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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 42

Last time, Sonic and Marisa competed in the finals, with the young mage winning. But she was then imprisoned in a glass case before a giant robot appeared holding Chrono's team. This was followed by the appearance of the true villain, Eggman Nega!

Sonic and Blaze stared in horror as their arch enemy floated in front of them.

"Surprised?" he asked sarcastically. "I thought you would be!"

"How is this possible?!" cried Blaze. "You were arrested and prosecuted!"

Ah, if only" Nega chuckled. "Yes, I was arrested and charged and thinking it was all over, you used the Sol Emeralds to bring you to this world" he began to explain.

"But you overlooked one thing! By royal order, everyone is given a fair trial. Therefore, a witness was needed. Since I always operated away from the gazing eyes, you were the only one to witness my plans!"

The penny finally dropped, leaving Blaze distraught. "So, I was needed there to put you away!"

"Exactly! With no witness, I was let off. I then found the Sol Emeralds and did the same thing you did. I must say that raccoon was determined not to give it away" Nega sneered.

"Raccoon? You mean Marine?!" Blaze screamed. "If you've hurt her…"

"Oh don't worry. She's still alive. I didn't one to leave a trail. They've probably only just found out" he chuckled.

"But how did you get the Chaos Emeralds?" asked Tails.

"Have you forgotten? The emeralds like magnets, so I was easily able to track them down" Nega smiled. "I had already created special boxes to keep them in so they couldn't rip up the universe, before you ask" and as if to prove it, Nega showed them two wooden boxes. He flipped the lids open to show both sets of emeralds.

"However, I knew from past experiences that these alone wouldn't help. I needed more power. I then read a missing report on one Louise Harmon."

At the mention of her mother, Marisa's eyes shot up. "My mum? Where is she?!"

Nega shrugged. "I don't know. She covered her tracks well. But when I found out that she had a daughter who was a mage, I knew what I had to do."

"You invited her to the tournament on this park, which I guess you built!" Shadow deduced.

"Exactly, but I needed to make sure a tournament was occurring, so I set it up for real" Nega told them. "I would also get to see your faces when I take over this planet!" He began to laugh insanely.

"I still don't get why Marisa?" Amy asked.

"Well, being a mage, she has control over several elements. Many mages don't know that therein lies a dormant power which can level entire cities! Now that I have her and the emeralds, everything will be mine!"

He then floated towards the capsule containing Marisa and smirked. "It's such a shame you'll never find her."

Marisa, clearly angered by this, lashed out and tried breaking the glass. Nega could only laugh. "Oh, she's got some fight in her! I like that!"

"Then you're gonna love me!"

Everyone turned to see Armand whip out his laser sword and slash it at Nega, who quickly moved his Egg-o-Matic out of the way. He seemed slightly frightened by the purple tiger.

"Novak!? No wait. You're Armand Novak! Ha ha ha! I must say, when I saw your name on the list I was surprised. How is Tobias?" Nega jeered.

Armand growled and leapt at him, but Basil got him in an arm lock. "Easy, Armand. Don't do anything reckless" he said.

"I suggest you listen to your friend. You don't want to end up like your father" said Nega. "Now, I have a world to conquer!"

Nega then floated to the head of his robot (which we'll call the Nega Emperor) and went inside. He then inserted the boxes containing the emeralds into two different slots on his control panel. Suddenly, the robot began to vibrate as it glowed brightly.

"It's absorbing the power of the emeralds!" Blaze cried.

Then, the stomach of the robot opened up and a robotic hand grabbed the case Marisa was in, dragging her into the robot.

"LARCEN!!!" she screamed as wires connected to her prison and began to suck her dry of her energy.

"MARISA!!!" the dark blue hedgehog rushed forward but was knocked back when tremors shook the entire park.

"Now what?" moaned Silver as the night sky was covered in clouds, lightning flashed through the sky and a huge crack just appeared in the air. It got wider until there was a gaping hole in the sky.

"What is that?!" cried Aqua.

"It's the emeralds" said Tails. "Nega must be using their power to break the foundations of this dimension. If he continues, he can bend reality to his will!"

"Then we need to stop him!" Sonic cried, suddenly wincing.

"No, Sonic. You're in no condition!" said Amy.

"Even so, we are surrounded by a battalion of robots" Rouge pointed out.

"Then let's tear them up!" exclaimed Knuckles, cracking his namesakes.

"We'll help" said Gale, as he and his crew took fighting poses. Soon, every fighter who was there got ready for what would be an epic battle. A few who thought they'd best stay on sidelines dragged Sonic to safety. One Nega Pawn aimed its laser rifle at Sonic but Knuckles punched it away as it fired. The stray fire struck the Nega Emperor's left hand, causing it to drop the cage holding Chrono, Eggman and the others. It broke apart on contact with the ground.

