Dylan hacked his way through the darkened jungle vines with his Soul Sword, the Deeps, Liptons, Kruu, Monsty, and Tina right behind him. It seemed like only yesterday that he first trekked through the Amazon jungles. And ended up turning into a gillman himself.

"So, these Amazon guys." Tina asked Kruu. "You already met before, right?"

"Yeah. In this timeline, it was during our journey to Atlantis." The mermaid confirmed. "They're led by Queen Unger, and know the rainforest even better than others do. Plus, their main camp just so happens to be near a beach to the Atlantic Ocean. Just south of the Bermuda Triangle. Where the Lost City itself resides."

"Well, it's not lost anymore since you're the queen." Billy added. "Do you think they know where this Black Lagoon is?"

"Possibly." She replied before turning to R.L. Stine's grandchildren. "Don't worry, it's not like Themyscira where there's no boys allowed."

"Are they…hostile to outsiders?"

"Kinda. But they'll be okay since I'm with you."

The camp should be somewhere around here. Dylan shoved some leaves and vines aside, and sure enough, he could see various signs of a camp. Complete with a fire.

Only women were around. An elder seemed worried. And warriors were vigilant. Which meant it wasn't long before they noticed there were visitors.

"So you return, Queen of Atlantis." Unger stated. "What brings you here?"

"Is there anything your sages have sensed?" Kruu only asked.

"They have become wary. They speak of visions. A blood red sky, with a crimson moon. Beasts running wild and throwing the entire world to ruin. They have even foreseen seven ancient stones of mysterious power and origin. All gathered by what is only described as darkness incarnate."

"That's why we're here, then. That darkness is called Dracula. He means to collect all seven Moonstones to bring about the Eternal Night. Humanity will die, and monsterkind will be enslaved. We're here to find the Deep Stone. And Dracula is sending his minions for it as we speak. Do you know where the Black Lagoon is? We were informed the stone was with a green amphibious humanoid."

"A fish man?" Unger asked. "Well…as fate would have it…we came across this odd being while hunting."

They were led to one of the nearby lakes. A green scaly head peaked out of the water, like a rather curious creature. It slowly emerged, with Dylan recognizing that appearance anywhere.

The Gill-man. The Creature from the Black Lagoon. In one of its green scaly claws was a glowing yellow-green stone with a picture of algae on it. The Deep Stone.

"We've never seen such a creature before." Unger stated. "It followed us back to our camp, showing no signs of hostility. But it HAS been…intimidated by our nature."

"How so?" Tina added.

"It fled into the water when it witnessed a warrior decapitate a training dummy." Unger chuckled. "But I do not understand why it does not return."

"It's greatly attracted to human females." Kruu said. "Because you resemble the female species of its merpeople race. A mermaid, like myself. Let me talk to it."

Kruu headed forward. As if in a trance, the Creature did not flee. Kruu showed her Atlantean markings and had them glow a marine blue. The Creature did much the same, revealing green glowing markings.

"So…your name's Psari?"

The Amazons seemed a bit confused.

"Atlanteans can telepathically communicate with any marine and aquatic life." Sheena reminded them. "She's translating for us."

"From the Devonian Era? So…how did you survive?"

The Creature, Psari, let out some gurgling noises.

"What?! A sunken city? But…Atlantis hadn't existed yet! Where was this city?"

"Gurgle blurgle!"

"The…South Pacific? So…it sent you into a slumber for millions of years. And you were oddly attracted to this stone…"

Psari seemed to lean closer to keep eyeing Kruu.

"Uh, o-okay, getting me a little nervous here."

A bit embarrassed, the Gill-man leaped back a little. Dylan smirked. It would NEVER work with Kay. SHE was never a mermaid.

"Listen, someone's coming for your stone, and they may KILL you to get it." Kruu said to Psari. "There's this powerful monster called Dracula, and he's been able to get into the minds of nearly every monster in the world. Had you fallen under his control, you'd have surrendered it to him hours ago."

