"There!" Rhona backed off from where she'd hung both sets of armor up so they could be used immediately as the squad went back to Nazarick. "Some of my finest work, if I do say so myself. Oh, who am I kidding? All of my work is my finest work!"

Ridley nodded as he looked over the results. One suit was bulky and blocky, white and blue, built for cryogenic capabilities inside and out. The other was sleek, meant to be form-fitting, dark with red accents. This latter suit had fully mechanical arms, leaving nowhere for a person to put biological arms – but Rhona was assured that there was no error in the blueprint.

"Very well done, Mad Thinker," Ridley complimented. "These should be more than sufficient."

"And after you bring them back, you'll take me along too, right?" Rhona asked, wide-eyed. "Right? I can provide many valuable talents, both intellectual and in the field!"

"I mean, I for one respect your ego," Drakus said. "It reminds me of someone I'm very, very fond of."

"It's you, isn't it?" Rhona sighed.

"You're smart, little gal." Voidlon teased.

"I suppose there would be room for you," Ridley mused. "Perhaps it is time for us to take a dual approach to this tri-prong approach of Deadlight, VILE and the Prehistoric Park project. While those of us who are more combat-oriented participate in duels, it may do us well to have our geniuses on the inside to assure our victory."

"I can definitely do that," Rhona insisted. "Show me your enemy's computer system and I'll have them on their knees in minutes. I'll be able to work even faster if I don't have THEM hovering over my shoulder!"

"First, of course, the matter at hand," said Ridley.

"Now, I'm just warning you, Rhony," Voidlon said. "Our new friends are symbiotic with their armor for a reason. Think about the reason I don't shapeshift into fleshy monsters much. This won't exactly be a pretty picture."

"Please," Rhona scoffed. "I've seen things in my biology exams that would make most 'normal' people blush."

Voidlon raised his claw high, letting it shine bright as a star. Cocoons of blue light bore forth two bodies, raised from the beyond without yet a stitch to cover them.

Rhona immediately recoiled; "EUGH!"

"So, you really need to get desensitized to gore," Dark Dream muttered.

Donnie Gill had been confined to his cryogenic armor because of an incident that had left his body heavily scarred. Half his face was discolored and puckered from intense trauma, and more than half his body shared the same pattern, making the man almost a living scar.

But he was hardly anything compared to Mark Scarlotti. No arms, of course. But there seemed to be a few more parts of him that had been connected up to the Whiplash suit – parts that would normally be internal. He looked like something that a massive dog had chewed on, with incisions and pockmarks dotting his body up and down. His legs were the only part unscarred.

Voidlon flicked his hand; the designated armors rose from where Rhona had set them up, splitting into their parts, opening up to receive their inhabitants. The bulky white armor encased Donnie; the darker, sleeker suit enveloped Mark. The suits left not an inch of human skin exposed, essentially transforming them from men to metal. Hiding the extensive damage to their initial physical forms.

Once both were reconnected to their life support, they drew their first gasping breaths, looking at one another in surprise.

"We are…" Mark, otherwise known as Whiplash, gasped.

"Yeah," Donnie, also known as Blizzard, replied tentatively. "Looks like it."

"Gentlemen!" Voidlon greeted. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. You're probably wondering why you're all of a sudden back from the dead, and with impeccable fashion sense. After all, it wasn't that long ago that Justin Hammer dropped you in a trash compactor and – "

"HAMMER!" Whiplash screeched. He raised his arms, deploying the long metal whips that gave him his name and infamy. They blazed with red electricity, and Whiplash went into a blind rage, lashing out at Rhona's laboratory, searing two machines in half and continuing on.

"DON'T LET HIM TOUCH THE STEEL CABINET!" Rhona shrieked.

"WHIPLASH!" Blizzard seized him by both of his shoulders. "Calm down!"

"NO!" Whiplash seethed. "NOT AFTER WHAT HE DID TO US!" Another machine was overloaded with electricity, leaving a column of black smoke spewing.

"STOP WRECKING MY LAB!" Rhona moaned.

Voidlon than turned into a Raijuu and picked Whiplash up. "Is that any way to treat the dude who brought you back to life?" Voidlon sighed.

"You were revived on the condition that we would collaborate," Gentlu said. "You will have much leeway in that regard. However, strike another blow against us and you can very easily be returned from whence you came."

Whiplash made a low growl, then muttered, "Very well. So long as you have no connection to HIM, or else I'll have to trade you in for my own life. And make no mistake: I will win that fight."

"Oh, that ought to be interesting to watch him try," Yuina said flippantly.

"Mark," Blizzard said sternly. "Let's hear them out. They could be the key to our revenge. And you're not the only one who was shaken up by being murd – "

"Do not get this twisted," Whiplash hissed. "I am not SHAKEN. I am not one to COWER. What I feel about the whole incident is nothing short of pure rage. Coddle me and I'll show you exactly how much I need your care."

After a pause, Blizzard gave a chuckle. "Good. THAT'S what I wanted to hear. Whiplash and Blizzard, back on top again. So when do we get to kill Hammer?"

"Who said we wanted you to kill Hammer?" Voidlon taunted. "Maybe we have other plans for you. Plans that pay well."

"Talk," Blizzard said. "Tell us what's on the table. Then we decide."

"Well…" Voidlon pretended to think it over. "I think as a potential job, I'll let you find a way to…kill Justin Hammer."

Blizzard clapped Whiplash on the back, and the two of them practically went into hysterics. "At least he gave me the grace of a quick death," Whiplash said. "I don't think I'm feeling quite that POLITE toward him."

"Grace?" Blizzard teased. "You're mad because you didn't even get to enjoy the pain on the way out. I know you."

"You're right," Whiplash replied. "I suppose this means I owe him all the more suffering."

"But this is too good to be true," said Blizzard. "How did you actually bring us back? And is this really a no-strings-attached job?"

"The answer to that question might be a little unbelievable," Voidlon replied.

"Try me," Whiplash urged.

So everyone explained the X-Squad, Deadlight, VILE, ACME and the Prehistoric Park. "Your teamwork here will prove to us whether or not you are what we are looking for." Voidlon concluded.

"…Huh," Blizzard replied. "You're right. That's pretty unbelievable."

"And yet here we stand, back from the precipice of death," Whiplash realized. "We have long known there are ethereal forces at work in the world. I of course had no time to waste on Makluan rings, but it stands to reason that other things might come along to fill the void once they were handed off to the meek-hearted Mandarin. Things that perhaps are even more powerful than the whole Makluan nonsense combined."

"Oh, you have no idea," Voidlon said with a smirk. "And now those things can be yours. Well, conditionally."

