...
Sonic and Sash: Tides of Chaos 3
Phantom Forces
Act 2
Chapter 12: A Tea's Promise
Sparks were occasionally flying a bit from the panel as the neon-green furred wildcat was busy working away at the panel itself, her goggles snuggly down over her eyes to protect them as her ears laid back against her head, the right one occasionally twitching. The feline was busily working away as she was modifying the wires together and rewiring to other slots as she soon took her handheld blowtorch and continued to weld and put the wires into new positions.
"Now let's see..." Corazon said, soon reaching into her bag and pulling out what appeared to be a small microchip. "One jammer coming up..." She said, soon hooking the chip into the mainframe board and welding it into place on it. At this point she didn't even notice the cyan-colored dragon coming up behind her.
"So, how is it coming?" Merga asked, causing Cory to jump in shock from not expecting the dragon to be there. She dropped the torch to the ground, which soon caught a nearby crate on fire.
"Shit!" Merga breathed before her scaled changed to a darker blue color a she inhaled, soon releasing a large volume of water from her mouth as the fire was extinguished, the smoke soon lightly curling upwards.
Cory sighed in relief before looking to Merga. "Don't sneak up on me like that! Especially when I'm trying to focus into my work!"
"Sorry..." Merga merely responded, sweatdropping. "I was just doing as Natalya requested and was meaning to observe you about your task of installing that counter-jammer."
"Well, I'm done with this one..." Cory said, getting up. "Though it looks like with how old the mainframe wiring is in this place I'll have to hit up several other places in here in order to have it working 100%."
"Ah, very well then." Merga said, turning to leave. "I suppose I'll just meet you at the next one then-"
"Actually..." Cory said, setting a hand on Merga's shoulder. "You mind if I walk with you and we talk a bit? I... need to discuss with someone about something..."
"...alright then." Merga said as the two started walking down the other corridor towards the next circuitboard. "So... what is it you want to chat about?"
"..." Cory was silent a bit before she finally spoke. "...I want you to be honest with me."
"Huh?" Merga asked.
"Was I really... that bad of a person when I still had my memories?" The wildcat asked, looking at her. "Did I... really do all that?"
"..." Merga soon found herself in a rather uncomfortable spot to answer the question posed by Corazon. What should she answer? Should she be truthful and tell her what she was like back during that incident? Or should she lie and try to keep the wildcat ignorant about her past she didn't remember until the entire war was over and there wouldn't be the possibility of a betrayal?
Merga internally sighed; lying to Corazon wasn't going to get either of them anywhere. She had to tell her the truth.
"Merga?" Cory asked.
"...yes." She spoke.
Corazon fell silent, her ears drooping as she stared ahead somberly. "Then... I really did do all those things to Sonic and Sash..."
"Look at this way." Merga spoke. "You're doing a good thing."
"I know, but..." Cory spoke. "I just get these... these pangs of regret inside me. Like, I shouldn't even be alive right now, right? From what I found out while I was here, I was basically set up for execution after I was caught, even though my memories were scrambled. But... both Sash and Carol stepped in and stopped it."
"Ah, yes, I remember hear-"
"Why?"
Merga fell silent. "Pardon?"
"I mean... why waste time with sparing me?" Cory asked. "After everything I had did... all the unforgivable, disgusting shit I did to them... and tried to inflict a planet-wide genocide... how could they forgive me? And... why?"
"...Corazon." Merga spoke. "There was a time where I had asked myself the same question. Asked myself as to why I was still alive even after what I did was inexcusable. That I should be dead for what I had done... but Sash taught me that there's still reason to live. That there are still people that care for me in this world, even if I hadn't met them yet... and I think that's the reason why Carol would have wanted you to be spared."
"But... at this point I'd be a disgrace to the family name." Corazon said, her ears drooping. "And who even knows where Carol is at this point... she could be dead because of me..."
"...I've never been the best with motivational talk..." Merga spoke. "But what's important is that you keep moving on, for her sake. Even if she may be dead, she wouldn't want you to give up either."
"That doesn't excuse my actions." Cory spoke.
"You can continue to regret your past actions, or you can pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get a grip on your life." Merga answered. "Carol wouldn't want to see you like this."
"..."
"We should move now; those jammers still need installed." Merga said, walking forward. Corazon remained silent, her tail drooped before she followed after the dragoness.
"Maybe someday I could atone for what I've done..." Cory spoke to herself.
