Chapter 3: Death on Two Legs
There she was standing in front of everyone. The group was stunned to see that the Queen herself was Blaze, same height, same red jewel piece on the forehead, and same color fur. The only difference was their clothing appearance, the Queen's clothing was a pair red boots, black pants, a belt with a feminine skull in the center, two gold bracelets, a tight short red sleeveless tank top with a gold collar that show off her a bit of her stomach, and lastly she wore a small crown with a red skull on it that was tying her hair in a ponytail much like Blaze's hair. What stuck out to everyone was the color of the Queen's eyes, for they were red instead of amber as usual.
Sonic, Tails, Honey, and Knuckles were all surprised to see another Blaze standing there staring at them. The Blaze they knew was clenching her fists and gritting her teeth while the other Blaze was just smiling in a sinister, carefree manner.
They're eyes shifted when they heard the buzzing noise of wings coming from the fireflies fly over their heads. The same ones Sonic and the others defeated not too long ago from the village they saved. They all flew over everyone as they landed and quickly kneeled down to Queen Blaze.
"My queen, these are the troublemakers that were causing us problems." Said the firefly soldier.
Without shifting her eyes off Blaze, the Queen asks a question to her soldier. "Did the village pay their usual amount?" Queen Blaze asked.
"No my Queen, a villager didn't have enough money to pay. We're going to take him away as punishment but those beings stopped us." The soldier said, while still kneeling and looking down at the ground.
Queen Blaze closed her eyes while keeping her smile. "I see." She said, "I'll handle this on my own."
She quickly opened her deadly looking red eyes, slowly raising one arm straight out and while keeping her eyes on Blaze. Everyone was curious to know what Queen Blaze was going to do, but soon became loud and clear as a small fire orb started forming from the palm of her hand.
They looked to see where she was aiming and it was towards the village where people were hiding in their homes or on the street. Everyone's eyes widened seeing what she was planning to do, many frozen in fear. The Queen just had a calm smile showing no signs of remorse on what she planned to do to the people at the village.
"She's not going too…" Honey said, frightened.
"She wouldn't…right?" Tails said, shaking.
"There's still people over there!" Knuckles yelled.
The people at the village started screaming and crying in horror seeing the fireball in Queen Blaze's hand get even bigger. All this because one of them didn't have the money to pay the usual amount. The sound of people screaming was loud and it made the Queen snicker in joy hearing it.
"Nooooo!" Sonic yelled.
Before Sonic could make his move to stop Queen Blaze from using her attack. She shot the large fireball from her palm without any regrets. Blaze fired up her fire aura to boost up to the large fireball to catch up. She managed to get in front of the large fireball just a couple feet away from reaching the village. Everyone watched Blaze hold back the fireball with her two hands able to withstand the heat. She looked back at the villagers who watched her, even the little girl who called her a "Killer" earlier before.
She faced back at the fireball as she boosted up her fire aura and with her strength she gave out a mighty yell and pushed back the fireball into the air. Everyone's eyes looked at the flying fireball in the sky before it set off in a huge explosion making the ground shake. The attack would have destroyed the whole village in one attack if it did. The villagers were just scared to think that could have been them just now being turned into nothing but ashes that the wind will blow away.
The village was amazed that Blaze was able to save their lives in time. Blaze herself didn't bother looking back at the villagers for she wasn't expecting a "thank you" but hoped they at least change their mind and see that she and the Queen version of her weren't not the same.
"Run now! While you still can! Don't bother sticking around! Get out and escape the area!" Blaze yelled at the village.
Many villagers were shocked hearing this from Blaze and they listened to her as they began running out from the village to keep living. Blaze quickly dashed back to Sonic and the others, a bit tucker out for holding back that fireball was a lot tougher she thought, despite being immune to fire. The Queen looked a bit disappointed but quickly shrugged her shoulders and smiled for it wasn't that big of a deal for her.
"Are you insane?!" Blaze angrily yelled.
She laughed and shook her head before looking at Blaze and the others. "Oh where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself." She said, playfully.
She gave a bow to Blaze and others. "My name is Blaze the Cat, but perhaps you already knew that since you're with her." She said, introducing herself while looking at Blaze. "I'm the Queen and ruler of the whole world. I also have another name, a title I proudly earn myself."
The Queen lifted her head and looked straight at Blaze's amber color eyes. She gave a smirk trying to show her playful nature as she said her other title name in the most menacing tone.
"The Killer Queen."
"Why?! Why are you doing this?!" Blaze asked, angrily. "The world we worked hard to protect!?"
Queen Blaze smiled mockingly and rolled her eyes at Blaze's seriousness. "It's no clue that you're me, but different somehow. It's like looking in a mirror." She said, examining Blaze's appearance.
The Queen looked over Blaze to see Sonic and the gang. "I can see why, never seen folks like you before, but I assume you're the reason." She said, giving a curious look.
"She doesn't know us?" Honey asked, surprised.
"Maybe that's a good thing, the less she knows about us the better." Sonic said, as everyone nodded.
"You still haven't answered my question?! Why are you doing this?!" Blaze demanded to know.
"Because why not! Nothing even matters anymore. I'm just trying to find ways to amuse myself. Is that so wrong princess?" Queen Blaze teased playfully and giggled.
"By making these people suffer to your advantage? We were taught better than this by Gardon and the other nobles to not become like this." The feline said, yelling at the Queen.
"They were fools trying to keep us in control. We have fire on our hands, it's our duty to spread it." Queen Blaze smirked.
One of the soldiers went up to Queen Blaze, "My Queen, would you like us to dispose of this imposter and her companions?" He asked, ready to take action for his Queen.
"No." She responded softly.
The Queen slowly began walking towards Blaze and the others. "You already had your fun. Now it's my turn. Go back to your daily routine for the other villages and collect more money. And if they don't have the amount they usually have, don't bother taking them to my castle. Just burn down their homes to your pleasure." She commanded.
"As you wish my Queen. It shall be done." Said the soldier.
Everyone watched as the fireflies began flapping the wings on their back and took off in the air as they group together. The Queen kept looking at Sonic, Blaze, and others as she kept smiling because she was very happy.
"It's been a long time since anyone caused trouble for my firefly army. That tells me all of you possess some skills of combat that I like to see myself." She said, excitedly.
"We don't have to fight. I can tell something happened to you to make you turn this way." Blaze said, concerning.
"We can help you, you're still Blaze. There's gotta be some good in you." Sonic offered.
Queen Blaze just laughed at their sympathy. "Oh spare me with those petty thoughts of yours. Like I haven't heard that sorta thing before." The Queen mocked the gang with a playful hand gesture.
"No stupid friendship speeches or talk about spreading love and joy to the world ain't working on this kitty cat. I can tell you that." Queen Blaze continued mocking.
Sonic stepped forward while forming a frown, "Then I guess we have no choice. I hate doing this because you have the same face as my friend Blaze here. Looks like we're gonna knock some sense into you." The hedgehog said, forming a fist at the Queen.
"Oh please do, I lost my senses long ago. I dare you all to not hold back." Queen Blaze teases everyone, by spreading her arms wide open, leaving herself defenseless. "Something did happen to me long ago and let's say I'm very happy it did. It opened my eyes and set me free to do as I like."
Blaze, who was getting angry at the Queen, charged in first for an attack. She made a fiery fist as she ran towards the Queen, who still had her arms spread leaving herself defenseless. Blaze made first contact as she punched the Queen right on the forehead. The Queen didn't flinch, move, and make any sounds. The punch did nothing to her. That didn't stop Blaze as she kept punching at the Queen's face, chest, and stomach.
Nothing was working as the Queen just watched Blaze try to do any damage to her. Blaze backed up a bit to see the Queen standing while still smiling. She simply just fixed her outfit and dusted off the debris.
