Sonic GeneX - The Series: Chaos Tournament!
Episode 7 - Battles Rage On!
Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
Previously on Sonic GeneX...
I'm Omochao, and I'm here to bring you up to speed on the Tournament of Chaos, Sponsored by GUN! Illusi the Shrew heard a prophecy stating that the Chaos Relics were destined to belong to chosen ones who would save the world from catastrophe! After gathering the remaining Chaos Relics, and gaining sponsorship from Col. Gunner in the process, Illusi started up a tournament to see who was worthy! Round 1 is a battle round, and it's still going on! But let's see the results from the last chapter! Knuckles defeated Zomom, Zipp defeated Storm, Anubis was disqualified, so Conan won their match... Lucky beat Spy, Lospector outwitted Orbot, Kosmo the morph beat Cosmo the alien, Fred defeated Chet, and Silver threw in the towel for Blaze. It's been quite a tournament already! Now, let's see what's in store next!
Now, let's begin today's story!
As Copter sat alone, watching the next match in silence while his companions went to get something from the concession stands outside, a small robot hopped up onto the seat next to him. "Seat's saved..." he grumbled before he noticed it was a familiar Crabmeat robot with a scratchy voice. "How can you watch this farce? You must know how it will end. What is rightfully yours never stays yours for long." Cancer whispered. Copter shrugged. "Still got my shoes..." he muttered. "Freedom is temporary. Friendship is temporary. Even love... What is she, your fourth girlfriend?" Cancer mused. "Second! ...Thinking about people a certain way doesn't count." Copter grunted, "Though you may have a few points... But there's no sense obsessing over it now. I'll win. No question." he said unconvincingly. Cancer snapped his robotic pincers and hopped down from the chair. "Happy endings aren't your birthright. That honor goes to the original fox...doesn't it?" he said before crawling away. Copter growled. "Maybe you should've entered yourself! Least then I could knock you around to shut you up!" he snapped, staring out at the arena without really watching the match. "...Tails does get everything. He's got the quaint workshop-house and the sweet rabbit girlfriend and... he probably is the tailbands' chosen one... Unless I can just prove I'm better..." he muttered, finally glancing out at the battle to see how it was going. Eggman's robots, Slash and Sting, were battling it out to determine which was superior. Slash was the more clever of the two, and possessed razor sharp sickle-claws that he tossed like boomerangs at Sting. However, Sting was more versatile, his scorpion stinger being retractable and able to be replaced with numerous other gadgets. Knocking away Slash's sickles with a baseball bat stinger (of all things), he then switched his stinger for a gun that fired...baseballs. "I knew we shouldn't have visited the batting cage before signing up for this tournament!" Sting groaned as the balls battered and broke his fragile, aged body. "Hyah ha ha!! Looks like the boss is gonna give ME the promotion, huh, brother?" Sting taunted. "Oh, shut up and fix me, you cheater!" Sting's head grumbled.
This was only the latest round since intermission ended, and the action had been persistent, as Omochao was about to point out. "For those of you arriving late from intermission, you've missed a few fast-paced but epic matches! A few highlights include... Ridley the coati knocked out tough guy Bark the polar bear with some wet Chaos attacks! ...A Zeti grudge match between Zik and Zazz ended with a stunning victory for the aged Zik, proving experience wins over brute force! ...And the big one- Shadow the hedgehog put in an appearance, totally mopping the floor with Experiment 10, Zeke the dragon!" he announced as a screen behind him showed quick clips from each bout. Zeke groaned as he sat next to Spiny in the audience. "Of all the rotten luck, I had to go up against Shadow..." he growled. "Wimp..." Spiny scoffed. "Waaah! And I missed it!" whined Gator from next to Spiny, "And I bet I'm not the only one. It's like they snuck these matches into the background of the episode because the writer got tired or something!" he babbled while Spiny sighed in annoyance. "Why'd he have to sit next to me?"
