This article is not my original creation. It was from "Mysterious Universe" website. Unfortunately the site has since been taken down. I was able to find the wayback machine (internet archive backup) for this article. However it is not a reliable permanent solution, hence I decided to post the duplicate here as well.
https://web.archive.org/web/20210507065339/https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/08/bright-colors-strange-entities-and-baffling-vanishings/
Content of the original article:

Bright Colors, Strange Entities, and Baffling Vanishings

Brent Swancer

August 7, 2019

There are numerous cases throughout history of people just seeming to step off the face of the earth to vanish into thin air. We are usually left with only scattered clues, grasping at theories as to what has happened to these unfortunate souls, but in some cases it appears that there is a correlation of sorts. Throughout a great number of these accounts of people who have seemingly blinked out of existence there is the simple but nagging clue that they were wearing brightly colored clothing. It seems to be at first a meaningless quirk, but the number of reports of the mysteriously vanished and bright articles of clothing has increasingly become something that can’t be easily ignored, although the answers as to why might be forever elusive.
A very strange case popped up on Whitley Streiber’s site, Unknown Country, concerning a witness calling himself Alan Lamers and his very unusual, otherworldy story. Lamers claims that he was working on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, which is where it first came to his attention that a great many people were said to have gone into the jungles of the area to vanish without a trace. He was first told about this as he visited a small speck of a village in the district of Sandu Batu, in South Sulawesi, where he was warned to only wear clothing that was white or black in color, with no bright colors whatsoever. In particular he was warned not to wear anything that was yellow, and that black was the best one to go with. Odd indeed, but it would get odder still.
When Lamers pressed as to why he should not wear bright colors or anything with yellow on it, the villagers told him that people who did so had a bad habit of disappearing off the face of the earth. Weirder still, sometimes the people would reappear dazed and confused, not remembering anything of their strange incident and missing the articles of clothing with the offending colors. As to why, the villagers had no explanation. After hearing of this, Lamers and his companions warily wore all black when they trekked out into the jungle to investigate some alleged illegal logging in the area, but one of the men apparently broke the rules, and he explains:

One of my friends, who is a Bugis-Makassar, didn’t listen or understand the warning and wore yellow socks. We did our tour and returned. He was strangely quiet. That night he became extremely ill. I had never seen a person projectile vomit that hard. He had an extreme fever also. We nursed him and about a day later he returned to his healthy self. Then he told us what happened. He said something had bitten him on his right legs calf and then his thigh. He showed us the marks. They were huge scratches. He said he could not see what was attacking him. He said he did not want to tell us what happened because he was embarrassed. The villagers stood around us with these knowing looks while we looked at the marks. they said he was very lucky. Usually people disappear. I was stunned.

What was going on here, and what in the world does the color yellow have to do with it? It is unclear, but Lamers claims that he would get at least some theories during his stay. He tells the account of a woman friend of his whose brother had gone hiking in the mountains along with four others, after which they all vanished. After an intensive search finally the brother was found, alive but in a dazed state and looking undernourished and skeletal. When asked about what had happened to them the brother said he could not remember, but whatever it was had obviously and visibly traumatized him. No trace of the others was ever found. Lamers asked his friend what she thought had happened to them, and he says of her response and his reactions to it:

She said it was the Jin. Jin is Arabic for demon. She said many many people have disappeared in the mountains because of the Jin. I asked my engineer friend who I worked with about this early today. He said it happens often and reminded me of Wala Wala the village we had gone to. Entire cultures have developed around this problem. They wear only black because they believe this allows them to travel through the jungle undetectable by whatever it is that takes these people. There is something taking these people Whitley. Something terrible and evil in Sulawesi. The people of Sulawesi have come to terms with it and have tried to adapt themselves to deal with whatever it is. It has gone on long enough to bend culture. I will continue to investigate what this is.

Is that what this was? A Jin? This makes sense considering that the population of the region is around 85% Muslim, but could there be any other explanation? He apparently did follow up on all of this, managing to get more information out of the locals, as well as from the lone survivor from that doomed trek as his memory came trickling back to him about that fateful hike. However, his story seems to make no real sense, and is so bizarre it leaves more questions than answers. Lamers tells Strieber of this additional information:

I found out he kept seeing what the Bugis call Jin Kurcaci. It means little demon people. These things do what is called “penculikan” or abduction. No one knows why they do this. But sometimes the people come back after a bit. The people or creatures who do this have a small nose and their eyes are small and black, but their mouths are very broad and when they smile it is very large compared to the rest of their face. He could not remember the color of their skin. I asked for a picture to be drawn. He managed a crude happy face with a nose consisting of a single line and a huge grimace.
The boy was the only one who could see them out of the five. He kept seeing a lot of them but when he would try to show the others one of the four who disappeared could see them. He also saw a strange animal he could not recognize. These animals are the size of a horse with huge antlers. He said he saw herds of them. He could not understand where they came from or why there were so many. They not an animal indigenous to the area. There is no such known animal that big in Sulawesi. Apparently this is a widespread problem.

Is this Jin, some sort of evil forest people, or just folklore? What is the significance of the colors and why must people wear black? Does this somehow draw these forces in, and maybe they are attracted by these colors? It is very interesting to note that some of the most bizarre vanishings on record are theorized to have had some link to bright colors, according to missing persons investigator David Paulides, author of The Missing 411 series of books.
Paulides has researched strange vanishings all over the world and has compiled a sort of list of criteria that seem to be common to many of the cases. Examples include people disappearing practically right under the noses of nearby friends or family, bodies turning up without shoes or proper outdoor clothing, children who have gone missing only for their bodies to turn up in inaccessible areas where they could not possibly have climbed to on their own, belongings or clothing left behind often neatly folded or arranged, bodies that have turned up in areas that have already been thoroughly searched or are out of reach, and people who have disappeared without leaving a single scrap of evidence behind. There are also the fact that many of these disappearances seem to happen near bodies of water or where berries happen to be growing, that with bodies which are found the cause of death is often unclear or difficult to determine, that there is a lack of tracks, and that search dogs often cannot pick up the scent or are led to places such as sheer walls where no one could reasonably scale. Often people who were with the missing explain that they just happened to get separated somehow without being able to pinpoint when or how. Then there is the curious detail that many of the vanished just so happened to have been wearing bright colors.
This has been seen in many vanishings covered by Paulides, with perhaps the most well-known being the disappearance of 6-year old Dennis Martin. On June 14, 1969, Dennis was on a camping and hiking trip to the Great Smoky Mountains when he and his family stopped off at a grassy mountain highland meadow and popular stop-off point along the Appalachian Trail know as Spence Field. As the adults sat out on the grass chatting, Dennis, his brother, and two other boys on the trip thought it would be amusing to play a prank on their parents. They decided that they would split up, go out into the woods, and then simultaneously jump out from different directions to startle the adults in what was meant to be just harmless fun.
Three of the boys went one way and Dennis, who was the youngest, went the other. The reason he had been chosen to be on his own was that he was wearing a highly visible bright red shirt. This is something to remember in relation to this article, the bright colors. Just as planned, the three older boys jumped out and scared the adults, but then the men asked where Dennis was. Since the other boys had seen him just a few minutes earlier, they assumed that he had merely missed his cue and so they waited for him to jump out of the trees as well, but he never appeared.
Dennis’ father, Bill Martin, went out to get his son, expecting that he would be there hiding in the bushes as he had been instructed, but an immediate search of the area showed no signs of the boy, and calls into the woods went unanswered. Increasingly worried, Bill and Dennis’ grandfather, Clyde Martin, hiked out in different directions farther and farther from the place where the boy had last been seen and still they found nothing. Park Rangers were notified and a search was launched that would last until nightfall, when heavy rain began to come down along with thunder, which hampered efforts to find the boy and the search was called off until the following day with still no trace of where Dennis had gone off to.
In a rather ominous twist, a mere hours after Dennis had gone missing a family named the Keys reported that they had been hiking around 6 miles from Spence Field when they had heard a boy’s scream. The son also claimed to have seen movement in a bush which he at first had thought to be a bear, but turned out to be a man walking in the woods with something apparently slung over his shoulder. As spooky as this may seem, authorities determined that the location was too far away from Spence Field to have possibly have anything to do with Dennis within the time frame of events.
In the following days the search efforts would quickly grow in size to hundreds of people scouring the area, including park rangers, locals, volunteers, the FBI, National Guard, and even Green Berets and psychics, along with bloodhounds and helicopters, and meanwhile the news of the disappearance had started making major national headlines. Since Dennis was described as a robust, healthy boy with plenty of hiking experience it was thought that he was alive and would be found in short order, but continuing heavy rains flooding roads, as well as thick fogs, made efforts difficult. For their part, Dennis’s parents posted a hefty reward for any information leading to finding their son. Dennis Martin has never been found, and not a trace of what happened to him has ever been uncovered. Interestingly, this all fits several of Paulides’ criteria, including the brightly colored clothing.
Similarly there is the case of 4-year-old Alfred Beilhartz, who in the summer of 1938 was on a fishing and camping trip with his family at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. As the boy and his parents were taking a hike along a river, little Alfred, who was wearing a brightly colored shirt, suddenly simply disappeared without explanation. One moment he had been there walking in a line behind them, and the next the parents had turned around to find he was gone without a trace. There had been no shout or sign of distress, and all calls to him went unanswered. He had seemingly just ceased to exist.
Although the parents claimed that the boy had gone nowhere near the water, authorities were nevertheless convinced that he had fallen into the river, and immediately went about blocking off the river so that it could be thoroughly searched and so that his body would not float too far away. A 6-mile stretch of the river where Alfred had vanished was searched and dredged for 5 full days without turning up any sign of the boy, and when bloodhounds were brought in they oddly tracked his scent to around 500 feet uphill from where his parents had been when he had disappeared, which was odd considering he had supposedly gone missing as he was walking behind them. Also strange was that allegedly the bloodhounds followed the trail for some time before reaching a fork and suddenly stopping and simply lying down, an odd behavior for trained scent dogs to display, and also strange because it seemed that the trail had just abruptly stopped to vanish just as surely as the boy had.
Even more bizarre than this was an odd report that came in from some hikers in the area in the early stages of the search, the very day after Alfred had vanished. The hikers, who were a couple, had been on Old Fall River Road about 6 miles away over rugged terrain and around 3,000 feet higher from where Alfred had disappeared, and at the time had had no idea that there was a missing boy in the area, yet they reported seeing a rather worrying sight. They claimed that they had seen a young boy perched up upon a high ridge in an area ominously called “The Devil’s Nest,” near the top of Mt. Chaplin. The hikers reported that the boy had been forlornly sitting alone up there and had then suddenly moved out of sight, which the hikers mysteriously allegedly said looked as if he were being “jerked back.” At the time they could not figure out how such a young boy would be out there in the remote wilderness by himself or how he could have possibly climbed up onto that formidably high ridge. According to the hikers, as soon as they had gotten home and seen the news, they had realized that the boy they had seen was the missing Alfred Beilhartz.
Authorities acted on the tip and made the journey out to the Devil’s Nest, a perilous hike through thick, unforgiving forested terrain littered with rough brush and dense trees, and there at the top of the looming ridge they could find no trace of the boy. Considering the difficulty of the terrain, the elevation, and the steep, treacherous climb up to the ridge on which the hikers had claimed to have seen the boy, park rangers came to the conclusion that it would have been impossible for the boy to have made the hike out there in the timeframe involved on his own, and that he could not have possibly climbed the ridge alone without specialized climbing equipment and experience. There are several weird details about this case. How did Alfred manage to just vanish right under his parents’ noses without making a sound? What happened to his scent trail and why did the bloodhounds following him act so oddly? How could Alfred hike all the way up Mt. Chaplin, trudging 6 miles and 3,000 feet through unforgiving perilous terrain in such a short time, and then climb up onto that high ridge by himself? What did the hikers mean that he was “jerked back”? We may never know, and Alfred Beilhartz has never been found. Oddly enough, it is reported that young little Beilhartz had been wearing brightly colored clothing at the time of his vanishing.
Such cases are numerous, and we also have the case of 3-year-old Jaryd Atadero, who in October of 1999 was staying with his father at a Christian retreat lodge at Poudre Canyon, Colorado. On October 2, Jaryd was out with 12 of the Christian group members on a hike along the Big South Trail when he somehow got ahead of the group and talked to some fishermen along the Cache la Poudre River, asking them if they’d seen any bears, to which they replied that the boy should get back with the others. Those fishermen would be the last ones to see Jaryd Atedero alive. In the wake of his disappearances a massive search using bloodhounds and aircraft was unable to find any trace of the boy, and it was largely assumed that he had fallen into the frigid waters of the river and drowned.
It would not be until 4 years later that he would finally be found, when on June 4, 2003 his remains were discovered up in a remote, inaccessible area up a steep incline about 500 feet above the trail he had vanished on. This is where the case gets weird. On the dead boy’s cranium were found a series of odd scratches that were assumed to be from a mountain lion, yet big cat experts pointed out that a cougar would have torn at the sweater and body near the neck and stomach, damage that was absent. Indeed, there were no other apparent injuries on the body. Paulides also claims that he spoke to forensics experts on the case who told him that, although the source of the scratches could not be determined, they were not from any known animal. Other odd details about the body were that the boy’s clothes had been turned inside out, and a single tooth from his mouth had been found placed upon a nearby log, strangely not overgrown with moss or vegetation considering that it had presumably been sitting there for 4 years. The clothes and shoes themselves were also surprisingly brightly colored and new looking for supposedly having been out in the elements for so long. And there is a key word here, they were brightly colored.
Adding to this strangeness surrounding the case of Jaryd Atadero are allegations made by the boy’s father, Allyn Atadero, that authorities were very secretive and dishonest about the whole incident, and seemed to be almost intentionally botching the investigation. One example is when the Atadero family was allegedly threatened with arrest if they tried to go off snooping around on the Big South Trail, and although it was claimed by authorities that the trail was the only way in or out of the canyon, this turned out to be a falsehood, as Allyn found records of various other entry and exit points. Another oddity was that Allyn claimed that he had discovered that the police were using his own shorts as a scent sample for the dogs rather than those of his son, and that when confronted about this glaring error in procedure they got confrontational and irritated, allegedly going so far as to threaten to call the search off. Allyn would also claim that although some strange hair samples had been collected from his son’s sweater, no test results were ever released and he was merely told that they were neither human nor mountain lion, but that he “shouldn’t worry about it.” To top it all off, Paulides also claims that authorities were highly uncooperative with his own investigation into the case, and that the FBI had refused to get involved. What in the world happened to Jaryd Atadero? Was this an animal attack, a kidnapping, or something more? It seems we may never know.
Mysterious cases like this go on and on, with that common thread going through them that they were all wearing brightly colored clothing at the time of their bizarre vanishings. Is this, as David Paulides and Lamers say, a determining factor in such vanishings? If so, then why should this be? Are the colors somehow attractive or maddening to whatever forces are taking these people? And now that we are on it what forces would those be? Is this extraterrestrials, evil spirits of some kind, Bigfoot, some sort of other mysterious animal, or what? One very interesting theory that has made the rounds is that perhaps some sort of large, unidentified winged beast is behind it all, perhaps its attention drawn by the bright colors. One commenter on our very own Mysterious Universe has said of this and how it relates to such vanishings:

I’m pretty sure I know what it is & I’m sure it’s also responsible for some of the National Forest missing adults. If these disappearances have anything to do with what I saw in 2006 in Colorado (less than one mile outside of Pike National Forest), then it’s likely that the same thing is responsible for the cattle mutilations as well:
It’s a bird & it was massive; I startled it off my roof by stepping outside onto my front porch in the middle of the night. I had no idea there was anything there but when the door slammed behind me I heard a “scrabbling” sound; as if there were a small rockslide directly above me.I covered my head with my arms & tried to duck under the eaves when I heard a rippling sound. Almost exactly like the sound one of those huge flags make when a sudden strong gust of wind unfurls it.
Then, there was a boom. A percussive boom that my eardrums felt, to the point where I started to lose my balance & fall backwards. That’s when a huge shadow passed overhead. From 1.5 stories above me, clearing 50ft tall tree in the front yard. The shape of the shadow most resembled a vulture & I can’t conceive of the wingspan being less than 20ft.As it glided up it … screamed. A pulsating croak? Not sure quite how to describe it. It was not a sound I have ever heard before. Oddly; it didn’t seem to have flapped its wings again.I refused to think about it for about a year because it was so ridiculously improbable. When an inspection of the roof occurred, the comment was “It looks like Freddy Krueger attacked your roof!” Along with the gashes, there were a few puncture holes as well. So I started researching & haven’t stopped.

It is of course possible that the presence of bright colors could just be a coincidence. Perhaps it does not matter, and has simply been assigned value by Paulides and others, but then how would that explain the clear link supposedly conveyed to Lamers by the people of that remote area of Indonesia and their aversion to entering the jungle wearing anything other than white or preferably black? Is there any connection to be had here, and if so what is it? It is certainly interesting to note the similarities between Lamers’ stories on the bright colors and people reappearing with no memory of what had happened and the very similar Paulides cases in which the same thing happens. Are there mysterious forces drawn to these colors that somehow make these people disappear? There is no way to know, and it seems to lie beyond our comprehension, but until we do understand maybe don’t wear brightly colored clothing next time you are on that hike through the woods.

If you don’t know, return to reverie was an ambitious 6 chapter fan project theorizing on what happened at reverie years before it was actually revealed. Since the actual reverie flashback has just concluded I figured i’d go back and see what predictions they got right and what they got wrong
If i myself got something wrong please feel free to correct me.

Chapter 1

God Valley being The Emerald City that Bellamy mentioned: Unconfirmed
God Valley holding the “most powerful devil fruit”: Unconfirmed
Whitebeard betraying Rocks at god valley: Unconfirmed
Shanks talking to the gorosei about blackbeard: Unconfirmed
Dragon being at reverie: Disconfirmed
Dragon having conquors: Unconfirmed
Correct predictions: 0
Unconfirmed predictions: 5
Predictions proven wrong: 1

Chapter 2

Bonney and Sabo meeting and teaming up: Confirmed, Though it was less direct of a team up in the manga
Bonney being the queen of the sorbet kingdom and mother to Kuma: disconfirmed, Bonney is Kuma’s daughter
Kuma actually being an evil tyrant before joining the revolutionaries: unconfirmed
Vegapunk being a secret revolutionary: disconfirmed, vegapunk was friends with dragon but dragon was too poor
The pacifista being the revolutionaries’ trump card against the WG thanks to kuma: unconfirmed, it’s still not exactly clear why kuma was turned
Kuma can be saved: unconfirmed
The main objective of the revolutionaries at reverie was to assassinate the 5 elder stars: disconfirmed. Sabo did try but their main goal was to destabilize the economy
Vegapunk can replicate any devil fruit: confirmed he can replicate most fruits
Vegapunk replicated Kizaru’s fruit: disconfirmed he cannot replicate a logia
Powerful Pacifista’s with Devil fruits being the reason the WG is ok with losing the warlords: completely confirmed, though the lunarian aspect was not predicted
There being some kind of great purge from the gorosei and Imu: disconfirmed, there was lulusia but that was just a one time thing for the moment
The ancient weapons being the children of joyboy: i think this is unconfirmed since the ancient weapons are still so mysterious
Devil Fruits coming from Eve, the Devil Fruit Tree: i think unconfirmed, vegapunk never really said how new devil fruits come into being, just the reason that they do
Correct predictions: 3
Unconfirmed predictions: 5
Predictions proven wrong: 6

Chapter 3

Sabo busting in and unsuccessfully trying to assassinate the 5 elder stars: confirmed
The revolutionaries talking to the reverie kings to try and convince them to switch sides: disconfirmed
Dragon being a former celestial dragon and a roger pirate: both unconfirmed
The 5 elder stars actually being fighters: confirmed, though what those powers are are still unconfirmed
Dragon being a wind logia: unconfirmed
Dragon oneshotting the gorosei all at once: obviously did not happen
Dragon having a 10 billion bounty: unconfirmed
Correct predictions: 2
Unconfirmed predictions: 4
Predictions proven wrong: 2

Chapter 4

The revolutionary commander’s having individual fights with CP0: disconfirmed
Every ennies lobby CP9 member being at reverie: confirmed
Karusu being a tar logia: he is a logia, but he is a soot logia, Disconfirmed
Awakened logia’s having their elements come to life: unconfirmed
Correct predictions: 1
Unconfirmed predictions: 1
Predictions proven wrong: 2

Chapter 5

Imu having a water logia: unconfirmed, it’s unclear what power they have
Greenbull having a plant logia: confirmed
Kuma losing his fruit powers: disconfirmed
Lucci being strong enough to compete with top tiers: confirmed, though he was presented as much stronger in the actual manga
Sword being an secret organization that opposes the government: disconfirmed
Fujitora and greenbull being members of sword: disconfirmed
Correct predictions: 2
Unconfirmed predictions: 0
Predictions proven wrong: 4

Chapter 6

Sabo being framed as a murderer in the papers: confirmed, but that was for cobra instead of the celestial dragons
Shakky being a former rocks pirate: unconfirmed
Kureha having received the eternal youth surgery: unconfirmed
The warlords bounties being restored and being quite high: confirmed
Buggy having an especially high bounty: confirmed
Mihawk having a bounty of 3.69 billion: confirmed, technically it’s 3.59 but that’s still very close
Ceaser being kidnapped by black beard: disconfirmed, he’s with judge
Kuzan being the tenth titanic captian: Confirmed.
Kuzan being an undercover member of blackbeard’s crew: disconfirmed, he seems to genuinely have joined BB for his own reasons
Enel returning: unconfirmed
Cobra meeting Imu: confirmed
Voice Of All Things is a kind of haki: unconfirmed
Joyboy using the “mark of the sun”: correct, though for very different reasons
Joyboy had a wife that turned on him: unconfirmed
D Stands for Dawn: unconfirmed
Joyboy gave a prophecy he would return through the will of D: unconfirmed
The ability to command Giant Elephants and the Florian Triangle Monsters are also ancient weapons: im pretty sure this is disconfirmed
The world was the all blue before the void century: unconfirmed
The grand line, calm belt and redline were created by ancient weapons: unconfirmed
water 7’s pluton was a ship designed to defeat the actual pluton: I think this counts as unconfirmed
Vivi is pluton: disconfirmed, pluton is under wano
Roger and Rocks both had inherted will from joyboy and joyboy’s big enemy: unconfirmed
Roger was “too late” because the ancient weapons had not yet reincarnated: unconfirmed
Dragon is joyboy: disconfirmed, luffy is
Rocks is imu: disconfirmed, imu’s identity is still a bit unclear but it’s pretty clear they’re not rocks
Imu kills cobra: confirmed
Roger’s (and luffy’s) dream is to be the freest person on the seas and to create an age where everyone is free to explore the world: unconfirmed
Correct predictions: 8
Unconfirmed predictions: 13
Predictions proven wrong: 6
Total Correct predictions: 16
Total Unconfirmed predictions: 28
Total Predictions proven wrong: 21

Acts I to III are available in my previous posts. This act is the longest of all and thus, I've been forced to divide it into two posts. Make sure you're comfortable. Enjoy your read!
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Act IV: The Clouds Burst (1/2)

