I was merely trying to put together a wild and interesting storyline mixing together some of my favorite things, and I guess I created a few characters that some might regard as Mary-Sues.
I'm not sure, because despite what I've read, my definition of a Mary-Sue is still a bit foggy. Plus I'm a diagnosed Aspie, and gauging what it is that people enjoy or like to read has always been tough for me.
Deep within the recesses of Golgom's mountain, the form of a creature was now curled up in a large ball. It had the round eyes of an insect, much like what Petrie had recently transformed into...but he was incomplete.
"Our darling Shadow Moon..." Bishimu proclaimed as she approached the form of what had once been Pterano. Although he had broken free from the table to rescue Petrie, his king stone had already been implanted when he did it.
"You subdued him too harshly, Baroumu..." Daroumu scowled as he lifted the ball with his telekinesis. "It will take time for him to heal, so he can finish the metamorphosis."
"My apologies, Dai Shin Kan..." Baroumu bowed his head humbly to his fellow priest. "I have already thought of a way to capture our Black Sun, as a penance for my sin..."
"Yes?" Daroumu listened, interested.
"If we are to seize him..." Baroumu spoke as he walked around his two compatriots. "Then we must first get to know him...see where he lives, find his friends, his family...through their suffering, he shall despair, and feel no choice but to relinquish the king stone to us."
Daroumu nodded slowly, as Bishimu walked between them now. "Who shall carry out this spy mission for us, then?"
"I already have the perfect candidate from our menagerie of warrior Kaijin." Baroumu grinned as he looked out to the distance. "Hornet Kaijin, come forth!"
From the dark smoky interiors of the caverns, a large, fearsome creature stepped forth...its large insect eyes peered out as its antennae flexed alertly. Its wings fluttered idly over its blue and black striped body, slime dripping from its menacing mandibles as they chomped at the air.
"Find the one who carries the smell of the king stone on him..." Daroumu spoke to the Kaijin now. "Learn whom he treasures most, and use this knowledge against him...lead him to us, so that we can break his body, and retrieve the stone."
The Kaijin growled and nodded slowly, before fluttering its wings rapidly and taking off, quickly leaving the mountain...
It was daylight now, as Petrie had returned to the valley. His mother was, of course, an emotional wreck on the whole matter. After she had hugged her son for what had seemed like an eternity, he then had to think of something to tell her. He wasn't sure that she could handle what had really happened.
So, he came up with something simple. He told her that a sharptooth had attacked them from behind. That the blow from a Sharptooth's muzzle had sent him into a tree and knocked him out, and when he came too, he couldn't find his uncle.
She was now enlisting help to try and find Pterano, as he sat in his cave, and recovered.
"I feel so crummy..." Petrie thought to himself. "Lying to her like that..."
"You told her what you felt she could handle..." A voice suddenly spoke from within Petrie's head...not his own.
Petrie jumped a bit as he looked to his left and right. "Who said that?"
He didn't see anyone around. "Where are you?"
"I am now what is inside of you, Petrie..." The voice spoke again.
Petrie looked down at himself and swallowed a bit. "You're...you're what I transformed into?"
"Correct..." the male voice spoke. "I am the voice of the king stone. For many years, I had laid dormant inside the mountain of the Eon King. I was programmed to serve whomever had the stone placed within his body...and since you have chosen to fight the Eon King instead of serve him, I am bound to your will, and will assist."
Petrie scratched his head as he looked down at himself some more. "If you could talk to me all this time...why did you wait until now to start?"
"Because last night, I was just as disoriented as you..." The voice responded. "I have not been used in quite some time. The last time I was active, this world was a very different place. It was before the Eon King ignited the core, and wiped out the world of old."
"This is too much to take in..." Petrie rubbed his head slowly, thinking of the priests who captured him. "What did those guys want with me and Pterano anyway?"
"You and your uncle were chosen..." The voice answered. "You were to become the two new Century Kings."
"Century Kings?" Petrie furrowed his brow.
"When the current Eon King is near the end of his life..." The Voice began to explain. "Two individuals are selected to become the Century Kings, Black Sun, and Shadow Moon. At the moment nearest to the Eon King's end, the Century Kings are destined to fight each other, to the death."
"Death?" Petrie's eyes widened a bit.
"Correct..." The Voice went on. "The victor is then anointed as the new Eon King, and takes his place as undisputed ruler of the Golgomites."
Petrie shook his head slowly, as a realization came to him. "That means, if I were to go along with all this...I would eventually have to fight Uncle Pterano...No...I can't do that."
"Then you have no choice but to oppose him..." The Voice spoke once more. "Like the Kamen Riders of old."
"Kamen Riders?" Petrie scratched his head now.
"The Kamen Riders were a band of rebels, who stirred up dissent against the Eon King back in the old days" The Voice explained. "No one knew who they really were, as they used code names, such as V3, ZX, and Super-1."
"What happened to them?" Petrie inquired. "Were they killed?"
"No...they were forced to flee the planet, though, after The Eon King ignited the core."
"Hmmm..." Petrie now spoke aloud, drowsily. "Maybe I can continue the legacy then..."
"Who are you talking to?" A familiar voice called out.
Petrie looked up from where he was sitting, and saw the form of his close friend, Ducky, walking to him.
"Hm?" Petrie acted like he was waking up now. "Sorry...Guess I was talking in my sleep again."
Ducky giggled a bit as she walked over and sat next to him. "Well, it's good to see you're waking up, at least, after what's happened."
Petrie sighed and nodded slowly, tilting his head back as the thought of Pterano still being captured pierced his heart, still.
"I hear your mom's trying to put together a search party for your uncle..." Ducky spoke up after a moment of silence.
"I'm not sure what good it'll do though..." Petrie responded through closed eyes. "I searched for him all night, and couldn't find a single trail or trace of him..." He breathed heavily as he remembered what the king stone had told him...the century kings...the battle to the death. "I think the sharptooth might have gotten him."
"Don't you think she should at least try?" Ducky looked back at him, surprised that he seemed to be giving up so easily. "I mean if there's a chance, any chance at all that your uncle's alive, she shouldn't just leave him out there, and neither should you."
Petrie opened his eyes slowly as he thought this over. He thought of the new power he secretly held in his body...and what he could do with it.
"You have a point..." Petrie nodded slowly.
"It's like my mom says, sometimes..." Ducky smiled. "Nothing is beyond the light of the bright circle. I think of that every time I get sad..."
Petrie nodded again, before getting up slowly. "I think I should join her search party..."
Ducky gasped as he helped him onto his feet. "Are you sure you're well enough for that?"
Before he could answer, they both heard a scream coming from outside...it was the voice of Petrie's mother.
Petrie quickly flew out to see her in the clutches of the Hornet Kaijin, who had been spying on him from outside the valley, and now finally made his move.
"Mom!" Petrie yelled out, as the Kaijin looked over and spotted him. It growled and fluttered its buzzing wings, flying off and carrying his struggling mother with it.
"Get back here!" Petrie yelled as he took off after the Kaijin.
"Petrie! Be careful!" Ducky yelled as she walked out of the opening in the cave, not wanting either him or his mother to be hurt.
The Kaijin was leading him on, as he blindly chased after him and his mother in the air, not caring that it was leading him to a section of the mysterious beyond, where Baroumu was waiting for him.
Petrie chased the Kaijin as he flapped his larger wings as hard as he could...before something sharp and painful struck him from below.
Baroumu held out his right hand, as the colorful bolts of energy shot out of the metal coverings on his fingers. Petrie shook and yelled out in pain as they coursed through his body, before falling down onto the ground near the priest.
"Petrie!" His mother yelled out to him, as she struggled in the Kaijin's strong arms.
"You shall pay dearly for your insubordination..." Baroumu growled. "We offered you the chance to lead all of Golgom to a new age, and you spit in all of our faces."
Petrie grunted as he picked himself up slowly, scowling as he faced down the priest.
"You shall die, of course..." Baroumu nodded slowly. "But first, I want you feel the gravest pain that a youth can experience..." He then looked over to the Kaijin. Kill her!"
Petrie gasped, and looked up as the Kaijin tossed her down onto a boulder, knocking her out.
"No!" Petrie yelled, as the Kaijin reclined and aimed its stinger at her, firing it off, as a new one grew in its place.
Petrie then felt a great surge of power, as he jumped and flew over to his mother, faster than he ever had before. He zipped to the boulder, and grabbed his mother's unconscious form, pulling her off with a burst of strength as the stone hit and dug into the rock instead.
Baroumu backed off suddenly in alarm, watching this.
Petrie then got his mother to a safe spot, noticing that she was luckily still breathing. He then furrowed his brow as he looked to the Kaijin, and Baroumu.
"It's not enough that you torture me, and capture my Uncle..." He spoke lowly as he breathed heavily. "Now you have to try and kill my mother, because I won't cooperate..."
He then yelled out with a fierceness he had never felt before. "You're MONSTERS!"
"Petrie, tap into my power!" He heard the king stone speaking again. "Let your new-found instincts guide you."
Petrie nodded slowly, as he then got into a stance. He leaned to the right, bringing the left and right hand of his wings together in fists, right above left. His knuckles crackled as the new power gathered inside of them. He then brought both hands down to his left side, and extended his right wing-arm from it.
"Hen..." Petrie spoke as he brought the right hand over his head in a half-circle, reciting the ancient language behind this power. "...Shin!" He finished, as he then shot the right hand over his middle, fingers pointing left as he extended his left wingarm in the same direction.
Baroumu watched in amazement, as the kingstone flashed to life, appearing on the middle of Petrie's body, complete with the metal belt that it was attached to. Great flashing light emanated from the stone, disorienting the Kaijin as it tried to fly in and stop him from transforming, making it fly away.
Petrie stood still as the transformation took place. His face became insect-like for a brief moment, before his head changed shape, and the familiar black helmet covered it. His body then quickly assumed the shape it had before, as the power stripes glowed with energy.
He stood and faced down his adversaries in his transformed state, with steam rising from the openings in his armor, as his body temperatue rose once more.
"Kamen Rider...BLACK!" Petrie yelled out with the same fierceness as he got into a fighting stance. He had discarded the mantle of Black Sun in that moment. He remembered what the king stone had told him about the Kamen Riders, choosing his own new code name.
"How dare you refer to yourself as one of them!" Baroumu growled as he motioned to the Hornet Kaijin. "Tear him to shreds!"
The Kaijin growled in compliance, as he zipped down to meet the rider with his jaws wide open, preparing to take a bite. Petrie was prepared, though, as he reached out, and gripped the Kaijin by the neck under his right arm.
The Kaijin struggled, as the rider began to spin in place, lifting it off its feet as he began to spin it around and around, before letting go. The Kaijin flow uncontrollably through the air, and smashed through a tree as it landed. The tree then fell over and landed hard on the creature after it fell to the ground.
The rider then walked to where the tree had fallen, to see if the Kaijin was truly dead. Dust was still in the air as he made his search.
He soon got his answer, as the Kaijin suddenly shoved the tree off of its form, and zipped towards the rider. The rider was taken off guard, as the Kaijin grabbed and bit into his shoulder.
The rider grunted and yelled in pain as he felt the pain from this, and began to pound at the Kaijin's head. With a burst of strength, he smacked it hard on the back with a well placed chop, making it let go as he nailed it with a kick soon after, making it fall back.
As it fell back, though, the Kaijin turned, and fired off another stinger, which quickly lodged itself in the rider's side. The rider yelled in pain again, and tried to pull it off, as the Kaijin moved in for the kill.
But then the rider remembered something from last time, and looked up as his eyes flashed red once more.
"Battle Hopper!" He yelled.
The brave little green bike then zipped quickly onto the scene, moving right towards the Kaijin. Before it could make its move to kill the rider, the machine plowed itself right into the creature's side, making it fly off to the left.
This gave the rider time to finally pull out the stinger, as he climbed aboard the bike, and revved it up with his own right hand this time.
The creature turned, and tried to fly off somewhere to regroup. It couldn't shake the rider, though, as he followed quickly on Battle Hopper. He used his new instincts to lean back, and propel himself and the bike off of a boulder nearby, allowing him to catch the Kaijin by the back of the head in midair. As he was coming down, he then tossed the Kaijin onto the ground, directly into the landing path of the bike.
The Kaijin shrieked in pain as it felt the wheels off the bike cutting right through it, as the rider landed. He then turned and stopped Battle Hopper in his spot, as he watched the Kaijin struggle onto its feet, its wings now shredded.
"Tap into your full power now!" He heard the king stone speak. "Finish the creature off!"
The rider nodded quickly, as he got off his bike and faced the Kaijin. He then brought down both his hands in fists, just above the stone on his middle.
"King Stone flash!" He yelled, activating the stone as it gave off the same blinding light that it did when he transformed. The Kaijin shrieked again and stumbled in place, unable to counter attack.
The rider took advantage as he brought his fists together one more time, leaping into the air.
"Rider punch!" He yelled, the stone still flashing around his form brightly, as he came down and nailed the Kaijin with his right fist. It was glowing red as it smacked the large hornet on the head.
The Kaijin growled in pain as it backed off, prompting the rider to once again leap into the air.
"Rider kick!" he now yelled, as he extended his left foot, the stone still flashing around him in its overwhelming light.
His foot now glowed red, as it smacked into the Kaijin's chest, putting a huge crack into its exoskeleton. The Kaijin shrieked once more as it flew back, hit the ground, and slowly rose to its feet.
As it did this however, it was soon overwhelmed with a powerful heat. Dark red flames, almost like the flares of the sun itself, began to engulf the Kaijin's body, shooting off in all directions as it flailed and screeched in pain. It then finally succumbed, and dropped to the ground, exploding in a fiery ball that soon vanished into smoke when its form was destroyed.
The rider had landed onto one knee as he had come down from the kick, and now rose slowly to his feet as the smoke of the destroyed Kaijin surrounded him.
Baroumu had watched it all, and wanted badly to attack him at first. Cowardice quickly overcame him though, as he realized how strong Petrie had become, and turned from the scene, vanishing as he teleported back to home base.
Petrie's brothers and sisters rushed over to see him carrying his now conscious mother, with her arm over his shoulder. He had been driving her back on Battle Hopper, but soon changed back to his normal form when she started coming to.
Petrie helped his mother to sit on a rock as she sighed and accepted the embrace from her other children. He then sat down on his own rock and rolled his head, recovering from the battle as Ducky walked over to him.
"What happened out there?" She asked him in a worried tone of voice. "What was that thing."
"I don't know..." Petrie rubbed his head as he answered her. "But it almost killed both of us...but then something suddenly came out and saved us."
"What?" Ducky pressed on as she sat next to him. "What saved you?"
"Something I've never seen before..." He looked out into the mysterious beyond.
"You think it's friendly?" Ducky asked him.
"Oh yeah..." Petrie smiled just a bit as he feigned ignorance for his friend. "It's definitely friendly..."
This is another idea I had from way back, that I even implented bits of, in an LBT fanfic that is no longer on Fanfiction.net. I decided to flesh it out more, and try it out here. I also wanted to try something that was action packed, but not as overly gruesome as Chronicles of The Balaur, because I realize that seems to turn off some of the LBT fanfic readers out there.
The following is inspired largely by a Japanese series called Kamen Rider Black. Look it up on Youtube some time, and you'll see why I picked who I picked to be the hero. The design of Black's costume just seems to match up with this character in some odd way.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy what I have up, and what I hope to put up in the future.
********************************************************************** The Earth is far older than one may think...
It's history stretches far beyond what humans can trace.
No one in today's world would know it, but there was once an age of beings that existed on Earth long before even the dinosaurs. They were known as the Golgomites, and they called the planet Golgom at that time.
The only reason they left no evidence of their existence, was that many years before the first dinosaur had walked the Earth, the Golgomites had been nearly wiped out by a civil war that had consumed the entire planet. It destroyed much of their environment, and made the planet uninhabitable for many years.
The war had been carried out by a Golgomite calling himself the Eon King. He wished to rule the planet with an Iron fist, but met with resistance all across the planet. Once he gained the control he so desired, and saw the surface world in ruins, he gathered what remained of his followers, and retreated into the underground world.
From there, he used his power to ignite the earth's core, and cleanse the surface world with volcanic activity all around. He then decreed that no Golgomite would go to the surface until he reached his 1000th year of life, died, and was succeeded.
Years passed, and when the new Eon King was crowned, the Golgomites went to the surface to see what had become of their world...they were shocked to find that it had now been taken over by the giant creatures, the dinosaurs. It was no longer a world for their kind.
The new Eon King realized that cleansing the Earth again was no longer an option...his people had been slowly dying out in the underground world, and without their life forces to sustain him, he knew his own life would be much, much shorter than that of his predecessor.
They needed blood...fresh blood from the world above, he decided, to finally give the Golgomites a chance to reclaim what was once theirs. It was radical thinking for a Golgomite, but he believed the circumstances called for it.
All he needed to do was find test subjects...two of them...
********************************************************************* Episode 1: The Change
Night had fallen on the world above, as one of the descendants of the original Golgomites walked down the dark, forbidding hall of a dark mountain, inside of which the faithful followers of the Eon King had built their base of operations, waiting for one faithful day...
a day that they had finally reached.
The cloaked, hooded figure of the humanoid creature walked slowly into what looked like a dark operating room, meeting two other hooded figures in front of him. One was a female, having the face and bill of a hadrosaur, only with dark red eyes, and black streaks along the sides of her white face.
The second figure was male, his dark blue face having a pointed nose, and short horns coming from his head, obviously related to a three-horn. He towered over the other female, who was still taller than the third figure.
The third creature seemed to resemble a longneck in his face, only his skin was all pale and crinkled, apparently showing the ravages of age, as he lurched in front of his two comrades, carrying two crystal orbs in his hands.
"Dai Shin Kan Baroumu..." He addressed the three-horn by his priest title, before calling the female by hers. "Dai Shin Kan Bishimu...The great Eon King has entrusted me with the two holy King Stones...are our sacrifices prepared?"
"All is ready for the ceremony, Dai Shin Kan Daroumu..." The female bowed as she spoke in her deep, smooth voice.
"It was only a matter of time before we found two subjects to the Eon King's liking..." Baroumu smiled. "One is older than the other, but he is still capable, I believe."
Daroumu nodded as he crept slowly into the room with the two lit operating tables...it was on these tables where the forms of Petrie, and his uncle Pterano, were restrained, looking as frightened as they were when they were first captured.
"Yes..." Daroumu walked over to the now-teen-aged flier first. "They both resemble our great King in his former state quite well..."
"Don't touch him!" Pterano yelled as he struggled against the restraints. "Don't touch him!"
"You shall be silent!" Baroumu growled as he held out his hand, and shot lightning bolts from a special device placed over all of his fingers. The bolts shocked Pterano, making him cry out in pain.
"Pterano!" Petrie yelled to his Uncle, before Baroumu stopped, leaving him to smoke and moan.
"Great Eon King!" Daroumu called up to the sky as he reached up with both of his hands, extending both the king stones over the two fliers...the red stone was over Petrie, while the green hovered Pterano.
"With your blessing, let us transfer the power of these stones into the bodies of these two creatures! Let them transcend their once meaningless lives as denizens of this ruined world, and live their lives anew as our Century Kings!"
He then held the red stone over Petrie as it began to glow..."Black Sun!"
