The four leaders were preparing for the expedition. They had two plans in place. The first one was to simply check what was under the clouds of Chaotic. None of them would admit it, but they didn't immediately think of taking that course of action first.
They were worried for their humans and what would happen to them in the meantime, but they realised that there was something else they could try.
"I hope this will save us time," Chaor grunted. Knowing their luck, it might well not be the case. Still, he didn't want to jinx it by telling them that it would be for nothing.
"It will be for the best. We still need to prepare and bring the materials for the Battlegear," Maxxor reminded them.
"I already sent a few of my soldiers to bring them quickly. We can start producing some here while we wait for the portal to reopen. It will be better than just waiting," Theb-Saar replied.
"Maxxor. How is the ship's preparation?" The Danian queen asked.
"It is advancing quickly. It will be ready to launch in a few hours, if necessary," Maxxor replied.
They could only hope it was necessary.
"We would have won some time if the Codemasters had bothered to check under the clouds and see if there was land or not," the Underworlder grunted.
The group noticed Gal'drad approaching them. The M'arrillian gazed at Chaor and Aszil, "I am ready to follow them under the clouds. We need to prove that you can trust us. I can obviously see that you are doubting our intentions and I do not hold it against you. It is something we deserve for what we did in the past. We are not above judgement. Still, it will be better to deal with this enmity after Milla'iin's ambitions are struck down."
The blue Mipedian agreed with the other creature, "We know and we won't lose time fighting amongst ourselves. Are the flying creatures ready to descend?"
"They will be soon. They are just waiting for the Codemasters to give them authorization," Maxxor replied.
"Yes. This defense system they have needs to be taken down first," Chaor grumbled at the waste of time.
Chapter 89: First Try
The defense system in question was one that prevented outsiders from entering Chaotic without teleporting. It was the same as the lasers that were hidden inside the walls and the electric energy barrier, always activated.
Codemaster Hotekk was already entering the codes to deactivate it, "Who had the great idea to use so many passwords, codes and other stuff to deactivate it! Can't we just have one password?"
"It's our creator who put all of this. He was ordered to make the defenses as impossible to hack as possible," Crellan sighed. He was also annoyed by this.
Imthor gazed at them, "We are not here to make a bunch of complaints about some details that we didn't put in. It's none of our fault anyway."
Hotekk sighed, "We are the only ones here- Yeah. Not anymore. Still, that was way too much just to deactivate it. What if lives were in danger and-" he saw their gaze, "I know they are codes, but what if it wasn't the case? This was put in before it was decided that codes would be used." Sighing he entered the final password and sighed, "Done!"
They could see on the screen that the shield had disappeared.
"You can now check what lies below Chaotic," Imthor told the others.
Crellan hoped they would make progress, "I will prepare the rooms to make those Mind Bands," he left the others.
"We just have to wait and hear the report," Hotekk sighed.
"Yes. I'll focus on Earth for now."
The creatures were preparing to jump from Chaotic and see what lies below. Carefully, they adjusted their Telebracers.
Frafdo, a white humanoid bird with green eyes and yellow beak had on a green tunic and a bow attacked on his back. He was with Gal'drad and a few of the other flying creatures to check what lay below the clouds. He wondered what they would find down there. He was glad they had warned them that a barrier would fry their skin and feathers if they tried to jump down there, "Why do you insist the M'arrillian come with us," Frafdo said, adding disdain at the mention of the tribe.
"I will do everything to prove that we are not your enemies," Gal'drad replied calmly. He then sighed when Frafdo went on about not trusting him. He blocked it off, as it was the same thing all over again.
"Enough Frafdo," Maxxor said, shooting a disapproving gaze at the other Overworlder, "Gal'drad and the others betrayed their tribe to protect the Cothica. Don't say that they failed. We all did."
"It won't happen again," Frafdo replied, chastised.
"This is an extremely important mission," Theb-Saar said as he climbed atop his dragon. He held a small pouch at his side, along with a few battlegears offered by the Codemasters, "We need to be careful when we go down. If they built Chaotic, they could have some unknown battlegear down there."
"We will be careful," the M'arrillian replied.
The group went to the precipice of the city and gazed down, wondering what wonders lay below the clouds.
The creatures prepared to jump, speaking a little with the other leaders and as they prepared for their mission.
After a few minutes, they jumped down the cliff.
It wasn't long before they entered in the clouds. The visibility quickly dropped and were left unable to see anything farther ahead. Looking around, they wondered what they would see below the clouds. Would it be what they hoped for or disappointment?
Gal'drad thoughts went to the humans. He knew that the Messenger was safe in an unknown land. A land covered with ice only. He wondered how humans could survive there, but then again it was the Cothica. They had probably made something to circumvent that problem.
Theb-Saar noticed the clouds were getting less dense, allowing him to see farther ahead. He waited a few seconds and once they passed the clouds he spoke up, "It is as we hoped."
