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.
The forest was surprisingly welcome, Blaze thought. It was wide and open, and yet dense and filled to the brim with various plants she only vaguely recognized.
Her shoes dug into the dirt, and it took more than a little effort to dig them out sometimes. She hid the wince that came when she landed on her foot wrong. The branches and brambles sometimes seemed as if they were reaching out for her, to grab her and keep her close while killing her.
She pondered on that thought for a moment. It wasn't her typical thought, so she wondered where it came from. She glanced over at one of the tall and large vines, spreading like a hydra from a single point. It had some pretty small white flowers on it, and some small red-black berries on it. Blackberries, maybe? They were rare on her world, but this was a surprisingly wild world, so maybe they could take over more easy.
Although it seemed also that many other plants were okay at fighting them off. Despite some vines nearly as big as her wrist, they were mostly kept to a single point. In a month or so, if they were still here, they could probably harvest a few.
The sound of a stick breaking behind her caught her ears, but she focused enough to not unconsciously flick them back towards it. She knew Tails was following her, it was nearly impossible not to. The foxboy was not nearly as stealthy as he thought he was.
But she let him continue behind her, keeping up the slow pace rather than try to outrun him and get them both lost. She flicked her hand, charring a small circle and arrow into a tree trunk nearby. As long as she kept it up, they had some way of finding their way back to the campsite.
She probably should be angry that he was following her. But she at least understood where he was coming from. He'd just been told he was basically an invalid and should stay behind because of it. It wasn't what she'd meant, of course, but she wasn't the best with words. She'd hoped he'd stay behind to heal up and to keep working on the tent and campsite. If nothing else, they needed walls.
Especially with a storm coming in the next few days. Her whiskers and ears were surprisingly sensitive to the air pressure, and she figured Tails' was too. As much as he'd tried to be optimistic about getting out of here before then, with the new information that the giant rings were time-sensitive made it seemingly that much harder.
The trees and woods grew thicker, the individuals starting to become as large as some buildings and houses. One tree in particular was nearly the size of a skyscraper. The way they grew together made it more maze-like than Blaze liked, but it was better closer together than farther apart like it had been originally.
She found her way to a large clearing, and she stopped for a long moment. The grass was growing tall enough to almost overtake the sight, but it was impossible to not see; a stone wall, rising nearly eight feet into the air. And next to it was another one, perpendicular. An old building? It was of hand-crafted stone and brick, which meant someone had to have understood how to make it.
Which meant sapients. No animal would ever decide to pick up tools and made a house if they didn't understand what they were doing. They might move into one, but never build one.
As Blaze moved closer, she saw it had definitely been built. The stone was a clean cut, with only some small edges and nicks from time and erosion. It wasn't a solid thing either, parts of rocks had been cut away to make the walls, and the walls were made separate of each other. There were no windows, but as Blaze moved around she'd seen what happened.
The walls had been destroyed by various accidents. Blaze could see where a tree had fallen down, but whoever lived here must have been alive at the time, as the tree was no where to be found but there was a massive hole where it had hit. Time and erosion from the rain and wind had done the rest. There was only the two walls still left, and even they were in mostly bad shape.
Grass and flowers had overtaken where the inhabitants would have lived. It was a single room, a single story. There was ivy over what may have been a table at one point, now completely green. The chair was gone, and the bed wasn't in much better shape. There were still some metal things lying around, pots and pans that were rusted and corroded beyond measure. Her foot stepped down and came with a loud crack as she stepped on what she thought was a stick.
She gave a quick closer glance to see a skeleton, most of the bones long gone, but with a few here and there. She'd stepped on its thigh bone, and it was already brittle. She was surprised though, that some other animals hadn't already come out this way to eat it or finish it off. Whoever it was, they were long gone.
Small ceramics were lying around, small pots and cups and bowls. Most had small chips in them, and they were all plain and brown. Basic pottery. But Blaze looked around a bit more. Pottery, stonemasonry, woodcarving...those were not the technologies of an advanced civilization, but one that was coming into their own.
Were there other ruins somewhere around? Blaze jumped up to the top of the wall with ease, trying to not look down. It wasn't too high up, but the fear was trying to worm its way into her head. She kept herself facing straight forward stoically. This was the only thing in the clearing, but she thought she might've been able to see something far off in the distance.
She carved a sigil into the building with an X of fire, and headed out towards the others. The forest swamped over her instantly the minute she left the glade, but within minutes she found herself back in the open forest. She kept facing forward, regardless of how the maze-like trees kept changing her path.
