It has been almost a week after the trip to Remnant, and things have been pretty good. I’ve spent most of my time with Qo, as she did her school work and played with Sparky. I enjoyed my time with my little girl. At the moment, I was walking down the halls with some food until I saw Indigo walking in front of me. I smiled as I caught up with him.

“Oi, Indi! What’s up?” I called out to him, though he didn’t seem to turn around.

Frowning, I finally caught up to him.

“Hey, I’m talking to you,” he looked at me in confusion, coming to a halt as a result. He blinked and scratched the back of his neck before he spoke.

“Apologies, I have not been myself in a while. What is it you said?” he asked me with a voice familiar yet unfamiliar to me.

He looked at me with a confused expression before realization dawned him.

“Ah, yes, you're Viri Mal Kun,” he said with a proud smile. “Now I remember.”

I stared at the man that looks like Indigo right before I saw something that should’ve stood out of me.

“You’re not Indigo, you have two arms,” I said, looking at the arm Indigo lost before. He followed my gaze.

“Ahh, I should've known my grandson’s resemblance to me would be uncanny,” the man said with a laugh. His laughter died down into chuckles before he stopped and looked at me.

“And yes, I am not Indigo. I am Theodore Parker. I do believe we've spoken before,” he said with a polite bow with his introduction. I stared at him for a few moments.

“Theodore? Wait, I thought you were a part of Indigo’s head,” I asked him with confusion and surprise in my voice.

“To put it simply, your aunt brought me back in a body of my own, but at a cost. The semblance I once had, the very same used to heal my grandson, is now fully apart of him,” he said with a smile, even after mentioning the loss of his semblance. “Speaking of your aunt, I am on my way to meet with her in one of the training facilities here.”

“Ah… well, mind have me tag along? I’m on my way to my room and it’s on the way.” I said with a small smile.

He nodded before he resumed his walk down the halls with me following beside him. As we walked I couldn't help but glance at the Indigo lookalike every so often, seeing the uncanny resemblances between the two.
“You're acting like your aunt when I returned, she was just staring in silence,” said the man with a chuckle as we walked by a few students who turned their heads towards Theodore, most likely confusing him for Indigo.

“Well, it’s hard to act differently when…” I trailed off a bit as I tried to think of something to say after. I shook my head as I continued on with something else.

“So, how is it? Having your body back, I mean?”
“It's… it's been a wild ride these past few days, having been but a shadow for a few decades. I sort of forgotten what limbs feel like.” He said as he rolled his shoulders. “The first few minutes made feel like a newborn.”

He crossed his arms and added, “Your aunt only stared at me as I accustomed myself to my new body.”

He laughed.

“I, uh, don’t want to know all the details,” I said with a slight blush on my face.

Theodore chuckled.

“Don't worry, I'll spare you the details,” he said before we stopped at one of the training halls used for extensive training and sparring. “Here we are.”

He opened the door and went in as I followed. I saw that my aunt was there, as she was overseeing two people sparring, which took me a few moments to see that it was Divos and Ailis. The two of them were going at it as if they been training for years, which for Dovah made sense. Divos was using a short sword and dagger while Ailis was using a glave. My aunt was walking around the arena as she watched the two of them clash. As we entered I saw Divos hook his arm around the glave and moved it in a way that Ailis was lifted upwards then behind him, crashing into the ground.

“Enough!” Axycia said as she enter the ring. “Divos wins.”

“No fair!” Ailis said angrily. Divos chuckled and put his weapons away.

“Ailis, that was fair, don’t be a spoiled sport,” Axycia said at her, making the young Vokun Dovah cross her arms.

“Impressive fighting, you two,” Theodore said, making himself known to everyone inside.

He clapped and added, “And excellent takedown, my boy.”

He complimented Divos’s win. Divos smiled at this and made Ailus frown more. She grumbled a bit as I turned my head to see Qo up in the bleachers, with Sparky sleeping on her head again. I kinda wonder why she was here, as Axycia came up to the two of us.

“Hello Viri,” my aunt greeted with a smile.

“Hey, aunt Axycia,” I greeted back. She smiled at me before looking over at Theodore as her smile grew.

“Here I thought you’ve gotten lost,” she said with a giggle. “I was debating to go out and find you.”

Theodore chuckled at this and shook his head.

“I never get lost, my dear. I simply look for an alternative path,” he said in a joking manner with another chuckle.

Axycia rolled her eyes at this before walking over and giving him a kiss on his cheek.

“And a hello to you too, love,” he said before doing the same, bringing a small blush on her cheeks.

