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

Chapter 19: Crisis at Capital City


"Well troops, the stakes have never been higher." Amy stated as the entirety of the Resistance base of Mobius was gathered around the main table of the base. "This is it: this battle is going to determine whether or not we're going to win this war or not."

Tails nodded, stepping up. "According to the stolen information we have, Eggman's forces are planning to fully capture Empire City at precisely 0100 hours to take for more of his empire building land. He already has 70% of the city under their control, and if they succeed, not only will we lose a major supply source for the rest of the troops, but we'll also lose our support from G.U.N. as their main military base is located here. Needless to say, this is our choking point; if we lose this fight, we could be in serious trouble for the road ahead."

"Which is why I've been in charge of our main strategy for this crucial battle of ours." Knuckles said. "I call it, Operation Chicken Choker!"

Nearly everyone burst out laughing in an instant from the operation name.

"Laugh at it if you want, this is almost guaranteed to work!" Knuckles said, soon giving a clap.

"Well what is it, just bum rush in and hope for the best?" Rouge said between her giggles.

"No!" Knuckles yelled. "The way I have the strategy laid out, it's the ultimate pincer attack! We'll almost be guaranteed to win!"

"Explain then, dear Knuckles." Whisper spoke.

Knuckles nodded, soon opening up the map as it focused on several points of interest. "Alright, so we'll need several divisions for this mission in of itself. Myself, Shade, and the Chaotix will be the Earth Division; we'll be handling the main muscle of the along with the main push from the north for the operation itself. If there's any sort of mayday or situation should we need to fall back, our division will announce it."

"Sounds fine to me." Vector commented.

"No qualms here." Espio said.

"I'm ready for 'em!" Charmy said.

"We do this together." Shade answered, before Knuckles continued.

"Tails?"

"Yeah Knuckles?" The kitsune asked.

"You, Carol, Classic, Cyclone, Sven, and Milla are Metal Division." Knuckles said. "Your job is flanking from the west side of the city and pushing his forces towards the center of the city for the final push."

Tails nodded, as well as the rest of the new AvaMerc.

"Jackal Squad?" Knuckles spoke. "You'll be in charge of the final push; once we get them cornered, hold nothing back and turn them all to scrap."

"Hmph, not a problem to me." Finn spoke.

"We'll make sure they all go down." Fiora answered, and the rest of the jackals nodded.

"Next, Amy?"

"What do you have for me Knuckles?" The pink hedgehog asked.

"You, Cream, Gemerl, and Team Dark will be Fire Division." Knuckles spoke. "You'l-"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT." Omega droned. "I REFUSE TO WORK ALONGSIDE EGGMAN TECHNOLOGY."

"Omega, you can't be serious." Shadow groaned.

"BITCH, DOES THIS FACE LOOK UNSERIOUS TO YOU?" Omega countered, pointing directly at his face.

"I dunno, it never changes as far as I can tell." Shadow dryly commented back.

"Can we please not?" Cream asked, stepping inbetween the two. "Mr. Omega, please, Gemerl is not a bad robot!"

"I DON'T TRUST HIM." Omega said. "EVEN IF TAILS HAD MODIFIED HIM, I DO NOT TRUST THAT HE WILL NOT TURN ON US AT ANY GIVEN SECOND."

"Understandable." Gemerl finally spoke, catching the others off guard. "Either way, I can at least hope to attain your trust for this mission; it is a vital component for our success after all."

"ANYWAYS!" Knuckles yelled, catching the attention of the group again. "Fire Division, you're the same as the Metal Division except you'll be going from the east side, understood?"

"Right." Amy spoke as the others nodded.

"Alright, where exactly do I fit into all this?" Zeena asked, placing a hand on her hip as she looked at Knuckles.

"Ah, I was just getting to that." Knuckles spoke. "First things first though, you want good news or bad news?"

Zeena sighed. "Good news, let's just get this over with."

"We've located one of your Zeti friends imprisoned in part of the city."

Zeena almost did a 180 in personality.

"Y-YOU FOUND ONE OF THEM?!" She squealed, almost overjoyed at hearing one of the Zeti were found.

Knuckles nodded. "And that'll lead into what I was going to say. Zeena, you, Tangle, Whisper, and Silver are going to be Water Division. Your mission is to rescue that Zeti trapped in Empire City. I'm uploading the coordinates to Whisper's mask as we speak."

Whisper's mask would let out a small ding as she checked her map coordinates in her mask, soon giving a thumbs-up.

"Alright, and last but not least, the remainder of the group will be Wood Division." Knuckles said. "Now then, let's go over the operation in whole."

Everyone closed in to listen.

"Alright, so to get Operation Chicken Choker started off, Wood Division will pop out of the sewers right here," Knuckles said, indicating at a certain point on the map. and will draw fire to get Eggman's robot forces lured in on the choke point. Once that happens, Fire and Metal Divisions will ambush at the choke point and start trapping them in towards the center of the city. Once they reach Grand Park, Jackal Squad, go to town on them. Meanwhile, security will decrease as Eggman's robots will start hoarding in towards the main action of the war. This will leave open wide spaces for Water Division to get into the unguarded buildings and find that Zeti before its too late. And once the robots are properly cornered, Earth Division comes in and hits the final nail in the coffin, perfectly sealing off Eggman's chances of capping the city." Knuckles said. "Alright, any questions?"

Silence.

"None at all?"

"...I've only got one." Milla asked, as everyone turned their attention to her. "What if... what if he uses one of those Phantom Ruby copies?"

"It'll be impossible for him to." Tails spoke. "The copies of the Phantom Ruby can only create and displace nonliving matter as well as create their attacks, it can't change us entirely."

"How would you know this?" Amy asked.

