Chapter 4: The Chase on Land

Underneath the Pacific waters, the luminous kingdom of Solaria was once very beautiful, but now it is in ruins. Rune has been quite busy with himself. He reshape the coral reef districts into a dystopian ghetto. The buildings were all wrecked beyond belief, several other sea mammals became livestock against their will, the meravins were all suffering in despair and the royal family are being held hostage under Rune's thumb. Despite of his latest conquest, Rune is still not satisfied. He feels that there's so many other things in the world to destroy and then conquer. But he hasn't forgotten about the time that the youngest princess and her friends had escaped his grasp, along with the fisherman mercenary. The thought of that day really angers him. The monster Atlantean brute believes that no one, human or other creature, would dare to fight back nor even escape his relentless brutality. Whilst sitting on King Karpannus's throne, thinking to himself, Rune came to the conclusion of his new side goals. He sought to rectify his minor mistake, only by hunting down the princess and the mercenary himself. He gets up from the throne and he swam downward into the castle's lower chambers. He enters the Solarian prisons, where he kept the royal family locked up from behind stainless steel bars. There he hovers above the caged king, whom is stripped away from his title and is now weakened by the last battle with the muscular monster. The sea king glares upon the brute above him. And he too returned the same expressions of extreme prejudice and uncaring animosity.

"Look at you, old man! You don't appear to be well." taunted Rune, folding his arms proudly. "I hope I didn't break you during our fight earlier."

"You may have defeated me, you monster! But I shall not be broken! Even from you!" snarled King Karpannus.

"Hmph! Strong willed to the end, eh?" says Rune with a pleased expression. "How predictable of you! But don't worry! I'm always up for a rematch. We will fight again soon enough. But first, I'm going out on a long errands run. I believe that girl is your daughter. And she is so rude to escape me with that young mercenary. I don't like that! The only one who should be rude around here is me! I'll make her remember that when I see her."

The enraged King Karpannus swam to the bars for he doesn't want Rune to harm his beloved daughter, Karphernie.

"No! You shall not lay your one hand on my daughter!" yelled the sea king. "Because if you do, I will have your head on a stake!"

"Haha! Now that is the funniest threat I've ever heard." laughed Rune in a nonchalant manner. "Between you and me, old man! Who's trapped behind the indestructible steel bars made out the finest scraps found on the ocean floor?"

King Karpannus grind his teeth out of anger and in utter frustration. Rune continues to tease the king's rage even further.

"Just as I thought." said Rune as he then turns to swim to the king's family. "So you all will be on your best behavior while I'm gone. Once I return with your little sister, I am going to enjoy playing with all of you to death."

"No! Oh no!" cried Countess Sarankia in fear.

"Hey, you big ugly freak!" shouted Ian through his prison. "You leave our sister alone!"

"Or you'll do what, boy!?" teased Rune as he reaches through the bar to pinch Ian's cheek. "Don't you forget that I'm bigger than you."

"Please! Just don't hurt our little sister!" cried Shara. "We beg of you!"

"Sorry little lady. Beggars can't be choosers." taunted Rune as he hovers away from the prison. "But I will hunt her down! And when I do, I'll keep her around a little bit longer, so she can watch everyone she ever loves, die by my hands! Then she will join all of you as I destroy you, one by one."

He ascend upwards to the upper castle grounds. The royal family looks up upon him in fear as Rune has one more thing to say before he can leave the prison.

"It is good chatting with you, your majesties! But I must be going!" Rune announced with a sinister demeanor. "Mock my words! I am going fishing for your precious youngest princess and the mercenary! I will find them, one way or the other! So I'll be back!"