There was land below the mountain, but they were still far away. Chaotic was extremely high in the sky and their descent would take much longer than they thought. The other creatures stopped as well.
Frafdo commented, "It won't be that easy to turn back up," his gaze went up, "Even for the best flyers like me, it will take a lot of energy just to get back up there."
The blue Mipedian took out something out of the pouch. It was something the Codemasters called binoculars. He knew of some Battlegear similar to it, "Still wonder what they meant by different," he put them and observed below.
As he expected, his vision expanded. He could see farther ahead. He tried to take a good look. He knew that if they went too low, coming back to Chaotic wouldn't be that easy.
"We have those Telebracers to return back to Chaotic if it is too dangerous," Gal'drad reminded them. He gazed at his own. He would make sure nothing damaged it.
"Depends if we find what we need to fix everything," another creature commented.
The object they needed for the portal might affect the Telebracers. After all, they didn't know anything about the material used to fix the portal.
Theb-Saar noticed something, "I think I can see something…before that," he used his mount to go around the mountain. He needed to check to see if it was similar enough to the map Najarin took with him. If it wasn't, then it might not be their destination. Still, it seemed to have some history to it. What he saw told him enough. It was worth checking it out, even if it wasn't directly connected to their expedition. It might give them more intel to fix the portal… or really, anything to help them.
Once he reached the other side of the mountain, his dragon to several places. He took out the binoculars and observed the ground. He grunted with a bit of dissatisfaction. He hoped it wouldn't be the case, but alas, that would bring more trouble.
"What is it?" Flafdo joined him.
"This isn't the location on the map," he pointed downward, "This isn't an island. It's linked by a small bridge to another island next to it. The island we are searching is isolated. As for our surroundings, I do not see any other island with a large mountain."
"Then all of this is pointless?" Gal'drad asked with a hint of desperation.
"Not necessarily. There is something I noticed. A small structure down there. This battlegear made it visible despite how far away we are from it," he held it.
They returned to the previous spot and Frafdo used the binoculars. He checked around and found the structure. It was a large temple-like structure that seemed abandoned, "I see. Maybe the materials for the portal are right under Chaotic."
"It is worth investigating later. Right now, we have to report our findings. We will have to make two expeditions instead of one," the Mipedian king concluded.
They took a while, but they managed to return to Chaotic to give their report.
Theb-Saar searched for the other rulers to explain what they found out. The others told the result to the others.
The blue Mipedian accelerated his pacing as he guessed where they could be. He left the room and went where the Codemasters were. He had to admit that their presence there wasn't helping them that much, but he didn't mind the guilt. They might be harassing them, but they couldn't do anything before. Now, they had two things they could try. He reached the room and noticed Najarin, "We are back."
"A-already?" Maxxor asked in surprise.
Chaor grunted, "It is a failure," he growled and focused on the map.
"Not necessarily," Theb-Saar replied as he raised his finger. He approached them.
"What did you find out?" Imthor asked. He thought it might be best to put a room aside for the creatures to meet instead of their own later on. Also, it would serve as a way to prevent them from coming in. As it was, he felt a little harassed by them.
"What we found out is that the island under Chaotic isn't the one on the map. Still, there are signs of civilization under us. That means that we have two locations to search for anything to fix the portal. Maybe it's under Chaotic or on that island," he thought about it and smirked, "We have to try searching for them both."
"What do you suggest?" Chaor grunted.
"And what are you going to do?" Crellan asked them.
Hotekk spoke what was in the mind of the Codemasters, "And are you all going to leave and let us focus on our task now that you have yours?"
The creatures gazed at him. They couldn't read his face, but they heard the annoyance and exasperation from him.
"We are going to the island by ship," Maxxor replied as he gazed at the red Underworlder.
"Me too."
"I'll remain here and prepare any strategy we could use on the Cothica. I will leave your room unless it's important and communicate with Sarah and the others if you have anything to ask them," Aszil replied.
Theb-Saar chuckled, "Then I'll take care of the temple-like structure under Chaotic. My mount can fly back up, but it will be asking a lot."
"Once everything is ready, we will leave," Maxxor concluded.
Najarin gazed at Theb-Saar, "I'll go down with you. As you said, it is a temple and I might have some knowledge to help you."
"Taffial is coming with us. He has a lot of knowledge that he brought form Kaizeph and he will be excited to investigate the temple," Mipedian king explained. He gazed at the other leaders, "Since I won't be with you, Mudeenu will take my stead instead. Iflar will remain here with Azsil."
None of the creatures disagreed with him. Maxxor and Chaor didn't have the worst relationship with Mudeenu anymore. Still, it might heat up a little if they weren't careful.
They continued their preparations. Soon, they would be ready and leave Chaotic for the expedition.
Theb-Saar prepared his own while the others left.
AC: This is the end of this chapter.
Next Chapter: The Mysterious Temple.
Theb-Saar and his group went to investigate the temple in hopes to find a clue on how to fix the portal.