Chapter 196 - Stop in The Way

*(mood song: "The Police - Message in a Bottle")

Anhuka woke up hours later, her entire body felt different, it felt like a different body altogether, her abdomen had disappeared altogether and instead, there was now a tail at the end of her spine full of scales. But she was happy to see her body now was humanoid with just two arms and legs, she was about to talk, but just a cough came out.

Beritkan: "You will need to learn how to talk again, even your throat is human now too... a human larynx is quite different, you will also have to get used to breathing air, since the gills on your now gone thorax are no more... I could get you an octopeople breathing respiratory system if you want"

Anhuka shook her head: "Aaah... gueeee.... aaaahh... eeeriaaak..." Anhuka was quite distressed, about how she would communicate with Erik now.

Beritkan: "The experiment was quite interesting, since you are a hybrid and not a pure crab man you accepted octopeple and human DNA, and your rockcrab tribe DNA has been mostly suppressed, while the octopeople and human traits have blossomed, here let me release the straps" he released the straps and helped her stand up, pointing her to a mirror on a wall.

Anhuka was quite pleased with her new shape, some areas of her body like her back, tail, and arms and legs were covered by armorlisk scales of a dark blue and purple color, but the rest of her body had a smooth pale blue skin, with green human eyes, sharp teeth, and thick long red hair. Most importantly, she had a curvy figure with a plump butt and boobs, and a human pussy. Thinking of having Erik's children made her emotional and tears of happiness came out of her eyes, confusing her, but she soon remembered in human movies that when humans leaked water from their eyes they called it crying and calmed down, her body... was now completely different and she would have to get used to it.

Beritkan clapped: "Well if you don't mind" he pointed at a screen displaying the paused image of a human professor "I was watching a lecture so... go back already"

Anhuka nodded and stumbled toward the entrance, but then she remembered, she couldn't breathe in the water anymore without her gills, how would she go back...

But at that moment a bot entered from outside carrying a complete diving equipment set.

Bot(Rose): *Put this on to breathe*

Anhuka nodded and wore a suit that stretched around her, a belt with weights, and a vest with a backpack containing an air recycling system, it worked like gills extracting oxygen from the water, filtering it, and compressing it again, connecting to a transparent helmet that joined with her suit automatically when she put it on. Breathing in air felt way easier than water but she quickly got used to it.

Bot(Rose): *Now follow me, we have to make you a new translator collar and get you used to talking, sigh.. just come to me directly next time*

Anhuka: "Graaaa aaahhh... Thann.... eee..."

Bot(Rose): *yeah yeah~ let's go already*

-- Back at The cliff --

The bots escorted the kids back when a group of thirty octopeople led by Shana approached quickly.

Shana: "Rose whats-" she noticed the kids behind and frowned "What are those kids doing here?"

Crabina: "We were just-"

Bot(Rose): *They were coming for a walk with me, don't worry they are safe*

Shana narrowed her eyes: "What was that explosion earlier then?"

Bot(Rose): *That? just an amalgamation of corpses fused together by a super mycological monstrosity, that for some reason seems set on absorbing us... but it's fine, I have it under control"

Shana felt her face pale in worry, as that sounded extremely dangerous, but when she looked at Crabina and the other kids hiding behind the bots... that worry turned to anger as they could have gotten killed: "You... Crabina, it was your idea right?"

Bretka tried to interject: "No!, we all-" but a look from Shana shut her up

Crabina: "I... I just wanted to see-"

Bot(Rose): *I already told you they came with me, they are fine*

Shana: "You would never put them in danger and bring them here"

Bot(Rose): *Sigh... fine, but it was a good lesson don't you think? now they know it's dangerous*

Shana scoffed and looked at Crabina: "You are an older sister now, and will have to be responsible and protect your younger sisters from danger, can you do such a thing?"

Crabina's face became determined as her claws clacked shut: "I CAN, I WILL DEFEND MY SISTERS!"

