Slate rushed towards the scene, a bit uncertain on what she could do to help but still felt that she should try and do something. From a distance, she could see the outlines of several different bestial forms, indicating that the Oleaftars were indeed back on the planet, mostly likely seeking revenge from their defeat months earlier and loss of their soldier. The one thing that was concerning her was the form of the Liaperians that she could make out in the night sky.

"Why are the Liaperians here fighting alongside the Oleaftars? By what I understood from the cats and Tera, I thought they were mortal enemies in their region of space. I only hope Lieutenant Hunter can safely defeat them without any lasting fear from what happened," she prayed.

She clearly remembered the capture of the lieutenant the year before and his close call with death, which disturbed her more than what she cared to admit to anyone but she was glad the Pit Crew and the general were available if she had ever needed to talk to someone about it. One downside was that she couldn't tell Rusty the entire story of what happened even though he had asked on a few occasions and she had to falsify some of the details.

"I wish you good luck Lieutenant," she whispered.

Slate ran through the crowds of people trying to get away from the scene. She didn't know what on Earth she would do once she got closer since there was no possible way she could help from being so far from the airborne battle. As she watched the scene before her, she never noticed a shadow descending behind her. It was only when the illumination from the streetlamps disappeared that something had finally caught Slate's attention. Gingerly, she turned around to see what exactly was behind and she had to cover her mouth as a gasp escaped her lips.

"What are you doing here?" the creature growled at her.

Her mouth sputtered as it tried to determine what it trying to say. Her brain started to go into overdrive as it tried to comprehend what she was seeing. Unconsciously, the doctor began to step away from the creature before gaping at his sheer size. She had stood next to Tera many times before and it appeared that this creature - whoever or whatever it was - had to be bigger than her. Except for the dark blue colouring and the apparent fact that it was male, the creature looked almost identical to the individual known as Tera.

"I ask again: what are you doing here? It is not safe here for anyone to be here."

"I-I suppose I was hoping to help. W-what are you?" her mouth managed to form.

"Who I am is of no importance to you. This is not your fight. Now get to safety before something happens to you," he growled at her.

The doctor cocked her head to one side, wondering what was going through the creature's head. Inwardly, Dwayne was terrified that she was going to notice something that gave him away as not being all that he seemed. He watched her every move as she began to gingerly step back towards the tower, never noticing that someone else was arriving on the scene.

"Well, well, well, what have we got here?"

Dwayne's attention twirled back around to find Hapar hovering in the sky just above them. Dwayne swallowed hard as he realized the extent of revealing himself in the middle of battle. He only wondered how much harm was going to happen to the doctor now because of him.

"I do believe this is my lucky day. I have gained a temporary ally and then I am led directly to one of the people I was searching for. Miss, your friend here has unintentionally led me right to you. You were part of my prophecy and that means I will have to deal with you," Hapar told them before turning his attention to the dinosaur. "Now as for you..."

A guttural rumble escaped Dwayne's lips as he stepped in between the doctor and the alien, who merely laughed at his presence. Before Dwayne realized what he was doing, Hapar landed before him and raised a weapon in his direction.

"Do you honestly think you can stop me, monster?" Hapar told him. "Now let me through!"

"You have to get through me first," Dwayne retorted.

The Oleaftar's gaze travelled between the creature standing before him to the doctor before returning back to the dinosaur lookalike. He gave an odd smile, as if wondering where he should place the being before him before opening his mouth to speak.

"What's your name creature?"

The question struck the lieutenant as a bit of a surprise since he knew all too well what Hapar was like. The idea of needing a name seemed irrelevant to Dwayne for the longest time since he planned to never be around places where he could easily be seen and therefore, speaking with no one except Czarina and the cats. His thoughts drifted back to Czarina and her alter-ego of Tera.

Tera.

Pterodactyl.

That's it! Inwardly, he smiled for he now knew the perfect name to give himself. He returned his full attention to the alien being before him and grinned.

"Dact. My name is Dact," Dwayne replied.

