Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognized characters or gameplay patterns within this fanfiction. Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, Eggman, Blaze, and all related characters of such are owned by SEGA. All original character's are owned by me, unfortunately.

Exasperation 7.6

Tails' thought process was always fairly quick. He could see more variables in most situations than almost anyone else he knew, minus maybe Sonic, depending on how much the hedgehog wanted to think before he sped forward at the speed of sound.

"Where did you hear of the Blooming Tides?" Katia asked again, her eyes narrowed. There was a hint of venom and scaredness to them, as if he'd been withholding something from her for this entire time that they've known each other. Which, admittedly, Tails knew that he had been, on account of them not knowing each other for long. But for this? He had no idea.

And his entire thought process had been brought to a halt. "I...you said it. Not long before the double came back," Tails tried to explain. Katia stared at him, before she closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I would never mention them. Not on purpose."

"But what are they?"

"Where did you hear of them!?" Katia shouted, standing up suddenly. Her lips were twitching, almost as if she wanted to start snarling, her lips peeling back. It made him remember that she was in fact a full hunter, whereas he was not.

"I told you, you told me! You went into this weird trance thing-"

Katia shut down, her legs failing her as she landed on her knees. Her eyes were wide, and all anger had immediately dropped from her. "It happened again, you mean?"

Tails had to remind himself that she was probably going through some emotional trauma, but it would be nice if she remembered that he was new here. "What happened again?" he asked. He was only mostly grateful that she hadn't seen 'who's on first', because if Sonic were around the two tailed fox had no doubt that he'd start quoting it for the life of him.

"The trance. The elders called it a prophecy trance, but I've never given one, officially at least. It's happened a few times, but none of them have...mentioned the Blooming Tides."

"You're an oracle?" Tails asked, sitting down in front of her again. He really should stop being so jumpy in front of her, but considering that she had just blatantly killed a double of herself that had just been him, he thought he was justified.

"How do you know these words? I've never heard of an...oracle?" Katia asked. Tails blinked; he hadn't switched over to common again. Where was he getting these...he had an idea, but now wasn't the time to think about it. "If, however, you mean that sometimes I talk without talking, and the things I say tend to come true...then yes."

"An oracle is someone whom...divines, I guess, the future. Prophet is another word. Not sure what the difference is, truthfully. But if you say something without remembering it...then yes, I'd say it fits," Tails said. "But what are these Blooming Tides?"

"I...Spark would know the stories better than I. It is a word of cycles, just as the tide goes up, and the tide goes down, and the seasons change from one to another."

So it was a circular word. It made sense, to Tails thoughts, but then why would it be so...frowned on? Why would it make Katia as angry as it did, or as panicked as it did? "What did I say...?" she asked, her body curled into itself as if afraid of his answer.

"You mentioned the Bringer of Chaos, and the Guardian of Sol, and another named the Anomaly. And the Blooming Tides were awakening-"

Katia held up her hand. "I don't need to hear any more. It's probably for the best I don't, actually. Lightning will just...try to pry it from my head. He can do that, with brainshifting. He's very, very good at it."

Tails did his best to express empathy, although his mind internally was racing. To rearrange memories was one thing, but to pull it directly? Wasn't that near impossible? He tried to remember all that he knew about brains and how they worked, but it just kept coming up blank. He really should study more on medicine and health in the near future. Maybe then he'd have a better idea of what was going on.

"Okay. I won't mention anymore," Tails admitted as he stared up at the sky, the moon starting to fall off in the distance. The lights that were coming from the flowers slowly stopped, and instead of the colorful mass it was at night, it went back to the colorful flood that it was during the day. "We should get some sleep, probably."

"I think I've slept enough, honestly," Katia murmured. "I don't think it's a good idea for either of us, especially as the doubles are coming more in force now. Though I suppose I can think of other ways to be tired out-"

"No."

Katia grinned, although it seemed a bit hollow. "Worth a shot," she stated. She pushed herself up off the ground, letting her arms fall to her side. Tails did his best to look away. "We should find what the witch wants. Though we should take our time, if we beat Spark and the other Exception back they'll have an excuse to be rid of them."

