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Sonic and Sash: Tides of Chaos 3:
Phantom Forces
Act 1

Chapter 4: Espionage at Arsenal Pyramid


It had been a few hours since Milla's rescue from the Death Egg, sunset now starting to befall the islands as the group silently worked away at their next plans for an assault on the Eggman Empire. Amy had soon turned on a radio soon to hear about how Eggman's propaganda had started spreading their sudden rescue mission as.

"In other news today," A female robotic voice spoke. "In what Mobians and Avalicians are describing as an act of Eggo-Terrorism there was a break-in at the esteemed Robotnik's Death Egg today, with several Egg Pawns destroyed in the blast, along with a rogue kamikaze ship into Robotnik's personal flagship of his fleet and cost the ruler an important space battle against the Resistance scum's allies of G.U.N.. With this devastating attack and morale crippling upon the entire empire in this terror act, the military is stepping up their arms productions on South Island and Westside Island, with plans to launch them on all remaining Resistance locations on Mobius and Avalice. We'll have more updates on this as the day goes on. Coming on next hour; Robotnik's plans to level the Mystic Jungle for his new casino!"

Amy then switched off the radio, sighing. "Well, don't know what else I was expecting..." She muttered before turning to the rest of the group. "If I could have everyone's attention here?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Aaron asked, approaching the center table.

"Well, we've gotten updates thanks to Eggman's little radio show." Amy spoke. "Looks like his armaments productions are increasing tenfold since Milla's breakout. We're gonna need to intervene that."

"Alright, how?" Rouge asks.

"Well, there's something I've managed to bring up." Amy said, bring up satellite maps of South Island and Westside Island. "We've managed to bring out the two separate locations of where we think Eggman's arms factories are; his warhead and bomb production is happening here on South Island..." She spoke, zooming in on the southwestern part of Green Hill Zone. "...right in this section of Green Hill. Now, obviously there needs to be a plan to deal with this; last thing we need is one of our operatives setting off a warhead and then we're out an ally because that section of Green Hill's now-desert is a gigantic hole in the ground."

"Well... we could always send a spy in." Knuckles said.

"You are not sending me in there." Rouge said. "I'm not risking an exploding base just for recon information."

"Well don't worry Rouge, there's less risk of death when I'm planning on sending you." Amy spoke, bringing up the map of Westside Island. "Armaments will most likely mean more Badniks. And on Westside Island, there's only one place any of us know of where they'd be produced." She added, bringing up the location on Westside Island, coated out in green metal and large brass gears along with steam pipes. "Chances are Eggman's gonna be producing his elite models of Badniks here. We need info of what Badniks could potentially be out there, and then get this place destroyed lickety-split."

"Well, at least some Badnik recon will do me some good." Rouge spoke, winking. "But then comes in the problem of what are we doing for Green Hill?"

"I..." Sven started, before everyone turned to look to him. "I might have a viable solution for that."

"Explain." Knuckles spoke. "Explain how you're gonna get someone in there to take down that thing without them dying."

"Well..." Sven spoke, taking out a RC controller. "Simple. We don't send out anyone living."

"What are you..." Knuckles spoke before the Buzzbomber from the workbench flew in next to Sven, its wings beating as if it were happy.

"Guys, meet Saffron." Sven spoke. "Nabbed this from back on the Death Egg, and I figured that other Badniks would suspect a thing if its a Badnik doing our recon work!"

"Sven, that's perfect!" Amy spoke. "Good thinking."

"Aw jeesh, thanks." Sven said, rubbing the back of his head, blushing.

"Alright, and one last thing." Amy said, turning back to the group. "Milla, how well are you feeling?"

Milla merely nodded. "I'll be fine. Whatcha need me for?"

"You, Aaron, and Silver head out for the Mystic Jungle, and get anyone that might be in there out of there." Amy spoke, zooming in on the Mystic Jungle on South Island. "We want to try to limit casualties in this entire situation."

Aaron nodded. "No problem. I'll get anyone out of there, and smash up any robots that try to get in my way."

"Milla can help me lift anyone out of dangerous situations." Silver said. "When do we head out?"

"As soon as possible." Amy spoke. "The sooner the crisis can be avoided the better."

"Will do." Milla spoke as she headed out, Silver and Aaron following as the teleporter pad fired up in the corner. "Rouge, coordinates set for Westside Island."

"Sure thing." The bat said, stepping on. "See you later." She said, warping away to Westside Island.

"You ready for this Saffron?" Salmon asked the Buzzbomber as it nodded its head happily. "Alright! Get out there and storm that arms base!" The Buzzbomber did a happy flip before heading out through a sewer tube to the outside...