Meanwhile, in the scorched forest of Dragon Valley, a familiar small ragtag group was currently making its way across the charred vegetation of the valley. The green wildcat's ears drooped at the sight of the place.
"He's... really not taking any chances..." Carol muttered, glancing around at the desolate wastes around the group's position. "He's really wanting to destroy all of this..."
"This warlord your timeline has seems rather brutal..." Coral spoke from her Mech-Cycle, Cyclone and Classic riding on the back. "Has he done something like this before?"
"He hasn't flown this far off the hinges..." Tails spoke from the back of Carol's Mech-Cycle. "He's tried world conquest, sure, but... not world destruction..."
"...I don't even understand... why would he torch a valley like this?" Cyclone spoke.
"It's probably a setup for his next building project..." Tails spoke. "Chances are he's probably wanting to clear out all the vegetation here before he starts terraforming the entire place for a Badnik factory or something similar..."
Classic would look angry at the burnt surroundings before the Omega spoke.
"WARNING: HIGH ENERGY OUTPUTS DETECTED WITHIN THE VICINITY!" Omega droned, keeping up with the two Mech-Cycles themselves. "SUBSTANCE APPEARS TO HAVE SIMILAR TRAITS TO SPACIAL DISTORTION!"
"!" Classic breathed, before he leaped off the Mech-Cycle and dashed off ahead, leaving the rest of the group in the dust.
"Classic, no!" Cyclone yelled before leaping off and taking after the blue hedgehog.
"Oooooh, this ain't good." Tails said. "Think we can catch up to them?"
"I'll see if I... can..." Carol said, her voice trailing off as she soon saw a large magenta comet-like streak whiz past in the sky above them... heading straight for where the two small ones ran off to.
"Oh no..." Carol breathed, soon kicking the cycle into high gear as it blasted off after the hedgehog and dragon, Coral and Omega not far behind...
Sparks flew once again as the soddering iron soon made quick work of applying the proper chips to the circuit board, the last one needed to fire up the jammer signal. Soon clamping the entire panel back shut, Corazon sighed and stoop up, moving her goggles up from her eyes. She stepped back looking at her handiwork for a bit before taking her handheld out of her pocket, soon firing it up and moving to the activation app.
"Alright, everything's in place..." Cory said, looking at the app. "Just gotta fire this up and..." A small whirling sound would come from the panel as the handheld soon read as [STABLE].
"Excellent!" Cory said, soon pocketing her handheld again. "The jammer's up and running, we should be able to be radio-silent from the empire for now..."
At that point an announcement came over the intercom, Natalya being the one speaking. "Merga, Corazon, report to the main office at once. I repeat, report to the main office at once."
Cory took a deep sigh as she soon stepped out of the room that had the panel, back into the hallway. "Let's just hope that this is going to be simple enough..."
Within a few minutes the wildcat had arrived to the central office along with the cyan-scaled dragon, facing across from the Head Scarf herself. The dragoness seemed tense as she soon turned to face the two.
"Very well, I see you two were able to make it." Natalya spoke, looking at Corazon. "I presume the entire jamming mechanism is up and running?"
"She's firing on all cylinders, Head Scarf." Corazon spoke. "They definitely won't be able to track us now with it set up."
"Good." Natalya said. "Now, since two of my highest ranking Scarves are currently in a mission out to unknown parts, I'll need you two to handle the situation that's arisen instead."
"And what appears to be the situation, Head Scarf?" Merga asked out of respect.
Natalya would pull up the map of Avalice, soon indicating to the several red marked areas south of the kingdoms. "We've got several readings of spacial distortion coming from the lower Dragon Valley areas of Avalice. I need you two to head out there to investigate; this could be very important."
"Any precautions you should have us know about the area?" Corazon asked. "Like, any terrain hazards we should be aware about?"
"The recent incidents that have ravaged the area may have made the terrain unstable; there could be collapsing ledges and sharp rubble strewn across the entire area meaning it's extremely hazardous. It's best that you two proceed with caution; this could be playing with fire as to what we're dealing with."
Corazon nodded, keeping ahold of the Chaos Emerald. "And what about this?" She asked. "I was gonna leave it here so it gets to the Mobius base, but-"
"You're thinking that this energy signal might be a way in order to restore the Emerald's power?" Natalya asked.
"It just might be the ticket we need to start turning the tides of this war in our favor." Corazon said, looking to Merga. "After all, Merga would know about them, right?"
