[TheRaisin]

As the trio continued further into the dense pine forest, it grew more and more difficult to manuever the huge meetle through the tightly packed trees. Finally, they knew it could go no further into the dense forest, so Down and Carver took what supplies and weapons they would need to get over the mountains and tied the rest to the legs and underside of the lumbering beast, leaving the wings unbound, and lashed together a small rope harness for Wurm to ride in. He took off towards the other side of the mountain, where he would wait for the other two as they made their way over the mountain. He had to fly low so he could tow his elum from his aerial perch, using the whole length of rope they had brought.
Down and Carver set out once more, and by nightfall had come to yet another Vykker outpost. Seeing that this one was larger, and therefore probably more well-guarded, they cut around and continued for at least a mile before choosing a well-hidden place to sleep for the night, not wanting to be anywhere near the Vykkers when they slept. The next morning they came across yet another installation, this one even larger and more well guarded than the last. It was obvious that the further up they went, the more close together the outposts were, and more heavily guarded. Now they were constantly on edge, expecting a platoon of armored shooters to pop out of the underbrush at any moment and gun them down.
In the early afternoon, they came across another installation, and here faced a problem: a fifteen foot-high concrete wall topped with razor-wire stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction, broken only by a gate just large enough for two trucks to pass, with a guard tower on either side manned by an armored slig popper, with several armored Intern shooters milling around on the ground. The Vykkers rarely solicited the help of sligs, preferring to rely on Interns, but although Interns were unmatched for pure sadistic cruelty, sligs were much better warriors, and had much better shots. Though this alone would be enough to stop most intruders, but beyond that was a huge Vykker compound teeming with security forces. There was no doubt about it: this was a military installation, and this was where the security forces really started taking hold. Down and Carver guessed the huge barrier stretched around the whole mountain range: whatever the Vykkers were doing, they really didn't want anyone finding out, and they didn't want Abe messing it up.
As the two sat despondently trying to think of how they could get past the guards, one of them, an armored shooter, began to jerk violently. It quickly subsided, but the Mudokons, who were very attuned to spiritual power like Spooce, could see small blue lights floating around the Intern's head, winking in and out, and instantly they knew: "Abe!" they whispered in an almost reverent tone.
As if in response, the Intern began shooting the other two ground guards, knocking them down in turn so that every time one got up, it was knocked down again. The slig guards in the guard towers heard the commotion, but couldn't see anything because they were directly above it. The two Interns died quickly, and the sligs seemed to think that if they couldn't see it and could no longer hear it, it wasn't their concern.
Seizing the chance, Down grabbed her bow, selected one of the special, true-flying arrows she and her siblings had made, and let it fly, straight between two neck-plates on the armored slig to the right and into his spinal cord. He died instantly and almost noiselessly, only emitting a small yelp before slumping over onto the guardrail on the small tower.
"What?" asked the other slig. He turned to see the shaft of a sleek green-feathered arrow sticking out of his partner's body. Before the wheels in his tiny brain could turn and tell him to sound the alarm, a small, perfectly smooth slingstone flew from Carver sling, through the slig's goggle, penetrating his eye socket and lodging in his brain. With the other guards defeated, the one being possessed suddenly began to shudder, much more violently this time. Great ripples and waves rolled through his body, emanating from his chest and flowing to the ends of his limbs and head, until he simply blew apart like water after a boulder has been chucked into it, making a small wet popping noise.
As small gobs of flesh and bits of bone and metal fell to the ground, two figures dropped from a nearby tree. As they approached Down and Carver, the one with a dinky striped ponytail at the back of his head made a nonchalant greeting, as if nothing had just taken place:
"Heya, fellow chumps."