Part VI: The Revelation
Inside Chomper's mind, as all this was going on, a dark soul growled hatefully, having been pushed to the farthest part of Chomper's brain. The soul looked through the carnotaur's eyes, and hissed at what had just happened. Curse those alimons! If they had just kept their jaws shut about the whole thing... If it had its own body back, he would clobber the idiot alimon Gris for exposing his secret...That is if Gris is still alive. The soul couldn't help but smile with gratification that the jokester had gotten what he had deserved.
But for now, what really mattered was gaining control once more. Chomper's mind was a lot stronger than he had hoped for. When the beast learned the truth, his mind went into overdrive and overthrew the dark soul and regained control of itself. For the first time in a long time, Chomper could control himself.
The dark soul was a shapeless form, appearing to be nothing more than a dark cloud with glowing white eyes. It had a body before it had died. If the dark soul had a face, it would be grinning as it recalled its glory days when it was still alive, in the form of a certain black alimon with fire-orange stripes. The dark soul was really Fire, and, to seek his ultimate vengeance, he had possessed Chomper. That stupid Gris really thought he had turned Chomper into what he had been, that fool! Fire was the true mastermind behind Chomper's evil transformation, and he planned on completing his act for revenge.
"Those fools..I'll show them..." The dark soul hissed as it watched the leaf-eaters stop attacking the sharpteeth and start attacking an evil alimon that came their way. "They will not take me lightly!" The dark soul realized that it would take too long for him to retake control of the blue sharptooth's mind if the sharptooth is too busy thinking about battle. So the black matter exitted out of his head. He was invisible to everyone anyway. He knew what he had to do. "I must find my own body..."
The formless invisible form dashed its way through the air at impossible speeds. It darted left to right, zig-zagging through the maze of trees and foliage as it frantically searched for its body. Or whatever parts would still be left. It's been so many years; it could be gone, all gone. The dark spirit cursed to itself as the search seems to be turning up cold. Oh why oh why didn't it have to wait until now to exact its vengeance? Why couldn't it have tried much earlier, when it still knew where its body was? Why?
"No use crying over this." The dark soul sighed, or at least it would have if it had a mouth. "I will just find another body to inhabit." The dark soul hated having to do his dirty work through another's body. But right now he had no choice. Without a form, he could do nothing to harm the others. It is just as threatening as a gentle breeze. So aquiring a form is the only way he could bring about the vengeance it had promised so long ago.
"But how are we going to defeat the alimons?" Questioned a brown raptor, standing in between two larger raptors.
"Yeah." Answered a green raptor. "I heard they were very dangerous."
"They are the Guardians of the Great Valley." Littlefoot instructed. "They lived in the mountain ranges to keep sharpteeth out of the valley."
"So that is why sharpteeth kept disappearing..." A white raptor shuddered. "They sound tough."
Another brown raptor grabbed him and shook him. "Well of course they're tough, you idiot! No one can take on an alimon and win! Well except another alimon!" The raptor then glared up at his leader. "Just how do you propose we try to stop the unstoppable, General Chomper?" He turned his head towards Rex. "...And General Rex." Unconsciously, Rex shuddered at the mention of that name.
"Their necks..." General Chomper said slowly and softly. The once-tyrant then shouted louder for them all to hear. "Their necks! It is their most vulnerable spot! If you grab them by their necks, you will have a chance to defeat them!"
The sharptooth pack started murmuring and muttering and whispering amongst themselves. Some of them looked very uncertain. They were shivering like little hatchlings. The others were confident, and most of them had an evil grin on their faces. As that group discussed things, the group belonging to the Living Dead calmly discussed things together. None of them looked worried or confident, but rather callous, indifferent. They didn't even seem to care when more sharpteeth approached them and stopped their fighting with the sharptooth horde.
"So if we destroy the alimons..." asked one of the Living Dead. "..We will have returned everything to normal?"
Littlefoot shook his head. "No... Defeating the alimons is the first step. But what we really need to do is find the flamebreath that inhabits Cera's body and make a wish." He winced. "And if the alimons realize what we would be up to...hope would be lost."