"The studies of the copies that Milla and Zeena found." Tails spoke. "I ran some tests on them during our down time to work out their properties and the extent of their reality warping powers. It turns out all the copies are doing is just altering and displacing nonliving matter."

"What about the original?" Milla asked.

"That I can't say for sure." Tails spoke. "Since the only original is... well..."

"Point taken." Milla spoke, before she sighed. "I guess that means my worries are moot."

"Well, at least you brought it up Milla." Carol said. "It was good thinking."

Milla nodded.

"Any other questions?" Knuckles asked.

Silence again.

"Alright then! Let's get going!"


The mad doctor sat in his chair at the head of the conference table as the few other figures had stepped into the room, being Heavy King, Infinite, Zavok, and Chaos. Though he knew someone was missing...

"Where is Metal Sonic?" Robotnik asked.

"He's still out waiting at Red Gate Bridge in the Station Square area." Heavy King angrily grumbled. "Personally I don't know why you're having him and that metal dragon waiting out there in the first place."

"Bah, it seems like only Metal Sonic and Infinite have been the only reliable members of my elite Generals thus far." Robotnik growled, tapping his fingers together. "Zavok, your band of misfit freaks has already failed me several times with the escape of several cells' worth of prisoners and the loss of two Chaos Emeralds, not to mention letting one of the actual Zeti escape, useless as her mind powers on my Badniks may be!"

The large red Zeti slammed his fist on the table. "Excuse me, but I believe I'm only responsible for one of those Chaos Emerald losses." Zavok growled.

Robotnik merely shook his head. "The Badnik troop belonging to Zik was takes with moving one of the other Chaos Emeralds before it was stolen and the entire troop scrap-metalled." Robotnik growled. "Heavy King was able to fill me in on the details of that."

Zavok growled, looking across at the large red Eggrobo, who merely rolled his eyes at the red Zeti.

"Don't act so cocky Heavy King." Robotnik spoke. "Need I remind you that your division is also on thin ice with your several incessant failures, including Gunner and Rider's failure to properly identify Resistance members as being dead and extortion of Regime property donuts, Magician's failure to eliminate the half-robot lagomorph, Shinobi's failure to defend the Metropolis Zone generator for Badnik production and failure to inspect for Resistance members on the cargo shipments, and your failures to recover the Chaos Emerald stolen by Corazon, failure to inspect for Resistance members on the cargo shipments, AND letting my Wisp Power escape AND let the Regime's ENTIRE oil supply be violently detonated by one of my own exploding Mega Badniks!"

"THEN WHY THE HELL IS HE STILL A HIGHER RANK THAN MY ZETI GROUP?!" Zavok roared, nearly breaking the table in the process.

"Because I made them." Robotnik spoke. "Your group is not made by my hand."

"Bullshit!" Zavok growled. "Just because they are made by you, they get more benefit of the doubt than my group does?!"

"That's also because I never had much expectations from your pitiful band either." Robotnik spoke, his tone icy. "Especially the failure your group was on the now eliminated Lost Hex."

Zavok growled, slinking back into his chair as Robotnik continued to speak.

"As for you Chaos..." He spoke. "I'm rather disappointed in your performance as well. First your failure to eliminate the other two stragglers of AvaMerc at Station Square's Spring Yard Zone, and then your failure to eliminate two other Resistance Members during our assault on the Star Light Zone of Station Square. Do you have anything to say for yourself in your defense?"

Chaos tilted its head.

"...right, you can't speak." Robotnik growled. "Whatever. Not that it matters, you're sitting this mission out anyways."

Chaos lowered its head, looking down at the table.

"Now then," Robotnik spoke, cracking his knuckles. "I am speaking here to all of you today to discuss an important battle coming up in the Regime's war schedule. In less than 24 hours we will be finalizing the capture and overtaking of Empire City. Metal Milla is already there to help the troops already there try and speed up the capture, however, backup is needed for one final push. And that is where you come in."

"Pray tell, why does one metal bitch need our help when you clearly have more faith in your own inventions?" Zavok growled.

"Because I will need someone to retrieve the Ruby prototype off of her in the off chance she winds up like Metal Tails and Metal Carol." Robotnik growled. "And since you were so kind as to insult my genius work again, your lot will be in charge of retrieving the Ruby should she fall."

"WHAT?!" Zavok roared, slamming his fist on the table. "What bullshit is that?!"

"You brought it up, you take care of it." Robotnik growled. "And any more dissent like that and I will have you personally sent to Null Space like the hedgehog and dragon, understood?"

Zavok grumbled as he sat back down in his chair.

"As for you, Heavy King." The doctor spoke, turning to the large Eggrobo. "Your division is to lead the robot attack on the final capture. Destroy G.U.N.'s headquarters, and the city will be sure to surrender."

"Understood, Lord Robotnik." Heavy King spoke, bowing.

"And finally, Infinite." Robotnik spoke, looking at the masked hound. "If the Resistance gets the upper hand, on my cue, activate the Ruby." He gripped his hand tightly. "Make them regret the day the ever tried to defy me."

Infinite merely nodded. "I assure you, doctor." He spoke. "Should they interfere, the city will fall. And victory will be granted to you."

"Excellent." Robotnik spoke. "At least I have someone i can trust to take charge of the situation..."

Zavok grumbled again.

"Now then, you all have your objectives, now get to work and dispatch before any sort of Resistance can interfere with my directives!"

The others would leave the room... except for Chaos, who was still resting its head on the table.

"...that includes you, Chaos." Robotnik spoke, causing the water blob to leave.

Robotnik sighed, getting up from his chair and walking to the computer console in the room, looking at the map screen... odd, he could have sworn there were three Chaos Emerald blips on the radar...


