Museum Section 1
Zeal pounced at Grant, sounding a loud battle cry. Grant quickly fired off a stream of electrical beams at the raptor, several of which hit their mark. Zeal cringed at the pain as landed behind where Grant stood. The raptor snapped his head behind his self to see Grant about to shoot again, but Zeal jumped to the ground, 25 feet below. He ducked behind the boulder that the brachiosaur skeleton's feet had been mounted. He was out of sight and range of the electric gun.
"Where did he go?" Grant said looking around for the raptor.
"How is a visitor to the island a better shot than the men who work here?" Zeal thought to himself in annoyance. He was heavily panting from the five shots Grant had landed. "I need a new plan, since direct force won't work." Zeal tried to think of plan, but a decent one seemed to elude him. "This is so frustrating!" The raptor kicked the boulder. To his and Grant's surprise the entire brachiosaurus skeleton shook and rattled as if it were going to fall apart, but stabilized itself after a few seconds. A grin crossed Zeal's face.
"Hey, get from down there!" Grant was looking over the side of the skeleton down at Zeal. Zeal shook his head, 'no'. Grant raised an eyebrow. "Did you really just say-WHOAH!" Grant's inquiry was interrupted when the raptor kicked the boulder two more times, almost making Grant fall off the brachiosaur's back. "Cut that out!" Grant threw an explosive grenade at the raptor. Zeal noticed right away and dashed from under the brachiosaur skeleton to the T-rex skeleton. The grenade landed right at the base of the boulder and exploded. Fragments of brachiosaur leg flew in every direction. Zeal ducked behind the T-rex's boulder stand to avoid being hit. "Oh Crap!" Grant yelled as he ran up the collapsing brachiosaur's neck. He jumped from the herbivore's skull to the rex's skull. Since the rex skull was a few feet above the brachiosaur's, Grant was only able to grab a hold of the holes in the rex's nose. He dangled in the air awkwardly as the brachiosaur skeleton hit the ground and shattered into fragmented bones. The paleontologist struggled to pull himself up. Zeal cautiously walked from behind the rex's boulder stand. The first thing he noticed was the total destruction of the herbivore's skeleton. The second thing he noticed was Grant.
"You are quite the agile human, Alan Grant." Zeal laughed sarcastically in a high pitched repetitive chirp.
"Oh, shut up." Grant shouted at Zeal. "I can only assume you're making fun of me down there."
"You may not understand me, but you are not as clueless as I previously thought. You are indeed a credit to your species." Zeal remarked as he turned to face the boulder and lifted his left leg. "Hopefully you can understand this too."
"Don't you dare." Grant said in a stern tone. "Don't you even think about." Zeal just bared his teeth in a smile, and then kicked the rock three times. "AHH! WHOAH! AHHH!" The skeleton shook severely which in turn made hanging onto it all the harder for Grant. "Cut that out!" Zeal shook his head 'no' again. "What the…? You did it again." Grant stated puzzled. "Can you-Hey watch it!" Grant stopped his question when the skeleton shook again from the velociraptor jumping onto the T-rex's tail.
"Are you willing to cooperate now?" Zeal asked making his way to the rex's back. He knew the man couldn't understand him, but he figured there was no harm in trying. Grant hoisted himself up onto the dinosaur's skull. He immediately aimed his electric gun at Zeal.
"Don't come any closer." Grant warned.
"I'll take that as a no." Zeal hissed. The raptor did not stop his advance. Grant responded by pulling out a gas grenade and throwing it at Zeal. Zeal swung his tail to knock the grenade back, but realized too late that Grant had used it as a distraction. The paleontologist had his electric gun, aimed, readied and fired. The electricity hit its mark on the grenade. The electrical overflow caused the explosive to detonate right in front of Zeal's snout.
"Shangrei!" Zeal cursed in Saurilied language. The raptor used his perfect timing technique to speed up his reaction time to hop away and out of the dark gray cloud of smoke that was forming around him. "Too close." Zeal growled as he safely landed on the tail of T-rex.
"How did you escape that?" Grant's brow furrowed in confusion.
"Like this." Zeal replied dashing up the tail and back of the rex skeleton, and then jumped over the cloud of gas and landing directly in front of Grant using his perfect timing technique. Zeal tried to intimidate the human into a paralysis of fear with a menacing growl mixed with a hiss, but Grant only pulled the trigger of his gun to fire upon the raptor. Still immersed in his technique, Zeal swiftly side-stepped the electrical beam, but the paleontologist didn't let up there; he continued to rapidly shoot electricity at Zeal and every now and then he threw in a swing of the butt of his gun at the raptor.
