Flying with my team, grabbing the gem, escaping from the useless cops. Another great job done. I don't like the idea of doing that Eggman freak dirty work. I did warm Jet and all, but he doesn't listen. Either way, getting our hands on these gems and discover some of their secrets is an opportunity we can't miss. And the security here is laughable, like robbing a candy from a baby.

Jet, Storm and I were already on our way, almost out of this city, with the emerald, without much to worry about. Out of nowhere, this crazy blue light came following us. Don't misunderstand, we ourselves are blurs of our respective colors, but, he is not floating, meaning he is not using an extreme gear. Is it a robot?

Oh, shit! Jet is the most impulsive one, using his fans to generate harmful gushes of wind, but the blur managed to just dodge them.

{Bam!} I was distracted by the blue blur when I notice that Storm is flying to my direction.

"Dammit!" I let go and he grabbed the tail of my board, ruining my control. "Are you kidding me?! What happened?!" I scream at him, just before I look at the road. There is a red echidna at the beginning of the tunnel that we are going in. The board landed around him, meaning that he was the one that intercepted Storm.

"Jet, orders!" I demand on the comm.

"Get the gem to the ship! I will handle them." He assures me. I am worried. He is our leader, and he is inexperienced, but I obey him anyway.

Later

"There. No problem!" Jet says.

"Are you kidding me!?" I snap, and both of them looked shaken. Yeah, I am his subordinate, but he is also my younger brother. "Do either of you know what were chasing us?" I demand and both just shrug. I rolled my eyes, knowing that this was to be expected.

"Look, that blue blur was Sonic the hedgehog. His legs let him go at the speeds we reach with our extreme gears! The red one that managed to tap Storm, even at those crazy speeds was Knuckles the echidna. And both of them are participating in the competition!" I explain, clearly.

"... So that means, that I can fight that loser in my own game." Jet said, with a supposedly, wicked smile. He just looks off.

"No! It means they are dangerous! They have stopped Eggman countless times. You know, the guy who made us the offer of the treasure. I don't care about our reputation, but being tangled with him is dangerous and..."

"Come on, Storm, let's find something to steal." Jet interrupts me.

"Are you even listening to me?!" I scream, but they ignore me, already arriving at the door.

"Relax Wave. Those guys have never used a board ever on their lives. It is going to be a piece of cake." He says and leaves.

I let go a groan as I pull my head braids. God, these guys just don't listen. Either way, I continue with my research. It bothers me that I have to pick these guys slack, but I concentrate on other things.

Although, Jet does have a point: these guys probably don't have any experience with gears, and much less know how they work. At least, not to our degree. Still, to be sure, I hack into the cameras of the competition and spy them. Just in time too, the blue hedgehog and the red echidna are participating on their first eliminatory race. This either proves useful or proves that I have nothing to worry about.

A race later

Are you kidding me?! Are those two really rookies?! I mean, they are not quite at the level of any of us, but they had complete control on their races. They can't be rookies.

And those boards, they are not standard boards that you can just buy; they are clearly modified. I spy at them as they leave and, I notice this little yellow fox with them. I get a little curious and try to find some info about him. He is Tails the fox, partner of the hedgehog and, apparently... He is their mechanic? {Puff} Yeah, right. He is a ten year old boy... or girl? That voice is funny. And he is still a kid. Here it says he is a boy, though I am not that convinced.

His racing skill are nowhere near as impresive as the other two, but he is still too good for a rookie. There must be some catch. The only explanation is that they have a personal and skilled mechanic that wishes to remain a secret. There is no way that little fox is the mechanic.

I might not be able to get into that right now, as the competition is my priority and all, but I can get into other stuff to tip the scales in our favor.

Time later

I hear the red one screaming. I am waiting around, spying them. And I already know how to make my entrance. I walk toward them, using my best mockery laughter, but observing them at the side of my eyes. They are already affected by my small trick, being on edge and nervous. "Oh, I am sorry. It is just too funny." I mock them and the red one is not happy at all. "Humm, that extreme gear is unusual." I say to the little boy.

"Uhum, customized it myself." He answers. Yeah, right, you keep your little act. This kid cannot be their mechanic. He is so stupid that he hands his extreme gear, to me, an opponent. It is clear this kid had an easy life. But the situation is too perfect for me. I take it and inspect the board. Just like before, this is a fine looking extreme gear, with decent mods, but nothing that will be a serious threat.

But then, my eyes go to the hedgehog for a second. Now, he is anything but nothing. But this, is his board. I smile inwardly, as I left a bomb on the board. First lesson little kid, never, EVER, let an opponent touch your tools. You don't know what will they do with it.

Life is hard and, if you can't handle this, then you might as well retire.

I burst into a laughter again. "Well, I never imagined anyone would enter the competition with such a piece of junk!" I say, laughing a little less and return the board. And, he is so shocked about it, with his mouth agape. And the same can be said by the rest of the group. Perfect, now all should be upset in the competition. "Thanks for the good laugh, though." I finish before walking away. I wanted to take a good look at their faces, so I turned around. And it is too perfect.