Arsenal Pyramid, Green Hill...

Within the sands of the now deserted Green Hill Zone, a massive metal pyramid stood within one of the biggest quicksand pits now there, seemingly decked out with spires with cyan lights on them along with several odd statues sticking out of the sand. Metal piping and scaffolding were choking out the entirety of the area, most flora completely destroyed and choked out from the industrialization. Several black-armored figures with cyan markings were seen patrolling the area, as well as several orange robots similar to Gemerl, along with several dozens of Badnik varieties. Soon enough the Buzzbomber Sven sent out peaked over the top of the rocky cliffs, catching visual of the pyramid.

"Wow..." Salmon spoke as observed through the Buzzbomber's optics. "Look at the size of that thing..."

"It's huge..." Amy breathed. "Alright, how's Saffron gonna get in there?"

"Looks like there's a couple of maintenance vents for Buzzbombers on the east side..." Sven said, Saffron soon flying over the area and the dark-armored figures. "Might be able to sneak in Saffron from there."

"There's something not right though." Amy spoke, indicating to the dark armored figures. "Can you get some snapshots of those?"

"Sure, gimme a sec." Sven spoke, Saffron's eyes flashing to capture snapshots of the armored figures as well as the orange robots. "Guessing you're gonna cross-reference these?"

"Both myself and Neige are going to do so." Amy spoke, sending the uplinks to the Avalician Resistance HQ. "Whoever these are, it can't spell good news for us."

Sven nodded, before snapping a couple more pics and having Saffron move on towards the pyramid. The Buzzbomber then slotted in through one of the maintenance vents and soon appeared inside the pyramid, dim blue lighting, large gears, and several gigantic warheads being carted along massive conveyor belts, descending deeper and deeper into the rock and earth...

"Holy..." Amy muttered. "This is a deep arms factory..."

"How could Eggman get something like this constructed in a matter of months?" Sven asked, guiding Saffron inbetween the massive gears. "The logistical and constructional properties of it seem next to impossible..." Saffron soon lowered down deeper into the depths of the arms factory, passing by multiple walkways crawling with Badniks, the dark armored figures, and the unknown robots.

"Hey," Amy stopped Sven, indicating to one of the walkways, seeing what appeared to be several dark armored figures. One of them would be much more feminine in appearence and had two back horn-like parts in its helmet and the more pinkish-purple accents in the armor. "That looks like a higher up talking to its grunts. Does Saffron have recording capabilities?"

"Yeah." Sven responded. "But how's Saffron gonna act like so it's not obvious she's a spy bee?"

"Hmmmm..." Amy thought, before noticing the other Buzzbombers around. "Say... what else does Saffron have installed?"

"Well, the standard rail detonator cannon..." Sven said. "Looks like there's also a blowtorch option..."

"Perfect." Amy spoke. "Have it pose as a worker bot."

"...that's actually a really good idea." Sven spoke, switching Saffron's weapon out for the blowtorch module, soon going to work on the wall just under the walkway...

"I want no more excuses, understood?" A female voice from the pinkish-purple dark armor figure said. "You are all trying Ix's patience with this bullshit, so I will only state this once; you find the Master Emerald. The doctor will handle the regular Emeralds. I don't care what it takes, I don't care how much is exhausted, just do it so we can return fully. That hound gave us a chance to come back to begin with, so we are making sure we do. Understood?"

"Yes Procurator!" The rest of the dark armored figures responded before taking off across the walkway the other way. The female one just merely sighed ad shook her head, heading off in the other direction.

"I swear to god, these idiots are going to get the Nocturous clan killed at this rate..." She growled, storming off in the other direction for an exit, before Saffron rose up from below.

"Sounds like we got some good info." Sven spoke. "Now we know who those Marauders that wanted the Master Emerald from Knuckles are."

"Let me send this extra info to Neige. Cross-reference everything to do with the 'Nocturnous'." Amy spoke, typing away at the main computer. "Keep investigating while I do this." Sven nodded, piloting Saffron down deeper into the pyramid arms factory. The deeper and deeper it went, the more and more the rocky walls started to show and the less mechanical influence there was. However, right in the middle of the entire pit was a massive missile, plastered with the Eggman Empire logo.

"Cripes wouldja look at the size of that thing!" Sven spoke.

"He's probably reserving that for us." Amy spoke. "Get some pics of that one too. We're gonna need a proper way to disable that one."

Sven nodded, before a tomato slice fell on Saffron's head, blocking one of it's optics.