"In the red corner, it's the moment you've been waiting for, fans! The fastest thing alive! The blue streak! Give it up for Sonic!!" The crowd went wild as Sonic stepped into the arena, though he had a bemused look about him. "Let's just get this over with. I stopped lookin' for my missing uncle for this tournament..." he grumbled. Omochao looked a bit excited as he announced the opponent. "And in the blue corner! You won't believe the randomizer, folks! It's the two-tailed wonder! Sonic's own best friend and sidekick! Tails!!" The crowd went even more nuts as Tails stepped out to face his friend, and the gargoyle mob was especially eating it up. "Ten-to-one odds on Tails! Lock in your bets before the match starts!" one of the gargoyles announced. A moment was given for the crowd's uproar to die down before Omochao called for the match to start. "...All right, Sonic... I... I won't hold back!" Tails said nervously, charging towards Sonic and attempting to strike him with a tail whip! However, when he finished his attack, he noticed Sonic was nowhere in sight. Turning around, he saw his friend clear on the other side of the arena. Tails moved his tails in front of himself to block the inevitable counterattack, but it never came. Sonic stood with his arms crossed, a frown on his face. "I don't wanna hurt you, Tails..." he sighed, "I quit! I honestly wasn't that interested in this thing in the first place!" he shouted. The audience was quick to let out disapproving boos, and Tails looked slightly disappointed, too. "You don't think I could even hold my own?" he asked. Sonic shrugged. "Not really, not against me." he said. "Hey... I successfully captured you last year!" he pointed out. "Eh, I let my guard down." Sonic retorted. Their debate was interrupted as an egg-shaped shadow was cast over the arena, which got the audience excited again. "Pardon me, Sonic... You seen my robots around? They didn't enter this dumb tourney after I explicitly told them we have better things to do, did they!?" said Dr. Eggman, looking around the arena with a scowl. He spotted his Egg Pawns in the audience quickly. "You layabouts! I have a mind to level this stadium with you all in it!!" he shouted. Then, Sonic hit his Egg Mobile with a jump attack. "Hey! Mind your business!" he yelled. "Hey, Eggman! Bet I can beat you back to your base!" Sonic taunted. "Y-you're bluffing! You don't know where..." Eggman babbled until Sonic sped off, "Hey! Come back here! I'm not done talking!! I'll teach you to be rude!!" he yelled, chasing after him!
The audience might have enjoyed the spectacle of Eggman's appearance, but the gargoyle mob was devastated by Tails's default victory. "I tried to warn you guys not to engage in gambling..." Rick the orange gargoyle said, but the others simply growled at him. "Yeah, they've learned nothing..." Rick sighed. The next match-up ended up being Adam the bat versus Felicia the wolf. Punchy squinted as Felicia took the field. "Wait... is that? No, it couldn't be..." he muttered. "She looks just like Fera!" remarked Gemini from a few seats down. Illusi was watching from his private box with interest. "If she has no memories of her past... How will she fight?" he mused. As the match began, Adam chuckled at her. "Fred's favorite choir girl... What're you gonna do, sing me to death?" he teased. Felicia stretched her arms a moment. She was wearing a green outfit that looked like a flashy kung fu movie getup. That was making Adam chuckle as well, but he quickly saw that it wasn't just for show. The wolf knocked him back with a couple swift kicks, and as he stumbled in surprise, she dashed forward, seizing his arm and flipping him over herself, dropping him onto his back in an expert fashion! Adam was quickly pinned under her foot, and no longer laughing. "What in the... where'd you learn that??" he stammered. Felicia smirked at him. "You're slow. I could teach you some things... if you were nice." she chuckled. Illusi sat back, rubbing his chin as he thought about what he'd just seen. "I wonder exactly how much she remembers...hmm..."
Cream nervously left Cheese with her mother and Tails prior to her match. If she'd known that she couldn't fight alongside Cheese, she likely would have begged to drop out of the tournament beforehand. Now, though, she didn't want to let Amy down after she'd enthusiastically signed everyone up. Nervously stepping onto the arena, she faced her opponent, Charmy Bee. He quickly noticed Cheese's absence. "Wait, you can't bring your Chao? That's not fair!" he murmured, "...Fine, then I guess I'll lay off my stinger...to make it even." he said, looking away from Cream a bit shyly. "Thank you..." she responded, making him blush. As the match began, the two young combatants awkwardly approached each other, fists raised. Charmy looked a bit unsure of himself as he sized up his opponent, and threw a punch that amounted to little more than a gentle tap. Cream, looking puzzled, tapped him back, and he fell backward, wailing in a fit of overacting. "Owowow!! She thrashed me senseless!" he whined. The audience looked on in bewilderment as Charmy dashed off the arena. "...What was that about?" Cream wondered. Her mother chuckled from just outside the arena. "Some boys just can't bring themselves to hit a cute girl..." she mused.
