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 4.7

Blaze was running, as fast and hard as she could. She had called upon the small ember that was burning quietly and tiny in her chest, trying to get to a safe spot.

Then she felt her flames falter, for nearly the first time in her life, and she closed her eyes in dismay. She woke up a moment later, surrounded by Tails' body, as the white insects burrowed their way up around them. The fox was low, with all four limbs on the ground. He was letting out a loud growl that Blaze was fairly certain she'd never heard from the boy before. Man? Teenager. That was the one, she decided.

He was looking every which way at the creatures, tossing his head about. Honestly, she wasn't certain he could growl, before, or even if he knew he was doing it. She could see his eyes for the moment they passed by, looking over the various bugs that came up. He gave off a feral air that was hard to place, but Blaze had seen it before...somewhere.

His hands were fumbling with something in his pocket. What it was though, Blaze wasn't certain. He didn't have anything in there that she thought could help. Maybe if the tablet was strong enough he could use it to brain one of the things? Maybe it was that charger thing?

She called for her fire, trying to force herself up. The fire refused to answer her call. Whether it was because she was so tired or because she hadn't rested since she burned down a jungle, she wasn't sure. "Blaze, get behind me," Tails murmured. Blaze shook her head, grabbing his hand instead. He tried to wrest it from her grasp instantly. "Blaze, seriously, not yet!"

"Do what you're going to do, then climb on. I have enough energy to get us out of here, at least," Blaze answered. The fire wouldn't answer her, and her mind was out of it, but she could still feel the adrenaline pumping. Outside of their vision, but still within their sense range, they could hear and feel the sand whale as it dived down on more of the bug things.

They seemed to skitter around as more of their companions died to the sand whale. One of them climbed on top of another before it turned towards them. Tails' hand was hard at work trying to wrest itself from her grasp, which she refused to grant.

Even if he was planning on shocking them all, somehow, she doubted he'd hurt her that badly. She still had some singed skin actually from when he had awakened nearly a week ago. Or was it two weeks? Three? No...less than that. Why couldn't she remember anymore? She could see the sparks as he tried to reach in for his own internal kinesis, his own abilities beyond flying or technology. There was nothing forming though, no bolts of lightning or constant pulses of electricity. It was as if it wasn't answering his call, either.

"This might sting," Tails warned.

"Doubt it. Let it fly, kid!" her mom said, sitting on a log. Blaze looked around the small clearing. They were in a forest, now. She was...four? Three? Five, probably. She remembered this. Her mom had taken her out into a nearby forest on one of their outings.

"I'm serious Mom, this will hurt!" her younger self warned. She was a tiny thing, barely two feet tall. Her mom was still the stunner she remembered her as. Tall, nearly five feet, with the same general hairstyle as she wore...used to wear. A ponytail that gathered into multiples strands on top of her head. She had a red gem embedded into her cyan fur, just barely able to be seen.

"I'm sure it might. Don't have fear, though. I know what I'm doing. Just focus on yourself, and not on me. As deep as you can go, reach for that internal flame," her mom guided. Her younger self nodded, the red gem that she had always envisioned as a gathering spot for her fire already glittering away on top of her forehead.

Blaze remembered as her younger self concentrated, closing her eyes in what she had to admit was surprisingly adorable. How was she seeing this in the third person? Or was she? Flames seemed to emanate from her younger self's hands, gathering around and starting to ember. Small sticks started lighting themselves. With nary a glance, her mom waved her hand, putting them out. Had she done that, really? Was this her own awakening?

"It's what could have been," her mom answered. Blaze blinked, turning to look. Her mother took her eyes off of her younger self, staring straight into her own. "Memories are funny things, Blaze. They are creations, because we are inherently bad at remembering things."

"So I guess I'm going to die, then? I was hoping to see Marine and the Sol Empire before I go, one last time," Blaze answered. She could think things through a bit easier, now. Everything was still fuzzy, and she couldn't remember feeling the pain that she was sure she would.

"We're all going to die, sometime. But no, it's not your time yet, Blaze. I don't know why your mind conjured me, or this memory to you. What do you remember feeling?" Her mom guided.