"Wh-what?" Merga asked.
"Hey, you were the one who told me the Emeralds were important." Corazon answered back.
Natalya sighed, pinching her forehead. "Look, I don't care who knows what, I just need reports, understood? This could be a threat to our entire resistance."
Corazon smirked. "Hey, don't worry. Merga and I have got this in the bag."
"For your sake I better hope you do." Natalya sighed, frustrated. "Dismissed."
With the wildcat and the dragon leaving the room, soon enough Zeena entered into the room. "Alright, so, the teleporter ready for me to head out?"
"Yes." Natalya said. "Go ahead and head over to the base with that stone we recovered and see what that thing is all about."
"Alright." Zeena said. "And hey."
"Yeah?"
"I... really appreciate the help for all this." Zeena said before she left the room.
With the rocks crumbling from beneath the blue hedgehog's feet, Classic kept the speed up as he zipped across the crumbling cliffs of the now desolate Dragon Valley, soon leaping and smashing through a burnt wall of one of the small pagodas, it shattering on impact as the hedgehog rolled across the ground before rerightening to his feet, keeping pace. Not far behind him, Cyclone would land, shaking a bit from the impact with the ground as soon she took after the hedgehog.
"Dammit Classic, slow down!" She angrily muttered to herself as she kept after the hedgehog. She was already worried enough that he was going ahead with throwing caution to the wind, she didn't need Classic getting himself killed here and now!
With the hedgehog not listening to her, she only had one last option, and she wasn't liking it; she'd have to maneuver a takedown on him.
Looking for a route to get ahead of him, she soon curled into a Dragon Boost and smashed through the rock wall into a tunnel below, spiraling downwards until she burst through the other side, the rocks flying to the wayside as she continued her route through the charred valley.
The rest of the group, meanwhile, were still keeping tabs on where the two were headed, and Coral immediately had concerns.
"They're headed straight for Rage Ravine!" The wildcat said as she checked the scanner. "Oh no, they're going to be in serious trouble if they head there!"
"Wait, why's that?" Tails asked.
"Rage Ravine is one of the most dangerous places in the lower regions of Avalice for its unstable terrain!" Carol said. "The only ones I can remember being able to survive and actually live there are Hanna and Rob, and even then, who knows how worse it's gotten from the attacks on both the worlds!"
Tails was already starting to get concerned enough from that alone, but then Omega's update made it worse.
"IT APPEARS THE ENERGY SIGNALS OF SPACIAL DISTORTION ARE MATCHING THOSE OF THE HOUND." Omega droned. "IT WOULD BE ADVISABLE TO-"
Tails slammed on the gas as Carol's Mech-Cycle rocketed forward after the two small ones.
...
With the dragon soon bursting out of the ground, she'd initiate a tackle that brought Classic down to the ground and the two of them to roll a bit before skidding along the ground, Cyclone on top and pinning Classic on the ground so they were staring face to face.
"You can't just run off like that!" Cyclone angrily said. "You could have very easily gotten yourself killed out there if you keep running face first into danger like that! What if one of that madman's mechs had shown up? Huh? What then?"
Classic struggled to get out from underneath the dragon's firm grip, but that only caused her to keep him firmly pinned down.
"NO!" She yelled right in his face. "What did I say back in Green Hill? We need to work as a team on this! You can't just be running ahead head-first into danger! This isn't a game! There are real lives at stake here!"
Classic would finally shove Cyclone off of him as he got up and dusted himself off before crossing his arms, staring angrily at the dragon girl, sticking his tongue out at her.
Cyclone started to seriously get annoyed at this. "You seriously don't get it do you?! Being a cocky dickcheese isn't going to solve every one of your problems! GHHHHHHH!" She gripped her head in anger as she started stomping away from Classic. "You are SUCH a stubborn idiot!"
Classic would look away from her, angry... before he then saw the large magenta energy blast heading straight for her. Panicking, Classic would rev up a Spindash and slam into Cyclone's back, throwing her out of the way of the energy blast before it collided with him, throwing him to the ground and paralyzing him in the magenta coating of energy.
"Aggghh..." Cyclone said, before whipping around. "What the hell was that..." She started yelling, but soon her voice trailed off when she realized Classic wasn't moving. "C-Classic?"
The dark chuckling from nearby soon confirmed something was dreadingly wrong as the large hound soon descended from above the hedgehog, his tail swishing slowly behind him as the ruby in his chest pulsated with its almost hypnotic glow.
