Chapter 8 (Sonic): Places to Go, Places to Be

Sonic and Blaze kept running, looking back every now and then to see if they were being pursued. So far, none of Eggman's Badniks appeared to be chasing them, which gave Blaze the perfect time to talk.

At the top of her list, the hug. Even though she did it out of joy for Sonic's return, she felt it wasn't like her to express her emotions in such a manner. And though at this point she started to see Sonic as a friend, he, too was surprised at her behavior.

"Listen, Sonic," she began. "About earlier, my behavior was uncalled for." She almost added "I'm sorry," but truth be told, she wasn't. Not completely anyway.

Sonic stared back at her confused, only chuckling when he realized what she was talking about. "It's alright. I would've done the same if you were in my shoes."

Blaze blushed at his response. He would've done the same? So, he was fine with it. Still, she felt it needed to be addressed, and it was.

She returned to her usual stoic expression and went on to the next big question. "Speaking of which, how did you get ba—?"

"Ah!" Before she could finish her expression, a sharp blade of psychic energy hit the ground in front of Sonic. The two quickly scanned the area for the attacker and found him floating in the air. Sonic narrowed his eyes.

"…You again."

Silver landed on the ground just as the two noticed him. He pointed at Sonic, determination resonating in his golden eyes. "This time, there will be no more interruptions! The Iblis Trigger…must die!"

Blaze glanced at Sonic, who stood in front of her defensively. She softly said his name before looking back at Silver.

On one hand, Silver was from a terrible future, one where he must do battle with the Flames of Disaster—Iblis—in a never-ending cycle. The dark hedgehog in her visions told him that killing Sonic was the only way to change it.

But on the other hand, Sonic had been helping her escape Dr. Eggman and saved those that madman threatened. He could never be responsible for such a terrible future. Even Silver seemed conflicted about killing Sonic in her visions.

Sonic appeared to be of the same mind, and raised his hands to protest. "Take it easy! Can't we just talk this out? I'm not trying to ruin the future."

Silver started to hesitate a little, but he shook his head and fired another blast of energy. Sonic evaded and rolled out of the way, but Silver was one step ahead and used his powers to hold him in place. Despite his struggling, Sonic was unable to move, and the psychic field around him felt as if it was crushing him.

Blaze couldn't stand watching it anymore. "Silver, let him go! He's helping me!" She knew Silver was trying to do what he thought was right, but Blaze couldn't let him kill Sonic. Her only hope was to convince him to stop, even if it came down to fighting him herself.

"Stay out of this!" Silver pushed Blaze back with a light field of energy. It wasn't strong enough to send her flying, but if Blaze didn't guard herself, she would've hit the ground instead of sliding back a few feet.

I've got to reach him somehow! she thought.

"I know why you're doing this, but Sonic isn't your enemy. Eggman is the one who would destroy your time!"

Silver grit his teeth at Blaze's words. He even shut his eyes out of irritation. Blaze thought her words were reaching him. But she didn't get the outcome she was hoping for.

"I'm sorry. Even if Sonic isn't a bad guy, Dr. Eggman is the only one who can remove Iblis from you. Sonic's trying to prevent that from happening and he won't stop trying." He paused for a moment, then said. "Whether it's right or wrong, if I don't do something the future will never change. I have to do this!"

His will showed signs of wavering, but he kept Sonic imprisoned in his psychic field and tightened it.

He is naïve! Blaze realized she had no choice to but to fight, and prepared to attack.

"So how was your little walk, Princess?"

The sound of Eggman's voice surprised Blaze, fixing her sight on the doctor in his familiar aircraft. The robotic hands of the craft reached out to grab her, but she dodged in the nick of time.

Eggman grumbled. "Hmph! Hold still!"

Sonic and Silver looked at Eggman trying to capture Blaze, and shouted in unison, "Blaze! Run!" Sonic was taken aback by how Silver said the same thing as he did. It seemed that deep down, despite him wanting Eggman to remove Blaze's powers, Silver couldn't stand to see Blaze hurt.

Blaze kept shifting her gaze between Sonic and Eggman. "But what about you?"

"I'll be fine! If you have time to worry, then run! Remember?"