"You're holding back aren't you?" Queen Blaze asked, harshly.
"What?!" Blaze asked, taking a step back.
"Does having this face and voice really bother you so much." Queen Blaze said, pointing at herself.
Blaze couldn't help grit her teeth at the question. The Queen just nodded in disapproval. "Here I thought my counterpart would at least give me a good fight." She said, disappointed.
The Queen then looked over at Sonic and the gang who were anticipating her next move. Her eyes widened in joy for she realized how to make things exciting for her and to get Blaze fighting seriously.
Blaze just watched as the Queen walked up to her. She didn't bother attacking Blaze at the moment for she wanted to say something as Blaze was too stun to move. The two were looking the opposite the way as Blaze kept her eyes forward. The Queen leaned and whispered in a cold tone in the cat's ear.
"How about a little motivation to help." The Queen whispered into Blaze's ear.
Before Blaze could say or react, she quickly turned to look over to Queen Blaze who was suddenly in front of Sonic and the others aiming her hand at them, ready to burn them into ashes in one attack. Sonic quickly pushed everyone away as a large burst of fire then came out from Queen Blaze's hand, burning the hedgehog as a small dust cloud was formed.
"Sonic!" Blaze yelled.
The dust cloud cleared and what was left was a large line crater on the ground caused by the fire blast. The Queen smiled and gave a happy sigh for she knew it wasn't over.
"So….." she said, turning her head to the left and teasing. "You're a quick fellow aren't you?"
Over to the left Sonic was breathing heavily and in his running stance. The hedgehog barely made it out alive after saving his friends from the attack. Sonic looked back to one of his quills to see a small part of it was a bit burned off. He managed to dodge but it was still hit. Tails and Honey who were happy and relieved that Sonic was still standing, the same feeling could be said about Blaze.
While she was looking at the hedgehog. Knuckles was coming from behind with a sneak attack, his huge fist ready to punch the Queen on the face. The Queen quickly smirked and turned her head to see Knuckles coming right at her.
Queen Blaze didn't move or dodge from Knuckles' attack. Instead with perfect timing with her eyes, she grabbed Knuckle's wrist holding his attack back. Knuckles tried using his other fist to punch but it was grabbed by the wrist by the Queen.
"So you're the muscle of the group huh?" The Queen said, "I can tell you have a rich history of some sort."
Knuckles quickly bashed his head in the Queen's forehead but was unfazed as she kept her smile. "Those hands of yours would make an excellent part in my collection." She said, looking at his hands as trophies to hang on her wall.
A burning sensation started happening on Knuckles' wrist. Instantly Knuckles screamed trying to break free because the Queen was trying to burn his hands off his body. Before any serious burn could happen, Honey swooped in and pushed Queen Blaze away from Knuckles, making her let go. Knuckles sigh in relief looking at his wrist. They were fine but were still burning.
Knuckles looked over to see Honey and Queen Blaze fighting or at the very least a one sided fight. Honey was giving it her all as she threw her punches and kicks at the Queen but the Queen herself wasn't fighting back. She casually just put her hands behind her back and dodged Honey's attack swiftly. Honey was getting frustrated as the Queen was just smirking.
"Judging by your movements, you're quite the skilled fighter." Queen Blaze said to Honey, "I'm impressed."
"Quiet! I'm gonna beat you so hard for what you try to do to Sonic and Knuckles!" Honey yelled.
Honey went for a punch but the Queen simply stepped sideways, able to see her attacks clearly. The way she moved looked like she was dancing in a carefree manner while Honey was just giving it all she got, not holding back her attacks despite the Queen looking like her friend Blaze.
"If I had more positions in my army I might have offered you a spot since you're a cat like me." The Queen teased. "However….."
The yellow cat tried a kick attack but was immediately grabbed by Queen Blaze's hand. Honey tried to break free but Queen Blaze's hand kept a hard grip on her leg. Honey stopped struggling as the Queen looked at her dead in the eyes and leaned in a bit.
"You still lack reflexes." The Queen mocked.
The Queen then flipped and slammed Honey's body down to the ground repeatedly. Honey screamed in pain as her grunts could be heard but it wasn't long until Sonic ran in and saved his sister Honey by doing a homing attack on the Queen's back. She grunted a little for she showed a sign she was in pain but still kept her smile.
"I guess the kitty cat can still feel pain." Sonic mocked the Queen.
"Good one, it's been a long time since someone was able to get a good hit on me like that!" Said the Queen in a crazy tone.
"Tails now!" Sonic shouted .
The Queen was taken by surprise when suddenly the young fox showed up by flying towards her from above. Tails turned his back and used his tails to tie up Queen Blaze's arm and neck, putting her in a struggle. The Queen couldn't move as Tails kept holding her back with his tails.
Sonic, Knuckles, and Honey regroup as they look towards the Queen. They thought they won seeing there was no way she could get out of Tails's grip. Tails kept his grip, holding down the Queen the best he could to make her pass out.
A smirk appeared on the Queen's face, "My oh my, what a nice soft set of tails you got there." She said, complementing. "So soft and fluffy."
She managed to grab one of Tails' tails with her other hand. She quickly fires up her hand and tries to burn the fox's tail. Tails instantly let go feeling the burn on his tail and gave a small scream in pain. He looked back to see a bit of his fur from one of his tails was burned off, able to see his actual naked pink skin that his fur was covering.
Tails looked back at the Queen, who was just standing and thinking to herself moments ago how nice his tails felt on her and wanted more of it. She looked at Tails and began walking towards him with a smirk and her hand up, ready to grab the fox.
"Perhaps I can help you look more like a regular fox. Let me take one of your tails to use as a lovely scarf. I pull it out with my bare hands if I have to." She said, stretched her hand to the young fox.
The young fox felt a chill hearing how Queen Blaze wanted to rip one of his tails off of him. He got scared as he held tight his tails not wanting them to lose one of them. Tails could see Queen Blaze was dead serious as she walked towards him with a sadistic smile.
Sonic quickly got in front between Tails and Queen Blaze. He shields his little brother from the Queen. "Ain't now way that's happening! Get away from him!" Sonic yelled.
"Quite the hero aren't you?" Queen Blaze teased.
"Take another step to Tails, and I'll show you what a normal hero won't do." Sonic threatened the cat.
Queen Blaze just chuckled at Sonic's words because she likes them. Sonic started walking towards the Queen, which surprised her for it's been a long time since someone would walk towards her with no fear. Inside the Queen's head she was filled with excitement as she saw Sonic walk towards her.
"Blaze!" Sonic said, in a bitter tone, he hated the fact that the feline in front shares the same name as the Blaze he knows, saying it in a tone of anger and hatred.
"Oh? You're approaching me?" The Queen teased the hedehog. "Just walking towards me, not afraid of death like most are."
"Trust me, death is something I never fear, not when my friend's lives are at stake." Sonic shot back.
Queen Blaze smiled as stood on her feet. "You should be afraid because death is right here." She said, pointing at herself proudly and mockingly posing in front of the hedgehog.
"Death on two legs."
Sonic stopped walking and gritted his teeth having enough of the Queen's words. He suddenly burst up his speed boost surrounding his body in a blue aura. He dashed towards the Queen, in a flash the two collided creating a dust cloud like it came from a huge explosion.
When the dust cloud cleared, both Sonic and Queen Blaze could see their elbows clashing and pushing against each other. Sonic was covered in his blue aura from his speed boost while Queen Blaze was in her fire aura from her flame boost.
Blaze and the others immediately saw the difference in Queen Blaze's fire aura. Her fire aura looked more in a deep shade of red, almost like the color of blood itself where Blaze's regular fire aura was a mix of red and orange. Blaze was most curious how the flame color of her counterpart was much different.
