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 4.9

Blaze sighed as the last vestiges of the night finally swam away. The moon had set a couple of hours ago, and all they'd had to eat or drink was a small bag of jerky and a bit of water. Now was the real challenge, she knew.

They had been able to stay warm during the desert night by running, and while they had gone for miles and miles there was still no end in sight. The air was the coldest now that it would be for a while yet, near freezing if she was right. But it would warm up quick, and she saw the starts of dawn from the east. She was glad that now, at least, she had changed clothes. Her previous outfit would be boiling hot in a desert.

Tails was doing seemingly fine. His tails had healed magnificently after their encounter with the rocs, and the grubs, and the sand whale...she was ready for a rest. A long one, months long. A vacation from a vacation, was it? They kept running, over dunes and over flatlands as they went. It felt strange on her bare feet, and she hated the feeling of it but couldn't wait to get more. She knew it was just the nature of this world, now. No way would she have even thought of doing this when she had first come here.

The desert had, at first, been almost fun to run through. It had been far too long for her to simply run, and she had gloried in her speed again. She knew that Tails had to be feeling the same thing too. The feel of the desert rushing past underneath was exhilarating, to say the least.

Then there was the message, from the Sol Empire. Somehow they had found which world she was on. They were normally too cautious to even think about sending a message to another world, let alone to an uncharted one. There were too many ways for them to get burned afterwards. But for them to try, anyways...she hoped Tails was building up energy for a second message. She was worried about her home, and how it was doing without her, but as the sun slowly came up, she reasoned that she should probably be more worried about herself at the moment.

The desert was, in the daylight, a brilliant golden soft brown, the kind that anyone would love to see at a beach. It was orange at first in the dawn's light, and then slowly changed to its actual as time went on. But the temperature too started soaring. The sand was bad at holding temperature in, and it wasn't long before Blaze was almost having to contend with near burns on her feet from the heat of the sand. That wasn't counting the massive sweat she had developed from the heat, soaring above her usual preference. The fact it could burn her was rather worrying...she'd always been resistant to fire in the past. Was that because it was just heat, rather than fire?

Tails, too, seemed like he was suffering. Not as bad as she was, but his tails were going that much slower, just enough to keep his feet off the ground. She almost wanted to ask for a ride just to keep from having to be burned.

Then if it wasn't the heat, the wind started up, too. Massive gusts that blew sand everywhere around them. No wonder everything that lived here was underground. Or most things were, at least. They'd gone past a few reptile like things once the sun hit its apex. "Tails, I'll carry for a bit," she said after a long minute. There was still no sign of the desert easing up, and they needed at least one of them to be rested.

He was breathing hard as he kept going. "No, I can keep going. I can carry you!"

His affection and attraction to her was both cute and obnoxious at the same time. "Tails, remember what we said. I can carry you easier than you can carry me."

"I can fly."

"Not in this heat you shouldn't," she said after a moment. "I'll be honest, we have to just keep going. Otherwise we will die out here to exposure. I refuse to let that happen easily."

"I still don't think that's okay. Blaze, I'm fine. I can carry you. I used to carry Sonic, too," Tails said. She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. They hadn't stopped running, yet. They were going slower than they were when they fully rested, although Blaze wasn't worried. It was normal to slow down when tired, but it also wasn't normal to be in a desert barefoot.

"Blaze, the sand is too hot for you, and for me," Tails reasoned. "You can barely keep going as it is, whereas I hover when I go as fast as I can," Tails said, covering his eyes as the wind blew another blast of sand at his face.

Blaze had to quickly do the same. It buffered into her arm, and the sand beneath her stayed just as warm. "Tails, I'm fine," Blaze said with a tone of finality.

"Fine. Then I'm going to stay up with you," Tails answered instantly. She had to wonder if he knew that was going to be her answer, and could prepare ahead of time for it.

"Fine. If that's what you wish to do, I'm not going to stop you," Blaze said. She turned her head just enough so sand wouldn't get in her mouth. She could feel the particles get into her fur, lodging in and sticking there.

