Cosmo's Flower Emporium - The Aftermath

[Xeric]

The shop was-- well, you probably couldn't even tell it was a shop anymore. The only thing left in contact was the cash register, which had partially melted. The flames had burned down to mere cinders.



"Urgh!" Cosmo moaned as she was flung out of the Special Zone, into what remained of her shop. She pulled herself up over the counter, and slowly opened her eyes.

"I.. My..."

[Mage]

Above Cosmo, yet another portal showing the shimmering scenery that is the Special Zone had opened up above the ruins of the store. It suddenly spat out a silhouette of a person, along with 7 stones as well. The unknown figure looked beaten and bruised, her clothes were scoffed as well. Her eyes were shut tight as she dropped down far, it was almost like the poor girl was knocked out. "..." She came closer and closer to the ground and still showed no signs of waking back up, it could be the end soon. But suddenly, determination of hope arose in her body. Almost by instinct, her eyes snapped open and her head looked down at the ground she was about to hit. To avoid this, she tucked her body in tight, making a short spin in midair before managing to impact the ground on her feet and scatter a small dust cloud. This might have looked graceful, but the moment she struck the ground a grunt of pain echoed in the air. "Ngh..." The emeralds that flew out dropped to the shop ruins too, making clattering noises as all 7 spread out around the cat.

Once she regained her second wind, Blaze stood up tall, trying her best to ignore the pain. She then looked up to the portal of the Special Zone, as it started to shrink. "I'm...alright?" The battle with Maze was dangerous, but it appears she made it out still breathing. With a deep inhale and exhale, Blaze lowered her head and closed her eyes, thanking her lucky stars she survived.

[Lans]

"AUUUGH!"

*WHUMP-CRASH*

Something mostly red and whitle fell through a portal just behind Blaze, making a belly-flop only a burnt section of flooring, crashing right through it.


"...Ow," came Katie's groan up out of the new hole.

[Xeric]

Cosmo managed to stand up in what remained of her shop. As she walked around, her footprints left their mark in the soot, the occasional screeching sound could be heard from the remaining support beams. She pulled herself over one of the roofs now demolished support beams, and headed for Katie.

"A-are you okay?" she asked. Cosmo didn't really know how to feel at the moment. Her shop had be demolished by a Purple Cat, Her robotic counterpart and rather singed hedgehog.

"Wait.. where did those two hedgehogs go..? I didn't see them leave. Come to mention it, neither did that robotic cat." she questioned as she knelt down next to Katie.

[Mage]

When Katie suddenly slammed behind her, Blaze's eyes widened a bit in shock; though she tried not to show it through the rest of her body. Either way, she turned to Cosmo and Katie and walked over to them, making tiny creaking sounds as she walked across the floor. She knelled over the burned hole at Katie and called down to her. "Are you alright, Katie?" Although a crash like that might say the obvious on reflection...

[Lans]

Actually, aside from a rough landing, the fox girl appeared reletively unharmed. "Yeah, I think so," she said, getting up. "I think I managed to...slow myself," she giggled excitedly. "Wow, this is so cool," she said, refering to her awakened gifted powers. She then suddenly seemed to realize that she was still in a hole. "Um, can I get a hand out...please?" she asked.

[Xeric]

"Oh.. er, right." Cosmo reached down into the whole, holding her hand out to Katie. "Could you lend a Hand, miss.. Blaze, was it?" she asked.

[Mage]

"Yes, and of course." Blaze was surprised Cosmo wasn't enraged at the moment, what with her shop in ashes right now. But she figured they'll be getting to working that problem out later, for now the cat reached her arm down the hold at Katie.

[Lans]

"Thankies," the she said as she graped both their hands and used them to help pull herself out. She then brushed her self off a bit while she looked around. "Anyone seen my gear?"

[Xeric]

"Erm.. no, sorry. I'm sure it'll turn up." she replied. Cosmo wandered into what remained of her store room, luckily, not everything inside had been destroyed. "The door must of acted as a sheild" she thought. She took a first aid kit from a shelf, and wrapped a pieces of bandage around her slightly grazed wrist. She came back into the derelict shop. "Do either of you need any medical attention?" she asked.

[Mage]

"Attention?" She looked at her wounds from the last battle, they were pretty bad alright. "Yes, thank you." Blaze went back to gathering the emeralds fallen on the ground, finally her search had come to an end. "All 7, thank goodness..."

[Lans]

"Nah, I'm fine," Katie told her, though she looked worriedly at the princess, who did look pretty beat up, like she'd done a face planter in the middle of a half-pipe...several times.

[Xeric]

Cosmo sat next to Blaze, took out some bandages and began wrapping the bandages around her arm. Her mind was elsewhere though.

"Where do I go from here..? What do I do?" she thought to herself.

[Mage]

When Cosmo started wrapping her arm, Blaze tried to keep her eyes on the emeralds she just recovered. She never forgot that she was party to the shop's destruction, and mission or not the cat still had to live with that. 'What can I say from here...'

