The repeated smack of fists against faux leather, always accompanied by the jingling of chains, was now practically inaudible to Blaze. She'd been in her training room for a good full hour now, working a punching bag with all her physical and mental might. These Olympic games were far more difficult than she had anticipated.
Yesterday evening she'd proved her skill in the ring, besting Rouge in the third round. Blaze had knocked the larger bat off-guard through a flurry of punches and secured victory by TKO. It's been a hard fight, her body still ached from the treasure hunter's powerful jabs, but the guardian of the Sol dimension knew that she had to keep training. The final match was two nights away, her greatest challenge yet against a nigh insurmountable opponent. Blaze was set to box against the indomitable Amy Rose.
Amy had beaten the far taller Wave in her last bout, dismantling her in the same way as she'd beaten all of her prior opponents. It'd ended before the first bell; the bird was beaten by knockout via a serious combination of frightfully strong punches. Of all the girls in the competition, the pink hedgehog was absolutely the best suited to this sport; her arms were naturally muscular from swinging her hammer, so guarding was barely even an option. There was no shame in losing to her, no dishonour to it, but...
As Blaze recoiled from throwing her last right, the timer by her side blared and interrupted her both physically and mentally. She'd now completed ten sets of two minutes, five only using her right hand and five only using her left. Unfortunately though, as she pulled back, she couldn't help but notice the scent of melted plastic. A glance downward identified the scent's source, the knuckle of her right mitt was marked by a smouldering puncture wound. She cast her gaze to the punching bag and, sure enough, there was a lumpy black stain on its blue casing. She heaved a sigh, pulling the glove from her fist and tossing it to the ground. Sure enough, the binding underneath had been scorched to the point of shredding and fell from her fist with a single shake.
Despite the contest of strength that lay before her, in Blaze's mind, this was a battle of wills and an opportunity to prove herself. She took a seat on the nearby bench and went to drink from her water bottle only to find it empty. For a moment she simply sat, stranded amongst her thoughts in this big and empty room. While there was various exercise paraphernalia around her, including further punching bags and weights, her eyes were drawn along the red plastic floor and to the boxing ring set up in the centre of the room. While she'd first thought these games no more than something fun that occurred in the dimension next to hers, she'd come to view them as something far greater.
This was an opportunity to improve herself, to prove herself and bolster her self-confidence on so many levels. She'd quickly been informed that using inherent powers, be them like her pyrokinesis or akin to chaos control, was banned. The others had expected that she'd feel disadvantaged or discouraged but the potential that had bestowed the competition both surprised and excited her. The princess had also not anticipated the crowd that came to watch every event, cheering and clapping and showing support. These games were an opportunity to prove that she was more than her power, not just to those watching but herself. Though many were training their bodies, Blaze was training her spirit. The heckling she'd endured across both her lives could be proven wrong both here and now.
Through this competition, she was making tangible proof that she was more than her birth right and certainly more than her curse. But training to subdue her flames in the heat of competition was difficult and she'd come to rely on the only other person in a similar position to her. Then again, even if things were different, she knew that he, as her trusted companion, would have offered his aid.
A light knock at the gym door diverted the princess from her thoughts, Blaze dragged her gloved hand across her face in an attempt to alleviate some sweat before calling, "Come in!"
The door swung open, not pushed by hand but by psychic energy. Silver the hedgehog stepped through the doorway, his arms filled far too high with sports goods, "Hey, Blaze. Sorry I'm a little late, I figured I should pick up some extra water bottles and stuff. You sounded really serious this morning."
"Thank you, Silver," She smothered a burgeoning grin as she noticed the wheeze in his voice. Despite having all manner of psychic abilities at his disposal, the hedgehog continued to carry a pile so large that she couldn't meet his eyes, "Still getting used to doing things by hand?"
He stumbled his way over before struggling his way to sit on the bench next to her, dropping all manner of towels, icepacks, water bottles and other equipment into a heap in front of him, "Yeah, it's tough. I've been doing as much as I can, but I don't think I'll win any events this year. Maybe next time. It's a little hard to beat the fastest thing alive, a guy who's apparently as strong as the prior one is fast and a person dubbed the ultimate life-form in physical contests," He turned to her, seeming to clock the smouldering glove as he passed her one of the towels, "But as long as I can help you, I'm more than happy."