As the clocked ticked down to the launch of Operation Chicken Choker, tensions were high around the Mobian Resistance force as they flew low under the radar towards Empire City. Aboard Water Division's ship, Whisper was quickly checking in on one of the engines of the ship itself, just making sure they were running smoothly, when her ear twitched. She was hearing something from somewhere on the ship. Pausing her investigation, she would soon follow the sounds she was hearing, soon finding out it was... sobbing? She grew concerned, soon tracing it to...

...Tangle's and her room.

She sighed, opening the door to the room, finding Tangle crying on the bed by herself, slightly shivering from the painful memories. Concerned, Whisper would slowly approach the terrified lemur, slightly reaching a hand out.

"T-Tangle?" Whisper asked, touching the lemur's shoulder.

Tangle froze for a second, then screamed as she leaped away as she cowered. "D-DON'T HURT ME I'M SORRY I SWEAR I'M SORRY!"

"Tangle, please! Calm down!" Whisper said, trying to coax the lemur to calm her nerves. The lemur however would still be shivering and sobbing, quaking from the pain in her memories.

"Shit..." Whisper breathed to herself, before locking the door. She couldn't let the others see Tangle in this state. With it locked now, Whisper would set her Wispon down on one of the cabinets and slip her outer cloak off, hanging it on the nearby coatrack. Taking a deep breath, she slightly sit on the bed before wrapping her arms around the lemur, rubbing small circles on her back. The lemur's shaking would slow down before she returned the hug, wrapping her tail around the two of them.

"I'm sorry..." Tangle sobbed. "I-I'm so sorry..."

"Why?" Whisper spoke.

"I-I nearly killed you..." Tangle choked out. "A-and then... then..." She started sobbing again. "Y-you were right... I'm too stupid and carefree to be in this fucking war!"

Whisper felt a pang of guilt enter her heart. Did... did she cause this to her? Her own friend?

"Why..."

"?" Whisper breathed.

"Why did you save me?"

Whisper's heart felt colder.

"Why didn't you leave me for when that base blew up?"

"Stop."

"Wh-wha-"

"Stop... please." Whisper spoke, hugging Tangle tighter. "I'm the one who should be sorry."

"Why?"

"I was the one who couldn't save you in time..." Whisper spoke. "I couldn't stop that green robot from abducting you... I couldn't find you before they electrocuted you... I... I failed you..."

Tangle hugged the wolf tightly, keeping her tail wrapped around the two. Tangle was still trembling, the pain from the electrocution still prevalent in the girl's frame.

"Wh-whisper..." Tangle spoke.

"Yeah?" The wolf asked.

"Th... thank you." She spoke.

"Wh... what for?" Whisper asked.

"You opened up my eyes to this war..." She spoke. "And I promise... I'll push myself to become a better fighter. Better at everything."

Whisper merely smiled as she hugged the lemur, before an announcement came over the intercom.

"EMPIRE CITY, 5000 METERS ENCLOSING TO DROPOFF POINT." It called. "ALL OPERATIVES, PREPARE FOR DISMOUNT."

"Sounds like that's us." Whisper spoke.

"Let's get going." Tangle replied as the two left the room...


"Nngggghhh..." The heterochromatic jackal growled as he paced the corridors of the Jackal Squad ship, grumbling and growling to himself as his tail twitched a bit.

"Something on your mind Finn?" A familiar female voice asked.

"What's it matter to you?" Finn growled, looking back at the female jackal, Fiora. "It's none of your business."

"When it's affecting the leader of the squad and the one I love, it becomes part of my business." Fiora countered. "This isn't healthy Finn, you've been like this ever since that failed raid on Eggman's old base. Something's clearly on your mind, now what is it?"

Finn growled, turning to Fiora, crossing his arms. "Aren't you frustrated at what that fat man has done to us?" He spoke. "He destroyed our pride; killed our brethren."

"We move on from it." Fiora spoke.

"We were too weak to save any of them."

"Strength is never the answer sometimes."

"If I hadn't been so weak, that fat fuck would be dead, and we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"I wasn't about to risk you getting yourself killed!"

"I NEARLY LOST YOU!" Finn snapped. "How the hell do you think that makes me feel?! That I was too weak to save you from getting hurt by that bastard's machines?!"

"..." Fiora said nothing, just looking at Finn. "Is that what this is all about?"

"You don't think it pains me what happened?" Finn growled.

"Finn..." Fiora spoke. "I can understand. But constantly hurting yourself over that isn't going to help make things better; we can only move on from it as a learning experience."

"..."

"Another thing." Fiora spoke. "I don't want you calling yourself weak because of all this. To me, that kind of mindset isn't healthy at all; it's only going to make things worse."

"..."

"Finn..." Fiora spoke. "Will you at least change for me?"

"...fine." Finn sighed. "I'm sorry for all of this."

"It's fine." Fiora spoke. "I'm just worried about you."

Finn nodded in response as the two headed for the upper deck.


Explosions rocked across the city skyline as the Egg Fleet and the G.U.N. Air Fleet were engaged in a heavy air war for the city's airspace, building destruction evident around the massive skyscraped skyline as the roadways were on the risk of collapse. Large blue tanks bearing the logo of Eggman would be trudging through the city, letting out massive blasts of smog and the occasional horn blast as the G.U.N. troops and robots engaged in the firefight against the Regime's Badnik army. But needless to say, G.U.N. was losing their ground fast, and any of the Resistance members in the area weren't faring any better as the Knuckles airships were quickly closing in on the city.

"Hmph, a rather underwhelming response for this all, wouldn't you four agree?" Heavy King spoke, looking on from a building top as the other Hard Boiled Heavies were nearby him.

"What do they think six measly airships are gonna do?" Heavy Gunner spoke, getting his bazooka ready. "I could just go ahead and blast 'em outta the sky right now!"

