I LIVE! Course is now done, and if I could do well at something, I crushed it. This one's a bit shorter than normal, but I just wanted to get something down to show that I'm still alive, and this is really popular for only having two chapters so far, so I did this first. I'll get to work on my other story soon.
SEGA owns all the characters.
Blaze slowly opened her eyes and gave a yawn as she awoke. Panic overcame her after her eyes opened as she saw the somewhat-unfamiliar surroundings of Tails's guest room. So it wasn't a dream, I really am in Sonic's world. . . She sat up and stretched, trying to mentally prepare herself for the day, but realizing that there was nothing certain to prepare for. A look out the window told her it was late morning, and she mentally scolded herself for sleeping in so late, even though she was rather tired after being flung into another dimension and all the dramatic events that happened after she landed. She took a few steps towards the door and heard a loud "BANG!" coming from downstairs. She dashed as quickly as she could towards the lab. Hearing more sounds of various machines allowed her to find the way the lab easily. The doors were wide open, and Tails was standing inside, leaning backwards with a slightly stunned look on his face. "Tails!" Blaze called out from the entrance. Tails quickly turned back.
"Blaze!" He glanced at her, then at the machines, then back to Blaze.
"Tails, are you all right?" Blaze slowly stepped into the lab, slightly nervous from the noises she was still hearing, and trying to calm down from what had just happened.
"Yeah, I'm fine. . . oh. . ." He smacked himself on the forehead. "I didn't wake you, did I?" Blaze quickly shook her head then ran over to Tails and hugged him, which made Tails blush and awkwardly place his arms around her. "Uh. . . Blaze. . .?"
Blaze quickly let go of Tails. "I apologize. I heard something coming from downstairs, and I assumed you would be working on something in the lab. I. . . I was worried. . ." Blaze's ears twitched, but she kept a straight face.
"No, no, everything's okay, Blaze." Tails looked back at the open doors. "I'm sorry for scaring you. The walls here were soundproof, but I came in in a rush, and I left the doors open. The sound you heard was this. . ." He began to walk over to a large, cylindrical machine which was attached via tubes to a nearby computer. An entry door made of glass covered half of the cylinder, which totaled eight feet high. The rest of the cylinder was made of stainless steel, and the computer had all sorts of small lights, buttons, and displays for different outputs. "This is what we're going to use to measure what kinds of energy you have emanating from you as a result of your inter-dimensional travel. If we can get the appropriate forms of energy to destructively interfere with the type of energy you have, based on their wavelengths, amplitude, and phase, we should be able to counteract the force that brought you here." When Blaze gave a blank look back at him, Tails put his hand behind his head and gave a sheepish grin. "Sorry. I'm going to use this to see what happened to you and figure out what we need to do to get you back home." Blaze gave a quick nod and looked at the machine.
"And you want me to get inside that machine?" Blaze pointed at it and tilted her head curiously. She was still apprehensive after hearing the noise the machine produced earlier.
"Yeah. . ." Tails ran to the controls. "What you heard earlier was me turning it on. It hasn't been used in a long time, so I had to make sure it still worked." He studied the keys and knobs and switches on the control panel, playing with them while looking at the displays. "Mm-hmm. . ." He muttered while he read the results. "Yup, it works just fine. And it won't make any sounds like that again. Turning such a complicated machine on after a long break can have some. . . strange consequences, blowing out the dust and all that, but it'll be okay now." He smiled at Blaze, and gestured for her to go in, flipping the switch to open the door. Blaze gulped, but Tails could not hear it. She glanced back at Tails, who nearly read her mind as he gave a reassuring nod. "Blaze, trust me, everything will be fine. I'm glad we can all see you again, but I know you need to get home, and I want to help." Blaze's cheeks turned pink, and she quickly strode into the machine. "This will just take a minute." Tails called out as he closed the doors. A low humming came from the machine as Tails glanced back and forth between Blaze and the controls. He noticed she still looked nervous, so he worked as quickly as he could. Blaze's heart was pounding as Tails worked, as she knew the next few minutes would determine the fate of herself and her kingdom. Her confidence that there would be a way home was weakening with each passing second. She was brought back to reality when the door opened again. "Blaze. . . ? It's all done." Tails peeked up from the console and saw Blaze blinking rapidly. "Blaze?" He started to run over what could have gone wrong in his head, but stopped when Blaze stepped out.
