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

Chapter 24: Operation Scrambled


"Alright, so everything's ready to go?" Amy said, looking over the comm info that Tails and Carol sent over.

"That's the plan." Tails said. "Now, we're going to stay here on Avalice until the Zeti get back from rescuing their companions. You'll need to find another way to get Classic and Cyclone to the Death Egg without them noticing, and fast. There's no telling when they might rebuild another shield generator for it."

"And we can't risk leaving the Zeti here by themselves." Carol said. "It's not that we don't trust them, but with Avalice still mostly under Egg-head's control, we can't risk leaving them for dead out here."

"We'll recon back once they get back with their missing teammates." Tails said. "But the rest of this operation is up to you guys. Don't let us down!"

Amy gave a salute as the kitsune and wildcat did the same, then the feed cut out. Sighing, the pink hedgehog walked over to the nearby planning table in the base, where Knuckles and Shade were discussing something. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Amy spoke.

"You're fine Amy." Knuckles answered. "So, the shield generator down?"

The pink hedgehog nodded in response. "We'll be ready to start phase two of our operation, but we need to find a way to get Classic and Cyclone onto that station without them finding out they're on there. More importantly, one that reduces risk of them getting detected in the first place."

"I might have an idea." Shade spoke, setting up a hologram of the Death Egg and Westside Island. "According to the recent events thanks to the Jackal Squad, the Spaceport at the Chemical Plant Zone is still active and making supply deliveries to the station itself. The guarding has been severely increased ever since the Milla incident, but there should still be some carriers to sneak Cyclone and Classic onto." Shade would zoom in onto a westward sector of the plant. "Out on this side of it there's supply ships that'll be small enough that should allow you to slip on by unnoticed. For some reason his fleet doesn't ID check the smallest supply ships in the fleet, meaning you should be able to skirt in underneath the radar and get to work."

"There's only one problem." Amy spoke. "Who's going to be able to get Classic and Cyclone to there safely?"

"I've been considering our team options." Knuckles spoke. "I feel it might be best that we send in Tangle and Whisper with the two to make sure they get there without a hitch."

"Are you sure about those two?" Amy spoke.

"C'mon, you've seen how well Tangle could get herself out of those situations." Knuckles said, smirking. "She's a hard-hitting fighter! She's clocked out several of those Egg Pawns with merely her tail! She's a natural-blooded fighter!"

"And Whisper herself has proven to be quite a technical prowess herself." Shade spoke. "I don't know what that device she has is exactly, but it's surprising how well of a marksman she is with that weapon of hers. Though I'm curious of how her weapon was able to synchronize with the spectrum energy of the Wisps..."

"We can worry about that later." Knuckles said. "The point is, these two would be perfect for this mission to get them in there!"

"...alright, if you say so." Amy spoke. "I'll get the two notified, and then get Classic and Cyclone ready for the mission ahead. You two head back to Hidden Palace and see if you can get those two Emeralds decorrupted."

Both Shade and Knuckles nodded as they walked over to the teleporter. Amy sighed a bit as she soon turned to head for the temporary rooms for the base for the time being, the hall with several entrances for the temporary residences. Walking down the empty corridors, her footsteps echoing off the pavement and the occasional sounds of dripping water from the ceiling, the flickering of neon across the tunnels as the hedgehog soon came to the one entrance with a latch door. Taking a deep breath, Amy would type something in on they keypad next to it before the door opened.

She didn't expect the sight on the other end.

Tangle and Whisper were both fast asleep on the bed, the wolf's cloak hung up on the coat rack and the Wispon sitting right next to them. Tangle was behind Whisper, hugging the wolf in a caring embrace as her tail was also draped over them like a warm cover. The Wisps would be alseep in the corner of the room in a huddle, light burbling sounds coming from them. A faint blush was visible on both Whisper's and Tangle's faces as they were in slumber, unaware of the pink hedgehog that had entered the room.

Amy would lightly knock on the frame of the door. "Uhhh... hello?"

Whisper's eyes would shoot awake as she soon whirled out of the bed and grabbed the Wispon, soon the barrel of the weapon pointing directly at Amy's face. The tension was thick for a few seconds as both stood there frozen...

...then Whisper deactivated the weapon, setting it to her side. "Apologies." She spoke in a hushed tone. "I thought you were an intruder."

"It's alright." Amy spoke. "I didn't realize you two were in-"

"Nono, it's fine." Whisper spoke. "We weren't doing anything important. Are we needed?"

