Part VI: The Revelation
General Chomper still stood there, shaking like a leaf from both disbelief and horror as he saw the rotting corpse standing there next to Littlefoot. Despite the gruesome look, Littlefoot immediately gave his step brother a lick on the cheek. He immediately regretted it, and licked a nearby tree to get rid of the taste. Shorty didn't mind. He only giggled as he watched Littlefoot wash his tongue off.
Shorty returned a glaring gaze at Chomper, who only gulped and backed away more. Shorty advanced on him, baring his dirty teeth. In a desperate attempt to try and save himself, Chomper asked almost innocently, "H-Hey...you..you don't remember an-anything, right?" Shorty didn't reply. "Right?"
The brachiosaurus pushed his face against Chomper's. "Forget? How could I NOT forget what you done, you swine!"
"B-Because you're a zombie...?" General Chomper said meekly, but realized his efforts were futile.
Shorty snarled and Littlefoot watched in shock as Shorty bit into Chomper's neck, and lifted him high off the ground. The general gasped and struggled for air. He clawed desperately at the dinosaur's neck, but his short arms could provide little relief. Finally Shorty was so sickened by this squirming monster that he just threw Chomper aside, and ignored the sound of screaming and crashing. Chomper slowly rose to his feet, and retreated.
Littlefoot furrowed his brow in hatred as he watched Chomper run away, tears of anger screaming down his face. "Good riddance..." He growled under his breath. "Serves him right..."
Rex was shaken up by what he had just seen the brachiosaurus do. Never once in his life had he ever seen a longneck use their jaws as a weapon, nor had he ever seen them throw a sharptooth like that. "Wow...Remind me not to get on your bad side." Rex said, facing Shorty directly.
Shorty blinked, and then smiled. "Rex? Is that you?" He slowly approached the dracovol. "It's been a long time... My how you've grown!"
Rex blushed a bit. "Y-Yeah...I've been working out..." Suddenly Littlefoot rushed and placed himself between Rex and Shorty. He gave a look of death at Rex, and Rex couldn't tell if it was a warning look or a threatening look. "What?" He asked.
"Shut up, sharptooth!" Littlefoot snarled.
"Littlefoot? What's going on?"
"Rex betrayed us!" Littlefoot shouted in a frenzy. "He tried to kill me! He tried to kill the others!"
Aghasted, mouth agape, Shorty turned his gaze back at Rex. If he were alive, his heart would be racing. "R-Rex...is this true?" He feared the answer.
"NO! NO!" The dracovol shook his arms from side to side at a very fast rate. "I didn't betray you guys! It was my flamebreath half! He took control of me! I couldn't control myself!"
Littlefoot narrowed his eyes. "A likely story..."
"Am I the only one here confused?" Shorty pondered. "What in the world is a flamebreath?"
A female voice began speaking. While Rex and Shorty were somewhat unfazed, Littlefoot nearly felt his heart stop. "A flamebreath is a mythical creature who looks like a winged dinosaur that can breathe fire." The figure got closer and the voice grew louder. "They can either be a great asset, or a terrible enemy. Because of their power, contact with them is usually forbidden."
"A-A-A-A..." Littlefoot stammered with his voice, his jaw trembling as he tried to speak the name of the dinosaur that just showed up. Coagulated blood still clung to her head, but other than that, she did not look any different than before.
She glared softly at Littlefoot as she approached him slowly. "Hello Littlefoot..." She spoke slowly and sternly, like she was his mother and scolding him for something he did wrong. "Good to see you again." She said somewhat sarcastically. She was not in a particularly good mood now. "Hope you learned to keep that temper under control, eh?"
"A-A-Ali...I'm sorry..." Littlefoot whispered and bowed his head. Tears streamed down his face. "I-I'm so sorry...Please...forgive me..." His head hung lower as he choked back a sob.
Ali rolled her eyes. "Oh will you quit your crying, will you?" Littlefoot lifted up his head. "In case you have forgotten, now is not the time to be all sappy." Littlefoot was confused. This was not the same Ali he knew. Maybe he had forced her to harden in death. Ali turned her attention to Rex. "Rex, do you remember if the flamebreath said anything about..."
Littlefoot's eyes widened and he snapped out of his depression. "WHAT! YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT JERK! HE'S NOTHING BUT A NO GOOD TRAITOR!" Rex winced at his words, and lowered his head. "THAT'S RIGHT! YOU BETTER BE ASHAMED! IT'S TOO LATE FOR ME TO FORGIVE..." Ali shot him a look that shut the longneck up.
"Okay that's enough Littlefoot!" Ali shouted at him, and exposed her teeth to him, something she had hardly ever done in the past. She hardly ever got this mad with him.
"A-Ali...?" Littlefoot spoke, his voice broken.
