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Sonic and Sash: Tides of Chaos 3
Phantom Forces
Act 4
Chapter 27: Heroes Never Die
"Alright everyone, strap in, we've got exciting news for the entire force here!" Tails said as the whole Resistance force of the Mobius base shuffled into the room, sans their new avian friend who was still in medbay at the current moment.
"Well, get on with it!" Tangle said, her tail twitching. "I've got an itch for a new fight against those scrap heaps, and I'm ready to go for a new record in how many I can smash in under a minute!"
"Tangle, calm down..." Whisper spoke, trying (rather unsuccessfully) to get her friend to sit down.
"Alright folks, now as you've all probably heard by this point, thanks to Sven's interception of that message due to his Buzzbomber model," Tails said, motioning to the basset-husky.
Sven blushed a bit, rubbing the back of his head, clearly a bit embarrassed from the sudden attention. "I-it's nothing, really."
"But we now have Eggman's next plans of attack on where and exactly when he's going to strike next!" Tails said, typing something into his wrist console as a holographic map of a high-tech, almost futuristic city lit up the main board in front of them. "Grand Metropolis has HEXAeco's largest power supply on the west coast of the entire United Federation's U.Z.A.s, which in of itself is connected straight into Westopolis and Golden Bay Zone along the west coastline. Eggman's planning on capturing that location for bringing back a massive amount of power for his troops ever since Hanna, Rob, Whisper and Tangle leveled Oil Ocean Zone, an-"
"Hey, all these three did the work." Tangle interjected, motioning to Whisper and the two Scarves. "I was electro-unconscious for about 70% of that entire experience thank you!"
"Either way," Tails continued. "With the addition of our little stunt exploding the Death Egg and Whisper's little distraction stunt to get on there completely compromising Chemical Plant Zone, Eggman's going to turn there for his next power source, and chances are, he's gonna be bringing the big guns to the party."
"If I may..." Shadow said. "We do still have our support from what's still standing of G.U.N.. Rouge and I actually have gotten a news update from Commander Tower recently that might be helpful in this situation."
"Go on?" Tails asked, his interest now piqued.
"Do you remember that one project the commander had enlisted you to help with back during the Black Arms invasion?" Shadow asked.
Tails' eyes lit up. "It's finally finished?!"
"Diablon's just succeeded in the testing phase; it's go for deployment." Shadow finished.
"Is Knucky not gonna be joining us on this mission?" Rouge said. "I haven't seen a wink of him ever since he and that other echidna girl left for Westside Island."
"Unfortunately he's not going to be joining us." Amy spoke. "With this plan Shade has for bringing in these 'Super Emeralds' or whatever they are, both of them need to be in the main Emerald chamber on Westside at all times to defend it, as losing the Master Emerald could severely cripple our chances at winning this war."
"And the corrupted Emeralds?"
"Knuckles and Shade are already working on purifying them as we speak." Amy reassured. "We're working as fast as we can but thankfully with one of Eggman's major threats out of the way, we can afford to spare at least a little bit of time for the purification."
"Besides, once we have all the Emeralds back in their purified states, we can potentially get Classic and Cyclone to go super once we do our final assault on his base!" Tails said.
"Speaking of, I've also got a juicy bit of info, if my sis doesn't mind helping me share it." Carol said, grinning at the older mint-furred Tea.
"Well then, go ahead." Coral spoke, leaning back a bit as the feline stepped up.
"From a little recon I personally did before this, turns out that we might have a way of getting Sonic and Sash outta Null Space." Carol said. "While the Ruby copies we've been gathering haven't been enough to rip open into it... it does seem to have enough power to rip those inside it out. Meaning if we can somehow get one of those prototypes inside Null Space without alerting Infinite to the fact we have them, we might just have a chance of freeing Sonic and Sash back to our world!"
"And how do you expect that to happen?" Vector interjected. "Bear in mind none of us have been able to activate it at all."
"None of us..." Coral said, looking to Milla. "Except the Basset."
Everyone turned and looked at Milla as Coral continued. "Regardless of what happens, Milla is our only shot at freeing Sonic and Sash out of that prison and back to our world. The prototypes only react in her grasp, and as such, she's our ace."
"So... are we just supposed to let Infinite throw her into Null Space like some sort of ban-happy admin?" Charmy interjected.
"Well... more or less." Tails spoke. "But the key is she takes that Ruby prototype with her." Milla would take the prototype out of her pocket. "Once she's inside, she can rip open a rift in the dimensional fabric and give herself, Sonic and Sash a chance to escape!"
