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Description
Who would have thought walking through Future Town with my three Best Friends Forever (Well, make that 2, one of them is my Boyfriend forever) would be a blast to the past?
That's me, Maria. Nice makeover huh? Everyone got one.
Tails still starring at his screen to his emerald detector as the same annoying beep repeats itself over and over.
“Hmmm,” He mumbled, ”Looks like the emerald is somewhere around here.”
Then out of the blue the annoying beep is replaced by a screeching eeeeeeeeee.
“Wait a sec! Now the system's blocked!”

CLASH!

Three birds come clashing out of a building's widows and smashed down on their floating skateboards.
“SONIC!” Tails shouts, “That's our emerald!”
Sonic scolds and commands, “Let's go!”
The three beaked boarders came our way as the four of us head for them.
Knuckles takes a swing but they swoosh right by.
“Shoot!” He said a little raged.
We chased after them along with screeching police sirens.
Finally we catch up and Knuckles whacks the huge gray one and its board goes flying.
Tails looked at the symbol carved into the board and gasped.
On the other hand Sonic goes after the other two but jumping onto his board with me right behind.
All four of us (two bird, other two hedgehog) swiveled through the cars and Sonic curves in front of the green one but as he looks back...no one is there.
“What the—!?” Before he could finish a green blur smacked down onto Sonic making him wipe out.
“Sonic!” I yelled but I would go to his aid but I had to get that emerald, “Don't worry, I got him!”
As I swiveled next to the green-feathered-emerald-stealing foe. I saw his face and a sudden flashback flashed through my mind:

“Jet, how could you do this?! I can't believe I didn't know you were doing this!” I screamed at the green hawk.
He stammered, “Ma-m-Maria, I can explain!”
“You know I wanted to be a Freedom Fighter! That's why you didn't tell me you were a Babylon Rouge sooner!"

“ Jet ?!” I asked.
He turned his head to me and was shocked and shouted, “Mar?! Sweetheart?! Sky-Babe ?!”
I couldn't believe he was there and my knees buckled and I lost my balance and flipped backwards and wiped out.
I lifted my planted-to-the-ground head and looked up and found my friends (and boyfriend) run to my aid.
Sonic let out his hand and bent down, “Maria are you okay? We saw that fall, you were natural on your board, why did you wipe out?”
I couldn't tell Sonic about Jet, at least, not now; I just covered my tracks by, “I'm sorry, I couldn't get the emerald.”
He pulled me up and hugged me and held on, “It's no problem, we'll get them later. Trust me.”
I frowned and sighed and thought, After Jet seeing me again, he'll defiantly will return.
Sonic let go and he said putting his handing to a fist, “Hey, some new competition!”

The Next Day In Metal City...:
“That was fun." Sonic sighed cracking his back, “That wipe out hurts! And that was yesterday night!”
The huge TV flashed on showing the big egg himself.
" EGGMAN !” We shouted jumping back.
"Welcome everyone, I have challenge for you! A race all over the world with air board challenging everyone else!"
Everyone made faces or scolded at the screen.
"But of coarse, for a small fee. One Chaos Emerald!"
As he talked an emerald flashed on the screen and move back and forth then went back to Eggman.
"So you can take on my challenge?"
He flashed off and was back the air board advertisement.
Knuckles mumbled, "What's the catch?"
He flashed back on and said, "I almost forgot."
"'Almost' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." I half-joked.
Eggman went on, "I have automatically have three contestants; they're the best I could find."
A huge gray abastross, Storm, appeared then went to a purple female swallow, Wave, then the green hawk, Jet. How do I know their names? That's later in the story.
As Sonic saw the green hawk he shouted, "Hey, he's—“
He never finished but I finished for him but whispering, "Jet."
I bit my lip and shouted at the same time as Sonic, "Lets do it!"

“This is it, the first battle of who will be the best!” The announcer announced to the crowd watching at home.
“On your marks…get set…GO!” The racers went off as the announcer shouted.
“Sonic goes to a fine start!” She calls as they go down the high-tech city dodging many cars.
“Shadow is still using turbulence!” She continues, “Rickzie makes a smooth landing to a sweet move! Oh, Amy lost her balance and failed to land correctly.”
Sonic gliding on the air from another boarder (that’s turbulence!).
“Sonic is gaining speed rapidly!” She went on as the crowd at home chants for their character. “Jet is still far ahead in first with Sonic gaining up on him!”
I shout from the sidelines as Sonic whizzes by, “Sonic, you are doing great!”
He looked back at me and winked and blew me a kiss.
I blushed to his reaction and the two boys behind me teased me.
Knuckles punched me lightly, “Make sure Sally isn’t in the crowd.”
“Shut up, Knucklehead.”
“Hey, DON’T CALL ME THAT !” He screamed.
I replied smoothly, “Man, I don’t know who loses their temper faster, you or Sonic.”
Knuckles opened his mouth to speak but said nothing.
Tails started up, “Sonic would have never done that to Mina or Sally.”
“Well I guess I am the best.” I replied again.
The two just grunted and Knuckles mumbled, “She’s invincible to teasing. Is she feeling okay?”
“ I don’t know.” Tails whispered back.
The announcer kept going, “Sonic and Jet are neck and neck, or should I say, beak to nose? This is intense and we are only on lap two!”
Sonic came coming and took his eyes off the road and waved to me and I blew him a kiss in return.
Jet notice the flirting and Jet scolded, “So, you have a crush on my sky-babe?”
“ What do you mean? You better not be talking about my sky-blue chick, Mar.”
“Your, Mar?”
“Yes, she is mine, how do you know Mar?”
“So buster, you are a girlfriend stealer?”
"WHAT?!” Sonic nearly jumped off her board, “Why you little—!”

