Chapter 6: A Winter's Tale
Shivera the Chinchilla, a female anthropomorphic chinchilla that wields the power of ice. Her armor suit that almost resembled a nightingale suit with the pattern of black and light blue looked rough and broken for its been in many battles to be in such condition. She is a princess much like Blaze, but a princess from 4,000 years ago during the time of Blaze's ancestor Princess Igni duty as the guardian of the Sol Emerald and the world. In Blaze's regular dimension she was set free by the hands of Dr. Eggman Nega after being imprisoned by Princess Igni 4,000 years ago during their final battle.
Shivera had a friendship with Igni but an event happened that caused the two to become long time enemies as Shivera planned to take the world into her icy habitat. Eggman Nega used the hatred that Shivera had against Blaze and her ancestors to make Shivera his ally. She succeeded by stabbing Blaze with her ice blade when they first fought but that wasn't enough to take down the fire princess for she managed to get back up with the help of her friends.
At the end, Blaze rose up on top and managed to beat Shivera and Eggman Nega's plan to world domination. Blaze wiped out Shivera seeing that her hatred for her and Igni had corrupted her completely and that was the end of her story.
But now, Shivera was back once again to encounter Sonic and others. It felt like they were looking at a ghost who came back to life, but here she was alive and well. Shivera saw the looks on Sonic and the others. Judging by their stare, they must have seen or known her before, but the real question to her was who they were and why they showed up with Blaze and Gardon.
"Who are you?" Shivera said to Sonic and the others.
"You guys know Shivera?" Gardon asked, surprised by their reaction.
Sonic scratched his head and smiled nervously, "It's a long story." He said.
Blaze then stepped forward to the female chinchilla, when she got close to Shivera she started to get her ice powers ready to fight. But Blaze took notice of something, while Shivera was putting on a brave face, her body was shaking in fear as she looked at her. The feline looked at Shivera's eyes, she could tell the Queen had done things to her in this version of her dimension. Blaze frowned, despite what the Shivera from her dimension did, this one was different for it hasn't done anything horrible and what the Queen was doing was much worse than what Shivera did in her dimension. But what she really wanted to know is how Shivera is even here since Eggman Nega died long before he could be released and why the Queen kept her around rather than killing her off.
"What did she do to you?" Blaze asked carefully.
Shivera kept her look at Blaze and stood her ground. "What do you mean?" She asked.
"What did the Queen do to you?" Blaze asked again.
"What nonsense are you talking about? You know exactly what you did to me!" Shivera yelled angrily at Blaze.
Gardon stepped in time before Shivera could launch a deadly ice attack, "Shivera hold up!" He stopped her. "This isn't the Queen!"
"Have you finally lost it, Gardon! She's right here ready to torture me again for her amusment." Shivera said as her ice powers started to glow "This time I'm ready to beat her."
"Just look at her carefully, she may look like the Queen but she's not. Trust me." Gardon said, calling down the chinchilla.
Shivera looked at the koala bear with a mean look. She looked at Blaze and carefully examined her. Indeed Blaze had the same fur, same height, and same voice as the Queen, but there was one major difference was her facial expression and the companion of Sonic and others. Whenever Shivera had her encounter with the Queen, she would always give such an evil carefree and mocking look with her eyes, never showing any other emotions. With Blaze, she had more of a concern and sad look for she was actually worried about her giving her visions of Igni's expression.
The female chinchilla calmed down, seeing Gardon was right for it wasn't the Queen, but another version of her. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Gardon." she said to the koala bear.
"I will, but first I think we might want to hear how our guests know who you are." Gardon said, looking at Sonic and others.
When everything once settled down, Sonic, Blaze, and others began telling the story about how they know Shivera. The female chinchilla was surprised to learn that they were from a different version of the Sol Dimension and in that version, a person named Eggman Nega released her from her icy imprisonment and helped him beat Blaze and make her frozen world a reality. Just about everything they described was exactly what Shivera would do and say, she was fully convinced that they were going up against the Queen and was caught up to date as Gardon explained why he brought them here.
After much talking, Shivera sat down and began to process what she heard. "I assume that you defeated the other me in your dimension?" Shivera said, curious to know.
"Yes, I had to wipe you out for you were filled with hatred and were a danger to the world if I let you live. I did something that my ancestor Igni couldn't do. I finished her problem for her." Blaze answered.
"I see how very fortunate for my other self, at least she died a warrior's death." Shivera said, imagining the fate of her other self.
"Now tell us, since Eggman Nega didn't release you? Who did?" Sonic asked, looking at the chinchilla.
"It was the Queen herself." She answered.
"What!?" Honey said, spoke up.
"Why would the Queen set you free?" Knuckles asked. "She must have a reason for doing so?"
