Chapter 5
When the sun arose, Croco and Nobby were the first ones awake. They went into the house and started waking everybody up, starting with Kaala and Riojay. It didn't take long before everybody was scrambling...Croco and Brock loading the wagon and preparing Nobby, Kaala and Mira gathering fruit, nuts and bread for a quick breakfast they could take with them on their journey. When they were finished and ready to go, it was already midday and it was unusually hot that day. But being on the ocean was advantageous as it was a few degrees cooler than it was further inland.
When they reached the coastal town of Paleopolis, they stopped and rested for a couple hours while having dinner with a friend of Mira's who went by the name of Storm Barros. She was a little bit older than Mira, but at 68 summers, she looked pretty young as Croco guessed that she was in her thirties. After they had their fill, Storm led them to a dock where a grizzled old man was waiting in a boat. He told him that he would take them across the delta of the Polongo River, as Sauropolis was directly on the other side.
"Saves at least a week...if you're lucky enough to get through to Waterfall City," he said with a chuckle. But it came at a heavy price, as Croco had to give him a die-cast of Johnny Hallaway's race car he was going to compete with during the following racing season which came in the bag that washed up, obviously belonging to him. He also gave him some other things, including food, paper, scrolls, and a medallion that Kaala found on a trip along the western coast several months back. This was the first that Croco heard of Waterfall City and he asked the man about it.
"The city is built from the rocks and is surrounded by great waterfalls further up the Polongo," he told him. "It's where the major intellectual facilities are, so it's the cultural center of Dinotopia. But you can only get there either by gliders that look like a Skybax, or the bridge in the north, but that takes you partway into the Rainy Basin and that's a scary place." Croco was rather unamused by this warning.
"The Rainy Basin...what's so bad about that?" he asked.
"Utahraptor. Deinonychus. Velociraptor. Tyrannosaurus rex. Get the picture, kid?" Croco gasped at the very thought that there were LIVE tyrannosaurs in the Rainy Basin, so he kept quiet for a long period of time while he prepared the boat for the river crossing. Fortunately they were in a calm spot in the delta so they wouldn't have to fight the current. The old man, named Thaddeus, instructed Brock and Croco to grab oars and start rowing while at the same time lowering ropes with loops at the ends into the water in case a dolphin decided to tow them.
After about a half hour of continuous rowing they finally made it to the other side, with Sauropolis looming in the not too great distance. They thanked Thetas for giving them the ferry ride across and while Brock continued to walk beside the wagon before climbing into it with everyone else, Croco was lying on his back, panting and obviously exhausted. Brock put a hand on his shoulder.
"I guess I'm the one who's in better shape," he said, "and I'm a good fifty years older than you!" All Croco did was turn his head and rested it against the front of the wagon as they headed northward. Never before in his life had he seen anything like the rolling grasslands they were in and he kept asking questions about the land. Brock and Kaala were glad to answer and even Nobby added some of her wisdom to their answers. Then Croco asked a kind of personal question.
"Nobby...how did you get your name?" he asked the triceratops. She grunted as she tried to think of what to tell the inquisitive young man.
"Well Croco," she said while continuing on the path, "when Mira's grandmother...who I believe was only seven summers old at the time, she wanted her own saurian companion. She wanted someone who could go places with but was intelligent at the same time. They found me somewhere in the swamps near Bonabba and I was injured at the time, so with the help of her mother she nursed me back to help. If I recall, when they found me, I had broken off the tip of my front horn. She called it a "knob," as her mother was a dolphinback and thought it was like a miniature door knob...and when they found out I was a female, that's where they came up with Nobella. If I recall, she found the tip of my horn and made it into a necklace, which Mira still has today." Croco took some time to let the story sink in as they finally entered the gate to the great capital city of Sauropolis. It was getting dark, so Brock asked around for the nearest inn that catered to larger saurians. A man, who was in his eighties, directed them to one near the main government building. As he left, he turned to Croco and extended his hand to him.
"Breathe deep, seek peace Croco Hallaway," he said to him as they shook hands, "and welcome to Sauropolis, capital of Dinotopia. Next stop is Waterfall City, I assume?" This left Croco in shock.
"People...know...who I am here?!?" he said aloud, "But I haven't been out of Neopylos since the crash, which was about six weeks ago!" Mira took him aside.
"You're a new dolphinback, and they are very rare...the last one I know of came sometime during the Great War in the outside world...I think he was in a craft similar to yours, but it had room for only the operator. Does the name Bernard Edwards ring a bell?" Croco shook his head as Brock told him that he too was a Skybax rider and had a background similar to his very own. They found a place to park the wagon as they undid Nobby and approached the desk to the inn, which was manned by a struthiomimus named Flip and his human counterpart Tyrus Farwell.
Flip led them to their rooms, as Mira, Kaala and Riojay were in a separate room from Brock, Croco and Nobby. Croco thanked him and before Brock and Nobby were finished unloading, he was fast asleep...and in a bed for the first time on Dinotopia, as he slept by Nobby's dinosaur bed for the previous weeks. It felt good to him, but he was used to sleeping on the ground now. Add the fact that he was still tired from the rowing and Croco could've laid his head anywhere and be asleep instantly...even if it was in the Rainy Basin with a family of the tyrannosaurs that Thaddeus mentioned. Now that he knew that he was known elsewhere in Dinotopia, Croco was even more anxious to get to Waterfall City and more importantly, take one step closer to becoming a Skybax rider and being able to fly again.
