Aqua had no time to appreciate the fact that he survived the first creature when flying spiders came at her. Aqua avoided most of the first attacks before diving, only spreading her wings before hitting the ground, and much like before the trees seem to move out of her way only long enough for her to pass before closing again. some of the spiders ran into the trees but a few stayed right on her tail. The acid like venom did a number on the trees it hit but did not seem to have an effect on aqua, thanks to her bone like scales and earth element she seemed to be immune.

Aqua only wanted a simple meal and was now running for her life. Her stomach was starting to cramp up due to the force of movement. One spider hit her with web causing a wing to fold and stay that way. The result was her spiraling towards the ground and crashing at a dangerous speed. She got up and ripped at the web with her teeth as the spiders landed. Aqua turned her head and watched the three of them slowly come at her with there front legs raised ready to attack. Aqua bared her teeth with a low growl, her free wing half spread, and tail slowly swaying as she picked her target. 

Her mouth filled with flame before she shot it at the middle one then the other two. She then turned and broke into a full run after losing her meal. Once she felt safe she hid, doing her best not to be discovered. She then turned and started to burn off what acid was on her back half and wing. A memory of birds and a bush from when she was small came. Her hiding from the things as they attacked well reminded her of the present. The web burned bright but did not seem to be any easier to get off. 

Shiloh and Galatea were zigzagging through the trees as the hiss of corrosive acid melted through the foliage around them. The deity was especially worried. If she was hit, the damage would be severe. She could always build replacement limbs and parts for Euripides and Galatea if their frames were damaged, but she didn't have that luxury. The signal to the Clephsydra had been sent, but who knew how long it would before they were out of danger. Just when she thought they were out of the spider's range, its back opened up and revealed a pair of wings and it started chasing them down from the air. "I-impossible! Since when did arachnids possess lepidopteran wings?! Oh gods!!" The scouting automaton cried, summarizing how Shiloh felt as soon as she saw it too. "Bloody spiders–that's just unfair!" Shiloh protested before a string of webbing came at her face. Just as it came within a foot of her, she used her power to make it move to the side–attaching to the trunk of a large jungle tree. The threads were strong, and very sticky. If they were snagged, it was over.

Her hands were full carrying Euripides, so she couldn't hold her blades. However she wasn't totally helpless. As the spider approached, it pulled on its webbing and gained acceleration. Casting Keeper's secret on herself and a spell of protection on her combat unit, she focused her mind to suck the giant spider into a whirlwind. A flurry of ethereal blades rained down on it  as she hoped it would do something. Unfortunately the carapace was tough, and the spider began spewing its corrosive venom. "Galatea, get behind me!" Shiloh shouted. "It can't hit me no matter what, so don't let it use you as leverage!" The combat unit had ideas or her own however, and threw a blade straight into the vortex of wind. Her warning was a moment too late, as errant drops of acid splashed onto Galatea and began eating at her resin coating. The front half of her forearm was corroded to the point where her metal endoskeleton was visible, but thankfully the spell Shiloh had cast lessened the damage. The spider on the other hand, wasn't as lucky. The blade skewered it clean through its body, and when Shiloh released it, it fell to the ground twitching. Using telekinesis to retrieve the blade, she noted that the blood of the spider didn't corrode the weapon. "…Interesting. So that acid must be produced separately from the rest of its bodily fluids."

The flame from the dragon scorched the spiders in its way, but they weren't quite dead. Hissing, they retreated. The web that stuck to her burned off slowly. Whatever was in them was designed to ensnare prey to make the spiders' hunting easier. If she had been completely covered, she wouldn't have lived to tell the tale. The terrible screeching of the Bakulaw terror lizard could still be heard, but it was much farther away. The chances of it running into her were low now it had lost sight of her. Overhead the rumble of an airship filled the skies as the Clephsydra finally came. Flying through was just as much as an obstacle as navigating the jungle below. A voice projected from the airship was calling for the three others. "Ms. Kyrie, Galatea, Euripides–this is Erasmus. We're here, so if you see us send us a signal!" The other automata were scanning the jungle below as Erasmus slowly flew the ship overhead. 

