Flyers of the Mysterious Beyond

Pterano · **Reply #160 on:** May 22, 2011, 11:52:01 PM

Sierra only scowled, teeth still bared. "Come off it Pterano! I was talking to Devon! Devon... get over here!" he ordered, pointing to the ground in front of him. "And how I raise my kid is no business of yours, Pterano. Since when can YOU dictate to the likes of me such a thing? You haven't exactly been a saint yourself, either!" he snapped.

Rinkus cringed, and backed away towards Jared. "I'm sure this will pass. They just need to get a few things off their chests. Don't let this worry you too much. Just a little clearing of the air so to speak." Rinkus explained, hoping Jared wouldn't get too nervous about this.

trulyfantasticme · **Reply #161 on:** May 22, 2011, 11:58:40 PM

"Look, I know what I've done in the past was wrong, but at least I can bring myself to admit I was wrong! And Devon's been telling me all about how you raised him." Pterano took steps towards Sierra. "Abused him, putting doubts in his head, giving him that scratch mark on his face. I would most certainly call that raising him!"

Devon just watched in horror as Sierra let his anger take over him as he lunged at Pterano, shedding his claws.

Pterano · **Reply #162 on:** May 23, 2011, 12:06:14 AM

((Hey! No autoing, you! *pokes trulyfantasticme* I'll let it slide this time.

))

Sierra snarled, and lunged at Pterano, but stopped a mere inch from his face, as he caught sight of the horrified look on his son's face, seeing him quite clearly over Pterano's shoulder. "Grrrrr." he growled, backing up a few feet and lowering his raised claws. "Why don't we let Devon decide then, hm?" he glanced at Devon once more.

"Devon." He went on. "You uh... you really like Pterano more than you like me?" He asked, still breathing quite heavily but trying to keep himself in check. He had nearly lashed out of course, and was trying to prevent that, for whatever it was worth. He wanted to hear from his son first of all.

trulyfantasticme · **Reply #163 on:** May 23, 2011, 12:21:39 AM

Pterano snarled back at him. "You keep Devon out of this, you son of a tarpit!" He glanced back at Devon. "Dont you worry, Devon. I'll take care of this." He turned to Sierra. "If you even put a claw on Devon, I'll kick you out for good! Do you understand?"

"Tell him, Pterano!" Devon shouted. To be honest, now that Sierra gave him a choice, he would decide to go with Pterano, cause to him, Pterano was the only friend he's ever had. Pterano was always there for him, to help him, to comfort him and to hold him in his arms. He helped him through thick and thin while Sierra either told him to "get a grip" or just completely ignore him. He rushed up to Pterano and leaned in against him.

Pterano couldn't help but smile in pride as he wrapped his arms around the boy, holding him protectively in his arms. Then he continued to glare at Sierra.

Jrd89 · **Reply #164 on:** May 23, 2011, 01:48:45 AM

*whew! you can slow down and relax a little, guys...wow, over 1 page written in just 1 day. Great job! Everyone give yourselves a pat on the back. NICE work!

*

Jared was frightened from all the nasty yelling Sierra did. Then, he thought...

I can't believe Sierra used to be his father...he SCRATCHED Devon's face?!?! SOME father HE WAS!..." thought the tan rhamphorhynchus. Then, Jared looked at Devon in Pterano's arms. He liked the young, friendly, innocent blue cearadactylus. He looked so nice and kind. Jared smiled. He wanted to meet Devon and be friends with him.

Jared walked right up to Pterano, who was still holding Devon in his arms... It was such a tender, loving sight for him to see, he almost cried...

Then, he smiled warmly, and looked at the young, blue flyer. "Hi, Devon. My name's Jared. I'm very happy to meet you."

The Great Valley Guardian · **Reply #165 on:** May 23, 2011, 03:32:33 AM

The kid thought about the flyers question, and he shut his eyes tight not sure if he could remember his name. His mind was whirling fast, almost too fast as the child suddenly felt dizzy and still couldn't come up with any name. Then a horrible thought came to him.... and the thought chilled the child to his very soul....What if he'd been born without one?!

But the child pushed that thought aside quickly as that wouldn't make any sense... but he had no family, no home, no one really knew who he was... he'd been alone for so long that perhaps now... a name... simply didn't matter, but this female flyer had asked if he had one... what would be the harm in telling the truth... if he didn't have one, then perhaps she could give him one.

The kid looked down at the ground, then back at the female flyer and still stared as she smiled. He didn't want to keep her waiting... but he was afraid she'd laugh if he told her he didn't have a name. But after another few moments of silence the kid shuddered as he replied, "I... I... I don't have a name... I'm sorry! Please don't abandon me!"

