Chapter 45- time to get moving

While Cilan continued to sob in the dungeon, in the detention room, Betelgeuse and Rigel paced around, hoping that Cilan and the Dryads were doing alright. Worry for the Monarchs and the Nine-Tailed Kitsune couple and everyone else but most ESPECIALLY the former four violently gnashed at them like the jaws of dumb wolves and they were UTTERLY restless.

"If that dangerous Nogitsune manages to get King Edmund, Queen Susan, Hagrid and Alestomeria hooked on that Toxo-Cream, sis," said Betelgeuse flustered, "It'll be over."

"If Cilan ends up having to deal with that evil Fox on his own, then he's NOT gonna have a SHRED of hope, knowing how UTTERLY sly Alcina might be since she's a Nogitsune," added Rigel, "I just hope he has managed to alert Martian of our findings and that Alcina is the suspect among us he is looking for."

Betelgeuse shuddered and felt nausea take hold. The magical diary playbacks of the EXTREMELY cruel and inhumane experiments on so many victims, such as the Flying Rods she had seen in the secret room under Alcina's den were still fresh within her mind and ANY respect the dark red Wolf had for the Fox had COMPLETELY gone now that she, Rigel and Cilan were aware of her TRUE colours. They clearly knew that the Monarchs and everyone else, and the country of Narnia overall, were in UTMOST jeopardy, especially since Alcina has clear ties to the wicked Pleasure Dome out at sea. Furthermore, the activities involving some addictive but deadly treats and getting innocents into trouble at the paws of a Nogitsune were REMARKABLY and eerily similar to what had happened at Gandalf and Seresute's base when Belladonna was foolishly taken in by Kushanku's group decades ago during the Eternal Winter.

As the Wolf sisters continued to fret and worry about everything that was going on as well as vent their frustration at not being able to intervene and interfere with Alcina's wicked plans, talking in the corridor outside the detention room cells seized their attention. Immediately, Betelgeuse and Rigel rushed for the door and peered through the hole. The talkers, which were Puss and, to the pair of Wolf sisters' IMMENSE dislike; Alcina, came by, the latter talking about what had just happened.

"Cilan's been imprisoned?" the walking Talking Cat with some Bakeneko in his blood blurted out, "Whatever for!?"

"He's assaulted King Edmund, Puss," Alcina explained, "I tried to give him a gift but he came in and attacked the King by slapping his hand AND his face."

The moment Betelgeuse and Rigel's ears picked up this news; both the Wolves flinched and began to weep. Howevere, they knew Cilan was too respectful of the Monarchs to even as much as slap them in any way and based on the sound of what he had done, he must have managed to save the King from sampling one of Alcina's wicked treats. But still, it was NOT good news.

"No," whispered Betelgeuse tearfully, while Rigel said nothing, too upset to speak anyway. The pair continued to listen to the conversation when suddenly, a male Sheep or Ram with glistening golden wool walked in, a SERIOUS look on his face.

"What have you to report, Chrystós?" asked Puss.

"We've been pursuing the Man with the Upside Down Face who has been working with some Stinger-Rats and Black Dwarfs in kidnapping some young Talking Beasts for their ocean allies to take to the Pleasure Dome," the Gold-Fleeced Ram, Chrystós replied, "Caught 'em red handed and pawed. We have slain Upside Down Face's minions and rescued the victims but Upside Down Face himself has fled. He made some of us pursuing him dance or convulse uncontrollably and turn on each other as a distraction for his escape..."

Puss and Alcina looked on in dismay while Betelgeuse and Rigel watched from their detention cell.

"At least you've managed to rescue the kidnapped victims and stop their kidnappers in their tracks," said Puss, his dismay fading. Chrystós then put his hand-hooves to the back of his head and took two steps to Puss and Alcina's right. "This business with the Pleasure Dome and our High King's deteriorating health certainly IS causing a LOT of us stress. I can tell King Edmund is beginning to feel its toll..."

