A/N: I'm finally back from the dead! Yay! :D

First off, I did not plan on taking a four-month hiatus from uploading here, and I'm really sorry about that, but it was because of the recent issues the site was having between traffic stats not displaying from September 15 to January 3, to emails not being sent between mid-October and mid-November. So I decided to not upload anything here until both issues were fully fixed, because I wanted to at least see my stats and have people be notified when I upload. Even now, the stats between September 24 and January 3 are still not showing, but at least it won't impact my story going forward. I wanted until now to upload because February is the first full month with the traffic stats back.

The good news is, I have not been idle these past four months! If you've seen my latest announcement on Twitter, I've revealed which stories are going to get updates, and that includes Chaos on Earth! Even though I probably won't have a release schedule for the new chapters, expect a few surprises here and there.

Another thing you can expect is faster updates. I'm making plans to finish the entire saga of Chaos on Earth, including the Metarex Saga, by next summer. That may sound like an impossible feat, considering my track record of updating one chapter or less a month, but fear not! Two months ago, I already started in-depth planning for the Metarex Saga, and as of this chapter, I recently started planning episode 55. I want to speed it up a little to prevent any delays. So I may end up focusing on this story for a bit and churning out two or three chapters a month.

Also, before I move on to the next part, I'm sorry about the rant at the end of the last chapter, but I said what needed to be said, and now that the user in question has left me alone, we can all feel at ease.

Also, I would like to announce that I recently found out that, out of the well over 32,000 stories on this site, Chaos on Earth is officially the 50th most-reviewed Sonic story on the entire site! I'm not including the most reviewed story because most of its reviews are spam, and I'm including Sophia X even though it's in the Sonic X category instead of the main Sonic category. I wanna thank each and every one of you for helping to make this milestone possible.

Chapter notes!

First off, for those of you who have seen Sonic X, episodes 45 and 46 cover a tournament (which was teased at the end of the last chapter so it's technically not a spoiler here). I've completely redone the entire arc, turned it inside out, and pretty much wrote it from scratch using several ideas from the original arc. It will be a little longer than two chapters for anyone wondering.

Second, for the time being, I'm going to do away with anime titles and time stamps. They tend to slow me down thinking of the right name, as well as times that make sense and don't contradict each other. I'll keep everything else in the scene headers, including date stamps.

Third, When I was planning this arc, I realized I was so invested in my story that I had completely forgotten about the Freedom Movement in the original Sonic X. It was kind of nonsensical, because they were pretty much the whole reason episode 43 happened, and I'm pretty sure normal humans wouldn't imitate Sonic en masse. You don't see hundreds of people imitating Tom Cruise to break 100-meter dash records every day or anything like that. That just doesn't happen. So yeah, I'm not gonna have the Freedom Movement appear in this story.

I originally finished this chapter on October 27, 2023, two days after the fifth anniversary of this story, and now it's time to publish it!

I would like to thank Sonic245, shadowsharkds, ADUAN II, and Amelia Walker for favoriting and following since my last chapter!

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


11 Reviews

Super duper waffles

1: I totally forgot Sonic appeared in Ready Player One, so I'm inclined to think it may have been Mario, or even someone like Pac-Man, assuming they don't appear in the movie already (I haven't seen that movie yet).

2: Since the Sonic franchise doesn't exist on Earth in this headcanon, Nintendo is more popular than they are in real life, since they have less competition. Other than that, the video game industry is not that much different than they are in real life (except E3 didn't get canned).

3: Knights of the Round Table in particular probably does exist, although in a slightly different form, same with 1001 Arabian Nights or whatever Secret Rings is based on, although both games are non-canon in my personal headcanon. As far as physical elements, I imagine that the coordinates of the United States on Earth are roughly the same as the United Federation on Mobius, even though the continental United States is over twice as big as the United Federation. And while we're on the topic of similarities between Earth and Mobius, Mobius has many of the same holidays as Earth, including Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter, and Halloween, but they also have some Japanese holidays like Pocky Day among a few others. They don't have the Fourth of July, St. Patrick's Day, or Thanksgiving, but they do have a few holidays that Earth doesn't have, including the anniversary of when Sonic first defeated Eggman and liberated the planet from his rule.

4.1: This is a great question that I could probably write a whole essay about! XD it might be a little easier to see what's not canon by figuring out what is canon. So, starting with the games, some of the spinoff games are not canon, for example, Sonic R, Sonic Drift, Sonic Blast, Sonic Shuffle, the storybook games are not canon, and as cool as Shade and Imperator Ix are, I'm thinking Sonic Chronicles isn't canon either since that goes against the whole "Knuckles is the last of his kind" thing. Other than that, most to all of the mainstream games are canon, and I'm thinking of a way to tie in Tails' solo games and Knuckles' Chaotix into my headcanon as well. Forces will be completely redone and taken more seriously, and Classic Sonic in Forces is not canon.

4.2: Moving on to SatAM, several of the Season 1 episodes, as well as the last few Season 2 episodes, are canon. I'm not sure yet if I want to have the Power Stones or the Deep Time Stones canon, since I may want to figure out a way to combine the Doomsday Project story with the Ultimate Annihilator story from Archie. Stories will be intermingled with the early games, which means I'll figure out a way to include the Death Egg. The Blast to the Past two-parter is canon as far as I know so far, but filler characters like Ro-Becca are not canon. Characters like Naugus are canon, and even the name "Ixis" is not used in SatAM, he'll still be known as Ixis Naugus. It's been a while since I last watched SatAM, so I'll need to touch up on my memory. Even the minor Cat from "Sonic Boom" will be canon, albeit with a more fleshed-out personality. Robotnik being sent to the Void at the end, and what is hinted as Naugus leaving the void, will be canon.

4.3: Archie has a bunch of stuff that's not canon in my headcanon. I just got finished reading Issue 93, and I haven't even gotten to the worst of what happens in the comic. First off, all the echidnas except Knuckles are not canon, and never are the fire ants. While some characters like Geoffrey St. John and maybe Mina Mongoose are canon, others like Nate Morgan and Warlord Kodos are debatable. Obviously, elements like Soultouch and Green Knuckles are not canon. And as cool as the concept of the Dark Legion is, they're not canon either because of the whole echidna thing (although I'm working on a rewrite concept of the Knuckles series). The second Eggman / Robo-Robotnik is not canon either, as cool as the concept is of him defeating Sonic in his world and then coming to Mobius Prime to do it all over again. The second Eggman will be one and the same character as the original SatAM / Archie Robotnik. Other elements like the Xorda and the Bem are not canon either, because even though I haven't gotten there yet, the Bem removed the concept of roboticization, which I always thought was one of the coolest parts about Eggman. The Egg Bosses from the Post-SGW comics will be canon though, and Snively will still be Eggman's nephew. Sonic will not be shipped with Sally; they'll just be close friends who go way back. Scourge will be canon, and I'm toying with the idea of merging his world with Blaze's world.

4.4: So far, everything that happened in IDW so far will be canon, except for the part where Shadow fights against the Zombots in Episode 19. I rewrote what I imagine really happened in my story "Fall of the Ultimate Lifeform".

Thank you for all your questions! :D

danielman21

Awww, same here! Cream is one of my favorite Sonic characters of all time, she is so sweet and innocent.

soberan 123

This is exactly why the government needs to bring Eggman to justice, since even if he has a few resources, he can still create something devastating.

Sonic245 (1st review)

I already adapted the Shadow Saga, back in chapters 31-35! :D

Bloated Corpse

That is a possibility, and it could make a great AU idea. I also remember that in the sub of Sonic X, the Cascadians had said that they had been in war with the Metarex for "generation after generation", although I'm not sure it's much longer than eight years because Cosmo was likely born shortly after the Seedrians left Greengate. So it could have actually been longer than eight years. As for who the Seedrians were fighting, it was never shown, but I feel like it was an animal species they were fighting, and I'm not sure if Cascadians / humans would count.

Five-Chosen (1st review)

I'm not sure if Shadow will appear in the tournament arc because it never crossed my mind that he could show up then, but I do like that idea though! As for your other question, I feel like Helen would remind Shadow of Maria more than Chris would, because she has the same blonde hair and heart of gold.

According to my notes, the flooded planet will be called Secco, but the people living there are the Hydo Tribe. That way I was able to use both names. Also, I was able to think of a name for the jungle planet in episode 58, as well as the lava planet in episode 72, but thank you anyway for your suggestions! Speaking of the lava planet, I'm curious if you or anyone else have name ideas for it to see if it's better than the name I thought of.

