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

Existence 10.1

Blaze shook the snow out of her hair and cloak. "Next time, Tails, make sure that when you shout 'long drop ahead', make sure it's more than a five foot drop," she complained. Tails shook out his fur as a wet dog would, Spark doing the same a moment later. Snow went flying everywhere out of the both of them, and Blaze tried to ignore that now a good chunk of their bags and water would be wet now.

"Not my fault," Tails said instantly. "I wasn't expecting the snowbank, nor...this," he said, motioning around him. Blaze had to give him that, she wasn't expecting it either.

Despite being deep in the caves, there was a blue light emanating from some of the crystals of ice, giving everything a cold chill. Beneath them was a large frozen lake, barely ten feet behind them underneath the cliff. She could see the tunnel where they'd come out, on the other side of the cliff. If they hadn't had enough momentum, they would've crashed directly into the lake, probably dying in the process.

She was used to that by now, she'd thought. Dying in the process of doing...anything, really. It was a good thing their cloaks were doing a good job of keeping the chill out. If they hadn't had made them, Blaze didn't want to think how cold the other two would be. She'd be fine; pyrokinetic and all. She ignored the way her fur was raised as it attempted to keep the heat in.

She reached into her bags, grateful that the cloak kept most of the snow out of it and grabbed a small one full of cut up dried fish. It wasn't the tastiest, nor was it the most filling she'd ever had, but it was at least some sustenance. She passed a piece over to Spark and Tails, the latter nibbling on it as his eyes narrowed at the other side of the cavern. There was only another cave, and a solid iced over wall. Reflections of the crystals made it look like a mix of sapphires and diamonds.

She glanced at the cave, seeing the small pathway that went spiraling down into the darkness beyond it. Light bounced off of the walls, a near unnatural smoothness to them. Blaze knew that a tunnel like this one wouldn't have snow in it, even in the portions closest to the exit. It had ice, instead.

Winter had hit this place a lot harder than she thought it would.

Tails took a moment to break of a few pieces of rope to tie the boards to their backs, in case they needed to use them again. Blaze wasn't too surprised; he'd put a lot of work into them, and to only use them once was...odd. "I'm going to go check it out," Tails said. "Wait for me to give the all clear first!" he finished, putting one bare foot on the smooth floor of the tunnel, sliding down a moment later.

"Is this usually what adventuring with Tails is like?" Spark asked out of the blue. Her voice resonated and echoed around the cavern, which meant that Tails was sure to hear the answer despite being in the tunnel. Blaze could hear him slipping and sliding around. She gave a idle thought as to why he didn't just use the snowboard on the way down...

"Generally. What do you mean?" Blaze asked. There were numerous things that could be meant with 'usual'.

"Going down a mountain, being almost overtaken by an avalanche, all at high speed? I am a fighter, not a...whatever this was."

"Ah. Yes, we generally move quick. You should know that though, remember Vianex? We never did get around to teaching you control."

A small bolt jumped from her hand out to the snow, leaving it a boiling mess of water. "No, you did not. I do remember Vianex, but..."

"It's always easier to believe after you've seen the general crap that comes after. Did Tails not tell you any of his stories?"

"Those were real?"

"Very real!" Tails' voice called back. "And tunnel is safe, but it's slippery. I would say board down if you were Sonic, but neither of you are, so just be careful!"

"This 'Sonic' sounds suicidal."

"He is," Blaze smirked. She ignored the 'I'm telling him you said that' from Tails, as she stepped onto the icy floor in the tunnel. Her feet were freezing cold, and while she wouldn't have traction, it reminded her a lot of the volcano she and Katia had gone through. Spark was much more careful, trying to steady her balance as she took each step with extreme precision. Blaze had no such compulsions, sliding down with an ease that almost made her wish for ice skates.

The floor was slippery, and sliding down was...thrilling. Blaze felt herself grin as the ice floated on the walls as well as the floor, and with ease she kept herself turning down the near spiral of the tunnel. The wind pushed by her, and she turned around to see Spark was being...very careful, her eyes wide with fear as she attempted to not fall. Blaze didn't care, calling the flames for just a moment to shoot herself forward, sliding on the walls and floor, and occasionally the ceiling.

The tunnel came out into blinding purple light suddenly and instantly. Blaze instinctively shut her eyes and froze in place while her eyes adjusted quickly as she crashed into the snow, her feet crunching deep into the powder. Once her eyes adjusted, she gave a look around.

It was a long section of plains, similar to those they had boarded down just previously, except these were hills and valleys, gentle inclines that promised grass underneath. The tunnels that they'd come through hadn't been that long, maybe a few miles at most. Far off in the distance, she saw more mountains encasing the entire area. Dark grey clouds hovered over one such mountaintop, the tallest that she could see.

