Author's Note: Successfully having made another new chapter, I present to you another awaited adventure!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Episode 21: Speedy Rivals.
One night in Station Square, well it was really a very early morning with being around 3: AM, a few days passed since Valentine's Day, and everyone was sleeping peacefully at the Thorndyke Manor. As the weather was beautiful and soothing, Sonic had opted to once again sleep on the balcony, snoring softly with good dreams filling his and everybody else's minds.
Amy, Ella, Cream and Cheese all shared a bed to keep the little ones company and safe, Tails slept in Chuck's second bedroom in the Garage/Lab, and everybody else had no other thoughts but to sleep to their hearts content...
Though all of this came to a rude awakening end when an extremely loud sounds of an engine that sounded more like a rocket taking off filled the air and a red super powered race car came to a stop at the front of the mansion, alarming everyone who bolted upward and jumped in fright.
"AH! W-what the!?" Sonic yelped, his mind still half-asleep as he wondered what the heck was going on.
It was the same story for Chris who sat up and cried out. "What's that?"
As soon as the engines turned off, an angry Amy, and the defensive Ella, and Tanaka came racing out, the pink hedgehog wielding her Hammer while the kindly housemaid had a frying pan, all three of them yelling out battle cries to take out the threat who not only awoken them from their sleep, but also attempted to cause trouble.
Yet the two women's weapons and Tanaka's karate-chop were blocked by two hands and one foot that belonged to a fully dressed Sam Speed who leaned against the side of his new car.
"Back off, relax! Lighten up! It's me!" Sam cried out, annoyed for being nearly attacked, much to the trio's confusion as they recognized him. What on Mobius was he doing here at this time of night?
"Blast it, Sam!" Chuck grunted as he came out, just as annoyed for being woken up. "Don't you have any idea what time it is?"
"Sure I do! It's morning!" The younger man smirked.
"It's 3: AM." The elder Thorndyke corrected as he questioned the man's sanity.
"So, it's a little early."
"A little early!? You almost gave us heart attacks and ruined our beauty sleep! Even Sonic wouldn't go this speed crazy during the night!" Amy hissed, still holding out her hammer just in case, making the human man recoil in fright while holding his hands up in defense. "Just be grateful that you're not Eggman or the Iron Empire, or else I woulda done a whole lot worse! Hmph!"
With that, she stormed off to cool off and go back to bed.
"Boy, for a little girl, she's scary." Sam remarked softly, sweat dropping. 'No wonder Sonic doesn't call her his girlfriend.'
"She's right, you know. You're lucky I held myself back. I was just about to batter you like a chicken cutlet." Ella pointed out, before yawning as she returned to the house as well.
"I'm going back to bed." Tanaka grumbled, giving the other man a glare before heading off himself.
"I hope you didn't wake the neighbors." The elder Thorndyke frowned, only to blink in confusion and then annoyance that behind the younger man, was a large crowd of people formed just outside of the gates. He groaned. "Nice. They're all up."
However, his annoyance then returned to confusion when he noticed a news helicopter was in the air and even police cars close by. He blinked, dumbfounded.
Back up on Chris' balcony, Sonic, once seeing what was going on and not blaming his self-proclaimed girlfriend or the two house servants for nearly attacking Sam, also noticed the large crowd and wondered what the big fuss was all about.
"What's going on?" Chris tiredly asked, rubbing his eyes as he approached before noticing the same thing and was just as confused. "Where'd all of those people come from?"
"I don't know. Looks like they're lined up for a parade or something." The blue hedgehog shrugged, just as clueless. "But at this time of the morning? Nobody mentioned anything about this."
Back on the ground, the elder scientist then noticed something different about the vehicle and asked. "Hey Sam, isn't that a new car?"
True to his word, this car looked brand new and had a very powerful engine.
Instead of answering Chuck's question, Chris' Uncle smirked while declaring. "I'm here to challenge Sonic to a road race!"
"A race?" Both Sonic and Chris blinked in unison. That's what this is all about?
"Wait a minte! This is a rocket engine!" The elder Thorndyke remarked, taking a closer look at the car, and indeed it was what he thought. How in the world did Sam even manage to build a new car with a rocket engine installed?
"That's the SS 3 Super Rocket engine. It was designed by top engineers at the office of Science and Technology. Over a billion mobium went into its development!" The police officer-racer explained. He then glared up while pointing at the teenage hedgehog, and declared. "You and I may be allies, Sonic, but I'm gonna prove once and for all I'm the fastest guy alive! Whether you're a hero or not!"
'Gimme a break. That's why he wants to race me?' The hero of Mobius thought in sheer annoyance. If that guy thinks he was going to race after being scared half to death awake just for the title of the Fastest Thing Alive, and in the middle of the night which ruined people's sleep, the officer was mistaken.
"Sonic, are you gonna race against my Uncle Sam?" Chris asked, curiously.
"Hmph! No way!" Sonic declared, hopping off and headed towards the Garage. "I'm gonna go sleep with Tails. Night, Chris."
But his human friend's uncle wasn't letting up, as he human man demanded while giving chase and prompting the growing embarrassed twelve year old boy and his super annoyed grandfather to follow. "Hey, wait! You know, for a Mobian heroic hedgehog, you sure are spineless!"
Not long after Sonic resettled himself in the computer chair with his feet onto the desk and his hands behind his head to get some sleep, Sam stormed up and slammed the door open, yelling out. "Hey, Sonic! We have a race!"
