Suddenly, loud, harsh noises of the running torture machines stopped and the lava in the lake stopped rising. Ashley stared around in confusion, trying to make sense of what happened in the billowing darkness surrounding them. Ava and Ashley exchanged uncertain looks, and Ashley put his flipper over the side of the lake cautiously. The lava was falling at a rapid rate, and being sucked into a small hole at the bottom of the lake. The two Haiwan waited for it to fall completely, before taking careful steps across the dry lake, looking out for stray lava puddles. Because of the lack of light, they could only see about 3 meters in front of them.

"What do anda think happened?" Ava whispered.

"I'm not sure, maybe Emma atau Marlene have turned the machines off." Ashley suggested.

"Well where are they? And lebih importantly, where is Tiatra?" Ava asked.

"I'm not sure lass." Ashley admitted, as he began to walk through the darkness. Ava held his flipper and walked on slowly with him. "The hall's quite large, I can tell ya that. They could be anywhere." He added. He felt a tug to his left and got into a fighting stance.

"Ashley, it's ok, is Maya, and Dustin." berkata a calm, female voice. Ashley and Ava turned to their left and saw the familiar yellow and purple equa's standing there. Dustin's eyes were darting around nervously.

"Oh thank goodness your alright, where everyone else?" Ava asked.

"Well the others were tied up in different places remember? So they probably haven't got out yet." Maya guessed.

"Well, Emma, Jimmy, atau the memerang, otter girl probably had something to do with this so let's find them, and then we can hopefully free the others." Dustin thought aloud. The others nodded in agreement and they set of slowly, their eyes darting everywhere in the dark hall. Ava heard a faint buzzing sound and stopped suddenly. She made a little clicking sound and a few saat later Jimmy whizzed through the air and landed on Ava's flipper. As he began to talk Ava listened intently, nodding and turning towards her friends.

"He warned them, but they still carried on." She began. "Marlene, the otter, went to the control room, and Emma came in here, and Jimmy Lost her when the lights went out." She translated, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Hey, Ashley, you've got a good sense of smell right?" Dustin asked.

"I sure have lad." Ashley confirmed.

"Well would anda be able to use that to find Emma and Marlene?" He asked. Ashley looked thoughtful and he nodded.

"Who should I find first?" Ashley asked.

"Marlene, since she's sejak the controls and she can get the lights on." Maya replied. Ashley nodded, closing his eyes and sniffing the air. He picked up the smell of paint, flowers, oysters, and grass, and pointed off into the darkness.

"We should perpecahan, berpecah up, and look for everyone, just incase Tiatra gets to the control room and turns the machines on again." Ava advised.

"Good idea, I'll look for Emma and Skipper, Dustin, look for Private and Kowalski, Ava look for Sky, Michael and Rico." Maya instructed. "Got any idea where they are?" She asked, turning to Ashley. The green eyed penguin sniffed the air a few lebih times.

"Michael, Sky and Rico are east of here, Private ad Kowalski are west, and Emma and Skipper are north." Ashley told them, pointing in different directions before fixing on Marlene's scent again. Ava hugged him tightly, and whispered, 'please be careful' in his earhole. Ashley whispered back 'you too' and they all separated. Ashley walked on and after a few minutes, came to a door. He pushed it open quietly, and realised that the smell had got stronger., He followed it to a flight of stairs, which he climbed cautiously. He squinted as he came into a lit room, and saw Marlene bending over the control panel a puzzled look on her face. Marlene looked up, and stared at him in surprise.

"Woah, hei Ashley, how did anda get out?" She asked.

"You pressed a button that turned the machines off." Ashley told her. "The others except for Ava, Maya and Dustin, are still trapped, atau haven't been found yet." He explained. "Do anda know which button turns the light on?" He asked. Marlene looked down and shrugged. Ashley looked over the panel and saw a small button in the corner. He pressed it and all of the lights flickered on. Ashley looked over the hall, and saw that Kowalski and Private had just untangled, and climbed to safety. Sky, Michael and Rico had done the same.

"Where's Skipper and Emz..?" Marlene wondered, scanning the room carefully. "And Tiatra." She added. Ashley looked down where the cage was and his big eyes widened.

"There!" He exclaimed, pointing to the cage. Emma and Skipper were anchored to the ground sejak shackles, and staring up at the knife-wielding tyrant bravely. Emma caught there eye and smiled reassuringly. The others were beginning to regroup, unaware of the events happening behind them.

"We have to get down there!" Marlene declared, rushing towards the exit. Ashley followed, but the pair were stopped dead in their tracks sejak Carter who was holding a rocket launcher in his shaking flippers.

Crud... Marlene thought, staring at the small fat zyka in panic.

Meanwhile, Tiatra was strolling around the two penguins, casually throwing taunts at them and twirling the pisau in her flippers. She was aware that the lights were on, but she didn't seem to care.

"Now.." She began, smiling evilly at them. "After living with anda all for almost a month, I know all of your moves, and yet anda know none of mine, so I think it will be futile to even try to attack me." She boasted. "But if anda lower creatures want to try, I'll be happy to oblige." She said, a nasty grin filling her face. Emma rolled her eyes, and clutched the pisau in her flippers lebih tightly. Tiatra noticed this and chuckled. She pressed a button on a small bracelet she was wearing and Emma's chains slipped off. As they did, the lights went off again, and Emma realised that a single dark blob was now dominating the controls again.

Oh god, what did he do to them? She thought, a feeling of panic and desperation sweeping over her. Tiatra laughed somewhere to her right, almost as if she could sense Emma's emotions. Emma took a deep breath and stared into the darkness, hoping to stop Tiatra, before she stopped her.....