"The Nine-Realms Potion quest goers will be returning soon with the ingredients," said Alcina with assurance and hope. However, Betelgeuse and Rigel immediately knew that this was a ruse right off the sword.

"And besides that, the Great Lion is with them..." added Puss. Betelgeuse and Rigel agreed with Puss' statement but then what happened next sent chills down their spines followed by an explosion of horror. They watched Alcina as she made her next move.

"Indeed they will," the Three-Tailed Fox said and the moment the Gold-Fleeced Ram and walking Talking Cat's backs were turned, her true colours showed through and her voice tone changed to a more sinister octave, "My friends."

Betelgeuse and Rigel winced as Alcina's gaze, a wicked glare forming on it as she said the last two words, then turned to a nearby large rocky ball, a decorative sphere. Alcina's eyes flashed neon blue and the sphere became surrounded by a neon blue aura, a telekinetic grasp. Betelgeuse opened her mouth to yell to Chrystós and Puss of the danger they were in as Alcina then telekinetically lifted the sphere from its base and into the air. However, Alcina shot them a murderous look and nonverbally told them NOT to yell a SINGLE word or they will face instant consequences, forcing Betelgeuse to remain silent. Betelgeuse and Rigel then shuddered violently as they watched the murderous Fox move the heavy stone ball above the Gold-Fleeced Ram and the boot-wearing Talking Cat. However, before she could actually get the sphere above the pair and drop it fatally onto them, a metallic blue and colourful bird-like fish creature with large pectoral wing-fins flapped in. It crashed into Alcina's face and made her release her mental grip on the large ball and thrash to shoo the Ocean Flish from her face. The ball, as soon as it was released from Alcina's telekinetic hold thanks to the Flish's unintentional interference, dropped to the floor and smashed to pieces and dust in a mighty CRASH, narrowly missing Chrystós to his UTMOST alarm. The Gold-Fleeced Ram and Puss then launched into a MASSIVE coughing fit as the dust cloud exploded from the shattered ball and enveloped them. Betelgeuse and Rigel flinched from the scene but to their relief, they saw that Puss and Chrystós were alive. It was a better sight to see them coughing and spluttering from the dust than what had nearly happened to them thanks to Alcina. Then a Talking Duck, a male Mallard or Drake based on his mottled plumage and dark metallic green head, rushed in and seized the Ocean Flish from Alcina who also began to cough and splutter from the dust, a billow of it wafting her way as well. The Talking Mallard then held the Ocean Flish in a hard grasp and began to rebuke it.

"Sardine, BEHAVE YOURSELF!" he yelled before turning apologetically to the three, "I'm SO sorry, the three of you. I've been trying to train Sardine here to be Mackerel's pet to replace the Flish he lost to that cake that had poisoned our High King but he keeps escaping..." as he spoke, some Talking Seagulls, an Albatross and some more Ducks came in. Alcina brushed the dust from her colourful facial fur and shot the Mallard a glare.

"Those fish with wings sure are a PAIN in the scales, I can tell ya," the Three-Tailed Fox growled in dislike, her glare on the Flish named Sardine, "Given the chance, I would have THROWN that dumb animal into a pan of boiling water ALIVE and..."

"Alcina, STOP fooling around and GET BACK TO WORK!" Chrystós barked. Alcina shot the Gold-Fleeced Ram a glare but the Ram reinforced his command with a point and a harsh, "NOOOW!"

Alcina begrudgingly obeyed and left while Puss gazed at the rubble of the shattered decorative sphere, wondering how it had moved from its stand to here and crashed. Then a look came on his face but he need not question the sphere's movement and breakage. Betelgeuse and Rigel had seen DIRECTLY how: Alcina had tried to kill Puss and Chrystós with it but had been foiled by Sardine the Ocean Flish. Then Puss, Chrystós, the Mallard with Sardine and the other Ducks and Seabirds left, emptying the corridor and plunging it into silence. Betelgeuse and Rigel backed away from the door and sat down with both relief and despair.

