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 11.1

Tails found himself crashing into the snow at far faster speeds than he thought he would. The snow stopped his fall, but it didn't stop him from landing five or six feet into it. He heard two other thuds nearby, and figured that both Blaze and Spark had also landed. "I think I'm tired of being flung around, whether it be by air or by explosions," Tails muttered as he forced himself up. The cold bit at him a little bit, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been a few days...weeks...? ago. However long ago it'd been.

Blaze stood up next to him, snow collecting on her hair before she shook it off with a hand. "I agree on that front. Stop being put in front of explosions," she muttered. Tails grinned as she glared at him. Guess she was being serious. Spark's snow melted around her a bit, and her fur and cloak was soaking as she stood up. Small sparks jumped off into the snow around her. Hopefully that wouldn't cause any issues.

Tails looked up after a moment, checking to make sure he had everything. Water, food, and the bail-bag, including the Miles Electric. It was still low on battery though, and Tails had a thought that he wouldn't be able to charge it for a while. Which meant he couldn't use his Charger much, either. He really wished the sun here was normal, if only to get the tablet charging.

He had six charges on the Charger earlier, when he'd checked. Maybe with battery reduction he had five. Either way, it was not nearly as many as he wanted to have. "Zephyr warned us we'd only have two days," Blaze said, "so I think our best option is to split up."

"It's somewhere over there, from the story. But any more specific than that I'm not sure," Spark said, waving her hand towards the far horizon. It was a dull purple. Far off in the distance, close enough to be heard, was a loud thunderstorm hovering over another mountain.

"Okay. So we have a general direction. We should at least try to get off the mountain first, before we split up," Tails said. There was no blizzard, anymore, and in fact it seemed rather peaceful. The sky was purple, the sun was blue, and nothing made a lick of sense, but there was nothing trying to kill them other than the cold, so that would have to do.

"Right," Blaze nodded. Her first few steps were small, getting used to the deepness of the snow, before she opened her flames and burst into the distance. Tails rolled his eyes as he flew up gently, letting his tails and back muscles stretch themselves out.

It'd been far too long since he was able to actually fly anywhere, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he was able to land without pain. He guessed that month or several days in their cabin was enough to get him back to fully healed. Spark took off next to him, trying to keep up with the ridiculously fast Blaze, whose path was marked by a small amount of melted snow. Tails gave a quiet chuckle as he spun his tails, taking off next to her.

As far long as it'd been since he'd flown, it had been even longer since he could actually run. They had run before, but never as fast as he could go, trying to keep pace with Spark.

Blaze had no such compulsions, instead aiming to go as fast as she could. Tails didn't blame her. They were a strict time limit, or else they would...dying was an apt comparison. Time would loop around, removing their memories and giving them another chance...not that they would know it. Spark suddenly raced ahead, a small shield of lightning ahead of her. Tails smirked as he recognized the early technique that he'd thought of back at the swamp. Did the swamp have a name? Perhaps it did, but Spark hadn't seen to tell him what it was.

Tails gave a small smile as his tails spun, and he let them fly. His bare feet barely hit the snow now, and he leaned forward, letting the wind keep his hair out of his eyes. As fast and capable as Spark was, she was no match for his speed as he sped past her, giving her a small smirk as he did.

"Tails!" Spark shouted in eager defiance as she tried to keep up. Tails gave a soft laugh as he felt the mountain start to shift downhill. Blaze was already nearly at the bottom, looking over what he thought was a small cliff.

The far horizon was far closer than he thought it had been earlier. They hadn't actually gone that far, he knew. Maybe at most a few miles. But whereas before it seemed far off in the distance, now it was far closer, just seemingly out of reach.

He let his tails stop spinning and skidded into Blaze's melt water trail, letting the water, snow, and ice guide him downhill. Spark was trying to race him again, he noted absently as he turned around, mimicking Sonic's attempted moonwalk.

