I know, a lot of you may have been wondering what had happened to this series as a whole. I started this story with such enthusiasm and then... nothing, for a good while. So what happened?

Well, real life. In a worst way possible.

A while back my mother had passed away and thus there was all the funeral stuff that had to be taken care of, but for that time, I was an emotional wreck. I couldn't even focus on my writing.

I'll be slowly getting back into the swing of things, but my chapter production may be a bit more sporatic than usual, I hope everyone can understand.


...

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

Chapter 10: Frozen Fears for Mad Gears


It was a tense silence as the three Scarves waited outside of the medical bay where they took Neige, not one of them wanting to say anything that could come off as tasteless to the other. It was a uneasy feeling, the tension being so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Soon enough one of the med staff, a feline of some sorts, would exit from the med bay, causing Spade to stand up. "Is she going to be alright?" He spoke.

The feline would nod her head. "She's lost a lot of blood however, and she'll need surgery for the intestine piercing, but she'll live." She spoke. "She'd like to see you, however."

Spade would nod, heading into the room while Hanna and Rob were left alone. The hare would sigh in relief.

"Thank goodness she's still alive..." Rob spoke. "It'd be a heavy morale blow if we lost her, especially for Spade."

Hanna would shrug. "Eh, she's a tough girl, I know she's survived worse." She said, leaning back. "She'll get through this."

"Through a punctured intestine?" Rob said. "I may not be a medical expert, but that's not necessarily something you walk away from."

"I never said she'd be walking a few hours after this." Hanna shot back. "It's moreso the fact I know she's gotten through tougher than this; she'll be fine."

Rob would be silent for a bit as he pondered over the thought... that was, before a familiar voice greeted them.

"Oh, Meanie! Fluff-tail!" The voice said as the green-furred lynx wearing the familiar teal skater dress ran up to them. "I-I heard about what happened! Are you guys okay?!"

"We're fine, Maria." Hanna spoke. "What about you? Are you still fine?"

The lynx nodded in response. "It's been insane though! There's so much destruction from that meathead's giant robots across the kingdoms!"

"It's disheartening, really." Rob spoke. "There's falling from grace, and then there's nosediving into a pit. And clearly enough from his last defeat, Eggman is the one doing the nosediving and catching us in his wake."

"And he's not gonna stop until we're all taken down with him?" Maria said.

"Definitely seems like it." Hanna said, looking up at the ceiling. "What I'm more concerned about is that hound thing that's allied with Eggman..."

"Why's that?" Rob asked.

"You've heard about what that thing can do." Hanna said. "It's the thing that singlehandedly took down both Sonic and Sash, remember?"

Maria's ears would droop. "I remember hearing about that... you think they're at least at rest now?"

"If they are, hopefully the ancestral spirits are guiding them well..." Hanna spoke, silence falling among the three before the loudspaker blared.

"Hanna Skarlett, Rob Stiil, Maria Shanmao, please report to the Head Scarf chambers immediately." The voice over the loudspeaker said before it shut off. The three would look to eachother before Hanna and Rob got up, starting to walk off towards the main chambers...

Natalya would be there, her back turned to the door as a knock came to it. "Come in." She merely spoke as the three Scarves entered into the room, the door shutting behind them. "First of all, Hanna, Rob, I would like to thank you for your efforts in stopping that attack on Phoenix Highway; you've saved a lot of lives out there."

Hanna would nod. "It was our pleasure Head Scarf." She spoke, bowing.

"I'd also like to thank you for getting Neige back here when you could." Natalya spoke. "I'm afraid she wouldn't have lasted long enough to get back had it not been for your efforts."

Rob would nod, getting to one knee. "We're grateful we were able to find her in time." He spoke. "I couldn't even imagine the blow to the Scarves morale if she passed..."

"It would have been severe..." Natalya spoke. "Especially considering she's our communications expert right now for our side of the Resistance."

