Oh, blubbity blub blub...

(Fun Fact: My plan actually called for LilBomb usage this turn if Shotgun failed miserably. Though looking back, I really, REALLY should've figured out AquaNeedle by now...)

As her Navi floated in the water high above the final enemies, Sabrina started getting an idea. TimeBomb was floating. Shotgun's accuracy was terrible from that distance. But what if she used things that just...sunk towards the enemies? Surely she had SOMETHING that sunk in water..."Ahhh!!!"

"Eep!" SplashMan looked around in a panicked state, only to realize that the scream came from his operator. "Don't do that! I think the water in me almost boiled for a second..."

"Well, I got how we can attack them! Remember earlier in the battle, before you took out all the Puffy?"

"Uhh...yeah. What about it?"

"That's how we attack!" A chip featuring the spiked Puffy was hastily inserted into the PET. "Battlechip, AquaNeedle! Slot in!"

The Aqua navi could feel his water power in use, but remained confused. "Still not getting it..."

A targeting screen appeared on the PET, which allowed the young woman to prepare the attack. "Earlier in the battle! A Puffy shot needles at you from above, and it almost worked! So let's do the same thing!" Once the targets had been acquired, three needles suddenly rained from above the surface, headed for the dark depths below.

And yet SplashMan still asked questions. "That's great and all, but I don't think that's going to beat anything by itself..."

"Right. So we'll use something else!" But...what? With AquaNeedle gone, she was kinda out of ideas. Oh well, might as well try something random, and see if that worked. After a moment of searching her folder, Sabrina grabbed a chip with a beetle-like virus on it, and inserted it into her PET. "Try this! Battlechip, LilBomb! Slot in!"

A small bomb appeared in the Navi's right hand, but all he did was look at it. "You know I can't throw things underwater, right?"

"Yeah. Just drop it!"

"Huh?!"

"It's small, but packed with destructive stuff, right? So it might sink in water. So drop it, and it'll go down!"

"If you say so..." SplashMan looked down, to try and recall where AquaNeedle had gone, then released the bomb over that point. Without even looking to see what it did, he swam away from it, just in case it did nothing and tried exploding in his face...

[Order of Turn:
1-AquaNeedle1 chip attack on each ??? (20+10, Aqua)
2-LilBomb chip attack on each ??? (50)
3-Wait/dodge
4-Wait/dodge]

Splashman sends his attacks sailing downwards into the opaque blackness. It's rather impossible to tell what had hit and what hadn't, but hey, at least it was something, huh?

Even so, it didn't look like there was anything else to be wary of up on the surface, except maybe for the Countbomb having exploded uselessly a few seconds ago. Sure it hadn't hurt Splashman, but it was the shock that had counted.

Time to dive? Your call, Splashman.

Top section (Surface):-

PuffyA: BALEETED
PuffyB: DEAD
SenbonA: HEADSHOT
SenbonB: BOOM!

-Middle section (Underwater):-

LarkEXA: DELETED
LarkEXB: DROWNED FISH, WTF?
ShrimpyA: SHOT'D
ShrimpyB: BLOWED UP

-Bottom section (Seabed, Blind status upon entry):-

???: ??? (Capable of somehow exploding stuff up)
???: ??? (Capable of somehow exploding stuff up)
???: ??? (Capable of somehow exploding stuff up)

Splashman: 140 (Top section, must use one action to descend to Middle, two for Bottom, cannot attack viruses not in your current section with Direct-attacking chips, perpetual-Submerge)

Terrain: 100% Aqua (duh...)

Well, there was nothing left up at the surface, save for a Navi that was suddenly afraid of the dark. LilBomb sunk, TimeBomb blew up without consequence...everything was calm once more. But if he ever wanted to get out of this spot, that had to change. "...I'm going down, Sabrina!"

And so, he started heading deeper, down to where the Lark and Shrimpy once menaced him with their...wateryness. There, he stopped, and looked down again. "Uh...on second thought, do we really have anything that'd work down there?"

"I think I know how. Just get down there and I'll send it to you!"

"O-Okay..." Since he couldn't breathe, SplashMan puffed out his chest for a moment, then began the descent into what felt more and more like ink. Sure, it was just a lack of light, but...ugh, it was kinda cold. Not to mention his eyesight was zero. "Finally down here...it's really, really dark..."