Maisie's evasion
While Ramsay is secretly covering them in the control room, Wu and Theo enters Katia Lesser's lab and with Rod Drummond's unexpected help (he's tired of working for Biosyn and intend to get out of the valley), they neutralize the scientist and frees Maisie from her cell. They then cross the other secret labs within Biosyn's Citadel and we several interesting elements:
- Dissected animals are seen in one of the labs while others are suffering medical experiments.
- In one of the sections, there are ten rooms. Nine of them are empty and in the tenth one, there are nothing but locusts, which surprise Theo. However, Drummond points out they don't exactly look like ordinary locusts (they're only slightly bigger than modern locusts. They could even be portrayed by real locusts (a bit enlarged by visual tricks) if this was a film) and noticing Wu's guilty look, the two men and Maisie realize he had a role in their creation). But he doesn't have the time to give explanations about those locusts.
- Another room has a window which overlooks a large dark bunker-like hall. In its darkness, they glimpse the shape of a large theropod with raised dorsal spines and crocodile-like scutes but when he sees the creature a bit more clearly, Drummond says something like "Those idiots made their cheap Godzilla knockoff!", recognizing the creature from the short film he mentioned to Wu in the Drinking Confession scene. He calls the mysterious theropod an "Ugly bastard" and a perversion of real dinosaurs.
After the labs, they head for the metro station just as planned but due to his lame leg (in TRQ, it was pierced by one of the Indoraptor's claws), Wu can't go with them and decides to stay in order to win some time for them. He and Maisie have a last look/exchange, with the teenager finally showing Wu some genuine respect and gratitude. Wu gives Theo a flash drive, urging him to send its content to Guillaume Vuillier of the WDMC as it contains the evidences of a scourge Biosyn intend to release soon. They separate, with Wu going in the opposite direction.
While the guards are chasing Wu, Maisie, Theo and Rod enter the metro and picks one of the stations on the eastern side of Auronzo (actually one of the observation towers). The metro leave the Citadel, following the valley loop. However, the metro system was badly designed and it can only follow the loop in a clockwise direction, forcing them to make a considerable detour and waste precious minutes.
Wu is soon caught and Dodgson's arrival in the control room prevents Ramsay from further helping the fugitives. Seeing one of the metro heading east, Dodgson has it stopped halfway of its journey and orders the guards to go inside the tunnels and bring back Maisie. Aware that Wu betrayed him, Dodgson takes a tablet and activates a certain Prometheus protocol.
Underground, Maisie, Theo and Drummond are forced to leave the metro and they try to find an exit before the guards can catch them. They find a door on the side and breaking it, they enter another smaller tunnel. However, the ground is slippery and they fall, descending further down into the darkness.
When the guards sent in the tunnels tell Dodgson that they lost Maisie, the CEO has a fit of anger.
The old amber mines
After their fall, Maisie, Theo and Drummond discover that they're in the old amber mines, which Biosyn exploited until their depletion, and search for an exit. Drummond also mentions that the valley's underground is like a cheese and that he wouldn't be surprised if some tunnels lead outside of the valley, which would explain all the incidents which occurred in the past year. During their crossing of the mines, they find several human skeletons or remains. It's implied that it's all the undesirable people who trespassed into the valley (governments' and rival companies' spies, anti-Biosyn activists...).
Should the giant temnospondyl be scrapped from the frozen lake sequence, it's probably going to be included here, as there are underground rivers and reservoirs by the mines.
Aviano Air Base
At Aviano Air Base, at the very gates of the Alps, Jessica Bigelow boards a US air force helicopter which takes her to Auronzo.
Prometheus Protocol
Wu is brought to Dodgson, which shows him a screen. Wu is aghast as it's a Twitter feed with the following hashtag #MadScientistWu, which is trending. Dodgson then explains that he had a file containing evidences of Wu's ethical misbehaviour (his work on the Indominus and Indoraptor, and especially the use of human DNA in their making ..) be made and ready to be sent to the media at once should he betray him. His reputation being destroyed for good, Wu breaks down and Dodgson orders the guards to bring him to Dr Lesser's lab and put him in Maisie's cell. Several characters (Ramsay, Pellegrino, Chapman, Everett...) watch Wu being led away by the guards.
With Mia Everett being nearby, Dodgson declares that Biosyn shouldn't have accepted a single InGen employees within its ranks has they have been nothing but traitors and burdens, before announcing to Mia he finally decided to pull the plug on her research program, as her rival and his team have much more promising results and shall be soon covered in glory.
Raiding and Betrayal
While the afternoon reaches its end, Owen, Dougal and Kayla end up near one of the Sanctuary's seven observation towers. There's no one inside and Kayla suggest entering it to raid some of the supplies it contains. She also tells her two companions that there is a metro station beneath each of the towers, stations connected to the Citadel by the tunnels. Thinking they could infiltrate the Citadel by those tunnels, Dougal agrees with her plan and the trio enters the tower and steal the needed supplies but a drone has spotted them. Just as they are about to follow the tunnels, they notice flashlights, those of incoming Biosyn guards. They climb back to the top of the tower but a security vehicle parks in front of the building and other guards step out of it. Surrounded, the trio prepare for a siege inside the tower but just as the guards are about to enter, Kayla points her weapon on Dougal's head and tells Owen to drop his or his colleague dies.
From the nearby forest, Claire witnesses the capture of her two colleagues and watches the Biosyn Security vehicle taking Kayla and the prisoners to the Citadel while the sound of helicopters approaching can be heard.
The board arrives
The helicopter(s) transporting Biosyn's board of directors lands on the Citadel's helipad and its passengers (which include Nathan Quinn and Zoe Murdoch) are welcomed by Dodgson and Ramsay.
Obstinacy
At the same time, Jessica Bigelow is brought to the Citadel and asks to see Dodgson but Murdoch stands in her way, claiming he's very busy. The CIA agent insists and Dodgson finally listens to what she has to say. But he wants to carry on with his event whatever happens, but reassure her as for Biosyn's most important research: They're already on a hard-drive in his office.
The cells
We cut to Owen and Dougal as they are locked up in a cell in the Security HQ. Kayla is standing outside, next to Pellegrino who's interrogating the two men about their mission and Claire's whereabouts. The smuggler reveals to the two WDMC agents that powerful friends suggested to her to let herself be arrested by the Italians as they expected they'll use her as a Trojan horse. She adds that there's nothing personal, she's just thinking about herself. While Pellegrino carries on with her questions, Kayla leaves the Security HQ and meets Bigelow by its exit (telling the audience that Kayla's powerful friends are the CIA). She asks her about their next moves and the CIA agent answers that the two of them will leave the valley with Dodgson and his escort. Back in the cell, Owen and Dougal hope Claire will succeed.
Unleashed dragon
As she's nearing the Citadel, Claire is spotted by a patrol of mercenaries or a drone. They chase after her and in her flight, she ends up in an enclosed part of the Sanctuary with several paddocks and cages. Several of them contain animals and it's implied that it's where Biosyn keeps those it just acquired or bred before releasing them in the valley. One of the cages contains a tyrannosaur and just as the mercenaries are about to catch her, Claire releases the predator and the mercenaries panic, triggering the rex's attack. It kills them before turning towards Claire, who's crouched and not making a single move. The rex sniffs her lengthily and Claire notices it's the animal she saw the day before, which left the droppings she used to mask her scent... The rex leaves Claire alone and disappears in the woods, heading north while Claire heads in the opposite direction. On the way, she sees a mysterious large theropod (she and the audience have visual obstacles which prevents them from clearly seeing it but we know it's the one from the bunker under the Citadel) being transported towards the western part of the valley.
In the besiegers' camp
While the sun is setting, a meeting is held in one of the besiegers camp's tents. Among the attendees are Vuillier, Nyamu, Viscontini, the leader of the Carabinieri Colonel Orlando Pasolini, and those of the Italian and Austrian Special Forces (and Pazzi through videoconference as he's still in Rome). They're talking about Biosyn's defenses and forces, the species which might be encountered in the Sanctuary, eventual negotiation strategies, the WDMC agents' mission, the grey guards who are in the valley and currently heading to the Citadel... Argument breaks out as some (like Pazzi) advocates for an immediate offensive, to surprise Dodgson and prevent him from fleeing or preparing some nasty surprise, while others want to wait until dawn, to let time for the grey guards and the eventual surviving WDMC agents to accomplish their mission in addition of avoiding sending men in a valley full of deadly animals in the dark of the night. Pazzi is for an immediate offensive and gives his blessing to colonel Pasolini.
Worried about the fate of his agents, Vuillier contacts the grey guards, which are already heading to the Citadel, following a path in the uplands.
The US spies
From a nearby wood, some people are seen spying the camp and northern entrance of Biosyn's lands. We cut to a meeting room inside the CIA's headquarters at Langley where Gibbon and his colleagues just received news that an offensive is about to start at Auronzo. Some ask the head of the DSD news about his agent inside Biosyn's Citadel.
Open the gates
Bigelow, with Ramsay's help, is trying to persuade Dodgson to cancel the event, take the hard-drive with the key research, and secretly evacuate Auronzo before ordering the control room to open the gates and let the Italian authorities in. While those would be searching through the Citadel, they would leave the area by the mountains before heading to a secret safehouse. Dodgson complains that the only help the US government sends is her but she mockingly retorts that the US won't risk a war with Italy and Austria just because of him and that had he been more careful, all that mess wouldn't have happened.
Watching footage of the besiegers' camp, Dodgson finally orders the opening of the northern gate. He and Ramsay then go to the auditorium, where Biosyn's board and other important figures are waiting for the CEO.
The convoy
Believing Dodgson finally surrendered, Colonel Pasolini and most of his Carabinieri enter Biosyn's lands while the Italian and Austrian Special Forces remain in the camp. After passing by the mercenaries (who were ordered by Dodgson to stand down) and the airstrip, the convoy enters a narrow pass through the mountains, the same one through which the hunters were brought to the Sanctuary.
Chips
In the Citadel's auditorium, Dodgson begins his presentation with a speech about how dinosaurs and other de-extinct animals were used since InGen first cloned them. At the same time, all the non-essential employees are gathered in the cafeteria and locked there by the mercenaries on his orders while others are deployed in some of the Citadel's most strategic locations (the control room, the labs' entrance...)
Meanwhile, the Carabinieri convoy has entered the Sanctuary and following the main road to the Citadel, they pass by the lake seen in A bed in the trees scene and several animals, including predators, which do nothing but watch the convoy. Drones are seen flying above the Italian vehicles. However, just as the Citadel is visible in the distance, the convoy stops when the first vehicle notices that a fallen tree is lying across the road. While it's quite large, said tree is still light enough to be moved by a group of people and with a lot of effort. Colonel Pasolini orders for a certain number of his men to get out and move the tree out of their way but while they start accomplishing their task, the Carabinieri feels the ground trembling beneath their feet and they and those still in the vehicles see ripples in the water puddles along the road. A racket starts to be heard in the woods on both sides of the road and in the distance, trees can be heard being jostled or even falling. Aware that large dinosaurs must be nearby, Pasolini orders his men to get back inside the vehicles and to the last in the convoy to return to the last crossroads and search another way to the Citadel. But just as said vehicle turns around, a tree falls across the road, larger than the one ahead of the convoy. The latter is now stuck between the two fallen trees and when they see human silhouettes running away from the one behind the convoy, the Carabinieri realize that they've fallen into an ambush (hearing the Carabinieri's communications on the radio, Vuillier and Viscontini wonder what treachery Dodgson has planned). Meanwhile, the drones have returned over the convoy and the racket in the woods gets closer and closer and the people in the convoy glimpse three large necks rising from the forest: argentinosaurs, charging argentinosaurs. Frightened at such a sight, the Carabineri are struck with fear and just as the sauropods are about to burst out of the forest at any second, a dreadful booming sound (similar to that of the orcs horns in Battle of the Five Armies; or the reapers' sound from the Mass Effect series) comes from speakers on some nearby elevation and in response, the sauropods let out a deafening bellow heard across much of the Sanctuary. Before they can take action, the Carabinieri are attacked by the argentinosaurs and their suite of small predators.
In the control room, Pellegrino witnesses the attack through some drone visuals and is wondering how it happened. She orders the technicians to send a signal in the sauropods' brain chips (during the Inspection scene at the beginning of the story, Pellegrino explain to the group that the Sanctuary animals are chipped) in order to make them stop but when they try to send the signal, the get an error notification, and one of the technicians say that either the chips fried and are driving the animals mad, or they were hacked. Pellegrino then asks to deactivate the aerial defense system to let the besiegers fly their helicopters into the valley but she's told that some program recently inserted prevent them from doing that for the entire duration of the prenstation. Powerless, the head of security watches the argentinosaurs crushing vehicles and men under their feet, and their suites of small predators harassing them. She's even more surprised when a few Ankylosaurus (first glimpsed in the news montage when the report talks about "tailored dinosaurs". Compared to those from the fossil record and those made by InGen, those Ankylosaurus are bigger and more high-legged, giving them enhanced mobility. Design-wise, it's basically the one from the actual JW films, albeit perhaps more intimidating) join the fray. Having suspicions, she head for the auditorium.
After learning that Pasolini and his Carabinieri fell into an ambush, an offensive is launched against the walls of Biosyn lands. Vuillier and Viscontini watch the Italian and Austrian Special Forces engaging the mercenaries defending the walls by the airstrip. They hope they'll soon make a breach so they can reach the convoy before it's too late (they know they can't send helicopters due the pterosaurs acting as the Citadel's aerial defense).
In the valley, one of the Carabinieri notice that the animal isn't acting on its own will (it's seen blocking its movements for a short moment, like someone resisting to a possession) and even seems in pain.
We cut to the auditorium and his observation is confirmed, with Dodgson explaining to the board of directors that thanks to chips (originally designed by Mantah Corp but Dodgson being Dodgson, he doesn't mention that and instead give the credit to the team rival of Mia's), they can control the animals like puppets. He precise that while the chips work well on some animals, trials have failed with others (like the raptors). On the auditorium's giant screen, various diagrams and footage of trials are seen.
We then follow another POV, that of technicians inside a command centre-like room. The technicians are sitting in front of monitors and each of them is seen typing on keyboards, giving instructions to the argentinosaurs' and ankylosaurs' chips (on the monitors, the audience can notice that they give names to each of the animals. For example, the three Argentinosaurus are named Brontes, Steropes, and Arges; after three of the cyclops from Greek Mythology). Through their drones or even micro cameras attached to the dinosaurs, they see the Carabinieri fleeing northwards while some of the Italians retaliate to the attack by shooting on the dinosaurs. But their weapons are ineffective against the argentinosaurs' hide and the ankylosaurs' armours. On the order of a mercenary officer, the technicians send a second wave of animals.
The speakers make once again their awful booming sound, exacerbating the animals' aggressiveness, and the second wave emerges from the forest. Before the scene cuts, we see it's made of, among other things, a Gigantoraptor (named Jabberwocky on its controlling technician's monitor), a couple of Quetzalcoatlus, probably some medium-large theropods like Allosaurus or Carnotaurus, a Biosyn Triceratops, and maybe even some Hyaenodon/sabre-toothed felid (depends on which will appear in the fighting pit in Malta) and Gigantopithecus recently imported to Auronzo. Many of those new attackers wear armor pieces comparable to those of police and military dogs or horses.
In the auditorium, the giant screen ends up showing the battle occurring in the valley. Dodgson's audience gasps when they see the drones' footage. One of the board members ask: "It's from a video game? Right?"
NOTE: I fear that there might be too many animals and different species involved in the battle. The mandatory ones are the following: Argentinosaurus (maybe have more than three individuals? The Brontes-Steropes-Arges trio could be seen charging abreast, evoking from afar a single three-headed gigantic beast) and their suite, Triceratops (which will illustrate itself soon and show how it's different from InGen's trikes), Gigantoraptor (in order to have a faster and more agile creature in the lot), and another player foreshadowed in earlier scenes (you'll know which when we'll return to the battle).
Sneaking into the Citadel
While battle just broke out further west, a Biosyn guard posted by a large gate carved at the base of the mountain near the Citadel spots a hooded silhouette under the trees: Claire. She retreats into the darkness and as a huge reward has been promised to anyone who would capture Vuillier's she-wolf, he runs after her. However, just like the colleagues she killed the day before, she lures him into an ambush and neutralizes him. She then steals his uniform and badge, and use the latter to open the gate, entering in an underground corridor, large enough to allow the transportation of large animals like the mysterious big theropod she glimpsed earlier. She follows it towards the Citadel.
Unbeknownst to her, the grey guards have also started their infiltration in the Citadel, by walking down the slopes behind the central tower. After neutralizing the few Biosyn guards positioned there, they enter the garden around the tower. In the latter's shadow, they split up in four groups, each heading into different parts of the Citadel:
- Cesare, Olivares and another are tasked with entering the labs.
- Perez, Al-Damiri and a third team member must take over the control room at the top of the tower.
- Chapuy and two others are tasked with searching the archives under the tower and preventing anyone from destroying the documents.
- Massoud, Kapakas and Papadopoulos must find the cells and free the WDMC agents if they're there.
The Battle of Auronzo
Following the road, the retreating Carabinieri reach the Valley's main river and the bridge the convoy crossed on the way just a few minutes ago. However, a controlled animal charging from the other side of the river prevents the first Carabinieri from taking it and they are forced to cross the cold waters of the river itself (it's thigh-deep at best) while the controlled animals are right on their heels. Several Carabinieri get killed during the crossing while some of their colleagues are cut off from them and must escape into the woods on the southern side of the river. Luckily, the controlling technicians didn't notice them. Once Pasolini and his remaining men are all on the other side of the river with the few vehicles they could have gotten out of the ambush site, the controlling technicians have their animals stopped just at the edge. A last animal codenamed Quasimodo arrive on the battlefield, a large Biosyn-made predator which visually, looks like a perversion of the real animal which makes up its base genome: It's the monstrous theropod from the bunker, an Acrocanthosaurus whose DNA was spliced with that of other animals, including crocodile (due to the croc fetish of some Biosyn executives) in order to be bigger and more "Monstrous and cooler-looking" than InGen's Acrocanthosaurus (yes, it's just JWD's Giganotosaurus with a different name). The apex predator makes his way through the other animals, which are seen looking at him with fright (in case of the smaller species) or irritation (in case of the Argentinosaurus and the other megaherbivores) but still controlled, they can't run away or fight it. As they're not controlled by the chips, the members of the Argentinosaurus' suite are showing aggression and one of them dares to attack him, but Quasimodo just grabs it in the air and eats it, discouraging the others from attacking as long as the sauropods won't. Quasimodo then stops in front of the bridge and looks at the Carabinieri on the other side. Confronted to this surreal sight, Pasolini don't know if they shall continue their retreat northwards or wait and hope for reinforcements' arrival.
While the animals are eerily standing still by the river, Dodgson exposes an idea to the board: They will bred new animals which aren't in their official catalogue, secretly release them in various parts of the globe, create "controlled" incidents and then get contracted by governments to capture the animals (capture which will be very easy with the chips, barely an inconvenience...) and send them to Auronzo. Biosyn will be both the disease and the cure, getting profits from this endless cycle of incidents and capture and obtaining absolute control on genetic power while their remaining competitors will die one by one. Basically, they'll soon become the equivalent in the Bio-engineering world of the British East India Company, something InGen aspired to be before crumbling. The CEO adds that his friends within the US government are already very interested by this technology.
Hidden in a technical room right behind the auditorium's stage, Pellegrino heard Dodgson bragging about controlling the animals. Realizing that he's so mad that he is slaughtering her fellow countrymen just to sell a technology, she takes a potentially fatal decision.
Back at the camp near the airstrip, Viscontini tells Vuillier that someone within the Italian government must have warned Dodgson, explaining how he got the time to do his nasty preparations. As the Special Forces just defeated the mercenaries guarding the northern entrance of Biosyn's lands and took the airstrip, Vuillier and Nyamu join them, asking for a weapon and climbing into one of their vehicles, refusing to stay safely in the camp while their friends and colleagues are in danger of death within the valley.
The speakers let out a third blast and hearing it, the few Carabinieri south of the river turn towards its origin. They see the speaker and an movable antenna on a nearby ridge and are aware that it must have something to do with the animals' unnatural behaviour. They rush towards it, hoping to save their comrades.
Irritated by the third blast, the controlled animals stamp and growl/bellow for a moment, before their controlling technicians orders them to move forward, as they were ordered to crush the Carabinieri before the arrival of their allies. While the other animals cross the river, Quasimodo the monstrous Acrocanthosaurus takes the bridge, accelerating his pace little by little before roaring and dashing on the Carabinieri. Aware that they'll be all slaughtered within a few minutes if they just stand there, Pasolini ordered to his men a few moments before to scatter in every direction and flee as long as possible in order to win time while the remaining vehicles will be either used to carry a maximum amount of men to the nearest shelter (could be the Hunting Lodge) before coming back and picking up those they can. Pasolini volunteers to stay on foot.
While flying between the speakers and the river, one of the drones spot the Carabinieri left south of the river. Noticing those troublemakers, the controlling technicians recall two of the animals from the battlefield (probably one of the Argentinosaurus and the Gigantoraptor).
On the other side of the river, the rest of the controlled animals have started attacking Pasolini and his men. The argentinosaurs charge through the forest and crush the Carabinieri like ants while their predatory auxiliaries harass them; the trike basically acts like a giant version of the boar from Australian horror film Razorback, charging, goring with its horns, and cutting off limbs with its sharp beak; Quasimodo devour several of the Italians... Colonel Pasolini ends up killed by one of the creatures and his death ruins the morale of his men who are about to rout.
Meanwhile, reactions among Dodgson's audience are varied:While some are captivated, others are not sure what to think about using the Carabinieri as guinea pigs, and one or two are disgusted. Nathan Quinn has a neutral attitude (he's interested by the technology but even if he strongly disapproves the actual demonstration and the bloodbath, he doesn't show it) while Ramsay avoid looking at the screen.
Hearing one of the Argentinosaurus bulldozing its way through the forest behind them just as they are about to reach the speakers and the antenna, the other Carabinieri start to run but during their race, they are surprised by the Gigantoraptor when it kills one of the Carabinieri, acting a bit like an oversized terror bird. They are forced to climb into a tree near a cliff's edge in order to escape it, with even another of the Carabinieri sacrificing himself to let the others climb high reach its targets, the Gigantoraptor tries to climb on the tree but to no avail, as it's too big. However, the tree bends and ends up uprooted under its assaults. Our characters are now hanging on an horizontal tree which will probably soon fall if the theropod keeps kicking it under its controller's command. They can't escape by one end as the Gigantoraptor is waiting for them and to make matters worse, the Argentinosaurus appears below the cliff and it can raise its head almost high enough to grab our characters. They can't escape.
Sneaky as a viper
After passing by the entrance of the large bunker where the monstrous Acrocanthosaurus was contained, Claire decides to pass by the vents after hearing some guards.
The Goblins of Nublar
During their journey through the amber mines, Maisie, Theo and Drummond stumble upon a lone Pectinodon. Remembering what he said earlier about the network of tunnels and its potential exits leading out of the valley, Drummond realize that the Pectinodons, and not the raptors, were involved in several of the external incidents (including the one from the Prologue). As he had to capture some of those creatures in a post-apocalyptic Nublar for Mills and Wu while he was part of Wheatley's mercenary company, Theo warns his companions about the danger of those animals. Maisie remembers having seen babies of those animals in the manor's basement along all the others Mills sold in his secret auction. The lone Pectinodon let out a series of calls and soon, an entire pack threatens our protagonists.
Ensue a scene where they have to repel them (Drummond tries to use the portable horn he has in his bag in order to scare the pectinodons but they're not impressed) and flee. However, Theo is bitten during that scene and his two companions notice this during a brief moment of respite. Maisie hopes they could perhaps find some cure but Theo answers that while one exists, they won't reach it in time. He adds that the venom will drive him mad (as seen in JPTG and mentioned in TRQ) and turn him into a danger for them. While his mind is still clear, he give Wu's flash drive to Maisie, has farewell words with her, asks Drummond to take care of her, and then runs back to where they came from, intending to win some time for them. While Maisie and Rod flee, Theo stands in the tunnel, preventing the pectinodons from going any further. He battles them to the death, taking several to the grave with him. An alternative could be him attracting a maximum of pectinodons in a room where he either provokes a crumbling, either a flooding, something that kills Theo and his attackers.
Finding a ladder, Maisie and Drummond follows it and climb out of the mines, narrowly escaping the pectinodons. They are back to the surface, somewhere in the northern part of the valley, not far from the dam. The palaeontologist then takes the traumatized teenager to the nearest tower, where they rest and resupply for a time.
Turning the Tide
Just as hope seems lost for the Carabinieri in the western part of the valley, a group of Shantungosaurus steps out from the forest and when the speakers on the trailer let out another blast to infuriate the controlled Gigantoraptor and Argentinosaurus nearby, the hadrosaurs, pissed by the sound made, attack the speakers and in the process, destroy also the antenna which sends the signals to the controlled animals' chips.
Freed of the mercenaries' control, the animals stop for a moment and most being scared by the gunshots or having no interest in killing the humans in front of them, just leave. However some like the Triceratops or Quasimodo carry on with their attacks due to their natural instincts but when the Special Forces finally arrive from the north, they hesitate and after being intimidated by the newcomers, they retreat and disappear in the forest' darkness. The surviving Carabinieri start to rally to their allies.
Witnessing the shift in the situation, Dodgson is frustrated and leaves the auditorium, tasking Ramsay with trying to reassure the board. He calls Bigelow, telling her to meet him at his office. On the way, the CEO is cornered by Pellegrino and some of her men, mostly Italians, who point their pistols on him. The head of security tells Dodgson he's under arrest and orders him to cease this madness and surrender to the authorities. However, the putschists are surrounded in their turn by Dodgson's bodyguards and some mercenaries, and all except Pellegrino are gunned down. While she is neutralized and taken to the cells, Dodgson hurries to the Citadel's central tower. By the entrance of his office, Bigelow and Kayla are waiting for him. They enter his office and Dodgson starts cleaning his computer and putting his most precious belongings in a bag, including the hard-drive with Biosyn's most important research. The CEO also orders some men to destroy the archives.
At the top of the tower, Isabella Perez, Sherif Al-Damiri and their companion reach the control room and while they're securing it, Vincent Chapuy and his two comrades have to fight the men sent by Dodgson to the archives. Perez orders the technicians to deactivate the aerial defense system and the pterosaurs are seen moving away, letting the Special Forces (accompanied by Viscontini) fly to the battlefield. A couple of their helicopters go directly to the Citadel, engaging the mercenaries defending it.
While the dead or wounded Carabinieri are taken off the valley before the scavengers show up, the others regroup and with the Special Forces' ground forces, march to the Citadel where they intend to soon end the battle. Vuillier contacts Cesare, asking him about his progress. Cesare and his two companions haven't yet entered the labs, as Dodgson deployed seasoned mercenaries and not simple guards at their entrance, offering a hard resistance.
While the Citadel's defenders are engaged with the Special Forces dropped by the helicopters, Armand Massoud, Angelos Papadopoulos and Lydia Kapakas enter the Security HQ and free Owen and Dougal after a small fight with the gaolers. Pellegrino is also freed. The Raptor Whisperer asks one of the gaolers where Victoria is. She's in the kennels, in the lower levels. While Owen rushes to the kennels, the three grey guards, Dougal and Pellegrino head for the atrium.
Running out of time (his computer is having some issues), Dodgson sends his last forces to the Citadel's atrium, where a shootout occurs. With the cafeteria no longer guarded, the non-essential employees try to break out. Meanwhile several Biosyn guards drop their weapons and surrender when they see Pellegrino collaborating with the besiegers.
Dodgson's joker card
The defenders lose ground and as they are about to be caught between the Carabinieri, the Italian and Austrian Special Forces, the Massoud-Kapakas-Papadopoulos trio and Pellegrino's followers, one of the Biosyn guard calls for a ceasefire. The fight stops and Dodgson appears on top of the stairs which lead to the main courtyard. Bigelow, Kayla and his bodyguards are with him (while Ramsay is seen arriving from the Auditorium) and Dodgson has his bag with him. Seeing the CIA agent, the trio of grey guards hurls threats and insults at her, declaring she'll pay for Digby who died in Malta because of her treachery.
Dodgson look at his enemies: Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini down in the atrium, standing in front of the Carabinieri; the grey guards, Dougal and Pellegrino on one of the floors. He talks to them, congratulating them for taking the valley from him, before adding that they won one battle but not the war. Just as he is about to get arrested, he unveils his joker card: Should he be imprisoned or killed, his agents abroad have the order of releasing the content of nine containers he sent across the globe: Swarms of genetically-modified locusts designed to eat every crop but Biosyn's (a montage show trucks carrying the same containers as those seen in the airstrip. They park in the countryside of the following regions: US Midwest, India, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Egypt, China, Argentina, Australia, and Germany). Should the locusts be freed, they would trigger a global famine, with people being forced to turn to Biosyn if they want to eat. Even if Dodgson doesn't leave Auronzo alive, Biosyn will have a future as it will be the only entity which could ensure mankind's survival in this apocalyptic scenario.
New attackers
Meanwhile, three helicopters arrive from the opposite side of the valley. At first, it's believed that they are others Special Forces helicopters but as no one on the besiegers' camp ordered them to head for the Citadel, some try to contact the oncoming aircrafts, to no avail. Fearing some ill shift in situation, Vuillier suggest his allies to take cover. One of the besiegers' helicopter tries to intercept the trio of helicopters but they shoot it down and it crashes in the eastern part of the valley, near one of the observation towers. Everyone in the atrium is surprised, including Dodgson, and rushes to shelter while two of the helicopters fire missiles in several of the Citadel's key locations, including the atrium, the helipad (destroying the board's helicopters) and the cafeteria, and spray the control room (Perez is hit while one of the technician accidently release the animals contained in the kennel when he falls dead head first on his console. The freed animals not only include Victoria but also dilophosaurs among other things). After that, they distract those of the besieging forces and attack the Citadel's defenders. Many casualties are inflicted among the besiegers and Biosyn employees.
Dodgson regains consciousness just after the attack, which killed his bodyguards and projected Bigelow and Kayla away. Next to him, Ramsay is still unconscious. He sees the third helicopter of the attackers landing in the courtyard and debarking a squad of armed men who directly rushes to the laboratories. As soon as they're gone, Dodgson grabs his bag, wakes Ramsay up, and takes advantage of the situation to escape, towards the nearest elevator. He chose one of the lower levels, that of the garages. The elevator blocks itself halfway and the two Biosyn executives must force their way out while chaos has taken over the rest of the building.

