Blaze the Cat: Monster Outbreak

Chapter13: Sky Babylon

-At The Sol Kingdom-

It was around 11 AM in the following morning. The weather is starting to become cloudy today. There were some predications that it will rain later in the day. However, that sort of thing doesn't matter to the tyrants residing in the Sol Kingdom. Dr. Eggman Nega had busied himself throughout the past two days in building the new mech that Battra had commanded him to make. He was in the main control room the entire time in the past few days. His robots had assisted him in making the huge robot. He had heard that Blaze and Kathy had destroyed more of his forces on Birth Island and Lagos Island. More of his air fleet were also destroyed. Although he found it quite irritating that one of Battra's minions was the cause of one of his airships to be destroyed. When he complained to Battra about, Battra just shrugged it off by saying casually, "Hey, it's your robots' fault that they were too stupid to avoid the attack! My monsters were just doing their own thing. I have no control on how they behave. So, I'm not mad at all at what they did. They're mindless, heartless beings without any awareness of their surroundings. They only act on their instincts, not by conscious thought like yours truly. So, quit your whining and get back to work!".

Grrrr. What an annoying, troublesome pest! Dr. Eggman Nega pondered as he remembered that little speech. He thinks is so almighty that he has more powerful, capable forces on his side! How dare he thinks that my forces couldn't handle it! Sure, my forces were caught off guard yesterday since Blaze got to Lagos Island so suddenly, and my forces didn't have time to prepare for a counter-attack. But once I give more orders to the rest of my forces in Sky Babylon and Magma Island, my defenses will be ready to deal with anything Blaze could throw at them! Well, except for...anything Kathy throws at them. But still! I have faith that I will become victorious in my revenge at the two girls once my new creation is complete!

With that thought, Dr. Eggman Nega kept on working on his new creation with a devious smile on his face. He was very close to getting his new mech done. He is certain he will get it done in the afternoon of today. Once he completed his new mech, he will leave to go to Sky Babylon to face his enemies, Blaze the Cat and Kathy the Moth.

-Meanwhile At Infant Island-

Blaze had already woken up at around 11 AM and had went to the Sacred Springs to wake up Marine. She was surprised that Marine was up and talking to her crew while eating some fruit with them. Blaze walked over to the group and greeted them politely.

"Good morning, Marine. I hope you had slept well," Blaze said.

"Morning, Blaze! Yeah, I slept well. The rest of the crew is okay too!" Marine exclaimed happily. Marine may not be very good when waking up in the morning, but when given enough time, she will come around and get to be her usual hyperactive self.

"Good morning, Blaze!" the crew said in unison while waving their hands at Blaze.

"Good morning to you all as well," Blaze said to the crew with a nod.

"Here, Blaze. I'm sure you want to check the map to see what island you need to go next," replied a crew member while holding out the electronic map to Blaze. The crew member holding the electronic map was sitting next Marine. Blaze nodded and walked over to sit next to Marine. She took the map from the crew member and said, "Thank you".

She then turned the map on to check on it. Marine smiled at her and grabbed some more fruit from the pile and gave it to Blaze.

"Do you want some bananas or grapes, Blaze?" Marine asked politely.

"Hmm, grapes sound fine to me. Thank you," Blaze replied as she decided to grab a grape vine from Marine.

"Your welcome, Blaze! Hey, by the way, Blaze, where is Kathy? Is she awake yet?" Marine replied happily before asking curiously.

Blaze's eyes widened as Marine mentioned Kathy. Somehow, she thought that a good night's sleep would've made her forget about her jealousy of Kathy. Blaze thought what she felt last night was merely a result of exhaustion taking a toll on her mentality, but it seems that she was wrong. Still, not wanting to get Marine worried, Blaze calmly said with a neutral face, "Oh, she's still sleeping. It's okay if she slept in for a few more minutes. She might wake up soon. So, don't worry, Marine. Kathy will be here soon".

Marine frowned a little, but she perked up a few seconds later. "Oh! Okay! I hope she slept well then!" Marine exclaimed with a bright smile.

Strange. How come Marine is more enthusiastic about Kathy sleeping well than me? She even frowned a little when she heard that Kathy isn't up yet. …...Ugh. Why do I even bother with this anyway? It's not as if I'M STILL HERE you know! Blaze brooded while frowning some more. She focused on her electronic map to distract herself from more jealous thoughts. Marine doesn't notice this as she was busy talking to the crew members some more and eating her morning meal.

Oh, it's not as I do all the work here or anything! Clearly, Kathy had been working very hard too! Blaze thought sarcastically as she frowned some more. She couldn't concentrate on her map, but she didn't care as she brooded some more. I know she doesn't get any praise for any work that she does and neither do I, but how come does Kathy get more recognition and care than I do?! It feels like she gets more support from others than me. Yes, she is taking care of us, but don't these knuckleheads here realize that I'm the one who is going to restore my kingdom to its rightful state?! Kathy may be helping me, but she isn't going to be the one who will save the kingdom! It's me! I've saved this kingdom more times than Kathy ever did! This is Kathy's first time saving the world for Pete's sake! There is no need for such undeserving recognition! "Kathy must be so strong since she's a monster. Look at her! She's so nice and thoughtful! She takes care of us! She cares for our needs! Isn't she just the sweetest?!" UGH! IT'S SO RIDICULOUS!

Without thinking, Blaze slammed her head onto the electronic map in frustration. Luckily, Marine and the crew didn't notice it as they were still busy talking to themselves. I take care of these guys way longer than Kathy ever did. I take care of the kingdom's citizens' needs way more than Kathy ever did. And I take care of this dimension way more than Kathy will ever do since she is leaving this place! So, why can't I ever! Ever! …...

"Get any respect for all the hard work that I do every single day?" Blaze muttered quietly while having her electronic map on her forehead.

"Huh? Did you say something, Blaze?" Marine asked while looking at Blaze curiously.

AH! Blaze thought as she quickly got the electronic map off of her forehead. She looked at Marine with a surprised expression as she replied quickly, "I-I'm fine!".

"Uh, are you sure, Blaze? You don't sound fine to me," Marine replied with a small frown. She felt worried for Blaze.

Blaze shook her head and looked neutral again as she answered calmly, "I really am fine, Marine. There is no need for you to worry about me".

Marine frowned a little more before she gave in to Blaze's request and focused on talking to her crew mates some more. Blaze sighed and looked back on the map again. I really need to focus here. It's pointless to keep being jealous now. Saving the world is more important here than my feelings. Let's see here. The closest island that has a Sol Heart in it is... Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me! Blaze brooded before she stared at one place on the electronic map that she dreaded the most.

Sky Babylon.

She remembered Sky Babylon. She went there once with Sonic, Tails, and Marine, and she hated the place. It's an island that floats very high in the sky. As beautiful the place is, its beauty is lost on Blaze as she was forced to run onto roads that are miles high up in the air. She could've easily died if she fell to her death. It was really a miracle that she survived the trip on that one adventure. She sworn in her heart that she will never visit that death trap of an island again. But...here she is. Watching a sky-blue heart blinking on top of the floating island, taunting her very existence.

Kathy...I hate you so much right now. You just had to keep insisting that we need all of the Sol Hearts to beat Battra, didn't you? You knew that one of these hearts will be on a floating island, didn't you? Why couldn't we just skip this one? It shouldn't matter, right? It's just one Sol Heart. We could beat Battra no problem, right? …...Sigh. We have to go there, don't we? Ugh. This had already put me in a bad mood. What a way to start a morning. Blaze brooded as she frowned deeper. She slowly put her electronic map down on her lap and gazed on the grass for a while.

"Hey, Blaze? Did you find out where the next Sol Heart is already? Well? Where is it?" Marine asked curiously while pulling onto Blaze's sleeve for a bit.

"Sky Babylon," Blaze replied in a dead-pan tone.

"Huh? Sky What?" Marine replied feeling confused of the name.

"Sky Babylon. You remember, don't you? That one time me, you, Sonic, and Tails went on an adventure together?" Blaze said again while looking Marine with a bored expression.

"..." Marine didn't say anything. She was busy remembering that adventure while having a thoughtful expression on her face. When she finally did remember, Marine exclaimed with a surprised expression.

"Oh! That place! I remember now! Man, you really looked like you were about to throw up while we were there! Hehehehehehe!" Marine exclaimed happily while giggling at the end.

Of coarse, she would have remembered that part. Blaze thought while rolling her eyes in annoyance. She decided to move on from it and continued by saying, "Yeah, that place. That is where the next Sol Heart will be. Unfortunately or fortunately in your case, you and your crew can't make it there with your ship. I think that only me and Kathy are going to be the only ones traveling there today".

"Aw man! Really?! Again?! That sucks! I was so hoping that my crew mates and I would have the chance to explore that cool place again!" Marine exclaimed in disappointment while pouting a little.

Umm...didn't you felt scared of falling off from that place when you got there too? I know that you had panicked a little while trying to stand on that floating island. Blaze pondered while reminiscing the time Marine panicked while trying to stand still on the floating island after Blaze had accidently bumped into her. Marine then shook her disappointment off with a small smile as she said, "Aw well, I guess you and Kathy are going to have all the fun to yourselves again! I'm sure it'll go well this time! What's the worst that could happen?".

You just had to say it, don't you? Blaze thought with annoyance as she narrowed her eyes at Marine. Marine then frowned as then asked, "Hey, is Kathy here yet? It's been thirty minutes now, and she hadn't made it to the Sacred Springs yet. Is she ever going to get up?".

Blaze's eyes widened for a second as she realized that it had been thirty minutes already. She never thought that she had be in her thoughts for a long time while looking up the next location of the Sol Pendant. She guessed that she was really out of it today. Ugh. I blame Kathy for this. Blaze brooded while frowning at her lap.

Blaze then replied coolly, "Oh, relax, Marine. Kathy wants to sleep in. It's not a big deal. It's not it's going to be the end of the world if Kathy doesn't show up".

"Yeah, I guess so, but wouldn't she be here right now? I'm sure that even Kathy knows that you want to save the other islands from those monsters and robots. She knows how much you care about your kingdom. Shouldn't Kathy at least be waking up by now?" Marine replied feeling worried and confused.

Hmm...she's right. How come Kathy isn't up right now? I know that yesterday Kathy woke up late, but that was just twenty minutes from 11 AM. It's about 11: 35 AM right now. When I woke up at 9 AM, I saw that Kathy was sleeping soundly. I checked at Kathy's room later at about 10: 50 to see if she is still there, and she was. I'm certain she's still sleeping there, but why for this long I wonder? Maybe I'm just overthinking things. It's no big deal, right? Blaze pondered while having a finger under her chin.

