Chapter 7: Secrets Buried, Uncovered

Review Replies

shirkahn: Nice update! As for the cyborg Duna thing? I'd say punishment (though I hope it's a temporary thing, she's too cute to be a cyborg forever!).

Dragon Emperor0: I should point that her transformation won't detract from her sexiness or her ability to be a gorgeous girlfriend/companion. In fact, it would actually–kind–turn her into a sex machine, literally. But OK, one vote for punishment.

ThermalsniperN7: Let me just put a tally on that side of the board…

admiral809: Slight spoiler for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Nebula stated Thanos did that to her every time Gamora beat her when they were kids "to make her [Nebula] her equal". So in my opinion you should go through with it: 2 goals with 1 operation, and there are always fates worse than death. On the other hand, if Duna hadn't helped the MC in the original game, obtaining all the Idols would have been difficult (keeping it brief to avoid spoilers). So the cyborg idea is a bit of a Rubix puzzle.

Dragon Emperor0: Make that one vote for improvement. And that parallel to Nebula is definitely a good analogy for what this is.

ThermalsniperN7: True.

Xenthas the Zinogre: To be frank with you two, that cyborg idea is interesting. Buuuuut...I got mixed feelings about it.

ThermalsniperN7: Putting down a tally for undecided…

Dragon Emperor0: To be clear guys, Duna wouldn't be the only one who undergoes a transformation here. Rosie will actually undergo a different transformation than in canon which will be expanded on later. And Ford will eventually unlock his true Dinaurian form. So by the end of the story, none of the protagonists will be the same when it's done.

Romance Breeding: Dina should be in Ford's harem! Dina is never used in pairings, and I think that a beautiful dinosaur/alien hybrid woman would be a perfect addition. And imagine the children they would have together! ;)

ThermalsniperN7: Uh, was that a spelling error, or is there actually a Dinaurian named Dina?

Dragon Emperor0: They're referring to the protagonists of Champions. Dino is the male version and Dina is the female version.

ThermalsniperN7: In that case, let's see if we can find a way to get her included.

Dragon Emperor0: Won't work. We planned on Dino and Dina being Ford's kids, remember?

ThermalsniperN7: Oh… Right. Whoops.

-Vivosaur Island Docks-

Down at the docks of Vivosaur Island, Dr. Travers was pulling into Port with two passengers.

"So, you two here to stay, or are you just visiting?" He asked one of the two.

"Visiting. I wanna see how my bro's doing." A female voice replied.

The woman in the boat was a blonde that looked around 21 years of age at 5'8" with brown eyes and fair skin. She also had a modest figure with a C-cup bust with a pear shaped figure and a heart shaped ass. Attire wise, she wore a white and brown lab coat, a green shirt and a black skirt that reached her knees.

This is Susan, Ford's older sibling.

The man beside her, meanwhile, looked to be forty or so. He was of average height, possibly six-four, with fair skin, long burgundy hair that reached up to his shoulder, brown eyes, and a short beard. His features seemed strong and angled, and his body seemed to be as if it was built from the ground up.

He was wearing a casual dress shirt with some jeans and casual boat shoes, with a leather strapped watch on his wrist. Specifically it was a Fossil brand watch.

This man is Jaune, Ford and Susan's father.

"Yes. I'd like to see how my son is doing as a fossil fighter first hand." The man added.

"Well I can tell you that." Travers told them. "He's been doing great so far. He's even about to move up to the next rank today." He added. "He should be in the Relic Hotel getting ready to go to his level up battle now."

(Meanwhile)

At the Relic Hotel, Ford was looking over his team for his level up battle today. It had been around a week since Peggy had revealed that she was pregnant with his child, and now he had more motivation to find his mom: So she could meet her future grandbaby.

Plus, meeting all her future daughters in law was also a notable reason all on its own as well, when he thought about it.

Right now he was trying to decide on if he should use his newer Vivosaurs or not. Since going to Rivet Ravine, he'd added a few more to his roster.

