Some Time with a Good Friend

by Zelenal

As Sonic's birthday party winds down, he decides to spend some time with Blaze before she has to leave.

Sonic sighed as he watched the sun start to touch the horizon. Out of all the ways he had imagined his birthday to go, having to join up with his younger self to stop another one of Eggman's plots in literally no time certainly wasn't one of them. While it wasn't completely unexpected, he did remember it happening; his younger self didn't know that it happened on his older self's birthday. Still, he couldn't complain. Getting to revisit all of those old places was awesome and it certainly made this birthday one he wouldn't forget.

Sonic turned around to face the remainder of his friends. Rouge was the first to leave; she apparently hadn't planned on staying long and had to get back to work. Not too long after she left, the Chaotix got an emergency call and were off on some mission or another. Sonic thought he heard Vector mutter something about having to find a computer room but Sonic barely had enough time to tell them to come get him if they needed help before they were gone. After that, Cream had to leave because it was getting close to her bed time. Sonic had offered to take her home but she politely declined and flew off.

The next to leave was, surprisingly enough, Amy and while she wouldn't say why she was leaving (not that Sonic really cared), the bizarre look in her eye made Sonic really apprehensive for some reason. After her was Shadow. While it wasn't surprising that he also didn't say why he was leaving, Sonic was surprised that he stayed as long as he did. Then Silver had to leave and go back to… Actually, now that he thought about it, Sonic had no idea where Silver was from. In fact, he couldn't even recall when they first met. While that bothered him more than a little, Silver was gone before he could ask him anything.

All that left at his party was Tails, who was sitting on the bench and tinkering with something; Knuckles, who was taking a nap with a cowboy hat that he picked up somewhere over his eyes; and Blaze, who was sitting under a tree and staring at… him? Sonic thought he had seen her looking at him but her eyes moved so fast that he thought he might have imagined it. After a bit of thought, Sonic decided to go talk to Blaze before she had to leave. After all, he hadn't seen her in a while and he was curious as to just how she got here in the first place.

Blaze turned to look at Sonic as he approached. While her eyes were as unreadable as usual, she gave him a small smile that seemed slightly sad for some reason. Of course, he could have easily been putting more into it than was actually there. While Blaze was far more expressive than she was when she first met him, there were times when she seemed to fall back to her old habits and it became much harder for Sonic to gauge her mood. Experience dictated that she did that if something was bothering her but Sonic decided to ignore that for now assume that she was just drained from the party.

Sonic was actually really surprised by how Blaze behaved during his party. While he knew that she had been making tremendous progress in regards to opening up to others, he was still surprised by just how much she had grown. While it was obvious that she would talk to Cream and Tails, Sonic was interested in how she seemed to hit it off with Silver and actually acted like she knew him. Perhaps that was something else he should ask her about. However, what was really surprising was when Sonic caught a glimpse of her talking with Shadow. The question of exactly how that conversation started up would probably haunt Sonic until the end of his days.

Oddly enough, thinking about the end of his days made Sonic think about Amy. He had noticed that Amy and Blaze acted very strangely around each other during his party. He wouldn't call it anything near hostile but Blaze seemed somewhat… guarded? And Amy seemed to be rather cautious and… something else that Sonic couldn't really identify. While he had no idea why either of them acted that way, he was fairly sure that he didn't want to ask Amy for answers and a voice in the back of his head warned him against asking Blaze as well. While he didn't want to see two of his friends fight (even if there are occasions where he only calls Amy a friend with great reluctance), something told him that it'd be best if he just steered clear of that one entirely. Whatever their problem was, so long as they didn't specifically ask him for help, they'd be on their own.

"Hey Blaze, why don't we go for a walk?" Sonic suggested. Blaze seemed shocked for a second but quickly nodded and stood up with some help from Sonic. "So, how've ya been? Had any problems with Eggman Nega?"

Blaze shook her head, "He has been quiet lately. I know he must be planning something but all of the searches I sent out have failed to find his base."

"Ah, don't worry about it. You'll be able to handle whatever he throws at you. So, how'd you get here anyway? Doesn't you being here mean that there's some sort of inter-dimensional crisis going on?"

