For The Love of Speed

Chapter 34: Race

POV: Sonic

I turn to Tails "What are you going to do buddy?" He stretches and grabs his bag before turning to me "I'm going to go to the lab they have here. I want to check things out and help them work on some training bots." I smile "good idea." I turn to Shadow. "What about you?" He shrugs. I smile and say "Well, I'm going to go down to the track. Get some wind in my quills. Come join me for a rematch. If you aren't scared~" he chuckles "Of course I'm not. You're on." Before I leave, I see Espio walking up to me "I've heard you're a fast runner. Mind if I challenge you to a race?" I smile and give him a thumbs up "Absolutely. I'll race you first, then I'm going to race with Shads." As we walk down to the basement I fall back a few feet, walking with Shadow, talking quietly so Espio doesn't overhear "Don't want him seeing his competition before-hand. I want to see his reaction." I chuckle and Shadow rolls his eyes "You're so full of yourself Hedgehog." I smile proudly "I know. Although I wish I was full of something else right now." He raises his eyebrow and I chuckle "Chilidogs Shads. Chilidogs. Tell you what. You win and I'll get you more coffee beans. I win, and you buy me some Chilidogs." He smirks "Deal." As we get down to the basement, we walk over to the track, Shads standing up by the fence, and Espio and I walk down to the track, getting ready at the line. I stretch for a minute before getting into my stance. "So, how many laps should we do?" I ask and he responds "Does 8 sound good?" I look to Espio and hive him a thumbs up, and he nods at me, signaling we're ready. I hear Shadow's deep voice start us off. "Ready? Set. Race!"

And just like that we're both off. I look behind me and he just barely passed the line and I'm already halfway around the track. I chuckle lightly and continue at my speed, getting a full lap in while he's at the halfway point. I continue around, getting halfway through again, looking behind me only to see him coming up close to me. Once he gets close enough I smirk and pick up my speed a bit. And so does he, I continue picking up my speed, getting closer to my top regular speed keeping him a few steps behind me. I feel that my energy has charged up enough, and turn back to him, giving him a wink as I cause a Sonic boom, finishing the rest of the race in an instant, lapping him by 1. I skid to a halt and wait a few seconds, tapping my foot before he comes back around stopping next to me, out of breath. "Took you long enough, slowpoke" I joke, giving him a thumbs up. He chuckles and walks up to me. "Damn. I never thought I'd find someone faster than me. You really are the fastest thing alive, the others were right. Also, did you seriously cause a sonic boom just because of your speed?" I smile my one and only smile and give him another thumbs up "Yupp. Just like my name. No one has beaten me in a race before. If I have enough energy I can actually go fast enough to slow time down to almost nothing. You did very well too. You were able to keep up with me for a bit." Shadow walks down, meeting the two of us with a smirk. "You look much faster when you're not right next to me. Ready for our rematch?" I wink at him with a smile "Always, Shads." The chameleon just chuckles and looks between the two of us before saying "Ok, You two get ready. I'll count you down."

We get ready by the finish line and I turn to Shads "Want to do a longer run this time? I've missed being able to go fast like this." He chuckles and rolls his eyes "Fine by me. How about 20 laps?" I smirk "You're on" I get ready in my position and so does Shadow, hearing Espio starting the race "Hedgehogs ready? Set. RACE!" and just like that, Shadow and I take off at our top speeds, knowing how fast the other can go. We race around a few laps and Shadow pushes to be ahead of me a couple times, to which I speed up and pass him again. By lap 18 we are barely pushing past each other, making it a really close race. After another a second, we reach lap 20 and I step over the finish line two steps before Shadow, making me the winner. I cheer and stick my tongue out at him "Ha! Another race won by yours truly~" he just growls and crosses his arms "I ALMOST won this time. If the race was any longer I could have pushed past you one more time and won." I walk over to him, pinching his cheeks and saying "Aww no need to be so grumpy~ mr. grumpy pants~" he pushes me away and I chuckle "I'll buy you some coffee beans anyway. I just wanted you to buy me some chilidogs. I'm starving." He chuckles and rolls his eyes "You always get your way, don't you?" I smile "Uh. Yeah. It's cuz I'm smart." I point to my temple and he laughs "In your dreams hedgehog." I stick my tongue out "Hey, I have a brain, I just choose not to use it. Except when it benefits me, like challenging you to a race I knew I'd win with the stipulation that you'll have to buy me chilidogs if you lost. Ever wonder how I'm able to distinguish and aim for weak points on egghead's machines while I'm running around?" He shrugs his shoulders "I guess that makes sense"

I'm laughing quietly as Espio comes down to us "WOAH. You two are fast. How did you keep up with him so easily?" He turns to Shadow, asking the last part. Shadow just shrugs and looks at him "I'm the Ultimate Lifeform." I burst out laughing "And you said I'm full of myself?!" He just snarls at me and I stop laughing after a little bit. I hear my stomach growl loudly and blush, holding it "Heh, sorry. Using all that energy made me really hungry." Shads turns to me and sighs "Come on Faker. Let's go get you your chilidogs before you have a fit." Shadow starts walking away, pausing to look back at me, waiting for me to catch up. I chuckle towards Espio and smile "See you around. Shads and I are going to go grab a bite to eat." He waves goodbye and I catch up to Shadow. He grabs my shoulder and chaos controls me to our house, since we don't know how to get back to town from the base. I hear something coming from near my room and look over towards Shadow who has a bright red face. I listen in to the noise, trying to figure out why he's so red, but regret it instantly. "Ohh~ Knuckie~ yes! Right there~" "Ah~ Rouge~" I squeak and pin my ears to my head looking back to Shadow "l-let's go. Now please" I start shoving him out the door and shiver once we're outside. I cover my face, insanely embarrassed because of what I just heard and hear Shadow chuckle. I look up at him and pout, crossing my arms "What? I know you heard it too. You were blushing like crazy." He shrugs his shoulders "Well, yeah. That was awkward to hear. I didn't freak out like a baby like you did though~."  He teases and my face just gets hotter, turning away from him, pouting "You would too if you were like me" I mumble. He snickers and I look back at him. "What do you mean if I were like you? Are you a virgin?" I gasp, being called out again and slowly nod my head. He shrugs his shoulders "Figures. No wonder you're so bashful when it comes to anything sexual~" I growl at him and he just laughs again "Your growl is so pathetic that it's not even scary. It's cute~. Come on. Let's go get chilidogs to get our minds off of the couple ravishing each other in there." He starts walking away and I huff, wiping my face and following him.