CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Into The Watery Abyss
December 1st, 2053
In Orbit, Planet Aquas
"So this is where my parents came from." said Chase, looking down through the window at Aquas.
The entire planet of Aquas was almost completely covered in water. There were tiny spits of land here and there, but otherwise nothing but crystal-clear sea water. The team had been assigned to dive to the ocean floor and search for a Venomian bio-weapon that may have been being constructed down there. Only problem was that the Blue Marine was still under maintenance, meaning they would have to scuba-dive to the spot.
The Great Fox slowly lowered itself down into the atmosphere and hovered ten feet above the water. Falco, Anna and Katt flew out of the Great Fox in their Arwings, while Marcus and Chase stood at the open hangar door, pulling on diving suits.
"How do you come up with these ideas anyhow?" Marcus asked, zipping up the suit.
"It doesn't matter how." Chase responded. "What matters is that I made them. Case closed."
"Be careful, boys." Anna said. 'There are some pretty deadly creatures down there that won't hesitate to tear your heads off."
"Calm down. We'll be fine." Marcus assured her.
Truth was he'd never been to Aquas before, so he had no idea what was waiting for them down there. And he was in no rush to find out.
"And hey, guys! I've got good news!" Chase said. "I finally got a hold of the moderator we needed. If we get that same data again, this time I'll be able to translate it."
"Good job, Chase." Marcus instructed. "Alright, on my mark, we dive."
The two boys fit their breathing masks over their faces. Marcus turned behind him and tightened the air tanks attached to his back. Then he tuned to Chase and gave him a thumbs-down. ("Dive, dive, dive." in sign language)
Chase nodded and they both dove head-first into the cool, blue water.
Beneath the surface...
Marcus opened his eyes a few moments after he hit the water. He was floating five feet under the surface. He took in a deep breath. The air tanks worked perfectly. He looked over and saw Chase. He touched his fingers to his ear.
"Comm systems check." he said. "Can you hear me, Chase?"
Chase looked over and gave him two thumbs-up.
"Yeah." he replied.
"OK. Let's head deeper."
The two boys kicked their feet and slowly went deeper into the dark water.
"How's everything going up there?" Marcus asked.
"We're doin' fine." Falco replied "No problems."
"We should probably steer clear of the surface." Anna said. "This planet frequently has undersea earthquakes that cause powerful tsunamis."
"Mark, let's try that trench over there." Chase said, pointing down at the ocean floor.
Marcus pulled out his blaster. (Since they were going to be heading several miles underwater, the staff's Fire Blaster would be completely useless). The two swam deeper toward the fissure.
Marcus looked at the radar attached to his arm. Anna's coordinates were definitely pointing down inside the trench.
"Oh yeah. There's somethin' down there, all right." he said. "Let's turn on our propellers."
The propellers attached to their feet turned on and the two boys began moving quickly toward the trench. As they neared the ocean floor, they could see a massive coral reef full of brightly-colored fish.
"Wow! Look at that!" Chase said, pointing down at the reef.
"I gotta admit; that IS pretty cool." Marcus said.
Suddenly, strange starfish-like creatures flew up from the reef and began drifting right at them.
"'The hell are these things supposed to be?" Marcus asked.
"Starikazes!" Chase shouted.
Chase grabbed Marcus' hand and pulled him away from the "Starikazes."
"What? What's wrong?"
"Watch."
The Starikazes floated for a few seconds, then suddenly flailed around like mad and exploded!
"What the…Are these things bio-engineered, too?" Marcus asked.
"Nah, they're genetically designed to do that whenever an intruder enters their territory. But I gotta say that's the worst survival skill anyone could ever come up with. They're gonna smack themselves to extinction one of these days."
"We're here to destroy the bio-weapon, not hear a lecture on kamikaze starfish!" Katt said impatiently. "Get on a move on, you two!"
"Alright, alright! What's the rush?" Marcus replied.