"Moreover," Snatcher added, "I will reiterate that some of us here have devoted their life to learning not only how to utilize but how to counter magic in its myriad forms."

"I'm here too," Rhona said, raising her hand.

"Rhona might not be a magic slayer," Voidlon said on her behalf, "but what she lacks in raw power, she makes up for with the fact that…well, without those armors, my necromancy would've lasted all of thirty seconds while you two bled out."

"Hey," Blizzard snapped. "For the record, I don't bleed out. I would've gone into shock. Get it right."

"Hmm." Whiplash surveyed the damage he'd caused earlier. "Perhaps I acted too soon in my anger against–"

"Justin Hammer?" Rhona rolled her eyes. "No, from what I've heard, he's one of the greatest forces preventing me from advancing in this world. You know the glass ceiling? He's practically the entire panel! I GUESS I can forgive your wanton destruction of my devices, but try to be a little more thoughtful in the future. After all, I built both those suits, and I know exactly how to shut them down."

"Fair," said Whiplash, obviously impressed by Rhona's moxie. "Keep proving useful and I may be able to lend you a cut that would BEGIN to cover the costs."

"Funny thing that we're actually using a couple of people raised from the dead to fight Justin," Rhona realized. "From what I heard, they only just found a way to reverse his zombification."

There was a thick silence before Whiplash said what everyone was thinking: "…What?"

"Long story." Rhona waved it off. "We can talk about it on the way to his HQ."

"We'd need a plan before we commit the invasion," Blizzard pointed out.

"Are you insinuating I don't already have our plan down to the letter?" Rhona scoffed.

"That's…news to me, actually," Voidlon told her.

"Because I wanted to make a grand unveiling and impress all of you at once with my genius, of course," Rhona boasted. "I've been waiting for just the right time to use this little toy."

She sauntered to the steel cabinet that she'd warned against Whiplash touching earlier. Inputting a code into a keypad and looking into a retinal scanner, she popped open the doors, revealing a small glass cube that appeared to be empty.

"An empty box," Whiplash sneered. "How genius."

"It's not empty," Rhona sighed, taking out the glass box and setting it down upon a table. "This is what would've killed us all if one of you idiots had broken it. Take a closer look."

Whiplash and Blizzard did so. The squad crowded around. Ridley and Maya tried to peer over the others, standing on their toes.

"Nanotechnology," Whiplash realized, seeing only the slightest aberrations in the stillness of the box. "You have nanobots trapped here."

"Killer nanobots?" Blizzard repeated. "Sounds perfect. Just keep 'em far away from me."

"A tiny thing in a box inside of another box." Drakus nodded. "I approve."

"I had them shipped in from up north," Rhona boasted. "This is a living virus created by an inferior mind. It's informally known as 'Technovore.' It was invented to consume any and all technology it came across, though judging by the state of the corpse this was found on, well, it started getting a taste for flesh. After all, what is the mind but the world's most advanced machine?" She scowled. "I lost three good bots in order to get this."

"If it was created by someone 'inferior'," Gentlu asked, air quoting inferior, "then why utilize it?"

"Well, much as I hate to admit it, Technovore is almost conceptually perfect as a WMD," Rhona said. "The only problem is that there's no killswitch. And that's the only hitch still remaining in my plan – though of course I'm very, VERY close to a solution. The point is, if Technovore is let out of the box, it will never, ever stop its rampage until…well, perhaps the whole world is consumed."

"You wish to set it loose on Hammer," Whiplash realized, obviously quite amused by the thought.

"Of course!" Rhona explained. "Technovore will travel up his company's systems, rendering his entire building technologically dead. I'll give it a little push to trigger a security lockdown so he can't make it too far down the stairs. Of course, Justin tends to employ strong security guards. You two know this."

"Probably replaced us with some stooge already," Blizzard grumbled.

"Obviously, he traded down," Whiplash grumbled. "I say we show him exactly how far."

"That's why we need two teams once we head after Justin," Rhona went on. "Our stronger fighters will approach from a more obvious entrance to draw out Justin's mercenary of the week. Meanwhile, Drakus and I, the brains of the operation, will use the diversion to sneak into the building. Drakus' shapeshifting can easily take out the cameras that would usually alert Justin to us being there, but we'll leave the ones that are filming the rest of you. If we're lucky, seeing Whiplash and Blizzard back from the dead should give him a mild heart attack as a primer. I upload Technovore, then we make our escape before it spreads too far. Within less than an hour, I estimate Technovore will have compromised every last system in the company and started work on assimilating Justin's brain into itself. And no more Hammer ever again." She took a moment to give a laugh.

"There it is," Voidlon sighed.

"There WHAT is?" Rhona snapped.

"The obvious flaw in your plan," Whiplash filled in. "The one you don't have covered."

"I didn't even start to tell you about that yet!" Rhona barked.

"You hardly need to," said Ridley. "You said no kill code. Once Technovore is released, we have a head start, and then it will hunt US down."

Rhona sighed. "Admittedly I still have to come up with a barrier that can be deployed at will and fence it into Hammer. If his tech is the main course, I'm sure Blizzard and Whiplash's armor will look just like dessert. That's not even taking into account that Bundoru tech that I'm sure it's never seen before. Without a barrier, we'll need to get far, FAR out of dodge. And even then, well, it'll only be a matter of time before it triggers a technological apocalypse."

"Question," Voidlon broke in. "Exactly how much about this world are you attached to?"

"This world has been nothing but a giant obstacle to my progress," Rhona seethed. "It will be MUCH better once I impose my order upon it."

"And you?" Ridley asked Whiplash and Blizzard. "What about this world is valuable to you?"

"Money, pretty much," Blizzard said. "And the fact that Obadiah Stane could still die."

Whiplash snickered. "I think I see where exactly you are taking this. Instead of answering your question, I'll just answer the REAL one. Yes. I will."

"Wait, what?" Blizzard looked at him. "I'm confused."

"I'm not," Rhona said defensively. "But I'll let our team leaders explain it."

"It's obvious," Yuina said. "We don't technically have to stop Technovore at all once it's out."

"Because by the time it's unleashed," Mera said with a wide grin, "we'll be long gone from that world."

"A necessary sacrifice," Free said, shrugging.

"So if there is anything here you do not wish to be devoured by our weapon," Voidlon urged, "speak up NOW."

Blizzard and Rhona thought it over, looking from Whiplash to each other to the group at large. "You know what?" Rhona realized. "There isn't anything here I want to save that badly. I'd rather not be operating out of a secret base underneath a mall boutique, but that much should be obvious. With a blank slate…I don't have to."

