Hours later, the sun had started to set over at the island of lemurs. With the reddish sky and the heat of the day cooling down, it was now time for the Mating Courtship. All the lemurs on the island had gathered at the Great Tree which stood proud on a cliff that overlooked the ocean. This was the place where their species had had their ritual for several generations. Yar had gathered all the males to give them some advice on how to get a mate.
"Okay, boys, gather 'round. Listen and learn from the master," the old lemur said before chuckling. Over at the Great Tree, Plio had gathered all the females in a similar manner, and is also giving them some advice on how to get a male to be their mate. "Now, girls, don't jump into the tree after the first boy with a cute back flip. It's more fun if you keep them guessing," said Plio.
She handed each of them a flower from the posey that she had gathered from the jungle earlier that morning. "And if a cute back flip doesn't work, guess," said Yar to the other males. "You're never going to forget this day, so make it one to remember," said Plio. "But if you mess up, don't worry. They'll never remember," said Yar, smiling. That was when Aladar, along with the Fiery Five, Multiverse Heroes, Northlanders and the Mane Seven arrived beneath the tree that the male lemurs were in.
"Come on, guys! We don't wanna let 'em down!" Aladar called up to the male lemurs. "Yeah! Let's get this show on the road!" said Rainbow. "Time for you to get the ladies' attention!" said Crushr. "Get out there and show them what you're made of!" added Sally. "Party time!" cried Sparx excitedly. "Go on, now. Chests up! Chins up!" Yar called to the younger males as they all jumped down onto Aladar's back.
One lemur missed, but Fluttershy caught him in her hooves and put him on the dinosaur's back along with the others. After five years of helping to raise Aladar, Yar had started to grow fond of him and even thought of the Iguanodon as his own son. "Make 'em look good, son," the old lemur said. "Come on, Yar. My charm and your brains? No problem," smiled Aladar. "Not sure about that last part, but, yeah, we got this!" agreed Jack with a smile.
"Indeed, what could go wrong?" added Knuckles. Yar laughed heartily. The group then emerged from the jungle together, with Aladar and Jack roaring to announce their arrival. The others cheered loudly as they followed the pair in running on over to the Great Tree where the females were waiting. "Hey, girls, look what just pulled into town" said Aladar as they turned and walked by the female lemurs, showing them the males on Aladar's back.
"Your buffet table of love!" quipped Cyra. All the females giggled as the males waved at them, including Zini. "Right here! Right here! Hey, free samples! Get me while I'm hot!" said Zini as he tried to get their attention, hopping along Aladar's back as Aladar kept moving. Once he got close to the end of the dinosaur's tail, Zini nearly jumped off but was just able to cling onto it quickly. Holding on, he laughed sheepishly. "Zini..." giggled Suri in response to his near mistake as she landed near Plio.
Aladar and the others then passed by one of tree's lower branches and all the males jumped off the Igauanodon's back and began climbing upwards. "Whoo!" cheered Zini as he hops onto the tree and waits for the signal to start. Everyone else either sat or lay down on the ground while Aladar leaned against a log to enjoy the show. No sooner had Suri joined Yar, and Plio, the trio started whooping and chattering, signaling for the ritual to start.
Aladar, Jack, Cyra and Kujenga all roared as everyone else roared, barked, cheered and clapped. "Elledtharion!" the Northlanders roared together. This was not only their battle cry, but it also doubled special events as a salute. Pinkie Pie pulled her party cannon out of nowhere and let it off, with confetti flying everywhere. "LET'S PARTY!" she cheered, leaping for joy. Zini began shaking the branch that was on so much it broke and he fell head-first into a bush below him, his legs kicking about.
Once again, Suri giggled at her older brother's mistake. Then all the male lemurs leapt on over to the Great Tree, grabbing onto the vines. Zini grunted as he tried to move, but he was stuck. Luckily, Aladar spotted his problem and grabbed the branch between his teeth. "You're missin' all the action, pal. Come on" said Aladar as he carries him over to the Great Tree. "Hey, haven't you heard? I AM the action!" said Zini and he was swung by Aladar from the branch to the tree.
