Aquatic Kingdom Hearts

Aquatic Kingdom Hearts

Chapter 27: Convoy and Discoveries; Enemies in the Dark

Along the Trail

The convoy to Atlantis had been moving for some time now, with no problems so far. They had traversed what appeared to be quite the maze of caves as their journey led them to where they were going. Along the way were the ancient ruins of what used to be the Atlantean civilization. Though mostly in ruins, they seemed to keep much of the ancient culture with them, such as the writing and art of it. Although even sometimes along the way, there were the occasional blunders that popped up from time to time.

Such as when Milo pointed them in the wrong direction at the next marker; the Skull Fork in the Road. In that little blunder, Milo had said that the rest of the way was through the right eye socket cavern. When they tried to enter it, they were greeted with a giant, mean-looking caterpillar crossed with a centipede. After Milo cleared that mess up, they went right; but even though Milo made one small mistake, it seemed like the team had become a little cross with him.

However, they were not at without some danger looking at them. For if they had paid attention to their surroundings and the shadows, they would have noticed strange movements. For there were people spying on them while going on hunting…strange people in blue and gray armor, with mask-like helmets that had the eyes glow bright blue.

After a small pit stop, Eric took a swig of some water from a canteen on Vinny's truck. After he was finished, Vinny noticed that and walked up, looking pretty concerned for the kid. He then asked flat out, "You didn't just drink that, did you?"

Not sure of what was the problem, Eric nodded, "Yeah. Why, is something wrong?"

Vinny stepped back in fright as he explained, "That's not good. That's nitroglycerin." Eric nearly shouted at that, but then he stopped as he stood straight as a stick, doing his best not to move. Vinny calmed the boy down as he gave him clear instructions, "Don't move. Eh, don't breathe. Don't do anything, uh…except pray maybe."

But before anything could be done, Mole snuck up behind Eric, and shouted, "BOOM!", startling the boy. And as Eric recovered from the startle, he saw Vinny and Mole, walking away laughing their heads off. The boy sighed and grumbled, thinking of a way to get back at them.

Along the way, traversing the caverns, they had to overcome all obstacles, either by vehicle or by foot. On one part, they had come across a small cliff and had to climb it. the Iceland team had gotten their way up, with Milo and the kids not too far behind. However, when the team helped their team members get up, they had purposely left Milo and the kids behind, not even trying to help them at all. They would have been stuck here if not for Jack and the other helping them out.

Even when on lunch or dinner break, Milo and the others excluded themselves from the team. Mostly because for Milo, charting the course with the Journal and Sphere was a full-time gig. Eric on the other hand, was teaching Ariel on how to read Atlantean, seeing as how she said she wanted to help more. Dax and Sebastian were discussing on other pointless ordeals…like thinking of a way for Eric to get back at Mole and Vinny for the dirty joke they pulled. Frey and Max, however, were both always keeping an eye out in the cave.

The two couldn't talk to one another, and both weren't certain, but he felt like they were being watched. On that night as they all slept, something woke him up. He woke up as he heard a strange clicking sound. It sounded something like what a cicada would've made. It only went off once, but Frey shook it off as he went to sleep again. Outside the camp, on the ceiling of the caves, strange movements were going on….movements of strange creatures crawling along the ceiling and walls in the dark….creatures with wings….and very sharp teeth as well.

The Next Day

Before the convoy went on their way, Mole was taking a sip from a canteen from the Thatch's truck. After he finished guzzling it down, Eric popped up, looking pretty worried as he. Like Vinny did before, he asked flat out, "Mole? Please tell me you didn't drink that?"

Mole then chuckled full-heartedly as he replied, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I am on to your leetle revenge game. We already used ze nitroglycerin gag on you."

Eric shook his head as he stepped back, covering his mouth as he explained, "You don't understand, Mole. That's not drinking water, it's cave water. It's filled with unknown bacteria."

Mole looked at the boy confused, "So?"

Eric sighed as he explained, "So…what if the water contains a parasite, or a flesh-eating virus of unknown origin. And that the effects of it will ravage, strip, or melt the flesh off of your body in minutes."

Mole paled at that, and then shouted, "SACRE BLEU! I HAVE BEEN POIZONED!", and jumped around in a circle, panicking up a storm as he feared for his life.

Eric calmed him down, as he advised Mole to try and stay calm. Just at that moment, the insanely funny scene ended as Sweet arrived and asked, "Hey Eric, you got that drinking water ready?"

Then Eric forgot about the panicky Mole as he answered and pointed to Mole, "Talk to him. He drank it all."

Then Mole paled as he stopped, and then asked, "So…it wasn't poizoned?"

Eric shook his head as Frey popped up, with a camera in hand. The boy waved at it playfully at Mole, "Nokia camera: 200. Colored film: 15. The look on your face when you did the dance of panic: Priceless." And with that the two boys walked off, laughing their heads off at the expense.

Mole grumbled, but then heard chuckling as he turned towards Sweet as the doctor pointed out, "Oh, they got you."