The monster Atlantean storms out of the Solarian kingdom in hydro speed, leaving the meravins to wallow in despair in the wake of his destruction. Meanwhile in Seattle, the morning sun rises, shining its light upon the rural suburban area. Everyone in the condo is asleep. Including the princess and the mercenary. As the sunlight fills the guests room with light through the window, Karphernie awoken by its warm rays. She turns to gaze upon Ereque, whom overslept due to his nightly vigilance. The young woman shook her head, giggling softly. Then she gotten out of her bed and exits the guests room. The redhead young woman unwittingly wanders the hallway, admiring the strange expensive interior design of the house around her. As she heads down the stairs, her eyes are glued instantly to the enormous fish tank in the living room. Inside of the tank are numerous exotic species of fishes swimming about. The fishes immediately gave their attention to the princess for they all knew that she is not from here on the mainland. Karphernie is charmed by their response and she begins to interact with the fishes. It was not long before her innocent giggles awoken Julie and Noah, whom stayed up late watching two movies based on their interests. After hearing the innocent chuckling, the two friends were both completely appalled and bewildered by Karphernie's interactions with the fishes.

"Um who are you talking too?" Julie asked in bewilderment.

Karphernie turns to notice that they are awake.

"Oh! Uh... I'm just admiring the glass thingy that the fishes were swimming in." says Karphernie, blushing away in embarrassment.

"Well that is what we called a fish tank." said Noah, although a tad puzzled by the girl's behavior. "And that's where we keep our fish as a pet."

"As a pet?" wondered Karphernie.

"Yes. They're Erin's pets." says Noah with a puzzled expression.

"But are they happy to be far away from home?" Karphernie asked in discernment.

"Well Uh... sort of." says Noah, choking on his words.

"Oh! How horrible! We must return them back to the sea." Karphernie suggested.

"That's not up for us to decide." Noah quickly uttered. "You're gonna have to take it up with Erin about it. She's the only one who studies sea life."

"Ok! This lady is so weird." Julie whispered to Noah.

This just in, Erin came out of the restroom, fresh from the shower. She can hear her friends chatting with Karphernie downstairs. Curious to know what they're talking about, she went downstairs to see what is going on in her living room.

"And what are you guys up to in here?" asked Erin as she enters the living room.

They turn to notice Erin, who just came out of the shower and in her purple robes.

"Oh! Erin! You're awake!" exclaimed Julie. "Well we were just talking to our guest here."

"About what?" Erin wondered.

"Well um..." Noah said but he got interrupted.

"I was just having a conversation with your pet fishes." says Karphernie as she then continues her discernment. "And they all seemed very unhappy being held here in captivity."

"Why is that?" Erin asked in confusion.

"Because they miss their families and friends so much." said Karphernie. "They could be so much happier if you can free them from captivity. I beckon you to please return them to the sea. Otherwise, they will die of sadness. And that'll break my heart."

Erin doesn't know what to make of it. And just like her friends, she is slightly bewildered by the princess's request. All her life, she studied her hardest to learn about the sea creatures and their habitats. Which is why she has kept numerous species of fishes in the tank. So she can nurture them to their better health. Fortunately for Karphernie, the young woman took a calm approach to ensure the young princess that she is a marine biologist and the fishes in the tank is in good hands.

"You don't need to worry about them." says Erin in a calm manner. "I've been taking care of them all my life. As a marine biologist, it is my life's duty to study the oceans, its creatures and their habitats. So once they are healthy enough for one more week, I'll take them back to the water. You have my word."

"Oh you will?" Karphernie wondered.

"Yes I will." said Erin. "You can count on it."

"Oh that's wonderful to hear." says Karphernie happily.

"Now that's out of the way, I'm going to prepare breakfast for all of you before I leave." says Erin as she enters her kitchen.

"Wait! You're leaving us, Erin?" Karphernie asked.

"Yes I am, right after I finish cooking your breakfast." says Erin, making a few egg omletes for her guests. "I have to work an extra shift today. I'm filling in for a colleague since she had an family emergency. Besides, I can use the extra shift to up my paid hours."

"Oh! Where do you work?" asked Karphernie.

"She works at the sea world in the Seattle Zoo." Noah answered, chiming in the conversation.

"The Sea World?" Karphernie wondered. "Is that where she keeps all of the ocean's creatures?"

"Oh she doesn't keep all of them, sweetheart." says Julie as she sits down by the kitchen table. "The Zookeepers does. She just takes care of the sea animals."

Oh! She does." Karphernie uttered beamfully. "I would love to come visit the Sea World and say hello to all of the creatures."