Just because the hedgehog wasn't here doesn't mean he wouldn't let Tails live it down if he realized that his 'little buddy' hadn't taken some time to have some fun when their lives were at stake.

Blaze gave a soft exasperated sigh as she watched him get closer. "What is it that you're doing?" she asked gently.

"Moonwalk! Sonic taught me," Tails said as he stepped off the melt water with practiced ease. Spark hadn't seen yet fit to slow down, the small shield of lightning still coursing in front of her, although Tails could tell she was starting to feel drained from the dual effort. It wasn't easy to keep up any amount of kinesis while running.

He reached out with one arm and grabbed her as she raced passed, letting the lightning bolt go off into the distance, disappearing into the air. He spun around for a few moments before slowing down, letting Spark off after a moment to catch her breath. "How...are you two so fast...?" she breathed out.

"Because we're used to it. Katia was surprised, too," Blaze acknowledged. "I was looking out over the cliff, and, well...we have a problem."

Tails stepped next to her, seeing it for what it was instantly. There were hundreds of biomes underneath them, stretching out into the horizon. "There's too many paths, and not one sign that tells where the Tides are," Tails noted. His ears pulled down as the thundercloud far in front of them suddenly spilled lightning into the mountain it was hovering over. He blinked; had it not moved since they started?

"Aye, that was the problem the others had. I can eliminate a few, but they're the ones you already knew of," Zephyr's voice called out. Wind started to blow around them, and Tails held up one hand in front of his eyes to keep them open. Slowly, the wind marked five or six different paths, a path of gathered air marking each one.

"Alright. Six paths, three of us. I'll take the jungle path over there. The trees could be hiding it in a way that we can't see," Blaze pointed out.

"I'll take the tidal pools. Maybe the name is a bit more...spot on than we thought?" Tails said quietly. It was, after all, the Blooming Tides, not the Tidal Blooms. Therefore, they were looking for something with water. The rivers fed straight into the pools, close to the coast.

Spark nodded. "Alright. I'll take the mountains over there," Spark said, motioning towards the mountains on the right to them, looking similar to the ones they were already on. "I can climb faster than both of you," she explained her choice.

"Right. If we find it, we'll signal, somehow. I can throw a flare into the sky," Blaze said. She gave a glance over to him as the lightning flared again. He hadn't done anything that time, he hadn't flinched or anything! "You alright, Tails?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"The Mountain's Storm, they call it," Spark said. Both Tails and Blaze gave a small look over to her. "Or at least, that's what I am calling it. It hasn't moved since we got here, and we've been able to see flashes of it since before the first plains."

"Sounds appropriate," Blaze said. "Can you throw up a small lightning storm, Spark?" she asked. The vixen nodded, and grabbed a few of her sparks before tossing them together. "No need to show us, we just need to know you can," Blaze finished. Spark nodded and let the small amount of electricity drip into the snow beneath them.

"As long as I keep a single Charge, I can do the same," Tails said. Blaze nodded. "Alright, then. We have less than two days, now. Keep an eye on the stars and sun. This is the home stretch."

"Almost there," Tails agreed. "We're almost home, everyone," he finished, mostly to himself. If they succeeded, he'd finally be able to see Sonic, Knuckles, Amy... it was about time, too.

Blaze burst into her shield of flames, heading off onto the first pathway of air. Spark blinked, and only a moment later did the same with electricity. Tails chuckled, knowing that however fit the vixen was she had a while to go in order to keep up with himself and Blaze. Especially the cat.

He watched them go for only a moment, seeing their feet hit the empty air, but landing as if touching something solid. Spark headed towards the right, towards the mountains. Blaze towards the left, towards the more jungle and forested areas.

Honestly, he wouldn't blame her if he ended up seeing smokestacks on the horizon. They both had bad memories from the last time they were at a jungle, didn't they?

Cautiously he reached down, putting his feet behind him in a runner's start position. He twisted his tails, feeling them start to spin before he whirled them like crazy, immediately taking off into a dead sprint towards the road of air. Or airway road. He kind of wished it was raining, as that way he could effectively call it a rainbow road and have it be literal.

