I do not own Sonic or his friends.

Chapter 3

"THAT FOX IS A STINKING PERVERT!" Wave the Swallow was pacing back and forth with curled fists, rage boiling in her veins.

Dr. Eggman watched her as if he was being her psychiatrist. The doctor then rubbed his forehead "Why won't she just let it go? It wasn't on purpose."

Wave continued to scream just as Jet and Storm walked in. Jet closed his eyes and shook in annoyance "STOP COMPLAINING WAVE!"

Wave turned and glared at him. Jet didn't seem to falter "He touched you. So what? We can use that to our advantage?" Doctor Eggman raised a brow. "Just seduce him into a spell and see if you can steel something from them. Like one of the emeralds."

Eggman slapped his forehead making a commotion. Everyone turned to him "You three honestly have no idea what happened." Eggman lowered his hand "He touched you on accident, he didn't realize what he did. He was aiming for your shoulders. He is quite new to the extremely fast running. Besides, I know him. He's not thinking of you as attractive. He has too many problems of his own to worry about."

The three birds continued to stare at him "Just forget about the seduce thing Wave." Jet turned to his female companion.

Wave scoffed "Gladly."

Storm just looked at the two "Uh… what happened?"

The hawk and swallow looked up toward their giant friend "Nothing."

"Uh… okay."

Eggman soon stood from his chair "Aright. Since we got that out of the way, you three should work on practice."

Jet wheeled back head giving an expression of shock and bewilderment "Practice? But like you said, "we are the best"."

"Sonic and Tails are quite the team. They can get around a lot, and Tails is one of the smartest animals I know."

Jet laughed "Wave can make a board a hundred times better than your foxy foe."

Eggman's face suddenly went to sinister and the room felt as if the room went dark "Do not… I repeat, do NOT! Underestimate him JET! You have no idea what he's capable of."

Jet and his gang sweated "He-hey! I was just kidding. Here, we'll go practice."

As they left the room Eggman sat down and rested his head on his hand "I really need to work on my anger problems." He then continued in his head "I just hate it when people slur at Tails."

Tails Workshop

Miles "Tails" Prower, the golden two-tailed fox, put down his screwdriver Sonic had given back to him on the day Destructor was defeated. He then lifted the final board with golden paint. It was his board, but he was proud of it. He set it down and looked at the black and blue board he had finished last night. Yep, he had no sleep. AGAIN!

Sonic came in and gently picked the fox up scolding him "No sleep again, buddy? You'll soon kill yourself if you keep this up."

Tails tried to keep a straight face, but his eyelids kept drooping and his face was quite noticeably pale even with the fur covering it. "I'm not… Uahhhhhh… tired." He yawned.

Sonic smiled "Oh really? I bet."

The door suddenly burst open and Shadow marched in. Sonic jumped up with a mocking salute as Tails just stood there with a hunched back and bent knees trying desperately to stay awak. Shadow walked past Tails as if he wasn't there causing his ears to go limp and placed ontop of his head which lowered with a pained expression.

Shadow stopped and looked at Sonic who was still in a mocking salute. He then walked off "You might to stop that Sonic, before you hurt yourself."

"Only by laughing too hard." Sonic put his hand down.

The blue hedgehog looked over at Tails to see his pained expression and began to worry "You alright, bro?"

Tails looked at Sonic from the corner of his eye "Yah… I'm fine."

"Yah, right… Is it because you're tired."

"Y-yes."

"You're not good at the lying part anymore buddy."

"J-just drop it."

"Are these the boards?" The two looked over at Shadow to see him holding the black board in his hands, inspecting it.

Tails walked over and said "Yep. They are ready for you to try them out. That one is for you, the blue one is for Sonic, and the yellow one is for me."

Shadow looked over at Tails board "That looks thicker than these."

Tails looked worried "Ya-yah it is. I just want you guys to win, not me."

Shadow looked at the fox for a long while. Then he broke the awkward silence "It doesn't matter which of us wins. As long as it's one of us."

He then took it out side. Sonic ran and got his board, while Tails just went out to watch. Shadow looked at his board "How does this thing work?"

Tails walked over to him "Here." He took it and put it on the ground "Now step roughly on the foot pads you see."

Shadow slammed his foot on one of the pads and suddenly metal plating wrapped its self around his foot trapping it. The black hedgehog was shocked and tried to pull his leg out by lifting it and trying to shake the board off.

Tails covered his mouth to hid a chuckle "Calm down Shadow it's suppose to do that. Otherwise you would fall off the board once it blasts away."

