Chapter 3 (Sonic): Tension
Sonic yawned while stretching his arms as he and Blaze walked side-by-side. Blaze, unable to keep her neutral expression, silently giggled at the sight of the drowsy hedgehog. Upon noticing this, Sonic simply shrugged and kept pace alongside her, a hint of an embarrassed smile on his face.
The sun was rising over the still sleeping Castle Town. After Sonic woke up in the plains, the duo decided to run the rest of the way to Soleanna while it was still nighttime. Despite Sonic's chivalrous (if not playful) gesture, Blaze refused to let him carry her the rest of the way; she had claimed it was for the wound in his arm to heal properly, but mostly it was to save her any more embarrassment.
She can't let this guy keep carrying her everywhere, especially after yesterday's incident. If this kept up, she might as well ride in a palanquin for the rest of her life.
In any case, it felt good running all the way to Soleanna. Blaze couldn't remember a time being so far from her kingdom, so experiencing the change in scenery with all her senses helped etched them in her memory. She didn't want to forget these places she had been to, and she won't.
In addition, her race back to Soleanna allowed her to relax her mind. After Sonic had fallen asleep, she'd spent her time trying to make sense of the visions she had been seeing. Before Eggman's attack, her visions had mostly been of Soleanna in flames, occasionally seeing the giant monstrosity responsible for the destruction and, more rarely, a greyish-white hedgehog staring at her.
While she had come to the conclusion that he and Sonic were not one and the same, it still left the identity of the mysterious hedgehog unknown to her. As for the monster, perhaps she was seeing the Flames of Disaster incarnate, a personification drawn out by the prophecies from long ago. For all Blaze knew, those sequences were merely nightmares brought out by the stress of holding such power within her, with one slip-up leading to the end of the world.
Still, if the apparitions were just nightmares, what would the hedgehog represent?
And then there was that one with the ocean. She could not say she had ever been to Wave Ocean before until just recently, and she had no reason to enjoy it given how she was locked inside the Egg Carrier.
In the end, Blaze failed to find any solace. There was only so much she could do to prevent having the daydreams, yet ultimately she could do nothing but tolerate them until they did stop.
At least the run cleared her head.
"So," Sonic said, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"Hm?" Blaze replied neutrally.
"What are you going to do when Eggman shows up again? He won't just give up so easily."
"Agreed." Blaze knew Dr. Eggman would most likely attempt another kidnapping, and she had put a lot of consideration into what to do to protect herself and her people once she had made it back into town. Eventually, she had decided to enlist GUN for support and increase the number of guards patrolling Soleanna; furthermore, security at her castle on the island off of the main land would be raised.
Telling Sonic all of this, she added, "Even then, I won't just sit back and let them handle Eggman alone. He may be after me, but I will protect my people any way I am able."
Sonic nodded in approval. "I'll help out, too. While you focus on keeping Soleanna safe, I'll take the fight to Eggman!" Displaying his signature grin, Blaze smiled in response.
The two proceeded to walk through the main dining area at the west end of the Castle Town. The tables and seats were all empty given the time, and most of the citizens weren't even awake yet. The only people not asleep were the guards stationed at the entrances of the town, the ones at the gate the two had entered through being particularly ecstatic at seeing their princess back safe and unharmed; while they had asked if she wanted an escort back to the castle, Blaze politely declined stating she would be fine with just Sonic. She did, however, ask that when the Captain of the Soleanna Guards was awake, they tell him she requested an audience with him later. Obeying their ruler, they agreed and returned to their duties at the gate.
Blaze normally wouldn't have minded an escort—she did walk around with handmaidens and other important figures of Soleanna after all. On the other hand, she had the strangest notion that once she was back at the castle and her plan to protect her kingdom from Dr. Eggman put into action, she wouldn't see much of Sonic during that time. Thus, she opted to enjoy this moment with the blue hedgehog.
In spite of this inevitability, the sun rising in the distance was enough to convince Blaze that today would be (in all senses of the word) bright.
"Ngh!"
"Huh?"