The other two kids didn’t seem to pay attention as they were busy talking. I looked up at Qo and decided to make my way up to her. As I got close, she looked up and smiled.

“Hi, mommy!” she greeted with a smile.

“Hey there, honey, what you reading?” I asked which she simply showed me a science book. “Oh, you’re taking an interest in science?”

“Maybe,” she said as she put the book down.
I sat next to her and put my bag of food down. I handed her some of her food: a simple sandwich and some cookies, as I watched the two kids went at it again with some more sparring. During their match, they were surprised to see Theodore joining in, holding his own weapons ready for a fight. He held some sort of bladed pistol and a short sword.

“Don’t go easy!” Axycia called out.

“We won’t,” both Divos and Ailis said at the same time, earning a chuckle from my aunt.

“I wasn’t talking about you two,” she said, earning a chuckle from Theodore as he clanged both blades together.

The two kids looked at one another before Ailis charged at Theodore with her glave. Theodore simply parried her blade as he pushed it away, before moving close into Ailis’s space. Ailis tried to back up as she pulled her blade back, as Theodore brought his sword down on her as she tried to block, breaking the staff part. Ailis stared at the two halves of her broken weapon.

“Unfortunate, but not unexpected,” Theodore said to the Vokun Dovah.

Ailis looked up at him as he kicked her just out of the ring. As she fell, I saw she had a frown on her face, maybe due to losing again. Theodore turned to Divos as he stared at the man.

“Uhh,” was all Divos could say before Theodore closed the gap between to two of them, and able to defeat him by disarming him.

“Well… that was quick,” my aunt said with a chuckle.

“Haha! I still got it!” exclaimed an excited Theodore as he raised both his arms in celebration.

“Yes, yes… remind me to give you a reward later,” Axycia said with a wink at Theodore.

“I'll keep that in mind,” Theodore said with a smile as he lowered his arms.

He then looked at Ailis and Divos before saying, “I do hope we can do this again another time.”

Divos nodded at this as Ailis simply grumbles a bit.

“Oh, don't be like that,” he said to Ailis. Ailis didn’t say anything as she sat where she is.

“Don’t worry about her, she’ll cool down in a bit,” Axycia reassured him from where she sat.

Theodore nodded at this but glanced over to Ailis with a worded look before sighing and looking over to Divos, who still was laying on the ground.

“Up, up,” said Theodore as he offered his hand to the young Vokun Dovah.

Divos took his hand and got pulled up to his feet. I looked over at aunty, seeing her smiling as she simply looked at Theodore.

“You look very happy,” I told her. She looked over at me with the same smile.

“I’m very happy Viri,” she said before looking back. “Only a few things will make me this happy.”

I smiled at her as I pulled Qo onto my lap as she read more of her book. It was at this point that Father, Ruby, and Yang came in. Father was quick to notice Theodore before looking over to aunt Axycia. He then walked over to us before speaking up.

-------------Editor’s Checkpoint-----------
“Hello you two.” He greeted before looking down at Qo as she read her book. He smiled at the sight before sitting beside me, not wanting to disturb Qo. Yang followed suit and sat beside him, though her gaze was at Theodore. Ruby was the same, looking at him in confusion like her sister. “So you've finally done it.” Said Father, breaking the silence. Axycia chuckled at this.

“Was there any doubt?” she asked with a smirk. Ruby and Yang looked at each other for a moment before Ruby spoke up.

“Uhhh, who’s he?” she asked, pointing at Theodore who was now showing Divos how to wield two blades. While the two of them did that I saw Ailis looking at the two halves of her glave with a frown on her face.

“Yo!” I heard Rose call out to us which made me jump a bit. We all turned to see her walking in with a smile on her face before seeing Theodore before stopping. “Two arms, Theo right?” She asked us. Father and Axycia nodded, gaining yet more confused expression from Ruby and Yang.

“He is Theodore Parker, Indigo’ grandfather.” Father said, mostly to Ruby and Yang.

“Wait… didn’t Indi’s grandfather…” Yang started before looking at Axycia as she smiles as she wiggled her fingers a bit, making some magic appear in her hand. “Right… that makes sense.”

Ruby was still confused before I pulled her over to me with a smile. “Honestly, don’t try to think about it.” She smiled at me before giving me a kiss on the cheek, making me blush a little. Father turned to look back at his sister before saying.

“Does he know about him?” Father asked Aunty.