"The hell? Where did my favorite fruit suddenly come from?" Sven said, Saffron looking up at the walkway above him, what looked like a gigantic yellow blob strolling across it with a massive sandwich. "The heck is that thing?" He said, Saffron moving up to see the fat lumbering figure walking away from it.

"That's one of the Zeti." Amy spoke. "Zomom I believe. No surprise considering the rest of them appear to be in this world according to Milla's account of her fight with Zavok on the Death Egg."

"What's one doing here though?" Sven asked.

"I doubt we'll get any information out of him though." Amy spoke. "Just keep scanning for a strategy."

Sven nodded, Saffron's optics soon scanning around the rock walls before turning around... to see the derpy-eyed face of the fat yellow Zeti right in front of the bee. Sven jumped back in shock as he had not been expecting the sudden jumpscare Zeti.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that." Zomom said, picking the tomato slice off the Buzzbomber and eating it. "Think I had too much dressing on my sandwich and it just kinda slipped out."

Saffron merely buzzed.

"Aw it's okay." Zomom spoke, patting the metallic bee. "No hard feelings here either." Something then buzzed from behind him and he pulled out a pocketwatch. "Oh shoot! I'm late for that meeting with Dr. Robotnik and that other guy!" He said, putting the pocketwatch away before run-plodding across the walkway. "I don't wanna miss this event!"

"Weirdo..." Sven muttered to himself, before Saffron started scanning the walls again, and a lightbulb went off. "Amy, you mentioned before now there's gigantic sandworms crawling around Green Hill?"

"Yeah?" Amy asked.

"I might have an idea on how to take this place down 'safely'." Sven spoke. "There's a study I once read about how worms and the like are attracted to vibrations. If we can find some way to set up something to make the under areas here vibrate..."

"...we could make the entire base shake apart?" Amy spoke.

"And attract those burrowing sandworms straight to it taking it down!" Sven said, piloting Saffron upwards now. "It'll be perfect, and the best part is we won't have to worry about casualites on our end!"

"Alright." Amy spoke. "Let's get Saffron back to base so we can formulate a plan."

Sven nodded. "Roger." He said, soon piloting Saffron out of the pyramid. "Phew... can't believe our luck."

"I know..." Amy spoke. "Wonder how Rouge is doing..."


Metropolis, Westside Island...

The foreboding metallic green walls loomed over the area as the seductive spy bat ducked behind a corner to the entryway of the base. There was snow abound out here, and needless to say, it was making her shiver.

"Brrrsh, really should've dressed warmer for this operation..." The bat muttered to herself before keeping still, her ears picking up movement from behind the main hatch. Quietly, she lied in wait as it opened, some Egg Pawns carrying blasters walking out. Keeping her sound to a minimum, she slunk into the main hatch before it closed behind her.

"Alright, in..." Rouge said, before slipping out a small beetle-like drone and attaching it to the upper corner. "Now for bug planting..." She slunk down the main corridor before coming to the main open room. Several machines lined the walls, conveyors going between them with imprisoned animals and several Egg Pawns monitoring the machine processes.

"Hmph, looks like it's in full swing..." She muttered to herself. "The main generator room must be down another hallway..." She soon gripped the wall, climbing above the light sources and sticking to the shadows on the ceiling, carefully making sure to not make a sound...

"Hey, did you hear something?" An Egg Pawn below asked.

Rouge froze, a cold sweat starting to break out. If she got caught, she'd be in a horrible position. One or two badniks at a time she could handle by herself, but twenty plus and counting? She'd get mobbed for sure...

"You sure your audio sensors aren't goin' busted or somethin'?" Another Egg Pawn said. "This place is the most secure Mobian death trap on all of Westside Island! Not even a fly could slip in here without setting off the security cameras!"

"You sure?" The first Egg Pawn said. "I'm pretty sure there's someone in here..."

Rouge kept still, the sweat starting to drip off her as she tried to keep herself silent, shuffling across the ceiling the massive badnik production room, closing in on the door to the next room. Without hesitation, she quickly slipped in before any of the Egg Pawns could notice her.

"Alright..." The bat sighed, keeping to the wall. "Now... where's that generator..." She kept tight to the wall, slipping under security cameras before she got to the inner core of the base, nearing the main generator.

"There we go..." Rouge muttered to herself, starting to approach the generator... before the doors just shut tight behind her. The bat tensed up as she whirled around, her eyes darting across the entire area... before she felt a chill in her spine. Literally.

"It was unwise of you to come here..." A metallic voice said from behind her. Rouge quickly turned around and leaped back, looking dead in the eyes of a green Eggrobo, decked in shinobi gear and a katana strapped to its back, its cold red glaring optics stared the bat down. "And jugding from your ragtag disposition... you're part of the resistance, no?"