I haven't really used Wattpad recently either, but I did originally plan to port my stories there during the traffic stat and email outage. I am, however, currently porting all my stories to AO3. And yeah, I will definitely consider checking out your work on Wattpad soon.

CreativeKitty975

This episode reminded me of a zombie apocalypse too! I wanted to give it the intensity to match, and I'm really happy to see it paid off!

That was my favorite part too, with Cream giving Chris a get-well-soon card :)

Sonic245 (2nd review)

Yes, I will definitely have more interactions with Sonic and Cosmo! Especially since Cosmo had been suffering with grief that she lost her family, as well as the constant threat of the Metarex, so I do plan on having Sonic interact more with Cosmo.

Five-Chosen (2nd review)

Yes, the girls definitely need proper winter clothes when they're on Breezy in Episode 57. And besides, I really like Amy's winter outfit in the games and comics. And now that I'm thinking about it, if the planet is cold enough, the boys may need winter gear too.

I agree, Cosmo should stay behind on the Blue Typhoon, and besides, she didn't do much in that episode anyway besides reveal her ability to feel plants' life forces.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind about the scarves.

I really like that idea with Amy in Episode 69! It gives her something to do without her being obsessed with Sonic to the point of jealousy over Tails and Cosmo being in the Lake of Love. And I can totally see her doing anything she can to ship Tails and Cosmo together, I'll definitely do something like that!

I didn't know that about the Marmolim! Now that you say it that way, I'll probably change it to another phonetic sound, but I'm not sure what it will be yet.

Okay, that's a very good point with the fake Emerald that the Marmolims had. I'll definitely need to offer some explanation about it. After what happened in both Episodes 62 and 67, the Mobians should be at least a little suspicious of each new Emerald they come across.

Five-Chosen (3rd review)

Thanks, it's great to be back! And I know I announced I would be back on February 3, but I couldn't resist and decided to update early!

Not only that with the moon and stars being the same, but half of the moon in the Mobius dimension is still missing from when Eggman shot it with the Eclipse Cannon (even though SEGA says that side of the moon isn't facing Mobius). The Earth moon is whole in this story because Eggman never really shot it, he used the Phantom Ruby to make it look like he did so he could set up his Egg Moon plot.

BebiaArts

Just shared it with you over Discord! Eventually I plan on uploading the Japanese transcripts I have somewhere.


Chapter 42
Episode 45 (part 1)
The Tournament


Station Square - Wed February 23 – Sonic's POV

Ever since the crack of dawn, I was doing what I had been doing for the past several days: racing around the state searching every nook and cranny for any sign of Doctor Eggman.

Last week, he had been broken out of a max-security prison by his apprentice and former politician Jerome Wise. All the details surrounding his escape seemed sketchy, and there were still a lot of unanswered questions. The biggest one, however, had been plaguing my mind for the better part of a week now.

Where did Eggman go once he and the Egg Carrier disappeared?

I had to find the answer to that one. And I knew I couldn't rest until I finally saw the whites of Eggman's eyes through his glasses. He was far too dangerous to be loose somewhere where I couldn't see him.

But with each passing day with no clues to be had anywhere, I was beginning to get more desperate. Even the police were as clueless as I was. Someone claimed to have seen him in a sewer somewhere, but there wasn't any evidence to prove it, so I didn't count that.

The public was getting worried that Eggman would come out of hiding at any moment and catch them off guard, just like he did the past two Novembers. Furthermore, I was aware that there was a national manhunt out for him, so I often came across the occasional military vehicle here and there.

Today, however, was different. I had a few hours to kill before an important meeting with some people in the government. I wasn't told what it was going to be about, but I was sure I'd find out before long. I could only guess, but I had a feeling it had to do with the hunt for Dr. Eggman. Maybe they needed my knowledge of Chaos Emeralds for something, maybe they were working on a machine and needed my input. But I could only guess.

However, the more I searched, the more I was sure the doctor was no longer in California. I secretly hoped he wasn't hiding in another part of the world, because if he was, not only would it make my job that much harder, but I would need to take a boat or plane to get there, because I sure wasn't going to run across the water.

Tightening my fists, I zipped northward toward Fresno, figuring I could spend a little bit of time there searching for Eggman before my meeting. Though, I didn't like having my hands tied with a deadline. And if I did find him, Tails was only a call away thanks to my newly-upgraded comlink.


Thorndyke Mansion - Outside - Wed February 23 – Third-person POV

Even though it was February, it was a picture-perfect sunny day in Station Square, with few clouds and mild temperatures. Outside the Thorndyke's mansion lay its sprawling garden, where Cream was carefully creating flower crowns and necklaces for everyone.

Even though she put a brave face on the ordeals she and her friends had gone through regarding the month-long eclipse and the appliance apocalypse, she felt like everyone needed cheering up. And since Eggman was missing and everyone was on edge, this was all the more reason for her to lift her friends' spirits.

By now, everyone had basic appliances back, including a new fridge, washer, and dryer. As promised, Chris got a new phone, and all his data was backed up, so he didn't lose anything. His dad's company, as well as many other appliance and electronic companies, were seeing an economic boom unlike anything they ever saw before, and stocks were skyrocketing.

Tying the final knot, Cream proudly held up the first flower crown. However, her smile dropped when she saw that it was too big. But she realized it could still be salvaged.

"Here you go, Mommy!" Cream said, smiling brightly as she gently handed it to Vanilla, who was standing nearby enjoying the scenery. "It's a little big, but it can still be a perfect flower necklace."

"Chao chao!" Cheese echoed, helping Cream to carry the large lei of flowers.

"Aww, thank you, dear!" Vanilla beamed as she put it on over her head. "It fits perfectly, and it looks so beautiful."

"You're welcome!" Cream smiled before turning back to her work among the flowers. "I want to make more for everyone else too!"

"You are very kind and thoughtful, Cream," Vanilla said, adjusting her flower necklace around her neck. "I missed doing this with you."

"Me too, but I'm happy that we can make flower crowns again together," Cream said. "Thank you for teaching me how to make them."

"Oh, look who we have here!" Vanilla pointed out. Cream looked to her right to see Emerl approaching her, holding a flower crown of his own.

"F-For me?" Cream squeaked in delight. Emerl gave a short nod as he offered her his flower crown. "Awww, thank you so much, Emerl! Now I want to make you a flower crown!"

Deep down, Cream knew that he had studied her and copied her ability to make flower crowns, and she was impressed because he had done so expertly. In fact, it was almost as if Emerl was a real robot with a genuine heart rather than a Phantom Ruby illusion.

As Cream got to work on Emerl's flower crown, Amy smiled fondly as she looked on at the precious scene from her balcony overlooking the garden.

It was true, Cream and her mom had not been together for roughly a month and a half. Furthermore, Cream didn't have the motivation to make flower crowns since the artificial eclipse started last month. It was not a happy time for everyone. Having natural sunlight mattered for everyone, especially Cream.

Lately, Cream had been the happiest she had ever been since arriving on Earth. In fact, she had told everyone that Chris' house felt like a second home for her. She felt very safe, even more so now that Vanilla was with them once again.

As Amy watched Cream carefully weave the flowers together to form a beautiful crown for her robot friend, she remembered when Cream was teaching her how to make her own flower crowns. While she wasn't able to quite get the hang of making them the way Cream did, she did enjoy the quality time she spent with her best friend.

Something buzzed near Amy's face, startling her. She took a step back to see that a mosquito had distracted her from her thoughts.

Mosquitoes already? It's not even spring yet! she thought as she tried to swat it away. However, it kept flying toward her face. No matter how many times she tried to get rid of it, it kept coming at her, and two other mosquitoes flew out of nowhere toward her as well, forcing her to back away.

"Okay, that does it!" Amy exclaimed. She whipped out her Piko Piko Hammer and swung it at the mosquitoes, driving them away. It only worked for a little while before they continued trying to approach her.

"Miss Amy!" Mr. Tanaka called from the ground below her. Amy froze mid-swing, a blush of embarrassment forming as she looked down at him. He was holding hedge clippers; he had been busy with working in the garden all morning.

"Please refrain from swinging your hammer so close to the house, you could have broken the window," he told her.

"Oh… s-sorry!" Amy called as she put away her hammer. Her next line of defense would have been to go back inside, but if it weren't for the mosquitoes, it would have been the most perfect morning. She had no idea how Cream and Vanilla and their two Chao weren't bothered by them.

Looking back at them one last time, Amy slipped back into her room and closed the door. She decided to make her way downstairs and rejoin the others. She hated to be rudely interrupted by those parasitic insects. Looking back, she was sure her hammer wouldn't have made anything better anyway. On the bright side, she didn't feel itchy anywhere, so they didn't get to her.

