Blaze darted through the darkness of the Ship's interior. It was difficult to see so she checked using her soul perception. Blaze was surprised when the walls of the ship lit up. She could see clearly without having to wait for her eyes to adjust, but had no idea why. Something ahead of her moved.

Fang was back. This time, he was phasing partially out of the ceiling with his body upside down and his revolver at the ready. Blaze zig-zagged through the hall to avoid the bullets then rolled into a different corridor. A bullet was fired near her even though she was out of Fang's sight. The bullet bounced off the walls twice and hit Blaze in the shoulder. No serious damage was dealt thanks to the loss of impact from the ricochet. It still felt like she'd been hit by a hammer, and she definitely wasn't interested in experiencing a direct hit. The bullet that hit her bounced down the hall on the ground in front of her. She thought it looked strange, so she scooped it off the ground without stopping.

It was a cork.

A revolver that shot corks was definitely strange. She had already known that he wasn't using a demon weapon. So why fire corks? The bounce shots gave some utility, but were inaccurate and less damaging. He had an immunity to her normal attacks, so why wasn't he using a more dangerous weapon? Perhaps he wanted to avoid damaging the ship. That would explain why he fired this weapon so recklessly even while indoors. It was starting to make sense to her now. He didn't appear to have a soul, the ship's structure responded to her soul perception, and he could move freely through the walls.

"Your body is the ship," Blaze spoke to Fang once he appeared in front of her again.

"Clever girl,"

He thought for sure he'd hit her head on with this shot. Her soul perception notified her of his reappearance so she had been ready to dodge. Blaze saw a mounted oil lantern on the wall that was out of use. She grabbed hold, igniting it instantly. She hurled the burning object past Fang and it released a splash of burning oil behind him. Although the flame's she'd created hadn't landed near him, fire began to appear on his shoulder. Knowing how to hurt her opponent made Blaze grin.

"You-!"

Fang was hit by a rapid series of strikes. She couldn't hurt him like this, but her attacks could knock him off balance. She also disarmed him to buy time for retreating. Blaze made sure to make him fall into the fire she'd started just in case her assessment was wrong. She ran through the fire unharmed, then continued down the hall. Silver rounded the corner to make the situation even better.

"Blaze, the wolf guy is hoarding a bunch of souls on the ship!"

"I'm a jerboa, ya mook!"

Fang was too occupied with putting out the fire to retrieve his gun. Silver shifted into a sword. Blaze caught him without slowing down. She dashed quickly through the ship. She was relieved to have her movement speed enhanced by having her weapon back.

"I saw a bunch of ghosts while we were separated. They led me here!"

"That's nice, Silver," Blaze said dismissively.

"I'm serious! They're the souls taken by this ship! We have to do something!"

Blaze shifted out of her hunter's mindset for a moment. "We will. The captain needs to be taken care of first. We're too restricted down here. Let's head for the deck,"

"The ship is keeping us trapped. Let's make our own exit,"

"Lovely idea,"

Embers swirled around the duo. Blaze pointed her sword down the hall and released a fireball. An explosion came once the attack connected with the ceiling. Light filled the nearby area. Blaze ran towards the opening, then jumped through.

Blaze landed on the deck holding her weapon ready and scanned the area. The air was still misty, and the ship was back to being deceptively quiet. She sensed movement. Her eyes shifted to the raised area at the back of the ship. Fang was back, looking down on them angrily.

"You think you can just run around burning my ship just because you're a princess? Do you have any respect for people's private property?"

"You've been hoarding innocent souls. A forbidden act. For what purpose are you storing them?"

"Forbidden? By who, Robotnik? Why should he get to tell me what I can or can't do?" Fang spun his revolver on his finger. "I'd rather someone else call the shots. Someone who lets me have my freedom, instead of restricting and regulating everything and everyone!"

"No one alive can do that for you. You're hoarding these souls for nothing!"

"Oh yeah? What if I gave them to the kishin? He'd bring the power of chaos back into the world and we'd all be free again! The souls I've gathered will be more than happy to become part of that world!"

"You want to feed the darkling?" Blaze asked.

