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.
Exception 5.1
Tails hurt. There was no easy way for him to admit that, other than he was in pain. A lot of it, actually. One of his namesakes was broken badly, and his leg was mangled almost just as bad. His usual golden yellow fur was stained with red in areas, and yet as many scratches as he had, it was nothing compared to the hell that Blaze must have been in.
The warrior vixen kept shouting at them to hurry up in that strange language of hers. While Tails was multilingual, hers was one that he'd never heard of before, and his translator was only working whenever he could bring it out. He and Blaze were hanging on each other, using each other as crutches for their bad sides. She was limping badly, and the vixen kept dragging them further into the plains, and within half an hour, a forest.
Tails wasn't surprised, although he was starting to hate the smell of forests. It was almost cinnamon in a way, mixed with iron that he was fairly certain wasn't from the forest but rather from the blood in his nose. There was an oaky smell, too, but he wasn't sure where it was from.
The vixen was pretty, he had to admit though. She was mostly red-furred, with small streaks of grey down her back and her tail. Her feet were black furred, and her hands were the same, complete with sharpened claws at the end. She had both a small spear and a crossbow hanging on her belt, and she was walking with her head held high. She was young; if Tails had to guess he'd have said around Blaze's age. Maybe a bit younger.
She had a green tribal outfit on, something that left half her front and back bare, leaving the rest to cover her waist and thighs. There was a small circle of leather tied together for her belt, making her look a lot like how he had imagined the human mythic Robin Hood. Or how Sonic had described Link, the one time he'd seen him in the Lost Hex.
"Think we can pause?" he asked after a moment. Their caretaker looked back, giving an annoyed glare. "Blaze and I aren't doing well. We need to rest," he explained.
"She can't understand you," Blaze said quietly. "We'd have to patch ourselves up while on the way."
As if to make sure his point got through, Tails sat down instantly. Blaze had to suddenly cover for him, hissing with pain as she landed on her bad leg.
The vixen sneered, before she sat down too. She said a newer word, and Tails struggled to copy it. She narrowed her eyes, and Tails eyed the Miles Electric. Moving as slowly as he could, he got it out, showing off the screen and its translator. She blinked, tilting her head in confusion. He said the same word again.
"Fine," the word popped up on the screen. Blaze stared at it. "Wait, that thing translates you, too?" she asked. She had her eyes scrunched up a bit, as if either in pain or trying to remember something. Or trying to not remember pain.
"It translates anything, as long as it has enough time. It does it through tone and expression-"
The vixen interrupted, pointing her spear at the Miles Electric, threatening to poke it out. She murmured a few words, backing up as words appeared on the screen. "What is that? What sorcery is that!?" Tails blinked in surprise. Was that the first time that she'd actually seen the thing full out? He'd been hiding it before, trying to make sure that it wouldn't be taken away. Maybe he could use this...
Tails shook his head. He found the words, and he hoped they were right. "No sorcery," he tried to say quietly. "No what," the screen helpfully translated.
The vixen giggled. "You don't know any actual languages do you?" the translator asked as she talked. "Or does that thing speak to you? Are you a lightning channeler!?" it asked as she grinned broadly at them. She got excited, leaning down as she spoke the last two words.
"I think that's a helpful word set to remember. Whichever one was 'lightning channeler," Blaze said quietly. The vixen nodded and pointed to Blaze. The lavender cat shook her head, raising her good hand and making a small fireball, hovering in the air.
"Fire caller!"
"Honestly, I think it's helpful to learn all we can. I have the words saved in the Miles Electric's memory, so we can practice by ourselves too," Tails said. "No. We speak it," he tried.
The vixen giggled again. "A lightning channeler and a fire caller at the same time! The elders will have to give me a mate now!" she said, cheering.
"I'm not going to touch that with a ten foot pole," Blaze muttered. "But it does explain a lot, like how she's letting us rest, now."
"I think it's because she's too busy cheering to try to stop us," Tails said. He watched with a small smile as she cheered. It must have been a badge of honor to capture kineticists like them. He hoped that meant they weren't about to be sacrificed to 'ye olde' gods, but he wasn't about to suggest that little thing. He didn't know the words either way.
He checked the batter on the Miles Electric, and checked for more messages. There weren't any, but that didn't mean much. It required a lot of power to get one through the dimensional barrier, and to receive it was near luck only. There was plenty of power left, and so he set the lowest volume possible on it as he attempted to learn the language of this world.
"Turn it up?" Blaze asked after a moment. "I think it's best if we both learn," she said quietly. Tails nodded, and started to. Her eyes scrunched up again, as she heard the words spoken back.
