Today, the Summer Olympics would see a number of water-based events being held, including numerous rowing events to be held on Azure Lake. Sonic and Tails were taking part in one, namely one of the coxless pair heats, meaning that they had one oar for each of them and no coxswain to coach them. Ordinarily, Sonic wasn't hugely passionate about rowing, but Tails was sufficiently curious about it that he managed to convince the Blue Blur to join him for this event. There was a slight northwesterly breeze today, but nothing to throw the rowers off significantly.

Prior to the commencement of the race, Sonic's Hedgehog Sense was telling him that someone's eyes were upon him, but he didn't really look around to see who it was. He also decided that he didn't really care too much and that he should really just focus on the event at hand. Soon enough, the starting gun went off, and the rowers were on their way. While not the fastest out of the gate, Sonic and Tails weren't exactly slouches, and even if neither one was primarily known for their arm strength, they weren't solid nerd, either. Thus, they rowed along, hoping to get first place. While Sonic was forbidden from using his trademark super speed in these Games, the rules said nothing about Hedgehog Sense, and it was because of this that Sonic was able to sense how fast Tails was rowing and adjust his own speed accordingly. As the race went on, Sonic found that rowing was actually quite relaxing. Sure, nothing could ever replace a good old cross-country run, but there was just something about rowing on an open lake that Ol' Blue found so appealing. He decided that after the Olympics were over, he was going to get a rowboat and take it for a spin on Azure Lake whenever he felt like it. All that aside, Sonic and Tails' cooperation paid off, and they placed first in this heat. Afterwards, they gave each other a high-five.

"Tails, I've changed my mind about rowin'!" said Sonic. "That wasn't bad at all!"

"See?" said Tails. "Trying new things can be fun!"

"I'll say!"

Later in the day, after grabbing a couple of chili dogs and a Coke from a street vendor, Sonic met a familiar face.

"Hello, Sonic!"

"Mario! What's happenin', my man?"

"Not-a much! I just-a wanted to-a see you!"

"Well, thanks for droppin' by! Actually, I wanted to ask ya somethin'…"

"Yes?"

"I know this bitchin' arcade in the Lower West Side. Wanna come with?"

"Let's-a go!"

Sonic and Mario hoofed it over to Blitzkrieg Arcade. In operation since the end of the Great War, it had numerous arcade games from the 70s-90s, plus a bunch of pinball tables and other tabletop games such as pool tables and air hockey. Best of all, one could play all of these games as many times as they wanted for only a flat fee of five Mobiums. However, since Sonic and Mario had entered on a Saturday, the rate was ten Mobiums.

"Hi Sonic! Hi Mario!" said the guy at the front desk, a purple panther.

"Hey!" said Sonic and Mario.

Sonic pulled out two ten-Mobium bills from his wallet. "Don't worry, Mario, I'll spot ya!"

After they paid their entry fees, the front desk guy stamped one of Sonic and Mario's hands.

"OK, have a fun time!"

Sonic and Mario took a few steps forward before looking around at the games.

"Well, what do ya feel like?" asked Sonic.

"Hmmm…"

Mario stroked his chin as he perused the various games. Then, he snapped his fingers.

"I-a got it!" said Mario.

"This oughta be good!" said Sonic.

While Sonic knew he was gonna like what game Mario had chosen, not even his Hedgehog Sense could cue him in to what exactly it was. It turned out to be Mario Bros.

"So, does it matter to you who we play as?" asked Sonic.

"Not at all!" replied Mario. "Why don't we-a play Rock-a Paper Scissors to decide?"

"OK!"

So, Sonic and Mario played a round of "rock, paper, scissors".

"Scissors cut paper!" said Sonic. "If ya don't mind, I'm gonna be Player 1."

"OK!"

And so, Sonic and Mario got up on two stools that enabled shorter people to reach the game controls. Sonic then hit the "2-PLAYER START" button, and the game was on. Ironically, Sonic was playing as Mario, and Mario was playing as Luigi. They managed to beat the first couple of levels without losing any lives, though their luck was varied in later levels. Both of them played hard, but in the end, Sonic only scored 32,360 points compared to Mario's 43,460.

"Heh?" said Sonic. "How'd ya beat me!?"

"Sonic, you forget that this is-a my game! I know-a many tricks!"

Sonic smirked. "So ya do! Play again?"

"Yes!"

Once again, Sonic and Mario got on with the game. This time, Sonic ended up with 53,800 points, and Mario ended up with 37,150 points.