"No, not this time. Tails had found a way to harness the power of a Chaos Emerald to allow teleportation between my world and yours. He used his machine to send me a message inviting me to your birthday and I chose to attend."

"What if Eggman Nega decided to attack while you were gone?"

"I was worried about that as well but Marine and the captain of my guard convinced me that they would be able to handle things for a day."

"So, you're leaving tomorrow?"

Blaze was silent for a moment, "Yes. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning."

Sonic clicked his tongue and stayed silent as they walked for a moment. "You know," he began after a time, "this recent adventure with the Time Eater really brought back a lot of memories." Blaze looked interested but remained silent. "Yeah, seeing all of those old places and the younger versions of Tails and me; it was something else. Of course, I remember doing all of that five years ago so it wasn't all that surprising. It also made me remember something interesting: You never told me your name."

Blaze looked confused for a moment, "Hmm… I never did, did I? I remember that you just randomly said my name the second time we met. I thought it was odd but I had other concerns so I ignored it."

"Yeah, when you appeared in front of me that day, I thought that you looked familiar but when I asked Tails, he said that he had never seen you before. I knew you looked familiar but I just ignored it for a while. It wasn't until I managed to catch up with you that I remembered where I had seen you before."

"You actually remembered my name from the Time Eater incident? I don't recall talking to your younger self at all during it."

"You didn't but I had seen you when my older self turned you back to normal. I was just running through Crisis City, hunting down that fire tornado when I saw some lavender cat jumping around. I had no idea who she was but I had never seen anyone who was so graceful in my life. Later on, I saw my older self talking to you and that's when I learned your name. I wanted to talk to you back then but I never really got the chance, not that I really talked back then anyway," Sonic said the last part with a shrug. "Anyway, after that adventure was over, I kept note of all of the people I had met during it and kinda crossed them off as I met them without time travel. Eventually, I almost completely forgot about the last few people in the list but I had always wondered when I was going to meet that lavender cat. Imagine my surprise when I saw you in a forest instead of a ruined city like I had expected."

Blaze had looked away from Sonic and towards the ground about halfway through his tale and the hedgehog didn't fail to notice that her tail was swishing around more than it usually did. "So… you were waiting for the day that you'd meet me?" she asked.

"Pretty much. I was actually surprised by how you acted at first. Except for Shadow, the others pretty much acted the exact same way as they did when I saw them during the Time Eater thing but you didn't. I mean, yeah, you weren't very sociable from what I remembered but I certainly wouldn't say that you were cold," Sonic had to restrain himself from making a very bad joke, "and yet when I saw you again, you were actually hostile towards me. That really threw me for a loop, given how I saw you act around my older self."

"Yeah, I wasn't very nice back then, was I?"

"Ah, don't worry about it," Blaze stiffened as Sonic draped an arm across her shoulders, "Everything worked out in the end so it's cool." Sonic removed his arm and snapped his fingers, "Oh yeah! When I freed you, you said that the Time Eater was too powerful for you to handle. What's up with that? When we fought back then and when I fought alongside you in your world, we were on par with each other. When we fought, you forced me to fight seriously and actually pushed me to my limits. You matched me at some things and were actually better than me at others. What happened to that? If I could handle the Time Eater than surely you should have been able to."

Blaze sighed, "Sonic, how do you spend your free time?"

Sonic blinked a couple of times at how random that question seemed to be, "Well, I travel around the world and try to find places I've never seen. I also try to push myself to go faster and fly higher, to do things I couldn't do before. Why'd you ask?"

"There's the difference between us, Sonic. You have no obligation to anything or anyone. You're free to come and go as you please and do whatever you wish. You can spend your days pushing yourself and improving your skills. I don't have that luxury. When I'm not stopping Eggman Nega, I'm fulfilling my duties as the princess. My 'free' days are spent reading documents, attending meetings, and entertaining foreign dignitaries. I barely have enough time to relax or talk to Marine, let alone train or explore."