Allicloud · **Reply #166 on:** May 23, 2011, 05:20:26 AM

[I'm still a bit confused. Did Pterano beat the crap out of another sharptooth, or was that Redback?]

Redback looked about the cave, an awkward silence hanging in the air. He watched Pterano embracing Devon, Sierra looking on. Redback nudged Tero, who hopped of his shoulders and landed at his side.

He muttered quietly to Tero "This is gettin' a bit much for me, I'm gonna slip out. I know an awkward situation when I see one."

Speaking up clearly, he said "Well, um, I dunno about you guys, but I'm gettin' kinda hungry. I'm just gonna, er, step out a minute and get me some food. Tero, you stay here, STAY, okay?"

Tero nodded and sat down on a nearby rock, as Redback stepped outside the cave and sat down on the ledge. IT was easy living with these flyers, once you get them to stop throwing rocks at you, but pretty hectic.

[BTW, if it's okay, could the players give a sort of sound off as to where exactly they are in the game? I'm kinda confused about whose where.]

bushwacked · **Reply #167 on:** May 23, 2011, 07:31:36 AM

"Whoa, Sierra, you have a son?!" Luke gasped. Looking from Sierra to Devon and back again, he could see similarities, but so far their personalities seemed totally different.

Following Jared's lead, he approached Devon uneasily. "Hey, I'm Luke..." Being around smaller kids always made him feel uncomfortable. He darted his eyes around, unsure of what to do, then said, "Uh... I'll help you find food, Redback. Wait up!" Taking off, he followed the large sharptooth out of the cave.

trulyfantasticme · **Reply #168 on:** May 23, 2011, 09:37:10 AM

"Abandon you?" Artie asked as she continued to hold the kid. "Why would I abandon such a sweet innocent child like you?" She stroked his head. "I'll never leave you."

----------------------------------------------------------------

Devon stared at Jared shyly. He held his hand out for Jared to shake it, but didn't really say anything as he laid his head on Pterano's chest, closing his eyes as he listened to that heartbeat of the older flyer's.

Pterano just smiled as he did so, resting his beak protectively on his head. He loved this boy. He gently stroked the top of his head, whispering, "It's gonna be okay," in such a loving fatherly voice that it caught everyone else off guard.

Pterano · **Reply #169 on:** May 23, 2011, 12:36:08 PM

"Yes, I have a son." Sierra snapped in response to Luke's question. "That blue flyer is MY son." He said, glaring at Devon as he moved right up against Pterano's chest.

This caused the brown flyer to gawk in astonishment. "Unbelievable..." He said, muttering. "Pterano... just what did you do to him?" he asked, hardly believing his eyes.

Rinkus too shook Devon's hand. "As said earlier, I'm Rinkus, very nice to meet you. You should like it here... provided of course your past doesn't get in the way too much." the pink rhamphorhyncus motioned with his head over to Sierra, who was shaking his own head.

"Or maybe it's Devon." Sierra was still murmuring, trying to figure this all out in his head.

Allicloud · **Reply #170 on:** May 23, 2011, 05:33:33 PM

Redback and Tero looked back to see Luke following them.

"Sure, come on."

As soon as they were out of the cave, Tero spread his slightly tattered wings and took to the air. Redback grinned up at him.

"Heheh, that Tero. You can never tell what's going on in his head. That blank face, plus he's not talked for years, not since...well, the accident."

The sharptooth's face grew deadly serious for a moment as he watched his friend in the sky. But the moment passed quickly enough as he looked to Luke

"Truth is, I'm not that hungry... I'm just not great with situations like...well, you saw what it was like. Emotions runnin' high, fights breakin' out all over the place. Not my thing, you know?"

Tero landed by his side an nudged him. Redback nodded to him. "Say, Luke. You think those flyers back there would want to meet another friend of ours... Well, friend, or friends, depending on what mood you catch him in. But anwyays, what do you think?"

trulyfantasticme · **Reply #171 on:** May 23, 2011, 06:59:41 PM

Devon buried his head into Pterano's chest again, placing his hand on his shoulder. Pterano couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't be frightened, son." he cooed in that same fatherly voice that again caught everyone else off guard, not even caring if Sierra could hear or not. (

I sense Sierra's gunna be very angry...

) "Come on out. Rinkus won't bite."

That caused Devon to pop his beak out, staring at Rinkus in curiosity like a hatchling would do. "Hi," he managed to squeak out.

"Don't you worry, Devon." Pterano told the younger flyer in his arms. "Rinkus and I will protect you from Sierra."