Shadow stared at the fox as he lowered his leg down in till it rested on the grass. He then stomped his other foot on the last pad to have it wrapped around, but this time the board make a whirling sound as if an engine was beginning to power up. The board and Shadow began to lift "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Shadow started swing his arms trying to balance.

Soon the hedgehog fell back, but the board swung with him and lifted up so he hung upside down without hitting the ground. Shadow opened his eyes to see the fox chuckling silently trying to contain it. Sonic on the other hand was out right bursting with laughter, rolling on the grass and holding his sides.

Shadow could feel his blood going to his head, building up pressure there in till it felt as if it was going to explode "OKAY! How do I get back up right?"

Tails lowered his hands and cleared his throat "Just press your back foot against the pad. It's also a button. Just make sure you press with your toes."

Shadow obeyed and the board swiftly put him back up right. Shadow flung his arms again, but this time he didn't fall. Shadow looked down and smiled "Hm. Not bad."

Then there was a voice in the air "Come on Shadow sing with me "I Believe I can Flyyyyyyyy. I believe I can touch the sky-iieeeee.""

"STOP SINGING RALPH!"

The armored dog stepped up onto the top stair "Come on. It's a good song." Rouge and Omega soon followed.

Sonic was then floating in the air "Whoa, WHOA!"

He fell, but pressed his board so he did a 360 turn and was upright again. He regained his balanced "Heh. Not as easy as it looks, huh?"

Sonic lowered his eyelids looking at the speaker, Shadow. Tails came back out with his board and he was in the air, but he put it on differently. He jumped in the air with his legs bending toward the side. He then slammed the board into his feet and made them upright again so he stayed in the air.

Shadow and Sonic stared at him "… How did you?"

"You two can do it too, you just need practice. It will help in the race. I call it the jump start."

Rough rolled her eyes and scoffed. Sonic turned and glared at her. She then looked away up into the sky. Sonic then giggled and turned back to his friend.

Confused, Rouge looked to her right and then became angered. Ralph tried to pull his fingers back from her head, which were trying to make it appear as if she had bunny ears. Small ones at least.

Tails looked down at his board "Okay. So you know what that right back switch does."

Sonic looked down at his feet "Right back switch?"

"Your right foot goes on the back and your left goes on the front."

Sonic looked shocked and began to blush and laugh in embracement. Tails then looked bored "You did the opposite."

"Hee, hee."

"Alright. Third lesson. How to get off the board."

Tails bent down and pushed the top of the foot locks. The board gently fell down and opened up once it landed. The two hedgehogs copied and soon everyone stepped off their board. Sonic grabbed his board and tried the jump start, but his feet hit the wrong part of the board and so he just fell and quickly landed on his feet.

Shadow tired it too, but the same result as Sonic. The blue blur looked at the golden fox "Uh… Tails. How did you do that."

"Practice."

"Wait. YOU DID THAT LAST NIGHT?"

"Yahhhhh?" Tails began to look worried.

Sonic slapped himself in the forehead "Will you ever take care of yourself?"

"Well, unlike you two, when I first tried it I fell on my face and back."

Shadow looked back at his board and then tried it again. He bounced his feet and they were sent in front of him so he landed in a sitting position. Sonic looked at Shadow and grinned "Your buns burning?"

"Well, you try it hedgehog."

"Alright… I will."

Sonic jumped up and got one of his feet in, but the other missed slightly hitting the pad on the side so it started. It lifted him up and turned off so he fell forward onto his face. Tails just looked at his friend as he pulled his face out of the mud "And that's how you fall on your face with this board."

Sonic wipped his face and spat out some of the muck. "You mind… uhhh, ikk… disgusting goo."

"Mud?" Shadow stood.

"Whatever. Look, Tails. You mind showing us that jump thing again."

"The Jump Start? Okay."

Tails stepped back and jumped up and correctly placed his feet and was in the air once more "Your turn."

Shadow lifted one foot to look at the bottom, and then the other. He placed his board gently on one foot to measure and looked up at Tails. He took a step back and jumped up. He correctly placed his feet and was in the air. He looked down at a baffled blue hedgehog.

Sonic scratched his head "Show off."

Sonic did the same. He took a step back can jumped. He correctly placed his feet, but he didn't strike the pads hard enough, and so he fell on his back. After several tries Sonic was finally in the air, but he was also in pain. Shadow smiled "Your buns burning yet?"

"Leave me alone."

