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.

Exalt 12.4

While Lightning seemed hesitant to throw another two of his guards to the wolves, or the cat and fox in this case, Spark took a moment to sit down next to Blaze.

She whispered in common, "Ember told me what's going on. Lightning took his most faithful, his most loyal, when he left. Ikan'Thoa is currently burning. The Elders are gone, and the civilians left over have no intention of putting the system in again. This is all that's left of the old regime. Them, and Loca and Riot."

"Who were they?" Blaze asked, her head staring down. Her mind was going a million miles per minute, oftentimes even faster. Thumper hadn't...if he'd been in control of himself, would he have been so aggressive? What was causing this? Lightning? He couldn't be brainshifting all of them.

"Riot was...well, she's a cat, much like you. Lightning channeler. About your age, actually. She had designs on bedding Strike or Lightning himself, and she was...comfortable, showing off. Loca's a fire caller, that much I know. Katia would have known more," Spark answered.

"Are they all being controlled, then? Is Lightning brainshifting all of them?"

"That's not Lightning," Spark answered. "I don't know what it was. Lightning was evil, make no mistake, but he didn't send any of guardians, his hunters, to die. Those ones he would save, or do everything he could to make sure they came back. Say what you will about him, he repaid loyalty to himself."

"If that's not Lightning, then who is it?"

"I'm not sure," Spark started, before Lightning let out a loud bark that demanded attention.

"Right! I have it then. Caller Exception, you get to rest a bit. Treasonous channeler, you get to fight Granite here. Caller, you'll get to fight Flow. Eventually," Lightning, or the thing parading around as Lightning, commanded. A nearby cougar nodded, and carefully took a few steps forward onto her platform. Spark pushed herself up, grabbing the longsword. She had it blade down, and rested herself upon it as she relaxed in the middle.

"Now then-" Granite started, before Lightning waved his hand, forcing the cougar to grab her head in pain.

"No more of this annoying talking before the fight. If you must talk, have it during," Lightning said. "I'm expecting another call from Loca and Riot soon." Blaze's eyes narrowed; Ikan'Thoa didn't have phones. How would he know what a call was, used in that way?

Granite stood up, blood streaming from her mouth, as she nodded. She stomped down, getting a few rocks in the air as the entire platform rocked, and with a fist sent them straight towards Spark. Spark didn't need to dodge, as each of them had been targeted in such a way that they would only hit if Spark reacted. She waited for the last of the rocks to pass her before she darted forward, swinging haphazardly.

Granite made another motion, forcing a mound of rock to cover her, encasing the sword in stone. If Blaze wasn't watching Granite's eyes for the flash of yellow or silver, she would've wanted to make a remark about the Excalibur. Instead, she wanted to make sure Spark's words were true. If they weren't truly in control of themselves, then maybe their deaths weren't in vain. Maybe it was release, rather than just...slaughter. Blaze had to believe that.

She had threatened others before, she had killed non-sapients without any issues, but she had never taken a life before in such a way. It was a complete waste of life, of energy, of memory.

And the screams continued to haunt her memories. Her ears perked forward, hoping to hear of any conversation between the two fighters.

Instead they fought in silence. Spark had given up the sword without a fight, occasionally electrifying her hands or feet as she went for a hit. Rarely she'd give herself enough space for a true bolt of lightning.

Granite seemed quite equal, using the entire field for her advantage. Sharp shards and spires of rock would erupt from everywhere, and Blaze noticed small droplets of blood from Sparks' feet. Where was the ring? It should've prevented all of those injuries, unless Spark had deliberately refused its energy. Blaze checked her own internal ring count, just to make sure she hadn't picked it up somehow. She hadn't, which meant either one of the guards had it, or Spark had something up her sleeve.

"Spark," Granite said quietly. "You made waves, working with the earth carriers the way you did. Do anything you could to get atop," she finished.

"I had to. The Elders weren't going to let me live if I did everything right, the way they wanted it. I had to surpass everyone," she answered. Another spire, another block, another fist, another jump.

"But here you are," Granite answered. "Why are you here?" she asked a moment later. "What was so important that you threw away everything you've ever done?"

Spark paused for a moment, before jumping into the air to avoid another earthen spire. She landed on top of it, sliding down with a stance that Blaze recognized as her snowboarding pose.

"Choice. I wanted to make a choice, the only way I could. The only way I know how."

"To run away?"

"To end it. For a better future, one not buried in the past," Spark answered. She kicked out, electrifying her leg as she did a near perfect mastery of Sonic's axe kick.

Granite blocked with two spires of rock. Even then, the kick shattered the stone against her, and she jumped back. "You fight for a future that will never be," Granite said, grabbing each of the pieces of rock, shoving them towards Spark. Dozens of electrified knives were thrown as Spark targeted each of the rocks, knocking them out of the air with her knives. She charged forward, grabbing one out of the air and diving in for the killing blow.

