A/N: Another Thursday, another chapter! Here is part four of the Chaos Competition Arc!

I don't know if I said it here yet, but I've been bingewatching One Piece lately, and it's the most incredible anime I've ever seen, up there with My Hero Academia and Spy X Family. I'm currently approaching the climax of the Water 7 / Enies Lobby Saga for anyone wondering, just finished Episode 300 this past Tuesday. The way everything is written, the character and scene balances, the fact that no one gets the short end of the stick, it's really inspiring my writing.

Also, I completely forgot to say this at the end of the last chapter, but I want to Five-Chosen for your input on the Tanaka vs. Topaz fight. I took a few creative liberties at the end, but thank you for helping to improve the fight!

Also, before we start, I'm issuing a WARNING for brief violence and some heavy themes (no spoilers) toward the end of the chapter. As usual, I'm marking when the warned scene in question starts and ends.

I would like to thank NightOfNetter for favoriting since my last chapter!

Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the story!

8 Reviews

Jenaku

Thanks! The Sonic vs. Amy fight was one of the ones I wanted to improve on, because not only did they not fight in the episode, but Eggman showed up and no one did anything about it aside from Sonic, which would have rendered the entire tournament counterproductive. Plus it's good character development for Amy.

Not just that, but after the Chaotix were introduced, we didn't see them again until episode 59, when the Metarex Saga was well underway, and even then their appearances were few and far between.

Thank you for your review! :D

danielman21

*Tails gently hugs you back* Don't worry, he'll be okay! And I'm glad to see you're enjoying the tournament!

1971kr

Eggman is one of my favorite characters to write! And I will admit, I was a bit shaky writing the Chaotix at first since I had never written with them professionally before outside of roleplaying, but I think I'm getting the hang of them. Charmy is a bit difficult for me to write though.

Thanks for catching that, just fixed the typo.

1: I haven't given much thought to what Mobius' geography looks like, but so far I'm thinking of a blend of the countries and continents of the games and Archie Comics, like we'll most likely see the countries of Spagonia and Adabat with the continents of Northamer and Downunda, etc.

2: The Freedom Fighters were their own separate resistance group during Forces. Even though Sally is a princess, she was allowed to lead the Freedom Fighters again because of how well she did when Robotnik first took over.

3: I'm not sure yet, but if they do appear, it will be a small appearance, and they won't be traveling in space with everyone.

Super duper waffles

I do love to keep things interesting! :D

1: He sure does! Even though I haven't actually had him play any games in the story itself, he does play games in the filler moments between chapters. In chapter 2, it's revealed that he has Angry Birds and Candy Crush on his phone, but he also loves playing Mario games, racing games, and Super Smash Bros (although without Sonic elements since Sonic doesn't already exist in this universe).

2: Besides Station Square, Sonic's top places to go are Fuller Lake where he took Helen to see the flowers, as well as Peace Park in the Swiss Alps. In case you're wondering how he crossed continents to get there without taking a boat or plane, he ran across the water between the shortest distance between Alaska and Russia. It was very inconvenient for him since he was going the long way, and he didn't have a passport yet at the time, but at least no one saw him.

3: It's the same King Boom Boo from Sonic Adventure 2; he happened to be caught in Chaos Control during Episode 1 along with several Boos. But now that you mention that the castle was haunted beforehand, I'm starting to think that the castle being haunted for centuries was a superstition, and the talisman was made to supposedly keep the spirits of deceased monarchs away.

4: I'm not quite sure if you meant if it's canon in this story or my headcanon, so I'll answer both. It could be a little lengthy though, but I also want to make it as brief as possible for anyone who tends to skip over these review replies. But in general, many elements that are canon in this story are not canon in my headcanon, since Chaos on Earth diverges from my headcanon about a year after Forces (so no IDW or Frontiers stuff in this story). Also, this is off the top of my head, so this is all subject to change. I really need a blog or something for all my story ideas XD

4.1.1: Starting with the elements that ARE canon in this story: (1) All story ideas I drew from the original episodes are automatically canon; (2) The skipped episodes 14, 21, 22, and 42 are canon, but they're also filler which is why I didn't write them here; (3) All recap moments referring to events I didn't write or have yet to write are canon; (3) Area 99; (4) Prison Island, which has been renamed to Superior Correction Facility and has less of an Alcatraz influence; (5) Bokkun addicted to candy

4.1.2: And now for the elements that are NOT canon in this story: (1) Any reference to Eggman's base as "Chaos Control"; (2) Pretty much everything from the Sonic X comics except for the Society; (3) the kissing robot from episode 21; (4) Any connection between Mr. Stewart and Scarlet Garcia, since that subplot didn't happen in this story; (5) to an extent, the Tanaka x Topaz ship, since that came out of pretty much nowhere; (6) the Egg Golem and the Biolizard; (7) the bomb truck from Episode 42; (8) the Murasia Arc; (9) The entire Homebound Saga, since I plan on replacing it with an original arc to tie things up better

4.2.1: Next are the elements that ARE canon in my headcanon: (1) E-47 Pumpty, since it had a role in Forces in my headcanon; (2) Eggman's use of mind control chips, even though he doesn't use those a lot; (3) the comlinks from the Metarex Saga; (4) Cream making flower crowns for her closest friends; (5) Maybe Funfun? Chances are it was also used in Forces; (6) the Blue Typhoon, although slightly less advanced than it was in Sonic X; (7) the Vector x Vanilla ship, but probably not any more than what was shown in Sonic X; (8) The Mr. Stewart and Scarlet Garcia subplot could have more than likely been adapted in a different way in Sonic Adventure 2 in my headcanon

4.2.2: And finally, the elements that are NOT canon in my headcanon: (1) Eggman has a different base in my headcanon, and it's closer to the bases he uses in the Post-SGW and IDW comics; (2) the Corona Corundum; (3) Decoe, Bocoe, and Bokkun; (4) Cosmo and the Metarex; (5) The original E-Series robots (except for Pumpty and maybe Funfun); (6) the X-Tornado; (7) Pretty much everything from Earth, even though it does exist in an alternate dimension in my headcanon; (8) Sonic has gone super many times before, even though the original episode 26 implies it's his first time; (9) the Egg Moon plot, (10) the Egg Fort, the Egg Fort II, and by extension the Grand Egg Imperial

These are all the ones I can think of for now. I can do one for which elements from my story are canon in my headcanon in another chapter if you're interested.

blazenight01

You know, I actually originally planned on having returning spectators get free admittance on the second day, but now that I know it was a good idea after all, I just went back and update that. Also, when you mentioned the wedding sting, you immediately reminded me of the wedding scene in the Sonic 2 movie. I did not know they did wedding stings in real life too like that, so thanks for sharing the trivia!

That is true, and there's a one in two chance that they took the fake Emerald. Which also means there's a one in two chance they ended up taking the real one!

Five-Chosen (first review)

Thanks for pointing that out, I just fixed it.

That's honestly a good point. Maybe I should see if I can come up with a new name for the planet.

Five-Chosen (second review)

I do like that idea, but I'm not sure if Tom's extended family will be appearing since he's just here for a cameo, but maybe for a oneshot...

