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"Woooooooo!" A blue hedgehog's voice rippled through the small jungle, bouncing from one tree to another. His heart pounded with a fierce determination; to get ahead of his opponent. Sonic's feet shifted on his extreme gear, turning the hoverboard slightly to avoid an incoming tree. To his left, a figure similar to his own, winded through the trees with elegance and hast.
It was always a thrilling experience to race against Shadow, now even more so because of the hoverboards. Tails had spent long days and sleepless nights to perfect these new boards and the two hedgehogs had been more than willing to take them out for a test run.
Sonic's jade eyes flicked over to his rival. He watched as Shadow leaned back and drove the hoverboard up to grind a vine. The dark-coloured hedgehog maintained his balance on the vine that winded further up into the canopy. Sonic returned his focus to the course ahead of him, just in time to avoid a large tree root. His gaze zipped around wildly, looking for a vine to help him gain some altitude as well. He soon spotted a decent vine that looked promising, so he jumped - flipping the board - and landed perfectly on the vine. He bent his legs, a smirk forming on his face, the feeling of the cool jungle breeze and adrenaline running through him was addictive.
The bright afternoon sun was barely able to protrude through the lush canopy and normally Sonic would miss the feeling of the sun's warmth on his fur, but today the damp, mossy green jungle floor and the shady, cool breeze was all he wanted. Maybe not all he wanted. The race against his biggest rival (and the rival himself) was a big contributor to the blue hero's good mood.
Sonic soon found himself slightly ahead of Shadow, so he turned his body to face the black and red hedgehog and do what he does best: taunt him.
Sonic smirked with his arms crossed, "I thought you said you were gonna win?" He sucked on his teeth to further annoy the other, "But, then again, I have had a lot more practice on extreme gear than you."
Sonic's heart sped up at seeing Shadow's face curl into a scowl. The ebony hedgehog's face tinted a slight red, embarrassed at his inability to stay ahead of Sonic.
"The race isn't over yet!" Shadow called out, before he thrust himself off the vine, landing silently with grace on the grassy floor below. He pushed forward, hurtling himself faster, eager to beat his smug rival.
Sonic turned his body forward once more, his eyes following the refined movements of the Ultimate Life Form. His heart skipped a beat, but Sonic immediately wrote it off as the adrenaline he always got in an exciting moment. The vine Sonic was grinding on was coming to an end, sloping up and stopping at a tall tree, so he joined Shadow on the ground with a less than perfect thump.
The dense woodland was beginning to thin out, the copper sun tucking itself under the horizon came into view. Sonic's rival was just ahead of him, zooming past a row of bushes and jumping - flipping the board - over shabby fallen branches. Sonic tailed Shadow closely, aiming to bump him ever so slightly to throw him off and make him nervous. Though Shadow kept his eyes trained ahead, his piercing crimson gaze keen and aware.
As their boards drove over a pile of leaves, they flew up into the air, whooshing and floating back down to settle on the forest floor again. A fallen tree trunk laid in their path, so Shadow swiftly leapt over it. Meanwhile, Sonic surmounted the hurdle, landing his board roughly on the bark, hearing the ear-grating scrape. He leaned forward and pushed himself off the trunk, rolling the fallen tree back slightly. His cherry red shoes parted with the board for a moment to do a front flip, which propelled himself ahead of Shadow.
This time, he touched down perfectly on the blue board, boosting ahead with a victorious, triumphant smirk on his muzzle. Shadow's eyes widened momentarily, taken aback by the sudden increase of the azure hedgehog's effort in winning the race. His eyes refocused, not allowing himself to lose just because Sonic got in a lucky move close to the finish line. They were nearing a mass of slender trees, thin enough to wind through like cones in a kid's obstacle course. Sonic maneuvered through the slim saplings hastily, his heart banging against his chest. He was so close, he could almost see the bottom of the mound. As soon as he hurtled past the last tree and flew down to the bottom of the hill, he would cross the fictitious finish line he and Shadow had declared before their race.
His ears rung and his hands vibrated with pure ecstasy, the usual side effects whenever he had a contest with his best competitor; Shadow the Hedgehog.
"Come on, come on, come on..." He muttered in exasperation.
He could hear the jets from Shadow's hoverboard from just behind, causing him to go delirious with euphoria. He was so close. One small slip-up could cost him this whole race. Could cost him his ego, his reputation as the fastest thing alive.