The dozens of biomes stretched out beyond him, and immediately he felt the air start to warm up. Blaze's cloak was still on, but Tails took a glance towards Spark to see hers off, bundled into a small bag that she had at her waist. After seeing them with the cloaks on for so long while traveling, it was strange to see her traveling with it off.

He passed by a plains underneath him, which immediately separated itself into a canyon without a river at the bottom. There was no small change or gradual effect either. It changed from small grassy hill to rusted red canyon walls without anything in between. There was a taiga, a snowy plains like area, right before he would hit the main river in the area. From there, all he would have to do is follow the river to find the pools.

The cold bit at him quickly, but he still had his cloak on, and his blood was pumping, keeping him warm without any issues. The pathway of air dove down, finally letting his feet touch the ground for the first time in a few minutes. A sky road. That's what it was he was running on. He knew he recognized that kind of thing from somewhere.

The taiga flew by underneath him, small cracks of ice in the floor seemingly following him. Small rabbit like things with giant glowing red eyes peered out of the snow, trying to jump on him without success. He didn't even bother to shock them, either. He just swung his tails out, as he used to do, and was grateful as they flew away into the piles of snow, adding to it as they disappeared.

The river's sound pounded at his ears, and he didn't stop for a single moment as his feet landed suddenly on warm sand from frozen tundra. He dove into the river headfirst, feeling the water flow over him. It was chilled water, but not as cold as they were used to considering their last few travels.

Honestly, he considered it pretty warm. He came back up for air, treading water as he let the current push him towards the pools. He saw Blaze touch down to his left, and Spark disappeared beyond his sight a moment later. He sighed.

Almost home.

-Side B-

Blaze's feet crashed down onto a desert, the sand attempting to do its best to burn her as she ran passed. The air road ended before the actual forest and jungle areas she was going to, and then she'd cross back around. She'd noticed it quickly from up above. None of the areas below actually had any sign of influencing any of the others, leaving them all with a strange hexagonal look to them, as if they were pieces from a game board.

Blaze was, honestly, perfectly okay with that. She jumped the small few feet between the desert and the forest, feeling the heat leave her immediately as the more temperate forest asserted itself around her. There was a smell of cinnamon and pine, similar to the woods outside Ikan'Thoa. She didn't stop, however, as she ran and continued to run. Her head was going from side to side, hoping for a visual look of the Blooming Tides more than trying to sense it any other way.

Would the water be running? Would it be able to be heard from far away, or would it have a distinctive smell? It had a distinctive look, according to the Captain Monsoon story, but that was, as they had so much proved, just a story. She thought she had seen it, when they'd first came into the snow-covered hills behind them, but she hadn't really, had she? It was a bare sight of something engraved into her mind, but an actual sight of it...it was not.

She jumped over a pair of branches, more than sturdy enough to hold her. One of them thinner branches attempted to snag her cloak, and in an instant she spun out of it, letting it hang for just a second before she went back to grab it. She didn't need the warmth now, but it was possible she might in the near future. Always better to keep it than need it later and not have it.

She bundled it up into a small ball, stuffing it into one of her other bags she had kept on her. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bulky for her, but it didn't seem to detract from her run speed as she went. She cut off her flames, slowing down gently as she realized the forest biome was...large. Probably one of the larger ones on the game board, if she was continuing that rather apt comparison.

The floor beneath her was soft and full of dead leaves, small twigs helping to give the illusion of a forest floor. It should have tried to bite into her, as everything else did, but it didn't.

Blaze sighed as she looked up another tree. The trees were larger than anything she'd ever seen, minus the Leaf Forest zone in Sonic's world that one time. They could easily carry her all the way up, and maybe she could be able to find the Tides from above. She hated doing it, but she braced herself against one of the trees before she shot up it. The bark held her up easily as she ran up. She didn't have to worry so much about dodging branches until the latter half of the giant trunk.