Almost as soon as she rejoined Chuck and Ella in the living room, Mr. Tanaka emerged through the side door, his urgent expression from earlier gone. Amy hoped no one would call attention to what happened earlier.

"Why were you swinging your hammer near the house?" Tanaka asked out of genuine curiosity.

Amy sighed. "Mosquitoes…" she admitted distastefully.

"Already?" Ella said in surprise. "But it isn't even spring yet! It is warmer than usual today, though…"

"I know!" Amy agreed in frustration. "They're like super annoying, I don't know how you guys are able to handle them."

"We don't most of the time," Chuck said. "I mean, yes, we have pesticide and bug zappers, but there always seem to be more that replace them."

"That's why I prefer working indoors most of the time," Tails said as he walked into the room. "Because everything is air-conditioned and–" He paused, his small black nose wiggling as he sniffed the air. "Is that… your famous chocolate and peanut butter pie, Ella?"

"You know it, Tails!" Ella said with a smile. "It's all done, it just needs to cool down a little first."

"Okay!" Tails said happily, making his way further into the room as Ella went outside.

"As soon as everyone's here, there's something I want to talk about," Chuck spoke to the whole room.

"Oh?" Amy said, turning to look at him.

"Is it serious?" Tails asked, sitting down on the couch next to Chuck.

"Well," Chuck said as he glanced from face to face. "It's about Sonic. Remember that government meeting he mentioned this morning?"

"Oh yeah, that," Amy realized. "I think it's supposed to start in an hour," Amy realized.

"Then yeah, it's definitely serious," Tails stated, answering his own question. He looked up at the door as Cream bounded inside, followed by her two Chao, Emerl, Vanilla, and Ella, who closed the door behind the party.

"What's wrong?" Vanilla asked, noting the somewhat solemn faces of Chuck, Amy, and Tails.

"Sonic has a meeting with some government officials in about an hour," Chuck explained, and the others who reentered the living room understood why he was concerned.

"That has been a while," Ella commented as she went to the kitchen to set plates and forks for everyone.

"So is it normal for the government here to call on Sonic like this?" Vanilla asked.

"Not exactly," Chuck said. "The last time it happened was last summer, and all of us were called. Well… I wasn't called for some reason. Just everyone for Mobius, plus Chris. They were all evaluated by a federal psychiatrist, to try and understand them better."

"Oh, I see," Vanilla said.

"So the reason for my concern is I have a feeling the government is starting to get desperate," Chuck continued, folding his hands on his lap. "They want to talk to Sonic about something is all I can figure. What exactly it is, I can only guess. So right now, my advice for us all would be to be prepared for anything."

However, Tails and Amy didn't seem fazed at all. They just stared at Chuck.

"Sonic will be okay," Tails simply told him in a reassuring tone. It was amazing how sure he sounded about it.

"Yeah, anything to find Eggman should be good news, right?" Amy asked.

Chuck shook his head and forced a smile. "I don't know, perhaps I'm worrying about it too much," he admitted.

He looked over as Ella returned to the living room and carefully cut the pie into several slices, before distributing a slice on each plate and passed them around.

"I'm confused too, but maybe some pie will help," she said sweetly as she finished her job.

"You're right, Ella," Chuck said as he grabbed a fork and dug in along with everyone else.

However, deep down, he didn't want to admit that he was concerned because it could mean drastic measures could be taken against the American people, either in preparation of a potential Eggman attack, or as a result of his inevitable return. He was a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but most of the time he opted to keep his opinions to himself, especially in recent years.

It was either that, or the fact that any time the government called on Sonic or his friends, he got the feeling that it would somehow bring bad news.

He had to stop being so paranoid.


Mayor Pinsky's office - Wed February 23 – Third-person POV

When Sonic was guided into the mayor's office by federal staff, he didn't expect to be there early. He also didn't expect to see Knuckles and Rouge already there, sitting in soft red seats that adorned the room. Looking around, he noticed how quickly the office had been repaired since Dr. Eggman's arrest. It was as if his takeover had never happened.

In the corner, the TV was showing the news as Scarlet Garcia was reporting on the doctor's disappearance, as she had been doing for the past several days now. With each passing day, things seemed to get more grim. This waiting game was not like the peacetime that Station Square had experienced the last two times Eggman was thought to be defeated.

"So," Sonic started to say, leaning against the wall. "Anyone got a clue why we're all here?"

"Nope," Knuckles shrugged. Sonic could tell he was itching to return to the Master Emerald.

"You're askin' the wrong girl," Rouge added, glancing up from the magazine she was reading.

"Whatever this is about, I just hope it's done and over with fast," Knuckles grumbled. "The Master Emerald's not gonna look after itself, you know."

"Yeah, I know, I know," Sonic responded.

The hedgehog looked up when he heard a noise from outside. He took a step further into the room as the door opened and Mayor Pinsky walked in.

"Why don't you have a seat, Sonic," he said as he closed the door behind him. "We'll get right to business."

"Now that's more my speed!" Sonic said as he zipped to the nearest vacant chair and sat down.

"So," the mayor said as he sat at his desk, "I'm sure the three of you are more than aware that Dr. Eggman is once again on the loose. I've spoken with a lot of different government officials, and we weren't able to come up with any decent strategies to lure him out into the open. That changed a few days ago. I got a call from the President, and he proposed a competition, a proper tournament to lure him out so we can capture him."

However, the mayor was met with confused gazes.

"Run that by me again?" Sonic said.

"In the near future, we plan to host a competitive… you know, one of those hand-to-hand combat tournaments; think UFC, WWE, something like that. There will be a full tournament bracket, and anyone can sign up to compete, and the winner of the whole thing will receive a Chaos Emerald. And as I am aware, Dr. Eggman will do anything for a Chaos Emerald, so the publicity should lure him out of hiding."

"Hm…" Rouge thought aloud. "Sounds intriguing. I just might have a go at it."

"It's not gonna work," Knuckles bluntly told the mayor. "My thing is, what's to stop Eggman from stealing it beforehand?"

"That would be a fever dream for him," the mayor explained. "I've talked this over with some federal staff, and we have taken all necessary security protocols to protect the Emerald."

"Huh," Knuckles said. "Okay then."

"The reason I called you three here is because I want you all to compete in the tournament as well as promote it. There are a lot of people who want to meet you all, and we figured a little publicity on your end can make their dreams come true."

"Y'know, I wouldn't mind some time in the limelight," Rouge said.

"It's kinda different here than it is back home on Mobius as far as fans go," Sonic said.

"Oh?" the mayor asked, leaning forward in his seat in interest.

"Back home, I'm popular, sure, but I don't see anyone swarming around me and asking' for my autograph all the time. I mean, it happens every now and then, but even with humans, they know who I am, and I'm just one of them, you know?"

"Much like BTS, I see," the mayor said. "Then we'll have a special slot for each of you between rounds where you can give people autographs, but we'll ask that people give you your space otherwise. How does that sound?"

"Sure, that's cool," Sonic said, leaning back in his seat and crossing one leg over the other. "I mean, I like talking to people and all, but yeah, sometimes too much is too much. That's the one difference between Earth humans and Mobius humans."

"I understand," the mayor responded with a slight nod. "Rouge, Knuckles, are you okay with that too?"

"Whatever you say," Rouge said absent-mindedly, obviously still thinking about the Chaos Emerald.

"Knuckles?" the mayor asked, looking at the red echidna.

"Still not 100% on board," he said, "but as long as Eggman's not gonna trick us or anything, I guess it's okay. Just… make sure you have a close eye on the Emerald."

"We will, I can guarantee that," the mayor responded. "If the deal goes through, we'll rent out the venue where the competition will take place and pencil in a date for the near future. And it won't just be you three in it. We're opening the floor to anyone, literally anyone can sign up and compete if they want."

"Not my first rodeo in a tournament event," Sonic said, "but sure. I'll go easy on 'em depending on who they are," Sonic said, glancing at Knuckles.

"Hey, what are you looking at me for?" Knuckles said. "If we happen to go head-to-head, I'm not holding back!"

"Them's fightin' words!" Sonic said with a grin.

"I could win a Chaos Emerald…" Rouge thought, still daydreaming about herself being popular and winning the Chaos Emerald while Sonic and Knuckles kept teasing each other as they so often did.


Thorndyke Mansion - Sat February 26 – Third-person POV

"Guys! Come look at the TV!" Amy urgently called up the stairs. "You gotta see this!" She bolted down the hall, throwing open doors and calling to everyone.

"Wh-What? What is it?" Tails asked, feeling a bit flustered and concerned all of a sudden, His tails stiffened as his head whipped back to look behind him from where he had been sitting at his desk working on his Miles Electric, to see Amy impatiently standing in the doorway.