Both Sonic and the Queen kept at it as the two were trying to push each other back. Sonic was gritting his teeth while the Queen was grinning at him. There was black smoke slowly forming from their elbows caused by their auras. It came to an end when Sonic couldn't take it anymore because the burning sensation from Queen Blaze's fire aura was slowly getting the upper hand.
Sonic dashed back, giving himself some room away from the Queen. The hedgehog looked down at his elbow to see a small red burning spot. He looked back at Queen Blaze with a frown.
"What's the matter? Am I too hot to handle for you!" She mocked the hedgehog.
Sonic smirked back, "You may think your hot, but I'm cooler." He said, while softly rubbing his elbow.
"Quite the confidence you have there. Not afraid of death and still able to smirk after I almost burn off your elbow. I must say you're quite intriguing to me." Queen Blaze looked at Sonic with an interesting look.
The hedgehog took a few more steps away from the purple feline. "Let's see how fast you can go. The Blaze I know is one of the few friends of mine that can keep up with my speed." Sonic said.
Sonic then blasted away leaving the scene. Queen Blaze couldn't help but giggle watching the hedgehog run as she boosted up her fire aura, ready to chase the hedgehog and test his speed.
"I love it when they run. That hedgehog's death is gonna be the most satisfying one yet. Maybe I should keep him alive and see how long he could keep that smile of his as I torture him." Queen Blaze said to herself, imagining the large amount of torture she can cook up for Sonic.
The Queen then left as she went after Sonic leaving the rest behind. Tails, Honey, and Knuckles regrouped as they walked towards Blaze who was just distraught by what she saw. She looked at her hands just imagining what kind of things her other self had done with the same pyrokinetic powers she has. Just what she was capable of doing that never knew she could. Blaze snapped back to reality when she looked up to her friends who looked worried. The lavender cat looked away, unable to look at their eyes.
"Blaze, it's okay. We know that ain't you." Honey spoke.
"You're better than that evil Queen version of yourself." Tails said, trying to make Blaze feel better.
"You could have at least helped us." Knuckles teased.
"I'm sorry you guys. It's just….disturbing seeing myself acting like that. That other me was doing the things I would never see myself doing." Blaze answered.
The gang looked in the direction where Sonic and Queen Blaze headed off to. "Do you think Sonic has a plan?" Honey asked.
"Heh, knowing him he's just going to improvise." Knuckles said.
"Let's follow them, Sonic is gonna need our help." Tails said, as the gang nodded.
Back over to Sonic and the Queen, the hedgehog looked behind to see the Queen slowly catching up to him but Sonic was slowing down on purpose because he had a plan. Just as the Queen was able to reach him, Sonic stopped running and ducked to punch the Queen straight on the stomach.
The Queen was pushed back, before she could recover she was hit from the back by Sonic's kick as he moved behind her. She was being attacked by Sonic from every angle before she reacted. Everywhere she was being pushed and attacked, Sonic was there using his superspeed to hit around her.
Queen Blaze then stopped the hedgehog's attack by making a spinning fire vortex around her. It pushes Sonic back away from the Queen. Before Sonic could react, the Queen popped out from her fire vortex by surprise and punched Sonic on the cheek of his face. The Queen started punching Sonic repeatedly on the face, stomach and chest with her flaming fist.
Sonic grunted in pain with each hit but stood his ground. He then blocked off the Queen's punches and started punching back the Queen's stomach. The Queen quickly counters by grabbing Sonic's face and hitting him with her knee straight on, making Sonic scream in pain, blinding him for a bit while feeling the pain on his face.
The hedgehog didn't back down because he could still fight. Unfortunately, the Queen sent out a wave of fireballs at Sonic who screamed in pain as they hit him. He couldn't dodge or block the attacks because Queen Blaze was shooting him in every direction while he was temporarily blind in pain on the face.
Queen Blaze kept shooting her fireballs at Sonic until he was down on one knee. He was breathing really hard for air and his vision was slowly coming back, but it was too late for he was badly hurt from the fireballs. He watched as Queen Blaze prepared herself one last fireball that would finish him off.
The Queen smirked and shot the fireball at Sonic. The blue blur gritted his teeth as he tried to gather another strength to move out of the way for he wasn't ready to give up. Just moments before the fireball could hit him. Blaze soon appeared and took the fireball head on to protect Sonic, not hurting her.
Sonic smirked seeing his friend come to save him. The rest of the gang soon appeared to Sonic. Tails helped his hedgehog brother up to his feet as Honey gave him a worried look.
"You okay?" Honey asked the hedgehog.
"Yeah I'm fine, she just got me by surprise." Sonic said, rubbing his face where the Queen hit him.
Blaze looked over at her friend, "Sonic, mind if I take my turn?" She asked.
Sonic smiled, "Go right ahead buddy. Give that evil counterpart a beating for all of us." He said.
Blaze smiled softly at her friend before frowning at the Queen. Queen Blaze just gave a taunting gesture with her hand to make Blaze fight her. Blaze started dashing towards the Queen with angry thoughts on how she was hurting her friends just now. The Queen didn't bother to move or protect herself, for she wanted to feel the force of Blaze's punch.
She got what she wanted as Blaze punched her face. Unlike before, Blaze actually did some damage and pushed back the Queen who fell to one knee. The Queen just rubbed her face before looking back up at Blaze with a sadistic look in her feline eyes.
"Now that's more like it!" She yelled happily.
Queen Blaze unleashed her cat claws and started swiping at Blaze as she rushed at her. The princess did her best to dodge and weave every attack but it was getting tougher to do so for the Queen would just go harder and faster with each swipe.
The Queen managed to get hit on Blaze swiping her arm, ripping a bit of her clothes off from her arm area. Blaze got angry and lit her hand on fire and punched the Queen in the face. The Queen would strike back and punch Blaze in the face as well.
The two lavender felines stepped back from each other and powered up their fire aura. Blaze showed her regular fire aura while Queen Blaze was showing the mysterious red fire aura she had. Sonic and others watched in amazement seeing the two cat's fire aura trying to mix together for they were very familiar.
Blaze was giving her counterpart a frown while Queen Blaze was giving a playful look on her face. After enough waiting the two cats charged each other. On impact their aura created a small explosion pushing Sonic and others away.
The two cats fighting in one giant fire aura they were in together. The two cats were going at it with their punches and kicks. Their punches and kicks clashed creating sparks that started to light the ground around on fire. Blaze was throwing her punches as the Queen was blocking her attacks.
Blaze tried going for a low kick but the Queen jumped in the air to dodge. While in the air, the Queen went for a kick underneath Blaze's chin. Blaze managed to grab the Queen's leg and slammed her down to the ground.
"Alright Blaze!" Honey cheered out loud.
Just as it seems Blaze had the advantage, Queen Blaze, while her leg was still grabbed by Blaze's hand, wrapped her other leg on Blaze's hand and twisted her arm and slammed her whole body on the ground.
Blaze screamed as she hit the ground, before she could stand up. The Queen then stepped on her chest with her red boots making her scream more. Just before she could stomp Blaze's stomach with her red boots some more. Sonic came in and hit the Queen with a spin dash, pushing her away from Blaze.
Tails then came in and whacked the Queen with his tail from behind and Knuckles and Honey attacked together, Knuckles punched the Queen in the face and Honey kicked the Queen on the stomach.
The gang quickly shielded Blaze who was slowly standing up. They all looked at the Queen who was badly bruised by their attacks. At the state she was in, they had a slim chance of defeating her. They were surprised to see that the Queen wasn't mad, but instead was chuckling as she was slowly taking out something from her hammer space.
They were surprised that what she pulled out was a purple color Sol Emerald of her own. Queen Blaze smirked as the Sol Emerald was starting to glow, the gang didn't know what she was planning to do with the Sol Emerald.