CreativeKitty975

Sonic vs. Amy was one of my favorite fights to write as well! I wanted to make it not just exciting, but fun too, so I'm glad to see it paid off!

Yeah, poor Tails... it's good to see he's doing better now.

Eggman definitely knew more than he let on when it came to Jerome.

Thank you for your review as always! Here is the next chapter! :D

Chapter 45
Episode 46 (part 1)
Instinct

Diamond Stadium – Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Before Chris realized it, the half an hour between the second and third rounds was already over, and it was time for the fighters to head back to the ring. The fight between him and his next opponent Knuckles had already started, but it was turning out to be mostly one-sided, but not in the way most people expected. Chris kept throwing punches and charging at Knuckles, but the echidna kept dodging, never once launching an attack of his own, much to the surprise of the onlooking crowd.

Thanks to his experience in the last two matches, as well as Sonic's encouragement, Chris was feeling much more confident in himself than ever before.

"Get back here!" Chris shouted as he bore down on the echidna once again.

"I told you, I don't wanna hurt you!" Knuckles shouted back, leaping out of the way of another one of Chris' punches.

"We're supposed to be fighting, Knuckles!" Chris retorted. He was starting to feel disappointed in this match.

"Look, if I fight you for real, you probably wouldn't survive!" Knuckles stated. "Even if I punch you once–"

"It's just a single punch, I'm not gonna die from that!" Chris called as he got closer and attempted another punch. Knuckles easily glided to the side.

"That's debatable. At this point, you're just wasting your energy, Chris," Knuckles told him.

"B-But so are you! You're not even fighting!" Chris said.

In the announcer's booth, both Scarlet and Tails wore bewildered looks as they watched the echidna and human boy do anything but duke it out like they were sure everyone would expect of them.

"And Chris lunges at him, but Knuckles sidesteps again!" Scarlet reported. "This is like a game of cat and mouse. I don't know what Knuckles' strategy is here, but he has yet to deliver a hit in this round after his last match with the Black Knight."

"Uh-huh," Tails responded, fighting with his hands nervously. "Looking at him now, I'm pretty sure it's because he doesn't wanna hurt Chris because he's a whole lot stronger than him. But also, I've known Knuckles for a really long time, and he doesn't like fighting people weaker than him, no offense to Chris."

"Does Chris know this?" Scarlet asked, her eyes glued to the fight… or lack thereof.

"Um… He probably does," Tails said, adjusting himself in his seat. "Chris is not normally this bold when it comes to fighting. Maybe it's because Knuckles isn't trying to fight him, but…"

He frowned, looking thoughtful for a moment as he pondered this.

Back at the match, Knuckles was still trying to dodge Chris' attacks. Chris wasn't any more successful in getting close to Knuckles than he was when the match started. Even worse for him was the echidna didn't seem to break a sweat.

"I can do this all day, Chris," Knuckles told him. "I already told you, you're just wasting your energy. You know what, fine, if you wanna fight me that badly…"

He suddenly turned around and lunged at Chris before he realized what was going on. He physically lifted the surprised boy above his head and slowly carried him toward the edge of the arena.

"If you win this, you won't stand a chance in the next round, I'm just gonna say that now," Knuckles warned.

Chris was surprised, and he tried to break free, but Knuckles' grasp was incredibly firm and prevented him from moving much.

"Wh-Who's in the next round?" he asked.

"Amy and Rouge," Knuckles stated. "Listen, Amy knows you since she lives in the same house with you and everyone, but Rouge on the other hand? She's not afraid to fight dirty if she has to. You saw how she beat Tails."

Tails…

The small fox had called Chuck on the phone earlier to tell everyone that he was okay, and that they actually let him be an announcer with Scarlet in the announcer's booth. He couldn't say the details surrounding how he got to do that, but he told everyone that he was okay and not to worry about him. That was a sign that he had recovered from his emotional distress when Rouge kissed him last round.

"So I'm gonna have to fight Rouge?" Chris asked, starting to sound nervous now.

"More likely than Amy, yeah," Knuckles told him.

Chris sighed. He didn't want to go out like this, but at least it was a whole lot better than being completely humiliated by Rouge in front of tens of millions of people.

"Okay… You're right…" he finally relented as Knuckles lowered him toward the edge of the arena. "G-Good luck out there."

With those words, Knuckles nodded in satisfaction and gently dropped Chris outside the arena. He was immediately met with both cheering and booing; the ones who were booing were disappointed because they expected a better fight from Knuckles.

After Elmer declared Knuckles the winner, he returned to Chris, who was preparing to head back to the stairs leading up to his seat.

"No hard feelings, Chris," Knuckles said with an easy-going smile, "but sometimes there are opponents out there who need a little extra elbow grease." He flexed his muscles for emphasis.

"I understand," Chris said quietly before making his way back up the stairs.

He had been so confident in his ability to fight Knuckles. While it was a shame that he wasn't willing to fight back in return, he had a point. Chris wouldn't be able to hold his own against either Amy or Rouge. Whenever Amy was mad, she was often scary to be around, but fortunately that didn't happen all the time, and her anger was never directed toward her friends like Sonic said it used to be a long time ago before everyone arrived. Rouge, on the other hand, was a jewel thief and tended to use underhanded tactics to get her way. Plus, her kicking ability seemed to be unparalleled.

Up in the stands, Chuck, Ella, Mr. Tanaka, Sonic, Amy, Cream, and Vanilla looked concerned and a little worried for Chris.

"What just happened?" Amy asked. "Knuckles didn't even try and fight Chris. But then Chris let himself lose like that. I don't get it."

"Maybe it's because Mr. Knuckles is so strong," Cream pointed out, watching Chris as he and Knuckles gradually left the ring and made their way toward the stairs in the distance. "Is Chris afraid of fighting too, like me?" she asked Amy.

"Well, he beat his dad last round without any problems," Amy replied. "So I have no idea what could have happened this time."

"Hey, you know what?" Sonic asked, and Amy and Cream looked up. "I was thinking, maybe we can get him in on a little sparring action when we get home."

"No way!" Amy said suddenly, looking alarmed. "No, Sonic. I don't wanna see him get hurt, and besides, he doesn't have our kind of agility!"

"I know," Sonic said, his smile not letting up. "Which is why we're gonna take it easy on him, go slow for starters."

"I still don't know, Sonic…" Amy said, looking worried about that prospect. "I don't wanna sound like I'm belittling him, but he's a human, he can't fight like us."

"Maybe not, I don't see him going out there punching robots like Knuckles or anything like that, but he'll know a little self-defense at least, in case he's cornered by robots or something, you never know."

"Self-defense?" Amy repeated in curiosity, and Sonic nodded.

"Yup. It's super important for pretty much anyone. Soon after I first met Tails, I taught him self-defense, because it was getting pretty clear he would eventually get in on the kicking Eggman's butt action, and yeah, he had his fair share of getting kidnapped and surrounded by robots. And it paid off 'cuz he ended up teaching me how to spin dash."

