Part VI: The Revelation
"Get away!" A green velociraptor shouted as it dove off from a small cliff, and brought out its feet. The sickle claws dug deep into the opponent's, another carnotaurus, in the neck. The claws sliced the jugular veins open, causing mass amounts of blood to seep through. The carnotaurus roared in pain and staggered back. The velociraptor attacked again, this time slicing at the second jugular vein. The larger dinosaur cried out again and struck out in fury at the smaller dinosaur. The green dinosaur dodged the attack with ease. "You've got to do better than that!"
The carnotaurus snarled, but the pain in its neck prevented it from taking another step to attack. The giant's heart was pounding too fast. Blood was quickly spewing all over the ground, and staining the scales of its massive body. Dizziness quickly set in, and the dinosaur fell forward, crashing into the ground with such tremendous force it felt like a miniature earthquake.
The dinosaur that attacked the carnotaurus was Yu. He wiped his two hands together as he watched his work completed before his eyes. Suddenly he heard something snap behind him. He quickly turned around to find a certain black velociraptor standing there, sneering at him. Yu growled, baring his teeth. "Jackal!"
Jackal laughed at the younger raptor's retort. "Ah, little Yu." He said, strangely calm and almost friendly-like. "You always did have...a bit of spunk sort-of-speak. But in the end, you were always the runt." He pointed at Yu somewhat accusingly. "You thought your little spying game would save your friends! What a joke!"
Yu pulled his head back as he released a warning hiss from his lips. "A joke am I...?" He asked in a soft-spoken voice. He took in a deep breath. "I'll show you a joke." He lunged forward, striking out with one of his hands. Jackal's eyes narrowed, and he grabbed Yu's hand, and tossed him into the ground.
"Sorry runt." Jackal laughed. "But you'll have to do much better than that!"
Sandstorm growled at the dark red velociraptor he's just encountered. The unmistaken dark red skin belonged to his nemesis, Red. He was the very velociraptor who had him kicked out, the very one who nearly killed him. Now Red might be a bit bigger and a bit stronger, but Sandstorm was smarter, and plus he was a veteran. He has had more experience in battles than Red.
"Red...finally...we meet for another round." Sandstorm said, flexing his claws. He was more than ready to go toe to toe with this sickleclaw. But the only response he got from the other sickleclaw was a cold laughter. "What's so funny, you ignorant fool!"
"You are, old one." Red commented, scratching his chin threateningly. "Do you honestly think a middle-aged raptor like yourself stands a chance against me?" Lips curled back as he grinned maliciously. "I think not. I think not..."
Sandstorm chuckled half-heartedly. "Yeah yeah...you're not so tough yourself." Red's eyes widened. "What? It's true!" He smiled, putting his hands on his hips. "Why if it weren't for Blueye's instructions, you'd be lost half the time!"
"Did someone call me?" Sandstorm immediately stopped laughing. Walking out into the open now was Blueye herself. The pale yellow velociraptor approached Red, who had turned to greet her. "Is there something you want, Red?" She inquired as she stood directly in front of the dark red dinosaur now.
"Yes there is something." Red said with a hint of annoyance. He pointed at Sandstorm. "You can help me destroy him!"
Sandstorm hissed and took a step back. If this was going to be a two and one battle, he's screwed! But it would also prove that Red was a coward. A smile snaked across the old raptor's mouth.
"What's so funny?" Red demanded.
Sandstorm wiped a tear from his eye. "You. Why don't you fight me on a fair one and one battle?" He licked the tear from his claw. "Or would you rather have a girl help you do some of your dirty work for you?" He couldn't help but laugh. Unfortunately, he didn't see Blueye's expression darken dramatically. He didn't notice the female rushing towards him at great speed...until it was too late. The pale yellow creature slammed her elbow into his stomach so hard it knocked the wind out of him. Sandstorm's eyes flew open, and he clutched his abdomen, falling to his knees. He grinded his teeth and eyes were now shut tightly as pain swelled in his belly.
Blueye wasn't finished yet. She turned around, and tensed up the muscles in her leg. She struck forward, whipping the tan sickleclaw across the head, knocking him to the ground, on his stomach. "And do you have something against females, you sexist!"
Sandstorm looked up at her. He struggled to get up, and staggered onto his feet. He eventually regained his balance. "Uhh...no." He finally said as soon as he could breathe again. "But Red...you are still a coward...if you and her fight me at once."
"Then we shall fix that." Red said, his feathers swaying in the wind. "Why don't you fight Blueye first, and once she weakens you, I'll finish you off."
Rex flew as fast as he could, but he knew he wasn't going to make it on time as Littlefoot prepared to slam into Chomper. Rex wanted to stop his longneck friend from making a huge mistake. But would he get there in time? Time seemed to slow down as he was fast approaching the charging longneck. He beat his wings faster. They were being beaten so hard he thought that the wind was going to cut right through them, and render him flightless.
