The flames danced as the princess twirled elegantly from the large rubble. Teal light shined brightly with concentration as the hedgehog kept his teammate's platforms steady. They were so close. So close to finishing off Iblis. Well, this incarnation of it.
"Silver!" Blaze cried out as she jumped high into the air.
"Right behind ya!" He called out, readying a large boulder from the ground.
With a graceful spin, the princess burst into flames. In synchronicity with her, Silver forcefully shattered the boulder and threw it into her fiery aura. Blaze waited until the perfect moment to strike, carefully aiming at her target. She knew its weak spot, she's hit it before.
"C'mon ya flaming freak! Over here!" Silver shouted to the lava monster.
A demonic bellow echoed the silence of Crisis City, turning its attention to the levitating hedgehog. He was being as annoying as a fly, a pest you cannot get rid of.
"Hyah!"
With a final twirl, the princess sent multiple flaming rocky projectiles at the enemy, pelting it constantly until it gave a final roar of pain. Silver watched in wide-eyed amazement at his friend's perfect aim. The beast began to sink into the lava pool, bubbling and swirling mass of molten rock meeting in the center. Blaze landed on the ground as did Silver.
"Blaze, that was amazing!" Silver exclaimed, staring at her like a sugar high kid.
The princess gave a sheepish grin before turning her attention to the lava. She placed her hands on her hips and turned on her heels.
"I am just glad that this appearance of it is finally defeated." She spoke, slightly out of breath. In her chest, she couldn't help but feel as if she was lying.
Silver followed, catching up to her.
"Yeah but give yourself credit where it's due! I doubt I could spin that many times without getting dizzy!" He laughed in honesty. "It's as if with every battle, you teach me something new."
"Oh? What did you learn back there then?" The cat gave him a kind grin, raising her brow. She'd be lying if she wasn't amused in testing his knowledge.
"Uh..." Silver hesitated as he crossed his arms, looking down in thought.
Behind both of them and little to their knowledge, Iblis was far from defeated. The beast began to rise from the lava once more, this time appearing more scaled by molten rock. As if it was using said rocks as some sort of armor from blunt attacks.
Blaze's ears turned from the noise, eyes going wide at the larger and more protected this incarnation appeared.
The entity raised its blazing limbs, then quickly brought them down towards the duo. Burning rock bullets fired at the two of them suddenly.
"Look out!"
Her shout caught Silver by surprise as he was too into his own thoughts to acknowledge the noise. Turning and raising his arms, he cloaked himself and Blaze in a shield, protecting them from the rocks.
"What?! I thought it was finished?!"
"It appears as if it is using the rocks as some sort of armor."
With a mighty roar, the lava monster thrust its fiery limb down on the two of them. Luckily, Silver's shield was too powerful albeit painful to hold up against such pressure. Shaking off the pain, the hedgehog released a surge of psychokinetic power before jumping to high ground with Blaze.
"Dang it! Why won't it stay dead?!" Silver hissed, protecting himself and blaze in his teal energy.
"It is made of fire, Silver. This world is nothing but fire now. It always has the energy to keep coming back." Blaze answered, letting go of his hand as she stepped onto a broken skyscraper.
"Do you think you can do that twirly thing again? That seemed to stop it!"
"It seems to only give it more rocks to use as armor."
"Of course... This stupid flame demon..." Silver sighed, landing on a platform in front of Blaze. "I can probably kill it, I just need a moment to focus." He tightly shut his eyes, breaking his psychic aura for a moment.
[Boulders... cars... broken pillars...]
Teal energy began to grow around the large objects, picking them up with ease.
[Focus, Silver... Focus. That large slab of road, those cars, those rocks...]
/Blunt objects won't work. You heard her./
[I know that! But if I can distract him for just a second with them, then maybe I can... wait! That's it!]
Silver opened his eyes, smiling as he jumped into the air. He levitated and held his hands up, something beginning to surge to life within his grasp. He shouted as he threw his arms down, a psionic wave of sharp cyan energy hurled in Iblis's direction. It sliced one of the beast's horns off, turning it into ash. Still holding onto the large objects, he threw them at the beast, watching in delight as Iblis melted back into the lava.
"Haha! YES!" He did a backflip in the air at his own excitement. "Sharp things work, Blaze!" He turned to face her, oblivious to the fact that a large golf ball-sized rock was being shot right at him.
"Silver! Look out!" Blaze shouted, raising her hand to try and deflect the projectile.
Not even given a chance to react, Silver found himself struck in his temple by the medium-sized rock, burned and partially molten. His unconscious body fell from the platform and plummeted into the ground, creating a large thick cloud of dust from the impact.
