Chapter 26
The next few months flew by and Croco had experienced a total change in him. As before he only spent time with Darren, Carlos, Nalina, Cassie and Bix, he was now meeting a lot of people and saurians that he never knew before. He was even more vigilant in his chores around the settlement and had developed a small following of boys. One day as he was describing some of the events that were going on around the outside world right before his arrival, he caught sight of a large utahraptor.
Croco had met a couple of them in Treetown, but he had a feeling that he had seen this one before. It was a large female that was about a full two feet taller than him and had a crest of blue-green feathers running down the back. She was a dark red color with gold stripes running vertically down her sides and on her left side, there was a scar that appeared to have come from the sickle-like claws of a another raptor. Croco hesitated, but finally approached her.
"Excuse me," he said, "but you looked kinda familiar to me and was wondering if we'd met before. My name is Croco Hallaway and..." She lowered her head so that she was at eye level with him.
"You sure have a familiar scent and a familiar name to me," she told him in human. "Does the name Minstelae ring a bell?" Croco thought about it.
"The name sounds familiar to me...my friend Kaala has a deinonychus who introduced my to a..." Before Croco could finish the raptor pounced on him, taking great care not to crush him or accidently cut him with her toe-claws.
"That would be me...my name is Minstelae and it's great to see you again Croco." Minstelae stood over him and lowered her head. "I remember that day in the Basin...I heard your friends Riojay and Na'leea fighting a pack of about ten velociraptors and even when the other deinys joined in, there were only about six of them so I ran them off and that's when Riojay introduced me to you." Croco and Minstelae seperated themselves from the rest of the group so they could get better acquainted with each other. He found out that she was actually a wild resident of the Rainy Basin who frequented the cities and towns...sometimes sending people and saurs running for cover, but she was well accepted. Croco told her about the adventures he had been through on the island, starting in Neopylos, then Sauropolis, Waterfall City, the trip through the Basin and then Treetown. When it was all over, he had a new friend in the fearsome yet friendly raptor Minstelae.
One day as he was getting ready to head to dinner, a Skybax rider approached him with a letter. This one, however, was written in the Chandaran Alphabet that Mira had taught him before he started his studies in Waterfall City. Knowing it was probably a human who wrote this, Croco raced back to the privacy of his sleeping basket to read the letter:
Dear Croco,
How are you doing? Mom tells me that you're having a lot of fun in Treetown. Maybe when I get older I can stay there and do all the fun stuff you've written about. Rio wanted me to ask you if you've met any predatory saurians in Treetown. If you did, we'd like to know about them!
I can't wait for the Dinosaur Olympics in a couple weeks. I am really looking forward to watching you in the Ring Races and we hope that you win. It's my favorite event. The object is to catch these rings above the track with a pole while riding on the back of a dinosaur called a Deinocheirus. Knowing you, the other riders don't stand a chance! I'm looking forward to watching you and your partner win...Mom, Dad and Nobby are gonna come and cheer you on as well as me and Rio, so look for us! I can't wait to see you again Croco...it's been a long time but we will soon. Breathe deep, seek peace!
Love,
Kaala
"Aww...how sweet," Croco said as he peered over to see Darren standing by his basket. He had a rather intent look on his face.
"Croco!" he said excitedly, "we're gonna start preparing for the races tomorrow! Aren'tcha the least bit excited!" A smile came across Croco's face as he lumbered out of his basket.
"Yes I am...very excited," he said, "If it's anything like what Kaala said it was in the letter, it's gonna be a blast!" He then coaxed Darren into racing him to the dinner tree, but Croco knew that he had to face being like his fallen brother, something that he had been trying to rid himself of since he landed on Dinotopia.
The next day, all the young people were gathered into one of the main gathering trees by Melanie to announce the pairings for the Ring Races. The pairings were done on account of the geographic locations of the individuals, as the island was divided into four quadrants: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest. Since he originally came from Neopylos, Croco was to represent the South Coast sector of the Southwest sector and was paired with a girl named Sabrine, who was three mothers French and also from Neopylos. They knew each other indirectly through Nalina, but had never really met face-to-face until that point. After all the pairings were made, they were led to the track in Cornucopia to meet their Deinocherius.
The one Croco and Sabrine got was a male named Swifty. At first glance, Croco didn't know what to think of him. He was a tall, bright colored saur with skin that was rather loose on him long claws on each front limb. He pranced about the holding area with the arrogance that a camel would envy. The blonde-haired Sabrine was the first to approach him, then she had Croco come over. He was a little hesistant but Swifty allowed him to approach.
"Don't worry," she said, "it's not like he's gonna bite or anything. I'm real good with dinosaurs and that should help us in the race." Croco asked Sabrine how that would help them. She told him that she had to guide Swifty around the track by using touch signals while he tried to grab the rings. After a few days of practice, the three were like a well-oiled machine and looked to be tough to beat.