"You..." Cyclone said, fear starting to spike in her chest.
"Well... not who I was aiming for..." Infinite said, soon lifting Classic into the air with his mind. "However... I can make this work."
"Put him down!" Cyclone yelled, her tendrils whipping angrily.
"And why would I do that?" The hound said, looking down at the dragon girl. "I haven't come all this way out here for destroying the prototypes to have some sort pests come and ruin it, especially not a younger version of the one I loathe so much."
Cyclone gripped her fists tightly, but inside her heart was beating faster and faster.
"You're filled with fear, aren't you?" The hound said. "As I thought. Underneath all that bravado and all that bad attitude, you're nothing more than just a small scared little girl."
"I'm not scared of-"
"You are." The hound said. "Don't attempt to even lie to yourself. Even with your bravado, you know you can't even match a fraction of my power. Even now, your frame is trembling in fear, knowing that this ravine will be your tomb."
Cyclone froze when he said 'ravine'. No... he couldn't possibly mean they were there... could he? Her eyes darted across the area, but her fears were coming true...
She had followed Classic so far off course that they had ended up in Rage Ravine.
"No... no..." Cyclone said, her spirit starting to break as she dropped to her knees.
"And this..." Infinite spoke, soon forming a large magenta energy sphere in his hand. "...is where you die." With that, the hound threw the energy orb right at the dragon at near-blinding speed...
Or it would have, if it hadn't then been launched right back at Infinite and smashed him straight in the chest, causing him pain and to drop the blue unconscious hedgehog. Cyclone gasped and tried to rush to grab her spiny friend, but then a green blur had rushed by and grabbed the hedgehog, rolling into a green furball before it uncurled to show the green feline with dual gunblades, cradling the hedgehog close in her arms.
"Phew!" The wildcat sighed. "That was way too close for comfort."
"You're telling me..." The grey-scaled dragon said, her scales shifting back to cyan, a noticeable burning scar on her tail. "We almost risked losing these two."
"W-wait..." Cyclone said, looking at the wildcat. "C-Cory?! I thought you were exiled from the Scarves!"
The wildcat merely winked and stuck out her tongue. "C'mon! You really think the end of the world is gonna kill me off?"
"That isn't our concern right now Corazon!" Merga spoke. "Get the hedgehog to safety!"
The green wildcat nodded before she took off with Classic in her arms, leaving Merga and Cyclone alone with Infinite. Hands clenched tightly, Cyclone would stare down the hound, a newfound courage starting to burn in her heart.
"Ah... so there's more insubordination within this world..." Infinite said, staring the two down as several red cubes started to form in the air around him. "And from the failed project no less... hmph. No matter. I'm going to enjoy taking you apart..."
Merga took up a defensive combat stance, getting the bo staff off of her back and wielding it to defend with her life. "I have no fear for you. You may do your worst, but I will not give you the satisfaction of being afraid."
Infinite merely chuckled darkly. "I know you won't..." He said, pointing to the small draconic girl. "But she will."
Cyclone had barely let out a gasp before a strong psychic source threw her to the side away from Merga. She let out a pained gasp as she collided with the rock wall and fell to the ground.
"Young Sash!" Merga said, instinctively leaping for the dragon girl, however soon a massive clear red barrier constructed itself between the two, causing Merga to collide with it and be thrown back. "Ghhh!"
"Now... where's the fun in that?" Infinite spoke in a taunting manner as red cubes started to form in a swirl-like pillar inside the arena where Cyclone was now in. "I'll have her deal with her own little fight... you, on the other hand, are saved for me."
Merga grit her teeth, her fists clenching tightly to her staff, glaring down the hound. "You will pay dearly for this."
Cyclone would start to lean up from her pained throw into the wall, weakly opening one of her eyes as she saw the red spiraling cube pillar in front of her forming into a figure... a figure several feet taller than her...
The figure was hulking, the bronze-colored armor reflecting off the low sunlight in the ravine, covering the green skin of the figure's build. The one green cold hand was gripped tightly to a serrated blade, dripping with a burning emerald colored acid... The figure was staring down at the dragon with its burning eyes of hatred, and those eyebrows...
Brevon.
The figure stared down at the dragon girl with a toothy grimace as slowly stepped forward, Cyclone starting to scamper backwards into a defensive position. Cornered like an animal, she only had two options out of this.
Fight.
Or die.