"That was UTTERLY close," said the former to the latter, "I think that was Aslan's doing right there..."

"INDEED it was, sis," said the latter seriously. Suddenly, the door's lock clicked, alerting the two Wolf sisters' attention. Betelgeuse and Rigel looked up and to their surprise, they saw Puss open the door and walk into the detention cell, his paws clutching a ring of keys which were keys to the doors of the castle including g the detention room and the dungeon cells. Then what the walking Talking Cat said next added MORE surprise, and hopeful joy, to the pair.

"Quickly, you two, outa ya come and let's go to the dungeon and free Cilan," said Puss in a serious tone of voice. Betelgeuse and Rigel exchanged looks and obeyed. As soon as the two Wolves were out of their detention cell; the trio launched into a sprint in the direction of the dungeon where Cilan was held.

"You have suspicions about Alcina as well?" asked Betelgeuse.

"I do," replied Puss seriously, "I have seen occasions in her behaviour that had roused my suspicion. That decorative ball's smash near me and Chrystós had been the final fish."

"Alcina tried to kill you and Chrystós with it," said Betelgeuse.

"We saw her lift it from its stand towards you with her telekinesis to drop it onto you two," added Rigel. Puss shot the two Wolves a glare.

"I guess my suspicions about that Fox are confirmed," the boot-wearing Talking Cat said, realisation igniting within him, "But let's put that aside and bust Cilan out of the dungeon. After this, were going STRAIGHT to Martian to tell him about Alcina. And save anything obvious you may have discovered about that Fox until we find him."

And with that, Betelgeuse, Rigel and Puss disappeared down the corridor in the direction of the dungeon where Cilan was held.

Meanwhile

Back on the Pleasure Dome, Chloroplast, Rei, Arezu, Laminin and her pet dumb Spitfire Bird Scoville, Malachite, Elsa, Seishan, Lymphocyte and Sisu had managed to reach the prison section. With them were Kosmochlor, the other Talking Beasts that had been taken to the game station for testing and also Lapis and Yardang who were still asleep and locked in vivid nightmares and had to be carried, the main effect of the red sleeping gas potion sprayed on them by some of the servers aboard the Dome. In the main prison room purposely and wickedly styled as a friendly daycare-like area, the other young Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures slept for it was nighttime. However, some were wide awake and gripped with IMMENSE worry for a group of certain Talking Beasts and also a young male green and black Kirin, as well as the revelation which prevented them from even dozing off. Hypersthene, the Zebra and Unicorn hybrid and Emori the Dog lay wide awake talking to each other. In the tank where the Aquatic Creatures were held, the Orca was particularly worried for his Sea-Fish Person friend, Lapis and was frantically looking out of the transparent screen to the tank. Several other Talking Beasts were also awake, suspicions about this place also beginning to well within them. However, they kept their activities to a minimum due to the sinister red eye of the Camera Eye (a replacement to the one that was destroyed earlier) floating around and scouring the room for any trouble. The Creatures kept in this room were now under STRICT watch by their guards as commanded by Dolores, the main keeper of the Dome, due to what had been going on aboard lately. It was indeed a nerve-wracking atmosphere within the room for some of them but for the others, they were still blissfully unaware of the room and the place's TRUE nature.

Suddenly, noises erupted outside the door to the room, alerting the still-awake Talking Beasts. Hypersthene and Emori turned their gazes through the dark room in the door's direction.

"Hypersthene, Emori," called the young Orca from the tank, "There's a fight going on out there."

"A fight, Ruffrunner?" replied Emori. Indeed those sounds were from a fight and within it came shouts, the sounds of weapons being used and crashes. Then moments later, the door was thrown open and the darkness was displaced by light instantly as the lights were turned on. The other Talking Beasts were immediately wakened by a shout.

