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.
Exception 5.3
Tails was having a hard time getting the taste and smell of that concoction out of his mouth and nose. It was like the smell sat in his mouth and just stayed there and the taste of it, even though there was nothing to really taste, just stayed in his nose.
Despite his words, he knew he was right. The taste in his nose and the smell in his mouth. That's how bad it was. He shook his head lightly to try to get out of his own head.
He saw Blaze give him a curious and worried look, and he shook his head for that. His hands went to the bail-bag that should have been at his waist, only for his hands to hit nothing. He gave a panicked look to Blaze, who quickly shook her head and motioned to Plague. Guess he wasn't going to be able to use the Miles Electric for this; he had to trust his head with the new language. His mind started to become alive with the words and phrases that they commonly used. He would be nowhere near fluent, but he also didn't need to be.
A hidden door on the opposite side of the backdoor opened up gently. "Please come -," the guard said warmly. There was more, but he didn't know the word. This was going to be difficult, wasn't it?
The inside of the meeting place was a warm brown and green, mixed with the various colors of the inhabitants. Sticks lined the wall with hundreds of grasses weaving in and out between them, and the dirt was warm and soft underneath their feet.
The elders were on a raised dais, four of them in various colors matching to an element. They stood tall, their dresses and robes looked affluent and were richly colored.
In comparison, there were hundreds of other individuals of multiple species spread throughout the other side of the meeting hall. Most of them were not dressed well, and definitely not nearly as affluent as the elders were. A few in the front looked at Tails and Blaze like they were scum on their feet. The guard that had taken them out of the room let them walk on their own, and he gave them a warning glance when they got to the front. The guard spoke something, and Tails only caught 'Exception' in it. He really wished he had the Miles Electric right about now. Or his Charger. He missed that one too.
The four elders weren't actually all that old, Tails thought. One, a cat similar to Blaze but with seemingly much larger paws and was a solid black, was dressed in white and yellow. The one next to him was a female vixen, similar to Katia, dressed in warm oranges and reds. She did seem much older, with her muzzle having more than a few gray hairs on it.
Next to her was a green jay, similar to Jet from his own world. Although Jet was a hawk, wasn't he? This was no hawk, as he didn't have the curved beak for it. Nor did he have the 'holier than thou' attitude that also seemed to befall Jet. He had the cooler blues and greens.
The last one was a male reptile, with a hood up and nearly impossible to see. Tails had seen his one tail though, scarred as it was, and figured. He was dressed in the warm browns and the darker reds, reminiscent of iron ore. A few grey patches that Tails assumed was for other metals.
The yellow one, spoke up first. He had a haughty tone, calm and trailing, as if asking questions to something everyone all knew, and was merely delaying for time. Was he the leader? Must be, if he spoke up first.
The hawk seemed to be annoyed by it, and muttered something under his breath. The panther, because he couldn't be anything but, caught it, and leapt onto it. The reptile, not a chameleon but definitely some kind of lizard, said another thing, which caught another tirade from the panther.
They weren't speaking the usual language that he'd been hearing. It was more archaic, nearly impossible for him to understand. Was there a language secret only to the Elders? "Act as if you understand. They're just arguing right now," Blaze whispered, just low enough for him to hear it. "Earth was commenting you look like a little lost boy right now." His ears flicked in her direction as thanks.
Tails nodded and stared at the ground for a moment, before he looked back up and matched eyes with Earth. The lizard stared at him, and tilted his eyes before a small smirk graced his face, and he nodded carefully. The one in yellow was going on about something.
Blaze matched eyes with the fox in red, and she carefully nodded her own back. Tails was almost hopeful at this point. Now if only he could understand what was going on!
The panther suddenly pointed at him, and called out something. Tails stared at him, before he shrugged. Blaze's eyes widened as the leader called out another thing, pointing at her suddenly. "I'll tell you in a moment," she said, as she conjured a few fireballs of various colors around her.
The crowd, behind them, seemed to 'ooh' and 'ahh' at the impromptu light show. Whether they were actually impressed or whether it was because that meant that at least Blaze was an elementalist, Tails didn't know. He hoped it was for the elementalist thing- it probably helped their chances at least with the crowd.
"Lightning wanted you to show him your electrokinesis," Blaze muttered, "but most electric users wouldn't be able to. He set you up to fail." Tails stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Of course he wouldn't be able to; he was touching bare earth. Electricity, in all of its forms, went straight there to ground itself out. The only way to show electrokinesis while on the ground, for him, was to use the Charger. Or...to not touch the ground...