"Indeed..." Rob spoke, before Natalya continued. "However, I have a new assignment for you three, if you are willing to accept."

"Of course, you know I don't turn down any other opportunity for a mission!" Hanna responded. "What's the mission?"

"Paitence, Hanna." Natalya said, crossing arms. "I was just getting to explaining that."

Rob would sigh, pinching his forehead before Natalya started.

"Recently our numbers in Shuigang have lost transmission with us during their hiding out in order to try and overthrow the occupation there. What's worse, the abnormal snow weather patterns there are interrupting our signals to even try and get through to them now." Natalya spoke. "What's even worse, the way through normally is completely barricaded and frozen off, meaning there's no easy way to get into the city itself."

"So... how do we go about doin' this?" Hanna asked.

"That is where you three come in." Natalya responded. "There's an old entrance into an underground bunker near the back of the kingdom; connected right to the old launch site of that Dreadnought from years ago during the Brevon Crisis. Using that entrance, you should be able to sneak into the frozen city defenses and find out what's happened to our allies in there."

"So, that's it?" Hanna said. "Sounds like it'll be a piece of cake to me."

"That's not your only task, however." Natalya spoke. "While you're out there, please, look to make sure King Dail is still alive. Ever since the attack six months ago we've lost all contact with him; he's gone completely radio silent, and none of us can tell if it's of his own choice or that he's been captured or..." Natalya paused, before she continued. "Whatever the reason, we need answers. Find Dail, dead or alive."

Rob would nod. "Understood, Head Scarf." He said, before looking to Hanna and Maria. "Are you both ready for this?"

Hanna nodded. "Let's go." She spoke.

"I'm ready!" Maria responded.

"Alright." Rob said, heading for the door. "Let's head for the launch bay, we'll reach the border of the launch site by nightfall."

Hanna and Maria nodded, the three heading off for the launch bay as Natalya was left to herself, looking back to the back wall. "Shàngmiàn de jīngshén, yǐndǎo tāmen ānquán..." The Head Scarf muttered to herself...


The sun would be starting to set as the green feline poked her head out of the cave entrance of her hideout at Pangu Lagoon. After a few quick glances around and seeing no sign of the robots, she'd look back into the cave.

"Hey!" She whisper-yelled. "No sign of those metallic morons; let's get to that jade kingdom like you wanted!"

Merga would nod, approaching the entrance of the cave. "And you're sure they're all gone?"

"Positive." The feline said, stepping out of the cave. "Now lead the way, since you'd know the shortest path to get there."

Merga would nod in response, soon leading the way out of the cave and starting to move through the dense growth of the Lagoon, Corazon following right behind her with her gunblades at the ready. With the two starting their trek across the humid overgrowth, luck would be on their side as the vegetation would cover them from any peeping eyes in the sky. After a bit of travelling silence, Corazon finally spoke.

"Hey... Merga?" The wildcat asked.

"Yes?"

"So... what exactly did you do after that... y'know, that incident six months ago?" Corazon asked. "I mean, I know I was arrested and shoved into a prison cell, but what about you?"

"Well..." Merga spoke, shoving dense overgrowth out of her way. "Where do I even begin on something like this?"

"Why not from the beginning?" Corazon asked, keeping pace.

"Well..." Merga started. "It started after I left the treehouse of Sonic and Sash..."


Meanwhile, Hannah, Rob and Maria were already setting out for the frozen wastes now occupying the location of where Shuignag was, and alreadfy they were encountering problems; the snow had started much earlier than they had intended to be driving through on the ATVs, and to make matters worse, icicle spikes were cropping up across the white powdery plains, meaning the tires, even if they were custom made, still ran a very real risk of bursting apart if they collided with one of them.

Hanna gritted her teeth. "And to think it wouldn't be easier for me to just melt the snow so we can get a clearer shot there, but no! Here we are having to drive through nearly knee-deep snow and icicle spikes just to try and get to the damn kingdom!"