"Blurr?" The Gill-man tilted his head.

"That stone you have is one of seven. If they're all brought together, this thing called the Eternal Night will happen. It may be no biggie to you that all humans will be killed, but all monsters, even you, will be enslaved forever. And Dracula has an army. Some of them are on their way now to get that stone."

"On their way?" Unger asked, spotting something in the distance. "No. They're already here…"

True to the Amazon Queen's words, there was a cloud of green glowing mist in the sea. And from it emerged three monstrous ships. Kruu and her team recognized all three of them.

The Davy Jones, a ghost ship captained by Vincent the Vicious and his crew of phantom ghost and skeleton pirates. The Scarlet Skull, an undead ship captained by Captain Long Ben One-Leg and his crew of undead zombie pirates. And the U.S.S. Ghoulberg, a corrupted Dreadnought warship that was commandeered by Dr. Aqua and Dr. Ritter, with their army of aquatic marine mutants.

"To battle, sisters!" Unger rallied. "Monsters are on the rise!"

"Here, take this!" Tina tossed the Gill-man a spear. He seemed a bit confused at how to use it, then looked back at the three ships.

"AHOY THERE, LANDLUBBERS!" The ghostly voice terrified the fishman. "SURRENDER YE STONE, OR THERE BE BLOOD IN THESE HERE JUNGLES!"

"YOU CANNOT RUN FOREVER, FISH MAN!" The second captain bellowed. "DRACULA WILL HAVE EITHER YOUR STONE OR YOUR HEAD!"

"Here, you'd be no match for the ghosts, but you SHOULD stand a chance if I enchant your weapons." Dylan quickly got to work as the Amazons readied bows and arrows.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FIRE!"

The three ships unleashed a barrage of cannonballs, turret shells, and torpedoes! The Gill-man warbled in a panic and dove into the waters, green ghostly cannonballs scorching the ground around him. More cannonballs and warship fire managed to strike some trees, forcing the Amazons to the ground.

Once the ships got close, the monsters swam to shore. Kruu and Dylan handled the ghost pirates, with the Amazons clashing with the skeletons, zombie pirates, and mutants. Meanwhile, Vincent, Captain Ben, Dr. Aqua, and Jake Ritter managed to force Psari out of the water.

"You're a tenacious one, primitive lifeform." Ritter stated. "Relinquish the stone. You have no other choice."

Feeling threatened, the Gill-Man's marking began glowing a light green and it spit forth water at the four threats with the force and pressure of a riot control hose! Ben was knocked back, but Ritter's robotic body proved durable enough to resist it.

Knowing they would pursue him as long as he held the stone, the Gill-man forced the fight into the waters in which he was stronger. Yet he was still outnumbered, four to one. But it didn't take long for Kruu to notice, who took Monsty with her to back the Gill-man up.

By themselves, the mutants and pirates weren't much. But there was nothing that could be done about the ships. The Amazons, after all, were a warrior tribe. Not even the Muglani could defeat them.

With mermaid might and superweapon strength by his side, it wasn't long for Psari to easily take on the four adversaries. Especially after discovering and harnessing the Deep Stone's power of aquakinesis to make the water spit them out and emerge to face them.

As long as he had the stone, Psari was a force to be reckoned with.

"ARRR! YE LEAVE US NO CHOICE, SCALY ONE!" Captain Ben growled. "UNLEASH THE TYRANT!"

"Tyrant?" Dylan overheard.

Dr. Ritter only pressed something on a holo-display, and something began speeding through the waters from the Ghoulberg. And when the shark fin was spotted, Dylan froze with shock.

"DOWN!"

Unger and her Amazons braced themselves as the beast sprang from the waters. A.P.E.X. roared and snapped closely at the Gill-man before diving into the waters again! Once it dove in, he turned around for another breach!

"The pirates have a shark?!" Unger asked.

"Not just any shark! A KILLER one!" Kruu said. "And it snagged the stone!"

"Go!" Dylan said. "We'll take care of the pirates and mutants!"

