Kelpie had never liked the dark. All that inky blackness always gave her the willies. And now there was darkness all around her. She couldn't even see where she was being taken—or who was taking her there.

"Who are you?!" she sobbed in fear. "What do you want with me?!" The only answer came when she felt teeth snag the back of her kimono and toss her into a cage, which to her delight was lit by a small lightbulb dangling from the top. As she gazed all around her, she suddenly spotted Nya lying on the floor of the cage, unmoving. Thinking the worst, Kelpie scurried over to her and shook her like crazy. "Nya! Nya, wake up!" she fairly screamed.

In response, Nya let out a little moan and slowly opened her eyes. Kelpie breathed a sigh of relief. The words "Oh, Nya, I thought you were a goner!" burst out of Kelpie's mouth before she could stop them. Kelpie's loud mouth had always had a bit of a tendency to run faster than her brain could keep up.

"Kelpie." Nya said weakly. The young sea-girl realized that Nya must have battled hard against those nasty Black Dragons—and lost. Then Kelpie realized something else. "Where are Sora and Zuma?" she whispered, knowing that there were probably eyes and ears all around her.

She could see that Nya was definitely struggling to form an answer given her weak condition. "I…I gave them a headstart." It didn't take long for Kelpie to guess the rest. They had escaped—and Nya hadn't.

Kelpie jerked her head up in surprise when an ominous clanking sound met her ears. She began to shiver with cold, the feeling growing stronger the closer the sound got. When the sound stopped, a mysterious stranger clothed all in black and wearing a mask stood in front of the cage.

"You! Elemental!" Kelpie flinched involuntarily as the stranger spoke in a gruff, cruel-sounding voice. She did not like the way he called her Elemental. "Where are the others?"

"What?" she puzzled. Who were the "others" he was talking about? He seemed to grow even more frustrated at Kelpie's confusion. "The other Elementals! Where are they?"

There were other Elementals? The only Elementals Kelpie knew of were the Ninja and Ninja Pups. But she was not so foolish as to tell him that—even with her big mouth. The stranger leered at the young sea-girl and shouted, "Tell me now!"

"I don't know, okay?!" she screamed back. "I don't know!"

"You're hiding something—I know you are!" Clearly this masked man did not believe her. Hot tears streamed down Kelpie's cheeks as she told him, "I'm telling you—I don't know! I don't know!"

"She's telling the truth." Nya added weakly, rolling over and pulling herself up with the bars until she was eye-to-eye with the stranger. She was still weak from the fight, Kelpie realized. But the stranger was still not content with Kelpie's—or Nya's—answers. "I will only ask you one more time." he snarled. "Where. Are. The. Elementals?"

"I'm telling you; I don't know!" Kelpie repeated, emphasizing every word. As sort of an afterthought, she added, "And neither does Nya."

For the next few seconds, the stranger just stood there, digesting Kelpie's answer. The look on his face told Kelpie that he had just realized she wasn't about to crack. Then he snarled, "Fine! If you won't talk, perhaps your friend here will." He then turned around and let out a sheer whistle. As Kelpie and Nya watched, a Black Dragon pushed forward another lit cage—with a dejected, lanky, blond-haired Viking teenager inside. Kelpie gasped as she realized who the teen was.

"Tuffnut."

Benthomaar gazed around the Caves, doing a quick head count. It looked like all the Merlopians had been evacuated successfully. Most of the Sea Team were here as well, but Nya, Sora, Kelpie, Tuffnut, and Zuma were still unaccounted for. A nagging sense of worry entered Benthomaar's heart. Were they okay? Were they even coming? What if…? He shook his head vigorously. He would not believe that! He couldn't! They were probably on their way already.

"Everyone okay?" he asked for what seemed like the umpteenth time. After receiving affirmative answers from his friends, he gazed back at the corridor they'd come through. Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind him. Then what looked like a small fox with three tails zoomed by him and disappeared before he could even blink.

"What?" he said quietly to himself. Then he heard a voice behind him calling his name. He turned around to find Sora half-running, half-swimming towards him with Zuma in her arms. She called out again, "Benthomaar!"

"Sora!" he cried out in return. Then his face fell as he realized Zuma wasn't moving. He suddenly panicked. "Is Zuma all right? He's not…" His voice broke before he could finish his sentence.

"No, he's alive—just weak. I think it's got something to do with his connection to Nya."