"Yeah, forget this whole world," Blizzard added. "There's nothing here worth saving. After all, it made me into THIS."

"Don't forget, Donnie," Whiplash teased. "THIS isn't exactly a slouch at our work. You and I, we're both stronger than we ever were before."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Blizzard muttered. "Not that I'm not proud to be a metal monster, but you're still way more used to it than me. Gimme a year or two to catch up."

"And we could be the enders of this world!" Whiplash boasted. "What better revenge is there on Hammer than to take away not just his company and his life, but everything he ever loved?"

"Just so long as there's such a thing as money on these other worlds," Blizzard said. "It'd be a shame to send the economy to hell and back before we get the most out of it."

Just then, the portal opened up again and the squad leapt through it, unsure of where they ended up next.

In a gladiator arena, the Anacondrai cultist Eyezor was dueling a musician and was preparing the final blow, only for the X-Squad to fall on him, Drakus looking at Jacob in surprise.

"Good morning." Voidlon replied. "Can you point us towards some food? I'm starving. Also, ditch the disco look, you'd die if you do." The X-Squad then heard a laugh as they turned to see a yellow-skinned man welding a staff.

"What a delightful surprise! More competitors for my tournament of elements!" The man said. "Did you arrange this, Klaus?"

Klaus nodded that no, he didn't know of this.

"No matter. I sense great power in them." Chen said. "Power that will soon be mine."

Just then, the squad heard another voice, as they saw Megafin, Birch, Kronos, Calamity, Ink Blotch, Circe, Zora, Yoomtah, Killia, Gilgamesh, Adam, Van Kleiss, Skalamander, Biowulf and Breach fell in from above.

"Well, this is a surprise." Skalamander said. "Seems we're gonna fight to the death."

"Did you think you could escape my sight forever, dog? That you could steal from me and hide in your hovel of garbage?"

"Hey, I have way more class than hiding in garbage!," Lupin pointed out, "Sure not every hideout I've had is a five-star hotel, but they've certainly catered to basic human needs!"

"I'm guessing, that's Archer," Smasher noted.

"That's him all right," Mera replied, "And he looks mad."

"But seriously, how ya been Goldie?," Lupin joked, "Take any therapy sessions since we last met?"

Gilgamesh's eye twitched.

"Goldie!? Congratulations, Mongrel! You've made me so mad I'll skip the torture and just execute you outright!"

"Hello, Red!" Another voice said.

Ruby gasped and brandished Crescent Rose's scythe form, backing away. The squad saw another Roman leaping out of a portal, with black streaks on his white jacket and a silver feather on the hat.

"Been a while." The Roman double joked. "How's the hero biz treatin' ya? Gotta say, not looking too shabby." The double said, giving a kick at Jacob, who fled from the madness.

"If you're a clone of me, then where's the Neo?" Roman sniped.

"Yeesh, for another me, you could have manners." The double said, smirking. "After all, we got dressed and ready to see you!"

Just then, a girl dressed in white with black eyes and a horn on her head, a viking and a girl with black hair with a white and red streak on the front left side of her head with the white forelock being larger and on top of the smaller liquid or thunderbolt-like red streak with shark-like cybernetics.

"So, you're the X-Squad, huh?" The white-dressed girl smirked. "This should be fun."

"Well, they seem like they can put up a fight." The Viking said.

"Well, at least to you, you overgrown bull." The shark-girl snarked.

A calm voice responded behind them: "I'll have to charge extra for this one, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll cover the costs, be patient, Alvin." Birch groaned.

With them was another man. A man dressed in a sleek white bodysuit, hooded and masked. This suit was imbued with technology that allowed him to do amazing things indeed. "That's what I like to hear," said Alvin Starr, known in the underground as the Ghost, as instead of jumping out of the portal, he phased directly out of the solid floor to begin striding toward the X-Squad. "Well, that's a laugh I needed today," he opened.

Ruby looks on at the sight of these four new villains with confusion.

"How is Kiko getting these freaks?" Voidlon sniped.

The three new villains chuckled at Ruby's bewilderment as Ghost bridged his nose. "Oy vey, this is gonna be a long payday." Ghost groaned, exasperated by his new allies.

"Now, I know what you're thinking 'Is this real'?" The Roman double quickly asked Ruby.

Ruby becomes startled by the double's presence beside her and falls to the floor.

"Well, in my version of your world, you were following a talking cat around a fairy tale." The double sniped.

The double walked away from Ruby, twirling his Melodic Cudgel and jumped onto a rock. The three stopped laughing and started staring at the squad.

"Reality's gettin' fuzzier by the minute, kid." The Roman double said.

Ruby twirled Crescent Rose and changed it to its sniper gun mode and aimed it at the Roman double and the others as the rest of the squad got out their weapons.

"Y'know once Neo, or should I say Xone now, cause I'm going by Noxmar now, realized where she was, everything changed. Always loved the idea of a place to run away from it all. Do whatever you want." Noxmar explained, sitting down cross-legged between Thorkell and Atar. "I offered that to her back on my Remnant." He then gave a frown. "But guess how that ended."

"Wait, is it because you're blaming Red here for what happened to you?!" Voidlon realized. "Wait, you died?!"

Noxmar growled.

On top of the arena, Chen watched, confused as to what was happening now.

"They say everyone thinks they're the hero of their own story." Noxmar started, as the Deadlight members gave a wry grin. "But… I knew what I was. And deep down, I think you know you are too."

Noxmar steps onto the ground and off the rock, as he walks towards the squad. He takes out a multi-colored leaf in his hand.

"An Ever-After tree leaf?" Voidlon realized.

"Oh, you're familiar?" Noxmar rhetorically asked. "I could've asked you if you wanted a reset, but that went out the window immediately after we met Deadlight."

"Is that what you want? Well, if you want me, then come get me!" Ruby challenged.

Noxmar chuckled, before nonchalantly crushing the leaf. "Well, me and Xone thought you didn't deserve to die, Red. You deserved to be broken down…torn apart…wiped from existence, but now, we're gonna just kill you."

Ruby heard a sound behind her and turned around, aiming Crescent Rose at a double of Neo, which was wearing a chocolate brown jacket that starts just below her shoulders and above her chest and with a pink interior, two brown belt shoulder straps and twin gray button seams. She wore a gray scarf similar to Roman's, and a white three gray button-up vest style top that is strapless and cropped exposing her midriff. She also wore a pair of chocolate brown detached sleeves with puffy tops and pink trim alongside a pair of white funnel cuffed gloves with gray button detailing. She also wore white belted leather pants and black and white spat styled ankle boots with cutout detail just above the ankle. The back of Neo's jacket is shown to have a small, coned ice cream key chain that is usually covered by her hair. Xone jumped over Ruby as she blocked the potshots with her Hush (which shall now be dubbed Silent Night). As Xone flew over Ruby, Noxmar shot at Ruby with Melodic Cudgel. Ruby was sent backwards, away from the Deadlight members. Noxmar caught Neo with a chuckle as everyone on Deadlight's side of the ring applauded, except for Ghost, who facepalmed at the shenanigans his clients were doing. Neo smiled at Noxmar before they both looked down on Ruby, as Noxmar placed Xone on the ground.