"She's got a Sol Emerald?" Tails said, shocked.
"What is she planning to do with it?" Knuckles said.
"What can she possibly do with one Sol Emerald?" Blaze said, curious.
Before anyone could say or do anything. A huge flashing light was coming from the purple Sol Emerald, blinding everyone's view. The next thing they knew the world was flashing in a blinding light, but not before the Queen yelled out something that sounded familiar to them.
"Sol Control!"
Blaze was on the ground, her body was just slamming down after the Queen twisted her arm. Blaze was pinned down as the Queen stomped on Blaze's chest. As Blaze was screaming, she couldn't help but get a feeling from the back of her head that she already went through this. Just before the Queen could stomp on Blaze's chest much harder. The Queen stepped off Blaze and looked to her right to stop Sonic's surprise spin dash attack with one hand. She smiled and blasted the hedgehog away with her fire.
Queen Blaze quickly turned and grabbed Tails' tails who was gonna whack her from behind. She began to spin the fox around, making him dizzy and slammed his body on the ground.
She turns around once again, dodging Knuckles' and Honey's attack in time. She blasted both the echidna and cat with a fire blast sending them flying in the air and next to Sonic.
Everyone looked at the Queen who was grinning after avoiding their attacks perfectly. The gang were shocked to see the Queen was able to predict their attacks. Everyone including Blaze stood up as they circled around her.
Queen Blaze smirked seeing the angry faces of her opponents, loving the very sight of it. The gang all went in and started fighting the Queen together seeing they had a better chance attacking at the same time. The Queen was doing her best to dodge and block their attacks, it was too much as they managed to lay hits on her. Though she wasn't fighting back, more like she was studying their movements in each passing second.
Knuckles went in and gave one last hard punch to the Queen's mouth and pushed her away. They looked to see the Queen who was still standing on her feet. She kept her smile despite some blood leaking from her mouth and chuckled at the gang, looking at them with a crazy look. The gang were shocked to see how she was still able to stand, ignoring the pain they gave her. She then pulled out a purple Sol Emerald which surprised everyone that she had one with her. Her blood was also spilling on the Sol Emerald as she kept holding it near where her mouth was bleeding. The Sol Emerald began glowing in a blinding light, making everyone cover their eyes.
"Sol Control!"
The Queen was surrounded by the gang, all of them giving her an angry look. She smirks even more for what's about to happen. The gang all went in to attack her at the same time. The Queen didn't even bother to block and avoided their attacks perfectly, she somehow knew when and how they were going to attack her.
She found an opening to their attacks that gave her the chance to make her move. In a quick blur, she attacks everyone at the same time. She punched and kicked them in their faces with her flame powers. To top it all off, she burst her body out in a large flame, pushing them back.
The fight against Queen Blaze kept going on. But no matter what moves or abilities the gang tried doing against the Queen, they weren't able to land a single hit like how they did in their earlier part of their fight. Queen Blaze would just swiftly and playfully dodge their attacks seconds before they came close to her. She was badly wounding all of them as they could barely stand while she was still standing in good condition. All while laughing at their faces seeing that they can't land an attack on her.
"How!?" Blaze yelled, while gritting her teeth.
"How is she able to dodge our attacks so perfectly!?" Sonic yelled.
"It's like she can read our minds?" Honey said, breathing while holding her injured arm.
The gang looked at the Queen who was slowly walking towards them. She didn't bother dashing towards them or waste any energy running. She wanted to take her time to look at their faces before she started attacking them again.
As Queen Blaze was taking her time, Blaze couldn't help getting another strange feeling like she had seen this scenario play out before, a memory that felt hazy when she thinks about it. She looked to her friends who were getting ready to fight the Queen as she approached them.
"Guys." Blaze spoke up.
"Yeah Blaze?" Sonic said, while keeping his eyes on Queen Blaze.
"Does any of this seem familiar to any of you?" Blaze asked.
Honey looked down at the ground. "Yeah, is anyone getting a sense of deja vu?" She said to everyone.
"I guess I'm not the only one." Knuckles said.
"Does anybody also get this strange feeling from the back of your head?" Blaze asked, rubbing her head.
Everyone nodded as they felt something on the back of their heads, how very odd they felt like this. As the gang were trying to make sense of this, Tails looked over at the Queen who was slowly approaching them. Tails was looking at the way Queen Blaze was walking towards them, he looked carefully until he saw something pop out from the Queen's back. Tails looked more carefully and saw it was a purple Sol Emerald she was holding behind her.
After putting two and two together, Tails then found the solution to their problem as his eyes widened. He turned to look at his friends, "Guys I think I know why she's able to predict our movements." The fox said.
"How Tails?" Blaze asked the fox.
"She can rewind time!" Tails said, frightened.
"Rewind time!?" Honey said, as she and others looked at Tails with wide eyes.
"Think about it! Why are we having these strange feelings on the back of our heads? It said the mind can feel the same sense of deja vu when an event happens. Our eyes only see the event, but our mind has witnessed it, stored in the back of our heads." Tails explained.
"But how is she rewinding time?" Sonic asked the fox.
"With the Sol Emerald she's holding." Tails pointed out.
Everyone looked carefully at the Queen and saw the Sol Emerald she was holding as she smirked at them. "If it's anything like Chaos Control, then I'm assuming it's called Sol Control is what she's calling it." Tails said, frowning at the Queen.
"So that's how she's doing it? No wonder she's able to predict our attacks." Honey said, angry.
Sonic stepped forward, "So she can rewind time huh?" He said, upset that the Queen had the upper hand.
Queen Blaze stopped to look at the gang, They stood there waiting for her to make the first move against them. They were unsure that they should attack first for she might already know what they plan to do, only putting more pressure on them. The Queen laughed seeing the cautious nature of trying to attack her and saw they had figured out her time rewind ability.
"Hahahaha! I guess the cat is out of the bag." Queen Blaze said, trying to be funny but Sonic and his friends weren't laughing.
"We know about your time rewind." Blaze said, upset.
Queen Blaze shrugged her shoulders as she smiled, "It was a matter of 'time' before you fools found out." She said, making a pun.
"Stop with the puns!" Honey yelled, really annoyed.
The gang got ready to face the Queen and her time rewind. However, Queen Blaze just stretched her body in a playful cat manner as she turned and looked away from them. "I tell you, rewind time with Sol Control does take some energy to do." She said, stretching her body. "I'm going to give myself a break from all this fighting and give 'her' a chance to play with you."
"Her? What do you mean by 'her'?" Knuckles said, confused.
Queen Blaze smiled at everyone, "Here, I'll show you." She said, in a menacing way.
The Queen made a stance and out from her body was another red hot fire aura as she looked at the gang of heroes. She then stood up straight while keeping her smirk and stepped out from the fire aura she made. Everyone was surprised how Queen Blaze just stepped out from her own fire aura as she stood there looking at them. They looked back at the fire aura to see it was changing shape. It quickly took the same shape as Queen Blaze, a fiery version of herself.
Queen Blaze stood next to her fire self and put a hand on her shoulder as they both looked at the gang. "I like to introduce you all to Ms. Fire. Say hello to them will you?" The Queen said to Ms. Fire.
Ms. Fire just let a terrifying scream from her fire mouth, it made the gang cover their ears for the scream was very loud.
"What is she?" Blaze asked.
"Just a being I can create with my fire powers. Judging by your face, you never made your own with your powers. There's so much of our fire abilities that you have yet to learn." Queen Blaze said, teasing her counterpart.
looked at her maker, "Oh I guess I made you wait long enough. Go forth Ms. Fire. Go have the time of your life." Queen Blaze chuckled.
Ms. Fire screamed in joy and started running towards Sonic and the gang. The gang got ready for another fight as charged at them, she then jumped and was going to hit Tails from behind with her fist. The fox quickly turned around to dodge and ran away from her.