"This is gonna be dangerous Milla..." Sven said, looking at her. "You sure you don't need me or my bots backing you up in case things go south?"
The basset girl merely shook her head. "This is something I need to do alone. As much as I appreciate the concern, I don't want to risk any more casualties from our base than necessary to save our friends."
"Fair enough." Sven said, stepping back. "So Tails, is there anything else we should be aware of for this mission?"
The kitsune shook his head. "We've basically laid out all the information we know about what's going on with this thing. But we need to strike now if we want a chance."
Murmurs would spread across the crowd in the base before Tails held his hands up.
"I know a lot of you are concerned about this mission." The kitsune said. "But I truly believe we have a chance at this, so let's go in hard! And don't hold back!"
Cheers would rise from the Resistance base as they prepared for shipping out for Grand Metropolis...
The skies glowed a stormy red as the Egg Fleet slowly soared overhead of the skyscrapers of Westopolis, several Egg Pawns dropping from the ships and landing down as they opened fire on the G.U.N. Hunter units, Buzzbombers and Beetle units engaged in an aerial shootout between the city updrafts. Larger of the Hawk Units would be bombarding the Badniks with a rapid-fire assault while several Hornet-3's and Hornet-6's moved in for deployment of their bomb pods for a bombing run on the Pawn infantry.
It wasn't long before the first part of the megalomaniac's army arrived, the Hard Boiled Heavies in full swing of assault as Heavy Rider was already ramping off debris and slamming her mace straight into several of the G.U.N. drones attempting to open fire on them, while being chased by some of the Rhino Units. Heavy King would be slamming his staff into the podium of raised roadway as a beam of destruction came from its orb, singeing the ground and destroying any sort of target in its path. Heavy Gunner was already underway with the firing squad, he and a bunch more of his Eggrobos opening fire on Resistance and G.U.N. troops, looking to drive them out of the city entirely... if they didn't level it first at this rate.
Bomb sirens like the world was already ending were going off as large lasers from the Egg Fleet smashed into the ground, ripping apart the city's roadways as to limit Resistance ground troops... though that wasn't stopping the one black hedgehog currently skating across the upper roadways, the femme fatale bat hot on his heels.
"Gaia alive, this is looking even worse than the Black Arms invasion..." Shadow spoke to himself, before tapping his comm unit. "Delta team, this is Renegade and Fatale, how bad is it on your end?"
"We're keeping the bots held off as best we can." Aaron's voice said over the comm. "Tangle and Whisper are making quick work of the bots, but neither Eggman or Infinite's shown up yet for us to get Milla in position. Any sign on your end?"
"Negative." Shadow spoke. "Our current sweep of the highways has been turning up nothing. Omega team, anything from you?"
"JUST ALLOW ME TO PUT BULLETS INTO THESE SHINY METAL ASSES AND I WILL BE SATISFIED." Omega droned over the comm unit. "THAT BEING SAID, NO DIMENSIONAL ANOMALIES HAVE BEEN DETECTED ON MY SCANNERS AT THE MOMENT. I BELIEVE HE IS STALLING TO GET HERE."
"...shit, that might mean he knows what we're trying to pull." Rouge said. "Just keep up firing on all of them and don't let them get through."
"I AM MY OWN PERSONAL ARMY. I NEED NO OTHER HELP."
"Last time you said something like that you got trashed for six months." Shadow dryly commented.
"I HEARD THAT." Omega answered, before the comm unit cut out.
Shadow grit his teeth as he and Rouge continued their onward journey across the high-rise highway...
Meanwhile, down below, the wildcat sisters were already making quick work of carving up Eggman's robots like roast turkey, Carol quick-switching from scythe to rifle every few combos of bots.
"You're gettin' sloppy sis!" Coral said, soon slicing her way through seven Pawns at the same time. "Keep your head focused, don't go for the easy combos!"
"Says the sis that has less robo-kills than me!" Carol retorted, soon whirling around and unloading a sniper shot as it slammed through five separate Egg Pawn heads at once. "I'm currently leading!"
"Watch your six!" Coral yelled, Carol ducking as the energy bullet whizzed by the top of her head, barely missing singeing the fur.
"Nice try bolts-for-brains!" Carol retorted... before a slew of plasma shots came by, decimating a set of the Egg Pawns. Carol looked shocked before Sven rode by on his transformed Motobug, his Crabmeat latched onto his back and his Buzzbomber flying by him.
"Keep your aim down wind Sven!" Carol said. "You're stealin' my kills!"
"Aw lighten up a bit!" The dog said as he sped off, the Crabmeat on his back firing off the plasma balls into the crowd of Badniks. The Tea sisters would be keeping up on the pressure on the oncoming Badniks before a lumbering Death Egg Sentinel would be coming their way.
