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.

Exertion 4.3

Blaze woke up early, feeling Tails' namesakes draped around her torso. There was a small blanket underneath her, one that she'd fished out from Tails' bail bag after he'd conked out.

At first she'd been frightened when he'd almost fallen asleep standing up, but she supposed she couldn't have been too hard on him. Adrenaline followed by lack of food would do that to most sapients. Truth be told, she'd barely had time to scrounge for the blanket before she crashed a few minutes later.

There was a deep chill to the air, not made any better by the lack of fire. She conjured a quick one, letting the heat dissipate over their little cave. The cave wasn't big, barely as big as the one the teleportal ring was in. But it had enough room for them and their things. The entrance faced towards the forest, and Blaze looked over the sea of reds and browns and greens that made up where they'd come from. Far off in the distance Blaze could barely see the plains where the drillers were. The canyon and its river cut straight through the forest, disappearing somewhere underneath it.

She hopped up, ignoring her shoes for the moment as she stepped out of the cave. The dirt crumbled underneath her, solid and yet soft. She gave a glance upwards, where the trail inevitably sat. It was mostly plain, only a few grasses and bushes dotting the landscape, but as it got higher the stones and rocks turned from a brown or rustic red to the dull grey and silver that she knew most mountains had. Large swathes of snow were easily visible through the clouds. Small black specks flew around the top, and she instinctively felt her eyes flock towards them.

Birds. Black birds, if she could see them right. She crushed down the instinct that said to chase after them, to bring them down to her level. To kill them.

She wondered if it was easy for Tails to ignore those instincts. He wasn't in tune with them, pretty much at all, not like she was. Despite her attempts to get him more inline with his 'inner fox', he still was mostly sapient. His ability of flight and techno-savvy was probably keeping his mind in the future instead of the here and now.

But her? She was raised to value those instincts. To listen and to trust them. They'd gotten her out of bad situations in the past, but as with every good side or positive there was always a downside.

She crushed her instincts again as she went back into the cave, the dirt softly cradling her feet. It was an odd sensation now, instead of the hated feeling that it usually caused her. Was her listening to her instincts causing her to...regress, in a way? Idly she changed the fire's color from orange to yellow, to blue, and finally to green and violet. Maybe not regress all the way, but in some behaviors, probably.

She put her shoes on and immediately felt relief. Maybe not regress the entire way, then. "You okay, Blaze?" Tails asked, sitting up against the far wall, next to the bags. He had a small box of their rabbit jerky next to him. Was he planning on that for breakfast?

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm surprised you're eating that. I would have thought it would be too salty for you, considering we don't have much water left."

"We have three more bags, and we go through a bag a day. We can get more up on the mountains as we're going through, just using the snow. Snow's lighter than water."

"It's also a lot less water than water."

"Not if you pack it in!" Tails smiled. "Here, come on, have a piece. We can head out," he said, hoisting several bags onto his back. He gave a quick wince as it settled. He must still be feeling sore from yesterday's surprising flight. She hadn't seen any sign of the giant vulpine today, had she? Was that normal for this place? Blaze grabbed one of the jerky pieces, biting into it. A bit gamey, she knew, and while they didn't have much salt, it tasted like this piece had way too much. But she appreciated the gamey and meaty taste anyways.

It took only moments for Blaze to put her bags on, using a small strap that tightened onto her shoulders. It had the added benefit of keeping most of the bags in one easy to reach place, along a small strip so it was more localized, as well.

Tails was already walking up the path slowly, his tails almost unnaturally still. "Having issues?" she asked as she came up to him. The air was chilled, and the sun hadn't started warming it up yet. Small grasses grew where the soil would let it, but otherwise it was mostly bare. It gave off an earthy scent, of dust kicked into the air, of abandonment and hunger.

These mountains could support plants, but they would not support more, and Blaze was understanding that better than ever.

"Kind of. Tails are still sore from yesterday. Give me a day or two and I should be fine," he responded, his tails instinctively twitching. Blaze could see his back fur twitch, but his face was remarkably blank.

"Let's hope you don't need to fly today, then," Blaze said quietly. The hill didn't start off steep, but she knew that it would rapidly turn. She could see near sheer cliffs up towards the top, and although there was what looked like a pathway, it snaked around various hills like a switchback.

Tails breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. I was hoping you'd treat it seriously. Sonic always just goes, 'then I guess your grounded, Tails!' with that smirk he does," he said. "I wonder if they got my message?"

"I would hope so. I know I saw the light show as I was at the Mountain," she answered. "That does sound like Sonic though."

"I miss him. I know that I shouldn't, because I'm on this adventure and he's at home, probably worried crazy about me."

"It's okay to. What makes you think you shouldn't? You're only sapient," Blaze answered. "I miss Marine, and Gardon. Or even Gordon, much as I shouldn't."

