A/N: 500 REVIEWS! :D I want to thank each and every one of you who have taken the time out of your day to leave reviews on my story, because without you guys, I wouldn't have the motivation to keep writing. Plus, a lot of you have provided fantastic support, ideas, and constructive criticism! I especially want to thank Five-Chosen, Animation Adventures, OlivaGames1208, CreativeKitty975, and Super duper waffles for your extremely helpful and supportive reviews!

I literally got my 500th review an hour ago as I'm getting this chapter ready to post! That is excellent timing!

This chapter was originally finished on December 21, 2023, so it's been sitting in my backlog until today. I already finished writing the whole tournament arc, so expect a chapter a week for the rest of this month!

Also, just a heads-up that from here on out until the end of Season 2, things are gonna take a turn, and therefore be considerably different than the original end of Season 2 in Sonic X, hopefully for the better, specifically for this saga and the Homebound Saga. I'd love to hear your input on these changes. As for this arc, I'll discuss the changes as I get to them.

I would like to thank goodlooser01, Koa Eton Anatole, and Multi inkling 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

danielman21

Thank you! I'm excited to bring you the tournament! :)

toantakeri

You'll just have to wait and see ;)

Super duper waffles

1: First off is the name, Mobius' GUN is the Guardian Units of Nations, whereas Earth's GUN is known as the Guardians of the United Nations. As for how they act, Earth's GUN is a little more reckless than Mobius' GUN, especially since Mobius' GUN has seen reform under a new President since the events of Sonic Adventure 2, but they are still a bit corrupt.

2: Mobius' GUN governs most of the world, while Earth's GUN mostly operates exclusively in the United States, but they do have smaller bases in major places like London, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, etc. However, they are not as well known as the six divisions in the United States.

2.5: The six divisions of GUN are as follows:

- Alpha, which covers California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. Their headquarters is in Station Square.
- Beta, which covers Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Their headquarters is in Seattle.
- Gamma, which covers Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Their headquarters is in Dallas.
- Delta, which covers North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Their headquarters is in Minneapolis.
- Epsilon, which covers Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Their headquarters is in Philadelphia.
- Zeta, which covers Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. their headquarters is in Nashville.
- Alaska and Hawaii are too remote to receive direct GUN coverage.

3: Mobius' Station Square is quite a bit older and a little bigger than Earth's Station Square, and while the Mobius version has a bridge similar to the Golden Gate Bridge, the Earth version does not.

4: The continental United States (not including Alaska, Hawaii, or any of its territories) is roughly three times as big as the United Federation. Both countries enjoy the same freedoms, since the United Federation is not only a first-world country, it's also a world power on Mobius. I'm not sure yet, but I think the United Federation has somewhere between 8-12 states as opposed to the United States' 50. Like the US, the UF does own several islands surrounding the mainland. Also, by coincidence, I'm also thinking that Washington, DC could have roughly the same coordinates as the UF's capital Central City, although Central City is much bigger than Washington. The overall population in the UF is a little denser than the US, but it's slightly lower, probably about 190 million. The UF is mostly inhabited by humans, but there is a 10-15% Mobian population as well.

As usual, thank you for all your questions! :D

Jenaku

Thank you! :D

B4ttwell

1: I heard of Sonic Forces Overclocked, but I've never seen or played it before, but I hear it's absolutely fantastic. I don't have the software it needs to run, but I'll definitely watch videos on it whenever I can. Also, I've been toying with the idea of making a story where Infinite comes back on Earth long before Overclocked came out, so Overclocked may be able to give me the push I need to make it happen.

2: I don't think Sonic will be directly confronted when he uses his Dark form since it's not something he can really control, especially when his stress levels are too high. As for what causes him to go Dark, I haven't thought of what could cause it, but if I do think of it, it'll probably be another story for another time, since there's still a lot about Sonic's origins and lore I haven't explored yet. I will, however, make a Sonic origin story when Chaos on Earth is done.

3: I may reference other villains, but I'm not sure yet if any more Sonic villains from the games will appear in this story.

You're welcome, and thanks for your questions! :D

Five-Chosen (first review)

I'm really liking the names Ranja and Obsidia, so I may go with one of those two. Maybe one of them could be the planet's moon? Thanks for your suggestions!

Guest

Thanks for your suggestion! Unfortunately, I can't really see Chris using a bow and arrow in this story, but that doesn't mean it's a bad idea. It could work in an AU, though. And that's really cool about Chris' Japanese VA!

Five-Chosen (second review)

Somehow I forgot that Earthia nuking her home planet was the catalyst for Dark Oak eventually wearing his armor, it makes total sense. And Dark Oak reminds me of Anakin Skywalker as well!

blazenight01

You actually raise a good point, I could probably modify the commercial that says the government will choose the competitors at their own discretion, or I could also add a qualifying round, but then that way only super-strong people would be able to compete and not people like Chris or Danny. I'll figure something out.

CreativeKitty975

Thanks for your review! The tournament officially begins now!

Five-Chosen (third review)

I should definitely consider her using her frying pan one of these chapters!

Congratulations! This is officially the 500th review in Chaos on Earth!


Chapter 43
Episode 45 (part 2)
Round One


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Chris' POV

This was it. The day of the Chaos Competition.

My heart was pounding as Mr. Tanaka drove our limo into the parking lot and followed the traffic directors. The stadium was so packed that there had to be traffic directors stationed everywhere so there wouldn't be total bedlam with people trying to find out where to park. It helped that competitors had designated parking spots. And even if they weren't fighting, Ella and Cream and her mom were coming with us.

Putting a hand over my heart, I could feel it beating a lot faster than normal. I wasn't sure if I was ready for this. Looking around, I could tell that my friends looked either nervous themselves, or eagerly anticipating the matches ahead of them. Perhaps it was a mixture of both.

"And we are here," Grandpa announced as we pulled into a spot that was designated by us by the parking staff. He stretched his arms above his head as he stepped out of the limo. "Seems they really have redecorated around here. Looks a lot more modern."

"Yeah, it does look different," I added as I too left the car, along with everyone else. The outside walls looked less like the stadium was built in the 60s, and more… gray. It was just like when all the McDonald's buildings were renovated to look more modern. While it was sad, it was a reminder that time always moves on and doesn't stop for anyone.

"I already got all our tickets and fighter registrations on the app," Grandpa said as we began walking toward the stadium's front doors. "Heh... I'm starting to sound like today's kids. Back in my day, we used to buy physical tickets. Now everything is done through apps."

I knew there would be a lot of people attending the Chaos Competition, but nothing could have prepared me for how long the lines were. The four lines stretched out the door, down the stairs, and well into the parking lot around one corner of the building.

If Sonic had been with me, I knew he would have gotten bored long before we reached the front of the line. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to wait in line because he was already inside the stadium; he had called to tell us that he was there waiting for us.

Even though the line was moving faster than I had expected, it still took us twenty minutes to finally make it to the front. I didn't see any of the competitors in the line, that was how large it was.

As I stood there, I noticed a red flash of what looked like pixels appear on Emerl's shoulder before vanishing. Emerl had been doing that since shortly after he crashed on our property, and except for Cream, my friends had been nervous around him and keeping their distance, especially Sonic, since they knew he was a Phantom Ruby illusion. However, even though he was acting harmless, something still felt off about him. We knew he was a trap, but we didn't know what to do with him. It was so strange and a bit unnerving.

When we finally got to the front of the line and through the doors, we walked through a scanner that detected metallic objects. In moments, Grandpa was already talking to the lady at one of the four front kiosks, and she scanned our tickets and fighter registration slips. He had brought a bag with him that contained the wrestling outfit he said he was going to bring. I thought it was a bit over-the-top, but Grandpa wanted to keep the wrestling spirit alive in him if this was going to be a wrestling tournament.

"Excuse me, young man, are you twelve or older?" the lady asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm thirteen," I replied honestly. I had no idea I looked younger than the twelve-and-up age limit to anyone else.

"Okay, just making sure," the lady replied as she typed something into her computer. I looked up to see two staff members approaching our group from the side.

"How many of you are competing?" one of them asked Grandpa.

"Let's see," Grandpa said, before mentally counting to himself for a few seconds, looking at each of us. "That'll be six."

"Six, okay," the staff member nodded. "And who's not competing?" Ella raised her hand, followed by Vanilla and Cream. "Okay, you three can go ahead to your seats. For those of you who are competing, please follow us to the locker rooms."

Over the next two minutes, the staff members guided us down to one of the locker rooms. The stadium was packed with people who were signing up and heading to their seats, and all around us, I could hear electronic music playing over the speakers to hype us up for the event to come.

I spent the entire time looking around at all the changes that were done to the stadium. If I thought the outside looked vastly different, it was even more different on the inside. There were gray walls, glass, and futuristic-looking technology everywhere, and I was a bit surprised that they still had humans scanning tickets rather than automatic kiosks doing all the work for them.

Since Amy was the only girl among us, she was singled out and taken to the girls' locker room while the rest of us filed into the boys' locker room. Except for the small TV in the corner of the ceiling that showed the transformed arena where we would be fighting, the locker room itself wasn't much different from the last time we were there.

"Hey, long no see!" I heard Sonic call.

Looking over, I saw the hedgehog waving at us. And that wasn't all. I could see several familiar faces that I recognized in the brackets – my uncle Sam, my cousin Matt, Knuckles, Danny, and even Mr. Stewart!

"Hi!" I said to everyone. I hadn't seen Sonic since last night, so it was good to see him again.

But then I saw the Black Knight standing in the corner and took a nervous step back. He was tall, taller than I imagined, not to mention his mask looked intimidating. I also noticed that while everyone was talking, he was one of the only people in the room who kept to himself, which made him a bit more unnerving.

"Hey Chris!" Matt called as he approached me.

"Hi Matt!" I said as we shook hands. "Did you finish moving yet?"

"Yup, just a couple weeks ago!" Matt said with a smile. "I got my own place here in Station Square, and good news, it's not an apartment."

"That's good," I commented. I was glad that Matt's journey was finally over, and he was able to find peace with himself when it came to the next step of his life. He was a lot happier now than he was the last time I saw him.

We kept chatting for about three minutes until a voice called over the intercom for Matt and the Black Knight to enter the arena for their match. The Black Knight immediately shuffled out of the locker room. It was impressive how I could hear his armor rattling with each step he took. I for one was glad to see him gone because he looked unsettling, but I was also glad I wasn't going to fight him.

"Good luck, Matt," I told my cousin as he prepared to follow him out.

"Thanks, you too!" Matt said with a grin as he disappeared out of sight.

I heard Tails, Grandpa, and Danny laughing about something behind me, and I looked to see that everyone was just finishing putting our things in two of the lockers. We had brought a change of clothes in case something happened to our current clothes during our matches and they ripped. Chuck didn't think it could happen, but he wanted to be prepared anyway. Plus, we were closer to the arena than we were if we had been in our seats.

"I didn't know you were here too, Mr. Stewart!" I said to my old teacher. He looked up and smiled at me.

"It's been a long time, Chris," he said warmly as he shook my hand. "How have you been?"

"I've been good," I replied. "Just a little nervous is all, I mean… This is my first time doing anything like this," I added with a laugh.

"It's fine, it's totally fine," Mr. Stewart gently told me. "I get you. It's a first for a lot of us. Just take a few deep breaths, and focus on what your opponent is going to do."

"Okay," I said. "I'm excited for us to win the Chaos Emerald."

"We all are, that's why we're here," Mr. Stewart said with a nod, his smile unwavering. "Though, don't expect us all to go easy on you."

"Um, do you know if we go to our seats now or stay here?" I asked him. I was confused about what we should do, since we were taken down to the locker rooms to get settled in first.

Mr. Stewart shrugged his shoulders. "I think it's all right for us to go sit down," he said. "After all, we're just here to drop off our stuff before we go up to the VIP section anyway."

"Oh yeah, I forgot!" Since we were all competing, the tournament guidelines said we were entitled to VIP seats, so we could be a lot closer to the stadium, and it would be easier for us to get to the ring when our turns came up. We found that out yesterday, but I had been so focused on the tournament itself and the matches that I had momentarily forgotten about that tiny detail.

