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Sonic and Sash: Tides of Chaos 3
Phantom Forces
Act 2

Chapter 9: Cat's out of the Bag


Meanwhile, off in a further south section of Avalice, things were going down in an off-sector part of Pangu Lagoon... or at least, what looked like it. Truth be told it looked like some sort of weird mashup between Pangu Lagoon and some sort of tropical coastside, large palmtrees sprouting out of the ruins where they shouldn't be and larger stone structures either crunched or merged with the rocky cliffsides of the tropics. And all the while, it seemed as though Badniks were crawling about the place, seemingly looking for someone in the area as one of them were holding onto what appeared to be a lavender gem, sparking with a magenta colored energy...

"So, remind me again why we're transporting this thing again?" An Egg Pawn asked. "Aren't these useless when they're corrupted by Ruby Energy anyways?"

"Yes, but the Doctor doesn't want these falling into the Resistance's hands, understood?" A gold leader Egg Pawn spoke. "If they find some way to purify those stones, who knows what they could do with them!"

"Good point..." The Egg Pawn responded. "Then why not just send them to Null Space?"

"Are you an idiot?" A Crabmeat said from the back of the group. "If you have Infinite send those gems to Null Space, you're essentially shooting ourselves in the foot at that rate since the hedgehog and dragon are trapped in there!"

"So? How would that be a problem?" The Egg Pawn said. "It's not like they would have anything in Null Space to restore those Emeralds anyways!"

"Yeah, and remember what the Doctor told us when he programmed us?" The gold Egg Pawn shot back. "Keep AvaMerc and the Emeralds separated at all costs ever since the Shattered World failure."

"What, you think they're gonna be able to get to a Master Emerald or a Gaia Temple in a void of nothing?" The Egg Pawn fired back. "As if! There's no way they could get one of those things there!"

"Just shut up and walk." The Crabmeat said, before the gold Egg Pawn halted the group of Badniks.

"Hold up." The gold one spoke. "My scanners are picking up an intruder."

"Here? Of all places?!" The other Egg Pawn said. "Dammit, did Zik accidentally let his prisoner escape?!"

"I don't know who this 'Zik' fellow is..." A new voice said, female in tone from an unknown location. "But... I don't exactly appreciate your kind treading around in my new territory. So I'll be giving you two options. Either you leave and leave that stone with you, ooooooor I turn you all into molten slag and take the stone myself."

The set of Badniks would be looking around the area, trying to pinpoint the location of the voice. "Show yourself!" The golden Egg Pawn said.

"..." The voice would be silent, not making a sound. "Well then..." The voice said, volleys of shots soon coming from nearby brush and shredding open a Crabmeat. "Sealed your fates yourselves by the looks of it. Don't worry though, I'll make sure it's quick..."

"Spread out and find this pussy, now!" The golden Egg Pawn commanded, several of the other Egg Pawns and Badniks moving out away from the transport to tack down the voice. The golden Egg Pawn would remain to guard the Emerald... that was until a crimson blade lodged into the back of it's metallic head, popping out the other side.

"Mistake number one, sending out the rest of your goons to try and come find me." The female voice said, revealing it to have belonged to a brighter green wildcat with darker green accents. She wore gold goggles and a black tight-fitting top with a red flame pattern, along with red shorts and darker crimson boots. A belt was around her waist with a set of grenades, and in her hands were two custom-made gunblade pistols, one of which was currently lodged in the gold Egg Pawn's head. "Second mistake," She pull the trigger, letting loose a vicious gunshot that basically tore the Egg Pawn's head open. "Letting me kill you." And with the destruction of the gold one, soon enough sounds of explosions would be coming off from away from the jungle.

"Never understood why that moron hooked up his gold ones to initiate synchronized destruction of the entire platoon." She spoke, soon looking over at the lavender gem, now on the ground next to an Egg Pawn carcass and picking it up. She examined it, looking carefully at the gemstone's cut, and the corrupted magenta energy around it... before sliding down her goggles and scanning over the stone, readings coming up on the insides of the lenses.

