The Inkling Army was working as quickly as possible to get the Sharklings loaded onto the trucks. The sooner they finished, the sooner they could be out of there. One good thing that eased the burden on the convoy was that many of the Sharklings were fully trained to operate MEG suits. Those who could simply took a MEG unit each and formed up, ready to provide protection in case of any unwanted surprises. Sinamoi would be taking charge of them for the time being. At the moment, he was standing in the hangar wearing some kind of tight-fitting body suit for MEG pilots, issuing instructions to the other Sharklings, who were all wearing similar attire.
"So what's the deal with the outfit?" asked Elora, looking Sinamoi over. "Some kind of special flight suit?"
"In a way, yes," said Sinamoi. "It's a neural uplink suit. Allows us to directly interface with the MEG units. Turns the mecha into an extension of our own bodies."
"Kinda leaves nothing to the imagination, don't they?" asked Tess, watching a few Sharkling males walk past her, a coy smile forming on her face.
"These are extremely sophisticated machines," said Sinamoi. "Things like dust or sweat can interfere with the performance, so the suits are designed to deal with those things before they become a problem."
"Now you really have to show us how to use these things," said Leon, staring up at Sinamoi's MEG unit.
"Once we get out of here, I'll have a word with the Colonel," said Sinamoi, climbing inside. "Now to power this baby up."
The suit closed up with Sinamoi inside and began to come online. The suit's engine hummed to life and lights lit up on the outside, the helmet's optics flashed brightly before dimming to a light glow. It stood to its full height, stretching out its arms before flexing its fingers. It looked around before settling its optics on the commando team and flashed a thumbs up. "All systems green," it said in a synthesized version of Sinamoi's voice. He turned to look at the other Sharklings, also suiting up. "Look alive, people! We need to be out of here five minutes ago! No telling when the General is going to show his ugly head!"
In truth, that was the only thing bothering him. Why hadn't the General appeared yet? Had he simply abandoned the base and fled? No, he wasn't the type to do that. Even if the Sharklings were a lost cause, he would still have taken down as many enemies as possible before leaving. No, he had to be planning something. And they needed to be gone before that something swam up and bit them on the ass.
"Hey Sinamoi, you okay?" Keket was approaching him, inside of a MEG unit of her own. Jabb and Hector were following her, also in MEG units.
"Just wondering where the General is," said Sinamoi. "The longer he takes to play his hand, the more I'm starting to think this is too easy."
"I know what you mean," said Hector. "He's a crafty old dogfish, that one."
"Come on, let's go outside and check on the convoy," said Jabb. "They should be ready to move out by now."
"Right, let's move out," said Sinamoi, heading outside the hangar, followed by his team as well as the commandos.
The last few Sharklings were being loaded onto the trucks, followed by the Army forces. Colonel Squall was overseeing this when he spotted Sinamoi and his group. "So those are MEG units," he said with a grin. "I can't wait to see the looks on our engineers faces when they get to study these beauties."
"Trust me, you're going to have more fun than should be allowed," said Hector. "These things are- Huh? What's this?"
Sinamoi was about to ask when the sensors on his suit went off. Something was approaching them from underground. Something with a serious power signature. "Oh no…he's finally showing his face!" he said. "Colonel, you need to start moving out, now!"
Squall didn't ask questions. "All units, start moving out now! Enemy reinforcements are on the way, and we need to be gone!" he shouted. As the trucks began to pull out, he turned back to Sinamoi. "What about you, soldier?"
"My team and I will stay behind and deal with him," said Sinamoi. "We'll buy you the time you need to escape."
"Sir, if I may, we can help you," said one of the other MEG pilots. "With all of us, we could easily bring him down."
"No, soldier, this is our fight," said Sinamoi. "We promised we'd get all of you out of here alive, and we're keeping that promise. You and the other MEGs go with the convoy."
"Understood, sir," said the pilot. "Good luck, to all of you. And thank you for saving us."
"It was our pleasure," said Jabb. "Now go, quickly!"
The convoy and the MEG units all headed for the underground highway and began travelling to the surface as fast as they could go. This left just the four Sharklings waiting to face the General. They didn't have to wait long.
Something burst out of the ground, soaring up into the air before doing a classic superhero landing on the ground in front of them. It was a MEG unit, but one they had never seen before, a specially made model. It glared at them, its optics a deep crimson, and it let out a synthesized growl.
"Long time no see," said Sinamoi, narrowing his eyes, "General Megalodon."
"Lieutenant Sinamoi, it's been a while," said Megalodon, standing upright. "I should have known that treacherous egghead would pick you for her little insurrection. You always were so partial to her."
"She earned our loyalty," said Keket coldly. "She didn't need to lead through fear and cruelty like you did."
"Loyalty isn't earned, it's enforced," said Megalodon, "by those with the strength to enforce it. That's the way of nature. The way we were born into. Those who can't accept or adapt have no reason to exist. Just like you."
"Just save yourself the trouble, General, you've already lost," said Jabb. "The Sharklings are gone. They're going to live free lives, deciding who and what they want to be. And there's nothing you can do about it. So might as well just walk away now."
"Oh, I don't think so," said Megalodon, clenching his big metal fists. "I've still got four targets in my sights…and I'm taking them out." He suddenly opened fire with the ink blasters mounted on his wrists.
