EDIT (5/14/2011): Thanks to "The Brawler" for pointing out something near the end of this chapter that made Dusk sound stronger than she actually is. I've fixed it up so it now longer gives that image, but still carries the same general idea as the original.
Chapter 14 Inferno Foundry
Silver and Blaze stood in awe at where their road led to...a gigantic factory, covering several square acres and having at least half-a-dozen smokestacks clawing up at the sky. The gargantuan building is steel gray, and several Eggman Emblems are visible on its sides.
"How did we not find this place? Its huge!" Silver exclaims.
"I don't remember any of his bases even close to where we are. We probably never found this because we never came here," Blaze replies. "What I find weird is the lack of defenses..."
"Well, that makes breaking in so much easier! Come on!" the hedgehog exclaims, running up to and leaping over the fence. Blaze is only two steps behind.
The two hide behind some of the shipping containers and survey the area. A few Metal Grunts are wandering around; most armed with either the sword or the bazooka they encountered earlier. Oddly enough, they can't find any entrance.
Blaze nudges Silver with her elbow and motions at the top of the crates. He nods and the two climb up, hoping a higher vantage point will help them find a way in. They certainly can see more of the grounds from their new perch, but an entrance still eludes them.
"What the hell?" Silver asks. "How are we supposed to get in? The smokestacks?"
"We'll suffocate long before getting down those things...there's got to be some kind of entrance..." Blaze replies, peering at every inch of this fortress, looking for a door, a window, a vent...anything that can get them in.
Nothing, its as if this place was welded into one giant piece.
"Guess its time to take a page out of Knuckles' book," Silver says, removing the Chaos Emerald from his quills. After activating the jewel, he manages to levitate the three crates they're standing on, then hurls them into the wall, one at a time.
Sure he finally makes a doorway for them, but the noise also attracts about half-a-dozen Metal Grunts...which get tossed away like leaves on the wind.
"Impatient?" Blaze rhetorically asks, following him into the hole.
"Irritated is more-" Silver immediately goes quiet when he steps inside. The air inside this fortress is hot, stale, and thick; so overwhelming that he starts coughing and holds his chest.
Blaze succumbs to the same problem, but at least notices why the air is so different. This place isn't a base at all; its a giant metal-working plant. Titanic vats of molten metal stand vigil all around, occasionally getting moved by a giant automatic crane. A handful of catwalks criss-cross the foundry up in the air, and small robotic pickups can be seen driving around occasionally; metal slabs or raw ore in their cargo beds.
"Ugh...now we know where Eggman gets all that metal..." Blaze gasps, struggling to find enough oxygen in the thick smoggy air, "I can hardly...hardly breathe."
Silver manages to fire off a telekinetic pulse beneath them, shoving both mobians up onto the catwalks. Its just as hot up there, if not more so, but the air isn't as smothering and both can get their breath back. "Lets figure out how to shut down this place fast," Blaze says, already taking off down the catwalk, "The sooner we get out of this place, the better!"
"No argument there!" Silver replies, hurrying after her.
The two rush back and forth along the maze of catwalks, struggling to find anything that looks like a control room...but can't find anything other than the metal-working equipment. This entire facility made little sense; there had to be something controlling all of these machines...some kind of central area where the computers are, but the two can't find any hint that such a place ever existed here...
...but all the while have a tiny feeling in the back of their minds. The feeling that something is watching them very closely.
After a few minutes, the two stop their searching; they're tired, hot, and pretty damn sure they've been running in circles the whole time. "What the crap?" Silver asks in frustration, the heat and air finally getting to him. He takes out the Chaos Emerald and stares into it.
"What are you doing?"
"Debating about whether or not I should just level this factory or not," Silver grunts.
"Easy," Blaze says, resting a hand on his shoulder, "I'd rather not see what a tsunami of molten steel looks like."
"Got any better suggestions?"
"The steel has to be going somewhere right? If we destroy Metal Sonic's robot plant, this place will be useless," The feline replies, "So just follow-" her voice stops in an instant while her head snaps off to one side; gold eyes peering down their catwalk.
Without a word, Blaze suddenly rockets away down the path, leaving a bewildered Silver to follow as fast as he can. Hedgehog pursues cat for a good minute or two, then freaks when she leaves his sight...but luckily he spots a purple tail disappearing behind a vat. Silver follows after her, soon getting the cat into view once again.
He tries calling out to her but gets nothing in response. 'What in the world's gotten into her?' he thinks.
'I know for sure that I heard footsteps running away from us...but now they're gone...' Blaze thinks and slows to a stop, panting from having to run in the almost un-breathable air. "Sorry Silver. I heard footsteps but lost them."
No response.
"Silver?" she asks, turning around but finding herself alone. "Oh great, now we're separated," she groans, then starts calling for her friend while retracing her steps.