"Oh. Oh, yeah, I kinda keep forgetting that you're a princess. Well, your word is law, isn't it? Why not make time for you to do things you want to do like you did today?"

"I wish it were that easy. I have a duty to my people and I had to work twice as hard yesterday in order to be able to come here today. I can't just ignore my responsibility. My people depend on me."

Sonic sighed, "Yeah, you got a point there. But your people also depend on you to defend them from Eggman Nega, right? What if Nega builds a robot that you can't defeat even with the Sol Emeralds? If I hadn't been doing all of that training, there's no way I'd have been able to defeat the Time Eater. It's only a matter of time before Nega builds something of similar strength."

Blaze crossed her arms and closed her eyes, "Hmm… Maybe you're right… I'll see what I can do once I return home." The pair walked in silence a bit before Blaze spoke up again, "Speaking of which, where do you live?"

Sonic looked at the feline, "Hm? You mean where's my home? I don't really have one. If I need some place to stay because the weather's bad or I'm sick or something then I usually just crash at Tails' place. Otherwise, I just sleep wherever looks good."

Blaze shook her head slowly, "You and I lead very different lives."

Sonic shrugged, "Of course. You may be your world's version of me but that doesn't mean we're the same person. Besides, it's not like we're completely different. "

"You're right. Honestly, I'd like to live life the way you do. At least for a day."

Sonic hummed as he thought for a moment, "Well, why not today?"

"Huh?"

"You don't have to go back until tomorrow morning, right? Well, why not stick with me for the rest of the day? I know of a few really great areas nearby that I can show you and you'll get the chance to find out what it's like."

Blaze looked away, "Oh, I-I don't know. I mean, I wouldn't want to impose…"

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'd enjoy the company. After all, it's not like we get to see each other often so we should enjoy what time we have left."

Blaze stopped for a moment, deep in thought, "Well… alright. If you don't mind."

"Cool! Let me just go say 'goodbye' to Tails and Knuckles and then we'll be off!" With that, Sonic ran back to where the party had been. It was only a few seconds before came running back. "Alright, we have a lot of places to go and so little time to see them so, if you'll excuse me," Blaze yelped as Sonic picked her up bridal style. "Here we… Go!"

Sonic and Blaze stood atop a cliff overlooking a great lake. The gentle light of the moon and stars reflected cleanly off its surface as a gentle breeze created ripples in the water. A vast array of flowers surrounded the lake, their multitude of colors seeming to create complex patterns that danced in the wind while fireflies illuminated the scene and the surrounding trees gently swayed as if to some unheard song. Even the noises of the wildlife seemed to be affected by some sort of magic for instead of sounding cacophonous, Blaze found them to be harmonic and almost melodic.

Blaze moved closer to the edge of the cliff, enraptured by the magnificence of the area. She held her breath and remained silent, afraid that making any sudden movements would destroy the magic of the place. Though not a single one of the things laid out before her were new, the way they all came together for this one spot made it a beauty beyond which Blaze had words for.

"Quite a view, isn't it?" Sonic said quietly as he came up beside her. "It's pretty rare, too. All of those flowers are only bloomed at same time for a few days and we got really lucky with the wind." Blaze simply nodded as she allowed herself to breathe again, still too awestruck to speak. Sonic had taken her to a number of places since they left his party and while each place was amazing, the sheer tranquility and majesty of this place was a league above the others.

Eventually, Blaze found her voice, "Thank you, Sonic, for showing me this. I had seen a number of amazing places while fighting Eggman Nega and I was convinced that I had seen them all. Even the sites of your world didn't seem all that different from mine, in a fashion. To think that places like the ones you have shown me could exist…"

Sonic chuckled as he sat down and motioned for Blaze to do the same, "Yeah. Even with all of the exploring I do, I still keep finding new places that offer sites I've never seen before. The world is an amazing place. I bet your world has places like this too and has sites that can't be seen in my world."

"Perhaps. I can't say that I've ever had the chance to properly explore my world. There are even areas in my own kingdom that I haven't been to."

"You should try to find time to go exploring sometime. I didn't get to see much of your world when I was there but it looked really cool."