"Preferred we keep ourselves low rather than let them know we're coming!" Rob shot back, keeping his ATV as level as he could with the terrain as the two blasted over the snowbanks. "Once we get within range of the kingdom we can hoof it on foot from there! Then you can use your fire!"

Hanna merely growled to herself as she kept the ATV running as the three kept going over the snowy dunes of the fields... before Maria's ear twitched. Something was following them...

"Hey... hey guys?" Maria squeaked.

"Yeah?" Hanna asked.

"I don't think we're alone out here..." The feline whimpered, before a loud revving motor sound roared as a new figure burst up from a now ramp in the ground; riding a Motobug was none other than a knight designed Eggrobo, purple in color and swinging a gigantic mace as it gave pursuit after the ATVs.

"You've definitely got right to believe that!" The Eggrobo said, swinging the mace before lobbing the ball end straight for the back of Hanna's ATV, striking it and causing the entire thing to jerk violently. Maria squeaked and gripped onto Hanna as the vixen glared daggers at the new opponent.

"Oh, you wanna play that game, do ya you piece of scrap?!" She growled, now trying to lob fireballs at the riding Eggrobo. "Let's see how ya like some heat, huh?!" The assailant would be blasting through the snow ahead of her, the mace still swinging above her as the sounds of her Motobug revving up echoed before she was charging at Hanna's ATV head-first! The vixen swerved hard right to try and prevent colliding with the Eggrobo as the purple robot whizzed right past her, gritting her teeth in anger. As she quickly tried to think of a way to lose the assailant, the Eggrobo would start zipping by again, swinging her mace as it collided with several of the larger icicle spikes, causing them to collapse towards the vixen's ATV. Hanna gripped the steering hard as she swerved out of the way of each collapsing icicle spike, trying to prevent herself from becoming skewered from the falling ice shards as Maria held onto the vixen for dear life.

"Hold on!" Rob yelled as his ATV swerved as it soon grinded against The Eggrobo's ride Motobug, causing it to start to spin out.

"STOP THAT! Jimmy can't take that kind of abuse!" The Eggrobo squealed as it struggled to gain control of the Motobug.

"You should've considered that before you attacked us!" Rob said, grinding against the Motobug more as it seriously started to lose control.

"STOOOOOOP!" The purple Eggrobo yelled as the Motobug completely spun out of control, blasting off into the snow aside...

"You alright Hanna?" Rob said as the ATVs continued along.

"About as good as I could be!" Hanna said, annoyed.

"Is that bad robot gone?" Maria said.

"I think so..." Rob said... before the Eggrobo burst through the snow again, the Motobug now a big-wheel motorcycle as ball-like sawblades extended from the sides of the tides, soon launching off and bounding across the snow towards the two ATVs.

"What the?!" Hanna barked.

"I warned you!" The Eggrobo yelled, more of the bounding sawblades bouncing off across the snowscape. "Now you're gonna get it, in the name of the High Robotnik!"

"Don't make me puke!" Hanna growled, soon lobbing another fireball at the Eggrobo as it kept its pace with the two ATVs. Soon enough the Eggrobo would get out the giant mace again as it twirled it over its head, soon lobbing straight for Hanna's ATV. The gigantic mace ball would collide with the back axel, the force smashing it in two as the ATV started to swerve out of control.

"SHIT!" Hanna yelled as she tried to regain control of the ATV. "Come on you bastard! WORK!"

"Hanna, jump, now!" Rob yelled, extending his hand out as the vixen, and the lynx clutching tightly to her, lept from the ATV and grabbed onto Rob's ATV just as the other ATV sidewinded straight into the Eggrobo rider and exploded, capsizing the two into a snowbank.

"Talk about too close for comfort..." Hanna growled to herself before looking back to Maria. "You alright back there?"

"A-A little scared..." Maria whimpered.