"WHA!?" This rudely awoke Tails, who had still been sleeping and surprisingly not hearing the noise outside, and jolted upright in alarm. He then tiredly realized nothing bad was happening and, seeing that he had company of his two best friends and the adult humans, he looked side to side before asking. "Morning already?"
"Sorry, Tails. But it was Sam who caused the ruckus in the first place." Sonic apologetically explained.
Still half-asleep, Tails got up and walked over where Chuck explained briefly of the situation, concluding. "That's why Sonic won't race. And who can blame him?"
'Thank you, Chuck.' The aforementioned blue hedgehog thought, trying to doze.
"Huh?" The two-tailed fox murmured. 'That's what this is all about?'
"He will race." Sam on the other hand declared sternly, before explaining the race rules. "The startling line will be in front of this house. From here we'll speed downtown, straight to the heart of Station Square. After we blast across the bridge out of the city, the competition will really heat up as we zoom through the desert! And navigate the twists and turns of the canyon. A hairpin turn will lead us back to the city. The winner will be the one who reaches the stadium first. There will be thousands of fans to cheer us on, including the president, waiting at the finish line."
"The President?" Chris asked, bewildered. His uncle even got the President on board to this?
"He's gonna congratulate the winner on live TV." Sam explained, thinking back to a deal he made with the President's aid Jerome Wise.
Flash-Back: Yesterday...
Being called to a secret meeting by the aid who, unbeknownst to everyone, disliked Sonic's popularity and heroics and only cared about keeping his job in the White House of Soumerca, Sam met with Jerome in the office.
"So you're willing to pay all of the expenses for a brand new super car for me to win against Sonic, as part of the Election Campagin?" Sam asked, and while he was skeptical about playing political for this, he had been wanting to have a race against Sonic for a long time ever since meeting him in person.
"That's right! Either one of you will win and it will a success!" Jerome explained, secretly snickering behind his hand while adding. "The coverage will increase his poll numbers! The president is sure to win the re-election in a landslide!"
"Well...As long as I get to win and claim the title as the Fastest being alive...then sign me up! Sonic will definitely would wanna race anyway seeing how much he loves to run!" The racer grinned, unaware that he had fallen right into the political trap.
Or pretty much Jerome's political trap behind the President's back, as this was the only way he would be keeping his job. Hook, line and sinker.
End of Flash-Back:
"But why would the United Federation let Uncle Sam use a rocket for a race with Sonic?" The twelve year old boy asked.
"The S3 was expensive and they think the race will increase taxpayer support for the project." Chuck explained, though he still didn't believe this was a good idea. In fact, this was a complete waste of everybody's time.
"That's right!" Sam smirked.
"Except we're not gonna race. Especially after you disrupted everybody's beauty sleep." Sonic said firmly, not moving an inch and clearly uninterested. "If you think I'm gonna compete in this, you're nuts."
This didn't impress his rival, as he leaned up against the teenager stubbornly. "Oh? What's the matter, Sonic? Are you afraid that when our race is over, you'll be known as the second fastest guy on Mobius? I'm not gonna take no for an answer, Sonic, and I won't let up until you agree to race me!"
As Sam made his ultimate demand, his was heating so much that one would think that he was on fire.
"Why can't I have a normal family?" Chris groaned exasperated, facepalming hismself. Was he really the only one in his family that was pretty much normal, not workaholics, clueless, a little crazy with science or absolutely speed addicted?
His grandfather folded his arms while pointing out to the younger man. "Sam, you can't expect Station Square to shut down just so you two can have a race."
"Oh yeah? You wanna bet?" Sam smirked proudly, and turned on the TV which revealed the live News of Scarlet reporting.
"They're just about ready for the big race here at Station Square. The streets will soon be completely clear of traffic and an enormous crowd is gathering all along the course, waiting for the race to start." Scarlet said, surprising Tails and even Sonic opened one eye to take a peek. To make things more awkward, the footage of Chris's parents waving at the crowd from a podium appeared. "They're cheering now for the sponsors of today's race: The popular movie star Lindsey Fair and her handsome mogul husband, Nelson Thorndyke."
'Oh no...' The youngest Thorndyke groaned. "This keeps getting worse."
"I'll bet my night cap your uncle's the one who got them involved in this ridiculous race." Chuck groaned as well. This was getting more and more absurd by the second.
'Ugh...He even got his sister and brother-in-law into this? That's it. I am so not gonna race.' Sonic thought in disgust, and turned away.
"Well, Sonic? You're not gonna disappoint that crowd, are ya? They've been waitin' for hours to see us go man to hedgehog." Sam said sternly.
"Tough." The blue hedgehog firmly stated. "We're not racing and that's final. I love to run, but not when somebody does something like this."
"AUGH! Come on!" The racer groaned in frustration, his hands on his head. He just wanted one race! Was that so much to ask for?
Looks like he's going to have to come up with something else to convince Sonic to race.
Meanwhile at the White House in Station Square, Jerome Wise was in his room fast asleep, having pleasant dreams to the point that he was dreaming up about meeting the girl of his life.
"Ah...Hello, my dearest." The President's aid Wise slept-talked, even to the point of...um...sleep-kissing(?), sitting up and did air-kisses...right up until his phone rang which caused him to scream awake and fall off onto the floor with a thud. Still half-asleep while realizing what happened, Jerome got up and answered, one hand onto his head. "Yeah, who's this?"
"SONIC WON'T RACE ME! DO SOMETHING!" Sam's angry voice ranted loudly, causing the aid to wince and hold the phone away from his ear as the racer continued. "Can't you get the President to order him to race or even call the hedgehog's parents to convince him!?"