"Everybody up, we NEED to evacuate, NOW!" a familiar voice exploded from one of the Creatures entering the room, a male Red Panda. Surprise swept through the crowd of young Talking Beasts and the tank when they saw the Panda, Rei, call to them. While he did that, more Talking Beasts, among them an adult Longma with green and orange scales and Bat's wings went round to implement the practical side of Rei's command. Some of Rei's companions went to the tank to wake and alert the Creatures in there. Grogginess gripped most of the Talking Animals and they all released groans as they were jolted from their sleep. However, the moment some of them saw a familiar Red Panda go round waking up more sleeping Talking Beasts and Creatures, shock took hold within them.

"It's REI," cried a young Talking Horse with surprise. Different Animal sounds of surprise also filled the air. Rei went round to help get the Creatures out of their beds and moving while the adult Longma, Chloroplast, went to the Camera Eye and destroyed it with her makeshift weapon, her wooden sword, to disable any surveillance peering into the room. However, she knew that the distraction won't last long.

"Everyone, GET UP, NOW," Rei barked loudly and urgently, going round and gently but firmly hitting some of the Creatures with a hard tap or shove to wake them up and get them out of bed, "We are NOT ABOARD SOME SAFE REFUGE where we are PROMISED WE WILL BE RETURNED TO OUR FAMILIES AND GROUPS. All THAT is a LIE!"

"Yes, we're aboard A HORRIBLE VESSEL CALLED the PLEASURE DOME AND YOU ARE GONNA BE USED FOR HORRIBLE PURPOSES," shouted Malachite as she nudged some Rappy from their slumber. Horror exploded through many of the Talking Beasts WHEN THEY HEARD THIS and their sleepiness was displaced almost instantly. Some of them, however, were too tired and comfy in their beds to even care, but it was not just these factors. One of the young Talking Cows released a yawn as she allowed sleep to smother her once again.

"We aren't aboard some Pleasure thingie," she moaned sleepily, "Go back to bed."

"Yes, this is indeed a safe place and refuge and we WILL be returned to our homes eventually," added another Talking Cow nearby. Lymphocyte appeared and pushed his beak into the first Calf's side to get her moving.

"We're NOT joking," the young Terror Bird said seriously, "Get out of that bed and prepare to get moving with everyone else, both of you."

The two Cows which were sisters just turned their rump on Lymphocyte, settled back down and went straight back to sleep to Lymphocyte's chagrin. It was clear that these two Cows, along with some of the other Beasts, were too convinced and smothered with the comfort that this place was a safe refuge and a paradise when it was NOT and NOTHING of that sort. Lymphocyte tried to get the Cows moving again but the Cows deliberately ignored him. The second Cow even lashed a back kick at Lymphocyte in a gesture to leave her alone, making the Terror Bird jump back in disgust. Around him, the other Cows and Bulls were alerted and had left their beds but a few of them, like the Cow sisters, refused to budge. Then Sisu and Kosmochlor came in. Nearby, Emori and Hypersthene shared a brief reunion moment with Elsa and Seishan before obediently leaving their beds. A proper union will have to wait.

"It's clear that some of these victims are too wrapped up in the cosy nest of the lie about this place and WON'T budge," Lymphocyte told the two Kirin, "What are we gonna do with them?"

"Well, if they won't move, then we'll have to do it for them," said Kosmochlor with a frown on the sleeping Talking Cow. He then turned to Rei and asked, "Are there any Talking Beasts with Hands and Arms capable of carrying anything as heavy as a Talking Cow? These two won't move."

Rei looked on and saw one of the Bulls, the brother of the two Cow sisters, tried to get his sisters moving only to be ignored. This added to the fluster of the Bovine. Rei looked on sadly as this formed a dilemma. The Talking Beasts refusing to leave their beds and heed the warnings is clashing with the non-walking Aquatic Creatures' need to be carried from the tank and he wanted to make sure that every Land Talking Beast and Amphibious Creature (such as the Sea-Fish People) hand available for that tasks. After all, those Beasts such as Dolphins, Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs could not walk on land at all as they were built ENTIRELY for life in the sea and not on land. Furthermore, trying to haul hulking creatures like Talking Cows would slow the group down and put them in danger. Sisu, Kosmochlor and Lymphocyte as well as the Bull looked on as the Red Panda reached a VERY difficult decision. He regretted it DEEPLY and knew that it was a cruel thing to do but he knew he had to make it for the sake of everyone else.

