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Sonic the Hedgehog:

Tournament of the Stars

Chapter 33

Last time, Blaze and Larcen were successful in defeating Chrono and Jet respectively. Half of the fights were over now, leaving eight more fighters.

"Our next fight is Starbright VS Ozone!"

The yellow hedgehog entered the arena as did Starbright. Ozone seemed to have a frown on his face.

"I've seen you in battle, and by no means are you a good guy" he said, bluntly.

Starbright remained silent for a moment. "Good or bad, I'm still going to win" she finally said, taking up a fighting stance.

Ozone made the first move. He swung his fist out but Starbright easily dodged it. She countered by grabbing hold of Ozone's arm but before she could do anything, Ozone grabbed her and swung her over his head. She was sent through the air until she made contact with the wall. She slid to the ground but quickly jumped up. Ozone was running towards her so she followed suit. However, she slid under him and swung round; connecting her heel with Ozone's back, knocking him forward.

As the battle continued, Shadow felt something. He couldn't help but shudder and, by doing that, he recognised it. Making sure no one was looking; he stood up and left the arena. Rouge saw him go but didn't care. Omega saw him too.

"Where is Shadow going?" he said to himself.

Outside the arena, Shadow was walking about, trying to pinpoint the location of what he was looking for. He eventually found himself in one of the back alleys. And someone else was there.

"Hello Shadow" it said.

"Mephiles."

Back in the arena, Ozone was being forced back by Starbright's quick fire punches. He finally managed to block one and punched back. Starbright fell back and Ozone jumped intent on smashing into her. Starbright was clever though and shot her feet up to kick Ozone away. The hedgehog landed with a thud and stood up to see Starbright bring her gun out.

"Resorting to weapons, are we?" he mocked.

"I never said I was an honest fighter" she replied, firing a shot of blue energy at him. But Ozone easily jumped over it. Starbright continued to fire but Ozone dodged every single shot. Soon, Ozone was close enough to land a kick across Starbright's face. She dropped the gun and was unable to defend herself when Ozone fired a Chaos Spear close range. She was sent through the air, hitting the ground with a thud.

Back outside, Shadow was thrown out of the alleyway and into one of the food stalls. He looked up with hate as Mephiles approached him. The black hedgehog charged up into a Spin Dash and shot himself at the crystal demon. But Mephiles stepped to the side to avoid it but Shadow quickly unrolled and shot out a kick into Mephiles' back.

The demon turned round and the two began to exchange punches, blocking each others. Shadow eventually nailed one across the face, sending Mephiles into a lamppost. Shadow then Chaos Controlled to Mephiles and began to rapidly punch and kick him. He flipped back to avoid a swipe from Mephiles' claw. The time demon was clearly pissed.

"You are becoming even more of a nuisance!" he snarled.

Shadow pointed an accusing finger at Mephiles. "You're up to something. Who's Starbright?"

"Wouldn't you like to know" Mephiles replied. Shadow wasn't sure what he meant but he didn't have time as Mephiles was already upon him with a purple laser coming from his hand, which Shadow dodged by twisting. After that, Mephiles lunged himself at Shadow, claws outstretched.

In the arena, Starbright and Ozone were tired and breathing heavily from the fight. Ozone, gritting his teeth, teleported behind Starbright and kneed her in the back. The armour-clad warrior was sent across the ground and came across her weapon that she had dropped. She quickly grabbed it and pulled a strange substance out and poured it into the barrel. She then flipped back up before Ozone's fist got her. As she flipped through the air, she fired a shot from her gun which struck Ozone in the chest. He was knocked to the floor but quickly recuperated.

"Hah. That didn't even…" he began to say before his eyes widened and he clutched where his heart was and began to groan in pain. He began to cough vibrantly, prompting medics onto the scene.

"What's the matter?" one of the medics asked.

Ozone stammered as he answered. "Germanium. I'm… weak… to… it" he managed to say as they took him away.

"Ozone can clearly no longer fight, making Starbright the winner!"

The crowd booed Starbright as she made her leave; ignoring the medics offers to help her.

Back outside, Shadow was being attacked by small, black copies of Mephiles who stood by the side, smirking at Shadow's helplessness.

"It doesn't matter how many of them you defeat you know" he said. "They'll keep coming till you drown in them."

Suddenly, to his horror, Shadow began to glow red before using Chaos Blast to kill the little monsters, as well as sending Mephiles into a wall of one of the buildings. Shadow stepped forward, about to deal another blow when he realised Mephiles wasn't there.

Before he could say anything, said person came from behind and fired one of his purple orbs at close range into Shadow's back. The black hedgehog was knocked into the dirt as Mephiles stood over him.

"Mephiles!"

Mephiles turned to the voice to see Starbright running towards him.

"I take it you won?" he asked. She nodded. "Good, now let me finish Shadow off and we'll…"

He stopped when they heard the sound of guns loading. Turning, they saw Omega with both his guns aimed at them.

"Damn" Mephiles cursed under his breath. "Fine. I'll take my leave." And with that, Mephiles and Starbright vanished in one of his purple spheres. Omega retracted his guns and stood over Shadow.

"I'd best get him to the medical ward" he said, picking his friend up and carrying him away.

In the arena, the next fight had already started. Right now, two swords were clashing, their owners moving incredibly fast. They finally jumped back, both breathing heavily. It was Crisis and Cesare.

"You… ready to… give up?" Crisis questioned.

"When hell freezes over!" the crow spat. Crisis made a charge for him but Cesare somehow conjured up a shield made of shadow that knocked Crisis back. The crow then jumped and attempted to drive his sword into the tanuki's shoulder but Crisis blocked and pushed him off.

Flipping back up, Crisis encased his sword in black flames and proceeded to swipe at Cesare but the crow dodged the attacks. The crow then ducked and slashed out at Crisis' stomach. The tanuki cried in pain as blood dripped from it. Cesare then licked the blood off his sword.

"Hm, this is quite nice. Let's see if I can make more spill!"

Cesare began to continuously slash at Crisis but he somehow managed to dodge it. Crisis rolled away from his opponent. He was getting dizzy from the loss of blood. He decided to take a huge risk.

Cesare raised his sword and charged at Crisis, who had sunk to one knee. It looked like he would win but Crisis, with newfound strength, covered his sword in black flames and swung up. Cesare was sent into the air, covered with flames. Crisis then, despite the blood dripping from his gash, jumped after him and slammed his heel into the bird's gut, causing him to cough up blood. Cesare crashed into the ground and fell unconscious. Crisis smiled before crashing himself and was knocked out.

"Since Cesare was the first to crash, Crisis wins!"

The crowd let out a cheer of him which would've put a smile on his face. Even Basil and Kera clapped and whistled.

Wave and Storm had witnessed it as well. Storm was ecstatic.

"Did ya see that?!" he cried in happiness. "He beat the crow! He beat the crow!"

"I get the point, Storm" an irritated Wave said. "Guess he wasn't so bad after all. Come on, we need to tell Jet the good news."

And the two Rogues left, wondering what their boss' reaction would be.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the park, Mephiles was having Starbright tend to the damages he suffered from Shadow.

"That hedgehog is getting tougher by the day" he scowled. "And I probably would've got him if Omega didn't show up!"

"You'll get him next time" Starbright told him.

"Wrong. You'll get him next time" replied Mephiles.

Behind her helmet, Starbright's eyebrows rose. "What?"

"Shadow's becoming suspicious. I need him taken care of and quickly. So, I've got a task for you" explained Mephiles, a smile in his eyes.

"Kill Shadow the Hedgehog!"