Shivera nodded, "Indeed she did. She wanted something I once had for her personal gain." Shivera said, thinking back. "An ancient book."
"A book?" Tails asked.
"A book to make her own army."
Flashback to half a year ago.
Months have passed since Queen Blaze had total control over everything and held the title of Killer Queen very proudly. Just hearing the name or even seeing any site of her was enough to make anyone cowardly in fear. She loved it, seeing the scared looks on men, women, and children was so pleasing. To avoid complications she never kept the same address as she likes to move around, in conversations she spoke just like a baroness.
She met a man from a place that looks like Chun-nan from Sonic's world in a Geisha Minor and learned from him that there was once an ancient book wielded by Shivera who visited the place over 4,000 years ago to get it from his ancestor. The Queen was quite interested in the book, and decided to learn more about Shivera and the book she once used for she wanted to get her hands on it.
The Queen looked for information, about Shivera through her documents and diary of her ancestors, until she stumble upon Igni's diary that mention Shivera's existence. She would learn how Igni and Shivera's friendship turned into enemies. What surprised her is that Shivera was still alive but was in frozen imprisonment caused by her ancestor. After learning that, Queen Blaze used all of her powers to search Shivera's frozen body in the world.
It took a while but they eventually found her frozen body in the depths of the sea with the ice still intact for it was unmeltable. Queen Blaze used her resources and forced people to help her get Shivera's frozen body from the ocean. They brought the frozen body up to the surface and took it back to her castle.
When everything was all set, Queen Blaze was in the empty room of her castle where Shivera's frozen body was being held at. She was there with Gardon and a few of her royal guards. The Queen learned that she needed to collect a couple of ice crystal from the coldest parts of the world to set Shivera free, but seeing she came this far she didn't want to do any more searching or waiting.
Instead, Queen Blaze used the power of the Sol Emeralds to turn into her burning form. Gardon and the other royal guards stood back and watched the Queen use her powers to melt the ice. It was working due to how strong the Queen's burning form. Theice was slowly starting to melt and caused some steam to spread over the room. The Queen had to be careful to melt the ice off from Shivera's body and not risk burning her body to ashes.
With much caution, Queen Blaze managed to melt the ice off Shivera. Once she did, Shivera's body fell flat on the floor and layed in silence. Only for a few seconds Shivera was awakened, during those seconds she managed to catch a blurry vision of Queen Blaze looking at her with a smirk.
"Igni?" Shivera said, just before passing out on the floor completely.
Queen Blaze just chuckled hearing this, "She thinks I'm Igni, can't blame her though. I do share her image." She said, thinking about it.
She then snapped her fingers making her royal soldiers come to her. "Take her to the dining hall. We have important matters to discuss." She commanded her soldiers.
The soldiers saluted their Queen and picked up Shivera's body off the ground and took her to the diner hall like she order them to. Gardon, who was in the room, was just curious as to why the Queen just released an ancient princess that fought against her ancestor, but knew it wasn't for a good reason for anyone but the Queen.
It's been a few hours since Shivera was free from her imprisonment. She was currently sitting on a chair as in front of her were plates of food and bottles of drinks. She was slowly starting to wake up as her eyelids started moving, her vision was blurry at first but became clear as she tried to look at it all with her half open eyes.
The two were alone in the big room, not even Gardon was there with them. The Queen wanted this to be a private conversation between the two of them. Her eyes widened when she saw Queen Blaze on the other side of the table, enjoying her glass drink as she looked at her. Shivera quickly reacted and gritted her teeth.
"Igni! What mockery is this?" Shivera said, looking at the food on the table.
The Queen couldn't help but giggle and she almost spilled her drink from her mouth because of it. She had a calm look as she gently placed her drink beside her on the table. Not wanting to give the lavender feline to talk a second more. Shivera pulled out her hand to try to shoot an ice blast on the cat.
It didn't work because her powers were very weak at the moment. All that grand power she had during her fight against Igni was now gone. She could hardly feel anything to use her powers.
The cat laughed once more seeing that Shivera was powerless and how she tried to attack her. It was a good thing for them so they could have a peaceful conversation at the moment.
"Trying to pull a fast one on me huh? I like that, I expect nothing less from my ancestor's old enemy." The Queen smiled at Shivera.
"Ancestor?" The chinchilla said.
"Isn't it obvious? You're looking at Igni's descendant." The Queen said, proudly posing.
Shivera couldn't believe what she was hearing and seeing, in front was Princess Igni's descendant. It was incredible how much she looked and sounded like Igni, it was almost dead on. However there were differences, the feline was wearing clothing that looked rather sinister that she knew Igni and her family would never wear.
It was the way she talked and mannerism, she was much more carefree and playful where she was expecting to be more serious and royalty-like. The Queen gave a bow, "My name is Blaze the Cat, Igni's current successor. You've been imprisoned for 4,000 years by her." She said to the chinchilla.
