Previously on Protector’s of Worlds:

Our heroes have just met with the alien doctor, Uell Moroo! He revealed what he intends on doing with the Iguackos: turn them into an entire race of cyborgs! This horrified our heroes as they realized that if something isn’t done, the lizardmen could have a fate much worse than death!

Roin, Velu, and Floso, who after tricking Envi into opening their prison by mocking him, escapes and wanders around the ship…….

How will the escaped Iguackos get by?! Let us find out, shall we?........

X

In the massive and lengthy corridors of the ship, drone automatons, about 5 in total, were roaming about, patrolling the area for any unusual activities. While they continued this, a pair of shadowy figures swiftly passed on by them without the robots even noticing.

The figures turned out to be Velu, Roin, and, Floso, who after getting through the last automaton, are now in the clear and continue with their journey.

X Operating Room X

Uell, who had just told Calem, Julie, and Marcel what he was really here on the planet for, bounds the three onto the tables using metal shackles to keep them down, wrapping around their necks, arms, legs, and stomachs. Out from the ceiling came long, huge mechanical tentacles all armed with claws, drills, saws while some were holding cybernetic parts. Fearful of what’s going on, the three try to break free of their bondage but prove to be futile.

“Now, now, gents. There’s no need to fear,” Uell said. “....Cause once I’m done with you, you won’t be able to know fear anymore!”

Looking at the three, left to right, Uell swirled the robot’s finger around, wondering who to do first. After much thinking, he pointed to the one which turned out to be……Marcel!!

“Well, lucky you,” Uell said as Marcel’s face started to sweat, scared that he is first in line……

X Roin, Floso, Velu X

After many minutes of stealthily getting past the automatons, the Iguackos decided to hide in the sides for a bit with Roin sticking his head out, keeping a lookout.

“This is ridiculous!” Velu said. “We’re getting nowhere at this point.”

“I agree. These halls are massive, who knows how far they go on,” Roin said.

“So, what do you propose we do?” Floso asked.

“We split up. You two go in one direction and I’ll go in another,” Roin suggested.

“No way,” Floso said, thinking it was not a safe solution. “That’s way too dangerous! Too many unknowns!”

“You’re right about that, but it’s a chance we have to take,” Velu said to his granddaughter. “This way, we have a better chance of finding the humans faster.”

Floso started to give this thought, knowing that this was a deadly idea, but knew her grandfather was right so after much thinking….

“Alright, let’s do it,” Floso said, getting a nod from the two.

Just before leaving, Floso got close to her lover and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Please, don’t die on me,” Floso said, to which Roin replied with a smile and a hug in return.

The three proceed to split up: Roin going west with Floso and Velu going south……

X

Moments later, after he split with the others and ventured on his own for a while, he came to a stop when he heard the loud noises of mechanical footsteps, an automaton is coming his way. Frantically looking around for a hiding place, he finds a door and in haste, enters in.

Once inside, he pressed his head against the metal door, hearing the footsteps grow louder and louder until they started becoming faint, indicating the automaton passed by him. Now knowing the coast is clear, Roin was about to head out but stopped when he heard something come from behind him.

The sounds he was hearing turned out to be growling, groaning, whimpering, and snarling, and whatever was making this…… there was a lot of them.

Turning his head around, he saw a long hallway that housed many cages of a variety of sizes. He decided to inspect these, wanting to know what was inside them, and what he saw mortified him.

In these prisons lay animals of many sizes, probably in the hundreds or more. He saw a few he recognized like Haostriye, Loequus, and Arctolozex, and a few unnamed ones. Most of these creatures were scared, shaking with fear while others were hostile, growling with frustration.

As he examined the numerous cages, he spotted one that caught his attention….

This particular cage was holding his own people, about 18 of them, all shivering and motionless. Stunned by this, he approached the cell, which the Iguackos noticed.

“It’s Roin! Roin’s here!” A male Iguacko shouted with joy, snapping the others out of it as they stood up and grabbed the bars.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“It’s is him! We’re saved!” A female Iguacko said, exhilarated.

“Is everyone okay?” Roin asked them.