Blaze did remember, and she called them wise words. Even though she didn't know how Sonic got back from the future, he still managed to pull it off. It didn't look too good now, but she felt he could get out of this situation without her as well. It pained her to think this way, but like Amy before, she trusted Sonic to deal with Silver as she ran off. Eggman followed in pursuit.

"Get back here!" the doctor yelled as he followed after her.

Sonic watched as Blaze ran off into the distance. Just hang in there.

He groaned in pain as the psychic field pushed hard against his stomach, causing him to bend forward in reaction to the pain. Silver, though faltering, yelled, "It's time to end this!" He then prepared another blade of energy and aimed it as Sonic's chest.

Sonic could barely move his head up to see the blade. Guess this is it!

A sudden shot of orange-red light landed in front of Silver and exploded, sending him flying back. Since he lost his concentration, the field Silver put up around Sonic vanished, the blue hedgehog kneeling and panting at the release.

"Who?"

A black figure landed in front of Sonic and stared at Silver with crimson red eyes. Sonic knew this figure all too well, but Silver didn't.

"Mephiles!? Why are you getting in my way?"

Mephiles? Sonic remembered how Mephiles and Shadow looked similar, so it didn't seem so shocking that Silver would mistake one for the other. The people of the world once mistook him for Shadow at one point, after all.

Shadow stood up from his kneeling position and crossed his arms, annoyed that Silver mistook him for the other dark hedgehog. "I'm Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog." Silver stood dumbstruck for a moment, but he focused his eyes on his new opponent and prepared a fighting stance.

Shadow quickly looked back at Sonic, his face alone telling Sonic to get going. Sonic smiled, gave him a thumbs up and began running off in Blaze and Eggman's direction. Try not to hurt him too bad, Shadow.


"Whew whew!"

Blaze began to pant as she ran, but she didn't slow down once. Eggman was maintaining his speed as he followed her from above. From her viewpoint, he seemed rather calm.

"Doesn't he ever give up?" Blaze complained.

She ran up a steady incline but immediately halted to a stop when she reached the edge. The sky was starting to become covered with more clouds, but they had yet to reach a position to block out the sun's light completely. Below her was an open valley with nothing but dirt and grass. Off in the distance, an area of dark green and shadows covered the remainder of the visible land: the Soleanna Forest.

The key problem was that she was high. Very high.

Unlike the castle grounds she was used to, Blaze had never been at such an altitude before, the only exceptions being the Egg Carrier and Eggman's personal aircraft, but even then, she still had a sense of safety and, in the latter's case she could close her eyes when need be.

But here, she couldn't just back away from the edge. Eggman was almost upon her.

"Ah!"

Suddenly appearing from over the edge was what appeared at first glance to be a sphere made up of dirt-colored metal; in reality, it was a giant robot with extensions and searchlights protruding from its uneven body. Its eyes glimmered with an emerald green as hovered above Blaze. Following its appearance, the robot held its position as four more similarly colored pieces rocketed towards it, only to slow down and attached themselves to the robot. After they clicked into placed, the robot stared at Blaze and shone its spotlights down at her.

Blaze had to shield her eyes from the bright lights. It's a monstrosity.

"Impressed?" Eggman approached in his aircraft, leaving its altitude close to the ground yet only a few feet away from Blaze. She turned to see him smirking in pride. "The Egg Genesis is one of my finest creations yet: a titanic battle station with enough arsenal and Badnik battalions to level a government base in five seconds."

Blaze clenched her fist, looking back and forth at the Egg Genesis and Eggman. She began to conjure up flames, only to stop when a group of Egg Gunners emerged from the Egg Genesis behind her and gathered around Eggman, their guns aimed at her.

Eggman raised his hand to protest. "Now stop it. You have nowhere to go."

Blaze's temper was at its peak. Everything this man did—threating my home, my people, my friends!

"I would rather die than be your prisoner again!"

Her flames grew larger and hotter to the point Eggman started to feel himself sweat, but he maintained his composure. He smiled. "Hmph. So, what are you going to do, Princess? Will you fight my entire army?"