Within an hour she found herself facing another stone wall, and she grimaced. This was starting to become shockingly familiar with how she found dead societies. The forest had opened up to a small lake, much smaller than the one they'd found originally with the leviathan, and in the middle was a floating city. Or at least, it had been a city at one point. It stretched beyond the lake and into the forest beyond, a long series of rock and stone that had been carved and molded into streets and shops.
And almost all of them had been broken down in places. Blaze let her hand run around the walls, and she knew that whatever had happened, it hadn't left survivors. Or maybe they'd moved on. She could hope for that one.
Almost all of the places that had doorways she'd found had already been picked apart. "Maybe there were survivors here then," she pondered aloud. She picked up a chipped cup, a porcelain thing barely bigger than her hand, but perfect for a small child.
Were they humans? Sapients? It was nearly impossible to tell just from the one skeleton she saw. She saw others, many of them close together, but she was no archaeologist.
She gathered a few of the chipped pieces together, wishing she had brought some kind of bag. Maybe Tails' bail-bag. She could just ask him, but that would give up the game. He was still barely within hearing range now, trying to get across the open forest without alerting her.
Convenience or fun? She was also looking for a giant ring, and this place was as good as any others she could find. Didn't Tails' say they usually appeared in places where sapients had often been at some point?
Maybe that was just her thought. The ceramics weren't going to be chipped near permanently unless they can fix it...or knew about certain way too high temperatures. Blaze grinned to herself, despite the situation. It'd been a long time since she'd let herself cut loose, even just partly.
Could she generate fire hot enough to melt together the ceramics without affecting the rest of their structural integrity? Maybe! Only one way to find out. She grabbed enough for a few bowls of various sizes and she put them out to the side, within easy visible range on her way back.
There wasn't a lot of color here, she realized. There was some, definitely, some reds and blues, dyed across the stone. But the other colors, the greens and purples were nowhere to be found. The lake was jumping with fish as she crossed an undamaged bridge, and she without a thought reached down to just grab one.
It was the same style as the one that Tails and her had caught earlier in the river. The fish were numerous enough that she could see them easily darting around just under the surface. She held it out in her hand, applying a little fire.
Snack taken care of, she reached the center of the lake. It was a giant building, close to a castle or a fortress in many ways. Entrances were tossed all over the place, impossible pathways that twisted and turned all over inside. She broke out into a run, feeling the call in this place. She stopped a few moments in, her ankle telling her why she shouldn't.
She ignored it a second later, bursting forward at speed. She felt the wind around her hair and head, the pounding of her feet against the stone, and the rush against her hands. She fell back to her instincts, going up walls and around doorways that no possible architect could have foreseen. She didn't hit any springs or launchpads as she was so prone to doing either in Sonic's world or her own, instead being forced to make her own.
She never let off the steam, never slowed down. She jumped from wall to wall and rather than climb upwards, ran sideways along it. Even the parts that were broken and sharded she found ways to use, exploring more and more of the fortress.
That's what it definitely was. There were rooms with dozens of weapons, rusted away. Armor wasn't in much better condition. The living quarters were busted up and ransacked, with anything still usable having been taken by whomever had taken this place over. The kitchen had a few usable pieces like plates and bowls, and Blaze picked them up, hoping to remember to bring them back.
The fortress was vast and navigation wasn't the easiest. Places led to places that had no business being there, like the kitchen and latrines next to each other. Hallways led to dead ends, a small glow popping up at the end of one of them. It reminded her strongly of the leftover radiation of a teleportal ring. She must've missed the giant ring by only a minute or so.
Still she kept running, hoping to find her way to the very top. It was a confusing mess of hallways and corridors, a few of the doors leading to a long holes that crashed down into the lake.
Finally she reached the top, a large throne room with a single chair in the middle. It was raised on several stairs, and although the chair was tossed and broken on the ground, Blaze could imagine what it would have looked like. Color was in this room, even though most of it was blackened from the weather and time.
She up righted the throne chair, and stared over the expanse. She didn't see any obvious glows of the giant rings from here, and this place wasn't going to be a good setup for them either. Too much was broken down or breaking down. If they'd found this place earlier, maybe they could have used it. Instead...all that was left was bits and pieces. And that's all they had left to them.
Bits and pieces.
