Sandopolis: Hunt in the Desert Sands!

[candescence]

Part of the floating island was a desert, covered by ancient ruins... Not everyone was happy about that.


"Ugh, this is soooo hot! I'm so glad I'm riding by bike right now, I don't think I could stand running like this!" Carol groaned, as they moved, "how the hell can you run with that fur?!"


"I have endured worse," Blaze replied simply. "Let us not waste time. We must retrieve the other Emeralds before Chaos does."


"Pretty much, and there's supposed to be one here..."

[kelik]

"Whooooa..." He looked around the desert, amazed. "...this place is beautiful...blue skies, not a single cloud...the sand looks like gold..." It's like Silver was a complete foreigner.

[candescence]

"What are you doing? Surely you have seen such things before," Blaze said.


"It's a desert, there's nothing here..."

[kelik]

"...oh, well..." He looked over, a bit embarrassed. "I ah...I'm just taking in the scenery. We've been on the road for a while now..."

[candescence]

"Heh..."


"Hey, Carol, where'd you get the new bike upgrades, anyway?"


"Oh, the Land of the Sky has this cooooool new tech called 'Extreme Gears'! You can get stuff like hoverboards and hoverbikes over there! A mechanic upgraded my bike for free!"


"Huh. Interesting."

[kelik]

He nodded. "Yeah, that's right..." While he was amazed by the scenery, he still had lingering thoughts on what the older man said. Blaze had Iblis inside of her...it really caused a lot of mixed emotions in the Hedgehog. It also raised a lot of questions. "Uh, Blaze? Can I ask you something...that guy, err the Magistrate? He said you had Iblis sealed in you...do you know what is it exactly?"

[candescence]

"He is the Royal Magister of Shang Tu. And I had no idea of such a thing until he told me. I knew about Solaris, but the entity known as Iblis, I presumed to be just some monster."


"What happened that caused your kingdom to be destroyed?"


"Some fool likely broke Solaris' seal, I imagine," Blaze sighed.


"Yeah, you can say that again. Who'd be stupid enough to touch the seal holding back an evil god who wants to enslave us all?"

[kelik]

"Hm..." Well, that was a bummer. Wait... "Your kingdom was destroyed?"

[candescence]

"A disaster years ago. Until the source of it can be properly sealed or destroyed, I had to stay in the ruined capital to contain it," Blaze said. "The majority of my people have fled to the Land of the Sky."


"Huh," they both blinked.

[kelik]

He just looked in awe of the story. Seems things were coming together...somewhat. He was still confused. "That's very noble of you, Blaze..."

[candescence]

"It was simply my duty as Princess," Blaze replied. "The attempted theft of the Sol Emeralds was a much more pressing matter, however. I can hunt down the demons were spawned after we deal with this mess."


"Still... Chaos has two of the emeralds..."


"We'll just have to figure out how to take him down, then."

[kelik]

"Princess...!" He looked over at Blaze in shock. "Wait, you're a princess?!" First time digesting that after all the chaos.

[candescence]

"... Oh, did I not mention that before? That's why I know the Magister. I met him when I was young, before the disaster."


"Carol and I just know him because we're from Avalice and we had to work with him to stop Brevon. And he had us arrested for a bit. Long story."

[kelik]

"Oh, I see..." He was still a bit surprised at that. He'd never met a royal before. "Well ah...should I address you as princess from now on then? Or...well..."

[candescence]

"It matters not how you address me at this point, we are already acquainted enough as it is. At any rate..." Blaze focused, trying to get a better idea of where the Emerald was.

[kelik]

"Right, right...Blaze." He nodded, and went back to looking too. But while he did, quite a few thoughts came across. '...if I can keep Iblis sealed, then the future will be ok...but will that really work? I can't exactly watch her forever...' He blushed a bit, knowing that would be seen as creepy. '...and what does Sonic have to do with it's awakening? Do they even know each other...?'

[candescence]

"Hmm... You know that mural we found, Blaze? I think the hedgehog in it is supposed to be Sonic. I wasn't sure before, but I think it is, it looks like him, and he's collected the Chaos Emeralds before..."


"Hmm... But that doesn't explain why it depicts us fighting. And if the Kingdom Stone is already merged with the Master Emerald... Did the ancient peoples get the prediction wrong...?"


"I don't wanna fight Sonic, though, I haven't even met him yet!"


"... Once again, I have no idea what you guys are talking about."

[kelik]

"!" He looked over at the dragon girl. "Mural of Sonic...?" He asked, very curious.

[candescence]

"We found a huge mural in an ancient, flooded city. It depicted me, Blaze and 'Sonic' fighting, using the Kingdom Stone, Sol Emeralds, and Chaos Emeralds, respectively," Lilac said.


"Huh... Weird. You don't have any reason to fight Sonic."


"Neither do I. I have heard that prophecies are not set in stone, however. Our very knowledge of it might have completely derailed it. But for now, we should be wary of an indications that might lead us into conflict with him. If he's as much of a hero as I've heard he is, then he is better off on our side, not as our enemy."

[kelik]

"..." That only worried him more. The chance of fighting Sonic might be stronger than before, and he didn't like it...his face grew a bit intense. "...well, it doesn't matter what comes our way, I won't let you get hurt like that again." He rose his hand a bit and clenched it, determined. He walked off to keep looking for the Emerald, going quiet.