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 7.7

Tails rolled over just as Katia came crashing down on top of him. His body had moved automatically, his lips still burning with the heat from Katia's kiss. She had tried to straddle his hips, and ended up sitting on the ground, a small giggle on her face.

"Katia...? Why did you do that?" Tails asked after a long moment. He was feeling the aftereffects on his body, and he took a short moment to sort through the feelings. His heart was pounding, and he felt a simple stirring down below. He grabbed the Miles Electric, tucking it into the bail-bag at his waist. He could check the next message later, assuming he would have the time.

"I wanted to see if I could. But...I think I have an idea now," Katia admitted. She licked her lips gently, her long tongue rolling over her maw. Her eyes glanced down appreciatively.

"An...idea? About what?"

"How you know things you shouldn't. How you seem to have luck when finding sapients. How you seem more perceptive than by all rights you should be," Katia said. "It came to me just now, when we were talking about brainshifting, that you show a lot of the same capabilities as Lightning does."

Tails felt his blood grow cold. She couldn't honestly think that he was turning into Lightning, did she? He'd felt Lightning try to track their thoughts before, but he hadn't thought about trying to interfere. It could give them seizures if he did it wrong, kill them near instantly, or leave them brainless husks. Even if he had known what was going on when it was happening, he doubted he'd be able to do anything about it.

"I think you brainshift instinctively," Katia said, a small bolt appearing between her ears for a moment, before it gained strength and turned into a loop, slowly extending in the air. "Most elementalists, when they first awaken, or even long before, sometimes have a tell-tale sign of what they are. Mine I learned after I Awakened, but it was control. I don't have a lot of energy to spare, but I can control it well. Spark's was always being slightly faster, slightly twitchier than most."

He didn't want to think on it, but it did make sense of a few things. How he was able to pick up things quickly, why he preferred technology to other sapients...why he knew Sonic was trustworthy. Why he didn't trust Eggman to start with. Why he knew the Kukku army was bad to start with. How Tikal was able to easily transport his memories, and allow him to build new ones. How he was able to control himself even when mind-controlled. Why the Lost Hex had messed with him as badly as it did. It didn't explain a lot more, but it explained some.

"I...want to say no. That couldn't possibly be true, but the more I think on it," Tails paused for a long moment.

Katia nodded. "It makes sense. Why you know words that by all rights you shouldn't. You've been brainshifting all of us, but it's been such a light touch that I don't think any of us could tell. Maybe Lightning, but that's a far stretch. You've been picking up words far too quick, and you're basically fluent, despite being here and talking with us for only a few days."

"And even words that I know I didn't know, like fluent, I can tell what they are instantly. I don't need to think on it, I just know it, as if you were speaking common."

"The witch might know more. But...I want to give more time to Spark and Blaze," Katia murmured. "We can probably head to the witch directly, which the elders would understand. They didn't give us a time, probably because they expect me to be mating you too much."

Tails stilled his shudder. It wasn't...he wasn't sure what to think of it. "We should gather what we have, then how far is Vianex from the nexus of the Special Zone rings?" Could they head to Vianex rather than straight to the Elders? Make sure that they all get back at the same time, preferably without anyone noticing?

Katia blinked, pushing herself up. "Not too far. It's on the other side of the river, next to the Great Desert. But we don't have the gear for Vianex. It's never been scouted before!"

"That's because you didn't have a flier," Tails smirked. "Wrap the blanket more around, then we can find the stuff we need."

"What, you don't like seeing me like this?" Katia grinned, pointing out her naked chest. Tails blushed furiously, and Katia moved closer before she pushed him away gently. She did, however, pull up the blanket and wrap it around just a bit tighter. "You know that...you may not, actually."

"Know what?"

Katia sighed. She reached down and pulled a few flowers up from the ground, a red one with purple swirls on its petals. "I only heard about it from my mother, as she was a substitute, but the last Exception to come through was...older. Remember how I said you would be treated like royalty? Women throwing themselves at you?"

"I get the feeling I'm not going to like this."

"If you don't like seeing me, and if Spark failed, then no, you probably won't. Are you a male's male?"

