Shadows of Lemuria

**Shadows of Lemuria** is the thirty-seventh chapter of Zak Saturday's Immortal Love Life. It was first published on February 6, 2016.

## Chapter

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**Zak's POV**
“Don’t think, act,” I told Fiskerton while spinning a globe in front of him. “Go on instinct. Now, Fisk, be a Lemurian. Be a Kur Guardian. Show me where in the world we find Kur.”
I was trying to help him with his Lemurian side, and I had him put on a blindfold.
“Come on. Go!”
He concentrated for a moment, then he stuck his finger through Europe and back out South America, which clearly didn’t tell us where.
“I don’t get it,” I said. “Your Lemurian instincts have come out before. How’d you do it last time?”
He did a little charade.
“What, you just shut off your brain?” I asked. Then an idea came to mind. “We can do that.”
I took him to the living room. Along the way, we bumped into Sarah.
“Oh, hey guys,” she said. “What’s up?’
“I’m helping Fisk with his Lemurian instincts,” I replied.
She nodded. “Ok. But, uh, Zak, I really need to talk to you. It’s kind of important.”
“Oh. Can it wait?”
She hesitated for a moment and sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, it can wait.”
“Ok. Come on.”
We got to the living room and I turned on the TV to a monkey food fight.
“Anything yet?” I asked Fisk.
He was drooling.
“How is that suppose to help him?” Sarah asked.
“Hey, we gotta start somewhere,” I replied. “We should keep trying.” I leaned back against the couch and laughed. “Monkeys.”
Then, suddenly, Fiskerton stuck his hand inside the cushions of the couch and pulled out a spring. He began to change the shape of it.
“Fisk, what’re you doing?” I asked.
He couldn’t hear me because he was in some kind of trance. He changed the spring into a figure with three pointy ends on top.
“Whoa,” I said. “What is that? Fisk. Hey, Fisk!”
I shook him out of his trance.
He noticed the figure in his hand and hid it behind his back.
“What just happened?” I asked him. “What is that thing?”
He pretended not to know what I was talking about.
“The thing behind your back,” I said. “Come on. Let me see.”
I tried to look behind his back, but he grabbed me and threw me onto the couch.
Sarah managed to grab the figure from behind his back and examined it. “It looks kind of like—”
She was interrupted when Fisk snatched it out of her hand and pushed her down. Then he ran out of the room.
“Oh, you wanna play Keep Away, huh?” I said.
Sarah and I followed him.
He ran into a hallway and was trying to put the figure in a closet.
“Ha. Busted!” I said.
He heard me and was trying frantically to put it away. Then a whole lot of things that were the same shape as the figure that Fiskerton had, both big and small, fell on top of him.
“Fisk, what’s going on?” I asked.
He turned from me for a moment, then looked back. He didn’t seem to know what was going on himself. I examined the figures and knew he needed help.