Lightning sat down after a moment, and Earth rose. "You have proven yourself flame caller. Can you prove yourself lightning channeler?" he asked in the language that Tails knew well enough by now.
He could, if he'd given time to prepare. But it's not like he could control lightning on command...his mind thought back to his tails rubbing together, creating a small static charge. He could, effectively, couldn't he? "I can," he called back, his tails spinning against each other quickly. He hovered not even an inch off the ground, so minute that he doubted any of the sapients in the audience saw him do it. There was a small charge building, tiny, but there. He drew it out from his tails, pushing it into his hand with all of his focus.
A small light charge was created in one hand, Tails using most of his concentration to pull the energy to his hand. He tossed it to his other hand, landing quickly and silently, not worried when the small charge showed itself for a split second before ignoring his focus and concentration to go running down into the earth underneath him.
"Lightning channeler has been proven as well. Lightning, I'm-" Earth said quietly. His words wandered off, and Tails didn't know any of them. "-with you. He seems healthy."
"The witch," Lightning growled. "The witch healed them. Witch!" he called. Plague stepped out of the back and carefully walked up to the front, in front of both Tails and Blaze. She had on the same brown overcoat, and a skull of some canine on her face. If Tails didn't know there was a hedgehog under there, he'd have thought whoever told him had been seeing things.
"Yes, Elder Lightning?" she asked. "You called for the witch, and the witch has answered."
"You healed these two?" Lightning asked. Plague nodded. "How injured were they?"
"Very. The caller could barely stand upright, and the channeler was broken in multiple places."
"You may go," the vixen said for the first time. Her voice was quiet and small, yet seemed to hold his attention. "I see no reason to not - Exception status."
"I agree with Fire. Outsiders they may be, but already they have proven themselves capable. Perhaps a trial?" The hawk said quietly.
"Yes, a trial would do nicely," Lightning said. He stared over the audience. "Who dares take these two on trial!?" he called out. Tails blinked. There were already two sapients picked out, far off the side, drawing no attention to themselves and standing in the darkness. Was this entire thing a giant farce?
"I will!" Katia announced from the side, stepping forward with the other sapient next to her. The vixen was standing with another female fox, with much the same shades of color as Tails. Her eyes were red though, and narrowed. She was mostly a golden yellow, except for her feet and hands. They were a dark black. The golden fox had small jolts of electricity jump off her fur into the ground below at seemingly random intervals. She was young, and was nearly a foot shorter than Katia.
"Katia. You shall take the caller. Spark, you shall take the channeler," Lightning said. "This is the Elder's will. Have them hunt. If they can bring back enough for a -, they may be granted Exception status. Otherwise, end them. Do so, and do so with -", Lightning called out. Tails blinked. Why did Lightning have to use so many words he didn't know?
The crowd seemingly cheered. "You're getting the girl, Spark. I'm getting Katia. Find something to hunt, enough for a feast," Blaze repeated under her breath.
That's what the word was. Tails rolled his eyes quietly as the crowd seemingly filtered out. "You both have one chance. Don't waste it," Fire said before she got up. Tails could hear the popping of her joints, and now that he saw her, Tails could tell she was older. Wrinkles and grey on her face were more than a simple statement. Lightning didn't seem that old at all, and the hawk was young as well. Earth seemed young, but Tails also knew that reptiles aged differently, so it was impossible to tell Earth's age.
Spark shot forward and immediately sized him up, her eyes roving over him like hunting for meat. "You're the thing Katia dragged in? Cute, I guess. Can you hunt?" she asked harshly. "If not, then I will be glad to separate your skin from your bones," she said in a practiced tone, as if she'd been trying to train herself to say it with the most threatening tone she had.
Tails sighed. He was starting to agree with Blaze on this front; it was almost tiring getting so used to death threats that even the more original of them failed to get through. Spark seemed more annoyed by his annoyance than anything. She raised an eyebrow. "That did nothing...what have you been through?" she asked.
"A lot of shit," Tails said gruffly in common. "Blaze, you're going to be alright?" he asked, turning to the purple cat. Katia had seemingly taken offense to being forced to take Blaze, and was now loudly arguing with Lightning about it.