Races with Shadow were always light-hearted and fun, never too serious, but Sonic always got wound up in the heat of the moment.
A loud thunk caught Sonic off guard as he wobbled slightly from the sudden impact. He whipped his head to the side and he took his eyes off the track in front of him to glare at the ebony hedgehog.
"Hey! That's playing dirty!" He whined.
A satisfied smirk was all the cerulean mobian was returned with, as he brought his attention back to the sloping descent of the hill. Both hedgehogs were streaking forward, an electric blue trail following Sonic and a bronze trail streaming behind Shadow. Both desperately wanted the win, so they could shove it in the other's face. Neither of them of were backing down so easily.
"GAH!" Sonic cried as he abruptly hit something in his path, being thrown off his board.
Shadow's eyes widened in confusion, as he urgently tried to halt his movement, but ultimately it was no use. He followed Sonic, being knocked off of his board and having no time to curl into a ball to protect himself. The boards' jets went off with no occupant, and the boards clattered down the remainder of the slope, landing inelegantly with a deafening crash. Both hedgehogs tumbled down the hill, groaning and grunting in pain before they came to a stop at the bottom.
Sonic, who had landed face down, lifted his head up, sputtering grass out of his mouth and gasping for air. He pulled himself upright, sitting on his knees and wiping his gloved hands over his tongue. He gagged and retched at the taste of soil and dry clumps of grass. He spat onto the ground close to him and held his hand to his whirling head. Everything was spinning, like he'd just gotten off of one of those roundabouts at a playground.
He took a deep breath, refilling his lungs with fresh air, attempting to stop the tornado in his head and the squashed feeling in his lungs. Getting winded was something he experienced often as the adventurous hero of Mobius, but it didn't mean he was used to it. But like always, he quickly bounced back, ready to spring into action again. He swung his head around to find Shadow, laying uncomfortably on his side. His face - turned towards Sonic - clearly expressed agony. Sonic scrambled over on his hands and knees to the red-striped hedgehog.
"You okay?" Sonic asked, hesitantly placing a hand on Shadow's shoulder.
Shadow rolled over onto his back with a grunt, "I'm fine."
The black hedgehog pulled himself up, bringing his knees up close to him as he leaned forward with his head between his knees. Sonic quickly noticed the gash on his right arm, the scarlet blood staining his soft fur. Drops of it fell and clung to the grass, the glistening red standing out amongst the vibrant green.
"Shadow, you're bleeding," he muttered, reaching out to part Shadow's soot black fur where the wound was.
Shadow's eyes darted down to see what Sonic was referring to. He let out a huff of annoyance and pulled his arm away from Sonic towards himself. He looked at it for a moment before shrugging it off.
"It's not deep, it'll heal. Something sharp, like a protruding rock, cut me on the way down," Shadow explained, turning to see if he could spot the sharp stone that injured him.
To no avail. Shadow sighed, getting to his feet with Sonic following suit.
"You sure? Blood's dripping everywhere," he motioned to the grass splattered with carmine.
Shadow nodded and quickly walked over to where the two boards had landed. The blue hedgehog zipped next to him and didn't need to look at the boards for long before deciding Tails would need to make a couple of repairs.
"Uh-oh, Tails isn't gonna be too happy," Sonic chuckled.
Shadow grimaced, holding his arm.
Sonic caught this immediately and placed a hand on the ebony's shoulder, demanding, "Sit down Shadow."
Shadow's gaze flicked to Sonic, stunned at the abrupt order. Still he sat down. The black hedgehog lowered himself to the ground, trying not to put too much weight on his sore arm. The azure hedgehog crouched down in front of him and held out his hand expectantly. Shadow glared into his emerald eyes, clearly not happy to be treated like a child.
"It's just a scrape, you're being dramatic and it's not even you who's hurt," Shadow unenthusiastically gave his arm to the other hedgehog.
"So you admit that it hurts?" Sonic asked slyly, not tearing his eyes away from inspecting the gash.
Shadow opened his mouth to protest, but shut it in a split second. Sonic discovered that within the open wound was not only dirt and a few other stuff that needed to be cleaned out, but tiny rocks and gravel.
"You've got some debris that needs to be cleaned out or else it won't heal properly," Sonic stated reaching into his quills.