I told my parents about what had happened, showed them the figures, and they suggested to have one of the Secret Scientists come over and check his brain, so that’s what we did and called over Dr. David Bara.
When he got here, we showed him the figure and he looked it over. Then he suggested on doing something with Fiskerton’s brain.
“You were right to call me,” he said. “I don’t know what it means either, but something inside Fiskerton’s brain sure does.”
Fisk didn’t look happy about that.
“It’s ok,” Mom assured him. “He’s one of us, a Secret Scientist.”
“Dr. Bara is a Para neurologist,” Dad said. “Hypnotism, mesmerism, dreams, subconscious.”
“Your brain keeps telling you to make this shape for a reason,” Dr. Bara told Fisk. “We’re gonna pop that melon open and find out why.”
Fiskerton didn’t like the sound of that.
“Figure of speech. We’re actually gonna hot-wire your brain with electrons while you’re sleeping.”
Fiskerton was still unsure and looked at me.
“Mom and Dad say it’s safe,” I told him. “And this is kind of your own fault.”
He seemed offended by that and confused by why.
“How long have you been obsessed with this shape, and you didn’t even tell me? I thought we trusted each other, Fisk.”
He was silent for a moment, then said he was scared.
“You were scared?” I asked. “It’s ok. You’ve got a scary job. But that doesn’t mean—”
He was shaking his head, then pointed at me.
“You’re scared for me? But why would you be—”
“Zak, honey, think about it,” Mom said. “Fiskerton’s ability is suppose to lead us to Kur, the most powerful cryptid on earth.”
“If that evil gets loose, especially in Argost’s hands, you may be the only one who can stop it,” Dad added. “I can’t say I’m eager to see that showdown either.”
I took what they said to heart and looked at Fisk.
“Really?” I asked him.
He nodded.
“Well, I guess, thanks? But I don’t need you to protect me. We’re a team. The Kur Guardian and the Kid Whose Powers Mean He Can Fight Kur.”
Sarah and Zack laughed. The last thing I said did sound ridiculous.
“We really need a cooler title for me.”
“Yeah,” Sarah agreed.
“Anyway, if a showdown’s coming, we’ll face it together. All of us.”
Fisk smiled.
But Sarah looked sad, and maybe a little guilty. I decided now wasn’t the best time to ask her what was wrong.
“Alright,” Dr. Bara said. “Now let’s put your brain to sleep.”
He picked up a hypnotizing statue.
“I can do that,” Sarah said.
She walked up to Fiskerton and touched the tip of her finger to his forehead.
He fell asleep instantly.
“Ok,” Dr. Bara said. “Once Big Fuzz settles into deep rem sleep, we’ll be able to navigate his dream and brain patterns on the midlaps moderate system. If anything spikes, we’ll give his gray matter a poke. Hopefully, we’ll shake something loose. Good?”
“And how exactly are we ‘poking’ Fisk’s brain?” I asked.
He had a couple of hot wires in his hands and they were sparking.
He hid them behind his back. “It’s, uh, it’s all very sciency.”
“Sure it is,” Sarah said.
“Come on,” Dad told me. “It’ll take him a while to reach rem state. Let’s walk.”
“Can I come?” Sarah asked.
Dad nodded.
The three of us left the room.
“We’re all worried about Fiskerton, Zak,” Dad said. “But Dr. Bara is a professional.”
“I know,” I said. “But how do we know his machines won’t hurt Fisk?”
“Because I’m a dad. We have a built-in danger sense. Umm-hmm. Good. All clear.”
Sarah and I stared at him.
Then I noticed something on the ceiling.
“It was a joke,” Dad said, though I wasn’t paying much attention.
“Yeah, uh, no offense, but it wasn’t a very good one,” Sarah said. “Well, it was good, but it was kind of more cute than it was funny.”
“No guys, look,” I said, gesturing to the ceiling. “Slowly.”
They looked in the direction I was gesturing to and noticed what I saw.
“A neural parasite,” Dad said. “One of Argost’s mind-controlling pets.”
I grabbed the claw and aimed it at it.
“Careful, Zak.”
“It’s ok,” I said. “I don’t think it’s seen us.”
I concentrated really hard. Until Komodo came by and noticed it.
“Komodo, no!”
I slingshot the claw at the neural parasite before he could get it, but it missed and the parasite took flight. It flew in my face and I did whatever I could to get it off.
“Zak!” Dad and Sarah called.
Dad grabbed onto it and tried to pull it off.
“Get it off!” I said.
“Just stand still,” Dad said.
The parasite moved onto my back, bit into my skin, and I could no longer see or feel my body.

