Apparently, what was 4:30 in the afternoon in Empire City was close to sunrise in Chun-nan, and that didn't suit Rouge's needs. Time zones. So annoying. Rouge said they needed to wait till 9 am here so it would be 9 pm there, which meant practically a whole day of doing nothing. When Sonic made it clear he would not be doing anymore sleeping, Rouge assigned him to get supplies. The fact that he didn't know where anything was in the city or even what supplies they could possibly need did not seem to perturb her.
To be fair, Shadow got sent to smooth things over with GUN, so at least Sonic wasn't the only one with a sucky job. Pretzel, meanwhile, got to stay in the hotel room. Rouge said it was because Pretzel was quiet and Pretzel said it was because she would turn to dust in the sunlight, but Sonic was pretty sure she was just watching cartoons. Did anyone ask if he would rather watch Phineas and Ferb than go shopping for things they didn't even need? No. And just because he destroyed one— okay, two curtains! He'd apologized!
Griping aside, it was… nice, seeing the city. He didn't come here often, for obvious reasons, but looking around now, it was new enough that it didn't hurt like he'd thought it would. Brainwashed smiles aside, it seemed like a perfectly normal city. He could almost forget…
Until he came across the monument.
Sonic stopped and looked up at it in silence. The wind rushed softly through his quills. Late afternoon sunlight gleamed off the fragile glass, casting a surprisingly soft orange glow over the plaque. The top read, in simple bold font, "Heroes". There was a list of names below it. Sonic smiled when he saw Tails' name, and felt an odd twist in his gut when he saw his own name beside it. It… seemed odd. Out of place. He resisted the urge to try and rub it off. He knew it wouldn't work.
Sonic looked up at the monument itself. A wave of broken glass, metal, and stone, crashing over his head. Below it, bravely holding the line, were gifts and photos, faces and flowers. He rubbed a finger thoughtfully over the money Rouge had given him, smiled, and darted across the street. The purple hyacinths fit in perfectly.
The next morning, Shadow took them to the local temple, where once again the inner room was lined with doors.
"Surprised you didn't have to break this entrance, too," Rouge commented.
"Actually, someone had a key."
This time, Sonic was prepared for the whiplash of stepping from day to night… not that it made much of a difference. Rouge offered him a bag of trail mix and a canteen of coffee before bleeding into the night with Pretzel. Shadow stood by silently while Sonic regained his strength, stoically accepting a handful of trail mix. Sonic hid a smirk as Shadow picked out the bits he didn't like with an expression like he was performing brain surgery.
Finally, Sonic stood and stretched, willing the shakiness from his limbs. He nodded at Shadow. "Let's get this over with."
A ghost of a smile flitted over Shadow's face. "Let's." He took off down the street (conveniently cordoned off due to the whole Eggman-took-over-the-temple thing), leaving a trail of red sparks in his wake. Sonic chuckled and raced after him. It was time to make some noise.
Whoever "Eggman" was (was he that giant metal termite that Sonic had been chasing in the hot place? weird), he was evidently a fast worker. Rouge and Shadow made it sound like he just took over the temple yesterday, and yet already massive silver structures cast deep shadows over Pretzel and Rouge, surrounding the temple like a miniature (and by that she meant how far it spread, not how tall it loomed) city. Strange, equally shiny beings marched around it, lights glowing like eyes in what she guessed were their heads. They remind her of the giant termite. Maybe they were its children.
Rouge held out an arm, indicating for her to wait. The bat watched the beings keenly for a moment before signaling Pretzel to move forward. They darted between patrols and pressed into the shadows of the building wall. Something glinted in the corner of Pretzel's vision, and she looked up to see a black, shiny thing sticking out of the wall.
"Security camera," Rouge murmured, voice pitched so that no one but Pretzel could hear her. While Sonic had been out on pointless errands, Rouge and Pretzel had practiced. Rouge had taught her simple hand signals, basic stealth tactics, and how to use "bombs". Pretzel liked bombs. Especially the quiet bombs that made Sonic sneeze and stumble around like an idiot. They had also established each others hearing ranges; evidently, Pretzel could hear both higher and lower than Rouge, something the bat claimed was "quite impressive".
(Pretzel had also learned what cartoons were and that she did, in fact, have a sense of humor. Not that that was particularly useful in this situation, but it might come in handy later. Maybe if some mob thought she was a heartless monster? A non-brainwashed mob open to hearing what she had to say, anyway.)
Rouge took something that looked like a bomb and placed it on the camera. It sparked quietly and then drooped. "We don't have much time. Let's go." She peeled away from the wall and spread her wings, flying almost silently to the roof. Pretzel followed, keeping an eye on the patrolling guards in case they were spotted. She tugged the shadows after them like a cape, deflecting the ominous glowing lights.
"Batman," Sonic had said when he returned with the groceries (i.e. trail mix, bananas, peanut butter and coffee) and saw them practicing scaling buildings (or more specifically, the hotel). Pretzel liked that. Batman.
Now perched on top of the building, Rouge tapped on the roof. Her ears, round and white like the moon, were turned towards her work, catching every sound. The pitch changed slightly at one part, and Rouge took what Pretzel knew from practice that this was some sort of glorified knife that glowed blue and burned white. It was also very hot (not that she'd touched it or anything). It cut a clean circle in the roof, and the two of them slipped down into some sort of small passage.
"Ventilation shaft," Rouge told her. "Classic weakness. Wouldn't be surprised if we ran into some lasers in here, so keep your eyes peeled."
"Understood," Pretzel murmured, watching as Rouge sprayed something ahead of them before crawling forwards. They crawled several… well… they probably crawled a distance before Rouge called a halt. The spray-thing revealed the presence of red beams of light. The aforementioned lasers, presumably.
