...

Sonic and Sash: Tides of Chaos 3
Phantom Forces
Act 4

Chapter 22: Rockin' this Guardian Prison


The blazing heat would bear down on the sandy oceans of Green Hill Zone as two figures made their way across it rocky brown cliffsides jutting out of the desert's surface, moving across the rock and metal structures as they made their way towards one particular giant outcropping...

Atop one of the stone mountain outcroppings was a gigantic Totem pole, looking out over the ocean of sand... and having a large amount of metallic structures around it entirely. What would appear to be the large spotlights would be on adorning mountains, seemingly searching for intruders...

"That looks like our target out there..." Zeena said from behind their cover as she and Zazz looked onwards at the giant sandy canyon and rock formation. "And figures, the place is crawling with Badniks of his."

"Nnnngh, why are we out here in the sticks anyways?" Zazz complained, his tongue hanging lazily out. "Shouldn't we be up causin' mayhem and destruction with the other members of the Resistance?"

"Zazz, our mission is much more important right now." Zeena said. "One of our friends is inside that fortress held hostage. And if push comes to shove, we need his muscle to make a comeback and put that fatass in his place."

"Why not have us use Zavok?" Zazz spoke.

"Zavok may be strong, but raw bulk is what he lacks." Zeena spoke. "If we're going to bring things back, we need Zomom's raw bulk."

"Aaaand what exactly makes you think he'd be out here in the sticks near some sort of giant rock?" Zazz sarcastically spoke.

"This is where the tiny Sonic had fought the copy of him, this Zone." Zeena spoke. "And since over there is the most heavily guarded area in the entirety of the Zone, by logical inference, Zomom has to be trapped in there."

"And if he's not?" Zazz asked.

"Are you questioning my logic Zazz?"

"I'm just sayin'." Zazz said, looking out on the area. "God, what I wouldn't give to shred all those Badniks out there."

"Save for when we make our escape." Zeena said, still looking out across the sandy canyon... before she spotted something. "Hellooooo... what do we have here?"

"Huh? Whatcha seein'?" Zazz said, trying to scoot over to get a look at where Zeena was looking.

Two Eggrobos were carrying what looked like a container with a green diamond inside it would be scuttling inside the base itself.

"A well-earned prize for our side." Zeena spoke. "Looks like we've got two things to track down, unless you wanna split up to get them both?"

"Depends, what's the other one?"

"They have a Chaos Emerald."

Zazz grinned maliciously. "Then how about I break roundy out of his cell while you go after the gem?"

"What, just because I'm the girl of the group?" Zeena spoke.

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend."

"It's an Emerald."

"Same difference." Zazz said, soon getting up. "So I will see you once you got the stone." He then soon crawled over the rocks and slipped down the side of the canyon face, out off to the side of the gigantic fortress. Zeena sighed as the light smack of her palm hit her face; clearly this wasn't how she wanted to go about things but whatever. Glancing around to make sure nothing was currently looking in her direction, she'd soon slip down the rock face and towards the sandy desert floor.

With contact with the sand ocean, she'd look out at the gigantic Guardian Rock complex itself, trying to see how she'd be able to sneak in. No doubt Zazz would try to break in the old fashioned way since he was going on a prison break... but getting into the Emerald's storage would be another question entirely. At that point she noticed what appeared to be a transport truck coming in. Perfect, she could sneak on there!

Keeping herself hidden until the right time, she'd leap onto the back of the truck and slip into the cargo bay unnoticed.

"Alright, now to find a good hiding place..." She spoke to herself, looking around the bay of the truck. "Alright, there should be a nice size box I can hide inside..."

And sure enough the female Zeti found what she was looking for, near a corner of the truck's hold. She smirked to herself as she slowly tried to pry the side open ever so much with her nails so that way she could get it open without too much damage to the crate itself...

...and was soon taken aback to see that inside the crate was a life-size model of her copy self was inside the crate, in a rather alluring position.