"Because I'm out here, and he's...not. We didn't meet Gordon, did we? Or was he the koala that kept leading you to the Sol Emeralds?"

"That was Gardon. If the tables were reversed, Tails, do you think Sonic would stop for a few moments to think about the life behind?"

"I honestly don't think Sonic stops to think. At all."

The dirt got harder underneath them, and now they were walking on sturdy stone. Their shoes were near silent against the rock. Blaze gave another glance up. The amount of birds above them had increased from only a few, around four or five, to at least twenty, now.

"I don't think he does, either. He never did stop to question Marine more than 'where are we', did he?"

"No, he didn't. Admittedly we both kind of thought Marine was...not the brightest."

"She surprisingly is," Blaze answered. "I know, it seems strange, but she's quite competent when it comes to the sea. And that was before the aquakinesis set in. She is, however, a loose cannon still."

"Pretty sure we all are," Tails said, his eyes glancing up. "Are there more birds now? That doesn't seem like normal bird behavior," he said.

They were circling around them, Blaze realized. Like vultures to carrion. "I...don't think that's normal, no." she answered quietly. "We may have to run."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea on these hills," Tails said. "Even if I was fine."

"We may not have a choice," said Blaze. The birds, seemingly realizing that their act was under intense scrutiny, moved more erratically. "They aren't vultures, are they?" she asked.

"Doesn't look like it. We may want to get under cover though, and soon."

"Where? Unless you found a cave or a valley," Blaze started, "then there's no real cover anywhere to be found. There's almost no plant life, and certainly nothing that can cover us."

"We can go back to the cave, the one we slept in," Tails brought up. It was a good idea, Blaze knew, but there was something about these birds...one of ducked around, and started doing loops in the air.

Blaze had only moments before she dived off to the side. Right where she'd been standing, not a few seconds before, was the bird. It was a giant black thing, nearly three times both Blaze and Tails' size combined, with wingspans four times longer than that. Tails had dived to the other side, she noted.

It's feathers were almost leathery, like a bat's, yet still protruded like a bird's. Its beak was rough and jagged, and it's eyes were an unnerving silver. It's talons and feet were tiny in comparison to its beak, and Blaze had a feeling that they were sharper than they looked.

It opened its beak to caw at them, or to peck at them, Blaze wasn't sure. As soon as she saw the opening, she took the chance and threw fire straight down its mouth. "Tails! Run for the cave!" she shouted.

The bird wasn't going to go down to a small fireball, no matter how well aimed. Tails spinning up from behind it and hitting its head, however, was going to make anything go down. Blaze called fire to shoot to the side as the beak landed right where she was standing. The birds in the sky started doing their own strange loops. "More!" she shouted.

"One's okay, that's at least nine or ten!" Tails agreed. He grabbed her hand and shot forward, his tails whirling as fast as they could go. She could feel the wincing as it flooded his back, and as soon as she found purchase against the ground she was the one dragging him.

"Left!" "Right!" Tails would shout every time one of the birds started to dive at them. All of them crashed into the ground, their beaks doing far more damage to stone and rock than they should ever be capable of.

It took them a few hours to hike up as high as they had, but it took her only a few minutes running and jumping to get back down. The cave was just ahead, she hoped.

She stopped and dodged to the side, pulling Tails with her. "Blaze!?" he questioned as he stopped himself from rolling down the hill more. Her eyes were stopped on the entrance to the cave, where the giant vulpine from the previous day was sniffing around.

"Apparently it can cross canyons," Blaze answered. There was a cry from above them, and that got the foxes attention. The crow-monster, she'd have to ask Tails what he named these things, dived down at them only to be intercepted by the giant fox. More cries and caws came from above, but Blaze wasn't going to question it.

She shot forward, heading straight into the cave. Tails was right behind her, not even a moment later. Cries and caws were heard, rumbling into the cave, as the birds were either smacked around or doing the smacking. It felt like hours would pass in the blink of an eye, but Blaze knew it was only minutes before they saw the fox wander back to the forest, a large crow-monster in its teeth. It was prodding along happily, as if it had gotten a good deal for its hunting the previous day.

"This world is going to kill us..." Blaze whispered.

"Yes, yes it probably will," Tails agreed. He looked outside for a moment before he turned back to her. "I don't see anything in the sky. I think the rocs went back to lick their wounds. We should be safe to go, now."

Blaze looked at the sun, high at noon. "We'll be walking for a while. Get your night vision ready, Tails. This won't be easy..." she murmured. He nodded, trying to look determined. It was adorable, especially with the rock dust coating one ear and making it look lopsided.

