I HOPE this is a better chapter... I'm reallynot proud of the last one and wish I could've found a way to make it better, even after the six times I went over it...
Raptor-Chick: hmmm... are you getting the chapters a day late? Or maybe you just want to review for every one... either way it doesn't matter, I appreciate your comments highly! I have read your story, and I am very eagerly awaiting the sequel or next chapters, whichever one you happen to put up first. You are sooo good at your writing...XD You have Nails of Death? Awsome, there IS another pserson like me in the world!
Ranma Hibiki: Pets!(i'm actually trying to get my mom to let me have a hermit crab...)
You're right, that would've been hilarious! A pity I didn't think of it in time... sigh.
Army of Pudding Heads? Haha! They have to get past my FLOCK OF INSANE PINK CHICKEN FEATHERS!
Butterflydragon: Yeah, Bakker wrote 'Raptor Red', the novel about a few years in the life of a female Utahraptor. Heh, it's one of my favorite books, right up there with 'Song in the Silence'.
Anyway,thanks and here's the next chapter. I hope you like!
DarkXeno: heh, just in time, man! It's perfectly alright that you tried a joke on me... it's my fault that I couldn't get it XD It would be hilarious, too... Maybe I should upload my photomanipulations that actually put me into that movie? (got a cool one of me grabbing a Facehugger) You're right, on the movie thing. It's been a while since I've seen that one.
I'll think about your suggestion for my fic, but I think that may be impossible for the situation right at the current moment. Perhaps in the sequel?
Okay, the Grid alien is, at first, just a normal, average drone that happens to be a tad smarter than the others. It's the one that, in the movie, kills both Celtic and Chopper. Because of the net that cut into it's carapace, creating a grid like pattern, it is thus called the 'Grid Alien'.
Bsdisaster: Yeah... too fast-paced. (sigh) I keep thinking that I may want to redo it...
Hope this one is slightly better!
(has anyone else noticed that theseAuthor's Noteskeep getting longer and longer...?)
"What! But-"
"Hey, do you really think they can take it down alone?" I interrupted, gesturing to the three Yautja that were already engaged in battle with the Queen. Her bone-like tail thrashed, taking all of them off their feet for a moment before they scrambled up and regrouped. The Queen stomped towards Scar with menacing promise, but was suddenly distracted by a direct shot by Celtic's plasma cannon, which punched a hole in her side that spurted out a large amount of green blood, melting deep pits into the snow and ice all around as her pained screeched echoed through the air, "Come on, I know you have it in you, Lex."
"How do you know my name!" she demanded, her face contorted by several different emotions -confused would bea major understatement, there-. Inwardly I laughed, because I had very literally turned into the mysterious figure that I loved so much in every story. In fact, I almost laughed out loud becuase of the look on her face, but held it back only with great effort.A roar brought me back to reality, and my head snapped over as the Xeno Queen charged at Celtic, using her crest to throw the gigantic Yautja into the air. The only reason he wasn't impaled by her tail was because Scar had run it through with his own spear, distracting the huge beast enough to make her turn her attention from the flying figure. I winced as he hit the ground with a sickening thud that was audible even at the distance I was at.
"Doesn't matter," I answered distractedly, brandishing my spear and trotting forward a few steps with the elation of death-defying insanity beginning to take hold of me. I looked back at the woman, noting her indecisive posture and her blank look, "You coming or what?"
"I promised Sebastian that I wouldn't let them reach the surface, and I'm not going to go back on that now," she answered defiantly after a small pause, her own weapons clutched determinedly in her hands. I grinned widely in approval.
"Thatta girl!" I said, "Now come on before one of them gets killed!"
I ran, not waiting for Lex but knowing that she would catch up. Somehow, I did not want to miss out on being a part of this battle, the most important scene in the whole movie. I had learned how to fight on this trip, however reluctantly and uniquely, and now was the time to put my meager talents to the test.
Yeah, I think I might have snapped somewhere between running for my life and getting blown up.
The Queen thrashed and swung her tail viciously, throwing all of the Yautja from her again as she whirled, screeching, towards us. I slowed slightly as I realized that she knew where we were, knew what we were up to. Her gigantic feet took a single step, chains clinking against her exoskeleton, before she had lurched into an all out run, striding forwards at a speed and ferocity that reminded me all too much of the Tyrannosaurus on Jurassic Park. I heard Lex yell behind me, and glanced back to see her whirl and run towards a place that looked like a whale graveyard. I knew what would happen now, but I decided not to run after her. Instead, I took an insane chance and ran directly towards the Queen, sidestepping her quickly snapping jaws.
