Ch 6

Smiling Through Pain

Sonic awoke the next morning at 9:30. He was alone, and smelled something cooking in his kitchen. He got up and headed into the living room, in which he saw Knuckles on the recliner reading the newspaper.

"Morning." He said without looking up. Shadow was in the kitchen making breakfast, but didn't say a word, only stared with an awkward glare.

Sonic mumbled something inaudible, and plopped onto the sofa.

"Food's ready." Shadow called.

Both got up and sat down at the table. Eggs. The last thing Sonic wanted at the moment. Shadow saw the disappointed look on Sonic's face.

"It was the only thing you had in the refrigerator." Shadow replied.

"Yeah I haven't gone to get groceries in a while."

Knuckles hastily began eating, managing to slop yolk onto the table in the process. Sonic gave him a sarcastic 'thanks' look, and he immediately slowed down.

"…Do you guys smell something burning?" Shadow asked with a scowl on his face.

Sonic sniffed the air. "Yeah I smell it." Sonic ran through the house to see if anything was being incinerated. "Nope, nothing." He replied from another room.

Knuckles peeked out the window, and gasped. "I think you should come see this." He replied in awe.

Sonic and Shadow both looked through the window with Knuckles.

The entire city was ablaze, smoke billowing miles overhead. Atop the highest point, a figure could be seen launching fireballs down into the streets and onto buildings.

Sonic rushed back into his room and grabbed his katana. He ran over to Tails, who was still asleep in his bed.

"Tails, we've got to go. The city's on fire!"

"Wha...?" Tails replied with confusion.

"Never mind, just get up and launch the Tornado!" Sonic yelled as he rushed back to Shadow and Knuckles.

The other two were standing in the living room, waiting for Sonic. Knuckles was holding his halberd, and shadow had two swords strapped to his back.

"Are we ready? Whoever did this isn't stopping by the looks of it." Knuckles said.

"Yeah, Tails should be launching the Tornado soon. Let's head out!" Sonic sped out the door, with Knuckles and Shadow following. Outside, they were greeted by a blasting wave of heat, seeing as the neighbors houses were also on fire. One of the skyscrapers was threatening to collapse now, half of its support burned to ashes. The trio made their way through the complex of burning homes and stores, slowly advancing on the figure atop the apex of town.

"Whoa! Careful!" Sonic yelled to his companions as a building toppled over, weakened from the heat. The figure was clearer now, eve with the heat bending the light in the air. It was the pink cat from before; she was standing with her arms out and looking up, almost like she was stuck in a trance.

"It's that one girl from earlier this week!" Knuckles Exclaimed.

"Yeah I see her too!" Sonic said.

Shadow was confused. "You too know this person?" He asked.

"Yeah. She paid us a few unfriendly visits in the past." Sonic Explained to Shadow.

"Uh oh. Look out!" Shadow pointed up to the masked feline, who was now hurling fireballs down at the trio. Sonic jumped to the left, Shadow to the right, and Knuckles barely avoided the mass of flames by jumping backwards. Overhead, the Tornado flew over the city, launching two missiles at the building the cat was standing on. Gracefully, she dived off the building, making sure to land on one slightly smaller. She then continued to scale down the buildings like a staircase, making her way to the streets.

"She's fast! Everyone get ready, here she comes!" Knuckles warned.

In the blink of an eye, she was clashing blades with Sonic, both placed into a deadlock.

"You idiot. You're challenging someone who's had far more experience than you'll have in your life!" She taunted, slightly growling.

"You're getting a little overconfident, I'd think! You don't seem to know who I am, do you?" Sonic replied, breaking the deadlock and releasing a flurry of thrusts at her. Without missing a beat, she parried every last one. Jumping a ways back, she hurled a large fireball at Sonic, who was able to move just in time before it impacted the ground, leaving a good sized scorch mark on the ground.

"I'm not just gonna stand around!" Shadow yelled to no one in particular. "Chaos Control!" Shadow warped behind the caster, kicking her in the back of the head. She flinched in surprise, and Shadow reached to draw his swords to land a finishing blow. However, she was fast enough to disarm him before he could swing his weapons.