"Why did you say such things about Rex? Why can't you see he's telling the truth?" She asked coldly. "Or are you too stubborn now to listen to anyone else?"
"B-But Ali...he..." Littlefoot gestured towards Rex. "He attacked me on his own will..."
Ali scowled at this comment, and Littlefoot flinched mentally from this. "Are you going by assumption again?" She stared at him straight in the eyes. "Remember what happened last time when you made your decision based on something you were assuming to be true?" Littlefoot gasped, and felt a weight on his heart. He knew she was right. Littlefoot felt so angry he was accusing Rex, and not even listening to what he had to say. The longneck bowed his head in shame. He never felt like this before.
"Littlefoot..." Rex started, but the look on Littlefoot's face told him he'd better leave him alone. Rex looked at Shorty. "Poor guy..."
Shorty nodded, though didn't say anything. He didn't have to. Rex already knew what the brachiosaur was thinking as he watched his step brother beating himself up mentally. 'Littlefoot, you are stronger than this.' Shorty thought as he watched the broken down longneck. 'Fight it!'
Littlefoot realized something else too. He could sense it, all around him, the battle going on. He looked around to see the bodies of sharpteeth and leaf-eater alike, fallen on the ground and left to rot. He could feel his stomach churn. He had been the cause of this. He could no longer put the blame on the sharpteeth. If he had done something earlier, this could have been stopped.
Littlefoot knew, deep down, that he had turned out to be worse than Chomper himself. And perhaps even Chomper isn't in charge of everything. Maybe the carnotaur is a victim, like everyone else has been in this stupid and pointless war. What would war bring but more bloodshed and death? Was this truly the way to save the valley, or is it the way to bring out its destruction?
"This..is all my fault..." Littlefoot whispered as he continued to cry. "W-Why didn't I stop myself? Why?" Rex reached out slowly with one paw, but swiftly redrew it. "I have to do something..." The apatosaurus raised his head. "I must do something!"
"There is something you can do." The zombified Ali said. "But it is too risky for you to try it. Well unless you are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, to give up everything you hold dear." She said in a rather spooky voice.
"What is it?"
"Make a wish to the Wishing Dragon." Ali explained. "But you will need to sacrifice your life to do so. The Wishing Dragon cannot grant wishes unless she recieves your soul first."
"WHAT!" The trio cried.
"Oh," Ali added, "forgot to mention, the dragon sleeps within Cera."
"CERA!" The trio shouted.
"WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG!" A voice boomed within the forest. A velociraptor walking beside a triceratops cowers in fear. The triceratops nearly rams his horns into the smaller dinosaur. "ARE YOU TRYING TO TRICK ME, SHARPTOOTH!"
"N-No sir..." Yu, the green velociraptor, explained. "I-I-It's just that I don't know where Chomper is..."
Mr. Threehorn lifted his head up and roared with rage. Yu shivered, and, fearing for his life, he begins to dart out in one direction. If he had eyes, they would be narrowed furiously now. Mr. Threehorn lowers his crushed skull and chases after Yu. "COME BACK HERE!"
"Somebody help!" Ichy cried as he coughed up blood. He was dragging himself along the dirty floor, strugging to get away from the zombies. He was all alone, and his body was covered in blood. His wings were ripped up, and his tail feathers were gone. His gray feathers look black again, but only because of all the blood that soaked into them.
He finally touched the leg of a dinosaur that wasn't one of the Living Dead. He smiled gratefully, happy to see a friendly face. Well friendlier than the Living Dead.
"Sir! Help me! Please!" Ichy cried as he clutched the leg tighter. "I don't wanna die!"
A low growl emitted from the creature's throat, startling the sharpbeak. "Well you should have thought about that before you joined Chomper's group." The creature turned around, and the light from above revealed it to be Spellbound. Ichy screamed and released the alimon's leg.
"P-Please don't hurt me..." Ichy sobbed, bowing his head before the alimon. "I-I will do anything...Please..."
"Where are your friends?" Spellbound asked, ignoring Ichy's pleas. "I thought you travelled in a group."
The sharpbeak gulped. "W-Well I did...but..." He choked a bit on his words. "They...Dil, L-Lizzie...Mel...they were all killed by the Living Dead." He looked up at Spellbound. "You have to help me! I don't want them to get me too!"
"Is that so?" Spellbound inquired coldly, smiling viciously. "I'm sorry but I will have to deny your request." He lowered his head. "Why should I show you mercy? You never showed others mercy." Ichy tried to fly away, but his wings were too damaged. He simply fell flat on the floor. The alimon licked his lips. "I am a bit hungry now that I think of it." He closed his mouth around Ichy's body and lifted him up in the air.