"It's alright, Marine. Kathy will show up and apologize for sleeping in again. I'm sure of it," Blaze replied to Marine confidently.

-One Hour Later-

WHEN IS SHE EVER GOING TO WAKE UP?! Blaze thought in irritation while she's busy walking back and forth in the Sacred Springs. Blaze figured that Kathy might have at least had a bad time sleeping and decided to get some more sleep in. Blaze thought that maybe Kathy would've woken up at noon, but it is thirty minutes now since then. Blaze had been patient and a bit understanding of Kathy for a while now this morning, but she couldn't take it no more. It's not as if she wanted to go to Sky Babylon that badly. Clearly, the opposite! But since Kathy is delaying the dreaded trip even more, it frustrates Blaze so much that she can't get it over with now. That's it! I'm going to wake her up whether she wanted to or not! If she complains about it, then I'm going to give her a piece of my mind! I'm tired of it! I'm tired of her lazy excuses of her behavior! She may be all nice, warm, and friendly, but she needs to do her job and act as a serious heroine! Heck, perhaps even a serious guardian for once! Blaze brooded as she threw her hands in the air in frustration and stood still for bit. She then decided to turn sharply and stomp through the Sacred Springs toward the exit of the cave. She is heading toward Kathy's room.

Meanwhile, Kathy had still been awake this entire time while lying on her hammock. She didn't sleep for the rest of the night after that nightmare. Whenever, Blaze had woken up and came back to check on her, Kathy would pretend to be asleep. She didn't want Blaze to know that she's awake and ask her questions why she's up. She just wanted to be alone in the quiet, small room with her thoughts. Right now, Kathy is lying on her right side with her eyes open halfway. She was frowning, but her mouth was covered by her hand in lying position. She can't help but brood such depressing thoughts.

What even is the point of protecting this dimension if I'll leave anyway? No one will miss me. I should have just let Blaze do all the work in the beginning and let her go to the branch family of the Mothra Clan to have them help her instead. I...I don't have any interest in saving this world anyhow. I'm just a terrible guardian anyway. I don't work hard. I let others do all the planning and whatnot. All I'm ever good at is my powers. I can fly super quick. I can fight very well with the Sol Pendant and Sol Hearts. I'm super strong. I even have radioactive energy beams for crying out loud! ….But none of that matters if people still get hurt or die. I have all of the power in the world, yet I'm not successful in using it as others had expected me to. Even with all this power, I'm useless. I don't know anything of the outside world, and I don't even know how to be a heroine at all! All I am is just a clueless, naïve, little girl who is a monster trapped in a modern world where no one cares for monsters or even loves them. I only became a heroine of some kind because of my mother. But...since she's not here anymore, then...what's the point? …...I really am an evil monster. I'm really letting all those people to die because...because...I have no interest in saving them. I'm...I'm...such a failure.

Kathy then hears loud stomping coming from the stairs with Blaze yelling, "Kathy!" Kathy moaned quietly as she puts her hands over her depressed face. She really didn't like the sound of that. This isn't going to be good. Kathy brooded as she sighed. Blaze soon got down from the stairs with fury written on her face. She quickly moved to Kathy's hammock and shook Kathy violently.

"Kathy! Kathy! Get up right now! It's 12:30 PM! You've really overslept this time! I don't have time to waste right now! And I don't have any time for your excuses!" Blaze yelled while shaking Kathy.

Kathy soon opened her eyes fully and sat up after getting tired of Blaze shaking her. Kathy didn't say anything but stared at Blaze with a bored expression. Blaze frowned as she kept on yelling in frustration, "It's about time, Kathy! Now, get off of your hammock now! We have our next destination to go already! We need to go to Sky Babylon! It's 45 miles northeast from Central Southern Island! Now, get up, use your Sol Pendant, and get us there right away!".

"..." Kathy still didn't say anything. She kept on staring at Blaze with a vacant expression on her face. Kathy heard what Blaze was saying, but her mind was detached from reality at the moment. She isn't processing the need or the urgency of the situation of the moment. Kathy looked at Blaze with a frown on her face. Blaze kept on looking at Kathy while still wearing an angry expression on her face. Blaze tapped her foot on the ground while waiting for Kathy's response.

"Well?! Are you listening to me or not?!" Blaze asked in agitation.

Kathy instead looked down on her lap while looking depressed. She had nothing to say to Blaze. Feeling even more frustrated, Blaze grabbed Kathy's shoulders and shook them.

"Kathy! Are you listening to me?! We need to go! Get up now!" Blaze yelled while shaking Kathy.

Kathy looked up to Blaze' face. Blaze stopped shaking Kathy while staring at her with fierce eyes. Kathy stared back at Blaze's eyes with bored, vacant eyes. Kathy still had a small frown on her face. Kathy then replied quietly, "Can we just...stay home for today?".

Blaze blanched and released Kathy's shoulders out of shock. "What the-?! Stay?! You want us to stay here and DO NOTHING?! Have you lost your mind?! The world needs saving! AND THE WORLD NEEDS YOU, KATHY! YOU CAN'T JUST SAY 'NO' AND STAY HOME! THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE STILL SUFFERING BECAUSE OF BATTRA, AND YOU ARE PLANNING TO DO NOTHING ABOUT IT AND JUST STAY HOME TO SLEEP IN ALL DAY! WHAT KIND OF HERO OR HEROINE DOES THAT?! I THOUGHT YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT, KATHY! YOU CAN'T JUST ABANDON THESE PEOPLE! YOU'RE THE GUARDIAN OF THE SOL PENDANT AS WELL AS A QUEEN OF THE MONSTERS TO YOUR OWN PEOPLE! 'A GODDESSS OF PEACE' FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! YOU SHOULD BE OUT THERE SAVING OTHERS FROM DESTRUCTION AND CHAOS! NOT STAYING AT HOME LIKE AN IRRESPONSIBLE CHILD!" Blaze yelled before she raised her voice in fury. She had lost her temper after Kathy suggested to her to stay home at the island for the day. She can't afford to waste any more time on this island and watch her dimension get destroyed even further. She needs progress! She needs to take action! She needs to reclaim her throne back! So, she isn't going to put up with any stupid obstacles that will prevent her from getting her kingdom back! If she is going to drag Kathy out of bed and take her by the throat to get to her next destination, she is going to do it without showing any mercy! She had already had a bad start to her morning by learning that the next location is Sky Babylon. Having Kathy not waking up and suggesting her to stay home just made this day all the more infuriating!

"JUST GET UP FROM YOUR HAMMOCK, KATHY! OR SO HELP ME THAT I WILL DO IT MYSELF!" Blaze shouted warning Kathy the last time to get out of bed.

Kathy just stared at Blaze with such a blank expression on her face. She looked distant by how the brightness in her eyes had shimmered down immensely. All the color and jovialness she usually has is gone. Slowly, Kathy turned from her seat to sitting on the edge of the hammock. She had her hands on the edge of the hammock as if she was about to get off from it. However, she just stayed there while looking down on the ground with a depressed look on her face.

Blaze frowned deeper as she crossed her arms and looked sternly at Kathy. "Kathy! I'm waiting! I'm not going to stand here all day and wait for you to meticulously get up from your hammock! We're running out of time! Let's move it!" Blaze yelled in frustration.

Kathy opened her mouth a bit, but she didn't say anything. For a few more seconds of nothing happening, Blaze was about to yell again before Kathy said quietly, "Is it really that a big of a deal to you, Blaze? Just how? How could you live a life only concerned about saving the world? Doesn't...doesn't happiness matter? Doesn't it matter at all? Are we...are we supposed to do our duties as guardians without ever feeling happy?".

Blaze was about to interject to stop Kathy from talking but stopped once she heard what Kathy was saying. Suddenly, her anger vanished for a moment.

"Wh-What?! Just what are you talking about, Kathy?! Of coarse, we'll get happy if we get our jobs done! What are you saying, Kathy?" Blaze replied in a more calmer tone while in confusion.

Kathy shook her head as she continued. "That's not what I'm saying. Don't you ever wanted to do things that you wanted to do for once without sacrificing it for other important matters? Is saving the world or a kingdom more important than personal happiness?" Kathy replied quietly yet soberly.

"Well, uh...um..." Blaze muttered feeling speechless for once. She stared at Kathy in confusion. Just what is Kathy talking about anyway? Blaze pondered as she stared at Kathy.

"If saving the world is more important to you...then I'm not fit to be a guardian at all. I...I only want to be happy with my life...not...not sacrifice my happiness to please others. If you think that you're being happy in doing your job, then go save the world yourself. I can't do it Blaze. I don't...(Sigh)…..I don't have that kind of motive to save the world like you do. You should go find the Sol Hearts yourself. I'm sure that...you'll do fine on your own," Kathy replied in a low, depressed tone.

"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?! YOU WANT ME TO GO OUT THERE AND FIGHT THOSE MONSTERS ALL BY MYSELF?! I COULD GET KILLED YOU KNOW!" Blaze shouted out of shock. She couldn't believe the words that Kathy is saying right now.

"But it is possible for you to just ignore the monsters and robots and grab the remaining Sol Hearts left! You don't need to destroy every enemy you come across! Who cares if a couple of people had died due to those monsters?! You are going to get your kingdom back after we stop Battra! Once Battra is eliminated, you will have control of the Sol Emeralds again and command them to destroy all of Batta's monsters! See?! It's much better to leave those islands behind and finish off your journey by confronting Battra instead!" Kathy exclaimed while looking back up at Blaze with an irritated dace.

Blaze flinched in surprise. She didn't expect Kathy to argue back so suddenly. Blaze frowned again and yelled back, "But! But! You can't just let Battra's monsters or Dr. Eggman Nega's robots run loose on those islands! Also, what do you mean 'who cares if a couple of people had died'?! I CARE! Just because that those people didn't appreciate you or didn't care for you doesn't give you the right to decide to leave them to die! You're a hero! You should act like one!".

"I'M NOT A HERO! I'M A MONSTER! I DON'T NEED TO ACT LIKE A HERO SINCE I'M CLEARLY NOT! I'M NOT FIT FOR THAT ROLE! YOU ARE!" Kathy shouted feeling upset.

"Stop acting childish, Kathy! You are a hero! You've promised me that you will help me if I beg for your assistance! You had helped me before on the other islands! Why can't you just help throughout the entire journey?! We only got two islands left! Two! And you're saying now that you've quit?! Just what is going on inside your head, Kathy?! That is what I want to know!" Blaze yelled feeling frustrated again.