**Sarah’s POV**
Bad, terrible news. The neural parasite had just latched itself onto Zak and he began acting weird.
“Oh, what a marvelous new toy,” he said, but it wasn’t Zak’s voice.
I had a sudden déjà vu moment from the very first day I met the Saturdays when that Secret Scientist was being controlled by a neural parasite.
“Let him go, Argost,” Dad said.
“But, Daddy, don’t you love me anymore?” he replied.
It was really disturbing to hear him talk out of Zak.
He jumped past us and ran down the hall and into another room. We followed behind him. Zon was in the next room and Argost called her to him. She flew near him and he jumped on top of her.
“Zon, no!” Doc said. “He’s not Zak.”
She flew away with him on her back, then the parasite latched onto her. Argost was now in control of Zon and he knocked Zak off his back. Doc jumped over the edge and caught Zak, then used the claw to grab onto the railing and they landed alright.
I jumped down toward them while Komodo jumped on top of Zon.
“Zak!” I called.
“Are you alright?” Doc asked.
He rubbed his face. “I’m fine. Where’s the parasite?”
Doc pointed to Zon.
Komodo managed to knock her on the ground and the parasite was now on him. He ran out of the room.
“Drew,” Doc said into his ear piece. “We’ve got a major problem.”
We ran after Komodo.
Argost somehow knew how to activate his invisibility, but that didn’t make it difficult for me to find him, thanks to my aura.
We followed him down a hallway and when we caught up to him, he became visible, but the parasite was off of him. Then we noticed Drew, Zack, and our pets, but Drew was acting weird.
“Mom!” Zak called.
“Who wants first kisses?” Argost asked from Drew’s mouth.
I could tell that we all wanted to gag.
He used Drew’s fire sword and stabbed it into the ground, making a circle around her, or his, feet, making a hole, and jumped down into the floor below.
“That’s the green house level,” Doc said. “Come on!”
We all jumped down the hole.
Argost was running. Zak used the claw to wrap around his, or her, legs and she fell to the ground. We moved toward her cautiously.
“Watch for the parasite,” Doc said.
Uh-duh.
Drew stood up. “It jumped off me when I hit the dirt.”
She was back in control of her own body.
We moved in a tight circle.
Zack and I unsheathed our swords.
“Keep an eye on each other,” Doc said. “Look for sudden changes, posture, voice, attitude, something like this.”
His voice changed at that last part and we noticed the parasite was on him.
He turned on us and tackled Drew to the ground, holding her down by her arms. Komodo tackled him off of her. He bit Doc and he screamed in pain. The parasite moved on to Zon, then Zak got it off of her and it tried to get on to him. The cubs and Zack tried to help, and, well, you get the idea. It pretty much just jumped on us one after another and we just kept knocking it off of each other.
The only good thing about this is that when it tries to latch itself onto me or Zack, our powers keep it from controlling us. Too bad it doesn’t work for our pets though, so only me and Zack are able to get it off of them.
I’m pretty sure Argost is laughing his ass off right now on how hard it is for us to deal with just one parasite. I know I would be.
Eventually, the parasite decided to settle with Zak as his puppet.
“Doc, he’s got Zak,” Drew said.
Doc intercepted him as he was trying to leave the room, but he used the claw to jump over Doc and ran for the elevator. We tried to stop him, but he wrapped the claw around a tree and pulled it down in front of us, blocking our path. But I’ll be damned if I let him get away with controlling Zak.
I jumped over the tree and tackled him, knocking us both into the elevator shoot. We fought the whole way down to the bottom floor. I managed to get on top of his back.
I punched the parasite. “Get off of him.”
But it just moved to my back.
“Get off of me.”
It moved back onto Zak and Argost controlled him to get me off of him and kicked me back into the elevator.
I hate to admit it, but he’s a little more skilled in Zak’s body than Zak is himself. That’s sad coming from his girlfriend.
Argost went to the room where Dr. Bara was with Fiskerton, of course.
By the time I reached him, it was too late.
The parasite had latched itself onto Fiskerton.

