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Chapter Three: The Wall and the Cave

"Wow, I've never seen the wall before; I had no idea it was so large." Matthew said a sheer glow of horror but amazement and awe entering his eyes. Basil looked at him, and he nodded. "Ok, we need to scale this one way or another; you know what that means."

"Exactly, we're going to go flying. Now stand back and hold ready I'm going to need you to stay extremely still or else this might not work." Basil said as he touched his shoulder and his perception filter disabled; a pair of wings spreading out. Basil grabbed onto Matthew's shoulders and started to flap. "Hold steady."

"Careful don't drop me; I'm for the king." Matthew said as he started to float off the ground and Basil started to flap up. Matthew shrugged his shoulders and felt his spine extend a bit. Basil flapped him up and Matthew took a look at the wall; they had no idea what it was made out of.

"Also we might get shot at; do you know you might want to prepare yourself for that." Basil said as he flew up and Matthew realized what was happening. Basil flew above the top of the wall and looked below them. No one was firing at them; Matthew looked confused as well. Basil started to breath heavier; he was told that there was a series of gun barriers that fired on any life force.

"I don't feel anything now; are you sure we're being shot at?" Matthew asked as he looked down at Terra Nova; the sand was so similar and it looked so different; so nice and so familiar; he confirmed it; it was Terra Nova. It was his land before him. He felt like he could reach out and touch it and over the wall they could.

"So what do you want to do?" Basil asked him as Matthew looked out into Terra Nova; he reached out and tried to feel the sand. It felt too easy, only a simple barrier but maybe with Basil he would be able to touch the sand. He needed to get to his Capital as soon as possible and being with in the reigns of his people; those who might help him and foster him would be the best opportunity.

"Go fly as quickly as you can; fly as far as you can or to the next town!" Matthew said as he Basil laughed; and the shark started to back up. Basil smiled and tightened his grip. Flying forward; the shark accelerated at the wall. Matthew smiled he was nearly there; he was nearly at his home kingdom. All he needed to do was to fly over the wall and land.

Matthew suddenly felt stopped; he was smacked against the wall and nearly fell to the ground. Basil held onto him and together he started to flap his wings against as they were knocked off the wall and intro the air again. Matthew took a breath and realized USC didn't need guns to protect the wall.

Matthew lost his breath as he hit the ground and Basil next to him; at least they bounced off the wall and burned off some of their speed. Matthew knew that fall could be entirely fatal but Basil would have kept him safe. He stood up and brushed off the sand from his caravan outfit and looked at Basil; the shark groaned as well.

"You ok?"

"Pretty good, how are you King?"

"Pretty good; are you sure?"

"Yeah; I've taken some pretty bad falls in my days; I've dealt with worse."

"Ok, now then what the hell was that?" Matthew said as he looked up to the gate; a purple glow extended from the top of the forcefield and it transitioned upwards into the sky. Matthew followed it and it seemed to go all the way to the top of the atmosphere; maybe even into space.

"It's called a forcefield; it's like as collection of tightly bound plasma particles; plasma is the stuff in the sun and the forcefield concentrates it is and that is going to prevent us from crossing into Terra Nova." Basil said covering his eyes and looking up; he tried to track the purple glow that was going and up the wall.

"Well then that is going to get in our way we should probably leave and get moving again; maybe we can find a crack in the wall or a weakness in the forcefield; there is always a weakness." Matthew said as he walked over to the wall and knocked on the metallic boundary. He looked up and saw the purple glow extend again.

"That's a good plan, but why is the purple glowing still?" Basil said pointing upwards and noting that the brief appearance of the purple forcefield was spread out and upwards into the sky. It appeared to be as large as they were and it seemed to go upwards all the way into the sky as far as they could see.

"You don't think, a smoke signal; some way to track us and find where people who want to cross are? Tell everyone they can get past with the walls and avoid guns; but find that everyone leaves a nice sized mark." Matthew theorized as he looked up the wall and wondered how long they would had till someone in the sky would see that and react. "Surely they can see the signal in space; track it down to the ground and come get us while we're in the area."