Benthomaar nodded silently. He remembered the Ninja Pups explaining connections to him after he had come to live with the Ninja—just before Wojira and Kalmaar had attacked. He didn't exactly get all the ins and outs of being bonded to someone in that way, but he understood enough to know that whatever happened to the connector would also affect the connectee, and vice versa.

At that moment, he realized that Nya was nowhere to be seen—and neither was Kelpie, or Tuffnut for that matter. But before he could say anything, Tuck beat him to asking the very question he had on his mind.

"Um, where's Nya—and Kelpie?"

Sora swallowed hard, as if she didn't want to answer that question. Her hesitant answer then told Benthomaar that she definitely did not. "The invader, he…he took them."

Benthomaar gasped. What? His sister and his friend—taken?! It couldn't be true!

"Nya? Kelpie? Taken?! No! No, that can't be right!"

"I…I'm afraid it is." Zuma said faintly. He had heard the whole thing while in Sora's arms. Sora put him down on the floor, where he collapsed, too weak to stand. Benthomaar's knees buckled, and he too collapsed to the floor in sorrow and grief. His hands found the small necklace he'd been planning to give Kelpie. It was a coral charm, blue with golden sparkles, in the shape of a crescent moon—a symbol of his unfailing love for her. He pulled the necklace out and started to cry. Zuma, who was still on the floor, pulled himself over to Benthomaar and wrapped his front legs around the sea-prince's waist in an attempt to comfort him even in his weakened state.

Then Benthomaar realized anew that Nya and Kelpie weren't the only ones who were MIA. He managed to choke out a breathy, "Where…where's Tuffnut?"

Tuck stammered, "I…I'm afraid he's missing too." At that, all the remaining members of the Sea Team looked straight at Tuck in surprise. "Where is he?" Kaida exclaimed.

"Yeah, what happened to him?" Ella piped up.

"Well," Tuck began in a quiet, sorrowful voice. "After those dragons started chasing us and we had to split up, Tuffnut and I took a wrong turn, and we found ourselves trapped. The dragons started to close in, and then one of them growled. A net shot out—I think it might have been voice-activated—and Tuffnut shoved me out of the way…" His voice trailed off, and he looked down at the cave floor.

Behind him, Benthomaar could hear Ruffnut snort. "Well, good riddance, that's all I can say. Tuffnut always was so annoying."

That was the last straw for Zuma. He was already suffering from losing Nya again, and he just couldn't take this anymore. His head jerked upward, and he totally lost it.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT? HE'S YOUR BROTHER AND OUR TEAMMATE AND HE SAVED TUCK'S LIFE! AND NOW HE'S BEEN CAPTURED AND TAKEN WHO KNOWS WHERE, AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS "GOOD RIDDANCE?!"

Then the poor heartbroken pup, overwhelmed by grief and sorrow, broke down and started to sob profusely. Ruffnut just stared in disbelief at Zuma's words. She had often been annoyed with Tuffnut, but she didn't think that someone could react so violently to an innocent little comment like that. She was starting to think she should have kept her mouth shut.

Benthomaar, who'd been startled at Zuma's outburst, looked through tear-blurred vision at the moon necklace once more. Then, for some strange reason, he suddenly realized who had taken Nya, Kelpie, and now Tuffnut. "Orpheus." he said to himself.

The others were now totally confused. "Orpheus? Who's Orpheus?" Gracie asked.

"Only one of the worst enemies Merlopia has ever seen." a voice from behind Benthomaar spoke. Benthomaar turned around to see Mantis, one of Kelpie's best friends. Mantis was a Maaray child who knew the history of Merlopia inside and out. There wasn't a single event in Merlopia's history that Mantis couldn't tell you about.

"Hey, you're the kid with the disc!" Gracie exclaimed. Benthomaar was stunned at that remark. Gracie knew about Mantis? Apparently, she did, for the next thing out of Mantis's mouth was, "And you're the pup who caught it when it got away from me!"

"I'm Gracie." the Golden Pup replied.

"I'm Mantis. By the way, that was some catch!"

"Thanks. But how do you know about Orpheus?"

"Trust me." Benthomaar answered. "This kid knows Merlopian history like the back of his hand."

"So what exactly do you know about Orpheus?" Kelly asked.

Mantis was so distracted by Kelly's new Merpup tail that the question caught him off guard. "Oh, yeah, Orpheus. Sorry—got distracted for a moment. Orpheus was this really evil Merlopian who tried to pollute Merlopia's waters with a plant called the Dark Lotus. It causes Elemental Powers to go haywire—and its spores can cause anyone to fall under someone else's control."