Later On

As the convoy was still making its way, they hit a small roadblock. A giant pillar that was as thick and wide as a bridge, but around a mile high or more. Milo looked at it in complete awe as he smiled with enthusiasm, "Good night! Will you look at the size of this thing!", he turned towards Vinny and Jack, whom were both working around the pillar, setting explosives. Well, Vinny was working, Jack just sat there, waiting at the trigger, as Milo went on, "It…it must have taken hundred…no, thousands of years to carve this thing.", but during his babbling, Jack got back up and pulled Milo away from the pillar at safe distance. Then Vinny pushed the trigger, blowing up the base of the pillar, and having it crash at the other end, making a makeshift bridge.

After the dust was settled, Vinny then pointed out, "Hey, look. I made a bridge.", and then he pointed to Milo as he quirked, "And it only took me, like, what? Ten seconds, eleven, tops."

And after that, the convoy was once again on the move. But watching them from close distance, the strange warriors kept an eye on them while still on the move. Except for one warrior, who stopped and looked at them all in wonder for just a second, and then returned to their duties.

Later On

After riding a few while later, they had reached a roadblock; a massive pyramid like structure around fifty stories high, that appeared to be Egyptian in shape, but also Cambodian and Aztec mixed together. The pyramid was obviously Egyptian based design, while the stairway and temple openings were clearly Aztec, and the statues of strange-clad warriors were reminiscent of Cambodia. Standing in front of the base of the mighty pyramid-like structure, was Rourke, Helga, Ariel, Eric, Milo, Jack, Cookie, and Vinny. This was sort of like a field day for Milo, as he was nearly drooling on himself at the possibilities on exploring an Atlantean building.

However, Ariel noticed that the trail they were going was blocked by this mighty tomb. She looked around the edges and said out loud, "There's no way to get the convoy around this.", she sighed as she folded her arms across her chest, "This could be a problem."

Rourke walked up and sighed at this as well, "Looks like we've got a serious roadblock on our hands.", he then turned to Vinny, who was with him, as well as Jack, and asked, "Vinny, what do you think?"

After carefully examining the pyramid, Vinny held up a stick of dynamite as he declared, "I could un-roadblock that if I had six hundred of these. Problem is I only got about…ten.", and then rummaged through his bag as he looked on closer inspection, "Plus, you know, five of my own. Couple of cherry bombs…road flare.", then Rourke glared at Vinny who finally defended, "Hey, too bad we don't have some nitroglycerin…", and then looked to Eric with a half-smirk, "…eh, Eric?"

All that earned him was a scowl from the boy as they all heard Mole burst out with laughter form the Digger.

Jack stroked his beard in pondering as he looked to Vinny, with his scheming eyes at the ready, "Who needs nitro…whatever you just said…", and then smirked charmingly, "..when you've got good quality rum." He then spoke up as if giving a class as he announced, "Not only is it good, but it's practical in usage of anything you do in your life. I don't see why you lot didn't bring some on this trip."

Then Cookie shot out, "We did, then some unknown calpoke gone n' stole the whole casings. Even the whiskey's a missin'." Then everyone turned their attention to Jack; it wasn't unknown to anyone that the infamous Jack Sparrow was also legendary for his insatiable thirst for rum.

Jack innocently asked, "What?"

Rourke then sighed as he declared, "Looks like we're gonna have to dig through it."

After hearing that, Mole's face lit up. He gasped gleefully and smile as he looked elated and gave Rourke and the others a thumb's up, "Eet will be my pleasure."

Eric then examined the map that the sphere let out, and noticed the path they were going. He then turned to Rourke as he stated, "No. We can't dig through it."

After hearing that, Mole cried out in despair at the fact of another opportunity to dig went down the drain. Helga, with her fists to her side, asked, "Why not?"

Eric pointed to the map as eh stated, "Because if we go straight on through, we'll miss the Final Marker." Everyone looked confused as he pointed to the map, and explained, "The Final Marker isn't straight ahead…it's actually across to the east of this pyramid.", and then pointed to a solid rock wall to the eastern side near the temple pyramid, "the Final Marker's through that wall."

Rourke looked at it uncertain as he said, "Looks like it'll take a while."

Mole chuckled happily, "Like I said, eet will be my pleasure."

Then Milo, deciding to try his luck, walked over to Rourke and then stated, "You know, seeing as how it'll be a while before he's done….", Milo pointed out to Mole as he drove the digger to the wall, and then the huge drill roared to life as it delved into the rocky wall, "…I figure this would give us a little time to, um…study the pyramid. You know, as a starter, seeing as how we'll be finding Atlantis sooner or later."

Rourke thought about it for a moment, and then sighed as he gave Milo a half-grin, "Alright, go knock yourself out.", but then looked to Jack as he ordered, "Sparrow, ready a few troops to go with you. I want Mr. Thatch and the others guarded while they're…excavating."

A Few Minutes Later

Mole was still digging through the wall, showing that it was taking much time. Not that it bothered Moliere one bit; if there was one thing the little bugger enjoyed more, it was digging through dirt. However, the only action that was going around aside from the digging, was the studying of the main door to the pyramid temple. Milo was constantly studying the words of the temple, excited to know that the writings were a combination of Egyptian, Aztec, and Cambodian. Jack was leaning on the wall next to Milo, with about five guards at post on making sure nothing would disturb them. after they had run into the giant bug, they took no chances at this point.

