A/N: Taking a suggestion from aquayzar777!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co.!
Sonic and his friends, for one reason or another, wound up going out to a roller rink. Most of them had never roller-skated before.
"Can't be that different from ice-skating, huh?" said Sonic cheerfully.
"And you're saying this in a hopeful sense?" muttered Shadow. When ice-skating, Sonic spent most of his time on the ice literally on the ice.
"Rollar-skating is very easy!" piped Cream. "And lots of fun! I'll teach you."
"Well thanks," said Sonic, clipping on a set of wheels. Mobians didn't change their shoes to roller-skate; they used old-fashioned skates that buckled on right over the shoes. Soon most of the Mobians were out in the rink, cautiously testing the new wheels and calling encouragement to each other over the scratchy, hollow-sounding rock music they always play at those kinds of venues.
"So what's first?" Sonic asked Cream, and promptly plunked down on his stomach. Scrambling up again, he fell over backwards instead.
"Um . . . " said Cream uneasily. "First you have to . . . stay upright?"
Sonic sat up, laughing.
"Gonna be harder than you thought, huh Cream?"
"Oh, don't worry Mr. Sonic!" said Cream hastily. "You'll learn!"
"Maybe," remarked Shadow sardonically from nearby. He didn't seem to be having any trouble at all, himself.
Meanwhile, Rouge was circling Knuckles.
"You're not doing too bad there, Knuckie," she grinned. "But you'd do even better if you actually moved."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," grumbled Knuckles, grabbing for the wall. He wasn't about to clown around like Sonic did.
Gradually, Sonic grew better at standing on his skates without tumbling. Still, just when he thought he was getting it, he'd always keel over again, usually bringing someone else with him.
"You're a menace, Faker," remarked Shadow, executing a lazy kick turn.
"Aww, come on! It's not like I'm the worst skater in the world or anything," scoffed Sonic.
"True." Shadow tilted his head reflectively. "I suppose we could always try to get Omega into a pair of skates."
"DISPENSE WITH THAT IDEA IMMEDIATELY, HEDGEHOG!" bellowed Omega's voice from beyond the wall of the rink. Rouge stifled a giggle.
Rolling his eyes, Sonic began to skate carefully along the edge of the rink, grabbing the wall whenever he felt unsteady. Amy skated close by his side, chattering blissfully about how romantic it all was. Shadow, meanwhile, circled the rink at a fair pace, swooshing past the twosome every twenty seconds or so. Sonic was getting annoyed.
"Well, please don't slow down on my account," he muttered through his teeth, as Shadow passed him for the twentieth time.
"All right," smirked Shadow, and picked up speed. Soon he was beginning to blur slightly, circling the rink in a matter of five seconds or so. On the fourth round, he deliberately swerved slightly to clip Sonic's shoulder, sending him spinning into Amy. Amy was startled at first, but then threw her arms happily around a dizzy Sonic and half-crushed him as usual.
"I've really had it," muttered Sonic, struggling to squirm loose. "Get back here, Shadster!"
Shadow flicked an ear to show he'd heard and skated over, performing a neat T-stop.
"Giving up, Faker?"
Sonic, however, noticed a streak of liquid plastic trailing behind the shoe Shadow had dragged to stop.
"Dude, you're melting the wheels off your skates!" he said, pointing. "Are you using the jets on your shoes?"
"Naturally."
"Oh, come on! That's cheating!"
"There's no rule against it."
"Oh yeah?" Sonic stamped his skates in challenge. "I dare you to race me without using your jet shoes!"
"Forget it."
"What, you chicken?" Sonic grinned. Shadow surveyed him for a moment, tapping the heel of one skate against the floor.
"Faker," he said at last. "You're annoying enough I'll put you through the humiliation."
"We'll just see about that!" declared Sonic, and fell backwards again for good measure.
They set up the conditions. Warning the other skaters to stay clear, they had Shadow dip his shoes in water to temporarily disable the jets. (He refused to take the shoes off; nobody actually knew if they even came off.) He was still pretty steady on his feet, but his speed had decreased notably.
The race was to be forty laps around the rink. Tails called the start, and everyone settled back to watch.
At first there was some concern that Sonic would out-and-out get killed, trying to go fast when he couldn't even stand still without risking injury. However, as Sonic cautiously picked up speed, he started to do better and better. Soon he was going in a smooth blue streak, his skates clattering against the floor as his running instincts kicked in. Shadow was no slouch himself, even without his jets, but he quickly fell behind. By the time Sonic slid through the conclusion of his fortieth lap, Shadow was a full three laps behind. Being a hedgehog of honor, he completed the final three circles anyway.
"How d'ya like that, then?!" exulted Sonic, as Shadow finally came sliding to a halt. "Three laps, Shadow! Three!"
"What's your excuse?" demanded Shadow. "Don't tell me all this time you were faking incompetence, Faker."
"Nahh. Speed is just my element. When I started to go faster, it got a lot easier to balance, and it was all downhill from there." Sonic grinned cockily. "So, do you still think I'm the worst skater in the world?"
Shadow bit his tongue, but sighed.
"No, not the worst," he admitted grudgingly, and shook the hand Sonic extended to him. "But don't worry, you're still pretty close."
"Thaaaaaaanks," said Sonic drily. Unfortunately, when standing still the force of a handshake was evidently enough to throw him off-balance. In the process of keeling over, he succeeded in knocking Shadow backwards as well.
Shadow sat up, shook his head clear, and deliberately tested the jets on first one shoe, then the other. They were working again.
"Uh . . . hold on, now . . . " said Sonic, backing away. "It's not like I knocked you over on purpose!"
"Run Faker run," warned Shadow, getting up.
"Ohhhh, shoot." Sonic took off for dear life, with Shadow in pursuit.
"Those boys never quit, do they?" Rouge sighed. She glanced over at Knuckles, who was still clinging to the exact same spot on the wall. "You know, you really should consider moving eventually."
"I'm thinking about it," grumbled Knuckles.