"Yep, but dark doesn't stop everything from hitting. Here!" The operator's secret weapon? A cannon with crosshairs; MarkCannon. "Battlechip, MarkCannon! Slot in!"

Though he really couldn't see it, the Navi's arm became the chip attack once more. However, the cursor it emitted was oddly visable. It scanned back and forth, until it possibly found something, causing the cannon to auto-aim and shoot at it. Whether it connected, or even if it had actually detected anything worth shooting at, was beyond him. "...I've had enough of this for now!" He hastily swam upwards, to where there was at least enough light to see his hand in front of his face. "I don't wanna do that again..."

Sabrina just looked on from her PET screen, with a slightly sad look in her eyes; sure, her Navi was being a total chicken about it, but heading into total darkness to take on something that they didn't even know what it or they looked like...that had to be really rough.

[Order of Turn:
1-Move down to middle section
2-Move down to bottom section
3-MarkCannon1 chip attack on random ??? (70, locks on)
4-Move up to middle section]

Splashman takes a risk, and plunges into the inky blackness. He takes out a MarkCannon, and waves the cursor around before he finally gets a lock on one of the unknown viruses and fires it off. The virus explodes shortly after, briefly illuminating the scene.

In the light that he'd created, the one he'd just blown up had been revealed to be a Handy; a rather more powerful one than usual if the off-colour scheme was any indication. The virus close beside it turns out to be a Canodumb, coloured a neon blue that should not have been seen. Upon seeing Splashman, it swiftly fires off a shot; the inky darkness, however, had killed it's aiming and it had missed. Splashman then promptly swims upwards.

The last virus was still hidden from view, but while Splashman had been down in the darkness, he'd just been able to hear the faint sounds of advancing ... were those tank treads?

Top section (Surface):-

PuffyA: BALEETED
PuffyB: DEAD
SenbonA: HEADSHOT
SenbonB: BOOM!

-Middle section (Underwater):-

LarkEXA: DELETED
LarkEXB: DROWNED FISH, WTF?
ShrimpyA: SHOT'D
ShrimpyB: BLOWED UP

-Bottom section (Seabed, Blind status upon entry):-

Tank treads?: ???
CanodumbEX: 30
HandyEX: GONE

Splashman: 140 (Bottom section, must use one action to ascend to Middle, two for Top, cannot attack viruses not in your current section with Direct-attacking chips, perpetual-Submerge)

Terrain: 100% Aqua (duh...)

Finally...he knew what was down there. A Handy, a Canodumb, and...something that sounded like tank treads. But even that sounded kinda familiar...

And both Navi and operator realized it at the same time. "Catack!"

"So, SplashMan. Remember where the Canodumb was?"

"I think so..." He pointed downwards, recollecting what he had seen for that moment. "I swam straight up after using MarkCannon, and Handy was there...so I think that would put Canodumb...there!" Flipping himself over so that his head was pointed straight at the bottom of the pool, the Aqua Navi swam straight downwards, so that he was (at least he believed he was) right where he was earlier. "All right, if I got everything right, I should be where I was before, and facing the Canodumb! Let's finish this so I don't have to stay here any longer!"

"Right, staring at a black PET screen's no picnic either!" Sabrina grabbed yet another chip from her folder, one with a Shrimpy virus on it, and placed it into her handheld device. Though by now it looked like she was starting to run a little low..."Battlechip, Bubbler! Slot in!"

Though no one could see it, SplashMan's arm became hose shaped, preparing to fire a concentrated burst of bubbles. He wasted no time in pointing it towards what he believed was the CanodumbEX, and let it have it...Aqua Navi style! However, he was a bit surprised that they hadn't used Bubbler in the battle until now. After all, his Aqua powers gave it that nice boost...

His operator was hardly concerned about elements at the moment, however, and wasted no time in pulling out two more chips. One of them was immediately inserted into the chip insertion slot. "Battlechip, MarkCannon! Slot in!"

The Navi's arm went from water hose to homing cannon in the blink of an eye...though still no one could see it. Once more, the crosshairs appeared, scanning for viruses. It soon found something worth locking onto, causing the cannon to automatically turn towards that spot, and blasted it...whatever it was. "All right, that might've done it! I think I'll head back up now..."

"Hold it!"

Despite no one being able to see it in the darkness, SplashMan cringed. "What?! Why?!"

