Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 50: The Xenomorph Showdown

Reposted as the title of the original was missing a j

Note: Story starts in Achatina, The Island ABC order for Section I, Scorched Earth Exclusives and Aberration exclusives for Section II and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Shinehorn. This is the Section II Finale! All parts in Reaper. Next chapter in Drakeling and Chapters 51-55 will be in various Ragnarok creatures!! Enjoy the end!

Part 1/5: Rescue Mission

Aberration - Day 14

6:15 PM…

Sodden and Sylveevee had finally arrived back at the base. The sun had long taken its light from the underground, but it was far from setting. This would be Aberration’s final day of sunset and sunrise, as its polar day was starting the next day. This meant the fires on the surface would dissipate one last time for 64 minutes, then reappear. They would never disappear again until early September. Sodden and Syl had to act fast - Serenity was in critical danger, Dorack was badly hurt, and Nal’s essence would only last 36 more hours. Syl glided down to the front door, then slammed onto the ground, and Sodden gasped as he leaped off and ran to the front door, bashing it open. Syl then gleamed brightly and shrunk down to a human. She then followed Sodden in. Sodden stormed upstairs, breathing heavily, and walked to the fabricator on the left corner of the room. Syl then ran upstairs as Sodden turned to the machine, and Sodden sighed and turned around.

“So… Sodden, what happened there?” Syl said. Sodden shrugged.

“I honestly don’t know. I… how are we going to defeat Dread and get our friends back in this situation?” Sodden asked, bamboozled and nervous. He turned around, sighed as he put his hands on the wall, and put his head down. Syl walked to him.

“Well… we know one thing. They have a weakness, right?” Syl asked. Sodden turned to her and nodded as he put his hands down.

“Yeah. Said that the toxins in organic polymer is like poison to a survivor’s essence.” Sodden said. Syl chuckled.

“Yeah. It makes perfect sense. The material inside corrupts your organs and body, immediately killing you. But it usually doesn’t do significant damage to essence. Sodden… have you ever seen a Yeti before? Like… in the past two years?” Syl asked. Sodden nodded.

“Well, I spawned in like five months ago, but yeah. I went into the strong cave on The Island. Got attacked by a Yeti once. It cracked my implant. Guess it was just really strong.” Sodden explained. Syl gasped.

“Sodden, it’s not just about strength. There were instances of survivors taming Yetis using cataprime meat - you know, the meat used to tame untameable creatures?” Syl asked. Sodden nodded.

“Yeah. Dorack used it a few times. That must be how Dread got wild Reaper Queens. Built trust with them.” Sodden explained. Syl nodded.

“Yes. Some Yetis were injected with biotoxin - organic biotoxin. The same material in organic polymer. I’m guessing what happened is that the Yeti struck your implant head-on, causing some of the biotoxin to make contact with it, causing slight damage. But sometimes, some unfortunate survivors can get the full dose of the toxin - a guranteed permadeath.” Syl explained. Sodden gasped.

“Oh… was that what happened to Elaine almost two years ago? Dorack and his tribe told me about it.” Sodden asked. Syl nodded.

“We don’t know for sure. But it’s very likely that that was the case.” Sylveevee explained. Sodden nodded in affirmation.

“Okay. So we know his weakness. But… how can we inject any of that stuff into their bodies? Like… Dread is strong. Reaper took down a high level Giga with her friends a long time ago, and yet Dread shrugged her off like it was nothing!” Sodden said. Syl nodded slowly and walked over to the smithy on the other side of the room. Sodden followed her.

“Well… the best option is to try and invade them. Undercover is not an option. They have cameras and sensors that detect intruders. And we also have to worry about the Reaper Queens and Rock Drakes. And don’t get me started on the Megalosauruses.” Syl explained as she rested a hand on the smithy. Sodden nodded.

“Okay. But… I don’t have a lot of creatures. What about you?” Sodden asked. Syl chuckled.

“Well… I have retrieved many Rock Drakes across my time here. And I could morph into something like a Titanosaur… but that’d have to be a last resort.” Syl stated. Sodden nodded.

“Ah, yes. Makes sense. Titanosaurs do take up a lot of energy. And then there’s the risk of getting knocked down. Uh… what happens if you die in creature form?” Sodden asked. Syl opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything. She then put her finger to her mouth and looked around.