Kathy just grimaced at Blaze. She clenched onto the edge of the hammock even more tightly. Kathy barred her teeth at Blaze until she looked down again. Kathy's face was in anguish. Her heart felt torn in two. She didn't want to do this, but her heart is being more rebellious lately.

"Why should I help you? I'll only slow you down. After all...I am an evil monster. I really am. What good...am I really if I'm...a monster? I can destroy this world...with just these two hands," Kathy replied quietly in her depressed voice while lifting up her hands for emphasis and looking at them. Kathy paused for a moment until she spoke again, "...Monsters...can't help...people. They are only seen by others as destructive and hurtful. No matter how many good deeds that I do, it'll never be enough to convince you that I'm good inside. I'll forever be evil whether I had harmed others or not! It's...It's the truth. That's why I had said that I'm not a hero because monsters...can't be heroes".

Blaze gasped in shock. Did...Did Kathy said what I think she said? Blaze thought while wearing a shocked expression on her face. She was speechless over what Kathy had said. When Kathy saw that Blaze made no further comments, Kathy frowned deeper as she then got off of the hammock and stood still in front of Blaze.

"Just find a way to go to Sky Babylon on your own Blaze. I'm done, Blaze. I'm done helping you. You're more capable in saving the world than I am. You don't need my help. It's clear that you can make your own decisions and go on your own way. Besides..." Kathy said calmly while looking at Blaze with a stoic expression on her face.

Blaze's eyes widened when she saw how lifeless Kathy's expression is right now. Blaze was about to comment when Kathy finished saying, "...If I keep you helping you, then I'll only keep on letting you down. I'll be a terrible friend to you if I keep helping you. I'm done trying to fulfill any expectations from others. I'm done with trying to be a guardian when clearly I'm not even close in being one compared to you. And I'm done...with this stupid adventure. I quit".

Kathy then turned to her left and started to walk toward the stairs. Blaze only stared at Kathy in stunned silence. Kathy gave a look back to Blaze as she added, "I'm not going to Sky Babylon with you, Blaze. I'm not. End of story".

Kathy then looked back and climbed the stairs to the main cave junction. Blaze watched Kathy go up the stairs for a few seconds before deciding to follow her. "Kathy! Kathy! Hey! Come back! Come back here and talk to me!" Blaze yelled as she quickly followed Kathy up the stairs. Blaze saw Kathy leave the main cave by going into one of the junctions. Blaze followed Kathy while yelling her name over and over again. However, Kathy didn't listen. She kept on walking forward. Kathy soon got out of the caves and kept on walking down the hill that is next to the cave. Blaze soon got out of the cave as well. She looked around for where Kathy went to. She soon spotted Kathy walking through a forest. She soon picked up the pace and started to run toward Kathy. Kathy looked back and saw Blaze running towards her. Kathy decided to use her wings to fly away from Blaze. Kathy flew as fast as she could to get away from Blaze. Blaze saw this and decided to speed up. Blaze was now boosting to Kathy. Blaze tried to get Kathy's attention again by shouting to her.

"Kathy! Hey! Come back! We should talk about this! Please come back! Please!" Blaze shouted while running to her.

Kathy yelled back, "I'm sorry, Blaze! I'm sorry that I can't be a help to you!".

Blaze soon saw that Kathy is flying even higher as Kathy is about to head toward the sky. Blaze quickly shouted, "Kathy! Please! Don't go! Don't go without me! Take me with you! Let's go to Sky Babylon together! Please!".

"I'm leaving! Goodbye, Blaze! I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I can't help!" Kathy yelled back while looking sad as she flew even faster to the sky. Blaze soon stopped running once she saw that Kathy is too high up to catch to her. As she stood in the middle of the forest, she sees Kathy flying away from Infant Island. Kathy let out a few screeches in sadness in her Kaiju tongue.

SCREEEEEEEEE! KIIIIOOOOOOO!

Blaze frowned further in sadness as she watched Kathy leave.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Blaze watched Kathy's beautiful wings as they flap graciously through the high sky above. Blaze soon felt guilty of her behavior she had displayed to Kathy earlier. Ohhh...maybe I was acting too harsh back there. It was pretty selfish of me to be so demanding of Kathy. I probably wasn't being fair to her. If I knew that she was suffering mentally, then maybe I would've...

Blaze pondered until she realized that Kathy had left her on the island and isn't coming back. Blaze frowned further as felt discouraged by these events. "Great. It seems that Kathy isn't going to come back and help me get to Sky Babylon now that she had left without me. I guess that I'm going to have to rely on Marine and her crew to get me to Sky Babylon. I know that there is an island that leads to Sky Babylon. So, if I use the transporter on that small island, I would be able to get up to Sky Babylon. I'm just going to ask the Coconut Crew to take me to that small island. Ugh. This day keeps getting worse and worse. First, I'm heading towards Sky Babylon, next, Kathy doesn't wake up in time, then, Kathy suggests that we stay here, and after that, Kathy gives up and flies away leaving me behind on this island. Man...this really isn't my day," Blaze said to herself while looking down to the ground.

It was only a couple of minutes later that Blaze told Marine and the Coconut Crew what happened. They were all shocked that Kathy left without saying a word to them. They were also surprised that Kathy didn't tell Blaze where she is going. In a way, the whole group felt worried for Kathy. They wished that they could've helped her in some way. Marine could only guess that Kathy is hurting emotionally. Marine wishes that she could've been more of a help to Kathy if she found out that she is struggling. Still, she figured that it's best to leave Kathy be and focus on helping Blaze now that Kathy is gone.

"Don't worry, Blaze! My crew will help you get Sky Babylon in no time! Come on guys! Let's all go to the ship and set sail to the tiny island that neighbors the floating island! What do you all say, guys?!" Marine exclaimed with determination in her tone.

The Coconut Crew looked at each other and then shrugged casually as they realized that Marine had a point. As much as it is a disappointment that Kathy had left, they shouldn't stay discouraged forever since Blaze needs them right now.

One of the crew members said to Marine and Blaze, "Alright, we're in. Blaze, it's okay. We got your back. Marine is right. We should go on board our ship and go to Sky Babylon the old-fashioned way. Perhaps we can go to the same place where you and Marine had been before on your adventure with Sonic and Tails. Come on let's go".

Blaze nodded as she replied, "Agreed".

With that plan in mind, Blaze, Marine, and the Coconut Crew soon got on board the ship and set sail toward the next destination on the electronic map.

Meanwhile, Kathy was just flying by herself high in the sky. She doesn't know where she's at, but she doesn't care at the moment. She wanted to be by herself. She couldn't stay at her home since Blaze will keep on insisting that they should go together to Sky Babylon. She knew that she couldn't hide from Blaze. She needed some way to escape. Even though Kathy knew in her heart that she's being a coward and being irresponsible, she just can't help but run away. She wishes that she could help without feeling useless or inadequate, but she can't do it. She doesn't have the drive enough to keep going forward while weighing these emotions in her heart. She thought that she was loyal. She thought that she was dependable. She thought that she was faithful to the end with her promises. But...in the end, it seems that she was wrong. Maybe it was just her justifying her character in order to make herself feel good about helping Blaze and her problems. Maybe she was just using the opportunity that Kathy had to make herself a hero that could save anyone due to her raw powers. Maybe...she was just trying to salvage her ruined reputation that Battra had inflicted on her and on her mother. And maybe...she was trying to hide her weaknesses and her imperfections from herself and from others so that she would have appeared to be capable and strong. All she ever wanted was acceptance. And if it meant being helpful and being strong to others in order to get that acceptance, then she must act like that she knows what's she doing in order to earn it. Kathy frowned to herself due to this realization.

I...am really pathetic, aren't I? Kathy brooded feeling ashamed of herself. So, it was true. She really was just doing this out of selfishness. Not out of purity or righteousness. But only for herself and not for others. Maybe...Maybe that was why my fighting skills with the Sol Pendant were weak this whole time. I was only saving the world out of selfishness. Not because I cared for others or for Blaze. But just for myself. …...I'm really no different from Battra.

Kathy grimaced at the thought. It sickened her that she is just as bad as Battra in her own way. She wished that she could do something to stop this or salvage this, but she knew that she already dug very deep into this mistake. So, why bother fixing it when it's already been done with? Kathy then knew what must be done.

I may have done a mistake...but I'm going to finish what I've started in the beginning. I'm going to save this world one last time before I leave for good, and I'm to do that while finishing my mistake. It's my choice to make even it is wrong. I have to bear my mistake in the end. And I'll do it for my mother's sake.

Kathy brooded as she then made her decision. She flew even faster in the sky, except this time, she's looking around for a floating island. She's planning to go to Sky Babylon to search for the Sol Heart.

It took ten minutes for Kathy to find something related to a floating island. When she finally saw the island in the distance, she breathed a sigh of relief seeing that she found the island all by herself. To be fair, a floating island is probably the easiest island to spot in this dimension. Kathy soon smiled to herself as she flew closer and closer to the island. Before she could get there, she then notices more of Dr. Eggman Nega's Air Force a few miles away from the floating island. The jets look modern with two laser blasters on each side of the wings. Hmm, this must be Dr. Eggman Nega's last defense. He must be running out of aircrafts to send out. Heh, lucky for me then! I guess now that Blaze isn't here, I can finally let loose and fight even rougher now! Kathy thought as she smirked feeling confident again after brooding to herself for a while now.

She flew faster and faster toward the floating island. The robots in the modern-looking jets noticed Kathy and turned their jets around to attack Kathy. The jets started firing their blue lasers at Kathy. Kathy dodges the lasers quickly by flying left and right. She then fired her energy beams at the jets and destroyed some of them. The other jets flew away to dodge some of the attacks that Kathy had made. The jets kept on firing more lasers at Kathy. She did take a few hits of the lasers, but she knew that they were ineffective against her due to her strong defense. There were some sparks coming off from her body, but she shook them off and kept on firing her energy beams at the jets. She destroyed several more of the jets. The jets and Kathy kept on attacking and dodging each other for several minutes, but Kathy is not holding back this time. She was destroying the fleet very quickly now that she doesn't have to worry about Blaze getting hit with the lasers. The remaining jets soon tried to fly down to avoid getting hit by Kathy's energy beams. Kathy then decided to fly down as well to chase after them. Kathy soon grabbed her Sol Gems out and flew even faster towards the surviving jets. Without warning, Kathy then flew above one of the jets and smashed it with her Sol Gems. The jet exploded due to that powerful attack. Kathy then flew to another jet and punched straight through it. It exploded too. Kathy kept on bashing and punching through the jets without any trouble. All of the jets had exploded, and the parts fell into the ocean. Kathy soon flew in place as she watched the debris of the jets fall into the ocean below. Kathy smiled in satisfaction. She knew that beating the jets would be easier now since she doesn't have to protect Blaze. She had been holding back, but it was only for Blaze's protection.

