XI. Rain and Steel
We had reached the base of the mountain, leaving the forest behind us. We were tired, frustrated, and confused altogether. Sonic's survey through the forest was fruitless. The sea was clear and did not present any threat. All we could do then was to remain hopeful about spotting something soon at the peak of the mountain. We had all agreed that if we were to find the doctor's settlements in the far lands, Sonic and I would continue, while the rest would retreat to the kingdom, in case the worse would come to pass. We could not possibly afford any more travel, giving Nega more time to his advantage, and Sonic and I could surely get where we needed to be a lot sooner. However, this was just one possibility. The truth was, we had to be ready for anything. Even for not finding anything, at all.
Slowly, we would follow the path upward and eventually reach a good portion of our ascent. Soon, rain would begin to fall on us, and after continuing our climb for some time, it would slowly become a full-blown storm. Aquilo spoke to me as we struggled through the wet terrain…
"Princess, this weather won't do us any good!"
"...Sonic, do you think you can go on ahead?! See if you can spot anything from up there?!"
"I'll try! I'll come back!"
He sped off towards the peak, molding the rain in his wake while we made for higher ground. This was our last chance. Either we'd find Nega or something that would lead us to him. Or, we would be forced to wait for him to make the first move. Sonic, who took somewhat longer to return, would be the one to decide that fate. But soon, I would be shown how wrong I was.
It did not take too long to reach a clearing, with a wide view of a cliff up above.
"There!" Maia yelled.
And right under it, a cave. We were all relieved, but the moment we began running towards it, an explosion followed by a yell sounded from the distance. And from above, something was shot straight at us and tumbled in front of Chiron. He lifted Sonic off the ground, still dazed, as I quickly went for him...
"Sonic!"
"I-I'm fine."
The sound of rumbling emanated from above, and then it appeared. The doctor's war machine again, standing tall on the edge, and looking down at us. It didn't waste any time raising its arms.
"Move!"
All of us jumped away at the last second. The ground where we stood had been blown away in an instant. We stood back up, readying ourselves for retribution. The giant fell, crushing the ground beneath it. We knew its movements were slow. However, its attacks compensated for that, let alone its armor.
"Princess Blaze?! Your orders?!" Maia yelled.
"Surround and overrun! Keep your distance!"
We divided ourselves around it, evading its attacks. The air would soon be filled with nothing but the roar of blasts and flying rubble. Maia ran towards the giant, leaped, and quickly whirled in the air, swinging her chains and slamming her blade against the metal. As the blade retracted, she landed and rolled against the ground under the enemy. It saw this, and raised its feet to crush her, but Maia's blade was already rapidly sent flying and getting jammed on its mechanical contraptions in its shoulder. She was quickly pulled away upwards, meeting the machine face to face, but without expecting its hand to swat her away and losing her helmet in the air. Before hitting the ground, however, Sonic met her in the air and grabbed her just in time.
"I got you!"
Aquilo continued to run, circling the titan and firing his arrows in rapid succession toward its eyes. But it was not enough, the arrows snapping or ricocheting away as soon as they landed on their marks.
"What a waste. You owe me for that!"
Aquilo skidded, stopping his run to a halt, and fearlessly made his way straight forward onto his foe which began resting on its knee and launching its armored fist towards Aquilo's path. Right before its fist crushed the ground beneath, Aquilo slid under it and turned, quickly getting back on his feet and jumping onto the fist. As it stood back up and raised its hand, it took notice of Aquilo before Chiron charged against the back of its knee with his batons and forced our enemy to momentarily lose their balance. Aquilo took this chance, and jumped on its head while pulling out his knife and quickly tried to pry out its left eye. While one of its hands was occupied resting on the ground for balance, the other went for the hunter to stop his progress. Quickly, I ran upwards its arm, taking a leap through the air and kicking its hand away from Aquilo.
With our opponent briefly overwhelmed, Chiron charged towards its feet and began to strike one baton after another against the steel. Once the machine stood back up, it raised its feet and effortlessly crushed him, before realizing its feet raising back up involuntarily. Chiron was mustering all of his brute strength to raise the enemy, still struggling in the progress. Sonic came to his aid in a flash, speeding under it and taking Chiron with him, both landing on the ground as a result. Its feet came crashing right back down on the ground, causing Aquilo to lose his hold, tumbling down the shoulder and toward the ground. Luckily, I ran and leaped just in time to catch his fall.
"I am truly sorry, your highness!" he lamented. "It's eyes seem to be well protected!"
"Not for long! Chiron! Can you launch me?!"
