Sonic seems to have successfully tamed his new Werehog form, and the Freedom Fighters have survived Eggman's latest attacks, at the cost of one Chaos Emerald. Now, both parties venture to Casino Park for the 5th [green] Emerald.
Held as a prize for the upcoming Chaos Emerald Championship fighting tournament, they each send their best combatants to reach for the top.
One question remains, however: What could Breezie the Hedgehog, the host of the event and a figure from Sonic, Tails, and Eggman's past, hope to gain by making them compete for a key to saving or conquering the planet?
Tropes:
- Adaptation Amalgamation: The storyline is a more "lower-stakes" version of Sonic the Fighters, with all of the playable characters featured note . Only one Chaos Emerald is on the line instead of the 7 or game's 8 total, and features cameos from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sega's IPs. Eggman and Metal Sonic have a bit of involvement like the arcade game but the doctor does not have a "Death Egg II".
- Most of Breezie's flashback, focusing on her first involvement with Sonic, is a loose adaptation of the AoStH episode "Lovesick Sonic". They don't have feelings for each other, but Sonic agrees to help her while rescuing Tails before learning it was a trap. The Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad are also featured in past and present. Tails' abduction and Sonic's battles are based on the Master System and Game Gear versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
- Adaptational Species Change: While Breezie is still a hedgehog like in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, she is no longer an android in a Jessica Rabbit-style outfit, but an organic being.
- And the Adventure Continues: After the tournament is finished, the heroes obtain the green Chaos Emerald and continue their journey to save the world. Sally gets a call from Father Gregarios of Apotos, with a message that he has information that can help them put an end to the Shattered World Crisis for good.
- Artificial Outdoors Display: Holographic technology allows for the stadium ring to display various scenic venues, all based on stages from Sonic the Fighters. For example, Tails and Honey fight in a similated cruise ship, with Honey psyching out Tails with a 'rogue wave' before knocking him out of the ring.
- The Bet: In Part 3, Razor stakes his clams with those from his fellow Meropians to see who wins each match on the surface. He wins against Captain Striker and King Puff, but loses against little Pearly.
- Big Damn Hero: Sonic and Knuckles' final match is put on hold when Metal Sonic arrives to steal the Chaos Emerald. He decides to ignore a fight with the real Sonic and escape with it, but Tails incercepts to take it back. Eggman orders Metal to retreat so they can make a headstart for the next Emerald.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Sonic at least considers about Rotor's idea to steal the Chaos Emerald in the middle of the tournament, but Sally and Amy shoot it down immediately. Sure, it's to save their world, which is more important than some competition, but Sally believes they need to set an example that they are not above the law. Plus, they would definitely be on Breezie's bad side later if they follow through it, regardless of who the hedgehog aligns herself with.
- Brick Joke: Tails tells Honey that the Freedom Fighters promoting her fashion brand can be difficult because most of them don't wear much clothes, especially the guys. Honey simply says he can "accessorize", and gets him to wear a large bowtie, with an 'H' at the center, after his loss against her.
- The Bus Came Back: Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts of the Super Special Sonic Search & Smash Squad (referred to as 'S6 Squad' later on for simplicity's sake) appear for the first time since the Cosmic Retcon. While they started out as Robotnik/Eggman's Elite Mooks created specifically to hunt down Sonic. In the old universe, they eventually became Mammoth Mogul's assistants at his casino. They debut here under Breezie in similar roles.
- Bluff the Imposter: In one of Breezie's flashbacks, Eggman brings Breezie in to show his generosity by giving her all of Casino Park... which is a dead giveaway to Breezie that this Eggman is an imposter. She calls him out on it as the real Eggman is hardly this nice. The imposter reveals himself as [Neo] Metal Sonic, who had his own personal agenda towards both Eggman and Sonic at the time.
- Call-Back:
- Bunnie hasn't forgotten how Eggman essentially kicked the Freedom Fighters' butts last arc and take the blue Chaos Emerald they were after. She hoped that taking part in the tournament will make up for the loss, but Sally announces that the entry spots have already filled, with only Sonic, Tails, and Amy added.
- Sonic calls out Sally for using her father's money for trying to buy the Emerald off of Breezie. He then mentions she paid the Chaotix after Knuckles delivered the red Emrald on their behalf after The Great Chaotix Caper arc in Sonic Universe.
- The Cameo:
- Wes Weasley from AoStH serves as a commentator for the tournament.
- Segata Sanshiro, a famous spokesman character for the Sega Saturn console, is one of Sonic's opponents.
- Similar to Honey before she became a Cat in Sonic the Fighters, Jane from Fighting Vipers appears here as a female warthog.