Hello, I'm planning a trip with my bf (we are both 23yo) and I am looking for a feedback on my trip plan. Also I would like to know the best way to fill the blank spaces.
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Date	Location	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
23.09.23	Tokyo	Arrival at Haneda Airport	Sensoji Temple	Explore Shinjuku & spend time at Kabukicho Tower
24.09.23	Tokyo		Kokugikan Sumo grand tournament	Sanrio Cafe Ikebukuro & Fukuru Matsuri Ikebukuro
25.09.23	Tokyo	Tokyo Sea Life Patk	TeamLab Planets
26.09.23	Tokyo	Tokyo DisneySea	Tokyo DisneySea
27.09.23	Tokyo	Explore Harajuku and Shibuya	Gotokuji Temple	Shopping at Ginza
28.09.23	Hakone	Arrive to Mishima Station, rent a car, Mishima Skywalk	Hakone-jinja Shrine, Owakudani Valley	Check in hotel at Gotenba
29.09.23	Fuji	Hike mt.fuji?		Hana no Miyako Park?
30.09.23	Kyoto	Return the car at Mishima Station, take Shinkansen to Kyoto	Check in hotel	Night Walking Tour
01.10.23	Kyoto		Nishiki Market
02.10.23	Kyoto	Explore Uji	Explore Fushimi Inari
03.10.23	Kyoto	Arashiyama Monkey Park	Explore Arashiyama
04.10.23	Yokohama	Take the Shinkansen to Yokohama	Minato Mirai	ChinaTown
05.10.23	Yokohama	Check out hotel & go to Enoshima Aquarium	Explore Enoshima & Take the train to Narita Station	Stay at the hotel in Narita

