"I will stand guard over him."
Pretzel grimaced and slid off Shadow's head, thumping softly into the shadows. She hunched her shoulders, keeping an eye on Sonic as Rouge gave orders. She still felt like claws were grabbing her chest, burning and squeezing and tearing. She ignored the feeling, focused on reality, on what she could see. He seemed to be relaxed enough. Perhaps the darkness of the temple had a soothing effect, or being away from direct sunlight weakened Light Gaia's control? For all she knew, he was waiting till his friends dropped their guards. Wouldn't be much of a wait, from what she'd observed. Better safe than sorry, she decided, flattening herself to the ground. At least the bat would be predictable.
Speaking of which, her eye caught on a flickering of Rouge's aura. She frowned and focused on the bat. There was something in her movements, some sort of energy in the way her wings fluttered… Excitement, Pretzel guessed. What did she have to be excited about, exploring a dusty old temple?
Well, gave Pretzel something interesting to do, at least.
The temple darkened as Sonic left, taking his painful white light with him. Pretzel pricked her ears, listening to the quieting echoes of his argument with Shadow. The feeling of claws grabbing her chest lessened.
Pretzel scurried down the tunnel Rouge had taken, ears twisting to catch every echo. Her eyes caught a glimpse of white fur, and she ducked into the darkness, keeping her gaze on the bat.
Rouge checked her surroundings with smooth ease—no trace of guilt or secrecy and yet there was that flicker in her aura—before focusing on a massive closed door. A stylized sun had been engraved in the stone. Rouge ran her hands over the door, her motions slow and practiced. Pretzel nearly jumped as the bat suddenly yanked on the door, but it didn't budge. Rouge huffed and pulled something from her belt. Kneeling down, she started prodding around the edges of the door, muttering to herself.
After a few minutes of this, she stopped, looking around with a frown. Pretzel held herself frozen, ready to bolt. Rouge shrugged and turned back to the door. After a moment, Pretzel crept closer to her, trying to see what she was doing.
"What are you doing?" Rouge demanded suddenly, sending Pretzel lunging into the air.
"I could ask you the same question," Pretzel's claws met the wall and she clung to it like a lizard, folding her wings around herself.
"You could," Rouge agreed, the accusation leaving her voice as her smooth tone reasserted itself. Pretzel would have preferred if she stayed angry. "But I did ask first."
"You were acting suspicious."
"Says the girl who showed up right as this crisis started with no memories." Pretzel hissed, and Rouge smirked. "Are you even a girl, really? I've never seen a species like you." She moved closer, and Pretzel arched her back, baring her teeth.
Heels clicked on stone, and they both whipped around to see the cat—Blaze—walking swiftly toward them. She kept her back straight and her gaze up, her dark purple coat flapping softly with her strides. Flame licked around her, a brilliant aura that burned red on the edges.
"Highness," Rouge greeted sarcastically.
"My name is Blaze," The cat told her flatly. Her tail waved slowly as she glanced at Pretzel. Despite her glow, she seemed only slightly hostile, and even that wasn't specific to Pretzel.
Rouge smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Of course, Princess. I thought we agreed to split up, or did I miss something?"
"You said you were a thief and a spy," Blaze's yellow eyes held Rouge's. Neither wavered.
"I am a thief," Rouge corrected. "Present tense."
Blaze grimaced but pressed on. "I know it hasn't been long since they were lost, but I hoped… I wondered if you had heard of any… emeralds?"
"You're gonna have to be more specific, honey," Rouge placed a hand on her hip.
"LIke the Chaos Emeralds, they would have very high energy levels and… unusual properties," Blaze explained, tail lashing. Anxiety, Pretzel recognized. "There are seven of them. They are called the Sol Emeralds, though I am not sure many would know their names."
Rouge shook her head with an apologetic expression. Pretzel couldn't decide if it was authentic or not, but some tension had left her posture and the guarded hostility was gone from her eyes. "Haven't heard of them, but I'll keep you posted." Her wings twitched, and Pretzel's ears pointed forward attentively.
"Are you sure?" Blaze took a step forward, eyes burning earnestly. "You don't know anything about where they might be?"
"Not a thing," Rouge said, and this time Pretzel was sure of it, a dark flicker in her aura.
"You're lying." Too late did she realize she'd said it out loud. Her own calm, certain voice, echoing off the walls, made her start.
Blaze and Rouge started at her.
"How do you know?" Blaze asked, tail lashing more frantically then ever, her aura leaping and lashing yet desperately trying to contain itself. Before Pretzel could answer, the cat whirled on Rouge, and the bat stepped back in alarm. The tension was back with a vengeance, and Pretzel realized at least some of that fire was real and physical and could burn them really and physically. "What do you know about the Sol Emeralds?" Blaze growled, her voice still shockingly cold. A fang gleamed red in the firelight.
"Alright, alright!" Rouge threw up her hands, wings fluttering restlessly. Her shadow danced on the wall. Despite everything, her voice was still even. "I may have heard something about one in Shamar. I didn't want to get your hopes up."
