Loosening the Bonds
#51 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
As Ducky wept for the loss of not only her brother, but one of her closest friends, Littlefoot moved even closer to Ali, and gently nudged her cheek to get her attention. Tears streaming down her face, she turned to face the male longneck. Littlefoot swallowed, trying to find the words to say. What had happened had struck the deepest parts of his heart. He had known Petrie since he was a kid, and now he was gone, taken by some monster he never knew existed. As he stared into Ali's blue eyes, Littlefoot went into an almost deep trance as he thought about all he and Petrie had been through together. Now all that time together has been severed forever.
Memories of Spike also flooded back to him. He remembered how Ducky first met Spike, and how Spike helped save Ducky from Dil and Ichy. Spike was with them his entire life. And this is how his life ended, being turned into stone. What a way to die... Littlefoot shuddered as he thought of how painful it must have been for Spike to feel himself turn into rock, slowly killing him.
"Littlefoot?" Ali asked, breaking the other longneck's trance. "What are you thinking?"
Littlefoot shook himself back to his senses. "Oh, I was just thinking about how terrible of a loss this is..." He spoke sadly, voice bordering on sobbing. "Petrie and I were best buds for so long...and so was Spike. He choked back tears as best as they could, but Ali could clearly see the clear liquid flowing from the others' eyes.
"I know, Littlefoot." Ali said soothingly. "I know."
"Ali...I-I have to know." Littlefoot gathered the courage to ask. "Who...who did this..?" A few more tears flooded down his face. "Who caused this to happen?" He was almost terrified of what the answer was going to be. He braced himself, staring at Ali, waiting for her to answer.
Ali swallowed hard. "R-Rex did.."
Littlefoot's heart filled with a sharp pain, his mind became filled with anger. Eyes narrowed dangerously, he bared his teeth and growled. It was so menacing that even the two nearby sharpteeth, Yu and Sandstorm, had backed away in fear. The longneck stomped his foot into the ground. "THAT'S IT!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "I HAVE HAD IT! I'M GONNA SETTLE THINGS ONCE AND FOR ALL!"
Ali had backed away, frightened by Littlefoot's temper. Ducky and the alimons were horrified as well, as they stared in shock at what Littlefoot had shouted. Yu and Sandstorm were trembling, and they took a couple steps back. "J-Just how are you p-p-planning on doing that, Littlefoot...?" Ali stammered, afraid of what the answer might be.
Littlefoot's mind was still clouded by anger. "I'M GOING TO ROUND UP THE ALIMONS THAT'S WHAT! I'M GOING TO SEND THEM TO ATTACK AND KILL ALL THE EVIL SHARPTEETH! I'M GOING TO FIND REX AND CHOMPER AND MAKE THEM PAY!" He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he was letting out his rage. "I HAVE HAD IT WITH THEM AND CAUSING PAIN AND MISERY! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE THAT THEY WERE MY FRIENDS! I'M GONNA KILL THEM!" As he finished his shouting, his body started trembling, and tears flowed from his eyes once more.
The others around him were frightened by this sudden let out of anger and rage. They had backed away a couple feet now, giving Littlefoot room to cool down. Littlefoot lowered his head, panting heavily but slowly. As he was seemingly cooling down, Ducky took a few cautious steps towards him. "You...feeling better Littlefoot?"
Littlefoot shot her an angry look, eyes misted by the tears. "Do I LOOK better!" He snapped, causing Ducky to cringe back in fright. Ignoring that, Littlefoot looked at Shuva and Spellbound almost angrily. The alimons, although they both knew they could take him on and win, backed away but kept eye contact. "Shuva! Spellbound!"
"Y-Y-Yes...?" Shuva asked nervously.
"W-What is it?" Spellbound inquired.
"Come with me!" He shouted sternly. "We are going to round up the alimons and prepare for a full-scale attack!"
Yu stepped forward, trembling. "L-Littlefoot..I understand your anger but...don't you think you are being too drastic..?"
Littlefoot shoved his face against Yu, causing the sharptooth to recoil. "Too drastic? TOO DRASTIC!" He snarled. "I have been avoiding drastic measures for too long, Yu! I'm putting my food down!" He returned his attention back to the alimons. They shivered, but nodded. "Good, let's go."