I started running toward him as fast as I could, leaping in the air, and landing my heels on the palm of his hand. Once he caught me, he sent me right back at the giant's head, giving me the chance to kick it with the carried momentum. As I landed on its head, small torches began to fiercely burn in the tip of the fingers of my hand. I took hold of one of the machine's eyes, already scarred with Aquilo's blade, and tried to melt the metal away as sparks began to fly out. While this took place, Maia aimed and fired her blade toward one of its arms, stabbing her target. Sonic jumped on the arm, recovering her blade and wrapping the chains around in place while the enemy fired at Aquilo with its other hand to no avail; he was on the run through debris serving him as cover. When Sonic made sure the chains were locked in, Maia with the help of Chiron pulled against them, forcing the giant to be pulled against its will and taking a few steps for it to recover itself, buying me more time.
My progress against the metal was slow, but I could tell it was beginning to melt. However, it ceased to fire at Aquilo and began to reach for me. Right on time, Sonic sped against the rock wall and jumped, speeding through the air and knocking its hand away.
"Blaze!" he yelled while holding on to the enemy's hand, extending his to signal me.
While he quickly jumped in the air, I jumped to meet him halfway as he caught me in his arms.
"Ready?!" he smiled.
"Ready!"
He spun as fast as he could before launching me right back towards the giant. I engulfed myself in flames as I began to twirl in the air and deliver a kick to its eye, successfully crippling it in the process. Our enemy was stunned, taking a step back from my attack and resting its knee against the ground. We didn't waste time surrounding it, making sure it had completely halted. But moments later, it furiously raised its fist and slammed against the ground before us, sending debris everywhere. Once we recovered, we regrouped against the debris out of sight. The machine did not show any signs of stopping. Everything started to seem hopeless.
"The armor is too thick," Maia stated.
"I might have an idea."
He dashed through the air and hit the head several times, gaining its attention.
"Hey!"
He stood right on the bottomless edge of the clearing, waving at our one-eyed foe. That was it. I looked at the rest; they understood what we had to do. Chiron sent a volley of attacks towards its legs, only to be kicked away and sent beside Sonic. Maia stuck her blade in between one of its parts and launched herself toward its shoulder. Right when it was about to grab her, she sent herself toward the edge. I continued the chain of events and sent flames of my own, swiftly moving under it, and evading its feet while sending concentrated bursts of fire, which was enough to get its attention; attention that soon would work in our favor. He stopped walking towards us, standing a good distance away. It studied us, and started to charge its hands.
In the nick of time, we moved away from the blast. The explosion broke the ground beneath the enemy's feet. This was where the final detail would come into play: Aquilo's fused explosive. Aquilo, already behind it, threw the explosive as it went off under our enemy, and soon, it would lose its balance over the cracking ground, plunging to its demise. The moment it disappeared through the dark abyss, the sound of broken trees and shattered earth echoed through the air.
Well deserved, I thought. We admired our work, completely exhausted. The thunder rolled, but we stood victorious that night. All of us stayed at the edge, still catching our breaths and recovering ourselves.
Sonic raised a fist at me, a gesture I learned from him a long time ago. I tapped it with mine…
"Well. This brings back old memories, doesn't it?"
I laughed, "Yes, it does."
I had to admit, I truly missed it. Missed us, fighting alongside one another in perfect harmony, forming a graceful yet deadly dance our enemies our falter against. That night, however, we spoke too soon.
Something had flown straight into the dark sky and slammed against the ground behind us; it had returned. Chiron grunted in irritation. Maia stayed alert, but I knew her well enough to know she grew fearful.
"Princess Blaze…?!" Aquilo was the first to speak.
Sonic began to walk straight toward it, leaving us all surprised at his action.
"Blaze, when I tell you, give it everything you have."
"Sonic, wait-"
Of course. He wouldn't even let me finish, and was already on the run.
We had to divide ourselves again and wait for his call. We were running out of space. What options did we possibly have? I didn't know. Not until I saw what Sonic did next. He stood there, waiting for the titan to strike him. Once it swung its arm, Sonic disappeared and began to move with the air. Fast. He was gone, transformed into nothing but blue wind. Winds that would rise higher. Stronger, and faster. Soon, a whirlwind would form and swallow our enemy whole.
"Blaze!" I heard his yell. At first, I didn't comprehend. He wanted me to send my flames? At him?
"Y-You can't be serious-!"
"Just do it!"
I hesitated, but we didn't have a choice. I yelled, sending all I had left of me. My hands were gone, engulfed in fire that would merge with the whirlwind in front of me. The flames were fed with it, growing even stronger. Fire shot up, straight into the sky. The heat was so intense, the rain would momentarily stop, but in between it all, the enemy remained cornered. It glowed brightly due to the intense heat and stood on one knee, stunned. Sonic flew away from the whirlwind, steam leaving his body. It was reckless, I thought. It was frustrating how careless he could be sometimes, but, it was working…
"Agh, C-Chiron!" he called upon him, earning an aggressive response back.
Chiron ran, batons in his hands, toward the enemy, and hit its leg as hard as he could. To my surprise, he had actually crippled his target; the metal was heated to the point that it could bend with enough force.