Shana whistled: "We will see... everyone back to base, now! Crabina you come with me... I will personally train you from now on"

-- At the submarine --

Erik was at the control room, scanning the surroundings from a weapons station when he heard Rose sigh.

Erik: "Huh? Is everything okay?"

Rose: "I wonder if I should tell you... yeah, you should know..."

Rose: [Do you remember those mushroom parasited corpses from below the old octopeople city?]

Erik's face paled: [Are they attacking the base?]

Rose: [They are, but it's under control for now... AI 2137 is on the way with the new mini-submarine drone army]

Erik: [It sounds like you have everything under control then? what's the problem?]

Rose: [Well, two main things, I've started evacuating Shadow Claw City up to the crab man city on the surface, as multiple crabmen guards have started to disappear...]

Erik: [And the other thing?]

Rose: [I think it's adapting, an amalgamation of corpses with hiding properties managed to make it to the defense turrets undetected, and... Crabina and her friends were there and it almost attacked them...]

Erik: [WHAT?!]

Rose: [I was observing them from afar and planned to teach them a lesson with a loose gobler fish or a pig fish, but that creature suddenly appeared... I'm sorry]

Erik was angry but he couldn't blame Rose too much, as it was indeed a good idea to let the kids learn by themselves, but still...

Erik: [...Next time, ask me before doing something like this the next time... are they safe?]

Rose: [Okay... yeah they are safe, Shana had also deployed a regiment, and they are currently getting scolded by her right now....]

Erik sighed: [That's good- huh?]

Rose: [What is it?]

Erik's eyes illuminated as he looked beyond the submarine: [I'm feeling a familiar sensation but from outside the submarine...]

Rose: [Some leviathans can imitate the presence of their prey]

Erik: [ I think it's worth investigating, can we stop for a moment?]

Rose nodded and connected to his senses, also sensing a familiar electrical field : [An octopeople? that's weird, descending...]

The submarine descended into the depths and scanned in all directions.

Amanda: "Is there a problem?"

Rose: "There seems to be a strange signal, we are gonna check it out, hmm the scans show an empty rocky valley at the bottom..."

Erik: "Can you create and deploy a probe, now that we are closer I can feel... another electrical field, it's faint but there might be an installation of some sort here"

Rose: "There shouldn't be... not mine at least, and no guest species registered a research lab around here... hmmm... drone probe ready"

A helmet came from the ceiling above Erik and he put it on.

Rose: "Establishing connection"

Erik then closed his eyes and could see the area below the submarine, his electric vision still saw from the control room but now he shared the view of the probe too, and controlled it with his mind.

Erik easily got used to it: "Alright, here I go"

Rose: "This area seems to be full of mineral deposits, that can interfere with the signal so don't get the probe too far, I will mine some minerals while you explore" a robotic arm with a drill unfolding from one side of the submarine and drilling onto the rock wall.

Erik: "Alright"

The probe's lights cut through the inky black waters, revealing twisted, blood-red kelp swaying in an unseen current. The algae's luminescent edges flickering like ghostly flames, casting an otherworldly glow on the surrounding waters.

Erik moved the probe around them, as the tendrils seemed to slowly reach out for the probe.

Erik: "Great, creepy algae, good start... let's max the light output..."

The light revealed a jagged landscape all around, with sharp rock formations jutting out like the fangs of some ancient, underwater beast. Bioluminescent flora and fauna cling to the rocks, their faint, sickly green and purple hues providing sparse illumination in the gloomy abyss. 

The probe's sensors picked up strange sounds like distant, haunting cries that echoed through the water, hinting at creatures lurking just beyond the visible range.

As the probe ventured deeper, it encountered dense thickets of more red algae, the tendrils so thick and entwined they formed a near-impenetrable barrier.

He kept going avoiding the algae as occasionally, gaps in the kelp revealed hidden caverns, their entrances lined with phosphorescent algae that pulsed rhythmically, as if breathing, and the algae getting closer and closer, as if trying to tire him out on a maze.

