Hello… Glad to see you've read chapter 1… I don't own anything and I hope you enjoy!

Vector was on the phone when Sonic walked into the Racer's Edge later that afternoon. "Hey, Shadow, I appreciate what you did in a big way. Shadow, I owe you..." He hung up the phone and walked after Sonic who was changing his dirt-ridden shirt. "Sonic, you're messing with my business. When Shadow drives, he's golden. Kids pour in here, they want everything he had, every performance part. And they pay cash!"

Sonic moved over to the sink, running some water over his face before glancing at Vector in the mirror.

"What did Shadow say?"

The Crocodile shook his head. "You don't wanna know."

"What did Shadow say?" he repeated, reaching for a towel.

"He wants you outta here."

"He wants me outta here?" Sonic whirled around, towel held in midair.

"Yes!"

"And what did you say to Shadow?" he asked, drying his face and moving from the room, towel draped over his shoulder.

"What do you think I said? I told him good help is hard to find," the other man answered, his voice raising frantically.

"Hey, relax," Sonic walked through the store, his eyes resting on the NOS, nitrous oxide systems, display. "I need NOS." He turned to Vector: "I need NOS."

"No."

"My car topped out at a hundred forty five miles per hour this morning."

"Actually, no. Let's make it two. And Vector, I need it by tonight.

LATER THAT NIGHT

A blue Eclipse pulled into a spot amidst the street full of cars, an eagle decal racing its way down the side and blue neon glow under the body visible. Suddenly, the engine died and the lights went out before Sonic stepped out, looking around himself in awe.

"Hey, hold up, hold up." A Purple chameleon was heard saying. "Look at this Hedgehog right here, all most looks like Shadow." He got up and walked to Sonic. "Sweet ride. What're you runnin' under there?" Sonic just smiled in response. "You gonna make me find out the hard way?"

"Hell yeah."

"You brave," he laughed, "You brave. They call me "Espio" I got a last name too, but I can't pronounce it, so-"

"Maurice Hedgehog"

"Ah, typical name, know what I'm sayin'?" The two mobians shared a laugh before Espio turned and pointed to a bronze Ford Focus ZX-3: "See that over there? That's mine. It's my baby. But I ain't cutting her loose tonight."

"Why not?"

"It's cause I'm going legit. Tryin' to get on the NIRA circuit. You heard about that?"

"Oh, hell, yeah." The NIRA Circuit or NHRA Circuit was an official, LEGAL, drag race. To even be considered part of the Circuit, one had to have a team, be able to drive, and have sponsorship from a company able to pay your way through.

"Yeah, yeah. So what's up with you, man?"

"I'm just waiting for Robotnik."

"Shit. Better get in line," a green hedgehog said, interrupting them. He pointed to the Eclipse: "This yours?"

"Yeah. I'm standing next to it," Sonic replied.

"That's funny. You know, I happen to know a few things. And one of the things I know it: it's not how you stand by your car. It's how you race your car." He pointed to Sonic, raising an eyebrow. "You better learn that." A few seconds later a radio blared and the crowd went silent. "Oh, shit, here they come. It's on."

Five cars pulled through the wide side street in flying V formation. A Midnight Black Mazda RX-7 flanked on one side by a Red Nissan Maxima and a orange Volkswagen Jetta and on the other by a purple Nissan 240SX and a Silver Nissan Skyline, the holy grail of import cars. The cars stopped and six people stepped out, the leader immediately being swept into the crowd.!"

"Sup Espio? Scourge?"he called.

Espio left Sonic by his car and walked over to Shadow. "Yeah, what's up, man?"

"Yo, what's up?" Scourge asked, following him.

"Scourge," Shadow greeted, doing an intricate handshake with Espio before repeating it with the green Hedgehog .

"How we doin' this tonight?"

Usually there would be more than one race, consisting of only two racers, but they had arrived late so there would not be a lot of time before the police caught on. "One race," Shadow announced. "Two G buy-in. Winner takes all." To the side he added: "Espio, you're gonna hold the cash."

"Why Espio?" another racer asked, handing over a folded wad of money.

"Because he's too slow to make away with the money," Scourge joked, slapping his money into Espio's hand. Espio, in return, glared half-heartedly at the other man.

Shadow gave his money and started to turn. "Okay, good luck, guys."

"Hey, wait. Hold up," Sonic called, pushing his way through the swarm of bodies. "I don't have any cash. But I do have the pink slip to my car."

Tails stepped in front of him. "Hey, you just can't climb in the ring with Ali, because you think you box."

Sonic pointed over to Knuckles and said, "He knows I can box," obviously taking Tails's analogy seriously. "So check it out. It's like this: I lose, winner takes my car, clean-and-clear. But if I win: I take the cash, and I take the respect."

Amy looked at her half brother as the crowd laughed and mumbled. "Respect?" Shadow asked.

"To some people that's more important."

After a moment Shadow nodded in approval, pointing towards the car in question. "That your car?"

Tails ran up to the car, immediately jumping into mechanic mode. He lifted the hood to the Eclipse, leaning in and toughing the parts as he went along. "I see a cool-air intake. It's got a NOS-fogger system and a T-four turbo, Shadow. I see an A.I.C. controller. It has direct port nitrous injection."

"Yeah," Shadow said, scratching his arm. "And a stand alone fuel management system. Not a bad way to spend ten thousand dollars."

The crowd around them mumbled to each other again. "You see that?" Scourge asked a neighbor. "He's got enough NOS in there to blow himself up, period."

"Yeah."

"So, what do you say?" Sonic questioned, smiling over at Shadow "Am I worthy?"

"We don't know yet. But you're in." The Hedgehog raised his arms, motioning for the crowd to move out. "Let's go."