There was Spring Heel Jack - the Stygimoloch. Bowerstone - the Pachycephalosaurus. Unus - the Elasmodon. Alec - the Alectro. Mega - the Megalosaurus. And Quetzalcoatl - the Quetzalcoatlus.

'Hm… Maybe I'll at least take one of them so I can start on getting them all caught up with the rest of the team.' He mused internally before picking up Quetzalcoatl.

"Getting ready for your level up battle, huh?" Peggy asked, walking up behind him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yep. I wanna be level 4 before my sis and old man surprise visit me." The black and purple haired man nodded in reply.

"Don't worry." Nevada told him as she got in his lap and hugged him close. "You will." She added, kissing his cheek… before she held up a familiar looking plastic tube. "Surprise." She smiled.

"... Wow, that was quick." Peggy noted with a blink.

As if the universe itself was conspiring to make him look bad, the door to his room got a knock on it.

"Ford, are you in there?" The voice of Susan asked from the other side.

"Oh fuck me…" The man in question groaned in dismay before shaking his head. "Well, better to rip the bandaid off now, I guess." He sighed before he went and answered the door… and was immediately glomped by his sister. "Oof!" He grunted as he staggered back a bit.

"Hey Ford!" The woman smiled as she hugged her brother into her buxom chest.

"Hey, sis." The boy replied, his voice muffled by her bosom.

"It is good to see you again, Ford." Jaune chuckled as he walked into the room. Then he noticed Peggy and Nevada. "Hm? And who are you two?" He inquired.

"Margaret Carter, but call me Peggy." The redhead replied.

"I'm Nevada Montecarlo." The treasure hunter added.

"I'm Jaune Owen, father of the two goofballs over there." The man said, jutting a thumb at his children.

"Oi!" The two squawked indignantly.

"You know what you are." Their father told them.

"... You guys didn't tell me you were coming." Ford stated, both girls still in his lap.

"Didn't have any service the whole way here." Susan explained, shaking her phone.

"It was quite annoying, honestly." The family patriarch nodded in agreement. "Onto other topics; Ford, what is your relationship with Peggy and Nevada?" He asked.

'... Fuck it, ripping off the band aid.' Ford thought. If drama was gonna happen, he was gonna get it out of the way now. "If you want the blunt answer… Both of them are my girlfriends." He replied bluntly.

Silence.

Then…

"WHAT?!" Susan yelled, her eyes bugging out of her skull while Jaune's jaw dropped, his eyes also wide.

"Long story, but trust us–." Peggy told them.

"We don't regret a thing." The two women added in unison.

"... Ford, I envy you " Jaune deadpanned.

"Noted." Ford chuckled in reply before Dallasandra came in. "Hey, Dallas! Wanna meet my dad and sister?" He called.

"Oh! I didn't expect them to arrive at all!" The woman blinked in surprise before she went and hugged her lover.

"Three? What the hell, bro?!" Susan gaped in disbelief.

"What can I say? I'm a chick magnet." The boy chuckled before turning serious. "Guys, I have some news." He told them.

"What about?" Jaune asked as everyone took a seat.

"About mom's whereabouts." The man replied seriously. "I have several leads." He added. This made his father and sister turn serious as well.

"What have you found out?" The blonde questioned.

"Well, let's just say that I'm glad that you're sitting down but… Mom, I don't think she's human." He began, surprising all but those who knew… which apparently included his dad.

"I know." The man stated, causing Ford to look at him.

"What?" Susan asked in surprise.

"This isn't a secret I disclose casually, but…" The brown haired man trailed off before inhaling and exhaling. "When I found your mother, kids, she was in stasis in the south pole. I apparently activated something, because it caused her to wake up, and I was the first face she saw." He explained. "I knew right away she wasn't human, both because of what I found her in and her appearance." He continued, looking out the window. "That didn't matter to me, however, because it turns out the cold climate was killing her so I did what I had to in order to save her." He added further. "After that, we got to know each other and we fell in love after a few years. And the rest is history." He finished.

"But… if mom isn't human, then… what is she?" Susan asked with a frown which the others shared.

