Sonic was reading the newspaper in his mid-sized city apartment. He sipped from his coffee mug and smacks his lips to show his pleasure from the drink.
"Gotta love that caffeine," he said aloud to himself.
Sonic's across the hall neighbor, Knuckles, flung open the door to Sonic's apartment. Sonic merely looked at him. He was used to Knuckles usual intrusions to his apartment.
"Sonic, do you have any wrapping tape?" Knuckles asked with his deep voice.
"Now why would I have that? You are the boxer after all," Sonic replied.
"Well I know that I left some in here somewhere," Knuckles said as he rummaged through the apartment. He opened drawers in the kitchen, fingered through the book shelf, and then headed to the bathroom near the back to check in there. A sound of success was heard from the room and Knuckles walked out with a roll of wrapping tape in his hand.
"Told ya so," Knuckles shook the tape at Sonic.
"Yeah, yeah," Sonic set down his paper and raised his eyebrows at Knuckles. A buzzer sounded off from the doorbell. Sonic pressed the button for the intercom and asked who it was.
"It's Tails," the intercom responded. Sonic told his buddy to come on up and unlocked the downstairs door with his button system. Knuckles was excitingly wrapping his hands and knuckles with the tape he had found.
"Now what is the deal with boxers and wrapping their hands? Do they see each punch as a gift to their opponent?" Sonic questioned his echidna friend.
"Very funny, blue boy," Knuckles growled at him. "The wrapping keeps our hands from breaking as easy when we fight in the ring." Knuckles made some punching motions as Tails walked through the door.
"Oh I see Knuckles has a tough opponent: the air," Tails laughed and Sonic did too.
"Looks like everyone is a comedian today," Knuckles mumbled as he returned to his apartment. When he reached the door, a pink hedgehog collided with him.
"Sorry!" the woman said.
"You should be more careful, Amy. You don't know what these fists are capable of doing," Knuckles punched his way down the hall.
"Amy! This is a surprise! What are you doing here?" Sonic asked his pink pal.
"I was just in the neighborhood and I thought I'd stop by to tell you that I have a date tonight," Amy poked at Sonic's chest with the final words she spoke.
"Oh who is the lucky fella?" Tails asked her.
"He works at the skate shop. A green hawk named Jet. I went in there to get some new bearings for my roller blades, and he was so flirtatious," Amy fell onto the couch in Sonic's living room.
"Sounds like a dreamy guy," Sonic said sarcastically.
"You bet he is," Amy bit at him. "He invited me to one of his competitions. Along with owning the shop, he races competitively with his goods."
"High speed racing, huh?" Sonic thought. "That sounds a little familiar to me."
"Well, Mr. Racecar Driver, do you think you could race on something a bit more X-Games and less NASCAR?" Amy was pestering the blue racer.
"I don't do that kind of racing anymore," Sonic said and shook his hand out.
"Why not, Sonic? I could make you a customized board that is sure to help you win!" Tails enthusiastically said. The fox may have been young, but he knew had extensive knowledge in engineering.
"Oh alright, I guess I'll enter into the race," Sonic decided.
"Great!" Amy cheered. "I will send forms to you via e-mail. You might want to practice some before you go into it."
"I'm sure I can handle it, Amy," Sonic smiled at her.
"Whatever you say," Amy left the apartment to prepare for her date.
Sonic and Tails watched her leave and when the door closed Sonic ran over to Tails.
"Can you really build me a good board for this race thing?" He asked his mechanic.
"Yeah it should be no problem. All I have to do is get some blueprints from the shop along with some parts." Tails planned his building process to Sonic.
"Way past cool, Tails!" Sonic shouted and jumped in joy.
Tails giggled at his blue buddy. "I will get started on it now."
Knuckles was at the gym practicing for a boxing tournament that would be later that month. His personal trainer, Bark the Polar Bear, was there to help him.
"Okay let's do five more reps on dead lifting, and then we can do some sparing," Bark told Knuckles.
"Alright! Let's get it going!" Knuckles attempted to lift up the weights in front of him, which lead to him falling backward onto the training mat. Bark laugh hysterically at Knuckles' fall.
"I put three-hundred pounds on that set!" he chuckled.
Knuckles foot twitched in the air and he sighed in pain. Bark grabbed his hand and lifted him back up to stand.
"You didn't hurt yourself too bad, did you?" Bark was looking a bit worried for Knuckles.