"I'll be fine," Blaze said, waving her hand away as if swatting a fly. "You know I can hunt," she finished, staring at him. He knew the unasked question, 'could he'?
It didn't matter, at this point, did it? He was going to have to. "Come on," Spark said, roughly pushing him to the front of the meeting hall. "No time to waste. I'll show you the hunting area, and then you show me what you can do."
She had only a crossbow on her, and no spear. Maybe she didn't need it? He felt the pressure on his back and moved with her. Her steps were long and rough, the mark of a seasoned hunter. He matched step with her easily, glad that Plague's medicine seemed to be doing the trick. He'd even flown earlier and didn't feel like his spine was deciding to strangle him! It was a miracle!
"I heard you talk weird sometimes. Talk," Spark said suddenly. "Time will go by slow if you don't, and I don't like to waste time."
"Not sure what you mean by weird," Tails responded in common. Spark stared at him blankly, along with a few of the other inhabitants who probably were trying to catch a good view of the vixen behind him. Her legs were showing, and she had on a skirt that went down to her mid-thighs made of grass. Unlike Katia, who had a fabric dress, Spark seemed to prefer showing off her toned muscle, with only a small grass-knit top to keep her from exposing herself.
"You do speak weird. And you're a channeler. Why are you here?" Spark asked suddenly. Tails raised an eyebrow as she kept marching him. The dirt beneath him slowly shifted to more grass, and from there back to the forest environment he was almost sick of. She ignored any questioning glance he shot her way. "Alright. You have a job to do. Hunt. Boar, deer, I don't care. Just do it, and show me that you can do it," Spark said suddenly, pushing him forward so hard he fell onto the ground. He spun on the ground and sprung back up.
"Fine. Don't need to be rough," he said in common. Spark stared, accusingly, at him before she scoffed. She may not have understood him, but she understood his tone.
He took a deep breath, and tried to measure the scents. There was a scent of blood, for sure. It wafted off from Spark like she had bathed in it at one point. There were other scents too; pine was a big one, and the scent of sweetness and flowers. There was a scent of meat, and Tails followed it quietly. Spark was seemingly a master of stealth, based on the lack of noise she made as she followed him.
"You are quite loud," Spark commented without heat a few moments in. "Has the caller done all of your hunting for you?"
"No," Tails responded as his foot broke a stick. He was being loud, and now he wished that Blaze had managed to get him some stealth lessons earlier on. "She was just better at it."
"She is a caller. And a cat. They are hunters. You are a fox. Also a hunter. Are you so incapable?" Spark asked, her eyes piercing into him.
As if to react, his tails whirled up, and he took to the skies. "Not so incapable..." he whispered as his noise level went down to near nothing. Spark watched on with only a few glances of amusement before she went back to a blank face.
-Side B-
Blaze was impatient. Katia and the Lightning elder were arguing about how Katia was supposed to be the one taking Tails out to hunt, not Spark.
She waited impatiently, a foot tapping on the soil beneath her as she waited for Katia to be done. The Fire elder must have noticed her look of impatience, and both Water and Earth were still looking at the arguing two with a viciousness that made Blaze wonder how often the elders got told no. She had thought it was completely authoritarian.
"Characters, aren't they?" the old vixen asked as she came up. She was tall, slightly taller than Blaze's height and right around Tails' height if she had to guess. "No one tells Lightning 'no' and gets away with it often," she finished.
"Sounds to me like he needs to be told no more," Blaze acknowledged. "Fire elder," she nodded her head, trying to be respectful. She had no idea what the customs of these people were when it came to leadership, if she was supposed to bow or kneel or curtsy...although that one was hard for her at the best of times.
"Just call me Fire, young lady. It's been a long time since we've had an outsider here, let alone two. I believe Flora was the last one," Fire spoke softly.
"She was under the impression that none of you knew that she was."
"She tried to hide it, but she does have an accent. As do you. A different one, however. Is Katia aware of where you come from?"
"Across the ocean?" Blaze supplied, using the 'less forbidden' of the outsiders. Fire chuckled darkly.
"Is that what Katia told you to say? She is but a child, and we know what lay across the ocean. Suffice to say, we know that elementalists do not exist over there. No, child, you are from another world."
Blaze looked her in the eye for a moment. Her eyes glowed with a bright light behind them, as if she was finding her sudden inspection funny or witty. "I know not which one. This world is forbidden to many of you. The fact you are here may not be of your own choosing, and we elders are aware of that fact."