The two continued on silence for a bit as the wind died down for just a moment, leaving Blaze to feel just how hot it was. She was used to heat, but it was the direct heat of fire, not the indirect heat of the desert. The Sol Empire didn't have many deserts actually, and the ones it did have were small and had a surprising amount of life in every corner.

Not like this one. This one had nearly nothing. At least nothing visible directly around them. It may have a burgeoning population underneath the soil, but neither she nor Tails were good diggers. Or maybe the fox was, and had just never demonstrated it?

Tails gently touched her shoulder. "What?" she asked, seeing as how as he didn't say anything. He was silent, his jaw dropping as he stared in front of them.

She wanted to guess it was some other hazard that was probably going to try to kill them. Seemed to be usual in this place. She hesitated before she gave a look, and she sighed. "I hate being right..." she murmured.

A giant storm cloud stood in from of them, as if challenging their dare of crossing the vast desert. It was a golden brown, the same color of the sand, except this was much darker, much...angrier.

"We have two options then, I'm thinking," Tails said suddenly. "We can go faster around it, or through it."

"I don't like our odds of going through it," Blaze said instantly. The speed of the sand would no doubt strip their fur and skin from their bodies. There would be nothing left except skeletons for the grubs to feast on. "You forgot one. We can stop and roll."

"With what? We don't have time to dig a hole and there's no cave anywhere nearby."

"Your blanket. The one that expands? How big do you think a desert will make it? Enough to cover us and protect us from the sandstorm? As long as we don't spill any water on it, it should be fine," Blaze reasoned.

Tails blinked, his mind obviously racing. "It...might be. It'll be close. And it might get uncomfortable," Tails said.

"I'd rather be uncomfortable than dead," Blaze summarized. She stopped between two sand dunes, trying to ignore how the sand was burning away at her feet. "I think here's the best place," she murmured.

"Between? No, I agree," Tails said as Blaze opened her mouth as to say something. She wanted to say 'then he can find a place on his own and compare', but if he was going to acquiesce she wasn't going to look down on it.

She also felt slightly silly for not thinking about the blanket that he'd used ages ago in the forest. The one that expanded, and could be used as a tent. It probably would've saved them a lot of harm already, but admittedly they were in a hurry. Only problem was that it would be a pain to shrink back down.

He fished it out of his bail-bag, trying not to wince as his feet felt the heat from the sand, but Blaze saw through him easily. Even she had to admit the sand was almost burning hot, and that was to her. The storm was barely five minutes away from them now, and Blaze could feel the heat and wind start to gather. This was going to be a close one, she felt.

She grabbed one side and held it down, rolling herself up in half of it. Tails grabbed the other half and rolled it, and with a light shuffling that Blaze had to roll a few times for, they closed the edges. It was big enough for the both of them, but it was rather close, and it was going to get warm, she knew. Her legs were almost intertwined with his, and she felt his chest fur against hers. There was no more room for them to move around, and Blaze said nothing as she heard the storm start to parade around them.

The top of the blanket held firm. Small portions would open up, and one of the two of them would grab it and hold it shut on the sides.

The sandstorm was loud. It almost hurt Blaze's ears, and she felt as Tails held his own ears down with one hand, trying to deafen himself. The sand raged around them, flipping them over once every few minutes. "If we survive this, I think it'll be a miracle," Tails muttered after the wind died down for a second. It picked back up a second later and tossed them both head over heels down what must have been a sand dune.

"You still have the tablet mapping right? That way we can still find our way out," Blaze said. "Or a compass."

"We're heading south. Pretty sure we both know how to navigate via moon," Tails answered. "But yeah, it is."

"Then you should get some sleep. If you can. I know I can't," Blaze suggested. It was warm in the blanket, but it was much cooler than it was out in the desert, but warming up quicker. The blanket also seemed to have reached it's maximum limit on how far it could stretch. If they were okay with letting the sand in, they could easily lie side by side, but considering the sand was the danger, she figured it was best to keep it shut as much as possible.

"I don't think I could," Tails said. "Nor do I think I should," he muttered. Blaze's ears perked before she shot it down.

"And why's that?" she asked. She probably wasn't intended to hear that second portion, but she had a feeling she knew what it was.