"Actually, I wouldn't get too comfortable if I were you, 'cuz if I remember correctly, you're up second," Mr. Stewart pointed out. "You too, Danny."

That detail I did remember. Grandpa asked me and my friends to study the tournament bracket throroughly, so we would get an idea of who some of our future opponents would be. My opponent in the first round was Danny, and whoever won would have to face my dad in Round Two. On that note, it was weird that my dad was fighting in a tournament that was sponsored in part by Starship Soft, but I figured the organizers thought it was okay for some reason.

I joined everyone else as we headed up to the VIP section. Grandpa had managed to get seats for everyone to sit together. With how packed the stadium was, I had no idea how he pulled it off, but I wasn't about to ask any questions.

Well… maybe one question.

Is the music gonna be too loud in the stadium?


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

There were others in the stands who were equally as interested in the Chaos Emerald as the competitors were. However, even if their names weren't on the bracket, they were still part of the overall competition in another sense.

Hector Dragg and Dr. Kai Narasu were sitting in the upper tier of the stands together. Since their names were not known to the police, they were able to get easy clearance into the stadium. However, their status as regular attendees meant they couldn't sit anywhere near the VIP section, which made their mission harder.

"You still have the bug, right?" Narasu whispered. It was hard to communicate over the noise of the crowd and the music.

Dragg felt in his pocket, satisfied that his listening device was inside. "Yeah, I got it right here," he confirmed. "But where do we stick it where no one's gonna find it?"

"I've been thinking about that too," Narasu said. "It's gotta be somewhere we can eavesdrop on the staff."

"Can't believe we weren't briefed on this…" Dragg lamented. They had to leave their headquarters early that morning because time was short, so they didn't have the time to be briefed. Even with their listening device, they were practically winging it.

"We have to make do with what we have," Narasu said. He looked down at the stadium to see the first fighters entering the arena. "We may have to talk later, they're about to start."

"Oh…" Dragg sighed. "'Cuz I just realized we could stick it on–"

Suddenly the crowd cheered all around them as the fighters took their places. It was too loud to hold a conversation, even with the music stopping. Elmer Johnson stood in the middle of the square arena, microphone in hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?!" he rallied. He was met with thunderous applause and cheering from the stands.

"In the red corner, we have Matt Thorndyke! And in the blue corner, the Black Knight!" he announced.

Both competitors in the ring faced each other. Of course, no one could read the expression on the Black Knight's face, but Matt seemed to look a little nervous, but also determined.

Elmer faced both fighters.

"You win if you knock out your opponent or if they fall outside the ring. Get ready… get set…"

Both Matt and the Black Knight prepared themselves, anticipating each other's moves. Matt had never seen anyone like the Black Knight before, so he had no idea what to expect.

"FIGHT!"

Matt immediately ran toward the Black Knight, who just stood there for some reason. However, this did not deter Matt as he let fly with punch after punch on the knight's armor. His knuckles started feeling bruised, and he slowly stopped as pain set in. The only damage he did was getting the Black Knight to take a single step back. He was completely unfazed.

Perplexed, Matt wrapped his arms around the knight in an attempt to judo-throw him onto the ground. Despite having nothing to defend himself with, the Black Knight's armor made him too heavy for Matt to lift off the ground. The young man was starting to sweat from his fruitless efforts.

With a surprisingly fast sweep of his right leg, the Black Knight tripped Matt and caught him before he could fall on his face. Matt was shocked that his opponent could move that quickly with his heavy armor. Before he could try to escape the Black Knight's grasp, he was thrown to the ground, dangerously close to the edge.

He looked up to see the Black Knight slowly shuffling toward him. He had enough time to scramble to his feet and get around to the other side of his opponent. As the knight was turning around, Matt tried to shove him out of the ring, but he leaped to the side, once again astonishing Matt with his speed. He wasn't fast like Sonic, but he had shocking reflexes considering he was wearing a full suit of armor.

Shifting tactics, Matt went straight back to punching the knight's armor. He was starting to get desperate, even though his opponent hadn't tried any offensive moves, other than throwing him off. As he thought, his attacks were easily blocked, not just by the armor, but by the Black Knight's arms. The knight was making an effort this time.

Suddenly, he threw a lightning-fast jab at Matt, who staggered backward and collapsed on the ground, holding his chest. It hurt, but at least it wasn't his stomach. He looked up just in time to see the Black Knight approaching him and shoving him out of the ring with his foot. He fell about two feet, and while he didn't feel much pain when he landed, he felt a blow to his pride, realizing he had greatly underestimated his opponent.

"We have our winner!" Elmer called as he raised the Black Knight's hand in victory. "Give it up for… BlackKnight!"

As the crowd cheered for the winner, three staff members helped Matt to his feet and inspected him for injuries before he eventually made his way back to the seats in the VIP section.

Only when the Black Knight was declared the winner by Emerl did Narasu and Dragg finally release their breath.

"That was… that was a huge bullet we just dodged," Dragg admitted. "My heart is still pounding."

"Uh… What are you talking about?" Narasu asked in complete confusion.

Dragg looked at the computer scientist next to him. "Like I was gonna tell you before the fight began, we should stick it on the Black Knight's armor."

Narasu blinked. "Why? They're gonna see it."

"Not if we put it somewhere they can't see right away, duh," Dragg rolled his eyes. "Anyway, we got super lucky that he won. 'Cuz if he lost, we would never be able to get to him."

"We can't get to him anyway," Narusu shrugged, watching the Black Knight leave the arena as the fans cheered. "We're up here, and he's down there. But yeah, if only we weren't assigned to the upper tier like this, we'd have a better shot at tagging him with the bug."

"We're just assuming the Black Knight is gonna be near the staff and they'll end up saying where the Chaos Emerald is," Dragg said.

"I guess…?" Narasu said. "Well, if you got another place you wanna bug in mind, be my guest."

Dragg was quiet for a moment as the crowd continued cheering for the Black Knight's victory. Somehow he ended up being a fan favorite among most of them.

"Well…" Dragg thought for a moment. "We could always just go and look for him."

"I'm shooting that one down, that is way too suspicious," Narasu told him. "Our best bet is to either wait here until he fights in the next round, or go downstairs and wait for him there. But no aimlessly walking around."

"Right," Dragg said.


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

"How did Matt lose that fast?" Chris asked in surprise once the cheering started to die down a bit. "He kept hitting the Black Knight, but he didn't even flinch!"

"And he barely put up a fight either," Amy noted, setting down her tub of popcorn. "All he did was trip him and throw him out of the ring."

"He did seem like he was a little overconfident in how strong his armor is," Tails noted from her left. "I forget who his next opponent is, but he's probably not gonna have the same kind of luck he had this time."

"He's getting Knux," Sonic said with a grin, not taking his eyes off of the Black Knight as he left the ring and disappeared from sight. "That's gonna be fun."

"How is that fun, Sonic?" Amy asked, looking at him pointedly. "To me, it sounds like it's gonna be seriously one-sided."

"Chris Thorndyke and Danny Richmond, come on down!" Elmer called for the ring. Chris looked up to see a staff member approaching his row from the side.

"That's you, buddy!" Sonic said to Chris with a grin, clapping him on the back as he stood up.

"Good luck out there, Chris," Chuck added. "Remember what I told you."

"You can do it, Chris!" Tails added as Chris made his way past everyone to get to the staff member.

Feeling invigorated by everyone's support, Chris smiled as he followed the staff member down to the stadium. However, he also couldn't help the nervousness he felt all over. When Chris really thought about it, he wasn't just nervous. He was downright scared. His moment was here. His grandpa had told him to just wrestle with his opponent if he could. He could easily pull that off, but his body wasn't made for fighting, plus he would be wrestling on hard ground in front of countless thousands of people. He was about to be on national television, which, while he was used to it, was downright unnerving this time because he didn't have the presence of his parents, guardians, or friends.

However, he knew that his first opponent was going to be Danny, who was already in the ring waiting for him. Sure, he could handle Danny, but could he say the same for most of the other opponents in the tournament if he happened to win?

He was thinking about this too much. He had to focus on the here and now. He had to focus on his opponent. Tune out the distractions.

Focus.

"Hey, you ready for this?" Danny asked as soon as he walked up the steps leading to the arena. There was no hiding the excitement in his voice.

"I think so…?" Chris hesitantly replied, glancing all around the ring. "I'm gonna do what I can to get that Emerald though."

"Same here!" Danny said. "But don't lose too fast, I want this to be fun!"

As soon as Elmer introduced them to the crowd and started the match, Danny charged toward Chris, who did the same as a slightly slower pace. They both tried to push each other to the ground, but none of them were able to get the other to yield. However, Chris was mostly playing defensively while Danny was on the offense. Chris was having a rough time.

However, something sparked in Chris, and he slowly stopped trying to block Danny's moves and backed off.

"Chris…?" Danny asked in confusion as he too stopped his offense.

"I'm sorry…" Chris admitted, looking down. "I just… um… I don't… I don't know if I can do this…"

"But– Ch-Chris, you can't give up!" Danny pleaded, feeling a bit dejected. "It's just like wrestling in PE, you gotta fight!"

"But–"

"You said you were gonna do whatever you can to get the Emerald, right?" Danny pressed.

Chris hesitated. "Y-Yeah, but–"

"So then do it for Sonic! I know he wants you to do your best!"

Something snapped in Chris as he heard those words.

S... Sonic...

Wait...

What am I doing?! Why am I backing down like this?!

Chris suddenly charged forward, taking Danny by surprise. The boy took a few steps back and braced for impact. By instinct, he was able to block Chris just in time.

"Chris–"

"You're right, I'm doing this for Sonic!" Chris declared as he pushed back against Danny, trying to pin him to the ground.

Even though Danny tried his best to stand his ground, Chris overwhelmed him and caused him to fall over. No matter how much Danny struggled, Chris managed to keep him down on the ground for ten seconds.

As Elmer finished the count, a buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the match. Chris helped Danny to his feet before shaking his hand.

"Hey Danny...? Thanks for helping me," Chris said just loud enough for Danny to hear over the cheering of the crowd around them. "I don't know what happened back there."

"Hey, that's what friends are for," Danny said with a firm nod. "You gonna be okay with the rest of the fights?"

"Yeah, I think so," Chris said.

"Cool," Danny said as he left the arena.

As Elmer declared Chris the winner, his friends and family were looking on from their seats. While Ella and Cream were ecstatic for Chris' first-round win, most of the others wore expressions of worry and concern for what happened to him and his emotions early on.

"May I ask what happened to Master Chris back there?" Tanaka asked.

"You mean the way he hesitated, or how he suddenly went at Danny right after that?" Chuck asked, looking at the butler.

"Both," he replied.

"Hm…" Chuck thought, but before he could say anything, Amy beat him to it.

"Was that… good sportsmanship, Chuck?" she asked with uncertainty. "'Cuz from here, it looked like a bluff charge or something to get Danny to let his guard down…" She paused mid-sentence, realizing something about that sounded wrong. "Actually no, Chris would never do that. I know him, he's not the kind of person who would fight dirty like that."

Setting down his Mountain Dew, Chuck got up out of his seat and made his way toward the aisle, picking up the bad that was next to him.

"I don't know where that came from either, Amy," he shrugged. "I'll see if I can talk to him about it, 'cuz I'm up next."

"Okay, let us know what happens!" Amy called after him.

"I don't think Chris was trying to fight dirty either, Amy," Tails remarked after Chuck disappeared into the crowd. "Not on purpose."

"Yeah, I know," Amy added. "At this point, I think that everything just… came down on him at once, y'know?"

"Yeah…" Tails agreed. "I think Danny said something to him that gave him his motivation back. At least, that's what I think happened."

Sonic was wordlessly keeping a watchful eye on Chris as he stepped down from the arena and made his way back toward the seats. He made a mental note to check up on him later.

Meanwhile, a reinvigorated Chris was reentering the stands and was making his way back to his seat when he ran into his grandpa. He was wearing his red wrestling outfit, adorned with yellow flames.

"Hi Grandpa," Chris said.

"Chris, is everything okay?" he asked, looking his grandson in the eye.