Amy nodded in response. "We've currently got a mission set up for both you and Tangle to do, so once you two are ready, report to the main communications room immediately for briefing."

"Understood." Whisper said, bowing a bit before Tangle stretched and woke up.

"Aaaaah..." The lemur yawned out. "What'd I miss?"


"Alright, one set down..." Amy spoke to herself, looking around at the base. "Now... where would Classic and Cyclone be?" Her thoughts swirled around a bit as she tried to think of where the two would be...

Though once Cyclone's voice rang out, it didn't take long to find out where.

"Just like that! Keep doing that!" Cyclone yelled as Amy entered into the clearing of one of the manhole hubs, seeing an fight brewing between the hedgehog and the dragoness.

Classic would then ready another Drop Dash as he hit the ground spinning, slamming straight into Cyclone with a hard force.

"Oh yeah, perfect!" Cyclone spat back. "Ancestors above, you sure you don't still have some of that Master Emerald's power inside you or something?!" She gripped hard as she defended against the hedgehog's moves as she kept her defense up.

"Having fun there?" Amy spoke, soon drawing the attention of the two.

"Oh, didn't expect you Am-" Was all that Cyclone said before being slammed to the side by Classic's Drop Dash.

Classic stuck his tongue out at her in response to her guard dropped.

"FUCK!" Cyclone yelled, groaning in pain. "Hey, not fair! I was distracted!"

Classic now was taunting her with face motions.

"Please, both of you settle down." Amy sighed.

Both Classic and Cyclone stopped the arguing and listened in to Amy.

"Good." Amy sighed. "Now. Both of you report to the main communications room. Effective immediately."

The two took off faster than Amy could track.

Amy sighed, resheathing her hammer and walking off back to the main communications room. All four would be in the communications room as Amy came in, soon drawing the attention of the four.

"Alright." Amy spoke. "You four have been selected for the infiltration of the Death Egg in order to prevent whatever this Project IKARUS might be. Tangle, Whisper, you two are to help get Classic and Cyclone to a supply ship to help them slip by the defenses of the station and enter into the heart of it. From there, Classic and Cyclone are to find and destroy the core, taking down the Death Egg entirely and taking out one of Eggman's biggest weapons he's got."

"Yeah, and us with it!" Cyclone said.

"Hold on." Amy spoke. "Whisper and Tangle will be coming with you to get the ship out of there before the entire place detonates with you four inside it."

"Any Emeralds we gotta worry about?" Tangle asked.

Amy merely shook her head in response. "No Chaos Energy readings from inside the station; I think it's safe to say Eggman's got the last Emerald somewhere else entirely."

"So all we gotta worry about is trashing the place. Gotcha." Tangle said, cracking her knuckles.

"No." Whisper said. "Our job is escort. The little ones take care of the destruction."

"Why Classic?" Cyclone said.

"Well... he's kinda done this before." Amy spoke.

Classic nodded in response, giving Amy a thumbs up.

"Alright, you four ready for this?" Amy asked.

The four nodded in response to the question.

"Alright. Get moving." Amy said. "Dismissed."


The wind was howling as the light snow was blown in the current as the group made their way to the edge of the seaside spaceport, peeking over the ledge to see down onto the operations of the entire port. Several more ships were departing and heading into the atmosphere with others roaring over head of the group as they made their landing downwards onto the pads.

"Alright Whisper, got any visuals on which ship we nab?" Tangle asked, keeping her eyes trained on the landing pads.

"Negative..." The wolf quietly responded. "Most ships appear to be too large for hijacking..."

Tangle angrily muttered. "Just freakin' great." She said. "Well how are we supposed to get these two on one?"

"Patience." Whisper spoke. "Our opportunity will come, we just need to wait..."

As if on cue a small ship would zip overhead before docking down near a closer landing platform, the Egg Pawns already starting to unload the supplies onto the base.

"Excellent." Whisper spoke. "I'll draw their attention away. You get the two down there."

Tangle nodded, soon Classic spinning into a ball as the lemur picked him up with her tail, then hurling him as hard as she could as he sailed over onto a crane rig, hiding on the arm of it as soon enough Cyclone scampered down the steep wall and hid behind a set of supply crates. Tangle would then look to Whisper.

"Alright, now what's our cover for getting 'em in?" The lemur asked as she saw the wolf unsheath her Wispon.

"I'll handle that." Whisper said as the Cyan Wisp flew out from behind her and into the Wispon. "You focus on getting them in." The lemur nodded in response as she soon skid down the wall and took cover with Cyclone. With everything in place, Whisper set her mask down and locked in her targeting system. Her optics darted between ship to ship to ship... no, all of these were too close; it was too much of a risk for her group to be seen...