"...some people..." Zeena growled, soon pulling the model out of the crate and hiding it on top of the other boxes in the room. Then, making absolutely sure she'd be able to fool the Egg Pawns, she slipped inside the box and proceeded to strip down out of her sweater, scarf and beanie, letting her hair down and shutting the box entirely, assuming the position the statue was in... before growing increasingly uncomfortable with the fact she was essentially naked inside the box, and wasn't too keen on Egg Pawns ogling over her body, even if they were robots. Reaching down and grabbing her scarf, she'd tie it around her breasts before she took back up the pose, feeling a little bit better now.

It seemed to be a long excruciating ride as she held that pose for as long as she could before she felt the truck stop. Holding her breath and slowing her heart rate down, she'd soon feel the crate begin to move as she heard some robotic voices outside her box.

"Hey, careful with that! That's supposed to be the new statue that's supposed to go in the boss's office!" An Egg Pawn said outside her crate. Zeena tensed up as she felt the crate move from under herself. Tensing up, she soon saw that the pawns were opening the crate front, going to look inside.

"Yeah yeah, lemme just check to make sure it isn't damaged." The other Egg Pawn said, soon opening the front of the crate and looking in at the motionless Zeena acting as a statue. "Yep, perfectly fine!" He said, shutting the crate again. "Even got it extra dolled up and all that!"

"Alright, get it inside the base into the storage until we can get the office of this warden refurbished." The first Egg Pawn said as the crate began to move again. Zeena almost gasped from the sudden movement but stifled it down as best she could as the crate moved through the base.

Soon enough the crate came to a halt as Zeena soon felt herself slammed against the side of the crate as it was laid lengthwise on the ground, other crates being stacked on top of it before the Egg Pawns left the room, the place sealing itself off. The Zeti calmly breathed to herself as she soon poked a hole in the box casing, peeking out at the room.

It appeared to be a rather dark room, not much account from visibility aside from the lone light in the ceiling. It was definitely cold in the room, probably for material preservation most likely. She shivered a bit, feeling the goosebumps covering her skin and wanting to get back into her sweater and hat rather than just continue to have her scarf wrapped around her chest. Moving her orientation a bit, she'd soon have herself cramped in the small space as she pressed her feet against the wall of the crate and pushed hard, the muscles in her toned thighs soon shoving the crate wall right out of it's sockets. Thee Zeti smirked to herself that she still had some of that strength in her as she soon crawled out of the box, grabbing her sweater and beanie before redressing herself proper, the scarf back around her neck where it should be.

"Alright, I'm in..." Zeena spoke to herself. "Now... to just find out where that Emerald's being held..." With stealth on her side she'd slip out the door and peek down the base's underground hallway, the rocky walls being upheld by steel support beams and rather spacious for cargo lifts to drive through. Taking a deep breath, she'd soon dash out of the room and behind one of the support pillars for cover, taking care not to draw any attention to herself. Alright, now if she could just-

Her train of thought was derailed as the whirling sound of a sawblade coursed through the hall sides a few feet down from where she was hiding. Evidently the robots were still heavily in construction of the place.

"This is gonna complicate things..." Zeena growled to herself before she dived behind another support pillar, making sure there was no coursing for a sawblade. She repeated this down the hallway for a bit until...

"Is... is that the sound of a jet?" She asked herself. She kept herself hidden in the shadows as soon enough a large beetle-like robot with a single frontward camera eye flew slowly past down the hall, its wings outstretched and seemed to be searching for something.

"...shit. Security." Zeena growled to herself. "This is gonna be harder than I thought..."


Meanwhile, outside the base, Zazz would be scaling around the outer backside of the base, looking for a proper way inside the base. Zazz grit his teeth as he kept scaling the outer structure, just wondering how the hell he hadn't been spotted yet.

"Don't these idiots have maintenance shafts or something like that?" Zazz growled to himself as he soon reached an upper vent. "Geh, I'll just have to settle for this shit I guess..." With one fell swoop he'd rip the vent right off the opening and tossed it below, remarking at how... rather easy it was for him to do that.

"Huh... guess some of Mobius's energy's still inside me..." He muttered himself. "Ah well, what anyone else don't know won't kill 'em." He said as he climbed into the vent.