"Silver, are you alright?!" Blaze immediately jumped down to her friend, falling to her knees to his aid.
Iblis screeched, rocky fanged maw opening as flames spouting as it did so. Multiple flames shot towards the two of them, to which flames burst from her fingertips, pushing back Iblis's projectiles.
"Silver, please wake up!" She shook her friend, noticing the bruise on the side of his head. She winced at the pain he must be in, growling to herself and standing. She turned to face Iblis.
Blaze jumped from the high platforms, embers dancing around her being as they targeted Iblis. She jumped and danced all around the beast, keeping it distracted from her injured friend. She jumped to lower ground after a while, dodging the fiery rocks and limbs that rained towards her. With a lash of her tail, the princess launched herself into a spin, sending forth an Axel Tornado to the monster.
She landed hard on the ground, giving a fanged grin as the beast recoiled from the pain. Her smile didn't last as Iblis roared once more and with a swift motion, swung its arms down, spawning a multitude of lava monsters.
Too easy, this is too easy. C'mon, you can take it. Blaze began using her body to her advantage, precisely kicking and dancing around her opponents. She made use of her tail, lashing the creatures into ash, swinging her hands out and raising walls of fire. All of her strength being put to the test, and still, Silver hasn't moved from his spot. Please, Silver... please get up! I don't know how much longer I can keep this up! She thought, letting her guard down as she glanced at Silver's body.
Bad mistake.
With a cheeky growl, the lava monster lashed its claws at her, forcing her back on the soles of her shoes. The princess cried out from pain, ignoring her bleeding cheek from the claw marks. Blaze shouted as she ran into the crowd of lava monsters, embers trailing behind herself as fire engulfed her body. Not a second went by until Blaze released a powerful surge of Fire Boost energy. Slowing to a halt on the other side of the road behind Iblis, she panted heavily, completely out of energy.
Iblis, however, was far from finished.
Blaze jumped up onto a skyscraper platform just in time to dodge another rain of molten rocks. She fell to her knees, exhausted. To her horror, she watched Iblis make another sixty or so fire monsters, heading straight for Silver's body. She raised her hand to try and send a fireball but stopped upon feeling her own hands singe with a lack of energy. Everything burned, and not in the way she was used to. Wanting to never see the sight of her friend's last moments, Blaze tightly shut her eyes.
The lava monsters began to surround Silver until his entire body was obscured by fire and flickering embers. The heat was excruciating, almost overwhelming. So many beings, so much burning, so... much...
[My body..! I can't move]
/You can't move./
[No. don't even think about it— HNGH!]
/Think about it./
He starts to feel it. The eyes that were his but not. He wants to scream.
"..It hurts. P-please." He weakly mutters to himself, his voice low and drowsy.
/It hurts?/
"Yes. I don't.. it feels like before."
/Before./
He feels his anger suddenly swell, a tugging at the back of his mind. The darkness of his mind never felt so safe, so... comforting.
/He will win if I fall./
".. He will win if I—Ngh! It burns!"
/Burn./
He feels sleepier, his body going cold despite the heat surrounding him.
/Always. Burning./
He can not stop him.
He opens his eyes.
But he doesn't know it.
He was already sleeping.
He opened his eyes. Gone was the lively innocent gold color in them, and now they were a bright, almost glowing sky blue. The lining in his bracelets brightened from neon cyan to a harsh and rich crimson color. As the monsters engulfed him, a large scarlet orb of light began to shine brightly through the cracks in the monsters, before it blasted them into nothing but pure ash and dust. Silver's body was alit with a bright scarlet aura, wisps of the energy encircling objects as he then threw them towards another large mass of monsters.
The beast raised its fiery limb, swinging it at high velocity at Blaze. Before it could strike her, however, a blade of scarlet energy shot from behind the beast, slicing the molten limb into nothing but ashes. The monster bellowed, turning to Silver and breathing fire. Silver dodged it, forming another psychokinetic blade and slicing the other limbs off.
Iblis roared in agony, turning its attention to the shooter and prepared to strike. It was unable to as another scarlet blade of pure concentrated psychokinetic energy sliced the being in half from the base of its body. It was no longer connected to the fires, rather, split in two and now was nothing more than additional ash on the asphalt.
Blaze, finally opening her eyes, went wide-eyed. He was levitating as if there was nothing wrong with him and was able to perfectly pull off this whole attack, despite being in a practical coma. She knew that this was Silver, to which a part of her was greatly relieved, but his entire being was... off. Not that this was the first time she's seen this side of him.
