Thanks for the welcoming guys!  Good to see there's still a few of the golden oldies around here.  And its even better to see how many new active members have joined!

@ Pangaea:  Glad to see ya buddy, and don't worry about the picture, I'm still thrilled with the one from last year.  It made the trip over to my new laptop safe and sound.  As for TEB..... ya.... the odds are slim.  I actually have started writing again, but not for LBT, and that in its self is moving slow because of my school work.  The odds of TEB being picked up are slim, and if I were to pick it up again I'd probably start it from scratch, I'm no longer satisfied with my quality of work from back then.

Wow, the herd is strong on this board!  I'm pretty sure that makes things at least 20% cooler  

Oh the Iphoneeeee.  I had gotten a 3G back when it first came out, which was quite the internal battle for me since I'm an apple hater.  But my mom had asked me one day if I wanted a new phone, I had some crappy generic flip phone at the time, and offered to get me an Iphone.  I don't what she was on that day but I decided to take it.  Had it for two years, the longest any of my phones have survived, and it was the most polar love hate relationship in the world.  I fell in love with the features, the whole smart phone idea, the way it handles texts, mobile internet, the whole deal.  But at the same time it was the single most frustrating part my life.  It has sooooo many tiny issues, little annoying problems.  This past summer it was time to move on, the phone was worse for ware and slowed down to the useless point, so I got the Iphone 4.  HUGE MISTAKE.  The problem with the dropped calls, 100% true.  And the thing you don't really hear about is when your talking on the phone your cheek presses buttons.  The feature that is supposed to turn the screen off when its near your face doesn't work.  Still, if I want to have my parents pay for my service, I'm on AT&T and I really don't have the right to complain.  So until AT&T gets a Droid, I'm stuck.

Life As We Know It, some generic romantic-comedy, it was meh  

Hmmm, well it would be a shame for you to have to miss what would be an enjoyable trip.  Do you have any more portable methods staying calm?  Have you tried maybe just putting on some headphones, closing your eyes, and listening to some of your favorite music?

Oh Pangaea!  Don't kill yourself over me, sleep is far important, I've learned that the rough way over the past year or so.

Well this article pretty much sums up the odd bit of news:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13...al-payment.html

I had no idea those payments were still being made, I never knew they were still being enforced after world war two, since the treaty of versailles was essentially out the window at that point.

Hahaha, wow, what a gift!  And I like what you did with Pangaea's drawing Malte, gives me ideas for the one he gave to me.

Darkwolf!  I thought you were already gone!  Happy Birthday, hope it was a good one!

Well, after such a long break that I have probably lost all my readers, we have Chapter 9.  Oh, and sorry about my horrible fail at being mysterious, it was just a really bad anagram for the title of this chapter.  Also, I'm sorry its a tad short, I just had to get something out as motivation, the next chapter will be longer.  It kinda has to, for what my plans are.


Chapter 9
And Off We Go
Written By: Raga
Edited By: Pangaea



   The massive flyer glided through the mountains, its drab grey coat making it blend in with the clouds above.  It looked down on the majestic mountains below it, their snow capped peaks clawing up at the flyer.  To the south it could see the legendary Animus Mountain, with its distinct crater and its noticeably smaller snow cover.  The flyer was not headed there though, it was flying east towards the desolate plains that stretched towards the horizon, which were in stark contrast to the rich forests found on the mountain range’s west side.

   Many said the plains, known as the Eastern Lands, were the worst place in the world to live.  Hundreds of miles of miserable terrain filled with roving armies and savage sharpteeth.  My horrible home, the flyer thought to himself, grimacing and revealing a set of tiny, sharp teeth.

   The flyer started to glide low across the plains as a rock outcropping appeared on the horizon.  It grew larger as the pterosaur flew closer, gliding just a few feet over the perfectly flat terrain.  Moments before hitting the pile of massive boulders jutting up out of the ground the flyer flared its wings, turning them perpendicular to the ground.  The massive leathery surface caught the air, drastically cutting the flyer’s speed and giving it a slight vertical bump up.

   The last minute bump in altitude and drastic reduction of speed was just enough for the flyer to land perfectly on the edge of a large flat surface on the rock outcropping.  The Pterosaur then looked up at the massive Carcharodontosaurus standing before it.  “Commander Blacktooth," the flyer said with a bow.

   “Enough, how did the operation go?”  Blacktooth asked.