Spark abruptly came from the tunnel and landed on Blaze's back, pushing her into the snow. She heard Tails' voice laughing quietly into the distance, her ears plugged up by the blue powder.

"Sorry," Spark said as she instantly jumped off, falling into another pit of snow. Blaze pushed herself up, shaking off the cloak and her head, casually flaring up to melt it.

The snow didn't melt.

Tails was above them, on the snowboard. His tails hadn't yet healed enough to be able to fly with them, but Blaze knew that was coming back sooner than they had thought. Already she could see them moving faster than Spark's by a factor of ten. And it wasn't because the tod was laughing at them.

"I did say to be careful," Tails said carefully, grinning his actual words.

"You also said nothing about the bottom," Blaze answered shortly. "Next time, I'll go first. That way I can watch you fall flat on your face."

"You had a fun time, and you know it."

Lightning shot out of the hole created by Spark's body as she forced herself up. Her body was crawling with it, small bolts leaping out and attempting to boil the snow, only to find it as hard as rock. Her eyes were a glowing red, and Blaze suddenly realized that she was, in one word, 'pissed'.

Tails must've seen the same thing she did, as he promptly muttered something about needing to scout ahead, and pushed off into the snow to speed off.

"Snow won't melt. Not even by fire, and apparently not by lightning, either," Blaze warned. Spark glared at her, before she took a deep breath. As if to show the fact, Blaze conjured a small fireball, its heat obvious to the both of them, and placed it directly on the blue snow. There was no hiss, no expected water. It was as if the rock had been painted blue and called 'snow'.

And yet it was freezing cold on Blaze's bare feet, and she wished again for her shoes. The shoes that she'd burned to ashes, yes, but she could still wish she hadn't. She'd been a lot happier.

"It does not snow like this in Ikan'Thoa. I suspect this is not normal?"

"The amount or the not melting part? The amount I have no clue, but I suspect its quite the same. The not melting part? No, that is very much not normal," Blaze said. She stared off into the distance of some mountains, seeing the light green clouds in the sky. Lightning passed between them with obvious lights.

"I was referring to the amount. I am aware that snow is supposed to melt," Spark answered. "Have you encountered many...strange or odd things like this before? On your journeys before, I mean."

"Kind of," Blaze answered, starting to walk towards where Tails was scouting. The clouds weren't moving, so maybe it was a localized thunderstorm?

"Tails would know more, I think," Blaze said as she attempted to run to catch up with the two-tailed fox. The moment she put weight on the snow, it sucked her down, letting her fall almost five feet into the dark blue frozen wasteland before she stepped. "That's unfortunate..." she muttered as she climbed back out. Spark was nowhere to be seen, but there was another hole a few feet ahead of where she'd been.

Blaze took another cautious step forward, putting all of her weight gently on one foot. When she didn't go straight through, she cautiously put the next one down. Two steps, freezing cold, but at least she wasn't buried in snow.

Spark's head peeked out of the hole, and small lightning sparks came from her fur into the snow. She sighed as she saw Blaze there, and pulling herself out. "How did you manage to stay standing?" she asked.

"Not sure," Blaze said as she attempted a quick hop, as if she was about to start running, only to fall into another hole. "I think it can tell, somehow, that we're running or moving quicker," she said as she pulled herself out a second later. "Either that, or we have terrible luck."

"No, I think you're right," Tails said as he boarded up. His face was covered in snow and ice, and it looked as if he fell more than a few times. "Whenever I started to move faster than normal, I'd fall into a hole. I would claim it to be the digger's, but..."

"I thought you called them moler's." Hadn't that been what Tails had called them? No, that's right, it was 'drillers'. Diggers, molers, and drillers. Three names for the exact same obnoxious creature. "No, drillers."

"Moler's? Digger's? Driller's?" Spark asked. She had a tone of 'did she actually just hear that correctly or were Blaze and Tails just making fun of her now?'.

"Mole like things that had drills for hands and mouths. It sounds about as weird as you think," Tails said. "So I guess we have to go slow," he finished.

Blaze kept walking, her feet sinking a few inches into the snow with each step. Tails strapped his snowboard onto his back the same way that both Blaze and Spark still had, and followed them quietly, the only sounds around were of their footsteps and of their breathing.

She could see her breath in the air, and she knew it was cold. There was no wind, but it wasn't a light chill either. Her fires didn't seem to warm her or the other two up, no matter how much flame she conjured. "Flames aren't working to keep us warm," she said.