"Who is this?" Jerome asked, still tired. But by then Sam hung up. Not fully registering what was going on, the man simply just yawned and got back to bed. "Sonic won't race. That's too bad. But if he won't race..."
But as he began to lie down, it finally dawned onto him and sat up once again in horror. Sonic denied the race!? That wasn't supposed to happen! Even worse, Jerome began to fear what would happen to the Government now.
"What!? If he doesn't race against Sam Speed, my career's over! Now the President will probably be impeached before the election, and all because Sonic won't race!" He cried out, as he pictured an angry mob raiding against the terrified President and accuse him for lying about the race. Jerome then narrowed his eyes, determined to force the fourteen year old to race. "We've got to do something! We'll call out the military! The army! The Navy! And the air force!"
As he said this, Jerome thought of the said forces having Sonic cornered while laughing. "Bwahaha! That should help convince him to change his mind!"
But the aid then thought about it as he realized the flaw in that idea. "No...The Secretary of Defense will probably make a fuss about it." He then had another idea and palmed his fist into his hand. "I know! I'll go over their heads!"
In the early morning, with Jerome unknowingly taking the dangerous risks of using the satellite to monitor the whereabouts of Robotnik's Egg Fort, the aid managed to find it as the unbeknownst evil scientist, after eating his breakfast and attempting to come up with another way to defeat Sonic and gain the Chaos Emeralds before his brother Julius did, was playing chess to pass time against a small robot he recently created call Game-Bot.
In retrospect, this was another bad idea for him, because this small robot proved to be quite a good player.
"And that is checkmate." Game-Bot announced, placing his piece against his creator's King.
This didn't please Robotnik at all as he growled in frustration. "You cheater...!"
"Loser." Game-Bot simply said, his arms folded as he looked away.
"What? I built you and I can un-build you! I'll checkmate you!" The mad doctor growled, feeling insulted even though it was true. He was always known as the biggest loser. He then grabbed the robot and began to rattle and strangle him. "You pawn!"
"...I promise to let you win next time, doctor!" The robot said nervously to try and save himself. But it was a futile attempt since he made the ultimate mistake by calling his creator a loser.
"There won't be a next time." Robotnik growled, only for his attempts to smash the useless piece of junk to be cut short when the alarm went off and the monitor communication turned on. Groaning, he turned to the large screen while thinking. 'What now?'
It then revealed an unfamiliar man, a strange gangster looking person wearing a brown coat with a matching hat and sunglasses which made him look like something out of the 1950's or something.
"Dr. Robotnik, I have a proposition for you." The man greeted.
"Oh yeah? Who are you?" Robotnik questioned. How dare this secret-dealer-wanna-be contact him and how did this man manage to find him? Let alone know who he is.
"It doesn't matter." The secret 'agent' responded. "Now, do you want to settle the score with Sonic?"
"Yes...Maybe?" The evil scientist muttered, starting to feel more than a little uncomfortable. Who was this guy, a weird admirer or something?
"What if I told you that Sonic has been challenged to race against a high-tech rocket car designed by the United Federation?"
That got Robotnik's attention even though he wasn't that interested, but it did annoy him that his teenage enemy got all the spot-light for being the hero. "Really? Is that so?"
"In fact, Sonic is so scared that he'll be defeated that he turned us down." The mysterious figure continued.
"Oh?" Robotnik gaped in surprise, realizing where this was going and promptly dropped Game-bot who yelped, and the egg-shaped man placed his hands on his hips, questioning suspiciously. "And so you need me to get him into the race? That's it?"
"Here's the deal: You convince Sonic to enter the race and I'll get you front-row seats to an ice show." The man bargained.
"Are you nuts? An ice show?" Robotnik pointed at the caller, dumbfounded. That wasn't the deal he had in mind and ice shows were utterly boring...not to mention freezing.
By then both Decoe and Bocoe, hearing this and thought ice shows were exciting, went up to their creator with hands clasped and the former exclaimed excitedly. "I love figure skating!"
"Oh please, can we go?" The shorter grey robot begged.
"We'll work all day and night without complaining." The taller yellow robot promised pleadingly.
"Not even behind your back like we usually do."
'Ugh...I swear I created robotic children than minions. Oh, who am I kidding? They're not going to let me live this down inspite that I hate ice shows.' Robotnik grumbled, before he relented reluctantly. "Well, alright."
The trio then glared suspiciously at the caller with the mad doctor questioning. "But how do I know this isn't some kind of elaborate trick you're playing on me? Or the fact that you could be a spy from my deadly brother's ridiculous Iron Empire?"
Even though Robotnik was the well-known trickster, if there's one thing he disliked besides losing to Sonic, it was being tricked himself.
Realizing that the evil scientist still didn't believe him and attempting to figure out how to show Robotnik that this wasn't a trick, the man then leaned up close to the screen while removing his sunglasses, revealing himself to be, unbeknownst to the trio, as Jerome Wise as he gave out a sad and starry-eyed look look of innocence.
"Look at my eyes and you'll see I'm sincere!" The aid responded, which only caused Robotnik, Decoe and Bocoe to recoil in fright and nervousness, sweat dropping a little.
"Well...I'll do it." Robotnik finally accepted reluctantedly, before turning his attention to Game-bot while stating. "I'll need a robot to get to Sonic."
"Me?" Game-Bot, still on the floor, leaned back nervously and became even more frightened when his creator and two other creations loomed over him with glares.