"Well Dact. I have to admit that you are very intriguing to me in more ways than one but you will not prevent me from killing this woman. Then I will find the man who is connected with her and subsequently kill him. Once I do that, then the secondary prophecy will never have the chance to fulfill itself and Tera will be forever stuck with her monstrous form forever and then she will have no choice but to return to my services," Hapar told them.

The news about a second prophecy hit Dact like he was striking a brick wall. Part of him wanted to strangle the ethereal throat of Czarina Mills when he saw her next but he knew that for the moment, Doctor Erika Slate's safety came first. He retained his position between Hapar and the doctor when the alien lunged forward. Dact spread his wings to their fullest span and roared. Slate watched as the two began to dance about in the street.

"You will never take this planet. I won't allow it," Dact snarled.

"Yes, I will. Since my last visit, I have acquired more help and more weapon power. Even you cannot defeat all of us at once and our warrior will be ours once again," Hapar said.

The Oleaftar found that due to the size of the pterodactyl before him, he could not take him down easily nor could get past long enough to snatch the doctor. With Tera, he knew exactly how to control and overpower her. With this new creature, he knew nothing about him except for his protectiveness of this particular woman. Hapar knew that somehow, that information could be put to good use at some point. But for now, he had to somehow change this fight in his favour. He soon jumped back and took a survey of the scene. The doctor was still at the scene, standing several feet away while Dact stood in between them.

'I've got to get the doctor out of here somehow,' thought Dact.

Glancing between her and Hapar, he hoped to find even a moment to escape the scene. A slight buzz at the back of his brain alerted him to the presence of Czarina.

'What's going on down there? Are you alright?'

'I'll be fine. Doctor Slate was trying to see if she could help but then Hapar found her and I'm currently trying to keep him from killing her.'

There was a pause as Czarina contemplated what Lieutenant Dwayne Hunter was telling her.

'Not good. Not good at all. You have to get her and yourself out of there. Hopefully, we can distract Hapar long enough for you to get her to safety. After tonight, she'll need a set of eyes watching her and now that someone's finally seen you, questions will be raised about your origins and you will be asked again if anything was mentioned during your recovery.'

'I've been hiding this from everyone for months now, even after all the questions. I think I can handle a little more scrutiny about my time with the cats. After all, I was questioned at length about my stay with Justin and Jennifer and I told them that I knew nothing. Hell, I didn't even know anything until well into my recovery no thanks to you.'

'Listen bub, if it weren't for me you might have been pterodactyl free but you would've been six feet under right now so be thankful that you're still around to protect our dear doctor. Now get her out of there before I have to come down and get her out myself!'

Momentarily glancing between the doctor behind him and the alien leader before him, Dact knew he only had a matter of seconds to react before an attack would begin to rain down on him. Capturing a fleeting look to his one side, his eyes found a lamp post. Jumping over to it, he ripped it out of the ground and flung it towards Hapar, who scarcely had time to react to the quick actions and it forced him to the ground. While the alien was momentarily distracted, Dact rushed back to the doctor.

"Get on my back," he growled at her.

"W-what?"

"Get on now before both of us get killed."

Not wanting to argue further, Slate climbed onto the creature's back and he rapidly took to the sky. Slate never expected to gaze upon the city without being inside an airplane or helicopter so she hung onto him for dear life. Various sensations unlike anything she had ever felt were already making her stomach churn and she worried that she would vomit all over her new ally. She closed her eyes in hopes that the spinning would stop but Hapar's voice soon filled her ears.

"How dare you! Neither you nor Tera will have a chance against us this time! With the help from the Liaperians, we will defeat you and this planet will fall to us!"

The sound of a laser gun filled her ears. She found herself gripping tighter onto the strange creature she was sitting upon as the flash of light screamed through the air past her. They continued to soar away from Hapar, who could be heard rambling and what she believed to be cursing loudly in his native language.

"I will find you! Even if I have to search until the end of time, I will find you and force you to serve us until you are long past your death!"

The doctor gulped down the bile forming at the back of her mouth as she was flown away from the scene. Carefully, she turned her attention back to where they were headed and found that the view of the ocean was rapidly getting greater. As the water filled the space underneath them, her eyes widened as she quickly realized where they were now headed.

