The team floated on their river cruise through the river with a forest along the banks.
"How long have we been here?" Jake asked the others.
"On the river or in the monster dimension?" Hayley asked, walking out to the front.
"Both," Jake said.
"Two days and a half on the river, and about nine days in the monster dimension," Cadence said.
"And I've been getting some pretty great shots of the many landscapes and monsters we've come across on this river ride," Kirby said. "Especially small fish-like monsters swimming under the water thanks to the glass bottom on this boat."
"Attention passengers," Zeon's voice came out of a speaker. "If you look to your right, you will see some watering plants."
They looked to the right and some a couple of plants reaching down into the river and sucking up some of the water.
The plants then lifted out of the river and started dripping some of the water from a couple of little holes located around their bowl like heads.
A couple of small brown monsters then circled around the dripping plants and were drinking the dripping water.
"What's going on here?" Jake shouted to Zeon.
"Monster 135, Dirt Devils, have a symbiotic relationship with these plants," Zeon said through the speaker. "They come to these plants to feed off the water, which is mixed with a chemical in the plant's bowls. The dirt devils then release a dirt mixed with the same chemicals from their mouths, which acts as a fertilizer for these plants."
"I've heard about symbiotic relationships before," said Jake. "I just can't put finger on the definition again."
"Symbiosis is when two different organisms have a close helping relation with each other," Hayley said.
"So, the plant helps the monster, and the monster helps the plant," Jake said.
"Exactly," Kirby said taking a couple of shots of the plants and monsters.
A few minutes later, a huge lake appeared on the horizon.
"We're going to take a break here before we continue on," Zeon said.
At the lake, the team were having lunch on the deck.
The lake was misty on the surface, but Jake noticed something moving fast under the glass bottom.
"What was that?" Jake asked.
"What?" the others said.
"Something moved under the boat," Jake said. It swam by again and stopped to eat some underwater plants.
"Can you tell what that is, Zeon?" Kirby asked.
"That water's too murky; I can't tell," he said.
The figure swam off fast and then rose out of the water.
It looked a lot like a plesiosaur with purple skin, two humps on its back, two little nubs on its head, and a row of spines lining down its neck and head.
It puffed water out of its nostrils into the air.
"A globular hydrodragon," Zeon said.
"You did mention them before saying that there were different species of these monsters," Jake said.
"Yes, this one is the species that poses as what you call the Loch Ness Monster," Zeon said. The hydrodragon then swam off.
"It's not attacking us," Jake said.
"Because hydrodragons are vegetarians," Cadence said. "And wouldn't try to attack humans since Troops have allowed them to live amongst humans."
"Could there be other hydrodragons here?" Kirby asked.
"I'd doubt that," Zeon said. "This is supposed to be the time when hydrodragons migrate out to sea; this one probably got left behind from its pod."
The hydrodragon bobbed its head out of the water again. "I gotta get this shot and fast," Kirby said.
He quickly pulled out his camera and took a shot.
The hydrodragon swam off down the river leading away from the lake.
Everyone looked at the image on the camera; it was only the head and neck of the monster on the water.
Kirby, having scrambled so fast for his camera, had accidentally hit the black and white filter before taking the shot, so the water looked black and white and the monster completely black.
And because of the mist on the water, it made it look a little blurry.
"That looks a lot like the most popular Nessie photo," Jake said; the others laughed.
The team spent a few more hours on the lake.
Jake was making his designs for his comics, Kirby was sorting the photos he took, Hayley was dipping her feet in the water even if there could be other monsters in there, and Zeon and Cadence had nothing to do and were staring through the glass bottom.
All seemed quiet until something hit the side of the boat with a large thud.
"What was that?" Kirby asked running out.
"I don't know," Zeon said. He looked through the glass bottom, but there was nothing.
Then, three dinosaur-like monsters rose out of the water. "Monster 514, Borlaks,"
One of the borlaks was about to use its acid spray, but Zeon activated a force field around the boat before the acid could hit.
The other borlaks tried to claw and bite through the force field along with using their acid spray.
"What are they doing here?" Kirby asked.
"We must be in their territory," Zeon said. "Or they're just cranky."
"Is this force field strong enough against their acid spray?" Hayley asked.
"This force field is strong enough against any kind of monster attack," Zeon said. "Including the level of borlak acid that can melt steel."
"Melt steel?" the others exclaimed at the same time.
"Borlaks can change the destructive levels in their acid from melting natural fabrics to elements that are as strong as steel," Zeon said.
"That would explain how the borlak we killed working with the Japan Troop burned through that wall of concrete," Hayley said.
Another roar then sounded from the edge of the lake.
The borlaks turned around, and there was a pack of five monsters that looked like black saber-toothed cats.
"Monster 350, Bunyips, "Zeon said.
The borlaks dove down to the water and made their way toward the bunyips with their spines out of the water like sharks.
The bunyips then lunged into the water and swam towards the swimming dinosaur-like monsters.
Once they both got close to each other, they roared to each other, and then the bunyips jumped onto the borlaks.
"What's happening?" Jake asked.
"The borlak and the bunyip are natural enemies," Zeon said. "They always battle each other for dominance over any lakes they come across at the same time."
One of the borlaks then threw one of the bunyips with its mouth, and another bunyip leaped out of the water and onto the neck of another borlak.
The bunyip then sank its tusks into the borlaks neck.
The borlak bellowed with pain as it sprayed its acid at the bunyip.
The bunyip let go as some of its fur began to dissolve from the acid.
The borlak's scales started to turn pale and it fell to the surface of the water.
"And of course, bunyips have a paralyzing poison in their tusks," Kirby said as he took some photos of the battle.
A purple mist suddenly rose out of the paralyzed borlak's mouth.
The other borlaks and the bunyips then dove down to the water and swam away.
"Why did they just leave that borlak behind?" Hayley asked.
"If a borlak is paralyzed, it couldn't control its acid spray," Zeon said. "So, what comes out could be very severe."
"We better get out of here too before the acid comes our way," Cadence suggested.
"I agree," Zeon said. He ran to the steering wheel and started the engine.
The boat zipped off towards the river leading away from the lake.
All of a sudden, the bunyips leaped out of the water and climbed onto the boat.
Their webbed claws scratched through the metal and poison dripped from their tusks.
"Get the blasters," Cadence said. "I'll keep them busy." She transformed and swiped here claws at the bunyips to keep them back.
The rest of the Troop came back with the blasters.
They fired at the monsters which blasted them off the boat and into the water.
They made it to the river where the monsters stopped following them.
"That was a close call," Kirby said. "Let's just hope that we don't come across anything else that will kill us until we get to the sea."
"I hope so," Cadence said changing back. "But then again, that will definitely be likely."
The others said nothing, so the boat continued to drive through the river.