Kathy then frowned at that. If it was this easy, then why couldn't I do it while I was protecting Blaze? Was Blaze...really holding me back? If I was so cautious about getting her hurt, then why didn't I...

Kathy then looked sad as she brooded some more. Of coarse...it was inevitable that Blaze had gotten hurt in the first place. It was because I wasn't giving it my all while fighting those monsters yesterday. Why didn't I fight harder yesterday? Shouldn't I be bold and take risks when I'm protecting someone? Do I really care about Blaze? Hmmm...

Kathy sighed and put her Sol Gems back to her pendant. She shook her head and tried to stop thinking about those thoughts. She decided to fly towards the floating island.

Meanwhile, Blaze, Marine, and the Coconut Crew had arrived to the small island near Sky Babylon. They were sailing through the ocean for about 30 minutes. The Coconut Crew had anchored their ship near the small island. A few crew members stayed on board of the ship while a few of them joined with Blaze and Marine on the island. They were searching for the transporter that would be the short cut to Sky Babylon. The first time Blaze and Marine got on to the floating island was when the island itself was sitting on top of the ocean like a regular island. They needed some special tablets to make the island float up again. Now that the island is permanently floating in the sky. Blaze's guards from her kingdom came to the small island next to Sky Babylon to create a transporter that is a shortcut to the floating island. Blaze knew that one of these days that she would be forced to go back to Sky Babylon whether she liked it or not. So, she's glad that she made these plans ahead of time. She was near the transporter after searching for it in ten minutes. Once she got closer to the transporter, she looked back and said to Marine and her crew, "I think it is time for us to part ways. Marine, please stay here. Don't follow me. The crew should look after you in the meantime. Are we clear, everyone?".

"Yes, ma'am!" said the crew while saluting Blaze.

"Yes, Blaze," Marine said with a disappointed tone.

"Good. Now, stay here while I go and destroy Dr. Eggman Nega's robots and Battra's monsters by myself. I'm going to find the next Sol Heart as well. It might take a few hours so keep yourselves busy until then," Blaze said while she nodded to the group.

"Understood, Blaze!" said the crew.

"Alright, we'll stay here. Just please be safe. I know that your wounds had been patched up, but please try not to get into too much trouble this time. I don't like it when I see you get hurt. I worry about you, Blaze. Please stay safe for me," Marine said calmly while looking a little worried.

Blaze gasped a little at that. Marine almost just sounded like Kathy there. Blaze felt even more guilty for being too irrational towards Kathy earlier. She would've guessed that Kathy would've cared for her own safety seeing how worried she was yesterday evening. Still, she shook these feelings off since she knew that it will distract her from her mission. Instead, she said to Marine, "Alright. I will. Thanks for your concern, Marine. Anyways, I'm leaving now. I'll see you guys later when I get back".

The whole group said "Goodbye!" once Blaze stepped onto the teleporter. The machine then sent Blaze to the floating island above. She stepped out of the other transporter and scanned her surroundings. The place looked wrecked as there are fires going around; the architecture was crumbled; there was rubble everywhere; there were some bases on some sections of the floating island; there were lots of robots scouting the island; and there were more flying monsters in the sky. She can see some monsters destroying more of the island as they knocked down some walls and pillars or had set them on fire. However, it seems that the monsters weren't anything new this time. Blaze could see more Rodan monsters and apparently more Kamacuras monsters. She can definitely see the Kamacuras monsters flying really fast in the sky. They also appear to be bigger than the ones she saw on Infant Island.

Hmm...it seems that Battra must have made these monsters stronger. Why else would he use these monsters twice? Unless he really means business this time. Well, unfortunately, I can't attack the monsters if they keep on flying in the sky like that. I suppose I'll have to deal with Dr. Eggman Nega's robots this time. It looks like I really am going to follow Kathy's advice after all. Hmmm...Kathy. What are you doing right now I wonder? Blaze pondered while she started running through the ruins of Sky Babylon.

Meanwhile, Kathy was flying through the sky above the floating island. She could see the damage that the monsters did as there were broken pillars and broken stone buildings. She also saw some bases that the robots had built. She soon had spotted some Rodan and Kamacuras monsters flying around. She decided to start killing them in order to give this place some peace finally. She fired her energy beams at the Rodan monsters to get their attention. The sparks and fire came off from the monsters' bodies. They cried in pain and in anger.

AAAARRRRRROOOOOUUUUGGGGHHHHEEEEUUUUUUGGGGHHH!

The Rodan monsters turned around and started to fly towards Kathy. The Kamacuras monsters also saw that the Rodan monsters are flying toward Kathy. So, they communicated to each other to go join the Rodan monsters for assistance.

SCCCHHHREEEEEECH! SCHHHHRRREEEEEEECH! HIIIIIIISSTH!

They soon flew closer toward to the Rodan monsters for assistance. They were also ready to fight their enemy in self-defense. Kathy soon made her first attack by firing more energy beams at the Rodan monsters. The monsters took the hits of the energy beams and had sparks coming from them. They attacked back by firing their heat beams out of their mouths. Kathy dodged most of the heat beams but did got hit by some of them. Sparks and explosions came from her body at the contact of the heat beams on her body. Kathy kept on firing her energy beams back at the Rodan monsters to attack them further. Some of the Rodan monsters dodged by flying down to avoid the attacks while some of them got hit by them. As the Rodan monsters got more hits from Kathy's energy beams, they soon exploded into dark particles. The rest of the Rodan monsters soon attacked back from under Kathy by firing their heat beams again. Kathy didn't react enough to dodge the attacks from under her. So, she got hit by more heat beams and got her body covered in sparks. Kathy cringed as she got hurt a little by the attacks. She flew away to get out of the monsters' attacking range. While she tried to fly away, the Kamacuras monsters soon ambushed her by hitting her with their claws. Kathy screeched in pain as she got hit by the sharp claws of the Kamacuras monsters.

KIIIIIIIOOOOOOO! SCCRRREEEEEEEEE! SCRREEEEEEEE! KIIIIOOOOOO!

Kathy continued being knocked around by the Kamacuras monsters. Although she tried to attack back with her energy beams, the Kamacuras monsters were faster in dodging them and kept on attacking Kathy back with their claws. Kathy still kept on screeching in pain.

SCRRREEEEEEEE! KIIIIIIIOOOOOOOO!

Meanwhile, Blaze was boosting through some robots on the ground below. She was able to destroy two of the bases on Sky Babylon with her fire powers. She was doing well in destroying Dr. Eggman Nega's army by putting them on fire, boosting through them, or kicking them very hard. She had destroyed weak robots as well as strong ones as she ran through the ruins of Sky Babylon. It was a few minutes later that she heard Kathy's cries of pain.

KIIIIIOOOOOOOO! SCCCRRREEEEEEEEEEEE!

Blaze suddenly stopped in her tracks once she heard those cries. She couldn't believe it. Kathy had really did came here to Sky Babylon after all! But why? Why would she be here anyway? Blaze pondered while standing still and looking up at the sky to find Kathy. Blaze soon found Kathy as she saw her getting hit by the Kamacuras monsters. Blaze can't help but wince a little while watching Kathy getting hurt. Blaze gritted her teeth as she thought. Come on, Kathy! You can do it!

Kathy may not understand it, but she suddenly felt encouraged to keep on trying harder. Kathy then quickly took out her Sol Gems from her pendant and used them to teleport herself out of the Kamacuras monsters' sight. The monsters soon became confused as they couldn't find Kathy anywhere. Kathy was higher above the Kamacuras monsters. She also saw that the Rodan monsters had flew towards the Kamacuras monsters to join them in their group. The Rodan and Kamacuras monsters communicated to each other.

AAAARRRROOOUUUUGGGGHHHHEEEEUUUGGHHH! SCCCHHHHRREEEECH! HIIIIIISSSSSSTH!

While the monsters were busy looking around and communicating with each other, Kathy quickly took her chance to fight back. She then took out her white Sol Heart and used her Sol Gems to give the heart a gold necklace. She then wore the necklace with the Sol Heart and commanded her Sol Gems to turn herself invisible. After that, she then flew down very fast and readied herself to punch through one of the Kamacuras monsters. As the Kamacuras monster turned its back around, Kathy used her Sol Gems to punch right through the monster. Immediately, the monster exploded into dark particles after having a hole through its body. The other Kamacuras monsters cried in surprise.

SCHHRRREEEEECH! SCCCHHHRRRRREEEEEECH! SCCCCCHHHRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEECH!

Yes! I knew you could do it, Kathy! Now, keep going! Blaze thought as she smiled a little seeing Kathy is fighting back.

Kathy then flew back up to prepare herself for another attack. Okay, Kathy. I know that I hadn't been fighting hard enough lately, but that ends now! I can't just let them beat me up so easily! I need to fight harder! Kathy pondered as she prepared herself for her next move.

Kathy then flew to another Kamacuras monster and punched it very hard with her Sol Gems. The monster also exploded into dark particles. Without any hesitation, Kathy very quickly punched through each and every Kamacuras monster flying in the sky. The monsters tried to attack back in self-defense, but Kathy was too quick as she flew around each of them and punched them. The monsters even tried to escape by flying away, but Kathy easily caught up to the surviving monsters and destroyed them as well. The Rodan monsters felt confused as to why the Kamacuras monsters are disappearing. They could see something attacking the monsters, but they couldn't tell what it was. So, they tried to attack it by firing their heat beams at it. Kathy noticed the heat beam attacks and quickly dodged them. However, the rest of the Kamacuras monsters got hit by the heat beams and got destroyed as a result. Kathy can see that all of the Kamacuras monsters got destroyed.

Well, so much for being stronger than the previous monsters. Blaze thought as she saw had easily Kathy defeated those Kamacuras monsters.

Kathy then turned around and locked on to the Rodan monsters ahead of her. She then flew towards them while firing her energy beams. The Rodan monsters got hit by the energy beams. They fired back with their own heat beams. This time, Kathy soon dodged the heat beams by flying down just like they did when she attacked them with her energy beams. She then flew up under one of the Rodan monsters and punched him very hard in the stomach with her Sol Gems. She kept on punching him and the Rodan monster let out a painful cry.

AAAARRRROOOUUUUGGHHHHEEEEUUUUGGGHHH!