Erik: "Rose... I'm getting creeped out, can we blow up all this nonsense?"

Rose: "Let me see... are they trying to trap you? give me a second... done!"

*FWOOOSH!* a salvo of projectiles was shot from the submarine, ripping the living wall of kelp apart.

As the algae retreated seemingly injured, Erik retrieved a broken piece with the probe's pincers and kept going, following the strange sensation in his mind and following a stone wall.

He then entered one of the caves on the cliff, in the shadowy alcove, the probe advanced in the gloomy darkness full of green and purple hues as the walls went from rugged stone to a clearly carved-out hallway and then a clean dark gray metal hallway.

Erik: "Did you know about this place Rose?"

Rose: "No... but it's strange... zoom on the walls a bit, maybe there can be carvings?"

Erik: "Got it"

The remnants of an ancient civilization, the rusted, barnacle-encrusted walls had been abandoned long ago, Erik tried to use the probe claw to clean some debris but a piece just broke off the wall instead.

Erik: "...guess I will keep going deeper..."

The probe turned to its right and kept going down the metal hallway, as Erik started to lose more and more vision.

Erik: "Seems like I'm about to lose signal soon..."

Rose: "Just keep going, that's a probe's purpose anyway, to explore the unknown and be expendable"

The probe continued and reached a huge twelve meter tall door that was now broken, the huge metal doors seemingly bashed in a long time ago.

The inside seemed to be in a better condition as some carvings were still slightly visible, seemingly depicting a humanoid with what appeared to be a thick tentacle beard and no hair...

Erik: "What the heck..."

Rose: "That seems like a Nautaclian..."

Erik: "Wait... weren't those-"

Rose: "Yeah, the researcher that was devoured and created the ancestors of the octopeople as a result was a Nautaclian..."

Erik: "Nautaclian... what about squid people? no? Seems easier to remember..."

Rose: "...anyways, they shouldn't have had any base near this area according to my records..."

Erik: "Seems to me lots of races were eager to take you over and evade your security..."

Rose: "It certainly seems that way, sigh..."

Erik: "Let's advance a bit more till I lose connection with the probe"

The probe kept advancing, the lights illuminating the hallway, the interior architecture having an almost organic design full of lines and circles like imitating the ripples on the surface of the water. But then, the probe stopped advancing.

Erik was confused: "What the... I can't move?"

Rose frowned: "The propellers are working, wait I will turn the camera around..."

The entire front of the probe rotated and the camera pointed back illuminating a horrifying creature holding the probe in place. Long arms ending on claws now sunk on the probe, tentacles like an octopeople on the lower half, big black eyes, and a huge maw full of dagger like teeth, all with dark grey scaley skin. The sudden light made its pupils contract, seemingly angering the creature.

Then with a soundless scream, it bit the front of the probe off.

Erik slowly took off the helmet, as he had even seen the inside of that abyss like mouth when the camera was devoured.

Rose: "Was that the creature you felt? it does seem to share traits with octopeople..."

Erik: "Nah... it felt.... different, that wasn't it, it should be deeper what I'm feeling"

Rose: "Well, what do you wanna do then?"

Erik: "I think I need to go down there"

Amanda: "That doesn't seem like a reasonable course of action captain, those creatures-"

Erik: "Abyssal Fish Men, provisional name"

Amanda: "...those abyss fish men, could be dangerous or have great numbers, there are yet too many unknowns about that location"

Timberly materialized at the entrance of the control room, butt naked as it was becoming usual since gaining her powers.

Timberly: "If you are going them I'm going too!"

Erik nodded: "very well, then-"

At that moment Sarah and Jennifer entered the room, looking at the probe video on a pad, as it had been shared live with everyone on the submarine.

Sarah: "Don't be silly, just send a probe with a harpoon gun or something like that and connect it with a cable for signal"

Erik shook his head: "That would imply kilometers of copper wire or optic fiber that Rose would have to manufacture, and repeat towers would be lost to the local fauna, those algae would make it all tangle or crumple" he looked at Rose "why not add a neural link system like the one you use in your current body, that should receive brainwaves from extremely far away right?"

