Hello, everyone! I'm so terribly sorry for the extreme wait that it's not even funny. Of course, neither was one of the reasons it took so long. In case you were wondering, my grandfather passed away on July 17, 2006, and we were very close. However, he wouldn't want me to dwell on his release from pain. So, here we go! Forget the sorrow, and give the audience the racing finish they want! The Sonic Riders arc finishes today!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Teen Titans, or Sonic the Hedgehog, or any related material. You've been with the story this long, I think you've got it, right?
Chapter 29: Race To The Finish!
"Sonic! Why are you gliding away from me?" Amy yelled, calling to Sonic, who was rushing in front of her, while she tried to catch up to him.
"Amy! This is a race! I'm supposed to try and be ahead of you!" Sonic yelled back to her, speeding up.
"Yeah, but you don't have to be so far! Get back here!" Amy said, speeding up as well.
Sonic sighed to himself. This would really hinder his progress if he couldn't shake her off soon. He had to find some way of getting rid of her, or at least shift her focus off him, which was almost next to impossible when she really had her eyes on him. Looking forward as he zoomed through the forest, he looked for any way out of this situation he was in. Finally, he saw it. A fork in the path, slightly out of sight by all the foliage, making it seem like there was only one path. Speeding up quickly, he dashed through the alternate path, too quick for Amy to see, and she glided through the other path.
"Heheh." Sonic chuckled. "Sorry, Amy. But you gotta do what you can to win. Plus, I just had to get you off my tail..." he said, boosting forward. For some reason, all the plants in this path looked as though they were shunted aside, like something large went through, knocking them aside. Once Sonic had boosted far enough, he could see something in the distance. A flat grassland area, a lake in the distance. And in that area...
"Hey! Shadow and Tails! I wonder how they're doing?" Sonic said. A second later, he got a good idea of how they were doing, when an electrical strike whizzed by Tails, narrowly missing him. From the looks of things, Shadow and Tails had their hands full with...something. "Hold on, guys! I'm coming to help!" Sonic said, boosting forward further, to find out what was threatening his friends.
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"Damn!" Shadow said, bending backwards as a mechanical claw stretched above his face, retracting back to its owner. Shadow had just gotten up to Tails, after racing through a few alleys in the city, and was just expecting to exchange a few words, then head onwards. He hadn't counted on being attacked by someone he didn't expect to be in the race.
"Mwahaha! Having trouble with my latest attacks?" that someone said.
"Shadow! What are we going to do?" Tails asked urgently.
"I'll let you know when I figure it out." Shadow said, smirking in spite of himself.
"Hold on, guys! I'm coming to help!" came a voice from behind them. Turning to look, Shadow saw a sight he should have expected.
"Sonic. I should have known you'd show up eventually." Shadow said.
"Whoa! What the...?" Sonic said. Obviously he had caught a glimpse of what they were up against.
"Mwahahaha! Do you like the new attire, Sonic?" the assailant said.
Shadow and Tails had been under attack by none other than Eggman, but this time was different. Eggman showed up inside a full technological suit of armor, covering his entire body. It was a wonder it didn't weigh down the airboard, but Shadow supposed he would have seen that and made it out of lightweight metal. The real issue at hand was the weapons this suit came attached with, such as the left hand, which was more of a claw, which had been stretching and trying to seize hold of Shadow for the last little bit, or the small cannon that came out of the other arm's wrist, which had been firing electrical bolts at Tails, forcing him to stay away from Shadow's dilemma.
"Why am I not surprised it's you, Eggman?" Sonic said, gliding along behind him.
"Maybe I'm just stubborn, hedgehog!" Eggman said, turning his claw hand to Sonic, and firing the claw out to clamp around Sonic's waist.
"What?" Sonic yelled.
"Mwahahaha!" Eggman laughed, pulling the claw hand back, putting him and Sonic face to face. "Hope you enjoy the ride, my friend!" Eggman said, hurling Sonic forward, with the airboard still attached to his feet, into a boulder farther down, colliding painfully, cracking the boulder a bit. Eggman laughed again, then let the cannon on his other arm lift out, firing a volley of electrical blasts at Sonic, bursting the boulder in a cloud of dust. Eggman laughed, but when the dust cleared, Sonic was zooming out of it at top speed, heading for Eggman again. "What? How...?" Eggman said.
"Heh. Thanks for the recharge on the board, Eggman." Sonic said, flashing a thumbs up, knowing it would irritate the doctor.
