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.

Exception 5.2

It was hard for Tails to follow the conversations. Katia and the green hedgehog, Plague, as Tails had taken to calling her in his head, seemed heated as Tails rested Blaze's head on his one working tail. He watched with more than simple curiosity as the various cuts and bruises slowly smoked in front of him, closing rapidly on her body. Lavender fur sprouted from the edges, and she almost looked as if she'd been at the tribe her entire life. Her body was clear from all cuts, minus the small amount of red on her legs and torso from his blood. She still had dozens of scars, some that Tails knew were old, but many of them seemed fresh.

"Must - Blaze - fire caller," the witch said. Tails was trying his best to translate in his head, but it wasn't easy. The more he listened in, the more his head started to hurt. "He - lightning channeler - death - " she continued.

He wasn't able to work his hands towards his Miles Electric without them knowing. So he didn't bother trying to hide it, and instead gently pushed Blaze up a bit with his one good tail and reached for the bail-bag. Plague seemed to notice this and turned on Katia, yelling at her in even less hushed tones. Katia stared at him with furrowed eyes, a small hint of a snarl appearing on her muzzle. He could smell the anger from here, mixed in with the scents of them all. It was odd, smelling emotions. Blaze was usually calm and collected, a few times panicked.

Their expressions seemed to soften when he showed it off a little bit, as if to assure them it wasn't a weapon. Katia had already seen it, and seemed to be trying to explain it. The translator app was already up and running, and he quickly wrote a connection up for it to show up in the corner whenever he was using it.

"-weird thing. It makes sounds, and shows new images as we talk," Katia finished.

"Sounds like a toy. What toy is that, boy!" Plague turned on him. Tails shook his head. She recoiled, her eyes narrowing in confusion. "Does he understand us now?" she asked.

"A bit," he murmured. "Still talk fast, not know," he answered. The translator in his lap helpfully told him where he messed up the words, ignoring the glare he threw at it. Plague nodded her head slowly.

"Incredible. A feat of ingenuity, despite having no luck with our tongue, he's found a way around it. You still can't talk well, boy," the witch said. "Your friend will be fine. Just in the sleep."

"I know," Tails answered. He knew at least those words. He'd have to get the app to be able to translate backwards, too. Actually...he could do that now. He kept the translation app up in the corner as he cloned the app, making adjustments as he went.

"What are you doing, boy?" the witch asked, hovering over him as he typed away. "Making images on the screen? Are you writing a story?"

"Programming," he said instantly in common. Both Katia and Plague stared at him in confusion. "It's...hold on, I think..." he murmured. Plague's eyes narrowed as he spoke in common still, but watched as his fingers flew over the Miles Electric.

If it worked on the first try, this land loved him. He hit compile, and was hit in the face with around two hundred errors. If anything, Tails thought, that just proved everything. A quick fix though..."He's not a suitable mate, right now. He can't even talk," Plague whispered. "And besides, he needs to go through the sleep as well. I can't have both of them out on my floor. Take them to yours."

"Spark will see."

"I don't care what Spark will or will not see. Who's the witch around here!? You, or me!?" Plague snarled. "If they end up dying to Spark being proactive, they deserve to die! They already do, anyways, having been to the forbidden lands!"

"Why is it forbidden?" Tails asked, a smirk on his face. He had gotten it to work, using the existing translation software to translate their sounds into words and writing it out where he could simply read it out. It was...lengthy, as he'd have to type it out, but he already had that question ready. He'd been wrong earlier; this language was all verbal. All other cues were just like in common. Guess they had that going for them...

"You speak. Again. Normal, this time. What kind of 'magic artifact' is that?" Plague asked, staring at it intently. She looked as if she was trying to disassemble it with her mind to figure out all of its secrets.

Tails let out a small giggle. It wasn't the first time someone had claimed he was magic what with his technology. "Not magic. Just...electricity," he guessed after a moment.

Plague stared at him. "The greatest channeler that we know of would not be able to do that. I doubt even the goddess Uila herself would have that ability."

"You jest," Katia murmured. "Uila is the greatest of us all. No mortal can have power like she."

Tails looked around for a moment. Uila? The word wasn't translated, so maybe it was a name. A cultural thing, maybe? "It's...hard to explain," Tails tried. "Works better in my native language."

"Ah yes, your native language. The gibberish," Plague said. She gave what he thought was supposed to be a reassuring smile, but if anything it just gave him the creeps.

Tails had to give her that one. Then again, they sounded like they were babbling gibberish to him, so maybe it was a two way street. "I'll learn. Once I do, I'll come back and explain it. I'm not that strong a lightning channeler, honestly."

