Chapter 33: Battle Finale
"Hmmm…"
"Uh… you alright?" Chris asked.
"Yeah… just trying to think of how I am going to fight Rouge…" Tangle said.
"Oh, yeah, that's gonna be a tough one…" Chris said.
"Tell me about it. It's bad enough that she is probably a lot more skilled than me, but she can fly too… I am at a huge disadvantage." Tangle said.
"Master Tangle." Tanaka said as he approached. "In a time like this, try not to think about your weakness or what you can't do… but rather, your strength and what you CAN do!"
"My strength… and what I can do?" Tangle asked.
"Indeed."
'Hmm… well, I can hit really hard with my tail, and I am pretty agile… but what else can I do?' Tangle thought.
Then, she remembered something… something Rouge told her a long, long time ago.
"Guys… I think I have a plan!"
After Chris had surrendered to Knuckles, out of fear of possibly having to fight Rouge if Tangle wasn't able to pull off a win, it was time for Tangle to put her plan into action.
"Gotta admit, kind of impressive that you made it this far kiddo!" Rouge said. "Don't think I'll go easy on you though."
"Right back atcha!" Tangle called back.
"Ready…? BEGIN!"
And at the sound of the bell, they began to charge at each other.
Rouge was naturally planning on taking advantage of her ability to fly, going in for quick strikes and then backing off into the air where Tangle couldn't reach her easily.
Tangle on the other hand, was focusing on defense. Doing her best to avoid any major damage, while not trying at all to counter-attack.
'Just what does she have planned…' Rouge thought.
Putting that aside for a bit, Rouge quickly dove in and swept Tangle's feet from beneath her, before bringing her heel down on the lemur before she could get up.
"That seemed to do some damage!" Scarlet said.
She was seemingly right, as Tangle was really slow to get up.
Seeing that the lemur was at her limit, Rouge dove in and went for one last, big strike…
"Gotcha!"
As the kick connected, Rouge immediately knew what Tangle was up to, as her tail quickly wrapped around Rouge's leg.
"Rouge forgot about Tangle's greatest strength!" Tails said. "She can take a hit better than any of us!"
"H-hey! Let go!" Rouge said.
"Not a chance!" Tangle said before using her tail to lift the bat into the air, before slamming her into the ground with all of her strength.
No-one had to ask how powerful this attack was… the cracks that were sent across the entire arena told a thousand words. As such, Rouge was very slow to get up.
Knowing that she wouldn't get another opportunity like this, Tangle charged forward, and hit Rouge with the strongest Tail Hammer that she could, creating even more cracks in the arena.
And, that did the trick.
"Ugh… dang girl, you really can hit hard with that thing…" Rouge said.
"Hehe!" Tangle said as she rubbed her nose with her wrist.
"Alright… you win." Rouge said as she laid back, defeated.
"And that's it! With an amazing comeback, Tangle manages to pull off a major victory against one of the tournament's toughest competitors!" Scarlet announced.
"YEAH! GO TANGLE!" Tails suddenly shouted. "Oh uh… yeah! Good job to both competitors and uh…"
"Tails… professionalism please!" Scarlet laughed out.
"Hehehe… sorry."
"That being said, it sounds like we have a crowd favorite!" Scarlet called out as the crowd continued to cheer Tangle on.
Tangle meanwhile, was having the time of her life as she waved to everyone in the crowd.
When she got out of the arena though…
"Ugh…" Tangle said as she fell to the ground.
"Tangle?!" Knuckles said as he went over to help her up.
"Dang, Rouge really can hit hard…" Tangle said. "You're next though…"
"… I'll tell them to have an intermission." Knuckles said. "That should hopefully give you enough time to get some rest and come up with a plan."
"Huh? No, I'm fine!" Tangle said.
"No way! I don't want to fight you if you can barely stand!" Knuckles said. "It's either that, or you forfeit. Take your pick."
"… Fine, I'll take a nap." Tangle said.
"Good!" Knuckles said as he walked outside.
And as Scarlet put out the announcement that they were going for a two hour intermission, Tangle closed her eyes to get some rest.
An hour and a half later
"Tangle… come on, wake up!"
"Ugh… huh?" Tangle said as she opened her eyes. "Oh, hey Jewel."
"How are you feeling?" Jewel asked.