Blaze gave a halfhearted chuckle, "I'm not sure if Gardon would approve of me running around by myself. The only time I'm without my guard outside the palace walls is when I'm fighting Eggman Nega."

"But you're their ruler. He can't stop you from going, right?"

"You're right but he can be very insistent. I usually just agree to the guard so he doesn't go on one of his rants about safety and protocol and assassins."

"Assassins?"

"Yes. He seems to think that some other than Eggman Nega might seek to kill me for any number of reasons. Personally, I don't think that's true and, even if it is, I highly doubt any assassin could stand against my flames for long."

"Heh. You got that right. I think I've still got some signed fur from the last time we fought." Blaze closed her eyes and suppressed a chuckle before looking out over the lake. Although she was surprised by how much she enjoyed the comfortable silence between them, Blaze probed her mind for a question to ask Sonic. The time they had left was scarce and it was impossible to tell when she'd get a chance to speak to him again.

Eventually, a gentle breeze blew through the area and Blaze saw Sonic shiver slightly out of the corner of her eye. "Cold?" she asked, her eyes carrying a somewhat sly glint.

Sonic didn't notice it, "Eh, a little. It can get kinda chilly at night here until you're well into the summer."

Blaze hummed, which was Sonic's first clue that something was up, "Well, if you get too cold, let's hope that you don't do what you did the last time we were together."

Sonic's blush was almost as bright as the sun. "H-hey now," he started, scratching at the tip of his nose, "I-I was half outta my mind that time. You try walking through shin-deep snow with nothing to keep you warm."

Blaze giggled, unable to hold it back, "Calm down, Sonic. I've already told you that I didn't mind."

"Y-yeah, but- Come on! That hand thing was bad enough but I actually kissed you!"

Blaze let her sly expression drop into a completely serious one and returned her voice to the icy tone she normally used around strangers or people she didn't like, "Are you saying that you have a problem with kissing me?" Sonic quickly descended into a stammering wreck as he realized that he just trapped himself. Apparently unable to take it, he screamed as he threw himself off the cliff and into the lake below.

For all of her self-control and her iron will, Blaze couldn't help but to fall onto her back in laughter at the sight of Sonic actually fleeing. It took a solid minute for her to get herself back under some degree of control but what little composure she had threatened to shatter as Sonic came back dripping wet and glaring at her. "Enjoy your swim?" she asked as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I hope you're happy," he said, his voice surprisingly venomous.

Blaze fought back another wave of the giggles, "Unimaginably so." She took a deep breath to calm down, "Would you like me to dry you off?"

Blaze had to fight back another wave of laughter as Sonic crossed his arms, causing a proverbial waterfall to wring out of his fur, "Yeah, that'd be nice."

"Very well. Stand still," Blaze leaned over and placed her hand over one of Sonic's wrists before channeling her power. The heat from her Flame quickly spread through her arm and into Sonic's body. When he was almost filled with it, she increased its heat and focused it into the water that soaked his fur, almost instantly turning it into steam without hurting Sonic at all. The entire process only took about a second.

Sonic said nothing as he walked around to the other side of Blaze and sat down a bit farther away than he was before. "Come on, Sonic. There's no reason to be angry over a little joke," Blaze said after the silence lingered for a second longer.

"I'm not angry," he said shortly, looking away slightly. Now, Blaze never claimed to be the greatest at reading people, no doubt due to her not usually caring about the feelings of an individual before, but Sonic certainly seemed angry to her. At least, she thought he did. It was so rare to see him act in a way that wasn't his usual cool confidence that she wasn't entirely sure how he acted when angry or when he was feeling almost any other emotion for that matter. The only other emotion she could recall obviously seeing before now was concern and that one time he pouted.

Perhaps there was another time when Sonic acted this way? Yes, there certainly was, now that she thought about it. As a matter of fact, it had been after the very incident she had just teased him about. After he had kissed her while being half out of his mind with cold-induced delirium while they were traversing the Blizzard Peaks in her world, he had acted in a somewhat similar fashion from that moment until they encountered Whisker's forces.

