Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognized characters or gameplay patterns within this fanfiction. Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, Eggman, Blaze, and all related characters of such are owned by SEGA.
"You're lucky I know enough to bring a first aid kit with me," Tails said as Blaze looked distinctly uncomfortable with him so close to her. She was looking off to the side, her eyes making sure they were looking anywhere but at him.
He'd seen her speed off, going at speeds usually only allowed to Sonic or Shadow. Or him on a really, really good day. He'd tried to keep up, but knew that there really wasn't much that he could do. He did see, and hear, when her ankle crashed against the ground, tilted at an odd ankle, and heard her as she crashed around while curled up.
He'd pulled out his first aid kit immediately as soon as he landed, seeing her sitting against a tree breathing hard. It was...odd, seeing her like that. Blaze was usually infallible, picture perfect poise and finesse. Instead, her tunic had been ripped in spots, giving him an enticing look into the lavender fur underneath.
He refused to think of that, and instead gently grabbed her leg to feel it out. Sonic had sprained his ankle more times than he cared to admit, so Tails naturally admitted it for him. That's what brothers did, right? Most others found it hilarious that the hedgehog was so prideful about a few accidents when he was younger.
The stream that he'd found was right next to him, and now that he'd had an idea of where it was, and he'd had to follow Blaze, that despite it taking nearly twenty or thirty minutes to get to her camp spot last night it was barely five to get back.
He soaked some of the bandages in the water, trying to get as icy cold as he could. She didn't wince as he gently but tightly wound it on her ankle. He was no doctor, but he'd seen his fair share of sprains and strains. Even now, he could easily see her ankle swelling to nearly a third again its size.
"Well, you found the stream at least!" Tails tried to point out. He was trying to stay positive, and he hoped Blaze wouldn't turn out too surly again.
"I suppose I did," Blaze answered. Tails winced internally. Yep, she was going to be surly again. Hmm...she wasn't one for much conversation beyond the basics, and he'd quieted down a lot from his time as a kid. Silence would probably be an old friend by the time he gets back.
He reached out with one hand to her, offering to help pull her up. She grabbed hard, almost pulling him down as she pulled herself up. Her ears and tail twitched with every movement of her ankle, although her face was blank, not showing any sign of the pain probably racking her leg.
He spun his tails again, holding both arms down after making sure his bag was tied tight to his waist. "Here, I can airlift you for a bit. Just enough for the bandage to do something for you," Tails offered.
"Just give me the pain pills and I'll be fine."
"I...think we should save those until later," Tails answered quietly. He honestly did want to save them. He was one of those people that would save everything in a video game, even on the final boss, because no one ever knew if they would need it in the post-game, and thus never use the super rare items.
"I'll be fine, Tails," Blaze answered, obviously annoyed. He wasn't sure if she meant it like that, but he flew down to grab both of her wrists and quickly hoisted her up a few feet.
He was expecting for her to go 'Oh, this is what you meant' and be fine. He wasn't expecting a startled scream as she tried to curl up on herself. "Hey, hey! Stop, it's ok!" he tried.
"Didn't Sonic ever tell you not to pick him up suddenly!" Blaze shouted, her eyes lighting up with the internal flame. They were literally blazing behind her gold pupils. That was a neat effect...
"Not really. He just said not to dump him in water without warning," Tails said. He flew closer to the ground, so that even if he did drop her suddenly she wouldn't fall more than a few feet.
"Oh," she said, blushing lightly. What was she afraid of? He knew better than to simply drop someone. He hadn't done it by accident since he was a kit. He'd done it plenty of times on purpose since then though, that's true...
"Just relax. I'll fly close to the ground. We have to, anyways, the stream is really small," Tails pointed out. Blaze took a deep breath, before she seemingly relaxed. Tails could tell she was forcing herself to be ok with this.
He sped up quickly, not going fast but not going slow as they started to follow the stream downwards. There wasn't much of an angle, and he hoped that there wouldn't be a sudden uphill and existence of a lake or muddy spot. Cleaning out mud on his fur was not on his list of things to do!
And he hadn't brought a personal dryer with him, and he was always trying to make sure that no one saw him fluffed up. Sonic always got a kick out of it, threatening to bring over a girlfriend to look at the fluffed fox photos.
Whether Sonic's or Tails' girlfriend, the fox never knew.
"Up ahead, it looks like a small lake," Blaze pointed out. Tails shook himself up out of his reverie. His worst fear in this part was right; the stream led to a valley, where there was a fairly large lake sitting there. The water was crystal clear, and as Tails flew closer he could see the reflection of both of them easily. He even saw a few fish scattering around underneath them, darting to and from without a care in the world.