"You!" Chen said, pointing at a guy dressed like he's in the 80s "Bring our guests... Up to speed!" Chen joked and demanded.

"Yes, Master Chen!" The man said, dashing off and into the arena, banging a gong.

"Try not to die, I need to see you break first, Red." Noxmar said as he knelt behind Xone, who gave a closed-eye smile, as the Deadlight members readied their weapons.

"Wait, where did she get my Long Memory from?! Matter of fact, where did she get Floating Array, Milo, Stalwart, Kingfisher and Due Process?!" Ozpin asked.

"No clue, Oz, but let's just have some fun as we brawl with them." Voidlon said. "And if you're planning on breaking us, that's already done, mostly because of what she saw recently on our travels. So, come on, square up, show us what you got."

"...Um..." Noxmar said, realizing that maybe him and Xone were late to breaking Ruby down.

"Should I be scared by the fact that Red potentially has so many issues that she might have become an underaged heavy drinker, or that she might have so much alcohol in her system that it could somehow make her immune to the Leaf's effect? And how is she not already dead from alcohol poisoning, Oum be damned?" Xone signed, terrified to learn that Ruby was already broken and is still kicking, as Kronos shrugged. "The X-Squad is just like that. They're already broken, and we don't wanna add more to it." He said, as Noxmar and Xone shrugged.

"Hope you can keep up." Thorkell smiled.

"Turner, Element of Speed and Time, you're up. Let's see how our new contenders fare!" Chen announced as the squad and Deadlight faced off. "What is this? Some kind of bonus round? No sweat! No-one can match my speed!" Turner boasted.

Gilgamesh grabbed one of his swords and leapt down to strike Lupin, only to get nailed in the face hard right before he could reach him by Voidlon, who sent him flying into a nearby wall.

"As the modern saying goes, did anyone get the license plate of that truck?"

"You're looking right at him," Voidlon joked.

"Let's see how this works." Birch said, turning her Milo (now dubbed White-Out) into its gun form, and shooting at the chain of a wrecking ball in the arena. Ruby fell to the floor after being whacked by Megafin's Long Memory (which he dubbed Hydrosus) before being crushed by the ball, the impact breaking her Aura. She gets up to try and reach for Crescent Rose, but is stopped by Calamity's Floating Array (called Exalted Choice). Ruby looks back at her.

"Oh, so that's what it does." Calamity realized, as she aimed to try and hit Ruby's cape.

Ridley tried to grab Calamity with his claw, but Noxmar used the curved end of his Melodic Cudgel (now dubbed Clockwork Orange) to choke him from behind.

"Making friends with dragons, huh, Red?" Noxmar snarked, smirking at Ruby yet still being confused as to what's going on.

Ghost flipped a white pistol into one hand. "I'm guessing you don't know who I am. If you did, you'd be singing a different song. But by all means, keep going. I want to see just how hilarious this gets."

He fired – and Kokushibou blocked it. With his sword.

Yuina charged, swiping out with a hand that Ghost wondered if it either was actually made of metal or had metal form-fitted to it. Ghost put up an arm, blocking the metal wrist with his own, and then, in one fluid twist, he flipped Yuina over onto his back. That had given Nakime enough time to draw a sword, leap high, and plunge from above, only for Ghost to simply flash away from where he'd been standing, reappearing behind her once she landed.

Ruby manages to break Ridley free from Noxmar's choking grip and runs to fight Turner but gets attacked by Kronos, using his new Kingfisher (now called Pirate's Plunder).

"Hope I reel something good in!" Kronos joked, as he pulled Ruby's cape in and started pulling. "Aha! Got myself a Ruby!"

Hosshiwa then swatted Kronos away with her umbrella. "Hands off my Rose, you charlatan!" Hosshiwa snapped, as Ruby blushed as her girlfriend was cuter when she was defending her, and then used her Semblance to dodge attacks from Van Kleiss (his Due Process dubbed Evogeddon), Atar (her Stalwart dubbed Sugar Rush), Ghost, Lützow and Ink Blotch with their weapons while the other members of Deadlight are watching.

"Jeez, these guns are hecking cool!" Van Kleiss realized, his Evogeddon punching holes in the wall, as Neo and Iona kicked Turner into a treadmill that Edda built out of spare parts.

"Woah! Who put that there?! I can't stop!... Wait, I'm so fast I can outrun this thing! Haha! Sure I can! I... I can... run..." Turner gasped "No... getting... tired... nooo..." Turner was then flung into Kronos' cutlass, which impaled his heart, and fell into a hole Chen opened, his corpse soaking in the water.

"Hah ha ha! Very creative! Shall we say...'Best of Three'? Gravis! Element of Gravity. He'll turn your world upside down! Heh heh heh!" Chen announced as a man dressed like a genie made parts of the arena float as the squad started brawling with the Deadlight members and Gravis.

Voidlon turned his back on Adam, chuckling. "Hey Toro, I just have one question for you."

"Which is?"

Voidlon cackled before turning around. "Do you know what a Khoros-5 engine block sounds like?"

Adam's brow rose. "No, why would I—?" Beep Beep! Adam swerved around, just in time to be met with a pair of headlights and a roaring engine. A van hit him and sent him flying into Birch, who caught him immediately. Yang and Blake's eyes widened in surprise, Voidlon taking pride in his perfect timing.

"The correct answer was: nearly silent, until it's too late." The Barian said smugly.

From out of the car, a black haired man emerged with a proud grin on his face, along with a white-skinned alien with purple round spots on his head, elbows and knees, an old man with a turtle shell, and a green-skinned man, along with a T-Rex. "Did anybody get the number of that bitch?!" Roshi hollered.

"Come on, Roshi," Cell said, "you really shouldn't be worried."

Frieza rolled his eyes. "Okay, sure, but can you blame me? First your arena goes missing, then the entire city blows up, random dimensional travel is normal apparently, and now we're in the middle of an arena, with apparently more snake people than Jupiter! Just how can this day get any..." he trailed off when he noticed that the Super Friends were not alone. "Oh, hello." he politely waved at the squad.

"Hello." Blake waved back.

"FIGHT ME!" Rex said.

