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.
Existence 10.3
Blaze watched as Tails fell asleep in record time. She sniffed the air, making sure there wasn't some gas that was going to make her fall asleep. There were several odd scents, especially coming from Spark, but nothing that made her sleepy or otherwise lose her concentration. She knew Tails' sleeping habits, though. It was hard not to, after they'd come this far. He was a heavy sleeper, when he needed to be. He would toss and turn overnight, and never be stock still as he was now. No, something was wrong.
She ran her hand down the striations in the rock. Tails could probably tell her what type of rock it was, as well as many other facts about its geology, but she had never really paid attention to that kind of thing in the past.
She took her cloak off too, letting it dry much like Spark had done. Normally she'd feel uncomfortable, showing as much skin and fur as she was, but it reminded her a bit of Ikan'Thoa, where she was essentially forced to be okay with it. As Spark had told her, scars told them of a warrior's worth.
Was she a warrior, though? She didn't think so. She always felt more comfortable with the 'Guardian' title than that of a warrior or fighter. She was a capable protector, but not necessarily an offensive one. She could fight, of course. She could fight nearly on par with Sonic, and that was without a rapier. With one, she could probably give the hedgehog even more of a run for his money. She might even be able to beat Knuckles if she had one.
What was she doing, she asked herself. She could be meditating, trying to figure out what the Sol Emeralds were asking of her. And yet she was daydreaming about being able to beat Sonic or Knuckles.
Something was wrong, Blaze thought, but she couldn't quite identify what. She munched on another piece of dried fish, feeling the salt infect her tongue even more. Her fur had probably changed color again, being more of a light lavender than it had been before. Too much fish in her diet, and not enough of other creatures, or berries. The warmth of the cave laid down on her like a warm blanket, leaving her feeling like she was snuggled against something. It was surprisingly comfortable, and she could feel it target her sleepiness. All she wanted to do was sleep...
The warmth. That was it. That was what was making them go to sleep so quickly. The change from cold to warm. Blaze's eyes opened as she conjured a small fireball, letting it's warmth supersede that of the cave. The light from the fireball lit up the side of the cave, showing the many striations, but also the group of spiders and ants on the side making it their home. Some were rather large, nearly the size of her fist, and others were tiny.
She forced herself up, looking around wildly at the wildlife around. The spiders, even the big ones, didn't seem passive. Instead they seemed...almost opportunistic.
They had waited in the shadows, and then strike at whatever wildlife they could find in a rabid frenzy. Some of the bigger ones were starting to move towards Spark and Tails, waiting for their hand to move or waiting for them to breathe just right. Blaze scared those ones off with a quick fireball. They didn't have any antivenom, and she doubted that Tails would know how to make it. The survival guide hadn't had much on them either, asides from 'don't get bit'.
The spiders scattered as the fire moves closer, filling the cavern with the scent of burning spiders and bugs. Blaze smiled in relief; her fire did work here, fully. And these things were quite flammable.
And then she saw the wall catch fire.
The striations blurred, large swaths of flame emit from where the fireball had hit. It hadn't been a big one, more to scare off the larger spiders than anything, but apparently the wall was quite flammable as well. "Oh shit," she said, roughly pulling down hers and Tails' cloaks and shaking him awake.
By the time he woke up, half the cavern wall was on fire. There was no smoke, and it emitted nothing as it went up, but the wall was on fire and it was surprisingly hot. "Run! I'll wake up Spark!" Blaze shouted.
Tails blinked the sleep out of his eyes, before he spindashed off to the side. "What did you do!?" he yelled, before he noticed the spiders on his arm, quickly flicking it off. "Never mind," he muttered.
Blaze rushed over to where Spark was sleeping, grabbing her cloak as well, leaving Tails to grab the remaining bags and boards. "Spark, wake up! Walls on fire!"
Sparks' eyes opened instantly, and there was only a moment where Blaze could tell she didn't know where she was, before she saw the flaming wall on the side. "You can't control that!?" Spark yelled.