"But Littlefoot..." It came Shuva's voice "Going straight to them now would be foolishness..." She choose her words very carefully "Ate least give us one day to group and prepare for battle. Please." Littlefoot looked at her for a few moments, then he bowed his head. "Fine. One day, and them we go at them with all we have." And with that the group resumed their way back to the alimon caves.
Rex was limp against the wall, his head bowed in submission. His eyes were closed, and it looked as though he were in a deep sleep. And if he was, he was dreaming about how things used to be, way back before his sharptooth instinct had been first awakened. He still rued that day, but he did realize that he would not have met Yu and his pack if he hadn't done so, and he would have never have discovered what he truly was, a dracovol.
(A/N: Kumo is Sora's character and Turquoise is EbonyPatriot's character.)
A laugh was forced from his mouth. A humorous memory came back to him. He recalled the time when Kumo had regained some of his childhood memories, memories that had been pushed far back into his mind, and he one day reclaimed some of them. Kumo had told Rex, with a somewhat annoyed look on his face, how a troodon named Turquoise had called the dracovol species Flying Tyrannosaurus Rexes. Rex had burst out laughing at the statement, although his cousin didn't see what was so funny about it.
Rex hasn't seen Kumo in years. He had first thought he'd been attacked and eaten by the alimons years ago. But that couldn't be possible. Kumo was way too tough for that. Rex sighed. Whatever happened to Kumo he had never found out. And he highly doubted that he would ever solve that mystery.
He tugged a little on the vines. They were still tight as before. He pulled a little harder, and they still stayed secure, bounding his limbs to the wall. He snarled viciously as he remembered what the spirit earlier had said. "To release yourself from this mind prison, you must tame the beast within... But not worry, because you will be not alone in this fight, someone will help you..." Rex repeated to himself. "What did she mean by that?" It wasn't much help in releasing him from the bonds. And according to the spirit, the real battle would be fought after he had gotten himself loose.
He struggled harder, and suddenly, he felt something weakening. He relaxed himself, and gently pulled on one of the vines binding him. It had become looser! Smiling with enthusiam, the dracovol pulled even harder. His struggles had been paying off all this time. All this time his efforts had been weakening the bonds!
But the thingsa were still tight enough to him not free himself alone. He really needed help, ther spirit did said that was going to come help to him. But, how could someone come to help him inside his own mind? And what kihnd of creature would be able to defeat a beast like that, even with his help? The more he tough about it, the most he felt his hopes being crushed by the truth that maybe the spirit was wrong, or maybe that it had lied, or maybe thast even it was Dar Rex trying to put a prank on him just to make him suffer.
Chomper had left the cave. He had had enough of Pterano's big mouth and secretive behaviors. He had ordered him to be killed in a few hours. Pterano was still trapped within the prison, and was unable to squeeze himself out. He hasn't seemed to lose his fighting spirit however. To amuse himself he started to scratch the wall with his small but sharp claws.
"So...this is how it ends..." He mused to himself, dropping his wing to the ground when he stopped scratching the wall. He looked down on the cold hard ground. If his spirit was broken, he was doing a very good job of hiding it. "All I can do is hope that they find someway out of this whole mess, someway to defeat the sharpteeth." He looked up at the cave walls. "Our chances are not the best right now."
But then, as Pterano craned his head far back enough, he could see an opening in the ceiling. He backed himself against the wall to get a better look. To his amazement, the hole was in his own prison! He could see the light of the morning sun outside. Smiling slyly, Pterano took a quick look around his environment before gripping the rock with his claws and made the journy up the wall. And lucky for him, no sharptooth came back to check up on him. As Pterano reached the exist, he took in a deep breath of air...and nearly gagged.
"The air..it smells...rotten." Then a look of horror grew on his face when he started to recognize one scent, laced with the smell of the dead. He shook his head in disbelief. "No...no..." Tears formed in his eyes. "No..not him...oh please..not him..." Pterano spread his wings open and took off. "Petrie..."
Syna and Nychus had struggled through one of the valley's entrances. They were attracted and horrified by the smell of decay. They walked cautiously among the foliage, and hoped they didn't attract the attention of the sharpteeth. "It looks like they beat us to it..." Nychus said softly, shaking his head.
"What do we do...?" Syna whimpered.
"We must find the one in charge of the place. We must convince him or her to go to Fortress Valley and help liberate the others. With the combined effort, we will win." Nychus said bravely, glaring at the pack of sharpteeth that was several yards away.