Hello everyone, it's time for another chapter of this story, but first I've got a review or two to get through!

(FFN Reviews)

Mitha Sentro: This is actually a concept from deviantart! I could have sworn I linked the original in the first chapter, needless to say my mistake has been fixed!

(AO3 Comments)

Galaxaria: Thank you! It's rare I get comments on AO3 so I'm glad you're liking it! As for seeing more, I've got some fun events planned for later so you'll have to wait and see!

Alright, let's get going!

Sonic Boom: The Ancients

Fire and Flames

Bolt rocked back and forth on his feet, she should be arriving any minute now. To say he was nervous was an understatement, he was a wreck. As much as he didn't look like it, he hadn't slept in days as he preformed the final finishing touches on the device. After this was all over, he was going to take a nice long nap.

He double checked his schematics once again, looking for anything he could have missed, he knew messing with the Primal Crystal could have catastrophic effects on not only himself, but Root as well, and that was the best case scenario if it all went wrong…

"Bolt," the computerized voice of Maia spoke. "Root has just arrived."

"Send her my way," he responded, not looking up from his work. He double checked his appearance, making sure the bags under his eyes weren't too visible.

The badger entered the workshop and immediately pulled Bolt into a tight hug.

"How've you been? I haven't seen you in forever!"

"It's only been a week or two!"

"I know, I just miss seeing you!"

Bolt blushed, Root was a motherly figure for him so her being obsessive over every little detail was rather comforting for a change.

"So," She began, releasing the fox. "This is what you've been working on?"

The room was almost completely taken over by the device, a large black colored structure with cyan highlights, the color the exact same as the massive crystal nestled in the center of it. Several energy prongs designed to harvest energy from the gemstone extended upward almost to the ceiling.

"Yeah, isn't it magnificent! Hopefully it all works…"

"I'm sure it'll be alright, though, you're going to have to tell me what it does again, you slurred your words last time and I could hardly make out a thing."

"Alright, it's supposed to pull the energy out of the Primal Crystal and allow the user to see a bit into the future! Hopefully it'll allow us to see if there's a way to cure Lyric."

"Sweet, well, I'm ready whenever you are!"

"That's the spirit!" Bolt responded, "If you want to just step up to the thing and I'll get this started!"

Root nodded and ascended until she was stood atop the Primal Crystal, Bolt moved to a operating terminal and started a short warm up.

"Root, let me know if something goes wrong alright?" He yelled above the increasingly loud machinery and crackle of energy.

She nodded atop her pedestal and Bolt continued his instructions. "There should be reservoirs of Chaos Energy atop each of the conduits, if you want to try and connect to those, that's going to be the easiest way to get a connection."

Tendrils of bright cyan energy extended from Root's palms and connected to each of the conduits, the device began to hum quietly and the crystal beneath Root's feet began to glow the same color as the energy streams.

Bolt pulled his goggles over his eyes and reached for the lever to allow the Primal Crystal to fully discharge. "Starting in three, two, one!"

He pulled the switch and the machine flared to life, the energy streams had such a bright glow that his goggles automatic tint darkened to shield his eyes. Bolt was smiling like a child, it had worked…

For all of three seconds…

Bolt's terminal alerted him to a problem, there was too much energy flowing out of the Crystal, far too much, the machine was unable to handle it. The excess was beginning to flow into the reservoirs, overloading their capacity and releasing the extra, right into Root.

"Root, let go!" He yelled, but, because of the sheer overwhelming amounts of energy, she couldn't hear him. He abandoned his station and ran toward the platform, trying to reach her and pull her out, just was he was approaching, the machine detonated in a massive explosion of heat and light, despite Bolt's tinted goggles, he felt a sudden blast of heat and everything went white.

He woke a few seconds later, and pulled his now black goggles off, he was dazed and sore but otherwise felt unharmed. Everything was covered in a bright orange light and instantly he felt the heat from nearby flames licking at him. He stood up and was instantly met with a shockwave of pain up his left leg and across his chest, looking down, his leg had a massive gash across it and the fur on it had already turned a deep crimson. His chest has a large patch of blackened fur on it, he had been burnt pretty bad when the explosion had gone off, but there was still only one thought on his mind.

Root had been at point blank when the machine exploded, she had to be here somewhere. He took a step forward and instantly regretted it as it tore more of the skin on his leg. He had to support himself on a nearby piece of wreckage to even stand because of the pain.

"Root! Can you hear me!?" He yelled, immediately coughing after the fact as smoke filled his lungs. He couldn't see straight but persisted none the less. He had to find her, no matter what...

-X-

They all felt the explosion and immediately exchanged concerned glances and rushed to Bolt's workshop, opening the doorway they were instantly met with a wave of heat and large spires of flame. Blues rushed in at full speed and began a search of the room, eventually he found Bolt, whom was clearly in bad shape, he was covered in small burns and his chest was completely burnt, a thin trail of blood tailed behind him from his leg as he limped along.

"Bolt!" He yelled, rushing over to the fox.

"We need to find her," he began, his voice weak and coarse. The fox began a coughing fit immediately afterward.

"You need to get out of here! You're hurt!"