Eric and Ariel were looking around at the front of it, which had the two statues of two warriors. They were standing proud with their spears at the side; their war masks over their faces as they looked forward. However, what caught Ariel's attention was what Frey was doing. He was standing there, sketching one of the statues in a sketch journal. A little curious on what he was doing, she walked over to him and asked, surprising him, "Frey, what are you doing?"

Frey, then deciding he was busted, just shrugged as he continued to draw, "Well…I'm doing a few sketches of the artwork of Atlantis. Seeing as how Ms. Packard's got photography on the to-do list, I figure I'd make a few artist renderings. You know, for the scrapbook when this expedition's over with."

Ariel was amazed by this side of Frey that she'd discovered as she smiled to him, "That's amazing, Frey. I didn't know you were an artist." She then reached out for the pad, "Here, let me see…"

But then Frey snatched it away from her as he nearly panicked, "Oh, no, no. Aside from Eric, I um…I never show anyone my work."

Confused by this, Ariel asked, "Um, why not?"

Frey sighed as he truthfully answered with his shoulders slumping, "Well, what if they said they were garbage? What if…they say that I was no good?", he then shrugged as he walked up the stairs, "It's kind of like telling someone you love them…you want to, but you don't want to, in fear that they say you're not the one." It was while he walked up the stairs, that Ariel seemed to understand a bit about Frey now.

He had shown much confidence with any girl he dated, or in front of anyone for that matter. It was such a strange sight to see him that shy or afraid, considering he had fought against cursed pirates so bravely. It was then that someone said behind her, "He's just afraid of getting close to someone, Ariel." Caught off a little surprised by Eric, she looked at him confused, but let him continued, "You might say his uncertainty about his artwork, and his apparent uneasiness to take on a serious relationship…stem from his mother, deserting him when he was only four."

Ariel was a little shocked by that, and asked, "His mother abandoned him? Why?"

Eric shook his head as he answered, "I don't know. Every time I tried to ask him, he'd change the subject.", he scratched the back of his head as he looked to Frey's form as he stopped at the entrance with Milo and Jack, "But whatever it was that happened, it, well…it made him the girl-loving weirdo that he is. He starts dating them, and then dumps them when he thinks the relationship's gonna get serious."

But before Ariel could ask some more, they heard Max barking out at the ceiling. Dax, who was on top of the dog, barked out, "Hey, you stupid mutt, stop barking!", Max continued to bark out loud, despite Dax's next comical threat, "Don't make me get out a rolled up newspaper."

Eric walked up to the steps to where Max was and knelt over to him, "Hey, calm down, boy." He then held Max close as he scratched the back of his head and rubbed his back. Effectively, Max had calmed down, but still looked up at the ceiling of the cave, slightly growling and snarling at the darkness.

One of the soldiers stationed with them, wearing a sort of gas mask suit, barked at Eric, "Can't you get that mutt to shut up?"

Eric looked to them and said, "Something's got him spooked pretty good"

Then Milo finally smiled as he called out for Eric, "Eric! Everybody, come over here.", and when everyone had heard that, they came rushing over to Milo and the front door. He signaled Eric over as he gleefully pointed to the glyphs, "Eric. Do you know what this is?"

Eric analyzed the writings, and then stated out the obvious, "The first symbol represents Ancient Egyptian before the time of Ramset the Great.", and then pointed to the next symbol over, "The second is Aztec and Mayan; both are Pre-Conquest Era…", he smirked as he looked to his uncle and stated the obvious as they both smiled at the excitement, "Grandpa was right."

Ariel knelt over to Eric as she asked, "Right about what?"

Milo leaned over as he looked to Ariel and answered, "See, my dad, Eric's grandfather, theorized that Atlantis…might have been the First civilization. The basic Cradle of Life as it was.", and then pointed to the temple writing, "And this temple…is a combination of all three of those cultures."

Jack, who waltzed on towards them, looked at the writing, and back to Milo as he asked, "He thought we were descended from these people?", he then cringed a bit saying, "So glad I don't speak that chicken scratch like you blokes do. People'll think I'm loony."

Then Frey pointed out, "Gee, and they don't think that way already?"

It was then that everyone stood up once more, as the soldiers kept they eyes on everything, did Eric look at the door. There was a main inscription on it; it was in the center of the door, to where the cracks were located. The inscription looked like it was keeping the door locked or opened at all. As Eric looked at it, he unconsciously and softly translated out loud, "You may…choose…to enter. Those who choose may enter."

Everyone looked at him confused, and then Milo seemed to understand as he looked at his nephew and back at the passage. He then asked his nephew with a raised eyebrow, "Who taught you to translate?"

Eric then sarcastically answered, "Funny, I thought it was you."

Milo smiled and shook his head at that, but then pointed out, "Well, you're only half-right. But it's not choose…it's Chosen.", Milo then corrected the translation as he said out loud, "Only the Chosen One may enter."