One step to the left, two steps to the right, and she was as high up as she felt she could go. She didn't look down; she didn't want to imagine how high up she was at the moment. The board game map was easily viewable from up here, and the heights didn't seem to bug her now that she knew that in the big view of things, she wasn't all that high.

She blinked as she watched one of the mountains disconnect from the canyons around it, switching places with a section of the river. The section that switched immediately got rapids on it, swirling madly. Hopefully Tails had already gone through that part.

Blaze took a deep breath as she let herself fall to the tree, her claws from her feet and hands keeping from falling to her death instantly. The tree's bark was surprisingly soft, and a large part of her instincts flared up as she felt the urge to sharpen her claws on it, to claim it as her own.

She wanted to claim a lot of things she shouldn't, these days.

She still felt bad for how she let Tails down. She didn't want to think of how badly she'd hurt the fox, knowing that her words had more weight to them than she ought to have. She was trying to help him, not to hurt him. But sometimes...sometimes helping was hurting.

He didn't understand her reasoning, Blaze knew. She'd seen him moping for the day afterwards, despite him trying to be seen as normal. Spark had caught it to, and had given her a quiet nod. The vixen knew that she had turned him down, for things that couldn't be fixed. But the idea was implanted into her head, now. He was far too young for her, and had a bigger life in front of him. He didn't deserve her future; of being forced to settle down and have kids early for the glory and continuation of the royal line.

Not that she was going to tell him that. She could make her own future. But maybe...that's what the Blooming Tides was about. Change, and the endless quest to ensure it.

The Tides represented the opposite. Stagnation, and the endless quest to keep it. A status quo. And hadn't been what she'd learned, along the way? There had been flashes of memories not hers, way, way back in the beginning. She'd known how to make the medicine paste, while following the instructions of a book she'd never read before.

Had she changed, though? Or was she stagnant? Was she the same Blaze the Cat that came through the Special Zone, landing in a forest much like this one? Had she changed? Her personality was mostly the same, she hoped. It had been, to her eyes, only a few months. Nobody changed that fast. But according to Zephyr, it'd been...multiple years.

How did the time loop affect her? It obviously kept her cycles. It kept her abilities. She never had to worry about running out the flames of her body permanently. But did her pyrokinesis come back in time with her? Or was it a new body, new kinesis, each and every time?

If it brought her body back in time, too, then she would be much older than she was. A small part of her mind suggested then that if that was the case, the age gap between Tails and herself was rather insignificant. She crushed that part of her mind instantly.

So it was definitely a new body. Did her kinesis travel back in time, too?

The forest stretched on and on, going forever into the horizon. It was rather sparse, if she had to be honest, with tens of feet between some of the trees. There weren't any brambles that were so common on the main continent, and she felt a chill wind blow through the air. Was that Zephyr, or was that just the wind?

Despite it being warm, she felt a small chill on her bare shoulder. She spun, flames at the ready, as she saw what looked like a tiny white spider, its legs giving a small wave. "Please don't tell me that a bigger version of you is going to be right behind me now," Blaze muttered as she spun around again, flames enveloping her body to protect herself from any attacks on any side.

To her embarrassment, there was nothing behind her, or to the right or left of her. There was only the small white spider, scuddling into the bark of a nearby tree. Had she burned some of its webs? There was no leftover fire around, so if it had caught it took only moments for it to burn out. "Sorry. Didn't mean to," Blaze apologized as she tried to walk away from the spider. She flinched as she saw another web right in front of her face, much larger than she was, and with nearly invisible strings holding it up.

She jumped back, seeing the wind from her near entry move the web gently. It was just spider webs, Blaze, she knew. But a part of her was still...was still wound up. She forced herself to relax, before she ducked over to the side of the web, keeping it far away from her.

She wasn't worried about spiders. But she was worried about being bit by them; especially in a world like this one, she had no doubt there would be some serious consequences if she let that happen. Would Tails or Spark mock her for that? Tails she had a feeling would understand, but Spark would stare at her. The vixen did that a lot, especially when Tails or Blaze did something that she found...different.