Silver looked to his friend, seeing a piece of concrete she had jumped on began to crack before breaking off and sending her falling. He caught her before she could even scream from the surprise.
"Precision. That's what you taught me." Silver spoke as he caught Blaze from falling in an aura of warm red. He faintly grinned to his friend, who only gazed in awe at him.
Slowly and carefully, he landed and set Blaze down. The redness faded as they looked at the less-aggressive bubbling pool of lava. The princess releases a shaky breath, crossing her arms as she looked down.
"Good work, Silver."
"Don't thank me. You taught me all I know."
Silver placed a hand on his hip, staring at the lava below. Blaze took a long look at Silver, before turning back to the lava.
"It's so creepy though." He began, closing his eyes as he spoke. The bright red energy that pierced his bracelet linings began to shift to a melancholic purple, then back to bright teal. "We will never fully put an end to it, will we?" He opened his eyes, golden hue back as opposed to the bright and threatening sky blue.
"Silver," Blaze looked to her friend. She noticed this change but said nothing. "We will find a way."
"How then? How will we ever put a complete stop to these flames?" He asked, looking worriedly at his friend.
His question was met with a soft touch on the side of his head. He winced, ears turning back from the pain to which Blaze removed her hand.
"Apologies, Silver. But you are hurt badly."
Silver blinked at her, confused by her statement. Wanting to confirm it, he placed his fingers to his temple and grit his teeth from the pain. He looked down at his fingers, seeing faint bloodstains on the tips of his pristine white gloves.
"Oh... I guess you're right..."
Blaze thought for a moment before looking around the city. Her ears perked up at a sign that read, "Grins Chemist".
"There, we should be able to find something to patch you up in there. C'mon."
In no mood to deny the princess's help, the hedgehog nodded and ran to her side.
"Now stay still. This will only sting for a second." She warned, sitting on the bench outside with Silver. She poured some hydrogen peroxide onto a cloth and placed it tenderly on his wound.
"Gah! Ouch!" Silver pulled back, wincing from the sharp burning sensation.
Slightly annoyed, Blaze sighed, "Yes, yes, I know, but please. The sooner I clean it, the faster it will be over." There was a hint of softness to her tone, one of a mother and concerned friend.
"R-right, right. Sorry." Silver apologized, feeling a pang of guilt in his chest for making Blaze help him like this. He leaned forward again, allowing Blaze to properly clean and disinfect the scar.
[I should be stronger.]
/If you let me control the body, then you would be./
[I can't risk it, you know that.]
/It isn't the first time she's seen me, Sliver./
[Stop calling me that! I don't care how many times she has seen you, no means no!]
/Hah. You're just afraid of what I'd do to your body, aren't you?/
[Yes. I mean, no! I can't trust you, Venice.]
The metaphorical fog cleared, revealing a face to go with this 'Venice' individual. He wasn't a hedgehog, but a mink. More than likely taken after Silver's father.
He stood at the same height as Silver with the same quill style but was so different. His chest fur was a royal goldenrod color that stood out against his snow-white fur. His bracelets were black and red instead of gold, as were his gloves save for the three golden bars on his boots and gloves. His eyes were sky blue and his aura was scarlet.
He glared at Silver who stood in front of him.
This was Venice.
/Can't trust me?! I'm the one who saved you and Blaze from Iblis just now, and you're gonna still say you can't trust me?!/
[How can I trust someone who keeps taking control over me?!]
Now seeing the clarity of this... other person, Venice, his expression dropped from angry to smug, crossing his arms and approaching Silver's eyesight.
/Oh but you like it when I take over./
/If I didn't, then we would've died back there./
[You don't know that! I could easily have gotten up and-]
/No you couldn't./
Silver screws his eyes shut, trying to block out the overwhelming dizziness that grips him. The pain from the wound doesn't bother him anymore, instead, it's the vertigo from him trying to be aware at the same time. He puts his palm to his forehead, his body shaking slightly as he tried to push Venice away. He felt so tired yet so awake. What an awful feeling.
To the cat, she knew her friend was acting different. It isn't like this was the first time he has been so silent. Blaze was more than used to the quiet spells when Silver would stare off, and most of the time, he'd snap out of it. To her curiosity, she wondered what was going on with him, yet she never pressured him. That was probably the most unique thing they had together- knowing when and when not to bring up certain things. Where "normal friends" would ask if another was okay at the first sign of strangeness, to Blaze and Silver, it was more of a mutual agreement to not question it.