Frey leaned up on the door, as he smirked to Eric who also was leaning at the door by his hand on the inscription, and quirked, "I guess you still need a little woOORK….!", and then the two fell inward as the doors suddenly opened, with the inscription glowing for a moment, almost sensing Eric's hand.. Frey and Eric both landed flat on their sides, and everyone stood amazed by this strange turn of events.

Everyone stood in amazement by this, as the two boys slowly, but painfully got up. They looked at the opening as the wind blew in and then out, dragging out with it a smell of ancient proportion. Jack waved his breath away as he complained, "And you people say my hygiene is horrible."

As they looked in the darkness that was the inside the temple, everyone jumped back. Suddenly and without warning, the darkened area lit up with a brilliant Neon Blue light that danced along the walls, creating a sort of illumination. As they saw the light going in, it lit up the hallway, revealing the inside to be quite massive, stretching up to about twenty stories high. Statues were found on the side and floor of the rooms; each of human warriors, and even humanoid like creatures.

Feeling the odd and awe tension from around the group, Frey asked out loud, peering inside, "Okay…so who wants to go into the slightly scary illuminated temple of uncertain doom first?"

Everyone looked at him like he had lost his mind, but then Milo went in first, followed by everyone else. However, as the crew kept to digging, and the exploration excavation team went inside the temple…unseen by anyone, strange winged creatures glided down to the temple very stealth like, and slowly made their way into the temple and after the small morsels that wandered into the knew cavern to them.

Inside the Temple

The crew had traversed into the hallway, looking slightly freaked out by their new surroundings. The statues weren't helping either as they seemed to loom down upon them. It was only when they reached another corridor that they stopped. They found another closed secured door that looked like it was made sure to be locked. Jack, who walked up to them, scratched the back of his head, "As Mr. American Soldier-Man said 'looks like we've got a little roadblock' ourselves."

Milo then leaned towards Jack as he asked, "Well…what do you think?"

Jack turned towards Milo and raised an eyebrow, "Me? You're the chicken-scratch expert.", he then pointed to the walls, complaining, "Shouldn't this chicken-scratch tell us on how to open this blasted door?"

While the two adult men started to argue, the boy shook their heads at this, engrossing on this whole debacle. However, the only one who didn't pay any attention to the fight was Ariel, as something caught her eye on the doorway. Carved into it, was a headpiece of some sort with a fist to it, but what caught her eye was what was in the mouth of the headpiece. Hanging from the lips, were two pendants of some kind…pendants that each had a small whitish blue crystal that dimly glowed a bit.

She then took notice of the door, and saw two points with pads and writing on them. And next to the pads were small holes big enough to slip in the crystals. Amidst the arguing, she walked over to the crystals and took them. She then turned to them all and got their attention, "Um, guys…guys?", they still continued to argue, but then she sighed and yelled out, "GUYS!" They all stopped, looking at her slightly surprised, and her a little sheepish at what had just transpired at that moment. Composing herself once more, Ariel held out the crystal pendants, and smiled, "I think I found the way in."

As soon as Ariel pointed out the pads, Eric walked over to them, and looked at one of them. Milo did the same as he thought it out loud, "Hmmm. This looks like a double lock door. Meaning you need to unlock the doors at the same time."

After hearing that, the three teens knew they had to work together in order to open the door. Eric then slowly translated them, as Ariel who held one crystal, and gave the other to Frey at the other pad, awaiting instructions. Eric then began as the first step was, "Okay, it says…Place Crystal into slot.", the two did exactly what Eric said and slipped them in the slots. "Gently, place your hand on the inscription pad…", the two then placed their free hands on the pad gently, "Turn the Crystal one quarter turn back….while your hand is still on the inscription pad.", and the two did so as they synchronized their timing; as the doors suddenly grinded and whirred to life.

The doors suddenly slid open as they all stepped back, into another lit room. After that success, Ariel stepped over to Eric, and kissed him lightly on the cheek, "You're amazing, Eric."

Eric smirked as he bashfully stated, "Ah, it was noting.", he then turned to Jack and Milo as he winked out, "It's pretty easy when you know how to read Chicken-Scratch."

Jack just walked past them as he muttered, "Ah, bugger. Get a room already.", and then stopped suddenly as he saw what was in the room.

As soon as she slipped the crystal around her neck, Ariel and Eric walked in right after him. Everyone else followed him in, with Frey stuffing the crystal in his pocket pouch on his leg. The soldiers right behind them started to move in, but when the fifth soldier was lagging behind, he was suddenly up quietly before he made a sound. His legs were dangling in the air, kicking around. But when a small crunch sound was heard, his legs went limp as he was dragged into the shadows.

No one noticed it though, as they were too amazed at what they were now seeing. In the room, piled together or in mountain piles, were hundreds, no…thousands of Atlantean robots. Everyone was in complete amazement by all this, especially Ariel as she walked up to one of them; a Crab Warrior, like the ones that destroyed the Ulysses, but only this one had its back claws folded behind it, in a state of standby.

Jack, being the worrywart that he was, pointed out cautiously, "Careful, luv. Don't wake him up. Remember what happened the last time?"

