Hi again and thanks for all of the reviews and requests. Wow I certainly have a lot to keep me busy at the moment so once again, huge shout out to Jowy Avilon for helping me.

I own nothing.

Requested by Monkey D Conan

Skill Sharing: Part One

Amy giggled as she flew gracefully through the air. Her pink quills billowed out behind her and her eyes sparkled happily in the sunlight as she did a flip before landing back on the ground. The extreme gear she was riding paused at her command as she skidded around to face her friends. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles applauded her and she took a bow.

"Thank you, thank you very much." Amy continued giggling. This race felt like it would practically be hers. She had been practicing so hard for weeks. Now it was her time to shine. She would show Sonic what she could do. He seemed fond and talented at extreme gear riding so now was her chance to further prove herself.

"That was great Amy," Sonic praised as he ran over and Amy beamed, staring at him dreamily.

"Do you really think so?" She squealed. "I hope I make you proud out there today."

Sonic looked away awkwardly, but their exchange was soon interrupted by a familiar sarcastic laugh.

"Don't make me laugh." Wave the Swallow sneered as she strolled over, her extreme gear under her arm. She looked Amy up and down in disgust before turning her nose up at her. "Everyone knows that if anyone is going to own this race, it's going to be me."

Amy smirked. "Well maybe today's the day I knock you off that high pedestal of yours."

Wave laughed again. "If I were you I wouldn't even bother trying. I've seen you practicing. You're pretty bad, even for a beginner. Those silly little stunts of yours will hardly score any points. You'll impress no one with those so called skills of yours."

Amy flinched back slightly and Sonic stood in front of her, glaring at Wave.

"Hey, back off." He ordered, not kidding around.

"Awwww how sweet of you to defend that little girl Sonic." Wave replied, her tone one of disparage. "You might want to talk her out of the race before she embarrasses herself any further. Leave this kind of thing to the professionals."

"Why you?!" Amy yelled trying her best to leap around Sonic and strangle the life out of this girl. Sonic held her back though and this caused Wave to laugh harder.

"Try not to hurt yourself sweetheart." Wave chuckled, walking over to tap Amy's board before taking her leave to take her place at the starting line.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the race will be beginning shortly. All participants must make their way to the starting point immediately."

"Don't listen to a word she said Amy." Sonic said seriously. "You're great at extreme gear. As long as you try your best, that's all that matters." He gave her a thumbs up which helped cheer the pink hedgehog up slightly as she clung onto her extreme gear tighter, bid her friends a farewell and made her way to the starting point.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the race is about to begin."

Amy glanced over at Wave who smirked at her in a taunting manner, causing Amy to frown as she stared forward at the track ahead, clutching at her board.

"Ready…steady…GO!"

The starting bell sounded and Amy ran forward, throwing her board into the air and jumping to land swiftly upon it. She sped forward with as much speed as she could muster, surpassing all the other racers. Of course Wave was wrong, Amy thought to herself, I'm fine and I'll get to impress Sonic with my skills.

Amy and Wave were now neck in neck for first place and Amy smirked over at the shocked looking swallow. Amy flew over the edge of the ramp, twisting and turning in the air in a fabulous display of carefully choreographed stunts, earning cheers from the audience. She landed next to Wave again who growled to herself before reaching into her pocket.

Amy then gasped as her extreme gear seemed to suddenly malfunction. It refused to obey her commands, making strange fizzing noises as it began to slow and dart off in another direction. Amy was fighting to keep her balance as other racers zoomed passed and she let out a cry of frustration before her board seemed to give up completely. Her board bobbed up and down as it struggled to remain in the air. The action threw Amy off the board and her back collided with a large tree trunk before her board decided to shut down.

It looked like Wave was right. She didn't have the skill. The fact she lost control of her extreme gear was proof of that. Now she'd never impress Sonic. She'd embarrassed herself in front of a large audience. Amy covered her face at the thought, ignoring the voices that were screaming her name over the roar of the crowd.

"AMY!"

"Amy, are you alright?" Sonic shrieked as he got closer, appearing at her side in a flash and helping her to her feet. "What happened?"

"Wave was right," Amy sobbed, "I am bad at this."

"No you're not." The others tried to reassure her, but Amy's head snapped up to glare at them through her tears.

"I lost control of my extreme gear. That's what beginners do. I'm not fit to race!" Amy cried as she ran into the forest, her hands covering her face in shame. Great, now Sonic would be further disappointed in her. He had witnessed her embarrassing mistake and was probably laughing at her right now.

"Hey Amy, wait up." Sonic's voice came from next to her, startling her. She looked up to see Sonic easily keeping pace next to her before she skidded to stop, an action he mirrored before he smiled down at her.

"What?" Amy sniffed as she wiped her eyes with her gloved hands.

"You know I hate seeing a friend get upset." He sighed.

