Chapter 149: More Bad Connections

Tigra came and flew over to land on my outstretched hand. And I waited to hear what my pet had discovered. Instead of Tigra speaking, it was Carl who started to explain.

"They are known by many names, Skin Slippers, Snatchers, Tellariders, and Mind Boggers, but it doesn't matter what you call them, they are evil. They feed off emotions, but fear is the easiest one to create, so that is their preferred method of feeding," Carl explained, and I looked back to the creature that was crawling away.

"What can we do about the people that are trapped?" I asked as I looked at the Bubble Hive exterior shake as the massive creature reached the bottom of the canyon.

"Nothing, if you try to get near that Geo-Sect now that it has been awakened, the Tellariders will force it to go on a rampage. They will most likely kill everyone inside of it because it will try to burrow deep into a mountain, and that will crush the Bubble Hive on its back," Carl shouted, but I was able to hear him more than satisfactory through my speakers.

This was one of the worst feelings, helplessness. I could only watch as the Geo-Sect headed north from where we had just come.

"I tried to use my ability on the creature when it was still close enough, but I got the same thing as the Queen, all blank strings, but they try to go out on the Geo-Sect, but then loop back in. I am not sure what that means yet, but I will try to find out. For now, I am going to drop out of the Drone and go help Serria," Messia said, and I nodded to her.

There was nothing that she could do out here, so I turned back to Carl. I needed to get some more information about these Tellariders.

"What do you know about them? Have you ever dealt with anything like them?" I asked but was surprised at the reaction that I got from the Raccoon man as he spat to the side.

"Oh yeah, all fifteen of us know them very well, and there were the reasons that we were called away from our village. We thought that we had got rid of them, but this is proof that they are not gone. Also, you have mentioned the name Trent before, and it didn't really ring any bells for me, but now it does," Carl said, and I moved the QBee Drone over to start in front of him.

"I am listening, explain please," I asked in my droning voice.

"We had been called to deal with a Tellarider problem, but we didn't know that until we got there. Frankly, none of us would have believed the contact if the man would have said that in the first place because the Tellariders are a myth," Carl explained.

"You mean, were," I corrected, and he nodded to me.

"Yes, where is right, but now I know that they weren't working alone. We had assumed that we had to be working with someone because the Tellariders take too strong of control of the hosts. This makes it nearly impossible for Tellariders to grow unless they have someone who can bring those victims to control. In the case of the SugaBees, they were already isolated, and this Trent person must have left them there with someone important," Carl explained.

"Wait, then who is Trent to you? You said that you didn't recognize his name, but now you do?" I asked in confusion, but Carl waved me off.

"The man that you called Trent went by the name of Travis, and there was a large elephant Folk woman with him at the time, and a girl covered in a cloth. At first, we all assumed he was a good person, and he actually helped us, but then some of our own started to disappear. We had left with twenty people, and by the time we figured out that it was Travis doing it, we had lost five. We were never able to catch him, and now I know why, and it makes me almost sick to my stomach," Carl said, and he did look visibly sick, and I could not blame him.

"Head back inside; I will see you there," I told Carl, and he took a deep breath and sighed.

This was going to be hard on all of the Raccoon Folk, including Rixie. I could tell that Carl had been slowly putting things together as he explained it to me, and by the time he was done, it looked like the realization had just knocked the stuffing right out of him.

I tried to take a deep breath in to sigh, but nothing happened, and that was a bit frustrating but understandable. Not like the Drones needed to breathe, but it was an act that made me feel better when things started to pile up like now.

"I have never even heard of these things," Messia said as she and the other two girls came over, but Miku looked like something was bothering her, and I was sure I knew what it was.

"Go see her. I know that you are worried about her, and we will be in there soon as well. This is just using one problem to open up and another can of them, and I am worried about what effect this is going to have on all of them," I said as I watched Muki's HydroBee took on a more alert posture and left us to circle the ship with the TeslaBee drone.

"You know where it is heading, right?" Xani asked me, speaking up, and I nodded. It did not take a genius to figure that one out. 

"Yes, to the goblins, and so far, we have no way to stop it even if there weren't thousands of people's lives on the line," I said in frustration, but both girls put their hands on my arms.

"I know, this is bad, but there are many of us, and we will figure it out. I suggest that we go talk to Mr. Brains, and ask him to pick it apart if he isn't already doing that, but it most likely is," Messia drones, but I could feel the eye roll in her voice.

That was right, and I would need to stop thinking like I was all alone in this.

"Okay, let's head back inside and get out of here. All we can do for now is to head to the Snake Village and hope that we can get some answers out of our captured Elephant Folk," I said, and then slipped out of the QBee Drone and back into my own body.