Pterano · **Reply #172 on:** May 23, 2011, 08:14:11 PM

"Grrrr! He's NOT your son!" Sierra cut in, trying to remind them of that. "He's MY son! Devon..." Sierra said, trying to get his attention.

Rinkus gulped a little at Pterano volunteering him to protect Devon, but realized if he was being forced to choose sides, he may as well go with Pterano in this, for Jared's sake. Jared was a better friend than Sierra was, and Rinkus knew that Jared would never support Sierra. So, the pink flyer nodded, and gave Devon a smile.

"That's right Devon. We shall." Rinkus stated firmly.

"Now wait a minute! Protect him from what!? I'm not gonna do anything to him!" Sierra exclaimed, brushing a wing back behind him to emphasize his point.

trulyfantasticme · **Reply #173 on:** May 23, 2011, 08:33:53 PM

"We don't know that." Pterano snapped back, tightening his arms around the frightened boy. "All I know, you might hurt him, or worse!"

Devon shedded a tear, gazing up at Pterano with fright in his eyes. "I wanna get outta here..."

Pterano stared down at him, gazing into the blue flyer's eyes. It was then that he had realized he had forgotten all about Artie and the kid. She had to be around here somewhere, he thought to himself. "Alright." Pterano whispered, but just loud enough for everyone else to hear before turning towards Rinkus. "Devon and I will go find Artie. Everyone, stay right where you are."

The red and blue flyer finally broke the hug, spreaded their wings, and took off to the sky.

bushwacked · **Reply #174 on:** May 24, 2011, 02:37:08 AM

Following the path leading away from the cave, Luke nodded. "Bringing someone else could soften the atmosphere. And now there's kids in the cave... I'm not so good around kids..."

Glancing at Tero, Luke frowned. "An accident, you said? Sorry if it's not my place to ask, but... what happened?"

Allicloud · **Reply #175 on:** May 24, 2011, 07:55:56 AM

Redback gulped audibly. He knew this was a rather sensitive topic for Tero, and he was brooding and unforgiving on a good day! He looked nervously to the flyer as he walked by his side. Tero simply rolled his eyes and gave a nod.

With relief, Redback smiled at him and lowered his head by Luke. "Hop on. I'm gonna go get this friend of mine, I'll tell ya on the way."

As Luke perched on his shoulders, Redback set off, Tero in tow, and told his story as he walked.

"Well, a couple years back, me and Tero didn't know eachother at all, we were both lone dinosaurs, out in the Beyond. Of course, back then, I was a real monster. Pure sharptooth, savage, feral, eating anyone who looked at me wrong. The one day, I ran into Tero. He was perched up on a hill, just lookin' out at the Beyond. Well, I saw him as easy prey and I tried to grab him. But he wasn't one to go down easily, eh Tero?"

The flyer nodded.

"Well, we must've kept the fight up for days! We chased and hunted and fought eachother all across the land. Eventually, we got so tired, we just both collapsed and called it quits. We've been friends ever since.
So, we joined up, each protecting and helping the other. I protected him from sharpteeth, he taught me to talk. Back then, he wasn't exactly talkative, but he could at least speak. In fact, out of respect, we each got into eating the other's food, playing eachother's games, it was good times.
But one day, we made mistakes. Wandered into bad territory. We ran into a fast-biter."

Tero quickened his pace a little, so he went out in front.

"Well, we held our ground against the guy. But Tero wasn't quite fast enough. I managed to get the fast-biter off of him and...ahem, get rid of him, but the damage had been done. Y'see his left leg? All twisted and mangled? Yeah, the fast-biter did that to him. But something happened to Tero after that. He became grim and silent, never talking to anyone, always going off to brood, always staring off into the distance. He's never been the same since."

Redback watched his friend in front of him, as he limped ahead. He was as graceful as always in the sky, but on the ground, he always had that slight hobble and that odd stance.

Tero stopped, and pointed ahead. Taking to the sky, he glided above them for a moment.

"Ah, Zin must be up and about. We're here."

[Also, a note to all players, I have an important request of everyone in the discussion thread, if you'll kindly check it out, please. I know some people have read it, but just so everyone knows it's there.]

bushwacked · **Reply #176 on:** May 24, 2011, 01:30:55 PM

After hearing the story behind Redback and Tero's friendship, Luke let out a breath shakily. "Wow... I thought me and Jared had it bad when we were trying to survive out here. You hunted each other for days? I'm glad I'm on your good sides..." Looking at Tero's wounded leg, Luke felt a surge of respect. He could count the number of fast-biter survivors he knew on one claw.

Curious about Zin, Luke stood higher up on Redback. "Is Zin another of your friends from.. ah... back in the days?" he asked, scanning the horizon. " I don't see anyone out there..."