"Sorry, Tails, I'm okay. . ." Blaze forced a smile, but neither of them were buying it. "What do I have to do to get home?" Tails opened his mouth, but Blaze cut him off. "The simple version, please." Tails grinned and nodded.
"Right." Tails looked back at the display. "You have an energy surrounding you that looks a bit different from the Sol Emeralds. Did the emeralds. . . change, since I was last there?"
Blaze shook her head. "Eggman Nega made his usual attempts at the emeralds, but he was not able to get them."
"Hmm. . ." Tails looked at the display again. "Any other thieves? Anyone take one of them?"
Blaze shook her head again. "I heard that the guardian of the Sol Emeralds had a different sort of aura around them. . . perhaps that is the difference?"
"No, no. . . it shouldn't cause something like this. . ." Tails looked at the machine. "Bad news is, the energy is so far away from the normal energy of the Sol Emeralds that it must mean that something as powerful as a Sol Emerald was either stolen, replaced, or corrupted." Blaze looked at Tails in horror.
"So. . . I failed in my duties. . ." Blaze began to look sad.
"Not necessarily. . ." Tails looked back at Blaze, smiling in an attempt to get her to smile. "The amount of energy needed to get you here was larger than the seven Sol Emeralds could produce on their own."
Blaze blinked, confused. "But that worked the last time I was here. . ."
Tails shook his head. "That's only because there was a problem with space-time. The way you came caused a huge rift that needed to be repaired. This was more like. . . a portal. Like you coming here was planned."
Blaze's eyes widened. "But I had stopped Eggman Nega just recently, and he did not get anywhere NEAR the emeralds!" Blaze's hand formed a fist and pounded on a table next to the machine. Tails waved his hands.
"B-Blaze! Stop!" Tails spoke nervously.
Blaze sighed. "Sorry. . . it's been a rough couple of days. . ."
Tails nodded and put his hand on top of Blaze's fist, which caused it to relax into a hand, and her cheeks to turn pink again. "It's okay, Blaze. . . unwanted inter-dimensional travel will do that to you." Blaze lightly smiled, understanding enough of what he said to know he was trying to make her feel better. He glanced down and noticed his hand on hers, slowly pulling his away. "Oh. . . sorry. . ."
"It . . . it's okay. . . you had only good intentions, Tails. . ." Blaze's smile held, but she pulled her hand away and put it at her side. "Please, continue. . ."
"It didn't have to be Eggman Nega. I'm not sure who else it could be, but we'll deal with that later. Now, because it was a small portal, there really wasn't any damage done. But, we still need a lot of energy to get you back, and that different energy is making it hard to do. But, we can do it if we get all seven Chaos Emeralds." Tails nodded, and Blaze tilted her head, pondering for a moment before speaking.
". . . Is that always the answer?"
Tails blinked. "What do you mean?"
"That's what they told me when I came here last, to find the seven Chaos Emeralds. Is that your first solution to difficult problems?"
Tails looked confused, but started to explain. "Well. . . the Chaos Emeralds have the power to change time and space. Even one can make teleportation possible, just ask Sonic. All seven together creates the most powerful force in the world. You've seen so yourself. So, really. . . it kinda is. . ."
Blaze slowly nodded. "Okay. Where do we start?"
Tails turned off this machine and flew over to his main computer, and Blaze followed. "Well. . . we know where three of them are. . . Sonic has the red one, I have the yellow one. . ." He turned and pointed to the yellow Chaos Emerald concealed in a glass case. ". . .it usually powers things here, but everything can run without it, it just takes a lot of power, and Shadow has the green one." He began to type away on the computer.
"Sonic mentioned him, too. Is he a friend of yours?"
". . . Sometimes."
"Sometimes?"
"Shadow's. . . complicated. But I'm sure he'll loan us the emerald once we explain what's going on." Tails nodded, but Blaze was not entirely convinced.
"What about the other four?"
"That's what we're looking for. . ." He looked up at the computer screen. "With the chaos emerald, this thing is powerful enough to scan the entire planet, but it will take a few days to do so. . ." Blaze's mouth twitched, and Tails turned to her just in time to catch it. "Sorry. . ."
"It's all right, Tails. You're doing your best." Blaze smiled. "I can certainly occupy my time while we figure out our next move."
"How about a trip into town?" Tails blurted out.
"Into. . . town. . .?" Blaze repeated, not expecting such a sudden and bold response from Tails.