The two boys began swimming toward the trench again, staying as far away from the coral reef as they could to avoid stirring up more of the volatile fish. Up above the surface, the other three team members lazily cruised along the open sky, without any problem to disturb them.
At least, they were until a laser flew out of nowhere.
"Watch out!" Falco screamed.
Everyone swerved away from the projectile. A fleet of Venomian ships were flying toward them at full speed.
"Falco here! Enemies within range! We're returning their fire!" Falco said into the comm.
Back down underwater, Chase and Marcus were floating just over the trench. They both turned on their headlights and propelled themselves down. The trench walls were lined with sharp and pointy rocks, like jagged teeth of some unseen monster that could have been lurking anywhere, as long as it was out of the boys' line of sight. All kinds of small plants and animals were dotting the rocks.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Marcus muttered.
"Look who's talkin'!" Anna responded through the comm as she dodged another projectile.
Chase continued deeper into the trench, but Marcus stopped when a gleaming object caught his eye. He saw a small silver stone stuck in the wall. He carefully swam over to it and brushed the seaweed away from it. It was an oddly-shaped stone, like a bust but much smaller, small enough to fit in his hand.
He carefully plucked it out and looked at it. It seemed to resemble the face of some kind of deity. Strange symbols were etched into the back of it. Whatever it was, it looked important.
Marcus slipped the stone into his pocket and swam after Chase.
"How deep does this trench go, anyhow?" Marcus asked.
"About three miles." Anna answered. "It's the deepest trench along the northern hemisphere."
"You sound calm…did you guys take care of those bogies already?" Chase asked.
"Pff! You kiddin'? They were cake!" Falco mocked.
"Uhh…would you mind telling me what THAT thing is?" Marcus asked, pointing at down.
A very large fish with a long antenna attached to its head was swimming around about fifty feet below them.
"It's dangerous is what it is! Shoot it!" Chase shouted.
Both boys pulled out their blasters and shot the fish several times. It groaned, turned over and floated up to the surface.
"Your parents were born HERE?" Marcus exclaimed.
"That was BEFORE these freaks of nature showed up!" Chase responded angrily.
Suddenly, an earthquake ran through the walls, sending several boulders falling toward the boys. They flipped over and shot all the boulders into bite-sized pieces.
"Anne, one of those earthquakes just went off down here!" Marcus said into the comm. "Get higher up!"
"We copy THAT!" Anna responded.
Katt, Anna, Falco and the Great Fox rose up even higher above the surface just as a massive wave, about 100 feet in height, came flying past them. Marcus and Chase, meanwhile, had reached the bottom of the trench.
"The water's warmer down here." Marcus said in a slightly confused tone.
"It's from the undersea volcanoes down there." Anna said. "They haven't gone off in 200 years, but they still warm up the water a whole lot."
"Hey!" Chase exclaimed. "Look over there!"
A large cavern was carved into the wall of the trench.
"Maybe the bio-weapon's in there." Chase said.
"Maybe. C'mon, let's check it out." Marcus replied.
The two swam toward the cavern, their blasters at the ready. More boulders fell down and dangerously close to them.
"This is getting more dangerous by the second." Marcus grumbled.
As the two entered the cavern, Marcus flipped his headlight on High. The beam grew brighter. When the boys saw what was inside the cavern, their mouths dropped open and their eyes bugged out. The walls, floor and ceiling of the cavern were lined with huge gemstones!
"Holy schnikes!" Marcus exclaimed.
As far as the eye could see, there were diamonds, pearls, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, aquamarines, you name it!
"You guys need to see this in your lifetime. It's freakin' UNBELIVABLE!" Chase said into the comm.
"I'm getting it on the radar and I don't believe it!" Anna said.
"Jeez, there's probably about three million worth of cash down there!" Falco said. "Look at the size of those things!"
"Uh, hellOOOO!" Katt shouted. "Focus on the mission, will ya? We're not getting paid to stare at rocks!"
"Weird you'd worry about getting something finished." Falco said, smirking.