Blaze called the flames again, running forward through the forest as fast as she could. Her eyes and ears were wide open as she tried to find any sign of anything.

She knew they were far different from Spark. Spark was raised in an elementalist's eyes, as was Katia. They simply had a different culture, but one that in Blaze's eyes reduced things down to...well, nothing.

Her eyes blinked, and she found herself on the floor of the forest. She wasn't that tired, she knew, but she hadn't tripped. Her ankle and legs felt fine.

Her ankle.

She looked down abruptly to see small red spots on it, slowly throbbing, exactly in the same place that she had messed with it when they had first gotten here.

It took only minutes for it to disappear, but in that time Blaze forced herself up, keeping walking despite the natural inclination to limp a bit, to put as little weight on it as possible. It reminded her far too strongly of when she'd messed it up by tripping on a root at full speed. She knew she hadn't done it recently, but she had found herself on the ground with no memory of how she got there...

The swelling went away in only minutes, where as the actual time she sprained it, it healed in nearly...what, five days? Six days? It was far, far too long in her mind. She gingerly put weight down on her foot again, relieved that it didn't seem to be a permanent fixture of her life. That was...she didn't want to say lucky, but it was.

She started to run again, looking out for more roots that could come up and grab her. Blaze was starting to become more familiar with plantlife that moved like wildlife, and just as much wanted to hurt her. Her eyes and ears were spread out as much as possible, trying to hear for any sound that wasn't the sound of her own feet, or her breathing...the sound of water.

There was a small rumbling from nearby, and Blaze slowed down a bit. There was a small tree close by, with a familiar small white spider on it, waving one its legs towards her. Was it...asking for her to come closer?

Her ears perked as she looked the other way, the rumbling sound far closer. The sound of branches breaking, of trees falling, was far closer now. It rumbled the very earth beneath her, and her eyes widened as she saw the large green...leviathan. She bolted towards the spider, ignoring the way her flames burnt the spiderwebs around it. The land leviathan kept chasing after her, the wind heralding its approach with more and more frequency.

Blaze wasn't sure why there was a land leviathan, or why it was chasing her. She hadn't gotten a good look at it as she bolted through the trees, hoping not to just run away from the thing but to also find the Tides.

Although considering every time she went to the left or right the leviathan was...cutting her off. Somehow. She felt the wind shift directions every few seconds, and instinctively knew that it was watching the sides. The only thing that she could do was keep running forward as fast as she could.

Well, if the darned thing wanted a race, then it would find a race!

-Side S-

Spark was, unsurprisingly, worried more for Blaze and Tails than she cared to admit. Her feet crashed down onto the remains of an ocean, the blue-ish water, currently green, lapping on the side. The mountain was right in front of her, barely a thorm away. It was...strange to have to convert what was normal to her to the other two's measurements.

Feet? Meters? Miles? It was much easier just using the language that she knew, that she had grown up on. She was getting better at faking it though, using Tails' machine to help her learn the words. Although she did have to admit that this 'common' that they so easily spoke did much to convey their words, once she knew it. Or at least, was capable enough to hold a conversation in it.

Her feet sunk into the sand, small amounts of water coming up to cover her toes. She wasn't still for long, keeping up her pace that she'd had on the road of air.

She felt the rumbling more than she heard it. Deep beneath her, coming up to her side. She didn't have any weapons besides her channeling, and while she was more than capable with it, she wasn't sure if she should use it yet. Blaze was more capable with her near constant usage of fire calling. Even Tails could keep up a current for far longer than he had any right to. Their endurance was absolutely insane, not that she was going to tell them that.

She ducked to the right to see the sand at her left suddenly compress downwards, a large bug like thing with multiple claws sticking out of its head tried to draw her in. The sand fell towards it, and if she had kept going, would be trying to fight the sand's current and that thing.

