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.

Extinguish 11.3

The leviathan quickly learned just how annoying Tails could be when he was trying to get somewhere. Even with physics broken, and seemed to get more broken the further they both fell, the fox was still trying to keep a hold of the blue leviathan's scales.

The leviathan was definitely not a fan of the two-tailed fox, and was doing everything it could to shoot him with lightning. Not that it had much effect, as Tails almost effortlessly shot it back at him, barely taking more than a moment to concentrate on it. There was a primal part of the two-tailed fox that was filled with fear, and he had to stomp down on that, hard, every time the leviathan another blast of electricity.

The scales weren't hard, but rather soft with a squishy side to them, Tails found as soon as his feet found perch on the thing. He only vaguely remembered the aquatic one they'd found, and had been chasing him...but he didn't remember what it felt like.

Might've been due to the near-drowning he'd experienced then.

The leviathan's whiskers shot out again, electricity crackling over its surface. A jump back, a duck down, the whiskers were just as variable as fighting someone's arms. Except that every bit was lethal...to maybe someone that wasn't him.

He grabbed the electricity as both whiskers jumped out at him, and he channeled it directly in front of him, creating the shield of lightning. He felt physics, somehow, reassert itself.

He kept up the golden orb as his tails spun, letting him fly easy into the sky once again. As long as the lightning kept up, he could stay flying for a while yet. The leviathan kept falling, occasionally shooting more bolts up at him, which he grabbed and added more to the shield. If the lightning dragon was going to give him lightning, who was he to not use it to the best of his abilities? He wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Or a gift dragon in the bolt.

That one didn't make sense. He'd have to come up with better one-line quips later. Sonic had a natural tendency to come up with them, and no matter how much Tails tried his lines weren't just nearly as good.

The canyons rose over the top from him, impossible to see the top of. It was as if he was in an infinite pit, like something that he'd see in a video game somewhere. There was another hole in the wall not too far above him. His tails spinning, he forced himself up to the height, glad that as long as he kept the shield up, physics was normalized. How would that even work, in a place like this? There had to be something keeping things from working the way they should be.

The cave was small, barely two-tailed fox sized. But it led on straight, the sharp edges of the rocks slowly digging into his fur.

It was dark, and warm, and with more than a hint of stale air. It was far from the creepiest place that Tails had seen though, and the pathway kept going, so it at least had that going for it.

He wasn't surprised at all, a few minutes later when he ended up seeing the edge of another biome only about six feet away. Ashy, grey, and almost steaming. At the bottom a white fog started to creep up, slowly trying to ensure that it was impossible to see what the next biome was.

It wasn't normal steam, he realized immediately. It was acidic steam. Fortunately it wasn't the kind that would burn his nose too much, but it was the kind that he didn't want to smell for too long. The ground wasn't just ashy colored; it was ash. Something had burned this place to the ground, and then kept it burning for ages long past. Tails turned around, seeing the small cave where he'd come out from, and the tall mountains around it.

The Blooming Tides had to be somewhere, but it sure wasn't making his life easy. He took a deep breath, and checked the Miles Electric. Still dead. There wasn't enough sunlight here for it to get a good charge, which meant he only had...four? Four charges left. Maybe five.

The ground almost swirled around him as he walked. It didn't seem likely that there was anything around, but he had to check nonetheless. He wouldn't accept anything less. He spun his tails, settling into a slow run. Hills crossed beneath him, and he had to jump over the acid river more than once as he crossed. The ground had strange designs on it; close to the ground back at Westside Island, or even Cocoa Island. Or Angel Island.

It wasn't checker-boarded though, but rather it was simply...swirly. Swirly, grey, and ashy. The air smelled of acid and death, decomposition thick in the air.

Whatever this place was, it was a representative of a place that Blaze had been. Vianex, if he had to guess. He'd figured it out not too long ago. The caves had been what she'd experienced after the ruins. But so had he. And this was Vianex, which meant that she was probably either in the field of flowers or in the swamp. Or possibly in another section of the underground, the part that he'd explored.