He then quickly held the glowing green stone over Pterano. "Shadow Moon!"
With that, two great beams of energy shot into the bodies of the two fliers, making them tremble and convulse with their power. Petrie trembled and cried out in pain, as Pterano heard this, making himself cry out even more at his Nephew's suffering.
It was in that moment, that Pterano did something the priests would have never expected...with a sudden burst of strength, he was able to break his wings out of the restraints on his arms. Baroumu tried to subdue him with a lightning blast, before Pterano flew over and grabbed him by the arm.
This action threw Baroumu off guard, making his lightning bolts hit Petrie's table, just as Daroumu had finished with the energy transfer. A second later, the battery on the table died, causing all of Petrie's restraints to come apart.
"Run!" Pterano yelled to his nephew. "Run! Get out of here! Get help!"
Petrie quickly nodded, not wanting to leave his Uncle, but not wanting to stay behind either...as he flew off, Baroumu quickly threw Pterano off of him, and in a rage, nailed him with an even harsher blast of energy bolts, knocking him into unconsciousness.
Petrie breathed heavily in fear as he flew about the cavernous tunnels of the mountain, trying to find a way out. He searched and searched for light, but there was none to be found.
It was then that he heard a loud pulsing noise in his direction. He turned to see a rather startling contraption in one of the several caverns. It stood on two wheels, with a green and black color scheme, along with two red eyes that glowed through the darkness.
The machine made the pulsing noise again as Petrie flew towards it. Petrie was afraid it would attack, but it didn't seem interested in doing so...it was designed to interact with whomever possessed a king stone, which, unknown to Petrie, was now inside of his body.
It turned its head to a passage, and nodded to it with its handlebars, making a revving noise now. Petrie swallowed, as he climbed aboard the sentient bike slowly, and held on for dear life...
The Bike then revved again, and zoomed quickly through the caverns, eventually taking Petrie out into the open land again.
"What a way to spend my hatchday..." Petrie thought to himself as he held tightly to the bike. Indeed, Petrie had agreed to Pterano's idea of flying him out to some special sections of the Mysterious Beyond that he knew of, as a special gift to his Nephew.
Only something happened along the way back home...a huge cluster of swarming leaf-gobblers attacked them, aggressively zooming around them and interrupting their flight...almost as if they were being controlled. It was then that the three priests emerged and grabbed them.
But now he was safe...only Pterano still wasn't, he realized. He thought to himself as he rode along to safety, trying to think of a way to save him.
Before he could plan something, however, something suddenly made the bike waver and fall over, crashing as it threw him off. He tumbled and looked up to see the priests hovering above the ground, looking down at him. Daroumu had just used his powers of telekinesis to through the bike off of its track.
He then shot out his hand again as Petrie tried to fly away, making a guttural "chhhhhhwoooooo!" noise as he did it, pulling the young flier towards the priests with his energy.
"It's no use running, boy..." Daroumu growled. "The transfer of power is finished. You are one of us."
"No!" Petrie yelled as he struggled in midair.
"It's too late to protest..." Bishimu smiled. "Your body is no longer that of a normal dinosaur."
"Allow me to demonstrate..." Daroumu grinned. He Then pushed out with his right hand, using his telekinesis to fling Petrie into a large tree. He slammed Petrie into the bark again and again, before throwing him down into a big pile of rocks, making them shatter.
Petrie grunted and struggled to pull himself out of the rubble, hurt, but alive...
"You see, boy..." Baroumu spoke now. "The power and protection of the king stone flows through your body. Why try to run from us, and return to those who would only reject you as you are now, when you could join us, and cleanse this world once and for all?"
"I won't do it..." Petrie shook his head as he struggled back to his feet. "I won't do it..."
Daroumu shook his head slowly. "You still need more persuasion I see..." He then pulled back and pushed with his hand, sending a powerful blast of telekinetic energy, making Petrie fly through the sky as he yelled and hurtled down towards a cave.
The three priests then floated after him, as they heard the sound of him crashing into the cave, and the dust rising from the opening soon after. They all landed near this same opening, preparing to go in after him.
"Wait..." Daroumu suddenly spoke as he put his hand out towards the other two. "I sense something...
The impact of the last throw had knocked Petrie half-unconscious...and in that state, he had somehow activated his king stone, and was now transforming.
The priests looked over and saw a figure rising to his feet in the darkness, walking slowly to the opening of the cave with each gentle step. At the moment the figure had emerged, he had achieved his full transformed state.
Petrie was now in the form of a tall creature dressed in black armor. His slim, almost spindly figure concealed great power and agility, as his red eyes glowed on his black helmet, complete with metal antennae, and an insect-like mouthpiece. Red and yellow power stripes ran around his wrists and ankles, as well as up and over the top of his helmet. His red king stone was visible as well, on his waist in a metallic device.
"Ah...Black Sun!" Baroumu proclaimed as he confirmed the creature's appearance.
Petrie just stared at the three in his new form, his body temperature rising as steam rose out of open spaces in his armor, showing off bits of his new muscles.
"Be Careful..." Daroumu warned as he walked towards Petrie. "His memory hasn't been wiped yet...there's no telling what he could-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Petrie suddenly jumped, and kicked Daroumu right in the chest on his way back down. Baroumu quickly tried to hit him with more lightning bolts, but Petrie was too fast now. He quickly rolled to avoid the blast, before picking up a rock and throwing it at Baroumu.
Baroumu had shot more bolts out as this happened. They hit the rock instead, as it crashed into him, shocking him greatly.
Bishimu then sprung into action, as she turned her head to Petrie, and shot great beams of concussive energy from her red eyes. These beams hit Petrie in his midsection, and made him grunt in pain as he fell to his back.
She then floated over to grab him, before he quickly recovered and flipped up back onto his feet. His king stone began to glow with increasing power, as he punched and kicked at the priestess, who dodged each of these moves.
She fired another beam from her eyes at him, as he rolled out of the way, and they smashed into more rocks instead. He then jumped and flew down to her, catching her in the face with a hard right fist. She could sense the power rising in his form as she backed away from him.
Before he could pursue her, though, he suddenly felt something tighten around his neck. Daroumu had now recovered from the surprise blow, and caught him in the grasp of his telekinesis once more, growling as he had his right hand extended in a crushing fist.
"Like it or not..." Daroumu grunted. "Like it or not, you're coming back to your new home boy...so make it easy on yourself...don't make me choke the life out of your frail body..."
Petrie grunted, and thought of something...it was a new impulse, that was a part of his new self. He looked to the right as his eyes suddenly started flashing.
"Battle Hopper!" He finally yelled through his choking.
The priests then heard the engine of the bike that he Petrie had found revving up in the distance. It zipped past them faster than they expected, and made a head-on collision with Daroumu, making him release Petrie.
Daroumu growled in pain as he backed off, watching as Petrie quickly hopped onto the bike, revved it up himself through the handlebar, and zipped off into the night at an incredible speed.
"Damn it all!" Baroumu clenched his fists in anger.
"He's gaining power faster than we expected..." Bishimu observed, her face now slightly bruised.
"We must correct this mistake as soon as possible..." Daroumu frowned. "Or else the Eon King may see to our execution..."
"Let's find him, then!" Baroumu began to float away from the other two.
"No!" Daroumu shook his head. "He's become too strong for us simple priests to apprehend...we must return to base, and seek assistance from one of our Warriors."
"We must also check on the condition of our Shadow Moon..." Bishimu added.
Petrie had now changed back into his original self as he stumbled off of Battle Hopper. The first transformation had taken its toll on him, as he fell to his knees, attempting to remember what had just happened.
He remembered he was abducted, along with his uncle...he had been inside a mountain...but where? Where was this mountain. That was the one thing he had trouble remembering. He didn't know the area as well as Pterano did.
Then he remembered the rest...transforming, and fighting off the evil priests. He knew they still had his Uncle now, and he shuddered at the thought of what those three could be doing to him now.
"Don't worry, Uncle..." Petrie looked off into the sky as he thought to himself. "I'll find a way out of all this..." He looked at the hands on his wings. "I don't what it is they gave to me...but I'll learn to use it...and soon...soon, I'm gonna get you out of there, once I find you."
He then walked to Battle Hopper, and got back onto the machine.
"Uhhh...Do you know the way back to the Great Valley?" he asked the bike.
Battle hopper beeped a few times, turned its head to the direction of the valley, and revved its engine once more.
"Great!" Petrie smiled. "Let's go back there first...I don't wanna leave Pterano behind, but I don't want Mom to worry about me either..."
Battle Hopper then beeped in response, as it then go itself moving again, and Drove off with Petrie on top.
BOOK II: EYES OF THE SERAPHIM CHAPTER I: ENCOUNTER AT UDLOW
Lord Ipos strolled slowly down the great hall of the capital city of Stolas, known as Ackanges. Lined along his path were rows of masked soldiers, The prince’s personal guard…they all turned their backs on him as he passed them, one by one.
Ipos’ mask was still off, his head hung in shame, as he looked up slowly, ever so slowly, towards the regal figure sitting at the end of the path, resting on a large golden throne, with the images of magnificent animals of the planet carved into it.
Like a stoic god, the figure of Prince Abadon gazed over the approach of his disgraced lord. His head was covered in a mask made of the finest gold and platinum, lacking the dark visor that many of his subordinate’s helmets had.
His eyes were visible, which was also acceptable in Stolian culture, as the face of the mask was carved as well with a precision laser…the golden face had a very stoic, and neutral look about it, as was to be expected of royalty. He sat dressed in a white uniform, his form currently draped with a golden, furry robe, like a much fancier version of the robe that Ipos had over his own body.
The Prince stood as Ipos walked up to the base of the throne, and kneeled slowly, the other warriors also kneeling out of respect for their lord.
Abadon then slowly descended the throne’s stairway, his eyes fixed on Ipos as if he were one of the gods himself, about to pass judgement. He slowly reached into his side, and pulled out a ceremonial dagger with a golden hilt.
“Lord Ipos…” his calm, deep voice spoke from within his mask. “For many years you have carried my standard through the universe with great success…” He then raised the knife, for all to see. “But today, you return to us, as a great disappointment to me, and a disgrace among your own people…”
Ipos kept his head down as he kneeled before the prince, who walked closer to him. “I am truly sorry, my lord…” He closed his eyes slowly.
“Are you prepared to pay the penalty for this trespass?” Abadon asked him, bringing the knife closer to his face.
“I am…” Ipos responded, preparing himself.
Abadon nodded slowly, and brought the knife to the left side of his face…slowly, he drew the blade across his flesh, cutting deep and leaving a trail of blood. Ipos winced slightly, but kept to his strength and made no cries of pain.
Abadon then cut into Ipos’ right cheek, leaving a similar blood trail, before finally making one final cut along the center of his chin. He then finished his work, and cleaned the knife with a kerchief he kept handy.
“Your penance has been paid…” Abadon spoke once more. “Rise, and begin your path to redemption…”
“Yes, sire…” Ipos nodded slowly, his face still bleeding as he rose to his feet. Eventually, the wounds on his face would set, and become permanent scars, the shameful mark of his disgrace for showing his face to an enemy. He then reached over and picked up his new helmet, which a servant was holding near him.
Ipos’ face was written with deep anger as he slipped the helmet on…from there he made a silent vow, to find the Balaur, and exact revenge for his current condition…one way or another, this vile creature was going to die by his sword.
A great force shot though the darkness of space, the flames of propulsion jets in its boots sending at an incredible speed, exceeding that of even certain fighter craft in the Stolian fleet.
Shorty had moved into his new life as a Balaur rather easily, much quicker than even the Progenitor himself had expected. It seemed bizarre to himself, and everyone around him…but for the first time in his life, he felt like he made a lot of sense to this universe. He had grown never knowing of a mother to raise him, or a father, until Bron came along.
But ever since he got over what he once saw as a painful time in his life, he was now filled with a whole new sense of worth…he mattered…not just to those who knew him on earth, but to those who would soon know him throughout the galaxy.
His armor had just gotten a new paint job, reinforcing the green and silver reflective glow. He had also done some work on his helmet, as he felt his first one was too sterile…the mouth section of the helmet now displayed painted teeth with blood dripping off of them, and accented the eye-pieces with black and yellow paint, giving his outer face a rather menacing death-grin.
He swooped past a few oncoming asteroids, practicing his flight skills, until he heard the voice of his master echo in his ear.
“Are you done with your exercises, child?” The Progenitor asked him, sounding a little impatient.
“Yes, master…” Shorty responded as he floated still in space now. “Sorry if I took too long.”
“Do not despair…” The Progenitor answered. “You may have gone slightly off course, but you are still a mere meters away from your destination.”
“Oh right…Udlow.” Shorty had been exercising to take his mind off the stress of travelling far outside of his own solar system, coupled with the heavy mission that he had been charged with.
“That is correct, Shorty…the Udlan rebels have nearly breached the fortress of the Stolian-backed Chancellor, and are well on the way to freeing their world from Abbadon’s grasp. You shall descend to the surface to make certain that this happens.”
“Why do I need to go down there if they’re about to win, anyway?” Shorty asked.
“Because the Chancellor has a couple of powerful warriors, on loan from Abbadon…” His master responded. “If the rebels try to take them on by themselves, they’ll all be obliterated in mere minutes…they need the power of the Balaur on their side.”
“Understood…” Shorty nodded to himself slowly. “I’ll contact you again if I survive all this.”
“You are capable of much more than you know, Astyanax…” The Progenitor reassured him, as he referred to Shorty by his Balaur name. “May the spirits of Erufit be with you.”
Shorty then felt his comm.-link separate, as he took a big breath, and sped towards the surface of the planet…
On the surface of Udlow, the rebels were laying waste to the capital city, and Pro-Stolian Stronghold. The silver-faced centurions of the Chancellor’s personal guard stood their ground with their plasma spears and blasters, but their legions were fast crumbling under the blaster fire of the rag-tag humanoid rebels.
The Rebels, also known as the “Rage of Klajin” (Named after the last native Udlan Chancellor), had also stolen some Stolian fighter craft, and were bombing many of the city’s last major defense systems against them. Ground troops, many of whom had also stolen the armor of the colonial officials, ran towards the outer defenses of the Chancellor’s fortress, wielding the same plasma spears.
It was then that Agares, one of the powerful Stolian warriors who protected the Chancellor made his entrance. He was a towering monster of a man, the result of experiments with numerous enhancement drugs and hormone therapy. His muscular body didn’t have much armor on it, as a long silver mask, resembling the face of a stoic, bearded man, covered his face. He carried a frighteningly large battle-axe, which only he could lift.
Slipping out next to Agares was the other Stolian warrior, known as Danjal. Danjal was shorter than Agares, but was an even more fearsome sight. He was a Stolian, but he lacked a helmet. His twisted face bore numerous scars, some of which he inflicted on himself out of an odd, perverse pleasure. Many of his natural teeth had been ripped out, and replaced with sharp, metal ones. His fingers were chopped down to stubs, and replaced with long, razor-sharp blades, fused right to the bones of his hands.
With a bone-chilling howl, Danjal made his first strike at the rebels, wasting no time. He leapt onto the chest of one fighter, and jammed his right hand claws into his face. The warrior screamed and fell back, as Danjal pulled the claws out, and stuck them in again…and again…and again…blood spewed freely from the face of the corpse, as Danjal then gouged, and pulled out his eyes…he kept them skewered on his claws for a moment, before he licked them and tossed them away.
“Bloodthirsty as ever, I see…” Agares observed as he took a few practice swings with his axe.
“This is just what I need…” Danjal hissed in pleasure as he attacked another warrior, quickly slicking off both of his arms, before impaling him through the chest with his claws in another shower of blood. “I stood by and watched the chancellor play it his way for so long…now it’s time for the REAL fun!”
Agares didn’t respond to this, as he saw a couple of warriors running to face him. He spun and performed a backslash with his axe, quickly separating one from his lower body as his top half fell to the ground in a pool of blood. He then brought the axe up, and slammed it down onto the other fighter, cutting him in half vertically, as both parts fell over in a spray of blood that stained his axe.
“Yes….” Agares rubbed the blood on his weapon. “Drink the blood of those we hate, and grow stronger!”
For the first time in this siege, the rebels saw themselves being pushed back. Agares struck hard with his axe, while Danjal pounced freely at any who dared to get close to him. The land near the entrance to the Chancellor’s fortress was fast becoming soaked with blood, and littered with the body parts of many men.
The Centurions soon joined up with their two larger companions, and aided the effort to suppress the ground forces, jabbing away with their spears.
All seemed grim for the rebels…until something came zooming down from above to their aid.
The first to feel the Balaur’s presence was a random Centurion. He had raised his spear to deliver a deathblow to one of the younger fighters, before something came out from nowhere to impale him through the chest. It was one of Shorty’s arm blades, attached to the cord inside of his arm. With a powerful yank, he sent the hapless warrior into the air, where he met up with him, and quickly slashed him with his other blade, cleaving the body in two as he came down.
He landed just a few feet in front of the rebels, staring at their enemies.
“My turn…” he simply spoke.
He then grabbed the spear of an attacking centurion, and broke it in two with his arm blade, grabbing the pointed end and jamming it through the warrior’s head. The supercharged end of the spear made the man’s head explode in mere seconds, scattering some of the other centurions.
He then spotted another centurion running towards him with his own spear. He responded by grabbing the spear and rolling onto his back. He kicked the warrior over with his foot, and extended the blade of his other arm. The warrior’s mouth then went into the blade, as it then impaled him through the head.
Shorty swiped his blade away then, separating the fighter’s head from his lower jaw as blood shot out from the massive wound. He then got up and looked around at the other centurions, all seemingly too scared to make another move.
“Out of the way, you chicken-shits!” Agares growled, pushing aside a few centurions rather forcefully as Danjal slipped out from behind him.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh…” Danjal hissed in pleasure. “You must be the new Balaur we’ve heard so much about.” He flashed his claws for a moment. “I have always wanted to taste the flesh of one such as yourself.”
“I’m not impressed. Frankly…” Agares readied his axe. “See, I killed the last one of your kind, boy…and he was much larger than you…so what chance do you think you’ve got?”
“Are you gonna talk, or fight?” Shorty responded, not intimidated at all.
“As you wish!” Danjal yelled, as he launched himself towards Shorty. Shorty quickly rolled out of the way, but Danjal was just as quick, pouncing him with an almost animal-like quickness. He then began to jab down towards Shorty’s face with his right claws, as Shorty blocked each attempt with his arm blade, and, reached up to grab Danjal’s face with his other hand.
Danjal tried to bite with his metal teeth, but he couldn’t bite anything, as Shorty had him right by the nose. With a hard squeeze, he began to crush and break Danjal’s nose, making blood seep out. Danjal shrieked in pain, as Shorty then kicked him off, and got back on his feet.
“Ohhhh you’re gonna pay for that one!” Danjal hissed, as he then threw himself at Shorty again. He slipped past him this time, and slashed him across the right leg. Shorty yelled out in pain as blood seeped out of his armor, and fell onto his knees. Danjal then hopped onto his back, and stabbed him repeatedly through the shoulders and back, causing more blood to leak out.