"You're so naive, you should focus more on yourself," Blaze absentmindedly hummed as she properly dabbed herself off, "But thank you, Silver. Without your help I surely wouldn't have made it this far."
The alabaster hedgehog grinned at that, passing her up a bottle, "No way, you're doing great, I'm hardly doing anything."
"Don't be so modest, I'm serious. Without you here I couldn't have come this far," She insisted, taking the bottle and a small swig.
When she looked back to him from her drink, she couldn't help but notice his goofy expression. His cheeks had reddened and his tail was beating against the bench. He seemed to speak fine despite it though, "Well, anyways, what's the plan? I really thought Wave would have beat Amy, she's so much taller."
"Yes, Wave had a lot of advantages, but she still lost," Blaze affirmed, "Out-boxers like her are supposed to beat powerful sluggers due to their greater reach, but Amy still managed to bash her way in and tear her apart. I've watched the recording a handful of times, it isn't pretty. I'm not sure what I should do, I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this. Wave would be a far easier final fight..."
"But Rouge was a slugger just like Amy, right? And you beat her yesterday," He almost seemed to vanish into a world of his own as he thought, still beaming, "You were incredible, Blaze! You looked so cool out there. Rouge could hardly touch you; it was unbelievable! You're the most powerful person I know but I was still really surprised."
"Shush," She half commanded him, feeling her temperature rise, "It's not about how I looked, I'm only doing this to prove myself."
"What is there to prove though? You're great Blaze!" As his hand touched her shoulder, she felt that heat spread across her muzzle and couldn't help throwing him a pensive frown, "B-But that doesn't mean we shouldn't plan for the next fight."
Rolling her eyes, she matched his hold and wrapped her arm around him. While there was no denying that Rouge had been the stronger between the two of them, the feline's victory had been determined by the fighting styles they used day to day. Rouge evidently wasn't used to the confines of boxing. Not only did the bat traditionally fight using powerful kicks and aerial assaults, but she fought in a vicious and trickery-based style that didn't fit within the sports rules. If the bat was more practiced then the traditional advantage sluggers had over swarmers, the style Blaze used, would have surely played out. Blaze likely would have thrown the same light punch volleys only for Rouge to take them and deal heavy blow after heavy blow until the match was done.
Wave was the slowest combatant in the bracket, that'd been clear from the start. Her impressive range had allowed her to fend off prior opponents but whenever an opponent got in too close, she'd always had trouble. Her footwork wasn't especially good, she'd relied on her larger body and her reaching blows being powerful enough, but Amy's raw strength and stamina had won out. If only there was a way to-
"Um, Blaze?" The feline looked to the hedgehog only for the heat to reignite her cheeks. As she'd been thinking, almost absentmindedly, her hand had slipped from his shoulder to his chest and begun to lose itself in his fluffy chest fur.
Blaze recoiled, sliding up the bench, only to find embers were gathering on her knuckles again. When she thought too much, the battle to contain her ability grew harder. She sheepishly caught his eye, "Sorry, Silver. I must have drifted too deep into thought."
"Oh, in that case go ahead," The hedgehog shuffled closer to her, fully turning as if to expose his fluff to her, "If it'll help you then-
"N-No, I'm fine, thank you," She waved him off, quickly turning away. Despite her embarrassment, she had formed an idea, "Do you think it'd be worth trying some out-boxing techniques? I am much faster than Wave and my reach is longer than Amy's. She probably won't expect them either..."
"That makes sense, but it's a little short notice to totally change your style," Silver hummed, "I guess you could maybe just do what you've been doing but at a longer range? If you hit her lots before she can get in close, then it might stun her?" The hedgehog gestured to his pile, "I brought some training mitts in case you wanted to practice anything. We could give it a shot?"