"4,000 years?!" Shivera said, starting to panic because she thought about her old ice kingdom and the people she knew.
She gave Shivera a sinister grin, "I'm also known as the Killer Queen." The feline said, giving her the status.
"Killer Queen?" Shivera said, "That doesn't sound like what a protector would call themselves."
"Indeed, I rule this world with an iron fist after annihilating all the kings and queens of the worlds and taking over their kingdoms." Queen said, chuckling as she can remember a grand time doing so.
Shivera was shocked hearing this, "You killed them all." She said, looking at the feline.
"It was a fun time, seeing those kings and queens beg and lose their lives as they brought them to their knees. I'm really thrilled I say, but it looks like I missed one royalty member left." Blaze said, looking at the chinchilla with a smirk.
"So what? You set me free so you can finish me off and complete your list." Shivera said, angry.
Blaze got up from her seat with her eyes on the beautiful decor of her castle and smiled. She put her hands behind her back as she continued to examine her castle before speaking.
"But enough about me, I'll cut to the chase why I set you free." She said, smiling.
Shivera watched as Queen Blaze walked towards her in a playful manner as she kept her smile. The chinchilla really wishes she could use her ice powers to hurt Queen Blaze and escape. When the Queen got close to Shivera, she suddenly slammed her hand on the table making the food and bottle drinks jump up a bit. She looked dead in the eyes of Shivera's icy blue eyes as she spoke.
"Where is it?" She said, looking down at the chinchilla's eyes.
"Where's what?" Shivera asked.
"The book." Queen Blaze spoke back.
"The book that allows one to create their own army." Queen Blaze said. "I read in Igni's diary that you once possessed a book to create an army of ice lizards with your ice powers. I plan to do the same with my fire powers."
"Why would you need such a thing? Don't you already have an army?" Shivera said, surprised and realized what she was talking about.
"Pfft! You call this an army? The soldiers I have with me are weak and pathetic. They have some morals like their friends and family from their homes. They only follow me out of fear. I want to make my own army of my vision where they have no morals and will do any task I ask them to do." The Queen answered the chinchilla.
"The descendants of Igni would never do such a thing!" Shivera said. "I may hate your ancestor, but even I know she would hate how you're acting!"
At this, Queen Blaze grabbed the back of the head of Shivera viciously and slammed her head on the table really hard, making her scream in pain. "Don't you dare compare me to Igni! I'm not a weak spineless princess like her." She said, as she kept pushing Shivera's head down on the table.
"Now I'll ask again, where is the book?" Queen Blaze asked carefully as she spoke into Shivera's ear while still having her head pinned down at the table.
Shivera gritted her teeth because she was too weak to fight back. "I'll never tell you." She shot back.
Queen Blaze just smiled at the response, "Oh well looks like we're gonna do this the old fashion way. This should be fun." She said, getting excited as she looked at the food that was on the plate. "Oh dear, looks like you haven't touched your meal yet. Allow me to help with that."
She pulled up Shivera's head off the table and slammed again only this time onto a plate of food. The Queen rubbed Shivera's face all over the food plate covering every part of her face. Shivera struggled to break free as she was being humiliated by the Queen.
The feline let go of the chinchilla, Shivera slowly tried to lift her head off the table but then felt something wet from the back of her head. At first she thought it was blood bleeding from her head but some of it got in her mouth and realized it was wine. Wine that the Queen was pouring on her head to humiliate her even more and spread it all over her body.
"Can't have a meal without a drink can't you?" Queen Blaze mocked the chinchilla.
Seeing how Shivera's body was covered in wine. The Queen then got a sudden urge to burn her body as she lit her finger on fire. She wanted to see Shivera on fire to see her run and scream in pain for mercy. She stopped herself because she didn't want to damage Shivera too badly for she still hasn't gotten the book's location she wanted from her.
The feline sighs in disappointment but shrugs her shoulders. "You're just lucky I need you alive, but by the end of all of this you're gonna wish that Igni finished you off 4,000 years ago." Queen Blaze said, teasing.
She grabbed Shivera and threw her across the table, making a large thud sound as she fell to the floor. Shivera slowly tried to pull herself up but felt great pain as Queen Blaze stomped on her leg with her boots with heels on them. Shivera screamed as tears were starting to come out from her eyes. Shivera looked back at the feline to see she was smiling at her. Queen Blaze turned Shivera around making her lay on her back.
The Queen grabbed the collar of Shivera's outfit, lifting her upper body off the floor, "Still acting like the cold hearted princess that you are? This could all come to an end if you tell me where the book is?" She asked.
"N-Never." Shivera shot back.
The cat smiled as she pulled her face close to Shivera's face, "I was hoping you would say that." She said, mocking her.