-Side T-
Tails wasn't sure what he was doing following Blaze as he was. She had insulted him, in his mind, although he knew she probably didn't mean quite the way he took it. But when someone says for him to stay back because it's dangerous, then yes he's going to get offended. He hadn't gone through all the crap he has just because it wasn't 'dangerous'. Dangerous was dealing with the Kukku Battalion or whatever their name was when he was still at Cocoa Island.
Dangerous was dealing with Eggman once...or twice...or fifteen times...or however many that number was actually up to now. He may have missed one or two. Or twenty. He'd dealt with danger plenty of times, something like this wasn't dangerous, it was an adventure!
He had a distinctive feeling though that Blaze knew he was following her within minutes of leaving the campsite though. He wasn't following through the air as he was prone to doing, but having to chase on the ground because his tails wouldn't let him fly at the moment.
It wasn't fun, trudging through the actually somewhat warm forest. It wasn't a jungle, at least any jungle that he'd ever seen. The air was warm, and the forest floor was a maze of sticks and various leaves that had jumbled on top of each other. His shoes kept snapping sticks in half every few minutes, as much as he was trying to be stealthy and light on his feet.
He followed her through an entire maze of trees, using the markers that she had left to get back to the campsite quickly. Turns around turns, running around trees that were the size of some of Eggman's hideouts. Some were as big as the skyscrapers in Station Square, it felt like.
He had to pause for several minutes as Blaze checked out what looked to be an old building. The scent of the grass was appealing to his inner fox, a kind of scent that he figured would hide him if he needed it to.
Once she left, that's when Tails went in for his own investigation. Stonework was impeccable, using sharpened rocks it seemed to him. Almost echidna-like in quality. Only thing it was missing were the colors. Echidna architecture had colors everywhere, and this was a solid grey. Tails wasn't sure what type of rock it was, but he had a feeling it maybe have been marble? Had a bit of quartz here and there too. He reached out, brushing a gloved hand against the small quartz vein.
It glowed brightly suddenly, and Tails flinched back as the stonework underneath where the table had sat opened up. It was a small stairwell, leading down deep into the darkness. "Now this is getting interesting..." Tails said as he went down into it. The light from ahead only went so far into it, but it looked like it wasn't carved from stone at this point, but rather into the dirt itself.
He pulled out the Miles Electric, grabbing a small piece that he could use as the flashlight. It was dark and damp, a few drops of water hitting here and there. The carved sides were meticulous, laden with various stone supports. It was the fact that stonework had held it up made Tails wonder how far it actually went downwards.
The answer was quite a ways before it started to maneuver around. Whether it was because of various harder materials that the builder couldn't get through or a small stream that appeared in the center that Tails had to jump over, the pathway took plenty of twists and turns, each one in a separate direction as if searching for something.
"I wonder if this is something like those human explorers felt like in the Mystic Ruins..." Tails said aloud. His voice echoed ominously, but it didn't bother Tails any. If anything, he would be more worried if it didn't echo at some point. It meant that something was quite likely down here with him.
The pathway split into three, each one into a different direction. Tails used his foot to carve a quick arrow pointing the way he came into the dirt on the walls, before he picked a direction at random. The first one led to a collapsed wall, which he wasn't surprised about. If anything, he was more surprised it took this long to find one. Dirt wasn't exactly the most forgiving of materials when making a tunnel.
He left the light on, taking care to examine some of the ways it caved in. It was mostly compacted dirt, with a few dozen root systems thrown in. There was no light for them to grow, but they were still mostly whole. He backed away slowly, taking care to make sure it wouldn't cave in more.
The opposite path was far more open. Stone arches held up the dirt above him, and the pathways slowly twisted and turned while heading downwards. It wasn't long, barely another five minutes, before Tails felt his feet slipping against the floor. He examined it, seeing that he hadn't been walking on dirt but on mud for the last few minutes.
He paused as the cave opened up suddenly to a large room. The walls had turned to stone and rock instead of the dirt that most of the tunnels had, and Tails stared at the innocent looking lake in front of him. The far side of the wall went straight down into the body of water, silent and still as the tunnels around, and Tails thought that he could see an inky darkness that went beyond it underneath.
He zipped up the bail-bag, making sure that it went into its waterproof state, and dove underneath the water. Unlike Sonic, he was actually a considerably skilled swimmer, and despite the pain in his stomach and ribs telling him something was wrong, he pulled on ahead. He had mastered the doggy paddle when he was younger, fitting as he was a vulpine, but what he liked to do now was a mix of the breast stroke and similar to how dolphins moved, using his tails as additional propulsion.