"That thing didn't capture my voice, did it? I can still talk..." the vixen muttered as she stared at the Miles Electric again. Tails shook his head. How was he supposed to explain technology to anyone? He could barely explain it to Blaze, and she was raised with just as much tech as he was.
"It...captured small voice," Tails tried to explain. He shook his head. This was harder than it looked, he thought. The movies always made it look easy.
Or the movies were of Sonic and his 'translating spell'. Tails internally rolled his eyes as soon as he brought up the two magic books he'd been transported into. Or rather, the one magic book and the other one in that he was supposedly King Arthur. Sonic. King Arthur. Never gonna happen, Sonic. There were loads of weird things that they had stumbled onto, but that one? No.
"It captured small voice? Past voice?" the vixen asked. Tails nodded. A past voice. Good enough for 'recording' he supposed. "It captures the past? How?"
Tails stared at her. How was he going to explain? The language was obvious a barrier, although he was trying his best. "It doesn't matter. Less than a quarter day's travel from here. The elders will know what to do with you two. A fire caller and a lightning channeler...they'll have use for you two," the vixen said, staring hard at Tails. He matched her stare.
"How lightning channeler?" he bungled. The vixen giggled. The fact that she was so used to her own language meant it was probably the only one used. She wouldn't be able to learn theirs in that case.
"You mean 'Why' lightning channeler," she corrected. "Channeler's are rare, and the most powerful of the elementalists. What backwards area are you two from? You aren't mates, are you?" she asked, suddenly glaring at Blaze.
"No, no mates," Tails supplied as soon as he could, shaking his head. The vixen nodded, as if she completely understood. He cheered internally. His first actual sentence in a new language that was understandable! That was one for the history books.
"Good. Elementalists can't breed with one another. It's forbidden," The vixen explained. "And breaking means you must atone."
"Atone, meaning...?" Tails hesitated to ask. He had a feeling he knew where this was going. Blaze rolled her eyes off to the side, making sure the vixen couldn't see her.
"Death by sacrifice. The gods must be appeased of any breaking of forbidden acts."
"Called it," Blaze muttered. "Everything in this world wants to kill us. Why not a primal tribe out in the forest?" she said.
"You should keep your friend from talking in bad language. Elders won't like it. Might mean you break forbidden act just by existing," the vixen warned.
Tails sighed. "Blaze, that's not helping. Apparently it's a 'bad language'."
"Of course it's a bad language. It's common," she supplied instantly. "Most other primal places like this would strike you down instantly for talking in common. Even in Sol."
"...You have primal tribes in the Empire?"
"The outskirts. We're doing our best to help them, but they don't really like us. We've only claimed their land to ensure the next door neighbors don't kill them," Blaze said.
"When you said Empire, I didn't think you meant literal Empire."
"Kingdom? Take your pick Tails, there's more words that mean the same thing," Blaze said. She snapped her fingers on her good side as she turned to the vixen. "That's his name, Tails," she said in the same language as her.
Tails stared at her, and the vixen's jaw dropped. "How?" she asked. Tails nodded, that's what he wanted to know!
"Figured out what language it is," she said, smirking lightly. "It's similar to the native cat language back in the Sol Empire. I hadn't thought of or spoken it in years."
"Similar? Not exact?" Tails asked, his eyes flicking between Blaze and the Miles Electric. It had actually identified her new tongue as 'primal cat (Sol Empire)'. It hadn't identified the vixen's. Was that because they were different, or was that because that's how he thought of it? He'd have to go into the code to see if it was a glitch, but that was a long way off.
"No, not exact. She talks strange," the vixen said. "I am Katia," she named herself.
"Blaze," Blaze introduced herself. "Just as you would talk strange in my area. We are, at least, understandable."
Tails had to keep looking at the Miles Electric, because his ears were not capable of keeping up. They weren't just making strange sounds now, it was a mix of hundreds of signals at the same time, all of them foreign. Was there another component besides verbal? If so, that would make the language exponentially harder.
Kind of blew his mind, honestly. "How many languages do you know?" he asked Blaze after a moment of silence.
"A few. I am the second head of diplomacy for the Sol Empire. There's a reason I'm always out and not at the castle," Blaze answered.
"Just luck on this one?"
"Definitely," Blaze answered. "Katia, we are both heavily injured after our encounters with the..." she said, looking down for a moment. "There's no equal to leviathan. I'll have to improvise..." she muttered in common. "Giant river snake of water. And the earthquake before."
"There was an earth shake?" Katia asked. "I didn't feel an earth shake."