"No..." A Living Dead interrupted. "One of us could make the wish."
Yu looked in their direction. His blue-green eyes narrowed slightly, full of seriousness. "I'm afraid that would be possible. The flamebreath needs the soul of a live dinosaur in order to complete the wish." He closed his eyes. "One of us, still amongst the living, much sacrifice our life to restore balance to this world. This means that, even after things return to normal, the one who makes the wish will not return, but remain dead."
Littlefoot listened to the velociraptor's explaination, and his heart skipped a beat. Should they really make the wish and risk losing one of their friends forever? But then...he has lost almost all of his friends in this stupid war between sharpteeth and flat-teeth. Should he really value that single life more than he values the lives of the friends he had lost? Littlefoot mentally shook his head. No...No he must make the wish. His sacrifice would save the world.
"Littlefoot?" Shorty asked, noticing his step brother zoning out. It kind of scared him. "Are you all right? You just..blanked out there."
"Wh-What?" Littlefoot looked and saw that it was only Shorty. "No, I'm fine, just fine." He was lying through his teeth, but he was thankful Shorty didn't realize it himself. The Living Dead was walking towards the other Living Dead to discuss things with them. Littlefoot watched them and sighed sadly before he walked over to Chomper.
"What is it Littlefoot?" Chomper had questioned. "Worried about something?" The carnotaurus turned around to face the longneck. He waited for the longneck to give his response.
"It's just...everything that has happened." Littlefoot stated. "You turning against us. This sharptooth invasion. All this talk about flamebreaths, stoneglares, magic, and spirits. The death of almost all my friends. Betrayal from another friend. Meeting the alimons once again. The devastation of the valley. The Living Dead." He sighed sadly. "It's almost like all of this is just some bad, horrible dream."
"If only it were that." Chomper said, feeling rather guilty for being stupid enough to fall for Slasher's..no...Gris's lies. If he had just seen through that pitiful disguise, if only he had seen the truth, maybe, just maybe...none of this horrible stuff would have happened to the Great Valley. Once a beautiful, lush landscape, the sharptooth invasion had reduced the valley into being nothing more than a horrifying deathtrap, turning it sinister, almost like Fortress Valley.
"Fortress Valley..." The blue sharptooth whispered, almost in horror.
Littlefoot blinked. "What about Fortress Valley?"
"There are still prisoners there." Chomper said shamefully. "And still corrupted sharpteeth there. Shouldn't we go and try and save them?"
"I don't think we can." The longneck stated, bowing his head. He heard a snarl being directed towards him, but it wasn't from General Chomper. When Littlefoot turned, he realized it was coming from one of the still alive plant-eaters.
"So we should just abandon them like that?" She shouted, shaking a fist at the confused apatosaurus. "Are you that cold! We should go save them!"
"And what about here!" Littlefoot snapped. "Don't you think it would be smarter to stay here, get ahold of that flamebreath, make the wish and turn everything back to normal!" The flat-tooth stammered. "Face it, the only way to save everyone is by making that wish!"
"Agreed." Rex smiled, and nodded. "We must hurry up and find Cera's body, before the alimons realize that we are going to change the past."
Then, at that moment, a loud thunderous laughter shook through the air, startling everyone. Even the Living Dead were uneasy as they listened to the roar that came into their dead ears. A group of shadows snaked their way, darkening the ground. They looked like a bunch of clawless fingers that were reaching their way forward to grasp all the dinosaurs. The shadows grew so big and long that even Littlefoot found himself being covered in the silhouettes that seemed to be eating away the landscape before them.
Hideous laughter filled the skies even more, sounding as deafening as thunder claps during a thunderstorm. The dinosaurs, both alive and dead, braced themselves for whatever it was coming towards them. Many of them bared their teeth. Others cowered behind larger dinosaurs, who only rolled their eyes.
