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Sonic and Sash: Tides of Chaos 3
Phantom Forces
Intermission 2
Chapter 13: Heart of the Hounds
Things had boiled down to an unbearably slow crawl at the Mobius Resistance Base after the incident at Mystic Jungle; most of the crew were simply looking for something to do while they waited for updates on Zeena's arrival or any new opportunities they could get at striking against the mad doctor's empire expanding but... there was almost nothing in the way of updates. It was almost as if since Milla, Aaron, and Silver did their job of stopping the leveling of the Mystic Jungle, the doctor put all his actions on standby or had just gone fully radio-silent to prevent them from intervening.
Unnerved but still trying to keep up, Amy had already stored in the data about the HBH she had gotten from Neige onto their data backups, knowing fully well they'll come in handy for taking care of them when the time came. Taking a deep breath, she'd turn around and look around at the rest of the resistance group; Knuckles looked like he had something on his mind as he was looking after the Master Emerald, Gemerl was still taking care of Cream's emotional state, the jackals were discussing something with eachother, Tangle and Aaron were having a discussion to eachother, Sven was still tinkering with some of the Badniks retrieved from outside the base...
Wait, where was Milla? She was just here in the base a minute ago... Amy started to grow concerned as she looked around the base. She could have sworn Milla was hear earlier...
"Hey, guys?" Amy asked. "Has anyone seen Milla?"
Tangle would look over to Amy. "I think she went off to meditate or something..." The lemur said, her tail curled around herself. "Try checking the larger pipes, I think there's a small grove nearby she might be at."
Amy nodded. "Alright, thanks Tangle." She said, soon walking off to the pipes, but not before grabbing a bag nearby she had gotten recently when she snuck out of the base. Keeping quiet and sticking to the walls, she slowly made her way through the pipe system until she found one broken down area, leading off the beaten path. Moving quietly down that, she'd soon see that the basset hound had herself sitting cross-legged in the middle of a small set of grass, a bit of light filtering in from a storm drain from above. The hound's chest was lightly rising and falling, her eyes closed as if she was in deep thought, her tail curled around her torso. The small amount of trickling water nearby made the place seem serene to relax at...
Of course, until Amy disturbed her, that is.
"Is everything okay Milla?" The pink hedgehog asked, walking up to the basset hound.
Milla took a deep breath as opened one eye, looking behind her. "Yes?" Milla asked. "What is it?"
"I... wanted to check on you and make sure everything's alright..." Amy said, setting the bag down next to the basset. "I... brought you something that might help you out a bit."
"Hmm?" Milla asked, taking the bag.
"I... took the liberty of getting you a new outfit..." Amy said. "I know you've spent some time in your old one, but... you've basically been wearing it alone for the past six months... maybe it's time for a change?"
"...I'll look at it when I'm done meditating, okay?" Milla spoke, taking a deep breath. Amy merely nodded as she left the grotto, leaving Milla to herself.
...
A few minutes later, the basset hound was looking herself over in the mirror in the grotto wearing her new apparel she was gotten: black form-fitting compression shorts with emerald green trim along with a matching sports bra and short covers that went under her bracelet inhibitor rings and anklet inhibitor rings. She'd stare at the reflection of her slender figure in the mirror; she had grown a lot ever since her first adventure with Sash and Carol. Her frame became more toned, a small amount of muscle starting to build from her training, her figure becoming a bit more curvy and alluring. Turning to look at her backside, setting a hand on her hip, she'd see how much thicker her tail has become over the years...
She sighed, shaking her head; the glory days of being an Avalice mercenary were behind her now. Now was a time of toil and survival; a time of saving their worlds... even if it meant she was potentially the only surviving member of AvaMerc left. She sighed, gripping her fists as she tried to prevent the tears from falling.
She'd do this for everyone.
For Carol.
...for Sash.
Walking back out to the main base room, she'd see Sven tinkering with the Badniks again, probably trying to get another one set up for RC control. Feeling up to conversation a bit, she'd walk over to see what he was doing.
"So... whatcha up to?" Milla asked, walking over and leaning next to Sven.
"O-oh!" Sven said, startled by the sudden appearance of the female hound. "I-I was doing some modifications to this Motobug..." He was blushing as Milla seemed to lean next to him, looking in on his work.
"You making this one a recon robot too like Saffron?" Milla asked, her tail swishing slowly.
"Y-yeah..." Sven said, feeling Milla's tail brush against his. Seems like he was really starting to get flustered with Milla's presence, desperately trying to hold in his howls...
"A Motobug would seem a bit limited though..." Milla spoke, leaning over to check the Motobug frame he was working on. "Eggman usually has these things with low-power motors so they can only be scouts in numbers..."
"W-well, that's w-why I'm..." Sven was having a hard time focusing with Milla in his way, essentially wearing nothing but a sports bra and compression shorts...
Eventually, he couldn't hold it in any longer; Sven let out what was probably the most adorable howl possible before clamping his hands over his mouth, blushing embarrassingly as his eyes were wide. Milla stared at him in confusion as his tail frantically thrashed from under him.
"Why'd you stop?" Milla asked.
Sven was confused. "Wh-what?" He said, moving his hands away.
