-Chapter 141-

Storming the ARK

Sand Ocean

The Freedom Fighters and Chaotix regrouped before the entrance Tails found. Knuckles pushed on it.

"Locked," He reeled back, letting out a yell before smashing it off its hinges with a pinch. "Unlocked."

"Man, my hand hurts just watching you do that," Kat noted.

"Please, you could do that," Knuckles scoffed.

"You have padded gloves. I don't."

"Alright, focus," Sally cut in.

They headed in, taking in the gloomy, dark atmosphere and spooky feeling.

"Spooky old pyramid, creepy 'prepare to die' ambiance…" Sonic mused. "What, will we have to solve a mystery and unmask someone dressed as a ghost, too? If so, my money's on Old Man Jenkins."

"You watch way too many cartoons, Sonic," Chris deadpanned.

"What?" Sonic defended. "Don't tell me I'm the only one who feels it. Same creepy vibes I got when me and Tails fought those Hyudoro ghosts back in Sandopolis."

"Wait, the what ghost?" Kat questioned.

"Long story," Knuckles replied. "But can we please not talk about ghosts?"

That gave them pause.

"Knuckles…" Cream began, "are you afraid of ghosts?"

"Of course not!" Knuckles said defensively. "I'm not afraid of anything! I've got nerves of steel."

"Boo!" Kat screamed suddenly.

Knuckles yelped and backed up, swinging his fists. Kat was snickering, as was Sonic.

"Well, well, well, Knuckles the Chicken is afraid of ghosts," Sonic teased.

"I will throw you into the ocean, Hedgehog," Knuckles warned.

"Good luck out here in the desert," Sonic shot back. "Now just relax. It's an Eggman base. I highly doubt there are any ghosts."

At that very moment, from a wall behind Knuckles sprang a round white ghost with red and orange maniacal eyes with black pupils, sharp black teeth, and pointy fingers, letting out a terrifying scream. Everyone screamed, while Knuckles leapt into the air in fear, landing in Kat's arms and knocking her off balance. The ghost cackled before disappearing.

"What the hell was that?!" Kat demanded.

"Okay, so I wasn't the only one who saw that," Knuckles mused.

"That was a Boom," Omochao began. "An ancient breed of spirit common within the country of Sylvania. They originate from an ancient burial ground that Sylvania Castle was built over, and were sealed away within its catacombs after being responsible for the disappearance of the original owner."

Sonic perked. "Did you say… Sylvania Castle?"

"I did indeed!" Omochao declared.

All eyes were on Sonic.

"Sonic, what's going on?" Tails asked. "Do you know something about this?"

"It was back during the Death Egg Mark II mess," Sonic explained. "I'd chased it down to Sylvania Castle, and fought an Eggbot there."

"And your fight must have stirred them up," Vector deduced.

"Then what the hell are they doing here?" Knuckles demanded.

"My guess, they blame Egghead for the destruction of their home and have been haunting him," Sonic deduced.

"Ray and I dealt with them at Pumpkin Hill as well," Mighty chimed in.

"So they weren't Halloween decorations?" Ray asked.

"Guess not."

"The ghosts might make this harder, but don't change a thing," Bunnie cut in. "We gotta get to Eggman's shuttles before he fires that cannon again."

They continued on their way, only for another ghost to jump out. T-Pup let out a yelp, his eyes flashing light that seemed to affect the Boom; it screamed before retreating.

"Okay, so they hate light," Amy mused. "That'll come in handy."

"That's great," Kat noted. "Maybe Sonic and I can flare up and our light will keep them at bay."

Sonic nodded. "Worth a shot."

As they headed further in, the interior of the pyramid shifted from ancient Efrikan style to more modernized technology, bearing resemblance to the inside of Citadel Robotnik.

"Ah, there we have it," Antoine said. "That's the Eggman style we all know and love to hate."

They were eventually stopped by a large door.

"This must be the hangar." Porker noted.

He and the other brains looked the door up and down, pushing on it and getting no reaction.

"Locked," Rotor remarked as he took notice of a large keyhole. "And it looks like we'll need a key."

One by one, everyone turned towards Knuckles. The Echidna looked confused, looking back and forth between everyone before pointing at himself.

"Why are you all staring at me?" he asked

"It's up to you to find the key." Espio said.

"What? Why me?"

"Because you're the treasure hunter in the group, duh!" Charmy pointed out.

"He's not wrong," Kat pointed out.

"Fine!" Knuckles gave in. "But you're coming with me!"

