Title: Spectre
Rating: T, mostly for Language
Genre: Undecided.
Summary: A captive-born Dilophosaurus struggles to make his way in a ruthless world of large predators. He just wants a home to be happy in, and he seems to receive help from a strange raptor. He'll learn that in the world of Primal Carnage, not everything is as it seems.
Author's Comment: A story I wrote about my most popular character from the game, Primal Carnage: Extinction.

Chapter 1

A brief brush of air sent a shiver through him and for a moment, he wants to stay within the warm confines of the only home he knew. But this is something that needs to happen, instinct compelling him to break through the barrier to the outside world. It has been a difficult task, one that required all the strength in his tiny body. He is an odd colored little thing, white with a black underside. Random splotches of black deviated from his ventral side, decorating his body, legs, face, and over his eyes. The black also rode up the sides of his chest, and together with the white, formed a pattern resembling ribs. Two tiny, underdeveloped crests adorned the top of his head, semicircular plates of thin fragile bone.

He rests for a moment, feeling cold along his back as the only sign that he made progress. There is a muffled noise beyond the barrier, voices speaking in slow, low tones. He understood none of it, but it encourages him to keep at it, chirping loudly as he does. He pushes against the barrier as hard as he can, hearing and feeling it crack against his scales.

Almost there.

He tries to maneuver himself out, his legs kicking at the barrier opposite of him until he finally feels his head pull free into open air. He breathes his first breath, shivering as the goo coating him made it seem colder than it actually was. His eyes are closed, blind, and his first gulp of air is greeted with an invasion of warm unknown scents.

He hears the voices, still muffled, and there's a clicking sound before they become much clearer. He feels something soft against his face, moving in gentle strokes to clean him. He gives a soft squeak at the attention and it prompts him to keep trying to escape the confines of his egg. He gathers himself to keep kicking, pushing the egg further from him and splitting the shell until it finally falls in two halves.

He rests again, exhausted by effort of hatching. But at least he's free and he hears the voices, again muffled but undeniably excited. He focuses on these voices, chirping softly in response. He lays there for a while, sleeping for most of it, and exploring his new home when he is awake. He has opened his eyes for the first time, but everything around him is a nonsensical blur. Thus, for now, he relies on his sense of smell and touch to get around.

Wherever he is, it's very comfortable. The ground under him is incredibly soft and snug, and with the goo that coated his scales having dried out, the air is much warmer.

There's that clicking noise again, and then something grabs him and lift him up and he wriggles a bit instinctively. He feels the soft sensation return, and he moves his head towards it to sniff. It was a warm, slightly sharp smell.

He chirps again, this time in protest as the soft, grabby thing tickles his belly and massages his tail, holding him on his back. He squirms some more before settling as another soft voice coos at him, its words holding no meaning although one is repeated to him over and over. A word that will stick to him for the rest of his life.

Spectre.

There is never a moment of peace around here.

Scanning his surroundings, Spectre feels a flare of irritation at the constant activity just outside the door. He has claimed this abandoned human facility as his own territory, and he was not a tolerant Dilo towards intruders.

Especially when those intruders were tyrants.

Those mindless brutes were always causing him trouble and pain, throwing their weight around as if they owned every square inch of this island. He remembered when he first found himself outside of captivity, lost and confused. He instinctively sought to find territory of his own… only to be driven out by these monsters.

He remembers spending nights homeless and out in the elements because of them.

Eventually, he's had enough and fought back against them, pitting his venom against their size and strength. The end results… never worked in his favor.

But it'll be different this time, he's sure. The spot he chose had entrances far too small for the beasts to fit inside, no matter how hard they tried and boy, they tried. Seeing this defiant little morsel screeching at them, they would lunge themselves at the door, snapping at him. He would spit at them until either they gave up and walked away growling something about the 'little vermin'.

Little Vermin.

He hated how the tyrants have come to call him that, as if they had room to talk. Last he checked, THEY drove him to act with such aggression.

But while the entrance protected him from the jaws of the Rexes, Acrocanthosaurus, and Spinosaurus, it did little to stop the smaller species. Many Dilophosaurus, Cryolophosaurus, Oviraptors, and Novaraptors would wander inside curiously, and while he allowed the Spitters to stay however long they needed, the raptors…

In some ways, the Novas and Ovis were even worse than the tyrants. They were faster than him, stronger than him, more agile and worst of all, they could get themselves to squeeze into whatever refuge he claimed. He knows that when it comes down to it, the only thing keeping himself safe from them is his venom. A fact he exploited the hell out of, intimidating these feathered freaks to stay out. Unlike the tyrants, they didn't have the size needed to survive more than a couple of bites.