"We're gonna have to leave them," he said very sadly and reluctantly. Shock tore through the two Kirin, the Terror Bird and the Bull.

"WHAT!?" the latter blurted out.

"I'm sorry Buck, but if we try to move your sisters, it will only cause a burden for the rest of us," said Rei, "They will have to move themselves as I'm gonna need any hand and paw available for those Aquatic guys who cannot walk on land," he nodded to the tank containing the Aquatic creatures as the Orca, Ruffrunner, was hoisted out of the water by some Talking Chimps, "If they won't move, we're gonna have to leave them for the sake of everyone else, ESPECIALLY the completely Aquatic Creatures and also any disabled Land Creature," nearby, a Talking Oran-Utan who was born crippled was placed on the back of a young Centaur to be carried. Though it was an offense to ride a Centaur like a dumb steed, for Centaurs were noble creatures and special permission was required to ride one, there were exceptions such as carrying disabled Creatures unable to walk out of danger. The Bull named Buck gazed at his two sisters as they returned to sleep and began to beg them to get moving. Tears filled his eyes and spilled down his cheeks as his cries fell on deaf ears, the only response he got were his sisters turning their heads from, him. Sisu and Kosmochlor came and gently but firmly got him moving. Buck then reluctantly pulled his gaze from his sleeping sisters and moved away, sobs escaping his muzzle. After all, there was no time to try and get those two self-centered Cows or any other Talking Beast and Magical Creature moving by yelling at them and nudging them in vain. Lymphocyte then left with Rei to help wake the other Talking Beasts in the room and get them moving. From the tank, more non-walking Aquatic Talking Beasts like Dolphins were hoisted out of the water into the arms of their carriers. The young Merfolk were also carried for it was too painful for them to change into their legged land form, their howls of agony being a disadvantage as it would attract unwanted attention from the Pleasure Dome workers and land the crowd in danger, so they will be carried wet to keep them in their fishtailed Aquatic forms throughout the escape. As for any Talking Beast or Creature that refused to budge, they were left behind to the distress and distraught of their relatives and friends and they reluctantly left them. As they continued to get the other prisoners moving, Rei, Chloroplast and company were under stress. They knew that their actions including Chloroplast's destruction of the new Camera Eye, will have NOT gone unnoticed, and that was VERY true.

While the rescue continued, Seishan and Elsa turned to Rei as they helped a few Talking Otters move a reluctant Talking Pig. The Pig was reluctant to leave his relatives, some of them his brothers and sisters and the rest, cousins, those Pigs ABSOLUTELY refusing to leave their beds for they were too taken in by the lie about this place.

"Come on, Oink," commanded the Red Panda as the young Pig gazed at his siblings, "Get moving will you."

"This isn't good, sis," said Seishan as she helped a Talking Sheep to get moving, "Quite a few of the prisoners are staying behind."

"They're WAY too comfortable here and HORRIFICALLY caught in the web of lies about this place," said Elsa. Oink then tried to get one of his brothers moving but that Pig just lifted his head, moved it away from him and set it back down. The others ignored him or told him to return to sleep. Then Oink VERY reluctantly obeyed Rei's command to leave his relatives and follow the others, tears in his eyes like Buck the Bull regarding his sisters. Nearby, several Slugcats ignored their friends and relatives and dismissed their warnings as a joke and a Babookari was forced to leave behind her siblings and friends when they dismissed her warnings. However, she took three babies that had been kidnapped with their parents, handed them to some other Talking Beasts and left with them for she did NOT want those baby Babookari which were two nephews and a niece, left behind.

"Hurry, everyone," called Chloroplast, "A group of this place's workers could turn up any moment..."

