Our heroes were in flight to rescue the Princess following the tracking device that Vinne placed on the Lurker before it escaped. Rika was thinking about what the Captain told her at the hanger about how they didn’t know about the General and Soldier being Lurkers in disguise and the pile of remains once analyzed by Vinnie belonged to one of the zonitians from the village. She thought how foolish they were to leave without double checking to make sure they didn’t bring anything back from their mission.

She looked over at Kevin who sat across from her with a vacant seat next to him. He was staring out the window of the aircraft, she noticed how lost in thought he was but most importantly she saw how nervous and restless he was as she saw his leg was jittering and he was rubbing his hands. He reminded her of a new soldier about to go to war. This wasn’t new to her as she has seen this occur in the past. She waved at him to get his attention; Kevin noticed. She unlatched herself from her seatbelt, walked over to him and sat next to him.

"Nervous?" She softly asked.

"Is it that obvious?" Kevin replied.

The two then chuckled among themselves which helped Kevin calm down a little. He looked over at Vinnie and noticed that he didn’t look like the others. His ears were pointy like an elf but he remembered when Vinnie didn’t know what an elf was so he became curious.

"So, what’s with the elf?" Kevin asked as he looked over at Vinnie co-piloting with Caleb. "How is he a descendant from a knight when he has those… you know-"

Kevin imitates Vinnie’s pointed ears by pinching and pulling his ears upwards. Rika quietly chuckled at Kevin’s imitation of Vinnie as he was spot on.

"Vinnie is a halfling, Zonians are the ones that look like what you call an “elf”." Rika explained. "Only descendants of those that brought us here can be knights. It was because of his Father’s blood line, he was recruited."

Kevin’s eyes widened when he found out that Vinnie was like him, he even smiled a little cause he has someone he could probably talk to, if he would let him. Rika noticed how relaxed Kevin and decided no time like the present to find out more about him.

"Was it those Advant people that sealed your powers?" She asked.

Kevin’s smile quickly changed as her question reminded him of his Father and what he found out about himself. He thought about how mad he was when he found out. He didn’t think straight at the time, he then remembered his Father saying that he was trying to protect him; he felt guilty.

"No, my Father did this to protect me I think; I didn’t realize till now." Kevin said softly. "I learned that I’m a half-breed, and the Advant guard takes half breeds away. Because of the seal, I’ve been able to live like a normal person but after seeing my powers, after what Stewart told me. I want to save the others that are like me on Earth ya know?"

Rika looks at Kevin realizing there was more to him than what she assumed. Before she could reply, she and Kevin hear beeping noises coming from the control panel of their ship. Vinnie watches the screen as he sees the red dot flashing in one area, the place that they recently left where the destroyed village once stood and they were heading closer to it.

"The tracking device has stopped at that one village we were in." Replied Vinnie. "That must be where their nest or base is located."

"What are you talking about?" The Princess replied.

"That beam of light, you must’ve created it somehow." Exclaimed Laban. "It destroyed my Lurkers, where did you get that power?"

The Princess then realized that he was referring to Kevin when he arrived to their world. Before she could answer, they both heard a muffled beeping noise nearby. Laban looked around, till he noticed something red flashing from the corner of his eye. He looked at the direction towards his Alpha Lurker to see something floating in its body. He quickly removed the Princess from the Alpha’s grip. Once he separated them a couple of beta Lurkers snatches her and holds on to her. Laban reaches out and grabbed the small red blinking device from the Alpha Lurker’s body. He opened his hand to reveal the tracking device.

"It’s a tracking device." Laban answered. Laban crushed the device and looked at his Alpha. "You allowed yourself to be followed and you brought them to the fortress." Laban raised his voice in anger.

Laban quickly kills his Alpha by blasting it with reiki energy; there was nothing left of it; Laban then regained his composure.

"Alpha number 2873 approach." Laban commanded.

Another Alpha Lurker emerged from the ground but this one had a more well-built body than the other. Once it came out of the ground it bowed to its master.

"We will be having visitors soon, prepare for their arrival." Laban Ordered.

"Yes, my master." The Alpha replied. It then left the room the same way it arrived.

Laban looked back at the Princess still held by the other two Lurkers.

"I’ll make sure to give your knights a proper welcoming. As for you little one, you will make a fantastic Alpha Lurker." Laban replied.