Queen Blaze let go of the chinchilla as her head fell on the floor. She started beating Shivera by punching her face non stop hitting both of the face cheeks. Shivera tried protecting herself but Blaze wouldn't allow it for she grabbed one of Shivera's arm and pinned on the floor. The only sound that was heard were the hits Shivera took to the face by the Queen and the Queen's laughs.
"Which of my fist hurts more?" The feline asked the female chinchilla.
Queen Blaze then punched Shivera on the face again, "My left fist?" She asked.
She then used her other fist, "Or my right fist?" She asked, laughing as she kept punching.
After a minute of punching, Queen Blaze took a moment to rest her fist as some of it was covered in Shivera's blood. She looked down at the beaten Shivera to see she was slowly passing out from the beat. Before Shivera could even close her eyes, Queen Blaze then stomped on the chinchilla's chest making her wide awake as she screamed in pain.
"Don't you dare fall asleep on me, I want to enjoy this a bit longer." The feline said.
The Queen stopped realizing what she said, before stomping Shivera's chest again and started to laugh. "You know it's odd, but I can't help but feel a sense of irony by all this." She said, thinking to herself. "Oh well."
She then continued stomping on the chinchilla making her scream once more. Shivera's mind went blank as Queen Blaze continued beating the life out of her. The Queen would kick Shivera's body like a soccer ball and throw her around making her hit the walls of the castle. Even playing with her weak body like a toy doll making her say things like she was once a great ice princess and mocking her family history while making her look at herself in a mirror to see her beaten face and body.
Seeing that she wasn't getting her answer from Shivera, the Queen did one last thing that might help get her answer. From her pocket, she pulled out a small black bottle with a picture of a skull on it. Queen Blaze then walked over to the table where there were some wine bottles that have yet to be open. She grabbed it and popped it open as well as taking off the lid of the black bottle and started pouring the powder from the black bottle into the wine bottle.
She began stirring the wine bottle, in her hand the bottle was now completely poisoned. The Queen walked back to the beaten and defenseless chinchilla who was just laying on the floor, unable to move any part of her body. Queen Blaze lifted up Shivera's body as she got on one knee. The beaten Shivera slowly shifted her eyes on the bottle, curious to know what Queen Blaze had planned.
"You're probably wondering what I'm planning to do. I'm simply gonna make you drink this poison wine." She said, looking at the bottle.
Shivera's body started to tremble a bit hearing Queen Blaze just laugh seeing how she managed to scare the chinchilla. "Scared huh? I know why." She said, smiling at the bottle.
"I read in Igni's diary that her father once poisoned your father, King Eis, by making him drink poison wine. Let's recreate that scene shall we? Like father and daughter? Suffer the same fate as him. If you don't open up, I'll just shove this whole bottle down your throat." The feline said, with a sadistic look.
Queen Blaze, by force, opens Shivera's mouth and starts slowly tilting the bottle to pour inside her mouth. Shivera was now scared, if she had any energy left her body would be squirming around and move her head. She glances at the bottle to see the liquid slowly reaching the tip of the bottle, afraid that even a single drop will fall in her mouth. Memories of her father's death that very night where she witnessed it all were playing in her head. She could remember the sadness and anger she felt. The sole image of her father's dead body on the floor made her start crying as Queen Blaze was about to pour the poison wine in her mouth.
Shivera muttered some words, it wasn't loud but the Queen heard it. She smiled and put the bottle away from Shivera's mouth while she was crying. The Queen put a hand on her ear near Shivera's face in a playful manner. "What was that lambchop? I can't hear you?" She teased.
"I'll….tell…you." Shivera mutters her words as she cries.
"Now that's what I wanted to hear!" Queen Blaze clapped for the chinchilla in a mocking may. "Well done Shivera, maybe can still make this work."
Queen Blaze grabbed the head of Shivera's and started dragging her beaten body on the floor disrespectfully as exited the diner hall of the castle. The royal guards and Gardon were horrified when they saw the state that Shivera was in. Many looked away and wished that the Queen would just put her out of misery. Queen Blaze at some point let go of Shivera's body to get the Jeweled Scepter in the castle for it was needed as told by Shivera as the Queen and ice princess exited the castle while still dragging Shivera's body by her head.
After much travel with Shivera pointing in the direction, they managed to reach an unknown snowy ice cap location surrounded by miles of pure white snow covered all over the landscape. Queen Blaze had the Jewel Scepter in her and while still dragging Shivera's body on the ground.
Queen Blaze pulled up Shivera's head to make her look at the landscape in front of her. "Is this the place?" She asked.
"Y-yes." Shivera weakly said.
"Good." She responded back with a smirk.
The Queen then raised the Jewel Scepter raising it up in the air. The ancient staff started glowing as the Queen was using the massive powers that dwell within it. The ground beneath them started shaking and a crack opened underneath the snow.
