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Blaze has never been a thrill seeker. She has always fought and explored for the sake of her duty, using her powers to protect her world, her people, and the emeralds that she derives her powers from. All that to say, she’s never really thought to run around just for the sake of it.
As she takes another step forward, her backfoot lifts to release a blast of fire and she is propelled much faster than a single step can take her. The fire immediately dissipates so as to not harm the nature around her. The motions are nearly as intuitive as breathing at this point, which has come from years of using her abilities to save her kingdom.
Yet, even with all her experience, there is someone faster. Ahead of her, a blue blur kicks up dust, and so she speeds up to match the increased pace. Fire swirls around her entire body as she blazes forward, breaking the sound barrier and leaving a booming echo in her wake. She looks over at the blue hedgehog, who she is now eye to eye with. His hands are held behind his head, and he looks at her with a grin as he runs with his back facing towards the horizon. He has been running backward this whole time. How is he enjoying this?
“Sonic! Can we-”, Blaze struggles to get words out in between breaths, “Can we take a quick break?”
“What? We’ve barely reached the other side of the continent!” Sonic replies.
Blaze shoots him an annoyed glare, and Sonic holds his both hands up to her in a nervous surrender.
“Okay okay! No need to give me that fiery death stare!”
Sonic, ever the dramatic, flips into the air, coils his body, then begins to spin. His feet land on the ground hard, and he extends his left foot forward so as to brake, while his right foot stays stationary. Extending his hands to his sides as he stops, he stands up to his max height and holds out double peace signs with his two hands. Blaze rolls her eyes as she points both her hands in front of her and shoots a brief gust of fire to slow down, then spins on the tip of her shoes, before coming to a complete stop herself in one fluid motion.
“When you asked me if I wanted to join you on a ‘fun trip’,” Blaze starts, wiping the sweat from her brow, “I was not expecting a race from one coast to the other.”
Sonic looks at her in faux disappointment. “You didn’t expect me to take you on a race? I must not be expressing my brand well enough.” He chuckles as Blaze lightly punches him in the shoulder.
“All our previous trips have been using the Tornado.” Blaze says, clearly not amused. “I can’t imagine what compelled you to have the two of us run the entire way.”
Sonic shrugs, “I thought it would be fun.”
“Sonic, I am more tired than I would be in some fights with the pirates back in my kingdom.”
Sonic stands behind her as he lifts up his left foot, and begins wiping the dust off his shoe with his hand. “Ok in my defense, it has been a long time since I’ve been to this particular zone. I forgot how far away it was!”
All Blaze can do is groan at that remark, and then she begins to look around. Around them are massive Jungle trees, with tops that cover the skyline. The sun beams down through the thin leaves, and it highlights the green moss that is growing all around them. The grass goes about halfway to her ankles, and there are puddles of water all around, none deep, but there are clear signs of rain. A small frog skips along the clearing, bouncing into and out of a puddle while leaving a small ripple.
“Well … I guess it was worth the trip, this forest is lovely.” She says with a smile.
“Of course it was,” Sonic says with a smirk, as he puts his foot down, “I’m the best planetary tour guide around!”
She gives him a deadpan stare. “Our first ‘vacation spot’ was the heart of Prison Island.”
Sonic looks at her confused and tilts his head. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Besides the name? Maybe that I had to ask Vanilla to repair the blast marks the G.U.N. drones left on my dress!” She exclaims.
“So my destination choices this past week have been … exciting-”
“Dangerous.”
“Exciting! I just want to show you the best our world has to offer. But don’t worry,” Sonic walks ahead of Blaze, and moves a large leaf to the side, holding his hands towards the dense forest ahead, “Frog Forest is as fun as it gets.”
“Somehow,” Blaze says with a smile, “I doubt that.”
This trip, along with the week she has spent in Sonic’s world, has quickly made her realize that Sonic and her spend their personal time in very different ways. To him, fun was just another adventure, saving the world, or just running circles across the planet. To her, however, fun was … was what exactly?
