After reading the letter she received from the Babylon Rogues the previous night, Kate had a difficult time sleeping, so when she woke up, she felt just as exhausted as she was when she tried to get any sleep. When she woke up, she felt groggy, and to make matters worse, the mark on her right wrist was stinging worse than before. In fact, it was the burning feeling on her skin that made her wake up, and as she opened her eyes, she took a look at the mark.
She couldn't tell if it was worse than before or just the same, and at this rate, she felt like it didn't even matter anymore. All she knew was that the stalker marked her before she managed to escape him and ended up here without her memories. Unable to go back to sleep because of the burning pain on her wrist, Kate got up and headed to her bathroom to get ready for the day.
She did the usual routine to change into clean clothes, brush her teeth, fix her hair, and apply the medicine that Doctor Toad gave her to ease the irritation on her wrist. As she finished rubbing some medicine on her mark, she formed a sad look and let out a sigh, staring at the mark as she did so.
Now that she understood that this was a cursed mark of some sort and not an abnormal bug bite, it was no mystery to why it continued to get worse and the medicine did nothing to make it go away. But now she had new questions regarding this strange cursed mark.
She got this before she came here to Mobius, so why was the mark suddenly starting to affect her now? She had been on Mobius for a couple of months before the mark suddenly resurfaced and brought pain into her arm. What was the significance of this mark? And most importantly, how could she get rid of it?
Maybe it was meant to mark her in terms of possession, judging by the nightmare she had a couple of nights ago. The stalker gave her this mark before she managed to escape him, and based on her nightmare, that meant that the stalker wasn't human. But maybe he wasn't a Mobian either, so that meant that he was something far worse. Perhaps some sort of monster.
The thought that an inhuman creature was the stalker and wanted to claim her as some sort of soulmate of their own made Kate shake. She even hugged herself to try to calm down, reminding herself that she had her friends, especially Mario and Sonic.
As she thought about her friends yet again, Kate recalled the nightmare she had a while ago. The one where her friends suddenly turned against her, calling her the monster instead of the stalker who was so desperate to kidnap her.
But these past couple of days, the way that they took care of her and kept her company as she was recovering from getting slightly sick, thanks to a lack of sleep, it reminded her how much her friends cared about her.
Mario, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Luigi, Amy, Princess Peach, Cream and Cheese, Vanilla, the Chaotix, Silver and Blaze, Princess Daisy, Team Dark, Marine, Toad and Toadette, Yoshi, Big, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, Rosalina, and even Sonic's siblings and mother.
All of them were her friends, and they cared about her. They all were staying here at the castle, running patrols to protect her and train with her to help her prepare for her destiny when it comes. The odds of them suddenly turning against her seemed impossible now, and she had to remind herself that.
The thought of her friends, who were practically her family now that she had found a home here in Mobius, made Kate smile. Whether or not she can go back home to Earth, her friends were her family here on Mobius, and they were always going to be a part of her life.
As Kate smiled, the stinging feeling on her wrist slightly calmed down. Though, because of how dark her skin was on the spot where the mark was, she still rolled down her sleeves to hide it.
Kate exited the bathroom and sat down on her bed. Meloetta had woken up and hovered over to her. The mythical Pokémon nervously eyed the girl's wrist.
"Lo me ta?" she quietly asked.
"It's still there. And I still don't know how to get rid of it for good," said Kate.
"Lo me... lo me ta?" asked Meloetta.
"When did it start?" said Kate.
Meloetta softly nodded her head.
"I dunno... I guess it started shortly after Knuckles and I started dating? No... wait, that's exactly when it became a problem!" said Kate.
She gently touched her cheek, where Knuckles gave her a quick kiss after their last date a couple days ago, causing her to blush.
"The mark... I think it's meant for the stalker to claim me. But I didn't see it before, until I started to date Knuckles... and it stings, like it's telling me to forget about Knuckles. But... I won't! I love him, not the stalker!" said Kate.
Meloetta formed a shocked look when Kate said that she loved Knuckles. The human had realized what she said, and it caused her to turn a little more red.
"I love him... I love Knuckles..." she said, almost in a whisper.
Kate rolled her sleeve down and looked at the mark again. It still remained the same shade as before, still giving her the familiar itchy irritation.
"Maybe... that's the key to getting rid of it: I have to find real love with someone else. Someone who wouldn't claim me like a possessive freak. And it's been getting worse because of my relationship with Knuckles..." said Kate.
"Lo me ta?" asked Meloetta.
"If I confess to Knuckles, then maybe this mark will finally go away completely," said Kate.