"Not. Yet." Heavy King answered bluntly. "Magician, Rider, Shinobi. Get down there and help our troops."

The other three Heavies would nod before they descended down into the city to cause more chaos. Gunner would keep his bazooka trained on the oncoming airships as the shot charged up.

"Wait..." King said, as the airships got closer, and closer...

"Okay, you can fire now." King said as he lept down from the building. Gunner took the chance as his bazooka fired off several large red rockets straight for the airships, the rockets colliding with them and causing them to lose altitude and start to crash...

"AND ANOTHER DIRECT HIT!" Gunner yelled. "Seriously, I should be in the Robolympics for the firing events at this rate!" His jetpack activated as he took off down into the cityscape to help deal with the chaos...

However, the crews of the Knuckles airships would already eject by the time the rockets had collided with the ships, Water Division landing on the nearby extended highway just as their ship crashed into a nearby building, exploding on contact.

"Well... that was a little too close for comfort." Zeena spoke, radioing in the other groups. "Water Division here, is everyone else okay?"

"Fire division, we're all okay!" Amy said.

"Metal Division, All present and accounted for!" Carol responded.

"Wood Division, we're alive." Aaron spoke.

"Jackal Squad, a little miffed, but we're alive." Finn answered.

"Earth Division, we're all alive and accounted for." Knuckles said. "Looks like they're already expecting us. Everyone keep to the plan! Water Division Whisper, locate that Zeti in the coordinates!"

Whisper nodded, checking her mask before motioning to the others. "Got a hostage signal confirmed. At least 1500 meters due east from here, ground level."

"Well? Let's go!" Silver said, taking off ahead. Whisper sighed as soon she, Zeena, and Tangle took off ahead towards the signal point. Though their rush would be interrupted as soon Heavy Rider has burst from a higher roadway down towards the group.

"And just where do you guys think you're going?!" Rider yelled, charging straight at the four with her mace flailing above her head. Whisper grit her teeth as she slid underneath the mace and Tangle sprang over it with her tail, while the mace soon collided with Zeena's robot snowman head, the two forces cancelling eachother out and knocking the two back from eachother. Zeena growled before using her energy beam and grabbing Jimmy out from underneath Rider, soon whipping around and slamming the modified Motobug back into the purple Eggrobo, knocking the two off of the raised highway. The four would continue their run down the highway as they skidded around the corned before leaping down to lower roadways until they reached ground level, dodging out of the way of the firefight. The amount of Badniks were insane, and it didn't help considering there were G.U.N. troops firing on Zeena without knowing it was not the fake one. The larger tanks were blaring their loud horns as soon Zeena lept up the large vehicle before slamming her fist straight into it, causing it to short circuit before she lept off, the tank detonating.

"Keep moving!" Whisper yelled as Tangle soon slingshot a Motobug straight into a horde of Egg Pawns, bowling a perfect strike.

"We've gotta help thin out the army a little bit!" Tangle yelled. "Otherwise the plan ain't gonna work!"

"Whisper, on your right!" Silver yelled as he soon deflected an oncoming shot with his psychic blast. Whisper growled as she activated rocket mode on her Wispon and fired on the oncoming robot horde.

"Knuckles, is the operation going to be soon underway?" Whisper said through her mask comm.

"We're almost ready to initiate Phase 1!" Knuckles said. "Wood Division, is your position ready?"


"We're all set." Hanna spoke as Aaron, Rob, and Maria got into position. "Just waiting on your cue."

"Alright, get ready." Knuckles said, counting down in his head. "Three... two... one... alright, Wood Division, go go go!"

That was the cue as Aaron was the first to burst out of the manhole, soon throwing several fireballs at the Badnik horde moving in the opposite direction. "HEY, BUCKETS OF BOLTS! OVER HERE!"

That got the Badnik's attention as the soon started chasing after the lion, Maria popping out of the sewer next. "Aaron's got the robo-baddies on the run! Meanie, Fluff-Tail! We gotta go!"

"Let's show these fuckers how we do it in the Scarves!" Hanna yelled before she burst out of the sewers in a ball of flame, soon tearing through the group of Badniks and catching up with Aaron as Maria and Rob followed suit.

"That's a lot of robo-baddies!" Maria said, looking back.

"You think we'll be able to distract 'em all?" Hanna asked.

"We will with that thing!" Rob said, pointing ahead to one of Eggman's new tanks. Soon enough the rabbit and lion slammed onto the top of the large vehicle, soon trashing the robots inside as Aaron motioned for Hanna and Maria to take cover inside the massive machine.

"Alright, so what the hell are we using this for?" Hanna asked.

"We can use this as cover." Aaron spoke. "Eggman probably didn't equip those clunkers with enough firepower to take out one of his own tanks, so we'll be in the clear as we draw their fire towards the center."

"Well, smart thinking from your parts." Hanna spoke.

"Does anyone wanna call the fisty guy and let him know?" Maria asked.

"I'll radio in." Rob spoke, activating his comm unit. "Knuckles, you in?"

"I'm here, something wrong Wood Division?" Knuckles asked.

"Not right now, but we've got his troops lured." Rob spoke. "We've commandeered one of his tanks for cover as we're making our way towards the center of the city. If the others see a tank being fired on by Eggman's focres, do NOT attack it. That's us."

"Roger that, be careful guys!" Knuckles said as the comm unit cut.

"Well, all we gotta do now is wait..." Aaron said as he leaned back and relaxed.

That was, until Whisper came over the comm unit.

"Everyone, heads up!" She spoke. "Water Division just had a run-in with one of Eggman's HBH unit. The Cyclist one from the looks of it. But keep your guards up! There's no telling when any of the other ones may strike!"

"Roger that." Rob answered. "We'll keep a close eye."

The rest of the ride would be a bit uneventful...


