Looking through the window, Sonic hadn't fully appreciated the Moray's light show, but out here he got the full experience: the blinding flash of white, the almost-gasp that would have robbed him of his meager air supply, the sudden boiling heat of the water around him, the primal terror of being suspended, unable to see or hear or smell anything. It was quite impressive.

He hated it.

Well, to be entirely honest, some part of him was delighted by the increase in heat and light and the awesome fish-monster he was facing, but given the heat was boiling, the light was blinding, and the awesome fish-monster was causing the previous two problems, he blamed the excitement on Light Gaia.

Bit by bit, his vision returned. Futilely trying to blink the spots from his vision, Sonic glanced over at Blaze as she floated beside him. If the water wasn't already burning, her glare would have done it. Pretzel, meanwhile… was unconscious again. Wonderful.

Sonic gestured wildly at Blaze. Despite the water slowing his movements, she caught on and grabbed Pretzel, dragging her back to the temple, glaring at the Moray over her shoulder the whole time.

It's just me and you, fish-monster, Sonic thought grimly, staring his opponent in the eye…

And then it disappeared.

This was going to be a long fight.

Sonic turned slowly in the dark, wishing the spots from the blinding light moments before would go away. The heat faded from the water as quickly as it had come. His tail curled. He could feel the ocean pressing down on his chest, tighter and tighter, like the world's wettest straight jacket.

Something brushed against him, and Sonic had a moment to close his eyes and try to swim away stupid slow-ifying water before the fire flared around him. He bit down on his scream.

The light faded from his eyelids, and he opened them and spun in the water. No sign of the Moray. This was going swimmingly.

Feeling the burn in his lungs, Sonic struck out for the temple—he could see that at least, the way it was glowing—and burst into the air with a gasp. "This is not going well," he announced. Blaze nodded from where she was trying to perform reverse-pyrokinesis on Pretzel's corpse unconscious body.

"Perhaps we should tag team," Blaze suggested. "Like we did with the Egg Salamander."

"That would help with the oxygen problem," Sonic conceded. "But we still need a plan for how to fight the thing when we can't even see it."

"Can't see it?" Pretzel suddenly snapped, sending Sonic scrambling back with a yelp. Evidently she'd returned to the land of the living consciousness. "How can you not see it? The thing's worse than the sun."

"Not all the time," Sonic argued.

Blaze squinted for a moment and then nodded slowly, as if she had seen some grand revelation. He wouldn't be surprised. "It does have a very bright aura…"

"Well I can't see auras—" Sonic started to point out, but stopped. "Or…. maybe I can…"

"You have fun with burning out your retinas." Pretzel skittered up the wall and flicked her tail at them. "I'm going to poke around."

"You don't want to fight the fish-monster with us?"

"Eel. I'm good."

"Alright then," Sonic turned to Blaze, rubbing his hands together. "Just like the Egg Salamander."

"With the exception of oxygen."

"Eh, I wouldn't be so sure the dimensional rift—"

"Or the Emeralds."

"Yeah, those would be nice, but—"

"Or clear visibility."

"Blaze—"

"Or our friends cheering us on."

"BLAZE!" He rolled his eyes. "Do you want to go first?"

She smirked at him. "I was hoping for a chance to write my will."

Sonic sighed dramatically, resisting a grin. "You've been spending too much time with Pretzel."

As she chuckled, Sonic closed his eyes and focused. The light flared delightedly, hungry for battle. Just a little, just a little, he urged. He grasped at the chill of the temple and imagined it cooling the fire down. It worked, a little. He felt he was walking a wire; fall one way and the light would take over, fall the other way and he wouldn't be able to use it.

He saw. His eyes were closed, yet the world shone sharp and clear. Too clear. Everything was light or dark, black or white, no in betweens. It reminded him of claws on her throat too dark had to be destroyed burning burning burning—

Blaze shined like a star. Glowing and subtle and full of color.

He smiled.

Keeping his eyes closed, Sonic slowly turned towards the window, hands out to keep from bumping into a wall. There it was: the Moray, glowing and weaving like an aurora borealis. Less colorful, more glaring and unnatural. Its light was artificial.

Sonic took a deep breath and stepped out into the water again. It swirled coldly around him, invisible and enclosing. He fought past the tightness in his chest and focused on the constant glow of the Moray in his mind. Its aura spiked, and he had a moment's warning before light flared against his eyelids and the water went hot.

Sonic waited, watching as the impossibly long glow of its aura shot towards him, wrapped around him, brushed burning against his fur. It was playing with him.

Good.

The water cooled. The Moray moved languidly, comfortable in its invisibility. Sonic smirked and struck. The Moray's skin was cool and slimy and completely unprotected without the boiling heat.

Whaddya know. Having claws was kinda nice.

