...

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

Chapter 6: Battle of the Hounds


Embers would be lightly floating up from the lush overgrowth of the jungle as the hound, lion, and hedgehog soon found their way onto the scene, only to behold a truly gut-wrenching sight. The entire overgrowth was ablaze, casting a burning orange glow across the entire location. High above the area were massive bird-shaped bombers, dropping massive canisters of napalm onto the growth, the cans bursting open as the deadly flammable liquid splashed out and caught fire to the trees. The smell of cinders, burning wood and torched stone filled the air as screams were heard from the burning jungle. The flames licked the ruined structures, singeing them with each passing touch. It looked as if it was literal hell on Mobius.

"This is terrible..." Milla breathed. "We need to act fast before the entire jungle is leveled with people inside it!"

"What about the Valkeen bombers though?" Silver spoke, indicating to the flying condor bots. "Trying to get innocents trapped out of there is going to be next to impossible; we'll just get torched!"

"You handle those; you're the one who can fly." Milla spoke. "I'll handle clearing out those fires; there's many ruined reservoirs with tons of water I could use to douse them."

"Then what the hell do I do?" Aaron questioned.

"There may be innocents trapped in there." Milla spoke. "You're the pyrokinetic, you can bend flames out of the way. Get in there and get anyone trapped in there out of there."

"And can I-"

"Yes you can destroy any robots that get in your way." Milla spoke, seeming annoyed. "Now let's move." Silver nodded before he took to the skies after the bombers. A low rumbling would be heard before a horde of ostrich robots soon stormed by below, heading off towards another location. Milla and Aaron would jump down from their positions and land on the backs of two separate robots and they seemed to run through the burning jungle as they lept over downed trees and burning undergrowth before the flock split, Aaron and Milla going down separate paths into the currently-on-fire jungle.


"Everyone, move!" Fiora yelled as the jackals fled from the oncoming Egg Pawns. "There's too many! Retreat, RETREAT!" The shower of Egg Pawn shots seemed to fly over their heads as the group of five jackals fled from the oncoming force of nearly several dozen Egg Pawns.

"Don't lose ground!" Finn yelled. "Floyd, where's the quickest route out?"

"On it, boss man!" The jackal wearing a beret said, pulling out a small device. "Quickest route out is more towards the eastern side! There's a cliff face that overlooks the ocean we can dive off of!"

"Yeah, and smash ourselves up in the process!" Another jackal, wearing a bandanna said. "That plan is suicide! We're good as dead!"

"Never doubt comrade!" Finn yelled back as he sliced an Egg Pawn's head off, continuing to run. "It's our only shot we have at this point!" At that point a massive hammer-wielding robot would slam down in front of the jackal group, the massive mallet primed to smash the group down.

"DODGE!" Fiora yelled, the group scattering as the hammer slammed down, leaving an imprint where it was as the Egg Pawns continued to open fire on them. Finn growled as he rushed the titan's feet, intending to slice at the ankles of the mech. His red sword sliced through one of the ankles, starting to have the massive bot starting to tilt over. He growled, soon scaling the robot and driving the blade into the top of the bot's head, straight to the hilt as the titanic bot collapsed to the ground.

Fiora would growl as she sliced open another Egg Pawn with her blade. "They just keep coming!"

"Keep holding them off!" Finn yelled, slicing another Egg Pawn open. "We need to get out of here!"

"I'm try- AAAH!" Fiora yelled as she got shot in the back by an Egg Pawn blast, the shot singing the back of her top and fur. She fell to the ground in pain, her eyes clamped shut as she twitched, the searing pain coursing through her entire back.

"Fiora!" Finn yelled, grabbing the female jackal and hoisting her over his shoulder. "Shit! Move, now!" He yelled to the other jackals, getting a move-on again as the flaming trees started to collapse more and more around them.

"We're trapped boss!" Floyd said. "There's too much fire!"

"So this is how our squad's going out; burnt alive in our own damn home!" A jackal with a beret said. "We're as good as dead!"

"There has to be a way through this!" Finn yelled, his eyes darting all across the area to try and viable escape route. "There has t-"

"BOSS!" Another jackal with a poncho yelled. "INCOMING NAPALM STRIKE FROM ABOVE!" Finn's eyes would widen as he looked up, seeing several incendiary bombs dropping down from the skies above...