Meanwhile, over on the West side of the city, things were getting a bit too hectic for Metal Division's tastes as the Badnik hordes were firing on them. Carol's Mech Blade scythe tore through as many of the Badniks as she could before the Badniks started closing in on her.

"Need some backup here!" She yelled, before Classic had slammed into the Badniks around her, sending them flying. Classic would flash a thumbs up before Spindashing off again into more Badniks. Carol smirked before slicing more of the nearby Egg Pawns into shreds, sending more and more scrap metal into the air as Milla's psychic abilities would grab it and use it as her own fodder as she would fire it off machine-gun style at more and more of the Badniks. Sven was busy carving up the extra stragglers, tossing the scraps to Milla as his own set of Badniks were busy tearing up the other ones at the same time. Cyclone was also playing her part as she teamed up with Tails and performed a twirling Dragon Boost into another tenpin setup of Badniks.

Milla smirked. "We're Keeping them on the ropes!"

"I think my little robot posse is helping keep the numbers up!" Sven said as he looked over to see his Crabmeat dispatch another set of Badniks, the miniguns whirling inside the craws. "Crawford was an excellent addition to the group!"

"Don't let your guard down!" Cyclone said, dispatching another Egg Pawn.

At that point Milla's ears would perk up, her eyes widening.

"Oh no..." She spoke.

"What's wrong Milla?" Carol asked, looking away from her Badnik shredding.

"He's here!" Milla spoke, looking back to Carol. "I'll distract him so he can't interrupt the operation! Keep ahold of it!" She said as she soon sprinted off in an unknown location towards the heart of the city.

"Milla, stop, wait!" Sven yelled, but it was already too late; Milla was out of earshot. "Shit!" He cursed to himself, before looking to his trio of bots. "Keep up the pressure on holding them off, I'm going after Milla!" He said as the trio of Badniks nodded, continuing their rampage as Sven took off after the basset hound.

"Welp, there goes those two." Carol said as she finished her Badniks off. "That's not good..."

"Shit." Cyclone said, gripping her fists. "We'll need to cover for their loss." At that point their group's comms would activate.

"Metal Division! Fire Division! Get your rears in gear, the Tank distraction by Wood Division is en route towards the center of the city and the forces are falling for it!" Knuckles' voice rang over the comm unit.

"Roger that, we're in pursuit!" Cyclone said over the comm as she looked over to the rest of the group. "Tank's coming in guys! Let's start that pressure!" The others nodded before the group would start the rush towards the center of the city, soon seeing the tank on the main route, Fire Division's Omega already opening up the pressure with his miniguns as Gemerl would begin his Break-Dashes above the Badnik forces, soon unleashing several missiles from the dashes as they rained down on the Badniks themselves.

"SHOWOFF." Omega droned as he kept his fire up on the Badniks, pushing them towards the center.

"Nothing wrong with a little flair is there?" Gemerl shot back.

"Can we please not have this argument now?" Cream asked as she kept using her blaster cannon in her mechanical arm as she fired the spinning Cheese as a projectile as she helped keep up the pressure.

"You guys look like you could use some help!" Carol said, twirling her scythe. "Here, allow ME!" She said, soon whirling her scythe as a slew of scrap metal was heaved into the air. "Just keep pushing boys! We'll get 'em towards the city center one way or another!"

"RIGHT!" The others yelled as they kept up the push towards the center of the city...


The wolf would skid across the highway as she lept off onto the next one as her Division continued towards the coordinates on Whisper's mask. It was less than 100 feet when Tangle had noticed the robots on one of the lower routes moving away from the building they were closing in on.

"Looks like the plan is working guys!" Tangle said. "They're swarming straight at the choke point!"

"Excellent." Zeena spoke. "That should give us some time to break out whoever this is." Soon enough the four would skid to a halt in front of the building as Whisper activated the spikes module on her Wispon before slicing through the door, the four making a break for the lower floors of the building. Skidding around one of the corners, Silver unleashed a psychic blast as he knocked debris away from the corridor, allowing the group to continue, noticing the building was eerily silent.

"Odd... you'd think there'd be more of the Badniks down in this lower area..." Silver spoke. "Where is everything?"

"Seems abandoned..." Whisper spoke. "Makes sense; no one would to think to look for a hostage here."

"The Zeti must be in one of these rooms..." Tangle spoke, before noticing a large metal door further down the hall, a large yellow metallic moon deactivated on the ground next to it. "That must be it up ahead."

"!" Zeena gasped. "I recognize that metal moon... that's Zazz's!" She would rush over and bang on the metal door. "Zazz! Are you alright?!"

"...oh great." The voice, a bit hoarse and gravely from the other side said. "First I get captured and locked up, now I'm hallucinatin' voices are speakin' to me."

"Zazz, come on, it's me, Zeena!" The green female Zeti said.

"An' how do I know you're not one of those faker guys?" The voice said.

"C'mon, ask me anything!" Zeena said. "Ask me what you'd know I'd know!"

"...then what's your cup size?" The voice asked.

Tangle could've sworn if Zeena's face was any redder, she'd be confused for Zavok.

"ZAZZ!" She screamed, clearly embarrassed from the question. The other three couldn't help but let out a couple of snickers from the question. "Come on, not in front of other Resistance members! Can't you ask something else?!"

"...then what's my usual line of threaten?" The voice said. This one Zeena knew.

"You're going home in a box!" Zeena responded.

Silence for a moment or two. Then, a small chuckling sound came from the other side of the door.

"Well, looks like it actually is you this time." The voice spoke. "Got any plans to get me out of this thing? It ain't budging to my claws."

"Hold still." Whisper said as she switched her Wispon into rocket mode, taking aim at the door. "Silver, get ready."