"Yeah, why?" Chris asked, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

"The way you hesitated, I thought something was wrong," Chuck said, choosing his words carefully.

"Yeah, I…" Chris started to say, looking down, before looking back up at Chuck. "I kinda felt overwhelmed… even though I sometimes do wrestling in PE… but this time I'm doing it in front of a whole crowd." Chris looked back at the arena, where Chuck's opponent E-77 Lucky was already waiting, before turning his attention back to Chuck. "But Danny told me to do it for Sonic, and that's what helped me to win."

"I'm glad to hear that, but weren't you and Danny already wrestling before you backed down? What happened there?"

"I don't know…" Chris admitted. "I think… I think it's because I'm not used to being seen by a lot of people without you, or Mom and Dad or… or Sonic."

"And it hit you all at once, huh?" Chuck summarized. Chris nodded. "I understand, and I'm glad Danny helped you get your self-esteem back. Everything is going to be okay, just focus on your opponent no matter what happens. Tune out everything else, only your opponent matters."

"Okay," Chris said as he started to walk back toward his seat. "Good luck out there, Grandpa."

Chuck continued walking down to the stadium, and he was just about to reply when a searing pain ripped through his back. He winced as he clutched his back, and the moment Chris saw it, he was alarmed. He didn't know what to do!

"A-Are you okay?!" Chris frantically blurted.

"I-I'll be all right," Chuck groaned. "Just… a little back pain– oohhh…"

Fortunately, word spread fast, and within a minute, the tournament paramedics rushed to the scene, carefully erased him onto a stretcher, and whisked him away. Chris was not only worried, but he was scared for him too. Chuck had always said he wasn't worried about getting anything like arthritis or joint pain since he was still young, but now it seemed like his age had finally caught up to him at the worst possible time. He didn't know if his grandpa was going to be okay like he insisted.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen, due to an unforeseen injury, Chuck Thorndyke has forfeited this round. Therefore, his opponent E-77 Lucky wins by default," Elmer declared.

"Chuck…" Tails whispered in sympathy when he heard the news. Chris returned to his seat and sat down between Sonic and Tails, having finally shaken himself from his trance.

"That had to be a coincencence," Amy declared, crossing her arms. Her emotions were bubbling over, but she didn't know how else to put them in words. "Why do his stupid luck powers have to make someone get hurt for real just so he can win? He's… he's a robot! An Eggman robot!"

Chris was visibly shaken up by this, so he couldn't answer.

"Hey Tails, Chris, you guys okay?" Sonic asked.

"I-I think so…" Chris admitted. "I didn't expect that to happen…"

"Me neither… I'm worried about him," Tails added, looking up at Sonic. "Is he gonna be okay?"

Sonic gave them both a reassuring smile.

"You bet!" he said. "Give him a day or two, and he'll be back to his old self in no time, you'll see."

"Okay," Chris said as he looked back at the arena. Idly reaching into the popcorn bucket next to him, he munched on his popcorn, he awaited the next two fighters to take their places.


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

Out in the stadium's lobby, the Chaotix were on patrol, looking for anything that appeared out of the ordinary. The lobby was less packed than it was in the half an hour before the competition formally started, but there were still people getting popcorn, hot dogs, pretzels, and refills on drinks and slushees.

"Y'know, I'm bettin' on there being some kind of mishap sooner or later," Vector spoke after a minute. "Three of Eggman's robots are here!"

"Four," Espio corrected. "And yes, it concerns me too. What irritates me more than that is how they were allowed to compete in the first place. Obviously the organizers know they're here, but more imporrtantly, they approved of them, otherwise they wouldn't be allowed here."

"Exactly," Vector agreed.

"So what are we lookin' for again?" Charmy asked around a mouthful of popcorn.

"Anything that looks like it's out of place," Vector stated. "With an event this big, anyone could be here to fight for that Emerald, not just Eggman. So keep an eye out for anyone who looks sketchy, especially the folks who don't have any kind of connection with Sonic."

"Off the top of my head, there's Big…" Espio thought aloud as they walked. "But he's part of Team Rose, so we can rule him out."

"You think Big is gonna steal the Emerald?" Charmy asked absent-mindedly.

"No, certainly not," Espio said as he pulled out his tablet. "I only brought him up because he doesn't seem to have a direct link to Sonic, but only because he lives in solitude." He swiped the screen a few times, bringing up the tournament bracket for reference. "Who doesn't look familiar here…? Topaz is a GUN soldier, Sam Speed is Chris' uncle, Emerl is staying with the Thorndykes, and he doesn't seem to be showing any form of hostility."

"Black Knight?" Charmy noted, peering over Espio's shoulder. The purple chameleon tapped his name, bringing up his image. "Whoa, his armor looks sooo cool!"

"We don't know anything about him, so we can add him to our watchlist," Espio noted. "Same with Hawk and Mr. Stewart. Good eyes, Charmy."

"So why's his name Hawk, but he's not a bird?" Charmy randomly asked before stuffing his face with more popcorn.

"I… haven't the slightest idea," Espio answered. "Perhaps it's merely symbolic."

"In this corner, the tall robot assistant, Decoe! And in this corner, the not-so-tall robot assistant, Bocoe!" they heard Elmer's voice through the speakers as he announced the next fighters.

"This oughta be interesting," Vector said. "I kinda want to see this."

"Same here," Espio added. "Though, I would recommend not letting our guard down."

"Rock 'em sock 'em robots!" Charmy blurted as he buzzed between his two friends, attempting to get a good view of the upcoming match.

"It is interesting that they happen to be fighting each other in the first round," Espio said.

"Get ready…" Elmer announced through his microphone. "Get set… Security!"

The moment he said that, Decoe and Bocoe charged toward each other, but stopped, as if they were doing a double take. At the same time, several security officers flooded into the arena in an attempt to detain Decoe and Bocoe. Even more officers ran past the Chaotix to make their way down to the arena themselves in case the robots resisted the first group of officers.

Decoe and Bocoe were strong, and they started to get the upper hand at first, but they were quickly overcome by at least half a dozen officers each. They knew handcuffs wouldn't work since they could just break them, but the officers made up for it by using a special kind of taser that deactivated them.

The whole time, gasps and other commotions arose in the stands. While it was surprising that Decoe and Bocoe were competing in the tournament, this method of dealing with them took most of the audience by surprise.

"Aww, they didn't fight…" Charmy pouted, hanging his head.

"Who let them fight in this thing, only for them to be arrested now?" a perplexed Vector asked as the robots and officers disappeared from sight.

"Perhaps it's a false sense of security?" Espio suggested.

"Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing," Vector said as he turned around and continued walking down the hall. "I'm also thinking the folks who set up this tournament made them fight each other on purpose, just so they could both get arrested at the same time."

"But that still leaves Bokkun and Lucky," Espio told him as he and Charmy caught up.

"Bokkun's the easy one, Amy's gonna take care of him in their match," Vector shrugged. "It's Lucky we gotta be worried about. Professor Thorndyke got hurt because of his luck powers or something like that. And if he really is all that lucky, he could be dangerous."

"Perhaps," Espio said. "Or it could just be a coincidence. There are some people who don't believe in pure luck like that, myself included. Chuck Thornyke is an older man after all, and back problems do occur in some people when they get old."

"Yeah, true," Vector shrugged. "I'm just saying is all. Hey, who's Lucky's next opponent?"

"Let me check…" Espio consulted his tablet again, before looking at Vector.

"Anything?" Vector asked in curiosity. Espio lowered his tablet, looking uncharacteristically unnerved.

"Vector, I'm beginning to think this is a little more than a coincidence."


Somewhere - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

Eggman pounded his fist on his makeshift desk in anger and frustration. He had only just now tuned into the tournament, and he was so focused on his work that he didn't realize he had missed the first two matches. He thought the event started half an hour later.

More importantly, the first thing he saw the moment he switched one of his screens to the news was his two henchbots being escorted out of the arena by police and stadium security.

Gritting his teeth, he activated another overhead screen and pulled up the bracket. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw that they were both pitted against each other in the first round.

"The organizers did this on purpose," Eggman growled. "This is the second time this year they've been arrested. They were matched with each other on purpose just so the police could simply arrest them in one fell swoop!"

Eggman let out an annoyed groan.

"At least I still have Bokkun and Lucky," he said. "And Jerome too, I guess. Speaking of Jerome…"

He looked up at the bracket, which he had not studied in detail until now. He had been too busy forwarding his plans that he hadn't planned on seriously getting his own hands dirty with the tournament.

"So he defeated Matt Thorndyke…" he pondered. "Disappointing. However, he'll be facing Knuckles in round two, and Bokkun will be battling Amy, disadvantaged as they are."

He glossed across the remaining matchups, satisfied that his two power players Emerl and E-77 Lucky were still in the running, the latter of whom he remembered and registered at the last minute. And looking ahead, both of them appeared to have smooth sailing through the tournament.

However, it still wasn't enough.

"Now that Decoe and Bocoe have been detained, it would seem my hand has been forced," Eggman mused, stroking his mustache. "Perhaps there's a way I can rig the tournament in my favor if bad comes to worse."

Swiveling himself back and forth in his command chair, he considered his options. He didn't know how long Bokkun had until his fight began, but he figured the messenger bot could come in handy for the plan he had come up within in a minute and a half.

Activating his wrist communicator, he contacted Bokkun, who picked up almost twenty seconds later.

"You rang, Doctor Eggman?" he responded in his usual cheery voice.

"Are you alone?" Eggman asked. There was a pause for a moment as the holographic image of Bokkun looked around him.

"All clear, Doc!" Bokkun said, keeping his voice low just in case.

"Excellent," Eggman said. "Bokkun, are you aware of what happened to Decoe and Bocoe a few minutes ago?"

Bokkun blinked. "Y-Yeah?"

"Then you should know that you are my last hope in finding the location of the Chaos Emerald."

"W-Wait, I thought you had Emerl and Lucky to help you," Bokkun protested, sweating a bit.

"They're just as capable of carrying out my plan as you are, but I don't wish to blow my cover that easily, even with E-77 bending the luck balance of the universe to his every whim. No, this plan was designed with your expertise in mind."

"O-Okay…" Bokkun said, doing his best to relax a little. "So what do you want me to do?"

"I'm going to send you a Chaos energy scanner and a fake Emerald inside a food truck. If my timing is right, and it usually is, it should arrive outside during the intermission between rounds. After your fight, pick them up and wait for further orders."

"Aye-aye, Doc!" Bokkun saluted as Eggman disconnected the call.


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

Chris was on his way back to his seat from the restroom when he happened to notice a familiar face in the stands just outside the VIP section.

"Helen!" he exclaimed. He made his way over to the blonde girl in the wheelchair, who turned to look at him, a big smile on her face.

"Chris!" she said in joy. "I didn't know we were both in the same section!"

"Me neither," Chris said, his cheeks starting to glow the slightest shade of pink. However, his happiness grew even more when he saw that both her parents were there with her. He knew they were very hard-working, but it seemed like they both had the time to take their daughter to the tournament today.

"You did great out there, Chris," Helen told him, her gentle smile unwavering. "I saw the whole thing."

"Th-Thanks," Chris said, averting his gaze for a brief moment before looking at her again.

"And… And I'm really sorry about your grandpa, I hope he's gonna be okay," Helen said.

"Me too…" Chris said, immediately reminded of that traumatizing event all over again. However, he was pulled from his thoughts as Elmer announced the next match over the stadium's speakers.

"I gotta go back to my seat," Chris told Helen as he prepared to leave. "Uh, m-maybe we can ch-chat again before the next round…?"

"Sure," Helen agreed with a nod.

"O-Okay, take care!" Chris said with a wave as he carefully walked down the steps to get to his seat.

More often than not, he felt himself stuttering whenever he spoke to Helen. Chris had his friends, both human and Mobian, and he was able to talk to them just fine, but Helen… there was something about her that took his breath away every time he saw her. It wasn't just how pretty she looked with her flowing blonde hair and cheerful expression. It was her extroverted personality and genuine kindness that Chris saw in her. She radiated with more positivity than she had seen in any other human, barring Danny and Frances.

When he eventually found out that her loving parents weren't around all the time either due to their demanding jobs, his heart went out for her. He knew exactly how she felt, and over time, he found himself wanting to be there for her, just like his friends were there for him when he was lonely.