Shorty flailed and yelled in pain as he did this, before he regained his bearings, and channeled his rage, just as he’d done before. He waited for the right moment, and reached up with his right hand to grab Danjal by the wrist. Danjal grunted and struggled, as Agares was busy fighting off other rebels. Shorty roared lowly, then loudly as he increased the grip on Danjal’s wrist, and began to pull on it. Bones could be heard snapping, as he then broke Danjal’s hand most of the way off, leaving it dangling by flesh.
Danjal howled out in pain as blood gushed, making him fall back and run away, as Shorty then faced the other powerful warrior. He shot his arm blade back out on its cord once more, just as Agares was about to cleave another rebel in half.
To Shorty’s surprise, the blade didn’t go in too far. Agares had very tough skin, causing the blade to go in only a few inches. Agares simply chucked at Shorty, as he quickly retracted the blade.
“I’m afraid I won’t be as easy to drive away, boy…” Agares growled a bit, before swinging his axe a few times, and bringing it down towards Shorty. Shorty rolled out of the way as the axe smashed into the ground, making the earth shake around the two. He then jumped onto the long hilt of the axe, and used it to jump onto Agares’ chest, driving in one of his arm blades.
Agares grunted and fell back a bit, only a little bit of blood seeping out as Shorty took his other blade, and rammed it repeatedly into the warrior’s chest. Agares simply grunted in frustration as he reached around and gripped Shorty around the back, putting him into a bear hug.
“It’s useless….” Agares laughed a bit. “My skin’s been enhanced to take the hardest forms of punishment…” He then squeezed harder, as Shorty groaned and yelled in pain from the increasing pressure on his spine…surely there had to be one spot on him that was vulnerable…maybe that big mouth of his…
It was then with a burst of strength, that he was able to pull his one blade out of his chest, and jam it up under the helmet of Agares, puncturing his lower jaw with it.
Agares yelled out in pain as blood began to gush from under his helmet. He tossed Shorty to the ground, and gripped at his wound for a moment. “Why you miserable…” he grunted, as he picked up his axe once more.
“Agares!” He then heard a voice in his head speak…Prince Abaddon’s. “Retreat!”
“Retreat?” Agares was befuddled at this order. “Why?”
“Because you let the Balaur stall you…because of your wasting time fighting with him, the rebel leaders have already discovered and executed the Chancellor!” Abaddon chastised his warrior. “Udlow is lost! Find Danjal, and come back to Stolas at once!”
“But sire!” Agares protested. “If we let the Balaur live…”
“That shall soon be remedied, Agares…do as I say!”
“Yes Sire…” Agares nodded, begrudgingly, as he then ran away in the midst of the cheering rebels. “Kill you next time, boy!”
Shorty, who had been preparing for another attack, looked on, puzzled, as Agares ran off. He looked over the cheering throng of Uldlan rebels, as he smiled under his helmet, and reactivated his comm.-link.
“Master…it’s done.” He sighed happily. “The Chancellor’s been killed, and I kept his two hoods at bay.”
“Good job, Astyanax…” The Progenitor responded. “You are now looking at a free Udlow…something that has not been seen in nearly 50 of your Earth years. You have now become a part of history. How does it feel?”
Shorty grunted a bit as he clutched at his wound. “I think I’ll feel a little better about it after I come home for a little R and…”
Something then suddenly zoomed onto the planet, and rammed itself right into Shorty, lifting him its arms and flying him to the very top of the former Chancellor’s fortress.
Shorty had no time to realize what was going on, before he then found himself falling towards the top of the building. He landed on his feet and rolled a bit, as he looked up and saw the magnificent, white-feathered creature flying down towards him.
“Forgive my intrusion…” Kyrie spoke in her distorted voice. “But our quarrel does not belong with those mere mortals below.”
“Who in the world are you?” Shorty gazed up at the Seraphim.
“I am your destroyer…” Kyrie responded. “You need know nothing more than that…”
With that, she launched herself at Shorty with her wings extended. Shorty tried to block her with his blades crossed, but soon found that her large sword carried a powerful force behind it, that nearly sent him over the edge as it smashed into him.
“Wow…” He mused as he readied his blades again. “You’re not the average, run of the mill grunt working for Abaddon, are you?”
“Abaddon is the light of this universe…” Kyrie responded. “The light that no darkness shall overcome!”
She then slashed her sword at Shorty to the left and right. Shorty expertly dodged these moves, as he parried away another swing with his blades.
“Fancy sword-work…” Shorty sharpened his blades a bit as he faced down the Seraphim. “Got any other tricks to show off?”
“How about this?” She retorted, as she threw out her left arm. The Shield attached to it then came off, connected to a cord, similar to the one that connected Shorty’s blades to his arms. Shorty quickly tried to deflect this with one of his blades, only to find the cord wrapping around his arm, before the shield then spun around and smacked him across the face, putting a dent in his helmet.
Shorty grunted and fell back, retracting his blade. Kyrie then pulled the shield back into her arm for a second, before launching it at him again. Shorty once again crossed his arm blades to block this move, but found himself getting hurt once more, as she was able to keep the shield out and spinning for a few seconds, the shield smacking away at his armor and blades as it spun.
Kyrie then whipped the shield back into her arm once more, and took to the skies on her wings. Shorty whipped his own armblade out in an attempt to catch her, but she simply swerved to avoid it, before she swooped down and snatched him by the shoulders with the claws on her feet.
Shorty grunted and growled in pain as he felt the talons crunch into his armor, and the wounds already left by Danjal. He then reached up and grabbed at her right foot with his right hand. He squeezed at it for a few seconds, and with another burst of strength, he dislodged Kyrie, and threw her face-down to the ground.
Kyrie grunted as she hit the stone below rather hard, before quickly rising and turning to face Shorty. The two readied their weapons, and rushed in to clash again…before something shot in and smacked her in the chest.
Kyrie growled a bit, and looked up to see another familiar face rushing to Shorty’s aid.
“Talos!” Shorty shouted to his ally.
Kyrie Prepared to take them both on, until the voice of “Agnus” pierced her brain.
“Run, Kyrie!”
“Agnus, I’m perfectly capable…” Kyrie responded.
“Let’s not leave anything to chance, child…” He responded. “Let us wait until both Agares and Danjal have recovered…We have lost too much for today.”
“Yes sir…” She nodded slowly…she then took to the skies, and vanished, just as Talos came to his friend’s side.
“What…what was that thing?” Shorty panted just a little as he looked to the sky, then to Talos.
“I have no idea…” Talos responded. “It doesn’t resemble anything I’ve seen on any of the other planets I’ve been to.”
“Perhaps I ought to track it down…” Shorty spoke as he prepared to fly away, only to stumble a little bit.
“I don’t think you’re in any shape for that right now…” Talos cradled his friend as he opened a portal back to their ship. “Let’s get you in the tube for a few hours…you’ve had a rough day.”
“You’re the doc…” Shorty chuckled a bit, following Talos into the portal…
“Remember Kyrie…This power is a gift from Prince Abaddon to you…if you find yourself near a Balaur, or any other creature that dares challenge your power, then don’t hesitate to use it…let your anger, your hatred for all things evil and impure flow through your body…It might scare you at first…but don’t be afraid of it…embrace it!”
“Yes Master…”
The memory of one of Kyrie’s lessons reverberated in her head as she flew through space, her wings once again having changed into the glowing energy for this purpose…She may have fled this time, but she was determined to kill the Balaur the next time…
Morning crept over the canyon…the dead, barren canyon, in the lands that some of the bravest sharpteeth would not dare stray into. All that now lived in this area were insects…and skeletons. Bones from many different skeletons populated and intermingled in the area, creating quite a diversity of death.
This was not always a barren land, though…it was once home to many different dinosaurs…among them, Littlefoot’s family, even. It was very much a shell of its former self, a land not much different from the great valley, before the volcanoes and earthshakes…particularly the great earthshake where Littlefoot’s mother died, ripped it to shreds.
The saddest fact of all, however, were the number of young, small skeletons, that lay alongside the remains of the adults…spry, juvenile dinosaurs, all robbed of their chance to live life…all died never knowing the gentle light and safety of the great valley.
Dust crawled in the wind over the bottom of the canyon, lightly blowing a few lighter bones over the rocky floor. It provided the only activity that this disorganized cemetery usually knew…but today, something unusual was about to happen.
A few bones suddenly began to move in one area…not carried by wind, but by an unknown force that had somehow made its way into the canyon. Several others soon joined these few, defying the laws of gravity, as they rolled up along an upraised section of a floor.
They all headed for a single skull on the floor…the skull of a young threehorn.
The bones soon settled into the spot, and slowly began to organize themselves. More dust blew over the bones, as they cracked, and snapped into place as they found their proper spots. What little organic material remained on the joints soon began to multiply, making strings of muscle and blood vessel spread from each of the joints, and encircle all of the bones slowly…
The forming tissue began to form an outline of the body that used to encase the skeleton, as more tissue went inside of the outline, and began to reform all the internal organs slowly. The outlining tissue covered this activity within seconds, and began to solidify into muscle mass.
The child’s head slowly raised, as the body was still without skin…the child then took a gentle breath with its eyes still closed, and slowly exhaled…from the sound of the exhalation, the child was female, as her body slowly grew a covering of orange skin under the sunlight.
The threehorn girl slowly opened her eyes…her vision was blurry, very blurry, as the fluids in her eyes still tried to organize properly. The sights around her swirled, as she remained laying down on the rock, feeling very disoriented.
The visions in her eyes finally settled, leaving her free to fully observe the area where she had perished in her previous life. She saw the bones around her, heard the wind blowing, and could even smell the death in the air…but she could remember nothing.
She rolled onto her side and breathed again, sighing gently, as she looked ahead and saw another skeleton…this one was clearly an adult, as it was much larger than the other bones that were strewn around her body. She felt drawn to this particular corpse, for some reason, as she stared into where its eyes had been for what seemed like an eternity.
It was then that she began to hear voices in her head…the frantic sounds of an adult female, telling her children to run…the ever-present rumble of an earthshake…the screaming of children…and the roaring of sharpteeth.
She closed her head and grunted, trying to get this noise out of her head, but failing. Then like a sudden spark in her brain cells, she suddenly began to remember…just little bits and pieces, but from them, she was able to put the general idea of what had happened together.
She rolled back onto her stomach, and looked sadly down at the smaller bones around her…she now realized that they were all that remained of her sisters. She then looked over to the corpse of the adult, and breathed heavily with emotion.
“Mother…” she exhaled, speaking her first words in quite some time, as she closed her eyes. The reality of her loneliness sank in, as a single tear ran down her cheek, mourning the loss of her entire family…nothing more now than casualties of the sharpteeth…those murderers, she thought to herself.
This last thought was what began to fuel the girl, as she felt her new life force coursing through her. Shakily, she brought her right front leg up, and began to push herself up on it, trying to get her other legs to contribute slowly. Steadily, she raised herself up onto limbs that had not been utilized for some time, willing her body out of atrophy one step at a time.
Her activity, and the return of her scent, caught the attention of a scavenger…a lone sharptooth, close to the extended graveyard. It turned and growled hungrily as it tracked her down with its large nose, sniffing around in the air as its feet tromped through the fields of bones.
The threehorn girl struggled to lift herself out of the canyon, as she heard the growling…she wondered how, as the sharptooth she spotted was a long way off, but she heard it nonetheless.
As the sharptooth turned and roared at her, part of her wanted to run, like the days of old…but there was something else in her too…a hatred…an intense hatred…she didn’t remember much of her past life, but she knew somehow that sharpteeth were responsible for the death of her, and her family…she couldn’t ignore this burning energy within her, no matter how much bigger the sharptooth was.
The sharptooth readied itself for a chase, before being presented with something it had not anticipated…the threehorn girl was now running towards it…almost as if she was presenting herself as a meal…at least that’s how the sharptooth saw it.
The girl ran and ran with an increasing force in her step, tapping into an inner strength she never knew she had, grimacing angrily at the sharptooth…the giant lizard stood his ground, unimpressed, as he roared and brought his head down, opening his large mouth as she got closer…
What happened next was an absolute shock to the sharptooth…As he bent down, the threehorn girl ran under its jaw, and jumped into the air, shrieking in hatred as she headbutted its stomach. The headbutt sent a tremendous amount of power into the sharptooth, sending it flying into the air…the sharptooth squealed in surprise as it found itself hurtling through the air, before landing into a big pile of bones below. It hit its head hard on a rock as well, knocking it into unconsciousness.
The threehorn girl breathed slowly as she took a moment to realize what she had just done…she had just beaten a creature that was 10 times her size, like it was nothing…she analyzed the situation further…the moment when she hit the creature, she felt some kind of flash come over her…and for that split second, she felt like she had become…something else…
“What’s happened to me?” she quietly asked herself.
“You’ve been given a new life, child…” A deep male voice responded behind her.
The girl turned quickly, to see the form of an albino Threehorn walking towards her. His eyes were blood red, as he gazed upon the new prodigy with interest.
“I suppose you have million questions to ask now…” He spoke again. “I may not have all million answers for you…but I shall do my best.”
The girl narrowed her eyes, feeling uneasy, but standing her ground…she figured he may be the only one who could give her any at all information.
“Who are you…my father?”
The adult shook his head. “No…my name is Agnus, and I am to be your guide.”
“Guide?” The girl gave him a funny look. “What could you possibly offer me guidance for?”
“I understand that you’re confused now…” Agnus persevered as he walked closer. “But there are certain things I can tell you…like why you’ve been brought back from the dead…and why you were just able to defeat a sharptooth by yourself…”
“All right…” the girl nodded slowly. “Why am I alive, then?”
“You have been chosen, young one…chosen to be the first of a new breed…” Agnus walked around her slowly. “A breed that will eventually end the destructive war with dark forces that rages on in worlds beyond this one…”
“What are you talking about?” The girl looked herself over. “I still look like a normal threehorn…”
“No, child…” Agnus shook his head again. “Only on the surface do you resemble your former self…but deep down, you are Prince Abadon’s secret creation…the answer to the plague of the Progenitor…you are a Seraphim.”
The girl shook her head quickly and sighed. “You’re getting way too strange on me, sir…” She began to walk off. “Goodbye.”
“Where will you go?” Agnus shot back to her. “Hm?…with your mother dead, your sisters dead, and your father nowhere to be found?…any other relatives you can recall?”
The girl froze as she kept her back turned to him.
“I’m all you have now, Child…” Agnus spoke more tenderly this time. “I’d hate to see you turn me away for a life of solitude…a life without meaning…”
The girl looked over at the canyon, where the remains of her mother and sisters were…a single tear ran down her cheek once more, before she slowly turned back to Agnus…
“Very well…” She lowered her head, as she walked towards him, waiting for him to lead the way.
Agnus nodded as he turned and walked down a path, with the girl following behind.
“Don’t be sad, child…” Agnus spoke comfortingly. “Soon you’ll learn how to harness your new abilities, and a whole universe of opportunities will open up to you…in no time at all, this barren land will become a distant memory to you…you’ll see.”
Kyrie went over those last words of Agnus in her mind as she sat peacefully by the Big Water once more…Kyrie was the name given to the threehorn girl, after not being able to remember her old one.
Indeed that first day of her new life did seem like a distant memory…she had learned so much since then. She had learned about Stolas, and the culture of the people, who often hid their faces from foreigners…and about the emergence of the Progenitor, and the threat his creations posed to every world, including her own.
She heard the footsteps of Agnus behind her once more, as she turned to look at him.
“The Progenitor has made his move against the planet of Udlow, the long time ally of Stolas.” He announced to her.
“Has he sent in the Balaur?” She asked him, almost eagerly.
“He has…” Agnus nodded. “Thus, the time has come to make yourself known to our enemies…”
“Excellent…” She tried not to smile too much as she rose onto all fours, looking towards the sky.
“May the gods smile upon you, Kyrie…” Agnus spoke once more, invoking the gods of Stolian mythology.
Kyrie nodded slowly, before her form suddenly changed in a flash…
The few dinosaurs in the area looked up to see an unusual form taking to the skies…It was the shape of a humanoid female, covered in white plumage with blue skin underneath…horns protruded from her head, the face still retaining the basic shape of her threehorn state, only with blue skin and glowing yellow eyes.
She carried a large golden sword in her right hand, with an ornate shield attached to her left wrist…her long tail flowed behind her, as did the talons of her feet, while her impressive white and gold wings carried her to the very top of the world.
As she entered the vast darkness of space, her wings morphed, glowing with a firey golden force, as she took off at an incredible speed, headed towards her first planet away from earth…and towards her first mission for Prince Abbadon.
Ornias lunged at the Balaur, prompting him to suddenly rush away on his rocket boosters once more, carrying himself behind the creature. Ornias then rushed back to the Balaur’s other location, taking another swipe at him, only to have his form zip away once more.
Ornias then growled in frustration, as Rita had a hard time keeping control of him at this point. He smelled blood, and it made him angry not to taste it. This allowed the Balaur the chance to strike, as he zipped away, then launched himself in from Ornias’ right side.
Ornias had little time to realize what was happening, as the Balaur swung one of his reinforced blades, and cut a deep, bleeding gash into his abdomen. The Balaur’s attacks were no longer those of a wild, unthinking beast…he was now cold, calculating, and effective, all a part of his new programming.
Rita steadied Ornias as he roared in pain, and clutched his stomach, the robotic wasp supplying nanomeds, that quickly closed the wound up. He then turned and faced down the Balaur once again, roaring as the two cannons once again grew on his shoulders, firing them quickly.
All the dinosaurs watched in awe, as the Balaur simply held up his left arm, and caught the powerful blast in his other blade, absorbing the energy as his weapon now glowed. He then swung his arm swiftly, and sent the power back as a wave of deadly force, cutting through the form of Ornias.
The monster shrieked in pain as several of his limbs were cut in the process, and on the verge of falling off. Rita pumped more nanomeds to prevent, giving the Balaur an opening, as he rushed in and retracted his blades. He punched Ornias hard across the face, sending one of his metal teeth flying.
“That was for my arm!” The Balaur shouted, before bringing up his right foot, and nailing Ornias in the chest with a hard, standing sidekick.
Ornias fell back and growled loudly, before holding out his hands, and producing metal stalks, which pushed out of the palms. They squished out audibly, before splitting out into six sharp blades on each hand…the blades then began to spin, like saws.
The Balaur dodged Ornias as he swiped downward with his right palm, and then brought in his left. The Balaur caught his arm, and held it tightly as Ornias brought down his right palm, and started cutting into his back.
The Balaur shouted out in pain as some green blood began to spurt from the wound, before he stomped on Ornias’ left foot with one of his heavy boots. Ornias yelped, as Shorty then backhanded him in the face with his left fist.
Ornias stepped back and roared out again in frustration, the blades still spinning on his hands as he lunged in for another attack. Shorty was ready with his blades this time
He crossed his arms as he lunged at the same time, slashing them back out when he was close enough, and severing the blades on Ornias’ palms. A split second afterward, his right shoulder slammed into the creature’s abdomen, tackling him as he pulled the blades back into his wrists.
After rolling with him a few times, Shorty then mounted the creature, and began to bash away at him with his right fist, almost getting lost in the rage that made up the creature he had been before. Ornias felt each blow of the fist cut into his flesh, making his own blood spurt out from the left side of his face.
He then roared as he then reached up and grabbed Shorty’s arm, pulling it down and sinking his teeth into the exposed part of his wrist. Shorty growled and yelled out in pain as he felt this, extracting the blade on his left arm.