"Right!" Silver said, getting his psychokinesis ready. Whisper would open fire as she fired several rockets, each one being caught by Silver's psychokinesis until there were about seventeen rockets being held up at the same time in front of the metal door.

"NOW!" Whisper yelled as Silver released his grip, sending the rockets crashing straight into the door simultaneously, blowing the door wide open as smoke filled the room and hall, the group coughing hoarsely as the smoke cleared. Coughing a bit, Zeena would rush in to find the pink colored purple mowhawked Zeti sitting against the back wall, also wearing a ripped sleeve leather jacket.

"Oh my god thank goodness you're alive..." Zeena said, hugging the Zeti.

"Heh, well you certainly had quite the change." Zazz said, getting up. "Where in the world are we anyways?"

"Empire City." Silver spoke. "Our Resistance is currently trying to overtake Eggman's forces here so we can get an upper hand in this war!"

"Well..." Zazz spoke. "How about I help add a little wanton destruction to the menu? Think it's only fair for what those robot asses did to us."

"Sounds fine to me." Zeena said as the group exited the room, Zazz grabbing the metal moon right outside of it.

"Uhhh..." Tangle spoke, but Zeena shushed her.

"It's his, don't worry." The female Zeti responded as the five rushed out, Zazz running with the massive metal moon over his shoulders. The five would rush out of the abandoned building as Whisper set fire to the foundation, causing it to collapse onto more of the regime's Badnik army. Catching up, the five would head for the center of the city...


"We're closing in!" Knuckles' voice rang over the comm units as Earth Division closed in to help with the final push, seeing the hordes of robots getting ripped to shreds from all sides by both the Resistance and the G.U.N. forces as they closed in on the central tower. "We've almost got them all down, keep the pressure up!"

The other members of the Resistance were keeping the pressure up as the gunfire flew from all sides, the Badnik army numbers being depleted more and more the closer they closed in on the tower...

"Such insolence!" Robotnik's voice yelled over a city-wide intercom announcement. "What does this rabble think it can do with an all-out pincer attack? They won't live long once I have them finished off before any more damage can happen!"

Carol grit her teeth as Metal Division continued their push on the Badnik army, aided by the jackals as more scrap metal flew into the air. But at this point she was starting to get concerned; Milla and Sven hadn't gotten back in so long since they went after that mysterious signal. Where did they go? It's like they just dropped off the face of the planet!

The wildcat grit her teeth as she continued carving up the scrap metal of the Badniks, making sure not to hit Sven's by accident. "I've got a bad feeling about where those two are..."

"INFINITE!" Robotnik's voice bellowed across the city as the hound soon materialized above the main city, catching the entire Resistance and G.U.N. off guard. "ACTIVATE THE PHANTOM RUBY! LET THEM PLAY IN RUBY HELL!"

Nearly everyone froze as the sickening sounds of distortion activated, the entire area coated in the Ruby's magenta-red light as soon the battle was plunged straight into chaos, gravity going out of control as all forces were thrown out of control, sent sprawling everywhere from the now random gravity directions pulling from multiple places.

"Everyone, remain calm!" Knuckles said over the comm unit.

"It's no use, our forces are scattered blind in the confusion!" Silver answered as the Badniks started to overtake the G.U.N. forces, gunning them down much more frequently than before the Ruby had activated. As if it wasn't enough, soon large snake-like creatures in Infinite's appearence started to burst from the ground, the long liquidy black bodies capped off with an organic mask-like protrusion from the top, some of them splitting open to reveal some sort of cosmic-horror mouth as they fired lasers on the city from the gaping maws, slicing through skyscrapers as their giant liquidy paws extended from the ground to destroy the bridging roadways.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE THINGS?!" Hanna yelled, attempting to throw fire at the gigantic Infinite clone creatures, but proving fruitless. More and more of the cratures screeched as they opened fire on the G.U.N. Air Fleet, starting to blast the ships out of the sky. Panicked sounds of G.U.N. troops come over the intercoms as the airships plummet out of the sky, crashing into the city itself.

"Eagle Squad, coming in!" A panicked G.U.N. troop's voice came over the comm. "Enemy crossfire is growing heavier! We can't evacuate- GAAAGH!" The comm cut out.

"Snake Squad needs backup, stat!" Another G.U.N. troop on the comm said.

"This is Fox Squad!" A third troop's voice yelled. "We can't hold this up any longer!"

"Knuckles, we're in a full-blown panic right now!" Amy yelled over the comm unit as she continued to defend herself from the Badniks swarming her, seemingly growing in number by the dozens. "Eighty percent of our forces have been wiped out, and we've lost contact with the rest!"

"One flip of the Phantom Ruby switch and just about everything falls apart!" Vector commented as his jaws soon crunched onto an unsuspecting Egg Pawn. "Infinite's got us in a checkmate situation with us being surrounded by nothing but queens!"

"Just hold out!" Knuckles yelled as he and Shade pulled a combo attack on the group of Pawns in front of them.

"I don't know if we can for much longer!" Rouge answered.

"Shit..." Knuckles growled; this was one situation they may not be able to dig out of...


It wasn't long before the masked hound rematerialized on a roadway high above the city, looking down at the carnage unfolding. An evil glint was in his eye as he looked down, seeing the Resistance of Mobius starting to become cornered. "Even that runt's partners seem to have given up... Disappointing, really. I would have appreciated it if someone with a backbone had decided to drop in and offer a proper challenge..."

"INFINITE!" Milla growled, soon coming to a stop as she summoned her cubes in her hands, glaring daggers at the Ruby-infused hound, Sven not far behind her as he comes to a stop, a bit more timidly intimidated by Infinite's presence.

"Hmph... did you two come from that unlucky cannon fodder lot? Or did you somehow lose your way?" The hound spoke, not even turning to acknowledge their existence.

