“Not good. RUN!” Cliff called as the mound of trash collapsed.

The dislodging of the ship had caused a chain effect. Now the mound that was held at bay was becoming undone. Mirage swooped Cerberus up in her arms while Markus grabbed Dale who was struggling behind, carrying him like a sack of potatoes under his metal arm with Cliff and Yuki running behind. They reached a nearby tunnel up ahead as the avalanche got worse, skidding down it just as the path behind them became clogged with debris. The party did not stop running until they reached the end of the small tunnel, now finding themselves at a crossroad bridge that had been slapped together with material from the large array of scrap around them. Its architecture was similar to the drawbridge they had to cross, meaning it was likely a ravenger construction.

“We should be safe now,” Markus announced, dropping Dale on the ground.

“Ow, hey!” Dale groaned as the cyborg took a few steps ahead, bringing out his holomap.

“The hell happened back there?” Yuki said sheathing his sword.

“Just a guess… but those pillars holding the totem may have been more than just decoration,” Cliff said. He was sitting on the floor with Mirage who had Cerberus in her arms.

“You okay little guy?” She said stroking the fiery mane. Cerberus let out a bark and whine, rubbing its head against Mirage’s arm affectionately.

“Good news,” Markus announced. “We’ve not strayed too far off course. In fact, the elevator to Figmar’s Edge is right down there,” He said pointing to the left passage.

“Ohh thank goodness,” Dale sighed as he got up from the ground. “I’m so done with this place.”

“Definitely with you there,” Cliff cracked his neck relieving some of the tension that had built up. “You guys doing okay…..?” Cliff looked to Mirage, Dale, Yuki and Markus. It did not take long for it to dawn on him. “Uhh…. where are the others?”

A thick silence fell as everyone was beginning to realize only the six of them were the only ones present.

“Sasha?” Mirage let go of Cerberus who looked around for his master.

“Pyro? Nel? You guys back there?”

“Melvin? Mary? Rodger?” Cliff called out before the situation began to sink in. “Oh shit…”

If they were not there it only meant that they were separated, either caught up in the avalanche or retreated back the way they’d come. Regardless of the reason, they were now stuck deep within enemy territory.

“Sasha!” Mirage ran back before Cliff caught her. “Let me go!”

“Forget it! The way’s blocked!”

“But Sasha-!”

“She’d be with the others! She’ll be just fine with them…. I think.”

Cliff released Mirage once she had calmed down. “Markus, is there a way back up?”

“.... Any route would take us deeper into ravenger territory. It will be dangerous.” Without waiting for a word of protest from the others, Markus immediately checked his holomap. “If we take the path that way,” he pointed left. “that would take us deeper into the valley. Assuming the others have been forced deeper into ravenger territory we will be able to reunite with.”

“Are you kidding…?” Dale did not look thrilled. “You mean we have to go even deeper into their territory? Who knows what kinda ambushes they’ll have instore-Ow! Quit it!”

Cerberus -after bitten Dale’s leg- ran down the left passage before anyone could stop him.

“I’m not leaving Sasha. That’s not negotiable.” Mirage said walking down the passage after Cerberus.

“... I will also not abandon Larek and Otto. Not after everything I’ve put them through already,” Markus said turning his holo map off. “It will be dangerous, now that the krell knows where we are.”

“Let's just find them before that pyro sturs up the hornet's nest.” Yuki grunted as he and Cliff walked side by side behind Markus.

“Somehow I doubt we’ll make it in time,” Cliff said chuckling. “It’ll make it easier to find them I guess. Just follow the explosions.”

“Uhh you guys got this so… maybe I should...” Dale looked back to the right passage that would take him to the elevator. Every pour of his body told him to just go ahead. “..... Ahhh screw it. Guys wait up!” He yelled as he ran after his companions.

****

The ship’s nose continued to slay down the cliffside with no signs of stopping. It smashed through the jagged rocks, piles of scrap as it descended towards a drop to the mist below. It continued on to a small ramp made from the strange alien metal that could be seen on the great wall at the beginning of the party's journey. As it lept, Meracle grabbed a hold of both Sasha and Rodger who clung to the gaps in the plate for dear life, then she jumped, and jumped again in mid-air before collapsing in an alcove, dropping both her passengers. The ship collided nose-first into the cliffside before falling into the misty abyss.

The three lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for air at the ride they had just taken.

“.... That was awesome!” Rodger cheered with a large grin on his face as he shot up. “Let's do that again!”