"We're gonna have to explain that one to the Head Scarf..." Rob sighed, the single ATV continuing across the snowbanks. "We can't afford to lose anymore ATVs this crisis."

"Not my fault..." Hanna growled as the group started to pass by... machinery?

"Hey... why's there all this machinery here?" Maria said. "This isn't close to the impact crater..."

"It's definitely not Avalician, that's for sure..." Rob spoke, noting the giant cogs surrounding the area. "The design and architecture of it is too far alien for it to be of this plant's origin... or the Dreadnought for that matter."

"Then... then where is it fro-"

Hanna would never get the chance to finish that sentence as soon an attack Egg-o-Matic helicopter burst from behind an ice wall, a blue cop-styled Eggrobo with a siren on its head aiming a custom-made missile launcher right at the ATV. Time seemed to slow down as the helicopter burst through the wall, even what the Eggrobo yelled went by in slow motion.

"STAAAAAAAAAAHP RIIIIIIGHT THEEEEEEEEEREEEEEEEE!" The Eggrobo yelled as soon a barrage of missiles erupted from the barrel of the missile launcher and collided with the ground around the ATV and sent the three sprawling into the snow, unmoving...

The helicpoter would righten itself as it came to a hover above the three figures, right as the purple Eggrobo would come up on the Motobug cycle.

"You got 'em?!" The purple Eggrobo said.

"Never stood a chance, Rider!" The blue Eggrobo said. "They're good as dead now with those shots I threw at 'em!"

"Awwww, but I wanted a chance to cave their skulls in!" The purple Eggrobo, Heavy Rider, pouted. "It's more fun when I can do that!"

"Sometimes ya just gotta leave it to the professionals." The blue Eggrobo said. "Either way, they're pretty much dead now, no point in bringing them in as corpses."

Rider was still pouting. "Mmmph..."

"Look, how about a round of donuts when we get back to the fortress? On me!" The blue Eggrobo said.

"Fine..." Rider said, the Motobug turning around and taking off away from the group as the helicopter with the blue Eggrobo followed suit. It was quiet for a few moments... before the three started to move again.

"Are they gone for sure?" Hanna spoke.

"Almost certain they are." Rob spoke. "For being elite Eggman robots, they're not too bright..."

"Meanies!" Maria said, sticking her tongue out in the direction of the leaving Eggrobos.

"We'll get back at them Maria." Hanna spoke. "Purple ass owes me for breaking my ride."

"Speaking of rides..." Rob said, looking at the wreckage of his ATV. "We're gonna have to traverse the rest of the way on foot."

Hanna sighed, hoisting Maria onto her back as the two would continue across the snowy wastes...


"That much, huh?" Corazon asked as the two continued their trek along the snowy wastes. "I guess you've learned a lot during your travels haven't you?"

"Indeed." Merga said, feeling the cold wind blow against her as the two worked their way north. "It has come in handy for my persuasion abilities to get myself out of problematic situations."

"Like what?" Corazon said, feeling the snow starting to crunch underneath her boots.

"Well..." Merga started. "It was an incident during my travels... during one of my trips in the outer kingdoms, I was out late for one night after finishing a meditation session in one of the community zen gardens they had... before i suddenly felt a blunt force grab me from behind and shove me against an alley wall. As it turned out, late night hours were when some of the shady Avalicians like to roam the streets, looking for 'prey' to steal from."

"And lemme guess; you had no money on you?" Corazon asked.

Merga merely shook her head. "I wouldn't have needed it for the community zen garden, and even then, I had left it back in the temporary living quarters I had within the city. There wouldn't have been a need for me to take money into the city... however, this one individual really did not seem to want to listen. All he was focused on was either getting his money, or taking my life."

"Damn, sounds like it was a corner situation for you." Corazon spoke. "How'd you manage to get out of it?"

"Well..." Merga spoke. "My talking. And a lot of it banked on luck."