She turned to face Meloetta, who only had a strange expression. Kate couldn't tell if the Pokémon was concerned or puzzled, but she guessed that perhaps it was a combination of both.
Kate let out a sigh, feeling a little more relaxed. She rolled her sleeves back down and stood up from her seat.
"When the time's right today, I'm gonna tell Knuckles that I love him," said Kate.
She was about to head out of her guest room, but before she could even start walking out, there was a soft knock on the door. Kate was about to call out to whoever it was to come in, but strangely, they already opened the door a peak. To her surprise, it was Toadette who had come to greet her.
"Good morning Toadette," said Kate.
"Good morning Kate. I was just coming to see if you were awake already, but it looks like you're ready for the day," said Toadette.
"Yes. I am. Is breakfast ready?" said Kate.
"Not quite. I actually came to tell you that you should stay up here for a bit. The princess requests that you don't come downstairs to the dining hall just yet," said Toadette.
"Not yet? When can I come down then?"
"My brother or I will come and get you when you can come downstairs, okay?"
"Alright. Thanks for letting me know Toadette."
It took a couple more hours until Kate was finally greeted by both Toad and Toadette, who told her that she could come downstairs at long last. She felt relieved that she could finally go downstairs and get some food, for her stomach growled a little bit as she exited the room. With Meloetta hovering right behind her, Kate followed Toad and Toadette through the hallways and downstairs to the ground floor.
But to her surprise, they didn't lead her to the dining hall, and instead to another hall. She recognized it as the ballroom, despite never really going in there. She had only seen the room on her first day at the castle, back when she was first found with amnesia, because Peach and given her a tour of the place so she wouldn't get lost during her stay.
Toad and Toadette led her into the ballroom, and the room was dark as they stepped inside. The three friends walked for a bit, and as they got closer to the center, the lights suddenly turned on. Kate yelped in panic as her friends all jumped out and shouted, "SURPRISE!"
Seeing that it was just her friends, Kate managed to quickly calm down, and she looked around at her surroundings. To her surprise, her friends had set up a party.
"A party? But uh... it's not my birthday yet," said Kate, forming a confused look.
Mario chuckled and he and Sonic walked up to her.
"We know it's not. We just wanted to throw a party, to show you that we appreciate you," said the red plumber.
"Yep! And nothing like hanging out with friends for food, games, and music to call a party," said Sonic.
Princess Peach walked up to the trio. "You've been training really hard to face your destiny, Kate. We thought you deserved to have a fun break with everyone, seeing that you've been training hard for all of us," she said.
Kate smiled nervously at them. She felt touched by the kind gesture, even if it felt a slight bit awkward to her on the inside. A part of her felt like a party was a little too much, but at the same time, she appreciated how her friends worked hard on this for her.
She pulled Mario and Sonic into a hug and said, "Thanks guys." She quickly looked at the others and said, "Thank you, all of you."
Once the trio let go of their hug, Sonic let out a chuckle and said, "Now then, how about we get this party started?!" excitedly.
"Hey, that was gonna be my line!" Charmy said. Though he sounded a little annoyed, he was smiling.
A few members of the group laughed, which employed Kate to join in and giggle a little bit.
And for just for a few hours, she managed to forget her worries. When it was over, she would come to wish that it would last this way forever.
The party was quite a hit. As her friends promised, there was lots of fun food and games to play.
First up, Kate joined a group that consisted of the Chaotix, Rouge, and Shadow, who had taught her how to play blackjack with a standard deck of cards. It was a little confusing at first, but after playing a few rounds, Kate got the hang of the game. She even managed to beat Rouge one time, for the bat was playing as the dealer the entire time and was certainly difficult to beat. During the blackjack rounds, Kate couldn't help but see that Shadow was smiling most of the time, and she couldn't tell why, but when she would see him glance at Rouge every now and then, she couldn't help but smirk. Given how Rouge used to flirt with Knuckles, Kate hoped that if there was some magic between the bat and the edgy hedgehog, it would work out for them.
After she had enough of playing blackjack, Kate decided to shift gears to playing a different game. She then proceeded to spend some time with some of the girls in the group, and joined Peach, Daisy, Amy, Cream, and Sonia for a couple games of Uno. Kate was rather familiar with the game, for she recalled playing it a lot with her family, the memories coming back as she enjoyed playing for a bit with her friends. But given how Cream was new to the game, and even if she had Cheese to help her, Kate decided to ease up on her usual tactics with the game to let the rabbit have an easier time getting used to Uno.
