A good portion of this chapter (Aka, the race scene) was written by my good friend, Light Speed.
Sonic pushed up a tile in the ceiling and came into the attic. He walked over to a stack of old photo albums. He started leafing through the pages, until he came to a picture of Sonic underground at their first gig. On top of it, he saw a medallion of a guitar, a keyboard, and a drum set.
"What're these?" He wondered aloud, feeling the medallions in his hands.
"Sonic!" Cried Manic. "Come on! We're gonna miss the bus!" Sonic shoved the medallions into his pockets and completely forgot about them.
12:00 noon, lunchtime at the Station Square high school.
"Tails, what are you doing here?" Asked Amy.
"Don't get used to me, I'll be graduating in a few days," smiled Tails in response.
"Not very humble, are you?" Asked Shadow.
"Nope."
"It appears our young friend has been spending to much time with Sonic," said Manic.
"Ah, screw you," replied Sonic.
"You would," mocked Shadow.
"Ew!" Cried Sonic disgusted at his friends joke. Amy then smacked Shadow on the head with her mallet.
"OW! What the heck was that for, woman?" Demanded Shadow.
"Why do they let you have that on school grounds and where do you put it when you're not using it?" Asked Tails, referring to Amy's mallet.
"I don't know, ask Sega."
"Oh! I just remembered!" Cried Tails. "I finished the modifications on the light shoes!"
"Well, cough 'em up!" Cried Shadow, eager to see how much better his shoes had gotten.
"Okay, but that's $70.00 for the material and a hundred for me."
"What!!!??? I'm not made a' cash!!!!!"
"Ya' shoulda' thought a' that before ya' asked a greedy twelve year old kid to build something for ya'"
"I hate you." But he forked over the cash and Tails tossed him the light shoes.
In case you're wondering about this, Shadow used to be the fastest kid in school, 'till Sonic and his siblings moved to Station Square and Sonic stole his spot as the track teams number one. Unable to settle for second best, he bribed… I mean paid Tails into developing the light shoes. I think the conversation went something like this.
Shadow: Hey Tails!
Tails: Yeah?
Shadow: I hear you're real smart.
Tails: IQ 300!
Shadow: Do you think you could build me something to make me as fast as Sonic?
Tails: Well I don't think I should…
Shadow: Waves $400.00 in Tails face
Tails: I'm on it! Snatches the cash from Shadow
Many models of the light shoes have been built, but none have come near to surpassing Sonic. They have all gone back to Tails workshop for repairs, and now the most recent model has been built. Let's see how they stack up against Sonic.
3:30 – Tracks of Station Square High School...
What better way to test the new and improved light shoes than with a race? A race at the speed of sound that is, between the school's two well-known rivals. So of course the duo attracted a little crowd. It was either go home and get cracking on the homework, or watch what could be the highlight of the year! Or...at least the week, the way these two went at it...
The spectators lined the track, eagerly making bets. Tails gladly played the part of keeper-of-the-cash, while Amy kept the onlookers at bay. Cream was there too, as were a lot of elementary school kids. Heck, I'd be surprised if the whole county didn't know about that race. No one gave her any lip, for reasons that shouldn't have to be explained. That mallet of hers had it's own reputation.
As for the speed demons themselves, they waited anxiously at the starting line, spending the time before the beginning of the race making smug comments to each other.
"Hope ya didn't eat all your lunch today. You don't want a full stomach when you eat my dust!"
"How am I supposed to eat what's behind me?"
"Ooooh, that was deep."
"How about I put a dent in your face and you can add that to your "deep" collection?"
"C'mon guys," Manic said while separating the rivals, "This is supposed to be a race, not a boxing match."
After making sure that both Sonic and Shadow's toes were behind the line, Manic took a few steps back and positioned himself between them.
"Ready?"
The racers put one hand on the ground.
"Set?"
They braced themselves...
"Goulash!"
They started, realized a second later that a joke was played on them, and returned to the starting line with a groan each.
"Let's start this thing already!" Sonic complained.
"Ah just kiddin' ya." Manic wiped away a tear of laughter and started the countdown again. "Ready? Set? Go!"
Sonic and Shadow were both gone, pushing ninety flat, and nearly knocked Manic over with the blast of wind that trailed not far behind. He shook a fist at them, but had to dive off of the track as they came around for their second of ten laps.
"Getting tired yet?" Shadow asked with a sneer.
"Are you kidding?" Sonic replied easily, "It's all about endurance dude!"
"Uh-huh, taking it easy eh? That'd be my cue!" With that Shadow was off, going from ninety to one-fifty in a heartbeat. Sonic blinked a few times out of surprise, then promptly flattened his ears with a snort and sped up. Once at Shadow's side, he gave a two-fingered salute and zoomed past him, the wind slicking his hair back and adding to the adrenaline rush.
Angry with himself for getting passed, Shadow decided it was time to see what these shoes could really do. He skated, rather than ran, faster than he'd ever tried to go, yet still remaining as silent as a ghost. He knew that he'd wear himself out by using every ounce of energy he had, but it was the last lap anyway.
Sonic turned to mock Shadow again, and instead saw the gap between them begin to close. Fine with him – this just meant that playtime was officially over! He left his steady pace of about two hundred miles per hour and went full throttle, letting his trademark sonic boom do it's booming.
By the time they were side-by-side, which was in practically no time at all, both of them had begun to pant heavily, and were equally bent on beating the other. They crossed the line, but at these speeds, their surroundings were so blurred that they were unable to tell the victor.
This is why cameras were invented.
next time on sonic undersea.
"Eggman I don't know what you're up to, but you better get the heck away from my mom!" Cried Sonic as the triplets crouched into a fighting position.
"Meet me in Atlantis and then maybe I'll give her back!"