"Still a bit sore, but I think I'll be fine." Tangle said as she got up and stretched. "Not… not looking very likely that I'll win though."
"Tangle…"
"Seriously sucks, but what would you expect… I'm really surprised I beat Rouge in the first place…" Tangle said.
"Geez, you're giving up already?"
"Huh?"
They looked over to see Sonic approaching them.
"Oh hey, how'd the Eggman chase go?" Tangle asked.
"He flew away…" Sonic said.
"Ah, sucks you can't do the same." Tangle said.
"Getting back on topic though." Sonic said. "You really shouldn't sell yourself short here!"
"But…"
"No buts! What happened to the Tangle who did everything she could to help us on the Ark? The Tangle who challenged Shadow to a fight despite him beating me, AND the Tangle who was still very injured at the time?!"
"She wised up about her limits… that's what…" Tangle said.
"PSH! Limits?! Since when do we care about limits?" Sonic asked. "Whenever we think we are at out limit… we have no choice but to power through them, no matter what! Surpass ourselves and save the day!"
"Sonic…"
"This isn't any different! Is Knuckles a really tough opponent? Absolutely! Is this going to be easy? No way! But are you going to give up just because of that?" Sonic asked.
"No way!" Tangle said.
"Great! Now, we have just under a half hour before the intermission ends! I'm gonna get Tails, and we are all going to come up with a plan fo you to put that knucklehead in his place!"
"Right! And uh… Sonic?" Tangle said.
"Yeah?"
"…Thanks…"
Sonic smiled at this, and gave her a thumbs up.
"And here we are ladies and gentlemen! The fight that you all have been waiting for!" Scarlet called out.
"First up, the current favorite to take the entire thing! The red bruiser himself! The man who's fists can break boulders! KNUCKLES!"
Knuckles then stepped out onto the arena, fist raised into the air.
"And finally, we have our crowd favorite! The underdog who already defeated multiple very talented opponents, the hero who saved hundreds of people from a collapsing building, ladies and gentlemen… TANGLE!"
Tangle then walked out, waving to the crowd.
"Good to see you're feeling a bit better!" Knuckles said.
"I have a promise to keep, don't I?" Tangle asked. "Don't expect me to make this easy for you!"
"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Knuckles said.
"Alright… ready… BEGIN!" Scarlet called out as she rang the bell.
Knuckles started off by charging forward, quickly closing the distance between the two of them, and threw a punch. Tangle expected this though and blocked it with her tail. Knuckles then started to throw a flurry of punches, but thanks to the stretchiness of her tail, Tangle was able to create a fluffy shield that was absorbing the impacts from each punch. However, Knuckles saw a weak-point in Tangle's defenses, and swept her feet from underneath her. Expecting this though, Tangle was able to catch herself, and was able to land a powerful blow on Knuckles' head with her tail while in a handstand.
"What an opening exchange! Knuckles clearly has the power advantage, but Tangle was able to counter it effectively and land a powerful blow!" Scarlet said as Tangle jumped away and Knuckles rose to his feet.
"Knuckles is really powerful, but he does have his fair share of weaknesses!" Tails said. "While it's true that his fists are more powerful than anything I've ever seen, that's where all of his power lies! Get him in a situation where he can't use them, or at least, not effectively, then he loses his greatest asset! Not to mention his lack of strategizing when it comes to fighting."
"And since Tangle's tail can act as an effective shield, that means that she is well equipped to deal with Knuckles powerful fists!" Scarlet said.
"That's right, but she has to be careful. One false move, and Knuckles could end this in one shot!" Tails said.
"Come on! Is that all you got Knuckles?!" Tangle taunted. "No wonder Sonic tells me that the Master Emerald is always getting stolen, if the guardian is this bad at fighting!"
"W-WHAT WAS THAT?!" Knuckles shouted, very angry.
"You heard me!" Tangle said.
"GRRRRRR!" Knuckles growled as he began to charge.
His next move was incredibly predictable, as he threw a right hook with all of his power.
Seeing this coming, Tangle leapt into the air, narrowly dodging the fist. She then wrapped her tail around it, and did a front flip to slam the echidna into the ground, before retracting her tail to land on top of him and jumping away.
Once again, the power of these moves were very visible, as the arena took even more damage.