Meanwhile, lower on the base area, several Buzzbombers were in repair mode as they worked away with the blowtorches on their stingers on the outer walls. Work would be going slowly until soon one of the Buzzbombers would be smashed downwards by the vent from above. Immediately this set the other robotic bees into panic mode as they soon all radioed in frantic burbling about the vent shatter.

Zazz would already be far down the vent by the time The Buzzbombers would be frantic, so a breach wouldn't be suspected as of yet. Slipping through the lower vents, he'd soon crash into what appeared to be a lower lab area, clearly not in use at the moment as the lights are off. The Zeti smirked to himself as he went to the door and pried it open with his claws. Glancing down both ends of the hallway, Zazz would soon scamper down the left side of the hallway, soon pulling his moon out of the hammerspace as he carted it over his shoulders. Egg Pawns would pass him by, not even noticing it wasn't the copies like the other Zetis, and soon enough Zazz would be descending lower and lower into the base.

"Hmmm, these guys seem to be dumber than I thought..." Zazz thought to himself as he soon reached an elevator. "Heh, maybe this'll be easier than I thought..."

Said thought was derailed as the elevator opened just for a copy Zazz to be on the other side of the door.

"Huh?" The copy said. "What in the hell are you?"

"You." Zazz spoke. "Where's the prison level?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because otherwise I'm gonna pound your face in?"

"Oh yeah? You and wha-"

Next thing the copy knew, he was already a crunched mess underneath Zazz's moon.

"That's what." Zazz growled, soon picking his moon back up to see his copy fade. "Guess I'm doing this the hard way..." HE soon set his moon down inside the elevator itself and hopped on top of it, sitting down as the elevator doors closed. "Lesse...hmmm... ah, fuckit." He said, soon hitting the lowest-most button on the elevator. He then pulled out a cigar from one of his jacket pockets and a lighter, soon lighting it and taking a smoke as the elevator descended downwards toward the lower floors...

...before the fire alarm went off from the smoke from Zazz's cigar. The sprinklers would go off and start showering the halls and the elevator shaft as Zazz looked disgruntled.

"God... damnit..." He growled, soon the elevator opening up as there were Egg Pawns scampering in the chaos of the fire alarm. He said nothing and merely grabbed his moon, carrying it over him as he continued down the corridors in silence, watching the Egg Pawns scampering around him in the resulting chaos...


Zeena would sneak between the pillar shadows as well as she could as she made her way towards the lower levels of the fortress stairwell, slowly sliding down the railing around the side, hanging of the side to avoid detection before she hit level 12-G wing. Slipping through the door, she'd soon hear the alarm going off; Zazz's fire alarm incident had been set off up above, sending the security drones into a panic down here. Zeena growled as she dived into the shadows again, the beetles zipping by her position. Clutching tightly to her chest to feel her heart racing, she peeked around the corner again to see the coast was clear.

"Shit... what went wrong?" Zeena spoke to herself. "I was being as stealthy as I could! They shouldn't have been able to see me... unless..." She internally cursed to herself. Zazz must have accidentally tipped them off with his infiltration!

"Alright, everything's been compromised..." Zeena spoke to herself. "I've got to find that Emerald fast before everything locks down..."

Soon rushing fast, Zeena would slip down the corridors as she slid around the corner towards the main vault... before soon a horde of Egg Pawns came from another corner and tried charging straight for her. The green Zeti tensed up as she soon performed an axel flip right over the legion of Pawns, the robots barreling past her down the hallway and not even attempting to come back.

"Odd..." Zeena spoke. "Why didn't they go for me?" She shook her head, soon heading straight for the vault door. "Alright, just gotta..." She started keying in a code into the keypad.

"ACCESS DENIED." The keypad droned. Zeena grit her teeth as she tried another code.

"ACCESS DENIED."

Zeena growled angrily. "Alright, I don't have time for this..." She said, soon summoning her snowman head as she activated her energy whip, grabbing the head as she whirled hard and slammed it straight into the iron door, smashing it inwards. The alarms would go off but it'd be drowned out by the blaring alarms of the fire alarm. Slipping inside quickly, Zeena's eyes would dart around the area as she tried to locate where that Chaos Emerald was.

She'd soon see it... but it would be in a capsule all the way at the ceiling of the vault, several stories upwards.

