Rewind

Chapter 1

He could feel the trembling arms that desperately kept him warm. The harsh winds that wouldn't stop and his fingers going numb from the cold.

"Blaze..." Ice sounded scared. His voice sounded thick and desperate, "Blaze... you have to be strong... for us... okay?"

He wanted to open his eyes, something wasn't right. Something was obviously not right.

He felt those arms pull him into a tighter hug, "It's- it's just us now. But I have to go out there, so they won't find you."

He felt his finger twitch as he tried to pull himself back to consciousness. Why was his body so heavy?! He had to stop Ice!

"'It' finally got Solar." Ice continued as he felt him bundle him up in his thick jacket, trying to keep him warm, "We can't stay here. And it's only a matter of time before they figure out where we are. You have to wake up—you have to escape!"

"I-Ice—" He gasped out, finally pulling himself into consciousness from pure will power and desperation.

He wanted to scream. Everything hurt—

"I'll give you time to recover. I-I'll try to distract them while you call for Ochobot to transport you back to the station." Ice said giving him another hug and tears were blurring Blaze's vision.

"I-Ice you can't— don't go..." He coughed as he felt the other merely tighten his hug in response, he trembled and sobbed, "We can still leave together—and we'll be able to save everyone! We still have Fang and the others-"

Ice suddenly shook his head, and Blaze flinched when he felt something heavy settle on his lap.

With great effort he tried to look down and adjust his vision against the darkness that surrounded them. His eyes widened in shock at seeing his friends' power watches.

"When... when you got knocked out—Yaya proposed we tried taking their power watches using her powers. B-but... th-they immediately caught on with the plan and they also got Fang, Gopal, Ying... and finally Yaya. She managed to retrieve their watches and immediately gave up hers when she..." Blaze looked up and saw the tears on Ice's face, "Solar did his best to hold them back and told me to get you and run."

Blaze's lower lip trembled and he crumpled further into Ice's coat as raw anger and despair consumed his core.

"I should've seen the attack coming! This is all my fault!"

"No Blaze— it's..."

A powerful tremor interrupted them and rocks fell from the roof of the cave they were currently hiding in. Blaze then remembered something as he looked out at the storm, "Ice! How long have you been trying to keep this storm up?!"

"I'm almost at my limit." He admitted as he looked out, eyes now filled with determination, "And that's why we don't have that much time anymore. You have to go Blaze. Try contacting headquarters as soon as the storm stops and once the signal is restored."

"Ice please!" Blaze grabbed him, fear now replacing his anger, "I can't—I'll come with you!"

"Someone has to go back to TAPOPs to report what happened. We have to get our brothers back." Ice stood up, and Blaze tried to do the same, but his legs wouldn't cooperate and he was left on the ground, with his friends' power watches on his lap, "You're our only hope, Blaze. I'm sorry."

"Hope?!" He scowled, rage and frustration building up, "Both you and I know we were doomed as soon as Gempa got hit by that thing! Ever since then- everything went downhill! And now they have Solar too!"