"Well, after I taught her to speak English–and after she learned about nine other languages on her own–she told me that her true name was Sinmara, or Mara for short. Crowned princess and heir apparent to the Dinaurian royal throne." Jaune explained. "Though, so she didn't draw attention, she used her old necklace to take on a human appearance and took on a human name, Sue." He continued.

"And I was named after her." Susan deduced.

"But… Why did she vanish?" Ford wondered with a frown.

"I'm not sure on the exact details. But I'm fairly certain that it has something to do with her people. The Dinaurian." The man told him. "They're essentially Dino-aliens, their planet was destroyed billions of years ago and they came here to resettle. But…" He sighed. "Something tells me that the rest of them don't exactly feel like sharing this planet with us humans." He added.

"So they wanna wipe us out and take over. Lovely." Peggy sighed. That's always what it comes back to, in most scenarios: Aliens don't like sharing planets with humanity, so they wipe them out to make room for themselves. "At least Mara seems to be on our side." She added.

"Could that be why I keep finding those Idols…?" Ford hummed to himself.

"Idols?" Susan asked.

"Ever since I got here, I've found two idols that share traits similar to mom's necklace." The man explained. "I managed to get one opened, and it held a replacement part for one of the damaged parts of the necklace." He added.

"Take me to wherever they are. I'd like to see this for myself if possible." Jaune requested.

"Right. And it seems that her necklace is a sort of holographic projector, and a teleporter." Ford added.

"How do you…?" Susan asked as he pressed a button on the necklace and a holographic tailored suit appeared on him. "Oh." Was all she said with a blink.

"The teleporter, meanwhile, isn't working correctly right now. So I pop up at different places all over the island." He added. "But today I'm going to go to a secret island where a Dinaurian ship may be." He continued. "So we'll probably be able to learn more there."

"Here's hoping we can find some answers on where mom went." Susan said in a hopeful tone.

"Yeah. But that'll have to wait." Ford nodded as he got up, flipping a medal with his thumb and catching it. "I have a Level Up Battle to win." He added as he left the room.

As he left, Peggy seemed nervous as she and Nevada looked at their lover's family. "So… I know that this is probably a bit out of nowhere…" She began.

"But we have something else to tell you." Nevada nodded.

"And that is…" Susan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Me and Nevada are pregnant with Ford's kids." Peggy replied. Dallas wasn't pregnant yet due to her job.

…

…

…

"WHAAAAAAAAAT?!" Susan yelled, scaring birds out of the trees they were sitting in.

"That was quick." Jaune noted.

(Meanwhile)

Meanwhile, back at the Fossil Stadium, Ford was standing across from Holt, the blonde being his first opponent of his match.

"Third time fighting each other. Let's see how much we've improved." Holt said with a smirk.

"Third time, but who's counting?" Ford nodded in reply before they entered the arena.

As the battle started, Ford sent out Bengal, V, and Peter to fight Holt's Coatlus, Pachy and Tricera. The type advantages were pretty much dead even on both sides.

"Look at these stats! They're perfectly even!" Slate gasped.

"I'm not sure who's supposed to go first in this situation." Leon admitted.

"Hm…" Holt hummed before he brought out a quarter. "Ford, call it! Heads or tails?" He challenged.

"Tails." Ford replied, allowing Holt to flip his coin.

"Heads!" Holt called as he flipped his quarter, then caught it.

And the result is…

"Heads! I'm going first." Holt grinned before looking at his rival's team. "Tricera, use Tricera Charge on Ford's V-Raptor!" He ordered, prompting his living battering ram to charge at his target.

"V, better move. Now." Ford said, prompting the dromaeosaur to quickly dash out of the way of the giant three horned beast–leaving it wide open. "Now, use Venomous Assault!" He added.

V immediately attacked and left the enemy Tricera poisoned as it got back into position.

"Pachy! Take V-Raptor down with Iron Missile!" Holt ordered.

"V…" Ford noted nervously.

"I see it." The raptor nodded as he readied himself.

However, as the Pachycephalosaurus shot right towards him, he did a flip over the herbivore to avoid it–causing the rock headed Vivosaur to collide with the wall–making it take damage instead, and become confused.