Tails stared. That was impossible. Flat out impossible. An earthquake like that had to be in the eight or nine range, if not more. That much earth being thrown around should've been able to be felt for miles. Katia didn't seem like she could go that fast, not like he or Blaze could, and they weren't in the river that long...were they? No, he had been practically dead.
"Odd. Did you see the riverside on the other side? That was where we came from," Blaze explained.
"You came from the Great Desert? That way lies only death."
"Farther. Past the mountains."
Katia slowly crouched into a fighting stance, grabbing her spear. "Did you come from the Lost Jungle?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.
"No. Farther. Past the other mountain range. Past the plains, and past the forest."
"You've crossed the Edge of Existence. Where the Elementalist Mountain lies," Katia said, relaxing her pose. "It judges all who live here, and grants them the power of the elementalists."
"Elementalists?" Tails asked, interrupting. He had to get the bottom of this exposition tree, quick!
Katia blinked, before she nodded. "Those granted the power of mastery over the world. The lightning channelers are the strongest and most renowned. Next are the fire callers, like Blaze. Followed that are the earth carriers, then the water couriers. All elementalists are renowned by the gods, and are considered sacred. There is a heirarchy even with them though."
"Kinetics," Blaze said, switching back to common. "She's talking about kineticists. Electro, pyro, aqua, and terra."
"What about air? Aerokinetics?"
Blaze turned. "There are others that are missing. Air controllers?"
Katia shook her head. "Your knowledge seems spare and strange. You know of the lost art, but you don't understand elementalism. Air controllers are gone. The fire callers made sure of it. The elders made it forbidden."
"They wiped out the aerokinetics?" Tails asked. His words were broken as he attempted to bring in words that had no equivalent.
"I think they did more than just that..." Blaze murmured. "I think they killed the entire portion of their population that had the ability to become an aerokinetic. Tails, I don't know what it's going to be like when we get there, but I don't think it'll be an easy ride," she said in common. He nodded in understanding.
-Side B-
Blaze was surprised, more often than not, that her language that she had learned almost on a whim had turned out to be so necessary.
Katia was surprisingly talkative, once she realized that she could understand and talk with Blaze. She let them rest for probably longer than she felt was necessary, although Blaze was thankful for it, as her entire right side was a giant massive bruise and not functioning right. "As good as your talking is, you may want to brush up on it," Katia said after she'd asked them to get up to start moving again. She wanted to make it to their village before the end of the day, as apparently the nights were dangerous here.
Blaze withheld the temptation to roll her eyes. Like really, it was dangerous here. It was dangerous here the entire time! She'd almost died nearly five or six times already, if not more. She'd almost lost track of how many times she'd almost died. Tails, too, was probably in the same boat.
"The elders won't make you an Exception, otherwise," Katia warned. Tails' eyes met hers, and she sighed. Of course the primal tribe would want to kill them. It was almost becoming standard.
"Exception?" Tails asked.
"Probably means sparing us," Blaze responded in common. "Otherwise, everything we did to get here is forbidden, and they'd kill us," Blaze summarized.
"It's like this place is trying to be as deadly as possible," Tails reasoned. He tried it in the native tongue, and Katia giggled.
"You're not wrong," Blaze responded in kind. "Much more dangerous than where we're from."
"Where is that? I know you said 'Sol Empire', but where is that?" Katia asked. She danced around a couple of branches on the ground, and Blaze gently tried to hobble over them. The ground felt familiar beneath her feet, a combination of grass and forest that...made her want to feel more.
This place was dangerous. It was almost capable of molding her thought patterns to match what it wanted. Even Katia's clothes looked like something that she felt she would have made had she had enough material. Whether that was because it was an easy or common design, or because the world was almost literally messing with her head, she didn't know.
"It's...far. Across the worlds," Blaze tried to explain. "We're from other worlds."
Katia nodded. "Ah. That's forbidden, too. When the elders ask, just say across the ocean. That's not," she advised.
"You're not going to try to kill us after that?"
Katia shook her head. "No. Why would I? I'm a lightning channeler too. This is almost guaranteed to get me a mate. I wouldn't risk my chances by killing you now, and having Spark steal my thunder."
"Spark?"
"Another vixen warrior of the lightning channelers. She's often claimed to be the strongest of us. There are rumors that she could even summon lightning directly!" Katia explained. "She's...you'll meet her. It will be impossible for you not to. The first two Exceptions in decades. She'll want to meet you. Probably try to take Tails as mate, simply because he's an Exception."
"I'm not mishearing, right? You're talking mates, as in...?" Tails said, holding onto his tablet at the same time. The screen was as dark as possible, but Blaze could still see the small 'charging' icon in the upper left corner.