Realizing Sonic had stopped walking beside her, she turned to see if he was alright, only to find him with a struggling look on his face. He also had a strange cyan aura around him. Suddenly, Sonic flung back into the dining area, the tables and chairs flying in the air only to fall back to Earth with a clang.
"Sonic!" Blaze cried out, seeing the hedgehog trying to stand up. As the hero got back on his feet, he and Blaze heard an unfamiliar voice.
"I've been looking for you...Iblis Trigger."
The two companions, now a distance apart, looked to the skies to see where the voice originated from. There, hovering down to the ground was a hedgehog of greyish-white, his gloved hands and navy-and-aqua boots complemented with gold cuffs lined with the same cyan color Sonic had found himself restricted by mere seconds ago.
Gazing upon the stranger, Blaze found herself petrified.
It's him, she thought. The one from my visions! She then realized something interesting in what he had just said, what he called Sonic.
"Iblis…Trigger…" she mumbled.
Pointing at Sonic with hatred radiating in his golden irises, the white hedgehog spoke again. "Your actions will condemn us all!"
Hearing this gave Blaze a sudden, sharp pain in her head, images beginning to flash through her eyes.
"How can we completely destroy Iblis?"
"By knowing the truth, of course."
"You need to find the being originally responsible for this catastrophe."
Blaze started to breathe harder. Her legs starting to become numb, she began to rely on a nearby building's wall for support. The visions then changed from the destroyed Soleanna to somewhere more unfamiliar.
"You must eliminate the individual who has awakened Iblis…the Iblis Trigger."
"If I eliminate that guy, will our world be saved?"
"The Day of Disaster…this was when Ib-…his flames relea-…And you have this person to blame."
"So, that blue hedgehog's the Iblis Trigger?"
Blaze fell to her knees, her hands on her head. Sweat rolled down her face as she prayed for the discomfort to stop.
Meanwhile, Sonic had gotten back up and was on the defensive. "Who are you?" he asked the strange hedgehog. The white warrior stared him back straight in the eyes. "My name is Silver. For the future of the world, I will destroy you!" Having said this, the one known as Silver stretched right hand over to his left side; immediately after doing this, the nearby chairs and tables that had been fortunate enough to not be hit by Sonic became surrounded in the same cyan field and rose from the ground.
"Huegh!" Silver yelled, and the objects flew straight towards Sonic. Reacting fast, Sonic rolled out of the way. The objects hit the buildings behind Sonic, shattering into individual pieces upon impact. Trying to close the gap between them, Sonic rushed forward to strike, only to Silver to stop him inches away with his psychokinesis. Snorting, Silver sent Sonic flying towards one of the buildings, but Sonic managed to flip himself into a position to land on the wall and dropped back to the ground unscathed.
Darn! he thought. I can't get close to him without being caught in that power of his. Wait, what's he doing?
As Sonic observed his foe closely, he realized Silver was glancing at Blaze in concern. Sonic saw she was on her knees, appearing as if she was in pain.
"Blaze…" Sonic said softly, inaudible to Silver. Growing concerned for her wellbeing, Sonic knew he had to finish this fight quickly so that he could help her with whatever was troubling her.
Tapping the green gem on his shoes—the shoes transforming into a green version of his Hi-Speed Sneakers—Sonic kept his eyes on Silver, waiting for the hedgehog to return his attention towards him. When he did, Sonic could see anger on his face. "I won't let you hurt her!" he declared, lifting up every nearby table and chair in a vortex.
Hurt her? Sonic wondered what Silver meant by that. Did Silver care about Blaze's health? Regardless of whether he did or not, Sonic prepped himself for his opponent's attack. Silver gathered all the objects floating around him and formed a large spear-like object above his head.
Wait for it, Sonic told himself.
Silver, locking his eyes on his target, launched the spear at Sonic without hesitation.
Now! Sonic dropped down and held himself up on one hand, swinging his body and legs around and alternating between which hand held him up so as to create a spinning effect. While to most people it would be a form of breakdancing, for Sonic it was to utilize the green gem's unique ability. Nicknamed the Tornado gem, it gave the user the capability of forming a quick, yet effective whirlwind.
Which helped Sonic tear apart the spear of objects and send them flying back towards Silver at high speed.