"Luck?"

Merga nodded in response. "I had managed to convince the criminal to let me go after I explained to him I was merely a traveler, and had no reason to stay in the city for longer than a few days. With that, I had returned to my room and continued on my way of my journey... at least, until all this chaos happened..."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." Corazon said. "But at any rate, we should be closing in on the kingdom..."

Merga would look ahead to see the large green outer walls of the kingdom... but things would be definitely off, judging from the metal exterior, frozen icicle defenses and large spotlights sweeping across the area, as if it was security...

"Well, looks like someone's gotten here first..." Merga spoke. "Should we find another way in?"

"That's going to be difficult..." Corazon spoke, her eyes scanning over the area from behind the cover the two were at. "Looks like they got searchlights sweeping over the entire area, chances are they'll be looking for intruders like us... hmmm..." Corazon got her backpack off her back and starting digging around in it.

"Ehm... what are you looking for?" Merga had asked as Corazon pulled out a pack of six bound sticks of dynamite, connected by a single fuse.

"This." Corazon said. "I can set this bad boy off as a distraction, and while all the robots are gonna be looking for what caused the explosion, we sneak through the gates unnoticed."

"You sure this is going to work?" Merga asked as Corazon lit the fuse to the dynamite pack.

"It's either this or we don't get in period." Corazon spoke, twirling the lit pack in her hand before chucking it hard and far to the left before grabbing Merga's hand and dashing off in the opposite direction. The pack would land in the snow a few meters from where Corazon was before it detonated, causing all the searchlights in the area to focus onto its location of the blast. Sirens would shortly blare as the gates raised up and swarms of Egg Pawn robots would scramble out of the gate to get close to the wreckage... leaving the wildcat just enough time to slip in with her draconic friend without being detected.

Ducking behind a corner of an alleyway, Corazon motioned for Merga to remain silent. Whiskers twitching from anticipation, or possibly the freezing weather, the wildcat would peek out from behind her cover to get a view of the surrounding areas of the kingdom.

And it wasn't a pretty sight.

The kingdom was outright frozen over, thick layers of ice and sharp frozen spikes covering the dull metal green plating of the ground and houses. Smoke billowed into the air from the factories as they produced more and more inactive badniks to be loaded up and shipped out to other parts of Avalice and Mobius...

And then Corazon caught sight of the cages hauling the imprisoned Avalicians of all sorts of species; draconic, avian, feline, canine, ursine... they were all being hauled out of the city like some sort of sick zoo exhibit.

At the center of the city appeared to be some sort of large circular device with a magenta stone embedded in the top of it, acting as an activator for a portal as large blue tanks rolled out of the portal into the area, letting out large deafening 'BWOOOOOOOOOMS' every so often.

"Damn, looks like whoever sent those boltbrains after us at the Lagoon has this place down under tight mechanical wraps." Corazon hissed. "And it also looks like they're getting backup help from someplace else with all those tanks..."

"So... what do we do?" Merga asked.

"Well, If the layout of the kingdom is still the same, we should try sneaking around to the palace entrance." Corazon spoke. "Chances are the coward that set this all up would be there like some sort of egotist, not to mention the fact they could be holding Dail there as well."

"So what you're saying is..."

"We find Dail, we get answers." Corazon spoke. "Now c'mon, let's get there..."

With that, the two would set out around the outer perimeter of the kingdom towards the palace...


It wouldn't be long before the three Scarves would arrive on the scene of the ruined launch base behind Shuigang, and there wasn't a single sector of the scrapyard that wasn't being patrolled by some of the Empire's robots. With the hordes of the mindless drones looking among the massive overturned piles of twisted metal, the trio of assassins would duck into an alcove of wrecked steel, just out of sight of the drones.

"Dammit..." Hanna growled through clenched teeth, just lightly peeking around the corner of the scrap pile, seeing the drones monitoring. "There's more of these metal piles of crap around here... can I just go ham and destroy them all right now?"