BUNK!

Sonic bumped into Jet with extreme force, and Jet lost a lot of balance and speed.
“Oh, no,” cried the announcer, “Looks like Sonic and Jet are arguing and looks like there are bringing ‘hitting’ into it!”
Sonic sped ahead looking behind finding Jet struggling to get up from his board that finally gave in and fell over.
I just a little scared once I heard “hitting” involved.
Oh no, Sonic and Jet! Wait, scratch that: Go get Jet, Sonic!, I thought with my hair standing on end.
Sonic whizzed by and shouted, “Mar, I am fin—!”

SLAM, Ba-BAM!

Jet tumbled down on top of Sonic making him tumble to the ground and he scrunched up in pain.
Jet looked back at me and winked, I just stared at him with my mouth open waiting for a fly to fly in.
I jumped over the fence and used my wings to land softly.
“What’s this?” The announcer cried into her microphone, “It appears, Maria Master Emerald Benman the super star has jumped out of the sidelines to Sonic who is on the ground in pain!”
“Sonic,” I said holding him, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” He said but was interrupted by a yelp of pain.
I grabbed the guy and flew him to the sidelines and told my friends, “Tails, Knux, take care of him.”
I got down and jumped onto the board, now, I was Sonic who was in last place!
The girl went on, “What do you know? Maria takes Sonic’s place! Talk about true love!”
I ran as fast as I could and quickly got on Sonic’s board and sped past Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Cream, Adam, and Rickzie, but I am working my way to Jet.
I finally got to Jet and I smiled and winked and went on ahead.
“ Mar ?!” He shouted and flipped off her board.
Ba-blunk, ba-blunk…
“There goes Jet again!” The announcer said a little concerned, “Now Sonic’s board and Maria are in the lead.
Sonic shouts with all his strength left to talk, “Go, Mar, I love ya!”
Tails said, “You better not say anything, you need all your strength for our next time for you to race.”
“But that’s like in a week, me and Maria switch places every round.” He said trying to get up but fell back down on the bench.
It was the last lap the finish line is so close…!
“Hey, Mari, miss me?”
“Leave me alone, Jet, I need to win this for Sonic!”
“So, that hedgehog did steal you from me! That son of a—!”
“Looks who’s talking.”
“Maria, what is the matter?”
“Jet, you know what you did!”
I sped up and Jet was gaining on me!
“And Sonic’s board and Maria win the race of round one!” The announcer shouted into her microphone.
I jumped off Sonic’s board and Jet stops himself and walks next to me, “Maria, you know I had no choice.”
“I don’t care, but if you don’t notice I have to go to Sonic.”
“Maria!” He called as I walk faster without looking back.
Back on the sidelines I found Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails talking to poperotzee.
Sonic pulled himself up and grunted and I walked to him kinda fast, but kinda slow.
I got to his side and asked, “Sonic…are you okay, you looked really hurt and I am so glad to see you sitting up and—!”
I was interrupted by Sonic grabbing on to me and placing his lips on mine.
The cameras flashed non-stop.
Sonic took his lips off and still held on to me, “Thanks so much, Maria. You cheered me on, you helped me when I fell, you got first place when I was stuck in last.”
“It was nothin’.” I replied.
But really, it was something.

The Next Day at the Splash Canyon…:
“Okay, Maria,” Sonic started as we (along with Knuckles and Tails) walked down the bridge in the Splash Canyon, “Tell me about that hawk now! I know you aren’t telling me something!”
“Fine.” I sighed and went on:
“Well, it was when you were happily back with Sally and we never met—”
Knuckles popped in, “Dang, that’s a long time ago.”
Sonic whacked him, “Shut up, Knucklehead!”
“ DON’T CALL ME THAT!!!!!! ” He screamed.
I just stared.
“Knuckles, Maria is trying to talk!” Sonic said signaling me to start again.
“As I was saying…:
“Jet, the green hawk you battled yesterday…well, if he never betrayed me, Sonic and I wouldn’t be together. Jet, well…Jet was like another Sonic to me. Perfect for each other. I watched out for that Wave girl, I was always scared she would take Jet away from me—”
“Now you know how I feel about Shadow!” Sonic called out, “Sorry keep going.”
“But, she never bothered. I heard from Storm, the abastross, told Jet was saving up for a wedding ring for me. One day I say Jet put at least a hundred dollars in the safe along with another thousand in the safe. I was so young; I never wondered how he got the money. But then I found out… he was a Babylon Rouge. I was heart broken. He would have told me earlier if he didn’t know I dreamed of being a Freedom Fighter. And the Freedom Fighters, which is now called Sonic Team, fight his kind. I broke up with him and I didn’t know if I could live any longer. It was like Sally and Sonic.”
I felt weak and fell to the ground and cried.
Sonic pulled me up again, “Maria, don’t let the past bother you, I am glad you dumped him because I would have never been with you. Besides, if I was him I would have become a Freedom Fighter, too.”
I jumped onto him by wrapping my arms tightly around him.
“It’s okay, Maria.” Sonic patted my back.
Knuckles noticed Tails starring at the bottom of his air board, “Hey, Tails what are you doing?”
“Hmm, that symbol.” Tails mumbled.
“Yo, Earth to Tails!” Knuckles called snapping the two-tailed fox out of it.
“Huh?!” He asked in alert. “Sorry, it’s that symbol on the board of that rider, Storm, you knocked off of. It had the symbol of the Babylon Rouges.”
“Did I not just mention the Babylon Rouges?” I said with my hands planted to my hips.
“Those guys were great thieves and displeased the Gods, and their treasures are somewhere on this island ready to be discovered.”
I scolded, “Did I not mention: THEY WERE GREAT THIEVES?!!!!”
Knuckles changed the subject, “How can a board just float like that?”
“That’s easy.” Tails said lifting his index finger to the sky, “*4+364=90OxR=9)* (this is science language when Tails say words that don’t seem to exist, and when everyone’s brains gets clogged and your eyes start to twitch and you are like, “What the hell is he talking about?”) 7=65= 56% and…”
Knuckles’ eyes spun in his head then he screamed, “STTTOOOOPPPP!” He pants and said, “Okay, it floats and that’s good enough for me!”
A shriek ran throughout the area:

“SONIC!!!”