She let out a small growl, not surprised by its sound as she drew together a small lightning bolt's worth out of her legs. She wouldn't be able to run as fast, but she'd be able to fight longer. She gave a half jump and spun around, channeling the bolt into leaving her hands instantly.

It sputtered and let out a high pitched squeal before it dived back into the sand. Spark didn't care to watch for it, in case it came back. She hoped the others were having better luck than she was.

The differences between biomes was separated by a small distance, easily jump-able. Even without the added lightning to her legs, she made the leap without thinking about it, feeling the cold jump back into her skin as the mountain exerted its pressure over her. It was times like this she wished she was more like Katia. Katia had had the retractable claws, perfect for climbing. Spark had...not retractable claws. If anythings, hers was more like Tails, although what she wouldn't give to be able to fly.

The ability of flight. Tails didn't know how much of an attraction that wa...he didn't know how lucky he was. It was something that she had dreamed of, for years and years. Then she got to experience it, first hand. And...shit, she got on the topic of Tails again.

Her hands found the mountain's side easy enough to be dug into, and her footholds were more than steady. The mountain wasn't soft, like she'd been hoping, but it was doable. She felt her left leg start to spark again, and her right leg shortly afterwards.

She pushed her torso energy down to her legs, and tried to leap up with a large burst of energy. How Blaze could so easily control outside energy, Spark didn't know, but she very easily would admit to wanting to know. Even her own little trick, that she'd discovered from watching Tails try it, was just a strange use of her own internal energy.

Blaze didn't seem to have anything like that. There didn't seem to be a limit to her internal or external flames. It was as if she was made of fire directly, capable of control of anything fire related. The only thing that Spark knew with that kind of control was an Elder Being itself. What did Blaze call them? Primordials?

And Tails. His control was so far above just pure control that it was almost unbelievable. Channeling was difficult at the best of times, but Tails made it look easy. He just didn't have a way to generate it himself like she did. Shit, if she had that kind of control, she'd have been the Elder of Lightning nearly sixteen seasons ago.

And they didn't think anything of it! Spark wondered how that was possible as she climbed. She had gone up half the mountain with her trick, but she knew she wouldn't be able to do it again for another couple of seconds. She still had her arms generating, but that was...she didn't want to use that.

The mountain turned inwards a bit, and Spark pulled herself up onto a cliff's edge, feeling only a single body's width on the edge. But she could rest here for a few moments, at least. She turned, watching over the rest of the...canyons? Areas? Hexes.

That was a good word for it. The Lost Hexes. Surely that was a new thing, and not something that Tails already was using for a name of something else. The Lost Hexes. That would work. Each area was shaped like a hex. The lines weren't perfect, but they added up quite nicely. She was the river, snaking on one side before it jumped to another down the line. A light white fog was starting to come up between the hexes.

The lightning storm away from her raged against the mountain. She felt each individual bolt now, even at this distance. It was a powerful storm, she knew, but she didn't have the type of control to redirect it for her needs or wants. Tails...maybe. But even that would be pushing it. Her breath caught and her body generating again, she took a moment to stand, her front against the wall of the mountain. She tested her balance like she'd seen Strike do, back when he was a kitten and attempting to train her. Or sabotage her.

She still wasn't sure what he was trying to do. One part of her suggested one thing, while another suggested the other. It was a forever warring feeling in her mind and body. And he did have some impressive scars. She forced energy down to her legs again, jumping surprisingly high as the wind seemed to have caught her. Three quarters up the mountain in two jumps. She wished she could do that normally, without channeling, but only the air controllers could have done that.

Her claws sunk into the mountain's face, and she felt the cold rock do its best to bite at her exposed stomach and shoulders. It was probably not a good idea to take off the protective cloak, but if she was going to die, she wanted to give Tails one last sho-

She hated her mind.

Arm muscles going, she forced herself up one armful at a time. She had better arm strength than leg strength when not channeling, something that always appeased Strike whenever he bothered to compliment her. She would use her legs once she was tired, or had the energy to start channeling again.