A building was slowly starting rising from the ground. What was coming out was a hidden castle, Shivera's old ice kingdom that she ruled 4,000 years ago but was covered in snow since then.
The Queen was quite impressed by the structure of the castle, it was almost as big as her castle from her kingdom. They had to wait a while for the castle to fully emerge from the ground. Once it did, Queen Blaze wasted no time entering Shivera's castle by blasting through the door with her fire. All Shivera could think about is wanting to get her hands on the Jewel Scepter to awaken her ice army that was slumbering underneath her castle and fight Queen Blaze. They went through the castle grounds until they reached Shivera's room in the castle.
It took a bit of a search but Queen Blaze managed to get what she wanted, which was the book she's been searching for. The Queen smiled seeing how the book was still in good reading condition. The cover and back parts were pretty damaged but the pages themselves were still readable as she went through them.
Queen Blaze closed the book carefully so that pages don't fall out. Shivera was curious to know what was her next plan now that she has the book. Before Shivera could say anything, she was grabbed by the head once again as they began to make their way out the ice castle.
"Come, I'm not done with you yet. I want to give you a show at the castle." Queen Blaze said with a devilish smile.
The two made it outside of the castle where Queen Blaze threw Shivera on the ground. Shivera was having a hard time getting due to the beating from Queen Blaze earlier. She watched as the feline had her back turned and started lit her hand on fire as she faced the ice castle.
Before doing anything, Queen Blaze slightly turned her face to look at Shivera and straight up shot a massive fire blast melting and destroying Shivera's home in front of her. All of Shivera's possessions and history was in the castle that was very dear to her.
Shivera finally had enough and was able to shoot an ice blast from her hand. Queen Blaze quickly reacted and shot a quick fire blast that completely destroyed her ice blast.
Unfortunately she was able to store enough energy to make an ice blast as she couldn't make another one. She was forced to watch Queen Blaze destroy her castle in front of her. Soon nothing was left but icy water but that quickly froze up due to the cold weather.
When it was done, Queen Blaze grabbed Shivera and as they headed back to her kingdom for one last thing for her to witness. Not saying a single word on the way back.
They were once again back in Queen Blaze's castle as they went through the door. Before arriving, the Queen used her time getting there by reading the words from the book, making sure the words she had to say were correct.
She let go of the chinchilla by throwing her on the floor harshly. Around them were 20 of Queen Blaze's royal guards who saluted her at sight. Queen Blaze opened the book and flipped through the pages to find the one she was looking for.
The Queen let out a cough before she lifted her hand on fire and started enchanting some ancient words out loud, saying the simplest phrase she could find and gave some thoughts about her summon.
After saying the words, the flame on Queen Blaze's was starting to glow weirdly. She smiled and shot the flame down the ground where it stood still. The flame started off small and then began to get bigger into the shape of a living being.
The flame then turned off and created what looked like a demonic anthropomorphic firefly soldier. It let out a horrifying shriek looking around its area and looked at Queen Blaze, the royal guards got ready to defend their Queen from such a monster but what took them by surprise is that it actually got on its knees and bowed for it knew the Queen created it.
Queen Blaze smiled seeing that she had total control of the monster being in front of her. Soon she started saying the phrases from the book again, and threw more flames across the castle grounds. Shivera watches as more of the fireflies start forming out and spread through the castle and bow to their Queen awaiting their command. Queen Blaze looked at her royal guards.
"Today, I release you from your duties." The Queen said.
"What do you mean your highness?" One of the soldiers asked.
"It means that you are longer used to me, for I have made my own personal army in my vision." Queen Blaze said, smiling at her firefly army.
"But your highness, we have been serving you since you were young. Some of our past families have even served those before you. You can't just throw us out." The soldier said.
"It's true, you and your family have served me and my previous bloodline, but today starts a new day that the bloodline will be served." She said.
"If you kick us out, where would we go? This job is the thing that's providing for my family." Said another soldier.
"Heh beats me?" The Queen shrugged, "You and your family have no importance to me. If you perish on the streets then you perish in the streets."
The Queen smiled at her former soldiers. "Since you all served me well and I'm feeling most generous right now. I'll allow you to leave with your life intact. Take this offer now or suffer the consequences." She said.
The soldiers were getting mad at their Queen. They just lost their jobs to some mindless soldiers that the Queen herself made. They wanted to raise their sword on the Queen but saw the deadly and cruel looks in the fireflies' faces that they were ready to kill for the Queen and die by the Queen at any cost for the Queen can just create more to her liking.
They all looked defeated as they dropped down their weapons and took pieces of their armor off. The door of the castle opened up for them as they began to leave, with worry looking for how they were able to take care of themselves and their families. Shivera watches every former soldier leave the castle grounds. She then looked over to the Queen who was talking towards her with a big grin on her face.