Blaze walks as she thinks, with Sonic not far behind. As they enter the depths of the mossy forest, Blaze is surrounded by intermittent croaking sounds. While they are loud, it's also quite soothing as well. She notes how the name “Frog Forest '' is as on the nose as it gets, though she internally laughs as it can’t be anymore on the nose than "Sonic" or “Blaze".
They shift through the trees for a bit, until they end up on a dirt path, which they enter and begin to travel on. The path has an upward incline, and Blaze looks down to see a small river below the path they are traveling. Blaze realizes Sonic stopped talking, so she turns to her side to see him dragging his hand along the nearby trees simply examining the scenery with a relaxed expression. Seeing the way he interacts with nature, it becomes astonishing to connect that same blue hedgehog to the multiversal hero she just finished racing half an hour prior.
“How do you do it?” She whispers.
“Do what?” Sonic replies, As a small frog climbs down the bark Sonic had his hand on. He looks at it quizzically.
Blaze jumps slightly. “Sorry! I- I was thinking out loud.”
The frog rests on the back of Sonic’s hand as he lifts it off the tree. He uses his other hand to slowly pet the resting frog, and turns to Blaze with a grin. “Should I be flattered or worried that you are thinking about me?”
“I just … wish I could be more like you” Blaze says in disappointment.
Sonic looks at her, shocked. “The interdimensional fire princess wants to be more like me?” He shifts his hands, allowing the frog to jump from his hand to his shoulder. He then rubs his chin. “How come?”
Blaze smiles pensively. “All this,” She says, extending her hands towards the nature around them. “You live so free, never stopping for anyone and anything. You can jump from world saving to chili dog eating at the drop of a hat. I just do not understand how you don’t lose yourself to it all.”
Blaze leans back against one of the trees beside her, and tilts her head towards the ground, looking at the frogs relaxing in the grass. “And I …” Blaze pauses as she thinks about what she is about to say.
“I do not know how to do the same. I want to, but every time we explore your world it just makes me want to hone my skills or prepare for a fight to defend this beautiful world. I can’t take my guard down, even though I know I should.” She slumps as she talks, and then slides against the tree until she is sitting on the vibrant green grass. The frogs that were nearby get startled and all hop away into the forest. She frowns.
Sonic stares at her solemnly, letting the silence ring after Blaze finishes talking. He then walks up to where she is sitting, leans down and sticks out his hand.
“You wanna see something cool?”
Blaze looks up at him confused. “What does that have to-” She is cut off by Sonic moving his hand to block her mouth and stop her from speaking.
“Hey, world class tour guide here, let me work my magic,” He says with a wink. “Now you wanna see something cool or not?”
Blaze, for a brief moment, shoots him an annoyed look for being ignored, but she shrugs it off and takes his hand as he pulls her off the ground.
Sonic then takes his free hand and moves the frog from his shoulder to the top of his head, and then cups the frog carefully with his hand, holding it in place.
She looks at Sonic holding the frog with one hand, and her hand in his other. “Sonic, what are you doing?” She says, and in response Sonic looks at her with a smirk.
Within a fraction of a second, the trees around Blaze become a blur. Her ears are assaulted by the sound of the air being split in front of them, only interrupted by each step the Blue Hedgehog holding her hand takes. As she looks at him, she sees his wide grin even from behind, and the careful holding of the frog over his head.
Running with Sonic is nothing like when she runs. Each stride is so powerful and so rapid that even while she is part of his dash she can only see every tenth step, as his feet move so rapidly she can barely make out any motion at all. While she covers more distance per stride, He takes hundreds of steps in the time it would take her to make one. He swerves around large trees like they are nothing, and he uses the large roots on the ground as hurdles to jump over. Even while holding her he is still having fun while he runs. If anything, she thinks he probably enjoys the challenge.
She feels the air around her slow down for a second, as Sonic uses a particularly large root as a platform, He plants both feet hard onto the bark.