"Shit, we got company sis!" Carol yelled, leaping back. "Go for it's eye!"
"On it!" Coral growled, soon skidding across the tarmac of the road before taking off up the collapsed structure of a skyscraper, swinging off the exposed poles as she scampered up the walls before making the leap for the Sentinel head... but she'd soon see that the the massive mech was charging up a gigantic laser beam, ready to fry her instant!
"Shitshitshit!" Coral thought to herself as she gripped the Mech-Blade, ready to commit to getting to the Sentinel's eye and stabbing it before it tried to make her into extra crispy...
And then a massive metal fist smashed straight into the optic of the Sentinel, smashing it to pieces and causing the entire mech to topple. Coral went wide-eyed and was thrown off guard before she found herself caught in the other gigantic metal hand belonging to the aerial mech being piloted by Tails, the serial number of U78-X/D plastered on the side.
"You okay?" The kitsune said, setting the wildcat back on the ground.
"Thanks for the save." Coral commented, hopping back down to the ground. "We'll keep the area covered for now; use that machine's weapon systems to get the other Sentinels taken down!"
"You can count on me!" Tails said, turning and flying away from the two cats as Coral smirked.
"I can see why you fell for him." She commented to her younger sister.
"Just remember he's mine sis!" Carol retorted as the two continued shredding through the Egg Pawns...
Over in the east sector of the city, both Classic and Cyclone would be charging through the Badniks with the help of the G.U.N. Hunters as they rounded a corner. Motobugs would be ramping off the debris as they gave chase to the duo. Classic signaled to the small dragoness that he was going to try something, Cyclone nodding in agreement. Classic would leap back and land on one of the Motobugs, the small ladybug Badnik starting to flail to try and get him off. With a shit-eating grin across his face, Classic would slam the Motobug into one of the other ones, before leaping to the next one and gripping it's head, flipping it over him in a sort of suplex motion as the trio of bugs smashed into the wall and exploded, the hedgehog skidding around the corner and keeping a quick pace with the Rhino Units that Cyclone was riding.
"A bit brute-force, but impressive takedown on those Motobugs." Cyclone said, before looking ahead, seeing some G.U.N. Beetles fleeing from some assaulting Buzzbombers.
"More company. You good to go?" Cyclone asked.
Classic flashed a thumbs-up.
"Then grab on!" Cyclone said, leaping up and grabbing onto one of the Buzzbombers as they were chasing the Beetles. Classic looked shock before running up a fallen tree and gripping onto the other Buzzbomber... rather ungracefully as it was already flailing to get the pint-sized pincushion off of him. Cyclone rolled her eyes at this before she went to quick work and unleashed a flurry of rapid-fire punches onto the Buzzbomber she was on, it starting to fail and give out from under her. Quick reflexes would be on her side as she lept to the next to the next one, slicing it to shreds with her tendrils. She kept up this dangerous game of leap frog as soon Classic just slammed up several Buzzbombers to catch up, before the last one fell, ridding the Beetles of their assailants.
"There's more of them down!" Cyclone said, leaping down onto another passing Rhino Unit. "Still holding up?"
Classic flashed her a peace sign.
"Alright!" She said, looking back ahead. Suddenly she could hear something...
That familiar pulsating sound...
"Guys, look alive!" Cyclone said into her comm unit. "I'm hearing the sound of the Ruby, he's here!"
"Copy that, where's the current location?" Milla said over the comm unit.
"Classic and I are out in the east sector of the city." Cyclone responded. "Hurry! Judging from the sound of the Ruby he's likely on his way to the central tower right now!"
Milla would look up out over the ruined city landscape, seeing the tower in the center of the landscape of the city, and seeing the converging of the airship fight taking place there. Gripping tightly to her Ruby copy, she took off across the building rooftops towards the path of destruction. She could definitely hear the sound of gunfire nearby, and soon enough she'd have to abandon her post as she lept down onto one of the roadways passing through the city, keeping the pace. Soon enough the sounds of trampling metal footsteps started echoing from behind her, as the metallic purple ostriches started storming her way. Gritting her teeth, she'd leap onto the first one passing her as she kept a firm grip on its metal neck, soon enough the side panels of the robot opening up as missiles flew out in multiple directions, some of them colliding into the other ostriches and exploding them, but other smashing into the roadway and creating a massive gap in the road. Clenching her eyes shut, the basset lept from her ride just as they went over the cliff, her fingers soon finding the edge of the other side as the metal ostrich exploded on the ground below. Pulling herself up, she'd continue her sprint on all fours down the roadway before hitting a spring, launching her up to a higher location.