“AHHH!!!!!” Sonic yelled hiding behind me, “It’s…it’s…♥AMY♥.”
“Sonic!” The pink hedgehog ran up and bashed her eyelashes.
Sonic scrunched into a ball, “Don’t tell me you are in the races too!”
“Yes I am, I needed to keep my eye on you,” she winked and I felt Sonic shutter.
A purple swallow walked up, “Hey, Maria, I heard you met up with Jet. You know he is still heartbroken, he is still in love with you, and he still talks about you. Man, that gets annoying.”
“Well, Wave,” I crossed my arm across my chest, “I’m surprised he hasn’t kissed you yet.”
“Uh, you are still scared of me taking him?” She sighed, “ppppfff, yeah right!”
She noticed Tails’ board and looked at it, “Wow, what strange technology.”
Wave took the yellow board out of his hands and looked everywhere one it then paused. She stayed still for a second then laughed her head off.
Tails’ jaws dropped.
“Thank you for the laugh.” And she left.
Sonic said getting out of his ball, “How could she just leave and diss Tails like that!”
Amy agreed.
“Yeah,” Knuckles threw himself in, “And that’s like the only thing he’s good at!”
Everyone turned to him.
“What?”
Tails gritted his teeth and was about to blow but then the same announcer called,  “Round two is about to begin, all boarders please come to the northeast corner of the island.”

“The racers are focused on the race!” The announcer rang out as the racers stretched, bend and warmed up.
“Get ready…” everyone ran backwards to build up speed, “On your mark…” Many began to run forward, “Get set…” by now everyone ran towards the starting line, “GO!” Everyone was off.
“Wave makes a sweet start with Tails right behind her!” She went on, “Robo 1 fails to land correctly and loses balance and speed!”
Okay, right now Tails’s riding. We are a team and take turns. First it was Sonic, now it was Tails, next up is Knuckles. Then it starts over, but since there are four of us and two of them are speed (well, I can fly and I am part echidna so that makes me power too, but since I am as fast as Sonic, I’m considered speed.), we switch every round. Let run it over again, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Me, Tails, Knuckles, Sonic, etc. Got it? Good.
Many characters bumped into Tails making him lose balance and speed, and it moves him down in the places.
4th Bump,…
5th Bump,…
6th Bump,…
7th Bump,
…Last!
Oh no! Will Tails be able to hold up?
“Oh, no!” Tails told himself, “I need to catch up! I’m in last place!”  Tails looked at a watch-type gizmo that showed everyone’s place and continued, “And that Wave girl is in first! Rrrrrrrr, how dare she criticize my board?”
Tails sped up as fast as he could and next thing he knew he was hurtled to a down-steam pulls with huge rocks everywhere!
“Ahhh!” He screamed dodging each one.
Tails saw what was in front of him; he was about to be shot up a waterfall!

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” He screamed holding on to his board, “SSSSSOOOOONIIIIIIIIC!”