The Egg Gunners each reloaded their weapons to intimidate Blaze; while she did not fear them, she took a step back near the edge of the cliff. She heart skipped a beat when she almost slipped, a few rocks ripping off of her heels and falling over the side. The simple look down was enough to make her anxious.

Eggman, knowing about her fear of heights, acted on it. "Do you plan to jump? It's a long way down!"

Blaze gritted her teeth, but contemplated the option as she looked over the side again. Theoretically, though she never attempted such a maneuver, she could use her flames to hover herself down, but there was no telling if she could pull it off with her acrophobia. And even if she could, the speed of her descent would be slow enough for Eggman to catch her.

That's when she noticed Sonic running across the bottom.

He's alright! Blaze kept her emotions in check, but internally she was glad to see him unharmed. And he was gazing up at her position as he kept running. This gave her an idea.

It was a completely reckless and dangerous idea, but it was the best option to get to lower ground and eliminate her battle disadvantage. She extinguished her flames and stared Eggman down, her passive state returning.

"Farewell."

"Huh?!"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and lurched back over the edge into a freefall.

Sonic watched as she fell and adjusted his speed to reach her impact position. When he was close, he jumped up to catch her in his arms and landed carefully on his feet. When Blaze opened her eyes, she saw him with that cocky smile of his. "Dropping by?"

She couldn't help but giggle at his comment, though partly due to the relief of her not becoming a pancake.

Eggman growled at the two. "You won't get away that easily! Egg Genesis, eliminate Sonic and bring me the princess!"

The Egg Genesis responded to its creator's demands, descending until it was closer to Sonic and Blaze's level, despite remaining quite a ways off of the ground. Sonic and Blaze looked each other in the eyes and nodded in understanding. If Eggman wanted a fight, they would give him one. Sonic put Blaze back on her feet and stared at the behemoth before them.

"I'm not one for fighting in the air," Blaze admitted.

"That's fine," Sonic replied. "You attack its bottom and sides. I'll find a way to reach its head!"

Blaze agreed and prepared herself for battle.

The Egg Genesis rotated its arms around its body; though faint, the sound of artillery being loaded could be heard. Whatever the Egg Genesis was carrying, the two of them were about to find out.

And Sonic grinned in anticipation.

"You think you can intimidate me with just your size? Come on! Let's see what you can do!"

Rushing forward, he kept his eyes on the Egg Genesis, waiting for it to attack; the moment came when the robot's arms slowly fell to its sides. Slides on the edges of the arms opened up to reveal large black barrels, from which missiles launched out in unison, all of them targeting Sonic.

Sonic sidestepped and drifted to avoid the projectiles, letting them hit the ground and explode harmlessly.

As the Egg Genesis' focus was on Sonic, Blaze began to formulate a plan of attack herself. Now that she was on the ground, her fear of heights was alleviated, but that made it harder for her to commence a close-range attack without getting higher. So, long-range was her best option.

She first attempted to assault the robot with her flames, battering its sides with a series of fireballs, but the Egg Genesis only suffered a loss of paint. She knew she needed to hit it harder, but the distance between the two made it more difficult to land a critical blow with flames alone. She scanned her environment for a potential remedy to that problem, finding her solution with nearby rock formations. Setting the miniature boulders ablaze, she launched them at the Egg Genesis' arms through a series of powerful upward kicks.

The rocks proved to be much more effective than the fireballs, each one scraping off the metal plating with ease. One of her kicks hit a rock off-center, though, sending it flying towards the servo holding up one of the titan's arms.

The impact must've been critical, however, as the arm's servo exploded into pieces, leaving the arm to fall to the ground with a loud BAM!

Sonic whistled enthusiastically. "Nice shot, Blaze!" She couldn't help but smile at his comment. All her life, people were afraid of how dangerous she was due to her flames. Now, she was unleashing her powers to stop the army of a bad man they also feared.

Ironic as it was, it was nonetheless exhilarating.

Eggman scowled. She is making this more difficult than it needs to be! Fine. If I must, I can work with a cat that's lost its tail!

"Egg Genesis: eliminate Sonic and make the princess suffer!"

