Chapter 18

One's destiny

Years have passed the herd, and needless to say nearly the entirety of the group were far from pleased with Maximus' leadership, especially Chomp, now a matured adult male triceratops himself. For as long as he could remember Maximus prioritised his own judgement and safety over that over the herd, he refused to listen to the voices of the other herd members as he often claimed the best water holes or feeding grounds mainly for himself while leaving little for to go around for the others. What hurt Chomp the most was seeing how cruelly he would sacrifice or abandon members of there herd whenever they made treacherous crossings over steep slopes or across rivers, leaving behind dead or dying members without a backwards glance for scavengers to pick up, when they could have been saved still.

As much as Chomp wanted to remain behind to aid those who were left behind or perished, some of them included his own family, he dared not do so out of being left behind by the rest of the herd, what was worse he also feared Maximus to an extent given the alpha triceratops' lack of tolerance for any member of the herd who dared to go against his orders nor did he ever show any mercy at all if anyone dared to stand up to him. He made it clear to the last dinosaur who dared challenge him for leadership and how he brutally beaten then skewered said challenger with his own horns. Needless to say he was even more cruel than his father had ever been, while his father was aggressive he did at least have some degree of concern for the herd's wellbeing unlike his successor.

For a while fear was what kept Maximus' hold on the herd, but Chomp, his resentment having grown over the past few years long enough, was already having more than he could take and he couldn't stand it a second longer, till one day…he snapped. One day, when Maximus was planning to take the herd to their next green feeding ground with a shortcut through the valley of sulphurous vents and tar pits. It was then Chomp, already realising the number of herd members they'd lose in that dead zone would be catastrophic, growled angrily and shook with rage, as Maximus prepared to move out, the rest of the herd reluctant to follow but were left with no choice less they suffered his wrath. Chomp, having had enough, took a stand as he stomped his foot on the ground and roared out, an action that stunned the entire herd and Maximus!

The yellow triceratops took a stand and protested against Maximus' selfish judgement, refusing to follow him anymore and not only that he was willing to risk life and limb to protect the herd from him, knowing they all deserved much better than him! The herd looked on stunned, not just by Chomp's bravery (Or perhaps stupidity to some of them) but also for how selfless he was and how much he'd go through for them. His bravado was already starting to win a handful of the herd to his side including his remaining sisters who were still with him to this very day! Maximus, enraged by this mutiny roared out back at Chomp threatening to eliminate him in front of the herd's eyes once and for all to ensure no one would ever dare challenge him again. Chomp though remained undeterred, his past defeat from Maximus no longer mattering to him as this would determine the future of their survival, as he roared out a battle challenge against their current Alpha who accepted as he scraped his foot on the ground and snorted like an angered bull.

The 2 ceratopsians squared off with each other staring down one another as the other herd members backed away, the tension peaking in the air as they looked on anxiously for the outcome, most of them hoping Chomp would prevail. Maximus then bellowed and stomped his feet on the ground before rushing at Chomp! The younger trike responded by swinging his head, deflecting the attacker's charge as he skidded to the side! Maximus then repositioned himself, recovering from the blow dealt as he scraped the ground with his foot and charged again! Chomp held his ground as the alpha bashed him to the side but he dug in his heels and held strongly! As the rest of the herd looked on anxiously, the 2 triceratops then backed away a bit before charging one another with full force and locking horns! It was then that Chomp despite being pushed back at first, mustered up the strength to throw the other triceratops away, making him slam into a rock which then shattered upon impact! Maximus tried hard to stand, but then staggered weakly before collapsing down and out.

