New Allies and Not Too Late
#61 of Out of the Shadows: AnthroLover's Version
Although General Chomper's attack did startle the alimon, he did have one trick up his sleeve. As Chomper was about to plummet his horn through the alimon's side, Chomper looked into the glowing red eyes of the evil alimon. Somehow, almost like magic, Chomper stiffened in mid-attack. His jaws were slightly open, and one leg was off the ground. Then he stood straight up, something bone-crusher sharpteeth would do if they were resting, or wanted to get a better view of something. None of these Chomper was intended on doing. He opened his mouth to speak, but something was keeping the words from exiting his jaws. His eyes widened in fear, realizing his whole body had a reddish glow around it.
Morro and Spellbound watched as Gris kept Chomper in this freezing trance. Then they watched the X-marked alimon slowly approach the general, sharpening his claws along a boulder on the way. "He's going to kill him." Spellbound said dully, not showing much emotion. "Should we do something?" He turned to Morro.
Morro didn't answer. He was already walking out towards Gris, who somehow didn't notice him. Perhaps he was letting his pride get the better of him, or perhaps he wasn't smart enough to look around. As Chomper struggled to break free of this mental grip, Morro leapt towards the evil-hearted alimon, ready to sank his teeth in his hide.
But Gris saw it and turned his clawed hand to the alimon, his eyes shining in red.
Morro then was enveloped by a red bright as he landed on his feet. Then he raised mechanically to his hind legs, keeping straight up and unable to move a muscle or talk. His eyes widened in fear as Gris showed him a toothy grin.
"Morro!" Screamed Spellbound as he jumped too ready for action. But once again Gris noticed it and turned his red shining eyes to the alimon. Spellbound too stopped enveloped by a red glow and got on his right legs straight and stiff as a branch. He noticed too late his mistake, as now they were all at mercy of the X-marked alimon, who was grinning as wide as a shark.
"Well, well, well. Seems like today is my lucky day." Exclaimed Gris joyfully "Not only I got a big moron dinosaur like I got too two of the Rock Rangers! I can't decide who of you kill first, and the way of killing each of you! I just can't decide."
"Good." came a female voice from behind him "Because you will not touch them."
Gris turned around to the source of his voice, without losing hold of his captives. He then saw came out of the woods a jade-colored fast runner, with light green feathers and amber-colored eyes. She was using a bracelet with the symbol of the Order of Leaf and Claw. It was Tiana, and she had a serious look.
"Who are you?" Gris asked. The fast runner looked at him "I'm Tiana. And you're going to let them go." Gris let out a barking laugh and said defiantly "Force me." Tiana sighed and said "Okay." She then raised her right hand, only then Gris noticed the bracelet in her arm, perceiving that she might be one of those strange dinos. He didn't noticed the plants growing over his feet. And they were growing really fast.
"Hey!" Gris exclaimed as the plants had grown in tick and strong vines that tied around his body and raised him of the ground. By the surprise Gris lose his focus and so his hold of the others, who almost fell flat in the ground of being suddenly free. Gris squirmed in the vines, but they had a strong grip in him. He turned to Tiana and demanded "Release me!" Tiana looked at him defiantly and said mocking "Force me."
Right after she said those words, a red blur dashed from the woods and positioned right behind her. It was another alimon, this one ruby-red with dark grey strips on his back and yellow-green eyes and an X-mark of the darkarians on his left shoulder. He stood in two legs and passed one of his arms around Tiana while his other hand griped her neck. He had now a strong grip on her.
At this the vines stopped moving, but they kept their hold in him as he was above the ground. He then looked at the fast runner in Garick's hold and smiled. "Well, well." He said in a victorious tone "Seems like you've got to know my son Garick."
Morro, who was recovering in the ground, then snapped out of it when Gris said the words "my son". "Son?" He asked, then Spellbound groaned "Just what we needed. Another of them."
Gris laughed hard as his former captor was now helpless. As he tried to loose the bounds of the vines in him he turned to his son. "Garick." He called, making the alimon look at him. Gris smiled cruelly as he said "Do as you like with her." The ruby-red alimon smiled and said "I'm glad to her you say that father." His hand that was on her neck then moved to her chin, and he guided her face so she was now looking at him, and then he opened his mouth. Everyone thought he was going to bite her face. Spellbound and Morro were ready to act, but before they could Garick planted his lips in the fast runners mouth in a passionate kiss.