"Hold…still…so…I…can…hit…you." Grant said a syllable after every swing of his gun. He was out of ammo for his gun, but he still swung at the raptor. Zeal ducked and dodged every swing. He had quit using his perfect timing technique the moment he realized Grant wasn't shooting anymore, but the raptor still stayed on alert for he did not want to slip up and let the human get in a good hit. "Stop…moving." Grant panted.
"Getting tired, are we?" Zeal inquired, though it sounded as raspy growls and chirps to Grant.
"Quiet you." Grant panted and swung with extreme force at the raptor's head. Zeal saw his opportunity to disarm the human. The butt of the electric gun was caught and locked firmly between Zeal's teeth. "Uh-oh." With delightful ease, Zeal yanked the gun clean out of Grant's hands. The raptor hopped back a few feet to keep Grant from trying to snatch the gun back. When he did try, Zeal swiped at him with his toe claw, keeping Grant at bay. "Give me that." Grant demanded with a hint of irritation in his voice. "Don't make me blow you up." He said pulling out his last explosive grenade and shaking it at Zeal, even though he knew the dinosaur would probably just bat it away with its tail. Zeal shook his head 'no' for a third time. "Okay, that's just weird. That's the third time you've done that?" Grant pointed out. Zeal tilted his head in his 'that's interesting' manner which looked somewhat silly with the gun still being in his mouth. The raptor pretended to have no clue what Grant was talking about. "Don't play dumb. You know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you?" Zeal shook his head 'no' again. "That right there! You just did it again and…wait a minute…YOUR JUST TOYING WITH ME!" Granted yelled out. Then, all of sudden, realization crossed his face. "If you're able to mess with me, then that means you must be able to understand me!"
"Yes, finally you get it!" Zeal nodded his head 'yes'. A big grin came across Grant's face.
"Okay, so if you understand me, answer this question: Have you been following me over this whole island?" Grant asked.
"Yes." Zeal nodded.
"Holy crap you must be a determined dinosaur. Well that leads to my next question: Were you ever planning or going to harm me?"
"No." Zeal shook his head. He thought it best not nod yes since he was planning on using force to get Grant to help him if communicating didn't pan out.
"This is awesome." Grant chuckled to himself. "Okay, one more question. This one will definitely prove you understand me: Can I have my gun back?" The raptor gave Grant a quizzical look as if to say 'do you really think I'm that dumb'. "I promise I won't swing it at you anymore." Zeal used a claw to point to the grenade still in Grant's hand. "Oh yeah, and I won't throw anymore grenades at you, I promise." Grant said putting the explosive away. Zeal nodded his head approvingly and then slowly approached the paleontologist with his head down to show submission. Grant didn't make any sudden movements as the raptor dropped the gun at his feet and backed away.
Grant picked up his weapon and laughed. "Oh my God…I'm talking to a dinosaur." Grant stated flabbergasted. "Do know what that means?" He asked Zeal. The raptor didn't get a chance to respond before Grant continued to speak. "Dinosaur's brain capacity go way further than any paleontologist has ever theorized it could. That means…" Grant continued into a lecture form of debate with himself as he stated several theories on dinosaur intelligence, none of which Zeal found all too appealing. Zeal stood by and watched the human argue with himself for several minutes.
"This has gone on long enough." Zeal barked out a loud call similar to a seal's bark. Grant nearly fell of the rex's skull from being startled.
"What? What is it?" Grant inquired. Zeal pointed his snout in the direction located behind the rex's tail. There was a door on the far wall that Grant hadn't noticed before. "I assume that means you want to leave?" Grant asked. Zeal nodded. The raptor jumped down from the back of the skeleton and looked up to Grant to wait for him to do the same. "You're kidding, right? You don't expect me to jump like 30 feet, do you? You know what; on second thought, don't answer that question. I'll just climb down the leg." Grant said.
"Smart human." Zeal commented. Grant began his decent down the leg. He fumbled many times trying to find crevices to place his hands and feet. After 10 minutes, the paleontologist had only gone about 6 feet down his climb. Zeal had become impatient. "This is going to consume too much time." Zeal approached the boulder on which the skeleton stood, and delivered a strong kick. Zeal took a step back from the rock just as Grant crashed into the floor in front of him. The raptor couldn't help but laugh at the man's face plant.