Pretzel's eyes were fastened on the burning flame, and too late she glanced over to check Rouge's aura. With the twisting shadows, she could hardly tell what was there and what wasn't.
Blaze stepped forward, and the flame in her hand calmed and cast a far more even glow. "I hope you're telling the truth. Assuming you are…" She looked at both of them, the fire in her eyes soothed to more of a campfire. "Thank you."
Rouge smiled, and her voice was warm despite the tension in her wings and guardedness in her gaze."Happy to help, your highness."
Blaze narrowed her eyes, but before she could respond voices echoed loudly down the hall. One voice, especially.
"I told you, I searched the whole temple!" Glaring white light eclipsed Blaze's darker flames, and Pretzel dropped to the base of the wall, pressing into what shadows she could find. She squinted, blinking as white spots danced on her vision.
Footsteps scuffed on stone. She recognized the squeak of Sonic's sneakers and the relaxed energy of his steps. The metallic click and measured pace were less familiar, but she knew they belonged to Shadow.
"You left for less than three minutes, how thorough could it have been?" Shadow questioned, his cold tone edged with irritation.
"Just because you're too slow—" Sonic started to argue, but broke off as he caught sight of the others and bounced over to join them. "Hey, guys! I heard you getting along better!"
"Surprised you heard anything," Pretzel muttered, flicking her tail.
"We're good at multitasking," Sonic shrugged.
"Rouge has told me of a lead on the Sol Emeralds," Blaze informed him.
"Really?" Sonic's ears sprang forward in surprise. "Awesome!"
While Sonic and Blaze talked, Shadow stepped towards Rouge, his voice low. Pretzel stalked closer, both to escape Sonic and Blaze's combined light and to eavesdrop. "I'm surprised you told her. I would have thought—"
"It's not important," Rouge waved her hand and turned towards Sonic and Rouge. Shadow's quills raised slightly, almost imperceptibly, and his eyes narrowed. He folded his arms and turned away from them all, studying the door.
"Have you found a way to open this?" He asked without turning.
When Rouge didn't answer, Sonic nudged her, and she sighed. "No. I tried, but the only way we're getting in is—"
Shadow raised his hand. "CHAOS SPEAR!" Green energy flashed, and for a moment Shadow's aura lit and writhed and sparked. Then it faded back to dark red, and the door lay in ruins.
"I thought you needed a Chaos emerald to do that," Sonic observed, stepping over the rubble. His sneakers crunched on rock.
Shadow shook his head. "For full teleportation, yes. But I can still access their energies enough for a spear."
A strange look passed over Sonic's face, and he moved away, poking at the rubble with unusual quiet.
"What is this?" Rouge's voice echoed from across the room, where she was investigating twelve doors. Six stood boldly, with bright symbols carved into them. The other six had deep scratches across the symbols, partially obscuring their meaning. Blaze walked over to join her, running a reverent hand over a door emblazoned with a sun setting behind a glacier.
"They have an energy similar to Chaos control," Shadow said, and they all nodded as if that made any sense.
Sonic tapped something on the wall. "Rouge, you have any idea what this means?"
The bat joined him, tilting her head as she studied the writing. "I'm not sure, but the pictures are pretty clear."
Sonic coughed, his tail curling with embarrassment. "Oh, yeah, I guess that would be simpler."
Rouge chuckled. "They seem to suggest these are doors to other places." She traced over the drawings, which showed a savannah and an open door. Through the door was an arctic wasteland. "Far away places."
"How do we activate them?" Sonic asked, touching the door with the glacier on it. Immediately the carvings on the doors lit up, glowing with an eager white light that matched Sonic's aura. Pretzel hissed and backed away, raising her wings. Blaze and Rouge both glanced at her with sympathetic expressions.
"Like that, it seems," Rouge pushed on the door lightly, and cold wind hissed through the crack.
"A constant Chaos control," Shadow marveled, moving to get a closer look at the door. He brushed against Rouge, and they both jerked away from each other, scowling.
"What's the plan, Blue?" Rouge pointedly turned her back on Shadow.
"I think we should—" Sonic paused for a brief second, eyes jumping between Shadow, facing the door with his arms crossed, and Rouge, still keeping her back to him. "Maybe we should split up? With these gates, we could spread out across the planet easily."
"Good idea, blue," Rouge moved to the center of the group, and Shadow reluctantly half-turned to face her. "Conveniently, I have a lead for each of us."
"How?" Pretzel demanded, and was ignored.
"I'll go to Adabat, Shadow will go to Empire City, and Sonic can head to Holoska." She looked at the doors again. "I'd guess there's one for each major continent."
"So is this the South Pole?" Sonic pushed the glacier door all the way open, and snow blasted into the room. Pretzel leaned into the cold gust, a welcome relief from the stifling warmth of the temple. She hadn't realized just how much she hated this place until now.
Rouge stepped carefully into the doorway, pulling a device from her belt. She leaned out into the cold, wrapping her wings around her as a protective barrier, and squinted at the screen. "Actually… this is closer to the North Pole!" She shouted over the wind.