Aqua was not happy about her wing being stuck to her body and the annoying web that kept it that way. The adrenalin rush was starting to wear off and with it, the pain was starting to become more noticeable. The young dragon looked at her back where the acid venom had hit and could see the loss of scales. Since she was a reptile she knew that the scales would regrow when she shed her skin but it still looked awful and was starting to sting. She had tried to cut the web with her claws but could not really reach it. But as it darkened it got weaker and less sticky. After a while, she managed to spread her wing and git it off. 

At the sound of an airship, she almost cursed. She did fine until a couple two-leggeds showed up and tried to attack so the thought of more made her cringe. The two-leggeds were loud and a definite target for the creatures but, if she could get a ride out of the jungle she would have a higher chance of living. That said convincing a ship that a dragon was not only friendly but not worth the fight for her skin would be a challenge. As much as she hated that form being human would be more excepted or at least that's what she hoped.

Aqua used polymorph to turn human but kept her wings. A brown robe covered her just as fast. The poison burn on her back seemed a lot bigger in this form as it covered part of her leg and most of her back and hurt a lot more. She slowly climbed out of her hiding place and held out her hand as a staff formed in her hand. climbing out of the hole she looked first for immediate threats than for a sky fire or signal as the ship called it. If she spotted one she would head toward it. if not she would fly towards the ship. 

The familiar roar of the Clephsydra's engines was music to her ears. "They're here. Well about time they showed up. Let's go." Settling Euripides down, she sent herself blasting off into the air. The automata on board detected the disturbance in the area and with further focus, saw it was their captain. "All hands on deck! Prepare the doors after we begin our descent!" Came the orders from the pilot. An older model, similar to the same style as Euripides, was at the helm. Erasmus began gradually lowering the airship closer to the ground to give Shiloh an easier time entering. There wasn't any space to land, so this was the best they could do.

Back on the ground, Shiloh and the two automatons were waiting in a clearing for the rope ladder to be thrown. Realizing that the ship would be vulnerable while waiting for them to ascend into the hull, Shiloh began to whip the surrounding air currents into a barrier. It would repel flying creatures from taking advantage of the Clephsydra while it was stationary, and if they were attacked from below they could escape to the air. The rope ladder was now only a meter off the ground, and Shiloh helped the scouting unit up. Once he was working his way up the ladder, she motioned for Galatea to go next. She had been worried that the combat unit would have problems climbing, but thankfully Galatea was scaling the rungs just fine. No serious internal damage from the looks of it. Finally, she began to climb up as the crew members were pulling the ladder inside. 

The doors were closing, and soon the ship would be flying up back into the skies. They needed to return to the outpost on the beach to refuel before leaving for the mainland. She couldn't conduct any repairs to Galatea's chassis until they returned to Antikythera, so they weren't staying any longer.

Funny anouph the group was not far away from where she had been hiding moments ago. Just running and fast movement hurt so she got to the clearing as the wind picked up. She quickly laid down as it got stronger but the wind caught her wings and sent her flying into a tree. She yelped as she fell to her knees the pain informing her that her skin had been broken on her back. 

Blood in a land of predators was not a good idea. She knew it but getting to the ladder would not be easy if she was in true form and unhurt. It would be near impossible for her to do now. She knew there had to be a different way to get in once the wind died down she got up and spread her wings. That also hurt but she knew that the ship was her only hope on survival and flapped her wings as she set her jaw.

Slowly at first she began to fly. Than rise to fly faster and higher untell she was above the ship. She landed on its top and nearly fell off do to not landing on a moving target before. She than laid down and folded her wings tightly to keep from being pulled off with the wind. She hoped they did not mind or know but unlike her mother she was not very sneaky and would likely be caught.