"Basset! Watch your six!" A voice yelled. Milla quickly ducked as a plasma shot whizzed overhead, striking the ground in front of her. She'd turn just to see Finn stabbing his red sword through the assailant Egg Pawn, the rest of the Jackal Squad providing backup behind him.
"We'll keep you defended, just keep moving!" He yelled, the basset nodding in response as she kept her pace back across the rooftops headed towards the central tower. Skidding across the rooftop, she'd soon slam her feet into the fire escape as she rode it's tilting angle down towards another roadway... right as another skyscraper was collapsing almost right onto the top of her. Tensing up, she'd summon orange Phantom Spheres in her hands and hurl them straight at the falling building, the detonation of the spheres sending rubble all around her as she jumped through the hole she newly created. Hitting the side of the building running, she'd scamper up the collapsing building before skidding across the floor of where the building collapsed, soon taking off and leaping inbetween the perilous perches of the buildings before finally rolling out onto another fire escape.
Scampering up the steel structure, she'd soon take notice of what looked like the doctor's hovercraft flying by the building, along with the hound. Thankfully they didn't seem to notice her, so she continued her ascent before vaulting back onto the rooftop, taking her sprint back towards the main tower.
"This is Oracle, over." Milla said into her comm unit. "I have visual on the doctor and Ti- Infinite heading for the main tower." She corrected herself. "I'm ready to put our plan in action."
"Excellent Milla!" Amy said from over the comm unit. "We're holding out good over here, Cream and Gemerl are currently scrapping a lot of the Pawns swarming the north plant. How close are you to them?"
"Fifty meters and closing." Milla reported, dodging right out of the way as one of the airship's laser cannons struck down, cutting straight through the floor where Milla once was. "Gah! Think G.U.N. can target Eggman's air fleet? Those laser cannons are gonna cause major issues!"
"Tails is already piloting the Diablon, I might be able to get him to assist in targeting the ships!" Amy said. "Just hold out for a few minutes while I wrangle him over the comms!"
"Alright!" Milla replied before the comm cut out. The basset grit her teeth as soon she began to start climbing up the larger buildings nearby in an attempt to start gaining altitude to try and reach the top of the tower before they'd pull anything. Keeping her senses focused, she'd dodgeroll out of the way as another laser fire came from the above airships. She growled to herself as she broke back out into her four-legged sprint. They must know she's coming! But... then why would they be firing at her so obviously? Wouldn't they be leading their shots if they were going for a kill?
And then it hit her: they weren't trying to kill her; they were trying to get as much distance as possible.
"Shit..." Milla growled. "I can't keep this up if they keep firing on me like this!"
"Hold on a sec, lemme help ya with that!" Tails voice rang over the comm unit as a massive laser fired from another point in the city, the laser crashing through the airship and exploding the craft entirely. Milla pulled her own weight as she gripped tightly to a new Phantom Sphere she created, detonating it underneath her feet as she launched herself into the air, gripping onto an outhanging flagpole as she used her body weight to soon swing herself up and around it, then using it to bounce her way up higher as she soon vaulted to the next rooftop.
"Twenty and closing..." Milla muttered to herself, keeping her stride. She definitely feels like she should've reached the tower by now. Maybe it was an effect of the Ruby going off silently. Didn't matter; she had to reach that tower. Making a leap, she'd soon grab onto a passing Valkeen unit, sending the bomber out of control as it spiraled downwards. Quickly summoning a vine from her wrist she'd latch it around the bird robot's beak and pull up hard, the thrust redirecting and shooting skyward as she made the ascent of the building. Squinting, she could just barely make out the edge of the building coming up, giving her the chance she needed. Within a second to spare, she dismounted the Valkeen unit right as it crashed into the underside of another of the Empire airships, gracefully flipping in midair and landing in a crouching position on the ground, all four of her appendages touching it as to reduce the sound she made from impact.
Ahead of her was none other than the hound and the doctor, not even facing her direction as they seemed to be discussing something...
"So, the plan is go for launch tomorrow?" The doctor spoke.
"Everything will proceed, precisely as fate fortold it." The hound spoke, his arms crossed. "By tomorrow's eve, every last living resistance member will be no more than ashes in the wind. A figment of the imagination to whoever would be remaining on these pitiful rocks."
Milla tensed up, daring not to make a sound as she heard the conversation unfold in front of her. 'But...' She thought to herself. 'Didn't... didn't we already stop his Project ICARUS?'