Chris made it back to his row and scooted his way past his friends and family to return to his seat, right as Elmer started the next match, which Chris saw was between Big and Frances. Chris hadn't seen Big since they were both rescued by Sonic on the Egg Carrier back when Chaos was an active threat, although that was not a moment he liked to remember.

"Go Big! Go Frances! You got this!" Amy cheered.

"I believe in you both!" Cream called.

Right as the starting buzzer went off, Frances charged straight toward Big. However, to Chris' surprise, the cat turned and ran in the opposite direction away from her.

"He's running away…?" Ella noted.

Amy leaned forward in her seat, attempting to get a better view of the fight… or rather, lack thereof.

"I was a little worried about this…" she quietly admitted, her eyes glued to Big as he kept running aimlessly around the ring.

"Come again?" Ella asked, glancing at Amy next to her.

"Big doesn't like fighting unless he absolutely has to," Amy explained over the noise of the astonished spectators around her. "And he especially doesn't want to hurt someone like Frances, or get hurt by anyone." She looked down. "I… guess I'm having second thoughts about getting him to join…"

"Aww, it's okay, Amy," Cream said, gently patting her friend's arm. "You were just trying to make him feel welcome."

"Yeah…" Amy said, looking up, feeling encouraged by Cream's words. "But he still has his moments though, I believe in him!"

In the ring, Big was still running from Frances, who was gradually catching up to her. However, she did not expect Froggy to jump off of Big's shoulder and land on her head. She let out a startled yelp, but she was otherwise not grossed out that there was now an amphibian on her head. In fact, she thought frogs were pretty cool.

Big was slowing to a stop when he realized that Frances was no longer chasing him. Frances carefully scooped Froggy out of her hair with both hands. He was a bit bigger than she expected.

"Uh… You dropped your frog!" Frances called, approaching the large purple cat once more.

"Thanks, Frances," Big said as he accepted Froggy back once more. He was standing close to the edge of the arena, but it didn't seem like he realized it. "I don't want to hurt you though…"

"You don't have to, ummm…" Frances searched her brain for a suitable solution. "Uh, m-maybe we can just wrestle…? First one to fall over wins!"

"Uh… Okay," Big said after a moment, taking a step to the side.

"Big, no!" Frances called, reaching out, but it was too late. Big stumbled out of the ring and fell on his back a few feet below.

As Elmer declared Frances the winner, it was somewhat difficult to pinpoint the overall energy the crowd was giving off. They were mostly surprised or confused, and many of them were even booing Big for not bothering to deliver the fight they expected.

Amy, on the other hand, could only hear the booing, and she was devastated. Her pupils were narrow in alarm and realization that this was all her fault.

"You call that a fight?!"

"Yeah! Walk of shame, coward! Get outta here!"

"Tickets are thirty bucks apiece and this is what I get?!"

Unable to take the booing and insults toward her friend, and knowing she couldn't do anything to stop it or even help Big, Amy got up and made her way past everyone in her row.

"I'll… be right back," she quietly said, before she disappeared up the steps.

"Amy…?" Cream started to ask, before Ella looked down at her.

"I think she needs a moment to herself, dear," she told the small bunny.

"Is she sad because Mr. Big lost the fight?" Cream asked, her hazel eyes filled with worry. She looked back in the direction Amy went in, but the pink hedgehog was gone.

"Yes, bambino, but don't worry, she'll be okay before you know it," Ella said with a gentle smile.

"The bigger question is, is Big gonna be okay?" Chris asked, looking down at the arena as the stagehands were getting set up for the next match.

"I don't know…" Tails admitted, looking down. "I'll see if I can find him during the break before the next round starts."

"Okay," Chris said. "At least he doesn't have to worry about fighting anymore after this."

"Yeah, but still…" Tails said before taking a sip of his soda. "Sometimes Big can be sensitive about these things. He doesn't like failure or being left out, almost as much as losing Froggy."

"Mm-hmm…" Cream agreed.

"We'll go see Big after this round is over, all right, Cream?" Vanilla gently told her.

"Okay, Mama!" Cream said, slowly starting to feel better.

"Oh, uh, I almost forgot, I'm up next!" Tails hopped up out of his seat, almost spilling his tub of popcorn.

"Go get 'em, buddy!" Sonic cheered.

"Good luck, Tails!" Chris added.

"Thanks!" Tails said with a grin. "I'll do my best!" Hopping up in the air, he spun his rotary namesakes and flew down toward the arena below.


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

"Well, there goes Big," Dragg commented as he watched the purple cat and his frog leaving the ring as fast as they could. "Wonder if he could be useful to us somehow?"

"He's one of Sonic's friends," Narasu told him.

"Yeah… but he looks kinda gullible," Dragg shrugged. "Or so I heard, anyway."

"Whatever," Narasu dismissed him as he pulled out his phone. "Gonna shoot a message to HQ real quick."

As he pulled his phone out and texted a message, Dragg's eyes scanned the crowd, searching for any sign of the Black Knight. There was no way he could go anywhere near the locker room, especially since neither he nor Narasu were competitors.

But then his eyes wandered toward his left a few sections over, where Tails was flying down from somewhere toward the ring below.

Oh yeah, Li Yan is gonna freak out when he sees who Tails is up against, he thought.

But then another thought crossed his mind. If Tails was in the audience, this meant other competitors were probably sitting in the VIP section as well, which meant the Black Knight was probably down there too.

"I wanna check something real quick," Dragg said as he got up. But right as he was about to leave, Narasu reached for him.

"Stay here," he told him. "We gotta stick together. If we get separated, we'll never get a chance to pull this off."

"Oh yeah, right," Dragg said. "I just wanted to see if Jerome is in the VIP section, 'cuz I just saw Tails take off from there."

"Huh, good observation," Narasu dryly said, right as his phone vibrated against his leg. He picked it up to check his messages.

"What'd you tell them?" Dragg asked.

"That we couldn't find the Black Knight," Narasu responded. "And HQ just said– Oh… they want us to do it now and not wait for the next round, 'cuz he's up against Knuckles and they think he's gonna lose."

"Which is why we gotta find him like right now," Dragg said, getting up once more.

"Okay, but we gotta remember where we're sitting," Narasu responded as he followed him out of their section. "And they also said to move on to phase two."

"Now?!" Dragg said incredulously.

"Hey, they make the rules, not me," Narasu shrugged as he reached the top of the stairs.

Dragg rolled his eyes. "Fair," he said.


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

About two minutes after Tails landed in the ring, his first opponent Hawk climbed up the stairs and stood in the corner opposite him. This was Tails' first time seeing Hawk in person, and he knew nothing about him except that he was a friend of Knuckles.

"In the red corner, the two-tailed genius Miles 'Tails' Prower!" Elmer announced. "And in the blue corner, coming all the way from Hong Kong, give it up for Hawk!"

Both competitors were met with thunderous applause and cheering. Tails was nervous being in the spotlight like this, and he blushed nervously and ran a hand through his bangs. However, he was determined to win and get the Emerald, so he wasn't focusing on his stage fright. Hawk, on the other hand, didn't look like he was nervous in front of tens thousands of fans, not to mention being broadcast on national television.

I'm gonna give this my best shot, Tails told himself. Don't let him intimidate you, okay? Just keep your guard up and focus.

"Get ready… Get set… FIGHT!"

Tails spun his namesakes and flew straight toward Hawk. However, while he calculated that Hawk would sidestep his direct charge, he didn't expect him to attempt a counter with several confusing arm movements.

Martial arts… Tails pondered as he flew to the side. I think there's a way I can counter that. Just hope this works…

He positioned his tails in front of himself, stiffening them as he allowed them to take the full brunt of Hawk's attacks. Not only was Hawk not able to do anything against Tails, but the fox was gradually taking a few steps forward and gaining ground.

I don't really like people touching my tails… but you're doing it! Just a little more to go!

Up in the audience, his friends were cheering for him.

"You got this, bro!" Sonic rooted, before whistling a cheer.

"Go Tails!" Amy and Chris shouted at the same time.

In another row in the same section, Knuckles, who was nearly finished his popcorn, was cheering for both Hawk and Tails. There was no way he could be forced to pick sides. Both of them were good friends of his.

I think I'm close enough, Tails noted, peering around his fluffy namesakes at the edge of the ring nearby. Time to finish this!

As Hawk tried to sidestep to get a better angle to karate-chop Tails with, the small fox moved with him, when whipped his tails into Hawk, sending him sprawling to the ground. Tails made sure he was gentle enough to not do any real harm, but fast enough to at least knock the wind out of Hawk.

Tails watched Hawk for a moment to see if he would get up after ten seconds. After roughly 4.6 seconds by his estimate, Hawk sprung back to his feet and charged straight at him once again. The fox barely had any time to use his tails as a shield again.

"Is that all you can do?" Tails quipped, feeling a bit more confident than before.

"Oh, I'm just getting started!" Hawk declared. A sweep of his leg was all it took to trip Tails and knock him off his feet. The fox did a breakdance move that Sonic had taught him years ago to regain his footing.

"Nice move," Hawk commented, before leaping as high as cound into the air with his leg raised up. Right as he was about to drop his heel down on Tails, he gave up his attack when he saw Tails cowering. He was covering his entire back and head with his tails, anticipating a follow-up move.

Hawk grabbed the tips of Tails' namesakes. But to his surprise, Tails let out a small chuckle.

"What's so funny…?" Hawk asked.

"That's your first mistake," Tails declared, turning around with a grin on his face.

He spun his tails around at an insanely high speed, and since Hawk was still holding onto them, he spun around with them. Tails positioned his tails in the air so Hawk wouldn't touch the ground.

After about ten seconds of this, he gently set him down again in the ring. Hawk tried to get up, but collapsed again, lying down as his head was spinning.

"And second… don't underestimate me just because I'm small. I'm Sonic's little brother after all."

"The winner… Tails!" Elmer declared, approaching the fox and raising his hand in victory. He was met with incredible support from the crowd, especially from a group of fangirls holding a huge banner that said "We Love You Tails!"

Tails chuckled, feeling a little nervous from the sudden attention, but he waved to the crowd around him, feeling very happy that he made it through the first round.

"W-Wait!" Hawk called weakly from the ground, and Tails looked down at him. "Y-You and Sonic and brothers?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah!" Tails said with a smile. "Well… not related by blood, but close enough."

"That's… amazing," Hawk said, before lying down again.

"Sorry about that earlier," Tails said, rubbing behind his head.

"It's okay," Hawk said, attempting to sit up as a few assistants joined him and helped him off the arena. "And… And you're amazing too!"

"Heheh, thank you!" Tails said, a small blush forming once more as he spun his tails and flew back up to his seat. He felt a little weaker now than he did before the fight, not just because of the effort he put into it, but because he spun his namesakes for a full ten seconds while being held by a man who weighed as much as 200 pounds by his estimate.

He felt confident he could make it through the next round too.

Until he suddenly remembered who his next opponent would be.

His smile fell just a little.

Uh-oh…

"You were awesome out there, buddy!" Sonic cheered the moment Tails made it back to his seat, and they both fist-bumped. Sonic's grin could not have been wider.

"Thanks, Sonic!" Tails said as he sat back down.

"Were you nervous, Mr. Tails?" Cream asked.

"A little, yeah," Tails admitted, taking a sip of his soda. "But as soon as I got going, I started feeling a bit more confident."

"That's good," Cream said with a smile.

"Is Hawk gonna be okay…?" Chris asked as Tails' former opponent was helped out of the ring by two assistants.

"Yeah, just give him a couple minutes, he'll be okay," Tails said with a nod. "Still… I didn't think he would fall for my trick. I just hope it wasn't too overkill though…"

"You were fine, it wasn't like he was one of Eggman's bots," Sonic told him, before pointing across the stands. "Oh yeah, did you see that huge banner over there?"

"The one that says my name on it?" Tails asked, and Sonic nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! I didn't know people really love me that much. I mean… I feel like we all have more fans here than we do back home, you know?"

"We have fans back home, what d'you mean, bud?" Sonic asked.