"Is this what you call a challenge? This is like training." She said. She dove at Sonic, sword stretched out in front of her ready to impale the blue hedgehog. Sonic was able to parry and knick her sword sideways, causing her to start to fly past him.

"I want to see your face before I finish you!" Sonic yelled. As she hit the ground, Sonic dashed over and pinned her down. He reached out his hand and grasped hold of the theatrical mask, and pulled it off, tossing it aside.

Sure enough, the face of Blaze the cat was staring directly back at him.

"But… Blaze? I thought you returned to your world…" Sonic said, staring in disbelief

"Does it look that way know?" She retorted.

"But why? Why are you serving under Mesmeros? I thought you would never turn against us, not after what we taught you about friendship!" Sonic asked.

"It's not like I had a choice in the matter…" Blaze diverted her gaze, unable to stare at the sorrowful eyes of the hedgehog any longer. "Mesmeros forced me back into this dimension. His power has reached far beyond that of the chaos emeralds, or even the Sol emeralds at that." Blaze paused, and glared back at Sonic with a devilish intent in her eyes. "That also means I can't help but fight you to the death!" As the words left her mouth, she bellowed a torrent of flames that missed Sonic's face due to the wind, but landed on his arm instead.

Sonic screamed in pain as the peach fur on his arm was blackened, the skin beneath burnt, Blaze jumped away from her former position.

"You won't get away with that!" Knuckles said as he charged in holding his halberd like a lance. Blaze dived at her sword, which was laying about 7 feet away from her. In a fluidic motion, she blocked Knuckles' attack, and saw Shadow approaching from behind, having recovered his swords. As he approached, Blaze, still deadlocked with Knuckles, kicked one sword out of Shadow's hand, catching it and using it to block Shadow.

"Forget what I said before; training is harder than this." Blaze jeered. She broke both deadlocks, spinning around to cause both Shadow and Knuckles to jump backwards.

Sonic was writhing in pain at the burns on his arm, unaware of what was going on. Forcing himself to endure the pulsing stinging in his upper arm, he took hold of his sword once more, and charged back into combat with Blaze.

In a fluidic and graceful manner, Blaze was easily holding her own against the three fighters. Each time one would think they had her by surprise, she would turn the tables in the blink of an eye.

"I thought that Mesmeros would finally have someone to play with. Obviously I was wrong. I will end this frolic right now!" Blaze leapt in the air, and somehow held herself in suspension about ten feet in the air. Her body began to glow a fiery orange, and the air around her was quickly rising in temperature.

Shadow and Knuckles were staring in dread of what might happen. However, Sonic saw this as an opportunity. He jumped to a nearby wall, pushing himself off of it and flying at high speeds toward Blaze. Although he felt terrible about having to kill a friend, he knew it must be done.

Blaze was too late to turn around to see the blue streak bolting towards her. In an instant she was knocked out of the air, and soon landed on the street, Sonic's katana impaled through her chest. Blaze cursed as blood trickled down her figure and onto the street.

"Blaze… I-I'm so sorry…" Sonic trailed off, his eyes beginning to well up with tears. He was never too close a friend to Blaze, but a friend none the less, and losing a friendship was something Sonic could not bear to see.

"Don't be… You did what you had to. And maybe… my death won't be in vain, so long as you keep believing in yourself. Thank you, Sonic. Now I might be able to… rest…" Blaze trailed off, her eyes slowly shutting.

"I'm sorry it had to end here… in our world, and not yours. We…" Sonic paused, tears beginning to spill over his face. "We won't forget you…" He finished.

Blaze had also begun crying at this point, eyes still shut. She was still smiling through the sadness. "Please tell Cream that she was always a good friend to me…" She said. Sonic tenderly laid her body on the ground, not removing the blade in her chest, trying not to cause her any more pain.

Sonic wiped the tears from his face. "I will." He said solemnly. Blaze, through her pain and anguish, died with a wide, peaceful smile spread across her face.

((-Sniff- I can't believe I just killed blaze! That was so emotional! Also, review, it makes Sonic happier when you review.

Cream: -big huge sobs of sadness-

MSF: Don't worry Cream… it'll all be better soon."))