"Hah! Yeah right. I'm talking about the real kishin. The one hiding right under your nose,"

"What are you talking about?"

Fang noticed Blaze's confusion and frustration. He cackled.

"I guess it's not surprising that the princess of Sol doesn't know. Maybe if you knew more about the self-proclaimed 'Grim Reaper,' you wouldn't be so quick to judge me."

He laughed louder now, stoking Blaze's anger further. She gripped her weapon tightly and was about to move across the deck to shut him up. Someone else beat her to it.

A black blade stuck into the floor after ripping through the side of Fang's head. His lower jaw detached and his laughter stopped. He did not bleed. Fang looked around, perplexed. An odd looking boy strolled up to the blade and plucked it from the splintered wood. Eclipse's body lurched forward violently when he slashed through Fang's waist. The jerboa's body split in two and faded back into the ship.

"The darkling?"

Blaze's voice was weighed down by disbelief. He had appeared so suddenly, as if summoned by the mentioning of his name a moment ago. He did not acknowledge her presence. He placed his blood sword down in front of him with the tip resting on the floor. Holding the sword looked to be a heavy burden on the boy.

"Scream resonance,"

Black sparks conjured by the resonance moved around his body. He let out a horrible shriek that made both Blaze and Silver feel ill. They maintained their resonance to protect themselves. Eclipse seemed to be having a worse time. He looked terrified; his screams only grew more intense. A spiked mouth formed on his weapon's blade. It echoed the screaming with a low bellow of its own.

Something within the ship was stirring now. Blaze could feel it with her soul perception. She looked down at the ground and saw glowing lights rising through the ship. Little white orbs moved through gaps in the ground and hovered in the air around her. Eclipse composed himself somewhat and lifted the wailing sword into the air. The souls were now being pulled toward the blade.

"Goodbye,"

Silver gasped when he recognized the voice of the ghost child who had helped him. He saw her form for only a moment before she faded into the vortex of souls. Eclipse strained against the current of souls funneling into his weapon. His bare feet drug on the ground while he was pushed back.

With the last of the souls absorbed by Eclipse's blood, the boy was left hunched over. An eerie quietness hung in the air for a moment. Pained moans came from the darkling as he clutched his chest. He groaned and yelled when his black blood tore out of his back and formed a cloud over him. That cloud solidified into the upper body of an unnatural demon. Curved horns and tattered cloths; they were familiar. Blaze became acquainted with a long lost sensation of fear that she was unable to hide.

"That's!"

Silver sensed a drastic change in his meister's wavelength. "Blaze?"

"That's Black Doom!"

Once Blaze identified the black blood's form, it began to shift. The arms expanded under the power of the newly acquired souls to become wings. The demon's neck stretched and contorted as the rest of the demon's form elongated.

"A dragon?" Silver asked.

The black dragon's maw opened, releasing a steady trickle of black blood. A guttural roar erupted from deep within the monster's throat. Blaze held up her left arm to brace against the intensifying wavelength that stirred the air.

Blaze had barely been able to cope with what appeared to be Black Doom. Now the blood had shifted before her eyes again. Her voice came filled with disgust. "Another form?"

Eclipse heard Blaze's words this time and noticed her. "Oh no. A girl. That one from that time," His voice sounded defeated and he didn't look particularly concerned. The blood dragon behind him melted into his hands. He had a sword now, one that was much larger than the weapon from his last battle against the princess of Sol.

"Did you know? Did you know? My blood is black,"

Blaze dashed across the deck and jumped to greet Eclipse. She vaulted off the railing that lined this raised part of the ship to gain more height, then landed behind her opponent. Silver's blade, cloaked in flame, cut into Eclipse's back. Blaze tried to push the blade inward to end the fight now, but the black blood resisted her easily. Eclipse stood in place, unaffected.

"Why are you hurting me? What are you for? Why won't you leave me alone?"

"You want to be alone so badly?" Blaze kicked Eclipse off of her blade and readied another stab. Embers filled the air. "Then die!"

The second hit came with an explosion. Eclipse was sent through the railing, back in the same direction that Blaze had come from. He crashed through the floor of the deck and was swallowed by the darkness.