"Let me see…" Rouge murmured, studying the walls intently. Pretzel frowned, concentrating on the lasers. They seemed to just be beams of light. Rouge flicked on a flashlight, and Pretzel glanced to the side, looking at her own shadow looming over her. She reached out a wing, spreading the darkness, imagining the shadows spreading and congealing and dispelling the bright lasers.
Shockingly? It worked.
"Well, well, well," Rouge said appreciatively as the lasers vanished into darkness. "Aren't you just full of surprises?"
They reached their target, and Rouge cut another neat hole in the steel. They dropped into the room, and while Rouge disabled the guards—machines, it seemed, from the way they sparked and the way the metal parts went flying—, Pretzel wove through the shadows, poking at the various shiny, complicated things and taking out security cameras and automated… guns, right? A chunk of metal vaguely resembling a head slammed down near her. Pretzel glanced up at Rouge, who finished her kick neatly and leaned over some sort of… screen, that was what it was called. Like a magic window. A window to a land of confusing shapes.
"Here," Rouge announced after a few minutes of fiddling. "It mentions something about a prisoner, lines up with when Blaze was taken." She frowned. "It seems she's being held in the temple itself, but there isn't a map." She looked at Pretzel. "Can you find your way there?"
Pretzel concentrated for a moment, and was immediately aware of a very bright aura in a building nearby. "Yes."
"Lovely. Find Blaze and free her if you can." Rouge rummaged in the pockets of her uniform. "Here, take these." Pretzel accepted a cutter, which was like two knives put together, and three EMPs. This day just got better and better. "You know how to use them. If you can't rescue Blaze, just establish her location and meet Sonic and Shadow outside. They should be easy to find, just follow the explosions." Rouge put her own tools away and moved for the door, stopping to press her ear to the wall. She started tugging off her bulky uniform gloves.
"What are you going to do?" Pretzel demanded.
Rouge smirked, pulling on an elbow-length white glove with a pink cuff. "What I do best." She was gone before Pretzel could question her further.
Pretzel grabbed the cutter and EMPs in her mouth (she'd found it was the most convenient way to hold them; Rouge had been impressed by how far her jaws could open). Paws freed, she focused on the auras again, briefly following Rouge's as it slunk down the hall before focusing on the brighter, farther one. Ignoring her instincts, which loudly advised her to flee in the opposite direction, Pretzel moved towards the light.
With the shadows on her side, it was a simple matter to avoid the various machines and death traps. A few times she ran across inconveniently placed spikes and pits. They were easily flown over, but she supposed they would be suitable obstacles for someone without wings. Especially, now that she thought about it, someone who had a tendency to run really fast without looking where he was going. This "Eggman" was too much of a specialist.
Level design aside, she made it out of the building and scampered into the temple proper. It was about the same as any other temple, but with a colorful flair that she assumed was influence from the surrounding region. She ducked past a very big, ominous looking guard and into the twisting halls. The bright aura led her further and further in, and Pretzel felt a growing dread the farther she went (as opposed to her usual, more general sense of dread).
She reached the door to the inner room. Ah. Of course it would be here. She slipped under and—
Oh. Oh, it was bright.
Pretzel scrambled back, pressing herself against the door in a futile attempt to hide. Fire roared over her, white hot and blinding. She didn't need to imagine the claws closing her around her chest now; they were inches from her face, ready to burn her to shreds in a heartbeat.
She was going to die.
She was dead.
The calm certainty of it gave Pretzel courage enough to move from the door, barely dodging the swipe of the creature's talons. Phoenix, some part of her recognized, which wasn't terribly helpful.
Pretzel brushed past a tapestry and threw it at the Phoenix. It didn't even lift a claw, letting the tapestry burn as soon as it brushed its fiery feathers. Pretzel watched the image of Dark Gaia burn to ash with morbid fascination.
The Phoenix lunged again, and Pretzel darted forward. She pressed against the wall in a futile attempt to get out of its range, then looked up. Doors lined the room as they had in every other temple. Maybe…
Pretzel waited for the Phoenix to lunge again, crouched in front of a door, and at the last second leapt away. The Phoenix shrieked as it was greeted by a blast of icy wind, courtesy of Holoska. It drew its head back, shaking it furiously side to side. Pretzel ran to the next door. Maybe if it got its head far enough through, she could decapitate it somehow.
Unfortunately, the Phoenix was the learning type. It shot one clawed foot out at her, and when she dodged, it was ready with the other. Pretzel screamed as the fire burned at her scales and fur and through to her skin, and a horrible, acrid sizzling smell reached her. She writhed, hissing furiously, helpless as the Phoenix studied her with flaming eyes.
"Down, boy," a smooth voice called, and smoke filled the air. Gloved hands pried Pretzel free, and she gratefully curled into the cool touch. Rouge ducked down, spreading her wings over Pretzel while the Phoenix recovered from the smoke bomb.
"This must be the jailer," Rouge muttered. "Fitting for a princess." She glanced down at Pretzel, frozen with fear and smelling of burning, then up at the quickly recovering Phoenix. "I'll handle it. You take this and go." She pressed something into Pretzel's hand that sparkled with repressed energy. It brushed briefly against her mind, and they each mentally jerked away from each other. This amount of energy wasn't safe. Not with her.
"Go!" Rouge yelled, hovering above her. Pretzel clutched the Chaos Emerald close and took off. The Phoenix swiped at her, but Rouge swooped in and was pinned to the wall for her troubles. Pretzel glanced back, then tightened her grip on the Emerald and kept running. Her ears twitched and something shuddered inside her, but she didn't turn even when Rouge's scream echoed down the hall.