"There's something weird about this place. I don't think it follows normal physics," Tails answered. Blaze stared at him flatly. What was his first clue? The rainbow sun above them, the fact the snow didn't melt, or that the grass was a blood red back at the beach? "Don't look at me like that, I'm just saying it to make sure we're on the same page."

"Page of what?" Spark asked, her head tilted quizzically. A bit of snow was still on her ears, and Blaze noticed that she kept flicking it to try to get it off without bringing attention to it.

"It's a saying. Basically saying we all have the same information," Blaze explained. She waved her hand in front of her, creating a small fireball. It rapidly turned from red to orange to green to blue then violet, before it winked out of existence. "I think this place is doing something weird to fire, or just heat in general. I kept turning up the heat but didn't feel anything anymore. Either of you?" Blaze asked.

Both Spark and Tails shook their heads. "Is that a storm over there? Weird to see one. It's been a long time."

"Since before the ruins, I think," Blaze said. "I think I'm just grateful it's not a blizzard."

Tails shivered in place. Was it because of the cold or something else? "I don't think we'd want to be out here if it started to blizzard."

"Or any snowfall," Spark corrected. "We could try to create a cave of snow, I have heard of others suggesting it to survive in the colder areas of Ikan'Thoa, but most of the others that did that did not survive."

"Yeah, we'd need fire," Tails answered. "And usually we'd have that, but...well, we don't. I don't think the blanket would be able to handle all of us."

"It did two of us," Blaze brought up. She ignored the bright blush that appeared on Tails' face as she probably stirred up some memories. "And three of us would be warmer than two. It would be uncomfortable, certainly, but nothing we haven't already done."

"I..."

"I think that should be a last scenario," Spark answered. "Not because of anything in Tails' head though," she smirked, turning into a grin as the fox glared at her, "but just because it is putting our survival to chance."

"I agree with Spark, but for different reasons," Tails managed to put out. "Mostly with two of us, it was out in the desert. The blanket kept us cool, and that's what it's designed to do. But remember, it requires heat and water to shrink back down. Easy at the beach, next to the ocean. Here? Not as easy. Especially if the snow won't melt."

Blaze nodded. The silence reigned except for their steps as they kept walking. It was work, Blaze thought, to walk in the snow without snowshoes. Their boards probably counted as 'faster' transportation, which according to Tails made more holes. And they hadn't fallen in one since they started walking.

"Hey Spark...about that control?" Blaze started. Spark stared at her before she grinned bright, channeling a small electric hoop to her hand before it vanished into the snow.

-Side T-

Tails stood by silently as Blaze instructed Spark on how best to control electricity. Some things were right, but it also violated a lot of basic physics. Then again, he didn't necessarily have to think about any of that when he used his power.

Of course, all of his power was external. Spark had tried, back on the Grace, to teach him how to use his own internal source of energy, but every thing she tried just failed. She eventually just shrugged and said she would think on it, but eventually he'd have to get it. They never got around to it again.

There was no wind with which to warm them up, or cool them down. Their cloaks were doing a good job of keeping the cold out, except the cold on their feet. His back still felt like it was snapping in half the moment he thought to use his tails for flying, and he knew the injury was internal. He'd either sprained a muscle or did much worse. The snow crunched underneath them, and every step he thought it would end up slamming in face first into another hole.

He was worried, however, about how the sun setting would affect things. Things would cool down, certainly, or knowing this place they might warm up. The cave had been warm, too, but the snow hadn't melted. Even in their footsteps the snow didn't melt.

The mountains and cliffs that told of their next destination seemed to appear to move; move away from them. No matter how far they walked, they didn't seem to be any closer. Far above one, the one that he thought Blaze was slowly leading them towards, dark grey clouds gathered. It looked similar to the ones in the ruins, the one that sprouted the tornado that chased them into the underground.

His thoughts were caught off as he heard a howling next to him, seeing a wolf made of snow suddenly pop up, its claws as long as his arms. Blaze shot a spear of fire at it instantly, almost in the style of Katia's spear.

Almost too quick for even his eyes to see, the wolf thing, as it obviously wasn't an actual wolf what its thick front legs and tiny back ones like a mix of frog and wolf, dodged to the side and let out a chuckling howl. It barreled under the snow, and Tails could feel the vibrations through his feet as it somehow became a part of the snow. His hand reached for the board on his back, slowly undoing the ropes that had attached it there.

It appeared behind them just as Spark let loose her own bolt of electricity towards the thing. The tod wasn't surprised when it didn't seem affected by the lightning bolt, nor was he surprised when it barreled at the one that hadn't attacked it yet; him. He grabbed the steel board on his back and threw his arm out with it, smashing its face in, the first actual hit against it. It was sent flying back, before its front legs caught against the snow.