"NO! NO! NO! PLEASE!" Ichy begged frantically. "DON'T DO THIS! I..." He started to choke as the predator suddenly applied a lot of pressure really fast. Then the sharp teeth cut through the bird's skin, organs, and crushed the spine and rib cage. Ichy's eyes went white, and his head lopped to one side.
Spellbound set the body on the floor, and began ripping out pieces of meat and eating them whole. As he ate the bird piece by piece, a rustling sound was heard. Spellbound quickly turned around and snarled. "Who is there!"
A red alimon with white stripes emerged. "Chill, Spellbound! It's only me!" The alimon was a large male, slightly larger than Spellbound. He was part of Dynamo/Siria's pack. "Or did you forget who I was, Spellbound?" He asked playfully.
"Morro?" He asked softly. "Morra is that you? I haven't seen you in years! Where have you been?" He asked, smiling. He wiped off the blood off his chin.
Morro chuckled heartfully. "I've been exploring, what else?" He walked closer to Spellbound. "Dynamo sent out someone to find me, and told me of what happened." He looked around at the devastion in the valley. "Terrible isn't it?"
"Yeah..." Spellbound said, his face downcast. "How could we let it slip so far...?"
"Because you and your miserable pack are just a bunch of idiots who couldn't do so much as cut a blade of grass without problems!" Spellbound and Morro angrily turned to see who had said that. "But then what can I expect from someone who was trained by Dynamo?" The voice said sarcastically.
"Gris!" Spellbound shouted in both surprise and disgust. "Just what are you doing here!"
Gris laughed coldly and approached the enraged alimons slowly. "Oh just paying you two a visit before the final play. That's all." He turned his head towards Morra. "Well well well...Morro! Good to see you again!" He said sarcastically. "It's been a long time. Why, no one has seen you since..."
"Since your good-for-nothing father, Rorra, was killed by Axel after he betrayed her." Morro said with a tinge of hatred.
"WATCH WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT MY FATHER!" Gris exploded with rage, his teeth bared. He was not afraid to make the killing bite.
"Just like your father." Morro said, smiling slightly. "Such a temper. I guess some dinosaurs really do take after their father."
"My father taught me well!" Gris boasted. "In fact, he taught me some spells in case his plan failed."
Spellbound chuckled. "Yeah it did fail...after Axel betrayed him and killed him with a single bite to the head." Gris seethed. "I guess he picked on the wrong alimon, eh, Morro?"
"You said it!"
"ENOUGH!" Gris lunged forward and landed close to the alimons. The action was so fast the two were taken aback, and nearly fell down. "I know what Axel did! Luckily when I became leader, we dealt with her."
Morro blinked. "But...I thought she left the pack after she killed Rorra." He looked at Spellbound. "Isn't that right? She got tired of being under Rorra's control and just left?"
Spellbound nodded. "Yes. She became a loner, and ran far away. I have no idea how far, but I always believed she would be too far way to cause trouble or for anyone from her former pack to find her."
"Oh we found a way." Gris grinned. "And I sent my best assassin to finish the job. Oh how I would have loved to see the look on my own face when the assassin returned with Axel's head!"
Spellbound and Morro slightly cringed at the thought, but they quickly let it go. "So what is it you are doing now?" Morro asked, stepping up to the larger alimon. He showed no signs of fear. "Are you killing off members of our pack now?"
"Sadly...no." Gris narrowed his eyes. "What I'm doing is even better! I am getting my revenge on this worthless valley. I have created a war that will decimate all inhabitants! No one will escape my vengeance!" The gray alimon laughed insanely. As he settled down, he added, "And to think, it all started when I disguised myself as Slasher, and tricked that moron of a dinosaur, Chomper, into thinking he had to join the army of sharpteeth and invade the valley!"
"What...?" A voice called out from behind. Gris, Morro, and Spellbound all turned to see who it was. Gris raised an eyebrow, Morro blinked, and Spellbound gasped. The figure was still hidden in the bushes, but the face was clear enough so that they could tell who it was. As the figure stepped out, there was no doubting it now. Those cracked horns, those short arms, that blue skin, the light blue underneath, the red eyes...they all could only belong to one dinosaur in this valley.
"Chomper!" Spellbound cried, breaking the silence that had started to settle amongst the group.
Chomper made no response. He simply walked forward, a blank look on his face, although his eyes were clearly widened. It may have been due to fright, shock, or astonishment, or perhaps even anger. "You..." He looked at Slasher. "You lied to me..."
"Surprised? Get over it!" Gris said evilly.
"You lied to me...You lied to me. YOU LIED TO ME!" Chomper roared ferociously and charged forward to attack Gris. The speed was so amazing that even Gris would have a hard time dodging this.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The scream carried out throughout the forest as Chomper's horn sliced into Gris's side, leaving a deep gash. As Chomper prepared to make the kill, Gris looked up at the dinosaur, and his eyes started to glow...