Written by Joshua David Tarwater
Special Thanks - @Cutegirlmayra
Illustration - SmilesFPS (SmilesFPS www.twitter.com)
Logo Design - Xenoko (XenokoYT www.twitter.com)

♪ ~ [Hold Your Breath ~ RYO ~ BRAVELY SECOND END LAYER Original Soundtrack]

Clouds pulling off a vermillion hued vessel.
A hull like a split avocado.
A giant steel and canvas skinned balloon.
Sails, propellers, rotors, and wings in plethora.
The sea rolling out well below the vessel.
Forest covered mountains rising like grass-stained fingers.
Perhaps in kind welcome.
Perhaps in threatening grasping.

“Really Mr. Sonic, you really wrecked another fine set of autogolems. You really are making it hard for me to replace my crew.”

Speaking in a voice that was slow with sleepiness, yet held astounding vigor, a white sapient mouse woman stood at the bow of the red airship.

Blister the Mouse.

She was tiny at only about half a meter tall. Not unremarkable in itself, but the pack she carried was twice as large as herself at least and was easily larger than Sonic. The mane of white curls atop her head fell into her large blue eyes and surprisingly did not get in the way. Garbed in a long-sleeved white blouse-like dress under a blue poncho, she would have appeared fairly plain if not for her left hand, with its flat, plated fingers revealing the clockwork arm hidden by her sleeve. One of two adorned with a patch of a cogwheel around a human skull above two wrenches crossed in an “X” shape. The same symbol could be found on the blue flag with a vertical white stripe flying on the vessel.

Looking down past the ship’s prow at the vast, mountainous, forest covered archipelago below, she smiled cat like at the twinkling reflections of sunlight off of metal. Her mechanical hand also caught the eclipsed sun’s rays and she looked up at the small planet that blocked the sun. Yoluku.

“Hmm. I got lucky Mr. Yoluku. The Engineers are here so I should be able to get some new autogolems to try and best Mr. Sonic with. Maybe I can get some new information and wares to sell too.”

Walking away from the bow, Blister crossed the deck of her airship and clapped her hands, getting the attention of the plethora of autogolems that served as her crew.

“Prepare to take us in! We have a lot of work to do!”

Looking back over her shoulder for a moment, the joyful sleepiness of Blister’s smile grew stressed. “Still, it’s a troublesome Zone you’ve led me to Mr. Sonic. So many islands. Where could you and your cute little companion be hiding?”

♪ ~ [Gathelatio, Seat of the Orthodoxy ~ RYO ~ BRAVELY SECOND END LAYER Original Soundtrack]

Sailed and winged clockwork steam vessels.
Clad in propellers, rotors, and occasionally oars.
In the water and sky and moored in both.
Shifting blocks covered in geometric blue lines of light.
Countless schools and laboratories built over them.
White flags with a single blue vertical stripe flying.
A brass wrench superimposed on a matching cogwheel as decoration.

~W~O~W~!

~From above the structures were hard to make out, but as I brought the Tornado low and weaved between the tightly grouped sea fingers, the wonder of the Zone became apparent. There are so many people. It’s really amazing. And they seem to really be in the middle of studying everything.

~Tee-hee! That’s kind of silly of me to say really. Based on all the buildings, it’s like they’ve built a whole bunch of cities just to study the ruins here. It must be hard though with how Rings can move whole land masses and give rise to new ones based on their memories. Ooh~! I want to find the Rings that hold my memories, but they could be anywhere in the world. But Sonic seems pretty sure that they’re all in what he calls the Far Lands. It’s the name of the Zones we’re currently traveling in. The ones where that creep Yolk and the small planet that shares his name and is always blocking the sun are.

~Hmm…

~Sonic and I both need to learn more about him and the Far Lands as it is and the people here look to be studying everything, so maybe they know. I should wake Sonic up.

~Hee-hee… He’s been teaching me how to fly, but he hasn’t taught me to land yet. The Tornado may be fueled by Rings, so I can stay flying as long as I can collect them, but I’d really like to stretch my legs and check out this big pretty Zone!~

Craning her head back from the cockpit of the silver-winged red biplane, the Tornado, Rosy tried to spy Sonic on the upper wing. It was a fruitless exercise, so she called out to him instead. “Sonic! You have to teach me how to land!”

His ear twitching at Rosy’s shouting, Sonic sleepily half opened his eyes. A familiar itching sensation filled his nose, and he rubbed the underside of it with a finger. He was in danger.

“What type of trouble have you gotten us into now, Amy,” Sonic asked with a yawn as he stood up on the wing and stretched.

“I haven’t gotten us into any trouble at all,” Rosy puffed up her cheeks irritably.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Sonic countered and more fully opened his eyes. He froze a moment in surprise as his eyes landed on Yoluku in the sky above him. And the massive red Ring around it, of which three-fifths were a cogwheel.