"One way to see if you're theory is correct." Basil said as he picked up a clump of sand and with a quick blast of energy it all turned into rudimentary glass. Looking behind him; he threw the glass ball and flying into the sky it was shattered against the forcefield. A secondary glow appeared and it too flew up into the sky.

"Impact causes changes into the plasma structure and the electric force generated makes a blast of heat that is transferred upwards also causing the same structure change; all threw one impact." Basil said seemingly figuring out the way that the plasma forcefield's signal worked in a second. Matthew gave him a glance confused at what he was saying. "Impact energy causes glow; energy is transferred upwards."

"Oh, well we don't have much time left; how long until their massive ship orbits again and they send down another agent or worse contact Ingram again and send him back our way." Matthew said suddenly realizing what the signal might have meant. Basil realized what he meant and turned one way.

"We can one way or another way; it depends whichever way you want to go we will follow." Basil said as he bowed down and did the whole arm chest shebang; Matthew didn't like that it felt like something that his father would accept; he didn't like that he ignored Basil.

"Don't bow to me; we're going this way." Matthew said walking past Basil and ignoring his symbol of respect. Basil stood up and turned towards Matthew; he walked forward and made his way with the King. The shark grinned realizing that he found something to pick at. He would at least have his fun with the King, what was the point of being a guard and an adult if he couldn't have fun and be a child sometimes.

"Please stop with this stupid shit; I am king of a fallen nation you don't need to bow to me in order to show respect. Protect me and I'll protect you; that is respect." Matthew said walking forward as he trudged through the sand and walked forward. Basil groaned and he knew that he should at least try to pinch that nerve.

"Come on now; you are King. You are the King in the man towns on the other sides of the world that haven't got the news, have a bit of fun for once." Basil said smiling as he walked forward and looking forward. The desert seemed to go on forever and forever; it was a dry land and he had no idea how long it would last until they reached a new town. He saw the maps; towns gathered in areas and between them deserts went on for miles.

"Do you think we might meet a caravan?" Basil said as he decided to change the subject and see if he could get his King to talk again. Matthew rolled his eyes, catching his deception as Basil walked even with him. They didn't have much food or much water; but Basil could at least keep them supplied with some resources with his spells but they would need to get to a town soon.

"Maybe, maybe they'll come if you stop calling me king; or maybe you won't see much in the middle of the planet which can be nearly as hot as Albion." Matthew said as he breathed in and breathed out trying to stop Basil from calling him king. "I am bothered by that word; I don't deserve to be called King."

"You are the King; you will continue to be king and this will go down in history books as only a major bump in the long history of Terra Nova; and I will continue to protect you for as long as I can; I have a duty of care." Basil said as he sighed; Matthew turned towards him and shrugged him off. He walked ahead and Basil followed him forward. "I will follow you to the ends of this planet and to hell and back if I have to; I will not leave you."

...

Three hours had past and the sun started to set; the stars started to come out and the heat from the sun was let off as the sand returned the heat it gained. Basil and Matthew continued forward knowing that while the sand and wind might blow away their tracks a drop pod might be able to track them for miles.

"How long do you think we'll have until we pass out and continue on the sand; how long until we fall asleep?" Matthew asked as he walked forward and looked to his side; red lights were glowing on top of the wall and behind him at least twenty-five or so miles back he could still see the purple glow flying into the sky.

"I don't need sleep; I don't need to sleep; I'll keep us moving when you pass out; I'll either get us to a safe place or fly with you; if I can fly while you're asleep we'll use our resources best. Walk while you're away and fly while you're asleep." Basil said as he walked forward and looked back at the purple glow; anyone would be able to see it.

"That's good, if we keep our pace up we might reach a town soon; do you think their might be a place where we can pass through; they're probably open a place soon to transfer through the wall; we can probably pass right through and start the rebellion." Matthew said; Basil looked over and tried to figure out how long Matthew you have. He didn't see any fringes of tiredness and they we're making excellent time so they might reach a town soon.