“He does, though Blake finds this a little odd that the two look very much like each other, minus the eyes and one extra arm.” Axycia explained. Father nodded in acknowledgement before looking over to Yang, who simply stared at Theodore. Most likely wondering how he and Indigo look so alike.

“It's best not to think about it, love.” Father said to her, bringing Yang out of her thoughts.

“It's just… the resemblance is so uncanny.” Yang said to him with a quiet chuckle. I chuckle at this as I looked over at Ailis, who was talking to Rose at the moment. I felt Qo wiggle a bit before seeing her looking up at me with some needy eyes. I giggled before giving her another cookie, which she happily ate. Ruby and Yang watched as Theodore sparred with Divos, Ruby was excited to see his weapons in use and wondered what they can do. Axycia, while happy to see her son getting along with Theodore, was simply staring lovingly at the latter. It was really weird seeing like this, having known her to be strict and very serious while growing up.

“It is odd seeing you like this dear sister, it has been so long since you've looked another the way you do now.” Father said with a chuckle as he glanced at her.

“Well, times has changed for the better.” Axycia said with a smile. With a nod and a one armed hug, Father spoke up.

“I'm very happy for you, I truly am.” He said as he hugged Axycia. Axycia rolled her eyes at this but accepted the hug. It was then that Theodore and Divos had finished their match. Divos went to get his sister while Theodore walked over to us, his gaze soon landed on Father and Yang before seeing Ruby sitting beside me. He looked back at Father and bowed before speaking up.

“Greeting, you must be Saanvodkiin. It's an honor to meet you.” He said to Father in a respectful manner. Axycia rolled her eyes at him.

“You are always so formal.” She laughs at Theodore.

“It is a habit of mine.” Theodore admitted with laugh of his own as he straightened back up. Father chuckled at his politeness. Yang shifted a bit before speaking.

“If you’re wondering, I’m Yang Xiao Kun.” she introduce herself as she pulled closer to Father. Theodore smiled and bowed his head.

“Ah yes, the wife of Saanvodkiin, I could I forget.” He said with a chuckle and another bow before looking at Ruby. “And you must be Ruby Rose.”

“Hello.” Ruby said before giving me a look. I rolled my eyes before handing her a cookie as well. Ruby happily ate the cooking with a smile on her face. Theodore chuckled at this before seeing Qo. He raised a questioning brow before he glanced at me and Ruby before looking back at Qo.

“And who might you be, little one?” He asked Qo.

“I’m Qo!” Qo answered happily. I smiled at this as I petted her head a bit which made Qo’s tail move back and forth happily. Through the corner of my eyes I noticed Father's smile vanished and formed a concerned frowned as he looked away before facing his sister, only for her to nod with a concerned expression as well.

“Something wrong?” I asked Father. He nodded before looking at me.

“Yes, it is about our dear friend, Lana.” Was all he said with a look of seriousness. Both Ruby and Yang looked at each other as they looked at Father with worry.

“What’s wrong with her?” I asked with a look worry of my own.

“She's on an unstable Ark, one that might collapse and burn at any given moment. She was lured into it but we are not sure how.” Father explained as he stood up and walked down the bleachers. I moved Qo off of me as I stood up to follow him as Ruby helped her sister up so she could stand.

“Is she alright?” I asked Father as I followed him.

“For now she and the others have set up a secure base camp but the dangers of that Ark are much more ferocious and driven than the ones they've encountered before.” He explained to me as he helped Yang down the last step.

“So… we’re going to go help her?” Yang asked as she stood beside Father.

“Uhh, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come Yang.” I said, earning a frown from her.

“And why not?” she asked with a hand on her hip and an arched brow. Father stepped in, placing a hand on Yang’s belly before speaking.

“She's right, dear, it isn't wise for you to come along in your current state.” He said to her before shaking his head and adding. “And it isn't wise for me to leave you like this, so I'm afraid you and I will not be going this time.” He said. Yang frowned at this before sighing.

“Man… this sucks…” she turned to Father before adding. “You better make it up for me not going.” With a smile Father nodded at Yang's words. Theodore was still sitting beside Axycia, the latter explaining the situation to him.

“Well if anyone is going I believe I’m going.” Rose said with a smile. “It be nice to see everyone again.”

“I thought you didn't like Lena?” Ruby asked her, gaining her attention.

“I didn’t say say I didn’t like Lena, we just disagree a lot.” Rose said before adding. “Reminds me of another friend of mine that does the same thing.”

“So I have no doubt you will go as well.” Father said, guessing my decision. I nodded as Ruby stood by me.

