Update! R&R!

Sonic the Hedgehog:

Tournament of the Stars

Chapter 39

Last time, Starbright was revealed to be a clone of Maria Robotnik. She and Shadow became quite close but Maria told Shadow what she was and that he still loves Rouge. Also, Chrono's team discovered a building where they were refused access and Larcen confessed to Sonic that he was in love with Marisa.

It was the following morning and everybody was already seated in the stadium. Shadow had been awfully quiet but nobody seemed to notice. They hadn't been given leaflets since there were only four fighters left who were all dealing with something.

"Now that I know who the competition is, this should be a piece of cake" smirked Sonic.

"Don't get too cocky" Knuckles told him but Sonic wasn't paying attention.

Blaze was having to deal with Silver, who wasn't too pleased with her fighting.

"Silver, calm down. I'll be fine" she told him but he wasn't listening.

"Blaze, you had your bones shattered by Chrono, followed by a savage beating from Crisis! Who knows what'll happen to you today!" he protested. Blaze couldn't help but groan.

Emily meanwhile was being reminded of what she was up against by Alan. "OK, Sonic's super quick, Blaze is a pyrokinetic and Marisa is a mage skilled with spells" the tiger explained.

"Marisa knows fire magic, right?" asked Emily. "Then my best bet would be against Sonic but he's too fast. Oh, I'm done for!"

Alan rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter if you lose as long as you try. And I fought Sonic in the first round and he won't try and win cowardly so you've got a fair chance."

Emily smiled and thanked the tiger for the advice. Elsewhere, Larcen had found Marisa. She looked nervous.

"Hey, Marisa. Are you OK?" he asked.

The young girl shook her head. "I'm far from OK. I've seen the other three in action and I don't think I stand a chance. I can still feel the bruises I got from that Starbright girl" she said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

Larcen frowned slightly. He had to break her out of this. "Come on, Marisa. You're not gonna win if you give up before you start. You have to go out there and show whoever you're up against that you mean business" he told her.

A small smile appeared on Marisa's face. "Thanks, Larcen. You always know what to say." She then pulled the hedgehog into a hug, causing him to blush. Before he could say anything, the commentator's voice sounded throughout the arena.

"Attention, ladies and gents! We're down to the final four! Sonic, Blaze, Emily and Marisa!!!" he blared, causing everyone to cheer. "Therefore, could Sonic and Blaze please wait in lobby 1 while Emily and Marisa wait in lobby 2!"

The four stood up and made their way to their respective lobbies. The semi-final had begun!

In the first lobby, both Sonic and Blaze sat on the chairs as they waited to be called out to the arena.

"Hey, Sonic" Blaze spoke up. "Good luck out there."

"You too. I noticed Silver was slightly worried about you" Sonic mentioned.

"Oh, never mind him. He should know I can take care of myself" Blaze replied. A few minutes later, a young woman with chestnut hair came towards them carrying a tray with two cups on it.

"Can I offer you two a beverage?" she asked. The two nodded and they were handed a cup each. Sonic gulped his down whilst Blaze sipped hers for a while. Suddenly, the commentator's voice blurted out.

"Our first match is Blaze VS Marisa!"

"That's me!" Blaze cried, taking one last gulp from her cup and taking off. She bounded into the arena to meet up with Marisa. The teenage girl seemed awfully nervous.

"I wish you the best of luck" said Blaze.

"Thanks" Marisa responded. "And I'm sorry."

"For what?" Blaze got her answer when Marisa fired a wind spell that knocked the lavender cat off her feet. "Oh that's how you want to play?"

Blaze jumped forward and swung her foot round but Marisa ducked the attack. The cat landed and tried to attack but Marisa had covered her hand with thunder magic and sent it into Blaze's stomach. The cat was sent flying back but she managed to land on her feet.

"Not bad" she commented, "But now it's my turn!"

Blaze began to spin as she conjured a fiery tornado to surround her. She then zoomed towards Marisa who didn't hesitate to dodge it by jumping to the side. But Blaze seemed to be in control and she changed course. However, she went past Marisa, leading her to think she missed. But Blaze was in fact going round her, causing a ring of fire to surround her. Blaze stopped spinning and jumped into the ring.