"Oww." Was all Grant said. He pushed himself off the ground and stood up, and then turned to face the raptor. "I assume those chirps are supposed to be some form of laughter." Zeal nodded his head. "Well that wasn't funny." Grant stated with some irritation.
"QUICKSICKLES!" A voice thundered through the building. Grant and Zeal looked at each other as the ground began to quake. Zeal quickly got behind Grant and started to shove him with his head in the direction of the door.
"I get it, I get it." Grant said moving into a jog.
"I have your scent, Quicksickles. YOU CANNOT HIDE!" The voice roared out again. The force of the quaking started to shake the rex skeleton. Just as the raptor and human made it to the door, the opposite wall was crashed through by a flying gray and red jeep. The jeep hit the ground and rolled into the boulder that once belonged to the brachiosaur and smashed itself into a stop.
"Open the door!" Zeal hissed at Grant, who was currently trying to turn the knob of the door.
"Don't get mad me, get mad at the door." Grant panicked as he tried to pull the door open. "It's locked!"
"There you are." Kenduari stomped through the hole in the wall and came into full view.
"Holy $#*%!" Grant yelled as he tugged harder on the door.
"Now, now Quicksickles. You are not attempting to withdraw from our battle, ARE YOU?" The rex roared out.
Zeal whimpered at the thought of having to confront Kenduari a third time. "Move!" Zeal shoved Grant out the way. The raptor jumped kicked the door which sent it sailing off its hinges into the next room.
"Oh no you do not!" Kenduari bellowed. She started to charge toward the raptor and human. Zeal ran into the next room and looked back to see if Grant was following but instead saw the human standing in the door way facing the charging T-rex with his last explosive grenade in hand. Zeal barked out for him to follow but received no response.
"I only get one shot at this!" Grant shouted as he tossed up his grenade above his head. He quickly grabbed his gun and held like a bat. He swung right when he needed to as the T-rex passed part of the rex skeleton, and hit the grenade as it descended down in front of him. The explosive canister flew right at Kenduari, but the rex skidded to a stop and leaned to the side to avoid the explosive.
"You missed." The rex scoffed. Kenduari, however, noticed too late as the grenade detonated behind her, near the skull of the rex skeleton. "What in the name of Nexcreeg!" She roared out as the skeleton cracked into pieces and toppled over and onto her. Zeal stared on in awe at what Grant had managed to do. The raptor could barely see the downed rex through all the dust from the bones, but he knew that even Kenduari was down and out after that. The paleontologist ran into the room and nudge Zeal to snap him out of his daze.
"Come on, let's move." Grant said jogging on into the room and past the raptor. Zeal trotted up next to Grant and slowly inclined in his head showing his respect for the human. "I guess that means thank you. I really should be thanking you though. I learned that little batting trick from you when you swatted my grenade earlier." Grant chuckled. The raptor and paleontologist ran out of the room and turned down a corner into the main section of the Museum.
XXXXXX
Kenduari laid semi-consciousness under the broken and cracked bones of another rex. To state she was not happy was an understatement of colossal magnitude. The female alpha rex's eyes flashed open. Her irises narrowed to nothing but black slits surrounded by colors of blood red. Kenduari let loose a roar so powerful that her body shook from the sheer force of it. The Tyrannosaurus rose to her feet and shook herself clean of any dust or bone. She scanned her environment around her. Quicksickles and the human weren't there.
"Defeated by a mere primate!" Kenduari said with rage and shame. The vibrant colors of the world that she usually saw all steadily grew red through her vision, until every single thing she saw was in a tint of red. Kenduari turned and began to walk out of the hole she had entered. She was determined to beat Quicksickles to the Park Center entrance. The thought brought a sort of calming rage over her. "Now…I'm…pissed." Kenduari growled.
XXXXXX
"Vare, I'm pretty confident that you have no idea where you're going." Rave complained
"Hey Rave."
"Yeah?"
"Shut up." Vare stated. The sibling raptors were trotting through a large room with glass display cases. They had lost Zeal's scent.
"Maybe I should lead." Rave suggested.
"Be my guest." Vare stepped aside to let his sister walk ahead of him. Rave lowered her head to sniff the ground. Nothing. She held her head high in the air and sniffed again. Nothing again.