As the figures came into view, it was revealed that these were the Darkarians, the pack members who followed the path that Fire had wanted alimons to follow so many years ago. Wielding on their shoulders were the classic X scars, a symbol of their betrayal against Shakti, started by Fire. In the front was Retaru. The blood red alimon smirked evilly as he slowly approached the group, leading his pack. Yes, his pack. Since Gris's death, he has been appointed the new leader. He was determined to follow in Gris's footsteps, despite not being related to him.
"I am afraid it is too late." Retaru announced as soon as the pack had reached their destination. They now stood only a few feet away from Chomper, who snarled at them. "We know all about your plan, and I'm afraid to say that it will not work."
"Oh yeah?" Yu said challengingly. "And why is that?"
Retaru's eyes darkened considerably. "Because, my pack will destroy you before you even reach the wish-granting flamebreath's resting place." He turned to his pack, in the front were Sumaru and Snowstorm. "Everyone, attack!"
Littlefoot gulped when the pack of alimons suddenly sprung to life, racing across the floor at incredible speeds, getting ready to tear them apart. Even with the Living Dead on their side, this battle would be insane. Suddenly, Chomper, Rex, and Yu jumped in front of the group together. "Chomper, Rex, Yu..." Littlefoot whispered.
"Go and find the flamebreath!" Rex shouted bravely.
"Don't worry about us!" Chomper said.
"We'll hold them off!" Yu said.
Littlefoot seemed stunned, but Ali's nudging knocked the sense back into him. Without saying a word, Littlefoot, Ali, and Shorty raced to find where Cera's body last was in hopes of finding the flamebreath. While they fled, Chomper bit down into a lunging alimon and tossed her towards Rex in the air. Rex grabbed the alimon and made a dive down, slamming her into it. The force broke the alimon's neck, killing her instantly.
Rex dove down and picked up another alimon and threw him into the ground. While this didn't kill him, it was to disorient him long enough for Yu to sneak up on him and give a powerful kick to the neck. The sickleclaw cut deep into the dinosaur's neck. The alimon's eyes widened in shock as it felt blood gushing from its neck, staining the ground before him. In seconds, the alimon bled to death and flopped onto the ground.
Yu rushed over to another alimon and gave a powerful kick across the rips. A thin yet painful cut appeared, causing the alimon's breathing to be impaired. Once again this was a distraction, not a fatal attack. The alimon snarled and he lunged for Yu, only smirked as Chomper's head came down and enclosed around the alimon's head. He snapped his jaws shut, beheading the alimon. The body fell to the ground with a sickening thud.
Yu looked up, and his eyes widened. "Uh oh..." An angry black and white alimon had climbed up a tree and was lunging right for him! Unless he ran, there was no way for him to counter the attack, and he hated to run. He called to Chomper. "Chomper!"
The carnotaurus immediately recognized the danger of the situation and came to Yu's aid. He lowered his body so that Yu could climb up. The raptor raced along Chomper's back and he jumped into the air. "Rex!" Yu called.
"Coming!" Rex sailed down towards the leaping velociraptor and grabbed him with his arms, and flew him in the direction of the alimon.
"Fly higher!" Yu demanded, and Rex did so. Just as they were above the leaping alimon, who was startled by this turn of events, Yu said, "Drop me now!" Rex reluctantly let go, and the green sickleclaw landed on the alimon's back. The force of his fall and his shere weight caused the two dinosaurs to plummet to Earth, crashing into the ground. Yu survived, but the alimon suffered a fatal blow. His neckbone had snapped clean in half and was resting at an odd angle.
"What the!" Retaru watched in fury as a few of his soldiers fell so fast. "They're just weakling dinosaurs! How are they killing you! It is you who should be killing them!" He shouted at his troops. "Now KILL them!"
"I guess you never heard of teamwork." Yu shouted as he stood proudly over the dead alimons they had just killed. "Anything is possible if you work in a team! Isn't that right guys?"
"Yes!" Chomper said as he walked forward and stood next to the green velociraptor.
"You said it!" Rex flew down and stood on the other side of the raptor.