"It's a natural fire! It's like trying to control a thunderstorm!" Tails yelled. "Now come on! Before it gets bigger! I think I saw a coal vein back there!" he shouted, starting to run past them. Spark started running, only for Blaze to notice that she was starting to limp on one leg. The leg that Strike had gotten way back on the beach.
That was still bugging her? But she'd been walking and running this entire time! Blaze let out a low growl before she grabbed Spark, pulling her onto the cat's back. "You didn't tell me your leg still hurt!"
"It doesn't, unless I'm running," Spark answered. The flames leapt off the wall, connecting to the other wall now. In but a moment, both sides lit up in flame, as if the walls had become water on fire.
"You've ran plenty!" Blaze retorted as she followed Tails' footsteps. The scent of fire was thick in her nose now, despite the lack of smoke. The fire was racing them up, she noticed, rapidly trying to keep up with them despite their surprisingly fast pace.
"Argue later! Her leg hurts, leave it at that!" Tails shouted back. He led them deeper and deeper in to the cave, the fire creating the light necessary to see as the striations became thinner and thinner, a kaleidoscope of variations all vertical.
Blaze saw it first; a dead end. This cave had an end. Tails saw it a moment later. "Dead end ahead! Search for another way!" Blaze shouted. Tails kept his pace while looking; but the sides of the cave wall were not only still on fire, there was no other path available.
The floor and ceiling caught fire a moment later, and Blaze was starting to feel the heat. And if she could feel it, she had no doubt that Tails and Spark were feeling it much worse than she was. "Above! We can go above!" Tails said, pointing above.
There was a lack of ceiling all of a sudden as the cavern opened to the snowy sky above. The walls were a deep charcoal black alongside it. They were deep and cavernous, as if multiple hikers had used it for climbing practice in the past.
Tails got there first, followed by Blaze a second later. They had at most a minute before the fire would get there, roasting them alive. Even her, although she'd probably take longer. The cold from above combated the warmth and heat from the fire. If the fire hadn't spread to the floor, they could probably use this area to just hide in.
"How are your tails?" Blaze asked less than gently. She could make it up without a problem, but the two tailed fox was another story. He probably couldn't do it nearly as easily as she could.
"In pain. Go, I can climb!" Tails shouted, running up the wall as far as he could before he reached with his hands and feet, pulling himself up with surprising alacrity. Blaze turned to look at the fire, barely twenty seconds away now. Tails wasn't even a quarter of the way up; he wouldn't even make it halfway.
"Hold your breath," Blaze warned the vixen on her back. Spark nodded, and took a deep breath, just as Blaze called the flames forward, pulling herself and Spark up and towards the wall. She reached down with one arm, grabbing Tails' arm as she passed. The fox must have been ready for her, as he tightened up into a ball, creating the least amount of drag possible.
The walls came alight, and Blaze was suddenly racing against her own element, her feet barely capable of holding herself and everyone up before they fell. The footholds slipped almost as fast as she could pressure on them, falling into the raging inferno down below them. The sky opened up before them, and Blaze suddenly found herself high in the air as the wildfire raged in the cave, a pillar of flame exiting it towards her. The wind buffered them instantly, covering them with snow and frost, pushing them back towards the plains.
Blaze only remembered Vianex, and how she'd fallen from nearly a mile up. There was nothing left then, and she was only replaying the scene in her mind, trapped in the inevitable pain that was to follow.
She felt a push behind her as Spark leapt off, pushing them against the wind. The sudden pressure brought Blaze back to the present, just in time to see Spark sail towards the plain from the wind and ice's endless pressure.
Blaze landed in the snow a moment later, the soft powder cushioning her call. She was cold, and she'd be frozen if she didn't move soon. "Spark!" Blaze shouted. Tails uncurled from his ball, seeing Spark sail on overhead, an unworried look on her face as she started to fall over the cliffside. Snow or no snow, that would probably kill her. Tails tails' were still injured, and he wouldn't be able to go out, catch her, and come back, not with the wind that was even now threatening to push them off.
