A/N: Three weeks, three chapters! Lately I've been posting a new chapter every Thursday, and I'll keep doing that until my backlog is depleted, which is when I'll start posting new chapters the moment they're done. I have a few more chapters left for both this story and other stories until then.

This chapter was originally finished on January 17, 2024. Also, did you guys happen to notice an Easter egg in the last chapter? ;)

Also, I forgot to announce this in the last chapter's notes, but since New Year's Day, I've been porting all my stories onto Archive of Our Own. Up until then, the only stories I had on there were Fall of the Ultimate Lifeform and the first season of Chaos on Earth. Also, to take advantage of AO3's series feature, season two of Chaos on Earth is being uploaded there as its own story: Operation Second Chance.

Also, I realized that I probably should have had a competitor rest area during the tournament, but in hindsight, the reason I had everyone in the VIP section is because that's kind of how it was set up already in Sonic X, but I can always revise it later.

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


9 Reviews

Super duper waffles

1: In Chapter 3, it's revealed that Station Square has not had a shark attack in nearly sixty years, and assuming the events of Chapter 3 take place in 2022 (since that's when the days of the week in the story line up with real life), sixty years before that would be 1962. Looking around at when other southern California cities were founded, I would say Station Square was founded in 1874.

2: That's a good question, especially considering where milk and chili dog meat come from. Excluding Mobinis (Flickies, Pockies, etc), nearly every kind of bug exists on Mobius (there are fewer mosquitoes and spiders but more ants and beetles). Mobius has many of the same amphibians and reptiles that Earth is. It also has many of the same mammals and birds, but a lot fewer than Earth. However, due to revolutionary cloning technology on Mobius, meat is widely available without it having to come from animals, and while preservatives are used, it's the kind that doesn't lower the quality and authenticity of the food.

3: The core of Christmas and Easter (presents under the tree, Easter egg hunts, etc) are still celebrated on Mobius, but they have different origins. What they are, I'm not sure yet. While Christmas is still coincidentally celebrated on December 25, Easter is always celebrated on April 8, regardless of the day of the week. With that in mind, school is out on those days.

4: Initially it was mostly because "GUN" has "UN" in it, but the main reason was it was a taskforce founded in the 1950s, and it was initially supposed to be a worldwide organization, but due to their unorthodox measurements and questionable leadership choices, they were forced to pull out of various countries one by one. Nowadays, they mainly operate in the United States, but they still have a limited presence in all the other main English-speaking countries and Japan. However, after the Mobians arrived on Earth, they may consider changing their name to the same name as GUN on Mobius since GUN no longer has a worldwide influence.

blazenight01

That is true, I would love to see social media posts from this universe where no one's seen or heard of Sonic before and suddenly they're on Earth in their society. Knowing the Internet, there would be tons of memes and videos about them.

I wanted to make it more than a straightforward tournament, so it was fun to have Eggman and the Society plotting to get the Emerald from the shadows.

Jenaku

They did have a few weeks to train before the tournament, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if Amy and Knuckles helped Chris and Danny with training for other fighting styles.

Five-Chosen (first review)

That's a good point! The lava planet could have multiple moons.

Five-Chosen (second review)

1: I've been thinking of a name for Blaze's planet on my end too, and I was wondering if it should be called Sol, since her dimension is known as the Sol Dimension after all. That is a good idea to have her dimension be on the other side of the Galaxy Corridor. Introducing Blaze is only half the problem solved, but the other half is she needs to have an important role instead of just being there with Sonic and Shadow. I could create an entirely new chapter in the second half of the Metarex Saga for her, and she and Silver would most likely need one or two important appearances between episodes 65 and 75.

2-3: One way that it could work for Cosmo to go to Black Narcissus' base is if she doesn't know it's Narcissus who's reeling her in. And if she doesn't know, then neither would the others, and that would really drive up the stakes. While I could have Marine replace Cosmo, I'm not sure if it would carry the same emotional weight and make Sonic turn into his Dark form.

I read it a second time just now, and having Blaze go missing could drive up the stakes too.

Sonic245

Only one way to find out if Emerl will go berserk!

Guest

I haven't seen all of Sonic's fighting skills from Sonic Frontiers, so probably not.

CreativeKitty975

You have questions, we have answers! Here is the next chapter! :D

soberan 123

That's a really interesting idea to have Eggman bring all his forces from Mobius! He did say it doesn't matter where he sets up the Eggman Empire, but admittedly, Earth is probably easier for him.


Chapter 44
Episode 45 (part 3)
Round Two


The hotel - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Despite the festivities of the tournament and the otherwise action-packed day everyone had, it was a quiet night for both Thorndykes and Mobians alike. They ate out at a diner that night, and while it was expensive, the meal was both delicious and filling, so it was well worth it. They rented out several rooms at a hotel so that everyone would have adequate space to rest between days while the tournament was going on.

Everyone was sleeping soundly except for Tails, who was still awake thinking about what could have happened last night. The room he was in was silent except for the Sonic's occasional snoring on the other bed nearby. The fox was lying on his stomach, tapping away at his Miles Electric, attempting to remotely hack into Diamond Stadium's surveillance system and try to figure out what could have possibly happened.

Surprisingly, he learned barely anything new when he saw the news headline on the tournament being delayed, especially since it was so hyped up in the media. He figured the media and the government were trying to protect the public, but from the little he did find, they reported that Big had a realistic fan-made souvenir that looked exactly like the Chaos Emerald, and therefore it was a false alarm. The young fox imagined it would cost the organizers a lot of money to delay the event like that.

Even for someone as prodigious as Tails, it took him just over ten minutes to successfully bypass security measures and access the stadium's security footage. He was met with a grid of cameras, all showing various angles of the stadium. As to be expected, it was dark inside, and he couldn't see much of anything.

He selected one of the cameras at random and rewound the footage to the previous day. Everything and everyone looked like a blur as they ran in reverse. Suddenly there appeared to be a jump cut, and Tails immediately stopped rewinding.

Huh? That's strange… Tails thought as he hit play on the footage again. This time he kept a careful eye on the timestamp in the bottom right corner. He watched it for a solid minute before it appeared to jump and everyone changed positions. Pausing again, Tails did the math in his head for a few seconds before figuring out that fifty-four minutes of footage had been cut.

That's a long time for the cameras to be out, he thought, adjusting himself on the pillow. But who cut the footage? And– And whoever cut it, why didn't they just bug the footage to play on a loop rather than cut it altogether?

He scanned each of the camera angles, looking for one that looked like the security room. After about three minutes, he found it and tapped it. Pressing play, he watched as two men entered the room and knocked out the two security officers inside before one of them sat down and looked through the footage. He rummaged through the footage for several minutes before the screen cut to Big, Vector, a police officer, and a few people working on restoring the footage, all in the same room.

So that's what happened… he mused.

Now that he saw everything that happened, he rewound the footage back to when the two men were in the room. He maneuvered the frames until he was able to get a decent look at the men's faces, then zoomed in. Squinting at the paused frame, he frowned. He couldn't recognize either of them. He could only hope the police had a record of them somewhere, but there was nothing more he could do.

Next, he fast-forwarded back to when the cameras were turned on, which he figured was nearly half an hour after he and his friends left the stadium. He checked various other camera angles at that same time over the next five minutes, but he found nothing out of the ordinary, besides the heavy police presence.

