Chapter 2 - Forever Marks
Inside a large mountain was the grand home of the lions: the Lion Temple. The lions of the prideful Lion Tribe were the ones responsible for watching over Chima's most prized possession: Chi. But another amazing sight was a piece of land that was floating above the temple; that land was known as Mount Cavora, a mighty floating mountain with rocks carved into the faces of each of the eight main animal tribes in the land: lions, eagles, crocodiles, wolves, ravens, gorillas, rhinos, and bears, as flowing waterfalls spilled from the mouths of the eight faces.
And the best way to view the mountain and the Lion Temple was from the air, and Eris could vouch for that; the said eagle loved to fly around Mount Cavora over the past few years.
But one afternoon, as Eris was flying peacefully over the jungle, her peaceful flight was abruptly put to an end.
She let out a cry of terror when a net suddenly came flying out of the jungle below, and wrapped itself around her, sending her plummeting down to the jungle floor; it was only because of air resistance that Eris landed safely without getting fatally injured…much. But the falling wasn't the biggest surprise when Eris landed right in the middle of those who caught her: the crocodile, wolf and raven tribes, all three fleets being lead by Cragger.
"Cragger?! What are you doing?!" Eris questioned with fear at the said crocodile, and she was trying to escape the net, but to no avail.
"Me? Oh, I'm just about to attack the lions, steal them blind, and avenge my parents. Why? What about you? What's up?" Cragger asked sarcastically with an evil grin, and his gnarly, crooked teeth in his elongated jaws were showing to intimidate Eris, but that wasn't the only thing; something was different…Cragger's eyes suddenly turned blood red, with a matching aura to follow.
"I'm begging you to please have mercy before you cause anymore damage!"
"Hmm, about that…" Cragger said as he fitted golden battle helmet on his head, and he also pointed to the one person in all of Chima that Eris never expected to see helping this fleet.
"Raiva?! What are you doing?! We're best friends!" Eris cried out to the raven, who had also matured into a young woman, and the said raven was helping to guide her raven tribe. At first, Raiva didn't reply, she only stopped in her tracks; after a few awkward moment, Raiva finally turned to the eagle, and she glared…as her eyes were glowing red, just like Cragger's.
"We were NEVER friends," Raiva growled, and she jerked her head away to continue on with guiding Cragger's forces.
"Ooh, I just love it when you're such a bad girl, my princess," Razar cooed evilly; Razar was the prince of the raven tribe, who had a silver hook for his left hand and deep claw marks on his beak, and he had admired Raiva for many years, as she and him had always been close, maybe not as close as she was to Eris, but now that his princess' heart was filled with evil, he loved her even more.
And Eris was horrified, especially when two more ravens came and dragged her, tying her to the back of one of large vehicle while she was still trapped in the net.
But while the lions were completely unaware of Cragger's attempt of an attack on their temple, it was the Age of Becoming for Laval, as he was zipping around his room with worry because he knew he was late for his ceremony.
"Oh, I'm so late…where is that damn harness?!" Laval growled with aggravation as he opened his wardrobe doors to see if his missing possession was in there…but it wasn't; instead, the young adult male lion was greeted by a wooden dummy with a dopey painted-on face.
"Sir Punch-A-Lot? Now's really not the time for some punching…but you know I can't resist," Laval chuckled with a grin, and he gave in and started punching and kicking the dummy that just never went down. But after a few more seconds, Laval suddenly remembered the ceremony.
"Now I'm REALLY late! Where is that stupid set of armor?" Laval once again asked himself, but then he had the urge to look in the last place he looked: under his bed. And there, he finally found his armor for the ceremony, so he finally sprinted out of his room with it.
Laval then headed to the largest and most important room in the entire temple, maybe even in all of Chima; it was where the Chi pool is embedded in what is also Laval's father's, King Lagravis, throne room.