Amy thoughtfully considered this. Self-defense was important, especially for people who weren't able to defend themselves otherwise. Sure, Chris took the occasional karate lesson from Mr. Tanaka, but there had to be more than that. Humans were not the only potential threat in Chris' life. No, he was up against robots with lasers and other kinds of weapons. He had to protect himself somehow.

Sonic was right. Chris needed to learn how to protect himself.

"Um… Do you think it was cheap that Knuckles won like this?" Amy asked, changing the subject.

Sonic shrugged. "I don't think it's cheap," he casually said. Noticing Amy's quizzical expression, he continued. "It all depends on how you look at it. When we were on break, I took a quick peek at the bracket, and it said your match with Rouge is right next to the one with Chris and Knuckles. So what I'm thinking is Knuckles knew about that too and he wanted to prevent Chris from having to fight either you or Rouge. He was looking after Chris, y'know?"

Amy sat up more in her seat. "But he knows I promised him I would never hurt him for real, right?"

Cream nodded in agreement.

"I'm very proud of him for coming this far," Vanilla said warmly.

"Me too!" Cream agreed, nodding enthusiastically. "Oh, here he comes now!"

Sure enough, Chris made it back to his seat first, followed by Knuckles.

"Heya, Chris!" Sonic waved. "Doing okay out there?"

"Sonic…?" Chris asked when he sat down, and Sonic's expression relaxed. "Um… Is it a bad thing that I didn't fight Knuckles right at the end…? Because I heard the crowd booing, and I'm honestly feeling a bit guilty…"

In response, Sonic gave Chris a thumbs-up and a grin, which only confused him.

"You were really cool out there," Sonic told him in a gentle tone. "Willing to go after Knuckles like that. Not a lot of kids have guts the way you do. And about the end there… there are some fights you don't fight, and this was one of 'em. Sure, this is a tournament for the Chaos Emerald and it's supposed to be everyone for himself, but Knux is on our side, so if he wins, we all win."

Chris nodded slowly. "O-Okay," he said, understanding what Sonic said.

"Hey Chris?" Amy called, her voice gradually softening. "Were you hesitating earlier because you realized who you were gonna face next if you won?"

"Y-Yeah, kind of," Chris said, turning his head to look at her. "Knuckles told me." He felt a bit nervous that the spotlight was on him, and it wasn't just because of the crowd's reaction.

"You know I'm never gonna hurt you for real, right?" she asked pointedly, and Chris nodded. "Not even in a tournament like this. I made that promise to you last year, remember?"

"Y-Yeah, I do," Chris responded. "It's not that though, it's about Rouge. Knuckles told me how unpredictable she is."

"Oh... Yeah, she's definitely unpredictable," Amy said, looking ahead. "I'm actually a bit nervous to go up against her…"

"You're gonna do great, Ames!" Sonic told her with a grin. "Remember our match earlier?"

"Yeah, but she fights dirty sometimes, especially if jewels are on the line," Amy stated distastefully.

"Y'know, I'm not a psychologist or anything," Knuckles spoke up, "but try and read her moves if you can, and don't let her make you mad. She may try and play with your emotions like that."

"Okay, thanks, Knuckles," Amy said, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.

Everyone had been so busy talking that they hadn't realized that the next match had ended already. Elmer was already declaring E-77 Lucky the winner.

"What happened?" Chris asked.

"That match went by so fast," Chuck explained. "I'm surprised you didn't see it. Your uncle Sam was running straight at Lucky, but I think he tripped over something and stumbled out of the arena. I don't know how it happened, I didn't see anything he could have tripped over. But anyway, Lucky just stood there, he didn't do anything."

"Oh…" Chris said, chuckling a little as a sweatdrop appeared. "I'm honestly not surprised. Like he always says, he starts things quickly, but he always finishes them quickly."

GUN Division Alpha HQ – Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Mr. Stewart was not the only one to be called away from the tournament by his superiors.

Topaz had undergone the same experience herself. She was glad she had lost her round with Mr. Tanaka, because it gave her ample time to arrange her departure from Diamond Stadium. Even though she had been enjoying her downtime earlier, she was still a GUN sergeant, and duty called.

Now she and several other soldiers in her division were being briefed on the stolen GUN robots last week. She for one was glad that her expertise was finally being used.

"First, the group in question moves into one of Dr. Robotnik's abandoned bases," Commissioner Perrault recapped, "then they arrange the breakout of CLIP Colonel Passer, and then they set up a huge diversion to confiscate our entire supply of robots. Even to this day, people are still recovering from last month's appliance attack. As for who this group is and who any of their members are, we have very few clues to go on at the moment. They seem to be very thorough in their motives and know how to cover their tracks, but we can confirm Eggman is not one of them. However, we still don't know if Colonel Passer is one of them or not, but his breakout and the robots' capture is not a coincidence. After all, he was the one who oversaw the design of the robots, and he arranged for ex-Captain Westwood to distribute them to us. They have both been discharged for being links to Dr. Eggman and Jerome Wise."

Perrault adjusted his notes as he continued.

"Which takes up to now. We've been detecting some rather odd activity from the men in this group, particularly in regards to the ongoing Chaos Competition. We don't know their exact motives, but we're still investigating. We tried hacking them yesterday, but they have an advanced firewall that neutralized any attempts we made. We believe this to be Dr. Robotnik's technology that came with the Solar Ball control outpost that the group is now currently sheltering in. We couldn't hack the robots either because their override code was changed, which, like I said, is the work of this group covering their tracks. There wasn't a lot we could do about any of this in the last week because we were waiting on government funding for one of our projects. However, we did attempt two raids on the outpost in the last week, but we were driven back by all the robots that were hijacked, which says a lot about their effectiveness and the force we used to possess. Up until today, we had lost a significant amount of power, and we were severely disadvantaged.

"However, I'm pleased to announce that we have received the funding we need to finish developing a brand-new, state-of-the-art electromagnetic weapon. It is specifically designed to override the robots' circuitry and shut them down on the spot. Your assignment is to raid the perimeter of the outpost and use this weapon to get close to the robots and neutralize them. Once your job is finished, we'll organize a primary attack force and storm the outpost. Are there any questions?"

Perrault took questions for a few minutes, leaving Topaz to her thoughts. She was confident in herself for this mission, but she couldn't help but realize that this was her first big mission without Rouge since she arrived. She and Rouge had an odd team chemistry that she stubbornly refused to admit. In fact, they had grown together enough as friends that they had come to be known as Team Jasper among the GUN ranks. Granted, Rouge was the one who came up with the name, but Topaz went right along with it.

"Sir, shouldn't this mission wait until we are better prepared and have more weapons?" she asked.

"No, we strike while the iron's hot," Perrault said. "The deadline to strike is today, especially since the group seems to be preoccupied with the Chaos Competition. This is not what I want either, but it's for the greater good. I hope you understand, Miss Topaz."

Topaz inwardly sighed. That was not what she wanted to hear.