"Hmph, I hadn't anticipated this being backed into a corner so quickly..." Robotnik growled. "And even after the string of victories we've had all across most of the other continents of Mobius as well."
"And yet these people still desperately try to cling to feeble hope. Yet what is it all for?" Infinite spoke. "They try to grasp onto what doesn't exist. They don't realize that even with their fighting back, you've already won. Their saviors are gone; as long as Null Space exists, they will never have the hopes of leaving their personal slice of hell."
'Not if I have anything to say about it...' Milla thought to herself, checking her tail, feeling for the Ruby prototype hidden beneath its furry exterior.
"Oh? And what exactly do you hope to achieve?" Infinite's cold voice spoke, whirling around to see the Basset girl.
Milla froze. 'Crapbaskets...' She thought to herself as she got to her feet, summoning Phantom Cubes in her hands as if she was ready to fight.
Soon enough the doctor turned in his Eggmobile, staring down the basset. "And lo and behold the basset girl comes straight to us." He spoke. "Once again Infinite, your deadly premonition abilities stand out once again."
"As if there was any doubt." Infinite spoke, looking back to Milla. "And you. I would've thought one from my own flesh and blood would have had a little more respect upon greeting me for what will be your final time. Not even a little friendly hello?"
Milla grit her teeth, her frame holding still like iron as she kept her cubes held.
"Ah, I see... the bravado act again." Infinite spoke, hovering closer to her. "Once again I can smell the fear coming off you. Even after the two times we've fought, you're still scared for your life..."
Milla growled, soon hurling the cube straight at Infinite at a near-blinding speed.
The larger hound would merely backhand the cube away from him like it was nothing.
Milla swallowed hard, backing up slightly, only to feel the pebbles crumble away over the edge of the building behind her.
"And now that smell of sheer terror is only getting stronger." Infinite spoke, a small dark orb forming in his hand. "A shame, really. I would have loved having one of my own bloodline finally back as a partner for rebalancing this world to its natural order..."
"Enough with the talk!" Robotnik growled. "I will not allow her to interfere with my plans any further! The longer she and her little Resistance runts keep this up, the more likely she'll pull something and undo this hard work I've striven to achieve!"
"...very well." Infinite spoke, floating back a bit as the dark orb floated in the center of the airspace in the center of the rooftop of the tower. "Regrettably, I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but... farewell Milla Basset... forever." With that last line, Infinite shot a small red orb into the dark one, the black hole to Null Space ripping open and starting its pull on the area...
Milla stood still on the rooftop, feeling the suction of the Null Space portal pulling her in, a glare of determination and anger evident in her eyes.
She took a deep breath, and sprinted into the portal full force, it closing up behind her once she got in.
From another distant tall rooftop, the Diablon was parked in standby mode as Tails concealed himself behind an vent unit, looking through his goggles with zooming to get a quick look at what was going on. Once he saw Milla run head-first into the portal, he activated his comm unit.
"...she's in." Tails said, looking onwards at the tower. "We just need to hope this plan works to it's end..."
The basset skid to a halt, red particles being kicked up by her feet as she skidded across the cube-path rooftop, now fully cognizant of the surrounding purple desolate landscape, strikes of lightning flashing in the distance as purple-blue ribbons of lights lightly flowed across the skies, the almost grid-like lines running along the 'floor' and 'ceiling' of the place.
"So... this is it..." Milla breathed, looking around the small rooftop of a cube building she was on. "And if Sonic and Sash we're right, I should still be on the top of the skyscraper like in the real world..." She'd walk to the edge, looking down over the edge to see the cubes making up her pathway materializing in a vertical line, much like the side of a building. Taking a deep breath, she'd leap down and ride the side of the wall, looking out over the void-like landscape... or what could be seen of it, sans the occasional floating cube in the nothingness. A sharp feeling hit her gut, one she hadn't felt for almost four years.
A sense of loneliness.
This was the first time in four years that she was truly alone again.
She shook her head, pushing the feeling down in her throat as she reached the ground, soon taking off across the blocky abandoned streets, the world materializing around her as she searched for the hedgehog and dragoness. Occasionally sharp red cubes would spike out of the ground in an attempt to shear her alive, but she'd counter with a Phantom Cube of her own and blast it to pieces.
She kept it up as she sprinted across the blocky way... but she soon came to a stop as she realized something. If this world was kept in its layout of the main dimension... that would mean she would have a lot of ground to cover... and not a lot of time to do so...
She slammed her fist against a cube wall. Was this all for nothing then?! Did she just get sent to Null Space for no good reason?!
And then it hit her.