“Lena is our friend, we have to go help her.” Ruby said with a smile. I smiled as well as Aunt Axycia walked up to us. Rose looked at the two of us before saying.

“Well, if those two aren’t coming,” Rose started to say as she pointed at Father and Yang, which made Yang frown more. “That would leave the three or five of us, is anyone else coming? What about Blake or Weiss?”

“I suppose it's worth asking them.” Father said as Theodore stood beside Axycia, arms crossed waiting for a final decision.

“I want to come!” Ailis said with a smile.

“No.” Axycia said with a frown. Ailis frowned at this as her mother continued. “You’re still learning how to fight and at where you are you don’t have the right to come.” Ailis simple grumbled at this.

“I should go find the others, see if they want to come.” I said before heading off to find the others. It took a while but I found them in the library. It took some time but I explained to them what’s going on. Indigo and Blake thought over it before they agreed to help. Weiss and Tak took longer to decide due to the fact of Tak’s momentarily complete blindness on foreign grounds though it came much of a surprise to hear Tak agree to help even mentioning that he would need time to accustom himself before he could be of any help. With nothing holding her back Weiss agreed as well. I feel like she didn’t need convincing if Tak was coming as well. I smiled and went back to the others to tell them of the news about the others. As I got there I saw that aunt Axycia was talking to Father as Yang was sitting back down with the twins near her. I didn’t see Qo at all, maybe she headed off?

Theodore was off to the side, speaking to a still angry Ailis. Unfortunately I was too far to hear what he was saying but whatever it was made her frown vanish. She soon nodded at this before Theodore looked at all of us.

“Well!” My aunt said as she clapped her hands together. “We just need to wait on the others and we’ll be ready to go!” Father seemed to chuckle a bit but didn’t say anything. Yang was still upset she couldn't come to help but she didn't argue knowing that it's a bad idea considering her pregnancy. Both of her kids sat next to her as they watched the rest of us wait for the other four. It wasn’t long until Indigo, Blake, Weiss and Tak to arrived in the training hall. Both Indigo and Blake stopped when they saw Theodore. The three of them stared at one other before Blake spoke.

“I’ll never get used to this.” Blake said. Indigo simply waved at Theodore.

“We will eventually.” Indigo told Blake before wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Weiss on the other hand looked at the two in confusion before taking a deep breath and saying.

“I'm not even going to ask.” She said, almost muttering to herself. Axycia simply coughed to get everyone's attention.

“Well, if everyone is here, we should get a move on.” she said as her hands started to glow. A circle formed around us as runes started to form as the light dimmed. She looked over at Father with a smirk. “Not all of us use a bright light door to get to places, just too bright.”

“Very funny.” Father said in a sarcastic tone as he rolled his eyes. Yang suppressed a laugh at this while the twins giggled at their father's sarcasm. “We will see you all soon.” He added with a wave of his hand. As the runes were finishing I saw movement near us. I turned as the spell was finishing.

“Wha-” was all I could say before everything went black.

“-t” I finished as we were transported. I blinked as I looked around at where we are. It looked like some sort of large overgrown building with what could only be described as several large rings. I heard Tak shiver and looked over to him to see if it was fine before realizing that the floor itself was a cold rusted metal.

“Are you okay?” Weiss asked Tak, worried about his well being. Tak nodded, shifting his feet a bit.

“Cold floor.” Tak said with a nod before shivering a bit as he moved his feet around, not being able to stand in place on the metal floor. Weiss smiled at him before looking off somewhere, her smile turned into a frown.

“Uhh, Viri…” Weiss said as I stared at her before looking at where she was looking… oh crud.

“Hi!” Qo said with a simile as Iilah was standing beside her.

“For the record, it was her idea!” Iilah said quickly as she looked at Indigo and Blake. “She’s very convincing!”

“Qo!” I said as I marched over to her and pulled her away to talk to her. “What are you doing here??”

“I wanted to come.” she said simply.

“Without asking.” I said with a frown on my face.

“You wouldn’t let me come if I did that.” she pointed out as she crossed her arms at me.

“Because it’s dangerous Qo, that’s why I didn’t want you to come.” I said firmly. Qo simply shrugged.

“Well you’re now stuck with me.” she said as she stuck her tongue out. My jaw dropped as she walked by me with a laugh.

“You little…!” I said, earning a laugh from my aunt as Qo went over to her.

“My, how this one reminds me when you were young.” Axycia said with a smile. Theodore chuckled a little at this before looking down at Qo and saying.

“I hope you understand the kind of trouble you are in when we return.” He said to her. Instead of a childish worry that most kids would have, Qo simply smiled.

