Sonic Riders

Two

Practice

Sonic, who was very tired and injured from the night before, walked around Metal City wondering who the heck was those four birds. Who were they? The blue hedgehog thought. And why did they want the Chaos Emeralds for? He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't see Shadow, Silver, and Roy walking towards him.

" Sonic! " Silver called.

" Gaaaaah! " Sonic spun around quickly and saw his hedgehog friends. " Don't scare me!! "

The three hedgehogs exchanged glances. " Anyways...have you heard about the Ex World Grand Prix? " Shadow asked

" The wha-wha-wha? "

Roy rolled his eyes. " I'll take that as a no, "

" Same here, " Silver agreed.

" What? " Sonic asked. " Am I missin' somethin'? "

" I think we should show you instead of telling you, " Silver pulled out something that looked like a PDA and pressed a button. Eggman came on the screen.

" Eggman! " Sonic practically yelled.

" This is a commercial that came out on every T.V. screen in Future City, " Silver explained. " listen. "

"Ladies and gentleman! Welcome everyone! I hope you're all ready for a show, we've got an exciting event, just for you. Since you all seem so bored, I put together a little something extra to spice things up! I call it the "EX World Grand Prix a tournament to see who's the best of the best with Extreme Gear. All teams pay a simple entry fee of one Chaos Emerald, and the winner takes it all! So let's see who dares to accept the challenge! " Eggman signed-out, only to sign in again. "And there's more! Before I forget, I'll present the current contestants. These players, they're hot, the best racers I could find!" Eggman said as he showed the picture of the contestants. It turned out that the contestants were none other than Jet, Wave, Strom, and Rain.

" Hey! " Sonic said as he stared at Jet's picture. " That's--" His voice quickly changed to a somesort of determined tone. " The EX World Grand Prix, huh? Let's do this! "

" Hold it! " Shadow said. " You can't enter! "

" Why not? "

" One, you don't have Extreme Gear, and two, you need a team of four to enter! "

" A team of four..." Sonic repeated. " where can I find three more people that are willing to enter with me? "

Shadow, Silver, and Roy started to cough, loudly.

Sonic stared at them. " Do you guys have something stuck in your--hey! Do you wanna be my partners? "

Roy rolled his eyes. " Why not? " He said, sacrastically.

" But you're going to need Extreme Gear, " Silver showed him a white and silver board. " Like this. I call mine the Psychic Wave. "

" I still think you should have called it the Psycho Wave, " Roy complemented.

" Shut-up. "

" Well, " Roy pulled out a yellow and light blue board. " Mine's called the Yellow Bullet. "

" And mine, " Shadow said as he pulled out a red and black board. " is called the Black Shot. "

" Whoa! " Sonic literally drooled all over Shadow's board. " Where'd ya get 'em? "

" Custimized them myself, " Shadow growled as he quickly jerked his board away from Sonic, causing some of the drool to fly onto the rest of the hedgehogs. " Here, " The black hedgehog tossed Sonic a blue and silver board. " I call it the Blue Star. It's for you. "

" Oh my gosh! " Sonic squealed like a girl. " It is awesome!! Thank you Shadow! "

" Whatever...now, riding Extreme Gear isn't easy you know. It takes alot of practice and patience. The only thing we don't have is time. We only have two hours before the first round starts! "

" Ya worry too much, Shadow! The good thin' is that I'm a fast learner! " He threw up the board and jumped on it. " Whoa! This is--hey! HOW DO YOU STOP THIS THING?? "

" Hit the brakes! " Silver shouted.

" What brakes?? "

" Do airboards even have brakes? " Roy wondered.

" To tell you the truth, " Shadow started. " I have...no idea..."

" Okay then, " Silver said while dodging the nonstop Sonic. " jump off of it! "

" But it hurted last time! " Sonic whined.

" You sissy! " Roy yelled. " And hurted is not a word! "

" Whatever! JUST GET ME OFF OF THIS THING!! "

Not long after, Shadow finally used Chaos Control to take Sonic off the board.

" Hey! " Sonic yelled at the board that was flying away. " Come back here!! "

" This might take a while..." Shadow shook his head.

" Let's just practice without him, " Roy said. " it's impossible to practice with him. "

" Good idea, Roy, " Shadow commented. " Let's go. "

A few hours later, Sonic came back with his board, tired for once. " Hey guys! " Sonic yelled. " I finally caught up with my board! I had to chase it all over Metal City just to get it! Let's start practicin'! "

" IIIII don't think so, " Roy said.