"Go get 'em, Zini!" cheered Applejack. "Good luck!" added Georgina. Zini let out a whoop and laughed as he finally got his foot free from the branch before jumping up and grabbed a vine and swung over to the other males. The females giggled at his antics before they started climbing onto the vines as well. While waiting, upside down I might add, Zini hadn't realized that he had got his foot tangled up in the vine he was holding onto and tied up in a knot, not even with Twilight making gestures to try to tell him what had happened.
Then, on a silent signal all the females jumped over to the males' side and they did likewise. Unfortunately, when Zini tried to jump, his caught foot prevented him from doing so. When all the lemurs were on different sides, they turned back to each other and jumped again. The objective was to try to get on the same vine as each other. A male and female were close to being on one vine, but they missed by mere centimeters.
Another two were on different vines which wrapped around each other, making it seem like the vine itself was one. Meanwhile Zini was still trying to free his foot, but with no success. Once again the lemurs leaped towards each other, until one male and female were each on the same vine together. The females handed the males the tropical flowers and then they climbed to the top of the tree.
As this was going on, and by the time it had finished, Zini had finally freed his foot, and looked around to see if any females were left. Seeing that there weren't, he hung his head sadly, clinging onto the vine. Aladar, Jack, Cyra and Kujenga then approached the Great Tree and looked up at the new mates of this year. They looked as they rested their heads against each other romantically as they watched the sun set below the distant horizon.
Thinking nothing else was going to happen, the four turned and were about to walk away when a sniffle caught their attention, they turned their heads towards the noise and saw Zini, still hanging sadly onto the vine he was on. All of them sighed softly at the sight. Once again, Zini had unsuccessfully attracted the attention of a female to be his mate, not even with the confidence and help from his friends. Understandable, they all felt sorry for him. Still they each perked up a smile and approached him.
"Ah, don't worry, Zini," smiled Aladar, trying to cheer him up. "You'll always have next year," agreed Cyra, also trying to cheer him up. Seeing their smiles and hearing their kind words, Zini began to feel better, knowing that they were being genuine as they always had been. "Hey, I'm lucky to be rid of them. With the ladies, before you know it, they all wanna move to a bigger tree," said Zini. "Hmph," chuckled Aladar.
Back with everyone else, they too were also saddened by Zini's unsuccessful year. "Poor Zini," said Fluttershy sadly. "This is the fourth year, and he still wasn't lucky," added Cynder. "You can't help but feel sorry for him," said Broken Jaw with a sigh. "As do I," agreed Silver. "Me too," added Fredryka. "Me three," said Frost, Tyne, and Tyson together. "Twilight did try to warn him that his foot was caught," put in Crusher.
"Oh, well. Poor Zini. The clan still has one bachelor," said Yar sadly. But Plio noticed the look on Aladar's face. "No, we have TWO," she corrected him before hopping over to Aladar as he, Jack, Kujenga, Cyra and Zini headed back to them. "Two? What does she mean by that? There's no one else left out that I can see," said Yang, feeling confused. "It's not that, Yang," said Kargo. "She's talking about Aladar, dear," said Rouge.
"Oh," said the Huntress, realizing what had happened. "Yeah, Plio's right. Aladar's the one of his kind on this island," said White Tip. "True, there aren't any female Iguanodons around. He's all alone," said Cream. "I agree with her," said Marcus, "and you can bet he's feeling that right now." "I wouldn't be surprised," agreed Bowser. Aladar then lowers himself down to the ground so Zini could get off.
As the male lemur hopped off Plio approached him, Jack, Kujenga and Cyra. "Well, it's never really been his best event," said Plio. Aladar and the other three chuckled. "He's got a tougher hide than mine," said Aladar. "Oh, Aladar, if only there was someone on the island for you," she said, gently placing her arms on his snout in way of a hug. "Well, you know, who looks like you, but prettier," said Plio. "Come on, Plio. What more could I want?" asked Aladar.
"Hey, guys, are you seeing this right now?" asked Shard, who was craning his neck to look at something in the sky. Aladar and the others all looked up to see what appeared to be a group of small meteors, burning brightly as they soared through the evening sky. "Whoa, look at that..." he said. "Whoa," Ruby and Spike said in unison. "Amazing!" said Spyro. "Cool!" said Max. "Ohhh..." said the ponies in awe. "Whoa!" said Aladar in awe as he got up and moved to stand under the tree.
