Speed Match! Sonic vs Sam/Fast Friends

**Speed Match! Sonic vs Sam**, (Or, **Fast Friends**,) is the twenty-first episode that happens in Sonic X: Heroes Forever.

## Characters:

* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Miles "Tails" Prower
* Cream the Rabbit
* Cheese the Chao
* Shard the Hedgehog (Unnamed)
* Sally Acorn
* Mighty the Armadillo
* Ray the Flying Squirrel
* Sonia the Hedgehog
* Hope Kintobor
* Abraham Tower
* Christopher Thorndyke
* Chuck Thorndyke
* Nelson Thorndyke
* Lindsey Thorndyke
* Ella
* Mr. Tanaka
* Sam Speed
* Jerome Wise
* The President
* Vivian (Mentioned)
* Scarlet Garcia
* Hector Dragg (First full appearance)
* Doctor Eggman
* Snively Robotnik
* Decoe
* Bocoe
* Bokkun
* Grounder
* Scratch
* E-04 Gigaracer (First appearance)
* E-45 Sumo-Man (Only appearance)
* Scraper (First appearance)
* Scorpion (First appearance)
* Speedo (First appearance)
* Ex-Moto (First appearance)

## Plot

The episode begins with a black and yellow hedgehog looking at a green gem attached to his lanyard. He feels it's familiar, but, he can't put his finger on why. A car is heard behind him and a human tells him to get out of the road. The human then hits a bump and the car swerves to the side of the bridge. The hedgehog grabs the car and moves it to safety, much to his and the human's surprise. Meanwhile, everyone in the Thorndyke Mansion is sleeping peacefully throughout the silent night, except for Sonic and Sally, who were resting on the patio. The couple are talking about how Sonic beat his sedative addiction and Sally was glad she could help. Sonic also apologizes for taking his promise too seriously, but, Sally assures him that he's willing to go as far as possible for those he loves. At that moment, a racing car speeds to the front door of the mansion with its engine sound waking everyone else in the mansion up (apart from the aforementioned Sonic and Sally, as well as Hope who was already awake). Ella and Mr. Tanaka burst out of the mansion in attempt to attack the driver who got out of the car. The driver blocked the attacks as it resolves that the driver was none other than Sam Speed. Chuck Thorndyke, emerging out of the mansion, questions Sam's presence. Hope comes onto the balcony and asks what's happening, to which Sonic guesses that Sam wanted to challenge him to a race. The young Overlander is exasperated by the whole thing. Chuck realizes that Sam had a new modern racing car equipped with a powerful rocket engine called the "SSIII". Sam explains that the SSIII is funded very costly by the government which would help the President score popularity to win an upcoming government election. When Chris asks if Sonic would race with Sam, he bluntly denies, saying he won't fall for that trap again.

Sam follows Sonic into Chuck's lab, waking up an asleep Tails and Cream and the blue blur explains that Eggman had tried this same trick twice. Sam is outraged that Sonic would compare him to Eggman and that he was once a professional racing driver. He says he got bored when his only competition was Hector Dragg. They used to race each other all the time and even then, Sam would come in first place. Then they started to use their skills more constructively to join the police force. Within two years, they formed the S-Team and they were reserved for the faster criminals and that Sonic was the first one to get away from them. Sonic then told Chris he and Sally saw the S-Team the night they came to Earth. Chris then started to realize his uncle was getting serious about things. Sam explains the overview of the race: the start is at the Thorndyke Mansion, then through the downtown of Station Square, speeding through the bridge which leads into the desert, the canyons, and a turning point leading back to the city. The winner is the racer who crosses the stadium first which is filled with thousands of fans cheering them on including the President. Hope once again starts to question human priorities upon hearing the plan and even states that putting the money toward finding a cure for diseases or making roads safer would have been more worthy causes than Sam trying to one-up Sonic. Sonic denies participating in the race again, causing Sam to react with frustration with his response. Chuck steps in, saying that Sam can't expect Station Square's roads to close down just for the event of the race. Even with the fans' expectations, Sonic still refuses to race (even with Nelson and Lindsey sponsoring the race). Sam contacts the government's secretary, Jerome Wise (who had been woken up after dreaming about Vivian) to use the government to find a solution to force Sonic into entering the race.

Meanwhile at the White House, Jerome decides to communicate Dr. Eggman to assist with this issue (after Snively points out Jerome somehow hacked into Eggman's computer). He talks about how Sonic may be turning down the race idea because of him trying to trap him with a race twice before, but, Jerome convinces Eggman to get him to change his mind by organizing to take him to an ice show, much to Decoe, Bocoe, Scratch, and Grounder's delight. Eggman decides to remodel the small robot he was playing against chess and lost due to the latter cheating, get Bokkun to send a message, as well as organize E-04 and E-45 to get Sonic to come out.