"Well, this one oughta fetch a hefty price on the market..." The feline said, pocketing the gem into a pack behind her before taking off away from the scrap site... though she wouldn't get far before a massive beetle-like mech would burst from the nearby trees, soon hovering in front of her as it was piloted by... an Eggrobo? No, it looked too big to be a normal Eggrobo, but it certainly had the same coloring as one, albeit a bit more grandiose and with a crest, along with a sceptre across it's back.

"Trying to get away now, are we?" The new foe said. "I'll have you know the Doctor doesn't take lightly to stolen contraband. Now I suggest if you don't want to be brutally and violently minced by this Egg Beetle's pincers, you'll hand over the Emerald. Now."

"Yeeeah, how about, no." The feline said, firing off a shot at the cockpit of the mech... only for the glass to slightly crack.

"Well, I tried being reasonable." The Eggrobo said. "But it seems you want death. So be it, by the King's orders." Soon enough the mech would lunge forward, the pincers cloaked in a blazing energy as they prepared to snap down on the feline. The feline was aware of this and dodged last-second, soon unloading several shots into the cockpit... only to find out a shield had been raised at the last minute. The Heavy King would be wagging a finger from the cockpit, earning a hiss from the feline. Soon out of the back of the Egg Beetle's abdomen, from tiny holes were missiles fired straight for the feline. The wildcat kept dodging and weaving out of the way, momentarily getting distracted by trying to scan over the mech for a weakness when a missile landed right beside her, throwing her off her guard and into a wall. She gritted her teeth in pain before moving out of the way by another barrage of explosives, just barely missing her and singing the tip of her tail.

"Run all you want furball, you're not cheating death." Heavy King stated again as the massive pincers went in for another smashing. The feline saw the shield lower and made a beeline for the cockpit, leaping over the pincers and delivering two concentrated burst shots straight to the dome, the cracks spreading wider now. The mech would shake as the feline was thrown off it, landing on her feet as the beast circled her, waiting to strike.

"You're starting to become a real pain..." Heavy King grumbled.

"The feeling's mutual." The feline spat back, her eyes continually darting for another opening. She would soon dodge a larger missile that was fired from the abdomen of the mech before diving underneath the cockpit of the mech, unloading another quick burst of shots right into its exposed underside. The mech roared in pain before collapsing right on top of the feline, Heavy King ejecting from the cockpit and landing a few feet away as the mech sat there collapsed, unmoving.

"...and dead by your own hubris, how fitting for something like you." Heavy King spoke, strutting over and taking his sceptre in his hands. "Now, if you don't mind; not that you would, you're dead, I'll be-"

"You're not going anywhere." A female voice said, before two blades burst through the top of the cockpit, before a violent jerk split the mech in half from the blades, a rather pissed wildcat in the middle of the carnage. "Why run away? The fun has just begun!" With that, she rushed forward at the Heavy King, ready to slice him open with her gunblades.

Heavy King would guard the incoming double-slice from the feline with his sceptre, where the blades would clash against as sparks flew from them. The wildcat growled as she lept back, soon firing several shot bursts right at the robot. She gritted her teeth before lunging at the King again, blades ready for an impalement through the head. Heavy King would again use his sceptre to counter, this time bashing the feline straight in the face, knocking her straight back onto the ground as he soon had the orb of his sceptre light up with a glowing magenta energy, soon blasting the feline square in the torso. The wildcat would be knocked backwards, colliding with a rock as her gunblades were thrown from her grip, her hands now clutching her gut as a smoldering indent was left there from the blast. The sceptre was pointed in her direction again as Heavy King spoke.

"As I said," King spoke, almost with a mocking tone. "Hubris. Now, unless you want to have your life ended right now before your own eyes, you have two options; either you hand over the Emerald and you get to go free for a while longer until meeting your inevitable demise in the next few days, or you come quietly and face criminal charges for defying Master Robotnik's rule and holding contraband against a high ranking leader of the Empire. The second comes with an offer for sparing through roboticization, so I would weigh your options before choosing your fate."