"Hi there!" Yang exclaimed as she stepped over to the three, Blake not far behind. "You must be Frieza, right?"

"Um, yes." The alien answered. Blake could tell that Frieza had very little experience with exuberance of Yang-level proportions. She could see it in his face, plain as day. But dear god did he try. "And you would be...?"

"Oh, yeah," Cell realized, "I haven't introduced you. Everyone, this is Rex, Master Roshi, Zamasu, he prefers Goku Black or just Black, Frieza and Zarbon. Black, Roshi, Rex, Frieza, Zarbon, this is the X-Squad. They've been helping me out since I got here."

Gandalf then landed a blast of magic at Gravis, who was flung at Black, who kicked him down into a hole Chen opened, resulting in the parts of the arena that Gravis lifted up to fall into their original spots.

"Now for your final foe: Karlof, Element of Metal! Now's your chance to prove your... well... METTLE! Ha-ha!" Chen announced.

"Ha! This no problem for Karlof! Karlof crush you!" Karlof boasted, only for Ruby to shoot him dead, repeatedly, even after he died.

"What has gotten into you, Little Red?" Noxmar asked, horrified as Ruby kept shooting.

"I grew a set unlike you." Ruby snarked as Noxmar winced.

"Low blow, Little Red, but a deserved one." Noxmar said.

"Wow! Such innovation! Your powers are perfect!" Chen said, before pressing a button, only for a hole to open behind the X-Squad, as Chen desperately pressed more buttons, causing more holes to open, Gandalf throwing an apple core into one of the holes.

Just then, a girl dressed like a ninja leapt out of a portal, smirking. "The staff! Hand it over, or else I, Belle Shido, will take it from you!" The ninja said, but Chen clung to it harder. "No! No more surprise guests, besides, the tournament is finished!" Chen retorted, but the ninja summoned Vilelings. "Uh-oh. Everyone! Stop her!" Chen ordered, pressing a button and falling down as he gave a little wave, as the X-Squad then followed him, the Deadlight members leaping into another portal, as Gilgamesh had decided discretion was the better part of valor and decided to leave.

"Rejoice, X-Squad. Regardless of what happens in this war, you can hold your head high and say that you were the first to force Gilgamesh of Uruk to straight up retreat from battle. But rest assured, next time I will fight seriously."

"Haha! You'll never find me! No-one has ever gotten through my maze of tunnels! You'll rot down here! Forever running in circles, never knowing where to turn!" Chen announced. "If it makes you feel any better, a woman called Belle Shido is lost down here too. Perhaps you'll stumble across each other and then you'll be best buddies!"

The X-Squad wandered around for a bit, before finally seeing a Grid Gear colored red, black, white and blue.

"Well, we found another Grid Gear." Yuina said, smirking, only for Saruman to appear and grab it, before hopping onto a snake.

"Did you think my master would make it so easy for you, Gandalf?" Saruman said, smirking.

"Saruman?!" Gandalf said, shocked to see his old friend here. "Have you abandoned all reason?"

"A giant snake, is that all?" Grim retorted, glaring at Saruman. "I think you'll find we're tougher than you expect."

"Then I'll make sure he chews properly." Saruman snarked, as he jammed the Grid Gear into the snake, as energy formed something similar to a portal and black smoke flowed from the opening to surround a wolf mask that fell on the snake from the portal. The snake began to levitate in the air and the smoke formed a silhouette enveloping it.

As the smoke and portal faded, a monstrous werewolf/snake hybrid stood in front of Saruman. The beast was a head taller than Saruman and had pitch-black fur and scales. The mask formed into a skull-like covering for the head and the creature had sharp red claws and teeth. It had bone-like armor along the legs, back, arms, tail and torso of its body. The wolf/snake spoke out, "I am Miragerax. What is your bidding?"

"There are some people I need you to destroy," Saruman explained to Miragerax, pointing towards the squad. The beast nodded and produced several copies of itself.

"Consider it done," the werewolf/snake monsters said, leering at the squad. "They won't know what hit them, and won't hit the real me!" With that, Miragerax leaped towards the squad.

Taking the chance to attack, Miragerax sent several wolf and snake heads to bite down on the squad. As the damage was dealt, sparks flew off of the squad and they were sent flying backwards. "Jeez, this is one bad dog. Anybody got a rolled up newspaper? A spray bottle will do," Yang joked as she was getting back up.

"That, or a larger dog to put this one in its place." Voidlon joked.

Weiss snapped at Yang and Voidlon. "This is no time for jokes. This mutt is dangerous!" Mirage Wolf took offense to the heiress's comment and used a wave of smoke to send her flying up into the air. As Weiss was sky high, she used her Glyphs to send herself flying at the monster with her weapon at the ready. Weiss tried to thrust Myretnaster into the giant wolf's body, but it vanished the moment her sword made contact, appearing behind her to kick her into a wall. "So, trying to teach the dog new tricks, are you?" Miragerax snarked.

Blake was the first to react and retorted, "Yeah, like playing dead!" She summoned out her twin swords and attacked Miragerax. He countered by sending a wolf skull illusion to block the strike, but Blake used her clones to propel herself forward and try to attack again.

The monster leapt backwards and clung to a wall to avoid the swords. Soon, a line of glyphs appeared underneath him and Miragerax saw that Ruby was rushing towards him at full speed. Mirage Wolf sent a copy of himself at her as he jumped off the building and into the middle of the road.

"And if it's a Pokémon battle you want, then fine! Go Jigglypuff!" Cell then threw his own Pokéball as Jigglypuff, his trusted ally, appeared.

"Hey man, need help?" Jigglypuff asked.

"Yeah, this asshole here want to fight me using his snake wolf hybrid, so we're gonna reck his ass, in a Pokémon Battle," Cell summarized. "Think you're up for this?"

"Ya man, I'm ready," Jigglypuff said.

"Good," Cell said as Jigglypuff walked a few steps ahead of Cell.

Ruby dodged the wolf clone by changing directions and headed towards the first one. The illusionary wolf followed her and the two beasts surrounded the huntress. Before they could attack Ruby, Yang rushed in and threw a few punches with her gauntlets. They sent energy blasts and struck at the first Miragerax in range. The illusion faded and the sisters were ready to attack the monster.

Miragerax spoke out, "Y'all are getting annoying. Time to die!" The werewolf used an illusion to summon a horde of himself and attack the squad in front of him. During that attack, Ruby saw that Miragerax flickered like a dying light and became transparent for a second.

Miragerax saw the Drake Jawslammer and was cautious about the new addition to the battle. "You may have a new toy, but good luck trying to find the real me!" As the werewolf made his declaration, he summoned dozens of illusionary duplicates to hide himself.