Without another word spoken, the eyebrowed figure would dash forward, knife at the ready for a lateral slash. Cyclone tensed up before parrying the slash with her tendrils in a cyclone maneuver, though the acid burned at her skin and hurt like hell. Brevon would leap back into the air before dispersing a set of mines onto the ground around the dragon girl. Cyclone would leap back as the mines exploded, but then felt a searing pain permeate her body as a shot from a plasma blaster collided with her right shoulder. Gripping the burn wound in pain in hopes the heat would clot the veins, she soon felt her throat grabbed as she was thrown into the air by the alien warlord before feeling a sharp cracking blow into her back as she slammed straight into the ground, pinned under by the figure's boots.
Cyclone would struggle to lift herself up from under the Warlord's boots, but soon she felt pressure applied to her back as she wailed in pain, gripping her fists tightly. Feeling the rage bubbling up in her chest, the crystals in her headset would activate as she soon burst out from under the figure at a burst of speed even stronger than her previous Dragon Boosts, throwing the figure off of her and onto the ground. Skidding to a halt before colliding with the side barrier, she'd be in shock from what she had just done, feeling her headset and the now dull crystals...
'D-did I just...?!' Cyclone internally thought to herself as she could feel her body shaking inside from the excess crystal energy. 'Th-that was...!'
She didn't have time to process what had just happened as she was soon clocked across the face from Brevon's fist.
Merga, meanwhile, was losing ground fast on fighting Infinite. Nearly every attack she was throwing at him so far was just being brushed aside like it was nothing, every bo strike parried, and every elemental attack merely brushed off like it wasn't even there. She attempted just a head-on rush to even try to get him to flinch before he merely just delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of her and sent her sprawling into the barrier, causing her to hit the ground hard. Gritting her teeth, she'd struggle to get up as Infinite came in for a charging tackle, slamming right into her gut and knocking the wind out of her. Groaning, she'd attempt to get up before the hound would press his boot squarely into the center of her chest, holding a red Phantom Cube in his hand directed right at her face, intending to blow it off.
"Well... I would say it was a valiant attempt from the ultimate dragon such as yourself..." Infinite spoke, as the cube started to pulsate, almost ready to be fired. "But that, as they say, would be a lie."
Merga would attempt to struggle as she tried to get out from under the hound's foot, but she was rapidly losing time. Reaching for a last resort, Merga would swing her bo staff in an upwards arc as it collided directly with Infinite's mask, throwing the hound off guard and causing him to stagger back as the cube burst just barely next to Merga's head. The dragon would roll away from the attack as she rerightened herself, taking up a defensive position as the hound growled, glaring daggers down at the dragoness.
"Clever girl..." Infinite growled, summoning more cubes. "But not clever enough!"
Merga growled, gripping tightly to her staff as she soon rushed at Infinite...
After getting away a bit from the center of combat, in a sector clearing of trees, the feline soon set down on the ground, laying the hedgehog down in front of her. "Alright, don't worry little spiky one, I gotcha safe now..." She said, checking his pulse from his neck. "Ah, good... he's still alive... I just gotta get him healed up." Digging into her pack, she'd get out a small satchel of Life Petals as well as a small juicer and a syringe. Grabbing the satchel, she'd pour out a handful of petals into her hand as she measured out the amount exactly before putting them into the juicer. Turning it on and grinding up the Life Petals, she kept track of how long she was blending them for before she stopped, leaving the petals as a sparkling liquidy mix. Then taking the syringe, she'd fill it with the liquid Life Petals before lightly inserting it into the hedgehog's arm. The unconscious hedgehog would twinge a bit, but would soon relax as Corazon pushed the contents of the syringe into his system, the juices of the Life Petals working its way into his bloodstream.
"There we go..." Corazon said, lightly ejecting the syringe from his arm. "Should be any second now..."
Soon enough the hedgehog would sit up, shaking his head as he held it in pain, a dazed look in his eyes.
"Ah, good! The Life Petals are working." Corazon said, putting her hands together. "How are ya feeling?"
Classic would merely raise and shake his hand.
"So-so, huh?" Cory said. "I wouldn't blame ya. You really took that hit from that hound like a champ."
As soon as Cory had said hound, Classic looked around before panicking, clearly worried about Cyclone.
"Woah, hey hey, calm down!" Cory said, raising her hands. "She's fine, don't worry! Merga's making sure she's safe right now, I swear! I just got you away from the action because of the damage you took."