"Yeah well, maybe someday." says Erin as she serves breakfast plates to her guests. "Breakfast is served."

Julie notice that the mercenary is still sleeping upstairs.

"Uh, is someone gonna go wake the blonde hottie upstairs?" asked Julie. "His breakfast is going to get cold."

"I'll go wake him up." sighed Noah, getting up from the table.

He heads up the stairs to the guests room. Upon entering the guests room, Ereque is still sleeping in his bed. As Noah is about to awake him, Ereque immediately grips holds of the young man's neck. He pins him to the floor, aiming his gun at the forehead. Noah gasps for his breath.

"Relax, man! I just came to get you!..." Noah uttered, gasping for air. "We're all having breakfast downstairs... So please... stop choking me..."

Ereque finally calms down a bit, releasing his tight grip off of Noah's throat.

"Don't ever surprise me like that again." sneered Ereque as he lowers his guard.

Noah rubs his neck as he gets up from the floor. Then the two young men went downstairs to join the ladies in the kitchen. During the morning meal, Ereque glances down at the food for he doesn't know what to do with it. After all the many times he has been on the mainland for mercenary missions and he still couldn't grasp the concept of eating human food. But he isn't the only one who hasn't tried it. Karphernie herself is also puzzled by the food for she hasn't tried human food either. Although they're slightly bewildered by their behavior, Erin broke her silence as she urges the two estranged guests to eat their breakfast.

"I take it that you two haven't eaten anything like this before." said Erin.

"What is it?" wondered Karphernie, poking her food."

"It's called an egg omelet." says Erin as she shows them how to eat. "Go on! It's delicious."

Karphernie and Ereque both look at one another, utterly confused and puzzled. Then they both try to pick up the omelet with their hands. Julie and Noah both became very puzzled by their weird behaviors. Erin shows them the silverware right next to their plates.

"Here! You use the forks to eat it." says Erin, showing the two how to eat an egg omelet.

Just as how she demonstrates it by using the fork to eat the omelet. Then Karphernie and Ereque pick up the forks, pick up a piece of the egg omelet and ate it. Karphernie can't believe how delicious the omelet was, the minute she tasted it.

"Mmmm! It's so good!" says Karphernie as she ate another piece of her breakfast. "It tastes like sea sponges."

"Ummm... Right..." said Julie in bewilderment.