"We're free!" cheered Storm.

"Maybe so, but we still have these mechanical nuisances" said Chrono.

"In that case," said Cesare, "Let's rip them to shreds!"

The group charged forward to assist except for Eggman, who tried sneaking away until Larcen grabbed hold of him.

"Where do you think you're going?" he snarled, causing the rotund doctor to gulp.

Alexander was punching and kicking his way through the robotic hoard, sending them into their comrades. He then jumped in-between a few and spun round with his gun sending off several rounds. None of them stood a chance. He eventually stopped but only to send the butt of the gun into another pawn that tried to jump him.

"Pathetic" he sighed.

Emily and Alan were fighting robots in all directions, whilst talking.

"So that Nega guy is the one Armand has been after?" asked Emily as she slashed across one robot's torso.

"Looks like it" replied Alan as he kicked one into another. "Which means he's big trouble. Stay alert!"

"Please, Alan. I can look after my…" the cheetah started to say when Alan launched a lightning bolt into a robot that had a chainsaw raised above Emily's head.

"Self?" Emily finished as Alan smirked.

Dusk seemed to be having a hard time. With the moon blocked, there were barely any shadows, forcing her to use her quick wits. She was attempting to fight off one robot but it was able to block her attacks before shoving her back.

"These things are much tougher than the stuff Eggman churns out" she said to herself. She then noticed that one robot behind her had a laser rifle and, using her agility, she flipped over it as it fired, destroying the first one. The umber hedgehog then landed on the second one, bouncing off of it and leaving to fall over.

"But still not too bright."

Tagio was busy slicing up robots as they charged at him. He barely had to move as they ran at him. "These things bore me. I think it's time I showed them how a true warrior fights!"

The Lunar Rogue then rushed forward, swinging his sword in a wild flurry. Once he finished, the robots simply fell apart. He smirked at his work but one robot had sneaked up behind him and smashed its fist across his head. Disoriented, he was open to attack but Storm jumped in, picked up the robot and threw it to Wave who swung her wrench like a baseball bat, knocking it into several others.

"I didn't need your help, scum" spat Tagio.

"Well, we didn't need to save you!" shouted Wave.

"Uh, guys. Bigger problems" Storm muttered as more robots ran at them

Jet and Cesare, meanwhile, were forced back to back. "I'd never thought I'd see the day I helped you, hawk" Cesare commented.

"I'm as surprised as you are" said Jet. "But still, no harm in trying!"

Cesare smirked as they both dashed forward, the crow slashing at the robots with his sword whilst Jet slammed them away with his fans.

Zero, Havoc and Metal Havoc had been forced against the wall. Zero and Havoc were smashing away anything that got close while MH dealt with the weapon holders with his electric attacks.

"These things just keep on coming!" moaned Havoc, who was getting exhausted.

"Well, we can't give up now!" cried Zero, jabbing his fist into another one. Suddenly, a robot with a bazooka appeared and fired at the trio. MH however drew his gun and shot the missile before it hit them, taking out the surrounding robots.

"Thanks" said Havoc.

"Don't. If anyone gets to kill you, it's me" the robot copy replied before tearing through another robot.

Damien and Mario were also trapped in a corner. Mario had tried to slow down time but his left arm had suddenly seized up, preventing him from fighting, leaving Damien to batter away the machines.

"There's too many!" he said to himself. "How am I supposed to…" The answer suddenly dawned on him. He seemed downcast but he had no choice. "Listen here," he began to say, "I'll let you out as long as you hurt the robots, no one else."

"Fine, I need to do something!" the voice in his head growled. Suddenly, Damien erupted in a flash of purple light. In his place was a dark purple wolf with eyes to match. He was wearing the same attire as Damien.

"Listen up, meatbags!" it roared. "Nightshade is back!" The wolf then rushed forward, ripping one robot in half before discarding the pieces to smash up more of them. With each one he destroyed, Nightshade had a toothy grin on his face.

Armand was firing his lasers at the many robots, attempting to keep them at bay but more and more just kept coming.

"I'm getting really sick of you guys!" he cried, drawing out his sword and pulling off his Laser Sword Stars, taking out a large amount of the robots. He was unaware of the ones behind him but fortunately, Basil showed up and blasted them away with his water cannon. They slammed up against the wall before shutting down from all the water in their circuitry.

"Nega really needs to step his game up" the fox smirked.

Kera was busy swiping away at the many robots that surrounded her. One robot latched onto her sword, forcing her to slam it down into the ground to crush it before using its remains to knock away the other robots.