"If you want to end up as a piece of swiss vixen, go right ahead." Rob deadpanned to Hanna. "We need to slip through without any of those drones seeing us. If those alarms go off, chances are the place will go under tight lockdown, and soon more of them will flood in here; way more than we'd be able to take down in a single sitting."

Hanna gritted her teeth. "Then how the hell are we supposed to sneak by those things?"

Maria wouldn't be paying attention to Hanna and Rob arguing; she'd be focusing on the pile of scrap behind the group, her nose twitching ever so slightly as her head tilted a bit looking at the scrap pile. Cautiously approaching it, she'd soon start rummaging around inside the junk until she found something; what appeared to be a small orb of some kind. Looking back over to where Hanna and Rob were arguing, Maria crept back over past them and peeked out the side of the cover they were in. Swallowing hard and gripping to the orb, she'd hurl it as hard as she could over to a ruined metal wall several meters from the group. The orb would hit the wall, the loud clank it gave out drawing the attention of all the security drones in the surrounding area... drawing them away from the trio.

Both Hanna and Rob would be dumbstruck at looking at what Maria had just done, but they'd question it later. With the bots properly distracted, the three would rush past where the distracted drones were before ducking behind another cover set. Maria, ears pressed against her head, would peek around the left corner of their cover, looking down the alleyway of twisted metal...

...not even noticing the small blue dot creeping up onto her forehead.

Hanna gasped as she harshly yanked Maria back into the alcove, right as the booming shot of a sniper rifle echoed across the area a a hot streak of blue flew right past, embedding the tracer round bullet straight into the wall. Maria was panting heavily as she clutched to Hanna tightly as a robot voice was heard from the sightline of the left corner. Hanna couldn't exactly make out what it was saying; something about a 'wanka'?

"Left flank is compromised; tracer round snipers locking down that route like a vault." Hanna spoke. "How's right flank looking?"

Rob would barely peek the sightline of the right flank, but almost instantly he'd notice something was off; most of the security drones would be scrap piles now, large icicles impaling them at every opportunity.

"This way's safer..." Rob spoke. "...but it looks like we're not alone here. Keep your eyes peeled."

The other two nodded as the trio took off down the right side, looking for the main entrance into the back of the palace...


Getting inside the palace undetected was easy enough for Corazon and Merga; it was remaining undetected as they would try to find their way towards the dungeons of the entire palace. With any luck, the people having taken over wouldn't have thought to move him out of the kingdom...

"Alright, now let's see..." Corazon breathed, her breath showing as she checked the one set of steel doors ahead of her, lightly rapping on it. "Five inches... solid steel alloy. Regular blasts ain't gonna do on this..."

"So, what do we do now?" Merga asked. "Is there a way around we could try?"

"I don't think so..." Corazon said, her ears twitching as she pulled her pack off as she started searching around inside. "The map specs I knicked says this is the only way into the lower catacombs and dungeons. So like it or not, this is the only way we can go."

"And... how exactly do you suggest we do that?" Merga said, crossing her arms.

Corazon merely smirked, pulling out what appeared to be a small jar. "Well? Melt our way though that door." She spoke, popping the lid off the jar and starting to lace the central crease of the door with it. "Grade A Thermite; just volatile enough to melt through the door here..."

"Are you sure that's going to be a good idea?" Merga said, stepping back.

"Relax..." Corazon said, pulling a lighter from her bag, lighting it. "Just let me do my thing." After a few clicks, the lighter would ignite as Corazon would ignite the Thermite, starting the burning as she stepped back to a save distance, the powder burning violently as it melted straight through the frozen steel door. The feline would cautiously approach the door before gripping the sides and trying to pull the door apart from the melted gap she created from the Thermite, but soon found herself struggling to even budge it.

"Hnnnnnngghh!" Corazon grunted, feeling the strain in her arms as she tried to pull the door apart. "Y-yeesh... this thing is s-sturdier than I expected..."