If she couldn't find Sonic and Sash...
...she'd just bring them to her.
Summoning one of her Phantom Spheres, she soon charge it with fire energy as she gripped to it tightly, soon reeling back and hurling the thing as fast and hard as she could towards the 'sky' of this dimension, the thing rocketing fast as it climbed in altitude. Then once Milla determined it had hit a high enough point... she clenched her fist, detonating the sphere as it detonated into a fiery explosion above her. Surely, it would attract the attention of someone... right?
Far off in another section of Null Space, both Sonic and Sash would be sitting under a cube-like tree, just merely looking out into the subspace void... when the hedgehog's ear twitched, sitting forward more.
"You just here that?" Sonic said, looking around.
"Hear what?" Sash said, sitting up.
"That sounded like some sort of explosion..." Sonic said, looking around the space... before his eyes caught something.
"Is... is that smoke?" The hedgehog said, pointing out in the distance at where it came from.
"Wait... that should be impossible." Sash spoke, standing up. "The only way there'd be smoke in this world would be..."
And then the realization hit them.
"Milla!" They both shouted, soon taking off in a burst of speed towards the source of the explosion...
The basset panted, leaning against the back cube-like wall as she slid to the ground, finally sitting down. It took her a lot of her strength to do it, but she hoped that blast would have been big enough for anyone to see from her location.
Her breathing became heavy. Was she truly alone here? What if Sonic and Sash didn't hear the explosion?
...was this truly all for nothing?
She sighed, closing her eyes, starting to feel the tears starting to flow...
"Milla!"
The basset's eyes shot open. That voice...!
"Milla!" She quickly got up and looked to her right, soon seeing the blue and purple blurs heading straight for her!
Her heart swelled in relief and happiness.
They were alive.
Without another word Milla gripped the two into a tight bear hug, sobbing into the dragoness' shoulder in relief as she finally had closure that they were alive. Sash kept silent and rubbed small circles on Milla's back, attempting to calm the basset down.
"I'm so glad..." Milla whimpered. "You're both okay..."
"Heh, you think a void's gonna keep the both of us down?" Sonic said. "Infinite may have thought sending us to this place would keep us outta the way, but he made the mistake of keeping us together."
Sash nodded. "That's how we've kept our minds in place." She spoke, stepping back a bit to look at Milla fully. "My... you've definitely matured in the six months we've been trapped here."
"I'm diggin' the new outfit." Sonic said. "Fits your style a bit better."
Milla would blush a bit, but soon turn serious. "Alright, let's get you guys out of here. Everyone's waiting for us back home!"
"Say no more, just hop on my back!" Sonic said, getting into a starting position as Sash did beside him. Milla would crawl onto the hedgehog's back as she pulled the Ruby prototype our from her tail.
"Ready to try that technique again Sash?" Sonic asked.
Sash smirked, activating her chargers as the crystal packs started glowing a blue hue. "I was born ready for this."
"Then let's do it!" Sonic said, both sides charging up a Peel-Out...
"Double..."
"BOOST!" Both Sonic and Sash yelled as they took off at a blinding speed, tearing through the red spiky cubes like nothing else, Milla gripping onto Sonic as she gripped the Phantom Ruby prototype. All around them Null Space started to collapse, more of the outside world peeking through the cracks made...
"K-keep at this speed!" Milla said from on the back of Sonic , gripping tight to the Ruby prototype as it started to glow its magenta hue. "We've only got one shot at this!"
"Do it!" Sash yelled. "I don't know how longer I can maintain this speed!"
"Okay!" Milla said, gripping the Ruby tightly as she held it out in front of her. Soon enough the two would be running towards a portal of light...
The battle was nearly neck-and-neck in the city streets as both G.U.N. robots and Badniks were scrapping eachother faster than they could replace them, as the aerial battles with the airships showed a clear advantage geared towards the Resistance's more heavy firepower. On the ground, most of the Resistance members would be duking it out with more of the Badniks coming their way, Tails laying waste to the mechanical grunts with the Diablon's fighting capabilities.
"We're making good headway!" Amy said over the comm unit. "If we can keep the pressure up, we might just be able to force him into a retreat!"
"Easier said than done!" Rouge spoke. "His forces are still just inundating on the west side of the city! Even with Omega's firepower, we might lose that sector!"
"Just keep it holding! We're on the upper hand!" Amy answered. "We can win this!"
"'Sup everyone! I missed this place!"
Nearly everyone froze from hearing that voice. No... was that?!
"S-Sonic?!" Amy cried into the comm unit.
"Is Sash with you?!" Carol said into the comm unit.