"What a dodge!" Leon laughed in delight.

"That's one way to make the enemy hurt themselves." Slate mused.

"Bengal, use S-Fury on Pachy!" Ford ordered.

Bengal immediately attacked Holt's Patchy, dealing a substantial amount of damage while it was still confused. The attack, however, did make the vivosaur snap out of it.

"Tricera! Use Running Charge against S-Raptor." Holt called.

"Bengal! Look out!" Ford yelled.

His warning came too late, sadly, and Bengal was hit by Holt's Tricera. The impact dealt some serious damage, but didn't take him out of the game.

"Gah! Man, that smarts!" The S-Raptor grunted in pain.

"V, Take down Tricera with Toxic Combo!" Ford ordered.

"Gladly." The V-Raptor replied before dashing forward and slashing at the opposing Vivosaur right as the poison kicked in–taking it out and causing Coatlus to take its place.

"Peter, swap with V." Ford added.

The Venatar nodded and did just that, taking V's place at the forefront.

"Coatlus, use Air Cutter!" Holt ordered. The pterosaur did so and spun like a fan at Peter, but the earth type tanked the hit.

"Venatar Combo." Ford retorted.

Peter immediately landed a chomp and a shoulder slam on the Pterosaur, knocking it to the ground and taking it out of the game.

"Wow, you really have gotten a lot better." Holt chuckled, feeling great about the fight despite being on the losing side.

"I try." The boy shrugged as Bengal and Peter swapped places.

"Pachy, attack S-Raptor" Holt ordered.

The Patchy did as told and managed to land a couple of blows, but they didn't seem to do enough to take it out fully. He was left in critical condition, however.

"Bengal, use S-Fury." Ford stated, allowing his Vivosaur to destroy Pachy and win him the match.

"WOW! The stats were dead even and Ford still managed to pull a win! What a fight!" Leon cheered.

"Yes, and it was a nail biter of a battle too." Slate nodded.

(Elsewhere)

Meanwhile, in the stands, Peggy was currently trying to not get her head bitten off by her future sister in law as she and Susan were getting something to eat and drink for Jaune and Nevada–the latter having a craving for a personal pizza, pickles, cheese and a soft pretzel.

Which, oddly enough, was the same thing Peggy was craving.

"C'mere–you–!" Susan yelled, trying to lunge at the Scottish redhead, only for her to dodge, leaving the blonde to land on the ground.

"Oi, lay off, will ya!" She snapped, her accent showing itself.

"... You're Scottish?" Susan questioned, momentarily surprised.

"Got a problem with that?" Peggy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, you just didn't show any of the signs I would've otherwise expected." The elder Owen sibling replied with a shrug.

"Well, get used to it missy." The redhead huffed at her, right as her stomach–and her growing embryo by proxy–growled in protest for having to wait for food. "I know, honey, you're hungry–I know." She sighed, patting her stomach.

"How far along are you, anyway?" Susan asked as they went back to where Jaune was sitting after getting food.

"Not long. 'Bout a couple o' weeks." The redhead replied.

"I just found out yesterday." Nevada added as she and Peggy began eating to satisfy their and the hunger of their unborn children.

(Meanwhile)

"So you're a master, huh?" Ford chuckled as he looked at McJunker.

"Yep!" The junkyard manager laughed jovially. "And don't expect an easy fight. My team doesn't have any slouches in it." He added.

"I wouldn't guess." Ford nodded as they stepped into the stadium and got ready for their battle.

(Elsewhere)

Meanwhile, back up in the stands, the others watched as Ford and McJunker sent out their teams, right as Rosie and Holt came to sit with them.

Introductions were made and while Susan was busy talking to the two, Nevada and Peggy turned to Jaune.

"So, Jaune… What can you tell us about Sin-uh-Sue? What did she look like in each of her… Forms?" Nevada asked.

"Well, her human form was certainly an elegant one." The man chuckled, taking out his phone and showing them a picture.

It was of a woman holding a baby, with the fragments of an egg being beside her. The baby in question was a little girl who seemed to be mostly human in appearance, but had elf-like ears and shimmering scales that made her skin seem shiny.

