Sonic GeneX - The Series: Chaos Tournament!
Episode 6 - Round 1, Start!
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...
Sonic's search for his Uncle Chuck had reached a dead end. Visiting the church after witnessing Punchy's proposal to Rainbow, however, he and a few others discovered Fera, alive and well, and having suffered amnesia, no longer a threat.
The Battle Bird Armada was defeated through the efforts of GUN's Strike Force and the change of heart of Speedy, who turned on Battle Lord Kukku after witnessing his disregard for avian life. The criminals who comprised the Strike Force escaped as Kukku's ship crashed, but Kukku himself was taken into GUN custody.
A prophecy from Tikal was revealed to Illusi by the mysterious Aquarius. The Chaos Relics are meant to be held by the Chosen Ones destined to save the world. In order to find these Chosen Ones, Illusi decides to hold a tournament...
Now, let's begin today's story!
Illusi looked over his collected Chaos Relics as he mulled over his plans for the tournament. He had an impressive collection gathered, hidden away in the Dream Shrine. The Chaos Sword, Chaos Boots, Chaos Key, Chaos Crown, Chaos Wing and Chaos Gauntlets were neatly arranged in a row on an illusionary pedestal before him. Only three artifacts were missing from his collection. As he was lost in thought, the owner of one of the remaining relics passed right through the wall to meet him. It was the ghostly being, Lospecter. "Hey, Lucy! Lookin' at your jewelry collection? Hey, can I borrow a little somethin' from it?" he asked, trying to reach around Illusi towards the Chaos Crown. The shrew swatted him away with an illusory folding fan. "They aren't for you...or for me. I'm going to hold a tournament to decide the rightful owners." he stated. Lospecter shrugged. "Lucy, dude, just save yourself the trouble! I'll take care of it for you, easy-peasy!" he said slyly. Illusi glared at him. "You know you can't take them here. My power is too great for you within the realm of dreams." he warned. Illusi sighed. "Blame a guy for tryin'... What brought on this sudden outburst of giving, anyway?" the ghost asked. Illusi crossed his arms. "I don't expect you to understand, but there is a prophecy. Tikal states that the Relics belong in the hands of chosen ones fated to save the world from oblivion." he explained. Lospecter was apathetically shuffling his cards, but suddenly broke out laughing. "That is the cutest thing I ever heard! You think your widdle tourney is gunna save the world? Wah ha ha ha!!" he cackled, floating around Illusi mockingly. "...You can get out now." the shrew growled. "Hold up! Here! I want in on this! I'm making you a little bet that you end up regretting this thing. And just so as I can be a proper competitor, I'm giving you my Chaos Cards to add to the pot!" he said, dropping his deck onto the pedestal next to the other relics like a gambler putting down his wager. Illusi stared at him in bewilderment, but Lospecter just flew back out through the wall empty-handed. "Bye, my precious! I'll be seeing ya again real soon!" he snickered, waving at his cards through the wall as he left. "So... uh... He intends to... enter??" Illusi stammered, scratching his head.
Of course, setting up a massive tournament for the purpose of finding these chosen ones would not be a simple proposition. Illusi needed help to put it together. He also felt the need to collect the remaining two relics, which brought him to Col. Gunner's office. The Colonel was initially more interested in how Illusi even got into his office, and wasn't too concerned with his story about prophecies and chosen ones, but the mention of the other Chaos Relics caught his attention. Tenting his fingers as he sat at his desk, Gunner cracked a rare, and unsettling, smile. "So, you want to add the Chaos Claws that GUN recently acquired to your little prize pot, do you? I'd be careful with it, it tends to drive the wearer mad..." he snickered. Illusi seemed surprised by his response. "You'll give it over? Just like that?" he asked. Gunner nodded. "Not only that, I'll fund your little endeavor for you. Just so long as I can slip a few GUN entries in..." he grinned. Illusi shrugged. "Well, I've already made one unwitting deal with a devil..." he muttered. "Eh?" Gunner grunted. "Oh, nothing. Just keep in mind this is a totally open tournament. Even the devil himself could enter if he wanted." he stated. Gunner nodded and shook hands with the shrew. "Deal... We'll see those relics find their way into the right hands..." he said ominously.