Tails twisted down somersaulted to the water on his board face down to the water.
“Looks like Tails is having a board-riding breakdown!” The announcer said sounding concerned.
Tails looked up at the stand were the fox-animal-dog girl held the mic, “Hey! I heard that!”
We saw Tails coming up but his head was looking behind him.
I shouted, “Yo, Tails, sharp turn! Dift, dude, drift like you never drifted before!”
“Huh?” Tails looked in front of himself, “ AAAAHHHHHHH!!!! ”
He turned but kept hitting dirt piles that slowed him down.
“Wave has crossed the finish line and is off to lap two!” The girl went on.
“Oh, no, she doesn’t!” He yelled pushing off with his right leg like a skateboard, “I’m coming for the gold!”
“Whoa!” The fox-dog-animal-girl said in the microphone is surprise, “Tails is increasing speed madly catching up with Bunnie who is in seventh place! No, now he’s in seventh…sixth…fifth…fourth…third…second! I’ve never seen someone that fast in all the years I narrated them!”
“Go, fox-boy!” I yelled jumping up and down.
Knuckles pointed up slightly in the sky and said, “Look, there’s a TV!”
We looked were he pointed and sure enough there was a huge screen TV that showed the racers.
“Wish I noticed one when Maria raced,” Sonic replied.
“I wish I saw Sonic ride.” I replied.
Right now it showed Wave and Tails beak to triangle-fox-nose.
“C’mon on, Tails!” Knuckles yelled in his deep voice, “Show that girl that tinkering is what you are only really good at!”
I slapped him in the side of his head, “Knuckles!”
“What?!”
Sonic just rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead.
Tails brought out his secret weapon (did you know they could do that?), an electric plug!
He glides across the wooden bridge in lap three and spins in around his like a cowboy and
ZZZIIIITTT!
toasted Wave as it smacked her right in the beak!
“Ha-ha! What do you think of my work now?!” Tails went of a ramp went through another waterfall and landed a sweet move that sped him right up!
He was just feet away from the finish line.
“And Tails wins first for his team members, Maria the hedgehog times three mix, Sonic the hedgehog, and Knuckles the echidna! That’s two first places for their team and two second places for Jet the hawk, Wave the swallow, and Storm the abastross! Will the tables turn for next round? Will see tomorrow at Eggman’s Factory!”
Tails got off his board and Wave walked up to him and shoved her beak in his face, “All right, shorty, you have skills but down expect to win when we meet up again!”
She spun around sharply nearly whacking Tails with her feathers on the back of her head.
Tails watched the girl rejoin with Jet and Storm.
Tails turn around at found all of us coming to congratulate him.
I gave him a small, kid-ish hug and said, “Great job, out there.” As I usually do, I gave him a kiss on the cheek. I do that to a lot of boys that do something good. Especially with the younger boys like Charmy and Tails.
Shadow walked up from behind with Rouge besides him, “Awesome, work, Maria.”
Rouge bowed her head, “I have to agree with Shadow. Yesterday was awesome, how you rescued Sonic and took his place and beat Jet!”
“And me,” Shadow said crossing his arms across his chest.
Rouge elbowed him, “Shush, you over-grown baby.”
“Don’t make me kill you.” Shadow said flipping his sunglasses up to the top of his head.
Rouge roll her eyes and saw Tails and she said, “That was super awesome stuff you just did! How you toasted Wave! Ha! She should be bowing down to you!” She changed her voice to a whiny way, “‘I’m sorry Tails, please don’t shock me with your evil plug of doom! I’ll be good, I promise! No, I swear!’” She laughed at her own joke, “Keep it up fox-boy.”
“Thanks!” Tails cheered.
“So,” I asked, “What place did you get in?”
“Last time I got third,” Shadow said, “But this time I got fourth.”
“Just switch around what Shadow said.” Rouge replied.
Sonic said, “I guess we’ll be seeing you tomorrow on the race track?”
“You bet!” Rouge said, “Next time I’m going to be second, so fear me!”
Shadow chuckled.
“What?” She asked.
“Second?” He asked laughing, “Are you physic? Because you’ll be right behind me when I get first!”
She teased. “You wish, cheese-ball!”
Shadow stuck out his tongue.
“Sorry,” She replied smoothly, “I use toilet paper.”
Shadow sucked his tongue back in imedenintly; “You are sick in gross, and so immature!”
“Whatever,” Rouge said but then changed the subject, “I’ll see you, four, tomorrow!”
I hugged Rouge, as best friends do, and Shadow stood there waiting to leave.
I hugged him and said, “See you tomorrow, Shadow.” I just did that to tease him!

The Next Day at Eggman’s Factory…:
“Knuckles, we know you can do it, now show those Babylon Rouges who’s the boss, and good always beats evil!” I said cheering him on before he headed for the starting mark.
Sonic agreed, “Yeah! We’ll be at the sidelines cheering you on!”
Tails just jumped up and yelled, “Yeah, alright, kick those guys’ butts!”
Everyone just starred at him.
“What?”
Knuckles walked off and waved back, “I’ll see you when I win first place!”
“Don’t worry, we will be there!” I yelled.
Knuckles walked above the steamy lava below him on metal platforms with his red air board at his side.
The place was hot, and it was so warm, the room was red all over, all from the lava below. Does Eggman really work here, where we are about to race?
Knuckles turned the corner and hit a big muscular gray figure and fell back on his butt.
He saw who was in front of him on the ground on his butt too.
Knuckles got up and yelled in rage, “YOU!”
The abatross got up and said in the same way, “NOT YOU AGAIN!”
“I went easy on you before but not now, no, you aren’t getting away!” Knuckles said aggressively.
“I’ll pay you back for this!” Storm yelled back.
“Oh, you are going to pay, along with your little friends, Wave for dissin’ Tails, and Jet for breaking Maria’s heart! When she told about him, she cried. Your friend made Maria, I repeat, he actually made her cry! Do you know how hard that is?”
“Ah, you are just askin’ for a fight!” Storm went on in his low voice.
Knuckles threw back his arm like he was powering up for his punch but ended up whacking a robot in the head.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Knuckles said cooling right down to a concerned voice.
Storm laughed, “What is that? Some kind of punch?”
Storm got ready for his punch and Knuckles jumped out of the way and he punch the same robot!
“Oh, I’m very sorry!” Storm said in his booming, dim-witted voice, “If that twerp didn’t move I would have clobbered—huh?” Before Storm could finish he ripped one of the arms off of the robot!
“Ha, ha!” Knuckles chuckled, “Looks like that contestant is out of the race!”
Then the same girl echo on the intercom, “All contestants please come to the racing gate immediately.”
“The race!” knuckles yelled, “We will settle this there!”

“This is going to be a tough one, I can feel the tenseness of the characters.” The announcer said, “Get ready…on your mark…get set…GO!”
FWOOOSSHHHH!!
Everyone was out of the gate in a heartbeat.
“Wow, everyone does a fine start!” She went on, “But looks like Knuckles and Storm at really taking it out!”
“Great,” Sonic said sarcastically, “Stupid team of Babylon Rouges. They had to send their power when we did ours.”
“So your saying, they are going to be battling it out instead of winning the race?” I asked.
“Precisely.” Tails answered for him.
Knuckles flips and tumbles in the air and hits the ground with grace.
Storm slams down trying to catch up.
The red echidna saw the gray abastross come his way and Knuckles punches him out of the way of gaining first, “OUTTA MY WAY!”
Knuckles dashed and sped up...
The bird made an amazing comback and made Knuckles tumble down and flip off his board and the rest whiz right by!