"I'll rebuild this one into a model that forces Sonic to enter the race." The evil scientist grinned evilly.
Realizing that his doom was coming, Game-Bot pleaded. "No! Please! Doctor! Not me!"
The end result would be...rather disturbing.
Within the Iron Empire Base deep beneath the ocean, Julius too was witnessing the news of the upcoming race that was somehow delayed for unknown reasons(at least to everyone else save for Sonic and his friends), and whether he was furious or not was left to debate.
"So, that mobian child is challenged to a speed race. Against a gullible idiot who thinks he is fast by driving a car. What a waste of time." Julius muttered, his hands placed in front of him.
But as he thought about how Sonic would be racing against Sam Speed, an idea formed in the evil leader's mind and he grinned. "On the other hand, it should be interesting to see if that brat really is the fastest thing alive without the Chaos Emeralds' power."
With that thought in mind, Julius decided to watch and observe the teenager's speed and will power.
Back at the Thorndyke with the day already out, Sonic, annoyed for the lack of sleep as he had planned on locating the Iron Empire's base again today, ended up sleeping on the balcony while his friends surrounded Sam's new rocket car.
"If he really wants to be faster than me, he'd outta be running, not use a vehicle." The blue hedgehog grumbled to himself, gazing down below before he closed his eyes to sleep some more. "I wish I could just find the base today, but I guess it'll have to wait even further."
It worried Sonic to no end as the hero of Mobius, even with the knowledge that Cream's mother Vanilla was still alive, was sitll unable to locate the Iron Empire's whereabouts. He just hoped they would find something very soon.
Back in front of the house, Sam was showing off his engine to Chris and Tails, while Amy stayed inside with Ella to cheer up Cream and Cheese who had been frightened over the noise.
"I have to admit, this car is cool! And with the rocket engine, it looks very fast." Tails remarked thoughtfully as the vehicle's design made him very interested to study.
"My Uncle Sam wouldn't drive it if it wasn't cool and fast." Chris stated, admiring the car. But then a familiar annoying laughter filled the air and when the twelve year old boy looked up, to his dismay, Bokkun hovered down which meant that Robotnik was at it again.
The youngest Thorndyke and the two-tailed fox, seeing him, groaned and turned around with the former groaning. "Oh, brother."
"Oh no. Not again." The seven year old cub grumbled.
"Where's Sonic? I have to see 'im now. I brought a message with me." The message robot asked.
"You'd better not get any ideas, Bokkun. None of us are in the mood right now." Tails warned firmly as he turned back to face the robot.
None the less, Bokkun manages to locate the teenage hero who was still dozing until the little robot landed in front of him and said. "Wake up. I have a message for ya'."
"Huh?" Sonic opened his eyes, only to gasp in horror, quickly stood and backed away in fright. He really didn't want to end up having yet another bomb or an exploding TV at his face again today!
"Relax!" The robot frowned in annoyance, realizing that the blue hedgehog thought this was a repeat of the previous times. "I promise this one isn't gonna blow up on you."
"Alright..." Sonic muttered shakily, still unconvinced and his guard raised. Whatever 'Eggman' has in mind for him this time, he was certain he wasn't going to like it one bit. "What is it?"
"You'd better enter that race, Sonic, or else you'll have to face...this!" Bokkun warned and pulled something out of his bag, placing it in front of the bewildered blue hedgehog.
'What...is that thing?' The fourteen year old thought slowly, greatly disturbed as he was faced with another robot...which was nothing more than a pole with two blue small feet like a penguin's, great big thick pink-red lips and big eyes with long eye-lashes. It was the creepiest thing he had ever seen!
"Hi there! Oooh..." The robot in question greeted in a deep male voice with a failed attempt to sound like a girl, and then he began to smooch the air repeatedly. "Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah!"
Cringing in disgust as he realized it was a kissing robot, Sonic leaped off and ran away with the gross machine chasing after him. Only that he found himself trapped by the railing which for a split second made him feel like he was locked up in jail or a cage, and looked over his shoulder to see the Kiss-Bot laughing and leaped up into the air towards him. The fourteen year old's eyes widened, terrified before he spun around while screaming in panic as the robot was about to kiss him. He quickly ran to his left and narrowly avoided in being slobbered on by the robot who kissed the railing instead.
Bokkun began laughing hysterically over the situation while the Kiss-Bot smooched yet again, and Sonic got to safety by standing on the chair at the tea table, wondering what possessed Robotnik to build this thing. The hero of Mobius would rather, much to his chargin, be kissed by Amy!
"Yuck!" Sonic groaned with a sweat drop, feeling nauseous. "I don't wanna take any lip from that robot." While behind him the message bot continued to laugh.
It wasn't until the sound of Sam's Rocket Car's engine flaring again that caught the cobalt speedster's attention and he gasped in realization and gritted his teeth, glancing over his shoulder. It horrified him that his friendly rival and ally may have betrayed him and the others by contacting Robotnik just so they could race.
"I'm not gonna take no for an answer, Sonic, and I won't let up until you agree to race me!"
Just as the Kiss-Bot once again made the attempt to kiss him, Sonic knew that he had no other choice but to participate. "Then I'll race!"
With that, the hero of Mobius narrowly escaped and leaped from the balcony to meet up with the others. Plus he didn't have anything better to do and this could actually be good for him to knock off the fatigue. As for the gross robot, he landed his mark...by having his lips slobbered right onto Bokkun's mouth and smooched him loudly, while the little annoying message bot was left groaning in dismay and absolute disgust.