The Rodan monster soon exploded into dark particles as a result. The Rodan monsters cried in grief as their fellow companion got killed. However, Kathy didn't stop attacking them. While they were crying in grief, Kathy quickly used her energy beams and her Sol Gems to attack each of the Rodan monsters. She showed them no mercy as she punched them and fired her powerful lasers at them. The Rodan monsters were covered in sparks and explosions as the energy beams hit them. They tried to dodge and fly away from Kathy's attacks, but Kathy was able to hurt them by flying to them very fast and punch right through them. The last Rodan monsters let out a cry before they exploded into dark particles.

AAAAARRRRRRROOOOOOOUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHEEEEUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!

Kathy was now flying in the middle of the air where the last Rodan monsters used to be. She was breathing heavily as she looked around to see if there were more monsters. She didn't see any. She supposed that there could be more monsters around the place. So, she used her Sol Gems to turn herself back to normal by being visible again. She placed her Sol Gems back to her pendant. She is ready to fight any more monsters on her way. She decided to head down to the ground level to see if there is a Sol Heart around. She flew down to the ground. Once she got to the ground, she walked around for a bit before she heard Blaze calling out to her.

"Kathy! Kathy! There you are!" Blaze yelled as she was running towards Kathy.

Kathy jolted as she turned around in surprise. She had forgotten that Blaze wanted to come to Sky Babylon today. She hadn't expected Blaze to come here with ease either. As Kathy looked at Blaze running towards her, she can't help but feel guilty for abandoning her earlier. She didn't mean to leave her. She just wanted to be alone at the time. Still, Kathy feels even more guilty as she realized that she might be only helping Blaze only for her own self-worth. She didn't help Blaze out of compassion after all. Kathy frowned as she looked down out of shame. I thought...I thought I really did care for you. How else am I feeling so ready to leave this dimension when this adventure is over? If I did care for you, then I would feel upset that I'm leaving behind a good friend. I'm...I'm so sorry, Blaze. Kathy brooded as she stood still feeling ashamed of herself.

Blaze saw that Kathy was looking sad. When Blaze finally got close to Kathy, she immediately placed a hand onto Kathy's shoulder and squeezed it.

"Kathy...what's wrong? Why do you look upset?" Blaze asked gently.

Kathy didn't say anything. Blaze soon changed the subject a little. "Listen, Kathy. I'm...I'm sorry that I've driven you away like that earlier today. I...I was just in a bad mood this morning. I didn't realize that Sky Babylon was the next destination for our search for the Sol Hearts. I just hate this place, and I acted out of line by putting my frustration onto this place against you. I...I really wasn't mad at you personally. I was just upset that we had to go to this stupid place. I hate heights, and that is enough reason for me to hate this place. I'm...I'm sorry that I took my anger out on you like that. I'm very sorry, Kathy. Please forgive me," Blaze apologized while looking down to the ground.

Kathy slowly looked at Blaze on her left side. She still had a sad look on her face. In a way, she kind of deserved being yelled at since she refused to help Blaze like she's supposed to. It was her job to take care of Blaze and to fulfill her needs. However, Kathy had abandoned her today. So, she feels that she is the one who should be apologizing here.

"No, Blaze. You're wrong. I'm the one who's sorry here. You had every right to be angry since I hadn't tried to help you today. I was out of it today, but...that's no excuse for me to ignore your needs. I'm sorry for letting you down, Blaze," Kathy apologized quietly.

"What? Wait. You were 'out of it' today? Are you feeling alright, Kathy? Did something happen? I did notice that you were acting weird today, but I didn't know that you weren't feeling very fine on the inside. So, are you sick? Or are feeling upset about something that is personal to you?" Blaze replied in surprise.

"No, I'm not sick. I'm just feeling...depressed lately," Kathy answered with a sigh.

"Depressed? About what exactly?" Blaze asked in alarm. She never thought that a bright, jovial girl like Kathy could ever get depressed.

"...I can't tell you. It's just...difficult for me to say," Kathy answered with a sad look.

Blaze's eyes went wide. She's not sure why Kathy wanted to hide her reasonings for her depressed mood. Blaze hoped that it's only temporary and that Kathy will open up to her about the subject later.

"Alright, Kathy. Take your time. And listen, there is no need for you to apologize for your actions. I should've just been more patient and let you talk about your feelings. I know that I want to get this adventure over with, but your feelings matter too, Kathy. I shouldn't just dismiss your feelings as unimportant to any situation that we face. I shouldn't have shut you out like that. So, it's okay, Kathy. Really," Blaze replied softly while looking even more guilty.

Kathy looked back at Blaze and nodded to her. Kathy didn't smile, but she did say, "Thank you, Blaze".

Blaze nodded back as she took off her hand on Kathy's shoulder. She then replied, "Anytime, Kathy".

Kathy smiled weakly as she then turned around to face the road ahead of her. "Shall we go together, Blaze?" Kathy asked.

"Yes, let's go. I'm about to finish annihilating Dr. Eggman Nega's robots anyway," Blaze replied as she walked up next to Kathy.

"Alright then. Let's finish this," Kathy said with a small smile to Blaze.

Blaze smiled and nodded to Kathy. Blaze then ran ahead to go further into the ruins of Sky Babylon. Kathy then flew to catch up to Blaze. Blaze was destroying more robots on her path as she was boosting at the time. Kathy let Blaze do her thing while she is watching out for monsters. She believes that Blaze can handle the robots just fine. Kathy is only going to focus on the monsters. Blaze soon went into base for a brief moment. Kathy stopped a few feet in front of the base. She allowed Blaze to take care of the base herself. While she waited, Kathy looked around to see if there were more monsters or a Sol Heart. Unfortunately, she still can't find either of them. A few more minutes later, Blaze was soon walking out of the base while the base suddenly blew up in flames. Blaze soon walked up to Kathy.

"No sign of the Sol Heart in there," Blaze said while shaking her head.

Kathy smiled a little as she replied, "That's fine. But at least you made yourself a cool, dramatic exit with that base exploding behind you!".

Blaze smiled a little as she said, "Did you really think that's a positive thing?".

Kathy shrugged as she said, "Hey, in our Kaiju books, that's actually an accomplishment! Maybe we are making more progress than we thought!".

Blaze chuckled a little as she replied, "Perhaps we are. I did destroy two other bases before this one. I suppose destroying buildings can be a good accomplishment as long as it's Dr. Eggman Nega's buildings. Hahahaha".

"Yeah! See? And you think that destroying buildings is a monster's job! Hah! I guess it shows to you that you really can't judge a person unless you did it yourself!" Kathy replied as she beamed.

"Hahaha, true. Very true, indeed. Let's move on then, shall we?" Blaze said as she chuckled some more.

"Yeah, let's keep moving then," Kathy said with a smile.

They both went forward to the next part of the beautiful yet ruined Sky Babylon. After a few minutes of Blaze destroying more robots, Kathy and Blaze were soon suddenly attacked by the Rodan monsters as the monsters flapped their wings causing strong gust winds to blow them backwards. Kathy and Blaze were blown back from the strong winds and they fell on the hard, marble ground below. A few of the Rodan monsters landed a few feet away from the girls. Blaze and Kathy were then surprised when one of the Rodan monsters stood before them. The Rodan monster looked at Blaze first. Before the monster was about to strike down Blaze with its beak, Kathy immediately defended Blaze by firing her energy beams at the monster. Blaze flinched when the monster almost attacked her. She defended herself by covering her head with her arm. She was then surprised when Kathy saved her by attacking the monster. Sparks and explosions came from the monster's body, and the monster was knocked back from the strong attack. The monster roared in pain.

AAAARRRROOOOUUUUUGGGGHHHEEEEUUUUGGHHH!

Kathy kept on firing her energy beams at the monster until it had exploded into dark particles. The other Rodan monsters soon flew back up to avoid getting attacked too. They retreated out of Blaze's and Kathy's line of sight. Kathy then slowly sat up and helped Blaze to get up too. Once Blaze sat up, she then said, "Thank you, Kathy. But you know, I could have defended myself by using my fire powers if you hadn't done that".

Kathy smiled a little sheepish as she countered, "I don't know about that. You looked like you were ready to curl up into a ball if I hadn't stepped in to save you".

"Hmph. You don't know that. I was only caught off guard there. I was blown back very suddenly. If I had a few more seconds there, I would have been able to fight back. I am very capable of doing things by myself you know," Blaze responded with annoyance while looking away from Kathy.

"Yeah, I can see that. Still, I think it is best if you stay protected from here on out. I'm not letting you get hurt again like you did yesterday," Kathy replied calmly while shaking her head. Kathy soon stood up and wiped some dust off of her dress.

Blaze soon stood up a few seconds later. She then frowned at Kathy as she said, "I'll be fine, Kathy. Yesterday was just an accident. You don't need to be so overprotective of me. I know that I want your help, but I can handle my own battles by myself. I don't need anyone saving me".

Kathy frowned back as she tried to be patient with Blaze. "Look, I know that, but still, having someone you can rely on for protection is a good thing to have. You don't have to do everything yourself, Blaze. I want to protect you. You can just focus on the robots while I handle the monsters," Kathy replied calmly. She really didn't want to make the same mistake twice by having Blaze hurt again. She can't help but feel guilty every time she remembered that mistake yesterday. So, she is willing to protect her at any cost now.

Blaze felt a little annoyed by this. She walked in front of Kathy to talk to her face to face. She had her hands on her hips as she argued back at Kathy. "Oh, well that's rich! Last time I've checked, you didn't want me to help you because you wanted to fight by yourself! Doesn't that apply to me as well?! I fought multiple enemies before by myself way longer than you had! I was able to fight those big monsters just fine for over a few days! I'm used to them by now! I'll find a way to destroy those flying monsters, and I'm going to do it my own way! So, don't you go saying that I'm not supposed to fight them now over a little injury that I had yesterday! You would have insisted that you wanted to fight them if you were the one who had gotten hurt yesterday! You wanted to be independent too! I had respected your choices! Why can't you respect mine?!" Blaze exclaimed while feeling irritated.

Kathy jolted a little by the sudden yelling. She tried to stay calm, but she was also feeling irritated. "I do respect your choices, Blaze. However, I can't let allow you to fight any more monsters because I'm just worried that you would have gotten killed by them. I am okay with you making your own choices, but with this one, I just couldn't let go and make this mistake. Besides, didn't you try to convince me to come with you on this island because you didn't want to fight them by yourself? You were pretty insistent about me coming here with you. You were clearly worried about dying to them, didn't you?" Kathy argued back with some annoyance in her voice.