And then an idea struck her. Re-aiming, she looked off more towards the distant parts of the Chemical Plant Zone... way far off... and soon enough she found her target. It was a large capsule of the blue liquid chemical, located about 3000 meters from her location, near the other side of the plant. Her breathing slowed as time seemed to slow around her, her finger hovering over the trigger of the gun...

She clamped it, soon firing off a near-instantaneous laser shot that then pierced the chemical vat at the far side of the plant and detonated, causing alarms to activate as the Egg Pawns rushed from the pads off in the direction of the explosion.

"Now guys!" Tangle said as the three rushed the small cargo ship, slipping inside as Whisper brought up the rear. The door shut behind them as they soon took their hiding space in the cargo hold under the floor, which was thankfully mostly empty and able to leave them enough room for movement.

"Everyone in position?" Whisper spoke in a hushed tone, looking around the cargo bay.

The other three nodded.

"Alright." Whisper spoke. "Now we wait..."


It was a quiet and agonizing trip up to the Death Egg, and Classic was definitely getting stir-crazy, constantly shifting over and over again as he wanted to get out and run around.

"Calm down, little blue." Tangle said in a quiet tone. "We'll get there, we'll get there."

Whisper sighed. "This really is taking a while..."

Cyclone snorted. "Woulda just been easier if we had just taken a teleported to the station..."

"We don't know its coordinates." Whisper spoke. "And it would have them lead right to our base."

"Which means that our asses are dead, and they're up five Chaos Emeralds!" Tangle commented. "Meaning everything we worked for is completely shot in the foot!"

"Calm down, ancestors..." Cyclone growled as Classic was still stir-crazy.

But soon enough the shuttle would come to a slamming halt as it came down hard in the landing.

"HEY! Be careful with that thing!" An Egg Pawn's muffled voice came from above. "The Empire's still got seven payments left on that ship!"

"Seven?" Another Egg Pawn said. "Who pays for these things anyways? I thought the doctor doesn't need to pay for them with his position!"

"He may be crazy enough to take on the regular armies, but the IRS?" The Egg Pawn said. "He's not that insane."

"Why not just send Infinite to kill them?" The second said.

"He's a god of reality!" The first said. "You really think he's gonna waste time with them?"

"Good point." The second said.

"Now help me start unloading this crap!" The first said, and the shifting of cargo can be heard from above. The four below are tense as the shifting continued, soon enough the sound of the floor hatch starting to unlock. Classic and Cyclone ran behind a few crates where soon two Egg Pawns came down into the hold.

"Hey, who are-" Was all that came out before the sounds of deactivation happened, Classic and Cyclone coming back out to see Tangle and Whisper already having disabled the Egg Pawns, the wolf removing it's outer casing as she ripped the casing off.

"Excellent." Whisper spoke. "Tangle, start stripping the armor off yours."

"What for?" Tangle said.

"We don't have much time, move!" She said.

"Hey!" A voice came from above, another Egg Pawn's. "What's going on down there?" An Egg Pawn would come down the ramp soon afterwards, to see... two Egg Pawns.

"Uhhhh, sorry man!" The one Egg Pawn said. "We've just got a lotta stuff in here, we'll get it out soon enough okay?"

The Egg Pawn narrowed his optics... then shrugged. "Alright, just don't take forever." He said before walking out of the bay. Tangle would then remove her Egg Pawn helmet and sighed.

"You sure this is gonna work Whisper?" Tangle said.

"We just need to keep them believing." Whisper spoke inside her armor, before looking to Classic and Cyclone. "You two get going; you've got a station to take down."

Classic nodded before rushing out of the ship faster than the group could interpret. Cyclone sighed, a light smack hitting her forehead.

"Damn it..." Cyclone spoke. "Lemme go grab him before he gets himself killed..." She soon took off out of the ship without being seen by any of the robots before slipping off down one of the corridors of the Death Egg... but she'd suddenly notice something was very, very off, especially from the sound of a loud shielding sound coming back online around the station.

"Hey, I thought the shield systems around the Death Egg were shut down." Cyclone said into her comm unit. "Amy, what's going on down there?"

"Looks like they're running back on auxiliary power now." Amy said. "Looks like they're not too happy about the attack on Shang Tu; I estimate that you and Classic only have about thirty minutes in there before they find out that you guys are already inside. Find the core and destroy it!"