"How touching..." Snowstorm snarled as he took a step foward. "But let's see how well you can handle it when we all attack you at once!"
"What..?" Yu whispered, his smug look wiped off and replaced with a fearful look.
Retaru smiled, sensing his fear. "Good idea Snowstorm! All alimons! Alimons, form three groups, and attack each of these three dinosaurs at once! Let's see how they can counter that!"
Chomper gulped as the alimons began to regroup and disperse into three groups this time. "How are we going to counter against this?" He asked Rex.
"Don't ask me..." Rex gulped. "I don't know..."
"We'll help." Said a voice behind them. They turned around to see the leaf-eaters and Living Dead standing behind them, looking determined to fight and help these three sharpteeth. "We will help you." The Living Dead said once again.
Another Living Dead nodded. "Yes. We cannot die, so it won't matter to us how many of those alimons attack us."
A leaf-eater stepped up. "And we of the living are prepared to sacrifice our lives to help you."
"Thanks guys..." Rex whispered, smiling softly.
"All right, let's do this!" Chomper shouted, commanding his two friends, the leaf-eaters, and the Living Dead. With a battle cry, the two groups lunged towards each other, prepared to fight with all of their available strength and effort.
"She should be around here somewhere." Littlefoot said, feeling a bit scared about trying to find a corpse. It was hard enough to see her when she first died. Who knows what her body looks like now?
Ali walked beside him, but hardly spoke since they left. She spoke again, in a dark and serious voice. "Well then, shouldn't we be seeing her soon? Real soon?"
"But if she is one of the Living Dead, shouldn't she be somewhere else?" Shorty asked, looking around. "She could have ran off somewhere. Searching here could be a waste."
Littlefoot stopped. "Or it could be perfect." He pointed, with his head, to where Cera was. He approached her corpse slowly. It was located near a river this time. "She fainted." Littlefoot said with a slight smile.
"Littlefoot?" Asked a soft voice up in the trees. Littlefoot looked up and saw a large flyer perched on the branches. "Littlefoot is that you?" The figure flew out of the trees and landed in front of him. It was Pterano. "Oh it is you! It's so good to see a friendly, non-mutilated face. I..." His face paled when he saw the corpses of Ali and Shorty heading his way.
"Oh hi, Pterano. We were just..." Shorty didn't have the chance to finish when Pterano's eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell to the ground. Shorty stared in shock.
"You killed him!" Littlefoot shouted, staring at the limp body of Pterano.
"No..." Ali said, shaking her head. "He just fainted, just like Cera did here."
"Fainted?" Littlefoot asked.
Shorty lifted up Pterano by his tail. "Yeah, he's still alive."
Littlefoot smiled thankfully, and he approached the flamebreath's body with extreme caution. He tried to ignore the pungent smell that was filling his nostrils. He tried to hold back gagging as he nudged the carcass with his snout. "Oh great flamebreath, will you awaken and grant us one wish?" He asked.
Almost immediately, a bright light illuminated the body, and the dragon appeared once more, her massive body pairing down at the group of dinosaurs that stood before her. Her huge eyes glared down at the one who had awoken her: Littlefoot. "What is it that you want?" The dragon asked, obviously female.
"I have come to make a wish." Littlefoot said bravely. "Since I'm the only one alive here..." He remembered Pterano. "...that is awake of course."
"Why do you want to make your wish?" The flamebreath questioned.
"To save my friends..." Littlefoot said, lowering his head. "I want things to go back to normal again..."
"Then why don't you wish for it? You do know the price you must pay, however?" Littlefoot nodded. "Then very well. Make your wish."
Littlefoot nodded. "I wish that..."
Suddenly a familiar voice interrupted him. Before Littlefoot had time to react or finish his sentence, someone else finished the sentence for him!
"I wish that Chomper was never corrupted so that none of this horrible stuff ever happened!" The voice demanded.
Littlefoot turned around, fearing, dreading who had wished that. When he finally set his eyes on the one who had made the wish, his heart skipped a bit, and his lip quivered slightly. He shook his head slowly.
"Rex..."