Questions:

1. Does anyone know the time the Mikoshi festival in Ikebukuro on 24.09.23 will start?
2. Can you recommend any places to spend the evening near Tokyo Station?
3. I understand that climbing on Fuji off season is prohibited and dangerous, so we won't try to reach the summit. I just wanted to know if going to the 5th station in 30.09 is Okay. I also read that you can Hike to Hoei Crater (which is near 6th station) on Fuji this time of year. Is hiking to Hoei Crater safe and doable? If not, are there any good hiking trails nearby?
4. Is Nishiki Market in Kyoto open on Sundays? What else can we do on a Sunday in kyoto?
5. Where can we spend the evening in Kyoto?
6. Is a day trip to Enoshima from Yokohama doable? Is Enoshima Aquarium fun? If not, what else we can do in Yokohama?
7. Can you recommend any affordable Matcha or Sushi workshops? We are both students so nothing fancy...
8. Can you recommend on Pork-free Ramen and Gyoza? We do not eat Pork but would love to try.

Thank you for your help!

Hi everyone!
So my (21f) kids (M/F), both 6, about to turn 7, are obsessed with Japanese culture. Their favorite movies are Studio Ghibli. Their favorite characters are Kirby, Pokemon, Sanrio, etc. I've always felt like Tokyo would be a dream for them, and I've told them about it and they've been begging me to go. Recently, we traveled to Spain with my parents and they loved it despite barely doing any kid-specific activities. They loved exploring, listening to the guides, and feeling included. The flight was 8 hrs from FL with a connecting 2 hour flight in Morocco to Spain. The kids did well, my family and I had bad jet lag but they were perfectly fine! So for Tokyo, the flight is 18 hours in total. I'm worried about myself and my bf, but more worried about the kids experiencing the same jet lag.
Wednesday: For the first day, we will be arriving in our hotel at around 6 PM. So we will be exploring Tokyo around our hotel, finding someplace to eat, and going to little arcades. We want to visit a Don Quixote, I'm hoping I can buy something we can have as breakfast for the following day there?
Thursday: I booked a one-day tour of the basics of Tokyo in an air-conditioned bus. We are to be at our meeting point at 7 A.M. We pass by Kabukicho, Takeshita Street, National Diet Building, Akihabara, Ameyoko Shopping District, Kappabashi Dougu Street, the Tokyo Tower, Japan National Museum, Roppongi, and Tokyo Mode Gaukuen. We stop at Meiji Jingu, Imperial Palace, Sensō-ji, Asakusa, Tokyo Skytree (with entry), Odaiba, and the Rainbow Bridge (we will be taking a cruise under it). Once we are done with our tour, we will be eating and going to arcades before finishing the day.
Friday (kids' birthday): Start the day with the Ghibli Museum. Eat breakfast at the Straw Hat Cafe. Visit Inokashira Park, canoe in their lakes, see bird sanctuary and aquarium. Lunch at Hachu Cafe, a reptiles cafe (kids LOVE reptiles). Tokyo Character Street up next for some birthday gifts, followed by Pokemon Center Tokyo DX. After this, I found a reality VR escape room I was hoping we could go to, along with an arcade nearby just in case. Next, visit Yamashiroya. We will see Ueno Park which is close by and head out to eat dinner at Ninja Tokyo. After this, teamLab Planets Tokyo.
Saturday: I booked a tour of Hakone and Mt. Fuji. It takes us to the Fujisan 5 Gome and Gotemba Premium Outlet before taking us to the Hakone Ropeway, which is an aerial sightseeing gondola ride. After that, it takes us to Owakudani, and then the Hakone Pirate Ship, which we will ride on. When we get back to our hotel, I was thinking of having dinner and then heading to the Samurai Museum for the night. Apparently the costumes can be worn by visitors?
Sunday: I booked another tour. We go to our meeting point after eating breakfast at a café nearby. The bus takes us to Nikko Toshogu, Kegon Falls, and Lake Chūzenji. Once we get back to the hotel, our plan is to go to Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo (it's a thing for my son where he wants to visit every Hard Rock Cafe in every place we go to) and then check out the Tokyo City View in Roppongi Hills.
Monday: Here is where we may have an issue. Check-out time is 11 A.M. The flight leaves at 6, almost 7 P.M. I was thinking we go to DisneySea until 5 and then head out to Narita airport. I was strongly debating whether or not to go to Disney since we live close by to DisneyWorld, but I opted for DisneySea because of it's uniqueness. The kids are aware the trip is happening but do not know this exists so this would be a super cute surprise for them since tbh we haven't gone to Disney that much.
I basically need tips for my plans, or if you think something isn't worth it, or if maybe it's too much for kids. I love itineraries. I made our Spain one and I would like to have it perfected because honestly it's way less stressful for me and more comforting through the jet lag :') Thank you all!!!!

Hi everyone!
So my (21f) kids (M/F), both 6, about to turn 7, are obsessed with Japanese culture. Their favorite movies are Studio Ghibli. Their favorite characters are Kirby, Pokemon, Sanrio, etc. I've always felt like Tokyo would be a dream for them, and I've told them about it and they've been begging me to go. Recently, we traveled to Spain with my parents and they loved it despite barely doing any kid-specific activities. They loved exploring, listening to the guides, and feeling included. The flight was 8 hrs from FL with a connecting 2 hour flight in Morocco to Spain. The kids did well, my family and I had bad jet lag but they were perfectly fine! So for Tokyo, the flight is 18 hours in total. I'm worried about myself and my bf, but more worried about the kids experiencing the same jet lag.
Wednesday: For the first day, we will be arriving in our hotel at around 6 PM. So we will be exploring Tokyo around our hotel, finding someplace to eat, and going to little arcades. We want to visit a Don Quixote, I'm hoping I can buy something we can have as breakfast for the following day there?
Thursday: I booked a one-day tour of the basics of Tokyo in an air-conditioned bus. We are to be at our meeting point at 7 A.M. We pass by Kabukicho, Takeshita Street, National Diet Building, Akihabara, Ameyoko Shopping District, Kappabashi Dougu Street, the Tokyo Tower, Japan National Museum, Roppongi, and Tokyo Mode Gaukuen. We stop at Meiji Jingu, Imperial Palace, Sensō-ji, Asakusa, Tokyo Skytree (with entry), Odaiba, and the Rainbow Bridge (we will be taking a cruise under it). Once we are done with our tour, we will be eating and going to arcades before finishing the day.
Friday (kids' birthday): Start the day with the Ghibli Museum. Eat breakfast at the Straw Hat Cafe. Visit Inokashira Park, canoe in their lakes, see bird sanctuary and aquarium. Lunch at Hachu Cafe, a reptiles cafe (kids LOVE reptiles). Tokyo Character Street up next for some birthday gifts, followed by Pokemon Center Tokyo DX. After this, I found a reality VR escape room I was hoping we could go to, along with an arcade nearby just in case. Next, visit Yamashiroya. We will see Ueno Park which is close by and head out to eat dinner at Ninja Tokyo. After this, teamLab Planets Tokyo.
Saturday: I booked a tour of Hakone and Mt. Fuji. It takes us to the Fujisan 5 Gome and Gotemba Premium Outlet before taking us to the Hakone Ropeway, which is an aerial sightseeing gondola ride. After that, it takes us to Owakudani, and then the Hakone Pirate Ship, which we will ride on. When we get back to our hotel, I was thinking of having dinner and then heading to the Samurai Museum for the night. Apparently the costumes can be worn by visitors?
Sunday: I booked another tour. We go to our meeting point after eating breakfast at a café nearby. The bus takes us to Nikko Toshogu, Kegon Falls, and Lake Chūzenji. Once we get back to the hotel, our plan is to go to Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo (it's a thing for my son where he wants to visit every Hard Rock Cafe in every place we go to) and then check out the Tokyo City View in Roppongi Hills.
Monday: Here is where we may have an issue. Check-out time is 11 A.M. The flight leaves at 6, almost 7 P.M. I was thinking we go to DisneySea until 5 and then head out to Narita airport. I was strongly debating whether or not to go to Disney since we live close by to DisneyWorld, but I opted for DisneySea because of it's uniqueness. The kids are aware the trip is happening but do not know this exists so this would be a super cute surprise for them since tbh we haven't gone to Disney that much.
I basically need tips for my plans, or if you think something isn't worth it, or if maybe it's too much for kids. I love itineraries. I made our Spain one and I would like to have it perfected because honestly it's way less stressful for me and more comforting through the jet lag :') Thank you all!!!!