"As long as you're prepared, I'm prepared," She said, going to rise only to feel her bare palm against the bench, "Although, I need to rebind this first..."
"Oh, I've got you," He replied, reaching down again before bringing up a roll of binding gauze, "Give me your hand."
Blaze turned, awkwardly straddling the bench in her baggy shorts, and reached out toward him. Silver, so very gently, made sure her fingers were properly spaced before beginning to wrap the bandage around her wrist. His eyes were fixed on her hand, watching and making sure her wrist support was properly bound.
They'd been in similar positions fairly often over the past two weeks but, perhaps due to her accidental fondling, this time felt different. She'd rather gotten used to this outfit but, in hindsight, it wasn't something she'd usually don. Wearing a sports-bra wasn't new to her but it was far more visible than usual due to the stringy grey tank-top that covered it. It was, all significantly showier than she was used to, even if there wasn't much to show.
He'd shifted to wrap her thumb before starting to go over the back of her hand, that was when she felt it. The warmth from her face had trailed down and was prickling around her knuckles, dancing around wherever Silver contacted. She took a deep breath, biting her lip as she tried to focus on dulling the heat. She tried to imagine the white peaks on a wintery island and the feeling of the hand he was tending being submerged in icy cold snow, this was a place she'd found herself mentally visiting more and more often.
"Blaze?" His voice briefly interrupted those thoughts, "You're tensing, am I doing it too tight?"
She hummed a negative, fully turning away from him and toward the ring as she tried to keep that cold place in mind. The fight to control her flames was emotional as well as physical, the princess knew that all too well. Wayward bouts of emotion could ignite her flames and that emotion could be catalysed by movement, be it contact or her own. This fact was useful in the midst of real battle but when dealing with her friends or competing in a sport like this it most certainly wasn't. Blaze hadn't been fouled for her flames yet, but she knew that they could easily cost her this next match and her chance at growth.
Well, hitting the pads with embarrassment flaring on her cheeks was certainly going to train both her body and mind. She supposed that was for the better but, naturally, she didn't want to hurt her partner.
"All done!" He said, pulling her from her thoughts, "Does that feel alright?"
She formed a fist, testing, "That's perfect, thank you, Silver."
"No problem," He grinned, reaching down and slipping on his padded gloves.
It was only as he slid those mitts onto his fingers that Blaze hesitated, "Are you sure you're up for this?"
"As long as you're prepared, I'm prepared," He repeated her line, still smiling, and Blaze found herself burying her head in her imagined snow.
The pair of them rose. Blaze collected her discarded glove, deeming that it was still intact enough for training, before following him through the ropes and into the arena's centre. She could already imagine the upcoming day, people surrounding her on all sides and eagerly watching the fight. Silver would be there too of course, off somewhere in the crowd, just waiting to cheer for her. More than once, following her victory, Blaze swore that she'd seen psychic fireworks bursting above the ring.
Her eyes returned to him, the mitts were already raised, "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it," He promised.
Blaze paused, giving it just one more moment's thought, "Try to approach as best you can, I'll see if I can keep you out of my normal range."
Silver nodded, ducking even further behind his padded gloves. Compared to how Blaze imagined her opponent would look; Silver was like a teddy bear while Amy was a fully grown grizzly. Still, the seriousness flashing in those yellow eyes reminded Blaze that he'd give it his all.
The hedgehog took a step forward and, immediately, Blaze fired off a left jab. Not used to this new range, the blow didn't land with its usual force, but she was more than ready for that. A second and a third jab was fired, still only lefts, and his advance stalled. Taking a step back, feeling her heart pick up the pace, the guardian unleashed her first proper barrage of right and left punches. The way she saw it, there was little point in guarding against Amy until the last possible minute; regardless of the strength Blaze put behind a guard, Amy was going to blast through it.
"That's it Blaze!" He called out from behind the gloves, "You're doing it."
She tried to ignore him but, again felt heat burn on her cheeks. The pyrokinetic tried to focus on the sound of her gloves beating the pads, to fill her mind with adrenaline. Punch after punch after punch was thrown, the grey hedgehog seemed to be taking them well, it was time for something different.