“Not gonna be so easy this time!” He yelled, as he then rammed his left blade into Ornias’ stomach. Ornias yelped, and spit up blood, letting go of Shorty’s right arm as Shorty worked the blade into his midsection, trying to find his spinal column.
Shorty then felt something hard hit him in the back of the head…
Shorty grunted and stopped, as Lord Ipos sprung into action…he had just smacked him in the head with the hilt of his sword, as he then followed it up with a kick to Shorty’s back, making him roll off his opponent.
“It is clear that you are unable to finish this yourself…” Ipos growled at Ornias. “Rise, and at least make yourself a decent minion…”
Rita wanted to protest, but knew that such a thing was futile…she gave Ornias the command to get up, as the creature complied.
Shorty got back onto one knee, just in time to see Ipos run in and slash his sword down towards him. He rolled out of the way, as the blade slammed into the earth with great force, cutting a deep gash into the rocks below.
Ipos effortlessly pulled the sword back out, and swung it over his head a few times, building up steam for another swing. Shorty prepared himself to dodge again, before something else suddenly flew in, and smacked Ipos in his sword hand.
Ipos grunted and fell back, as everyone turned to see Talos running onto the scene.
“Sorry to keep you waiting!” Talos rushed to Shorty’s side. “I had to finish some adjustments to my weapon systems…”
“Apology accepted!” Shorty shouted, dodging a lunging attack from Ornias this time, as Talos distracted Ipos with a running jump kick, making him block with his large sword.
“I’ve got this guy covered!” Talos shouted to his new partner. “You take care of Ornias!”
Shorty didn’t have time to respond, as he took a swipe at Ornias with one of his blades. Ornias responded by using his strong legs to leap a great distance from Shorty, landing on a rock about 30 feet away. He then growled, and launched Rita from his wrist, tethered to a wire that kept him under her control.
Shorty growled, and swung at Rita as she flew in towards him. She dodged swiftly, and flew to the back of his neck, stinging him, and sending an electric shock through his body.
Shorty yelled out loud as he felt the shock going through him, giving Ornias the chance to attack as he jumped and flew towards him. Rita stung him several more times, adding to his pain, as Ornias finally got close enough to nail him in the chest with a hard left kick at the last second.
As Shorty rolled and tumbled along the ground, Ornias savored the moment, Rita coming back onto his wrist as he slowly walked towards the downed Balaur, who was now sprawled out on his back above the earth.
“You dinosaurs are such a primitive, simple-minded lot…” Rita spoke. “Thank heavens I can finally kill you, and leave this disgusting cesspool of a world…” Ornias then extracted another spinning blade on his palm, as he growled, and made his move…
A tail then suddenly swung in from out of nowhere, and smashed into the distracted Ornias’ belly, sending the creature flying, until he landed hard onto his head, and rolled a few feet before laying on his stomach, not moving.
Shorty caught his breath, before he looked up to see Bron looking down at him.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you before…” Bron spoke, regretfully thinking of when Shorty was kicked out of the herd. “But I’m here for you now, and always will be…son.”
Shorty’s covered face didn’t show, but he was very touched by that comment. He slowly nodded his head in acknowledgement of his adoptive father. He then heard the growling of Ornias, struggling back onto his feet, before he immediately took advantage.
He set his feet, and threw out his right arm, making the blade shoot out, with an organic looking cord attached to it. Ornias had little time to react, before the blade impaled him right through the chest, making him roar in pain as his blood leaked out around the wound.
Shorty grabbed the cord with his left hand, and readied himself for another move, as Ornias struggled futilely to remove the blade from his chest. Shorty then suddenly leapt high into the air, and pulled on the cord, making Ornias fly up right towards him.
In mid-air, just when Ornias was close enough, Shorty let him have it with a hard slash from his left blade. The blade cut through the creature’s body diagonally, from his right shoulder, all the way down to his left hip. Quickly after that, Shorty nailed him with a hard front kick to his chest.
Ornias’ body immediately split in two upon the impact of the Balaur’s foot, blood and alien organs spilling out onto the earth in a gory shower as the two sections of the body hit the earth and tumbled, the impact bringing up many dust and leaves into the air.
Shorty then gracefully landed onto the earth, his knees bending as he crouched for a moment, his right blade pulling back into his arm swiftly. He then got up slowly, and walked towards one of the two halves of Ornias’ body.
Rita had busted one of her wings, due to Ornias’ arm hitting the ground repeatedly, and could not fly away from her opponent.
Shorty reached down, and picked up the wounded metal wasp slowly.
“You’re going to destroy me?…” Rita spoke again. “After all I did for you?”
Shorty paused for a moment…then nodded.
“Yup…”
With that, he tore Rita in half, wires snapping and sparkling, as a metallic whine echoed in her body, signaling her powering down.
At the same time, Talos was still dodging the swings of Lord Ipos’ large sword, firing his laser weapon whenever he could. Ipos deflected each blast with his blade, slowly backing his opponent up against a tree.
Talos tried to get himself out of the predicament, by catching Ipos’ wrists as he brought the sword down once more. It partially cut into him, but he endured the pain, and struggled with his masked enemy. Eventually, he gained the upper hand, and made Ipos toss the blade, sending it twirling into the air.
Talos then lunged in with his right fist, only to have it caught by Ipos’ strong left hand, as the sword began to fall back down towards the two. After pulling Talos’ right arm away from him slowly, Ipos countered with a quick right hand, nailing him in the chest with a hard straight punch.
Talos fell back against the tree again, as Ipos caught the sword just in time as it fell, and plunged the blade right into Talos’ mid-section.
Shorty gasped at what he saw…he was running onto the scene, trying to help his partner, but he was too late. Talos grunted and growled in pain as blood seeped out around the sword.
“Back to the depths of Arnor with you, cretin…” Ipos growled, as he withdrew a knife and slowly aimed it for a section of Talos’ chest…he apparently knew his one weakness, and was about to exploit it.
But Shorty would have none of that, as he wordlessly rushed in, bringing the rocket boosters on his feet to full power.
With a force that even surprised him, he tackled Lord Ipos, sending him away from Talos as he rolled backwards from the blow and got up onto his knees. This allowed Talos the time to reach down and grab the blade that impaled him, slowly pulling it out.
Ipos stood slowly to face Shorty down, the sun reflecting off his smooth black mask.
“I know what you aim to accomplish…” he spoke calmly. “You think you have me at a tactical disadvantage by challenging me before my fleet can arrive…” He then looked over and saw what remained of Ornias.
“You even managed to destroy a very powerful minion of mine…but no matter.” He cradled the knife he had in his right hand, behind his back. “You may possess the powers of a Balaur…but you still lack the experience of a true warrior.”
He then tossed the knife at Shorty, making him block it with his right blade. He jumped into the air as Shorty deflected the knife, and hit him with an impressive right kick. Shorty grunted and fell onto his back from the blow, as Ipos landed, and retrieved his sword, which was now next to the recovering Talos.
“For the sake of my master, I do intend to kill you…” Ipos spoke, matter-of-factly. “But I shall give you the chance to test your mettle with me in the process…it’s what separates creatures like you from civilized beings like myself.” He then picked up his sword, and got into a challenging stance, holding out the blade.
Shorty rose slowly, and looked straight ahead at Ipos. “Civilized?…If being civilized means wiping out entire worlds like Erufit for your own gain, then I’m glad I’m separate from you!”
He then clashed both of his blades together, and activated a device that made the two combine…he pulled them both out of his arms, and detached the cords as they melded together and grew out, creating another impressive sword. He then stood near Ipos, and got into a similar stance, the two opposing blades facing each other.
Shorty made the first move, spinning once and swinging for Ipos’ right side with the sword. Ipos expertly parried the move, and knocked him away with a firm left shoulder.
Shorty stumbled back a few feet, as Ipos countered with a swing of his own, directed to his shoulder. Shorty brought up his blade, and caught it before it could do any damage. However, he was not too skilled in the realm of swordplay, as the force of the clash made him struggle to keep his sword up, opening up his chest and head. Ipos capitalized, and made a quick swing with his blade towards the left side of Shorty’s neck. Shorty quickly moved to keep it from taking off his head, but the tip of the sword still managed to make its mark, putting a deep scratch in his mask.
Shorty then ducked, and swung his blade once again, moving to take out Ipos’ legs. Ipos simply brought his sword down, and stopped the attack as the blades clashed. He then kicked Shorty in the chest, and threw him off balance as he swung the blade around once, and threw it down towards his right side. Shorty quickly brought up his blade with one hand to stop this, but the force of the clash sent his weapon flying out of the same hand, leaving him defenseless.
Ipos growled happily under his mask as he held the sword in both hands, pointing the tip down at Shorty. “Just as I thought…nothing more than a savage with toys…”
He then prepared to thrust his weapon into Shorty’s heart, before another tail suddenly came out to smack him. His reflexes kicked in as he caught the tail, leaving Shorty to see that it wasn’t Bron this time.
“Mika!”
“Don’t you kill him!” Mika shouted, protecting Shorty as if he was her own.
“You are in a position to demand nothing from me…” Ipos grunted, before he quickly took out a knife and plunged it into her tail’s end. Mika yelled out in pain.
“NO!” Shorty yelled, as he then shot out one of his cords to where the sword lay, hoping to get a grip with it. He lucked out, as the end of it wrapped around the blade. He used all his strength to fling the sword over in Ipos’ direction.
Ipos had little time to react to this maneuver, as the hit of the sword smacked into the smooth black visor of his mask, cracking it. He immediately backed off, and began to feel around the glasslike material.
“That’s it!” Talos suddenly realized, clutching his slowly healing stomach as he looked quickly over at Shorty. “The helmet! Break his helmet!”
Shorty nodded, as he rushed over, and caught the distracted Ipos with a punch to his stomach. Bron attended to his wounded lover, as Ipos tried to counter with a punch of his own, only to have it dodged by Shorty, who landed another punch with his left fist. He then grabbed Ipos by the back of his neck, and kicked him right on his right leg, making him fall to one knee.
Shorty then followed it up with a very hard right uppercut to Ipos’ helmet, making it shatter everywhere on the front.
Ipos fell onto his stomach as the back part of his helmet fell off, revealing a short mane of dark hair…He breathed heavily as he rose, and turned to face his opponent with wide eyes. His face was grey, and humanoid, although with a slightly flatter nose.
“Look what you’ve done…” he growled. Just as he raised his sword once again, the thunderous roar of his fleet entering the orbit of the planet interrupted. Ipos glowered for a moment, picked up what remained of his helmet, and looked over at Shorty and waving his sword at him slowly.
“I shall not forget this…” he spoke lowly as a transport came for him to the valley. “Treasure your remaining days, because you have just earned yourself a painful, slow, and bloody death…I promise you…” With that he stepped onto the low-flying transport, and shot back up towards his fleet. Within moments, the ships all turned, and flew away.
“What was that all about?” Shorty was left to wonder as he walked towards Talos.
“What you just did, was exploit an integral part of the culture of Stolas…” Talos explained. “See, there’s a reason why Lord Ipos wore that mask all the time…in their society, it’s considered taboo for one to show his true face to an enemy or a foreigner. That’s why very few people outside of Stolas know what a true Stolian looks like.
“I see…” Shorty nodded. “So what’s gonna happen to him now?”
Talos looked back up to the sky. “He’ll have to go before his master, Prince Abbadon, and submit to the ritual disfiguration of his face with a blade, as penance for his sin.”
“Ouch…” Shorty winced a bit, as he willingly changed back to his original form. “Still, serves the guy right, I have to say.”
The slow realization of where Shorty was sunk into him as he returned to his familiar, longneck form. He turned his head slowly and saw a familiar sight…Bron, Mika, Grandma, Grandpa, and Littlefoot all gazed at him, Littlefoot’s other friends also slowly gathering once the coast was clear.
Shorty said nothing, and watched as Littlefoot, the first one of his age to ever reach out to him, slowly approach…he noticed fear in Littlefoot’s eyes, but not fear of his new form.
“Please…” Littlefoot spoke gently. “Please don’t run away this time, Shorty.”
Shorty shook his head slowly. “I’m right here…” he responded. “Although I’m not quite as you remember me.”
“I don’t care…” Littlefoot gave him a stern look as he walked closer. “Do you remember when you were about to run away the first time, and I told you that I thought we could be like brothers?…”
Shorty nodded slowly in response.
“I still see you as a brother, Shorty…I mean that.” Littlefoot’s voice became more emotional. “Nothing you do or become is going to sway me from thinking that way.”
Shorty stifled his own emotion as best he could, before responding. “You have no idea how much hearing you say that means to me now…especially after all I’ve been through…brother.”
Littlefoot’s eyes went wide. This was the first time he had ever heard Shorty refer to him as a brother.
“However…” Shorty continued. “There’s something here that we need to acknowledge, you especially…I am Shorty, but I’m also Astyanax….and I want it that way.”
“You do?” Littlefoot looked confused. “Even after all the horrible stuff that Dad told me about?”
Shorty nodded. “Do you remember when I failed the big longneck test that you had passed? It made me wonder whether my existence served any kind of a purpose…if I was ever meant to do something important for others…and now I realize…I do have a purpose…it may not have been exactly what I had in mind, but it’s there, nonetheless.”
Littlefoot’s friends gathered around him as he looked to him quizzically. “So, what are you going to do now?” Cera spoke up.
“I have a job to do…with Talos and the Progenitor.” Shorty responded. “There are other worlds, many of them suffering because of guys like the ones I just defeated today…and I’m gonna bring them the happiness that we all get to have here, in this valley.”
“That sounds like a noble cause, indeed.” Grandma smiled as she stepped forward, and leaned down to nuzzle Shorty. She had always been rather fond for the boy, even if he was a bit rough around the edges. “I wish you luck on your journey, Shorty.”
“Thanks, Grandma.” Shorty smiled, as Grandpa nudged him too.
“I’ve heard some unique stories in my day…” Grandpa told him. “But I think that yours may prove to be the most amazing this world has ever seen.”
Shorty nodded with a smile…before looking and walking slowly over to Bron. Bron leaned in and gave Shorty a slow nuzzle, as Shorty closed his eyes.
“Thank you…” He almost whispered to Bron. “Thank you for taking me in.”
“It was one of the best decisions I ever made…” Bron responded, as a single tear collected in his eye. Mika smiled as she leaned in and nuzzled Shorty as well.
“You take care of them, ok?” Shorty smiled as he returned Mika’s affections.
“Will do…” Mika smiled at him warmly.
Shorty then slowly walked away, and gently spoke. “Bio-phase…activate.”
Within seconds, he became the balaur once more, turning to face everyone as Talos waved goodbye, and teleported away.
“I’ll never forget any of you…” he spoke under his helmet. “And I promise you all, I shall return one day…” With that, the boosters on his feet adjusted, and ignited, propelling him high into the blue sky…everyone looked up and watched as he rocketed off into the stars…
A young, female threehorn stood silently in the middle of a smooth, stone circle, overlooking the crashing waves of the big water. Her eyes were closed, deep in some form of meditation, until she heard the footsteps of an oncoming adult.
She turned to see the white-skinned, red-eyed male threehorn who had raised her, walking slowly with a solemn look on his face.
“What has happened?” She enquired, curiously.
“We have lost an ally, and another has been dishonored.” The male responded. “The balaur has realized his full potential…and thus, the time for you to act has nearly come “
“Excellent.” The girl smiled, looking back out towards the big water. “When might I make my first move?
“All in good time…” The threehorn’s eyes, buzzed for a second, almost revealing that his form was not organic, but mechanical, as the eye of a camera watched the girl from an unknown distance. “We must wait until he reaches his next planet…he must not know that you came from the same world as him…”
The girl nodded slowly as she gazed out at the horizon.
“Just as this Balaur has found his purpose…so shall I…”
That would be nice to see indeed. Attention to background characters can really help to flesh out an entire fictional world. That's what helped the Simpsons for so many years. (Though they've kinda turned from that nowadays)
That's too bad. I was really enjoying what you had up so far. But, I can understand. I can't draw to save my life, so I'm impressed you were able to go on as long as you did, hehe.
The night had passed, and the next day had arrived in the Great Valley. All had slept well, and were now up on their feet, going about their usual, casual day.
All except for Littlefoot, that was…
He had hardly slept a wink the previous night, and had now spent hours on one of the outer boundaries of the Valley…just watching…and waiting.
Hearing the approaching footsteps of his father finally drew his attention from the outside world.
“There you are…” Bron spoke softly, understandably concerned as he yawned a bit and walked closer to his son. He was about to ask him what was wrong, before he finally remembered what happened the day before in his groggy mind.
Littlefoot didn’t respond to his father, as his mind was lost in thought, all about his stepbrother.
“This is out of our reach now, Littlefoot…” Bron spoke to him once more. “All we can do is trust in the Progenitor and Talos, and hope that they can get Shorty back on his feet.”
Littlefoot nodded slowly as his father then turned and walked away. “You’ve got breakfast waiting…”
“Dad?” Littlefoot finally responded to him, his mind suddenly thinking of something else.
“Yes?” Bron turned his head back to face him.
“I was wondering…about Mika…” Littlefoot remembered their quiet little introduction before going off to find Shorty. “Do you have…feelings for her, Dad?” He had paused to find the right word, looking rather nervous about this question.
Bron was just as reluctant to answer his son, but he knew deep down that he deserved to know the truth. He nodded slowly. “Yes son…I have to admit that I do.”
“What about mother, though?” Littlefoot breathed a little heavily as he asked him, trying not to get too emotional. “Does this mean that you’re leaving her behind? You’re forgetting about her?”
“No no, Littlefoot, no…” Bron shook his head quickly as he lowered it to nuzzle his son. “It’s nothing like that at all…I’m never gonna forget your mother, Littlefoot…never.”
“But how can you be so sure…” Littlefoot whimpered a little, a tear forming in his eye.
“Here…” Bron sat down slowly on all fours. “Come sit next to me…I wanna share something with you.”
Littlefoot nodded slowly, before resuming the same sitting position he had for hours until now.
“I wasn’t sure I should tell you about this, until now…but Mika had a husband long before she met me.”
“She did?” Littlefoot looked up at him, surprised.
“That’s right.” Bron nodded. “In the great earthshake, the same night when your mother died, Mika’s husband fell into a canyon and died, along with her mother.” He sighed and lowered his head, remembering the first time he heard this as well. “She was just getting ready to mate with him and have children as well…”
“Oh….” Littlefoot responded sadly, unable to find a way to respond to such a horrible thing.
“It scarred her for a long time, just as losing your mother did to me.” Bron looked down at his son as he spoke softly. “When I first saw her, wandering onto my herd, all she would ever do is talk about her husband, and how great he was…and that sat well with me, because I finally had someone to relate all the great stories about your mother to.”
“So you two had something in common…” Littlefoot began to smile, just a little.
“That’s right…” Bron nodded again. “We also had the same fear though…the fear of getting involved with someone else we might like, thinking we’d dishonor the memories of those we lost, or forget them altogether…but I learned something in that time, Littlefoot…Just like with Mika and her husband, your mother is in my heart…and once someone’s in your heart…they’re never gonna leave. No matter what.”
“Really?” Littlefoot held back a few more tears from Bron’s touching words.