Blaze tilted her head lightly. "You're aware? That Tails and I aren't from here?"
"Indeed. Despite our simplistic way of life, we have been used as a 'purgatory' for other worlds in the past. Our world is deathly, and near impossible to leave. By sending someone here, it was known as a death sentence. If the water dragons didn't kill you, the rest of the world would. If it didn't, we would."
"And you knew? That you were acting as executioners?"
"We weren't proud of it, child. But we, the elders at the time, realized what was happening, and arranged the idea of forbidding things on pain of death."
"I thought that was just a way to control the masses."
"It does help with that, yes," Fire said without any attempt to hide it. "But no, it's original purpose was to keep the outsiders out, where they may die out there, and not in here. But there were a few good ones that were thrown here by accident...and so they created the Exception."
"Katia said something about it granting a mate, due to the higher status. You control who can mate and with who?" Blaze asked. A small fire trailed around her her fingertips before she recalled it.
Fire seemed to notice anyways. "Not on purpose. Lightning has more to do with that than anything. The older generations created the idea that by mating specific characteristics-"
"I don't want to hear anymore. Forget I asked," Blaze said. Whether or not it was run by someone, that didn't matter. To think the elders had that much control...it made her want to burn. "Katia! Forget your talk!" she called.
"Quiet, Outsider!" Lightning roared at her. "You will get your honor, but only when we deem it right!"
"You saw what he did! He summoned lightning, right here! Even Spark can barely do that! I found them, I deserve to be with him for the hunt!" Katia yelled back.
"Are you irritated with us, child?" Fire asked Blaze after a moment. The lavender cat's ears flicked gently, and she felt her tail sway and flick in irritation before she stopped it.
"More than you think," Blaze answered. "You said this world was hard to leave from. How?" she asked.
"The rainbow roads are the only way. They lead to many places, and some of them had other portals near them. One of those portals might take you out. We have never found one that has for certain," Fire claimed.
"You're giving her false hope, Fire," Water said as he appeared almost instantly next to her. The sparrow, because she knew what he was even if Tails didn't, stared at her. "I know not what brought you here, Outsider. Fire has taken a liking to you. Your friend is abnormal, though. None may channel lightning within the meeting hall."
"May, or can't? It's grounded," Blaze explained. She blinked as both Fire and Water stared at her blankly. "Right. Lightning wants to go towards the ground. We're surrounded by the earth here. I'm surprised Tails got even a spark honestly."
"Lightning has always bested earth."
"You're not connecting to the earth itself, then," Blaze said. "Katia! Stop arguing!" she called. Fire and Water let out a small dark chuckle as Katia finally acknowledged her.
"Oh, you're still here. I was worried you'd left with Tails. Come on, I'll show you what you need to hunt. Since someone doesn't like me!" Katia yelled at Lightning.
"You know my decision and reasoning, girl!" Lightning piped up from the dais. "Just...leave us, girl! Dismissed! Go! Take her away!"
Katia smirked and gently pushed Blaze towards the front, both Fire and Water watching her leave. "Had a nice chat with two of the elders? I'm surprised you got them on your side so quick."
"You shouldn't be, I think there's more going on," Blaze explained softly. Her eyes caught movement on the side as soon as she left the meeting hall, seeing a bunch of kids run towards another hut.
"The elders never do anything for only one reason," Katia said. "Come, we have far to go since I have no doubt Spark took Tails to the closer of the hunting grounds."
Blaze nodded. She took a sniff in the air, and recognized Tails' scent and another unknown vixen, probably Spark, heading towards the left. It wasn't close, and it wasn't strong, but it was there.
Katia took off running at a good pace, maybe in an attempt to lose her? Blaze wasn't sure why she was trying, and effortlessly kept pace. The lightning channeler seemed taken aback that Blaze could keep pace. "Did you think I was just telling a story?" the cat asked. The dirt of the village quickly made its way back to grasses and forest. The leaves crunched beneath her feet as they ran.
"A little, yes. I wasn't expecting to be able to keep up," Katia said. "What did you and the elders talk about?" she asked.
"Many things. They're already aware of Tails' and I not from being in this world. They already know what's across the ocean," Blaze said.
Katia cursed. "Of course they would know. I tried to use that one because it's forbidden-"
"They also explained how that started. Fire explained a lot. She apparently took a liking to me, as Water put it."