As the doors closed and everything was secured shut, there was a shift in the airship's balance as Erasmus tried to fly the Clephsydra. It wasn't much, but for the automata's highly acute sensors it was noticeable. "Captain, there seems to be some sort of interference affecting the airship's balance. Should we investigate before continuing our planned course?" Galatea inquired. Looking up at the roof of the airship cabin, Shiloh replied. "Yeah, I feel it too. It's not that big, but who knows what's up there. Erasmus, keep flying. We should have enough fuel to make it even with the extra weight." Striding towards the door again, she motioned for one of the automatons to open it up again. Carefully they did so, and the deity slipped out into free fall. Using the currents of the winds, she sent herself whirling upward to see if anything was obstructing the propellers or other things which would affect the engines. Struggling to keep herself aloft while using aura sight, she forced herself to a shaky landing upon the top of the Clephsydra. Lying flat, she secured a tether so she wouldn't be blown off.

She used aura sight again, and detected a large presence on the ship's roof. Moving around, she found what she was searching for. There was something throwing things out of whack alright, a rather big one. The wind made it impossible for whatever it was to hear her even if she shouted at the top of her lungs. That left her with one other option: telepathy. It was all she had left, which wasn't much since she had just started learning how to project her thoughts so they could be transmitted to others. Focusing, she made her first attempt at contact. In the young dragon's mind, there would be a faint and distorted buzzing before a mental message intruded into its thoughts.

'–ear…m… He—an y–… Hey…can you hear me? Hello? This better work–hey! You, whatever you are! Yeah, you–get off my ship! You're cutting down our fuel efficiency! If you want a ride, go somewhere else. We don't take hitchhikers.'

Come to think of it, she had forgotten to check if whatever she was telepathically messaging could even understand common. It was probably some animal, so if it didn't move she'd push it off. She had no idea how it had gotten itself onto the Clephsydra, but she wasn't taking any unaccounted passengers. Plus, with that thing hanging off the top it would increase the airship's air resistance and slow it down.

Truthfully Aqua had not noticed the flying two-legged untell the verry irritating buzzing started. She was more worried about her back and the cold of the wind on her blood stoked robe and the lack of eye scales. The first hurt as her robe was slapping the wombs and the second made it hard to see. Like before she had hard time seeing so she closed her eyes not really caring wher the other was.

At the buzzing, Aqua immediately shook her head untell it turrned into really muffled words. She reached out to whoever was trying to communicate. Usually she would have not needed to but the other seamed to be new to mind talking or really out of practice. Eather way the voice was demanding and loud.

"Sarry miss, but can't. Between the sky fire and the ships appearance informing the hole island of my location I could not make it back to the ground if i wanted to. Between the spiders and wind it was a merical i am still alive." She thought back carfull not to growl an accusation. 

If the other desided to come close to her she would see a human laying. The only nonhuman part was her wings wich she could not make dissapear if she wanted to not that she would with the ground so far away. But she was oviously injured and bleeding so the landing would be very painful if it did not kill her.

Shiloh frowned, figuring that talking wasn't getting anywhere. She sent another telepathic message to the other. 'Look, I don't care where you are–as long as you aren't on the ship. You're slowing us down. …Actually, that's not a bad idea.' Holding fast to her tether, the shadows on the top of the Clephsydra began to pool together. They coalesced into a larger mass, and stretched out into the shape of a giant arm. It then wrapped itself around the dragon, and pulled her off the top of the airship. The other end of the shadow connected itself to Shiloh, and that was when she untied herself. Immediately she was blown off the top, and began towing the other along with her. Spinning the air into a vortex, she created a small wind tunnel that channeled its way through the currents towards the door of the ship. Sending out a telepathic message to the closest automaton inside, Shiloh started preparing them for entry.