"I think I might have thrown my back out," Knuckles rubbed his spine in agony.
"We should get you to the hospital. We cannot have you in poor condition for your next fight," Bark said. He took out his phone and called for a taxi to take them to the hospital.
Tails put on his welding mask and took out his blow torch. The torch lit with a blue flame and Tails used it to weld the board Sonic wanted. Sonic knocked on the garage door to Tails' workshop.
"Tails! It's me, Sonic!" Sonic yelled to his friend.
Tails turned off the torch and raised the door.
"You are just in time! I just finished your board," Tails motioned toward the industrial skate board he had prepared for Sonic's upcoming race.
"Looks great, buddy!" Sonic said as he looked over his new set of wheels. "We should head over to the stadium. I already filled out the paper work Amy sent me, so I am now in the race."
"Before we go," Tails said, "I added a boost option on the board. Whenever you need a kick to get ahead, just hit this lever and it should propel you forward."
Sonic took the board off the work bench and rode it out of the garage. Tails flew out beside him and used his remote to shut the door. They arrived at the stadium a few minutes before the race. Amy was talking to Jet who was waiting to enter the track.
"Oh look! It's Sonic!" Amy waved Sonic and Tails over to her and Jet.
"Hey Amy! And you must be Jet," Sonic put his hand out for a handshake.
Jet snorted at Sonic's hand. "I don't make friends with the competition, not that you will be much of a challenge to me."
"I guess we will just see about that then," Sonic threw his hand back to his side, being insulted by Jet's words. A siren went off letting the racers know that it was time to enter the track. Amy and Tails wished their racers good luck as they left to race.
"I doubt Sonic can beat Jet," Amy wagered Tails. "He has been racing since he could walk!" Tails just ignored Amy and they walked to their seats in the stadium to watch the race in full action. The racers were lining up as the audience took their seats. Sonic stood next to Jet and looked over at him with a grimace which was returned with a nasty scowl. They stayed like that as the director counted down from three to two to one to go. A gun went off and the racers pushed off onto the racetrack.
Jet got a quick lead in front of Sonic, but that would not discourage him so easily. Sonic picked up his speed as he went along the track. The course was full of ramps, bumps, and oil slicks. Jet launched off of a ramp and did a kick-flip. Sonic went off the same one and did a 720. The crowd cheered loudly at the racers and their impressive tricks.
Sonic was hot on Jet's feather tails. He pulled up next to him and gave him a glance as he passed him. Jet let out a cry of anger as the blue quills passed by him. He sped up to hit a ramp and get above Sonic. Jet did a backflip over the ramp and as he was over Sonic, he took pepper from his gloved and sprinkled it onto him. Sonic started sneezing uncontrollably from Jet's little trick. Other racers started to pass him by when he slowed down to rub the spice out of his eyes and nose.
Sonic looked at the racers: they had almost made it to the finish line. It looked like he had no chance of winning the race, or beating his new rival.
"Sonic!" Tails shouted. "Use the boost!"
"Oh, duh!" Sonic smacked his forehead at his stupidity. He started back up on his board and kicked the boost lever. The board made some rattling noises and jolted Sonic forward, placing him back in the race. Hot flames shot out from his exhaust on the custom skateboard. He slid around the other racers, ramping off platforms and grinding rails to gain more speed. He was about to catch up to Jet and make the finish line. His board shot a last bolt of flames which barbequed Jet into a Thanksgiving dinner. Sonic broke the banner on the finish line and stopped his board.
Tails and Amy ran down from the seating area to meet talk to Sonic from the side rails. "You did it Sonic! I knew you could," Tails gave him thumbs up.
"Yeah and you managed to cook my date in the process!" Amy scolded him.
Sonic rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Amy. I'm sure he has good medical insurance."
The EMT's took Jet into an ambulance and Amy went along with him. Sonic and Tails called for a taxi and followed behind. They all reached the emergency room and they went into Jet's room.
"Sorry about… you know… cooking you," Sonic apologized to his rival.
"I'll be fine," Jet assured. "I've been in worse conditions."
"Sonic? Is that you?" A voice called from behind the curtain in Jet's room. Sonic pushed back the curtain and saw Knuckles lying suspended in the air.
"Knuckles? What happened to you?" Sonic franticly asked.
"Sometimes you just work out too hard," Knuckles shrugged.