Sonic put a fist on his hip and smirked. "So, what were ya sayin' about knowin' many tricks?"

"Hm! We-a go two outta three!"

"Sure thing, my man!"

Sonic and Mario started another game. This time, Sonic got 54,030 points, while Mario got 42,640 points.

"Well, looks like I do what Nintendon't!" said Sonic.

Mario frowned. "OK, no need-a rub it in-a my face!"

Sonic put a hand on Mario's shoulder. "Hey, I'm only jokin', man! Seriously, though, nicely played!"

"Thank-a you!"

Sonic and Mario shook hands.

"Now, if-a you don't mind, I-a wanna play something we-a haven't played!" said Mario.

Sonic gave a thumbs up. "Groovy idea! Let's dig it…"

Sonic and Mario browsed the selection of games, but it seemed like nothing really caught either of their attention. Though he had been here on multiple occasions, and though he hadn't played everything the Blitzkrieg Arcade had to offer, Sonic was having trouble choosing…that is, until his Hedgehog Sense tingled. He thus quickened his pace, and Mario did his best to catch up. Soon enough, it became obvious what Sonic was looking for: a game by Taito called Qix.

"I-a never seen anything-a like this!" said Mario.

"Neither have I!" said Sonic. "This oughta be fun!"

After a brief review of the instructions, Sonic hit the "2 PLAYER" start button, and the game was on. Because he'd discovered the game, he insisted on being Player 1. The object of Qix was deceivingly simple: use a diamond-shaped cursor to draw rectangles of varying sizes to cover a given percentage of the playing field. However, the player had to avoid the Qix, a series of bouncing multicolored lines that moved every which way but loose across the play area. Another problem manifested itself in the form of Sparx that travelled the edges of the map in addition to completed lines. With buttons for quick drawing or slow drawing, Sonic decided to go for broke and cover larger areas of the playing field by drawing fast. In comparison, Mario preferred to draw more slowly and take smaller portions of the field at a time. Though Sonic and Mario found the game quite fun, it also proved rather difficult for them at first, with Sonic netting 16,797 points on his first run and Mario having 18,583.

"Not bad!" said Sonic. "Play again?"

"OK!"

Thus, Sonic and Mario engaged in another round of Qix. They improved on their previous run, with Sonic earning 27,136 points versus Mario's 25,012.

"Man, I'm definitely gonna have to buy or download this one!" said Sonic. "Tails might like this, too!"

"You really think-a so?" said Mario.

"Hey, knowin' how Tails is into science and machines and stuff like that, he oughta get a kick outta this one!"

Mario smiled. He decided he might get his hands on this game, too.

Meanwhile, at the University of Emerald City Natatorium, the women's 100m freestyle swimming heats were about to begin. Taking part in this competition was Rouge. She'd always enjoyed a good swim, and this felt like a natural event for her to take part in. However, owing to her built-in flotation devices, she wore a special swimsuit to compress her curves as much as possible without choking her to death. The race started, and the swimmers were off. Though not known for her arm strength, Rouge nevertheless had a mean front crawl, and combined with her awesome leg strength, she overcame a rather weak start to finish first, with a time of 50.19.

After the 100m freestyle, Rouge was headed on her way when Shadow accosted her.

"Hey Rouge."

"Hey, what's up, my sweet cabbage?"

"First of all, I wanted to give you my sincere congratulations. You performed admirably out there."

Rouge put a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "Awww, thank you! You're so sweet!"

"You know, it's interesting that you call me 'sweet' in spite of the fight I had with Sonic last month."

"Really, you are! Even if you and Sonic could get along better, I know you're a good person deep down inside!"

Shadow nodded. "Hm. Anyways, I had a question for you…"

"Go on."

"Rouge…what's it like to be in love?"

Rouge raised her eyebrows a bit. "That's a very good question, and I'm not sure how to answer it, but…have you ever met somebody who made you feel so good about yourself that you feel like you would gladly do anything to be with them and make them happy, and you can't stop thinking about them, so much so that you might never see the sudden curve until it's way too late?"

"Not really. You've come the closest to doing that, although I wouldn't really consider you my girlfriend."

Rouge wrapped an arm around Shadow. "Well…that pretty much answers your question, boy."

Shadow thought about Sonic. True, he hated Sonic's guts, but he did recall how Sonic made his heart beat faster than usual and how he always had this irresistible urge to smooch him whenever he was present. He decided he was going to make that a reality, but on the other hand, he was afraid of bungling things up.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.