"There is a town that the Terraona Prime has been planning; an equatorial town that will allow quick transfers to Terraona Prime and the Equatorial Warp Gate to the lower bounds. They called the town, Acropolis; we'll see twenty straight columns pointing into the sky." Basil said as he walked forward, feeling the sand rumbling on his feet and some in his feet. He tried to shake his foot and remove it from his boots; as the darkness engulfed him a cool eastward wind blew on him.

"Well then we will continue on, circumventing this planet if we have to in order to arrive at the Acropolis's columns." Matthew said as he walked forward, enjoying the wind. He looked to his side and suddenly there was a reflection off the normally plain sand. He stepped to his left and suddenly then sand collapsed beneath his feet.

Pulled into the sand, he disappeared in one fell swoop and with that the King was pulled into the ground. Basil quickly turned his face turning to horror as he looked down at the closing pitfall. He tried to open up the hole again, nervously digging at the ground and trying his dammed hardest to go down with Matthew. Basil started to sweat as he realized he lost his King.

"No, No! No! No!" Basil started to breathe heavily, his "no's" becoming progressively more blurred as he flapped his wings and started to fly up into the air. Putting his hand forward he wasted no time and pointed it at the ground; he became stressed and threw all his energy forward into his hand. A massive blue ball of dense energy formed in his hand and he threw it forward.

Flying into the ground, the energy area was engulfed in white light as the ball exploded. The ground shook and so did the air as Benji released his energy; the sand blew away and the few that didn't turned into glass in the air. Basil didn't move as he was engulfed in his own energy and even as hot pieces of sand and liquid glass hit his body.

The blast kept expanding and expanding; surely after twenty seconds the energy of twenty nuclear bombs had been released and surely by end it cloud be seen from space. Basil didn't care anymore and literally or fell on the ground; with the course sand gone he landed on the warm glass and the cold air.

Basil looked at the glass and didn't see any hole in the ground; if the hole wasn't shown by now he wouldn't have gotten to the King. He looked at the point where Matthew disappeared and kicked his foot into the ground trying to recreate the pitfall but even as the glass parted from his foot the sand seemed reluctant to swallow him up content with Matthew as its meal.

"No, you can't escape from me King; I will follow you to hell and back!" Basil said as he put his hand forward and tried to form a focused beam. Putting his hand forward; he tried to summon the beam again but found him lacking in energy. Basil fell against the ground as he realized that he had lost the King, he lost Matthew.

"Oh god, this world is doomed without him; without her king we are all going to perish." Basil said as he started to blame; he didn't know what to do. What was going to happen and who would take over in the end. He soured against the glass and didn't move, waiting for the hot sun to come again and engulf him and kill him.

...

Matthew tumbled down the sandy tunnel; he could feel above him the sand collapsing in on itself and falling above him. Firmly shutting his eyes, he felt sand pelt his body as he finally feel into an opening and landed with a thud. Matthew took a breath and realized that was an interesting sixty seconds.

Above him; the sand seemed to be held back by large rocky ceilings and he was now stuck between two of those rocky areas; an air void was formed when he felt down or at least that's how it seemed. He stood up and looked above him; the pitfall seemed to collapse on itself and as he looked upwards the entire cavern seemed to be sealed in.

"Ok, need to escape; need to signal Basil." Matthew said as suddenly the rocks above him started to shake; with in a second the layer below him started to shake as well. Sand started to fall from the ceiling and some of it became loose as nearly temporary pitfalls started to happen around him. Matthew realized that Basil was trying to signal him; he wobbled over and leaned against a rock column; laughing at Basil's near loyalty to him.

However, at the twenty second mark he realized that Basil might be sending what he would professionally call to strong a message and leaning against the rock pillar; it too started to collapse. Backing away from the column he realized the cavern he was in was going to collapse. He looked around for a way out and found one.

"Ah ha!" Matthew said running towards a tiny hole in the sand wall. Quickly he bent down and started to crawl into the hole and just in time as it seemed. He felt a layer of sand behind him on his feet. With that out of the way; he knew that Basil was searching for him but how could he give Basil a signal that he was alright.