Within seconds, however, she hears a loud thud. Thanks to the stark metal, the sound echoes around and soon seems as if it came from everywhere, but her acute hearing told her which way it came from before it became impossible to tell.
Braving the thick air for answers, Blaze leaps down from the catwalk and hurries in the direction of the noise...but she can only make it past a single vat before the crane starts placing another down in front of her.
The cat skids to a stop, spins ninety-degrees, and rockets off again...only to see some of the trucks park themselves in her path and form a wall. Blaze manages to leap up and over the vehicles, which prompts them into revving up and giving chase.
'What the hell? Before it seemed like the factory was on automatic, now it seems like its trying to crush me!' Blaze thinks, using her flames to once again toss herself up to the catwalks; thinking she'd be safe to continue her search up there.
She was never more wrong in her life.
The terrible sound of shearing, twisting metal can be heard from behind and she looks to see the crane has picked up another vat and was using it to smash up the catwalk! The several ton piece of metal is flying right at her, kicking up scraps of metal as the catwalk starts collapsing.
She barely has time to curse before running away from the destruction. Oddly enough, whenever she tries rounding a corner to get away, the crane follows after her. That proves that someone is controlling this place at least, but Blaze still has more important matters to deal with...like not getting turned into a furry lavender pancake.
Unfortunately, after about a minute of this chase; she can see another crane with a second vat coming towards her. Caught between the two and with no forks in the road she could use to escape, Blaze has to think of a way out and fast!
'I could jump down...but then I'll get caught in a shower of twisted metal...Oh I hope this idea works...'
Blaze speeds up just enough to put a little distance between her and the crane from behind, then stops, aims herself off to the side, and engulfs herself in fire. In a single instant, she forces all of the fire into a single spot beneath her feet; then lets it explode.
With a yell that was half terror, half-excitement, Blaze is hurled off the catwalk and sent flying through the air; just before the two vats collide and grind together into a twisted mess. The cat smirks at her escape and even laughs a little. As odd as it was to say, there was a small part of her that always loved slipping out of traps and escaping by the fur on her neck.
The explosion propels her far, far away from the demented machinery; and she gracefully lands at the base of an empty vat. Blaze heaves a heavy sigh before the sound of footsteps catches her ear again. Immediately she sets off after them, thinking that maybe it was Silver...
...but she immediately becomes confused when the footsteps disappear into a dead-end. Blocking every other direction are the liquid metal vats, and the only way out is past Blaze...so where did whatever made that noise disappear to?
"You've got a lot of nerve, barging in here like that," hisses a voice, immediately making the princess snap to attention.
"Who's there?" she yells.
"You're in no position to make demands, especially when I've got your friend. Just look up," it replies.
Blaze does so and quickly gasps. Hanging above one of the vats and tied up in chains is Silver, apparently unconscious and above molten metal, evidenced by his face glowing orange. The feline snarls before declaring, "Let him go now!"
"Didn't I just say you're in no position to make demands?" the voice asks while stepping out from the shadows, "Honestly, how are you a princess?"
Blaze's eyes widen as she takes a half-step back. Standing before her is a robotic version of the feline princess. Same lavender color, same sunrise-gold eyes, its even got a hair-style like hers and fuzz on its wrists! The only difference is the robot is wearing red boots and a dark purple jumpsuit unlike the jacket, pants, and heels of the flesh feline.
"Model number M-007," The robot introduces, "But I much prefer the sound of Mecha-Blaze."
"So I take it you're the one who put Silver up there?"
"And if I did?" The robot replies, practically smirking at Blaze.
The princess growls before flinging a hand forward, making flames shoot out at the robot. To her shock, the robot raises its own hand and releases flames as well; which collide with Blaze's and negate one another.
"Surprised?" Mecha-Blaze sneers before rushing forward; her speed rivaling that of the real Blaze. The real princess manages to dodge a metallic fist by a mere inch.
Blaze counters by swinging her knee around into the robot's stomach, and does succeed in recovering some space between them; but also makes her knee start throbbing in pain. 'Should of seen that coming,' she thinks, scolding herself for doing something so stupid.
When she sees the robot launch another fire attack, Blaze flips backward to get out of the way and releases her own flamethrower. Mecha-Blaze simply aims her other hand and launches fire from it; blocking Blaze's attack.
The two get engaged in a combat dance; darting back and forth, flipping through the air, and throwing fireballs or launching flamethrowers. After a minute of this, Blaze notices that, for some reason, Mecha-Blaze's fire is still useable...heck, its not even showing signs of dying!
Because it isn't alive, Mecha-Blaze's fire had to be generated through some kind of fuel; and on a robot that's the same size and shape as a mobian, there isn't much room for fuel tanks. So either she's got some super-crazy efficient fuel or she's getting more from somewhere...but its not like she could just hook up to something and refuel in the middle of a fight.
