Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Our world is filled with all kinds of stories. So many tales to tell. Perhaps too many. But out of all these stories and legends whispered throughout the world, there is one I have had the honor of seeing with my own eyes.

But the true question should be where to start with this particular tale. It’s not for the faint of heart after all.

Hmm…well. It may be best to start at the beginning then.

Once upon a time, there lived two wise and just rulers. King Inferno, an Elemental born with the power of flame. And Queen Asha, a swordswoman who could slash into the fiercest of foes. Together, these two made it their sworn duty to protect their kingdom and the treasures it withheld. Treasures that could decide the very fate of the planet..

The Sol Emeralds. Seven mystical jewels with no known origin that wield tremendous power beyond anyone’s wildest fantasies.

And The Jeweled Scepter. An ancient staff with The Power of Stars, a magic that keeps not only the planet, but entire dimensions intact.

Protecting these cosmic gifts was a heavy burden, but Inferno and Asha carried it with pride. Their people meant more to them than their own lives…until one day, the king and queen decided it was time to grant the world a new miracle.

A princess.

The Sol Empire rejoiced when it was announced that their princess would soon be coming. Well wishes were sent, celebrations were held, and the townsfolk couldn’t help but ask questions. But the most excited of all were the king and queen themselves. They couldn’t wait to raise their little one in the world they loved so, so much.

…but tragedy struck…Asha’s strength was not enough to keep her alive. Her life was lost just as her daughter’s began.

Inferno, mournful over the loss of his wife, gave himself a new mission. Protect their child at any cost. A child he would name…Blaze.

Blaze, even with no mother, grew up a happy child with a promising future. Even before she could speak, her father was sure to let her know that he loved her more than anything else in the world. Even more than the treasures that she would one day protect.

Hope was beginning to burn within the kingdom once more…until fate decided to test them with its cruelty yet again.

Inferno, having succumbed to unnoticed wounds, had been taken from the world. Blaze had lost her father and thus her smile. Even with her personal guards continuing to care for her, it could not fill the aching void left within the young princess’s heart. Things only seemed to get worse when she inherited her birthright: the power of flames.

But without her father to guide her, this power was not a gift. It was a curse. With something as small as a tantrum, entire buildings would become engulfed in fire. This power, having never been displayed in such destructive capacity, terrified the people of The Sol Empire.

The guards who had promised the king to watch over her didn’t know what to do. The people Blaze would rule over fled from her flames. The other nobles of the world were not keen on their princess’s lack of control. And Blaze herself had no parents to turn to.

Even when others were there, Blaze felt…alone.

The princess, having grown in this solitude, inherited the throne and had managed to tame the wildfire within her own soul. Her people’s terror had finally started to subside. It was now her solemn duty to protect The Sol Emeralds and The Jeweled Scepter from those who worshipped evil’s might.

And one such worshipper arrived one day. A mustached madman known as ‘Eggman Nega’. Despite his strange name, his thirst for power and his robotic armada were nothing to laugh at. Blaze and the mad doctor battled time and time again until one day, he and an ally had successfully stolen The Sol Emeralds from our world.

Resolute and desperate, Blaze gave chase into an entirely different dimension and began gathering The Sol Emeralds one by one…but while retrieving them and destroying her foe’s machines was simple enough, our princess had run into something unexpected. Or rather, someone.

A young girl by the name of Cream The Rabbit, who had become her guide to this new dimension. It was the first time in a long time that Blaze had actually met someone new outside of her palace. It was almost too good to be true when Cream’s eyes widened with astonishment instead of terror at the sight of Blaze’s flames.

And Cream was not the only one Blaze had crossed paths with on her journey. Nor was she the only one to insist that Blaze’s mission did not have to be done alone. One particularly persistent warrior was a speedster named Sonic The Hedgehog, a hero who could rival Blaze in almost every way. It was his own enemy, Dr. Eggman, who had allied himself with Eggman Nega to steal The Sol Emeralds in the first place.

No matter how many times Blaze objected to their offers of help or even friendship, all of them refused to give up on her. It was as if each of them could see the solitude Blaze had grown up in.

And eventually…their efforts succeeded. For the first time in years, Blaze had let down her walls. These people had become her allies. Her friends. Even when she inevitably returned home, she found herself hoping that she would see them again one day.

For once, fate decided to reward the princess. The Sol Emeralds and their dimensional counterparts, The Chaos Emeralds, transported Sonic and a boy by the name of Miles Prower into our world to help prevent a catastrophe: the theft of The Jeweled Scepter at the hands of one of Eggman Nega’s machines. And much to Blaze’s shock, they were not the only ones pulled into this adventure.

A young girl by the name of Marine The Raccoon had also joined them. She was young and rambunctious, having dreams of sailing the planet’s endless oceans as a fierce pirate. And while her excitement proved to be more of an obstacle than an asset, Blaze had decided to take the little one under her wing once their journey had ended and Sonic and Miles returned home.

And as the two began their own adventures, Blaze discovered that she and Marine were more similar to each other than at first glance. Marine was an Elemental. Just like her. And knowing all too what having untamed power at a young age was like, Blaze had become more than just her mentor.

She had become…her sister.

…but then? A brand new adventure began for Blaze. Something that not even she could have ever predicted. And something that still somewhat baffles her to this very day.

The Sol Emeralds had transported Blaze into the future…but not her future. Not even the future of our world. But rather, a different time that had been completely ravaged by a power known as The Flames of Disaster. She had found herself combatting an unstoppable monster wielding the power over and over again.

But in this fight for survival in a world that was not her own, Blaze had made yet another ally. A psychokinetic warrior named Silver The Hedgehog, a young man whose sense of hope burned brighter than the stars themselves. Even when his home was a wasteland, Blaze would often hear him speak of hopes and dreams. Dreams of a prosperous world filled with smiling people instead of boiling lava. Hopes of the sun shining through the dark clouds after years of nothing but gray.

Silver had been alone for a long time. Perhaps even longer than Blaze had been. But while she at least had those her father assigned to protect her, Silver had no one. Despite worrying constantly for the safety of her own home, she knew that The Sol Emeralds had brought her to this disastrous place for a reason. And even without that knowledge, she couldn’t simply abandon the hedgehog who was barely clinging onto his hope of a brighter tomorrow.

The two had become partners. Fighting against the monstrous Iblis for what felt like an eternity. Protecting and saving the few people that had been surviving in Crisis City. But it was a losing battle for Iblis could never truly be defeated.

…or…so they thought. A chance at victory was suddenly offered to them by a strange being who introduced himself as Mephiles. He had proposed that the solution to Iblis was to destroy the one who had released him. The ‘Iblis Trigger’.

One that he had claimed was none other than…Sonic.

Blaze had very little time to process that her closest friend was the supposed cause of a horrible future. But Silver, believing The Iblis Trigger to be some kind of monstrous villain, was all too eager to save his world. Mephiles transported them back in time…but the strange being had no plans to save the future. He wanted to cement his own.

Mephiles was revealed to be the other half of Iblis. A demon who thrived on pain and destruction and would manipulate the young and naive to achieve his twisted goals into merging with his other half and allowing an all-powerful god called Solaris to live again.

Blaze and Silver had realized this and swiftly made amends with the ones Mephiles had attempted to convince them were their enemies. Silver had discovered that there was another way to stop Iblis and returned to the future with Blaze at his side. This method was to seal the beast within his own soul with the power of Chaos.

…however…Iblis did not accept him. He fought back against every attempt Silver made, keeping the world in destruction.

But Blaze could also not accept this. Taking The Emeralds from her friend, she offered herself as the beast’s new vessel. Even in a world that wasn’t her own, Blaze simply refused to let anyone innocent suffer. Let alone Silver, who she believed deserved a happy ending more than anyone. Despite Silver’s desperate pleas, Blaze was successful and then proceeded to seal herself and thus Iblis in between space and time, bidding her trusted friend one last goodbye.

Blaze had prepared herself to eternally struggle with the flaming beast, who had swiftly proved himself to be much harder to control than she believed. However, it wasn’t until The Sol Emeralds arrived did Iblis finally meet his end. Their cosmic power destroyed the beast’s consciousness and merged his destructive power with Blaze’s already fiery soul.

And then, in a brilliant flash of light, Blaze had returned to our world as if nothing had happened. As if her endless battles by Silver’s side were nothing more than a dream.

Why? It seemed that her and Silver’s efforts to save the future were not nearly as concrete as they had hoped. Mephiles had survived and enacted his last scheme, taking the life of Sonic The Hedgehog and thus releasing the past Iblis from his vessel. Solaris had returned, ready to consume all of time itself…but even with his unrivaled control over space and time, the god met defeat at the hands of not only Silver, but a resurrected Sonic and The Ultimate Lifeform himself.

Solaris had been erased from existence…thus, so had Blaze’s adventures with Silver. Neither of them had remembered the things they had gone through together.

…but even so, they met each other again. It was under new circumstances and forged over new memories, but their bond had proven to be far too great to simply be forgotten. Blaze had even decided to take Silver to our world to give him a proper home since his current living situation was…complicated. He had quickly become acquainted with the excitable Marine and the three of them decided to form their very own team.

But that, however, seemed to be the key to regaining what was once thought lost. When Silver had been shown the light of The Sol Emeralds, they had decided to restore their memories of their lost timeline. Their lost story.

They had also revealed to their guardian that Iblis’s power was now hers to command. A concept that Blaze had attempted to deny out of fear. Out of fear for what she would turn into when accessing The Flames of Disaster. Out of fear of the destruction she could cause. Out of fear of what her people would think.

…out of fear of what Silver would think.

So, she kept it hidden. She hid this power away from even herself.

But one day, she couldn’t hide it any longer. Thanks to the villainous efforts of an illusion-casting jackal and a vengeful alien, Mephiles had returned and demanded that Blaze release her new power so that he and Iblis would become Solaris yet again. Even when Silver and Marine arrived to help their friend combat the demon, Mephiles was adamant in his mission.

…until it was proven to be hopeless. Blaze unleashed her new monstrous form and demonstrated her complete control over The Flames of Disaster. Iblis was no more. His power was now just another weapon in Blaze’s arsenal.

And once Mephiles retreated, Blaze’s fears of being seen as a monster yet again…were swiftly put to the side. Silver did not see the beast that destroyed his future. He simply saw his friend in need of reassurance.

…well…if you could call his strong feelings for her ‘friendship’.

Needless to say though, Mephiles was forever imprisoned within non-existence alongside his allies. The world had been saved and so our heroes returned to our world yet again to relax. Our Sol Dimension.

But after so many adventures, so many battles, and so many struggles…what’s next? What awaits our princes-

“What are you doing, Gardon?” A voice suddenly asked, snapping the koala out of his focus and forcing his hand to mindlessly drift his pen across the page, thus staining it and all of his writing in ink.

Gardon slowly looked back down at his page and allowed his mind to process that his many paragraphs were now unreadable.

And the one who had called his name was none other than Blaze, who seemed to swiftly realize what she had done. “Oh, err, I…I’m terribly sorry.”

Gardon sighed. “No need to apologize. I suppose it was getting a bit lengthy anyway…”

Blaze then tilted her head. “If I may, what were you writing about?”

Gardon suddenly smiled a bit. “Oh, I think it’s something you’re very familiar with, your highness.”

Blaze’s eyes narrowed, but a slightly amused smile formed across her face. “Gardon, how many times have I asked you not to call me that?”

“Old habits die hard.” Gardon laughed. “Was there something you needed?”

“I was wondering if you had anything to report.” Blaze said. “I want to be certain that The Empire isn’t in any kind of danger.”

Gardon smiled. “Then I’m pleased to say that you have nothing to worry about.”

Blaze returned the smile and nodded. “That is a relief. But I must admit, I am surprised. The Chaos Dimension can’t seem to go a single day without some kind of threat or nuisance.”

Gardon hummed, standing from his seat. “I’d consider it a blessing. From what you’ve told me, Sonic’s gallery of rogues is much greater than ours.”

“Which currently sits at…well…none.” Blaze said, scratching her chin. She didn’t truly believe her own words. “Captain Whisker and his crew have retreated to parts unknown and we haven’t seen the likes of Eggman Nega in…years.”

“With a name like that, I wouldn’t want to show myself either.” Gardon playfully quipped.

Blaze couldn’t help but start laughing and her personal guard followed soon after…until suddenly?

A rumble suddenly rang throughout the air, causing both The Sol Princess and the swordsman to immediately freeze. Gardon even put his hand on the handle of his blade, looking ready to free it from its scabbard.

Blaze began to look around. “...what was that?”

“I…I don’t know.” Gardon admitted.

Blaze then looked out the window…only for her eyes to widen at the sight of robots suddenly flying across the air, firing various lasers and blasts and forcing the townsfolk to run and hide.

Gardon followed her gaze and gasped, swiftly pulling out his sword.

Blaze, however, just felt flames begin to lick at her fingertips. “It seems you spoke too soon. Gardon, alert Captain Lance and The Royal Guard to protect the people. I’ll deal with these machines and whoever sent them.”

Gardon just nodded and quickly ran off, sheathing his sword yet again.

Blaze, using her flames and enhanced speed to propel herself forward, made a mad dash for the palace’s exit and was outside within mere moments.

She had been itching for a fight anyway.

Chapter Text

Thanks to her flames, Blaze had little to no trouble arriving at the center of the kingdom in time. Fire was igniting from her feet and racing her across the ground as if she were some kind of living missile.

And when The Sol Princess screeched to a halt, she was met with the horrifying sight of pitch black Egg Pawns aiming their blasters at a group of civilians. Her people desperately taking cover behind a stand.

Blaze gritted her teeth and charged, immediately hurtling a fireball towards one of the Egg Pawns and blasting it into pieces. The other robots rotated their heads, only for Blaze to deliver an even harsher fate to each of them. She roundhouse kicked one of them while empowering her foot with flames, simultaneously shooting out a beam of fire towards another.

And when there was only one more standing, the mindless machine quickly began to fire its weapon at her. Blaze dodged the first shot, sliced through the second with a slash of fire, and then finally unleashed an X-shaped blast of flame towards the Egg Pawn.

Needless to say, when the townsfolk peeked out to see what had caused such a commotion, they were left wide-eyed at a pile of ash and burnt machine parts and their princess at the center of it all.

One of the civilians gasped at the sight of her. “Princess Blaze!!!”

Blaze quickly rushed over to them. “Are you all alright?”

“W-we’re fine! Thanks to you!” Another cried. “But there’s still more of these robots all across town!”

Blaze nodded. “I will deal with them. Get somewhere safe!”

“B-be careful, your majesty!” A third civilian cried.

Blaze simply smiled. “I appreciate your concern…but I’m not the one who should be careful.”

Then, after watching her civilians run off to safety, Blaze dashed across the kingdom at super speed and proceeded to take out countless robots along the way. A few dozen more Egg Pawns, a handful of flying robots, and a destructive duo of much larger machines wielding hammers.

Each one were clearly Badniks, which gave Blaze a sneaking suspicion as to who was even behind this attack. Needless to say, she had wished she simply hadn’t said anything about him.

After slicing through an Egg Fighter with her flames, Blaze began to look around the town for any more civilians or robots to burn to cinders. Unfortunately, her answer was the latter and took form in the sound of several mechanical footsteps.

Blaze whipped around, her fists becoming entirely engulfed in fire and her face bearing a stone cold expression. Which refused to falter even at the sight of a large battalion of Egg Fighters surrounding her.

In perfect sync, each of the Egg Fighters transformed their arms into energy cannons, which all took aim at the imperial princess herself.

Blaze got ready to charge…until?

The battalion suddenly became coated with a familiar cyan aura and froze. And then, one by one, they began to float high into the air. Their ascension only continued until they had surpassed the tallest building in the kingdom.

Blaze, however, just grinned and dispersed her flames. She took a step back and then crossed her arms, looking up at the floating Badniks.

Then, simultaneously, the Egg Fighters began rocketing back towards the ground at speeds faster than the regular eye could see. And with an indescribable sound, the entire battalion shattered into pieces the moment they hit the ground.

Blaze then turned around just in time to see someone flying over to her. “Thank you for your assistance, Silver.”

Silver The Hedgehog just smiled at his partner. “I always got your back, Blaze!”

“As I yours.” Blaze said before looking ahead. “Follow me. I doubt that was the last of them.”

The Sol Princess then raced off with a burst of fire, with the hero of the future flying after her with a streak of psychokinetic energy trailing behind him. The duo of heroes raced across The Sol Empire before screeching to a halt at the sight of a new opponent.

Another Badnik, but this one was looming over them in size and seemed to be styled after some kind of bull. And once it caught sight of them, it immediately opened its mouth and fired out a laser beam.

Silver gasped and quickly flew away from the beam while Blaze simply blasted herself into the air with her flames like a rocket. And while being sure to constantly remind herself to not look down, Blaze landed on top of a rooftop and stared down the robotic bull as its back suddenly opened up to reveal various missiles.

“Silver!” Blaze cried, leaping off the rooftop the moment the bull looked at her.

And it seemed the call of his name was enough for Silver to realize what she wanted him to do. The missiles fired from the bull’s back one by one, but were quickly frozen by Silver’s psychokinesis.

Blaze landed on the ground, but immediately blasted herself back into the air and towards the bull. And with a battle cry, The Sol Princess spun around into a fiery tornado and slashed through the robotic bull’s jaw, cleaving it from its hinges and forcing a screech from the Badnik’s voice box.

Silver smirked and then raised his hands, commanding the missiles to redirect themselves towards the very being that fired them in the first place. “Have some of your own medicine!!!”

The missiles all rocketed back downwards, bending to Silver’s will and striking the bull over and over, engulfing the robotic beast with several miniature explosions. And as a smokescreen formed around the bull, Silver and Blaze met up.

“You think that did it?” Silver asked.

Blaze didn’t respond. She simply stared at the cloud of smoke ahead, readying herself for any possibility.

And then, slicing through the smoke with a cracked horn was the robotic bull. Its eyes were glowing a blood red as it let out another mechanical screech. But the severely damaged armor and countless spots across its body revealing exposed machine parts were more than enough proof to the duo that the beast would not last longer.

Silver and Blaze’s hands shined with their respective powers as the bull began stomping towards them, likely preparing another one of its weapons. But just before the duo could charge and finish off the beast?

A figure suddenly landed on top of the robotic bull’s head. She stumbled a bit, clearly struggling to keep balance, but laughed triumphantly when it was regained. “Sorry, mate! But I can’t let you take out my crew!”

Then, from Marine The Raccoon’s hand, a small strand of water began to solidify into a cutlass. And after slicing into the barely intact armor atop the robotic bull’s head, she jammed her watery weapon into what would be the central processor of the machine.

The robotic bull’s massive head quickly started to spark and twitch before its entire body began to stumble forwards. It had begun shutting down…and unfortunately, Marine was starting to fall with it. The wannabe pirate, realizing this, let out a terrified cry as her watery cutlass transformed into a simple puddle.

Blaze’s eyes widened in horror. “MARINE!!!”

“I got her!” Silver cried, quickly shooting his hands forward and encompassing his young teammate within the light of his psychokinesis, keeping her afloat while the robotic bull crashed onto the ground, defeated.

Marine blinked and she looked around for a moment before realizing what had happened. She then laughed and pointed down at the defeated Badnik. “HA! That’s what you get when you mess with the great Captain Marine and her crew!!!”

Blaze sighed in relief as Silver carefully pulled Marine over to them and set her down. And naturally, Silver was the first to check on her. “Are you okay, Marine?”

“What do you reckon, Silver mate?” Marine asked with a grin. “A great captain wouldn’t go down like that! And I just so happen to have you and Blazey makin’ sure of that!”

Blaze sighed and crossed her arms. “Marine, that was still really dangerous…”

Marine’s eyes softened and she rubbed the back of her neck, giving her friend a sheepish grin. “Okay, maybe a little. But I’m gettin’ really good with my…err…what did ya call it?”

“Hydrokinesis?” Blaze asked, her protective gaze turning into that of amusement.

Marine smiled and nodded. “Yeah! I was awesome up there, wasn’t I?”

Silver laughed with a bright smile. “You were! You’re getting better and better!”

But then, a very familiar voice rang out through the air. One that all three of them had wished they’d never hear again.

“Your psychokinetic friend would be right. You have become far stronger than our last encounter…”

Team Dimension whipped around just in time to see a familiar flying machine hovering above them. But the machine wasn’t their concern. It was who was piloting it.

It was a bald man wearing goggles and red pointy sunglasses. His mustache was snow white in color…or at least, half of it was. While one side of him was wearing a white and black bodysuit with a vertical red stripe going up the middle and a black, red, and yellow jacket? The other side of him was completely dark and seemed to be lined with what looked to be bright red computer coding. That half of him was even glitching in and out of existence every few seconds.

The man grinned at them. “But I can tell that you’re still the whiny little brat our dearest princess keeps around for her own amusement.”

Blaze snarled and stood in front of Marine and Silver protectively. “Eggman Nega…”

Silver, however, was just staring at their foe’s new appearance in confusion. “W…what happened to you?”

The mad doctor chuckled. “You of all people should know the consequences of messing with the timeline, Silver. To put it simply, my family’s history has changed in unexpected ways. I am no longer a mere man. I’d thank them if I didn’t despise them…”

“I admit surprise that you’re even still alive.” Blaze scowled. “I would’ve assumed that someone as cowardly as you would’ve died inside The Ifrit’s domain.”

The glitching madman just grinned. “Ah. I take it the future’s self-proclaimed ‘hero’ told you of our last encounter, your highness?”

Marine then stepped forward. “You were really dumb to come back here, bloke! We beat you everytime and a makeover ain’t gonna change that!”

“You fail to realize that every experiment has its setbacks, little brat…”

Blaze’s hands were now completely engulfed in flames. “If you know what’s good for you, Nega, you’ll surrender here and now!”

The mad doctor suddenly…laughed as he stood from the seat of his machine. “Oh, please! No one calls me that anymore. You may refer to me as Dr. Nexus from now on…or at least, for the last fleeting moments of life I’ll be granting you.”

Blaze didn’t say anything more. She simply leapt high into the air and then threw a fireball right at her deranged foe’s grinning face.

But the fireball never struck him. Something suddenly flew in front of Nexus and took the blast for him, but barely seemed to be affected.

Blaze’s eyes widened as she landed back on the ground, with Silver and Marine sharing her expression as a new opponent hovered above them.

It was a robot, but it wasn’t anything like the other Badniks they had destroyed. She had purple and pink armor littered across her body and a large reactor that was beginning to generate flames from within her chest. Her claws practically glistened in the sunlight, looking to be razor sharp. Lastly, her head resembled The Sol Princess herself, but made entirely of metal instead of flesh and fur.

Nexus sat back in his machine. “Ivo Robotnik may have been a bumbling fool…but he made a decent muse. Your highness, I would like to introduce you to your demise! METAL BLAZE!!!”

BOSS STAGE: Metal Blaze

Blaze was silent as she looked into the digital eyes of her robotic copy. Unlike many of the robots she had faced, she could actually see a spark beneath the visor that gave her sight. A spark that would soon ignite into an inferno of hate.

“Metal Blaze? Fulfill your appointed task.” Nexus commanded.

Metal Blaze’s yellow eyes seemed to glow brightly before she lunged at her organic counterpart, trapping The Sol Princess’s neck in an ironclad grip before she rocketed into the sky with her in her grasp.

Silver’s eyes widened and he immediately took to the air, having Marine follow him within the grasp of psychokinesis. “BLAZE-!”

Nexus slammed his hand against a button within his machine, deploying a cannon that shot down the psychic with a blast.

And as Silver crashed to the ground, Marine was soon to follow. But she scrambled to her feet and rushed to her friend’s side. “SILVER!!!”

Silver slowly pushed himself up. “I…I-I’m okay!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Nexus smirked before activating more weapons from his pitch black vehicle. “I still wish to repay you for the ‘generous’ fate you and that ninja bestowed upon me…”

But as the battle between Silver, Marine, and the deranged Dr. Nexus began? Blaze and her robotic doppelganger had engaged in their own duel, with Metal Blaze only seeming to carry Blaze higher and higher into the sky.

Blaze felt her heart pound with terror, mentally commanding herself to not look down as her terrified eyes stared into the hateful visor of Metal Blaze. But as their ascent came to an abrupt halt, Blaze realized what her foe’s intention was.

As Metal Blaze’s grip came loose, Blaze grabbed ahold of her arm and managed to swing herself onto Metal Blaze’s back. Focusing her eyes on the back of the robot’s head only, Blaze rammed her foot into Metal Blaze and forced them to start rocketing downwards.

Metal Blaze, however, began spinning her entire body around and almost instantly forced Blaze off. The Sol Princess didn’t even get the chance to realize she was now falling before Metal Blaze, still spinning like a tornado, kicked her organic counterpart in the side.

Blaze screamed in pain, but that too was cut off by Metal Blaze grabbing ahold of her sides and rocketing towards a nearby mountain and slamming Blaze into its stone walls. The robotic cat then opened her claws, which suddenly became engulfed in flames.

Acting fast, Blaze quickly grabbed onto Metal Blaze’s wrist just as she prepared to swing her flaming claws. It was taking almost all of her strength just to hold them back and this machine seemed to be just as ruthless as Sonic’s own robotic copy.

Blaze then gritted her teeth and managed to slam both of her feet into Metal Blaze’s chest, sending her back about an inch. But an inch was all she needed, for Blaze then rammed into her mechanical doppelganger after completely engulfing her body in fire. And almost resembling a meteor, the two violently crashed into what was once a field of lush green grass.

But that field had been given a flaming crater from the two’s impact, effortlessly burning away the beautiful piece of nature that once stood there.

Blaze leapt out moments later, with Metal Blaze serving as her perfect mirror and landing across from her. The two cats, one organic and the other robotic, immediately shot out their hands and shot out beams of fire that instantly collided and began pushing against each other in a mighty struggle.

‘She can mimic my powers, my fighting style, and lacks my fear of heights!’ Blaze thought, increasing the power of her beam. ‘Is overpowering her even an option?’

But then, Metal Blaze suddenly lunged forward, canceling her beam and simply flying through Blaze’s flames. And not even a second later, she emerged from the fire and dealt a fierce uppercut to Blaze, sending The Sol Princess flying through the air.

Blaze barely managed to land on her feet and looked ahead, seeing that Metal Blaze was completely unscathed by the fire. ‘I suppose not…’

Metal Blaze’s turbine then suddenly began igniting before shooting out a devastating mix of energy and fire towards Blaze. While Blaze was completely fireproof, she knew that the other half of the attack could successfully harm her, so she ran off with the beam following close behind.

Blaze’s eyes narrowed before she launched herself into the air with her flames just in time to avoid the flaming beam’s strike. The Sol Princess began observing Metal Blaze, trying to think of a strategy to put this battle in her favor.

And then, she saw it. Metal Blaze’s turbine. Perhaps if she was able to damage it, she could take out some of her systems along with it.

Not having many other options, Blaze then dove back to the ground and began running at super speed. And just as she hoped, Metal Blaze took off and began flying after her with a trail of wild flames behind her. Almost immediately, the two were neck and neck in their race across the land.

Blaze tried to run even faster, even using her flames to propel herself even further. But no matter how fast she went, Metal Blaze would emerge by her side seconds later. They started going faster. And then faster. And then faster.

The Sol Empire was coming into view. And just as the racers blasted through the kingdom’s entrance, Blaze screeched to a stop. Metal Blaze seemed to realize this and had to grab onto a lamppost just to stop herself and then spin her body back around to face Blaze once again.

“I admit! You are a fearsome foe…but you have yet to prove your worth!” Blaze called, readying herself. “If you wish to be my equal, you will have to try harder!”

Metal Blaze, enraged by this comment, rocketed herself towards The Sol Princess at full speed and opened her flaming claws, as if to slice her organic counterpart in two.

But Blaze simply met her charge halfway and tackled Metal Blaze out of the air. The two rolled and tumbled across the street before Metal Blaze swatted her foe off of her, allowing Blaze enough time to launch herself onto a rooftop with a gust of fire.

Metal Blaze, slamming her claws into the ground to stop her tumble, then threw herself back into the air and fired herself at Blaze like a living missile. But Blaze had simply leapt over her robotic copy and then shot out a slash of fire towards another lamppost, slicing it in half.

Then, grabbing hold of it and wielding it like a bo staff, Blaze turned around to see her foe lunging at her yet again. But The Sol Princess yet again met her charge and then thrusted the post straight into Metal Blaze’s turbine.

The post shot out through Metal Blaze’s back moments later and the robot herself began to spark and twitch violently. Blaze raised her hand to deal the finishing blow, but Metal Blaze suddenly rocketed high into the air, forcing Blaze to grab hold of her with a yelp.

The metallic doppelganger’s entire body became completely engulfed in flames as it wildly zig-zagged through the air before diving downwards, striking the ground with a massive explosion that enveloped both her and Blaze.

But as a large fire formed in their crash-site…Blaze leapt out of it, completely unscathed and victorious.

BOSS CLEARED

Blaze took a moment to catch her breath before looking ahead and gasping at the sight of Silver and Marine still caught in their own battle with Nexus. His machine had deployed a minigun of some kind, forcing the duo to take cover behind a large slab of debris.

The Sol Princess immediately began running in to help…but Silver suddenly lifted his hand, using his psychokinesis to suddenly throw the slab of rock towards Nexus. The mad doctor’s eyes nearly bulged out of his skull as the slab crashed into his machine, forcing it and him out of the air.

Marine’s eyes were wide as their villain crashed…but she quickly cheered. “WOOHOO!!! Silver, that move was ripper!!!”

Silver smiled and was about to answer…before Nexus suddenly appeared behind him, having somehow teleported. And as his glitching arm suddenly transformed into a large blade, Marine’s eyes went wide and she opened her mouth to warn her friend.

But the psychokinetic hero didn’t need a warning. He spun around just in time and lifted his hand, freezing Nexus’s blade arm before he could swing it.

Nexus growled with a deranged sneer and tried to swing his other arm for a punch, but Silver froze that as well before pushing the air, thus pushing Nexus himself into the cold walls of a building.