"Back home, everyone knows who we are," Tails pointed out, and Sonic nodded in agreement. "It's kinda like we're celebrities, but also we're just average people at the same time. Like… they know we kick Eggman's butt every other day, but at the same time… it's kinda rare that people run up to us and ask for our autograph like they do here. Here, everybody's asking for our autograph. Is that a human thing or an Earth thing?"

"You got a good point there, I'm not really sure," Sonic admitted, glancing around. "Oh yeah, Amy's still not back yet."

"I was just about to ask about that," Tails noted, looking around for himself.

"I think she's up next," Chris recalled from a few seats away.

"I hope she's okay," Ella said from the right.


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

"Bokkun and Amy Rose, come on down!" Elmer's voice boomed through the stadium's intercom.

Bokkun looked up from where he was flying through the hall, searching intently for the Chaos Emerald. His expression was immediately crestfallen when he heard Elmer's announcement.

"Awww, maaan~" Bokkun lamented as he changed direction and flew back toward the arena. He knew the hunt would have to wait.

As soon as the messenger robot disappeared from sight, Dragg and Narasu emerged from hiding and quickly proceeded through the lobby, walking together at a brisk pace. It was almost as if they knew exactly where to go.

Roughly three minutes later, they made it in front of their destination: the security room. They had a difficult time getting there without being seen by too many people, but luckily for them, most of the people they passed didn't seem to bat an eye.

Narasu glanced around the narrow hall below ahead of them, where the noise of the crowd and the people in the lobby was greatly reduced.

"Go, go!" he urged as he opened the door. The scientist was surprised the door was left unlocked like that, despite the Employees Only sign on it.

The moment they opened the door, the two security officers looked up at them, before turning to fully face the two Society members.

"Excuse me, you're not allowed in here–" one of them started to say, before he was knocked unconscious by a sudden blow to the head from Narasu. The other reached for his radio, but he too was knocked out by the two men's combined effort. Dragg ran back to close the door behind them to avoid suspicion.

"Well, that went easier than I thought," Dragg commented, before covering his chest with one hand. "Man, my heart's legit pounding right now."

"Karate paid off. Now help me hide these bodies," Narasu urged.

Dragg nodded and helped Narasu drag both of the bodies under the desk, out of view of the doorway, so they wouldn't be easily visible. As Dragg finished with the second body, Narasu was already clicking away at one of the computers. Fortunately, it was already logged in, so Narasu didn't need to worry about bypassing any passwords.

"This place is bigger than I thought," Dragg said. "There are hundreds of camera angles."

"Go lock the door first," Narasu urged, his eyes not moving from the screen.

"I thought the plan was not to hole up in here," Dragg said as went over and locked the door.

"It's not," Narasu said, scrolling through camera after camera. "We're just here until we find out where the Emerald is and then we're outta here."

Dragg paced the room while Narasu continued searching for the camera he wanted. Dragg occasionally looked at the cameras, before he saw the other vacant computer. He sat down in the seat, but he didn't want to drop his guard while searching for the camera for the room the Emerald was in.

However, there was no map of the overall building, just a vertical list of numbered camera names and a four-by-four grid of various camera angles, so it was time-consuming and increasingly annoying, especially since they were on a time crunch. They entered the stadium legally, which meant Narasu couldn't bring any of his gadgets with him that they could use to fend for themselves if push came to shove.

Dragg had a better idea.

Turning to fully face the computer, he searched for a camera angle that correlated to the outside of the security office. Thirty seconds later, he found it.

"All right, I found the angle for outside this room," Dragg reported. "So I'll let you know if anyone's coming this way."

"Good," Narasu said. "I think I'm getting closer, just narrowed it down to all the ones not in the stadium or the lobby…"

"So not too much longer?" Dragg asked. "'Cuz we don't have all day."

"I know that, but there's still roughly forty or fifty angles to sift through," Narasu said. "So that could take as long as three minutes."

Dragg sighed as he looked back at the screen. Every time someone walked near the door, the former S-Team second-in-command stiffened and his breath hitched, but when they walked past without slowing down, his breath released. This was too stressful for him.

Suddenly a question hit him.

"How do we know it's not in something?" he asked.

"What, the Emerald?" Narasu asked.

Dragg nodded. "Yeah."

"It better not be," Narasu grumbled. "That'll make things so much worse. There better be a storage room around here 'cuz I'm just about at the end of the– Okay, I think I found something."

"Storage room?" Dragg asked, getting up to come see, but Narasu stopped him.

"No, keep monitoring the door," he said. "Yeah, it looks like a storage room – a metal box of some sort."

"So? There are tons of metal boxes from what I can see."

Narasu zoomed in on the box resting along the back wall of the well-lit room.

"This one is labeled 'Property of the Planet of Mobius and the United States Government.'"

"Bingo," Dragg said.

"Now just need to memorize a path to get there, gimme just one sec… Keep watching the door."

"Oh yeah, right."

About a minute passed before Narasu stood up. Dragg looked up at him.

"All right, I think I'm good," he said. "Oh, mustn't forget the most important part. Hope you know what's around us, Dragg, 'cuz in a few seconds, this whole surveillance system is gonna go dark."

He sat down at the computer again and pressed a combination of keys, bringing up a console window. He thought for a moment before typing vigorously on the keyboard. In seconds, all the cameras shut down, and all the camera angles displayed either static or a black screen.

Next, he typed another command in the console window. Thirty seconds later, he stood up again.

"Okay, now we're good to go. Let's get out of here," Narasu said.

Dragg got up and walked to the door. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened it. He saw a few people walking away, which made his heart jump, but by a stroke of luck, no one was approaching or looking his way.

He stepped out into the hall, followed by Narasu, who closed it. They both walked down the hall like nothing ever happened.

It would have gone so perfectly had they not run into the Chaotix shortly after they returned to the lobby. Vector squinted at them before holding a hand out.

"Hey you," he said. "Where are you guys going in such a hurry?"

"Routine security maintenance," Narasu hastily replied.

Vector nodded as the two men left at the same pace they were traveling at before. Once the two humans were gone, Vector and Espio looked at each other.

"They looked kinda suspicious," Vector said. "I kinda get that hunch, you know?"

"You may be on to something," Espio said, peering down the corridor where the two men came from. "We covered this area once before, and the only thing down this way is the security room."

"Yup," Vector nodded.

"They weren't wearing any staff cards," Charmy pointed out, having long since finished his popcorn.

"They could have been working undercover," Espio pointed out.

"Maybe," Vector said, glancing at the direction the two men have long since disappeared in. "We'll keep an eye on 'em just in case."

"They could be sus," Charmy said mysteriously.

Espio blinked. "Sus…?" he repeated.

"Yeah, there's this really cool game called Among Us where you do tasks and find out who the impostor is! And the impostor's sus!" Charmy excitedly explained. "It's so cool! Vector's playing it too!"

"Sus is short for 'suspicious,'" Vector explained, looking around.

"Hm," Espio said. "Perhaps I could give it a try when our job here is done. But right now, we need to keep an eye on those two, and look for anything else suspicious."

"We should check out the security office and see if they were really doing maintenance in there," Vector said.

"Do we even have the proper clearance?" Espio asked.

Vector stopped, before glancing down the hall where the security office was. "Good point. We should ask someone. Sure, we do have clearance to do this job in general, but it's always good to ask for clearance and not just barge in there. Then let's find someone… with staff cards."


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

By the time Amy climbed up the steps to get to her corner in the ring, Bokkun was already there, hovering in the opposite corner. The pink hedgehog looked down and wiped her eyes, making sure no one could see the remnants of her tears.

"In the red corner, Amy Rose! And in the bluee corner, Bokkun!" Elmer announced as the crowd cheered for both of them. As to be expected, most of them cheered for Amy. Either they didn't know who Bokkun was, or they didn't seem to know that he worked for Eggman. Although, there was booing in the crowd directed at the messenger robot, apparently from those who knew who he was, but he didn't seem to notice.

Amy pulled out her hammer, hoping she could take out some of her remaining stress out on Bokkun. She was still upset at herself for inadvertently getting people to hate Big. She didn't mean for that to happen at all.

Pull yourself together, Amy, she told herself. It's not your fault and you know it. You didn't even know Big would act the way he did. And it's not his fault either, him falling out of the arena was a total accident!

Only when she heard Elmer start the fight did she snap herself out of her momentary trance. Gripping her hammer, she ran straight toward Bokkun, who flew high into the air above her.

"Can't catch me! Nya nya!" he taunted, making a face at her.

"You get down here right now, Bokkun!" Amy demanded, holding her hammer in a more threatening position.

"Nah, I don't really feel like it," Bokkun shrugged.

"That's cheating!" Amy stated.

"But I'm flying right above you!" Bokkun said, gesturing around him. "See? I'm not outside the ring!"

"Can't argue with that…" Amy realized, before changing the position of her hammer. "Guess I'm gonna have to get you down the hard way. Hi-yaaah!"

Using all her strength, she hurled her hammer into the air straight at Bokkun, who yelped and dodged out of the way in the nick of time. The hammer landed at the edge of the arena with a dull clunk, and Bokkun flew down to retrieve it, but Amy was faster and picked it up before the messenger robot was able to get to it.

"You missed me!" Bokkun taunted, zipping around in a figure-eight pattern.

"I won't miss this time though!" Amy responded as she chased Bokkun, brandishing her hammer.

Amy was still annoyed that they let not only Bokkun, but also Decoe, Bocoe, and E-77 Lucky compete too, being Eggman's robots and all. The whole point of the tournament was to lure Eggman out into the open so he could be arrested again, but allowing his robots to compete? She found that a bit counter-productive.

She wouldn't say anything to Bokkun about it, though. She thought that would be considered bad sportsmanship.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" Bokkun said, coming to a screeching halt mid-air and confusing Amy. He pulled out a yellow television from Hammerspace. "Remember these?"

Amy sighed as the memories of Bokkun's annoying shenanigans returned to her.

"Oh, for the love of– Are you really thinking of using those here?" Amy questioned incredulously, practically facepalming.

Bokkun nodded enthusiastically. "Yup! They're exploding TVs after all! You guys love 'em!"

"But those are just for pranks– YIPE!"

Amy jumped back just in time as Bokkun threw the TV down, and it exploded in a cloud of ash, barely missing the pink hedgehog.

You got lucky there, she told herself. Still, even if he's bluffing, this is one of Eggman's robots, so don't let your guard down.

"Ha! I gotcha– Oh wait, you dodged…" Bokkun hung his head in disappointment, before gasping. "Waitaminute! If it's just a prank TV, then why'd you dodge? You know they don't hurt, right?"

"Because I like not being covered in ash, thank you very much," Amy said, inspecting her red dress to make sure it was still pristine. "Especially not in front of all my fans!"

"You get fans…?" Bokkun quietly said in disbelief, now becoming aware of the crowd chanting Amy's name. "Aww, I want fans…"

"You're lucky they let you join at all, since you're one of Eggman's robots," Amy stated.

"What's wrong with me…?" Bokkun said, feining an insulted look. "Why are you acting so mean…?"

"What did you say…?" Amy said. Her smirk and the way she was holding her hammer sent mechanical shivers down Bokkun's spine. She started to bear down on Bokkun, holding her hammer ready to swing.

"Uhh… Wh-why are you looking at me like that…?" Bokkun said, frozen in fear as he inched his way backwards.

"I'm acting mean?" Amy repeated.

"Ahh! I-I mean y-you don't like my pranks, a-and–"

"Of course I don't like your pranks, they're– they're not funny!" Amy said. "Look, I may get suspicious, and I'm definitely protective… but I'm not mean," Amy said. "And acting like a victim is not making you look good either."

Bokkun backed away, his eyes shimmering, before pulling out another TV and throwing it directly at Amy. He yelped and scrambled back, nearly out of the ring, when the hedgehog leaped toward him out of the way of the smoke and ash. She looked no worse for wear.

"L-Look, I-I'm sorry, j-just please don't–"

"You're a messenger robot, right?" The twinkle in her eye was palpable.

Bokkun's fear briefly gave way to confusion. "Y-Yeah…? What about it?"

"Then give Eggman this special message from me, okay? Tell him to program you with respect!"