“I’ll see Dinosaurs, it’ll be totally worth it.” she said happily. I sighed as I looked at the rest of us. I saw Ruby, was older now, gave me a small smile as Weiss, Indigo, and Blake took noticed of the two of us

“Wait, what?!” Weiss yelled as she looked at the two of us. “How are you two older?!?”

“Didn’t you not realized that we spent like, years beforehand at two other places like this?” I asked her with a frown. “Or did you not believe us?” Weiss was silenced by my questions while Indigo shrugged while Blake was giving Iilah a stern talking to, the latter was looking down in sadness with her ears laying atop her head.

“It's just hard to believe that being true.” Tak said in Weiss’s place as he blinked. I noticed that stopped hopping from one feet to another, having grown used to the cold metal. I sighed as I looked at my aunt.

“Anyway to send them back?” I asked her, earning a whine from Qo.

“No~, I don’t want to go back, I just got here!” she said with a pout. Axycia chuckled a bit which I noticed that she seemed a little bit tired.

“Sorry, can’t really do that. Transporting this lot was more taxing than I thought.” she said before sighing. “Haven’t need to put in so much power into it before.” Theodore looked at her with a little concern over her exhaustion. She simply waved it off. “I’m fine… I just… need a spot to rest up for a time.” I frowned at her sadly as she took a step forward before stumbling a bit. Theodore caught her as she grumbled a bit.

“Easy there, dear.” Theodore said, his voice full of concern. She looked over at him and sighed.

“Mind if I lean on you for a while?” she asked. Theodore nodded before letting her lean onto him. She smiled as she looked at the rest of us. “Well, first things first is to find Lena and her group.”

“Hmm, Beta could you do a long range scan of the area? Maybe find out where we are?” Rose asked as Beta appeared. With a nod the little Ghost’s body disassembled itself before a bright blue pulse of light traveled throughout the area. Beta soon reformed and looked at Rose.

“It's official, this place is big…” Beta said before looking at Rose and adding. “And scary… really scary… anyone like snakes?” Beta asked as he turned to look us. We all just looked at him silently before he spoke. “I've also picked up a few smaller signatures ahead of us, too small to be a threat.”

“Lovely, well then.” Rose said as she looked at all of us. “Shall we go find that others.” Glancing at Qo with a frown, I soon nodded along with the others. Rose led the way with us following behind. My ears twitched as I heard rapid footsteps heading towards us and looking to the source, I saw a Raptor sprinting towards us. My hand shot to where Molten Fox is and… she’s not there. I looked down at the holster and saw it was empty… why do I forget to grab my weapon!

We watched at the Raptor got closer at us until there was a loud gunshot in front of it, making the Raptor come to an abrupt stop.

“Better move on you overgrown lizard, less you like to become a nice pair of boots.” Rose threaten as she held a revolver in her hand. The Raptor hissed at her as she shot again, this time a bit closer which scared it off.

“Raptors… great.” Indigo said upon sight of the fleeing Raptor. As the Raptor ran off everyone looked at both me and Ruby, who the latter was have this busted look on her face.

“You two… forgot your weapons?” my aunt asked us, to which we both hung our heads for.

“Well… it’s not like we’re…” I looked up to see both Weiss and Blake have their weapons on them as well as Theodore. “... never mind.”

“You done goofed.” Indigo said, earning a chuckle from Blake. “How is that you two forgot your weapons?” He asked with a frown. Iilah was too busy laughing at mine and Ruby’s predicament.

“I’m still… remodeling.” Ruby said as I simply hung my head. I ran by my room twice! How could I forget. I felt someone grab my hand and saw Qo there between us holding each of our hands with a smile.

“Don’t think this gets you out of trouble.” I told her. Qo simply shrugged at me.

“Well since you two don’t have any weapons…” Rose said as the two of us looked up. Two weapons appeared in her hands. “Scout rifle for Ruby and Pulse rifle for Viri.” she stated before handing them to us. With our temporary weapons given to us, we continued forward before stopping at a ramp leading up and an open chest nearby. The chest was empty save for a few pages of utter nonsense. As we took a look at it and around Iilah let out a scream.

“SOMETHING’S CRAWLING UP MY LEG!” she yelled. We all turned and saw a large lizard seemed to crawl up Iilah and resting it’s head on top of her shoulder.

“Kinda like Sparky.” Qo said, looking up at the sleeping wyvern on top of her head. The lizard tilted its head and looked at Iilah before blinking. It simply stared at Iilah, as if studying her.