Match after match went by. These matches would see Gator prance to his seat victorious, while Char returned to his brothers dejectedly, though they gave him a hero's welcome for trying. Cream took up Sonic's seat next to Tails now that he was gone. "You think he'll come back?" Cream asked him. "...I think he'd rather keep looking for his uncle..." Tails shrugged. Soon, Omochao announced another fairly interesting matchup. "In the red corner, the bird genius from Babylon, Wave! And in the blue corner... you know, I don't have a fancy title for her... It's Shade!" Shade the echidna had been retired from her post with the Nocturnus ever since surviving a near-fatal fall from Angel Island, partially due to Silver's interference with the timeline (see Sonic GeneX's 10th Anniversary Special for details!). Wave, on the other hand, flew in on her board. "Storm's mistake was not playing to his true strength!" she stated. Shade watched her flying around, waiting patiently for Omochao to call for the match to start. Once he did, she leapt away as Wave's board charged at her! "Sound strategy, bird... You are after all, a racer, not a fighter..." Shade mused. Wave produced a large wrench and brandished it like a weapon. "I've been known to hit pretty hard..." she warned. Shade evaded her as she swooped by again, and then the third time Wave's board came at her, she dropped to the ground, grabbing for it as it passed over her! Rather than yanking it out from under Wave, Shade instead found herself holding onto the bottom as the board continued to fly. "Huh? Hey! Get off!" Wave grunted, trying to shake Shade loose. The echidna held on, climbing around the side of the board carefully, and then grabbing at Wave's legs, messing up her balance. "S-stop it! We'll both cra-aaaash!!" Wave shouted as she started to stumble. Shade, however, leapt off the board before it crashed. The swallow groaned as the echidna stood over her, smirking. "...Jet better win this thing..." Wave growled.
Next up was a match that worried Cream a bit. Gemerl, a Gizoid that had been living with her and her mother and was a spiritual successor to Emerl, was face to face with Spiny the porcupine. "I don't like it... Emerl used to fight, sure, but now Emerl's gone because of that..." Cream whimpered. "Gemerl's been good since I reprogrammed him. This shouldn't make him crazy again." Tails assured her. As the match began, Gemerl was quick to attack, knocking Spiny around with spin dashes and jump attacks copied from Sonic. However, mimicking Sonic's battle style seemed to only anger the sonic doppelganger. "Are you mocking me, robot? Because I look like Sonic?? I don't spin... I don't roll... I use... SPEAR STORM!!" Spiny's body seemed to erupt in Chaos Spears, which shot all around the arena! Gemerl stopped to attempt to copy this ability, but there was no safe place to stand. The Chaos Spears battered and blasted the robot, leaving it rattled and sparking on the ground by the time Spiny was finished! "Admit it, Sonic! You dropped out because you were afraid to face me!!" Spiny shouted before stomping off. "Don't talk bad about Sonic, you dweeb!" shouted Amy from the audience. Spiny shrugged and walked off while Tails flew onto the arena to help Gemerl. "Don't worry pal... I'll get ya fixed up!" he said reassuringly. Cream held her head sadly. "I don't know why Amy thought this tournament would be fun..." she sighed.
