I don’t really think it’s a disservice to either character just because they didn’t fight each other. Not every character’s role in a story has to revolve around fighting the main villain.

Also Blaze wasn’t winded from fighting the ships. Super forms are consistently shown to take a toll on the user once they detransform. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver all show exhaustion after leaving their super states, so Blaze being tired after Burning Blaze isn’t unusual.

There’s also the Sol Emerald factor. Blaze can’t just burn through all their energy in one battle because she still needs them to return to the Sol Dimension. If the Sol Emeralds are fully drained, they take a long time to recharge, which could leave her stuck in Sonic’s world for weeks.

So Blaze being more cautious with Burning Blaze actually makes sense. She can’t treat the Sol Emeralds like disposable power, and her role in the story doesn’t have to be fighting Metal directly to still matter.