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.

Blaze cautiously tied the sticks to the posts using Tails' special rope, splashing a bit of water on it so it fused together from one of the porcelain cups she'd taken the previous day.

She wondered exactly how much of a genius was he? To make not one, but two special materials that would prove invaluable here. And to have a third in the guidebook! Did he even know what he was sitting on when he hadn't pulled it out?

It contained almost everything. From how to find food and water, to which herbs were okay to use, and a few recipes for pastes and such to aid healing. She was working with one shoe off right now, letting the pale green paste sit on her ankle with nothing to disturb it as a test. If it worked...well, Tails' yellow fur coat would soon be a yellow green. She shivered again as she felt the cold ground touch her bare foot.

Tails was busy working on gathering some leaves for the siding. It wouldn't be easy, and Blaze wished not for the last time they had actual string or something to tie them together. She idly pushed her hair out of her eyes again and slowly walked around. They'd gotten all the basic sides set up, although she wondered why he wanted to use a pentagon this time.

Was there some secrets that pentagon's had? It would still have plenty of room, so Blaze didn't feel the need to care too much, but she did wonder.

The bowls were safely washed and inside their little hut, now that she felt safe enough to call it like it was. All she had to do now was wait for the leaves to come back with Tails. She put a bit more pressure on her foot, waiting for the lance of pain she was becoming more and more familiar with.

It was still there, but it was much more dull, now. Guess it worked then, Blaze thought. She'd have to make some more to use for Tails, although internal injuries were always much harder to heal than external ones.

Tails came back, his arms loaded down with hundreds of head-sized leaves. Unfortunately there wasn't any way that Blaze knew to make it easy to make walls, and the guidebook didn't say anything either. They ended up just mashing the leaves onto the sticks, creating a makeshift insulation.

It took them the rest of the day to get even half done, but by the end any and all shards of pain from her ankle wasn't bothering her anymore. Tails went upriver to take a bath and get some of the sweat off, while Blaze had decided to simply wash off here. He brought only the two crystals with him, having them generate a little bit of light to find his way back, despite the fact the moon, now three quarters and slowly waxing, gave more than enough light.

They didn't have any towels, but Blaze wasn't worried. She could just set fire to the air around her for a minute or two, and be just as dry. Steam-cleaned, Marine had once called it, although she preferred a fluffy towel more than anything.

She jumped back out of the river soaking wet, the last of the medicinal paste running off her ankle. There were a few cuts left over from the traps she'd gotten hit with the previous day, but they had mostly healed up. Her tunic was in practical tatters, and her tights weren't much better.

She flash fired herself, a large amount of steam popping out next to her, before she started steaming her clothes. It was the same principle, only with more flammable objects. The first time she'd tried it, she was six or seven, and ended up burning her entire wardrobe.

There was a reason her father had only allowed her to buy certain outfits, and it wasn't because it went well with her fur. Because they were easy to clean from the soot and ash.

She jumped from one foot to the other, hating the feel of the ground and dirt underneath her feet, as she tested herself out. Small bursts of flame brought her from one side of the camp to the other in half-seconds, and finally she smirked. Not a hint of pain, or any sign of swelling. She was back.

Now to convince Tails to do it the next day. That was going to be the hardest part, she knew. It wasn't a pungent smell, but it was enough based on the way his nose wrinkled whenever he was around her. His sense of smell was much stronger than hers was, even if she didn't want to admit it. His hearing, too.

In fact the only real sense that she had that she knew she was better at was vision. And even then, that was a fairly close tie.

"Are you decent, Blaze?" she heard Tails' voice ask from the river. "I decided to swim back down, but I wanted to check before I get out."

"One moment," she answered. Her clothes were clean enough, and with a sigh of relief put her shoes and tunic back on. "You can come on out now, Tails," she called back.

The fox slowly peeked his head up, his ears popping up first followed by his eyes and muzzle. His fur was dripping wet, a dark orange compared to the pale yellow it usually was. He grabbed onto the sides and hurled himself upwards, already wearing his shoes. Small drops of water fell off the tips of the hair on his head, and before Blaze could say or do anything he started to shake himself off.

Blaze held up one hand to prevent water from getting in her eyes, but couldn't stop the small giggle that threatened to come out. His fur had decided it liked being shaken out, because now it was standing straight out, nearly twice as big as he actually was. "I can hear you trying not to laugh, you know," he deadpanned as he finished shaking off his tails. They were already on the poofier side of things, but now it was almost twice or three times as big.

"How's your foot?" he asked a few moments later as he took to trying to pat down his fur. Blaze laughed quietly before she started to set a small fire around him, steam-cleaning him the way she did herself. As long as he didn't move around much, she had the skill. Now to do it while moving was nearly impossible.