Description
Who would have thought walking through Future Town with my three Best Friends Forever (Well, make that 2, one of them is my Boyfriend forever) would be a blast to the past?
That's me, Maria. Nice makeover huh? Everyone got one.
Tails still starring at his screen to his emerald detector as the same annoying beep repeats itself over and over.
“Hmmm,” He mumbled, ”Looks like the emerald is somewhere around here.”
Then out of the blue the annoying beep is replaced by a screeching eeeeeeeeee.
“Wait a sec! Now the system's blocked!”

CLASH!

Three birds come clashing out of a building's widows and smashed down on their floating skateboards.
“SONIC!” Tails shouts, “That's our emerald!”
Sonic scolds and commands, “Let's go!”
The three beaked boarders came our way as the four of us head for them.
Knuckles takes a swing but they swoosh right by.
“Shoot!” He said a little raged.
We chased after them along with screeching police sirens.
Finally we catch up and Knuckles whacks the huge gray one and its board goes flying.
Tails looked at the symbol carved into the board and gasped.
On the other hand Sonic goes after the other two but jumping onto his board with me right behind.
All four of us (two bird, other two hedgehog) swiveled through the cars and Sonic curves in front of the green one but as he looks back...no one is there.
“What the—!?” Before he could finish a green blur smacked down onto Sonic making him wipe out.
“Sonic!” I yelled but I would go to his aid but I had to get that emerald, “Don't worry, I got him!”
As I swiveled next to the green-feathered-emerald-stealing foe. I saw his face and a sudden flashback flashed through my mind:

“Jet, how could you do this?! I can't believe I didn't know you were doing this!” I screamed at the green hawk.
He stammered, “Ma-m-Maria, I can explain!”
“You know I wanted to be a Freedom Fighter! That's why you didn't tell me you were a Babylon Rouge sooner!"

“ Jet ?!” I asked.
He turned his head to me and was shocked and shouted, “Mar?! Sweetheart?! Sky-Babe ?!”
I couldn't believe he was there and my knees buckled and I lost my balance and flipped backwards and wiped out.
I lifted my planted-to-the-ground head and looked up and found my friends (and boyfriend) run to my aid.
Sonic let out his hand and bent down, “Maria are you okay? We saw that fall, you were natural on your board, why did you wipe out?”
I couldn't tell Sonic about Jet, at least, not now; I just covered my tracks by, “I'm sorry, I couldn't get the emerald.”
He pulled me up and hugged me and held on, “It's no problem, we'll get them later. Trust me.”
I frowned and sighed and thought, After Jet seeing me again, he'll defiantly will return.
Sonic let go and he said putting his handing to a fist, “Hey, some new competition!”

The Next Day In Metal City...:
“That was fun." Sonic sighed cracking his back, “That wipe out hurts! And that was yesterday night!”
The huge TV flashed on showing the big egg himself.
" EGGMAN !” We shouted jumping back.
"Welcome everyone, I have challenge for you! A race all over the world with air board challenging everyone else!"
Everyone made faces or scolded at the screen.
"But of coarse, for a small fee. One Chaos Emerald!"
As he talked an emerald flashed on the screen and move back and forth then went back to Eggman.
"So you can take on my challenge?"
He flashed off and was back the air board advertisement.
Knuckles mumbled, "What's the catch?"
He flashed back on and said, "I almost forgot."
"'Almost' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." I half-joked.
Eggman went on, "I have automatically have three contestants; they're the best I could find."
A huge gray abastross, Storm, appeared then went to a purple female swallow, Wave, then the green hawk, Jet. How do I know their names? That's later in the story.
As Sonic saw the green hawk he shouted, "Hey, he's—“
He never finished but I finished for him but whispering, "Jet."
I bit my lip and shouted at the same time as Sonic, "Lets do it!"

“This is it, the first battle of who will be the best!” The announcer announced to the crowd watching at home.
“On your marks…get set…GO!” The racers went off as the announcer shouted.
“Sonic goes to a fine start!” She calls as they go down the high-tech city dodging many cars.
“Shadow is still using turbulence!” She continues, “Rickzie makes a smooth landing to a sweet move! Oh, Amy lost her balance and failed to land correctly.”
Sonic gliding on the air from another boarder (that’s turbulence!).
“Sonic is gaining speed rapidly!” She went on as the crowd at home chants for their character. “Jet is still far ahead in first with Sonic gaining up on him!”
I shout from the sidelines as Sonic whizzes by, “Sonic, you are doing great!”
He looked back at me and winked and blew me a kiss.
I blushed to his reaction and the two boys behind me teased me.
Knuckles punched me lightly, “Make sure Sally isn’t in the crowd.”
“Shut up, Knucklehead.”
“Hey, DON’T CALL ME THAT !” He screamed.
I replied smoothly, “Man, I don’t know who loses their temper faster, you or Sonic.”
Knuckles opened his mouth to speak but said nothing.
Tails started up, “Sonic would have never done that to Mina or Sally.”
“Well I guess I am the best.” I replied again.
The two just grunted and Knuckles mumbled, “She’s invincible to teasing. Is she feeling okay?”
“ I don’t know.” Tails whispered back.
The announcer kept going, “Sonic and Jet are neck and neck, or should I say, beak to nose? This is intense and we are only on lap two!”
Sonic came coming and took his eyes off the road and waved to me and I blew him a kiss in return.
Jet notice the flirting and Jet scolded, “So, you have a crush on my sky-babe?”
“ What do you mean? You better not be talking about my sky-blue chick, Mar.”
“Your, Mar?”
“Yes, she is mine, how do you know Mar?”
“So buster, you are a girlfriend stealer?”
"WHAT?!” Sonic nearly jumped off her board, “Why you little—!”