"It is an artifact, but one powered by you. It makes you much stronger than you think."

"It's powered by the sun."

Plague blinked, looking at it closer. "A toy, powered by the sun? One that allows you to know our language, to know to speak well? That says it is not a toy, boy."

"My name isn't boy. It's Tails."

Plague bowed. "My apologies, Tails. You hadn't introduced yourself," she smirked. Tails gave her an annoyed glance before he schooled it back to normal. He had, he just had done it in common instead of their language. Or Blaze had done it for him.

Blaze stirred gently on his lap, letting out a soft purr as she rolled her legs onto her chest. Then her eyes opened. "Oh," she said as she realized where she was. "Sorry Tails," she murmured as she forced herself up.

Plague held her gently down. "Cautious girl, you are still hurt inside."

"I'm feeling much better. Thank you for the medicine, but next time please don't drug me to sleep," Blaze said softly.

"You didn't feel warm. You didn't burn it off?" Tails said. He had made sure that she wasn't burning in the forehead as she had done when she had been sick a few weeks ago.

"I did," she responded in common. "Just kept it internal. Had to be careful, but I'm always on fire," she answered.

"I didn't feel a thing..."

Plague stood up and walked backwards a bit. "She burned off the medicine extremely quick. She was supposed to be out for hours. Not minutes. What did you bring back, Katia?" she asked.

"Just a fire caller," Blaze answered. She turned to Tails. "You should probably take that too, honestly. You might need to fly soon."

Tails nodded. "In a bit. Trying to get the Miles Electric to be a dual-translator," he said in common. Blaze blinked and nodded her understanding slowly, as if trying to comprehend the statement.

"You can do that?" she asked so the others could understand it. Tails nodded. "Huh. You explain to them how it works?" He shook his head.

"No, I didn't know the right words. Could you?"

"You're asking a lot of me, kid," Blaze muttered.

"A fire caller understands how a lightning channeler does his magical work? What has this world come to?" Plague muttered.

"Surprisingly little different," Blaze responded. "It's...you're asking a lot of me, Tails. Alright..." she said, closing her eyes in concentration. "Most of the words don't exist," she started to explain.

That would explain why they kept popping up. The Miles Electric was doing a fantastic job of keeping all the words it kept in a bank, allowing for quicker and quicker translations. Soon he might have enough to make the grammar rules.

"It's a device. Technology, which uses electricity made by the sun," Blaze started, only to stop when Plague shot her an evil look, "Don't look at me like that. I'm aware of how it sounds."

"This is the wise witch! Don't talk to her like that!" Katia spoke up for the first time in a while. Plague waved her hand and seemingly calmed her down.

"No, I understand her hesitancy. This...device. What all is it capable of?" she asked. There was a hint of something in her voice, as if she knew more than what was going on.

"Lots of things," Tails answered swiftly. "It's got...yeah most of these words aren't coming up either, let's see...talking from long distances, writing, games, maps, scans...-"

"That last one wasn't a word."

Tails forced himself up, wincing in pain as his tail and leg protested the action. Blaze was at his side instantly, helping him up. Both Katia and Plague were taken aback, maybe they weren't expecting Blaze to be fast? That was weird, almost all of their friends were fast...

He flipped over the screen, showing the two tribal members as he hit 'go' on the medical scan. Small green lights showed up, scanning him and Blaze and slowly drawing the image to the screen.

Plague drew closer. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she looked at the images. "I've dealt with many forbidden things, but this...this is unusual. It...drew you? It drew where you are injured, and how badly in various shades, and it did so instantly. Is this more lightning channeler capability?"

"No, this is just a Tails' thing," Blaze answered. "It's...did you have to show them the scanner first?" she asked.

He shrugged, wincing as pain shot up his arm. When did he hurt his arm, too? He took a look at the scanner, seeing how much red there was all over his body. No wonder he could either barely feel anything. Broken ribs, small cuts and grazes all over, broken tail and legs...by all rights he shouldn't even be awake.

So why was he not feeling much?

"It was either this or the map app, and how much do you think it'd scare them to realize the village has mostly been scanned already?" Tails answered in common.

"They'd probably kill us right now," Blaze answered in kind.

"Don't tempt us, I'm still sorely thinking it!" Plague interrupted. Tails and Blaze both ignored her.

"Exactly. Hence, medical. I got most of the bugs fixed too."

"When did you have time? I know you haven't been able to work as long on that thing as you want. And last I heard you were still having trouble getting it to acknowledge you as a multi-tailed fox."