- The Chessmaster: Breezie is well aware that Sonic and Eggman's teams will discover her possession of the green Chaos Emerald and race to Casino Park to get it. As such, she pulls a lot of strings to ensure they have no choice but to play by her rules and take part in her tournament. She immediately invites Sonic and Tails because of her past with them, and even brings in Amy Rose for good measure, allowing the remaining entires to fill so none of the other Freedom Fighters are involved. She later shoots down Eggman's threats and bribes becuase he has no manpower to back them up and can't afford to buy Emerald off her anyway, but allows the Hooligans to take part in his name.
- After Sonic pushes Breezie to move his matches to daytime, saying that he plans to drop out if she doesn't, it is discussed between Sonic and Espio that she revamped the tournament bracket so Sonic and his friends face each other (same with the Hooligans) instead of random combatants. Even if that's not out of spite, Espio mentions that this may be her way of making the event more "entertaining".
- During the final match between Sonic and Knuckles, Metal Sonic arrives to get the Emerald shortly after the Hoologans destroy the generator powering the stadium and security systems. To Metal's, and later Honey's, surprise, there are no reprogrammed Badniks or staff to stop him and the vault is mysteriously left open. Even after the heroes stop him, Honey believes that Breezie allowed all this to happen. Breezie doesn't really deny it, but she only says that the circumstances gained everyone's attention to the airwaves, making her tournament event more than a success.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- It is implied that Sonic and Amy are able to easily beat Segata Sanshiro and Jane, respectively.
- Knuckles gets the drop on Amy while she is distracted at the start of their match, knocking her right out of the ring.
- Knuckles defeats Nack with zero effort in the Semifinals after Nack makes the mistake of taunting him.
- Curb-Stomp Cushion: Though he was allowed to use his guns, Nack is still outmatched by Bean. He does manage to win by dropkicking Bean in the face.
- Denser and Wackier: After several intense stories focusing around shattered planet, an alien invasion, monster attacks, and Sonic's first Werehog transformation, we are given a bit of lighthearted fun in the form of a cartoonish Tournament Arc.
- Early-Bird Cameo: A purple fish girl with a water-spouting umbrella is seen watching Sonic and Knuckle's final match. She would be officially be revealed as Princess Undina, King Puff and Queen Angelica's daughter mentioned back in the "Waves of Change" arc. However, she would make other small cameos before playing a big role in "The Case of the Pirate Princess", Sonic Universe's final arc before cancelation.
- How We Got Here: When Sonic wonders how Breezie got her hands on the Chaos Emerald, a flashback reveals that Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts found it together. After a few suggestions, Breezie combines them to make her tournament for popularity and profit.
- Internal Reveal: Because this is Chip's first time meeting Sonic in this incarnation, he and Knuckles are shocked about Sonic's Werehog form after the tournament.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When Eggman threatens to attack Casino Park if Breezie doesn't surrender the Chaos Emerald, Breezie counters that he doesn't have the manpower to make good on his threat. She is aware he is scrambling all of his forces to secure territory throughout the shattered planet.
- Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Breezie does this twofold for her tournament:
- As she explains to Eggman, with the world currently as it is, the people will do anything for a distraction. She banks on this moment of desperation as the tournament they pay to watch is one massive ratings boost for her media empire, especially when heroes and celebrities are headlining the event. She even uses the Panem et Circenses phrase ad verbatim.
- When Scratch reports that someone [Espio] had hacked into the systems to switch an official entrant with an unregistered person, she expects him to fix it since he is in charge of security. He then shows her the name of the person in question, which convinces her to keep them on in hopes of even bigger ratings. The person placed in the event? Knuckles. Even Espio is surprised she would allow this when he only did it because Knux was present at the time.
- Mysterious Past: Pieces of Breezie's past and Rags to Riches story are shown throughout the arc. She is implied to have been orphaned and/or homeless, living off scraps before she became Eggman's flunky to lure Sonic into a one of his traps. Years later, Neo Metal Sonic, disguised as Eggman, hands her all of Casino Park to do as she pleases, allowing her to run it as part of her rising Breezie Media empire. Not much else about her is revealed
- Mythology Gag:
- Honey the Cat originated as a human character in Fighting Vipers with a fashionista background and same name (though it was changed to "Candy" in the US version). The cat version in Sonic the Fighters would share the same dress. She was initially
Dummied Out in the original Arcade version until it was ported to consoles. - Honey mentions that Amy's red dress belonged to her old "Dream-Casters" line and offers to relaunch it as part of an upcoming "Rose Collection". Amy's modern look was first seen in Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 on the Sega Dreamcast.
- Wes mentions two companies as sponsors for the tournament, that appeared in the games:
- HEXAeco, which promotes eco-friendly energy throughout Grand Metropolis in Sonic Heroes.
