Here's a cameo of the Babylon Rogues. Hope it's a good chapter for my readers...

March 1st

A new month, a new event: at the end of March was the Mobius High Extreme Gear Grand Prix. Everyone was excited about the games and the grand prize was a huge cash prize, enough to pay for college. Greedy people were after the cash prize, hardcore racers were after the thrill of racing on an Extreme Gear and others were there for the fun of competition. Sign ups were after school in the front lobby; Sonic planned to go and sign up, along with the others. They went to the booth only to see the Babylon Rogues there already signing up.

"Are those the Babylon Rogues?" Starr asked Tails.

"Yeah," he replied. "The green hawk is Jet, the purple swallow is Wave and the grey albatross is Storm."

"This year it's time to put them in their place," Knuckles growled and punched a fist in his hand.

After all three of them had signed up, they turned around to see Sonic and friends.

"Sonic the Hedgehog," Jet said in a confrontational voice. "Signing up, are we?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Sonic said in his positive mood. "And we have a new companion."

The Rogues looked behind the blue hedgehog and saw the black and blue hedgehog; they laughed.

"SHE'S going to race the Grand Prix?" Jet laughed.

"Does she even know how to ride a Gear?" Wave asked.

"I am right here," Starr informed the rivals. "And yes, I do know my way around a Gear."

"Mouthy thing, isn't she?" Storm informed his leader.

"Don't worry Storm," Jet said crossing his arms. "I'll fix that mouth of hers."

Jet and Starr had this stare down that filled the immediate area with tension. "Now," Starr said. "If you're done signing up here, I suggest you better leave and practice."

"Come on Jet let's go," Wave said. "We'll make her eat her words later." Jet huffed and he and his gang walked away. No one said anything until they left.

"You really know how to ride a Gear?" Sonic asked Starr.

"No," she said. "I was bluffing. I have no idea how to ride a Gear! Will you teach me?"

"Sure thing there. Do you have a Gear?" She shook her head. "Tails do you think you could make her one?"

"No problem!" Tails replied happily. "I just need some information about how you ride a Gear. We can start today."

"Alright!" Starr was excited as all nine of them signed up. After, they all decided to go to Tails' mechanic garage to get their Gears checked up. Tails' house was a walks away but it was worth the walk. The house was a hand-me-down from his father, who was also a mechanic. The house was big, two floors high, with a big yard, front and back.

They got to the garage and everyone's Gears were in storage in the shed. Getting lessons from Tails on tuning a Gear, everyone grabbed their own Gear and tuned them up. Starr went with Tails to his work bench to plan for her Gear.

"Alright Miss Starr," Tails said in a professional voice. "How may I help you today?"

"Well dear sir," Starr played along. "I need a Gear for my school Grand Prix."

"I'll need some information from you. How do you stand on a Gear? Are you a regular or goofy rider?"

"A regular rider."

"And what colour or colours do you want?"

"Possible black and blue, like me please."

"Thank you ma'am. You can practice on a spare in the back if you'd like. I'll start working on your order."

"Thank you. You were very helpful. Have a lovely day."

Tails pretended to tip his hat to her; Starr went to the back and grabbed one of the spare Gears off the wall. She carried it under her arm and went outside to practice. She laid the board down on the ground and hopped on it. She almost lost her balance as it started to hover off the ground. Getting her balance back, she started to move forward; slowly but surely she was moving. Sonic and Amy came whizzing to Starr to check on her, she almost lost her footing if it wasn't for Sonic who grabbed her arm that was flopping around, trying to regain balance.

"Thanks Sonic," Starr said once she was at a standstill.

"I think you need help," Sonic said. "Want a tutorial?"

"Yes please!"

"Right then. So the first thing you gotta do is relax while on it, YOU'RE the one riding it not the other way around. And you may want to try it barefoot too, you'll need all the stability you can get!"

Starr got off the Gear and, with Amy holding her it for her, she took off her shoes. She ran her toes through the soft grass she was standing on and breathed deeply. She got back on the Gear and felt better when her whole foot was on the Gear.

"So lean forward a bit and you'll start," Sonic continued. "Lean your body to turn."

Starr did what she was told and she was laughing joyfully when she was getting the hang of riding a Gear. She was about ten yards away from Sonic and Amy. She turned to see the two applauding her but then having a look of shock on their faces.

"JUMP!" Sonic yelled.

"What?!" She yelled back. She looked back to her track and saw a small pond getting closer and closer to her. She crouched to prepare her jump and when she got close enough, she came out of the ball she had made herself out of and she lifted off the ground. It felt like she was moving in slow motion as she saw the pond under her feet, the Gear had naturally came up to her side and she grabbed it. Coming back down and letting go of the Gear, she successfully made a jump. Sonic and Amy came over on their Gears to meet Starr who was stopping and dismounting her practice Gear.

"You were amazing!" Amy giddily congratulated Starr.

"Awesome job!" Sonic said giving her a thumbs up.

"Thanks guys!" Starr thanked her friends. The others that were tuning up their Gears came over to see what the commotion was.

"We herd yelling all the way on the other side of the yard," Knuckles said. "Everything alright?"

"Starr here just jumped over that pond!" Amy pointed at the nearby pond.

"She's a natural," Sonic said patting Starr on her shoulder.

"That's my girl," Shadow said as he wrapped his arm around Starr. While everyone were giving their regards to Starr, Tails came floating over on his Gear with another one under his arm.

"I've finished it Starr," he said pleased with himself.

"How did you get it done that fast?" She asked as she took her Gear.

"I'm not sure, I'm just glad that you have a Gear too so we can face those Babylon Rogues!"

Part one of this section of the story. Don't forget to R&R! Always looking for advice good, bad and ugly.