Tails let out a quiet sigh. He wasn't getting any new answers.

His ears twitched, and he looked to his right to see Sonic sitting up in the other bed.

"Tails…?" the hedgehog groggily said. "What'cha doin' up, bud?"

"Looking for answers about what happened yesterday," Tails softly replied, glancing back at his screen.

Sonic slipped out of bed and leaned against Tails' bed to get a better look at the screen. Tails rolled over and sat up with his legs dangling over the edge of the bed so his friend could see the screen even better.

"Find anything yet?" he asked.

"Yeah," Tails nodded. He backed out of the camera he was looking at and pulled up the security room footage. "Not as much as I hoped, though, but I did find something. Take a look at this."

He replayed the footage of the two men in the security room. Sonic watched them knock out the two security officers before one of them sat down.

"Yeah, that definitely doesn't look right," Sonic noted.

"Keep watching," Tails told him. "There's more."

The fox fast-forwarded the feed about two minutes before hitting play again. After one of the men typed something on the keyboard, the feed cut to Vector, Big, and the officers in the same room.

"What happened there? Was that a glitch?" Sonic asked.

Tails shook his head. "No, that's sabotage. That's fifty minutes of video gone, Sonic. And I checked the other cameras too. There's nothing that looks off after the video came back on."

"That's super weird…" Sonic said, before his eyes were riveted to the screen. "Hold up, is that Vector and Big in there? Mind if ya hit play again?"

Tails nodded before hitting play on the footage again.

"I haven't seen anything after this yet," he explained.

But aside from Charmy flying into the room, nothing noteworthy happened as Big was allowed to leave, and everyone except for the security officers gradually filed out of the room.

"I couldn't figure out who those two guys are," Tails said, sounding regretful. He rewound the clip and zoomed in on their faces. "They don't look familiar to me, but I'm curious if you know about them."

"Let's see…" Sonic squinted at the faces on the screen. "Hm… Can't say I recognize 'em."

Tails frowned before he zoomed back out and continued scanning the other cameras.

"It's okay…" Tails says, his eyelids starting to droop as he suppressed a yawn. "Thanks anyway, Sonic."

"You should get some sleep, bud," Sonic said as he crawled back into his own bed and tucked himself in. "You're gonna need all your energy for Round Two."

"Okay, Sonic," Tails said. He too slipped under the covers, but he pulled his Miles Electric closer to him to study the cameras for another moment. "Night night!"

"Night, Tails! Sleep like a champ!" the hedgehog said before closing his eyes.

Tails smiled before looking back at his device. He tapped a few more camera angles to see if anything new was happening in the middle of the night. However, as he expected, all was quiet. He figured security would be exponentially increased in the morning. In fact, the stadium was probably being monitored at that very moment.

As he wrapped up his sweep of the various sectors of the stadium, including the storage room, locker rooms, and even the announcer's booth, he paused for a moment. An idea was starting to come to mind. Although he wasn't entirely sure it would work, there was a chance it could be worth a try.


Eggman's outpost - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Eggman had been toiling away in his workshop for most of the night. Sparks flew as he used a blowtorch on what would become his latest creation. He suppressed a yawn. Sleep was important, even for a genius for him. But he had to make sure he was fully prepared for when the tournament resumed later that day.

"At last… My masterpiece is finally complete!" Eggman declared, stepping back to take a look at his work. "Complex, yet familiar, and I would even say it's nostalgic. The second round begins in two hours, which is more than enough time for me to finish my preparations. And this time, I am fully confident the Emerald will fall into my waiting hands by the end of the day, regardless of the increased security. The humans think they outsmarted me, but I am always several steps ahead. Not even Sonic will know what's coming! Hohohohohohoho!"


Diamond Stadium - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Shortly before 3pm, people were once again filing into Diamond Stadium in droves. The only difference this time was that there was a much higher police presence, and anyone who looked suspicious were singled out and scanned for anything containing metal, and they were certainly watching for people who looked like they were carrying Chaos Emeralds.

On the bright side, anyone who paid for tickets yesterday was allowed free entry to make up for the tournament's delayal. Anyone who was joining for the first time paid full price. Of course, all the participants didn't need to pay, since they already sent their fighter registrations. Seating was provided to them for free.

At three on the dot, Elmer Johnson was standing in the middle of the ring with his microphone, while the first two competitors, Knuckles the Echidna and the Black Knight, faced each other in opposite corners.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Chaos Competition!" he announced. "We would like to apologize for the inconvenience yesterday, so to make up for it, seating for returning fans is on the house! But anyway, it's time... for Round! Two! AAAARRRE YOOOUU READYYYYYYY?!"

Thunderous cheering erupted from the spectators. Everyone was pumped for Round Two.

"In the red corner, the guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles the Echidna! And in the blue corner, the ever-mysterious Black Knight!"

Fans of both competitors cheered loudly, but it was clear there were so many more fans of Knuckles.

"Give 'im the ol' one-two, Knux!" Sonic cheered.

"You can do it, Knuckles!" Tails shouted.

Chris was in a much better mood today than he was yesterday, largely in part because his grandpa had been discharged from the hospital after making a full recovery, and he was able to make it to the tournament for the second day. It was also due to Chris getting into the swing of things in the tournament.

"Get ready… Get set… FIGHT!"

To no one's surprise among Sonic and his friends, Knuckles charged straight toward the Black Knight and punched him to the ground in seconds flat. The armored man barely had any time to dodge.

Next, Knuckles pinned the Knight to the ground so he couldn't try and get up, no matter how much he struggled. Despite his smaller size, Knuckles easily overpowered the Black Knight.

Suddenly the Black Knight raised his right leg and kicked Knuckles in the back from behind, allowing him to scramble back up. But he couldn't get an attack in edgewise because Knuckles easily knocked him to the ground again. But the moment he made contact with the tiled ground, his helmet popped off and bounced a few times before landing on the ground outside the arena.

Confused gasps arose from the spectators, and Knuckles, being at ground zero, was absolutely shocked to see the Black Knight's real identity. The nearby referee blew his whistle and held his hands in a T position, signaling a timeout.

"This is Jerome Wise!" Knuckles called to everyone within earshot, pinning the former Chief of Staff to the ground. "I met him once before, this is him!"

Jerome's eyes were wide with terror, and he was a sweating mess. It was less from hiding inside a suit of armor and more from realizing that he was finally caught.

"Don't let 'em take me! Don't let 'em take me! Don't let 'em take me!" he repeated over and over, as if he thought his mantra could protect him.

Knuckles looked up to see several police officers approaching him and Jerome.

"Thanks, we'll take it from here," one of them told Knuckles.

"Appreciate it," Knuckles said with a nod as he released Jerome and stood up. The officers were quick to restrain Jerome and snap handcuffs on him, which was a bit tricky considering he was wearing bulky gloves, but they managed it.

The whole time, there was so much shock in the stands, as evidenced by the gasps and everyone talking amongst one another.

"I… I-I can't believe it…" Amy whispered, covering her mouth in shock.

"Me neither…" Tails admitted.

"But… Why did he join the tournament…?" Chris asked. "I thought he wanted to stay hidden."

"I don't know, Chris…" Tails said, racking his brain for possible explanations.