" The race is going to start in two minutes! " Silver explained.

" What?! So we don't know what we're doin'?! "

" You not us, " Shadow said. " we already practiced. "

" You guys practiced without me?? "

" Uh...yeeeeeeeeeah..."

" Oh man! " Sonic bonked himself on the head. " What an I goin' to do now?! "

" You worry too much Sonic. You already know most of riding. Well, except the tricks part--"

" Wait! Tricks?! "

" Yeah, you get extra points if you do tricks like backflips 360's--"

Sonic groaned. " Why didn't you guys tell me this before? "

" Well, " Roy started. " one, you thought that you were already the best rider, and two, you ran off before anyone could tell you! "

" Oooooooooh! "

" Well, " Silver said. " we should get going. If we're not there in time, we won't be able to enter the tournament! "

" Well, then, " Sonic said, glumly. " let's go... "

--At downtown Metal City...--

Mission: Get in the Top Ten!

The four hedgehogs, plus some robots stood in Metal City, ready for the race to begin. Oh man! Sonic thought. I don't really know how to ride this thing! If I don't learn fast, my whole team is going to lose because of me!

" Don't worry, " Silver said, as if reading Sonic's mind. " you'll get the hang of it. "

" Yeah, " Roy added. " besides if we lose the only thing we lose are the Chaos Emeralds! "

" Thanks for the extra pressure, Roy..."

" Hey, what are friends for? "

Sonic groaned. " I was being sarcastic..."

" Players! To the starting line! "

The racers took their places behind the starting line that was covered with electricity. It led to a steep slope. Sonic gulped and looked up at a T.V screen. It read 1...2...3...GO! " The racers got on their boards and jumped down the slope which soon ended with a huge ramp that led into a tower. Shadow, Roy, and Silver jumped it with ease and landed ontop of the tower. Unlike them, Sonic landed at the bottom. " Shoot! " Sonic snapped at himself as he looked up at his friends.

Silver looked down in time to see Sonic below him. " Guys! " He yelled at the rest of his friends. " Sonic didn't make it! "

Shadow looked down also. " Sonic! Keep on going! You'll catch up to us eventually! "

Sonic opened his mouth to protest, but instead closed it and rode off. He arrived at a road where numerous cars were driving in. Sonic managed to swerve past everysingle one, but then one of the robots surprsized him with a punch. Sonic flew off the Blue Star and landed hard on the floor. " Oh man! " Sonic groaned. " Not again! I'm still sore from when Jet knocked me down! "

--Minewhile--

Shadow, Silver, and Roy quickly jumped off a rail and crossed the finish line.

" We made it, " Roy said.

" What happened to Sonic? " Silver asked.

Shadow looked up at a T.V screen that showed Sonic on the ground. C'mon, Sonic, get up! The black hedgehog thought.

--Back to Sonic--

Sonic wearily stood up, grabbed his board and flew towards the robots. He knew that he was in last place, but there was still hope to get infront. The blue hedgehog flew into a tunnel and quckly passed about five robots. There's still about five robots infront of me! Sonic thought. Well, Shadow said that racers can knock down other racers. That can come in handy! Sonic quickly grabbed his board and started a spin dash that knocked down all five of the robots. " Whoo! " Sonic looked ahead of him and saw another high ramp. He replayed what he saw the rest of the racers do on this predicament and then knew what to do. Sonic crouched down and preserved all the air in his tank, then released it when he was ontop of the ramp. Sonic was shot into the air and did a couple of backflips and 360s, then grabbed a pole that carried him to the finish line.

" Yeah, Sonic! " Silver rooted as he and the rest of the hedgehogs ran up to the blue hedgehog. " Nice job! You finished in fifth place! "

Sonic chuckled. " Not bad for my first time racin'! " Sonic boasted.

Shadow shook his head. " Don't get too cocky, Sonic. There's still those weird birds in the race. "

Speaking of birds, Jet, Wave, Storm and Rain had seen the whole race in a T.V somewhere in Metal City.

" He's good for a newbie, " Rain commented.

" Bu not good enough! " Jet finished Rain's sentence. " He may have been lucky this time, but when he goes against me, he won't be! " Jet laughed.