Allicloud · **Reply #177 on:** May 24, 2011, 02:21:53 PM

"Well, sorta. We've known old Zin for a while, but we haven't seen them for a year of two. I wonder how the old longfinger's doing."

The trio rounded a corner, and there before them stood a massive cave opening. Tentatively stepping towards the mouth of the cave, Redback let out an echoing shout.

"HEELLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ZIN YOU OLD THING, YOU IN THERE?!"

Silence prevailed for a few seconds, but then something stirred in the cave. A gentle thud, thud, thud heralded the footsteps of something big.

Tero landed down next to Redback and Luke, who stood still as Zin came out.

If Luke thought Redback was a big fellow, he was astounded by Zin. Almost twice as tall as the sharptooth, he was a strange looking thing. His legs and tail were similar to those of a sharptooth, as was his gait, though his age left him stooping almost parallel to the ground. His upper body was like that of a longneck, with the bulky torso and long neck, both wrinkled and battered by time.
But strangest of all were his arms. They were similar in build to those of a sharptooth as well, but longer and with three fingers on each hand. But to top it all off, each finger ended in a massively long claw, which was so long it reached from his body to the ground, with one hand of claws dragging behind him, the other held out in front, the claws sticking into the ground to support him like a walking stick.

"Keep yer voice down, we're coming! Now, er, who is it?"

"It's your old friend Redback, Zin." Redback called up in a loud voice, annunciating each word slowly, as if talking to a deaf person. "Tero and I have come to visit!"

Zin lowered his head down to their level and eyed them with a smile "Well now, Redback you young scallywag! You haven't visited us for so long, we were wondering if our old eyes would ever see you again. And Tero, how are you? Still as quiet as ever, lad?"

Tero nodded, even giving the slightest hint of a tight smile.

Zin stepped in closer "Ah, and I see you have someone new."

Redback looked back at Luke, still perched on his shoulders. "Ah yes, this is Luke, Zin. He's a new friend of ours. We're staying with him and a group of his flyer friends."

[Once again, in case you are unsure, Zin is a Therizinosaurus.]

bushwacked · **Reply #178 on:** May 24, 2011, 04:58:39 PM

"Whoa..." Luke gawped up at the huge figure in front of him, his beak hanging open. He'd never seen anyone like this before, who seemed assembled from many different creatures. Even with Zin bending over, even standing on top of Redback, Luke still had to tilt his head back to look at the old man. Then he realised that Zin was gazing at him, and closed his beak with a snap.

Luke smiled and cleared his throat nervously. "Hi," he said. Leaning forwards, he extended his claw as if offering it to shake, then realised everything on Zin was too big to shake. He settled for patting him on the arm instead. "Pleased to meet you Zin," he said, following Redback's lead and pronouncing each word clearly so the old man could hear. "You said us? Are there others in this cave?"

trulyfantasticme · **Reply #179 on:** May 24, 2011, 09:59:22 PM

About time I updated this story. Now where was I? Oh yes, like Pterano said in my story, "I'm getting old!"

Any way, ONTO THE STORY!!!!!!!!!

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Pterano landed on a near by cliff, leaning against the wall and panting as Devon landed beside him. "Are you okay?" the blue flyer asked him, concerned.

"Yeah, I could use some water though." the older flyer returned as he slid himself into a seat against the wall.

"Funny, I just happened to come across this wet treestar..." Devon handed the older flyer a dripping wet treestar.

"Devon, you're a lifesaver." Pterano said as he squeezed the treestar so water can drip into his mouth. "Thank you."

"Pterano? Guys?"

That caused the two flyers to crane their necks towards the female voice. There stood a blue flyer with a child in her arms. "Oh, and who might this be, Pterano?"

"Pterano grabbed Devon by the shoulders and nudged him in front. "This here is my son, Devon...okay, he isn't really my biological son, but I did adopt him." Devon smiled in great admiration at Pterano. All of a sudden, he felt the strength to stand up to his cruel father, Sierra once and for all.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, miss..." Devon shook her hand, but he couldn't figure out what to call her.

"This is my new friend, Artie." Pterano introduced, placing a hand on the blue flyer's shoulder.

"Hi there," She shook his hand. "So what brings you two here?"

"We came to inform you that it is safe to come back to the cave." Pterano replied firmly.

"Oh, okay. Shall we get going then?"

"Umm..." Pterano then remembered about the little fight he and Sierra had, and how scared Devon was. "You two go ahead, Devon and I will stay a little while."

She nodded, not wanting to question his plan, for she could see in his eyes that there was something Pterano and Devon had to get off their chests. She took off with the child on her back, leaving the two flyers to their thoughts.