BUNK!

Sonic bumped into Jet with extreme force, and Jet lost a lot of balance and speed.
“Oh, no,” cried the announcer, “Looks like Sonic and Jet are arguing and looks like there are bringing ‘hitting’ into it!”
Sonic sped ahead looking behind finding Jet struggling to get up from his board that finally gave in and fell over.
I just a little scared once I heard “hitting” involved.
Oh no, Sonic and Jet! Wait, scratch that: Go get Jet, Sonic!, I thought with my hair standing on end.
Sonic whizzed by and shouted, “Mar, I am fin—!”

SLAM, Ba-BAM!

Jet tumbled down on top of Sonic making him tumble to the ground and he scrunched up in pain.
Jet looked back at me and winked, I just stared at him with my mouth open waiting for a fly to fly in.
I jumped over the fence and used my wings to land softly.
“What’s this?” The announcer cried into her microphone, “It appears, Maria Master Emerald Benman the super star has jumped out of the sidelines to Sonic who is on the ground in pain!”
“Sonic,” I said holding him, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” He said but was interrupted by a yelp of pain.
I grabbed the guy and flew him to the sidelines and told my friends, “Tails, Knux, take care of him.”
I got down and jumped onto the board, now, I was Sonic who was in last place!
The girl went on, “What do you know? Maria takes Sonic’s place! Talk about true love!”
I ran as fast as I could and quickly got on Sonic’s board and sped past Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Cream, Adam, and Rickzie, but I am working my way to Jet.
I finally got to Jet and I smiled and winked and went on ahead.
“ Mar ?!” He shouted and flipped off her board.
Ba-blunk, ba-blunk…
“There goes Jet again!” The announcer said a little concerned, “Now Sonic’s board and Maria are in the lead.
Sonic shouts with all his strength left to talk, “Go, Mar, I love ya!”
Tails said, “You better not say anything, you need all your strength for our next time for you to race.”
“But that’s like in a week, me and Maria switch places every round.” He said trying to get up but fell back down on the bench.
It was the last lap the finish line is so close…!
“Hey, Mari, miss me?”
“Leave me alone, Jet, I need to win this for Sonic!”
“So, that hedgehog did steal you from me! That son of a—!”
“Looks who’s talking.”
“Maria, what is the matter?”
“Jet, you know what you did!”
I sped up and Jet was gaining on me!
“And Sonic’s board and Maria win the race of round one!” The announcer shouted into her microphone.
I jumped off Sonic’s board and Jet stops himself and walks next to me, “Maria, you know I had no choice.”
“I don’t care, but if you don’t notice I have to go to Sonic.”
“Maria!” He called as I walk faster without looking back.
Back on the sidelines I found Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails talking to poperotzee.
Sonic pulled himself up and grunted and I walked to him kinda fast, but kinda slow.
I got to his side and asked, “Sonic…are you okay, you looked really hurt and I am so glad to see you sitting up and—!”
I was interrupted by Sonic grabbing on to me and placing his lips on mine.
The cameras flashed non-stop.
Sonic took his lips off and still held on to me, “Thanks so much, Maria. You cheered me on, you helped me when I fell, you got first place when I was stuck in last.”
“It was nothin’.” I replied.
But really, it was something.

The Next Day at the Splash Canyon…:
“Okay, Maria,” Sonic started as we (along with Knuckles and Tails) walked down the bridge in the Splash Canyon, “Tell me about that hawk now! I know you aren’t telling me something!”
“Fine.” I sighed and went on:
“Well, it was when you were happily back with Sally and we never met—”
Knuckles popped in, “Dang, that’s a long time ago.”
Sonic whacked him, “Shut up, Knucklehead!”
“ DON’T CALL ME THAT!!!!!! ” He screamed.
I just stared.
“Knuckles, Maria is trying to talk!” Sonic said signaling me to start again.
“As I was saying…:
“Jet, the green hawk you battled yesterday…well, if he never betrayed me, Sonic and I wouldn’t be together. Jet, well…Jet was like another Sonic to me. Perfect for each other. I watched out for that Wave girl, I was always scared she would take Jet away from me—”
“Now you know how I feel about Shadow!” Sonic called out, “Sorry keep going.”
“But, she never bothered. I heard from Storm, the abastross, told Jet was saving up for a wedding ring for me. One day I say Jet put at least a hundred dollars in the safe along with another thousand in the safe. I was so young; I never wondered how he got the money. But then I found out… he was a Babylon Rouge. I was heart broken. He would have told me earlier if he didn’t know I dreamed of being a Freedom Fighter. And the Freedom Fighters, which is now called Sonic Team, fight his kind. I broke up with him and I didn’t know if I could live any longer. It was like Sally and Sonic.”
I felt weak and fell to the ground and cried.
Sonic pulled me up again, “Maria, don’t let the past bother you, I am glad you dumped him because I would have never been with you. Besides, if I was him I would have become a Freedom Fighter, too.”
I jumped onto him by wrapping my arms tightly around him.
“It’s okay, Maria.” Sonic patted my back.
Knuckles noticed Tails starring at the bottom of his air board, “Hey, Tails what are you doing?”
“Hmm, that symbol.” Tails mumbled.
“Yo, Earth to Tails!” Knuckles called snapping the two-tailed fox out of it.
“Huh?!” He asked in alert. “Sorry, it’s that symbol on the board of that rider, Storm, you knocked off of. It had the symbol of the Babylon Rouges.”
“Did I not just mention the Babylon Rouges?” I said with my hands planted to my hips.
“Those guys were great thieves and displeased the Gods, and their treasures are somewhere on this island ready to be discovered.”
I scolded, “Did I not mention: THEY WERE GREAT THIEVES?!!!!”
Knuckles changed the subject, “How can a board just float like that?”
“That’s easy.” Tails said lifting his index finger to the sky, “*4+364=90OxR=9)* (this is science language when Tails say words that don’t seem to exist, and when everyone’s brains gets clogged and your eyes start to twitch and you are like, “What the hell is he talking about?”) 7=65= 56% and…”
Knuckles’ eyes spun in his head then he screamed, “STTTOOOOPPPP!” He pants and said, “Okay, it floats and that’s good enough for me!”
A shriek ran throughout the area:

“SONIC!!!”

