One day went by since Saros and Pitch had their argument on the Space Station Wildwhirl. Now, Commander Moon took care of Saros's scratches and kept him company when he needed it. No one noticed that Captain Pitch was gone since the past hours until a beep sound on Saros's sleeping-quarter's door was heard.
The cyan commander checked with her communication chip who stood on the mechanical entrance and let the visitor in after she knew who it was.
"Come in, Dr. Gura." Moon let her in.
The mechanical door opened the way for the scientist to come in. The lime greened bean was holding something in her hands. It was the result of the DNA test which she had to process as a task from her boss, Professor Esther, who's still stubbornly certain that Captain Pitch was the one that did the crime.
Saros and Moon were both sitting on the modern couch while she talked with them.
"Commanders", She greeted them with a nod. "I got the result from the DNA test and I have some interesting news. Do you know where Captain Pitch might be at this moment?"
"Not a clue", Moon explained. "We haven't seen Pitch since a while now."
"Perhaps, he went to his own sleeping-quarter, or his office room", Then, Saros joined the conversation. Without even looking at Dr. Gura. "Wouldn't surprise me... especially after what I did..."
Without thinking more about what Saros could mean by that, admitted Gura:
"I checked Captain Pitch's office and went to his sleeping-quarter earlier, in hope to find him there, but he was nowhere to be seen. Not even in Admiral Corentin's old room." Dr. Gura was already ahead of them. "That's why I'm asking you two, maybe you two know where he could be?"
But Moon shook her head, now extremely worried, where Pitch could be at this moment. "I'm sorry, Dr. Gura. But could we try to call him on his communication chip?"
"If he has it with him..." Saros mumbled but Moon was certain that he had.
Captain Pitch had his communication chip indeed with him the whole time, while he was visiting planet Aella. It was still raining and stormy around Rowan's village and everyone had gotten wet by now, the longer they stood in front of Marigelle's grave, to mourn about her loss. The angelic silhouettes from Corentin and Marigelle nearby on top of that hill, vanished once Pitch heard the beep sound from his communication chip in his pockets. With one unsure thought, he hesitated to activate the call. On his small chip, a symbol was visible: the symbol that represented Commander Moon. Pitch then remembered what he did to Saros the other day, and felt very guilty for what he did to him. Another thought ran through the lord's mind, what if it was important? And with that, he activated the call and greeted the cyan commander with a calm but cracking voice:
"What is it, Commander?"
"Pitch, where are you?" Moon asked, he could clearly hear her worried voice through the call and rain. "We're worried about you."
They were worried about me? In silence, Pitch thought to himself. Didn't seem like they were upset with him after all. "I'm somewhere. However, what's the matter, Commander?"
"You might want to come back to our Space Station, Captain. Dr. Gura has some great news about the DNA test to prove your innocence." The teal-colored commander explained with a very careful and soft undertone. She hoped she wouldn't stress him out about it again.
And to her surprise, Captain Pitch was calm about it himself. He hid a long frustrated sigh after his visor looked over to Rowan's mourning family and replied: "Alright, Commander. Expect my arrival soon."
Whilst the storm on planet Aella was still raging over Pitch's head, somewhere else, far away from planet Aella and the Space Station Wildwhirl, General Cole flew with a small spaceship towards a concealed realm within the galaxy. A threatening red nebula surrounded the general's ship all the while he approached his final destination...
Planet Pentrageus.
Between the nebula dust, dark, serpentine shadows passed by and circled around Cole's space shuttle. The grey general heard the creatures echoed calls, somewhat like whales communicating underwater but deeper pitched and cracking. For Cole, he wasn't sure how those revolting creatures could create glitchy reverb sounds in their echoes. On the other hand, maybe the answer to this question was best left undiscovered. As long as they don't attack his spaceship, he would leave those massive beasts to fly about in peace.
He flew deeper still within the nebula cloud until an unusual aurora-shield began to play havoc with some of the ship's systems. Short vibrations wracked the ship while the general had to grab onto the helm to not lose his balance. As those vibrations died down, Cole looked outside the shuttle's window and noticed that he finally arrived. Giant asteroids circled the planet, but they somehow didn't form a ring system. The further General Cole flew towards the planet, the more he felt uncomfortable and disturbed by the whole aura the planet seemed to exude. His visor detected the looming forms of giant defender stations nearby, which didn't even look like stations at first glance. Great machinations, Circling like cogs in a great mysterious machine, were visible all around the planet's low orbit. Some parts of the planet seemed to have cracked and broken apart long ago. To hold the planet together to avoid it from breaking apart further, their citizens had forged a great lattice of chains made from light. In places, parts of the planet's core were even visible.