He and the lemurs had never seen anything like this before in their lives. But the Multiverse Heroes knew exactly what it was. A meteor shower, a rare event that for any generation to witness and a beautiful sight to boot. Suri hopped on over to Aladar, climbed up his body and they watched the meteors fall into the ocean and disappear. "What are they?" asked Suri. "I don't know," said Aladar. "It's a meteor shower. An event that rarely happens throughout time," explained Wajo.
As the heroes approached and stood beside Aladar and Jack, Suri then climbed up to the top of the Great Tree to get a better look. Thousands of more meteors, falling like the rain drops of a storm, began to come into view as they fell to earth and disappeared into the sea. "It's beautiful," said Weiss softly. "I remember that we saw something like this when we first met the Sirens and Queen Larimilia," said William. "Ah yes. I remember that," said Peter. "But, even though it looks amazing."
Yar, however, along with Jack and some of the others began to have a strange feeling of suspicion settle in their minds. Then Plio and Pod spotted something else in the sky. "Hey, look at that!" the raptor called. Everyone looked round in time to see a flock of seagulls all flying away towards the coast of the mainland. "Where are they going?" asked Rarity. It didn't take long for most of the others to notice something odd.
"They seem to have been spooked by something," said Sally. "And now they're all flying in the same direction to get away from it," added Amy. "Yeah, but the question is, what are they trying to get away from?" said Blue suspiciously. Plio looked over at Yar who was sniffing the air with a suspicious look on his face and narrowed eyes. "Dad?" she asked. "Something's wrong," replied Yar. "You got that right," agreed Tyson. Feeling worried, Plio hopped back over to Aladar who was still under the tree.
"Aladar, where's Suri?" she asked as she approached. "She's up in the tree," the former replied, his gaze still fixated on the natural display playing out before him. Then they all heard a deep rumbling and looked up to see a bright light in the atmosphere. "What in the name of the Northlands is that?" muttered Frost. "Holy cow!" Ribo, Yang, and Sparx yelled at the same time. Plio, along with everyone else, looked up, and their eyes were widened and they gasped by what they saw next.
A giant asteroid, burning red-hot as it falls through the atmosphere in a comet of fire. Everyone was quiet and spooked as they watched it go. It continued to fall as it approached where the sky met the ocean and then disappeared before a blinding white light appeared. Just as it faded, an explosion, like that of an atomic bomb appeared but no sound was heard. Everyone was silent and still. Not a sound escaped from their mouths as they watched the scene play out before them with trepidation.
All, except William, who was muttering something under his breath. "Speed and angle of trajectory... Size and diameter... Point and location of impact-" The gamboge yellow dragon's eyes suddenly widened in fear. "Oh no..." he whispered. "Will? What is it?" asked Zack. "Everyone! Hold on to something!" the scientist called out just before a massive shockwave hit the island, taking them all by surprise.
"What was that?!" exclaimed Twilight. Then another shockwave hit, this time knocking everyone off balance. At that moment, everyone then finally realised what was about to happen. "Come on! Go! Go! Come on!" yelled Plio, as she helped Yar up and into motion. "We gotta get out of here!" yelled Ruby as she and the rest of Team RWBY quickly climbed onto Rexy's back. Beside them Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy quickly took to the air.
"Mom!" cried Suri. "Suri!" gasped Plio. "Mom! Mom!" the young female daughter screamed. She was too scared to move, as a monstrous cloud of fire rose from the sea. Adding to that, massive pieces of the meteor were flying up and outwards towards the island and surrounding area. "Suri!" yelled Cyra. "Mom!" screamed Suri once again. "Suri, where are you?!" yelled Aladar as Plio quickly climbed up him and to the top of the Great Tree.
Not wasting a minute, she grabbed Suri and pulled her down. She landed on Aladar's head and looked him directly in the eye. "Run, Aladar! Run! Run!" yelled Plio to the Iguanodon. "You heard her! Let's get out of here!" yelled Jack, "RUN!". The pyroclastic cloud from the impact was heading towards the island at breakneck speed with the pieces of rock flying ahead of it. Yar was hopping ahead of them with several other lemurs when he tripped over a rock and fell onto the ground.