The current alpha was dethroned, as he lay on the ground heavily battered and beaten, while the yellow one stomped his feet down and bellowed in victory as the other trikes behind him celebrated with cheerful bellows of their own. As Maximus lay down on the ground, he vowed that it won't this way, and he intended to take down Chomp by any means necessary! Unfortunately, he lost his chance as soon as he managed to work his way up to his feet, their fight had left them both tired and distracted, as a large red male tyrannosaurus seized the chance and rushed out towards Maximus! Unable to respond in time, Chomp looked on in shock as the rex snapped his jaws right behind the neck of the herd's former alpha! Maximus cried out in pain only barely managing to shake off the carnivore's bite but it left him with massive bloody wounds behind his frill! Not wasting another chance, the t-rex used his massive weight and head to knock the older trike off his feet before biting into his exposed stomach! Crushing the ribs and the organs inside, the defeated Maximus was now no more than his next meal!

Stomping on his prey, the rex roared out in triumph signalling to the lowlands that this was now his kill and this was his hunting ground now, and all better watch out for him too. Before he could have his victory feast, looking up he saw the rest of the triceratops gathered together and being fearful. Licking his bloodied lips and teeth he got a little greedy as he roared out at them, hoping to scatter them and aim for the vulnerable young and old inside! He was feeling so full of himself, he didn't think anyone could stand in his way….till Chomp, unwilling to let his family get hurt or eaten by this predator, got in his way and roared out at him! The rex was put off by this heroic gesture at first but he wasn't about to let the triceratops scare him off so easily as he roared and rushed head first at him! In response Chomp swung out his head while the rex grabbed hold of his horn! They engaged in a tight struggle at first, but Chomp, having beens already weakened at first was losing ground fast! He could just feel himself being twisted down to the ground and was on the verge of having his horn snapped off while roared out in pain and urging the others to retreat fast!

Luckily, having been moved by his heroic spirit, some of the other adult triceratops began to rally to their new leader's side and charge at the tyrannosaurus! In alarm he was forced to release his grip and back away in time right before the made contact! A second longer and he would have been pierced! As the rex stood back in shock as the rest of the herd elders rally to the side of their new leader, he could see them making a blockade of horns at him and they were unwilling to let him pass! Chomp looked on in awe at everyone coming together for him, just as he had hoped for as they stood as one and firmly against the tyrannosaurus as they surrounded him, buying him time to build enough strength to get back on his feet again! Seeing there was no way he could take on an entire herd of angry triceratops on his own, the tyrannosaurus snarled in anger as he was forced to back down, and instead grabbed the carcass of the one he defeated deciding to settle with just it. As he began to drag it away, he locked eyes with that of Chomp, vowing that this wasn't over, not by a long shot, as he carried his prey into the forest and out of sight.

At last the herd's tyrant of a leader was no more, to have been dealt with by another tyrant, how ironic many would say. With the danger gone at last, the herd believed as though they could rest easy now, with a true leader to guide them even better so than any other before. With wise judgement, Chomp roared out as he lead the herd along a much safer route to their next feeding ground, trekking across the volcanic ashfield away from the death valley, and while longer it was easier for them to manage as they moved on smoothly, even aiding those who couldn't help themselves and giving them support too. Till finally they reached the next green zone where a handful of other dinosaurs were present like a torosaurus group and an ankylosaurus that was browsing before yawning sleepily and settling down for a nap in the sun. It wasn't long before the herd descended upon the green fields and began grazing at ease as Chomp looked on feeling proud of his victory and that he made all this possible for everyone and how they could all have a bright future ahead of them now. Unfortunately though, Chomp's victory and glory would be much shorter lived than he firs thought and little did he know this would be the last time he'd ever see his family for some time.

The sounds of rumbling echoed through the ground which put many of the dinosaurs on alert as they perked their heads up and looked around anxiously as they tried to pinpoint where it was coming from, along with a strange smell in the air unlike anything they had ever seen before. Trees in the distance were soon toppled and flattened down and tearing out of the underbrush were 3 strange looking vehicles, they seemed to look like ceratopsians to the dinosaurs and yet they had wheels and were coloured maroon, it was clear they were metal and not flesh, and inside them were 3 humans who were driving said vehicles! The Alpha gang grinned with delight upon finding a dinosaur hot spot at last as their unexpected appearance startled the dinosaurs who didn't know what to make of these unusual intruders.