Its maw had been punched in, but it didn't seem to mind that it didn't have a nose or a mouth anymore as it stalked towards them. "Its times like this I wish I had a rapier," Blaze muttered under her breath as she reached her own metal board. Tails nodded, and saw that Spark, too, had reached around for her own.

Blaze had mentioned that she was trained in it, hadn't she? Or was he just confusing another Sonic story with that? Either way, he knew what to get her for her birthday this year, assuming either of them would live to see it. The wolf thing charged at him again, its claws digging deep into the snow. Tails thought that was rather unfair; how come it was allowed to run when they weren't? Actually...

It was on him faster than he thought it would be, but he took a quick step back, and just as he thought would happen the snow opened up beneath him, allowing him to fall underneath the snow wolf's claws as it ripped at the air where he'd been. It looked down, and seemed to ignore the mess of its face, or its downed opponent as it turned towards both Blaze and Spark. Blaze's body zoomed by the top, punching in its torso before she too fell into a snowhole next to him.

He pushed himself up, and quickly sought about escaping from the hole. Blaze had fallen into another snowhole, and while Spark had her board he doubted that she would actually be all that good with it immediately -

He blinked as his head peeked out, hoping to not see blood. He didn't smell blood though. Instead he saw Spark on its back, ripping into its head and spine with her claws. The bolts from her body were digging into it, but it seemed to ignore those, but it definitely could not ignore the claws in its head or back. In moments half of its head was gone, and its torso was quickly starting to be tossed away.

"That was fun," Spark said as it stopped moving, only the front part of its legs left, and she casually jumped off, landing on the snow. Tails stared at her, wondering where that viciousness had come from...and where it had gone. He'd always known she was capable of it; she was a warrior from Ikan'Thoa, but..."You all forgot I could fight, did you not?" she asked, her hands on her hips with a smirk.

"No, not one bit!" Tails tried, only for Blaze to pull herself out of her own hole, and to dig another one for Tails.

"Yes, yes we did. It's been a while since we've had to fight. We're used to how we fight, so it took us by surprise," Blaze admitted. Spark nodded her agreement with that assessment.

"That is alright. I do wish I had my crossbow though," Spark said, showing her empty hip with a ruffle of her cloak. "It got destroyed on the Grace during our journey here," she explained.

That explained why she was mostly using electric bolts, then. When had that happened though? Although Tails would admit he was probably distracted at the time, his eyes glued to her head or the floor. He wasn't about to let himself see any portion of her besides her feet or her head.

"What gave you the idea for the board?" Blaze asked as she reached down to grab his arm, pulling him the rest of the way up. "I wouldn't have thought of it."

"Fire did nothing, neither did electricity. Only other weapon we have is ourselves," Tails explained. She nodded, and quietly tied her snowboard back onto her back. Spark needed an extra moment to get the knot right, and Tails did it on himself almost without thinking. At least they knew now that these things could still be affected by physical objects.

They kept walking towards the mountains, the sun still high in the sky. Within what seemed like minutes as the cold chill dawned on them, Tails looked around to see it was near the dead of night. The sky had rapidly turned a variety of colors for only a few seconds, before they ended up with a near dark red skylight with purple stars. "You didn't imagine it," Blaze answered his unasked question instantly. "It did go from noon to midnight in about the course of a minute. And we should find a place to camp. Before it gets colder."

Tails nodded, and feeling the slight chill even through the cloak pulled out the blanket. Despite their quickness, the cold descended on them like locusts to wheat. It took only a minute, but it seemed like an extra hour as Tails felt his body start to freeze. Even the cloaks didn't seem to keep him warm now. With Blaze and Spark's help, they stretched it out to its full capacity, and rolled themselves up in it as best they could.

What they found was the blanket was surprisingly good at keeping out the cold. But what Tails had forgotten was they had gotten so used to the cold that it was now starting to hurt. "Note to self, make a bigger version of this as soon as I get back," Tails muttered under his breath. Spark was next to him, small bolts illuminating the dark space, her body scrunched into his. Blaze was next to her, crushed against her side. "Everyone comfortable?" he asked teasingly.

"Tails, I swear," Blaze muttered under her breath as she attempted to roll over. But by doing so it tore the blanket out of Tails' hands, allowing the cold to come back in. He ripped the blanket back, forcefully rolling Blaze back onto Spark and himself.

"This is not the most uncomfortable I have been while sleeping...but it is quite high on the list," Spark whispered.