The feline gritted her teeth in pain, weighing the options back and forth in her mind. From her thoughts, neither would result in her keeping the stone, but at the same time she definitely did not want to give in to something like this robot now threatening to end her life right there and then. Reluctantly, she would take the Emerald out from the bag she had and hesitantly handed it to Heavy King, who took the gem immediately from her.

"You've made a wise move." The robot spoke. "Now, flee, otherwise I will be taking back that generosity."

The feline glared daggers at the robot before turning and running off into the brush, out of sight. Heavy King merely 'smirked' to himself before radioing in to home base.

"Master Robotnik?" Heavy King spoke. "I have good news."

"What is it King?" Robotnik's voice spoke from the other side.

"I have successfully intercepted a troublesome whelp and secured a Chaos Emerald she had stolen from Badnik Battalion 2573." King answered, not hearing the rustling of the leaves behind him. "The gem is secured, there will be no more interference."

"Excellent." Robotnik responded from the other end. "Hold your location, I'll just have Infinite drop by to pick up the stone. I already have him going around to scrap any of the remaining prototypes out anyways, so this should be a rather quick and painless stop."

"Understood." Heavy King responded.

"And one more thing." Robotnik said. "Contact your group and have Heavy Magician and Heavy Gunner head for that Shang Mu area and retrieve my Metal Tails and Metal Carol, would you? Some insubordinates decided to trash them."

"Understood." Heavy King responded. "King out." With that, the communication line ended as Heavy King soon opened up a communication line to two others. "Gunner, Magician, come in."

"Hear ya loud and clear boss!" One said, male.

"How can we assist you?~" The second voice said, female.

"You two are to head out for Shang Mu and retrieve two of our fallen comrades." Heavy King responded. "Master Robotnik needs them back for reasons classified, understood?"

"Roger that!" The male voice said.

"We'll please you, our leader.~" The female voice said, before the communication line severed again. Heavy King would remain stationary as his point... until he felt someone tackle him from behind, soon slicing at him with razor-sharp claws. The feline would his as she kept up her onslaught before being violently being thrown off into a palm tree, the force from colliding with the tree causing several coconuts to then fall and conk her on her head. She laid there, dazed a bit before she felt a metallic foot pressed squarely on her chest, the sceptre pointed directly at her face.

"So, you decided to be rebellious, did you?" Heavy King growled, his red optics glowing angrily. "Then death will be your senten-" He was then interrupted as a swift force knocked him away, the Chaos Emerald falling to the ground as a new figure had stood there; an aqua-colored dragon, decked out in a dark blue gi with golden trim, specifically tailored for her sturdy frame and tail, wrappings around her forearms with fingerless leather gloves, black leggings with wrappings around the forelegs as well as tied sandals that supported partway up her shins. Upon her head was a typical conical hat, and slung over her shoulder was a travel pack, and in her hands was a long bo staff.

"Need a hand?" The newcomer said as she stared down Heavy King, the feline getting to her feet.

"The assistance is a appreciated." The feline spoke, before the two rushed at the robot...


Back in his base of unknown whereabouts, the doctor smiled to himself as he looked over the maps of Mobius and Avalice. With the Ruby's power, he finally had what he had wanted for so long; control. Control over the world that had for so long evaded him, no thanks to Sonic and the rest of AvaMerc. But it didn't matter to him; they were out of the picture, completely. There would be no one able to stop him, only to stall for time until the Resistances met their untimely demise in just a few days. Of course, his thoughts were interrupted as a figure warped into the room. A familiar hound figure, that is.

"Ah, yes, Infinite." Robotnik spoke, swiveling around in his control chair to see the hound. "Good timing. How goes the destruction of the prototypes?"