If Sonic had stuck around for the tournament, he might have noticed Capricorn the divine ferret seated in the audience, though she was not signed up for the tourney itself. Seated beside her was Aquarius, who actually had signed up for the very tourney he'd set in motion. An empty seat beside them was soon occupied by Cancer, who drew their attention. "Seat's saved, bot." Aquarius grunted. "Once again, your techno shell has thrown off Aquarius, Cancer." Capricorn smirked, "...What are you even doing here?" she asked. "I could ask the same of you, Capri. I heard you futzed the timeline..." Cancer sneered. "In the red corner, the black & white Tails copy, Experiment #2, Copter!! And in the blue corner... an echidna whose power was cultivated by darkness, Violet!!" With Omochao's announcement, Copter found himself face to face with his own girlfriend. Violet didn't look at all upset, though. "Ha ha, don't take it too hard when I beat you, Copter! I maaay still have some pent-up frustration over the day we first met!" she teased. Copter looked at her seriously. Cancer's earlier words rang in his mind. "You must know how it will end..." He shuddered. Violet had the clear advantage with his tailband gone. But maybe he could take her off guard. As Omochao called for the match to start, Copter ran at her, only to have her teleport behind him with her magic. "Predictable..." he growled, and spun around swiftly, whipping her down with his tails! "Ooof!! Smarter than ya look!" Violet chuckled. Her chuckling wouldn't last. Copter turned to her with fury in his eyes, and kicked her hard in the side while she was down! "Oooow!! W-what are you doing!?" she shouted. Omochao was taken aback, too. "Copter's fighting dirty! This is pretty low for the fox that helped save Station Square from the Kosmogon!" he said. Copter ignored this and jumped onto Violet while she was in shock. "I...can't let you...win!!" he growled, and proceeded to slap her across the face repeatedly while she struggled, and even for a bit after she stopped struggling. "Enough! Copter, you won! Stop it!!" shouted Tails, who had run as close to the arena as he could without stepping onto it. Hearing his voice, Copter stopped, and stood up, looking at Violet's bruised face and realizing, with a look of shame, what he had done. Violet stood up shakily, glaring at him. "So, competition is more important to you than I am? Fine, Copter... Have fun. And goodbye!" she grunted, stomping off. Copter slowly walked off the field in the other direction, waiting until he was out of sight before letting out an anguished howl. "Damn you, Cancer... No... Damn me for listening to him!!" he growled, tears dropping from his eyes as he realized he'd lost Violet's love for good...and he deserved it. What he failed to realize was the full extent of his mistake. Gemini had witnessed the match, and found him afterward, punching his arm. "How could you act that way?! So brutal...to your girlfriend?? I... I'm ashamed of you... You deserve to be alone!" she shouted, tears falling from her eyes as she ran from him. "...I know..." Copter sighed, holding his arm.
After such a heavy battle, the audience needed something less serious and more entertaining. Certainly less serious, the next matchup ended up being Amy Rose vs. Talon the griffin. Immediately at the start of the match, Talon flew up high, out of Amy's reach. "Hey! Get down here! We're supposed to battle!" she shouted. "I'm not getting in your hammer's range! They say you're nuts!" Talon replied. Amy held out her hammer, a look of rage in her eyes. "Who says that, might I ask??" she growled. Talon twiddled his clawed talons awkwardly. "Oh, y'know... People. Uh, well... Robot types? Certainly not anyone I could get in trouble..." he babbled. Amy hurled her hammer at him, growling. "I'll show you nuts!" she shouted, producing more hammers seemingly from thin air and chasing Talon around, tossing her hammers until he freaked out and flew out of the arena! "This tourney isn't worth this!" he shouted. "...We'll be back after someone cleans up these hammers!" Omochao announced, and Amy sighed. "Maybe I'm a bit frustrated because no one I signed up is having fun like I'd hoped..." she muttered.