"You're probably wondering why I let them live rather than killing them with my firefly army. Quite simple really, I can't just go kill off anyone, I mean I could, but I need some regular folks to rule over and work." The Queen explained.
"You got what you wanted. You beat and humiliated me, destroyed my kingdom, and created your own personal army. Now it's time for you to finish me off." Shivera said, coldly at the Queen.
"Hahaha you would like that wouldn't you." She laughed. "I don't think I will. I won't end your misery just yet. You're not getting away that easily."
"What do you mean?" Shivera asked.
"I wanna see that cold hearted hatred that you had for my ancestor and see you get strong, I forgot how fun it was beating and humiliating another royalty." Queen Blaze, smiling at the memory. "I just set you free, it would be quite the embarrassment if this is how your tale ends."
"You….you monster!" Shivera yelled.
The Queen then opened the door for the ice princess, "Go on get outta here. I'm gonna give you some time to train yourself to go against me. I've been craving for a new challenge to use my fire abilities and your ice powers are just the thing I need." Queen Blaze said, with a mocking look.
"You'll regret this, you know, once I regain my strength and power. I will show you the amount of pain you caused today." Shivera growled.
"Oh ho! That's what I like to hear! Use that hatred!" Queen Blaze said, satisfied.
The Queen then grabbed Shivera by the neck and started choking her. "Here's something to get you started." She said, choking the air out of Shivera.
The feline kept choking the ice princess with her bare hand and threw her out the doors. She gave one last sinister look at the female chinchilla before slamming the door shut, leaving Shivera to cough and gasp for air. "Now be a good princess and don't come back when you're strong enough." Queen Blaze said, dusting her hands in a teasing way.
All Shivera could do was just stare at the castle door in front of her. She then started to crawl her way away from the place because sticking around was a bad idea. Never had Shivera thought she would ever go through something like this, especially from the descendent of Igni herself. She herself might have been evil but it was nothing compared to the sadistic nature that was the Queen.
Present Day
"Since that day, me and the Queen have fought numerous times against each other. I did get strong and regain my power over time, but no matter how strong I got. That cat always seems to get stronger." Shivera said, looking away from everyone.
"I remember that was the day that the Queen also destroyed her own castle with the help of her firefly army." Gardon said, not liking to remember.
"Why would she destroy her own castle?" Knuckles said, curious.
"She wanted to make her own legacy by making herself a new castle in her vision. The Queen wanted to get rid of things that reminded her of her family heritage like if she was erasing them away." Gardon said.
"Can you make your frost army like your other self did when we fought her?" Honey asked.
Shivera looked at her hand shamefully. "I no longer can't. In the beginning it was because my ice powers were too weak. But now the Queen has made the book her own so that I can't make them anymore even at my full strength." She said, clenching her fist.
Blaze then remembered how she looked at her old castle when they first arrived. Remembering the damage to the walls, rooms, and library that stood for years. The feline then remembered something about a book that the Queen wanted from Shivera.
Sonic looked at Blaze who was thinking deeply in her head. "Blaze, something came up?" He asked.
"I was just thinking about that book the Queen mentioned." Blaze answered.
"What about it?" Honey asked.
"I think I've seen it before?" Blaze said, rubbing her chin.
"You have? Since when?" Knuckles asked.
Blaze looked up and began to remember "It was a little after we defeated Shivera in our dimension. I went to her old ice castle to look for anything that might be worth preserving. I stumbled across Shivera's ice room and there I saw the book in her bed." Blaze said, remembering the cover of the book.
"What did you do with the book?" Honey asked.
"I burn it." Blaze said. "After I read and skimmed through the pages I was terrified by what I was seeing. I didn't want anyone else seeing the book nor let anyone use it. Burning it was the only good option."
Shivera chuckled, "Perhaps it was a good thing you did. Who knows what will happen if someone even more deadlier than me and the Queen would have done it." She said, thinking who might want their hands on that book.
Sonic turned to look back at Shivera, remembering that age fought the Queen numerous times. "So you never won against the Queen?" Sonic asked.
Shivera nodded her head, "No, once she learned how to make her Ms. Fire and time rewind abilities. It was just impossible to even lay a finger on her." She said, shameful looking at the ground.
"Maybe with us around we may have a chance to fight against her if you join us." Honey said, trying to give a bit of hope.
"Preposterous there's no way you can win against the Queen's power, let alone her." Shivera said.
"We managed to fight her and live, otherwise we wouldn't be here talking to you." Knuckles smirked.
"Yeah we were able to survive Ms. Fire, even if it took us by surprise." Said Tails, with a determined look.
"Even so, there's still the matter of her time rewind. She will know every move before we make them." The chinchilla said, having horrible memories of the Queen's power.