The swirls kept leading him off course, his mind unconsciously focusing on following them, and more than once he had to remind himself to steer clear of them. She hadn't told him what had happened in the ashy volcanic area, but he knew it hadn't been good. He took a deep breath as he crested a hill, hoping to see another biome soon. Instead, the ash seemed to continue on forever.

"Wonderful place, isn't it?" he heard his voice call out from behind him.

A doppelganger, probably. "I'm surprised. I thought you were locked to Reveniah," Tails said genially. He turned, not surprised to see a copy of himself walking the same path he was.

"Not a doppelganger. Just another time-shifted you."

"Not sure I buy that."

"I wouldn't either, honestly. Not sure how to prove it to you though. Oh...wait!" the copy said, reaching down for an exact copy of the same bail-bag he had. Down to the creases and crevasses that he knew so well, the zipper even stuck on the same place it always did.

Another copy of the Miles Electric came out. "Doppelgangers, according to Blaze, can't create objects. They have to steal them," his copy claimed.

Tails thought about it for a moment. The doppelganger, when copying Katia, had to steal her clothes and spear. It didn't need to, it could generate clothes, and it could copy abilities that were native to the sapient, but it couldn't copy any item.

"Are you from before me, or after me?" Tails asked after a moment. "Did...Zephyr tell you everything?"

"He did, yeah. I'm not sure either, honestly. I've been stuck here for a while. I think this place is one of those time-traps that the Tides can't affect. I think it's like that for all of Vianex. It was when I went through it with Spark."

"You went to Vianex then?" Tails said, his eyebrows raised. "I went to Reveniah. With Katia. Spark was at the jungle."

"Ah. No, I had Katia in a strange temple thing. It wasn't hard, just a lot of flying. She uh..." the clone blushed a bit. Tails waved his hand, and the copy smiled before he quieted down.

"So, if we stay here, we're safe from the Tides. For now, at least," Tails suggested. "And what happens when you leave?"

"Katia tried it. She immediately got time-shifted back to whatever time was going on. I don't think we can leave if we don't make it out in time. That's probably why they call it a time-trap," his clone explained. Tails two? Tails four.

Because he had another set of two tails, so total of four tails! Naming genius. And Blaze thought his names were silly.

"How long have you been here?" Tails asked. "In your time?"

"About a month? Somewhere around there. The river's not actually acid, just smells like it and acts like it. It's safe to drink though. And there is fish in there, although they're a bit slimy and not the most filling," Tails four continued.

"I'm going to guess that you tried the water because of another reason?" Tails said quietly.

Tails four didn't meet his eyes. "Yeah."

"How...many made it here? In your loop?" Tails asked gently. "It was just Spark for us. Zephyr told us of others where all four of us, or just three. Sometimes only two."

"Just Katia and myself. Blaze...didn't make it out of the village. Spark...ended up falling into lava. She died instantly," Tails four recounted. "And...then Katia left. So now I'm here."

"I wonder what changed. What we did differently that you didn't, or that you did different that we didn't?" Tails wondered. If he stayed there, he'd be immune from the time looping effects of the Tides. But then he'd have to stay here, forever, until a copy of him or Blaze was able to finish off the Tides.

"Hmm...tough call. Do you think you have the time? I know you're on a tight schedule," Tails four asked. "And I'll be honest, seeing another copy of myself is weird."

"I don't think so. How many messages from Sonic and the Sol Empire did you get?" Tails asked suddenly. That was another of the big keys that said if he was in the 'winning' loop or not. Unfortunately the Miles Electric was dead, and there didn't seem to be a way of charging it up that wouldn't fry it.

"I think...two? The Miles Electric's dead at the moment, otherwise I'd check. I know we only got maybe two messages from the Sol Empire at best. Maybe only one."

After a month with no contact, and no machinery? Tails was lucky that Tails four was just as sane as he could be. "When did Katia leave?"

"A week ago, or so. We...you don't want to hear that," Tails four said, blushing lightly. "We still had some extra water and food from Zephyr, and we just rationed it out."