“Yes, yes,” The female Iguacko said in a rush. “But you need to get us out of here before the doctor comes back for us,”

“Why, what does he do?!” Roin asked.

“He………He…………..” The female tried to speak but could only stutter as tears fell down her cheeks as she fell to her knees.

“What’s wrong with her?!” Roin asked.

“You see, we didn’t know at first why we were here. He and Envi just pick us off at the village, one by one, and once a day, he would take an Iguacko and have them follow him somewhere.” A male Iguacko said. “And then…….one day………he showed us what he’s done to them,”

“What?! What did he do to them?! Tell me!!” Roin demanded an answer but he got none.

Upon getting a closer look at most of the Iguackos, he noticed that some were traumatized and broken. Whatever it was that Uell showed them, it shook them to the core and made Roin realize that what he did to the Iguackos, he planned on doing to the entire village! Now that he had that in mind, he devised a solution to save his people, until he thought of one….

“Everyone, stand back,” Roin said to the Iguackos. “I’ve got an idea…..”

X Operating Room X

The tentacles with saws and drills inched closer to Marcel, who tried using his strength to break free but proved to be futile as Uell watched on in amusement.

“You bastard! You’re gonna pay if you hurt him!!” Calem shouted out, trying to free himself as well.

Just before the operation commenced, an emergency message popped on one of the computer screens, causing the tentacles to freeze in place.

“Oh, dear. What could this be?” Uell said as he pushed a few buttons on the control panel, as all the screens started showing camera angles from around the ship.

At one screen, he noticed that all of the caged animals were suddenly released, causing a stampede around the ship, destroying everything in their path.

“Ahhhhhh!!! My precious subjects!!” Uell shouted out, upset that his future experiments are now on the loose. “Who could’ve done this?!

Looking at another screen, he saw that it was Roin who was behind all of this, smashing the cage’s keypad with his fist to release more of the imprisoned animals.

“Roin?! How did he even get out?!!” Uell shouted as the humans overheard everything. Realizing that Roin was free and doing all of this, that must mean Velu and Floso have escaped as well, filling the three with hope.

After trying to think about how he escaped, he figured out who was behind it…. “Envi, you blasted idiot!!”

Now knowing it was Envi’s fault, Uell ordered the tentacles back to the ceiling, leaving Marcel unscathed as he let out a sigh of ease.

“I really hate to delay this, but there’s something I need to take care of,” Uell said as he approached the door. “Now you three stay where you are and don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

Outside, Velu and Floso, who were wandering about, noticed the door open, causing them to speedily hide by the sides, allowing the doctor to pass on by them. With him gone, the two Iguackos entered the room in haste right before the door closed shut. Once they were inside, they noticed the humans, bound to the tables.

“Julie, Marcel, Calem!” Floso said, filled with joy to see her friends still alive.

“Floso! Thank god you’re here!” Julie said. “Quick, help us out of these!”

“Got it!’ Floso said as she and her grandfather proceeded to aid the humans, starting with Marcel first.

They had great difficulty with the shackles but with Velu using his staff to weaken it and mustering all the strength they could, they were able to break Marcel’s right arm free before moving down to the others until his whole body was unbinded.

With him done, the two Iguackos moved on to Julie while Marcel helped out with Calem.

“Thanks, you guys. We owe you,” Julie gratefully said to her lizard friends.

“Don’t mention it,” Floso said as she and Velu worked on the shackle around her stomach.

“Hey, don’t forget about Roin,” Marcel said as freed Calem’s left and right arm, allowing him to help out. “We owe him big time for what he did.”

“Roin?” Velu asked. “What about him?”

“He basically let loose all the animals that Uell imprisoned, causing a huge distraction,” Calem said as he unbound the last shackle on his left leg, finally freeing himself.

“So he’s okay…..that’s good,” Floso said as he removed the shackle around Julie’s neck, letting her go as she got off the table as all three were now freed.

“We appreciate what you guys did, now try and get back to Roin,” Calem said to the Iguackos.

“Wait, what about you three?” Velu asked.

