Sobek realized he had fallen for a trick. "As I imagined. It was a trap!" he exclaimed, then stared at the rapidly sizzling ground. "I don't know what it is but I don't like it! I better get away before…"

The Imperials began firing relentlessly at him. Sobek felt hit countless times. If it weren't for the combo of [Reinforced skin] and [Regeneration], he would have become a sieve right now.

Sobek opened his mouth and unleashed [Devastating roar] in every direction. Countless soldiers flew off and several tanks were blown to pieces, but for every soldier or war machine blown away, two took its place. Sobek found himself besieged on all sides.

Clearly the Imperials aimed at not letting him go. Sobek decided to use [Teleportation], but suddenly the formation below him glowed with blue light, so much so that it dazzled him.

"What the…!?" Sobek exclaimed, and then disappeared.

A flash of light hit the spinosaurus and the entire area, dazzling anyone who was watching the scene. Then, as quickly as it had come, the flash of light was gone, but Sobek was gone with it.

"Pack leader!" was the yell from the dinosaur army.

"It's done! Let's retreat!" all the commanders shouted of the imperial army in unison, which immediately turned around and abandoned the lines. This time it was not a slow retreat, but a real rout.

And they weren't wrong, as soon as they recovered from their amazement, the dinosaurs leapt at them in a rage. Sobek's disappearance had filled their hearts with pure panic and now they were furious. In their primitive minds there was only the desire to tear apart any human being who stood in front of them.

However, despite the dinosaurs' initial total victory, a barrage of missiles soon rained down on them. Apparently the Imperials had built a second defensive line nearby and were converging there; and now the defenses of that line were bombing the dinosaurs. In addition, even from the sky innumerable planes and helicopters came to lend a hand.

"Buck, call up your soldiers" Old Li said. "And send someone to tell other commanders to do the same"

The tyrannosaurus snorted. "We can't stop now! We have the advantage of numbers. We can still…!"

"By continuing like this, we only risk losing soldiers. Even if we managed to break through their defense line, it is likely that the Empire would respond by dropping a nuke" Old Li stopped him. "Forget it. We'll have time for revenge later. Now we have to think about reorganizing ourselves"

Buck grit his teeth; from his point of view, the imperials had to pay for whatever they did to Sobek. But despite his anger she managed to think clearly and agreed that, as always in such cases, the old ankylosaurus was right. With a roar he called back his troops who immediately abandoned the attack and retreated back beyond the trench. Seeing the shock legion withdraw, Carnopo and the Apache agreed it was best to follow his example.

In a few minutes the situation calmed down again: the defense lines of the two armies were re-established, with the difference that they were now about twenty kilometers apart instead of ten. And that among the dinosaurs there was no longer a pack leader.

Given the emergency situation, the commanders immediately met to talk. Old Li summoned Buck, Carnopo and Apache for an emergency meeting. When they arrived, both were very worried. "What happened to the pack leader!?" Apache shouted, who had watched Sobek disappear from above. "Wouldn't he be…?"

"No, in that case our skills would be gone. The mere fact that we're still talking is a sign that he's still alive" Old Li reminded them. The other dinosaurs calmed down: it was true, as long as they still had their abilities it meant that Sobek must still be alive.

"But then why doesn't he tell us anything?" Carnopo asked. Under normal circumstances, Sobek would surely have used the mind-sharing feature of the [Contract] to explain to them where he was and what he was doing, or even just to tell them 'I'm fine, don't worry about me'. Instead, since he had disappeared there was dead silence from him.

"Maybe he passed out. Or he is too busy to think about it. Or… the Imperials found a way to prevent him from communicating with us" Old Li said. "My theory is that that strange light was a teleportation device, similar to the one the Imperials used to drop an atomic bomb on Frigeria, and that it teleported the pack leader to some distant location"

"Your theory is correct, Old Li"

The four dinosaurs turned to see Snock appear in front of them holding a human in his jaws. The giganotosaurus spat the poor fellow on the ground and then said: "I took the trouble to look for answers on my own. Come on, tell them what you know"

The human raised his trembling head: "I'm... I'm an army technician. A week ago we received the task of assembling the teleportation device"

"I've made some inquiries" Snock said. "Apparently, this morning the Imperial army generals received orders to stage an attack and then a feigned retreat to lure the pack leader into a trap. They wanted it to end up on top of the teleportation device"

"Why? Where did they take him? What is their plan?" Buck snarled looking at the human. "Speak out!"