The watchers were shocked, most of all being Gris. Garick then softened his hold on her middle body as she turned around to hug his neck. At the same time he hugged her body with both arms, pulling her closer as they deepened the kiss. After a few seconds they broke apart, Garick looking in her eyes lovingly. "Oh, Tiana." He said in a sweet tone "You don't know how has been a torture being away from you for so long." She smiled at him "Oh, Garick." she said as she leaned her head on his shoulder.
In this moment Gris snapped out of that and said "Garick." The alimon turned to him, along with Tiana "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded "T-this is not wat it seems, right?" Garick looked at him and said "Depends, what does it seems?"
"That you and this fast runner have a relationship." Gris said to his son, who only replied "Then it is exactly what it seems." Gris looked at his son "You have something with those dinos?" He asked outraged.
"They call themselves Order of Leaf and Claw." Garick said "They have both leaf eaters and sharpteeth in their ranks. Their goal is to protect the world of evil in all its forms and to make the world a place were both leaf eaters and sharpteeth can live together in harmony. Oh, and the abilities they have are called by them the spirits' blessing and is given by them by their amulets, the things they use in their bodies."
The other stared at him for a few seconds, then Spellbound asked "How do you know so much about them?" Garick then raised his right arm, and in it, in a light-blue shine, appeared a bracelet with the symbol of a treestar with a sharptooth's tooth carved over it. Then Garick said "Because I'm a member of this order."
At this point Gris roared in rage, a roar that made the others back off a little, even Tiana flinched, but Garick didn't even blinked. Gris freed himself from the vines and jumped in Garick's direction, roaring "TRAITOR!" his claws stretched and his teeth bared to kill. But, before he could make contact with Garick or Tiana, the ruby-red alimon raised his hand at him, and he stopped in mid-air.
"What?" Gris asked confuse as he floated over the ground with no visible mean of suspension. Garick then made a gesture bringing his hand down, and so Gris was slammed against the ground. Then Garick turned his hand's palm upside, making Gris be raised from the ground again, and then moved his hand to the side, making Gris be thrown 20 feet of distance and slam into a tree, making it tremble by the sheer strength of the impact.
Gris then raised to his feet again, soothing an enraged glare to his son. Garick returned the glare and said in a calm but firm tone "We have been watching from the shadows and kept from acting for far too long father. We have kept in secret for far too much time and now we are acting. I'm not afraid of you as the order is not afraid of the darkarians. If you come we will fight and stand our ground until the end."
"You'll pay for this." Gris hissed before dashing forward in the woods. Morro and Spellbound were about to run after him, but Garick stopped then "No. Let him go. We can deal with him later."
"Oh, yeah?" said Morro mistrusting "And why should we listen to you? You're his son. You're one darkarian. For all we know you're on his side."
Tiana shoot him a death-glare, but Garick simply sighed as he lowered his head and said "Yeah, you're right." This surprised the two alimons. Garick raised his face to look at them. "For years I had been teached many things. That the plant eaters were scum compared to us, that we deserved to rule the valley and all who were in our way were an enemy that should be killed. For long I have listened and believed all of this." He then turned his look to Tiana, and smiled "But I found someone who helped me see the truth, and put me into the better path."
The alimons looked at him for a few seconds, them Morro asked "How can we know that what you say is truth?" Garick looked at them and said "That's the problem: you can't. You'll have to trust me."
The two alimons considered it. Well, he had in fact saved the fast runners life, and they knew that a darkarian would never do such a thing without a good reason, and he had, apparently, defied and fought Gris. They considered for almost one minute, then came to an agreement: they would trust Garick, at least for now.
"Okay." Said Spellbound "We trust you." But then Morro said "But, if you try anything we will rip out your throat." Tiana shoot him another glare that could make blood freeze and morro shrugged "Seems fair enough."
"So, what do we do now?" asked Spellbound. Garick then said "Well, we are going back to the armies along with Chomper... Where is he?" Only then they noticed that the big horned sharptooth was not there anymore. They looked around, then Morro saw him "Right there." He pointed out "In the woods." They looked to the direction he pointed and saw the big sharptooth at distance, walking like he was lost or tired. Then they went after him.
In another part, a black smoke was flying away.
How could I have failed? It thought. If those damned dinosaurs had not put in the middle he would be bathing in that longneck's blood by now.