Finally fed up with this ridiculous copy, Blaze lets out a battle-cry before releasing flames that are far more intense than usual; hoping to simply overwhelm Mecha-Blaze's fire.
No such luck, somehow the robot manages to release fires that are just as searing. The two infernos slam together and start flaring off to the sides, prompting both felines into escalating their fires; which in turn only makes the miniature star between them swell up and produce even fiercer flares.
"Okay, give! How are you not out of fuel yet?" Blaze yells, not letting her flames die down in the least.
The robot laughs, "How can I when the very air is my fuel! This place's air is thick with carbon-dioxide, and I can split that into a supply of carbon and oxygen...both of which are flammable!"
'Oh great. And when it burns those, they get recombined into carbon dioxide. So she's never going to run low!' Blaze thinks, 'Meanwhile, I'm only good until my stamina runs out...better save what I've got left...'
The real feline cuts her fire and dives away to avoid getting burnt, then leaps forward with a fist pulled back. Blaze swings and scores a blow across the robot's face, but like before, she does more harm to herself than Mecha-Blaze. Luckily, Mecha-Blaze seems to lack the speed of the real Blaze, and she manages to escape to safety before the robot could strike back.
Growing annoyed, Mecha-Blaze begins launching small bursts of fire only for each to be avoided. "Hold still!" the robot snarls, "You can't physically hurt me, and you'll run out of fire long before I do, so just die!"
'I hate to admit it, but she's got a point. She isn't even scratched, but I've got a throbbing hand and knee!' Blaze thinks before quickly leaping away from another fireball, 'And all this hopping around is not helping the knee problem!'
"Don't listen to her Blaze!" yells a voice that gets both felines to look up. Silver is wide awake, if still confined, and glaring down at the two. "Like a cheap metal knock-off can outmatch you! It may have a fancy flamethrower, but that's not even close to what you can do!"
"Quiet down!" Mecha-Blaze snarls, shooting a toxic glare at him.
Silver ignores the robot, but can only manage to add, " You can take whatever she throws out and give it back tenfold!" before he takes a fireball to his crest of quills.
Blaze whips around to see her robot twin readying another fireball. The flaming orb is thrown towards the hedgehog, but he's spared when Blaze leaps up and catches it. As she descends, the feline gives it a good toss back, but the robot easily moves out of the way.
"Fine!" Mecha-Blaze snaps, glaring daggers at the real Blaze, "I'll just incinerate you first!"
The robot thrusts both hands forward, releasing an inferno towards the princess. Silver watches in shock when Blaze doesn't even twitch as the flames engulf her. Things seem to spiral even further out of control when the fire grows to a gigantic size, reaching up to the halfway point of the vats.
After she feels confident that Blaze is nothing but ash, Mecha-Blaze turns off her fire and laughs a bit at her victory. The joy soon becomes shock, however, when the huge fire suddenly puffs up, then begins shrinking at an alarming rate.
Both the robot and Silver look on in awe as the fire opens up to reveal Blaze, perfectly unharmed. Once the fire parts a bit-more, they can see why; several fiery tendrils arc reaching out from the flames and disappearing into her palms. Blaze is actually absorbing that inferno!
Within seconds, nothing is left of the flames but a few embers, and once those get sucked up, the princess clenches her fists and becomes shrouded in a fierce orange glow, coupled with a rippling heat haze.
Mecha-Blaze takes a slight step backward when Blaze's eyes snap open. The glow reflected in them to make the whites of her eyes look orange, and that combines with her golden irises to look as if the sun is glaring out from the princess.
"What's the matter?" Blaze asks, her voice distorted from the sheer heat around her, "Can't you absorb fire too? Or can you only produce it?"
The princess smirks before flexing her arms, causing the glow to instantly ignite; surrounding her in flares that jump back and forth like electrical arcs. She yells a battle-cry before rushing forward, igniting small explosions behind her to accelerate at Sonic-like speeds.
Blaze's fist connects with Mecha-Blaze's jaw, finally inflicting damage by throwing the robot into one of the vats. With a mechanical snarl, Mecha-Blaze goes charging back at the real Blaze, tries to throw a punch, but it gets caught effortlessly by the princess.
The robot tries to swing her knee around, but that too gets caught. Blaze smirks before bringing a leg around; kicking he robot twin in the side and sending it flying to the base of another vat. "Enough playing, time you died!" Blaze yells, thrusting both hands forward and releasing a torrent of white-hot flames.
The second the fires hit their mark, Blaze and Silver can hear electronic shrieks as Mecha-Blaze's circuitry began overheating to the point of failure. After a few seconds, the noises stop to signify she's gone offline, but Blaze doesn't halt her attack until all of the excess fire has been vented.
Once the last bit is gone, and the flames around the robot have vanished; all that's left behind is a partially melted, non-functioning robot.