Unexpecting this, Silver tried to stop Sonic's counterattack, but he was only able to concentrate fast enough to stop a few of the objects. The rest smacked right into his body, knocking him to the ground.
"That must've hurt!" Sonic taunted Silver, who somehow managed to endure that barrage of dining set-ups. Having heard Sonic, Silver snarled and began to surround himself in that psychokinetic energy.
Guess we're just getting started, Sonic thought, and got back on the defensive.
Blaze was back in the ruined city of Soleanna, the buildings deteriorating and the air consumed with a blistering heat. The skies above were an ugly mixture of orange and red, and everywhere she looked there was no signs of life. Afraid, she began running across the empty streets of the city.
"Sonic!" she cried out, looking left and right constantly. "Cream! Cheese! Anyone!"
No matter how much she yelled, no response came back to answer her.
This isn't real, she told herself, trying to calm down. It's just a vision, a nightmare.
Blaze kept running, wishing the vision to be over with, yet it continued to linger on. Eventually, she found herself at a four-way street and came to a halt, unsure of which path to take. None of them were really tempting. The whole city was engulfed in fire and destruction after all.
"Roar!"
From behind her, Blaze heard that same unholy beast from previous visions and turned to see in the distance a large twister of fire swirling up towards the sky. As she stood in shock, one word sprang to mind: "Iblis."
She had remembered from the previous visions the name that strange black-and-blue hedgehog had said, as well as the phrase "Iblis Trigger." Before her visions fully consumed her grip on the present reality, Blaze also heard the white hedgehog (who had introduced himself as Silver) calling Sonic "Iblis Trigger," and how Silver would destroy Sonic for the future.
Suddenly, Blaze started to make sense of it all. The visions. The Flames of Disaster. Soleanna in ruins.
The future of the world.
"Is this…really the future?" Saying the words gave Blaze no comfort in her heart. If what she was seeing really was that, then that means the power inside of her would be released. The world will end in an inferno of pain and suffering.
And Sonic is the one responsible for it all?
No, Blaze reassured herself. It can't be true.
Sonic has been protecting her since the Soleanna Festival of Light from Dr. Eggman. His kind, yet somewhat naïve spirit couldn't be the one to unleash such an evil into the world. If anything, Eggman would be the one to blame.
Once the visions were done, she would try to talk to Silver. She would tell him that there must be a mistake about Sonic.
She won't allow Sonic to die because of her.
"Ahh!"
Blaze lost her train of thought at a sound unlike the beast and tornado from behind her. Somewhere in the ruined city, a cry of fear echoed off the buildings' walls. The voice itself sounded young and feminine. Whim getting the best of her, Blaze found herself racing towards the source of the cry, desperate to help whoever was in danger.
Twisting and turning the unstable streets of the ruined future at top speed, Blaze eventually came to a charcoaled overpass that had fallen apart at one point, leaving one piece of it still elevated by damaged columns underneath. On top of the section resting above the street, a little brown bunny girl had her arms around a younger bunny boy, the two of them curled up at the divisor of the overpass. Creeping up to them were fiery lizard-like creatures, with jaws and limbs akin to those of canines. The creatures' molten bodies were covered in slabs of stone armor.
Observing the four demons as she made her way closer, Blaze knew she could take them on by herself. By the time she was within striking distance, Blaze leapt forward with a fist of flames, making contact with the ferocious beast.
But there was no recoil. There wasn't even an impact.
Realizing this, Blaze turned around and attempted to kick the creature right in the head. Again, nothing. Seeing her attacks pass through like a breeze, Blaze cursed her stupidity.
This was a vision. Nothing she did would have any consequence here.
In other words, she was powerless to help.
She could only watch in horror as the creatures prepared to make a meal out of the frightened children. The girl covered the boy's eyes and looked away from the demon's face as it snarled in hunger.
"Hwuah!"
Crack!
A sudden kick in the monster's head knocked it back into a pole that was up until impact still managing to stand, only to now fall to the ground; the demon that had been struck disappeared into embers. The remaining four creatures glared in anger at the newcomer responsible for the fall of their comrade.