It took only a moment for Tails' to decipher what she meant. "No, I'm not gay," Tails answered. He was just generally too busy with his machines to have time for dating or romance. He had his hobbies, and they took almost all of his time. Whatever time he did have, it was almost always to cleaning up whatever mess Sonic and Amy had made. Or Cream, or Knuckles, or whomever was staying over that day. Although Cream, at least, mostly picked up after herself-

"Then yes, you probably won't like it. If you had said yes, then you definitely wouldn't like it. I will have to report my failure. You know that?" Katia asked, a light tone that he knew to mean she wasn't looking forward to it. Were they...going to seriously torture her after failing to...he felt bile in his throat. If she had mentioned that before, he probably would have let her-

"It's okay, Tails. I'll handle it. But there will be a lineup, after I report my failure, of vixens or other eligible females. They call it the Choosing. Spark...probably won't be there. I might be. But you have to remember the rules of Ikan'Thoa."

Tails felt his shoulders tighten. This was a normal thing, then? He didn't want to ruin anyone else's life. "How long then, until then?" How much time did he have to build that boat, and get everyone out of Ikan'Thoa?

"I'm not sure. A week, at most. Blaze will most likely go through the same thing, but for the males. It is traditional for the male to go first, but considering flame callers come before channelers, she may go before you."

Tails sighed. A week. He had a week before he was forced to ruin some random sapients life. "I can tell you're planning something," Katia said, pointing at his face. "Care to share?"

"What if we ran? Before it got to that point?"

"You mean, crossed the ocean before the lineup? Obviously it would work, as they wouldn't send a mate to you if the first two didn't work. We may have to worry about the Howlers though."

"Howlers?"

"Hunters meant to hunt other elementalists. They're a shady group, I only know of them because I overheard Fire tell Lightning that they will not send the Howlers after me, and I asked around. They...are not good."

She reached down to grab another set of flowers, gathering a good size bouquet in her hands. "How many more do you need?" Tails asked after a moment. He flipped on the Miles Electric, using one hand to work on the boat's design. Too many things needed doing, and he only had a set amount of time...

"Not much more. We're...we're good," Katia said as she reached down and grabbed another set. Her tails reached out and touched his leg gently.

"They...they're going to hurt you, aren't they? Because you failed."

"Probably. That's okay though. It's...just a thing that happens."

"We can...then...if it'll prevent them from hurting you-"

"Tails, there's no need for that. I can tell you're uncomfortable," Katia said, smirking a little. "Let me guess, there weren't any women or girls that paid you much attention until now?"

"That and usually it happens when we're much older, where we're from."

"That must be nice," Katia said quietly. "Having a choice like that." She stared out into the flowers, reaching down for another one. "Always handy to have extra, though."

"Katia..." Tails murmured. He didn't want anyone to get hurt trying to protect him. Wasn't that the entire reason for him being here, was to protect others? First it was Blaze, then Spark, now Katia...and although he knew they didn't need his protection, and there wasn't a lot he could do, he still felt it was right to try.

"Come on, let's go," The vixen stated quietly. She grabbed his arm and started to gently pull him towards the dais with the Special Zone ring. He let her pull him, his tails slowly giving him a little lift to make it easier on her. The path to get there was much shorter than he felt it should have been, seeing as how they had traveled seemingly far. And yet, it took barely fifteen minutes to half an hour before he saw the stone dais, the tall giant ring floating gently above it.

Katia jumped through without a second thought, and after a moment Tails made the move as if to jump through, but a hand reached out of the ground to grab at his leg. The ring spun quickly, and Tails knew it would take only a moment before it would disappear.

It was another double, this time not of Tails or Katia, but of Spark. She had on the same clothes as her physical counterpart, and Tails could see the small jolts emanate from her fur. She had the crossbow at her belt, but seemed oddly, vaguely, hesitant to attack.

"Seek the Blooming Tides," the double said quietly. "End us. End everything, and in its wake let Chaos reign. The cycle ends, the pathway opens, and with it ends the Blooming Tides."

"What are you talking about? What are the -" Tails asked before the double rushed him, using the same technique as he had just started using to push him harshly into the spinning faster ring. He barely had a second to orient himself before he felt the warmth of the Special Zone.

Katia was far ahead, forced into running by the power of the Special Zone. She was attempting to turn around, to see what had happened to him, her body as far from the rings as possible.

Tails had no such compulsions. He knew he couldn't turn around; the power of the Special Zone ensured it. He raced towards the rings, hoping to feel that last bit of healing and hope flood his body that he'd experienced all the other times while in the 'rainbow road', as they called it.

The moment he touched the first ring he had a feeling something was strange. The ring was hollow-feeling, as if it had no energy. The only way for that to happen is if he needed to collect a specific amount.