...before they were enveloped by a greenish glow and tossed out of the way into the nearby ocean. Soon enough the trees would gain the same glow as they were lifted out of the way of the group of five. Above them would be a familiar silver hedgehog...

"Hey! Are you guys alright?" Silver yelled to the group of jackals.

"We might be fine, but our second boss is down!" Floyd said, indicating to the injured female jackal. "She needs med help stat!"

"Get her to the edge of the jungle to the north of here!" Silver yelled. "I'm gonna focus on taking those ships out!"

"Feivel." Finn spoke, looking to the jackal in the bandanna. "Take Fiora and get her to safety." He said, passing the unconscious female jackal to him.

"What about you boss?" Feivel replied. "Shouldn't you be coming along too?"

"I'm helping the hedgehog take down those ships." Finn answered, gripping tightly to his blade. "After that failed raid months ago, I'm not turning down an opportunity to fight back against him."

"You sure this won't backfire boss?" The jackal in the poncho spoke.

"I know what I am doing." Finn growled. "Now get out of here; that's an order!"

"Roger boss!" The other jackals said before carting off Fiora away from the flames towards safety. Finn would then look to Silver. "Alright, lift me up."

Silver would shrug, soon using his psychokinesis as Finn was lifted up into the air, surrounded by a greenish aura. "Gotta admit, you've got a lot of nerve for sending your squad off to handle this yourself. You sure you wanna do this?"

"As long as they're safe I'll be fine." Finn replied bluntly. "Now let's get to destroying those bombers!" Silver nodded in response before lifting himself and Finn towards the giant bird-like bombers. The hedgehog would set down Finn on one of the bombers while he landed on another, motioning to the jackal to take them out, to which he nodded in response. Soon enough Finn would tear open the back paneling and pull at the circuitry of the drone, causing its engines to spark and sputter, the ship starting to lose altitude. The jackal moved quickly and ran on the wing before leaping and stabbing his blade into the wing of another Valkeen bomber, the first one losing control and divebombing into the ocean nearby.

"He's definitely got the experience..." Silver mumbled to himself before using his psychokinesis and ripped the wings off of the bomber he stood on, the torso falling clean out of the sky as the hedgehog then used the remaining wings to then impale two more of the bird bombers, the wings piercing their napalm bomb canisters as the ships caught fire and sunk. Silver then landed on the next one as he used his psychokinesis again to rip the engines out of the one he was standing on, releasing them as they spiraled like fireworks and crashed into two other bombers, causing them to detonate instantly.

Finn would smirk, soon slicing open the main wires for another bomber to start crashing. "Alright, that seems to be the last of them!" He yelled to the hedgehog. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

Silver would nod, flying over and grabbing Finn before the last bomber crashed into the ocean as the two landed on the cliff overlooking the ocean.

"Well, that takes care of those." Silver spoke, before looking over to the jackal. "Nice work by the way."

"I could say the same to you." Finn responded. "Never seen a hedgehog with psychic powers before."

"Stick around; I probably won't be the weirdest thing you see all week." Silver replied. "Now, let's head out of here an-"

"Oh, I don't think you two are going to be heading anywhere..." A dark voice said from behind them as the tall dark hound figure stared down at them. "Here I am to do a simple task and I find two little insects crawling around trying to hold back against me. It's sad, really." He spoke. "And here I thought I wouldn't have to get my hands dirty..."


"Buzz off, scrap!" Aaron growled, smashing an Egg Pawn's face in as he was helping a group of survivors get out of the burning jungle. "The jungle exit is right through here! Get yourselves out!" The scampering Mobians would rush by without a second thought, as well as the human explorers that were unfortunately caught in the jungle at the wrong time.

"Alright, that's that load..." Aaron said to himself, looking back towards the burning jungle, rushing back into the inferno as his ears twitched, hearing metal footsteps as another horde of Egg Pawns emerged from the flames, their optics set on the lion. "And now the rest of the scrap heap has come to play! You wanna go boys?! Bring it!"