Suddenly, a shout exploded from the entrance the moment the final word escaped the Longma's mouth. Horror tore through the group including the awakened young Talking Beasts willing to leave.

"TOO LATE!" cried Laminin and with that, she sent her Spitfire Bird Scoville flying at the incoming group, which were indeed some of the workers aboard the Pleasure Dome. In this group were Lanky Limbed Teddies, some Colour Beasts, some Black Dwarfs and some Candy Woodland Creatures and many of them were armed with large crystalline deep red bottles while the remaining were armed with sticks and clubs.

"OI, GET BACK TO SLEEP, ALL OF YA!" shouted the Teddy, a male aqua blue one, at the front but before he and some of the others could lurch at the group, a brought yellow, orange and red bird with Albatross-like nostrils atop its beak flew in like a comet and splashed a spray of his boiling chemicals right into their faces including this Teddy. Cries of agony erupted from those hit and their hands and paws dropped the weapons and clasped onto their faces. As Scoville continued spraying his chemicals at more armed workers, Chloroplast lunged forward and engaged some of them in battle with Rei, Lymphocyte, Malachite, Hypersthene, Emori, Sisu and Kosmochlor helping. Some of the other Talking Beasts, their eyes finally opened to the truth about this place, joined and within moments, the group of workers was forced aside and the exit cleared. As soon as this happened, Chloroplast barked at Rei to get the crowd moving and he did. With the help of Laminin, Arezu, Seishan and Elsa and some other older Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures, the male Red Panda shepherded the crowd of various Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures, many of them carrying either the Aquatic Creatures unable to walk or any Land member unable to walk due to disability, through the door. Chloroplast's group continued to keep the group of workers occupied and back from the crowd of escaping prisoners while Scoville continued attacking more of them with his chemical weapon. However, some of the workers managed to fight past the defenders' efforts and lunge for the escapees. Some of the Candy Woodland Creatures and two Colour Beasts saw the outflow of the cargo through the door. Immediately, they broke away from the main group and surged towards the crowd of escaping creatures, their paws and hands clutching large dark bottles with the nozzles ready to spray. Some Beasts helping including a Rhino, Hypersthene and Emori saw this and immediately took action to defend the escaping prisoners. The Rhino charged some of the Candy Animals and mowed them down, trampling some of them with his large feet and jabbing a few others with his nose horn. He managed to critically injure one of the Colour Beasts, a Blue Doll-like creature, by jabbing it with his nose horn. Near him, Hypersthene and Emori attacked some of the other Candy Woodland Creatures as they charged towards the flow of escaping prisoners, their spray bottles poised to smother them with the red sleeping potion gas to knock them out into a nightmare-flooded sleep as SEVERE punishment. The Unicorn/Zebra hybrid surged towards a Raspberry Beaver, reared up and knocked down the Beaver with her front legs while Emori tackled HARD into a group of Lemon Rabbits, Blueberry Skunks and a Lime Squirrel, tumbling them down like a series of playing blocks humans called dominoes. The dark red crystalline bottles the Creatures had flew out of their paws and smashed onto the floor or into a nearby wall in a series of smashes. Their contents spilled and erupted into a MASSIVE tsunami of dark red gas wave and began to rapidly flood the room like a sinister red fog. Rei saw this and immediately took urgent action, knowing the sinister effects of this gas.

"You two have JUST CAUSED A SPILLAGE OF THAT RED SLEEPING POTION GAS, EMORI AND HYPERSTHENE!" the male Red Panda yelled. He then turned to Laminin and company and yelled, "GET THAT LOT OUTA THIS ROOM NOW BEFORE THAT GAS OVERWHELMS YOU!"

"EVERYONE OUTA THIS ROOM NOW," cried Laminin and with that, she spread her feathered birds' wings and flew around to get everyone moving, "OUTA THIS ROOM RIGHT NOW!"