The game of Uno soon led to a really long round that dragged on for nearly a half hour, and once it ended with Amy being crowned the winner, the girls decided to split up their group and do something else on their own accord. For Kate, she decided to have a snack break, in which Cream walked over to the little snack buffet with her. The two grabbed some cheese and crackers and proceeded to sit at a table along with Marine and Tails, who were taking a break themselves since they had been playing some competitive games with a few others on a TV set up with a gaming system.
As Kate and Cream sat with Tails and Marine, they fed a few crackers to Cheese, Meloetta, and Knuckles's Riolu (who had come to sit with the Chao and fellow Pokémon). Cream giggled as she saw Meloetta slowly but happily munch on the cracker she handed to the Pokémon, as if it was some fine meal from a fancy restaurant.
At one point, Charmy came buzzing over and approached Marine.
"Hey uh... hi Marine!" he said. He was blushing a little bit.
"Hey Charmy! What's up?!" Marine asked him excitedly.
"Do you uh... do you maybe wanna play a game with me? Just the two of us? Okay... I know, stupid question, so I'll let you go!"
Blushing like crazy, Charmy was about to bolt away, but Marine grabbed his arm and said, "What? Are you crazy mate? Of course I wanna play a game with just you! I was hoping you'd ask!"
She was blushing in return, but she gave him a smile. Charmy giggled happily, and with Marine following him, the two bolted away from the table.
Tails, Cream, and Kate all laughed, while the two Pokémon and Cheese giggled lightly.
"They certainly seem cute together," Kate said.
"I think they make an adorable pairing. I hope they're happy together," said Cream.
"Hey uh... hey Cream?" said Tails.
The rabbit turned to face the fox, seeing that he was blushing slightly and was looking away.
"You uh... maybe wanna do something together to?" he asked her.
Cream blushed a bit in return, but she smiled. "Sure. Anything in particular you would like to do?" she responded.
"Anything you want," said Tails.
Kate smiled at the two. Seeing that they had some sparks igniting between the two, she decided to excuse herself so that she could give them some space and leave them alone. She told them she'd see them around and got up from her seat, with Meloetta following her.
Still not ready to get back to partying, Kate took a minute to look around and see what the others were doing at the moment.
Over at another spot in the room, she could see that four of her friends were playing a game of Pictionary, with Silver and Blaze paired together against Big and Donkey Kong.
"Silver, in what universe is that a present?" Blaze asked him. With a puzzled look, she pointed to the grey hedgehog's drawing on the whiteboard.
"It's a present. It's THE present. See? It's all four of us playing a game of Pictionary in THE PRESENT," Silver explained, pointing to the drawing.
Blaze let out a sigh. "You are so naïve... but you're lucky I like that about you..." she muttered.
Big and Donkey Kong just stared at the two with stunned looks. Yoshi and Diddy Kong were watching the two teams play, for they wanted to challenge whoever won this first game.
"Man... you two are gonna destroy them in this game," said Diddy Kong.
"Ditto..." said Yoshi, who had an unamused look on his face.
Kate tried her best not to burst out laughing as she saw the silly situation going on. She managed to hold back when she saw Blaze trying to explain to Silver how to better their odds in the game, leading the grey hedgehog to blush in a dark shade of pink all over his face.
'Oh, Silver and Blaze are meant for each other. They just won't admit that they like each other yet...' thought Kate.
Kate then walked to another part of the ballroom to see what else was going on. She noticed that Sonia was by the piano now, trying to play a little bit, and Espio was watching her. She couldn't hear what he told the princess hedgehog, but seeing that Sonia was blushing, he must've flattered her with a compliment. Seeing the two spending time together, it made Kate smile. She was glad that Sonia was finally moving on and giving friendships with someone else a try.
Taking a glance over at where a makeshift TV was set up, she watched as Mario, Luigi, Sonic, and Manic were playing some sort of fighting game on the TV. Peach, Daisy, Amy, Rosalina, Queen Aleena, Toad, and Toadette were all watching them play.
"Ha! I won again!" shouted Manic.
Luigi formed a sad look. Mario gave him a pat on the back while Sonic frowned at his brother.
"Come on bro. At least let Luigi have one victory," Sonic scolded his brother.
Kate wanted to go over and sit with the others, but there weren't any other spare chairs for her to sit in. So she decided to move on and look for someone else to hang out with.
She noticed that over by the entrance to the gardens, Vector seemed to be talking with Vanilla. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but the crocodile seemed to be flustered, as he was turning red all over his face. But maybe things were going well between him and Vanilla, because Vanilla gave him a friendly giggle and was smiling at him.