Two weeks maximum, one week minimum. Tails four was lucky. "So I'm guessing your know this biome well then?" he asked. "Care to show me to the nearest one that's closest to the Tides?"

"I never found them."

"I know. Just another biome in general, though," Tails said. Tails four sighed, before he nodded.

"I don't like it, but I can. Come on, it's this way," Tails four said, standing up and shaking out his tails, letting the ash fly everywhere.

He led in mostly silence, occasionally asking some questions about the current loop. Tails, in response, asked some about his. Blaze was killed by Strike, and Katia and Tails four had made it all the way here on their own. Every time it was brought up, Tails four would blush, and it left the original Tails rolling his eyes. He was fifteen.

Especially as the time loops seemed to destroy everything that happened outside of them. Otherwise, multiple copies of the same sapient would simply not be possible. In other words, the Tides destroyed the world, then rebuilt it back to a specific timeframe.

No wonder the world was as primal as it was. It was constantly being destroyed and rebuilt. Ikan'Thoa was probably brought up to the same point each time, just before the Tides turned again. And the only one to remember it were a select few of the original Elders, and the three primordials.

"Alright, here it is," Tails four said, gesturing to a small snowy mountain. "You don't recognize it, as you said you went to the southern swamp. But then that means Blaze would. That's similar to the...dungeon? That Blaze and Katia would have had to go through."

"Any hints or tricks?"

"Go really fast, and if any skeletons pop out, remember Tikal," Tails four said. "And you're always welcome here, even if the Tides turn. There's no wood here, otherwise I'd try to make a house, but I've been doing what I can in the stone."

Tails two stared at him, before rushing forward and giving him a hug. Tails four obviously wasn't expecting it, but in a flash it was over as Tails jumped over the biome portal.

The cold hit him instantly, but his tails started up, and he hovered above the snow as he raced to the top.

-Side B-

Blaze stared down at the field of flowers, hundreds of different colors assaulting her eyes. Each was soft, and bounced back as soon as she walked over them. There were no thorns, or things reaching up to grab her.

It was...surprisingly idyllic.

It set off dozens of alarm bells.

This was a big problem with trying to survive for so long as they had; they begun to see everywhere as another possibility of attack. Another vector in which to get hurt. Which...made sense, in a way. But it also made it hard for her to settle down, to try and see the beauty in the here and now. If she had found this right after coming out of the forest, she probably would have smiled and relaxed a bit more.

Only a bit though; she'd have to have the Sol Emeralds to fully relax. It was only when they were in her possession that she allowed herself to. Such was the curse of Guardianship.

The flowers were in hundreds of shapes and sizes, thousands of different colors. Some had petals that spiked out from the top, and others had stems filled with petals and leaves, like miniature trees. Some were purple, blue, red, lavender, violet...green, yellow, cyan, hundreds. In a never ending array of colors, stretching out as far as her eyes could see. There was an odd scent to the air, one that she vaguely recognized from her time in Ikan'Thoa, particularly around Katia when she was talking about Tails.

"This must be Reveniah, then," Blaze muttered aloud. The swamp was behind her by a ways, now, and she focused on calling her flames. They still answered her, not as quickly as she'd prefer, but still they did. That was good; it meant they hadn't been burned out by her trick at the swamp.

That was a surprisingly reasonable worry in her mind. She'd been burning herself out more and more in the last several months.

"Sol can't always help you, you know," a voice called from behind her. It was strange and high pitched, and wasn't surprised when Blaze turned around, a lance of flame ready to pierce through their neck.

It was a copy of her, but back in her full regalia. The lavender tail-coat that she missed far too much, the tights, her shoes, her gloves...she was a dark purple, a dark violet, rather than the lighter furred color that she was now.

"Who are you?" Blaze asked instantly, her eyes narrowed. The copy of her had red eyes, she saw, with black irises. An infernal hell copy of herself? Didn't Tails mention something about doppelgangers in the flower place?

"I'm you. The better you," the copy said, smirking as she made a lance of flame. Blaze jumped back, small flares coming up from the soles of her feet. Instantly Blaze made a spear of her own fire. It was odd, Blaze knew, fighting fire with fire. But her copy was just as quick as she was, and although their fires weren't physical they could do just as much as real ones.