"See any good place to land?" Tails asked quietly as he looked around. He was looking for a soft spot, like some sand or something. Blaze was a cat, so water probably wasn't-
She let go of his wrists, and quickly boosted into the water directly. A moment later she came swimming up, lying there in the water. "Water's fine enough for a landing. I'm not Sonic. I don't like it, but it's not something I'm afraid of."
Tails rolled his eyes in his mind. He knew that Blaze wasn't Sonic, but...he guessed he was treating Blaze a lot like he would the blue hedgehog. "I just thought...I don't know, a dry place would work better?"
"It's barely been an hour, plenty of sunlight for more searching."
"You're hurt, Blaze," Tails said, dropping into the water next to her. Despite the briskness of the air, the water was warm, and it was all Tails could do to not let out a sigh as he let his back and tail muscles rest. "And that means that you should stay off the ankle for at least a few hours. You don't have any rings, do you?"
Blaze stared at him confused for a moment. "No, I don't. Rings aren't as ubiquitous for us as it is for your world."
Should he give up his? It depended on who was likely to get up into more trouble. She had her pride, and even when injured played to it, and so was middle risk, he supposed. He was more high risk, as he'd have to go out and actually try to search.
"Here, I have a few," Tails lied, manifesting the ring and handing it over to her. He wasn't technically lying, just omitting that he only had one.
Blaze nodded and grabbed it easily, letting the energy flow through her. Tails knew it wouldn't help now, but if she got hurt by something else, it'd be useful.
Tails felt the fur on the back of his neck rise instantly, as if something had changed. He'd given over the ring, so maybe that was it? He looked over at Blaze, who was sporting a look of determination now, and if he could barely see the hair on the back of her neck rising. She felt it too.
Couldn't be the ring thing, then. He spun his tails up out into the air, taking off easily. Water was shed instantly from them, and although Blaze flinched lightly Tails wasn't worried about that right now. Something was wrong, but he wasn't sure what.
"You feel it too?" Blaze asked as she grabbed onto one of his arms. Tails nodded, his eyes darting around for any sign of what could cause it. The lake was still, almost deathly silent.
That was the problem, wasn't it? "I think there's something in the lake," Tails said. As if summoned by his words, a large black shadow darted underneath them, serpent like, writhing around deep beneath the surface.
"I think so," Blaze agreed. "Get to the edge, get back to land!" she said quietly as the shadow turned circular. Whatever it was, it was rising. Tails sped off towards the side, and they hadn't gotten far in. Surely it'd only be a second or two at their speed-
The shadow cut them off, out speeding Tails and circling both, and quickly rose out of the water. "Holy Chaos!" Tails cursed as the thing made itself apparent.
It was a giant serpent, or at least serpent-like. One of its scales was nearly the size of each of them, glowing the colors of the rainbow. Large fins hung from its side, and at its head was a large snake-like head, with three even larger fins sticking out on each side and the top of its head. Its eyes were a cruel red, a small pupil barely visible.
"Fly!" Blaze shouted. She was doing something to her ankle using her fire, but Tails couldn't see much, seeing as how the snake - he was calling it a leviathan as it very much met his determination for the name - was now glowing lightly in its mouth. Could it spit fire, too? Was it part dragon?
If he'd been seeing this in a show, he would've thought it was the coolest thing ever. A dragon and snake cross that could swim faster than he could fly? He was no slouch in the speed department too, so this leviathan was able to go far faster than it should have.
It spat electricity, instead. Tails flew up instantly, dodging the almost wave of lightning as it showered upon the lake, now bursting with ripples and waves from the movements of the leviathan. "Hang on, don't let go!" Tails said, trying to fly towards the farther edge. Maybe he could trick it?
It didn't so much dive underwater as suddenly disappear as if made invisible before showing up not three seconds later in front of him. And of course he didn't have any rings, Blaze had his only one. What was it that Sonic liked to say? Par for the course?
Its three fins spread out, lightning generating between all three of them, and Tails felt his fur suddenly become full of static. Trusting Blaze to keep a tight hold, he sped left as soon as the first bolt was about to be fired.
Lightning was fast, and there was no chance he could outpace it. But he could outpace the leviathan's aiming. "Tails, throw me at its head right before it fires!" Blaze yelled.
"Got it!" Tails roared back. Just like with Sonic, and a small smirk played on his face. The leviathan fired another few bolts, each one just barely missing from the flying fox. "Come on, just cook the entire area!" He tried to taunt.
The leviathan's tail instead peeked out, sending a massive wave that was nearly as tall as some of the trees as it rushed past them. Tails soared up, noting absently that Blaze's grip was tightening.
The leviathan looked up, and Tails could tell it was starting to charge again. And now that they were up high, they were much easier targets for the snakelike thing.
What was it that Sonic said? Oh right. Par for the course.