Sound waves reverberated through the water. The Moray thrashed. Lungs burning, Sonic started back towards the warmer beacon of Blaze's aura. His hand brushed the stone of the temple, and then the water was boiling again, and he couldn't stop from screeching as his fur burned and teeth sank into his tail. Stupid thing.

Water flooded his lungs. Choking, Sonic kicked out. On his third attempt his shoe struck something soft and the Moray lurched back long enough for him to pull free and reach in through the temple door. Warm, familiar hands grabbed his arms and tugged him to safety.

"Tag out," she murmured, and was gone.

Sonic raised himself to his knees and coughed, hacking water out of his lungs. "Ugh," he grumbled, futilely trying to wipe the salt taste out of his mouth. With effort he opened his eyes and glanced back at the door. The ocean was lit with ethereal fire, leaving the Moray with no place to hide. Blaze stood in the center of the physics-defying spectacle, eyes closed and brow furrowed with concentration. Her gloved hand was raised and shaking slightly. Her feathery cuffs and hair seemed almost alive in the water.

Sonic stayed crouched, regaining his breath and counting the seconds, while Blaze and the Moray circled each other in their blinding dance. Blaze was far more experienced with water than he was, and it showed. She moved quickly, quickly enough he could almost forget she was underwater if he hadn't known her true speed. For all their banter just minutes ago, there was no fear in her. Only fire.

But even Blaze had her limits. As the Moray retreated, burns patterning its face, the optical light faded, both fire and the Moray's fierce glow, leaving only their bright auras. Blaze struck out for the temple. Sonic got to his feet and reached for Blaze's hand. She entered less elegantly than she left, sprawling on the floor and gasping for air.

"Have fun?" Sonic teased.

She scowled at him. "We don't want to give it time to recover. Get moving, slowpoke."

Sonic's quills raised at the insult. "This is why I called you rude."

She rolled her eyes and waved towards the door, evidently too worn out to get up. "Just go, please."

He grinned. "Aw, you said please! How bad did it hurt?" Before she could answer, he took a deep breath and stepped out into the ocean.

The freezing cold slapped away his smile, and his eyes scanned the depths wildly before he remembered and slammed them closed, moments before the light burned against his lids. Grimacing, Sonic tried to focus. The Moray's aura flickered into his mind a heartbeat before it was on him. Teeth tore at his shoulder, but he was prepared for the pain and kept from gasping.

Doing his best to ignore the searing heat, Sonic twisted and slashed his claws at the Moray. All he got for his trouble was singed fur and a desperate need for ice. He got his wish a few seconds later as the Moray darted away, the water cooling after it.

Sonic scowled, watching the eel's aura glowing a safe distance away. He was sick of this fish.

The light continued to boil in him. If he really looked at it, listened to it (which he tried not to), it seemed almost… irked. He'd expected it to resist fighting the Light Moray, its own minion, but in fact it seemed eager, vengeful. If he took a little more time to listen, he might have figured out why, but he had a feeling that if he listened to close to the light, he wouldn't hear anything else ever again.

Eyes still closed, he looked at the glowing outline of his own hand. He thought about it. For only a second or two, but he did think. Blaze would be proud. He thought of his claws and how he didn't know how to use them. Thought of Blaze kneeling in the temple, gasping for breath. Thought of how tiring fighting underwater was. Thought of how unaffected the Moray was by their attacks.

Thought of fighting fire with fire.

Well, blind faith and reckless action were his areas of expertise.

Let's go, he told it, and the white flames surged through him. Any feeling of cold vanished, and his wounds were forgotten as bright energy raced in his veins. His eyes flew open.

The Light Moray circled back around. Its light flared. Sonic smirked. He could almost imagine it gaping in shock that his eyes weren't blinded by the light, but then the eel was always gaping (and what sharp teeth you have!), so.

He flared his wings, glaring down the Moray. For just a moment, it hesitated. It was only a heartbeat before it was surging forward again, but it was enough. His wings served just as well for swimming as they presumably did for flying, and he darted out of the way, leaving the Moray to charge into the temple. The thud rippled through the water, and bits of dust and stone drifted down in a cloud around the Moray's dazed eyes. Nice.

The light faded from the Moray's skin, and Sonic dove. It writhed, still too dazed to get very far before Sonic was on it. Funny. Claws were so much more effective when you knew how to use them.

The Moray lit up again. Sonic backpedaled hurriedly. The eel lunged, but with a thrust of his wings Sonic shot out of the way… barely. He glanced briefly at the temple. Then his eyes drifted to his wings, and then up to the surface. Hmm…

To his credit, he spared a moment's thought to the tongue-lashing Blaze would give him about not following the plan. But if Sonic could take the Moray down by himself, no help needed, wasn't that better than a much slower plan that risked someone else getting hurt? No, Sonic could handle this himself. Blaze would understand. Probably.

Moment of thought passed, he turned to the surface and started swimming.