The story so far: Knuckles has managed to get onto the airship. Meanwhile Robotnik is claiming to be Kintobor.
Bark knew the best thing for everyone was to get this crazy (well crazier, if Bark was being honest with himself), version of Bean away from the ruins of the lab. Bark had lured Bean away with one of the gems Bean had so desperately wanted. Bark still couldn't figure out why Bean was so desperate for it, but he figured he could stall Sonic a bit of time to figure out what was going on and reverse it. Bean of course didn't want anything more than the gem Bark was clutching, and was willing to do all he could to get it. Hurling another bomb, Bean chased after Bark. Bark ducked and tried to reason with the duck to no use.
"Would you knock it off already Bean, I don't wanna have hurt you." Bark said calmly, blocking an attempted punch from Bean.
"I don't care you stupid bear. I just want that gem, and for the last time the name is Pin now!" he quacked angrily back at Bark, before pecking him madly with his beak. Bark knocked the duck off with a powerful left hook, and sent him into the wall. Bark ran further down the corridor, and ran into one of the rooms. Pin followed behind, lobbing bombs wherever he could. Bark jumped clear of one, and ducked straight under another. He entered a doorway, and hid behind it waiting. Pin followed him into the room, barely having time to find Bark before Bark smacked pin with a hard kick. He wouldn't admit it, but this made up for every single time Bean had eaten cheese before sleeping, and thus spending the night clucking like a rooster. Bark smirked, he'd just figured out how to stop Bean from doing that.
The smile was knocked from Bark's face with a blow to the stomach. Bark fell to the floor winded. Pin stood over him; a bomb in his left hand. "Any last words?" The duck scowled.
Bark looked to Pin, and smirked, "Yeah, duck," he said confidently. Pin stood there waiting for Bark to finish the sentence. It didn't happen however, as a small robot flew into the back of Pin's skull with some considerable force. Bark smiled, "you always were an idiot Bean" he taunted.
"The name is Pin!" Pin screamed furiously, his entire body tensing up with anger, "Bean is gone forever, and won't ever be back. Now hand over that damn chaotic emerald."
Bark looked to his paw. The gem in his hand dimly glowed, and Bark remembered what Knuckles had told him about the Chaos Emeralds. He also remembered what Kintobor had told him about Pin, and decided that keeping the duck away from the gem was a good idea, even if it wasn't a Chaos Emerald. Bark jumped backwards as Pin let loose another flurry of bombs. Pin grew angrier, and ran in pounding Bark incessantly with his hands. Bark swung his right arm and knocked Pin flying. Bark knew he was the muscle, and also the brains of the pair of them. In a straight fight such as this, the only advantage Bean would have would be his explosives, and this was how this fight between Bark and Pin was fairing. Bark threw another punch at Pin, and he landed square on the floor. Bark stood triumphantly over Pin, and requested Pin surrender. Pin began to cower beside Bark.
"Oh God the voices…the voices are coming. I can't stop them, they don't stop," Pin panicked as his body spasmed uncontrollably. He grabbed hold of Bark, "Make them stop. Please stop them, I'll do anything. Just stop the voices." he panicked frantically, before screaming loudly.
Bark could only watch as Pin's eyes shut tightly. Slowly they reopened, and the duck stood up calmly, dusting off it's feathers. Bark watched him curiously as he did, letting him sort himself, but still ready to stop the duck should he decide to attack. The duck looked at Bark, and opened it's beak.
"I can't stay like this for long Bark," The duck said calmly, yet with a worried tone to it's voice, "I can only keep Pin held back for so long, so please listen. You need to have the Prime Server of Chaos, you know him to be Sonic the Hedgehog, to turn that machine back on. The whole of Mobius has been exposed to a trace amount of Chaos energy. It will slowly corrupt every person, plant, and being on the planet," The duck winked and shook it's head violently, trying to fight off unseen forces. Bark could only watch the duck struggle to stay in control of himself.
"Listen to me Bark. That machine must go back on, and the experiment must be re-done irrespective of cost," Bean said solemnly, "If everything is as before, then the populace of Mobius will live free without Chaos. It is the only way to save the plan… argh!" Bean screamed, before collapsing to the floor. Bark watched a sinister smile sweep across Bean's face, and correctly assumed the duck wanted to battle him again. Bark tensed up, and dodged two of the bombs flung at him. Pin cursed Bean for being able to gain some control, before again swiping for Bark. Bark took his chances and slid right under the duck; Pin jumping just in time to avoid being knocked over. Bark got up and ran back towards the lab, with Pin following lobbing bombs as quickly as he could pull them from the piece of pocket space he retrieved them from. One of the bomb's blew up a wall in the ship, revealing a group of Badniks ready to attack. They all crawled out of the whole, and went for both Bark and Pin.
"Pin, you really are an idiot," Bark said monotone. He smirked slightly saying it, realising it was a different name was a breath of fresh air in what Bark had accepted to be a stale and repetitive catchphrase.
Two Slicers climbed out through the hole, and threw there bladed arms like boomerangs. The narrowness of the corridor, and the sheer speed and randomness of the blades pattern made dodging them difficult, and both Pin and Bark took several blows from the blades before they returned. Pin threw two bombs and blew up the Slicers, something Bark thanked him for. Another couple of badniks walked out the hole. They were both simple Egg-Robos, and they both fell to the floor instantly when Bark slammed the two together. A Coconuts kept Pin busy for a while, matching Pin bomb for bomb. The last Badnik to crawl out of the hole made Bark shiver. It inched slowly forwards, each section of it's pink body, moving up and down rhythmically.
"Caterkiller!" Bark panicked. A series of memories flashed in front of Barks eyes. Being trapped inside one of those things for nearly three months, watching everything it did yet having no control at all. He imagined that's how Bean must be feeling right now. Bark grew angry, and raised his fists over his head. He jumped while slamming them down on the head of the Caterkiller, smashing the robots head to pieces. The spiked sections fell to the floor, and Bark picked up the seed he'd found in the ruins, keeping it as a souvenir. He didn't have time to focus too long though, as Pin managed to jump on him, and peck his head furiously. Bark swung his arms at Pin to get the duck off of him, and Pin took this chance to prise the green gem Bark had been clutching from his hand. Taunting victoriously, Pin clutched the gems in victory, and closed his eyes. Though they weren't full Chaos Emeralds, they did contain some Chaos energy, and Bark had heard stories of what happened to people when they used Chaos energy.
Nevertheless Bark was still stunned when Pin appeared in front of him, his whole body glowing purple.
Can Bark stop Pin? Will Bean be able to take control again? There's only one way to find out, keep reading.