“Uh… I actually don’t remember. But we’ll worry about that later, okay? I want you to collect all your best creatures and meet me in the blue zone dropoff. I’ll get all my best creatures. And don’t worry about me. I’ll try my best to avoid the tribe.” Sylveevee said. Sodden smiled and nodded with confidence. Syl then sighed and turned away, and walked downstairs to leave the base. Sodden walked downstairs to see that Syl had gone outside the base, morphing into a Rock Drake. She then took off and glided down south, away from Sodden’s base. Sodden then walked outside of the front door to look around the place. He took a deep breath as he looked up at the ceiling. The sunlight had dissipated from the cave, but the sky remained bright and slightly yellow. The sun hadn’t even gotten close to the horizon. Sodden sighed and turned to the hatchery. Sodden then looked out to the far south.

“I’m coming for you, friends.” Sodden said with bravery, putting his fist on his chest. He then turned to the hatchery and walked towards it. He opened the large gates and entered the hatchery, then he walked towards the staircase to the second floor. He walked up the staircase, then he walked to the pen holding all his adult Megalosauruses. Sodden sighed as he stared at one of them. They tilted their heads in confusion, chirping in curiosity. Sodden then turned around and walked to a smithy just to the side of the pen. He then took every bit of hide, fiber and chitin and whatnot that he had to craft 13 Megalosaurus saddles and 5 Rock Drake saddles. It was all he had. But it was going to have to do. Sodden wanted to save the creatures as a last resort, just in case. Sodden then finished crafting the saddles, then he took one saddle after the other and put each of them onto the Megalosauruses. Sodden equipped one by one on each creature, then after all the Megalosauruses were saddled, Sodden unlocked the pen’s gate and whistled for all the Megalosauruses to follow him. Then Sodden walked downstairs, equipped the Rock Drakes with their saddles, and they too followed Sodden out. Sodden knew that he would need plenty of resources to invade the base and get his friends back. He had to somehow get them to Syl’s base without Dread finding out. Rescuing his friends would be hard. But killing Dread would be a whole greater predicament. Sodden led each creature out of the hatchery, and as he turned back to his army of creatures, he took a deep breath as each creature looked down at him, growling softly in curiosity. Sodden sighed softly.

“Okay. I just gotta get to Syl’s base and we can think of a plan. Uh…” Sodden said to himself, and he then scoffed and walked to one of the Rock Drakes, then got onto the back of the Rock Drake. He had a plan.

“Okay. The rest of you, stay here.” Sodden shouted to the other creatures. Then the Rock Drake screeched and took off, and began gliding across the map, towards Syl’s base. He had to stay hidden. He was willing to do whatever it takes to save his friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile…

Dread’s tribe was silent. Dread and Rod sat in Dread’s main room, looking out the dark blue tinted window on the right wall, above a shelf of weapons and armor, with a Rex-shaped statue on the top.. Then footsteps broke the silence. The gates at the front entrance creaked open and Marison walked in. Dread stood up and turned to him.

“So… do you have the raptor?” Dread asked with a deep voice. Marison nodded as he lifted a cryopod out of his bag. Dread chuckled.

“Yes. You know what? We’ll delay the trial until sunrise. But if I see Sodden come here… if I see anyone come here… even once… heh. You know what happens by now.” Dread sneered. Rod and Marison nodded in affirmation. Rod then sighed and stood up from his chair, then he turned to Dread.

“I’ll talk to Serenity. One last time. Inform her of our decision.” Rod stated. Dread chuckled and nodded.

“Yes. Good. Now go. I’ll speak to Marison.” Dread dictated. Rod nodded and grunted and then he walked to the front entrance, and left the room. Marison then walked to the table with the mortar and pestle, computer, and a piece of paper. He sat down on the chair next to Dread.

“Well… our plan is almost complete. Sodden’s isolated, we have one of his artifacts, and all his friends are on the brink of execution. What else are we gonna do?” Marison asked. Dread chuckled deeply.

“You know what. We send our troops to invade his base. Steal the remaining artifacts. Sodden won’t know what’s coming. Even if he could kill them, we’d see it. Ha! And he thought he could stop me.” Dread sneered. Marison sighed.

“Dread… the device we created is dangerous to you. You know that, right? Attributal essence is extremely vulnerable to organic biotoxin.” Marison warned. Dread cackled.

“Ha! Like I’m even worried. Sodden wouldn’t even be able to touch me. The only thing he’s gonna be touching after today is Terad’s memory eraser or brainwashing machine or whatever it was called again. I don’t care. Anyway…” Dread stated deeply. He then stood up from the chair and turned to Marison.