"Ok, continue on through the tunnel; find a way to talk to Basil; all going to be easy enough." Matthew felt like he was in near pitch blackness but continued on and then the light found him. Pushing through the last layer of sand he found himself in the next subterranean cavern. Matthew pushed himself through the exit of the tunnel; groaning and nearly yelling in pain as the sand tried to collapse on him.

Looking forward there was a glossy reflection of light on the walls and looking forward a little pool of water had gathered in the center of the room. Ecstatic, Matthew ran forward at the pool of water and looked at it; it seemed crystal clear; no evidence of germs or sand in it.

Matthew pulled back his hood and dunked his head into the water, slurping it up in what felt like the first time for forever. And then pulling his head out of the pond he realized that it had only been a few hours; he had only been away from the resource for a few hours. He pulled away from the water source and backed up against the wall.

"Oh god it's only been a few hours; how long am I going to have to go without water during trekking in the desert; I can't expect a water source every few hours." Matthew said as he put his head back and groaned, he should have known that his and Basil's trip wouldn't have lasted that long; he pulled his head away and tried to keep himself sane, somehow he would manage. Crawling forward he pulled out a little water canteen and filled it up to the brim; that would at least sustain him for a day or two it he rationed it.

"Do I have to leave here; maybe I can stay. I have water, I can probably grow food or eat some moss and there is no one here to take me away; no one to attack and I have light should I leave?" Matthew said as he took a sip of the water again and tried to convince himself. He looked upwards; he would be leaving Basil unless he could get the shark down to where he was.

"Oh Basil you foolish shark, dragon thingy; how sad you much be now; to have lost your king." Matthew said as he knocked his body against the wall, he could only wish of having enough energy to help himself or give a signal to Basil. Putting his hand against the wall he started to knock hoping that he might be able to somehow send a signal to the shark, somehow find a god-dammed way to contact the shark. And then another light engulfed the cavern; a pink light.

"My healing powers." Matthew said to himself as the pink glow of his abilities engulfed the cavern. He looked at his hands as they activated; he wondered who or what he was healing that his powers had activated. He pointed his fingers upward and tried to find the location of who was being healing. Matthew's hands stopped glowing and he leaned against the ground.

"Water." Matthew said to himself as he tried to make a secondary connection; he knew that water was important for life he close his eyes as he remembered time with his father; and time at the castle learning and learning about the world.

...

Matthew ran around the garden, chasing butterflies and catching them in his cape. He smiled as he looked at his father, who was tending to the growing magnolias. The wolf looked at his father and walked over; he seemed more focused on tending to their large garden. Perhaps one of the only fertile locations in the nation; Caravans came to them for their large production of food and food derived products; that's at least what his father told him.

"Come play with me daddy." Matthew said tugging on his father's leg. These were more peaceful, before the wall had broken through the wall; before his land was engulfed in war. Before he had to grow up; his father smiled at him and kept him still.

"Son one day you will inherit this land; take a look at the garden think of them as your people; they need food and water and they need their soil tilted; learn to take care of things now and when you do become King it will all come naturally to you; just like taking care of a garden." His father said as he pulled a weed from the garden. Handing it to his son; the prince disposed of it in the subtle form of throwing it over the castle wall and into the desert.

"How much land will I own, how many people will I have to take care of?" The young Matthew asked as he leaned against the castle wall and looked out into the desert. It seemed to go on for miles and miles and miles; how a child could take that all in was a wonder. He looked out and tried to keep his head below the sandy wind.

"Well everything the sun touches from here is your generational land; that is land you are owed; but some insist otherwise. Terraona Alpha is our land but some, weeds, disagree with us; they have built a wall and waged war against us; and they intend to steal our land but don't let that happen son." His father said as a tear came to his eye as he remembered fighting in the front line; he didn't allow man tender moments but he was fine with showing his feelings to his son.

"Daddy, I have a question." Matthew said getting a laugh out of his father as he tugged on his father's cape and gained his attention again.