"No time! Hurry!" she told him before racing to the next room.

"…Okay…?" Tails shrugged as he put down his project and made his way out of the room.

"What's going on?" Cream asked as she showed up in the doorway of her own room, along with Cheese and Chocola.

"Sonic is on the news!" was all Amy said as she ran back toward the stairs. By the tone of her voice, Tails and Cream could tell that it was very important. They immediately broke into a run down the hall toward the living room downstairs.

Ahead of them, Amy expertly slid down the banister. Landing expertly on her feet, she sprinted through the rest of the house to get everyone. She knew that Sonic was out and about now, but there was no way she was going to let anyone else miss what she saw on TV.

Three minutes later, everyone was finally gathering in the living room.

"What is it? What did you want to show us?" Chuck asked, voicing everyone's confusion.

"Just watch!" Amy said as she picked up the controller and pressed play. She hadn't seen the whole news story yet, but as soon as she saw Sonic's name, she knew it most likely had something to do with the government meeting he had last week. She had conveniently rewound the story already so she wouldn't have to do it again now.

"Welcome back to the Scarlet Garcia Hour," the show's host spoke. "Next on the rundown, Mayor Pinsky has formally announced a competitive martial arts-style tournament called the Chaos Competition, which is set to be held March 18-19 at the recently renovated Diamond Stadium. This event is open to the public, and competitors will be matched against the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, and Rouge the Bat, among many others, and the winner will receive a genuine Chaos Emerald. I will be doing the play-by-play for this tournament, and it will be broadcast right here on Channel 4 news, as well as 99.5 FM KDNR."

"Hm," Chuck thought. He wasn't sure what to think of it just yet.

"That's all I heard so far, so everything she says after this is new," Amy explained as she sat down on the couch directly facing the TV.

"Here's a pre-recorded interview that I was able to conduct with Sonic, Knuckles, and Rouge," Scarlet said. The screen cut to a cozy-looking room with a gorgeous carpet and bookcases. Scarlet sat on a chair opposite the three Mobians, who were all sitting on a couch together.

"So first off, what are your thoughts on the Chaos Competiton?" Scarlet asked. "More specifically, how do you feel about the event in general? You go first, Sonic."

"Well, my thing is, I think it's gonna be good publicity for all of us," the hedgehog said with a confident smile. "Like, if anyone's never heard about us before, then this is their chance. Well…" He rubbed behind his quills with a chuckle. "Pretty sure the whole world knows about us by now, but still… We'll get to meet some of our fans!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if the whole place is packed," Rouge added. "So many adoring fans, the spotlight will be on us at all times, and the only thing more glamorous than a little fame is the Chaos Emerald on the line, so what's not to love?"

"I will admit, I was a bit skeptical about all this at first, but I will say I'm always up for a good challenge, so if they get tougher each round, then bring it on!" Knuckles said, bumping his fists together in anticipation.

Chris looked around at everyone else, his mouth hanging open. "He consented to this?" he asked in surprise.

Amy shrugged. "I guess…?" she said, sounding just as confused.

"He likes to train himself in his own time and get stronger sometimes," Tails explained from the other couch. "So maybe he just sees this as an opportunity for him to do that."

"But is he really okay with being away from the Master Emerald for that long?" Chuck asked in concern, looking at Tails. "Because, well, that's his duty."

"He told me that sometimes he's okay with leaving it for a little while, on his own terms, that is," Tails responded. "Like right now, obviously Rouge isn't gonna steal it while he's gone. I don't know about Eggman, though…"

"But if Eggman did try and steal it… Then we would all know about it," Chris said, glancing back at the TV. "…Like, I'm pretty sure Eggman's smart enough to not want to blow his cover like that."

"Yeah, exactly!" Tails said with a nod.

The interview went on for another three minutes, and it was surprisingly uneventful apart from the first question. When it was finished, the screen cut back to Scarlet in the studio.

"Thank you Sonic, Knuckles, and Rouge for your time with us," she said. "All three of them have recorded personalized commercials for the Chaos Competition, and viewers can expect to see them over the next three weeks. For those interested, the deadline to enter is March 15. We'll take a quick commercial break and be back with more of today's news."

Chuck was about to speak when the show cut to a commercial a few seconds later. He was mildly surprised to see that it was an ad for the Chaos Competition; they were rolled out a lot faster than he thought.

"Are you ready for the biggest event of the year?!" the commercial's narrator exclaimed. The commercial showed a fancy logo for the tournament, as well as the sky, which eventually panned down to the arena where everyone would eventually compete. The commercial also featured the sound of a cheering crowd over driving rock music.

"On March 18 and 19 at the recently renovated Diamond Stadium, thirty-two champions will go head-to-head in an all-out martial-arts tournament for a Chaos Emerald, and one of them could be you!"

The scene changed to Knuckles smashing boulders in the stadium's arena, before grinning confidently at the camera.

"Think you're tough enough to make it through me?" Knuckles declared. "Then sign up today and prove yourself worthy!"

"Registration deadline is March 15. Humans must be 12 years or older and a resident of the United States to be eligible to enter," the narrator said. "Don't miss it!"

As action-packed and exciting as the commercial was, most of everyone felt cautiously optimistic. Chuck, on the other hand, had other thoughts running through his mind.

"Twelve?" he spoke. "That's… That's irresponsible, to say the least."

"Well, maybe it's done like that so people like Amy can enter if she wants to," Vanilla suggested.

"Yeah!" Amy agreed.

"It said humans," Chris pointed out, adjusting himself in his seat.

Amy's smile dropped. "Oh… Oh yeah, it did say humans," she realized.

"That does sound irresponsible, Chuck," Tails said, glancing back at the TV as it continued to play ads. He reached for the controller and pressed the mute button so everyone could continue talking in peace without having to hear the side effects for Skyrizi.

"That's how old Mr. Danny and Miss Frances are, right, Chris?" Cream asked, looking at the human boy on the couch to his right.

"Yeah," Chris said. "But I can't imagine kids wanting to join something like this."

"You'd be surprised," Chuck said, crossing his arms as he went to the kitchen to prepare some coffee.

Tails stood up and started slowly pacing the room in thought, a habit he had occasionally picked up from Sonic.

"I kinda get the impression a lot of people are gonna be turned off by these ads," he told everyone. "Especially Knuckles' ad we saw just now. You know what this means, though?" He held up a finger, turning to face the room. "This means we all get a fair shot at entering the tournament. So the more of us who enter, the higher the chances of us winning the Emerald!"

"Yeah, that's a good point, Tails!" Amy said, starting to get more excited.

"Okay, besides you and me, we have Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge…" Tails mused, counting on his fingers. "Maybe Emerl? Anyone else joining?"

"Um, I-I think I'll pass if it's okay," Chris said, nervously glancing at the others, then to the TV as it changed commercials again. "I can't really fight like you guys."

"That's okay," Tails said with a gentle smile. "No one's forcing you to join."

"Yeah, no pressure!" Amy added. "Plus we don't want you getting hurt, right?"

Chris nodded. He wasn't ashamed to admit he was part of the crowd that would eventually be narrowed down by the heavy presence of the commercials. In fact, it was a relief that he wouldn't be fighting.

Just then Mr. Tanaka's phone rang, and he reached into his suit pocket and answered it.

"Thorndyke Residence," he spoke. "How may I serve you, Mr. Thorndyke?"

"Can you get everyone together and put your phone on loudspeaker?" Cream, who was nearest to Mr. Tanaka, could hear Nelson say. "There's something I want to tell everyone."

"Certainly, Mr. Thorndyke. They are all gathered in the living room as we speak," the butler said as he turned on his phone's loudspeaker.

"All right, I got a special announcement for all of you," Nelson said. "You saw the announcement of the Chaos Competition, right? Well, I talked to the organizers, and they figured the ads would narrow down the playing field so that only the best would compete, and I knew exactly who the best are. So with that in mind, I took the initiative and registered most of you for the tournament!"

"What?!" most of the room exclaimed.

"More specifically, I registered myself, Dad, Chris, Tails, Amy, Mr. Tanaka, and Emerl," Nelson clarified. "I know how much you want to get the Chaos Emeralds together, so… this is the least I could do to help."

Everyone seemed either surprised, somewhat excited, or upset at this sudden announcement. Even Mr. Tanaka looked like he was trying to hold his emotions together.

"…I understand, Mr. Thorndyke. I will prepare for the event immediately," he said.

"Mr. Thorndyke…?" Tails spoke up for everyone. "Um… No offense, but you probably should have asked us if we wanted to join first."