"Guys, I don't think this is something he'd do on his own," Sonic told everyone as he watched Jerome being escorted out of sight.

"Yeah… Wait, you're saying it's Eggman?" Tails asked, looking up at him, and Sonic nodded. "I… I don't think I should be surprised…" He looked down in thought. "But at the same time…"


Eggman's outpost - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Having witnessed what had unfolded on the big screen, Eggman chuckled, before bursting out into a hearty laugh.

"What has happened, Doctor?" Decoe asked. He, along with Bocoe, had been broken out of police custody overnight and smuggled back to safety in Eggman's hidden outpost. Once again, Eggman made a prison breakout look like a cakewalk.

The doctor leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head.

"Jerome has effectively been punished," he stated.

Orbot blinked. "What do you mean, boss?" he asked.

Eggman grinned before swiveling his chair to face his five hench-bots in the room.

"I knew from the very beginning that he had joined a secret society plotting to bring about my downfall," the doctor explained. "His phone call on Christmas Eve was not exactly a secret. Even if I didn't know about that, he was suspiciously hesitant to break me out of prison. And while I commend him for recovering the Phantom Ruby, which I could have easily done myself, he used it without my permission, and now I'm stuck with Emerl for the time being. Yes, Bokkun, I see your hand raised. You told me about the map of the prison you found on the Eggnet, which meant my breakout wasn't his first time there. After I looked into it some more, my files showed that several of my robots were deployed to the prison to cover for Jerome's secret society and hold off GUN's forces. So basically, Jerome's intentions never lay with me in the first place. He was only using me as asylum from the authorities. This is exactly why I don't utilize humans."

"I always knew there was something off about that guy…" Bokkun said.

"He was a good man…" Cubot said with a salute. "F in the chat for Jerome."

"His termination was inevitable," Decoe stated.

"And nothing of value was lost," Eggman said, glancing up at the tournament as they set up the next match. "My plan to get rid of Jerome worked perfectly. All I had to do was sign him up for the tournament, knowing he would lose and be exposed. And when I found out he was up against Knuckles… it was practically the end for him. And by the way, I designed his helmet to come off on its own with enough force. Nothing lifts my spirits more than seeing my former underlings get involved in controversy."

"Your plan is surpassed by no other, Dr. Eggman," Decoe said.

"It is truly brilliant," Bocoe added.

"If you knew he would turn tail, then why did you hire him in the first place?" Orbot asked.

"Do you know how Christopher is Sonic's chaperone here on Earth?" Eggman asked. "I hired Jerome to be my chaperone, plus he shared my distaste against Sonic for claiming credit that wasn't entirely his. Yes, Sonic did destroy my grand fortress, but ultimately GUN gets the credit for doing all the hard work and opening the way for him."

"Sonic gets too much credit as it is," Orbot said.

"Facts," Cubot added.

"So now that Jerome's gone, what are you gonna do with Emerl?" Bokkun asked.

Eggman stroked his mustache in thought. "Ever since he… abandoned Emerl, I've had to take the reins and control him, and it's putting unnecessary strain on the Phantom Ruby. What I'll do is I'll finish using him until the end of the tournament, and then deactivate him when I see that the time is right. Then when the Phantom Ruby is fully charged…"

He grinned, suppressing a sinister chuckle.

"It'll be time for my ultimate plan, the grand finale to put an end to Sonic once and for all!"

He burst into evil laughter.


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

Four jaws were dropped to the floor in the command center.

"No! NO! This can not be happening!" Passer shouted, pounding the armrest of the command chair as he watched the police take Jerome away.

"I didn't think his helmet was gonna come off that easily…" Dragg admitted.

"It wasn't supposed to, Jerome even showed us the schematics of his armor!" Passer exclaimed. "His helmet was one of the strongest parts of his armor."

"To be completely fair, I'm getting the impression that we underprepared for Jerome to be exposed like this," Browning admitted. "The armor will more than likely be taken to the police station rather than to the storage room where the Emerald is."

"We don't need his armor anymore," Narasu grinned. "In fact, thanks to my photographic memory, we never needed it in the first place. Tell Watcher he sent the right team yesterday."

"Oh yeah… You remember where the Emerald is kept," Dragg recalled. Narasu nodded.

The former CLIP colonel activated one of the screens, and soon Watcher appeared. He was in the stands on his phone.

"Time for Phase Two," Passer told him.

"I give the orders around here, but your timing is impeccable," Watcher said as he stood up with Browning. "I was just thinking about doing that anyway."

Watcher immediately hung up after that. At least Watcher didn't see him roll his eyes.


Diamond Stadium - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

"Christopher Thorndyke, come on down!" Elmer called from the middle of the stadium once the commotion had finally died down minutes later. After a talk with some of the organizers, they concluded that the tournament was allowed to continue despite the arrest.

Chris' heart beat faster with each passing moment. He hadn't expected to fight so soon. Even as his friends cheered him on as he made his way down to the stadium with the staff member accompanying him, he was a little nervous. Definitely not as scared as he was yesterday, so he had that going for him at least.

It seemed like Chris' opponent had chosen to remain anonymous, because he was nowhere in sight. Chris hadn't heard anyone else's name being called, which left him feeling confused.

As he stood there, looking around, Chris found himself getting increasingly nervous.

Why am I being singled out? he asked himself.

As an answer, he heard the sound of a helicopter flying overhead. He looked up to see the familiar black helicopter with a cyan stripe on its side.

Dad…?!

Only then did he remember that his dad was his next opponent, but he wasn't as surprised about who he was fighting as much as how his opponent was choosing to enter the ring. And it was quite a sight to see the CEO of Starship Soft parachuting out of the chopper and landing perfectly in the middle of the ring, close to the edge.

"Hey, Son!" he greeted as the volunteer staff took the parachute off his back. "I wanna apologize once again for– for signing everyone up for this without asking, but, uh, I've been watching the whole thing, and everyone's doing fantastic, especially you, Chris! You really came through at the end there."

"Th-Thanks!" Chris said, recovering from his initial shock.

"But you know, there's no way I was going to stay out of this myself, even if Starship's one of the official sponsors. I'd be impressed if you can make it past your old man. Think you can do that, big guy?"

"Yeah! I've been training really hard for this," Chris said.

"I can tell," Nelson said with a smile.

In the stands, Chris' family and friends were surprised, not to mention confused, at Nelson's entrance.

"This is like a lion throwing his cub into a pit to make it stronger," Tanaka remarked.

"Nelson told me he was gonna do this last night," Chuck said, looking down at his son and grandson in the ring. "He told me not to tell anyone until he actually did it. He wanted it to be a surprise."

"He's impossible," Ella admitted, shaking her head. Chuck nodded.

"And creative," he added. "This time, I can't choose who I want to win. They're both my family."

"Then we can cheer for both of them!" Cream suggested with a smile.

"Chao chao!" Cheese and Chocola agreed.

Chuck returned her smile. "Yes, we can do that."

"Fight!" Elmer announced, and he stepped aside for Chris and Nelson as they both ran toward each other.

Chris tried to reach out and trip his dad to get the advantage, but he dodged. Chris turned around and tried again, but Nelson was surprisingly agile and leaped to the right out of harm's way. Furthermore, Nelson wasn't able to land a single hit on Chris since he was much younger and more agile than he was.