-Side B-
Blaze wasn't sure what Tails was thinking, but her own mind was lost in a sudden influx of confusion. The thing, Tails would later tell her he called a leviathan, was seemingly going after them with the thought of a wild animal going after its prey.
Except an animal that size couldn't survive on prey like them. Maybe she could scare it off, at least, or maybe give them just enough time to run. She had burned the bandages to her ankle, knowing she'd need both feet to run soon.
Then Tails had pulled her up in the sky, and all thoughts vanished from her mind. Tails didn't know about her particular fear, did he? Although his own fur was standing tall from fighting this thing, so maybe he was afraid of snakes, too? Or maybe it was some other fear, deep rooted by something just as deep as her own.
Tails relaxed though as soon as he was in the sky, and she watched the charging leviathan, as if he accepting that he was about to get hit. He had rings though, didn't he? But each one was a precious lifeline, and being willing to give one up just to make sure she lived through almost any hit...
She loosened her grip on his wrists, and with any forward momentum starting falling towards the leviathan. Fire burst her from body as she went closer, ending in a drill of fire right into its snout. Her ankle protested her actions, but she had much better things to do than worry about her damned ankle.
She wrapped herself in flames again and darted towards its left fin, scarring the thing with her control over fire. She could almost feel the flames cutting at its nose and eye as she passed them, intent on crashing into the fin full force.
It was surprisingly soft, right before it charred in front of her. The leviathan let out a raucous roar, tossing her up straight into the air. She could feel it resonate within her bones, within her body, and almost felt the flames scatter. She was lucky it had tossed her off, as suddenly lightning or electricity was surrounding the thing from every inch on its head to its tail.
Tails caught her instantly, and sped off towards the closest shoreline. He didn't stop as soon as they passed it, instead he opted to go straight for the trees, going in as deep as he could. They could both still hear the leviathan roar, small spurts of lightning crash off and occasionally hit a tree with a loud explosion.
It was another ten minutes before Tails finally felt safe enough to land. He was breathing hard, and Blaze didn't blame him. "That happened. Never did have good luck with snakes," Tails said, pausing once in a while as he caught his breath.
"I think it may have been guarding something, like its nest," Blaze answered. "Such a creature is far too big to be able to subsist off the animals around here."
"Snake, remember. It's possible it ate a lot and is still working off its last meal, but wanted a dessert. Either way...I don't think we should go back."
"I agree. We should...I don't know," Tails said quietly. "Think we should try going around?"
"Unless you think the thing was guarding a teleportal ring, I think we should avoid it."
Tails tossed it around in his head, his head visibly turning as he did so. "It's possible. Usually the rings are signs of concentrations of energy, and the leviathan was definitely energetic. It could be under the water?"
"Leviathan?"
"That's what I'm calling it, until we find something better or more suited for it."
Blaze shrugged. She honestly didn't care, and was just glad to have survived. "Should we check back then, or wait until tonight? Maybe it sleeps?"
"I think I'd prefer to fight it during the day if we had to," Tails shook his head. "I don't know, but fighting an unknown at night is just asking for trouble. It's why Eggman only fights us in the day."
Had he? She turned it over in her head, and sure enough almost every time Eggman or Eggman Nega had fought her, he'd done so at day. Was it just because both her and Sonic were dark furred, and thus easier to see in the daytime? One of the few times that having lavender fur was a good thing, in her mind. Although that was silly.
"What were you doing back there? I saw the fire on your ankle, and I don't think I've ever seen that before," Tails said.
"A wet bandage is no use for healing. A dry one that's been wetted, however, is quite useful still. Silver taught me that trick."
"Silver? How...how do you know him, anyways? He came from the future of our world," Tails asked. His tails were unnaturally still, as if his back and tails were tired and weren't going to be of use for a while. Considering how much he'd had to fly today, Blaze couldn't blame him.
"Silver is...an oddity. I myself am, too. There was once two cats, named Blaze," Blaze started. She walked slowly, trying not to wince when it came to her injured ankle. "One from the future, and from another world. When Silver went to your time, the first time, he created ripple effects. The chaos emeralds were used to...seal Iblis, the Flames of Disaster away," she explained. "He tried it in himself first, but as my soul was already on fire, I sealed it away within myself."
"Then how are you here?"
"I'm getting there. Then, in another world, another lavender cat named Blaze was born to loving parents, her mother the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds, and when her mother died, she inherited the title of Guardian."
"And that was you...too?"
"And that was me, too."
"How? Those don't work together. It's impossible to fit them."
"There was a human physicist, named Schrodinger, who named it best. I am not one of them, I am both. When Iblis was sealed away, the spirit stood strong, and fused the spirit with another of the same. I have memories of both worlds."