"Yeah. I can show you around a bit. I need to pick up some parts there anyways." Tails had an innocent look on his face, and Blaze could tell he was sincere.
"All right." She giggled, which made Tails confused. "Are we going to leave now?"
"Do you want to leave now?" Tails started to walk towards the plane.
"Please." She followed him towards the plane, but stopped for a second as she remembered her fear of heights. "How long will it take to get to town?"
"A couple of minutes. Quicker than taking you from Cream's house to here." Tails gave her an encouraging smile and got into the plane.
"I think I can handle that." Blaze followed him in quickly, wanting to get in before losing her nerve. Tails started up the plane as soon as they were both buckled up, and they took off. Tails was checking his instruments as he remembered what kept Blaze calm the last time she flew.
"It's a nice day outside, don't you think?" He glanced back at Blaze to make eye contact and distract her from her fear a bit more. He looked back for a quick second to set the autopilot and its course, but then looked at Blaze.
"Yes, it's lovely. . ." Blaze looked outside, and tried to avoid looking down or noticing that Tails had taken both hands off the controls and seemed to be paying no attention to them. Her nerve-wracking morning and lack of knowledge of technology had made her forget that the Tornado had autopilot. "Uh, Tails. . ." She pointed in front of her, towards the cockpit.
"It's fine, Blaze. It's so advanced, it can fly itself! I just need to turn it on and tell it where to go." Tails tried to sound calm and reassuring, but talking about the Tornado had gotten him excited again.
"That's amazing, Tails. . ." Blaze had remembered the autopilot, and felt slightly embarrassed about forgetting.
"Thanks, Blaze. . ." Tails blushed and turned back towards the cockpit. "U-Um. . ."
"Yes, Tails? What is it?" Blaze's voice had some urgency in it. She was concerned that something was wrong with the plane.
"There's a great little restaurant by the supply store I go to. W-Would you like to have lunch with me?" Tails had put his hands in his lap and hid them behind the chair so Blaze could not see them shaking. The two of them had talked briefly in their previous adventures together, but asking her to lunch was something entirely different. Showing her around town was one thing, but this was starting to look more and more like a date to Tails. She's a princess, Tails! A princess! She's out of your league! His mind was shouting, but he could not stop himself from asking.
"Of course, Tails. . ." Blaze giggled. He's cute when he's so shy like that. . . "I would like that very much. . ." Tails smiled and blushed, both hidden from Blaze's view. He was about to reply when the plane started to land. Blaze gasped as she felt the plane touchdown, and Tails took control and slowed them to a gentle stop. They landed near the center of a thriving metropolis. The people and cars moving caught their eyes first. It was somewhat busy, but the typical lunch hour had not started yet, so getting around on foot would be easy. Billboards for all sorts of goods and services were up, but neither Blaze nor Tails paid any attention to them. Tails was focused on taking Blaze's mind off of things, and Blaze was becoming more and more focused on Tails. A few brave birds flew past them, stopping on the branches of the trees the city had planted along the sidewalks and in the road to act as barriers and dividers. Buildings of all sizes were around them, but the large shopping mall was the most prominent one that they could see. Blaze quickly scrambled out of the plane, and Tails followed, but Blaze had looked up at the mall. "This looks very majestic. . . is it the castle you were telling me about earlier?"
Tails could not suppress a smile and a laugh. "No, that's just the mall. . ."
Blaze looked it over thoughtfully. "It's much larger than the last time I was here. I did not think you would create something so enormous just for shopping, though. . ."
Tails shrugged, not having considered this too much. "Well, it means you can find almost anything you want in one place. So, where do you want to go first?"
Blaze kept glancing around, taking in all the other people, cars, and associated noise. She realized she actually knew very few other people, and that this was a stark contrast to the usual quiet solitude of her kingdom, both of which were making her uncomfortable. "How about we just get your parts and some food, and perhaps come back some other time?"
Tails looked up at Blaze and noticed her uneasiness. "R-Right." He knew why Blaze was nervous, having visited her dimension before and knowing it was so different from their own. "Those places are really close to each other. Follow me!" He smiled and gestured for her to follow him, trying to distract her. He flew up above the crowd, and Blaze laughed and followed behind him. Some of the other people turned and looked, and even gave some admiration to Tails, but let the two of them pass mostly unimpeded. They made it to the nearby diner, which had tables and chairs outside that were made of sculpted metal, which reminded Blaze of the designs on the castle walls and carpets back home. There was a building inside, but it had far fewer chairs, and was full of people. A female jaguar in a white button-up shirt, black skirt, and nametag stood outside, and ushered the two of them to an open table.
