I hope that this is an improvement, length wise. R&R!

Sonic the Hedgehog:

Tournament of the Stars

Chapter 26

Last time, Shadow suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Larcen while Aqua was greatly injured while fighting Cesare, who she lost too.

The commentator was just announcing the next fight. "Our next fight is Blaze VS…"

He stopped when a black cloud rose from the ground. The lavender cat had already rushed out to face it. She knew all to well who it was.

"Mephiles!" she snarled with distaste as the crystal being emerged.

"Well, well, well. Blaze is my opponent. Good. I need a challenge. That last girl was far too easy. She should've stayed at home, then maybe she wouldn't be on the brink of death" Mephiles mocked.

Blaze was already pissed off and didn't hesitate to charge straight for him. She shot out with her heel, connecting with the demon's face. He was knocked back slightly, his eyes burning with rage.

"If that's how you want to play, then let's go!"

Mephiles reeled back his hand and shot out several purple spheres that exploded at Blaze's feet, forcing her to flip back. While she was in the air, Mephiles shot more at her. Thankfully, the agile cat was able to avoid them. She landed and made another dash for Mephiles, surrounding herself in a fiery tornado. Mephiles however simply jumped over the attack and fired a purple laser at it once he landed. Blaze was forced out of the attack and sent across the ground. She tried to get up but Mephiles had his foot on her back.

"Come on. Don't tell me you're giving up now?" he joked but Blaze was smirking.

"I'm just getting warmed up!"

Mephiles raised an eyebrow, until he realised Blaze was heating he body up. He jumped off; wincing at the burns on his foot, giving Blaze the perfect opportunity to slash at him, with her claws alit. Mephiles was able to dodge the impending strikes but Blaze managed to turn this into her favour by distracting him before kicking him straight up.

As he was in the air, Blaze jumped after him, fire beginning to shroud her body. The demon however saw this coming and flipped himself so he was facing down towards her and fired another purple laser at her. She was unable to dodge the attack and was sent hurtling down at a great speed. She slammed into the ground, kicking off dust. She lay there with her eyes closed, trying to fight the pain. Mephiles had that evil glint in his eye and began to dive at her, his claw becoming engulfed with darkness.

Blaze managed to recompose herself before the attack hit. She flipped out of the small crater she made and used her own version of the Spin Dash at him. But Mephiles played his hand by shooting out several Chaos Spears. Blaze was knocked out of her dash and was burned by the attack. She shook her head, refusing to give in but Mephiles was running towards her. He threw a fist but she managed to catch it. Mephiles threw his other one but Blaze caught that too.

"I have noticed you're becoming steadily weaker" the dark being gloated. "How about giving up now?"

"No! I will NOT let you get away with what you did!" Blaze growled, pushing against him with all her might.

Mephiles chuckled at her feeble attempts until he noticed that smoke was coming from her hands. He pulled back, his hands alit with flames. He cried with anger but that was short-lived when Blaze jumped and kicked him across the face, spinning in the air as she did. His head was knocked off his shoulders and into the wall with a splat.

"Mephiles appears to be defeated, making Blaze the winner!"

The crowd let out a huge cheer for Blaze. Sonic, Shadow, Silver and Axel all jumped down to her, looking incredibly pleased. Sonic even gave her a hug, much to Silver's annoyance.

"Thank you so much Blaze. I owe you a lot. As does Axel" Sonic said, his brother giving a silent nod. Blaze said it was nothing, letting Silver give her a kiss for winning.

Shadow looked over to find Mephiles gone. Where did he go? he thought.

Meanwhile, outside the arena in an alley, Mephiles was fitting his head back onto his body.

"Damn that cat! Damn her! Damn her! Damn her!" he yelled in his fury.

"My, you certainly have a temper" another voice said. Mephiles turned to face Starbright.

"Oh shut up" he snapped. "Don't smart mouth me!"

"I'm just saying. I thought the great Mephiles would've lasted longer in this tournament" she sniggered.

Mephiles turned round to face her properly, his green eyes seemingly digging into her soul.

"You'd best shut up now! Or do you want me to tell everyone who you are?" he threatened.

At these words, Starbright's normally calm and calculated persona was replaced with fear.

"Oh god, please don't! I'll stop. I promise" she cried.

"Good. Now, I may be out but you're still in and I don't doubt your abilities. You should be able to win this. In the meantime, with Shadow out too, I may find the perfect opportunity to kill him" Mephiles explained. "But that's not important right now. Win this tournament and don't fail me!"

Starbright gave a grim nod as Mephiles vanished in a purple orb.

Back in the arena, "Our next fight is Emily VS Amelia!"

The cheetah and the wolf entered the arena and gave a friendly nod to each other. Emil's paw began to glow blue while Amelia pulled out an arrow.

"Good luck to you" said Emily.

Amelia chuckled. "I'm afraid you're the one who needs the luck!"

Amelia fired her arrow but Emily dodged it. The cheetah noticed that as the arrow hit, ice covered the area it hit. She remembered that Amelia had elemental arrows and knew she had to be careful.

Amelia drew another arrow but before she could release it, Emily, using her speed, had knocked her bow out of her hand and drove her claw into the wolf's gut. Amelia was sent flying back, far from her bow. However, Emily had failed to see this. She just charged at Amelia again, only she missed. Amelia managed to slide under her legs, letting the reckless feline run head first into the wall. Amelia quickly recovered her bow and fired a fire arrow. Emily dodged it but was unprepared for the three arrows that Amelia had sent in her direction.

These ones were purple on the tips and as they hit, Emily screamed in agony as they seemed to burn her flesh. Her guess was that these arrows were made of darkness. She pulled them out of her body and snapped them in two, followed by charging her Energy Claw. Amelia, not wanting to take risks, began to fire arrow after arrow at the cheetah but Emily did all she could to avoid them. Amelia was beginning to panic and fumbled for an arrow, giving Emily the chance to slash her with her claw.

Amelia was sent sprawling across the ground. She gasped with shock and rolled out of the way before Emily had pounced on her. Amelia reached back for another arrow but Emily saw it coming and easily flipped over it. The wolf tried again but to her horror, she realised she was out of arrows! Emily had a smug grin on her face.

"Give in?" she asked.

"Not likely!" Amelia replied, trying to club Emily round the head with her bow but the cheetah ducked, swept out with her foot and tripped Amelia over. She stood over her opponent, looking quite pleased.

"How about now?"

Amelia sighed. She nodded.

"Emily wins!"

The crowd once more cheered for the cheetah, especially Armand. Emily helped up Amelia and the two congratulated each other before taking their seats again.