"You're lucky that me and Tails were already planning on joining anyway," Amy added.

Nelson was quiet after a moment as he reflected on what he had just said a minute ago.

"I'm– I'm sorry about that, I had your best interests at heart, I really did, but… I probably went a bit overboard this time. I'll be careful from now on, I promise."

"It's fine, Dad…" Chris said quietly, looking down at the floor.

"I have to go now, work is calling," Nelson said abruptly. "So, uh, see you all at the competition!"

As soon as Mr. Tanaka hung up the phone, he let out a quiet sigh and slipped it back into his pocket before leaving the room.

"Nelson, you're impossible…" Chuck grumbled as he returned to the living room with his coffee.

"It doesn't hurt to ask for consent, you know…" Amy huffed as she flopped down on the couch.

Out of everyone who had been registered to fight, Chris was the most stressed out of them all. He didn't even want to fight. He didn't ask for this. He wasn't overly muscular, and his body wasn't built for strength. He didn't think he could do this. And on top of it, this was just another example of the consequences of his dad working long hours and never coming home. It was like he didn't know Chris well enough.

"I'm relieved I don't have to fight," Ella said as she too prepared to leave.

"Me too," Cream added, sticking close to her mother.

"That still doesn't excuse how inconvenient this is for everyone else," Ella said.

As Ella and Vanilla left to resume tidying the kitchen, Cream, Cheese, Chocola, Lily, and Emerl left for another part of the house to play.

"Are you doing okay, Chris?" Chuck asked, drawing the others' attention to him.

"Not really…" Chris admitted, not wanting to look up. "I don't wanna fight…"

"I don't want to fight either, let's be honest," Chuck said. "Your dad can be a bit rash at times. He's gone overboard in the past before, so this is nothing new."

"I guess…" Chris said quietly.

"I've talked to him about this numerous times in the past," Chuck continued. He swallowed. "He doesn't seem to understand you the way the rest of us do because he's so busy with work all the time. I've had to fill in as both your father and your grandfather. Don't get me wrong, he wants to spend more time with you, but work always gets in the way."

"It's okay…" Chris said. He let out a quiet sigh. He made his first friends a year and a half ago, but they couldn't possibly replace his parents.

Amy looked like she was in thought over all this for a moment, before she looked up with fresh resolve.

"Oh! Maybe we can get you trained!" she suggested, optimism returning to her voice as she approached him. "That way you can get stronger in time for the tournament."

"A-Are you sure?" Chris asked in surprise.

"You bet!" Amy said, giving her friend a thumbs-up.

"B-But that's only three weeks away!"

"Yeah, three whole weeks we can get you stronger!" Amy said. "We can have training sessions when you come home from school if you want. Oh, maybe we can have sparring sessions too!"

"Um, isn't that a little dangerous for Chris?" Tails asked.

"Not if we take it nice and slow at first," Amy responded with a gentle smile. She laid her hand on Chris' arm. "It's all gonna be okay, trust me. And even if you don't win the tournament, I'm 100% sure one of us will win for you."

"Mhmm!" Tails nodded enthusiastically. "We'll help you get through this. "If you want, we can go to the gym room right now and get started."

"Okay," Chris said as he got up off the couch. He took one last look at the screen before leaving the room and following his friends out of the room.

Even though he did exercises every now and then and had P.E. in school, he was almost never in the gym room in his own home, since it was full of equipment that was almost exclusively used by adults.

He was not particularly excited, but at the very least, he was feeling a lot better because he had his friends' undying support and motivation.

He could do this.


Station Square - Sun February 27 – Third-person POV

The day after the Chaos Competition was announced, the three Mobians that made up the Chaotix were taking their rental car out to Diamond Stadium where the tournament would eventually be held. Fortunately for them, traffic wasn't any busier than it usually was.

"Are there any seats left?" Vector asked, glancing around at the other cars around them as they were stopped at a red light.

"At the tournament?" Espio queried from behind the wheel.

Vector nodded. "Yeah."

"No, they all sold out in just eight hours," Espio responded. "I've never seen an event sell out that fast."

"I have," Vector said. "That one rave they had a little while before we came here to Earth, tickets were literally flying off the shelves."

"I remember that, you wouldn't stop talking about it for a whole week," Espio fondly remembered.

"How could I have?" Vector said as the light turned green and they moved forward again. "It was killer!"

"I wanna go to a rave!" Charmy piped up from the back seat. Since he was small, he had to use a booster seat, not that he minded much. However, it was his first time using one, since Earth cars weren't designed for Mobian use. In fact, it was a wonder that Espio could even reach the pedals.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Charmy, but they don't usually let kids go to raves," Vector pointed out. "Too many flashing lights and really loud music."

"Awww…" Charmy pouted, before he looked up again. "But hey! We play really loud music!"

"That's different," Vector said. "That… reminds me of the good old days when I had a side gig with Mina's band."

"That was your main gig, you were all out of money," Charmy nonchalantly pointed out with a deadpan expression.

Fortunately, the Chaotix were not out of money while they were on Earth. While it was admittedly hard to get by, they did have a side job that all three of them could work together at, and it paid decently enough.

"Anyway, how come you were asking about the tournament, Vector?" Espio asked as he turned the corner and entered Diamond Stadium's parking lot.

"'Cuz I was hoping we could all get some seats there and see some action," Vector replied, glancing out the window.

"If you were so interested, then why didn't you say anything sooner?" Espio asked.

Vector let out a sigh. "I honestly thought we had more time, like I didn't expect it to sell out this fast. Wait, hold up… maybe it's not too late to compete! Like, we can win the Chaos Emerald for ourselves!" But that idea hung in the air for a moment before it landed flat. "Eh, who am I kiddin', I don't really like fighting."

"I wanna fight!" Charmy declared, getting excited once again.

"I know you do, Charmy, but to be completely fair, you wouldn't last two seconds against someone like Knuckles," Espio pointed out. "And besides, I don't want to see you get hurt, even if actually hurting anyone is against the rules."

"What he said," Vector added as Espio pulled into an empty parking space. "So we go back to our original plan. We scout around here for a bit and get a feel for our surroundings. Run-of-the-mill detective work, if you will."

"And we ask if they need extra security, just in case," Espio added.

"Yeah, that too. That's the most important part," Vector said, ducking his head as he got out of the car. As Espio stepped out of the car and shut the door, Charmy unstrapped himself and flew out his window into the open air.

"I'm freeeee~!" he declared.

"And there's a Chaos Emerald on the line," Vector said, holding a finger up. "So if Eggman is smart, he wouldn't want to pass this opportunity by. But at the same time, I don't see him coming out of hiding to get it either, so he'll probably just end up sending a couple robots to collect it for him."

"There's some tents over there!" Charmy said, pointing to several large white canopy tents in the distance. "That means there's gonna be food! I hope there's cotton candy!"

"At a place like this, pretty sure there will be, Charmy," Vector replied.

"Yaaay!" Charmy exclaimed, doing loop-dee-loops in the air.

"Actually, that's a good find, Charmy," Espio said, changing his course and heading toward the tents. "I see some people over there we can talk to."

Over the next minute, the three Mobians made their way over to the tents, where several people were setting up banners and tables. Charmy was slightly disappointed that the cotton candy machine wasn't set up yet.

"Excuse me, is the head of the set-up crew here?" Vector asked one of the men as he casually approached him.

While the man was surprised to see the Chaotix there, he immediately recognized them.

"Oh yeah, he's right over there," he pointed. "He's probably busy right now though."

"All good," Vector said with a nod as he made his way over. However, the director spotted them too and approached them first.

"Detective Vector, this is a surprise!" the director said.

"Just Vector is fine," the crocodile said, waving his hand. "Anyway, we were wondering if you needed extra security here when the tournament comes, 'cuz we know how valuable the Chaos Emerald is, and, uh… we don't want anyone getting any ideas before it's time to present it."

"I'm not sure about that," the director told him. "I was told by the event organizers that the Emerald is kept under heavy lock and key, and security's gonna be tight here. No one's gonna steal it, I can guarantee you that."

Vector wanted to accept what the director told him at face value, but something told him to try again. He didn't want the Emerald to fall into the wrong hands at any cost.

"Except Eggman, you don't wanna underestimate him," Vector said. "Sure, we know he's in hiding now, but he's smart enough to try and come after the Emerald and stay in hiding at the same time."

"We would recognize his robots the moment we see them," the director said.

"Shapeshifting robots…?" Vector pressed, leaning in closer to the director.

"Hm… You got me there," the director thought. "Tell you what. When I'm on my break, I'll tell the higher-ups you're looking for a job."

"Cool, thanks," Vector said with a nod.