By then, Sonic got up to the group and announced to Sam with a smirk. "Are you gonna play with that pedal all day? Or are we gonna race?"
While Chris, Chuck and Tails were surprised after they and Sam turned to the blue hedgehog, the racer smirked in victory that the hero of Mobius had finally decided to race him after all. Now was the racer's chance to beat the teenager at his own game.
Short time later, Sonic and Sam got into position at the starting line, the former stretching out his muscles and hamstrings, getting ready while the crowd waited. Chuck was to act to start the race, while all of Sonic's friends, including the Chaotix surprisingly enough, stood to watch it all unfold. Ella was holding Cream in her arms while Tanaka held Cheese.
"I just don't get it. What made Sonic change his mind?" Amy asked, still annoyed with Sam for having brought this up in the first place.
"Maybe he decided he couldn't resist." Tails shrugged, though he had a feeling that, in an uncomfortable way, Robotnik got involved and now he was worried the evil scientist would disrupt the race.
"On your marks...Get set...!" Chuck held the flag high, as Sonic got ready to run, smirking as he knew he was going to win, and Sam prepared to take off. "GO!"
The racer then went off for a powerful start, the engine so strong that it knocked the shocked blue hedgehog who cried out in alarm. Once the winds died down, Sonic, irritated by this, quickly speed away to catch up as he left behind a blue blur trial and the race was on.
High up in the helicopter, Scarlet reported the live race. "This is Scarlet Garcia reporting from news chopper 1. We now continue our live coverage of the road race of the century as the hero of Mobius Sonic the Hedgehog takes on Sam Speed. After a delayed start, the racers left the Thorndyke mansion and are now speeding through downtown Station Square."
By then, Sonic was already neck-in-neck with his competitor and called out when he realized something. "Hey, Sam!"
"What is it?" His rival questioned.
"I thought this was a road race." The blue hedgehog shrugged cluelessly, pointing out the lack of wheels underneath the car. "But your car doesn't even touch the road. What's up? It doesn't have wheels!"
"That's where you're wrong. Take a closer look." The human racer advised.
"Huh?" Looking down more closely, to his surprise there were wheels...but they were more like airplane wheels than anything else.
Sam smirked and said proudly. "You see, the wheels guide the glide."
"But what if you get flat tires?" Sonic pointed out, unable to believe what he was seeing and hearing. 'And I thought Knuckles was competitive.'
As the two raced, they neared the buildings which would be tricky, especially for a race car, but for a blue speedy hedgehog, no problem.
"Our race is about to enter the most dangerous part of the course as they steer through these narrow streets at super high speed. But is the rocket car maneuverable enough to make those hypervelocity turns?" Scarlet reported, as she and everybody else watching all wondered how Sam was going to get through this.
"This'll be easy!" Sam smirked confidently.
"Oh yeah? Prove it!" Sonic smirked, speeding up and made several twists and turns all around the buildings with ease. What he didn't realize was that his rival had a lot tricks up his sleeve.
"Sonic's gone way ahead." The racer/officer smirked, before he contacted his S-Team. "Commence project straightaway now."
"Roger." One of the pit crew online responded.
With that as Sam sped forward, the garage doors began to slide open from all of the lined up buildings and the S-Speed Captain chuckled victoriously, willing to make any necessary attempts to ensure he would win against Sonic the Hedgehog once and for all.
"Sorry, kid. But being part of the S Team gives me the kind of class that really opens doors in this city!" Sam smirked and by then he was ahead.
Just as Sonic emerged from the last corner, he was shocked to see his rival ahead of him. How did that happen!? He looked over his shoulder and the blue hedgehog saw the doors now closing and narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
"That cheater!" He hissed before catching up quickly as they now raced along the big bridge. The blue hedgehog glared at Sam and called out. "That wasn't fair! You cheated!"
"Tough luck, Sonic! You know as they say: All's fair, Love in War." The human racer grinned.
Narrowing his eyes, the fourteen year old then decided to play a trick of his own and jumped onto the front of the car and relaxed, blocking his rival's view.
"Hey! Off of my hood, you!" Sam cried out.
But Sonic simply smiled with his arms folded, sighing mockingly. "Ah...Nice breeze here."
"Hitching a ride is against the rules!"
"Tough luck, Sam. As you just said: All's fair, Love in War." The hero of Mobius replied calmly.
Realizing this and that cheating was against the rules as the President has said earlier, the human racer rubbed the back of his head and sheepishly responded since he didn't want to end up disqualified. "You got me. But would you mind moving to the back some so I can see where I'm going?"
"Sure. This time, no more cheating." Sonic said firmly, standing up before jumping forward and back onto the road, continuing to run quickly once again in equal speed with his competitor.
Meanwhile back in his Egg Fort, Robotnik watched the race unfold and grinned wickedly. Despite that he successfully forced Sonic to enter the race, that didn't mean he wasn't going to not get involved with playing dirty tricks.
"Such a pity that they're almost equal in speed, but soon Sonic and that speedster-wanna-be's race is about to be cut short." The evil scientist snickered, before commanding. "Now, go, Sumo-Man!"
By now, Sam and Sonic both quickly drove into the desert where the former snickered before swaying his car to create a dust cloud, much to the blue hedgehog's alarm as he cried out before closing his eyes just as he became engulfed by the sands, and coughed which unfortunately slowed him down a little bit.