The girls immediately looked at Susan and then back at the baby, realizing that it was her. But also at the woman herself–Sinmara.

"Wow." Nevada uttered in amazement.

"Who's the baby, though?" Susan wondered.

"You, actually." Jaune replied, causing his daughter to widen her eyes and look at her hands in shock and disbelief. "Your mother had me make sure you hid your attributes. It's why she showed you how to use makeup so early." He added.

As he said this, Peggy couldn't help but note something. "Your wife's disguise, it makes her look like…" She noted.

"Willow Schnee, from that show, RWBY, right?" Nevada nodded, looking at the picture before whistling. "And even after… laying an egg–wow that is weird to say–she's still got a figure. Heart shaped ass, a slim waist and–wait, how big is her rack, exactly?"

"Nevada!" Dallas gasped.

"I have the right to remain silent and let you figure it out on your own." Jaune replied with a straight face.

"Killjoy." The dark skinned redhead grumbled with a pout.

"Well, what did her other form look like?" Peggy questioned, to which the man scrolled to another picture, this time with a small boy with a similar eggy aftermath, but Mara looked very different.

She looked like a full blown vivosaur. It was clear she was a carnivore because of her teeth, and she also stood on digitigrade legs with the rest of her body structure being mostly humanoid. She had some frill-like spikes going all over her head that her hair grew behind. Her hair, meanwhile, was snow white and she had blue eyes. She also had elf-like ears and lastly a powerful looking tail with a fanned end.

The pigments that made up the color of her body were two different shades of blue and she had white stripes going all over her body.

She was actually a Cryolophasaurus in humanoid form. And her figure clearly wasn't different from what her human disguise implied.

"Wow… She's beautiful." Peggy gasped.

"She definitely looks like royalty." Nevada nodded, noting the dark blue frilled dress and coverings that covered her naturally icy blue skin.

"Makes me wonder what Ford looks like outside his human form…" Dallas muttered curiously.

As they were busy talking, the crowd erupted into applause as Ford's Team (consisting of Ace, Peter and Alec this time) was thrashing around McJunker's team due to the type advantages being firmly in the Welshman's corner.

McJunker's Cerato clashed horns with Ace as the Carnotaurus used Headbutt at the same time as him–with the type advantage causing the air type to be blown backwards into the adjacent wall–taking it out.

Peter took the fight to the man's Kentro, jumping onto its back and taking a huge bite out of it. The force was strong enough to actually take it out of the game completely.

And Alec charged at Stygi and threw it into the air with his neck and then slammed his tail into its stomach and sent it crashing into the same wall.

"Oooooh! The odds were definitely not in McJunker's favor!" Slate commented with a wince at the one sided beatdown.

"It was definitely a one sided match this time around, meaning Ford wins the level 4 level up battle!" Leon added.

"We better go congratulate him." Jaune said with a grin.

(Later)

"That was one hell of a battle, bro." Susan grinned as she stood in front of her brother.

"It's easy when you have the upper hand." Ford chuckled in reply, smiling as he looked at his newly advanced Fighters card. "Now, time to get to the bottom of this whole thing with the Dinaurians." He added.

"Right. Let's go." Jaune nodded as the group (minus Dallas because of her job) followed Ford to the Dinaurian ship's location.

(Later)

After taking a private auto piloted ship to the Secret island, everyone got off and started looking around.

"That's weird, I don't see a ship…" Ford hummed as he looked for the ship amongst the dense forestry of the island.

"Uh, guys?" Peggy said as she pointed at something, causing everyone to look up.

They saw something sticking out of a small mountain at the center of the island, and it looked to be made of metal. The group concluded that it had to be part of the Dinaurian ship.

"OK, so this thing obviously crashed here." Susan noted.

"But how the hell did it get here to begin with?" Nevada questioned.

"Let's find out." Ford said as he and his group made their way inside the ship.

When they were inside, they saw things that only Jaune could make heads and tails of due to past experiences. It all looked nothing like the technology form they were affiliated with. Everything looked to be made of crystals, and even stone–but at the same time looked insanely advanced.