Silver grinned. “Guess we now know why you let your robots do the fighting for you.”

Nexus groaned in pain, struggling to rise to his feet. “T…that much is clear…”

Blaze then finally stepped over, standing beside her teammates. “It’s over, Nexus. Surrender peacefully or we will use drastic measures.”

Nexus’s mad grin then returned to his face. “You mock me, my dear…I’d rather perish than surrender to you.”

Then, swiftly reaching into his coat and pulling out some kind of detonator, Nexus pressed his thumb against the button and caused his flying machine to explode. And the shockwave was close enough to knock all of Team Dimension off of their feet while Nexus himself had teleported away from it just in time.

Blaze, Silver, and Marine slowly began to rise to their feet…but their mustached foe reappeared behind The Sol Princess and raised his blade arm yet again. He swung it down…but the blade never struck her.

Before it could even touch her, someone had delivered a fierce side-kick to Nexus’s face. As the mad doctor wildly stumbled back, the handle of a spear was jabbed right into his gut before he was karate chopped in the same spot.

Nexus tried to hold his now hurt stomach, but was swiftly kicked in the face by his unknown attacker and forced to hit the ground. And as the mad doctor wallowed in pain, a golden spear was pointed at him.

“You’re a fool to even think of laying a finger on the princess…and you’re an even greater fool for returning to this world.” A voice spat.

Blaze had risen to her feet alongside Silver and Marine, and all three seemed to relax when they recognized their ally. He was unmistakable. Especially to Blaze.

He was a Mobian. Specifically a red cat with ragged fur and golden knight armor to compliment a bright red cape that blew lightly in the wind. His grip on his spear was ironclad as he stared down Nexus, practically daring him to make a move.

“Captain Lance.” Blaze said as she went over. “Your timing couldn’t have been more perfect.”

Captain Lance turned his head towards her before stomping on Nexus’s stomach with his armored boot, just to make sure he stayed down. “Royal Guard! Surround him! I don’t want him making even the slightest move!”

At Lance’s command, several armored warriors all carrying various weapons surrounded Nexus immediately while Lance himself walked over to Blaze, saluting her. “Are you alright?”

“We’ll be just fine.” Blaze reassured, looking at her teammates for a silent confirmation, which they both gave through nodding and a thumbs up.

Lance lowered his hand. “That is a relief.”

“Were the people successfully evacuated? Were there any injuries or casualties?” Blaze asked.

“A handful were injured, but there were no casualties.” Lance replied with a shake of his head. “What shall you have us do with-?”

“Uhhh…Blazey?” Marine asked as she suddenly pointed towards the fire that her and Metal Blaze’s crash had created.

…and crawling out from it was Metal Blaze herself, having removed the post from her chest and actually looking to be burnt from the explosion. Her right leg had been completely removed.

Blaze stared in shock at the sight of the robot’s shaky crawling. She supposed she should’ve expected her to survive, but she found herself surprised regardless.

But then, Nexus suddenly began to speak. “It appears I should make myself scarce. I enjoyed this little reunion.”

Blaze whipped around, her eyes wide. “NO!”

And then, before The Royal Guard could attempt to stop him, Nexus disappeared, leaving nothing but glitching sounds in his wake.

Metal Blaze looked to where her creator once was…and shakily outstretched her hand towards the spot, as if he was still sitting there. But her digital eyes began to flicker on and off just before her hand went limp and her body shut down.

Chapter Text

Team Dimension was rendered completely quiet, staring at the same spot The Royal Guard had their eyes glued towards. The spot where Nexus once was before he had made his escape. His new form had improved more than just his fashion.

Blaze then clenched her fist. “He got away…”

“H-how’d he just disappear like that?!” Marine cried, looking around in several directions as if the mustached madman was hiding somewhere nearby.

Silver scratched his chin, trying to think. “His new look…it feels familiar somehow.”

Blaze turned. “What do you mean?”

“He mentioned that he only looks all glitchy because of changes to our timeline.” Silver said. “But I feel like I’ve seen it before. Back with Sonic and the others.”

Blaze hummed, a rather frustrated look on her face. “If it comes back to you, please tell me.”

Lance, struggling to understand all this talk of interdimensional time-travel, just shook his head. “Princess Blaze, shall I begin a search party for the doctor?”

Blaze sighed and nodded. “Thank you, Lance…”

Lance then suddenly set a hand on her shoulder, his mask hiding a soft gaze that he had often given The Sol Princess. Especially during her youth. “We’ll find him. We have before and we shall again.”

Blaze’s frustration eventually subsided and she let free a soft smile. But her serious expression was quick to return. “In the meantime, it seems we have a lot of clean-up to do.”

Silver looked ahead at the various piles of robots and rubble. The kingdom wasn’t destroyed by any means, but the streets were now an absolute mess thanks to their battle. “R…right…”

But as everyone began to discuss their next moves regarding clean-up or finding Nexus, Marine’s attention slowly drifted towards the deactivated Metal Blaze. The young raccoon slowly walked over, swiftly shooting out a small blast of water to put out the fire behind her before kneeling down to the robot’s current height.

Whenever she had destroyed a robot, she always felt a sense of pride within herself. She had taken out a villainous machine and stopped them from hurting both her and others. That was something to be proud of. And it was something Blaze and Silver often congratulated her for.

But the longer she stared at Metal Blaze, she didn’t feel any of that pride. And it wasn’t because she wasn’t the one to have dealt the finishing blow. The more she looked into the empty visor that was Metal Blaze’s eyes, Marine felt…empathy.

She looked towards Metal Blaze’s outstretched hand, quickly noting that it was reaching towards where Nexus had once been. As if she had been silently pleading for her creator to come back and get her.

Nexus…abandoned her. He didn’t even bother trying to save her when she was clearly still functional. He used her last moments of consciousness (or at least the robot equivalent) as a distraction to save himself.

Marine’s eyes softened as she turned her head back towards Metal Blaze’s inactive face. “You poor thing…”

Blaze finally noticed her friend’s whereabouts and quickly rushed over. “Marine, don’t get too clo-”

“Oy, Blaze! Can you help me out?” Marine cried, suddenly wrapping the robot’s arm around her shoulder and began pulling…but she had barely moved the robot an inch.

Lance’s eyes narrowed under his mask. “Pray tell, what exactly are you doing?”

“Ain’t it obvious, mate? I’m gonna fix her!” Marine cried before gritting her teeth and pulling at Metal Blaze’s arm again.

Blaze’s eyes widened. “You’re going to what?”

Silver walked over. “Uhh…Marine? I don’t think that’s such a good-”

“That might be the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.” Lance said, his grip tightening on his spear as if it was some kind of stress toy. “And that’s saying something.”

Blaze immediately turned her head towards her lead guard. “Lance.”

“She wants to fix the robot that attempted to kill you mere moments ago!!!” Lance cried before looking back at Marine. “What in Sol’s name would give you the motivation to do this?!”

Marine, however, just looked back at Metal Blaze. “I feel bad for her…”

While Lance just seemed more baffled than before, Blaze simply walked over to her. “You feel bad for her?”

“I mean…yeah, she tried to hurt you and that’s not okay, but…that’s just what that mustached bloke told her to do!” Marine cried. “And then he just left her. I’m thinkin’ that if I fix her up, make her right as rain, she won’t be a bad guy anymore!”

Blaze’s eyes softened. Some part of her believed her young friend to be naive to the truth that Metal Blaze was designed to be their enemy and would likely just attack them once repaired. But the much less logical part of herself knew that this wasn’t exactly the first time they had attempted to make friends with a former enemy.

And the more she looked at her robotic counterpart, she started to see more and more what Marine had seen in her empty visor. Not a lifeless pile of scrap, but something- someone who had been abandoned for a single failure.

“Princess, you can’t actually be considering this.” Lance said.

Silver then rubbed the back of his neck. “I think I’m with Marine on this one. I mean, it’s risky, but if Metal Blaze is anything like some of the robots we know back in The Chaos Dimension? There’s more to her than meets the eye. And we can’t know if she’s 100% evil if we don’t even give her a chance.”

Marine’s eyes quickly sparkled that she had successfully convinced Silver. She then looked at Blaze and began giving her the ‘puppy dog eyes’. “Please, Blaze? You wouldn’t say no to your captain, would ya?”

“...Silver? Would you mind accompanying her? Just in case Metal Blaze does go rogue?” Blaze asked.

Silver smiled. “Not a problem!”

Marine cheered and then wrapped Blaze in a tight hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!”

Blaze, a bit taken aback by the sudden hug, eventually regained her composure and gently patted Marine’s head. “Y-you’re welcome. But you have to listen to Silver and take as many precautions as possible. I don’t want you getting hurt, regardless of Metal Blaze’s potential.”

“I will!”

Blaze gave her a look. “Promise?”

“I promise!” Marine said proudly before walking back over to Metal Blaze, now being the one to pat her on the head. “Don’t worry! You’ll be apples when you’re all fixed up!”

Silver then lifted Metal Blaze’s body into the air with his psychokinesis, studying the robot. “Are you sure you even know how to fix her?”

Marine just grinned. “You dare doubt the great Captain Marine?”

Silver laughed and then playfully saluted. “Not at all, Cap’n!”

Blaze watched her two friends from afar with a small smile before hearing a heavy sigh from Lance, of whom she turned towards.

“This is a very bad idea. I hope you realize that.” Lance said. “You can’t just humor a child every time they come up with a ridiculous idea.”

“This isn’t just for Marine’s happiness, Lance. Silver and I have seen firsthand that robots are capable of defecting. Two of Eggman’s mightiest are now some of our greatest allies.” Blaze said. “And as silly as it may sound, I also feel a sense of pity towards Metal Blaze.”

“Why…?”

Blaze’s smile softened. “Nexus is a heartless man. I was not at all surprised that he left his own creation to save himself. If Metal Blaze is capable of feeling, then she has essentially been abandoned. And after a single failure. And it’s as Silver said. How can we know if she’s truly a mindless automaton if we never give her a chance?”

Lance let out another sigh. “Very well. But if she does end up attacking us-”

“Then I will handle it.” Blaze promised.

Lance then suddenly chuckled. “Much like you’ll handle tomorrow’s gathering?”

Blaze’s eyes suddenly widened. “That’s tomorrow?!”

“Gardon will tell you the same thing.” Lance said as he began to walk away. “I’ll begin those search parties for Nexus. After all, you clearly have your hands full.”

Blaze let out a groan as she wiped her hand down her face with an all new frustration.

Hunting down mustached madmen and robotic pirates was beyond stressful. And the battles she had with both often had devastating stakes such as the safety of all-powerful artifacts or the planet itself. But while she would never openly admit it, some small part of Blaze did feel a certain rush whenever she was in battle or had succeeded in saving the day. Perhaps it was because it was one of the few times her power didn’t feel like such a burden? She wasn’t sure.

But what she was sure of was that there was little to no thrill when it came to hosting parties. At least, with the royal gatherings she found herself in time and time again. It was always the same thing.

Spend countless hours readying the decorations, the food, the ballrooms, and mentally preparing herself for all the people she’d be speaking to for the rest of the night. The other nobles of the empire or different royals from across the land. She was the imperial princess after all, so a handful of people at the very least always had something to say to her.

…or about her.

Some of the nobles and royals were very polite with her and at times made for good small talk. They rarely conversed about something that wasn’t political or involving their various duties, but Blaze just knew they were either trying to help or wanted to continue succeeding at their job.

But then came the others. The ones that Blaze often dreaded talking to. The various nobles and royals that would only pretend to be happy to be there, judge everything about her either quietly or out loud, brag about their various accomplishments and wealth, and gossip about her behind her back.

She remembered how much it hurt the very first time she had eavesdropped upon a pair calling her powers ‘barbaric’ and how she was unfit to be a princess because she was wearing a tailcoat instead of a lavish gown. But that memory wasn’t completely negative because she had also recalled how Gardon quickly cheered her up after wiping away her tears, saying how they ‘lacked the gall to say that to her face’ and how they were ‘jealous of the gift she had and weren’t worth paying attention to’.

…that and Lance ‘accidentally’ broke a table and subsequently launched pies in their faces. And they were far too scared of him to finish their threat.

And speaking of pies?

“WHY IS THERE A SECOND PLATE UNDERNEATH THE TOP?! MOVE THE PLATE!!!” Royal Chef Ellis bellowed towards his staff, who were running around the kitchen in a panic to get their jobs done. “JAKE, YOU ARE DOING THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT I JUST SAID!!!”

“I’M SORRY, CHEF!!!” Jake sobbed, tears cartoonishly streaming down the koala’s face.

“I DO NOT WANT ‘SORRY’, I WANT CLEAN DISHES!!!” Royal Chef Ellis cried with a thick British accent.

Blaze and Gardon were just…watching. This chaos was unfortunately very familiar to both of them. They had both learned the hard way to not disturb the Royal Chef when his staff had enraged him.

“...did Ellis forget to go to anger management today?” Blaze asked nonchalantly.

Gardon hummed. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Blaze then checked her clipboard, sighing. “I’d much rather be focusing on finding and stopping Nexus than a social gathering. It bothers me even more that we don’t know what he’s planning.”

“If he even has a plan.” Gardon said.

“Are the-?”

“Security has been maximized on both The Jeweled Scepter and The Sol Emeralds. And will only be growing in numbers when the party begins.” Gardon reassured.

Blaze sighed in relief. “Good.”

“You don’t have to worry, princess. You have stopped Nexus before and you shall again.”

“I’m aware…but his new set of powers concerns me. And his last scheme nearly plunged the entire planet into volcanic devastation.” Blaze said. “It’s hard not to worry or to wish we could reschedule this party.”

Gardon’s eyes softened. “...while I can’t blame you there, I doubt we would be able to reschedule anyway. Prince Geo has finally accepted the invitation.”

Blaze froze at the name and immediately whipped her head towards her personal guard. “Prince Geo? Of Terra?”

Gardon nodded.

“He…never accepts the invites we or anyone else sends.” Blaze said, her eyes wide with surprise. “In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him outside of photos.”

Gardon smiled a bit. “Looks like this party may be a bit more interesting than usual, hmm?”

“I…suppose so.” Blaze said, slowly nodding. “Although I doubt I’ll be the only one wishing to speak to him. Terra’s lack of involvement in…anything is infamous. I wonder what’s changed.”

“Seems you’ll find out.” Gardon said.

“WHY ARE THE CARROTS CUT, JAKE?!?!”

“THAT WASN’T ME, CHEF!!!”

Gardon sighed and walked over, his hand on his sword. “Okay, I’m intervening.”

“Introducing The Duke and Duchess.”

Blaze politely smiled as the two nobles approached her, the imperial princess giving a bow. “Thank you for attending.”

“The pleasure is all ours, your highness.” The Duke said in a rather deep voice, bowing back with a warm smile.

The Duchess performed a curtsy with her own grin before it softened. “We heard of the other day’s invasion. Is it true that mad doctor’s returned?”

Blaze sighed and nodded. “He has. But I can assure you, we are handling it.”

“That is a relief.” The Duchess sighed. “Do be careful, your majesty.”

“Thank you. Please enjoy the party.” Blaze said with an actually genuine smile as the two walked away.

“Introducing Count Cerberus.”

Blaze’s grin quickly soured…at least on the inside. On the outside, it was the same as ever as a black Mobian wolf approached her. She bowed. “Thank you for attending.”

“Ah, yes. It was truly an honor to be invited.” Count Cerberus said in a tone Blaze could’ve sworn was sarcastic. “Although I trust you haven’t invited that…what was that boy’s name again? Chrome?”

“Sil-”

“Oh, it doesn’t really matter. His manners were barbaric and he reeked of cinders and ash.” Count Cerberus said. “Although considering your…unique skillset, I suppose I shouldn’t be very surprised!”

The count laughed while Blaze’s face remained stoic, secretly suppressing the urge to kick him right down the hall. “Silver could not attend. He is busy.”

“Oh, of course. I’m sure he does wonders at children’s birthdays with his party tricks.” Count Cerberus said before beginning to walk away. “I thank you yet again for the invitation, your majesty."

‘I’ll invite you to a lava pit next time…’ Blaze thought, trying with all her might to not grit her teeth at his horrid comments about the psychokinetic hero.

“Introducing King Null of Umbra.”

Blaze’s eyes widened a bit at the name and she swiftly turned her head, her once fake smile turning genuine again as a Mobian lizard walked into the room. His scales were gray-blue and he bore a singular black stripe on his head, which seemed to fit perfectly with his black shawl, gloves, and boots.

“Princess Blaze.” The king said as he walked over to the imperial princess, two armored guards standing behind him. He had a frown across his face…but it transformed into a gentle smile on his face as he bowed. “It has been some time, has it not?”

Blaze bowed back. “That it has, your highness. Forgive me for my surprise, I thought you weren’t going to be attending due to…?”

“A common cold that has long since passed.” Null chuckled. “But if you can handle all of your duties while protecting our entire planet from mustached madmen and robotic pirates? I think I can handle something as small as the flu.”

Blaze then laughed. “I suppose so. And you’ll be happy to know that we haven’t had any pirate-related incidents for the past few years.”

“Of which your empire and mine are forever in your debt.” Null said with a bow of his head before walking off. “I hope to speak to you again, princess?”

“The sentiment is shared, your highness.” Blaze said with a nod.

Gardon then slowly walked over to her, a clipboard in his hand. “I believe that’s everyone except for Prince Geo. Perhaps he changed his mind?”

“Or he could simply be running late.” Blaze suggested as she began surveying the ballroom. The people that weren’t around the cloth-dressed tables littered with platinum trays and 5-star dishes were either around the room and talking with each other, their voices filling the room with their sound. And as the music began to play, a few of the couples were beginning to dance with each other at the very center.

Gardon hummed. “I’ll double check just to be certain. Is there anything else you need?”

“No, I should be able to handle myself.” Blaze smiled.

Gardon stared at her for a moment, as if trying to see if she was simply being polite or if she was telling the truth. And when he discovered the latter, he smiled back and walked off.

Blaze then looked at her throne, having the urge to sit down since she had been standing in the same spot for about an hour in order to greet each guest. She had been used to it after years of doing this, yes, but that didn’t mean she particularly enjoyed it.

But then?

“And introducing…Prince Geo of Terra.”

Blaze’s head simultaneously turned towards the entrance alongside nearly every other guest at the party. Some of them bore shocked expressions, some of them quickly became excited, and others were either very unimpressed or trying to keep calm.

Then, another Mobian lizard walked into the room. His scales were a dusty orange and his eyes were a bright green, unlike the yellow gem in his forehead which was almost identical to the same one Blaze had embedded in hers. His tail was abnormally long, looking to be capable of wrapping around his entire body and making someone mistake it for a snake. And like most male Mobians, the only clothing he had was in the form of gloves and shoes. But while his crimson gloves weren’t much to write home about, his boots were far more interesting. They almost resembled armor with crimson fabric wrapped around them, held together by golden rings.

The Prince looked…uncomfortable. While his face bore a stoic expression, Blaze could see the almost nervous look in his eyes when he realized that countless eyes were on him.

One particularly excited noble who just so happened to be the closest to him, smiled wide. “Prince Geo! It’s so lovely to meet-”

Then, two guards wearing bronze armor and wielding maces suddenly stepped in front of the prince and held their weapons up to the noble, speaking in perfect unison. “KEEP YOUR DISTANCE FROM THE PRINCE.”

The noble squeaked and scrambled away, even hiding behind another guest.

But then, Geo suddenly put his hands on the shoulders of the guards and pulled them apart. His stoic expression had become one of embarrassment. “Pardon my, err, loyal guardsmen.”

After a moment of painful silence, the party slowly went back to normal. The guests began to talk or look through the various meals…while most of them tried to avoid eye contact with Geo and his terrifying guards. Even the ones that looked desperate to talk to him had quickly lost interest.

Blaze, however, couldn’t help but grin a little. It seemed Gardon was right in this party being much more interesting than she once thought. She stepped over. “Prince Geo. It is a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Geo was about to speak, but his two guards quickly held up their maces again. Blaze, of course, had no reaction for she had been threatened with worse.

“KEEP YOUR DISTANCE FROM THE-”

“At ease, you two! At ease!” Geo commanded with a sneer. And when the guards finally stepped to the side, the lizard sighed in relief and bowed. “My sincerest apologies, Princess Blaze.”

Blaze just laughed and bowed back. “Believe me, this actually made the party much more interesting.”

“...your definition of ‘interesting’ is being threatened with maces?” Geo asked, a small smile beginning to form across his face.

Blaze simply shrugged. “You would be surprised what I have been threatened with.”

Geo was quiet…but he actually began to laugh, starting to step closer. “It sounds like you have a few stories to tell, your majesty.”

“I actually prefer to just be called Blaze.” The Sol Princess said. “Being called ‘your highness’ or ‘your majesty’ gets a bit old after the hundredth time.”

Geo chuckled. “I can share the sentiment. You may just call me Geo then.”

“It’s an honor to finally meet you. I admit surprise that you actually came. You’ve declined our previous invitations.” Blaze said.

Geo sighed. “If I am being perfectly honest, this wasn’t entirely by choice. My royal advisors insisted it would be good for both the kingdom and me if I interacted with other nobles.”

“And by insist, you mean nag?”

Geo grinned. “You’ve had experience with this, haven’t you?”

“My advisors have a tendency to bring something up continuously until I actually do it.” Blaze replied.

Geo playfully shook his head. “And here I thought I’d have no one at this party to talk to. Speaking of which, it looks very lovely.”

“My staff worked incredibly hard on it.” Blaze smiled, looking back at the crowd for a moment. “Is it them you should be complementing.”

Geo hummed. “I doubt you did nothing.”

“I supervised.”

“Well, that’s doing something.”

“Is it? I’m pretty sure it’s just a different way of doing nothing.” Blaze quipped.

Geo grinned. “I did not expect to hear jokes from you. Actually, I didn’t expect to hear jokes from anyone here. I had assumed that anything anyone would ask me about is trade disputes, economics, or political issues.”

Blaze’s eyes suddenly softened, looking disappointed to end this topic of conversation. “Which does remind me…”

Geo’s smile shrunk, but it didn’t completely fade away. “Ah. This was inevitable, wasn’t it?”

“Forgive me, but it can’t be avoided.” Blaze sighed. “The Sol Empire prides itself on benefiting the world not only by protecting its ancient possessions from falling into the wrong hands, but through assisting other parts of the world through trade, charitable services, or even sharing parts of our vast history. But The Kingdom of Terra is infamous for…not doing anything at all.”

Geo’s eyes narrowed a bit. “It’s less that we do nothing and more that we simply don’t involve ourselves in issues that are not our own.”

“That’s exactly my point.” Blaze said. “To my understanding, Terra is almost overwhelmed with its vast resources, yet refuses to share it with other nations. Is there any reason as to why? Why does your kingdom do so little to help anyone beyond the people of its borders?”

Geo sighed. “...Blaze. How do you protect your people?”

Blaze tilted her head at her question being answered with another. “Pardon?”

“How do you protect your people?”

Blaze thought for a moment. There were a number of ways to answer this question because there were many ways she helped her people. “I try my best to listen to them. Their needs. Their questions. Their fears. I find myself walking down the street and I’m always reminded that every voice I hear comes from a person. A person with years worth of story to tell. What others may see as numbers, I see as another reason to keep fighting the good fight.”

Geo smiled a bit. “And that is what I am doing.”

Blaze turned her head, seeming a tad surprised.

“My people are the very reason I stand to meet the sun every day.” Geo said, looking ahead. “Be it the youth or the elderly, they look at me as if I am some kind of guardian angel sent from above. Each set of eyes carries their own tale. Their own reasons for looking up to me. I cannot let anything risk their safety.”

“I…I understand. Truly, I do.” Blaze said. “But there are more people out there. People who may not have a protector. Something that you and I are capable of providing.”

“...they…they are not of Terra’s concern. Besides, from the sounds of it, you provide the world plenty of protection on your own.”

“A good friend of mine once told me that sometimes you can’t do things alone. And even when you can, it’s better with friends.” Blaze said.

Geo turned his head. “Friends? I believe we just met, Blaze.”

Blaze hummed. “You’d be surprised how little time it takes to forge a bond with someone. I’d know this better than most.”

Geo sighed. “It seems I have not been lied to when my advisors told me you were a kind and just ruler. I can tell that you truly care about not just your kingdom, but the world. For that, you have earned my respect…but the risk of sharing what we have and potentially giving some of our strongest metals to the vilest of villains is just too great. It’s better that I just do not get involved.”

Blaze opened her mouth to speak before her ear suddenly began to flicker. She could hear the faint sound of a…jet engine.

Then, a flaming figure suddenly smashed through the window and flew into the room. Almost immediately, all the guests either backed away or screamed in horror as the flaming figure landed in the center of the room. The inferno surrounding them eventually dispersed, revealing…

Metal Blaze.

Blaze gasped at the sight of her fully repaired and not at all pacified robotic copy. She was quick to raise her fists, which slowly began to spark with their own flames.

King Null emerged from the crowd, holding out his arms. “Everyone! Take cover!!!”

But as the various princes, princesses, and other nobles began to take cover, Metal Blaze simply redirected her gaze towards Blaze herself. Her jet engine roared to life as she lunged towards her organic counterpart.

Blaze prepared to defend…but never got the chance.

For Geo suddenly leapt in front of Blaze and unleashed a battle cry as he punched Metal Blaze with all his might. The robotic cat’s visor cracked as she was sent flying, crashing into a wall.

Blaze’s eyes widened at the sight and she looked at her fellow royal, dumbfounded by his sudden display of strength.

But Geo simply stood tall and then looked at his two guards. “Protect the guests. I will deal with this machine.”

“...Geo…?” Blaze asked.

Geo then turned towards Blaze with a small grin. “I apologize in advance.”

“...for what?”

“This.” Geo said before he suddenly slammed his heel into the floor. Not even a second later, a large boulder ripped itself out from the ground. The royal lizard then twirled around and kicked the boulder towards Metal Blaze just as she freed herself from the wall.

Metal Blaze’s digital eyes widened and she quickly held out her hands, just barely catching the boulder in time. Her claws scratched at its rocky exterior before she spun around at super speed and tossed it right back at Geo.

But Geo simply charged and punched the boulder into thousands of pieces…and then shot out both of his hands, commanding the tiny pieces of rock to fire at Metal Blaze like bullets in a minigun. Each one was a direct hit, with Metal Blaze having little time to properly defend herself.

Blaze stared on in awe, almost unable to believe what she was seeing.

Geo was…an Elemental? Like Marine? Like her?

Geo grinned and then suddenly readied himself with a stance. “If you robots are as intelligent as you claim, you’d find it wise to surrender peacefully.”

Damaged, but far from done, Metal Blaze launched herself at Geo again and shot out a blast of fire at her opponent. But Geo simply raised his hands and summoned a wall of rock from the floor to shield himself. The royal lizard then leapt on top of the wall, suddenly latching his tail onto the stone itself.

Metal Blaze quickly flew up towards Geo, opening her claws for another attack. But it seemed this was exactly what the prince had wanted.

Geo then raised his tail, which had become completely enveloped in a makeshift mace entirely made of rock. Then, swinging his tail like some kind of wrecking ball, he struck Metal Blaze in the back and sent her crashing through the stone wall he had just summoned and onto the floor.

Metal Blaze smashed the ground in frustration before rising to her feet, turning to face Geo…only to suddenly be forced into a kneeling position when both of her wrists were bound by stone.

Geo then began to walk over to the robot, ready to swing his makeshift flail. And with a battle cry, he prepared to do just that…until?

Marine suddenly slid in front of Geo, holding out her hands. “WAIT!!!”

Geo’s eyes widened in horror and he quickly froze, managing to stop the swing of his tail just in time.

Marine then sighed in relief before looking around with a sheepish smile. “Uhh…g’day! Sorry about this! My, uhh, my friend just woke up on the wrong side of her charger!”

“...this machine is your friend?” Geo asked, sounding surprised.

Marine smiled. “Yes!”

“No.” Metal Blaze said suddenly, revealing herself to actually be capable of speech.

Blaze felt incapable of saying anything, still processing the sight of another Elemental not only existing, but having just displayed a literally groundbreaking demonstration of his power.

Marine then looked back at Metal Blaze, suddenly pouting at her. “You said that if I gave you your leg back, you wouldn’t do this!”

Metal Blaze didn’t respond.

“Don’t gimme that look!”

Then, Silver suddenly flew into the room through the shattered window Metal Blaze had created, his hands glowing a bright cyan. “Everyone, ba-!”

But as the hedgehog looked around, he slowly floated back down to the ground with a puzzled look on his face. “Uhh…nevermind?”

Marine then smiled sheepishly at her friend. “I think we missed the party, Silver mate.”

“I can tell.” Silver said with a nod before looking towards the awestruck Blaze. “Blaze?”

Blaze continued to not speak. She just looked down at Metal Blaze and then at the destroyed floor and then finally at Geo himself.

Geo sheepishly smiled at her. “…I’ll pay for the damages.”

Chapter Text

After the ballroom was wrecked in the battle between Prince Geo and Metal Blaze, everyone almost simultaneously agreed that it would be best to leave before another robot lookalike with a grudge came in, as unlikely as that scenario was. But that included Geo himself.

Blaze had been rather silent ever since the party’s end, still struggling to process that other Elementals…existed. She supposed she should have come to that conclusion sooner when Marine first discovered her powers, but her main focus had been making sure that she didn’t feel alone or like her power was a burden. Not so much asking questions that she likely didn’t know the answers to.

But now the idea of others couldn’t leave her head. How many other Elementals were there? Were they exclusively royalty like her and Geo? How many of them could be allies? How many of them would be their foes? How-

“Annnd…okay! They’re off!” Marine smiled, shutting a panel on the back of Metal Blaze’s head.

The robotic cat herself was being held completely still by Silver’s psychokinesis, with the cyan aura only fading away once Marine had closed the panel. Metal Blaze was quiet for a moment before clenching her fists, facing Marine. “You deactivated my weapons systems?”

“And pretty much everything that could hurt any bloke!” Marine said with a grin. “Oh! Except the claws!”