Soon enough the Egg Pawns would ready their blasters and open fire on the lion. Aaron would growl and rush forward, shots whizzing by his head as his flaming fist slammed straight into the front of the first Egg Pawn, crunching its face in and causing it to collapse. The lion would then leap at another one, tearing off it's blaster arm and shoving it right into its face, blowing it clean open as he then turned the blaster arm on the other Egg Pawns, scrapping them to shreds. The lion roared before grabbing another Egg Pawn and ripping it half, throwing the shredded body at another Pawn. At that moment the Egg Hammers would come trudging in, their massive hammers primed for battle.

"Oh, so there's more of ya, are there?!" The lion growled, his fists becoming coated in flame. "Bring it!" He soon rushed at the Egg Hammers as one soon lifted its mallet to slam down on top of the lion. Aaron would soon burst into a searing fireball and slam into the massive bot's legs, causing it to lose balance before it tipped and fell, landing itself on its backside. The lion would then climb over and start trying to rip the head off of the robot itself, but would soon barely dodge out of the way in time as another massive mallet came down on top of the robot. Seems like the other Egg Hammers were just bent on killing Aaron, not so much for self-preservation of their own kind. The lion would growl as he rolled out of the way of another hammer slam to throw two separate fireballs at the Egg Hammer, but they just fizzled out without any effect. Another hammer swing would come down, Aaron rolling out of the way... only to have his tail slammed right at the end. He meowled in pain as he pulled the tail out from under the hammer, feeling it partially broken from where it slammed. Growling angrily, he launched at the Egg Hammer, intending to tear it inside out. The Egg Hammer would then swing it's hammer around, slamming it straight into Aaron and sending him sprawling through a couple trees. The lion growled in pain, trying to get back up as the massive machine lumbered towards him.

Aaron tried lunging again, but he'd soon find out his feet were stuck in the ground, slowly starting to sink in. "Quicksand, shit!" He breathed to himself as he struggled to get unstuck, but only ended up sinking further into the ground. The flames blared brightly as the looming bot grew closer, it's hammer primed to slam down right onto his head...

...only for another figure to come in and slam it's feet into the head of the gigantic Badnik, causing it to collapse onto it's back. The figure was silhouetted against the harsh flames of the jungle, but her features could definitely be seen; short ruffled hair, toned female physique, rounded chest, and a long prehensile tail with a bracelet near the end.

"Hey!" The voice said, husky and female. "You alright?"

"A little stuck, but overall alive thanks!" Aaron retorted. "Could use a hand here!"

"Hold on!" The figure said, leaping down and extending her tail out to Aaron's position. The lion gripped into the tail as the tail itself soon formed fingers and grabbed Aaron's hands along with it. Giving a slow but steady pull, the new figure would help pull Aaron out of the quicksand, having him sprawl out onto the ground, panting heavily as the figure looked down at him from above. From here he could see her features better; gray ruffled fur and hair, darker gray muzzle, small dark gray ears, black bodysuit with an orange line down the sides, brown shorts, yellow vest, dark red neck scarf, black fingerless gloves with orange pads, and yellow sports tape around her wrists and ankles with yellow sport sneakers.

"Thanks for the save back there." Aaron spoke. "Thought I was a goner."

"No prob." The figure said, extending a hand. "Tangle Kirano; lemur and freedom fighter."

"Aaron Kasarion; pyrokinetic lion and full-time hazard." Aaron said, shaking the lemur's hand. "Either way, I gotta help get other civilians out of the place here before it all comes crashing down."

"Seems like you could use some help there." Tangle responded. "Mind if I tag along?"

"What for?"

"Hey, you're not the only one wanting to scrap some Eggman robots!" Tangle said, cracking her knuckles. "Let's get out there and turn more of 'em to shreds!"

Aaron smirked, soon the two rushing back off into the burning jungle...


The basset would continue to hold onto her ostrich bot as it continued deep into the burning jungle, passing some stone relics currently being singed by the flames. Soon enough she'd see the massive water reservoir; she was in luck! Steadying her nerves and balance, she'd leap off the ostrich bot itself and land on top of one of the pillars in the water, soon focusing her energies.