Granite ducked and grabbed her arm, throwing her over her shoulder. Spark grabbed on just enough to regain control, landing gently on the platform. "Why do you fight?" Granite asked. "You have nothing, now. And soon, you will be nothing more than ash in the wind. Lightning cannot be beaten."

"We don't need to beat him," Spark answered as she shook out her hands, small sparks starting to emanate from her hands again. And her legs, and her feet. "All we need to do is win enough time for the Tides to end," she finished.

"The Tides are eternal. Surely one as engrossed in the stories as you pretend to be, know that much," Granite answered. "You're fighting for a losing game, and then you will suffer needlessly for the rest of your life."

"That does sound like fun. Suffering, but suffering underneath us all. That sounds like the right idea. Right, Fern?" Lightning asked the coyote. He let out a soft hum of agreement.

"You can't imagine this is right," Spark argued. "This is not the way of Ikan'Thoa. This is how the village ends."

"And what does a traitor know of the greatness of Ikan'Thoa?" Granite shouted, boulders coming up from the platform. Her foot stepped back, and Blaze noticed that it had just barely tapped against the metal of one of the throwing knives that Spark had used earlier.

"That power is not the answer. Sometimes, smarts counts too," Spark smirked, her own foot against one of the knives. Immediately bolts of electricity, faster than Blaze could really understand, raced across the platform, from metal knife to metal knife, ending with the one right under Granite.

The cougar tried to move her foot instantly, but was locked in place as the electricity arced its way through her muscles. With one last movement, she tried to throw one of the boulders towards Spark from directly behind the vixen, only for her to dodge at the last second.

Unfortunately this left her with a large boulder heading towards her, and her muscles seized up from the current. Spark winced as she heard the slam.

Blaze stared. At the last moment, the electricity had arced its way into Granite's head. The current wasn't there anymore, it had been cut off, but the rock kept moving. And in fact, Blaze noticed, it had actually gone faster.

Suicide.

Granite had committed suicide.

And only she had noticed. Her mind replayed all the other fights, with those that weren't stupidly loyal. Obsidian had been killed by Lightning, but it was obvious the bear had no intention of killing her. Even Thumper had been given the opportunity to run. Instead, he'd jumped back into the flames.

They'd let it happen. Aqua had frozen herself for a moment too long, ready for Spark to impale her. Granite had taken her own life, and Ember...

Why? Why were they doing this? What was the point of this giant farce!? She felt Solaris urge her underneath her soul to let it burn, to let go and lose control. She forced herself to calm down. Thumper would haunt her dreams and nightmares for years to come, as would all of the events. They would not be leaving without scars.

"Huh. You know what they say, I suppose. It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden boulder at the end," Lightning quipped. "Alright then. Flow. Your turn," he said, not even pausing as the platform sunk back into sand.

A hedgehog moved forward onto the sand. Blaze helped Spark off the makeshift arena, now turned into sand. He was blue, much like Sonic, but unlike Sonic, he had a giant sneer on his face. "I saw how you killed Thumper. I want to let you know you won't win like that against me."

Blaze blinked. Was that another hidden message, or was this one just an ass? She turned to look to Spark, who shrugged. Flow immediately ran forward, dragging up wisps of water from the ground. Blaze glassed the sand beneath him, making him trip on the solid yet liquid, and burning material underneath him. She moved to the side as he slid past, burns on his feet and legs. He had a lot more spikes on his back than Sonic did, and didn't seem quite too well to know how to use them.

"You know, you remind me of someone," Blaze commented. "But you don't exactly...have much going for you. He's a hero, and you're...well, you haven't shown anything yet."

Flow snarled, forcing himself up in the sand as he spat out what was in his mouth. "I'm Lightning's chosen! You think Aqua was good, but she lost against me, pathetic and mewling-"

"Shut up!" Lightning shouted. "If you have time to talk, you have time to kill."

That seemingly shut Flow up as he charged again, wisps of water coming from the ground again. Blaze sighed, jumping to the side. The sand seemed to get in his way much worse than it did for Blaze, probably because she was used to how sand actually worked. It didn't help that she was burning the sand underneath her, heating up the entire area and making sure that he didn't draw any water from anywhere, was slowly losing more water due to dehydration, burned every time he took a step, while she was free to stand on the glassed sand without any issues.

She wanted to make sure they had even ground for the next one. Because after Flow, there were only two left. A caller and a channeler. Fern.

And she would have to fight Fern. For real, rather than the ideologies that they had last time. Flow seemed to snarl more, before his hands reached out to something behind Blaze. There was nothing...Blaze turned, just in time to see the ocean come roaring in. It stopped short of actually coming close to them, as suddenly Flow fell to the ground, blood coming from his nose and mouth.

