A/N: Before I get on with the latest exciting chapter of this story, I would like to say RIP to ZZ Top bassist/occasional vocalist Dusty Hill, May 19, 1949-July 28, 2021.

On this day of the Olympics – Wednesday, July 28 – the action would head to the Mobius Royal Coliseum as numerous runners would be lining up for the men's 10,000m event, among them Sonic, Shadow and Mario. Not only did the whole "running" thing excite Sonic, but he also relished the thought of beating Shadow. Speaking of the Ultimate Life Form, the thought of racing against Sonic made him nervous not only because of his crush on the Blue Blur, but also because he feared that Ol' Blue would think less of him if he lost. Nevertheless, Shadow kept his usual stone-cold attitude about him as he lined up for the race.

The race started, and in spite of powers such as super speed not being allowed, Sonic and Shadow still came out at the top of the pack. For the first few laps, Sonic and Shadow were neck-and-neck with each other, not willing to give up the lead, and even if one of them did get the lead, it hardly even lasted for one lap. Then, starting at lap 10, it happened: somehow, Shadow had gotten the lead over Sonic and was able to maintain it. Sonic wasn't totally sure how his rival had managed to do so, but he had a couple of ideas. For one, he figured that maybe the memory of Maria had spurred him on. He also wondered if The Ultimate Life Form was pushing himself harder in an attempt to impress him, but he soon discarded the idea and figured that maybe it was just not being able to bear the thought of placing second to him. However, being "The Fastest Thing Alive", Sonic wasn't exactly one to be content with second place either, so he did some pushing of his own, and at lap 21, he managed to get out ahead of Shadow. Still, Shadow wouldn't back down, and despite a brief lead change at lap 24, Sonic kept up. It was a real photo finish at the end, but as Highlander always said, "there can be only one", and that one was none other than Sonic, who couldn't have been happier unless he won a lifetime's supply of chili dogs.

Though only finishing in second, Shadow kept himself composed as he exited the Coliseum.

"Hey Shad, great race!" said Sonic.

"Thank you," said Shadow. "You performed very well out there."

Sonic put a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "You didn't do too bad, either!"

Shadow brushed Sonic's hand away and gave him a death glare. "Don't touch me."

"Uh…OK…but…why is your face green?"

Knowing that he was blushing, Shadow averted his gaze and covered his face. "Just leave me alone, Sonic."

Sonic nodded and ran off, while Shadow tried to suppress the chills going up and down his spine.

(He was so nice to me. How could I keep rejecting that? And should I really be afraid of how tingly he makes me feel?)

Off the shores of the East Beach borough, more accurately at the East Beach Community Marina, another water-based competition was taking place: sailing. At this precise moment, the first heat of the women's 470 class was taking place, and Blaze and Marine were among the competitors, Blaze – being the boat's crew – controlling their dinghy's jib as well as the general balance of the craft, and Marine – being the skipper – at the control of the mainsail. There was a northeasterly breeze at 14 knots, and the water was quite choppy, but the sky was very clear. Though Blaze wasn't as experienced a sailor as Marine, and though she'd found the little raccoon to be a nuisance at times, the Sol Princess agreed to take part partly because it would mean a lot to Marine if she won a sailing competition, but also partly because Blaze had been quite curious about sailing and it had been a while since she'd done so. Though the 470 wasn't designed for beginners, Blaze wasn't exactly as fragile as a Yes album, and she was very intelligent, so practicing with this dinghy was a piece of cake for her.

"Oi, Blaze, you ready to give it a burl today?" asked Marine.

"I should hope so," replied Blaze. "I detest the thought of all our practice turning out to be for naught."

"No worries! We'll be sayin' hooroo to that mob if we do this right!"

"Then we had better do it right. The eyes of this dimension are upon us."

One minute before the start of the race, a long air horn sounded, and the prep flag, a square blue flag with a smaller white square in the center, was taken down. Knowing that they were one minute away from the start of the race, the racers were that much more eager to get on with the whole thing.

Then, another horn sounded, and a flag with the 470 logo on it was taken down, and the race was on. While Marine and Blaze weren't the fastest out of the gate, they were certainly up there in the pack. They would also need to work together well if they were to take first, for the speed differences between each individual dinghy were small. Though not born with Hedgehog Sense, Marine had a good enough feel for the waves and the wind that she was able to anticipate what would be best for her team, trying to keep the sail trim and heel angle in a good place. Having had practice with the 470, Blaze did her best to follow Marine's directions and anticipate what would be needed to keep their dinghy on the best line possible. Despite her tendency to want to slide aft, Blaze held her ground as best as possible, thankful that she wore more comfortable shoes today as opposed to the high heels she usually wore. Ultimately, it seemed that those sailing on the left side of the group had an advantage, and Marine and Blaze tried their best to go for that side.