Fresh tears formed in Amy's eyes as Wave's words echoed around and around in her head, stinging her like a thousand Charmy's. The pain wouldn't go away and Amy clung onto Sonic, crying as Wave's sneering expression refused to leave her mind.

"I tried so hard Sonic, but I'm not good enough…I'm not good enough!" Amy wept.

"What are you blubbering about?" Sonic chuckled lightly as he tried to pry Amy's arms off him. "What do you mean you're not good enough?"

"At extreme gear." Amy continued to sob. "Wave was right, I am bad at it. I should've just quit the race. I'd rather that than embarrass myself like I did."

"But you're good at it though, I did see your practice session today." Sonic tried to reassure her while she still clung onto him, crying into his chest.

"No I'm not," Amy refused to believe it, "Why else would I have lost control today?"

Sonic sighed. "Look, Amy, there's a few hours before the next race, why don't I train you up a little bit if it makes you feel better?"

Amy gasped and immediately stopped crying, looking up at Sonic in shock. "You would?"

Sonic hoped that he wouldn't regret this offer, but he couldn't turn down a friend in need. What she clearly needed was a confidence boost.

"Of course." Sonic smiled as he led her into the clearing she had been practicing in earlier. Amy couldn't help but beam at the thought of being alone with Sonic like this. He was taking time to teach her something and Amy nearly burst with excitement. She just hoped that she could take everything he said on board and not blow it this time. She couldn't afford to let him down now. Not after he had coached her. That would also be a blow to his ego as well as hers. Amy forced herself to calm down and take this seriously. She had to win. She had to beat Wave. She had to make Sonic proud.

Sonic cleared his throat and began, "Ok, one of the key elements to extreme gear is proper balance. Can you stand on your board please?" He asked and Amy obeyed.

She hopped on and hovered in the air so Sonic could assess her stance. The way his eyes roamed over her made her blush slightly, even more so when he began walking around her to check every angle. She knew he wasn't really checking her out but was just being a professionial, but still she loved to imagine that he was. Butterflies formed in her stomach as he bit his lip in concentration before moving towards her to place an arm around her waist and using his other free hand to push her knee forward slightly.

"You're almost perfect, I'd just say you knee needs to be further forward." He recommended.

"Right." Amy squeaked out as the touch of his hand burned into her waist, sending shivers up her spine.

Sonic then seemed to register the position of his hands and coughed awkwardly before backing away slightly.

"Anyway, now let's see how you move on this thing." He said and Amy didn't need telling twice as she shot off, swerving around the clearly and flying off of ramps, performing small stunts as she did so. All the while Sonic watched her carefully and the butterflies refused to leave her stomach. If only she knew what he was thinking. What he was feeling in this situation. How often were they alone around each other? Rarely. His touch had sent sparks all around her body…could he feel those too?

Her daydreaming was interrupted by the abrupt approach of the ground and Amy quickly flipped herself over and landed without a problem before doing one final lap of the clearing and halted in front of Sonic, awaiting his opinion.

"You did really well. I honestly don't know what you're so worried about." He remarked with a smile.

"But…I lost control of the board" Amy protested. How could he consider her to be doing well when that had happened?

"Really? Well then maybe there's something wrong with your board then, let me take a look." Sonic suggested and Amy handed her board over for Sonic to inspect. He may not know as much as Tails, but he was sure he knew enough to be able to at least try to help her.

He then frowned as he spotted something unusual at the bottom of her board. It looked like a microchip, about half the size of the palm of his hand and Sonic was pretty sure that it shouldn't be there. Using his fingers, he easily plucked the device off and inspected it closely before he held it up to Amy.

"There's your problem Amy." Sonic concluded with a frown. "Your board has been sabotaged."

Amy stared at the microchip, dumbfounded. So…she wasn't bad at extreme gear? Wave had sabotaged her race? She'd pulled dirty tricks like this before, so Amy figured that she shouldn't be surprised.

"So…I wasn't bad." Amy gasped and Sonic smiled.

"I told you, you weren't."

Amy squealed in delight before she glomped Sonic, hugging him tightly as Sonic chuckled nervously. She pressed her head into his shoulder as Sonic tapped her back awkwardly, blushing slightly.

"Thank you, Sonic, thank you." Amy gushed as she clung onto him tighter before releasing him to look at him.

"No problem." He said, scratching the back of his head, his green eyes darted around, looking everywhere but at her.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a race to win." Amy smirked, finally seeming more confident again.

Sonic sighed with relief before smiling at her and nodding.

"Go get 'em Amy." He gave her a wink and a thumbs up.

Amy nodded and began running off before she turned back towards Sonic and smiled at him.

"Thanks for teaching me Sonic." She said and Sonic shrugged.

"No biggie."

"Well, I'm still going to return the favour." She explained, smirking.

Sonic already didn't like the sound of that so much. "What do you mean, return the favour?"

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