Blaze furrowed her brow as she continued to argue. "That was because you were speaking nonsense about staying at home and not come with me to this island in the first place! I was trying to get you to snap out of whatever trance you were in and bring you back to reality! I had always believed that you wouldn't let me go out on this adventure alone! You are loyal to your friends, and as a friend, I had expected that you wouldn't give up on this adventure because of how much you cared for me! But since you had wanted me to go on the rest of this trip alone, I figured that I should take care of my own problems by myself! Including fighting monsters alone!" Blaze yelled feeling upset.

Kathy's eyebrows were raised in shock of this statement. Blaze was right that she was the one who suggested to Blaze that she should go to Sky Babylon alone. However, Kathy did say that Blaze didn't have to destroy the monsters but only to come here to find the Sol Heart. With a frown, Kathy argued back, "Well, I had never said that you should fight monsters alone. I said that you should avoid fighting them and focus on finding the Sol Heart! Trust me, Blaze! It will be so much easier for you to just go find the Sol Heart and not fight the monsters or even all of the robots here! It will save you the time and energy to do so!".

Blaze growled in anger. Is Kathy serious? There is no way I'm going to let these monsters and robots get away with destroying my kingdom! Blaze thought as she felt angry. "Like I'm ever going to do that! I can't let Dr. Eggman Nega and Battra get away with destroying these islands! These islands are a part of my kingdom! If I don't stop these monsters and robots, then they'll keep destroying my world with no intention of stopping! I don't care if you think that I should avoid the monsters or even robots! I'm going to do my job and protect this world from my enemies! That is what a true guardian does, Kathy!" Blaze yelled feeling passionate now.

Kathy's eyes widened as she gasped in surprise. She suddenly felt hurt and guilt again. Kathy lowered her head in shame. She quietly said, "I just wanted to protect you, Blaze. I don't want you to get hurt again".

Blaze sighed as she then turned around from Kathy and faced the road ahead of her. "There's nothing to be done about that, Kathy. I might get hurt no matter what I do. Just stop trying to be perfect, Kathy. You aren't always going to protect others. People will get hurt whether you are protecting them or not. You have to take risks if you want to protect something or someone. I already know the risks when I'm fighting those monsters, and I'm not going to stop fighting them just because I got hurt yesterday. A true guardian is someone who will always place their lives on the line to protect those they care about," Blaze said calmly.

Kathy gasped again as she looked up to see Blaze looking back at her over her shoulder. Kathy blinked her eyes as she felt at awe at Blaze's words of wisdom. It sounded like something that her mother would've said. Is my mother trying to speak to me through Blaze? Is she still trying to guide me even from beyond the grave? Kathy pondered as she stared intensely at Blaze.

Blaze continued to speak in a calm tone, "My people and my friends are the ones I care about here. I'm going to protect them from these monsters and robots. You are still a greenhorn, Kathy. So, I understand that it's hard for you to understand that. It's difficult to accept that you won't be perfect in your guardian duties, but you still have to do your job if you want others to live. That is all. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to go get rid of the rest of the monsters and robots from this island".

Blaze then ran off, leaving Kathy behind. Kathy just stared at Blaze running off in the distance. Kathy was busy thinking. Is that what I've been doing wrong this entire time? Have I been so worried about doing my job right that I've been weak in my fighting skills? To add to the fact that I've been focused on fighting to prove my own strength, I've been trying to be perfect in doing my job. Maybe...Maybe Blaze is right. I keep trying to be perfect because I wanted others to accept me and to rely on me. I thought that if I'm strong enough to beat anyone in a fight, then I would be a great help to others. But maybe...that shouldn't be the reason to keep on fighting then. Maybe I should focus on fighting for others not for myself but for them. Only then would my true strength will truly show.

With that thought, Kathy felt determined. She then flew in the same direction that Blaze is running off to in order to catch up to her. Blaze was doing well in destroying the rest of the robots on the floating island. Kathy decided to help out a little by firing her energy beams at the hoards of robots. She even fought them by using her Sol Gems to punch them. Blaze was boosting through the robots when she spotted another base. It was the largest base since the huge, main airship of Dr. Eggman Nega's Air Fleet was docked near the building.

"Well, it looks like we've found the final base. I'll destroy the base while you, Kathy, can destroy the airship. Are you fine with that?" Blaze said to Kathy calmly.

"Yeah...I'll be okay with that," Kathy said quietly. Kathy still felt down after her argument with Blaze. Blaze looked a little a sad as she saw Kathy's depressed face. She must be thinking about our argument earlier. Hmm...I think it's best to let her be for now. She'll come around. Blaze pondered as she then focused on the base in front of her.

Blaze then run into the building and started to use her fire powers to destroy the robots and the rooms in the base. Kathy then focused on the huge airship. She used her energy beams to destroy the airship. It was easy to destroy the airship since the thing caught on fire as sparks and explosions came from the inside and outside of it. After Kathy stopped attacking the airship, she then looked around to see if there are some monsters or robots around. Although she is pretty confident that all of the robots are gone. Blaze will finish destroying the last of them. But for the monsters, however, Kathy had a feeling that there are still more of them. After a few minutes, the base soon exploded in fire. Blaze walked out of there with a calm expression on her face.

"That is the last of the robots here. I guess all that's left are the monsters," Blaze said in a cool tone.

"I guess so. After that, we are going to need to search for the Sol Heart. It could be around here anywhere," Kathy replied.

"True. But I'm sure we'll find it soon enough," Blaze agreed.

"Yeah, we will. Let's keep on moving then," Kathy replied with a smile.

Blaze nodded and ran forward to another section of the beautiful ruins of Sky Babylon. Kathy flew with Blaze to the next part of the island. They tried to look for any monsters or the Sol Heart. It was pretty quiet for a while until the girls heard some roars.

AAARRRROOOOOUUUGGHHHEEEEUUUGGGHHHH! SCCCHHHHRRRREEEEEECH! HIIIIIISSSSTH!

Here they come. Wherever they are. Kathy thought as she looked around for the monsters. When Kathy soon saw a Rodan monster firing its heat beam at the two of them, Kathy immediately pulled Blaze's arm back and used her Sol Gems to create a shield around them

"Ah!" Blaze yelped as she was yanked back. The two girls heard the loud THUMP! as the heat beam hit the shield. The entire area of the shield was surrounded in sparks and flames. The walls and ground where Blaze and Kathy were at also caught on fire as the explosions came from them. When the monster stopped attacking with its heat beam, the monster then flew toward the girls. Kathy didn't let the shield disappear because she doesn't know what the monster will do next. The Rodan monster soon slammed its body on the wall that supports the ground that Blaze and Kathy are standing on. The ground began to shake as the monster kept on ramming its body onto the support of the upper ground. Blaze quickly grabbed onto Kathy as the ground rumbled. Kathy tried to stand still while holding onto Blaze for support. Loud bangs could be heard from the monster hitting its body on the marble wall. While Kathy and Blaze were distracted, they hadn't realized that the Kamacuras monster was busy hitting the marble pillars above the girls. The Kamacuras monster was able to break the pillars on top of the wall that the girls were standing near of. The pillars fell down, and soon it fell on top of the shield and around the ground surrounding the shield. The girls shrieked in surprise of the loud crash of the broken pillars falling on top of them. Luckily, some of the pillars fell on top of the Rodan monster. The strong force of the pillars hit the monster on the head and back. The flying monster soon exploded into dark particles as the pile of pillar debris fell on top of it. Once the Kamacuras monster saw that the broken pieces of the pillars had covered the shield, the monster roared as it flew away.

SCCCHHHHHRRRRREEEEEEEEEECH!

Kathy and Blaze were still holding each other as they were still startled by that whole event. It was a bit dark inside the shield since the debris completely covered them. They were panting and breathing fast for a bit until they slowed down. They soon took deep breaths as they hadn't heard anything for a while. They soon let go of each other once they believed that it was safe again.

"Whew! That was too close for comfort," Blaze said as she wiped her brow.

"Yeah, that was very close," Kathy agreed.

"You know what Kathy?" Blaze said as she turned to face Kathy.

"Huh? What's that?" Kathy asked curiously.

"Maybe it is a good thing that I'm not fighting the monsters on my own. I'm not sure how I would be able to survive any of that. Maybe I've been too cocky in saying that I can fight them by myself. I've forgotten about how ruthless they can be sometimes," Blaze said calmly.

Kathy gave a sheepish grin as she replied, "Well, I would say 'I told you so', but I'm really in no position to say that considering what I had said to you earlier, don't I?".

Blaze smirked as she replied in a cool tone, "Hmph. No, you don't".

"Yeah, I thought so. I won't say it then," Kathy replied with a smile while having a small sweat coming down on her head.

"Good choice, Kathy. A wise choice, indeed," Blaze replied with a devious smirk.

Kathy can't help but giggle uncontrollably at that. It could be that she felt so anxious that the pressure got to her, and this is her way of coping with it. Or it could be that she had such a depressing, stressful day that she needed a good laugh to make up for it. Blaze can't help but giggle uncontrollably too. It seems that she had a rough time today too and needed an excuse to laugh to make the day feel better. After giggling silly for a few minutes, the girls calmed down as they felt relieved.

Kathy then said, "I think it's about time to get out of here. Here. Hold my hands, and I'll teleport us out of here".

Blaze nodded as she did what Kathy asked her to do. Kathy then used her Sol Gems and teleported herself and Blaze out of the shield and rubble. They reappeared on the road a few feet where the rubble is. They could see that there is still fire burning around the area they used to be. Blaze let go off Kathy's hands and walked toward the next part of the island. Kathy walked with her as she put her Sol Gems back onto her pendant. Kathy could understand why Blaze would be taking this a bit more slowly. Blaze is being more cautious now that realizes that the monsters could attack suddenly and without warning. Kathy smiled gently and placed a hand on Blaze's shoulder. Blaze turned to look at Kathy in confusion.

"What?" Blaze asked.

"Hey...it's fine, Blaze. You're going to be okay. We'll be okay. So, relax, Blaze. We can handle this...together," Kathy responded with gentle tone.

Blaze's eyebrows were raised as she heard this. She unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. Blaze had realized now that she was feeling anxious. Those monsters really took a toll on her. So, she made the effort to calm herself down.

"Thanks...Kathy," Blaze said as she closed her eyes.

"You're welcome," Kathy replied calmly.

Kathy took her hand off of Blaze and focused on the road ahead of her. This time, she decided not to complain if they walked for a long time. She knows that Blaze is being cautious. So, she wouldn't push it. Also, Kathy is determined to protect Blaze as she is ready to defend her from any surprise attacks from the flying monsters. After walking for a while, they soon spotted something on the inside of a pile of rubble on the side of the road.

