Sonic Runaways

Team Search & Smash were leading a robotic siege on Sparkling Spire, a tower which was full of seltzer water. It was on the southern side of the Mother's Canyon arena. "We're almost to the top! Keep moving!" Coconuts exclaimed, sticking to the side of the spire to dance around getting splashed off by Team Hooligan, who had complete control of the top floor. While Bean dropped water balloons onto the rabble down below, Nack manned the hose cannons. It was an all-out water war against the Carbonated Castle residing by the east side of the arena.

"I'm not sure this is a good idea," Grounder mumbled, trying not to slip off the ramp encircling the tower. "We're robots, we aren't cut out for this! All it takes is a single shot, and we'll be washed."

"That's why we made truces with these LESSER-bots," Scratch hissed, looking back to the Metal Fighters and Badniks behind them. "Eggman uses these guys as cannon fodder all the time, They'll take out those Hooligans no problem! Ba-ha-hahaaa!" As the bots crept up the tower, Bark the Polar Bear kept a close eye on them. He then slammed his fists onto the tower so hard that they fell right off…!

… Almost taking Nack and Bean down with them.

SPLASH! Big's fishing line landed in a seltzer water tank, one of the many fueling the bottle tower in the center. As many contestants around the cat were hosed down, Cream and Cheese approached Big, overlooking a steep drop into the tank below.

"Mr. Big!" Cream exclaimed sheepishly. "Are you going to try and play?" Big reeled in a screeching, toothy alien fish. Before it could bite him, he slammed it onto the ground with his pole.

"No, this game is scary," Big said, gazing at the emotionally stunned fish. Cream ducked and pulled her ears under a water balloon as it nearly splashed her. It flew right past Big. Cheese looked over the edge, the balloon plummeted into the canyon below. The canyon was flooded with odd purple ooze… it almost seemed to be seeping into the seltzer tank.

"Omega, quit it with that water gun and start using bullets!" Iron Queen shouted at her robotic teammate, atop Carbonated Castle. Omega tossed the water gun over to Iron Queen. She began filling the gun with water, before firing at the GUN Mech giving Knuckles trouble. The water seared the mech's windshield, and the pilot flew off to higher ground. "Huh… what is this, a power washer? I don't know if this is safe to use on other people. Oh well. Keep the walls secure, echidna!"

"Do not concern yourself with the safety of our opponents. Rouge wanted one of us using the water weapons," Omega replied as he shot at Sparkling Spire.

"Speaking of which, where did Rouge go?" Iron Queen asked. Looking all around, her eyes eventually landed on a floating cyan crystal. "What is that thing?!" Iron Queen was knocked back as a beam of light reflected off of the crystal and into her. She was then slammed through the floor by a cube. Omega turned to see a hole in the roof where she once stood.

"Regina?" Omega asked.

"Here, I'm here," Iron Queen whispered, pulling herself up from the edge of the castle. She looked all washed-out. Her colors muted. "Phew… look out, tin-man. Looks like we have an interloper on our hands." Iron Queen looked to a shadowy figure over on the treetops, her own face contorted into a stitched smile.

"Scanning…" Omega muttered, looking in the same direction Iron Queen was. "Wisp-based projectile weapon detected. The build differs from the standard Wispons used during the war, but surely you can control it with your Magitek?"

"She's out of range," Iron Queen growled with a strange bubbly echo. "Excuse the milk-voice. I got a little bit of… water in my mouth…" Iron Queen laughed. Omega began firing wildly at the trees, ripping the florets into atoms. Iron Queen looked down at Knuckles far below, before spraying him. The water corroded the wall, sending him into freefall!

Knuckles punched the wall again with his right hand to try and catch himself on the way down, but he couldn't puncture the stone. Instead, he had knocked himself further from the wall. Looking to his fist, his once sharp knuckles had been turned to nubs by the liquid. Before he could feel the pain, he glided forward and punched with his left arm. His left knuckles tore a huge opening in the castle on his way down. Like rail-grinding, he wove in between ninja stars, bullets, rocket arms, polluted water, personality-nabbing stares, and… Sonic?!