[Lans]

"So..." Katie said while she sifted through the rubble of the shop, eventually extracting her gear from under a fallen beam. "We go home now, right? I mean that's how it worked last time, you and the hedgie dude got the emeralds back and fixed everything."

[Xeric]

Cosmo finished wrapping Blazes' wounds and stood up next to her. "Their we go, you're good to go.." she said as she cleaned away the First Aid kit. She returned the kit to the storeroom, and returned with a sweeping brush. "Well.. at least something survived.."

*Sweep, Sweep*

[Mage]

"Huh?" Said the cat as she was taken out of her wandering phase. "Not quite yet, Katie. Despite getting all the emeralds together, these alone will not suffice." She stood up putting them all away on her person. "Last time it was just me, so it wasn't that hard for me to get home. However, now most of Sol's populace is here." She crossed her arms. "We should meet with Tails and see if he's set for this." Then she looked up in the sky. "And alert the rest of Sol's population as well."

[Lans]

"Yeah...about that," Katie said a bit hesitantly, unsure if it was ok to correct royalty even when the were dead wrong. "You see...you weren, exactly, the only one last time." She motioned to her board. "You couldn't exactly get these in any Soleanna sports store before I brought a couple back with me last time...."

[Mage]

"Not the only..." When Katie mentioned that and the fact that her extreme gear wasn't originally from Sol, it hit the cat like a brick to the back of the head. She put her hands on Katie's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Wait, you came to Chaos before? But how?!" Blaze was sure she was the only one pulled in Chaos the first time, yet another person was pulled in? Needless to say, she was flabbergasted.

[Lans]

Katie just started at her wide eyed for a moment. After all, what the heck are you supposed to do when the freakin PRINCESS grabs you and starts yelling in your face? "I-I don't really know exactly... All of a sudden there was this bright light and...BAM!"

[Xeric]

Cosmo didn't really pay much attention to their conversation, she was more occupied with her charcoaled pile of rubbish she once called her home. She let out a sigh, and carried on sweeping, even though she knew it wouldn't help a single bit.

[Mage]

When Blaze found some fear in Katie's eyes, her own eyes suddenly let up. She found out that she might have gone too far with the situation and over reacted, giving the poor girl quite a scare. Knowing this, the princess let go and slightly bowed her head down in shame. "K.Katie, I didn't mean to overreact, you were pulled into it last time like you were now. I apologize..." Blaze was still curious at exactly how it happened, but she'll find that out later.

[Lans]

"Oh no no!" Katie said hastily. "It's ok. I mean, princesses are aloud to do that sorta thing, right? Besides..." she said, grinning again, "I think all this is pretty wicked awesome."

[Mage]

When Katie said that, it made Blaze raise her head back up looking at her for a short time. Before holding back a small laugh and smile. "Heh, for a second you sounded like..." Her mind drifted off to Sonic, how he'd laugh in the face of trouble and simply dash head first into it. "Never mind." She shook her head, trying to get back on track. "At any rate, why don't we try to look for Tails. Hopefully by now, he has a way for us to return home. We also have all the Sol Emeralds, and I'd rather not run into Maze again." The cat shivered at the very thought of fighting Maze AGAIN.

[Lans]

"Sweet!" Katie exclaimed, dropping her gear to the ground and hopping on, starting it up at the same time. "Let's zip!" And with that, the fox girl blasted off down the street...

...Only to turning around and stop back in front of the princess again.

"Uh...who's Tails and where does he live?"

[Mage]

When she zipped in front of Blaze, she took a moment to think. "Well, Tails is Sonic's closest friend and a genius mechanic. As for where he is..." That's when it hit Blaze: She doesn't know where his workshop is. She forced out an awkward sigh while looking down with her eyes closed in embarrassment. "To be honest, I don't know. Perhaps we should ask around town." Her eyes then trailed to Cosmo and yet another idea hit, she couldn't leave without making peace. So she started walking over to Cosmo with that one subject in mind. "Excuse me." She called out.

[Xeric]

Cosmo glanced up at the approaching feline, then resumed sweeping.

"Erm.. is something wrong? How can I help?"

She'd tried so hard to ignore them both.. Damn her courteous ways.

[Mage]

She stopped before her and closed her eyes while bringing her head down slightly. "I wanted to apologize for your shop, I won't deny what happened here." She then brought it up and opened her eyes again. "I want to make this all up to you, but I am afraid my current mission prevents me from doing so. But I will when I can, miss..." The feline asked for Cosmo's name at the last word.

[Lans]

"And plus we could...you know...use directions to this Tails guy's place?" Katie put in.

[Xeric]

"C-Cosmo.. my names Cosmo" she sighed.

She looked arond the shop and looked at Katie. "Tails..? I'm not sure I know anybody by that name; Unless you're talking about that orange fox who lives in the Mystic ruins; I'm pretty sure his name is Miles or something. I used to see him a lot back when I lived in the Mystic Ruins. I never spoke to him but heared things about him on my travels.."

She placed her broom against one of the remaining walls and sighed. "Maybe I can show you? Their isn't much I can do here to be honest, and I'd love to return home for a little while?"