**Zak’s POV**
I came back in control of myself from Argost only to hear Fiskerton screaming in pain.
“Fisk, no!” I said.
“Zak, the parasite’s on him,” Sarah said.
Yeah, I kind of already figured that out. Why else would he be screaming in pain?
He was moving around crazily.
“Fisk!” I called.
Me and Dr. Bara tried to calm him, but he hit us away.
“No, Zak,” Dr. Bara said. “Something’s wrong here.”
“Really?” Sarah and I both said sarcastically.
“Something more than that brain bug. Whatever’s happening, I don’t think Argost is in control.”
“He’s not,” Sarah said. “But he’s fighting hard to be, and Fisk is fighting back just as hard.”
“I don’t care if he’s not in control,” I said. “I’m getting that thing off of Fisk.”
I began to walk toward him until the alarms started to blare, and the machines in the room were moving on their own. They picked the three of us up and threw us out of the room, closing the door behind us.
I tried to move it, but it wouldn’t open. I pounded on it. “Fisk!”
“Zak!” I heard Mom call.
She, Dad, Komodo, Zon, Zack, and the cubs appeared.
“Where’s Argost’s parasite?” Dad asked.
“It’s on Fisk,” I replied frantically. “And I can’t get in to him. I don’t know what’s going on.”
“He’s already got his own brain and the Lemurian subconscious from space,” Dr. Bara said. “Add Argost’s specimen on top of that, it’s too much. His subconscious is pushing back violently.”
“Pushing back how?” I asked.
My parents knew the answer to that.
“His brain is wired straight into the medical lab,” Mom said. “He’s lashing out with our own equipment.”
I understood now. “Fisk.”
The machines were causing a lot of smoke, so I couldn’t really see that much inside the room.
“No,” I decided. “I can stop this.”
I grabbed the claw.
“Bad idea, Zak,” Dr. Bara said.
“He’s right,” Sarah agreed. “Fisk’s already in enough pain as it is.”
I ignored them. “I know you’re in there, Fisk.” I activated my powers. “It’s me. You’ve gotta let me insi—ahh!”
I stumbled back.
“Zak!” Mom called.
Dad caught me before I hit the floor.
I rubbed my head. “He lashed out at me. Why would he do that?”
“He’s hurting, honey,” Mom said. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“I wouldn’t try that again,” Dr. Bara said. “Brain’s a nasty weapon when it’s unstable. Too much contact could be fatal to you and him.”
“So I’m just suppose to leave him in there alone?” I asked in disbelief. “He’s my brother. I can’t just—”
I was interrupted when the door suddenly opened and three big robots, who looked a lot like Fisk, walked out. They walked toward us and we walked back away from them.
“His brain built these?” Dad asked.
“Never underestimate the subconscious,” Dr. Bara said.
The robots picked us up with their robotic arms and threw us aside, then they walked off in different directions, one going to the elevator, another down the hall, and the last through the wall.
“We’ll never get his mind back under control with those things running wild,” Dr. Bara said. “We’ve gotta stop them.”
“We’ll need to split up,” Dad said.
“Sarah, Zon, and I will take the one in the elevator,” I said.
“I’ll go with you guys,” Zack said, then turned toward the cheetah cubs. “You guy go with them. They’ll need your help.”
The four of them nodded in agreement, and off we went.