The Egg Genesis began to search the environment with its spotlights for its targets. Sonic was encircling the machine out of range of the search lights, but Blaze found herself being singled out. The robot lowered its arms and opened concealed racks hidden inside at the ends; Egg Gunners emerged from the racks and began to rain bullets on her; she dodged their assault and began to run away from the Egg Genesis as the Egg Gunners chased after her.

Sonic noticed Blaze's predicament, then looked at the Egg Genesis towering above them. He considered a possibility.

"Blaze!" he cried. "Can you make a staircase out of them?"

Blaze looked at Sonic and tried to understand what he was suggesting. Did he want her to use her flames to break them into pieces and make the pieces float with her power? The Egg Gunners weren't made of enough parts to even make it to half the distance from the ground to the titan's head!

The Egg Genesis' arms began to move its exposed racks back inside, steam hissing from the vents. That's when Blaze realized what Sonic was playing at. Stopping before one of the lowered arms, she turned to face the oncoming Egg Gunners and made columns of fire erupt from the ground, entrapping and crushing them. She purposely arranged it so that the Egg Gunners were in an ascending order.

A stairway to the arm of the Egg Genesis.

"Sonic! Now!"

Sonic approached Blaze's position and jumped up to homing strike the first Egg Gunner, then the second and third, finally landing on the Egg Genesis' arm. He gave Blaze a thumbs up and proceeded to run up the arm as it began to rise to a position perpendicular to its owner.

"Why you little…!" Eggman couldn't believe the stunt the two had pulled. They had only met a few days ago, yet they performed in perfect synchronicity. "Upper cannons open fire! Shoot him down!"

The Egg Genesis' head revealed hidden machine guns on its side, but Sonic was already up on top of its head before they started firing. He bounced hard in place, pleased at the sweet sound of bolts and parts coming loose on the inside. After a string of bounces, another of the giant arms fell off of the Egg Genesis, much to his surprise and enjoyment.

"All right, you're going down!"

This act prompted the robot to seal its head inside its body, preventing any more damage, as well as unleash another barrage of missiles from its remaining arms at Sonic. With no option left, he jumped off the side and landed on the ground, taking off at high speed to avoid becoming overcooked by the missiles.

By this point, Eggman was at his limit. He issued a new order to his machine:

"Begin charging core laser. Take this, Sonic!"

Underneath the monstrosity, a yellow section of a nonmetal substance began to turn orange with energy, the energy shaping itself into a small charged ball. Blaze tried to stop the attack by hailing more fiery boulders at the underside, but despite the damage done the energy was still there. Realizing the attack couldn't be stopped, she yelled, "Sonic, run!"

Sonic watched as the orange laser shot out like a horse from the robot's underside.

Wait for it…

The orange laser crept closer and closer until it was a few feet from Sonic.

Now!

Sonic changed his shoes using the Blue Gem and rocketed himself out of danger. The laser exploded at his previous position, leaving a hemisphere of sparks and flames. Sonic then changed his shoes back to normal and came to a halt before Blaze.

"Any more bright ideas?" Blaze asked.

Sonic observed the Egg Genesis' underbelly. Blaze had done a considerable amount of damage, but there were no more rocks left to hurl at the beast.

But maybe…

"Just one: launch me."

"What?!"

Sonic pointed at the Egg Genesis. "Launch me towards its underside!" He then took off and stopped a couple yards away from Blaze. She stared at him unsure of how this would work, but she trusted his judgement.

I hope you know what you're doing, Blaze thought. When Sonic saw that she was ready, he ran towards her and jumped over her, curling himself up into a ball; Blaze thrusted her fire at Sonic, sending him spinning in flames towards the Egg Genesis. He sliced right through the underside and, though unseen, could be heard banging and cutting through everything on the inside.

After a few seconds, one of the two remaining arms fell off, its servo being cut clean off. Another few seconds later…

CRUNCH!

"Whoo!" Sonic emerged out of the servo of the remaining arm, causing the arm to join its doppelgangers on the ground. The blue hedgehog landed on top of the arm, a look of victory shining on his face.

Blaze chuckled amused, but she regained her seriousness when she realized the Egg Genesis was still functioning. She could see Eggman in his aircraft nearby, hammering away at the controls.

He was not happy.