"Be rid of them'," Tails quoted as he spun his namesakes to stand up quicker. "You mean kill them?"

"Yes. I'm not sure why the elders wants the other Exception dead so much though. It was only luck we finished at the same time last time."

That was a good question, Tails thought. Why did they want Blaze dead so much? Or specifically, why did Lightning want Blaze gone? She was a powerful pyrokinetic, but that alone wasn't enough to want her dead. Although, with the brainshifting thing...could he have found out that they were planning on leaving? Or even worse, had he read Blaze's thoughts, and found the Sol Emeralds? And he hadn't noticed any brainshifting going on the first time they'd met Lightning, but the panther had decided on the spot to have Blaze killed.

"How long would it take to...do what it is that needed to be done? Scouting, I think?" Tails asked after a moment.

"Vianex? A while. A few days to get there, and a few days back, and depending on what they find out there, it could be up to a week or two. And of course, if we're too slow, they'll probably try to kill us."

"Where is Vianex? They didn't use the Special Zone like we did."

"It's next to the Great Desert. The one you and the other Exception crossed in...according to her, only a few days," Katia said. Tails smirked.

"So they're already there, and have been there since yesterday," he answered. "And yes, Blaze and I run really fast when we get going."

"I've realized this. She ran down a tube rather than taking a ladder. And instead of stopping or slowing down, she went faster!"

"Yeah, if you're running down something, you have to be faster," Tails answered, blinking in surprise. Had they not known about basic physics? "See, if you're running up something, you have to beat the gravitational constant of the planet, if you're running down something, you have to beat not just gravity but wind resistance too."

"Gravitational constant?" Katia asked, her eyebrows raised inquisitively. "I've never heard of that."

It was in the cat language, too. Tails blinked; it came up again. How did he know these words that he obviously shouldn't have? It was obvious that Katia didn't know of them either. It was starting to grate on his nerves how often it was brought up. "It's...how fast something changes from going up to going down. Like this," Tails said, grabbing a small rock and tossing it up. It flew up for a while, before it came back down landing on the flower field. It was difficult for him to describe gravity, if only because he was so used to others knowing what it was.

"That's just normal."

"Yes, but the gravitational constant tells us how fast that is. If this planet is anything like mine, it's close to...you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" Tails asked a second later.

"Not a one!" Katia proclaimed proudly. "Things go up, and then they go down. That's all I need to know," she continued on. "I didn't think it was possible to measure it, truthfully."

"Everything's possible to measure. It just takes time, or the right equipment," Tails answered. Time...or the right equipment. He pulled out the Miles Electric a moment later, a thought coming out of his head. In seconds he had a design written down, already starting on the programming application.

"What are you doing?" Katia asked, looking over his shoulder at the device in his hand, his fingers flying over the keyboard. "You're making a picture, again. But not one of here, or of us? Or that boat you're supposed to be working on?"

"Boat won't take long, I found some old designs for the Sea Fox on here from years ago. I thought I deleted them last time I upgraded my OS. But no, this...this is a thing that should stop Lightning from brainshifting you. And hopefully Spark."

"That...can happen? You can stop a brainshift? Can you fix it!?" Katia asked, her voice and tone even, but even then Tails could tell she was hiding more than a small sense of hope.

Tails nodded. "If it works, and I have all the parts. I have to build it first, and that can take a while," he answered. Katia stopped for a moment, before rushing in for a hug. There was that same scent of desire in the air that he'd learned to recognize from hanging around both Spark and Katia. It was different for foxes than many other sapients, he knew. But what did she mean by 'fixing' them? Brainshifting...wasn't permanent, was it? It couldn't be. Shouldn't be.

He froze as he felt her body against his. "You have no idea how much that would help us. Help all of us. Help all of Ikan'Thoa."

"I'm beginning to think I do," Tails admitted a moment later. Katia looked at him in confusion only to get cut off as the Miles Electric started buzzing.

