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.

Expendable 6.6

Blaze woke up gently from her sleep. Katia was asleep next to the fountain, despite that they had agreed she wouldn't. Blaze wasn't worried. She was a light sleeper, perks of being a cat.

She forced herself up and dusted off her tail and backside. She grabbed a bit of water from the fountain, making sure to boil it first with her fire. The warm water barely quenched her thirst, but it would have to be enough. It would take too long if she had more.

There were two paths from here, one that led back to the pillar room, which now that she was rested, she wasn't sure was the right path. The other way led to darkness, and Blaze casually put a sign in front of Katia, burning ashes into the rock with a giant arrow pointing which way she'd gone, as she walked ahead. She let out her natural eyes, keeping as dark as possible, and she smirked as she saw more and more detail as her eyes adjusted.

The fact there was light, just so small that it couldn't really be used, was surprising. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to see at all. She started running, letting her feet hit silently against the rock underneath. It was smooth and warm, almost gentle and caressing. Where was the light coming from? From up ahead, yes, but what was it?

After a minute or two of her running, she came across another room, this one much different than the other pillar room. Small snow covered rocks and ledges, leading up with small pillars that went up a few hundred feet, with another hallway headed towards the pillar room. Small torches lit on the side, their flames seemingly not melting the ice and snow.

It was surprisingly chilly, despite the fact she'd just come from a warm environment. She put one foot down on the snow, and had to stifle a shiver. Definitely cold.

This wasn't just a temple or a dungeon, Blaze thought, but it was a full on training ground. The pillar was for puzzle solving and speed tests, or endurance climbing tests. The heat was for endurance, the skeletons for combat. The traps for perception. She looked at the top of one of the pillars, nearly thirty feet up, and with a running jump forced all of the power into her jump. She landed softly and easily on the top, covered in snow, and looked to the next one, another twenty feet higher. That one had a ledge next to it, and what looked like a small switch.

Fire and ice, seemed to be the theme. Was that the specialty of those sapients that were here originally? Fire was...not common but not uncommon, at least in the Sol Empire. Ice, or water, was slightly rarer.

Maybe they were common here, common enough that they'd find some way to mix the two despite them both not being able to exist naturally anywhere close to the other.

She forced another jump, letting the flames at her feet carry her down just to make sure she wouldn't fall. She may be a cat, but landing on her feet from this height would only mean broken legs. She tried to ignore that it was so high up, ignore the sensation of her heart sinking as she realized it. The ledge stuck out a bit, and with a graceful hop she leapt over.

She had to duck immediately as a metallic sword tried to swipe her head. A skeleton fell out of the wall, its teeth clacking either in cold or in laughter. Blaze wasn't sure which, and she leapt out with a kick of fire, knocking the thing down to the bottom. It's head stuck up on the ledge, clacking down, almost laughing at her.

She picked it up by its jaw, and stared into its empty eye sockets. "You probably shouldn't laugh," she warned as she threw it against the wall. It burst into hundreds of bone shards, each one disappearing into purple smoke.

Definitely a necromancer's work. Despite what the name implied, a necromancer wasn't someone who just 'read into the future by the bones of the dead', although most were. A few selected individuals could, through the use of powers that personally Blaze didn't believe in even though she knew others did, raise up pseudo-copies of the dead. She thought it was more the use of some artifact that she knew was possible, had seen such a thing being used in the past, rather than magic.

There was a small floor switch, a button that when she pressed it in, she felt heat rise up from the floor. The snow at the tops of the pillars melted instantly, and lava started gathering at the very bottom. The pillars started to rise a few feet, before stopping almost twenty feet above her, leading to another ledge.

She was definitely going to have to play more of Marine's games, if they were anything like this. She hopped up onto the first one before powering a jump to get to the second. The second one had raised another thirty feet, nearly sixty feet in all, and Blaze had to avoid looking down at this point. The hallway was only another quick jump away. She ignored the button on this ledge, and quickly jumped towards the hallway, making it easy.

The first thing she noticed was that it was surprisingly cold in this hallway, and the rock was rough and coarse. She pushed onwards, until she got to where the pillar room was.