A lavender cat girl in stripped heels, wearing a purple coat and gold collar, white tights and gloves, and a red gem on her forehead, all with her hair held back in a ponytail.
"What the…" Blaze, like the bunny people she was trying to protect, watched in awe as the cat girl summoned flames in her hands and waited patiently for the lizard monsters to make their move. The closest to the stranger then leapt at her, its clawed hands extending outward to inflict harm; the cat girl, using the fire in her hands, launched her flames forward to meet the demon. The flames canceled and exceeded the force the creature was traveling at, knocking it backward into one of its friends.
Wasting no time to watch as the monster crashed into and disappeared with its companion, the cat girl rushed forward and delivered two jabs at the next creatures' shark-like face. The stranger then finished it off with a fiery roundhouse kick, only to jump up off the ground with her flames as the kick cut deep into the neck of the creature, the obvious pain causing it to holler as it vanished into the air. As soon as the girl was up high, she performed a series of flips in the air and ended with a straight fiery kick down to the remaining monster's head. The velocity was enough to make the head smack into the concrete, and the girl jumped off due to energy and performed a backflip to put some distance between her and the now-decaying creature, landing gracefully on her feet.
Blaze couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. What she was still seeing now, in fact. After watching the flames and the moves the stranger had performed, there was no mistaking it.
The stranger—the cat girl—was her.
I'm still alive?! Blaze couldn't help but wonder about her friends. If she was alive and she still had her powers, maybe what she was seeing wasn't because of the Flames of Disaster.
"…!"
A thought just occurred to her. What if this future really was Dr. Eggman's fault?
She had convinced herself it couldn't be Sonic, and Eggman wanted the power within her. Could it be that he successfully managed to take a portion of her powers or made some artificial copy? Either way, if this is what Eggman wanted, he got it.
Still, this raised even more questions.
The black hedgehog, for example. He told Silver Sonic was the one to blame. No, wait. In her vision, she saw the strange hedgehog give Silver what appeared to be a purple Chaos Emerald, but he never said it was Sonic. Maybe Silver saw something different than what was intended? Or if the other hedgehog believed it was Sonic, perhaps he made a mistake?
Blaze couldn't help but put her hand to her head. Everything was still vague, at best. However, she did believe one thing: this was, without a doubt, the future of the world. The exact cause, though, remains to be seen.
Blaze watched as her future doppelganger gracefully walked over to the crying children, their faces displaying a continued expression of fear, yet they were slowly relaxing. The future Blaze knelt down to them, asking neutrally, "Are you alright?"
Before they could answer, a group of shrieks sounded from above. Blaze looked up to see smaller, bat-like versions of the creatures her future self had defeated. Flying over them, the bat demons dropped what appeared to be tiny balls of fire. As they hit the ground one by one, the balls exploded into pieces. Before the ones above Blaze and the others reached the ground, however, they stopped midair surrounded by an aura of cyan.
"Ha!"
The balls in the air flew towards the creatures they had originated from, disintegrating them into embers and smoke.
Blaze and the others set their eyes towards where the mysterious voice came from, but Blaze already knew. She had seen that cyan aura before and, sure enough, the familiar white hedgehog responsible for it stood on top of the still-standing section of the overpass, fire in the background.
Silver.
And her vision blurred to black.
Blaze gasped for air as the nightmarish future faded from her eyes. Readjusting her eyes and clutching her head, she looked around at her surroundings.
Chairs and tables, both whole and in pieces, where scattered around the area. The buildings stood tall and distinguished in the morning light, the orange rays now transforming into a soft yellow. The sky was bluer, and there were no demonic creatures of fire in sight.
She was back, which meant…
Sonic! She turned her head to see the blue hedgehog casually walking over to Silver, who was laying on the ground panting. It appears Silver lost, Blaze noted. She felt sorry for him, she really did. After seeing the future world in her visions and the horrors that await there, he must've been desperate to change it all, a feeling she could relate to.
Even so, killing her protector was unacceptable.
Sonic cocked his head, his hands to his hips. "Hey," he said. "We cooled off yet?"
For a response, Sonic found himself being knocked into the air by Silver's psychokinesis, and his body made impact with one of the columns of a building.
Slam!
"Ugh!"