"Ah yes son, I'll answer any question you have." His father, King Piecewise the XXV said as he knelled down and got on level with his son he looked into his eyes and rubbed his hair, messing it up and causing Matthew to blush until he fixed his hair.

"What is war?" Matthew asked, with the glee of a child. His father's face soured and Matthew then realized he had made a mistake. His father teared up again and pointed to the wall; his face was soured and Matthew stepped away from his father; knowing that he shouldn't have asked a question.

"Oh you're so young child; you don't know and you don't need to know but know that people want to take our land and we have to fight them in order to keep our land; it is but a cycle in the day to day fluctuations of our land and in the end one day there will be peace, one way or another there will be peace." Matthew's father said releasing his child from his grip and letting back out into the garden to play with butterflies, one day he would have to grow up and learn about war but he could stay a child if only for that day.

...

Matthew returned and realized something; where there was water there was life and where there was life there was war. Looking around he tried to see if there was anything to help him; he closed his eyes and simply listened to the ground trying to see if there was anything he could hear. A few seconds later he heard a tapping against the ground.

Standing up he locked on to the sound and followed it; ducking down he found another hole in the wall. It was a bit smaller but as it came to eye level, he looked through and saw something. There were tiny marching anthropoids marching on the other side of the hole.

"Life!" Matthew said excitedly as he looked through and realized that if he might be able to find a way to get to the surface if followed the spider's path. Reaching his hands through the tunnel; he shifted the sand out of place and made a nice him-sized path through the tunnel as he pulled himself on the outer edge of the sand wall.

Squeezing through the sand wall he found himself stuck as the sand pushed down on his body. He kicked his feet and shuttled himself through the hole and into the path of the spiders; they took no exception to that and simply crawled over his head and continued on their way. Pulling himself into the next cavern and around the spiders.

Shivering as he felt the spiders crawl over his leg, he pulled his legs up and let the spiders crawl and fall off his legs. Shifting his legs underneath him and standing up; he found himself compressed under the lowered ceiling. Walking awkwardly he bent down and looked at the spiders and the way that they were going; they seemed to have some form of metal on their legs.

Bending down and looking at the spiders, they were outfitted with a metallic harness over their bodies and seemed to be all marching in beat with no care for the world. He knew that he should follow them, wary on where they would lead him but excited on whom outfitted them with their devices. He followed them to the end of the area and found they were walking through a tunnel that seemed to be built for them.

"Ok, need to get through there. I need to find a way to around." Matthew said not wanting to know what would happen to him, if he blocked what looked to be a major throughway for the spiders. He turned around and looked their appeared to be a ramp upwards and he wondered if that was the way the spiders followed to the surface.

Climbing up the ramp, Matthew practically imbedded his fingers into the hard pressed walk and climbed upwards. He figured that the path might lead to another way to escape the underground, but he quickly saw another path. Climbing onto a horizontal path; he balanced himself for a second and looked downwards. There was a metal plate.

...

"Are you prepared for the meeting sir?"

Walking down the hallway of his ringed shipped; Grand Asher Drake was now followed by a spunky, bright and fresh assistant who finally arrived at the now completed torus. She held all his important papers and handed him a stack of what looked to be five or six pages filled to brim with words, notes and sweat.

"I believe that I am; now then how do I look." Grand Asher Drake said; he didn't like his new clothes; well he only had to wear them for at least one hour. She giggled at him and adjusted his tie; and parted his hair correctly. "I am so glad you finally got out here; yesterday was terrible. I won't talk about it, but when you hear President Asher yelling that is because of yesterday."

"Well then, you have two minutes to prepare yourself; calm deep breaths; remember you are worth it and no matter what happens do not let him intimidate you; you have just as much value as him in the end." Drake's assistant said giving him one final pep talk as he opened the doors for him and let him into the conference room. With one final unadjustment to his tie he walked in and Sally took a breath of relief.

Sitting down at her desk, she clicked a button and felt the station and the clunky outside satellite dish opened up and oriented itself towards Terraona Prime, adjusting the manifold until a green light flashed she knew that her poor boss would get more than a talking down too.