"Every once in a while. Never had the need beforehand," he said, shrugging. "And I still haven't. See how it crossed both tails into one? It's enough for a demonstration though." He turned the Miles Electric to her, and was about to hit the scan button again.

"Don't scan me," Blaze commented quietly. "And you should put that away. Witch, are you going to heal him or not? He's not likely to go burning through it the way I did."

"I doubt I could even control it to that degree."

"I doubt even Iblis could," Blaze commented. She held her hand to her head a moment later, as if experiencing a massive headache before she relaxed a bit later. Were those headaches getting worse?

Plague stared at the both of them. "I do not wish to, but...this device would make my life much easier. Does it not work properly, and that is what bugs you?" she asked. She had a small smirk on her lips, as if she was making a pun that only she got.

"No," Tails said after a moment as he typed in the sentence he wanted. "It's...actually that's what a bug is, in this thing. It's something that's supposed to do it, but doesn't do it right, and I'm trying to teach it that way, but I'm not having luck yet."

"Ah. I know full well how to work with rambunctious children," Plague muttered. Katia gave her a half-hearted glare. "Rest Katia, I was not referring to you." This didn't seem to reassure the vixen of much of anything.

The hedgehog pulled out another cup of the same thing that Blaze had imbibed. It was steaming gently, and she put it up to Tails' lips. "Drink, and rest."

It was soft and sweet, a mixture of fruit and herbs that actually worked well. He didn't have much time to dwell on it, as he felt the tiredness grab him as near as it had Blaze.

Then he felt the cat's strong arms around him, gently grabbing him to make sure he didn't fall and hurt himself more, and he was out.

-Side B-

Blaze watched carefully as she knelt down, letting Tails' head curl up into his tails. The cuts and bruises disappeared before her eyes, and small steam bits rose up around the broken bits of his tail, slowly straightening out. The hedgehog slowly removed the bail-bag that had been near omnipresent, putting it onto another bed far in the corner. Blaze saw a large gash right where it had been start to smoke and close up. How long had he had that?

"How long will he be out? I need to alert the elders," Katia asked. "And since Blaze woke up so early, we don't know if this one will wake up too."

"He won't," Blaze answered for him. It was a trick she had found that she was fairly certain only she could do. The medicine worked the same way as the medicinal gel that they had made earlier did, except on a much faster scale. It was probably the closest thing to actual magic she'd seen since Super Sonic and Burning Blaze...and the way she got here, she supposed.

"We won't know that," the witch hedgehog said. She turned to Katia. "You are excused. Warn the elders of your arrival, and of your package, and what you request of them."

Katia nodded and quickly barreled out of the witch's hut, running towards somewhere. Blaze didn't bother trying to follow, her eyes glued to Tails' body as the cuts disappeared. She saw the hundreds of battle scars on his body, many of them new...but many of them not.

"I never thought I'd see a denizen of the Sol Empire here," the hedgehog said swiftly afterwards in common. Blaze probably should have been amazed, or confused, but honestly she was just tired.

The amount of control she'd had to show to wake up two or three hours early was far more taxing than it should be. "I'm surprised to hear of one who can speak common," Blaze answered back. "That means you know exactly who we are."

"Not exactly. I think I know the kid though. That's Prower, isn't it?" she asked. "Last time I saw him, he was a tiny little thing in his mother's arms. First time I'd ever seen a kit with two tails."

"You know who he is? No idea if he's a Prower or not," Blaze lied. Miles Prower. How did this hedgehog, from another world, know of him?

"No, pretty sure he is. Miles Prower. That name brings back a lot of memories, most of them good," the hedgehog said softly. "But I'm going too long without introducing myself. I'm Flora. From Cocoa Island."

Blaze sighed. "And how are you here, and what are you doing here now?" she asked. "And why didn't you help us sooner?"

Flora shrugged. "I couldn't do anything with Katia around. She's pretty much the elder's lapdog. Not as bad as Spark, but up there. Not by choice, of course. She'd kill me in an instant if I hadn't proved myself to these people with 'witchcraft'."

"Which is just medicine from his world."

"Eh, from Cocoa Island. Not quite, but it's close. Cocoa's a bit weird, always has been. But yeah, I know a bunch of healing concoctions and apparently these people needed them when they found me," Flora said. "But now we need to focus on saving you two."

"And you."

"I'm not leaving. I don't think I could leave, anyways," Flora said, her eyes looking away from Blaze. "Your language skills are good, but the elders won't appreciate having another powerful elementalist here."

"Are they not kineticists themselves? I figured they would be, as generally those are the type to gain power."