"Fire always usually was quiet. It was surprising hearing her talk as much as she did," Katia said. "Alright, slow down, we'll have to head back today too and I don't want to be too tired."
Blaze slowed down, the middle of a forest surrounding her. It wasn't jungle like, but a vision kept flashing before her of the nymphs coming out of the trees, trying to kill her and Tails-
She flash burned the air for a moment. Katia screamed and fell backward, her crossbow in her hand a moment later. "Why!? Why would you do that?"
"Trying to keep hold of myself," Blaze said softly. "What am I hunting?" she asked.
"Mostly deer. Boars, if you can. Then I'll grade you on your performance-oh look!" She said, pointing straight ahead. There was a massive elk in front of them, chewing down on some of the grasses. It was maybe two or three hundred feet, in Blaze's mind. Its horns had multiple points, seven it looked like, and had a long stretch of blue in its brown fur and in its antlers.
"If you can take that down, that's passing for sure!" Katia cheered.
Blaze smirked, and she felt the inner flame call itself to her once more. She boosted straight down towards it, not worried as it leapt up and out of sight. The grasses burned beneath her as she turned, using the trees as ground to push off of. She soared to the right, catching up instantly towards the...it was an elk, for certain now.
It tried to jump towards the left, and within an instant Blaze had gotten in front of it, a small stream of fire cutting off its escape routes. In the same instant she jumped on top of it, feeling the flames gather in her hands.
"Sorry. But I need to work off some steam," she whispered into the animal's ear as she pushed fire into its back. She wasn't aiming to burn, but rather to heat up, to burn the nerve endings before they fired.
Her claws came out and in another instant the elk fell on its side, a perfect cut in the back of its neck. Near painless, Blaze hoped, and near flawless.
Katia stared, "By the lightning..." she whispered as she came up. "I...I've never seen anyone move that fast! Is that how you crossed the desert?"
Blaze nodded. "Wasn't easy. We were low on supplies at the time, so we had to go as fast as possible," she explained.
"I could barely see you! And I'm just as fast as Spark is, and she's the fastest of us! And the channelers are almost always the fastest!"
Not anymore, Blaze thought. She should see Sonic, if she thought Blaze was fast. Sonic was faster, but he had much less finesse than she did, in her mind.
"Is this good enough? Or another?" Blaze asked. "There's another one not far off over there," she said, pointing off to the right. It was impossible to see, but Blaze smelled it with surprising clarity.
Katia blinked, and took a visible sniff. "Wow, you're good. I wouldn't have caught that," she said. "And yes, this should be good. Hopefully even if Tails can't get anything, this should be enough for both of you."
"I get the feeling there's more to this test."
"There is. There's also how well you do with instructions. Which...you followed well. I said get it, and you did. Quite violently, and speedily, too."
Blaze raised an eyebrow. They were testing on her willingness to follow orders? What kind of things were they testing her for? First the discussion about how...that must be it, Blaze thought. She relaxed a moment. All this talk from Katia about 'mating' and such, it means they plan to have both her and Tails become part of the tribe for good, or at least until they have kids here.
She let out a small stream of flame. There was no chance of that, from her. She was the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds, princess to the Sol Empire. One thing that the Sol Empire valued, above all others, is free will.
Especially in terms of love. How else would her father, the crown prince at the time, fall in love with the Guardian of all people? And that was to say nothing of the other timeline. She ignored the pointed headache that came in, and remembered their village at the end of time. They weren't happy times, but they were content.
But for now, she'd act as if going through with it. If only until she could get out. Water and Fire had hinted at there being other portals in this world, that one had to go through a 'rainbow road'.
She grabbed the elk and hoisted it onto her back. She tried not to let it show its weight on her face, acting stronger than she actually was. This thing was heavy! "Let's head back, then," she said quietly. Katia nodded, and started to mark the path back.
She would bet the elk that the 'rainbow road' was a warp zone. And that means that they had to go through as many as they could find to get to the right area. She had made a promise, earlier, that she and Tails would get out of here alive. She intended to do everything she could to honor that promise.
Oh look, they're making friends! Friendly friends who only want to grievously injure, or maim!
I'll be honest, I'm not happy with Katia. I generally don't like OC's in general, although they're kind of needed for this portion of the story. Let me know what you think. If they seem kind of wild with their personalities, that is actually intended. Until Next Time, the last chapter of Exception!