Sonic gave a teasing smirk, "Don't worry, we have this to help us." He said, pulling out the blue Chaos Emerald.
Shivera was surprised by the beautiful jewel blue gem that was in front of her. "Is that a Sol Emerald?" She said, "Why does it look different?"
"Close but no, it's called a Chaos Emerald. In my dimension, there's seven of them like the Sol Emeralds. I have one and with it I am able to use chaos control to stop time that cancels the Queen's time rewind." Sonic said, giving a hopeful smile at the chinchilla.
"Stop time?" Shivera said, looking at the Chaos Emerald with curiosity.
"The Chaos Emerald and Sol Emeralds are similar, even attract each other like magnets. Very similar but their powers are different." Blaze further explained.
"And now that we have something that can stop the Queen's time rewind, she's after me, seeing me as the bigger threat. We got her at the edge at the very least." Sonic said, smirking.
"So will you help us?" Honey asked.
Shivera just frowned and looked away from the group, "What's make you sure I'll help. I might want to make the planet into my ice world if the Queen's reign comes to an end?" Said the chinchilla in a bitter tone.
"Because we need all the help we can get right now. If you plan to make this world frozen, then I stop you much like the Shivera back in my dimension. It may not be my original world, but it has the same history and people I worked hard to protect." Blaze said, clenching her fist ready to fight.
Shivera was outstanded, unlike the Queen, Blaze here was acting more like Igni giving the heroic and guardian duty she had. She could sense a great strength, probably the same strength she used to defeat the Shivera from her dimension. The chinchilla then looked at Sonic and the blue Chaos Emerald in his hand and began thinking. If what they said was true that the Chaos Emerald could cancel out the Queen's time rewind, which is the main obstacle against the Queen next to her Ms. Fire attack that the others seems they can handle. Then maybe there was a slim chance to bring the Queen down.
As much as she was thinking positive thoughts, Shivera then winced at the horrible memories of the many times she fought against the Queen and failed miserably each time. Sonic, Blaze, Tails, Marine, Honey, and Knuckles, could tell that what she told them really affected her both physically and emotionally. Gardon knows this well, for he had taken his time patching up Shivera and seeing the damage his Queen would do to her up close when he came to check in on Shivera.
After much thinking, Shivera looked at the group with a frown. "May you give me some time to think this over. I'm sorry this small moment of hope is quite overwhelming, it's something I haven't felt in a long time." She said, with a unsure look.
The gang was a little disappointed, but knew they knew where she was coming from. On the brighter side, she hasn't said no to them. She was debating with herself whether to fight or just die in the cave hoping her suffering from the Queen would end soon. Blaze closed her eyes and sighs, wanting to leave the ice princess alone as the others followed her. There was also the matter of her hatred over Igni, helping her descendent felt like she was helping her.
Blaze stopped walking to speak to Shivera. "There's something I want to tell you that I never told the other Shivera. I might as well say this now for I'll probably never get another chance to do it." She said, facing straight, making Shivera look at the back of her head.
Shivera shifted her icy blue eyes at the lavender cat.
"In Igni's diary, one of the last things she wrote before the final days of her life was about you. She thought of you when the weather outside her bedroom was snowing. Despite everything that happens between you two, she still sees you as her friend and wishes both you and her became protectors of the world together in a different life. You can hate her and our legacy all you want, but she will never stop seeing you as her friend." Blaze said, looking at the way of the exit.
Shivera couldn't help but grip her fist harshly, trying hard to not shed a tear. "Igni." She said the name of her old enemy but in a less harsher tone.
"If you change your mind, we'll be at Southern Island thinking of a plan. I'm sure Gardon has told you where it is at." Blaze said, looking at Gardon who nodded.
The gang then started to walk away from the ice princess, all of them not looking back. Shivera just looked away, unable to watch everyone leave her. Her head was feeling a lot of mixed emotions from what she heard from Blaze about Igni. Shivera couldn't help but pound her fist on the ground, freezing the floor below her a bit.
The group were back on Gardon's ship after much traveling to meet Shivera. They were sailing back to Marine's home island to think of another plan to defeat the Queen. Everyone was deep in their thoughts thinking about the things Shivera had to witness. Gardon was sailing the boat, but couldn't help but feel bad that his plan to recruit Shivera didn't go as planned.
"I'm sorry that we couldn't get Shivera to join us." Gardon said to Blaze.
"Don't be Gardon, I'm actually quite happy I got to speak to her peacefully. Unlike last time where she stabbed me with her ice blade." Blaze said as she couldn't help but rub the part of her body Shivera stabbed her.
Honey turned her head to Blaze, "Do you think she'll join us?" She asked with a curious look.
"It's up to her whether or not to help. Right now, we can't wait for the Queen is looking for this blue hedgehog." Knuckles said, mocking his friend.