This went on for at least a whole minute, with neither of them able to get an advantage over the other, constantly sidestepping each other. Chris bolted straight for his dad, but he accidentally miscalculated his flying tackle and kicked his shin. Nelson yelped and collapsed to the ground.

"Dad! I'm sorry, I didn't mean–"

"I-It's okay," Nelson replied in pain, holding a hand against his injured shin. "It was an accident. You win this one, Chris. I-I give up."

"Nelson Thorndyke surrenders!" Elmer announced, raising Chris' hand in victory. "The winner… Christopher Thorndyke!"

The crowd cheered, but Chris started wondering if he was just lucky to make it that far. As he was guided to his seat, his mind was crowded with thoughts. Again, his match felt cheap. That was not the way he wanted to win.

The first time could be overlooked because he fought with Danny fair and square, but only because he encouraged him after he became overwhelmed. This time, however, it came down to pure luck. Chris felt like he wasn't truly giving it his all.

However, everyone thought otherwise of him when he returned to his seat.

"Yaaaay Chris!" Amy cheered.

"We're so proud of you!" Cream added.

All of Chris' friends gave him a big hug, and he was starting to feel better about himself. Maybe he didn't need to rely on skill 100% of the time in order to make it through the tournament.

"You doing good, Chris?" Sonic asked.

"Y-Yeah," Chris said as he sat back down. He took a handful of popcorn from his tub, popped it into his mouth, and then washed it down with some Dr. Pepper.

"The quarterfinals is not easy to get to, but you did good making it this far," Chuck said. "But do you think you're ready for your next opponent?"

Chris blinked. "Who's my next opponent again?"

"This guy," Knuckles smirked, gesturing to himself. "Don't worry, I won't go too hard on you, kid. But that doesn't mean I'll go too easy on you either!"

"Yeah," Chris said, holding back a gulp. Knuckles was his next opponent… This was more than likely the end of the line for him. But he didn't want to quit just because of that.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have an important announcement to make," Elmer's voice came from the ring, booking through the stadium's speakers. "One of our next fighters, Mr. Stewart, has made the decision to forfeit the match roughly twenty minutes ago, which means his opponent Sam Speed wins by default. Furthermore, due to the incident involving Decoe and Bocoe yesterday, Lucky will bypass this round and go up against Sam Speed in the next round."

"Huh…" Sonic said after swallowing his chili dog. "Lot of familiar faces here, almost forgot ol' Uncle Sam was in this thing."

"But why did Mr. Stewart quit?" Chris asked.

Sonic shrugged. "He probably has his reasons, I guess," he said.


Diamond Stadium - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

At that very moment, Mr. Stewart was making his way through the crowd in the stadium's main lobby. To anyone else, he was probably either on his way back from the restroom, or heading to one of the many food vendors. But in reality, he was searching for any sign of the two men who sabotaged the cameras yesterday. He knew what they looked like since he was briefed about it that morning. However, he was unsure if they would return to the scene of the crime, especially since extra security measures were taken today.

However, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Everyone was going about their own business, and while there were hundreds of people, no one seemed to be up to anything shifty. He didn't want to look like he was up to anything shifty himself, since as far as everyone else was concerned, he was just an ordinary elementary school teacher.

He saw the Chaotix up ahead in the crowd, and he wanted to eavesdrop on them, but not much was being said among them. He walked in their direction as casually as he could, even though he didn't plan on saying anything to them. However, Vector noticed him first and turned around to face him.

"You good?" the crocodile asked him. "You kinda forfeited the match back there."

"Oh, yes, I'm fine," Mr. Stewart nodded. "I have some other… business to work on. Last-minute deadlines to meet. I got an urgent call, which is why I had to quit the match."

"I know that feeling," Vector said, closing his eyes.

"By the way, what happened yesterday?" Mr. Stewart asked. "And is everything back to normal?"

"Yeah, we're back now," Vector said. "From what I heard, it was caused by a couple guys who went in the security room and shut off the cameras. And then they just walked out like it was all nothing."

Mr. Stewart already knew this from his briefing, but he was attempting small talk to come off as casual.

"That's… very strange," he said. "But why on Earth would the security room be unguarded?"

"From the outside? I have no clue," Vector shrugged. "But we can rest assured there are guards outside this time. Can't always rely on technology to do all the work, y'know."

"That's a good point," Mr. Stewart said with a nod. "I gotta get going now. Hope you find what you're looking for!"

As they went their separate ways, Mr. Stewart made a beeline for the security room, knowing he could be detained for approaching, since he looked like any other person in the building. He didn't plan on going inside though.

True to Vector's word, there was a security officer standing guard outside the door to the security office. Glancing up, he could see a camera facing the general direction of the door, so they certainly had their base covered.

Nodding to himself in satisfaction, he left and returned to the lobby. He told himself he had to be even more cautious about where the two men could strike next, assuming they returned to the scene of the crime.

If they were that foolish enough.


Diamond Stadium - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

After two consecutive matches being disappointingly skipped over, it was finally time for the next match, this one between Tanaka and Topaz.

The crowd cheered for the two competitors as they entered the ring. Topaz was wearing full body armor, different from her GUN attire that everyone was used to. Tanaka was wearing a traditional martial arts gi and no shoes. Chuck had recalled that Tanaka had wanted to bring his gi with him to the tournament, but it was quite a sight seeing him down there wearing it now.

As Elmer introduced them to the crowd, Tanaka politely bowed to his opponent, who took up a fighting stance. The Thorndyke butler's mind was cleared of all intrusive thoughts, and his mind was singularly focused on his opponent.

The moment Elmer started the fight, Topaz charged straight toward Tanaka, but she did not expect him to duck out of the way right at the last second. This caused Topaz to nearly lose her footing, but she caught herself just in time.

She spun around, and attempted to go on the offensive with several chops, punches, and kicks, but Tanaka expertly blocked all of her attacks with karate moves. Although he was slowly being driven to the edge, not once did the butler make an offensive attack of his own.

However, Tanaka stopped… and started slowly walking forward, still on defense. Topaz was not prepared for this.

Topaz tried to go at Tanaka from several different angles, but it was like the butler had eyes all around him. In fact, it was almost as if he could anticipate her every move! Topaz was starting to get desperate, but before she realized it, she stumbled over the edge of the arena and fell onto the ground two feet below, bruised but otherwise okay.

"The winner by ring-out… Tanaka!" Elmer declared.

"Are you all right, Miss Topaz?" Tanaka asked, stepping outside the ring to help his opponent up.

"Just a few bruises," Topaz said as she took his hand and stood up. "Don't mind me, I'll walk it off. Good fight though. Best defense is a good offense."

"You did excellently yourself, ma'am," Tanaka responded with a modest bow as the spectators cheered.

In another part of the stadium, Rouge looked on as the two competitors left the arena.

Hm… she thought. I may have underestimated the Thorndykes' butler juuust a little. I can still take him a few rounds from now; after all, I do have air advantage, not to mention good looks!

Pop music played over the speakers as Frances cautiously approached the arena. She was a bit scared because her next opponent Emerl was completely different from Big. She took a deep breath before walking up the stairs and taking her place in the corner. Emerl stood in the opposite corner, unmoving and emotionless as Elmer introduced the fighters to the crowd.

Remembering the encouragement her parents gave her, she took a few deep breaths and focused on her opponent.

"FIGHT!"