Our team followed the robot up the elevator and down another elevator. We caught up to it, and I had Zon throw me at it and sank the claw into its body. Sparks flew.
“Yeah. Eat claw, Sparky,” I said.
The robot spun its head in a circle, spinning me so fast it threw me back, knocking me right into Zon and right into Doyle’s bedroom.
I noticed Raylee, Shillow, Amber, Kimbia, and Pikachu were in the room with him.
“Knocking,” Doyle said with his back to us. “Why is that so hard to—” Then he noticed us knocked on the ground. “Whoa. What happened?”
Sarah and Zack came into the room.
“Mom?” they asked when they noticed her.
“Why are you in here?” Zack asked.
“What, I can’t talk to Doyle or something?” she replied with a question.
“No, it’s just . . . weird.”
She just laughed. “It used to be, but not anymore. So, Sarah, have you told Zak yet?”
“Told me what?” I asked.
“We’ve been a little too busy,” she replied. “And you would know that if you didn’t spend all morning in here.”
“What do you need to tell me?” I asked.
“Zak, listen—”
Then the robot came into the room.
“Robots,” Doyle said. “Well, that’s different.”
“Yeah,” Raylee agreed.
The robots began destroying everything and we were doing whatever we could to stop it.
“You want to catch me up?” Doyle asked.
“Catch you up?” I asked, annoyed.
I slingshot the claw onto the robot’s head and pulled back, stopping it momentarily.
“Where have you been, Doyle?”
The robot spun it’s head around, pulling me toward it and throwing me into Doyle. The robot then picked up a table, dropped whatever was on it off of it, and threw it at the ceiling.
A satchel had fallen off the table and Doyle was frantic to catch it before it hit the ground.
“Oh, I would’ve loved to see your reaction if you didn’t catch that,” Raylee said.
The robot jumped up onto the floor above.
“Ok, what have you been doing in here?” I asked Doyle.
“Why did that thing look like Fiskerton?” he asked, ignoring my question.
“Well, if you were with us instead of in here doing whatever it is you were doing with my mom, then you’d know why that robot looks a hell of a lot like Fiskerton,” Sarah said, which was a bit harsh.
“Sarah,” Raylee said. “Calm down.”
“She’s just like you, Raylee,” Amber said.
“I know, but it’s hard to deny it when it’s in your genes.”
Sarah took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m just so frustrated right now.”
“It’s ok.”
“Doyle, seriously, what’s going on?” I asked.
He really needed to shave.
“Trust me, miniman,” he said. “Whatever I’m doing it’s for your own protection.”
I groaned. “Why does everyone suddenly think I need protection?”
“Suddenly?” Sarah asked. “Zak, it’s been that way since I’ve pretty much met you.”
Then a realization hit me.
“Wait.” I ran to the door, then stopped. “Take over with the robot. There’s something I need to do.”
“I’m coming with you,” Sarah said.
I nodded and we both ran out of the room together.

We ran back to Fisk. The door was closed and he was still moving around in pain.
“I know what you’re doing, Fisk,” I said. “The brain feedback. You’re trying to keep me out to protect me, but this isn’t just your fight. Let me help.”
I grabbed the claw.
“Zak,” Sarah said, sounding concerned.
“No,” I said. “I have to do this.”
She nodded in understanding, then gave me a kiss. “For good luck.”
I smiled.
I focused back on Fiskerton and activated me powers. He lashed out at me again and it hurt so much that I screamed in pain. So did he. But I wasn’t going to let go this time. I fought back to stay and help him win.
“You can’t keep me out of your brain, Fisk,” I told him. “I’m coming in there whether you like it or not.”
I fought back with all my strength and I was suddenly transported inside his brain. It looked really weird.
“Whoa,” I said. “This is new.” Then I heard a grunt. “Fisk?”
I looked ahead of me and saw him wrestling with an oversized neural parasite.
“Fisk!”
He made a gesture toward me, telling me to go away.
“No. This time, I’m protecting you.”
I slingshot the claw onto the parasite’s tail and pulled myself onto its back.
I held it down. “Now, Fisk! Take him out.”
He punched it right in the center and it disappeared into a little cloud of smoke.
“Yeah!” I cheered.
Then Fiskerton looked like he was staring off into space.
I waved my hand in front of his face. “Fisk, hey. I’m right here. It’s Zak. We won. You can turn off the brain robots and wake up. Fisk, please, listen. You’re destroying our home.”
He mumbled a few things, but I couldn’t understand.
“What—”
Then a beam suddenly hit me as fast as the speed of light and I woke up.
“Zak, are you alright?” Sarah asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. Fisk, what are you doing?”
The door opened and he walked out.
“Fisk, you’re ok.”
He walked past us like he was still in a trance and he didn’t hear me.
“Ok,” Sarah said. “I guess we should follow him.”
So that’s what we did.