Honey tried hitting Ms. Fire, only for to miss her and got grab by the arm and sling shot her across the ground. Honey groaned in pain as she was laying on the ground, unable to move her arm because it hurt from earlier.
Knuckles got ready for another attack, but was knocked down when Ms. Fire jumped and fire blasted straight on the chest rapidly and slash it with her fire claws. Knuckles tried his best to let the pain take him down while he stood his ground.
Sonic tried hitting Ms. Fire by going above her but she managed to dodge his attacks, as she kept hitting and kicking him and the gang. They were all in pain because they were trying their best to avoid her attacks and dodge them. They couldn't due to how badly their bodies were damaged by the Queen's attack when she used time to rewind on them. She even made them dodge her knife size fire blades from her hand, trying to pierce and burn their bodies.
The fire cat screamed and went in for a body slam at Sonic, knocking him out the ground. She was about to strike until she got kicked from the side by Blaze. The princess then grabbed from the back of her head and slammed her down to the ground repeatedly. was screaming as she was being attacked.
Instead of screaming in pain, the fire cat was actually enjoying the beating for she was smiling and laughing everytime Blaze was slamming her head down. It made Blaze feel uncomfortable seeing the fire monster enjoy the beating. What was odd is that Ms. Fire's body started to glow a bit after being hit.
Knuckles got back up to his feet and went to attack with his fist, she managed to block his attack with her own fist. The two started clashing with their fist each other, Knuckles kept trying to push back but the fire monster kept on pushing back.
The fire monster started to push harder on the red echidna, she began using her fire powers to push him back and Knuckles couldn't hold his ground. She then slammed her body on Knuckles, making him roll on the ground until he stopped and couldn't move. Knuckles laid down, still on the ground and just breathing heavily.
The fire monster got close to Knuckles ready to strike him down. Knuckles took a deep breath and used the remainder of it to unleash a series of punches to by surprise. He attacked non stop with as every punch was enough to break a boulder and was taking each hit unable to protect herself. The gang smiled and cheered seeing how Knuckles was punching the life out of Queen Blaze's creation.
Knuckles gave a mighty yell and gave the hardest punch to that made her fall to the ground. "Alright Knuckles!" Tails praised his friend.
"Not bad, man." Sonic smirked.
"You're the echidna!" Honey cheered.
While everyone was cheering for Knuckles, Blaze looked over at the Queen and was just smiling down at her creation. Blaze was starting to get a bad feeling that Knuckles' victory over isn't what it seems. Knuckles was out of breath for he could no longer move and was now on his knees.
Knuckles was gasping for air as his body was sweating and felt numb. His eyes widened when he looked over and saw the fire feline slowly getting back up to her feet. She laughed, staring at the echidna. Knuckles and others couldn't believe what they were seeing, it seems none of Knuckles' attacks had any effect on her.
What was more odd is that Ms. Fire's body began glowing more rapidly. She began walking towards Knuckles who couldn't move a muscle and laughed as she got close to him. Knuckles tried to get up on one foot, but his body had already given up on him. Blaze looked at and began examining her glowing body.
Blaze's eyes widened as fear took hold, realizing what's going on. She quickly looked at Sonic. "Sonic! Grab Knuckles quickly and run as fast as you can! I'll grab Honey and Tails!" She yelled in fear.
Sonic didn't bother to ask a question because he could see how serious Blaze looked. Blaze turned over to Tails and Honey and grabbed their hands with hers as they started running together. Both Tails and Honey were confused by why Blaze grabbed them but saw the serious face she had.
Sonic wasted no time and did as Blaze instructed him to do. He charged up his speed boost and looked down to Knuckles who still wasn't able to move and the fire demon cat was inches close to Knuckles and stopped moving, her body began to glow rapidly as she smiled and looked at Knuckles.
At the last few seconds, Sonic came in, grabbed Knuckles and boosted out there in a blue blur. Right after grabbing Knuckles' body, Ms. Fire's body then lighted up and turned into a huge explosion where she stood. Blaze managed to get herself, Tails and Honey far enough from the explosion for their safety.
They looked to see Sonic who was carrying Knuckles on his back. Sonic couldn't run as fast since he was carrying Knuckles and the damage he took from the Queen. The force of the explosion pushed them away, having barely escaped from the radius. Both Sonic and Knuckles slipped and landed on the ground, both breathing heavily as their friends helped them up.
Tails and Honey put Knuckles' arm around them to help him stand up. He was still too tired from his punches he gave to earlier. Blaze helped Sonic back his feet by grabbing his hand as they all looked back to where the explosion happened.
There was a large crater where once stood. They can't even imagine how things would turn out if they didn't escape in time. Coming from the smoke of the explosion was Queen Blaze who was dusting off the dirt from her gloves. She wasn't affected by the explosion and looked unharmed.
"Not bad, didn't expect any of you to survive." Queen Blaze said, smiling.
"What was that just now!?" Blaze yelled at her Queen self.
Queen Blaze playfully slapped her forehead, "Oh dear, I forgot to mention. Ms. Fire isn't just a mindless fiery version of myself. She's also a bomb." She chuckled.
"A bomb?" Honey said, surprised.
"Why do you think she was enjoying the hits you gave her? The more you hit the more she absorbs those into the strength of her explosion. In this case those punches that red fool gave her were enough for one big explosion." Said Queen Blaze, looking at Knuckles who just growled at her.
Queen Blaze powered up her fire aura and out came another Ms. Fire, ready to go at it again as she let out another horrifying scream at Sonic and the others. The Queen smiled as she stood beside as they both looked at the gang.
"Another one?" Tails said, more frighten.
Queen Blaze chuckled, "I can make only one until she explodes. Though one is all I need." She said, with a teasing look.
"How are we going to defeat that thing?" Sonic thought to himself.
"Word of advice, try to misfire Ms. Fire." She teased, wiggling her finger at all of them while smirking. "Come on, take your shot! Fire her higher! Please don't misfire."
The fire cat let out another scream as she was getting ready to fight again. Sonic, Blaze, and Honey got into their fighting stance while Tails was sticking by Knuckles who was still tired out and was resting his body.
Before Ms. Fire could move in to attack, The Queen stopped her. "Why don't you play with that hedgehog and yellow cat? I wanna spend some time with an inferior copycat of mine by myself." The Queen said.
The fire monster happily nodded her head at the Queen and looked at Sonic and Honey, making the two siblings frown and get in their fighting stance. Blaze looked over the Queen who had her eyes locked on her as she smiled wickedly. Blaze too got into her stance, for she was ready to fight once again.
Without warning, Ms. Fire started running towards Sonic and Honey. However, Ms. Fire looked at Honey and her body started glowing rapidly. She leaped into the air like a predator towards Honey.
Sonic, with his speed, quickly shielded Honey with his back and jumped away as he grabbed her with his arms. Ms. Fire suddenly exploded which unfortunately got Sonic on his back. The explosion was small and not as deadly as the one before, nevertheless Sonic got hurt from the explosion trying to protect his sister.
"Sonic!" Honey and Tails cried.
The Queen laughed hard, "I forgot to mention, she can explode at any time regardless if she's been hit or not. Either she can explode on her own or with the snap of my finger. The explosion won't be as strong. But they can lay quite the punch." Queen Blaze explained, smiling as she saw the hedgehog on the floor.
Sonic gritted his teeth as he tried getting back up. The hedgehog slowly stood on his feet and did not show a sign of giving up. The Queen was quite impressed by Sonic's willpower to keep going. It didn't matter for she sent out another Ms. Fire to deal with him and Honey.
Ms. Fire then went after Sonic and Honey once again. Instead of getting in their fighting positions, Sonic and Honey prepared themselves by dodging Ms. Fire's attack and made sure they were feets away from her incase she decides to explode randomly again. They can't do anything at the moment but to dodge Ms. Fire's attacks.