"I'll get you!" Littlefoot shouted just before he was about to make contact with Chomper. His head slammed against Chomper's chest, toppling the Carnotaurus onto his back. Littlefoot reared onto his hind legs, and slammed down his full weight onto the ground.
Chomper had rolled out of the way, and, using his powerful legs, pushed himself up off the ground, and roared. "That was good, Littlefoot. But not good enough!" The blue sharptooth lunged forward, brandishing his sharp horns. Littlefoot bared his teeth, and braced himself. Chomper turned his head to the side, pointing the end of one of his horns towards the Apatosaurus. Then he struck out as fast as he could. Littlefoot screamed as the horn made contact with his shoulder, slicing into it, leaving a long gash. In an attempt to protect himself, Littlefoot brought down his head fast, slamming his forehead against Chomper's.
Chomper backed off, shaking his head, desperately trying to get rid of the pain. He then growled under his breath. "I'll make you pay for what you did to me in the past!" He lunged forward, landing on top of Littlefoot's back! The longneck instantly reared up, trying to knock the sharptooth off. Chomper opened up his mouth and clamped down onto the spine of Littlefoot's back, and applied pressure.
Littlefoot's eyes widened as he felt the predator's teeth and claws slice and dice across his back. He could feel the blood trinkling down. With a mighty roar of his own, he slammed against a thick tree truck, forcing the carnivore to lose his grip and fall onto the ground. "I told you, we did not purposely cause you to lose sight in your real parent! Not that he has done a good job raising you anyway!"
The Carnotaurus's eyes almost seemed to glow red at that statement. "How dare you! Don't ever talk about my father like that!"
Littlefoot seethed at this comment and struck Chomper with his tail. "What about my father!" He pressed his snout against Chomper's muzzle. "You stole his life!"
Chomper blinked, and then opened up his mouth and snapped down, hoping his teeth would latch onto Littlefoot's currently vulnerable head. But the longneck quickly pulled away before the teeth had time to meet the flesh. "I was merely getting even with you. You and your stupid friends destroyed my life!" He took a step forward. "And to think I actually once called you my friends!" He charged forward, and sank his teeth into Littlefoot's leg.
"Don't you dare talk about my friends, sharptooth!" The male longneck screamed as he struggled to get his leg free of the sharptooth's grip.
"STOP!" A voice shouted from the skies. Littlefoot and Chomper both looked up to see a blue figure flying down towards them. Littlefoot squinted, trying to figure out who it was. But Chomper's eyes were already widened in shock.
"Rex? But how...I thought he was under my control..." He spoken almost shakingly, still latched onto the Apatosaur's leg.
"Rex?" Littlefoot whispered, not even registering any emotion as he looked up and saw the dracovol he knew from hatching day dove towards them.
"I SAID STOP!" Rex repeated, bringing out his feet and aimed them for Chomper's head. In an instant, they made contact, forcing Chomper to let go of Littlefoot's leg as he was knocked away across the ground. Rex dropped down and landed in front of Littlefoot, but keeping his attention on the Carnotaurus. "Just stop this!" Rex folded out his wings, and spread out his arms, a posture that showed Chomper he wasn't going to allow him to pass unless he fought him first.
'But why would he do this...?' Chomper asked, staring at the dracovol before him. 'I don't want to fight him... Why did he change back?' A tear of anger strolled down his face. 'What went wrong!' Chomper climbed back onto his feet, and walked forward. "Why would you do this Rex? Betray both sides, eh?"
"I never betrayed Littlefoot!" Rex announced, sending a wave of shock through the other dinosaurs' minds. "I was being controlled by my flamebreath pastlife!"
Littlefoot narrowed his eyes, and lowered his head to look at Rex straight in the eyes. "So it really WAS you doing all the thinking!" He said threateningly.
Rex swirled around to see the angry longneck advancing on him. "N-N-N-No i-it's not like that Littlefoot!" He stammered as he backed away.
"If he was your pastlife," Littlefoot inquired, "Wouldn't that mean that you and the flamebreath have the same mind, and therefore...be the same being?"
"I s-suppose..." Rex pondered. "But I didn't want to do all those things, Littlefoot!" He tried to coax his longneck friend from long ago to calm down. "I was helpless inside my mind! I was helpless as the flamebreath took over my body, forcing me to do and say things I didn't mean!" He cried out desperately.
The longneck stared at him for a few seconds before baring his teeth, narrowing his eyes into slits. "I don't believe you. You're just trying to trick me again." Rex felt his heart skip a beat as Littlefoot prepared to attack him. "If you want to prove you are speaking the truth, then defeat me without inflicting damage on me yourself!"
Chomper grinned at this predicament. "This outta be good..." But he glared to himself. As good as this could get, Chomper did not want to stick around for very long, in case Rex was successful in getting Littlefoot back on his side. So the sharptooth turned around and fled. He was worried about something else as well. He recalled Pterano saying something about Cera. And he wanted to find out just what that stupid flyer was talking about.