"Was it enough?" Silver's metallic voice wondered.

A reply came in the form of a crash. The black dragon had reformed. Flapping wings of blood lifted Eclipse out of the ship. Blaze readied another attack until she heard a voice.

"Hey!"

It was Fang. He had reformed on the very front of the ship. A row of cannons were lined up behind him. "Those souls were for the kishin! The kishin!"

Eclipse gave Fang a tired look. "Another one. There's always another one,"

"You're giving me back those souls with interest! Fire!"

Each of the cannons aimed themselves upward and unleashed a barrage onto the black dragon. Blaze couldn't see through the smoke, but she felt the darkling's wavelength swelling. The conjoined souls were resonating again. The monster emerged from the polluted air and flew a short distance away from the boat.

"There's a monster inside you that's hurting you. Making you sad. The monster is you. It's just you. I can kill you then, can't I? I can kill everybody. Just like the little one. That's what I'm for,"

Eclipse's resonance reached its peak. The black dragon reformed into a broadsword. Black energy rippled out into the air as the darkling began spinning wildly.

"Screech Alpha!"

A narrow beam of darkness left Eclipse's sword and pierced the ship. A few moments of silence came. Fang looked around, then laughed when he saw no change. His laughter was interrupted by a groan that made him clutch his chest in pain. Energy from the attack burst out of the ship's core, breaking it in two. The energy formed a black pillar wearing a jagged, groaning mouth. The sea quickly began claiming the ghost ship. Fang's body collapsed, then dissipated.

"He took out the whole ship," Blaze's observation was wracked with awe. She didn't move as the ground beneath her began to dip dramatically.

"We're sinking fast! Blaze, head to the right. I'll bring our boat around,"

Blaze ran across the tilting ground, accompanied by the sound of rushing water. She leapt from the side of the boat and landed in the vessel that first brought them to this forsaken place. It was easy for her to find Eclipse in the air. Her mind wouldn't forget a monster's location so easily.

"There!"

"Let's go!" Silver yelled.

The psychic weapon drew the boat across the water towards the darkling. Eclipse was dangling from the black dragon as the two soared through the air. His body was mostly limp; he was barely lucid when the first fireball came. He yelled out in pain at the collision.

"You're not getting away!" Blaze yelled.

She needed answers. There were so many things racing through her mind. Why had his blood taken the form of Black Doom? What Kishin had Fang been referring to? She resonated with Silver again.

"Burn the Witch!"

Out came one massive fireball orbited by two smaller flames that hissed throughout their journey. The black dragon was agile enough to dodge, and was only caught by the edge of the blast when the attack erupted.

"We can't keep this up forever!" Silver warned.

"I don't need you to tell me that!"

She was painfully aware of their current limitations. Every time Blaze tried attacking with her burning wavelength, it would weaken Silver's psychokinesis and make their boosted speed drop. The black dragon was gaining height now as well. She didn't have much time left.

"Focus everything on speed," Blaze yelled.

Silver felt her soul wavelength crash into him. A surge of power filled his body, then his mind. His charged mind moved the boat as fast as it could. With the boat slicing across the water, the distance between them and the darkling was closing quickly. Blaze crouched down. When she was lined just ahead of Eclipse, she jumped, carrying all the energy of her resonance behind her.

"Burning Rush!"

She launched through the air, traversing the great height swiftly. Her sword stabbed Eclipse as it had many times before. Fire imbued with her hatred for this monster came forth. Stifling black smoke filled the air. Blaze and her weapon exited the cloud from the bottom. The speed of their descent was slowed by Silver's kinesis. He also pulled the boat underneath them. They landed just in time to see the black dragon emerge from the smoke, still in one piece. Silver shifted back to normal. Realizing it was over made Blaze growl.

"We need to get back to the DWMA,"

"Can you give me a sec?"

Silver laid at the back of the boat, arms and legs spread out. His eyes were closed and his breathing was labored. Blaze wouldn't become aware of her own exhaustion for another minute or so. She continued to look up at the sky, watching Eclipse grow smaller and smaller.

The darkling had escaped her a second time.