Tunnels
#43 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
"What! Destroy my egg!" Ali rose to her feet, looking rather furious. She glared at the raptor standing before her. She placed a protective leg in front of the egg. "What gives you the right!"
Sandstorm's light red eyes looked into her blue eyes. "It's for the good of the valley, maybe even the whole world, Ali." He lowered his gaze, almost as if ashamed. "I'm not happy about it either, but it's the only way." He looked at the egg, eyes blazed with suspicion and anger. "But it's just far too dangerous to let that egg hatch and let out who knows what from it."
The female longneck continued to glare at him. Maternal instinct was clouding her judgement. Despite knowing the danger, she refused to let her egg be destroyed until it was hatching day. She would protect the egg for the next few weeks, as it usually takes for the embryo to fully develop and emerge into the outside world. She wasn't about to let some sharptooth destroy her own egg just because he thinks it's cursed! "I don't care what you say." She stepped forward, pushing her face up against the small sharptooth. "I am not letting you destroy that egg!"
"Ali!" Sandstorm said quickly. "Be reasonable!"
"No, YOU be reasonable!" Ali growled. "There's probably just some innocent little baby in there! I'm not going to let it be destroyed by a superstition old coot like you!"
"Ali!" This time it came from Yu. "Listen to him! We can't have that egg around here! We must dispose of it!"
"NO!" Ali roared, settled down protectively in front of the egg. "Littlefoot and I made this egg together, and I plan seeing it hatch! I want to see the baby longneck inside!" She gently nuzzled the egg, feeling the smoothness of its shell against her scaly face. When Yu and Sandstorm took a step closer, they were taken aback by Ali snapping at them swiftly, and returning to her egg. The two raptors were dumbfounded, staring at each other, as if asking 'what are we going to do now?'
"See? Told you there be nothing to worry about." Petrie said, smiling almost slyly. "If Ali no worry, we should no worry neither."
"That's either, you dolt..." Sandstorm murmured under his breath, glaring at the plant-eating flyer. "And I'm telling you, we do have something to worry about." He eyed the egg again before looking back at Petrie. "That egg...something is indeed wrong with it. It's just not normal..."
"You sharpteeth have better sense of smell than we do." Petrie explained. "Perhaps you just picking up scents we can't." He shrugged his shoulders, smiling, as if he knew this was the truth.
Ducky nodded in agreement, laying next to her still recovering brother. "There's no need to worry then. Ali's right. You are getting worked up over nothing, yep yep yep." She smiled as she finished her trademark yep yep yep. She stroked her brother's head as his eyes opened up. He lifted up his head and looked at Sandstorm and Yu, eyes barely focused.
"Messa think you right..." He took in a breath shakingly. "Maybe dat egg something wrong."
Ducky looked at her brother, surprised. "You believe them, Spike?" Her brother gave a nod. "But why?" She tilted her head. "Why do you think they are right about the egg being evil?"
"B-Because..messa can smell something no right about egg, too."
"Okay, we're almost there." Shuva said, smiling with confidence. She continued dragging the longneck closer and closer to her pack's home cave tunnel network. He would be save in there, and the new cave tunnels were large enough for him to fit inside and walk around with no problems. She forgotten why they decided to make the tunnels bigger. Maybe it was to allow more alimons to live there. After all there has been a population boost in the past few years.
As soon as she got to the entrance, she nudged her head against the longneck's face, an attempt to awaken him. "Come on, get up." She whispered softly. The longneck didn't respond right away. Frustrated, Shuva pushed on his head harder, causing his head to hit the ground a little hard after Shuva moved her muzzle away.
"Ow!" Littlefoot muttered, awaking slowly, his eyes blinking in the darkness. "Shuva?" He shook his head groggily. "W-Where are we?" He lifted up his neck to take a better look, but immediately cried out in pain.
"Try to take it easy, young longneck." Shuva said soothingly. "I must take you inside for your treatment. That is a nasty burn you have on your neck."
Littlefoot struggled to his feet, careful not to inflict any more pain to his already incredibly sensitive burn spots. As Shuva led him inside the cave, it almost instantly brought back memories. When he was younger, he recalled exploring these caves. "Just like the old days." He thought to himself as Shuva led him down into a deeper part of the cave. He had to bend his neck down when the height of the cave suddenly dropped to about half it was before. Shuva could handle it no problem, but Littlefoot had a feeling his neck muscles were going to be sore in the morning if he stays down here too long.
When the tunnel finally ended, the roof dramatically rose back up to where it was before, much to the relief of the young longneck, who raised his head back up to where he's used to it being. He took a look around. This place was massive! It was much larger than he had remembered it. Then again he's never been to this part of the caves before. There were several holes in the cave walls, black as emptiness.
Shuva stepped up on a platform that was in front of them. She turned to Littlefoot and gestured for him to sit down. As he did so, the alimon sucked in as much breath as she could, and she let out a huge, loud howling sound.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRROO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The howl echoed throughout the cave, bouncing inside the tunnels, sending its message to other parts of the cave. The echoing continued for several minutes, and Littlefoot was shaking his head from the intensity of the sound that just came from the small Shuva.
No sooner had she done this, the tunnels stirred to life. Several alimons began emerging out of them. Some looked a bit annoyed, others looked curious. Some looked groggy, others looked very much alert. Some were small, and some were large. Some were young, and some were old. They all came gathering in the large opening that Littlefoot was now residing in. Every alimons' eyes were set on him and Shuva.
And, emerging last, was the lead alimon. The others departing, making a path for him. They bowed their heads in respect for him. The alimon came up to Shuva. He was middle-aged at least. His eyes were surrounded in rings of brown, the same color as his paws and tip of his tail. His entire body was dark blue. He smiled, but his yellow eyes still head the look of seriousness. "Welcome back, Shuva."
The female alimon bowed her head to her leader. "I am happy to be back, Siria."