The robot began to blare an alarm, and it quickly lost altitude, yet its eyes remained locked on the two of them. It didn't take long for Blaze to put two and two together.

A suicide mission?!

"Sonic, look out! The fortress is crashing!" Sonic and Blaze began to run in opposite directions as the Egg Genesis came crashing down on them. The two managed to clear the impact area, but the force from the resulting explosion sent them flying in different directions.

Sonic ended up crashing head-first into the dirt.

Blaze hit the uneven canyon wall with the left side of her body.

"Ah!" She screamed in pain, clenching her eyes shut. As much as it hurt, she couldn't let the pain produce any tears. As she struggled to get off the ground, Sonic emerged from his landing spot and rushed to her side.

"Blaze! You OK?"

"I-I'm fine." She was able to stand her legs, though a little wobbly. Placing her hand to the canyon wall for support, Blaze tried to prevent herself from tearing up through simple breathing exercises. Once the harsh feeling passed, she stopped and produced a small smile at Sonic to reassure him.

He looked at her cautiously for a moment, yet he quickly returned the smile.

"Guess Eggman's getting desperate, huh?"

"It would appear so." Blaze knew Eggman wanted her alive, but the Egg Genesis' suicidal run made her wonder if the mad doctor was losing patience with her. It wouldn't have surprised her.

"Speaking of desperate," Sonic said. "That was a gutsy move back there, you falling off the cliff like that!"

The moment flashed through Blaze's mind in a heartbeat, and she shook her head. "Yes, and I hope I never have to do that again." It just so happened that Sonic was there to catch her. If he hadn't shown up, she was unsure if she would have saved herself or braced for impact.

She sighed internally. How many times does that make this where he's helped me? At this point, she did not care. Whenever Sonic was around, things always seemed to get better. Even when Eggman sent him into the future, he came back and struck another blow to the doctor's ego. She would need to have a talk with him about his experiences in the future, but for now she was just glad to have him by her side again.

With a sincere smile, she said, "I owe you a lot, Sonic. Thank you." She bowed her head and gazed back at him.

Sonic was unprepared for such behavior from the Princess of Soleanna. He chuckled bashfully. The moment passed when the two heard the familiar sound of Eggman's forces flying towards them in the distance.

Sonic looked behind him towards the forest. Their options were to continue fighting or flee. Truth be told, he would've enjoyed smashing more of Eggman's pawns, but one look at Blaze was enough to convince him otherwise. Her dress appeared tattered, and her body showed signs of soreness.

Most of off, she looked tired.

Blaze may have the power to potentially obliterate armies, yet how many times has she actually been in a fight? Sonic wondered. He made up his mind.

"Let's head into the jungle!"

Blaze looked at Sonic, then the jungle, and finally Sonic again. She nodded and began to walk towards the trees.

Only to fall over in agony.

"Ow!" She held her left leg with her hands, closing her eyes tightly. When she opened them again, she observed her leg carefully. It was then she saw it was bleeding.

That collision must've been worse on the leg, she thought.

There was no way she could run in this condition.

"Huh?!"

She felt herself being lifted off her feet into Sonic's arms. When the blue hedgehog saw the injury to her leg, he must've thought the same thing and believed it best to carry her.

She had told him once before that he did not need to carry her all the time. Yet here again was another occasion where he had to do so.

Sonic defended his actions saying, "Consider it repayment for taking care of my arm." He pondered something for a second, then smiled mischievously at her. Winking, he added, "Try to stay awake this time."

She knew what he was referring to and became annoyed. "Very funny." Still, despite what she had said before, she had grown used to being in his arms. Felt comforted, even. Maybe it was the pain talking, but a small part of her wished for this to never end.

She shook her head in embarrassment. Yeah, it's the pain talking.

Holding on to her tightly, Sonic took off and disappeared among the trees.


The Soleanna Forest—a complex ecosystem of tall trees covered in moss and dense vegetation—was home to exotic creatures not commonly found in the world. For example, large turtles inhabited the lake areas, their shells as massive as small craters from meteor strikes. Butterflies were also a familiar phenomenon, but their wing colors were a rich purple or blue not seen in others of their kind.