Spark focused on something, her eyes shut, before a circle of lightning appeared in front of her. Blaze recognized it instantly; she'd attempted to get Spark to do it back in Vianex, based off what she'd explained Tails' had done. And based off what Tails' had done with her help back on the Grace.
She soared overhead, pulled ahead by the strength of the lightning vacuum. It was loud, far louder than even the wind and sleet against their ears.
Blaze couldn't bring herself to even giggle as Spark landed face first into the snow twenty feet away, not too far from the raging pillar of fire that was where the cavern was. It didn't look like it was going down anytime soon, despite the length of time it had been burning.
Tails let out a quiet chuckle as he went to help her up, one hand hiding his eyes against the wind and sleet. Blaze wasn't worried. They'd fought the cold before, and they'd won before. She had to hunch a bit to walk over to them, but within a moment she was next to them. "Alright, that was awesome, but next time, Blaze, don't set the cavern on fire," Tails shouted. His blue eyes pierced hers with a soft smirk, showing his teasing nature.
"Next time, I'll just let you get bit by the spiders!" Blaze shouted back. It was hard to hear, even with the wind and blizzard around them. "Give us the cloaks back? It's kind of chilly!"
Tails was about to say something, but he was interrupted by Spark, "I think I'll leave the daredevil horrific acts to you two," she murmured. "I'm a warrior, not a...whatever you two are."
"I believe the answer is, two sapients very close to losing it all, and trying to maintain some semblance of their personality and histories," Tails shouted back. He handed one cloak back to Blaze, who gave him a grateful nod. It barely warmed up against the snow, but any amount was better than nothing.
Spark and Tails donned theirs a moment later. Blaze could tell that at least Spark was thankful to have any amount of shielding against the blizzard. "You know what I just noticed though?" Tails shouted over the blizzard as he took the lead.
Blaze gave him a questioning glance as Tails started to run against the snow. It didn't get him far, but at least he didn't fall into a hole that generated right below him like the plains below had. "Spark is talking in contractions now!" he grinned.
"Of all things, that's what you take away!?" Spark yelled. Blaze sighed.
-Side T-
Tails was getting rather tired of being cold all the time. The warmth from the cave fluttered into his memory like a blanket, but the bite of the chill tore that blanket asunder. Still, he knew that Spark was having just as much trouble as he was. He doubted Blaze was, but considering that Blaze was currently nearly level with the snow from the wind threatening to blow her back, she had troubles of a different kind.
His ear flicked the gathered snow off of it, one hand held in front of his eyes to keep his eyes clear. The snow was nearly horizontal now, coming down almost as violently as it would in the Ice Cap region, or the Ice Mountain Zone.
Thunder rained and boomed overhead, forcing him to force all of his attention on the blizzard rather than the thunder overhead. If Blaze could face her fear of heights, then he could face his fear of thunder. He'd been through explosions, massive wildfires, giant leviathans, and thousands of other possibilities that wanted to kill him. He'd helped kill a rosuvel, and a crayak. Thunder was not likely to kill him!
Not that it didn't awaken a primal part of his brain that said it would. No amount of reasoning kept its voice down, and every time he saw another lightning strike he had to stop himself from curling into a ball and waiting it out.
The blizzard kept coming. With each step, he almost felt the chill coming into his feet. It was easy enough to stay on top of, but not easy enough that they wouldn't sink. Combine that with the wind, threatening to blow them off, and no wonder Knuckles always said to avoid blizzards if they could. It didn't help that he hadn't gotten much more than an hour or two of sleep.
"Any stories, Spark?" Tails shouted. Snow got into his mouth, and melted instantly. The fact that it melted actually raised his spirits up some; it meant that now it was just normal snow, rather than the weird stuff they had below. Another roar of thunder cut off any reflection he might have had on that.
"Not off the top of my head, no," Spark answered. "But...I can try to make one up. It might make things a bit easier!"
"Do that, then?" Blaze asked from the front. Her hand held a large fire in it, softening the snow for their passing. It didn't cast any warmth that Tails could feel, and he was only a few feet away.