"I… I don't know!" the poor man exclaimed. "No one knew about it, not even the army commanders. The transporter device had coordinates already entered"

"But…?" Snock hissed, then gave him a half kick. "Come on, tell him what you told me!"

"B-But there was a rumor going around among the soldiers!" the man said. "They claimed that the top echelons of the Empire had found a way to eliminate the enemy once and for all, and that it was necessary to take him to a distant and hidden place to implement it!"

Old Li's eyes widened. "Distant? How much distant?"

************

Within a second, Sobek realized several things. First, he was no longer on the battlefield, but on an expanse of barren gray rock. Second, it was no longer day but deep night, and the stars were so bright they were easily visible, as if there were no atmosphere between them to confuse them. Third, the mental link he had with the other dinosaurs thanks to the [Contract] had just been broken.

And fourth… his lungs couldn't find air to breathe. Within moments, he felt suffocated.

He immediately activated [Apnea] and his body relaxed again. Without the feeling of suffocation he was able to think much more clearly. He tried to take a step, but almost jumped involuntarily; shocked, he realized that his body felt much lighter than he was used to.

"What the…?" He thought confused, then looked up. And the sight of him resolved all his doubts.

It wasn't night at all: the sun was shining on the horizon and his light illuminated the gray rocky surface where he stood. The sky was simply not blue anymore. Indeed, it could be said that the sky did not exist: there was only the cosmic void and the stars which were now easily visible even if it was day. And then, in the center of the void, was a familiar blue ball studded with great green masses and white cumulus clouds.

"Are you kidding me!? How did I end up on the Moon!?" Sobek screamed in his mind. He now he understood why he couldn't breathe and why he felt so light. He thanked that [Reinforced skin] also protected him from cosmic rays, or he would have already been cooked alive by the lethal solar radiation that without an atmosphere could easily reach him.

"I arrived here via teleportation… the Imperials must have set a trap for me. But why?" he thought. What was the point of teleporting him to the Moon? It was unlikely that they hoped he would die of asphyxiation, since he could…

A doubt seized him. He tried to teleport back to Eden.

He didn't move.

When he tried to activate [Teleportation], as soon as he did he felt like an interference in his mind. The ability didn't work. "How?" Sobek exclaimed in his mind, and for a moment he was really scared: if he couldn't come back within the hour, not even [Apnea] could save him!

"Keep calm! Stay focus!" he ordered to himself. "Reflect. Have the Imperials found a way to oppose my teleportation? But they have to have a way to keep it going. Whatever this machine is, it can't be far…"

His eyes darted across the lunar surface and very quickly his excellent vision spotted some sort of man-made structure about ten kilometers away. "There it is! Well, let's get her out of the way!" he thought, activating his [Personal mutation].

[Selected mutation: metal mutation]

It was the same mutation he'd used to deflect the thermonuclear bomb. Even though the object was particularly far away, it wasn't that far away. By hitting in the right places, Sobek could cause the structure to collapse in on itself.

But his magnetokinesis didn't work.

"Damn! Did they figure out how to block this too!?" he roared into his mind. "Okay, that means I'm going to use brute force. All I have to do is reach that thing and…"

[Supreme instinct] kicked in and he felt movement behind him. Sobek turned just in time to see something teleport in front of him; a second later, a giant metal hand tried to punch him in the face, but he dodged it and moved to a safe distance.

"Lord Sobek, please don't try to use your magnetokinesis. While they appear to be made of metal, both those pillars and this little gem are constructed of a plastic alloy. We have to thank you, he knows… if you hadn't shown us that you could manipulate metals, we would never have thought about this eventuality"

Sobek looked dumbstruck at what he had just said. The situation was so surreal that for a moment he thought he was dreaming.

He was a robot. It was at least a hundred meters high and nearly three times as long. But the strange thing was that he replicated almost perfectly himself! It had the features of a spinosaurus: the dorsal sail was replaced by dozens and dozens of solar panels, the metal legs were equipped with curved and very powerful claws, and the head was a spinosaurus head with bionic eyes and a very long and powerful snout.

"What... you're not kidding me, are you? What is this, a... Mechasobek!?"