“W-what are you looking at?” she asked the lizard shakenly. The two stared for a few moments before the lizard opened its mouth and it's tongue shot out onto Iilah face. She screamed as she started running around with the lizard on her. Indigo couldn't help but laugh at this but was quick to compose himself and take a hold of Iilah as she ran by him and lifted her up.

“Easy there, I don't think it wants to hurt you.” Indigo said, placing Iilah back down while the Lizard like creature retracted its tongue and blinked at Iilah. “I think it likes you.” He added smiling a little. Blake smiled as well after having laughed at Iilah’s reaction. Iilah sniffles a bit before shooting Indigo a glare. The latter rolled his eyes and said. “Oh don't be like that.” He said before giving the lizard a gentle pat on the head, to which it leaned onto his hand. “See, its friendly.” He said just before the lizard wagged its tail, causing the tip of it to light up, surprising Iilah in the process. Indigo retracted his hand and the lizard’s head rested against Iilah’s shoulder as it wrapped its tail around her to secure itself. Iilah panicked but quickly noted that it was strangling her in the slightest.

“I do believe it has imprinted on you, curious.” Theodore said as he watched the lizard opening an eye to look at him.

“We can keep it.” Blake suggested to Iilah and Indigo but I'm sure it was directed more to Iilah. The latter didn't know what to make of this, in one hand she should be panicking and scream for its demise but in the other hand, she was curious of it and its sudden imprinting on her.

After we all gotten settled we all went up the ramp to a long metal corridor. As we walked I glanced at Aunty, worried that she might collapse at any moment but the thought soon vanished when I saw her leaning her head against Theodore's shoulder with a smile on her face. I smiled at this as we continued on until we got to a large patch of red tipped mushrooms.

“What’s this?” I asked as I looked the mushrooms a bit closely.

“Hey hey!” Beta yelled as he floated over and tried to push me back. “We don’t know what they do, better not stick your face near it.” I frowned at this as Beta started to scan the mushrooms.

“Don’t worry, he does that to me all the time.” Rose said with a small laugh. Beta soon finished and emitted a red light that surrounded a single mushroom. This one had a red stem on it, though I'm not sure if it made any difference.

“That one's bad, avoid it.” Beta said as he continued to highlight the single mushroom as we walked by the patch and once on the other sighed he stopped highlighting before vanishing again. We continued walking until we came up to what looks like a broken bridge. I went over to see what was below and saw a large body of water.

“Unless we want to take a dip in some water we have to find another way.” I said to the others.

“I got it.” Axycia said as she took a few steps forward, though she was already panting before she stopped. “One bridge coming-”

“You are in no shape to conjure anything, any more use of your power and you'll be out cold.” Theodore quickly stepped in and said to her. As he said this, Indigo looked down at the lake below before glancing at the dark corridor behind us.

“Getting us over to the other side won’t kill me.” Axycia said with a frown. Indigo raised his hand towards the corridor, resulting in the shadows to be absorbed by him and in the process, reform his shadow arm. That done he quickly looked over the edge.

“We'll think of another way.” Theodore said back to Axycia. Indigo raised his shadowy hand before it slowly dissipated. Whatever he done had earned him a questioning look from Blake and Iilah. Curious to know what he did, I walked over to his side and quickly noticed a very long and shadowy slide that led to the shore.

“A shadow slide?” I asked him as I stared at it.

“Would you rather walk down?” Indigo asked me as the slide shifted into a long set stairs.

“No no, slide is alright.” I said quickly after, making Indigo chuckle. The stairs then shifted back into a slide. I could still hear Axycia argue with Theodore over her not being in good condition to make a bridge or a way down.

“Hey!” Weiss yelled, drawing their attention to her. “There’s a way down, are you coming?” she asked with a frown on her face. Axycia blinked at this, looking over to see the slide down and grumbled a bit. Indigo was the first to go down it with Iilah in his arm, though judging by the terrified scream that the poor girl wasn't expecting it. The stopped at the bottom, just a few inches away from the water. Indigo placed the still shaken Iilah down before waving up at us. It took a few minutes but all of us slide down the slide until we all were at the bottom. Tak and Weiss were the last to go down and when they did, Tak was excited to feel the dirt instead of the cold hard metal.

“Alright, Beta, anything came up as of yet?” Rose asked Beta, maybe talking about the radar in her helmet or something.

“Nothing but a few signatures here and there, most of them are small but there's at least a few of them to be worried about.” Beta said as he appeared over her shoulder. It was then I noticed it getting darker. Was it sunset already? I really couldn't tell.