"For...reasons. That's all," Tails said. The wind buffered against them again, sending them flying down another hill. She felt her hair smack against his head, and she tried to hold herself upright to not hurt him more. Their legs were tangled, and their tails weren't much better. It was going to be tough for both of them to get untangled after this.

"Right..." Blaze said, but she let the matter drop. She felt another sweat droplet race down her face. They were going to lose to dehydration of all things...although they still did have a bit of water. She reached down into her bags, and reached for a small wooden container. One of their last bits of water, and a bit of honey. "We should drink this. We'll need the water. I don't know how much good it's going to be," she said.

"Probably," Tails agreed as he fished it open. The wind hit them again, and he shoved the makeshift canteen closed as they rolled over. This time Blaze was on top, and she shuffled awkwardly over to the side. "Think it's safe?" he asked, his tone hesitant and not so strangely reluctant.

Blaze grabbed the canteen and popped it open, taking a quick swig before she capped it again. The water burned on the way down, tasting extremely sweet. "Just...we keep doing that."

Tails nodded as he took a quick swig. "That's...that almost kind of hurt. That bites...think the honey went bad?" he asked.

"Honey's pure sugar, that's why it doesn't go bad. Or only in a few weeks," Blaze answered. She popped it open again and took a quick swallow. The water had a rich taste, but the bite was still there. Slightly carbonated too. It reminded her of something, but she couldn't quite feel what.

Something to think about later, she knew. She'd figure it out eventually.

— Side T—

Tails found himself waking up a few hours later, his head pounding. He stretched a bit, only for his hands to accidentally nick Blaze's hair, who was also breathing surprisingly calm. He felt her fur against his, and he tried to shut out the feeling despite the headache. His head was acting as if someone had taken a drill to it and then waited for him to wake up before doing it again. He shook his head to try and clear it up, and stopped quickly before he threw up. Whatever it was that had happened, it was bad.

The wind outside sounded calm, and he pushed on the blanket a bit. It gave only a little bit of push, so they weren't buried underneath the sand. Maybe the sandstorm...there had been a sandstorm, right? He wasn't just thinking that? No, there had been one. Maybe it'd passed them by?

"My head...what happened?" Blaze murmured from next to him. She moved gently, and winced sharply as soon as her feet touched his. "Tails...?" she asked after a moment.

"I think the sand-"

"Too loud..." Blaze complained. She lit up a small fireball and immediately both of them let out small hisses. Tails' own headache became immeasurably worse, before he tried to push it back. They had running to do. Maybe. Probably. Assuming that this headache wasn't as bad as seemed to be.

"-storm passed," Tails finished, much quieter. Blaze let out a small mew of agreement at his volume. "We should go."

Blaze nodded slowly. She let out a deep breath as she moved to find the folds. It was difficult, as they'd somehow tangled together creating a small ball around them, but working together they managed to find it. The sandstorm had passed, and left them partially buried in a sand dune. The sun was overhead, but deep into the horizon, lighting the sky and desert in the reddish salmon flames of dusk.

It was warm, but not so warm that he hated it, as he had earlier. He reached to grab his bags, only for his hand to grab one that felt the same, but didn't have the same shape to it. Blinking, and unthinking, he glanced towards Blaze only to cover his eyes a second later. The quick movement made him feel nauseous, but they were low on water anyways. They couldn't afford to vomit now. "Blaze..." he murmured, "clothes."

"Shit," Blaze let out. "I...thanks for not looking, Tails," she said lightly, adjusting her top. "Let's grab the bags and run," she murmured a minute later. He gave another glanced if only to make sure she was decent. Bags...weren't they supposed to not have any? He couldn't think right now, and brushed the thought aside.

Tails nodded, and stuffed the blanket into the bail-bag in it's still extended state. It barely fit, but it would fit well enough once he stuffed it in there. His hand went past another jar of honey. They still had..."Blaze...do you remember anything?"

"Be more specific?" she asked, glancing at him carefully. It seemed she was nursing the biggest headache she'd ever have, but she shrugged on her bags without fear before she started to walk up the dune, heading south. She had her eyes shut for a good chunk of the dune.

