Escape Fortress Valley
#45 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
Back at Fortress Valley, all seemed lifeless. The tall grass swayed in the wind as it gently brushed it with its mighty breath. The mountains seemed to whistle as wind swirled around it. Leaves that had fallen danced in the whirling air, and came to settle on the soft Earth. If someone wasn't well informed of the valley's secrets, it would be paradise. Suddenly, the silence and beauty of the valley was shattered when a flying sharptooth sailed overhead, cawing loudly as it circled high above Fortress Valley. It was brown in color, a light green on its underbelly and color, and its beak the color of the sun itself. It was a male, and his name was Nopsid.
Nopsid quicky too roost on top of one of the dangerously pointed mountains surrounding the grassland and woodland. He was one of the few sharpteeth who stayed behind to keep an eye on the place. Chomper didn't want to leave the captives unguarded for fear they might run off. Nopsid sailed the skies about every twenty minutes or so and kept an constant look out for runaways.
Down below, behind Nopsid's keen eyesight, two figures, bent low to the ground, slowly walked across a series of shadows. Their eyes were wide, even in the darkness, and their breathing was low and labored as fear gripped their hearts. The one in the front suddenly stopped, causing the other to bump into him. "Hey!" The other one, female, hissed quietly. "Don't stop so suddenly!"
"Shhh!" He hissed at her, putting his finger to his mouth to emphasize. "Do you want bird-brain up there hearing us?" He gestured towards the large flyer, who was now taking a short nap. "If we want to get out of here, we have to get past him and fast."
"But Nychus, what if he does see us before we have a chance to make it out of this prison?" She asked, voice laced with fear as she stared wide-eyed at Nopsid.
Nychus smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Syna, we'll get out of here soon enough."
As the moonlight stared to shine through the clouds, the figures lurking in the shadows lsowly came into some kind of view. Nychus, the one in the front, was an iguanadon, a spikethumb. His body was covered in blue-green scales, with a light teal underbelly, and speckled with many small black spots. His thumbclaws were long and sharp, ready to be used against an enemy. The other, Syna, was not an iguanadon as it might have sounded. She was something else entirely. As the moonlight started to shine on her, her body was covered with silver scales, and the only parts that were a different color was her underbelly, which was white, and her eyes, surrounded with white. Her eyes were blue. She was a protoceratops, a zerohorn.
Syna was fully grown. Her kind was never very big, even smaller than Hyp's kind. Nychus was much larger than Syna, but was not yet fully grown. He was only half the age of Littlefoot. The two crept along as best as they could as Nopsid continued sleeping. They knew that time was running out. Nopsid would wake up again and begin his search. The plant-eaters slowly made their way towards the entrance of the cave, knowing very well that, with most of the sharpteeth gone, the traps wouldn't work. All the traps had to be activated by groups of sharpteeth who took turns moditering the entrance so no intruders could come in.
Nychus placed his hand on the entrance of the cave. He looked down and Syna, who was slowly approaching cautiously. "Well...it's now or never..." He whispered.
"Freedom..." Syna said softly. "I almost forgotten what it felt like..."
"Huh...what's going on...?" The brown flyer stirred awake, his red eyes slowly opening.
"Oh no!" Nychus said, and shoved Syna inside the tunnel. "Quickly, in here! Let's go, now!" Syna nodded and ran as fast as she could inside the tunnel, feeling relieved as her body was bathed in darkness, which provided some protection against the sharptooth flyer in case he tried looking down here. Nychus climbed inside as well and began making his way down the tunnel. They didn't hear anything more from Nopsid except a groan and a snoring sound. They still had time to get far enough away from the valley that Nopsid wouldn't spot them, even from air.
They soon made their way towards the exit, light from the moon shining on them almost mercifully. Syna took her first breath of freedom, something she hadn't had since she was a teenager. Her body shook and her mind was boggled. Was this a dream? Could it be real? "Could we really be free? Are we free?" She whispered, not able to hold back a smile of glee.
Nychus panted as he stumbled out of the cave. "Yes, Syna, we're free. We're finally free."
Then he stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening and the color wenting away from his features. In front of him as no other that the know as the most hardcore and best fighter sharptooth in all of Fortress Valley. No other than Sylvia.
