Chapter 6- The Friendship
As they walked through the ivy-covered hallways they, noticed that the walls had more windows then walls. In a window they past, they didn't notice a blur rush past a window in the forest, but it disappeared before the next window came. At the end of the hallway, they came to a door which had steps leading downward into the room. They stopped dead in the doorway. There were a lot of incubators with glass top that were broken. There were eggshells everywhere. They walked down the staircase and into the room. Davis stepped on an eggshell with a loud CRUNCH but no one was paying attention.
They walked past the incubators and came to very large test-tubes. They were filled with greenish water. In each test-tube was one creature that looked like the baby 'Velociraptor' (if that was really what it was) they had seen earlier, except these were so thin you could see their vertebrae and rib cages. They were also a strange green color and had lots of wires attached to them that came out of the water and into a large computer above each test-tube, "These are lab animals. They were testing them, starving them," Joe said quietly. In silence Yolie walked slowly past each test-tube, looking at each individual, helpless critter. She was a little too far from everybody else but she didn't notice. She stopped at a test-tube with a very special creature in it. She could only see it's head whereas the neck vanished to the back of the tube where it was unseen. It was full grown and she guessed the rest of the body was carried to the back of the test-tube. It had white, lightning shaped markings on its neck and bottom jaw. It's skin was much more colorful, but it's eyes stared into the room motionless. It looked dead. She peered closer and closer at the creature, it's eyes were not in contact with hers. She was so close to the glass, her nose almost touched the tube. She looked into those large yellow eyes like a cats eyes, dead eyes. Suddenly the eyes glanced at her and in a flash the animal jumped from behind the tube and was trying to get through between the two tubes . . . trying to get Yolie. Yolie had backed up against a post just inches away from the snapping jaws of the vicious lizard ("Vicious Lizard" actually means dinosaur did you know that?).
When Yolie had screamed everyone came running over. They saw the animal inches away from her, they grabbed her and began to run through the room. They made a right and continued to run down another, more wet hallway. They made another right, and ran down another hallway with what looked like metal-fenced stables with floors covered in hay. They could hear the cries and angry screams of the animal in pursuit. They came to dead-end with the loud unearthly screams coming closer. "Down Here!" Davis screamed as he pointed to another hallway with a door at the end.
They ran as fast as they could and came to the door. Tk tried the metal handle, "It's locked!" he cried. They all turned around to go back and find another way out, when they saw the animal slide into view at the entrance of the hall on the wet cement like a figure skater. Blocking the only way out. "In here and they all scrambled into a stable. Matt, Tk, Kari, and Izzy in one, closed and locked the gate quickly. Joe, Sora, Cody and Yolie went to another and locked it immediately. In the mean time the raptor was running rapidly down the corridor. Davis and Mimi got into a stable last and were closing it when the animal slammed its self against the door, slipping its claws into the zig-zagged weaves of the cyclone fencing (that's the type of fences they use at tennis court and stuff). Pushing the door into the stable. Davis and Mimi were to weak to the animal and were soon trapped in a tight triangle between the corner of the stable and the door, with the creature still trying to get to them. They realized it wouldn't be able to get them through the fence. Almost immediately the raptor stopped banging the fence and looked up. It saw the open gap between the door and the wall. Davis and Mimi were amazed at how intelligent it was, but when it began to climb the fence they began to push back. They swung the door out of the stable and locked it between the walls like it had done to them. They pushed the lock out into the fence, trapping the animal.
They all began to run back down the hall, when there was a familiar chirping noise coming from. Matt was the only one to stopped and listened. One of those things had done the same thing when it was trapped in Gennai's cage and now it was stuck so it must be . . . "Oh my God . . ." Davis turned back to find Matt watching the creature and came running back to get him. Matt was still looking at the Velociraptor, ". . . It's calling for help." Davis had grabbed his arm and began to pull him out of the way. They ran out of the building and into the forest. The animal had climbed out from behind the fenced door and came out on to the steps leading to the entrance of the large construction. It found the humans had vanished, and began to make that half cough half screaming cry. It was calling the others.

