SONIC RIDERS

Disclaimer: I do not own the sonic characters, just the OC's

Chapter Four: Stand the Heat

Mach was walking around the blazing Egg Factory, checking out the track before he began his race. Since it was over a hundred degrees in the factory, Mach was burning up inside his helmet. "Maybe it wasn't a good idea to wear a helmet during race. I'm boiling in this thing. Maybe I should take it off for a few minutes, before the race starts." Mach said. Mach slowly started to take his helmet off while he continued walking. Mach had removed his helmet over his mouth, but stopped when he ran into someone, literally. The sudden collision knocked Mach to the ground and caused his helmet to twist around his head.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" a gruff voice yelled at him. Mach turned his helmet around to its proper position to find that the person he ran into was Storm, the thief from Metal City. Once Mach properly placed his helmet on, Storm instantly remembered him as the one who kicked him back at Metal City. "Huh? You!" Mach and Storm yelled at the same time. "What are you doing here?" Mach questioned. "I'll make sure to pay you back for this!" Storm said, obviously ignoring the question.

Both Mach and Storm get back to their feet and raised their fists to get ready to fight. "Hah! I let you get away last time, but definitely NOT today!" Mach shouted. "Why wait 'til later, you little punk? I'll pay you back tenfold, NOW!" Storm threatened. As Mach starts to wind up a punch, but a random Eggman robot from behind was unlucky enough to receive it. "Oh, sorry." Mach said to the robot. "Wa-hahahaha! What're you doin', you clumsy fool? Was that supposed to be some kind of punch?" Storm laughed.

Storm winds up his own punch and throws it at Mach. But Mach saw the punch out of the corner of his eye and jumped out of the way. "Nice try, buddy." Mach said. When the punch missed Mach, it landed a direct blow to the poor robot. "Sorry there! It wasn't my fault! If he hadn't jumped out of the way just now, I would've clobbered--" Storm trailed off as the robot blew up in his face. Seeing the robot blow up on Storm, Mach rolled over with laughter.

"You think that's funny, do ya?" Storm said angrily. "Actually, I do." Mach replied. Both Mach and Storm pulled back their fists to punch, but stopped when the announcements came on. "The race is about to start! All participants please get to your positions now." Omochao announced. "The track then; we'll finish it there!" Mach challenged. "Looking forward to it!" Storm accepted. Storm and Mach made their way to the starting line, caught in a heated staring contest.

Mach and Storm arrived at the starting line and found their competition too be very unsatisfying. "Man, they'll let just about anyone enter the race." Storm said. "You're actually right, for once." Mach said. "That meant you too." Storm said. "What!" Mach yelled in anger. Mach tried to calm his anger for the big bird as he walked to his place at the starting line. "Ready! 3...2...1...GO!" Omochao yelled and the race began.

The riders flew out from the starting line and down the large slope. At the end of the slope was a large ramp. Mach angled the Unknown and Storm angled the Hurricane to jump high off the ramp and received maximum air. Mach pulled off three back flips and land safely on the ground. Storm did three right spins before landing on the ground. The other riders tried to perform trick as well, but failed at landed on their faces instead of their gear. Now the only ones left were Storm and Mach.

Mach held a temporary lead until Storm sped up and passed him. Speeding up was a bad idea on Storm's part because he was coming up to a sharp turn and was going too fast to make it. Storm had no choice but to put stop and lose all the speed he had gained. Mach, on the other hand, slowed down to make the turn and sped back up to take the lead again. Storm saw this and turned the Huricane around to face the direction Mach went and started back up again.

Mach came up to a ramp and jumped off it to land on the track across a pool of lava. Storm also reached the ramp, but instead of simply jumping off it, Storm angled the Hurricane to make a big jump and landed on a track above the one Mach was on. "See ya later, chump!" Storm shouted from above and took off. Mach wasn't about to let Storm win this race and made a quick turn and then found a large fan that shot him straight up. Once Mach landed, he saw that Storm had gained a huge lead in front of him.

"There has got to be a way to get ahead of that bird brain." Mach said. Storm was about to turn the corner until a pillar of lava came out of nowhere and caught him by surprise. Storm fell off the Hurricane, which allowed Mach to take the lead. Mach turned the corner and looked forward to see a small ramp coming up that led to another part of the track. He readied himself to jump it until Storm came out of nowhere and punched Mach into the wall. Mach fell off the Unknown and got up to his knees to watch as Storm took the lead. "See ya at the finish line, loser!" Storm yelled back.

Storm jumped off the ramp and landed in the manufacturing part of the factory. Strom swerved and punched through the robots, the cranes and the other mechanical systems that got in his way. Storm then came to another sharp turn similar to the one before and knew what to do this time. Storm slowed down so that he could make the turn and speed back up again. Storm then found a small mechanical pulley and grabbed on to allow himself to be pulled by it.

After riding the pulley around the blazing core of the factory, Storm jumped off and made a turn that led to the final stretch of the race. "Hah! I knew that masked punk couldn't beat me! I win!" Storm boasted. Just when he thought he had won, Mach jumped out of nowhere and was holding a huge red and yellow hammer. "This is for nailing me back on the track!" Mach yelled as he brought the hammer down on Storm. Storm was knocked off the Hurricane and fell to the ground as Mach passed the finish line to win the race.

Storm pounded his fist into the ground after realizing that he had just lost the race. Mach jumped off the Unknown and was greet by the rest of his team. "You did great, Mach." Shadow said. "Thanks, Shadow." Mach said. Mach was waiting for Sonic to say something, but he didn't. Mach noticed that Sonic was staring at the hammer that he was holding. "What's wrong with you, Sonic?" Mach asked. "Where did you find that?" Sonic asked, refering to the hammer. "What?" Mach asked again. "That hammer, where did you find it?" Sonic asked again. "I found it somewhere along the track." Mach answered

After Mach had said that, Sonic took off down the track in a flash. "Why is he so worked up over a stupid hammer?" Mach asked Shadow. "That's not just some stupid hammer. That the Piko-Piko Hammer. It once belonged to Amy Rose." Shadow explained. Mach just stared at the hammer he held; realizing it might belong to the person Sonic was looking for. Down the track, Sonic was looking franticly for Amy. "Amy! I know you're here! Please, come out! Amy?! AMY!" Sonic yelled desperately for her, but his yells were all in vain, as she was nowhere to be found.

Please, read and review