With that, the tournament was announced within days, with ads for entry popping up on television and billboards throughout the nation. Gunner was sparing no expense already. Sonic learned about the tourney while watching a movie on TV at Amy's apartment, where Tails and Cream were hanging out, too. "Huh... Tournament for the Chaos Relics... That's gonna be a mess. Starting to regret letting that shrew take 'em." Sonic sighed. "WHAT?!" Amy gasped, prompting everyone to glance at her, "You mean you don't want to enter?" she asked. Sonic frowned. "Uh...no. It's a totally open tournament. Can you imagine the headlines- 'Sonic makes little kid cry in big tourney!' I just got on the media's good side again...in this country." he grumbled. Amy looked away and started whistling nonchalantly. "You already entered him, didn't you?" Tails sighed. "Not...just...him..." she admitted, "I thought it looked fun, so I entered myself, you, Cream, Knuckles, Blaze, Marine...and SPOT. I got carried away." she said. Cream fell out of her seat. "ME!? I don't even want a Chaos Relic thingy!" she gasped. "...Sorry..." Amy chuckled. Tails shrugged. "Oh well... Maybe she's right. Maybe it'll be...fun." he said uncertainly, "Anyway, I probably should enter. That shrew kinda asked me to give up my tailband as a prize..." he added.
Tails had given up his tailband willingly, but Copter wasn't as keen on adding his to the tournament's prize pot when Illusi came knocking at Darkegg Fortress. "It's mine! I've been taking good enough care of it! Go take Rainbow's Chaos Crystal instead!" he shouted, stomping past the female echidna's room. "Hey!" she shouted, peeking through the door. "Um... It is best the controller remain with its guardian." Illusi stated. "Thanks, Mousy!" Rainbow smiled, waving as he passed by. Copter kept walking away from Illusi, so the shrew ported in front of him with a burst of smoke! "Gak! Hm... I bet you won't be able to do that anymore once you give up your precious key, huh?" Copter grunted. Illusi nodded. "We all have to make sacrifices. We can't settle for 'good enough' with the fate of our world at stake. We need the true masters of the Chaos Relics... ALL of them. And you can't even work the tailband properly, can you?" he pointed out. "He turns invisible when he drinks milk for some reason!" Punchy shouted from around the corner. "Thanks, ONE!" Copter growled. Illusi held out his hand. "You can enter the tournament, Copter. Prove you are worthy for the tailbands...or another relic." he stated. Copter crossed his arms. "I don't want another relic... Can you imagine me in that doofy cape? Heck, I can already fly, so it'd be useless to me." he muttered. Gemini stepped out from around the corner and stood beside Illusi. "No more excuses, Copter. You know Illusi's right." she said. Copter looked around. "The walls must be paper thin in this dump..." he muttered, grudgingly handing the Chaos Tailband to Illusi. "...I feel naked without this thing..." he sighed.