"I'm… Alright…" Bolt replied, an exhausted tone to his voice.

As if to punctuate his sentence, Bolt then passed out, his injuries finally getting the best of him. Blues instantly pulled the fox into his arms and rushed back to the entrance, being careful to avoid the sharp fragments of metal and flames.

He practically threw Bolt into Rose's arms. "Get him out of here, me and Ruby will find Root!"

She nodded somewhat hesitantly and left the room, on her way to the infirmary, she channeled the nearby Chaos Energy and cast a basic healing spell on Bolt, whom relaxed as it's effects set in, making him numb to the pain. It did also slow the bleeding on his leg and repaired part of his chest.

That was all she could do however, simply remove the pain. It wasn't going to be enough to heal him there, luckily, Maia knew how to perform most advanced medical procedures and she had no doubt it knew how to properly take care of Bolt. How she wished Root was here… She had been in with Bolt when whatever they had been up to detonated, if this was how badly Bolt had been injured, she didn't want to even think about her.

She cast another basic heal spell as she entered the infirmary, further repairing his injuries, it wasn't much, she was just using what she could pull on with her limited experience. She set him down on a infirmary table and let Maia start her scan. Just afterward she left to help the others locate Root, as she ran however, she found Ruby had already found her and was carrying her to the infirmary. Rose would have helped, but as she had already expended all the energy in the air directly around her, she was unable to do much.

Strangely though, she actually looked less injured than Bolt had been. In fact, there wasn't a scratch on her body, she simply appeared unconscious. Confused they simply set her in the infirmary and waited for Maia's results to come in.

-X-

Bolt's eyes slowly adjusted to the light as he woke, his first impression was that he was dead, but as more and more came into focus, he found that he had survived.

As he looked around, his internal thoughts were interrupted by Rose appearing from a nearby doorway and immediately pulling the fox into a hug.

"You're awake!" She exclaimed, "What were you thinking?"

The fox tried to sit up, only to be gently stopped by Rose, "You're not in any shape to be up and about, just relax."

He did as he was told, until all the thoughts since the explosion rushed back to him and instantly he was upright.

"Where's Root!? Is she alright!? Is she hurt!?"

"Calm down Bolt, she's alright, actually, there's not a scratch on her."

"Huh?"

"Physically, she's completely fine."

"Physically?"

Rose paused, she didn't want him to worry about Root too much in his current state, but it didn't seem there was a way to help it. "However… We've figured out that the only reason she wasn't hurt is because the Primal Crystal protected her. But, while it did stop her from getting hurt, it didn't protect her mind. She's, in a coma, we gave no idea if she'll wake up, and if she does, she's not going to be the same…"

Bolt didn't respond for a moment, he flopped down onto his bed. "It's all my fault…" He quietly remarked.

"Bolt… I'm sure you did everything you could, I'm certain you knew the risks, this kind of thing just happens…"

"What did you say Rose?" Another voice interjected. The two looked over and found Ruby standing nearby, the echidna continued. "That Bolt did everything he could?"

"Ruby, not now…" Rose responded.

The echidna turned his attention to the fox, "Bolt, when you joined this team as our engineer, I gave you one rule, what was it?"

The fox' eyes dropped down, trying to avoid his leader's gaze. "Not to mess with the crystal…" He quietly responded.

Rose interrupted, "Ruby, he's been through enough! Do you really think now is the best time to bring this up?"

"Somebody needs to take responsibility!" He turned back to the fox, "What did you decide to do, knowing that I had told you exactly otherwise?"

Bolt didn't respond, shrinking down into his bed, tears started to well up in the corners of his eyes.

"Answer me Bolt! What did you do? Why is Root unconscious right now!?"

Again no response as his sniffles got more frequent.

"So, yes, this IS all your fault! Because you don't think the rules we've set in place apply to you, and now, you've hurt somebody because of it!"

"That's enough!" Rose exclaimed, causing Ruby to stop in his tracks. She pulled him outside, trying to ignore the now sobbing fox. "What was that for!?"

"He needs to learn, I knew he was going to ignore my rules eventually! He needs to face the consequences! I know it was a bit harsh, but I cant give him anymore leeway than I already have!"

Rose was about to interrupt, but he did have a good point, she sighed. "Couldn't you have done it in a way that didn't involve what's basically attacking him?"

"We've tried that before Rose, you know I have, but eventually, I need to put my foot down when it comes to hurting others. Did I enjoy yelling at him, no. But I have to, otherwise, we'll just end up back here again."

Rose nodded, albeit somewhat reluctantly. "Just, try to be easier on him next time, alright? We're not enemies."

"I know… Tell me if Root wakes up."

Rose turned back to the infirmary, Bolt had calmed down, but was still much more quiet than usual. Rather then saying anything, she prepared some food for the fox and tried to feed it to him, he refused.

"Bolt, you need to eat. I know you're upset, but, he does have a point. We've told you not to mess with the Primal Crystal, I'm sure Root will be ok, we'll figure something out."

The fox smiled, "Thanks Rose…" He responded, pulling her into a hug.

"You're welcome, now, you need to eat."

Alright guys, that's it for this chapter, let me know your thoughts! Until next time!