“Marison, prepare our troops. Find the artifacts. It’s time to finish this once and for all. Oh, and thanks for your little conversation with Sodden. Pleasant! Although… I believe “violated” is a little much for language, don’t you think?” Dread suggested. Marison sighed.

“Yes. Except not really.” Marison growled, grinning. The two began cackling loudly.

“Oh… ha. Yeah. I was just joking.” Dread stated. Marison chuckled as he stood up.

“I know. Anyway, enough fooling around. I’m going to prepare the army now.” Marison stated. Dread nodded and huffed. Then Marison turned to the door and left the room. Dread sighed and shook his head, and his grin turned into a frown. He turned to the table and sat back down.

“Hmm. This plan is good. Not sure why I didn’t do this with Terad. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. That little predicament that is Sodden and his friends will very soon be no more.” Dread growled deeply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6:45 PM

Near the Blue Zone cliffside…

Sodden had been riding on his Rock Drake for some time. He was now approaching the Aberration Kingdom. It was just down the path, near the edge of the Blue Zone. He then directed his Rock Drake down to the path, then landed just outside the gates. The guards were, quite strangely, nowhere to be seen. They were all likely inside the base. Sodden then sighed and looked around, then he took out his only cryopod left and put the Rock Drake into it, then he hit the ground with his legs, and walked towards the large gates on the front of the giant castle. Sodden then lifted his fist and softly tapped it against the gate three times. Then the gate rumbled a bit and began to creak open. It was opening in the opposite direction, so Sodden could walk in himself. The inside of the walls was spectacular. There were multiple stone and wood houses scattered along the interior of the walls. Paths stretched across the entire place, connecting the houses to little shacks scattered across from the houses. Some had a cooking grill, some had a industrial cooker, some with a smithy. Others were storage ports to hold meat, ones holding vaults and refrigerators. Then in the center of it all was a tall, bright purple-magenta colored castle. There were towers on the four corners and there was a large, cone-shaped roof stretching up towards the ceiling of the Ark’s cave itself. The front entrance was tall and had two big, reinforced metal gates on it. Sodden walked towards the door, and he suddenly heard a loud blare and the gates clunked loudly. Then the gateway creaked open, and Sodden walked through the door. He then continued walking down a hall as 8 guards lined up against the walls turned to him. There was silent whispering among the people as Sodden walked down the deep hall, with torches lined across the place and a pink-reddish carpet in the center, stretching to the end of the hall. Then Sodden entered a room at the end of the hall, and in the center sat a giant, purple-pink throne. And Queen Syl, of course, was waiting on it. She looked up at Sodden, and gasped as she nodded softly and pointed to a wooden chair just across from the throne. Sodden nodded softly and walked to it, then sat down. Syl then sat up, put her hands together, and looked down at Sodden.

“Okay. I spoke to Moonhigh and Sunhigh. They both have the troops ready. We are going to protect your base and get you into Dread’s base. We will make sure you get out alive. Now, I’m not going to get involved too much unless it’s a real emergency. I’ve prepared plenty of equipment for you. Dread is no joke. Well, I guess you know that by now, huh?” Syl asked. Sodden nodded.

“Yeah. Then how do we even kill him easily, or at least weaken him? And what about the other tribe members?” Sodden said.

“Sodden, our Rock Drakes are fully imprinted. We have dozens of them. We have almost a hundred Megalosauruses. We even have two Reaper Kings. Using brute force won’t be ideal, but we could try to lure some away and get in without fighting against everything at once.” Syl explained. Sodden nodded softly.

“That seems like a good plan. I just want to get my friends out first, then we can deal with killing Dread.” Sodden stated. Syl stood up and nodded, then walked to the door, and Sodden turned around to her.

“Okay. I have the army of Rock Drakes watching the tower walls. They’re scouting for anything from Dread’s tribe. Sodden, I think Rod stole your artifact because he is trying to use them all to send you back to the Island. If they’re leaving now, it’s definitely for the other two.” Syl explained. Sodden chuckled and looked into his bag. He then lifted two artifacts out of and Syl turned to him.

“I already have them. Dread thinks I’m stupid. He clearly has been underestimated our intelligence for the entire 2 week time here. Oh, wait. Actually, a lot longer than that, since… well, Rod.” Sodden said. Syl chuckled.