"Alright. The board is basic and so it is easy to learn, but as you two can see. Not easy to master. The right back switch levels you so that the bottom is facing a solid object, may it be a wall, floor or ceiling. You can even do loops with it. If you don't push it, it will just slow down when it doesn't have much to push up against. There are three more switches. Right front is for backing up and for a quick break if need be. The last two are on the left leg pad. Back is for accelerating forward and the front is for full blast which is faster than the accelerator could ever be."

Sonic scratched his chin "So the blaster is as fast as this thing can go?"

"Yep, but don't hold it for too long, it will over heat and the board will turn it off quickly and vent it. If it continued to heat, the circuitry will get ruined."

Shadow spoke up "What if we wanted to ride on a rail or something to that appearance?"

Tails moved his legs to position the board like he was standing on the ground "First move it in a position like this. The pads and foot locks are rotatable. Press the back right and back left and it will ride up against any round or flat surface that can be slippery like metal or light particles. Riding a rail is quick so you should try to work on that skill."

Tails jumped up, touched the foot lock's top and fell off his board onto the ground with his board under his arm. He looked back up to see surprised faces "Don't worry about this trick. I built a coarse for you guys to practice on. You can go over there and work. Oh, and before you go. The accelerator, you know the left back switch."

Shadow rolled his eyes and boringly said "Yes."

"Well its just like a car accelerator. You can press it lightly and it will slowly move forward, but the harder you push it the-."

"Faster it goes, yah, yah. We know." Tails lowered his ears as Shadow then pressed the accelerator slowly to go to the portal teleporter to take him to the coarse.

Sonic looked at Tails worryingly "S-sorry about that bud. I don't think he realizes he's hurting you."

Tails rubbed his check to wipe of tears "Yah right."

Sonic lowered his ears and then flew off after Shadow. Ralph then patted Tails' shoulder "Calm down Tails. He doesn't know he is hurting you. He doesn't even know about "The Mysterious Villain." The hedgehog hasn't even heard of it."

Rouge walked past "He should, so that he could hurt you more."

Ralph bent down and picked up mud "Hey Batgirl."

Rouge turned to receive muck plating all over her face "Enjoy the mud pie."

Tails smiled a bit knowing he at least has one friend at his side.

Up in the air though Jet and his gang were watching them. Jet turned to Wave "Umm… Our boards don't look like theirs."

Wave looked back at the board in Tails' hand "Its too thick to worry about. That weight will slow them down."

"Not his board. Sonic and that black hedgehog's board are thinner, but yet they are different."

Wave shrugged "It could be bad, but it could good. Those boards are different. They might be slower."

Jet looked back down at the work shop "I'm not sure about that. Those words Eggman spoke are still haunting my mind."

Wave laughed "What "He is the smartest animal I have ever met."?"

"Jet Shook his head "No. The "Do not underestimate him." one."

"Bunch of baloney. I'm the best extreme gear specialist there is. He's just making them."

Wave then flew off. Storm looked after her and then back at Jet "What do we do Boss?"

Jet turned around and flew off "Practice. We may need it. I'll also ask Wave to upgrade our boards." He turned to Storm "Just to be safe." The green hawk then blasted after Wave.

Storm looked down and the workshop "What? I don't see how they're so tough." He then fired after his two friends.

A week later

Shadow and Sonic walked out of Tails' workshop after retrieving their boards. Sonic looked over at Shadow and spoke "So Shadow. How do you like the board?"

"Fine. But I prefer running. I'm faster when I run."

Sonic raised a finger and swung it side to side "Ah, ah Shadow. That is cheating."

The hedgehog looked at Sonic "Whatever."

They entered the portal and looked at the track. There was something like a yellow blur out there doing the race. They continued to watch in till it crashed right in front of them. Both hedgehogs jumped back a few feet away, dropped their boards, and got into a fighting stance.

Tails was their coughing in the dust. His board was locked against his feet, yet he sat on the ground. Sonic relaxed and walked over to his friend "Jeppers Tails, you scared us."

"I wasn't scared."

"You still scared us, but some of us are unwilling to admit it." Sonic offered a hand and Tails took it. He stood up on top of the board.

Sonic looked over the dirty fox "What happened? Shouldn't you be floating?"

Tails jumped up while pressing the accelerator and the board hummed to life floating him upward. Tails bent down and pressed the locks to free him and fell off. He looked at the two hedgehogs "Something cracked the board and so dirt got in it causing it to shutdown. If that happens I built a system so you can press the accelerator to reactivate."

"We saw that." Shadow picked his board back up.