Every time General Cole had to visit this impossible hell of a planet, he was questioning what Lord Mobulous did to it. The heat was rising faster as his shuttle passed by the control stations. This planet was indeed something else. An inhospitable, lava-filled planet; one devoid of surface water, only magma and volcanoes had ever existed on the surface. Cole's shuttle system reported on screen that the current temperature was dangerously high. So dangerously high, that the system began to activate the warning-system. But Cole turned it off and switched on the ship's climate control, cooling down both the temperature inside the ship and on his own space suit as he felt sweat drops form on his body.
General Cole hoped that he wouldn't have to stay for long.
Down on the surface, the gray general spotted a great landing pad and runway. Not so far away from his landing spot, a monstrous fortress loomed. The masonry was all made out of volcanic obsidian and materials which this planet produced. The sky was shining in a threatening red glow, some dark clouds spiraled high above. Ominous Hills and mountains that lined the horizon that encompassed around him and the fortress all seemed to look like teeth, with great lava-spewing volcanoes and magma rivers between them.
Without hesitation, and before Cole stepped outside the shuttle, he grabbed a gun which was laying on a small wall-table behind him. In hope that no nasty demonic creature would attack him while he made his way to Lord Morbulous's underground hall.
On approach, the monolithic archway loomed right in front of the general. Heraldic banners were hanging decoratively over the entrance as well. Like every important location, guards were present, ready to protect it from strangers and intruders. As Cole looked around, he saw two demonic beans guarding the archway entrance. One of the female guards started to quietly hiss at the intruder that seemed to insist on approaching them and their checkpoint. The general didn't want any trouble on his way, so instinctively he stopped himself in his tracks.
In a threatening manner, she also raised her weapon up in a defensive manner.
"Why are you here, dickhead? What do you want?!" She hissed in an aggressive, almost taunting, manner once again at him and the other female guard did the same but more out of enjoyment.
With an irritated expression, answered the general: "... first of all, I'm not a dickhead. My name's General Cole. Your patriarch, Lord Mobulous himself, invited me to come over for a visit."
"So, our lord invited you, did I hear that right? Must be something very important then, General... Pole!" With that sardonic sarcasm, she then began to start laughing hysterically, together with the other female beside her. They found the pun quite amusing, but Cole wasn't quite the fan of such taunting and became silently enraged.
The females heard his very quiet, angered growl and were sarcastically impressed how he managed his rising temper like that.
"Well", The other female joined. "Since our lord invited you personally, we'll let you in anyway. It's not like we had any other choice in this scenario, heh?"
And with that, the female demon beans decided to go and open the giant doors and let the general inside the fortress. Finally, about time, Cole thought to himself and walked inside.
"Argh! Where's that moron of a general?!" A loud, wrathful and cracking demonic boomed through the fortress's corridors. Lord Mobulous's impatience was growing fast the longer General Cole took to make his way up to the lord's dark throne room.
At that very moment, Cole arrived behind him, with a small brown pouch held steadfastly in his claws. The demonic leader turned himself around in a dramatic fashion and with quiet snarling to glare in the direction of the ashen bean. The demon's white visor soon spotted a red shining glimmer from within the brown pouch which the general was holding in one hand. He knew exactly that those were the stones which the general had to return to his possession. Mobulous's angered, fang-filled mouth formed an amused and greedful smile.
"My Lord", The gray general greeted him in a respectful undertone. "Pardon my lateness. Unexpected situations on my part delayed my arrival. Here, take these."
Without as much as another thought, the lord then took the pouch in his claws with the help of levitation. The demonic patriarch was indeed joyful to finally have them back in his grasps again.
"There they are. Finally, back in my care." Lord Mobulous mumbled to himself as he held the stones protectively within his giant claws.
Behind the dark lord, Tricon's shadow materialized into view. Mobulous felt the cyborg's presence immediately and threw the pouch to him. The substance was now back to their rightful owner.
"You know what to do with the Pentragium, Tricon", Mobulous reminded him. "Don't waste a single drop from it."
"Of course, my lord." Tricon nodded and continued his work.
With a disgusted expression, Cole's visor tracked the figure of the cyborg bean and how he walked out the throne room. Fresh, hot lava was the main light source that brightened the room up. Dark, obsidian pillars backdropped a spike shaped throne which was made out of a variety of gems and obsidian. The spikes that adorned the back of the throne were shining in an intense orange light. Lord Mobulous himself was very tall. Double the size like a common bean. No one else was in the room, only General Cole and Lord Mobulous were present.
The general heard a satisfied, quiet hissing coming from the dark emperor after Tricon vanished from view. Now, the gray general was questioning why he had to visit this planet other than just giving him the fuel back personally. Before the general thought his visit was over and he could walk out of the throne room, the dark lord began to address him again personally:
"Now, General. Since you've given our Pentragium back, there's something else which I want to show you..."
Insecurity was the only feeling the general felt at this moment and he remained silent. No answer was heard from Cole's mouth at all. With his visor filled with suspicion and intrigue, Cole followed the demonic patriarch's footsteps attentively.