Saruman was watching the fight from atop Miragerax saw the Jawslammer that was being assembled with new weapons added. "Oh dear, that can't be good for us," he said as his eyes widened at the new weapon. He pulled out a communicator and messaged Kiko about the fight.

The squad huddled into their usual positions as Ruby took hold of the skull while Weiss and Blake got on each side of their leader. Yang got behind all three in order to help brace Ruby and the others for potential recoil from the attack's power, as Nakime, Kokushibou, Daki, Gyutaro, Kiwi, Yorinobu, Blackhand, Rogue, Oda, Uzi, Vee, Jay, Enn, Yuina, Hime, Kokone, Iona, Rhona, Whiplash , Blizzard, Akaza, Douma, Evolt, Dogranio, Abrella, Leslie, Giff, Azuma, Jinx, Deadpool, David, Lucy, Rebecca, Falco, Vi, Spectre, Tundra, Black, Roshi, Jigglypuff, Zarbon, Frieza and Rex shimmied between the squad. Ruby and Voidlon waited patiently to search for any sign of the real Miragerax.

Noticing a duplicate on his knees and catching his breath, the squad took the chance and attacked. "DRAKE JAWSLAMMER, HYPER-STRIKE!" The heroes shouted, and Renegade whirled the weapon on its chain around and around, and thrust it towards the monster. The end of the weapon glowed brightly like a shining star.

"Oh, not again!" Rémington's guns said. The skull glowed a bright silver color and decimated every clone before hitting Miragerax and Saruman dead on.

Being heavily injured by the squad and their new finishing move, Miragerax's body began to release sparks and energy surged from his wounds. "What the fuck was that?!" he shouted as he fell to the ground and exploded in a blazing fireball, as the duo were sent flying through a portal, and the squad rushed to stop Belle Shido, who was struggling with Chen for the staff.

Voidlon had to stop not far from Belle but that's when his 'Oh Fuck!' Senses tingled, and stuck his finger out and blocked a large scythe. "Just why were you trying to jump me?" Voidlon asked, as he stared at something that wore a white, thigh-length dress with a black long coat. Worn over the dress and the coat, was a black-lacquered western-style armored corset with matching bicep-length armored gloves and thigh-high armored heeled boots and wrapped around the neck, was a long back scarf, the body resembling that of a young, attractive, blue skinned woman with a very curvaceous figure, with pear-like hips and being well-endowed, what's stranger was one thing.

"AAH!" Belle flailed her arms around, dropping the staff and backing away into an ACME prison van. "She's got no head! Get away! It's a ghost! Please, take me to jail, just don't tell Lady Carmen I saw a ghost!"

Chen held the staff, smirking. "And now... Your award for winning." Chen said, as the staff started to rain fire, lighting, and ice as sandstorms plagued the room, only for a head to bonk him and knock him and the staff into a portal, as the gear fell from the staff, as Voidlon grabbed the head, and saw it was blue with long white hair and a strange cowlick.

"So…you alright?" Roman asked.

"…"

"Okay?" Voidlon sighed, reaching out to pick the head up. "I'm gonna just put you back with your possible body."

"Do not lay your hands on me!" the head snapped.

"You talk?!" Voidlon stepped back. "What the hell are you?"

"I'm a Dullahan." She explained. "A Guider of Souls, Reaper of Death…it seems you've found my body, thank you. I had no intentions of revealing this form to you."

'Her body was so stiff and regal but the head seems like she's theatrical.' Oz mused.

"I'm being hunted by an organization." She said "so I don't have time for luxuries."

'Organization…is she talking about Deadlight? Is she just messing around or is she actually in danger?' Voidlon wondered.

"You there!" the girl said "I will allow you to place your hands about my flesh, you will serve as my temporary body, you should feel honored. Be honored that a being of darkness has graced you with such a gift."

"What the heck are you saying?" I asked.

"Like I said…just take me back to my body." she grumbled.

"Okay you should have just said so." Voidlon said, picking up her head. "Wow, I didn't think your head would be this heavy…oh Dullahan, are you the one who Anubis sent?"

"I will not associate with you-HYNG!" the head suddenly shivered.

"What's wrong?" Mera asked.

"My body." she moaned. "Is being assaulted."

"Oh crud." Voidlon sighed, as he saw the girl's body being electrocuted.

Later, when they got back to Nazarick, Voidlon had to call Anubis and tell him that they found a Dullahan.

"Well, she's not a god of death." Anubis laughed. "Did you think this was a horror story or something?" He joked, before smirking. "Now, it's true the Dullahan are a difficult species to work with given their theatrics." Anubis said, using his magic to pull off the girl's head. "Plus, they just look more believable when they pop their heads off. But she was just playing make-believe, isn't that right, Lala?"

"Do not give out my true name so lightly!" the head groaned.

"Such a scary girl has such a cute name." Kurome smiled. "How adorable."

"I am death incarnate." Lala moaned trying to stop spinning.

"Sure you are, Also Grim is a type of reaper called a Stalker, and he has tried to assassinate Puss In Boots." Anubis smirked. "I've been looking for you since you ran off, but what I want to know is why did you try to kill Voidlon?"

"No mortal escapes death." Lala looked away. "And it's inconceivable that this dragon defied it so frequently, he must have some sort of supernatural power."

"No invincibility." Voidlon shook his head. "But damn it, I'm close."

"I asked why you came here." Anubis smiled. "Every time I find a place for you to stay, you just up and leave." He sighed.

"Because no one there is close to death." Lala mumbled.

"I'm not gonna let you stay with someone who's dying." Anubis bridged his nose. "Next, you'll ask to live with Wolverine, and his mutant ass has cancer."

"That jackal is glaring at me." Lala hid behind Voidlon. "Place me here so I can observe his power. I can stay right?"

"Well, you're cute so you pass my test." I smiled.

"Mine too." Taeko smiled "It's settled, Lala will live here."

Soon, they heard a sharp, barking voice; "Anubis, WHAT are you doing? I ask for your assistance and you force me to waste my time working with inconsequential acquaintances!"

Anubis couldn't help but chuckle. "That was actually incredibly well-timed, Even. Actually, I'm talking to the X-Squad and debriefing them on Lala."

"Then will you arrive at the POINT?" the voice snapped.

The Twitch Chat Drone was ingloriously lifted up, and the squad now beheld a new person in Nazarick: a man with a sharp, angular visage of high cheekbones and deeply expressive eyebrows, framed by blond bangs wearing scientist garb. "To the point," this man said sharply, "the data retrieved by our former mentor suggests that Drakus' heart is shared by others."