Back at the Thorndyke Mansion, Sally is praising Sonic for turning down the race and he admits it's not easy, but, he wants to keep his friends, family, and himself safe. Bokkun flies over, much to Sally's worry. The robot warns the blue hedgehog that if he does not race with Sam Speed, the human will have to deal with the Race Bots destroying his car. Sonic is in shock and thought they were destroyed during the Mobius 5000. To make matters worse, Bokkun pulls out a kissing robot which gives Sonic a big kiss, which angers Sally enough to get Sonic to race (on top of the fact that Sam may be killed and the fact the Race Bots were back). The squirrelmunk picks the robot up by the "neck" and tosses it back at Bokkun, saying that the robot wasn't on the list of those who should kiss Sonic.

Just as Sonic and Sam were lined up at the start, another S-Team member shows up. Hope correctly guesses that he was Hector Dragg. Sam was asking if he seriously considering to race, to which Hector says he was and that he's been fixing up his motorcycle, to which Hope doesn't like the sound of it. Chris worries Sonic could be in trouble, but, Sam would be in even more trouble because Eggman's fixed up the Race Bots, much to Hope's shock. Sonic tries to tell Sam that the robots are bad news, but, as usual, Sam doesn't listen. Just then, a bulldozer like car smashes through a wall, Scraper. Next is a car with a scorpion like tail, Scorpion, then comes a long red one named Speedo, and the last one was one looking a motorcycle, Ex-Moto. The race finally got to a start, but, Ex-Moto had glued Hector's motorcycle down, much to his chagrin. Sonic tries to tell Sam the Race Bots are cheaters, but, Sam doesn't believe him until Hector calls up to tell him exactly why he hadn't moved yet. At that moment, the Race Bots surround Sam's car, Scorpion dropping tacks down on the road while Ex-Moto and Speedo hold Sam in place and divert him into a building. All the race bots then merge onto E-04 Gigaracer. The merged robot tries to attack Sam while he tries to escape, but, he can't get out of the way. Luckily, Sonic Spin Dashes into the robot and rescues Sam, much to his surprise. Sonic admits if he left Sam, he'd be as bad as E-04. Sam starts to consider that Sonic was more human than some actual humans, even himself. Hector finally approaches to get revenge on the Ex-Moto, but, Sonic reveals they turned into E-04. Realizing there wasn't enough time, the trio raced away, only for E-04 to get up and start attacking town. Without thinking twice, Hector races after it and Sonic races after Hector to make sure he wouldn't get hurt.

At the mansion, the rest of the residents are watching the race from screens on a blimp. Hope is in shock to see Hector racing toward Gigaracer and Chris remarks that this was more reckless than anything Sam described Hector to do in the past. Mighty and Ray rush off to lend a hand with getting rid of Gigaracer. On the scene, Mighty lifts Hector's motorcycle to stop him from getting to the robot and races back toward Sonic and Sam, much to Hector's shock, despite the armadillo and Ray telling him it was for his own good. Hector still wants to destroy the robot, but, Mighty and Sonic tell him that it's pointless to throw his life away. Hector finally starts to understand he was being reckless the whole time, and he, Sam, and Sonic get back to the race. Mighty then makes a Tether Ring and gives one end to Ray. He flies upwards while Mighty upper cuts the robot, sending it upwards. Team Balance then goes to do their Team Blast: Balance Spiral, before Mighty finishes off Gigaracer with a Mighty Smash. They turn back into their original forms as they fly upwards.

Eggman watches the racer bots with disgrace and decides to send out E-45 Sumo-Man to the desert. The robot intercepted the racers and attempted to destroy them with his strength. The racers, however, easily speed past Sumo-Man, resulting in the robot feeling guilty on missing Sonic and hits himself, sending him flying and crashing into the Egg Fort II. Meanwhile, Bokkun is sobbing over the fact the kissing robot kissed him, while Decoe, Bocoe, and Scratch say things could have been worse. Eggman still complains the plan was blown even with two E-Series robots (one made of Badniks), but, thinks that Jerome Wise can keep his end of the bargain and he asks Snively to see what he's up to . He was clever, Eggman admits, to hack into his computers, but, he's still human. Unknown to him, Abraham Tower had picked up the transmission. He takes off a glove to oil a prosthetic finger on his hand, revealing him to be an Overlander, too. However, he doesn't want to expose himself to Earth just yet, but, with the arrival of Hope and the Mobians, this should be happening sooner rather than later.