The rockface changed from grey to a slight red, and she felt her hands dig in farther than she was used to. She still had a bit less than a quarter to go.

...Yeah, she could do it.

She forced energy into her arms, feeling them start to crackle with lightning as she pulling herself up much faster and farther than she ever could have on her own.

How Blaze and Tails ran for so long without channeling or calling, she didn't know. But damn if this wasn't doing good work for her endurance! It'd be good practice for-

It was times like this she wanted to scream. Her brain would not shut up. She didn't want to think of things of that nature. She didn't want to! She was herself, dammit, and no amount of brain shifting was going to cause her to be like that! She felt her claws dig into some snow, and she let out a loud sigh. Finally, the top. Her arms were dead now, but she could use them to at least keep her balance still as she dragged herself up.

There was a slight wind, but in general there was nothing up here. The mountain had snow on its top, and there was a small layer of clouds beneath her, making sure she couldn't see anything of actual value.

...How was she going to get back down?

A problem for later.

She marched to the top, taking the cloak out of her bag, letting it warm her body up as she spun it on. It would take a while, but she hadn't been in a good position to put it back on before now. There was a slight hill that was full of snow, before the mountain broke down into a few other directions.

Spark stood at the top, feeling the wind blow through her fur. The cloud cover below blocked everything from sight. She wasn't surprised. There had been no clouds on her climb up, but this place was plenty strange already. It was no surprise to her that the Lost Hexes would be like this.

She cautiously looked over another side, seeing more gentle hills on the way down, covered with snow before they hit the cloud cover. If she was more confident with her 'snowboarding' ability, she'd try that.

Although really, what strange sapient in Tails' world came up with that? Boarding down snow she could understand, as it was essentially sledding like she used to do as a kit. But while standing up? No. Someone came up with it, and that someone probably broke a lot of bones as a child. It depended on how big the mountain was. She could use the snowboard. Or she could climb down. Her ears perked back as she felt a bunch of snow where she'd trekked start to move together.

Snowboard it was, and hope for the best.

Just wait until she told Tails this. He'd probably be so impress-

She jumped down before her mind could complete that thought. She wasn't completely well, still, after all the brain shifting that Lightning had done on her. She knew that was why she was so hyper-focused on Tails as a mate. Lightning had done that on purpose. He wanted to control her, to keep her contained. But she wasn't just Spark, now was she? She was Imuldo, as well. But Lightning could control Imuldo just as easily.

And it didn't help that most brain shifting left a permanent scar. It didn't matter how many names she pushed herself to have, it didn't stop the fact that she was...broken.

A snowball hit her ankle, and she realized she was so lost in her thoughts she'd lost track of the damn snow fiend behind her. A small white orb with red eyes, glaring at her with hate as she moved her foot away.

Unfortunately she also lost her balance in the move, and she let out a growl that could freeze bones as she started to fall. She reached for the 'snowboard', attempting to use it to slow herself down, as her hands reached empty air.

Right. She hadn't brought it.

Fucking hell.

Her legs buckled as she landed on the first gentle slope, realizing far too late that the 'gentle' slope was far more extreme than almost sheer. She pulled herself into a ball, ignoring the way her legs protested the move, and pushed her lightning around her, forming a small ball around her.

She'd seen Tails do this trick once or twice. Maybe he could teach her. And then she could-

Her back hit rock, and she unfurled just long enough to realize she was at the bottom of the cloud cover, staring over the Lost Hexes. There was only rock beneath her, now, and her landing was going to hurt.

No sign of the Blooming Tides though. Hopefully she'd be alive to get that information to them, she thought as she pulled herself back into the ball, flaring her lightning around her.

One bounce, two bounce...

And ouch.

Extinguish. Better known as one of the longer arcs, asides from arcs 4 and 8. If only because, as seen above...there are three sections per chapter, not just two. Also, a shot at how Spark is actually channeling. I was trying to find a way to get this information out earlier but never could before now.

Until Next Time.