Chapter 89: Chapter Eighty Eight

Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 3

Uninhabited Island /Area near Cavern to underground Passages

Galactic Standard Time / 9100

As Locke heard that whistling sound, he paled in shock. He had heard something like that once before, and he never forgot it.

“Get in close!” Locke bellowed as he slammed his fist into the ground.

Before anyone could react, all around them a pyramid of stone formed. It cut them off from the clearing and the cave, leaving nothing able to get in or out. No sooner had it closed than the sounds of a loud explosion were heard and heat washed over them.

“What was that!?” Racha asked in shock as she looked around.

“Incoming fire. Range attack, explosive in nature. Something wanted to cook us,” Locke said before going silent. For a second all he could do was look into his memories, remembering the horrors he had dealt with. The friends he had lost, the victories that seemed so important then. And then the night everything had come crashing down. He was so lost that he never noticed someone walking towards him until she slapped him across the face!

The pain of the sting caused Locke to blink and then look at Paige in shock. Shook that morphed into understanding and he sighed. “Thank you.”

“Nothing to it. But how’d you know?” Paige asked

Locke looked away and sighed. “Once you’ve been under fire like that, you never forget it.”

Xordig only looked at Racha who shrugged. “That’s a can of worms we’ll unpack later. How about you drop that…. “

Xordig stopped talking as the ground started to shake. It was like something large was coming towards them.

“The Giant’s back,” Racha said softly.

Locke looked at her in shock, and then in horror. She was saying that his oldest friend was dead. That his brother had fallen to that thing. But then what had happened, and how had it……

Locke went still as he suddenly understood. “No…. it’s another one.”

Everyone looked at him before Locke saw everyone pale in fear. They had just fought against the Tree outside, and it had sent fast-grown monsters to hunt them! It was the sheer height of stupidity not to think whatever had made the tree outside couldn’t do the same! how was this island still so wild if there was a monster like whatever made this Tree and the other Beasts here!?

“I’m starting to think we should run after all. An unending tide of monsters just over the river? Why the stars were we safe? We need to run away, find a place to defend ourselves. Like right now!” Jess stammered.

Locke almost agreed with her, but something was stopping him. Nothing about this made sense, Roy was right. Why hadn’t the source of these things not taken over this whole island? There had to be something, something they were missing......... Then things came into focus and he looked at the others. If he was right, then they might have a chance. if he wasn’t then the plan was still the best thing they had to do. “We need to leave, we need to find Jinn and get back to the capsule!”

“Wait, What? What did you figure out!?” Paige asked as she looked at him.

For a second he almost asked what she meant, but then he stared at her. Somehow she knew that he had figured something out. And that was very interesting. But he didn’t have the time to even say what, he needed to move, and they needed to do it now.

“Later, once I’ve got the pyramid open, we move. We’ll find Jinn and get out of here! If I’m right, we might be able to hold them at the river if we have to!” Locke said and he hoped they wouldn’t pressure him. They couldn’t waste time.

“Yeah, we’ll talk once we’re there. That’s a promise!” Racha said with a hard edge to her voice.

For a second Locke saw someone else, but he shook his head and nodded. “Fine! But please trust me that we have to move!”

“Just drop the rocks. After you destroy the cavern,” Xordig said and Locke raised an eyebrow.

He looked at Xordig and tried to understand what he had just heard. Then he did and his face went hard. He nodded and looked down into the cave mouth. “Anything you girls have down there, I’d get now!”

“We’ve got everything right here!” Racha said as she and Paige picked up their bags.

With a solemn nod, Locke focused his well. Within a second, the cavern’s floor rushed upwards and the cavern was destroyed. He took a deep breath and looked around at the others waiting for him. “Everyone ready?!”

Roy looked at Red before he nodded. Burt readied his weapon as Jess and Xordig both called up their powers. As Paige and Racha secured their packs, they then aimed their weapons up.

“Yeah!” They all cried out.

“Good, listen up! I’ll attack the tree with the front of this thing,” Locke said as he pointed at the pyramid. As the others looked at him, he continued. “Once that happens, we’ll run away. Burt think you can get us back to the river?”

“Just follow me people, and I’ve only got one speed so keep up!” Burt said as he looked around. After he locked eyes with everyone, he looked at Locke and grinned. “We going to keep talking or are we going to do this?”

“Then let’s do this people!” Locke said as he turned his head back around. His eyes hardened as he thrust his hand out. A moment later the side of the pyramid facing the tree shot forward. Moments before their eyes adjusted to the light, they heard a roar. As they looked around, they saw something they didn’t expect.

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The Being felt anger as the rock hit its body. The Traitor had been fighting the Being's final Defender and they were deadlocked. Then the two-leggers dared to attack the Being! How wicked and traitorous they were attacking the Being once its back was turned.