So ugh, not that I don't appreciate Android games getting ported, it's cool since last i checked there was 9 games added.... it's just I can't tell which 9 cause they are probably games that are.... not what would be good for the vita. In the list of possible games, and even worked on I could list a couple that given rinne's talents I am not super sure why he or other's aren't focused on some other ones. Let's just see if you agree? Also not a complaint, please please keep doing the great work everybody who keeps the vita community alive I'm so happy to be a part of it, and to be able to use the games, apps, programs that have been added. I like the ports more than most of the actual vita games.
BUT Why hasn't: Bioshock (was this moved to impossible? it used to be on the list)
Call of duty Black ops Zombies (really want this, idk where I used to own it, but it was awesome despite touch, imagine how awesome this would be on vita)
Assassin's creed pirates (paired with liberation it's almost a full AC game)
Doom 3 BFG edition
Dead Cells
Half-Life 2 + ep1 + ep 2
the three Gangstar games (not because they are good but because we don't have saint's row)
All the Modern Combat games
Monster hunter stories - we deserve it back.
Portal
Roller Coaster tycoon classic
Six guns (idk if gang showdown is the one I remember playing, but red dead almost that be sick)
N.O.V.A 3 (the other ones too, but the one with mechs and cars that had amazing online that one)
I don't even understand why the bards tale is on the list, it's already on the system...
Stardew valley on the list too just why, like i recall seeing borderlands 2 in impossible and it's like nearly a launch title....
tom clancy's rainbow six shadow vanguad just cause I hate siege
tom clancy's H.A.W.X
SoulCalibur - this be dope
Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden HD - >
Vita needs more RPG's that aren't weird jap stuff - I know I got a vita and am complaining about jap stuff - blasphemy right - sorry for disliking stuff that makes zero sense and has no grounded appearance and breaks the illusion of immersion on a constant basis. I want the switch to get Kingdom come so bad, but apparently they stopped making it. That's the type of game it was sourly lacking.
IDK if this is even possible, but like Dolphin works on my dad's 32bit ARM phone cause they still have legacy 32bit versions available, would that work? I doubt well, I don't really care. I just want to try it. and it appears as though you're now using openGL 2 or am I wrong about that?
You know what would be amazing games on the vita, Unity ES2 daggerfall, Morrowind via OpenMW somehow, Oblivion ran on a 360 if only they ported that, like I kinda wish ARM CPU's and x86 CPU's weren't different things, we should just have small energy efficient x86 and big non energy efficient x86, cause then by now the small ARM that hypothetically could've been a small efficient x86 would just run PC games so easily. So oblivion would be there.
But we could get Ravensword shadowlands or w.e that RPG like skyrim that sorta sucks but i bought it anyway is.
Also the sun origin and it's sequals that are like stalker and fallout together, it's stupid enough but cool enough to warrant it, and it's in desperate need of an actual controller. There's honestly SOO many better android games that could be worked on then what got worked on. Like RVGL... cool we have motorstorm RC, Partia - great. A lot of this stuff is free on my phone. And if you're gonna port free ones, port free ones that would benefit from the vita, not just be another place to play it. Like diablo immortal likely would be fun on the vita. There's just... a disconnect I think between what's getting ported cause it adds to a portfolio vs what should get added cause it would make the system better. And there was a time that's what was getting done. We were getting games that make the system a hell of a treat. And now I look at the 49, and I'm like What 9 games, I can't even tell since last i looked and it was 40. And honestly maybe from 30-40 I also couldn't tell. AGAIN rinne and other's have done incredible things that make the vita stand out, but I feel like he must be like "ya I wanna keep doing this, but the hard ones stressed me out so I'll do these easier ones instead" and why is it the dhewm3 just straight up doesn't work.

This was our first time in Hawaii, and given that we weren’t sure if we’d have the chance to come back in the future, we crammed as much in as possible. We’re a couple in our late 20s. Overall, we loved Oahu, liked the Big Island, and thought Maui was just okay. The main focuses of our trip were trying a lot of different foods, which we did and enjoyed most of, and taking in the beautiful nature Hawaii has to offer, which we did and enjoyed nearly all of. We enjoyed Oahu the most because it offered the most of everything and it was easy to get around. Maui got docked a few points mostly because of how much drive time was required to do most things and it definitely wouldn’t have been worth it if we hadn’t been able to use credit card points for our hotel. HVNP was the big highlight of the Big Island, and we enjoyed a majority of what we did. If we had the chance, we’d probably go back to see more of the BI. In general, we were expecting food to be way more expensive than it was (yay for not meeting expectations) but it was surprisingly difficult for us to find fruits to try besides pineapple, mango, and papaya (boo for not meeting expectations).
This is a reaaaaaally long trip report so I tried to organize it in a way that will allow people to just find their island of interest if they don’t want to read the whole thing. Each island has a bolded header and I put a heart (💜) by things that we absolutely loved and would likely do again and a star (🌟) by things that we really enjoyed doing as first time visitors but probably wouldn’t do again. Please feel free to ask any questions about stuff I didn’t go into detail about!
Oahu Overall Rating: 9/10 Hotel: Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach (mostly stayed here because of CC points and free breakfast. Breakfast would've been way better if there was fruit besides canned pineapple, toilet paper was awful for my bootyhole, and they have the slowest elevators known to man)
Day 0: Travel/arrival

• Landed in Honolulu around 7pm after a very long day of traveling. I wanted to get Marugame Udon for dinner but balked at the line. I had heard that the line moves fast, but we were way too tired to wait, so we got Kono’s instead. My bomber was a bit too salty and greasy, but my boyfriend loved his.

Day 1: Honolulu

• We started the day with Diamond Head. We had the 7-8am reservation, which was perfect, since it was super busy on our way down. 🌟
• I wanted to have lunch at Helena’s but they were unfortunately closed for the duration of the Oahu leg of our trip. Did not learn this until we got there (sign taped to the door), so definitely check their website if this is on your itinerary.
• Walked to Bishop Museum from Helena’s and walked around and had a very sad lunch at the Highway Inn there. The Bishop Museum was beautiful and there was lots to see and read. Chose to do this over Polynesian Cultural Center due to the PCC controversy with the Church of LDS.
• Saw the Iolani Palace and the King Kamehameha statue. Cool to see both, but we didn’t do the formal tour at Iolani Palace.
• Had dinner at Tonkatsu Tamafuji. This was hands down one of the best meals we had the entire trip. We weren’t able to get a reservation so we arrived at 3:30pm to join the waitlist (we were second or third) and were seated almost immediately when they opened for dinner. 💜

Day 2: North Shore

• Started the morning early with the Makapu’u Point Lighthouse trail. Super easy and got to see the sunrise at the top. We really liked this trail. 🌟
• Spent some time at Lanikai Beach and it was a nice beach to relax on
• Headed up to drive through Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden and the mountain ranges were stunning. 🌟
• Lunch at Da Bald Guy. It was good but nothing mindblowing. I wanted to try Ry’s Poke too, but they were closed for a few days. Again, learned from a sign on their window lol.
• We did the Ehukai Pillbox Hike and went past the first pillbox to see the second pillbox. The views from there were phenomenal. My poor feet were suffering a little and the downhill stretches were a bit scary at times, but it was worth it. 🌟
• We got an acai bowl from Haleiwa Bowls and it was so delicious and refreshing. 🌟
• Checked out the North Shore Macadamia Nut Company, North Shore Soap Factory🌟, and the Waialua Sugar Mill🌟. We got some souvenirs for family and even got a little tour at the sugar mill. Pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed these stops.
• Second lunch at Jenny’s Shrimp Truck. Good, but again, nothing mindblowing.
• Laniakea Beach was super crowded so we went to Papa’iloa Beach instead. Pretty and not crowded at all, and saw our first sea turtle here!
• We were pretty tired from the early morning so we decided to skip the last couple of things on our itinerary (Sunset Beach and Ted’s Bakery)

Day 3: Waikiki

• Started the day at KCC Farmers Market. We had mochi from Daizu Tei, banh mi from Pig and the Lady, and passion fruit cane juice (can’t remember the name of the stand). We also got a cup of a variety of cut fruit, which was pretty subpar and disappointing -- a majority of the fruit tasted unripe. 💜
• Lunch at Ono Seafood. It was good, but if I learned anything on this trip, I don’t like poke as much as I thought.
• Evening was spent at Kualoa Ranch for a friend’s wedding. What a beautiful venue!

Day 4: Waikiki

• Hung out on Waikiki Beach for a while before getting lunch at Marugame Udon. Udon was really tasty but I definitely didn’t need to get the tempura too. Extra points for the great value! 💜
• Wandered around International Marketplace but didn’t do any shopping
• Quick snack at Musubi Cafe. Good, but also thought that I’d like spam musubis more.
• Took a nap before getting dinner at Omakase by Aung. This was an amazing and delicious experience. The vibes were *chef’s kiss* 💜

Day 5: Waikiki

• Got coffee and some pastries from Kona Coffee b patisserie. Coffee was fine but the pastries were to die for. Waited in line for a while, so it’s probably good to go at a random time in the middle of the day rather than first thing in the morning 🌟/💜
• Headed over to the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites and went to the Battleship Missouri Memorial, Aviation Museum, and USS Arizona. Didn’t have time for the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum but if we could go back, we’d do that instead of the Aviation Museum. The Battleship Missouri Memorial was really cool and my WW2 buff boyfriend loved it. 🌟
• Wanted to get dinner at Maguro Brother, but was yet again met with a “we’re closed and will reopen on x date” sign. Went to Maguro Spot instead.
• We had shave ice at Island Vintage for dessert. We LOVED it and got one that had frozen yogurt in the center. I am dying to have it again. 💜

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Maui Overall Rating: 7/10 Hotel: Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa (we walked down pretty much the entire 2 mile strip of resorts in Kaanapali and from the outside, I'd say that the Hyatt Regency was among the nicer resorts. However, we would never in a million years stay here if it weren't for CC points)
Day 6: Travel to Maui

• Flew to Maui in the AM and grabbed lunch at Thai Mee Up. Tasty! Unfortunately, we were there pretty early so most of the other trucks were closed. Checked out Costco too, because why not, and had to resist the urge to buy a million snacks.
• Went to the Iao Valley State Monument and did a few short trails there but the star of the day was the Waihe’e Ridge trail. It was probably the most challenging hike we did our entire trip, but it had the best views. It was unfortunately a bit cloudy at the top, but on the bright side, we didn’t have the sun beating down on our backs and were able to get pretty amazing views halfway up. 🌟
• Checked into our hotel before heading out for dinner at Star Noodle. This was another favorite dinner. It’s small plates/family style and while our waiter suggested starting with a noodle plate plus 2-3 other plates, we ended up ordering a second round of plates because everything we had was so good. 💜

Day 7: Haleakala

• The sunrise was breathtaking but I never want to do that drive in the dark ever again, even as a passenger. We left at 2:30am and arrived 30 minutes before sunrise and would suggest leaving even earlier to beat the tour buses. It was CROWDED. Did a few trails (Pa Ka’oao, Leleiwi Overlook, and the first half of Halemau’u) and headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap lol. 🌟
• On the way back, we grabbed a few snacks and poke from Foodland
• Explored Lahaina a little before going to the Old Lahaina Luau. The luau was enjoyable and the amount of food was insane. We didn’t love the food (our favorites were probably the apps and dessert), so because of that and the fact that we’re not big drinkers, it was a bit overpriced.

Day 8: Road to Hana

• Not to be all poo-poo about it but both of us thought this was way too overrated. I’ve given my thoughts on some other threads, but there are scenic drives in northern Michigan that are way prettier than the Road to Hana. The only things worth stopping for were Waianapanapa State Park 🌟 and the Pipiwai trail 🌟 and maybe the Keanae Arboretum just to look at the rainbow eucalyptus trees up close and the roadside lava tube. Other than that, we were not impressed by the beaches or the waterfalls and it was exhausting. Oh, and unpopular opinion, but Aunty Sandy’s banana bread is so overrated.
• We had lunch in the middle at Braddah Hutts. It was very tasty but we definitely could’ve shared a plate. Dinner at Tin Roof was on the itinerary but we decided to skip because of how full we were from lunch.

Day 9: Resort Bumming

• Given how exhausting the previous day was, we just bummed by the pool all day and napped.
• We got dinner at Huihui, which exceeded our expectations and we watched the lovely sunset as we ate.

Day 10: Snorkeling

• We did a half-day snorkel tour with Sea Maui and it was a really great experience! We went to two spots and had breakfast, lunch, and drinks included. 💜
• Took a much needed nap before going to Down the Hatch for dinner. We weren’t super hungry so we just shared an appetizer and entree and got shave ice at Ululani’s afterwards. Both were good but we liked the Island Vintage shave ice better than Ululani’s.

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Big Island Overall Rating: 8/10 Hotel: Orchid Tree B&B (I wanted to gatekeep this but it was too cute of a B&B to not share. The suite we got was clean and comfortable and the simple breakfast in the morning was great. The host cut fresh fruit from their yard for us) 💜
Day 11: Travel/HVNP

• Traveled to the Big Island early in the morning. We stopped by Greenwell Farms for coffee beans to take home, but didn’t have time for a free tour. The beans were a bit pricey but oh well, it’s a souvenir for family and it was 100% Kona coffee.
• We did a farm tour at Kuaiwi Farm and it was fun! We had a bit of a weird group but the owners were great and gave samples of a variety of things to try. 🌟
• Lunch at Shaka Tacoz was delicious. I was in dire need of some vegetables, so I ordered a salad and it was HUGE. I’ve never had such a filling salad.
• We were going to check out the green sand beach but decided against it and headed to HVNP instead. We were able to fit in the Devastation Trail, steam vents, sulphur banks, Kilauea Overlook, and the Thurston Lava Tube. This really freed up our second day at the park and everything was very cool. 🌟
• We got ramen at Tetsumen in Hilo for dinner and it was a pleasant surprise! It was a great way to end the cold and rainy day. 🌟

Day 12: HVNP/Travel

• Since we had time for HVNP the previous day, we only did the Kilauea Iki trail which was also really cool. We were impressed and amazed by HVNP. 🌟
• We went back to Hilo to check out the farmers market and this was possibly the most disappointing part of our short visit to the BI. Despite being warned during the farm tour the day prior, I wanted to try white pineapple before leaving and was convinced by the vendor that I purchased from that the pineapples were ripe. We had been warned during the farm tour that many vendors at farmers markets will lie and sell unripe fruit. So I ended up spending over $20 on an unripe white pineapple that made my tongue burn. I made myself eat probably 1/3 of it before I gave up and threw it out. I also purchased a mountain apple that was also definitely not ripe and I couldn’t eat more than the one bite I took. Lesson learned, I suppose.
• We stopped by Rainbow Falls (had time to kill) and it was alright.
• We had a late lunch at Cafe 100 and Ken’s House of Pancakes (also alright) before our long trip home.