He stopped that instantly, considering how much his back muscles protested, but it was still far enough to see that the underground lake went pretty far in. The light from the Miles Electric was kept in his hands, shining into the darkness that was the lake. He doubted that there was a leviathan here; he honestly doubted that there were fish here. He hadn't seen any as he'd peered in from above.
He kept in his mind where he'd come from as he went on. He could hold his breath for a surprisingly long time, though he'd have to come up soon for air if nothing else. He wasn't someone like Knuckles who could hold his breath for minutes on end.
He shone his light upwards towards the surface, rejoicing as he saw the light have a bend to it, as if there was some air up there. He'd gone underneath the wall, but only around ten feet or so. He kicked and paddled his way upwards, breaking the surface with a loud breath.
It was pitch black until he shone the light on it. It was another part of a pathway, similar to the tunnels behind him. A small torch unlit lay on the wall, something brand new to the area that he'd seen so far.
The rocks were sharp, as Tails found out as his glove slipped and he got a cut straight through, when he was trying to exit the lake. It wasn't a sheer cliff, but it wasn't just stairs either. Dripping wet, he checked the bail-bag, just to make sure that no water had gotten into it. He'd designed it to be waterproof, and this wasn't its first expedition, but it was always better to check in his mind.
The air chilled him through his fur as he started to head on the path. The signs of the stone arcs were slowly disappearing, and more of the pathways that came across him were blocked off by cave-ins. He felt a slight hum against his bones and spirit, but not his fur after he turned the corner of another one.
This one had light on its own. Hurried, Tails ran towards it, wondering if it would get him out of the cave, although he wasn't too worried, or if it was what he thought it was. He'd been down here only about two hours or so, according to the Miles Electric, and he might've found the thing he was looking for!
He turned the corner just as the giant ring lit up and disappeared.
"Damn it!" He shouted, his voice echoing loudly around the various tunnels. He was so close to testing if he'd be able to go home...but then Blaze wouldn't, would she? If he went, and she didn't...she'd be stuck here.
He'd just have to come back. Tails nodded. He'd be able to do it, and make a trans-dimensional gateway for the sole purpose of rescuing her. Yep. That's what he'd have to do, and that's what he would do. She was a skilled enough survivalist that she'd be able to last past nearly anything.
A small spark drew his eyes. A small crystal lay on the other side of the small cave, and it was a dead-end except for the white crystal. There were two diamondesque shapes embedded into the wall, occasionally flickering small bits of lightning between them. It was strange, Tails thought, and he knelt forward to get a better idea of what he was seeing.
The energy resonance from the ring, maybe? Maybe that was causing these things to...flicker? Tails reached out gently, flicking one with his glove. It chimed loudly, its brilliant echo refusing to die. Other portions of the same crystal vein began to chime as well, dying down after minutes of the sound.
"Energy residue..." Tails said quietly. Could he get a reading of it? That way he could put some kind of reader here, as its proven that the rings open here? Maybe he could make a giant ring locator!
He quickly got out the Miles Electric, setting the scanner up to pick up any readings, any at all. He ignored the small blinking light of the low battery light, but cursed when the light died a moment later, scan incomplete. He wasn't even sure how much it managed to get. If it'd gotten even a little sliver of a reading, maybe he could extrapolate that to a full signal...but for that he had to get back.
In the dark.
His eyes were still used to light, but he still flinched a bit as the crystals shocked each other lightly next to him, generating more than enough light. Could he use that to generate electricity? There was no converter around, and he had no idea about the voltage or anything else. It was best to use them as a light for now...he reached out to them, grasping them hard as he pulled them from the vein.
To his surprise, they came out easier than he expected, and he fell onto his backside with crystals in both hands. It was pitch black, impossible to see or navigate. He brought the crystals closer together, and grinned as they gently shocked each other. He could feel the energy as it pulsed back and forth between each of the gems.
He wasn't sure how well it'd work in the water, and so kept going through the tunnels, hoping to find some way to get back to the surface. The tunnels kept twisting and turning, and some pathways joined in others now. Some even led straight up, straight into darkness that even the light from the crystals couldn't penetrate. He was in a full labyrinth now, miles away from when he'd walked in.
He'd taken to taking pathways at random, hoping to see some semblance of light. He still remembered to make down the ways he came, but more of than not he found himself back at another set of marks he'd made.
As he found another set of five pathways branching off of one, he decided to just turn around. He'd test his luck in the lake...hopefully he'd be able to find it!
Expedition...2.2! This is a wild, wild world, and they haven't begun to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Until next time!