"Weird you'd say that." Katt replied, rolling her eyes.
The boys kicked their feet and continued through the gold mine of a cavern. A little ways in, an odd-looking, vine-like object blocked their path.
"What the heck is this supposed to be?" Marcus asked.
"Some kinda…tentacle?" Chase said.
Marcus shot it. Something very distant from them let out a pained roar. The cavern walls shook. The tentacle flailed around, then slithered away back through the hole in the wall.
"There's something wrong here. I just can't put my finger on it." Marcus said.
"Just a guess, mind you, but that was probably the bio-weapon." Chase said.
"Only one way to find out. Let's keep going."
The continued, but found another tentacle. Another shot, another shriek, another tentacle gone down the hole. This happened about six more times before the tunnel widened out into a massive chamber. Stalactites and stalagmites extended from the floor and roof. A massive, craggy hole lay in the center.
Marcus checked his radar.
"This is where the bio-weapon should be." he said, tapping the screen with his finger. "But I don't see diddly-squat.
"Maybe's it's in the hole over there." Chase said.
Marcus looked down. The hole was as dark as dark could be. He pulled out his flare gun and shot a water-proof flare down into the depths of the abyss.
At first, nothing happened. Then suddenly the entire cavern began rumbling. Finally, something reared its ugly head out of the hole.
"O…o…OCTOPUS!" Chase screamed.
"THIS is the enemy bio-weapon?" Marcus shouted in disbelief.
Indeed, the bio-weapon was a colossal octopus. Its eight tentacles were as thick as a tree trunk and as long as the Great Fox, and its eyes were as big as two Arwings.
The enormous cephalopod let out a loud shriek and raised one of its tentacles before swinging it at the boys.
"Incoming!" Marcus screamed, grabbing Chase and propelling them away.
"Anna, hurry up! Find that thing's weak point!" Falco shouted.
"Calm down, for God's sake! I can't think when you're yelling at me!" Anna retorted. "...maybe it's the eyes! Aim for the eyes!"
Marcus and Chase flipped around and shot toward the massive beast, which chose that moment to shriek again. The boys split off in opposite directions, each heading for the eye on either side. Marcus barrel-rolled out of the way of one of the tentacles. He aimed his blaster at the eye, but suddenly another tentacle came up behind him and snatched his staff off his back.
"Hey! Come back here with that!"
Marcus boosted after the tentacle holding his staff, when another tentacle swatted him away. As he recovered from the initial shock, the eye shot a laser at him. He dove down and the laser slammed into the wall, sending down several large rocks that nearly crushed him.
Marcus pulled out his blaster again, charged up a shot, boosted toward the tentacle that held his staff and shot. The charged shot collided with the tentacle and the staff went flying into Marcus' hand. He bolted toward the eye again. He focused this time and barrel-rolled away from all the tentacles.
He held his staff at the ready, and landed just below the eye.
"Now you see me…"
He impaled the eye.
"NOW YOU DON'T!"
The ock shrieked in pain as Marcus pulled the staff out and boosted away from it.
Chase ducked under one of the tentacles that went swinging at him, barrel-rolled away from an eyebeam and swerved off to the left.
"Eenie, meanie, minie, mo. Catch a frog?"
Chase swam right in front of the eye and charged up his blaster.
"YOU'RE TOO SLOW!"
He released the blast. The ock let out another shriek of pain. The two boys swerved back toward each other. The octopus was even more pissed off than before! It started trashing around like crazy and slamming the walls with its eight, gigantic arms.
"Looks like SOMEBODY has temper issues." Chase chuckled.
A stalactite came loose and slammed into the ock's head. Some of the skin on its head peeled off, revealing what looked an awful lot like a brain.
"Oh, gross!" Katt exclaimed.
"Now! Hit the brain!" Anna shouted.
The boys rocketed at the beast again. Somehow, even though it could no longer see them, it still knew where they were, as it kept swinging its tentacles dangerously close to them.
