Magic of The Golden Flower Chapter 24
Luca, Rocket, Spear, Maurice, and Bad Ape all had awakened at the sound of Aurora's cry. To top it off when Luca found the little one and her pet missing from the camp he was beside himself especially when the group saw that their tracks led back to the Alpha Omega's base.
Now Luca was all fired up to protect his young ward. The digging underneath the compound in the tunnels still needed to be handled delicately so it was quickly decided that Maurice, Bad Ape, and Spear would remain behind to complete this important task.
Which led to what they were actually doing now rushing in like this. It's a risky undertaking, but from this point forward all of them were willing to take it. Initially Spear wanted to join in with Luca and Rocket, but the elder chimpanzee put his foot down. Maurice would need an extra pair of hands to dig through the blocked tunnels. He couldn't do it by himself since Bad Ape would be practically useless anyway. So reluctantly Spear obeyed the command.
All eyes were on the barricade wall as the remnants of the massive roar echoed on the air off of the ravine walls.
All of the apes, Shadow, and Aurora recognized whom it belonged to instantly. Knowing that voice anywhere.
Luca was like a freight train bursting through the barrier with splinters of wood flying everywhere. Snarling Luca stood on two feet beating his fists against his broad chest, murder in his eyes. Luca wasn't alone. Next to Luca appeared a very pissed off Rocket. Scanning the scene with his eyes Luca quickly identified Aurora and Shadow trapped underneath some netting surrounded by hostiles. Luca barreled right over to them with Rocket beside him. Luca was such a force to be reckoned with that the soldiers scrambled out of his path letting them pass lest the rage filled gorilla maul them to death. Standing possessively over Aurora and Shadow Luca beat his chest again throwing snow and dirt in the air as a warning. Heeding it the humans hastily stepped back.
Releasing a snort of disdain Luca lowered himself onto all fours staring down at the quivering Aurora. The very minute the net was tugged off Aurora instinctively leapt up onto Luca's back. It wasn't hard since he bent himself forward slightly to allow her easier access and she nestled in between his shoulder blades.
With Aurora secure Rocket and Luca turned to focus on the enemy. The shock of their appearance had worn off and now the Alpha Omega's were gathering themselves. The soldiers appeared to be about to shoot. The only reason they hadn't done so yet is because the Colonel held up a hand to halt them. Instead he nodded to Red indicating that he and some of the Donkey's should take be the one to fight.
Red snorted and got into a battle stance to as more of the soldiers cleared the way. Sensing what was coming Luca dislodged Aurora from his back and passed her to Rocket. Rocket then moved Aurora and Shadow out of the crossfire for what was to come. Luca bared his teeth and guns at Red glowering at him. Similar to what happened with Winter, Red had been another of the Gorilla Guard under his command. So this was personal for the proud silverback.
Luca released an almighty roar that Red copied. The two charged each other and the collision was devastating. The gorillas rolled across the ground pummeling each other with fists and teeth. The savage brawl was vicious and it was no secret who would come out on top. Luca may have been older, but with age comes experience plus he was faster and stronger than his opponent.
The Colonel realized this truth and, disregarding the fact he does care at all for the apes under his command, he'd rather have his subordinate win than see one of Caesar's come out victorious in this bout of dominant bravado. So drawing his sidearm and loading it the Colonel took aim at the warring gorillas. He pulled the trigger intending on shooting Luca, but someone else stepped in the way of the shot. The boom of the shot rang out silencing all and their eyes were on the recipient of that shot.
Shadow collapsed on the ground in agony blood already pouring out of the wound the bullet left behind. It had gone right through him.
Everyone was shocked by Shadow's actions. Even Luca and Rocket had stopped fighting.
Tearing Rocket's hands off of her Aurora rushed to Shadow's side. Immediately covering him with her hair she sang the enchantment to heal him.
.
Flower gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Change the Fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine.
.
Before everyone's eyes Shadow's life threatening wound healed instantly with the skin and muscle slowly reattaching themselves and the blood fading away.