"Who are you?" Voidlon asked. "Were you one of those Nobody weirdos at Castle Oblivion?"

"That is beside the point," the man said, wincing. "To continue – "

"You wanna be friends, too?" Zap asked.

"Tch – " The blond shut his eyes in frustration. "Lord Anubis…perhaps you should handle this matter. I had forgotten the squad is imbecilic."

"Hey!" Ridley stamped his foot. "Who're you calling an imbecile?"

"The whole of this group," the blond reiterated.

"I apologize," Anubis said as he opened a portal to walk back to his cathedral. "Even has always been a little…blunt."

"If you are trying to insult me," Even replied, prying his eyes open so he could roll them, "you will have to come up with something I haven't heard before."

"You might know the name 'Vexen' better," Anubis went on. "He was at Castle Oblivion, and he also acted like a supervillain at the time."

"Yes," Even said sharply, "well, now, I wish to atone. For all the good it has done. Since then, it's just landed me here with the OVDF council breathing down my neck. Do they not realize I need uninterrupted silence in order to continue my work?"

"Seems to me you're the one off-topic now," Mera observed.

Even looked about ready to explode (which wouldn't have been the first time for him). "THE POINT is that I'm forced to work with you and that Voidlon's mind and heart is SHARED!"

"With Ozpin, right?" Voidlon said with a nod. "I've known for a while, now. He and I share a body, not sure on the heart, unless you mean my soul."

"No, no, NO!" Even barked. "You do not UNDERSTAND! Your heart is not host to TWO people; it is host to FIVE!"

The squad all did a head tilt as they chorused, "Do you mean soul?"

"Yourself," Even listed off. "Ozpin. Some sort of internet demon, and Sun Wukong, Pigsy and Sandy of Chinese myth."

"Hold on!" Voidlon cried. "Who the fuck's a Wukong?"

"Wait," Even said, growling. "YOU DON'T KNOW JOURNEY TO THE WEST? ARE YOU INSINUATING THAT MY RESEARCH INTO MYTH IS IN ANY WAY FLAWED – "

Just then, one of the most famous DevilArtemis Universe characters, known for his sweet and sexy shade of amethyst purple, Cooler, teleported into the room.

"Cooler?!" Frieza exclaimed.

"Frieza?!" Cooler also exclaimed. He looked at the same dragon-human spirit that Team RWBY saw. "I thought you said I was getting a good team!"

"And I also think I said that he needed to work some issues out with you just like you need to with him," The spirit, which shall be dubbed Drak, retorted. "Now you two work your issues out, I'll be back later, and when I come back, you two should be best friends and able to play FighterZ or Xenoverse 2 or some game together like brothers."

The two brothers glanced at each other and then glanced at Drak. "I call bullshit," they said in sync before looking at each other again.

"Bye," Drak said before he teleported away.

Prehistoric Park has a breeding plan put in place. Currently it has led to a pregnant T-Rex, Yutyrannus, Triceratops and Torosaurus. However the crew are aiming to add a few mammals to the list.

A group of Neanderthals led Lucille and Syra the mammoths closer to the male mammoth named Titan's paddock. His musk had started to settle down so he was more aggressive. Suzanne gave instructions to the Neanderthals in their own language to coordinate them with the mammoths. It seemed to go well as Lucille, the matriarch, reached out her trunk to Titan who did the same.

"This is excellent!" Mackenzie commented. "She's accepted Titan so hopefully they might mate."

The main base where the entrance, bungalows, helicopter pad and security building is an electrified perimeter fence separates Prehistoric Park from the base. Just outside of this fence is a building for Brandon's next rescue mission.

It was like a rainforest inside the building. Dew and condensation clung like barnacles onto the colder roof. Prehistoric plants grew around everywhere, giant trees were dotted about. Fences separated the plants from a stone walkway and a bench which Brandon had placed multiple pictures of fossilised insects on.

"During the Carboniferous period from 400 to 300 million years ago the atmosphere was more oxygen rich, hence why this building is more oxygen filled and airtight. At this time the main focus points were bugs that were massive thanks to the oxygen. We're going back 312 million years to Scotland to rescue some of these bugs but I've quickly gone back to Nova Scotia and placed a few traps to catch another animal." He showed a picture of a small fossilised lizard. "Hylonomus. One of the first reptiles."

"Giant bugs now," Bob laughed. "First T-Rex, then a giant bear that still is hibernating, then sabre-toothed tigers. What next? Oh yeah, Mr Arnold has set up the time portal to open up in a small holding pen here for the animals."

Scotland was oxygen rich and tropical during the Carboniferous period 312million years ago. Here swamps and giant bugs dominated the landscape.

"It's like the Everglades here," Taeko remarked. "Seems the giant dragonflies should be around this area."

"Yes Meganeura. A dragonfly the size of a seagull."

They spent the next five minutes setting up camp in the only bit of dry land that they could find. A pool nearby was calm and placid but a giant tree that evolved from the same ancestors of ferns grew into the canopy.

"Everyone, I'll climb that tree to get a good look around," Brandon said.

He had brought along a tree climbing set for this matter. It took a good half hour to climb to the top of the leviathan but it was well worth the climb. A sea of green tropical trees stretched as far as the eye could see. However in the distance a huge black cloud loomed ominously. Suddenly a huge emerald dragonfly darted past his head towards a break in the trees.

"It's amazing to think where that dragonfly is going will one day be Glasgow. I may be right in thinking that over there is a lake or river. I'll tell Chiyo that we might find a few Meganeura."

Back in Prehistoric Park, Mackenzie is trying the breeding programme with the park's feline residents.

"Keep the hose pipe aimed at them," she said to the Neanderthals.

They had opened a hole into the dividing fence that separated the male and females. Already they had tried to settle the female down by placing a few climbing frames in the enclosure so they would be less likely to attack Half-Tooth the male. Still the hose pipe would be good to settle them down anyway. It almost went pear shape when the alpha-female took a swipe at the male when he became too inquisitive. However when he learnt his lesson the females let him near.

"Excellent!" Mackenzie said. "With Half-Tooth and the alpha-female Evita intermixing we might have a little pack in a few months. Oh hello Robert."

Muldoon the head of security had arrived at the enclosure. For a few seconds he watched the cats sniffing each other, it was common knowledge that he preferred the herbivores and smaller carnivores to the temperamental Tyrannosaurids.

"Hello Mack, I was hoping I could find you or Maya. It's about Tempus."

Tempus is the juvenile Tyrannosaurus that Nigel accidentally rescued from Late Cretaceous Montana 65 million years ago and his antics have started to cause issues.