Ereque too was enjoying his first taste of human food. He ate the entire breakfast off his plate with a single mouthful bite. Ever for a brooding mercenary, Ereque finished his breakfast with a sip of the orange juice. They were all stunned by the two strangers and their inhumanly appetite. Now Erin has to wash the dishes and clean up her kitchen before she goes get ready for her shift. And so did her friends whom too were getting dressed in their downstairs guests room. Since Karphernie and Ereque were the only ones who didn't have any other clothes to wear, Erin allows the redhead princess to borrow some of her clothes for the time being. Noah has to go shopping for some new clothes for Ereque. So he urged the young mercenary to tag along with him. Julie volunteers to take Karphernie with her on a shopping trip, since Erin can't go with them at the time. Once they're all inside of Noah's van, he drove off the driveway and onto the road to downtown Seattle. After a quarter mile from the highway, Noah drops Erin off at her job. Then they are all on their way to the mall. While on the city's busiest streets, Karphernie gaze out the window. She admires her new surroundings as she sees a lot of vehicles and the people inside who are driving them. From the sidewalks, there are a lot of street performers entertaining the bystanders with music in order to make a quick buck. Next are the cyclists passing by the cars on the other lane. From a short mile due westbound, they all finally have arrived at the mall. Once they are inside the mall, Karphernie is at awe of the numerous shopping stores in the building. Not only that, the mall is filled with thousands of people who have come to shop, eat at the food courts, see a movie and mostly hang out with their friends. Ereque has his hydro gun on him, shall anything out of the ordinary comes to threaten them. But Noah suggests that he shouldn't carry a weapon on himself in a crowd full of people, especially when there is security on every corner of the mall. As much as he doesn't want to give up his weaponry, Ereque finally changed his mind and store his remaining gears into the backpack, with the exception of Karphernie to help convince the mercenary to let his guard down for a little while. During the meantime, they split up into groups of two. Julie will take Karphernie with her to shop at a few stores, while Noah takes it upon himself to try having a guys time with Ereque, as well as shopping for new clothes. Although he is fearful of what Ereque might do to him, Noah still tries to talk to him about every thing. He wants to get to know him a little bit better. Alas Ereque eased up a tad bit and he finally opens himself up to the young man. Thus they both became good friends. At the same time, Julie took Karphernie into a feminine secret fashion store, where they can both try on some new couture from the famous fashion stylist from around the world. Karphernie is having fun trying on the latest fashions from blouses, to spring wear collection, to exquisite high heeled shoes and some jewelry. Then suddenly, Karphernie choose a splendid wardrobe that catches her eyes. It is an aquamarine summer dress along with shimmering leggings, a belt embedded with teal jewels and a pair of sea green heeled boots to match the colors of the ocean. Thankfully, Julie did save up all of her money to pay for the outfits, both for herself and for the ones Karphernie has picked out. Now they get to rock their clothes off with style. So the two young women went to the second floor, to treat themselves with a frozen fruit smoothies before meeting up with the guys. Karphernie has never tried a frozen fruit smoothie before in her life. So being the adventurous princess that she is, Karphernie chose a tropical fruit flavored smoothie and then tasting the delicious beverage for the first time. During the stroll down the aisle, they were stopped by two tall guys whom were both checking them out. And then the guys started to flirt with the ladies. It was only just a harmless fun in a flirtatious way, but then the other guy tries to enforce his affections onto Karphernie. He is bluntly captivated by her rare beauty and her vibrant ombré red hair. He is so bewitched by her otherworldly charm that he wanted to make her, his prized possessed girlfriend. Against her will or otherwise. Before the guy can make his move onto Karphernie, Ereque came out of nowhere and twist the guy's arm. The two tall guys were about to retaliate against him, but only to be intimidated by his cold brooding glare. Then the two immediately backed off and then walk away. Noah catch up with Ereque, long after the minor confrontation is over. Julie and Karphernie are both happy to see them. As the group of friends continues to stroll down to the first floor, Karphernie is astonished by Ereque's new wardrobe. The young strong mercenary is sporting his emerald green sleeveless shirt, a chain of dog tags around his neck, charcoal colored fingerless gloves on his hands, grayish blue cargo trousers and a pair of the rarest boots worn on his feet. He looks good in the outfits that Noah paid a significant amount of money for. After hanging out at the mall all afternoon, the group finally left the building. Whilst heading down eastbound on the parking lot to his van, Noah unlocks the back trunk for his friends to placed their shopping bags into the back. During the moment, Ereque is mesmerized by Karphernie's new land dwelling human look.

"Well? How do I look, Ereque?" Karphernie asked as she twirls around to show off her new human fashion.

"You look incredibly beautiful." says Ereque.

"Why thank you." beamed Karphernie happily. "Julie told me the exact same thing herself."

"Yeah, she does." says Ereque, folding his arms in amusement.

Julie turns to Noah with a funny look on her face.

"And to think that you said that I have expensive tastes." Julie said in a sarcastic manner.

"You still do." says Noah as he gets into his van.

As the group all got into the young man's van, Noah turns on the engine. He backed his van out of the parking spot and then he proceeds to drive out from the parking lot, leaving the mall grounds. Meanwhile on the other side of town, the beach goers are having fun at the beaches and bystanders were admiring the scenery on the pier. Underneath the Elliot bay waters, Uriel and Phyllis whom were still hiding in the fighter ship amongst the sunken cargos, they were both worrying about their friend Karphernie.

"Oh I hope they'll be okay up there." winced Phyllis, gazing up at the surface. "Especially Karphernie. She is all alone up there, surrounded by surface dwelling humans."

"Don't worry, Phyllis. She's with the Moon-Shade Fisherman guy." reassured Uriel. "He swore that he won't let anything bad happen to her. Otherwise, he will be sorry for it later on."

