Chapter 5 - Ski Shooting Star Cup

2BIT & GeneX at the Olympic Winter Games
Chapter 5 - Ski Shooting Star Cup

Notes: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
Super Mario characters are (c) Nintendo. I'm sure you knew that, too.
GeneX, its related fancharacters, and other original characters in this story are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator).

The story thus far:
Upon reaching Sparkleton, Copter & co encountered the princesses of the Mushroom Kingdom, who were soon captured by Dry Bowser. After defeating Dry Bowser, Copter obtained a Power Star, and Rosalina requested that they keep an eye out for more Power Stars. They also found a Chaos Emerald in town, but it was soon stolen by 2BIT's dark side, 8BIT. As the group began searching for more powerful objects, Copter soon found Dr. Spizzy and Sable searching for another Orb. With help from Gator, and despite Guard's interference, Copter and Shadow managed to obtain the Orb of Electricity. Now the group is on the trail of a Power Star, led by a friendly fox named Hunter.
Now, on to the next chapter!


Hunter led Copter, Punchy, Rainbow, and 2BIT through Sparkleton. As they began to get close to their destination, the area seemed to grow increasingly more crowded. The crowd was gathering around a signboard near a ski lift. "We're here..." Hunter said at last. Copter looked past the crowd of Toads, Chao, and penguins and tried to read the sign. "What's this crowd so excited about? What does that sign say?" he wondered. "Something about the Power Star. I don't remember what it said, though..." Hunter explained. Rainbow looked around at the people in the crowd and soon spotted someone. "Hey, look!" she said, pointing. Dog was standing among the crowd, toward the back. He was accompanied by a blue dinosaur, specifically, a Yoshi. It was an unusual Yoshi, because it had white wings on its head, positioned like ears! 2BIT called out to them. "Hey! Dog! Wings! Over here!" he shouted. Seeing 2BIT, Dog and the blue Yoshi pushed their way out of the crowd. "Hey, guys! You wouldn't happen to know what all these folks are lined up for, would ya?" Dog asked. "Something to do with a Power Star." Hunter said. Dog dropped down on all fours to face Hunter more directly. "Well! Another normal-ish animal! Nice to meet you!" he said. Copter looked at the blue Yoshi and raised an eyebrow. "What in the heck are you?" he asked. The blue Yoshi backed away shyly. "Uh... My name... is Wings. I'm a Yoshi." he said. 2BIT explained further. "Wings is unusual because he was born with wings on his head. He was always a misfit, and shy. So he and Dog were fast friends." he said. Dog looked at 2BIT quizzically. "Just what are you implying?" he wondered. Just then, a green Yoshi made his way out of the crowd. He started scanning the horizon, as though looking for something. "I guess that would be a normal Yoshi." Punchy realized. Copter glanced where Yoshi was looking and then back at Yoshi. "What's up with him? Hey! What're you looking for?" he asked. The Yoshi walked up to him and started speaking. "Yoshi, yoshi. Yoshi!" Copter and Punchy stared at Yoshi in confusion. "What?" Punchy muttered. Wings walked over to them. "It's OK. I speak Yoshi, too. He said he's looking for the place to sign up for the... Ski Shooting... Star Cup." he explained. Copter just looked more confused. "You got all that out of 'Yoshi, yoshi, yoshi!?'" he said. Yoshi jumped and pointed at a tent nearby. "Yoshi! Yoshi!" he said excitedly before running off. "Looks like he found it..." Wings explained. Hunter looked thoughtful. "Ski Shooting Star Cup... That's it! They're giving away the Power Star as a prize in a Dream Biathlon challenge!" he remembered. 2BIT pointed at Yoshi and motioned for everyone to follow him. "What're we waiting for? Follow that Yoshi!" he shouted.

News Brief! > Wings' tiny wings are quite strong, and can not only fly him around, but passengers riding on his back as well.