"He's been acting more aggressive recently and Bob has also been worried. I don't know a lot about dinosaur behaviour, only more recent animals like the sabres. Any idea?"

"I have one. He's a juvenile, about seven years old, so he'll be a teenager. He's most likely becoming more aggressive because of that."

"Thanks. I'm worried if he breaks through the enclosure. I know the combination of wood and metal can hold a bull elephant but an aggressive Tyrannosaur is another matter."

"I'll do a blood test if he has increased testosterone in his blood stream."

Back in Carboniferous Scotland, the squad have found a treasure-trove of Meganeura.

Magenta dragonflies darted through the air. The buzzing sound was almost deafening from their iridescent but fragile wings.

"Would it be easier to catch the nymphs?" Maya asked.

"No, we have no way to transport them, but I have another way." He pulled out a metre long pipe which Maya recognised as water pistols. "I've used these to catch modern day dragonflies because when they get their wings wet, they can't fly for a few seconds. It should work for their big cousins."

He gave each of the squad a net and the portal as he filled the pistol with water. He waded into the stream and fired at a Meganeura which plummeted onto the top of the water, Maya immediately wading in to net the dragonfly. As she went to set up the portal Nigel took it out of the net and held it at arm's length. The half a metre long wings of the dragonfly fluttered back and forth so quickly they became a blur. Maya opened the portal and aimed the insect in the direction of it and let it go. The Meganeura instantly flew through the portal.

"Now to catch a few more."

They repeated it four more times but when they went to get a sixth something knocked against Maya in the water. Brandon jumped at the creature and held it in place before taking it out of the surface. It was silver in colour and resembled a giant snake but with tiny front limbs and a giant jaw which clamped open and shut with considerable force. Brandon was struggling to keep hold of the creature thanks to its constant swaying.

"Crassigyrinus scoticus," Brandon said. "A massive amphibian. They would hunt like crocodiles and wait in ambush for prey before lunging out. I would take him home but unfortunately Bob wouldn't have built a tank for him so we'll have to let him go."

"Wait, maybe we can do a little thing called bring a tank, you ignoramus!" Even said, putting the amphibian into a tank large enough to fit it.

The amphibian instantly settled in. With five Meganeura at the park and the sun setting they returned to camp to start to get ready for sleep. They made a contained fire while some Neanderthals and Homo Sapien crew members set up their hammocks while Maya looked over the day's footage for Hammond. Brandon had to laugh though with one of the English crew members who had a mosquito net, as Even got out a notepad and started scribbling ideas.

"Mosquitoes haven't evolved yet Graham. No blood sucking insects won't be on Earth for another ten million years. There's nothing to fear."

With night upon them the crew goes to sleep with the fire out but something scurrying around the camp has woken up Nigel.

He held the camcorder in his hand giving the film a greenish tint. He woke one of the Neanderthals who grabbed a small plastic cage. A metre long scorpion was scuttling around the dead fire. Nigel quickly grabbed it by the tail and placed it in the cage. Then he was extremely quiet. One was on Graham. Without waking him he grabbed the arachnid and put it in another cage.

The next morning they showed the others what they had caught. Even was very irate.

"Oh so you said 'there's nothing to fear'. You failed to mention giant scorpions! I DO NOT GET PAID ENOUGH!"

"Pulmonoscorpius. Anyway they have big claws so that means they're not poisonous."

Back in the Park, Mack, Bob and Muldoon are trying to do a blood test on Tempus the T-Rex.

Muldoon hit him with a tranquilizer. When had previously tranquilized him, it took only a few seconds for the feathered dinosaur to fall asleep. Mackenzie knew that the testosterone test would not take long so they were going to do the test in his exhibit. Tempus slumped down by a tree asleep so they entered the exhibit. Tempus took a syringe and drew some blood and placed it in a small pocket device. It showed a huge testosterone increase in his blood.

"Okay, let's go," she said.

However he stood up. The tranquilizer had already worn off, most likely with the testosterone in his blood. He roared in anger and the three ran for their lives towards the gate. Luckily he was still groggy giving them a head start. He charged at them but they were safely out of the enclosure and the gate closed. Tempus angrily smashed his head against the fence which held strong. Tempus may be getting slightly too much for the park to handle.

In Scotland, Brandon has found the final animal that he has wanted to save.

A two metre long centipede colored sapphire and emerald was using its giant mandibles to gnaw on some ferns. It was truly massive. Nigel got closer to it and the arthropod reared up onto some of its many legs becoming eye level with him.

"Arthropleura. A giant centipede. They were omnivores so ate plants and small animals. They actually pollinated the flora with pollen being found on the carapace. I need to be careful; centipedes sometimes spit a toxin at the attacker's eyes."

He took out the portal and opened it. With the Arthropleura backed against a tree it only had one way to go. Now only to catch a female. They followed another trail and quickly found one. Maya armed with a large piece of tarpaulin jumped onto the hard carapace and wrapped the centipede safely in it. However in their haste they had left the portals at the camp with the packed up bags. Brandon and Maya lifted up the centipede and started walking to the camp.

"Can you smell smoke?"

Even though the storm is miles away the oxygen rich atmosphere causes fire to burn more greedily and quickly. The lightning flash has caused a giant forest fire.

The two managed to run with great difficulty from the ever closing in black, sooty clouds. When they reached the camp crew members opened the portal and took the wrapped up Arthropleura and caged Pulmonoscorpius into the park.

"Brandon, those centipedes are massive!" Bob laughed "What have you got for me in the cage?"

"Giant scorpions."

"I'll pass. Are you going back to Nova Scotia now for your traps?"

"Yeah," Nigel replied. They immediately went to Carboniferous Nova Scotia. Even Canada in the Carboniferous resembled the Everglades. Nigel had set three traps so they visited the first one. Like when hunting lizards he had a bucket in the ground that would trap the early reptiles. Unfortunately the first one was empty. The second one however had two 20 centimetre long dark green lizard-like reptiles with sapphire spots.

"Here they are. Hylonomus. Although they look like lizards they aren't. They are actually in a group of their own. Let's check the third."

They carried the two traps to the third one which was also filled with two lizard-like reptiles but they were of different species. They were twice as long, light green with blue patches on the top of the eye lids.

"Another early reptile. Petrolacosaurus. A lot like our Hylonomus and we can keep them together."

In another hour all the Carboniferous animals were settled, the early reptiles even having a little pen to themselves. Bob seemed to like one of them though.

Bob sat on a tree stump with some ferns in his hands. An Arthropleura was nibbling at it as he laughed.

"A proper creature, not one of those creepy crawlies. These, Gremlin the Didelphodon and the mammoths are easily my favourite creatures."