Jurassic Park?
The cave was getting darker still, but Lara could still see ahead of her just fine. However, there was uneasiness in the air that made it hard for Lara to press onward. Although she was a little scared, Lara continued around rocky obstacles and into the caves beyond. Lara was now standing in front of a large wall of white sandstone rock that lead up of to huge bright opening. To the right, Lara saw another cave that seemed to lead down somewhere. She started making her way towards it, when she encountered two more wolves that seemed to run past her without even noticing, almost as if they were too scared to focus on her. Suddenly, there was a large pounding noise that shook the cave, causing rock debris from the ceiling to fall the ground. Lara stood clear of the falling debris and waited for the pounding to stop, which only lasted a few more moments. But somehow, Lara thought she knew that whatever caused the cave to shake, it was not an earthquake.
"What the hell was that?" Lara asked herself, her heart racing uncontrollably. "Something strange is definitely going on here, and I don't think I like it. I don't think the wolves like it either!"
Lara continued into the cave only to find that it lead to a passage that had been blocked off by large rocks from the recent event. There was nothing else for Lara to see other than a few fallen rocks and boulders, so she ventured back into the previous cave and focused her attention the light-coloured rock wall that lead up to a bright opening, which more than likely lead outside. Lara stood for a moment and listened. She could hear faint, yet strange noises coming from up there, noises that did not sound familiar in any way. It was almost as if she were about to enter another world, just like little Alice when she first ventured into Wonderland in Lewis Carroll's famous book. Wherever Lara was headed, she could already tell things were getting strange. She immediately began climbing up the tall rocky wall.
"I wonder what's making all of those strange noises." Lara said as she grabbed hold of small outcrop and pulled herself higher up the wall. The closer she got to the bright opening, the louder the noises became, and Lara was now able to distinguish some of the sounds. She was now under the impression that she was about to enter some sort of jungle. Thinking about the foreboding atmosphere made Lara lose her concentration on the climbing task, but she was able to regain her concentration before she was able to slip and fall to the ground.
"One more scare like that and I could be dead!" Lara said. "I must really be careful."
Lara continued climbing up the rock wall, grabbing one rock and then the next until she started nearing the top of the wall. From there, she grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up onto the white sandstone and blinded by the sight of sunlight pouring in from outside. Looking down to the ground outside at the top of the rock formation, Lara was dumbfounded by the sight of extensive greenery. Just before Lara started climbing down the other side of the rock wall, she saw a skeleton on the ground next to her that looked as though it were trying to get away from something. She began to think about the other skeleton that had the shotgun and remembered something else that Carlos had told her the day before regarding the disappearance of a few archaeologists that went missing just before the closure of an archaeological site that was set up in the area over ten years ago.
"Could these be the men that went missing all that time ago?" Lara asked as she examined the human carcass. "Something obviously killed them. But what, exactly? I guess I'll figure that out later."
Lara carefully made her way down the ground towards the green grass. When the distance from Lara's feet to the ground was close enough, she jumped down and emerged out of the open cavern and into a strange open landscape. Looking around, Lara could not help but be lost for words. She was in a large valley lush with different kinds of vegetation, some of which Lara had never seen before in her life. Huge palms trees dominated the open areas and many other green plants, such as ferns, were also seen. Even the high cliffs surrounding the area were dominated with overgrown plant life. About hundred and fifty feet away, Lara could see a large natural rock formation that had a large wooden bridge branching out to the right that was attached to the rocky cliffs on the other side. All around the valley, there were loud raging waterfalls pouring into small lakes and brightly coloured flowers were blooming everywhere, displaying vibrant shades of red, orange, yellow, purple, and blue. In some places, where the light of the sun hit the water just right, huge misty rainbows could be seen. To top it all off, the sky overhead was a bright blue, allowing for a fantastic view of the surrounding snow-capped Andes Mountains, which were still partially covered with clouds from the recent snowstorms. As Lara admired the beautiful scenery, a slight breeze started to blow through the valley and she felt her braided hair sway gracefully in wind. She also watched as two brightly-coloured tropical birds flew across the valley and landed somewhere near a looming palm tree. It was one of the most beautiful things Lara had ever seen, apart from some of the treasures she collected in recent years. She started to feel her eyes water a bit.