The Lurkers drag the Princess away taking her to the end of the assembly line for her to become a Lurker.

"No, let me go! Laban!" Yelled Anya as she struggled to break free as she was being taken away.

Laban leaves his factory preparing to meet the knights while the two Lurkers closed the door behind him continuing to guard the factory. Vinnie was following the tracer’s signal closely till he sees it disappear from the screen. With that happening, Vinnie knew what that meant.

"Looks like they found the tracer." Vinnie reported.

"Doesn’t matter, we know where it came from." Caleb replied. "We’ll just follow that and we should be fine."

It wasn’t long till they returned to the demolished village but there wasn’t anything there. They hovered over the site trying to figure out what was going on.

"Where are we?" Kevin asked.

"This is where we found you, we were attacked by hundreds of those creatures, but then you came." Rika answered.

Suddenly Kevin and the knights see a flash of light in the sky. The floating fortress unveiled itself removing the cloaking device it had to conceal itself and revealing how massive a fortress it was compared to their flying aircraft. Our heroes were awed by the reveal of what looked like an impenetrable fortress.

"It’s a floating fortress!" Exclaimed Caleb.

"That’s where the signal was before it disappeared." Said Vinnie. "That has to be where those things came from."

"And that’s where we’ll find the Princess." Rika exclaimed.

The fortress’ defenses came on as several gun turrets were activated aiming their barrels at the hovering aircraft. Once locked onto their target, the turrets opened fire.

"Hang on!" Warned Caleb.

Caleb steers the craft to avoid the first group of shots but continues to fly closer to the fortress. Soon more turrets appeared continuing to open fire at our heroes. Vinnie activates their ship’s weapons and fires back destroying some of the turrets but more appeared replacing them. Caleb continued to maneuver and dodge the fortress’ attack while Vinnie would shoot them down.

"I can’t shake them off for long." Warned Caleb. "We need to find a way in."

Suddenly the base portion of the fortress opened up revealing a large laser cannon charging up and preparing to fire. Caleb realized they were in range of their cannon’s fire and tries to fly away from it.

He steers the ship away hoping to move out of range, but as the cannon releases its enormous laser beam it managed to destroy a back wing of the ship causing them to lose altitude. The ship though still flying towards the fortress was slowly nose diving but Caleb was trying his best for them to stay afloat. Knowing they had very little time before their ship would soon decend, rika had an idea.

"Vinnie make a way in by blasting the fortress’ wall. Caleb try to fly in." Ordered Rika.

The two complied doing what Rika ordered in a timely manner. Vinnie’s shots penetrated a piece of the fortress destroying it and creating a hole in the wall.

"Everyone brace yourself!" Caleb yelled. As he glided the ship towards the hole.

Caleb flies inside, the Lurkers see their enemies but couldn’t move in time as Caleb flew in destroying several rooms and Lurkers who were in the way of their crash landing. Their ship came to a halt clearing the lurkers that were in that area. Inside, Kevin and the knights were ok only shaken up and soar from the landing.

"Is everyone ok?" Rika asked groaning as she was already unbuckled from her seat as she stood up.

"We’ll manage." Caleb replied getting up from his chair.

Everyone got out from their chair, they managed to come out of the ship and carefully checked to make sure there was no one waiting for them when they came out. Seeing no sign of the enemy, they examined the exterior damage from their ship. The crash not only caused scratches, dents and tears on the ship, but they noticed where the laser beam damaged the back wing of the ship and a part of the engine that was near the wing.

"What do you make of this Vinnie?" Rika asked.

Vinnie looked at the damage then took out his holographic computer to calculate and estimate the damage on their ship.

"We lost a part of an engine and the back wing." Vinnie reported. Vinnie then examined the hole in the wall and the material the fortress was made of. Seeing that the material showed signs of metal Vinnie smiled. "If I use some of this fortress’ rubble, I think I can get our ship back in the air." Vinnie replied.

"Alright then it’s settled." said Rika as she made a quick decision. "Newbie, stay with Vinnie and help him repair the ship; we’ll need it in order to escape."

Kevin looked at Rika confused as to why she would make that choice; he wanted to help.

Wait, why? Kevin asked. Let me go with you, I can help. He pleaded.