“AHHH!!!!!” Sonic yelled hiding behind me, “It’s…it’s…♥AMY♥.”
“Sonic!” The pink hedgehog ran up and bashed her eyelashes.
Sonic scrunched into a ball, “Don’t tell me you are in the races too!”
“Yes I am, I needed to keep my eye on you,” she winked and I felt Sonic shutter.
A purple swallow walked up, “Hey, Maria, I heard you met up with Jet. You know he is still heartbroken, he is still in love with you, and he still talks about you. Man, that gets annoying.”
“Well, Wave,” I crossed my arm across my chest, “I’m surprised he hasn’t kissed you yet.”
“Uh, you are still scared of me taking him?” She sighed, “ppppfff, yeah right!”
She noticed Tails’ board and looked at it, “Wow, what strange technology.”
Wave took the yellow board out of his hands and looked everywhere one it then paused. She stayed still for a second then laughed her head off.
Tails’ jaws dropped.
“Thank you for the laugh.” And she left.
Sonic said getting out of his ball, “How could she just leave and diss Tails like that!”
Amy agreed.
“Yeah,” Knuckles threw himself in, “And that’s like the only thing he’s good at!”
Everyone turned to him.
“What?”
Tails gritted his teeth and was about to blow but then the same announcer called,  “Round two is about to begin, all boarders please come to the northeast corner of the island.”

“The racers are focused on the race!” The announcer rang out as the racers stretched, bend and warmed up.
“Get ready…” everyone ran backwards to build up speed, “On your mark…” Many began to run forward, “Get set…” by now everyone ran towards the starting line, “GO!” Everyone was off.
“Wave makes a sweet start with Tails right behind her!” She went on, “Robo 1 fails to land correctly and loses balance and speed!”
Okay, right now Tails’s riding. We are a team and take turns. First it was Sonic, now it was Tails, next up is Knuckles. Then it starts over, but since there are four of us and two of them are speed (well, I can fly and I am part echidna so that makes me power too, but since I am as fast as Sonic, I’m considered speed.), we switch every round. Let run it over again, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Me, Tails, Knuckles, Sonic, etc. Got it? Good.
Many characters bumped into Tails making him lose balance and speed, and it moves him down in the places.
4th Bump,…
5th Bump,…
6th Bump,…
7th Bump,
…Last!
Oh no! Will Tails be able to hold up?
“Oh, no!” Tails told himself, “I need to catch up! I’m in last place!”  Tails looked at a watch-type gizmo that showed everyone’s place and continued, “And that Wave girl is in first! Rrrrrrrr, how dare she criticize my board?”
Tails sped up as fast as he could and next thing he knew he was hurtled to a down-steam pulls with huge rocks everywhere!
“Ahhh!” He screamed dodging each one.
Tails saw what was in front of him; he was about to be shot up a waterfall!

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” He screamed holding on to his board, “SSSSSOOOOONIIIIIIIIC!”