...

Sitting down at the table he got comfortable in the chair as he saw the hologram projector activate; he put his papers on his desk and organized them. Hopefully President Asher would be a forgiving man and congratulate him on at least trapping the King on the Planet and capturing the Capital.

Six holograms appeared at the table. They all turned their heads towards him; it was the gathering of stock keepers. It was probably the first meeting of the day with the multiple stockholders of the Terraona Prime government, so at least he wouldn't have to deal with tired money pinchers.

Three or four of them were probably with President Asher and the other two or three were at their own hologram desk; either off the planet or too busy to get into the meeting. The stockholders all turned towards him and President Asher stood up; he looked to be steaming. It was at that moment that Grand Asher Drake realized this would be a bad meeting.

"Do you have any idea on what you have done; letting the King escape and letting go back down to his planet; you could have at least rerouted his pod into the sun!" President Asher said standing up as Grand Asher Drake did look on his papers and tried to find the answer to the incident. He took a quick breath and looked back up at the stockholders.

"Due to lack of resources on the ship; we were understaffed with guards; as you know the agent known as BL-102 has gone rouge. He and the King were easily able to steal an orbital drop ship. At that point they escaped down to a settlement near the border of the USC. Due to insufficient power the commutation dishes could not be activated and thusly we sent the other royal guard down; he too did fail. Yet the King accidentally activated the second drop pod and was brought back up." Grand Asher Drake said keeping himself calm as he tried to sufficiently explain his actions.

"I don't care; unless you managed to throw every single resource that was available at the wall; I do care how much you cared about the station staying orbit you capture Piecewise and bring him down with you!" President Asher said in a seemingly silent rage; Grand Asher Drake kept himself still and reminded himself that he couldn't be fired yet.

"Sir, I believe that deorbiting the station would be the worst course of action seeing how much money has been put into this program. I can firmly say that the worse course would be to deorbit this station." The Grand Asher said as President Asher rolled his eyes at him; he didn't like that disrespect he was receiving.

"Now then, in other news the King and BL-102 are believed to be moving eastwards and are making pace towards Acropolis; we can catch them their if they don't die in the desert heat." Grand Asher Drake said as he explained his plan; the shareholders all silenced their calls and started to talk amongst their own.

Grand Asher Drake attempted to keep his calm during this point and knew that he wouldn't survive much long; his suit was restricting him and his deep breath stratagem wasn't working any more. He felt a piece of sweat traveling down his face and he was more than sure that President Asher had been taking notice. He took one last breath and looked at President Asher.

"You know what, keep track of them; use the TeleSat Collection to keep track of them and make sure they do not get out of line but if they get out of Acropolis then there will be severe punishment for your failures." President Asher said sitting down as he seemingly calmed down and with one push of a button; he and the hologram collection disappeared.

Grand Asher Drake took one big breath realized that him and his job had survived his practical interrogation and his top button popped out and landed in the middle of the table. Sitting back; he heard the door open behind him and stood up.

"So how did the meeting going?" His assistant asked as she walked in to the center room and he turned around. Grand Asher Drake turned around and showed her the button and she made a cringing sound as she realized how stressful he must have been.

...

"Okay, I can find Matthew I just need to stay clamed and focused; maybe us energy echolocation and track him through the ground and try to push through when he is closest to the surface." Basil said as he walked through the steps they would need to take in order to save the King. He felt a bit of a headache and knew that everything was not going to the best pattern.

"We need to breath, calm down." Basil said taking a breather and letting it spread through his body and the oxygen spread to his brain. "We need to continue on in his memory; he is lost we have no energy and soon someone will come down and try to kill us."

"No, Matthew is the keystone of this revolution if we can't save him we have no plan; no back up in order to place someone into the King's seat; he needs the crown and our plan needs him in the seat!" Basil said to himself as he started to freak out and make counterpoints to his arguments.

"I'm tired of you giving him so much attention; we need to look out for ourselves!" Basil said as his necklace started to glow; he felt dread as seeing the necklace glow; he could again. He kept himself together; holding in his energies and placed them back in sync. He then felt something; the reason why he needed Matthew standing up he felt full of energy again.