"Loud and clear!" Sash answered. "Got Ruff Stuff with me too!"
"A-are you both alright?!" Tails asked concerned. "What happened?!"
"Nothing happened. Literally." Sonic snarked. "Now let's track down that egghead and scramble him a new one!"
"He's headed for the main power plant!" Tails said. "You might not have much time before he tries to commandeer or even detonate it across the city!"
"Heh, where we're going, we don't need time!" Sonic said, as the blue and lavender blur took off across the elevated highways, the scraps of Badniks flying to the wayside as the speed of the Double Boost tore through nearly everything in their path, shredding it to pieces as the scraps were thrown to the wayside.
"You can catch us up on the rest of the stuff once this is over, how's the battle holding up?" Sash said into the comm unit.
"We've got 'em on the ropes!" Amy said. "If you two can shred more than enough of Eggman's forces and send him running, we might just be able to move in for a finishing blow against his army!"
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Sonic said. "I'll send 'em to the junk pile faster than he can make 'em anyday!" He'd then boost ahead, Milla still holding onto his back as the scrap metal was sent flying across the roadway, soon Sash catching up and launching off a ramp, landing on a rail as she grinded her way across the cityscape. Nebula Badniks would come swooping in for dropping mines on the dragoness, but Sonic had soon dashed in and smashed from Badnik to Badnik, exploding them as he soon hit another grind rail and started shredding along it, sparks flying from the bridges of his shoes as the two grinded towards the main plant skyscraper. Sonic grinned as he soon saw a red spring out-sticking on one of the scaffolding nearby. Leaning into the rail and increasing his speed, he'd soon launch off the rail and hit the spring feet-first. The compression would hit hard as Sonic and Milla would be sprung skyward at an angle before the hedgehog would start running up the face of the building. Missiles would come flying at the building as it started to lean at a slight angle, Sonic starting to almost defy gravity as the building fell towards him, Running as fast as he could up the building face before hitting a spring at the top of it, launching onto a rail before grinding down it and having it head straight for the power plant's main tower, Sash soon grinding back in next to him.
"There it is!" Sash said. "Alright Eggman, let's give ya somethin' to be scared of!"
Meanwhile at the top of the power plant, the doctor was already having his robots working away at getting what looked like some sort of machine set up at it's apex point while the hound merely monitored the situation. That was... until Sonic, Sash and Milla landed behind them. At that point only Orbot had been looking over the back of the Eggmobile, but the moment he had seen the three, he'd be frantically tapping the megalomaniac's shoulder.
"Uh, b-b-b-boss?" Orbot frantically stammered, as the doctor muttered something to himself.
"What is it now..." Robotnik growled, slightly looking over his shoulder before turning back ahead.
Then the realization of who was behind him kicked in and he whirled around faster than anyone expected.
"WHAT?!" The doctor growled, clenching his fists in anger. "How?! Null Space was supposed to be the perfect inescapable prison! There should be no way you two have broken out of there!"
"Heh, well, maybe not by myself, but..." Sonic snarked, looking to Sash and Milla. "I had a little help from a few friends of mine! A mistake I'd think a genius of your intellect would know!"
Robotnik growled, slamming his fists on the deck of his Eggmobile. "This changes NOTHING!" He yelled. "Project ICARUS will be nearing it's final stages soon enough, and once that happens, you'll ALL be ashes beneath the feet of my empire! ALL of you!"
Sash smirked. "I'd like to see you try that now that we're back. Especially since you now know that little Null Space trick of yours doesn't work." She spat.
The doctor slammed his fists again. "This isn't the end of this, you hear! In less than 24 hours, all of you will be burned to a crisp before the empire!" With that, the Eggmobile would fire up and take off for the main airship, Infinite following suit.
Sonic smirked. "I get the feeling we won't have to worry about him for a while." Soon enough the comm unit would start vocalizing as Amy's voice came through.
"Fantastic job everyone! Grand Metropolis has been held by our forces, and Eggman's going into retreat!" Amy said. "All members of the Mobius Resistance Division, report back to base! We've got a special surprise in store for everyone involved!"
Sonic smirked. "How much you wanna bet that surprise is us?"
Sash smirked back. "I'm gonna bet a fair amount."
With the return to base, Sonic and Sash were soon inundated with the rest of the Resistance members in open arms overjoyed that the two had finally made it out alive.
"Oh man! So you're THE Sonic!" Tangle said, starry eyed. "I-It's really an honor to meet a living legend like you!"
"Heh, don't mention it." Sonic said, smirking as he shook the lemur's hand. "You are?"
She gave a salute in response. "Tangle Kirano, at your service!"
