First Warning
#50 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
But suddenly, a sharp pain whacked Petrie's small body. "PETRIE!" Littlefoot screeched, trying to run forward, but was held back by Spellbound and Shuva's powerful grips. Petrie let out a loud scream of pain. The cockatrice had struck down, clamping its tooth-filled beak around the much smaller prey. It clamped down tighter, applying more pressure. Petrie made another scream, this one gargled by blood that had seeped into his mouth. He coughed pitifully, and tears started to form in his eyes.
The others could only watch in horror when the cockatrice started shaking Petrie like a rag doll, his bones snapping sickeningly as the force pushed their tolerance to the limit and beyond. When all the bones were broken, the cockatrice placed the flyer on the ground.
"PETRIE!" Ducky was about to race forward, when Ali's tail wrapped around her leg and pulled her back.
"No Ducky!" Ali said sorrowfully. "It's too late! We can't save him now."
Ducky and the others watched as the cockatrice placed its foot on the bottom part of Petrie, and gripped the front part with its strong beak. With a sharp thrust, it ripped Petrie's body in half. The others screamed in disgust, and backed away when intestines and other organs spilled onto the ground. A large pool of blood spread across the grass, and Petrie's spine could be seen, shattered in several places. The stoneglare ate the lower half of Petrie in a single gulp. It released its grip on the other half, and did the same started eating the remains of guts in the ground. Blood still stained the ground at its feet, and clung to the bird's foot and beak. Satisfied it made a kill, the bird let out a screech of accomplishment.
"No!" Littlefoot cried, seeing one of his closest friends get devoured right before his eyes. Now they've lose two friends to the cockatrice, and all in less than twenty minutes. Tears stung Littlefoot's eyes, and he bowed his head. "No...Petrie...no..."
Ducky wiped tears from her eyes. It was like a waterfall for her now. "He...he was my friend...Poor Petrie..."
Ali was shaking terribly, trying to hard to keep herself from falling. "No..it can't be..." The two alimons were too stunned to say anything.
Gorjak's beak dropped open as he watched the ordeal. "That creature means business..." He whispered, but still not daring to move. He looked down at the grieving group, and narrowed his red eyes. If they didn't act soon, they'd all get killed! Why were they just standing there? "HEY! DON'T JUST STAND THERE! DO SOMETHING!" He shouted, forgetting that he was supposed to hide.
Startled by the shouting, the group looked up to see Gorjak perched in the trees, even the stoneglare, that was about to eat Petries upper half lokked in the direction of the new flyer, but not sucesfuly looking in his eyes to kill him. He continued his shouting, "DEFEND YOURSELVES!"
Spellbound was already on it. Using his speed, he ran circles around the cockatrice, making it angry and frustrated. "Hey! Can't you see me?" He taunted as he continued racing around the monster. "Can't kill what you can't see, eh!" The cockatrice let out a shriek of utter confusion, and it launched an attack. Instinctively, the alimon leapt over the bird, and landed behind it. Then he continued racing around it, making the monster more and more confused.
The cockatrice looked left and right furiously, trying to catch a glimpse of the speeding alimon. Then without warning, the alimon stopped, right behind the cockatrice. He then chanted a spell. "Dance, water, dance!" He quickly jumped in a different direction when the cockatrice suddenly whirled over in his direction. As Spellbound continued to jump from one place to another, some of the water was being sucked out of the river and formed what looked like a large solid tube of water that floated his way.
Spellbound smiled. "Yes, dance water!" And just as the cockatrice turned around to face the alimon, the alimon had quickly moved the water in front of him. The cockatrice didn't have time to blink when it caught sight of its own reflection.
A loud screeching echoed from its throat as its own body started to turn to stone. The pupils vanished from its eyes as rock covered its face. The bird tried to run away, but its limbs froze solid. Soon it had suffered the same fate as Spike. Ducky walked up to the statue, and gave it a good whack with her tail. The rock split, and shattered, destroying the shape of the cockatrice. "That's for killing my brother and friend!"
"The...the stoneglare has been destroyed..." Sumaru said, trembling.
"It has been WHAT!" Gris shouted, teeth bared. He pressed his snout against Sumaru's. "Why didn't you do ANYTHING!" Before Sumaru could answer, Gris clamped his jaws on the back of Sumaru's head. The smaller alimon howled in pain. Gris released his grip and said, "Just be GLAD I let you LIVE!" He turned and walked away.
The small alimon backed away, whimpering. "There...there was nothing I could do..." He said, trembling. "B-But it did manage to kill a spiketail and a flyer..."
"It should have killed more!" The gray alimon struck the ground, scraping the dirt with his claws. "I wanted it to make them suffer! How! How could they have defeated it!"
"A-An alimon made it s-s-s-see its own reflection..."
Gris's eyes snapped open and he turned to Sumaru, shocked. The smaller alimon has got his attention now. "An alimon?" He walked closer, calm but curious. "Just who was this alimon?"
Sumaru thought for a moment. "I-I believe she said it was Spellbound...and he was with Shuva."
Gris's eyes narrowed dangerously. "So...dear old Siria, or should I say Dynamo, is meddling in my plans." He chuckled darkly. "Well, we'll see about that..."
"You are a madman!" Pterano screamed at the horned sharptooth. Dark Rex had just left to go outside, leaving Chomper and the adult flyer alone. "You will fail! You will fail!" He shook the bars as hard as he could, but the solid rock would not budge.
Chomper laughed coldly as he kneeled down to Pterano's eye level. "Ah, yes, you are quite amusing, aren't you?" He rose back up. "Well scream and say whatever you want, small one. You cannot change my destiny."
Pterano scoffed, and rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, your destiny is to fall off the cliff!" He retorted and spat on the ground in front of the general's feet.
General Chomper ignored the flyer's retort, which Pterano should have taken as a stroke of sheer luck. Had he angered the general, he would have had a divorce with his head. "I'm through playing with you." Chomper said, red eyes narrowed. "I think it's about time I finish you off." At this, Pterano cringed, and backed as far away as he could. Upon seeing this, General Chomper chuckled coldly. "Oh how I love to see you writhe and squirm, little one."
Offended, Pterano stared at the sharptooth straight in the eyes. "Mark my ords, you'll go down. This happiness of yours is not going to last long, and you will suffer more them you ever suffered in your life. You will be maulled by the survivors, along your whole pack of mad sharpteeth."
Chomper smiled and laughed at the flyer "Oh really, I'd like to see if your prediction comes true." And so he walked away laughing, leaving behind an angered flyer. but nor Chomper or even Pterano couldever imagine that his words were right, though not in the reason why Chomper was going to suffer.