The Apocalypse: Blaze

Tricked

Blaze jumped onto a rail heading back towards her home, and she could see an unsettling amount of smoke billowing from the castle grounds. She narrowed her eyes and boosted to go even faster. She shot herself up the rail and into the sky. Using her fire again, she spun around to get some lift before boosting onto the roof of one of the castle's towers.

She looked down into the courtyard and saw a bunch of the mechanical panthers surrounding civilians. They must've been chased into the castle by the robots. She let out a tch and jumped down. Just as one of the panthers was about to pounce, Blaze landed in the middle with the other Mobians.

"Why don't you kitties pick on someone who can actually fight back?"

One leaped at her, and she dove to the side, firing a few fireballs at it. Its body started to melt as it lunged at her again. She jumped up and then spun around in a plume of flames before slamming down on it, smashing it in half. Another one tackled her and she grabbed its head, igniting her hands as hot as she could. She could feel its shell melt before she grabbed what she assumed was its brain and crushed it. She then kicked it off and rolled away as a third one landed where she had just been.

"Barely breaking a sweat," she said, before running and performing a dive kick, knocking the robo-cat over. She then walked up to it and punched it a bunch of times with her fists ignited. It fell limp before she took a step back. "Next!" She called out.

She heard a few gasps before she turned around. A circular hover chair lowered in front of her. Sitting inside was Eggman Nega. "Impressive work, princess," he said with an evil twirl of his mustache. "But, that won't be enough to stop me." Blaze was about to ask when a large airship descended through the clouds, casting a shadow on the entire kingdom. She gasped and stared at it. "That's it," Eggman grinned. "Gaze upon your defeat."

"You think that'll stop me?" Blaze asked as her eyes narrowed. "I have a sworn duty to protect my people."

"And protect them you should. Less you choose to be called a failure for the rest of your life."

"Never!" Blaze shouted. "No harm will come to this kingdom as long as I'm here!"

Eggman looked around at the fires. "Well... not any more harm, yes?" He asked with an evil chuckle. "If you think you've got what it takes, then have at it!" He then flew up and disappeared into the airship.

A Mobian duck ran up to her. "Princess! What can you possibly do against something that big?"

Blaze looked down at her hands. "I simply need more heat. And I know just what to do." She patted the frightened duck. "Step back," she warned. "I'm about to turn up the heat."

The duck quickly backed up as Blaze held her hands out. The seven Sol Emeralds appeared around her before they became absorbed into her body. She was engulfed in flames as her form changed. She was now pink and her purple coat turned red.

"Take this!" She shouted, holding her hands together and aiming at the airship. A long stream of flames shot out and struck the ship. Just as this happened, a section of the ship opened before a beam shone down on the cat, immobilizing her. "What?!" She exclaimed, struggling to move her limbs.

Against her will, the Emeralds shot out from her and scattered every which way, disappearing out of sight over the horizon line. The beam stopped and she dropped to her knees, panting heavily. She never had such power forcefully ripped from her like that. It felt like she had just run miles and miles without stopping. She then heard Eggman's voice from a loudspeaker, presumably from his ship.

"A special gift for you, princess," the evil man announced. "Designed to split Sol energy from its host. In this case, you and the Emeralds. Now that the Emeralds are out in the open, I should have no problem recovering them."

"No..." Blaze muttered as the duck came over to help her up.

"You fell right into my trap," Eggman cackled, before his ship began to leave, as did the robo-cats.

"I can't..." Blaze said as she regained her balance and thanked the duck. "I have to retrieve them."

"Any idea where to look?"

"Luckily, I have a special connection to them. It works like a compass. Hopefully I can track them down before he finds them."

"Do you think you can find all seven Emeralds before Eggman?"

Blaze smiled. "I only need to find most of them. I can kick his butt without them."

"What about the ship?"

"When there's a will, there's a way." She patted the duck on the head before she ran out of the kingdom. She launched herself up into the air and landed on a rail, boosting her way towards the first Emerald. "You're not gonna win this time, Eggman," she said aloud. "Not on my watch."