Not common to the forest, however, were the Badniks chasing after Sonic and Blaze and leaving a mess behind. As Sonic sidestepped to dodge their attacks, Blaze attempted to fire back at them using her flames. One by one, they became scrap metal from the powerful force of the flames, but much like the mythical hydra, two more would soon replace one fallen comrade.

"Let's run straight up!" Sonic yelled.

When Blaze turned her head, she saw Sonic was referring to a large tree slanted enough to run on. The tree still managed to reach the canopy of the other trees.

Blaze felt her body shiver at the thought of getting higher, but Sonic was already racing up the tree. Besides, even though she would've preferred staying close to the ground, there was no other path to take that was clear enough for them to run through.

Soon, there were high above the ground again, with Sonic jumping from branch to branch. The Badniks, attempting to fly through them, found their numbers being depleted rapidly as the larger ones kept smashing into the oversized twigs. Sonic chuckled at the robots' stupidity. However, he soon found himself at the end of a joke when he ran out of branches to jump from.

When Blaze saw this herself, she looked around and found a large lime-colored vine with a curled orange tip dangling nearby. Behind it lied another branch to land on. She pointed it out to Sonic

"Sonic, the vine!"

Sonic adjusted his grip on Blaze so that he was hanging on to her with one arm. She wrapped her arms firmly around his neck (whether it was the smart thing to do or she was doing it out of fear was unclear). He then jumped and grabbed the vine with his free hand.

But this was no ordinary vine. It began to uncoil itself, and the two found themselves descending towards the ground at a hasty speed. Blaze became terrified.

"Aaaaah!"

The impact never came, as Sonic and Blaze found themselves hovering a few inches off the ground. Sonic let go of the vine, letting it wrap itself back up like a licorice roll, and resumed carrying Blaze. There was still a lot of ground to cover, and they hadn't escape Eggman yet.

The remaining Badniks descended down to their level in hot pursuit, and once again the two found themselves in the same position as earlier: Sonic running, and Blaze shooting. Continuing on the path, Sonic came to a dead halt before his oldest adversary: a large area covered in dangerously deep levels of dark blue water. Scattered around the lake area were mystic ruins covered in moss.

If he wasn't carrying Blaze around, traversing this area would've been easy, but the extra weight of a person in his arms made it more difficult to reach his normal high speeds. As they were now, running across the water was impossible.

Blaze landed a blow on the last of the Badniks before glancing at the area before them. Seeing the ruins, she knew they were getting closer to Soleanna's Castle Town, but the fact of the matter was they would need to cross the lake.

"Looks like we'll need to swim across." Despite her injured leg, Blaze was an adept swimmer; it was one of her few pastimes when she wasn't working on paperwork.

Sonic, on the other hand…

"That's gonna be a problem."

"Why?"

"…I can't swim." On numerous occasions, Sonic found his adventures led him to travel under water, but those experiences almost always involved him escaping death from drowning. He had put it on his to-do list to learn how to swim, yet now was a time where such a skill would be useful.

And he didn't have it.

He could've used the Sky Gem to transport them across, but unlike the volcano in the future there wasn't an easy spot for it to land on; if he missed, they could fly straight into the water.

Blaze contemplated for a moment. If they stayed here, Eggman's forces would find them again; chances are, he wouldn't send in the small fry anymore if they kept defeating them. The two of them needed to get over the lake, and fast. Looking down at her hand, she produced an idea.

"Sonic, how far can you jump with me to that root?" She pointed at the closest platform for them to cross: the root from an overgrown tree that was sticking out of the water.

"I can probably make it halfway."

"Do it."

"What?"

Blaze produced a flame in her hand. "I'll use my power to hover us the rest of the way." Now's a better time to test that theory than never.

Sonic stared at the flame for a moment, then at Blaze. He nodded trustingly. Holding on to her firmly, he took a long jump stance and propelled himself off the ground. The water below reflected an image of them gliding above it.

As soon as the two had reached the critical peak of the jump, Blaze unleashed a continuous stream of fire, slowing their descent as they continued to move towards the root. Once Sonic's foot touched the root, he quickly started to run again, desiring to stay away from the water.

"Nice thinking, Blaze!"

She simply nodded as thanks, and the two continued crossing the lake in this manner.