Metal Blaze looked down at her metallic hands…and then opened them, her claws glistening with a combat-hungry shine. But once again, she was rendered frozen by the psychokinetic hedgehog’s signature ability.

“Not this time.” Silver said, his eyes narrowed. “Marine, can you somehow render those immobile?”

Marine blinked and then walked closer. “Uhhh…I don’t think Tails taught me how to do that yet…”

Metal Blaze then spoke to the two, despite not being able to turn her head away from the psychokinetic grasp keeping her in place. “You insist on keeping me online, yet are aware my prime directive is to destroy Blaze The Cat. Why?”

Blaze huffed and then walked over to her robotic double. “It’s called empathy.”

“All emotions, empathy included, are a weakness. A flaw.” Metal Blaze said coldly. “I do not possess such things.”

Silver then hummed. “Well, that’s clearly not true. You’re confused as to why we’re trying to help you. Confusion’s an emotion.”

“I do not require your assistance. I require your demise and for the prosperity of Dr. Nexus.”

Blaze crossed her arms. “The same man that abandoned you to save his own skin?”

“He did not abandon me.”

Blaze lifted an eyebrow. “Is that so? Then where is he?”

Metal Blaze…didn’t respond. At least, not right away. “He…will return in a matter of moments. I am his greatest creation. He would not abandon that.”

Blaze’s eyes then softened. Clearly it was going to take a bit more time to reach Metal Blaze than they all originally thought.

“Metal, I…I know this is kind of hard to hear.” Silver said. “But he’s not coming back. To him, you aren’t a person. You’re just a weapon for him to use.”

“Would one not return for their greatest weapon then?”

Silver very slowly freed Metal Blaze from his psychokinetic hold. “Is that all you really want to be though? You can be so much more!”

Marine nodded. “Yeah! Doesn’t that sound ripper? Gettin’ to do whatever you want without some mustached bloke tellin’ ya what to do?”

Metal Blaze simply looked at Blaze…and then prepared to leap forward, only for Silver to freeze her one more time.

Blaze released a heavy sigh. “On any normal circumstance, I’d insist on deactivating you. But I do not want to be like your creator.”

“My prime directive is to surpass and destroy you. I shall not relent until that task is complete.”

Blaze put her hands on her hips. “Then I propose a new task for you.”

“I only take orders from my maker. You have no power over me.”

Blaze hummed. “You’re right. Hence why this is a suggestion. Not a command.”

“...declare it.”

“If Nexus really is planning on coming to your rescue…then simply wait for him.” Blaze said. “And if he arrives? You’re free to try and combat me again.”

“Would it not be more logical to terminate you now?”

Blaze shrugged. “Perhaps. But I know Nexus better than I’d like to admit. He would personally like to see my defeat with his own eyes. I’m positive he would take great pride in you if you were to best me in front of him.”

Metal Blaze was silent, seemingly allowing herself to process this. Her eyes then glowed for a moment. “Your proposal has been…accepted.”

Blaze nodded. “But I do have one condition. You are allowed to freely roam the castle, but you will not hurt anyone. After all, it would go against your prime directive. The only one you’re here to combat is me.”

Metal Blaze’s digital eyes seemed to narrow. “Your conditions have been accepted.”

“Good. Silver, release her.”

Silver, a little hesitant, slowly released Metal Blaze once again. He then watched the robotic cat walk off into a corner to begin waiting for her creator. The psychokinetic hedgehog turned towards his longtime partner. “You’re sure about this, Blaze? Just letting her roam the palace?”

“Our words and sentiments cannot reach her just yet.” Blaze said, her eyes soft. “She needs to realize that Nexus isn’t coming back for her.”

Marine looked up at her. “So…what are we gonna do?”

“We’ll be keeping a close eye on her and act if need be, but until then? Nothing.” Blaze said. “In the meantime, I think I have some questions for Gardon and Lance. I’ll see you both later?”

Silver smiled brightly. “Of course! How about I take the first shift watching Metal Blaze?”

“Sounds like a plan. Call if either of you need anything.” Blaze said with a nod, unable to help herself in admiring his large smile. The same smile that could break even the toughest of inner walls.

It certainly helped break hers down a little more.

The Sol Princess then walked off to find both her personal guard and The Royal Guard’s very own captain. The two guards that she had known for her entire childhood and the same guards her late father had left her in the care of.

It took a bit of searching throughout her incredibly large palace, but she eventually found them inside of The Great Hall, speaking to each other. Blaze was quiet as she walked over, for the sounds of her heels clicking against the floor were loud enough to get their attention.

“Your high- Blaze?” Gardon asked. “Is everything alright?”

Blaze just nodded. “Yes, everything is fine.”

Lance then crossed his arms. “Has that mechanical imposter been dismantled yet?”

Blaze sighed. “No. But she has been pacified. At least for now.”

Lance slowly shook his head. “I still don’t think keeping her around is a good idea. Especially when she is capable of hurting you and everyone else in the palace.”

“The same can be said for everyone else. Even you, Lance.” Blaze said. “But I understand your concerns. I’m just asking you to trust me on my judgement.”

Lance was now the one to sigh. “Very well.”

Gardon hummed. “Is that all you came to us for?”

“...not exactly.” Blaze said. “I have no doubt you know what happened at the party last night? With Prince Geo?”

Lance just nodded. “I wish I could have seen the battle itself instead of the aftermath.”

“From what little I saw of it, the prince held an admirable amount of skill.” Gardon hummed. “But what of it?”

Blaze’s eyes then softened and her more professional demeanor began to slip by the slightest margin. “...when I was little, you always tried your best to comfort me when my flames terrified me. You always insisted that they were a gift. Not the curse I believed them to be.”

Lance and Gardon looked at each other for a moment, sharing a concerned glance before facing Blaze again.

“You…couldn’t teach me how to use them properly because you didn’t know how. But you tried your best regardless. For that, I am thankful.” Blaze said. “But…why didn’t you ever tell me that there were other Elementals like me? Like Marine?”

Lance and Gardon now seemed…surprised. The koala then began to tap his fingers together sheepishly while the crimson cat lifted his golden mask, revealing his rugged face. “Because we couldn’t find them. To the point where we doubted that they even existed sometimes.”

“We figured it would be better to tell you what was known. Not what we speculated.” Gardon admitted. “But then, Marine came along and confirmed our suspicions…yet only left us with more questions considering we don’t actually know where or who her family is. According to The Coconut Crew, she was found as an infant.”

Blaze, all too familiar with this, just nodded. “I…honestly should’ve begun questioning her powers the moment she displayed them.”

“You have enough on your mind, Blaze.” Lance reassured. “But we do apologize for not telling you sooner.”

“I appreciate it, but I’m not upset. Simply processing.” Blaze said, slowly turning towards a large portrait hung in The Great Hall. Specifically, a portrait of a five year old version of herself…and her late father, King Inferno.

Lance and Gardon turned towards the portrait as well and their gazes almost immediately softened at the sight of the blue cat.

“...I…I remember a story he would tell me.” Blaze said suddenly, closing her eyes as she began to recall the memory. “About how our family first retrieved The Jeweled Scepter.”

“Long, long ago,” Her father began. “Before our empire ever existed, there lived a dark sorcerer who dreamed of conquest and chaos. So, using his twisted magic, he forged a powerful weapon that could control the very planet itself!”

The young Blaze gasped, lightly clutching at the covers. She could visualize this villain almost perfectly in her mind. A long black cloak, jagged fangs, and a terrifying laugh.

Her father seemed to notice and his soft grin grew as he began to speak with a bit more enthusiasm. “This weapon became so mighty that it unlocked The Power of Stars, a mystical energy that could allow the dark sorcerer to access entirely different worlds! Brand new dimensions!”

Blaze began pulling the covers over her face, starting to get a little nervous. What had ever happened to her father’s happy bedtime stories?

“The world was in peril. All seemed lost…until? The Sol Emeralds themselves arrived and chose champions to fight this great evil.” The Sol King said. “A princess who could wield the sun’s flaming might! A warrior who battled the ocean’s mightiest storms! A monk who could crack the Earth with a single step! An explorer that flew alongside the wind! And a rogue from another world!”

Blaze’s eyes started to shine as a smile began to form across her face, now all too eager to hear the next part of the story.

“United by The Sol Emeralds from all across the world, these five heroes made it their vow to stop the sorcerer and his dark plans. Time and time again, they battled his armies and saved countless lives, inspiring hope and courage within the people of the world. Their powers and their union made everyone believe that they had nothing to fear. That the darkness could never consume them as long as they stood tall like their heroes.” Her father smiled. “The sorcerer recruited demons to help him fight, but their alliance was built upon deceit and greed. It crumbled before the heroes and their bond, which proved to be stronger than any thirst for power.”

“And then they defeated the sorcerer…?” Blaze asked, smiling.

Her father laughed. “Now, now, let me finish!”

“Okay, Papa.”

“The sorcerer had lost all of his allies. So, in a desperate plea to win, he used his weapon’s power to carve a rift in the sky itself!” The Sol King cried.

Blaze gasped, even covering her mouth.

“Volcanoes erupted in rage! The Earth trembled with fright! And the heroes felt powerless to win. No matter how many times they charged, the sorcerer would simply swat them down with his dark power. But hopelessness could not grasp the heroes. Even with all odds against them, they planned to keep fighting until the bitter end…and this unwavering courage was rewarded.”

“How?” The princess asked.

“The people they had inspired. The people they had saved…they had come to fight with them. Hardly any of them had powers or anything that made them special, but they still fought because it was what their heroes taught them. And when they lifted the heroes back to their feet, The Sol Emeralds reappeared and granted them even more power! A power that not even the sorcerer and his godlike weapon could match.”

“And then? And then?” Blaze asked. “What happened next?!”

“The dark sorcerer fought back…but his efforts were futile. He had been defeated and his weapon had been stolen, being used by the flaming princess to fix all the damage done to the world.” The Sol King smiled. “The people of the planet rejoiced, as did our heroes. Their victory had brought upon a new age of peace and prosperity…an age where the princess became queen.”

Blaze tilted her head, clearly wondering as to how.

“Because the princess, during their grand journey, had fallen for her otherworldly ally. The two heroes had married, becoming the first king and queen of what we now know as The Sol Empire.” Her father said. “Our home. That flaming princess was our ancestor. Queen Sphinx.”

Blaze’s eyes went starry. “The heroes were real?”

“Yes!” The Sol King said before holding out his hand, summoning a small flame. “The Sol Emeralds choosing them is what led to Queen Sphinx passing down the very flames I now command.”

“...Papa?”

“Yes, my child?”

“Could I be a hero too? Like them?” Blaze asked. “Like you?”

Her father, King Inferno, seemed a bit surprised for a moment…before he warmly smiled at her. “Oh, my little one. You’ll be the greatest hero of them all.”

Blaze’s eyes opened as she looked back at the portrait. Her father’s warm smile was forever cemented thanks to it. It had been years since his passing, but she still missed him.

“...Blaze?” Gardon asked.

Blaze turned towards him and Lance. “The story he told me involved my ancestor making allies to protect the world from harm. And now, I have no doubt that these allies were Elementals as well.”

Lance nodded. “Most likely. What are you getting at?”

“The last time Nexus was here, he nearly tore apart the fabric of reality. Even with our current searches for him, we should be making a greater effort to stop him and any other threats that may follow.” Blaze said. “Marine and I were able to rid the seas of Captain Whiskers and other thieves. And when Silver joined us, similar threats only lessened. If we enlisted more allies, ones that could help us fight evils in person, the world would be safer than ever before.”

Lance’s eyes widened at the idea before he hummed. “That…could work.”

Gardon then smiled, recalling a time where Blaze had once insisted that she could do everything all by herself. “I take it Prince Geo is a potential candidate for this alliance?”

Blaze chuckled a bit. “Yes. I’d prefer to enlist those with powers like mine. Or at the very least, those who are capable in a fight.”

Lance sighed. “Given Terra’s history of isolation, the prince won’t be easy to convince.”

“I know.” Blaze said. “But the fact that he defended everyone at the party from a threat he had nothing to do with does speak volumes. It’s worth a shot to at least ask him.”

“Shall I start a letter then?” Gardon asked.

Blaze shook her head. “No. I wish to speak to him in person. Marine, Silver, and I will go to Terra.”

“Just the three of you? Gardon and I could always come along.” Lance said.

Blaze smiled. “As much as I’d like to take you two on one of my travels for once, I insist that you two remain. Gardon’s the only one I trust to handle my more political duties while we’re away and you are the only one strong enough to match Metal Blaze if she decides to go rogue again, Lance.”

Gardon then playfully grinned. “You’re sure it’s not so you can spend time with your friends on the high seas?”

Blaze cleared her throat slightly. “That…may or may not be part of the reason.”

Lance then sighed and nodded. “If you insist. Metal Blaze will not leave my sight.”

“Please don’t attack or dismantle her. She’s already proven difficult to gain the trust of as is.”

“...I make no promises.”

Gardon’s eyes narrowed and he hit his fellow warrior in the arm.

Lance grimaced at the strike before huffing. “As you wish.”

“C’mon, c’mon, let’s go!!!” Marine cried, practically rushing over and swiping the case of materials and supplies right out of Blaze’s hands before rushing onto their battleship known as The Ocean Tornado.

Blaze let out an amused smile as Silver floated over to her, carrying another case with his psychokinesis. “She’s more excited than I thought she would be.”

“Well, it has been a while since we’ve gone sailing!” Silver smiled as he and The Sol Princess boarded the ship. “Since your world’s been peaceful for so long.”

Blaze hummed. “Not wrong.”

Marine then rushed over to the steering wheel with a large grin across her face. “Adventure awaits, mates!!! You ready?”

Blaze looked around at the various supplies they had packed and then looked up at the young raccoon. “I believe we’re ‘ship-shape’.”

Marine smiled wide and pressed a few buttons and flipped a dozen switches, The Ocean Tornado whirring to life in response.

Silver looked ahead, already feeling the breeze blow lightly through his quills as the ship began to move. “Next stop? Terra!”

Chapter Text

The Earth of The Chaos Dimension was almost 70% ocean. That would almost seem hard to believe since both Blaze and Silver had been on lands where there wasn’t a drop of water in sight. But when they did eventually reach the oceans during their travels, Blaze couldn’t help but be reminded of her home.

The Sol Dimension was nearly 80% ocean after all. The planet they called home still had land, of course, but anyone who wanted to travel and see the world would need to learn how to sail. For they’d be traversing through seemingly endless mazes and labyrinths of nothing but sea and the obstacles it had to offer.

Blaze was staring out into the ocean, the wind lightly blowing through her fur and hair. She had quickly lost track of time, not knowing how many hours had passed by exactly. But she had to admit, even though their journey was for business and not pleasure, she felt relaxed. Being out on the open seas with no threats to fight and with the two people she trusted with her very life was a feeling that just made the imperial princess smile.

Her ear lightly flickered when she heard Marine humming a sea-shanty to herself while steering the ship, surprisingly not outright singing one like she usually would. Perhaps because she knew that Blaze wouldn’t wanna join in.

But someone who would want to join in if she had started singing was the next person that got Blaze’s attention. With a turn of her head, she could see the psychokinetic hedgehog resting his arms on the rails of The Ocean Tornado and looking out into the endless sea with a content smile on his face.

Blaze smiled and walked over to him. “Is something on your mind?”

Silver’s smile just grew as he shook his head, still looking ahead. “Just enjoying the view. I mean…it’s all so beautiful. Clear skies without a dark cloud in sight, oceans of blue that feel like they go on forever, and the cool breeze.”

Blaze hummed and rested her own arms on the railing, looking ahead. “I suppose I forget to remember how precious these sights really are. It feels like once I’ve seen them the first few times, they start to lose their spectacle. But then, out of nowhere, they suddenly become more grand than before. Usually after being away from them for so long.”

“...I wish my future could have this all the time.” Silver said suddenly, his smile suddenly beginning to shrink.

Blaze’s eyes softened a bit and she turned towards her friend.

“I mean…one moment it’s exactly like this! Shining, colorful, and just brimming with life and culture!” Silver cried. “But then…something bad happens in the past and it turns into a soulless wasteland in the blink of an eye. And I’m the only one ranting about the sudden changes while everyone else, if there’s even anyone left, just looks at me like I’m crazy. That it’s ‘always been this way’.”

“Silver…”

Silver sighed. “Sorry. I don’t mean to bring down the mood or anything. It’s just I sometimes feel guilty that I get to be in a world that has these sights almost every day while the people of my timeline are completely unaware that their happiness depends on a single moment in the past. And…and it gets kind of tough to keep being the only one left in some kind of apocalypse. All because history says I was supposed to be in the past when those catastrophes began. But I guess that’s what comes with being a time anomaly, huh?”

Blaze then gently set a hand on Silver’s. “To be the sole protector of your home is a burden. Believe me, I would know. Which is how I also know that you carry it well. Better than most would. If the people of your world knew what you had done for them, they wouldn’t be able to thank you enough. And while I know that this world or The Chaos Dimension’s past can never replace the true feeling of home, I hope you know that you are always welcome here.”

Silver looked down at their conjoined hands and for a moment, tints of red began to color his cheeks. But his signature smile eventually returned. “Thanks, Blaze. If I’m being honest? You and the others have kind of made this place a second home for me. I’ve even started another Victory Garden back at the palace!”

Blaze smiled wide. “That you have. I often find some party guests or even some of the royal chefs requesting your apple pie recipe.”

Silver rubbed the back of his neck. “Amy was a big help in making that.”

“It’s still a small piece of the heavens themselves compared to what I attempt to bake.” Blaze said.

Silver’s eyes widened. “H-hey, that’s not completely true! Your cupcakes were delic-”

“Silver, you passed out.” Blaze said, her eyes narrowed. “We had to take you to the hospital.”

Silver blinked. “...would you believe me if I said that was because of how good it was?”

Blaze couldn’t help but laugh, knowing that Silver was just trying to spare her feelings of how bad a cook she was. And due to laughter often being contagious, Silver started to erupt with chuckles and giggles as well.

And as the two laughed, Marine was looking at them from afar with an almost sinister-looking grin across her face. She knew all too well what was really going on between them. What had been going on between them in all the time that they had known each other.

The hydrokinetic raccoon then reached into a drawer and pulled out a journal, still devilishly smirking as she reached for a pencil as well. And after flipping to an empty page, she began scribbling something down.

She had become something of a writer as of late.

‘After besting The Demon’s Hurricane, Swashbuckler Silver and Pyro-Pirate Blaze continued their journey to find The Enchanted Castle! The only home perfect enough for adventurers like them! And the home where they would spend the rest of their lives together. Not a single sea beast or villainous captain could destroy the love they had for each other! And if they tried? They’d meet the swing of their swords!’

Marine then lightly tapped the edge of her pencil against her chin before calling out. “Oy, Silver!! Do you know how to use a sword?”

Silver turned towards her, ready to ask why she would ask something like that out of the blue…but then he started scratching his chin, beginning to think about the question itself.

Blaze, however, asked the question in his stead. “Marine, why would you need to know that?”

“I’m just curious!” Marine cried.

“I mean…kind of?” Silver said. “I’ve never been properly trained though.”

Marine gave a thumbs up. “Got it! Thanks, mate!”

Blaze and Silver looked at each other with a shrug before turning their heads back to the sea, only for both of them to almost jump. Blaze then quickly whipped around towards Marine again. “Marine! We’ve reached Terra!”

“In other words? Land ho!” Silver called.

Marine’s eyes widened and she quickly closed her journal, shoving it and the pencil back into her drawer before grabbing hold of the steering wheel and flipping a few switches. “Full speed ahead!!!”

The Ocean Tornado’s engines began to whir as the battleship began to move faster, the wake only beginning to grow due to the increase of speed. The once light breeze turned into that of a small gust of wind, but neither The Ocean Tornado or its crew faltered in reaching their destination.

They grew closer and closer, seeing a loading dock where they could anchor themselves. And just ahead of the dock itself was a small village. While they were too far to properly see, they could see that it was filled with people, be it children playing around or adults working their usual jobs. Nothing out of the ordinary.

…but then, Blaze’s ear flickered at sounds not at all connected to their own ship. She looked to the side, squinting her eyes at what appeared to be…something swimming right beside them. It was underwater, so it either had to be an animal or some kind of submarine.

The Sol Princess watched the phenomenon closely, trying to spot any details that would give away what it even was. And as if to answer her, whatever was swimming beside them slowly began to peek out.

What looked to be a black shell littered with spikes slowly began to protrude from the water. More and more of it began to reveal itself until a set of glowing yellow eyes could be seen. They were directed right towards the town up ahead.

Then, the creature stopped swimming and began focusing all of its efforts on emerging from the sea. And almost immediately, the creature’s shadow completely enveloped The Ocean Tornado as it stood tall.

It was some kind of demonic-looking hermit crab. But unlike the usually harmless creature, it was easily three stories tall, its claws looked to be as sharp as blades, and its exoskeleton was covered in spikes both big and small.

Silver stepped back, his eyes wide in horror. “W…what the heck is that thing?!?”

The hedgehog wasn’t given an answer. The sea beast just opened its fang-ridden mouth and screeched into the air.

Up ahead, the people of Terra began to scream and run. Parents would rush over to their children and scoop them into their arms while workers would drop whatever task they were doing to focus on escaping. The sound of their terrified cries were practically deafening.

But it only served as motivation for the monster to start making its way towards the village, its blade-like legs beginning to move almost perfectly in sync.

Blaze just gritted her teeth. “We can find out what it is later, we need to stop it before it reaches the village! Silver, I need you to get us over there!”

Silver nodded and began floating into the air, carrying Blaze with his psychokinesis.

“Marine? Prepare the cannons and fire when it’s in range!” Blaze commanded.

Marine just saluted with a grin. This wasn’t the first sea monster they had battled after all. “When has your captain ever let you down? Go show ‘em what for, Blazey!!!”

Silver and Blaze then dashed into the air as the multi-legged monstrosity began to step towards land. But with a swing of his arm, Blaze was suddenly sent rocketing towards the beast. And just as she began to approach its face, The Sol Princess twirled around and engulfed herself within a flaming tornado just before striking the monster.

The monster roared in pain, stumbling backwards and even mindlessly swinging its claws around in confusion. Then, with a shake of its head, the demonic crab looked ahead at who had just attacked it.

Blaze, still in Silver’s psychokinetic grasp, wasted no time in summoning a pair of fireballs from her palms.

The monster snarled and took a defiant step forward, now having a brand new target.

MINI-BOSS: Sea Beast

“You are different from the usual robotic abominations we fight. Regardless of your goal, I will attempt to make this painless. But I make no promises.” Blaze said before hurling both fireballs at the beast.

The Sea Beast raised its claws, shielding its face from her attacks. And it seemed each of the fireballs did next to nothing against the thick armor of its claws, for the monstrous crab just lowered its claws and screeched at Blaze.

“Silver! Throw me!” Blaze cried.

Silver quickly swung his arm with a battle cry, throwing Blaze forward with all of his might. The Sol Princess engulfed her body in flames again as it rocketed towards the monster’s face, but it once again raised its claws to protect itself, causing Blaze to simply bounce right off.

The Sea Beast was quick to break its shield, thrusting one of its claws forward in an attempt to either grab the princess or snap her in two with its pinchers. Thankfully, Silver shot his hands upwards and in turn, lifted Blaze upwards.

Blaze’s eyes widened as she suddenly rocketed into the air, now hovering above The Sea Beast’s spiked head. Having to remind herself that Silver wouldn’t dare let her fall, Blaze swallowed her acrophobia before she spun around into a fiery drill.

Silver, realizing her intentions, quickly swung both of his hands downwards. And at his command, Blaze’s flaming form dove down towards the demonic crab.

And just in time, The Sea Beast looked up to see where its opponent had gone off too, only to be struck directly in the face by The Sol Princess’s flaming attack. It screeched in pain, stumbling even further back as fire licked away at its exoskeleton.

Silver then quickly dashed over to Blaze, his head turned towards The Ocean Tornado. Its cannons had been deployed and were ready to fire. He then looked at Blaze. “One more strike should do it!”

“Then let’s do it together!” Blaze cried. “On three! One…!”

Silver readied himself, his and Blaze’s bodies cyan shine only beginning to glow brighter and brighter.

“Two…!”

The Sea Beast then looked at the duo, letting out an infuriated roar just before charging at them.

“THREE!!!” Blaze cried.

Then, the pair rocketed forward towards their monstrous foe. And while Blaze spun around into another flaming tornado, Silver curled up into a ball for a Spin Attack. A technique he learned from some of his fellow hedgehogs within The Chaos Dimension.

In unison, Blaze and Silver smashed into The Sea Beast’s scaly chest and forced it backwards. But just before it could make another move?

The Ocean Tornado began shooting out cannonballs made entirely of energy, with each one hurtling towards The Sea Beast and striking it in several parts of its body. Some hit it in its fanged face, others struck its legs to knock it off balance, and the final few only added to the damage on its chest.

And with one last roar, The Sea Beast began to fall to the side. It had lost the ability to keep itself standing and fell into the sea, sinking into its watery depths after its crash. And even after several minutes, it didn’t get back up.

MINI BOSS CLEARED

Silver smiled wide. “We did it!!!”

Blaze just crossed her arms with a nod. “I had no doubt we would…n-now may we please go back to solid ground?”

Silver, quickly recalling Blaze’s fear of heights, smiled sheepishly. “O-oh! Right! Sorry!”

The duo then quickly flew back to The Ocean Tornado, finding themselves standing on its deck yet again. And just in time for Marine to rush over with sparkling eyes and a wide smile.

“THAT WAS RIPPER!!!” Marine cheered. “We took that pinching pincher down!!!”

Silver laughed and then high-fived Marine. “All in a day’s work for Team Dimension, right?”

“We didn’t even need our secret weapon!”

Blaze tilted her head. “Secret weapon…?”

Marine then proudly pointed at herself with her thumb. “My hydro- hydrokit- hy-”

The young raccoon then pouted for a moment, realizing that she was going to get the term wrong again. “My Sea Magic coulda washed it away with one tidal wave! No problem!”

Blaze couldn’t help but smile. “I have no doubt you could have.”

Marine then patted the railing of the ship. “But what kinda captain doesn’t give her ship a chance to shine?”

“Speaking of which, we should probably dock.” Silver said.

Marine swiftly rushed back to the helm. “Already on it!”

Silver watched her run off before sheepishly smiling at Blaze. “Uhh…sorry about just kind of throwing you up in the air earlier. I almost forgot about your fear of heights.”

Blaze cleared her throat, now seeming a tad embarrassed. “N-no need to apologize. I…handled it. And it was I who suggested the strategy in the first place. Besides, if I were to fall, I know you’d catch me.”

“Because I know you’d do the same for me.” Silver smiled.

Blaze’s embarrassed expression shifted to that of a matching smile, complimented by a familiar warmth in her cheeks.

Eventually though, The Ocean Tornado docked and Team Dimension made their way off the ship and towards the village. And rather surprisingly, there were still a handful of villagers there. Each one of them were wide-eyed at the sight of the three, likely having witnessed their battle with the monster threatening their home.

Blaze was the first to speak. “Greetings, people of Terra. I am Princess Blaze of The Sol Empire.”

“You’re Princess Blaze?” One of the villagers asked, now seeming even more surprised.

Blaze nodded in confirmation. “My friends and I mean none of you harm.”

“I mean, we just saved you from that spiky bloke back there!” Marine cried, pointing back towards the ocean and the very spot The Sea Beast had sunk into.

Another villager then walked over to the trio, a smile across their face. “We all saw! It was amazing!!! How could we ever repay you?”

“Do you by chance have directions to the capital?” Blaze asked. “I wish to speak with Prince Geo.”

“He’ll no doubt want to see you after that!” The villager said. “Follow me, I’ll show you right where you need to go!”

Team Dimension all looked at each other and nodded, following the villager. All the three could do now was speculate what the kingdom of Terra would be like.

Chapter Text

After the humble villager led them to the capital of Terra, Team Dimension found themselves in a rather dreadful wait while Blaze filled out various forms of paperwork to actually allow her and her friends to enter.

Marine, naturally, couldn’t sit still throughout most of it. So, to entertain herself, she began making random shapes with water. And it seemed Silver had a similar idea, simply making nearby stones float in the air with his psychokinesis and even making tiny sculptures out of them.

But after what felt like an eternity?

“Marine? Silver? It’s time to-”

Marine didn’t even give Blaze the time to finish her sentence, for she had already ran right past her friend.

Blaze quickly began to walk after her. “Marine!!! Stay close to me and Silver! You’re going to get lost!”

Silver just gave a thankful nod towards both of the guards Blaze had spent the past 30 minutes talking to before running after his friends. But all three of them came to a screeching halt almost immediately, feeling incapable of doing anything but gaze into the city ahead of them.

Terra was…enormous. There were almost countless buildings in sizes ranging from small and capable of fitting five people at most to towers that looked like it could fit over a hundred. Mobians were practically flooding the streets, with their numbers being so vast that it was almost impossible to tell what each one was even doing. Some were carrying large bags or visiting food stands, some were hard at work loading heavy crates into vans, and others were simply enjoying the beautiful day outside.

“This…this place is huge!!!” Silver cried, his eyes almost widening with utter delight at all the new sights and sounds. And when he turned his head, his ears were quickly filled with the sound of…music.

Just ahead of the psychokinetic hedgehog was a Mobian tiger white snow white fur and stripes as black as night. She had a hat made of straw resting comfortably atop her head, which seemed to be shielding the majority of her face from sight. But what was visible was her mouth, which was lightly blowing into a flute while her fingers gently tapped against the holes of the instrument to form an almost entrancing melody.

A small crowd of people were around the tiger, either smiling or lightly swaying from side to side, as if dancing with the rhythm itself.

Silver, unable to keep from beaming at the tune, slowly made his way over to the white tiger and joined the crowd she had gained. Blaze and Marine were quick to follow.

The white tiger drew out her flute’s melody for a few more minutes before looking up at her audience with a smile, ending her song. Some of them almost seemed shocked that it was over already, but were all too quick to start clapping.