Meracle and Sasha glared at him. Sasha was next to get back to her feet. “Where… are we?”

The large alcove was built onto the cliff eliminated by the blue glow of the mist. Scrap was piled up as with everything else in the Edge with remnants of structure built from the ravengers.

“And how far did we fall?” Sasha looked back up the cliff where they had just tobogganed down moments before. The summit where they had fought the warframe would’ve been difficult to spot if not for the scars digging into the rock and disturbed piles of trash from the fall.

“Myow… this is bad. Real bad. This is like when that jerk threw me and Allisa into that canyon,” Meracle slowly got back to her feet.

“How did you two manage?”

“.... I donno. Allisa said she was following someone, then he fought some dragon and everyone just showed up.”

The sound of moving metal caused Meracle to jump while Sasha took a stance. The sound however came from Rodger, moving several bits of debris revealing a small gap.

“Sweet, looks like we can fit through here.” He said with a grin on his face.

“We need to go up that way!” Meracle shouted pointing to the cliff.

“It’ll take years to get back up that way. Be much faster searching around the place until we find a way back across.”

“No it’s not! We could be jumped by more of those things!”

“Relax. You’re talking to the captain of the Walloping Willows. I led hundreds of expeditions into the dangers of Sterland forest.” Rodger said smugly.

“Nyowww… but this isn’t a forest. It’s a wasteland full of scraps of metal full of metal monsters as those ravenger things that’re trying to kill us!”

“Relax would ya. A real man never backs down in the face of adventure.” Rodger said pounding his chest before setting off.

“Well… he does have a point. Just standing around here wouldn’t be safe with all the noise we made,” Sasha said taking Meracle’s hand. “Don’t worry, Mary. I’m a hunter, remember. Plus me and Dale use to watch space movies all the time.”

With no other option, Meracle sighed as she followed her two companions. “.... What’s a movie again?”

****

“WHAHAHA! SOMEBODY STOP THIS THING!!!” Larek’s cries echoed as the platform continued its way down, smashing through a pile of trash before finally being brought to a halt by a pilon jutting from the earth. The impact caused Melvin to lose his grip, but Max caught him by the rough of his collar.

The platform remained precariously caught on the jutting pylon. The impact had sliced into the crude metal plates locking the platform in place, for now at least.

“Looks like the Ekon was listening…” Otto sighed with relief.

Nel was the first to her feet, steadying herself as the platform made a groaning sound. “We should get off as soon as we can.”

“It’s one thing after another, right boy,” Melvin said rubbing his neck. “Boy?” It was a moment before he realized Cerberus was missing. “Cerberus?”

It quickly dawned that they were the only ones that fell down the mountainside.

“Hey sword bastard! Big Guy!” Max called but to no avail.

“Markus! Markus can you hear us!” Larek joined in, his cries only falling on deff ears. “Oh great… This can’t get any worse,”

The platform began to shudder violently, knocking everyone off their feet. To their right, two metal clamps had snagged the edge of the platform as was pulling it off the pylon.

“Damn it,” Nel ran to the opposite end, seeing a clearing below them. “Jump for it!”

Everyone leaped off the platform, moments before it was finally dislodged from the pylon and fell down the mountain. What followed was the boom of a rocket. Above their heads was a trail of flame descending on them like a meteor. Everyone scrambled as the object made contact, smashing into the ground before grinding to a stop, nearly blinding everyone with a single floodlight.

“Look who’s back for round two!” Max growled, flaring up his hands. Before the group was the same warframe they had fought at the summit. Unlike before, it was badly damaged, with a large dent and breaches in its train car head. One of its fingers on its right had been snapped off and the cannon mounted on the undercarriage was broken.

The battle began with the warframe charging forwards, swinging its arms wildly. Max, who was in the front, raised his arms in defense as the metal hands slammed into him, breaking his defense and throwing him back, smashing him into a trash pile.

Melvin, who had dodged the blow by ducking right, lobbed fireballs at the warframes armor. The spell caused several small explosions, close to the machine’s right arm but failed to do any lasting damage. Still, on a rampage, the machine approached Nel, who stood her ground while both pilots ran for the closest cover. The assassin ran towards the warframe and skidded underneath its legs while the large hands swung at her. Once at the rear, she jumped to her feet. However, the warframe spun on its waist a full 180 degrees clockwise before slamming its hand into the ground where Nel was.

However, before the impact, something swiped Nel from her position before she could respond, now flying across the battlefield before she came to a stop, carried in a bridle position.