"Haven't got anywhere to go, have you?" Blaze grinned, knowing she now had an advantage. Marisa however wasn't going down without a fight. She fired a darkness spell that Blaze managed to dodge. Marisa panicked and began to fire spells left and right. None of them hit and Blaze managed to strike her foot across Marisa's face, knocking her to the ground.

Blaze launched at her again but Maria struck out with her feet to knock Blaze away. The two girls flipped themselves back up before they both sent a fireball at each other. The two collided and exploded, causing smoke to cover the arena. Nobody could see what was going on. Suddenly, kicking sounds could be heard from the smoke, followed by a few flashes of light. Then a huge wind kicked up to reveal two badly battered girls. Marisa seemed to be worse off, since she was covered with scratches. The wind had also blown away the ring of fire.

"Give up?" asked Blaze.

"Never!" cried Marisa before flinging another lightning spell at Blaze. The cat managed to dodge it but Marisa quickly followed up with a fire spell that hit near Blaze's feet, sending her into the air. The red haired mage then performed a wind spell to keep Blaze up in the air as she charged up a darkness spell. The wind spell eventually stopped, dropping Blaze but before she hit the ground, Marisa fired a torrent of darkness that seemed to burn Blaze as she was sent hurtling across the ground. She didn't get back up.

"Um, are you feeling OK?" she asked. Suddenly, Blaze sprung up and sent a fireball into Marisa. She was knocked back and was forced to roll on the floor as the clothes caught fire. Blaze stood over her, panting.

"Sorry, but it looks like I've…" she started to say but she began to choke and was forced to her knees as she tried to retch something up. Marisa stared at her and suddenly reeled back in disgust as Blaze coughed up a hairball.

"Oh my God!!!" she screamed as Blaze began to choke again. Medics were soon on the scene and quickly took Blaze away. Silver followed them as the commentator announced "Blaze seems to be unable to continue, making Marisa the winner!"

Marisa waved slightly to the crowd as they cheered and medics came for her as well. Larcen had joined them to make sure Marisa was OK.

In the lobby, Sonic had seen Blaze get taken away. He could hear her retching. He glanced at the two cups and something in his mind clicked.

"Silver!" he called out to the white hedgehog. Sonic grabbed Blaze's cup and handed it to him. "Get the doctors to look at this. I've got a feeling whatever was in there caused her to be like this."

"Wow, for once you come up with something clever" replied Silver as he took the cup. "The planets must be aligned or something."

"Shut up" was all Sonic said before he heard the commentator say "Now it's time to see who will face Marisa in the finals, it's Sonic VS Emily!"

The two blue animaloids entered the arena and faced each other down. They shook hands as Sonic wished Emily the best of luck.

"Thanks, Sonic. But be warned" she told him as she took up a fighting stance.

Sonic smirked at her enthusiasm and took a stance as well. The air turned silent before the two dashed forward and began to throw punches at one another. It looked like they were in a stalemate until Emily charged up her energy claws and swiped at Sonic. But the blue hedgehog saw it coming and moved his body to dodge each attack.

Emily jumped back for a second before charging at him. Sonic ducked under the attack and kicked straight up, his feet coming in contact with Emily's gut. She was knocked into the air and Sonic followed her by using his Homing Attack. As he bounced off, he swung his foot down, sending Emily crashing into the ground.

He landed perfectly but Emily caught him by surprise by lunging at him. She landed on top of him and tried to slam the paw into his face but he moved it to the side before head butting her. She recoiled from the hit as she held the nose. Sonic began to spin on the spot before dashing into her. The two soared across the arena before Sonic uncurled and kicked her off into the wall. She tried to get back up but she slumped down.

"Emily can no longer fight, making Sonic the winner!" the commentator cried over the cheering. Sonic helped the fallen cheetah up.

"Hey, you nearly had me back there. Good work" he complimented.

Emily smiled in a sign of thank you before medics came for her. Armand followed them to make sure she was OK. Sonic chuckled over the sight of all the girls being followed. He began to exit the arena as the commentator said one last thing.

"Be sure to come back at 8.00 tonight as we will finally determine who will be the winner, Sonic or Marisa!"