"If I can create enough pressure using the water here..." She spoke, looking up at the smoke-filled sky. "...and that's a huge if, but I might be able to generate enough power to forcefully create a storm cloud that can put out the jungle! Now, focus..." Milla would inhale deeply, her tail slowly idling as the water around her started to rumble, small waves starting to form from the ruin pole she was perched on as water started to collect into a ball in front of her. Her ears would start to rise as the ball steadily grew larger and larger above her, the water dripping ever so much onto her. Raising a leg and keeping her foot close to her other leg, she'd raise her arms, the gigantic water ball slowly rising into the sky...

The marks under Milla's eyes would glow blue as the water ball grew larger and larger, drips of water coming off of all sides of the ball as she soon raised her arms higher, the massive ball of water starting to raise into the sky before she opened her eyes, sending the massive water ball flying into the sky before it exploded into a massive sparkling aura, soon enough a massive thundercloud starting to form above as the rain would then pour down onto the jungle, steam now rising from the trees and ruins as the rain hit the flames. Milla sighed in relief as her ears flopped back down to the sides of her head, thankful her plan had somehow managed to work.

"Phew... too close..." She sighed, before her ears picked up the pulsating sound again, causing her to tense up. "...I may have spoken too soon. Whatever that is, I better track that down!" Milla would leap back to the ground and take off in the direction of the sound, the heavy rain falling and soaking her fur. She would soon hear the stamping feet of another horde of robotic ostriches, soon leaping to the side as the massive pack stampeded by her. She then leaped back and got onto the back of another robotic ostrich, riding with the pack as they soon were on a massive slide-like structure riding over the rest of the jungle. The rain, however, was starting to make the structure slick, causing the ostrich bots to slip and collapse, soon becoming nothing more than a massive metal avalanche rolling down the slide. Milla would leap back and let the water carry her down it before seeing the ostrich bots went over the edge. Forming a Phantom Sphere in hand, she soon lept at the end of the slide and detonated the Sphere, launching her over to the nearby cliff, causing her to sprawl out a bit as she tumbled onto the ground.

"Nnnnnghhh..." Milla moaned, getting to her feet before continuing on. "I gotta work on landing myself..." She then rounded a corner of the jungle, leaping off a large root before vibrations could be felt within the jungle floor. The basset tensed up as soon out of the ground in front of her broke a giant Snake Mount slithering into the air. It soon laid its eyes on the basset as it soon hissed, lunging for her. Milla formed a Phantom Cube in her hand before blasting it straight into the Snake Mount's face, causing it to recoil in pain before the dog landed onto the mount's body, running across it. Her mind was racing. "How is there a Snake Mount here?! I thought they were all destroyed after Brevon's failed launch!" Soon enough the tail end of the Snake Mount would fling the basset off her groove, sending her sprawling into the air before its massive maw reached up and slammed shut with her inside of it.

The Snake Mount would then start slithering through the jungle before slams came from inside its torso, soon the basset forcing the Mount's mouth open as she struggled to hold it open. "I-I'm not becoming snake food just yet!" She growled, soon forming a Phantom Sphere in her one hand and throwing it into the Mount's throat, detonating it and causing a gag reflex before she escaped the maw, the metal jaws snapping shut. Milla went out into a full-blooded sprint, soon racing on all fours as she rounded the corner of a ruin site, feeling the disturbance in energy grow larger...

She soon came upon the clearing of the area as she saw Silver fighting the larger hound figure, the jackal knocked unconscious on the ground. "Hmph... " The larger figure said. "This has exceeded my expectations... but I don't mind tormenting the hero-playing victim either."

Silver would grit his teeth, soon charging at the larger hound figure before the hound merely stopped his punch by grabbing his hand. Silver would then try to throw a sneak-attack punch, but somehow the larger hound figure would stop the attack with the other hand. "Tsk, tsk. And here I thought you actually had honor in trying to fight. Sadly not, it seems. You need to learn..." The large hound figure would then whirl around and slam Silver through a stone pillar, the entire thing collapsing. "...that there is no hope for either of your worlds."

"Nnnggh... nnngggh..." Silver groaned as he tried to get to his feet. "Th-there is hope! There always is! As long as black, cruel-hearted sludge buckets like yourself throw it away!" Soon he cloaked himself in the cyan energy of his psychic powers and charged straight at the hound, countering with a charge of his own. The two would trade blows for a good while before what appeared to be a small magenta chunk was knocked off and fell to the ground in the bushes, out of sight of anything else. The hound soon rammed straight into Silver, sending the hedgehog flying into the stone wall behind him. Silver would collapse onto the ground, exhausted from the blunt force exhibited on him.