"Tails! Something's wrong with the rainbow road!" Katia called out. He looked forward as she jumped over the rise and fall of the floor. Usually it was straight, but it now was behaving more like water, or like the ocean. The path twisted and turned, a tunnel that was being written in water as it went.

"Collect the rings!" Tails shouted. He didn't have a ring counter appear overhead, as was usually common. He checked his internal ring counter, nearly fifty already. They were still feeling empty. He looked ahead to see if Katia was collecting any, only to note that she was avoiding them with all of her power. She should at least collect one, but he supposed she didn't know the rules as well as he did.

Eighty. Ninety. Tails kept grabbing more, using his namesakes whenever he needed additional height. Katia was still shouting how it was forbidden to grab the rings, and that it was sacred, and he absolutely shouldn't. For someone who was afraid of Ikan'Thoa, she sure did her best to abide by its laws, despite the fact those same laws slapped her down instantly. Tails supposed he couldn't fault her, though. Not when general punishment was exile, death, or something worse.

Ninety nine, he saw in his head. As his hand reached for the last one, he saw it solidify instantly. Had Katia grabbed one? His hand reached it, and the Special Zone...turned.

His momentum was halted, and he felt himself fall. The pathway turned from rainbow to pitch black, and it was only instinct that allowed him to fly for a second to land on the ground that suddenly appeared. Katia was in front of him on a checker board world, collapsed on the ground. She hurried up at a moment's notice. It took only seconds for Tails to identify the strange Special Zone. "Grab the blue spheres, avoid the reds!" he called out.

"What is this!? What's happened to the rainbow road!?" In front of them blue spheres began to grow in groups of four and nine like squares, with dozens, if not hundreds of red spheres all around.

"Special Zone shifted!" Tails tried to explain. Had the Special Zone actually shifted while he was in it? That was rare...in fact he'd only recalled it once, when he'd been transported here.

Oh no... were they going to another world now!?

—Side B—

Blaze couldn't feel her body. That was...not normal. She remembered crashing into the ground at high velocity, and then rolling into a pointed rock.

She looked around, seeing only darkness around. She was awake, or seemingly so. "Come on Blaze, stay with me!" Spark's voice was calling out, echoing around her.

"You should stay with her, you know? It's not safe out here by yourself," Silver's voice rang out a moment later. Blaze turned around violently, seeing the silver hedgehog floating calmly in the eternal darkness.

"Silver? What are you...why are you here?" Blaze hesitated a moment. She remember his past, or rather her history with him, but afterwards...when the Time Eater had taken them, she'd asked him, and he had no memory or recall.

"I'm here because you need me to be," Silver answered honestly. "Something spooked you bad, Blaze. Worse than anything Mephiles ever did," he finished.

"As am I," her mother's voice called out, again from behind her. Blaze shot her a side glance. Aquatic blue cat, standing tall and proud against the dark. The pale ruby on her head stood out against it, a mark of the Guardian.

"I...don't remember anything like that. I remember falling, and then crashing into the ground-"

"Not that, little pyro," her mother shook her head gently, almost whispering. "Something else. Reach into your heart, and repeat the words that emanate."

"As if to reach Iblis' flames. Or yours, I guess they are, now," Silver repeated. Her mother nodded her approval of the hedgehog's words. "Also, little pyro?" he asked towards her mother.

"It's a cute nickname."

Now she knew she was losing her mind. The figments of her mother and Silver were talking and communicating, as if they were actually there.

Deciding that it couldn't hurt to obey her subconscious, she reached inwards, towards the flames that guided her. Her mind's self dove down into the inky darkness, feeling the heat as she reached towards her flames. "Blaze? Are you awake, now?" Spark's voice asked from above her.

There were no words that she heard, as far deep as she dove. She didn't dive as far as she knew she could, and had in the past. The last time she'd done that, she was out of flames, and had reached the inner sanctum of her soul, releasing the inner blaze. She knew that Tails still had the burns on his hands, although mostly healed.

"You have to dive deeper, little pyro. As far down as you can go. Then deeper still," her mother's voice rang out.

"This is as deep as I can go," Blaze lied, knowing that she could go deeper. But she had no control, down that far. Even as deep inside herself as she could get, she couldn't feel the flames anymore. The Sol Emeralds were the deepest part, but to get there, she had to face only pure hellfire.

"That's a lie, Blaze, and we both know it," Silver said gently. "Come on, we both know you can do it. Flare agrees, don't you?" he asked.

"I do. You can do it, Blaze. Reach inside, sink farther," her mother agreed.