"That would be Knuckles' other, and probably biggest weakness… his short temper." Tails said.
"Dang it… Sonic's been rubbing off on you too much…" Knuckles said, a bit slow to get to his feet.
"Hehehe…"
"That being said… don't think that those tricks will work anymore." Knuckles said. "I think I've got you pretty figured out."
"Tsk, yeah, I expected that." Tangle said.
Knuckles may not be good with strategy, but he certainly wouldn't fall for the same tricks twice.
So, here they stood, ready to finish this.
And with a battle cry, they charged at each other.
Tangle used her tail to throw a powerful strike, while Knuckles just used his fist.
And at the same time, both of their blows connected.
Tangle grunted as Knuckles' fist connected with her gut, while Knuckles took a tail to the face.
Neither of them able to take it, they both collapsed to the ground.
"And they are both down!" Scarlet called out. "By tournament rules, the first to rise to their feet and stay up is the winner!"
The crowd then watched in anticipation, wondering who would get up to their feet first.
They were all surprised to see who got moving first…
"And Knuckles is beginning to lift himself to his feet! As Tangle still lays hopelessly from the ground!" Scarlet called out.
Knuckles grunted in pain as he slowly, rose to his feet…
But only for a brief moment as he fell onto his back.
"And he's back down!" Tails called out.
"Look!" They heard Amy call out from the crowd.
Knuckles may of fallen back down… but Tangle didn't.
"Surpass your limits… NO MATTER WHAT!" Tangle echoed Sonic's words from before as she did her best to stay standing.
"AND IN A MIRACULOUS TURN, OUR SECOND FINALIST IS TANGLE!" Scarlet called out.
The crowd went wild.
And, despite her elation, Tangle couldn't keep herself up for much longer as she began to fall forward.
Thankfully, Sonic was there to catch her.
"Hey…" Tangle said groggily.
"Hey! What did I tell ya?!" Sonic asked.
"Hehehe… thanks for having faith in me…" Tangle said.
"Yeah, no problem. Good job… surprised that you were able to get up after taking Knuckles' punch like that!" Sonic said.
"Well… it didn't fully connect…" Tangle said as they began to hobble off the arena. "My tail outranges him, so I was able to get my hit in before he did, and he really couldn't fully connect as a result…"
"Oh, well, good job!" Sonic said.
"Yeah… but I don't think I'll be able to really beat him again…" Tangle said.
"Give it time."
"Heh… so, when do I get the Chaos Emerald?"
…
"Uh… about that…"
"What?" Tangle asked.
"… You still gotta fight Emerl…"
Tangle then looked at Sonic in absolute horror, realizing that she forgot all about that.
"… Oh no…"
About an hour later, Tangle was on the ground, completely defeated by the robot.
Despite given some time to rest, she still stood no chance against an untiring robot that could copy any of her friend's abilities at the drop of a hat.
Before long, she was on the ground defeated, as Jewel tossed in a towel to signify her surrender.
"And after a hard fought tournament, our underdog Tangle falls just short…" Scarlet said.
"She still did really well, despite being the least experienced out of all of us!" Tails said. "I for one am really proud of how well she did!"
"Hmph, she might of won if I didn't tire her out so much…" Knuckles said.
"Whatever you say Knuckie…" Rouge said.
"What'd you call me?!"
"Anyways, looks like Emerl is being presented his prize! The Chaos Emerald!" Scarlet called out.
And when the Emerald was put in Emerl's hands…
All hell broke loose.
Shortly after being handed the emerald, Emerl seemed to absorb it, before going on a rampage.
Before long, people were running away as Emerl was destroying the entire arena.
"We gotta stop him!" Tails called out.
Everyone then charged at the bot, attempting to stop him from causing any more damage, though to little success. Eventually, Emerl left and continued it's rampage in the city.
As they were chasing him.
"Dang it… if… if I wasn't so tired, I might be able to do something here…" Tangle breathed out.
"Don't beat yourself up, none of us are really doing to well here." Rouge said.
"No, but I'm different… he can't… copy my abilities!" Tangle said.
"Huh? What makes you say that?" Rouge asked.
"Didn't you notice? It's been using all of our abilities… except for two of us…" Tangle said. "Me and Tails."
"Really? Now that you mention it, yeah, you're right!" Rouge said.