"Well, looks like it was your life that you ended up throwing away...!" The hound growled before charging at Silver. At that point Milla had came out from her hiding spot, throwing up a Phantom Shield which protected herself and Silver as the larger hound figure rebounded off of it, backing away.

"You're exhausted Silver, tag out! I'll handle it from here!" The basset growled, holding her shield firm.

"M-Milla?!" Silver moaned as he tried to get up.

"Well, if it isn't the little runt who decided to escape her cell on that station..." The larger hound spoke.

"No thanks to the incompetence of your henchmen..." Milla snarled back.

"You say that, and yet I sense of you... there's fear inside all of that bravado. A thick musk wrapping itself around you. Has your memories been jogged of when I sent those two little saviors to their demise?" The hound figure said, setting a hand on the front of his mask.

Milla's muscles would tense up from that statement, but she'd steel her nerves and try to keep up her facade. "There's no memories to be jogged! I don't even know anything about you, not even your name!"

"Considering it is you..." The hound said, bringing his hand down back to cross his arms. "You may refer to me as 'Infinite', in what little knowledge you may seem to retain. Though I believe this will be the last time we will meet."

"The only thing I need to know is of that gem in your chest you're using to destroy everything we love! Now cough up what it is!" Milla growled, clenching her fists.

"You mean this stone?" Infinite spoke, indicating to the magenta stone in his chest, before chuckling darkly. "This stone or its powers are none of your concern."

"Oh, really?" Milla growled, her bracelets starting to glow. "Then I guess I'll just have to make you tell me by force! You masked prick!" The basset would then lunge for Infinite.

"Interesting..." Infinite spoke, the gem starting to glow. "I'd like to see you try, Milla!" At that moment Infinite would unleashed a burst from the stone, soon the basset girl starting to lose her grip on the ground as things started to be lifted into the air and yanked from the ground. However, at the current moment, Milla's mind was reeling from Infinite's last statement.

"H-how does he know my name?!" The basset thought, her mind completely unfocused at this point.

"Milla! He's coming from the front!" Silver yelled, trying to snap Milla back into focus, but it'd prove fruitless as soon Infinite rammed into Milla, sending the hound spiraling away howling over the massive cliff face...


Milla's head would be pounding as she struggled to get up, her eyes blurry from what felt like heat... wait, heat? That couldn't be right...

Soon enough she cleared her vision as she viewed her surroundings. The jungle below was now on fire as it was before, several massive ground chunks and ruins heaved into the air and floating suspended. She was now on the back of the massive Snake Mount from before, now even longer than the last time she saw it. Floating in front of her from before was the none other than Infinite, the gem in his chest still giving off its glow.

"So, you're still alive after that?" Infinite spoke, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "A shame. Guess I'll have to get my hands dirty for this..."

Milla would growl. "You don't scare me!"

"We'll see about that..." Infinite retorted, soon floating away backwards. "If you truly think you stand a chance, try to hit me..."

Milla would growl, soon running along the length of the Snake mount, going after Infinite. The larger hound had the stone glow before a series of red cubes in rings appeared along the Mount's body. Milla interpreted that chances are those cubes would be harmful to her, so she'd hurdle each of the rings with relative ease before Infinite stepped up his game, soon summoning a large cube coil that wrapped around the Snake Mount's body like a twisting corkscrew. Milla would tense up before attempting to leap over the corkscrew, but her feet would barely graze the cubes, causing her surroundings to go red. Suddenly, spikes shot from the segments of the mount where there were no slots before. The basset panicked and hurdled the spikes barely before the red faded, Infinite reappearing in front of her.

"Enjoying a taste of the Ruby's power?" Infinite taunted. "Trust me, there's more where that came from..."

Milla would get back to her feet before taking off after Infinite again, but he'd just be barely out of reach of the basset girl. A lightbulb went off in her head as she got an idea, soon forming a Phantom Cube in her hand before directing it behind her, blasting herself forward from the Cube's blast. She was finally starting to gain ground! A couple more bursts and she soon caught up to Infinite, soon leaping up to the hound and blasting him in the face with a Phantom Sphere. Infinite would recoil in pain before warping back a few feet away, still floating away from Milla.

