"Early Warning"
(French Title: Audric's New Invention)
While spying on the Monster Minds, Jayce discovered that they located Audric and his new Vine-Stopper device on a planet in the Lexa Quadrant. Saw Boss deployed his forces in a huge ship with galactic turbo-charged engines.
Herc arranged for the Pride "hitch a ride" on this speedy behemoth by attaching it to the hull within the ship's blind spot. Once the Monster Mind ship landed on the planet, Gillian cast an illusion over the Pride to make it appear as another clump of vines.
As the League set off to find Audric, Jayce sabotaged the enemy ship's engines so that it couldn't take off. The Monster Minds found no trace of Audric or his device and destroyed the visible laboratories in frustration. However, Jayce and Oon discovered the Vine-Stopper in the middle of a wasteland, hidden in an underground laboratory. They accidentally triggered a self-destruct system that would destroy the planet in 30 minutes. The League tried to get back to the Pride, but it was surrounded by too many Monster Mind troopers.
They returned to the Vine-Stopper and tried to short-circuit it, but to no avail. Jayce realized that the Root was the key and used it to halt the self-destruct sequence. He studied the device carefully and learned that all it needs to work is a special fuel. Flora, playing with the lab machines, accidentally magnetized Oon. Gillian reverses the process, but it took so much energy out of him that he lost the spell over the Pride. The League rushed to the newly-revealed barge, defeated the enemy troopers surrounding it, and took off before reinforcements arrived.
The Monster Minds found the Vine-Stopper in its hidden laboratory and used a captive scientist to figure out how the device works. They discovered that if its powers were reversed, then it would speed the vines' growth, making it a powerful aid. Jayce journeyed back to the planet to start the self-destruct program again. He, the captive scientist, and the human pilot of the Monster Mind ship escaped before the planet blew up, annihilating the Monster Minds there.