She growled to herself as she soon started making her way up the piles of treasure and gold...


Zazz meanwhile threw his moon like a giant boulder and smashed apart a legion of Egg Pawns. The pink Zeti was definitely starting to get a high from the destruction he was causing as he smashed his way down towards the largest cell in the rock. He grinned maliciously as he soon used his moon and fired a beam off and melted through the Egg Pawns like slag. Soon enough the hallways in front of him were charred before he went onward and started to head further down towards the main giant cell.

"Alright, this oughta be the big lug's cell..." Zazz said, looking at the keypad. "Combination should be... 'fuck-this-shit'." And with that he slammed his fist straight into the keypad, destroying it in a single blow.

"ACCESS GRANTED." The keypad sputtered out before letting loose a small pop and dying. Zazz grinned as the massive steel door creaked open, soon showing the fat yellow Zeti lying unconscious at the back of the room, fingers twitching ever so slightly from lack of food.

"Alright lardso, let's get you back on your feet..." Zazz said as he pulled out a sandwich from inside his moon and stuffed it down Zomom's mouth. Something within the large Zeti stirred a bit...

"Is that Lebanon?!" Zomom yelled, sitting straight up as he swallowed.

"Well, at least that helped..." Zazz growled. "Now c'mon you big lug, we gotta get outta here."

"Wait!" Zomom said. "I still gotta get Cubivord back for myself!"

"It's literally just a bunch of blocks!" Zazz said. "Why would you want it back?!"

"It can be helpful to us!" Zomom argued. "We need to find it!"

Zazz growled in frustration. "Fine fine..." He grumbled before being grabbed by Zomom as he ran down the hallway...


Zeena kept her breathing level as she scaled the mounds of stolen gold and contraband before she neared the ceiling of the vault. Gripping to the ceiling with her nails, she soon crawled over to the emerald case upside down. Zeena took a deep breath and tilted her head, stabbing her horn forward and piercing the glass casing. Slowly moving her head, she'd carve a circle out of the glass container as the small cut piece fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

Zeena took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and then reached her arm inside the casing carefully, making sure she'd grab the gem...

Feeling her fingers grip the gem, she'd carefully pull the Chaos Emerald out of it's casing before dropping down onto the large pile of treasure below. "Alright, got it..." She breathed to herself. "Now, if I could just find-"

She'd soon be interrupted as a large burst of cubes would come out from the treasure. She shrieked as she soon tensed up near the vault door, seeing the cubes forming together...

"Cubivord?!" Zeena cried out.

The horde of cubes burbled in response.

"Oh my god..." She breathed. "They had you locked up in here all this time?!"

The cubes burbled again, seemingly distressed.

"Don't worry, Zazz is working on getting Zomom out." She spoke. "We must hurry though, the entire base is currently up in arms right now."

"SECURITY ALERT!" The automatic intercom roared. "SECURITY ALERT! PRISONER Z-2 HAS ESCAPED! TREASURE VAULT CHAOS EMERALD HAS BEEN COMPROMISED! INITIATING PROTOCOL B-72-4, BASE GOING INTO COMPLETE LOCKDOWN!"

"Shit..." Zeena cursed. "We don't have time! Run!"

The alarms would now be blaring loud as the wave of cubes swept Zeena out of the room, the Zeti riding them like a wave as they crashed past the closing doors of the base, the cubes being left behind crashing through nearby vents to reunite with the rest of them. Several Badniks would be charging towards the wave of cubes, only to be smashed to bits completely as it advanced towards one of the elevator shafts...

Crashing through the doors, the cubes would form a protective barrier around the Zeti as it rose fast and hard, soon blasting the elevator clean out of the shaft and into the air. Zeena would soon feel the cubes hit the ground hard as she soon felt them dematerialize around her, seeing the Guardian Rock base going up in smoke...

The cubes sound's became saddened, looking downwards. Zeena lightly petted the head of the cube creature before the elevator container crashed down right next to them, making her jump a bit as she looked over...

...before a large yellow fist smashed the door open, the large yellow Zeti and lanky pink one stumbling out of it.

Zeena gasped. "Zomom!"