Blaze cut her flames instantly, racing over. He wasn't breathing, instead his eyes were already flat. There was no spark, no intention of killing her. No intention of anything.

"Wow. Tried to pick up the ocean and died doing it. Thanks for removing yourself from the village, Flow," Lightning slow clapped. "That's pathetic. For the record, Aqua let him win each time. And I'm pretty sure that he was by far the weakest one here."

Blaze wasn't sure how she hated Lightning more at that point, but she did.

-Side T-

Tails reached the end of the Mystic Cave area without any other issues. It was a small cave, that led to a much deeper area.

The caves here were much warmer, and he felt the acid from before change to a much more neutral base. Probably just pure water, now. The cave slowly headed downwards, although the lack of light was slowly becoming irritating. The caves with the acid had actually been fairly well lit, shockingly. He hadn't realized it at the time, but now that he was immersed in near total darkness, it made him re-think how common that actually was.

He was grateful, again, for Blaze essentially telling him to get used to being in near total darkness. His eyes would adjust, they were good at that. And given a few minutes, he would agree.

He didn't see in colors, now, just purely black and white. He could see general shapes and outlines, but nothing specific. He knew that his non-sapient counterparts couldn't see specific colors, so he was lucky that he didn't have to live like that. He took one step on the slope, and immediately pulled it back. It wasn't just slippery, or icy, it was as if someone had taken grease and just spilled it everywhere. The moment he stepped on, he wasn't going to be able to stop unless he flew.

And the ceiling, now barely at his head height, made sure that he wouldn't be able to fly high. But this was the only path forward, so he took a deep breath and slowly let it out, before putting one foot on the slide.

He placed the other one instantly down, and he began sliding down as if on oil. The cave was extremely smooth, with only small bumps or rocks along the way to tell him that he was in fact still heading downwards. The caves turned and twisted, and he was reminded of what Sonic had said once regarding the "Lost World", as he had called it back then, or the ARK.

There was no control to be had, Tails knew, as he went faster and faster. He'd long since lost the final charge he'd had from the acid, but he still had the one in his Charger. But after that, he had no juice left.

The slide continued heading downhill, twisting and turning, wreathing and writhing like it was a living thing. A giant snake, and he in the middle of it. Small engravings started to appear on the side, but they went by so fast that Tails couldn't tell what they were about other than that they were there.

The tunnel turned from going down to straight forward, and Tails waited with impatience for himself to slow down. There was no slowing down though, as if he had no friction even with the air. He took a deep breath; there was still air. It just wasn't...colliding with him.

Was something different about this area, or was this another sure sign that he was again getting closer to the Blooming Tides?

The tunnel turned upwards a bit, and Tails narrowed his eyes. There were very few reasons for the cave to suddenly turn up, especially as it was still smooth. Even gravity didn't seem to affect his speed now, and he kept going at around the same pace.

A bright light infiltrated into his eyes, and Tails flinched as he saw the cave open up. Had he reached the end?

No. The pathway kept going, now on bridges upon bridges of rock and whatever substance that was currently making him go forward. There were no walls, or any way to see anything. He looked behind him, seeing the lonely mountain start to fade. Had he missed it, somehow? Should he have gone straight up?

Lightning wreathed across the sky, and Tails felt himself still as it roared upon his ears. The storm was still above him. And now he was still going up, or down, or around various loops? The rocky pathways did have loops in them. It was a long slide, and it kept pushing him faster and faster. He hadn't realized that it had been. He wasn't going as fast as he could have on his own, but it was a 'decent clip nonetheless', as Sonic would have said.

He went up one loop, hoping to see something beneath him. Just a white fog that looked similar to the biome area that he'd already gone through. The pathway twisted in the middle of the loop, creating a spiral that reminded him strongly of the Emerald Hill Zone. More twists and turns, the pathway becoming ever more complicated as it went.

There was no sky, either. He could still hear the storm, and he could still feel the raindrops on his body and face, but he couldn't see it. There was no eternal grey in the sky, but rather a dull white, as if the fog was on the top and bottom but never the middle.

The pathway started to go straight down, and Tails felt gravity start to reassert itself on him, dragging him faster and faster. Spiral after spiral, with all the twists and turns, he was still upright.

Or he could be upside down right now. It was difficult to say. The slide kept twisting and turning, before it started to head straight into the same place that he'd come out of, only a few feet to the right. "Oh come on!" He shouted as he noticed that. All of that, nearly five or six minutes of sliding around and trying to keep his balance, and it was all right there!? If he'd seen that before, he would just flown over there, and cut out the entirety of the pathway.

Granted, he was going much faster than he was before, so maybe that had something to do with it.