With some time to allow for entries and preparation, the "Tournament of Chaos: Sponsored by GUN" was soon ready to commence! An impressive stadium had been built on the ruins of a few buildings in Troblusk City that criminals had wrecked, and both GUN forces and the police were on hand to ensure the event could take place without criminal interference...aside from criminals that had been allowed to enter, anyway. As Sonic and Tails approached the stadium, it seemed to them like literally everyone they knew - even as mere acquaintances - had turned out for the big tournament. They even noticed the Deadly Six taunting a few police with competitor badges, which meant they couldn't be "hassled", as Zazz put it. "Sheesh, I told ya this'd be a mess..." Sonic sighed. Omochao's voice came from the nearby stadium, and a giant screen on the outside came to life. "Here is the final list of all contestants for the Tournament of Chaos! It's crazy huge!" he announced at pictures filled a grid onscreen. Copter and Gemini were approaching at this point, too. "Okay, so...well, that's..." Copter muttered, his jaw dropping a little at the sheer scope of the tourney. All told, there were a solid one hundred competitors standing between him and his tailband. "This is your fault, Tails! If you hadn't given up your tailband, there'd be less pressure for me to give up mine!" he growled. Tails shrugged. "Like we REALLY need that power..." he muttered. Conan pushed past the foxes at that moment. "One side! Master of Chaos, coming through!" he growled. Copter glared at him and then back at Tails. "What if HE wins, huh? Think of that??" he pointed out. Gemini looked around nervously. "Not to mention Eggman. There's a bunch of his robots on that grid..." she pointed out. Just then, the screen switched to Illusi, who was wearing a spiffy tuxedo on top of his usual cape. "Attention, competitors! Round one will commence soon! This tournament is proceeding in a three-round structure...because GUN would only pay for so much." he said. "Stick to the script!" shouted Gunner from offscreen. "Competitors will be given a proper rundown of all tournament rules once they've been signed in. Round one is a battle round, where opponents shall be randomly selected! Which fifty competitors will move on to Round 2? I'm sure our audience can't wait to find out!" he announced. Sonic scratched his head. "Who's left to be the audience? Feels like everyone's competing!" he joked. Punchy and Rainbow then approached with a cadre of Chao following. "The Chao from Darkegg Fortress didn't want to catch this on TV. I hope they enjoy the cheap seats..." Punchy grumbled. A number of Egg Pawns were rushing by as well, clearly planning on attending as the audience. Additionally, some gargoyle mobsters from Troblusk City were sneaking over. "Hey, Sonic... Knock 'em dead, pal. I got three-to-one odds you win the whole thing." one of the gargoyles whispered. "You're gambling on this!?" Tails asked. "Shh! The pigs are right there, genius!" the gargoyle grunted. Sonic sighed. "Sorry I asked..."
Omochao sat up, a tiny robot on a grand podium, and prepared to address the crowd as they took their seats around the stadium, designed a bit like a boxing ring, but with more room for the battlers to maneuver. Gunner and Illusi stood beside the robot. "I still think I deserved to emcee this thing..." Gunner grumbled. "You can be a bit...intense." Illusi pointed out. "Attention everyone! Take your seats for the first round!" Omochao announced. "...And he has all the intensity of a sleeping kitten..." Gunner scoffed. As the gargoyle mob went about collecting bets just outside the entrance to the seats, one orange gargoyle tried to dissuade them. "Stop, brothers! Do we really want to be stereotyped as criminals?" he grumbled. "No one's stoppin' us, Rick." one of the mobsters grunted, "And it's hardly a bet. Sonic's a lock to win the whole thing!" he snickered. Sonic shrugged as he overheard this from his nearby seat. "I wouldn't know..." he said with an air of disinterest. "C'mon, Sonic! Catch the fever!!" said Knuckles as he passed by. "Round One is about to begin!" Omochao announced. "Yikes! That's my cue! Watch me wipe the floor with whoever I'm up against!" Knuckles said with a smirk as he hurried away. "Whew, glad that's not me..." said Tails from the seat next to Sonic.
"In the red corner, the muscle-flexing guardian who doesn't chuckle, give it up for Knuuuuuckles!!" Omochao announced as Knuckles strutted into the arena, waving to the excited crowd. "Boo!" shouted Punchy from the sidelines. "Aw, shut up!" Knuckles grunted. "And in the blue corner, the yellow blob, the sandwich-buster, ladies and gentlemen, it's Zomom!" Knuckles looked across the arena awkwardly as Omochao announced his opponent. A hulking yellow and black Zeti stuffing a huge sub sandwich into his gaping maw came lumbering towards him. He swallowed his snack and glanced at the echidna in front of him, ignoring the boos from the crowd. "Hmmm... You look like a pack of red-hot peppers... Man, I'm thirsty just lookin' at you!" he grumbled. "Ready, battlers?" Omochao announced, "Battle!!"