Ariel pointed out, "I don't think they're turned on, Jack.", she lightly touched the creature's arm as it stood there, doing nothing, "The glyph patterns on their bodies aren't glowing like the others were."

Dax hopped on another one that resembled that of a humanoid shrimp. It resembled the crab Warrior, but this time the four arms were skinny and the main arms looked like they could split apart. The limbs were skinnier than the crabs, it possessed sort of a hunchback design, and its head was smoother with no sharp points to it, just two mandibles acting as the mouth. Dax looked at it's face and then finally mumbled, "Man, these things are dead as doornails. They barely seem lively as it is…", and then shrugged, "Not that they were alive to begin with."

Milo then looked around and saw many more robots. They were all each designed in some way as some sea creature or land animal; at least those that weren't mostly humanoid. But the question was why they were all here? Then something caught his attention. He walked over to it, with Max behind him as he knelt down to examine it. It was a four foot sea turtle shell, with wave like designs on the back, and an inscription pad on the center of it.

He looked over to where Ariel was and called her over, "Ariel. Come over here.", as soon as she was there, he pointed out to the inscription pad, "You think you might be able to jump-start this unit?"

After hearing that, Eric walked over and stood close to them, as he spoke out as the voice of reason at this time, "Now hold on a minute. How do we know this thing won't attack us?"

Milo pointed out, "Don't worry about it, Eric. This time, we've got measures to be sure we're alright."

Jack nodded, "Yeah, plus you can just cut him down like you did last time."

With that said, Ariel just sighed as she smiled to Eric, "Don't worry. I'm pretty sure nothing will happen." Then she did exactly the same thing as on the door; place the crystal into the slot, gently placed the hand on the inscription pad, and then turned the crystal one quarter turn back….and then….nothing happened. No whirring sounds, not even the glyphs glowing at all; just stillness was the outcome of the strange turtle shell.

Dax, who jumped over to Eric's shoulder, shrugged at the malfunctioned piece of machinery, "Maybe it expired its warranty."

Jack just chirped out as he crossed his arms satisfied that it didn't work, "Maybe their technology isn't as perfect as you mates claim it to be."

But just before anyone could get to figuring out what was wrong, one of the soldiers walked up and reported, "Sir. There's another doorway not too far at the end of this room.", after that was said, everyone got up and decided to keep on tracking down the path, wondering what else this temple housed. But as soon as they left the strange shell, with Dax and Max at the end of the group, something happened. The shell hummed and shook a little like a small quake.

And then a grinding sound came from it, followed by a small whirring sound, as the shell started to move slowly. And then suddenly, limbs folded out of the shell, as it groggily stood upward, and then quickly and comically, a head popped out of the top portion of the shell, and up stood a humanoid turtle robot. With the shell on its back, its chest was strong and had two swirl-like designs on the chestplate. Its shoulders were ball sockets with 90 degree angle glyphs, its arms were strong, and the forearms were enlarged with a circle like glyph sign with a dot in the middle, with two flat clawed fingers and thumbs. Its waist was thin, but was strong enough to support the upper body weight. Its legs however were powerful enough, as they were hind gargoyle legs with three smooth toes instead of claws like the Crab Warrior, and had glyph marks on the quads and forelegs that showed to where the muscles would have been, and at where the toes connected to the foot, they glowed blue as well as the glyphs. Its head was sort of a roundish upside down triangular shape, held up horizontally on a small cylinder neck. And its eyes were big and round and glowing, a small port under them that almost looked like a mouth, or to indicate where it would be, and a few glyph line marks that glowed as well.

The creature looked around, wondering what or who it was that had awaken him. When he turned around, he spotted strange people; people that he had never seen before. He tilted his head in confusion in obviousness that they weren't Atlantean. That is until his sensors picked up an Atlantean power source emanating from two of them; the redhead, and the tanned blonde. Curious and without fear, though a slight shy nature, he quietly walked towards them undetected.

As Dax rode atop of Max, they were just minding their own business to this scene. However, what they didn't know was that the Atlantean robot was walking up right behind them, unnoticing. That is until Max froze up, and raising a confused eyebrow, suspected something was following them. The robot noticed it as well, and knew the strange furry creature had spotted him. Max turned sharply around, and only saw the massive shell lying on the floor. Max whined, slightly confused, until Dax asked, "What…are you doing? Get a move on, or they'll leave us behind."

Max whined for a moment, as he was a little uncertain about what just happened. And just forgot about it as he walked away, allowing the robot to transform back, and continue to follow them again. As it tip-toed near them, once more Max turned sharply, but this time the robot struck a pose, Rodan's Thinker.

Max looked at the robot with much confusion as he whined at it, but then Dax pulled at the dog's ears getting his attention, "Max! Will you knock it off! We're being left behind here!", Max broke free of Dax's grip, and then just growled in frustration as they both wandered away from the robot statue.

As the glyphs glowed back to life, the robot looked at the two animals with much curiosity. Getting out of hiding, it slowly crept behind them, but not until Max sharply turned around, sensing the robot's presence. However, with much insane stealth, the robot jumped onto the wall, and used its claws on both hands and feet, and clinged to the wall like a spider.