She'd dodge left, and her copy would dodge the inevitable thrust by going right. A swing with the lance would meet the spear's end. The blunt edge would meet the other blunt edge. Blaze was not trained in spears, or lances. She knew the basics though, because most spears were fairly simple. It's why she made them as she did; they were both throwing weapons and melee weapons.

But...Blaze jumped backwards, creating another spear of fire before launching it towards her copy. She threw the one in her hands, not surprised as her clone smirked and simply ducked under it.

She focused on the shape, first and foremost. There was exactly one weapon she was trained with, better than most. The handle guard would be difficult, but it wasn't as if she didn't have the control or power for it now. Her mastery over fire had increased by leaps and bounds since coming into this world...or at least in this loop.

Her copy must have seen her distraction as she charged forward, holding the lance at the ready. Blaze's own blade would be smaller, much smaller. But then again...they were supposed to be used as precision weapons... Blaze felt the comfortable weight in her hands as she carefully knocked the lance's edge away from her head with the newly crafted rapier, following it up with a quick thrust to the copy's neck.

First blood went to Blaze.

The clone jumped back, bleeding a strange black ooze out of the hole in her neck. "You do have some strangeness going on, don't you, Guardian?" it responded, it's voice similar to her own but much more ragged.

"I think the only thing strange is what you're doing here. Where are the Blooming Tides?" Blaze asked. She doubted the thing would answer but if it was sapient, there was no harm. If it answered to the Tides as a primordial, it had to know they were already gunning for it.

"I'm just here to help you out, Guardian of Sol. You rely on your fire far too much," the clone suggested. "And you'll never get there by relying on fire. Not unless you burn it all to the ground."

"I'm tempted."

"Ooh, so tempting. You have a bit of temper, did you know that?" The clone said, smirking widely as Blaze launched another spear of flame, keeping her rapier solidly in her right hand. "See!? I can't even talk without you throwing something at me."

"That may be because you have nothing important to say. Say your piece or walk away," Blaze barked out. Something about this place was starting to get to her; not the world, but rather the flowers. Something was off, and it was started to affect her worse than she'd like to give off. Making it hard to think, making it hard to understand.

Blaze quickly spun backwards, as the flowers in front of her exploded into small flames. She raised the rapier, aiming its point for her copies throat.

Their deadly duet continued, with each strike being parried or vaguely shuffled away from their vital points. Blaze caught a few embers on her arms, but she was resistant to the flames to begin with. She scored a few hits on her opponents legs and torso, and she was gratified to see that her clone's clothes were about as torn as hers were after trekking in the wilds for months.

Another explosion to the side tossed Blaze aside. She rolled immediately, dodging another lance strike that struck right where she was. She gave a half-hearted swipe with the rapier, hoping to buy enough time to get to her feet.

That scent again. Something was in the air, making it hard to think, focus on anything other than the point right now. "What do you want?" Blaze offered to ask as she regained her breath.

"What do you think I want?"

"...To take my place?" Blaze asked, tilting her head with a small grin. To her exuberance, the clone's face fell, giving her a half-hearted stare. "Didn't think so."

"No. No, I wouldn't switch with you anyways. Alright then, Blaze the Cat, Guardian of Sol...what is it that I want," the copy said, lowering her lance and leaning on it. She ignored the way the flames spread to the flowers underneath.

"To burn the world."

"Close. No, I don't want the world to burn. I want to save the world," the copy said, spreading her arms wide. She had a maniacal gleam in her eye that Blaze knew was never found in her own. "And if the only way to do it is to keep you Tidally Locked, then I will do gladly."

"This isn't the first time you've done this, is it?" Blaze asked. "I don't use lances, but you move as if you copied someone who did," she pointed out, keeping her rapier poised.

"No, it's not," the doppelganger whispered. "It's not even my second, or third. The first one was on Tails, the poor brat. He screamed in so many ways-"

Blaze wasn't surprised to see herself lunging for the talking cat, nor was she surprised to see herself getting a good hit in right in the copies lungs.