Where there had been fire before, was ice now, and where ice and snow was before was fire. Walls of fire lit up the sides of some of the pillar, and Blaze noticed that where nets had been were instead massive snow drifts. There hadn't been any easy way down to the fountain, but now there was a small snowdrift that all the way down and all the way back up.

"Hey! I don't know what happened, but it's been crazy!" Katia called out from the ledge far below. She gave a quick wave to Blaze, and started to climb up the snow drift. It wasn't as steep as Blaze thought that it would be, and within half an hour the fox was next to her. "I woke up and you were gone, and everything was cold, and then the fountain had frozen over-"

Fire and ice. Hadn't she thought that before? This entire temple seemed devoted to the concept. A water kineticist would probably work better than an electrokinetic, if Blaze had to be honest, but maybe it was more than that.

There was another snow drift off to the side that led to the higher platforms. "Go up?" Katia asked after a moment to catch her breath. Blaze shook her head and narrowed her eyes at the pillar. Something was off about it, here. Whereas before it had been a warm orange, now it was a freezing blue.

She ran her hand down it, and pulled it away instantly, giving off a small flame as she did so. "Frozen. I wonder then..." she muttered as she lit a small fire next to it. "Move back a moment," she said, motioning for Katia to stand back.

The fire lit up the pillar, and whatever hope Blaze had for making something simple happen disappeared. The rock literally melted into water, the top parts of the pillar falling down instantly onto the same place, blowing Blaze and Katia back.

Two skeletal rocs came down, one on each side of the pillar, and Blaze prepped more fire. She stepped to the side as one of them dive bombed her, to be hit by Katia's spear. She dove over it a second later, pounding it with a fiery kick as the second one joined its friend onto the ground, and Blaze realized just how big these things actually were. The name 'roc' was well given.

Surprising, considering Tails' other nicknames had been 'grub', 'leviathan', and 'driller'.

Katia pulled out her crossbow and started firing before she grabbed her spear out of the grounded rocs body. It had gone through its skull, and had stapled it to the ground. As soon as Katia pulled up on it, the roc was freed and soared back into the sky, something that shouldn't be possible given that it was bones.

"Any ideas?" Katia asked. She fired another bolt, hearing it bounce off one of the roc skeleton's wings. She grabbed her spear and held it out in front of her.

"Just the one. How much of a charge do you have?" Blaze asked as she waited for one to start the circular motion that she'd begun to associate with the rocs.

"I don't have a charge! It's not like I keep lightning on me!" Katia shouted.

"That's a mistake, but one we can work with. I'm not Tails, who'd be able to guide you through the entire process, but basically, just try to gather what you can-"

"I can't! The earth takes it away before I can gather anything! That's what it does!" Katia explained as she ducked to the right, gritting her teeth as the side of her stomach split red, the smell of blood instantly filling the air.

"If it can take from you, you can take it back!" Blaze growled. One of the skeleton rocs dive bombed towards her, and with a small pirouette she found herself on top of the thing as it piled into the ground. She coated her foot with fire as she kicked the skull into the pillar, hearing it shatter once it hit.

"The earth's pull is far too strong," Katia said, ducking to the left now, one hand on her side and one on her spear. She thrust it a few times at the skeleton bird, but it backed up and flew back before any could connect.

"Fine," Blaze said. She honestly disagreed; she knew the basics of how electricity worked, and whatever she didn't know she could find out from Tails who knew far more about it than she ever would. But she was a pyrokinetic, not an electrokinetic.

She threw a few fireballs, trying to tease the thing downwards. "When it attacks me, stab it into the ground if you can. We can kill its skull from there," Blaze explained. Katia nodded, her hand coated a fresh red. Did she get cut worse than Blaze had thought she did?

The roc let out a startled cry, which Blaze couldn't blame it for. After all, it was a skeleton. If anything it should be near silent. It started to fly in the strange circles that Blaze knew well, and she kept her eyes on it and the sides of the ledge. Falling off would be...very bad. It ducked and dived the fireballs before flinging itself straight at her. She pushed off backwards into the hallway as its beak landed right where her feet had been. Katia came from the back with a small cry, shoving her spear through its eye and into the ground.