"Sure," Spark said. She sank to a knee before she forced herself up, continuing to walk. There was no running in the wind and blizzard. Sonic might have been able to, but he was an aerokineticist.
A long time ago, there were three wanderers. Each one extremely talented with their skills, but their skills were far apart and very different. One was a water carrier, capable of creating waves from the smallest of rivers. One was an earth controller, doomed to create divides and repair the canyons. The last was a fire caller, weaving great firestorms and protecting them from the vaunted cold.
These three were well renowned as travelers, but there was always one place they never tried. A continent that none had ever seen. All well versed in travel and wandering, the three made it their goal to find this lost continent. The earth controller made a boat of the earth, compacted and strong. The water carrier made the water carry them across the ocean. The fire caller, in turn, warmed up the boat, and the sea around them, calling in life of all forms.
But the continent was always lost. Each time they got closer, it would disappear from their sight, re-appearing a large distance away. They had no fear, the three wanderers, and so they laughed and merrily claimed the continent was running from them. They simply changed their course and kept on going.
For months the chase continued. The three never grew tired, until finally the goal was in sight once more. Once it disappeared, as it always had before, the fire caller was the first to give. "Alright. I've had my fun," the fire caller said. "I'll stick in, but it seems determined to run. I would much rather be on land, with my feet on solid ground."
"Solid ground?" the earth controller reacted. "You are on solid ground; my ground! Non-sense, my fiery friend. We are almost there. We may need to chase it more, but like all goals, we will get there."
The fire caller disagreed, and on the next island they stopped at, the fire caller left. The water carrier and earth controller were disheartened, but their friend would see the light soon enough. They kept going, now cold.
For another set of months the chase continued, until finally the water carrier had had enough. "We've been chasing this for nearly a year. While I agree with the prospect, I think we should have given up much longer. We shouldn't force things like this."
The controller sighed, but knew his friend was right. But they had been so close, so many times. All they'd had to do was give it a bit more effort, a bit more time. At the next island, he let the water carrier off, somehow unsurprised when they met the fire caller there. He was ecstatic to have his friend back, but had tried to warn the controller of something. "It isn't right," the caller said. "You went in one direction, and arrived back here. I haven't moved."
The controller didn't bother to argue with him-
Tails caught Spark just as she fell into the snow. Her heart was pounding, and there was ice forming on her face. Tails wasn't surprised; he was feeling it on his own, as well. "Blaze, we need some warmth over here. She's starting to freeze."
"I'm...I'm okay," Spark retorted, forcing herself up. Blaze moved her fireball closer, letting its warmth cover them. It didn't seem to do much against the raging cold and wind, Tails noticed, not that he was particularly surprised. The blanket should have been their first thought, but then they would have been covered by the snow, and probably asphyxiated.
"We should join the cloaks. Keep up our warmth that way," Tails said. Blaze raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing as Spark readily agreed, quickly diving underneath to Tails cloak. It took a minute in the freezing cold, but they had a workable single cloak over the both of them, although it would force them to walk at the same pace. Tails ignored the feeling of her frozen fur on his.
"You two look ridiculous. Let me know if it works," Blaze said simply. "Think we can keep moving on? Is your tablet still mapping?" she asked.
"It should be. I left it on. It wasn't at a full charge though, it hasn't been able to charge for a while," Tails explained. Blaze nodded, something running through her head. Maybe she had some other idea, or thought they were getting lost?
"Think you could continue the story?" Blaze asked after a moment. The wind kept buffering them, and more than once Spark and Tails almost tripped over the other. The two tailed fox was doing his best to ignore the vixen's fur on his, to ignore the way her tail sometimes wound its way through his, her arm around his back and shoulder. They had to essentially march in lockstep, otherwise they would have gone falling down into the snow far too many times.
Spark nodded. "I can. Give me a moment.
The controller didn't agree with him. They had been so close to the lost continent so many times. "Stay with us," the water carrier said. The fire caller agreed. "We'll have fun here, and we can travel back to the mainland. There's plenty here to explore, too."