Sonic dusted his friend off "Well why were you trying it today?"

"You didn't see the commercial? Eggman announced that all racers are to report to the Grand Prize Stadium to be announced in. I was hoping to find any problems before we go because we have to be ridding these."

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other, then both dashed at the start of the track and jump started. They ran the whole coarse as if racing one another. In the end Sonic came back first. The blue hedgehog got out of the foot locks and turned around to point at Shadow as he landed "HA! Beat ch-ya."

Shadow landed in front of his nemesis "This isn't a race Sonic. Its practice."

"Oh is it? Or are you a sore loser?"

Tails looked up annoyed after finishing the repairs of his board "Seriously you guys?"

Both hedgehogs looked at the golden fox as he stood "Lets just go there."

"On the boards?"

"Not at first, it's a long travel, It'll be faster on foot then when we see the stadium we'll have to jump start and get there quickly."

Unexpectedly a light appeared around them and they were inside a ship. Eggman stood in front of them with a grin "Hello Sonic and co."

Shadow stepped forward with a growl "You!"

"Nice to meet you once more Shadow. I'm here to give you a lift to the stadium. I knew Sonic and Tails would join, I wasn't so sure about you though, Shadow."

The black hedgehog only glared at the doctor. Eggman looked at the trio and said "But I was also expecting Knuckles. Where is the forth one. Or more importantly, where is the seventh chaos emerald."

Sonic pointed at the fat doctor "Don't you have it?"

Eggman shook his head. Sonic and Tails looked at each other. Shadow only continued to stare at Eggman, but the "evil" scientist stepped away and the three they were going to face off against stood there.

Sonic smiled at Jet; Jet grinned at Sonic. Tails showed no emotion toward Wave, while she gave him a death glare. Storm was looking at Shadow trying to study him, but Shadow looked as if he was off in his own world with the expression of boredom.

Shadow walked forward "You look like you can be strong."

"I am strong."

"Really?" The black and red striped hedgehog replied with a hint of doubt.

Storm curled his fist "I am."

"You remind me of Knuckles. Hot tempered, a nuisance,… and one big dumb imbecile."

"NO I'M NOT!"

"You mean "No I am not.""

Storm charged and Shadow dodged the first punch and blocked the second. He then jumped above the giant bird and kicked him. Storm flew across the room and struck the computer. The albatross stood up looking bewildered and hurt. The black hedgehog scoffed and turned around to walk back next to Sonic "Not am imbecile… Yah right."

Eggman turned his chair around "HEY! NO FIGHTING IN HERE! These equipments ARE NOT CHEAP!"

Wave stormed up to Tails growled "Pervert."

"I make one simple mistake and you hold onto it like a grudge."

"You call that… a simple MISTAKE!?"

"YES. NOT ATTENDED. I WAS GOING FOR YOUR SHOULDERS. YOU MOVED TOO FAST SO MY ARMS DIDN'T GET OUT FAR ENOUGH!"

"YAH RIGHT!"

Eggman face-palmed himself. Apparently Wave didn't listen to him.

Sonic just looked at the two bickering as well as Jet. Sonic then turned to the green hawk "What is with you guys and fighting?"

"First off. Tails did touch her and therefore she has every right to be angry."

"That was an accident. An acc-i-dent. Unintentional."

"Still. He touched her, and she doesn't like to be touched."

"The only way you would know is you touched her?"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Sonic only had a smudge grin on his face. Jet reddened as he continued "Alright. Once. I accidently brushed her shoulder."

"So you DID touch her."

"By accident. It was an accident."

"Still. You touched her, and she doesn't like to be touched."

Jet curled his fists "I am so waiting to beat you."

"Not if I beat you." Jet snarled and stormed away.

Wave stuck her tongue at the fox and followed. Tails glared after her. Sonic stepped next to his friend "She likes you."

"WHAT!"

"She likes you."

"No she doesn't. If she did, why is she being so mean?"

"Some females don't know how to express love, so they turn to bullying. Therefore… she likes you."

"Uhg… forget it."

The carrier they were in came out of the clouds over the stadium. Eggman got up and walked over to the teleporter controls "All aboard. Next stop, the stadium."

The six stepped on the teleporter. Wave stepped next to Tails unnoticeable. The fox however noticed and scrunched up. He then walked away and placed Sonic next to her instead. Sonic looked at him with lowered lids like he was mentally saying "Seriously?"

Wave watched him do that and grew angry once more and curled her fists "What am I now? A disease. Jeez, what a brat!"