"What can I say? I love being the center of attention hehe." Sonic joked back.
"How is your body feeling now, Sonic?" Honey asked, a bit worried about her brother's condition after fighting Queen Blaze alone.
"A lot better when we arrived at Southern Island. My body still aches in some parts but I'm good to fight." Sonic said, smiling at his sister making her smile back.
As the group were talking, in came Tails and Marine with a strange device in their hands. It grabbed their attention to see what they brought them. The fox and raccoon couldn't help smiling, feeling proud they built some that might help with the Queen.
"Everyone, I can have your attention please?" Tails called out.
"Yeah we got something to show ya mates!" Marine said, happily.
"What you got there bud? Bracelets?" Sonic asked, looking at the device.
"Didn't know you were into jewelry Tails." Knuckles teased his friend.
"Not just any bracelets. With the help from Marine we made a special pair of bracelets that would block the Queen's fire abilities after Sonic let me borrow the Chaos Emerald to power them up." Tails said, looking at the pair.
"Woah really?" Honey said, amazed.
"Is that possible?" Sonic said, scratching his head,
"Why make such a thing?" Knuckles spoke.
Tails frown a bit, "I know we have to take down the Queen, but I think we can use this on her rather than taking the other route that involves taking her life. She's still Blaze afterall and she wasn't always evil to begin with. It doesn't feel right doing that to someone that looks like our friend." Tails said, shyly.
Blaze smiled at the fox and raccoon, who worried, "Thank you Tails." She said smiling to the young fox who smiled back at her.
"The only thing we need to do now is to test it." Marine spoke.
"Oh yeah, Blaze mind if you wear it for a test run? Since you're the only other fire cat we know haha." Tails asked and laughed.
Blaze chuckled and nodded, "Yes, of course," She said.
The feline struck out both her wrist towards the young fox. Tails press key codes on the bracelets making them open up. He carefully places the bracelets on Blaze's wrist and presses another key code making the bracelets lock up. Once it was locked around Blaze's wrist, Tails stood next Marine hoping their invention works.
"Okay Blaze, use any fire abilities you have." Tails as he and Marine carefully looked at the bracelets.
Blaze tried to fire up her fire aura as she usually does but nothing was happening as the bracelets just glowed when she did. She then tried to make a fireball on her hand but nothing was popping out as the bracelets kept glowing. Blaze and others couldn't believe what they were seeing. The fox and raccoon had found a way to block her fire abilities with just a pair of bracelets.
"It actually works." Blaze said, amazed.
"Yes! Alright!" Both Tails and Marine yelled as they high five.
Tails then quickly went over to Blaze and took off the bracelets from her wrists. Both him and Marine were feeling so accomplished at the moment while everyone was surprised. "You always surprise me with your invention Tails." Blaze said to the fox.
"Thanks, but I can't take all the credit. It was actually Marine's idea." Tails said, looking at the raccoon girl.
"Aw shucks! Thanks mate!" Marine said, giving Tails a friendly light punch on the arm.
"Looks like things are looking bright for us." Sonic said to Honey who smiled and nodded at him.
Sonic then felt Knuckles tap his shoulder and looked at him. "I think you spoke too soon." Knuckles said, pointing at something in the sea.
Everyone stopped and looked in the direction Knuckles was pointing at. What they saw was some black smoke coming from a far away island that was burning. The gang got tense up upon seeing it.
"Guys look! Another black smoke!" Honey yelled, from the other side of the boat.
The group turned in the other direction and saw another island from the distance with black smoke coming out. As they kept sailing, more and more islands with black smoke were appearing. Soon they were surrounded by multiple islands with black smoke coming out.
"What's going on?" Sonic asked.
"Is this the Queen's doing?" Knuckles gritted his teeth. "Is she just burning islands not caring people are still on them just to find us?
Gardon quickly took out a telescope as they were nearing Southern Island. When he used the telescope and laid his eyes on the island. His body immediately shook and his body went pale because he knew what he was looking at. There in his view were four mysterious figures looking at him with glowing red eyes knowing they were coming their way. The four mysterious figures quickly vanish from Gardon's view as they spreaded out.
The koala bear turned to look at the gang as he was breathing so heavily. Sonic and the others got worried by what Gardon saw. They were a bit afraid to ask, but they were too curious to know what the koala bear saw.
"My home!" Marine cried seeing her island burning up. Tails quickly comforted her by placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Gardon what did you see? Was it the Queen?" Blaze asked.
"Is she burning the island?" Sonic asked the koala bear.
Gardon nodded his head, "It's not the Queen who's doing this." He finally answered while looking away.
"Then who is?" Honey said, really wanting to know the answer.
Gardon looked dead in the eyes of his friends, for he then spoke in a very frightened tone.
"The Queen's four champions."
End of chapter 6