Frances ran toward Emerl, but since she knew he was capable of copying other people's abilities, she had no idea what to expect. So when she got close to him, she started to slow down, analyzing him. However, he didn't seem to move aside from his head following her moves.

She took a deep breath before lunging for Emerl, but he spun his arms behind him and took off into the air. Frances realized she was imitating Tails' flying ability. Now he was too high up for her to reach.

But before she knew it, Emerl suddenly drop-kicked her, and she landed on her stomach. Gasps arose from the spectators, but fortunately for Frances, she wasn't seriously hurt, only winded.

However, she couldn't get back up before Emerl finished the count, so Emerl was declared the winner. She was feeling a bit bruised and dazed from Emerl's sudden attack.

This did not escape Sonic's watchful eye. The worst part was Emerl was not even real, but that impact was definitely real.

He's gettin' rough, he thought with a frown. I don't know if this means he's starting to malfunction, but I'm gonna have to keep an eye on him, especially if he's still under Eggman's control.


Diamond Stadium - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Howard Watcher and Ray Browning were quickly moving through the corridors of Diamond Stadium, searching for the path that would take them to the storage room where the Chaos Emerald was being held. Since Watcher memorized Narasu's path to the Emerald, he was confident he was able to find it.

Trying to find the Black Knight's armor was a bust, since it was more than likely being held at the police station. It was a good thing they didn't need it anyway, but for what it was worth, at least Watcher's comrades could see where in the police station it was located, not that it mattered in the long run.

However, as big a risk as approaching the storage room was, Watcher and Browning had enough common sense to not try and sabotage the stadium's security again. Not only was it heavily guarded today, but the tournament had to go on without any further incidents so as not to arouse anyone's suspicion once again.

"Just a little farther," Watcher whispered to Browning, who nodded.

But then he had to hold his hand out to prevent either of them from going too far, because the Chaotix were approaching their general direction. Both men acted casual, pretending to stand around and look at their phones until the three Mobians passed them.

With a nod to let his comrade know they were in the clear, Watcher and Browning continued down the hall. Unknown to them, Mr. Stewart was already catching on to them, since he recognized the way Watcher walked. Taking note of this, he secretly followed them at a distance.


Diamond Stadium - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

"Rouge the Bat and Miles 'Tails' Prower, come on down!" Elmer called from the middle of the arena.

Taking a deep breath, Tails set down his tub of popcorn and stood up. Sonic could already tell that Tails looked a bit nervous by the way he was fidgeting. His opponent was Rouge, and Tails probably had no idea how it would play out.

"You got this, lil bro," Sonic said with a smile, patting his friend's back. "Also, look who's back!"

As Sonic gestured to another part of the crowd, Tails could see the same fans he had yesterday, the ones who were holding a huge banner with Tails' name on it.

"Yeah, you got your own little fanbase, buddy!" Sonic said. His grin could not be wider, and Tails blushed a little bit, but he too was smiling.

"Rouge is tough, but try and anticipate her moves and you'll be okay," Knuckles told him.

"Okay!" Tails said with a nod. He felt like he had the strength to fight now. He climbed up onto his seat and stood up, then leaped into the air and spun his tails before making his way down to the arena. As he expected, Rouge was already down there waiting for him. There was no mistaking the confident look on her face.

"In the red corner, the glamorous lover of jewelry and all things that sparkle, Rouge!"

Rouge was soaking in all the attention she was getting as most of the crowd cheered for her. She waved to her adoring fans, including a Rouge fanbase who had a banner of their own.

"And in the blue corner, the high-flying genius tech-whiz, Tails!"

There was even more cheering from the crowd, and somehow it sounded louder than when they were cheering for Rouge. Tails waved to all of his fans adorably with both hands. He felt so proud of himself. This was a far cry from when he used to be bullied because he had two tails. This was a different kind of attention he was getting, and it was infinitely more positive. If only his past self could see where he was now!

He stood his ground, facing Rouge as the bell rang to start the fight.

In a flash, both fighters were airborne and trading blows, much to the crowd's delight. This was a much better fight than several of the other fights they had seen, and it was evident that Tails did not disappoint. However, this was their first time seeing Rouge fight, and she was holding her own. In fact, it was clear by her defensiveness that she may have underestimated Tails.

The rate they were trading punches at was so fast that it seemed to appear as a blur on the live stream that was broadcasting everywhere. It was just like the Tenkaichi Budokai tournaments in Dragon Ball, ring design and all, except it was really happening in real life! The fans were completely eating it up.

Rouge pulled back a few feet before attempting to kick Tails, but the fox blocked it with his namesakes, all without losing altitude. It hurt a little, but he shrugged it off as he readjusted his position in the air. Concentrating, he tail-whipped Rouge across the arena before landing on the ground.

Rouge flew back a good forty feet, nearly flying out of the arena, but a few flaps of her wings was all it took for her to regain her altitude and control of her flight.

"Hmph, you're good, fox boy," Rouge said with a smirk as she hovered in midair. "But still predictable, not to mention reckless. Did I mention adorable?"

"Wh-Wha–"

Taking advantage of Tails being flustered, Rouge suddenly blasted forward and grabbed the fox's arm, planting a big kiss on his cheek before casually tossing him out of the arena. Tails tried to fly, but he wasn't able to regain control in time and was promptly eliminated.

"I forgot one, you're easily distracted," Rouge said after Elmer declared her the winner. "You did good though. You almost ruffled my pristine fur."

As she walked out of the arena, Tails lay there, breathing fast and blushing hard. He was mortified; he got kissed by a girl! One who was much older than him, no less! He knew it was just a distraction measure, that there was no real love in that kiss, so why was he blushing?!

He started to pull himself to his feet, not realizing that he was shaking just a little.

"Hey Tails!" he heard Sonic call. Looking up, he saw the hedgehog running out from the stands toward him. He stopped at his side and helped him the rest of the way up. "Tails, you okay?"

"I-I think so…" Tails admitted, glancing in the direction Rouge had gone in. "But…"

"Let's get you back to your seat," Sonic said as he led his friend back up the stairs.

As they walked, they could hear a mixture of cheering and booing.

"Are they… booing?" Tails asked, feeling a bit cautious as he stuck close to Sonic. Sonic's ears swiveled in all directions, listening to the crowd.

"Nah, they seem to be booing Rouge," the hedgehog explained. "That kiss was pretty underhanded."

"Mm-hmm…" Tails whimpered, hiding his face. He was kissed by a girl! On national television! Where millions of people could see him!

Before he realized it, he was wrapping his tails around himself and holding their tips tightly.

"L-Let's not talk about this, Sonic…" Tails told Sonic, who nodded in understanding.

However, that seemed to be the only thing their friends wanted to talk about when they made it back to their seats.

"You okay, Tails?" Chuck asked tenderly. Tails was too shaken to answer, so Sonic stepped in.

"He just needs a moment," he told him. Tails sat down in his seat, still holding onto his tails. His fluffy white cheeks were still glowing bright red.

"It's okay, Mr. Tails," Cream said, giving her friend a gentle hug. Cheese and Chocola instinctively joined in.

"What was that all about?" Amy asked, crossing her arms. She was clearly upset about what happened to Tails.

"Yeah, even for Rouge, that was crazy!" Knuckles added. "I mean, she does that to me sometimes, but Tails?"

