"Jet."
"Hedgehog," he greeted snappishly. "What took you so long?"
"Why did you want me to meet you here?" Sonic asked in response, crossing his arms where he stood, looking down at Jet. The hawk rolled his eyes, spat at the ground, and promptly stood up from the stone he had been sitting on, trying not to show why he was irritated, only that he was. He wanted to get the echoes out of his head, of Wave and yelling and – no way Jet was thinking about that now.
(Like he had been doing all night already?)
"To race you, obviously," he then said, snapped, snatching up his board from where it had been leaning against the rock, giving Sonic a slight glare.
And Sonic must have realised this after all, about racing, since he did have his gear with him. He gave Jet a look, started his extreme gear which began to float just in front of him, and said simply but not without a hint of hostility, "Where to?"
Anywhere you want. Anywhere the wind blows. Anywhere where there isn't- "Mountain on the horizon," Jet said, whipping his gear out to float in front of him and leaping up onto it, all in one smooth motion. Sonic grunted something as an answer, and for a split-second Jet wondered why Sonic even accepted this challenge - and then both of their extreme gears shot forward with bursts of speed and wind and light and he didn't think anymore, all dark thoughts and bitter shit and everything swept away-
He had longed for this feeling.
Leaning slightly while standing on his board and turning it lightly to the sides, trying to take the lead, swerving for obstacles as the wind beat against you. The forest and plains and grass and bushes disappeared behind them, and now it was just the two of them, alone in the wind and speeding across the desert so that the sand swept up in dust clouds trailing behind them like banners…
Sonic suddenly dashed towards him, but it was just a bluff to get Jet out of balance. The hawk quickly caught up, and with a zig-zagging burst of speed he was in front of Sonic, cutting a line straight over his path as he bolted past, just seconds away from having them both collide into each other at terrifying speed.
Sonic flinched back and steered to the other side, and quick as lighting the both of them had flown in half-a-circle to get away from a collision, now coming to fly almost right beside each other as the both of them tried to get the lead…
And then Jet saw something gleaming briefly out of the corner of his eye, and next time he shot a quick glance at Sonic, he was grinning. A flash of teeth, eyes slightly narrowed and twinkling with excitement, danger, challenge…
Another burst of speed, and Jet's eyes snapped away, focusing on the mountain growing larger and larger in front of them as they approached, the sun trying to rise over it but instead casting a colossal shadow over the desert. The wind whistled in his ears as he and Sonic both, side by side, flew into the shadow, the mountain so close…
And he crouched slightly, tilted both head and board for a smaller resistance to the wind, and bolted forward… only to have Sonic doing the same next to him, and the mountain was just a little, little distance ahead and he sped forward Sonic never leaving his side and neither of them had the lead but he was going to win-
A flurry of movement, where everything blurred to lines of colour or splashes of light.
-wind
-and he turned, they turned, both of them
-Sonic still right next to him, he could touch him would he extend one feathery green hand, and the both of them turned around, in the exact same split-second moment, and flew to the side like blue and green lighting narrowly avoiding to get themselves crushed against the hard rock of the mountain. The wind whizzed past as they both tried to just – just slow down, flying away along the side of the mountain with sand and dust soaring like golden capes behind them-
And still, they didn't think. Wind whirling madly around them and with a grin on Sonic's face and a joyous sneer on Jet's, they then came to a screeching, spraying sand everywhere-ish halt, just barely managing not to fall off their gear or slam into each other.
"Whoa," Sonic gasped out in between panting. "That was fun, wasn't it?"
"Yes," Jet replied. Preening. "Especially since I won."
"Ah, no. You didn't."
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"I won, and that's the end of it!"
Sonic seemed to realise he would never win a bickering-match with Jet, since he then extended a hand. "Let's call it a draw, yeah?"
...Jet considered. "Deal. If you win the next race."
"...Hey? What the he-"