“Yup…really…” Bron smiled. “You and I have an extra advantage in our family, though…we both have really big hearts…we can have as many others in them as we want.” He then leaned down and nuzzled his son a bit. “So how about we go see if there isn’t enough room for Mika?”
Littlefoot giggled a bit through his few tears, as he nuzzled his father back. “Sure thing, Dad!”
“Great!” Bron responded, before getting back onto his feet. “Now how about we go finish our breakfast? Mika found some really good sweet bubbles to go with the treestars.”
“Really?” Littlefoot asked his father excitedly, as the two slowly left the edge of the Valley…
Talos silently walked over to the long, cylindrical tank where Shorty was being maintained, in his creature form. A mask connected to a tube was placed over the creature’s mouth, as a warm, green liquid surrounded his body. He floated freely with his eyes closed, as the nano-meds inside the liquid worked on him.
Shorty’s arm had completely regenerated hours ago thanks to this solution, as Talos was now checking diagrams of other new parts and upgrades, which the nano-meds were currently installing and downloading into his genetic makeup.
Once the work on Shorty had finished, he quickly, and automatically changed back into his original, longneck form. He still floated in the liquid, the mask over his muzzle now, as Talos hit a button, causing the liquid to drain from the tube.
He then opened the tube, and hefted Shorty over his right shoulder, gently removing the mask. Shorty was breathing comfortably, and asleep, as Talos then slowly carried him into a dimly lit room, setting him on a few soft cushions, made from a smooth, gelatinous substance.
The anesthesia that was being slowly fed to Shorty through the tube was now wearing off, causing the young longneck to yawn and slowly wake up. He opened his eyes slowly, and looked about the room, not able to make much sense of it, as of yet.
He was soon startled, however, by the sight of a large, mechanical being coming into the room. Its large, metal feet clanked along the surface of wherever Shorty was at the moment, as it stood several feet in height over him. It then gazed down at him, its long visor curving in an upward manner on both sides, a gentle red glow emenating from it.
“I’m glad to see you’re finally on the mend…” The cyborg spoke to him, in a strong, but gentle male voice.
Shorty got up quickly, quite alarmed at this sight, as he tried to find a way out of…whatever this strange place was.
“Please don’t be alarmed.” The cyborg reassured him. “I know your early encounters with Talos, coupled with the attack from Lord Ipos have left you rather confused, but I can assure you that I truly mean you no harm.”
Shorty struggled to catch his breath, and looked all around the room, seeing the control panels, and display screens showing all sorts of weird images.
“Wh…where am I?” He finally asked the cyborg.
“After you were injured, Talos used a portaling technique to bring you here…the E.A Science vessel, Dionysus…the only remaining ship of Erufit’s once proud armada…”
“Erufit…” Shorty’s mind suddenly raced back to Rita’s introduction of Lord Ipos. “I’ve heard that name before…Rita mentioned something about it with that Ipos guy I fought…she said he had conquered it.”
The Cyborg nodded slowly. “Yes…Many years ago, Prince Abbadon of Stolas tried to force my people into sharing some of our technologies with him, so that he could create better weapons. We refused however, wanting our technology to only serve the purpose of knowledge and defense…never for conquest.”
Shorty just stood and listened as the cyborg continued. “Abbadon was angered by our refusal, and a short time later, he sent his strongest lord, Ipos, to destroy us. We had prepared ourselves of course, but we were not aware of the new weapon that Ipos had stolen from a planet called Remas, which allowed his ships to pierce our force fields like they were nothing…Ipos massacred my people in mere hours…all of them, including my beloved son, Astyanax…I was the only one lucky enough to escape, before Stolas’ strip-mining vessels came and stole all of my planet’s resources…leaving behind the shell you see…I now call this planet Mars…after the Erufitian word for ëcorpse’.”
The Cyborg pointed out into the window next to Shorty, letting him see the lifeless red planet that was not far from Earth…
“That’s a sad story…” Shorty sighed…but then furrowed his brow, looking over at the strange creature. “But what does all this have to do with me?”
“Look upon my form, child…” The Cyborg then pressed a button on his chest, causing the metal plates on it to suddenly retract…Shorty looked inside to find another creature resting inside of the metal body…this one was amorphous…a spineless, boneless mass of red tissue, almost like a human brain, only not as wrinkled in appearance…long, red, vine-like tendrils extended from this mass, stretched and attached to many different parts, obviously controlling the metallic body from inside.
“This is the true form of an Erufitian…” The Cyborg’s voice explained, as its chest slowly closed back up. “It is only through the study of mechanical integration that we were able to leave the center of the planet, and walk amongst other creatures.”
Shorty nodded slowly as the Cyborg continued. “This is what led to the field in which I was a pioneer…the studies of Genetic design and Bio-mechanics. I was so good, in fact, that I came to be known by a special nickname…The Progenitor.”
Shorty gasped as he heard those last two words. “You’re him?” He walked a bit closer now. “I thought you’d be a bit more…”
“Scary?” The Progenitor finished his sentence for him. “I’m not surprised…there’s no telling how much misinformation that RITA unit fed to you.”
“So…” Shorty pieced everything together as he got even closer. “You’re my…creator?”
The Progenitor nodded slowly. “That is correct…as you’ve probably heard already from Ipos, you are a unique variation among my other experiments, that I refer to as a Balaur…a special design that is mostly based in organic material, save for a few mechanical implants, such as the blades in your arms.”
Shorty thought all of this over as best he could, before thinking of something else. “You…you seem like a good guy…so why is the creature I turn into so wild and mean all the time?”
“Like many young creatures…” The Progenitor answered. “A recently awakened experiment, especially a Balaur, can be very unpredictable and dangerous. This is why I usually establish a mind link with the subject once its genes have matured…this time, however, Lord Ipos was one step ahead of me…he had constructed a device that kept me out of your head…no doubt, Rita tried to tell you that this was for your protection…when in reality, it was making your situation all the more dangerous.”
Shorty nodded slowly. “But why me?…Out of every other person out there in space…why me? Why a longneck from this world?”
“Shorty…” The Progenitor got down on one knee, putting his hand on his shoulder. “Your race, the longnecks, I found to be a very noble and strong breed…I thought that if any breed on that world deserved to have one of its own as a Balaur, it was that one.”
“But there’s another reason…Your world, at its core, is pure and good…but it is also vulnerable to the evil in this universe. Every experiment of mine is meant to be a representative and capable defender of its world of origin. I want to give every worthy race a weapon to fight back against Abbadon and his growing influence, so that what happened to my world…” He looked back at the dead, red planet. “Doesn’t happen to anyone else’s…”
Shorty nodded slowly. “So, what are you going to do with me now?”
“It’s already been done.” The Progenitor spoke as he rose back onto his metal feet. “While you were recovering from your wounds, Talos and I performed all the necessary upgrades and operations, to turn you into a full-fledged Balaur…our first new one in quite some time.”
“That’s right…” Talos spoke up as he entered the room. “And it’s a good thing we were able to keep you alive for all of it…because we need you…your world needs you, even as we speak…”
“It does?” Shorty looked back to him.
“Yes, Shorty…” The Progenitor answered him. “I realize we’re throwing you back into battle rather quickly, but we have a real opportunity here…you see, that creature Rita was controlling, Ornias…he’s been a real thorn in the side of our campaign as of late…ever since he was created a short time ago, he’s been responsible for the deaths of many of our brethren…your engineered brethren from multiple worlds…”
“But we now have him, and Lord Ipos in a tight spot…” Talos added. “Their craft doesn’t have enough fuel to take them back to a Stolas command ship…they burned up too much in making their getaway from me earlier. They’re going to attempt to contact a command ship from far away, which will be difficult…so now, they’re stalling, while we now have the power of a Balaur, right by our side.”
“I see…” Shorty spoke up. “We try and take them both out while they’re stalling. I just don’t know…I mean, when I think about how badly I got torn up by Ornias last time...”
“You are different from last time, Shorty…” The Progenitor reassured him. “Very different…Plus, you will not be alone. Talos will come with you, and I’m sure you’ll both make a good team.”
Shorty nodded as he looked up to Talos.
“Yeah…” Talos spoke up. “It’ll be nice to fight alongside you for once….” Talos couldn’t smile, but Shorty could sense a smile from inside of him, as he returned it to his new ally, and nodded.
“You now have full control over your new powers, Shorty…” The Progenitor added. “To access them, simply speak the following words… ëBio-phase, activate.’ “
Shorty nodded again, as he turned to face Talos now.
“Well, I’d better open a new portal, then…” He spoke, readying himself for it.
“That’s correct…” The Progenitor nodded, before looking to Shorty. “I realize we’re thrusting you back into battle rather quickly, but it’s important that we act now…before Ipos gets any ideas about harming more of your people while he’s there…”
Shorty breathed in and out heavily as he heard this, before looking out of a nearby window towards the earth, which the ship was now orbiting…
Cera yelled between her huffing and puffing as she ran into the center of the Valley. She had been out wandering around the outskirts, when she spotted something quite alarming. She was now returning to warn everybody she could.
“Cera? What’s going on?” Littlefoot ran up to her, separating himself from his father and Mika, with his Grandparents in the background.
“I saw something…” she caught her breath as she stood. “Something big.”
“Shorty?” Littlefoot asked, hopefully.
“No…” Cera shook her head. “Whatever this thing is, it’s definitely not Shorty…”
Before she could elaborate, a fierce roar suddenly pierced into the land…everyone immediately turned their heads in the direction of the sound, as Ornias came tromping into the Valley, growiling. His arm was repaired, as Rita was attached to him once more, controlling his actions.
They were not alone either…lord Ipos was walking slowly behind them, his enormous broadsword resting over his shoulders as his right hand gripped the hilt. There were also two more remaining silver knights, from his personal guard, accompanying him with their staffs at the ready.
“Lower creatures of Earth…” Ipos called to all of them. “We gave one of your own a chance to aid and assist our glorious principality with the gift of his own life…but he has turned from that path, and has thus insulted me…by insulting me, he also insults his Highness, Prince Abbadon…a most unforgivable trespass”
“I’ve heard enough of this nonsense…” Topsy growled, as he stepped forward. “I suggest you leave now, before I force you all out…”
Ornias then suddenly reached out, and grabbed the Triceratops by the throat.
“Topsy!” Tria yelled out to him, frightened.
“Let his lordship finish, please…” Rita spoke, before having Ornias let him go.
“It is my judgment…” Ipos continued. “That your planet pays the penalty for this insult. Once the mighty fleet of Stolas arrives, you shall lay down your lives, and we shall harvest every piece of your rich world to nourish our growing empire.” He brandished his sword as he looked over the group of dinosaurs. “Enjoy what time you have left in your puny lives…”
“I’ve heard enough!” Bron suddenly shouted, before he swung his tail over to smack Ipos. Ornias was quick to react, though, as he jumped out, and strongly grabbed the large appendage.
“You shall not touch his lordship!” Rita spoke again, as she then commanded Ornias to leap up, and punch Bron hard across the jaw.
“Dad!” Littlefoot shouted, as Bron fell to the ground and rolled a few feet. He was dazed, as Mika ran over to attend to him.
“Why you-“ Littlefoot frowned, as he charged angrily at Ipos now, only to be met with Ornias’ powerful hand.
The young longneck choked as Ornias growled, and lifted him off all four of his feet, still holding his neck.
“I shall make this insect my first offering to you, lordship…” Rita spoke once more, as Ornias tightened his grip on Littlefoot, getting ready to do something horrible with him.
“Bio-phase, activate!” A voice suddenly yelled in the distance.
Ipos slowly turned his head left to right, as Ornias snarled and looked all around, sniffing the air.
Seconds later, two sharp objects came flying out from nowhere. Ipos deflected two of them with his sword, as one of them quickly ripped through the right arm of one of the knights, severing it.
The knight yelled out in agony and clutched at his bleeding stump, before losing consciousness and falling over from blood loss. The other knight quickly turned, but was too late to react, as another sharp object suddenly shot right through his throat, going into one end, and out the other. The knight gagged and choked, clutching his throat as it gushed with more blood, before he lost his own consciousness…
The sight distracted Ornias, allowing something to quickly zoom past him, and slash him across the chest. He yelped and let go of Littlefoot, as his wound bled profusely, before quickly healing.
The figure that attacked him finally stopped, with its back turned to him. The new rocket gliders on its armored heels powered down, as it turned to face Ornias and Ipos slowly.
The basic outline of the figure was unmistakable…it was Shorty, in the form of the creature. He was different this time, though. On top of his green flesh, there were now pieces of shiny silver armor. Gauntlets were now on his hands and wrists, with boots on his feet, as his entire upper torso was also covered in an impressive silver chest plate.
His menacing face was almost covered completely now, save for his eyes, by an ornate silver and green painted helmet. The mouth section was part of a new breathing apparatus, with tubes that connected from the mouth to a section of the chest plate. It was part of a new system, the perpetual breathing of chemical vapors designed to sustain the creature’s form, and keep it at optimum strength. There was also a symbol, a red circle with tiny Erufitian writing on it, in the middle of the helmet’s forehead…the writing translated to “raging spirit”.
“You…” Ipos growled under his own helmet, recognizing the creature.
“I am no longer your pawn, Ipos…” Shorty spoke under his new helmet, with the help of a microphone installed on the inside. “I have finally realized what my life has built up to now…”
He extracted the new, reinforced blades on his arms, as he got into a fighting stance. “I am the child of the Progenitor…a child of light…a defender of all that is good and pure in the universe….”
He swung his blades, as they made an even more impressive whooshing sound through the air. “You know me as Shorty, but I have now been reborn with a second name…I am Astyanax, The Balaur!” He shouted his name for his alternate form, as he posed with the blades once again, having picked the name for his alternate form as a tribute to the Progenitor’s slain son.
Everyone, including Littlefoot, watched in awe, as Ipos looked over to Ornias, who was stalling at the moment.
“What are you waiting for?” Ipos asked him, and Rita. “Prove yourselves worthy of your service to me…”
Ornias nodded slowly, as he growled, and faced down the new Balaur.
“You should not have returned…” Rita warned Shorty, as he stayed silent, getting ready to strike…
Shorty was now running madly towards the canyon where Rita told him the base was located, back in his original form. The grass and leaves around him all rustled and blew around as he rushed past them, Rita buzzing along next to him, keeping up.
“Keep going!” Rita encouraged him as he ran. “You’re getting close now! Very close!”
He nodded a bit as he kept running, splashing past a creek that was in his way, before running up another hill, and back into the woods towards the canyon.
“Shorty!” He heard a voice calling to him…not Rita’s.
He stopped right in his tracks, Rita watching him as he looked around.
“What are you doing?” She asked him, urgently.
“Shorty, can you hear me?” He heard the other female voice calling to him…it was then that he remembered…the telepathic link.
“Yes…” He spoke aloud, seemingly to himself. “Yes, I can hear you, Ali…”
“Shorty, we have to get going!” Rita urged him again.
“Just a minute!” Shorty shot back at her, sharply, before returning to his mind. “What is it, Ali?”
“Shorty, don’t go further with Rita!” Ali spoke to him in a panicked, yet confused tone of voice. “She’s leading you into a trap!”
“A trap?…” Shorty furrowed his brow. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Talos…well, what’s left of him, has been telling us the whole story.” Ali answered him. “He’s only been attacking you to subdue you, so you don’t end up in the hands of these other guys!”
“And you’re gonna take his word over mine and Rita’s?” Shorty shook his head quickly. “Ali, you’re crazy!”
“Shorty, you need to get away from Rita, now!” Ali shouted in his mind now. “She only wants you for-“
“OWWWW!” Shorty suddenly felt a tremendous jolt of pain in his neck. Rita had just stung him, which sent a powerful, signal-blocking chemical directly into his brain. He fell onto his front knees for a moment, riding out the pain in his head before it slowly vanished.
“I’m sorry, Shorty…” Rita spoke to him as she floated down in front of his face. “But she was clearly being manipulated by Talos’ still-functional CPU…I had no choice but to sever your telepathic link and block it, so he could no longer use her to lead you astray…now come with me…”
Shorty didn’t quite know what to think at this moment…he had thought that Rita would never sting him, like she had done just now. But what if she was right as well? What if Talos really was using Ali to play him right into his hands.
Then he saw Rita flying away, and decided that he had already made his choice…he knew, especially after seeing Littlefoot and his friends just a few moments ago, that he would never be able to return to the valley, no matter what.
He was willing to accept whatever fate had in store for him at this moment, as he shook off the rest of his headache, and followed his new companion…
“What is it?” Littlefoot asked her, his eyes wide open.
“Something got in the way…” Ali winced again as she shook her head a little. “Now I can’t hear his voice anymore…”
“It must have been Rita…” Talos’ voice spoke up once again, in each of their heads. “She must have a way to block telepathic communication now, just like the ones who sent her…”
“Great…” Cera sneered a little. “So what do we do now?”
“I told you…” Talos spoke. “Bring my head to my body, so I can put myself back together, and go after him.”
“I don’t know about this…” Chomper spoke up now as he examined Talos’ body. “Are we even sure we can trust him?”
“Either you trust me…” Talos interjected. “Or you wait and see what happens with Shorty if he continues to follow Rita…your choice.”
Everyone stood there, lost in thought. Littlefoot in particular was wondering what to do about this situation, until he heard a voice calling to him.
“Littlefoot?” Bron looked around as he came into the area. He had arrived in the valley recently, and left Mika behind so he could arrange a proper introduction.
“Dad!” Littlefoot’s attention was quickly draw away from his predicament, as he ran over to his father, coming out from behind a few trees. “What are you doing here?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing…” He responded, before looking over and spotting the headless body of Talos on the ground, looking on in shock.
“Shorty?” He breathlessly asked to the sky, almost on the verge of crying out in anger and sadness.
“No! No, that’s not him!” Littlefoot quickly retorted, motioning to Talos’ head…he then froze for a moment, and slowly turned his head back to face his father. “Wait a minute…how do you know about that?”
It took Bron a minute as well, to figure out what it was his son was talking about, until it hit him. He sighed and shook his head a little
“You saw him too, huh?”
Littlefoot nodded slowly, as he looked sadly out into the distance. “We all saw him after he had just finished off Talos here…he took one look at us, and ran away into the woods.”
Bron nodded slowly, and sighed again, in a frustrated manner. “After I scolded the herd for kicking him out so shamefully, I left with Mika to look for him…then I heard about the wandering herd, and the encounter with Redclaw, and I tried to catch up with them here…”
“Mika?…” Littlefoot furrowed his brow a little. “Who’s Mika?”
“I hate to interrupt…” Talos suddenly spoke out, his voice now echoing in Bron’s head as well. “But there’s still a chance we can save Shorty from what he’s about to walk into…just bring my head to my body, so I can re-attach myself to it.”
“Do you really think you can catch him at this point?” Ali asked as she walked over to the head.
“I can definitely track him down…” Talos spoke again. “However…he’s going to have to be convinced to come back with me somehow…he’s obviously become too strong now, for me to subdue by force.”
“What are you gonna do then?” Cera asked, cynically. “Sit down and talk to him.”
“As I said before…” Talos answered her. “Something is keeping me from forming a telepathic link with him, so I can’t communicate…So, I’d like for at least one of you to accompany me on this mission. That way, he just might listen to our side of it.”