Sonic is doing everything in his power to stop the pink girl with the hammer and the red echidna and the kid are still in shock. Score. The deck is now on our favor.

A few races later

The competition has been tight, but now the only two remaining racers are Jet and Sonic. I wished I was there, but causing the fox to lose the competition due to his emotions is still rather satisfactory. Still, right now, that doesn't matter, because Jet is losing. But I cannot say I am surprised, that hedgehog is a beast! But, I have one final trick up by non existant sleeves: right when the hedgehog is about to win the competition, I press a button and the extreme gear explodes. {Boom} He is sent flying away from the finish line and Jet takes the win with ease.

As expected, Jet is gloating on the victory. "Ah, the dirt suits you." He says, yeah right.

Not gonna lie, I would like Jet to taste a bit of humbleness from time to time, but I am not going to just screw our whole plan to give him a bit of that. So, Jet puts the final emerald with the others and, it happens: Babylon Garden descends from the sky, cutting through the dark clouds on the sky. And, without much else, we make our journey there. Where treasure awaits.

After a crazy adventure

OK, that was crazy, but we got the magic carpet. I thought that Jet would complain, but he actually seems fine in accepting that we are descendants of genies. Of course, that is something he would know if he actually bothered to check his father's treasures more carefully. I think I once found a lamp that I thought would release a real genie, but no, sadly it did not happen.

Anyway, we actually say goodbye to them in rather nice terms, which is weird. Well, Jet does: Storm is still angry at the echidna and I don't even want to cross stares with that fox. However, midway to the blimp, I realize I forgot something at the pits. Hey, a giant U.F.O comes from the sky, you know that there will be treasure there, you go there and forget a thing or two. So, I go back, grab my stuff, but hear Sonic and their gang.

"I am sorry Sonic. You lost the competition because of me." The little fox said and I can't help but roll my eyes, thinking that he was still playing his game. I was about to start walking away, when the hedgehog replied him.

"Hey, it was just a competition. Nothing happened. Plus, this new board you created is sick." He reassured. Yeah, go remove all the blame from him, help him to not feel the consequences of his mistakes. No, actually, keep doing it. That way, if he actually decides to become a mechanic, he will be mediocre and not a threat, at all.

"But it was my fault. I was so immersed in making that board that I neglected the board you were using in the competition. Imagine that happened in a life and dead situation! I could never forgive it." He says. Funny, he is harsher with himself than his friends are with him. And a feeling of sickness grows on my stomach.

"Alright, I know you will have that chance in the next competition." He says, and I can't help but clench my fist harder, feeling worse. I, silently, make my way out, as I hear the fox have his spirit lifted by the words of the hedgehog.

At home, the next day

I was working on my machines, when Jet comes by and drops his board and Storm's into my workbench. "Hey!" I let go. However, he answered with something I never saw coming.

"I need you to improve our boards." He says, very serious. And I know I can't hide my surprise from my face. I pull it down soon enough.

"OK, I have some plans for modifications for our gears, but it will take a while. The extreme gears might remain nonoperational for a while."

"Fine. We are going to use the spares for now."

"Why?" I can't help but ask. "We could remain low until the gears are ready." I suggest.

"No, I cannot waste any time. If we don't practice enough, that hedgehog and his crew will win again!" Now that is a surprise! I can't remember when was the last time that Jet was this fired up with anyone. But I don't blame him, he is a prodigy, better by far than Storm and me. But he had never met a prodigy like the hedgehog either. It is clear he left an impression. And this, reminded me about the time when the hedgehog reassured the fox.

"...Jet, I..." NO, stop yourself. You know what will happen. But even when I nag myself, I continue. "... Can you guys help me for a bit? It is a lot." I want to kill myself when I finished it. To my surprise, Jet seems speechless, as he could not believe what I just said. Don't blame him, I don't believe it myself. This was awkward, but I would rather him leaving like that than what happened next.

"Buahahahahaha." He started laughing and I want to disappear. "Great joke." He screams between his laughter and I know I am completely red right now, of shame. I start throwing him my tools, quickly scaring him and forcing him to leave the room.

Once he is out, I sigh and bang my head with my workbench. "I don't know what I expected." Yeah, but you knew what you wanted: support. Honestly, just a word of encouragement, even the smallest one would have been fine, even if I did not get any help. And he just goes and laughs at my stupid attempt.

Stupid fox. The only reason why this popped in my head was watching him get support from his friends. I wanna see him on a tough situation or without any friends. Let's see how you hold up then.

5 days later

While I work on the extreme gears, I prepare a little something for Sonic and his gang. I built this little camera bot, a little flying round machine with lens on its side. I was done yesterday, but today, he is going around and doing his hero work. Perfect. Once the bot find him, it will imprint to him and follow him around, while avoiding him and anything that might destroy it.

So, I sent the little spy bot. We might have parted ways in good terms, but not for a minute I believe that they won't cause us trouble. We are thieves and they believe themselves heroes, so we are bound to clash sometime. And things go as planned. I had to guide my spy bot via remote control, but now that it is attached to the hedgehog, I no longer need to do so. So, I keep doing my job, until the end of the day.