"Better. We'll test the rest of the concoction on you tomorrow. The storm will be here soon, and I think it's best if we stay here and rest, stock up on food and water," Blaze suggested. Tails nodded, one hand moving down his stomach as he tried to flatten the fur.

"Okay. Can't say I'm looking forward to it," Tails commented. He moved his shoulders a bit and winced.

"Come on, get inside then. Or for what little we have of 'inside'."

He grinned and walked towards the small hut, only halfway done. He'd done a bit of alterations on the roof as well, giving it a slight slant for the rain. The leaves were thickest up there, but they both knew that it probably wasn't going to last forever.

He laid down against the poles that held up the side, and started scrolling through the tablet thing he'd made. Blaze wasn't going to try to disturb or distract him. She had another idea she needed to do at some point.

She grabbed the rabbit skin she'd made a few days ago, now fully dry from the sun. It crusted over in a few spots, but Blaze wasn't worried. She consulted the guidebook again, specifically at 'how to make leather'. It was unlikely she'd succeed at the first time she tried it, but that's what practice was for. She cleaned off everything again using her claws, considering they didn't have a knife. It was an extremely small section, mostly in that it involved the hides of some creatures, and to dry and de-hair them. Not all that helpful.

Although...they did have iron and steel in a small treasure trove that they'd found. She wondered if he knew how to forge knives and such. He was good with electronics, but that didn't mean he knew how to make his own parts. But he had fabricated the blanket and the rope. Maybe he did? "Do you know how to forge? Iron and steel?" she asked.

Tails blinked at her. "Yeah, blacksmithing's an old hobby of mine. The Tornado, the first one, was originally Sonic's plane but it got shot down so many times I had to re-make it all bit by bit."

"That trove I found of iron and steel, do you think you could use it?" Blaze asked.

"Probably. Depends on if you can melt it. That's the hardest part, especially out here. We don't have the equipment necessary for most of what I know, but I can do the basics," Tails said. "Even if you can't, because iron doesn't start to melt until nearly 2800 degrees, I can do basic shaping with any amount of tools."

Iron melted at that hot!? Blaze's eyes widened. She'd never consciously ever tried to get her flames that hot, the hottest she'd ever gotten was somewhere in the three or four hundreds range. But nearly three thousand!?

"Steel's actually the easier. The lower temperature for that is nearly twenty five hundred," Tails recited, "but if they have steel at all that says a lot. Steel's an alloy, of iron and carbon mostly. Means that this place isn't nearly as desolate technology wise as we thought. Maybe we're just in the wrong area," Tails wondered.

"Hopefully," Blaze commented. Was it steel she'd seen the other day? She would admit full well that she was not as versed on metals as she'd like. Maybe she'd misjudged, and it wasn't actually steel but something else? Although Tails did say he could shape it if it just got hot enough. But how hot was hot enough?

At nearly three thousand, she'd burn the entire clearing even if she controlled it perfectly. She'd probably burn herself in the meantime, and if she had to be honest, she was not that good at handling burns. She'd burned herself once, and she'd somehow managed to never get burned again. Ironic, she had to admit.

"How hot is 'hot enough'? For you to shape, I mean?" Blaze asked.

Tails tossed the question around in his head. "Hard to say. Depends on the metal. Some are easier than others, by far. Aluminum's one of the easier metals, depending on thickness. Iron's the more common, and usually starts softening at around the one thousand or two thousand mark."

Blaze nodded. Well, that went out of the way. No way could she act as a makeshift forge for him. But there was nothing saying that they couldn't build one, once they had the tools. But that would take time. And they were not planning on staying that long here.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Tails handed her a cooked fish, one side charred and black. "You looked distracted. So I...I made you some dinner," he said. There was a slight blush to his face. "I know it's not a good job but-"

"Tails, it's perfect. Thank you," Blaze answered. It wasn't, really, not the way she cooked them, but for a first or second try it was surprisingly good. Tails grinned before he bit into his own, his eyes growing comically wide as he spat out some ash. Apparently he'd given her the better of the cooked fish.

-Side T-

Tails yawned as he woke up. It was way too early, he knew, but they had a lot to do and he needed to get it done before the storm would hit. And...he checked his internal pressure gauge, and he sighed. Half a day away, if that. Most of the birds and insects were in hiding now, and the forest remained a calm silent exception being the river.

Blaze was curled up in a ball in a corner, her tail curled towards her head. While she wasn't quite capable of the same dexterity as he was, it was still a surprising feat.

He was glad he woke up as early as he did, if Blaze was still sleeping. She was an early riser, and the type of person to focus on the next day. Unlike him and his 'I need to get this project done before I forget about it and sleep is for when I'm dead' mantra.