The said current ruler of the lion tribe was a rather old lion; there were age wrinkles around his bright green eyes, and even his main had turned light grey over the years.
But right now, Laval was trying to sneak in without being noticed, as he was also struggling to put on his golden harness for the ceremony.
"Glad you could make it on time—for the most important moment of your life," Laval's father chuckled.
"Sorry, Dad…this…thing slipped my mind at first," Laval sighed in defeat as he was still trying to put the armor on correctly, so Lagravis had to help him.
"Reaching the Age of Becoming is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Son."
"I know, Dad."
"Today is the day you stop acting like a cub…"
"I'm well aware of that too, Dad."
"You will mature one day where you will become a great warrior, and it will be your place to lead this entire tribe of lions," Lagravis said with pride as he referred to the large tribe of civilized lions and lionesses, in hopes that one day his son would take that honor in leading them too.
"I…I'll make you proud, Dad." With that, Laval and his father stepped forward towards the Chi Pool, in which Lagravis carefully scooped out a Chi Orb; Chi Orbs had to be the most beautiful sight in the land; they were crytalized spheres that had the most awe-inspiring white glow emitting from inside it, along with a bright, light blue aura to engulf it.
As Lagravis carried the orb to Laval, the young lion stared in awe at the object in his father's paws, and he couldn't wait to take it into his own.
"My son, Laval, for the first time, you shall take an orb of Chi, place it in your chest, and feel the power of Mother Nature herself, the almighty life force of Chi."
Laval then accomplished his dream: obtaining a Chi Orb for himself, as he stared in wonder at the orb in his claws.
"So awesome…I-I mean…for Chima!" Laval shouted with pride, and the rest of the lion tribe cheered and roared for him, especially as Laval was just about to place the orb of Chi into his chest…but that was when the least expected happened.
There was a huge crash that erupted from outside the temple, sending a majority of the tribe either into panic or attack mode, and the impact even made Laval accidentally drop his Chi, and he was now panicking to get it back amidst the chaos.
But while Laval was busy, Lagravis was the first to sprint out of the temple to see what the trouble was about.
"It's all three of them: crocodiles, wolves, AND the ravens! They're attacking all at once!" Leonadis, a young lion with a bright orange mane, called down from a basilica outside the temple walls, before a few ravens suddenly flew in and grabbed him up by his limbs with their claws, tearing and ripping them and even spilling some blood. But it was only a matter of time before the ravens either realized the lion was too heavy, or that they that they didn't want to have to deal with him later.
So, when Leonadis fought to get loose from their grip, they purposely dropped him, and right in the middle of the battle between the tribes. It was then the end for Leonadis when he landed, breaking nearly every bone in his body, and he was even run over and squashed by the crocodiles' and wolves' tanks.
Meanwhile, Laval was still struggling to get his Chi Orb back, and it was only going to get more difficult as crocs and wolves started pouring into the temple, making it harder for Laval to keep track of his Chi.
But his hunt for his orb soon ended when a set of crocodile claws stepped on the orb to stop it from rolling; the one who then scooped up Laval's Chi was Cragger, but he didn't recognize him with the golden battle helmet.
"Hey! Who are you?!" Laval shouted, but Cragger didn't reply as he only stuffed Laval's Chi into his satchel, and then started scooping a couple more orbs of Chi into it, which infuriated Laval, "STOP! PUT THAT BACK AND GIVE ME MY CHI!"
But no matter how loud Laval roared, Cragger didn't listen, and the croc only sprinted out of the Lion Temple, quickly pushing through the fighting tribes to get to his Speedor.
Speedorz were a rather common and fun vehicle in Chima; they were like four-wheelers…except with only one giant wheel with some kind of electrical power souce in them, and most like to shape or paint their speedors into their own species. So of course, Cragger's speedor looked a lot like him, as the said croc jumped onto his Speedor, and sped off deep into the jungle.