Blaze coated herself in fire as she charged at it, scattering its bones as she let the fire fly. As soon as most of the bones were scattered, Katia lifted up her spear and from there the skull was easily dealt with.

She sighed as the bones disappeared into the purple dust. "We should talk with Flora after this," Blaze suggested quietly.

"Flora?"

"The witch."

"Oh, sure. I could probably use some of her healing powder actually," Katia murmured as she lifted up her hand. It was covered in her blood, and Blaze caught sight of the cut. It wasn't minor, but a long gash that looked fairly deep, going almost the entire side of her body. It would leave a nasty scar for sure.

Blaze looked up at the next ledge. "Think you can climb?" she asked. She didn't have any supplies on her, a mistake that she won't be making in the future, even if she has to go and steal Tails' bag for herself. Although she should probably check that it's actually fireproof first...

"Yeah, I should be fine," Katia said, smiling bright. "Nothing like a good hunt to liven up the pace," she finished. Despite being hurt, and the slight limp that accompanied it, she pulled out a few bolts and got to work slowly climbing the snowdrift. Blaze waited the nearly half hour it took for her to climb, waiting until she got to the ledge and pulled herself up before she went, bursting forward with the flames guiding her.

Snow and ice didn't melt instantly. Rather it took time, and she was too fast for it to melt that fast. It was softer than it should have been, but by the time she reached the ledge her feet were cold, but that was it.

She looked back at the tunnel behind them, and the top of the pillar barely a hundred feet above them, and sighed. "Alright. Which way?" she asked.

-Side T-

Tails braced himself for the hit that would probably cut him and Spark in half. Time slowed down, and thoughts went racing around in his head. He couldn't pull up, not in time. All of his momentum was meant to stay in the air, and he was more of a helicopter than a hummingbird.

He didn't see the alligator coming.

It bit down on the rosuvel's leg, chomping down with a fury and sound that Tails knew would haunt his dreams. The rosuvel roared as its leg was ripped off, bleeding orange into the swamp water.

He pulled back, and Spark hugged him close. "Think you can gather?" she asked into his ear. He ignored the feeling of her hot breath there and nodded slowly. He wasn't the most powerful of electrokinetics, but he had a bonus most of them never would; he understood it. And he understood how static electricity formed better than most. He whirled his tails tighter and faster, and felt the small charge start to add up.

Static was the gathering of electrons into another material. Usually it did this through small fibers touching many other small fibers, and then grounded through the earth. Tails, on the other hand, knew he could generate static by whirling his tails not just with each other, but by beating them against the air fast enough to gather the charge from the air.

The rosuvel and alligator lunged at each other, causing a massive splash as they both landed in the water. One of the rosuvel's claws had gotten the other on its snout, a large green blood splatter emanating from it.

It gripped the rosuvel in its snout and started pulling, rolling into the water and dragging the panther thing with it. Tails pulled up a bit more, feeling the charge around his skin, and brushed his hand against the Charger as the water went underneath them, full of slimes and other things he didn't want to think about.

"Ready for a boost?" he asked. Spark nodded, her eyes shut in concentration as he saw her fur actually glow, much like his did when he went Super. She was tense, and Tails banged his hand against the button twice.

Her eyes opened with a white glow as her fur was sparking incessantly. The rosuvel, now down two legs and one eye, and the alligator down one eye and one leg, both stopped fighting as they felt the change in the air.

"Amberon!" Spark shouted. Tails felt the electricity in the air suddenly disappear as all of it gathered in Spark's hands. It wasn't just a lance of lightning, or a small bolt of energy. This was a tempest of thunder and electricity, lancing and sparking its way around the rosuvel and alligator.

The slimes jumped out of the water, trying to avoid the sparks as the rosuvel and alligator's muscles tensed, forcing them to stay in as their skin and fur were cooked by the torrent of energy flowing through and around them. The slimes weren't exempt though, and through the lance of energy in the air, sparks and bolts were shot off into and through their body.

He felt it right in his heart and body, and knew that he would have to land soon. He didn't want to think about what Spark was feeling. The energy vanished after a minute, and Tails was feeling himself tense up for the entire thing. He smelled smoke instantly, and started to land on a branch that he was sure would hold both of their weights. Spark was set against the trunk, and Tails stared at her for a moment.