Welcome to Sabah! We hope you will enjoy your star here :)

Are you a tourist thinking about visiting Sabah, Malaysia?

These are some interesting places in Sabah you probably want to visit while you're here:

1. Mount Kinabalu
2. Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre
3. Mabul Island
4. Danum Valley Conservation Area
5. Kinabalu Park
6. Metaking Island
7. Poring Hot Spring
8. Tabin Wildlife Resort, Lahad Datu
9. Masjid Bandaraya Kota Kinabalu
10. Mari Mari Cultural Village
11. Tanjung Aru Beach
12. Pulau Pom Pom
13. Pulau Tiga
14. Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre
15. Maliau Basin Conservation Area
16. Boheydulang Island
17. Ladang Tenusu Desa Cattle
18. Gomantong Caves
19. Sabah State Museum
20. Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Santuary
21. Lok Kawi Wildlife Park
22. Tun Sakaran Marine Park, Semporna
23. Atkinson Clock Tower
24. Kundasang War Memorial
25. Tawau Hills Park
26. Ranforest Discovery Centre
27. Polumpung Melangkap View Camp Site
28. Mount Trusmadi
29. Sosodikon Hill Kundasang
30. Pulau Sapi
31. Sandakan Memorial Park
32. Kelambu Beach
33. Agnes Keith House, historic house museum, Sandakan
34. Kota Kinabalu Wetland Ramsar Site
35. Dalit Bay Golf & Country Club
36. Mengalum Island
37. Timpohon Gate, Kundasang
38. Deramakot Forest Reserve
39. Kiulu White Water Rafting Centre
40. Teck Guan Cocoa Museum
41. Meragang Hill
42. Mahua Waterfalls
43. Dinawan Island
44. Tanjung Aru Perdana Park
45. PuuJih Syh Temple
46. Sepanggar Island
47. Coral Flyer Zipline
48. Hounon Ridge Farmstay & Camping
49. Bukit Tengkorak Archaelogical Heritage Site
50. Sabah Art Gallery
51. Bukit Bongol
52. Crocker Range National Park
53. Sabah Agriculture Park
54. Ranau Rabbit Village
55. Aquarium & Marine Museum, Universiti Malaysia Sabah
56. Klias River Cruise
57. Mesilau
58. Bodgaya Island
59. Kokol Hill Elf
60. Pulau Mantanai Besar
61. Langanan Waterfall
62. Mount Tambuyukon
63. Balung River Eco Resort
64. Tuaran Crocodile Farm
65. Sg. Moroli Fish Spa
66. Borneo Rainforest Lodge, Danum Valley Conservation Area
67. Madai Caves
68. Murug-Turug Eco Tourism (MTET)
69. Gombizau Honey Bee Farm
70. Tamparuli Suspension Bridge
71. Usukan Cove
72. Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve
73. Orang Utan Sanctuary, Sepilok
74. Sandakan Rainforest Park
75. Imbak Canyon Conservation Area
76. Sandakan Heritage Trail
77. Monsopiad Heritage Village
78. Bombon Kg. Marakau (Fish Spa)
79. Mandalipau White Water View & Fish Pond
80. Tadzmahal Travel & Tours Jetty
81. Upside Down House Sabah
82. Sinurambi Tambunan (Tambunan Viewing Point)
83. Gemok Hill Forest Reserve
84. Tanjung Parapat
85. Kokob Rafflesia Conservation Garden
86. Mesilou Highland Strawberry Farm
87. Chantek Borneo, specialist in Sabah's ethnic textile design
88. Peak of Hope, Tuaran
89. Ulu Kionsom Waterfall
90. Pitas Bay View
91. Tegudon Tourism Village
92. St Michael's Catholic Church, Penampang (100+ yrs old historic Church)
93. Borneo Ant House, Tuaran
94. Tanjung Lipat Beach, Likas
95. Handicraft Market, Kota Kinabalu (Pasar Filipina)
96. Alpaca Club, Ranau
97. Gaya Street Sunday Market (Morning), Kota Kinabalu
98. Kadazandusun Culcural Association (KDCA), Penampang (May - Harvest Festival)
99. The North Borneo Railway train ride (functional wood-burner train)
100. Luxury yacht of Puteri Sutera sunset cruise, Sutera Harbour, Kota Kinabalu
101. World Highest Via Ferrata Mount Kinabalu

Do you have some questions about Sabah?

Post your questions in the comment section or make a standalone post in the main page!

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Where to Catch Rainbow Trout in Stardew Valley
Rainbow trout is a popular fish in Stardew Valley, and catching them can be a great way to make some extra money. But where can you find them? In this article, we’ll explain where to catch rainbow trout in Stardew Valley so you can get the most out
https://toad-fish.us/where-to-catch-rainbow-trout-stardew-valley/