A moment later, the Chaotix returned to the car, and Vector felt satisfied on the inside that he and his friends were able to land themselves the security job they had been looking for.

"That was quicker than I thought," Vector commented as he got back in the car.

"I was thinking the same thing," Espio said as he started the car's engine. "I've been here long enough to know that most humans have arbitrary rules about certain things, so us being able to do volunteer work here is massive."

Vector glanced out the window as they drove away.

"Y'know, this just ain't the same without Mighty and Ray…" he admitted. "It just hits different, you know?"

"I'm with you, Vector," Espio said. "On the one hand, it was fortunate that they weren't caught in the Chaos Control field that we were in when we got here. But on the other hand… we have to fare on our own here."

"Yeah… I don't mind it here, but nothing beats home sweet home," Vector said.

Ever since he and his team were sent to Earth, Vector had mostly kept to himself regarding Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Espio and even Charmy had noticed that he had been acting a bit differently shortly after Chaos Control, and it wasn't because he missed home. While he handled himself well and did a decent job keeping his composure about the whole thing, he still couldn't help but think about his other two friends in the Chaotix. They worked with them part-time from season to season, and they were currently in-season at the time of Chaos Control, which hurt even more for Vector.

The only tears Vector ever shed about home and his friends were in solitude. He didn't want anyone to see him cry.

Two months later, he was mostly over it, but he sometimes thought about them and wondered how they were doing.

Meanwhile, Espio had done an even better job handling his new situation due to his mental training, and Charmy was able to quickly adapt to Earth himself. He mostly just missed playing with Ray.

"Can we go to McDonald's?" Charmy asked, breaking the momentary silence that followed.

"That's the place we keep passing with the golden arches, right?" Espio asked.

"Yeah, yeah!" Charmy answered with an enthusiastic nod, rocking back and forth in his seat. "Can we go, pleeeeze?" There was no mistaking Charmy's adorable puppy dog eyes.

Espio glanced at Vector next to him. "While I don't usually take fast food excursions as much as either of you do… Sure, we can go."

"YAY! McDonald's!" Charmy cheered, throwing his hands in the air in joy.

"I already know what I'm getting!" Vector said.

Vector's thoughts about the lack of Mighty and Ray's company were all but forgotten as Espio drove him and Charmy to the nearest McDonald's.


Eggman's outpost - Sun February 27 – Third-person POV

Even though Eggman had been proactive in setting up the next phase of his master plan, he had been mostly bored for the past few days, and not because his robots already knew what to do.

He had to use an auxiliary power source for his technology, one that could still offer him the bare necessities without using enough power for him to be able to be detected by the humans. Furthermore, he was using an advanced cloaking device, making him and his technology invisible to radar.

He did not trust Jerome to report the human's activities back to him, even though he did tell him they were looking for him. Bokkun had told him everything, but the thing that angered Eggman the most was when Jerome used the Phantom Ruby without his knowledge or consent. Out of all the possible elements he could have summoned using the ruby, he picked Emerl. Eggman didn't know what virtue Jerome saw in Emerl, but at the very least, Jerome had accessed one of Eggman's older logs. He was smart enough to hide his most recent and precious entries, as well as various other passcodes, from Jerome's reach.

As soon as he parted ways with Jerome after his breakout, Eggman regained control of the Phantom Ruby, and by extension Emerl. He was slightly disappointed that Jerome didn't do anything interesting with Emerl, but sneaking him into the Thorndyke household was not something he would have done or condoned. The rodents were emotionally damaged by Emerl's destruction, considering the strong bond they formed with him. Yes, they had Gemerl now, and yes, Eggman had psychologically damaged Sonic's mind in the early stages of the Phantom War, but traumatizing a six-year-old was something Eggman would never do in the least. Cream took it especially hard when Emerl was destroyed.

Yet Emerl's very existence was wasting the Phantom Ruby's energy, and the doctor couldn't think of a way to logically get rid of him.

Eggman knew the humans were looking for him, but as far as they were concerned, Eggman dropped off the face of the Earth, the best place he could be to have the element of surprise. Even though they nearly came close to his outpost in their search for him, they weren't doing anything that piqued his interest.

Until today…

"Doctor Eggman! Come take a look at this!" Bokkun called as he flew into Eggman's office with one of his signature yellow TVs.

"What is it, Bokkun?" Eggman asked, swiveling his chair around.

Without saying anything more, Bokkun tapped the screen, playing the video it displayed.

"Are you ready for the biggest event of the year?!" the commercial's narrator exclaimed. The commercial showed a fancy logo for the tournament, as well as the sky, which eventually panned down to the arena where everyone would eventually compete. The commercial also featured the sound of a cheering crowd over driving rock music.

"What is this…?" Eggman asked, stroking his elegant mustache as he squinted at the screen.

"On March 18 and 19 at the recently renovated Diamond Stadium, thirty-two champions will go head-to-head in an all-out martial-arts tournament for a Chaos Emerald, and one of them could be you!"

Sonic was shown in the middle of the arena. In the blink of an eye, he zipped to each of the four corners of the arena, spin-dashing his way through several test dummies, before running in circles. The momentum he created formed a tornado that threw the test dummies into the air and onto the ground outside the arena. Sonic skid to a halt in the center of the arena.

"Heh, show me what you got!" Sonic challenged, smugly rubbing under his nose. "If you can keep up!"

"Showoff…" Eggman grumbled.

"Registration deadline is March 15. Humans must be 12 years or older and a resident of the United States to be eligible to enter," the narrator said. "Don't miss it!"

"So what'd ya think, Doctor?" Bokkun asked as he put away his TV. "Wanna get that Emerald?"

"This commercial first aired yesterday," Eggman mused, looking directly at Bokkun. "Why wasn't I informed about this sooner?"

"Um, well…" Bokkun rubbed behind his head. "We were really busy setting up the broadcast system for–"

"I see, this one's on me then," Eggman realized. "So they found a Chaos Emerald, and they decided to hold a tournament for it why exactly?" He flipped up a hidden panel on the armrest of his chair and pressed a button that activated the outpost's intercom. "Attention Decoe, Bocoe, Orbot, and Cubot. Report to my office immediately."

Less than two minutes later, the four requested robots were gathered in the office with Eggman and Bokkun.

"Bokkun, play the commercial for them again," Eggman told his messenger robot.

Thirty seconds later, the other robots started getting excited about this new development.

"How long has it been since we found a Chaos Emerald?" Orbot asked.

"It's gonna be sooo cool watching all the good guys fighting each other!" Cubot added.

"I know, right?" Bokkun said. "And they're gonna have a lot of good food there too! And merch! I wanna get a new hoodie!"

"You have always had an affinity for food, Bokkun," Bocoe stated matter-of-factly.

"It's true though!" Bokkun shrugged, zipping around the room as he powered off his screen and put his TV away.

"Diamond Stadium has been redesigned since the previous time we were there," Decoe observed.

"Every day I find myself questioning the humans' decisions," Eggman said. "And you don't have to be a scientific genius like me to know this is obviously a trap. They plan to entice me using a Chaos Emerald as bait and lure me out of hiding so they can put me back in prison. However, I'm afraid to say they are greatly mistaken. Besides, who else besides the rodents would think of competing when they have commercials as violent as that one?"

"You would be surprised, Doctor," Bocoe said.

"Though, I shouldn't be surprised if some foolish humans do decide to join," Eggman stated, leaning back in his chair. "But that leaves me asking myself, what would said humans even do with the Emerald if they do manage to win? They can't tap into their raw power like I can, or like Sonic for that matter."

"What is your decision, Doctor?" Decoe asked.

Eggman grinned. "Simple. We play into their hands… but not in the way they expect." He pointed to Decoe, Bocoe, and Bokkun. "You three, I'm registering you to compete."

"We won't let you down, Doctor," Decoe stated firmly.

"We have been proven effective against humans in personal combat," Bocoe added.

"Um, I'm not really good at fighting…" Bokkun admitted.

"But you have your exploding TVs, remember?" Orbot pointed out, holding up a finger.

"Oh yeah…" Bokkun realized. "I haven't gotten to use those a lot lately… But those are for pranking people, not fighting them!"

"We'll figure something out later," Eggman said, swiveling himself back and forth in his seat in thought. "And I'm already counting on the rodents to enlist Emerl. But just in case, I may need one more fighter."

"Might I suggest Mr. Wise?" Orbot asked.

Eggman nodded. "Perhaps. Although he's only a human, and everyone will recognize him if he–"

Eggman grinned wickedly as a new thought crossed his mind.