"Find anything?" Vare inquired.
"Give me a second." Rave said.
"We should try calling out again. Someone may hear us."
"That someone could be humans with weapons." Rave pointed out.
"True." Vare agreed. "But we could be wondering these halls forever if we don't at least try."
"Very well brother. You should make the call though. You have the louder mouth after all." Rave said sarcastically.
"Ha-ha. Very funny." Vare said then made a face at Rave.
Rave laughed, "Just call out already."
"Alright." Vare was able to make half of the noise that consisted of a raptor's call for help before something slammed into his chest and knocked him to the ground. "Owwww!" Vare coughed.
"Vare…Rave?" Vare heard a familiar voice say. The young velociraptor pushed off the weight that had slammed into him and stood up. His eyes were greeted with the sight of Zeal standing before him.
"No way." Vare and Rave said in unison.
Zeal laughed at the two young raptors. "You have not spoken at the same time since you were yearlings."
Rave and Vare just smiled at each other, "ZEAL!" They said together and tackled Zeal in affection.
"You are alive!" Rave said.
"Yes, I know." Zeal laughed as the two younger raptors jumped all over him.
"Wait till we get back to the nesting site. I'm going to kick your tail for leaving like that." Vare said excitedly. Both the raptors finally got off Zeal to let him stand up.
Zeal gave them a solemn look and said, "I am not going back to the nests."
"What!" Rave shouted.
"What do you mean!" Vare demanded. "We need you there!"
"I am not coming back. And you don't need me there. I am trying to get off the island, not stay here." Zeal explained.
"Why?" Rave questioned. "Our pack has everything we need to live here. Why do you want to leave?"
"Yeah and why did you call for help if you didn't need it?" Vare questioned.
"I feel as though there's much more to the world to explore than just this island. There is more out there for me." Zeal explained. "And the call wasn't for actual help. I was trying to navigate the volcanic tunnels. The echoes are most likely what you heard." Vare and Rave frowned. Then, unexpectedly, Vare smiled.
"I'll help you then." Vare said.
"What?" Zeal and Rave asked together.
"You heard me. I'm going to help you get off this island." Vare said. Zeal gave Vare a funny look. "I know weird, right?"
"It is. Since when do offer your aide willingly?" Rave questioned.
"When it's for a good friend." Vare smiled at his sister.
Rave smiled back. "If that's the case then I will offer my help as well."
"Well I see you two have matured within the few days I have been absent." Zeal commented.
"Glad you noticed." Rave smirked. Vare rolled his eyes. "Now explain exactly how you were planning to get off this rock?" Rave inquired.
"Well it seems that Vare knocked him out cold." Zeal said looking to the ground.
"Him?" Vare questioned. The young raptors looked to ground. A man wearing a blue shirt lay unconscious. "That's what ran into me?"
"He's the man that showed up the day before the storm hit." Rave realized.
"Yes, and he is my ticket off the island…If he ever wakes up." Zeal sighed.
"Well what are we waiting for, let's wake him." Vare said. He lowered his head to sniff the man before sticking out his tongue and licking his face.
Grant stirred slightly. "Not tonight Ellie, I'm tired." Grant groaned. He opened his eyes which were met with the larger green-yellow eye of a velociraptor. "AAHHH!" Grant screamed, but stopped when he remembered he had made a velociraptor a traveling companion. "You gave me a scare there for a second until I…"Grant had sat up and seen two more raptors standing behind the first. "Holy Crap, You Brought Friends!" Grant yelled out.
Vare turned back to Zeal. "He's really noisy."
"I know." Zeal agreed.
"What's his name?" Rave asked.
"Alan Grant." Zeal replied.
"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Grant asked finally getting to his feet. All three raptors looked at him with curiosity, and then continued to speak in a form of communication the human did not comprehend. Soon all three turned to face him, the largest of the three stood in the middle. Grant figured the larger raptor was the one he had befriended earlier. The two smaller velociraptors slowly inclined their heads to Grant. "They're part of your pack?" Grant guessed. Zeal nodded his head 'yes'. "Okay…I guess the more the merrier…As long they don't plan on eating me." Vare and Rave shook their heads 'no'. "Good." Grant breathed. "Let's go and find a way out of here." Grant walk through the Museum display area with the three raptors in tow.