Of course! Blaze had to resist the urge to slap herself for how obvious it was. Sonic was just embarrassed. However, just like the last time, she found herself pondering as to exactly why he was acting this way. The other times she had seen Tails embarrass him, he had only blushed lightly, if at all, and quickly got over it. Perhaps there was something more to it than simple embarrassment? Well, even if there is, there was no point in speculating; especially since it would inevitably lead to her mind drifting to a certain futile topic.

Blaze's musing was brought to an end when Sonic spoke up, "It's getting late. We should probably get some sleep." Blaze nodded almost absentmindedly. While she wasn't all that tired, she knew that she should be returning to her world shortly after dawn. A small part of her wished that she could stay a little longer but she ignored that part just as she always had. It was a strange part, in her opinion, as she didn't even know it existed until sometime after Cream befriended her but she was still annoyed by it. She had no need for pointless sentimentality.

It actually took Blaze a while to get anything even resembling comfortable. Just as Sonic had said earlier that day, he just slept wherever was comfortable or convenient so he had just scooted away from the cliff then laid down. Blaze, on the other hand, was used to sleeping on her fluffy mattress in her room in the palace and just sleeping on beds in general. While the phrase "cold, hard ground" really didn't apply, it still took a fair deal of shifting around to get comfortable.

Of course, as soon as she had done this, the wind picked up slightly and she noticed Sonic shiver again. As she lay there, she contemplated her options before mentally sighing and getting up. Moving as silently as a wraith, Blaze undid the buttons on her tailcoat before taking it off and carefully placing it on Sonic.

"Huh?" Sonic opened his eyes and stared at the tailcoat for a second before his mind figured out where it had come from. He quickly bolted up and looked at Blaze who sat back down in her spot. Without her tailcoat on, the only articles of clothing that covered her torso were her bra (which couldn't be seen) and a white undershirt. "Blaze, what are you doing?" Sonic said a bit slower than was normal for him.

"You were shivering. My Flame keeps me warms so I don't need the jacket and I'm not about to let a friend freeze because he wished to show me around."

"You don't need to worry about me. I've slept in colder places than this."

"That may be so but that doesn't mean I can slept comfortably when I know a friend cannot."

Sonic sighed as an almost invisible blush crept across his face. "Eh, alright. If it's gonna cause you that much trouble…" With that, Sonic slowly laid back down, squirming slightly as if something about the tailcoat made him uncomfortable. However, the residual heat left in it by Blaze's Flame quickly overtook whatever was plaguing him and he was snoring in seconds.

With a small smile, Blaze laid back down. It took her a minute to get comfortable again but it was easier than it was last time. Being able to help out Sonic in such a way gave Blaze a strange feeling; a tingly warmth that was different from her Flame. Almost on a whim, she decided to focus on that new warmth and let it envelop her. Wrapped in this warmth, the lavender feline quickly found herself overtaken by sleep.

Tails shut the door to his house with a slight yawn. He couldn't understand how Sonic could fight Eggman for so long and still have enough energy to go running around. Tails hadn't done much more than follow him around and work on a device with his younger self and he was already pretty tired. That was one of the several mysteries about Sonic that Tails figured he'd probably never be able to puzzle out.

Putting those thoughts aside, Tails walked over to his work area and casually tossed the communicator he had built with his younger self on the table. He had no idea what he could do with the device now but he'd figure out something later. Maybe he could repurpose it to improve their ability to communicate with people in Blaze's dimension. The communicator they used now worked just fine but it was like sending a letter through the post; it took some time to get there and it could be a while before anyone knew they even had a message. With the new device, he could probably make it much faster, perhaps more like email.

Tails stared at the device for some time, debating the pros and cons of working on it right now. However, another yawn and quick glance at the clock made him abandon that idea. It wasn't imperative that they have a better means of communicating with the Sol Dimension right now. It could be put off till the next day. In fact, it would probably be for the best if he did. He could give Blaze some plans for the updated communicator to give to Marine so that she can update it on their end around the same time as him. With that decided he left his work area and started to head to his room.