Back with Blaze, she and the Queen started fighting again. The Queen had the upper hand when it came to their condition. Blaze was trying her hardest to lay a hit before her attacks were moving much slower due to how tired she was. The Queen on the other hand was just enjoying the moment, smiling happily for she knew her victory was near.
After fighting for a while the Queen finally got the full advantage as she stuck Blaze to the ground again. Blaze couldn't move anymore because her body was badly damaged by the Queen's punch to the face and started choking her for a bit with her hand on her neck. The Queen lifted Blaze by the collar of her purple outfit and was using her other hand in the air with her cat claws out, ready to strike Blaze.
Sonic and Honey wanted to help Blaze; Ms. Fire they were prevented by who blocked them. Taking this chance, Ms. Fire exploded in front of them. Thankfully the explosion wasn't strong enough, for Sonic and Honey didn't lay a hit on her. Honey was able to stand while Sonic was still on the ground because he was badly hurt after taking two small explosions from her.
Everyone was too far away from Blaze and the Queen that it might be too late to save Blaze from her death. Sonic was trying to get his body up again, Honey's leg and arm were badly bruised, one of Tails' tail was injured that prevented him from flying and Knuckles was still out of breath. The Queen Blaze smiled down at her counterpart as Blaze just looked angrily at her.
"You know? Having the same face as you is really bothersome. Why don't I rip that face of yours off so we don't look alike?" Queen Blaze asked. "Nobody can save you, too bad we have to end all this quickly. Perhaps I should use my time rewind to enjoy this moment longer. You get to experience death multiple times."
"You….will…..be…defeated." Blaze muttered out in a weak state.
Queen Blaze got her claws ready as she raised her hand high in the air. Blaze just gritted her teeth and closed her eyes to prepare for the most painful experience she's gonna get. Blaze was thinking of turning into Burning Blaze but didn't want to risk the Queen getting all of the Sol Emeralds with her time rewind and using them on her friends. The Queen began to lower her hand, ready to rip off Blaze's face. Right before the Queen's claws could reach Blaze's face. A sudden pain and bruises appeared on the Queen's face out of nowhere and she was sent flying off.
Blaze opened her eyes and saw Sonic standing in front of her where the Queen stood. Everyone was taken by surprise by Sonic's sudden appearance. Knuckles, Honey, and Tails were wondering how Sonic got there so fast despite being damaged. The hedgehog was breathing heavily as everyone slowly gathered around him and Blaze. The purple feline saw what Sonic was holding in his hand. The blue Chaos Emerald he brought with him.
Tails' and Knuckles' eyes widened for they had an idea what Sonic did just now. "Sonic, did you use…." Tails spoke.
Sonic nodded, "Yeah I used Chaos Control. To stop time." He answered.
"What!?" Both Blaze and Honey said, surprised.
Sonic looked at the Blue Chaos Emerald in his hand. "Like I said before, the Chaos Emeralds have the ability to warp time and space. I managed to stop time with Chaos Control to save Blaze." He answered.
"Woah." Honey said, looking at the Chaos Emerald on her brother's hand.
"If the Queen is gonna use time against us, we'll do the same to even the field." Sonic said, gripping the emerald hard in his hand.
"Alright!" Honey cheered, however Sonic was still frowning.
"Don't cheer just yet." Sonic spoke in a serious tone.
"How come?" Blaze wondered.
"I only stopped time by pure luck. It's not like it's something I can do regularly. That's why I wasn't able to use it when the Queen was rewinding time on us. I gotta make every Chaos Control count." Sonic answered.
The gang looked over to see the Queen, who had a bewilderment look on her face as she rubbed her face where Sonic punched her multiple times during his time stop. She looked over to see Sonic holding the Chaos Emerald in his hand and saw how it almost resembled the Sol Emerald. She was very fascinated by it and Sonic's use of it.
"That hedgehog is really something. Perhaps he's a much bigger threat than I thought." Queen Blaze said, looking at Sonic.
Queen Blaze started walking towards Sonic with the Sol Emerald in her hand, tossing it up and down playfully. She also created another Ms. Fire from her fire aura as she walked beside her. Her eyes were only looking at Sonic, wanting him to know that he got her full attention now. Everybody including Blaze were nothing but trash to her while Sonic stuck out like a diamond. The gang prepared themselves for they were ready to fight, including Knuckles who now has enough energy to throw some fists.
Sonic stepped forward in front of everyone with the Chaos Emerald in his hand as it glowed slightly. He looked straight ahead to see the Queen and her and spoke to his friends while having his back on them, gripping the Chaos Emerald even harder for what he's about to say.
"Guys, go."
Everyone looked at Sonic confused by what he meant just now, "What?" Tails spoke up.
"I'm gonna buy you guys sometime to retreat. We can't beat the Queen in the state we're in right now." Sonic said, seeing how badly injured him and others were.
Honey stepped forward, "Sonic, there's no way I'm…."
"I SAID GO!"
Honey and others were stunned by Sonic's sudden angry outburst as he turned to look at Honey and the others, it made Honey step back from seeing the dead serious face of her brother. He is planning on fighting the Queen on his own, risking his own life just so she and others could live a bit longer.
Sonic spoke after calming down after the outburst, "All that matters right now is getting you guys to safety. The last thing I want to see is my friends dying right in front of my eyes. We almost lost Blaze if I didn't use Chaos Control. If I die here, I die knowing that my friends made it out. I will be at peace." Said Sonic before looking at Honey who was shedding some tears, "So please sis, just you and others make it for my sake."
Honey couldn't take it anymore and ran towards Sonic for what might be their last hug together. Sonic hugged her back, he hated seeing Honey like this and hated it even more for he was the one making her like this. They let go and Honey stepped away and stood between Tails and Knuckles. Tails couldn't hold it, he ran towards his big brother for one last hug.
"Don't worry, I promise you and Honey that I will be back, just get outta here, okay." Sonic told his fox brother.
Tails clenched his fist because he wanted to stay and help Sonic, but he knew he was right because he and others would end up dead if they tried to help right now.
"You better come back." Tails said, trying to hold back his tears.
The fox stepped away from his brother. Sonic looked at Knuckles who had his arms folded. "Still trying to be the big hero aren't ya?" He teased Sonic.
"You know it." Sonic teased back.
The hedgehog looked over at Blaze who didn't know what to say. "Blaze, look after them for me will you?" Sonic said, smiling at her.
Blaze nodded at the hedgehog, "You have my word Sonic." She said to him, bowing.
Sonic smiled until he frowned when he saw the Queen getting close to him and the gang from the corner of his eyes. He turned over at the Queen.
"Go now, while you still can! I'll catch up!" Sonic told his friends.
They nodded at the hedgehog and began running away from the scene, leaving only Sonic, the Queen, and Ms. Fire saw the rest of the gang and decided to go after them. However, she was stopped by the Queen from doing so.
"Leave them! It's the hedgehog we want, he's the biggest issue we have here." Queen Blaze said to Ms. Fire. "The fireflies will get them."
Queen Blaze raised her hand in the air and shot a big fireball for everyone to see. The fireball began glowing in the air, sending a morse code to any nearby fireflies to come and capture Blaze and the others. The fireball then died out, agreeing to give the message to the other fireflies nearby and out from the sky where the Queen's firefly army headed towards the direction where Blaze and others went. Sonic wasn't a bit worried, for he knew his friends could handle this Queen's fireflies just fine without him.
"Now it's just you and me." Sonic said, looking at the Queen.
"I wouldn't want it any other way." Queen Blaze grinned back. "Sonic, I believe is the name my other self yelled out, isn't it?"
"That's right, the name is Sonic the Hedgehog. Don't forget it." Sonic teases.