After running for some time, the two were starting to reach the end of the forest. Less trees and vegetation were blocking the way, and it was starting to become easier to see the sky above. The clouds were starting to pass, and the sun emitted near-white rays of light down through the canopy of the trees.

While Sonic kept moving ahead with Blaze in his arms, she looked behind them. There were no signs of any of Eggman's machines, and besides the sound of Sonic's feet running on the ground, she could hear birds singing.

Finally…

"It looks like we've lost them," she commented.

Sonic nodded smiling. He then thought to himself for a moment, then declared, "I'll settle things here."

He knew he had to stop Dr. Eggman, so the best option was to go back and finish the fight. If he hurried, Eggman wouldn't have gotten far. Knowing the old Egghead, he didn't like to waste any parts that could still be useful to him, so chances are he would be gathering any salvageable parts from the Egg Genesis before heading back to his base in White Acropolis. Worst case, Sonic would take the teleporter in the New Town to White Acropolis and defeat Eggman there.

But first thing's first.

"Blaze, once I get into town, you should go back to the castle."

"OK…" Blaze knew this was the right thing to do. Without Eggman and (hopefully) Silver in the way, she should have no trouble gathering a defense force now. Plus, in her injured state, she wouldn't be of much use to Sonic in a fight with Eggman, though she really wanted to make him pay for all the trouble he's caused.

Still, she was a bit sad about this plan. Originally, she was fine with the idea of just her getting Soleanna ready for any more of Eggman's attacks, if they ever came. But now, she couldn't imagine defending against Eggman without Sonic to be there with her.

It was ridiculous. She had only known him for a few days, yet she wanted him to stay. Maybe it was because of how well he was in a fight, or that cocky, yet caring attitude of his.

Maybe…it was because he was her friend. Like Cream and Cheese, its hard to not be with people you care about in a harsh world.

Sonic noticed her sadness and felt a little bad. He was leaving a friend alone to go fight Eggman; it was nothing new, but with someone like Blaze—a princess who suffered a terrible past and carrying a big burden—leaving her felt wrong.

It has to be done, Sonic thought. That's when he remembered something about this forest.

But that doesn't mean we can't take a quick detour!

He immediately changed his direction to the right, leaving Blaze confused.

"Sonic?"

He carried her down a small slope of grass, and before long the two had reached a point where the trees cleared up. Sunlight radiated down on Blaze's face as she gasped in wonder as Sonic slowed to a stop.

He had taken her to a small pond area surrounded by white cherry blossom trees, their flowers slowly falling off from the light breeze and landing on the water and grass below.

Sonic set Blaze down who, despite limping a little, was able to move towards the water's edge. She stared up at the tree in front of her.

"It's so beautiful!" Blaze said. "I've never seen so many flowers before." In truth, she hadn't. She never even stepped close to the Soleanna Forest since the Solaris Project happened ten years ago. Ever since that tragedy, she'd been mostly confined to the new castle, only venturing out as far as the town and where her duties as a princess would allow.

This whole adventure, I've been seeing things I've never thought I'd see.

It did bring a question about her companion to mind.

"Sonic," she asked. "Have you visited many wonderful places before?" She held out her hands to catch some of the falling snow flowers.

Sonic smiled. "Yeah."

Blaze could only imagine all the sights Sonic must had seen in his adventures, places beyond comprehension.

Places beyond reach.

It only reminded her of how short their time together was, and how much longer it would last. She turned to Sonic, who stood cross armed looking out at the forest behind them. Most likely, he was keeping his eyes open for Eggman's forces, just in case.

"Once you defeat Eggman…you'll leave, won't you?"

Sonic felt a small pain in his chest, but he was prepared for this moment. He turned to Blaze and slowly nodded in the affirmative. It hurt her a little, but she concealed her emotions well behind a soft smile.

"Though I'll admit I've been frightened many times, I've also enjoyed this adventure with you." She paused for a moment, thinking back to her life before meeting Sonic. "It allowed me to be something more than a princess cursed with a terrible burden. I was able to be…me."

Sonic closed his eyes in understanding. To have such power yet also a demanding duty to others, it was nothing to take lightly.