"Look at that! The competition has really heated up as Sonic is trapped in a dust storm created by Sam Speed! Can our hero of Mobius get out of there and catch up?" Scarlet reported in amazement and concern from above in the helicopter.
"This is getting on my nerve!" Sonic grunted angrily, quickly speeding up and emerged from the self-made dust storm, increasing his stamia to win this race. He wasn't going to let Sam come up with anymore nasty cheating tricks.
As the S-Team Captain sped up ahead, he heard the sounds of running and looked over his shoulder, his eyes widening in shock when he saw the familiar blue Mobian already catching up to him. "That can't be Sonic!"
It was impossible! How could that teenage hedgehog manage to catch up even after stuck in the sand storm he created? Sonic really was something else, Sam had to admit.
Just then as the duo continued their race, all of the sudden something huge began to emerge from the sand, and to their shock, it was yet another one of Robotnik's large robots, Sumo-Man, which was a big bulky machine with huge hands.
"You may not pass! Turn back!" Sumo-Man commanded in a very deep voice, holding out his hands to prevent the race from continuing.
"A road block!?" Sonic exclaimed, in disbelief. This couldn't be part of the race, could it? If so...his stomach dropped at the very idea that his human friend's uncle may really have betrayed them for the race and title.
To his surprise and relief, even Sam couldn't believe it. "This is not part of the race!" He cried out.
Thinking quickly, Sam pressed a button which made the wings of his car flap downward.
"Turn back, or be destroyed!" Sumo-Man warned, preparing to squash the incoming targets. But while he thought he managed to hit the rocket car, in reality he missed because Sam literally dove into the sand and dug underground before emerging behind the robot while continuing on.
"Sucker. Robots are so stupid." Sam snickered in amusement.
While stunned to have missed the human driver, the large robot turned it's attention to Sonic who, admittedly surprised that his rival managed to avoid in getting flattened, just sped up even more. Sumo-Man then attempted to destroy the hero of Mobius by shouting. "Stop now! I order you to halt and reverse your course now!"
"Not in a million years, big guy!" Sonic declared, easily running underneath the robot right between it's legs and raced ahead to catch up to his opponent, much to the machine's shock as it just stood there.
"How could I have missed Sonic?" Sumo-Man wondered in disbelief, before shifting nervously at his failure with the fear of what Robotnik would do to him. "Dr. Robotnik will punish me!"
He then had a(incredibly stupid) idea and thrust his first into his palm. "But not if I punish myself first!"
WHACK!
Sumo-Man then bashed himself so hard that he was sent flying right into the sky, screaming to avoid in getting severely punished by his creator...which really is an incredibly stupid idea.
Inside the Egg Fort, Bokkun, having returned with Kiss-Bot, sat on the floor and after telling Robotnik the bad news that the kissing robot missed Sonic, the message bot then began to cry loudly.
"Waaaaaaaaaaah! That robot kissed me!" Bokkun wailed, letting loose waterworks, with Decoe and Bocoe standing by him on both sides in their futile attempts to cheer him up.
"Bokkun, it might have been a lot worse, you know. You could've been accidentally kissed by Dr. Robotnik." Decoe pointed out.
"What a revolting thought." Bocoe remarked.
Robotnik in the meantime sat in his chair, grumbling that they had ended up missing Sonic twice, with the kissing robot standing beside him. "We blew it."
"Well, don't blame me." Kiss-Bot pouted, turning to his creator. "I did my job."
"Kiss off, you clown!" The evil scientist snapped.
Sadly, his day was only about to get worse, because unbeknownst to the mad doctor and his lackies, Sumo-Man came falling straight towards the Egg Fort and crashed right into the control room where it was quickly damaged and fell into the water. The impact caused everyone to end up in a pile and all of them lying everywhere with Sumo-Man, Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun out of commission, and Robotnik on his side.
"Are you alright? Let me kiss and make it better. Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!" Kiss-Bot, somehow avoiding in getting damaged, stood by the evil scientist and smooched him on the cheek.
Robotnik growled in irritation as he wondered why he had ever agreed to get Sonic into the race.
Back out in the desert, Sonic and Sam were once again in equal pace before the latter checked his watch and remarked in surprise. "Wow, it's already lunchtime."
He then switched another button and to Sonic's surprise as he noticed, a compartment opened up to reveal a freshly cooked hamburger and soda. The blue hedgehog gazed with his eyes wide that the food looked tasty, while Sam took a bite out of his lunch before he noticed the teenager's expression.
"Hey, you want a bite?" He offered.
"No thanks!" Sonic quickly denied, not wanting to get tricked again and sped up ahead while his rival continued having his meal. Sadly the sight of the food and having raced all day made his stomach grumble and he placed his hand onto it, commenting. "Come to think of it, I am pretty hungry."
"Hey, Sonic!"
"Huh?" The blue hedgehog looked up at the sound of Chris's voice, and saw that Tails came flying down in the X Tornado with the hatch up, and Chris himself leaning over to the side holding a basket.
"Ella and Amy made ya' ham sandwiches, blueberry pie and some milk for ya'!" The twelve year old boy explained.
"Wow! Thanks, Chris! That looks delicious!" The fourteen year old said happily, reaching over to grab it, and opened it up to reveal the aforementioned food, licking his lips.
He then quickly munched down his sandwiches and the two pieces of the sweet pie before jugging down the glass of milk since he didn't want Sam to ruin his lunch. Now he felt nice and full, ready to finish the race.
"Mmmm! Tastes just as good as it looked!" Sonic remarked, handing the now empty basket back to his friend. "Tell Ella' and Ames' I said tha-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Sam quickly sped by and ended up covering both Sonic and Chris in sand, leaving them bewildered.