"Who, me?" Rouge spoke, feigning innocence.

"Do not try to lie to me." The Eggrobo spoke. "I can already tell from your body language that you are trying to avoid the question."

"...I'm not getting out of this, am I?" Rouge spoke, backing up.

"In sort, no." The Eggrobo spoke, brandishing a fashioned katana, made from a fine Slicer blade, a cold gleam to it. "I, Heavy Shinobi, will be your downfall."

"We'll see about that." Rouge spoke, before Shinobi rushed her with the katana, aiming for a horizontal slice for her abdomen. The bat barely managed to dodge out of the way of the attack, the katana only barely nicking her exposed stomach before she went in for a counterattack with a kick. The Shinobi expected this and soon blocked the attack with its gauntlet forearms, forcing Rouge back. The bat growled to herself before Shinobi brandished an Asteron, flicking it fast and hard like a shuriken straight at her. Roude kicked the Asteron straight up, though her lack of boots meant she didn't go through it undamaged, one of the spikes piercing her skin before it was kicked into the ceiling. The Asteron then exploded, soon sending spikes outwards.

"You fight sloppily." Shinobi commented.

"You shut up." Rouge spoke, charging at Shinobi to throw a smashing kick at him. Shinobi blocked with the gauntlets again before Rouge kicked off the gauntlets, throwing Shinobi back a bit. The Eggrobo then dashed forward straight at Rouge, soon matching hand blocks for every kick Rouge threw at it. Then Shinobi shoved the bat away, soon brandishing the katana again, slashing right onto the bat, Rouge being encased into a block of ice. The bat struggled to try to move in the frozen block, but it wasn't working at all. Shinobi soon walked over, merely observing the frozen bat.

"Hmph. You're all talk, but no action." Heavy Shinobi merely spoke, sliding the block of frozen batsicle to the cornerof the room. "Since you're not going anywhere, I'm going to leave you frozen here while I go to get the higher ups. Emperor Robotnik will be pleased to know we've obtained one of the Resistance's little wretches." With that, Shinobi left the room, leaving Rouge frozen in the block of ice.

"Shoot..." Rouge thought to herself, her eyes darting around the room. "No way out of this... there's gotta be some way to melt this ice..." Her eyes kept darting around the room, looking for something, anything to get the ice melted off her...

Out of the corner of her eye she could see a steam vent occasionally blasting hot air though it; she was in luck! She tried to shift herself inside the frozen cube, but merely squirming herself wouldn't move her at all. She soon tried a forceful jump, the block of ice shifting her over a bit; she had a method of movement. With a couple more jumps soon enough she gotten into position over the steam vent, waiting- and hoping- for that blast of hot air to come up.

"Come on... come on..." Rouge thought to herself, metaphorical sweat running down her forehead as the vent started to rumble a bit. Soon enough a blast of hot steam shot up out through the vent and ice, melting the entire block and soaking the bat through her skin and clothing, her wings held down and out by the waterlogging.

"Euch..." Rouge said. "I am so needing that dryer run back at the base..." She commented to herself before another blast of steam shot up through the vent, when it cleared up showing Rouge's skin super red and her white hair now fluffed up on end. "Nevermind then..." She rushed over to the power generator and threw the switch to the generator, the entire base shutting down and becoming dark... before red lights now bathed the area.

"EMERGENCY ALERT. MAIN POWER HAS BEEN CEASED." The loud intercom blared. "SWITCHING TO AUXILLARY POWER MODE. DEFENSE SHIELDING DISABLED. BADNIK PRODUCTION LINE DISABLED. STEAM VENTILATION DISABLED."

"Well, that takes care of that..." Rouge muttered to herself, before getting into a pouch on her belt, taking out a couple of round explosives with a heart insignia on them. "A couple of thermal detonators oughtta take this thing down for a while..." She then quickly opened up a main panel on the control unit, scattering the explosive charges inside it before shutting the panel, now her eyes darting for her escape route. She saw the vent in the ceiling and quickly leaped up, pulling the covering out before jumping again, hoisting her slender figure into the vent, soon reapplying the vent and starting to crawl through it right as Shinobi burst back into the room with several Egg Pawns behind him.

"WHOMST'VE-" Was all that came out of the Eggrobo's mouth before the thermal detonators went off, exploding the room as it was engulfed in flame, several of the Egg Pawns completely destroyed as Shinobi had shielded himself with an ice shield. When the blast died down, Shinobi had lowered the ice shield to see the damage done, before raising a hand to the side of his head.