As they made their way to the tent to sign up for the Star Cup, they passed some more familiar faces. "What's your hurry, experiments?" Copter and Punchy stopped to find Bucky and Team GeneX catching up to them. Zipp was missing from the group. "I knew we'd run into each other again soon." Bucky said. Copter grinned and pointed at 2BIT, who had stopped along with the others to see what was going on. "Hey, Bucky, this guy says HE created us. What do you think about that?" he said. Bucky glanced over at 2BIT and shrugged. "Claim what you want, boy. But you certainly don't look like any sort of doctor." he said. 2BIT looked frustrated. "That's not what I meant when I said... Ugh, never mind..." he grumbled. "Hey, where's that psycho, Zipp?" Punchy wondered. Vortex and Crash pointed at the tent. "Sssshooting. He can't resssissst ssssuch thingssss." Vortex hissed. "I'd think twice about entering against him. He's bound to start shooting his opponents instead of the targets." Crash warned. Dog, Hunter, and Wings looked worried. "Uh... I'm out..." Dog decided. "Lucky for me, I can't even ski or shoot." Hunter added. Punchy scoffed at this development. "Bah, I'm not afraid of Zipp! I'll enter this thing, and I'll win!" he declared. Copter put an encouraging hand on Punchy's shoulder. "Good, 'cuz it's your turn. Go get 'em, hawkeye!" he said. Punchy nodded and started running for the tent, while everyone else followed. Inside the tent, they found Yoshi and Zipp standing by the desk to sign up. Yoshi was holding some skis, while Zipp was pointing his biathlon rifle around. He aimed it at Copter as he entered the room. "Feeling lucky?" he grinned. Copter pointed at Punchy. "Point it at him, he's your competition!" he said. Punchy walked up to the desk, where a turtle in a smiling cloud was talking to someone who resembled Sonic. The turtle, a Lakitu, typed something up on a computer at the desk. "OK, you're all signed up Son... I mean, Spiny!" he said, quickly correcting his mistake. Spiny turned around and spotted his fellow experiments in the room. "Great, some competition. I was beginning to worry this would be too easy." he grinned. Wings smiled and waved at Spiny. "Hey, Sonic! I was hoping I'd get to meet you!" he said. Spiny clenched his teeth and raised his fists. "If one more person calls me Sonic, I'm going to start breaking stuff! I am Spiny, NOT Sonic!" he yelled. While he was yelling, Punchy signed up for the Ski Shooting Star Cup. "OK, Punchy, you're our last contestant!" Lakitu announced, "Now, all contestants prepare yourselves and meet at the top of the Ski Shooting slope!" Zipp, Yoshi, and Team GeneX hurried out of the tent, with Spiny close behind them. "See you soon, number one! I look forward to mopping the floor with you and the other dinosaurs among the competition!" he said. Punchy glared at Spiny. "Bring it on, blue bozo!" he yelled. Dog smirked at this. "Well, this oughta be good. Let's go!"

The contestants and spectators gathered at the top of the slope used for the Ski Shooting event. As Punchy, Zipp, Yoshi, and Spiny assembled at the starting area, Lakitu hovered in front of them to explain the rules. "This is a normal Ski Shooting match, but some of you may not be familiar with this event. There are four rounds. First, you will ski down to the site of round 1. Once all of you are present, you will be tasked with shooting a number of targets, both red and blue. Your score is multiplied if you hit the same color targets several times. This point system applies to all rounds, and your scores will be announced at the end of each round. Round 1 consists of mostly stationary targets. Once round 1 ends, you ski to the site of round 2, which features moving targets. For round 3, you will find targets as you ski towards the site of round 4, and must shoot while skiing. Finally, round 4 will have more moving targets, and you will be tasked with maintaining concentration while a robot provided by Dr. Eggman attempts to distract you. The contestant with the highest overall score wins the contest, and will be awarded a Power Star! Since this is not an official Olympic event, no medals will be given out. So, only the winner gets a prize. Are there any questions?" While Zipp and Spiny began asking Lakitu stupid questions regarding what constitutes "cheating," Copter, Rainbow and Hunter approached Punchy. "Good luck out there!" Hunter said. "I'll be rooting for you, One!" Rainbow added. "Thanks, guys..." Punchy said, "Hey, where are the others?" 2BIT, Dog, and Wings were busy wishing Yoshi luck. "I guess they're not huge fans of you, Punch." Copter joked. However, 2BIT came to see Punchy next. "I'm sort of a fan of Yoshis... But I'll be cheering for you, too, Punchy! You're not... completely without hope here..." he said. Punchy frowned. "Thanks a lot..." he muttered. 2BIT next turned to Dog and Wings. "C'mon! We can watch them on a screen at the site of round 4!" he said. Dog hopped on Wings' back. "No way, pal. Those seats stink." he said. "We'll follow them down from the air!" Wings added. 2BIT shrugged. "Suit yourselves." he said. With that, Copter, Rainbow, Hunter, 2BIT, and Team GeneX headed for the ski lift. It was now time for the Ski Shooting Star Cup to begin!