"Follow me, Cole." Lord Mobulous demanded and without procrastinating, the general respected his command and followed him a pace behind.
A giant dark elevator came into view in front of them the more they walked through to the very heart of the fortress. Tricon once built it for Mobulous, with one of the most expensive and strongest substances harvested only from this planet alone. Gears grinding and the clattering of rusty screws echoed along with the sound of dripping lava within the building. Once both Mobulous and Cole stood in front of the entrance of the elevator, Lord Mobulous then pulled an old, crusty lever with one of his tentacles without much effort, activating it.
General Cole hesitated for a bit, being worried about stepping inside the elevator as it finally stopped and arrived at their floor. But he stepped in anyways after Mobulous stepped inside the machine.
Some minutes passed by until they reached the floor which Lord Mobulous wanted. It was located at a point that was very deep underground. Hundreds of meters down below the fortress, actually.
The elevator began to shake as it stopped and for a moment, General Cole's anxiety arose further. The lord sensed his fear besides him and slyly laughed gleefully and quietly at him. Outside the elevator's entrance, was some kind of balcony, which had a great view on... something. Probably whatever it was the emperor wanted to show him.
Magma stones decorated the whole cave, as well as some kind of cobwebs the cave's edges were lined with. Monstrous rocks and boulders and also shimmering gems were seen. The ashen gray general had to hold a sudden gag to himself, once he looked down. That was why it was reeking of blood around here, he thought silently. Different sized craters were on the surface. Inside the bases of the shallow holes, blood bubbled forth like lava. Enough of it was weeping to the surface that it leaked from out the craters' rims and formed small blood flows that seeped down within the surface's cracks.
"That's, ehem... a beautiful view." Cole said with somewhat repulsed sarcasm, trying to hide his true opinion and thoughts on the matter in front of the demonic patriarch.
"Undoubtedly, ain't it? The view would be much better with the treasures I cherish. Behold, General. My next plan." Lord Mobulous said and made a loud whistle which made a hallowing echo throughout the whole cave.
And just like that, aggressive hissing that appeared to come from within the craters erupted in volume and monstrous figures crawled out. Each of those faces was covered in blood and shook themselves to rid the sanguine fluid off of their demonic bodies. In a somewhat rivalry but playful gesture, some of those countless creatures began to pick small fights and squabbles with each other.
"This... is your next plan?" Cole was asking the lord, wondering what these monsters actually were and what their relevance was to Mobulous's supposed 'next plan'. They had a raptor-like body plan and behaved like them as well. On their head and back side were deadly-sharp quills, whilst feathers formed the plumes on their tails.
"Yes it is, General. They are beautiful, aren't they?" The lord then said and looked over the crowd.
"Well, you said they are a part of your next plan. Is it possible that Magnus created those... beasts?" But Mobulous's next explanation changed his theory completely.
"Neither Tricon or Magnus know they exist... yet, General. In fact, I am the one who created these monsters. To form an army. To chase down my enemies. To chase and distract my actual target...!"
"Who is your actual target, my lord?" Out of curiosity, the ashen gray bean then asked and was quite intrigued to know more.
Before Mobulous answered him, he formed a fist and growled quietly.
"Lord Pitch."
"Lord Pitch..." The general mumbled to himself, hopefully the lord didn't hear him repeating his name. Afterwards, his target made even more sense. Lord Mobulous turned around and walked in heavy steps thoughtfully towards the elevator, whilst he was talking:
"Yes, Lord Pitch. He has interrupted and interfered with my plans to rule over this galaxy long enough. There can only be one Lord in this galaxy. And I'll be the one ruling this galaxy for all eternity! That's why I have created this army. Once the right time comes, these creatures will have a big impact on my next plan."
Short silence went between these two. Cole was still frozen on the spot, daring not to move a single inch; still he observed the uncanny creatures down the cave's surface.
"I'm the closest who works for him. I could just simply kill him for you instead." Of course, that idea was way too simple. But there was a significantly deeper and more complicated reason as to why Lord Mobulous wanted to kill him himself.
"No, General. He's mine. Because he is my nephew. Only I'm allowed to kill my nephew..." For a second, Mobulous took a break from his monologue and continued: "I hope you can keep this secret to yourself, General Cole. Otherwise, there'll be great consequences for you if you don't. Now, return from where you first came from."
In all this chaos, General Cole had forgotten that Captain Pitch was in truth, Lord Mobulous's nephew. It still irritated him to know about this fact today, but that was the key piece of information that explained why Mobulous was so obsessed to keep Pitch in his own claws back then.
But he was never expecting Captain Pitch to ever return to the side of light, which is why he had to change his master plan sooner rather than later. And this plan Mobulous had in his dark mind, to him at least, seemed to be a great solution to all of his devious problems...
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Chapter edited/corrected by: https://www.deviantart.com/spectra-shift