"It's not breaking is it? Please don't break, technology, Tails needs you!" Katia said as she attempted to cradle it gently.

"Just a message being received," Tails explained as he saw the download packet. The signal was invisible, but there was a slight buzzing to the air now that he was attempting to pay attention to it. Was it through his hearing? No, he'd never heard messages in the air before.

"Feels weird," Katia murmured, her attention focused solely on the Miles Electric now. Their electrokinesis? Electricity was a form of electromagnetism, which other things like light or other forms of radiation and radio waves were...potentially it could be that? He'd have to think on that later.

Sonic's voice came out of the Miles Electric as soon as the packet finished downloading. "Tails! Knuckles finally got the pattern figured out, and how your dimensional address thing works. Took a lot of work. We think we have enough power for this at least; two of the Chaos Emeralds. We forced Eggman to work with us, and now we're working on the other five. We'll come get you, as soon as we do! Tell Blaze hi, take care of yourselves, and don't get into any trouble!"

Katia backed herself up as the rant played. Tails smiled gently as he laughed, tension flowing from his shoulders. "I have no idea what that was," Katia murmured. "I don't speak...that. It sounded like you did originally."

"We call it common," Tails explained. "Basically it's saying that they found out how to work the technology I left back home, and now they're working on it to bring me back."

"You're...leaving soon?" Katia asked.

Tails shrugged. "It depends on how long it takes for them to find the other items they need. It could be a week, could be a few months, or hours."

Another download. Another message? It was only slightly smaller than the voice file, so maybe it was a text version of the same? Katia's hands brushed his away from the Miles Electric, and he looked up to see her face in front of his, full of concern and...despair?

He felt her lips on his, burning against his, and he felt her hand against his chest as she gently pushed him down. The Miles Electric went onto the ground softly cushioned by the flowers and grass, and his mind went blank as he felt her weight atop him.

—Side B—

Spark held on tight to Blaze's midsection, and the cat was grateful for it. Her feet carefully followed the pattern on the floor, ensuring each step was in perfect sync with the design, despite the flowing dirt and stone doing its best to ensure she missed a single step. But her momentum was not carried solely by her feet, but by the flames she conjured. It reminded her a little of how it was back in Sonic's world for just a moment; constantly having to not fall, but at the same time designed for speed and momentum.

Around and around, Blaze went deeper, turning as fast as she could nearing the end. The middle, the nadir, was coming closer faster and faster. "Spark! Take a look if you know them!" Blaze shouted as she flipped onto her side, letting the sides of her feet run against the stone. She wasn't good at the technique, but she'd seen Sonic do it a few times, when they had met in the white void a few years ago. Idly she wondered if he remembered that time, or if Tails did. It didn't seem like it. Yet another thing only she remembered.

"It's them! Rilek and Jumo! How they're here, I don't know!" Spark answered from behind her. Blaze nodded, and stopped the fires. Her feet slipped, despite her claws, on the smooth stone without any additional traction, but she'd been expecting that. The design had thinned, and Blaze immediately jumped to the center, another ten feet down and away. She landed silently next to the bodies, in various points of decomposition. They stood still, and Blaze took a moment to actually look at them, instead of from afar.

There was a hedgehog, and a chameleon. Spark jumped off her back and ran to them, their bodies a dark green with mold and rot, any original fur almost long gone. Their bones were showing in some parts, and the hedgehog had his entire arm bone showing. They had no packs or any weapons, something that immediately shot in Blaze's mind as wrong. From Katia and Spark she knew that Ikan'Thoan's never left without their weapons. Why did these two not have them? A few of the others did, a small spear here or there. Another cat, a wolf, what looks like a turtle...Blaze poked them gently, her eyes narrowing as she ignored the scents.

"Blaze..." Spark warned from where Rilek and Jumo were. The cat turned, only to see the vixen staring and pointing towards the top of the spiral, where they had come from. There, a copy of both of them from a few minutes ago stood. Blaze stared at herself for a moment, wondering when she'd turned so wild-looking. Barely dressed, scars easily visible through her lavender fur, and her hair hung loose around her neck. She looked like she belonged there, rather than the princess she knew she was. "I don't think we can leave," Spark murmured. Their copies followed their same actions, and Blaze watched as they disappeared the instant that her copies foot touched the pattern.