"You managed to get this far kid, and you wanna get killed?" Caleb asked. "Be my guest."

"Will you get off my back you muscle bound idiot!" Kevin retorted.

"Idiot?!" Caleb exclaimed. Insulted, Caleb draws out his giant hammer ready to pummel Kevin to the ground.

Rika stood in Caleb’s way once more to stop him from moving any further.

"Knock it off you two, we got no time for this." Rika exclaimed. "Vinnie needs someone to help him fend off those creatures while he repairs the ship."

She looked at Kevin calm but stern, he realized there and then how serious her request was.

"Newbie, I know you want to help save the Princess, being a hero and wanting to save everybody is one thing but being a team player is important too." Said Rika. "This ship is our only ticket out of here, without it we’re screwed."

Kevin knew she was right, they needed to escape, and Vinnie can’t fix the ship on his own. He lets out a big sigh knowing what he had to do.

"Fine, I’ll stay, just be careful out there." Kevin replied.

"Thank you." Rika softly said. She then looks at Caleb who looked back at her ready to move. "Let’s go."

In a flash, the two quickly darted out to explore the castle in search of the Princess. Vinnie and Kevin watched till they were out of sight, then Vinnie went back into the ship to get his tools to start repairing the ship.

"Let’s get started." Vinnie ordered.

Kevin followed Vinnie inside to help out, unknown to them they were being watched through a security camera. Laban was back in his main quarters watching our heroes from several cameras. He zoomed in on the ship as Vinnie and Kevin came out to start working on the ship. He monitored Kevin as he remembered him from before as he appeared after the pillar of energy dissipated. He was the one his Lurkers were supposed to capture, and they failed.

"It’s that boy again." Laban thought to himself. "I wonder what his purpose is? This could be interesting."

Laban presses a button which connects the all his Lurkers in the castle via their built-in commlinks.

"Hunt down our intruders." Laban ordered. "Make it slow and painful."

The Lurkers shrill with lustful excitement for blood and destruction. They began their search for their intruders. Meanwhile, Caleb and Rika race down the hall slaying Lurkers along the way trying to find any sign or hints of where the Princess could be located. They ended up in a large room filled with many different paths that lead to many other places in the castle. They stood at the center looking at the several different hallways trying to find out which way to go. Caleb then points to a random path.

"I say we should take this path." Caleb suggested.

Rika agreed and the two ran into the chosen path. As they continued to run through the hallway, the path changed as it led to stairs leading downward. They then began to hear people moaning and children crying from a distance.

"Do you hear that?" Rika asked.

"Yea." Caleb answered. "This must be where they’re holding prisoners. The Princess may be down there."

Rika and Caleb followed the sounds as they continued to run down the long and winding stairs. They arrived at unguarded double doors. Caleb was about to open the door till a Lurker’s head emerges from the door scaring Caleb and Rika. The two knights jump back taking out their weapons as the Lurker comes out from the door and suddenly more emerged from the floor and walls of the castle.

"Not this time!" Exclaimed Caleb as he charged up his weapon with his reiki.

He held his hammer by the leather strap and swung it around slaying his side of Lurkers destroying their faces. Rika was destroying her side of Lurkers using her reiki infused hook swords. Other than physical destroying their masks with her weapons, she would also throw large crescent shaped energy blast that would wipe out large groups of Lurkers. It wasn’t long till there was nothing left of the Lurkers but their ashes on the ground. Rika and Caleb opened the double door together to discover the moaning and groaning came from several large groups of villagers behind bars, some from other villages that were reported to be missing and several from their latest mission. Once they saw Rika and Caleb they began to plead for help with tears rolling down their faces.

"It’s the missing Villagers." Rika exclaimed.

"Are you here to help us?" Ask a middle-aged woman.

"Yes, we’re the Knights of Auran we’ve been looking for you." Rika replied.

The villagers cheered praising the Rika and Caleb for coming and them being saved.

"Please you must also save the others." Exclaimed the middle age woman. "They’ve been taking large groups of us away. The just took my son Callon. What do they want with us?"

Rika and Caleb looked at each other thinking about what they should do next. They needed to find the Princess, but they also needed to take these villagers back to their air ship.

"Rika, take them back to the ship. I'll look for the Princess." Caleb suggested.

"Caleb?!" Rika looked at him surprised that he would suggests splitting up.