But Laval wasn't going to give up so easily, as he sprinted out of the throne room, and into his secret hiding spot for his lion head-shaped, red and yellow-painted Speedor that he kept hidden behind a remote cave behind a waterfall.
Once the lion prince reached his Speedor, he immediately revved it up, and went speeding through the battle and into the jungle after the thief.
But when Laval rode deep into the jungle, he saw no croc on a Speedor at first.
"Hmm, let's see…rock, rock, tree, tree, tree, plant, mushroom…and a croc! Get back here!" Laval yelled when he saw the croc speeding out from behind the thick trunk of a tree, and the young lion went riding after the croc again.
But Laval really didn't think it through as to how he was actually going to stop Cragger, so he just continued to accelerate towards him, until he just crashed into him, both veering off the edge of a tall cliff.
Luckily, it wasn't a deadly fall, as the two landed down on none other than the Forever Rock. When Laval shook the dizziness from his head and saw the thief leaning helplessly against the Forever Rock, he growled and he grabbed out his sword. He was then ready and willing to strike.
"Give up, thief," Laval threatened, but that was when the golden helmet slipped off from the impact, revealing Cragger's face, and Laval gasped in shock, "Cragger…it was you? But why?"
Cragger was so dizzy from the fall that he only sighed and grunted in pain, collapsed onto his side, and revealing something that caught Laval's eye; it was a set of deep claw marks in the Forever Rock…and that's when Laval remembered.
He remembered when they were kids…
Three years earlier…
At the base of the mountain of the Lion Temple, young Cragger and Laval approached a hidden growth of vines that climbed all the way up to a secret way to get inside the temple.
"Uh, what are we doing here?" Laval asked with worry, but Cragger ignored him as he looked around to see if anyone was near.
"We're going to sneak into the temple, and take a 'peek' at the Chi Pool," Cragger whispered with a smirk.
"WHAT?!"
"Shush!"
"Are you crazy? Do you know how much trouble we'd get into if we get caught? We're not even supposed to THINK about going near the Chi Pool until we're at the Age of Becoming," Laval whispered frantically.
"I know, I know, but we're not going to take any Chi," Cragger explained while avoiding looking into Laval's eyes, "like I said: we're only taking a peek. Don't you at least want to see some Chi?"
"Well…" Laval wondered.
"C'mon, you know you want to," Cragger chuckled darkly, "I'm going with or without you, but I'd prefer to remember this with my best friend."
"You make a good point there…fine, I'll go. Last one there is a rotten crocodile egg!" Laval laughed as he grabbed a vine and quickly began climbing, Cragger climbing close beside him.
"Oh, that's funny and real mature…that was kind of offensive, Laval, and you know it," Cragger growled sarcastically.
"Oh, shut your long face and keep climbing."
The heart of the temple was, of course, the Chi Pool; it was inside a very large room with the large and beautiful pool in the middle, and over looking the pool was a throne; the throne where the king of the lion tribe would sit. But the only ones in the whole room was a couple of lion guards, who were currently finishing their patrol around the throne room, as Laval and Cragger snuck in as they were finishing up.
They crept their way towards the pool; Cragger wearing an excited smile while Laval looked nervous.
"Oh, I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach," Laval whimpered while frantically looking around for his dad or any guards.
"Just shut up and look," Cragger hissed while looking down into the beautiful, glowing waters and leaned down as he reach for an orb.
"C-Cragger, what are you doing?" Laval stammered with shock, but Cragger didn't say anything as he pulled out a Chi orb from the water; the orb looked like it was made of glass as a white glow emitted from its center.
Cragger's smile soon grew even bigger, but Laval was horrified.
"Cragger, you said we were only LOOKING!"
"I know what I said—but have you ever wondered what it feels like?" Cragger asked slyly as he lifted the Chi orb closer to his chest. Laval's eyes widened as Cragger imputed the Chi orb into his chest.