"It's not the Fisherman mercenary that I'm worried about, Uriel." says Phyllis as she swim around the seats in discernment. "It's that Rune monster. The one who nearly tried to kill us. He really scares me, especially when he takes pleasure into harming everyone who gets in his way. We have no idea what happened to the royal family back in the Solarian palace. What if he-."

"No! Don't think such things like that." says Uriel, interrupting the saltwater fairy fish. "We must have fate in our princess and the mercenary. We have to trust the fact that they will find Aquaman in time. So don't give up hope just yet."

"You're right, Uriel." sighed Phyllis, taking a deep breath. "I mustn't dread over this. I'm sure that she'll be okay as long as she is with that mercenary guy. And as soon as they find Aquaman; King of Atlantis, the better chance we have for him to stop that mean ol' monster Rune."

This just in, a loud pounding noise erupted on the rusting surface of the cargo. The two little sea creatures were both startled by the sound. Before they both knew it, the doors were torn open and then tossed away across the seabed. From the blinding light upon the surface outside the bay, a silhouette of a inhuman male monster appears. And then, he enters the cargo, where the Solarian fighter ship is residing. That monster is Rune himself.

"Umm...speaking of you know who, he just happen to found our ship!" panicked Uriel. "Quickly! We have to hide!"

He grabs Phyllis with his little tentacles and he drags her with him to a small area of the ship in order to hide from the aquatic tyrant. Rune discovers the fighter ship hidden inside of the cargo. He remembers that Ereque has used it to help Karphernie and her friends escape from his grasp. The thought of that day still enrages him. He swam over to the ship's shield, opens it up and starts to investigate the inside of the warring artifact. Phyllis and Uriel quietly hold their breath for they fear that a single sound will give them away. Rune used his sense of smell to pick up on their scent. Upon sniffing the seats, he finally got the scent of the two aquatic youngsters.

"I know they are here." Rune muttered to himself. "And they must've taken cover around here, somewhere."

Phyllis and Uriel peeked out from the hiding spot. They both watch in horror as Rune used his sense of smell to sniff out the essence of Princess Karphernie and Ereque. Their scent is faint but it was not long before he knew it led him to the surface above the watery bay. Rune was pleased and irritated at the same time.

"Oh they think that they can escape me by going to the dry realm of the surface dwelling humans." says Rune with a grin. "Ha! Those two young fools! They will soon realize that nowhere is safe from me. No dry land will stop me from destroying them and those who dare to challenge my wrath!"

The tyrannical Atlantean monster man follows the scent to the surface of the Elliot bay. As soon as he left the sunken cargo, Phyllis and Uriel swam out of hiding.

"Oh no! This is bad!" panicked Phyllis out of fear. "This is so bad!"

"You're right. It's not good at all." says Uriel, swimming up to Phyllis's side. "We can't just sit around here and do nothing."

"Well what are we gonna to do?" Phyllis wondered fearfully.

This just in, the cuttlefish has an idea.

"The Moon-Shade Fisherman said that we're not going to be much of a help up there." says Uriel as he then turns to Phyllis. "So we are going to help them out from the water as much as possible."

"How!?" wondered Phyllis.

He swam over to the ship's control panel.

"I think I know how to be useful." said Uriel as he tinkers with the buttons. "It's just a matter of figuring things out. We owe it to Karphernie, and to everyone else in both worlds. So we have to try, Phyllis."

So the cuttlefish tinkers with the ship's controls, until he unwittingly press the power button to start the engines. Although he is fearful of Rune, Uriel screw his courage to the sticking place and he use his wits to take control of the ship. Phyllis too casts her fears aside and she went to lend a helping flipper. Together, they both hover the ship out of the cargo and navigate through the open waters. Meanwhile upon the surface, the beachfront is crowded with families and spring breakers. In the shallow end of the water, a mother is playing with her two daughters. One little girl pretends to be a seafaring sailor and the other girl pretend to be an enchanted mermaid. As the family frolic across the water, they unknowingly were confronted by a terrifying sight as Rune emerges from the water. Standing terrifyingly tall over the mother and her children, Rune glares down upon them.

"BOO!" Rune teased the family.