"I want to give it one more shot," the controller said. The two sighed, but agreed with his vision. They wouldn't do anything to interfere. The water carrier would even give him a push towards the illusionist continent.
His hopes high, the controller set sail once more. Within a week, the boat was caught in a storm. The controller wasn't worried, but his progress stalled, unable to make a current big enough to propel himself. For another few weeks, he sailed with no destination, hoping to make it back to the islands with his friends. Traveling alone was no fun. Being alone was not nearly as fun as he thought it would be.
Just as he thought about the others for propulsion, to at least make it to an island, he crashed suddenly-
Tails tripped this time, feeling something solid underneath him suddenly. He brought Spark down with him, and her body crashed into his. The snow here was more solid than he was used to, as if he'd crashed onto something. "Found something, Tails?" Blaze asked with more than a hint of a smirk in her tone.
Her lavender fur was starting to turn blue, he noticed as he forced himself up. Then again, he felt ice forming on his own fur and face. Even underneath the blanket, even with Spark trying to combine their body heats, he was starting to freeze. He couldn't feel his bare feet anymore, either.
"I think I'm okay. Starting to get warm, actually," Spark said conversationally. Tails stared at her, before he tried to wrap his tails around her more. She wasn't just cold anymore, or freezing. She'd gone below that. Blaze moved to assure her that no, she wasn't, when the cat, too, tripped on something.
"Found something, Blaze?" Tails snarked back as he tried to brush the snow off Spark without seeing it. Her hands weren't just freezing, they were as if they weren't there at all. Even the sparks that jumped off of her body weren't warm anymore.
Blaze forced herself up. "Yes, actually, I think we did," she said softly. She shuffled around the area where they had tripped, the wind biting them. Tails almost felt sorry for her feet too, knowing that she probably couldn't feel them either.
Suddenly she stopped, and knelt down, feeling for something. With a grunt of effort, a bunch of snow was suddenly shifted as...what looked like a small cellar was shown off. The wooden stairs immediately started to frost off, but they all felt the heat suddenly waft out of it. "We can hide in here, for now," Tails said. "Until the blizzard is done."
"I'm okay. Seriously, I'm starting to sweat. It's like a desert now," Spark said. Blaze and Tails looked at each other before they started to force her down the stairs. They were well-lit, and almost as soon as they covered the roof, a massive gust of wind suddenly came out of nowhere, blowing the roof back on and sealing them in. "That's not normal, is it?" Spark asked.
"No, no it's not," Blaze answered. "We should be careful..." she said. Tails nodded, taking off the small cloak and letting Spark free. The vixen immediately took off her cloak, a small amount of sparks coming off of her body and fur.
Tails kept his hand on hers and gently led her down the stairs. They twisted a few more steps down, turning to the left. It was far warmer down here than up there, and Tails half wondered if they should just stay where the stairs twisted around, and sleep there. But they should probably explore this place, and at least ask the owner, if there was one, what was going on. There was definitely an owner, at least, given that these stairs were well made, free of splinters.
At the bottom was what looked like a small cabin, with a giant hearth burning bright in the back. Off to the side was a small room, probably a kitchen or pantry. In the middle was a large table, with several large well made hand carved wooden chairs.
On the far side was a large swallow, almost Storm's size, sipping calmly on a cup. It smelled like tea, actually. He was a deep purple, much darker than Blaze's coloring, almost black. He had four eyes, and he seemed fairly calm.
He looked up. "Oh, come in, come in! I wasn't expecting you three for a while yet! I suppose that's what I get for ignoring things for a while. Please, sit down. Get warm by the fire, put your cloaks on the line, get them dry. Please, would you like some tea, or perhaps...what was the word, coffee?" he asked with a soft smile on his face. "My name is Zephyr."
Tails froze. It was the same voice as the voice on the wind. The one that had followed them on the beach.
The only note I have of note is 'argh why do i hate existence'. 10.2 is actually my least favorite chapter in the entire story, so at least we're over that hurdle...
Until Next Time.