“Fantastic!” One of them cried.

“It was like a choir sent from the Heavens!”

“You’re very talented, missy!” An elderly woman smiled.

The white tiger just bowed her head, silently thanking them all. And suddenly, she began to play another song. The melody was different, much more upbeat and energetic than the calm and relaxing rhythm of the first.

Silver then looked at Blaze and whispered. “Umm…do we have any money to give her? She’s really good!”

“I don’t think she’s doing this for money.” Blaze replied, noting the lack of anything to actually put money into. No bowls, jars, or even a hat.

Silver quickly came upon the same realization and his smile only grew. “She’s doing it for the people.”

But then, Marine quickly called out to her friends, her voice just loud enough for them to hear over the white tiger’s song. “Silver!!! Blazey!!!”

Silver and Blaze quickly turned their heads and eventually walked away from the crowd, seeing their young friend staring into the window of a building with starry eyes. But before either of them could even ask what had gotten her attention, they were given their answer.

Marine was staring into…a toy store. With several construction sets, action figures, and even remote control cars. Several children around Marine’s age were already inside the store, grabbing toys off the shelves or trying to convince their parents to buy some with their innocent eyes.

Silver found himself looking around the store through its window, unable to recall the last time he had actually been to a toy store or if he had been in one at all throughout his childhood.

Marine, however, had her eyes glued on a small box with a large pirate ship on it. And while the ship itself was only visible through the product’s box art, about two small action figures (one hero and one villain) were viewable through a plastic casing. The raccoon then whipped around to Blaze. “Can we please get the pirate ship, Blazey?!”

Blaze’s eyes softened. “Marine, we came here to meet with Prince Geo. Not to go shopping for toys-”

“Pleeeeeease?” Marine asked, wobbling her bottom lip while collapsing her hands together.

Blaze looked at her young friend for a moment. With how much Marine had grown over the years, she almost forgot that she would still be drawn to things that any child would. Including something as simple as toys. The Sol Princess then sighed, giving in. “I suppose one toy couldn’t hurt.”

Marine smiled the biggest grin she could muster and hugged Blaze tightly, cheering. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!”

Blaze lightly patted her head with her own smile, albeit much softer. “You’re welcome. I’d suggest we purchase it before any of the other kids get the same idea however.”

Marine, realizing there were some stakes to her mission, quickly began pulling Blaze into the store. “Let’s go, let’s go!!!”

Silver, snapping out of his search down memory lane, followed. “Hey, wait up!”

And after the small detour that resulted in an extremely happy Marine, Team Dimension set off once more. Blaze looked ahead into the city and almost immediately saw what had to be the royal palace. Its sheer size and majestic shine were enough to make it the jewel of the already grand kingdom.

“I believe that’s our destination.” Blaze hummed, pointing ahead towards the palace.

Silver scratched his chin. “Seems to be a ways away. And it might take us a while with all these people. Guess we should start walking.”

Marine grinned. “Or Silver mate could just fly us there!”

Blaze, not too comfortable with the idea of flying in a situation where it wasn’t absolutely necessary, cleared her throat. “I…I would prefer to walk. Besides, we are in no rush and I doubt any of us are opposed to a bit more sight-seeing.”

Silver smiled wide. “Not at all!”

Marine grinned before pointing ahead. “Then onwards, my loyal crew!!! Your captain decrees it!!!”

Blaze laughed a bit, deciding to humor her young friend with a salute. “Aye-eye, Captain Marine.”

The trio of heroes then began to walk, making their way around the crowds of people…at least for about a minute before they already came upon something new.

“Hey there, strangers!” A Mobian panda working a food stand greeted with a wide smile. “Would you three care for a snack?”

Marine gasped and immediately went over to the stand. “Yes!!!”

Blaze hummed as she joined her friend. “I suppose we haven’t eaten in some time.”

“What do you sell anyway?” Silver asked, tilting his head.

The panda simply ducked down and then pulled out a basket, swiftly taking off the cover to present his culinary creation as if he were some kind of magician. “Ta-dah!!!”

The three peeked into the basket and saw several balls of dough resting inside. Marine scratched her head at the sight before looking at the panda. “What are these, mate?”

“They go by a few names, but you can just call them barbecued pork buns.” The panda said. “Go on, try one! And if you don’t like it, consider it a free sample.”

Marine hummed and grabbed one of the buns, studying it closely before biting into it. She started to chew, with it quickly becoming unknown as to whether or not she’d suddenly spit it out.

Blaze and Silver looked at each other before looking back at Marine, expecting just about anything.

And then? Marine smiled wide and quickly scarfed down the rest of the bun. “Oy!!! This is really, really good!!!”

The panda laughed. “Glad you like it, little miss!”

Blaze found herself smiling yet again as she placed some money on the cart. It was enough to not only pay for the first bun, but three more for each of them. “Thank you very much, sir.”

“Pleasure’s all mine!” The panda smiled, waving at them as they began to walk away. “You three have a wonderful day!”

Silver waved back. “You too!”

Blaze took a bite into her bun before her eyes widened in surprise. “It’s…surprisingly sweet.”

Marine just scarfed down hers in a single bite, a very satisfied look across her face.

Silver finally bit into his own and his reaction was practically a mirror to his friends. “One of the best parts about seeing the world? All the food you get to try!”

“I agree with you on that front.” Blaze smiled.

The trio of heroes kept walking throughout the city, with their destination being the royal palace, but just like Blaze had anticipated? There were a few more stops along the way. Including one particular visit that ended up taking most of the day.

Having taken seats within the many rows of a large colosseum, Team Dimension found themselves to be utterly captivated by a play going on down below. Even from so far away, the troupe of actors and variety of effects had captured their attention practically at first glance.

Down below were currently two actors. One was a monkey wielding a large staff while the other was a large bull wielding a pair of dual axes, but the makeup he was wearing almost gave him a more demonic appearance. And as blood red lights shined across the makeshift arena, the two actors lunged forward at each other.

The staff and axes collided as a booming sound rang throughout the colosseum, even startling a few of the audience members as smoke began to drown the two actors in its fog. But their battle only continued, with each one letting out ferocious cries as their weapons collided over and over again.

Blaze stared on in awe, rather impressed so far. Not only did it look like the two were actually fighting each other, but they were leaping out of the smoke and into the air just to clash again. And neither of them looked like they had wires holding them up. The director must’ve been sure to get actual acrobats.

Silver was simply excited, practically on the edge of his seat as the monkey suddenly flipped over the bull’s back and ‘struck’ him from behind, earning a booming roar from the villain of this play.

But then, the cloud of smoke began to completely envelop the bull. Roars echoed across the makeshift arena as the actor’s silhouette suddenly began to change. He seemed to be growing larger in size.

Marine gasped, immediately clutching onto Blaze’s arm. The Sol Princess, well aware that this was all fake, simply gave her young friend a reassuring glance before looking back at the play.

Then, the bull’s dual axes slashed through the smoke, revealing what had happened to the actor. And much to everyone’s shock, he had indeed changed. But instead of an actual transformation, the actor (or perhaps someone else) was now wearing some kind of animatronic suit that was twice the bull’s original size. And while it was clearly robotic, its arms and legs moved so fluently that it could fool a handful of people into believing this really was some kind of demon.

“THIS ENDS…NOW!!!” The bull’s voice bellowed through the speakers as the suited actor stomped the ground, with lights flashing all around to give the illusion that the animatronic’s stomping had actually cracked the earth beneath it. The monkey stumbled around wildly before eventually falling to the ground, dropping his staff.

The audience gasped while Marine just clenched her fists, trying her hardest not to shout. “No! Get up!”

The monkey slowly forced himself to his feet, but was quick to roll right out of the way of the bull’s sudden charge. The animatronic’s fluent movement was once again put on display as it screeched to a stop, staring down the actor having taken the role of hero.

“YOU CANNOT WIN!!!” The bull’s voice declared through the stadium’s speakers.

But the monkey suddenly stood tall, grabbing hold of his staff yet again. “Guess I should start trying then!”

The actor then spun around his staff before slamming the tip against the ground, the lights now flashing a bright gold. And leaping out from the smoke were several more actors, serving as the monkey’s clones in terms of the story.

“WHAT?!?” The bull exclaimed.

The various monkeys then all charged forward one by one, ‘striking’ the animatronic all across its body. And as the bull was forced to his knees from the constant attacks, the smoke enveloped them all again, the elaborate display of shadows returned.

The monkey had charged towards his demonic foe and then swung his staff upwards, striking the bull across the jaw and sending his shadowy silhouette flying. And seconds later, a booming crack rang out.

And after a suspenseful wait, the smoke finally cleared. The animatronic had disappeared and had been replaced by the original bull, who laid on the ground pretending to be unconscious. The monkey’s clones had also disappeared, leaving just the one standing tall.

The audience, Team Dimension included, shot out from their seats and filled the colosseum with cheers, claps, and even a bit of whistling.

The actors below couldn’t bow due to the play not being over, but both clearly wanted to thank their audience. So, the monkey simply walked off as the lights went dark, beginning the play’s last intermission.

“THAT PLAY WAS RIPPER!!!” Marine squealed, running into the hotel room that Blaze had generously purchased for them. The young raccoon herself had to set down the soon-to-be unboxed toy she had gotten earlier just to leap right onto one of the three beds in sheer excitement.

Silver smiled wide as he too walked in. “It was amazing!!! I can see why it was one-night only!!!”

Blaze laughed. “It did look rather expensive to make. Especially the animatronic. If I didn’t know any better, I would have assumed it was a highly decorated Badnik.”

Marine began jumping on the bed, squealing. “Crikey, today was so, so fun!!! Nothing beats sailing the seas, but this is second place!!!”

“Marine, please don’t jump on the bed.” Blaze said, taking a seat on her bed.

Marine, having to force herself to calm down, slowly came to a stop. “Sorry!”

“It’s alright.” Blaze replied. “It’s just a shame that the play was much longer than I thought it would be. We didn’t get the chance to meet with Prince Geo and offer him to join the alliance.”

Silver hummed. “Well, there is always tomorrow!”

“True.” Blaze said with a nod. “This might be better actually. I could schedule a proper appointment…I just hope I’ll be able to convince him.”

Silver just grinned. “You have a way with words, Blaze. I’m sure he’ll say yes. And even if he doesn’t? We at least had fun exploring, didn’t we?”

Blaze smiled back. “Yes, we did. And we should all get some rest.”

Marine then suddenly yawned, the packed day finally taking its toll. She slowly laid down and pulled the covers over her body. “Right. G’night, Blazey. G’night, Silver.”

“Goodnight, Marine.” Blaze said as she and her psychokinetic teammate fell into their own beds, leaving only one light on for their young friend.

Marine was the first of them to fall asleep. Then Silver. And just as Blaze’s eyes began to droop, she made a silent wish that the next day would go just as well as this one had gone.

Chapter Text

After a rather wonderful night’s sleep, Blaze had risen early in order to properly schedule her meeting with the prince of Terra. So, she spent most of breakfast writing things down while Silver and Marine enjoyed the free pancakes inside the hotel.

Much to their luck however, Blaze was able to schedule herself rather early. Either the prince’s schedule was clear for the day or a meeting with the imperial princess of The Sol Empire was simply too important to put back. After her and her team’s hearty meal, she headed off while insisting that she handle the political talk so both Silver and Marine could continue to enjoy Terra.

And Marine especially was all too eager to accept that offer. Especially since she had never been in a hotel before and had gained a full night’s worth of energy to actually enjoy it.

But no matter how much growing she had gone through over the years, she was still a child. And children like her had…imaginative ways to enjoy herself.

Marine cheered as she rolled down the halls, riding a bell cart as if it were the mighty chariot of a golden gladiator. She was even blasting out water to make her descent go even faster. She could practically hear both Blaze and Captain Lance scolding her…but none of them were there, so she took her chance.

And as the hydrokinetic raccoon raced down the hall and right past a tenant, one of the bellhops shrieked. “SOMEONE STOP THAT MAD RACCOON!!!”

As if on cue, Silver quickly flew right by. “Sorry! Excuse me! Sorry!”

The psychokinetic hedgehog then shot his hands forward, using his signature power to freeze both Marine and the bell cart right in their tracks. And once they were coated in the cyan aura, Silver drew a sigh of relief.

Marine, in her frozen position, was only able to move her eyes. “Eh? Awww, Silver mate! No fair!”

“Marine, I’m all for having fun, but did you have to steal one of the bell carts?” Silver asked, floating over with a disapproving look on his face.

Marine huffed. “Oh, c’mon! They weren’t usin’ it! Ya can’t expect to give somethin’ wheels and then tell people not to ride on it!”

“It’s still not ours.” Silver said, crossing his arms. “Now what do we say?”

Marine sighed, realizing there was no way out of this. “I’m sorry…”

“And?”

“And I promise I won’t do it again.” Marine said, having had to repeat this a handful of times.

Silver smiled and then unfroze Marine while simultaneously rolling the bell cart right back to where Marine had found it.

But then, a gasp suddenly caught their attention. “Whoa!”

Silver and Marine turned around to see a Mobian monkey standing across from them. But it wasn’t just any ordinary monkey. It was the same actor from the play the night before, now just wearing bright red gloves and boots instead of the bright golden armor and crimson makeup of his character.

The monkey’s smile grew wide as he walked over to the two. “I’ve never seen powers like that before!”

Marine’s eyes immediately began to sparkle as a squeal left her throat. She then immediately rushed over to the actor. “You’re The Great Sage!!! From the play!!!”

The monkey’s eyes widened a bit in surprise, but a soft smile formed across his face at the excitement on display. “That I am, ha! Although, The Great Sage is just a character. You can just call me Sun, little miss.”

“The play was sooo awesome!!!” Marine squealed before she struck a pose. “I mean, with all the demons you were fightin’ and the big stick you were swingin’ around! And the flips! And the cool one-liners! And all the adventure!!! You were on one little stage but it took you to so many ripper places!!!”

Sun’s smile seemed to grow. “Well, I’m really happy you enjoyed the play! We all worked really hard on it. All those animatronic suits alone cost half our budget!”

Silver then went over. “It was still amazing to see! You’re a fantastic actor!”

Sun rubbed the back of his neck, now clearly very flattered. “Aw, shucks!”

Marine then suddenly held up a miniature version of the staff that Sun’s character had used during the play, a trinket she had gotten from the gift shop. “Could I get your autograph?”

“Awww, sure!” Sun smiled, gently taking the gift and preparing to sign it…only to realize he didn’t have a pen or really anything to write with. That is, until Silver simply levitated one right into his hands. “Oh! Thank you!”

“No problem!” Silver said.

Sun then quickly signed the gift before gleefully handing it back to Marine. “Thanks again for coming to the show, you two! Although, now I’m a lot more curious about who you both are! I mean, not everyone can just lift things with their mind!”

“I’m Silver! And this is-”

“Captain Marine! Soon to be the greatest hero of the seas!” Marine declared proudly, summoning her watery cutlass and slicing the air.

Sun’s eyes widened at the sight of the weapon, now looking to be awestruck at the fact that both of them had powers. “Whoa…so you two are a lot like Prince Geo!!!”

“I guess we are!” Silver smiled.

Marine tilted her head. “You know who this ‘Geo’ bloke is?”

“There’s very few people who haven’t heard of him.” Sun said. “Not only is he the one who helped fund our play, he and The Royal Family have been protecting this country for generations! Single-handedly at that!”

Silver’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. “Really? But I thought that Terra didn’t really involve itself with…well. Anything! What would he even need to protect you from?”

Sun was about to answer…before the ground suddenly rumbled, all three of them feeling it. Even the various staff members of the hotel felt it and froze in place as it happened a second time. Then a third time. And then a fourth.

Silver’s eyes narrowed as a bad feeling started to resonate with him. And it only grew when ear-piercing shrieks were heard from outside. The psychokinetic hedgehog quickly rushed out the door, with Marine following suit.

And as the two heroes screeched to a stop? A large shadow loomed over them. They looked up and then froze.

“...looks like I just answered my own question…” Silver mumbled as a familiar set of glowing yellow eyes stared down upon them.

Prince Geo stepped into his throne room, one of his advisors quickly following him. “What’s my schedule for today, Ore?”

Ore looked at a clipboard, squinting his eyes as he followed the imperial prince of Terra. “Let’s see. Well, the imperial princess of The Sol Empire has scheduled a meeting with you in half an hour, your highness.”

Geo’s eyes widened and he stopped right in his tracks, turning towards his advisor. “Princess Blaze? She’s here?”

“Yes, your highness. She’s waiting as we speak.” Ore said. “And just yesterday, she and some associates of hers actually defended Tellus from a Gold Digger! We attempted to tell you last night, but frankly, you looked like you could barely keep your eyes open after the bill signing.”

Geo was silent, still processing everything he had just been told.

“...I-I can…see if we can reschedule the meet-”

“What? No! Let her in!”

“Right now, your highness?”

“Yes, right now.” Geo confirmed. “She’s waited long enough.”

Ore was a bit surprised at Geo’s sudden eagerness to meet with another noble, but bowed and then quickly ran off. The reptilian prince sighed and began to wait, wandering around his throne room and occasionally glancing at some of the portraits within the room. Ones he had seen countless times.

He already had a feeling as to why Blaze was here. And while he wasn’t a fan of those who nagged, he had to admit he didn’t expect Blaze to go so far as to sail all the way over to his home and even protect his villagers from a Gold Digger just to speak with him.

Geo’s eyes suddenly narrowed at that very last thought. “...for a moment, my people could’ve been left without a protector. Because surely spending hours reviewing bills about painting one of our ships gold was so much more important. Even though that’s what attracts those infernal things here in the first place.”

Then, the doors opened. Geo swiftly turned his head and smiled softly at the sight of a familiar purple cat. “Princess Blaze.”

“Prince Geo.” Blaze said with a nod, the doors closing behind her.

“I must admit, I didn’t expect to see you in person again so soon. Let alone in my own home.” Geo chuckled as he walked over to her.

Blaze hummed. “Well, forgive me for wanting to ensure I get to speak with you. You have a history of ignoring our letters.”

Geo lightly cleared his throat, sheepishly looking to the side. “I-I don’t ignore them…I just don’t respond.”

“Purposefully not responding is the definition of the word ‘ignore’.” The Sol Princess smirked.

The Prince of Terra gave her a glance before giving in and laughing at her quip. “Fair enough. I apologize for keeping you waiting.”

“And I apologize for my unannounced visit. I know better than most that a noble’s schedule can be…hectic to say the least.” Blaze said. “Last minute changes can be incredibly stressful.”

Geo held up a hand, shaking his head. “Nonsense. This was actually a welcome surprise.”

Blaze smiled before looking out the window and even walking over to it. From the palace alone, she could practically see the entire city. Mere moments ago, it was a gigantic golden maze…and now it looked no bigger than a diorama. “Your kingdom is a beautiful place, Geo.”

Geo’s own smile grew as he walked over to her side, looking down at the labyrinth of buildings, homes, and businesses he called home. “Isn’t it?”

“My friends and I spent the entire day exploring. The people are so friendly, the architecture is entrancing, and I admire the mix of tradition and evolution.” Blaze said, turning her head towards him.

Geo chuckled. “It was always important to me to never forget our history, but to grow alongside the rest of the world and its wondrous technologies instead of being stuck in the past.”

“I can share the sentiment.” Blaze said with a nod.

Geo grinned. “If my grandfather were still alive, he’d probably throw a fit. He was the type to insist his generation was superior and that change was some kind of demonic force.”

Blaze hummed. “Really?”

“Really.” Geo said with a nod. “I miss him and his many stories, but…I can’t deny that Terra has vastly improved without the wall that was his stubbornness. And speaking of stubbornness, my advisors tell me that you defended one of our villages from a Gold Digger?”

Blaze’s eyes widened in slight confusion. “A Gold Digger? You mean the giant crab?”

“That’s the one.” Geo confirmed. “They’re a very common threat here. One of Terra’s most plentiful resources is solid gold. And unfortunately, that is a Gold Digger’s favorite food. Hence the name.”

“...they eat gold?” Blaze grimaced.

Geo nodded. “The first time I encountered them, they were scarfing as much of it as they could. They’ve become more of an annoyance after having to deal with them so many times, but…I still deeply thank you for protecting my people from it. Especially when I couldn’t.”

He sighed. “In fact, it wasn’t even brought to my attention until this morning. I had exhausted myself with bill signings the night before.”

“I see…” Blaze said, her eyes soft.

Geo then turned his head. “Perhaps we should cut to the chase then. Why come all this way? I doubt it was simply to say hello.”

Blaze sighed. “It wasn’t. I’ve…come with an offer actually.”

“Normally, I’d immediately dismiss an offer from a fellow noble.” Geo said. “Because they usually involve military alliances or distributing our metals to other nations. All things that could potentially put my people at risk. But, in the short time we’ve known each other, I know you have the best of intentions. So tell me, what is this offer?”

Blaze put her hands behind her back. “When I was a little girl, my father would tell me stories of this ancient order of heroes. The first champions of The Sol Emeralds.”

Geo nodded slowly, his eyes wide that Blaze even seemed to know of this. “Yes, I…I’ve heard this story before. My mother would tell me of the part our family played in it.”

“As did my father with ours.” Blaze said. “And recently, a very dangerous man has returned to this world. Dr. Nexus…although you may know him better as Eggman Nega.”

Geo hummed. “It rings a bell. From what I’ve been told, he nearly caused this entire universe to collapse.”

“Twice.” Blaze said, holding up two fingers. “And now after several years, he’s returned. And while my friends and I were able to push him back, I fear whatever future scheme he may concoct. Which is why I believe that ancient order of heroes may need to return.”

Geo’s eyes only seemed to widen even further, but they were quick to soften and even close. He drew a heavy sigh. “And you want me in it, yes?”

Blaze nodded. “Silver, Marine, and I all possess great power. Power that should be used to protect those who cannot protect themselves. And you hold that power too. If you accept, this would ensure not only the protection of Terra, but the entire world as well. It has already known many years of peace. I can’t let that stop now.”

“...Blaze…if I were to join you and your friends on your globe-trotting adventures, what would be here to defend my people if a threat were to ever arrive?” Geo asked. “My military is strong, yes, but my powers have been Terra’s shield for years. I can’t just abandon them.”

“You wouldn’t be abandoning them, Geo.” Blaze said.

Geo huffed. “Maybe. But my involvement in this alliance would surely draw the attention of others. Thus putting everyone in this kingdom at risk.”

“You can’t just ignore even the slightest of risks.” Blaze said. “You can’t just ignore the rest of the world. Because one day, there will be a problem you cannot defend your people from by yourself.”

Geo crossed his arms. “The very Earth beneath us bends to my will. I have yet to meet a problem that can’t be solved by throwing a giant boulder at it.”

“If throwing rocks were the solution to everything, men like Nexus wouldn’t exist.” Blaze said. “I understand your need to protect your kingdom. Better than anyone. My people, their safety, mean the world to me. It’s why I put up with all the stress of ruling an entire empire in the first place. And I have a feeling that’s why you put up with the same stresses.”

Geo didn’t respond. But not out of a lack of words, but because he failed to see a need to even reply. Blaze was reading him like an open book.

“But one day, a threat will come here. A threat that you can’t handle alone.” Blaze said. “Wouldn’t it be better to have others by your side when that threat comes? Wouldn’t it be better to share the burden with others instead of insisting on carrying it yourself?”

Geo sighed, looking away from his fellow royal and Elemental. “...your words are very powerful, Blaze. And I admit, there have been days where I have been…tempted to work with others. Share the gifts of Terra with the rest of the world. Use the power I have to help those who are less fortunate.”

The Earth Prince then turned to face her yet again, his expression now stoic. “And you have only further earned my respect by protecting my home when you were under no obligation to do so. You carry a deep love for this world and want to solve its problems…but the world’s problems are not Terra’s. And Terra’s problems are not yours.”

The Sol Princess sighed. “Is there nothing I can say that will-?”

But then, interrupting the flaming feline was an ear-piercing roar. One that was all too familiar to both royals. It was recognizable to Blaze because she heard it the day before, but it was recognizable to Geo because it had dug itself into his ears over a hundred times.

The two immediately looked out the window and their eyes widened in horror at the sight of the exact same Gold Digger from earlier crawling around the city. Screams were faint at first, but only grew louder and louder with each step the beast took. And fighting the beast was a familiar silver hedgehog and water-blasting raccoon.

“It’s…it’s back?!” Blaze cried.

Geo didn’t respond. He simply leapt out the window and swung his arms upwards, summoning large pillars of rock from the ground for him to jump across. And as each pillar shot out, it made an almost perfect trail right towards the Gold Digger.

Blaze watched the imperial prince run off and was all too quick to follow him, shooting fire from under her feet and launching herself out of the palace and gliding across the sky like a rocket.

Silver, holding Marine in his psychokinesis to allow her to float, cried out as he swiftly dodged the swing of the Gold Digger’s claw. Marine then shot out both of her hands, firing a beam of water directly into the terrifying crab’s yellow eyes.

The Gold Digger roared as it shut its eyes almost immediately, beginning to blindly stumble backwards. But just before Marine could fire another shot?

Geo suddenly leapt high into the air from his final pillar, rocks having formed around his fists like a pair of boxing gloves. And with a ferocious scream, he shot his stone covered-fist into the jaw of the Gold Digger with all his might. The beast began to fall backwards, but two more pillars of rock quickly shot up from behind and caught the monster before it could fall and potentially crush the people of Terra.

The Earth Prince fell through the air, but swiftly landed on yet another pillar. He then pounded his rocky gauntlets together, as if daring the Gold Digger to try and come at him again.

“GEO!!!”

Geo’s eyes widened and he turned around to see Blaze quickly landing on the pillar as well, standing by his side as her hands became engulfed in flames. The long-tailed lizard simply huffed and looked back up at the Gold Digger. “I don’t understand! They’ve never gotten this far into Terra before! My powers kept them at bay! Yours should’ve done the same!”

“Anger is an excellent motivator.” Blaze said, watching the gigantic crab slowly begin to stand tall once more. “It must’ve finally had enough of being denied a meal.”

Geo just gritted his teeth. “Then it shall starve.”

The Gold Digger then looked down at its foes and opened its mouth, forcing out yet another booming shriek. And from the look in its glowing eyes, Blaze’s suspicions had been confirmed.

It was furious.

The monster from the sea then swung its claws downwards, but Geo simply met the first claw halfway with another devastating punch. While Blaze just rocketed herself into the air and struck the second claw with a large slash of fire. And just as the Gold Digger pulled its claws back, Geo had already climbed onto the one he struck and was pulled away with them.

The Earth Prince then began running up the Gold Digger’s arm, his stone-covered fists now having spikes protruding from them. And just as he arrived on the beast’s shoulder, Geo launched himself forward and delivered another strike across the Gold Digger’s face.

The Gold Digger’s head was forced to the side from the punch, giving Geo enough time to land on a nearby building and then shatter his rocky gauntlets into pieces, which then fired at the monstrous crab like a barrage of bullets.

Geo watched it stumble backwards…before his eyes suddenly widened in horror when he looked below the many legs of the Gold Digger. Trapped under rubble was a group of civilians. Two of them were trying with all their might to lift the rubble while the one trapped was just staring up in horror from how close the beast was to them.

“NO!!!” Geo shrieked as he leapt off the building, preparing to forge himself a safe way down with his powers…but then?

The Gold Digger, having recovered, roared and swung its claws directly into The Earth Prince, swatting him like a fly. Geo’s body hurtled through the air before smashing through the walls of a tower and falling onto one of its many floors.

But down below, the two people were still trying to force the lift the large slab of rock off the third with all their might. But their eyes shot open when the third civilian started to scream, forcing the two to look ahead. One of The Gold Digger’s legs was beginning to come down towards them with its razor sharp edge.

The two quickly tried lifting the rubble again as the leg inched closer and closer…until the slab of rock was suddenly thrown right at the Gold Digger’s incoming leg by an invisible force. And all three civilians were quickly carried away to safety by the same force.

That force was none other than Silver’s psychokinesis, with the hero of the future flying around the city looking for civilians to help evacuate. And just as he passed by the sight of Marine rushing other children to safety, Silver’s eyes widened when he saw a piece of debris hurtling towards a pair from above.

Acting fast, Silver dashed forward at almost supersonic speeds and scooped the couple into his arms, carrying them away just in time for the debris to smash against the ground instead of them.

But elsewhere on the city-turned-battlefield, Blaze unleashed a gigantic beam of fire, striking The Gold Digger in its face and beginning to burn away at its scaly exoskeleton. And as it continued to howl in pain, Blaze only increased the might of her blast.

The Gold Digger stumbled backwards, finally raising its claws to shield itself from the painful power of Blaze’s blast…but then? Two massive pillars of rock smashed into the beast’s stomach, practically launching it into the air.

Blaze’s eyes widened at the sight, but was quick to turn her head just in time to see her fellow Elemental launch himself towards the Gold Digger.

Geo screamed as rocks surrounded his fists and tail. And after striking the Gold Digger with a punch from both of his rocky gauntlets, The Earth Prince twirled his body around and slammed his wrecking ball of a tail directly into the beast’s now heavily burned face.

The Gold Digger hurtled through the air, its confused and pained roars echoing throughout all of Terra as its body flung right past the entrance.

But Geo was far from done…and it seemed the others weren’t either, for the imperial prince was suddenly coated in the cyan color of Silver’s psychokinesis. In confusion, he looked up at the grinning hedgehog.

“On your signal, your highness!" Silver cried.

Geo, deciding to ask questions later, nodded and then stared ahead. His green eyes narrowed as the spiked shell of the Gold Digger began to emerge. And then, with a booming voice, the prince declared. “NOW!!!”

Silver threw his hands forward, launching Geo at unimaginable speeds that shocked even himself.

Geo, however, did not falter. He simply held out his fist as he bolted across the sky, watching the monstrous sea beast slowly turn its head back towards the capital. But that had only sealed its fate, for the moment its face was directed towards the imperial prince’s city, Geo rammed into the Gold Digger with the strongest punch he could muster.

For a moment, everything went still. It was as if time had stopped the moment Geo’s fist came into contact with the Gold Digger’s head. But then?