"I won't have control. The Flames of Destruction are called that for a reason! If I lose control, the world can burn!"

"Is that such a bad thing, though?" Silver asked gently. "You already know a lot about this world, and you know its injustices. So why try to protect it? Let loose the Flames of War, Blaze."

"There are still innocents here! And what was it that you said, ages ago? We have to protect everyone?" Blaze rejected.

"I did that by going through time. You can do it by delving deeper. Both targeting unknowns," Silver said quietly. "And just as you were with me then, I'm with you now."

"It's okay, little pyro. You don't need to feel fear, anymore. There's nothing here that can hurt you," her mother stated simply. "But...you will never wake up, if you don't try."

"Blaze!" Spark's voice rang out, turning the black void into a dull yellow for a moment, as if lightning had struck the ground miles away. "Stay with me! We're almost there!"

Almost there to what? She was as deep in her mind as she felt it was safe to go. The Flames of Destruction, Iblis' flames, rested just beneath her. She could feel their wrath, their burning need, writhing just out of reach. Beneath that was her connection to the Sol Emeralds, still as dim as it's been since she came into this world.

And she was supposed to control that? She had accessed it once, thrice when she considered both the burn in the Great Desert as well as the times she went Burning Blaze. But she didn't have the rings to protect her from the fires. She wasn't immune to fire, just resistant. And this would burn through her resistance without any issues.

"I..." Blaze started slowly.

Her mother's voice rang out again, "It's okay, little pyro. To reach below is to know failure. And can you honestly say you have?"

"She's known failure," Silver argued for her.

"Not the way she needs to. To put her whole heart into something, only to have it cruelly ripped away at the last second. She is guarded, Silver, not because she knows failure but because she is afraid of it."

"Is that it, Blaze?" Silver asked her. "Are you afraid of failing? Afraid of knowing what Spark's reaction would be? What Katia thinks? Or what Marine says," he kept going. His gold eyes met her own, "Or what Tails would think?"

"I'm not afraid of failure!" Blaze tried to argue back. But...was that true? She'd been successful so far, while in this strange land. And almost everything she's really put forward, she can honestly say she succeeded at, or had help succeeding. She'd known failure, for a time.

"Then why so guarded? Let the Flames in, and guide them. Fire is not just of destruction, little pyro, but of rebirth. Like a phoenix, burn and burn," her mother was smiling, despite the almost cruel words.

"Maybe she still remembers Iblis. I'd be afraid of fire, after seeing what it can do," Silver offered. "And I was afraid of my own psychokinesis for the longest time. Wasn't it you, that said it doesn't matter what powers you have, but what you do with it? How is that any different than now?"

"Psychokinesis isn't inherently destructive. And what I do with it only matters if I can control it. If I can't control it, then everything it does will lash back on me!"

"It's fire, little pyro. Like a phoenix, let it burn, and let it rebirth. It's not destructive, unless you let it be. It is heat. The energy of life. Of the stars. Light, heat...let the fires guide you. Embrace it."

"Are you afraid of Iblis? He can't get to you. He doesn't exist anymore. Even when combined into Solaris, Sonic, Shadow, and I took him out. And then Sonic went back in time to prevent Solaris from ever escaping. Iblis doesn't exist," Silver reasoned.

"But Solaris does exist, in her memories. His flames are still guarding her soul. And therefore, his flames are hers. Just another part of her. As is the intellect behind them."

"I don't have control!" Blaze shouted at the mental constructs. She couldn't reach through to them, and she had no idea what they were talking about, just speaking in constant riddles that did nothing for her. They weren't helping her, they weren't aiding her, they were just pushing her and confusing her!

Both Silver and Flare looked up at her, their eyes full of sadness and rejection. "We never said you needed it," they said in unison. "Control is but an illusion. Instead you ask, and the flames provide."

They both disappeared a moment later, leaving her in the eternal darkness alone, the heat of Iblis' flames hovering just below her bare feet. She was hovering, but not falling. She shouldn't go deeper. To do so would only invite chaos and death and destruction.

"Almost there! Hang in there Blaze! Almost to the rainbow road!" Spark's voice called out. The rainbow road? There wasn't one in Vianex. She remembered asking about it. Spark had confirmed there wasn't one. She couldn't feel anything outside of the mental zone. But...then where was Spark taking her?