"Grr...And that's the reason I'm in this race..." Eggman growled.
"What are you talking about?" Tails asked.
"What else? The winner keeps the airboard. Can you imagine what I could bring forth with such technology in my hands?" Eggman said.
"Of course I can." Shadow said. "And I don't like it one bit. It won't matter once we bring you out of the race, anyway." he said, clenching his fist.
"You can try." Eggman said, blasting forward on his board. The others followed, but they'd soon meet another conflict happening in the city...
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In the city, Knuckles glided through smoothly, although his speed left something to be desired. But he had still most likely made the most headway, primarily because he met no opposition or hindrances on the way.
Until he tried to get a bit more distance by taking a jump. As Knuckles was airborne, he became aware of another airborne figure. And unfortunately, they're paths were converging in midair. "Look out!" Knuckles yelled, but unfortunately, Cyborg didn't notice him until they both collided, dropping out of the air like rocks. "Ow!" Knuckles said.
"Watch where you're flying, Knux!" Cyborg said, rubbing his skull.
"Me? I can glide! How much aerial experience do you have?" Knuckles said.
"That's not the point! Once you're up, the only way to go is down!" Cyborg shot back.
Knuckles was about to continue the argument, when an explosion sounded further in the city, erupting from an alley, filling it with smoke. As Knuckles and Cyborg got closer, they saw a figure familiar to Cyborg rush out, chased by Robin, both on airboards.
"Red X...bet Robin ain't happy." Cyborg said.
"Damn it, X! I'll get you this time!" Robin yelled.
"You bet right." Knuckles said. "Care to help him?"
"Thought you'd never ask." Cyborg said, grinning. Both zoomed forward, ready to assist.
"Ah, I see you couldn't do it by yourself. Some of the cavalry's here." Red X said, looking back at Cyborg and Knuckles rushing forward to help.
"And it'll be more than enough to take you out!" Robin said.
"Testy little hero, aren't we?" Red X said.
Robin said nothing this time, but took some explosives out of his belt, and tossed them at Red X, who dodged to the side, evading the explosions, as Cyborg shot a Sonic Cannon blast at him, but Red X ducked down, and the blast sailed harmlessly over. Knuckles passed by and grabbed a trash can, throwing it as well, but Red X spun around and deflected it, sending it away.
"Make this a little more challenging, why don't you?" Red X taunted.
Suddenly, an electrical bolt whizzed by, nicking Red X's shoulder, and flying onward. Red X looked back to see the attacker, and Eggman quickly rushed by them, laughing.
"Mwahaha! This board will be mine!" Eggman said.
"X! You're helping him?" Robin said furiously.
"I told you, Boy Wonder...I work alone. That there is just a nuisance for both of us." Red X said. "As much as I know it'll help you, and as much as I hate to help you, I'm gonna take this guy out."
"Go ahead and 'play the hero,' then." Robin said, smirking a little. Red X rushed off silently, chasing after Eggman. Robin looked back, and saw Shadow, Sonic, and Tails had joined the ranks behind him, alongside Cyborg and Knuckles. "Well, we got a lot of people here, but still a few left." Robin said.
"Yeah." Sonic said. "BeastBoy, Rouge, Raven, Starfire and...Amy." Sonic said. "Man, she's gonna kill me if she finds me..." he said.
"Sonic!" came a cry from behind.
"Oh, no..." Sonic said.
Sure enough, coming up quickly from the rear was Amy, heading straight for Sonic.
"Great! Now I got two things to worry about!" Sonic said, speeding up, zooming to where Red X and Eggman had gone off to, Amy at his heels. The rest of the group glided along slowly, then speeded up as well, to rejoin the numbers that would at least help out in the fight against Eggman.
On the buildings the street ran through, a racer gliding along, having seen the entire event unfold.
"Great. I'm on the top of buildings again." The Boss said. "Well, looks like I'll have to get down, anyway. Things are heating up, and pretty close to the finish, too." he said. "Wonder what the situation is? Ah, doesn't matter." he said, boosting forward, turning his airboard so that he glided off the buildings, and onto the street below. "I got to help out, whatever the reason." he said, boosting further to catch up to the rest of the group.
As he landed on the street, someone racing in the alleys spotted him.
"Friend Boss, it is you!" Starfire cried. Racing up to him, she smiled. "I have found you!" she said.
"Heh, yeah you did." The Boss said. "But there's no time for pleasant conversation. Something's happening with your friends up there." he said, pointing forward.