A thought occurred to Zeal as the four navigated around display cases. "I doubt you two came here alone. Are there any others here I should be aware of, besides you?"
"Luliera is here as well as-" Rave began, but was interrupted.
"What! Luliera too?" Zeal asked surprised. "Wiesen is going to be extremely angry when-"
"He's here too." Vare said.
"What? Why?" Zeal was completely flabbergasted as to why the two most skilled hunters in his parqou would come searching for him.
"Remember that call for help we mentioned you made earlier." Rave said.
"Oh Saurilieds of Nexcreeg, we have to find them!" Zeal panicked.
"Don't worry, they can handle themselves." Vare said.
"It is not them I am worried about." Zeal said. "Grant has companions here as well, and if we do not find Luliera and Wiesen soon they may-" The high pitched scream of a human female echoed through the Museum.
"Ellie!" Grant shouted. He turned to the raptors and asked, "Are there any more of you here?" To Grant's horror the raptor's nodded 'yes'. Grant broke into a full sprint in the direction of the scream. It wasn't long before two of the raptors passed him. One jumped over him and ran ahead, while the other hopped on top of a display case and jumped off ahead of him. The largest of the three birds of prey ran up next to him and motioned its head towards its back. Grant got the idea. The paleontologist jumped as best he could while in a full on sprint, and landed sloppily on the dinosaur's back. Once Zeal felt as though Grant had situated himself properly, he sped off to catch up to Vare and Rave.
Me: I really wanted to have this chapter up about a week ago, but i ran into some technical difficulties while writing.
Zeal: His computer died.
Me: Yeah, pretty much. Sorry about that.
Kenduari: The harddrive was completely wiped of all memeory...including all the previous chapters he has written to this story. As well as the other Jurassic Park fanfictions he has been working on. The wrectched device left nothing to salvage.
Me: Fortunately there's this invention called a flashdrive! I'm just glad i saved everything i had onto it.
Zeal: And now everything is back on a new computer he got a few days ago.
Kenduari: He was using this wierd little device to get on the internet when his computer died. I find it to be useless. He could not even type with it.
Me: It's called a Nintendo DSi and its not useless.
Zeal: Yes it is. I can't even get Mario to shoot fireballs.
Me: Wait, What? HEY! Give me that!
Zeal: But i almost was at the castle.
Me: Too bad.
Kenduari: As much as I enjoy your bickering, I have to point out we have questions to answer from Apocalypse Survivor.
Zeal: Oh yes. What are the questions?
Me: Here's the exact qoute, "...I have a question for Zeal, and one for Kenduari: Kenduari - How can you even tie Zeal up when you have relatively small arms? And Zeal - How DID you get tied up by her short arms? I mean, come on..."
Kendauri: Actually, it was quite easy to tie him up. Truthfully, I did not use my arms. I enlisted aide to do it for me.
Rave & Vare: Hey there everyone.
Me: WHAT! YOU TWO!
Kenduari: That is correct. I instructed them on how to tie him up properly so that he could not wiggle free.
Me: I knew i shouldn't have taught you those different types of knots when you asked me.
Rave: It was fun doing it too.
Vare: We were happy to help. We never get to pull pranks on Zeal.
Me: Okay, so Kenduari didn't tie Zeal up with her arms, but how in the world did Vare and Rave overpower him.
Rave & Vare: We didn't.
Me: HUH?
Zeal: ...Uh...I took a nap and when I woke up I was bound by rope...
Me: ...*burst into uncontrollable laughter* I hope that...answers your quetions...Apocalypse Survivor
Zeal: Just do thanks already. I'm going for a walk.
Kenduari: Just don't fall asleep Quicksickles.
Me: *still laughing* Someone else...do the...thanks...I can't stop...laughing
Vare: Rave and I will do it.
Rave & Vare: Thanks for reading this far in the story. We hope you've enjoyed everything so far.
Vare: Thanks for all the favs, reviews, and alerts too.
Rave: And feel free to review. Don't be shy. It's not like we bite...much. Besides that though, your opinions make a difference and they also help inspire our guy to keep writing.
Rave & Vare: Any other form of communication is appreciated as well.
Me: By the way, i just want to point out my real name isn't Larry Foulke. It's Derrick Bussey. Larry Foulke is a character from a video game called Ace Combat: Zero. There was some confusion there from a friend of mine. Why would she be confused...I don't know.