"It's cause it doesn't have a tail… can't copy me if it doesn't have the limbs for it." Tangle said.
"Great… and since you can barely stand…" Rouge said.
"I'm doing fine…" Tangle said before suddenly falling to her knees. "Ok… maybe not…"
"Just rest for a bit, we'll figure something out." Rouge said before rushing on ahead.
"Good luck…" Tangle said.
"Tangle!" She heard Jewel call out from behind her. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah… still real worn out from the tournament though…" Tangle said. "If I knew this would happen…"
"None of us did, don't blame yourself." Jewel said.
"Still…" Tangle said.
After sitting there for a moment, Tangle got up. "Come on, there has to be something I can still do!"
"That's the spirit!"
When they finally caught up to the others, they were fighting Emerl by the ocean.
"This is bad, if Sonic falls in…" Tangle said.
At that moment, Sonic began to fall.
"DANG IT!"
"Mr. Sonic!" Cream called out before suddenly…
"SHE CAN FLY?!" Tangle screamed.
"That… is surprising…" Jewel said.
They watched as Cream saved Sonic from going for a swim before taking him back to land.
Deciding that she's had enough of watching, Tangle ran over and wrapped her tail around the bot.
"Get some hits in now!" Tangle shouted to Knuckles and Rouge.
"Right!" Knuckles said before charging.
Emerl, had other plans. He was easily able to break free before grabbing onto Tangle's tail and swinging her around, right into Knuckles and Rouge.
"Sorry!" Tangle said as she continued to be swung around.
Then, Emerl chucked her into the ocean.
Quickly making her way to the surface, Tangle quickly realized that she was struggling to stay afloat.
"Can someone… please help!" Tangle shouted.
"Coming!" Tails called back before flying over and lifting her out of the water.
When he set her down, she just laid back.
"Thanks dude…" Tangle said. "I think… I'll just watch for a bit…"
"Good idea… wait, what is Cream doing?!" Tails asked.
They looked over to see Cream and Cheese… fighting?!
"Huh… didn't think she had it in her…" Tangle said. "She's doing really well too…"
"Of course! Emerl can only copy one person at a time! It can't copy combo attacks!" Chuck called out.
"Huh… that works." Tangle said.
They could only watch as Cream and Cheese fought Gemerl, to much more success than anyone else did, ending with a big kick, sending the robot into the ocean.
And as the robot exploded, the rabbit and her Chao friend began to cry.
Eventually, she came back down, still crying.
The first to give her comfort was, of course, her mother. Then, Amy joined in, and finally, Tangle hobbled over.
"You did great kiddo… sorry you had to do that though…" Tangle said.
Cream didn't respond, and only continued to cry.
No-one… absolutely no-one was happy with how things ended that day.
End of Chapter 33
This arc really did have a sad ending. I always feel really bad for Cream whenever I see her fight Emerl… though I do find it kind of weird that this is the first time we ever see her fly in the show… fun fact actually, Cream was first created to fill out the flying formation for Team Rose in Sonic Heroes, but they introduced her early in Advance 2.
So… Tangle actually beat Knuckles and Rouge. I think I made it obvious in the chapter, but I will say it here too: Just because she was able to barely pull off a win against Knuckles here, doesn't mean that I think she is able to beat her under normal circumstances. She had a really good strategy, and got help from two of Knuckles' closest allies to help come up with said strategy. Despite this, the only reason she was able to win was she was able to outrange the dude for the final attack. As for Rouge… well, she really isn't THAT special in comparison. She had a huge advantage against Knuckles in the show, and still lost.
If you are wondering why I wanted to make Tangle win those fights in the end… truth be told, I really debated on it for a while. I knew I wanted her to beat Rouge, but Knuckles was tricky. At first, I wanted her to fall just short, and that Knuckles would be the one to stay up at the end there… but then I realized something. I have really been mean to this girl when writing this story! Like, dang! The reason that I did that was because… well, it A) Makes for a good story in those moments, and B) It actually made sense. She is the least experienced member of the group, she is not gonna just be an untouchable monster at this point, she is gonna mess up and get hurt here and there until she improves a lot more. That being said… I wanted to throw her a bone here, so I did.
So… Sonic Battle… never played it, and I legit can't find a copy to do so… sorry D:
Anyways, next up is… well, something original! See you then!
