Aval'par and Bahrakatan felt a bit tense. They heard the loud alarm sound through the military base. It meant that something was up. Their instincts told them that the only thing that could cause it was them.

"The M'arrillians are here," Aval'par said.

The other one nodded, even if he couldn't see him, "Yes. I deserted them, so I know the consequences. I know what I'll do. And you?"

The chieftain had no idea what he should do. He didn't mind fighting the humans and the creatures. Still, the thought of hurting Tom was a little difficult. His friends too. He put his hand on his eyeball and cursed himself. He had become attached to them, "By the Cothica, I don't know. I just… just don't know. If they repel them, I won't have to worry about any of this."

"If I have to kill my own tribe, I'll do it. Including you, if you ever try to hurt the inhabitants of the Cothica," the Coralsmith warned.

"I know."

Chapter 131: I Won't Leave You Alone

Neth'uar and the others charged. The things that got in their way did little damage. They were too fast and too unpredictable for those weird things to hurt them. Still, they had little time to act.

(They will evacuate the humans if we don't hurry!) The worm creature told them.

(I'll make sure they can't fly,) Rath'tab declared. He couldn't believe the chieftain actually found them. It was another miracle on the tentacles of Neth'uar.

He accelerated as he saw a few large vehicles that could fly. He noticed no one went to them. He also observed a group of humans and the creature's taking formation. They had heavy long-range battlegear with them.

As for the creatures, they had their usual weapons.

A few metallic battlegear came to life as they pointed their cannons at them.

Rath'tab quickly realized the humans were going in for the kill and that they were sitting ducks, (Split up! Big battlegear coming!)

The creatures obeyed without hesitation and an explosion occurred just where they had been before.

The large metallic battlegear looked powerful and he went to destroy it. Rath'tab saw many humans raising their battlegear and fired at him. He flew back and avoided them the best he could. A few of the bullets pierced his jelly body and went out the other way. He screamed in agony. It wasn't fatal, but it hurt so much. He called the power of the elements and threw ice shards at them.

The humans split up and one of them was hit at the ankles.

Despite that, this attack allowed him to follow up with more. He dodged the creature's attacks as he had the air advantage. None of them could fly.

Neth'uar joined him and attacked them without mercy.

The others joined him and forced the humans to slowly back away.

The eight creatures nodded and charged. They were ready to fight the strongest M'arrillians and let the weakest to the brave humans.

Tom and his friends heard the battle begin. The sound of the assault rifles filled the air. They heard the tank.

They and their parents held guns to defend themselves if the creatures managed to pass the military and the creatures.

Tom took a deep breath as he checked the rifle. It looked like the one he used against the M'arrillians at the farm, but more powerful and deadly.

Sarah felt weird holding one of these, as she never felt the need to have one in her hands. This entire situation changed her thought on it, "Guess I'll get one when I live on my own," she whispered quietly, "Or…" and gave a quick glance at Tom. It was too far away in the future for that anyway. That crush would surely die down. They didn't know each other that well outside of the game.

The parents were nervous as they stood near their children.

Remi kinda felt left out. Not because he didn't have anything to defend himself with, but because it would be his first time in a direct battle on Earth. He was a little nervous when he felt Peyton put a hand on his shoulder.

"They will surely repel them quite easily." He gazed at his friends, "Right bros?" Peyton asked a little nervously.

Kaz sighed, "Depends on how many they get under mind control," he adjusted his glasses, "But I guess only those who have their mind protected will fight," he jumped at the sudden explosion, "Still, we need to be ready," he pointed his rifle at the entrance. He knew that if Chaor was here, he would order to stand ready for anything that might come. He wouldn't shoot first and ask questions later, but if he saw a tentacle or a crab-like shell, then he would fire at will.

The Codemasters received the report of the M'arrillian squadron attacking the military base. They didn't warn the creatures, as this would bring them here immediately.

Imthor locked the door and isolated them from the creatures, "How's the progress for the portal?"

"It's progressing rapidly. Still, it will take half an hour max to be ready," Hotekk replied as he checked the results.

"We need to go faster! The creatures are ready to be sent on Earth!" Imthor felt the pressure on his shoulders.

"Even if they succeed, it will only be a small victory for the M'arrillians. I already prepared the coordinates. Once everything is fixed, I'll input them and they'll be one kilometer from the base," Crellan replied.

"Can we bring them closer?"

"No. There is too much risk the closer that we open it to where the humans are and… I don't want to know how that will end up."

"Okay. Once the portal is ready, we send them to Earth," that was the only thing they could do. The rest rested on the hands of the humans and creatures on Earth.

One of the Kha'ralls that followed the M'arrillians went to the side, searching for the four humans. The humans and creatures focused too much on the troops. He took his chance to slip through the defenses. All they needed were the four humans.

Rol'doi looked like a brown lobster with a hard carapace, a large pincer instead of his left hand and a right hand with sharp claws. His shining amber eyes searched for the location of the four guides. He quietly advanced and managed to avoid detection, despite his size. He began to investigate the buildings and gave a quick look inside a few of them.

(Where are you Rol'doi?) Neth'uar asked before painfully grunting.

(Searching for those four humans. I'll get one of them and reveal their position,) Rol'doi replied.

(Good,) the worm creatures chuckled quietly in the mind of the Kha'ralls.