The monster’s exoskeleton cracked as it catapulted backwards, not even being able to get in one last pained roar before crashing back into the sea, water exploding into the sky from its violent landing.

Geo slowly retracted his fist, beginning to huff and puff. Exhaustion was settling in, spreading to almost every inch of his body. But his eyes remained glued to the endless oceans, waiting for the Gold Digger to re-emerge.

…but it didn’t.

Geo gritted his teeth. “And this time? Stay down.”

But then, The Earth Prince suddenly began floating back towards Terra. It was a disorienting feeling, to float with no control as to where, but Geo was quick to relax when Silver came into view.

Silver then slowly moved his hands downwards, setting Geo down on a nearby rooftop as a result. And only seconds passed before Silver joined him, carrying Blaze and Marine alongside him.

“Are you alright?” Blaze asked.

Geo just nodded. “Exhausted, but I’ll be fine. I haven’t had to use that much strength in some time…”

He then looked at Silver and Marine. “I take it these are the two friends you mentioned?”

Blaze smiled proudly. “Geo? This is Silver The Hedgehog and Marine The Raccoon.”

“Captain Marine The Raccoon!” Marine corrected with a cheeky grin.

Blaze giggled. “Of course.”

Silver just held out his hand for a handshake, smiling brightly at the prince. “It’s an honor to meet you, your highness!”

Geo stared at his hand for a moment, quickly noting the strange symbols on his palms. But he dismissed them and took his hand. “The honor is all mine. You three have defended my kingdom and its people from harm. You even took it upon yourselves to help me.”

“It’s what we do, mate!” Marine smiled.

Geo’s eyes then softened. “While I could have defeated the Gold Digger on my own, it was…nice to actually have someone fighting alongside me for once.”

But before any of them could utter out another word, a sound filled the air. Not a roar, but a cheer. The four heroes quickly turned around to see the people of Terra below them, celebrating their saviors. Claps, whistles, and even a bit of dancing began to fill the streets.

The four heroes all smiled and began to wave down at the people, their silent way of returning the thanks they were being given.

But then, Geo suddenly turned his head towards The Sol Princess. “Blaze?”

Blaze faced her fellow Elemental.

“You and your friends have protected Terra. You have helped me save its people.” Geo said. “If I can continue to count on your help in defending it, then…then I’d be happy to join you. Consider it Terra’s first contribution to the world.”

Blaze’s eyes lit up, but she kept her composure as usual. “We’d be honored to have you.”

Marine smiled wide and then suddenly leapt up and hugged The Earth Prince. “Welcome to the team!!!”

“You won’t regret it!” Silver cried.

Geo just laughed, lightly patting Marine on the back. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”

Chapter Text

The announcement of Prince Geo and Princess Blaze’s newfound partnership definitely surprised the people of Terra. A few of them were a bit uneasy about the idea while others were almost excited. But the majority of them were simply grateful for Team Dimension’s efforts and had full faith in their prince that this would be for the best.

He hadn’t led them astray just yet, what reason would he have to do so now?

However, they decided to spend one more day in Terra. Not only so Geo could find someone to handle all of his duties while he was away, but because…well…

They didn’t actually know where to find the next Elemental.

Blaze’s brow furrowed as she studied a list of potential candidates aboard The Ocean Tornado, with that very list being of all the known nobles in her world. If she and Geo were anything to go by, it was entirely possible the next Elemental was a royal as well.

Then again, Marine was clearly a Water Elemental and she definitely didn’t have any royal blood in her.

Speaking of which, the young raccoon was quick to walk over. “Whatcha doin’, Blazey?”

“Trying to figure out who our next candidate could be.” Blaze said. “But that is easier said than done. I suppose I was too focused on actually convincing Geo to join us that I never thought about who would even be next.”

Marine hummed, tapping her chin. She felt like a detective almost, studying each name closely for any clues as to who the next member of their new team could be. She then placed her finger down on a random name. “How about this one?”

Blaze immediately grimaced at her choice. “...if Count Cerberus is a secret Elemental, I’d disband this entire alliance before I ever let him join.”

Marine scratched her head. “Isn’t that the bloke who said Silver’s head looked like a palm tree…?”

Blaze’s eyes narrowed, her grimace remaining plastered on her face. “The very same.”

Marine huffed. “He’s a jerk!”

“You don’t know the half of it, Marine.” Blaze sighed before the sound of footsteps began to fill the air. She turned her head to see none other than Silver himself and Geo boarding The Ocean Tornado.

Geo looked utterly baffled as he looked at the psychokinetic hedgehog. “Okay, let me get this straight. You’re not only from an entirely different dimension…but you’re also from 200 years into the future of that same dimension?”

Silver sheepishly smiled. “It’s complicated, I know.”

“Complicated is putting it lightly, my friend.” Geo said, holding his head.

Blaze couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s not even the most confusing part, believe it or not.”

“...I think I’ll simply settle with ‘you’re not from here’ if that’s alright.” Geo replied.

Silver just grinned. “Fine by me!”

Geo nodded at his new ally before facing Blaze. “So, when do we head off? I’ve chosen one of my advisors to run things while we’re gone and Silver was kind enough to help me with my things.”

“Well…we’re a tad stuck.” Blaze admitted. “I’m not sure where to start looking for our next candidate. We only knew to find you because of your battle with Metal Blaze back at the party.”

Geo hummed, scratching his chin as he began to think. “...I may have a suggestion.”

“Ya do?” Marine asked, tilting her head.

“I heard rumors of a powerful tornado raging across the mountain kingdom of Divum, but it had been swiftly tamed before it could even do any damage.” Geo said.

Silver’s eyes widened in amazement. “How…?”

“I asked the same thing to the one who told me of this. They didn’t know either, but they were certain it wasn’t a natural occurrence.” Geo said. “This could have been the work of an Air Elemental.”

Blaze hummed. “If we’re truly following the footsteps of our ancestors, an Air Elemental would be a fitting choice.”

“Do we know where ‘Divum’ is?” Silver asked.

Blaze nodded. “I believe I’m familiar with it actually. They would always send some kind of representative in place of their monarch during social gatherings. Every time I asked why, they’d always say their princess was too busy.”

“Let’s hope they won’t be too difficult to convince then.” Geo said.

Marine grinned wide and rushed over to the helm of the ship, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “Then, what are we waitin’ for?! Let’s set sail!!!”

Geo’s eyes widened a bit at the sight. “Do…do you normally let children steer the ship?”

“You’d be surprised how good of a sailor she actually is.” Silver smiled as The Ocean Tornado whirred to life.

And thankfully, the voyage was a peaceful one. Not a Gold Digger or any other kind of sea beast in sight as the colorful battleship sailed through the endless oceans. And despite its large size, The Ocean Tornado was a very fast ship. If Marine was correct, they’d arrive at the kingdom of Divum in a matter of hours.

Although, while Marine was focused on steering the ship and Silver was making sure everything below the deck was secure, Blaze noticed Geo simply staring out into the open seas with a stoic look on his face. He wasn’t admiring the beauty surrounding him, so something had to have been on his mind.

And having nothing much to do herself, Blaze walked over to her fellow Elemental. “Is everything alright?”

Geo, snapping himself free from his thoughts, turned to face her. “Oh, umm…yes. Everything is alright.”

“You’re certain?” Blaze asked.

Geo sighed with a nod. “I…guess I’m already a bit homesick. Silly, I know.”

“I wouldn’t call it silly. You’ve known nothing but Terra for many years.” Blaze said. “It’s naturally going to be a bit…off-putting to be away from it. Even if only for a few hours.”

Geo hummed. “Perhaps.”

Blaze’s eyes then softened as she looked out into the sea. “...may I ask you something?”

“Go right ahead.” Geo said.

“...how did you handle discovering your powers for the first time?” Blaze asked.

Geo’s eyes widened at the sudden question before he hummed, trying to think back to all that time ago. “I…I had been told I would one day inherit them from my mother, so I always knew it was coming. In fact, I think I would ask when they would be coming repeatedly when I was a child.”

“And…when they did?”

“I was almost bouncing off the walls.” Geo admitted. “But…that excitement quickly turned to fear. I couldn’t control them. My footsteps would cause small earthquakes and the ground would tear itself apart at my own terror. It took my mother a lot of effort to calm me down just so the palace would stop shaking. After that day, she helped me master them and I vowed to use them in defense of Terra like every member of my family had done before.”

“I see...”

“...I take it your discovery was just as frightening?” Geo asked, noticing the semi-distant look on her face.

Blaze nodded slowly. “I also knew that they would come to me one day. I just didn’t expect them to be so hard to control. My father made it look so simple.”

“Well, considering your skill with them now, he must’ve been a good teacher.”

Blaze looked down for a moment. “He…didn’t teach me. I was self-taught.”

Geo’s eyes widened and he immediately stood up. “You…you were?”

“My father passed away when I was a little girl.” Blaze said. “My powers arrived when he was already long gone.”

The Earth Prince was almost stunned into silence, feeling a sting of guilt strike his heart for assuming her father was even there to teach her. “I…I’m so sorry…”

“It’s alright.” Blaze reassured. “My guardians tried their best to teach me, but they had little knowledge of how the powers worked. I eventually figured it out, but…my lack of control planted a fear of flames into my people. It took a great deal of time for their unease to waver.”

Geo looked at her with soft eyes. “It sounds like you’ve been through a lot more than I once believed.”

“It…almost makes me wish I met you, Marine, or Silver sooner.” Blaze admitted. “While your powers aren’t the same, knowing that there were others like me would’ve made me feel less alone at the very least.”

Geo set a hand on her shoulder. “Well, you aren’t alone now. You should be proud of how far you’ve come from then, Blaze.”

Blaze smiled and nodded. “I am.”

But then, Marine’s voice called out. “Land ho!!!”

The two royals quickly looked ahead and were soon face to face with a towering set of mountains. Their shadows alone soon covered the entirety of the ship. Simply looking up at the mountains almost filled them with intimidation because of how their peaks seemed to pierce the clouds themselves.

Blaze lightly clenched the railings of The Ocean Tornado as it began to dock. ‘How many times am I going to have to swallow my anxiety this week…?’

After leaving the ship, the crew simply began walking over to the mountains in an almost clueless sense. There didn’t seem to be any noticeable way upwards beyond climbing. Perhaps they had arrived on the wrong side? Or were the people of Divum just naturally good at climbing dangerous peaks?

Marine awkwardly patted her sides. “Sooo, how are we gonna get up there?”

“I could fly us up there.” Silver suggested, but he immediately looked towards the now frozen Blaze. He then smiled sheepishly. “B-but, uhh…my psychokinesis can only carry so many people! A-and I wouldn’t wanna drop any of you.”

Geo suddenly grinned and stepped forward. “Very well. I hope you all don’t mind a bit of exercise then.”

Team Dimension were about to open their mouths to ask what he meant, but were soon given an answer. With a grunt and a swing of his arms, rocks began shooting out from the mountain’s walls one by one, circling all around it to form…stairs.

Geo climbed onto the first step, looking at his teammates. “Come along now. We have a long climb ahead of us.”

Blaze just quietly sighed in relief and even mouthed the words ‘thank you’ towards Silver, well aware he had only lied about the limit of his abilities because of her personal fear. The psychokinetic hedgehog simply nodded at her before walking after Geo, with Blaze and Marine following behind him.

And The Earth Prince clearly wasn’t lying. While the stairs certainly made it easier, it was still a very long and tedious climb upwards. Blaze remained absolute in simply looking ahead instead of down, while Silver and Marine took the briefest of moments to admire the view during their climb. It was a gorgeous day after all.

Then, after a climb that any ordinary Mobian would simply give up halfway on, the four finally reached the top. But just before Geo could announce their victory, he suddenly went quiet.

Blaze tilted her head at this action and was about to speak before she too was rendered silent.

Marine, however, forgot the meaning of the word. She cheered. “Finally!!! We made it!!!”

Silver laughed. “You weren’t kidding about that climb, Geo!”

No response.

“...Geo? Blaze?” Silver asked before turning his head to the direction they were looking at.

“What are you two starin’ at?” Marine asked before facing the same way as they were. And sure enough, she too was left as still as a statue.

Built within a beautiful mix of snow and fresh green grass was a large village. It wasn’t as vast or enormous as The Sol Empire or Terra, but it had far surpassed the usual length of a town. Countless Mobians were walking around or working near homes, shops, or huts made of either stone and wood. The structures of what the four could only assume was the mountain kingdom they were searching for seemed to be more focused on width rather than height.

And blowing through the fur or scales of the crew was a cooling breeze. It wasn’t enough to be considered freezing, but they could each feel its chill as they stared upon the home to many just ahead of them.

“...is this Divum?” Blaze finally asked, breaking their silence.

But then? A voice none of them recognized suddenly cried out. “Hi there!!!”

Marine yelped, leaping into Silver’s arms in a startled fright. Geo simply turned his head while Blaze almost jumped as she looked to face who had just spoken to them.

And standing beside them as if she had been there the entire time was a Mobian squirrel. Her fur was a color that could only be described as a minty blue. Or perhaps it was green? Maybe even a mix of the two? Regardless, the color was as bright as her violet eyes and cozy-looking shawl also colored in shades of blue and green. She wore long white pants, aqua-colored shoes, and a smile that was practically the very definition of adorable.

Blaze, realizing this person couldn’t have been a threat, relaxed and regained her composure. “Ummm…hello-”

The squirrel suddenly sped over and…hugged Blaze tightly. A squeal freed itself from her throat. “Welcome to Divum!!! My name’s Aura! How about yours?”

Blaze, awkwardly looking from side to side, slowly found her words. “Ummm…Blaze?”

“Blaze!” Aura repeated. “That’s an amazing name!!!”

She then carefully set down The Sol Princess and made her way over to the others, her smile only seeming to grow alongside the twinkling in her eyes. “And I bet all of your names are just as amazing!!! Wait, wait, wait! Let me guess! Ummm…ummm…”

Silver opened his mouth. “I’m Sil-”

“Silvester?” Aura finished. “Oh! Were you about to tell me? Sorry about that! I’m just so excited!!! We haven’t had visitors in such a long time!!!”

Marine then whispered to her psychokinetic friend. “She’s a bit hyper…”

Silver, unable to keep from grinning at those words coming from her of all people, looked at Aura again. “I’m Silver! Silver The Hedgehog! And this is Marine The Raccoon and Prince Geo The Lizard!”

Geo just bowed his head in response to his name being called. “And the one you just hugged is actually Princess Blaze of The Sol Empire.”

“The Sol Empire? Ohhh, I’ve heard so much about that place!” Aura cried, turning back around to Blaze. “It’s where The Sol Emeralds are, right? Like in the stories?”

Blaze cleared her throat to help further regain her composure. “Ummm. Yes.”

“Well, it’s an honor to have another princess here!!! And a prince!!!” Aura giggled. “So, what brings you here?”

“We’re actually here in search of someone.” Silver said.

Aura hummed. “Well, maybe I can help! I know basically everyone here!”

“We’re looking for the current ruler of Divum. The princess if your earlier words are correct.” Blaze said. “Do you know where we could find her?”

Aura just smiled wide. “You bet I do! Follow me! Everyone’s gonna be so excited to have new visitors!!!”

The four watched the mint-colored Mobian run down the hill and towards the village. And after setting Marine down, they quickly chased after her. It didn’t take long for them to catch up with her due to their experiences in chases, but Aura was surprisingly fast.

But then, Aura suddenly slid to a stop and looked to the side. But just as the four were about to assume they had already arrived at the princess’s home, they were met with…a farm.

Aura waved at one of the farmers, who was carrying a large basket of apples in her hands. “Hey, Farmer Opal!”

‘Opal’, who was a Mobian fennec fox with crimson fur, turned her head and smiled kindly. “Hey there, Aura! How’s your day been going so far?”

“Great!” Aura smiled. “We have some new visitors!”

Opal hummed as she walked over, still carrying the basket in her arms. “Is that so?”

Aura then turned to the group she had been leading, politely stepping to the side. “Everyone? This is Opal! She runs the farmlands around here!”

“Nice to meet you all! We haven’t had many newcomers around here.” Opal said.

Silver looked down at the basket in her hands and was almost immediately reminded of the Victory Garden he started. He stepped closer. “Those look freshly picked! I didn’t think apples could grow in mountain ranges.”

“With enough hard work and care, they can grow just about anywhere!” Opal chirped.

Aura tilted her head as she looked at Silver. “Do you farm where you’re from…?”

Silver rubbed the back of his neck with a smile. “Not exactly? I do have a garden, but that’s obviously not the same.”

Marine then grinned. “He does make some ripper apple pie though!!!”

“Really? Well, you might have to share sometime!” Opal smiled. “How long are you all planning on staying?”

Geo turned towards Blaze, silently asking for an answer. But when all he got was a clueless glance, he turned back to the farmer in front of them. “It…depends.”

“Well, I hope you enjoy your stay!” Opal smiled. “And I hope to see you all again soon! I should get back to work though. The herd’s probably hungry.”

Aura smiled. “Okay! Bye, Farmer Opal!”

And as the fennec farmer walked away, Blaze then stepped over to Aura. “Umm…weren’t you going to lead us to the princess?”

“Oh! Right!” Aura cried. “Sorry! I got a little sidetracked. It’s like I said, we haven’t had visitors in a really long time! So when you all showed up, I got really excited to show you all around! But I can just take you straight to The Grand Lodge if this is some kind of urgent royal business.”

Blaze thought for a moment. Normally, she’d be a little put off by how friendly Aura was and how she practically forgot the entire reason they had come here. But Aura’s energy and charming smile reminded her of her friends back in The Chaos Dimension, particularly Amy and Cream. Not to mention, they weren’t exactly in a rush and the idea of exploring a land foreign to them all was a tempting one.

The Sol Princess then faced their guide yet again. “I suppose taking the scenic route couldn’t hurt.”

“And you were kind enough to welcome us with open arms.” Geo added.

Marine grinned. “Who could say no to a little bit of adventure?!

Silver just smiled. “Feel free to give us the tour!”

Aura smiled wide, looking absolutely thrilled. “Okay!!! Right this way then!!!”

The mint-colored Mobian then began leading the group throughout the mountain kingdom. And along the way, there were many things to note. For one, almost everyone was doing some kind of job. Be it farming, fishing, baking, building, or running one of the many shops around town. The only ones who didn’t seem to be working were young children, who were just running around in games of tag or flying kites.

Blaze and Geo took notice of a consistent sight. A villager would be passing by, likely on their way home, before seeing a worker struggling with their task. And without a second thought, the villager would rush over and help them with nothing but a ‘thank you’ as payment. Even if workers weren’t struggling, they’d usually be helped by someone who was originally just minding their day. And the villagers actually looked happy to help.

Silver also took note of something. Or rather. The lack of something. There was next to no technology in sight. Both The Sol Empire and Terra were surprisingly adept with technological advancements. It wasn’t uncommon to see things like giant monitors and robotic assistants roaming either kingdom. But here? The most advanced piece of technology they seemed to have was a TV inside a single home. And not a very fancy looking one either.

And yet, no one seemed to mind.

“And over here is our head carpenter! I like to call him Chipper!” Aura smiled, gesturing to the Mobian in question instructing some other workers from outside a shop. Fittingly enough, he was a beaver.

Chipper seemed to notice them coming over and was quick to smile. “Aura! Good to see you again!”

“Hi, Chipper!” Aura beamed. “We have some new visitors!”

Chipper went over to them, smiling kindly. “It's always nice to have some newcomers!”

Blaze smiled back. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“...say. You actually look kinda familiar.” Chipper hummed. “You’re…Princess Blaze, right?”

Blaze’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. “You’ve heard of me?”

“Of course he’s heard of you, Blazey! You’re a famous hero!” Marine smiled.

Chipper laughed. “You’d be surprised how many stories people tell about you! About how you and a sailor scared off every rotten pirate in the land!”

Marine’s eyes immediately began to sparkle. “I’m famous too!!!”

Blaze looked down at her young friend and smiled with a nod before facing Chipper again. “I suppose that is quite the achievement.”

“...although.” Chipper said suddenly, his smile beginning to fade. “I should probably warn you of something.”

Silver tensed. “Warn us?”

“Now, it could just be someone trying to start a panic.” Chipper said, holding out his hands in an attempt to calm them. “But I have heard rumors about a black ship sailing the seas, stripping entire islands of their treasures.”

Blaze’s eyes widened. “Entire islands…?”

“That’s just what I heard anyway. I don’t know much else, but I figured you should know in case it’s true.” Chipper said, crossing his arms. “I could never stand pirates. They sail around the world and hurt as many people as they can all for some worthless gold…”

Blaze slowly nodded. “If this is true, then I can promise you they’ll be brought to justice.”

“I have no doubts about that.”

But then, Geo spoke up. “Wait…where did Aura go?”

The five of them started looking around before hearing her voice let out a grunt. They turned their heads to see the mint-colored Mobian helping a worker lift up a large plank of wood.

“Thanks, Aura.” The worker said with a grateful smile.

Aura just giggled. “No problem!!!”

Chipper laughed. “Always eager to help, that one.”

Geo hummed. “That’s getting more and more true by the second. The moment she found out we were searching for the princess, she looked thrilled to be our guide.”

Chipper’s eyes widened and he turned towards The Earth Prince. “She didn’t tell you?”

“Eh?” Marine asked.

Silver stepped forward. “Tell us what?”

Chipper then suddenly grinned, beginning to nod his head in some kind of understanding. “Ohhh, I see.”

“Should…we be concerned?” Blaze asked, watching Aura help the workers in any way she could.

“No need to worry, your highness.” Chipper said before beginning to walk back towards his shop. “Our princess just loves surprises.”

The four watched him leave before looking at each other yet again, as if trying to find some kind of answer within each of their eyes. But none of them had anything but questions.

Questions that they had to hold onto for the duration of the tour. For their final stop before reaching The Grand Lodge was a restaurant of sorts. While the kitchen was inside a building, several picnic tables were scattered around the outside. It was already packed with the mountain kingdom’s various villagers and workers, who were all laughing and telling stories to each other.

Blaze found herself a little shocked. The day was slowly transforming into dawn. It felt like such little time had passed, yet here they were.

But then, catching her attention was a bowl of steaming stew. And the exact same meal was served to everyone else as well. The waiter (or perhaps the chef himself?) smiled kindly. “Hope you enjoy!”

“Thank you very much.” Blaze said with a bow of her head. “How much for the meal?”

The chef seemed…confused. He even started to scratch his head, as if unsure on how to answer.

But Aura chimed in with a giggle. “They’re new here, Cole!”

“Oh!” He laughed. “You don’t need to pay anything, miss!”

Blaze’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”

“Then…how do you make money???” Marine asked, tilting her head.

Chef Cole just smiled. “We don’t!”

“Things like money don’t really have any value here.” Aura explained as the chef walked away to serve another table. “If someone needs something? We share it with each other!”

Geo’s eyes widened, his face a mix of shocked and impressed. “Really? Everyone here is just that kind?”

“Yes!” Aura smiled. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

“It almost sounds too good to be true.” Blaze admitted. “Does Divum not have any form of currency at all? I’ve seen it contribute some of its materials to other nations, including mine. The ships surely cost something.”

Aura hummed, tapping her chin. “Well…I guess we do have some money! But we mostly use it for the essentials that our home can’t naturally provide! Everything else? We share or trade!”

“Everyone here’s just so…happy.” Silver smiled, looking around the other tables. “This is a really lovely town, Aura.”

Aura’s smile only seemed to grow at that. “Awww, thank you so much!!! But we should eat! The stew gets cold fast!”

Marine looked down at her bowl and grimaced at the sight, sticking out her tongue as she dipped her spoon into the mix of broth and vegetables. “Yuck…”

Aura titled her head. “Everything okay, Marine? Is it cold already? You can have mine-!”

“No, no.” Blaze said, holding out her hand before narrowing her eyes at Marine. “She’s just being picky.”

Marine huffed, crossing her arms. “Pirates don’t eat veggies!”

“...what do pirates eat?” Silver asked, scratching his head.

Geo simply shrugged his shoulders.

And after a hearty meal, they finally arrived at The Grand Lodge. It was easily the biggest home in the entire kingdom so far and despite being made of wood and stone like the others, it looked like a fitting home for a prince or princess. Even if the only true differences between this and any other home were insignificant at the end of the day.

Aura began walking up the stairs before looking at her new friends. “Okay! We’ve finally made it!”

“Do we just…walk inside?” Geo asked, tilting his head. “Without an appointment?”

Aura just waved her hand dismissively. “Appointment-schmointment!”

Silver stepped forward. “Hang on, I’m with Geo on this one. Are we really just gonna walk into a princess’s home without even-?”

But then, the door opened and a surprisingly well-dressed guard appeared in the doorway with a soft smile. “Welcome home, Princess Aura.”

Blaze froze and looked up at the mint-colored Mobian, who suddenly attached something to her shawl. And when she turned around to face them yet again, it was revealed to be a shining blue jewel. Not unlike the ones Blaze and Geo had embedded in their foreheads.

Princess Aura then struck a pose. “Surprise!!!”

Chapter Text

Silver, Marine, and Geo were left silent as they stared ahead at the Princess of Divum in shock. Mostly at the reveal that she was the princess at all. Over a hundred unintelligible questions were circling around their heads, unable to be asked…by all but one.

Blaze stepped forward. “You’re the princess?”

Aura beamed. “Yup! Sorry about not telling you sooner, I just thought it would be a fun surprise! That we could become friends while I show you around and then ta-dah!”

“That…is definitely one way of introducing yourself…” Geo said, still processing the sudden reveal.

“Well, you wanted to see me! So come on in!” Aura said as she suddenly leapt into the air and flew through the door, entering the large home with a gust of wind supposedly carrying her.

Blaze’s eyes only seemed to widen even further as she and her teammates walked inside, the guard from earlier shutting the door behind them. “It’s just as I thought…! You’re the Air Elemental!”

“Which means you were the one who tamed that tornado.” Geo added, stepping forward.

Aura smiled as the wind kept her afloat. “That was a really scary day, haha! But yup! That’s me! I don’t really know what an ‘Elemental’ is though.”

“An Elemental is a person who is born with the ability to control a specific element of our world.” Blaze said before holding out her hand, summoning a small flame. “I was granted fire.”

Marine then quickly held out both of her hands with an almost giddy-looking grin, creating a large orb of water that she held in place.

Geo turned his head and noticed a vase inside of the room containing rocks, likely to keep it from tipping over. The Earth Prince waved his hand and almost telekinetically pulled the rocks from their containment, forming them around his hand.

Aura’s eyes started sparkling as she flew over to them. “NO! WAY!!! YOU’RE ALL LIKE ME!!! THIS IS AMAZING!!!”

Then, using a gust of wind, Aura pulled the three of them into the tightest hug that she could muster. “I knew there was a reason we’d be friends!!!”

Blaze remained still in Aura’s arms, unsure of how to really react. Geo, on the other hand, had red painted all over his cheeks. It seemed he wasn’t used to this. Only Marine actually hugged back, a wide grin painted across her face.

But then, Aura gasped as she immediately looked towards Silver. “Wait…are you an Elemental too?!?”

“Well…not exactly.” Silver said, chuckling. “But I can do this!”

Then, amazing the Princess of Divum even more, Silver floated into the air with the energy of his psychokinesis flowing around him. Almost immediately, Aura flew over to him and took hold of his hands. “You can fly too?!?”

Silver beamed. “Yup!”

“Today is literally the best day ever!!!” Aura squealed, spinning her and Silver around while they hovered in the air. “We’re Flying Friends!!!”

The two flying Mobians then eventually hovered their way back down to solid ground, with Aura twirling around once her feet touched the floor. She looked to be getting more and more excited by the minute. The excitable princess then turned her head back to Blaze. “Is that what you wanted to see me for?!”

“It’s…part of the reason.” Blaze said, once again having to regain her composure. “A very crucial part, but not the entire reason. Our world has met its fair share of dangerous threats recently and despite years of peace, I want us to be prepared for whatever comes our way. So, I decided to put together an alliance. An order of-”

Aura suddenly took both of Blaze’s hands, her eyes twinkling like stars in the night. “You can count me in!!!”

Blaze blinked. “Y…you are? Just like that?”

“Yes!!! How could I say no to being on a team with friends?” Aura cheered.

“Well, that’s…that’s great!” Geo said with a surprised laugh. “And here we thought it’d be difficult to convince you.”

Aura just let free another smile, which was practically her signature look considering how often she had smiled throughout the day. “I usually just spend a lot of my time helping out my friends and the other villages in Divum! My schedule’s almost always crystal clear!!!”

Blaze’s brow furrowed suddenly. “It is…? Then how come every representative you’ve sent to parties and gatherings kept saying you were busy?”

Aura’s joyful expression switched to a confused look. She then looked at the guard from earlier. “Boreas, you said I shouldn’t have gone to all those parties!”

The guard, Boreas, grimaced. “And I wasn’t lying. You would not have enjoyed them.”

“But I could’ve met Blaze sooner!” Aura cried, beginning to pout. “I could’ve met everyone sooner!”

“Forgive me. I wasn’t aware you and Princess Blaze would get along so well.” Boreas said. “If I had known, I would’ve encouraged you to go.”

Aura’s smile quickly returned. “Well, that’s okay! You don’t need to apologize! What matters is that we all became friends anyway!”

Geo, however, wasn’t entirely convinced. He could see from the look on the guard’s face that he wasn’t lying, but that he was definitely leaving some parts out on purpose. So, he leaned in and whispered. “What’s the actual reason you didn’t want her going…?”

“Would you want a bunch of nobles to crush her spirit because she was being herself?” Boreas whispered back, gesturing to the cheerful princess.

Geo turned his head and began to study their new teammate’s smile much more closely. It was almost cartoonishly big and seemed to practically glisten in the sunlight. Not to mention, her minty fur and bright violet eyes only seemed to make her grin even more of a sight to behold.

To put it inelegantly, Aura was the living version of a plush toy.

“...fair enough.” Geo whispered.

Boreas just nodded before eventually walking off, likely to tend to one of his other duties around The Grand Lodge.