Zomom leapt high into the air, startling Knuckles, who fled hastily to avoid being crushed under the girthy Zeti! "Hold still, peppers! I'm gonna grind you into chili powder!" he shouted. Sonic stirred in his seat in reaction to that. "Maaan, now I want a chili dog..." he groaned. Knuckles hurled frenzied punches at the zeti while he struggled to stand back up after missing him, but those punches didn't seem to deter Zomom. "Stop that! Ooof... I knew I should wait a half hour after eating before fighting..." he groaned, lunging at Knuckles clumsily in an attempt to pin him to the ground. Knuckles jumped aside, and Zomom landed face-first on the ground. "Cramp! Cramp!! Mommiiiie!!" he whined as Knuckles scratched his head. "Um... Do you forfeit?" he wondered. A horn blared and Omochao declared Knuckles the winner as Zavok, the zeti leader, rolled his eyes from the sidelines. "That glutton is utterly useless..." he grumbled. "I'll win for ya, boss!" said an enthusiastic Zim, the diminutive blue zeti who escaped the Hopebringer Center in the jailbreak months before. "I won't hold my breath, squirt..." Zavok sighed, flicking him aside in irritation.
After a short break, the second random match-up began, which saw Storm the albatross take on Zipp the hornet. "You'd better win, Storm!" Jet shouted from the audience. "You'd better win, Zipp!" Vortex shouted similarly. The albatross chuckled. "A little bug? This a joke? I'm gonna squash you!" he shouted as he charged at Zipp, only to find that the hornet was a bit too fast for him to catch. "Hey, crowd, we got a lot of matches to get through. Mind if I end this fast?" he snickered, pointing a rather large-barreled weapon at Storm before firing a huge concussive blast in his direction, knocking him onto his back in a blackened KO! "Umm... Let me check the rules in my database a moment..." Omochao muttered, "Yep, that's legal! Weapons are allowed as long as not used in a lethal manner! Zipp wins!" Knuckles laughed from the sidelines. "I may fall for some dumb stuff, but even I wouldn't have let THAT happen to me!" he taunted. "You know he can't hear you, right?" muttered Rouge from next to him.
"In the red corner, the fiery ruler of the underworld...or just a guy with fire powers. It's Anubis!" The crowd was silent as the jackal strode into the arena. A few had a mind to boo him, but didn't feel it wise to antagonize the pyrokinetic agent of Despair. Anubis scanned the crowd for Basker the hound. "When I'm finished here, I'm coming to seek my revenge on you, red eye! You know where you are!" he shouted. "In the blue corner, the master of chaos, treasure hunter extraordinaire, it's Conan!" Omochao announced, prompting the raccoon to stride into the field amidst cheers from a surprising cadre of fans. Copter glared down at him from his seat. "Just try, Conan. You won't win my tailband!!" he growled. Katie the coyote, who was covering the event for SSTV news with her cameraman nearby, did an unprofessional bit of gagging at Conan's arrival herself. "Little inside scoop folks, this creep kidnapped yours truly once!" she grunted. Anubis scoffed at Conan as Omochao called for the match to begin. "What can you do without your precious sword, rodent?" he taunted, raising his hand to shoot a jet of flames at Conan! The raccoon jumped aside, holding on to his hat. "Some simple strategy is all this will take..." he stated, placing his hat flat on the ground, "Don't take your eyes off me..." he smirked, dashing away from the hat quickly. Anubis stared at the abandoned hat with a puzzled expression. "Your hat... This is some trickery... Minions of despair, investigate!" he growled, moving his hands over the ground to summon a group of his black mummies. While he was distracted, Conan swiftly kicked him across the back, and added a couple expertly thrown punches aimed at the same spot! Anubis fell over, growling. "I told you not to take your eyes off me..." the raccoon chuckled. "It matters not..." Anubis said as his body was cloaked in a protective layer of flames. "My minions will end you!" he snarled, making Conan back up nervously as the black mummies started towards him. "Foul!!" Omochao shouted, "There's one rule in this stage of the tourney: All matches are one-on-one! Anubis is disqualified!" he announced. Anubis growled angrily. "Very well... But you don't need all your limbs for the next round!" he growled, chasing after Conan as the raccoon fled the field. "It's always a shame when former allies can't get along." Copter snickered as he munched on some popcorn.