"Yar, come on!" yelled Aladar as he grabbed him in his mouth and tossed him onto his back with the others. Then they spotted Zini running along beside the Iguanodon as he tried to keep up. "Zini, jump! Jump!" yelled Plio. "Zini, jump!" yelled Murphy. The young male lemur panted with exhaustion as he ran with them. Then he leapt up onto Aladar and Plio grabbed him by the hand. "Hold on!" she yelled.
By now the monstrous cloud of fire had gotten even closer to the island as on the verge of being ready to swallow it up. Rarity was panicking as she tried to flee from the raining meteors screaming "Help! HELP!" as she did so. When one meteor looked like it was going to hit her, Rexy dashed forwards and tossed her onto her back and raced out of the way just before the meteor struck.
Broken Jaw was running alongside Crusher when one meteor exploded beside the T-Rex, forcing him to turn sharply and Yang was flung off his back, screaming as she went before she landed heavily on the ground. "Yang!" yelled Ruby in terror. Broken Jaw heard her cry, and looked back and saw her lying on the ground. "Yang!" the Allosaurus yelled and dashed over, grabbed her by the back of her jacket and pulled her up and onto his back.
"Come on!" Tyne yelled as he ran after the others. Spike had managed to climb onto Twilight's back as she ran. "Faster Twilight! FASTER!" yelled the young dragon, panicking. "I'm going as fast as I can!" yelled Twilight. Suddenly Spike spotted a meteor coming right for them. "Look out!" he yelled. Twilight looked back over her shoulder and quickly leapt to the side and avoided the projective. A meteor impacted the ground near to Rexy, and chips of stone lashed into her skin making her growl in pain.
"Rexy!" cried Wisp in alarm. "I'm FINE! Don't worry about me!" the female T-Rex growled as she ran on. Up in the air, Spyro and the other airborne heroes tried their best to avoid the raining meteors, with him and Cynder blasting some to keep Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy safe. "Watch out, Rainbow!" yelled Cynder as the cyan blue pegasus swerved out of the way just in time, but the next meteor blazed past Fluttershy, startling her so much that she lost her coordination and began to fall towards the ground.
"NOOO!" screamed Spyro, seeing her fall. The pegasus screamed as she fell, but was caught by Ryan just before she hit the ground. "Don't worry, 'Shy! I got you!" he called. A meteor exploded behind Aladar, nearly knocking him off his feet. But he quickly got up and kept on running alongside the others. "Come on, guys! Keep up!" yelled Jack to some of the others who were falling behind. "We're trying!" yelled White Tip. "Don't you dare slow down for anything!" roared Zack.
The pyroclastic cloud had by now gotten even closer to the island. At last the heroes found themselves running across one of the more open areas of the island, with the massive monstrous fire cloud looming behind them, looming over the trees. Throughout this ordeal the meteors continued to explode and land all around them, but they dodged each one. Finally, they reached the coastline, but they were all brought to a sudden stop when they found themselves standing at an edge of a high cliff.
Down below they could see the water and the waves crashing against the rocks. "Oh no!" said Krystal. "We're trapped!" exclaimed Fox. The fire cloud finally reached the island, and the cliff where the Great Tree sat was blown away by. Everyone looked back and gasped at the monstrous fire cloud coming and ready to engulf them. "We have to jump!" yelled Jack. "Are you crazy?! No way!" yelled Weiss. "Either we jump, or we die! Simple as that!" yelled Zack.
Aladar's eyes widened in fear at the sight of the cloud coming for them. Just before it reached them, they quickly made the split-second decision. "JUMP!" yelled Kujenga. And so, yelling and screaming as they went, the heroes jumped off the cliff. They were just in time as a meteor plowed into the ground where they had been standing, exploding both itself and the cliff in a cloud of rocks and dust as the heroes all plunged into the water and down into the depths.
At first, they went as deep as they could before Aladar, Jack, Kujenga, and Cyra managed to swim up to the surface. They gasped frantically for air as they broke the surface, and Tyler was in his Marine Form. Meteors continued to rain down on them, but they were safely out of range to get hit. They tried to keep themselves afloat as they frantically looked for the others. "Peter! Zack! Tyne!" yelled Jack, coughing out water whilst he did so.