"This place is beautiful!" Lara said. "This would definitely be great for a travel brochure! Once again, I wish I brought a camera with me! Damn…"
As she continued walking through the tall grass, Lara noticed something strange hidden among a group of bushes near the left side of the small valley where the angle of the sun's light casted a shadow. It was some of creature that had reddish skin, but it was not anything Lara could easily identify. It was not until the creature turned its reptilian face toward her and revealed its set of razor-sharp teeth that Lara gasped both out of surprise and fear.
"No…it can't be!" Lara said as the scaly tailed creature slowly started walking on its hind legs toward her with its front legs up in the air. Lara blinked her eyes, thinking that she was only seeing things, but the dinosaur was still there and let out a horrific-sounding shriek as it started charging at her.
"Oh, bloody hell! Time to see if the shotgun still works…"
Lara quickly took out her shotgun and narrowly escaped the raptor's attack by performing a sideways somersault. She quickly loaded the gun with bullets and cocked the gun as she readied her aim on the dangerous creature. The raptor turned around and hissed at Lara before making another attack. Once her target was close enough, Lara pulled the trigger and blasted the dinosaur with a fatal blow to the head. Lara's heart was pounding viciously hard, but only started beating harder as more shrieks were heard all across the valley. Lara looked around and saw a whole gathering of raptors charging at her from every direction as far as the eye can see. She knew that she was in trouble.
"Shit! Way to go, Lara. You've really done it this time!" she said to herself as she put her shotgun away and pulled out her dual pistols. "Well, they asked for a fight. It looks like they might get one this time!"
There were about ten raptors and they all wanted Lara as their next meal, but she obviously had other plans for them. With pistols in hand, Lara aimed at the closest raptor that was charging at her and performed a spectacular somersault over the dinosaur's head and made a clean fatal shot right in between its yellow eyes. Landing back on her feet, Lara was quick to make another extreme manoeuvre as a second raptor tried snapping her arm off. Luckily, Lara was able to shoot the creature down before it ever had the chance. Now, Lara was surrounded by three raptors that were showing their teeth. They charged at her, but Lara once again avoided the fatal onslaught by back flipping her way out of the circle of dinosaurs and repeated her fatal gun shots, killing three more raptors in the process; five dead, five more to go.
"Who's going next?!" Lara said as the remaining raptors charged at her with open mouths. Lara once again catapulted herself over dinosaurs and fired at them. With one pistol, Lara was able to shoot down a raptor to her left while she was able to shoot another one to her right with the other pistol. Now there were only three raptors standing in her way. One after another, Lara was able to shoot all of the remaining dinosaurs down one by one as they charged at her while staying in the same spot. After the battle was over, Lara kneeled down to study one of the once-thought-to-be-extinct creatures.
"Wow! I can't believe I'm actually looking at real dinosaurs!" Lara said as she studied the dead raptors on the ground. "For these creatures to still be alive today is completely astounding! It looks like the theory of evolution will be going in the trash heap…that is if I don't kill the rest of these things! These must be the giant lizards that Carlos mentioned…How am I ever going to explain this to the rest of the world? This is just too good to be true!"
After looking at the dead dinosaurs for another moment, Lara continued on into the lost valley towards the giant rock formation with the bridge going across to the other side and started to notice large dinosaur prints in the ground. In the distance, Lara could see another raptor charging through the prehistoric vegetation in her general direction. Lara took out her pistols and started aiming at the creature, only to see that it was followed by many more of them. Lara's eyes widened with fear as the horde of dinosaurs grew to around twenty. Then, Lara felt the pounding vibrations in the ground again. They were getting closer. Suddenly, Lara caught sight of a raptor flying through the air and hitting the canyon wall to Lara's right and then something else that completely blew Lara's mind.
"OH F***!" Lara shouted as she caught sight of the source of the ground vibrations. Coming straight her was a giant green-coloured tyrannosaurus-Rex that loomed over twenty to thirty feet tall in height and had a very stocky build with a large tail, large fearsome yellow eyes, and of course a giant set of razor-sharp teeth in its mouth. It ploughed right through the bridge that hung above the valley floor, leaving a giant gap in the middle as the giant creature caught sight of Lara. All she could do was scream and run as fast as she could as the t-Rex ploughed through the group of raptors that were running at her at the same time.