"Zeena?" The big yellow Zeti said, looking up. "Oh please tell me I ain't hallucinating..."

"You ain't ya big lug." Zazz spoke. "At least we got outta that death trap."

"Yeah..." Zomom groaned, before seeing the cubes. "CUBIE!"

The cubes burbled as the giant yellow Zeti hugged it, Zeena looking onwards.

"Anyways..." Zazz spoke. "You got the gem Zeena?"

Zeena smirked, holding up the green gemstone with her tail. "As if there was any doubt." She spoke. "All we gotta do is get back to the-"

The Zeti was then interrupted as a large amount rumbling from around the area, soon as several large mechanical legs burst up from the sand as soon the large red mechanical crab emerged from the sand, letting out a mechanical roar as it soon tried to crush the three Zeti under it's feet. Zomom's cubes reacted faster and blocked the smashing crab legs as it held the weight of the three ton mech above them.

"What the hell?!" Zeena said. "How could they have found us so fast?!"

"They must be trackin' the Emerald!" Zazz said. "We gotta get rid of that thing!"

Zeena nodded, getting ready to take off before a metallic craw shot up from the sand, grabbing her tightly. She screamed in pain as the craw retracted into the sand and reattached itself to the gigantic crab mech, Zeena squirming to try and break free of it's grip.

"Zeena!" Zazz yelled, before a laugh came out from the crab mech. Soon enough a hatch on top opened up and out popped onto the dome none other than the purple Eggrobo and her Motobug accomplice.

"Aaaahahahahaha!" Rider laughed. "How you liking the new and improved battle mech losers! Deadly enough for ya?"

"What the hell is that thing?!" Zazz yelled.

"This, you uneducated muppet reject," Rider spat. "Is a Class A Fully Loaded Battle Crustacean Cruiser! The lord's newest and deadliest battle cruiser he's designed to date! You'd have to be a delusional fool in order to think you'd try and stop this thing!"

Zomom growled... either it was him or his stomach. "Put her down now!"

"And why should I listen to you?" Heavy Rider taunted back. "First of all, she's stealing Regime property; Chaos Emeralds don't belong to anyone else except for our glorious leader Lord Robotnik! And secondly..." She slammed the mech's legs down in front of the two other Zeti. "You three are escaped prisoners! I can't have you three running around like this, especially little miss self-absorbed here!"

"I'll tell you who's self-absorbed..." Zeena growled before screaming again as the craw tightened.

"Shut up." Rider said. "You're in no right to speak."

"Not nice to hurt my friends." Zomom growled, cracking his knuckles. "You better put her down before I turn your ride into steamed crab legs."

"Oh please!" Rider shot back. "All you're good for is putting restaurants out of business!"

"You shouldn't make me hungry!" Zomom yelled. "You wouldn't like me when I'm hungry!"

"I hate you even when y- HEY!" Heavy Rider yelled as Zomom grabbed one of the crab's legs. "Get your mits off Regime property!"

"You brought this upon yourself!" Zomom yelled has his hands pounded deep into the leg, trying to pull on it hard. "Zazz! Get Zeena out of that craw before she's mashed greens!"

"Nnnnngghh!" Zazz growled, soon starting to take off up the crab's body towards the main craw where Zeena was being crunched. LArge ammounts of missile fire went off across the crab as they fired on the pink Zeti scampering up the leg. The explosions rocked the mech as Zazz continued his upwards scamper, unfazed by the attacks on him before he clung to the underside of the entire mech. Soon monkey-barring across the underside of the crab mech, sentry guns would pop out of the holes on the mech's surface and open fire at Zazz. The Zeti growled before swinging around and gripping one of the sentry guns, soon opening fire on the other sentry turrets on the bottom of the mech, soon disconnecting them and causing them to drop to the desert floor below.

"S-stop that!" Rider squeaked. "This thing nearly cost a billion bucks for manufacturing!"

"Don't care!" Zazz said, soon scampering down the arm with Zeena in the craw. The pink Zeti would soon wrap around the craw of where the green Zeti was trapped, trying to pry it open...

"Don't even bother!" Rider commented, soon grabbing the pink Zeti with it's other craw and slamming him into the ground. "These things are nuclear-forged hydraulics! You won't be able to rip these things open with your scrawny little body!"