So far, it's worked.

Sitting in a far corner after 'convincing' a Spino to leave, Spectre tried to get himself to calm down by grooming his crests. Such structures held immense importance to him, to any Dilophosaurus. For these crests were a sign of identity, of health and pride. For during the mating season, these crests were what drove courtship and without them, you were nothing.

Moving from his crests to scratch at his neck, he feels the metallic collar fastened tight and secure. A little too tight actually, as the humans had put it on him when he was an adolescent and he's gotten quite a bit bigger since then. Luckily, he's now fully-grown and while it was uncomfortable at times, it wasn't choking him.

Even if it did, he'd endure it. It's the least he can do for... her...

He shakes his head to rid those thoughts. Now was not the time.

Catching movement by one of the entrances, he holds in a snarl as his glowing blue eyes lock onto the source. A Novaraptor had invited herself in, her feathered body a dark grey, with even darker stripes breaking her shape. The decorative feathers on her arms, tail, and down the nape of her neck and back were a vivid blue color. Her eyes provide stark contrast, a bright fiery yellow and these eyes dart to and fro before locking onto Spectre.

Fear washed over her face as the pale-colored Spitter stood up and rushed over to her with a piercing shriek that set her feathers on end. Despite being the larger dinosaur, she cringed back, lowering herself submissively as Spectre hisses at her.

"This is MY territory, Nova," he snapped. "It would do you well to get out! Now!" He gives a warning bite into her feathers, earning a whimper as she backed away hurriedly.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know!" she defends timidly as she hurries back outside without looking back. Exhaling sharply through his nostrils, Spectre resumed his grooming, confident his message was clear…

So imagine his surprise to see the blue raptor again, not an hour later. She was slinking around the nearby bushes just outside, as if thinking he won't notice. Insolent little…

Rushing to the threshold of his territory, he spits a gob of purple, gooey venom in her direction, purposely missing her feathers though she still lets out a yelp of surprise.

"I said get lost!" he snarls, glaring at her back as she retreated off.

And this continued. Every couple of hours, he would see the Nova wandering about outside, trying to stay hidden from him. She wasn't just passing through either, rather sticking around until she was discovered. When he doesn't chase her off, it was only because he was busy trying to drive out more worrisome intruders. It was a lot for a single Dilo to keep track of, and the strange Nova only seemed to be getting bolder until finally…

Snarling, he glared heatedly at the Nova inside his territory, perched atop one of the wooden boxes littering the place. Having enough, Spectre decides to just rid this persistent pest once and for all and he lunges with jaws wide open, teeth dripping with venom.

Just as he was about tear into her, she nimbly jumped out of the way. But still, she doesn't retreat and he feels his frustration rise as he pursues her. She runs about the room, the Dilo hot on her tail, jumping over debris to slow him down. But he's relentless, for although she was faster, in these confined quarters, she has nowhere to run if she refused to leave. At times, he would bite mere centimeters from her feathers, and she would juke around him in response.

Not once did she make a move to fight back.

After a long few minutes of this noisy pursuit, it all went still, the raptor back on her original perch. On her muzzle, she wears a smirk, her bright eyes gleaming with mischief as they regard the Dilo snarling at her.

"Can't touch this!" She declares smugly. He growls louder, unamused how he is being toyed with. Who does she think she is, getting so bold when he had every intention of killing her. It was intriguing, he'll begrudgingly admit, that she was such a coward earlier. What the hell changed?

"You arrogant little-" he cuts himself off, hissing. No need to escalate this anymore. Give her one last chance. "Just get out."

"Okay," she chirps obnoxiously with a careless shrug, turning to leave when she stops dead in her tracks. Spectre begins growling again, about to lunge and give her a nip to get her going. But he notices how her eyes are locked onto something and he follows her gaze and froze.

There's a Carnotaurus, walking inside with curiosity. Perhaps one of the more dangerous predators, in Spectre's experience. These beasts are the ideal combination of brute strength and raw speed. Worst yet, they specialized in eating small dinosaurs, including Dilos.

Intolerant of having such a dangerous creature in HIS home, Spectre shrieks at it, trying to discourage it from going any further. But his threats are ignored and he spits venom at its face, earning a thunderous roar of pain when it splatters onto one of the Carno's eyes. At once, the large carnivore charges for them, the blue Nova wisely throwing herself out of the way. Spectre too darts from the beast's path, biting into its leg as it rushes passed.

More purple venom seeps from his mouth into the wound, but he will be needing a lot of it to affect an animal as large as this. With that fact, he pursues the Carno recklessly, trying to bite it again and getting deflected by retaliating kicks.