Classic started to rush off towards where the battle was taking place, but then Cory grabbed his arm and kept him running in place as he kicked up a ton of dust.
"Woah there -cough- little guy!" Cory spoke, coughing a bit from the dust. "You can't just go running back there head first! You're gonna get yourself killed if ya do that!"
Classic kept squirming as he tried to run towards the battle area, but the dust just seemed to attract something else...
"DUST SIGNATURES HAVE BEEN DETECTED AS THE SIGNATURE OF CLASSIC; WE ARE CLOSING IN ON THEM." A robotic voice droned as soon a large hulking crimson robot and a mint wildcat on a mech-cycle soon appeared on the scene, skidding to a halt. The mint wildcat would be taken aback by who she saw.
"C-Corazon?!" She said, surprised to see the wildcat out here of all places.
Corazon was about to react back, but then she was drawing a blank. "Uhhh... do I know you?"
"...you serious?" Coral said, confused. "You seriously don't remember your own sister?"
Corazon would stop, thinking for a bit as Classic scampered over to Omega's side. Then it hit her like a lightbulb.
"Oh, right! Coral!" Cory said, but then instantly got confused. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be dead though?"
Coral would sigh. "Long story." She said. "Either way, what are you doing with Classic here? You trying to take him out or something?"
"Hey, I saved his life!" Cory shot back. "If I hadn't intervened and saved him from that hound, he-"
"Hound?!" Coral interrupted. "Infinite's here?!"
"Who?" Cory had asked, confused as to who Coral was meaning. "I mean, Merga and I ran into that hound guy earlier before she had me get the little spiky blue guy to safety, but-"
"We don't have time!" Coral said, pulling Corazon onto the bike. "Which way are they?"
"Off in that direction!" Cory said as the bike took off towards the battle. Omega would pick up the small hedgehog and placed him on his head as soon the robot took off after the two wildcats...
"Ghhhh!" Cyclone grunted as she was slammed against the barrier of the battlefield, Brevon's grip tightening around her throat as the knife glistened, as if it was hungry for her flesh. Feeling the want for survival rising in her chest, she soon bit down on the hand grabbing her throat, causing Brevon to drop her entirely as she then Dragon Boosted through his legs, knocking him down under his own weight. Skidding to a halt, she then redirected her own center of mass to perform an axel flip upwards and deliver a smashing blow with her boots right into the small of the alien warlord's back. Throwing her off, Brevon growled in rage before he lunged right for the dragon girl, knife poised for a kill. Cyclone initiated another Dragon Boost charge as she started to glow cyan...
Brevon didn't even react before the Super Dragon Boost tore right through his center chest cavity.
The dragon girl skidded to a halt as the figure of Brevon collapsed to the ground, soon flickering out of existence much like Zavok did from the Death Egg. And with his destruction, the barrier containing Cyclone had shattered, setting the dragon girl free. Upon getting herself free, she'd make a dash straight for Infinite and unfurl a Dragon Boost straight into his side while he was distracted with Merga.
The hound growled in frustration as he turned to face the young dragon girl. "So, you managed to survive the faux Brevon..." He growled, forming a Phantom Arm as he grabbed the young dragon girl, gripping tightly to her frame. "Impressive, considering one of your lack of skill. That, however, is your downfall."
"No, it'll be YOUR DOWNFALL!" A voice yelled as soon a wildcat attached to a mechanical scythe slashed straight through the Phantom Arm, a look of rage flashing in her eyes. She'd soon skid across the ground as she rightened herself, her scythe wielded in a position with an intent to kill.
Cyclone would land right next to the wildcat. "I appreciate the assistance Wildclaw." Cyclone said.
Carol smirked. "God, haven't heard that name ever since the Scarves." She'd turn her attention back to the hound. "And now you'll get yours!"
"Ghhh... I've wasted enough time here..." Infinite said, cubes forming around him. "The next time we meet, your end will be at hand!" And with that, the hound disappeared in a shower of red sparkles...
Carol slumped her shoulders and sighed in relief. "Well, that went better than I expected..."
"I'm thankful you showed up when you did." Cyclone said. "Otherwise... well, I might not be here right now."
"Hey, what can I say?" Carol said, kneeling down to Cyclone's height. "Even if I'm not the Carol you know, we're still a team here. And more importantly, we're still friends; one that I made a promise to."
Cyclone nodded. "I remember the one I made to my Carol..."