"So, you managed to figure yourself a strategy..." Infinite growled. "We'll just see how long that lasts..." Infinite would then blur away in a red mist as Milla soon found herself running towards the head of the Snake Mount. With quick reaction she soon lept off the head of the mount, landing onto a massive spring as she bounced between the spring orbs before regaining her footing on the end of the twisting Snake Mount, taking off after the floating hound. Infinite's gem would glow again before the rings of cubes appeared along the mount's body again. Milla would hurdle them again before cubes formed in two wall-like patterns by her sides, tracking her very movements. The cubes would then start to close in on her slowly, causing her mind to start racing. Forming a Phantom Cube in her hand, she soon jumped as high as she could before blasting downwards, springing her up into the air and out of the way of the closing cubes before they crunched shut.

Milla growled, keeping her chase up as she soon lept off the Snake Mount's head again, hitting the springs one more before being flung high up into the air, showing Infinite had created replicas of himself to try and surround Milla. The basset at that point pounced off of the heads of the fake Infinites as she closed in on the real one, a Phantom Sphere in hand. Just mere inches away from blasting Infinite, the large hound raises a shield, blocking her from attacking. Milla growled, clamping onto the shield and refusing to let go, a fierce look in her eye. She kept pounding onto the shield before it started to crack from the psychic strain wearing on Infinite's mind. Milla growled before shoving her last fist through, unleashing the Phantom Sphere in a large blast, knocking the two away to either side.

Infinite would be breathing heavily. "I see... for a mere girl, you manage to rabble up quite a fight." He spoke, his tone dry but amused. "However... I know you will still lose."

Milla would clench her fists. "That's what you think! I-I-"

"You are nothing compared to the Ruby's power." Infinite growled, soon unleashing another area-coating blast, bathing the surroundings in the deep magentas and reds. Milla was thrown off from the force of the Ruby's power again, stumbling a bit before she felt something pressed up against her chest. She looked down to see a dark red Phantom Cube pressed against her chest, looking up to see Infinite's face right in front of hers.

"Wh-"

"Goodbye." Infinite spoke, before unleashing a point-blank Shield Burst right into the basset's chest. Milla went wide-eyed as the force flung her backwards off the Snake Mount, smashing into the ground with a thud. "As I said; you would lose. And with how feeble your powers are, you're not even worth the time fighting again."

"Nnnnngghh..." Milla moaned, trying to prop herself up on her arms.

"I will not repeat myself, so you better listen closely." Infinite growled. "The next time I see your face trying to stop me, I will kill you. Now, farewell." And with that, Infinite flew off into the distance, leaving the basset by herself collapsed.

"N-no... y... y..." Milla then lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground.

"Milla!" A voice yelled, before Silver came up onto the scene. He kneeled down by the basset and put a finger to her wrist, feeling for a pulse.

"Silver!" Another voice yelled, before Aaron and Tangle came up onto the scene. "Is everything alright? What happened to Milla?"

"No time to explain!" Silver said. "We need to get back to base, pronto!"

"Base?" Tangle asked. "You guys have a whole base out here?"

"It's back at Station Square!" Silver answered, picking up Milla. "Finn will meet us there along with the rest of the Jackal Squad! Now hurry!"

The lion and lemur would nod, soon following after Silver towards Station Square, not noticing the small magenta stone in the nearby bushes...


"I'm telling you, we're associates of your silver hedgehog friend! Now open up!" Fiora growled, banging on the door to the Resistance Base.

"How can we be sure you're not just posers of Eggman's robo-goons?" The intercom said. "For all we know you're just using a voice modifyer just to trick us!"

"YOU HAVE A GODDAMN CAMERA IN THE CORNER OF THE FUCKING HALL!" The female jackal roared, banging on the door harder. "LET US IN!"

"What's going on here?!" A voice said as Silver and the others came onto the scene, the hedgehog holding the basset over his shoulder.

"This fucker won't let us in!" Fiora growled. "Does he not realize the dangers out here?!"

"Hold on..." Silver grumbled, stepping in and hitting the button. "Relax Amy, they're with us."