"Shut. Up." Milla growled, her fur bristling. "I have a score to settle with you after your stunt you pulled back in Mystic Jungle!"

"Amusing, really, thinking you have something you owe me." Infinite spoke, finally turning to see the two dogs. "And I see you brought your future boyfriend Sven as well. He must be expecting an early funeral."

Sven's eyes widened. "H-how does he know my name?!" He panic-whispered, before Infinite had almost warp-dashed right up next to him, catching both dogs off-guard as he continued to speak.

"Child, I know many things about you and the others, more than you would like to know." Infinite spoke, his tone dark.

"G-get away from him!" Milla barked, receiving merely a dark chuckle from the older hound.

"And yet again there's that smell of fear." Infinite spoke. "Now then... you're clearly wanting to pick into something you can't comprehend. Will you fight and die here? Or will you run away to be tortured to death later once the troops eliminate the rest of your puny fleet? Choose your preferred option."

Sven seemed to be intimidated a bit by the situation, but Milla stepped in front of him, arms outstretched as if to protect him. "You leave him out of this! This is between you and me!"

"Milla..." Sven said before Infinite looked at her.

"Very well..." Infinite growled, rising up. "I will teach you about true fear. Then will come the pain when I break you like the insignificant twig you are. Although, after that..." He chuckled darkly, the area around the three starting to distort as he warped them to the inside of the top of one of the skyscrapers, getting a clear view of the fight going on below and the airship battle above. "...you two won't be feeling anything for a long time."

Milla grit her teeth as Infinite would start to warp around this upper area, snaking blocks of red phantom cubes starting to home in on her location. Gritting her teeth, she'd attempt to dodge out of the way of one of the firing shots before another would collide with her, her vision going red as cannons started to materialize on the walls and floos, taking aim for her. The basset reacted fast and quickly threw up her Phantom Shield for protection as she attempted to block the oncoming projectiles from these new cannons, but she knew she couldn't defend forever...

...that was, before the red vision faded, a growl of annoyance heard loudly coming from Infinite. Milla would look over to see what had happened, and her jaw dropped as she saw Sven had tried to attack the hound itself! The basset started to grow worried as Infinite spoke again.

"Oooh, so that's the game you want to play, now is it?" Infinite growled, a hint of acid in his tone. "Well then, I can accommodate for you and your insolence." Soon enough more of the red cubes were being spawned and thrown at Sven. The husky tried to put in a good dodging fight but was soon hit by one of the cubes square in the back, thrown into his own personal Ruby Hell as the cannons materialized, opening fire on the husky. The boy tried to put in a good shield to defend himself, but after a few cannon shots the shield itself would break, colliding directly with the husky and slamming him into the back wall, causing him to faceplant. Milla made a mad dash as Infinite was about ready to finish him off, but the basset's Murder Sphere blasted Infinite back, stunning him a bit as the basset helped the husky to his feet.

"You alright?" Milla asked.

"I-I think so..." Sven panted as the two looked at Infinite. The hound would be charging up for another attack as Sven soon got off to the sidelines as Milla took control of the situation, Infinite going back on the offense again as he opened fire with his red cubes. Milla growled and dodge-rolled out of the way of them before Infinite would cloak himself in the Ruby's energy, soon charging straight for where she was. The basset grit her teeth as she rolled to the side, out of the way as she soon charged up a new tactic she had devised; an Elemental Shield Burst, this one being Metal element as she unleashed it point-blank right at Infinite's face. The hound growled in anger as he batted Milla away, Sven rushing in to fill her place in the fight.

At this point Infinite himself was starting to get seriously annoyed by the two dogs making a monkey out of him. Growling, he'd spawn in some more cubes to launch at the husky while doors materialized on the walls, Egg Pawns starting to trudge into the room. Sven grits his teeth as he brings out his electric whip, ready to slash into them... before Infinite would psychically grab his whip and pull it away, crushing it in his hand and merely waggle a finger at him. Growling, Sven would unleash his phantom claws from his bracelets and try to slice through the Egg Pawns... without even seeing the cubes forming from underneath his feet.

"Sven! Watch out!" Milla yelled to the husky. Sven immediately took notice as the cubes burst up through the floor, before Infinite attempted to go for another Ruby energy charge right for him. Sven froze up a bit as Infinite came barreling at him, but he shook the fear off as he soon lept over him, colliding his claws straight into the top of Infinite's head, starting to crack the mask.

"Nnngh..." Infinite growled, floating a bit away, the Phantom Ruby starting to overclock as a fiery magenta-red aura surrounded the masked hound. "So behind all that fear lies a spark of defiance... well, we'll just see how long that spark lasts..." Soon enough more red cubes spawned as they started forming wave patterns, coming straight for the husky. Sven attempted to leap over the waves, but that would prove fruitless as he collided with one, thrown back into Ruby Hell as this time large missile silos appeared on the far side of the room, the missile far too big for Sven to reasonable dodge out of the way...

Then Milla struck, throwing the Ruby Hell off and causing the missile to disappear before it fired. Infinite growled before he soon attacked Milla, more of his cubes primed now for Shield Bursts as Milla countered with her own, throwing Infinite back against the wall. Infinite growled before unleashing several cyclones of the red cubes straight for Milla, fully intending on ending the fight with her right then and there. Sven would counter while the hound was distracted and slash with his phantom claws right into the hound's back, shredding through his cloak and causing him to lose focus as he whirled around in annoyance to face the brat. However, Sven was merely baiting as Milla son unleashed a Super Shield Burst right to the back of his head, throwing him across the room and the mask off his face.

Milla landed back on the ground, the small Ruby prototype she snuck with her on the mission falling out onto the ground next to her as Sven soon came over to her side for assistance. The two of them remained tense as Infinite started to get up.

