CHAPTER EIGHT: ESCAPE FROM THE FLAG SHIP
Amy looked back as she stood on top of the Whale Shark Flag Ship. Her eyes narrowed before they widened with shock. She saw a powerful explosion erupting in the distance. "Th..that's where Sonic is!" She began to run toward that direction. "AMY! Wait!" Amy turned back and saw Tails kneeling down a short distance away. "Tails…!" Tails stood up. "Hold on, Sonic and Knuckles can take care of themselves!" Tails looked down beside him. "We already set the EM charger. Once we activate it, The Flagship will lose control of the rest of the Egg Fleet. Since the Flagship is immune to EM pulses, we'll have to destroy its engine core. I'll contact Sonic and Knuckles so we can link up and destroy it together!" Amy was skeptical about going along with it, but she knew she had to follow the plan in order for the heroes to succeed. "Well then, hurry up and activate the EM charger!" Tails turned and crouched by the EM charger. "Okay, let's do this!" Tails activated the device and dashed towards Amy.
A stream of blue electricity shot from EM charger and encased the Flag Ship. The blue light surrounded the Whale Shark in an energy dome. A few moments later, the dome expanded outwards and captured all of the Egg Fleet battleships. The surges of energy fill the sky with a brilliant blue light. After the light faded, all the weapons on the battleships began to short out. The engines stopped working and the ships began their descent into the ocean. Tails gestured Amy to the direction where Sonic and Knuckles infiltrated the Whale Shark Flag Ship. "Here we go Amy! Let's destroy that engine core!"
The torrent of wind and fire threw the entire Emerald Containment room into chaos. Sonic and Knuckles' combined attack, FW Style Twin Spin Attack, continued to hammer Bass. Bass was completely thrown off guard by the sheer power of the hedgehog and echidna's attack. The Spin Attack bounced off the walls and struck Bass with a direct hit with each strike. The heroes were not letting up.
When the Spin Attack came back around for another strike, Bass prepare himself. "Hmph, I think that's enough of that. BLACK SHIELD!" A diamond shaped shield surrounded Bass. The moment Sonic and Knuckles's attack reached Bass's barrier, it was nullified, hurling the hedgehog and echidna to the ground. Sonic stumbled to his feet. "Heh, there's no doubt about it now. You absorbed Metal Sonic's Black Shield. When did that hap-" Bass appeared before Sonic and grabbed him by the throat. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me. It's a shame you'll never find out more." Golden energy began to form into the palm of his hand. Bass smiled. "You put up a good fight, but this is the end, Sonic the Hedgehog" As he prepared to finish Sonic off, Knuckles appear behind Bass. "DEEP IMPACT!" The wild echidna howled as he performed a right hook. Bass noticed Knuckles' attack and proceeds to drop Sonic. "Echidna!? Don't think you can get the drop on me!" Bass encased himself in another Black Shield. Knuckles landed a punch on the diamond shaped shield. The hydrogen atoms in the air around Knuckles' fist and Bass' barrier began to split. Bass' eyes widened. "W-what..is this?" The atoms ignited, creating a powerful blast that shattered the Black Shield and engulfed Bass.
The blast bypassed Sonic and shot through the wall. Bass was gone. All that was left was a hole in wall leading to the outside. Sonic regain his balance and looked towards Knuckles. The echidna was panting heavily. He looked up at Sonic and met his eyes. He smiled. "See Sonic, that's how it's done…!" Knuckles gave Sonic a thumbs up before he collapsed onto the ground. Sonic dashed over to the weary echidna. "Yo Knuckles! Are you alright?" Knuckl es opened his eyes. "Who do you think you're talking to? Of course I am! I'm just….a little tired." Sonic smiled. "Looks like Bass is done. What happened to him?" Knuckles sat up and looked around. "Either he was completely vaporized or he fell into the ocean."