"At that?" Blaze asked, pointing at her younger self, now frozen in time. Her mother nodded. "Frustration. Anger. Happiness. Fury. Hatred. Joy. Fear. Lots of fear."

"And what were you fearful of, little one?"

Blaze didn't care to comment that her mom was only a few years older than she was right now. "Hurting you. Hurting the forest. I didn't want people to be afraid of me. I hated my power, but I loved it at the same time. I wanted it to work, even when it refused."

"You knew you wouldn't hurt me. So why were you afraid?" her mother asked, smiling gently.

"Because I can burn," Blaze answered, her eyes opening up. Tails stared at her as one of the bugs jumped at them. She reached out with one hand, her entire limb on fire as she punched the grub out of the way. It skittered as it burned, the sand doing little to douse it.

"Blaze!?" Tails was somehow surprised. Another one jumped behind him, and he gripped whatever he had in his other hand harder. She saw sparks light his fur alight, carefully controlled and directed into the grub. It got sent back, the sharp scent of charred and electrified bug filling the air.

"You take one half, I'll take the other!" Blaze said. "Once we see an opening, take it! No matter who sees it first!" she commanded, her feet lighting up as she glassed a bit of sand into the grubs area. Where this was coming from, she didn't know, but she knew one thing in an unalterable truth.

She was Blaze the Cat. And that meant she could burn.

She turned to let her arms burn another one that was jumping at them. Tails turned at the same time, his own arm covered by electricity, generated by whatever it was in his hand. Fire met electricity, and instead of hurting each other the two pieces bounced off of each other.

"You can't hurt me! Let it fly, kid!" Blaze remanded as she let the fires encapsulate her, burning the sand around her as the grubs tried to jump. Tails must have heard her, as she heard him barely through the flames, bouncing around electrified.

The flames vanished, still within her full control, and she saw an opening. The bugs did not like fire, and she was bringing all the fire. She grabbed Tails hand, ignoring the way his shocks bit her hand or how her fire probably burned his.

She soared out of the pit that the grubs had slowly been digging, now that she could see it. It was small, at first. An insidious trap. Several would attack from above and the rest would trap them below, creating a sinkhole.

As soon as her feet hit the circle, the part where they'd just been standing caved in, showing nearly a hundred more of the white grub things. If they'd been even a few seconds more, they would have been killed.

"Run! I'll cover!" Tails shouted, climbing onto her back. Oh right, that was the plan. She bursted out onto the sand, accelerating as fast as she could. She couldn't command any fire outside of her body, and right now she'd just be a giant glowing fire, so she cut off all but a bit on her feet, leaving bits of melted sand behind.

Tails was focusing remarkably well. She could feel the shocks as it hit her back, every time he clicked his generator, and every time she could see a small glow as he directed it out of his body into the grubs.

Like the leviathan.

"Aim for the left! I think I see a few rocks!" Tails shouted as he fired again. Blaze hid her wince at his volume. He must not be able to hear well considering he was so close still to the thunder.

She turned and saw what he was looking at. Far off in the distance, maybe another few miles, was a small hill that looked solid. Mirage or not, the sight inspired something in Blaze, an urge to get there faster.

She fell within her fire again, feeling it well up from within. She called it forward, layering it on, just in front of her. Only a few inches, she would need. The grubs were behind her...until she looked.

The shocks stopped. Tails was breathing hard on her back, sweat pouring down his forehead. There were no more live grubs though, each of the bugs having been taking out by Tails during his electric fury.

He probably couldn't move, and had probably overloaded, Blaze thought. Especially because his tails would twitch without any warning, as did his feet and arms. He kept the generator, whatever gadget it was, away from the twitching.

Blaze smirked. She hoped that he could get some sleep from it. No longer in a hurry, she called off her fire and suddenly felt the exhaustion plow into her. The sun was starting to rise on the far side now, towards the rocks they were going.

She looked for a shadow, knowing that a mirage probably wouldn't have one. As she got closer, she saw that it did, stretching far into the desert hills she was coming from. She was exhausted, and her legs would barely answer her.

Until she saw it. The rocks, in a small corner, had an opening. Probably a small one, but that was all that she required. She turned a bit, aiming for that spot, and feeling the energy return to her as she saw an end.