This black smoke was an evil spirit. It was Fire, the original funder of the darkarians.
No one would ever suspect, not even his grandson Gris, but when he fooled Chomper with his disguise, Fire had taken the opportunity of the weakening of spirit of the sharptooth to take possession of his body and control his mind with his suggestions. He had been the real responsible for Chomper's corruption.
But when Chomper learned the truth, he was forcefully ejected from his body, his control completely lost. And now he was there, flying at the speed of light to search for a new body to inhabit and use. But he would be back, and sooner than anyone would think.
Chomper had watched as the two members of the order fought Gris. But when Morro brought up the question if Garick was worth of trust, this brought to surface many memories of Chomper.
Memories of how his friends reacted when discovered that was him how did all those things, of how their faces were, after all they'd gone together. His heart sank one hundred feet. He only lowered his head and walked away with dragged steps, like he was extremely tired.
He walked a little like this, without direction, just wandering.
He finally leaned himself in a tree, like he was really very tired. His mind reeled back at all that happened. All the ones he killed, all the ones he tried to kill, the ones he betrayed, all the things he'd done, the things he tried to do. Littlefoot.
His mind stopped in the memories of Littlefoot. The one who treated him like family, the one who was on his side even when the others were not, the one who once risked his life to save him. And he betrayed the longneck, he planned to kill and do the most horrible things to him. Once those thoughts brought him joy and excitation, now they brought only nausea and shame.
In his sadness, one single tear ran down his face. How he wished he could undo the past.
(The music here is It's Not Too Late; from Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam)
A soft music started playing as a thought passed Chomper's mind. Gris plans had not been completed. There were many dinos that were still alive, and it seemed to be many of this Order of Leaf and Claw around. He was pretty strong, along with many of his army. He could do something. He could do something to ease the pain caused, the pain He had caused. Then he sang "Here I am. Feels like the walls are closing in."
He then let go of the tree and walked some lose steps, raising his head to the sky as he sang "Once again is time to face it and be strong. I wanna do the right thing now, I know is up to me somehow I've lost my way."
If he had a way of going back to the past, he would do everything different, he would never listen to the false Slasher, and this would never happen, with this thought he sang "If I could take it all back I would now. I never meant to let you all down" It was truth, he never meant to let Littlefoot, Rex, or anyone down. Not anymore. "And now I've got to try and turn it all around and figure out how to fix this, I know there's a way so I promise, I'm gonna clean up the mess I've made. Maybe is not too late." He lowered his head as he sang "Maybe it's not too late."
In this moment the others arrived, but Chomper didn't noticed, and neither them did anything besides hearing the sharptooth let his feelings out. Chomper leaned his body in another tree. If he had any way of going back in time, he would do everything different. He sang "So I'll take a stand, even though it's complicated. If I can I would change the way I meant it."
He then let go of the tree and walked more "I wanna do the right thing now, I know is up to me somehow. I've lost my way. If I could take it all back I would now. I never meant to let you all down. And now I've got to try and turn it all around and figure out how to fix this. I know there's a way so I promise, I'm gonna clean up the mess I've made. Maybe it' not too late." He held the last note, then he sang "I'm gonna find the strength to be the one that holds it all together. Show you that I'm sorry but I know that we could make it better."
He then lowered his head in sadness and sang "If I could take it all back I would now. I never meant to let you all down. And now I've got to try, and turn it all around and figure out how to fix this. I know there's I way so I promise, I'm gonna clean up the mess I've made. Maybe is not too late." He sang his feelings, what was on his heart right then "I never meant to let you all down. And now I've got to try, and turn it all around. And figure out how to fix this. I know there's a way so I promise, I'm gonna clean up the mess I've made. Maybe it's not too late." Then he lowered his head again in sadness and sang softly "Maybe it's not too late."
The others were there, watching the sharptooth. Then Tiana walked till him and placed a hand on his big foot, making him look at her, to find a smile "And you're right." She said to him "Really is not too late."
"Yeah, right..." Said Morro, making the others look at him "Even if it's not, a lot of damage has already been done, many are dead or dying. And there is no way of fixing it." Tiana looked at him and said "Balcan said it was."
"Balcan?" asked Spellbound "That rainbow face?" Tiana smiled "Yes. He knows lots of things. If it wasn't for him I would not have come here to save you from Gris. Balcan says that the things are going to get better, and he knows what he says... usually." She finished kinda uncertain.