"I remembered..." He spoke, not quite turning to the two just yet, leaving his face hidden. Milla would look down and grab the Ruby prototype she had, gritting her teeth as she looked at Infinite, glaring daggers. "You're the girl I let go at the time back in the jungle... and to think you'd go out of your way to throw away the life I spared you from our first encounter..."

"You think I wouldn't-" Milla started before she was interrupted by Infinite.

"-want to get even?" Infinite spoke again. "But of course. After all..." By that point the unmasked Infinite had turned around, revealing his true face to the two.

Both of them could not believe their eyes as they appear to see what looks like a much more scarred and masculine face akin to Milla's.

"It's part of our bloodline, Milla."

At that point Milla's entire world came crashing down to a catastrophic halt, her eyes wide as saucers and her muscles paralyzed from the shock of what she was seeing in front of her. No... this couldn't be... th-this was impossible! This couldn't be an effect of the Phantom Ruby, could it?! There was no way-

"That I could be related to you?" Infinite spoke, soon having the Phantom Ruby charge again. "I assure you, stupid runt, this is no illusion; what you lay your eyes on is very much real." The two would then be caught off guard as Infinite would activate the Phantom Ruby, plunging the two back into Ruby hell as several dozen cannons now pointed directly at the two. However, this is the last of what I will allow you to know. Now be like your runt of your friends of the wildcat and the dragon, and die." The cannons would soon fire, and with the amount of them, there would almost be no way of dodging all of the simultaneously. Milla gripped to the Ruby prototype hard, closing her eyes and preparing for the worst... when the prototype for the Ruby activated, temporarily pulling her and Sven out of Ruby Hell as the cannon shots pass through them harmlessly and exploding on the ground before the two were plunged back into the red vision.

Infinite is taken aback by this. For the first time, he actually expresses shock at what he has seen unfold in front of him. "Wh-what?! Did you just... no, you couldn't have! That should be impossible!"

Milla grits her teeth, summoning a Phantom Sphere and chucking it at one of the cannons, soon causing a chain reaction explosion across the cannons to distract the hound as Milla went for the offensive, soon trying to attack Infinite head-on. This would ultimately end in failure as Infinite would blast Milla back into Sven, ending the Ruby Hell as he went to reclaim his mask... and his composure.

"No matter..." He spoke, a hint of acid in his tone this time as he picks up the mask, placing it back onto his face before looking back at the collapsed dogs. "At any rate, you've only got a few days left before I plunge this world into an eternal hell. Entertain me if you wish with this petty resistance; it won't matter in the end for you at that point." And that was the last thing Infinite had said as he soon warped out of the area, leaving the two dogs to themselves.

"M-Milla, are you alright?" Sven asked, trying to help the basset to her feet.

"Y-yeah... I'm fine." Milla spoke, which wasn't a total lie. She was just going through some very hard disbelief right now.

But soon both their rails of thought were derailed as Knuckles came in through the intercom.

"They have us surrounded! I don't know how much longer we can last as this!"

The two booked it for the echidna's location like nothing else.


"Knuckles!" Tails yelled, pretty much everyone of the Mobius Resistance base stacked up against the choke point as they desperately tried to take out more and more of the robots. "I'm not sure we're going to last much longer like this!"

"We can't retreat!" Carol yelled. "They've cut off all the choke points! And more and more of them just keep coming!"

"MY AMMO RESERVES ARE RUNNING DRY." Omega droned. "THERE'S NO WAY I CAN KEEP THIS FIRING UP."

Knuckles grit his teeth as soon Sven and Milla dropped from above to help, catching him off guard.

"Where the hell were you guys?!" Carol yelled.

"We had a run in with Infinite, now's not a good time to explain!" Milla responded bluntly as she tried to keep the pressure up, to no avail. The Badniks were outnumbering the Resistance members by nearly 2000 to 1, and that number only kept rising and rising for every Badnik destroyed.

Shadow cursed. "Damnit, everyone get into as tight a group as you can!" Shadow yelled, the Resistance members soon packing in almost like cattle in a cow ranch as Shadow got on top of them, soon pulling out one of the Chaos Emeralds he had gotten from the Resistance base and gripping tightly to it. "CHAOS CONTROL!" He yelled as everyone was enveloped in a harsh light... and just like that, every Resistance member of the base was gone...

Operation Chicken Choker had ended in a smoldering and casualty-riddled failure.

Empire City... was lost.


Tensions back at the base after Shadow managed to pull off that last-second save were high, to say the least, with morale as low as it had been since the start of the war. Others were exhausted from the amount of energy they put through the operation, some retiring to bed early to try and regain lost sleep time.

Knuckles seemed to take the loss the hardest though; he was actively silent, not even wanting to talk to anyone even though those who tried to talk to him had told him that the operation's failure wasn't fully his fault; no one could have predicted the Phantom Ruby doing something as insane as what it did on the operation. No one. And yet Knuckles still felt like the complete collapse of both the Resistance and of G.U.N. were his fault.

Things didn't seem all too bad however; Zazz seemed to make himself right at home among the Resistance members that were already there. Heck, some even got a chuckle out of his odd sense of humor. And if anything, Zeena was finally getting some hope she'd be reunited with the rest of her friends soon enough.

But with Empire City's defense a complete catastrophic failure, the Resistance would need to lay low for a while before they would try anything else again...


A reunited Zeti, a basset with a horrid encounter, and now a major metropolitan city lost to the mad doctor's rule; there's not a lot of things to be too happy about around the Resistance base of Mobius right now. Chances are it's going to be a rather restless night tonight... especially for one specific kitsune. How is he going to fare in all of this? And what of Sonic and Sash? How might they be faring in Null Space for these past months? Tune in next time for Chapter 20: "Nothing Left to Regret"...