"Allow me." Merga spoke, stepping in front of Corazon, who would notice her scale pigmentation was less of the usual aqua/cyan and more of an orange/brown coloration. Planting her feet firmly into the ground, Merga wedged her clawed hands into the slit of the door where the thermite burned through, her muscles contracting as she soon ripped the door clean open, sparks coming from the door mechanics in the walls.

"Huh, duly noted." Corazon said, stepping up to the door. "Looks like I'll need to keep that in mind. Now, let's find Dail."

Merga nodded before the two rushed down into the dungeons of Shuigang...


Out above in the snowy frozen kingdom, the portal had finally shut down as the last of the normal tanks and now several giant all-terrain carriers had come through the portal, the green-haired Zeti smirked maliciously to herself. Everything was moving ahead according to plan, now all they needed to do was get these mothership tanks distributed across the planets to overwhelm the Resistance for a hail-mary game over.

"Even with how many of them there are in the Resistance, they can't be in multiple places at the same time!" The green Zeti spoke to herself, admiring the handiwork of getting the tanks loaded in as well as numerous Empire robots into the carriers. "With multiple simultaneous attacks, they'll be drowned out before they even get a chance to try and defend multiple sites at once! Lord Robotnik, your genius has really outshone this time; pulling out weapons and robot designs from another dimension is perfect!"

Of course, unseen from the Zeti, lying prone on the rooftop of one of the buildings to avoid detection but still having a clear earshot of the scene below, was a white female falcon dressed in black, wearing a skimask to avoid detection of her yellow beak in the snow. In her wings was a small device on a notepad setting as she marked down everything the Zeti was monologuing to herself about.

"That's it, that's it..." The white falcon quietly whispered to herself, her voice just barely audible over the wind. "Just keep monologuing you little wench..."

"M-Mistress Zeena! Mistress Zeena!" A voice yelled as an Egg Pawn yelled rushed over her.

The Zeti looked at the Egg Pawn, a look of annoyance on her face. "What now?" She groaned. "I'm in the middle of celebrating the lord's victory over those furry brats, and you pick NOW of all time to interrupt me?!"

"N-not important right now!" The Egg Pawn spoke. "We've been compromised! The palace is being invaded by unruly Resistance members who snuck in under our nose! They-"

The Egg Pawn didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before Zeena had angrily punched a hole through his head in a fit of rage. "Those sons of BITCHES!" She angrily said. "I knew I should have killed Dail when I got the chance! That's why they're here! Guh, no matter, I'll just kill him now!" She growled, taking off towards the palace. "AS WELL AS THE RESISTANCE INTRUDERS FOR INTERRUPTING MY VICTORY MUSING!"

The falcon tensed up; with how dangerous Zeena was right now, there was the strong possibility that the Resistance members, whoever was in there, could very well be outmatched by this enraged Zeti. Weighing her options, she consiously made the decision to intervene in the palace as she took off flying over the kingdom towards it...


"I-I-It's s-so super cold in here!" Maria chattered through her teeth as the three made their way through the palace corridors. "C-can't we find a thermos-s-s-stat or something to make it less freezy in here?"

"Not if you want us to be found." Hanna spoke, seemingly unfazed by the sheer cold of the inside. "If we start tampering with the power inside here, they could very well have that linked up to a silent alarm. Then we all get put on Egg Death Row and that's that."

"That's easy for you to say being a Fire Elemental." Rob spoke, looking bothered by the freezing temperatures but doing surprisingly well to hide it. "Maria's a Wood elemental; you'd know very well these near sub-zero temperatures are going to severely affect her!"

"We won't be in here for very long!" Hanna shot back. "We just need to find Dail and get out of here!"

"S-so... c-c-cold..." Maria spoke, her pace slowing down. Hanna almost ground to a halt and immediately turned around to the lynx.