"That howl was adorable..." Milla spoke.
Sven blushed. "T-thanks..." Sven said, leaning forward back to the Motobug. "I'm wanting to get multiple scout robots set up so that way Eggman can't keep track of all of them should one of them can be detected."
"What other models are you planning on using?" Milla asked, picking up what appeared to be a Crabmeat from under the table. "Not sure how much use you'd get out of this one to be honest."
"You'd be surprised." Sven said, still tinkering with the Motobug. "A Crabmeat unit could give the option for low-laying reconnaissance, and its craw firepower could seriously help defend itself in a tight situation."
"Huh..." Milla said, setting the Crabmeat back down. "Interesting..."
"I'm also thinking of using an Egg Pawn for one of the 'internal spies', but..." Sven said. "Those ones may be a bit harder to work with due to their more advanced designs compared to the more animal-based Badniks..."
"Hmmh." Milla said, her tail swishing slowly as she watched over what Sven did. "...I never did thank you properly."
"Huh?" Sven said, stopping and looking over at Milla. "What do you mean?"
"For saving me all that while back." Milla said. "Back on the Death Egg."
"O-oh, that?" Sven said. "I-it's nothing, really... Just doing what was right..."
"I appreciate that though..." Milla said. "Amy told me the entire part where you and Aaron came to the Death Egg itself was unintentional... but I really appreciate that I wasn't forgotten..."
Sven blushed. "H-heh... thanks." He said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Really though," Milla said, leaning next to him. "Thank you, truly... you saved my life back there."
"I-it's nothing, real-"
Sven was interrupted as Milla placed a light peck on his cheek.
"Wh-wh..." Sven started before Milla interrupted.
"What, a girl can't show her thanks?" She said, winking at him.
"Alright everyone, heads up!" Amy called from the front area. "We're gonna have Zeena coming through any second now! Everyone look alive and give her an acceptable greeting!" Nearly all of the group would get ready as the Zeti came through the portal, holding the container with the small Phantom Ruby prototype.
"Alright Zeena, welcome to the Mobius Resistance." Knuckles said. "So, you got the goods?"
Zeena would hand the container to him. "Here's the rock, like you guys wanted."
"Hmmm..." Knuckles said, looking over the gem. "Doesn't seem to look like much..." He'd comment, unaware of the Master Emerald starting to pulsate energy behind him.
"Uhhh, Knucky?" Rouge said, pointing to the large green gem. "Is the Master Emerald supposed to be doing that?"
"Wuh?" Knuckles said, before the Master Emerald soon zapped the small gemstone out of his hand and across the room... right in front of Milla.
"...okay! Duly noted." Milla spoke, picking up the small Ruby. "It apparently really doesn't like Chaos Energy..."
She didn't notice the Ruby prototype was starting to glow in her hand... but Finn did, and quickly grabbed the gemstone away from her.
"Hey!" Milla said, stumbling backwards a bit. "What was that for?!"
"Did you not see the stone activating in your grasp?" Finn growled, indicating to the gemstone as its light was dying again.
"What?" Milla asked.
"This thing was activated in your grasp." Finn growled, pointing at Milla. "Much like that damn creature that the fat bastard has been sending after us!"
"Are you accusing me of something?" Milla growled back, starting to grow agitated.
"How do we know he didn't use your DNA with that damn stone to create that monstrocity?!" Finn yelled at Milla, which now was starting to cause some unneeded tension in the group.
"Boss, please, calm down!" Feivel said, trying to hold Finn back. "We can't let rage be gettin' at us in a time like this!"
"Feivel is right." Fiora said. "Finn, this group needs leadership. Anger is only going to lead this resistance to ruin."
Finn grit his teeth as he tossed the gem to Amy. "Whatever..." He angrily muttered. "Jackals, we have something to discuss." The jackal squad would move a bit away from the others as Amy put the ruby in the console.
"Either way..." Amy said, placing the gem into the console. "We'll be able to study this thing easier now that we have an actual copy... oh no..."
Milla tensed up. "What's going on?"
"We've got a code yellow." Amy said, grabbing her hammer. "Eggman's forces are swarming back into Station Square's Star Light Zone district. Loads of Artificial Chaos... and Chaos 2's right at the head of the attack."
"And you're going out by yourself?" Milla asked.
Amy shook her head, looking to two of the others. "Cream, Gemerl, Aaron, Tangle." She said, looking to the four. "You're with me."
"W-wait..." Cream said. "What about the Chaotix?"
"I've already sent out contacts to them to help out with the evacuating." Amy said. "We don't have much time though; we need to get moving or otherwise we're losing that Zone."
Tangle nodded, cracking her knuckles. "About damn time we get some action! Let's crack 'em wide open!"
Aaron nodded in response, his fists igniting. "Let's kick some metal ass."
And with that, the group of five left the base through the sewer system to head straight for the Star Light Zone...
With tensions rising in the Mobius Resistance HQ, Zeena arrives with the Phantom Ruby prototype. But with it's severe reaction to both the Master Emerald and Milla, what exactly does it mean for the already fragile Resistance? With the attack on Star Light underway, stay tuned for its fate in Chapter 14: "War on Park Avenue"...