"Three... two... one... START!" Lakitu's countdown started the event. As the contestants skied to the site of the first round, Lakitu, Wings, and Dog followed from the air. Punchy proved to be a more competent skier than Copter, but the ski portion was not a race. Yoshi arrived at the shooting range first, followed by Spiny, then Punchy and finally, Zipp. The shooting area was split into two stations, so each shooter would only have to challenge one opponent for targets. One station pitted Yoshi against Spiny, while Punchy was left to challenge Zipp. Once everyone was in place, Lakitu cued the true start of the event. As targets on posts were raised into position, Zipp and Spiny began shooting everything in sight! "No one can out-shoot me! That star is as good as mine!" Zipp chuckled as his score started building up. Punchy carefully aimed at each of his targets before pulling the trigger, which slowed him down way too much. "Boooo!! C'mon, pal, you're gonna embarrass your friends!" Dog jeered. Punchy clenched his teeth and tried to rush his shooting, but Zipp frequently hit targets before Punchy could! While the old targets fell and new ones took their place, some moving targets passed by the range. Spiny quickly began shooting them, when Lakitu called a time out. "Penalty! I guess I forgot to explain one rule!" he admitted, picking up one of the targets Spiny had just hit. It had a rather crude picture of Dr. Eggman on it. "I forgot to mention, hitting these penalty targets make you lose points!" he said. Spiny fired at Lakitu's cloud, which Lakitu hurried to avoid. "Sorry, sorry! I'll just... Add those points back onto your score for fairness' sake..." he said, rushing to make the change. Yoshi made an annoyed grunt. "You said it..." Spiny grumbled. As round 1 continued, Zipp was leading, with Spiny close behind. Punchy continued to do fairly poorly, prompting Dog to boo him more and more. Frustrated, Punchy started firing at as many red targets as he could in the time that remained. The round began to near its end, and soon a fancy gold target flew into each station! Punchy and Zipp fired at it at the same time, and to their annoyance, their shots ricocheted off of each other! "Argh! Stupid one-in-a-million blunder!!" Zipp groaned. Yoshi reacted fast to the gold target's appearance, and scored a ton of bonus points. Seconds later, the round ended. "Very good! Here are the points as they stand!" Lakitu announced, "In fourth is Punchy, with a mere 120 points. In third we have Son... err... Spiny, with 570 points. In second, it's Zipp with 600 points. Lastly, Yoshi is in the lead with 1210 points!" Yoshi cheered excitedly at this, but Spiny and Zipp felt ripped off. "Impossible! How did he do that!?" Spiny shouted. "The gold target he hit jumped him into the lead." Lakitu explained. Spiny glared at Lakitu furiously. "I ignored that thing! I thought someone was throwing junk or something!! Any other rules you forgot!?" he yelled. Zipp shook his fist at Punchy. "I'd be KILLING that Yoshi if you hadn't stopped me from hitting that gold target!" he yelled. Punchy frowned. "Blast, I hit too many Eggman targets... They blend in with the others too well!" he groaned. Lakitu decided it was best to keep the contest going. "Now, now! This has only just begun! Let's move on to round 2! Head for the next shooting range!" he said, quickly flying ahead of the group. Dog and Wings cheered at the point total. "Yeah, Yoshi! You show those grouches!" Dog said. "Win for Yoshis everywhere!" Wings added. Yoshi happily made his way down the slope to round 2, while the other contestants moved slowly and angrily.