The mother screams along with her daughters. She quickly grabs her kids and ran out of the water. Other beach goers were all frightened of Rune's appearance and they too ran away from him. The lifeguards left their posts as well, due to their fear of the manly sea beast. As the chaos ran amok on the beach, Rune takes his time strolling from the water to the shoreline, walking barefoot whilst pressing his long webbed toes into the warm sand. Although he could harm everyone around him if he wanted to, but he didn't feel like doing just that. He is focusing on his new mission. And that is to hunt Karphernie and Ereque down. So he continues making his way into the city, terrorizing everybody that is unfortunate to cross paths with him. On the other side of downtown, Noah drove a quarter mile just to pick up Erin from her job. During the time, Julie is starting to warm up a bit to Karphernie, despite the fact that she is still bewildered by the redhead young woman's curiosity of the dry mainlands. At the same time, Ereque is beginning to openly warm up to Noah. Just as he makes a right turn on the West Blaine Street, suddenly a horde of people came running down the street southbound. They were all screaming and panicking, all the while disrupting the traffic hour. The group were surprised by the unexpected phenomenon.

"What the hell is going on here?" Noah wondered with a puzzled expression.

"Wow! That's a lot of people." says Julie as she looks out the window.

"I wonder what they are running from?" wondered Karphernie.

Ereque gaze out the window, towards the direction of where the citizens were running from. From the far left view, he noticed a seven foot tall muscular figure stomping his way up the street, shoving the cars roughly aside with his brute strength. Bystanders gasped in terror as he damage the buildings by throwing cars and other vehicles through the walls. Before the mercenary knew it, that monster man is Rune. And he has tracked their scent all the way from the water to the dry land.

"Oh Neptune's beard! It's him!" shouted Ereque alarmingly.

"How did he find us!?" Karphernie gasped in horror.

"Who found us!?" Julie questioned in shock.

Ereque turns to Noah in an urgent matter.

"Get us out of here now!" Ereque demands Noah.

"What!? Why!?" asked Noah in confusion.

"If you wanna live, JUST DO IT!" yelled Ereque.

So without a slightest of hesitation, Noah puts his van into a four-wheel drive mode, shifts his gear and immediately drove off onto another street. Rune turns his sights on the brown red van. With the use of his newly adapted supervision, he spots Karphernie and Ereque along with two other human beings. The towering beast of a Atlantean man abruptly drops the bus stand and begins to go after the fleeing van.

"A chase, huh?" said Rune with a rough exterior. "Sounds like fun! Well then, ready or not! Here I come!"

With the use of his strong powerful legs, Rune runs after the young man's van. Noah speeds his van down the street, evading the other cars and pedestrians whilst desperately trying to outrun Rune. But he nearly catches up to the van. Although he is having a slight difficulty adapting to the dry environment, due to the winds drying him out, Rune still pushes himself through the modern terrain in an attempt to catch his targets. The bystanders watch in horror as Rune is getting dangerously too close to Noah's van.

"I can't shake him off of us!" Noah panicked. "He's too fast!"

Ereque grabs his weapons out from the backpack. And he then unfastens his seatbelt.

"I'm going to help you out as possibly as I can!" shouted Ereque as he then rolls down the van's window.

"What are you doing!?" Noah questioned the mercenary.

"I'm going to to shoot him off!" says Ereque, readying his hydropower handgun. "You just focus on driving the machine beast!"

He pokes himself out from the passenger's window and starts blasting at the towering aquatic brute. Ereque is buying Noah some time, so he can put the pedal to the metal. Bystanders watch in horror as Rune continues to pursue Noah's van on the road. Rune is feeling quite annoyed with Ereque's attempts to slow him down during the horrific pursuit.

"Your puny little water guns can't hurt me!" yelled Rune under his panting breath. "I will not rest until I kill you, the princess and everyone else around you! MOCK MY WORDS!"