Blaze pants a little, then sighs. "Ho-ly crap," she wheezes, quickly removing her gloves and shoving them in a pocket of her jacket, then rolls up the legs of her pants, "I thought for sure I'd be the one who melted. Holding in all that fire made me really hot." Her final act of seeking some relief is unzipping the top inch or so of her jacket.
"No argument there," Silver jokes, "But uh, you mind helping me down? Its hard to use telekinesis when you've got heavy metal chains digging into your back."
Blaze leaps up and grabs onto the chain just above Silver, finding that the only thing keeping the chain from unraveling is the loose end tucked underneath the coils. "She could've at least used a padlock," Blaze mumbles, holding onto the chain with one hand and wiggling the 'knot' free with her other.
Once its undone and the two are back on solid ground, Silver gives his girlfriend and good pat on the back, "Nice job back there. How'd you know you could absorb fire?"
"I honestly didn't," Blaze admits, "I just thought, if I can shoot fire from my hands, I should be able to absorb it as well."
Silver eyes the remains of Mecha-Blaze, "Good thing you did too, that...thing plays dirty," he stops to rub at his neck, "When we got separated, I mistakenly followed after it...and then it chopped me on the neck and knocked me out."
"She also scorched that handsome crest of yours," Blaze play-pouts, ruffling up the blackened quills, "How'd you wake up anyway? You looked dead to the world."
Silver shrugs, "Never could sleep well when it was hot."
Before they leave, Silver decides to get a little revenge and slams Mecha-Blaze with a psychic shockwave. Good thing he did, because he knocked off some of the weakened metal and that lets the yellow Sol Emerald tumble out and onto the ground.
"No wonder she could split molecules," Blaze says, retrieving the jewel, "Now its on our side."
"I've got a Chaos Emerald, and you've got a Sol," Silver states as the two of them walk off in search of an exit, "Now we're unstoppable."
Blaze's only reply is a laugh as they head off, once again in search of wherever the metal is going. Even with Mecha-Blaze's shutdown, the foundry is still operating (although for how long is anyone's guess, all the damage the cranes did is sure to take a toll) and that includes the pick-ups.
It isn't long before the two mobians come across one of the trucks with a bed full of fresh metal slabs, and both catch a ride; hitchhiking along until it passes through a large garage door and into a field of large piles of various metals.
"Huh," Silver grunts while they hop out of the truck's bed, "Guess there was a door after all," he finishes while they climb up the nearest steel mountain.
"We must be on the other side of the foundry, no wonder we didn't see it," Blaze adds, then feels something vibrating in her pocket.
She removes the object to find it the video communicator Rouge gave them, and upon answering a nervous Shadow appears onscreen. "Shadow?" Blaze asks as Silver leans in to look, "Something up?"
"Its Dusk...she's in the hospital."
"What?" Both Blaze and Silver exclaim, staring at Shadow like he has a second head.
"How?" Silver asks, "She's a little klutzy, sure, but she's never screwed up so bad that she wound up in the hospital."
"Well, that's just it...some weird crap happened and, hell I don't even know," Shadow replies, "All I know is the Sol Emeralds were involved. You know more about them than I do, so..."
"I get it, where are you?"
"Sunset Beach General Hospital."
"Got it, be there as quick as I can," Blaze replies before Shadow hangs up.
"You want me to come with?" Silver offers.
"No. Whatever factory is turning this metal into robots needs to be shutdown, the sooner the better," Blaze replies, "I know its dangerous for you to go alone, but you're resourceful. You'll think of something."
"You've got a point. Alright, I'll take care of it," Silver replies.
"Here," Blaze says, handing over the Sol Emerald they just won as well as the communicator. She quickly pecks him on the cheek before hopping down and running off; going around the foundry instead of back into it.
"Sure hope I can handle shutting down a whole factory," Silver mumbles to himself, then takes note of the communicator vibrating again. He answers it and smirks at the face on the screen...maybe he didn't have to.
The basic ideas of the chapter come from the Evil Foundry level of Sonic and the Secret Rings, and...umm...I could've sworn there was a second level, but I'm blanking on it. Well, anyways, a new detail about Dusk's hosptial trip has been revealed, but what exactly happened? That'll just have to wait until that chapter premieres.
This actually brings me to a problem, once this reveal chapter premieres, the story's going straight into an "intermission" or sorts before entering its second part. Now, I've got plans for another chapter on the Rouge and Espio and Knuckles and Shade teams, but after teasing about Dusk I feel kinda bad making you wait another two chapters to find out what happened, but once the second part begins I can't really go back and catch up those teams without disrupting the flow of the whole story.
So what should I do? Skip over those two teams and conclude what I've been hinting at, or give everyone their due? Just give me your opinion in your review and I'll decide from there. Regardless of the choice I make, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!