Coming up on the first marker, Marine and Blaze were seemingly catching up. With a well-executed turn, they shot out ahead of the Edonese and Romatian teams to take second place by the time they reached it, leaving only the Columbian team ahead of them. At this point, a few crews had elected to put up the spinnakers on their boats, Marine and Blaze not among them. Marine felt confident enough in her abilities as a sailor that she figured she could get away with it for now. The wind was picking up a bit, so Blaze adjusted the jib's position so it was more outboard. Thanks to this and some other well-coordinated moves on Marine's part, she and Blaze were able to catch up to the Columbian team, and by the time they reached the second marker, they had well overtaken the Columbians to come out in first. By this time, however, the wind was becoming a bit finicky. Nevertheless, Marine and Blaze were good enough with their acrobatic skills and their coordination that they could easily adjust to such conditions, and it was thanks to this as well as having a general feel for the 470 that they were able to take first place.

After the race, Blaze elected to congratulate Marine:

"Truly, I am grateful for this victory. Where once I craved solitude, I now crave the goodwill of personal relations."

"And so ya should, mate!" said Marine. "Your sailing was ace out there!"

Blaze smiled. "Well, we did have a most excellent captain…"

Marine gently slapped Blaze on the arm. "Oh, come off it, my sheila!"

Meanwhile, at Joey's Pizza, Sonic was dining out with Amy. While not especially passionate about her companionship, the Blue Blur cared enough about her feelings that he gave in to her desire to go out with him. Besides, it was as Omega said: them quarrelling would have been counter to the Olympic spirit. Once again, Sonic had ordered a dozen chili dogs with a Wild Cherry Pepsi, and Amy had ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with bacon, fries and a lemonade. Here, they were joined by a couple of other familiar faces…

"Hey Sonic! Hey Amy!" said Daisy. "Can Luigi and I sit here?"

Sonic gave a thumbs up. "Go right ahead, Daisy!"

And so, Luigi and Daisy seated themselves.

"So, what brings you cats to the cool table?" asked Sonic.

Amy laughed and gently slapped Sonic on the shoulder. "Oh, you're so funny!"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice that you and Amy were together, so since Luigi was coming along with me, I decided it'd be great if we could double-date!" replied Daisy.

Luigi gestured at Daisy with his thumb. "It was-a her idea."

"Still, I'm happy you two decided to join us!" said Amy.

"Hey, we're happy to join you!" said Daisy.

"Right back atcha!" said Sonic. "So tell me, how have you and Luigi been doin'?"

"Just fine, thank you! How have you and Amy been doing?"

"Well, ya know, we're doin' pretty well, too! I mean, we ain't exactly a thing, but…"

Amy gently shoved Sonic. "Oh Sonic, you're so silly! You know you like me!"

"Of course I like ya! You're one of my best friends!"

"Are you sure we're not more than friends?"

"Is that a trick question or what?"

Amy smiled nervously. "Um…what's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just sayin', you been way past interested in me ever since we met, and I gotta wonder just what it is ya see in me."

"Um…well…you're really heroic…you're willing to risk your life for people you don't even know…and…well…you make every moment of my life feel special." Amy then frowned. "I just wish you wouldn't run away from me all the time."

Sonic chuckled a bit. "Mama, since when do I run away from ya ALL the time? I mean, sure, I have times when I'm focusin' on beatin' Robuttnik, but I actually enjoy hangin' out with ya!"

Sonic gave Amy a big hug, which she gladly returned. Both hedgehogs found everything to be so soft, warm and cuddly at the moment, even if Sonic only saw Amy as a friend. Luigi and Daisy smiled when they saw this.

"Awww…aren't they so cute together?" said Daisy. "That just makes me wanna hug you, too!"

Daisy gave Luigi a big hug as well.

"Mama mia!"

Though flustered by Daisy's touch, Luigi nevertheless elected to return her hug, too. In that moment, everyone at that table was bound by the amity of the Olympic spirit. That was the one thing that Sonic and Luigi liked about the Olympics: the fact that they no longer had to be fierce rivals, but that they could now be amiable with each other outside of the Games themselves. Eventually, everyone let go.