“I’ll go, then!” Littlefoot stepped forward, before nudging Talos’ head back over to his separated body. “I’ve never turned my back on Shorty whenever he needed help, and I’m not gonna do it now…no matter what he’s become, he’s still like a brother to me…he’s family.”
“I’m so glad to hear you saying that, Littlefoot…” Bron smiled as he looked down at his son. “Even though things have changed, you still have a heart to accept him, and care about him…that’s why I think I should introduce you to Mika…she has a right to know about what we’re doing as well, before we leave…”
“We?” Littlefoot looked up at his father as the two walked off, with everyone else, as Talos worked to re-attach his own head to his body.
“You said it yourself, Littlefoot. He’s family.” Bron walked quickly now. “I think the best way we can win him back is as a family…”
Shorty kept running, keeping up with Rita, as her flying grew more frantic, knowing they were almost there as they reached the entrance to the canyon near the valley.
He then stopped right in his tracks…and walked slowly with a sense of awe on his face, as he spotted something in the distance right away.
He saw the form of a black ship, that was in the shape of a giant sphere…its thrusters were planted firmly in the ground, as a satellite dish extended from its top, spinning slowly as sent out its signal. There were odd, gold markings also painted on the exterior of this black sphere, in a form of writing that no one on this planet would have been able to translate.
“Are these the helping hands?” He quickly asked Rita.
“Yes, Shorty…” She answered, as she flew to the front of the sphere. “And you’re about to meet the leader, and principal helping hand…”
Shorty then watched in amazement, as a section of the sphere’s front became loose, and liquid, spreading open to create an exit from the inside, as part of the liquid spread down to the earth below, creating a ramp as it hardened once again.
It was then that a figure appeared in the doorway, stepping out of the shadows, as black right boot came down upon the ramp with a gentle clanking noise. Shorty then saw the rest of the figure as his left foot then followed.
He had no face…at least not one that Shorty could notice…it was covered with a dark, menacing helmet, the face plate as smooth as black glass, with only a single crease along the center, running from his brow, to his chin. A short, but regal mane, much like that of a lion, extended from the back of this helmet, mostly black itself, except for a gold streak that ran along much of the center.
His black armor accentuated his physical prowess, large and tough, but also graceful and shiny. More of the strange, foreign writing from the sphere was carved onto his chest plate, in the same golden color. His back and shoulders were also adorned with a removable, shaggy cloak. It had small black, plaster heads of two ferocious lions attached to both sides, currently resting on his shoulders. The cloak also partially obscured something else on his back…a powerful, and large broadsword, currently in its black sheath, with golden bands.
“Hail Lord Ipos!” Rita suddenly announced to her single audience. “Grand Warlord of the Principality of Stolas! Conqueror of Erufit! Second in power only to his Highness, Prince Abaddon!”
Shorty could only stand and watched, amazed; yet confused at the same time. He was only distracted from this moment by Rita suddenly zipping back towards him.
“Kneel Shorty…show respect to lord Ipos…”
“It’s all right, Rita…” Ipos spoke, his voice deep, but calm at the moment as he put up his hand, walking slowly towards Shorty. “Besides…it’s very hard to teach a quadruped to kneel, no?”
“As you wish, sir…” Rita responded, before backing off, to allow Ipos a closer look at the young longneck.
“So surprising…” He spoke as he knelt down for a closer look. “This fragile, young thing has the powers of a Balaur…The Progenitor indeed has an odd taste in test subjects.”
“Balaur?…” Shorty tilted his head in confusion at the sound of that word.
“Yes…” Ipos nodded slowly as he rose back to his feet, dusting himself off. “A high-ranking creation in the progenitor’s forces, destined for great things on their side from birth…you should feel fortunate while you can, young earth creature. Only a lucky few are born to attain the rank of Balaur.”
“Wait a minute…” Shorty suddenly thought of something, as he looked over to Rita. “You said I was going to be copied hundreds of times if the Progenitor caught me, then be killed.”
“I’m sorry, my boy…” Ipos shook his head. “But Rita’s primary goal in her mission was to deliver you to me…she merely told you what she thought would get you to follow her.”
Shorty’s eyes began to widen, as he then saw a few other figures leave the exit to the sphere…three gleaming figures in silver armor, faces covered by helmets with short wings extending backwards on each side of the head. They were all carrying three lances, with electrified blades sparkling at the front end.
“What’s going on here?…” Shorty asked them both, getting ready to bolt.
“I’m afraid Rita was telling you half-truths, boy…” Ipos now stood with his arms crossed, as the three knights behind him walked closer to Shorty. He tried to run away, only to feel sudden shock of pain, as one of the knights held out the end of his lance and zapped him.
“You are going to die…” Ipos nodded as Shorty dropped onto his side, weakened. “and your body will be sacrificed to create a new army from your genes…but you will actually be doing it in the name of our glorious Prinicpality, and in the name of destruction for all whom oppose us. You should feel honored to die for such a noble cause.”
Shorty grunted as he tried to rise onto his feet once more, only to be zapped again by another of the three knights, from the personal guard of Ipos. He growled a bit as his eyes began to change color…
“Yes…” Ipos laughed a little as he knew the transformation was imminent. “Let it happen…show me your raw power, boy. Amuse me for a while, and see what good your incomplete body will do for you, here amongst the civilized!”
“Graaaaaaaaaahhhh!” Shorty yelled out once more…he didn’t understand half ofwhat Ipos had just said, but all the same, the way he said it made him really angry.
The knights stepped back for a moment, and observed as Shorty quickly made the transformation once again, rising onto his two feet as the creature stood in his place. He extracted his long blades once more, and roared out into the sky, ready for battle.
One of the knights immediately rushed towards the creature, getting ready to strike and shock him once more. The creature was ready this time, though, as he quickly swung his left blade down, cutting the knight’s lance in half as it sparked, and lost its charge.
Then, before the knight could respond to this move, the creature swiftly came forward, and slashed his right blade at his throat. It cut through his armor, and slashed open the flesh underneath, causing red blood to spray messily out of the wound. The knight choked, and grasped at his bleeding throat, before losing consciousness and falling over, the armor now merely containing a dead body, as blood now stained the chest and arms of the armor.
The second knight then took action, as he came at the creature from his side, and jabbed his blade in, shocking him. The creature yelped and shook, as the third knight followed suit, shocking him from the other side.
But all this did now was make the creature even angrier. He suddenly grabbed the lance of the second knight, and used his strength to throw him over, and crash into the third knight.
The two knights fell hard on the rocky ground, struggling back onto their feet as the creature set his sights on the second knight, and ran towards him. He crossed his bladed arms for a second, then suddenly swung them back out towards the knight, severing his head from his neck, and his torso from his legs at the same time. Blood flew all around as the knight’s head flew off to the right, and his torso to the left, his legs falling over as the rest of his corpse leaked blood.
The third knight, now scared shitless from the sight of his partner being torn to shreds, swung his lance frantically at the creature, trying to score a hit. The creature easily dodged these wild swings, and knocked the knight’s lance away with his right hand. He then came in with his left hand, quickly shoving his blade under the knight’s chin, and impaling him through the head with it.
The blade was even sticking through the top of the knights’ head, as his body immediately went limp, blood oozing out onto the creature’s hand. The creature growled as he pulled out his blade, letting the body collapse onto the ground, as he turned to face the stoic Lord Ipos, and let out a triumphant roar.
“Don’t get too confident now…” Ipos shook his head slowly. “That was simply playtime for me…” He then looked towards Rita, and motioned to the ship.
“It’s time to show your lord what you’re made of.”
“Yes sir!” Rita responded, before buzzing into the ship, vanishing. The creature growled, and tilted his head, scraping his claws together as he definitely sensed something else aboard that ship…
Moments later, he heard a menacing growl from inside the ship…this was followed by the sight of another menacing creature. It looked a lot like Talos, only its body was colored yellow, with red and black sections along the arms and legs. Rita was also seen, attached to the creature’s right arm.
“Meet your next opponent…” Ipos looked back at the creature. “This is Ornias…The latest creation of our bio-weapons unit. He responds only to Rita’s commands, so he can’t be corrupted by your Progenitor…”
Ornias roared as he stepped out onto the earth, facing down the creature as he flashed his menacing, metal teeth.
“Death to those who defy lord Ipos!” Rita’s eyes flashed now as she spoke, still attached to Ornias as she controlled him.
The creature roared out in extra anger, remembering Rita’s betrayal, as he rushed towards Ornias with his blades at the ready. Two buds suddenly grew out of Ornias’ left and right shoulder as he attacked, firing lasers out of both.
The creature was caught off guard by the move, as one laser struck him in his right arm, and the other hit his chest. He grunted and rolled off to the side, as Ornias fired again.
The creature rolled forward, and sprung off his feet, as he propelled himself towards Ornias. He prepared to drive the blade on his right arm into the head of this creature, before Ornias’ fast reflexes caught him.
In mere seconds, the creature was standing on the ground, with Ornias’ left hand gripping his right arm.
“You should have just surrendered, Shorty…” Rita scolded him as Ornias growled, the creature roaring as he tried in vain to free his arm. “You could have saved yourself a lot of the pain you’re going to feel now…”
Ornias growled again, before he used his free fist to thump the creature three times in the stomach. The creature grunted in pain, as Ornias then opened his mouth wide, and sunk his teeth deep into the creature’s right arm.
Blood flowed, and bones crunched, as the creature shrieked, and roared out in pain, Ornias still munching away with his hard, metal teeth. A few seconds later, he had chewed through the bones completely, as half of the creature’s arm now severed at the elbow, dropping to the ground.
The creature shrieked and sputtered, his left arm gripping at what was left of his right, before Ornias then slashed him across the face with his sharp clawed right hand. The creature was spitting blood now, as the claws made deep gashes in the flesh. He collapsed onto his knees, breathing hard as Ornias let out his own triumphant roar.
“Enough of this, Rita…you’ve proved your worth already…” Lord Ipos nodded, as he gripped at his cloak. He tossed it away a second later, and pulled out his large broadsword. It was big enough to be a 2-hander, but he could wield it in one if he wanted to. It was a testament to his physical strength.
“It’s time to put this loathsome animal out of its misery…” Ipos spoke as he kicked the wounded creature onto his back, placing the tip of the sword on his chest, and preparing to drive it into his heart…
His moment of glory was interrupted, however, as he heard the sound of an explosion above him. He quickly looked up to see the satellite from the top, now falling to the ground, broken into pieces.
“No!” Ipos shouted, getting off of the now-unconscious creature, as he turned to see the figure of Talos, who had just taken out the satellite with one blast from his own laser.
Talos growled, with Littlefoot, Bron, and Mika all behind him, as he then let another laser fly, smashing into the right arm of Ornias. Ornias was caught off guard by the blast, which was strong enough to sever his own arm. The creature roared out in pain, his own blood spilling out as Rita had no choice but to detach from the arm, no longer in control of Ornias as he flailed about madly.
Ipos growled in frustration, as he grabbed Ornias by the neck, and threw him back onto the ship, hurrying back on. “The enemy knows our location! Retreat and regroup!”
“Yes sir!” Rita responded as she flew back on to join the rest of the crew. The door then sealed shut once more, as the black sphere ignited, and took off, looking for another corner of the earth to hide.
“Shorty! Shorty!” Littlefoot shouted as he saw the ravaged body of the creature, running over to him as Bron quickly followed with Mika.
“He’s still breathing…” Bron reassured his son as he examined him. Mika comfortingly nuzzled Littlefoot as he watched, tears welling up in his eyes. He hardly even knew this female, he thought, but she was already proving to be a comforting presence in this time of great difficulty.
“He’s not going to be able to change back in this state…” Talos spoke as he gently scooped the creature’s limp form into his arms. “He’s going to need help.”
“From you?” Littlefoot asked.
“Only my master can help him now…” Talos shook his head slowly as he responded, a portal suddenly opening up in front of him. “Hopefully we can rehabilitate him quickly enough to prepare him for phase 2.”
“What’s phase 2?” Littlefoot asked as Talos began to carry the creature to the other side.
“Shorty is an unfinished creation in his current form…we’re going to complete him.”
Changing the subject slightly, I thought it was nice that they set aside an episode in the series to look back at Grandpa's past, as a story speaker, and the introduction of his old friend Saro. I had hoped they would do the same kind of episode relating to Grandma's past, since we know little to nothing about her background, but it looks like this is not to be, with the series being shuttered.
I've also mentioned before how my heart gets just a little goopy whenever I see these two nuzzle up together. I just think it's sweet, hehe. Plus, I thought one of the nice touches they made to The Big Freeze, was when you saw them in the hot spring, keeping her warm with his neck over her own. That is devotion, my friends.
The form of Talos stood silently on the rocks overlooking the Great Valley. The sun was beginning to set, as he looked down and silently growled. Before, he had been relentless in his pursuit of Shorty and his powers, but now…he seemed hesitant for some bizarre reason.
There was a reason for it, though…however, it was a reason that was confined to Talos’ own central processor.
TALOS UNIT MSG: REQUEST UPDATE ON MISSION OBJECTIVES
NO FURTHER UPDATES AT THIS TIME. CONTINUE TO OBSERVE EXPERIMENT #923.
TALOS UNIT: CENTRAL SYSTEM QUERY: REQUEST INFORMATION REGARDING RESTRAINT COMMANDS IN APPREHENDING EXPERIMENT #923.
EXPERIMENT #923 HAS EXHIBITED A PHENOMENAL DEVELOPMENT FACTOR OF 8.25 SINCE MATURATION, AND HAS ACTIVATED MACROGENUS CORE WITHOUT ASSISTANCE FROM CENTRAL SYSTEM. EXPERIMENT #923 HAS NOW BEEN CLASSIFIED AS AN ANOMALY, AND WARRANTS FURTHER OBSERVATION BEFORE CAPTURE.
TALOS UNIT MSG: OBJECTIVE UNDERSTOOD. WILL COMPLY WITH CURRENT COMMANDS.
Talos rumbled inside his chest a little as he squatted, tireless as ever in his task as he watched what transpired below.
“Come bright circle…bid me good morning…blanket me with your endless light…”
He heard the pretty voice singing to him as he lie still on the ground, eyes still closed…
“Shield me from the cold of the darkness…warm my heart with your endless light…life forever thrives…as long as you’re alive…”
Shorty opened his eyes slowly, to see Ali standing over him in the light of the sunset.
“Oh good…you’re finally awake.” She smiled lightly as she sat down next to him. “I hope you didn’t mind the singing…it’s an old lullaby my mother used to sing to me…it always makes me calm, and I figured, with such a ferocious creature in you now…”
Shorty groaned as he remembered it all, sitting up slowly.
“I’m sorry…” Ali blushed a bit. “I said too much.”
“No, no, it’s ok…” Shorty shook his head as he closed his eyes, still trying to clear the cobwebs out a bit.
“I liked the singing…” he sighed, half sad and half happy. “For a moment, it made me think that I actually had a mother.”
“What do you mean?” Ali asked him, a confused look on her face.
“It’s a long story…” Shorty yawned a bit as opened his eyes again. “How long was I out for, anyway?”
“At least two days…” she responded.
“Two days?” He looked right at her, his eyes growing wide in disbelief.
She nodded in a matter-of-fact way, as he turned his head away from her and narrowed his eyes. “Talos could have made his move at any time now…why didn’t he?”
“Talos?” Ali looked even more confused now.
Shorty sighed and shook his head. “Again, long story…Where are we right now?”
“Someplace safe.” Ali smiled a bit as she responded. “We’re just outside of the Great Valley.”
“The Valley?” Shorty gasped a bit, before he struggled back onto his feet. “No…no…I can’t be here.”
“Shorty!” Ali got right in front of him to keep him from running away. “You still need to rest.”
“It’s not safe for me to stay here!” He firmly retorted to her. She backed away; looking rather scared, as he sighed, trying not to get too angry, as he lowered his head once more.
“If only I could tell her…” He thought to himself, remembering the time he went berserk and almost killed that duckbill.
“Tell me what?” She suddenly asked him.
“I didn’t say anything.” He blinked as he looked back up.
“I heard you loud and clear…” Ali shook her head slowly. “You said ëIf only I could tell her’…”
Shorty’s expression immediately took one of surprise as he stood. “That was exactly what I was thinking…how did you do that?”
Before the befuddled Ali could answer, another familiar female voice spoke up.
“It is because you have unconsciously established a telepathic link with her, Shorty…”
Shorty looked up quickly, to see Rita buzzing down near the two longnecks.
“Tele-what?” Shorty furrowed his brow at the wasp.
“She can read your thoughts now…” Rita responded as she landed on a rock nearby. Ali could hear her too, since she had now activated her speakers. “…and you can read hers, if you so wish.”
“Excuse me…” Ali interrupted, looking to the strange wasp, then Shorty. “Would you mind telling me who this flying stinger is, and why it can talk?”
“Oh!” Shorty suddenly realized. “You two haven’t met…Ali, this is Rita…Rita’s been acting as an assistant, helping me to find the ëHelping Hands’.”
“What?” Ali tilted her head and gave him an even more confused look.
Shorty then gave her a serious look as his smile faded. “I’ve got a lot to tell you now…”
“I think there’s something we’re all forgetting in this panic…” Littlefoot’s Grandfather spoke up, addressing the rest of the adults that had gathered. “Redclaw is dead…finally, after all this time he had terrorized us.”
The Old one watched as she lay on the ground, still recovering from her wounds. The wandering herd had wisely decided to leave Shorty outside of the Valley at first, so that they could tell their story, and clear the air with everyone else.
“Were you even listening, old Longneck?” Topsy interjected, yet again. “Didn’t you hear how brutally Redclaw was killed by this….this…thing?” He shook his head quickly. “There is no way I’m gonna let something like that into the Valley!”
Many of the other dinosaurs began to mutter amongst themselves as he said this…some agreeing, others not quite so sure. It was in that moment that Littlefoot had quietly wandered in on this gathering, curious as to what was going on…he looked to his left and right, sensing that this was an especially important conversation.
“Grandma?…what’s going on?” He asked her, as his Grandfather was at present too involved in the conversation.
“Littlefoot…” Grandma responded as she looked right down at him. “I don’t think you should be hanging around here right now. We’re talking about something that could be…upsetting to you.”
Before she could shoo Littlefoot away, however, Rhett suddenly spoke up in the group.
“I know it sounds really scary…” He stepped forward from behind a couple of adults. “But Ali and me saw it all…if Shorty had wanted to hurt us, he would have done it by now!”
Littlefoot gasped and looked straight up at both of his grandparents. “Shorty?”
Grandma had a panicked look on her face as she motioned away with her head. “Littlefoot, please go away. We’ll talk later.”
“But what’s wrong with Shorty?” Littlefoot persisted, walking to his Grandfather this time.
“Littlefoot, please…” Grandpa almost scolded him. “There’s no way you could understand it, if we even told you now. I’m still trying to understand it myself.”
“Then I’ll find it out myself!” He firmly retorted. “I’m not gonna stop seeing him, no matter what you say.” He then ran away from the gathering.
Grandpa was about to call him back loudly, before Rhett suddenly addressed him.
“Let him go…” He gazed upon the elder longneck with pleading eyes. “Trust me…Ali’s with Shorty right now. If I didn’t Trust Shorty right now, I would have stayed there with her…”
Grandpa nodded softly, and sighed, as Grandma shook her head slowly.
“What a willful boy he’s become…” She spoke, half proud, half mournful.