'He's taking me to the Dark Horse. How on Earth does he know about the Dark Horse?'

Her mouth grew dry as the carrier slowly came into view. She could see a few people scrambling about the decks, probably in anticipation of the Big Guy's return. Little did she know that her ride was having an internal conversation and conflict of his own.

'It's under control here for now though I'll take a hit to cover for you. After they leave, I'll pretend to go scouting and I'll meet you in the forest near the cave. It's a good thing we decided to leave some spare clothes there for you in case we ever did have to do this.'

'I'll meet you there, just let me drop off the doctor at the Dark Horse. She'll be safe here for now at least.'

'Affirmative.'

00000

General Thornton glanced around at the chaos and confusion that enveloped the deck of the Dark Horse. News had only trickled in about the situation on the mainland but what they had heard so far, things were not good at all. Reports of both bestial and slender creatures working in conjunction in order to attack the city were not a good thing in his books. The idea that the Oleaftars might eventually return to the site of their last defeat did not fail to cross his mind and he knew all too well that the Liaperians were capable of anything He also knew that he had to prepare his people and somehow keep both the lieutenant and doctor safe until the situation was over.

"If only we could get the doctor here ASAP then those butterflies would start to disappear," he muttered.

Thornton immediately narrowed his eyes as he felt a wind pick up and he looked up in surprise to find what exactly was causing it. Placing an arm over his head, he had to take a few steps back as the creature landed upon the deck before him.

"What on Earth...?" he started.

He couldn't help but gulp as he stared at the creature hovering above him. He wondered what it was and why it was sitting on his deck until he saw a familiar figure sitting upon its back. The creature lowered himself to the deck where Doctor Slate carefully climbed off and hurried over to the general.

"Doctor, what's this all about?" he demanded.

"The Oleaftars and Liaperians appeared to have teamed up in order to conquer the planet General. This is Dact and he saved me from getting killed at the hands of Hapar. I can try to explain further once the Big Guy has returned. I learned a few things that everyone should know about," she explained.

Thornton nodded his head before turning his attention back to the giant creature standing before him.

"Dact, is it now?"

The creature nodded, inwardly gulping for he was nervous that the general would somehow recognize him as Lieutenant Dwayne Hunter. At that moment, he realized that Czarina had dealt with this for years after high school and no one knew until the last minute that she and her alter ego of Tera were one in the same.

"We would like to get to know you better and in the end, hope you can help us. Those forces you encountered mean to take over this planet and you won't be safe anywhere."

"I know them better than what you realize and for now, I think we should part ways. If you require my services, I will assist as much as I am able but for now, this should be good bye."

The pterodactyl began to flap its wings and it soon disappeared into the night sky. Thornton and Slate watched him leave before they stared at each other. Both were now wondering what the cats were hiding from them now and if Lieutenant Hunter truly knew anything about the creature.

00000

Dact sailed over the trees that lay on the outskirts of New Tronic City. He had flown over this patch of land so often lately that he knew it like the back of his hand. Following a particular line of trees, he soon came across the clearing that he first found when he followed who he first knew as Tera back to her cave. Carefully landing, he slowly moved into the cave so he could allow the now incoming Big Guy to stand next to him. Its hatch sprung open, allowing its invisible passenger to move out of the pilot's seat. Dwayne Hunter walked out of the mouth of the cave, gingerly pulling on his uniform before he finally got a good look at his machine and sighed.

"Did you really have to do that?"

"Of course I did and you know it. I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised that neither the general nor the doctor noticed your injury while you were in their company."

"They were probably too busy trying to figure me out and with the attack, their minds were slightly occupied. It'll be noticed as soon as I get back to the Dark Horse though."

"That is why I took the hit for you. Otherwise, they're going ask questions about how you managed to sustain an injury when there's no damage to the Big Guy. Now get in there and head back before they start asking the wrong questions."

Dwayne Hunter gulped as he rejoined with the spirit of the deceased woman before climbing into the pilot's seat of the enormous machine. Gulping, he winced slightly as he moved the gears around in order to move the Big Guy back out to sea.

He only hoped that no one would make the connection.

TBC...