"What?" Starfire cried. "I must help my friends! I will see you again, friend Boss!" she said, zooming forward past him.
"I'm sure you will." The Boss said. Looking back to see if anyone else was there for the battle, he noticed a familiar face. "Hey, it's the green kid." he said.
BeastBoy and Rouge both accelerated up to the Boss. "Hey, dude!" BeastBoy said. "What's going on?"
"Not sure, kid. But something bad's going on with your buddies. Some masked dude, and that old man who called the shots the shots with that kidnapping." The Boss said.
"That's Eggman!" Rouge said. "Come on, Beastie! I've got a couple things to pay him back for!" she said.
"Right!" BeastBoy said, accelerating forward.
The Boss looked after them for a bit. "Well, I think that's everyone I can inform about it." he said. "Looks like it's time for me to join the fray." he said, rushing forward to join the group.
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The final stretch of the race was in motion. Red X and Eggman were locked in battle while gliding along, while the rest of the heroes, were quickly gaining on them.
"Try this." Red X said, hurling a few explosives at Eggman. Eggman put up his arm, causing the explosives to hit it, blowing up, but apparently doing minimal damage to the arm of the armor.
"Hahahaha! You've been trying futilely to defeat me for a while. Why not just give up?" Eggman said.
"Why not just keep trying?" Red X retorted.
Eggman noticed Robin at the head of the pack, quickly catching up. "I can think of one good reason." Eggman said, suddenly launching his claw arm at Robin, who was caught by surprise, and the claw latched around his waist, grabbing him. Eggman then swung him around, sending him crashing into Red X, sending them both spiraling off to the side, crashing into an alleyway.
"Robin!" Starfire cried, rushing over to the crash site, forgetting the race and anything else.
"Mwahahaha!" Eggman laughed. "Who's next?" he said, beckoning the group further. Knuckles boosted forward, while Cyborg fired missiles at Eggman. Eggman deflected most of the missiles, and caught two of them. Smirking, he threw the two missiles in Knuckles and Cyborg's directions, exploding beneath them, sending them flying away.
"Take this! Chaos Spear!" Shadow said, launching the daggers of energy at Eggman. Eggman put up an energy shield, which deflected the blasts. He then raised the gun turret arm, firing blast after blast of electrical bolt, shocking Shadow, disrupting his path, and then shooting Tails with the same blasts unexpectedly, causing Tails to change course dangerously, too.
"Eggman!" Sonic yelled. Charging forward, he readied to attack Eggman.
"Not so fast, you blue nuisance!" Eggman said, shooting out his claw again, latching on to Amy, and pulling her in front of him. "You wouldn't want to hurt this precious little girl, would you?" he said, laughing.
"Sonic!" Amy cried.
"Amy!" Sonic yelled. Growling, he slowed down, increasing the distance between him and Eggman.
"Good hedgehog." Eggman said, grinning. "Here! You can have her back!" he said, launching his claw arm again, thrusting Amy straight into Sonic, causing them both to go out of control and crash into an alleyway. Rouge and BeastBoy seemed to be all that was left.
"Crap! What's left to do?" BeastBoy said, clenching his fists.
"Beastie...don't lose hope!" Rouge said.
"Yeah, kid! Don't be giving up on us!" came a voice from behind. Turning, BeastBoy and Rouge saw the man they called the Boss racing forward. "He wants the technology of the airboard, doesn't he?" The Boss said. BeastBoy nodded. "Then we have to keep him from placing the top 3! All of us have to win! Come on!" The Boss said, zooming forward. BeastBoy and Rouge followed suit.
The Boss went to the left around Eggman, and Rouge went to the right. As Eggman prepared to blast away the Boss and grab Rouge, BeastBoy zoomed forward and smashed into Eggman, sending him to the side, and giving the three a chance to gain distance.
"Come on! We're almost there!" BeastBoy said, looking at the finish line not far from there, and boosting ahead of the others.
Eggman was catching up, however, and was charging a large blast of lightning at BeastBoy. "Not so fast, green boy!" he yelled, about to fire. Everyone looked back in shock, bracing themselves, when a blast of dark energy smashed the ground near Eggman, sending him away. Everyone looked up, to see one more airboard, gliding down to the street, bearing none other than Raven.
"Raven!" BeastBoy said.
"Don't talk, just race." Raven said curtly. Everyone nodded and raced forward, ready to finish the race.
As they got even closer to finishing...
