Chapter 21
(~I am a Tyrannosaurus~)
Croco, Cassie and Bix followed the rider to a clearing just outside the main city where they were preparing the convoy. Everywhere they turned, there were people scrambling to fasten armored plates to the sides of an Apatosaurus and the brachiosaur the rider told them about. There was a group of about seven styracosauruses pacing about the area anxiously, waiting for everyone to complete their tasks. Croco went over to an area where they were filling baskets with a rather strong-smelling meat.
"Excuse me, but might I ask what that is you're putting into those baskets?" he asked a man who was filling them. He didn't look up from what he was doing, but Bix happened to be within earshot and walked up to where Croco was standing.
"That is the fish and eel that we are taking in case a Tyrannosaurus rex decides to come up to us," she explained. This would be the first time that Croco would see a live tyrannosaur in his life and he was really nervous, scared, and excited all at the same time as it was one of his favorite dinosaurs. Pretty soon, a lot of people had shown up as they had caught word of the departure for the northern settlements. Croco and Cassie boarded the brachiosaur while Bix hopped on the back of the apatosaur, which happened to be a good friend of hers named Koro. The styracosaurs got into position and they soon made their way over the great vertabral bridge that led into the Rainy Basin.
Both of the sauropods were strapped down with hundreds of pounds of armor and fish as well as the weight of their passengers, and that kept them to a shuffle while they proceeded down the path and by the den that Croco had stayed in before his introduction to Waterfall City. They kept this up for several hours while traveling through the muggy jungle. Suddenly, one of the styracosaurs bellowed loudly while Koro and the brachiosaur, named Rylo Kalona, whipped their tails around to sweep the ground, their passengers holding on for dear life. A deafening rumble could be heard, first it was very subtle, then picked up as the creature that was making it got closer and closer. The horned beasts got into position around the sauropod caravans, showing a spectacular display of horns.
Then to the surprise of many, a tyrannosaurus broke through the foliage, growling meanacingly at them. With Rylo being in the front, it was up to Cassie to calm the hungry carnosaur down.
"Stay here. Be ready to cut loose the baskets when I whistle," she told Croco. Then to his horror, she leaped down onto the back of one of the escorts.
~Hey!~ she shouted at the tyrannosaur. It turned and clashed its teeth at her. ~What is your business harrassing a helpless convoy of sauropods?~
~Food,~ it growled at her, ~where's the food? My family's so hungry that they can pick one of your sauropods clean to the bone.~ Another tyrannosaur came into view much to the horror of some of the human passengers.
~Well we've got some food here, but you're not gonna get our goodies unless you agree to something,~ Cassie told them. The other tyrannosaur approached the convoy.
~And just what might that be?~ it asked.
~There's another group of sauropods coming through at about this time tomorrow, and they'll have humans too. You promise to leave them alone and you'll get the goodie baskets we've got here. Sound good?~ The smaller tyrannosaur, a female, agreed but her mate had other ideas.
~I've got an idea...~ he said with an evil glint, ~...we could make a meal out of the protoceratops!~ That made the female upset and she snapped at him. Cassie whistled and at once, Croco and the young man aboard Koro starting cutting away at the ropes with long knives as the tyrannosaurs argued. The baskets fell earthward and broke open with a loud thud. Forgetting about their differences, they stormed the baskets containing the delicious fish and ate happily while the convoy, with Cassie back on board Rylo, moved away from the scene as more tyrannosaurs and an ambitious Utahraptor converged on the fish. The smaller raptor got ran off while the tyrannosaurs gorged themselves until all that was left were the baskets.
As soon as Cassie got resituated, she was expecting a lot of questions from Croco. Sure enough, he came at her.
"What...got into you to confront that tyrannosaur like that?!?" he said, impressed by the excellent job she did.
"You liked it, didn'tcha?" she said with a touch of swagger, "Well for lack of better words to use around a dolphinback, you have to have some pretty big eggs to stand up to a rex like that." Croco laughed at her comment, then asked her what she said.
"Basically what I told her was that we'd give them the snack baskets if they promised to leave another group of sauropods coming through here tomorrow alone," she said. "Then the big one said he wanted to make a meal outta me and she wasn't too happy." As day slowly turned into night, they continued to talk about the incident and about Treetown, which was one of Cassie's favorite places on the whole island. She told him about the village in the trees, which is in an old oak forest, and she told him about Melanie, the Treetown matriarch. Croco listened intently, but then slowly drifted off to sleep under a full moon.