"I really need to take care of these things" she said, the crest on her sword turning red. She then slammed the sword into the ground, sending a wave of fire out from it into the robots surrounding her, incinerating them. She looked quite pleased with herself before swinging the sword behind her to strike another one.

Mathias, Amelia and Blitz were surrounded as well. The white wolves were combining their magic and arrows to keep the robots at bay but they were still coming in swarms.

"Blitz, hurry up!" screamed Amelia, as she fired a thunder arrow into one.

"Almost…" the cat said, focused on something. "Now!"

The wolves then jumped behind him as Blitz released a giant ball of dark energy at the robots, obliterating them, leaving nothing behind.

"Can you teach me that?" asked Mathias.

Gale's crew seemed to be having an easy time. Gale was kicking away robots with ease, drinking in between strikes.

"This is way too easy" he said to his friends.

"Easy for you too say!" cried Thorn as he sent a fireball into a herd of them before whipping round to save Gale from being chopped up by an axe wielder with an ice spell.

Meanwhile, Wrist was sending his fists straight through the robots as if they were made from paper. One charged at him but the echidna grabbed it, swung it over him and smashed it into the ground. Kyira was running all fours as several robots chased after her. She ran towards a wall before jumping off of it, over the robots as they crashed into it.

"These things are a push over" she told Wrist. "I say we end this now!"

The echidna nodded, grabbing Kyira's arm before spinning her around as she cloaked herself with her demonic aura. Wrist then let go, sending the demon fox through a bunch of them, leaving claw gashes in their armour, reducing them to nothing.

Axel was facing off against one robot with a sword, parrying its blows with his own but he was having trouble trying to hit it. He then managed to knock its sword away and slice it in two.

"Is there any real challenge?" he called out. He then found a small battalion of them in front of him. He gulped slightly but the robots' attention was diverted by a whistle from Strike.

"Hey, Axel. Check this out!" he called as he and Aqua stood next to each other. The light blue hedgehog then shot out a blast of water at the robots, with Strike sending electricity down it. As the water hit the robots, the combined force caused them to blow up in quick succession.

"Thanks, bro" Axel said, quickly realising what he said. Strike had already heard and suddenly looked downcast. "We're not brothers, remember?" he said before rushing off to fight some more.

Mighty, having told Ray to hide, was knocking away the various robots as they charged at him.

"These guys are really ticking me off" he moaned.

"Then let us be of assistance."

Suddenly, several robots just fell apart. Mighty was confused until Espio revealed himself. Mighty gave him a thumbs up until he saw one robot point a gun at him.

"Watch out!" he cried but before the robot fired, Vector came from behind and crushed it in his jaws before spitting out the remains.

"Uh, I've got oil in my mouth!" he groaned.

As Espio and Mighty rolled their eyes, Charmy randomly appeared. "I'm here to help!"

"Uh, you're a bit late, Charmy" Vector told him, causing the bee to pout. Suddenly, another band of robots appeared all with guns and fired at the four. Fortunately, Chaos appeared and absorbed the bullets. The robots backed away slightly before the water being sent his fists through them, smashing them against the wall.

Amy was relentlessly smacking robots into others with her hammer but it didn't take long for them to apprehend her.

"Let me go you bolt heads!" she screamed, trying to free herself. One robot brought out a buzz saw and edged it closely to her face. Suddenly, a fishing line tangled round her and pulled her out of the robots' grip. She landed on an umbrella, belonging to Big.

"Thanks, Big" she said, giving her friend a hug.

"It's OK" the cat replied. He then saw the robots marching towards them and got his fishing line out again, only this time; it had an iron ball covered with spikes. He ran it round, destroying anything unfortunate enough to get near.

"Wee, this is fun" he giggled to himself.

Blaze was furiously ripping robots apart with her hands covered in flames. Even when they were destroyed, she still ripped at their wiring till nothing was left. As she was pounding one to pieces, Silver grabbed her fist.

"What are you doing?!" she screamed.

"Blaze, calm down!" the white hedgehog yelled.

"Calm down?! It's my selfishness that caused all this!" she yelled back.

"This isn't your fault!" Silver told her, picking up one robot that tried to interrupt them and hurled it at another. "Also, you can't let it get to you. You need to remain calm. Only then can we win this!"

Blaze took his words into consideration and nodded.

"Thanks, Silver" she said, giving him a quick kiss before sending a fireball behind her, scattering a bunch of them.

Knuckles had just knocked one robot into the air and was using it as a hammer, clobbering the other machines.

"Yeah, not so tough, are ya?" he mocked before one robot came from behind and grabbed him by the neck and threw him into the wall. He slumped to the ground, dazed, as the mechanical being edged towards him. However, Shade snuck up behind it and effortlessly kicked it away before driving her Leech Blade into its side.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Thanks Shade" Knuckles said, interlocking his eyes with hers. She too stared back and both echidnas soon found themselves embracing lovingly, neither one wanting it to end. Unfortunately it did when a robot shot at them and missed. It seemed to sweat drop as the echidnas glared at it before punching it.