“So…this Progenitor thing is out trying to collect you?”
Ali was slowly piecing everything together of what Shorty had told her, making sense out of all the information.
“That’s correct…” Rita spoke for him this time as she floated around the two, buzzing. “I am currently going to lead Shorty to the Helping Hands, of which he spoke earlier. They will help him in counteracting the mission of the Progenitor, by assiting him in destroying Talos, who pursues him now.”
“Oh! That’s right!” He remembered as he looked upon Rita with wide eyes. “Rita, I’ve been asleep for two whole days…Talos could have moved to capture me a long time ago…why didn’t he?”
“I don’t know…” Rita answered as she buzzed around him. “We’ve been strangely fortunate with that. But, I suspect he might be curious, seeing as how you already activated your Macrogenus core…”
“My what?” Shorty furrowed his brow.
“It’s one of the more computerized aspects of your genetic makeup…” She explained. “It allows you to change your size…to increase, or decrease your mass at will. It usually takes an experiment many weeks before it can accomplish this. Therefore, Talos might be observing, and changing his tactics in apprehending you.”
Shorty nodded slowly as he listened to this, before another thought came to his mind. “But…we’ve still got our mission too…why didn’t you try to wake me? Why did you let the wandering herd carry me all this way.”
“Because…” Rita answered again in a matter-of-fact way. “We were also fortunate in the direction the herd was carrying you. The base of operations for the Helping Hands is actually very close to this valley.”
“Really?” Shorty responded with a partial smile.
“Um, excuse me…” Ali stepped forward to get Rita’s attention. “What are these Helping Hands going to do with Shorty once he goes to them?”
“After they help him, they’re going to take him away…” Rita answered her.
“Away?” Ali looked rather surprised. “Where to?”
“Another planet…” Rita buzzed around her as she spoke. “A new world…A safe world…one where Shorty’s abilities can be put to use against the menace of The Progenitor…”
“You mean he’s going away? He’s leaving his world?” She ran over to her friend soon after. “Shorty…you can’t do that!”
“I have to…” Shorty flatly stated.”
“But what about Littlefoot?” She protested. “What about all your friends?…what about Bron?”
“Bron?” Shorty’s expression turned fierce at the mention of Bron’s name. “You mean the one who stood idly by, and let everyone in his herd kick me out? Just because of what I was turning into? Turning into my true self?”
Ali looked on in shock as Shorty’s eyes took their crimson hue once more, the change seemingly coming along…but again, Shorty had more control now, and shook it off before it could all take hold, turning his gaze away from her.
“Would you listen to yourself?” Ali spoke softly as she recovered from the scare. “You really think this…this creature is what you truly are?”
Shorty stood with his back turned to her, not saying anything.
“I don’t care what you’ve told me, or what Rita’s told me…” Ali walked closer to him as he stood still. “I’ve known you for a long time, Shorty…ever since Littlefoot introduced you to me when both our herds met in the valley. Ok, you were a little…rough around the edges, I’ll admit. But I always felt that deep down, there was a part of you that was good…a part of you that was decent, and loving.”
Shorty closed his eyes firmly, as Ali approached him from the front now. “Are you really willing to deny that part of yourself?…Do you really want to just turn your back on everyone and everything you know and love in this world?”
“You make very valid points, Ali…” Rita spoke for Shorty now as she flew down in front of the young female. “But the fact of the matter is, Shorty has new abilities, and new strengths…that could easily become liabilities if he were not to be taught how to harness them…how to fully control them. Only the Helping Hands can offer him this kind of guidance.”
Before Ali could make a rebuttal, she then flew over to Shorty, who slowly opened his eyes now.
“Come now, Shorty…The base of operations is only a mile from he-“
An explosion suddenly erupted at Shorty’s feet, making Ali scream as he rolled away from the scattering dirt and debris. He quickly turned to see the snarling figure of Talos staring him down.
“Oh no…” Shorty muttered, ominously.
“He must have been spying on us until now!” Rita buzzed around him as Talos fired more shots at her, missing. Shorty took the time to protect Ali as the wasp kept Talos’ attention. He led her over to a few bushes, and quickly urged her to go behind them.
“Shorty!” Rita shouted to him from her speakers. “He mustn’t be allowed to know the location of the base! You’re going to have to put him out of commission somehow!”
Shorty nodded quickly, as he scrambled over to Talos, once he was certain that Ali was safe. He then stared down at the creature, and scowled menacingly.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment to come, deep down…” he growled at Talos. “No more running from you!” His eyes quickly returned to their crimson color, as his teeth began to sharpen in his mouth.
“You want to take me back to your master?…give it your best shot!”
Talos simply stood at the ready, as Shorty quickly roared out, and morphed into the creature once more. The beast wasted no time as he extracted both of his long blades from his wrists, and dashed towards the other creature, slashing wildly.
Talos responded by ducking and weaving at every second, expertly dodging each of the creature’s attacks, before nailing him with a hard standing kick along the sternum. The creature went flying into a tree, his mass causing it to smash in half and fall over. Ali quickly noticed that the top section of the tree was falling towards her, rolling out of the way as the two continued their fight.
The creature got back on his feet, undaunted, as he then ran towards Talos again, and jumped, nailing him along the face with his right foot, in an impressive leaping kick. The force of the move was enough to through Talos off balance, as he landed onto his feet, and quickly brought down his right arm and blade.
The swing was strong enough to cut through flesh and bone, as Talos soon discovered. Within just a second, the creature had severed his left arm, causing a spray of his greenish blood to flow out from the wound, the hand section of his cut limb flexing on the ground.
But Talos made no cries of pain, as he held out his right hand, and caught the left arm of the creature before he could do any more damage. He then used the moment, to hold out what was left of his severed arm, causing a new one to quickly grow in its place.
The creature watched this, distracted. This allowed Talos the opportunity to bring his regrown hand over to his neck, and squeeze. The creature wriggled and coughed as Talos began to choke him out, once again trying to subdue him.
The creature growled as he gripped at Talos’ choking arm. He was hell bent on showing him that taking him down wouldn’t be so easy this time. It was at this moment, that his muscles began to ripple once more, and slowly grow in size…
Talos quickly noticed this, letting the creature go as he once again had activated his macrogenus core, growing and growing to an immense size that could be seen from quite a distance.
Ali looked on in awe, as Talos simply revealed that he had the same ability as well. Within seconds, he activated his own macrogenus core, and expanded his size and mass to match that of the creature.
The ground began to shake, as the creature once more charged towards Talos, and lunged onto his knee. He moved too quickly for the other giant this time, and bloodily impaled his left blade through his chest, and out through his back.
Talos sputtered as this happened, his greenish blood leaking out through his back, as well as his menacing mouth. He wasn’t even close to succumbing, however, as he then raised his right fist, and pounded the creature’s back with it hard.
The creature felt the blows hard against his spine, as Talos soon pounded him with another blow. He responded to the punches by rising, his left blade still in Talos’ gut, as he then aimed and thrust his right into his neck. He then roared as he pulled out, and thrust the blade back in again…and again…and again.
Talos choked, and sputtered again, more of his greenish blood leaking out through his mouth, as it also sprayed from what would have been the jugular vein of a human. The creature growled triumphantly as he believed he finally had his kill.
But just as he was at his moment of victory, Talos growled back, and spit a wad of his green blood right into his eyes. The creature grunted, as Talos then leaned forward, and latched onto his left shoulder with his sharp teeth and strong jaws. The creature could feel him crunching down into his flesh, his own blood flowing now as he yelped and roared out in rage, stabbing at Talos with his blades wildly.
It was no use, though, as Talos kept down on him with his strong bite, slowly wrestling him to the ground as he bit down once more, and made the creature scream out in pain.
Before Talos could fully subdue the creature, however, he felt something…something small trying to lash at his foot. He looked down, and saw Ali, swinging away at him bravely with her tail.
“Let him go!” She screamed, with tears in her eyes. “Don’t you kill him!”
Talos growled a bit as he just stared down at her. Ali had planned on hitting him fast, then running away and letting him chase her…she stood right there on all fours, looking up at the monster with wide eyes, waiting for him to make his move.
But Talos did no such thing…He didn’t roar…he didn’t try to chase her…it was almost as if he didn’t WANT to attack the defenseless longneck.
Ali only had a moment to ponder what had just happened; however…this moment of confusion was all that the creature had needed. He roared as he suddenly lunged up at Talos, and stuck his left blade right through one of his eyes. Blood, and other gunk spewed from the wound, as Talos growled angrily and fell back, clutching one hand at where his right eye had been until now.
The creature roared angrily, as he then raised his right blade, waited for Talos to bring down his hand, and slashed at him diagonally…
With just a slight cutting noise, Talos’ head soon separated cleanly from the rest of his body, falling off and crashing down to the ground in front of him. The creature could now see the wires and metal that made up parts of Talos’ computerized spinal column and brain, as the rest of his body fell forward to ground, almost causing an earthquake from the impact.
The creature then slowly deactivated his macrogenus core, shrinking down to his normal size once again. As he was shrinking, he turned his head, and noticed something else…Littlefoot had arrived onto the scene earlier, with all of his friends in tow, and had seen everything.
“Shorty?” Littlefoot called to him, his eyes wide open, as everyone else was too stupefied to speak.
The creature looked on at Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Ruby, and Chomper…he was now more in touch with Shorty’s memories, as he recognized them all, and remembered…remembered all the good times…all the happiness…
But things were different now…he was no longer the Shorty they all knew and loved…he took another long look at everyone, before grunting and turning, running off into the forest nearby.
Littlefoot gave chase for a second, but soon realized how fast the creature was, and let him leave, turning his attention to Ali.
“Are you ok?” He asked her.
“I’m…” She shook her head slowly. “I’m more confused than ever now.”
“That’s hardly surprising…” Ruby spoke up as she approached Ali. “Seeing such a confusing thing at such a confusing time would only bring up more confusion anyway.”
“It’s so amazing to see a longneck that can turn into a sharptooth…especially a sharptooth that I’ve never seen before…” Chomper gazed out into the distance with awe.
“No…” Ali shook her head in response. “He’s not a sharptooth…he’s…something else.”
Cera sighed a bit as she looked over everyone else. “I hate to say it guys, but it’s probably a good thing he left us…I mean, I heard my father talking about how dangerous that creature could be.”
“At least he took out that other dangerous creature for us…” Ducky spoke up in his defense.
“That’s the thing though…” Ali furrowed her brow as she thought about the fight. “I had tried to distract Talos…that was the name of the creature attacking Shorty…and he wouldn’t even chase me…it’s so odd.”
“That is because I concluded you were not a threat…” a voice suddenly spoke up.
Ali perked up as she turned to her left and right. “Did you guys hear that?”
Everyone nodded, as Petrie responded, nervously. “Where do you suppose it’s coming from?…”
“I have formed a telepathic link with all of you…” The voice spoke again, sounding like that of a calm, young male. “You all seem to be friends of Shorty, so you might be able to help me in my mission…I would have formed a link to Shorty directly, but…something seems to be blocking my ability to do so.”
“Where are you?” Littlefoot called out to the voice as he looked all around him, cautiously.
“I’m right below you…”
Littlefoot turned and looked down, seeing the severed head of Talos. His eye was quickly regenerating, as he was looking straight up at the young longneck.
“You?…” Littlefoot stared down at the head. “You’re the one who’s been attacking Shorty all this time!”
“I’ve merely been trying to get him under control, earth creature…” Talos’ voice echoed in his mind. “I can still succeed, as long as you can bring my head to my body, so I can reattach myself…”
“Why?” Cera stepped forward, suspiciously. “So you can kill all of us, and Shorty too?”
“Please…” Talos spoke again. “You must understand, this is all for Shorty’s own good…”
Everyone gathered, as Talos began to clarify the situation for him.
Night had now fallen on the misty lands, as Talos looked on from the top of a hill. He squatted and observed the injured male Duckbill, who looked to be still among the living, fortunately.
The wound on his stomach was unmistakable to Talos as he watched…it had to be from the experiment he was tracking down…He now knew he was on the right path.
The grotesque creation slowly stood back on his feet as his tail swished, growling lightly. He hadn’t seen the experiment leaping around anymore, so this was probably going to take some more time.
He walked away, and stopped only for a moment, looking over and seeing one of the duckbill’s children. She was relieved that her father seemed to be recovering, and was now enjoying some fruit that had fallen from a nearby tree.
She was startled at first, when she looked out and saw the huge creature staring back at her. Talos only growled a little bit, and walked slowly towards her, eyeing the fruit gathered near her.
The girl slowly picked up one piece of fruit, and held it out to the creature.
“Want one?” She asked, innocently, and slightly nervous.
Talos slowly reached out, in no kind of attack position…he accepted the treat, and opened his maw and mandibles, chomping down on it slowly.
The girl just watched him, puzzled as he made a satisfied grunting noise, and reached down, picking up a few more to take with him.
“Y-you’re welcome…” was all the girl could manage to say, as Talos slowly walked away from the area, chomping down on another fruit as he continued his search…
Shorty had now reached a land made mostly of rock and water, some of which had been dripping down from the walls after a recent storm. Rita flew around him as he stopped for a moment to wash the blood from his body.
“It’s strange…” Shorty spoke softly. “It’s the dead of night, and I’m not even sleepy.”
“Part of your new genetic makeup.” Rita responded. “I believe you share a few genes with a species called the Ambus, who don’t require sleep for proper functioning.”
“It’s just as well, I suppose…” Shorty nodded as he washed himself. “I can’t imagine the kind of dreams I’d be having now.”
“Plus we don’t have to stop anywhere, and run the risk of Talos spotting you.” Rita flew around a few more times, before moving towards the right side of the rocky place, heading into a passageway. “This way…”
Shorty walked carefully through the narrow passage, and out to the other side. He then looked down and saw footprints, large and small, as he walked into another forested area.
“Hey…it looks like another longneck herd’s been through here.” He told Rita, before thinking out loud to himself… “I wonder if it was Ali’s herd.”
Rita sensed what he was thinking of, as she floated back towards him. “Shorty…you can’t go looking for your friends now.”
“I know that, I know that…” Shorty responded in a reluctant, and partially annoyed manner, nodding his head. He then sighed softly as he continued to let Rita lead the way.
“I just wish I could see them all…just one more time.”
“I know how much your friends mean to you…” Rita spoke in a compassionate tone to him. “But remember what you’ve become now, and what you’re capable of…it’s better that your friends remember you for who you once were, rather that what you are now, don’t you think?”
Shorty thought about this for a moment, and nodded once again. “Yeah…I suppose you’re right.”
Rita said no more, as continued to guide the way through the dense forest, with Shorty following close behind.
“I just hope these ëhelping hands’ turn out to be just as good friends.” He thought to himself, as he climbed slowly over a large tree root that was in front of him, continuing on the path before him.
Ali bounded quickly over to her mother, with Rhett close behind, as usual. The herd had been in their usual slow travel mode, until something up at the front had stopped them. Ali was naturally curious as to why this would happen, so she went off from her position further behind to get closer and investigate.
Rhett was a little more cautious about it as he followed, but part of him still wanted to impress Ali as much as he could, and wanted to give her no opportunities to think him a coward.
“What’s going on, mother?” The longneck girl asked as she craned her neck curiously, trying to get a better look at the herd’s leaders.
“The Old One’s detected something, Ali…” She answered, in an almost ominous tone of voice. “Something very unusual.”
“How do you know it’s unusual?” Rhett jumped into the conversation, cocking his eyebrow a bit.
“I’ve known the Old One a lot longer than you have, young one…” Ali’s mother turned her head towards him slowly. “If she had picked up the tracks or the scent of an ordinary sharptooth, she would have simply led us towards a new path without stopping.”
She then looked back towards the Old One as Ali kept her gaze fixed on her mother. Her eyes were slightly wide open. “Whatever it is, it must have really spooked her to keep us standing her for this long…and the Old One doesn’t spook easily.”
Ali and Rhett went dead silent upon hearing this, and just watched…the Old One was still sniffing the air, as one of her associates in the leadership, a male longneck only slightly younger than she was, approached her.
“What is it you smell?” He asked her. “Why do you keep sniffing it?…Old One, you’re making everyone rather nervous now.”
“Perhaps they have good reason to be nervous…as I am right now…” She answered silently.
“What?” He asked again, growing impatient. “For the love of the bright circle, what is it?”
“It smells…almost like another longneck…” She turned her head in one direction, looking away from her associate. “But…it smells like a sharptooth as well…something I’ve never come across before.”
“Longneck…and sharptooth?” The associate blinked in confusion. “But how is that even possible?”
“That’s not all…” She inhaled deeply before continuing. “I think I smell blood…” She inhaled again. “Yes…blood was spilled in this area.”
Her associate’s eyes widened as he coughed a little and responded to her. “Well then…all the more reason for us to leave this place, right? I mean, whatever this thing is, it’s obviously hungry, and if we stay standing around here, it’s going to see us as a potential feast, no?”
It was at that moment that the Old One Snapped out of her current state of mind, and nodded to him. “You’re right Varnok…I shouldn’t be paralyzing either myself or the herd with my fear.”
She then turned and faced the herd. “Everyone…we’re going turn around, and take the other path through the mountains…”
Before she could lead everyone out of this wooded area however, they were startled by a sudden noise…a very powerful roaring.
“REDCLAW!” One of the longnecks in back of the herd shouted out, as everyone immediately began to panic.
The large, imposing T-rex tromped out from behind them and roared out once again. He was, of course, missing one of his eyes now, a result of his first encounter with the creature. He had also been tracking the scent of the creature, in order to get revenge for the killing of his two raptor friends. It was purely coincidental that he came upon the wandering longneck herd in his search…but since he had found them, he might as well have himself a snack, he figured.
“Everyone take cover!” Varnok shouted, as he and the other males of the herd stood their ground, allowing everyone else, including Ali and Rhett, to move behind them.
Redclaw wasted no time, as he lunged towards both Varnok and the Old One. Despite his limited vision, he was still dangerous. Varnok gave him a hard thwack across the face with his tail, causing him to fall back for a moment. Redclaw simply shook it off, and roared at the two again.
“One of his eyes is gone!” The Old One pointed out to her associate. “Hit him where can’t see!”
Redclaw growled as he heard this, somehow able to understand her pointing out his new disability…and he wasn’t about to let anyone capitalize on it. He lunged again as Varnok swung his tail, ducking under him this time, and going right for the Old One.
The Old One prepared to swing her own tail, but he was too quick, as he viciously sunk his fangs right into her back. She yelled out in pain as blood began to seep out of the wound.
“OLD ONE!” Ali screamed as she watched in terror with Rhett, her voice booming out across the forest.
It was loud enough for a certain lone longneck to pick up, thanks to his improved sense of hearing.
Shorty stopped right in his tracks as he heard the female voice, Rita leading the way still. The voice sounded familiar to him…very familiar…even though he had only heard it a few times before.
“What is it?” Rita asked him, buzzing back towards his direction.
“Ali!” Shorty then connected the name and face to the voice, as he suddenly bounded off in the direction where he had heard it.
“Shorty, don’t!” Rita shouted to him in his mind. It was no use though…Shorty had always been the stubborn sort…
Varnok had acted quickly upon seeing Redclaw bite the Old One. He charged in and growled fiercely, tackling the large T-rex as the two tumbled away from the Old One.