“Wait Sonic-” Blaze begins, but is cut off by Sonic’s hand pulling hers straight into the air. Several meters into the air, Sonic uses his right foot to kick off from an adjacent tree, then uses his left to bounce off a particularly large branch. Foot to foot, tree to tree, he rhythmically ascends up the massive jungle wood.
As they reach the top of the tree line, the branches and bark begin to extend farther and get thicker. “Get ready!” Sonic shouts, as he pulls Blaze past himself and throws her above the highest branch. She recognizes what to do, landing on her feet and using the momentum to grind across the branch.
From below, She hears a familiar and loud “ YAHOO”. Glancing down, Sonic is flipping between branches to keep up. Looking past him, she sees the ground below and tenses up with vertigo. She knows she can see the bottom, but it’s as if she is staring down to an abyss, the colors of the ground fade from view to her.
“Sonic! Can we not get there from the ground?” She shouts, as she breaks into a sweat, losing confidence in her grinding.
Sonic looks up at her and winces. “Sorry!” He yells back, “I forgot about the heights!”
He stops himself on a branch, uses his now free hand as a grip, then crouches down to build up strength. He then launches upward, then uses the momentum to run up the tree he is beside. Then, launching off of the tree, he lands in front of Blaze, starting in a crouch and then grabbing Blaze’s arm with his free hand as he accelerates.
“You didn’t seem to notice when we were together,” Sonic says with a chuckle. The little frog on his head then lets out a ribbit.
Blaze blushes briefly as she lets out a huff. “Did you bring me all the way up here just to tease me?”
“Nooooo …” Sonic says, looking away from her as he laughs nervously.
Why did he travel like this? The zig zagging, unnecessary jumps, and detours even though he could have easily taken her in a straight line to where he wanted to go. This didn’t feel like we were visiting a spot, it felt like the two of them were on a chase! Her heart was racing, yet they weren’t in any danger.
The air blows past them as they slide through the trees, Sonic clearly looking around for something, his head stops as he curls down his body posture. Blaze attempts to follow his gaze, seeing a particularly colorful tree which has yellow buds that are about half her height. The hung off of vines that rest on the large tree.
“Let’s go!” Sonic yells as he leaps down from the sturdy branch, moving the frog from his head to his side as he holds it with care. Blaze, startled, is unprepared while getting pulled down to the ground, letting out a yelp before beginning to compose herself. Sonic lets go of her as he goes into a summersault, grabs onto one of the vines of the fruit bearing tree, and swings off as he lands on the ground with one knee and one foot. Blaze lands shortly after, having used her fire to propel her slightly, allowing for a slow and safe descent.
Upon closer inspection, Blaze sees that they are not on the ground, but rather a large, flat topped, mushroom. Others of various sizes circle the large fruit tree in front of them, going to higher and lower elevations.
“We are here!” Sonic exclaims, setting down the frog who joined him for the speedy parkour. The frog begins to croak and bounce around. “What do you think of the best view in the forest, Blaze?”
“This is … nice.” Blaze says, though not with much feeling. She turns to Sonic, who is currently crouched down patting the head of the frog that joined them on this little excursion. “But I don’t get why we needed to go through that harrowing route just to get to a slightly different spot in the forest.”
“Harrowing”, Sonic says while using his hands to make air quotations, slightly insulted, “I take her on one of my favorite thrill routes, and she calls it harrowing.” He begins to walk toward the edge of the platform they are on.
Blaze looks at him worried, thinking she might have offended him. This thought is cut off by the thump of Sonic dropping into a sitting position. He looks back at her with a smile, patting the spot to the left of himself- clearly signaling for Blaze to take a seat. She slips down next to him, taking care to sit without making as much sound as he did.
It is quiet for a moment. Blaze sits crisscrossed, posture straight up, and her attention focused on the hedgehog. He, by contrast, is leaning back, held up by his arms, and has left his legs to dangle off the side of the mushroom.
“Blaze,” Sonic starts, “when I learned you’d be staying around for a while, I was really excited. Not just because you’re my friend, but because that is exactly what I fight Eggman for.”
“You fight the doctor so I can visit you?” Blaze says, now looking at him quizzically.