Eggman slowly placed his face on his palm after watching this. Those two have some major problems. The doctor then activated the portal and in a few seconds they were on a stage, as well as Eggman.

A microphone came out of the controls and Eggman spoke into it "HELLO PEOPLE OF MOBIUS!"

There was a loud roar of applause and shouts. Sonic smiled, Shadow looked board, and Tails looked like a robot. Jet stood there trying to look intimidating, Wave had her arms crossed trying not to glare at the golden fox in annoyance, and Storm looked bewildered "Why is there so many people here."

Shadow leaned forward to look at the albatross "You still sure about not being stupid."

"I'M NOT STUPID!"

"You want to fight again?"

Storm tightened up and stepped back. Shadow straitened back up. Tails looked at him "Will you stop picking on him?"

"Why do you care? Don't you have a problem of your own?" Tails looked at Wave then forward.

Eggman then talked, again, to the crowd "WE HAVE OUR SIX RACERS HERE. SHADOW THE BLACK HEDGEHOG." There was applause "STORM THE ALBATROSS!" The audience clapped once more "JET THE HAWK, LEADER OF THE BABOLONIAN ROUGES." The whole stadium clapped loudly "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG-." Before Eggman could say anymore the entire stadium was full of shouts, applause, and jumping people that was beginning to deafen the racers. Jet glared at Sonic who only winked at him. Jet sharply turn away angered. Eggman then pointed at Wave "WAVE THE SWALLOW, INVENTER OF THE ROUGES!" The stadium applauded. And now there was only one person left. The fox, the usual nemesis. Tails heart pounded in his chest, he could feel every beat as if it were trying to make him jump. Eggman then continued "AND TAILS THE FOX-."

Suddenly it felt as if the entire planet went cold. The desert felt like ice as it suddenly got quiet, but then someone booed. Then the entire stadium was full of it. Boos everywhere, people screaming out insults. Some even yelled if there was someone with a gun to shoot him. Each one pounded Miles like a jackhammer. He felt like crying and running away, he even heard someone shoot at him with a gun before a robot came and grabbed him. Jet and the group were shocked at the sudden outburst of death threats, boos and insults all directed at a single young fox who was now shaking trying not to cry. Sonic walked over and covered his ears blocking out the sound.

Shadow looked around in amazement "Why are they booing Tails." He looked over at Eggman.

The doctor patted his stadium and then said after hesitation "You don't want to know. EVERYONE! EVERYONE!"

The audience didn't die down, instead it rose up to make sure Tails heard it, but all the fox heard was an ear pounding "SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!"

The ground even shook and the racers turned to see Ralph standing there. Tails almost forgot he gave Ralph enhanced voice capabilities, but he didn't know it would be that loud. Eggman nodded toward Ralph "Thank you."

The armored dog nodded and sat down. Eggman continued "NOW! DOES ANYONE HAVE THE SEVENTH MISSING EMERALD?"
"ME!" A pure black hedgehog stood up with the emerald. He jumped high and onto a board soaring toward the stage. He landed next to Eggman with a smile "I have your missing emerald."

Tails looked at him as curiosity confronted the fox. He looked… strangely failure. The hedgehog then gave Eggman the emerald and walked next to Shadow. The black and red hedgehog looked over the other with a strange look "Who are you?"

"Gradeuped. I'm number one in the alpha group in a secret group."

Shadow didn't look satisfied "What kind of name it that?"

"What kind of name is Shadow?"

Eggman then smiled "ALRIGHT! LET THE RACE BEGIN IN TEN MINUTES!"

Tails, Shadow, and Sonic looked shocked. Eggman noticed and his grin grew as he explained tp the three "I knew Tails wouldn't watch the entire commercial if I said they were to come here riding their boards."

Gradeuped looked at them "After that he finished it saying a new announcement has occurred and he had to change the race date to today in five hours. Right now to be exact."

Tails looked at the course with a worried expression. He didn't have time to study the course, and most likely the Rouges did. Gradeuped, who was Alpha One, looked up into the crowd and then his vision turned blue. He saw all electric currents. Even the ones coming from the robots hiding in the crowd, but one that stuck out was the giant electric field coming from behind the stadium which was a giant robot that was watching Tails… watching him very closely.

Sorry, I have been very busy. I might not be able to get to more chapters recently, but please review. Tell me what's wrong, what's good, what I should work on, or give me ideas on what to do in the future. I'd consider it and it could be put in here. Oh, and to pronounce Gradeuped its grade-e-uped.