The shooting range for round 2 was quite impressive. The two stations looked out over a pair of bridges linking tunnels in the surrounding mountains. Tracks lined these bridges, as well as cliffs below the bridges. As before, the contestants had to pair up as rivals for the round. This time, Punchy was up against Yoshi, leaving Zipp against Spiny. Once everyone was in position, Lakitu cued the start of the round. This time, all the targets were moving. Some targets were carried across the bridges in mine cars, while others were suspended from ropes carried by flying versions of Eggman's Egg Pawns, called Egg Flappers. As the round started, Yoshi maintained his lead fairly easily, since Punchy was finding moving targets difficult to hit. However, it wasn't long before Spiny's score started climbing. As it turned out, he was quite skilled at hitting moving targets, while Zipp couldn't resist hitting the Egg Flappers, which didn't earn him any points. Frustrated, Zipp decided to do something about it. "Chaos Stinger!" he whispered, shooting his stinger at Spiny! "Oww!! What the heck was that!?" Spiny yelled, looking around. Zipp, however, had already started shooting targets while Spiny was distracted, and rapidly built up points. Spiny, not realizing what had hit him, simply shrugged it off and resumed shooting. Once his attention was back on targets, Zipp fired another stinger at him. "Aaaa!! You're cheating! Two can play at that game!!" Spiny shouted, "Chaos Spear!" While Spiny began shooting spears at Zipp, the hornet simply flew out of their way and continued shooting. Lakitu noticed what was going on. "Hey! You can't do that!" he shouted. A stray spear flew dangerously close to him, so Lakitu backed off. "Yikes. I should have brought some spinys with me..." he muttered. As the round neared its end, all the targets started appearing higher in the sky. Punchy's shooting had begun to improve, but it seemed unlikely he'd win like this. Suddenly, another gold target soared by. Determined to hit it, Punchy began shooting rapidly in that direction. It paid off, giving a much needed boost to his score! In a few moments, round 2 ended, and Lakitu announced the current standings. Due to his distractions, Spiny was now in fourth place, with 1130 points. Punchy had now risen to third place, with 1620 points. Yoshi had dropped to second, and had 2100 points. Thanks to his cheating, Zipp had reached 3260 points, and first place. "Don't worry, Yoshi! You can come back from this!" Wings shouted. "Yeah, and, uh, so can you, Punchy..." Dog added doubtfully. Lakitu called the contestants' attention to the next ski slope. "Round 3 begins now! Shoot the targets on the way to round four!" he announced.

Round 3 consisted of two slopes, splitting up the contestants into yet another pair. This time, Punchy was up against Spiny, while Yoshi had to deal with Zipp. Wings flew Dog between the two slopes so they could watch all of the contestants. Soon, the skiers found targets posted along the sides of the slope, some hidden by pine trees along the sides. Zipp was an excellent shooter, but not a great skier, so he and Yoshi were fairly equally matched. Punchy, on the other hand, had improved his aim a great deal since the start of the contest. He began shooting targets on his way down the slope with such speed that Spiny was having trouble keeping up. "No way... I'm not losing this round! Not to someone so... inferior!" he growled. Punchy was paying no attention to Spiny, so it was easy for him to get close enough to meddle. "Chaos Spear!" he shouted, sending several spears in Punchy's direction! "Whooooooooa!!!" Punchy began skidding out of control, and Spiny moved ahead of him, laughing. Above them, Dog pointed Spiny's cheating out to Wings. "That jerk almost caused Punchy to crash!" he said. Wings glared down at Spiny. "He did, did he? What's Lakitu doing, watching TV while this game's going on? Well if he's not going to do something about the cheating going on, I will!" he decided. Dog looked nervous. "Wait, what are you gonna do? Don't drag me into it!!" he shouted. Wings ignored him and started gliding down in Spiny's direction. Spiny was too preoccupied to notice Wings, until the Yoshi passed in front of him! "You cheater! I'll teach you a lesson!" Wings shouted. He spat his long tongue towards Spiny, which he quickly changed course to dodge. He'd turned in such a hurry that he began sliding out of control! "Aaaaaaaagh!! I'll get you for th-" Before Spiny could finish yelling, he crashed into a tree! Wings grinned at his handiwork and returned to the sky. "You used to be nicer, Wings..." Dog muttered. Spiny hurried to get back on course, but the others finished round 3 several minutes before he did. Spiny was angrily grinding his teeth as Lakitu announced the score. Spiny had reached 2070 points, and remained in fourth. Yoshi had done a great job of keeping Zipp's score from rising much, but still dropped to third with 3420 points. With Spiny out of his way, Punchy's score rocketed him to second with 3560 points. Though Zipp hadn't done as well this round, he still maintained the lead with 3690 points.