Blaze looked down, staring at where she felt the Flames of Disaster to be. She saw nothing but darkness, but felt it there, simmering just below the surface, eager and ready to spill out into the world. She felt no pain, but did feel as something wet struck out of her eyes. Even in this dreamworld, she reached up, swiping it away. Red. Was she bleeding in her own dreams? Why?

"Accept yourself. Trust no one," her mother's voice called out. Blaze looked around, wondering if she was again visited by the phantoms.

"Trust everyone. Reject yourself," Silver's voice rang out. The phantoms weren't visible, as they were before.

"Trust no one. Reject yourself," the cold voice of the dryads, or nymphs as Tails called them, rang out in her head. Blaze looked downwards. She was good at that, wasn't she? Trusting no one, rejecting everything about her? Who was she?

"Accept yourself. And trust everyone," Tails' voice rang out. "You can go much farther with friends than by yourself. Remember Cream?" his voice called.

Acceptance, and trust. Who was she? She'd lost herself, in this world. She needed her power here more, so much she'd forgotten who she was. Her name dwindled down to nothing but a word now, but what that word was, she'd forgotten.

She was fire. She was burning, an endless flare that would never go out. She wasn't just a flare, though, or an ember. She was on fire, both internally and externally. She was a blaze. Blaze.

The world lit up brightly, a brilliant yellow as she felt herself rise up suddenly. She began to feel pain again, the migraine in her head, her right side felt like it had been crushed, and to say nothing of her legs or arms. She couldn't move at all, really. She felt movement, and with a haunted sound she only vaguely recognized she felt herself start to feel pieced back together. Ring by ring, she felt her joints and bones heal. Her ribs healed first, allowing her to breath. She hadn't been able to. She hadn't even realized it.

Her feet struggled to find perch as her eyes opened to a Special Zone. The colors wound themselves around, hurting her eyes despite the general softness of the zone.

Spark was carrying her, she realized after a moment, grabbing the rings that Katia had told her were sacred, and no denizen of Ikan'Thoa was supposed to grab them. And yet she did, forcing the rings into Blaze's broken and bruised body.

Each one knit up bones, healed the passageway of her throat, her lungs, and the dozens of other injuries that she'd no doubt gained when she had fallen for nearly a mile, almost reaching terminal velocity. She had thought there had been a roll in there at some point, but even that wouldn't help much against their speed.

"You're awake!" Spark grinned as she continued running. Her head was pounding, and the rings weren't helping. Silver's voice was still more than apparent in her head. "Hold on!" she called out as she ran through another set.

The rings kept helping, and Blaze, minus her head, was feeling actually capable of basic function by the time she thought they would have hit the end. Most of the Special Zones only lasted a few minutes at most. This one was nearly at five minutes already, nearly double the amount of the time from the second longest. "How far is this one?" Blaze asked. She stretched out her toes, knowing that it would be a bad idea to suddenly start running without proper stretching, especially after what she had put herself through.

"Not sure. I found it randomly, trying to drag you through a cave to what I had assumed was the Great Desert!" Spark called back.

That would've gotten them both killed. The grubs would have made sure of that. Blaze hid her shudder at being eaten by the...bugs was far too kind a term.

"All of these rainbow roads do lead back to Ikan'Thoa, right?" Spark asked after a moment.

Blaze shook her head. "No. No they don't. That's actually the other reason Tails and I didn't take any after our first one, which launched us only...a few minutes run away," Blaze answered. The colors changed and shifted suddenly.

Blaze fully expected the white to come flooding into her vision, only to be surprised as the colors fractalized, dividing in her sight before she felt a sensation of falling.

Spark landed harshly on the ground, a checker board patterned ground with red and blue spheres lying around. Blaze landed right behind her, her legs protesting every moment she wasn't carried. But she forced herself up, grabbing Spark up not a second too soon as they felt the familiar force start making them run forward.

"What is this!?" Spark yelled as she ran into some of the blue spheres. It made an odd squelching sound as she ran past, as if being absorbed by something. It turned red as they both passed it.

"Grab the blue spheres!" Tails' voice yelled out from in front of them. Blaze looked up in shock, as both Tails and Katia were running the same Special Zone. Katia was looking worse for wear, with only Tails' special blanket as any amount of clothing. Had she succeeded then, in her laying with Tails?

And why did that bug her so much? What had Tails' voice said to her? Accept herself, and trust everyone? She'd just have to trust.

Fun fact; There's a reason that Blaze's thoughts in this last chapter are not in italics, which I usually use for thoughts or inner conversations. Not too happy with the chapter, but it has to be done.

Until Next Time!