Rose rolled her eyes: "That would be extremely overengineered for just a probe, I might as well sacrifice this body and go as I am, building artificial brains ain't as easy as you think..."

Jennifer: "I saw the footage on the submarine hub videos, but just so we are clear, why did we stop here?"

Inky who was sitting nearby answered first: "Erik felt something with his weird glowing vision and we are checking it out"

Erik: "...more or less yes, also it's electrical field vision, I can feel the electricity of living beings, their aura in a sense, and I felt a really strong octopeople aura"

Timberly: "But that wasn't octopeople"

Erik: "I know, that must have been something else, also put on clothes"

Timberly nodded and just turned transparent.

Timberly: "If it can be important we should go now"

Erik nodded: "let's get ready everyone"

Sarah: "Wait, I will go too"

Erik shook his head: "You have no training in this kind of environment, you could easily die, please stay"

Sarah: "But... I understand..."

Inky chuckled: "Don't worry, I will take care of him hehe~"

 Erik turned to Inky: "Someone should care for our daughters in case-"

Sarah: "I... I will do that, this might be a bad moment to tell you but... I'm pregnant, haha... surprise"

Erik's eyes opened wide and then he smiled widely and hugged Sarah: "That's wonderful news, more reason for you to stay then, I thought of a name for this moment so-"

Sarah interrupted him: " Aelia, she will be called Aelia, it means sunshine in Ancient Latin, as she will have blond metallic hair and pale skin"

Erik raised an eyebrow: "You know already?"

Sarah: "Well, I wanted her to be perfect so I tweaked the DNA first before fecundation"

Erik: "Oh, in vitro fecundation, well less surprises I guess" and kissed her on the forehead.

The face of a frowning Timberly became visible for a moment before disappearing again.

As Erik, Inky, Rose, and Timberly exited the room, Sarah looked at Jennifer.

Sarah: "Aren't you going too?"

Jennifer: "Me? no no... I don't fight, I will just stay here"

Sarah: "Okay..."

An hour later, everyone was ready on the lower exit diving pool, fully suited up, as a robotic arm lowered an underwater vehicle that was made for the size of octopeople, it could carry twelve passengers so they fit all perfectly inside.

Erik: "Who drives?"

Rose sat on the pilot seat at the front.

Rose: "I do" tendrils coming from her hands and connecting her directly to the vehicle's control systems.

Erik sat down behind and with two hand joysticks controlled a turret on the top, that had two automatic harpoon launchers and a dome shape.

The rest sat down on seats in the middle back to back to keep an eye all around the vehicle, the seats were detachable so it could have multiple configurations.

Rose: "Everyone sat down?"

Everyone: "Yeah"

Rose: "Alright, opening bay doors, exiting in 3...2...1... go!" the submersible dove down fast as its 4 propulsors one in each corner pointed down.

Then a bright light surrounded the vehicle as stronger lights pointed forward.

Rose: "Eyes wide open people, we are a lighthouse in the abyss!"

They soon encountered the wall of algae that had reformed again, but shots were fired from the submarine, suppressing it to retreat again.

They soon arrived at the entrance of the lab, the hallway was spacious so they could easily go in with their vehicle and parked the vehicle at the entrance of the lab, turning it around and ready to escape in case of an emergency. The vehicle turned off all lights, as darkness filled the hallways for a moment before everyone turned on their lights.

Rose: "Okay everyone, disembark"

Everyone got down, all fully suited in power armor, including Timberly who had now a crude but powerful power armor fine tuned to her body, along with a tower shield with a blinding light, and her plasma spear. 

Inky was wearing a nimble power armor with increased mobility turbines to fly underwater and had a powerful underwater railgun specially designed by Rose, miniatures of the submarine's main turrets, it was connected with a cable to her suit and could shoot waterproof coated harpoons at high speeds.