"Yikes! In the wrong hands, that plant could be very dangerous!" Ella exclaimed.

"Exactly." Mantis replied. "Anyway, he got caught red-handed when he tried to use it on Benthomaar here. King Trimaar then banished him from Merlopia's waters and told him to never return. He left, but he said he'd come back one day and exact his revenge on the royal family. This has to be it."

Zuma was totally shocked. He could vividly remember every single time a Ninja had fallen under someone else's control—and none of them had been pretty. But he never realized that Benthomaar had been in that position before. "He went after you, Benthomaar?" Zuma asked.

Benthomaar gulped. "Yes, he did. And it's a memory I don't like thinking about."

"But how did he get Forbidden Crystals?" Gracie wondered. "I thought they were all destroyed in our last battle against the Overlord."

Mantis shrugged, but Zuma clarified for Gracie, "Not all of them. Some of them escaped into other worlds, and they have caused us a lot of trouble in the process. Orpheus must have found some after the Merge brought all the realms together and then figured out how to use them to control his dragon army."

"Doesn't matter how he got them." Benthomaar exclaimed. "What matters is that he took part of the team, and we need to get our friends back—and my sister."

"But where do we even start?" Kaida asked.

Sora hesitated for a moment, then said, "I think I might know a way."

"You do?!" all the pups, Ruffnut, and Benthomaar asked at once.

"When Zuma and I were trying to escape Orpheus and his dragon army, I spotted a kitsune in one of the palace corridors. I felt that it wanted me to follow it someplace, and I did. It led me to some sort of hidden tunnel, and that's how the two of us found you guys."

"The secret tunnels." Benthomaar said half to himself. "But…only the royal family knows about them. How can this be?"

"I…I don't know." Sora replied. "All I know is, that kitsune could be some sort of guide we need to follow if we're going to accomplish our mission."

"So what you're suggesting is that we wait for some kitsu-whatever-it-is to just lead us to our friends?" Ruffnut asked incredulously.

"I don't think it can exactly do that. But it could at least guide us on the right path."

"That won't be as easy as you think." Kaida exclaimed. "I've read about kitsunes, and they only lead you on the right path if you can gain their trust."

"But wouldn't this mean that Sora's already gained that particular kitsune's trust?" Zuma asked.

Kaida simply shrugged, but that was all that Benthomaar needed to be convinced this was what needed to happen. However, he also knew that Merlopia was no longer safe for any of them.

"I think it's the best idea we have right now. But it's not safe for us to stay here now that Orpheus knows where we are." At that, the other team members' faces fell.

"However," Benthomaar continued, much to the others' delight, "there is one place that I know we can go that Orpheus doesn't know about. The realm of Draconai."

"The realm of Draconai?!" everyone exclaimed. Then Sora said, "I've always wanted to go to Draconai!"

"You've never been to Draconai?" Benthomaar asked. Sora vigorously shook her head no. "But I've heard about it hundreds of times from travelers at the Crossroads."

"I've heard about it too." Kaida piped up. "It's said to be the realm the original Source Dragons came from—and it's also supposed to be the ancestral realm of the Dracotaurs."

The moment he heard the word Dracotaurs, Benthomaar knew immediately what Kaida was referring to. Dracotaurs were shapeshifters who could change between a dragon form and a human form in the blink of an eye. They tended to live in secluded desert villages, cut off from the outside world, but that was starting to change because of the Merge.

"Then it's settled." he replied. "We go to Draconai and wait for the kitsune to find us while we form a plan to rescue our friends."

"I'm coming with you!" Mantis exclaimed. "Kelpie was my friend too, and I'm going to help you rescue her."

"Are you sure?" Benthomaar questioned the eager young Maaray. "It will be very dangerous."

"Ha, no sweat! Danger's my middle name!" Benthomaar had to give the kid this—he had determination.

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Kelly exclaimed. "Let's go get our friends back!"

"For Nya!" Zuma cried out.

"For Kelpie!" Benthomaar added.

"And for Tuffnut!" Tuck and Ella finished together.

Ruffnut remained silent.

"Watch out, Orpheus!" Gracie exclaimed. "We're coming to get you!"

"Whatever mysteries you have for us, we'll be ready to solve them." Sora added.

Little did they know that the mystery of Orpheus's search for the Elementals—and of his fellow Elemental Hunters—had just begun.