"We need to think this through; we need to save an endangered life form and get him out of the ground; there must be a single finite weak point into this series of caverns." Basil said to himself as he encouraged himself. Standing up he placed his hand against the glass and let a pulse of energy go through.

The energy traveled slowly and rarely bounced off; sand wasn't the most contusive material for this exercise in energy. Still he could use that energy, he could follow the energy and when it moved quicker it must have been back in the air of the caverns below him.

He started to place his hand on the cooling sand; firing blasts he felt around for what surely been a large series of caverns below them. He continued and continued until he found the caverns. Moving from that point he followed the energy and finally found a large cavern under the ground. It was the closet to the ground and if he tried his hardest he might just be able to push through.

With one final push he touched his hand to the ground and moved some one the sand out of the way; the less sand in his way the less he had to move and the closer to the cavern he might get. And as he pushed the sand out of the way; he found something strange. His hand knocked against it and he moved more out of the way and looked at what he hit. It was a metal plate.

...

Matthew perhaps should have thought of a better plan as he tumbled down the inclined tunnel and landed on the metallic plate. With a change in perspective he instead realized he was standing on a balcony. Below him the spiders were all walking into a strange machine and then they walked out. And seemingly monitoring it all was... Ingram!

"Ah so you have arrived; I wondered how long it would take you to figure out where this cut out is but don't worry we don't disappoint." Ingram said as he turned towards Matthew and started to float. Matthew backed up intending to make a run for it; but quickly slipped on the ramp again. "Don't worry you'll need a nice a pair of wings to escape."

"What is this place?" Matthew said hoping that he could Ingram to stall and hopefully he could think of a better plan. Ingram smiled as he landed in front of him and stood an ample distance away.

"This is a data collection facility; but seeing as how my hand is getting a bit tied in this situation; we're going to have to be a bit more desperate; so as for the spiders well how else would we keep track of a massive planet and make sure everyone is acting alright." Ingram said as he looked down at the line of spiders getting their data transferred. He smiled as Matthew suddenly made a break of it; he ran past Ingram.

"Oh you cheeky little..." Ingram yelled as he watched Matthew run past him and down the stairs. Wasting no time; he opened his wings and started to flap easily following Matthew down the stairs. Matthew quickly looked around as he tried to find an endgame; he looked above him it looked like two metal plates.

"Hey Ingram; watch out someone might jump on you!" Matthew said as he jumped off the edge and grabbed the Dragon Komodo's leg and pulled him down to the ground. Ingram attempted to fly up; kicking his leg and trying to get Matthew away from him. That's what Matthew intended.

"Go get some!" Matthew yelled as the let Ingram's leg go and the dragon flew up in the air. Matthew looked around the cave and tried to find some way to maybe pull the metal plates apart; he had the feeling that they might lead into the desert. Pushing all the buttons; a few alarms sounded as the production line of spiders stopped.

"Oh god; I hate this world." Ingram said as the gates above him parted; sand pelting his wings and throwing him majorly off course as he nearly crashed into the wall but managed to land on the stairwell. The large hanger gates opened above them and Basil screamed as the metal plate under him opened up and he fell in.

Matthew smiled as Basil fell into the collection center; his wings spreading and himself flapping to the bottom of the cavern. Basil collected himself and landed on the ground; he turned towards Matthew and grabbed him.

"No don't fly; you still have full energy?" Matthew said as he struggled out of Basil's grip and placed himself back on the ground. The wolf landed on the ground and looked up the night sky and the stars shined back. Ingram put his finger forward and fired a beam; Basil quickly jumped out of the way of the qausi-explosion. Landing back Basil did a roll on the ground until he too put his fingers forward preparing to summon his energy.

Basil fired a blast of energy and Ingram moved out the way; Basil knew he had to keep his blasts short and weak. The weaker they were the longer he could keep his beams from being infected. Basil fired another ray and collapsed apart of the stairwell. Ingram simply laughed in his face as he floated up and away.