But she had forgotten about something that all cats have in common; they all had claws. And Blaze only realized it after her stomach had been shredded. Acting on instinct, she reacted with her own claws to the copies face. There was a snarl, and a growl in the air. Suddenly something had broken in Blaze's mind, and she could only think of one word for how they fought; feral.

There was no ducking, no swift dodging. There was only hurting, and getting hurt in comparison. There was no fire, there was no flowers, there was no smell. There was only her opponent, who she wanted to shred. The feel of the copies skin being shredded under her claws was...surprisingly good. It caved like all other flesh, and she ignored the hundreds of other cuts and scrapes she got.

It was the smell of blood in her nose that got her to stop. She was panting, sweating, and hurt. There was no fire, and the flowers had seemingly stopped being on fire. Her claws were soaking in blood, some of it her own, but most of it the copies.

The copy who was currently bleeding out on the ground, large gashes in the copy of her face. Only one golden eye looked back at her, a smirk on what remained of her mouth. "And yet...here you are."

Blaze gave a small cough, not surprised as she felt blood come up. She looked down at herself, her lavender fur now much closer to blood red and black than it was before.

"I will...always come back," the copy grinned, her teeth coated bloody. "You can't kill what can never die."

Blaze didn't bother to give a response. One of her eyes hurt a bit, and she had no doubt that it'd gotten either cut or blood in it. She took a deep breath, ignoring the urge to cough, as she walked away from the fight, the unsurprising victor.

She'd never felt like that before though, in a fight. She had no memories of the actual fight itself; her body had driven itself. There was no fire, no finesse, no...nothing but brute force. It was only her claws and her opponent dying. Was that a normal thing? For a sapient like her? For every day that she'd been on this world, she was worried that it was changing her, making her into something that she wasn't. And maybe...maybe she was being honest. She was almost not herself anymore.

She'd gone feral.

Not partially, not like how hunting can sometimes bring sapients out to their non-sapient cousins instincts, but full on, absolutely, without any doubt in her mind feral.

She tried to think back to the conversation that triggered it. There was a bit there, something that told her she should look for the answer there. But every time she replayed it, she got nothing. Nothing that would bring out such a vindictive side of her. She had said nothing, either, to bring out such a difference in her opponent. Her copy.

It was times like this she wished Tails was here. He understood, if not the world, the meaningless hunt of answers that she demanded. And he would always have a theory, if nothing else. But Tails was off, probably having better luck than she was. Or at least, she hoped he did. She hadn't seen any lightning flashes into the sky that would represent either Spark or Tails finding anything. The only thing flashing was the flash of lightning from the storm, far ahead of her.

She grit her teeth, ignoring the way the blood felt on her tongue, and the pain of stinging cuts and welts from another cat's claws, as she went from one biome to the next.

She shivered as her bare foot hit the cold snow. Of course it was a snow biome. And of course there was a blizzard right now, making sure she couldn't have seen it from the other side, even if the fog hadn't been in the way.

She hated this world, sometimes.

-Side S-

The darkness seemed eternal, to Spark. Her arms and legs generated none of her namesakes, most of it seemingly internal. She still felt them though, as if they were bouncing around inside her bones instead of her skin and fur. She smelled only blood, and her ears seemed to refuse to answer her.

There was no direction other than the one she was going in. She had one hand on the cool smooth walls, staggering forward with more than a minor limp.

She cradled her other arm against her ribs and lungs, using it to keep breathing. She had to keep going. She wasn't going to die here, not after everything they'd been through.

"Alone, aren't you?" she heard a voice call out. It wasn't any other's voice though. It wasn't Tails, and it wasn't Blaze. It wasn't Zephyr, and it wasn't Katia.

It was her own.

Silence reigned supreme as she looked around, hoping to see the speaker. Was it a doppelganger from Reveniah? Or perhaps a time-trapped copy of herself? She saw nothing in the darkness, and she turned to continue in the shadows. "Why are you here?" her voice called out again. She blinked, as she felt her own mouth move. It was in Ikan'Thoan, her native tongue. Had she...lost her mind, somewhere, within the darkness?