'Oh yeah. Vector totally likes her,' Kate thought, forming a grin.
Kate walked away to give the two space. She noticed that Shadow, Rouge, and Omega were all sitting at a table having a break of their own. Unsure on what else to do, Kate walked over and asked if she could sit with them for a bit. They kindly told her that she could join them so she sat down in the empty seat across from Shadow.
It didn't feel awkward to Kate at all to be near Team Dark. Now that she had talked things over with Shadow and Rouge, they had been able to bury the hatchet.
"Hey Kate, you having a good time here?" asked Rouge.
"I am. I'm honestly surprised that everyone wanted to put this together. We uh... we haven't faced my destiny yet, so... shouldn't we save a party for after?" said Kate, giving them a nervous smile.
"MENTAL HEALTH SHOULD COME FIRST. YOU HAVE BEEN TRAINING HARD LATELY AND DESERVE A DAY TO TAKE OFF," said Omega.
'Mental health should come first... heh, I remember hearing that often from my parents. Guess they would tell me that often back home since I had no friends. Well, I can't remember if I had any friends back home, which is why whenever my destiny comes, I have to protect everyone...' thought Kate.
She must've formed a glum look, because Team Dark formed concerned expressions as they stared at her.
"Is something wrong, kiddo?" asked Rouge.
Kate looked down at her right wrist. She didn't roll up her sleeve, to still hide the mark from her friends, but she still continued on her train of thought.
'He could come any day now... I have to protect my friends...' she thought.
"I know what my destiny is, well, I guess I do? I gotta fight someone, someone who's supposed to be like my polar opposite because of my powers. I don't know when he's coming, but when he does, I have to keep you all safe," she told them.
"YOUR MISSION IS TO FULFILL YOUR DESTINY, WHICH IS TO DEFEAT THE EVIL THAT OPPOSES YOUR POWERS. WHY DO YOU WISH TO FOCUS MORE ON OUR SAFETY OVER THE ENTIRE WORLD?" asked Omega.
Shadow and Rouge formed nervous looks as their robot friend brought this up. They were worried that Kate would find this suspicious.
But Kate didn't notice. She was still looking down at her wrist.
"Protecting the world is a lot of pressure on someone. But protecting the people I care about is more important to me. You've all done so much for me. Taking me in, helping me understand my powers, and... becoming my friends... I feel like I haven't done much for you all in return..." said Kate.
"You have, kiddo! Just take a look at everyone around us! Mario and Sonic were rivals to the core before you showed up!" said Rouge.
"I have to agree. While I still consider Sonic an acquaintance, I do agree that you brought Mario and Sonic together. They had been hoping to become friends for a while, and when you came into our lives, it not only helped them become friends, but also brought everyone here together," said Shadow.
Kate looked up as Shadow and Rouge spoke to her. She then took a look around the room, like Rouge brought up. Seeing Mario and Sonic's friends hanging out was what made their point right. But that wasn't just it.
Sonic had reconnected with his siblings and his mother. Those who had secret pen pal friendships didn't have to hide them anymore. Some friendships were even becoming more than friendships
Kate smiled sadly. She turned to face Team Dark.
"I guess you're right. Still, whether or not I've done a lot for you all, I still have made it my main goal to protect you all. You're my friends, probably... the only ones I've ever had... and even if I can go home after I fulfill my destiny, I don't want to say goodbye. I'll find a way with my powers. I'll make it work out. For everyone's sake," she said.
Strangely though, Shadow and Rouge didn't smile back. They nervously looked at each other, then at Omega, who tilted his head to look at his friends. Seeing that they were quiet and giving each other uneasy glances, that made Kate's smile fade.
She knew that they were hiding stuff from her. And she wasn't mad at them. She understood their reasons. After all, Kate forgave them.
But... what else could they hiding from her now? What did they know that made them this anxious as she told them she would do everything she could to protect them and the rest of their huge friend group? What were they so afraid of that was connected to Kate's destiny?
"Kate... you-"
"Hey Kate!"
Charmy came buzzing over in lots of excitement, totally oblivious to the fact that Team Dark and Kate were having a conversation. He grabbed Kate's arm and made her get up, leading her over to the center of the ballroom.
"Hey Kate! Hey Kate! You need to come on over here! Sonic said he has something for you!" he said.
Kate stuttered a bit, but she didn't argue. She only followed the young child as Charmy led her to the center of the ballroom.
She blushed a little when she saw that Knuckles was standing there, and when he saw Charmy leading Kate over to him, he blushed as well. Charmy then suddenly pushed Kate over to Knuckles. She stumbled a bit, but luckily, Knuckles caught her to prevent her from falling face flat on the floor. When the echidna caught his girlfriend, both of them blushed a little bit more.