"W-W-WHAT DID WE DO!" Shouted a male squawking voice as he seemed to be struggling for his life. It was Ichy. A dark blue, red striped female troodon named Wounder had gripped his legs together and was dragging him towards General Chomper, who had recently returned. Chomper had gotten word of what happened, and was furious at Dil and Ichy's failed attempt. He had given them a second chance, and they failed. Their usefulness had ended. Ichy panicked and kept trying to fly away, but the troodon, although small, was heavy enough to deny any real flight for Ichy.
"Yeah!" Cried a female voice, growling. "We tried our best! We really did!" It was Dil. She was confused. She could barely see what was going on. She only saw darkness with some forms of shadow. She also struggled to get away. She was a lot stronger than Ichy, but not strong enough to escape the grip of one of the giant sharpteeth, slightly larger than Chomper's foster parents, who was dragging her along by her tail with his mouth. The large sharptooth was a pale green with white underbelly. His name was Reaper.
As Wounder and Reaper continued dragging Dil and Ichy closer and closer to General Chomper, the carnotaurus was standing at the end of a whole line of sharpteeth. There were many sharpteeth, both large and small, both swimming and flying. Many of them bared their teeth at the sharp-beak and bellydragger as they were being taken to their doom. A handful of sharpteeth either looked away or looked at them sympathetically.
When they reached their destination, Ichy and Dil were tossed at Chomper's feet. They screamed, and backed off. Ichy tried to fly away, but the blue horned sharptooth snatched him out of the sky and tossed him back to the ground. "You cannot escape your punishment, sharpbeak!" Chomper shouted cruelly. "Your use has ended now!"
As Chomper drew closer, all Dil and Ichy could do was wait for the jaws of death to close in around them right in front of the sharpteeth who were gathered around.
Dark Rex soared through the air high above the valley. He was heading towards the cave where Littlefoot was hiding, or so he thought. The large dragon/dinosaur hybrid perched in the highest tree. Despite his large size, he could land perfectly, and he began to search his surroundings. "Oh Littlefoot...why don't you come out and play with your old pal, Rex?" He taunted, and took off again. Once he saw the cave, he grinned.
"It's time to play..." He grinned as he slowly walked towards the cave entrance.
In a cave in the mountain walls, far away from Dynamo's cave, five figures emerged out into the moonlight. They were the same creatures from before, the one who seemed to be 8 ft tall was in the front. His eyes glared down at the valley as hatred filled his mind. He could remember what had happened here years ago, even though at the time he was only a kid. Now it was time for revenge. He grinned.
The moonlight revealed that all four figures were alimons, just like Shuva and Dynamo. The lead alimon was gray in color with a brown underside starting from his lower jaw and stretching to the tip of his tail. His eyes were red against a yellow background and his claws were light gray. His name was Gris, and he was the son of the alimon who had betrayed Donovan so many years ago.
A second alimon, standing closest to Gris, was Retaru, a red alimon with darker red stripes along his back and a white stomach that didn't stretch on his neck or tail. His claws were yellow, and his eyes were also yellow, but against white this time.
A third alimon, that was the second closest to Gris, was one of his own child: Garick. He was a ruby-red alimon with dark-grey strips running down his back and had yellow-green eyes. His teeth and claws were of a pure white and shinned at the moonlight.
A fourth alimon, furthest back, was white in color and had a few black spots and a black underside starting from his face, covering it with black, and ending between his legs. His claws were the color of blood. He was called Snowstorm. His eyes were yellow against a blue background.
The final alimon, who looked to be the smallest, was called Sumaru, was black in color with red stripes covering his body. A light blue covered his mouth, paws, eyes, and tip of his tail. His eyes were green with white background.
"Soon..." Gris spoke, grinning evilly. "Our plan will come full circle...and the Great Valley will finally be ours!" He laughed. Retaru and Snowstorm nodded with agreement, their hungry eyes settling down on the valley. Garick had a unreadible expression, almost as if he was or very sad or angry. Only Sumaru seemed to be doubtful.
"Yes, but are we sure it's going to work?" He asked, and was quickly siezed by Gris, who shook him up.
"Of course we're sure!" He hissed, and dropped Sumaru. "And when that egg hatches..." He didn't finish, but just laughed.