"Hmm? I wonder what's in there?" Blaze said as she walked over to the pile of rubble. Kathy went up next to Blaze. Blaze crouched down and pulled some of the rubble away to the side. Once she got most of the rubble away, she spotted a sky-blue heart.

"Ah! There's the next Sol Heart! It's right here!" Blaze exclaimed as she quickly grabbed the heart out of the rubble.

Kathy smiled widely as she said to Blaze, "You did it! We found another Sol Heart together! Only one more left, and then we can go and fight Battra once and for all!".

Blaze smiled as she said, "You're right. We are close to saving my kingdom now. Here. You can have this".

Blaze soon gave Kathy the Sol Heart as she stood back up. Kathy quickly grabbed it and looked at it. "Ah, this is it. The Heart of The Soul. Quite a unique heart this one is".

"What does that heart do?" Blaze asked.

"This Sol Heart can be used to make duplicates of yourself. It copies your soul, makes duplicates of it, and does the same moves as you do. It's like a mirror of yourself that can help you fight in battles. It's pretty useful," Kathy explained calmly while looking at the heart.

"Whoa! Really? It can make duplicates of yourself?" Blaze asked in awe.

"Yep! Although the duplicate versions of yourself is weaker than the original you, they can still give some heavy damage to a foe," Kathy replied cheerfully.

"Wow, I never thought that there is a way to fight with yourself, but here we are," Blaze said while in surprise.

"Yeah, you will be amazed on how it will go into a battle. Maybe we could find the rest of the monsters, and then I could show you how it works," Kathy replied with a smile.

"Sure. Okay. But where will we find-" Blaze said before she was cut off with some roars.

SCCCHHHRRRRREEEEEEECH! SCCCHHHHRRRRREEEEEEECH! AAARRRROOOUUUGGGHHEEEEUUUGGHH!

They looked toward the road ahead of them to see a huge hoard of monsters standing on the ground like an army. There were at least 14 monsters there with both seven Rodan monsters and seven Kamacuras monsters respectively.

"Well, would you look at that! This is the perfect opportunity to show you how this new Sol Heart works!" Kathy exclaimed happily with determination in her eyes as her body prepares for battle.

"How convenient," Blaze replied dully.

Kathy quickly took off her white Sol Heart and used her Sol Gems to make the gold necklace disappear. She then put the white heart into her pocket and used her Sol Gems to create a gold necklace for her new heart. She put on her gold necklace with the sky-blue heart on it and quickly grabbed Blaze's hands. Blaze was about to ask to what Kathy was doing, but Kathy then told her, "Trust me. I need to do this".

Blaze nodded and let Kathy to do what she needed to do. Kathy then commanded the Sol Gems to use the Sol Heart's ability. Sky-blue colors have surrounded the two girls. They both feel the energy of the Sol Gems going through their bodies. Eventually, both Kathy and Blaze have sky-blue afterimages of themselves that are on each side of them. When Kathy stopped using her Sol Gems, she let go of Blaze's hands and smiled at her. Blaze soon looked at Kathy's afterimages as well as hers. She was impressed on how much her afterimages are coping her movements like a mirror. Kathy noticed Blaze's surprise and wonder. Kathy then said while having her voice echo through her afterimages, "It's pretty impressive, right?"

Blaze snapped her attention onto Kathy. She had heard Kathy speak with some echoes around. She then replied, "Wait. Was that voice from...Ah!".

Blaze flinched as she heard her own voice having an echo effect. Kathy smiled as she said, "Yep! That's right! Not only do these afterimages copy your movements, but they also copy your voice! Pretty cool, huh?".

Blaze blinked as she watched Kathy moving her hands around while talking to her. Blaze nodded slowly as she tried to process this strange ability in her mind. This is really weird. Blaze thought while having a sweat drop on her head.

"Well...okay. Whatever you say," Blaze replied quietly still feeling unsure about this.

SCCCCCHHHHHRRRRREEEEEEEECH! SCCCRREEEEECH! AAAARRROOOUUUGGHHHHEEEEUUUGGHHH!

Blaze and Kathy looked back to the monsters. The monsters were ready to attack them. Blaze and Kathy looked at each other. Kathy then said with a smile, "There is no need to hold back. The afterimages will help you fight them. You don't need to hesitate here. Just go and hit them with all you got!".

To show Blaze her point, Kathy flew towards one of the Rodan monsters and punched it before flying upwards to dodge its counterattack. The Rodan monster was about to fire its heat beam at Kathy, however, the monster was stopped by Kathy's afterimages as they punched the monster too before following Kathy into the sky. After the final punch from the last afterimage, the Rodan monster soon fell down and exploded into dark particles. Blaze's eyes were wide as she saw that. Woah. That is one strong attack. Blaze thought in amazement.

Kathy was flying in place while crossing her arms and smiling widely. "See, Blaze? No reason to hold back now!" Kathy exclaimed happily.

Blaze smiled as she then looked confident after Kathy said that. She decided that it's her turn the monsters. Blaze then boldly boosted into one of the Kamacuras monsters. She then quickly turned to ram into another one and another after that. Meanwhile, her afterimages rammed into each of the Kamacuras monsters before either of them had any time to attack with their claws. Each of the afterimages had knocked these monsters down to the ground and exploded into dark particles. The Rodan monsters were ready to attack Blaze to get back at her for destroying the Kamacuras monsters, but Kathy intervened by flying down and punched each of them quickly. The afterimages had hit the monsters very hard as they followed Kathy. Each of these monsters were knocked back to walls, pillars, and the ground by Kathy's punches. They roared in pain as they soon exploded into dark particles.

AAAARRRROOOOOUUUGGHHHEEEEUUUGGHHHH!

Blaze looked back and saw that Kathy was standing in the middle of the road with afterimages standing with her. There were no monsters left. Blaze sighed as she realized that all of the monsters were gone. Blaze walked back as she said with her afterimages echoing her, "Well, that's over at least".

"Yeah! All of the monsters are gone! Talk about an easy fight! Looks like we can leave now!" Kathy exclaimed while winking and giving Blaze a thumbs up. Her afterimages did the same movements as Kathy did by winking and giving a thumbs up too.

Blaze smiled a little as she saw that. She then said, "Alright. Let's leave then," Blaze calmly said.

"OH HO HO HO HO HO! Going so soon, ladies?" Dr. Eggman Nega said as he floated a few miles high above the girls in his hovercraft.

Blaze and Kathy then looked up and saw Dr. Eggman Nega laughing in his hovercraft.

"Dr. Eggman Nega!" Blaze and Kathy said while their afterimages echoed with them.

"Oh, my! Is this some form of a new trick you girls are doing? Well, that won't matter since I will crush you all with my new creation!" Dr. Eggman Nega replied gleefully.

Blaze and Kathy prepared themselves for the new foe that Dr. Eggman Nega had brought. Dr. Nega Eggman flew a bit to the side of the ruins of Sky Babylon to see his foes standing in the middle of the road. The girls wondered why Dr. Eggman Nega had to go a few feet away from them until they saw their opponent flying towards them in the sky.

CHHHHHOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW! CCRRREEEEEEEEHHEEEEHHEEE! CCHHHOOOOW!

The girls gasped as they saw who the foe was. It was King Ghidrah except more bigger and more metallic than before. This was more of a robot than a monster since the body was completely made of silver metal. The robot monster had green eyes too.

"Th-That's Mecha King Ghidorah!" Kathy exclaimed in shock.

"Mecha King Ghidorah?" Blaze asked in confusion.

"Ah, yes. It seems you two girls are confused as to why you are seeing a metallic version of one of the monsters you had faced. You see, Battra gave me the blueprints to build another mecha robot after you two had destroyed MechaGodzilla. He gave me the blueprints to make this robot since he wanted me to have another chance in killing you two. So, if MechaGodzilla won't kill you, then maybe Mecha King Ghidorah will do it! It is such a very strong robot based on a powerful Kaiju in the past. I'll doubt that you two could survive this! Ho ho ho ho ho ho!" Dr. Eggman Nega said as he smiled evilly.

The huge mecha robot had landed down, crushing some buildings with its large legs and feet. The mecha robot screeched as it prepared itself for battle. Blaze and Kathy looked toward each other and nodded. They knew that they had to work together to destroy this robot. Just when I thought that I wanted to finish this adventure by myself. Sigh. Blaze and Kathy thought at the same time. They soon looked back at the robot monster and prepared for their next fight.

The mecha robot made its first move by firing its lasers out of their mouths. The colors were green and red electricity instead of the yellow gravity beams. Blaze and Kathy ran and flew forward to dodge the attacks. The sparks and explosions came from the ground as the electricity hit the ground. The robot attacked the ground, buildings, and pillars with its electricity attacks. Many sparks and explosions came while the huge robot destroys the ruins of Sky Babylon. Blaze ran from the right side while her afterimages followed behind her. Kathy flew on the left as she tried to decide which area to attack first. The robot monster walked as it crushed more of the ruins in its feet. Kathy then decided to attack the stomach of the robot. She flew up higher and got ready to punch the robot with her Sol Gems. She was able to hit the robot just fine, however, the metal was strong enough to withstand the attack. The afterimages followed Kathy and hit the metallic stomach of the robot. It did help a little as the robot stepped back, but the robot kept on attacking with its electricity attacks. Kathy was soon hit by the electricity attacks. Kathy was covered in sparks and explosions from the attack. She cringed as the electricity knocked her back a few feet. She was still flying, but she got a few burns on her skin by those attacks. While Kathy was distracting the robot, Blaze quickly got behind the robot and decided to use her fire attacks to burn the robot's feet. Combined with her afterimages, Blaze had created a huge flame wall that attacked under the robot's feet. The two metallic tails also caught on fire. The robot soon tried to stomp its feet to get rid of the fire underneath itself. The huge feet trampled the weak, stone road of the ruins. The road looked like it was about to collapse from the weight of the robot. Meanwhile, Kathy kept on punching the robot on its stomach and its heads. The afterimages had hit the robot too. Kathy was fast in dodging more of the robot's attacks. The robot did try to bite Kathy with its metallic mouths, but it missed as Kathy was too quick in flying away from those attacks. Kathy was able to get the monster to wobble a little due to the attacks, but she hadn't realized that it was the robot's weight that is making the ground to shake. Blaze can also feel the shaking of the ground since the huge robot is stomping onto the weak floor. Nevertheless, she kept on attacking by turning her attention to the robot's wings. Blaze ran back a bit to get a running start to hit one of the wings by air boosting. After she got enough speed, Blaze then air boosted toward one of the wings. The force of the impact and the fire that Blaze had surrounded herself in was strong enough to leave a burn mark on the metallic wing. The wing also got hit by Blaze's afterimages. Blaze did the same thing with the other wing. She did it very quick enough that the wings got on fire by Blaze's quick attacks. With Kathy hitting the robot in the front and Blaze at the back, the robot was struggling to fight back. The mecha robot screeched.