She won't lie, she was piqued to ask what that change in him was back there. It wasn't the first time he's changed to that form, but it made her even more interested in him. Blaze did resort to automatically assuming that the change in him had to be biological. Perhaps it was some sort of form that kicked in if he was too hurt to battle.
/Remember? It burned. You said so yourself./
[Venice... stop, please...]
/Burned like when you saw-/
"I said stop it!" Silver shouted eyes shot open as a violent psychic energy pushed away a stray cabinet he was idly staring at. The cabinet, made of pure metal, crushed in on itself, folding in ways one would think was impossible.
Caught in the wave off to the side, Blaze was pushed back, sliding on the soles of her shoes before balancing herself against the linoleum. She mentally thanked herself that she was finished dressing his wound, but she was more concerned than ever now. She opened her mouth to speak, but the look on Silver's face told her to keep it shut.
"Blaze! A-Are you okay? I'm so sorry!" Silver's expression was nothing more than guilty, jumping to his feet and running to her side.
She stood, staring at him questionably. She knew there was something wrong, something was going on with him. She had to ask.
"Silver... What is wrong with you? You're acting strange." Her question was both blunt and gentle at the same time. Her eyes were stern but worried.
"I..." He began to say but stopped himself, tightly gripping his arm as he stared down. "I think that rock hit my head a little too hard, that's all." He half-heartedly smiled, trying to lie his way through it.
The look on Blaze's face told him she didn't believe him, and she would certainly let him know that. It made him feel even more guilty, breaking his smile and looking away.
"I don't know, Blaze. It's like there's this annoying nagging in my head that I can't block out..." His voice is soft as he runs his fingers through his quills. "It feels like it keeps-" he was cut off, groaning as his head pounded with a migraine.
Blaze gave a heavy sigh, and, against her better judgment, she tried to pass it off. The princess looked to his bandaged head wound, lightly putting her hand on it.
"It is alright if you can't tell me. Or well, if you can't that is." She noticed Silver's innocent golden eyes as he stared into her amber ones. Realizing that she has been far too forward with her actions, she quickly pulls her hand away and clears her throat nervously. "Let's hope you aren't too hurt. If you are, tell me."
"I will Blaze. I promise." Silver watched her walk into the darkness, catching up to her.
"Um... Is that any better?" Blaze asked, her tone was much more smooth, looking to her friend with a raised brow. For a second, she turned to the empty space in front of him where he was staring before it dawned on her that he was simply spacing out. "I hope that rock didn't cause any permanent damage."
To that, Silver blinked a few times, closing his eyes and shaking his head to break his dissociative spell. A wave of vertigo overcame him, then left, as did the slight sting in his eyes from finally blinking.
"No, I'm okay Blaze." He spoke before opening his eyes, smiling at her with that dorky naive grin. "Thank you."
Blaze hated that grin. She hated to love it. His endearing nature was so impossible to miss or pass up, but she made a sound of acknowledgment before standing up and looking around the decrepit pharmaceutical store. She felt... uneasy. As if the very shadows were getting closer.
Feeling unsafe with the shadows, Silver used his telekinesis to light the umbra, piercing the corners with the palm of his hands. There was a heavy sort of mist hazing on the tile floor. It felt like the walls had eyes, all around the two of them they stared from the shadows. Darkness never felt so threatening, yet so welcoming.
"Blaze? What is this?" Silver stopped, slightly kneeling to fan the mist around as it grew denser.
"Most likely smoke from outside." Blaze replied to him, watching as he did so.
"It seems too thick to be regular smoke..."
Silver couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched, somewhere in the shadows. Was it a monster? Some sort of helpless victim?
He thought ahead, stepping in front of Blaze and holding his hand out to illuminate the way. His eyes widened at the sight of two void-like emerald eyes as a black and green hedgehog stepped out of the darkness.
Blaze was instantly alarmed, ears pinned back and tail lashing with uncertainty. She took a step back, as did Silver when the hedgehog approached the two of them.
"Finally. I have been searching for far too long." He "spoke" with no mouth. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you."
Silver blinked, glancing a confused expression to his friend before looking back to the hedgehog. "Um, excuse me, are you lost?" He asked, trying to ignore the state of shock in his chest.
The hedgehog slowly looked up to Silver, gold meeting rich emerald. "I see..." He spoke, "You're the hero of the future."
"What are you talking about? Who are you" Blaze replied for Silver, standing next to him and glaring down the hedgehog.
"Ah yes, forgive me. My name is Mephiles and I know why your world is in such a chaotic state."