"Roger." Cyclone said as she slipped across the metal walkways, keeping her pace as she leaped up to a higher platform, a light bridge extending up to the wall ashe soon ran up it and ran up the wall soon grabbing onto a device as she was pulled upwards as it latched onto a ceiling conveyor belt, being pulled along the ceiling of the corridor, out of view of the Badniks monitoring the halls. She kept herself silent as soon she dropped to the upper hallway as she continued onwards, still seeing part of this Death Egg was under construction as well as several moving pods were being shifted around the station.

"Looks like they're still building parts of it as we speak. I don't think they've finished construction on it yet!" Cyclone said into her comm unit.

"Keep your eyes open. Constructions means more Egg Pawns." Amy spoke. Cyclone would skid along the wall before ducking behind a corridor, letting a group of Egg Pawns pass by. She sighed. "Hopefully Classic's having an easier time than I am..." She muttered.

Meanwhile on a higher deck in the space station, Classic would be whizzing by several of the Badniks before they even got a chance to notice it was him. Soon enough he was stationed inside a ring transporter as the device revved him up in a Spindash before being flung through a series of light tunnels looping around a long corridor before it finally spat him out at the other side. Skidding to a halt, he'd look back down over where he was spat out to see if he needed to backtrack at all.

In hindsight, he could've ran the entire way there instead of taking the ring transporter. Woops.

Classic shrugged, continuing to run down the corridors before he had reached one of the more annoying aspects he had come to hate about the Death Egg: the annoying conveyor belt elevators lined with the spikes on the sides. Classic shifted his running speed to keep an even pace with the belt to make sure he wouldn't go into the spikes.

...he forgot about the missile launchers though. One slammed into his back as he was knocked forward off his feet, sprawling on the conveyor before it started pulling him back towards the spiked wall. Classic scrambled to his feet as he ran away from the spikes, being pulled back by the conveyor belt as he tried to get away from the spikes. Thankfully he'd soon be graced as the elevator hit the bottom floor and Classic faceplanted on the ground ahead. He'd sit back up as he shook his head, soon getting back on his feet as he zipped off down the next corridor. Skidding around the corner he'd soon slam through a Chainspike and keep running. So far no detection yet... but where was the core?

Cyclone was skidding around the corner just as she skidded up another light bridge and pushed off from it, soon attaching to the wall and skidding... up the wall? Turns out that gravity had shifted mid-way through the run and she was now running on the ceiling past the guard Badniks, avoiding detection entirely. Soon enough she skidded through a loop for a turbine before heading straight down a vertical shaft, slamming through a vent cover and slam through into the corridor below...

...right into Classic as he slammed straight into her, sending the two into a sprawling mess. Cyclone moaned in pain as she shook her head, seeing Classic sprawled as well.

"There you are!" Cyclone said. "Where the hell have you been?"

Classic signed.

"Oooooh, so you've been going the long way." Cyclone said. "Figures. No fun for you without a challenge, right?"

Classic gave a thumbs up.

"Alright." Cyclone spoke. "We've gotta be closing in on the core right now. Stay sharp."

Classic nodded before the two took off further down the corridor of the station...


"What's their status Amy?" Tails asked over the base comm unit as Amy monitored the two's progress.

"Well, they're closing in on the core of the station..." The hedgehog replied, keeping her eyes on the map radar. "Doesn't look like they're encountering much interference, so I don't think they've been detected yet. That's not what I'm worried about though..."

"What's wrong?"

"I haven't heard anything from Tangle or Whisper about their end of the operation." Amy answered. "I'm starting to think they've been compromised. Their radar signals haven't moved from the docking bay ever since they landed."

"Well, this is Classic and Cyclone's mission isn't it?" Tails spoke. "The only problem is gonna be organizing a rescue mission is if this whole thing goes under."

Amy sighed, hard. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." She spoke. "For now, I'm keeping monitoring open until something goes fubar."

"Roger." Tails spoke. "Miles out." With that, the comm unit cut as Amy kept focused on the radar of the two moving dots...


The blasts of steam and exposed piping meant they were closing in on the core of the base. With the two rushing down the corridor, they'd soon come across an opening heading deeper into the station base. Classic, curling into a ball, soon whirled down the opening through a series of tubes throughout the base. Spikebonkers and Chainspikes would be patrolling the outer corridors, not even seeing the blue hedgehog whizzing by through the tube transport system.

Cyclone would be right behind him, although less than gracefully.