Part 24 Working Towards Peace (Part 1) (Part 23)
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“I still don’t understand how the hell you, of all people, were able to score the first live interview with a Nishnabe and I didn’t get anything!” Shelby West’s perfectly choreographed hair, make up, and outfit looked absolutely pristine despite the scowl on her face as she watched the much more simply dressed woman set up a consumer-grade camera system. “I even demanded that my First Amendment Rights to the free press be respected, and they just looked at me like I was stupid!”
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“I mean, did you try asking them nicely?” Cherry turned from the equipment she was setting with a sarcastic smirk on her face, her floof of rainbow hair bouncing as she did so. “That’s what I did, and they were really cool with me.”
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“Oh, hardy har har. You’re so funny, Cherry.” Shelby rolled her eyes so hard it almost looked like they would get stuck like that. “But seriously though, I’m pissed! That should have been my interview! I got there first!”
​
As much as Cherry didn’t want to be a sounding board for her ex-girlfriend's childish complaints, she also didn’t want to give Shelby any excuse to cause a scene right before a press conference, especially with other people around. Even though the tight-fitting pin-stripe pants suit, precisely paired by a sharply detailed blazer with a popped up collar, and the completely over the top curled pompadour certainly looked good, the person wearing it could become quite loud quite quickly. When Cherry had initially shown up at the entrance to the Pinkerton facility where a battle had just taken place, she was one of the first to do so, had been recognized by a guard near the gate, and ushered into a tent-like structure for safety. As a few more journalists began to arrive just as she had, they were all informed there would be a press conference soon where they would be given an update on the current situation and have the opportunity to ask questions. As nerve racking and exciting as the past half hour or so had been for the rainbow haired woman, suddenly seeing her ex be ushered into the tent, immediately making eye contact with her, and then just starting to talk to her, had completely ruined this experience.
​
“I’m surprised they even let you in here." Cherry shot back while returning to her camera to properly align the focus. “I heard STAR Net was implicated in the First Contact Kidnapping Plot.”
​
“Oh, and where’d you hear that?” The brunette pomp atop the finely dressed woman’s head bobbed as pulled her head back and chin down, crossed her arms, and took up a much more defensive stance.
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“I saw the names of the STAR Net board of directors on the list of people the Nishnabe have detained." Cherry nonchalantly replied. "And the charges against them."
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“The what?!?” The shout drew the eyes of a few of the other reporters and guards nearby, though none gave the pair of bickering women a second glance.
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“You know what a board of directors is.” Cherry had finally gotten her camera just right and started giggling at her own joke.
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“The list, god damn it!” Shelby lightly stomped her wedge-heel in indignation.
​
“Look, Shelbs.” Cherry turned so that she could lock eyes with the other woman. “I told you 5 years ago, I’m not doing your homework anymore. If you want to call yourself a journalist, you need to do your own research.”
​
“Ahmahgah, no! I have a team for that!” The immaculately dressed woman scoffed with a valley girl accent so thick it made Cherry’s eyes roll in response. "You'd know what that's like if you worked for people who actually had a budget."
​
"And look how well informed you are." The sarcasm in that statement was palpable as the rainbow haired woman turned her attention to her laptop to finish her broadcasting and recording set up. "You get what you pay for and if you want something done right, you should be able to do it yourself."
​
"They get paid well!" Shelby shot back, more annoyed that her former lover wasn't giving her more attention than at the fact she wasn't aware of information she should have been reporting on. “But seriously though, what list?”
​
Rather than continuing with the back and forth, Cherry simply focused on her task and clicked through a few options on her computer to get all of the settings just right. Unlike Shelby and the few other reporters brave or stupid enough to approach the site of a recent battle which included high altitude atomic detonations, the rainbow haired woman from Mars preferred this more hands-on approach to reporting. Where all the others simply trusted their drone-based, AI-operated broadcasting systems to work without any real interaction, Cherry knew better than that. Despite how far simple AI, particularly image-recognition AI, had come over the years, nothing could compare to that human touch which transcended any attempt at emulation. Though she might never consider herself among the legends like Hunter S. Thompson or Bob Woodward, Cherry would rather spend time perfecting her craft than arguing with her ex.
​
"Ah, come on CareBear, don't be like that." Seeing as her sass was getting her nowhere in a hurry, Shelby tried to change tactics and was now using her sweetest tone of voice. "Pwitty pwease!"
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"Oh my god!” Cherry burst out with the most annoyed tone she could muster before pressing in a few commands into her laptop and bringing up a blank internet browser tab. “I swear to God, if it weren’t for me you would never have gotten your degree!”
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“So, you’ll tell me?”
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“I’m not telling you shit, I’m showing you how to look it up yourself.” The bombastic side eye Cherry shot Shelby’s way did little to hinder the giddy expression on the other woman's prim and proper face. “You just open a new tab on your browser, go to the Nishnabe Web portal, and then it’ll bring a search page that looks like every over search page I’ve ever seen. From there, you can search anything you want, and you can probably find it.” As she was describing the incredibly simple process, she was also giving a live demonstration.
​
“And if I wanted to search that list you mentioned?” With the prodding this obvious, the demonstration and explanation halted.
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“I swear, if you write a report on this and I’m not cre-” Cherry was about to demand she be properly recognized for her work before something particularly hurtful crossed her mind. “Ah, who am I kidding, it’s not like you ever actually write any of your reports yourself. Probably just paying some minimum wage intern to do that for you. And it shows.”
​
“Harsh…” Shelby faked an offended tone even though she knew it was true. “But… as you were saying…”
​
“Fine… I looked up military engagements…” The term was quickly typed into the keyboard and the homepage was suddenly replaced by a simplistic though highly informative search results page. “And, you can see the first link is to the Nishnabe Militia War Chief’s Council page. When yah click that, it brings you to the most boring yet transparent government website I’ve ever seen. Here’s a list of active and resolved military actions that goes from the most recent strike on ConSec and the Pinkertons, all the way back to their very first official military engagement just under 1100 years ago.”
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“There is no way they just…” Without meaning to, Shelby had suddenly found herself actually reading the information on the screen instead of waiting for it to be told to her.
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“Yeup.” Cherry clicked to the link to the most recent, and still unresolved, engagement at the top of the list. “You can see the number killed, wounded, or captured, the total resource expenditure, and even their tactical plans.”
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“That has to be bullshit.” The utter disbelief was written all across the overdressed woman’s face. “There is absolutely no way a military, or any government body, would be this transparent. Look! They have a list of everyone who’s supposedly deployed right now. This has to be misinformation or something.”
​
“I mean…” Cherry clicked the link as she had done earlier and began scrolling down the list of names, some with pictures, until she came to a face that was standing in the room at that moment. “Zab-sh-pak-i-wen?” She attempted to pronounce the name while turning to a nearby guard who was clad in advanced armor, but with his helmet down and face exposed.
​
“Ehe? Ni je na, ngwabjegen-nankwe?” The Zabshpakiwen turned and looked at the women with a stoic expression and tone.
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“Oh my god, he can’t be the same person, no way!” Though Shelby’s make up and hair weren’t disturbed in the least, she now had a look of utter shock on her face. “What did he say?”
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“If you put the translator they gave you into your ear, you could understand him just fine.” Cherry began rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration, the Nishnabe man had started lightly chuckling, and Shelby fumbled with the small translation device she had been given early before wedging it into her ear.
​
“I said, ‘Yes? What’s up, rainbow-hair?’” Zab repeated himself after he saw the elaborately dressed woman had placed in her translator.
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“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bug you.” Cherry answered for herself and Shelby while nodding politely towards the man and putting on a friendly smile. “She just doesn’t believe that your military or government would be this open with information like who is currently deployed and where."
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“There is no way-!” Cherry half shouted before quickly calming after realizing how easy it was going to be to have a conversation with this Nishnabe man. “Do you guys really just have personal information like this available to anyone?”
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“What? Has Earth not developed social media yet?” Sarcasm oozed from the man as he let a light smirk form on his face.
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“Of course!” There was just a bit too much sass in Shelby's response. “I have 30 million followers on-”
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“And do y’all ever put links between your social media profiles and your places of employment?”
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"I mean…When you put it like that.." Shelby couldn't help but feel embarrassed after realizing she had multiple links between her profile on the company website and her personal social media accounts. "So, like, if I made a profile on your…"
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"We just call it the Web. Like a spiderweb." Zab was trying his best not to look at the woman like she was dumb, especially considering he had overheard she had a degree, but he was failing. "And a few randoms have already sent me connection requests. But I haven't responded to any of them yet because I've never actually met any of those people."
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"One of those was probably from me." Cherry interjected quietly and drew looks from both of the others. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself when I was doing my research."
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"Eee, it's all good." The man chuckled with an almost flirtatious tone. "I think I overheard your name is Cherry, right?"
​
"Yeup! Cherry Sanchez." There was a hesitant excitement in the rainbow haired woman's voice while the man pulled what looked like a hand-sized panel from his chest armor which was revealed to be a small data-tablet. As the man began typing into his device, Cherry added a bit of clarification. "There's a cherry emoji between the first and last name."
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"Huh… I was wondering what that was." Zab commented before pressing in a few commands then placing the panel-like tablet back on his armor. "But, if I'm being completely honest, my profile is pretty boring. You're mostly just gonna see pictures of my family and places I've been."
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Before anything else could be said, Cherry’s laptop made a ding sound and a small pop-up notification indicated the request had been accepted. Instinctually, the woman clicked on the notification and was brought to a list of her current and pending connections which revealed that Zab was not the first Nishnabe Cherry had connected with. Seeing how her ex was already far more popular among the Nishnabe than she was, Shelby couldn't help but feel the sting of jealousy hit her soul.
​
"Shit, how many followers do you already have?" Shelby nearly scoffed at seeing her normally shy and reserved former lover being so outgoing with these Native Americans from space.
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"It's just some of the people I met when I interviewed Wish. And a few people like Zabship…" Cherry's relatively shy nature was starting to come out as she struggled to pronounce Zab's full name.
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"Just Zab." The flirtiness, though now quite obvious, was still fairly professional. "It can also be hard for the Hi-Koth in my Clan to pronounce Nishnabemwin fully, so I'm use to it."
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"What's a Hi-Koth?" Shelby's question, which could have been answered in under a minute if she had just looked it up herself, prompted Zab to nod towards Cherry's laptop.
​
"Click on my profile, the second picture is me with my clanmate Arichacon." The nonchalant way the man casually mentioned he had a picture with an alien, who was a member of his extended family no less, caused the finely dressed woman’s eyes to grow wide. "He's a Hi-Koth and one of the best forestry specialists I've ever met. The man really gets what it means to be one with nature, if you know what I'm talkin' about."
​
By the time Shelby had turned from the Nishnabe warrior and back to the laptop, Cherry had already brought up Zab's profile, clicked to the second picture, and enlarged the image so it's contents would be clear. On the screen was the man the women were talking to, wearing a far more ornate, feathered outfit as opposed to his combat armor, standing next to what Shelby could have sworn was a slightly orange-tinted brown bear. At first, she almost thought that this was an AI generated image of a bear dressed like a viking. However, upon realizing the mountain of fur had 4 arms, slightly elongated limb proportions, and entirely unique details on their clothing, she realized this was an actual alien. Where Shelby's mouth was slightly agape, her jaw was now almost on the floor.
​
"That's an alien?!?" This outburst was both loud enough and interesting enough to catch and keep the attention of a few of the other reporters who were nearby and now trying to catch a glimpse of the laptop's screen without making their efforts obvious.
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"Well… we just think of them as people, not… aliens. Especially people like Ari.” Zab tried to explain in the most compassionate way he could despite being mildly annoyed at the over-the-top reporter. “He was born on Shkegpewen, same as me, and only about a week before me. And he’s a member of my Clan so, in my opinion, he’s family.”
​
“I am so sorry.” Shelby quickly apologized in an accent that was surprisingly neutral and tone that was incredibly honest compared to how she had been speaking up until that point. “I didn’t mean to offend and I promise I won’t make that mistake again. But, if you don't mind me asking what do you mean by Clan? I heard you say 'Dodem', then the translator thingy said 'Clan' and kinda whispered 'extended, community-based family unit' in my ear."
​
“Um… that sounds about right...” Zab searched the finely dressed woman’s eyes to see if she was messing with him. However, he didn't have long to look before his attention was suddenly taken and he looked off to the side as if listening to someone speaking into his ear. "Sorry but questions are gonna have to wait a bit. I just got word that the conference is going to start in five minutes, so make sure you're ready.”
​
"Oh shit!" Cherry blurted before returning to her laptop and resuming her set up.
​
"I guess I should make sure my equipment is working too." Shelby muttered while pulling out her smartphone and scrolling to the app that controlled her camera drone.
​
Despite not having done any research herself, or even really knowing what to ask in this news conference beyond the script her bosses had already sent her, the overly dressed woman was quite proficient with her own broadcasting and recording equipment. With just a few clicks of her long acrylic nails on her phone screen, the four-legged camera and microphone platform had made all of the necessary adjustments to do its job perfectly. While Cherry had just finished inputting commands into her computer after spending nearly half an hour setting up the camera and mic, Shelby's system was ready to go in just a few moments. Even though her research team may have failed to give her the amount of information necessary to do her job independently, they had uploaded the necessary translation software updates to her drone systems. However, as she stood there for a moment in silence, Shelby couldn’t shake the strange feeling she got whenever she was nervous but not directly interacting with someone.
​
Before she could try to restart the conversation between herself, her ex-girlfriend, and the Nishnabe warrior who had actually, willingly exchanged more than a few short words with her, a few more Nishnabe entered the tent carrying a fold out table, a couple similarly compacted chairs, a pair of panel-like objects, and something that almost looked like a large perch. As the armored warriors quickly set up the accommodations, the chairs and table were like any other Shelby had seen at dozens of other press conferences. However, the pair of strange technological devices were set up in such a way as to create a sort of a structure with one panel about two meters above the other, and the perch placed in the space between them. Though she heard a slight hum coming from the panels, and she could see that Cherry was now staring at them as well, Shelby had absolutely no idea what they were for. With less than a minute before the conference started, both women knew they would have to ask soon if they wanted any reasonable explanation.
​
“What’re those?” The pair of women spoke and looked towards Zab in almost perfect synchronization.
​
“Grav-panels. Have you not developed those yet?” The completely casual tone in Zab’s voice which matched his expression caused both women to stare at him like he was cracking a joke at their expense. “What? Those are super common everywhere on Shkegpewen. Non-humans usually can’t handle deathworld gravity for extended periods without some kind of accommodations.”
​
Though Zab knew he had just unintentionally let slip was supposed to be a surprise for these reporters who have taken the time, and risked their own safety, to come here in hopes of a story, the reveal was just a moment or two away. In the second it took the women to realize the implications of what the man had just said, it was already too late. The respectful murmur that had filled the tent for well over an hour fell completely silent and broadcasting systems immediately activated. For a few seconds the only sounds that could be heard in the tent were the tapping of high-dollar military dress shoes, the soft thuds of advanced combat boots, and the clicking of talons across the ground. As Cherry and Shelby joined the rest of the reports in the stunned stares towards the front of the long tent, they saw a US Army General they were all familiar with, a Nishnabe warrior in particularly ornate and advanced armor they didn’t recognize, and a non-terrestrial golden avian wearing a beautifully styled red and black vest-like top. With this being the first time any of the reporters in the room had seen an alien in person, all of them were unable to do anything besides stare as the group took their seats and the press conference began.
​
"Good afternoon, everyone. Please, take a seat and let's get this started." General Andrews addressed the reporters with the tone of a hardened military commander. "As you all likely already know, my name is General Robert Andrews of the United States Army. I arrived at this location a few hours ago at the request of President Carnegie and I just finished briefing him on the Nishnabe presence in American sovereign territory. I have positively assured him, and now I would like to assure the American people, that we have nothing to fear from the Nishnabe Confederacy. Though their actions over the past week may seem aggressive, within their own context they have been quite reserved with their capabilities. Most importantly, they have no intent of undermining or threatening the United States, any of the United Nations of the Earth Sphere of Influence, or any governmental body in the solar system."
​
The General paused for a moment to allow what he had just said to fully sink in for all those who were now watching all across the Earth and beyond.
​
"Now, I would like to introduce War Chief Msko-Pkwenech of the Nishnabe Militia, the acting commander of all Nishnabe forces in this system, and Royal Ambassador Viscountess Tarki Gebron Shlin of House Dreyuk, who is currently acting as a neutral diplomat and expert in galactic laws." Despite having only been able to practice the pronunciation of the unfamiliar names a few times, Andrews was able to get them out perfectly as he respectfully indicated towards them. "I will allow them to give more details in a moment but first, I would like to make a request to the American people. As we move past this difficult beginning between ourselves and the Nishnabe, and into a more cooperative phase of this relationship, please take into consideration the fact that the Nishnabe are human beings who have been separated from Earth for nearly 1200 years. We should be welcoming back these stolen members of humanity, not treating them as hostile invaders. Ambassador Shlin, if you would please, explain the legal context surrounding the military actions that have taken place on American soil."
​
There was a genuinely friendly smile that had formed on the War Chief's face as he nodded his head slightly in agreement with what the General had said while the General motioned for Tarki to speak.
​
"Thank you, General.” Tarki was speaking in the best English she could muster, much to the shock of reporters who were sitting silently. “To get straight to the important parts, the initial strike against the United Heavy Industries Headquarters was carried out by elements of the First Fleet of the Third Qui’ztar Matriarchy because that was the location where the family members of a member of the human first contact team were held against their will. We have been able to collect irrefutable evidence showing that the board of directors of both UHI and STAR Net conspired together to kidnap a pair of disabled individuals as a means of asserting leverage over the first contact team. However, upon investigating further, it was discovered that both UHI and STAR Net have been engaging in the production of autonomous, non-sentient combat-AI and technologies with which to enslave Awakened AI, both of which are very serious crimes in the eyes of the Galactic Community Council. The investigation into the site will conclude soon and control of the site will be returned to the United States government within the next few days.”
​
A collective sigh of relief could be felt not just from the reporters in the tent but from every single person watching the live broadcast. Though more and more Nishnabe had been responding to various calls for peaceful forms of aid from people across the Solar System, the major of Earth’s population were still concerned over the potential for a full on invasion despite how limited the military actions so far had been. With a direct announcement from an alien that there was no intent on expanding, or even continuing, military operations alleviated quite a few worried souls.
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“As for the military action here at Red Lake…” The golden avian was slightly less confident with herself as she continued and looked towards the Nishnabe warrior who was seated next to her. “I feel it may be better for the War Chief to give proper context.”
​
"First of all, I would like to apologize for not yet knowing the common language of this land." In contrast to the other two who had spoken before him, Msko made no attempt to speak in English. "And second, I would like to extend my condolences to the families of those slain here today. Up until the moment of those atomic weapons detonated, I truly hoped this would end without bloodshed. Even though the Constellis-Securitas Corporation ordered an assault on a group of Nishnabe aid workers and attempted to murder not only my people, but also the innocent people they were assisting, I hoped we could simply scare them into submission. However, they simply left us no other choice than to end the threat."
​
Despite the remorseful expression on Msko's face, it was clear he didn't regret his actions. Rather, he simply wished there had been a better alternative than to shed the blood of his own species. As the War Chief continued, his dower expression began to grow brighter as he tried to focus on the future he wanted to see for his whole species.
​
"When the nuclear fire was absorbed by the shielding of my mechanized walker as I dropped on this facility my worst fear was that those would be the opening volleys of an extended and painful conflict." The War Chief glanced over towards the General with a slight but genuinely friendly smile on his face. "However, after a quite pleasant conversation with General Andrews here, I have real hope that this battle will be the final time weapons will be used in anger between members of our. Moving forward, the Nishnabe Militia is pledging to act strictly in concert with local governments, and to not initiate any military actions without express permission from the local government. We are not here as invaders, nor do we have any intention of forcing your governments to do anything they would not willingly do on their own. All we ask is that if you see a Nishnabe in your local community on an aid or environmental restoration mission, please do not accost or harass them. We are your cousins and we just want to see the home we were stolen from again."
​
Msko let his plea hang in the air for a long few seconds to ensure that the translation was completed and the people of Earth and the Sol System would be able to absorb what he had just said. Regardless of the technological gap between the Nishnabe and the rest of humanity, the explicit pledge of peace was so sincere that many people watching the press conference at home were beginning to cheer. However, Msko knew that wouldn't be enough for some, especially those most paranoid and scared of change.
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"Over the past few days, and especially over the past few hours, Nishnabe diplomatic teams have been reaching out to the various governmental bodies across the Sol System in an attempt to arrange a grand meeting between all of the various political and economic groups in this system to discuss a peaceful and voluntary transition towards Galactic Standards." This revelation by the War Chief, though already known to those who had done sufficient research, was not something that the majority of humanity was aware of. "Aside from particular military technologies and clandestine corporate actions, which are already mostly illegal under your own laws, your diverse governments are largely in compliance with galactic laws and thus will be granted access to all of the technologies my people have access to. In order to better facilitate that transition, and to promote a mutual sense of compassion and understanding, Fleet Admiral Atxika of the First Fleet of the Third Matriarchy has agreed to host a convention on The Hammer. We are now publicly extending an invitation to all government, corporate, and media representatives to join us in the Council of Peace in order to lay the groundwork for a long and prosperous future for humanity. We will now be fielding questions."