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As it threw its senses at the two-walkers, it saw them leaving. The Being felt its anger spike as it tried to keep track of the two walkers. They were cowards too!? But a mental spark of pain caused the Being to turn and ‘look; at the battle. It felt fear as its Defender took a savage blow from the Traitor, and was sent flying. As the Traitor took the time to move towards the Being, it tried to think of anything it could do.

It knew what the Traitor wanted, somehow it knew down to its roots. But how it knew, it couldn’t say. But it knew its end was coming for it. As the Traitor reached out, the Defender bit into the Traitor’s fist arm.

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All Burt could do was stare in shock over his shoulder as he led the way into the forest. Never, in all of the stories he had heard was this possible. The False Plants were fighting each other! A False Fang the size of the Giant was fighting a Giant. And as they ran away, he saw the False Fang bite into one of Giant’s arms. But what was happening made him all the more sure that they couldn’t stay here!

“Keep moving! We have to get out of here now!” Burt roared as he turned his head back. At the front behind him was Paige, Red, and Roy. Xordig. Jess, Racha, and Locke were on rearguard duty, and that was going great. Two of them would fire at the battlers, while the other two ran after the group.

“Shouldn’t we wait, and then attack the victor? I mean wouldn’t this give us an opening?” Roy asked as he followed. As Red ran next to him, the little creature kept its body as close to the ground as possible to keep the baby safe.

“No, we gotta move! When things so big fight, they don’t care about what’s around them!” Burt said with a note of terror in his voice.

“Never fought anything that big, so let’s listen to him to the native!” Racha barked back.

“But that giant thing, it’s got two sparks in it!” Roy said with fear in his voice.

“Wait…..! Sparks!?” Burt asked as he stopped and Roy ran into him.

The two of them fell to the ground and the others passed them by for a second.

As Burt rolled to his feet, he looked right at Roy. “What do you mean, sparks!?”

“I can see something, some kind of outline. I could even see it through the rocks. It’s how I found the sack that thing had. And that big thing? It’s got two of them,” Roy said.

Burt looked at him in shock before looking at the fight. The Giant had started to club the False Fang with its club arm, and the False Fang was holding on with everything it had. Finally, the False Fang was thrown away, but it tore the Giant’s fist as it flew away. As the Giant’s wound gushed black blood, green vines grew over it. After the wound was covered, the vines kept growing until the Giant’s arm ended in a five-foot-long vine whip.

Burt stared in horror. He talked to a golem maker once, and the things Roy spoke about sounded familiar. If each ‘body’ basically had a ‘core’ controlling it instead of a brain, it made sense. Then there was the bigger False Fang to think about. If that Giant had two cores, then did the others? Did the False Fang have a core? “How….. later. Where are the sparks? And the other one, does it have one?”

“Yeah, they both do,” Roy said as he pointed at the battle. “There’s one in its head and another in the left leg near, right behind the knee. The fanged thing has one right in the head.”

Burt stared at Roy before swallowing as he paled in fear. “Oh, Deeps take me!”

“How bad?” Racha asked and Roy looked at her.

“Very bad, too bad for us to handle. If it can reattach its body parts as long as the greater part has a core in it…… it can’t be killed,” Burt whispered in horror.

“If it bleeds, it dies!” Racha said and looked at Roy with a strange look. “You’re second year on the Spirit, right? Do you still have those nanites from the year before, the imposter incident?”

Roy looked at her and nodded, a strange look on his face.

“Yeah….. I’ve got Sight Share…. Why? Without the right handshake, you can’t do anything with them. So why do you need to know if I have them?” Roy asked.

Racha stayed silent and looked at Xordig who only nodded.

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Racha only grinned and looked up at the Giant as it lumbered towards the False Fang. With a single thought, she activated a few strains of her nanites. As she felt them connect to Roy, she knew this wouldn’t be as easy as she hoped.

“What the Nova!? How?!” Roy demanded.

Before anyone could say anything, Racha spoke. Best to get this out in the open now. Because this was going to be very messy within the next few minutes.

“For those wondering, I just sent my sight to Roy. And the targeter will let him call the spots the Cores are at,” Racha said nonchalantly

“Why?!” Jess demeaned as she looked at Racha with a hard stare. “Why would the company give you those kinds of nanites?! Last I checked you're just a security recruit who transferred in a few months back! Why the hell did they……”

“Me and Racha here are Special Services,” Xordig admitted.

Jess, Locke, and Roy looked at him in shock. It was Paige not reacting that caused Roy to look at her.

“What, you knew!? Are you one of them too?!” Jess cried in shock.

“No, it was a thing before we met you. We all accursed the others of being something they weren’t,” Paige explained.

“Later! For now, just sight me!” Racha said with force. She looked at the battle, one of the stains of nanites putting a targeting circle that showed where she’d hit. As the circle moved over the Giant’s body as she adjusted her aim, she kept her ears open for Roy.

“Wait…. A little up… now to the right, now back left…. There!” Roy said as Racha moved her weapon.