At night, when I am ready to hit the hay, I check the recordings on the hedgehog. And discover that I have nothing: just a few blurs that I can't understand what is going on, only for it to suddenly go offline like nothing. I feel a twitch suddenly developing on my eye.

15 days later

I AM REALLY LOSING MY FREAKING MIND HERE! I have sent several robots after that fool, but he never stays still.

He never stays still! God, someone put him a leash. I sent a final robot, but this time, I am not going to let this one get destroyed for trying to follow that mad man. And, thankfully, this time, he is not moving that fast.

He made a stop on Mystic Ruins, running to the top of a cliff, into a rather big cottage, with a telescope coming from the top. He knocks the door and, to my surprise, Tails the fox goes and open to him. So, here is where he lives.

"Are we ready?" The hedgehog asks.

"In a minute." He replies and gets in again.

And, exactly in a minute, the... the floor on the cliff cuts in half, and slowly each part separated. A silver flying machine with yellow at the tips of its several fins. It has two pod for people, each to sit two people.

And the fox is flying it? Sonic takes the co-pilot sit. And they go to adventure, I suppose. I stop the bot from following them, as I think I found something more interesting and way less stressful. I order my machine to find a way inside the structure.

He found a little trouble on his way, as the fox does have some security, but he seriously needs to improve it. Without further ado, I leave my bot to spy the little fox.

Days fly by

I was sure I would find the real mechanic, and I did find him. From the very first day, I found the fox returning home, and what is the first thing he does? Gets into working on robots.

Nothing too crazy, small robots, with animal like functions. Not bad, but back then, I really doubted that the fox built it by himself. All I had to do was wait and find the truth. It was weird though, he is a little kid, but there are no adults in here. But, they can't be gone for long, right?

I don't check the whole tape each night, I do it in fast forward and leave it normal each time I notice something interesting. The fox went to sleep at a very late hour, after hours of working on machines and reading stuff. Strange, but OK, no ones home so, the fox gets to do as he pleases. No discipline at all.

So, at the end of the next day, I repeat the same and get a clear indication of his laid back routine. He got up very late and got cereal and milk for breakfast. Not at a time to eat breakfast. However, he then gets into his machines for a few hours, this time, several ships like the one he used the other day. Apparently, the one from the day I found them was a spaceship.

Wonder when the real builder will appear. He eats lunch, something unhealthy and bathes late. Yeah, he won't be okay soon. He actually goes for a run in the nearby areas, to exercise and test some of his machines.

That sums up his routine, but with things sprinkled around: Sonic comes with frequency to take him on adventures.

Sometimes, the pink hedgehog or a little and big bunny come and visit him, always with food. Healthy food. I honestly thought that he would only eat the tasty parts, but he ate everything, even when they only brought him vegetables. Though, he was wincing and forcing them down the whole time. He clearly prefers other stuff.

10 days in and he finished building a extreme gear that he started from nothing. He takes it for a test and the gear is not able to handle whatever he was trying to achieve with it. And I laugh at him when he bites the dust and the board gets heavily damaged. Obviously, it is out of his capacities.

He is obviously mad at the event, but then, he patiently searches for each piece of the thing, no matter how small it might be or his pain, then returns home, salvages whatever isn't too destroyed, patiently melts whatever is and gets back to work.

This, was more frequent than I expected, his things exploding, but also him repairing them and trying again. I... I can't help but continue observing. He is smart, but he is not a genius. He makes mistakes, sometimes like a novice, but he gets back up and tries again and again.

I... I understand that. I hate when people just say that geniuses have an easier time, because that is a tremendous lie. Yeah, you get a head start, but there is just as much trial and error like everybody else. This kid understand that, so that, when he finished the board and jumped happily as his objective was achieved, I also let go an exclamation of happiness for him, something that I can't believe I did.

After that, the rational side of my mind takes over, convincing myself that he had to get some aid from somewhere.

So, for the next few days, I actually spy on him on real time, until he is out of his house, adventuring or something and I take the opportunity and check his extreme gear exhaustively, trying to find anything that was not there, something that the fox had not put and was put by someone else. I even checked out some of the tapes to make sure... But everything was there: He built that extreme gear without any external help.

I hate to admit it, but the fox is the real deal. And it has being more than 20 days, but there is no adult to supervise him. His friends might visit frequently but, he is mostly self-sufficient.

I turn of the bot because there is this feeling of interiority sinking in. I have spied a few opponents before: racers, policemen, other thieves. And these guys usually had something terrible with them: vices, and such. People who cheated to get an easier life. They were so easy to hate and it felt like they had it coming. To find dirt and then blackmail them with it.

But this kid, it was different. He is a little kid, with a difficult life, who is still innocent despite how difficult everything is. I... I don't want him as my opponent. I feel dirty, like he doesn't deserve to get his board messed up. Like, I am the bad guy.

But, if for a moment I would loose to him I could never forgive myself. That builds up as a rage, as my pride refuses to acknowledge the child as my superior. It is much more personal than it has ever being to me.

I can only say one thing about this: as a rival, he is much more than I ever bargained for.