Max looked around, slightly confused; his senses were going haywire with confusion about this little mystery. Dax, on the other hand, was getting fed up, as he crossed his arms and scowled at Max, "Okay….you're obviously having trouble hearing what I'm saying to you.", but before Dax could go on with a speech on listening skills, the robot, in curiosity, reached out to Max's tail, and gently tugged it. This however, caused Max to bark in surprise as he turned around to see what it was as he growled. But Max looked surprise seeing nothing there, and whined in frustration as he had a scowled look on his face in thought.

Dax, on the other hand, had had it with this as he shouted, "THAT'S IT, MAX! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE ERIC'S DOG! I'M THROUGH WITH Y…", but then saw Max whimper a little as he looked up to where Dax was perched on the dog. It was then that Dax was getting an icky feeling in his stomach now as he cringed, and whimpered, "There's something behind us, isn't there?" Not getting an answer from Max, Dax turned around slowly…only to come face-to-face with a working Atlantean robot…clinging to the wall like Spider-Man, and now it shyly waved at the two.

Immediately, Dax went big eyed on this as for a small pause of silence, Dax finally screamed in fright. He pulled on Max's ears, and they both ran towards the group, with the robot running and hiding behind one of the pillar statues. Max stopped at Ariel, surprising her and the group, as Dax zoomed around, Eric, making him turn around. As Dax was nearly shouting hysterical, Eric asked out of frustration, "Dax, wha the…? Are you crazy?" but then Dax grabbed Eric's hair and chin, forcing him to look in the direction they came running out from.

It was then that they saw something shyly hide from them, and then were amazed as the Atlantean robot peeked out slightly. Milo smiled at this as he gasped in the realization, "An Atlantean robot…"

Seeing that, Jack turned to the men as he struggled to pull out his Silver Eagle, "Well, what you waitin' for?", the men immediately pulled out their guns and were about to shoot at it, but then Ariel stopped them by getting in front.

She immediately stopped them as she said, "Don't! He hasn't done anything.", she then turned to see the robot, just shyly looking at them from behind the pillar, "I don't think he wants to hurt us."

Then Jack sarcastically asked, "Really? Well, in case memories had forgotten, but we had a submarine/robot death match with a few of these buggers a few days ago when we got here."

Then Eric defended that claim as he stated, "If it wanted to hurt us, it would have done it already."

Dax just groaned and whined, "Oh, I knew you were gonna defend that thing."

Ariel smiled at Eric, and then at the robot. She gingerly walked towards it, which caused it to shy back some more. Sensing the robot's uneasiness, she gently beckoned him to her, "Come on. Come on out. We're not gonna hurt you."

The robot was still a little nervous at first, but then gradually walked out of hiding. It timidly walked up to Ariel, showing to everyone the robot was only eight feet tall in height, towering over Ariel. However, he gently extended his hand to her, as she quickly took it and pulled him over, still shying away. As soon as they both walked over, Dax shrieked something fierce as it came close. But seeing how shy it was towards them, Eric reassured the otter, "Hey, come on, Dax. He's not gonna bite."

But then suddenly, the robot nearly went bug-eyed…if it could, as it saw Ariel's Calypso bracelet. It then looked at the boy, and saw the Seablade strapped to the boy's back. Suddenly, startling Ariel and everyone else, the robot shot its arms into the air and jumped with much excitement. And then surprising everyone, it scooped up Ariel and Eric, swinging them around in a hug. It stopped as it set the two teens down, with Ariel giggling at that and Eric regaining his equilibrium in his eyeballs.

And then the robot pointed to the hallway as he ran down it, signaling it to follow him. Ariel smirked as she ran after it, shouting, "I think it wants us to follow him.", and then everyone ran after her as she followed the robot. However, they were still unaware that they were being followed…by the very same creatures that had made a snack of one of the soldiers.

A Few Minutes Later

After a while of chasing after the Atlantean robot, they had come to a stop that led to the bottom of the temple. They had reached a room, illuminated with light blue torches and held up by giant statues of Atlantean design. As soon as everyone was in the room, the robot then excitedly pointed forward, getting their attention. They saw that the robot was pointing towards an altar of Atlantean design, with a goddess dual statue displaying whatever it was on the altar. Everyone was about to walk forward, until the robot whirred a small chirp, saying No. He then pointed to Eric in particular, and then to the Altar.

Frey then asked, "Wait, we came all this way for Eric to walk over there?"

Eric reassured them all, "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure it's nothing too serious.", and then he let the robot lead him towards the pillar, but stopped midway as Milo and Ariel popped up next to him. He asked, "Hey, what are you…?"

Milo smirked, "Come on, you don't think I'm gonna let you do this alone, do ya?"

Eric smirked at this as they walked up to the altar, as the light illuminated on it. As they got there, they saw what it was the robot was so furvishly perused them to see. While the others waited at the opening, they failed to see that a couple of large shadows closing in on behind. As soon as they got to the altar, Milo, Eric, and Ariel looked at a strange object on the altar's smooth surface in puzzlement.