“Well hello there,”

Her savior was bizarre to say the least; a man in a cloak and metal armor across his body. Yet bizarrely his face was completely metal, barely resembling anything that was human. Yet each loose plate moved as though it were natural skin. His eyes were nothing more than blue lenses above two plates that moved like eyebrows.

“A Sweeper warframe with possibly a good core, and a beautiful woman on top of it. Must be my lucky day.” The man said joyfully before gently letting Nel down. His voice sounded muffled as it spoke through a speaker within the mouth.

The warframe meanwhile approached and was about to swing at the man. Before it could, a powerful explosion erupted on its left side, blowing off its entire left hand.

Melvin and Max (who had just freed himself from the piles of trash on top of him) looked at the newcomer with bewilderment. “Who is that guy?” They both said together.

“This won’t take long,” The man stepped away from Nel, drawing a revolver, spinning it before quickly stopping at the ready. “Okay walking gravtrain, let’s dance.”

The man charged the warframe, firing his revolver at the front of the warframe, shattering the floodlight. The warframe swung its remaining arm at the man. The man skidded under the swing, turning and fired a cable from his left arm which caught the warframe’s wrapping around its lower forearm. As the warframe continued to spin on its waist, the man reeled his cable in, launching him a few feet in the air before his cable detached. Directly above the machine, the man fired his cable once more, catching the warframe’s hood. He reeled in and landed directly above it, firing his revolver in one spot. The warframe spun and threw the man off, who landed on the ground but recovered fast while simultaneously reloading his weapon.

“Tough guy huh?” The man pulled out three metal cylinders from his pocket and threw them up as the warframe approached. Firing his revolver, the man waited for the machine to get close before skidding underneath the machine. The cylinders that the man threw landed on top of the machine around the hole created moments before. An explosion erupted on top of the machine, blasting a large hole in the front of the machine, showing off a vast array of wires and scorched metal. Sparks erupted up and down the warframe as its boosters began to roar into life. The man threw his cable out and reeled himself to the warframe, landing at the dented and breech position at the back where the totem had hit it before.

“Time to go for a ride!” The man cheered as the engine roared into life. The warframe circled around the battlefield, trying to throw the man off. Max, Melvin and Nel all ducked for cover as the machine slammed into both rocks and metal while the man clung onto the machine with his cable, riding him as though he were surfing. Passing Nel he saluted her with his pistol before twirling it and unloading his remaining ammo into the breach before jumping off, reloading in the air as the warframe turned, smoke billowing from the rear breach. With a final boast, the warframe charged towards the man. The man simply stood his ground, firing two shots into its right leg which came off. The main body of the warframe slammed into the ground, its right arm being sheared off as it barreled towards the man. With a smile on his metal face, the man stood to one side, playfully extending his arm as the warframe shot past him before skidding to a halt. As it struggled to get up with its remaining leg, the man holstered his weapon. As though on que, the rear of the machine exploded, blowing up half the machine’s train body and boosters.

“Haha! Did you see that?” The man ran up to the still flaming carcass of the fallen warframe. “Now, let’s see if the core’s still intact,”

Max, Melvin and Nel walked up to the man who was busy at the top part of the machine at the front part fiddling in the hole he had made.

“He just took that out,” Melvin said slack-jawed. “It took all of us combined to just hold it off…”

“The trick, kid, is to jump on a warframe that’s already had a few sparks kicked outta it,” The man waved before drawing a knife. “Specually if the ravengers’ve tinkered with it-ah!” He withdrew the knife following a bright spark. Sheathing the knife, the man bent over and began tugging at something. With a heave, he wrenched out a glowing metal ball that shimmered with bright blue sparks.

“Ha-halright, now that’s gotta be worth something!” The man turned to the three and held up the ball. “Mind if I keep this?”

“Uh, sure. All yours,” Max shrugged.

“Thanks,” The man clipped it to his utility belt. He then turned and jumped off the warframes wreckage and approached the three. “Gotta say, wasn’t expecting to run into a bunch’ve kids out here.” He said mostly to Melvin and Max. “I’m guessing you’re not here to take in the wonderful sights. Work for Altosk?”

“No way!”

“Grim?”

“Who?” Melvin crocked his head.

“Okay… trying to snag some warframe cores? I mean, it’s profitable but I don’t see any arms on you.”

“That's our business,” Nel interjected.

“Ohh, top secret?” The man insisted, what passed for his eyebrows widening. “Don't’ worry, I’m real good with secrets.”

“Uh, don’t mean to sound rude but… who are you?” Melvin finally asked.