For the final round, all four contestants were to shoot at the same station, a simple area that featured a giant Egg Pawn wielding a huge hammer. The robot was apparently programmed simply to stomp around and occasionally swing the hammer. The station also had several holes in its floor, from which the targets would shoot out. Once the competitors were in position, Punchy and Zipp looked around to find their friends in the audience. "Go, One! You're almost there!" Rainbow cheered. Copter was asleep next to her, propped up against Hunter, who looked rather uncomfortable. 2BIT was seated to Rainbow's other side. "I can't believe Spiny's in last place. I thought he'd cheat his way into first..." he muttered. Bucky, Vortex, and Crash were seated below them. "They haven't got a chance. Zipp won thisss before it ssstarted." Vortex hissed. Wings and Dog took their seats beside Crash. "How's it goin', Wario." Dog said. Crash pushed under his yellow derby so he could scratch his head. "What's a Wario?" he wondered. Finally, Lakitu hovered in front of the four contestants. He held up the prize they'd been working for, the Power Star. "Don't give up, anyone! This Power Star is still within your grasp! As I said earlier, the robot roaming about this round is merely a distraction. Focus, hit the targets, and you may yet win! Now, without further ado... Begin the final round!" Lakitu flew to the sidelines as the fourth and final round began. Targets began flying up from the holes in the floor, while the hammer-toting robot wandered around, periodically slamming its hammer against the floor. The contestants began firing at the targets, and most of the missed shots hit the roaming robot. A voice in the audience could be heard booing this turn of events. "Boney head! That's not how you play baseballs!" This voice belonged to a certain blue and green robot with "E-2X" written on his side; Alpha. The contestants ignored Alpha's jeering and remained focused on their targets. The hammer-wielding robot proved quite distracting, especially to Zipp. "Can't... take it... Gotta blow it up! No, gotta win contest! Eeeeerrrrgh.... DIE, ROBOT!!!" The hornet finally snapped, and sent a rain of bullets tearing through the robot, eventually resulting in the robot exploding!

"Booooooo!! You cheaters!" Alpha suddenly got up from his seat and flew down to the shooting range. "Bad hammery guy! You're not supposed to BOOM! I make boom!" he said, scolding the wrecked robot. Lakitu flew over to Alpha, pointing at the stands. "Get back to your seat, sir! Don't make a spectacle of yourself!" he insisted. The contestants, their shooting interrupted, watched in bewilderment as Alpha rammed Lakitu's cloud! Lakitu stumbled around in the air and dropped the Power Star! Alpha grabbed the star before it could hit the ground. "Yay! I win! I'm going to Mario Land!" he said with glee. "Hey! You can't take that! That's the prize for the Star Cup! Hand it over!" Lakitu shouted, flustered. Alpha spun in midair and pointed his laser at Lakitu. "Where are those target thingies? Are you a target?" he asked. Lakitu backed away from Alpha slowly. "I-I'm just doing my job! Don't get crazy!" he stammered. "Too late for that..." Punchy groaned. Alpha started shooting random shots in Lakitu's direction, forcing him to flee. "What do I do? Someone help me!!" he shouted. "Hey, clown bot! Quit clowning around or I'll blow you up next!" yelled Zipp, pointing his rifle at Alpha. Spiny followed his example. "Finally, some fun..." he muttered. Punchy shrugged and pointed his rifle at Alpha as well. "I'm sick of that robot." he said. "Yoshi!" Yoshi was prepared to shoot Alpha down as well. The robot started flying around in random directions to make it hard for them to hit him. "I'm kooky, but I'm not stupid! I know four against me is a no-no! So I'll call some friends! Laser Flapper dudes!!" At Alpha's command, a squadron of Egg Flappers with lasers mounted to their undersides emerged from the sky. "Wheeee! Now this seems more than unfair! Now, targets shoot back! Ha ha ha!" Alpha laughed.

