The creatures continued to march towards the beach. They were tired after climbing all the way down, but they kept marching forward. The uncertainty was getting on their nerves. They didn't know if there might be an ambush waiting for them or not. They also didn't know if any enemies were watching the ship, if they hadn't destroyed it already.

Maxxor looked back, "I hope they won't chase us until we are gone," he then gazed at the other creatures.

Mudeenu sighed, "We are outnumbered and we don't know what they can do." They were also tired, but he didn't mention that.

Gal'drad flew upward to observe their surroundings. He made sure there was no one ready to ambush them, (I'm seeing nothing so far.)

Tera crossed his arms, "I wasn't expecting to be in this situation when I woke up yesterday," he snickered quietly, "I still have no regret helping you. I won't let the Cothica fall at the hands of the M'arrillians."

Vix'ben added in their mind, (I am not offended by that. Just remember we are not the same as them.)

"I know," the rock and ice creature replied. He accelerated his pacing a little, "I pray the Cothica's luck is by our side."

And the other creatures agreed.

Chapter 111: Leaving The Island

The group reached the beach without encountering any enemies or traps. Still, they didn't lower their guards at any moment. None of them knew if the elemental creatures had planned something.

They observed the beach and stopped. They saw their ship, but it was guarded by elemental creatures.

"We are the crew?" Maxxor whispered.

(No idea. I suggest we speak in our minds for now,) Gal'drad suggested.

(I'll get seasick once we are back on the ship. That was the worst,) Mudeenu mentally whined.

The others turned towards him with a small grin.

(Not a word!) The Mipedian prince ordered.

Tiaane observed it, (They didn't bring them to the city. That means they are somewhere else. I also see they are guarding the ship.)

Vix'ben put his hands on his forehead and focused on expanding his thoughts, (They are in the ship. Prisoners of those creatures. I can feel their mind. I didn't see inside though,) he added when he felt the suspicious glares directed at him.

Maxxor quickly thought about their next course of action.

Nauthilax already expressed his own, (We should crush them and get out of here. There aren't that many guards and we must show them what we can do!)

(And if it brings reinforcements before we can leave?) Tassanil asked. He raised his finger, (And if they did something to the ship?)

(We can check it out and come back to report our findings,) Tianne quickly suggested.

(Do it,) the ruler of the Overworld agreed.

The two Mipedians turned invisible for their reconnaissance mission.

The others waited for them to come back, losing a little bit of their patience as time was of the essence.

(I hope they didn't sabotage anything,) Tera thought hopefully.

Meanwhile, the two Mipedians infiltrated the ship. It was quite easy. They were invisible and the elemental creatures seemed to be ignorant of their special ability. They used their opportunity to observe the ship. It took a minute, but they didn't see any damage or anything that would prevent them from using it.

(I see no holes or anything that would take water,) Tiaane told the other creatures.

(That's a relief,) Tassanil replied.

(I can't even swim. I'll sink like the rock I am,) Tera sighed loudly after he thought that.

(That's easy to imagine,) Vix'ben obviously held back his laugh as he said those words. He seemed a little out of breath.

No one disagreed with him.

They continued to progress forward. They reached the inside and the path was narrow. They couldn't just move to the side to pass around the guards. The two reptilian creatures continued until they noticed a few guards approaching them.

The two couldn't turn back quickly to avoid them.

Mudeenu and Tiaane jumped in the air and pressed on the two sides of the wall. They stayed in the air and let the creatures pass under them.

(I hate narrow corridors like these. There are little places to make mistakes in important missions,) Mudeenu grumbled.

(It is a good strategic defense,) Tiaane countered.

(For the other tribes.)

(You two should keep moving forward,) Maxxor suggested.

(It might still be the middle of the night, but the guards will realize our disappearance soon. I believe it will be sooner rather than later,) Gal'drad replied.

(The luck of a Chaotic Player,) the ruler of the Overworld commented.

Somehow, the two Mipedians guessed it was from either experience, or stories told by Tom.

The two creatures continued their progression in the ship. It wasn't long before they reached the jail. They saw the sailors who were put behind the bars. There were five guards guarding them.

(We found them in the ship's jail. Five guards are watching them,) Mudeenu told the others.

(With the few outsides of the ships, I don't think they are many. We can strike fast and get the ship to escape,) Tassanil thought of a battleplan.

(But fighting in the ship will be a bad idea,) Maxxor replied. He grumbled something, (We have to force them out of the ship and fight them outside.)

(I don't think they know us well enough to recognize we are the prisoners from the city. Maybe we can fool them in some way,) Gal'drad began the skeleton of an idea.

(That wouldn't work for those inside the ship,) Nauthilax countered.

(Even so, we could take care of those outside. We just strike a few down by surprise and create a situation where most of them have to leave. An ambush,) the Overworlder suggested.

(And I can stay behind and free them,) Tiaane told them. He crossed his arms, (While the chaos of the fight ensues, I free the crew and we prepare to leave the island, back to Perim.)