Pterano was flying over the battlefield. He hadn't participated in the fight that much. He was busy looking for something. His sharp eyes scanned the ground below him, searching desperately for the one thing that could change everything that has happened. And it wasn't the Stone of Cold Fire.
"What are you looking for?" Pterano let out a surprised cry as Gorjak flew in beside him. The black sharp toothed flyer looked at the larger flyer beside him curiously. "I haven't seen you fight that much. I thought you agreed that you would help to fight."
Pterano glared softly. "Yes...yes I did." He returned to looking for the thing. "But I remembered I realized that there was away to stop this. And I'm searching for it."
Gorjak grinned almost maliciously. "What? The Stone of Cold Fire?" Pterano whacked him across the head. "Owch!"
"No, you idiot!" Pterano said sternly. "Not the Stone of Cold Fire! Something far more powerful! Something that could alter reality as it is!"
Gorjak's expression changed to that of shocked and mystified. "And that would be...?"
"A flamebreath." Pterano said as he continued surveying the valley. "And I know just where we can find one." He suddenly gasped. "I found it!" He quickly dove down into the deep forward.
The black flyer shook his head as a horrid smell filled his nostrils. But he dove down nonetheless to follow the pteranodon in the thick brush. The two flyers landed on the ground, and Pterano took a look around. "Why are we here? Is this it?" Gorjak questioned the larger flyer. As they looked around, at first all they could see was blood on the ground and foliage. Nothing too unusual could be seen.
"She's got to be around here somewhere..." Pterano looked around, putting his wing over his eye to get a better look. "She has got to be! But where to..." His voice trailed off as he saw something poking out of the bushes. "There!" He flew over a section of brush, and used his feeth to pull on the twigs and leaves. Gorjak flew over and helped out, pulling back what he could. In a matter of minutes, they cleared away enough plant life to get a glimpse of what was underneath the brush.
It was Cera's rotting corpse. The sight almost made Gorjak and Pterano gag. Much of her flesh had been eaten away, revealing the skeleton inside. Her head was completely crushed into an unrecognizable shape. Maggots squirmed inside the remaining organs she still had and flies clung to the few shears of skin that still clung to her rotting body. Coagulated blood covered in the ground around her and filled her rib cavity, and dripped off her ribs.
"I'm gonna be sick..." Gorjak whispered to himself, holding his stomach.
Pterano gulped and slowly approached the corpse. "Th-This is it..." He said. "Now we just need away to awaken the spirit within..." He stammered, and gulped again.
"How do we do that?" Gorjak asked, righting against the urge to vomit right there and right then. "And will it work?"
"I'll find a way." Pterano replied, ignoring the way the black flyer sounded as he spoke. "Cera's pastlife, a flamebreath, has a special gift that will turn the tide on this battle, and force the sharptooth to submit." Pterano explained to Gorjak. "She'll change everything, but at cost."
"What do you mean?"
"She can change things so that they never happened." He said, rather sullenly. "But to do so, someone must make a wish, and when they make a wish, they lose their life." Gorjak's eyes widened in horror. "You see, flamebreaths need the lifeforce of the wisher for big wishes like changing things so they never happened."
Gorjak gulped, still fighting the illness he felt in the pit of his stomach now. "So whoever is going to make the wish...will die?" Pterano nodded gravely. "But who's going to make the wish?"
Pterano looked up at the starry night. "I-I was planning too... After all..It's the least I could do to give back to this herd..." He looked away, a few tears streaming down his face. "I betrayed them, long ago...Now I want to redeem myself."
"By throwing your life away!" Gorjak cried out, horrified.
"What else is there?" Pterano nearly sobbed. "I have got nothing to live for now! Petrie, the only family I had left, is gone!"
As his tears fell to the ground, a mild glowing illuminated from the corpse. Pterano and Gorjak quickly turned their attention to Cera's dead body as the glowing continued to brighten. The flies flew away and the maggots scrurried across the floor. The glowing got brighter, and the flyers had to shield their eyes from the light intensity. Then, right before their very eyes, from out of the body came a huge creature. It was so large that Pterano and Gorjak had to take to the sky just to look at it straight in the face.
It folded its wings to the side, and opened up its mouth to speak. Sharp teeth lined the inside of her mouth, and a forked tongue slithered out like a snake to taste the bitter air. "Who has summoned me?" It spoke in a female's voice, enchanting and haunting at the same time.
While this spectacle was going on, pairs of watchful eyes glared at the scene playing out before them. A low growl escaped their throats. "This isn't good." One of them, Ichy, said.
"We should tell the boss!" Another, Lizzie, said.
With that, the bellydraggers they were riding, Dil and Mel, turned around and ran as fast as their heavy bodies could carry them to search for General Chomper. This was news they had to tell him. They knew that if Chomper didn't do something to stop this, they would lose the battle for sure!
"I just hope we get to him in time." Mel said softly.
"Don't worry we will." Dil assured him. "We will."