The young Barn Owl rode the thermals and soared ever higher above the ground. The night was young, the air was crisp, and the stars above sparkled like diamonds in the rough against the inky black sky. Perfect for a leisurely flight through the mountains.

Ginger was in a very good mood; the meeting between the Pure Ones and the A.F.F. had gone surprisingly well, and the place chosen for it(the North Georgia Mountains) was the perfect location-there was so much wilderness, the chances of human discovery were close to nothing. As for the conference itself, King Metal Beak and Commander Scott had both agreed that the technological gap between the two forces was immense, and such advanced weaponry could end up destroying the Owl Kingdoms if it ended up in the wrong talons, and since they were such a long distance away from each other, intimate relations were borderline impossible. But after what the eagles had seen Ginger accomplish in the battle against the Shredders, it was decided that the High Tyto send in some of his own cadets and corporals to train under the A.F.F., and vice-versa, so that the two forces could study each other for some time, analyzing their tactics and utilizing them for either side.

And since Ginger had made such a good impression on the eagles, it was decided, that, while not to be heavily associated with the Pure Ones, the A.F.F. would very willingly send a fleet to assist the owls if things ever got particularly bleak. The Pure Ones offered to do the same, but the eagles declined, saying that they didn't want to overwhelm them, as they were far less advanced. In a nutshell, it was to be a loose alliance, but an alliance, nonetheless.

Everyone seemed satisfied with how the conference went, and Commander Scott even held a very large dinner party in the treetops to celebrate the success. As she flew, Ginger reflected upon some of the things she'd overheard the Commander and High Tyto say to each other. The two seemed to get along quite well for such imposing beings.

"So let me get this straight," the eagle started. "You met your wife in a cave?"

"Why yes. You could say that my first impression of her was very...down to earth."

Boisterous laughter had followed.

"No, but seriously," Metal beak continued. "It wasn't just any cave, though; a renowned blacksmith made his home there. He was a good friend of ours. As a matter of fact, he was the one who crafted these very battleclaws you see here."

The old Sooty Owl hadn't been hesitant to show off the somewhat embroidered, yet still very effective metal talons encasing his feet. They had lost their natural luster with age, but they were still very well kept, especially for a set so old.

"Wow. Well, by the looks of it, he was good at what he did."

"No doubt, Commander. Now, tell me something; some of your cadets were spreading the stuff of folklore around the tables; what's up with that one big mountain up to the north?"

"Mount Ebott?"

"That's the one. It doesn't sound like the typical Bigfoot stuff you hear all the time."

"Ooh, it gets pretty juicy. All of the humans' books say that anyone whoever goes up into that mountain never comes back."

"Why's that?"

"They say it's full of monsters. The book my copy-and-editors got from the library said that about a millennium ago, there was a war between the two races; the humans and the monsters."

"I assume the humans were victorious?"

"Book said that seven of humanities most powerful mages at the time sealed the monsters inside the mountain by crafting a magical barrier, trapping them in there."

"How unfortunate. I fear what might become of animalkind if the big secret ever got out."

"As long as everyone knows how to keep their mouths shut around them, I don't think anything like that will happen anytime soon. Besides, they've believed in animals possessing, eh...lesser intelligence for so long, that if anyone does catch us in the act, nobody'll believe them."

"Good, good. But it's still important. That's part of the reason we came all the way out for this, eh?"

"You could say that."

"You know something?"

"No. What?"

"Some of the local owls here know the legend, too, it seems; some came by one of the grog trees to intermingle with us, and they say that sometimes, if you listen really closely when it gets real quiet, you can hear the barrier...pulsating."

"That sounds disgusting."

"Well, that's how they put it. Pulsating like a disembodied heart."

"How many times do they make each other lose their lunch by accident when using that word?"

"I wouldn't know. Ask them!"

More boisterous laughter had followed after that. Ginger thought more about the legend. Interesting; very interesting. An entire race, hidden away for so long, and perhaps even forgotten by most of humanity at this point. Metal Beak was right; there was much more to the tale than some strange, manlike creature walking around, terrorizing livestock. This was much more mysterious.

The owl looked to the north...Was that the mountain? From what she was seeing, the taller one that stuck out among all the rest had what looked like some sort of hole in the side of it. Ginger couldn't help it, she just had to see what was inside that hole. Would there really be what was spoken of? Most likely not, she reasoned, but she supposed it wouldn't hurt to see what was there.

She made a steep bank with her starboard wing and increased her speed, eager to see what she might find. Soon enough, she found herself planting her talons on the ground, just in front of the cave entrance. The owl stepped forward and through the entrance; it was dark, but she could still see everything as clear as day, thanks to her advanced eyesight, as was typical of Barn Owls. She looked around the small cavern, and saw a multitude of vines laced around the room, covering the walls and curving around the cave floor. A few young blades of grass were trying to sprout, but it seemed like they couldn't get enough sunshine from where they were at to fully develop.

Ginger fluttered her wings and perched on one of the large vines, then immediately stumbled backward; all she had to do was look down, and she found herself staring into one of the deepest holes she'd ever seen in her life!

Holy racdrops, she thought. It's a good thing I have wings, or else that would have been a nasty fall.

Knowing what to expect this time, Ginger stepped up onto the vine again and peered back down the hole. She...could have sworn she saw where it ended. A patch of...what were those? Flowers of some sort? It was weird, but she couldn't tell. It seemed like the image of yellow petals emerging from the ground was clear one moment, and then the next moment it...blurred some.

But other than the odd blurring, the owl saw nothing separating her from the supposed flowerbed. She was honestly tempted to go down there and see it for herself; after all, she was no human. Unlike the hairless apes that ran the world, she possessed working wings that could carry her back up to where she came from whenever she desired, as well as a set of sharp, curved claws if danger struck. Humans possessed little to no natural weapons, except maybe their fists, but in her mind, blunt force was nowhere near as efficient as the ability to tear through flesh.

Ginger's curiosity got the best of her; she spread her wings and began to spiral down the hole like a vulture; an easy feat, seeing how wide and round it was. All she had to do was fly along the circumference.

She had glided about halfway down when she stopped and began to hover in one spot. Now nearly everything below was blurring, save for the small space between her and the halfway mark. In the next instance where the image below cleared, she got a better view of what was down there. Yep; that was definitely a flowerbed. A rather nice looking one, as a matter of fact; all of the flowers looked healthy and happy, and they were a beautiful shade of sunny, golden yellow.

How, though, did such a nice bunch of flowers manage to grow there when it was getting little to no sunlight? The grass around the hole was barely alive, but these? Ginger wasn't sure if she'd ever seen a flowerbed that bloomed brighter.

Odd. Very odd.

Well, there was only one way to solve this mystery: finish her descent and locate the foreign light source that was keeping them alive.

Ginger stooped her starboard wing down again, and passed through the spot that seemed to blur...

Then, all of a sudden, her wings seemed to give way, and she began to plummet.

She flapped madly, desperate to keep herself airborne, but to no avail. There was no resistance to keep her up; the ground just kept getting closer and closer, until...

The loud thud of her crashing and the sound of crinkling leaves were the last things she heard before her mind succumbed to total darkness.

lol so I know this spawned purely from boredom and the fact that I need to reinspire myself to continue writing all the stuff I have on here, but if any of you think it's any good, let me know, because I thought the Adventures of Raptor Trainer was gonna be trash, but it's gained a surprising amount of love. I know the Undertale fandom is pretty much dead but now that I've started getting more into it I can't help but ensue these crack ideas.