Blaze changed her stance, going from facing him straight on to side on. This was a technique she had observed Wave utilising on occasion to take advantage of her greater reach, the flicker jab. The feline whipped her left arm forward to strike at an even greater range. The movement felt unnatural and she was certain she'd overextended her reach, but it was a step in the right direction. She pulled back before striking again, the motion was almost like the swinging of a pendulum. Blaze quickly found her rhythm and felt her confidence swell.
Left after left after left was thrown but the blows were lighter than before, even if they had the capacity to reach further. Silver had gotten closer; he was certainly slower than the pink hedgehog, something Blaze had to keep in mind. He had reached a point where Amy might have dared to start punching in an attempt to disrupt the feline's momentum. Accounting for this, Blaze began to throw her more powerful rights in a much more regular barrage.
Silver seemed to brace after the first pair of strikes, "Great, Blaze!" He called out as she skipped around him to his far side and the more open end of the ring. As he turned to follow her, he clearly couldn't help but open his mouth again, "You're doing amazing."
"Th-Thank you," She blurted out only to catch her own stutter and feel herself grow even hotter.
Having thrown so many punches over such a short period, not to mention only having a brief break since her last set against the bag, Blaze was sweating. It was difficult to tell where her exhaustion ended and embarrassment began at this point but regardless, her heart was thumping and her face was hot. As she threw even more punches, Blaze tried to imagine the sweat on her forehead as rainwater. Yes, water, she was moving in the rain; everything was cool, everything was fine.
She switched from her side-on stance back to front-on, striking the centre of his mitts with her left hand before battering the same space with her right. For a moment, his guard broke and Blaze saw the look on his face. It was a look of total admiration, of unabashed infatuation at her performance.
Blaze hesitated as his guard tightened again, feeling her heart flutter and skip a handful more beats. The heat wasn't just on her face but spread across her shoulders and stretching along her wrists. She took a deep breath, trying to only use so much power as to throw punches rather than fireballs. The hedgehog weathered these blows, his strength clearly wasn't waning while distraction and aches were limiting her. She had to maintain her concentration, not just on punching but the fire brewing inside of her.
Rather than step backwards as she had been, Blaze pushed forward with a strong and reaching right. She quickly followed it with a prodding left and Silver seemed to quickly understand what was happening. Though he kept attempting to push toward her, she'd pepper him with reaching barrages and he'd rout.
Time after time she pushed him ever so slightly backwards. He'd tighten his guard to step in but fists and sweat would fly; rather than striding forwards, he was pushed back time after time. This was the power she needed; this was her only shot at beating Amy! Punches from range, strong enough to push back but not so serious that she overextended. She had to knock the pink hedgehog's guard wide open before daring to move in and swarm! If she could do that then she'd keep her cool and-
"Th-That's perfect, Blaze!" A muffled call from the hedgehog was almost smothered by another fist.
By now the heat had flooded across her entire body, they'd surely been doing this for longer than an entire round but neither of them had set a timer. Beads of sweat had reached her eyes, making them sting every second or third blink. With every punch thrown and step taken, the feline found herself growing closer and closer to her limit. She was going to overflow, she was going to burn, but this was important, she had to grow.
Blaze had to push, just like she always had. If she didn't push now then she wouldn't be able to push the next day, she wouldn't give it her all against Amy and make herself proud. She had to prove this to herself; not only could she fight without her powers, but she could fight hard without them flooding forth!
A right punch that didn't shift him momentarily unnerved her, she reeled back and threw one twice as hard. That proved to be a horrible mistake. As her punch rocketed towards his guard, Blaze felt an all too familiar heat chase up her arm. She hadn't realised that his lack of movement was due to his position against the ropes. As her powerful blow met with the centre of his guard, the block broke and a flame stretched further than she could hope to reach.
Blaze immediately recoiled, stumbling before falling onto her backside, "Silver, I'm sorry, I-
The gloves lowered and, rather than the burnt face that Blaze had anticipated, she saw a mask of psychic energy. That psychic shield quickly faded from his face and revealed an entirely unburnt time traveling hedgehog. Without even a moment's hesitation, he dropped to join her on the floor.