“Anyway… why don’t we get the creatures ready? We could do an ambush at your base. They’ll be off their mounts, looking for the artifacts. We knock their creatures out. That way, Dread doesn’t see death messages. Then we knock out the people raiding the base, then someone stays there to keep them asleep. You and me will come back here, prepare the defenses, and begin a raid at Dread’s base. We could scout out the arena, ensure the trial doesn’t start. And as for Nal… well, she’ll likely be contained in some kind of machine. I don’t remember what it was called, but I know it is very strong and is very difficult to break. Break it, and you free Nal. But if she dies once before she returns to her home Ark… her essence will become even more vulnerable. It could decay in just a few hours at that point. Sodden… you’ll need every single one of us to beat Dread and get your friends out of there alive. Killing Dread is not our goal right now. Saving your friends comes first.” Syl said. Sodden chuckled and nodded.

“Agreed. Once we have all of them back, we’ll figure out a plan.” Sodden replied. Syl nodded in affirmation and walked to the door. Sodden turned to her and followed her.

“Come with me. I’ll lead you to the pen with our battle creatures.” Sylveevee said. Sodden nodded, and the two left the room, walking down the halls to the castle doors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6:50 PM

Dread’s base

Rod burst through the doors leading to the arena stands. He stormed down the stairs, towards a curved, metal hallway leading to one singular iron cell, cramped and connected to the walls. Rod growled as he sat down on a chair near Serenity.

“Well. You know what happens now. Sodden’s all alone now. Dorack’s being held prisoner. We have sent an army towards Sodden’s base to steal his final two artifacts. And as for you… well, the trial is delayed until sunrise. But have you made your decision?” Rod sneered.. Serenity gasped and looked up at him, gasping softly and tears in her eyes. She growled softly and looked away.

“You wanna go down there and die a slow and brutal death, like you should’ve over a year ago? Or you wanna sit here and be tortured by Dread forever?” Rod sneered, chuckling. Serenity scoffed.

“I know Sodden and his friends. You and Dread think they’re too stupid to do anything good, because Dorack and Nal are, and I quote, “too emotional and scared”. And Sodden isn’t perfect, okay? He has made mistakes. They will fnd a way. Even if Sodden’s alone, he will find a way. If he is this determined to take on a journey through all creatures and all tribes to get to Dead Earth and destroy that artifact, then you can bet he will find a way to stop you for good.” Serenity shouted. Rod chuckled.

“Yes… but what about Terad? If your heart stops for even one second… yeah, a red death message will show up. Oh, boy. Terad seeing the line, even a red death message line involving your name and a Reaper… yeesh. Sodden won’t last a second on the Island if that occurs.” Rod sneered. Serenity scoffed in disagreement.

“You’re forgetting the power of Nudon. They spennt countless hours making a godly shotgun. They’re determined to protect each other. It’s friendship, Rod! Something you wouldn’t understand. The power of-” Serenity said, then Rod yanked a needle from his bag and swung it at Serenity’s leg, striking her lower leg head on. Blood spurted out as she screamed in pain, gasping and crying a bit.

“Oh, of course. All this crap again with the “power of friendship” Ah yes. So stupid and digusting. What is that that makes a bond so unbreakable and powerful? I’ve never understood.” Rod snarled. Serenity sighed in agony.

“Probably because you never cared for others. You only cared about your mission. You send others to do it, because you see them as expendable. You only want to protect Dread and Marison. Nudon survived so much because they cared about each other. They worked together, never gave up, stayed strong, and all that. Your tribe hasn’t done one single thing of that. You should be grateful you even still have Dread.” Serenity shouted sternly. Rod cackled deeply.

“Oh, boy. I don’t even… okay. Ha. Fine. Believe all you want. Doesn’t matter. You’re never getting out of here alive.” Rod sneered. He then spat into the cell and growled as he turned away, storming upwards to the door and opening it, then slamming it behind him. Serenity scoffed and looked around the area. The cameras around seemed to be functional, but they were actually disconnected. There was a fake moving image in front of every single one of them. Serenity then looked down to her leg and yanked the needle out, then as she pressed a gauze pad down on it, she reached into her bag, and lifted out a small metal needle. It was bent, as if it was used. Serenity had managed to break the locks once, replacing them, and covering up the camera after disabling them using her implant. The special thing about being in C Tribe was her ability - Serenity had the power to disable any electronics around without being noticed. No one other than the C Tribe knew about this except Dread. But since Dread thought a lot of horrible stuff about her, Dread didn’t seem to care about it. Serenity then took the fake lock off the cell, creaked the door open, and looked around the place. She then walked to the fence, looking down at the arena. She sighed and looked around and silently walked over to the door, walking up the stairs. She was trying not to make any noise. She wanted to find Dorack. But she couldn’t just storm out whenever. The cameras in the halls would detect her. Serenity then walked to besides the doors, then took a large, oversized black suit out of her bag, and put it onto her head and chest. She put a deep brown pair of big pants onto her legs. She didn’t have any weapons on her since Dread confiscated all of them. But she wasn’t giving up. She knew she had to save Sodden and his friends, no matter what, and try to go back to the Island with no problems, but considering the circumstances, that would be nearly impossible.