"I changed my mind," he chuckled, rising from his seat. "He will compete in the tournament. However, to give him the benefit of the doubt, I'll build him a special suit of armor for him to fight in." He grinned. "Only a genius of my intellect could have thought of something like this."

"But I was the one who–"

"I built you, Orbot, I still get the credit for that idea in the end," Eggman said.

Orbot shrugged. "Fair enough, Doctor."

"Anyway, Orbot, Cubot, and I will stay here in my bunker and monitor the tournament from here. And perhaps I could attempt a bit of sabotage while I'm at it…"

He let out another hearty laugh that reverberated off the metal walls of his temporary outpost.


Station Square - Thu March 16 – Chris' POV

Before I knew it, the next three weeks went by in a flash, and now there were only two days left until the Chaos Competition was set to begin.

Tails and I were having fun playing some arcade games at our local arcade. We had about two hours before me and my family had to go get our tournament pictures taken. Fortunately, I was allowed to have the day off from school since I was competing in the tournament, plus I was due to get my picture taken today.

It was Sonic's idea to take me and Tails to the arcade, but he had to leave early to keep looking for Eggman. He literally couldn't stay still for longer than an hour at most because he wanted to make sure he could keep tabs on Eggman at all times, and right now the doctor was nowhere to be found, which kept all of us on edge, not just Sonic.

"GG!" I declared as I crossed the finish line first in the racing game we were playing.

"Yeah, GG," Tails said, using the internet slang I had taught him a while back. "If you were any slower, I would have hit you with that rocket."

"Well, you still beat me a couple times though!" I said as I got up out of my seat, having finished my last game for now. "I wanna say, you know all the shortcuts really well, I'm really impressed."

Tails chuckled, rubbing behind his head as he too stood up. "I have a good memory," he modestly responded, before looking back up at me. "Do you have any quarters left? 'Cuz there's this other game I really wanna try out– Hey, I think I see Danny over there!" He interjected, dropping his voice and gesturing to the other side of the arcade.

I followed the small fox's gaze. "Oh? Oh yeah, I see him!" I realized. I could recognize his green jacket anywhere. "Hey Danny!" I called as I approached him.

"Hey Chris, hey Tails, I didn't know you guys were here too!" Danny remarked at the coincidence. "Anyway, guess what!"

"Wh-what?" I asked, not expecting him to get excited all of a sudden.

"You know about the Chaos Competition this weekend? I asked my dad if I could join, and he said yes!"

I was surprised. "You mean join, like fight?"

"Yeah!" Danny said, jumping up and down in sheer ecstasy. "Well, uh, my dad was kinda not sure if I should join because he said there were going to be a lot of adults fighting, but he also said there are probably gonna be some rules there that make it fair for kids to fight too, so… yeah. And we've been training real hard so I can be strong enough to fight."

"So when'd you sign up?" I asked. "I didn't know about this!"

"Yesterday," Danny said. "My dad had a lot of trouble getting me registered because the site kept crashing, and also sign-ups were gonna end in a few hours."

"Probably a lot of people trying to sign up at the very end," Tails mused, just loud enough for us two to hear him. He had been quietly observing the two of us chatting for the most part.

Danny gasped. "Oh yeah, Frances is joining too!"

"She is? Really?" I was taken off guard. Frances was a bit of a tomboy, but I didn't expect her to want to compete in the tournament!

"Yeah!" Danny said with a grin. "What about you guys? You joining?"

"Yeah, Dad got us signed up," I replied casually, having to speak up over the noise of the pinball and video game sound effects around us. "Me, Tails, Amy, Grandpa, Mr. Tanaka, and Emerl. I think that's it. Oh yeah, Amy said she got Big to enter too, so that's cool." Fortunately, I had gotten over my initial anxiety to compete in the tournament now that everything had set in, plus I had my friends to help me.

"Wonder who we're gonna fight in the first round," Danny wondered with an eager grin.

"Could be anyone," I said. I found myself starting to get strangely excited for the competition ahead of us, despite all the risks that children like us would likely be going through. I was sure it was Danny's enthusiasm and anticipation that made me feel like this.

"Yeah, that's all part of the fun," Danny said. "I can't wait, it's only two days away! Are you training too?"

"Yeah, every day after school," I answered. "For about an hour or until I get tired."

"Cool," Danny said.

"Are you nervous, Danny?" Tails spoke up at last, looking up at Danny.

"Yeah, a little bit… but I'm also really excited 'cuz I'm gonna be famous!" he cheered. I chuckled at his reaction.

"We're all gonna be famous!" Tails added. "Well, I mean, I kinda am already… but still!" he chuckled, before his expression relaxed. He holding up a finger. "And it's okay if none of us wins. A lot of our other friends are in it too, and if any of them win, it's a win for all of us."

"Uh-huh," Danny said. "Oh, maybe we can have a party or something after the competition!"

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" I said. "We can have it at my house if you want."

"Parties at your house are the best," Danny agreed.

Danny, Tails, and I kept chatting for a little while longer before we went our own ways, and I found myself feeling more and more excited to get out there and help my friends win that Chaos Emerald. I couldn't imagine that I could be that invigorated about something I used to be so stressed out over.


Thorndyke Mansion - Fri March 17 – Chris' POV

However, when the next morning arrived, so did my pre-tournament anxiety with a vengeance.

The competition was tomorrow.

And even with all the training I went through, I still didn't feel prepared enough, either physically or mentally. Sure, I felt stronger, but there was no way that I could be anywhere near as strong as Sonic, especially not in time for the tournament. I didn't expect all that stress to come crashing down on me all of a sudden, even with the support of my friends and family, but somehow it happened.

Grandpa must have noticed me bench-pressing the barbell a bit too vigorously, because he came hurrying over to me with an outstretched arm.

"Easy, easy," he told me as he took hold of the barbell, preventing me from overexerting myself any farther. "No need to overdo it."

"Sorry," I mumbled, wiping sweat from my forehead.

Grandpa let go of the barbell. "I take it you're still stressed out about tomorrow, huh?"

"Y-Yeah, I– I thought it went away though," I admitted as I sat up.

"Listen, everything is going to be okay, Chris," Grandpa told me. "Just focus on your instincts, all right? Don't pay too much attention to anything else, there are always going to be distractions. And always make sure you study your opponent's moves. You don't want to take your eyes off of them for even a second."

"I know, Grandpa," I said as I stood up and took a drink of water from the bottle that was on the ground next to me.

"And just like Tails told you a few weeks ago, no one is going to hurt you for real," Grandpa said.

"Okay…" I said, pondering his words. "I think I may wanna take a break for now."

"That's fine," Grandpa said. "You've been working out super hard lately, I say you definitely deserve a break."

"Yeah," I agreed, right before I heard hurried footsteps coming our way. I was just about to head out to see who it was when Amy burst into the room.

"Guys, come see this, they just announced the bracket! We're all in it!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, let's go see!" Grandpa said, anticipation creeping into his voice as we followed Amy out of the gym.

I couldn't say I was too thrilled that I was going to compete, potentially against adults or even Mobians who were dozens of times stronger than I was. But I told myself I had to at least make an effort to win that Chaos Emerald.

Depending on who my first opponent was, there was a slight chance I could make some headway in the bracket. The farther I got, the bigger the chances I had of winning the Emerald. Plus, I could still look forward to that party Danny pitched. I told Ella about it when I came home, and she was more than thrilled to host it for all of us.

Amy was already there in the living room when we got there, and I saw that Tails was there too. Both of them were looking at the tournament bracket on Tails' Miles Electric which was lying on the coffee table.

"So how's it looking?" Chuck asked as he joined them. "Anything we should be worried about?" There was no room for me to see without looking at the screen upside down, so I opted to wait my turn.

"Um, well…" Amy said, looking at what I assumed was her name on the bracket. "I'm gonna have to fight Sonic if I win my match."

"I see… Are you nervous about that?" Grandpa asked, scratching his graying head.

"A little, yeah…" Amy admitted, leaning on the table to get a better look at the tablet. "But I won't let him win that easy, that's for sure!"

"You do know how to give him a run for his money, don't you, Amy?" Grandpa grinned, causing Amy to blush and look away. "So… Who are the rest of us fighting? I see…" His voice trailed off as he examined the screen. "Oh! My opponent is… E-77 Lucky? Do we know him?"

"I don't… think so?" Tails said unsurely, rubbing his chin in thought. "But anything 'E-Series' is definitely an Eggman robot."

"Wha– Eggman's fighting?" I asked in shock, scooting over so I could get a closer look at the tournament bracket. "I… I thought the whole point of this thing is to get Eggman to come out in the open!"

"It is!" Amy exclaimed. "I guess the government somehow approved of it!"