"It could just be that you're alone. In an unfamiliar place, to do the things that you never had a hope to do on your own."

She needed to keep moving.

"Why are you here, Spark? Why do you keep going? What's pushing you forward?" she heard her voice ask. "What's stopping you from just...falling down and...resting. You need to rest."

She did need to rest. She was growing ever so tired. "You're lonely, Spark. That's all this is. So then...why does it feel that you are ever on your own?" she asked herself.

Because she didn't trust herself with either Blaze or Tails. She needed to prove to them that she was a team member. She was Spark. She was a warrior.

"And yet neither of them are here. Would either of them blame you?"

No, they wouldn't. They'd probably force her to rest, honestly. Or Blaze would pull out some other unbelievable technique that threatened to puncture everything that Spark knew. Or Tails would be able to put to words something that was bothering her for some time. They could both read her so well. And yet, here she was, struggling for nothing. They were nowhere nearby, hopefully on their way home.

And...what would become of her? She knew Tails' plan; to bring her back to his world. But why would he do that? Ikan'Thoa would be a better place after the chaos that both Exceptions had done winded down. The Elder system would be put down, and brainshifting would become a power of the past...

And yet she would remain here. In this darkness, in this hole in the ground, far from home, and hurt beyond belief. She had wanted to help...but what if by doing so she was only hindering them?

"Do you really think so low? You saw their faces, Spark. They resolved themselves to help you. This will be the final loop. You have to remember that."

But what if it wasn't? What if she was doomed to forget everything, to reset again in Ikan'Thoa? To be nothing but a toy for other, more capable lightning channelers?

"You've made it this far, Spark. Just keep going. One foot in front of the other."

Of course she had. She wasn't going to give up just because she was hurt, or tired. She needed a rest, but she wasn't going to give herself one. One foot in front of the other, her voice had said. She needed to do just that. She was lost, and confused, she knew. And exhausted. Her brain was running ragged. The what ifs just kept coming and going and coming and going.

Her hand slipped when it found some water, and with a minor groan Spark found herself on the cold hard ground. The side of her head was pounding; she must have hit it when she fell. The rest of her body was too bruised to be able to tell if anything had become worse, because of it. With the hand that slipped against the wall once more, she used it to keep her balance as she pushed herself up. There was nothing but darkness now, no light.

Which made the path's dead end bounce against her nose with a small groan. She'd walked right into it at near full speed. Which for her right now, was pretty slow. She at least managed to keep her balance now, though.

She felt with her other hand the wall, feeling a cold...wooden? Door? Door. Maybe. Door? She hoped. Could she hope? Who would create a door down here? It wasn't the usual Ikan'Thoan method, or just leaving it partially open, but rather the shut method that Zephyr had used, and according to Blaze and Tails, they used most often.

She reached downward, feeling the strange design on the doorway. It was engraved with something, but there was no way for her to tell. Her hip collided with something as she felt around, a small jutting out. A doorknob? Maybe. At least something that stuck out. She gripped it, wishing for her sparks to come back. Her body burned every instant as more of the sparks generated inside of her. She tried to channel them to the outside of her arm, hoping for at least some light.

She wasn't surprised at all when they refused to listen to her. Stuck in darkness she was going to be.

The knob turned gently, and Spark's eyes shut instantly as light flooded into the cave. It was a single torch, placed against the wall on the closest side, but her eyes had been so used to the darkness that it burned.

It took a few moments before she could open her eyes. The torch made things much better, much easier to see. It also made it easier to see just how badly her body was injured, but to be fair, it had been screaming warnings at her for a while.

The room was a large cavern, the single torch burning away happily on the wall. Questions burgeoned into her mind; who had placed it there? Why was it still burning? Was Blaze nearby?

The ceilings were a light grey, and with a shock Spark realized that she had gone out of the Hex and into another one. There were reds and blues running along the floor, with both colors mixing in the center to a light magenta. At the center lay various...honestly, treasures was about the only way that Spark could describe it. Painted wood and golden rocks just lying there, ready for the taking. But it was the centerpiece, on a small golden pedestal, that drew her eye.