Arezu, Seishan and Elsa immediately relayed this command to the escaping prisoners and urged them to move faster. Emori and Hypersthene finished subduing some of the Candy Woodland Creatures and followed while Chloroplast, Malachite, Lymphocyte, Sisu and Kosmochlor inflicted as many of the other keepers with disabling injuries as they could to cripple them and hinder their ability to pursue them before following as the red gas continued to flood more of the room, smothering anyone staying behind. There was no hope for those that had foolishly chosen to stay behind now. Chloroplast and the others joined the crowd and urged them to move faster before the room became full of the gas. A Sea-Fish Boy in his barefooted Human-like form tripped over and dropped a young Hippocampus but Sisu came in and commanded the Sea-Fish Boy to put the Seahorse-like creature onto her back for Hippocampi cannot walk on land, which he did. After this, Sisu carried the Hippocampus out of the room. Yardang and Lapis, who were already asleep due to being exposed to smaller doses of the red gas earlier, were carried by some of the Talking Beasts that had been rescued from the game station. Malachite went to try one final time to get some of the Talking Beasts who had refused to move from their beds to do so, clearly reluctant to leave them behind to their fate but Rei darted in and commanded her to abandon the idea, especially since the floor of the room was now completely flooded with the red gas and was rising like deadly water. If she tried to rescue those stubborn Talking Beasts, she would be overwhelmed by the red sleeping potion gas with them and put into a nightmare-flooded sleep and that would also drag her rescuers into danger and into the same fate as well. Reluctantly, she obeyed and followed the others out of the room while Laminin whistled for Scoville to come and join her once he had finished spraying one final worker, a Black Dwarf in the eyes with his chemical spray, which he did.

Once the remaining prisoners they had managed to convince quickly and evacuate were out of the gas-flooding room, Rei, Chloroplast and Malachite slammed the door shut and immediately sealed off the gaps around it with some of the cloths they had used to disguise themselves during their journey to here to prevent the gas from seeping through. Red sleeping potion gas had the ability to travel far and can even enter into and travel through water which made it useful in putting underwater-breathing creatures such as Merfolk and Sea-Fish People to sleep even if they were submerged. As soon as they had did what they could to seal the gaps around the door, Rei, Chloroplast and Malachite tore after everyone else. The group of escapees rushed down the corridor in the direction of the levels in the Pleasure Dome's bowels for escaping for the entrance was NOT an option. On the way, they met with Akari, Rei's sister and her group who had been hiding and waiting for Rei and company and as soon as they met, they continued their journey. As the group continued down the corridor, Rei told the others, "I hope Cubozoa and his Sea group and the flying group will have found rescue by now but we will NOT be going up."

"But how are we gonna get out of this place by going down?" demanded Chloroplast as she helped to carry a disabled and unable-to-walk young Yeti (a white-furred Bigfoot and Oran Pandek relative that made its home in snowy areas) on her back. Ahead of the crowd of escapees, Malachite, Seishan and Elsa ran ahead with a Windrunner, a Gryken and a Cryptile when suddenly, the latter three released a PIERCING scream, alerting Malachite, her cousins and subsequently Chloroplast, Rei, Akari and the others and they all stopped so abruptly that some of them collided like cars in heavy traffic in our world at a sudden stop. Then those at the front of the crowd, especially Rei and Akari looked up and to their HORROR, they saw a giant eight-legged figure with pretty pink skin, magenta feet, hands and hair styled into curls and buns on either side of the head, the left one bearing an aqua blue bow, and a porcelain doll-like face with rosy cheeks, lips bearing a lipstick-like mark, and sparkling azure blue eyes. However, in that doll-like face was a boiling concoction of toxic substances such as spite, scorn and anger. As Rei, Akari, Malachite, Chloroplast and the others including the frightened Windrunner, Gryken and Cryptile drew back and gazed at her with STUNNED looks, the spider-like creature spoke, her hands on her hips. Flanking her were some Lanky-Limbed Teddies armed with weapons including a red sleeping gas potion spray bottle.

"Leaving so soon, ma dears?" Dolores spoke in a sickly sweet, honeyed voice laced with sarcasm.