Classic would slam out of the exit port, skidding to a halt as he soon found himself in the gigantic core room of the Death Egg itself. The gigantic orb in the center of the room was whirring with the several outer rings sparking, jolts of electricity jumping from the rings to the orb's frame itself. Classic smirked as Cyclone soon exited face-first from the piping system, soon starting to approach the core itself...

"That's far enough you two." A voice said in the same room from behind them. Both Classic and Cyclone would whirl around just in time to see Heavy King drop into the room, soon Heavy Shinobi dropped right by his side. "Thought you could be clever enough to sneak in here with the help of your little Resistance runts, did you?"

"Ho-"

"No need to explain." King interrupted, holding up a hand. "Heavy Gunner was more than kind enough to fill myself and Heavy Shinobi in on the details."

Classic made a motion acting as if he wanted a fight.

"Hmph, as if I would want to waste my own time with your pathetic excuse of a team." Heavy King remarked. "It'd be beneath me."

"Quit stroking your own damn ego." Cyclone growled. "And if you don't move within the next thirty seconds I'm going to remodel your ass into a new hood ornament!"

"Now resorting to petty threats are we?" Heavy King spoke again, clearly unamused.

"Perhaps this insubordinate needs to be taught a lesson..." Heavy Shinobi spoke, brandishing his signature katana. "Leave this to me, leader."

"Very well then." Heavy King said, slamming his sceptre onto the ground as it charged the ninja Eggrobo with Phantom Ruby energy. "Do not fail me." And with that, he had lept out of the room.

Classic immediately went on the offense, charging up a SpinDash and shooting straight forward at Heavy Shinobi. The robot reacted lightning fast and had already slashed in front of him by the time Classic got even close, soon encasing the hedgehog in a block of ice as he slid back towards Cyclone. The dragon growled in annoyance as she soon shoved Classic back at Heavy Shinobi, the robot merely volleying the hedgehog back before leaping into the air, sending a set of spinning Asterons straight for the dragon. Cyclone dodged out of the way as the Asterons detonated, sending a shower of spikes in their cardinal directions, some embedding into the ice block Classic was in. Classic squirmed in the ice block before shattering it, soon taking off at Heavy Shinobi again. The Eggrobo would be matching toe-to-toe with Cyclone in combat as he used a free hand to brandish his katana and slice at Classic again, encasing him in ice once more.

"Can you not get frozen for one second and help me out here?!" Cyclone practically hissed before being sharply slammed across the face by Heavy Shinobi's metallic foot. She was sent sprawling across the floor, blood oozing from her nose as Heavy Shinobi soon leaped over her, an Asteron spinning her way. Cyclone grit her teeth as she rolled out of the way before it struck the metal floor and detonated. Leaping back to her feet, she'd notice Shinobi brandishing another Asteron for a fight, and immediately her mind raced as she dashed forward and slid under the Eggrobo as he flicked the robotic starfish shuriken at where Cyclone was.

"Only got one shot...!"

With a deep breath, she drove her feet upwards into Heavy Shinobi's chassis, launching him upwards in a spinning motion as Classic broke out of the ice block again. Seeing his chance, he'd charge up another SpinDash before rocketing forward, slamming into the Eggrobo and launching him against the wall, leaving a sizable indent. Classic stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at the Eggrobo before thumbing his nose and mocking him.

"Nice shot." Cyclone said as Heavy Shinobi came out of the indent. "Looks like he's not down yet though, keep sharp!"

Heavy Shinobi's optics glowed as the Ruby's power activated. Soon enough his speed was accelerated through the roof as he started 'blinking' around the room, the Ruby's power making him almost impossible to track with the robot before it attacked, encasing her in ice as she slid across the core room floor. Classic gritting his teeth, rushed straight for the Eggrobo's position... only for five to materialize and slam Classic into the wall, pinning him down. Classic grit his teeth as he tried to struggle and squirm out of his position...

...that was until Cyclone slammed in from the side in a Dragon Boost, knocking the shadow clone Badniks away from Classic.

"You okay lil' blue?" Cyclone asked.

Classic, despite being face-first on the floor, gave a thumbs-up.

"Alright then, we've still got some fight left, let's take it right to them!" Cyclone said, rushing one of the Heavy Shinobi shadow clones. Classic would rev up a SpinDash as he rushed two of the others. Cyclone soon engaged the robot in hand-to-hand combat as she swept out the robot's feet to get an upper hand, delivering a crushing chop immediately to the robot's lack of a jugular. Leaping back as the clone collapsed, Cyclone would soon go help out Classic as the two took out the other shadow clones together in a team attack, scrapping them entirely as they soon turned to the last Shinobi.