Julie is horrified by this situation. She has never been involved in a terrifying chase before in her life. And let alone, being pursued by an inhuman creature no less. Karphernie too is terrified of this ordeal. As Rune is about to grab hold of Noah's van from the rear bumper, Ereque blasts the traffic signs from above, smacking the monster brute in the face. It stunned him long enough for Noah to quickly zoom away from the scene. As Rune gets up from his minor injury, he finds himself confronted by the Seattle's city police officials. Unfortunately, not even the cops could stop this angry Atlantean tyrant from pursuing his targets. So in a fit of rage, Rune plunders the police cars one by one. Now that all of the cops has fallen, Rune runs off to continue his relentless pursuit. Meanwhile at the Zoo, Erin is just about to finish her shift afterwards. She checked on the aquatic mammals in the aquarium one last time before clocking out. Then she heads out the door after saying her goodbyes to the other employees. The minute she exits out of the Zoo's entrance, Erin was stunned to see a lot of people running away in the opposite direction. The young woman has no idea what was going on. Then suddenly, a recognizable brown red van zoomed up to the curb and abruptly stops to where she stood. It was Noah and the rest of the gang who came to get her.

"Erin! You have to get in! Quick!" shouted Noah in fear.

"Why? What's going on?" Erin wondered in confusion.

"We don't have time to explain!" shouted Ereque. "Get inside the beast right now!"

"Okay! Okay! I'm getting in!" says Erin as she hurriedly hops into her friend's van.

Then Noah doves away from the Zoo in high speed. While inside the van, Erin has no idea what is going on. But before she knew it as well as everyone else in the vehicle, a huge figure rammed through the buildings wall on the North 62nd street behind them. That monstrous figure is Rune. And he turns to notice the van zooming as far away from him as possible.

"I found you, landrats!" yelled Rune as he runs after them. "You will not escape me!"

The brooding Atlantean monster man continues to pursue them at an ungodly high speed. He chased them all the way from the city's grounds to the highways' bridges over the harbor. Rune used his brute strength to ram the other vehicles out of his way while he is right behind Noah's van. Erin gasps in horror as Rune is catching up to them. Underneath the highways and in the harbor's waters, Uriel steers the fighter ship upward bound, with the assistance of Phyllis who voluntarily became his co-pilot. The Solarian ship emerge from the water. The aquatic computer viewed the horrific chase happening on the highways above the harbor. They both knew it was Rune. And he is chasing after the van whilst endangering other people that gets in his way. If Uriel and Phyllis don't do something right away, hundreds of people would be killed during this brute's rampaging pursuit. So Uriel tampered with the ship's panel in hopes of finding something to help them out. He unwittingly press the button that activates the ship's hydro-plasma cannons that immediately locked onto Rune as its target. On the highways above, Rune jumps into the air and makes an attempt to pounce onto Noah's van, to destroy all five of them inside. So without hesitation, Uriel smash the button with his three tentacles. The cannons fired off at Rune, blasting him off the highways. Thus the tyrant fell back into the watery harbor below. Now the gang above is safe to escape forward on the highway due east. During that endeavor, the young adults were all relieved that the chase is over. Noah drives his van off the highway.

"Well that was close." Ereque sighed in relief.

"What the hell was that guy!?" Noah shouted, freaking out.

"That, my friends, is the sea monster we call Rune." says Ereque, putting his guns away in the bag. "And he is one pain in the tail. Trust me. I know."

"But how did he know where to find us?" questioned Karphernie. "And how did he adapt to the surface realm without struggle?"

"Again! I don't know." Ereque answered the princess. "Your guess is good as mines. But what I do know is that it's not safe for us to stay here any longer."

"Ummm you guys mind telling us what was going on here?" Erin asked the two.

"Yeah! We would like to know!" says Julie, chiming in the conversation.

Karphernie sighed heavily and she turns to explain their dire situation to the three humans.

"I'm so sorry that we dragged you guys into this." says Karphernie as she went on. "We didn't think he would actually come to the surface realm, to hunt us down. But it turns out that he can be quite adaptable to his surroundings, even on dry land."

As Karphernie explains herself and also on behalf of Ereque, it was not long before Erin had them all figured out.

"So let me get one thing straight." said Erin as she pieced the puzzle logically. "When you told us that you both are from the ocean, are you guys secretly Atlanteans?"