“So! What should we do first as a team?” Aura asked. “Should we have a sleepover? We could eat snacks and tell each other stories!!! Or maybe we can ask Maya if we can borrow that fancy TV she got a while ago! Everyone seems to love that thing!”

Marine’s face lit up. “Strewth, that sounds like a lot of fun!!! Blazey, Silver, and I have sleepovers all the time!!! I even got to play a prank on Captain Lance by switching his spear with a stick!”

Silver’s smile disappeared as flashbacks began to plague his mind. “He…he got really mad…”

“While spending time with each other in that way does sound enjoyable,” Blaze began. “That’s not the purpose of The Elemental Alliance. Each of us holds great power and thus, we should use them for the good of the world. To protect all of our people.”

Aura nodded. “I completely agree! But…uhh…protect them from what?”

Blaze’s eyes widened a bit, her face contorting into a puzzled expression. “Ummm…the dangerous threats I mentioned earlier? You did hear that part, yes?”

“I did!” Aura cried with another nod. “But I can’t really think of anything we could really face off against! Maybe if there’s another tornado or something, but I don’t think we would need the five of us just for that!”

Geo’s eyebrow raised. “What if your kingdom gets attacked?”

“Attacked?” Aura asked. “Oh! By one of the forest beasts, right? I guess it is kind of dangerous for the hunters to deal with them alone-”

“We meant attacked by bad guys!” Marine cried. “By evil creeps like that Nexus bloke or Captain Whisker and his crew of crooks!”

The Princess of Divum was left wide-eyed for a moment. “Bad guys…? As in people that actually tried to hurt you?”

The Sol Princess was left utterly baffled for a moment. It was clear from the moment they met that Aura was friendly and perhaps a bit naive. Blaze certainly wasn’t new to people like that. But from the look on Aura’s face, she could see that she looked utterly dumbfounded at the mere concept of a villain.

“W…why would someone do something like that?” Aura asked. “People don’t just attack others for no reason, do they?”

Blaze didn’t respond. And neither did anyone else because they weren’t even sure what to say. Blaze, however, just didn’t want to break the confused princess’s heart.

But her silence spoke louder than any answer she could give. Aura’s eyes only widened further in horror. “H…how many times has this happened to you all…?”

“...more times than any of us could count.” Silver said as he took a step forward. “Aura, there are good people in the world. People that are kind, loyal, and loving. I’ve fought alongside heroes that did what was right because it was just who they were. I haven’t even been here for longer than a day and I can see that you and your people are exactly like that! When you first met us, you were so eager to show us around because you’re proud to be its princess. And who wouldn’t be proud to be a part of a community that is always happy to help each other? And believe me when I say, there are people exactly like this outside of Divum! Some of the kindest people I’ve ever known are in this room right now!”

Blaze’s eyes were now glued towards Silver, her gaze a soft one. She could see what he was trying to do.

“But…not everyone is good.” Silver said, his hopeful smile beginning to fade. “While I’ve met the greatest heroes ever known, I’ve also witnessed the worst kinds of evil. Monsters who thrive on destruction and pain. Villains whose only goal is the suffering of the innocent. People with morals so low that they actually laugh when someone is hurt.”

Aura slowly covered her mouth with a soft gasp, as if she physically couldn’t imagine the idea of someone like that actually existing.

But the way Silver spoke. The words he used were straight from his heart. And what the heart felt could rarely be denied.

“Not every villain is like that. Some are actually good people deep down and only hurt because they’re hurting.” Silver said. “Sometimes they can be saved! But other times? They don’t want to be saved. They’d rather continue a worthless cause than to start over.”

“A…and you fight people like that?” Aura breathed as she rushed over to Silver, as if to pull him and all of her new friends into a protective embrace. “W-what if you get hurt?!”

Blaze sighed. “We…we do get hurt sometimes. It’s an inevitable outcome.”

“B…but that’s not fair!!!” Aura cried. “Not to you! Not to your people! Not to anyone!”

Geo gently set a hand on the windy princess’s shoulder. “This line of work never is.”

Aura was quiet…before she suddenly shook off Geo’s hand, stepping back. “N-no! No, I’m not just going to let you all get hurt! W-what if we move all of your people here? Everyone is really nice and friendly and we have more than enough room! And the mountains would keep us all hidden!”

“Even if we had the ability to pull off such a feat, that wouldn’t rid them of danger.” Blaze said. “If were able to find Divum, these threats could as well.”

“B-but you all have powers like me!” Aura cried. “Of course you could get up here! But these villains couldn’t!!!”

Geo’s eyes softened. “Aura…”

“I-I mean, you’d need like…like a flying battleship or something!!!” Aura cried.

The Elemental Alliance opened their mouths to speak…but they were cut off by a high-pitched sound. It started faint, but grew louder almost immediately. The sounds were voices. Multiple of them crying out all at once.

To the Princess of Divum, it was a foreign sound. One she had rarely heard.

But to Blaze, Silver, Geo, and Marine? They knew it all too well.

Screams of terror.

Immediately, the five of them rushed out the door of The Grand Lodge, only screeching to a stop when they all realized a large shadow was looming over them all. Blaze was the first to look up at the source, with the others quickly doing the same.

Hovering above them all- above the entire village was a black and red warship completely covered in armor and weapons. Jet engines were keeping the terrifying vessel afloat while razor sharp rings poked out of the sides, which also contained a logo depicting a grinning man with a mustache.

“...uhh…and then the scary-lookin’ ship flies away?” Marine suddenly said, sounding incredibly unsure of herself, evident by the crack in her voice.

Blaze turned her head towards the water-blasting raccoon, an unamused expression across her face.

“Hey, it worked for her!” Marine cried, pointing at Aura.

Aura, however, just began to tremble. “W…what is that thing?!?”

And then, as if to answer, a howling cackle filled the air as a round flying machine began to hover above the heroes. And its pilot was none other than a grinning Dr. Nexus. “That, princess, is my latest weapon!!! The Neo Carrier!!!”

Blaze’s hands immediately became engulfed in flames. “Nexus!!!”

“Your majesty, it is truly a pleasure to see you again.” Nexus said, stroking his glitching mustache. “And I see you’ve started to vary in the company you keep!”

Geo began to grit his teeth as his tail dug into the ground, forming a morningstar made of stone around it once again. Silver followed suit by lighting up his body with psychokinetic energy while Marine held out her hands, a strand of water shaping itself into a cutlass.

Nexus simply hummed. “You can put those powers away for the time being. I don’t wish to fight.”

Aura, with shaking feet, slowly took a step forward. “Y…you don’t…?”

“Not at all!” Nexus said. “From what I have heard, princess? Your empire is a thriving community, rich with resources! The very thing that my empire is running low on. Would you be so kind enough to share these resources with a fellow ruler?”

Blaze just scoffed. “You? A ruler?”

“In our timeline, the only thing you commanded were piles of scrap!” Silver cried. “I’d hardly call that an empire!”

Nexus smirked. “It was certainly more than what you’ve ever had, dear boy. Remind me, how many times have you found yourself on the streets because of a change in history?”

Blaze’s flames only seemed to grow brighter. “Mind your tongue…or I’ll burn it away.”

“Now, now, Blaze.” Nexus said, waving his hand dismissively. “The important people are in the middle of a discussion.”

Aura only just barely managed to utter her words. “W…what would you use our resources f-for…?”

“Expansion! The entire Sol Dimension would be reforged with mechanical wonders like the one you see above!” Nexus cried. “And in return, you and your people would be rewarded with technological refinement and protection.”

“P…protection…?”

Nexus’s grin grew even larger, the glitching side of his face even beginning to glow and flicker. “From my conquest of the planet, of course. I have no doubt your ‘guests’ will try to stop me, so I am offering you a way out and a life where you needn’t lift a finger.”

Aura gulped. “W-we…we don’t need all this t-technology! We’re happy the way we are!”

Nexus’s eyes narrowed. “Is this a refusal?”

“N-no! No, just…just listen!” Aura cried, beginning to walk in front of her friends. “I…if resources are what you need, w-we’re willing to share them! You don’t have to conquer anything! None of us have to fight! N-no one has to get hurt! Not you! Not my friends!”

Nexus was quiet for a moment, beginning to tap his chin. As if to try and show the princess he was thinking.

“W…what do you say…?” Aura asked, taking another step forward and slowly offering her hand. “C…could we settle this peacefully?”

Nexus…cackled, even scratching the sides of his vehicle. “I suppose I was just going to conquer your kingdom either way!”

Aura’s eyes widened in horror as The Neo Carrier suddenly began deploying an entire army of Badniks. One by one, they crashed onto the ground in varying sizes, readying their weapons as they surrounded the village.

Nexus began floating higher in the air. “ATTACK!!!”

A battalion of Egg Pawns aimed their blasters, immediately opening fire upon Team Dimension. But as their blasts began flying towards them, they were suddenly frozen by a cyan glow.

Silver had held out his hands, gritting his teeth as he used all of his might to keep the blasts frozen. Blaze and Marine wasted no time and charged into battle, shooting out a mix of fireballs and blasts of water at the Badnik Horde.

But as the sounds of metal being torn apart filled the air, another sound joined in on the wicked symphony. The sound of a roaring engine. An army of Motobugs began racing across the grass, charging towards both Geo and Aura.

Aura was frozen in terror, but Geo had already run in. The Earth Prince twirled around, smashing each of the Motobugs into pieces with his makeshift flail.

Silver then turned his head towards the Princess of Divum. “Aura!!! You gotta help us fight back!!!”

“I…I-I…”

Blaze hurled another fireball towards a Badnik, rendering it to cinders. “You’re an Elemental!!! You can fight back!!! We know you can!!!”

“I…I-I DON’T KNOW HOW!!!” Aura screamed.

Chapter Text

Marine leapt high into the air, twirling around for a moment before she landed behind an Egg Pawn. And with a battle cry, she thrusted her watery cutlass into the chest of the heartless machine before shooting her free hand behind her, splashing another Egg Pawn away with a blast of water. And after removing her blade, she called out to Aura. “Whaddya mean ya dunno how?!?”

Aura took a step back, her eyes widening more and more with terror. “I-I don’t fight!!! I’ve never had to fight!!!”

Blaze engulfed her entire foot in flames and spun around, kicking the head off of another Egg Pawn. “But you can still help! Find as many of your people as you can and get them to safety!”

Aura, even though her heart was pounding with terror and a touch of guilt, nodded and launched herself into the air with a gust of wind and rode it across the skies.

Nexus watched the Princess of Divum fly off and grinned maniacally as a missile launcher deployed from the side of his vehicle. And just as he had a lock in on the mint-colored Mobian, he prepared to fire.

Until he was swiftly interrupted by The Sol Princess ramming into his egg-shaped machine with a flaming tornado, knocking it out of the sky. But just before it could crash onto the mix of snow and grass, Nexus teleported away and then reappeared on the ground, perfectly safe.

Blaze landed across from him, sneering as a pair of twin fireballs formed in her hands.

“You love making things difficult for me…” Nexus said, putting his hands behind his back. “I should’ve suspected that Metal Blaze wouldn’t be enough to kill you.”

Blaze then charged at the mad doctor, hurling both fireballs. “You abandoned her!”

Nexus didn’t move. At least, not with his legs. He was all too quick to teleport onto the rooftop of The Grand Lodge. “Are you…defending her? I always knew of your bleeding heart underneath that stonecold gaze, but I didn’t expect you to take pity on a worthless robot.”

Blaze blasted off into the air like a rocket, fire igniting from under her feet. She then dashed towards Nexus, ready to strike him with a side-kick. But once again, Nexus simply teleported away before her hit could land.

“Especially one that was made to destroy you.” Nexus grinned.

Blaze whipped around towards him. “You programmed Metal Blaze with thoughts and emotion! She is waiting for you to come get her, but I know a heartless monster such as you would rather leave her to rust!”

“You flatter me.” Nexus said, placing a hand on his chest. “But if I were to give you some advice, your highness? Toss that useless bot into the scrapheap. Whatever you plan on using her for? She won’t succeed. After all, she failed at her sole reason for even being built.”

Blaze ran forward at super speed, throwing a right hook across Nexus’s face and actually landing the hit. The mad doctor stumbled backwards, but quickly teleported away. The Sol Princess began looking around for him. “Then why program her with emotions at all?!?”

But then, Blaze’s fur suddenly stood on end, almost as if warning her of something. And just in time, she leapt out of the way of an energy bolt.

Nexus was back in his makeshift Eggmobile, which had somehow automatically repaired itself. He then cackled. “Originally, it was to give her the drive and willpower to finish you off! But clearly, it wasn’t enough. Whatever you do with her, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“You created a living being…just to leave her behind?!?” Blaze boomed.

“My creations are nothing more than tools! And when a tool is no longer useful? GET RID OF IT!!!” Nexus howled before firing even more energy bolts at his foe.

But Blaze suddenly crossed her arms, her eyes narrowed as the bolts shot towards her. She was completely still…as the blasts froze in mid-air with a cyan glow before suddenly shooting right back at Nexus, striking his machine and causing it to violently spin around while smoke erupted from its new wound.

Then, Silver and Marine swiftly landed right beside their friend and ally. Blaze just smirked, having already known they’d be there to watch her back. “That way of thinking has been your undoing time and time again, ‘doctor’.”

“Whenever you make an ally? Your first thought is how to stab them in the back!” Silver called.

Marine began to bounce lightly in place, clearly eager to attack again. “But a good crew is always lookin’ out for each other!!!”

Nexus snarled as he regained control of his vehicle, forcing it to steady itself. “Your ‘bond’ is nothing more than a liability!”

“Yet, it’s what shall defeat you.” Blaze said as she and Marine began glowing a bright cyan, hovering into the air.

Silver then swung his hands forward with a grin, launching both Elementals at Nexus. And while Marine struck his makeshift Eggmobile with a slash of water, Blaze did the same with her flames. Both attacks were enough to not only blind Nexus with steam, but send his vehicle rocketing back towards the ground.

The mad doctor was only barely able to teleport to safety in time, narrowly avoiding an explosive crash. But the moment he began to think of his next move, Team Dimension landed right in front of him.

“Had enough yet?” Silver asked.

Nexus sneered before it shifted into a twisted grin. “You forget, my dear boy, who holds the trump card in this battle.”

Then, a loud rumble suddenly rang throughout the air. Team Dimension looked up to see the source was none other than The Neo Carrier…or rather, what was coming from it. Leaping off the warship’s deck were three titanic Badniks, each of them armed with menacing drills and cannons. And as each one landed in front of The Sol Dimension’s defenders, it quickly dawned upon them how tiny they were compared to the robots’ towering heights.

Marine gulped, backing up a little as she held up her fists. “Uh oh…”

“DRILL-BOTS!!! STRIP THIS KINGDOM OF ITS RESOURCES AND ITS DEFENDERS!!!” Nexus commanded.

The Drill-Bots stomped forward, their namesakes beginning to spin at sonic speeds as their cannons locked on the three heroes.

But Team Dimension did not falter. They instead charged in perfect unison, their courage as strong as the steel of their robotic opponents.

Aura raced across the skies, looking down at the town to see who of her people needed help first. She could already see several of them helping each other towards the exit and away from the hordes of robots, but her eyes were quick to widen in horror at the sight of Farmer Opal being surrounded by a squadron of crab Badniks.

Swallowing her fear, Aura dove down and then scooped her farming friend right into her arms just before the Badniks could strike. And as they pulled back into the air, Aura looked at her. “Are you okay, Opal?!”

Opal’s eyes were darting around her new surroundings and her heart was racing, but she nodded. “Y…yes, I…I-I’m okay…!”

Aura nodded before flying off towards the crowd evacuating, gently setting her down. “You need to follow everyone else! They’ll get you somewhere safe!! I’ll see if there’s anyone left!!”

“W-wait! Aura, what about you?!” Opal cried.

“I…I-I’ll be fine! I promise!” Aura replied before quickly flying into the air again, not waiting for a response from her friend. She had to be quick if she wanted all of her people- her friends to be okay.

Over and over again, Aura would dive down from the sky and carry her people to the exit, avoiding as many of Nexus’s Badniks as possible. Some people were hiding within their own homes, forcing Aura to have to break the door down to help evacuate the villagers inside. Others were being chased by Badniks as they ran for the exit, forcing Aura to propel herself even faster than the mechanical marauders just to help them get away.

And after taking to the skies once more, Aura’s ear flickered at a horrifying sound.

“M-MAMA!!! MAMA, WHERE ARE YOU?!?” A child’s voice sobbed.

Aura immediately raced towards the sound, arriving in a matter of moments to see a child tearfully searching for his mother in a thankfully empty street. The Princess of Divum quickly began running over, recognizing him. “Abel!!!”

‘Abel’ immediately turned around, his watery eyes widening at the sight of his home’s monarch. “P…Princess….?”

Aura quickly pulled the terrified boy into her arms. “I-it’s gonna be okay, sweetheart! We’ll find your mom!”

Abel quickly clutched onto the wind-riding princess, too scared to even think about letting go of her.

“Just hold on tight!” Aura cried before taking off into the air, still holding Abel close. Then, once she was high enough, she began looking all around the town for anything that wasn’t a robot. If she knew Abel’s mother, she would be searching every corner of the village just to find her child.

And then, Aura gasped. Running down the path, followed by two more villagers was none other than Abel’s mother. She could even faintly hear her voice. And the other two must’ve offered to help her search for her son.

Aura held Abel closer to her chest before flying down, calling out. “Ms. Wilder!!!”

Ms. Wilder gasped and looked up, the other two villagers doing the same. But all three of their eyes were filled with relief when they saw not only their princess, but an unharmed Abel. “ABEL!!!”

Abel, turning his head, smiled tearfully at the sight of his mother. “MAMA!!!”

Aura gently held out the boy, who was all too eager to leap right into his mother’s arms and hold her tight. Ms. Wilder let out a relieved cry as she held her child close, rubbing his back in circles.

“Y-you’re okay!!!” Ms. Wilder sobbed, kissing her son’s forehead before looking at Aura. “T…thank you…! Thank you!!”

Aura just nodded before gesturing for them to follow her. “C’mon! We have to get you out of-!”

“WATCH OUT!!!” One of the two villagers screamed.

Aura’s eyes widened and she quickly turned her head to see a battalion of Egg Pawns blocking their path. Immediately, the Princess of Divum began to guide them towards the other side, but they were forced to halt by a horde of Motobugs inching closer and closer.

The villagers huddled together, with Aura standing in front of them to serve as their shield. And just before she could think to use her powers to carry them all into the air, a pair of flying Badniks began to hover into the scene.

They were surrounded.

Aura began to tremble as blasters and missile launchers began to aim for them. But the princess just held out her arms protectively in front of her people. “S…stay away from them!!!”

But the Badniks did not obey. Instead, the blasters began to charge with a terrifying whir…until suddenly?

Large spikes made entirely of stone shot out from the ground, impaling The Egg Pawns. The flying Badniks began to dive down, but were just as suddenly shot down by dagger-like rocks.

The Motobugs then completely turned around, aiming their missile launchers for their new opponent. But the first was quickly smashed into pieces by a rocky morningstar. And the others were all too quick to follow.

Aura, recovering from her shock, turned her head to see who had taken the role of her guardian angel. And sure enough, it was none other than Geo.

Geo looked at them all. “Is everyone alright?”

Aura slowly nodded before looking back at her people, who were doing the same thing. All of them, even the young Abel, were rendered breathless.

“Thank Sol.” Geo sighed before rushing over. “I’ve searched the village. Everyone is evacuated except the four of you.”

Aura drew a breath of relief before facing the villagers once again. “Just follow us!”

“O-okay!” One villager said.

Ms. Wilder held her son closer. “T…thank you both so much…!”

“Your safety is all the thanks we need.” Geo said before beginning to run, with Aura and the villagers following closely behind.

And after making it to the exit, the two Elementals watched the last group of Divum run off to safety and to join the other townsfolk. Aura then looked at Geo. “Thanks for saving me back there. I-I honestly didn’t have a plan…”

“It was my pleasure.” Geo said with a warm smile. Although, it quickly faded as he looked ahead. “But the others need our help! Come on!”

“But I can’t fight!!! How am I supposed to help?!” Aura cried, chasing after The Earth Prince despite her words.

Geo looked at her as they ran. “It’s just like we told you! You’re an Elemental! The winds are at your beck and call!”

“But how is that gonna help with a fight?!?” Aura exclaimed.

But before The Earth Prince could respond, the sounds of fighting filled the air. This served as a signal for the two to start running even faster before they arrived at The Grand Lodge.

Silver had fired a psychokinetic wave of energy into one of the Drill-Bots, slicing into its armor and stunning it before he forced it still with his signature power. Then, with a yell, he swung his arm and launched it across the air.

Blaze was firing an inferno of flames into the second Drill-Bot, burning it into ash and molten steel within mere moments.

And finally, Marine had summoned a tidal wave to knock the third Drill-Bot onto its back. And once its loud thud filled her ears, the ring-tailed sailor leapt onto the machine’s chest to finish it off with a powerful strike from her watery cutlass.

But their victory was short-lived. From aboard The Neo Carrier, armies of Badniks were falling or flying from its deck. And now, all their efforts seemed to be entirely focused on the heroes instead of invading an empty village.

Blaze growled as her hands lit aflame once more. “We can’t keep this up forever!”

“We need to take out that ship!” Geo cried, running over with Aura at his side. “Silver, can you reach it?”

Silver clenched his fists in frustration. “I can reach it, but I don’t think I could take it out with all those guns trying to shoot me down!”

Geo then suddenly turned towards Aura. “Then it’s a good thing you aren’t the only one who can fly.”

Aura’s eyes widened. “M-me?! Geo, I just told you I don’t know how to fight!!! I’ve never had to use my powers for things like this!!!”

“Can you summon a cyclone?”

“What?!?” Aura cried.

“You’re an Air Elemental! Can you summon a cyclone?”

“I-I mean, yes, but how is that supposed to-?” Aura’s voice suddenly died in her throat as the gears began turning in her brain. She then looked up at The Neo Carrier and then back at her friends. Aura began to nod slowly. “O-okay! Okay, I can do that!”

Geo grinned before looking at the psychokinetic hero of the future. “Silver, do you think you can keep the ship’s weapons frozen long enough for Aura to use her powers?”

“Only one way to find out.” Silver said, beginning to glow.

“The rest of us will handle the robot horde.” Geo said, surrounding his fists with rocky gauntlets once again.

Aura, already hovering in the air, took a deep breath. Then another. And then another. And then another. They didn’t do much in reassuring herself, but she was thankful for even the slightest feeling of calm they gave her.

“Be careful. Both of you.” Blaze said, her gaze soft.

The two fliers nodded before blasting off into the sky, racing into the clouds at sonic speeds. And in mere moments, they were face to face with the terrifying warship ahead of them.

The Neo Carrier’s cannons and missile launchers trained on them as the heroes predicted, but Silver held out his hands and surrounded each of them with the glow of his psychokinesis. But already, his hands began to shake.

“I-I won’t be able to hold this for much longer!” Silver cried.

Aura began to focus, closing her eyes. The last time she had summoned something like this, it was a complete accident. Back when she was still a little girl struggling to keep a tornado from shooting out from her palms. She tried to dig into that memory and recall what she had felt or what she was thinking during that time.

What she had felt was fear. Fear of hurting not only herself, but the people she cared about with every fiber of her being. The home she would happily spend the rest of her days within.

She was feeling that fear again. Because now all of those things were at risk. The people that had come all this way just to earn her friendship were at risk.

Aura felt her fear become overpowered by a new feeling. The feeling she would get when she would help one of the builders lift something heavy or when one of the forest beasts were planning on feasting upon their herds.

The Neo Carrier was now that beast. It was now that thing to lift.

The Princess of Divum felt tiny gusts and breezes circling around her fingers. Her eyes shot open and she spread her arms wide…before clapping them together. And from the collision of her hands shot out a devastating cyclone.

The cyclone spun around faster and faster before striking The Neo Carrier, not only pushing it out of the sky and towards the sea below the mountain kingdom, but also tearing off chunks of its armor and weapons. Alarms blared so loudly that they could be heard from the outside of The Neo Carrier, but they could do nothing to stop its descent.

With one final gust of wind, The Neo Carrier crashed into the far depths of the sea in an explosion of water and smoke from the warship itself.

The cyclone disappeared shortly after and Aura pulled her hands apart, breathing heavily as she stared upon the crash site.

Silver did the same, awestruck by the display of power he had just witnessed. But he was all too eager to smile, turning towards the Princess of Divum. “THAT WAS AMAZING!!!”

“It…it was…?” Aura asked, slowly beginning to smile herself.

“You just launched an entire warship out of the sky!!!” Silver cried. “Of course it was amazing!!! You are amazing!!!”

Aura’s signature wide grin returned. “I couldn’t have done it without my Flying Friend!!!”

Silver laughed at his new nickname before eagerly high-fiving his new teammate. Then, with the same speed they used to arrive, the two fliers dove back down. And just in time to see Blaze and Geo strike down the last of Nexus’s Badniks.

Marine quickly rushed over to her airborne teammates. “Ya did it!!!”

Aura just grinned and then pulled Marine into a hug. “No! We did it!!!”

Geo crossed his arms with a warm smile. “Divum and its people are safe. I’d say this is The Alliance’s first victory.”

Blaze laughed. “I couldn’t agree more.”

Aura then gently set down Marine, her smile shrinking just a little. “So…to protect the world, we’ll be getting into fights like this?”

Blaze’s eyes were quick to soften, but she nodded.

Aura sheepishly tapped her fingers together. “I…I really don’t like the idea of anyone getting hurt. And if I’m being honest, I’m still processing that there are people out there who choose to do this sort of thing.”

“It’s…not a pleasant thought.” Geo sighed.

But then, Blaze smiled softly. “But that’s exactly why I wanted to form this alliance in the first place. To make sure no one has to get hurt. And thanks to our combined efforts, we managed to safely evacuate an entire village while destroying legions of robots.”

“We watch each other’s backs and keep everyone safe.” Silver said, setting his hand on Aura’s shoulder with an encouraging smile. “Evils like Nexus never win if we don’t allow them to.”

Aura nodded. “Which is why I still want to be a part of this. I don’t want to fight, but if it means keeping you and everyone else safe? I’ll do whatever I can!!!”

Marine then cheered, leaping into the air. “Bad guys beware-!”

“YOU…LITTLE…PESTS!!!” A glitching voice shrieked.

The Elemental Alliance quickly turned around to see none other than Nexus, the side of his body consumed by code beginning to glitch out while his other side held one of his Badniks’ blasters.

Nexus aimed the weapon at them, snarling. “You think you can deny me and destroy everything I’ve built?!? I don’t care how many of you there are to crush, I will restore my empire!!! And when I do, both of your dimensions will be mine for the taking!!!”

Blaze’s eyes narrowed and she stepped forward, having heard enough…but then?

“You attacked my friends! You invaded my home! You threatened to steal from us!” Aura boomed. “You are an enemy of Divum and this entire planet!!! You aren’t welcome here!!!”

Then, clapping her hands together yet again, Aura shot out a massive blast of wind and sent Nexus rocketing into the sky. The mad doctor’s screams echoed across the air as he eventually flew out of sight.

Geo’s eyes were wide with astonishment while Marine just began to grin, looking all too satisfied to see Nexus get his deserved karma.

But then, Aura pulled her hands apart, her eyes suddenly going wide. “I…I didn’t mean to send him that far! Is he gonna be okay?!”

Blaze sighed. “Unfortunately, yes. He’s survived much worse.”

Chapter Text

It had been 4 days since Team Dimension had set off on their quest to forge a brand new order of heroes. And thankfully, things at The Sol Empire had been quiet once again. Some of The Royal Guard had to admit they were eager for more action. After all, Nexus’s invasion was the first true battle they had in years.

It was natural for soldiers to fight and Captain Lance knew that better than anyone. He had been through more battles than could be counted, so even he was surprised by how long peace and prosperity had lasted thanks to Blaze’s efforts.

Pride began to swell in the old guard’s heart for a moment before he turned his head, focusing on his current task. The one he had been performing ever since Team Dimension’s departure.

Keeping a close eye on Metal Blaze.

The android thankfully had been following the terms of Blaze’s deal. While she freely roamed the castle and at times, terrified the staff, she didn’t harm anyone. All she ever really did was sit in a corner, waiting for something that Lance knew would never come. This was one of the few times she had stood up and began looking around.

Metal Blaze was now face to face with a line of portraits within The Great Hall, studying each one closely. The portraits were depicting every monarch of The Sol Empire, starting from the beginning with Queen Sphinx and ending with Blaze herself. Each king or queen seemed to vary in looks and color, but all had an almost stonecold look across their face. Only a few were actually smiling.

The robotic cat then turned her head to the wall across from her, which was displaying each ruler’s rightful spouse. Like those of the royal blood, most of them were Mobian cats…but there were a surprising amount of different species. Queen Sphinx’s spouse and the very first king of The Sol Empire seemed to be a hedgehog, interestingly enough.

Then, fully aware that Lance had been watching her, Metal Blaze began to speak. “Has each monarch of the empire wielded the flame?”

Lance, taken aback by the question, then took a cautious step forward. “Yes?”

“It is a seemingly infinite supply of energy that each ruler inherits genetically. Where did this power originate?” Metal Blaze asked, turning her head towards the golden-armored guard.

“...why are you asking me this?” Lance asked, taking another suspicious step.

Metal Blaze turned back to the portraits. “Information on how my counterpart’s powers operate could prove useful.”

Lance clenched his fists. “In defeating her, I presume?”

“Correct.”

“Then you can forget me telling you anything.” Lance sneered. “The only reason I do not strike you where you stand is because Blaze sees something in you that I do not. She is the reason you’re even able to walk.”

“Incorrect. It was Marine The Raccoon who repaired me.” Metal Blaze said. “She holds an impressive amount of mechanical knowledge considering her age. And holds the ‘Captain’ title.”

Lance’s eyes narrowed. “She’s not actually the captain of anything, you know.”