This is a losing fight, however. Although he makes every effort to stay behind the predator, he knows he would only need to make one mistake for the Carnotaur to grab him. He pulls away from his attempts to ankle-bite, and he jumps up onto a metal box, just barely out of reach. He shrieks at it again, getting a savage roar in response. The Carno's anger is not made better as Spectre spits at it in a relentless barrage and it ducks its head, feeling the venom splatter onto its thick hide.

In retaliation, it charges and smashes into the metal box. Spectre underestimated its strength, for the metal shook violently and he gasps as it's knocked clean over. He hits the ground and scrambles to get up and dash behind the Carno, only to instead feel terrible pain as the predator closes its jaws around him.

He thrashes about desperately, feeling blood escape down his sides as he bites at its muzzle to inject more venom. His struggles only has the Carno shake him like a ragdoll and he goes limp as he's thrown to the ground. Shaking, he tries to get back up to run away when he's grabbed in its jaws again.

He makes a meek attempt to struggle, but he knew it was all over.

Suddenly, there's a flash of blue as the Nova launches herself into the Carno's face, slashing at it relentlessly. The Carno lets out another angry roar, dropping Spectre in the process, and throws her off its face with a powerful swing of its head. The blue Nova lands on her feet and darts out of the way to avoid its charge. The Carnotaur is slow to turn and her eyes lock onto Spectre.

There's no hesitation in grabbing the injured Dilo and running out of the building as fast as she can.

Thankfully, the predator doesn't pursue them.

A distance away, the blue Nova slows to a stop, looking back to make extra sure they're not being chased. Sighing, she puts the struggling Spectre down on the ground and he hisses at her, convinced she'll take the opportunity to eat him herself. But eating him was the last thing on her mind and she looks him over.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"That's my home!" he snaps at her. "I'm not leaving it!"

"Are you insane?" she asks firmly. "You can't go back there! You damn near got ripped to shreds! Honestly..."

At this, Spectre glares at her for a long wary moment before huffing. "... I'm fine..." he grumbles, despite his still-bleeding injuries and he shakes as he forces himself to stand. His eyes trail back in the direction of home...

A home that now belonged to the Carno. Once more, he failed to keep his territory and is now rendered homeless. It is a bitter blow to the Dilo and he sighs in defeat. How many times will he have to go through this before he's finally allowed to have a safe and secure home to call his own?

It'll never happen, by the looks of it.

He turns his gaze away from it and back onto the Nova.

"Why did you save me?" he asks, still more than a little suspicious as to her motives. He had given her no reason to rescue him, or spare him at this very moment. She ought to be trying to finish him off and have herself a decent lunch.

But she again shrugs. "Because." And it was clear she had no intention of sharing more as she carried on. "My name's Icicle. Yours?"

He huffs, still glaring at her before deciding that she seemed harmless enough. Surely, if she wanted to harm him, she would've already done so. Even when he was attacking her back there and she had every right to defend herself, she didn't. It had to count for something, at least enough to share his name with... Right?

"Spectre." He mutters softly before deciding to begin limping off, in the opposite direction of home. He was in a lot of pain, but he needs to find shelter before it got dark.

"Wait!" He hears her call out to him and he glances back irritably as she hurries after him. "Another thing." She nods at his collar. "That looks like the same kind of collar some of my- er... some other Novas I've seen have. I learned how to take them off, if you want me to do that for you."

Spectre blinks at her offer, his claws moving automatically to his collar. He remembers when he was young, how hard he tried to take it off, and back then, he would've been more than happy to accept her offer. Now, however, with everything he's been through and this collar being the last reminder of his happier days...

The concept of taking it off is foreign and downright horrifying.

"No..." he mutters. "I'd rather keep it on..."

"Okay, if you say so," Icicle says. "But if you change your mind, you can come find me. Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Spectre insists impatiently through his teeth.

"Well, bye then." She turns and walks away, Spectre watching her go.

Such a strange Nova, risking her life to save him like that. Nobody has really done that for him, and he can't help but wonder if she might be up to something. Then again, the concept of helping someone for the sake of it isn't exactly alien. He's done it before for his fellow Dilos. This is obviously just such a case, even if it is made peculiar by their completely separate species.

Just in his experience, Novas tend to be a threat more than anything, but he supposed that, like everything else, it really just depended on the individual. This blue Nova is irritating, but genuine in her actions.

He grunts, shaking his head before stumbling off in the opposite direction. He had other, more pressing matters to worry about.

Like staying alive long enough to find a new home, wherever that home may be.