"Keep in mind that there are only a handful of EMP guns and not enough cartridges to go around, since we didn't have enough time to manufacture more of them before the mission deadline, so use them sparingly," Perrault warned as Topaz's unit prepared to depart. "Depending on how well you all do, I will be considering promotions, especially for you, Topaz, based on your previous experiences in this field."

As they moved out, Topaz detected that even with promotions on the line, several of the soldiers around her didn't seem confident that they could pull this off, especially since some of them had participated in one or both of the previous raids on Eggman's outpost.

"Stay vigilant," she told everyone. "We just might have the advantage this time."

Those were words she needed to apply to herself, she realized. This mysterious group was a much bigger threat than a lot of people assumed them to be.

Diamond Stadium – Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Mr. Tanaka carefully walked up the steps and took his place in the arena's corner closest to him. He was wearing the same traditional martial arts gi he had worn in the previous match.

As Elmer announced the fighters, Mr. Tanaka sized up his opponent, Emerl. Even though the robot lived in the same house as him, he was a Phantom Ruby prototype, but he still felt real nonetheless. Although he had seen him fight before, he had never personally sparred against him before, so he had no idea what to expect.

"Get ready… Get set… FIGHT!" Elmer announced.

At the sound of the starting bell, Tanaka took up a fighting stance, not surprised at all that Emerl did the same. He cautiously approached Emerl, all the while keeping his defensive stance. His opponent seemed to do the same, mirroring his moves exactly. Tanaka watched him carefully, expecting him to make the first move.

And then, roughly twenty seconds later, it happened. Emerl attempted to chop Tanaka with his metallic arm, but the Thorndyke butler expertly blocked it, and both of them pushed against each other, each trying to gain the upper hand.

And then Emerl did something unexpected. A few red pixels glowed on Emerl's right arm, and a long golden pole the same color as his metal plates began to materialize. Tanaka blinked in surprise; he did not think Emerl would do anything like that, considering the judges prohibited him from bringing his bamboo pole into the ring with him, a decision Tanaka thought was fair.

But as Emerl charged toward Tanaka with the pole, he began to question the legitimacy of such a move. He backed away and dodged the robot as he swung his pole at him. He kicked out defensively, but Emerl easily leaped back out of the way.

Both fighters were evenly matched for a solid two minutes, each one struggling for control over the pole. Even for an illusionary pole, it felt as real as it could possibly be. But it suddenly gave way and hit Tanaka in the head, causing him to stagger backward and hold his head where he had been hit.

Sonic winced, and Cream let out a soft gasp from the stands the moment they saw this. The small bunny was particularly concerned out of everyone there.

"Oh no, Mr. Tanaka!" she whimpered. "I want to talk to Emerl after this fight. He shouldn't hurt people like that."

"Not only that, but is him using a pole like that even allowed?" Amy asked. "I mean, I asked the judges if I could use my hammer, and they said yes because I keep it in Hammerspace which is a part of me. But at the same time, they didn't let Tanaka use his staff, but… How is Emerl allowed to use a staff of his own?"

"I was wondering the same thing," Chris said.

"Don't forget, he's a Phantom Ruby illusion," Chuck said. "He can do things most other people can. Though, if Eggman is controlling him right now, he could be using this fact to his advantage."

Sonic looked on in thought over all this. Something felt off…

As they were watching the fight, Tanaka was finally able to wrestle the pole out of Emerl's hands, inwardly marveling at the robot's physical strength. Emerl made an attempt to grab at the pole again, but Tanaka pulled it out of the way, accidentally delivering a hit of his own with the other end of the pole as he spun it around. However, Emerl used this accidental move as leverage to copy his ability and grab the pole. Wrenching it out of Tanaka's hands, he swung it around in the same way Tanaka did and struck him in the head again, resulting in an instant knockout.

"The winner by TKO, Emerl!" Elmer declared as the robot's pole dematerialized.

As the crowd cheered for Emerl, Sonic frowned. Emerl was starting to become more violent. He hadn't beaten any of his other opponents quite like this before. Not only did he seem to copy Amy's ability and pull a weapon out of nowhere, but he also copied Tanaka's ability and used his own attack method against him. Even Sonic knew that Tanaka hitting Emerl was an accident, but Emerl hitting Tanaka looked like it was done on purpose.

Sonic knew that Eggman was controlling Emerl, but he didn't know how to reveal this to everyone without making himself look like the bad guy again.

Jennings State Forest – Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

"Remember the mission," Topaz told her team via radio as the jeep she was in pulled into Jennings State Forest's small parking spot. "We enter the forest by land and clear out enough robots for the second group to infiltrate the outpost."

"Copy that," several voices responded over her radio.

Topaz was one of only a handful of people in her squad who had possession of an EMP weapon. She already knew to use it wisely and sparingly, since not only were there not enough guns and cartridges to go around, but she had been told that there were thousands of robots in the forest surrounding the dome.

She could only hope this wasn't a suicide mission she had been sent on. After all, this was one of her first solo missions without Captain Westwood, and if she pulled this off, she would likely see a promotion as her superior hinted at. Yet something didn't seem right.

Once the jeep came to a complete stop, she threw open the door, and she and the five soldiers with her stepped out into the small parking lot and surveyed the forest ahead of them. They were the first ones on the scene.

"They're all in there somewhere," Topaz noted as she pulled out her heat-mapping binoculars and looked through them. It did not take her long at all to see several heat readings near the edge of the forest. She was startled at how close they were.

"They're all right there… I'm seeing nothing but orange and red everywhere. Stay back in case they strike first."

She too took a few steps back to the jeep, before she heard a rumbling noise from behind her. She kept a peripheral gaze on the forest as she turned to look. Several other GUN units were gradually pulling into the parking out and gradually out into the road, including more jeeps, trucks, two mobile headquarters, and even a few tanks.

"Just a reminder that we're not here to bulldoze the forest, especially since it's a state forest," Topaz told her whole squad over radio. "Just because we have special clearance to operate here does not mean we can do whatever we want."

She glanced around the forest before looking at the gradually arriving vehicles.

"Is this everyone, Sergeant Mink?" Topaz asked her fellow sergeant who had just emerged from another jeep nearby.

"Yes, ma'am," Mink responded. "We just finished mapping out all available paths to the outpost. There's no room to enter with our vehicles, which means we'll have to do this on foot."

Topaz was slightly taken aback. "Not even ATVs?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

"I'm afraid not. The paths are only five feet wide in some places, which is not enough room for ATVs to turn around in case something comes up."

Topaz sighed. "I was afraid of that… Well, we'll do what we can with what we got."

As soon as everyone was gathered around Topaz, she gave them the signal to charge in, and they proceeded quickly and cautiously toward the forest entrance, looking all around them. She had reminded them that conventional weapons were allowed, but they might not be as effective as the EMP weapons.

Topaz was holding one of only six EMP guns her squad was assigned. As she realized that there were only six, she had a feeling that her supervisors were impetuous, and therefore her squad was unprepared for this mission. It was only because the group inside Eggman's outpost was acting odd that GUN was forced to act now, plus they probably saw it as a form of damage control. Maybe it was better to act now than wait and risk the group gaining even more power.