“Oh boy…!” Sonic nigh whistled his discomfort as he lowered his eyes and found that Rosy had been flying them straight through the heart of a dense population area as though driving a car for a weekend drive. All around them, airships which Sonic knew belonged to a faction known as the Engineers surrounded them and he could not help but run his hand down his face.

“You know Amy,” Sonic began as he knelt down and peered over the wing at Rosy, and the Ring that replaced her left pupil. One that matched the one around Yoluku save for the red star in its center, the points of which were aligned with where the cogwheel and Ring met. The cogwheel that was turning.

“I’m pretty positive I warned you before that the Ring in your eye isn’t the only one, and that they cause all sorts of trouble.”

“You did,” Rosy agreed, looking away from Sonic a moment to check her reflection in the glass of the Tornado’s dashboard gauges. She puffed up her cheek at the sight of her replaced blue eye and tried not to wince. “But asides from the pain the one in my eye has been causing since we got here, I don’t really see any trouble. Besides, look at how many ships have come to escort us in~♥”

A flat look and sigh were all Sonic had to offer Rosy as he found himself forced to educate her. “I know Rings can cause memory loss here in the far Lands, but you do remember that the jerk up there is after you, right?”

“Uh-huh,” Rosy acknowledged, looking up at Yoluku as Sonic pointed at it with his thumb.

“And do you remember that I said he can control people with those Rings like the one in your eye?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What about the bit that if you can see the one around the big egg or that if the one in your eye is turning that it means there’s one somewhere in the Zone?”

“Wha–!” Rosy paled as her mouth dropped open in surprise. “No Sonic! You never told me that!”

“Really?” Sonic took his turn expressing surprise.

Rosy was not pleased and her cheeks puffed up and reddened from the force of her emotions. “Sonic, you dummy! How could you forget to tell me something so important! What do we do now!”

“Calm down, Amy,” Sonic ordered as he stood back up and rubbed the underside of his nose with a finger again. Looking at the formation of the airships around him he smirked. “Heh! Time for you to learn some crazier flying maneuvers! These ships stand no chance keeping up with an actual plane!”

~Sometimes I can’t believe Sonic. He can be so, so… Ooh~! I need to pay attention to his instructions. Flying like this isn’t easy at all~!~

With Sonic instructing her and enjoying himself far too much as he desperately fought to stay on the Tornado’s wings, Rosy flew the Tornado in a wild maneuver that took them right out of the escort of ships and clear into the sky above. The airships attempted to chase after them, but the maneuverability needed to follow the small biplane was well beyond them. The cloudless blue skies however meant that they could continue to pursue.

“Awfully stubborn,” Sonic mused as he resumed his nose rubbing. “I guess we’re going to have to lose them. You probably won’t like this though, Amy.”

“Maybe you should take over,” Rosy laughed nervously, and was fortunate not to be able to see Sonic’s smirk.

“Not happening,” Sonic laughed. “You’re the one who wanted to learn how to land, remember? Besides, just like I told you when I made that Ring Bond and shared my speed with you; I’m not carrying you for this whole adventure.”

“Ooh~! But learning like this!” Rosy whined.

For all her whining though, Rosy listened to Sonic as best she could. A task proving more difficult than it should have as she grew distracted by the joy of hearing him talk to her. Eventually however, after maneuvering around the various fingerlike mountains and even through the occasional cave. Rosy found a stretch of old ruins that were flat enough to land on after having long since lost their airship pursuers. Then things got interesting one more time.

“Great job, kid,” Sonic gave Rosy a thumbs up as the leotard clad pink hedgehog girl fell out of the cockpit, seemingly drained from the stress of the ordeal.

She was not however and was soon embracing Sonic and bouncing joyously.

“I actually did it!” Rosy giggled with delight, Sonic unable to really do anything as his arms were pinned by her embrace.

“Yeah, you did,” Sonic agreed, even as he felt crushed and overwhelmed by Rosy’s grip, passion, and energy. He was about to request her to let him go, until her grip loosened in curiosity as they both heard a sudden rumbling crack.

“What was that Sonic?”

A moment later, both hedgehogs cried out as the ground gave way and they and the Tornado were sent sliding out of control down an impromptu water slide. Dodging debris and collapsing ruin as they were flushed out to sea, Sonic soon found himself underwater and quickly sinking. The Tornado joining him. Rosy however had no intention of letting Sonic sink and grabbing him from behind swam them both to a nearby beachy cave mouth.

“That was so much fun!” Rosy laughed as she flopped on her back and struggled to fill her lungs with air. “We have to do it again!”

“We won’t be doing it with the Tornado though,” Sonic commented grumpily as he knocked water out of his ears and glared at the water. “What a way to wake up.

“Alright,” Sonic sighed as he turned around and started for the cave. “Let’s get going, Amy.”

“Right!”

With a cheerful shout, Rosy rolled over and chased after Sonic.