He grabbed Kat, stalking down the hall. "Forced to dig around a pyramid full of ghosts... frickin' nightmare."

"Now you know how I felt when you dragged me to the bottom of the ocean against my will!" Sonic called after him.

"Screw you, Hedgehog!" Knuckles shot back.

Once they were away, Knuckles sighed.

"Okay, let's get this over with," he said to Kat. "If this is an Eggman base, ten to one says the key will have his ugly mug on it."

"Should be easy to spot," Kat agreed. "I just hope those Booms stay away. I know I teased you before, but those things are creepy as hell."

"I completely agree," Knuckles nodded.

They headed deeper into the pyramid. As they went along, they heard an eerie voice droning.

"Join us…"

Both Knuckleheads jumped, quickly taking each others' hands.

"And this is why I hate ghosts," Knuckles said flatly.

"I take back my earlier slights and snarkiness," Kat told him.

Eventually, they reached a circular room with a large pillar in the center.

"Join us…"

An evil, barking cackle reached their ears, before the door slammed shut behind them. Both screamed, turning towards the now closed and locked door.

"Oh great," Knuckles sighed. "Now we're locked in."

In another part of the pyramid, Robotnik watched them on a monitor, grinning.

"Those blasted Booms have been hassling me for months now. Haven't found a way to get rid of them yet. But at least I can use them to my advantage to deal with the Freedom Fighters."

Back in the closed room, Knuckles and Kat were looking around, feeling a foreboding presence around them.

"I'd say the boss Boom is in here with us," Knuckles surmised. "I'd say he's a huge ghost, with big blue lips, sharp teeth, and a red, green, and yellow tongue, with matching eyes, a ghostly tail, and two arms with three claws on each hand."

He was already donning the Shovel Claws as Kat nervously gulped.

"And how do you know that, exactly?"

"Because he's standing right behind you.".

A laugh rang out and Kat turned, seeing the very ghost Knuckles had described. He leered down at the pair, his massive mouth spreading wide. Knuckles was frozen to the spot, his face pale and stammering in fear as Kat ran away screaming. After a minute, Kat doubled back, bodily picking him up and running away again as the ghost gave chase.

"You can run, but you cannot hide from King Boom Boo!" the ghost cackled.

"Oh trust me, I can!" Kat shot back.

She flared up briefly, the King recoiling as she ducked behind a pillar and put Knuckles down.

"Okay, what's your plan?" she demanded.

"W-well…" Knuckles cleared his throat. "First, I plan to shit myself. Then I'm gonna regroup and come up with an actual plan."

"Can we skip the first part and jump to the regrouping?" Kat suggested.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

"Well on the bright side, my flare up worked."

"Not for long!"

The King popped out of the wall, a ball of blue fire in his hand. They immediately ran off again.

"That ploy may work on a lesser Boom, but you'll need far more than that to stop me!" King Boom Boo taunted.

Knuckles frantically looked around. Eventually, his eye caught a hatch in the ceiling, a small sliver of sunlight shining through.

"Bright side... light…" he peeked. "Sunlight! I know how to beat him!"

He pointed to the hatch. "We need to get that hatch open!"

"Right!" Kat nodded. "Maybe there's a lever around here!"

Knuckles clenched his fists, steeling himself. "You find the lever. I'll keep the ghost busy."

Kat nodded as she ran off.

"Hey!" Knuckles shouted, waving at him. "Over here ghost freak! Come and get me you ectoplasmic asshole!"

He took off running at full speed around the pillar with King Boom Boo in hot pursuit, the ghost throwing fireballs, outright breathing fire at him, before lunging at him with his jaws snapping, clearly trying to bite him. As all this went on, Kat turned the room upside down looking for a lever to open the ceiling hatch.

"Come on, come on!" she yelled. "Where is that Aurora-forsaken lever?!"

She punched a wall, and a strange hourglass shaped idol fell over. Kat looked at it, seeing a moon on one side, and a sun on the other. Squinting, she turned to where it fell, finding a plaque.

"'Appears under the moon,'" she read aloud. "'Disappears under the sun.'"

She perked. "Of course! These things hate light, so…"

She slammed the idol into place, the sun facing upward. "Here comes the sun!"

The hatch snapped open, flooding the room in sunlight. King Boom Boo howled in pain, smoke rising off his skin.

"Yes!" Kat cheered. "Get him, Knux!"

"It burns!" the King screamed. "IT BURNS!"

He dove into the ground, becoming a shadow that scurried along the walls and floor.

"Oh, no you don't!" Knuckles shouted. "Don't start what you can't finish!"