Mudeenu nodded, (It might work. We have to try it. As you said Gal'drad, we don't have that much time to think of the best battle plan.)

Mudeenu left the ship and left Tiaane behind as their plan was made.

The High Muge waited. He crossed his arms. He sighed quietly, (Would have helped if we still had our mugic.)

(They confiscated everything. Our Mugic too,) Tassanil replied.

(Focus on the mission. We will attack at any moment,) Maxxor warned them.

Tiaane didn't distract them with more thoughts. He waited for the moment to free the crew. Then the ground suddenly shook.

"W-what's going on?" One of the guards asked.

Another quake occurred.

"Something is going on outside," another guard said.

"What do we do?"

The sound became more frequent. The guards were nervous and remained indecisive.

Tiaane hoped they would make up their mind soon. Now he could either wait for the others to attack them or act on his own. He simply waited.

"Let's go," the guard decided.

The guards who watched the prisoners left.

The Mipedian remained invisible and looked for the keys. He checked behind him, just in case one of the guards returned. He found it. Luckily, they didn't take it with them. He quickly checked and turned visible. He took the ship crew by surprise. He put his fingers on his lips, "Not too loud. We are preparing to escape with the ship. The others are creating a diversion. No time to lose. We have to prepare everything right now."

The crew didn't reply. They simply nodded back at him as the battle intensified outside.

Mudeenu was outside when the battle went on. He saw the attacks creating a few explosions. The sounds were loud. He heard something behind him and moved out of the way as the guards joined the battle. The Mipedian used this chance for a surprise attack. He summoned his energy and gave a flash kick right on the rocky spine of his target, crushing them.

The creatures quickly got an advantage with Mudeenu continuing his assault, invisible. He showed up a few times and caused panic among the elemental creatures.

Tera Motus helped them with a Rock Wave. He quickly realized they were a level beyond him when it came to battle. It made sense to him. His tribe had been at peace for a long time and never gone to war against another tribe. For the first time in his life, he was happy his tribe could relax. If they were as hardened as Maxxor and the others, victory would only be a fragile dream.

Maxxor fought three at the same time with ease. He had already noticed the difference between his allies and his enemies. Still, more could come soon. He noticed some activity on the ship, (Thanks Tiaane.)

(Focus on the fight. I'll join very soon,) Tiaane replied.

Nauthilax conjured fire out of his fingers. He burned one creature made of wind who retreated quickly. He turned to his next opponent who was of the fire element. He smirked as he was a water specialist. He spread water on the fire creature. He just caused a lot of smoke and didn't hurt the enemy that much. Still, he didn't have any problem defeating the fire creature.

Gal'drad and Vix'ben bombarded them from the air. They were relentless and aimed at any who weren't close to their allies.

The Fluidmorpher grunted as he was hit by a rock on the chest and crashed on the ground. He quickly attacked with ice shards at the elemental creature that closed in on him and he took back to the air.

The battle was quickly over. In a matter of minutes, they had restrained the enemies and put them on the ground. They couldn't restrain the fire creatures, as they would burn up anything they would use. They just had to leave them on the ground.

Maxxor panted, "We were lucky."

"Those are just a bunch of softies. They aren't hardened like an Underworlder," Nauthilax chuckled.

The others gazed at him.

"We don't have time to think about this victory. We were loud and more are surely coming," Mudeenu reminded them.

"You are the last one who wished to be on the ship, but he's right," Vix'ben told them.

"Seasickness means little in the matter," the prince replied.

"We need to get as far away as possible," Gal'drad flew to the ship.

Tiaane nodded, "We can complain or argue on the ship."

The others followed him.

One of the elemental creatures began to regain consciousness. He wanted to strike the ship with a fire attack.

Tassanil cracked his fingers and knocked the one who regained consciousness, "Just keep the fire creatures in sight. They might try something low like this one," he gazed at the creature he knocked out.

The others heard him.

Gal'drad flew in the air, "I'll watch them."

The creatures climbed on the ship and they began to sail away.

The M'arrillian observed the knocked-out enemies and the mountain. He tried to see if anyone tried to chase them down. He squinted his eyes when he noticed a bit of light that seemed to go down the mountain, (It seems they are finally chasing us. Maybe they searched for us in the city, but not anymore.) He turned around and joined the others on the ship.

Maxxor coughed and got the attention of everyone, "For now, we have to return to Chaotic quickly. There is nothing else we can do for now. We also need to make sure they aren't following us closely."

"The ocean is immense. They won't know where we are in Perim," Vix'ben replied.

"Don't underestimate them," Tiaane warned them.

"R-right," Mudeenu weakly replied.

"This is all we can do for now. We need to keep an eye, just in case," the ruler of the Overworld concluded. The others agreed and split up to rest for the night.

Maxxor watched the sky. He saw the stars. Still, his thoughts wandered in one direction, "Stay safe Tom," he prayed to the Cothica he was still safe and didn't try to do anything foolish.

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: M'arrillians Advance.

Tom and his friends learned that the M'arrillians were active again. They could only powerlessly listen to the event.