Then Garick stepped forward and said "Well, now we should read back to the troops. I think you have new orders to give to your pack, right?" he said turning to Chomper. The big sharptooth looked at him and then at the ground for a few seconds, before raising his head with a look forward and say "Yes."
"So follow us." Garick said as he and Tiana took the forward. Chomper followed them. Spellbound and Morro shared a look before going right behind.
In another part of the valley, a group was walking forward. This group was first formed by Jimmy, the egg stealer; Heater, the sickleclaw; Kenan, the light-blue, green-eyed threehorn; and else by Petrie, Pterano and Spike. But the group was also becoming bigger as they went on. Leaf eaters and sharpteeth were joining the group. They all had very little in common. Despite that they were all dead before.
Yes, the dinosaurs that were joining the group were the ones that before had died in the war. Of course, some of their first thoughts after coming back was to kept fighting, but a quickly show of power from Heater was enough to convince them that it was a bad idea. The dinosaurs who were brought back themselves doubted this kind of thing, but soon they were convinced by seeing another deceased dinos being healed from death by the egg stealer in front of their very eyes.
Now the group was walking in a forest, they had to kept together to not have too much trouble walking in the close tracks. Wich was rather unpleasant to both leaf eaters and sharpteeth. Jimmy, Heater and Kenan were in the front line, so they were the first to see something in front of them.
It seemed a corpse.
It was Cera's rotting corpse. The sight almost made some of the members of the group, like Petrie and Pterano gag, while others soon vomited from the sight. Much of her flesh had been eaten away, revealing the skeleton inside. Her head was completely crushed into an unrecognizable shape. Maggots squirmed inside the remaining organs she still had and flies clung to the few shears of skin that still clung to her rotting body. Coagulated blood covered in the ground around her and filled her rib cavity, and dripped off her ribs.
"Me gonna be sick." Said Petrie. Heater rolled her eyes and then nudged Jimmy to take a step forward. Jimmy nodded and was about to reach out to her when something on the ground called his attention. "What is this?" He said, kneeling to look at the thing.
It was a skeleton. Seemed the one of a longneck, but was really small. This was Lizzie's skeleton. Chomper had done just like with Dusty, eaten up her and then spat her skeleton. It was all there and not a piece was broke. In the given situation, the fact of this bones not being taken by any small creature, lost by the time or crushed under the foot of another creature was indeed a small miracle.
Heal her it came again the voice inside Jimmy's head. Then the egg stealer, again guided by a mysterious instinct, reach out with his hand. His ring shone again as his powers started to work again in the skeleton. Soon it started to reform. The flesh reformed, making again the organs, the muscles and the blood. Then a layer of skin covered it all.
Then the tinysaur opened her eyes gasping and looked around. The last thing Lizzie remembered was of the sharptooth biting her down, but now she was there. Looking up she saw an egg stealer looking at her smiling.
And right by his side was a sickleclaw.
Lizzie yelped in fear and them tried to scramble away. But Heater quickly reached out and grated her in her clawed hand. Lizzie squirmed in her hand, trying to escape. "Ow, ow." Said Heater "Calm down little one. I'll not hurt you." Lizzie looked her in the eyes, she seemed to be sincere. Lizzie stopped squirming and looked around, seeing Cera's body. Her eyes widened "CERA!"
"Oh, yes." Said Jimmy, then remembering. He walked to the body and then put his hand in it. Then his ring shone bright and the body started to heal. The maggots were forcefully ejected and scrambled in the ground. The whole body was reforming. The flesh filled again the openings. The head started to reform and reshape in the original form. Then a layer of skin was spreaded over the open wounds, leaving not even a scar.
When it was over the threehorn widened her eyes screaming, and looking around. The last thing she felt was the pain of the sharptooth biting her head down, then she felt no more. But now the sharptooth was gone, and she looked around, to find a group formed by both leaf eaters and sharpteeth. But she had her attention called a sickleclaw that had something in her hand.
Lizzie stared back at Cera. Heater placed her at the ground and she kept staring "C-Cera?" she asked unsure. The threehorn stared back at her "Lizzie?" Then , without warning, they ran to each other and nudged together, both with tears in her eyes.
"But Liz." Said Cera "I saw the sharptooth eat you."
"It is kind of long story." Said Heater "But now we gotta go. We need to find up with the other teams."