When Tails passed the guest room, a noise made him stop. He waited in silence for a minute, listening for the sound again. For a while, it had seemed like it was just his imagination but another sound confirmed his suspicions. Now that he was listening for it, he could tell that it was the sound of fabric rustling.

Tails stood still for a moment as he considered his options. There was no sign that someone had broken into his house, no sign that things had been stolen so he doubted that it was a thief. While that was certainly a good thing, it just made him more nervous since he had no idea who it was. He was the only one who had a key and only Sonic knew where the spare was hidden but it couldn't have been him. Sonic had no reason to come here when he was out with Blaze.

Throwing caution into the wind, Tails slowly opened the door. The inside of the room was pitch black, even to Tails' dark adjusted eyes. For a moment, he regretted not tuning on the hall light before entering but it was too late to turn back now. He held his breath as he slowly, ever so slowly, opened the door and reached for the light switch.

"Oh there you are, Sonic. It's about time you got here. Are you ready for your birthday present?" a voice said. It was feminine and very familiar to Tails but its tone was highly seductive. Thinking he knew who the voice belonged to, Tails quickly flipped the light switch.

What Tails saw was the last thing he ever wanted to see. It was a sight that he knew no amount of work or nightmares would get rid of. It was an image that would surely haunt him to his grave. At once, the two people in the room let out an ear-shattering scream as Tails slammed his eyes close and Amy pulled up the covers on the bed.

Several minutes later, Tails was sitting on his couch and cradling a glass of water. "How did you get in my house?" he asked Amy who was sitting on a nearby chair fiddling with the hem of her dress with a massive blush on her face. Despite being a question, Tails tone of voice was very subdued and distant.

"I, uh, used the spare key," Amy answered. "I, um, might have seen Sonic using it once or twice." Tails silently questioned the accuracy of that second statement. They stayed in a painfully awkward silence for a moment before Amy spoke up again, "Do you know where Sonic is?"

"I have no idea. He left to go exploring," Tails decided to keep the fact that he left with Blaze to himself. The last thing he wanted was a raging Amy.

"Oh," Amy looked crestfallen. "Well, I should get going. If you see him, tell him I'm looking for him, okay?"

"Sure," he lied. He would do everything in his power to forget this ever happened.

Amy was halfway to the door when she suddenly stopped and stiffened. She started shaking and seemed to be muttering something under her breath. "Amy? Are you okay?" Tails asked, getting up and cautiously walking over to her.

Amy's eyes seemed to be distant as she said in words almost too soft to hear, "I feel my grip on his soul loosening."

"Wh-what?" Just as Tails started to lean closer, Amy's eyes seemed to fill with fire as she practically exploded.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Amy shouted at Tails causing him to fall backwards and send his glass of water flying.

"I-I-I don't know! Honest!" Tails scooted back to the wall, afraid for his life.

"I MUST FIND HIM!" and with that, Amy ran out the door.

For another minute, Tails just sat against the wall, breathing heavily and clutching the area of his chest that was over his heart. When he had finally calmed down enough to move, he slowly got up and stepped outside long enough to grab the spare key before shutting and locking his door. As he made his way to his room, he hoped that Sonic was far enough away that Amy wouldn't be able to find him. If she did, he knew that Sonic would be in a hell like no other.

The dawn came to find Blaze already wide awake. She stood next to the cliff as she silently watched the sun rise and watched its light dance across the lake. A loud snore tore her attention away from the view and back towards the blue hedgehog still sleeping not too far from where she stood. Sonic had sprawled out sometime during the night but Blaze's tailcoat was surprisingly still wrapped around him.

Blaze turned her attention back to the lake as the light hit Sonic's eyes. He groaned and rolled over for a bit but quickly sat up and rubbed at his eyes. "Wow. You wake up early," he said, his speech slightly slurred.

"I usually wake up before sunrise so I can have some time to myself before the day starts. And good morning."

Sonic groaned as he stood up and stretched, taking care not to drop Blaze's tailcoat, before giving it back to her. They stood in silence and watched the sun rise for a moment before Sonic spoke up, "So, when did you say you have to leave again?"

"I didn't know how long your party would last so I promised Gardon that I would return in the morning."