It was...something that she'd never seen before. Floating in front of her, something impossible. A single golden ring, spinning in place on top of the pedestal.

It was smaller than the ones in the rainbow roads. Those ones were about the size of her torso; this one was maybe the size of her hand. Weapons of all varieties lay nearby, and her eyes wandered over each one. Swords, knives, daggers, bows, spears...she had found a treasure trove, for certain. But still she staggered her way to the center ring, wondering what it was, and if it was anything like the other ones she knew.

One hand fell on it, and her eyes widened as she felt its power journey into her body. She stood up straighter immediately, feeling it start its healing work on her. Her arm felt better, and her lungs...she could breathe, fully, now. The ring was gone, but still she felt it inside her, fixing up the rest of her cuts and scratches. She looked down at the back of her hand, seeing it sizzle lightly as it closed up in front of her eyes, leaving a small scar in its place.

Was that...was that one of the golden rings that Tails and Blaze talked so much about? No wonder they were so used to getting hurt, no wonder they had so many scars. This thing was absolutely incredible!

Spark worked one hand, watching it close and open in the small torchlight, as she took her first full breath without coughing in far too long. She felt the sparks come back from her legs and arms again, her lightning coming back from wherever it was gone. No wonder that Tails was such a daredevil, if he had been feeling like this once a while!

She gave a quiet chuckle, before it devolved to giggling, before laughing. Was this what it was called when others were having such a good time on those strange mushrooms that Strike had warned her away from? She spun around, feeling her tail go its full distance, knocking some of the gold down to the floor with a minor clang.

That wasn't just a hundred percent better, this was closer to a thousand. And if this was one ring...how much would more do?

She'd have to ask Tails or Blaze that. Could she...push it out of her body, to show them? Almost without thinking, it appeared in the palm of her hand. She stared at it as she closed her hand around it, feeling it disappear inside her again.

There was no food here, she smelled immediately. And all of the steel and iron in the air reminded her of blood, but without the life essence part. On the far side she saw a small cave, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't have to go back the way they came. "I wonder if these will help any?" Spark asked aloud, the sound of her voice the same as it had been before. Had she actually been talking to herself, or was she so far gone that she honestly thought someone else had been there?

She looked over the various weapons. She pulled down a few of the leather scabbards, strapping them onto her waist and back. She had never been trained in swords, or any weapon other than her channeling and her crossbow. And she had lost her crossbow ages ago, and this place didn't actually have one. She probably could have made one, if she found the right parts. But that required time, and it was unlikely she'd have that much time. But with the ring bouncing around inside her body, maybe...she would have enough time.

She took a few of the swords, including what looked like a larger metal one that strapped to her back. It was heavy and unwieldy, but maybe she could throw it. A smaller straight metal one was strapped to her waist. She grabbed a few others too, a small pointy one that was surprisingly flexible with some weird guard for the handle, a curved sword with a long blade.

She gave another look around the treasure room, hoping to see something that else. Maybe some water, or some food? She hadn't smelled anything like that, but maybe...maybe there was. If she had luck.

Who was she kidding, her name was Spark. She had no such luck. But on the other hand, she came out of this with a heck of a lot. Five blades, that she wasn't trained in, a fully healed body, and most importantly a single golden ring. "Alright, then. Spark...next stop, the Blooming Tides," she tried to encourage herself as she started to walk towards the far end. If nothing else, the swords would come in handy if she had to throw them at things.

Her eyes darted to the row of knives. She was decent with a dagger, wasn't she? She'd take a few of those, too. Her center of gravity was off, now. And she had more metal on her body than she'd ever felt before, but if there was something to it, she was feeling dangerous.

She stepped out of the treasure room, taking a deep breath of the fresh air, as the Hex changed once more.

She gave a sigh, before she immediately shut her mouth. She shouldn't try to waste water by panting in the middle of a desert.

Doppelganger, Doppelganger, and...doppel...ganger...?

There was a theme this chapter, if it wasn't obvious.

Until Next Time!