"Emperor Robotnik..." Shinobi spoke. "This is Heavy Shinobi of the HBH Squad... we may have a problem..."


The Buzzbomber soon burst through the pipe, happily buzzing as Sven rushed over to the bee robot, rubbing its head. "You did awesome out there Saffron..." Sven spoke, clearly proud that the new Badnik RC program he installed was working well.

"Your friend did very well Mister Sven!" Cream spoke, looking at the Buzzbomber. "I never thought a Buzzbomber could do so much good for us..." Saffron had apparently liked the complement as it started to nuzzle the rabbot by itself, prompting her to giggle.

"She's starting to take a liking to you it seems." Sven spoke. "Alright, Saffron, let's see if you need any repairs."

The Buzzbomber nodded, soon following Sven over to the workbench as Cream soon walked over to the Gizoid and sat down next to him.

"Is everything alright mistress Cream?" Gemerl asked as Cream sat down next to him.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Cream spoke as the hero Chao soon peeked over her shoulder. "You okay Cheese?"

"Chao chao!" The hero Chao replied, nuzzling her shoulder.

"Hmmm..." Gemerl spoke, looking over Cream. "Are you sure? You seem like something is bothering you."

"I'm fine, mister Gemerl..." Cream spoke, turning away from him.

"Chao?" Cheese asked, confused.

"It's fine, Cheese..." Cream said, merely petting the Chao's head.

"...you're worried about your mother, aren't you?" Gemerl spoke.

"..." Cream was silent, not responding to Gemerl.

"...Mistress Cream, please." Gemerl said, scooting closer to the rabbot. "I understand you two had a falling out ever since... the 'incident'."

"...I just want to know if she's still safe." Cream whimpered, nuzzling Gemerl. "I don't want her caught by that bad man..."

"I am sure she is still in the refuge camps set up by the resistance on Avalice..." Gemerl spoke, rubbing the rabbot's back. "She will be safe..."

"G-Gemerl?" Cream asked.

"Yes, mistress Cream?" Gemerl asked.

"C-can I ask you of something?" She asked, hugging the Gizoid.

"I am able to take requests within reason, yes." Gemerl spoke.

"If..." Cream started, tearing up a bit. "If we survive through all this... c-can you arrange a 'talk' between my mother and I?"

"This is my list of possibilities, yes." Gemerl spoke, his eyes lightly flashing a bit. "And it's now scheduled."

"Th-thank you Gemerl..." Cream spoke, softly hugging Gemerl. "I'm so glad Tails was able t-to fix you back then..."

"Same..." Gemerl spoke, lightly petting the rabbot's head. "Though, I do wonder where he is..."

"He hasn't been seen along with Miss Carol for six months..." Cream spoke. "I hope they're okay..."

"I am certain they will be fine, mistress Cream." Gemerl spoke. "Now, how about we rest for the night? I'm certain Amy will need us in the morning for something."

Cream would nod, getting up, the Chao still on her shoulder as Gemerl helped escort her towards the living quarters.

"Gemerl..." Amy spoke, causing the Gizoid to look at her. She sadly smiled and gave a small nod. Gemerl nodded back, before leading Cream off, right as a transmission soon came in to the main monitor.

"That you Rouge?" Amy spoke, starting up the transmission.

"Yes, this is Rouge here..." The bat's voice spoke. "Needless to say, Metropolis Zone is down now. We're not getting Badnik production for a while."

"Well, that's good." Amy spoke. "Anything else to report on?"

"Eggman has some new toys." Rouge spoke. "Had to end up fightng one of them, but it was out of my league. Appeared to be some new kind of Super Eggrobo kind. Crossreference anything in Eggman's database with HBH."

"Will do." Amy spoke.

"Any reports from the others?" Rouge asked.

"None so far. By my predictions Aaron and co. won't be getting to the Mystic Jungle until nightfall." Amy spoke. "Just return to base and rest. You did good work today."

"Thanks." Rouge spoke. "Is Knux okay?"

"He seems to be out of the base often." Amy spoke. "I'll ask him when he comes back."

"Alright. I'll meet you back at the base. Rouge out." The transmission ended. Amy sighed, sitting down next to the console, feeling tired before falling asleep...


After two grueling missions investigating Eggman's facilities, the group has learned of some fancy new tidbits of Eggman's allies and plans. However, what of Zomom's apparent meeting he had with Dr. Robotnik? Who was that mysterious procurator? What about Tails, Carol, and their motley crew of leftovers? Find out on Chapter 5: 'To Be Infinite...'