"At least I was nice enough to let him have his lunch." The racer muttered to himself, smirking as he was once again up ahead. He may be an unfair competitor but upon seeing the blue hedgehog actually being hungry and his nephew handing over the lunch box, Sam decided to let him eat first before he went ahead.
"Well, you know what I mean." Sonic eventually finished as he shook off the sand off of him.
"Sure, Sonic. See you at the finish line." Chris said weakly, still covered in sand, before Tails, sweat dropping at this, pulled up to head back to Station Square.
"Right!" The blue hedgehog nodded and once again hurried to catch up. He had to win this race, and he wasn't going to be taken down by anymore tricks.
He eventually did just as the duo came into the canyon, the nearing end of their race.
"This road race is still up for grabs as our racers prepare to speed through the canyon." Scarlet reported as the race continued on.
Seeing the cliff up ahead, Sonic and Sam, both determined to beat each other, leaped off before landing on the slope and raced down to the bottom before noticing the big sign with an arrow at the turning point. The two then raced around the sign and rock and then closely hurried back to Station Square for the final lap.
Neither one were willing to give up as they eventually found themselves back in the city for the home stretch of their race and everybody now by then waiting at the Stadium with the crowd mostly cheering on for Sonic to win. Though strangely enough, the President doesn't seem to be here yet.
"Our racers have reached the halfway point and are now speeding back towards Station Square. Sonic and Sam Speed are still running neck-and-neck." Scarlet announced, while Sonic's friends now began to worry that he might actually lose against Sam who was confident that he will win and become known as the true fastest living being alive.
Tails and Chris had met up with the others with the latter telling Amy and Ella that Sonic said his thanks for the delicious lunch. With them were the Chaotix as they watched on.
"C'mon, Sonic! You can't lose to some human guy who thinks he's fast just because he owns a rocket race car!" Vector coached in support.
"I don't think he is fast if all he does is just sit in a rocket that can't even fly." Charmy deadpanned skeptically.
"To be a true fastest thing alive, Sam Speed must have the same ability as Sonic within the body." Espio pointed out with his arms folded, confusing the youngest detective while continuing. "Because Sonic was born with the unnatural gift of speed simply by running, he will no doubt always be the real fastest living being ever. The car racer on the other hand simply thinks his faster due to enjoying speed and at the time was considered the fastest man alive, but the moment Sonic came to existence at his birth and learned how to walk and run, everything changed forever."
"Makes perfect sense to me." The five year old bee shrugged, before he noticed something that caught his attention.
Nearby, was the news reporters, photographers and crewman ready to give out live reports on the winner of the race. Problem is, Jerome stood waiting but his superior was still absent and the race was almost over.
"What's taking the President so long?" The president's aid murmured worriedly, checking his watch. "The race is going to finish soon."
At that moment, his PHS rang in his pocket and he answered. "Hello?...What!? But can't the President hold his emergency security meeting later?...*Sigh* Alright, if it can't be changed."
Having been told that the President won't make it, Jerome decided that he would take over, and then began to smile at the idea of him being very famous and smirked. "I'll fill in. It's just as well. I'm more photogenic than the president, anyway. In fact, I'm more lovable than my boring boss too! I can use this race to launch my own campaign! Then everybody in Mobius will call me Mr. President!"
The more he thought of this, the more he pictured himself taking the president's place, not just for congratulating the winner, but also opening up his own political race with his adoring fans and possibly become the new President of the United Federation. The aid then began chuckling himself in being known as the leader to increase his beautiful lifestyle.
"Um, hey." A young boy's voice interrupted his daydream, causing Jerome to look down and saw Charmy who, having noticed him and walked up to the human, asked in confusion. "Sorry, mister, but, what are you laughing at?"
"Oh, nothing, kid." The human replied innocently, before quietly laughing to himself once more.
Not really believing the guy as he found Jerome to be suspicious, Charmy just looked away and shrugged.
With only a few miles left now for Sonic and Sam, the two racers have just returned to Station Square and were making their way towards the stadium with all the pull stops having ended. Waiting for the competitiors to arrive, all of the blue hedgehog's friends watched on with deep concern.
"Come on, Sonic. You can do it." Amy softly prayed, her heart racing with anxiety for her 'boyfriend' to win.
Seeing they were almost at the entrance, Sam smirked as he declared. "Alright. It's rocket time!"
He then pushed the lever as the rocket car's engine went into full speed, racing straight ahead of Sonic.
"Look out! Sam Speed is pulling away!" Scarlet exclaimed in shock.
But this didn't faze the hero of Mobius as he smirked confidently. "Heh. Oh yeah!?"
Focusing on his will-power, Sonic then went for his skilled boost which increased his speed to the maximum, quickly in neck-to-neck with Sam who, shocked to see how the blue hedgehog has just shown off his true power, began to sweat and focused hard to beat him. The cobalt speedster in the meantime focused on all of his energy to get up ahead while becoming nothing more than a blue blur, until finally they both seem to hit the finishing line at the exact same time.
The crowd went wild as most of them held up signs with Sonic's face on it, while the duo finally came to a stop.
"Well, it looks like we have a tie." Scarlet remarked. "That was close. The judges will examine photos to see if they can determine a winner. The results will be posted on the stadium monitor."