What was on the table was a human sized fingerless gauntlet for a left-hander. It was colored metallic gray, and its design was something else. It had a tear drop wrist guard on top, and the finger openings were shaped with claw like knuckles on the openings to where the fingers and thumb came out. And on the back of the hand was a small oval shape piece of the metallic gray material, but embedded in it was a diamond shaped crystal. It was held up by what appeared to be designed holders that looked like crabs.

Milo examined the writing on the altar as he translated, "Here enshrined, is the Fist of Zeus. Weapon of the Chosen Seablade bearer. When wielded, its power is known to its enemies. But when it comes into contact with the Seablade, both weapons' power becomes a blinding radiance.", he then pointed out to this other inscription, "Look here, it says 'Courage of the Hearts are very rare, the Fist has a power…when it's there'." Milo smirked at that, "Hmm, that's kind of catchy."

Eric looked at the robot in confirming on why it led them here in the first place. The robot nodded, and gently nodded towards the fist. Eric knew he was encouraging him to take the fist.

Then Ariel nudged Eric to do so as he turned to look at her, as she encouraged, "Go on."

Taking a deep breath, and silently praying for no booby traps, Eric slowly walked towards it. And then slowly reached out to grab it; his grip was firm on the small artifact…and then quickly and gently, picked the gauntlet up. He looked at it for a moment, pondering on the strange artifact, until Dax, who was on his shoulder, provoked him, "Well, don't just stand there gawking at it, kid. Put it on."

Sighing, Eric gave in, and slipped the gauntlet on his left hand. It initially fit like a glove, over his other glove. He raised it up as he flexed the fingers, feeling the looseness but secure feel to the gauntlet.

He didn't see how powerful it was as he slowly turned around asking, "This is it? This is why we were brought down to…", but then trailed off as he saw four shadows right behind Jack and the others. He then shouted out to warn them, "GUYS, LOOK OUT!"

Jack and Frey looked behind them, but not the soldiers, as they yelled out in surprise and jumped out of the way. But before the soldiers knew what was happening, two of them were speared in the back dying instantly, no blood spraying across the room. The final soldier, nearly shouted his head off, but was grabbed by the head, by a pale pigmented hand big enough to encase his hand, with two fingers and thumb, all digits having nine inch yellow clawed hands, and then pulled him into the shadows.

It was silent at that moment; the remaining team members huddled together at the altar. And then suddenly, out of the shadows, came four menacing creatures the likes of which you'd never see before. They were around ten feet in height, minus the fact they were hunched over on all fours like gorillas were, and their skin had lost all pigmentation, making their skin color pale chalk. Their arms were long but pretty strong, with three fingers that had on them killing yellow claws, but supported their weight on the knuckles, and attached to the wrists, were some sort of bone like spike that stretched out ten feet, with some sort of skin fold attaching it to the arms. On their backs, a huge spinal column with razors popping out of it, grew out of the skin, and on the sides, were huge like feelers on the side. Their waist, pelvis, and legs looked pretty skinny, seeing as it looked like they were devolving away. But on the feet, were two ankle claws, and one big toe claw up front. And its head was monstrous in appearance; it was almost shaped humanoid, say for three spike points protruding out on the sides and on the top of the head, with a row of extra sharp teeth sticking out of the mouth, and four black eyes with no pupils in them; two on each side of the head. They were truly a frightening sight to behold, but not as frightening as the way they were looking at the remaining members of the excavation team.

The others backed with the main heads, near the altar. The beasts snarled and hissed something fierce, and making a strange clicking sound that seemed to echo all over the temple room. Eric pulled out the Seablade at the ready, with Frey following in with his daggers at danger ready. Milo, on the other hand, held up the Journal defensively, as he asked, "What in the name of Sir Isaac H. Newton are these things?"

Jack pulled out his sword and gun at the ready as he sarcastically stated to Milo, "You tell me! You're the ruin expert!"

The creatures hissed out and growled as they slowly made their way towards the strange creatures. They inched closer as the scent of the new prey filled their nostrils; they could almost taste the sweet nectar that was the sapiens' flesh. However, that didn't come to pass, as the robot looked around to find something to fight with. However, it spotted a pillar that was almost parallel to the creatures. It nudged Eric and Frey, showing what it discovered, and after a few hand signals showing its plan, the boys looked to each other and smirked at this. And Eric nodded, "Yeah, that'll definitely work."

As the creatures slowly inched their way towards the humans, the robot ran past them. Jack saw that and shouted, "Oh, thanks a lot. You smelly shellback! That's the last time I'll say a sea turtle saved my life!"

The beasts noticed this as they saw the robot go near one of the pillars. They would have made their way towards the robot, if not for a dagger stabbing into the side of one of the creature's shoulders. It shrieked out something fierce as its echolocation picked up what it was. It had spotted a female in throwing stance. Ariel had been told of the plan and that it made and shouted to the creatures, getting their attention, "Hey! We're over here!"

Eric shouted, "Yeah, we're the entrées here!"

Frey jumped up and down waving their attention, "Yeah, come on. Haven't you ever heard of appetizers!"