Tails twisted down somersaulted to the water on his board face down to the water.
“Looks like Tails is having a board-riding breakdown!” The announcer said sounding concerned.
Tails looked up at the stand were the fox-animal-dog girl held the mic, “Hey! I heard that!”
We saw Tails coming up but his head was looking behind him.
I shouted, “Yo, Tails, sharp turn! Dift, dude, drift like you never drifted before!”
“Huh?” Tails looked in front of himself, “ AAAAHHHHHHH!!!! ”
He turned but kept hitting dirt piles that slowed him down.
“Wave has crossed the finish line and is off to lap two!” The girl went on.
“Oh, no, she doesn’t!” He yelled pushing off with his right leg like a skateboard, “I’m coming for the gold!”
“Whoa!” The fox-dog-animal-girl said in the microphone is surprise, “Tails is increasing speed madly catching up with Bunnie who is in seventh place! No, now he’s in seventh…sixth…fifth…fourth…third…second! I’ve never seen someone that fast in all the years I narrated them!”
“Go, fox-boy!” I yelled jumping up and down.
Knuckles pointed up slightly in the sky and said, “Look, there’s a TV!”
We looked were he pointed and sure enough there was a huge screen TV that showed the racers.
“Wish I noticed one when Maria raced,” Sonic replied.
“I wish I saw Sonic ride.” I replied.
Right now it showed Wave and Tails beak to triangle-fox-nose.
“C’mon on, Tails!” Knuckles yelled in his deep voice, “Show that girl that tinkering is what you are only really good at!”
I slapped him in the side of his head, “Knuckles!”
“What?!”
Sonic just rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead.
Tails brought out his secret weapon (did you know they could do that?), an electric plug!
He glides across the wooden bridge in lap three and spins in around his like a cowboy and
ZZZIIIITTT!
toasted Wave as it smacked her right in the beak!
“Ha-ha! What do you think of my work now?!” Tails went of a ramp went through another waterfall and landed a sweet move that sped him right up!
He was just feet away from the finish line.
“And Tails wins first for his team members, Maria the hedgehog times three mix, Sonic the hedgehog, and Knuckles the echidna! That’s two first places for their team and two second places for Jet the hawk, Wave the swallow, and Storm the abastross! Will the tables turn for next round? Will see tomorrow at Eggman’s Factory!”
Tails got off his board and Wave walked up to him and shoved her beak in his face, “All right, shorty, you have skills but down expect to win when we meet up again!”
She spun around sharply nearly whacking Tails with her feathers on the back of her head.
Tails watched the girl rejoin with Jet and Storm.
Tails turn around at found all of us coming to congratulate him.
I gave him a small, kid-ish hug and said, “Great job, out there.” As I usually do, I gave him a kiss on the cheek. I do that to a lot of boys that do something good. Especially with the younger boys like Charmy and Tails.
Shadow walked up from behind with Rouge besides him, “Awesome, work, Maria.”
Rouge bowed her head, “I have to agree with Shadow. Yesterday was awesome, how you rescued Sonic and took his place and beat Jet!”
“And me,” Shadow said crossing his arms across his chest.
Rouge elbowed him, “Shush, you over-grown baby.”
“Don’t make me kill you.” Shadow said flipping his sunglasses up to the top of his head.
Rouge roll her eyes and saw Tails and she said, “That was super awesome stuff you just did! How you toasted Wave! Ha! She should be bowing down to you!” She changed her voice to a whiny way, “‘I’m sorry Tails, please don’t shock me with your evil plug of doom! I’ll be good, I promise! No, I swear!’” She laughed at her own joke, “Keep it up fox-boy.”
“Thanks!” Tails cheered.
“So,” I asked, “What place did you get in?”
“Last time I got third,” Shadow said, “But this time I got fourth.”
“Just switch around what Shadow said.” Rouge replied.
Sonic said, “I guess we’ll be seeing you tomorrow on the race track?”
“You bet!” Rouge said, “Next time I’m going to be second, so fear me!”
Shadow chuckled.
“What?” She asked.
“Second?” He asked laughing, “Are you physic? Because you’ll be right behind me when I get first!”
She teased. “You wish, cheese-ball!”
Shadow stuck out his tongue.
“Sorry,” She replied smoothly, “I use toilet paper.”
Shadow sucked his tongue back in imedenintly; “You are sick in gross, and so immature!”
“Whatever,” Rouge said but then changed the subject, “I’ll see you, four, tomorrow!”
I hugged Rouge, as best friends do, and Shadow stood there waiting to leave.
I hugged him and said, “See you tomorrow, Shadow.” I just did that to tease him!

The Next Day at Eggman’s Factory…:
“Knuckles, we know you can do it, now show those Babylon Rouges who’s the boss, and good always beats evil!” I said cheering him on before he headed for the starting mark.
Sonic agreed, “Yeah! We’ll be at the sidelines cheering you on!”
Tails just jumped up and yelled, “Yeah, alright, kick those guys’ butts!”
Everyone just starred at him.
“What?”
Knuckles walked off and waved back, “I’ll see you when I win first place!”
“Don’t worry, we will be there!” I yelled.
Knuckles walked above the steamy lava below him on metal platforms with his red air board at his side.
The place was hot, and it was so warm, the room was red all over, all from the lava below. Does Eggman really work here, where we are about to race?
Knuckles turned the corner and hit a big muscular gray figure and fell back on his butt.
He saw who was in front of him on the ground on his butt too.
Knuckles got up and yelled in rage, “YOU!”
The abatross got up and said in the same way, “NOT YOU AGAIN!”
“I went easy on you before but not now, no, you aren’t getting away!” Knuckles said aggressively.
“I’ll pay you back for this!” Storm yelled back.
“Oh, you are going to pay, along with your little friends, Wave for dissin’ Tails, and Jet for breaking Maria’s heart! When she told about him, she cried. Your friend made Maria, I repeat, he actually made her cry! Do you know how hard that is?”
“Ah, you are just askin’ for a fight!” Storm went on in his low voice.
Knuckles threw back his arm like he was powering up for his punch but ended up whacking a robot in the head.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Knuckles said cooling right down to a concerned voice.
Storm laughed, “What is that? Some kind of punch?”
Storm got ready for his punch and Knuckles jumped out of the way and he punch the same robot!
“Oh, I’m very sorry!” Storm said in his booming, dim-witted voice, “If that twerp didn’t move I would have clobbered—huh?” Before Storm could finish he ripped one of the arms off of the robot!
“Ha, ha!” Knuckles chuckled, “Looks like that contestant is out of the race!”
Then the same girl echo on the intercom, “All contestants please come to the racing gate immediately.”
“The race!” knuckles yelled, “We will settle this there!”

“This is going to be a tough one, I can feel the tenseness of the characters.” The announcer said, “Get ready…on your mark…get set…GO!”
FWOOOSSHHHH!!
Everyone was out of the gate in a heartbeat.
“Wow, everyone does a fine start!” She went on, “But looks like Knuckles and Storm at really taking it out!”
“Great,” Sonic said sarcastically, “Stupid team of Babylon Rouges. They had to send their power when we did ours.”
“So your saying, they are going to be battling it out instead of winning the race?” I asked.
“Precisely.” Tails answered for him.
Knuckles flips and tumbles in the air and hits the ground with grace.
Storm slams down trying to catch up.
The red echidna saw the gray abastross come his way and Knuckles punches him out of the way of gaining first, “OUTTA MY WAY!”
Knuckles dashed and sped up...
The bird made an amazing comback and made Knuckles tumble down and flip off his board and the rest whiz right by!