It was one of the few times Blaze would ever explain this. Even Marine had no idea just how badly her memories were fragmented. She had had snapshots of both lives up until a certain point. Which Blaze was she, truthfully? Or was she an amalgamation of both?
Tails nodded, obviously still confused. "So when Silver sealed this...Iblis...in you, it...what, scattered you?"
Blaze stared at him. Had he forgotten? How? Usually when Iblis and Perfect Chaos were brought up most sapients would remember...why was her head hurting now? She remembered everything clearly...and yet she remembered none of it.
"You don't recall Soleanna?"
"Sonic went on vacation there once. Saw a little parade or something. I didn't go."
And yet he did. Blaze recalled that well. Silver and her had both jumped to the past. What had changed?
"Mephiles?"
"No idea."
How strange. Her head was pounding now, and she gently raised a hand to massage it. "You alright?" he asked, one hand reaching down to his handy bail-bag.
"I'm fine. Just a headache," she reaffirmed. He gave her an accusing look, but didn't press the issue. She took a few steps, glancing at her foot and trying to grimace. There was pain there, but not as bad as it could have been.
She had been told that one of the easiest ways to ease pain was to make another part of the body hurt worse. And her head was pounding right now.
She stood in silence for a few minutes, casually trying to make sure her ankle wouldn't bug her. "Blaze?" Tails asked after a moment. "I think we should think about trying to set up a base of operations."
"Not while that thing is out there. And there may be others like it."
"Which is why I want to set it up now, so we get some practice for when we really set it up later."
Astonishingly practical, Blaze thought. By creating a sacrificial one, it would not only give the leviathan a target, one that they would know, but it could also give them an outpost should they beat or kill the leviathan without losing it.
And yet...Blaze wasn't sure. Was the leviathan sticking just to water? It had fins, and was definitely serpent-esque enough for swimming, but was it capable of flight? A loud roar echoed through their bodies, and a long shadow appeared above them, as if to answer her question. "Tails..."
"Holy chaos that thing can fly," Tails said, with more than a hint of desperation and...excitement?
"Tails, please don't do anything stupid," Blaze tried to warn. He was the smart one, he wasn't the gung-ho one, that was supposed to be her job why was he flying straight towards it without her?
Sol, why was he flying towards it at all!? Rings meant nothing if they were trying to actively kill themselves! Blaze growled, a small hiss emanating from her throat as she put one foot against the tree. It'd be tough, but she could probably do it...she just didn't want to.
But she didn't have time to debate about the insanity of going up to a flying fox next to a flying serpent by running alongside a tree trunk. If Tails was up there, then she had to be too. She called up the fire, creating a vacuum above her. It wasn't easy to try and maintain control over the flames in a direction that wasn't in front of her, but she could do it now. She felt gravity start to give up on her, and then she ran.
As fast as she could, ignoring the pain of her leg, and she gritted her teeth and steeled her heart and mind as she very quickly ran out of tree to run on.
They were tall, yes, but she was fast.
Endless green appeared below her, and she felt fear grab at her heart. Not even a moment later the area where she'd been was awash with lightning and electricity, and her arms were grabbed by Tails.
"Apparently it's after you and not me!" Tails shouted as he flew back towards the lake. Blaze looked up at the leviathan, with large black scars crossing its face and one of its fins.
"Could you throw me up at it?" she asked. If she could get another few hits in, maybe she could at least get it to give up. If not, the fire she had would be more than enough...eventually,
She really didn't like that plan though, of going even higher. She didn't even like it now, when she was just a few feet above the forest trees. Admittedly, those trees were really tall, and they didn't have many branches...
"I could, but I don't like that plan!" Tails shouted again. He pulled up just barely, and Blaze felt her tail fur get a bit more static than normal, and she pulled it up just enough to get not lightninged.
"How does that even work!? Lightning doesn't travel like that!" Blaze said to no one. She might've been whining a bit, but darn it the least the thing could do was follow physics. She ignored the hypocrisy of a fire cat saying that, and forced herself to drop as the space between Tails and her lit up once more.
So I realized that Blaze's actual background is a bit weirder than that, so here's my interpretation. She goes into it a bit I think in Expedition (the next arc), but she doesn't explain it fully, so here it is; She wasn't two individuals mashed into one; she was one split through two worlds. That's why she recognized Sonic when she saw him through Mephiles' eyes, because a time-altered self remembered meeting him in Sonic Rush. Then, when Blaze sealed Iblis in herself come the end of Silver's story, she was shunted out of the timestream and meshed with her other half. That's why she remembered Sonic 06, and Tails doesn't. Because the game was made to have never existed, but because Blaze wasn't in the timestream anymore, she could recall some vague portions of it. And the headaches are time's attempts to correct that knowledge.
Hope you all are enjoying the story. Until next time.