“Is it me or is getting darker?” Indigo asked out loud. Everyone looked around at where we were. Farther away from the lake was a forest of odd trees and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be some sort of large fungi forest. Another thing I noticed was the several stumps around area, indicating that someone was here before.

“Better keep moving.” Rose said as she looked around. “Don’t want to be caught out in the middle of nowhere.” Taking her advice we wandered about, not really knowing where we were going. At a few occasions we came across some Spinos fighting some sort of giant spider crab, we of course avoided them and for a good reason. Eventually it had gotten too dark to venture any more and we set up camp with me and Ruby building a fire with the knowledge we gained from our time in the Island.

Axycia was quick to sit by the fire, finally having a spot to rest but not without pulling Theodore with her much to the latter’s surprise. Blake, Iilah and Indigo all sat together by the fire as well with the lizard still on Iilah’s shoulder happily resting. Rose was keeping guard with a gun in hand in case of any danger. Weiss and Tak were farther away from us most likely meditating.

“When did Weiss start meditating?” I asked Ruby.

“A little bit before our final exams, Tak said it would help her focus. Ever since then she made it part of her daily routine.” Ruby explained. I nodded as she and Qo helped me make some food from the berries we collected along the way, making sure to leave out the black berries and put away the white ones in case of an injury. It soon turned into berry soup, which would work for the time being. Iilah and Qo accepted the soup hungrily, after shamefully admitting that they have not eaten before leaving.

The rest of the night, I think, we chatted and ate before some of us were starting to fall asleep. Rose took first watch over the camp as the rest of us fell asleep. It was… passable where we slept until my ear twitched as I heard something. I looked up and around to see where the sound was coming from. Due to the fire being only embers I couldn’t see anything in front of me. I heard footsteps near me and saw Rose with Beta floating over her shoulder as he shined a light in front of her. She seemed to be stepping quietly around the camp with her gun out.

“Rose?” I whispered quietly. She quickly shushed me.

“Quiet, Beta picked up something and that something is getting bigger.” she whispered back. She moved her gun up to aim. “Better get that fire going and the others up, I don’t think we’re alone.”

With that said, I shook Ruby awake and moved to the others. I shook them enough to hear them complain before extending my hand out to make the fire reignite.

“Ugh, what gives Viri?” Weiss said, complaining that she was woken up.

“Isn't it a little late to be awake?” Tak asked tiredly as he sat up. Indigo sat up silently and blinked lazily before shaking Blake, earning a bit of a hiss from her has a result before finally opening her eyes only to glare at Indigo.

“What's going on?” Indigo asked, too tired to add emotion into his words. They all looked over at me before they, and very much awaking any one who was still sleeping, jumped at the sound of Rose taking shots at something.

“Look alive people! We have some things wanting to take some bites out of us!” Rose yelled as she shot a few more times. It was then when we all heard a roar near us… then another… then multiple ones going off near us. Everyone was shocked to have heard the roars, Iilah and Qo were both terrified. It didn't help that it was practically pitch black dark. Indigo quickly stood up and formed his Scythe though by the look of his face, it was difficult to do.

“Indigo?” Blake said in a worried tone before another few shots went off.

“You don't look so good man, maybe using your shadows is a bad idea right now.” Rose said as she had another gun, a side arm I believe, appeared before she tossed it to Blake. “Use this for now.” It was then Indigo collapsed from exhaustion, his Scythe dissipated just as he fell to his knees.

“Too… tired.” Indigo said with ragged breaths. Tak let out surprised yell, gaining our attention and quickly saw that large dog like beast had pounced on Tak. Weiss screamed just before a glyph appeared to shove the dog beast off of Tak, everyone else was moving in close around as my aunt was trying to use her power, only for it to not happen due to not being fully awake. Weiss pulled Tak back and stood in front of him with her rapier in both hands.

The beast shook its head in a daze before growling and baring its teeth before two more stepped out of the darkness, these ones smaller than the one that pounced Tak. The larger beast, presumably the leader, raised its head up to roar but was quickly met with a sharp metal end of a now bloody pike. From the top of the head through its jaw, the pike was impaled perfectly onto the beast for a quick and easy kill. The two smaller beasts looked at the limp body of their dead leader before facing the one responsible in the darkness. It was then we heard an audible beep as two green orbs appeared from the darkness.

“Get lost.” Said the person responsible, his voice while gruff, was very familiar. The beasts let out a whine before vanishing into the darkness, their whines becoming more distant by the second. As they ran off I looked the two green orbs.