Without caring for anything, she darted straight for it. The opening was small, but she could see that it led to an actual cave. Tails wasn't sleeping, but he wasn't able to help, which left Blaze alone with him on her back carrying all the bags. Although...some of them were more ash than bag. She tossed it out of her mind; she'd think on it later. She scraped and scratched at the rocks blocking the opening.

The smaller ones were thrown haphazardly away, but the big ones were stubborn and refused to budge. She let out a small growl that she stopped an instant later. Where had that come from?

There was some movement from her back as Tails rolled off of her, or less politely as he fell off. His movements were slow and measured, careful from the shocks that she'd known had coursed through him. But why would he be affected by them? He was an electrokinetic...admittedly, one that had only awakened two weeks ago at most. Even when she was younger, there was no way she'd have been able to do what he had done.

The sun was starting to rise above the desert, casting shorter shadows from the rock. It was plateau, maybe only thirty feet tall. There were small pockmarks where the rain had eroded portions of it, but none were as big as this one.

There were only two rocks left in the way now as another rock budged. It took almost all of Blaze's strength, but there was enough room that with just one more gone they could fit through. Assuming it was as big on the inside as she'd thought.

Tails pushed himself up, and grabbed the rock on the other side, pushing it with all his strength. Together, they managed to move it to the side just long enough for them to duck inside.

She felt squeezed by how close she was to Tails fur, but he led them inside slowly. It was near impossible to see, the rock having shifted back to block the entrance.

The rocks were surprisingly smooth, and she felt them along the edge with her hands. There was some water here, somewhere. Maybe an underground river or aqueduct?

Tails grabbed the tablet, letting its light shine their way. She couldn't have summoned any type of fire at the moment. She was practically dead on her feet.

He led them inside slowly before the cave opened up to a tiny thing, barely five feet wide, but wide enough for them to feel fairly safe. It was warm, but not so warm it was going to be boiling during the day.

Tails threw down most of his bags and in an instant fell asleep on the ground. Blaze threw down everything she had, which was surprisingly light, before she too fell onto the ground.

— Side T—

"Hey Tails. Check on the switch over there, would you? I think it opens this thing!" Sonic called out. Tails' grinned wide as he ducked into a small air duct. The Sandopolis pyramid was full of traps and ducts like this, Tails knew. And only small echidnas or foxes could get into them. Which was lucky for Sonic then that he was a small fox!

"Sure thing! Do you think Knuckles knows we're down here?" he asked. There was a dark chill in the air, one that Tails did his best to ignore. He wasn't going to frighten Sonic with his thoughts on ghosts. Besides, ghosts didn't exist!

"Considering how he knows where we've been everywhere else, I think he does kiddo. He tracked us all the way to the giant theme park, and that was after we ran through those ruins!" Sonic answered. Tails held in his breath for a sneeze. He wasn't going to sneeze, he wasn't!

The duct was tiny, but he was good at getting into tiny places. He always had been. When he'd first gotten to West Island, he had his home in a small set of rocks that he just barely fit into behind a waterfall. He had such cool things there! But he couldn't show Sonic. Sonic wouldn't care. No, Sonic was cool. And he wanted to be cool, so he had to be like Sonic. And if Sonic wasn't afraid of ghosts, then neither should he be! Sonic wasn't afraid of anything, so neither was he!

He ran his gloved hand around the sides, looking for a small switch. There had been a bunch of pull levers that had activated the lights, but it was so dark in here that he couldn't see even though he was a fox. The gloves also deadened his touch, but Sonic wore gloves, and so would he.

His hands ran across a cold metal pipe, ice even to his gloves. He pulled with all of his strength, and was rewarded as small torches lit up the tiny room. There was a small push-switch, and a giant ring. He'd seen the rings multiple times before, and Sonic always said they were good things, but he'd also said it was dangerous, too. And that Tails should always wait for him before jumping into one.

He pushed the switch, ignoring the chill on his neck. The door opened slowly with a loud cracking sound, the passageway unused to opening or closing. The switch was slow to revert, but it was already starting to. "Sonic! There's a ring over here!"