"Woo hoo! This looks like the entire jackpot!" Zander cheered eager to get ready for the hunt.

"Yeah! I feel almost like a kid in a candy store where everything is completely free!" Ed cheered with excitement, "I can't wait to get all these dinos back to Dr Z! Imagine how happy he'll be with us when he sees what we bring back!" He smiled with sparkly eyes filled with deep hope and expecting great praise awaiting them.

Ursula rubbed her palms together and grinned moist sinisterly with devious intent behind her grin, "Hehehe then let's not wait any longer! Let's get this party started!" Snapping her fingers a pink plane flew over the grazing ground, which then rained down several alpha droids which landed and surround the herd to their alarm! Clearly these invaders weren't dinosaurs at all, the herds gathered together to protect the young while Chomp held his ground and kept his eyes on all 3 of their enemies. Ursula soon had another idea hatched in her mind, "In fact why not we have a little fun with this too!" She said as Ed and Zander looked to her curiously, "Let's see who gets the most dinos back home! Winner then gets to stand as Dr Z's right hand!"

The 2 men then grinned eager to take her up on the challenge, "Hehe you're on!"

"You guys will be eating my dust soon enough! Hahaha!" They laughed maniacally as they split up in several directions causing all kinds of chaos as they harassed the dinosaurs in an effort to scare and corner them!

Ursula drove up in front of a torosaurus bull and honked at it, getting his attention and agitating him as he roared and began to scrape his foot ready to charge. She on the other hand grinned in response, "Nyeh! Nyeh!" She stuck out her tongue at the large ceratopsian, who took it as an insult just she intended as he charged at her! "Toro! Toro!" She smacked her lap urging him to come closer, only to drive out of the way as he ran straight into the cage and crashed at the other end and causing it to close! "Heheh works every time." She snickered seeing she could exploit the dinosaurs' low intelligence to her advantage! Perhaps she overestimated the difficulty of this job…..till she heard a scream come the other side.

"WAAAAH!"

"Hmm?" Turning to look she saw an ankylosaurus swing out its tail and not only sending the Alpha droids flying but even sent Ed and his vehicle packing as he fell out of his vehicle which crashed some feet away from him while he landed with a loud thud on the ground! "Ow my head…." He muttered rubbing his temple, he thought the sleeping dinosaur would be easy pickings but clearly he bit off more than he could chew. As Ed got back up to his feet, he felt rumbling under his feet which made him turn to look, "Huh?" He winded his eyes to see the ankylosaurus charge straight at him and he was a sitting duck! "GAAAAAH!" He cried as he tried to make a run for it thinking he could outpace the slow herbivore, though given he wasn't exactly the fastest member of the team himself it didn't take too much effort for the ankylosaurus to keep pace with him!

Ursula roiled her eyes in exasperation, "Tch! Amateur….." She clicked her tongue and shook her head before realising she had to go help him, "Alright Ed hang on!" She yelled out as she drove after them. Taking out a lasso she swung it around and hooked onto the beast's tail! "Ha! Gotcha!" She boasted but only ended being yanked out of the car right before she could secure it properly! "Me and my big mouth! AIYEEE!" She screamed while holding on for dear life, her arms nearly getting torn off!

"EEEK! Alpha droids! Help!" Ed cried desperately jumping behind some rocks as more droids came in and began beating on the ankylosaurus with their tiny fists!

"ATTACK! ATTACK!" but it only served to anger the herbivore even more it swung out its tail using Ursula like a wrecking ball! "WAAAAH!" She cried as she felt being smashed into her own droids before the rope snapped off and she was sent flying into the air and landing right on Ed!

"GAAAAH!"

CRASH!

"Urgh…" They groaned in pain as the ankylosaurus roared out angered and out of control, but before it could go on a violent rampage, a cage from above fell onto it, trapping it inside as it began to smash at the bars with its tail and armoured head but to no avail!