"That we would stick together, even until the bitter end." They both said in unison as Tails soon came rushing in on the scene to Merga's side.
"Merga, are you alright?" Tails asked, showing concern for the dragon.
"I'll be fine, Tails..." Merga spoke. "I'm happy to see that you and Carol managed to survive this ordeal..."
Tails nodded. "It wasn't easy with what we were doing, but..."
"I must ask though..." Merga spoke. "What happened to Sash and Sonic? They seem... younger than when we last saw them."
"Ah, that..." Tails said, looking over at Cyclone interacting with Carol. "It's... a long story..."
"Aw, DAMMIT!" Another voice said as the two wildcats and Omega with Classic arrived on scene. Turns out it was Cory that had said that. "We missed all the action!"
Both Tails and Carol froze up upon hearing that voice. "CORAZON!" They both yelled.
"Hey hey, hold up!" Cory said, holding her hands up. "I'm on your side guys! I'm serious!"
Tails and Carol stopped, confused. "What?"
"...So you seriously can't remember a thing?" Carol asked.
Cory shook her head. "I'm slowly regaining my thoughts of what happened over time, but a good chunk of it's still a major blank." She spoke. "Either way, what have you two been up to? Everyone's been in a panic ever since you guys disappeared..."
"Oh..." Carol said, her ears drooping. "Well, we were looking for a way to get our Sash and Sonic back, but..." She said, looking to Classic and Cyclone. "These two are our only shots we've got right now."
"Is this why you've been so radio-silent about your whereabouts?" Merga asked.
Tails nodded in response. "We've got no choice at this point; and if we're gonna succeed, we're gonna need to find the rest of the Chaos Emeralds so-"
"Wait, you said Chaos Emeralds?" Cory asked.
"UNLESS YOU ARE DEAF, YES, THAT IS WHAT HE SAID." Omega said as Cory reached into her bag and pulled out the corrupted lavender gemstone.
"You wouldn't happen to mean this, would you?" Cory asked.
Tails and Carol's jaws dropped. "You've got one?!" They both exclaimed simultaneously.
"From some scrapped tin cans treading on my turf at Pangu Lagoon." Cory said, tossing the gem to herself. "Was lucky I grabbed it when I did; otherwise I wouldn't have met up with Merga and learned about them a fair amount."
Merga nodded. "We were hoping we would eventually going to run into Sonic and Sash to deliver the Emerald ourselves, but..." Her face fell a bit. "After hearing what you've told us, that's not a possibility, is it?"
Tails sadly shook his head. "Until we find a way to bring back our Sonic and Sash... Classic and Cyclone are the only options we have of standing against Infinite."
"Well then," Cory said, tossing the Chaos Emerald to Carol, who caught it in her hand. "Better take this with ya sis; you're definitely gonna need it more than I will."
"What about you guys though?" Carol said.
"We'll have to get back to Natalya." Merga said. "She sent us out here for investigation to begin with, so we best report back to her. "
Tails nodded. "Put in a good word for us, could you?" He asked.
Cory nodded. "No prob li'l foxy! We'll make sure Head Scarf's all caught up on the situation."
Carol nodded. "Thanks... sis." She said, finally smiling for the first time at Cory. The wildcat returned the smile as she and Merga then took back off for Shang Mu.
"IF YOU ARE NOT TO BUSY WITH SENTIMENTAL REUNIONS," Omega said, his eyes flashing a bit. "MY SENSORS HAVE PICKED UP A NEW DISTURBANCE OF SPACIAL FLUCTUATIONS BACK ON MOBIUS."
"What?!" Both Tails and Carol exclaimed.
"We might be onto something big here if we keep following these signals..." Coral said. "So, where we picking it up from?"
"THE SOURCE SEEMS TO BE IDENTIFIED AT THE EPICENTER OF THE MYSTIC JUNGLE." Omega said.
"Mystic Jungle..." Tails thought, before he froze. "Th-that's on South Island!"
"Well what're we waiting for?!" Carol said. "Let's get moving before Egghead gets to that source first!"
The group nodded before taking off for Mobius...
With two of the seven Chaos Emerald now within the grasp of the rag-tag AvaMerc, things are definitely now looking up as they made a meeting with an old friend and new ally. However, with the road ahead as daunting and intimidating as ever, will the group be able to hold their courage and hope together as the war escalates? And how are things going back at the Mobius Resistance Base? Find out next time in Chapter 13: "Heart of the Hounds"...