Ignoring the fact her top was gone, she looked almost broken. Smoke was coming from her skin and fur, and her eyes looked white, as if she'd blinded herself doing that stunt. Tails could imagine it; trying to pack that much energy into one body was going to have consequences, at least if not practiced.

There's a reason Sonic needed rings to go Super on Westside Island.

The rosuvel and alligator both landed in the water with a loud crash, neither of them moving. Tails could see water going into the rosuvel's mouth, both of them, so if it was still breathing it would be drowning quick. The alligator was quick to bleed out too, if it had survived. They wouldn't have to worry about either of them.

"Spark? You okay?" Tails asked, his nose going around her neck. She smelled burnt, and although her breathing was fine her heart was beating near three or four times faster than it should. His ears searched for the beat; it wasn't rhythmic, it wasn't just beating fast. There was no 'thump-thump'. It was 'thuthumpmp'.

"I'll be okay," Spark muttered under her breath. "I'm alive. Dark."

"Considering what you just did, I think it's a miracle you're that. Come on, let's get back out of here," Tails said, slowly gripping her arms to let her lie on his back.

"I don't think I can do that again. I saw the Final Realm, and the souls there judged me. For their insight, I must lose my sight," Spark muttered under her breath. There was a hitch to her voice, as if she wasn't believing what she was saying.

"Not on my watch," Tails said. It wasn't the first time he'd dealt with almost blinding someone via electricity. He tried to recall the map in his head, heading back towards the portal ring. He had an idea, and it always helped when Sonic or he had injured that they both thought were deadly.

Admittedly, most of them probably were. But that's what rings were for.

Despite his near death experience, his heart pounded in his ribs as he carried Spark towards the cabin. He could use that as a landmark. He could hear Spark cough under her breath, trying to not let him know how injured she was.

He needed to go faster! What a time for him to not be named Sonic. Or Blaze. Or Shadow. Or literally anyone who could run fast right now.

An idea came to him. One that was probably going to get him killed, assuming he did it wrong. If he did it right, it was probably still going to get him killed. He hit the button on his Charger, trying to keep the charge far away from Spark. She moaned into his ear, a moan of pain, and he knew that he'd failed, but he had his charge.

He set it in front of him, sending it surging forward...and him with it. It wasn't long, as lightning was much faster than he was, but an extra hundred feet per 'boost' was more than enough. If he could just control it, then maybe-

He saw the cabin out of the corner of his eye. He'd have to think on that possibility later. He landed against the soft ground just long enough to let his tails rest as he raced across the small island. His nose was still filled with the smoke from Spark's burning body, so he didn't gag when he realized how far decomposition had grabbed the original sapients stationed out here.

On the far side was the boat that they had taken originally. Tails grit his teeth as he whirled his tails again, jumping into the air. A slime jumped at him from a tree, but he ducked to the left while barely thinking about it.

The path they'd taken from the boat was not an easy one to navigate by air, but it allowed Tails to do something he wished he could have done earlier; look from the sky. He pulled up, above the tree cover, and saw the small dais half a mile away. Had they gone that far in that tiny boat? It hadn't seemed like it had taken them hours.

He landed on a small branch, jumping to the next one as he rested his back. They were almost there. The sun was starting to set now, turning the sky a blood orange. Spark's heart was still going fast, and she was obviously still in pain from whatever she had done earlier.

They'd make it before the sun set completely. It galvanized him to make it there quick, and he burst with more speed a few seconds later.

The stone dais was just as it had been the day before. There was no portal ring, and Spark was in no condition to tell him how to work it, but fortunately she didn't need to. He knew all kinds of things about the Special Zone, and with a sudden kick he knocked over the switch, feeling the small charge in the air as the ring generated.

"Come on, stay with me," Tails muttered as Spark gave a soft pained moan. The charge of the ring was energizing her broken body, probably with the same power that she'd overdosed on. Once it was large enough, Tails hopped in instantly, holding tight onto Spark.

Exactly as he hoped, they arrived together in the Special Zone tube. Rings were everywhere, as were the blocks. Before she had seem impressed that he knew what to do, even if she thought that his gathering rings was idiotic.