“We’re gonna try to get our stuff back,” Julie said. “That sick doctor has to pay for his crimes,”

“It won’t be easy, with what’s going on outside,” Floso said.

“We’ll manage, we’ve been through worse,” Marcel said, getting a nod from both Calem and Julie.

“Very well,” Velu said. “If that’s what you want, then we wish you luck,”

Velu proceeded to walk out but Floso stayed for a bit, hugging Julie who hugged her back, wanting both to be safe. Getting that out of her system, Floso joins up with her grandfather as they both leave to reunite with Roin.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Julie said, motivating her friends.

“Right!” Calem and Marcel shouted out as the three started running down the corridor, beginning the search for their weapons….

X Roin X

Smashing the keypad with his fist, Roin just released the last of the caged animals, small herbivores who followed the others. With them gone, Roin turned to his detained people and was about to break the keypad but stopped to take a look at his fists. The repeated smashing and punches of the metal, hard keypad eventually broke his hands, leaving them mangled and bleeding. With them useless, Roin used his elbow to smash against the keypad, breaking it, causing a few sparks to fly out as the cage bars were raised up, letting his people out.

“Come on, let’s get out of here!” Roin said to them as they all escaped, leaving the room.

Meanwhile, the massive stampede of animals probably around 300 or more, ravaging everything they come into contact with came upon two rows of drone automatons, about 30 in total. The first row kneeled down and aimed their rifles at the animals before opening fire, managing to kill many of the smaller ones while being able to take down a few big ones. It wasn’t enough as the creatures mowed their way through the robots with the huge herbivores impaling them with their massive horns or trampling them while the big carnivores clawed them and bite down on their metal bodies, ripping body parts off.

While this was happening, Roin and the other Iguackos came upon this and used the ensuing chaos to get away, going a different path.

X

Scouring the entire shop for his Iguacko ally for wasting his time, Uell finally found him. Envi, who was still dazed, stumbled around, using the wall to help him walk.

“There you are!” Uell yelled out. “What the hell did you do?!”

“Wh-What?” A confused Envi asked, head hurting from the tail blow.

“Roin!! He escaped and freed all the animals!” An angered Uell said to him. “How did he escape!?!”

“He……He insulted me,” Envi responded.

“He……what?” Uell asked, this time calmer but still angry. “You’re telling me….he made you mad?”

“Y-Yeah, he said I was hollow, that I was stupid to trust you, and that you would betray me once I was no longer useful,” Envi said. “But you could never do that………right?”

He didn’t get an answer from Uell as he gripped the robot’s hands tightly, clearly trying to contain his rage but eventually lets it all out.

“You pathetic simpleton!!” Uell said with such loud rage as the robot grabbed Envi by the throat and pinned him against the wall, choking him as he tried to wriggle away.

Rearing its left arm back, the robot threw its fist forward, attempting to crush Envi’s head. As the Iguacko braced for this, he heard the loud noise of metal breaking. Opening his eyes, he saw that the robot didn’t hit him but the wall, punching right through it before being let go by Uell as the robot pulled its arm out, leaving behind a big hole, stunning Envi as he saw the look on Uell’s face: full of hatred and fury!!

“No thanks to you, I had to terminate most of the caged specimens!” Uell said. “I could’ve gotta some valuable data from them but because Roin “Hurt your feelings”, I lost that opportunity!”

He walks away from Envi while quietly talking to himself. “Okay, okay, I lost some specimens, not a big deal. I’ll just salvage what I can and capture some more.”

“So…….” Envi said, scared by Uell at what he just did. “What do we do now?”

“We?” Uell said as he turned around to face Envi. “Sorry, there’s no “we” anymore, buddy.”

“Hey, but you………” Envi stopped when he noticed something behind him, two bizarre figures which hissed and growled at the Iguacko, causing him to back away.

“You’ve caused this damage……..and I have to clean up the mess,” Uell said in a threatening voice, as the eyes of the figures glowed, one purple and the other yellow…..

What does Uell plan on doing?! How does he intend to fix Envi’s mistake?!! Find out in the next chapter!!!