Alpha and the Egg Flappers began firing their lasers at the four contestants, forcing them to move out of the way while they aimed at the robots in front of them. There were dozens of Egg Flappers in the shooting range, and it might have been a problem if Zipp wasn't present. "Ha ha ha! This is what I call target shooting! Who's next?" Zipp was enjoying himself now more than ever, and he quickly took out several of Alpha's minions. Punchy was more preoccupied with keeping out of the way of the lasers, and simply took a random shot whenever he got a chance. Spiny was having the worst time at this point. Perhaps because of how much he resembled Sonic, the robots were focusing many of their shots on his direction. "Grrr... Forget the rifle!" Spiny growled, tossing his weapon on the floor. "Too imprecise. I have better ways of shooting! Chaos Spear!" Spiny's controlled Chaos Spear attacks were able to destroy two robots before vanishing, a skill that enabled him to further assist in bringing down the number of targets. Meanwhile, Yoshi calmly shot down Egg Flappers one at a time. The robots were not programmed to deal with Yoshis, so the other contestants took priority over him. With the four contestants working together, it wasn't long before the last Egg Flapper fell, leaving Alpha alone again. The robot spun around, looking for his comrades. "Huh? Where am I, anyway?" he said in confusion. "Stay right there. I'm gonna get you between the eyes... or sensors... or whatever." Zipp said, pointing his rifle. Alpha shrugged and flew away, dropping the Power Star behind him! Lakitu flew out into the shooting range and picked up the star. "Well done, contestants! But I'm afraid that robot's shenanigans have put us behind schedule. So, the winner shall be decided based on the score just before this madness started!" The final scores were displayed on a monitor positioned above the stands. The scores were close, but in the end, only the victor mattered. The highest score on the screen was 4250 points. Punchy and Zipp's jaws dropped as they saw who had amassed that score. "The winner is... Yoshi!" The audience cheered for Yoshi's victory, and woke Copter from his nap. "Huh? What's goin' on?" he muttered. "Yaaay! Way to go, Yoshi!" Wings cheered. Copter scratched his head and looked at the screen. "What the... How'd THAT happen?" he wondered.

Thus, Yoshi was awarded the Power Star. "That was absurd... If I want to be cheated, I'll play chess with Vortex!" Zipp growled, buzzing away from the shooting range with Spiny and Team GeneX following. Punchy shook hands with Yoshi as 2BIT, Dog, Wings, Hunter, Rainbow and Copter approached them. "Good job, lizard dude... Though I've no idea how you did it..." he said. "Don't worry, One! You'll win next time!" said Rainbow. 2BIT seemed unsure of how to feel. "This is embarrassing for me... How could all my creations lose to a Yoshi?" he muttered. Hunter glanced at Dog. "Now what? We can't just leave Yoshi with the Power Star. He's all alone, and bad guys are after it." he realized. Dog glanced over at Wings. "What do you think?" he asked. Wings shrugged. "Uh... Can we hold that Power Star for you?" he asked. Yoshi nodded. "Yoshi! Yoshi, yoshi yoshi! Yoshi!" he said. Copter groaned. "His voice is so annoying... What'd he say?" he asked. "He says the Power Star was gonna be too much to carry anyway. He's planning to bring his Drift Board with him when he leaves Sparkleton." Wings explained. So, Yoshi handed the Power Star to Wings, waved at the group, and took off. 2BIT accepted the star from Wings while Copter flipped through the guide book, which he'd swiped from Rainbow before he fell asleep. "I'm tired of this island... Why don't we head for Polastraits next?" he said. Rainbow grabbed the guide book right out of Copter's hands. "Hmmm... Cool, they have lots of sledding-type events there! Great idea, Two!" she said. Hunter chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, have fun guys. I'm gonna catch up with Gator now, someone has to keep him in check. See ya!" As Hunter scampered away, Dog and Wings glanced at the book over Rainbow's shoulder. "Hey... Can we come, too?" Wings asked. 2BIT shrugged. "Why not? It should make it easier for us to search for those power sources if we look together." he said. Rainbow looked around for a moment and then took off in a seemingly random direction. "Follow me, everyone! I think the cannon to Polastraits is this way!" she shouted. "No! Not another cannon!!" Punchy shouted, leading the charge as everyone chased after her. At any rate, their adventures in Sparkleton had now come to an end.

To be continued...

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