Tails, for his part, was just enjoying their whispered conversation as he shut his eyes. He tried to even out his breathing, ignoring the feel of the cat and vixen next to and essentially on top of him. Sleep overtook him faster than he thought it could.

"Come on, Tails. There's nothing wrong with this," he heard Blaze's voice say. "Didn't you want this?" she asked. His eyes opened to see the cabin they'd made way back when, with Blaze kneeling at the foot of his bed. She had nothing on, asides from a small choker on her neck. They had a full kitchen now, and there was a scent of freshly baked apple pie in the air. There weren't any sheets, nothing to hide him from the almost predatory look in the cat's eyes.

"Of course there isn't. We both want this," he heard Spark's voice, and he turned to see the vixen, also wearing only a similar choker on her neck, walking towards him with a small piece of pie in her hands. She knelt next to him, and he saw the choker had words on it, reading 'Property of Miles Prower'. His head was pounding, but in a way that was shouting at him something.

"Just enjoy it. Enjoy us...we're all here together, aren't we? For forever and ever..." Blaze said, reaching up towards him with her bare hand, stroking up his leg. He tried to shoot down the thought. Her touch was electric, despite being a pyrokinetic. Spark's hand touched his arm, just as gently, slowly dragging one claw down towards his wrist. His eyes widened; this wasn't what it seemed. What was going on? Then he felt Blaze's hand touch-

He gasped his eyes awake into the dark. He was exceptionally uncomfortable, as the dream came back into his head. It had been ages since he'd had a dream like that, probably because every sleep since then had been when he was exhausted. Walking, for all its health benefits, was not exhausting to him, even walking in the snow.

Spark's red eyes opened a few inches away from his own. "Something wrong?" she whispered, her body pushed against his. He tried to wiggle out of it so that way she at least wouldn't notice-

"It is alright. I'm fully aware," Spark said. "Just try to go back to sleep," she muttered as her eyes shut again. Sure, that was easy for her to say, just go back to sleep. She wasn't the one that had to...try to forget the darn dream.

Blaze was still asleep next to them, her body curled up like a cat's would in a windowsill. Tails shut his eyes for a moment, trying to forget everything about what happened.

"Amy said she had a big surprise for me, but I don't want to know what it is. Could you go for me in my place?" Sonic asked him. They were standing on his porch in the Mystic Ruins, right outside his main laboratory. Sonic was surprisingly frightened, although in hindsight Tails knew he shouldn't have been surprised.

"It's just Amy, Sonic. Just go over there and explain that you don't want whatever surprise she has in store," Tails answered reasonably. Sonic stared at him as if he was speaking another language.

Actually...now that he thought it, he was. He was speaking Ikan'Thoan now. He tried to switch back to common, only to find a pleasant weight on his back as Spark suddenly jumped on him.

"Oh hey, when did you get a girlfriend? Or is she more? You haven't introduced her to Cream yet, have you?" Sonic teased, pointing a finger on his face.

"Spark!" Tails tried to tell her to get off, only to get a grin as her face morphed into that of Katia, complete with wounds that Strike had given her.

"You failed me, you failed yourself, you'll never get out of here, Miles 'Tails' Prower!" Katia's voice called out. Tails turned to Sonic, only to see an aged hedgehog stand there, in the realms of nearly eighty or a hundred years old.

"Tails...I searched so long for you. And here you are, barely aged a year..."

Sonic's voice was haunting his ears as he forced himself awake. That was...it was a nightmare, for one. But it was a nightmare that had a grain of truth to it, unlike the dream before it. He was scared. He was scared that he, much like Captain Monsoon, had been trapped in a time loop, unable to know how much time had passed.

Actually...he could check, couldn't he? He wiggled around a little bit, to find that Blaze had wandered off out of the blanket, somehow without waking him or Spark. Spark was still asleep, her cloak draped over his.

He reached down gently for the Miles Electric, tapping onto a hidden application he'd made years and years ago. It was one of the first he'd made for the device, in actuality. All it did was record the time that it had been powered on.

He hadn't turned it off since before he'd arrived in the world. He flipped down to the stat, seeing nearly a little over three thousand hours. He did the math; slightly over four months. He couldn't really trust it, he supposed, but it was the best he was going to get. There was nothing saying the time loops couldn't affect the Miles Electric.

He'd just have to hope, and he'd have to dream. He forced himself up, trying to not wake Spark up from whatever dream she was having. She was giving off a particular scent that he thought he knew, but he wasn't going to dwell on.

The dark blue sun was sitting above them, and not far off was Blaze, staring into the noonday sun.

And in this corner, I teach how to make a sexual dream turn into a nightmare.

And yes, I'm still toning it down from version zero.

Until Next Time.