He tunneled after him. Kat stayed right by the idol, in case the Boom tried to grab it. The king popped out, with Knuckles punching his vulnerable form. He took off running, only for Knuckles to intercept him and deliver a beatdown. Eventually, King Boom Boo howled in pain, spinning around.

"I'll be baaaaaack!" he screamed before dispersing into thin air, dropping a silver key bearing the Robotnik Empire symbol.

"Woo!" Kat cheered. "You did it, Knux!"

"Even better, I found the key!" Knuckles snatched it up. "The king must've taken it to screw with Eggman."

"Works in our favor," Kat noted. "C'mon, let's regroup with the others."

They headed back, seeing the others lounging around. T-Pup stood up from a squat, kicking his metallic droppings into a small pile. Mina looked up, seeing them approach.

"Did you find it?" she asked.

"We did," Knuckles held up the key, which Johnny took.

"Let's do this."

Johnny inserted the key, turning it and opening the door. Before they could go through, a door was thrown open, revealing Robotnik in the Egg Walker.

"You little thieves!" he roared. "Did you really think you could get out of here alive?!"

"That was the plan, yeah," Sonic said bluntly. "Let me guess, Eggbot?"

"It doesn't matter, Sonic," Robotnik spat. "This time, I'll take your lives as well as the Chaos Emerald!"

"Yeah yeah, same song and dance as usual," Sonic retorted. "Just let me smash this thing so we can come up there and I can kick your real butt."

"We'll see about that," Robotnik shot back. "I command you to destroy these pests! Come out, my servant!"

Thunderous footsteps reached their ears, and before long, the group found themselves faced with a massive Badnik around the size of a Death Egg Robot. Its body and armor were made of beige stone, its head resembled a human face with a pharaoh's headdress on it, and it had glowing yellow eyes that peered down on them with malice.

"...Eep." Shard let out.

"Meet the Egg Golem, guardian of my pyramid base," Robotnik gloated. "He's dying to have some quality time with you."

Sonic turned to the others.

"Leave this to me. Get to the shuttle and get it ready. If I'm not back in time for blast-off, just go without me."

"We're not leaving you behind!" Sally objected.

"Stopping the Eclipse Cannon and saving Hope take priority," Sonic snapped. "Now go!"

Sally hesitated before nodding and hurrying off, the others following.

"Bad move, Sonic," Robotnik taunted. "You just might have stood a chance at beating the Golem with their help."

"It's just another one of your robots," Sonic dismissed. "I can smash them all without breaking a sweat! The bigger they are, the harder they fall!"

The Golem brought down a giant fist, prompting Sonic to leap out of the way.

"In this case, my friend, it's 'the bigger they are, the more bones they break.'" Robotnik corrected.

"Did the bone breaking thing. Wasn't a fan."

The Golem stomped after Sonic, punching and swinging at him. Eventually, it stuck out its arms, spinning its torso like a tornado for a sweeping attack. Sonic looked around for any weak points on the robot, eventually seeing a mechanism bearing a similar color scheme to the Egg Mobile on top of its head.

"Bingo!" he exclaimed.

Sonic then leapt onto a nearby wall and began running up it, bouncing off and heading for the mechanism. Sparking as he went, he landed a solid kick to the mechanism, smashing it and sending the Egg Golem's head spinning around and causing it to spark.

"No, you fool!" Robotnik screamed. "You just broke the Golem's restraining mechanism! Do you realize what that means?!"

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that means it's gonna run amuck and destroy everyone and everything it sees. Like you and this base." Sonic grinned. "Bye!"

He took off for the shuttle as the Golem turned its sights on Robotnik.

"No!" Robotnik yelled. "Sonic! You miserable piece of blue sh-!"

The Golem brought its fists down on the Eggbot, smashing it into scrap.

The pyramid opened up, revealing a massive rocket. Sonic hurried for the shuttle as the countdown began.

"Ready for launch!" an automatic voice declared. "Primary engines on! Beginning lift-off countdown! 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...Shuttle lift-off!"

Right before the door closed, Sonic took a leap of faith, landing right in the shuttle. He was just in time; as soon as he boarded, the rocket blasted off into space.

"Cutting it kinda close, huh Sonic?" Sally asked.

"Hey, I made it, didn't I?" Sonic retorted.

"Everyone strap in!" Tails ordered. "The G-force is gonna be rough!"

Everyone fastened their seatbelts. The rocket soon cleared the atmosphere, heading for the ARK. As they neared, Knuckles perked, sensing something familiar. Kat perked as well, sensing it too.