Erik was wearing his power armor, which by now looked more and more organic, a synthetic musculature covered him as metal black cables surrounded his entire body with an additional layer of muscle, and over them scales of a solidified solid metal with the shape of scales like an armorlisk on areas that required movement, and solid plates on the rest, like if the armor wore armor itself, giving improved flexibility and strength, all of it connected directly to his brain through the implants his left arm had grown on his spine. 

In his hands was a rifle like the one Inky had, and on his legs and back were some basic combat knives, he didn't need to carry melee weapons anymore, as his armor had learned the designs already, so he could turn his arm into a blade at any time if necessary, but a quick grab of a knife was always useful.

As for Rose, she was wearing her power armor as she carried a smaller version of her plasma mace, she also popped a button on the vehicle and two bots popped out from underneath and stood in front of her.

Rose smiled: "I'm always prepared"

Timberly took the front: "I will lead the way!" moving in front as Erik and Inky guarded the sides, Rose took the middle and the two bots carrying heavy harpoon guns guarded their sides a bit forward than Timberly.

They all advanced in formation as their lights illuminated the entire surroundings, mud lifted up into the waters with each of their steps heavy steps

Their heavy feet sinking slightly on the ten centimeters of mud that covered the floor, and they arrived at a small plaza with what appeared like a reception desk.

Erik's eyes glowed as he peaked into the darkness, and he soon found it, hidden in a corner while observing them, but it wasn't alone, there were dozens of them, all waiting for a chance to eat the strangers. 

Erik: "We aren't alone..."

Timberly started charging her spear as the tip made the water bubble.

Timberly: "Should we attack?"

Erik: "If we could capture them or communicate then-"

Rose: "Nah, is it even worth the trouble? the yaksha were fine but I don't wanna have to train fish men or whatever you wanna call them"

Inky: "I will follow your choice, Erik"

Erik took a deep breath: "It's always worth a shot to dialogue, I wouldn't have known the octopeople otherwise..." Erik moved forward and gave his gun to one of the bots, advancing to the creatures slowly.

The light from his visor soon illuminated the creature that looked at Erik with curiosity, with its big black unblinking eyes looking at Erik up and down, the creature then looked at itself and grinned, as if coming to the conclusion it was stronger.

Erik: "Don't know if you guys will understand but we come-" he didn't have time to continue as the fish man lunged forward ready to bite Erik's head off, but Erik just sighed "Okay I tried" as his power armor got covered in bubbles a huge flash occurred followed by an explosion of bubbles as the fish man was electrocuted to death.

The other fish men seemed to get scared as they scurried away.

Erik then noticed the broken probe nearby and recovered the algae sample and the battery module, letting his armor absorb the battery.

Rose: "Good job, teaching science to the locals haha~"

Erik: "Any terminals nearby? I wanna know what happened in this place"

Rose smiled: "I have a plan for that" 2 balls detached from the shoulders of her power armor and scanned the surroundings meanwhile a dozen small spider bots came from a metal container on the back of her power armor "Now we wait~"

Erik looked around and didn't see any power source on the walls.

Erik: "The base seems dead"

Rose: "It's fine, I can power terminals with my power, it's just harder to find them-" she looked to the side "Found one, follow me"

They walked down a hallway to the left and arrived at a room with what looked like pipes coming out of metallic clam like structures, a glowing orb now floating over the biggest and best preserved one in the room.

Rose walked to it and lifted the shell, revealing a screen on the top and a strange keyboard full of hundreds of symbols, she just rested her hands on the keyboard as nanobot tendrils infiltrated the machine. Just a minute later the machine seemed to come to life as some panels illuminated, though the screen remained off.

Erik: "Anything interesting?"

Rose: "...those people were literally fucking around"

Erik chuckled: "And they found out? what a bad joke"

Rose: "No... I mean literally, they were trying to impregnate other wild species and create hybrid creatures, apparently, the best specimens were shipped off planet... while dangerous or failed specimens were frozen for future samples"

Erik: "Oh... kinky squid people?"