“No no no-” Sonic waves his hand, as if to shoo away the idea, “I fight him so that everyone has the chance to live how they want when they want. To explore the planet that is as cool and blue as me!” As he says that, he chuckles.
“That's why you keep taking me places?”
“Well, at first I was hoping you’d take yourself places, but after a few days I realized you wouldn’t,” He turns to her now, “I was hoping you just needed a little nudge, that you’d start doing things your own way, but you’ve been so- so-”
Realizing Sonic is struggling to find the words, she continues for him, “In my own head?”
“Exactly!” he exclaims, “In your own head!”
“I just have never had time like this before,” Blaze says, slumping, “You run around living free as the wind in a world you adore, well I spent my life training and fighting to protect a world I only got to enjoy through pictures framed in a castle and paperwork.”
Sonic stays silent as Blaze pauses. She lets out a huff as she extends her arm forward then flicks her wrist. Fire begins to spin around her hand, dissipating a second later leaving the purple Sol Emerald in its wake.
Blaze turns to Sonic with a small smile, with sadness clearly hidden behind it. “Sonic, I just realized that you and I are very similar to our respective Emeralds.”
“I didn’t know you thought I was that beautiful.” Sonic says, winking at her.
Blaze chokes for a moment at the comment, making Sonic laugh. She tries to ignore him as she continues. “What I meant was, the Chaos Emeralds reside freely in your world, moving location and resurfacing as needed. You call on their power, Eggman tries to use them for evil, and they are involved in nearly every major event, however nothing ties them down. The Sol Emeralds on the other hand …” Blaze looks away from Sonic and at her own reflection in the shine of the Emerald, before tossing the Emerald in the air and watching it disappear in a brief flame. “They have seldom left my person since I united them and used their full power alongside you for the first time. They are always on hand for any crisis, constantly using their powers for the protection of the world-”
Sonic cuts her off by flicking her in the forehead.
“Hey!” Blaze yells in annoyance, “What was that for?” She turns back to him, clearly aggravated.
“You are doing it again, Blaze. There is no need to think that hard about it. So what if you see a similarity between the emeralds and ourselves?” He rolls his eyes, but is clearly just doing it for dramatic effect, “I’ve been adventuring since before I even knew there were seven of those things. And you were saving people since before you even knew how to use them. Those rocks have nothing to do with how adventurous I am or how strong you are!” Sonic then stands up, arms on his hips as he looks back at the horizon. The frog that was close to him hops towards Blaze as it rests on her lap. “No one told me to go and explore, you know. I simply decided that for myself, and I haven’t looked back. You’d have to be crazy to turn away from views like these, don’tcha think?”
As Blaze looks forward, she hears a ribbit reverberate from the forest below. Then, shooting past the trees, a large frog leaps into view. As its limbs extend from the hop, it lets out a croak which makes the trees around them shake and the platform the two rest on twitch. The large frog then falls back down to the forest below. The frog on Blazes lap hops away after the larger one.
After a brief pause, the duo begin to laugh at the scene they just witnessed. Blaze puts her hands on her knees as she picks herself up. In hindsight, she feels stupid for even thinking about not visiting this place. With the anxiety washing away, a new feeling is taking it's place: Excitement.
“Yeah … I guess you would have to be crazy.” Blaze states, breaking the brief silence. “So where to next, oh great ‘planetary tour guide’?”
Sonic pumps his first in excitement. “I’m glad you asked!” He starts to stretch as Blaze looks at him in anticipation. “It’s just going to be a quick jog to the other side of the planet.” He grins at her.
Blaze begins to stretch as well. “Only you would call that a quick jog.” She sounds annoyed, but is clearly smiling back at him.
“Trust me, the sights in Chun nan are definitely worth the trip. They have a wall so long it takes me real effort to cross it!” Sonic gets into a running stance, hands on the ground. He looks at her with his signature smirk, filling her with more excitement than his words did. “Ready to have some serious fun?”
Blaze copies his stance. “For the first time since I’ve gotten here, I think I am.”