Topaz had a personal platoon assigned to her, which were the troops that came with her in the jeep she was in. She was responsible for every one of those five men. She gripped her weapon tighter; she was the only one in her platoon who had an EMP weapon.

The part of the forest they were in was quite thick, with trees dotting the path randomly every ten feet. Thanks to the forest's density, it was hard for anyone to see too far ahead of them, so they were easy pickings in case they were ambushed.

"They're not shooting at us–"

Right as one of the soldiers in Topaz's platoon was saying that, he was interrupted by the sound of laser and gunfire as the robots suddenly shot at them all at once. It was debatable if that soldier jinxed anything, because Topaz figured they were attempting to lure them into a false sense of relative security first.

"Hot Shots…" she observed. "Well, time to test this thing out."

She fired one round of her weapon at the nearest Hot Shot. There was a distinct snap sound as the weapon discharged an EMP blast directly into the robot, causing it to spark for a brief moment and then shut down. Topaz smiled in satisfaction at the weapon's power, but then four other Hot Shots emerged and started to bear down on her platoon, all the while firing at them with their machine guns and energy cannons and forcing the group to back up a bit.

"They're all unmanned," one of her soldiers said.

"So they figured out how to reverse-engineer these things," Topaz observed. "They're no slouches, I'll give 'em that."

The sound of nonstop machine gun fire echoed through the forest all around them, but the robots seemed to be mostly impervious to guns, much to the dismay of Topaz and her squad.

"They're not taking any damage from our rifles," Sergeant Mink reported. "This has been the same problem plaguing us the last two times we were out here."

Topaz knew that Mink had been sent to Jennings State Forest for the past two missions, so this was how he knew. It didn't seem to stop anyone else from trying though.

"This may end up forcing us to rely on our EMP guns," Topaz said, gritting her teeth. She reloaded her gun and fired another round at another nearby robot, neutralizing it. "More than I feel comfortable with."

Three more rounds from her gun deactivated the last three Hot Shots closest to her, allowing her and her platoon to gradually enter the forest. Topaz had to tell herself over and over like a mantra to not be too dependent on her EMP gun, although that would eventually have to be the case. And GUN couldn't use rockets or explosives either because they couldn't damage the forest, but it seemed the mysterious group controlling the GUN robots didn't seem to have such a handicap.

"This is Eagle Unit. We have advanced 100 yards," one voice in her radio spoke up.

"Fox Unit. Valkyries spotted at 1 o'clock," another said.

"Those things are incredibly dangerous," Topaz mused. "Better hope they don't send them out…"

Luckily for her, the Valkyries were not deployed to the battlefield. However, something almost as bad was deployed instead. Dozens of Laser Hunters, Shield Hunters, Big Feet, Beetles, and Flying Dogs swarmed around the many GUN soldiers. Topaz's platoon was gradually starting to be outnumbered, and the lasers they started firing forced her to back up. She almost tripped over a tree root, but she regained her footing just in time. With extreme precision, she used her EMP gun to neutralize a few of the nearest robots. However, one of the unmanned Flying Dogs crashed uncomfortably close to her, toppling a small tree. Another Big Foot exploded, starting a small fire.

Topaz gritted her teeth. This was not how she wanted this to go at all. She suddenly felt like she had just set a bad example for her squad. She had to redeem herself somehow.

Taking a few steps back so that she was out of immediate danger from the robots, she activated her radio on her shoulder.

"Topaz requesting backup to Point 1482-FE to contain a small fire," she spoke.

"Ten-four, sending backup, Mobile 2 out," a unit at one of the mobile headquarters responded.

"In the meantime, keep pushing forward," Topaz rallied her troops as they proceeded along the dirt path. "Look alive, troopers. The base is two miles in. If we keep up this pace, we'll make it there in three hours."

She took a quick glance back to make sure there were no GUN robots behind her platoon, and she noticed that she could no longer see the parking lot. She had covered more ground than she thought she did.

They were actually doing it. This was their lucky day.

The Egg Dome – Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

The GUN forces' progress had not gone unnoticed by the Society within the Egg Dome.

The outpost's surveillance room was seeing the most activity it had seen in days. Dr. Kai Narasu, Colonel Card Passer, Hector Dragg, and Li Yan were gathered there, monitoring the military's activities on the many screens spanning the walls.

"Their approach is different this time…" Passer mused, his eyes locked on Mink's platoon in particular. "We're losing considerably more forces than the last two times they did this."

"Well, we still have a whole bunch of robots at our disposal," Dragg bragged. "We can do this all day."

"Not at the rate they're approaching at," Passer said. "They're already a fifth of a mile into the forest. They're making decent headway. Just give them a few hours."

"Not only that, but we can't ask Watcher what we can do since he and Browning are still recovering from Chaos Control, and the Organizer is busy with who knows what," Narasu said, starting to sound a little desperate.

"Which is why you people are lucky Watcher put me in charge," Passer told them, swiveling around in his command chair.

"Colonel."

Passer followed Narasu's gaze to one of the screens to his right, where he was pointing at someone near the front of a small group proceeding along one of the paths.

"Is, uh… that who I think it is?" Narasu asked.

"Who?" Passer queried. He pressed a few buttons on the command chair, and the screen zoomed into a figure he recognized all too well. "Sergeant Topaz… so she finally shows her face. Lucky for us that bat-woman isn't there with her this time. Without her, Topaz is just another GUN soldier."

"So what do we do? Do we send out the Valkyries?" Dragg asked, leaning against the wall and watching GUN's advancements.

Passer thought for a moment, pondering his options, before looking up.

"I'm not too keen on potentially destroying this entire forest with those things. We'll save them for more extreme situations," he said, standing up and pacing the room. "No, we have something even better. Browning told me this morning that Beta Mk. III is officially ready for combat, and now that we finally have a Chaos Emerald, its power will be virtually limitless."

"But shouldn't we get Browning's permission first?" Dragg asked.

"He already said we could use it if we were raided again," Passer clarified. "Even without the Emerald, it has proven to be quite effective in the simulation room, so warding off GUN once again will be a simple matter. Not even their new electromagnetic weapons will work on it."

Diamond Stadium – Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

All right, Amy… This is it, deep breaths… Remember what Sonic told you.

The pink hedgehog took several steady, deep breaths, physically and mentally preparing herself for her match against Rouge. Looking up, she saw the bat in the opposite corner, her pose relaxed and her expression exuding confidence, which put Amy off her game just a little.

She summoned her Piko Piko Hammer from Hammerspace, holding it tightly in an attempt to boost her confidence. She remembered what Sonic and Knuckles had told her earlier, as well as the encouragement that Sonic had given her during her match with him.

I promise I won't let you down, guys! she told herself.

"Y'know, I'm real impressed at all the fan support you got yourself," Rouge commented, "but I think it's clear I'm the more glamorous one around here. The Emerald looks better in my hands anyway."

"Even if we're on the same side, Rouge, I would never trust you with the Emerald," Amy stated.

Rouge put one hand on her hip. "Oh? And why's that?" she asked, sounding amused.

"Because you're a kleptomaniac, that's why!"

"Who, me?" Rouge asked, suppressing a chuckle.