Kruu took Monsty and dove into the Amazonian waters, the Gill-man following not too far behind. They followed A.P.E.X. into a massive lake that Psari seemed to recognize: The Black Lagoon itself!

There, A.P.E.X. let out a bellowing roar, dropping the stone to the ocean floor, and charged! Before, Kruu wouldn't stand a chance. But times had changed.

She went first, disorienting the shark with a shrill shriek before striking it with a watery whip. Psari went next, tossing his spear right into A.P.E.X.'s eye! It roared and lunged for him, the Gill-Man holding the jaws back before punching some teeth out and blasting more water at the shark, with Monsty firing a barrage of bubbles with his clones.

Kruu was rather impressed. No wonder Psari moved the fight to the water. He was faster and stronger there. Kinda like Aquaman, since he wasn't completely useless on dry land.

After knocking A.P.E.X. back, Psari charged into it before knocking it upwards, then withstood a tail slam. Kruu kept up the assault, forming a powerful Syren magic orb and launching it right at a charging A.P.E.X., with the shark chomping down before mercilessly attacking the two aquatic humanoids, who were much faster and blitzed the beast.

Finally, to finish the beast off, Kruu focused on the peak of her magic.

Yeah, that's right. She thought as the shark swam her way, roaring with jaws open wide. Smile, you son of a-!

Just by firing a finger gun, Kruu had her magic detonate the orb, blowing the so-called ultimate predator to nothing but chum! Psari seemed a little stunned at the sight, but the beast had it coming. Even IT was nothing before the might of a queen.

Here's hoping there's not a sequel where he comes back for revenge. Kruu smiled.

At this, the Gill-Man only blinked.

Alright. We have a LOT to catch up on, Mr. Caveman. For now, let's get that stone.

The two swam down to the bottom of the lagoon. But when they reached the stone, Kruu sensed something hit the surface.

Look out!

She dove out of the way and pushed Psari with her, avoiding what sounded like a harpoon. But when she saw what it really was, it was too late.

The net from the launcher snagged the Deep Stone, and was getting pulled to the surface at great speeds! The two quickly swam up to dry land, with Kruu shapeshifting into her human form upon landing.

"Ye sure fell for that one hook line and sinker!" Vincent cackled. "The stone be OURS now!"

"A fair trade for your life, is it not?" Aqua said, with humanigators nearby. "Pleasure doing business with you, Missing Link."

Kruu was about to charge to take the stone back. The only thing that stopped her was another cannonball fired, landing in between her and her target and kicking up dirt! She coughed and rubbed her eyes, and when her sight returned, they were gone. The ghosts faded away, and the ships vanished within the fog they came from.

"Aw man…" Dylan panted. "We were SO close!"

"I don't think the pirates EVER fought before!" Tina added. "They had that eerie look in their red eyes!"

"As if the devil itself was possessing them." Unger stated. "Perhaps this Dracula of which you speak of."

"Well, it's not a total loss." Kate stated. "At least we got another monster on our side."

"Guess that makes seven icons now." Dr. Deep said. "At least we got seven of SOMETHING."

"And I've got a bad feeling something similar happened with the others." Kruu said. "We should get back to the Keep."

"It is clear that this is indeed a dire time." Unger said. "Should the worst happen, we will be of assistance. The world is at stake, and our home along with it. We will fight to the end to defend it if we absolutely have to."

"Hopefully that doesn't happen. I'd have to rally MY people too."

"Well, we have to go." Dylan added. "I.G.O.R. should be priming a return portal of some kind. Man, Van Helsing's not gonna like this…"

The Gill-Man garbled in question. It sounded like he had known that name before.

"It's been some time, so it's a NEW Van Helsing now." Tina said. "Come on, we'll introduce you to the others! You'll be GREAT buddies with Nessie!"

They headed back through the night-covered rainforest until they found the return portal. As they went through, Dylan felt like Dracula was much closer to his plans than they could even think he was…