CHHHHOOOOOOOOWWWWW! CHHOOOOOOWWW!

Blaze soon stopped boosting into the wings and instead attacked the wings with her fire powers coming from her hands. With the afterimages, Blaze was able to send a huge fire blast to one of the wings. Sparks and fire came from the wing as it was attacked. Kathy saw what Blaze was doing and joined her by firing her energy beams onto the huge robot's stomach and chest. More sparks and fire came from the robot's body as it was attacked by the beams. Kathy and Blaze knew that they are barely making progress in defeating the robot since it is made in pure silver metal. If only there was a better way to defeat the robot...or something stupid.

"Grrrr! Come on! Attack them! Attack! Crush them with your feet! Don't just stand there and let yourself get attacked! Fight them!" Dr. Eggman Nega yelled in frustration.

The mecha robot did what Dr. Eggman Nega told it to do. The huge robot soon flapped its metallic wings into the sky. Blaze and Kathy looked up to see what the robot will do next. Suddenly, the robot slammed its feet down to the ground hard, crushing the road even further with its heavy weight. Blaze and Kathy dodged backwards from the attack. The robot did it again by flying up and stomping down with its two feet. Blaze kept on running backwards to avoid getting crushed. However, the stomping made escaping near impossible since it caused more shaking of the ground. It was like an earthquake when the giant root monster hit the ground with its feet. The shaking caused Blaze to trip and her fell onto her bottom. Kathy was doing her best to dodge the robot crushing her. She flew backwards and away from the robot. The ground then started to crack. Blaze could feel the cracks beneath her. Blaze could see how weak the ground is now by seeing multiple cracks on the ground before her. As the robot slammed the ground even harder, the ground started to pop up in chunks. Kathy's eyes went wide in alarm as she realized this.

She then shouted, "AH! THE GROUND! IT'S GOING TO BREAK APART!".

Blaze gasped as she heard what Kathy had said. Blaze couldn't move since she felt frightened about what will happen next. She knew that she could get up and run away. But she felt frozen stiff as she realized that below the ground is a high height that will lead her down to ocean below. She couldn't move a muscle. Kathy saw that Blaze isn't making any move to leave. Kathy then decided to save her. When the robot flew back up again, Kathy wasted no time as she flew down towards Blaze. Kathy knew what the robot's plan was in doing this. The robot is trying to make them fall into the ocean by its attack. Kathy won't let the robot get away by harming Blaze. So, she quickly snatched Blaze into her arms and flew up and away from the huge robot.

"Kathy! What are you-?!" Blaze yelled in shock with her mouth open wide and her eyes opened wide as saucers.

"Saving you!" Kathy yelled back as she turned around to see the robot stomp down again.

"Saving me?! What are you talking about?!" Blaze yelled still in shock.

"Look!" Kathy yelled as she pointed at Mecha King Ghidorah slamming down onto the ground the last time.

CRRRRRAAAAAAAAASSSSHHHH!

After the robot slammed its feet down, the ground suddenly gave in and broke into many pieces. The robot made a giant hole in the ground. The ruins and pillars lost the support of the ground and fell down to the hole into the ocean. The mecha robot then fell down into the hole it had created with debris falling down on its heads and body. Buildings, pillars, arches, and the ground all fell down on top of the huge robot and was able to break the heads of the robot off of the body. With the heads broken off, the robot stopped moving and fell down with the debris into the ocean below. A large splash can be seen from the view above. Blaze's eyes went even wider as she saw that. She saw the huge hole that almost made this entire part of the island to crumble apart and fall into the ocean. Blaze could feel her heart pounding as she saw how high the island is in the sky. She saw nothing but clouds. She held onto Kathy tighter as she was grateful now that Kathy saved her. Her head was sweating very much as she tried to calm down in panicked state. She took some deep breaths while she leant her head on to Kathy's shoulder right now. It was pretty lucky for the two of them that Dr. Eggman Nega hadn't built that robot to be too durable because they would be in a lot of trouble if it wasn't.

"Nooooo! Curses! Double curses! How did you two defeat that robot so quickly?! That robot was about to crush you! I almost had it! But you two had to ruin it, didn't you?! Great! Now Battra won't let me come back to his kingdom now since I failed to kill you both again! He is going to kick me out of our kingdom! I hope you're happy, Blaze! You got to at least see me get kicked out of your captured kingdom! At least you won't have to deal with me now! I won't forget this Blaze! I'll get my revenge some other time! You will pay for this! You hear me?! YOU WILL PAY!" Dr. Eggman Nega yelled as he banged his hovercraft again. After shaking a fist at Blaze and Kathy, he soon turned his hovercraft around and left. He is going to the Sol Kingdom one last time to say goodbye to his captured kingdom.

Blaze and Kathy watched Dr. Eggman Nega leave. Kathy breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at Blaze and saw that she looked exhausted. Kathy could guess that it must be from the adrenaline rush from being saved to seeing Mecha King Ghidorah fall down from a very high height. She could understand that Blaze must be feeling stressed as she is flying this high up. So, Kathy flew down slowly to the rest of the ground below. She gently grabbed Blaze off of her to help her stand on the ground. Blaze still held onto Kathy for a bit until she got comfortable with the solid ground again. Blaze took a few more deep breaths until she calmed down again.

"Are you going to be okay?" Kathy said while still having her afterimages echo with her.

"Yeah...yeah...I'll be fine. Thank you for saving me Kathy," Blaze said with a few breaths in between. Kathy smiled as then grabbed Blaze's shoulders while she uses her Sol Gems to bring themselves back to normal. She commanded the Sol Gems to turn off the Sol Heart's power by putting the afterimages back into their own bodies to join with their souls again. Kathy then let go of Blaze and placed her Sol Gems back to her pendant.

Blaze then looked back up at Kathy. Kathy was giving Blaze a caring smile. Kathy then said, "I guess you must be glad now that I had protected you. Otherwise...well...you would be dead right now to put it frankly".

Blaze gave a weak smile as she looked nervous. "Heh heh heh...ah...uh...yeah. I would have been. Whew, thanks again for saving me, Kathy," Blaze said awkwardly as she looked away from Kathy.

Kathy smiled wide as she said, "It's no problem, Blaze. Although...will this make you admit that you do need me to protect you from danger?".

"Only if you admit that you need my help to begin with. Let's not get cocky now, Kathy. You have to admit that you need help just as much as I do," Blaze replied with a teasing smirk.

"Hahahaha, aw come on! Do I have to?" Kathy replied with a giggle.

"Yes," Blaze replied in a dead-pan tone while having a smug look on her face.

Kathy smiled wider at Blaze. Blaze smiled wide too. They soon laughed a little after that.

"Hehehehehe, we really are bad at admitting to needing help from others!" Kathy said as she laughed.

"Hahahahahaha, yes, I agree completely. It seems we are both stubborn at letting go of our pride to ask others for help," Blaze agreed while laughing.

"Hahahaha, I guess we still have a lot to learn as guardians, right?" Kathy giggled cutely.

"Yes. A lot actually," Blaze said with a knowing smile.

Kathy smiled gently as she nodded. Blaze then said, "Well, we're finally done on this island. Thank goodness. I hope that I don't have to come here ever again".

"Man, you really do hate heights, don't you?" Kathy replied with a teasing grin.

"Don't start!" Blaze snapped back.

"Hahahahahaha! Okay! Okay! Calm down, Blaze! Hehehehehehe! I'm only joking!" Kathy replied while laughing as she put her hands up in defense.

Blaze sighed as she then replied, "Anyway, let's leave. Right now. I think you need to fly me down to the small island below Sky Babylon. Marine and her crew are on the island below. We should tell them that you're here and that you could teleport us back to your island".

"Ah, alright then. I suppose that it's fair to help you get back to my island after...abandoning you earlier today," Kathy replied as she then frowned in the end.

Blaze soon frowned as she saw Kathy's sad face. She must be still feeling guilty for doing that. Blaze thought as she stared at Kathy with sad eyes.

"Kathy? Will you tell me now why you had acted so strangely today? I'm willing to listen to you. Please tell me," Blaze said gently.

Kathy looked up at Blaze. Kathy still frowned and looked back down in shame. If I told you, then...you will probably be upset at my thoughts. I can't help but do what I thought was right at the time. I'm sorry that I'm not the girl that you think of me to be, Blaze. Kathy brooded as she looked sad.

"I'm sorry, Blaze. I can't tell you yet. I'm not ready to say it. I'm sorry," Kathy apologized meekly as she closed her eyes.

Blaze frowned further at that. Kathy must be really suffering if she couldn't just say what is on her mind. I suppose I could understand that since I keep to myself most of the time. Still, I wonder what it is that Kathy is so troubled by. I guess I'll have to wait and see when Kathy feels comfortable talking to me about it. Blaze pondered as she closed her eyes.

"Alright then. Don't say anything then. Come on. We should get going anyways," Blaze said calmly as she opened her eyes again.

"Yeah...let's get out of here," Kathy replied quietly. She then turned around to allow Blaze to grab on to her again. Blaze wrapped her arms over Kathy's neck and wrapped her ankles over Kathy's again. Kathy then flew up into the sky again. She flew as fast as she could to get down to the small island below. Once Marine and her crew saw Blaze and Kathy, they were glad that they both came back together. Blaze soon told them that they should get on the ship to let Kathy teleport them all back to Infant Island. The whole group nodded in agreement and to the ship to wait for Kathy to do her thing. Kathy soon flew over to the ship, landed on it, and used her Sol Gems to teleport them all back to Infant Island.

Blaze and Kathy had one more Sol Heart left to get, and then their journey is about to end. Their first and last journey together.

Thus, another chapter done. Still not sure if I'm content with the fighting scenes though. It may be a little different than what I had in mind, but I guess it changed when I was writing the story. I can deal with this not being a good chapter. At least inner conflict and the arguments that Blaze and Kathy went through in this chapter might make up for semi-adequate fighting with the monsters and the "boss" in this chapter. Getting closer to the end of the story. Just a few more chapters left! Anyways, please R&R if had enjoyed this! See you next chapter!