Sonic and Sam, who finally slowed his car down to a stop, looked up at the monitor expectedly. On the large screen at the photo shoots, it revealed that the hero of Mobius actually came first but instead of hitting the finishing line, the teenager leaped over it and landed before he cheered at his victory. Then, deciding to have a bit of fun to show off, Sonic leaped up straight to the camera and posed with a peace sign and a wink, then leaped away and once again sped up beside Sam to really hit the line this time.
"AMAZING! Sonic not only crossed the finish line first, he went back for an encore!" The female news reporter exclaimed in awe, while Sonic smirked proudly at himself, rubbing his nose and Sam sat there, bewildered as he was so focused on the race that he had failed to see what happened. "Sonic is the winner!"
The crowd went wild as they celebrated the teenage hedgehog's victory with confetti falling, and both Charmy and Vector cheered on loudly, congratulating the fourteen year old. Espio smiled as he folded his arms, muttering. "Well done, Sonic. You have shown off your true potential as the real fastest thing alive."
"Way to go, Sonic!" Chris cheered happily.
"I knew he could do it!" Tails jumped up and down in excitement.
"Hooray for Mr. Sonic!" Cream clapped happily, with Cheese waving his arms, while both Ella, and Tanaka smiled proudly.
"Congratulations!" Amy cheered squealing, racing over to her 'boyfriend' who jumped slightly in fright as she hugged him. She knew that he would win, but she had also been worried for a while there.
"I-It was no big deal." Sonic stated to his self-proclaimed girlfriend, cringing at the tightness of the hug, but he was pretty happy to have won. The blue hedgehog knew he could do it, and he had fun now that he thought of it.
"Oh, Sonic." Lindsey, who had approached with Nelson and made the two hedgehogs look up at them, said happily while she handed out a bouquet of roses. "Well done."
"Thanks a lot." The teenager said, gently taking the flowers before gazing at his friendly rival who, while disappointed to have lost, still had fun for having the race and smiled at the hedgehog with thumbs up and a wink to congratulate him. Sonic returned the gesture as thanks.
Unfortunately, Sonic's happy celebration came to a bit of a stand still when Jerome stepped up proudly, calling out to him and made the blue hedgehog turn to him with the aid holding out his hand. "That was just great."
Sonic blinked before he and everybody else noticed the press close by, cameras and microphones all ready and then he remembered that this was all to be set on live TV. He gazed at the crowd very uncomfortably while wondering why it was this sleazy guy who had set up the party at the White House weeks earlier and not the President.
"Sonic, shake my hand. Hurry up so they can take our picture together." The aid leaned over and whispered, before holding out his hand expectedly.
That made the blue hedgehog grit his teeth in annoyance as the truth finally sunk in. It was Jerome's idea all along, having convinced Sam to make Sonic race. It was all part of the politics and with the President absent, the man's advisor decided to simply take his place instead of making an apology that the head man of the United Federation simply couldn't make it.
Before Sonic could call him out or force himself to shake the greedy man's hand, Jerome's phone once again rang and the aid answered. "Hello? Oh, hi, Vivian."
As Jerome listened in, what he heard made him utterly and completely horrified that, under circumstances, had him caught completely red handed as he blurted out loudly. "What!? I'm fired and have an arrest warrant for negotiating with Dr. Robotnik!?"
Flash! Click! Flash!
Unfortunately for him, the news reporters heard what he said and now began taking pictures of him while angrily questioning his motives under the negotiations with the evil scientist and that this all may have been part of the plan to defeat Sonic and for Robotnik to take over the city with accusing words taht Jerome could be placed as the new President or things like that.
To make things worse, the now former President's Aid realized too late that by secretly hacking into the satellite and communications, it breached the security codes and the investigators had the recordings of the meeting, meaning that Jerome was now classified as a traitor of Mobius.
"Ooh! There's no way I'll be President now!" Jerome wailed over his stunt, and sobbed.
Sonic, realizing that Sam really had been tricked all along and that Jerome did this just so he could keep his job only for that to be his own downfall, simply shrugged cluelessly at the readers/viewers while breaking the fourth wall.
Meanwhile, in the Iron Empire base, Julius and his assistants have all witnessed Sonic's victory as well as the Breaking News of Jerome's betrayal due to negotiating with Robotnik.
"That blue child really is the fastest thing alive, even to overcome a super powered rocket engine." Julius hissed darkly, not pleased with the results. "The only way to destroy him now truly is with the Chaos Emeralds. I must get all of them, and that little rabbit girl with her Chao pet."
To think that Sonic's power over speed was faster than he anticipated, it upset the evil leader of the Iron Empire. But before he could think any further into this, he then heard screams coming from the hallway and in irritation, he looked up to see three of his men running into the room before falling onto the floor in a panic.
Just as Julius wondered what was going on, to his disgust and bewilderment, the Kiss-Bot, who was tossed out shortly after kissing Robotnik and landed into the ocean, somehow managed to find his way into the Iron Empire's base laughing.
"Come and get some kissy-wissy!" Kiss-Bot declared in a sing-song tone, before leaping straight towards the horrified leader...and kissed him fully on the mouth, much to the horror and disgust of the soldiers who all groaned.
"Grrr...AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Julius roared furiously as he snatched the robot and tossed it roughly onto the floor, bellowing. "IVOOOOOOOOO!"
His shouting echoed through out the underwater building and throughout the entire ocean as he began to really plot his revenge.
A/N: Another chapter done, and hopefully soon-ish I'll post another one in the near future. Just to let you know, the next two episodes will kinda be swapped from the main Sonic X anime due to this universe's timeline.
See you later!