"Neither"
The heroes turned their heads to see Bass floating in front of the opening leading to the ocean. "I won't be "done" until both of you are dead." Bass began to slowly move toward the heroes. "But I must admit, you two are interesting to fight. However, enough is enough." He formed a fist in his right hand and gazed at it. "Now that I have a handy new ability." Knuckles froze in his place. The echidna knew what he was talking about. He lifted his head to look at Bass. "N-no, you couldn't have stolen my Deep Impact...!" Bass continued moving toward Sonic and Knuckles. "Ahh yes, Deep Impact. I think it would be more appropriate for only the strongest warrior to wield such a technique." A sinister smile developed on his face. "So I'll kill you first." Sonic got up and swiftly moved to block Bass from continuing. "Not on my watch!" Bass faced his palm toward Sonic. "Sorry, Sonic. I'm saving you for last." The blue hedgehog charged straight at the cloaked robot, but before he could attack him, a giant stone hand slammed Sonic to the ground and proceeded to pin him there. Sonic groaned in pain as he struggled to break free. "Ugh, no good! I'm still drained from using the Twin Spin Attack"
Bass advanced toward Knuckles. "Now Guardian of the Emeralds, any last words before I make your species extinct?" Knuckles smirked in defiance against Bass. "My clan maybe, but not my kind." The menacing robot stomped on Knuckles' chest. The force of the attack cracked the floor beneath him. Bass was visibly shaken by his words. "What do you mean by that?!" The weary Knuckles raise his right arm and gave Bass a thumbs down. "You don't need to know..." Bass punched Knuckles in the stomach. The strike shook the entire room. "GRHAAHH!" Bass struck Knuckles again. "TELL ME WHAT YOU MEANT!" The attack on Knuckles continued for a minute until Bass finally stopped. "Fine, if you won't tell me, I'll just finish you off now and figure it out myself!" Bass raised his fist, preparing for another strike. "Deep Impac-"
Suddenly, a hammer whirled across the room and slammed into Bass' chest. Blindsided by the attack, Bass was knocked away from the defeated Knuckles and the imprisoned Sonic. Recovering quickly, Bass looked up to see Amy Rose standing at the entrance. "Gah, who are you?". Amy completely ignored Bass' question and ran over to Sonic. "Don't worry Sonic! I'll save you!" Amy summoned another Piko Piko Hammer and raised in the air. "The power of love will free you from your prison!" Sonic glanced over at Amy and saw that she was beginning to glow pink. "Wai-what? Amy! That's a little too much power! Hold on!" But it was too late. Amy slammed the hammer down onto the stone fist. The impact shook the room as the stone hand was crushed into millions of pieces. The pink hedgehog grabbed the weary Sonic and hugged him, a little too tightly.
"SONIC! I was SOOOO worried about you! As soon as we set the EM charge, I came as fast as I could!"
"That's great, Amy! How about you let me go so I can breathe again?
"OH, Sonic! I'm sorry!"
"It's fine, Amy, as long as you're here now. Hey, where's Tails?"
"He went to go destroy the engine core. He said he wouldn't be gone long."
Sonic sat up and noticed Knuckles was looking at them with expression of annoyance. "Oh don't mind me guys, just a half dead echidna lying on the ground." Sonic scratched his head and laughed. "Haha, sorry Knuckles! We got distracted! I figured you'd be okay since, you know, you're tougher than leather." Knuckles managed to sit up. "Shut up Sonic, I'll be fine when we get out of here." Amy looked back and finally noticed Knuckles. "Knuckles, you look terrible! What happened?" "Oh, nothing. Just got attacked by a powerful robot who seems to have a grudge against me. Other than that nothing interesting." Amy sat down beside Sonic.
"I never seen you guys so beat up like this before. That guy must be really powerful."
"Yeah, this guy is tough! He gave me and Knuckles a tough time"
"Hey guys"
"Can you two even still fight?"
"Guys"
"Don't worry Amy. It'll take more than this to take me down!"
"Hey, Guys"
"Oh Sonic! You're so amazing! Nothing can take you down!"
"GUYS! Are you just going to sit there and ignore the fact that Bass is still standing behind us?!"