Vector the Crocodile was eager to win one for Team Chaotix as his match came up. A surprise visitor greeted him just outside the arena as he prepared. "Hello, Vector..." It was Vanilla, and she smiled warmly as she greeted him. Vector often did odd jobs for the rabbit, and his team often teased him for his apparent crush on her. "Ah! Ms. Vanilla! H-how are ya? I-I mean... Pleasure to see ya, ma'am!" he said, blushing in embarrassment. Vanilla giggled. She found his crush on her cute. "I just wanted to wish you luck!" she smiled. He'd need it as his opponent was announced. Looking out on the field, Captain Whisker of all villains stomped forth! Vector gulped. "Thank ya kindly... I dedicate this match to all my...fans..." Vector babbled, leaving Vanilla to face Whisker. "D'aaaarrr harrr harrr!! Ye lubbers thought ol' Captain Whisker was finished, eh? Me matey Johnny already secured his spot in round 2, now it be time for the king 'o the seas to give ye a proper keehaulin'!!" the robot captain laughed. Omochao had called for the match to start while he was speaking, so Vector quickly blew a gum bubble into the pirate, covering him with purple goo! "G'aaaaarrr! That be the grossest cannon ball I ever saw! Me shoes be pasted together by it! But I'll not fall to cheap tricks! I makes the cheap tricks!" he shouted, aiming his arms and shooting them straight at Vector! He evaded one, but was socked across the jaw by the other. "Alright, time to wrap this up!" he grunted, charging at Whisker and slamming him with some tough punches to the gut! Whisker's robotic crew, Mini & Mum, grimaced from the sidelines. "Boss is gonna need repairs again..." Mini sighed. "Guess that's it for our crew until Eggman heads out to sea again..." Mum whined.
The rest of the tournament kept cruising toward the end of the battle round without many breaks. Both Big the Cat and his buddy, Froggy were entered. After Big lost his round, he pinned his hopes on Froggy to get them to Round 2. However, Froggy's entry just turned out to be a lucky break for Tommy the porcupine, who simply picked up the frog and dropped him on his back to win his match. "Awww, poor little buddy..." Big whined, casting his lure to yank Froggy out of the arena. Rainbow, too, had coasted by on a fairly easy round against Hoover, and then cheered her fiance Punchy on as he battled Zor of the Zeti. "It's all pointless in the cosmic scheme of things..." Zor sighed as Punchy's punches started to get to him. The echidna held back, starting to feel bad, but then Zor simply walked off the field. "I'm just not into it. Good luck in your meaningless endeavors..." he said glumly. Punchy stared in confusion, but then shrugged. "Thanks? I guess?" After that, Zeena fared better in her battle, but it was hardly a contest as she was pit against Agent 64. Agents 77 and 32, who also competed and lost, patted their blue-spectacled cohort on the back as he limped off the arena. "Humans just can't compete in this thing..." Agent 77 sighed. "At least Nammad had the sense to enter a robot...even though that got thrashed, too..." Agent 32 added. Eggman's E-X robots had all entered the tournament as well, but out of all of them, only Alpha and Terra managed to win their rounds. Freeze was even mocked by Metal Sonic after failing to do any better than Gemerl. "I liked you better when you couldn't talk..." the icy gizoid retorted. "At least I won my round!" Metal Sonic taunted. Firma got the shortest end of the stick, however. She had been pit against Cubot, who had the foresight to show up piloting the "Arachnoegg 3." Firma was wrapped up in a spider web by the mech in a humiliating defeat. "Who says I'm the dumb one! No, really, I wanna know? Is it me?" Cubot asked after the match. The highlight of the matches leading to the final bout was a match between Gemini and Whisk. The divine's teleporting and wind-based powers were tricky for Gemini to keep up with, but through good use of defensive spells and a little teleporting of her own, Gemini beat Whisk with a simple sleep spell. Vortex tried to comfort her as she left the arena...in his selfish way. "It'sss alright. You can cheer for me in the next round." he told her. In response, Whisk slapped him. "You should've left me sleep... I still remember breaking up with you..." she growled. "I wasss afraid of that..." Vortex hissed.
Eventually, 98 of the one hundred contestants had taken to the arena. Now, it was time for the final round. One of the remaining combatants, the Deathbringer herself, waited just outside the arena where no one could see her. Her hood was off, and her face, the face of Libra the fennec, was filled with melancholy. Aquarius soon approached her. "Put the hood on. Can't risk someone you know seeing you." he warned. Libra obeyed with a sigh. "...I want to see her... Gemini..." she said, her voice becoming distorted as the hood covered her. "Not today." Aquarius said sternly. The Deathbringer crossed her arms. "...Will I ever?" she asked. Aquarius turned away, walking off slowly. "...That's not for me to decide..." he said.