NOW I THINK I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE OTHER ARCHAEOLOGISTS! Lara thought as the t-Rex started closing in on her. THIS IS THE END OF MY JOURNEY! Actually it might not be…
Lara was quick to notice a tunnel right below the destroyed bridge in the distance behind her. Somehow she had to get around the giant dinosaur without getting eaten. Pretty soon, the giant beast had its mouth right up to Lara and was about to snap its jaw. Luckily, Lara was able to dive out of the way before it was too late and start running the other way. After quickly manoeuvring her way past a raptor that was still alive, Lara immediately started sprinting towards the tunnel underneath the broken bridge. The t-Rex did not have any trouble finding Lara before it started charging at her once more at an incredible velocity. By the time the giant carnivorous beast tried eating Lara again, she had already made her way into the small tunnel in the nick of time.
"That was close!" Lara said as she tried catching her breath from all of the excitement. "I have to kill that beast before I can continue exploring this place, unless I can get around without him noticing. But I doubt that's going to happen. I wonder where this tunnel leads."
Lara ran further into the tunnel through an opening on the left and continued up a ramp that levelled off and then started going down again it lead into a different area. After being in the bright sunshine for just a few minutes, Lara's eyes were now having trouble readjusting to the gloomy cast of the underground caves. But Lara could see more bright sunshine up ahead as she continued down the rocky tunnel. Then, Lara was suddenly surprised by a raptor that was hiding around the corner. Lara took out her shotgun and blasted the creature without even trying to aim, just to make things a little easier for herself. With the sudden surprise that just occurred, it did not help that Lara's heart was still beating at a rapid pace. She had never been so scared in her life.
After making another left turn through a slightly larger cave area, Lara reached a 'dead end' and emerged on a bright green vantage point that overlooked the valley floor. Looking to the left, the t-Rex was still trying to sniff out Lara by sticking its head through the passage entrance. Looking ahead, Lara could see a large natural rock 'arch' formation that was connected to the other large rock formation with the bridge. Beyond that, Lara could see that the small valley reached an end, but there was something that caught Lara's attention. Through the few palm trees and other plants that littered the valley, Lara could see a large manmade temple structure that was made of brown stone as well as some darker stone that may have been carved out from the side of the mountain cliff.
"How interesting…" Lara said. "That could be a good place to explore. I just need to sneak past that t-Rex!"
Using the vines and ivy for ropes, Lara quietly climbed back down to the ground and started walking towards the giant temple structure in the distance. But that was a big mistake. Lara felt the ground vibrating again as the giant dinosaur turned around and spotted Lara trying to escape. Panicking, Lara frantically searched for another way to escape, but ended up immediately running for a giant waterfall with a small lake as the dinosaur closed in on her with its vicious teeth. She dove into the water and started swimming her way down to the bottom of the pool to avoid the fearsome jaws of the t-Rex. She was trapped.
Great! Now what am I going to do?! Lara thought to herself as she waited for the dinosaur to hopefully leave her alone, but it did not look as though that were going to happen and Lara realized that sooner or later she was going to drown. But then, Lara caught sight of an underwater passageway that seemed to lead somewhere. It was a big risk, but Lara decided to follow it in the hopes of finding a place to catch her breath. Even if she did not find an air pocket, Lara decided it would be better to drown than to die at the jaws of a large unforgiving tyrannosaurus Rex. Still, she kept her hopes up as she continued through the dark underwater tunnel.
The moment we've all been waiting for...Lara is now battling dinosaurs in the Lost Valley and is struggling to get by the infamous t-Rex! I was able to include an element from Tomb Raider: Anniversary in regards to how Lara first encountered the raptors and the t-Rex. Other than that, the 'architecture' of the valley remains pretty much the same as in the original, except for the fact I did put in some of my own made-up details, of course! Stay tuned for the next chapter as Lara tries to figure out a way to overcome and defeat the giant t-Rex! Sooner or later, the Tomb of Qualopec will be calling her name! :)
saturn95