The Old One gasped and stumbled, her wound very raw and bloody on her back as she tried to find cover. Meanwhile, Varnok had rolled off of Redclaw, and prepared to attack him again, thinking the dumb Sharptooth would oblige him.
But Redclaw was unfazed by the attack, and kept his sights squarely on the old, wounded female, tromping towards her for yet another bite.
“Don’t you touch her!” Varnok shouted as he charged him again. Redclaw was ready for him this time, and simply ducked down and caught one of Varnok’s front legs in his jaws.
Varnok screamed in pain as he felt the teeth sink in, blood flowing from his leg now, as Redclaw simply let him fall away for the time being…one meal at a time was how this predator worked.
The Old One cowered against a rock wall, her wound still oozing on her back, as other males from the herd ganged up behind her, acting as a shield. Redclaw looked them all over, and roared once again. As far as he was concerned, the Old One was marked as a meal, and he never let his marked meals live…
He opened his great jaws, and prepared to lunge in towards the herd, until…
“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
His head suddenly jerked back, as he cocked his remaining eye…he recognized that roar.
Everyone else looked in back of them, and scattered, making way for a small, but menacing creature in green, with red eyes, and long glistening claws…it was the creature.
Redclaw prepared to lunge down at the beast, but it was too quick, as it soon ran past his right and swiped the blade on its right had directly through his ankle.
The weapon cut through flesh and muscle easily, as blood soon sprayed out of Redclaw’s foot. The Sharptooth screeched angrily, and in pain, as he collapsed onto his knee upon this maneuver.
The male longnecks had all scattered in fear of the creature, leaving the Old One by herself as she faced down Redclaw, watching him slowly get back onto his wounded foot, balancing carefully.
She was then stunned to see the creature walking right towards her now. She feared the worst, recognizing the same scent on it from before, preparing for yet another attack, as the wounded Varnok could only watch…
But it soon stopped, right in front of her, and looked up at her. Its blades were outstretched, but something…like some kind of inner voice, was making it hesitate.
The Old One, and the others, were soon surprised to see the creature turn its back to her, and face down Redclaw, as if shielding her.
Redclaw roared angrily, hell-bent on getting both his meal, and his revenge; the creature responed to this threat by outstretching its arms, and growling loudly.
“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…”
Rita soon arrived on scene, seeing what was happening, as the creature’s body suddenly began to crackle, pulsate…and then grow…
Redclaw watched, stunned in his own Sharptooth way, as the creature slowly increased in size in front of the old one, as if focusing all of its energy to do so. In mere moments, it was now the same size as Redclaw.
“That’s impossible…” Rita thought to herself. “He’s activated his Macrogenus Core!”
Ali, Rhett, and the others, all watched in stunned silence, as the creature stood its ground in front of The Old One. Redclaw, never being one to back down from any challenge, lunged straight towards them both.
The Creature roared as he ran to Redclaw, and reached out with its large right hand. It caught the sharptooth quickly by the throat, and held him firmly by the jugular, squeezing hard.
Redclaw choked loudly, and kicked wildly, feeling his throat on the verge of bursting from the pressure. He then got a lucky hit, as one of his left foot-claws slashed at the creature’s leg.
The creature growled in pain as it relinquished its grip on the sharptooth, instinctively checking his leg as some green blood came out. Redclaw then made his way towards the Old One once more, opening his jaws and lunging…
The creature was quick to react though…just before Redclaw could sink his fangs into the Old One’s throat, it lunged out with its right arm, letting his jaw clamp down on that instead.
The Old One watched as the creature roared in pain, more green blood leaking out as its arm was in the grasp of the sharptooth’s jaws. It then looked back towards the Old One, and made a motion with its head.
“Go!…” It suddenly croaked at her, in a low, primitive, and menacing voice. The Old One gasped a bit, but soon complied, stumbling over to the rest of the herd. Once the coast was clear, the creature slowly bared its own sharp, jagged teeth, and lean to bite back.
Redclaw screeched again, as he felt the beast’s fangs rip right into the flesh of his muzzle. Blood spurted as the creature took a few more quick bites, and pulled back, ripping off the flesh around the sharptooth’s nose before it spit it out onto the grass.
The sharptooth relinquished its grip on his arm, and shook his head angrily, throwing a little blood around as the creature wiped the blood from its own mouth with a hand. It then ran in while Redclaw was stunned, and promptly thumped him three times in the chest with its fists.
Redclaw grunted and screeched again, as he felt each punch shattering many of his ribs. He fell back again, roaring in frustration and agony, before mindlessly lunging towards the beast once more…
It proved to be his last mistake, ever.
The creature quickly grabbed the upper jaw of the sharptooth with its left hand as he lunged. Before he could bite, it then extracted the blade on its right hand, and swiped it across the sharptooth’s mouth, completely lopping off his lower jaw.
Blood spurted freely from the severed jaw, as Redclaw screeched through the wound one last time, before he collapsed onto his front. He was now slowly dying from blood loss.
The creature eased Redclaw’s passing, by grabbing his head with its left hand once more, and quickly driving its right blade into the back of his skull.
Redclaw’s remaining eye shot wide open from the shock…then slowly rolled into the back of his head as the rest of his body went limp…and then forever still.
The creature began to pant a little, as it then retracted the blade, and slowly sat down near its kill. It then eyed the startled longneck herd, and slowly shook its head, speaking up in that same, primitive voice.
“No…” It spoke to them, as if using its own vocal chords was still rather difficult.
“No harm…” It looked down at Redclaw’s body, and back at the herd. “No harm…anymore.”
It panted and began to look down, as Ali slowly stepped out from the herd, sensing something familiar in the creature’s eyes.
“Don’t get any closer to it!” Varnok warned her as he limped on his three good legs towards the herd. “You saw what it did to Redclaw.”
“It would have done the same thing to all of us by now, if it wanted!” She quickly retorted as she walked closer to the creature. “But I don’t think it does.”
“She’s right…” Ali’s mother backed her up as she nodded. “I saw the whole thing…that creature was protecting the Old One.”
The others began to discuss, and nod in agreement, as Ali slowly approached the now-placid creature. It panted a few more times, before its body began to smoke a bit, and shrink back down.
Ali watched in wonder, as its form also began to change shape…within moments, she saw a familiar face…a familiar longneck face.
“Shorty?…” She spoke softly, her eyes wide open and jaw nearly on the ground.
“Hi…” he simply responded, tiredly…not from sleepyness, obviously, but exhaustion from having expended so much of his power.
“Shorty…What is going on here?” She asked him, eagerly. “How did you become that…that thing I just saw.”
Shorty just rolled his head around with his eyes closed. “I did it…” he smiled gently as he spoke.
“Did what?” Ali furrowed her brow. “You’re not making any sense…none of this is making any sense.”
“I had control…” He moaned happily through his closed eyes, his head wavering in a woozy fashion. “For once…I had…control…”
He then collapsed onto his side, losing consciousness.
“Shorty!” Ali yelled as she quickly examined him. Rhett, who finally mustered up the courage, ran right over to her side.
“Is the freak dead?” He asked her with a scowl.
“Cut that out, Rhett.” Ali scolded him. “He just saved all of our lives.”
“Ali!” Ali’s mother called to her, as the rest of the herd seemed to be gathering. “We need to leave this place, and fast.”
“Why?” Ali bounded back over to her. “What’s wrong?”
“We need to get the Old One and Varnok to the Great Valley…” She explained to her daughter. “It’s the only place near here where they can both properly recover.”
Ali nodded as Rhett ran back to her side. She then looked behind her, and thought of something. “Mother…we should take Shorty too…I mean, he did save us from Redclaw…it’d be wrong to just leave him.”
Ali’s mother walked slowly over to Shorty’s sleeping body, and looked over him for a moment. She was a bit nervous about picking him up, understandably…but, her maternal instincts soon took over.
“Perhaps you’re right…” She nodded, before slowly leaning over, and gently gripping Shorty in her mouth, slowly lifting him.
Rita flew about in back of the herd, watching as Shorty was carried off. There was no sign of Talos at the moment, so she was in no rush to try and bring him back to consciousness.
“He’s progessing much faster than expected…” She thought to herself. “The Helping Hands will be pleased…”
With that, she turned, and flew away from the scene.
I respect where you're coming from with that. I'm just speculating, because I like the idea of characters who have mellowed with age for some reason. I remember seeing an episode of this Japanese show where they reveal that this calm, calculating woman in her 30's was once the leader of a street gang as a teenager.
I think it would be interesting to see a story about how these two first came together, and put an interesting spin on it. You wouldn't know it now, but I've always imagined Grandma as being a wild spirit in her younger days, kinda like Cera. She could have been the counter-balance to Grandpa's apparent level-headed and cautious disposition throughout his own life, before she eventually settled down.
Be careful with the spoilers though. Not everyone has read through all this yet, hehe.
Chapter 3: Horrible Truths
Talos’ body writhed more actively now, as his head remained pinned under the large rock. The parts of his crushed head began to glow suddenly, as his hands soon gained stability, and reached over to grip the sides of the rock.
His head and face regenerated slowly beneath the water, the water bubbled with his muffled growling, causing bugs nearby to fly away quickly.
His hands slowly began to lift the rock away, as the parts of his face slowly began to grow back beneath it. Within moments, he had lifted the rock a good distance from his face, before he finally tossed it aside with a splash.
Talos sat up slowly in the water, as he then got up onto his feet. The water sloshed around his legs as he looked to both sides with slow turns of his head. He had lost his target.
But Talos was a very patient creature, and this was hardly the first time an experiment had ever been this difficult to capture. He didn’t panic, and he didn’t complain, staying silent as usual. He knew that he would acquire his target, sooner or later…he always did.
His body glistened wetly as he walked out of the pond, the ever-present deep breath resounding from his menacing maw.
“Ok…ok…” Shorty panted just a little as he fled into the misty woods with this mysterious wasp. “I think we lost whatever that thing was…so why don’t we stop for a minute?”
The wasp flew above him as he took a moment to stop and catch his breath, lowering his head. After he beat the creature that was after him, and the wasp led him into the mists, he felt like he could have run forever. But now, the shock was wearing off, his heart was slowing down, and he was now remembering his physical limitations…in his current form, anyway.
“I was wondering when you would finally stop…” the wasp responded, as Shorty heard its feminine voice in his head once more. “I was going to tell you multiple times that we were at a safe distance…but every time I tried to get close to you, you’d just run faster…”
Shorty panted as he responded. “Sorry…just instinct I guess…I don’t like the idea of a flying stinger coming that close to me.”
“Really?” The wasp responded. “After I just saved your life from something much worse than any insect I’ve seen on this world…you really think I would sting you after doing that? Some friend I would be…”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa…” Shorty jerked up his head as he heard this, finally catching his breath. “I just met you, so don’t be calling yourself a friend of mine so quickly…I don’t even know who you are, or why I can even hear you talking…as far as I remember, flying stingers don’t talk at all.”
The wasp set down on the ground near Shorty, before it responded. “That is because I am not truly of your world.”
“I don’t understand…” Shorty furrowed his brow.
The wasp flew up and circled around the sky. “This is going to be hard for a creature like you to understand…but the sky is not the limit to your world. This world is merely part of a vast universe, and many of the stars you see at night are other homes to other beings, which are far, far away from this one.”
Shorty’s eyes widened at this revelation, looking up at the sky where the wasp circled. He would have debated this idea, but the existence of the creature he turned into, and the other creature he had fought were evidence enough. “Wow…and that’s where you come from?”
“Correct.” The wasp flew back down onto the grass, closer to Shorty. “I am called RITA: Robitic Interpersonal Tactical Assistant, and I have been sent to this world to watch over and help you.”
“Who sent you?” Shorty asked, curiously.
“I am not at liberty to tell you…” Rita answered. “They prefer to be known only as the ëhelping hands’.”
Shorty nodded slowly, before thinking of another question. “How long have you been here, watching me?”
“Ever since you arrived in this world.” Rita responded, simply.
“You mean since I was born?” Shorty’s eyes shot wide open, as he walked closer to Rita now. “That must mean you knew who my parents were, right?”
Rita didn’t answer…
“C’mon…” Shorty got a little impatient. “You must have known them, if you were watching me that long. I can’t remember them at all, and I can’t find anyone who knows about them. Tell me, please!”
Rita waited another moment, almost hesitating, before answering. “Shorty, I don’t know how to say this to you…”
“Say what to me?” His face got closer to Rita’s now. “What?”
“You have no parents…” Rita responded.
Shorty froze as he was hit with this information, not quite understanding, as he lifted his head back up, away from Rita. “That doesn’t make sense…Bron told me it takes a mother and a father to make a baby dinosaur.”
“Not always, Shorty…” Rita responded. “Sometimes, on other worlds, creatures are engineered…”
“Engineered?” Shorty looked down at Rita again, the term very alien to someone like him.
“Created by a single being, for a specific purpose…” Rita answered. “The truth of your existence, Shorty, is that you are an experiment. You were created by a being that calls itself ëThe Progenitor’.”
Couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He started to get angry, as he shook his head. “I don’t believe you…it can’t be true…I have to have parents…it can’t be true!”
“Shorty, get a hold of yourself!” Rita spoke to him firmly. “You know what happens now, when you lose your temper. Calm down, so I can tell you the rest. ”
Shorty panted a bit as gritted his teeth…his eyes turned red for a moment, but he soon suppressed the urge, calming down so he could hear the rest of what Rita had to say. “Ok…I’ll listen…why don’t you start by telling me what this Progenitor thing is?”
“Very well…I can tell you what I know…the Progenitor is an intelligent creature from another world, who can use his vast knowledge of DNA and genetic engineering to create his own new species, by assembling pieces from existing ones.”
“Am I to understand any of that?” Shorty furrowed his brow.
“I’m doing my best…I was never originally designed to inform a creature like yourself…basically, The Progenitor can create living things all by himself, and you’re one of the things he created….you were given your initial form, and placed on Earth to mix in with everyone else, until your alien genes finally matured.”
“Alien?” Shorty gave her a weird look.
“Yes…in addition to your ëlongneck’ genes, you were also given the genes of many other species through this universe, mixed together. And now they have activated inside of you, giving you your new form.”
“This is too much…” Shorty lowered his head.
“That’s not all, I’m afraid…The Progenitor has likely judged you as a successful experiment, so he has sent his creation, Talos, to retrieve you…your form is to be copied numerous times, and added to his growing army.”
“What happens to me then?” Shorty was scared to ask.
“In most cases, the experiment is considered weaker than the clones to be made, so it is often killed.”
“What?” Shorty’s head shot right back up. “What happens to the failures, then?”
“The Failures are simply killed.” Rita responded flatly.
Shorty walked closer to the wasp. “So you’re saying I’m dead either way…”
“Fear not…” Rita responded. “The main reason The Progenitor sent Talos after you, is that the helping hands are here now…they have constructed a device that keeps The Progenitor from creating a direct mind-link with you. Without it, The Progenitor would have been able to steer you right towards him by placing orders in your brain.”
“The helping hands are here?” Shorty asked. “Then why don’t they come out themselves?”
“Unfortunately, the only way they can keep the device working properly is to stay exactly where they are. They have set the spot as a rendezvous point, that I am to lead you to.”
“What are the helping hands going to do with me once I reach them?” Shorty furrowed his brow again.
“All will be explained to you once we arrive.” Rita told him. “I unfortunately don’t have the time to give you all the details.”
“I just still can’t believe all this…” Shorty spoke softly…the reality of this all had just hit him like a sledgehammer. “I don’t have a family…I don’t have parents, when all this time I thought I did…all this time, I was trying to live a life I wasn’t meant to live…” He clenched his eyes shut. “My life is a lie…”
“Shorty…” Rita spoke to him sternly. “Stay in control…”
“My whole life is a lie!” He spoke again, getting louder, huffing and puffing.
“Please Shorty, don’t give in to the urge again. Not now!”
“GRAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” Shorty suddenly roared out in a rage, his eyes going blood red once more. Rita could only watch as he got up onto his hind legs, and transformed into the creature once more. He wasted no time as he ran out through the misty lands, still roaring out in anger…anger mixed with pain, and sadness…the worst kind of blind rage he could fall into.
Rita follwed him as quickly as he could, trying to stop him before he did any damage, or attracted the attention of Talos.
Unfortunately, a male duckbill dinosaur was in the area, enjoying some food from the water nearby. He heard the sound of the creature’s roaring, and quickly looked up to see it running right towards him.
Before he could react, though, the creature soon hopped right on top of him, pinning him to the ground.
“Shorty, no!” Rita called out to the creature.
He didn’t listen, still lost in a blind rage, as he extracted his claws, and jammed one right into the duckbill’s stomach. The dinosaur roared in pain and jerked as blood began to leak out of his mouth. The creature roared viciously, keeping up with the attack, jamming his blades into the male’s stomach over and over again, staining the grass and his flesh with blood as he growled and snarled…before a tail suddenly came down and smacked the creature right off his victim.
The creature grunted and rolled back onto his feet, before he suddenly saw the female companion of the duckbill.
“Oh my stars! Herald!” The female attended to her wounded mate quickly, as a few children frantically scrambled around them, each of them shouting “Daddy! Daddy please don’t die! Please don’t die!”
It was at that moment the creature finally snapped out of his rage…he mournfully turned and fled, letting out a frustrated roar as he disappeared into the trees once more.
Rita followed quickly, and lost him for a brief period of time…the little robot kept up its search though, and eventually found him, deep within the woods. He was in his original form once more, parts of his body stained with blood as he lay on the ground curled up, sobbing.
“No…no…no…” Was all Shorty could manage to say through his tears. “How could I have done that?”
“Now you see…” Rita told him softly. “Now you know what it is you’re capable of doing…now you know just how dire your situation is.”
“He’s gonna die, isn’t he?” Shorty asked ashamedly, referring to the duckbill.
“I don’t know…” Rita responded. “He may die…or he may yet live…either way, we cannot waste time by waiting to find out. Not with Talos on your trail. We need to get you to the rendezvous point.”
“Leave me alone…” Shorty groaned. “If this is what I’m capable of now, then I’d rather have Talos find me, and kill me…”
“Shorty…” Rita spoke a little louder now. “If Talos catches you, there will be multiple versions of your altered self all over the galaxy. More innocent blood will be spilled, and that means even more blood will be on your hands…now get back on your feet!”
Shorty nodded slowly, as he stood back up, still stained with blood on parts of his body, a shaming reminder of what he had just done.
“Don’t give in to despair.” Rita spoke once more. “The helping hands will be able to save you from all this, I promise…all I need is for you to follow me, and trust me.”
Shorty nodded again. “Well…if it ultimately means getting rid of this horrible monster inside of me…then lead the way.
Rita complied, flying around him a few times, before going out into another section of the woods, leading him in the right direction.
“You should stay on foot for now…I know you can leap very far in your other form, but that will just make it easier for Talos to spot you.”
Shorty looked around at the woods, before gazing back at the wasp in the distance. “Good idea.” He responded, before vanishing into the mist with her once more…
I know they're basically minor characters, but it just warms my heart every time I see these two onscreen together. Knowing they've been together for so long, and showing such devotion. You've gotta admire that, especially in a world full of divorces today, hehe.
Anyone else here have any thoughts on these two? I'd love to hear them.
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