"The last couple of hours. Since we opened the jar of water and honey," Tails asked. "Because I don't remember anything. It's as if it's a giant blur, or it just never happened."

"I think either the honey had gone bad or it fermented and we got drunk," Blaze deadpanned. "Pretty sure we got drunk."

"Sonic's going to kill me for underage drinking," Tails said quietly as he bolted up the hill too. Despite the headache he got from it, he felt...somewhat okay, actually. Like he'd gotten an actual good nights rest. Was that normal for drinking? He wasn't sure.

"Just means he'd have the opportunity to," Blaze reasoned, "which means we have to get home," she finished. She pointed far off, "I don't think we rolled that far. Maybe a mile or two. I'm refreshed."

"I am too. But I feel like I have a killer headache," Tails said.

"I do too," Blaze agreed, "but it's better to try to ignore it. Run?" she asked, bolting off into the dark sand, the soft light of dusk illuminating it.

Tails shook his head, glad that his headache was...not wearing off, but easier to ignore now that he knew what it was. How did most sapients deal with hangovers? He tried to remember what Sonic did for it, only to come up empty. The hedgehog did usually try to avoid coming back while drunk or hungover...

Blaze was far ahead of him now, but he forced himself to ignore the hangover, if that's what it was, to start his own running. The sand flew underneath them, now only merely warm from the desert heat instead of the burning that they had been. The stars shone above, the moon waxing near full but not quite there yet, probably in the next few days if he remembered anything about astronomy. The desert flew underneath as he pushed himself, matching to Blaze's speed.

She was running a bit slower, he noticed, as if she was uncomfortable with something. "Something wrong?" he asked after a moment.

"No," she said instantly. She looked away, before she looked back up. "Yes. We must have gotten tangled up worse than we thought. Do you think we could escape the heat under the blanket from now on?" she asked.

"Probably. If we set it up underneath a dune again, we probably could keep cool that way. It might be a bit warm and tight, but it should work," Tails said. Blaze grimaced a bit, something about his words was making her uncomfortable, but she seemed to ignore it as she nodded slowly.

They kept running, for how long Tails didn't know. The moon kept up its heavenly path. They didn't talk, didn't focus on anything besides running. Tails' stomach was telling him that he should eat something, but he knew there wasn't much food left. Finally when the moon was more than three quarters down did something change besides the desert vista.

Blaze's ears perked forward a bit. "We may not have to bury ourselves, actually. You hear that?" she asked after a long moment. Tails's ears moved to the front of his head, aiming to hear anything that she could be talking about.

It was faint. Very quiet, worse than even the desert during the day before the sandstorm and wind came in. But it was there, a slight flowing sound that immediately rushed into his heart. "A river!" he answered.

"Probably only a few miles to there," Blaze said with a large smile. "We've made it!" she said.

Tails pushed himself a bit harder, matching Blaze's speed as she too sped up. The thought of water had galvanized them, something that they hadn't thought possible. After the river was...well, it was just the river. They'd made it. They'd basically crossed a world.

The miles flew under them, the desert sand slowly changing from sand to dirt and from dirt to grass and weeds. Tails slowed down to reach for the bag with his shoes, only to realize that it was missing. Had his shoes burned with Blaze's?

Then again, was he really all that bothered by it? The grass and weeds felt amazing underneath him, and he felt taller and stronger just from it. Was it because it was so forbidden to him, usually? Or was the exertion finally getting to him? Blaze jumped around from pack of grass to pack of grass, a brilliant smile on her face as the temperature seemed to normalize out. The river was far, but there was a set of plains now, and the river could be heard clearly.

She went from a run to a fast walk, and Tails matched her pace. "I think my shoes were in your packs, somehow," Tails murmured after a second.

"They were?" Blaze asked, quickly checking her own packs. His normal red and white shoes were gone. "Huh. I'm sorry Tails."

"It's alright. Not your fault. Rather be barefoot than dead, right?" Tails said, trying to sound confident. Blaze let out a small laugh as she nodded.

"Much better," she said. "Hopefully we don't have to go through a forest though. Or brambles."

"That's what flying's for," Tails answered. The sides of the grass and reeds got slowly wetter as they went, and the roar of the river was almost overshadowing them. "Sounds like the river's a big one!" he shouted.