When the sun arose, Croco and Nobby were the first ones awake. They went into the house and started waking everybody up, starting with Kaala and Riojay. It didn't take long before everybody was scrambling...Croco and Brock loading the wagon and preparing Nobby, Kaala and Mira gathering fruit, nuts and bread for a quick breakfast they could take with them on their journey. When they were finished and ready to go, it was already midday and it was unusually hot that day. But being on the ocean was advantageous as it was a few degrees cooler than it was further inland.
When they reached the coastal town of Paleopolis, they stopped and rested for a couple hours while having dinner with a friend of Mira's who went by the name of Storm Barros. She was a little bit older than Mira, but at 68 summers, she looked pretty young as Croco guessed that she was in her thirties. After they had their fill, Storm led them to a dock where a grizzled old man was waiting in a boat. He told him that he would take them across the delta of the Polongo River, as Sauropolis was directly on the other side.
"Saves at least a week...if you're lucky enough to get through to Waterfall City," he said with a chuckle. But it came at a heavy price, as Croco had to give him a die-cast of Johnny Hallaway's race car he was going to compete with during the following racing season which came in the bag that washed up, obviously belonging to him. He also gave him some other things, including food, paper, scrolls, and a medallion that Kaala found on a trip along the western coast several months back. This was the first that Croco heard of Waterfall City and he asked the man about it.
"The city is built from the rocks and is surrounded by great waterfalls further up the Polongo," he told him. "It's where the major intellectual facilities are, so it's the cultural center of Dinotopia. But you can only get there either by gliders that look like a Skybax, or the bridge in the north, but that takes you partway into the Rainy Basin and that's a scary place." Croco was rather unamused by this warning.
"The Rainy Basin...what's so bad about that?" he asked.
"Utahraptor. Deinonychus. Velociraptor. Tyrannosaurus rex. Get the picture, kid?" Croco gasped at the very thought that there were LIVE tyrannosaurs in the Rainy Basin, so he kept quiet for a long period of time while he prepared the boat for the river crossing. Fortunately they were in a calm spot in the delta so they wouldn't have to fight the current. The old man, named Thaddeus, instructed Brock and Croco to grab oars and start rowing while at the same time lowering ropes with loops at the ends into the water in case a dolphin decided to tow them.
After about a half hour of continuous rowing they finally made it to the other side, with Sauropolis looming in the not too great distance. They thanked Thetas for giving them the ferry ride across and while Brock continued to walk beside the wagon before climbing into it with everyone else, Croco was lying on his back, panting and obviously exhausted. Brock put a hand on his shoulder.
"I guess I'm the one who's in better shape," he said, "and I'm a good fifty years older than you!" All Croco did was turn his head and rested it against the front of the wagon as they headed northward. Never before in his life had he seen anything like the rolling grasslands they were in and he kept asking questions about the land. Brock and Kaala were glad to answer and even Nobby added some of her wisdom to their answers. Then Croco asked a kind of personal question.
"Nobby...how did you get your name?" he asked the triceratops. She grunted as she tried to think of what to tell the inquisitive young man.
"Well Croco," she said while continuing on the path, "when Mira's grandmother...who I believe was only seven summers old at the time, she wanted her own saurian companion. She wanted someone who could go places with but was intelligent at the same time. They found me somewhere in the swamps near Bonabba and I was injured at the time, so with the help of her mother she nursed me back to help. If I recall, when they found me, I had broken off the tip of my front horn. She called it a "knob," as her mother was a dolphinback and thought it was like a miniature door knob...and when they found out I was a female, that's where they came up with Nobella. If I recall, she found the tip of my horn and made it into a necklace, which Mira still has today." Croco took some time to let the story sink in as they finally entered the gate to the great capital city of Sauropolis. It was getting dark, so Brock asked around for the nearest inn that catered to larger saurians. A man, who was in his eighties, directed them to one near the main government building. As he left, he turned to Croco and extended his hand to him.
"Breathe deep, seek peace Croco Hallaway," he said to him as they shook hands, "and welcome to Sauropolis, capital of Dinotopia. Next stop is Waterfall City, I assume?" This left Croco in shock.
"People...know...who I am here?!?" he said aloud, "But I haven't been out of Neopylos since the crash, which was about six weeks ago!" Mira took him aside.
"You're a new dolphinback, and they are very rare...the last one I know of came sometime during the Great War in the outside world...I think he was in a craft similar to yours, but it had room for only the operator. Does the name Bernard Edwards ring a bell?" Croco shook his head as Brock told him that he too was a Skybax rider and had a background similar to his very own. They found a place to park the wagon as they undid Nobby and approached the desk to the inn, which was manned by a struthiomimus named Flip and his human counterpart Tyrus Farwell.
Flip led them to their rooms, as Mira, Kaala and Riojay were in a separate room from Brock, Croco and Nobby. Croco thanked him and before Brock and Nobby were finished unloading, he was fast asleep...and in a bed for the first time on Dinotopia, as he slept by Nobby's dinosaur bed for the previous weeks. It felt good to him, but he was used to sleeping on the ground now. Add the fact that he was still tired from the rowing and Croco could've laid his head anywhere and be asleep instantly...even if it was in the Rainy Basin with a family of the tyrannosaurs that Thaddeus mentioned. Now that he knew that he was known elsewhere in Dinotopia, Croco was even more anxious to get to Waterfall City and more importantly, take one step closer to becoming a Skybax rider and being able to fly again.