The moon was high up, a large rainbow circling it. All the signs pointed to the storm, and he knew he didn't have much time. He went out and took out the two crystals he'd taken from the cave, he really should give them a name once he'd taken a moment to scan them, shocking them together to see a bit of light. He didn't really need it, per se, but he appreciated the light to at least see the colors of the trees.

He came back an hour or so later, his arms laden with leaves to see Blaze awake, curled over the fire as her hands worked in one of the porcelain bowls they'd taken. There was a hint of green and white to it, and a pungent smell that was only somewhat masked by the fish currently cooking on the fire.

"You started early," Blaze said, sounding surprisingly accusatory.

"How's your foot?" Tails asked instantly, trying to deflect from whatever it was she was making. She gave him an unsurprised glare, and he gave a helpless shrug. "I had to try."

"Fair. Doing well. Now sit down over here," Blaze said, patting at the ground next to her. He blinked in surprise, but dropped the leaves towards the next section. He was expecting her to have him put it on himself. "Storm's coming soon, and I can tell your still hurting."

Her hand, her ungloved hand, was surprisingly soft. She worked in the mixture around his ribs and stomach, and more than once he had to stop himself from flinching as he felt her claws start to go into his fur. She was careful though, but it made him wonder what made her so stressed out? Then again, his own claws were always out. Benefits or consequences of being a vulpine.

Not that he'd let her see his hands. The fact that she was touching him with her bare hand sent shocks all over his body. "Ouch," she muttered as she pulled away quickly. His ears perked up and rotated instantly to her. "Just got shocked, I'm fine."

Shocked? There was nothing around to get static electricity on! Although he had just been gathering leaves, it wouldn't have gathered that much, and even so it would've been released much earlier. "Sorry," he said anyways.

"Not your fault," Blaze answered instantly. She checked the last few bits of the mixture, and got around to wrapping them up with the last of his medicinal wrappings. He hadn't thought he needed to pack more of it, but well, now he knows for the next time he gets lost in another world.

Also find a way to either generate rings or keep them on his person. That was important.

He hated to admit it, but an hour later as he and Blaze were finishing up with the leaves he had gathered, he was starting to feel better. His body wasn't numb, but it wasn't flinching every few minutes like he'd been used to the last few days.

Within two hours of them finishing the hut, or at least making good progress on it to the point they felt comfortable calling it complete, it started to rain. Small drops at first, small rain that made the scent of the first rain waft into his nose.

Blaze and him were already inside, dry as their roof held. Blaze had he had caught nearly twenty of the small fish that he was beginning to get sick of, but was too prideful to say so. It's what they could get, and he shouldn't be choosy. It's not like they had a lot of berries at the moment.

The storm raged on overhead, and silence remained between the two. Tails remained in the comfortable silence, only occasionally working on the Miles Electric. The sun the previous day had given him enough charge for two days of small use, but he'd have to do it again soon enough.

The wind started to batter at their walls. At first it wasn't too bad, but it was quickly realized they had forgotten about one major detail; their door was essentially an open space. Which let the wind come right on it, despite it being from one of the other sides.

They huddled quietly on the other side from their door, a small fire next to Blaze. She kept it going, and despite the wind it was still more than warm enough, although the wind continued to chill them as the rain did it best to pelter them.

"Is this the worst storm you've been in?" Tails asked suddenly. The rain from outside was starting to leak through one of the segments of leaves on the far side. This place was not intended to be able to stand up to weather. If anything, it was meant to stand up to this storm and then be dismantled.

"No," Blaze answered instantly. "Worst one I've been in was a hurricane while out on the ocean. It...was not fun."

"I'd imagine," Tails said. His neck poofed up a bit as he heard some lightning far off. The time for the flash and sound were far apart, and he already knew it was a big storm. But it would probably keep going for a while based on that.

"You?"

"It's close," Tails admitted. "Worst one I've been was a tornado in the Windy Valley. Combine that with rain and thunder...I'm glad I don't think a tornado's going to hit."

"You say that now," Blaze said, walking over to the door. She knocked three times on the wooden stakes holding everything down. "I don't see any cells forming, so we should be good. I didn't think of any tornado's though. Any ideas?"

"What, if there is one? Hide underneath the water. Both of us have fur capable of making sure we won't get chilled. At least in my experience that's the best way. The other one is simply go with the wind, and hope you have rings."

"We have no rings. And I'd rather not drown," Blaze responded. "I don't think it's likely, however, that it will be needed."

Tails got up and moved next to her. "Uh...I do know of an underground area that's going to be safe. And we should hurry. Like...now." The storm clouds above him moved in an ominous way that Tails knew far too well from living close to the Windy Valley.