"Because I want you to stay and use this, just in case!" The young woman's chip of choice, the second one she had taken out earlier? One with a Mettaur with a red helmet. "Battlechip, Guard2! Slot in!"

The red shield formed in front of the Navi, though, as one might've guessed, absolutely no one saw that it was there...which might've actually been a good thing if there was still something there. Of course, that was assuming they could find and attack him in total darkness...

[Order of Turn:
1-Move down to bottom section
2-Bubbler chip attack on CanodumbEX (50+10, may hit another virus)
3-MarkCannon1 chip attack on Tank tread virus (potentially CatackEX) (70, locks on)
4-Guard2 chip attack (120-, reflects an attack)]

Splashman once again braves the darkness, and sinks back down. The Bubbler streamlines it's way through the opaque water towards the Canodumb, and dramatically...

...misses. It's pretty much impossible to see down here.

That was, however, a good thing, as the Canodumb fired a shot back in retaliation, and missed as well. A sweeping target later, Splashman fires a shot into the dark. Whether or not it had actually managed to get a lock on something was anyone's guess.

Then, the unknown tank fired just as the Aqua Navi had brought up his Guard. Thankfully he hadn't taken damage, but there had been an incredible jolt against the shield as the shell collided at frightening speeds. The tank shell reflected right into the correct position of the Canodumb, obliterating it.

The sound of tank treads were everywhere. Where was it?

Top section (Surface):-

PuffyA: BALEETED
PuffyB: DEAD
SenbonA: HEADSHOT
SenbonB: BOOM!

-Middle section (Underwater):-

LarkEXA: DELETED
LarkEXB: DROWNED FISH, WTF?
ShrimpyA: SHOT'D
ShrimpyB: BLOWED UP

-Bottom section (Seabed, Blind status upon entry):-

CatackEX: 130 (Location unknown as of yet...)
CanodumbEX: OBLITERATED
HandyEX: GONE

Splashman: 140 (Bottom section, must use one action to ascend to Middle, two for Top, cannot attack viruses not in your current section with Direct-attacking chips, perpetual-Submerge)

Terrain: 100% Aqua (duh...)

The sounds of tank treads and exploding viruses told SplashMan just as much as his eye could've. But what could he do? He didn't have night vision or anything, and he couldn't even tell by sound where the Catack was. Ugh...he never wanted to be in a place without the lights on again. "Darkness...creeping into body..."

Well, she could understand why her Navi was getting paranoid; trying to come up with ways to hit something in total darkness had to be at least half as tough as trying to hit something in total darkness. Too bad they didn't have anything that emitted light, now that the MarkCannons were gone...

...Or did they? An idea suddenly hit Sabrina in the head like a ton of bricks. Only without the massive head trauma. "Aha! I think I got an idea!"

"...If it doesn't involve lighting the place up, I'll pass..."

"Good news, it does!" A chip featuring a picture of a short sword was inserted into the PET. "Battlechip, Sword! Slot in!"

The sword formed on the Navi's arm, and set the immediate area aglow. Nothing even close to resembling a CatackEX was within the short range, but at least it relieved him a bit. "Yay, light!" He held the blade in front of him, almost like some kind of lantern. "Okay, let's find us a Catack!" He swam around to wherever he could hear tank treads, eventually finding something that could potentially be it, and stabbed it with his sword a couple of times. Maybe it was just a rock, though...even though the sword was lighting things around it up, it still wasn't that much. But without giving the tank virus a chance to take advantage of the chance that what got poked wasn't, in fact, a tank virus, he swam upwards toward a place with non-chip induced light, his sword still on his arm.

"Hey! Why'd you swim up?" The operator had already taken out a Guard2 chip to use before realizing it was useless if her Navi was already gone. "I was gonna do something else!"

"Well, too late!" SplashMan floated in the middle of the pool, and waited to see if the battle routines finally deactivated.

[Order of Turn:
1-Use Sword's light to search for CatackEX
2-Sword chip attack on CatackEX (80)
3-Sword chip attack on CatackEX (80)
4-Move up to middle section]

Utilizing the Sword's glow as a rudimentary torch, Splashman pokes around to see if he can find anything. He didn't for a while, but the sound of tank treads started changing. They started becoming a little more clear, more focused on one spot.