—Side T—

Tails wasn't sure what to think of the rocs. That's what he'd call them, until he found another bird monster more capable of the name. Maybe condor's, if he did?

They attacked in strange patterns, almost hypnotizing as they went. They almost never went straight, instead going left and right, up and down in a pattern that never repeated itself. It was very different than the robots he was used to facing. Admittedly this entire journey was very different than what he was used to facing.

His shoes cracked against the ground. Both Blaze and him had kept more than one eye on the sky, just in case the rocs came back. The sky was clear, a dirty and dusty blue that was the result of the battle between the giant vulpine and the roc.

They'd left again almost immediately, hoping to minimum make it back to where they were. Now that they knew the trail, and while he couldn't simply fly up there, his tails were far less sore than they'd been this morning probably due to his over-reliance on them, they made amazingly good time.

The sun was still high in the afternoon by the time they made it to where they'd been. Blaze still looked as composed as ever, but he knew she had to feeling tired. He certainly was more than just tired. His legs were tired, his shoulders were tired, and his tails and back were more than. Honestly, he couldn't wait to rest.

He looked up in the sky for a quick moment, expecting to see the black death of the rocs starting their attack again. The sky was clear, except for a few fluffy looking white clouds. No sign of any rocs, or anything that would try to hunt them.

He heard nothing, and his ears swiveled around as took in all the sounds around. There was a calming wind that blew through and around them, small pieces of dust being kicked up. Small blades of grass danced in it. His nose didn't smell anything unusual, but they stood still, and he could see Blaze's nose doing the same.

There was still a good almost half the mountain left to climb."Stop here and look for a place, or keep going?" Tails asked.

"I suggest we keep going. The more we stay the more likely it is that those birds will come back," Blaze answered instantly.

"I'm calling them rocs."

"As long as you don't start calling them earth elementals," Blaze said with a smirk. It took a moment for Tails to get it, before he smirked too.

"Wouldn't they be air? Maybe that's what I'm calling them instead. Better than 'those darn birds'."

"If it fits," Blaze shrugged. She took a few steps forward, and groaned as she took another deep breath.

"I think we can run here, if we follow the path," Tails said, glancing up at the mountain. There wasn't a game trail, per se, but we can imagine it in his head. The trail, the path up the mountain, and while it was rocky it was nothing like he hadn't already dealt with.

Blaze looked at it with a calculating glance. "If we do it right. If we find a cave, it might not be a bad spot, but I'd prefer if we made it over today."

Tails nodded, and they stretched for just a moment before they both broke into a run. Blaze's stride quickly changed to an easy one, Tails a moment behind her. It would force all of their momentum to keep up, meaning that moving their legs was barely a necessity.

His tails whirled wildly as he tried to keep up, and he ignored the lances of pain that shot up his back. Blaze was faster than him, but he was able to keep up if he rushed himself and if she was going slow. Or if she was running up an unfamiliar mountain. His legs appreciated the lack of needing to move as his tails did most of the work, only a small moment of soreness left in his back. He was stretching out his tail muscles this way, and he felt a slight relief course through him.

The mountain path was a rocky one, with dozens of small rocks jutting out here and there. Blaze navigated them with seemingly no issues, jumping from stone to stone with an ease that belied the amount of times they'd done it. Tails much preferred the straighter path, his tails pushing him up just enough to only have to use his legs to navigate and push. His tails did most of the work, as they were wont to do.

Every time they got nearer to what he thought was the top, there was another small downhill followed by more hills. The mountain wasn't a singular mountain, like it was at The Mountain, but rather a series. More than once Tails had overshot the tip of one portion, and had to fly to slow his fall. It was only for a split second, but it was enough to remind him why he shouldn't be flying.

He kept his eyes on the skies, hoping to not see any more of the rocs. They remained clear of all black spots, although he noticed there were a few more of the white fluffy clouds now. They lazed their way above him, moving swiftly despite not moving at all.

"Blaze, I think we're going to get into some win-" Tails started as they crested another of the hills. The moment his head reached over the top, he was blown away by the wind that had decided to reach them. Blaze was standing in the wind, the remains of her tailcoat flaring out behind her. Her tail was almost held straight due to the wind, her purple fur dancing in it. Her hair was pushed back, almost back into its traditional look, except with wind instead of a hair tie.

"If you were about to say 'wind', Tails, I gathered that," Blaze deadpanned as the wind died down, and her fur and tail with it. Tails forced himself up to the top to be on her level, his fur feeling poofed out but he tried to force it down.

Now that he knew about it, he could almost feel the small sparks jumping between his fur. Just small instances of static electricity, he had thought way back on Westside Island, or from when he had taken the Chaos Emeralds back on Cocoa. He wondered if he could control it, but he couldn't do it now. Blaze had already jumped ahead, barely able to get more than twenty feet due to the wind. He'd try later tonight.