Serenity then walked out the door with the suit on, then walked down towards two big, locked doors with sensors on them. Serenity quietly used her implant to disable the sensors for 3 seconds, and she creaked open the doors, then closed them. She was in the dungeon chamber, the first floor. She walked to a bend in the hallway going right, and she then looked around the place, then heard quiet humming. She gasped. It was very likely the machine Nal was trapped in. She knew Dread. He loves to torture his enemies. It was guranteed Dorack would be close to that room. Serenity then walked towards the room, and across from it was a cell, with a small rocky counter on the side and a flat, rocky, hard and cold bed on the other. It had a rare mattress and a lift, a luxury in Dread”s dungeon. Then someone stood up from it, and Serenity turned to the cell.

“Oh, what do you want now?!” Dorack yelled in anger. Serenity sighed and walked to the lock. There were cameras on the other side of the wall, above the cell, so she had to be careful. Serenity then took one of her makeshift keys to open the cell, walk into it, and closed it again.

“Ugh. What do you want now?” Dorack asked. Serenity sighed.

“We can’t talk right now. How big is the underside of that bed?” Serenity asked. Dorack stammered in confusion. Then he realized something.

“Uh… yeah. Big enough to fit. Yeah, should be fine.” Dorack explained. Serenity nodded, and crouched down to the bed, crawled under it, and began to carve an opening in the floor using the keys. Then Dorack put his hand on her arm.

“Hey. I snuck a sword in here. Use it.” Dorack whispered as he held out the handle of the sword to her. Serenity nodded and grabbed it, and began cutting through the hard metal floor. The sword was ascendant, 445% damage, so it would do fine. Dorack sighed.

“Dude. Do you have any idea how risky this is? If Dread finds you here-” Dorack said, then Serenity cut him off.

“Hey. It’ll be fine. I’m going to hide out here until the Aberration Kingdom comes, then we’ll figure out a plan. If I know Sodden, I know he has them to help him out.” Serenity explained. Dorack smiled and nodded.

“Got that.” Dorack said in affirmation. He then stood back up and then sat down on the bed, laying down on it. He groaned in agony.

“I swear to god…” Dorack whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7:30 PM

Sodden’s base

Four Rock Drakes glided down to the cliff that Sodden’s base was on. The creatures all landed right behind the back door, and each rider hopped off of their creatures. One of the survivors had a riot shield and dark-red flak armor, along with a sword in his other hand. The other three, who were wearing mostly flak armor, followed behind him. The four survivors walked to the back door, and the one in the front charged at the door hard, smacked the door with the shield, and the door got shot forwards, shattering into shards. Then the four survivors entered the base. And as soon as they turned to the right and out of sight of the door, the Rock Drakes heard silent grumbling behind them. Two of them turned around, and one looked up to see a wave of around 10 tranqulizer darts striking his head all at once. Then the Rock Drake growled softly, moaned, and weakly grumbled until it fell to the ground, unconscious. Then that same wave struck two more Rock Drakes. Then the last Drake screeched loudly and put his head next to the door, roaring for the survivors to come, but the Rock Drake was then pierced 10 times in thee back, and it fell unconscious within a few seconds. Then suddenly, 4 Rock Drakes appeared on the ceiling above, two with 3 survivors, and the other two with 2 survivors, a total of 10. They then glided downwards quickly to the ground, and they pulled up and slammed into the ground as the four survivors in the base, who were wrecking sttorage boxes and smithys in the base, dropped what they were doing and gathered in the back room, then walked outside the back door only to get one tranq dart in each of their heads as soon as they walked out, and they all fell unconscious almost instantly. Syl, who was sitting on one of the Rock Drakes with Sodden, hopped off of the creature, and so did Sodden. The other 8 riders dismounted and walked towards the Rock Drakes.