"So Sonic, where would you like to go out with me after the Olympics are done?" asked Amy.

Sonic began sweating nervously, and he rubbed the back of his head. "Uh…Ames…I gotta be honest here…"

Amy's Hedgehog Sense tingled, both of her ears twitching in the process. "Sonic…is there something you're not telling me?"

"Ya mean aside from the fact that I only see ya as a friend? Heh heh…nope…nothin' at all!"

Amy frowned. "All right…I guess I understand if you don't wanna go out with me…"

In spite of her best efforts to keep herself calm and collected, the fact that Amy's lips were trembling gave everything away. Finally, she could take no more, and she began crying, after which she shoved Sonic aside and ran out of the restaurant. As for Sonic, he got up and sheepishly looked at Luigi and Daisy, who were giving him odd looks. Ol' Blue just rubbed the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.

"Uh…ketchup?" said Sonic.

After scarfing down his meal and convincing the waitress to let him off the hook for Amy's, Sonic headed back for his dorm at the Olympic Village, and after closing the door behind him, he slumped against it and buried his head in his hands, lamenting the fact that he made one of his favorite ladies in the whole world mad at him. It wasn't as if he actually hated her or intended to hurt her like that; she just didn't light his fire in a romantic sense.

"Sonic, what's wrong?" asked Tails.

Sonic lifted his head. "Oh, ya mean aside from me makin' Ames cry when I didn't mean to? No, nothin's wrong!"

Tails knelt down in front of Sonic. "Why, what happened?"

"I ain't gonna lie: I told her I only saw her as a friend and she got upset."

"It sounds like she meant a lot to you."

"Well…I wouldn't exactly wanna be in a relationship with her, but…it's just…she's a really good person, and I want her to be happy. I want all my friends to be happy, man. I mean, I know not everybody can be happy all the time, but still…"

Tails put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Sonic, this isn't your fault. In all the time I've known you and Amy, you've been very good to her. You never hit her, swore at her in anger or abused her, and I'm proud of that. Even if you're looking for someone else, I'm sure she'll understand eventually."

"Ya really think so?"

Tails smiled. "I'm sure of it!"

Seeing Tails' smile in addition to his pure blue eyes, Sonic gave in and hugged him. Instead of crying, Big Blue smiled, knowing he had that one friend in his corner who would always love him and never judge him no matter what. Similarly, the Two-Tailed Wonder got his own sense of satisfaction from knowing that he could actually be there for his best friend/soul brother. After what seemed like an eternity, the two let go.

"Anything else I can do for you?" asked Tails.

"Why don't we watch an episode or two of Emerald City Blue?" replied Sonic.

Tails gave a thumbs up. "OK!"

Aside from watching a few episodes of Emerald City Blue on Netflix, Sonic and Tails didn't really do anything special for the rest of the night. However, while sleeping, Sonic dreamt he was taking a walk in Emerald City. Everything seemed to be sunny and peaceful. Then, he ran into a familiar face…

"Hey, Shad!"

Shadow waved at Sonic and smiled. "Hey Sonic, would you like to take a walk with me?"

Sonic gave a thumbs up. "Sure! Let's…"

Before Sonic or Shadow could do anything, the ground started rumbling something fierce, and various people started running for their lives, as if a tidal wave was coming. Neither hedgehog questioned this, however…

"Shad…RUN!"

Both Sonic and Shadow tried to flee the city as Lot would've fled the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Unlike Lot's wife, however, Sonic didn't turn into salt as he looked back to see just what it was that they were supposed to be running from: it was a gigantic Amy, who was having little trouble gaining on either of them. She took a mighty swing of her Piko Piko Hammer, and though she managed to flatten Shadow, she just barely missed Sonic. On the other hand, the Blue Blur had been running so frantically that he failed to pay much attention to where he was going, and he ended up running into a dead-end alley. No matter how hard he tried, though, jumping proved fruitless, for whenever he tried to grab onto some handhold, it moved just out of his reach like the fruit that Tantalus so desperately craved for. Having well and cornered Sonic, Amy let out a Godzilla-esque roar and prepared to bring her hammer down on Sonic.

Before Sonic could get smashed into oblivion, however, he jolted awake, panting and sweating. Eventually, he sank back into his bed and prayed that somehow he could reconcile everything with Shadow and Amy.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.