Most matches of round one were going by fairly quickly. Lucky the cat lived up to his name as his opponent turned out to simply be Agent Spizzweld, better known as Spy. A few cat scratches to the face were all it took to make Gunner's sniveling stooge cry uncle. "Remind me to dock his pay later..." Gunner growled to Sgt. Drol, who was watching from a private box with him. "Why couldn't I go up against that one Chao on the board!?" Spy whined as he left the arena. "The Chao would probably win, too!" Lucky snickered. The Chao in question was Char, who was currently in the audience visiting with the Chao from Darkegg Fortress that Punchy and Rainbow had brought along. "Hey, guys! Thanks for coming out! Hahaha!" Char chuckled, and gasped as he noticed two particular Chao in the group. "Chip! Chuck! It's been ages!" he said, rushing to the only other Chao in the group that could speak. "Hey, big brother. We miss you back home." Chip said. "Where have you been all this time, little bro?" Chuck asked. Char rubbed his head. "Ummm, well, I've been traveling the world with Dr. Eggman. It's fun. You guys should come!" he suggested. "...We're nervous just coming out here..." Chip shrugged.
Another quick match stunned the crowd as Lospecter made his tournament debut. "Hey! Shocked gasps! Terrified squeaks! Where's the screams? Well, I'm glad you all came out to watch Lospecter's Quiz Mania!" he waved as Gunner groaned, calling up Illusi from his private box. "When you said to allow anyone enter this thing, I'd hoped you were exaggerating!" he growled. "He extorted me... You know what that's like, right?" Illusi said snidely. Lospecter's opponent turned out to be Orbot, who Char and the Egg Pawns eagerly clapped for. "Thank you, thank you..." he said, taking a bow, "...Did that ghost say 'Quiz?' This ought to be simple!" he said eagerly. Lospecter smirked. "More of a riddle... How much is pie multiplied by 2?" he smirked. Orbot nodded. "Calculating.... 6.2831..." he began, when Lospecter stopped him. "Incorrect! You're waaaay off..." he snickered. "What? No I'm not! Your math is wrong!" Orbot shouted. Lospecter smirked. "The answer is... two pies." In reaction to this trickery, Orbot started to spark a little around the eyes. "Logic error... Physical objects are not numbers... The question was faulty... ERROR!!" he yelled before collapsing in a heap! Cubot ran out onto the field to fetch him. "He told me having my logic processor removed was stupid! Well, who's laughing now, glitchy!" he said, carrying Orbot out of the arena. Sonic yawned in his seat. "That counts as a fight? No one said there'd be math!" he groaned. "I know, right? This tournament has it all!" Tails said with unsettling enthusiasm.
Omochao looked at the tournament chart curiously. "Seriously? Well, okay..." he muttered, "In the red corner, a mysterious alien who arrived from deep space! Her home planet's in ruins, so she decided to make a home here... Her name is Cosmo!!" A being with plantlike hair and a dress resembling large flower petals stepped into the arena, holding what appeared to be a laser pistol. Tails couldn't seem to take his eyes off her once she took the field- if Cream hadn't been seated elsewhere, she might have felt jealous like she'd been with Marine again. "Huh? ...Earth to Tails..." Sonic muttered, waving a hand in front of his face. "Huh? Er, h-here..." he mumbled, handing Sonic the popcorn hastily. Sonic shrugged and looked out at the arena. "To each their own, I guess..." he mumbled. "Aaaand in the blue corner... The dread Experiment 3! The shapeshifting terror! It's... also named Kosmo!" The purple-furred, yellow eyed morph strode onto the field amidst a roar of boos and jeers. "Next time someone plots to end all life, maybe I'll let them..." the morph grumbled disgruntledly. As the match started, Cosmo fired her laser in an attempt to stun Kosmo into submission quickly. Stepping aside, Kosmo morphed into the shape of his opponent, chuckling girlishly. "This might be confusing to the audience, but I want to keep this fight as fair as possible..." he smirked, lunging at the stunned alien and quickly knocking her laser away! The pair began to engage in hand-to-hand combat, which was tricky to follow with identical opponents, and Omochao's play-by-play wasn't helping with their identical-sounding names. "Cosmo delivers a sound left jab! Oooh, but Cosmo counters with a brutal uppercut! Now here comes Cosmo... And there goes Cosmo... This match is CRAZY people! And the winner is Cosmo! Who'd have thunk it?!" One of the two Cosmos had been KO'ed. The audience leaned in to see which it was. She stepped away with a chuckle, and the crowd roared for the stunning upset victory. Then, she morphed back into Kosmo, and the crowd burst into betrayed boos. "Hypocrites! You know you enjoyed that match!" Kosmo growled as he stomped into the shadows.