"Well yeah, who do you think I'm talking to?" Amy asked, starting to sound a bit agitated. But before Rouge could taunt her any further, Elmer started the match, and the starting bell sounded.

Grasping her hammer tighter, Amy charged straight toward Rouge, holding her weapon high. However, Rouge simply glided out of the way long before Amy got there. She kept floating away from her as she watched Amy helplessly run toward her, unable to gain any ground.

"Get back here and fight me, Rouge!" Amy demanded. This was starting to remind her of Chris' match with Knuckles.

"Y'know, it's funny watching you run around and getting tired like this," Rouge said, her smile unwavering. "Even when you're angry, you're so predictable. Especially when you're angry."

Amy was just about to reply, when she stopped. She realized what Rouge's strategy was. If she was trying to tire her out so that she could easily finish her off, it wouldn't work. So she stopped running and held her hammer defensively, facing Rouge. She knew she couldn't throw it because she could easily hurt someone in the audience that way.

When Rouge noticed that Amy wasn't chasing her anymore, she too stopped, a smirk playing across her muzzle.

"What's the matter, Pinky?" she asked. "Tired already?"

"Yeah," Amy said, adjusting the grip on her weapon. "Tired of you running away from me. Why don't you just get down here and fight me for real? We can give the audience a good show!"

"Huh…" Rouge said, contemplating Amy's offer. "I kinda didn't want to get down and dirty this early on, buuuut since you put it that way…" She turned around to fully face Amy. "Hope you don't end up eating your words."

She dove down straight at Amy, who stepped out of the way and prepared a devastating blow, but then Rouge flew around her and delivered a kick at her. Amy gasped as she was barely able to block Rouge's attack.

"Looks like you need a hammer in order to keep up with my all-natural, glamorous power," Rouge taunted. "Really, a hammer is no match for a bat."

"You just watch yourself, Rouge," Amy threatened, gritting her teeth.

She turned and charged at Rouge again. Rouge prepared to keep evading her, but then Amy leaped into the air at her. Rouge saw her coming and dove out of the way, but Amy caught on and swung her hammer at her. However, Rouge did a barrel roll and evaded her. Then she suddenly looped back, causing Amy to lose track of her, before kicking her down to the ground near the edge of the arena.

Amy landed back in the arena, quickly regaining her footing and taking a few steps back as Rouge swooped down at her to deliver the finishing blow. They both exchanged several strong, bone-crushing blows with their hammer and strong legs respectively. By pure luck, Amy was able to block a sudden sweep of Rouge's legs that was meant to catch her off guard.

However, Amy couldn't keep up her defense for long, and Rouge kicked her down before flying high into the air.

"Screw Kick!"

She dove down feet first at a near-incomprehensible speed toward Amy. The hedgehog squeezed her eyes shut tightly, and in the moments that followed, everything became a blur. She didn't realize what had happened until she heard Elmer declaring her the winner.

Opening her eyes, she was surprised to see Rouge lying outside the ring. And then she realized, she acted by instinct. She had swung her hammer without realizing it. She was delighted.

This has to be what feels like when Sonic's fighting! It's instinct!

She was so proud of herself, and her smile could not have been any bigger as everyone cheered for her. She had avenged Tails.

She was still beaning with self-esteem and accomplishment when she made it back to her seat, where all of her friends celebrated her victory, and they all exchanged hugs.

"Way to go, Ames!" Sonic praised her. "It kinda looked like Rouge had you there for a moment, but you gave her what for and came out on top! I knew you had it in you!"

"Yeah, you did great, Amy!" Cream cheered.

"Now I know what it's like for you to be able to fight Eggman so easily!" Amy exclaimed in joy. "It's instinct! I don't know how I managed to pull it off, but I'll take it!"

"Don't think, just go!" Sonic agreed with a thumbs-up. "At least, that's what I do." Amy nodded in agreement as she finally sat back down.

"Don't forget, I'm your next opponent," Knuckles said with a grin. "I'm not gonna take it easy on you like Rouge did."

"The feeling's mutual," Amy responded in challenge.

"Things are finally gettin' interesting," Sonic quipped. "It's down to both of you now, and whoever wins gets to fight either Lucky or Emerl. Kinda hoping it's Emerl, he's more exciting than Lucky."

"You can say that again," Knuckles said.

Jennings State Forest – Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

WARNING STARTS HERE.

Topaz's personal platoon was making decent progress into the forest. It had been almost half an hour, and they were already half a mile into the forest.

"Almost a quarter of the way there," Topaz rallied her troops. "Keep it up!"

The fourth large swarm of Beetles she had seen that day approached her and her group, and while her fellow troops were able to shoot them and destroy them with their semi-automatic assault rifles, Topaz used her EMP rifle to neutralize all but three of them, only stopping because she had to replace her cartridge, something she had uncomfortably gotten used to doing in a pinch. She sighed, realizing she was loading her last cartridge into her gun. She had expected this setback, but not this soon.

"All units on me," Topaz spoke into her radio once she found a lull in the battle. "I repeat, all units on me."

As she ended her call, she realized this fight would not have been much easier even if Rouge was there. There were too many robots, and she once again found herself thinking this was a suicide mission. They should have waited for more EMP weapons to be made, but they were running out of golden opportunities to strike. The unknown group's guard would probably have risen significantly after the tournament.

"Mayday! Mayday!" someone shouted over Topaz' headset. "New robot ambushed us! It's immune to EMPs!"

"That's impossible…" Topaz said to herself, feeling a hint of dread in her stomach. "All units on me, stat!" she repeated into her radio.

She proceeded through the forest at a rate faster than she had been going, looking around for any sign of a new robot other than the few she had seen before. Her comrades shot at a few other robots nearby to keep them away from her group. It was already bad enough that she was running out of ammo in one of her only truly effective weapons, but now there was a new robot that was completely impervious to said effective weapon.

"Fox Unit to Topaz requesting reinforcements, over," a voice in Topaz's radio spoke.

"Mayday! The robot is using acid! Man down! Man down!" another called frantically.

"Negative on reinforcements," Topaz responded, her regret being palpable. "Either we fight with all we got or crawl back with our tails between our legs."

As she finished sending out her response, she heard footsteps approaching from behind. Her heart leaped, but she relaxed when she saw that it was just one of the other platoons that happened to be nearby.

"Safety in numbers," she told them when they finished joining up with her.

Together, the thirteen GUN troopers continued their advance toward the dome in the middle of the forest. Gunshots rang out from other parts of the forest. Topaz hoped that the other GUN platoons were having better luck than they were.

"Over a quarter of the way there," Topaz said, chancing a look at her tablet, before looking up. She suppressed a gasp at what she saw.

"No way…"

She stood her ground at the sight of the robot she saw in the distance up ahead. It looked just like Beta Mk. II she had fought the last time she was at Eggman's dome outpost, but this time, it was bulkier yet more streamlined, more heavily armored, and much faster, yet it looked less like the kind of robot Eggman would make and more like GUN's robot models. Plus it could apparently use acid.