"In the red corner... Yikes, I didn't know we were letting people this dangerous into the tournament! Rumors of his death are greatly exaggerated. It's the Deathbringer!" A hush fell over the crowd as the black winged, cloaked figure stepped onto the arena. Bucky the rat was in the audience, and he was notably stunned. "Hope?! No, that couldn't be... This time I'm not the only one who saw her die... right?" he said, turning to Lucky, who simply shrugged. "People saw the wolf die, too." he said. "Not helping." Bucky growled. Omochao kept going like he was programmed for it, though. "In the blue corner... A mysterious feline with a wicked style of dress! Let's wish her luck. It's Tabitha!!" An orange feline in black witch's attire flew out onto the field atop a broomstick, cackling as she arrived! This stunned the crowd further. "Who the heck is that??" Tails stammered. "I think I saw her at last year's Halloween Party..." Amy muttered. No one at that party had realized Tabitha was a real witch, though! "Why the disguise, my pretty? Wickedness like ours should feel free to do its work in the light of day! I used to hide my true nature, but no longer! When I win this contest, the Chaos Relics will power my dark designs!" she cackled, to which the Deathbringer scoffed. "Maybe I'll end your tournament along with your life..." she threatened. "Uh, keep in mind that murder is still illegal even during the tournament!" Omochao said nervously, "Okay! Begin the final match!" Tabitha kicked things off by hurling a magical bolt from her hands, which spread out as it hit the floor, covering the arena in a greenish flame! The Deathbringer flapped her wings and took the fight to the air, concentrating powerful energy in her own hands in preparation to counterattack. "It's a little frustrating, isn't it? That pesky rule against killing..." Tabitha chuckled, making the Deathbringer hesitate as she realized that she'd been trained primarily as a killer. Tabitha took advantage by casting a fiery red spell in her direction, which started to track the Deathbringer as she flew away from it! "Hee hee hee! At least with an opponent such as you, I can let loose! ...A bit." Tabitha cackled. The Deathbringer swooped under the witch, trying to trick the spell into hitting its master. It didn't quite work, but Tabitha spun around unsteadily while trying to watch where her opponent was going. "You can't fool my spells! I'm not some cheap dark mage or paltry divine sorceress!" she shouted. The Deathbringer turned and shot her own energy blast back at the spell, resulting in an explosion that knocked both battlers back a bit! "Gahh... Clever..." Tabitha grunted, grabbing her hat as she hovered upside down on her broom. Just then, a portal opened up beside the Deathbringer! "Agent Deathbringer! Enough games! Your services are needed elsewhere!" said a voice through the portal. The Deathbringer went rigid, staring into the portal. She looked less than thrilled by the notion. "Fleeing our battle? Coward!" Tabitha taunted, prompting the Deathbringer to shoot a quick blast directly at her, disintegrating her broom and sending her into the fire below! The fire seemed to part for her, and Tabitha stood up just in time to see the Deathbringer vanish into the portal. "Well... I guess that means... Tabitha wins." Omochao muttered. Capricorn had joined Aquarius near the entrance to the arena. "What was that about?" she asked. "Dunno... But someone in time is about to die." Aquarius answered.
Gunner and Illusi joined Omochao at the podium for the closing ceremony of Round 1. "Well, this whole thing was expensive, so I hope you frea- I mean- FOLKS have been enjoying the Tournament of Chaos, Sponsored by GUN, so far!" Gunner said, handing the mic to Illusi in embarrassment for his slip of the tongue. "Round 2 will start in about a week, once preparations have been made. It will be a road race in and around Station Square, so our fifty semifinalists will need to find vehicles for the event! For Round 2, we will also permit contestants to enlist the aid of partners, or 'copilots' to help with navigation, vehicle maintenance, etc. Prepare yourselves: Only twenty of you will move on to the final round!" he announced, amidst excited applause. The gargoyles seemed the most excited of all. Without Sonic, the race would be a gambler's dream. Which twenty would move on? Which thirty would be left in the dust? Was there even room for fifty vehicles to race in Station Square? All the answers to come...
To be continued...