"It sounds like being a princess with powers isn't that easy." One would normally think the opposite would be true, but Blaze's experience told Sonic otherwise.

"It isn't sometimes, but I love this country. Even if some people fear me due to this…" Blaze looked at her hand, holding it to her breast. "I care for them. Everyone in the castle, the children, all my citizens really…"

She turned and looked up at the sky, closing her eyes in recollection. "The same love my late mother and father had…"

She could envision the old castle's more simplistic throne room, where the light coming in was from two windows behind the throne, shaped like a large bird beneath the sun. In that chair was an old, yet caring father cat with a small, lavender female cat sobbing on his leg. He would caress her hair, telling her "Don't cry, Blaze. Become a strong queen who doesn't cry no matter what happens."

The memory faded from her mind as she opened her eyes. The view of the water and trees came back to her field of vision, but her smile was replaced by an empty expression.

"And so, I do my best to protect my country."

She turned back to face Sonic, who listened patiently to every word she said. "I understand everything my parents said to me now, thanks to you." Sonic smiled in kind, yet he said nothing.

Blaze knew their time together wouldn't last forever, yet Sonic had done so much for her that she prayed to Solaris it would never end.

But then, maybe it doesn't have to.

"Sonic."

"Hm?"

"Do you…like Soleanna?"

Sonic thought it over for a moment. "Yeah. It seems like a pretty cool town."

"W-well, that's good…I mean, um…" Blaze stumbled on her words. It was hard for her to ask much from a friend, but this may be her only chance to spend more time with Sonic, so she tried collecting herself. "How would you like to stay? In Soleanna?"

"Huh?" Sonic was a bit stunned at this question, so Blaze elaborated.

"You've done so much for me and this country, we could never pay you back for your service. And since you're the type of person that likes helping people, I figured…maybe you would like to stay as a royal guardian of sorts."

It sounded stupid coming out of her mouth, but it was the best way to phrase it. She offered a sad smile at Sonic, hoping he would say yes. To have a friend like him would make life much easier for her.

And Sonic did consider it. For the most part, he was somewhat of a nomad, always on the go. He may crash at Tails' workshop or the small shack he had on Christmas Island every now and then, but up until now he never had a place to truly call home.

Plus, Blaze seemed like a nice person to be around. She may be a bit more reserved with a slight temper if provoked enough, yet he felt a kindred spirit with her—he was a free soul going different places all the time, never making lifelong connections besides those that could keep up or those that praised him as a hero. Blaze, though, was tied down to one place and yearning for the chance to be herself, but she is beloved by her people for what she does as a princess.

They were heroes of two different molds.

But to stay in Soleanna as a 'royal guardian' as she put it, it meant little to no time to explore the world anymore. And with Eggman always threatening the safety of the world, it just was not possible.

Not now, anyway.

"I appreciate the offer," Sonic apologized, "But I can't. Soleanna isn't the first place Eggman's targeted. It's my duty to stop whatever scheme he comes up with, no matter where he is. Besides, I may get a little bit uncomfortable being surrounded by so much water."

"…I understand." Blaze knew it was a long shot, but she did not regret asking. She was a little upset, though, yet tried to hide it through her usual stoic expression. "Sonic, when you leave here to go on another adventure…remember this place. Remember Soleanna. You'll always be welcomed."

Sonic curled his hand into a fist in front of him, "Definitely."

Blaze smiled at him, but she started to feel something in her eyes.

No…

She turned away closing her eyes, trying to keep the waterworks at bay.

"Blaze?"

Sonic looked at her, concerned. Without looking back, she replied, "I'm fine…Sorry."

I must've cry…I can't…

She turned back and hugged Sonic, who slowly returned the hug. She hoped his warmth would be enough to hold back the tears. It did the trick, but the whole experience reminded her how at stake the world was if she allowed herself to get emotional like this. As much as it hurt to say goodbye to him, it was probably for the best that Sonic did leave.

One less person to worry about.

"Blaze…smile."

Blaze looked Sonic in the eyes, remembering the night they spent together beneath the stars. The butterfly that had landed on his nose amused her then, and her smile made him happy.

So, she smiled for him.

One less friend to have by my side.