“Rockmond?” I called out to the voice. The impaled pike was pulled out of the body before the person walked into the light, revealing themselves to indeed be Rockmond wearing a pair of Night vision goggles. He pulled them and smiled before saying.

“It's good to see you two again.” He said to me and Ruby. I smiled at him as I felt Qo behind me, clinging on to my legs as she was hiding from the dog beasts. I turned around and kneeled down.

“Hey hey, everything is okay now.” I said to her softly. She sniffled a bit as she clinged to me even more. I gave her a hug as Rose walked over to Rockmond.

“Yo! What’s up Rock man!” Rose greeted with a cheerful tone. Rockmond shook his head at Rose with frown.

“Don't ever call me that.” He said to her.

“Aww, you missed me.” Rose said happily. He simply rolled his eyes at her.

“So what brings you here?” He then asked us. He quickly shook his head before we could answer and said. “Nevermind that now, right now I'll need to take you all back to the camp, there you can rest easy.” He said dismissing his own question. We all looked at eachother, not really complaining about leaving our camp to go to a better one.

“Well, lead on.” I said to Rockmond. With a nod and a torch, Rockmond led the way to Lana’s camp. The trip was silent, not because we had nothing to say but because there were more of those beasts out there. During the trip, I did notice the large device strapped onto Rockmond’s back and made a mental note to question him about it later. I held Qo in my arms as she was calming down. I hummed softly to help her calm down, but it wasn’t as loud to attract anything around us. We soon came across a very large lake with a natural rock column in the center of it. What stood the most even in the dark, was the top of the large metallic structure, it up with several watchtowers and searchlights.

We briefly marveled at what could potentially be our place of rest and Rockmond could telo we were eager to get there. So with a quicker pace, we walked up a slope that led up to a shattered holographic billboard, its message unreadable from the garbled and glitchy screen. Below it however was the sleeping form of a Raptor.

Rockmond walked up to it and shook it awake, earning a threatening hiss from the glowing Raptor. With a snap of his fingers The Raptor awoke and quickly looked at Rockmond and startling us in the process. Rose was quick to take aim at it but stopped upon sight of Rockmond petting the Raptor.

“There you are, I got something for ya.” Rockmond said before taking a still bloody chunk of meat, no doubt from the beast he killed and tossed to the Raptor. The latter was quick to devour its treat before announcing its excitement with an odd wheeze like sound that echoed in the dark and putting us on edge. “Don't worry, this area is completely secured and the dinos you see around are harmless unless provoked.” Rockmond said. Qo stared at the Raptor in awe, finally having a closer look of one after our first encounter with the creature. No doubt that there were questions Qo wanted to ask but as soon as she opened her mouth a loud yawn was the only thing that came out. We continued up and simply marveled, at least I did, at the ancient looking architecture not because they were ancient and still standing but because of how advanced it all looked.

Eventually we came across a behemoth sized reinforced door, both side of the door frame were blocked off by stone walls. Rockmond walked up to the door and was immediately spotted by a searching.

“State your name!” Said a woman on the searching. Rockmond rolled his eyes and raised his left arm before flipping them the bird, making me quickly block Qo’s eyes from the offensive gesture. “Ugh, fine.” Said the woman before the large doors creaked open. When it was opened, I was surprise to see village on the other side with houses made of wood or stone though one was made out of metal with no windows, giving me the impression that it might've been a freezer. The houses weren't that big, only big enough to house a few beds and nothing more. We stopped by a dark house, the lights inside were off before Rockmond flipped them on and showed us the bunk beds.

“Go ahead and pick your beds, this is where you'll all be staying for the night.” Rockmond said as he held the door open for the rest of us. Iilah was quick to run pass most of us and call a top bunk, earning odd looks from us having never seen her do something like this. Whether she noticed the stares or not, she was out like a light and snored happily. Blake and Indigo took the bottom bed, deciding to sleep together after seeing that the bed was big enough for them both. I placed Qo on the top bed of the one me and Ruby chose before laying down together. Theodore had suggested that he take top, worrying that Aunty might be too exhausted to climb up. His concerns vanished when he was pulled down onto the bottom bunk with Aunty, the latter giggling quietly at her lover’s surprise. Tak and Weiss shared a bed as well, though Weiss was using Tak as a pillow but it didn't look like he minded this as he draped an arm over her.

Everyone fell asleep as soon as their heads landed on their pillows and I was no different, we finally were able to get some sleep without any worries.

Author's Notes:

And we’re back in the ARK! Yay~