Racha looked at the point on the Giant’s body and sent a command to log the location she targeted. Moving her aim upwards she saw the Giant strike at the False Fang with its new whip.

The False Fang dodged and came in close, this time ramming into the Giant. As the Giant tried to pull it away from its body the False Fang bit down, tearing into the leg with the core just below it.

“It can see them too!” Burt said in shock.

Racha looked at the battle, her finger moving off the trigger for a second. Then she moved her gaze towards the tree and went still. For a few seconds, she did nothing before firing, but not at the Giant. Instead, she fired at one of the vines that the tree had sent after them. “Damn! We’re still in range of that thing! And that fanged thing? If it can see like Roy and Red can, then we’re fucked!”

“What are….. it could track us!” Burt blurted out in horror.

“Then we have to leave, now! If we can get away while they're fighting…..” Paige began.

“We’ll just lead that thing to the others!” Xordig barked and the others started to argue.

Racha could only look at the battle as the group broke down around her. She had to find a way to get the others on task!

Suddenly the Giant roared as it lost its club arm. Before the others could even react the big False Fang lost its right front leg. And then suddenly Jinn was standing to Racha’s right.

“So you all handled the Beasts? Perfect! Time to leave people!” Jinn said as he looked around.

“JINN!? HOW THE STARS ARE YOU HERE!?” Racha barked as she fell back as Xordig aimed his pistol at Jinn for a moment.

Jinn looked around at the others before he sighed. “Long story, but let’s leave those things to play amongst themselves. Best we get out now.”

“Bit of a problem bro. That fang thing’s a tracker like Roy,” Paige said.

Jinn looked at Roy and Red before he sighed. “I get you have a story there Roy. And how far can you see?”

“I think around twenty feet,” Roy said.

“Then we go down twice that! Locke, we need a tunnel down, forty feet! And Burt go with him, we can go up when we’re thirty feet from the river!” Jinn said with a smirk.

Racha looked at Jinn, shocked beyond words. In a few seconds, he had made a plan that might save them. She hadn’t even thought of finding out about Roy’s ability, and that might have killed them! The first thing her instructors taught her was that to know the enemy’s abilities was to know how to defeat them! Why had she forgotten that!?

As the others looked at her, she nodded. “Anyone else got a better plan? No? Then let’s do it! Jess, Xordig go after them! Roy stays in the middle with Paige and…..Red. Jinn with me on rearguard!”

As Locke laughed he stomped his foot and a five-foot wide tunnel formed going down before them. With a smirk, he looked at the others. “This way for Locke’s Underground tours! Please stay with the group people!”

As the others all ran into the earth, Racha turned around and looked at the Giant. It had the False Fang on the ropes and it might destroy it soon. All her training told her that the best thing was for the enemy to fight amongst themselves. But was a victory for the Tree the best thing they could hope for? Without a word, she saved the targets and looked at the False Fang. Aiming at its fangs, she fired two bolts and when they hit, the fangs broke off.

She turned to Jinn and smirked. “Time to go!”

Jinn only laughed and bowed. “After you my dear.”

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The Destroyer looked at the Defender as its bite was destroyed. With its new whip, it quickly grabbed the Defender and threw it ten feet away. Before the Defender could get back onto its feet the Destroyer threw out its whip again and grabbed the maimed range arm. Quickly reconnecting it to its body, the Destroyer quickly found its foe. While the Defender got back to its feet, the Destroyer fired the pointy things, and the Defender was engulfed in explosions. Without waiting time the Destroyed used the power of its second core to run over to where its maimed hand was.

The Destroyer reattached the hand as the pointy things hit the Defender. It split the whip, moving most to the outer side of its arm. With the last part it coiled around the hand and reached it. It clenched the hand before it lunched for the tree. Reaching for its prize, explosions' forced it ten feet away from its goal.

The Destroyer looked up and saw the First Destroyer had made it to the battle. As the Defender got back to its feet, it moved to keep the traitor Destroyer between it and its ally.

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As the dirt around them shook, Jinn kept his eyes straight ahead. Locke had closed the tunnel and hopefully, they were far enough down that the False Fang couldn’t find them. He had to admit, that he had never expected to be here a year ago. The group was making good time, and so far Locke only had to change their route three times in the last five minutes.

“What happened back there!?” Racha demanded quietly.

Jinn stayed silent before he spoke. “Found two more of the Giants. Killed one by removing a limb with its core in it.”

“And you figured out cores how?!” Rach asked as they ran past a large root.

“Saw one of them reattach its head. Not the best battle I’ve ever been in,” Jinn admitted.

As Racha stayed silent, all Jinn could do was hope. If he was right about his thoughts during his run back to the others, there was hope. Everything on this island seemed to have been made to keep the others in check. And if that was true, then something had to be eating the False Plants. He just had to hope they would eat the closest ones before they attack an Escape Capsule.