...they failed to realize the real one has long since left the battle, with the copy being their only thread left in the battle.

Classic and Cyclone would have the robot clone on the ropes, soon having it with it's back against the wall. With nowhere else to run to, the copy would pull out a massive Asteron shuriken, soon whirling around intending to cleave it in two with the gigantic machine. Cyclone had a lightbulb go off on her head; she had an idea!

"Classic!" Cyclone yelled to the hedgehog. "On three, attack that Asteron!"

Classic nodded as the Heavy Shinobi clone soon lobbed the Asteron straight at the two. Classic and Cyclone both smirked as the large explosive drew nearer...

"THREE!" Cyclone yelled, before the two attacked the Asteron from underneath, slamming it over them... and straight into the core itself, jamming the rings and causing several of them to break off entirely. Alarms sounded loudly as Cyclone and Classic soon finished off the last clone.

"Alright, the core's outta commission! Let's get back to the shuttle!" Cyclone yelled, the two soon taking off back through the tube as explosions started to wrack the station. Egg Pawns were rushing around in a panic as Classic and Cyclone would burst through the horde, keeping the pace ahead of the alarms as the gigantic metal doors started to slam shut behind them, sealing the halls.

Out in the landing bay, things were in chaos as Egg Pawns were scampering and running like mad to trying to already repair the doomed station. Both Tangle and Whisper would be inconspicuous as they were starting to fire up the engines for the small shuttle.

"Get it ready for a boost." Tangle said. "We gotta blow the place the instant those two munchkins get in here before the entire station goes up with us in it!"

"I am working as efficient as I can, Tangle." Whisper hissed, typing into the shuttle's mainframe. "I'll need cover, though."

"Relax, I got your back, we're pals, remember?" The lemur responded, a cocky grin on her face as she rushed to the back of the ship, starting to slam the Egg Pawns away from the hatch as more kept coming at it. Tangle's tail would be smashing through three to four at a time, sending the scrap metal sprawling across the battlefield as they still tried to swarm her.

Soon enough Classic and Cyclone would rush out of the one corridor, Badniks flying in pieces as they rushed for the ship. "START THE ENGINES!" Cyclone yelled, the two diving in as the hatch to the ship closed.

"Almost ready..." Whisper said as a blast rocked the ship, nearly throwing the other three of their feet.

"We need to hurry!" Tangle yelled.

"Punching it!" Whisper would full-blast the throttle, throwing the three back against the walls of the ship as the shuttle shot out of the docking bay as the Death Egg violently detonated into several chunks as they fell and crashed onto the surfaces of Avalice and Mobius. Whisper slunk back in the pilot's seat, sighing in relief from the success of the mission.

"You guys did it!" Tangle exclaimed, jumping in place. "I-I can't believe it, you actually did it!"

Classic smirked and posed, essentially asking if there was any doubt if they would be able to do it.

"It was natural that we'd be able to pull it off." Cyclone said. "Now, let's report back to the base."

"Agreed." Whisper spoke as she guided the craft towards Mobius...


Needless to say, the doctor was NOT happy about what had happened.

"YOU LET THEM WHAT?!" His voice bellowed in the meeting room, nearly everyone cringing from the volume that he had yelled at.

"Well, this is a massive screw-up from the big leagues..." Zavok grumbled. "How the hell can you think that allowing them to explode one of our biggest weapons was a good idea?!"

"It was compromised the instant they set foot." Heavy Shinobi spoke. "There was no choice."

"Shinobi, I'm very disappointed with you." Heavy King spoke. "This is why you cannot abuse the Ruby's power when you overclock. Overclocking the Phantom Ruby for abuse will only lead to trouble."

"And the costing of my prized space weapon!" Robotnik growled. "I can't afford any more setbacks. Zavok. Tell Zik to tighten security on his prisoner. Absolutely no one, and I mean, NO ONE is allowed anywhere near that point without Empire credentials. Any violations of this are to be immediately terminated. Understood?"

"Yes, doctor." Zavok spoke.

"Good. Do not fail me." He growled as the Zeti left the room. "I'll end this war no matter what measures I have to go to..."


An exploded Death Egg rains down on the Empire as Classic and Cyclone succeed in their mission and return to home safely. But with the Zeti still broken apart, Pangu Lagoon is the next destination for the Zeti trio in search for their allies. Will they succeed? OR will they succumb to the Ruby's effects? Find out next time in Chapter 25: "Tropical Coast Terror"...