You Know Me

Chapter One: The Beginning is Simple

"Run. Don't look back, just take these and run, Blaze." Sonic told the lilac cat sternly as he thrust his four chaos emeralds into her hands. They were in a metal corridor, and had just arrived around a corner. The brilliant blue and purple of the two heroes' fur stood defiantly against the matt, grey of steel. Sonic had stumbled and fallen to the ground, bloody and tired. Blaze's help was refused as he staggered to his feet. He wiped the blood from his lower lip with his dirty glove and turned to where the two were running from.

"No." Blaze protested, "I won't! I don't do surrendering!" he took Sonic's bruised arm and tried to run, but the stronger hedgehog wouldn't budge.

"I'll be fine, you know me. I'll fight it. Go!" He pushed Blaze back. The sound of tearing metal rose as their antagonist drew closer.

"I. Do. Not. Run." Blaze said through gritted teeth. She assumed a fighting stance, ready to fight with her friend to her last breath. Sonic's yell made her jump:

"You think this is one of our normal little tiffs with Eggman!? Run, please!" Sonic roared. The sound of tearing metal grew ever louder, scraping almost rhythmically. A drum beat along with Sonic and Blaze's racing hearts.

***

The beginning is simple enough. Sonic planted his feet firmly on the ground, with one foot in the other, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and clenched his fists. His eyes darted to his left to see Tails sit in his plane - the Tornado and the propeller roared as it started up. Tails glared at Sonic, and then slowly looked forward, gripping the controls of the plane - the apitamy of focus. The sky was bright and blue and they were in outside of Tails workshop, in a wide clearing surrounded by thick lush forest. The scenery, unfortunately, was the antithesis of the mind set of the two rivals. Tails pushed a button on the Tornado and a female voice came from the inside computer. "Three, two, one, go!"

On the word, Sonic ran, kicking up half a tonne of dust, and he was gone. The Tornado had a slower start, but soon the two were neck and neck. Tails saw the blue dot that was Sonic disappear into the forest as he flew over and on the other side, he landed. "Ha! I won!" the fox exclaimed as he jumped out of the cockpit. He waited around for a few seconds, Sonic was taking longer than expected. Tails' crystal blue eyes scanned the now rocky landscape and the ege of the forest, what could have stopped him?

Sonic lay on the ground, face down and buried in soil, there were pot holes in the ground behind him where he had bounced along like a rock skimming across a pond... at two hundred and fifty miles per hour. The lilac assassin that had tripped him up caught up with him and pulled his face from the dirt by his ear, and a feminine voice said sternly to him: "Stop. Goofing. Off." it was Blaze, she wore a purple jacket and black skinny jeans, less formal than her usual attire. Sonic sat up, "I think you broke my spine." he murmured.

"You can't break your spines, they're just like hair aren't they?" Blaze rolled her eyes.

"No, I meant my actual spine." Sonic stood up and stretched, an odd cracking noise coming from his back as he did. "I've got everything down though. There's always time for a little goofing off. I don't see why you want to rush."

"I have to get back to my people! and the sooner you beat Eggman and steal that machine, the sooner I can go home and burn Eggman Nega to cinders!" Sonic coughed, and grinned as Blaze looked at him.

"Two years and you're still so naive. Silver will have everything sorted. Anyway-"

"Naive!?" Blaze shrieked. Sonic continued, undisturbed.

"I'm not into the stealing thing either. You need to chill." Sonic tried to charm her with his trade mark grin. It didn't work.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I'm not the type to 'chill'." Flames erupted from her hand for a brief moment, then faded.

"Ooh, I like the firey ones." Sonic winked, and received a punch on the arm from Blaze.

"I'll show you firey..." Blaze muttered.

"Just joking, you know me. I'll meet you back at Tails' in ten." and with a nod and a grin, he had dashed into the distance.

As Sonic promised, he and Tails were back ten minutes later. Blaze was still scolding them, however. "I've been over the schematics of most of Eggman's base, I know where the machine is and how to get it, but there's no rush." Tails explained, the feline wasn't having it.

"Have you checked it?"

"Yes."

"Twice?"

"I have a computer that performs ten checks per second. Sonic, tell her." Tails turned to his friend, who was at the door with a brown coat on, apparently wandering out.

"Oh, yeah, he has a really big computer." Sonic stretched his arms out as he talked to emphasise the size. Blaze asked why he had a coat on before he managed to get through the door.

"Well..." he messed around with his hands, "there's a lot of wind chill when you travel over the sea."

"Where are you going?"

"Shamar, Amy's over there at the moment." Sonic said, he read Blaze's expression and shrugged, "She likes me to visit her every now again. A friend is a friend." as he closed the door, he muttered: "Be it a near psychopathic and giant-hammer wielding friend."

Tails and Blaze looked at the door for a few moments, and then Tails spoke up, "You look beat." Blaze sat down on the sofa, followed by Tails, who lay on a bean bag.

"Well, he just sort of, left. No sign of when he's coming back - if, he's coming back."

"Ah, he always disappears. It's just what he does. Like the wind." Tails went into the kitchen, leaving Blaze to contemplate his words. Sonic was a complicated person, unlike anyone she had known in her dimension.

"Oh, thank you." Blaze took the drink that Tails offered her and the fox went on to sit in his bean bag. "So what's it like for you when he goes?"

"Well... I have a plane, so I'm hardly limited. But..."

"You miss him."

"He's my best friend." Blaze nodded understandingly. Sonic had told her when they met two years ago, he was always travelling.

"You two are very interesting." Blaze stated, Tails gave her a funny look, "You are. I just pretty much fall out of the sky, need help, and by the end of the day you've got a computer checking my solution fifty times per second. No questions asked."

"Sonic always told me: 'Anyone in proper need of help is worth helping'." Tails smiled and stuck his thumb up. Blaze beamed, she couldn't help it. He's right.