The cave hit him suddenly, and he was plunged into darkness. He kept his pace though, heading deeper and deeper into the lonely mountain. The cave and pathway suddenly stopped, sending him flying through the air. He spun his tails, barely catching himself as he crashed into some...pillars?

He wasn't in a cave anymore. The grey, cloudy sky was swirling far above, angry at everything around it. Lightning swirled from it, hitting other portions of the storm. It avoided the mountain, even though by all physics, it should be hitting it every time. There were tall pillars, made of a purple material, that went farther and farther up. Some were knocked down, without any grass or anything showing up to show how they were knocked down. They looked as if they were brand new.

Even the floor was a strange material. It was bouncy, feeling close to rubber. And yet it was more solid than that, and his steps bounced him up every time he took one. There was only one way to go, as the ravines and canyons that dotted the mountain were once again all over the sides. The storm raged around them, making sure that he realized it wouldn't be a good idea to try to climb the sides.

He spun his tails, trying to get some more speed. His tails twisted around, and gave him just enough speed to have him go tripping onto the ground a moment later. He blinked; for the first time, he couldn't spin his tails. And it wasn't due to an injury; his tails were fine.

He had known, ages ago, that he had strange anatomy. By all rights, he should never be able to fly using his tails. He should never be able to get up to speed with them. And yet, he did. He knew how it worked in his body, and yet...it was as if the place was assertive against him.

He took a deep breath before he started to run anyways. He just wouldn't use his tails. Physics was always on his side, as he knew how to manipulate the laws. He tried to spin his tails instinctively, wincing as he felt them tie against each other, knot each other up.

The pillars and the pathway of pillars seemed to extend far up the hill. Each one was plain, as if someone had carved them and just left them there. Was he almost there? Was he almost to the actual Tides? Was this place a place of worship for them? Or had someone else put these here, to ensure that he was distracted enough?

Riot had seemed to know that he wouldn't make it, which only made him want to make it even faster. She said that others had tried in the past, but there was no energy source great enough.

He could think of a few. The Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald...it was just unlucky he hadn't been able to grab the Chaos Emerald back at the Tornado 2. If he'd been able to grab it, this would have been over a lot quicker. Anyone could use the Chaos Emeralds if they knew how.

The problem was the 'if they knew how'. Tails, when he'd first laid sight on them, hadn't known how to use them. He hadn't been able to go Super, or try any ascended form, no matter how badly he'd wanted to. Sonic was another story, using them almost too easily. He understood Chaos in a way that Tails had never seen replicated.

Granted, that was also years ago. Sonic could still use them easily enough, but Tails could too now. Knuckles, even Amy had some luck with them now. Silver, Shadow...it wasn't a surprise that others would know how to use them. No, not anymore.

The pillars took a sudden hard right, and Tails followed without thinking. He jumped back a moment later, as a bipedal...thing leapt out at him. It had blades for arms, and seemingly had no head, just a large torso. Its legs were thin, as if they were blades too. It was mostly black, with a few bits of greens and reds here and there. It had a pointed snout, as if it could smell, but it had no mouth.

"What are you!?" Tails asked as if he jumped back. It was slow, very slow, and Tails gave it a wide berth as he let it walk towards him. He grabbed a pebble off the ground, hurling it at the thing. It bounced back nearly five feet, much farther than anything should have been able to. It gave a sudden grunt, and Tails winced as he heard it in his mind.

He wasn't going to give this place any more fodder. He ran, trying to get through the labyrinth of pillars that evolved around him, with more of the dark beings forming out of the shadows around him. Despite their slowness, they seemed to be able to chase him everywhere, and with his flight not working for some reason, he had to go through the labyrinth legitimate. Each pathway surged and moved, keeping him lost as more of the dark beings headed towards him.

He spun around as he hit another dead end, the tall pillars making sure he couldn't move further. There were three of the things behind him, moving slowly as they tried to swipe him with their arm blades.

His tails spun, and he knocked all three back. One of them then tripped against the others, falling backwards as it suddenly disappeared into darkness. The pillars around him shifted again, becoming less confusing as another pathway created where it once had been a dead end.

"I don't know what this place is about, but if I have to kill these things to get through, I guess I will," he murmured, his tails spinning into another one. He could only do one or two spins before he lost his balance, and he knew he could do better.

He had done better. But then...he'd had a rhythm.

He had no electrokinesis. No ability to fly. But he was still Miles 'Tails' Prower, and that meant every experience he'd had was still behind him. He spun his tails again and again, slamming into them every instant he got before sending the last two back to the shadows. They disintegrated completely, leaving nothing in their wake just as the other had.

He heard another loud groan in front of him as the pillars shifted a third time, this time a much much straighter path. If this was what the world wanted, it's what he would give it.

...So, uh, this chapter has a big PSO reference. For those that don't get it, the shadow things chasing Tails? Dimenians from the Ruins in Episode 1!

Until Next Time!