"Keep your guard up," Topaz warned her entire squad over radio. "Visual confirmed for an extremely hostile robot."

Just as quickly as the robot had appeared, it disappeared into the forest again. Topaz knew she hadn't seen the last of it as she and her now-larger platoon kept pushing forward.

"Mayday!" she heard another voice in her radio. "All units in Fox Platoon are down! I repeat, all units in Fox Plat– AAAHH!"

Topaz gritted her teeth as she picked up the pace. Things were getting grim very fast. She found herself involuntarily tightening her grip on her weapon.

Intuition told her to look behind her, and the moment she whipped her head back, she saw the newly-upgraded Beta flying straight at her platoon. Motors revved as the robot activated a buzzsaw on one of its arms and took out three of her troops before they could react. Topaz was horrified at what was going on, and she instinctively fired her EMP gun at it, only for it to do nothing at all. She realized that, unlike Eggman, these people who stole GUN's robots had no qualms about killing if it meant they could get their way.

Everyone else scrambled back, narrowly avoiding the robot's sawblade and attempting to fire their own weapons at it, but they either missed or had their bullets deflected by the robot. Then there was a suddenly bright glow from the direction of the robot. Topaz looked up to see that both its hands were raised. It was charging a massive energy ball above its head, and it was growing by the minute.

She could not believe what she was seeing. There were fallen troops everywhere, and the troops who were still alive couldn't get a hit in edgewise.

"Retreat! Retreat!" Topaz ordered her entire squad. To those who were with her, she said, "Pick up the wounded and run. Don't look back."

As her troops did as they were told, Topaz followed them, covering for them while occasionally looking back to see what Beta would do. It waited for a moment, before throwing the giant energy ball anyway. Topaz ducked as it soared over her head. Seconds later, it exploded with deafening impact, taking out several trees in the twenty-foot diameter it covered.

Topaz looked up, and found that the worst she had feared had happened. Several of her troops had perished in the blast, and now there were more soldiers who were dead than alive.

As Topaz reported the casualties to the mobile headquarters parked outside the forest, more platoons joined her. They too seemed to be short on numbers.

"Do not engage the robot. I repeat, do not engage Beta," Topaz told her squad. Looking up, she saw that Beta was gone, disappearing back into the forest. It appeared to be defending the dome rather than attacking GUN for the sake of it.

Finally, about twenty minutes later, GUN pulled out of the forest without any further incidents. No robots had attacked or ambushed them as they were retreating.

When Topaz got back to the mobile headquarters, she was horrified to see that there were many more bodies there than she had anticipated. Several GUN troops who had stayed behind were laying the bodies out and treating the wounded while taking care of the deceased. Topaz had learned that of the 230 troops that entered the forest, only 37 made it out alive, and of those 37, eighteen were injured, four of them critically.

"Even with the upper hand, we were still disadvantaged…" Topaz said, still shaking from the adrenalin rush she had endured while pulling out of the forest. "HQ is not gonna be happy with this one."

With a shaky sigh, she contacted HQ and told them about how GUN's mission went, and about the upgraded robot they fought. She was told to return to HQ immediately for a post-mission briefing.

Even though none of this was Topaz's fault, she still felt personally responsible for the deaths of most of her squad. This was unforgivable. GUN was severely underprepared for this mission, and she hadn't been able to voice her objection because GUN was obstinate in their endgame. And now it was too late.

WARNING ENDS HERE.

Diamond Stadium – Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Everyone was anticipating the start of the Chaos Competition's semifinals. They knew Knuckles and Amy were set to go against each other, but they had almost forgotten that Emerl and Lucky were on the other side of the bracket, and that was the match that was coming up in just a few minutes.

"I'm gonna get us some more snacks before the finals," Sonic announced as he took a bit bite of his chili dog. "Anyway, who do you guys think is gonna win? Between Lucky and Emerl, I mean."

"I don't know," Chris said, scratching his head as he looked down at the ring, where Emerl was finally stepping up into his corner from the right side. "Because I don't think Emerl can just copy luck like that."

"I dunno, Chris," Sonic shrugged. "He was able to copy Tails' flying even though he doesn't have any tails. Plus the way he pulled a pole out of nowhere to fight Tanaka with, I'm pretty sure Emerl's got this one in the bag."

Lucky slowly climbed up the stairs on the left side, stumbling as it reached the top, just as it did during its previous two rounds.

"Kinda curious to see how this plays out," Sonic said, eyeing both of the robots as Elmer started the fight.

"Same," Chris said.

The crowd was mostly quiet as the two robots slowly stepped toward each other, neither deviating to the left or the right. They stopped when they were a few feet away from each other, staring at each other for a long time, for what must have been a solid twenty seconds. Just when Sonic was starting to get bored, Lucky fell over backward on its own.

"Wait, wha–" Amy started to say, before the judge started the count. The spectators made collective noises of surprise at this sudden turn of events.

When Lucky did not stand back up before the judge reached ten, Elmer declared Emerl the winner.

"The winner… Elmer!" he declared, before having a double take. "I-I meant Emerl, I'm sorry," he laughed it off, and the audience laughed with him. "Both our names are spelled almost the same, it's an easy mistake!"

"Well then…" Chuck noted. "Guess we know who one of our finalists is going to be…"

"That was one of the fastest fights this whole tournament!" Amy said. "It wasn't even a fight!"

"But at least no one got hurt," Cream added.

"Yeah, that's true, Cream," Amy said with a smile.

"Whoever wins the next fight, it's gonna be tough fighting Emerl," Chris noted.

"I'm not afraid of a little challenge," Knuckles said with a grin, bumping his fists together. "Besides, you guys were saying he was a good sparring partner."

"Knuckles the Echidna and Amy Rose, come on down for the last match before our grand finale!" Elmer called from the ring below.

"Good luck!" Cream called, waving to both of them as they filed past everyone to the main aisle.

"Chao-chao!" Cheese and Chocola added in unison.

"Thank you!" Amy said, smiling at them. "We'll do our best!"

As she followed Knuckles down the stairs toward the ring, she felt her heart pounding in her chest. She was nervous, but also full of anticipation because she couldn't believe she was so close to the finals. This was so exciting!

"You ready for this?" Knuckles asked.

"You bet!" Amy enthusiastically responded.

Knuckles chuckled. "Good, 'cuz I've been doing a lot of training for this, and this time, I'm not gonna hold anything back."

"Me neither!" Amy said, skipping a bit as she entered her corner. Knuckles did a couple quick stretches as he entered his own corner opposite her.

The moment the starting bell went off, both of them took off and raced toward each other at speeds that impressed Chris. However, right as Amy was about to swing her hammer at Knuckles, the echidna punched it with incredible force, throwing her off balance.

"Wah!" she yelped, hopping a bit to regain her footing.

Once she was secure and had a good grip on her weapon again, she leaped high into the air to attack Knuckles from above, but Knuckles saw her coming and glided around to the back to attack her from behind. Amy saw him coming and swung her hammer immediately, striking him back to the other side of the arena. She did not expect Knuckles to utilize the same tactic Rouge did last round, which is how she knew what to expect.