“She is in possession of a ship that she pilots. No one has tried to claim ownership over this ship.” Metal Blaze said. “The definition of ‘captain’ is the commander of a vessel.”

“But she has no crew to command, let alone a license. It’s a miracle someone like her hasn’t crashed the ship for the fun of it.” Lance said, rubbing the brink of his nose.

Metal Blaze’s eyes glowed for a moment. “I detect disdain in your vocals. You do not like her.”

“Marine’s more impressive feats are often overshadowed by her fondness for pranks and whining whenever things don’t go her way.” Lance sighed. “She lacks manners and discipline.”

“So, she is an enemy of yours?”

Lance’s eyes widened in horror at the idea and he immediately looked at the robotic cat. “What?! No! She’s a child!”

“But you have admitted your dislike of her and her attitude. Does this not make her an opposition to you?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “She’s 9 years old. I may not be fond of her antics, but that doesn’t mean I despise her. She’s a little girl who doesn’t know any better.”

“Now you are defending her actions when moments ago, you were complaining about them.” Metal Blaze said. “Your organic emotions are illogical.”

Lance crossed his arms. “There is rarely any logic to emotions, machine.”

“That is a weakness. Something I do not possess.”

Lance’s brow furrowed. “Really now? So, you lack any emotion? Your systems run purely on logic?”

“Correct.”

“Then why are you still waiting for your sorry excuse of a creator?” Lance asked. “It’s been days and he still has not returned for you.”

“...his arsenal is significantly low on resources and has been for a number of years. He currently lacks the ability to return for me.” Metal Blaze protested.

Lance tilted his head. “Yet you claim to be his greatest weapon? Logically speaking, would retrieving you not be a top priority for him?”

Metal Blaze…didn’t respond.

Lance sighed and turned around. “Blaze, Silver, and Marine have shown you kindness…one day, that kindness will become a debt you will need to repay.”

The robotic cat was about to respond before suddenly, the air was filled with the sound of a pair of doors opening and multiple footsteps.

“Whoaaaa! Blaze, you live here?!?”

“For my entire life, yes.”

“How the heck do you get around?! This place is like a maze!”

Lance quickly began walking towards the voices, stepping out from The Great Hall and seeing none other than Team Dimension, Prince Geo, and a mint-colored Mobian he himself had never seen before. He would remember a plush-like smile like the one she wore.

Aura twirled around the giant room, her grin only growing. “Ohhh, think of all the people you could have in here!!!”

“We regularly host events here.” Blaze said, walking over. “It’s not uncommon for this place to become crowded.”

Marine just stuck out her tongue. “The people ya invite dunno how to have fun! It’s just a bunch of rules and blah, blah, blah!”

Silver hummed. “Didn’t The Baroness try to spice things up once?”

Marine’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yeah!”

“That woman knew how to dance.” Silver laughed.

Geo couldn’t help but grin. “Now this is a story I must hear.”

Blaze just playfully rolled her eyes. “It was embarrassing.”

“But incredibly fun to watch.” Lance chuckled, walking over to the group. “Welcome back, Blaze. It’s a relief to see your mission was a success.”

Blaze smiled back at him before looking at The Elemental Alliance’s newest recruits. “Geo? Aura? This is Captain Lance, head of The Royal Guard.”

Geo politely bowed while Aura just performed a rather adorable curtsy, despite not having a dress.

“Lance, you’re already familiar with Geo. But I’d like to introduce you to Princess Aura of Divum.” Blaze said.

Lance then bowed his head. “It’s an honor to meet you, your highness.”

“Oh, just call me Aura!” She giggled. “Calling me ‘your highness’ makes me sound too fancy!”

Lance then turned his head towards Blaze with a grin. “I think you’re going to get along just fine.”

Blaze smiled and was about to respond before suddenly?

“Wait…what happened to your tail?!?” Aura suddenly shrieked.

Lance was quiet before he pulled back his cape, revealing a crimson-colored stub of what used to be a tail. Silver was quick to cover Marine’s eyes while Blaze just looked away, grimacing at the sight. “I lost it in a war.”

Aura’s eyes widened in horror. “A war?!?”

“It’s quite the tale actually.” Lance grinned, letting go of his cape. “It all began in-”

“M-maybe now is not the time for another war story…” Blaze said.

Lance crossed his arms. “Come now, Blaze. You used to love my stories.”

“When I was a year old and couldn’t understand the words coming out of your mouth.” Blaze protested, putting her hands on her hips.

“There’s also a child present.” Geo muttered, gesturing to the still blinded Marine.

Lance just scoffed. “She’s going to learn about it eventually.”

The Sol Princess’s eyes were quick to narrow. “Lance.”

“Yes, yes, I know.” Lance sighed.

Silver let out a breath of relief and slowly uncovered Marine’s eyes, with the hydrokinetic raccoon standing there in confusion for a moment…before suddenly gasping and waving to someone. “Hey, Metal Blazey!”

Everyone immediately turned around and sure enough, Metal Blaze was standing behind them all. Her digital eyes, for once, didn’t carry a threatening glare. Rather, a thoughtful gaze. As if she was studying them all like she had the portraits just a few moments earlier.

Aura’s eyes widened. “Blaze, you have a robot twin too?!”

“It’s…a recent development actually.” Blaze replied.

Geo’s eyes narrowed and he leaned in towards his fellow Elemental, whispering. “You’re sure she’s not going to suddenly attack?”

The Sol Princess was about to answer, but Aura had already walked right over to the robotic cat to get a closer look. And after staring at the android in awe, Aura then smiled wide. “Hi, Metal Blaze! I’m Aura! It’s nice to meet you!”

Metal Blaze did not respond.

Aura blinked before looking from side to side. “Did…did I do something wrong?”

Marine swiftly walked over to the robotic cat. “C’mon, don’t be shy now! Introduce yourself!”

“...hello.” Metal Blaze said slowly, the sheepish tone in her voice evident even with her mechanical echo.

Aura smiled and held her hand out for a handshake, having to restrain herself from the usual hug since she got the feeling Metal Blaze was incredibly uncomfortable as is.

Metal Blaze looked down at the princess’s hand and then at her own. And after an awkward wait, Metal Blaze took Aura’s hand and began to slowly shake it up and down. But before Aura could get another word in, Metal Blaze was all too quick to leave the room.

Aura, staring at the hand that had been shaken, looked back at her friends. “Was it something I said? Did I hurt her feelings?”

Marine just grinned. “Nah, don’t worry! That’s actually the nicest she’s ever been!”

Blaze hummed, turning her head towards Lance. “How has she been doing the past few days, Lance?”

“While it’s difficult to say what the robotic equivalent of a mental state is, if I had to wager…she’s aimless.” Lance said. “I don’t think she’s gone without her creator giving her orders for this long. She’s just been wandering the castle and occasionally asking questions. That’s all.”

Blaze’s eyes softened. “I see…”

“...we actually ran into Nexus back at Divum.” Silver added. “And he confirmed exactly what we thought. He’s not coming back for her.”

Lance’s own eyes, surprisingly, began to soften as well. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised…”

Aura looked back at the direction Metal Blaze had walked off to. “Maybe we should go check on her then?”

“Given how uncomfortable she looked, I think it’s best we give her some space.” Geo suggested. “After all, you and I are complete strangers to her.”

“And I cannot say we are close with her ourselves.” Blaze admitted. “So I agree with Geo.”

But then, the doors opened again and one of Blaze’s many servants peeked into the room. “Your highness?”

Blaze’s eyes widened and she turned around. “Yes?”

“King Null has arrived. He wishes to speak with you and your friends.” The servant said.

Silver looked surprised for a moment. “Wait…and us?”

“Did he know we were coming?” Geo asked.

Blaze, seeming to be mentally asking the exact same questions, just nodded at the servant. “Tell him we’re waiting for him.”

The servant nodded and was about to close the door before smiling warmly. “It’s great to have you back by the way, your highness.”

Blaze smiled softly. “It’s great to be back.”

And after a brief discussion with each other about what King Null could possibly want and Lance returning to his duties as Captain of The Royal Guard, the doors opened yet again. And sure enough, the monarch of Umbra stepped into the room.

“Princess Blaze.” Null smiled. “It’s wonderful to see you made it home safely. And of course, it’s a pleasure to properly meet you both, Prince Geo and Princess Aura.”

Aura just smiled back. “It’s nice to meet you too!”

“Likewise.” Geo added.

Blaze stepped forward. “It’s an honor to have you here again, your highness. But I admit surprise that you even knew we had returned.”

“Time seems to be in my favor then. I came here with the full intention of waiting for you to come back.” Null chuckled. “But now onto why I’m actually here. This was something I felt the need to tell you in person.”

“That being?” Blaze asked.

“When you made the announcement of forging this Elemental Alliance, it naturally caught my eye.” Null said. “An order of heroes with the sole purpose of protecting our home from threats of all kinds? It’s a brilliant idea. So, I’d like to join you.”

Geo’s eyes widened. “You’re an Elemental too?”

“Not quite, my boy.” Null said. “And I’m not a warrior either, so I can’t exactly assist you on the battlefield. But what I can do is give you Umbra’s full support.”

The old king then reached into his shawl, suddenly pulling out strange black crystals. “Starting with these.”

Marine’s eyes sparkled. “Oooh! Shiny!”

Blaze gently took one of the crystals, studying it closely. “What are these?”

“I’ve dubbed them Shade Crystals.” Null introduced. “They were designed with a special resource exclusive to my kingdom. These devices will allow its user to transport anywhere instantaneously."

Aura gasped as she took a crystal of her own. “Really?!?”

Silver looked at the old king in bewilderment. “That’s…revolutionary!”

“This could change the concept of travel as we know it.” Blaze said, staring at her own crystal in awe before facing her kingdom’s longtime ally.

Null’s eyes softened. “Perhaps one day, but not yet.”

“What do you mean?” Geo asked.

“These are…prototypes, in a sense.” Null explained. “While they can teleport the user practically anywhere, we’ve been unable to figure out how to make it reach specific locations. Say you want to reach this very palace from a far destination. The crystal can only transport you to this empire’s entrance. The rest of the journey you would have to make on foot.”

Blaze hummed. “While that is a setback, this will still prove to be incredibly useful. How do they work?”

“You simply input coordinates and the crystal will do the rest.” Null said, taking his own crystal and displaying an almost holographic screen from it. “And considering two of you are from kingdoms far away from here, they’ll come in handy in case you ever need to return home.”

Blaze began to smile again. “Thank you, your highness. We will use them wisely.”

“I have no doubt you will.” Null said, handing out the rest of the Shade Crystals. “In the meantime though, I think I may enjoy a bit of leisure time before I return to my own home.”

Silver slowly took a glance at the monarch’s eyes. They were a dark green with black slits serving as pupils, only adding to his already reptilian appearance. But for some reason, he suddenly felt strange.

He didn’t know how to describe it beyond…strange. Nothing in his body was beginning to ache, it was just a feeling he couldn’t find the words for. And it all began when he looked at the king’s eyes.

But eventually, Null had walked off. Blaze seemed to be the first to notice the almost uneasy look in Silver’s eyes. “Silver? Are you alright?”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah! I’m fine!” Silver said with a smile. “Just lost my train of thought, that’s all.”

Blaze hummed. “If you’re sure. But anyways, we should show you the rest of the palace.”

“Please do!!!” Aura squealed as they began to follow The Sol Princess, with Silver being the last to follow as he started to think again.

That strange feeling. A word popped into his mind for it. It almost felt like…deja vu.

The Shade Crystals had proven to be incredibly useful. While none of The Elemental Alliance were opposed to sailing the seas (especially Marine), it was simply more convenient for both Geo and Aura to immediately teleport back to their homeland if they needed to. After all, while they had agreed to join The Elemental Alliance, they still had their own duties to attend to.

But now a week has passed. The world was now aware of its new team of defenders and naturally, people had questions. What threats would they be stopping? Would they be protecting all nations or just their own? Would there be more members? If a war ever came between two or more nations, would they intervene?

Blaze was all too used to having to talk to the local news and she answered each question (no matter how personal they got) as honestly as she could.

…Geo and Aura on the other hand…

The Sol Princess hummed as she took a seat at a large roundtable, one she had built for The Alliance to sit at specifically. They were about to have their first meeting today at her palace, so obviously she was the first to arrive.

But after a minute or two of silence, the doors opened…and in walked an exhausted looking Geo.

Blaze’s eyes widened a bit. “Geo…?”

“If I am asked one more question about my love life, I might actually throw a boulder.” Geo said, his eyes twitching as he took his spot at the table.

Blaze was quiet…before suddenly giggling to herself. “I suppose I should’ve given you a warning about that.”

“You knew?!?” Geo cried. “How personal do these questions get?!?”

“So far, the limit is relationships or future heirs.” Blaze hummed.

Geo groaned and faceplanted onto the table. “I’m starting to regret getting involved…”

Then, the door opened again. Aura was next to come through, practically skipping into the room. “Hey, guys!!!”

“Good to see you, Aura.” Blaze smiled as she watched her fellow Elemental take a seat. “How are you?”

Aura beamed. “I’m great!!! Divum’s starting to get some more visitors than usual!! And this Shade Crystal thingy works perfectly!!!”

Geo sighed, raising his head. “Null was very generous to give them to us.”

Aura’s eyes widened at the sight of bags under her friend’s eyes. “Geo, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Terra’s also getting a lot more visitors now is all.” Geo said. “Very pushy visitors at that…”

Aura frowned. “Well…I can make you some tea! Would that help?”

Geo couldn’t help but smile. “That would be nice. But maybe after the meeting. Speaking of which, where are Silver and Marine?”

Then, as if on cue, the doors opened a third time. The ring-tailed sailor rode into the room on a tidal wave like some kind of surfer. And as her cheers filled the air, Marine leapt into the air and landed right in her chair. “Have no fear, Captain Marine is here!!!”

Aura immediately began to clap, clearly very impressed with the display.

“Marine, I admire your creativity, but not all of your dramatic entrances need to be this messy.” Blaze said, gesturing to the giant pool of water on the floor.

Marine smiled sheepishly. “Sorry…I’ll, uhh, I’ll clean that up.”

Blaze just nodded. “Thank you. And it’s alright.”

And finally, the doors opened a fourth time. But just as Silver was about to walk in, he quickly saw the large pool of water seeping into his boots. With an almost awkward stare, he floated into the air with his psychokinesis and flew over to his seat. “Someone’s gonna slip on that.”

“It’s inevitable, yes.” Blaze sighed. “But now that we’re all here, we can begin.”

Marine began to tap the table excitedly. “I’ve never been to one of these meeting thingies before!”

“What are we here to discuss anyhow?” Geo asked.

Blaze hummed. “For one, Nexus hasn’t shown himself since the invasion of Divum last week. I believe we should be making proper efforts to actually find him and his base of operations.”

Silver scratched his chin. “That shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

“Finding him shouldn’t be. But if we’re intending on locking him away, we need to consider his teleportation.” Geo said. “How exactly are we going to keep someone who can warp anywhere at will inside of a cell?”

Aura began to think. “Maybe…we could take away his powers?”

“That’s not a bad suggestion. But we’d need a way of even doing that.” Blaze said before looking at Silver. “Silver, you and Nexus are from the same timeline, is there any way we can contain a being like him?”

Silver just shrugged. “I have no idea. This is the first time I’ve even seen a being like this.”

“Does your future not have any advanced technology capable of restraining him?” Geo asked.

Silver began to rub the back of his neck. “I mean…it’s possible? I’m not exactly a tech expert. And I haven’t actually been to my future in a while. Not to mention, bringing that kind of tech back here could have some ripple effects on the timeline.”

“Then, for now, the empire’s science division could start collaborating with some of our other allies to come up with a potential solution.” Blaze said. “Our next topic of discussion is-”

But then, cutting her off, was a booming sound that could only be described as a pained roar. The Elemental Alliance shot out of their seats at the alarming noise and directed their eyes towards the window.

“What was that?!?” Aura cried.

Blaze’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know…but we’re going to find out. Everyone, follow me!”

And as The Sol Princess dashed out the window with a burst of flame, her allies were quick to do the same. Silver and Aura took to the skies while Geo and Marine followed Blaze on foot. While they were by no means as fast as The Elemental Alliance’s leader, their own powers allowed them to at least keep up with her.

The order of heroes darted across the kingdom, using their powers to only increase their speed. And their rapid footsteps only began to grow when the pained roar was heard a second time, but even louder.

Whatever was going on, they were getting closer.

Then, Blaze screeched to a stop, her feet sliding across sand. She looked ahead, seeing the open seas dimly lit by the setting sun. They had reached the edge of the island.

But just as everyone joined her, Blaze had turned her head to the side…and froze.

Laying right across from them was an animal with its back turned towards them. A large creature covered in dark blue scales, bearing four legs, a spiky tail, and a horned crest in its head. It could only be described as a large lizard if it weren’t for one detail that not even a blind eye could miss.

Wings. Between their scaly and almost skeletal structure was webbing that actually allowed the wings to be capable of flight in the first place.

Blaze slowly took a step forward, her entire team left paralyzed in silence. This animal was one only told about in fantasies. Fictional stories telling those who heard it of their unimaginable might. Mythological beasts that even Blaze herself doubted the existence of.

This was a dragon.

But then, snapping them out of their thoughts was a third pained roar. Yet, this one seemed to be quieter than the previous two. As if the dragon was struggling to let out its call.

Blaze could see that it was hurt and began running towards it, only sliding to a stop once she could see its muzzle…and a horrible wound on its stomach. The Sol Princess gasped and took a step forward, but froze when the dragon suddenly looked at her.

In legends, dragons were known as ferocious beasts that could breathe the very elements of the world like cannonfire. But this dragon did not roar or even try to move away. In fact, it…whimpered.

“It…i-it’s going to be alright.” Blaze said slowly as she took a few steps forward, kneeling down to the dragon’s head. “E-everyone, this dragon is hurt!”

Aura was the first to rush over and she almost immediately covered her mouth at the sight of the wound. “O-oh no…!”

Geo was next. “We…we need to get it medical attention! Or at least something to cover the wound!”

Blaze looked down at the dragon’s head, her eyes filled with a mix of horror and sadness. She could feel the dragon’s pulse was only getting weaker.

“We gotta get it to a vet or something!” Silver cried. “Maybe…maybe I can use my-?”

“Silver, I…I-I don’t think it’s going to last that long…” Blaze said slowly.

Marine was quiet as she slowly knelt down to the dragon’s head. She looked closely and saw tears in the beast’s eyes. Tearing her eyes away from it to look at Blaze, she spoke. “B-Blazey, is…is it dying…?”

Blaze didn’t respond verbally. She didn’t have the heart to do so. All she could do was respond with a solemn look.

Marine’s own eyes began to fill with tears as she looked back at the dragon. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing could come out. She couldn’t find the words.

But then, the dragon suddenly began to move one of its limbs. Its movement was shaky, as if it was using all of its strength. And as its scaly limb moved forward, its clawed hand slowly began to open to reveal it was holding something.

An egg.

Blaze’s eyes were wide at the sight and she looked back at the dragon, staring into its eyes for some kind of answer. And in its gaze was an almost pleading look, which practically spoke an entire sentence all on its own as the clawed hand tried to move the egg closer towards them.

“I…I-I think it wants us to take the egg…” Silver breathed.

Blaze looked down at the wounded beast and slowly wiped away its large tears. “It…it will be okay. W-we’ll watch over it.”

The dragon’s pleading look disappeared. Its wings started to wrap around itself as it rested against the sand.

…and then? Its pulse was nowhere to be found. Its once tearful eyes had closed as its body went limp.

It was gone.

Marine let out a stifled sob before she grabbed ahold of Blaze, hugging her tightly as she buried her face into her friend’s shoulder. Blaze, for once, didn’t freeze up at the embrace and instead returned it without hesitation.

Silver just looked away from the fallen creature while Aura began to cry in Geo’s arms, utterly devastated at what they had just witnessed. Geo himself just bowed his head, as if trying to honor the one they had failed to save in time.

And as The Elemental Alliance sat with a now lifeless body, Blaze stared at the egg in its limp hand. The one, that in its final moments, the dragon had pleaded for them to take. Still holding onto Marine, Blaze gently gestured for Silver to take the egg out of what they could only assume to be its mother’s hand.

Silver, a sorrowful look on his face, nodded and very carefully picked the egg up. He held it as if it was the most fragile thing in the entire world.

All of them had so many questions. But at that moment, all they could do was honor a last wish.

Chapter Text

Word quickly got out about the sudden and almost out of nowhere appearance of a dragon having landed in The Sol Empire. People were already asking questions about The Elemental Alliance, but now they were asking even more about the dragon and her egg.

Dragons were…a myth. A fairy tale told to young children and shown in coloring books. Even in the fantastical world that they themselves lived in, there was never any scientific evidence that dragons were real until this day.

But that only answered the question of a dragon’s existence. The shocking arrival sparked countless more questions.

Where did she come from? Why had she flown here? Why was she injured? What had injured it? Were there other dragons out there? Where were they? Why were they only seeing them now after countless generations?

But above all these questions, a different one rested on The Sol Princess’s mind. One that only someone in her position could really ask.

What about the egg?

Animals and beasts often varied in intelligence and sapience. Some were capable of primitive strategies while others just operated on pure instinct. But the dragon Blaze had to comfort in her final moments was a being capable of thought and emotion.

That look in her eyes was proof of that. That pleading and desperate look of a mother wanting to keep her child safe at all costs, but lacking the ability to care for it herself. And now that mother was gone, having allowed herself to pass on once she had heard Blaze promise that her child would be protected.

While they knew nothing about her, Blaze made sure to spend an entire day giving the fallen beast a proper burial. But while everyone mourned, especially a tearful Marine, all Blaze could really think about was the egg. Or more specifically, when it would hatch and what exactly they were going to do.

Dragons were once a fantasy, so therefore, they didn’t know any actual facts about their biology or their ways of living. So once this egg inevitably hatched, what were they going to do? How could they care for a creature they knew nothing about?

Blaze drew a heavy sigh as she stared at the egg, which she carefully placed on a makeshift nest of pillows and blankets built by Marine. “Funny how we’ve gone from years of peace to several problems happening all at once.”

But then, a voice spoke. “Blaze?”

Blaze turned her head and standing at the doorway of her room was none other than Silver The Hedgehog. She smiled a little. “Hello, Silver. Forgive me, I was just thinking aloud.”

“No need to apologize, I get it.” Silver said as he walked over. “I have a tendency to talk to myself too. Sometimes saying your thoughts aloud can just help you get a better hold on them.”

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you would understand.” Blaze hummed before looking back at the egg. “How are the others?”

Silver knelt down beside his longtime partner. “Aura and Marine are still a little upset, but they’re already starting to act like their usual selves again. Geo’s just trying to see what we can find out about dragons.”

“I’m thinking of sending out a team of explorers. Historians, archeologists, or anyone experienced enough to give us some answers.” Blaze sighed. “But it’s a bit difficult when all we have to go on is an unhatched egg and a burial ground.”

Silver then looked around the room and quickly noticed a symbol. Specifically the crest of The Royal Family itself depicting a winged creature, hanging above Blaze’s bed. He had seen it many times before, but now it stuck out to him. “What about that?”

Blaze looked up. “Hmmm?”

“Dragons are known to breathe fire, right?” Silver asked before pointing at the golden symbol. “Isn’t that why you have one as your family’s symbol?”

Blaze stared up at the crest before giggling a bit. “That’s not a dragon.”

“It’s not?”

“It’s the phoenix, Silver.” Blaze explained. “The immortal bird of flames that is said to symbolize rebirth and renewal.”

Silver blinked and then smiled sheepishly. “Oh! So, definitely not the same thing as a dragon.”

“Well, they do share very base-level similarities.” Blaze said. “Asscioation with fire, flight, and are both mythical creatures that may or may not still walk the Earth. Unfortunately for us, we know much more about the phoenix than we do a dragon. Let alone how to care for one.”

Silver’s eyes softened and he looked back at the egg. “Right…when do you think they’ll hatch?”

“I don’t know. It could be in a few days or maybe even a few months.” Blaze sighed. “I’m actually hoping for the latter. I don’t know what I’m going to do when it hatches.”

“...well, we promised to take care of it.” Silver said.

Blaze gave him a bit of a look. “I know that, but how? We don’t know anything about what dragons need. We don’t even know what they can eat.”

Silver began to nod. “Okay, you make a valid point. But we’ll figure it out! We always do in the end. And you won’t be doing this alone either! You’ll have Marine, Gardon, Lance, Aura, Geo, and especially me!”

The Sol Princess, for a moment, felt her heart skip a beat. Her cheeks began to warm as she stared at Silver’s beaming smile. One she had seen many times, even when The Flames of Disaster ravaged his future in The Solaris Timeline. She couldn’t help but smile herself. “I don’t say this nearly enough. I’m glad I met you, Silver.”

Silver’s muzzle became painted with a reddish hue. “I…I’m glad I met you too. In more ways than I can ever express-”

But then, the psychokinetic hedgehog was suddenly cut off by a knock on the doorway. The two turned their heads to see a familiar swordsman standing there.

Gardon had a small smirk on his face. “Am…I interrupting something?”

Silver and Blaze’s eyes widened and they quickly responded in unison. “No! Nothing at all!”

“J-just watching over the egg!” Silver added. “And talking! Cause that’s what friends do! They talk! All the time!”

Blaze nodded a little too fast. “Y-yes, I couldn’t have said it better myself!”

Gardon just chuckled to himself, but his smile slowly faded. “Well…I hate to add onto your already vast list of problems, but I do have something to report.”

Blaze’s nervousness was quick to fade and she stood up. “What is it?”

“One of our cargo ships hasn't returned in over a week.” Gardon said.

Blaze’s eyes were quick to widen and she began to scratch her chin. “Have we tried contacting them? The ships have fully functional communication systems, don’t they?”

Gardon just shook his head. “We’ve been trying, but there doesn’t seem to be a signal of any kind.”

“That’s…concerning.” Silver muttered.

Gardon nodded. “Very. Would you like to send another crew to investigate?”

Blaze hummed. “No. I think it’d be better for The Elemental Alliance to investigate personally. If it was simply a communications problem, they’d have returned by now. They could be stranded or…”

“Or could’ve gotten attacked.” Silver finished.

Blaze nodded slowly. “And no matter the danger, I refuse to risk a crew on the search for them. We’d be better equipped to handle it ourselves.”

Gardon’s eyes softened in worry, but he took a deep breath to reassure himself and then nodded. “As you wish. I’ll get you a mapping of their original route. Perhaps that would be a good place to start.”

“Thank you, Gardon.” Blaze said. “And umm, if it’s not too much to ask…do you think you could watch the dragon’s egg for me while we’re away?”

Gardon smiled and bowed his head. “Of course. Besides, it’s not like I’m foreign to the concept of watching over little flamethrowers.”

Blaze’s face slightly reddened with embarrassment, well aware he was just referring to her childhood. “Gardon…”

Silver just tilted his head, clearly a bit puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“I can show you the photo album, Silver. I took some adorable-”

“Thank you, Gardon!” Blaze cried, grabbing Silver’s hand and practically dragging him out the door. “We should begin preparations!!!”

And while Silver was left confused by the embarrassed Blaze, the two began preparations for what would likely be yet another adventure. And that began with inviting the one who loved sailing more than anything.

Marine stuck out her tongue as she scribbled her pencil across her notebook, drawing a bit of illustration for her ‘story’ so to speak. While work wasn’t something that could normally be considered fun, working on this story in particular always managed to lift the ring-tailed sailor’s spirits.

But sitting right beside her, staring at a blank sheet of paper with a pencil in her hand was none other than Metal Blaze. She looked to be clueless as to what she was supposed to be doing.

And Marine took quick notice. “You okay, Metal Blazey?”

“What is the point of this?” Metal Blaze asked.

Marine smiled. “Ya looked all bored just walkin’ around, so I thought we could do somethin’ fun! Since we’re friends and all!”

“...we are friends???” Metal Blaze asked, sounding genuinely perplexed.

Marine laughed. “‘Course we are, mate! And this is what friends do! Hang out and do fun stuff! Like drawin’!”

Metal Blaze was quiet before staring back down at the blank sheet of paper. “...what am I supposed to be drawing?”

“Anything you want!”

“What would that be?”

Marine blinked. “Uhhh…well…what are ya thinkin’ about right now?”

Metal Blaze took a moment to stare again before she actually began to scribble something down. And in just a few seconds, she was already complete.

“Ooh! Can I see, can I see?” Marine asked.

Metal Blaze held up the sheet and then displayed it to the hydrokinetic raccoon. Her picture was an almost scarily accurate depiction of Nexus inside of his makeshift Eggmobile with the word ‘Why’ written above it.

Marine’s smile immediately began to shrink. “...y-you definitely have the talent at least!”

But then, just before either of them could say anything else, Blaze and Silver stepped over to the pair. “Marine?”

“Oh! Hey, Blazey! Silver mate!” Marine smiled, closing her notebook. “How’s the ‘lil egg?”

Blaze hummed. “Fine…as far as we can tell. But I believe we require your sailing expertise once again.”

Marine’s eyes immediately sparkled as she leapt to her feet. “We’re goin’ on another adventure already?!? WOOHOO!!!”

Silver laughed a bit. “It's never hard to convince you, is it?”

Marine just proudly shook her head. “When do we-?”

“I request permission to accompany you.”

Team Dimension immediately turned their heads towards Metal Blaze, who had also gotten to her feet. What was even more of a surprise was her almost…embarrassed look. As if she was nervous about the response.

Blaze gently stepped forward. “You…wish to join us?”

“I have been roaming the palace for days and have thoroughly documented every room. There is little more for me to accomplish beyond waiting for my creator to retrieve me.” Metal Blaze said. “But…it is a logical assumption to make that he will not be arriving for some time due to his lack of resources. And I believe it is a common occurrence for organics to ‘kill time’ by doing things they normally wouldn’t.”

Silver then began to smile. “Well…sure! You could join us!”

“As long as you keep your promise to not harm anyone, then I agree.” Blaze said with a nod.

Metal Blaze’s eyes flashed for a moment. “Affirmative.”