"Sorry, it's really busy in there. You'd have to stay outside to eat. Is that okay?" She noticed Blaze's unease. Tails nodded, then turned to Blaze, who also nodded. "Great. I'm Amanda, and I'll be your server. Can I start you off with something to drink?" Blaze ordered water, and Tails ordered a Chaos Cola. Amanda left to get the drinks, and Blaze looked at the menu while Tails looked at Blaze. Blaze sensed his gaze after a few moments and looked back at him.
"Tails?" Blaze tilted her head and blinked. "Is something wrong?"
"N-No, I just. . ." Tails waved his hands in protest. "I just wanted to know if you're feeling okay. You've looked a bit nervous ever since we landed." Blaze smiled and tilted her head back to normal.
"I'm fine, Tails, thank you." She returned to look at the menu, and Amanda came by to give them their drinks and take their order a couple of minutes later. Blaze ordered a sandwich, and Amanda asked Tails if he wanted "the usual," which he did. She turned and left again.
"You must really like this place." Blaze noted.
"Mm-hmm! They have the best hot dogs in town!" Tails smiled, and his tails were swishing around. "So, Blaze, how are things in your world?"
"Not so different than normal. Eggman Nega attacks every now and then. Marine is working much harder on her engineering. She won't admit it outright, but I think she wants to be like you, Tails." Blaze smirked, and Tails blushed.
"Wh-What about the pirates?" Tails was more nervous from the implied praise of Marine.
"Only Nega's been after us as of late, as far as I know."
"How's being the princess treating you?"
Blaze thought for a few seconds before answering. "Quite well, actually. With Nega attacking less and less, I have a lot more time to myself. I've used it to work on my combat abilities, as well as my powers."
"Cool!" Tails's eyes went wide, and he opened his mouth, but closed it as he glanced back and forth. "I'd like to see what you can do, but perhaps later. This isn't the best place for your powers."
Blaze giggled. "Perhaps. But, let's just say that Nega doesn't stand a chance." She grinned nefariously, showing her teeth. Tails laughed, and both were interrupted by their food being given to them. Neither of them ate at the moment, though, both far more interested in talking. "What about you, Tails? Are you doing anything besides all that research and building?"
"Kinda. . ." Tails smiled. "I've been training with Sonic and Knuckles to get a lot stronger. I still prefer the machines, though, they can do a lot more for everyone."
Blaze stayed still. "How about Cream? I didn't get much of a chance to catch up with her last night." She finally took a bite.
"S-She's doing well." Tails stuttered, but regained his composure. "She comes by to talk every now and then."
"And make sure you're doing something other than working?" Blaze grinned.
"Uh. . . um. . ." Tails took a bite to avoid answering. Blaze chuckled and took another bite.
"Don't worry, Tails, I think it's cute." Blaze smiled. "A nice guy like you should be able to get any girl you want." Tails looked away and mumbled something that sounded like "not really looking."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you nervous." Blaze frowned, but to her surprise, Tails was smiling when he looked back at her.
"It's all right, Blaze. You know, you were pretty nervous yourself when we landed, and now you're calmed down and joking around."
"Yes, well. . ." Now it was Blaze's turn to look away. "It helps to be here with a good friend."
"Aww, thanks, Blaze. . ." Tails blushed, and both of them were silent for a moment. Rumbling stomachs reminded each of them how hungry they were, and after an awkward laugh, they both ate quickly. Tails paid for the meal, and both of them got up, now with quite a few observers, although no one went up to talk to them. Tails turned left and pointed down the sidewalk. "The parts shop is right over there. I don't suppose you want to go in, would you?" Blaze shook her head. "Okay. I won't be more than a couple of minutes. The city's pretty big, and it's easy to get lost, I've done it myself. Just, don't wander off." Blaze nodded and stood outside the diner as Tails dashed down to the parts store. Blaze followed his trail for a few steps, but he soon disappeared into the store. She began to wander around and take in the sights when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. A strong voice that Blaze could not place whispered into her ear.
"Well, well. . . such a pretty girl. . . never seen YOU around before." Blaze froze up, and her eyes went wide. "And it seems you're with Tails. . . but I'd like to get to know you, too. . ."