Shadow pushed himself into an upright sitting position with his breathing becoming more and more regulated back to normal. Cured he raised his head to lick thankfully lick Aurora in gratitude on the cheek. This sort of interaction between a child and her beloved pet would be touching to most, but not Alpha Omega.
"Sweep the area," said the Colonel to his right hand man. He then nodded to Rocket and Luca. "Put them in the pen."
Luca was savagely backhanded in a surprise assault from Red and no less than two other Donkey's wrestled Rocket off his feet. Luca released a rage filled roar as he was dragged unceremoniously into the holding pen where the adults of the tribe were imprisoned. The anger in the roar was a mixture of fury at this indignity and that Aurora was undoubtedly being taken away from him.
Luca was too big for all of the Donkey's to take on at once so they instead ganged up on Rocket. The tribe was forced to watch helpless to do anything to aide him as the renegade apes beat him into submission. They were too afraid of being on the receiving end of the traitor's fists. Locked in his own cage Caesar felt a growl rise in his throat as he watched with horror as the majority of the Donkey's retracted and Red took their place. The gorilla pounded Rocket with his fists raising them high in the air and smacking them down hard. After the thorough thrashing he'd gotten from Luca, Red deferred to pounding someone smaller than he was. A way to make himself feel better following the humiliation just like the coward he is. Members of the tribe winced at each and every blow that landed on Rocket. For good measure Red kicked Rocket loathsomely in the stomach. Rocket grunted in pain as the kick collided with his ribs, but didn't retaliate wisely choosing to stay down.
One of the turncoats then shackled Luca and Rocket to separate chained lines of apes.
Gesturing at Aurora, the Colonel said "Lock her up. Make sure she can't get away this time."
"Wait," ordered the Colonel, making the soldiers pause, adding another to the mix, "put the mutt is too."
Before Aurora was able to comprehend what the Colonel said and grab Shadow someone else did taking the frantic German shepherd by the scruff of the neck and hurled him roughly into the enclosure. Shadow yelped when he hit the ground, but swiftly got back onto his feet and launched at the gate now out for blood. Unfortunately the gate was shut directly in Shadow's face. Shadow barked and whined pawing at the bars pathetically as the Alpha Omega's departed taking Aurora with them. Aurora had tried to save Shadow, but two soldiers had grabbed her before she could even take a single step inside the pen. As the she was dragged off Aurora cast one final dejected look at her friends and then she disappeared in the throng of soldiers.
Caesar turned his attention to his injured friends now held in captivity like the rest.
Rocket lay crumped on the ground inside the pen. Luca shook off two other gorillas that had been restraining him from attacking the turncoats attacking Rocket and now went over to his comrade. With Luca's assistance Rocket managed to stagger to his feet, bloodied unbowed, unbent, and unbroken. Wrapping a hand around the bars of the pen Rocket leaned heavily on them wincing from the pain.
Raising his head, grinning toothily at Caesar, Rocket signed "Feeling better?"
Smiling, shaking his head in disbelief and bemusement, Caesar signed "Yes."
"Good. Then we can talk about escape and rescue Aurora," signed Rocket, bringing his fists together, a symbol that Luca copied. "Apes together strong!"
Caesar nodded at his friends, smiling slightly, admiring their resolve, but their situation was dire and continued to look bleak.
How on earth were they going to get out of this?!
Authors Note:
They're really caught between a rock and a hard place here. Wonder how they're going to get out of this.
Okay guys I'm just gonna say this once. I've recently updated Caesar's Pearl with a new chapter and I have not gotten any reviews for it. Before any of you use the excuse that they didn't see the update, let me stop you right there. I checked the viewers on the story and the amount of people that looked at the chapter was huge. I'm not saying this to be cruel or stingy for reviews, but my mood and incentive for writing certain works does depend on reviews and if there aren't any then I'm going to assume that you guys don't want to read it anymore. And if that occurs then I'm gonna stop writing for that story. And that goes to same for all of my works. So for those of you who do love the story and want to see more please leave reviews cause I love to hear what my readers think.