"She probably did that in the heat of the moment, just to shock him, y'know?" Sonic pointed out. "She wasn't gonna win by fighting him head-on, so she just reached into her bag of tricks and…"

"Guys… I wanna go be alone for a bit," Tails whimpered, before standing up.

"It's all good Tails, take as much time as you need," Sonic told him.

Tails nodded before walking up the steps and disappearing from sight.

Chris had wanted to say something this whole time, but he didn't get the chance to before Tails left.

"Is he gonna be okay?" the human boy asked.

"Yeah, he'll bounce back, just give him a little time," Sonic told him. "This is only like the second time he's ever been kissed like that."

"Yeah, but Tails is eight, and Rouge is… how old is she?" Chris asked.

"Eighteen," Amy grumbled. "I still can't believe she did that, like who does she think she is?"

"If you know Rouge, you know she'll do anything to get her way," Sonic said. "And like I said, that was just for the shock factor. She didn't really mean it."

"But still…" Amy pouted, looking down at her half-finished Baja Blast.

"Amy Rose and Sonic the Hedgehog, come on down!" Elmer called over the speakers, startling Amy.

The pink hedgehog paled. She knew her fight was coming, but she didn't want to hurt Sonic for real. She didn't just admire him, she looked up to him as a role model and someone to emulate. She knew deep down he was her soul mate, someone she wanted to eventually marry when he was ready to slow down. He was her everything. That was why she didn't want to hurt him.

"Ames."

Her thoughts were interrupted by Sonic as he stood up and stretched. "Ready to rumble?"

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah, but–"

"Hey, it's just like the sparring sessions we always do, only with lots of people watching."

"O-Okay," Amy said, standing up and following Sonic to the arena. "I just don't wanna hurt you for real, that's all."

"You won't, it's all for the fans!" Sonic said with a smile. "And look at this way, if you win, you get a shot to avenge Tails!"

"Oh yeah!" Amy said, feeling invigorated all over again as she hurried after her role model. She didn't know how he did it, but even when things looked bad, he made everything seem okay.


Diamond Stadium - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Vector, Espio, and Charmy were patrolling the hall as they had done the previous day, looking for any sign of the two men from yesterday, or for anyone else who came across as suspicious. So far, no one seemed to be raising any red flags.

This time though, Big was accompanying them. Vector had asked if he wanted to come with them and look for anything that looked out of the ordinary, to which the large purple cat agreed. The main reason for this was witness protection, a point that was raised by Espio earlier that morning before the tournament resumed.

"And now, our final match of the second round, Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Amy Rose!" came the announcement over the stadium's speakers.

"Huh, that oughta be interesting," Vector commented. "The two people I'd least expect to fight in real life."

"They fought before," Espio said. "Actually, it was a bit more one-sided."

"What do you mean?" Vector asked. "Oh yeah, was it back when Amy was obsessed with Sonic?"

"I wouldn't say 'obsessed'," Espio corrected, glancing around so his concentration wouldn't be broken. "It was more like Amy not being able to handle when things didn't work out the way she wanted. I'm no expert on love, but I always thought she was going about it the wrong way. Eventually Sonic talked to her about it and told her point blank that he wasn't ready to settle down, and that was all it took for her to understand."

"Okay, that's how it happened," Vector realized with a nod. "I mean, I've seen her, she can still get a bit moody sometimes, but it's for a good cause, and she was really helpful during the war and–"

"Hey, is that Scarlet?" Charmy piped up, cutting Vector off mid-monologue.

"Huh? Point for me," Vector quietly told the bee, and Charmy cautiously pointed further down the hall. Sure enough, there was a woman with red hair and a bright orange pantsuit walking briskly down the hall away from them.

"Yeah, that's her," Vector said. "What about it?"

"What is she doing outside the announcer's booth in the middle of a match?" Espio asked.

"Maybe she has to go to the bathroom or something," Charmy shrugged.

"Now?" Vector asked incredulously, his eyes locked on Scarlet.

"This is not right," Espio noted. "She's moving quickly, like she's going somewhere in particular. I suggest we follow her."

"Yeah, good idea, Esp," Vector said with a nod as he followed the chameleon. "Don't know if we're just being paranoid, but my gut is telling me something's wrong. So Big, you may wanna stay back just in case."

"Actually," Espio said, looking back at Vector behind him, "I'll go in alone, she what she's up to."

Vector nodded as Espio perfectly blended in with his surroundings and crawled on the wall toward Scarlet. She turned a few corners, leaving the hustle and bustle of the stadium's lobby and heading through an area that was clearly marked "Employees Only." Espio stuck with her and watched as she stopped in front of a door. It was a wonder that no one caught her by now. The chameleon caught a staff nametag on her, which was likely why the guards didn't stop her.

Espio's eyes followed Scarlet's fingers as she entered a four-digit passcode. He stored it in his memory in case he needed it later, and silently followed her into the room before the door shut behind them. He decided not to prevent the door from closing because that would potentially blow his cover, or at the very least make her suspicious.

For a split second, Espio wondered if he was just being paranoid over nothing, but his sixth sense didn't lie to him most of the time. If Scarlet being seen away from her booth during a match wasn't suspicious enough, the Chaotix hadn't received any news that there was going to be a substitute announcer.

But before he had time to ponder this further, a red glow caught his eye. His eyes darted over to see the Chaos Emerald on the other side of the room. Furthermore, Scarlet reached into her pocket and pulled out an identical red Chaos Emerald.

And then it hit him.

Either Scarlet was in cahoots with the bad guys from yesterday…

Or this isn't really her.

"Drop that Emerald," Espio commanded softly as he became visible again. Scarlet turned around, acting all surprised and still holding onto the other Chaos Emerald.

"O-Oh, Espio," she said. Notably, she didn't appear to come up with an excuse.

"What are you doing with that Emerald, the one in your hand right now?" Espio asked, keeping his voice even. "But more importantly, do you have clearance to this room?"

"I could say the same about you," Scarlet responded defensively, somewhat confirming Espio's suspicions.

"As a matter of fact, I do," the chameleon responded. Scarlet suppressed a chuckle.

"Fair," she responded with a shrug. "I was sent here on a staff errand, had some last-minute business before the quarterfinals."

"In the middle of a match?" Espio asked incredulously, crossing his arms. "And with a fake Chaos Emerald? I have a hard time buying that."

Scarlet gritted her teeth, before sighing and slouching her shoulders in defeat. Then she slowly turned around and approached Espio. The chameleon didn't know what the reporter was up to, but this was highly irregular behavior.

Espio backed away and reached for the door, but Scarlet pulled him back with her left hand and aimed her right hand at the door, remotely locking it. Knowing he couldn't run from this fight, not that he wanted to since he came so far, he focused and blended in with his surroundings.

"Nice try, Espio," Scarlet said with an unusual air of confidence. "I can still see you clear as day, thanks to my heat sensors."

"So you admit it, you're not Scarlet," Espio pointed out.

"Of course not," Scarlet scoffed, placing her hands on her hips. "I was designed by Dr. Eggman to sabotage this event, which I'll finish doing just as soon as I neutralize you–"

"Hey! Lemme in!" came Vector's voice from outside, followed by the sound of the door shaking violently and the doorknob twisting, despite it being locked.

"You're outnumbered," Espio told Scarlet.