Splashman turns, and stabs the Catack that looked to have run itself right into the Sword. True, one more hit could do it, but anyone who knew anything about this species of virus would know what tended to happen when Catacks stopped advancing, like this one had just done.

A tiny little stick man popped out of a hatch at the top, pointing directly at Splashman, and the barrel exploded in a cloud of virtual gunpowder just as Splashman managed to jam his Sword into the tank's innards a second time. Splashman could feel himself flying backwards through the water, a dull pressure on his chest where the shell had exploded at point-blank range.

As he finally managed to pull out of the uncontrolled flight path and swim back up, he could barely see the Catack fall apart and explode. The mother tidepool was calm once again.

Top section (Surface):-

PuffyA: BALEETED
PuffyB: DEAD
SenbonA: HEADSHOT
SenbonB: BOOM!

-Middle section (Underwater):-

LarkEXA: DELETED
LarkEXB: DROWNED FISH, WTF?
ShrimpyA: SHOT'D
ShrimpyB: BLOWED UP

-Bottom section (Seabed, Blind status upon entry):-

CatackEX: SWORD'D
CanodumbEX: OBLITERATED
HandyEX: GONE

Splashman: 50

-OUTCOME DETERMINED! SURVIVOR: SPLASHMAN.EXE!-
Rewards: 750z, TankCannon1

A low rumbling could be felt throughout the tidepool. Splashman looked, and could see what appeared to be a massive stone doorway; previously mistaken as an overlarge boulder slide open directly in front of him. A watery channel opened up, long, but not dark. What could lie on the other side?

"...Pain..." Needless to say, eating TankCannon from barely a foot away smarted. A LOT. But the long battle was over at last. The deactivated battle routines and sudden presence of victory data near him proved it. "...Pain..." Needless to say, SplashMan was overjoyed.

"Ouch..." Even Sabrina was cringing at the effects of that blast. She backed up a couple of steps, when she noticed something flashing on the ground. A closer inspection showed that it was not one, but two MiniEnergyPack subchips next to her foot. How was that for timing? "Oh, hey! I found something you might like, SplashMan!" She placed one of them into her PET, and pocketed the other.

"...Pain...huh...?" His chest suddenly glowed a bit, and the amount of pain coming from it was reduced by a lot. Sure, it still smarted, but even he could take that much. "That's a bit better! But...what'd you do?"

"I found a MiniEnergyPack just lying on the ground. How's that for luck?" Of course, she decided to ignore the fact she had a second one. "Anyway, go see what we got for data! With a battle like that, it's gotta be good!"

"Neat!" Blissfully ignorant of his operator's blatant lie, SplashMan swam over in front of the data, and accessed it. "Hmm...well, there's plenty of cash...and there's chip data! I'm getting a Catack kind of vibe from it!"

"Catack kind of vibe? ...Never mind, just send it over."

"Okay!" And so, the data left the net, and reappeared in a connected PET. "So, what's the chip like?"

"Just a sec...okay, all processed! The chip's called TankCannon, and has a power rating of 80. You can either shoot a blast that hits a single target, or at three of them at once. But since Catack apparently like to spite us, the three target shot's less accurate. So, it's sorta like if Hi-Cannon and WideShot had a love child."

"After taking that hit, I'm just glad I can use it myself now!"

As if on cue, the PET spat out a TankCannon chip, in all of its brand new glory. "About that...hang on a sec!" Sabrina removed a pair of Cannons from her folder, placed them in the spare chip pocket, and added TankCannon1 and Vulcan2. "Okay, we're down to one Cannon, and TankCannon's in! Oh, and since we already had plenty of money for those upgrades, I bought a Vulcan2 from the Chip Trade BBS! Too bad we don't have a Vulcan3, huh? Then we'd have a full set!"

"Actually, I think there's one above that..."

"A Vulcan4? Since when did they have 4 after a chip like that?"

"No, that's not the name...oh well, all I know is that it's really rare." And speaking of rare, the whole place starting shaking a little. "Ack! Earthquake!" Exactly why he was frightened at all of an 'earthquake' when he was in the middle of a large tide pool was up in the air, but it didn't stop him from noticing that a new passageway was open because of it. "Hey, there's a channel that opened up! That's kinda weird...should I go through it?"

"Um...is it dark?"

"Nope!"

"Then be my guest!"