“Okay. Remember the plan, guys. Four of you will use the narcotics you gathered to keep the Rock Drakes asleep! The other two, you’re responsible for keeping the survivors out. Moonhigh, Skyocean, you’re going to come with me and Sodden back to the kingdom and prepare the army. Okay?” Sylveevee shouted. Everyone grunted in affirmation as they nodded their head. Then as the team assigned to the Rock Drakes crouched down near the creatures’ mouths and the other team walked to the survivors, the last four people walked to the Rock Drake behind the other three.

“Okay, the other three creatures will guard the base. You’re coming with us, Drake.” Syl said. The Rock Drake grunted and nodded, and Syl, Sodden, Moonhigh, and Skyocean all got up onto the creature and they took off. The raiders were neutralized, but now they had to face another problem - actually getting into the base. Skyocean could help, but it was risky for both him and Sodden’s friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8 PM…

Aberration Kingdom - Throne Room

Everyone was quiet. People stood at the throne, one at the stairs, one at the door, and another behind the throne. Syl sat on the main throne and Sodden was right in front of her.

“So… what now?” Sodden asked. Syl sighed and looked around, thinking of a plan.

“Well, Skyocean could try to penetrate the base with his human shapeshifting abilities. The problem is there are some rooms there that sense whether that person’s in the tribe or not. They’ll be a huge no-no. If he gets caught, game over. They find us, they take Serenity into the arena… it’s total finality for everyone.” Syl explained, Sodden chuckled.

“”Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for mentioning every single thing this could go wrong. Yeah. Totally reasonable!” Sodden shouted sarcastically. Syl sighed.

“Okay, fine. Sorry. Uh, just explaining the situation we’re in. Okay, what we could do is send in Skyocean to act as one of the people who broke into your base. He could try to find Dorack and Serenity, see how they’re doing. He could morph into Dread just then and break into their cells, get them out. We gotta be careful, though. We can send in our army to distract the tribe.” Syl explained. Then Drake cut in.

“Listen, guys. That seems like a good plan and all, but here’s the main problem. Dread is a very strong survivor. His implant attributes are insane. Skyocean could try to use these powers, but his levels go up to 250. His stats are boosted massively. He even has a power where he can give himself invulnerability and boosted strength. All that for Skyocean? He trying to take hold of all these powers would be like Syl trying to physically process the energy of becoming a Titanosaur! Trust me, I’ve been through a lot. I morphed into a Titanosaur once. I lasted 9 whole minutes before collapsing. That’s not a lot of time. Sodden… we will try our hardest. But we cannot guarantee anything.” Drake explained. Sodden sighed and nodded, then he heard a ding. He gasped and looked down at his implant. Dorack had sent him a message.

“Sodden… Serenity used some kind of… assassin powers or whatever to get to my cell. She’s hiding within my cell right now. It won’t last long, though. Dread’s getting suspicious. If you have a plan to get into the base, then please, get into the base soon. If you don’t do something, well, you know what happens.” The message said. Then Sodden closed the message after reading it. He was shocked, his jaw dropped, and he looked up to Sylveevee.

“Okay. We’re going now. We have to distract that tribe. Skyocean, can you get me in there?” Sodden asked. Skyocean sighed and shrugged.

“Probably, but it’ll be tough. I’ll have to avoid Dread. And cover my eyes too. My eye color doesn’t change with shapeshifting. And then there’s the sheer scale of powers I’ll have to handle. Sodden, I might have enough energy to get you inside the base and to Dorack - maybe even to steal some weapons. But my energy won’t last forever, so once I go unconscious, you’re on your own until Syl comes.” Skyocean explained. Sodden smiled and nodded.

“Okay. We know what to do. Knowing Dread, he’s going to send out troops to seize Serenity as soon as he sees us. We have to get to her as fast as we can and keep everyone, especially Dread, away from her. Then we have to figure out how to get Nal back.” Sodden said. Syl nodded and stood up from the chair.

“Well, an essence transfer would be necessary to stabilize her essence. That way, she can be taken out safely. Someone would need to stand there near the main control panel, and manually transfer a good amount of essence to Nal. That means we’d neeed to hold off quite a few things. Sodden, I want you to find Dorack and Serenity as soon as you can.” Syl said. Sodden then cut in.

“Yeah, well, Dorack told me Serenity snuck out of her cell and into Dorack’s cell. She’s hiding there right now, but Dread has already suspected something. So we really shouldn’t wait.” Sodden explained. Sylveevee chuckled and sighed.

“You know how to do things, huh? Okay, seems good?” Syl asked. Everyone nodded and grunted in affirmation.. Syl smiled and nodded, then walked towards the door going to the main hall of the castle, and everyone else turned to her and followed. They had a plan, but would it work?