The next match saw Fred the fennec taking on Chet the cheetah. "Go for it, Chet! That's my boyfriend, viewers!" Katie said excitedly in another fit of unprofessionalism in front of the camera. Gemini watched Fred from her seat and crossed her arms. "Hypocrite! Lecturing me about messing with the timeline!" she grumbled. "The what?" Copter said from the seat next to her. "Must you listen in on my private conversations with myself!?" she retorted. Chet looked at his opponent awkwardly. "You're a man of the cloth... I won't fight you." he said. Fred held up his wand. "I'm more of a temp with the church... Not an actual holy man..." he said, "But if you insist... Stiffiam!" he shouted, casting a spell over the area around Chet. He attempted to run away, and started to move fast, but it was a wide-area spell, and the cheetah froze in mid-run, as though frozen in time! "...Does that count as a win?" Fred asked. Omochao was jumping up and down in frustration. "There's nothing in the rule book about magic!! If you let him out of that spell, I'll award you the victory!" he groaned. With a flick of his wand, Fred released Chet, who fell flat on his face. "Are you...kidding me..." the cheetah groaned.
"In the red corner, a fiery feline princess from another world, Blaze! And in the blue corner, it's no use escaping the psychic grip of Silver!" It was a match no one had seen coming. Certainly not the competitors. These good friends, rumored to perhaps be even more, now forced to fight one another. They both looked uneasy as they entered the arena. "...No, I can't do this..." Silver sighed, "Blaze! I'm going to give you an honorable match! So I'm not using my powers!" he decided. Blaze was taken aback. "What? That's crazy! Well, then I'm not using mine!" she snapped. "If this devolves into a game of rock-paper-scissors, I'm outta here!" Knuckles jeered from the crowd. No, they had to battle, so Blaze and Silver charged ahead and gave each other their best, power-free shot! Silver wasn't much without his powers, though, while Blaze was still pretty quick and agile. Every punch he threw, every kick he attempted, Blaze was able to outmaneuver him, and turn his attack against him. It still didn't seem quite fair, so Blaze started to deliberately slow up, letting Silver land a few punches. She allowed him to kick her to the ground, but he wasn't stupid. "Blaze, get up! You're letting me win!" he panted. Blaze leaned up, gritting her teeth. "Well... you were losing, just because you had to be noble and fight without powers! With your powers, we both know you have the advantage!" she snapped. "...And without powers, you clearly have the upper hand..." Silver conceded. Blaze shook her head. "That's not what it looks like to the crowd right now. If you pin me, you can move on. You have a better chance of winning the whole thing, anyway." she told him. "No, I don't... You just don't want to hurt me..." he said, cracking a light smile, "You're sweet that way..." he told her before throwing himself onto his back hard! "S-silver??" Blaze stammered, getting up to see what he was doing. "I forfeit!!" Silver shouted, making Blaze's victory official. The cat ran over to him and pulled him up angrily. "Why did you do that?" she asked. "Because you beat me, fair and square. I couldn't hit you without my powers. And also... I want to see you win the whole thing." he said with a blush. Blushing back, Blaze helped him up and walked him off the arena, while the crowd couldn't help but go "Awwww" watching them.
"Those were some crazy matches so far!" Omochao announced, "We're gonna take a little intermission now, but be sure to come back to see the rest of round 1 of the Tournament of Chaos: Sponsored by GUN!" Who would make it to round 2? Who would win the whole tournament? The answers to come...
To be continued...