It seemed that the Xeno bitch hadn't been expecting her prey to run towards her. Score one for the humans!
"Take that you dumb bitch!" I yelled, slamming my spear into the rapidly moving leg of the Queen. I was knocked backwards as the shaft lifted up towards me, hitting me lengthwise in the chest and ripping out of the wound I had caused with a spray of caustic blood. I grit my teeth and promptly threw off my coat -my favorite coat- that had finally been ruined completely by my jaunt through this dimension. The cold of the artic air immediately hit me like a brick, making me gasp and shiver uncontrollably as I scrambled up, my fingers burning from the blood covered spear as I tapped it against the ground in an effort to clean off the ickor.
I turned to find that the Queen had kept going, chasing after her moving prey. The sharp crunch of dozens of whale bones being snapped and broken, coupled with the dust I saw rising near the 'graveyard' showed me where the Queen was headed, and I saw the black creature impact with the water tower a moment later, the harsh clang resounding through the air at the same time as Lex's scream. I growled, running towards the conflict as fast as I was able while jumping over fallen bones that seemed more like trees than bones.
The flash of Celtic's plasma cannon told me that the largest Yautja had joined the struggle, and I upped the pace. I was so not gonna be left out of this, especially since I needed to make sure that damn thing died!
I jumped over one last bone, skidding to a stop as I saw the scene that presented itself to me. The Queen was currently struggling with the spear that had been slammed into the side of her head, screeching and flailing as she attempted to remove the seemingly painful object stuck in her skull. Scar, Lex, and Chopper were working together to tie off the chain that was still attached to the thrashing creature, and Celtic was working to keep the Xeno distracted by repeatedly hitting it with his plasma cannon.
"Oh, that's not going to work," I whispered as I saw the group try to push the water tower off the ledge into the ocean just as the Queen snapped the spear in half, sending the weapon flying off into the sky to embed into the ice not three yards from where I was standing. I hurriedly grabbed it as I heard the water tower groan to a stop, the dismayed cry of Lex echoing through the air as she tried to get the stuck bolt to snap off and free the tower to fall into the ocean.
Suddenly, the Queen whirled and managed to catch Celtic off guard, her tail smashing into his midsection and lifting him into the air as easily as if he weighed no more than a feather. He was thrown back to slam into the tower, the resonant clash of his impact reverberating in the sharp air. The Queen screeched in triumph, approaching the three who were still trying to get the bolt to break, and I dashed forward to stop her without thinking.
The broken spear I held was used to impale the Queen's other leg, turning the beast's attention to me instead of the others. I suddenly found myself attacked from all angles as the tail whipped around and the two pairs of clawed arms reached out to grab me. I hissed in defiance as I ducked, feeling the wind from the near miss pass over me, ruffling my barred hair slightly. I would need to take the tail out of commission if I seriously expected to win this fight!
Okay, okay, fine. I wasn't fooling myself. I needed that tail out of commission if I wanted to survive this fight. I wasn't fast enough to dodge all the strikes, and I'd probably be deader than a doornail if even one hit its mark.
I jumped backwards, almost losing my balance in the snow that was both shifting under me and flying up to obscure my vision, and brought up my spear forward to deflect one of the Xeno's skinny arms, both hands gripping the weapon as the Queen bore down on me with all her weight behind her charge. Suddenly, I was flying in the air, an unexpected feeling of weightlessness overtaking me before I felt the pull of cursed, cursed gravity once more. I landed hard against a column of frozen bone, gasping at the sudden pain as I fell the remaining few feet to the ice, crumpling on impact. My eyes watered as I attempted to stand, my feet barely moving at my commands from the agony that coursed through me.
"That fucking bitch," I managed to spit out, struggling painfully to a standing position and leaning against the bone with one hand, the spear clutched tightly in the other while I grit my teeth and wondered if I would be able to walk. I took one shuddering step and yelped as I collapsed yet again to the ice as a hot, shooting pain flared up against my back and sides.