Blaze blinked. "You mean to say that's a tornado cell? I thought you said it wasn't likely!" She said quietly. Tails nodded slowly, heading over to the bowls and fish they'd already had made for their time to wait it out. He stuffed as much as he could in the bail-bag, which combined with everything else, wasn't as much as he'd like.

Blaze went and grabbed a few other sticks and logs, and everything else she could into the rabbit skin she still had laid out, slowly treating it with fire. It would be no good now, Tails knew from experience, but it would keep things dry enough while they run.

"Well, this was a short-lived hovel," Tails said as his eyes blinked out the rain. The wind bit at him, moving in all kinds of ways that he knew far too well. His bandages were getting soaked, but honestly he already felt a lot better. If he wanted to, he could probably fly right now.

Not that flying right now would be a particularly good idea. He waited only seconds for Blaze to come out, the cat hoisting the rabbit sack over her shoulder. "The rope?" she asked.

Tails blinked. "Shit, that's right!" he said quickly. He dove for the first stake, and Blaze went to the second one. Each wall took her only seconds to rip off, and within minutes the hut was less than two walls. "Wait for the wind to die down, then grab these ones!" he called out.

The wind and rain bit at them from every angle. Try as he liked, the ropes were fused together and refused to rip. Blaze was doing pretty well using her claws, and finally Tails ripped off a glove to do the same. It cut easily, exactly as he'd intended it to, and he started on the other bits. He stuffed them all into the glove, figuring that since Blaze was going without one, so could he.

As soon as the last wall came down, now it was just five sticks planted into the ground, the wind came at them again from behind them. The rain started to pelter them harder, almost a literal sheet of rain. A lightning flash lit up the sky behind them, and Tails froze for only a second. "Tails, how much longer until the tornado hits!?" Blaze called out.

He stared into the sky, seeing the forming cell. "Five minutes at most!" He recognized the patterns; it was going to be a big one. And it was not going to be a gentle one. The wind snapped at their heels as they both sped off, using the same path they had internally mapped out the days before.

The trees bowed ominously around them, and far off Tails could hear more of them falling. The wind picked up again, starting to circle and cycle. The rain made it hard to see, not just through the water in his eyes but just because of the amount, as if the sky was opening up the floodgates and letting it all pour out at once.

Branches clawed at them, and brambles reached out to grab their legs. The ground was muddy and slippery, and when Tails had tried to fly he felt an uncomfortable sensation of his fur suddenly feeling electrical, and knew that if he kept it up, even though he felt he could at this point, somehow, he'd get struck by lightning.

Which he was quite positive he wanted to stay away from.

So instead he felt his legs get torn and ripped, from the trees and brambles to the sticks and stones that dotted the path. Blaze wasn't doing much better, both of their fur soaking wet, and the wind biting at them, circling around.

They came to the clearing just as Tails felt it. It was a slight shift in pressure, but it let him know it was touchdown. "Blaze, run! It's here!" he shouted, speeding up as best he could. He could feel grass shift underneath him, and he knew Blaze could feel the same.

Just over the trees, right where they had stayed, he could see the growing clouds of the tornado as it appeared, a giant funnel of cloud and wind and debris, circling around. The wind grew instantly stronger, pushing and pulling at them.

They raced towards the opening, dodging small pieces of rock and slabs as they were thrown at the two sapients. Tails was instantly glad they had moved, as he saw the river water start its climb up the tornado. It was strong enough to pick up small parts of the river, and the slabs of rock were growing bigger. He had to duck and slide as one almost as big as him got thrown from the ruins.

It was with no small amount of relief that Blaze rolled into the stairs, followed by Tails as he did the same thing. The underground area was quickly covered over as a massive slab of rock was thrown around above them. The wind cut off instantly, but the rain and cold still followed them as it made its way around the slab.

They stood for a moment in the pitch black of the tunnel, catching their breath. "You alright?" Blaze asked after a moment. She stretched out her hand and a small fireball appeared, giving them light. There were several small cuts on her head and ears, and even more on her legs. Her tights were ripped to shreds, now, hardly covering anything below her knees.

"I'm...okay, yeah," Tails announced. He reached for the bail-bag, breathing a sigh of relief as he felt it. The zipper had stayed closed, too. He didn't have to look down to see the small trails of blood on his own legs or chest.

"I guess it's a good thing you found this," Blaze said quietly. "Let's go deeper in. You said you found a larger room in here, right?" she asked.

Tails nodded, and the two slowly went down into the depths of the tunnels, into the inky black and cold that awaited them.

Two more chapters left in Expedition. I hope everyone's enjoying it. If anyone notices any grammatical errors or typos, please let me know so I can fix. Not exactly the best at this 'editing' thing. Until next time!