis had trapped him in a tornado, made of wind magic. Nazo was spun through the air, getting very dizzy and very sick. The tornado finally stopped, dropping Nazo. He crashed into the ground with a thud.

As he got up, all the bruises and cuts he received vanished but he was still slightly hurt.

"Great. It's a hero jamboree. You're lucky Silver! But I swear I'll kill you!" were his last words before vanishing.

Silver turned to his saviours. "Thanks a lot for your help" he said.

"It's no problem" said Alan. "We just all had the same thought I guess."

"Yeah. Since we couldn't be disqualified either, it was alright for us to fight that guy" explained Basil.

"Well, I owe you guys, big time" chuckled Silver. His attention was then drawn to Strike. His eyes were closed and he was losing blood fast.

"What happened?" he asked.

"He took that Chaos Lance attack that bounced off of your shield. It was going to hit Axel but Strike knocked him out of the way" Sonic explained, while Aqua cried over Strike.

"Come on. Let's get him to the medical ward!" Silver declared. He and Sonic took Strike between them, with the others following. Axel, meanwhile, stayed there, still in shock. After how he treated him, the yellow hedgehog still sacrificed himself to save him. The prince got up and chased after the crowd of people.

Next time: the beginning of Round 2!