Sonic crossed his arms and hummed, "Well, we've got some time before it's no longer morning. Wanna go for a quick run before we head to Tails' place?"

Blaze considered this for a moment. It would be getting off on a technicality, one which Gardon would probably not like, but this would be her last chance to relax and not worry about saving the world or being the imperial princess for possibly quite some time. "Alright. That… sounds like fun," she said finally.

"Cool! Just follow my lead and I'll make sure we don't go too far. Are you ready?" Sonic tapped the tips of his shoes against the ground before getting into a crouched running position. Blaze moved her left leg back and slightly bent her right as Sonic started his countdown. "Three… two… one… go!"

The two took off through the forest at breakneck speeds, Blaze staying a couple steps behind Sonic. Neither were going anywhere close to their top speeds as they made their way through the dense forest but it only took a few seconds before they were clear and headed towards an open plain. No longer having to worry about running into trees, Blaze, urged on by Sonic, picked up the pace. It wasn't that long before the duo broke the sound barrier and Blaze hit her top speed but she had a feeling that Sonic was holding back considerably.

For a moment, Blaze thought back to her conversation with Sonic at the end of his party. When Blaze first met Sonic, he was faster than she was but not by too much. Now, however, he seemed to be a great deal faster. When she saw him run through that ruined city, she estimated that he was moving at somewhere around five times the speed of sound and even then she wasn't sure if he had been holding back to improve his maneuverability. Sonic spent his free time pushing himself and testing his limits. While Blaze rarely had free time, she certainly did at this moment so why couldn't she do the same?

With that thought, Blaze looked over at Sonic and compared his stance to hers. While she was leaning forward slightly and had her arms clamped to her side, he was leaning forward a lot more and had his arms behind him. Thinking back to the Time Eater incident, she knew that the arm thing wasn't necessary from the way Shadow ran (or, more appropriately, skated) but he leaned forward just as much as Sonic did. She also recalled Silver was tilted forwards just as much even though he was flying. Surely the Fastest Thing Alive would know how to hold his body for the best results when running and, even if he didn't, surely the other two wouldn't be wrong as well. With that in mind, she decided to tilt herself forward just as much.

While Blaze did suddenly find herself moving faster from her effort, it wasn't by much. She did notice, however, that maintaining her current speed become notably easier. She looked back towards Sonic again as he led her on a large curve. Maybe there was something else she could do to increase her speed but what could it be? She thought about her Flame and how she used it to increase her abilities when fighting and jumping. Perhaps she could use it here as well? She was already using her Fire Boost but she felt like there might be something else she could do.

Thinking back to her previous adventures with Sonic, Blaze recalled him being amazed by how fast she went when she did her forward boost off of ramps or springs. Perhaps she could use that same ability now to increase her running speed? She didn't have much control when it came to things like turning while doing that but it could be great for when she just had to move in a straight line and her Fire Boost would protect her from enemies or other destroyable objects. With a plan in mind, Blaze waited until Sonic started moving straight forward again before she put her plan into action.

The results were nothing short of spectacular.

The second she started doing it, Blaze found herself rocketing past Sonic. Every time her foot hit the ground, she pushed a strong jet a fire through it and shot forward again. Her speed was slightly jerky but it wasn't bad enough to make her ill or worry about injuring herself. Instead, she enjoyed looking over to her right and seeing Sonic pulling up beside her, grinning like a maniac. She also enjoyed the fact that he was now using his boost to keep up.

What she didn't enjoy, however, was the drain on her energy. Blaze found herself paying the price for her general inaction during that long period of relative peace her kingdom had been enjoying. If she had done this during one of her previous adventures with Sonic, she knew that she could have kept this up for a while without any problems but, as it was, she was already panting and getting tired after doing it for about half a minute. Sonic apparently noticed this because he pulled ahead of her and signaled for her to stop.

Once they had stopped, Blaze had to fight to keep her breathing under control and had to resist the urge to place her hands on her knees to balance herself. Sonic, as expected, wasn't fazed by the run at all. "Wow, Blaze. That was really cool! Did you just come up with it?"