"Okay...here I go!" Rather curious as to where it lead, SplashMan started swimming down the channel...and while the phrase 'swimming like a fish' didn't exactly apply, he was doing so with surprising grace. Surprising grace for him, anyway.

(Onward to the coveted Battle #5!)

<(Woohoo, scenario time!)>

Light, or at least more light than had been in the tunnel filters out as Splashman exits the tunnel, and sees...

...water. Endless water. Sure, the tidepool had been big, but even that had just been a tidepool. This, on the other hand, was an ocean; one that stretched on far beyond even the sharpest Navi's optics. A couple islands were even visible here and there; Splashman could very easily have reached the edge of Yoka.

The more important thing, however, was that the immediate sea area seemed to be churning. What could lie underneath the surface? Dare Splashman take the plunge once more?

<(Hint: boss fight occurs down under again.)>

SplashMan was rather shocked to find that Yoka had its own ocean. Looking out, it almost seemed like the whole Net ended right at the horizon. "Wow...I didn't know Yoka was near the ocean like this!"

"It's not!...At least I don't think it is..." Sabrina looked around for any signs of large bodies of water; even though she was outside, walls prevented her from seeing much of anything. "...So I don't know everything about Electopia. I haven't even been here that long, sue me!"

"Calm down, I don't know any more than you do!" Slightly amused at his operator's flustering, it occured to him that the world was shaking around him...or at least that the water at the surface was getting a bit more violent. "That's kinda weird...why's the water getting all churned up?"

"Dunno...maybe it has something to do with that rumbling a little bit ago? Why don't you go check it out?"

"...Okay. But if it starts getting really dark, I'm turning back!" And so, SplashMan started a new trip down into the brine. As he did so, a completely random thought occured to him. And yet, he couldn't get it out of his head. "Hey...Sabrina?"

"What's up?"

"I just thought of something...those EX viruses we fought earlier, were Handy, Canodumb, and Catack."

"Yeah, so?"

"They don't need air or anything...but isn't it kinda weird they'd hang out deep underwater like they did? I mean, they're not even Aqua viruses..."

"Now that you mention it, that does seem weird. Maybe there's a connection between them and this...be careful while you're heading down, okay SplashMan?"

"Don't have to tell me twice!..." While now warier than when he began, the Navi continued his descent, a bit curious about what was going on.

(When you name a thread "Oh, blubbity blub blub...", do you even have a choice when it comes to whether or not to go underwater? I don't think so either.)

Splashman descends, and sees the natural thing any Navi should see in an unknown area: viruses. However, unlike the vast, vast majority of viruses that are hostile and live only to attack Navis, these ones don't seem to really mind Splashman's presence as he descends down to the sea bed. Unlike the tidepool he'd been in earlier, the bottom was rather plainly visible.

As Splashman takes a look around, he starts to see a few things that could be considered downright intelligent even by Navi standards. Wrecking crews of Catacks organized themselves into banks, blowing up unwanted rocks and boulders on the sea bed while Handies carried away the rubble; could they be making living space? Aqua viruses were dominant here; Shrimpies, Marinas, Piranhas, and many others drifted on the currents, some resting in what looked like crude shelters of sand and rocks, some smaller variants of the same playing childishly in the seabeds.

The fabled Metool Village must not be the only virus-inhabited area on the Net, if this place was any consideration. Perhaps Splashman should explore a bit, maybe talk to some of the 'village's inhabitants?

Viruses that weren't interested in randomly attacking him? SplashMan couldn't believe it, and yet it was happening; there was no way he hadn't been noticed. He didn't do anything at first, just floating around, thoroughly impressed at the viruses' teamwork. "Wow...who knew viruses could do something like this?"

"Dad told me a story once about a place with friendly Mettaur, but this has gotta top that!" Sabrina looked on, equally impressed at the viruses. "Wonder if they could understand us if we tried talking to them?"

"I'll find out!" The Navi swam over to a nearby Shrimpy. Considering he was about to try talking to a virus, he was surprisingly relaxed. "Hi, Mr. Shrimpy! Nice day for swimming, isn't it?"

"...Hi, Mr. Shrimpy? Oi..."

Splashman engages conversation with the Shrimpy. The Shrimpy looks at him for a second, taking in his appearance, then smiles and starts spouting ... a stream of bubbles. While it wasn't actual speech, Splashman could somehow get the overall message the Shrimpy was trying to convey: a greeting, and a welcoming to their village.