- MeteorTech, a Security Company in Sonic Riders secretly ran by Dr. Eggman that is supposedly under "new, non-evil management".
- Honey the Cat originated as a human character in Fighting Vipers with a fashionista background and same name (though it was changed to "Candy" in the US version). The cat version in Sonic the Fighters would share the same dress. She was initially
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Eggman decides to call off Metal Sonic's search for information regarding the Gaia Temples and summon him to Casino Park for a backup plan to steal Breezie's Emerald. He was last seen shaking down a priest in Apotos before leaving. Believing that Eggman's robot and the planetary crisis are connected, the priest plans to "break tradition" to warn his colleagues about what happened. This plays a crucial role for the Freedom Fighters after the end of the arc.
- Oh, Crap!: Following the tournament, Honey confronts Breezie on everything that occured, boiling down to this question: "Why did she use the Chaos Emerald as a prize in the first place when the Freedom Fighters and Eggman Empire are fighting for it?" After Breezie explains herself, as described above, Honey leaves with a worried look on her face, seeing just how manipulative Eggman's former protege can be.
- On One Condition:
- Sonic agrees to take part in Breezie's tournament, on the condition that his matches are scheduled strictly for daytime (so his Werehog curse isn't exposed). It takes a bit of convincing for Breezie to cooperate, though she's not entirely happy about it.
- After Honey learns that the Freedom Fighters are entering the tournament to add another Emerald to the set and repair the world, she agrees to help and even promises to give it to them if she wins. As she is only participating to promote her clothing brand, she only asks that they help her with this in the future. Tails protests that most of them don't wear much clothes, but she counters that they can simply wear accessories.
- Eggman contacts the Hooligans about a "Plan B", which is to steal the Emerald in the event they are all eliminated from the tournament. Nack is already forced to do this for free after failing to get the one from Pumpkin Hill, but charges Eggman for breaking into a secure area where it is held, which is understandably a separate task.
- Properly Paranoid: Rotor's idea to just take the Chaos Emerald during the tournament is shot down immediately, but Tails believes Eggman will try something similar. Unsurprisingly, he does after all of Team Hooligans is eliminated from the tournament.
- Stumbled Into the Plot: Knuckles wasn't interested in taking part in the tournament, since he still needs to repair the Master Emerald after preventing Eclipse from getting it, but Chip convinces him to take part since the Chaos Emeralds as a whole are keys to restoring the planet.
- Suddenly Shouting: Little Cream is nervous in watching Tails and Honey fight. Then, she (with Cheese) grows furious when Honey tricks Tails and knocks him out of the ring.Cream: THAT'S CHEATING!!!
- Throwing the Fight:
- Honey offers to forfeit against Sonic in the semifinals since saving the world is more important than promoting her clothing line, but Sonic convinces her to stick around to the end.
- After Knuckles tells Sonic about how he is finding the Master Emerald shards again, Sonic offers to forfeit the final match so he can focus on his mission. Knuckles prefers to finish the event, since Angel Island is still airborne thanks to the Shattered World Crisis.
- Tournament Arc: The four-issue arc features a big tournament with the green Chaos Emerald on the line. Freedom Fighters Sonic, Tails, and Amy are invited by Breezie, who also allows Team Hooligans' Nack, Bean, and Bark to join representating Eggman. Chaotix's Espio enters himself while hacking the bracket so Knuckles is included. Fashion diva Honey the Cat takes part as well to promote her clothing brand but agrees to help the Freedom Fighters win the Emerald.
- Troll: Bean does this to Espio to take him out of the ring during their match, pretending they never met in order to antagonize him enough to trip him over. He manages to win without throwing a single punch (or a single bomb)!
- The Unreveal:
- Due to the arc's pacing and focus on the main characters, we never see or learn the identities of other tourney participants.
- After the heroes prevent Metal Sonic from stealing the Emerald, it is never shown if the final match between Sonic and Knuckles resumed or who won after.
- The Whole World Is Watching: Many affiliates of both the Freedom Fighters and Eggman Empire, familiar and new, are seen watching and reacting to the tournament throughout the story. Breezie knows that most people are miserable right now, so this is a matter of escapism.
- Worth It: Sonic fights both Segata Sanshiro and Honey. Despite losing to the hedgehog, they are honored to have faced such a legendary hero.
- Xanatos Gambit: Breezie's tournament is set in a way that she capitalizes on the event and everything around it, regardless how it ends, so it doesn't matter who gets the green Chaos Emerald. The tournament rakes in enough money and views to make it the biggest televised event to date. Breezie tells Honey after the tournament that this now makes her net worth equal to "half the planet" note .