"I will remember your name for as long as I live after your death. You're really amusing with the emerald that you're holding." Queen Blaze said, smirking.
Sonic began stretching his body. "I gotta say, fighting you gave me some nostalgia when I first fought Blaze." He said.
"You fought against my other self?" Queen Blaze said, a bit curious.
"Yeah, me and Blaze weren't on the same page at first, but we eventually became friends. Not before throwing some fist. Blaze is actually the very few beings that can really put up a fight against me. I guess you're no different." Sonic stated, as he finished stretching his body.
"I'll tell you, me and my other self are much different. We may have the same history but we both walked a different path." Queen Blaze said to him.
"It's a good thing Cream isn't here to see you like this." Sonic said, thinking what the young rabbit's reaction would be seeing this version of Blaze.
Sonic frowned and began running towards the opposite direction where his friends were to make sure the Queen was as far away from them as possible, running into a valley of a dead forest. Queen Blaze smiled happily seeing the hedgehog run for his life as she and Ms. Fire started chasing him into the woods.
Meanwhile, with Blaze and the others. The gang were doing their best to run and find some shelter to rest up. Everyone was worried as they thought about Sonic who was alone to deal with the Queen. Tails and Honey being the most concerned for their hedgehog brother, but the two kept their brave face on for Sonic wanted them to live on.
As the gang were running, they looked down below on the ground to see some familiar shadows. They stopped and looked up to see some of the Queen's fireflies who managed to spot them. The fireflies quickly flew down meeting them with their weapons ready in hand.
The gang prepared themselves as they got into their fighting stance. The fireflies all charge as well as Blaze and others. The group went into a huge brawl as punches and kicks were thrown. However, due to damage from the Queen earlier it was making it difficult for them to fight.
If not for their damages on their bodies, the fight against the fireflies would be a breeze to handle. More started showing up, some fireflies were sending signals in the sky to send more reinforcements. Blaze figured it was time to use the Sol Emeralds to turn into her burning form, seeing they were hanging by a thread. She was too afraid to use the Sol Emeralds during her battle against the Queen, fearing that she might take them away.
Blaze stepped back from everyone and the Sol Emeralds started orbiting around her. As Blaze was concentrating her thoughts to turn into her Burning form, a firefly went In for a surprise attack from behind her. Honey quickly saw this and tried to warn her.
"Blaze look out!" Honey yelled to warn her friend.
Blaze quickly and saw a firefly rush down at her, the others tried to help but were blocked by the other fireflies soldiers from letting them. Right before the firefly could swing its weapon, a mysterious figure jumped in front of Blaze and sliced the firefly in half with a sword, saving her life in time.
The mysterious being didn't stop for they started slicing the fireflies legs and arms right off with their sword. Blaze and others watched, amazed by the figure's swordsmanship as they helped them when they needed it. The mysterious character stopped moving to reveal they were wearing a dark cloak and a mysterious mask, protecting their identity.
Once they were done attacking, the mysterious figure sheathed their sword away and looked at Blaze and others. They kept their guard up not knowing if this person was friend or foe, but they knew it was a male once they started talking.
"Who are you?" Blaze asked.
"I'm just doing my duty to protect." He spoke, giving a bow to Blaze.
They turned their heads because they heard more of the fireflies flying their way. The masked stranger started pointing the direction where he wanted the others to go.
"There's no time to explain, right now I need to get you all to safety." The masked stranger said to them. "Hurry before more show up."
Blaze and others didn't know what to make of this, whether or not to follow this guy. Seeing how he risked his life and saved Blaze earlier was a good enough reason to follow him. They all nodded at him and followed him to the direction he was pointing.
Back with Sonic, the hedgehog was running in the dead forest keeping the pace going. Behind him on his left was Queen Blaze with a blood lust look and on his right was Ms. Fire, both of which were chasing to take Sonic's life. The two slowly caught up as Sonic was now in between them feets away. Queen Blaze and Ms. Fire both jumped on the hedgehog at the same time, but Sonic also jumped and pushed back both of them on their foreheads with his legs in a split kick fashion.
Sonic would then have dodge in the incoming dead trees that were in his way, slowing down his running speed just a bit. When he had to slow down, this gave both Queen Blaze and the chance to catch up and attack.
The hedgehog was doing his best to deal with both. With Queen Blaze he was attacking and blocking her moves, giving her a more physical maneuver. With Ms. Fire he had to be careful to not attack her for he didn't want to absorb too much of his attacks for one big explosion. All he did was dodge and block Ms. Fire's attacks, defending himself.
They came into the big open area where there weren't many trees to bother them. Queen Blaze took this chance and made a large ring of fire surrounding them, preventing Sonic from leaving the area. Sonic boosted up his speed to run through the fire but wasn't able to because his speed wasn't strong enough to go through it.
He then tried his blue tornado to blow out the fire, but it only made it worse as the fire grew even stronger. Sonic was fully trapped and there was no way he could get out. He looked behind to see Queen Blaze and Ms. Fire smiling and slowly walking back into the ring of fire, hiding their appearance from him.
Sonic quickly ran to the center of the ring of fire, preparing himself for any incoming attacks. He quickly examined his surroundings, trying to see any signs of the two.
As he stood there waiting patiently with his heart beating, out came Ms. Fire from his left to pounce on him and explode by surprise. Sonic quickly dodge this by sliding underneath her as she exploded over him. It didn't stop there, for another Ms. Fire came in and tried to blow him up with surprise from different directions.
Sonic would dodge by sliding, cartwheeling, and backflips all over the inner circle of the ring of fire. Using all of his senses to keep himself from being blown up. By surprise, Queen Blaze finally showed up as the two started attacking each other viciously as they had their fist clash.
Both stepped back from each other and pulled out their emeralds. They held they're gems tightly in their hands as they raised them in the air as they glow brightly.
"Chaos…." Sonic said.
"Sol….." Queen Blaze also spoke.
"Control!"
Both emeralds glowed bright and let out a flash. The world around Sonic and Queen Blaze went into a dark void version of it. Time was having a hard time deciding whether to stop or rewind. Sonic was fascinated by his surroundings and so was the Queen, both never witnessed this phenomenon in their life.
Regardless of the event, both Sonic and Queen Blaze continued their fight for they didn't know how long this dark void of the world would last as they beat each other, trying to see who would be the last one standing. Queen Blaze got the upper hand when she found an opening and started beating Sonic's body. She wasn't using just her fist, for she used her claws to attack. She clawed Sonic on the stomach repeatedly making him scream out loud in the dark void.
Queen Blaze had one last claw attack and it was on Sonic's cheek on the face. The hedgehog fell back to one leg and saw some of his blood dripping on the floor below him. Sonic kept his eyes up as the Queen was ready for one final attack to end him.
She didn't bother saying anything because she just wanted him dead already. She grinned as she had her claw ready to take Sonic's life away. Just before Queen Blaze attacked, She stopped to see that her feet were frozen and couldn't move. It wasn't just her feet, she then lost movement on her legs that reached to her torso, waist, and arms
"What's the meaning of this?!" Queen Blaze yelled.
The Queen wanted to say more but soon her head and voice stopped moving. The dark void around them came to an end but time was still stopped, only Sonic was the only living being able to move in the time stopped world while Queen Blaze was stuck in it. Sonic let out a huge sigh of relief seeing luck was on his side once more.
"Good grief." Sonic said, seeing that his life was just saved.
Sonic smiled, breathing heavily seeing the Chaos Emeralds' time stop lasted longer than the Queen's time rewind. Now having the knowledge that his emerald had more power than the Queen's emerald will definitely give him the chance to beat her. Sonic slowly stood up, looking at the Queen who was still frozen in time and gave her a frown. He got angry, thinking about the amount of pain she gave to him and his friends earlier, that anger was getting him ready for the last huge attack.