Meanwhile Zander seemed to be having the most fun as he continued to harass the triceratops group as he drove around startling the mothers and young, breaking up the group as the Alpha droids tried to chase after them! "Hahahaha! So this is what it's like to herd sheep! It's actually kinda fun!" He laughed in amusement, only to be caught by surprise when one triceratops bull charged in and bulldozed through the droids and sending them flying before they smashed to bits! "Oh? Looks like we have a hero here." He mused as Chomp held his ground and the rest of the herd regrouped behind him as he stood face to face with the invader for a one on one duel!

In response Zander grinned and began pressing on the accelerator multiple times as the engine whirred, "Want to play chicken? Hehe, you're on!" He then pressed with full force as he rushed forward while Chomp did the same! "Charge!" He yelled out at the top of his lungs while Chomp roared out! Zander thought he'd turn the trike into roadkill, only to be sorely mistakened when Chomp ended up flipping the vehicle up into the air! "WAAAAAAH!" Zander cried out in a panic as he spun out of control as it came to a loud crash upside down! He grunted in annoyance as he crawled out from under it, only to see Chomp stomping his feet and roaring out in triumph with the rest of the herd behind him. "Urgh….You're pretty tough I'll give you that…." The lanky man sweated and gritted his teeth in frustration, but as Chomp started to come close to him, he suddenly grinned as he held out a remote with a button on it! "But too bad for you, you're all ours now!" Pressing it a large cage dropped out from the sky and landed on Chomp!

Trapped inside and in alarm he roared out in a panic as he smashed the cage bars with his had and body checks but to no avail! The rest of the herd could see Chomp was caught while Zander held his head up high and laughed out loud cockily! "Ahahahah! Not so tough now are you!?" He boasted while making faces at the disoriented trike inside the cage as his family looked on in worry and anxiety to see their bravest and strongest now trapped!

Hearing foot steps behind him Zander turned to see Ed and Ursula limping towards him while covered in scrapes in bruises themselves, "Urgh…that's the last time I try lassoing a dinosaur by the tail…." Ursula groaned to herself thinking it was cool the way they did it in movies but clearly reality and fantasy were 2 completely different worlds

Ed looked to her and narrowed his eyes, "I'm surprised you actually tried doing that in the first place Ursula." He muttered knowing that she should have heeded the warning message 'don't try this at home." As soon as they regrouped with Zander, "Anyways what's the score now?" He asked as they each saw they had one dino caught each, Ursula with a torosaurus, Ed and the Ankylosaurus and Zander with Chomp.

"Tch! It's a tie…." Ursula clicked her tongue while Zander snapped his fingers in annoyance.

It was then with a heavy heart, Chomp roared out in distress to the rest of his family, urging them all to leave while they still could otherwise they'd all be caught and put into cages like him! They refused to leave his side but after an few more roars off urgency from him, it was with deep reluctance as they all turned around and ran for their lives, having their hearts broken to lose their leader and closest family member, as Chomp looked on shedding a small tear as they had a bitter parting.

"Aww they're getting away!" Ed cried out as the rest of the dinosaurs began to disappear into the forest ahead.

Ursula though wasn't too discouraged as she saw the remaining runaways as an opportunity for them, "No biggie, they'll all make nice tie breakers they will!" She then pointed out, "Alpha droids! Round them up!" The remaining droids rebooted and assembled together as they saluted her.

"ROUND UP! ROUND UP!" They were just about to chase after the fleeing dinosaurs, when a beam of light shot down from the sky to the trio's surprise, which quickly turned to alarm and terror when 2 furious faces started at them!

"WAAAH! Dr Ancient and Dr Cretacia!" They all squealed in a fright before trying to look innocent with forced smiles and other gestures like scratching heads or clapping hands together, "Fancy meeting you here hehe…."

Unfortunately the Ancients weren't the slightest bit amused, if anything they were utterly furious! "What are you 3 doing!? I can't believe you'd do something so outrageously stupid!" Cretacia screamed turning red with rage, a sight that scarred them given it was always the happy ones that snapped the worst!