Marine leapt into the air with a cheer, seeming thrilled that she actually wanted to come with. “What are we waitin’ for?!? Let’s go!!!”

Once again, thanks to The Shade Crystals, it didn’t take long for Geo and Aura to arrive and then board The Ocean Tornado. Before long, it was already sailing the seas once more.

Perhaps it was nothing more than a simple rescue mission of a stranded crew and they didn’t need so many warriors on a ship, but it was better to be safe than sorry. And after everything that had been going on, Blaze couldn’t be more comforted by reassurance.

Yet, there was still something she was unsure of. Or rather, someone.

Despite wanting to join them, all Metal Blaze had done throughout the voyage was remain far away from the others and stare out into the sea. Even the occasional question she was asked would usually be answered very quickly so the android could go back to…doing nothing.

Blaze was only confused for a moment. She already had a feeling that her mechanical double simply had a lot on her mind. And minds made of code often had difficulty processing things organic ones could with relative ease.

Then again, organic minds didn’t usually handle abandonment very well either.

So, realizing that talking to those who were staring out into the sea was becoming a bit of a pattern for her, Blaze walked over to Metal Blaze. “Is it okay if I stand here or do you wish to be alone?”

Metal Blaze faced her counterpart. “You may do whatever you wish.”

Blaze nodded and then rested her arms on the railing of The Ocean Tornado once more. She then giggled. “The more I think about it, there isn’t much to do on this ship beyond admire the sights.”

“No. There is not.” Metal Blaze said.

Blaze turned her head. “What do you think of them? The sights in front of us?”

“...am I…supposed to have an opinion?” Metal Blaze asked.

Blaze’s eyes softened. “It’s not a requirement, no. I’m just trying to make conversation.”

“This is an inquiry I currently lack the ability to answer.” Metal Blaze replied.

Blaze nodded. “And that is fine. You don’t have to.”

“...but I now possess my own.”

“Which is?”

“Why did you save me?” Metal Blaze asked. “You had every reason to let me burn, yet you allowed Marine to repair me. You could have deemed me a failure during my second attempt to attack you, yet you instead granted me permission to roam the palace freely. According to my databases, you have not given this treatment to other machines of my caliber."

Blaze hummed. “Do you recall what I said about empathy?”

“Yes. But if that is the reason, then why was I the exception? Why have you not shown other machines this empathy?”

“It’s not the only reason actually.” Blaze said. “A very close friend of mine has a tendency to show mercy to those who were once his enemies. And in turn, they have become some of his greatest allies.”

“...he makes allies…out of enemies? How does he do this?”

Blaze smiled a bit. “He helps them truly see the path they’re walking down and gives them the option to stray from it. He can often tell when the person he’s fighting is truly evil. I should know. He and I fought when we first met, yet he still tried to help me.”

“Your organic emotions defy all logical reasoning.” Metal Blaze said. “Are you trying this tactic with me to gain an advantage of some kind?”

Blaze shook her head. “No. While I think having you as an ally would be beneficial, that is not my end goal.”

“Then…why?”

“Because I can see a person in you, Metal Blaze. Someone who is capable of becoming more than just a weapon.” Blaze said. “You were blessed with something that not all machines like yourself are given.”

Metal Blaze looked at her organic counterpart in a mix of confusion…and captivation. “What is that?”

“The ability to think for yourself. To feel the same emotions we feel on the regular.” Blaze smiled. “And every person, be they made of flesh or steel, deserves a choice in who they get to be.”

Metal Blaze turned her head back towards the sea. “...I’ve never had to make choices like this before. I can decide on which battle strategy is more efficient, but these choices are too complex to properly decipher. I’ve never had to wonder what I think of the oceans or what I wish to draw on a blank sheet of paper.”

“I assumed so. It must be a bit overwhelming and unfortunately, you likely still have a lot left to figure out.” Blaze said. “But I do want to help you through that. We all do.”

“...I possess one more inquiry.”

Blaze just nodded. “Go right ahead.”

“...do you ‘think’ Nexus will ever come back for me…?” Metal Blaze suddenly asked.

Blaze’s heart clenched and she looked down for a moment, almost afraid to answer honestly. But after a deep breath, she managed to speak her mind. “I’m sorry, but…no. When we were recruiting Aura, he told me that he had no intention of returning for you.”

“Why…?”

Blaze sighed. “I don’t fully know, truth be told. I could never understand his twisted mind. What he has to gain from hurting others for the sake of his ‘empire’. What rewards he could be granted from using living beings as tools.”

Metal Blaze didn’t say anything and thus, neither did Blaze herself. The two cats made of flesh and steel simply looked out into the distance in silence for a moment before Metal Blaze began to speak again.

“...was it his choice to abandon me?”

Blaze just solemnly nodded.

“Then…I have one more question. What would you do if I chose to remain your enemy?”

Blaze’s eyes softened yet again. “While it’s not what I want, it is your choice. I cannot stop you from making it. If it meant protecting my people and those I love, we would likely clash again.”

“And what if I chose to be your ally?”

“Then I would welcome you into The Alliance.” Blaze replied.

“I…see…” Metal Blaze said. “I will…keep that in mind. I have not made my choice yet.”

The Sol Princess gave her robotic double another nod…before suddenly, the sounds of another voice filled the air.

“Now, now, I insist!”

Blaze and Metal Blaze turned their heads, clearly both curious as to what was going on. And on the deck of the ship was none other than Geo and Aura, with The Earth Prince having a warm smile on his face while Aura bore a nervous stutter.

“I-I can’t just attack you!!!” Aura cried. “B-besides! I don’t even know how!!!”

Geo nodded. “Which is why I’m asking you to spar with me. It’s a form of training and you’ll never learn how to fight if you never try.”

“B…but what if I hurt you?” Aura asked.

Geo smiled. “Then there will be no hard feelings. If anything, I’ll be impressed. Now go on. Strike me.”

“O-okay, umm…how?”

Geo shrugged his shoulders. “Any way you like.”

Aura nodded, staring at her friend almost awkwardly…before very slowly raising her fist and then very slowly hitting Geo in the chest.

Geo’s eyes narrowed. It didn’t even hurt a little. “Aura, move your arm a little faster than that.”

Aura took a deep breath and then swung her other fist at a much faster pace, striking Geo in the chest again. And while The Earth Prince still didn’t budge, he began to hum.

“Better! Do that again.” Geo grinned.

Aura, slowly realizing that her friend would be okay no matter how much effort she put into her punches, pulled back her fist and swung…only for Geo to suddenly leap backwards, swiftly dodging the attack. The Princess of Divum was left puzzled. “Huh?!”

Geo’s grin only grew. “Your opponents aren’t just going to stand still, you know.”

Aura pouted for a moment before she ran forward and threw another punch, but Geo simply slid to the side. She threw another, only for the royal lizard to duck. Punch after punch was thrown, but The Earth Prince just kept dodging each one with what looked to be no effort.

“Stop being so fast!!!” Aura cried, punching nothing but the air as Geo suddenly flipped into the air and landed right behind her.

Geo chuckled. “Try a kick.”

Aura, recalling a few of the ‘kicks’ that both Geo and Blaze had done during the battle on Divum. She then leaned to the side and shot her leg forward, but Geo simply bent backwards to dodge it.

Geo beamed before he rose himself just in time to slide away from another punch from Aura. “Good! Again!”

Aura finally began to grin as she performed another side-kick. And while she had once again missed, it didn’t feel like a failure this time. She then ran forward and threw three more punches before twirling around and shooting out another kick, which Geo then blocked with his wrist instead of simply dodging.

“Very good!” Geo grinned.

Aura’s grin finally turned into a confident smirk. She then suddenly placed her wrists against each other before shooting out her conjoined hands, unleashing a small gust of wind that caused Geo to stumble backwards. And with a triumphant cry, the Princess of Divum threw another punch and successfully struck Terra’s monarch across the face.

Geo’s face had been forced to the side from the punch and he was quiet for a moment, even seeming a little surprised himself. But then, he began to laugh. “You’re sure you don’t know how to fight?”

Aura began shaking her hand, trying to wave off the small sting of punching his face since it was like hitting a brick wall. “I-I’m sure!”

“Well, even though you still have much to learn, you already show great potential.” Geo smiled. “Using your powers to stun me was a clever distraction.”

Aura’s eyes immediately began to sparkle. “Wait…really?! You thought it was clever?!”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.” Geo smiled.

“Thanks, Geo! Really!” Aura beamed. “I’m super glad we’re friends!”

And as the two Elementals began to simply talk, Metal Blaze just looked on in bewilderment. “Is it normal for organics to become overjoyed after being punched across the face?”

Blaze chuckled. “Not normally, no. But we happen to be a special case.”

Chapter Text

When there was little more to do than look around the open seas, time was easy to count. Several minutes would go by, eventually forming into an hour. But inevitably, the amount of hours would grow as well. And for a sophisticated machine like Metal Blaze, it should’ve been easy to simply start counting until they reached whatever destination they had.

But her code-compromised mind had quickly gone elsewhere. To conversation.

She didn’t expect to actually start talking with Blaze, the one she was built to destroy. And she certainly didn’t expect to keep talking with her friends either, yet here she was.

When she was Nexus’s greatest weapon, she rarely did anything but obey his commands. And the moment her design had been completed, they headed straight for The Sol Empire to invade. He had created her for that purpose. He had created her to be superior to her counterpart.

She never imagined going through anything more than that, let alone speaking to her counterpart and actually learning about more than just her powers and fighting style. She got to learn of her time in another dimension, how she met and later trained Marine, and how stressful it was to live in a future with little food and rest alongside Silver.

It made the robotic cat wonder…if Nexus really wasn’t coming back for her, could she go on adventures like that? Could that be her new purpose? Or should she just remain resolute in the task she was created for and destroy The Sol Princess?

…for some reason, that last part no longer made her feel content. She couldn’t describe why. She hadn’t even known Blaze or her friends for more than a week.

Metal Blaze looked down at her hand, opening and closing her clawed fingers and watching their clean steel glisten under the sunlight. But then, she turned her head just in time for Blaze to start speaking.

“According to this, we should be nearing the location where we lost contact with the cargo ship.” Blaze hummed, studying the map in her hands. “After that, they shouldn’t be too difficult to locate.”

Geo hummed. “If they are stranded somewhere, then something must’ve happened.”

“Like a storm?” Aura asked. “Some of my friends always tell me about how they barely get out of giant storms when they’re sailing! It sounds terrifying…”

Marine just laughed, her hands still on the steering wheel of The Ocean Tornado. “If we ever run into a storm? The great Captain Marine’ll get us out of it! No problem!!!”

“That aside, I don’t think it could’ve been a storm.” Blaze said. “There haven’t been any storms on these seas for the past week.”

Silver began to tense a little. “So, if it wasn’t a storm…do you think something attacked them?”

Aura’s eyes widened in horror and she covered her mouth, while Geo just crossed his arms with a grave look on his face. “I don’t want to be right, but I think they were.”

Blaze’s grip on the map tightened for a moment, but she quickly took a deep breath to relax herself. “If that is the case, consequences shall not be avoided.”

Metal Blaze took a step forward to add her own input…but her visor suddenly began to flash. Her systems began to alert her of something within the vicinity, forcing her head to the side.

Blaze seemed to notice her mechanical double’s actions and looked over. “Metal Blaze? What is it?”

“I am detecting an unknown source of energy and several life signals several miles away.” Metal Blaze said, pointing ahead.

Blaze’s brow furrowed and she grabbed a nearby telescope, directing it to where Metal Blaze was pointing and looking through it. And after a moment of silence, she gasped.

“Blaze?” Silver asked.

“There’s a fleet of ships just up ahead!!” Blaze cried. “But they’re being ambushed by a…”

The Sol Princess stopped talking. Either because she was still trying to see what was going on or she had somehow been stunned into silence.

When the latter was looking to be more likely, Aura quickly cried out. “By a what?!? Blaze, what’s going on?!?”

“...it’s a pirate’s ship…” Blaze said, slowly lowering her telescope as a scowl painted itself across her face.

Silver’s eyes widened in horror. “Wait, what?!”

“I thought you and Blaze got rid of them all!!!” Geo cried, looking back at Marine.

“W-we did!!! Whisker, Johnny, we sent ‘em runnin’!!!” Marine exclaimed. “And that scared every other bloke off!!!”

Silver looked ahead, squinting his eyes as he tried to get even the tiniest glimpse of what would no doubt be a battle. “Looks like these ones didn’t get the memo.”

“Marine! Full speed ahead!” Blaze cried.

Marine, even though she preferred to be the one to say that classic phrase, simply nodded and then flipped a few switches on The Ocean Tornado’s controls. And not even seconds later, the ship began racing across the ocean’s waves.

The Elemental Alliance and even Metal Blaze quickly began to prepare themselves as the group of ships started to come into view. The fleet of ships Blaze had spoken of earlier were surprisingly low in numbers. There were only four of them and while three of them looked to be big enough to house an entire crew, the fourth and final ship looked large enough to fit an entire battalion, which made the various cannons littered across it all the more fitting.

It had to have been the leading ship of the fleet…and it had been chained to the invading ship. But compared to the bright orange and green fleet, the ship dawning a pirate’s flag could only be described as some kind of technological marvel. It almost looked like a mix between an average ship and a submarine, with glowing red lights all across its black and gold body. It looked like it could’ve come from Silver’s future from how advanced it appeared.

Geo’s eyes were wide at the sight. “What kind of ship is that?!”

“And how is one ship able to take on an entire fleet?!” Silver added.

Blaze was about to answer, but the sounds of fighting quickly cut her off. Metal was hitting metal, blasters were being fired, and jet engines were roaring to life. She looked at her teammates, realizing there was little time to question anything. “It doesn’t matter! We have to act now! Silver, Aura, you’ll take flight and aid the crew members of the fleet!”

Aura, even with the smallest hint of terror in her eyes, clenched her fists and nodded her head. And as soon as Silver began to glow with psychokinetic energy, the two took to the skies.

“Geo, you’ll stay with Marine on The Ocean Tornado and man the cannons!” Blaze commanded.

Geo nodded and quickly ran across the deck, moving as fast as his legs could carry him while Marine began to flip more switches at the helm, activating The Ocean Tornado’s weapons.

Blaze then finally turned towards Metal Blaze. “I will deal with these marauders’ captain personally. I know you have yet to make your choice, but do you think you can board their ship itself? Perhaps free the commanding vessel?”

Metal Blaze simply nodded, her jet engine roaring to life just as Blaze leapt onto the railing of The Ocean Tornado. And with a blast of flame, the two launched themselves into the air like a pair of rockets. Metal Blaze began racing towards the technological pirate ship while Blaze herself dashed to where the sounds of fighting were the loudest.

And just as The Sol Princess began to fall towards the head of the fleet, she could see exactly why the cry of battle was so loud. A Mobian whale shark colored in brown and white spots was clashing against what was no doubt the pirate captain. The swordstaff he was swinging around looked to be as sharp as his fangs and fins and was striking the metal of the captain’s own blade over and over again.

But the captain himself stuck out like a sore thumb. He was a robot, with his jacket and pirate’s hat looking more like parts of his body and not simply pieces of clothing, unlike the torn-up black cape wrapped around his neck. And to go alongside the tassels on his shoulders was a massive brown boot and a mechanical peg-leg, which didn’t at all seem to hinder how fast he was moving with every strike he dealt back towards the Mobian shark. And finally, his steel-plated face seemed to resemble the exact same skull imprinted on the pirate flag.

With one final swing of the captain’s built in-blade, the Mobian whale shark violently crashed onto the deck, dropping his weapon in the process. He tried to get up, but the mechanical captain stomped on his chest.

“Ye should be proud, sailor.” The robotic pirate laughed. “Ye actually managed to scratch me paint…”

The whale shark snarled, grabbing a hold of the machine’s boot and trying to force it off of his chest so he could continue the fight. But his emerald eyes were quick to widen when the captain’s cannon arm began to power up, having a clean shot directed towards him.

The robotic captain would have no doubt grinned if he had a mouth, but his eye-patch wearing visor suddenly started to flash as he turned around just in time to be struck by a fireball, sending him flying off the whale shark and into the walls of the ship.

The whale shark immediately sat up, turning towards his savior, who had already rushed over to help him stand. “W…who are you?”

“I am Princess Blaze of The Sol Empire! My friends and I are here to help you!” Blaze introduced, looking him over for wounds and almost impressively, there weren’t any.

The whale shark nodded and grabbed his swordstaff, speaking again with an Australian accent similar to that of Marine’s. “The name’s Riptide and I welcome all the help we can get!”

But then, a robotic chuckle filled the air. The two immediately turned back towards the robotic captain, who had also gotten back on his feet. His singular red eye glared at them. “Aye…now this be a sight to see…”

Blaze’s fists engulfed themselves in flame while Riptide spun around his weapon, gritting his teeth and looking ready to strike.

“Princess Blaze. At last we meet…” The metal marauder said.

Blaze sneered. “You seem to be familiar with me. Though I’m happy to say I’m unacquainted with you.”

The captain took a step forward. “There ain't be a single pirate around who hasn’t heard of ye. Yer the one threatenin’ to burn us all for our plunders.”

“Do you expect me to apologize?” Blaze scoffed. “Your people ravage, raid, and assault the innocent for the sake of treasure.”

The captain cackled to himself. “It’s our way of life, princess. We take pride in it. Especially when it involves pillagin’ ye fleshbags of all yer loot.”

Riptide scoffed. “Loot?! We don’t have any loot, ya crook! You just saw us and started shootin’ at us!!!”

The captain just shrugged, almost mockingly. As if he knew that would just upset them both even more. “It be a slow day for plunderin’, lad.”

Blaze took a step forward. “Your words will only grant you the same fate as Captain Whisker and his crew…”

The captain was quiet…before he began laughing. “Whisker?! That lily-livered mustache ain’t fit to swab me deck!!! Wherever that clown be, I won’t be joinin’ him.”

“Your courage is admirable.” Blaze said before quickly hurtling a pair of fireballs. “But it shall burn alongside you!!!”

But the fireballs never struck the robotic captain. They instead hit a diamond shaped forcefield that completely protected the pirate from harm.

Blaze’s eyes widened a bit at the sight, but she gritted her teeth and dashed forward, swinging her arm and sending out a slash of fire the moment the robotic captain’s forcefield disappeared. But just as it did, the captain swung his blade-cannon and sliced through the attack before launching himself forward at The Sol Princess.

The two clashed, with Blaze twirling her body around into a flaming roundhouse kick that the captain managed to counter with a swing of his wrist. But as they stared each other down, Riptide leapt from behind Blaze and swung his sword-staff across the pirate’s skull-shaped face, forcing him to stumble backwards.

“This ends now, pirate!” Blaze declared as she and Riptide lunged forward in unison, blade and flames in their hands.

But the captain simply threw his blade-cannon forward and suddenly blasted a bright red energy beam from it, which the two only barely dodged in time. Yet, their distraction was exactly what the captain wanted.

Suddenly blasting forward at speeds faster than either of them could perceive, the captain swung his arm across Riptide’s face, sending him flying across the deck. He then turned towards Blaze and powered up his blade-cannon yet again.

“The name be Captain Metal! Take that name with ye to a watery grave!” Captain Metal sneered as he fired another energy beam.

Blaze, however, was quick to counter by shooting out a beam of fire. The two beams clashed immediately and began pushing against each other, unable to overpower the other at their current strength. So, The Sol Princess stomped forward and began pouring more of her Elemental Energy into her flaming beam to make it stronger.

But Captain Metal seemed to have the same idea, increasing power in his own blade-cannon. His bright red beam grew larger as it pushed against Blaze’s, only sending it just a few inches back before the fiery beam would return the favor.

It became apparent to both of them that the beam struggle wouldn’t end like this. So, rather abruptly, Captain Metal ceased firing and flew into the air just before Blaze’s fire could lick away at his steely body. With his cape blowing rapidly in the wind, Captain Metal dove downwards and swung his arm with all his might, knocking Blaze right off the edge of the ship.

Blaze gasped as she began to fall, but was all too quick to suddenly twirl around in the air and land on the chain connecting both Captain Metal’s ship and Riptide’s. She looked back up with a scowl, seeing Captain Metal hovering above her.

With a cackle, the robotic rapscallion switched his blade-cannon’s function to rapidfire. Several blood red blasts fired from the weapon, each one racing towards Blaze. So, to counter, Blaze threw fireball after fireball until each blast had been taken out in a cloud of smoke.

But then slicing through the smoke was Captain Metal himself, who quickly swung his blade at The Sol Princess. Blaze managed to leap into a backflip just in time, feeling a few of her hairs having been cut by the blade. And as she gracefully landed on the chain, Blaze shot her arm forward and blasted a small inferno at Captain Metal yet again.

Captain Metal, however, was quick to activate his forcefield once more. The flames struck the diamond-shaped shield, but were unable to do anything to penetrate it. Even when Blaze poured more of her energy into the attack in a meek attempt to shatter it.

Blaze gritted her teeth, realizing that the shield was simply too strong for her flames. Canceling her attack, she ran across the chain and punched Captain Metal just as his shield deactivated. The metallic captain stumbled backwards, his peg leg almost slipping right off before he regained balance.

Finally seeing a weakness, Blaze smirked and then tossed another fireball to distract her foe before spinning around into a flaming tornado and striking Captain Metal over and over again. And with the fourth hit, Captain Metal finally slipped and began to plummet into the water…

…at least for a moment before he rocketed upwards and took another swing of his blade-canon, forcing Blaze to dodge once again.

When she landed, Captain Metal laughed. “So, ye are as strong as they say! I was right to lure ye right to me!!!”

Blaze’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?!”

“Who do ye think sunk that cargo ship in the first place?” Captain Metal cackled.

The Sol Princess’s eyes widened in horror, even freezing up for a moment as the fear of her people being attacked became a reality. But that fear quickly transformed into anger as she screamed, blasting out another beam of fire at the robotic pirate.

But Captain Metal simply flew out of the way and fired a barrage of shots at his flaming foe. “I knew that if I sank a Royal Vessel, the princess’d come runnin’ for the people aboard!!! And just as I calculated, yer here!!!”

“YOU’RE A MONSTER!!!” Blaze shrieked, literally punching through one of the blasts with a flaming fist. “THOSE PEOPLE WERE INNOCENT!!!”

Captain Metal just crossed his arms. “Innocent? Me brothers and sisters obey yer every command, but our only reward is abuse!!! Ye organics are simply gettin’ whatcha deserve!!!”

Blaze then leapt high into the air, further propelling herself towards Captain Metal with her flames. “YOU SHALL BURN-!”

But then, Captain Metal suddenly grabbed Blaze by her neck and held her high in the air. “Perhaps one day! But not today!”

Blaze thrashed around in his grasp, even beginning to light her entire body ablaze with flames…until Captain Metal’s own body was surrounded in bright yellow energy, which began shocking Blaze. The Sol Princess screamed as her fire was canceled out and replaced with white hot agony.

Captain Metal, however, was completely unphased as he watched his foe shriek in pain. And when his field of energy disappeared, Blaze’s head hung low as groans fled from her throat. She was still alive, but seemed to barely be holding onto consciousness.

The robotic captain cackled. “If it puts yer mind at ease? Those sailors coulda survived their swim. Or not. I didn’t stick around to watch…but I’ll be makin’ sure ye sink right to the bottom.”

Earlier in the battle, Silver and Aura had been flying all around the fleet of ships and making sure that each one was still filled with people. Most of them were knocked unconscious and simply laying out on the deck, their weapons scattered across them. Some of them had to be hiding inside the ships themselves, which only made both heroes thankful that the pirates didn’t seem to be interested in sinking them.

But just as they were about to fly towards another?

Silver froze at the sound of Blaze’s pained screams and turned around. “BLAZE?!?”

Aura, seeming to have heard it as well, quickly whipped her head. “Oh no!!! She’s in trouble-!”

But then, Aura was suddenly knocked out of the air by a dark orange blur. The Princess of Divum began to fall through the sky, out cold.

Silver’s eyes widened in horror and he quickly held out his hands, using his psychokinesis to catch his unconscious ally. But just before he could let himself breathe, another scream dug into his ears. But it wasn’t Blaze’s voice.

The hero of the future turned his head to see a robot built to resemble a Mobian parrot flying right above him. It had wings with razor sharp ‘feathers’ on its back, pincher claws for hands, and a steel beak that stuck out from its dark orange paintjob. Yet, even from far away, Silver could see an almost deranged look in its digital eyes.

Silver gritted his teeth, quickly putting together that this twitching pirate was the thing that had knocked Aura unconscious. With a wave of his hand, he shot out a burst of psychokinetic energy.

But the parrot quickly dove downwards, flying right underneath the attack and racing towards Silver. It opened its beak, letting out another screech.

“I don’t think so!” Silver sneered as he waved his other hand, gently setting Aura down on one of the ships before shooting out both of his palms, suddenly freezing the bot in a psychokinetic hold.

The robotic parrot attempted to thrash around, but it was rendered completely immobile. All it could move was its beak, which he used to speak in a high pitched voice. “So, ye be a telepath!”

Silver’s eyes widened in shock, surprised that the robot could not only speak, but that he even knew what a telepath was.

“And that means ye need focus!” The parrot said before grinning wide. “Focus with this, bilge rat!!!”

Then, opening his beak, the parrot suddenly screamed out sonic waves. They hit Silver almost immediately, forcing him to cover his ears as he shrieked in agony. His psychokinetic glow began flickering on and off, with the hedgehog slowly beginning to fall out of the air bit by bit.

The parrot took that as his chance and flew forward at top speed, ramming Silver into one of the ships with a maniacal cackle.

Elsewhere in the battlefield however, Marine had successfully locked all the cannons on the technological pirate ship. She then growled a bit. “You blokes wanna see a real pirate? I’ll show you what a real pirate can do!!!”

Geo held up a hand. “On my signal, Marine! One!”

Marine held her own hand above the controls, ready to slam it down.

“Two! Thr-!”

But then, cutting Geo off and leaping from the ocean were two robotic sharks with the bodies of Mobians. Beyond their red and blue paintjobs, they looked completely identical with brown patches on their legs, steel-plated eyepatches, and fins that were as sharp as their trapjaw mouths. The Earth Prince was suddenly sent flying with a conjoined uppercut from the two sharks.

And just as Geo’s back hit the deck, so too did the twin’s mechanical feet.

Marine’s eyes widened. “Geo!!!”

The red shark noticed the ring-tailed sailor and smirked before suddenly flying to the helm of The Ocean Tornado in the blink of an eye. Before Marine could react or fire her ship’s weapons, the red shark grabbed her and threw her right beside Geo with all his might.

The blue shark watched the young raccoon cry out in pain as she made her hard landing, with the robotic pirate crossing his arms at the sight. “Aye, they’re down!!”

The red shark then leapt down from the helm, landing beside his twin. “Ya think the Cap’n’ll let us keep this ship, Swash? It be lookin’ real shiny!”

‘Swash’ began to scratch his trapjaw mouth. “The Cap’n be generous! But not that generous, Buckle!”

“But we never stole another ship before!” Buckle cried.

“Bolt-Brain! That be what we doin’ right now!”

Geo then forced himself to his feet, snarling. “This ship belongs to us!!! And I refuse to let a pair of greedy pirates take it!!!”

Swash and Buckle turned towards the royal lizard and smirked. Then, dashing in opposite directions, the two swerved around the deck before charging at Geo in unison. While Buckle threw a punch across Geo’s face, Swash delivered another to The Earth Prince’s sides.

Geo was forced to his knees, but had little time to recover as the twin sharks kicked him across the chin and once again sent him flying across The Ocean Tornado’s bridge.

Finally, aboard the pirate’s black and gold vessel, Metal Blaze had flown up to what she could only assume were the ship’s controls below their flag. She quickly got to work, typing away as she granted herself access to the ‘anchors’ that were keeping the fleet’s head ship close to them.

But just as she was about to deactivate them, a green mechanical tentacle suddenly wrapped around her wrist and pulled it back. Metal Blaze quickly turned her head to see that she wasn’t alone.

“Sorry, lass!” A feminine voice cried. “Can’t let ye do that!”

Metal Blaze’s digital eyes glowed a bright yellow as she stared down what was now her opponent. Then with all her might, she pulled her arm forward and thus flung the tentacled pirate across the air.

The mechanical tentacle unraveled around Metal Blaze’s wrist just in time for the pirate to almost expertly land on her feet. She looked to be a robotic squid of some kind, with tentacles sprouting from her steely head. Wrapped around her green and silver exterior was a long black coat with golden trimming, which shined alongside a golden hook on her hand.

Metal Blaze flew into the air, hovering above her enemy as she empowered her claws with flames. “You will not stand in my way.”

The robotic squid just hummed. “I just got one question for ye then! Why are ye working with these fleshbags?!”

“That is none of your concern-”

“Me first mate has a point…”

Metal Blaze quickly turned around to see Captain Metal with an unconscious Blaze right in his grasp. The robotic rapscallion slowly stepped onto the bridge of his ship just as the deranged parrot flew above them, tossing an out cold Aura and Silver right on the deck.

And then, flying out from behind Captain Metal were Swash and Buckle, who were carrying a barely conscious Geo and a knocked out Marine. The twin sharks each had wicked grins spread across their sharp-toothed faces.

Metal Blaze’s digital eyes widened at the sight and her flames quickly started to grow. “What have you done…?”

“Calm down, lass. Ye ain’t sharin’ their fate.” Captain Metal said, dropping Blaze and allowing her to fall with the rest of her defeated comrades. “Kraken, grab Reggie’s newest gizmos for our ‘guests’.”

Kraken saluted, grabbing each of The Elemental Alliance with her tendrils. “Aye-eye, Cap’n!”

Metal Blaze took a step to stop her, but Captain Metal simply held up his hand.

“Now, now, if ye don’t want them to get hurt, they won’t. I just wanna talk with ye, Metal Blaze.” The robot captain said in a surprisingly gentle tone.

Metal Blaze immediately turned back towards Captain Metal. “You…know who I am?”

Captain Metal crossed his arms. “What kinda bot would I be if I didn’t know me own sister’s name…?”