"Password?"

"Snooping as usual, I see!"

"Welp, you're legit, go ahead and come in." The intercom said before the iron doors opened, allowing everyone in. Amy would look unamused, hitting the door switch and shutting it once the group was inside. "For Gaia's sake Silver, next time send us a notification that you're gonna be getting new recruits!"

"Well sorry, I didn't have enough time to notify you guys about what had happened." Silver said, setting Milla down on the med bay table, for what little bay there was. "Long story short, Milla's brutally hurt. Took blunt force straight to the chest from... something."

"What else happened out there?" Amy spoke.

"And who's the new girl and the rest of this motley bunch in here?" Knuckles asked, motioning to Tangle and the Jackals.

"New recruits." Silver said. "Aaron told me of everything that happened when he met Tangle."

"The girl saved my life, why wouldn't I invite her in?" Aaron spoke. "She's got spunk, flavor, a tail arm, and she can wreck the shit outta those slag heaps anyday!"

"Hmm..." Amy mused. "Well, you do have a point. What's your name?"

"Just call me Tangle." The lemur replied, extending her tail to shake Amy's hand, which she does so. "Aaron told me there was a group he was fightin' with. Never got to know it'd be the famous ones that were originally Mobius's saviors!"

"Heh, well, thanks for the complement, I guess." Amy said, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry you have to see us in such a ravaged state like this."

"Hey hey, it's fine!" Tangle spoke, before something clicked. "Hey... where's the rest of the AvaMerc bunch?"

Everyone fell silent at the mention of the group name, seemingly hanging their heads, except for Tangle and the Jackals.

"What?" Tangle asked innocently. "Did I strike a nerve somewhere?"

"Tangle..." Amy sighed, looking at her with sad eyes. "Sonic and Sash are... gone. Completely."

"What?" Tangle asked, confused. "Where'd they go?"

"You didn't see the newscasts?" Silver asked.

"I live out in the middle of Mystic Jungle in the Mystic Ruins." Tangle deadpanned. "News doesn't exactly travel that far."

"Sonic and Sash tried to fight that hound thing..." Amy spoke. "...they lost, and he had killed them."

Tangle almost seemed like she was shattered from that revelation. "Wh... wh-what?"

"Mmmmmhh..." A soft moan came from Milla's mouth, starting to stir. Everyone drew their attention to her as she slowly sat up, holding her chest in pain, Sven soon rushing to her side to help her.

"Hey, take it easy girl..." Sven whispered. "You're hurt badly, you shouldn't be moving this much."

"I-I'll stop moving when I'm de-AACK!" Milla interrupted herself with a hacking cough.

"Just lay down Milla." Sven said, rubbing her shoulders. "Rest is what you need right now."

"Hopefully she'll recover..." Silver spoke before looking around. "Hey, where'd Knuckles go?"

"Huh?" Amy said, looking around the room. Indeed, it seemed the red echidna had left the room without so much as saying a word. Even the Master Emerald was still in it's place in the side of the room, where Knuckles should have been guarding it. "Yeah... he's gone!"

"Maybe he went out for some fresh air?" Cream asked. "I mean, it can get kinda musty in here at times with all of us..."

"And breathe in air from outside where there's killer robots and the like?" Rouge said. "Besides, we would've heard him opening either of the main doors to leave."

"Maybe he took the teleporter?" Amy said, checking the teleport logs. "No, nothing recent..."

"Eh, he'll come back." Rouge said. "Either way, we should contact the Resistance Base on Avalice, shouldn't we?"

"We should." Amy said, turning to the monitor and typing into the keyboard. "We'll forward all that we know to them and try to see if we can get a search in the databases about that hound figure."

Rouge would nod. "Right. Let's try to get into contact." She spoke, but the back of her mind was eating away at her. 'Where did Knuckles go though...'


And so closes out a harsh time for our heroes. After Milla takes a brutal beating by the hands on the new powerhouse in town, Infinite, things are looking grim for the group. To make matters more confusing, Knuckles seems to have disappeared! Where did he go off to? And with the contact of the Avalician Resistance Base, what's happening on their end? Answers will come, but stay tuned for Chapter 7: 'A Meeting of Odds'...