I knew it... the bat girl is here." he said. "With my Master Emerald shards!"

Good," said Kat. "We can get them back and repair the Master Emerald."

Knuckles immediately jumped out of his seat, shoving Tails aside and grabbing ahold of the wheel.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Tails shouted.

"I'm getting my property back!" Knuckles insisted.

"Hey! Someone stop that crazy Echidna!" Vector yelled.

"Master Emerald, here I come!" Knuckles declared.

Sonic and Julie-Su ran over to him, trying to pry him away from the wheel.

"Knuckles, get back in your seat!" Julie yelled. "We're gonna crash if you keep that up!"

"OH NO!" Sonic screamed. "Don't touch that lever!"

The rocket began to spin out of control toward the ARK, everyone on board screaming. There was a massive crash as they plowed into the ARK. The group was thrown all over the ship, dazed. After a minute, Sally pulled herself up, rubbing her head.

"Okay…" she managed. "Everyone who's not dead, sound off."

Groans rang out ship wide.

"Knuckles... You idiot…" Amy spat. "You could've killed us!"

That was when they realized Knuckles was nowhere to be seen.

"Uh…" Cream began, "where is Knuckles?"

"Looks like he bailed," said Tails.

"He what?!" Kat shrieked, jumping out from under a pile of scrap. "Oh, I am going to strangle that echidna!"

She reached into the wreck, grabbing Charmy, Espio, and Julie-Su. "Vector! Get your scaly butt in gear! And grab the Emerald Shards!"

Ray and Mighty did so as Vector pulled himself to his feet, the Chaotix all hurrying off after Knuckles.

"Well, that's covered," Sonic said. "Now we just need to find the cannon, kick Eggman's butt, find Shadow, kick his butt, find Hope, and scram."

They headed out, looking around.

"Sure is a lonely place," Cream remarked, Cheese chirping in agreement.

"I doubt anyone's been here since the incident fifty years ago," said Tails. "When it was operational, it was the most advanced research center of its kind, but looking at it now…"

"Now it's an abandoned ARK, wouldn't you say?" Amy mused.

"We can sightsee later," Sonic cut in. "There's not much time before Eggman fires that weapon again."

"Which makes me wonder why some sort of security isn't trying to stop us," Sally noted. "I mean, there's no way Eggman didn't hear us crash."

As if on cue, doors opened, revealing numerous mechanical beings with bodies composed of water, mechanical heads shaped like Chaos'.

"Sal, you know this is your fault for saying that, right?" Sonic asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, yeah," Sally summoned her Ring-Blades.

They all got ready to fight, slashing and swinging at the bots to little avail. Sonic looked them up and down, thinking.

"These things are like Chaos. And that means…" he snapped his fingers. "Aim for the heads!"

Almost immediately, all of the Freedom Fighters begin making headshot after headshot. They exploded, leaving behind glowing crystals in the colors of the Chaos Emeralds.

"Chaos Drives," Omochao supplied. "Crystallized Chaos energy used to power GUN robots and technology."

"And I'm just gonna scoop these up," Chris began gathering the crystals and sliding them into his backpack.

"These things…" Tails pondered. "Artificial Chaos... Professor Gerald must have made them as part of Project Shadow."

We can handle 'em," Shorty insisted. "Right now, we gotta stop that cannon."

"Question," Johnny piped up. "How do we destroy that weapon when we find it?"

"With this." Tails offered, pulling out what looked like a yellow Chaos Emerald.

"That…" Shorty began. "That's a Chaos Emerald."

"Sorta," Tails said. "It's actually a fake I made after studying the real one. I made it to help power the X-Tornado in the event we don't have the real thing. It has the same wavelength and properties, but is less powerful than the real one. I tweaked it a bit to reverse the energy field inside the actual Chaos Emeralds and blow up."

He smirked. "It looks so real, even a machine can't tell the difference."

Sonic got it. "So, we plug the fake Emerald into the cannon, and the whole system will fry?"

Tails nodded. "Basically."

"Works for me," Sonic decided. "Good thinking, Tails."

Tails beamed happily at that. "Now, let's go save the world."

Author's Note:

There we have it. And I even found a legit reason for why King Boom Boo and his Booms would be haunting Robotnik's bases.

Voice cast for this chapter:

* King Boom Boo - Brian Cox (Pariah Dark from Danny Phantom, William Stryker from X2: X-Men United, Scolar Visari from Killzone)

Please R&R. Until next time!