The scimmia in front of Lana, Levalis and Kent howled in both pain and rage. His bleeding stump of an arm a broken mess resulting from the explosion in his hand. He charged toward the trio with murder in his eyes.
Lana allowed her eye lids to narrow in concentration. Just as it got within range, she stood on Levalis' back and pushed off, flipping over her foe and landing behind him.
The scimmia was unable to respond because Levalis was keeping him busy. Lana decided to try something new.
She removed her sai from her bracelet, channeled this new energy around them, and brought them down the sides of the scimmia. All the remaining arms hit the ground.
She kicked the scimmia toward Levalis who though it would make the perfect snack.
As Lana looked around at the room she found herself in, the humans were harvesting crystals while the panteri were eating to regain their strength or looking for tech to destroy in accordance with Levallis' orders.
Kyle and Dobin were both looking frantically for Lana. They looked under the fallen rocks, the rooms; Nothing.
"All I see is that hallway," Kyle pointed.
Dobin followed with his eyes and nodded. He turned around looking for the teacher. Kai was bandaging injuries. Rene had run out of MC and this was the only option at the point.
"Sergeant Tanaka, I suggest you get everyone out of here. We don't know what kind of tech is around or if there are any hidden dangers. Have everyone meet at the forest edge. We're going after Lana. We'll meet you there," Dobin didn't even give him a chance to respond. He and Kyle headed toward the hallway.
Within a few steps, the two men realized the were not alone. There was a panteri with them. It took them a moment to recognize her. This was Rosalie. Lana had called her Kent's aunt. Dobin nodded toward her while Kyle stroked her head.
Kai wanted to say something to the two students. Somehow he realized, students or not, they were both strong people. If Lana was in trouble, they should be able to handle whatever she had gotten into.
Kai took a headcount. There were six students in the area. The crystals were all counted and most of the panteri were done eating. A few were currently evolving from such a feast. He noticed there were two panteri missing.
He decided not to worry too much about them. This was their planet, after all. They knew more about living there than he did.
"Listen up everyone, including you panteri," he said looking around to make sure everyone was listening.
"We are going to head back to the tree line. We will wait there for Lana and the others then we will get back to school. We just need to hope she's able to find the information we're looking for."
It didn't take long for everyone to start heading down the stairs. They were a little more than halfway down when the mountain started rumbling. It started off gently at first but within moments they thought there was an earthquake.
Panteri lifted the humans on their backs and ran at top speed. The rumbling stopped when they got to the bottom but the panteri didn't care. They wanted to make sure they did a good job protecting her people as ordered to by Levalis.
Now that they were safe, all eyes were focused on the mountain. At the top, Chekof and Karlen could see a panteri with a human on its back race from the mouth of the cave and head for the stairs. Eventually, the rest could see it as well.
Kai watched the approaching duo with worry in his eyes. He was still missing two students. One of which was the key to figuring out this planet.
Deep in the depths of the mountain, Lana looked at the items and strange things she could see. She found a few more of the devices the scimmia used against her. She decided to bring two with her and placed them in her bracelet.
She was still trying to decide what to do when Dobin, Kyle, and Rosalie joined them. Kyle let out a low whistle when he saw what she was looking at. He and Dobin could both tell there was a lot of stone and crystal tech in the room.
Lana nodded, "I wish Paul would have stayed. We could use him right now. I want to destroy all of this stuff but I don't know what the potential consequences would be.
Dobin nodded, "we had Sergeant Tanaka take everyone back to the tree line and wait for us. We don't know anything about the tech and don't want anyone getting injured."
Kyle nodded, "that was the reasoning I wanted them to think so I was glad Dobin said something along those lines. The reason I wanted them out with Kai in charge was to prevent him from searching for this technology. It's clearly dangerous and we don't need it in the military's hands. I don't want it in my family's hands, either."
Lana agreed. She picked up Kent and handed him to Dobin.
"We don't know what's going to happen when we destroy this stuff. I want you to climb on Rosalie's back and get Kent out of here. We'll have Levalis take us out of here. We have the highest chance of survival," she stared her brother in the eyes as she gave her instructions.
Dobin gazed back into hers, tears started to form and he choked them back. He told himself she was just being cautious. None of them understood what they were looking at. Chances were nothing would happen.
Dobin cradled his nephew in his arms and climbed aboard Rosalie. He looked back at his sister and brother-in-law.
"Don't take too long. School is almost over and we need to graduate!" he chuckled as Rosalie took off running.
Lana and Kyle looked at each other.
"I'll face the exit in case we need to leave in a hurry. Just climb on and I'll do the rest," Levalis told her as he preformed the action.
"Do you have any abilities that could help us understand what we're looking at?" Lana asked Kyle.
"Paul's ability is very complicated but I might be able to manage some of it," he said as he changed out his ability. He wasn't that high tech of a person, either.
He placed his hand on the machinery, one at a time. The last one he touched was huge.
"Um, Lana…. Which direction is that black corruption area?"
She pointed and he nodded. "This machine has bits that lead that direction and it makes me feel .. well, I don't like it."
"So, we destroy it last?" she asked. "How do we even do ...I think I know. I learned something new. Get on Levalis' back."
Lana climbed on his back facing the opposite direction, her chest against Kyle's. She gave him a passionate kiss then, "hold onto me tight. Levalis, don't run until I say so."
She channeled her new energy into one of the machines. The mountain started to rumble. Debris fell on top of one of the other machines but it eventually settled.
"Okay, if that one caused that kind of reaction, this next one… as soon as the rumbling starts, get us out of here."