* * *

Matt and the others continued to run through the jungle and came to a field that was swarming with grazing animals "Head for the herd!" Matt yelled. As they began to run through the gaps of animals, the strange beasts must have understood there was something going on and began to run also, putting everyone in danger on being trampled, for the animals were as big as elephants. In the meantime, two raptors came running through the meadow at speeds of at least 70 miles per hour. Matt realized how dangerous the herd was, and screamed at the top of his lungs. "Head for the Trees!"
Everyone made their way out of the herd and back into the forest, splitting up in small groups. Izzy, Mimi, Izzy, Kari, and Joe got far enough into the foliage and began to climb up a tree. Izzy was the first up and began to help the others up when he heard Tk call his name, Izzy!"
"Tk?" Davis answered back. Then he came into view, he was in a tree right next to them and began to climb over to theirs, his cheek had been slashed but it wasn't bleeding badly.
When he got over he asked, "Is Matt with you?" Izzy shook his head. Meanwhile Joe was helping Mimi and Yolie across branches. Mimi slipped and fell through branches, then she finally stopped. Her legs were rapped around a branch and her upper body was hanging about nine feet of open space, like a child on monkey bars. "Mimi!" every screamed, "Are you OK?" she heard Izzy yell down to her. Mimi was recovering from the fall, when suddenly two raptors emerged from the ferns and stopped right underneath her, staring at her. Then they jumped. It was amazing at how high they were jumping, eight feet with great smoothness. They snapped at her head but she swung it back as far as it would go and the razor teeth just barely touched her collar bone. They did this numerous times as Mimi screamed before Joe and Izzy grabbed her arms and pulled her right side up.
In another area, Sora, Yolie, Cody, Davis and Ken had scrambled up another tree and began peering through the leaves for the others.
In another part of the forest Matt was still running, trying to find a good place to hide. The ground was still wet from the earlier nights rain. He was running near an embankment and he felt his foot slip. He lost his balance but regained it before falling down the hill. He stopped for a few seconds to look at the slope that he almost fell down. Then, without he felt something cold and hard hit him powerfully on the back of his head. He blacked out and his body collapsed down the muddy slope and stopped inches away from a cliff with a two-hundred foot drop to a rocky beach. His body lay motionless.

* * *

Matt's eyes fluttered open, and dizzily, he sat up. He held the back of his head in agony. It was pitch black and he couldn't see his own hand in front of him, he tried to make his eyes focus but he had a sensation he was being watched. Matt wondered what the hell had hit him. He tried to look around but it didn't work. He could hear the beach near by but couldn't see any water reflecting the moon. He got to his feet and the sensation of him being watched became stronger, he was becoming more tense by the minute. He began making small steps to his left. It happened sudden. On second he was walking on muddy soil, the next thing he had fallen and was now hanging off the side of a cliff by a rock that was stuck out of the side of the cliff. Stupidly, he looked down. Now he knew where the sound of the ocean was coming from, at that very instant there was a roll of thunder and a crash of lightning that illuminated the view. About two-hundred feet below him were large dagger-like boulder being crashed on by huge waves. For someone who's afraid of heights this was a real drag. He looked up to see how far he had fallen. The rock he was holding on to was about a foot below the peaks' edge, but it was starting to rain heavily and the rock was becoming slippery. In the light of another lightning bolt he saw a shape above him. Suddenly the rock gave way, but before Matt, himself could fall the was a sharp, stinging, pain in his wrist. Matt felt himself being pulled up and the pain in his wrist increased.
After what seemed like hours, Matt felt the welcoming feeling of the cold, wet, soil of the cliffs' edge. On his one good arm, he scrambled a few feet from the cliff. He could see perfectly now. He looked down at his wrist, it had torn mussel and skin dangling from it, but there were no open veins and it wasn't bleeding badly. He looked up, there, panting as badly as Matt was, stood a familiar figure. It wasn't human, but Matt remembered it from somewhere. It looked like the another Velociraptor like the one he had seen at the colony base or at Gennai's lab. The creature began to approach him and Matt backed up as far as he could go before hitting a tree. As it got closer he could see markings on the creatures neck and lower jaw, but they weren't yellow like the one Gennai had. These were a brilliant forest green color. The raptor got so close to him, Matt could feel its' hot breath caress his cold and muddy face. Matt turned his head away from the animal and closed his eyes ready for what he felt coming. Matt saw a red shinny fluid dripping from its teeth. He looked back down at his now swelling wrist. The shocking realization came over him that what had grabbed his wrist which was now torn and bleeding was the raptor that now stood before him. He had fallen a foot down a cliff and the Velociraptor had saved his life. The animals' head suddenly shot up and began to sniff the air. Matt though it had the reflexes of a cat or a bird.
It looked back down at Matt and he could swear there was a look of concern on it's face. That's when Matt heard, and felt, it too. Every three seconds or so there was an earth tremor. It was like something very heavy hitting the ground. Forgetting all about raptor Matt jumped to his feet and tried to see what it was that was making the noise. The raptor on the other hand wasn't waiting to find out what it was. It lunged between Matt legs and before he knew what was riding the large lizard like a horse with his arms around its' neck. The animal made a giant leap, about eight feet into the air, landing on a branch. It did this several times and before long they were as high in the tree as they could get, about thirty feet high. Matt rolled off the animal and backed up against a branch, still not trusting the creature. The "thumping" came closer, until out of the forest across from where they were, came a very large figure. It was to dark to see what it was, but even at thirty feet, Matt could tell it was taller then that. The figure stood were Matt was a few minutes ago. Matt looked back at the raptor, it had saved his life a second time. It was staring at the figure in a crouched position, probably so that whatever-it- was didn't see them. Matt felt suddenly drowsy. He fell over on his side, there was movement all around him. Matt closed his eyes so he didn't get dizzy.