"Which continent would that be?" Sonic yelled, joining Rouge as she pushed against the door.
The door shut with a slam and a final hiss of ice. The room seemed painfully stifling with its closing, buried underground without the coolness of the night, choking in the heat and firelight. Pretzel dug her claws into the ground. Not underground. Not trapped. Not buried. Not for long.
Rouge's voice dragged Pretzel's mind back to the present. "Technically? North America. It's an island, Greenland; their culture is more European." Rouge brushed the snow off her gloves and studied the other doors. "Which doesn't much support my theory."
Blaze stepped up to a door with a desert sun and pushed it open. A hot breeze swirled through the room. Rouge joined her, poking out the device. "Saudi Arabia. That's in Asia." Sonic pushed open a gate engraved with coastal scene. "Italy. Europe." The hedgehog darted over to a portal showing a stilt hut over water. "Indonesia. Asia again. And Oceania, technically." Blaze opened a door and hissed at a blast of noise. Rouge peered out and smirked. "Empire City. That's two for North America."
Sonic and Blaze raced for the final door. He won and stuck out his tongue at her. She scowled and turned away. The door showed an elegant temple and a rising red sun; when Rouge opened it, they were greeted by a blast of noise, but with a different flavor than Empire City.
"China. That's the third for Asia." Rouge stepped back to take in all the doors, putting her hands on her hips. "Empire City, Adabat, Spagonia, Shamar, Mazuri, Holoska, Chun-Nan. North America, Asia, Europe, Asia, North America, Asia."
"Maybe whoever made this really likes Asia?" Sonic suggested.
"What about the other doors?" Shadow asked, and without waiting for an answer, he pushed at one of the scratched doors. Beyond it lay nothing but bright, empty space.
"Weird…" Sonic muttered, waving his hand in the void.
"Stand back," Shadow told him. The blue hedgehog obliged, and Shadow laid a hand on the door frame. His aura once again crackled with green energy. "Chaos control." He muttered, and for just a moment a beautiful white city blinked into view and then was gone again. Shadow stumbled, gasping from the exertion. Rouge moved as if to support him, but stopped herself and turned away, folding her arms.
"That was Apotos," Sonic muttered, staring into the void. "I was there not long ago… Right after this whole mess started, actually."
"That's a pretty big coincidence," Rouge cocked her head to one side, considering the door.
Blaze traced a hand over the scratches on the door. "These marks… What could have made them?"
"A really big cat?" Sonic joked.
Without speaking, Blaze unsheathed her claws and sliced them down the door frame. Everyone moved closer to compare the marks.
"Not a cat," Sonic acquiesced.
Blaze looked around and gestured at Pretzel. "Do you have claws?"
Pretzel blinked, taking a moment to realize Blaze was actually talking to her. She scuttled across the room and slashed her talons down the wood. She hissed and coiled under her wings as everyone leaned dangerously near her to study the marks.
"Similar," Blaze murmured. "Some sort of bird, I think."
Hot fear hissed in Pretzel's ear, coiling around her heart. Again she felt the claws clutching her chest, but now they were bigger, hotter, brighter, sharper. Not claws. Talons.
"Well, that's ominous," Sonic muttered. "Should we use the gates to get to where we're going?"
"I don't see why not," Rouge shrugged. "And in the latest of this string of coincidences, there's a gate for each location I suggested." She glanced at Blaze. "And one for you, too, princess." She nodded at the door with the desert sun.
Blaze blinked and slowly walked over to it. She pushed it open again, and the hot wind eagerly leapt around them, like a dog whose master had come back after being gone for five minutes.
"Shamar," Rouge reminded her. "No reason for drawn out goodbyes. Let's see what we can find, and we can meet in Empire City. That should make my supervisors happy," she added in a mutter.
Shadow nodded and, without a word, stepped through the door into Empire City. It slammed shut behind him with a bright flash. Rouge rolled her eyes.
Rouge pushed open the door with the stilt hut. She winked at the remainders of the group. "Good luck!" And with that she was gone.
"Well, good luck finding the Sol Emeralds, Blaze!" Sonic stepped towards the glacier door.
"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Blaze raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah!" Sonic spun around. "You coming with me, Pretzel?"
For just a moment, Pretzel entertained the notion of chasing after Shadow, who was at least quiet, or Rouge, who she could kind of understand, or even following Blaze, who seemed to think Pretzel was a person (though then she remembered where Blaze was going and immediately dismissed the notion). But no. The others were easier, yes, easier to understand without the blinding auras and strange mind control, but Sonic was the one who had promised to help, Sonic was the one who got things moving, and for all his unpredictability… he was the first. The first one who saw her. That counted for something.
Plus, he was going to the cold place.
"You promised to help me find my memories," Pretzel fluttered over to join him, leaning towards the door with anticipation of the cold wind. "I'm not letting you get away that easily."
Sonic chuckled. "Alright then. See ya, Blaze!" He waved and pushed through the door. Pretzel jumped in after him, and they were consumed by swirling white.