The sky brightened for a moment, before it darkened again, and the scene repeated itself, a perfect copy. The doubles hit the vanishing point, and the sky brightened, before it darkened as they came back into view. Blaze's eyes narrowed as she picked up a rock, throwing it up the bowl. It crumbled to dust the instant it touched where their copies disappeared. She picked up another one, waiting for the sky to brighten on a hunch, before she threw it. It landed gently on the bowl before disappearing as if it never existed. Blaze gripped it hard a moment later, seeing the stone report back to her hand, crumbling to dust as centuries placed on it in an instant.

"Time trap," Blaze said succinctly. "Only one way for it. I think I have enough for the scouting parties for Vianex; don't. This place is a death trap, often literal. And with things like this? Not hard to see why," Blaze answered. Spark nodded.

"I agree, but I'm not sure if the elders will accept it."

"I don't think they'll have a choice. We're about the only two who can leave. Katia mentioned you were fast. How fast can you go?" Blaze asked, echoing her question from earlier. Her eyes pierced into Spark's red ones, and she ignored the small jolt of electricity that bounced around Spark's fur. "We can't go back up, not easily."

"How? I'm not as fast as you."

"You don't need to be. Remember how I said I can teach you control? Easiest method of control is not let it control you. You command it. You don't just control lightning, you become it. It becomes a part of you, guiding you. Ride the lightning," Blaze commanded. "Like I do with flames, you do with electricity. Guide it, and let it guide you."

"I don't know of any channeler that can do you what you do with flames. But...Tails was doing something similar. He let it...he forced it out in front of himself, forcing him forward. How he came up with it, I don't know...and I certainly don't know if I can do it."

"You're about to have to find out," Blaze said as a copy of them made the final jump into the circle. Blaze saw the sky change for a moment, just long enough from the sunrise that it should have been to the night sky that it had been when they first saw the spiral. The sky promptly reset into the night sky. "Every time our copies enter, the trap opens...but why imperfect?" Blaze asked aloud.

Spark forced herself to one knee, and Blaze could see her hands trying to jolt electricity out, trying to force it into the shape that Blaze knew well. Her face was twitching a bit as the energy ran deep into Spark's body, and Blaze reminded her, "Hold the energy first. It shouldn't be burning you."

"I can't do it!"

"You already have!" Blaze reminded gently. "Get angry, but use that anger. How frustrated you are with the elders, how much...get mad!" Blaze said, her eyes set on the copies of themselves running down into the spiral again. She almost messed up and told her to use a different emotion. Desire works well with fire, but with electricity...she had no idea. Water was more about calmness and serenity, according to Marine. She'd have to ask Tails at some point, but the chance of the fox knowing anything made her seriously doubt. He was just too new of a kineticist.

"I can't!" Spark called out, small sparks jumping out and forming a barrier. Electricity was at least running over her fur rather than through it, which means she probably shouldn't be in pain anymore, but...Blaze reached down and grabbed the vixen, holding her tight as she waited for the glowing moment.

It was times like this she really wished she knew how to hold her speed. She had to move to gain momentum, unlike...well, no, that wasn't true, was it? She did have an instant momentum technique. But she'd always used it with her shoes, not while barefoot. Could she do it, now? She ignored the energy passing through her right arm, from where she'd grabbed Spark, who had almost immediately stopped discharging.

"Fine! I'll try, then!" Blaze called out. She raised one foot behind her, as if to run. She made a small flame behind her foot, heating the air around it, and she forced more of the fires into it. Her eyes followed the copies of herself and Spark as they followed the spiral, about ready for the jump. This would be a close call. They jumped. Blaze heated it up more, ignoring the sense of burning on her foot. She pushed everything she had towards the small fire behind her, waiting for the perfect moment. The sky lit up, and Blaze let loose, shooting forward instantly.