"Says spoken a member of the Sol Empire," Flora accused. Blaze shrugged; she was more than aware of how the empire had gained as much ground and momentum as it had. Granted, once it gained that land it was generally hands-off, and most sapients were aware that Blaze was primarily the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds, not the Sol Empire, and spoke freely to her of their time before and after. "And they are. One of each. They are also strongly skilled in their crafts, and can do things that I've thought were impossible."

"So am I. But then, I've seen miracles. What are their names?" Blaze asked.

"They give up their names once they ascend to become 'elder'. There's four of them. Elder Water, Elder Earth, Elder Fire, and Elder Lightning. The current Earth is a pain, and Water is the nicest of them. Fire is the quietest, with Lightning leading them all."

"So appeal to Fire and Lightning," Blaze said quietly. Flora blinked, before she nodded. "I figure if Fire's the quietest, it means his or her words carry more weight. Appeal to them, and to the leader, and the others will fall in line."

"You've done this before, haven't you?" Flora asked as she sat down on the bed. She patted the bed softly, inviting Blaze to sit down. She tilted her head softly, before she did so. It was strangely hard, as if it was made out of old straw or grasses that had hardened up with age.

"So tell me how a denizen of Tails' world gets here and knows of the Sol Empire," Blaze questioned.

Flora sighed. "Not a simple answer. I was part of a dimensional discovery team on Cocoa. There were only a few of us, only a team of six. Me, Miles' parents, and a few others. We had come close to a discovery when we found a gem of unfathomable power-"

"I'm aware of the Chaos Emeralds."

"Ah. Then yes, we found a Chaos Emerald. Kilo, Miles' dad, was the first through the machine. It warped him to a new world, one we'd never seen before. He didn't step out of the portal, and made it back safely. The Sol Empire."

"I don't recall hearing anything about the dimensional borders being breached. Let alone by a fox."

"We went around the borders, somehow. I'm still not sure how. We decided to open it again with the same parameters, hoping it would open in the same place. It did. So when we next went through, it was three of us, and we agreed that in one week's time we would head back."

"That sounds like a recipe for disaster."

"It wasn't, surprisingly. But after the week was up, the portal opened again, exactly as planned. But something went wrong on their side, and we heard explosions. Both Rose and I, that's Miles' mother, were scattered as soon as we hit the portal. I was sent here. Kilo and Rose ended up elsewhere, probably separated there, too. I saw enough of the building to see that it was blown up an instant later by bombings."

"And you landed here."

"And I landed here. I thought Cocoa was destroyed. The wall of fire was massive...and the portal burned a good chunk of me. Wounded and hurt, I found my way here."

"Why haven't you tried to go back?" Blaze forced herself to ask. She knew the answer, most likely, but wanted to hear it straight from the hedgehog's lips.

"I have. Many, many times. The warp zone keeps me in. They call it the 'rainbow road' here. I've tried to recreate the same technology we used on Cocoa in secret, only to not be able to remember all of the pieces. It took six of us the first time, and I certainly don't remember all of it."

"And the elders forbid it, so if you're found out-"

"I'm dead. Yes. They mistook me for one of their own, years ago. It's why I didn't have to go in front of the elders to plead my case, as you two do. Instead they framed my new knowledge as that of a witch's, and apprenticed me to the old one."

"What happened to her?" Blaze asked.

"He died. Fighting off an attack by the Igualos. It died, fortunately, but the next one should be coming in the next five or ten years."

"It's a cycle?"

"Not...exactly. Igualos are immune to most of the elements, and so requires a bit of poison mixed with...well, basically it requires poison to try to kill it. There's a nest of them around, but we've never been able to find it. Best we can do is train someone up with the poison necessary and hope they live long enough to use it."

"Have there been hunts or anything? I'm surprised that anyone would've left these things alive."

"All the time. It's considered bad luck though, as it's almost always failure. Either you don't come back, which means you might have found it and died, or you do and are deemed a failure. Even the strongest of the elementalists are wary of being 'awarded' that particular mission."

Blaze glanced down at Tails' sleeping body, curled up into a small ball. "So this 'Exception' that Katia keeps referring to...it's an exception from the forbidden laws?"

"Basically. They're not very roundabout with names around here. They might make you take a mission to prove you're capable. If they do, they will separate you two. I can argue for you, because they trust me, but I can guarantee they will. They almost always do. You're not the first to appeal for Exception status. Just the first outsiders to do it."

"And that brings Katia some notoriety?"

"More than some. She'd be heralded as a hero if you manage to get it. Even if you don't, finding two outsiders as capable as you two, if even half of what you said is true, is more than enough to guarantee her first selection."