"I think it is!" Blaze said as she crossed a small hill. "Massive!" she agreed. Tails followed, and he let out a small sigh. For all that they had crossed the forest, the plains, the mountains and jungle, and now desert, they still had the river in front of them.

The river stretched out in front of them, nearly a mile wide it seemed. The water was running swiftly, pure and crystal clear. Tails hovered over it, glad to see the small shapes of the fish swimming upriver. Some of the bigger ones were faster, and by the time he thought to catch one were already gone.

"Not sure I can carry you over the entire thing," Tails said as he landed. "But there is fish here, at least. We can take a moment to restock our water and food supplies."

"The water's running fast, too. Not sure I'd be able to run across it, honestly. Maybe if I boost jump and you catch me, carry the rest of the way?" Blaze asked. She blinked for a moment. "But food and rest sounds good. And washing. Both of us."

Tails stared at her, before he chuckled mirthlessly. He didn't smell anything off about it, but that didn't mean she didn't. "Alright. You wash first, I'll grab us some dinner?" he asked.

Blaze answered by immediately diving into the water, not bothering to take off her clothes. "Water's freezing, but that's not a bad thing," she murmured when she came back up. Her fur was wet and hugged close, and her clothes did little to hide anything.

"At least let me turn around!" Tails shouted as he made sure to look at anywhere except the bathing woman. He heard a loud laugh from Blaze as she dove underneath the water again. She was teasing him again.

He cautiously opened his eyes to see that Blaze was starting to come back in, her body soaked with the cold water. "Water's freezing. I'll get a fire started," she said, sitting down as the grass caught fire instantly. It was a warm fire, but it was the kind of warm he instinctively retreated from. He blamed the desert for that reaction.

He took off his bags and bail-bag, before jumping in himself. He felt odd washing in front of Blaze, but she'd done it to him, so it was only normal to do the same back, right?

The water was freezing. It was almost Ice Cap cold, if he had to be honest. If it wasn't running as fast as it was he had no doubt it probably would've been a frozen river. The current was pushing him back with a surprising amount of force, but even with him just standing in the water he could feel the small fish as they pushed themselves around him.

He took care to make sure water got in all the necessary spots, grabbing a few of the smaller fish on his way out. There was a ton here, as it was just about to be mating season for them. It probably was, he thought. Wasn't winter or spring the season when most fish made that uphill battle, or was that just in his world?

He came back out a minute or two later, shivering madly both with delight and cold. After the heat of the desert, he felt no reason he couldn't be a little laughing mad. Blaze was obviously feeling it, the relief from being out of the desert and mountains.

He threw one fish to the cat, who merely smirked at him before the smell of cooked fish emanated to his nose. "Smells good, doesn't it?" she said, stretching lazily next to the perfectly controlled fire.

"I wonder if I can do that with electricity?" Tails murmured. He didn't want to try it right now though, he was still soaking wet. "Something to try later, I suppose."

"I think you can. Electrokineticist's are pretty rare, from what I remember. Kinetics as a whole are a rare breed," Blaze answered. "Electricity's considered one of the strongest ones, but that's only because everything runs on electricity. Eventually, at least."

"What, you mean like bio-electricity? I can control that, too?" Tails asked. He hoped the answer was no. The ability to control bio-electricity meant he could, if he got good enough, control someone's head and body. Force them to feel things.

"The strongest ones can. The Sol Empire only has one on record though, and he's from nearly two, three hundred years ago. A fox, with multiple tails. But more than two, I want to say nine?" Blaze suggested.

Tails nodded. "I'm nowhere near that, then."

Blaze tilted her head, her gold eyes staring him down.

Fun fact! I actually calculated how drunk they would have been. Assuming that it was a 40oz canteen, and assuming they split it evenly, at around 12% alcohol (average for homemade mead), they both would have been around .24 blood alcohol level. More than enough to induce blackouts. And considering they had it all at once, without any food, and probably drinking alcohol for the first time...

I have too much free time sometimes. One more chapter until Exertion ends. Then begins the fifth arc...Until Next Time!