As Knuckles landed on his feet, he eyed his opponent, knowing it was going to be risky attacking the way he wanted to without potentially damaging the ring. He shrugged, telling himself to go for it as long as he knew how much to hold back.

He ran at Amy again, hopping to the side and avoiding a swing of her hammer, before letting loose with a flurry of punches. The hedgehog had trouble dodging and blocking them all, and she took several hits and scrambled back. Both competitors were left panting after that.

"Told ya I wasn't gonna hold back," Knuckles said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I can finish this just as easily."

"Oh, I'm not done yet, Knuckles," Amy said, determination coursing through her veins once more.

"Good to hear, I like a good fight– whoa!"

Knuckles wasn't expecting the sheer speed Amy suddenly charged at him with. She sidestepped a few times, doing a few fakeouts to throw Knuckles off his game. He expected her to attack from his right side, but when he held up his fists to defend himself, she suddenly struck out from his left side, knocking him back a few yards, but he regained his footing.

"Sonic's right, this is just like our sparring sessions!" Amy said, feeling very invigorated.

"This is more than sparring, Amy," Knuckles told her, taking up a fighting stance. "This is the big leagues!"

Without wasting another word, he leaped toward Amy with a shout, and they exchanged blows with their fists and hammer respectively. They countered each other's moves for a solid two minutes, and both of them were impressed with each other's countermoves, but they didn't let that distract them from their own fighting skills. The crowd was going crazy over this fight; it seemed like each fight was better than the last, barring those where the opponent bailed out at the last second.

A sudden stray punch from Knuckles knocked the hammer out of Amy's hands, and it landed outside the arena, embedding itself in the ground, a testament to how rough both competitors were fighting. Not even Knuckles was expecting that to happen, and Amy was flustered at this sudden turn of events and took a few steps back. She didn't have any spare hammers. Knuckles grinned, realizing he had a huge advantage.

"I think it's pretty much guaranteed I'm gonna win this," Knuckles said, relaxing his pose a bit.

"I-I can still fight…!" Amy said, trying not to panic. Knuckles glanced over at Amy's fallen weapon.

"Without your hammer?" Knuckles asked. "You can't get it back without getting a ring-out, so I pretty much won already."

To an extent, Knuckles was right. She couldn't get out of the ring to get her hammer because that would result in her getting eliminated. And she wasn't too confident fighting without her signature weapon because she would risk getting hurt for real.

But then she remembered something, and she charged forward with fresh determination and exchanged a few punches of her own, which Knuckles easily blocked.

"Amy…?" Knuckles was confused.

"My kickboxing lessons, I just remembered!" Amy panted between punches.

As aggressively as Amy was attempting to fight without hurting Knuckles for real, he knew he couldn't fight back at the same intensity because he would do serious damage to her. So even when he threw a relatively light punch, he could see the shock flowing up her arm and through her body, and she held her suddenly numb hand.

"Wasn't expecting that…" Amy said quietly.

"Seriously, you should just let me fight Emerl in the finals," Knuckles said.

Amy looked up, her pain forgotten. "No way!" she defiantly said.

"Heh… Then try fighting a little harder," Knuckles said. "I know you got what it takes."

"Challenge accepted!" Amy said, running forward and fighting even harder. Both of them were countering each other's blows.

"That's more like it!" Knuckles said with a grin.

Knuckles and Amy fought like that for roughly another minute, until Knuckles accidentally hit Amy a little too hard, and she was sent flying back and out of the ring, landing on the ground below near her hammer.

"Whoa, did I hit you too hard?" Knuckles asked, realizing his mistake. However, in response, Amy smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up as she shakily stood up.

"The winner by ring-out, Knuckles the Echidna!" Elmer announced to the crowd, who cheered.

Knuckles waved to the crowd, but deep down, he still felt bad for accidentally hurting Amy for real.

"You okay?" he asked as he jumped down from the ring and approached Amy.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine!" Amy said with a nod, laughing it off as she turned to head up the steps. "Just a little surprised is all, don't worry about me. Anyway, good luck in the finals, Knuckles!"

As they both went back up the stairs, both waving at and high-fiving their many fans on the way up, Sonic was looking on, perhaps a little too intently. Chris didn't know what could have been going through the hedgehog's mind.

"Sonic…?" Chris asked. "You okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah," Sonic said, looking back at Chris. "Yeah, I'm good, just thinking. Y'know… I'm kinda gonna miss this thing when it's all done."

"Me too," Chris admitted.

"I know, the whole point of this tournament was to get Eggman to show his face, but I guess he didn't show up, huh?" Sonic shrugged. "Eh, it's what it is. We'll still find him. I had a lot of fun today though."

"Yeah, me too," Chris said, smiling at Sonic.

"So… Knuckles and Emerl, huh?" Sonic said with a smirk. "This oughta be fun…"

A/N: That concludes the fourth chapter of the Chaos Competition Arc! I was gonna call this chapter Breaking Point, but it didn't exactly fit what actually happens in the chapter, so I named it Instinct minutes before I posted this chapter.

In my notes, the first scene was originally going to be two separate scenes. The part where the scene cuts to the stands and shows everyone's reaction to the Chris vs. Knuckles fight was what divided the two scenes.

Also, Mink originally went unnamed in my original draft, and since he seemed to appear more than a few times, I figured it would probably be a good idea to give him a name.

I decided to have Amy win her match with Rouge instead of the other way around mostly because of the following match between Rouge and Knuckles. In the original episode, she used a tent to fight Knuckles with, and by the tournament rules, that would be considered bringing in an outside object which is cheating, and I wanted to do something different and shake it up a bit, so I changed the outcome altogether.

Furthermore, I had Sam Speed win against Mr. Stewart instead of the other way around, because the Mr. Stewart and Scarlet Garcia subplot from the Shadow Saga didn't happen in this story, and besides, I like the setup it allowed me to do with Sam Speed's running gags. (I probably should have put this in the previous chapter since it happened then, but oh well.)

Normally I don't like writing death in any of my fanfics, but I just want to say this now that no major characters will die unless the original plot orders for it to happen. However, the warned scene from this chapter also shows how big of a threat the Society really is, and it's also setup for me potentially writing darker themes in the Metarex Saga rewrite.

Also, for anyone wondering, even though a few other parts in Sonic canon (particularly Sonic X Episode 52 and Archie Sonic X Issue #6) show Amy using multiple hammers, she only has one hammer in my headcanon. I haven't thought about all the details that could happen in case she loses it, however.

I'd love you hear your input once again in case anyone is out of character, particularly Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy. Amy appeared a lot in this chapter, and it game me another chance to improve how I write her character, so I really want to hear your thoughts. I don't know if Sonic and Knuckles are too soft in how they interact with Amy, especially knowing how Sonic is with Amy in most media, and how solitary Knuckles can be sometimes.

I enjoyed writing Amy's fight with Rouge so it could be a moment of character development for her. As much as I love writing with Sonic and particularly Chris, it's important to focus on the other characters too.

Next time: the thrilling conclusion to the Chaos Competition Arc! Don't miss it!