Out in the desert, Sally (who's speed has kicked in), manages to give Sonic some pancakes and yogurt to eat to keep his strength up. Sonic thanks Sally and enjoys his food, just as Sam zooms past Sonic and Sally, but, the blue blur picks up Sally and jumps out of reach of the sand just in time. Sonic continues to catch up to Sam (with Sally still in his arms) and, much to the trio's surprise, Hector is able to catch up, too. He reveals he added some Super Nitro to the bike, to which Sally asks if he's cheating. Sam admits he didn't make rules about Super Nitro, because he didn't think anyone would use it. Hector manages to overtake Sonic and Sally, but, his bike overheats, much to his frustration.

Meanwhile, Jerome is concerned about the President not being present in the stadium as the race will finish soon. Jerome is contacted to know that the President is at an emergency meeting and doesn't have time to come to the stadium. Jerome decides to launch his political career by congratulating the winner instead whenever the time rolls at. Hope believes something is off, but, can't figure out what it is.

It is only a few miles away from the stadium where Sam and Sonic are speeding towards at. Sally offers Sonic a Power Ring, but, the blue blur says he's going to play fair. Sonic turns up his turbo and it appears that they both crossed the finish line in the same time. Sally wonders what that move was and Sonic says it's his Super Peel Out. It gives him more speed, but, he can't use it for long or his shoes overheat. Lindsey hands Sonic some flowers in congratulations. Sam then goes over to Hector (who is walking his bike to the finish line) and after being asked, Hector explains he had been overly reckless and prideful. Sam fires him from the S-Team and Hector humbly hands over his badge and walks away, declaring he will beat Sonic at his own game. Sam and Sonic congratulate each other on the race. Jerome proceeds to shake hands with Sonic, but, he refuses. Jerome is then contacted by Vivian who tells him that he was fired due to getting caught communicating with Dr. Eggman. G.U.N. helicopters come to arrest Jerome and Sonic says he'll see him in 20 years as the episode ends.

## Differences between this and the real episode.

* The original episode begins with everyone (including Sonic) asleep at the Mansion. This episode begins with Shard helping out a human that accidentally drove off the edge of the bridge. In addition, in this episode, Sonic is awake talking to Sally instead of asleep on the roof.
* There is a crowd of humans awake which Chuck spots outside. In this story, they are either absent or Chuck is too distracted to see them.
* In the real episode, Sonic doesn't want to race because he feels he'd win anyway. In this episode, he doesn't want to race because Eggman tried that trick twice and it was a trap. This is what makes Sam even more mad and determined for Sonic to race him.
* Hector and Sam's past was mentioned here. It's never mentioned in the episode how the S-Team was formed.
* In the Original Japanese episode, Jerome says he will give Dr. Eggman Creampuffs instead of Ice Show Tickets.
* Eggman sends out two E-Series robots in this episode (one as four Badniks), while in the original episode, he just sends out one E-Series robot.
* Tails and Amy aren't admiring Sam's upgraded car in this episode. In fact, if Amy did appear at all, she didn't speak.
* Sonic didn't actually get kissed by the kissing robot in the original, but, he did here. It's what pushes Sally over the edge to let Sonic race.
* Only Tails was woken up when Sonic went to Chuck's lab in the original. In this episode, Tails and Cream were both woken up.
* Amy isn't suspicious of Jerome's plans and shrugs it off. But, Hope is suspicious right away.
* As Sam isn't cheating in this take of the race, much of that part of the episode is altered. The Speed Bots were the ones cheating and trying to attack the town, with Mighty and Ray taking them out and Hector was being reckless as well.
* Sonic actually gets to eat his lunch, unlike the original when his lunch was covered in sand. In addition, it's Sally who gives Sonic lunch here, while it was Chris in the real episode. Sonic also gets pancakes and yogurt like in the Japanese dub, instead of a sandwich and milk like in the English dub.
* Sonic manages to get himself and Sally out of the way of the sand in this version, while in the real episode, he and Chris were covered in sand just like the food.
* In the real episode, Sonic finishes the race before going back and doing it all again. In this episode, Sonic does finish the race once with his Super Peel Out move.
* It's revealed that Abraham Tower is receiving Eggman's transmission and the President is having a meeting with him about it. We don't know what the President is doing in the real episode.
* G.U.N. are seen arresting Jerome onscreen, while in the real episode, it happened off screen.

## Trivia

* This is the 3rd Episode to reference Dragon Ball Z Abridged.