   “It was a success sir, all went according to plan and our forces are preparing to bring the hatchling Cornu Valde back.”

   “Excellent,” the Carcar responded as he turned to leave.

   “There is one other thing sir, one of the D-chews sent behind the Three Horn line survived but is badly injured.  It will slow us down, what should we do?”

   “Those D-chews were sent on that suicide mission because they were expendable,” Blacktooth said as he walked away.  “So expend of him.”





   “So you’re telling me,” Littlefoot was saying, “that there is actually no real reason for me being here at all?”

   “Essentially, yes,”  Kiga replied, the awkward smile seeming plastered on the three horn’s face.

   Littlefoot felt as if a boulder had just hit him.  The longneck staggered for a moment before deciding to rest his weight on the rock face beside him.  It was all for nothing, he thought to himself.  Littlefoot began running through everything that had happened because of this lie: Cera’s suicide attempt, him leaving the three horn when she needed him, this journey to a strange place further from his home then he had ever been.

   Kiga looked down at the earth in front of him and shook his massive head.  He sighed before saying “Listen, I feel horrible about his mix-up.  Come with us to Animus and we’ll get you some food, rest, and a guide to take ya home.  How about it?”

   “But Sir,” piped a dark grey Three Horn behind Kiga.  “They’re longnecks!”.

   Kiga’s face furrowed, as if he was holding back a surge of anger.  “So what, soldier?”

   “Well, I know it’s not illegal anymore but…”

   “But what?”

   “But, neither is getting eaten by a Sharptooth, and we don’t do anythig silly like that”.

   Kiga rolled his eyes before saying “So, why don’t you go try?”

   “Sir?” the Three Horn replied, stunned.

   “You heard me, if it’s not against our laws, than go try it!  Go find a Sharptooth and get eaten!  I’ll watch!”.

   The Three Horn had a look of pure horror on its face as it took a startled step back.  “S-s-sir, is that an order?”

   “Oh!  So now you remember that I’m the one in charge?  Good, don’t forget it again,” Kiga snarled at the soldier.  The Forehorn turned his attention back to Littlefoot.  “Don’t mind him, unfortunately our people tend not to take very kindly to certain folk, if you know what I mean”.

   “What does he mean?” Rhett asked from behind Littlefoot.

   Kiga gave the long neck a curious look, before again turning back to Littlefoot, “He’s a bit slow isn’t he?”.

   Littlefoot ignored his fellow traveler’s confused look and said, “We’ll take your offer, we wouldn’t be able to find our way home anyhow”.  He looked back at Luca, whose eyes were glued to the dirt, avoiding all eye-contact.  “What will happen to him?” Littlefoot asked while nodding towards Luca. “None of this is really his fault”.

   Kiga let out a massive sigh before answering “He’ll probably just be returned to his normal duties.  As you said, he didn’t do anything he didn’t feel he was told to.  It’s not liked he tried to kill someone”.






   Ducky sat erect on Spike’s back as the spiketail walked slowly up the steep path.  For a time the path was lined with nothing but rock, but as Ducky examined the rock, she noticed it was rather peculiar.  It was jet black, yet at the same time shiny.  A constant line of reflected light shifted off the surface of the stone’s
peculiar surface.

   As the swimmer hunched over to get a better view of the rock as she walked, she noticed that it was smooth for the most part, but had ripples.  In fact, the whole side of the path seemed like one solid stone with the appearance of a black river frozen in place, complete with heavily wooded river banks on both of its shores.  She followed the rock river with her eyes.  It stretched several hundred feet up the steep slope, before being obscured by a ridge.  A similar pattern appeared on the downhill leg, as the rock river continued for another hundred feet or so before disappearing into a wooded area.

   Ducky found it all quite strange.  Even the path they walked on was odd.  The rough dirt road was the only blemish to the rock flow, a thin strip of dirt that did not look natural.  Rather, it was almost as if some had brought it here and made the path atop the black stone as a way to bridge it.  Her thoughts suddenly ceased as she ran into the large green leg of Spike, which stood frozen in place directly in her path.  

   “Ouch! Spike, why have you stopped!  We need to keep going, we do, we do!” she yelled as she rubbed her beak.  She slowly peered around the massive, tree-trunk like leg to see what the commotion was.  Her jaw dropped as two massive Three Horns, horns pointing out, teeth clenched, blocked the path of the travelers.