(~I am a Tyrannosaurus~)
Croco, Cassie and Bix followed the rider to a clearing just outside the main city where they were preparing the convoy. Everywhere they turned, there were people scrambling to fasten armored plates to the sides of an Apatosaurus and the brachiosaur the rider told them about. There was a group of about seven styracosauruses pacing about the area anxiously, waiting for everyone to complete their tasks. Croco went over to an area where they were filling baskets with a rather strong-smelling meat.
"Excuse me, but might I ask what that is you're putting into those baskets?" he asked a man who was filling them. He didn't look up from what he was doing, but Bix happened to be within earshot and walked up to where Croco was standing.
"That is the fish and eel that we are taking in case a Tyrannosaurus rex decides to come up to us," she explained. This would be the first time that Croco would see a live tyrannosaur in his life and he was really nervous, scared, and excited all at the same time as it was one of his favorite dinosaurs. Pretty soon, a lot of people had shown up as they had caught word of the departure for the northern settlements. Croco and Cassie boarded the brachiosaur while Bix hopped on the back of the apatosaur, which happened to be a good friend of hers named Koro. The styracosaurs got into position and they soon made their way over the great vertabral bridge that led into the Rainy Basin.
Both of the sauropods were strapped down with hundreds of pounds of armor and fish as well as the weight of their passengers, and that kept them to a shuffle while they proceeded down the path and by the den that Croco had stayed in before his introduction to Waterfall City. They kept this up for several hours while traveling through the muggy jungle. Suddenly, one of the styracosaurs bellowed loudly while Koro and the brachiosaur, named Rylo Kalona, whipped their tails around to sweep the ground, their passengers holding on for dear life. A deafening rumble could be heard, first it was very subtle, then picked up as the creature that was making it got closer and closer. The horned beasts got into position around the sauropod caravans, showing a spectacular display of horns.
Then to the surprise of many, a tyrannosaurus broke through the foliage, growling meanacingly at them. With Rylo being in the front, it was up to Cassie to calm the hungry carnosaur down.
"Stay here. Be ready to cut loose the baskets when I whistle," she told Croco. Then to his horror, she leaped down onto the back of one of the escorts.
~Hey!~ she shouted at the tyrannosaur. It turned and clashed its teeth at her. ~What is your business harrassing a helpless convoy of sauropods?~
~Food,~ it growled at her, ~where's the food? My family's so hungry that they can pick one of your sauropods clean to the bone.~ Another tyrannosaur came into view much to the horror of some of the human passengers.
~Well we've got some food here, but you're not gonna get our goodies unless you agree to something,~ Cassie told them. The other tyrannosaur approached the convoy.
~And just what might that be?~ it asked.
~There's another group of sauropods coming through at about this time tomorrow, and they'll have humans too. You promise to leave them alone and you'll get the goodie baskets we've got here. Sound good?~ The smaller tyrannosaur, a female, agreed but her mate had other ideas.
~I've got an idea...~ he said with an evil glint, ~...we could make a meal out of the protoceratops!~ That made the female upset and she snapped at him. Cassie whistled and at once, Croco and the young man aboard Koro starting cutting away at the ropes with long knives as the tyrannosaurs argued. The baskets fell earthward and broke open with a loud thud. Forgetting about their differences, they stormed the baskets containing the delicious fish and ate happily while the convoy, with Cassie back on board Rylo, moved away from the scene as more tyrannosaurs and an ambitious Utahraptor converged on the fish. The smaller raptor got ran off while the tyrannosaurs gorged themselves until all that was left were the baskets.
As soon as Cassie got resituated, she was expecting a lot of questions from Croco. Sure enough, he came at her.
"What...got into you to confront that tyrannosaur like that?!?" he said, impressed by the excellent job she did.
"You liked it, didn'tcha?" she said with a touch of swagger, "Well for lack of better words to use around a dolphinback, you have to have some pretty big eggs to stand up to a rex like that." Croco laughed at her comment, then asked her what she said.
"Basically what I told her was that we'd give them the snack baskets if they promised to leave another group of sauropods coming through here tomorrow alone," she said. "Then the big one said he wanted to make a meal outta me and she wasn't too happy." As day slowly turned into night, they continued to talk about the incident and about Treetown, which was one of Cassie's favorite places on the whole island. She told him about the village in the trees, which is in an old oak forest, and she told him about Melanie, the Treetown matriarch. Croco listened intently, but then slowly drifted off to sleep under a full moon.