"That, is what I came to you about, doctor." Infinite spoke. "It appears one of the prototypes you gave to your two robots that went to Shang Mu has... vanished, per se."

"What?!" The doctor yelled angrily.

"I can only assume that a piece of the Resistance has obtained it." Infinite spoke. "However, this should pose no problem to us. The ones you gave your Metal series was a more complete prototype, meaning only the machines and my kind could use it."

"Well, at least that's a relief." Robotnik spoke, sitting back in his chair. "With the prototypes all round up, we can enact our failsafe plan to eliminate them."

"Ah, yes, the one I devised." Infinite spoke. "However... why are you insistent on waiting a few days before unleashing the failsafe?"

"You yourself I thought would know this." Robotnik spoke, turning away. "The anticipation for the end, is worse than the end itself."

Infinite would smirk under that mask of his as he turned to leave. "I shall depart to retrieve the Emerald from King, as you wanted."

"Speaking of them, have you heard from Zomom ever since our meeting in Green Hill?" Robotnik spoke. "He hasn't seemed to respond recently."

"Hmmm... amusing." Infinite spoke. "I shall look into it." He spoke, starting to leave the room...

"One more thing." The doctor spoke. "Didn't you run into the escaped Milla back at the Mystic Jungle?"

"Yes, however, she is weak." The hound merely responded. "It is clear enough she was no match for me."

"Yes, but what is her status?" The doctor asked, annoyed.

"She's still alive, however, I'm certain what I have done to her will leave her traumatized for quite some time." Infinite spoke, now leaving the room.

Robotnik would just sit there, thinking over the recent events before turning his attention back to the monitor in front of him...


The metallic shell of Heavy King would hit the ground, both of the newcomer combatants panting heavily as they stared at the unmoving metal figure on the ground, before the feline smirked, sheathing her gunblades onto her back.

"Well, that was a fight." The feline spoke, before looking over to the draconic figure. "Appreciate the help."

"It was nothing." The dragon spoke, holding her bo at standby. "I'm surprised to find you out and about like this. Didn't your sister imprison you a while back?"

"Well, the whole 'fat man taking over the world and dropping nukes on everyone and everything' kinda destroyed the prison walls where I was held, so I just booked it." The feline responded. "How would you know that though?"

"...you don't recognize me?" The dragon said.

"Amnesia, dingus." The feline deadpanned at the dragon. "So give me a name."

"Merga." The dragon spoke.

The feline would think for a minute... and then a lightbulb went off in her head. "Oh, you. Right, I think."

"Yes, me." Merga spoke. "It is bad, isn't it?"

"The amnesia? Sorta." The feline said. "I mean, maybe it's for the better I don't have my old personality I had before, I dunno."

"Hmmm." The dragoness spoke to herself, looking at the feline. "Well, despite our past... cooperation incident, let's put it... I feel it may be best if we set aside our differences and join forces for the time being. Survivability increases in numbers, after all."

The feline would just shrug. "I don't see why not." She spoke, extending a hand. "I think a reintroduction is in order. Corazon Tea, but just call me Cory, you?"

"Merga." Merga spoke, shaking Corazon's hand. "Hopefully our alliance will work out in the future."

"Same." Corazon said, walking over and picking up the gem next to the fallen Heavy King. "So... how much you think this thing would be worth?"

Merga's eyes would widen. "I hadn't realized that robot was in possession of one of the Chaos Emeralds..."

"Chaos Emeralds?" Corazon spoke. "What, this thing?"

"Yes, that." Merga spoke, taking the stone from the feline. "A gemstone of dangerous power if used in the wrong hands..."

"So why not just have us hold onto it?" Corazon spoke, shrugging. "Better we hold onto it and prevent anyone else from getting their hands on it."

"What we need to do is get this to Sonic and Sash." Merga spoke, looking at Corazon. "I have not seen them ever since I left on my own journey for finding myself, but they will need this if they are to succeed in whatever has happened."