He gathered the rings for her, maneuvering so her body absorbed them whenever they passed by. With each one, he felt her heart normalize a little bit, and her strength start to return. It would take a good hundred or more to get her back to normal, and Tails wasn't sure how much this particular Special Zone had. At least, he hadn't seen any signs requesting a certain amount of rings, as they had back on Westside Island.

He jumped and turned his back, running backwards as the rings fell into Spark's body. He could almost feel her warming up behind him, and it was with a final flash of white that he landed back on the hard ground underneath Ikan'Thoa.

"I'm not doubting your knowledge about the rainbow road again," Spark muttered into his ear. "I...don't know how you did it," she continued, "but I can see again."

"Rings are...property sensitive. They know, somehow, which places are hurt worse than others."

"You mean like you? You're still twitching a bit," Spark asked as she pulled herself off of his back. There was a more than slight limp to her walk, and her crossbow was gone, but she still held an air of power around her.

"If I am, that's because someone decided to go and cosplay Thor," Tails answered. Spark's head tilted inquisitively as she stared at him. "Thor's a...never mind. He's a lightning deity."

"Oh! I've heard of those false gods. Never that one," she said, her smile falling from her face, "we should probably check in with Lightning and the elders."

"It's late. They can wait until morning," Tails said. Spark said nothing, staring about blankly before Tails picked her back up.

She protested, "Put me down, I can walk now!"

"I know," Tails answered. He made no movement as to put her down, and her arms reflexively locked around his neck, her legs around his stomach. "But you don't seem to be in a hurry to move. Besides, even the ring healing isn't instantaneous, despite how it feels."

"And you would know that...why? That sounds like a thing the witch would know."

"I don't doubt Plague knows it," Tails said quietly, slipping back into common for a moment. He felt Spark's breath against his ear, and he had to withhold a shudder. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it wasn't...he didn't need the distraction.

"Plague," Spark said, sounding the word out in common, "what does it mean?" she asked.

"Oh. It's...another word for disease. I figure-"

"She heals diseases, thus she gets named as such. She has a name, but she is just the witch to most of us."

"Yeah. It's a long way back to the village. How about a story along the way?" Tails asked quietly. Spark hummed into his ear, and he had to shake off the feeling making its way down his spine.

"I got one. The story of Relnak," Spark said quietly before she launched into the story. Tails was only half paying attention to the words as he went up the long hallway and stairwells that would lead up top.

Spark seemed almost entranced by the story she was telling. Her voice changed according to the character's, and if she could use gestures Tails had no doubt that she would have. The story seemed simple, but complex. It was about a man named Relnak, a hero to the hunters of Ikan'Thoa. He would go out and hunt the greatest of beasts, and come back with the largest food catches. He wasn't an elementalist either, doing it all with his own skill.

But then a small boy, looking up to him as a hero, followed him out to the woods. He saw Relnak go into a small cave, where he was hearing the cries of small animals, babies almost. Once there, he saw Relnak set up a bunch of traps and just...wait. There was no honor in how he fought, no glory in how he caught things. He sat, and he waited as his traps did all the work.

Furious about his hero being a fake hero, the boy told on Relnak to the elders, who continued heralding Relnak as a hero. After all, they said, why do they care how he catches or kills things? Only that he does.

The boy was angry. And he stormed after Relnak-

Spark had just gotten to that part when Tails breached into the outside surface. The guards there stared at him with their eyes angry and filled with unfamiliarity, until they recognized Spark on his back.

Once there, they motioned him onwards, back towards the village of Ikan'Thoa. Tails held his head high as he walked, feeling the ground beneath him. Spark was silent for only a few minutes, before she continued where she left off, eager to get back to her storytelling.

In which Tails promptly screws over traditions, and in turn keeps Spark off his back. Or...on his back, rather.

In author's news, my grandmother passed away a few days ago. She was the one that really sparked my interest in writing, and kept getting me to just keep writing, just write more, it doesn't matter if it's good or bad. So in her honor, I put one of my favorite quotes from her, "If you put any amount of effort into something you like doing, that is any amount of effort not wasted."

One chapter left of Expendable.

Until Next Time.