"Yes. Thank you," she said between breaths.

"Don't mention it. Looks like you need to work on building your stamina back up though. That should have been no problem for you and you were a lot slower than you used to be." Blaze merely nodded to this although that last part surprised her. She hadn't noticed any difference in her top speed. It seemed that peace had dulled her far too much.

Once her breathing was back under control, Blaze said, "I doubt that technique will be very useful, though. I can't maneuver at all during it."

Sonic hummed at this, "Well, why don't I teach you some of the things I do while running quickly? Both of them help me to keep up my speed while letting me make turns or quick adjustments."

Blaze thought about this for a second, "Such skills would be very useful but I don't wish to impose."

Sonic waved her off, "Nah, don't worry about. I'd be more than glad to help you out!"

With that, Sonic showed Blaze his drift and quick step as they made their way towards Tails' workshop. Blaze tried her best to emulate his techniques with her Flame but while she failed in the execution, she knew the theory well enough that she could practice once she returned to her world. Just as she has suspected, once she mastered the Fire Drift and Quick Step, her new technique for running, which she, with some help from Sonic, dubbed the Flare Boost, would become a lot more practical.

The duo walked up to Tails' workshop at a casual pace as Sonic wrapped up giving his last bits of advice to Blaze before knocking on the door. "Just a minute!" they heard Tail's shout from somewhere inside. It took a bit of time for the two tailed fox to open the door. "Sonic! Blaze! I was wondering when you two would show up!" He stepped aside to let them in. "Sorry it took me so long. I had to finish up what I was working on."

"Heya Tails! What are you working on now?" Sonic said as Blaze politely nodded towards the fox.

"I'm using the inter-dimensional communicator I made with my younger self to improve the communicator we use to contact people in Blaze's world. It'll make it less like mailing a letter traditionally and more like email: faster and more efficient."

"That's great! When'll it be done?"

"Well, our end is already finished. I just need Blaze to give my plans to Marine so she can update their end. Do you mind doing that, Blaze?"

"Not at all. Marine had been trying to figure out a way to improve the system and will be glad to have those plans."

Tails chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head as he led them further into his workshop where the teleporter was, "She might be a little annoyed that I came up with them first, though. Anyway, I'll need a minute to let the machine warm up then you can be on your way."

Sonic turned to face Blaze while Tails began fiddling with the teleporter, "Well, Blaze, it's been fun. We should do this again sometime."

Blaze nodded and allowed herself to smile slightly, "Yes, we should. Thank you for inviting me to your birthday party and then showing me around. I really enjoyed it."

"Hey, don't mention it. You're my friend and I don't get to see you often so naturally I want to spend time with you while we've got it."'

Tails walked up to them and handed Blaze the blueprints for the communicator, "Alright Blaze, whenever you're ready." He went back to the controls for the machine.

In a momentary lapse of her self-control, Blaze frowned as she held out her free hand towards Sonic. Her visit here had been the most fun and relaxing time she had ever since… well… ever since the last time she had seen Sonic. She didn't realize that her emotions had shown on her face until Sonic grasped her hand and, instead of shaking it, pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry about it, Blaze. We'll see each other again someday. I promise," he let go as quickly as he had hugged her and stepped back with his usual confidant grin.

It took Blaze a moment to regain her composure before nodding, "Again." With that, she stepped onto the pad of the machine and nodded towards Tails who pressed a button. There was the distinct sound of whirring before Blaze disappeared in a flash of light.

Once the light had faded, Tails walked up to Sonic and just stared at him as he sighed. Sonic held his sad expression for a moment before he inhaled deeply and turned to his best friend with a smile, "So, Tails, wanna hit up the beach today?"

Tails just nodded somewhat dumbly at his friend, "Want me to see if anyone else wants to come?"

Sonic thought about this for a moment, "Nah. Just me and you today, buddy!"

Tails nodded again as his smile grew. It had been a while since he and Sonic had spent some time together while not foiling Eggman's plans, "Alright! We need to swing by my house and let me grab my swim trunks."

"Okay. I should grab mine while we're there." With that, the two headed off into the new day.