We followed him outside, where the rest of our families were and our house was in pieces.
“Mom! Dad!” I called.
“Zak, where did you—” Mom faltered when Fisk walked up to a big, tall, version of the shape he made earlier.
It started to glow.
“Fiskerton?” Mom asked.
He looked dazed.
Then pieces of our house molded together into a ball and floated in the middle of the shape.
“Dad, what’s going on?” I asked.
“It’s . . . a divining rod,” he replied.
“Oh,” Sarah said. “When I first saw it, I thought it was a trident.”
“What?” I asked Dad.
“That shape,” Dad continued. “Fiskerton’s Lemurian instincts. He’s been trying to make a divining rod, a compass, a guide to where Kur will be revealed.”
“Never underestimate the subconscious,” Dr. Bara said.
Fiskerton pointed to the bottom of the floating ball, which I now realized was a globe.
“Antarctica?” I asked.
“Makes sense,” Raylee said.
Mom took a picture of it. “Got it.”
The globe fell back into pieces and the divining rod stopped glowing. Fisk looked fully awake now.
I ran to him and gave him a hug. “Fisk, you did it! You found Kur, and it was awesome! Come on. Build something else with your brain.”
He was confused by what I was saying.
Dad summoned the airship to us. “At least the remote pilot control still works. Not much else does.”
Fisk looked guilty.
“It’s ok, Fiskerton,” Mom assured him. “If it means finding and stopping Kur, it’s worth it.”
“David?” Doc asked.
“I’ll find a way out,” he said. “You go save all of us.”
“Doyle, come on,” I said. “This is it.”
“Yeah,” he replied. “I’m, uh, I’m gonna take my own jet. Met you there, cool?”
“Zak,” Dad called. “Let’s go.”
“Good luck, guys,” Raylee said. “You’re gonna need it.”
I was confused. “Wait. You’re not coming?”
She shook her head. “I wish we could, but we can’t.”
“Why?”
She looked confused, then looked at Sarah. “You still haven’t told him?”
“We kept getting interrupted,” she replied.
“Well, we have to go.”
“I know.” Sarah looked at me with a sad look on her face. “Zak, we—I—” She sighed. “Let’s go somewhere private.”
She took my hand and lead me into a room on the airship.
“Sarah, why do you have to leave?” I asked.
“Because school is going to start in a few days, and me and Zack are completely unprepared for it,” she replied. “So we have to go home and, well, be prepared for the new school year.”
“But we finally found Kur, and we couldn’t have without you and your family. You have to come.”
“I wish I could, but I can’t. I—” She sighed again and held my hands. “You made this the best summer of my life, minus the little heartache we had.”
“You also made this the best summer of my life,” I said.
Sarah leaned in and kissed me. “I—” She hesitated. “I—I’ll miss you.”
“So will I,” I replied.
She hugged me. “Good luck with Kur.”
“Thanks. And good luck with your music. And your dad. I know you’re going to be a big star.”
She laughed. “Well, I don’t know if I’ll be a big star, but thanks for the encouragement.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Well, bye.” She sounded a little heartbroken, but so was I.
“Bye.”
We heard a small laugh. At the door, the little girl that only me and Sarah could see was waving at us.
Sarah waved back. “Bye, whatever-your-name-is.”
The little girl laughed and ran out of room, disappearing again.
“Even though I don’t really know her, I’ll miss her,” Sarah said, then gave me one last kiss. “Call me as soon as you’re done saving the whole entire planet.”
“I will.”
We held hands as we walked back to rejoin our families.
Little did I know, that would be the last kiss I would get from her for a long time.

My family and I waved the Hollingers goodbye and set off to Antarctica.
Let’s hope everything goes well. But if it doesn’t, we could be living in a world of darkness.

Alright. This will be the last episode chapter for a while. I didn't write the next episode because what was the point if the Hollingers weren't there? It would just be the exact same as the episode, even though I know not much was different in the other episode chapters, but there was still some differences. Anyway, the next chapters are going to have some more drama in it, but I don't believe they're going to be that long.
Please review **here**.

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## Character Appearances

### Main Characters

* Zak Saturday
* Drew Saturday
* Doc Saturday
* Sarah Hollinger
* Zack Hollinger
* Raylee Hollinger

### Minor Characters

* Doyle Blackwell
* David Bara
* Mysterious Little Girl

### Pets

* Fiskerton Saturday
* Komodo Saturday
* Zon Saturday
* Pikachu Hollinger
* Shillow Hollinger
* Amber Hollinger
* Kimbia Hollinger
* Kika Hollinger
* Chewie Hollinger
* Toto Hollinger
* Honey Hollinger