"Whoawhoawhoa, hold on there." Corazon spoke, taking the Emerald back. "First of all, my goggles picked up a negative energy corrupted whatever normal energy is inside this thing." She said, pointing at the Emerald. "Even if we were to get it to my sis's group, it'd be useless unless there's a way to decorrupt it. Secondly, ever since the doctor's attack on both the worlds, my sis has gone off who knows where, meaning we'd expend so many resources just trying to track them down to begin with. For now, it be best we lay low until we can properly find a way for decorrupting."

"...I suppose that will do for now." Merga spoke. "Do you have an accommodation we could hide in?"

"Yeah, I got a hideout we could use." Corazon spoke. "Let's head there now, might be able to wait it out for now until we can safely move around."

"Lead the way then." Merga spoke as the feline led the dragoness away from the site... just a few minutes before the hound showed up. He would look upon the now deserted clearing with an unamused look on his face.

"Well then..." Infinite spoke, deadpanning at the scene before him. "Looks like there's some needed cleanup here... nnnnngh, that doctor is really pressing his luck with this..."


It wasn't long before the feline had led the dragon to her hideout, tucked away in a hidden alcove of the lagoon. Upon entry of the alcove, Merga would find it to be quite homely, looking like an old captain's cabin of an airship, albeit a bit more rustic. A makeshift hammock hung from two separate points on the rocks as the rocky ceiling held a couple of lanterns, illuminating the alcove a bit. Across from the hammock was a chest of sorts and a box containing what appeared to be maps and other charts, and then there'd be another box that would contain... what appeared to be an unhealthy amount of explosives of many kinds; dynamite, C4, cherry bombs...

"Oh dear..." Merga spoke. "How... much explosives do you have there?"

"Eh, don't worry." Corazon said. "There's no open flames that'll set those off; kept 'em all contained so that way I don't get blown to kingdom come in my sleep or that my shit gets exploded while I'm out."

"I see..." Merga spoke, sitting on a rock. "So... what have you been doing these past six months since you escaped?"

"Well, not a whole lot aside from laying low and doing some demolition." Corazon spoke, soon swinging into and lying in her hammock. "It gets kinda boring just sittin' around and twidlin' my thumbs. Gotta pass the time, y'know?"

"So you do that... by... destroying draconic architecture..." Merga spoke, confused by the feline's thought process.

"Well, for good reason." Corazon spoke. "Your lizard kind left a loooooot of old blueprints in these old rocks. Figured I'd grab 'em and then sell 'em off to any sorta history museums." She'd then be tossing the Chaos Emerald in her one hand, the other behind her head. "Was gonna do the same with this little pretty 'til you told me it was a Chaos Emerald."

"And you understand how valuable and dangerous that artifact is, don't you?" Merga spoke sternly.

"Well DUH." Corazon snapped back. "You think after what you told me about what these things do I'd just give it to a museum just to be sitting out in the open to be stolen?"

"No." Merga spoke.

"Well there ya go." Corazon spoke, looking back up. "So nothin' to worry about."

Merga would remain silent for a bit as Corazon continued to toss the Chaos Emerald to herself, the silence hanging in the air thickly until Merga broke it.

"So how long should we stay here for?" Merga spoke.

"About a couple hours, tops." Corazon suggested. "After that, we should be free to head out somewhere."

"If you say..." Merga spoke. "Would you mind if we tried heading for Shuigang?"

"What, that jade kingdom?" Corazon spoke. "Why there?"

"Call it a gut intuition." Merga responded, lying down against the wall. "I have a feeling we might be able to find something out there..."

"Suit yourself." Corazon said, staring back up at the ceiling. Little did the two know what would be in store for them...


With new allies found in the most unusual of places, the feline and the dragon forge a new unlikely alliance as they narrowly avoid contact from the Empire. But with the threat still looming high, the two will need to keep their heads and their Chaos Emerald on them if they want to survive. But the question is: will they? Find out along with the fate of the Scarves in Chapter 10: "Frozen Fears for Mad Gears"...