As she said that last word, she swung her hammer into him with all her might, creating a satisfying metallic impact with Bokkun's small body as he was sent flying up and out of the stadium.

As Bokkun disappeared from sight, the crowd spontaneously cheered for Amy, who dematerialized her hammer. Her smile was wide, and her sad mood from earlier was all but gone because she had taken out her emotions on Bokkun.

"The winner by ring-out… Put your hands together for… Amy Rose!" Elmer announced, raising Amy's left hand in victory.

The crowd cheered even louder, now starting to chant her name once again. She spent about a minute waving and blowing kisses to everyone. She was so happy she made it through the first round.

"And with that out-of-the-park match, that concludes our first round!" Elmer announced as Amy made her way back to the stands. "We're gonna take a quick break, go get yourself something to eat outside, use the restroom if you need to, and be back here in ninety for round two! And don't forget, our competitors will be signing autographs, so don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

As Darude's Sandstorm started playing over the speakers, many people in the stands started filing out toward the doors, Sonic and his friends included.

"Hold on, maybe we should wait until Amy gets back before we go outside," Ella pointed out.

"That's a good idea, Ella," Vanilla agreed. "We don't want her getting lost."

"Is she gonna be okay?" Cream asked, thinking about how Amy felt before her fight.

Sonic smiled at her, giving her a gentle thumbs-up.

"She looked pretty happy to me when she won her match," Sonic told her. "Probably took a lot stress off her with that home-run swing she did at the end there. You guys see that?"

"Yeah," Chris responded. "It's a good thing she's on our side." Sonic nodded his agreement.

"Hi guys!" Amy greeted cheerfully as she joined them a few minutes later. "Sorry I'm late, I just had to talk to Big about something real quick."

"Are you doing okay after what happened earlier, Amy?" Vanilla asked.

"Yep!" Amy said, her beaming smile positively radiating. "Big said it wasn't my fault, so we're all good now! I can't wait to meet all my fans, this is so exciting! Let's go!"

Amy took off ahead of everyone, and it was all everyone could do to keep up with her.

Meanwhile, a heavily-damaged Bokkun was starting to stir outside the stadium.

"Ooohh…" he moaned, holding his head, which give off a few sparks. "Remind me to remind Eggman to program me with– W-Wait, what am I doing out here?!"

He suddenly sat up and looked around. There were cars coming and going, and there was a sudden increase of activity as people were pouring out of the stadium into the back parking lot, where all the tents were set up.

"Oh, that's right!" Bokkun realized, suddenly shooting up to his feet, his jetpack activating almost by instinct. At least it still worked. "I'm supposed to be looking for a– Wh-Why am I saying all this out loud? Who am I talking to?! Aww maaan… I really do need repairs…"

He awkwardly flew off in the direction of the back parking lot, trying his hardest to control his flight trajectory thanks to his damaged jetpack. At least he didn't have to any more fighting.


Diamond Stadium - Outside - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

The meet-and-greet session between rounds was in full swing. Most of the competitors were out in the back parking lot signing autographs for their many fans. It was held outside rather than in the stadium because there was a lot more room outside, even if it was 60 degrees.

Chris wasn't really used to giving autographs, but it turned out to be fun, if a little overwhelming. Usually his mom was the one signing autographs, but now he got to do it all by himself. Fortunately, it wasn't as hard as he thought; the process was very straightforward. He didn't know how to feel about having so much attention on him, but he was gradually getting used to it.

In the first fifteen minutes, Chris had only given out four autographs, but he had heard that Knuckles had signed as many as twenty. The echidna was getting the hang of it, and he was even having fun interacting with his fans. Looking over, Chris also saw Tails getting photo-ops with his big fans, the ones who were holding the gigantic Tails banner earlier. He too looked a little nervous, but overall he was having a lot of fun as evidenced by his big smile.

Unfortunately, Chris didn't get to talk to Helen during the break like he wanted to because he had forgotten about the meet-and-greet session, but he was told that it wouldn't last the whole ninety minutes of the break, only for sixty minutes, so he would still get to talk to her later before Round Two started.

Now that Chris found a lull in the amount of fans asking him for his autograph, he made his way down to one of the many pop-up tents, where a concession stand was set up. Sonic was there making short work of a chili dog. This made Chris want one too, and he went up to the stand to pay for one.

"Hey Chris," Sonic said, looking at me before swallowing. "Mind if I talk to ya about somethin'?"

"Sure, what's up?" Chris asked, sitting down on one of the stools.

"'K, so, uh… What happened to you when you were goin' up against Danny?"

Chris gulped. That was a loaded question, especially since his grandpa asked him the same question earlier.

"I… I don't know, I just…" Chris swallowed. "My nerves…"

"Like everything crashed down on you all at once?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah…" Chris admitted, looking down at his knees. "It was… Everyone's watching, and I didn't… wanna mess up, or like, get hurt for real or anything like that."

"I gotcha," Sonic said with a nod. "So what made you wanna fight after all? I saw you and Danny talking about something and I got curious."

"Oh yeah, Danny told me to do it for you," Chris recalled, feeling a little less nervous now. Now that his own chili dog was served, Chris picked it up and took a bite. It was the perfect thing to warm his mouth and stomach on a cool day.

"I see," Sonic said, a gentle smile on his muzzle. "Well, even if you stumbled, you didn't let yourself fall, Chris. You picked yourself up and you kept going. You didn't give up or forfeit the match or anything like that. You did good out there, buddy!"

Chris smiled at Sonic's comforting words. He wasn't mad at him for hesitating. In fact, he was proud of him!

"Thanks, Sonic," he said. I don't know how he does it, but he always makes me feel like everything's gonna be okay, he thought.

Sonic returned Chris' smile and gave him a thumbs-up as he finished polishing off his own chili dog.

"Good luck with the next round! See ya!" Sonic said as he dashed back through the crowd. He expertly bobbed and weaved through hundreds of people before they could even register that he was there. But before he could make it back to the spot where he was interacting with fans, he ran into a familiar face.

"Yo, Tom Wachowski!" Sonic with a big grin. "Long time no see!"

"Hey there, Sonic," Tom waved. "How've you been?"

"You know me, I'm always running around, helpin' people out, that kind of thing," Sonic said. "How 'bout you?"

"Work has been kinda slow in Green Hills lately, and I had a few days off anyway, so I decided to come on down here to LA and watch you guys in person," Tom explained.

Tom Wachowski was a police officer in the small town of Green Hills, Montana, which, coincidentally, was also the name of Sonic's home zone. Sonic had met him during one of his travels during the six months of peace before Eggman's return, and they had become friends since.

"Cool, good to see you here!" Sonic said.

After a few minutes of catching up, Tom noticed something in the sky.

"Is that one of the doctor's robots?" he asked, gesturing upward. Sonic followed his gaze to see Bokkun awkwardly flying above them.

"Oh yeah, that's Bokkun," Sonic replied, his gaze locked on him as he disappeared from sight. "Don't know how they let him join, but eh… they probably have their own reasons. I can always keep an eye on him just in case."

"Good call," Tom said, squinting in the sun, trying to look for any sign of the messenger robot.

However, Bokkun was in an entirely different part of the crowd. His mission was straightforward, but that didn't mean it was easy by any means.

"Where is it…? Where is it?" Bokkun wondered aloud, looking everywhere for the food truck. He hadn't been told if it had any specific markings he should be aware of, which made it even harder. On the other hand, he hoped it wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb among the other food trucks.

At last he spotted a truck on the far end of the parking lot. The fact that it seemed to be somewhat isolated from the others clued him in that it was his potential goal. Upon flying closer, he could read some small binary text on the upper corner that read "Eggman".

Bokkun glanced around behind him to make sure no one was looking before knocking on the side door of the truck. The window opened, and the truck's robot operator slipped him a portable Chaos energy detector and a fake Chaos Emerald before immediately closing the hatch back up again.

Good, it's red, Bokkun thought as he took off again. Just like the one in the commercial.

He suppressed a yelp when he noticed Sonic running around below him. He didn't know if he was looking for him, so he held on tight to the scanner and the Emerald and accelerated above the crowd.

However, he didn't go unnoticed by the Chaotix who had come from the security office.

"Hey, there's Bokkun!" Charmy announced, pointing up at the messenger robot. "Let's get 'im!"

"Hold up," Espio said, holding out his hand. Charmy stopped and looked at him.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Let me follow him, I can see what he's up to," Espio explained. He slowly blended with his environment and became practically invisible to the naked eye.

"Ooooh…!" Charmy said in intrigue. He could hear Espio scaling the walls, but nothing more than that. He could only assume Espio left the room by now.

Vector peered at what Bokkun was holding before he vanished from sight. However, he couldn't make out what exactly it was.

"Okay, that's suspicious…" Vector noted. "From here on out, we gotta be more alert, Charmy– Hey, where'd you go?"

"Cotton candy~" Charmy buzzed in delight as he hovered toward the cotton candy vendor. Vector sighed.

"You and your sweet tooth… I can't stop you, can I?"

"Nope!" Charmy said.


Eggman's outpost - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

"Bokkun lost…" Eggman mused as he returned to his office and looked up at the tournament bracket on the big screen. "As to be expected… Amy is more than a formidable foe. At least nothing will hold him back from his mission now. In fact… his loss in the first round only goes to accelerate my plan."

Then he noticed his wrist communicator flashing. He raised his arm up and tapped a button. A holographic image of one of his robots appeared.

"The scanner and imitation Emerald have been delivered as you have instructed, Doctor," it reported.

"Excellent," Eggman said with a grin. "Prepare the vehicle for departure immediately."

"Acknowledged, Doctor," the robot said as the call ended.

"And now," the doctor said as he sat down in his command chair and typed on one of his keyboards, "to arrange Decoe and Bocoe's escape from police custody. A minor setback, but everything is going according to plan regardless."


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

As a Katy Perry song played over the stadium's speakers, Ray Browning and Kai Narasu were finally able to make their way outside. There were so many people out in the lobby that it was hard to go anywhere fast. And there was no point in making conversation because of the music and everyone talking around them.

In fact, it had taken them nearly ten minutes to make it outside and finally locate the Black Knight. To their surprise, he had opted for autographs and photo-ops, so the two men lined up for a photo-op.

"You still got the bug?" Dragg whispered to Narasu when they neared the front of the line. Narasu nodded, and patted his pocket.

"Magnet-resistant pocket, they never picked it up," he responded.

"Gotcha," Dragg said, before he had a double take. "Wait a minute, how come we could bring that but not something to hack the surveillance with?"

"I don't wanna look like I have stuff in my pockets, okay?" Narasu said. "You can't be too careful, especially these days."

It took another ten minutes to make it to the front of the line. As they posed for the picture, Narasu casually reached into his pocket, pulled out the near-microscopic bug, and pinned it onto the Black Knight's magnetic armor under his left arm. It was done with a single motion that even the onlookers couldn't have picked up on right away.

Once it was done, Narasu started to head back in the direction of the stadium, and Dragg followed.

"Okay, now that that's done, now what?" Dragg asked.

"Now we relax," Narasu said. "Our mission's done– well, at least the first part. Now we have to find the Emerald, but luckily, I still know the way there."

They stuck together as they made their way back inside the stadium. There were police and stadium security everywhere to make sure the only ones who were entering the stadium were those who already paid for tickets.

However, as they were passing through one of the lesser-used halls, they ran into Bokkun. To their shock, he was holding the Chaos Emerald!

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Dragg exclaimed.

"Uh, we're undercover staff," Narasu calmly told Bokkun. "I don't know how you got the Chaos Emerald out of storage, but please hand it to us and there won't be any problems, okay?"

"Why would I do that?" Bokkun said, trying to cross his arms, but he decided against it because it was hard to do with his hands full. "You idiot humans don't even know the first thing about Chaos E–" He stopped for a moment as the gears turned into his head. "Actually, you know what? I changed my mind, you can have it. Not a lot you can do with it though, 'cuz it's fake, just like you're fake staff members."

Dropping the Chaos Emerald into the astounded Narasu's hands, he flew off down the hall, nearly crashing into the wall next to him due to his damaged jetpack.