Rose: "Security violations one after another, what were my creators thinking allowing all those inferior races here..."

Erik shrugged: "Well someone needs to always take the first step, it just didn't work this time"

Rose: "Only friends and family will be allowed on me when I'm back in my prime, fuck all others!"

Erik laughed: "Hahaha, that's the spirit! now let's check those frozen specimens from the terminal, recovering samples could help the octopeople a lot"

Timberly nodded: "if these people were our ancestors, their creations could indeed help in our evolution"

Rose: "Very well, the second drone is about to reach the specimen containment area, the doors are broken from the outside... oh well, huh?"

Erik: "What is it?"

Rose: "There's a rhythmical metallic sound from the inside, what..."

Erik: "Why did you stop talking, should we stop or hurry up?"

Rose: "...there was a device like a hammer constantly hammering the floor as steam bubbles filled a cylinder and were released constantly, but when I got closer to investigate, something destroyed the drone..."

Erik: "Technology? That can't be the doing of those fish men..."

Rose: "It could be what you were looking for, maybe some wacky mutation more clever than the others?"

Erik nodded: "Maybe... let's go"

They walked back to where they were before and took a hallway to the right, reaching a room with a huge door on the ground.

Rose bent over one of the doors and frowned: "fascinating"

Erik: "What is it?"

Rose pointed at the sides of the doors, where scratch marks could be seen: "This was done by power tools, it was cut, not ripped open..."

Erik: "That is indeed fascinating, I will go first-"

Rose stopped him and pointed at the bots: "That is what these guys are for"

The bots got to the door and were about to enter, when with a trail of bubbles a huge harpoon got stuck on the floor in front of them, and a series of screeches were heard, but an instant later.

"Halt! Artalia of her majesty's science team commands you to identify yourselves! Are you from the kingdom or enemies?!"

They all froze, the translation devices were working, translating every single word while Inky and Timberly could understand it all.

Timberly trembled in disbelief: "Octopeople... but how?"

Erik: "Artalia... the name sounds familiar"

Rose: "Don't you remember the octopeople that used steam technology and power cores?"

Erik suddenly remembered: "Oh yeah, I'm using those power cores right now, I still remember that hissing metallic head with the prerecorded message"

Artalia: "If you don't answer I will be forced to defend myself!"

Erik: "Oops we took too long, I better give her an answer soon" Erik and the others had been talking using the improved radio systems between the power armors, so Erik just thought about it and an underwater speaker appeared on the left shoulder of his power armor, translating his thoughts into octopeople screeches.

Erik: "We come in peace, we know about you Artalia, I come with a daughter of the queen herself, Timberly"

Artalia: "Really? there's no way the queen would let her successor out of the palace... no wait how long I've been trapped here... maybe... hmm... make her swim forward!"

Erik looked at Timberly and nodded at her.

Erik: "A lot changed in octopeople society, so don't be surprised, our technology is way more advanced than during your time"

Artalia: "Advanced? Did you upgrade on steam technology more or- huh?"

Timberly stepped past the door, her glowing tower shield and spear illuminating the room, as lights inside her power armor illuminated her face, tubes pumping clean oxygenated water inside her chest to breathe.

Timberly: "Timberly, daughter... of the queen, salutes high steam engineer Artalia" her voice slightly trembling.

Artalia: "I don't remember you looking like that, but I can understand..."

A gigantic figure came into the light, at least five heads taller than Timberly and with a muscled body, six tentacles ending in poisonous stingers, as well as a deep blue and purple skin, hands with huge claws, and a face with a snout mouth full of sharp teeth, huge blue eyes and spikes along her spine and head along with long tentacle hair, her chest covered by a bioalloy metal armor chest piece and pauldrons, full of scratches by now, and a tattered leather backpack full of tools on her back.

Timberly was shocked.

Artalia: "After all... I don't look the same anymore either..."