"Oh no. We're not Atlanteans." Karphernie chuckled awkwardly. "I'm a Solarian Carp meravin. And Ereque is an Moon-Shade fisherman."

"Wait! Say what!?" says Julie in utter shock.

"Oh come on! You must be joking!" Noah says in bewilderment. "There's no way that you two can be from the ocean."

"It is all true actually." said Ereque. "We've been telling you that from the moment we have this fateful encounter one night before."

"Ugh! I can't believe what I'm hearing." Noah mummered quietly.

Julie turns to ask Karphernie a question.

"So if you two are from the water, then may I ask what made you guys want to come up here on dry land?" Julie asked.

"Well part of the reason is that I wanted to see other worlds beyond the pacific waters." Karphernie said humorously. "But however, that's not why we up here."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Erin.

"Allow me to explain the rest of our story." said Ereque as he sets the record straight. "We are only up here to flee from that monster Rune. As you all can see, we are on a mission to the Atlantic Ocean, to the great underwater kingdom of Atlantis. Therefore, we can go ask Aquaman for help. He is the only one who can help us stop Rune. Otherwise, that monster will bring destruction wherever he goes. It's already bad enough that he has conquered Karphernie's kingdom of Solaria. If he wanted to, he will do the same to the other kingdoms. And then maybe the surface realm would be next on his bucket list. No one in either world would be safe, unless we find Aquaman to stop Rune in his tracks."

"Yeah, about that..." says Erin, unsure of the circumstances. "Umm... how do I put this in context?... I don't think you'll find him in Atlantis."

"And why not?" Ereque questioned in a stern tone of voice.

"Well he is with the Justice League at the time." said Erin as she went on. "For the most part, he fights alongside with them. That's where he'll be."

Karphernie has never heard of the Justice League before in her life. She has seen them in the nearly water-corrupted video vlogs back in the sunken laboratory under the Pacific Ocean. But she never knew about them, let alone, even met them. The redhead princess turns to Erin to ask her about the superheroes that she had mentioned.

"What is the Justice League?" asked Karphernie.

"The Justice League is a huge group of superheroes banding together to fight against the injustices of criminals everywhere in the world." said Erin as she continues explaining to the young woman. "The Justice League is lead by the famous heroes of all; Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and so many other superheroes. Even the ones that we never knew about until now."

"And speaking of which, where were they when we were getting chased down by this Rune guy?" wondered Noah. "Shouldn't they be the ones handling him?"

"Well no one has seen them for almost three months." said Erin.

"Really? Three months?" Karphernie wondered. "What happened to them?"

"Who knows? All we know is that they mysteriously disappeared and nobody has heard from them since." said Erin.

"Rumor has it that they're on an otherworldly mission to stop an evil alien invasion." added Julie.

"So there's no hope left?" Karphernie uttered in a quieter tone of voice.

"Don't say that, Karphernie." Ereque chimed in strongly. "We will find him. And he will help us. He's gotta have to. So don't give up just yet."

The group became silent afterwards throughout the ride back to Erin's loft. Once they made it back to her place, they all went to bed early. Not just because of fear, but rather out of exhaustion due to the terrifying chase earlier. Meanwhile, in the waters of the Seattle harbor, Rune tends to his minor wounds from the unknown plasma blast during his pursuit of Karphernie and Ereque. Not only that, he is still struggling to adapt to the dry environment above the water. But he won't let the dry mainlands stop him from completing his conquest. As he emerge from the water for the last time, Rune slowly learns to adapt to his dry surroundings and use his newly powers to hunt them down. Unfortunately for him, he is not the only one who is a threat around here. From the harbor, Rune's actions is being monitored by none other than the pirates, lead by Black Manta himself. He has been observing the Atlantean's movements for a few hours, since when he approach to the beachfront of Seattle. Then he thought to him about this situation. If he can use Rune to aid the attack against Aquaman and his wife Mera, then his conquest would be complete. So Black Manta plans his next move. He would help Rune with his end goals, and Rune would help him destroy Aquaman, once and for all. Black Manta grins ominously as he patiently awaits for the time to meet with Rune when their paths are crossed. Thus the other heroes will be in even more peril in the future than they already have been before.