"Coming kiddo!" Sonic said as he sped into the room. He gave a quick look around, and his eyes spotted the small air duct where he'd come in from. "Good job Tails!" he said. "Now come on, we have a Super Emerald to power up!" he grinned.

Tails grinned with him, and together they jumped into the giant ring. He felt the heat pass by him instantly -

His blue eyes woke with a start. The air was warm here, much like it had been in Sandopolis. He was still tired, but less exhausted than he had been. There was no light in here, and he waited for a moment for any light to filter in and his darkvision to come back. It didn't look like it was going to, anytime soon.

He reached around for his bail-bag, feeling the course sand and soft stone on his hands, and withdrew for a moment. He had been deep in his dream. Sandopolis zone, wasn't it? The pyramid, deep down, haunted by ghosts of ancient echidnas.

That wasn't an actual ghost story either, Knuckles later confirmed it, there were actual ghosts in there. It had seemed like a silly thing, to be afraid of ghosts, but it was after that Sonic realized how close they had been to being killed by the things. His gloves were off, as were his shoes. He shook the last remnants of sleep off before he found the Miles Electric. The light was simple enough; a quiet tap and it lit up. He blinked furiously as he turned down the brightness as it blasted into his eyes.

He had some vague memory of using it the previous night...or was it this morning? To find the cave they were in. He gave it a quick swirl around.

It was a small cave, with Blaze off to the side, laid down flat, as if she'd fallen down and fell asleep like that. The cave was a warming red, small rivulets of water flowing down from the ceiling. Small stalactites made of some yellow rock were holding on tight. There was a small entrance way, probably where they came in from.

The sand was soft underneath his body, and he looked at the time on the Miles Electric. He was still tired, and his eyes were starting to droop again already. Three in the afternoon. They'd been sleeping all day, and they'd probably stay asleep still as the day went on.

"Tails! Come on, keep up!" Sonic's voice shouted from ahead. Tails smirked as he blasted past Sonic's snowboard on a board of his own.

"I thought you wanted me to keep up, not pass!" Tails shouted as he flew by. He heard Sonic's groan of frustration as the hedgehog poured on the speed.

They were racing in the Ice Cap mountains, a range so tall and cold that it had snow year round, despite otherwise being in a temperate environment. Sonic had, unwisely in Tails' opinion, challenged him to a race down the mountain. Then he grabbed a board and started, only for Tails to remind him that Tails was the genius mechanic and not Sonic. And that Tails was noted as being one of the best EX gear mechanics around.

He hadn't even had to modify anything, just used his tails as additional propulsion. Cheating? Maybe. Fun? Definitely.

"Think we'll see Eggman soon?" Sonic whined. "It's been boring without him!" he said.

"I think I rather like boring," Tails answered. "Better than off scared for our lives huddled in an air shaft trying not to make a sound due to the robots outside."

"That was one time!" Sonic answered. "Besides, those bots were bad news. It was the Death Egg, what were you expecting? And we needed the sleep."

His eyes woke up again, much calmer than before. They did need the sleep, but now he was feeling far more rested. Maybe having essentially taken two sleeps helped more than he thought it would? There was a small light now, barely an ember coming from where Blaze was. She was huddled over one of her bags, or was it one of his? He thought he saw the identifier for one of the water bags. "How you feeling?" he tried to say, only to find his throat was extremely dry.

"Here, water," Blaze said quietly, holding out what he was sure was one of his water bags. "We don't have much left."

Tails dripped the water down his throat, feeling the way it wetted it up perfectly. "I thought we had plenty. How much do we have left?"

"Enough for three days. Food for six. All of my bags burned up," Blaze shrugged. "Unless we find some new source soon. In the middle of a desert though, it's unlikely."

"So we just keep going south, then," Tails said. "That was our plan already. How're you feeling?"

"Tired," Blaze answered instantly. "I suspect you're much the same. I don't think you've tried to use your electrokinesis like that before, ever, especially in such an amount."

Tails shook his head. "No. I was trying to practice, but I don't think I can generate it the way you do."

"Fire and electricity are different," Blaze said. "It's no surprise that one would be harder than the other. Fire is easy to generate, hard to control."

As if to prove her point, a small fireball raised in her hands. It appeared as though her pyrokinesis had restored itself after she'd rested. "Looks like you're back to normal. Is that...regular?" he asked.