When the door slid open, She utilized the change in air pressure to force herself and her unwanted passenger inside. The shadow appendage cleared the door, and budded another branching protrusion to slam the door shut. Back on a relatively solid surface, Shiloh picked herself off the floor while the shadows she had been controlling dissipated. That left the hitchhiker on the floor. "Alright, listen up crew! We've got ourselves an extra body on board so we're going to have to make adjustments to compensate. I'd say give an allowance for an additional hundred pounds or more." Those who weren't busy came over to look at the person their captain had dragged in, and soon the dragon would find herself surrounded by a mixture of human-like beings with no pulse and walking metal golems. There were two others she had met earlier. The female one had part of her forearm corroded off, exposing a metal 'skeleton' instead of bone underneath.

"Ooh! Hey look, wings! They're like a bat's!" "You're right, they are aren't they? Hee hee~" What appeared to be a set of twins stood over her, one on each side of the disguised dragon. They looked nearly identical, but one was dressed like a girl and one was dressed in boy's clothes. Wide eyes and grinning smiles, they tilted their heads in synchronization with curiosity. "Let's play a guessing game~" "Oh, do tell! What will we guess? Her birthplace, or her blood?" Something notable about the two was how they didn't blink. "Quit fooling around you two, she hasn't paid her boarding fee yet. I plan to collect once we land at the coastline's outpost." Shiloh called, drawing the two doll-like twins' attention from the partially polymorphed dragon. "Can we play with her?" The one in boy's clothes asked. "Absolutely not." Came the deity's reply.

Aqua immediately tried to claw at the ship to keep from being dragged off. The disadvantage to human hands was the lack of claws and lack of grip due to it. Once in the air, she immediately started to flap her wings and run but soon gave up as it only hurt and did no good as well as the fact she was out of energy. Being laid down and released from the shadow she wanted to run and hide but burly sat up as she saw the two-legged beings and started to growl, at least one had attacked her in the recent past. She did not move untell she noticed the two lookalikes. Completely unfamiliar with any of the noise and beings she quickly turned, got to her feet and ran to hide behind a series of pipes. She then turned towards the entrance and laid down. 

Filling the tiredness that came with the healing of large wombs she folded her arms and laid down. Seeing tavern full of people was one thing an airship full of some species she did not know was another. She kept her bo staff in her hand but hoped she would not need to use it. She barely caught the words of payment getting collected than wondered what she was thinking.  

The 'woman' she had pulled inside the hull of the Clephsydra was more like an animal, from her behavior. Probably one of those magical creatures with shapeshifting and whatnot. The twins merely continued grinning when the dragon growled, more amused than anything else. The fact they showed no fear was more unsettling than their lack of a pulse. Watching as the terrified dragon tried to hide, Shiloh motioned with her head at the automatons gathered here. "…Make sure she doesn't go around unsupervised. If the ship starts going down because she's touched anything–I'll make sure she pays for it." The twins looked up at her in anticipation, as if waiting for her to say the word. Knowing their natures too well, Shiloh glared. "Kalinka, Malinka–no. Not if you can stay out of trouble. I don't want to replace any damaged parts if you push her too far." The two automatons were known to be a bit rough when it came to playing with new 'friends', and liked doing outrageous things to see how people would react. They were equipped to learn from experience, not from pre-encoded information. 

The two looked downcast, before skipping away into the other parts of the airship. Sighing, she looked to see who else would be available. Galatea was out, as she was damaged. Euripides would just panic again. Erasmus was in the pilot's seat, and Diomedes wasn't on board. The others were working with the other airship systems, leaving Archytas. The automaton was one of the oldest models, like Erasmus and Euripides. However his skeleton and motor functions were more advanced and bore greater flexibility. Still made mostly of metal, his visage was less of a blank head and more akin to a stylized face. Walking over to where the young dragon laid, he rotated his head to look about, then brought a chair to sit across from her. Seeing that someone had taken the task, Shiloh retreated into the ship leaving the two alone. Time passed, and all was quiet. The automaton simply sat, placidly as he watched and waited. If the dragon were to notice his presence, he would attempt to strike up a conversation.