The creatures suddenly ignored the robot now and were now more focused on the humans. As they were, the robot got behind the pillar, and with all its constructed might, began to push the pillar. As the creatures inched closer into position, unaware of the robot's actions. As soon as it felt getting looser, the robot then easily pushed the pillar as it came tumbling down upon the creatures. They heard the rumbling, and looked up, as they saw it coming down on them. two ran out of the way, but two got crushed by the pillar, shattering the bones as they let out gagging sounds and dying just like that.

The two others however, pounced right at the group, as one pounced right at Ariel. Ariel shielded herself in fright, but then Eric stepped in as the creature crashed into him. The second beast ran towards the others, but not until the robot ran up, and caught the beast by the neck with its right clawed hand. The creature thrashed and scrapped at them, trying to get a good swipe at the robot, and at the humans. But the robot wasn't about to as with a robotic snarl, and with all its might, it slammed the creature face first into the ground, knocking out completely.

Meanwhile, Ariel opened her eyes and thought for a moment the creature got her. However, she saw that the beast hadn't even gotten near her. She saw the beast, being held by the neck as it was lashing out at her, but was being held back…by Eric. She looked at him worried as she cried to him, "Eric!"

In complete amazement by himself and everyone else, he was holding it back with only his left hand. And then suddenly, the gauntlet on his left hand, started to glow bright blue. And then suddenly, the clawed knuckles shifted up to his fingers, encasing them in a bright blue armor casing. The teardrop shaped wrist guard expanded until it reached up and covered his elbow and split in the middle allowing a sharp metallic blue point to stick out, and then encased his forearm in a glowing blue armor with gray metal bits making a pattern out of the blue armor. The glove gauntlet fully transformed not only into a hand guard, but also a hand and forearm guard, with also protection for the elbow as well.

Eric didn't have enough time to figure out what was going on with it. He now had to deal with this beast; it was starting to exhaust him as the beast drooled in anticipation. Then with final desperation, Eric grunted as the creature was pushing Eric's arm in closer, "Get…off…me…you…!", and then the gauntlet on his left arm glowed.

And then suddenly, given newfound strength, lifted the beast by the throat with a crushing grip. Slightly stunned by the newfound strength, Eric shook it off, seeing it as a new advantage. He then spun around, along with the creature in his grip, and with all his might, threw the beast right at one of the pillars, slamming it into it, and slumping to the ground. And before it could recover, Eric quickly knelt down on his right knee, and slammed his left fist into the ground, creating an earthquake shockwave that shot right at the beast, and went up the pillar. And then before the creature could recover, the pillar that had been struck by the blast fell down upon it as it screeched, and then was crushed alive.

Taking a huge breath, and seeing all the creatures defeated, Eric got back up as the glove retracted back to normal, and the gem stopped glowing. But then Ariel ran up to him and hugged him fiercely, burying her face in his chest as she muffled, "Idiot! Showoff! You could've gotten hurt, or worse!"

Eric returned the hug as he stroked his hand in her hair, calming her a bit, "And if I didn't do anything, you'd be lunch."

Ariel broke the hug as she looked up to Eric, and then lightly kissed him on the cheek. She then looked at Eric with a raised eyebrow and shot back, "And I'm pretty sure I'd give him indigestion.", the two just laughed at that moment, feeling the tension of their life and death situation go away.

Jack, Milo, and the others walked up, regrouping with the two. Then Milo pointed out as he nervously looked around, "Okay, I think we've had enough spelunking in this place for today.", he then looked around making sure the creatures were all dead.

Then Jack sarcastically claimed, "All in favor of getting back to the group, say Aye."

"Aye", they all said in unison, and where about to make it out of there. But then Ariel stopped as she saw the robot was still there, slightly worried on what would happen if he joined them.

Ariel then looked to Eric and Milo, asking as she pointed him out, "What about him? We can't just leave him here."

"Yes we can.", Jack quirked out, in a hastened need to get out of there before more of those things came back, "He's a big fellow, he can take care of himself."

Ariel pleadingly looked at Eric and Milo, and the two looked at the sincerity and pleading in her eyes. Eric was the first to answer as he looked to Uncle Milo, who sighed in defeat as he sternly looked to Jack and the remaining others, "He's coming with us. I'm sure Rourke'll let him in."

After seeing them signal him over, the robot whirred in a happy tone and followed them as they headed out. But then it stopped and looked back at the dead creatures. It ran over to one of them, and picked one up, for some unknown reason. As it ran out with its dead cargo, the strange armored warriors saw the whole thing and spoke over to one another. The curious however, seemed to wonder more about the strangers…considering they had found a way to unlock long lost artifact technology.

Next Chapter: Making New Friends; Cave Introductions

Author's note: the new weapon Eric received, the Fist of Zeus, that was inspired by a weapon of almost the same name from God of War: Chains of Olympus, and Hellboy's Right Hand of Doom. I don't know, I just thought it could give Eric an edge against all those powerful enemies…such as a crystallized Rourke. Besides…I thought it would make him look kinda cool.

Also the creatures that try to make a meal out of the gang are concept based on the creatures from the movie, The Cave.