"Okay Sonic! I brought her over like you asked!" Charmy called over.
Knuckles and Kate turned to see that Sonic was with his brother and sister over by the piano. The blue hedgehog had a guitar with him, while his brother and sister had a set of drums and an electric keyboard respectively.
"Uh what's going on?" asked Knuckles.
"I think it's about time that my siblings and I play our first song together again in years. And this song goes out to all our friends here. Dance your hearts out!" said Sonic.
"I've been waiting for this moment for years, bro!" said Manic. He tapped his drumsticks together in excitement.
Sonia didn't say anything, but she gave the audience a smile as she cracked her fingers, as if she was warming up to start playing.
The hedgehog siblings began to play a song. While everyone else on the dance floor began to dance their own freestyle moves, Knuckles and Kate nervously looked at each other.
"I uh... I don't know how to dance..." said Knuckles.
Kate giggled a little and said, "Neither do I! But... wanna at least try together? For their sake since they're playing for everyone?"
Knuckles chuckled nervously and said, "I guess... may I have this dance?".
He extended his hand out like a gentleman. Kate giggled again and took his hand.
The two then began a rather awkward performance of dancing. Given how the hedgehog siblings' song had a rock feel to the tune, the echidna and the human tried to dance at a fast pace. They didn't dance in sync like a couple doing the tango or a waltz, but none of the less, they were having fun with it. Doing freestyle felt more like what they could do, and even if they weren't holding hands or twirling the other, they had fun.
As the couple danced, they didn't notice that some of their friends had stopped dancing to watch them. But there weren't any frowns on anyone's faces, nor was their shock due to the couple's freestyle dance moves. Everyone who watched smiled, happy to see that Kate, the one that they arranged the party for in the first place, was enjoying a dance with Knuckles.
After about three minutes, the song ended, and when it did, Knuckles and Kate ended their dance. They panted a little, tired from the dance, but they were smiling.
"You're so great! I love you!" Knuckles said to Kate.
Kate formed a stunned look. She looked at the echidna, who was blushing when he realized what he said.
"I-I uh... I uh!" said Knuckles.
"You said you love her!" cried Charmy.
"Charmy, really?!" Espio scolded him.
"Charmy, please quiet down! Isn't that a little rude?" said Toad.
Charmy ignored them and continued to babble.
"You love her! You love her! You really, really love her!"
"Charmy, shut up!" Vector shouted at him.
"You can't make me! Knuckles said he loves Kate!" shouted Charmy.
Knuckles blushed as he looked at Kate, giving her a nervous smile.
To his surprise, and relief, Kate wasn't blushing and smiled back at him.
"I love you too, Knux," she said.
And to everyone's shock, Kate pulled Knuckles in and gave him a kiss on the lips, to which the echidna returned.
It only lasted a couple seconds, for which when the couple pulled away, they both formed stunned looks.
"Whoa! Crickey!" said Knuckles.
"I can't believe I just did that..." Kate stuttered.
"And I can't believe I just said that! 'Crickey'?! What was I thinking?!" cried Knuckles.
The others began to laugh a little, though Kate was smiling.
For a second, everything seemed perfect. Her boyfriend just said that he loved her. She returned the confession, and she and Knuckles just had their first kiss. Everything was perfect and happy for her, just as her friends wanted her to feel when they arranged this party.
And then the next second, Kate suddenly felt a burning pain on her wrist. She tried her best to hide the feeling, since only Knuckles knew about her bug bite.
But the pain pierced her skin like hot metal, causing her to scream in pain and nearly collapse on the floor. As if by instinct, she grabbed her wrist with her left arm as she collapsed and screamed.
"Kate, what's wrong?!" cried Knuckles.
Her screams caught the attention of everyone else, who were shocked by the sudden change in the mood. They all rushed over as Knuckles had rolled up her sleeve to hide her bug bite. Everyone formed horrified looks when they saw the bite, but not because it was their first time seeing it, but rather because of the damage done.
Her whole wrist was dark grey, and it had spread to her hand and up to her elbow on her arm.
"What's wrong with her arm?!" cried Mario.
"What the hell is that?!" cried Sonic.
"Blaze, help us!" cried Shadow as he and Rouge rushed over.
The last thing Kate saw before blacking out was Blaze rushing over, and the purple cat using her fire powers to put pressure on Kate's marking, hearing the panicked shouts of her friends calling out her name repeatedly until even that faded away into blackness.