The next few months flew by and Croco had experienced a total change in him. As before he only spent time with Darren, Carlos, Nalina, Cassie and Bix, he was now meeting a lot of people and saurians that he never knew before. He was even more vigilant in his chores around the settlement and had developed a small following of boys. One day as he was describing some of the events that were going on around the outside world right before his arrival, he caught sight of a large utahraptor.
Croco had met a couple of them in Treetown, but he had a feeling that he had seen this one before. It was a large female that was about a full two feet taller than him and had a crest of blue-green feathers running down the back. She was a dark red color with gold stripes running vertically down her sides and on her left side, there was a scar that appeared to have come from the sickle-like claws of a another raptor. Croco hesitated, but finally approached her.
"Excuse me," he said, "but you looked kinda familiar to me and was wondering if we'd met before. My name is Croco Hallaway and..." She lowered her head so that she was at eye level with him.
"You sure have a familiar scent and a familiar name to me," she told him in human. "Does the name Minstelae ring a bell?" Croco thought about it.
"The name sounds familiar to me...my friend Kaala has a deinonychus who introduced my to a..." Before Croco could finish the raptor pounced on him, taking great care not to crush him or accidently cut him with her toe-claws.
"That would be me...my name is Minstelae and it's great to see you again Croco." Minstelae stood over him and lowered her head. "I remember that day in the Basin...I heard your friends Riojay and Na'leea fighting a pack of about ten velociraptors and even when the other deinys joined in, there were only about six of them so I ran them off and that's when Riojay introduced me to you." Croco and Minstelae seperated themselves from the rest of the group so they could get better acquainted with each other. He found out that she was actually a wild resident of the Rainy Basin who frequented the cities and towns...sometimes sending people and saurs running for cover, but she was well accepted. Croco told her about the adventures he had been through on the island, starting in Neopylos, then Sauropolis, Waterfall City, the trip through the Basin and then Treetown. When it was all over, he had a new friend in the fearsome yet friendly raptor Minstelae.
One day as he was getting ready to head to dinner, a Skybax rider approached him with a letter. This one, however, was written in the Chandaran Alphabet that Mira had taught him before he started his studies in Waterfall City. Knowing it was probably a human who wrote this, Croco raced back to the privacy of his sleeping basket to read the letter:
Dear Croco,
How are you doing? Mom tells me that you're having a lot of fun in Treetown. Maybe when I get older I can stay there and do all the fun stuff you've written about. Rio wanted me to ask you if you've met any predatory saurians in Treetown. If you did, we'd like to know about them!
I can't wait for the Dinosaur Olympics in a couple weeks. I am really looking forward to watching you in the Ring Races and we hope that you win. It's my favorite event. The object is to catch these rings above the track with a pole while riding on the back of a dinosaur called a Deinocheirus. Knowing you, the other riders don't stand a chance! I'm looking forward to watching you and your partner win...Mom, Dad and Nobby are gonna come and cheer you on as well as me and Rio, so look for us! I can't wait to see you again Croco...it's been a long time but we will soon. Breathe deep, seek peace!
Love,
Kaala
"Aww...how sweet," Croco said as he peered over to see Darren standing by his basket. He had a rather intent look on his face.
"Croco!" he said excitedly, "we're gonna start preparing for the races tomorrow! Aren'tcha the least bit excited!" A smile came across Croco's face as he lumbered out of his basket.
"Yes I am...very excited," he said, "If it's anything like what Kaala said it was in the letter, it's gonna be a blast!" He then coaxed Darren into racing him to the dinner tree, but Croco knew that he had to face being like his fallen brother, something that he had been trying to rid himself of since he landed on Dinotopia.
The next day, all the young people were gathered into one of the main gathering trees by Melanie to announce the pairings for the Ring Races. The pairings were done on account of the geographic locations of the individuals, as the island was divided into four quadrants: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest. Since he originally came from Neopylos, Croco was to represent the South Coast sector of the Southwest sector and was paired with a girl named Sabrine, who was three mothers French and also from Neopylos. They knew each other indirectly through Nalina, but had never really met face-to-face until that point. After all the pairings were made, they were led to the track in Cornucopia to meet their Deinocherius.
The one Croco and Sabrine got was a male named Swifty. At first glance, Croco didn't know what to think of him. He was a tall, bright colored saur with skin that was rather loose on him long claws on each front limb. He pranced about the holding area with the arrogance that a camel would envy. The blonde-haired Sabrine was the first to approach him, then she had Croco come over. He was a little hesistant but Swifty allowed him to approach.
"Don't worry," she said, "it's not like he's gonna bite or anything. I'm real good with dinosaurs and that should help us in the race." Croco asked Sabrine how that would help them. She told him that she had to guide Swifty around the track by using touch signals while he tried to grab the rings. After a few days of practice, the three were like a well-oiled machine and looked to be tough to beat.