Suddenly, a blood red aura outlined Cragger's body, and the teen crocodile reared his head back and roared while baring his claws and teeth.
"Halt!" a lion guard yelled with a few other guards following him to stop Cragger.
"No, wait, it was an accident!" Laval cut in, but then Cragger growled and rammed through all of the guards and ran out of the temple in a panic.
"Laval, my son, what happened?!" an elderly lion with a grey main roared as he ran into the room.
"Dad, I'm sorry, it was acci-!"
"No time for your apologies, Son! We have to catch Cragger before he hurts anyone else—or himself," Lagravis demanded firmly.
Meanwhile, Cragger couldn't control himself as he acted like a real wild animal; he snarled, his fangs and claws were out, and he went sprinting through the jungle and stopped for nothing and no one.
And inside the jungle, Raiva and Eris were having a nice stroll, completely unaware that Cragger was quickly catching up.
"So, how are things between you and Razar?" Eris asked with a smirk, and Raiva's blush would have been visible if it weren't for the black feathers on her face.
"W-well…he can be greedy and selfish a lot, but…I know he has a heart, I can feel it," Raiva replied sheepishly.
"And who knows? Maybe that raven prince will ask you to be his princess one day," Eris suggested, almost matter-of-factly.
But that was just when Cragger came sprinting through, nearly ramming through Raiva and Eris if they hadn't opened their wings to jump over and dodge Cragger in the nick of time.
"Was that…Cragger?" Raiva asked with confusion, and that's when Laval came speeding through on his Speedor, trying to catch up with Cragger.
"That's Cragger, alright; he plugged a Chi Orb!" Laval explained with worry, as Eris and Raiva took off and flew after him too.
"What?! Why would you let him do that?!" Eris panicked.
"I-I didn't know he was actually going to try it out! He told me we were only gonna look!"
"Laval, you should know by now that Cragger can be trusted just as much as the ravens…and that's coming from ME!" Raiva pointed out angrily.
The three continued to follow Cragger through the jungle, as he also nearly hurt Rogon, Gorzan and Worriz when their relaxation time together was suddenly interrupted by Cragger's vicious sprinting and growling growling.
And out of curiosity, the boys were intrigued to follow the rampaging crocodile prince too.
Soon, the six teens followed croc friend to the Forever Rock, as he was so crazy with Chi power, that he just hurled himself off the edge of the cliff and landed down on the Forever Rock's sacred platform.
But Cragger still couldn't stop himself, so he just went running right for the Forever Rock itself, and rammed into it; since unstoppable force met an immovable object, Cragger used all of his force to push through the rock, but to no avail. Cragger even tried to get through by digging his claws into the rock, creating a long streak of deep claw marks.
"Cragger, stop this!" Laval shouted at his best friend when he carefully approached him, but he got too close when Cragger suddenly turned around and pounced on him, pinning the lion prince down and wrapping his powerful claws around his neck.
"CRAGGER, NO!" Laval pleaded.
But luck was on Laval's side when Laval's father showed up with a few more guards, and he shot Cragger with a De-Chiing gun, the blast siphoning the remaining Chi power in Cragger, and leaving him drained of energy and completely defenseless.
"Chain him and call his parents!" Lagravis demanded of the guards, but then he glared at his son after the guards had picked Cragger up off of Laval, "Son, what were you thinking?!"
"I-I'm so sorry, Dad…I-I had no idea he was gonna plug an orb…we just wanted to have some fun," Laval whimpered in the angry presence of his father, as he watched his poor and exhausted friend being carried away by the guards.
"That doesn't make it any better, Son. Someone could have REALLY gotten hurt; next time, ask yourself if it's the right thing to do…now, I've got to explain this to Cragger's parents, and you know how difficult they can be," Lagravis protested with a little fear in his tone, as he scratched the back of his head.
I just love the relationship between Razar and Raiva, and believe me when I say it's gonna get A LOT more interesting as the series progresses.
Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!