"And you're outmatched," Scarlet responded with a small smile.

Despite Scarlet's intimidating words, Espio did not back down. In fact, his resolve only tightened. Looking around at his surroundings, he saw that there was enough room to fight, but not without potential damage to things inside the storage room.

"What does Eggman plan to do with the Emerald?" Espio asked.

"Oh, that's for him to know and you to find out," Scarlet said in a teasing tone, before shrugging. "Even I don't know!"

She suddenly lunged toward Espio faster than humanly possible, but the chameleon dodged out of the way. Since he underwent strenuous mental training, he didn't have to look to know she was coming, even though she ran at him several times. It was getting boring, so Espio leaped off the ground and clung to the wall, looking down at her as his skin returned to its usual shade of light purple.

"By the way, I hacked the cameras in this part of the stadium and made them all freeze," Scarlet bragged, leaning against the wall and looking up at Espio. "But I kept the timer going to make them look like they were still working, so you can kiss your hopes of help ever coming goodbye–"

Suddenly the door broke down, and Vector stormed inside, along with Charmy who flew beside him.

"All right, what's goin' on here?" Vector asked, before his eyes locked on Scarlet.

"Aaaand that's my cue to go," Scarlet said. "You wanna know a funny twist? You're all coming with me!"

"Leave Espio alone or I'll sting you!" Charmy threatened, pointing at her.

"I'm sure you'll find much more creative retorts if you think hard enough, Charmy," Scarlet said condescendingly as she turned back to the Chaos Emerald in the vault. "Besides, you know you can't sting a robot, don't be silly."

"Yeah I can, I did it before! Just watch!"

"You know what, forget it," Scarlet said. "You're barely worth the trouble anyway."

"Then why don't you tussle with me instead!" Vector roared as he charged at Scarlet. However, without looking, she punched Vector aside with surprising force, and he crashed into a pile of heavy boxes, sending them crashing to the floor.

With that distraction out of the way, Scarlet reached for the real Chaos Emerald, but Espio picked that moment to leap off the wall and kick it out of the way. It clattered on the floor.

"Oh, I really didn't wanna do this, but…"

With those words, Scarlet shapeshifted into a form the Chaotix recognized all too well. Vector blinked.

"You're–"

But he didn't get to finish before "Scarlet" extended its right arm and fired beams at all three of the Chaotix, teleporting them all out of the room.

"No more distractions," the robot said. It was about to pick up the real Emerald when it saw Big standing there, a haunted look on his face.

"No witnesses either," the robot added, "especially since I've just run out of time."

As the robot said that, it fired another beam at Big, teleporting him away. Then it teleported itself out of the room, leaving the scene of the crime before anyone else could see what happened.


Diamond Stadium - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Sonic and Amy's match was officially underway, and it was turning out to be one of the best matches of the second round. The audience was cheering for both competitors almost equally.

Sonic easily flipped out of the way of Amy's Piko Piko Hammer as it pounded the ground right where he had just been standing. However, Amy noticed that Sonic wasn't fighting as heavily as she had seen him fight whenever he was involved in a real battle.

As soon as he landed on the ground, Sonic spin-dashed straight at Amy, but she swung her hammer and batted him aside with ease.

"Hey, you can do better than that!" Amy called. "I wanna see you fight for real!"

"Whoa, are you sure? I don't wanna see you getting hurt for real, Ames!" Sonic said, looking surprised for a moment. Amy suppressed a blush at her hero's words.

"Try me!" she dared, grinning as she held her hammer in a more battle-ready position. "I fought Eggman lots of times, so don't go easy on me just 'cuz I'm not as fast as you!"

Sonic grinned. "All right, gimme your best shot!" he challenged as he immediately ran circles around her in an attempt to confuse her. Amy thought for a second, before leaping high into the air and throwing her hammer down into the path where Sonic was running. He didn't expect this and tripped over her hammer, before quickly picking himself up.

"Hey, you're pretty good!" Sonic said with a thumbs-up. The crowd was cheering like crazy.

"Thanks for helping me get my morale back," Amy said with a smile. "I oughta return the favor one of these days."

Sonic didn't know how to respond to that right away, but he appreciated her saying that. He took a more battle-ready position. "You know only one of us can win this, right?"

"As much as I wanna see you win, Sonic, I'm not gonna give up no matter what!" Amy responded, tightening her grip on her hammer.

"Well, neither am I!" Sonic said.

Up in the stands, Sonic and Amy's friends were on the edge of their seats in suspense and excitement.

"I don't know if I should cheer for Amy or Mr. Sonic!" Cream said. "Because only one of them can win."

"Chao!" Cheese agreed.

"You can cheer for both of them," Vanilla helpfully suggested.

"Yes!" Cream agreed.

"To be honest, I was kinda worried at first, but this is actually turning out to be really cool!" Chris said after swallowing a bite of his hot dog.

"What made you worried?" Chuck asked out of curiosity from two seats over. Chris looked at him, hesitating a moment before speaking.

"Well... it's because I know Amy loves Sonic and she doesn't wanna hurt him," he said.

"Don't worry about them, they'll be fine," Chuck told him. "It seems like Sonic must have said something to help her, because looking at Amy now, she's confident."

Chuck moved his legs to allow Knuckles to scoot past, who had just come back with more popcorn and a slushie.

"Tails isn't back yet?" he asked as he sat down.

"Not yet," Chris said, looking back at the match below them as Amy and Sonic continued to clash.

"Huh… Hope he's okay…" Knuckles said. "I'm gonna have a talk with Rouge after this is done."

Back at the match, Amy and Sonic were still evenly matched. Punching her hammer against the ground at an angle, Amy used it to propel herself very high in the air over, almost as high as the top of the open stadium, but he jumped up after her just as easily.

"This is dangerous!" Sonic noted. Amy winked at him, and he tried to suppress his blush so that the millions of fans watching wouldn't see it.

"You taught me everything I know about dangerous. Watch out!" she warned in a cutesy tone as she swung her hammer right at him. However, she missed and landed awkwardly back in the arena. Sonic landed in front of her before executing a spin toward her. Amy held the blunt end of her hammer out in front of her with both hands, preventing Sonic's approach, and sparks flew as he spun against her hammer.

Amy smirked before suddenly pulling her hammer away, and Sonic nearly flew out of the arena, but he caught himself in time.

"Almost got me there!" he said with a laugh as he got his footing back.

"You might wanna up your game, Sonikku~" Amy taunted.

"You know I won't stop until I give it my all!" Sonic said.

He took a second to prepare himself before he ran rapidly in tight circles. The motion created a tornado that lifted Amy into the air before she could react. She was startled and held her skirt down, but before she realized it, Sonic had caught her and landed back in the arena. He ran to the edge of the ring, and Amy knew he was planning to drop her outside, but Amy thought fast and bent her legs, pushing Sonic forward. She scrambled out of her arms just in time as the blue hedgehog fell outside. Amy quickly climbed back up before she too could fall.

The crowd cheered loudly for Amy as Elmer raised her hand in victory, and she waved to the crowd and blew kisses with her free hand. She felt so confident and brave.

"That was fun!" Amy said to Sonic once Amy was free again. "You're right, it was just like our sparring sessions!"

"You did good, Ames!" Sonic told her, giving her a thumbs up.