"Blaze, that was incredible!" He beamed. Unlike what she'd anticipated, the hedgehog had been bedraggled by their one-sided exchanges. His usually tall quills were now a floppy mess, "Amy doesn't stand a chance, you're amazing!"
"A-Are you okay," She rushed across the ring to him, going to grab his face but immediately recoiling in case that contact ignited too.
"I'm fine, Blaze. There's nothing to worry about," The hedgehog didn't panic as she had about contact, immediately placing his hands on her shoulders, "You were incredible, even better than yesterday!"
His face was sweaty but totally unscathed. She hadn't burned him; she hadn't hurt him.
"S-Stop being so naive," She half-growled, shrugging his hands from her frame before gingerly taking him by the chin. Blaze forced his head both right and left, looking for the smallest of marks or a single burnt hair, but she could find none. Though relief swept over her, regret still lingered, "I could have hurt you."
"If a little burn or a bashed nose is what it takes for you to do this then I'm more than willing to endure that," He said, so very bluntly.
"Well I'm not," She responded, quickly letting go of his face.
"I thought you were? I thought you were training with me because I can take it?" Confusion had filled his eyes and voice, "I want everyone to see how wonderful you can be, I thought you did too. Winning and proving that to everyone."
"Silver," She looked him in the eye, gathering all her seriousness, "This isn't about winning, it never was."
"It's not?" He asked, sinking deeper into befuddlement, "I thought by proving yourself you meant winning."
"I just want to go out there and do the best I can, to show that I can succeed without this curse, even if that doesn't necessarily mean winning. Though I'd like to prove it to everyone, I want to prove it to myself," She succinctly responded.
"But your powers aren't a curse," He proclaimed without hesitating, "With or without them you're already wonderful. You're amazing, Blaze, I'm not lying when I say that."
She knew he meant it, he'd been adamant about the good her powers could do in the past, and she could believe him most of the time, but that wasn't the point, "It's not about whether my power is good or bad Silver, I know that it is neither, it's what I make it. But, alike my title and position as princess, I didn't earn my flames, I was born with them. I want to prove that I have grown, even outside them. I want to be proud of a strength that is my own."
Having had his hands knocked from her, he cautiously reached across and took her hands in his. Though contemplation dominated his expression for a moment, soon he was smiling again, "If that's the kind of power you want, then I'll help you see that you already have it," He claimed unabashedly.
"You're so naive," She tutted, daring to squeeze his hands, "You can't just say these things and expect them to happen. It doesn't work like that; this will take time and effort and failure. I might go out there only to be knocked out by Amy before I can throw a single punch, this journey probably won't end here."
But then, that was what Silver always did. He'd claimed they'd fix the future, never just that they'd try to fix the future. The psychic always spoke in absolutes, never in hypotheticals. It was what had brought her to believe in him, to trust in him.
She felt her hands growing hotter again, but, when she went to withdraw, Blaze felt him hold fast, "I know it will happen because I won't give up until it does. I don't care how long it takes. You are my partner so your needs come first, I don't care if I'm burned to a crisp by the end as long as you're happy."
Meeting his gaze suddenly became a lot more difficult, there was a serious glint in his eyes that she had seen thousands of times but only dared to weather on a handful of occasions. It was like looking at the sun, blinding and yet it warmed her face so completely. By each other's sides, they'd changed the world and given birth to an entirely new dimension. Why would something like this, so small and personal, be beyond their partnership?
Perhaps, after this goal was met, she'd be able to tackle that other warmth brewing inside of her. Whether it manifested through her fists, on her face or in her heart, she knew she'd have to face it someday. But, thinking too much about that now risked setting this whole room ablaze.
"Let's go another round," He suggested, rising to his feet, "You are great, with or without your powers. If that's what you want to prove then I'm here to help you prove it!"
Well, whether she won her bout with Amy or not, she'd always preferred Silver to any alternative. Gold wasn't really her colour anyway.