With a tired sigh I realized that I was out of the fight. Unless by some miracle I could find the willpower to force myself to move, I wasn't going to be going anywhere for a long while.
Something wet hit the exposed scar on my hand, freezing instantly in the cold artic air, and I looked down at the limb curiously, suddenly noticing the intense cold on my face. I brought my fingers up, feeling with slight surprise the tears dripping out of my eyes at the realization that I couldn't help, that I wasn't strong enough to help. The dim but certain knowledge that I didn't deserve the mark on my face or the 'trophies' in the pocket of my coat, so far away and buried in the ice now where I had left it.
I was just some kid from reality stuck in a place where she really didn't belong, and never should have come to.
"I should've stuck to writing my stories," I whispered brokenly, staring at the slight coating of ice on my numb fingers, feeling the cold begin to seep into my bones dangerously, but not caring. If I died here… oh, well. A lot of humans had died here, and most of them had been more worthy than I of life. What was I, anyway? I was a nobody, a dreamer. Yeah, just a foolish dreamer with no real ideas or accomplishments to my name. I might've had a chance, once, but that was gone now.
A roar of anger made me lift my tired eyes to the fight, and I rose an eyebrow to see that Celtic had managed to run straight back into the fray. Man, that guy had spirit, even if he didn't have the brains to match it. Chopper joined him in confusing the Queen, striking at the Xeno alternately to keep her unsure as to what target she should attack first. I nodding approvingly, they knew what they were doing. But why hadn't the bolt come out yet? In the movie, it had snapped pretty easily… what was wrong?
I turned my eyes to Lex and Scar, who were both working on not one, but a dozen bolts that hadn't come out! I winced as I realized that some small portion of the changed events caused by my arrival had changed this as well, making it harder to defeat the Queen that should already be in her watery prison. In a way, I had made this happen and I was responsible for the torture that all of them were being put through.
I wanted to help, but what could I possibly do?
I grit my teeth and struggled upright as much as I was able, my knees threatening to give out on me as the pain flared up once more, instantly bringing the feeling back to all my numb limbs with an excruciating yet slightly helpful vengeance. With a grunt I slammed the end of the spear into the ice, using the long weapon as a crutch to keep me going. My concentration was on a single goal; I wanted to get to the others and help remove the bolts. I had my spear -well, Chopper's spear- and I was pretty sure I had enough strength left in me to lever out a few of those damn things with it.
The pain was bad -oh, it was bad- but after struggling for a while I began to get used to it, to expect that flare of agony at every step. I started to move quicker, though still I was shuffling, and my strides became longer and surer. In a few long moments my shuffling gait had turned into a limping run, and soon I charged in and attacked the bolts as Lex and Scar were already doing with whatever they could find to break them with. They had already managed to remove a fair amount of the things, no thanks to me, and now there was only three left. One for each of us.
I almost laughed, if I hadn't hurt so much and the situation hadn't been so dire.
I hauled downwards on the spear, screaming in both pain and pure exaltation that it might be over soon, that this nightmare was almost through. With a sudden clink it broke, and I fell to the ground hard from the sudden absence of resistance. Two more clinks reached my ears, and I looked up quickly and cheered in triumph when I saw that the water tower had nothing left holding it to the ground, that already it was groaning and tipping towards the watery abyss that would become the Queen's final resting place.
Suddenly, the chain pulled taut, and the Queen lurched forward with all her might, pulling the entire tower forward as she leapt to snap at Chopper, who had jumped back just out of reach of that second pair of snapping jaws. I gaped as our one hope at killing the creature toppled along with the tower, which cracked upon impact with the ice, a small spray of water spurting out before freezing in the chill air and sealing the hole.
"Why does life hate me?" I asked no one in particular, everything else forgotten as the Queen screeched mightily, gracefully turning and staring at the three of us with that eyeless head, silver teeth dripping with saliva.
I thought I had looked into the face of death when I had slipped in the ice tunnel, falling back towards an explosion that was bigger than anything I could imagine. Turns out either I was wrong, or this was worse than death. I shuddered involuntarily as I saw into that cold, calculating mind, that pure will to survive and kill that was worse than any mind I had ever been able to see into before. She knew she had us, she knew she could kill us without dying herself.
And she planned on it.
Well, was anyone not expecting that? I know I wasn't!