The doctor's heart raced. He had been given a fake Chaos Emerald, but he realized that no one else could tell the difference. It even gave off the same kind of glow. He looked around and tried to hide the red gem.

"Wh-What do we do?" Dragg panicked.

"Back to the rendezvous point!" Narasu told him as he hurried back toward the exit door. "I have to get rid of this."

Running back through the crowd, he quickly shoved the Emerald into his pocket, despite what he had said earlier. It was almost as big as his hand, which made it especially hard to conceal without arousing suspicion.

Narasu made it back outside and scanned the crowd, looking for someone to give the Emerald to. He spotted Big nearby and slipped the Emerald into his hands, knowing full well the security cameras were off. Big looked down at it in curiosity for a moment.

However, it didn't take long for people to realize something was amiss.

"Hey, is that…?"

"I don't remember seeing any Chaos Emerald souvenirs that glow like that."

"Where did you get that?"

"You didn't steal it, did you?"

"N-N-No, I–" Big took several steps back as the people nearest to him started to approach him.

"SECURITY!" someone shouted.

"THIEF!"

"I-I didn't–"

"Everyone! Everyone, clear out!" a security officer called over the noise of the crowd. He and several others were entering the scene, and it took them only a second to see the softly glowing Chaos Emerald in Big's gloved hands. He reached over and picked up his walkie-talkie.

"Office, do you copy?" he spoke. But there was no reply. "Office, do you read me?"

"Where did you get that Emerald?" another security officer asked Big. However, he was too shaken up and overwhelmed to answer, and he was too scared to let go of the Chaos Emerald. In all the commotion, Froggy had hopped off of Big's shoulder and was escaping to safety.

"I-I-I'm… I'm innocent!" Big pleaded.

"Sir, theft is a very serious crime, and we need to review the footage before we can confirm whether you stole it or not."

"About that, they're not picking up," the first officer told the second. He activated his radio again. "Garson, do you copy?"

"Solid copy, Nielsen."

"Go to the main office. They're not responding."

"Ten-four."

The uproar had drawn attention from roughly a quarter of those outside, and everyone was talking amongst themselves about what was happening. The security and police officers on the scene were urging people to stay away from Big.

About two minutes later, the security officers heard back.

"Nielsen to Garson. There is sabotage in the office. I repeat, there is sabotage."

Garson grit his teeth. This was not what he was expecting to hear.

"Describe the nature of this… sabotage," he responded.

"All cameras are shut off. We're working to get them back on as we speak, but I am unable to tell when they were deactivated. Both on-duty employees were found unconscious under the desk. Elmer Johnson has been informed."

"Copy…" Garson said, before lowering his arm and reattaching his radio to his belt. "Sabotage… Are you kidding me…"

"What's up?" Sonic said as he skidded to a halt near the officers and Big. But before anyone else could speak, there was the sound of feedback from the stadium's outdoor speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I hate to break it to you, but due to unforeseen events behind the scenes, the organization has made the decision to cancel the rest of today's events. Round 2 will pick up again at three tomorrow. Until then, they would like to ask everyone to leave the stadium and the parking lot while the police undergo a thorough investigation. We would like to apologize from the bottom of our heart for this inconvenience."

As Elmer's words hung in the air, Sonic looked around at everyone as the conversation picked back up, and the air changed from excitement to concern and urgency.

"Hey, can someone tell me what's going on here?" Sonic asked the officers. His eyes were filled with determination and the urge to be of at least some help. "Why does he have the Eme– Why are you putting him in handcuffs?!"

Sure enough, the nearby police officers were confiscating the Chaos Emerald, holding Big's hands behind his back, and snapping handcuffs onto his wrists. Sonic could see that Big's yellow eyes were moist with tears that were threatening to break free.

"Froggy… Don't leave me…" he whimpered.

"Look what you guys are doing to him! Look at him, he's overwhelmed! Is anyone gonna answer me? Hello?" Sonic asked.

"This is a confidential police operation," the officer restraining Big told him. "The SSPD and the Chaotix will take it from here. If you want to be useful, help everyone get out of here quicker and make sure nothing else happens in the parking lot."

That was not what Sonic wanted to hear. However, the officer's steely gaze told him he should probably not get on the bad side of the law.

Sonic finally let out a sigh and backed off. He hated feeling helpless, but there had to be something he could do. He trusted the Chaotix with their investigation, but he wasn't content on staying on the sidelines himself. Simply listening to the cop's order wouldn't get him answers any faster. He had no qualms about breaking the law if it meant doing what was morally right.

Why isn't anyone telling me anything?! he angrily told himself.


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

Bokkun was nearly at the storage room where the Chaos Emerald was when Elmer's announcement went out through the speakers. As he paused and listened to him speak, he saw the metal door in front of him, and a panel on the wall next to it. It appeared to be locked with a passcode, but he didn't want to get caught tampering with it.

"Maybe I can still get the Emerald!" Bokkun pondered as he stared at the door. However, he took a small step back. "Buuut I kinda gave away the fake one… And now that I'm thinking about it, it kinda messed up Eggman's plan… This is bad…"

Not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, he turned and flew away from the door, preparing his own evacuation from the stadium.


Diamond Stadium - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

"Guys!" Security Officer Sewald called as he ran into the office. Big had been taken there, and he was being questioned by three officers while others were repairing the footage. He looked absolutely miserable, and every now and then he would mutter something about Froggy and his innocence.

However, Sewald stopped in his tracks when he saw Big. "Uh, why are we doing the interrogation here?"

"So Big can see the footage," was the response he got from one of the engineers. "Whenever we get it fixed, that is. Shouldn't take too much longer. Anyway, what were you gonna say?"

"I just checked the storage room," Sewald said. "The Emerald is still there. I saw it."

"Huh…" one of the interrogating police officers said, looking over at the security officer. "Did you have witnesses with you?"

"Yes, two of them," Sewald responded.

"Did you touch the box containing the Emerald?" the police officer asked.

"No, I did not. No one did."

"So if no one touched the box, then how did the Emerald end up with Big?" was the police officer's next question. "Something's not adding up here."

"I think we should get the Chaotix in here," another police officer in the room said. "They ought to know something, and besides, they may end up knowing this guy, since they're from the same world and everything."

"Yeah, good idea," Sewald nodded as he turned to leave. "How's the interrogation going?"

"We can't tell, he's either not cooperating or he genuinely does not know who gave him the Emerald," the first officer responded. "We're leaning toward the latter at this point."

"All right, I'll get the Chaotix in here," Sewald said as he left the office.

About two minutes later, Vector entered the office, and the crocodile closed the door behind him.

"Okay then, we'll leave you to it," the police officer said as he and the other humans prepared to leave the room. "If anything happens, give us a call. We'll be right outside this door."

"Gotcha, thanks," Vector nodded as the officers left, leaving Vector alone with Big. One officer stayed in the room to secure Big and mediate the interrogation, while the other three staff members were still repairing the security feed.

"All right, Big," Vector said, leaning against the wall and facing the trembling purple cat. "I personally don't think you're guilty, but we gotta prove you're innocent first. And to do that, we need some cold hard evidence. So I'm gonna ask you a couple questions, and it's okay if you don't know the answer."

"O-Okay…" Big said, trying to shift into a more comfortable position. He seemed to relax a little bit now that he was with someone who was somewhat familiar to him. He couldn't make eye contact, though. Vector saw that his hands were still cuffed behind his back, which made sitting uncomfortable.

"So… Did ya happen to see who gave you the Chaos Emerald?" Vector asked, looking directly at Big.

"N-No…" Big admitted. "I was minding my own business, and then I saw that it was in my hands." He paused for a moment. "I guess I wasn't paying attention…"

"That's fine," Vector said. "So no one else around you saw this person either?"

Big shook his head.

"I-It all happened so fast…" he admitted, looking down.

"I saw something highly suspicious," came Espio's voice from the doorway. His sudden presence startled both the crocodile and the cat in the room.

"Wh-When'd you get here?!" Vector exclaimed, clasping a hand over his racing heart.

Espio smirked. "I followed you," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Ah, gotcha," Vector said with a nod, visibly relaxing now. "So what'd ya find, Esp?"

"I followed Bokkun back into the stadium, and he came across the two men we ran into earlier," Espio started.

"Hmm…" The gears in Vector's brain were turning. "I'm listening."

"They told Bokkun to give them the Emerald, and he did, but the thing is, he called it a fake."

"Okay, yeah, that is not right," Vector said. "But why would he do that?"

"There's more," Espio told him. "Bokkun continued on his way like he was on a mission, but I decided it was better to follow the two men with the Chaos Emerald. They split up, and the one holding the Emerald seemed like he was desperate to me. I followed him back outside, and he passed it to Big."

"That's foul play right there," Vector pointed out, pacing the room. "And also… doesn't that sound weird to you, Espio? Bokkun's probably out there looking for the real Chaos Emerald, but he also comes in and tips these guys off with a fake! They probably got rid of it out of desperation 'cuz they don't wanna look like crooks." He stopped pacing and tapped his long snout in thought. "But they're not innocent either. We saw 'em coming from the security room, and they said they were maintenance guys, but like Charmy said, they weren't wearing name tags or anything. They just looked like a couple of average joes. But then we found out that this room was sabotaged, and I'm assuming it was those two guys that did it."

"And you would be right," one of the engineers spoke up from the screens. "Here, come see this real quick."

He motioned for everyone, Big included, to see the screens. The different camera angles showed the two men cautiously approaching the security office and entering before knocking out the two employees inside.

Vector squinted at the screen. "How'd they get in here, anyway…?" he asked.

"Door was unlocked, I reckon," the engineer said.

Vector shook his head. "No… No, it couldn't have been that easy… Maybe someone accidentally left it unlocked… but–"

"I didn't see 'em anywhere, Vector!" Charmy called as he burst into the room before anyone could stop him.

"Hm," Vector said, turning to the bee, who was panting from flying around for so long. "They're a slippery bunch, but I get a hunch they'll return to the scene of the crime when the tourney picks back up tomorrow. They still don't have the Emerald after all."

Turning to the officer, he asked, "Does this mean Big is off the hook now?"

The police officer next to Big looked up at Vector for a moment before making his decision.

"We'll talk with the officers outside, but since there was a witness to the crime, and it proves Big didn't steal it, I personally would say yes, he's off the hook. But like I said, we need to talk with the other officers first."

Big was already shedding tears of relief. He was a bit nervous to say anything, but he was truly grateful to the Chaotix for proving his innocence.

"Though, I do wish the tournament staff didn't go through with telling everyone to leave," the officer said.

"Hey, even if those two guys got away, you still got their pictures on the feed, right?" Vector pointed out. "That's a win in my book if you ask me."

"Even so, I wouldn't rule out a citywide manhunt at this point," the officer said. He sighed. "This could have been prevented…"

Vector gave him a surprisingly gentle pat on the back.

"What's done is done," he tried to reassure him. "If you got pictures of 'em somewhere, like ID cards and all that, then you can find out who they are in no time, and it'll make the search all that easier. Take it from me. I had my fair share of slippery crooks, but you can nab 'em if ya know where to look for 'em. And pay attention to all the clues too, that's the most important part."

"Thanks, I appreciate it, Vector," the cop said as he prepared to leave the room with Big. Vector followed him.


The Egg Dome - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

Watcher was in the Egg Dome's workshop, idly consuming some pizza rolls and observing Browning as he worked on repairing Beta's Chaos energy scanner. While it looked fascinating, in reality it was slow-going.

"Can you not hover over me while I'm working?" Browning asked. "It's quite distracting."

Watcher shrugged. "It's not like I have anything else to do. The tournament's on break after all," he said.

"Perhaps you could run another scan of the place, make sure we're not getting any more intruders," Browning said, putting down his screwdriver.

"Just did one of those, and besides, what's a couple stragglers gonna do to our robot army?" Watcher asked with a mouth full of pizza rolls.

"You never know," Browning stated. "GUN tried to raid us twice lately. Both times were unsuccessful, but they could be back, who knows. You of all people don't want to let your guard down. You did run Superior after all."

"Eh, I guess you're right," Watcher said. "Losing Superior cost me my job. Losing this place? That would mean giving up my freedom."