"Hey, hey... there there..." Hanna said, hoisting the lynx onto her back as her tail covered up the body of her with the floofy tail fur.

"Mmmmmmmmhhh... s-so warm..." Maria said, passing out and drifting off into sleep.

"Alright, change of plan, I'll carry Maria so she can stay warm." Hanna spoke. "Last thing I need now is here freezing before our mission is even done."

Rob nodded, before his ear caught something. Getting on the defensive, he'd brandish his sais as he grit his teeth in anticipation for the oncoming threat, Hanna behind him moreso to protect Maria than anything else.

They'd be surprised to find a dragon and wildcat bursting through a side door not to far from them with an unconscious panda over the dragon's shoulder.

And it would only take two seconds for the hare and vixen to recognize the wildcat.

"CORAZON!" The two of them yelled, seemingly pissed by the wildcat's presence.

"YOU... uh..." Corazon spoke, now confused. "Well, this is awkward... who are you guys again?"

Now Rob and Hanna were confused. "Wait..." Hanna said. "You seriously don't remember us?"

"Amnesia." Corazon responded. "You're like, the third people I've had to tell today."

Rob deadpanned before returning to his serious tone from earlier. "What are you even doing here?! And why is Merga with you?!"

"We're trying to get Dail out of here before we get found by those robot chronies!" Merga spoke. "Now, we need to hurry bef-"

"You're already going to be too late." Another voice spoke before the group would look up to see a white falcon perched on one of the higher ledges. "Zeena's already on her way here to try and kill you; apparently one of you tripped the silent alarm coming in and now she's... less than happy, let's put it."

"And how do we know you're not just trying to trick us?!" Hanna growled. "After all, you've got a lotta nerve showing your face around here again, especially since we know what YOU did to that recruiter!"

"What would I have to gain from lying to you when that doctor would be after me as well?" The bird coldly stated. "We're all in the same boat here. And I have other people to warn before things get out of hand. So best be prepared for your fight." The bird figure said before taking off.

Hanna growled, gritting her teeth before a loud crashing sound came from behind them.

"There you runts are!" Zeena's voice growled as she came charging on a large snake-like beast of black orbs.

"A Tao Serpent!" Merga gasped. "Move!" Without any other need of warning the five took off down the hall in the opposite direction from the enraged Zeti, soon enough coming to a large central room, rounded in shape and stature as Zeena on the Tao Serpent burst through the hall, gathering up in the center of the room.

"You insignificant... little..." The green Zeti hissed as she glarged down the group, the Tao Serpent's jaws dripping with what could only be hoped was saliva as it loomed over the group. "You break into MY place, steal MY prisoners, and ALL without thinking I would notice?! You sorry scum sucking, no good, little pieces of goddamn shit are going to DIE here, you hear me?! And once I scrape all of your goddamn carcasses off the floor, including that lousy slouching good-for-nothing 'king', THIS ENTIRE WORLD WILL-"

Whatever the entire world was going to become, Zeena's rage speech was rudely interrupted when a gigantic metal snowman head came crashing through the ceiling and crushing her and the Tao Serpent entirely.

"Jeesus... and I thought she'd never shut up. That is not how I act at all." Another voice said, similar to the one they just heard but... less malicious and more... annoyed? Friendly?

"Who's there?!" Hanna growled.

"Hey, there's no need for hostilities." The figure said as the gigantic metal snowman head shrunk, showing the smashed Tao Serpent and the crumpled, broken Zeena. Across from the group, on the other side of the casualty, was a green Zeti, her dark green hair tied back into a ponytail, the familiar single curved horn... but this one was apparently wearing a magenta sweater and scarf, along with a beanie... "We're on the same side after all."

"Who... just who are you?!" Corazon said.

"Ah, forgot the formalities, what was I thinking?" The Zeti said, before looking at the group. "I'm Zeena."


TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 11: Grave Matters