“Ah, where are my manners? Name’s-”

“Bec?” Larek and Otto had just emerged from their hiding place. “Bec? Is that you!”

“Larek! Otto!” The man, Bec pushed past Max and Melvin. “Hey, you’re still alive!”

“Bec!” Larek ran forwards, waving before picking up a metal pole off the ground.

“Larek?”

“A simple SMUGGLING JOB!!” Larek smashed the pole right into Bec’s head, knocking him on the ground. Otto then took the pole from his partner.

“In and out before without little to no CONSEQUENCES!” He bellowed as he delivered another blow to Bec’s head.

Despite the assault and anger of the pilot’s, Bec simply chuckled awkwardly at the two, raising his arms in case of another attack. “Yeaaaahh… I may’ve left out a few of the key details,”

“You said it was harmless contraband that would get us at most a smack on the wrist!” Larek continued with the pipe at the ready. “Didn’t think to mention that we were smuggling the Star Singer of all people!”

“Well if I told you that,” Bec laughed to himself, “there was no way you would’ve actually agreed to the job,”

“You don’t say?” Larek hit Bec again with the metal pipe.

“Okay I deserved one from each of you,” Bec scolded, backing away, raising his hands at the still fuming pilots. “Look, I paid you in advance and the plan went off without a hitch, right?”

This time, Larek and Otto didn’t retort. Instead, they looked to one another distraught by the reality of what they had to say.

“.... You got to Utha, right?” Bec asked again. This time the tone of his voice was anything but jovial.

“Not… Exactly,” Otto couldn’t look Bec in the eye. Even though no one said anymore, Bec quickly deduced what had happened.

“.... Shit,” This time Bec backed away shaking his head. His metal face contorted to one of sadness.

“We’re sorry,” Larek said, dropping the pole.

“.... Ah, it was a long shot anyway.” Bec sat on the destroyed arm of the warframe, hanging his head. “So… Ion’s back with Altosk? Right back at square one…”

“.... Actually, it’s a little more complicated,” Otto said. Both pilots then looked to Max, Nel and Melvin who were slowly approaching Bec.

“Sooo, who are you guys again?”

****

Rodger slowly poked his head over the ridge. A pair of ravengers stood before him watching a far-off explosion on the opposite shore of the chasm. They communicated together in an array of klicks before scuttling away.

“Ahhh, I could’a taken them,” Rodger groaned.

“We’re on our own, so no,” Below him was Meracle, to which the small samiet was standing atop her head given he was too small to even jump the height of the small cliff. “Yeow, can you just get up there? You’re standing on my ear!”

“Alright,” Rodger scrambled off Meracle’s head onto the ledge. Once he was off, Meracle rubbed her right ear groaning.

“Sorry Mary, but you are the tallest out of the three of us,” Sasha said as she approached. Meracle braced herself once again before helping Sasha to the ledge below. As she was over half the height of Rodger, Sasha was able to reach the ledge after stepping on Meracle’s shoulders and with her enhanced strength made it up with little trouble. Meracle then jumped the hight, landing beside the three.

“Where are we now?” Sasha said as she walked to the ledge of the capsule pod they found themselves in. Just up ahead, the chasm was aligned with vast cables that extended the length, and just up ahead was an array of capsules jutted together where the cliff’s of both sides came close to one another.

“Might be their main base,” Rodger said, sounding more enthusiastic than he should be given the situation.

“Which makes it the one place we really shouldn’t go,” Meracle pouted.

“Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?” Rodger turned to the trembling cait sith, “My pa always told me that a real man never runs from the face of adversity.”

“Nyew, well Leone always taught me that when the going gets tough you run the other way,” Meracle retorted.

“Was that the same cat chick that betrayed ya goddess-knows-how many times,” Rodger turned his back scouting out a route while Meracle childishly stuck out her tongue at him.

Sasha couldn’t help but chuckle at her rather eccentric companions. Despite the precarious situation, they found themselves in, the light-hearted mood set by the two tailed children did help Sasha calm her nerves. Whenever she was taken out on a mission, it was always with Mirage. After the death of her boyfriend and Sasha’s older brother Jack, Mirage had become something of a mother to her. This was her first time in an unknown place completely alone. Fortunately for her, both Rodger and Meracle had experience from the stories they told her of their past, and their different and clashing personalities did make the bad situation somewhat lighter.