With that, we started our push against it. Chiron continued his attack against the leg enough to rupture its outer layer, leaving the insides exposed.
"Watch out!" Sonic had yelled at him.
The sentinel had pulled a blade from its wrist, ready to swing it against Chiron. Just in time, Sonic sped through it, shattering it across the air. Maia began swinging her chains, stabbing and slicing away at the steel. Sparks shot away, and shards spread across the ground, but the metal started to become cool again, and Sonic noticed it. Before I could object, he began preparing for another attack and blended with the wind that would soon rise again to engulf the enemy. However, it saw it coming. Without hesitation, it violently thrust its hand toward the thin air with force. And just like that, the winds stopped. Sonic grunted, squirming at its grasp.
"No!" Maia yelled while sending her sword forward.
Its other hand caught the chains, sending Maia to the ground and towards a rock wall. Chiron tried to intervene, only to earn a swing of its fist. It quickly fired at me and Aquilo, the blast throwing us to the wet ground. Aquilo's bow hit the ground along with the rest of his arrows; he was unconscious. That whole ordeal had to end, or that mountain would mark our demise. But as soon as I got to my knees, the weapon pinned me against the ground. Everything had happened so quickly, that I couldn't do anything in time. I desperately dug my fingers in the dirt and tried to pull myself away, as it pulled its fist, throwing Sonic over the edge.
"S-Sonic!"
The only thing I could do, was cry his name, and watch him fall into the dark below.
Knights were fighting for their lives around me. And, he was gone... And I will never forget, that feeling of raw, cold fear, slowly consuming me. A sense of anguish, that lingered heavily on me. It was sickening, how despair was so quick to take hold. How it would eat away, and tear me apart from myself. Leaving me with nothing, but an endless void. I felt it burn and spread across my body, like a merciless fire. And indeed, there were flames. Flames that engulfed me, feeding away this sense of… wretched rage.
It hurt. For the first time, the pain of being covered by my own fires started to settle in. I didn't care. Because I'd slowly let myself slip away, into that newfound, fury. That night, even if I had to burn that entire mountain to the ground, my flames would burn. To kill.
But that ordeal would soon take a turn. Blinded, I was able to notice something. The machine was surrounded by the knights, but covered in some sort of glowing light. It seemed as if it was frozen in time. In fact, it was slowly being pushed upward by some invisible force. I took the chance to move away towards the edge of the grounds, holding on to what little hope I had. But then, I noticed a bright glow suspended in the air. I faced it, and felt as if my life had returned. It was Sonic, floating and glowing just the same… Alongside another individual.
"Ngaah!"
Our foe was slowly sent upwards and brutally back toward the ground, sending debris everywhere. Pinned, it tried to extend its hand toward us to charge an attack. But the arm didn't hesitate to wildly glow and twist itself in all possible ways, leaving nothing but a disfigured piece of steel. Even the enemy was confused.
"This is it for you."
And in an instant, it was sent straight toward the sky. An odd silence emerged, but our eyes remained on it as it faded in between dark clouds. Only for its silhouette to be revealed to us one last time. Lighting had struck it, spelling the end to that battle. The steel beast would rapidly fall from above, covered in flames, and disastrously land far away in the forest, leaving nothing but a rising ball of dust and fire.
"B-Blaze."
I turned, just to meet Sonic and the rest. I, could never be so relieved. But…
"Why must you be so reckless?!" I cried.
Everyone was suddenly taken aback by my words. As soon as I started to walk towards them, the knights would slightly shift at their feet. I halted and stood still, letting the sound of rain fill the tense silence.
"Blaze…?" Sonic softly called.
"Lady, Blaze…?" Maia whispered.
As the rest stood there, a slight sense of fear sat in their eyes. I could even feel it, yet I couldn't understand why. But then, I looked at myself… and realized, what had become of me.
"...w-what…"
I struggled to calm the blue flames that surrounded me. To get rid of this, violent urge, that coursed through my veins. My mind. My very being... Yet the undeniable shame of such, disgrace… remained.
"...I… I'm, sorry…"
They stared at me and stood in nothing but silence. But Sonic was the only one who approached me, without hesitation in his step.
"...Don't... look at me."
I turned away from him, yet he continued without faltering.
"...S-stop…"
And soon, I'd find myself in his arms…
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
While the remainder of my flames dissipated, he held me tight. And his warm embrace would bring me back from a dark place I didn't know could possibly exist. I found myself utterly drained, and left only with the strength to wrap my arms around him. My knees were weak and would soon buckle, hitting the wet ground. I couldn't speak or do anything other than stay with him under the heavy rain. I felt so weak. So tired, that I couldn't even cry. But he was safe. He was there, with me. And that was enough.
All I wanted to do, was bury myself in him, and nothing more...
"…I guess I came at the right time."
"You did," Sonic sighed. "Thanks, Silver... We owe you."