Sonic and Amy turned to see a furious Bass standing behind them with purple energy surging around him. "First, this girl denies me the echidna. Now, you mock me by sitting around casually having a conversation?" Bass raised his hands to the ceiling. "I will completely destroy all of you! Hyper Earth Breaker!" Black energy began to form in the palm of his hands. Bass' attack startled Knuckles. "What is this strange energy? This power… it's just like….!" The black ball slowly grew larger. Sonic helped up Knuckles "We need to stop him! Sonic!" Amy stood up beside the two heroes. "We better do it now!" However, before the heroes could take action, a golden energy ball shot Bass in the chest. Electricity began to surge around his body, causing the black ball to dissipate. Bass collapsed onto the fall, shouting in agony. The three heroes turned around to find the source of the attack. Standing at the entrance was none other than Mile Tails Prower.
The young fox's right arm was encased in a small red cannon, smoke slowly seep out of it signifying its recent use. Tails ran over to the others. "Sonic, Knuckles, Amy! Are you guys alright?" Sonic smiled at his best friend. "Yeah, we're fine. Amy saved us earlier." Knuckles knelt down and put his right palm on the ground. He placed his other hand on his forehead. "Earth elements…lend me your amazing strength!" Light green energy surrounded Knuckles. Slowly, all of Knuckles' wounds began fading away. "Tails, you weren't that far behind from Amy. Did you already destroy the engine core?" Tails point back at the entrance. "Well, the engine room wasn't as far away from our entry point as I thought. I managed to arm the entire room with explosive which will detonate in 3 minutes."
Suddenly, a beam of light shot across the room. Sonic moved quickly enough to pushed Amy and Tails out of the way and managed to grab Knuckles, saving everyone from being hit by the blast. Sonic looked to see Bass standing with his tattered cape blowing in the wind. Sonic whistled in amazement. "Whoa, you're pretty tough, Bass. When Tails modifies his Energy Cannon like that, it usually disable robots completely." Tails elaborated further. "In that specific setting, my Energy Ball is composed of concentrated electromagnetic particles. In other words, each blast is an EM pulse that should short-circuit all types of machinery!" Bass smirked. "Like I could be short circuited by your inferior technology." As Tails looked down and contemplated his words, Bass began floating towards the heroes. "Now, shall we finish our battle?" The four heroes took their battle stances.
Before the fight could continue, a voice boomed throughout the room. "BASS, stop fighting at once!" Sonic looked up. "That voice….Dr. Eggman?" At that moment, a hologram of Eggman appeared between the heroes and Bass. The dark robot narrowed his eyes at the Eggman hologram. "What are you talking about? I'm about to destroy them!"
"Yes, yes. You certainly proved your skills Bass, but that meddlesome fox disabled my Egg Fleet and armed the flagship's engine core with a bomb. It won't last much longer. Bring me the Chaos Emeralds and get out of there!"
The hologram vanished from the room. Bass hesitated for a moment before he held up his palm to the ceiling. He shot a gold energy blast at the container holding the Chaos Emeralds, destroying it. The six Chaos Emeralds fell from above and began revolving around Bass. Knuckles noticed something. "The Emeralds, they're…but that would mean he's….!" Bass moved toward the hole in the wall. "You are lucky…Sonic the Hedgehog….Knuckles the Echidna. The next time we meet, you'll die." Before Bass departed, Sonic called out to him. "Wow Bass, it's hard to believe someone as strong as you would be following that clown, Eggman." Bass stopped and he looked back at Sonic. He lowered his eyes for a moment before turning around and flying through the hole. Sonic exhaled. "That was kinda fun!" Knuckles rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about? We lost the Chaos Emeralds!" Tails began walking to the entrance. "As long as Eggman doesn't get the last Chaos Emerald, he can't complete his scheme." Sonic, followed by Amy and Knuckles, joined Tails. "You know Eggman can't beat us! Stop worrying, Knuckles!" As the others left the room, Knuckles looked back at destruction from the fight with Bass. "Eggman isn't the only one I'm worried about." The red echidna closed his eyes.
"Bass….just who are you?"
The heroes backtracked to point of their original entry. Tails lifted everyone out the flagship, and they dashed toward the Tornado 2. "Alright guys, the bomb I set should go off pretty soon!" Sonic jumped onto the biplane's wings. "Then we better hurry!" Amy got into the backseat, and Knuckles joined Sonic on the wing. Tails started up the plane. "Hold on tight, we're going full speed!" The biplane took flight and quickly transformed into its X form.
The heroes looked back as the Whale Shark Flagship was engulfed in a brilliant explosion.