Meanwhile, Team Dark and Maria were fighting off a much larger group. Omega and Maria were using their weapons whilst Rouge kicked them away and used her bombs to blow them up. Shadow was getting stuck in, jumping from robot to robot as he destroyed them. He then used some Chaos Spears to paralyze some before spin dashing them.

"I would've thought Nega would make these things tougher" he said to himself, unaware of one robot that aimed its gun at him. The gunshot alerted him and he swung round, only to see that Maria had taken the blow, the bullet hitting her heart. Everything seemed to slow down as she collapsed, a blood stain slowly covering her dress.

"MARIA!" Shadow cried, kneeling down.

"Shadow," she whispered. "I'm not gonna make it."

"No, I'm not losing you again!" Shadow told her, tears forming in his eyes.

"I'm not her, Shadow. I told you that. But promise me…" she said, her eyes closing. "Be happy." Her eyes then completely shut and her breathing stopped. The black hedgehog stared in grief, after having lost his best friend a second time. He then became aware of the robots that surrounded him. His tears quickly dried as his fur turned red.

"You've really pissed me off now!" he screamed. "CHAOS BLAST!!!"

Eggman and Larcen saw the explosion from where they were. They had taken Eggman's own Egg-o-Matic and were making their way towards the Nega Emperor. Fortunately, Nega hadn't seen them. He was completely fixated with the battle taking place.

"Why do they bother?" he asked. "They know they don't stand a chance. Not while I have Marisa and both sets of emeralds!"

"Not for long!"

Nega turned round to see Eggman pointing a gun at him. Larcen rushed forward, his knife held at Nega's neck.

"Release Marisa!" he snarled.

Nega winced slightly until he saw the power levels on the screen. A sinister smirk crossed his face. "Fine" he shrugged, pressing a button that opened Marisa's glass prison.

"You can also give us the emeralds as well!" Eggman demanded.

Nega nodded and handed them to Larcen in their containers. The two quickly left to go downstairs, unaware of Nega's smile.

After a few minutes, Larcen and Eggman left the giant robot, with an unconscious Marisa in tow. The battle below them had ended, with Tikal and Ozone having finished healing Sonic. All the fighters gathered in the centre of the arena as they landed.

"Is she OK?" asked Kera.

"Her pulse is weak" said Larcen before turning to Ozone. "Help her, please."

"I'll do what I can" Ozone said.

Suddenly, Nega's voice could be heard echoing from the Nega Emperor.

"Attention, fools!" he bellowed. "My robot has officially drained all of the energy from the emeralds. I've also received plenty of magical from Ms. Harmon. Now, my creation is at full power and ready to carve a new world in my own image!"

"Ha! I've faced tougher things than you!" cried Sonic. "I'll reduce that thing to scrap!"

"Are you insane?!" cried Aleena. "You'll be killed!"

"Mum's right. If he's absorbed all of the emerald's power, there's nothing you can do!" said Sally.

"Just have faith in me!" Sonic told them.

"No way, Sonic" ordered Gale. "I won't let you fight that thing!"

"You still have a lot to learn, dad" Sonic smirked. He then spread his arms out and shut his eyes. Suddenly, the Chaos Emeralds left their container, glowing and began to spin round him. They went faster and faster until Sonic erupted in a flash of light. This light spread across the whole park, taking in Shadow and Silver too.

As it died down, Sonic's fur had turned a familiar yellow, his eyes red and his quills pointed up. His family stood there in shock at the now super powered hedgehog.

Sonic looked behind him to see that Shadow and Silver had undergone the same transformation and they stood side by side.

"Ready to trash that thing?" Sonic asked.

"More than ever!" Shadow growled, clenching his fists.

Silver nodded but before they took off, Blaze ran up to them. "Wait, I'm helping too! It's my fault Nega's here so I can't stand by!"

"What?" Silver gasped. "But you can't use the emeralds!"

Blaze had a cheeky smirk on her face. "Not the Chaos Emeralds" she said before the Sol Emeralds began to glow and surround her. Suddenly, a pillar of flame appeared around her. Once it dispersed, Blaze's fur was pink and her dress red.

As Silver stood there in shock, Sonic said "Say hello to Burning Blaze!"

Blaze stood next to the three hedgehogs as they stared up at the Nega Emperor.

"For the sake of the world!" said Silver.

"For the sake of Maria!" said Shadow.

"For the sake of my people!" said Blaze.

"For everyone and everything!" said Sonic.

"Let's do this!"