It then swims off, looking behind it to issue another message to Splashman: follow him, perhaps?

While SplashMan was slightly nervous at first at the bubbles, he soon relaxed, since these bubbles weren't meant to harm anything. In fact, it just seemed like the Shrimpy's way of saying hi. It was actually kinda nice being greeted by a virus instead of being blindly attacked by one. ...Oh? It seemed the Shrimpy wanted him to follow it. There was slight hesitation, but he chose to swim along behind the crustacean virus.

Both Navi and operator decided to keep quiet for the time being; neither wanted to say something stupid that would get the viruses mad at them.

<(Okay, this is gonna be the last modpost for a while. Don't think I'm abandoning you or anything; I'm just going camping for the next few days. I'll mod as soon as I'm back.)>

Splashman follows the Shrimpy farther into the sea, where the 'houses' start to get a little more complex and numerous. The title of 'city' is not lost here after all.

More and more viruses start to appear; about as many as there are Navis in the NetSquare usually. The Shrimpy turns to look behind it at Splashman once more, issues one more request to follow it, and then keeps going.

The Shrimpy arrives in front of what appears to be a crack in a massive boulder in the middle of the virus city. Glancing behind it, he then swims ... into the mass of stone?

How was that possible, and is it safe for Splashman to follow? The Navi sees a couple more viruses give him welcoming smiles; a submarine-like Marina even breaks it's perpetual angry-faced paint job to give Splashman a bubbly greeting. What do they expect from him?

(OOC: No, I'm all alone now! (shot))

The sight of disappearing Shrimpy and friendly Marina freaked SplashMan out a bit; he still wasn't all that familiar to the concept of viruses that didn't delete Navis every chance they got. "This is kinda weird...following a Shrimpy into a virus city, which swims into a boulder, and probably wants me to go in it too. I mean, it's pretty obvious it's just a hidden entrance, but what's in it, anyway?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out, right?"

"Right..." Not wanting to be rude, the Navi waved at the Marina to acknowledge the greeting, then swam towards the spot on the boulder where the Shrimpy had swum into. Potential death trap? Nah, the viruses didn't seem spiteful at all. And he was just way too curious about what was going on with the whole following thing...

Splashman swims into the boulder, and the first thing he notices about it is: it's hollow. The outer layer must have been paper-thin, for the room looked to be pretty much exactly the same size as the rock it was built in.

The structure itself was rather large, with seaweed making a natural carpet, some sort of artificial light illuminating the walls with a comforting glow, and even what appeared to be a few material possessions. Some rocks that had either bizzare designs on them, or been twisted by some unknown force were present, as were even what looked like real-world paintings on the walls. It was quite homely; Splashman never would have been able to guess that it had been crafted by none other than viruses.

And of course, the dweller of the dwelling was present. It was a Lark, but not of the ordinary variety. This one truly defined the world massive, for it took up a large portion of the already-huge boulder just by being there. It's eyes, however, were not goofy, but actually looked rather intelligent, and it appeared to not be built for battle if it's physique was any indicator (chubby, FYI).

Suddenly, it's mouth moved, and the boulder seemed to revertebrate with a sound too deep to register. Splashman could, however, determine what it was saying.

"Come closer."

...Talking viruses? A hollow boulder with a better mood than his operator's PET? Wonders truly never ceased. SplashMan decided to heed the gigantic Lark's words, and slowly swam closer to it. "Er, hi! What can I do for you?"

"Please don't say 'get deleted', oh please oh please oh please..." Sure, the Aqua Navi had done exactly what the viruses had wanted so far, but it was still hard to trust viruses just like that. But he wasn't about to tell them that just yet.

"Good thing it's not in him to crack fat jokes at a time like this..." Sabrina remained silent, but quietly was wondering how the heck a Lark could get that big. For that matter, she wondered how it ever got out of the boulder...if it even ever went outside. Oh well, it could be added to the million other questions she had on her list over the past half hour.

The massive Lark's car tire-sized eyes narrow as he scrutinizes Splashman, then closes them and nods slowly. "You needn't be cautious of us, little one. Those that dwell within our borders are peaceful, and do not wish to waste their lives battling against your kind," the infrasonic voice boomed, making the boulder vibrate again.

"But you can help us; help us all," the Lark adds, almost as an afterthought. "What do the humans call you, little one?" it asks.