"Maybe I can't..." Zazz said, looking down. "But I know who can!"

"Wh-" Rider started to speak before the entire mech in of itself started to creak and groan, as if it was being lifted off its legs. "H-HEY! DON'T DO THAT! THIS THING IS DELICATE!"

"Like. I. CARE!" Zomom yelled, soon suplexing the entire machine, causing a massive shockwave as the entire mech smashed down on the desert floor. Wasting no time, Zomom would soon plod over to the arms, trying to rip the craws open by brute force.

"A-are they not budging?!" Zeena gasped. "I-I seriously can't feel my lower body from this thing's grip!"

"Hnnnnghhh!" Zomom growled. "This thing's got... a lot more bulk than I e-expected!"

"Think of something so we can trash that half-scrambled halfwit!" Zazz growled. "She can't fight without the help of her little toys! She's all bark and no bite!"

"Bite, bite..." Zomom said to himself, before a lightbulb came to him. "That's it!"

"What's i-" Zeena said, before Zomom bit down hard on the craw's joint, the metal crunching beneath his teeth as the hydraulics failed, releasing Zeena out of its grip.

"Well that's one way to get out of this..." Zazz said as Zomom bit the craw joint for Zazz's trap, letting him out.

"Never doubt the power of an iron jaw!" Zomom said, before leaping up and body-slamming on the stomach of the mech. "Now get out here so I can rip you a new one!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Rider yelled as a hatch opened up on the mech, soon the Eggrobo popping out on the Motobug as she took off into the desert. "YOU'LL BE SORRY YOU MESSED WITH OUR TURF!"

"I highly doubt that." Zeena spoke, picking up the Chaos Emerald. "Alright, Emerald down and now with another of us freed... three more to go."

"We head back now?" Zazz said.

"Hold on." Zomom said, plodding over and hoisting up the gigantic mech. "Just gotta..." And soon by swinging the giant mech in a large circle several times, he released his grip and threw the gigantic metal crab off in the direction of the Guardian Rock base... where it proceeded to collide and explode in a blaze of glory, destroying the base around the totem pole. "So long gay crustacean!"

"...was that really necessary?" Zeena asked.

"Eh, I don't mind." Zazz said, walking up and slapping a hand on the shoulder of the big yellow Zeti. "Good to have yer muscle back pal. Ready to hit the base?"

"I guess so..." Zomom said, before his stomach growled. "Can we get some food first though? That fight worked up an appetite in me!"

All three of the Zeti laughed.

"Good to have you back, Zomom..." Zeena said, smiling.


The doors to the Resistance base would open up as Zeena and Zazz would walk in, Zeena holding the Chaos Emerald... followed by Zomom, carrying several dozen donut boxes in with him.

"We've got the Chaos Emerald!" Zeena said, tossing the gem to Amy, the hedgehog catching it in her hands. "All we need now are the last two of them."

"And I've got donuts!" Zomom yelled, setting them down on the table of the base. "C'mon everyone, go ahead and help yourselves! They're Krispy Kreme!"

As everyone in the base came up to get donuts, Amy looked to Zazz and Zeena.

"I'm really glad you were able to rescue your friend guys." Amy said. "I do have more good news though; I might have a reading on another one right now!"

"Well, where's he at?" Zazz asked, prompting Amy to go over to the computer screen.

"According to the scanners, this one's located deep in Pangu Lagoon on Avalice..." Amy said, looking back to the two. "You wanna go after them there or do you want me to forward a message to Tails' group?"

"Let us." Zeena said. "I think if there's any sort of hope that we get our reunion, you leave finding the rest of us to us. Just keep us updated if you find any signals of them."

Amy nodded, typing back into the computer. "Firing up the teleporter right now; good luck guys."

Zeena and Zazz nodded before Zomom hopped into the teleporter too with several boxes of donuts...


With a regained ally and acquired Chaos Emerald, the group is one step closer to stopping the bad doctor. But where are the last ones? And the rest of the Zeti? And how does the plans of Avalice fit into all of this? Find out next time in Chapter 23: "The Network Fortress"...