Just then Li Yan entered the lab hurriedly.

"Dragg and Narasu are reporting in and they wish to speak to you," he announced. "They want everyone together in the same room."

"How come?" Watcher said.

"They only want to give their report once, and it doesn't seem like it's worth it to say it twice because someone wasn't there to listen."

"Fair enough," Watcher said, hopping off the shelf he was sitting on and following the former Julebu leader out of the room. Browning got up and joined them.

When everyone came together in the command center, they could see the two men, who were reporting via video call from Narasu's phone.

"Why are you in the car?!" Watcher exclaimed. Not only that, but it appeared that the car they were in was moving. "I thought you were staying for the whole tournament today! So why are you bailing out now?!"

"We had no choice," Narasu said in a low tone from the passenger's seat.

"What do you mean, you had no choice?!" Watcher shouted. "Literally all you idiots had to do was stick the bug on Jerome and find the Emerald! That's it! How hard was it for you to do that?!"

"If you'll just calm down for five seconds, I will tell you," Narasu said. "Yes, we did get the bug on Jerome, but then we ran into Bokkun who gave us a fake Chaos Emerald. It was red, just like the real one. We split up so I could get rid of it."

Watcher was starting to calm down a little now but he was still visibly upset that the operation was bungled.

"I ended up giving it to Big the Cat," Narasu said. "Somehow he didn't see me, I don't know how I pulled that off. But that ended up getting the whole tournament delayed until tomorrow, and they told everyone to leave while they investigated. Oh yeah, Dragg and I shut off the cameras first, that way they don't have anything to prove it's us."

"No lockdown or anything?" Watcher said, before shrugging. "You guys got lucky, I guess."

"So all our money's on whether Black Knight's armor is put in the same room as the Chaos Emerald, if he loses," Dragg said. "And if he wins, then I guess we don't even need the bug. By the way, how's the bug working out for ya?"

"Perfect," Passer said. "I've been listening to it for quite a while now. Though I will warn you, you guys might not get another chance at this, especially since the bug picked up the voices of the Chaotix on the tournament grounds."

"Yeah, we saw them," Narasu responded. "In fact, they almost caught us. Had to do some fast talking to keep our dignity intact."

"So what do we do now?" Dragg asked.

"You guys didn't see where the Emerald was, right?" Watcher asked.

"No," Narasu said. "Well… I did figure out the route to where the Emerald is from the security room. Gonna have to write that down as soon as I can."

"'K, then me and Li Yan will go tomorrow," Watcher proposed. "You guys are on the police' radar no doubt, so this way they won't suspect a thing."

"I refuse," Li Yan stated.

"Why? 'Cuz of Hawk?" Dragg asked.

"Listen, if either Hawk or Knuckles sees me, it's all over. They both know what I look like," Li Yan said, crossing his arms.

Setting down his pizza rolls, Watcher paused for a moment to reflect on the new developments.

"Good point," Watcher said. "Hawk's out, but that doesn't mean he won't be there tomorrow. Knuckles is still in, plus he's going up against Jerome. So how about you, Ray? You in or what?"

"I wasn't planning on going undercover, since that's not my strong suit, but–"

"But I can't go alone," Watcher said. "I need someone to look out for me, and Passer is too valuable to be treated as expendable like this."

"Are you implying I'm expendable?" Browning asked incredulously.

"Not if you pull your weight," Watcher said, looking directly at him, before slowly approaching him. "You want that Chaos Emerald as badly as I do, right? You hate that hedgehog and Eggman as much as I do right? Well, as long as you're with us, you'll do exactly as I say when I say it. There's no wiggle room for complainers or stragglers. We're in this as a team, or else there's no more status quo. Is that understood?"

"Y-Y-Yes, sir," Browning said.

"I was a prison warden, remember that. And I won't hesitate to be your prison warden if any of you step out of line."

"Understood, sir," Browning said, before sighing.

This guy is power-tripping beyond belief, he thought to himself. I'm starting to feel bad for the prisoners under his care, even the other wardens!

"Though… I will have to wear a mask since Sonic seems to remember my face," Watcher mused. "Same goes for you, we can't be too careful, just like you said earlier. Listen up, Browning. First thing tomorrow when we march into that stadium is see where Jerome is going, and if he loses, we find out where they're putting his armor and hope the Emerald is there."

"Y-yes… sir…" Browning said, before taking a step back.

Wait'll the Organizer finds out about this.


Diamond Stadium - Outside - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

Everyone at the stadium were filing into the cars and leaving in droves. The mass exodus ended up creating a traffic jam at each of the stadium's four exit points.

A few minutes after Elmer's announcement went out, all the Thorndykes and Mobians got back together and made their way back to Chuck's limo.

"So what do you guys think happened?" Tails asked as he flew alongside everyone.

"I don't know," Chris admitted. He didn't say it out loud, but he was feeling a bit nervous about the situation, and he knew most of the others around him felt the same.

"He said it was something behind the scenes, so maybe there was a security issue?" Ella suggested.

"I don't think so," Tails thought aloud as he landed next to her. "They did promise there would be a lot of security here. But still… It could be literally anything."

"Then I suggest we check the news as soon as we return to the hotel," Tanaka said.

"That's a very good idea," Chuck agreed.

"Y'know, I happened to see the Chaotix here a little while ago," Sonic pointed out, having calmed down from earlier, though still feeling a bit antsy. "Here's hopin' they can get to the bottom of this."

"I saw them too, but I didn't get to say hi because I had soooo many fans," Amy said excitedly. "It was so cool saying hi to them all, I would totally do it again in a heartbeat!"

Tails smiled at the experience he had for the past nearly half an hour. "It got a little overwhelming at times, but I had fun too," he agreed.

"Me too," Chris agreed.

Knuckles had been quiet the whole time they got to the limo. Chuck remotely opened the doors, and everyone filed inside and took their seats. Tanaka sat down behind the wheel, and Ella sat next to him. Chuck, Tails, Sonic, and Knuckles sat in the middle row, and Chris, Amy, Cream, Vanilla, Cheese, and Chocola sat in the back.

"Could someone have tried to steal the Chaos Emerald…?" the echidna mused to himself as he buckled himself in.

"Sounds like it, doesn't it?" Chuck responded. "At this point, it could be anything."

"It has to be, why else do you think they would be canceling the tournament today?" Amy spoke up.

"Only one way to find out, and that's to check the news," Sonic said. "And the Chaotix are here, so if they can tell us anything, that would be great."


Eggman's outpost - Sat March 18 – Third-person POV

"Hey Doc! Doctor Eggman!" Bokkun's voice called over one of the overhead screens in the doctor's makeshift control room. "You there? I got an important message for you!"

"Yes, what is it, Bokkun?" Eggman asked, looking up at the screen from his command chair where he was idly solving a Rubik's cube to pass the time.

"I, uh… Well…" The robot rubbed behind his head as he tried to think of a suitable explanation. "I was gettin' super close to the Chaos Emerald, but then these two guys stopped me. They were acting like they were after the Emerald too. And, uh… I don't know what happened, but… I… kinda gave them the fake, and they thought it was the real one, and, uh… the whole tournament kinda got shut down today…? Sorry 'bout that, Doctor, I… I failed."

Eggman gritted his teeth, letting out an audible low growl as he clenched his fists, but then he relaxed and took a deep breath.

"Is the tournament delayed or canceled altogether?" he asked in a calmer voice.

"Uh, it was delayed until tomorrow at three," Bokkun recalled. "On the bright side, I found out where the Emerald is being kept!"

"Excellent, Bokkun. Return to base immediately and we can talk about it."

"Aye-aye, Doc!"

The moment the call ended, Orbot and Cubot hovered into the room, having overheard the commotion.

"May I inquire what happened, boss?" Orbot asked. Eggman swiveled his chair around to face his hench-bots.

"Bokkun was supposed to swap the real Chaos Emerald out for an imitation Emerald I supplied him, but he inadvertently got the whole tournament postponed until tomorrow," he relayed. "On the bright side, though, this will give me more time to perfect my plan. Plus, if all goes well… and it will thanks to my scientific genius intellect… Decoe and Bocoe will be back here by tomorrow, so that's an extra win for me."

"Those slackers?" Cubot dissed. "We slack off better than them any day!"

"Exactly why I replaced you in the first place," Eggman said. "But now that we're stranded on Earth, I will need all hands on deck to establish my Eggman Empire. Though, it doesn't truly matter where I set it up. Perhaps after I conquer this twisted planet, I can build a portal to Mobius to 'benefit' the hedgehog and his friends and get them back home, only to use it to conquer Mobius too! Hohohohohoho!"

"An excellent plan that only your mind could come up with," Orbot said. "But may I ask, what is your current plan for the tournament tomorrow?"

"I'm glad you asked," Eggman said, "because I was going to explain it anyway. It shows you're listening."

He glanced up at the screen showing a live view of the stadium, before looking back at Orbot and Cubot.

"After that little blunder at Diamond Stadium, it pains me to say that I can no longer deploy Bokkun there anywhere. This means Emerl is my last hope in swapping out the Emerald, although I can't supply another fake one… at least, not in the same way as before. On the bright side, Bokkun was able to locate the approximate area of where the Emerald is being located, so when he arrives, I'll plug him into my master computer and scan his memory to find where it's being kept."

"Psst, did you understand any of that? 'Cuz I sure didn't," Cubot said.

"Notice how I wasn't talking to you before, Cubot," Eggman said.

"What about that robot?" Orbot asked.

"What about it?" Eggman asked.

"Do you wish to send it to the tournament to avoid people getting suspicious of Emerl?" Orbot clarified. "It appears Emerl has a large fanbase according to the tournament website."

Eggman thought for a moment. "I wasn't planning to deploy it this early… But as long as I take the necessary precautions, I figure it wouldn't hurt. Besides, it is far more stealthy than any of my previous robots I manufactured on this planet… even more so than E-91."

"You mean the Lady Ninja?" Orbot asked.

"Kunoichi," Eggman corrected. "Yes, that's the one. Even she pales in comparison to the robot whose name I'm not mentioning for the sole purpose of building suspense for the readers."

Cubot was confused, and he scratched his head. "Readers…? Where?" he asked, looking around.

"Don't overthink it, Cubot," Orbot said. "Perhaps it's a scientific term only his genius mind can come up with."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Cubot shrugged.

"In conclusion, today I was merely testing the waters," Eggman said. His glasses twinkled, and he grinned. "Tomorrow… we go in the deep end."


A/N: That concludes part two of the Chaos Competition Arc! As you probably noticed, this is gonna go on for more than two parts! The reason for this is because I felt like the tournament arc in Sonic X was WAY too rushed, they crammed too much in a two-episode slot. So I wanted to make this arc longer than two chapters to give the plot room to breathe.

Anyway, this chapter was really fun to write, especially since I took a normal Dragon Ball-style tournament and added mystery elements and espionage!

I replaced the President with Matt Thorndyke because I didn't care for how he threw a temper tantrum like a toddler when he lost in his own tournament to his own former aide. It wasn't just that, but the fact that he was competing in his own tournament didn't settle well with me, so I replaced him with Matt. It also allows me to tie the final loose end to Matt's story.

I also replaced Ella with Frances. Even though it's funny seeing Ella acting serious like how she did in the original version of the tournament, as well as when she flew the X-Tornado in Episode 20, but I'm taking this story more seriously, and I can't see her fighting for real, especially since if she won her match with Emerl, she would more than likely have to fight Mr. Tanaka. Plus her "I have to make dinner anyway" line after she forfeited sounded cheesy. Frances is a tomboy and I can see her in a fighting role moch better than Ella.

I was originally going to have Chris fake worry and "cheat" to defeat Danny in his round like he did in the original episode, but I decided to change it up because I felt like that was suddenly out of character for Chris to do. I did, however, reference the original episode in that regard.

I was also originally going to have Browning be the one to go with Narasu, but I realized I had replaced him with Dragg instead, so I kept it that way, and the dialogue seems to flow better too.

Let me know what you think of the plot so far, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Next time is Part 3 of the Chaos Competition Arc, where the tournament resumes and we kick off Round 2, plus more hijinks ensue! Don't miss it!