"Watch it, Sonic! I have my hands full!" Knuckles yelled, brick and metal flying off the edge of the castle. Sonic hopped off the wall and stomped through a line of seahorse-based Soap Bubble Badniks, before landing on the ground unharmed. Knuckles held onto his own hand as he kicked off of the wall.

"Whoa, you good?" Sonic asked, glancing at Knuckles' dull, bubbling knuckles. "What did they put in that water?!"

"I figured you'd know, murderer," Knuckles hissed in pain. He then punched Sonic, purple ooze flecking from his hand. "Why'd you kill Shadow?!" Sonic was sent flying back. If that had been Knuckles' good hand…

"What? I didn't do that!" Sonic exclaimed, scratching to a stop on his spines. He dodged a barrage of incoming knuckle sandwiches. "I can't control what my teammates do, and…" He then Spinballed into Knuckles, shoving him into the side of Sparkling Spire. "... And Shadow will be fine. I know it!"

"STRAIGHT from the horse's MOUTH! I was sure you were working with that spider-lady!" Knuckles shouted, beating Sonic into the dirt even more. Sonic began spinning in place, scratching Knuckles' glove. "Hold still!" Sonic's shoe collided with Knuckles' fist, causing a shockwave that sent both flying in opposite directions. Before Sonic could go too far, Knuckles snatched him by the arm. The shockwave reversed and collapsed in on itself in a blinding flash, followed by the sound of an implosion. The two floated in stasis for just over a second, before Knuckles' momentum and strength pulled them both back with three times the force of a black hole. They crashed through trees and boulders, not showing any signs of stopping. 

The blue and red objects in motion grappled midair, punching and headbutting each other while orbiting around Planet Wisp. With each rotation, Knuckles caught glimpses of a lake up ahead. This was his chance to eliminate Sonic. He put an elbow to Sonic's neck, and… slammed him right into the mountainside next to the lake. "Shadow was our friend. Even if he wasn't the real one, like Omega said, why would you get him killed? Just so you could WIN?!" Knuckles shouted, as Sonic tried to catch his breath. Knuckles shoved Sonic deeper into the rock wall.

Sonic coughed up dust and spat out strands of his gums. He looked down at Knuckles with a black eye. "I dunno… why WOULD I?" Sonic grunted. Knuckles' furious expression faltered. He dropped the hedgehog to the floor. Sonic got up by his hands and knees "I didn't call for Penumbra to attack Shadow. You have to trust me." Knuckles slowly lowered his fists, growling. "You could've gotten me eliminated. If you threw me into that pond, I'd get soaked and lose. Why didn't you?"

"I don't care about winning!" Knuckles barked, pulling a wooden branch out of his forearm and wedging it into its own tree. "In fact, I can't afford to let you lose! There's something super messed up about Dodon Pa, and this whole tournament. They don't care who gets hurt, as long as they can make content out of it! We need to stick together if we want to get to the bottom of this and save the day." Sonic stared off at the lake's waves, mouth agape.

"Maybe if I didn't join this stupid game, Shadow would still be around," the blue hedgehog sighed. "I should just quit before anyone else gets hurt."

"Nonsense. We need to gather the others and convince them to team up. Maybe if we all work together, we can figure out how to stop the games," Knuckles groaned. "We're friends. We'll only get through this by sticking with each other."

"Attention, contestants!" Dodon Pa's voice said over the intercom. "Our systems have detected out-of-bounds activity. Two of you have exited the arena, and are exploring the outskirts of Planet Wisp! This is VERY against the rules of the game. Please return immediately to avoid elimination. Your team will receive a penalty."

"Drat… that's us," Knuckles sighed. "Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away."

"It's easy to get sidetracked when I'm having so much fun," Sonic laughed, fist bumping Knuckles as the two trekked back to Mother's Canyon. The smile on his face fell as he heard ambulance sirens coming from the arena.