"In terms of pyrokinesis? Yes. It usually comes back to full strength after I've rested, but this was the first time I used it all."

"And yet you used more fire still."

"Not sure how that happened," Blaze answered. The light from the fire reflected off the yellow and red stone, glittering in the water droplets as they fell from the walls or ceiling. "But you...how did you generate all that?" she asked.

Tails reached into his bail-bag and pulled out a small device embedded with a button. "I did tell you before. I call it the Charger. It's a generator," Tails answered. "Back when Metal Sonic attacked posing as Eggman, I'd been working on the problem of 'what if my airplane ran out of power while I was in the air and the Chaos Emerald doesn't exist?'. I needed a backup battery. I came up with this. You press the button, it gives you, and whatever your attached to, a big shock."

"And because it's electricity, you can manipulate it. Genius," Blaze muttered. "I was wondering why you were twitching from electricity overdose. Now I know."

"Yeah. I've been trying to perfect it for a few years now, but every time I get close I need to start over for some design flaw. This is the original," Tails said. "Usually I used it to electrify Sonic or Knuckles when I threw them."

"And it wouldn't hurt them?"

"They wouldn't tell me if it did. I don't know think so, though. Sonic has a notoriously low pain tolerance. It's why he makes sure that he always has rings on hand."

Blaze smirked. "I don't think he taught you that trick as well as he'd have liked," she teased lightly. The light reflected in such a way that Tails looked at what she was doing. She was holding one of the water bags, stretching it and...sewing?

"No, no he didn't. What are you doing?" Tails asked instantly.

"My bags are...they're gone. And the big burn I did...it did more than just shred those bug things. And I know you know how badly my clothes were ruined. They didn't stand up to the fire well. So I'm making new ones from the bags that aren't filled," Blaze answered. "You don't mind?" she asked after a moment, slightly hesitant.

Tails blinked a bit, before he fought back the blush at the image that provoked in his head. "No, I don't mind. I didn't know you knew how to sew though. What happened to your shoes and gloves, then?"

Blaze waved her hand back to the desert. "Ash, somewhere, I'd presume," she answered. "We lost a good week's worth of food and another two day's of water."

"All part of the experience."

"It's an experience I'd prefer nothing of," Blaze laughed lightly. She turned back to her sewing, using an small sliver of a piece of wood for the needle. She huddled in further, which Tails didn't mind her doing. He kept his eyes far away from her.

"Just an adventure. I don't think we'd have gotten to see any of this if we stayed at the camp. Or the house," Tails said. "And you have to admit, the views are nice even if the wildlife is a bit vicious."

"They are," Blaze answered. "For both. I do however wish that we'd have thought to bring a couple of portable tents or safe areas. I don't think we can rely on caves as we go further."

"I don't think so either," Tails agreed. "But what we can do is one of us can stay up on watch, and travel for a bit once we wake up."

Blaze nodded slowly. "Or one of us can carry the other while they sleep, and then we switch off, followed by food, continuing our travels indefinitely. It's better if we find water sooner rather than later."

Tails blinked. He'd have to carry Blaze, which he could do without an issue. The problem is when she carried him. "I'm not-"

"Tails," Blaze interrupted, her gold eyes piercing into his, "It's alright. You're not that heavy, even as injured as you are. I can carry you just fine, we can carry each other without an issue."

"It's not that, it's just-"

Blaze rolled her eyes. "It's very much that. It's nothing to worry about." Tails did think it was something to worry about, but ceased his arguing as Blaze went back to concentrating on not pricking herself with a sliver of wood.

Finally. They have actual rest. To anyone wondering; if you stay up around 24 hours, it's as if had a .1 blood alcohol level, or drunk by most legal standards. 36 hours, its about .15, with additional symptoms such as microsleeps. 48 hours...well, you get the gist. Not much to say on this one. Not sold on it, but it does what it needs to do.

Also, I don't think we've ever seen Blaze's mom or dad in the games, just as we haven't seen Tails'. Or Sonic's. Or Knuckles', or Amy's...actually we haven't seen any parents asides from Vanilla have we...Until Next Time.