"I'm just as clueless as you are, guys," Tails said as he moved over to make room for me. "Maybe they have a plan to get rid of them, or– N-Not only that, but I'm looking at Decoe and Bocoe on here too! And Bokkun!"

"Yeah, I get Bokkun," Amy commented. "I bet he doesn't know how to fight for real!"

"He has exploding TVs," I recalled. I realized he hadn't used any in a long time, however.

"Those are for pranks," Amy smirked, waving her hand dismissively.

"Huh… I get Danny," I said, studying the bracket. "That's not as bad as I thought."

"And I get someone named Hawk," Tails added. "Um, his name sounds familiar for some reason…"

"I've heard that name too, and I don't know where," Grandpa said.

"Me neither… Do they have a picture?" Amy asked. "'Cuz maybe that'll ring a bell if we all know what he looks like."

"Yeah," Tails responded as he tapped Hawk's name. A picture of a man I had never seen before appeared on the screen.

"Nope…" Amy frowned, backing away from the Miles Electric and sitting down on the couch behind her. "There are a lot of new people in this, but at the same time… there are lots of familiar faces too."

"Yeah…" Tails said, his tails slowly flicking against the couch behind him, much like a cat's tail.

"Who's Black Knight?" Chuck asked, squinting at the screen again.

"Let's see…" Tails exited out of Hawk's picture and tapped Black Knight's name. Instead of a human face, we were greeted with a helmet of some sort. "Huh…?"

"Is that… cosplay…?" Grandpa voiced his confusion. "I don't see how he's able to breathe in that heavy armor, let alone fight."

"I was thinking the same thing," Tails noted. "A really long time ago, people used to wear armor like that when they went to war… But they stopped doing that because it got a bit impractical."

"Whoever they are, where did they get medieval-looking armor?" Grandpa asked. "Because that looks almost authentic."

"I see my uncle, Mr. Tanaka… hey, there's my old teacher Mr. Stewart!" I recognized a lot of people in the bracket. I frowned as I studied the bracket itself. "But… this bracket looks weird for some reason." I noted.

"I agree, it's kinda bugging me a little, actually," Tails noted. "I think it's because there are twenty-three people here instead of an even twenty-four… Which is still not even because it should be at least thirty-two to have a perfectly balanced tournament without anyone getting an unfair advantage."

"Maybe not enough people were accepted?" Amy asked.

"After all those people signing up?" I pointed out.

"Plus, when the registrations ended," Grandpa said, "they updated the tournament website saying the government would hand-pick certain people to join so there wouldn't be an overload when the tournament happens. Plus there don't seem to be any qualifying rounds here."

"If that's the case," Amy said, standing up and placing her hands on her hips, "then why bother signing up at all? If you ask me, that's a waste of money for everyone else trying to sign up just for them to say 'no, you can't join!' That's not fair!"

"I don't get it either," Grandpa replied calmly, looking at the pink hedgehog next to her. "Although it is a government-run and government-sponsored tournament. I know nothing else beyond that."

"But still…" Amy pouted.

"That's not all," Tails pointed out, holding up a finger. "Some of us have to fight an extra round, while others get to skip that round altogether. Like, look here." Tails pointed to one side of the bracket. "Sonic doesn't start fighting until round two. Same with Rouge, and even Mr. Stewart for some reason. I don't get why it's set up like that."

"To compensate for there being twenty-three people?" Grandpa asked Tails, who shrugged.

"But if the government approved of everyone, did they have to sign up to be approved?" I asked.

"I'm guessing that's the case," Grandpa said as he took a step back and sat on the couch. "I don't see anyone from the WWE or UFC in this, so…"

"Then why did they approve me, or Danny or Frances?" I asked.

"Or the Black Knight, or… or Eggman's robots!" Amy added, spreading out her hands. "Like I said, they shouldn't even be in this!"

"These are questions that I unfortunately don't have any answers for, I'm afraid," Grandpa admitted, shaking his head slightly.

"Yeah, but maybe we'll find out somewhere along the way," Tails said with hope. Grandpa nodded.

"Maybe."


The Egg Dome - Fri March 17 – Third-person POV

The Thorndykes were not the only ones who got a hold of the competition lineup.

In the Egg Dome in the middle of the forest outside of Station Square, the six members of S.O.N.I.C.X., minus Li Yan, were gathered in the main control room, studying the bracket displayed on the largest screen in the center of the console near the ceiling.

"So…" Browning pondered. "I'm looking at three, maybe four Eggman robots here? Wasn't the point of this tournament to capture him, not include him?"

"You'd think," Watcher shrugged. "They had to be government-approved after all. Anyway, I see all the usual names here, Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Tails… Huh, they even got Chris and a couple other kids in here. Again, government-approved. Why? You're askin' the wrong guy."

"Didn't the ad say twelve and over?" Dragg asked. "Isn't Tails like… eight?"

"It said humans had to be twelve and up," Browning corrected. "I imagine they put it that way to accommodate Tails."

"I gotcha," Dragg responded with a nod.

"Where's Jerome? Is he on here?" Narasu asked, scanning the names on the bracket.

"He did tell us he was fighting, something about armor," Dragg responded, leaning against the large swiveling chair occupied by Watcher. "Yeah, he did say he was wearing armor. The Black Knight there on the left, is that him?"

Picking up a remote, Watcher pointed it at the screen and selected the Black Knight's name. They saw a man wearing black medieval knight's armor, or something that closely resembled it.

"Hold on, that looks– That looks familiar," Passer noted as he picked up his phone. A few taps and swipes later, he produced an image of the Black Knight's armor. "Jerome sent me this last week," he then announced. "Does it look familiar?"

"Huh…" Browning commented. "That tells me everything I need to know."

"We have a new message from the Organizer," Li Yan reported from his tablet as he walked in the room. "'Hector Dragg and Dr. Kai Narasu will be sent to Diamond Stadium to represent the Society at the Chaos Competition. Their mission is to locate the storage place of the Chaos Emerald so they can acquire it at the right opportunity. Use any means necessary while keeping detection risk at a minimum.'"

"So our hand's been forced," Dragg mumbled.

"Wasn't it already when Jerome told us he's fighting?" Narasu responded nonchalantly from the corner. "Plus there's a Chaos Emerald."

"Not really, he's with Eggman too," Dragg said. "But now that we have GUN's robots, I guess it doesn't really matter."

"Look, Jerome's been given an order to quit working with Eggman as soon as he can," Passer said. "Until then, his mission is over. He did his bit."

"What he said," Watcher responded.

"The Organizer also says to stand by for further instructions concerning Narasu and Dragg," Li Yan read. Only then did he look up at the tournament bracket on the screen…

…and one of the first names he saw made him do a double take.

"Wha– Why is Hawk here?" he exclaimed. "I–I thought he was back in China! Hawk shouldn't be here!"

"Probably heard of the tournament and came over to join," Watcher shrugged.

"But it's limited to American residents only!" Li Yan pointed out.

"True, true," Watcher said, not looking up from the screen. "Plus he was government-approved. Workin' the 'ol brain here for a second, I just– I just came to a realization here, I know what's going on with this– this odd lineup. All these names here, they all have something in common. And that 'something in common' is that they're all connected to Sonic one way or another."

"Huh…" Narasu said, squinting at the screen. "I can see it."

"So perhaps that's the basis of their approval," Passer summarized.

"There are a few holes in that theory, however," Browning pointed out. "Most of them have little or no connection to Sonic, like the Black Knight, or Mr. Stewart, or Hawk. But they seem to all have one degree of separation. Some of them have closer connections to the Thorndykes than they do to Sonic."

"How is Mr. Stewart connected again…?" Narasu asked.

"I am not entirely sure," Browning said. "Hawk is connected to Knuckles, who in turn is connected to Sonic, so that's why he was allowed in."

"I see," Narasu responded.

"While you and Hector are at the stadium tomorrow, I'll be in the lab working on Beta," Browning said. "You can expect it to be combat-ready by the end of the day."

Watcher nodded. "Good to know."


A/N: And that concludes the first chapter of the Chaos Competition Arc! Hopefully this chapter has been worth the long wait. I don't have a lot to say at the end of the chapter this time.

I wanted to add the Chaotix in this arc because the only Season 2 episode they appeared in was Episode 39, and they were never shown returning home along with everyone else. So I wanted to give them something to do this arc. I had fun writing their scene, and hopefully I was able to keep everyone in character.

It's really good to be back and not see the stats stuck at 175,000 views for three and a half months. The next chapter will be uploaded as soon as next week, so stay tuned!

Next time is Chaos Competition Arc Part 2, where we officially kick off the tournament! Don't miss it!