He'd sometimes carry bandages and bandaids in his quills in case it was needed, for himself or for another. It was just fortunate enough he had them with him today. Once he slipped out a small roll of bandages, Shadow pushed a hand against his peach chest.
"That won't be necessary. I can fix myself up when I get home," Shadow said calmly.
Sonic frowned, an abnormally serious expression displayed on the hero's face.
"Shadow, I get you're the 'Ultimate Life Form' and all, but just because you're immortal and can heal faster than others, doesn't mean you don't deserve care when you do get hurt."
The strength in Shadow's hand pushing Sonic away faltered, his eyes sunk and his heartbeat quickened. That was awfully kind and... quite out of character for Sonic to say. Especially to his rival.
Shadow's firm glare softened and he sighed, "Fine, there's no point in arguing."
Sonic grinned, glad that Shadow gave up on his stubbornness a bit easier than usual. He carefully tended to the gash, using a bit of bandage he'd ripped off with his teeth to wipe away and pluck out the bigger bits of dirt and rock. The smaller bits would have to be washed out later when they got back to Tails' workshop.
Sonic ripped off another bit of bandage, "Be back in a flash."
With that, Sonic dashed off, leaving behind a trail of blue that hadn't fully faded by the time he zipped back to Shadow, with the bandage now dripping with water.
"Where'd you find a river around here?" Shadow murmured, wincing slightly as the cold water stung his wound.
"Somewhere over there," Sonic gestured with his unoccupied hand behind him.
He kept his eyes on Shadow's injury, delicately wiping and dabbing the wound with the drenched cloth. Shadow felt heat rise on his face from the embarrassment of being treated in such a fragile manner over a small tumble. When Sonic decided that Shadow's wound was clean enough for now, he wrapped the roll of bandage around his arm. He tore off the end, stuffing the rest of the roll back in his quills before tying off the end.
"Not too tight?" The blue blur checked, sending a reassuring grin up at Shadow.
Shadow grumbled, "It's fine. Thank you."
Sonic got up on his feet and held out a hand for Shadow to take. The black hedgehog did not take his hand and opted to lift himself up, not ready to throw away all of his pride.
"You really didn't need to do all that. Just wrapping it up to stop the bleeding would've been fine," Shadow murmured, holding his gloved hand over his muzzle, praying silently that Sonic didn't notice his flushed cheeks.
"Do you know nothing about first-aid? I can't dress an unclean wound," Sonic smirked, knowing he was riling his rival up.
"Whatever, let's just go back to the workshop," Shadow turned away, trying to get his breathing under control.
Sonic wandered over to the boards, picked up the blue board he'd been riding before and tried to start it up. Thankfully both jets still worked, it had a few scrapes but no major damage. The grey one that Shadow had been using however... It would need a few repairs.
The blue hoverboard floated above the grass as Sonic turned around to Shadow, "You wanna use this one and I can carry the other?"
Shadow scowled, walked up to the grey hoverboard and lifted it in his uninjured arm in one swoop. He strutted off, attitude and annoyance emanating off the onyx hedgehog in waves. Sonic knew it was a dangerous game to keep treating Shadow with such care, he knew how prideful the anti-hero was. Sonic was even surprised Shadow had let him dress his wound without putting up a fight. Sonic hopped onto the hoverboard and went after the black hedgehog, calling out to him.
Shadow's air shoes were brought to life, a fire blazing underneath them. He took off with a firm grip on the extreme gear, with Sonic zooming after him. The thrill of the race was no longer there, now replaced by an uneasy and strange feeling. Sonic watched Shadow's movements carefully, every stride, every tree he swerved past. Sonic's heart thumped loudly in his chest, as he felt a similar sort of elation he got from racing, just by watching the jet black mobian steer through the dense forest with grace and precision. Every glide was done so with intention and care.
That's how the rest of the trip back to Tails' workshop went. Shadow casually skating like he always does and Sonic's gaze burning a hole in the back of Shadow's head, keeping his focus sternly on the black hedgehog. For what reason, he himself didn't quite understand. Some sort of need to watch out for him. Probably just a friend thing, even though he and Shadow weren't exactly classified as friends. It felt different to the protective urges he had over Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream or anyone else, but his relationship with his other friends was nothing like his connection with Shadow.