The tentacles flew at them again. This time, one of them wrapped around Chase and dragged him away.
"Hey! Hands off my pal!" Marcus shouted.
Marcus swam like a bolt at the tentacle, pulled out his staff and impaled the tendril. It loosened. Marcus grabbed Chase's wrists and yanked him free.
"Phew. Thanks, man." Chase said, handing Marcus the staff.
"I guess it just goes to show you; some animals just can't keep their hands to themselves."
"Right! Let's turn this guy into caviar!"
The boys rocketed back at the head. They pulled out their blasters, dodged the tentacles and shot the head. The octopus was temporarily stunned. The boys pulled out their flare guns and shot the small fireworks at the ock's cranium. They exploded and the cephalopod gave out a shriek even louder before, then slowly went limp and sank down back into the abyss.
It was just out a sight when…
BOOOOOMM!
The sweet sound of success. The boys smiled and gave each other a high-five.
"The Dynamic Duo does it again!" Marcus said.
"Alright! Great job, boys!" Falco cheered.
Chase checked his scanner attached to his wrist.
"I got the data. Let's head back."
Back on familiar territory...
"This ain't too surprising." Falco muttered.
They had analyzed the data from the "Kraken" ("Got that name from an old Earth legend." Chase had told them), and it was just as they thought.
"Who on Sauria would make something like that?" Anna asked.
"Someone smart enough to use a machine." Chase said.
"That's out of the question." Marcus said. "The Sharpclaw are the only ones who have ever even SEEN machines before, and they're at peace with everyone."
"What about…" Katt started.
"General Scales? He's dead."
"Are you sure?"
"That's what Dad said."
Chase pressed a few buttons on his computer.
"Activating the translator mod…now." he said.
The computer suddenly gave off several loud beeps.
"What the…" Chase sputtered.
"What's wrong?" asked Falco.
"Son of a bitch!" Chase cursed. "They put some kinda firewall in the data! Even worse, I can't try to hack past it or it'll trace back the data and crash the computer!"
"Dammit." Marcus said, face-palming himself. "These Venomians are smarter than they look."
"Hey, Mark." Anna spoke up. "What's that?"
She pointed at the lump in his pocket. Marcus reached in and pulled out the stone he'd found earlier.
"It's got Saurian symbols, too." he said.
"Hey, lemme see that." Chase said.
Marcus handed Chase the stone. Chase himself looked it over for a few moments, then placed it on a scanner next to his computer.
"Uhh…what are you doing?" Marcus asked.
"I'm gonna see what this thing is." Chase replied.
An image of the stone appeared onscreen. The symbols on the back appeared next to it.
"Where'd you find this, anyway?" Chase asked.
"I found it wedged in a wall down there." Marcus replied. "Why? What is it?"
"It's a Krazoa Key!"
"A what?"
Chase turned around in his chair and handed the stone back to Marcus.
"A Krazoa Key unlocks one of the Krazoa Shrines on Sauria. The Krazoa Spirits are said to live in the shrines. There are two other stones like this, and they all say the same thing."
"What do they say?" Anna asked.
"'Our Master dwells in the cavern deep. Ones with us, their wishes we keep.'"
"Okay, weird-ass poem. Translation?"
"It basically means that all three of these stones unlock the cavern where the most powerful of the Krazoa Spirits, called the Krazoa Master, lives. Apparently, those who reach him will be granted any wish they want."
"…so where are the others?" asked Katt.
"Where else? Sauria." Chase replied.
"Alright, that settles it." Marcus said. "We have to go to Sauria and see what going on down there. How far is it from Corneria?"
"A lot further than Venom, I'll give you that." Anna said.
"Won't be a problem with light-speed." Katt said.
"OK." Marcus said. "Tomorrow, we're heading to Sauria. We'll head home for now and make sure we get everything we need."
He looked around.
"Get to sleep early tonight, guys. We're leaving first thing in the morning!"