A plate behind them suddenly, causing both Meracle and Sasha to jump. Rodger drew his hammer as both Meracle and Sasha took their defensive stances ready for what could be more swarms of ravengers

“Friend. Th’lak is.” From the darkness, a single reg emerged, one slightly larger than the variant they had fought. Its armor was different, with furs draped across his shoulders and staff with four prongs jutting from the side. His helmet was elongated upwards, and like the krell they had seen, the bottom of it was covered by an exposed machine of which none of them could even guess as to what it was.

“Fight Yiski. Fight Verr. Th’lak saw, yes.” The reg continued to speak.

“Huh?” Rodger cracked his head. “Yeeks? Verr?”

“Tribes in Edge.” The reg held up three fingers. “One. Three.” It then tapped its breast place. “Charr. My people. Enemies, they are. Friend, Th’lak is.”

****

“Okay, so let’s see if I got this straight,” Bec tossed the warframes core between his hands, pacing back and forth in front of the group sitting on the detached warframe arm. “When you left Sora you got swarmed by enforcers. After that, you crash-landed on another world -which is where you guys are from?”

“That’s right,” Nel nodded.

Bec continued tossing the core back and forth before finally stopping in front of the pilots. “Least tell me the Yissle’s still in one piece?”

Otto bowed his head. “According to Markus, the whole thing was destroyed between the impact and the enforcers.”

“Ohhh that’s not good…” Bec trailed off.

“Next time try giving us a little heads up about what the cargo is before risking your ship.” Larek snorted, leaning back on the arm. “Frankly, after the hell we’ve been through I couldn’t care less your bloody ship’s gone.”

“Yeah… you probably should. Um…” Bec nervously tapped on the core. “Truth is… It wasn’t really my ship to begin with.”

“What?” Larek’s eyes widened, as did Otto’s.

“I mean, I have one of course but It doesn’t have a stasis pod so I had to borrow one.”

Both pilots slowly looked to one another slackjawed.

“But… you said you’d provide us your ship to make the delivery to Utha.” Otto asked.

“I said I’d provide you two a ship.” Bec corrected. “Never said it was mine.”

“THEN WHO’S SHIP DID WE JUST TOTAL?!” Larek yelled at the top of his lungs having gone white as a sheep.

“Ahem, moving on-” Bec ignored the shouts from the two pilots to speak once again to Nel, Max and Melvin. “So Ion got close to this friend of yours and when Altosk came to reclaim her they also nabbed this girl and brought her to Sora.”

“Yeah, so we came here to get her back and kick their asses while we’re at it!” Max pounded his fists together.

“Well I certainly admire your spunk,” Bec tossed the core up once more, catching it with a swift backhand.

“That aside,” Melvin looked sideways at Max before continuing. “Our priority is to rescue our friend, not to get even. That’s why we came to Sora.”

Bec nodded while still fidgeting with the core. “Not that I don’t sympathize but getting your friend back’s not gonna be that simple. If she was taken along with the Star Singer, likely place she’d be is Grand Vaults. No one, armies, rebellions and ravengers have ever been able to breach the first wall of that fortress. Don’t see how a bunch of kids could do any better,”

“Well, we gotta do something! We can’t just abandon Allisa!” Max shouted. He had shot up but Nel grabbed his shoulder to calm him down.

Sighing, Bec put away the core. “Alright, I guess this was kinda my fault this happened,” he muttered under his breath. “Okay, let’s get back to Figmar’s End. We can- Oh shoot!” He suddenly clapped his hands together. “Markus! He’s here, right?”

“Uh, yeah but we got separated at the summit,” Melvin responded.

“Seriously? How could you get separated from a guy who’s ten tons of metal?”

Melvin pointed to the signs of the recent landslide, the dislodged metal, rocks still toppling, and metal pylons that had been broken recently.

“Oh right. That was you guys.” Bec then brought out a small device from his utility belt. “Welp with any luck I should be able to contact him.”

“You can do that?”

“Yeah.” A hologram blinked on followed by static. Bec paced left, holding up the device which still emitted static. “Maybe.” He then moved right, waving the device around before stopping, his metal mouth moving back and forth in frustration. Everyone was now staring at him with their brows furrowed.

“We’ll see.” Bec said before walking off. “Come on! Ravengers would’ve heard us and be on the way!”

“That guys… kinda all over the place,” Max said as the group followed.

“Trust me, you don’t know the half of it…” Larek groaned. “I can never work out what's going on in that metal head of his.”

“Can we trust him?” Nel asked bluntly.

“He’s a lot of things, but yes we can trust him.” Otto nodded. “Just keep your wits about you. You never know what he’s gonna pull.”