She knew instantly they weren't going to make it. The same amount of time to exit was the same amount of time that it was open. As one foot dropped down, she almost tried to stop. She'd hit the time wall, and be sent flying, probably sent forward a few minutes, or years. Long enough to be near instant death to her. She could throw Spark to the side, and maybe the vixen could get out at some point. A temporal trap...Vianex was not nice. Whoever had been here before...whoever had been here...

Spark energized next to her, seemingly coming to the same conclusion, that they weren't going to make it. "Go!" she shouted, her body discharging everything she had, focusing it solely on moving, and forward momentum. Blaze felt her legs move faster, and instantly called upon the flames to guide them. If they weren't going to make it, she was going to make it show they tried. The bolts of energy leapt off of both of them, melding into the flames, creating a shield of fire and lightning. She pushed all of her flames into it, every ounce of her being, into the shield, into her momentum.

Blaze break the sound barrier instantly, shooting up the reverse dome in the same amount of time that the trap was open. "That's how it's done!" Blaze shouted, adrenaline flooding into her as the trap slammed shut. The paint came to life, trying to capture them, but by the time it leapt up even an inch, they were already far gone. At least a mile high, Blaze did her best to not look down as they almost flew across Vianex. The flames and lightning broke, shattering the thing keeping them supersonic.

Spark's eyes only lit up, the red behind them glowing as she took in the sight in front of them. Beyond them, the entirety of Vianex, dirty grey and full of noxious pools of various elements. Beyond that, a large mountain, and they could barely see the golden sand that was the Great Desert. They could see the river, and beyond it the forest that hides Ikan'Thoa. "There, right there. That's the place to build a boat!" Spark pointed out, pointing to a small grassy glade that Blaze could barely see, on the far side of the forest, next to a large section of blue...the ocean. It stretched out for near what seemed like eternity, long from what they could see, even as high up as they were.

Blaze felt them begin to fall, and she tried to conjure the flames beneath her to slow their fall...only to realize they weren't coming. "Shoot!" Blaze shouted as she realized that there was no control in this freefall, and the sudden stop at the end was going to hurt, if not kill them. Spark started to struggle to move away, as Blaze stared, paralyzed at the ground below. It came closer and closer, her mind racing but her body had simply...frozen. She'd been higher, but there had always been someone around, or her abilities, or Tails was there to catch her-

She was a kitten, barely five years old, falling from a tall tree. There was nothing down below, no large pile of leaves that she knew she had left right there. The ground rushed closer, and she braced herself for it.

She was a kitten, barely six years old, falling from a tall burned out husk of a building. There was nothing down below, no pile of rubble for her to bounce off of, no steel beam for her to find and stop herself. The ground rushed closer, and she braced herself for it.

She was caught by strong hands, barely enveloping her waist as her mother caught her. "Blaze, what have we said about climbing trees in the courtyard?" she asked, her blue eyes burning bright with power just hidden underneath.

She was caught by the simple power of psychokinesis, enveloping her entire body as Silver caught her. "Blaze, what did they say about climbing here?" the silver hedgehog asked, his golden eyes burning bright with power just hidden underneath.

The ground rushed upon them, and there was no mother or Silver to catch her. Spark had dislodged from her arm, her face determined as she stared upon the incoming earth. Blaze curled into herself, her heart pounding out of her head as she couldn't find herself to stare at it anymore. This was certain death this was going to kill them they didn't have rings she was going to die-

Silver and her mother overlayed each other. "If you're going to climb, make sure you know your path down," they said at the same time. "And if that doesn't work, burn everything. And if that still doesn't work...trust your friends," they said, the same thing given different time and memories.

How could she trust anyone? Tears fell from her face as she fell, her heart nearly stopped and paralyzed. She had no flames anymore.

She was just a girl, freefalling from a tree.

She was just a girl, freefalling from a wreckage.

Spark couldn't help -

The ground shut off that last thought.

Blaze has a fear of heights, in canon. I took this to its logical extreme.

Yes, I am particularly mean to Blaze.

Until next Time.