"You made one mistake and the answer is really simple." Sonic said, looking straight in the eyes of the Queen. The hedgehog burst out in his speed boost and clenched his fist really hard.
"You just really made me mad."
With that, Sonic used the remaining seconds of his time stop and unleashed multiple speedy yet powerful attacks, combining both his speed and strength into many hits. He was putting everything he had into the punches and kicks. His last major attack was a strong spin dash combined with the power of his speed boost.
Sonic stopped after giving it all he got. He watches the Queen who has yet to feel his attacks during his time stop and smirks waiting for the result. Time quickly resumed, and the Queen instantly yelled in pain, the very first time Sonic heard her scream this much and he smiled because of it.
Queen Blaze's body was quickly blown away from Sonic, as he watched her fall to the ground and felt her body in major pain and blood spilled out from her body and face. Sonic fell to one knee for he wasn't able to attack anymore and just started to collect his breath. Sonic took out the Chaos Emerald that helped him get through this and smiled at it.
He then began to close his eyes and started breathing to focus his mind. "Come on, I just need you to do one more thing for me. One last Chaos Control that helps me." Sonic told the Chaos Emerald.
While Sonic was focused on the Chaos Emerald, the fingers of Queen Blaze were starting to twitch for she was still awake. She slowly raised her torso to see Sonic who was down on one knee and with the Chaos Emerald in his hand. The Queen frowned seeing him and slowly formed a fire aura around her body to send out another Ms. Fire to get Sonic.
The Chaos Emerald in Sonic's hand started to glow brightly again. Seeing this made Ms. Fire quickly started running towards Sonic, ready to finish him off with an explosion while his body was weak. Ms. Fire then jumped in the air ready to pounce and explode on the hedgehog into a burned corpse. Sonic quickly looked up at Ms. Fire with a sharp look and raised up the Chaos Emerald in the air.
"Chaos Control!" Sonic yelled.
The Chaos Emerald flashes brightly around the area. Once the blind lights died off, Sonic was nowhere to be seen. Both Queen Blaze and Ms Fire looked around and scouted, but the hedgehog was nowhere to be found. The Queen snapped her finger making Ms. Fire explode for there was no need to keep looking.
The Queen slowly stood up as she looked at the spot where Sonic disappeared from. The feline's frown slowly turned into a smile as she began to chuckle.
"Oh this is great! Hahaha!" Queen Blaze yelled and laughed. "Things are finally getting exciting!"
"Congratulations hedgehog. You're now my number one target in the world. I won't rest until I find you dead by my hand. This I swear! Hahahaha" Queen Blaze said, happy that she finally found an opponent worth killing herself.
Somewhere far from where Queen Blaze was at, flashing white light appeared in the sky and out came Sonic from it. Like his previous falling attempt, Sonic fell flat on the dirt floor and his face was buried underneath. The hedgehog quickly pulled his head out from the floor and spat out the dirt that got in his mouth.
"Man, I really hate this gag." Sonic said, dusting off the dirt from his head and quills.
Sonic looked around and smiled, he managed to use Chaos Control to wrap himself away from the Queen before they could start fighting again. Sonic took out the Chaos Emerald and thanked it before putting it back in his hammer space.
The hedgehog then heard some buzzing noise and quickly hid behind a large rock. He looked over to where the buzzing was coming from and saw some of the Queen's fireflies heading in a certain direction. Sonic knew they were heading towards his friends and began following them carefully as he tried not to be seen by them using the remaining energy he had to move his body.
"Don't worry guys, I'm coming." Sonic said, determined to see his friends again.
Back over with Blaze, the masked stranger and the others. The group managed to reach the edge of the lands. They were approaching the shore of the great blue sea that laid in front of them. The masked stranger led the group to the side of the beach, where a boat was hidden underneath the cliffside. The gang looked at the boat as it was docked. The masked stranger looked back at the group.
"Get on the boat quick! When there's time!" He said.
Honey nodded her head, "No! I'm not going until my brother gets back!" She cried.
"Yeah I'm not leaving until Sonic gets here." Tails said to the mask man.
The masked stranger frowned underneath his mask, seeing how stubborn the fox and cat were. Though without saying a word, he looked at Blaze and Knuckles who both also refused to leave.
He was getting frustrated, but his head perked up when he saw something blue appearing behind the gang. They looked behind to see Sonic use the last of his speed energy to catch up to them. They gasped seeing badly damaged Sonic looked, he looked the worse then the others. He has multiple cuts and bruises all over him, like they have never seen him have before and he has been in many life threatening battles to top it all off.
He was barely standing up as his legs were shaking, ready to fall. Despite his condition, Sonic gave a smile because he was happy to see his friends again and alive. His legs finally gave up and began falling. Knuckles and Honey quickly ran up to him and prevented his whole body from falling to the ground.
Sonic smiled and looked at Honey who was in a mix of sadness and happiness. Sad to see how badly her brother was in, but happy to see him alive again as she cried softly.
"Told ya, I'll see you again." Sonic spoke in a weak tone as Honey hugged him gently.
Sonic looked at Blaze, giving her a wink and thumbs up as a thank you for looking out for his friends. After doing so, Sonic finally ran out of steam and fell unconscious as his eyes completely closed and body no longer moved.
"Sonic!" Honey yelled, worried even more.
Tails quickly ran over to Sonic and placed his ear on the hedgehog's chest. The fox quickly felt at ease when he heard Sonic's heartbeat still going on.
"He's just unconscious right now. He'll be alright." Tails said, looking at Honey who felt more at ease hearing that news.
"Figures, this guy is too stubborn to die." Knuckles said, smiling at friend.
"There should be a first aid kit in the boat. It's not much but it should patch up your friend." The masked stranger said.
"Thank you." Blaze said.
"Does anyone know how to sail a boat?" The masked person asked, the group.
Tails raised his hand, "I can sail it with no problem." He said, proudly.
The masked stranger was surprised that a young boy like Tails can maneuver a boat, but didn't bother to argue about it. He then took out what seems to be a scroll from his dark cloak and gave it to Tails.
"Here, use this map and go to the place I marked on it." He said to the fox and gave more instructions. "Sail towards the fog over there. Once you do, you'll be out of sight from the Queen and her fireflies."
"What about you?" Blaze asked.
The mask fellow then took out his sword and began walking away from them. "I'm going to distract the fireflies while you guys get off to the sea. Don't worry about it, I can handle the Queen's fireflies no problem. I'll meet you guys where I marked the map." He said.
The gang nodded seeing how sure the masked guy was confident in them escaping. They started to board the ship as Honey and Knuckles carefully carried Sonic's body with them. Tails went over the boat's control and started it up. Knuckles and Honey quickly ran to the nearest room to lay Sonic on the bed and began looking for the first aid kit to use on him.
Blaze was the last to enter but not before looking back at the Masked stranger. She knew the Mask stranger knew her in some way to not be mistaken by the Queen. The masked stranger turned his head away as he prepared his sword and began running back to the lands to fight the fireflies scouting the area.
Once everyone was set, Tails set sail as he began moving the boat from the spot. Carefully, he sailed the boat in the direction where the fog was and looked at the built in compass and map to head to where the masked stranger wanted them to meet. As Tails was sailing the boat away from the land, Blaze, Honey, and Knuckles looked back to see the sky above the land covered in many lights from the fireflies looking at them for it was quite the sight.
All that was slowly gone, once Tails managed to reach the fog area of the sea to finally hide their appearance. Making everyone finally rest at ease. Everyone looked worried to see how badly damaged the Queen did to them both physically and emotionally. They knew what they were up against wasn't going to be easy, but they weren't ready to give up just yet for they were just getting ready for the next time they fight the Killer Queen.
End of chapter 3