"Ok, let's see how well you hand sword play!" Basil said as he activated his Fusion Sword. The Two side pieces flew off; the short but dagger-like blades coming off the side and landing in his hands. Extending his wings out he flew into the air and charged forward putting his blades towards Ingram as he attempted a maneuver.

Ingram fired off his beam and Basil quickly twisted around them; flying through the air and landing on the stairwell. Holding up his swords Ingram quickly covered his arms in energy. Basil did the same to his sword. Matthew backed up as he realized the stairwell might not survive this occasion.

Basil lunged forward and Ingram slashed out his arm; the two forces of energy collided and they were knocked back. Ingram smiled as Basil raised both of his swords and put them together. A brief blue glow came off the sword and he twisted his body. Basil did a complete turn.

As he nearly completely his turn he threw forward his first dagger. Controlled by the energy it went on a seemingly preset path and the second one followed as well. Ingram followed loud and clear, knocking the dagger away with energy blasts of his own. Ingram looked at Basil and fired a blast.

Basil jumped into the air and grabbed his daggers; he learned forward and put his daggers out hoping that he would be able to get one last hit. Ingram dodged and Basil landed. Basil threw the two daggers into the air and they started to float as energy controlled them.

"Well now then, this is really getting us nowhere. We should speed this up maybe I'll use a special attack." Basil said as he twisted his finger; he grabbed his main sword and detached the front cover and threw it up in the air as well and then the back panel piece all of them as functional swords. Ingram backed up; he knew what Basil would be doing. Yet that didn't stop Basil from running forward and grabbing the Komodo dragon. Throwing him off the side, the Komodo dragon floated in the air as the five swords surrounded him.

"OMMISLASH!" Matthew backed away as Basil grabbed his main blade and it too was imparted with the same blue energy. Basil jumped up into the air and did a rolling slash. Ingram tried to keep still as the energy slashed was impacted. Throwing the main blade out; Basil quickly summoned the dagger and slashed through. He grabbed the second dagger and did the same. He followed through with the other three pieces until all six sword pieces glowed with golden energy.

Basil summoned the main piece into his hand and held it up. All five other pieces were summoned and they attached building up the big and bulky sword. Basil flew down towards the ground; slashing through Ingram and holding his sword in position as he landed. Sheathing his sword and explosion raked Ingram.

The Komodo dragon was knocked back against the stairwell and groaned a she tried to stand up and make a second attempt at capturing Matthew. He raised his hand up but he failed at that. Letting his hand down, he decided to let them escape. Matthew smiled at Basil as they knew it was time for escaping.

"You know I'd really love to continue this but really; we should get moving." Basil said as he turned his fingers back at the main computer and fired a blast setting off a chain reaction of explosions. Basil grabbed Matthew and pulled him up into the air as Ingram could only watch. Passing through him top of the hanger, Basil waved goodbye.

Ingram watched in horrid pain as the entire cave collapsed in front of him; he realized that the Grand Asher would be very cross with him when he returned home. Looking up the cave started to collapse.

"Oh boll..." Ingram said as the rocks feel down on his body; the entire cave turned into a massive pitfall as the desert collapsed in and filled in the cave. Electrics sparked out and machines malfunctioned as rocks crushed them and sand got into their processors.

Basil held Matthew in the air as the desert below them collapsed into the cave; not wanting a repeat of the previous situation. Matthew took a breath and Basil started to realize that Matthew was snoring. Shifting Matthew into a comfortable position; he continued on flying him and his King through the desert.

...

"You have any clues on the location of IG-205?" Grand Asher Drake asked his assistant as she quickly organized papers and pointed too her left. Walking down the hallway; Ingram appeared beaten up and worn for the issue. His necklace was glowing and he looked week.

"Oh dear; IG-205 go to the sick bay." Grand Asher Drake said ordering Ingram to get his injuries threated. He was their best solider; he was their bishop in their game of chess. He needed to protect his President; their King and for now all that remained was the traitor Queen piece and the weak King.