"Yes, those kind," Blaze said. "There's multiple words for it in their language, but it's very much what you think it is."
"Should I be worried?"
"Does the male spider ever ask that to the female spider and get a response?" Blaze asked. Tails paled more, and she let out a quiet chuckle. She probably shouldn't be messing with him like that, but she had to admit, it worried her too. This talk of 'getting mates'...authoritarian culture? The elders rule everything, and everything they don't want is 'forbidden' under penalty of death?
It would give them plenty of options for control. And favoritism. Although it sounds like these 'Exceptions' are not the rule, so maybe the favoritism isn't as bad as she thought it would be. Blaze would have to keep her head held high though, she was walking into this masked and hooded already. "Almost there," Katia said. "Another eighth cycle and we'll be there at the gates. We'll make it before the cycle's end."
Blaze nodded slowly. Cycle probably refers to the sun, so an eighth cycle would mean...an hour? Hour and a half? How long was a cycle? Twelve hours or twenty three?
She was glad it was fairly close though. And that Tails was right next to her, keeping her propped up. Every step hurt and lanced pain through her, but she was doing her best to keep up. The fox on the other hand was doing much better, his injured tail held high off the ground, held aloft by his other tail. It almost looked like he only had the one tail, actually. Blaze wondered if Katia had even realized he had two.
Her own tail was broken in at least three places. Or just badly bruised, it was hard to tell considering her entire body was bruised.
Each step seemed to take infinite time, but the forest got deeper and surprisingly brighter. It never thinned out entirely, and many of the stumps had dozens of mushrooms growing out of their top. Each of them were unique colors in the usual brown, green, and some white of the forest. A golden yellow one leaned towards her, and she fired a small fireball at it. Katia smirked at her. Blaze blinked again; a stump had gone entirely white.
Was there snow on the ground? She looked again, seeing a small pathway of white. "Snow? You have snow here?" she asked, her eyes narrowed a bit. It didn't seem cold enough for that. Actually it seemed almost tropical...then the wind blew, a cold chill biting at her fur. Right. Winter.
"Yes, but only during the cold times. It's an early fall this year, that's good. Means it shouldn't disturb the rest of the harvest," Katia explained.
"This place is too far south for snow! Unless we were more north than we thought," Tails said.
"There could be any number of reasons. Farther from the ocean, more valleys keeping the cold and rain trapped, or we ran north instead of south. We were basing it off of our own world's star. What's not to say this world goes backwards? Not like your compass worked."
"I didn't even think of any of that," Tails admitted. His ears drooped a bit before he flinched and propped them back up.
"We're too close for you two to start talking again in that strange language of yours. Talk normal or don't talk at all," Katia said, suddenly sharp and harsh. "And put away that thing!" she snarled, pointing to Tails' tablet. The fox glared at her for a moment, before he put it back into the bail-bag.
Blaze nodded, and Tails glanced down before he quieted down too. The cat could still see him mouthing some of the words, trying to teach himself the flow of the language from the words he remembered. It was kind of surprising if he managed to learn it like that, actually. The walk took another half an hour in silence and in agony before they found themselves at some wooden gates, popping up out of the ground. There were makeshift walls made of wood going from the sides. There didn't appear to be any guards on the top, as Blaze had been expecting.
Katia knocked solidly against the gates, a solid block of wood and tree, resounding with a thunk. "Name!" came a male voice from within.
"Katia. Here with two forbidden ones," Katia answered instantly. Blaze figured she must have been practicing what she was going to say.
"And they aren't dead?"
"They're elementalists. And one speaks like us. The other is learning. I intend to lead them to the elders for Exception," Katia responded.
"Very well," came the voice within again. The doors opened sideways instead of out or in, and there stood a tall male rabbit, with only a small cloth around his waist. His fur was a deep red, and his eyes narrowed towards Blaze. He had a spear tied to his back, and at his waist was a crossbow much in the same vein as Katia's.
Standard armaments, perhaps? Blaze questioned it as Tails and her hobbled in. "They're injured. I doubt the elders would grant them Exception status like this. How did they get this hurt, if they're elementalists?"
"You try slamming your face into a rock at near mach speeds and see how your body likes it," Blaze muttered under her breath. "Followed by running nearly a mile on water."
His eyes blinked and widened. His ears weren't just for show, it seemed. "You weren't joking, Katia. They do speak. And with quite tall tales, too."
"I'm not sure their tales. Their wounds speak of time in the desert, and of the Lost Jungle. Both of which they spoke to me of in their journeys," Katia responded.
"If that is true, Exception status is near guaranteed. And if they are elementalists, even of just earth or water, you would be highly honored. Best not let Spark hear," the guard warned. He grabbed a small handle and slid the door back into place with a large grunt of effort.