****

Th’lak, as he continued to call himself in third person, shuffled to a secluded spot just off the path. Rodger, Sasha and Meracle followed, although didn’t drop their guard. The ravenger noticed but chose not to address it until after they arrived in the small room with a drop to the mist below.

“Th’lak of clan Char.” Th’lak said banging his staff on the ground followed by three clicks from his speech device on his helm. “Not of the Edge. Enemies of the Edge.”

“Nyew…?” Meracle crocked her head.

“Edge. Clans hostile to the Char reside. Attack us (five clicks) they have.”

“So… you’re not with the ones who attacked us?” Rodger asked.

“No.” Th’lak responded in a pitch louder than before. “Yiski and Verr. Local tribes to the Edge. Territorial. Violent. Despises outsiders. Dangerous. Recent, launch attacks from out the Edge. Raid Char land. Threat to dwellers. Powerful fleet in hiding.”

“... I can’t understand any of this,” Meracle groaned. Th’lak’s strange speech made it hard to follow what he was saying. His sentences rarely lasted three syllables and were seemingly random.

“So the ones who attacked us… are they your enemy?” Sasha asked. Th’lak nods. “Does that mean that uh, Krell we saw was… there leader?” Th’lak nodded as well while clicking.

“Shanks. Terrifying to us Char. Butcher. Despises Hune. Bunika. Borgo. Enemy to all, Shanks is.”

“Okay… I think I get it,” Sasha muttered.

“So that thing that attacked us at the summit was this Shanks guy?”

“Correct.” Th’lak clicked. “Fortunate you were. Shanks, strong. Verr stirred, do to earlier transgressions. Shanks, fight them. Sent machine to kill you. Now, Verr repulsed. Yiski now hunt trespassers.” He pointed his staff at the three of them. “Separated you are. Hunt will commence.”

“Oh no,” Sasha reeled.

“That means they’re gonna come after us…” Meracle gulped, darting her eyes to the far corners of the room.

“How’d you know all this?” Rodger asked. “You’ve been spying on us?”

“Yes.” Th’lak bowed. Behind him, a small sphere hovered in place. “Ghosts, spying on Shanks. Saw you fight machine.” Th’lak tapped his staff on the floor. “Here, Th’lak stay. Hune’s find Th’lak. Th’lak decided to approach. Help, Th’lak needs.”

“Help? You want us to help you?” Sasha asked. Th’lak nodded again.

“Sorry, but we’ve got our own problems right now,” Meracle said bluntly. “Like finding our friends and getting outta here.”

“Th’lak help friends. Find friends. Stop Shanks. Flee the Edge.” Th’lak said.

“… You know the way?” Sasha asked hopefully but cautious.

“Yes. But first.” Th’lak scuttered over to the edge. “Fleet, Th’lak found. Friends help. Sabotage fleet. Cripple Shanks. Exchange, Th’lak help find friends. Help escape.”

“You want’ us to… sabotage a fleet? Just the three of us?”

Th’lak nodded.

“Alright, your on,” Rodger said.

“W-w-w-WHAT?!!” Meracle exclaimed. “We can’t do that?! It’s suicide!”

“Ah, we’ll be fine. After all, that kinda deal is how I met Allisa and became co-boss.”

“No no no no!” Meracle shook her head, both her tail and ears jutting up. “Those bugs’ll kill us for sure! And besides, we don’t even know if we can trust him! He could be leading us into a trap for all we know!”

“Ba! A real man never backs down from a challenge!”

“A thief always backs down from a challenge if it's clearly gonna get us killed!”

Realising there was no way for both sides to resolve the dispute, both Rodger and Meracle glared at Sasha who had yet to say anything regarding the subject.

“Wh-uh…” Flustered by being put on the spot, Sasha looked between her friends and the ravenger. “Well… We don’t… really know where we are so… we might be able to meet up with the others if we do this.”

Rodger cheered while Meracle slumped.

“Follow Th’lak.” Th’lak pushed past the group.

“We have your word you’ll take us to our friends, right?” Sasha asked.

“Char, never go back on their word,” Th’lak said. “Reunion. Even if it costs Th’lak’s life. That, Th’lak promises.”

“Well, lead the way Thall,” Rodger said beaming as he followed Th’lak. “We got some stuff to break!”

“Sorry, Mary…” Sasha apologized before following on. “It can’t be too bad, right?”

“And I thought Leone was bad,” Meracle sighed reluctantly resigning herself to her fate. "Hope Allisa's having a better time than we are..."