"I'm guessing that 'mates' around here are something to vie after?"

Flora sighed. "Yes, unfortunately. As the 'witch' I'm lucky, because it's forbidden for me. Good, because I had no intention of ever bedding anyone. The elders set everything up, the strongest warriors with the strongest warriors, trying to keep things strong."

"They force things?"

"To a degree. There's herbs that they request me to use every once in a while, but it's embedded into the culture here, so no one really fights it. The ones that do just tend to...leave. And never come back."

"It's not common, is it? To leave."

"No, it's not," Flora explained. Her ears perked up as a bell rung loudly throughout the village and hut. "And...that's time. They didn't even give him time to wake..." she muttered. "That was the congregation bell. It tells most of the villagers to meet in the elder's hall. They expect me to lead you there, so I won't be able to talk to you outside of official reasons after this," Flora explained, grabbing a grayed out cloak with tattered ends. Blaze felt a pinch of jealousy at the undignified end of her own cloak. Maybe if they stayed here long enough, she could remake it? Although purple was a hard color to come by...

"You'll have to carry him," Flora muttered as she put on a bone mask a moment later. "Always hated this thing," she said as she shook it a bit. It was that of a canine of some kind, either a wolf or a dog, with a long protruding snout of bone. It had a few dings and scratches on it, but seemed in decent repair anyways.

Blaze reached down and grabbed Tails, surprised at how light he was now. Now that he wasn't soaking in water, it made sense he would be lighter, but also they didn't have their bags anymore, and she...she shook her head out. No time to think on that.

The village had mostly dirt floors, and it felt strange and giving under her bare feet as she walked. The air was cool and chilled, but she didn't seem to be cold. Flora led her out and through most of the village, letting her see it for the first time in actuality.

It was surprisingly large. Huts and various cabins were all over the place, and the small marketplace was deserted as they walked through. Wares were still in their place, as if sapients had heard the bell and dropped what they were doing. Maybe they had. The moon was high up in the air, showing how late it was already. Maybe some of them were sleeping when the bell was rung?

Flora led them to a large long house, made with dirt, clay, and sticks. There were multiple entrances, and Flora led them past the first one to a hidden door in the back. She knocked once, and a guard peeked out. He barely needed to see Flora and Blaze before he nodded, opening the door for them.

"They seem healed. You do good work, witch," the guard said. Blaze blinked; it was the same guard that had been at the front gates when they'd made it that afternoon.

Flora nodded and motioned for Blaze to stand next to a wall. Tails continued to sleep on her shoulder, his body relaxed and almost contorting to her own. "He still asleep?" the guard asked.

"Yes. I told Katia to warn the elders sooner, as the woman burned the healing medicine out of her system in minutes," Flora said.

"He's not supposed to be asleep. Wake him up, witch!" the guard growled out. "All decisions must be made when all parties are rational and awake!"

"It's not healthy," Flora tried to argue, but the guard didn't seem to care as he stomped over to Blaze and gently tried to slap Tails' face. Blaze ducked easily, keeping Tails' head far away from the guard's head. "Also she's rather protective of him," Flora snarked a moment later.

The guard growled. "Wake him up. Or would you both rather be dead?" he snarled, his rabbit teeth showing as he gripped his spear. Blaze had almost need seen or heard a rabbit growl or snarl in her life. Most of the ones she's met were only a bit less nicer than Cream.

It was hard to be nicer than her.

Flora stepped forward and gently pulled a small bag of dust out of her pouch. "Don't breathe in through your nose," she warned as she gently blew it on Tails' face.

Blaze opened her mouth to speak and felt a sudden urge to gag as the taste of it wafted into her mouth. It was a combination of smelling salts and microwaved old fish, complete with the cherry that is burnt popcorn. As in popcorn that had been on fire for far too long, and was now charcoal.

Tails gagged awake a moment later, "The heck!?" he shouted as Blaze dropped him, gagging herself. He went into a corner and dry heaved for a moment before he went still.

"They're going to need you soon. Be still," the guard said. Tails stood up ramrod straight, before he took in Blaze and Flora. The pyrokinetic nodded, and sighed gently. It was that time again, to try to stave off certain death by the skin of their teeth and their wits.

It was almost getting old at this point.

So...they may have an ally? Two allies? One whose very much in this for herself? Sounds about right.

Let me know if there's any confusion, especially with Tails' areas for this arc. He wasn't fluent in the language, and I wanted to show that he only understood parts of the words. The worst offender is next chapter. Also my writing style went a bit downhill from exertion onwards...and this is kind of the result. Until Next Time!