"Heh, well, nice to meet ya!" Sonic said. "Heard you've been pulling your weight around here!"
"I've kept her in line." The wolf said, walking up next to the lemur. "Whisper."
"Nice to meet you." Sash said, shaking her hand. "You both have been a very great help to the team."
Tangle blushed, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "Eheheheh, it's nothing! Just doing what we can to help!"
Sonic smirked as he continued to walk on, soon meeting back up with Amy back at the head of the base.
"Heh, never really did get to talk to ya more often before that whole stunt happened..." Sonic said, leaning on the console as he looked over to the pink hedgehog.
"I'm just glad you're still okay." Amy said, looking up to meet Sonic's gaze. "There were some points before Milla had that initial breakthrough with the Ruby that... we all thought you were truly gone..."
"..." Sonic fell silent for the most part. "You were scared?"
"All of us were." Amy spoke. "We truly thought you had died..."
Sonic remained silent, staring down at the ground. There'd be a dead air for a couple of moments as the silence was held in a thick cloud, aside from the bustle of the rest of the base with Sash's return as well.
Then, without warning, Sonic would hug Amy. The pink hedgehog would tense up for a second, not expecting the sudden affection, but then she'd return the hug, small tears streaming down her face.
"We'll win this war..." Sonic spoke. "I promise."
"Thank you..." Amy said, as Tails soon hovered over.
"So, Sonic..." Tails said, a slight concern on his face. "Did... anyone tell you about our new allies?"
"What, the jackals?" Sonic asked. "I mean, yeah, I met them. Their leaders seems a bit too tense for his ow-"
"Nononono, not them..." Tails said.
"Then who?" Sonic asked.
"Ehm..." Tails started, before a voice rang out.
"Hey! There's the blue pincushion!" A voice yelled, before the hedgehog was tackled to the ground by the pink Zeti, Sonic soon under the assault of... a noogie? "Bout time you got your spiky blue butt back to this world!"
"Heyheyhey, careful Zazz!" Another voice, belonging to Zeena, said as the other four of the group ran over. "Last thing we need is to really kill him!"
"What?" Zazz mouthed back. "Can't a guy show a little affection?"
"Well, this is certainly the last thing I was expecting!" Sonic said from Zazz's noogie headlock. "I thought you guys work on your own. And on the Lost Hex for that matter."
"Yeah, well, kinda hard to do that when the doc snaps it apart harder than my peanut brittle stash." Zomom says.
"That, and the current situation at hand calls for an alliance." Zik spoke. "Aside from that, I can safely say that we have at least seen the error of our ways against you and your friends in the past."
"So... you're reforming?" Sonic asked.
"For the most part." Zor spoke. "We're mostly concerned about where our Zavok is though. Our phantom copies haven't revealed any sort of information present to his whereabouts at all."
"Or that last Chaos Emerald for that matter." Zeena spoke. "We know we might be able to have you and Ms. Sparkly over there change this war's tide with them, but a set of six ain't gonna cut it."
"I haven't had the emerald come up on the radar at all..." Amy said, turning back to the main console. "Either our radar isn't strong enough, or Eggman has it sealed somewhere where we don't know where it is!"
"Hngh..." Sonic grunted. "This might be troublesome. Without that last emerald, Sash and I can't transform into our super forms."
"We'll keep looking for it." Amy said, continuing the island scan. "But I don't know if we'll find anything."
Sonic nodded, before walking off to another part of the base.
"...so, this the new rookie?" Sash asked, looking over the blue and white husky.
Milla nodded. "And the one who's saved my life from the Death Egg."
Sash smirked. "You got a good fighting spirit kid. What's your name?"
The husky smiled, extending a hand. "Just call me Sven."
Sash met the hand, shaking it. "Nice to meet ya Sven." She answered. "So... any heading on where the other rookie went?"
Sven shrugged. "Think he might be in the back training or something. He's probably just back there to keep from setting stuff on fire."
"Fair point." Sash said, still looking around a bit before seeing her feline friend. She smiled a bit, walking over to her.
"We've got a lot of catching up to do." Sash said to Carol.
"Heh... you don't know the half of it..." She said, soon hugging the dragoness. "Good to have ya back... sis..."
With a heavy tear-fulled reunion, the original AvaMerc five are finally back together in time for the mad doctor to launch a final contingency plan. With less than 24 hours before his plan goes into fruition, the group are still down a Zeti and a Chaos Emerald. Will they be able to find them before they have to assault Eggman's final base? Or will their luck finally run out? Tune in after our next intermission: "Final Preparations"...