While his legs appreciated the small break, they seemed to like being used more now. He kept his tails still, as the wind would just push him back, and he planted his feet solidly as he ran. He gave an almost criss-cross motion, jumping from one side of the path to the other as his side-turned body prevented most of the wind from slowing him down.

Blaze stood still for a moment, holding her hand over her eyes before she started to mimic how he was moving. It was harder for her than it was for him, he could tell, her high-heels weren't meant for this kind of travel. The wind only appeared when it was fairly open, Tails noticed as they approached the next mountaintop. As they got closer, the wind started swirling around them before it stopped entirely, only small pieces of brush swaying showing that it was still going, they were just in the shadow.

Blaze panted heavily for a moment. "Where did you learn that trick? Couldn't have been from Sonic," she noted quietly. Tails nodded.

She was right. "From Knuckles. Apparently it gets windier up on Angel Island the further up it is, and some places in Sky Sanctuary it gets so windy it's nearly impossible to move. Sometimes even he has to climb sideways to make any headway," he explained. Sonic would have it easier; wind had never bothered the hedgehog and he could just plow right through it. Maybe that was another manifestation of his aerokinesis that Blaze was sure he had?

Blaze nodded absently. "Look over there," she said, pointing off into the distance. Tails glanced over. They had finally crossed enough of the mountainous region to be able to see the other side, even they they weren't at the top yet. Probably close to it though.

Long valleys and jungles eased their eyes for a moment, with tall trees that stretched behind it. More mountains, green with hundreds of bushes and grasses and trees, danced along their eyesight. Far from it, they could see the orange sands of the desert stretching off into the horizon. There was no blue of an ocean, or a river. Just endless desert, and before that nearly endless mountains and valleys.

"This is going to be a long journey, isn't it...?" Tails asked the silence. Blaze nodded absently. If they could get up to speed and keep it, Tails had no doubt they could make it without too many issues, and within a few days. But without any way to keep up their speed, thanks to the dangers of running really fast without rings, they were going to be going much slower.

Blaze glanced back down the mountain, before she glanced up and started to jump up. Tails did so too, seeing far below the forest they had traversed through. From here even the ruins could be seen, albeit just barely and only because he knew what he was looking for. He knew that somewhere beyond there was the leviathan in the lake, and beyond that the entrance they'd both come in from.

The wind kept getting fiercer the further up they went, with only a few more tips, Tails hoped, separating them from the valleys. The sun was starting to set, and would be gone in another hour or so, he knew.

They crested over another one, and Blaze stopped for a second. "Now the hard parts done. Now it's the downhill," she murmured just loud enough for Tails to hear. The wind was blustering by at speeds that Tails had always equaled with a tornado. His fur was spread almost painfully far as he crested the top. There was another hill, off to the right, that went further up, but in front of them was a path that went downwards, towards the valleys and jungles presented there.

Blaze shot forward, the fire guiding her as she slipped from one side of the path to the other, landing on the rocks with the grace that being a cat afforded her. Tails grinned, before he crouched down and started a stationary spindash. He rolled up, starting to spin faster and faster before he let go.

The wind meant nothing to the both of them now as it blew against them roughly. Tails was concentrating on his spindash, minimizing his profile to the wind, allowing him to almost slipstream down. It was tough for him to see, mostly due to the spin, but he kept himself curled up going down against the valleys.

The rocks created tracks for them, he noticed. Slopes and loops, he envisioned it in his mind as he slipped down them, uncurling every once in a while to make sure he kept heading down. Blaze was behind him by a ways, her fire bursts making it obvious where she was.

Tails half-expected there to be a rock slide again, based on the way the world was. But instead it was almost gleefully silent as the wind howled and railed against them, buffering them as it tried to push them against the sharp rocks.

The fox pushed himself to go faster and faster, slipping into the wind. The trees and grasses went by faster and faster, more and more as they went lower into the valley. The wind died down almost instantly as soon as they passed into the tree line, and Tails grinned as he spun his tails, taking quick care to make sure that he wouldn't hit against a tree.

Almost thirty seconds or so in, he decided to pause and wait until Blaze passed him. The cat was much further out behind him, and he could almost see the fire bursts that showed where she was. She'd probably stop once she hit the tree line...

He saw her rocketing off to the side, and sure enough the fire bursts stopped. Tails blinked, before he realized his mistake. He glanced at the setting sun, and rushed off to meet the cat.

He only hoped he'd be there before dark. He was not eager to spend another night alone in this place.

And Tails learns why it's a bad idea to split up. Never split the party, Tails. Thanks to everyone for their comments and reviews on the awkward conversations on the last chapter. I'll try to keep it around that level, even in the future arcs.

Until Next Time!