"I don't intend to," Katia nodded. She turned towards them again, "Come. We head to the witch's hut. She will heal you there."
Blaze withheld the desire to roll her eyes again. Of course there were witches in this place. Why wouldn't there be? She wanted to think of how the witch would try to kill them. Maybe turn into a ravenous beast? Just let the infections that she was no doubt harboring kill them? Or stand by and laugh maniacally as she pulled a wave of water-
"Here," Katia said a few minutes later, interrupting Blaze's internal rant. There was a small wooden hut in front of them, mostly made of small sticks and twigs that were intertwined together to form a dome over it. It opened in the center to the air, and Blaze could immediately smell something cooking.
She could smell again. She blinked; when had that happened? When had it left her? Somewhere in the desert, or maybe the jungle with the nymphs or whatever they were. She knew she'd smashed her head against the rock, so maybe then? She hadn't actively tried to sniff anything in a while.
Probably because Tails had the much stronger nose.
The forest around smelled like a mix of pine and cinnamon, and Katia much the same, mixed with a small scent of musk and oil.
Katia raised a hand and knocked, very gently, on a small twig on the outside. Immediately the twigs pulled apart, much in the same manner as the nymphs. Blaze tried her best to hold her flinch.
A green hedgehog stared out. Unlike Sonic, who had his spines in large centers on his back, this one had their spines in long rows rolling all the way down her back. "I see my healing incense is working. Come in," she said quietly. She sounded quite young. Katia practically pulled them in after grabbing their arms, both of them staggering onto the ground as the hedgehog waved her hand, closing the hut and returning everything to darkness. Blaze was lucky she pulled her in on her good side; her left side would not have felt good.
The hut smelled of...Blaze wasn't actually sure. There were flowers and medicines, but not all of them were. Spices, and mixes thrown around. The scent of clay was strong, and then the hedgehog lit a candle in the middle of the room.
"Quite a haul, Katia," the hedgehog said. "Come. Up on the bed," she said, the light playing with the shadows of her face. She was green furred, mostly, except for her stomach which had a large gash in it. She was seemingly barely older than Tails or Katia. Maybe her own age, or slightly older. Twenty five?
Blaze had to push herself up with one hand, the other one still not working. "She asked to get on the bed," she whispered as quietly as she could under her breath so Tails could understand her. His ears pricked, and she hoped he got the message. He must have, because he started to push himself up too.
Once they stood up, the hedgehog raised her hand. "Never mind, both of you too hurt. I've never...two tails..." she said, quickly looking around to Tails' namesakes. "Katia. Did you not see? Are you blind, girl!?"
"One was broken, wise one. I figured it would harm no-"
"Harm!? Think with more than your future, girl," the hedgehog went off. "Boy. Name?" she asked, pointing at Tails.
Blaze was almost only halfway uncertain that Tails didn't understand her at all. To be honest, she barely understood the hedgehog. The witch? Must have been. But most witches were much older, to meet a young one was...different.
Just before she was about to answer for him, he answered softly, "Tails," he said. "I not good with tongue," he went on to say.
"I can hear that, boy. Just fine though. And you, girl?"
"Blaze," she answered just as quick, staring into the hedgehog's red eyes. Red? Red. Not a trick of the light.
"Blaze. Hm, fitting name. Elementalist? With a name like that, you must be-" the hedgehog said. Blaze conjured a small fireball light hovering over their head, illuminating the entire hut far more than the small candle did.
The hedgehog blinked, before she nodded. "Impressive. Yes...I can see you both as Exceptions. Once you're healed, that is. Drink this," the hedgehog said swiftly, grabbing a small clay cup of some mixture that Blaze couldn't identify. She pushed it into Blaze's hands and forced her to put it to her mouth. It tasted sweet, like a mix of wine and tea, and went down surprisingly well.
"That'll knock you out for a good three hours," the witch said as Blaze suddenly felt lightheaded. "You might want to catch her, boy," she said, laughing quietly as the world faded from view, only to be replaced by soft fur.
Alright, show of hands, who expected these people to be nice? Anyone? Good, no one did. As Blaze and Tails point out, it's par for the course at this point.
Thus begins the first arc of the second bloom. Much darker than the first one, but that was Tails and Blaze struggling to learn the world. Now, they have to learn a different section. Expect lots of infodumps, especially in this arc.
Fun fact! In my original draft of the idea that turned into Blooming Tides, this was the final arc. But that left a lot of questions unanswered, so I pushed that back aways. This is also the smallest arc of the entire story, at only four chapters.
Until Next Time!