Innocense Behind the Mask
#29 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
Part 29 is now online.
"Spike? Spike where are you!" Ducky cried out as she patrolled the aftermath of the invasion. She grimaced as she stepped on a tiny dead body. She shuddered, and continued walking along. The Great Valley has been turned into a terrible nightmare of bloodshed and gore! She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and called out again, "Spike!"
But all she could hear was the terrible wind howling as it pushed against her face. With it came the horrible stench of rotting bodies that made her want to throw up. She coughed and gagged as the smell continued to fill her sensitive nostrils, and she finally started breathing through her mouth to avoid the horrid smell.
"Come on, Spike! Come on out!" She cupped her hands to her mouth this time to try and further strengthen the sound of her voice. But still, she could hear no reply. Ducky felt a sudden fear take root inside. She knew she wasn't strong enough to face big sharpteeth, and without Spike as her bodyguard, she was a sitting duck!
She inhaled deeply. "SPIKE FOR THE LAST TIME ANSWER ME!" She shouted as loud as she could, another vain attempt to at least get someone to answer her. But this time someone did hear. Someone did answer. But alas, it was not whom she wanted.
"Hello, Ducky. I can hear you just fine."
The dark voice sent a chill up her spine. "No...it can't be...not now...not here..." It should couldn't be him! She hasn't seen him at all in the valley. No one has. There's just no way it could be him. She closed her eyes tightly and slowly turned around, shaking like a leaf that's about to fall off a worn branch. "Please...no...no not him...please don't let it be him..." Ducky muttered as she slowly opened up her eyes. When they were fully opened, they stared at a set of sharp teeth.
She screamed. "You!"
"Yes, Ducky, me... Chomper."
The evil sharptooth grinned maliciously, showing to Ducky the stains of blood on his mouth. She grimaced and backed away. "But-But I thought you weren't here..."
A cruel laugh escaped Chomper's mouth. "Not here! Why my dear little Ducky..." He advanced forward. "I was always here..." He licked his teeth, smiling at the taste of blood. "I just made myself invisible to you and your friends..." He noticed Ducky's wide eyes as she stared at his teeth. "Oh, you wondering whose blood this is...? Well I'll tell you."
He leaned in forward and whispered into her ear. As the words snaked into her ears, cold hard terror nearly blanked her mind. The words echoed in her mind, paralyzing it with cold fear. She couldn't shiver. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. She couldn't speak. All she could do is stand there, still as stone, face paling in horror as realization plagued her fragile mind.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Ducky finally spoke in a shaky voice. "N-N-No...N-No...not him...No...no...no..." Tears welled up in her eyes. She choked back sobs. "I-It can't be true..."
"Oh, but it is, my dear." Chomper snorted. "And you're next..."
He lunged forward, mouth opened wide for the kill. Ducky didn't see him coming. She couldn't hear anything but those horrible words in her head, the words that Chomper had just spoken not too long ago. Chomper saw his advantage and took it. He was going to aim for her throat and rip it out. It would be a quick kill.
"No!" He screamed as he stopped dead in his tracks. This cry was enough to snap Ducky to her senses. Chomper clutched his head and closed his eyes tightly. "No, I'm not doing this anymore!" He howled, "Do you hear me! I'm not doing this any longer!"
Ducky watched in amazement. Chomper had suddenly stopped himself, and seemed to be arguing...with himself? She wanted to approach as curiousity settled in. But the other part of her wanted to keep away. The sharptooth could still attack her at anytime. "C-Chomper...?" She whispered softly as she watched the sharptooth on his knees, tears of fear coming out of his red eyes. "What are you doing?"
Chomper's eyes snapped open. He bared his teeth, and shouted through clenched teeth. "Go...now..."
"But...I..."
"GO! Before I change my mind..." Chomper growled almost evilly. Ducky stood there baffled. "NOW!" He roared, stomping his foot onto the ground, shaking it.
Ducky got the message and bolted away. Chomper was left alone, crouched on the floor, shaking. He did not look back. He did not look in the direction where Ducky had ran to. Instead he climbed to his feet and walked in the opposite direction.
Ducky ran through the woods, not daring to look back. She ignored the thorns she stepped in and the vines that tangled her. She didn't know where she was going. But she didn't care. She wanted to get away from there, as far away as she possibly could. Finally she stopped beside a large bare tree. She leaned against it, one hand on it, and breathed in deeply, trying to regain her stamina.
Chomper's behavior baffled her. One second he wants to rip out her throat. The next, he's letting her go, telling her to run away. Why had he done that? Ducky's mind was filled with mixed emotions. She hated Chomper for what he's doing. But she also pities him. It's almost as if this invasion wasn't his idea, or anything else he's done for that matter.
"Why...? Why did he do that...?" Grief as well as confused settled in her mind. "I'm so confused... yep yep yep..." She laid down next to the barren tree and curled up. Perhaps sleep would make her feel better. Completely forgetting of the danger she had just been in, she drifted off into sleep, leaving herself completely vulnerable to attack.
Doc, who had left the cave to look around the valley, felt something mentally strike him in his mind. He quickly looked in one direction, his eyes narrowed almost into slits. "So...I was right. Chomper is..." His voice trailed off. He shook his head, and turned around to walk back towards the cave. "I must tell Littlefoot and his pals about this."
At the same time, in a opening in the great wall, above where Chomper had let Ducky go, two figures were standing, both of the spechless. One of then were a sickleclaw, the one know as Salen, the other, the purple runner; Bari.
"Did you saw what I saw?" Salen asked his friend. "The great devil in sharptooth shape let one of his intended prey to escape? Yeah." Salen then turned to face him, locking in his gaze. "Do you know what this mean?"
"Chomper has finaly gone completely insane?" asked Bari stupidly, but Salen ignored it and said "Go back to our valley and tell the council about this now."
"About what? Comper finally losing his mind?" Bari asked.
"NOW!" roared Salen, at the same time the walls of the cave trembled and cracks appeared in them.
"Okay, okay. Don't make the celing fall on us." And with those last words Bari turned around, and in a blink of an eye, he was gone.
Salen was left alone, and whatched as Chomper raised up and started walking. Many toughs gone trough his mind now. Thoughs that the council would have to concider this new information, but most of al: Thoughs that Chomper could not have wanted any of this, that maybe he was still an innocent.
That maybe, just maybe, there was still being hope for him.