"I won't be stopped!" came Eggman's yell, as he reappeared behind them, a large missile ready to be fired from his shoulder, which he launched at the group. As they tried to avoid, the missile found its way to BeastBoy's board, colliding with it, and blowing it up, sending BeastBoy airborne with nothing to stop his descent to the concrete.
"Beastie!" Rouge screamed.
"BeastBoy!" Raven exclaimed.
BeastBoy slowly fell towards the ground, and was an inch away from colliding with it, when the Boss grabbed him and hoisted him onto his board.
"Ugh...thanks." BeastBoy groaned.
"Don't mention it." the Boss said. "Now make sure you three finish the race, all right?" the Boss said. BeastBoy looked up in confusion.
"What do you...?" he began, but saw the Boss removes his feet from the locks that kept him attached to the board. "What are you...?" BeastBoy began again, as the Boss firmly placed BeastBoy's feet in said locks. Finally it clicked in BeastBoy's mind. "No! You can't be thinking of...?" he began.
"I am. Just finish, kid." the Boss said, before turning around to face Eggman, behind him, ready to attack again. Without another thought, the Boss leaped from the board he and BeastBoy were on. "Bastard!" he yelled, as he tackled Eggman straight down, scraping the armor across concrete, as Eggman struggled, causing them to both start bumping and smacking into the road.
"Dude!" BeastBoy yelled.
"Beastie! Don't lose sight! We have to finish!" Rouge said from up ahead. BeastBoy groaned, and hurtled himself further toward the finish line.
The group closed the distance on the finish line, and it was now simply a race to place first to third. BeastBoy had been slowed down by his events with the Boss, but Rouge had slowed down to be near him. However, Raven had no need to slow down, so she kept on going. As BeastBoy tried to catch up to her, she boosted herself further, leading the pack.
In the end, Raven finished a second before BeastBoy, and Rouge followed directly behind him. As the crowds gathered screamed their hearts out, Each racer stood on a three level podium, the highest section for 1st place in the center, 2nd on the right, and 3rd on the left. As the announcer presented Raven with a gold medal around her neck, she held it, gazing at it idly, then looked over at BeastBoy, now having a silver medal draped around his neck.
"What was that about me not being able to beat anyone?" Raven said smugly.
"Eh, it was luck." BeastBoy said, looking away, as a bronze medal was draped around Rouge's neck. "I hope everyone else is all right..." BeastBoy said.
No sooner had he said that, then the rest of the group appeared, looking bruised and scraped, but otherwise all right.
"Guys!" BeastBoy said.
"Looks like you stopped Eggman." Shadow said.
"Good job, Raven!" Cyborg said, flashing a thumbs up.
"Unfortunately, Red X got away." Robin said, frowning.
"Red X will turn up again, Robin. You can bet on it." Raven said.
"But apparently, Chang and Gizmo didn't get away." Sonic said, pointing in one direction, where a group of police officers were once again taking away Gizmo and Chang. One of the officers was speaking to the announcer of the events, who came over to the group to speak to them.
"I'm terribly sorry about the attacks, sirs and madames. It was supposed to be an innocent racing event, but it appears one of our registration managers was...less than trustworthy. I regret not being able to catch him once we found out." he said.
Just then, a scuffle was heard near one of the exits. Suddenly, a dark looking man was hurled through the opening, landing on the ground, looking a little beaten. Looking up and seeing the announcer, he jumped up to him.
"All right, take me in! Just keep that guy away from me!" he said, looking fearfully back at the exit. While no one else did, BeastBoy went to check out who he was talking about. Looking through the pathway, he saw a man leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette, his eyes closed. BeastBoy recognized the man, and the man opened his eyes, looked at BeastBoy, and smirked, turning around and leaving, but not before giving BeastBoy the same two fingered salute from before. Grinning BeastBoy went back into the main area, where the dirty appointer was being arrested, and looked at everyone.
"He's gone." BeastBoy said, still smiling as he shrugged. "Come on! Let's go home! I'm sure we all need to rest some! We've gotta be ready for whatever Eggman has next." he said, leading them all out the exit. "Plus, I'm sure Raven wants to brag for a couple hours." he said, looking at her.
Raven looked at him for a minute, then said. "No, just a half hour of you groveling on your knees will do." she said, smirking.
BeastBoy frowned.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
Well, we've finished the arc of Sonic Riders! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and like I said, I'm extremely sorry for the wait! I hope you can forgive me!
Don't forget to tell me what you think! R&R! See ya when the Sonic Rush arc starts!
