The story so far: Robotnik has been informed by his spies of what's going on, as Sonic has dissappeared with a Chaos Emerald


It was fair to say that Bark had not enjoyed this experience. Closing the lid of his communication device all he could do was dangle, hanging by the threads of his parachute from a rusted crane in the Scrap Brain Zone. He was about twenty feet from the ground still, and his only hope of getting down safely, laid with his partner Bean. Bark was, in his own opinion, up a creak, without a paddle. He contemplated the drop for a second, wondering if he could drop down, before deciding against such an action. He had sent Bean to try and find a way to get him down, partially so he could send a progress report to his boss, and partially so he could just have a few minutes peace and quiet to himself, even if he was dangling above the ground uncomfortably. Bark looked around; all he could see was rusted metal, the ruins of giant factory. Scrap brain, he thought, was an appropriate name for this place. The Scrap Brain zone of course, didn't always look this way; it was once a pristine factory that ran like clockwork. It was only now that the place was in ruins, that the name Scrap Brain seemed fitting. Bark had been dangling for nearly twenty minutes, when Bean returned, with a large pair of shears, suggesting he could cut Bark down. Bark had declined the offer, suggesting instead that Bean get underneath him so that Bark could use Bean to cushion his fall. Bean had taken that as a hint to keep searching.

A drop of water hit Barks ear, this made him twitch slightly. He looked up to see that it was beginning to rain. As he tilted his head, his brown hat slipped off his head. Bark watched it fall to the ground, cursing slightly as his favourite hat landed in a patch of oil. It was then that he heard it. There was a faint rumble in the background. Bark panicked slightly, he had heard stories of badniks still being operational. Bark didn't like badnik's having been made into one himself not too long ago. This, of course, was before he fought Sonic directly. Bark was slightly annoyed; Sonic had now beaten him twice, even if the second time wasn't exactly his fault. Bark wondered why Bean had insisted on putting spare bombs in the plane when he often just pulled them from what he had dubbed "pocket space", the space where items go when they are not in use. Bark didn't know how pocket space worked, or even who invented it, but he found it to be rather useful. Bark cursed Bean for not thinking of using pocket space, before wondering where Bean had got to. The rumbling had steadily been growing louder; whatever was causing it was getting closer. Bark looked to the source of the noise. There was a large platform with wheels moving towards him. Bark panicked slightly before hearing a familiar voice.

"Yo! Bark you still there?" Bean asked unsure of himself.

Bark immediate reply was something long the lines of "Of course I am still hear, you dolt. What did you think; I flew over to the Green Hill Zone and am now sipping Lemonade under a palm tree?"

Bean looked puzzled. "But I can see you there, your dangling by your parachute. Asides, I thought polar bears couldn't fly?" Bark gave Bean a vicious look and would've smacked him for that had he been able to.

"Bean, you're an idiot." was Barks response, almost monotone through the amount of times he'd said it to Bean. "just get me down from hear" commanded Bark, still unsure as to what Bean was doing driving this large platform, or even when Bean learned to drive such a device.

The vehicle was positioned underneath Bark, and Bean got out of the Drivers seat. Bean Looked up at Bark and smiled slightly. Bark gave bean a look that said 'hurry up already' and Bean continued, heading over to some obscure buttons and dials. The platform began to rise, and it was then that Bark realised that it was actually a cheery picker that Bean had managed to get hold of. Bark watched the platform rise up to him, and freed himself of his parachute, landing with a slight thud on the platform of the cherry picker.

"Okay Bean, you can lower it now" commanded Bark.

"Umm… I can't" yelled Bean back, "the cranes stuck"

"what do you mean 'stuck'?" Bark asked calmly, ignoring Beans inability to tell the difference between a cherry picker and a crane.

"well, I mean it won't go down." Bean answered calmly

"And how am I supposed to get down Bean?"

"You said to get you out of the parachute without you falling to the ground."

"And now what am I s'posed to do? Play solitaire?"

"You can't. you don't have a deck of cards" Bean answered, missing the point.

Bark growled at him and wondered what he had done to get paired up with an idiot like Bean. Bark only had one choice; he had to climb down the cherry picker. He began to make his climb down slowly. Bark wasn't fond of climbing really; it was not something he was good at. He managed to get about a third of the way down, when the cherry picker shook.

"Hey it does go down." yelled Bean excitedly.

"Bean you numbskull" Bark yelled, as the platform lowered, with him dangling from the side of the elevating part. He had to jump off; otherwise he'd get crushed as it went down. Bark waited a moment, and with closed eyes, he jumped off the cherry picker, rolling as he landed. He got up, partially covered in oil. He found his hat in the puddle he'd landed in.

"You going bald?" asked Bean.

Bark gave Bean a look that made him stop talking. Wiping some of the oil from it, Bark placed his hat back on his head. Despite it being soaked in oil, it was better than the world knowing of his baldness. He tried to rub some of the oil out of his fur, failing mostly; he really would have to wash when he had a chance to. Bark would never admit to it, but he was a very vain polar bear, priding himself on his clean, if somewhat rough looking hair. His scarf was always clean, and he regularly kept his boots polished. He had worn his hat for a while, it was only when he noticed his fur begin to thin that he refused to be seen without it.

The pair began to move onwards. They didn't intend to be stuck in the Scrap Brain zone for any longer than they had to be. Bark couldn't tell how Bean felt; he was a difficult duck to judge the temperament of. One minute he'd be happy go lucky, the next down, and the next he'd be throwing bombs like he was trying to get everything destroyed. Bark would never tell Bean it, but he often worried about Bean's mental state. Of course Bark was never afraid for himself being in the company of Bean, if he knew one thing about Bean was that, despite his unpredictable nature, and the amount of fighting the pair did, Bean would have Bark's back should he ever need it. Right now Bean was humming a piece of music, and it was bugging Bark for two reasons, one because Bean couldn't hum to save his life, with notes all over the place, and incredibly out of rhythm, and two because despite this, Bark swore he knew what it was but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Bark had no idea how to get out of the zone. Since everything looked the same, Bark decided the best route would be to just head as far forwards in one direction as they could, and get out of there. Of course this was easier said than done, as the place was huge, and travelling through all the traps, broken machinery, and general chaos of the place was rather difficult. Through some blind luck, and clever skill they had made it this far through the zone alive. It became apparent after an hour though, that it would take them longer than expected to get out of the zone. Bark decided that they should stop, he didn't particularly want to, but Bean's constant moaning had got the best of what patience he had left. The pair stopped in a secluded spot where Bark thought they would be safe from any approaching Badniks. Despite the fact that they were now resting, as Bean had wanted them to, Bean was still complaining, this time about being hungry. Sarcastically Bark suggested that Bean fly back to where they had crashed to find the food Bark had had in his backpack before they crashed. Bean, unable to tell the sarcasm was about to head back, when Bark grabbed his ankles and stopped him. Bean finally twigged that Bark did not mean for him to go off, and decided to sit down. There was a loud click, and then a whirring sound, as the ground the pair were stood on collapsed, sending them into the water bellow.


Who was Bark talking to? What's going to happen to the pair of them now? There's only one way to find out, keep reading