"Wow… This is what you found mom in?" Susan asked as she looked around.

"Well, a ship like it." His father nodded as he walked over to one of the computers and activated it. "Here, take a look." He told them.

The others gathered around and saw… Things they honestly couldn't read. Well, the pure humans in the room.

Ford and Susan felt like they were supposed to understand what they were seeing. It was like it was an instinct they had that they couldn't explain.

"Project Mother Planet?" Ford questioned.

"Guhnash?" Susan added.

"Project Mother Planet was meant to turn Earth into the new Dinaurian homeworld after it was consumed." Jaune explained, "And according to Mara, Guhnash was the creature that ate their planet, if I recall correctly." He added.

"Okay, these are very important." Ford noted.

"But what's that got to do with the idols?" Peggy questioned.

"If the idols are what I think they are, then they actually hold some important components inside them." Jaune mused as he thought it over. "And if I'm reading this right. The Dinaurians had sent micro organisms from their planet to evolve into Dinaurians. But seeing as humans are around–it could only mean one of two things." He continued, Nevada picking up on it.

"They most likely got wiped out by that meteor that struck the planet after the Cambrian explosion." The treasure hunter noted.

"Or they believe something went wrong and that the microorganisms evolved incorrectly, so they want to regress the planet and start from scratch." Susan added.

"Correct." Jaune nodded. "The latter is bad for us for obvious reasons, so we need to deal with the situation involving the idols as soon as possible." He added.

"The second idol I found is at the Fossil Center being studied. I can take you there so you can tell the head scientist what you know." Ford told his father.

"And if mom was the crowned princess of the Dinaurian race, then we need to find her soon, and quick." Susan added.

"How do you mean?" Peggy asked.

"Because I worry that these idols surfacing now could be a bad omen." The blonde replied.

"And if she is the crowned princess and heir apparent, then maybe she can help talk the King down and let him figure out what actually happened to his project." Ford added. "Before he does anything rash."

"Hey, speaking of." Nevada chimed in. "Who is your wife's father? Who's the king of the Dinaurians?" She asked.

"That would be Dynal. I haven't actually seen him in person." Jaune replied with a shrug. "But according to what Mara's told me about the man, he's very passionate about achieving the best for his people. Willing to go to great lengths to get it." He explained. "Additionally she also told me that her mother, queen Cera, had died in the evacuation of the royal palace. So that also motivated him to succeed in Project Mother Planet." He added.

"He's driven by grief." Ford uttered, realizing that his grandfather likely wasn't thinking clearly.

"That's certainly what it sounds like." Peggy nodded, seeing the implications as well.

"And with your mother having been awakened ahead of schedule and on a ship that crashed in the arctic, it's not unreasonable to conclude that…" Jaune stated before trailing off.

"That she either perished in the crash or froze to death in the subzero temperatures." Ford concluded. "He has no idea that she survived." He added.

As he said this, they were continuing through the ship room by room, searching for anything else that could prove useful.

"We need to find him and tell him that she not only survived, but also gave him grandchildren." Susan said as she booted up a computer to see if it held anything important.

"And find mom too, sis." Ford reminded.

"Well duh, of course we find her… Found something." The blonde amended before she came across something.

"What is it?" Jaune asked as he walked over to her. As she pulled something up, it showed a spreadsheet of something–specifically a DNA sample. And an image of what it was a sample of.

"What is that?" Nevada wondered as she looked at the image.

"It says… Wait, that's Guhnash?!" Susan started to reply before gasping in shock.

"Fucking hell, it's a planet eating leviathan!" Ford gasped in shock as well.

"No wonder the Dinaurians are so scared of this thing." Peggy gasped.

"... We need to find a way to kill it." Jaune stated firmly.

"Well, they have a DNA sample, so we can study that and figure out what to do." Ford said, looking at the sample spreadsheet. "That's something we're better off leaving to Dr. Diggins." He added. Typing on the keyboard, he extracted the sample and put it in his bag.

"You're probably right." Peggy nodded. "Come on, let's see if there's anything else worth looking for before we head back home."

