Chapter 11: Horrible News and a New Battle

The spirit waters were useful to find out about, and this made me very happy. That night, I was practically unable to sleep, as I had so much I had to be excited for. First off, I had a date with Ali planned, and second off, my instinct were growing stronger. The only problem was, that I couldn't find that 'tick' that got me to master it.

No matter how many Sharpteeth I was forced to defend myself from (about 4 so far), it didn't make any difference in my main battle mindset. I was disappointed by that, but at least I had one thing to look forward to.

The next day, the first thing I planned to do was talk to her in the spirit waters, but the first thing I saw when I came out of the cave stopped me.

There was a fight going on in the distance, from the look of it, there were many dinosaurs involved. Taking my staff, and following my instinct, I went over, and wanted to see the fight (and join if I must).

As I approached, the dinos became more clear, and it was the last group I wanted to see fighting. Topps, for one, and Littlefoot's grandparents for another. The fight wasn't anything too impressive, but it was certainly a sight. There was something about seeing it that sent a chill down my spine. And I'm certain I knew why.

The fighting was similar to the dream, except there was another new fighter here. He was a brown Longneck, standing around the same height as Grandpa Longneck (maybe an inch or two shorter), and was dressed in a garb that looked quite different, so I had to assume he was one of the Farwalkers...

Then I noticed two more. Shorty and Rhett were also in the fight, just fighting some of the smaller opponents. At that moment, I wanted to go in, but when I tried to, one of the Fast Biters noticed me. Wasting no time to charge at me, I wasted no time with my double leg takedown.

It was obvious that it hurt his back, mainly because I threw him down on a rock. Whereas, a week ago, I would have just thrown him back onto the ground. Proof of how my survival instincts have gotten better.

With that takedown, I was in the fight. The fight wasn't that hard in any way, and once we were done, I thought it was over, and I could finish the challenge. But the next thing to come out of Shorty's mouth may have made that impossible:

"Now tell us where Ali is!"

The main Fast Biter chuckled, and said "You fools. She's long gone. Our leader, Daggir, has her, and he's hiding on the other side of that mountain. You won't make it in time."

It didn't take but an instant for me to get back up, because the mountain he was talking about, just happened to be the same mountain I had spent the last week at. I knew of all the secret paths in the cave, because I had went exploring them several times. Heading into the cave, the first thing I did was head down the westernmost path.

It only took about three minutes for me to make it to the end of the path, and the first thing I saw was Ali. She was tied up with some vines over in the corner, and there looked to be nothing standing in my way.

Getting to the corner, Ali noticed me. "Yuri," she said, sounding relieved to see me, but then her tone changed. "Watch out!" Looking back, the first thing I see is a claw slashing directly at my right eye.

"Ah!" I screamed, clutching my eye, and feeling the blood come down it. Looking up, I saw the last dino I wanted to see. The Sharptooth, I fought twice.

"Hello, again."

His voice held a malevolence that scared me more than Hell itself. "So you're Daggir," I said through my heavy breathing. All he did was smile. The moment he did, a flashback of my dream came up. The same evil grin from the dream, was the grin he was wearing right now.

"Your one mistake was letting me live."

"Yuri," Ali asked, "What's he talking about?" It shamed me to think she was in this situation because I couldn't finish the job.

"... It's true. I thought I did enough damage, so I spared him, and told him to leave."

"But why would you do that?"

I was about to answer her, but then Daggir cut me off, "Because he was a coward! He said he is no killer, and after that, I knew he was weak." While I didn't want to believe it, something about his words felt true. I was foolish to think that a Sharptooth would listen to reason...

"He's not weak," I heard a voice say from behind me. It was Cera, and she was with Littlefoot. "Yuri's a warrior! You're just a monster!"

"Indeed, I am. But this doesn't change that Yuri's a weakling, and his 'Berserker's Mindset' is just a way to compensate."

"You're wrong!" I heard Cera say before she charged him. Using the moves I taught her, she did okay against him, and allowed for ample time to untie Ali. However, Daggir proved to be far smarter than I thought, as shown by the fact that he pushed Cera away, and then kicked me into a wall.

Once in the wall, my eye stopped stinging, and I could see from it a little (still very blurry though). Though the first thing I saw was Ali standing in front of me, in the way of Daggir.

"Stand aside little girl!"

"No! I won't let you hurt Yuri!"

The next thing to happen was horrible. Daggir came up and threw Ali to the side. When she got back up and tried to attack him, her punishment was a slash to the stomach, it wasn't deep, but it clearly hurt her. And it hurt me as well.

"She's the one you protected..."

As he said this, his claw was pointed directly at my neck, and I felt genuine fear. And at the same time, another feeling was rising up from inside of me. It was similar to the feeling of the Berserker's Mindset, but at the same time, completely different.

"The one you seem to care about the most..."

As he said that, a flashback of my dream returned to me, and it made the feeling rise up even more. Gritting my teeth unconsciously, I felt my muscles tense, and a powerful feeling of rage enter me. And at the same time, a horrible thought came to mind: Ali. Dead on the ground, all because I couldn't go Berserk in time...

At that moment, he slashed me across the chest, and as I fell, he said, "I will have fun destroying her in front of you." This made the feeling rise up to that critical point. I didn't even realize what was going on, until now.

"Enjoy seeing her for the last time!"

Not even hesitating for a second on getting back up, the first thing I did was deliver a powerful punch straight to the jaw. This sent Daggir staggering, and allowed me to send Ali and the rest of them out.

"No, Yuri!" Ali protested, "I'm not leaving. What if you get hurt?"

Running soley on my instincts, I kissed the concerned girl on her lips, to which she returned only a second later. As soon as it was broken, I told her "I swear I'll come back alive. This guy's about to see what a real monster can do." With that promise made, Ali did what I said, and went with the others.

Looking back at the Sharptooth, the next thing out of my mouth was practically a snarl. "What is this," he responded, sounding quite surprised at me, "This can't be the 'Berserker's Mindset' you spoke of! You seem to have... control."

Exactly! This was the push that I needed! This wasn't the 'Berserker's Mindset'! This was... I'm not even sure what this was. So far, it seemed to be a mix of raw instinct and unbridled rage.

But regardless, this is what will be his downfall. And if he gets back up, I knock him right back down!

So here's this chapter. And I'm really sorry. I know I promised it'd be up on Thursday, but I have had a long and stressful first week of school (only one week, and I already don't want to go back!). But I am still trying to work on my upload schedule, and I am not going to make any more promises, except for this one: I will have Chapter 11 of 'Troy' up by Friday. But after that, no promises on exact days, because if I have scheduling issues, that's an empty promise.