* * In another perspective * *

When he collapsed it startled me. I jumped and almost got us both killed by the Rex. The Rex moved on, not noticing either of us. I went over to him and looked down at him. He looked a little too pale. I tried to nuzzle him awake; when I did, he stared at me as if I was going to kill him. He had a perfect right to. He didn't know I was trying to help him, although I just saved his life twice. Tai said he was stubborn.

* * Back to normal * *

Matt turned his head away from the animal and closed his eyes. Not wanting to know what was going to happen. He began to breathe harder as he felt the hot breath of the creature on his neck. Then it was gone. Matt opened his eyes and looked at where the creature once was. It had walked to the side of the tree where Matt had seen the big shadow come out of the trees. It was looking out into the forest, reacting to every little sound. It even snapped its head around when Matt let his legs lay flat. He felt exhausted. He laid himself down without taking his eyes off the animal that was still looking down at him. Matt recognized that look it was giving him, it was pity. "Don't look at me like that" he said to the creature without thinking. His exhaustion had caused him to speak to the animal before remembering it wasn't human. "Don't be sympathetic to me." Then his eyes closed, and he slept.

* * *

When Matt woke up his surroundings were different. He looked over to where the cliff once was, it was gone. Now there was a thick surrounding of trees all around him. He looked over the other side of the tree and was astounded of what he saw. The tree he was in was part of a circle of approximately twelve trees. Within the circle was a small brook, dividing the circle into two sections. It was a rather clean area, clean grass blanketed the entire terrain along with small flowers of different colors. It reminded Matt of a paradise, except he was not alone in it. Large creatures roamed the prairie, all looked about six feet long with the exception of one. The one must of been younger then the others, it seemed to only be three feet tall. Other than that, there was only one difference between them, they all had these markings on their bottom jaws and necks, but all different colors. Then he realized they were the same animals that had chased everybody into the meadow with the other animals, the same animal that had chased them in the laboratory, and the same animals that they had seen in Gennai's cage. He was amazed at how they acted, the young one was darting all over the place and the others seemed to be acting very seduced and calm. Including the little one, there were about eleven. He took his eyes away from the small one and watched the bigger ones. He watched their behavior and the way they acted among each other. They all acted different with each independent individual creature. It wasn't like a normal animal herd, it was almost like . . . like they were human.
There was then a large amount of chattering amongst the crowd, then, as soon as it began, the noise stopped and the all left the area. He was alone. He started to back up away from the edge. He hit something small, there was a squeak, and Matt jumped away from whatever it was, and looked back. It was the infant. Its markings were bright orange, and Matt recognized it as the animal that had sprung out of the cupboard on to Cody, at the Colony building. It had been watching him. The creature cocked its head to the side looking a Matt like he was a animal it had never seen before. Matt thought this was logical, it had probably never seen a human before. Then the animal looked behind Matt at something. Matt wheeled around, only to come face to face with a full size Raptor. It starred down at him as though he had done something terrible. He couldn't look away from it's eyes as if the animal and he were in a starring contest.
Meanwhile the infant behind them chirped, like it was amused at the sight. The creature had forest-green colored markings on its neck. It broke eye contact with him to look at the infant behind Matt. Instinctively, the little Velociraptor walked up a branch, then jumped into another tree, and then another. Now it was just Matt and the adult carnivore. Matt's fears came flooding back to him, and again he darted his eyes around him looking for an escape. Matt, finding no escape, looked back at the animal. They were almost nose to nose they were so close. Suddenly, the raptor's skin began to change along with it's figure(Like Mystic on X-Men [hee hee]). It went from a full-size, carnivorous Velociraptor, to a sixteen year old girl with long, wavy red hair. She was wearing gray, big, baggy, parachute pants with a white tank-top with palm trees on it. Even out of what had just happened, he couldn't help noticing that she was extremely pretty. "You're Matt aren't you?" she said bluntly, as if nothing had ever happened. Matt had one of the most awkward expressions on his face. He fell back against a large branch, and heard her giggle at him. "Well? Are you?" She asked again. He had a "twitter-patted" (another Bambi word) feeling in his stomach that didn't feel like fear anymore.
Matt was still pressed up against the branch, staring at her in a most embarrassing silence. "Um.... Yeah." Like the raptor, (or whatever she was before she changed) she was sitting on his legs. This made it worst for him. She smiled at him and moved closer to him, "I'm Feline."(Yet another Bambi word) She curled up in his lap, and laid her head on his chest. Her hair was much more frizzy, and much more violently red then Sora's. Which startled him, this wasn't Sora, and she was closer to him the she had ever gotten. Warily, he reached up and laid his hand on her small back. She pressed herself closer against him. She nestled his chest, by rubbing her body up against his chest. With her close to him, a sudden feeling ran up his spine, and into his head. Not a chill, but feeling of relief, and he noticed his wrist. She was stroking it in her lap, it was no longer cover in mud and leaves, and painful, but it was cleaned, painless, and wrapped in bandages. Her touch gave him the feeling of being in his own bed, made with new sheets. He turned his head to the side, and closed his eyes.

Somewhere else in the forest the others were trying to find each other, as the rumor that Matt and Tai were killed, began to spread.