(Elsewhere)

-Dinaurian Mothership, Deep Space-

Meanwhile, on the very topic of conversation, a Dinaurian woman was busy typing away at a computer that she was seated at.

She had blue skin, pink marks on her face, green eyes and pink hair in a fan-like pattern while she had two bangs framing her face. She also had pointy elf-like ears along with reverse jointed legs and a tail.

Her only attire was a dark blue jumpsuit with pink accents that left her midriff exposed and a pink tube bra that covered her ample E-cup breasts. In fact, the dark blue coverings on her arms and lower body seemed to be a sort of clothing. Light blue seemed to be her natural scale color.

As she continued to look at her screen, a notification appeared–specifically one that told her of the re-emergence of the ship at the Secret Island (called the Andromeda), and the signal of Princess Sinmara's teleporter necklace–albeit seemingly corrupted.

"Strange… What's going on?" She murmured to herself. Deciding that the signal needed to be investigated, she got up and left to gather what she needed for her investigation. Anything involving the princess needed to be looked into when it became known.

"Duna." A voice behind the woman questioned as she came into the hall, causing her to jump.

"My lord, can you please not do that?!" The now named Duna gasped, trying to calm her heart as she turned around.

"Ah. My apologies." The owner of the voice said apologetically.

He had blue skin a shade lighter than Duna's long white hair reaching his back, pointy ears that are pretty much a trademark for his race, red horn-like protrusions on his head along with red and black markings on his face, the black markings covering his eyes. He also had a long and spiked tail.

He also wore what were obviously royal robes, and by human standards, he'd be in his fifties, roughly. This was Dynal, the Dinaurian King.

"That aside, what are you doing?" The man questioned.

"Well, your majesty, I'm actually on my way to Earth to investigate two anomalies that our scanners have detected." Duna explained.

"Anomalies?" Dynal parroted in confusion.

"One of our ships just sent back a signal, which I find odd due to lack of activity in the past." Duna began. "And the other… Is from Princess Sinmara's necklace, but it's corrupted." She added carefully, knowing that the absence of the Princess was a rather sensitive topic.

Dynal was silent when he heard that his daughter's necklace had sent back a corrupted signal. When he received word that she had been woken up ahead of time in the south pole of Earth, he'd assumed she had perished. Now, here he was, hearing that she might have actually survived somehow.

"... Go." He ordered, looking at Duna.

"Sire?" The woman questioned, not expecting such an answer.

"Investigate the anomalies, and find out what happened to my daughter." He replied. "And do so with haste!" He added seriously.

"Yes, sir!" The Dinaurian woman nodded seriously in reply before resuming her trek.

She had a job to do.

(Meanwhile)

Back at secret island, a hooded figure was walking through the halls of the ship at around the same time Ford and the others were aboard. The figure's entire body was covered by a cloak, but there was a fanned blue Dinaurian tail sticking out from the back.

Another thing about this figure was that they were clearly feminine, but nothing else could be discerned beyond that.

She then placed something on one of the transponders that caused the cloaking field that Diggins and Richmond put up to deactivate, leaving the island exposed.

Then she sent a remote signal to Ford's necklace, causing it to send out a ping for the Dinaurians to track.

"Soon…" Was the only thing she whispered to herself before she vanished to parts unknown.

ThermalsniperN7: Good work, Cherenkov, as always. Here, have a tip. *Gives Cherenkov his tip* But in all seriousness, things have gotten real with the reveal of Ford and Susan's shared heritage.

Dragon Emperor0: It was going to only be a matter of time before everything was revealed eventually. So I thought it prudent to just get it all done here. Plus, this ending leaves the perfect amount of room for when Duna encounters Ford in Bottoms Up Bay next chapter.

ThermalsniperN7: How the hell do vivosaurs fight down there, anyway? Aside from the aquatic ones, there should be no way to fight down there at all.

Dragon Emperor0: Ya know, it was really left unclear. Also, that hooded figure looked suspiciously feminine. Something tells me that the others can't find Mara because she doesn't want to be found. What could she be planning? Is she biding her time? What for, I wonder? Anyway, see you guys next time.