"Squad, scatter!" yelled Sinamoi, just as his team rapidly moved out of the way of the shots. He returned fire, aiming for the General's torso.
The shots impacted, but not on the metal of the suit. Instead, they hit some kind of barrier, only visible when the ink splattered across it. "Sorry soldier, but that strategy isn't going to work," sneered Megalodon, firing at Sinamoi.
Jabb and Hector came at him from the sides in a pincer attack, large blades deploying from their arms. Megalodon dodged, deploying blades of his own, and they began a vicious knife fight, easily holding off the other two Sharklings. "Pitiful…am I supposed to be impressed?" Megalodon asked with a laugh before flinging Jabb and Hector aside like toys. Something hit him hard from behind, knocking him forward.
"You really should learn to mind your surroundings," said Keket, opening fire on the General's back, aiming for the shield generator.
The General let out an angry growl as his shields flickered and began to fail. "Perhaps you should do the same!" he shouted, firing a Curling Bomb from his suit right towards Keket.
"Oh shi-" she started to yell before using her arms to shield herself from the explosion. Her shields took most of the blast, but it still knocked her back a ways, disorienting her.
Megalodon charged, ready to run her through with his blade. At the last second, Sinamoi rushed in and shoved Keket out of the way. He caught the General's wrist, slowing the attack, but not enough to keep the blade from punching through a weak point on the chest armor and going into the cockpit.
"Sinamoi!" Keket cried out in horror.
"Ggh…I'm…I'm fine," Sinamoi groaned, still gripping the General's arm tightly. The blade had sliced through his side, not enough to hit anything vital, but still enough to leave a nasty wound.
"You always did fight for the weak," said Megalodon, his big metal face close to Sinamoi's. "That's why you lose."
"And you…fight for nothing," Sinamoi growled back, slowly forcing the arm back, the blade pulling out of him. "That's why you never win!" He reared his head back and swung it forward, headbutting the General with a loud metallic crunch. The General cried out and staggered back, the blade finally pulling out. Sinamoi staggered, instinctively clutching at the open wound, but from inside the MEG he had no way of tending to it.
"I've grown weary of this game," said Megalodon. "First I'm going to gut you, nice and slow, but not kill you. I want you to live just long enough to watch me kill the rest of your team. Then I'm going after your precious convoy and I'm going to kill every last one of them. In the end, I still win."
Sinamoi looked at his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist. "I don't have much time," he said to himself, feeling a wave of dizziness come on. "I'm bleeding something fierce right now. Even so, I have to stop Megalodon! Because I promised…I promised my brothers and sisters a better life. And I aim to keep it!"
He let out a roar and charged at Megalodon, raising his fist. Megalodon quickly counted with another punch, both fists connecting with a thunderous bang.
"You really think you can take me? I eat guppies like you for breakfast, Lieutenant," said Megalodon, grinning.
"Yeah? What about it?" demanded Sinamoi, throwing another punch.
They both began to throw punches, starting off slowly but rapidly building up to incredible speed. They were hitting so fast that the rushing air was beginning to build up, creating a furious wind.
"As you know, General, our shields protect us from ink attacks, not physical attacks," said Sinamoi, his fists flying. "And even the strongest armor can only take so much punishment!" No sooner were the words out of his mouth than he landed a volley of punches right to the General's torso, knocking him back. Seconds later, another volley landed, forcing him back even further.
"So you eat guppies like me for breakfast, tough guy?" Sinamoi persisted, still attacking. "Well, if you can really take me at 100% of my power, then I'll have to go beyond that and force you to surrender!" He ducked an attack from Megalodon and slammed his fist into his metal face, knocking him off balance.
"He's giving it his all, even though he's injured," said Keket, more to herself than anyone else. Her eyes narrowed, focusing on the fight. "Wait…those aren't just random punches, either. They're targeted, and every single one of them…it's over 100% of his power!"
Sinamoi delivered another crushing blow with a loud yell, sending Megalodon flying backwards. The General recovered and landed on the ground, dashing forward with his suit's flight system. "I don't care what the enemy throws at me, I'll always find a way to win!" shouted Sinamoi as the two clashed again. This time Sinamoi caught Megalodon's incoming fist, launched himself into the air and flung him down to the ground. The impact was devastating, punching a crater into the ground.
Megalodon was completely caught off guard by the ferocity of the attack, his suit bouncing up from the impact. Sinamoi quickly dashed back down to the ground, prepping another attack. Diverting all of his suits available power to the arm servos, he said, "You…are relieved…OF DUTY!" He followed up with the strongest punch yet; it was essentially a point blank cannon shot directly to Megalodon's torso. It sent him flying through the air, smashing full force into the side of the underground dome that housed the base. He struck with such force that the impact spread across the dome walls, shattering them and causing them to collapse hard, burying at least half of the chamber and parts of the base. And somewhere underneath all that debris was General Megalodon.
Sinamoi panted, fighting off another wave of dizziness. "I guess you could say…I dishonorably discharged him," he said weakly, staggering a bit.
Keket and the others quickly rushed over to steady him. "Sinamoi, are you okay?" asked Jabb.
"I'll be fine," said Sinamoi. "Just…get me up top and to a medic before I literally bleed myself dry."
They all quickly turned and carefully began to fly out through the underground tunnel, leaving the Glass Lake base behind. For now, at least, their problems were over.