Ancient stomped towards the 3 idiots and glared daggers that pierced into their very souls, "Of all the no good rotten stunts you could have pulled this is the worst of all! Don't you realise we came here to save the dinosaurs not put them through even more trouble and suffering than they already have and will!?" He growled with immense fury at them as they cried out in fear and began wetting their pants.

"EEEK!" Ed turned pale.

"Not the face! Please not my beautiful face!" Ursula covered her face.

Zander got on his knees and pleaded on their behalf, "We were just trying to help the only way we knew how! I promise we didn't do anything to actually hurt them!" He waved out his hands assuringly before pointing behind them, "Plus we got 3 dinosaurs already so that's a good side to all this!"

Seeing the 3 dinosaurs they caught so far, Dr Ancient and Cretacia went up to check on them to make sure they weren't hurt, and so far apart from being shaken up or being scared and agitated there weren't any physical injures on them thankfully.

The 3 of them began to tiptoe away, "While you take a look at the merchandise we've got to get going and-"

"Stay right where you are." said Cretacia firmly without looking behind which made them gulp and swallow down a rock in their throats, "We aren't finished here, not by a long shot."

"Urk…." They croaked lowering their heads in deep shame, while Cretacia eyed the dinosaurs one by one with deep sympathy.

"Oh you poor things…." She said seeing they were shaking with fear or had hostility in their eyes, "I'm really sorry for the trouble they put you through….It's alright, I promise those meanies will be punished for what they've done to you." She tried to assure them knowing it wouldn't come close to make up for what they were put through but hopefully saving them from the incoming asteroid to come would.

Ancient focused his attention on Chomp, who lowered himself to the ground and breathed heavily with sadness, which he took notice of as he reached through the bars and stroked him gently, "I'm terribly sorry….." There were no words can express his regret and sorrow, to be separated from his own family, had they had arrived sooner maybe they could bring them all back…."I promise we'll make everything right. For now….just rest…." Was all he could say as he pressed a button which caused lights to generate from the 3 cages turning the 3 dinosaurs to cards.

As the transports began to fly back to the Backlander in the sky, Ancient began pitching in a call to Jonathan to pick them up, while Cretacia folded her arms crossly and glared at the trio, "You 3 are in deep trouble now. When we get back to the ship, you can be sure you'll be getting it." She said in a dangerous tone and an equally fearsome expression to which they lowered their heads with remorse.

"Yes ma'am…." The muttered knowing they won't be getting their bonuses anytime soon as a beam of light summoned them all back to the ship.

Some extent I got a bit of inspiration from Disney Dinosaur when it came to herd leadership and to care for its wellbeing more than survival of the fittest.

Given how Dr Z made a lightning move card as his first ever I'd like to think of that as Chomp's Lightning move later on, though I wonder what made Dr Ancient approve of it given some of the card capsules had moves in them, or maybe Dr Z snuck them in. Also altered some dinosaurs to become moves too.

Something I like to believe is Chomp was lonely to have been separated from his herd and seeing Max again with his triceratops horns reminded him of home so he took a liking to him already. Also the way the Alpha Gang hunted the dinosaurs you can look to the Dinosaur King Arcade Game like the intro scene and see how they mistreated the dinosaurs too.

Overall whose story do you enjoy the most or felt had the worst or best life in prehistoric earth?

Reply to reviews

tsukikami02

Well Chomp was reaching maturity and trying to impress the females though with Maximus it was more than likely he monopolised them all for himself.

Yup I can't imagine any girl wanting to be friends with a brute like that, and here is how Terry's mom got her wounds too thus leading to Terry and his sister having to pitch in.

Drew Luczynski

Things did go wrong at first for the herd, then got better and then worse...though in the end all the dinosaurs would lose due to the meteor so thanks to the Ancients a handful of them will survive. Let's not forget Cera's time too.