Dragon Heart
#46 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
The group stared at Spike as the spiketail continued to speak. "N-No egg has that smell...Not even sharptooth, egg stealer eggs..." He coughed, and Ducky stroked his head, reassuring him. Spike smiled, but continued talking despite the pain. "If hatch, we may die..." He said, before collapsing back down. His breathing became labored. He still hadn't fully recovered. The wounds on him were pretty deep. Ducky looked at him worringly before turning to see Ali's expression.
Ali's expression was still dark, but a few hints of tears began rolling from her eyes. She couldn't doubt Spike's sense of smell, nor the sharpteeth's sense of smell. She knew what they were saying was true, but she still didn't want to believe it. She stared at her egg, or what she thought was her egg, and gently pushed it with her snout. She almost screamed when two red eyes glowed from within the shell. She recoiled and backed out of the nest. "What was that!" She shrieked.
Sandstorm quickly walked over to the sound of Ali's cry. He almost screamed himself when he saw the red eyes. Everyone stared at horror at the egg, now knowing for sure that this egg was out of the ordinary. Sandstorm cautiously approached, hands outstretched as if ready to deflect a blow. As he got closer, he could see a faint figure inside. He narrowed his eyes to try to get a better look. It had a beak, and feathers, but it also had...scales?
"This creature...it's nothing like I've seen before." Sandstorm admitted. "If it hatches, I won't know how to stop it..." As he spoke, the egg rocked back and forth on its own, causing Petrie to panick and fly to a further part of the cave, where he hid behind a rock and shivered. Ali couldn't keep her eyes off the egg. Her maternal instincts told her to take the egg and nuzzle it, but her brain was telling her to smash it. The egg was a threat to her very survival.
"But I know..." Said a ghostly female voice. Everyone whirled their heads around to see Doc. At first they were confused. Doc was no female longneck, that's for sure. But he smiled, and disappeared, causing everyone to scream with surprise. As the vapor that was once Doc faded away, a new one was formed. No one in the room could recognize the new longneck, who seemed to be in the prime of her life. Sandstorm knew she was a spirit, and to be that young, she must have been killed.
The female longneck was a brownish color with what looked like light ivory along the lip of her top jaw and stretched onto her chest and belly, and ended at the tip of her tail. There was a dark brown stripe starting at the tip of her snout, went along her back, and connected with her spine, and went to the tip of her tail. She lowered her head and looked into the eyes of Ali. Ali gulped and backed away. The new ghost longneck studied her for a few seconds, before lifting her head up. "You remind me of my son, Littlefoot."
Ducky was the first to speak. "You're Littlefoot's mother?" She stammered, in complete shock. The female longneck looked to her, and gave a soft smile.
"Why, yes I am." She then looked at Sandstorm. Instead of looking at him with hatred, she lowered her head so she would be eye level with the veteran. "I know what's inside that egg. You must destroy it."
Sandstorm couldn't speak for several minutes. He finally found the courage, and stammered, "W-What's inside it?"
Littlefoot's mother winced, and closed her eyes. "Stoneglare..." A stoneglare, or better known as a cockatrice, was a creature of myth and legend. It was part bird, part serpent, and could kill when it made eye contact with anyone.
Suddenly, the ghostly apparation disappeared as fire spewed through the caves, licking against the cave walls. The dinosaurs inside quickly backed away as smoke filled the caves. They coughed and wheezed until they had no choice but to get out. When they reached the outside, they continued coughing, and tried to get out of the smoke. The wind mercifully blew the smoke away, revealing a famliar and yet unfamiliar figure. Petrie perched on top of Ali's head as he stared wide-eyed at this new creature.
"A-A flamebreath...?" He stammered, looking frightened.
The flamebreath, dark blue in color, grinned. He stroked one of his enormous fangs as he started to walk closer to Ali. Ali glared at him defiently, almost daring him to attack. "Why young Ali, as defient as ever." He sneered, putting his hand on her chin. She retaliated by trying to bite him, but it resulted in a slash across her face. Ali cried out in pain as the flamebreath growled, "Try that again, and it will be your eyes next time!"
His eyes set on Petrie, who was trembling with fear. "And Petrie..why are you so afraid? Don't you recognize your old pal, Rex?" He laughed coldly.
Petrie lifted his head up, staring at the flamebreath with disbelief. "No...it can't be..."
"But it is." Yu said, jumping in front of the group. "Chomper forced Rex to betray us all." He stood his ground between the one sharptooth and leaf-eaters, and the maniacal Dark Rex. "He is no longer the Rex we knew." His voice was low as he said that as the feeling of betrayal filled his heart.
Ducky shivered. "But...how could Rex become this...?"
"Because my past life was a flamebreath!" Dark Rex shouted, spreading out his torn wings. "I have inherited the powers of a flamebreath! Behold!" He opened his mouth and shot out huge fireballs from his mouth, which the group could barely dodge. The plants nearby caught in fire, and the fire started to spread rapidly, burning any vegetation it touched. Petrie and Ducky watched in horror as part of their homeland was getting destroyed by the intense heat. Ali couldn't take it anymore and charged forward, causing Petrie to fly off her head.
Ali used her tail to knock Dark Rex down. She then pinned him down with one of her feet. She lowered her head against his, and growled. "Don't do that again, or I'll..." She couldn't finish when Dark Rex wrapped his claws around her face, closing her mouth. He then pushed her head down into the dirt, and her body followed, falling onto its side. The flamebreath then rose to his feet, and let go of the longneck's head. He then pressed his feet onto her neck, and started to press down. Ali's eyes widened as she felt her windpipe being closed.
"Or you'll what...?"
Shuva and Littlefoot walked side by side through the forest. Littlefoot's wounds had been treated enough that he was well enough to return back to the cave. One of the alimons that Littlefoot had met in the cave was coming along. This alimon was male and about the same size as Shuva. He had mentioned his name before was Spellbound, because he was good in the art of magic. He was the second alimon guardian to be free of the spell Chomper set on them. Dynamo was still working on freeing the others.
Spellbound was purple with a dark blue back starting from the tip of his snout and ending at the tip of his tail. His eyes were red against a white background, and his claws were also white. Spellbound was related to Shuva as a cousin. He walked close by Shuva and Littlefoot as they headed back towards where the cave was. Littlefoot was worried about what had happened while he was gone. Rex did a good job at luring him away. He felt stupid for believing the dracovol's lies. That was a mistake he would not make again.
"Are we almost there?" Spellbound said, groaning with impatience.
Shuva swatted him in the shoulder. "Show some patience, will ya, cousin?" She ordered. "After all, all dinosaurs didn't appear in just a day!"
Spellbound growled as he rubbed his shoulder. "I know, I know. I just don't see why we have to accompany the longneck the whole trip!"
Littlefoot ignored the alimons' bickering. He had more important things to worry about than to hear a couple of sharpteeth argue about patience and walking. He then suddenly stopped when he saw smoke rising into the sky that was dangerously close to the cave. His heart pounded and his mind panicked. "Oh no...Guys!" He shouted and broke off into a run, startling the alimons.
"Now where do you think he's..." Spellbound said, but was cut off by Shuva.
"No...fire!" She cried out, and bolted after Littlefoot.
"Oh geeze!" Spellbound said as he too saw the flames and smoke rising into the sky. He took off after Littlefoot and Shuva as they raced against time to reach the cave before the smoke destroyed the cave and those Littlefoot cared about.
'I can only hope we're not too late...' Spellbound thought as he felt his heart pounding as they raced across the forest floor.