Inside their prison, Bahrakatan had enough. He couldn't wait any longer. He had a bad feeling inside his carapace that something might go wrong. He raised his pincer and tried to destroy the glass-like structure that contained him. There were no guards, "I'll deal with the consequences later," he decided. He pressed with everything he had and eventually, shattered the glass. He walked out of it and noticed there were no guards. He doubted they could stop his tribe on their own away.

"You could escape from the beginning?" Aval'par said when the other one faced him.

"I'm going to protect the humans and my friend," Bahrakatan replied as he walked away.

The purple M'arrillian grunted, "Go then," he turned around and crossed his arms. He couldn't fight his tribe face to face. It was better if he rotted here for now.

The Coralsmith nodded and left.

Aval'par put his hand on his side. He had no idea what to do now. His eye went to his door. He doubted his tribe could save him. He didn't mind if they couldn't, "Be alright Tom."

Tom and the others waited for the M'arrillians to show up. They had a feeling they might come eventually. The intensity of the fight had increased. The numbers of explosions that caused the ground to shake was proof of that.

Kaz fell on the ground and grumbled in embarrassment. Especially since he was the only one.

"Don't worry Kaz," his best friend said as he helped him up, "I almost fell a few times-" he stopped then the door opened.

They turned around and saw a M'arrillian. His eyes locked on Tom and grinned. His aura made everyone hesitate to fire as the creature quickly rushed to them. He ignored everything in his way.

"Fire!" Donald was the first to recover.

Without hesitation, they fired at the crab-like creature.

Rol'doi raised his pincer to protect his two eyes. He felt the bullets bounced off his shells, but still felt pain from the violent impact. He moved to where he saw the boy with black hair. Once he noticed he had gotten close enough, he grabbed the boy with his hand before the other one could do anything, "I got you now!"

The others immediately stopped shooting.

Tom was dragged in front of the creature, serving as a human shield.

"Tom!" His mother yelled as she took a reckless step forward.

"Stand back woman or I crush a leg," he moved his pincer near his leg.

Annie cursed the creature and backed off.

Rol'doi laughed loudly, "This is all you can do? The moment I get one of you, you don't try anything?" He grunted when the female teenager suddenly rushed at him.

"Leave him alone!" Sarah yelled without thinking.

Her parents and brother yelled, "Stop!"

The Kha'rall couldn't believe what she tried to do. He grinned as he tried to grab her with his pincer. He had to hold back though, and missed her.

The girl jumped on him, "Let him go!" She pulled her gun on his left eye and pressed on it.

Rol'doi screamed as she tried to burst his eyeball.

She pressed the trigger, but it only made a click. She realized it was out of ammo.

The M'arrillian grabbed her with his pincer, "Accursed human!" He squeezed and made her scream in pain. He made her drop her weapon. He looked at the other humans, "Try anything and she is dead!"

They could see the blood vessels in the eyeball of the M'arrillian. They didn't want to try his patience.

The creature slowly backed away, "I'll leave now. Don't try to follow me. I don't care if one of them dies anyway," he wasn't even in the mood to leave with a grin on his face.

Rol'doi left and the others wondered what to do.

Annie was on her knees and cried.

"M-maybe they will stop him," Alexander said hopefully. His hope was faltering and didn't have strength in it.

His parents already cried.

Remi clenched his hands. He had no idea how that happened. For a minute, no one did anything.

Suddenly, the door opened again and Bahrakatan's face showed up.

"You!" Jeff grunted.

"Bahrakatan!" Remi said above the father.

"What happened here?" The Coralsmith quickly noticed the heavy mood.

"A M'arrillian kidnapped Sarah and Tom!" Kaz furiously grunted.

"Stay here!" Bahrakatan quickly left the group on their own.

Bahrakatan quickly rushed forward. He wondered which M'arrillian kidnapped the boy and the girl. He was lucky when he noticed the orange Kha'ralls with the two humans.

"Rol'doi Stop!" the Coralsmith ordered.

Rol'doi ignored him or was just too focused on escaping the base.

Bahrakatan gave chase, but lacked speed to catch the kidnapped.

He noticed the battlefield. He was near Intress who was isolated from the others and was attacked by a Kha'rall.

The Coralsmith quickly came and smashed his pincer on the skull of the other one.

The evil M'arrillin put his hand on his head and turned around.

"Leave or I will kill you!" Bahrakatan ordered.

The pain made the other Kha'rall a little dizzy. He didn't think clearly and just obeyed the order from the purple creature.

Once the M'arrillian was gone, Bahrakatan turned towards Intress, "No time to thank me!" He pointed outside of the base and loudly yelled, "Rol'doi kidnapped Tom and Sarah!"

The Overworlder didn't lose a second. She recognized the seriousness in his voice. She noticed the creature he was pointing at and gave chase with her superior speed.

The Coralsmith didn't anticipate one thing. Was that Wamma who suddenly showed up in front of him and yelled, "Where is Sarah?"

The large bug was shaking a little while his eyes burned with fury. Thankfully for Bahrakatan, he wasn't the target of that fury.

He answered the Danian, "Follow Intress."

And the red creature ran as fast as he could to catch up with Intress, "Dammit. Sarah! I'm coming!"

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: Do Not Take That Step.

Intress and Wamma chased after the M'arrillian. However, when they caught him, they ended up in a dangerous situation where a single mistake would be fatal.