"You too, Sonic!" Amy beamed, returning the thumbs up. "We should do this again some time!"

"Yeah, absolutely!" Sonic agreed.

"All right, we're gonna take a thirty-minute break to get things set up for Round Three, the quarterfinals!" Elmer announced as both hedgehogs made their way back to their seats. "So get some refills, go use the restroom, all that stuff, and meet back here in thirty minutes for more tournament madness!"


Diamond Stadium - Sun March 19 – Third-person POV

Meanwhile, the real Scarlet Garcia had just cut to a commercial break after the second round, and she reached for her water and took a long sip. She would have never guessed that in her thirty-two years that she would be a sportscaster for anything like this. Admittedly, she had been a bit nervous at first, but before long, it was like she was a natural, and she found her groove. She had heard that people loved her announcing skill from yesterday, which greatly boosted her confidence.

She was just about to leave the announcer's booth to use the restroom when she looked up to see three security guards standing there. Her heart skipped a beat.

"I-Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Were you downstairs at all during the last two matches?" one of them asked.

"No, why?" Scarlet answered immediately.

"Because a couple people reported seeing you going downstairs instead of announcing the matches," the officer said.

Scarlet looked confused. "I was here in the booth the whole time," she said.

She looked over and saw another security officer tapping away at something on his iPad. Now she was starting to feel nervous, but she did her best to not let it show.

"Camera feed backs her up," he said.

The head guard looked directly at her. "I'm not sure, but it's possible we may be dealing with foul play here," he told her.

"Again? I thought it was taken care of yesterday."

"We thought so too, but now there's someone out there using your identity."

"Oh?" Scarlet asked. "Is it Eggman?"

"We don't know," the security officer said. "We don't have any good leads, just eyewitness reports. I talked this over with some of the staff, and we thought it would be a good idea to withdraw you from the announcer's booth for the remainder of the tournament. That way, if the other Scarlet shows up again, we'll know where you are and you won't be framed."

Scarlet was a little disappointed at this news.

"Okay, but does Elmer know about this?" she asked.

"He does," the head guard told her. "We wouldn't be taking this precaution without his approval."

"Okay," Scarlet said, starting to relax now. "But if I'm out of the picture, then who's going to announce for the tournament going forward?"

"I can do it! I can do it!" a young voice spoke up from nearby.

Everyone turned to see Tails standing there. Even though he was blushing from nervousness, he looked eager to help in any way he could.

"Um…" He rubbed the back of his head as he thought of what to say next now that he put himself on the spot. "I was on my way back to my seat, and I kinda got lost, and… and I just so happened to overhear you guys."

"I'm afraid you can't do that, Tails," the head guard said. "You're one of the competitors."

"It's not just that," Tails clarified, taking a step forward, looking up at the guard. "I can scan the crowd in case something strange happens without me standing out too much. Oh, and Scarlet doesn't have to leave because I can be there as a witness in case something does happen to her. Kinda like protection." He dialed back the intensity in his eyes a bit, suppressing a nervous chuckle. "Um, if it's okay, that is."

The others looked at each other, before the head guard's attention returned to Tails.

"Tell you what, I'm going to call Elmer and see what he says first," he said before detaching his walkie-talkie from his belt and holding it up. After about a minute of talking and listening, he put it back and cleared his throat.

"Okay, normally this isn't allowed, but Elmer says he'll allow it given the circumstances," he told him.

"Yay!" Tails cheered, jumping up and down a few times. However, he immediately suppressed himself because this was supposed to be a serious matter. He wasn't just there to announce, he was there to protect Scarlet and keep an eye on the crowd.

"All right, we'll leave you two to do your thing," the head guard said. "Tails, if you see anything suspicious, make sure you tell one of us right away."

"You can count on me!" Tails said with a big smile, before he followed Scarlet into the announcer's booth, where she showed him around.

Meanwhile, Mr. Stewart slipped back into the shadows. He had seen the entire exchange among Scarlet, Tails, and the security officers.

He was the one who had raised the alarm about the second Scarlet, because he knew she wouldn't leave her booth during a match, because that would surely be a breach of her contract. He had personally seen the second Scarlet enter the back area and proceed down the hall. He also saw the Chaotix following her, but since they were already on the case, he did not follow them.

Now that things were relatively quiet once again, Mr. Stewart slipped into an empty restroom stall after checking to make sure the whole room was empty. Then he activated a hidden two-way radio, cleverly disguised as an ordinary button on his jacket sleeve, and reported his findings.

"Do one more sweep of the building to make sure nothing else is happening," he was told by Mission Control.

"Ten-four," Stewart responded before hanging up and leaving the restroom.

However, not even three minutes later, something else did happen. He saw two men, different than the two from yesterday, making a beeline toward one of the rooms ahead of him. Mr. Stewart followed them from a distance at a brisk pace, making sure the two men weren't aware of his presence. He saw that the room the men were entering had its door punched in, which was a sign that something violent happened there.

"What happened here? Why are there two of them? Which one's the real one?" one of the two men asked.

"It doesn't matter," the other man said. "We should just take both and go."

"No, let's do this instead…" the first man said.

Mr. Stewart moved closer to the room, but he couldn't get as close as he wanted to because the men would see him otherwise. He did not expect what happened next.

"Chaos Control!" one of the men said in a quiet tone, but loud enough for Mr. Stewart to hear.

There was a sudden flash of red light in the room that forced Mr. Stewart to shield his eyes. A second later, he cautiously approached and peered inside the room to see that both men were gone, disappeared into thin air. A single red Chaos Emerald lay inside an open case.

At that moment, several security officers approached and saw Mr. Stewart looking into the room.

"We saw that flash of light," one of them said. "What did you see?"

"I didn't see either of the men after they entered the room, but there was a flash of light and they were gone," Mr. Stewart told them.

However, this only seemed to confuse the guards.

"I'm… not sure I get what you mean," one of them said. "No one can disappear just like that. They would have been picked up on the cameras."

"I believe they used a Chaos Emerald to teleport," Mr. Stewart told them.

"But the Emerald is right here," another officer said as he entered the room and gestured to the Emerald that was lying inside its open case. "In any case, at least it's still safe."

"We'll take it from here," the first officer said. "Thanks for your help."

With a nod, Mr. Stewart left the scene and made his way to a private area where no one else could see him. He activated his button radio again and contacted HQ to report his newest findings.

"Your other colleagues stationed in Diamond Stadium have nothing to report. Now that the two men are gone, there appears to be no more business there," Mission Control told him. "Return to HQ immediately."

"Ten-four," Mr. Stewart said before he hung up and prepared to leave the stadium. There were a lot of thoughts on his mind.

There were two Emeralds? Where did the other one come from? And what are the odds that they took the real one?


A/N: That concludes chapter 3 of the Chaos Competition Arc! I was originally going to have Eggman's yet-to-be-revealed robot shapeshift into Elmer, but I decided to have it change into Scarlet, so that I could explain why Tails is in the announcer's booth in episode 46 despite being a fighter. Besides, Elmer was already in the ring and it would have been too obvious.

Also, I want to know if everyone's in character this chapter, particularly Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy. And I hope the scene where Rouge kisses Tails wasn't too weird. I mean, it did happen in the original episode after all. Let me know your thoughts in the reviews!

Next time is the quarterfinals! Don't miss it!