Dropping down to the ground on his knees, Sonic panted in pain. The collision left him unable to concentrate well, and he was already exhausted from the fight. Silver, also left fatigue from the fight, struggled to make his way to Sonic. He, too, was breathing heavily.
Bending over to examine Sonic closely, Silver ridiculed him. "Hmph! Is this a joke? How could someone like you cause the destruction of our world?"
"…What do you…mean…?"
Silver shook his head, sighing. "It doesn't matter. For the sake of the future, the Iblis Trigger must be destroyed."
No, Blaze thought. Sonic isn't responsible.
"Wai…ah!"
Feeling her body being clutched tight, Blaze found herself surrounded by white metallic arms. The same arms of the vessel that belonged to…
"Ho ho ho ho ho!" Eggman laughed maniacally, reversing his aircraft away from Sonic and his 'friend.'
Sonic fought against the aches to get up. "Blaze! Eggman!" He began to run after them, only to end up being struck from behind, landing back on the pavement.
"Don't you dare turn your back on me!" Silver shouted angrily.
Not good! Sonic thought. Again, he tried to get up, but it was getting progressively more difficult.
Silver stopped a few feet from Sonic. "It's time I finally put an end to this!"
Expecting the worse, Sonic writhed in anticipation for Silver's attack.
"STOP!"
A high, feminine cry halted Silver's attack, the sound of red boots skidding to a stop between him and Sonic. Though he glanced back behind him, Sonic didn't need to in order to know who had just saved his life.
With arms stretched out in a protective stance, a pink-furred hedgehog stood firm against Silver.
"Amy?" Silver said, taken aback by her sudden action. Grunting, Silver warned her, "Get out of my way, Amy! This is my mission!"
"Absolutely not!" Amy rebutted.
Silver, despite being determined to kill Sonic, found himself hesitating to strike, clenching his teeth in frustration. Sonic, on the other hand, finally managed to get back on his feet. It hurt, but he could endure it. While he was a little bit curious as to how Silver knew Amy, Sonic decided she could fill him in later. Right now, saving Blaze came first.
"Thanks Amy," Sonic said, giving a sincere smile. "I appreciate it." Having said that, he turned back to the direction Eggman was taking Blaze and ran off. From behind, he could faintly hear Amy reply, "Leave it to me!" Knowing Amy (and her hammer) well enough, Sonic trusted her assertion.
The blue hedgehog moved quickly across the Castle Town's land in an effort to follow the egghead, but without much of a trail to go off of, the only thing he was able to do was get as far away from Silver as possible. Realizing this, Sonic began to slow to a halt in front of the business office, sighing as soon as he stopped.
Great, he thought. What do I do now?
That's when he noticed a group of Soleanna guards arguing with each other, along with that man in the top hat and glasses from earlier. What was his name? Lord Regis? He appeared to be shaking nervously.
"Eggman's mechs have appeared in the New City?" Regis said, hoping his ears were deceiving him.
"Yes, sir," one of the guards responded. "We've locked down the gate to help prevent them from entering the Castle Town. As for the citizens on the other side, some of our men and agents from GUN are trying to keep them indoors or are escorting them to the town's exits for evacuation."
Lord Regis put a hand to his head. Clearly, he was troubled. "This is terrible! First the princess gets captured, then her handmaiden, and now this?" He paused in thought, then said, "I need to let the citizens here know right away. No one is to go in through that gate without authorization, Captain. Am I clear?"
"Yes, sir!"
Having said that, the guards proceeded to rush back to their posts. Lord Regis, meanwhile, headed back inside the business office, completely oblivious to Sonic's presence. Not that Sonic minded—the conversation between him and the guards was all he needed.
"The New City, huh?" Sonic said to no one in particular.
Guess that's where I need to go next.
"Agk!" Sonic felt a sharp pain in his arm, and covered the area with the hand on his other arm. His whole body ached still, but those aches were fading away. The wound from the desert, however, had reopened and the bandages that protected it destroyed during his fight with Silver.
That's not good, Sonic thought. I should take care of this first.
With that, Sonic headed towards the east end of the Castle Town, back to the item shop where Tails should be by now.