"Spyro! Cynder! Sparx! Ribo!" called Cyra. "Octa, Fredryka! Romar!" yelled Kujenga. "Plio! Yar! Where are you?!" yelled Aladar as they tried to keep themselves above the water. Then they all heard a yell. "Guys, over here!" came Plio's voice. All four looked and saw their friends clinging onto various pieces of debris from the island in order to keep themselves above the water, with the thunder crashing down in the blackened sky behind them. Battling the waves, Jack and the other three began to swim over to their friends.
Moments later, the pebbles of the mainland coastline were being washed over by a low tide when Aladar's front foot stepped down onto them. It was the first of many steps as the heroes weakly came ashore, with the ones that were airborne helping them. Most of the members were hanging onto the backs of Crusher and Rexy as he walked onto the beach shore, their toe claws digging deep into the ground. Then they finally sank down to allow their passengers to disembark before collapsing from weariness.
Aladar collapsed and the lemurs got off him, with Yar coughing up water. Many of them were weak and exhausted after the ordeal that they had just been through. "Georgina, are you alright?" Zack asked as he lay her down. "I think so," she answered. "Oh, my head hurts," groaned Spike, rubbing his head. "You're telling me," moaned Shard. "What just happened?! What kind of explosion was that?!" yelled Yang as she slid off Broken Jaw's back.
"It was the equivalent of a volcano erupting caused by the impact of that asteroid, that's what! What else do you think it was?! A tsunami?!" yelled William, who was not very happy about all this. "That's enough Will! Calm down! Is everyone here?!" asked Jack. "We're all here," said Peter. Then they noticed that Rexy was bleeding. "Rexy, you're hurt!" said Blue, concerned about her battle sister's condition. "I'll be fine," replied the T-Rex,. "I've had much worse, but they still hurt pretty bad."
"Hold on, let me help," said Luna and lowered her horn. A magenta pink light coated it for a few seconds before springing away from it and onto the carnivore's body, whereupon the scratches immediately began to stop bleeding and heal. As this was happening, they all looked around. Though they could tell that they were indeed on the mainland now, it too had also been affected by the asteroid impact. Around them were burning trees, burnt grass and blackened soil.
Burning cinders flew past them like snow and only the crackle of flames could be heard. "My goodness... Look at this place..." said Rarity softly. "It's all been destroyed..." said Blake. "At least, we don't have to worry about pollen allergies and sunburn," Sparx said, trying to make light of the situation. They all looked at Sparx, disapprovingly, even Ryan. Even though he could be as big a joker as the dragonfly, he knew that this was not the time.
"Right... Probably not the right time," the dragonfly said, rubbing the back of his head. "Definitely not the right time," Tyson said with a growl. "Everything's been obliterated!" said Octa. "All gone. Just like that," added Ribo grimly. Then, they realized that they had completely forgotten about something. Slowly, they all turned their heads to look back at Lemur Island. Or rather, what was left of it. The red glow of several large fires and towering smoke pillars could be seen.
Everyone was devastated by what they saw, and it struck them deeply, Pod most of all, knowing what it was like to lose his home to a force of nature. "Aladar... Your home... It's gone," said Cyra softly, shocked by what she was seeing. "We're so sorry," added Twilight, tears pricking at the edges of her eyes. Shocked and stricken to see his one and only home destroyed, Aladar sadly snorted as he shed a tear from his eye. It should go without saying that Plio and her family were devastated too.
Tears were swelling in their eyes. Suri then hopped over and began to call out into the night air, but no answers came back in reply. She desperately tried again, even Aladar roared. But silence was all that they got. "It's no use," said Crusher. "There may be a few whispering voices, crying of agony and terror... But soon... They too will go quiet... The rest is silence..." he continued, with tears wetting his eyes. "All those lemurs..." sniffed Fluttershy, tears falling from her eyes.
It was known by everybody that she LOVED animals. With all the lemurs killed in the explosion, her heart was, no doubt in the minds of the others, completely broken. "I'm so sorry, Fluttershy," said Starlight sadly and held her friend in a hug as she cried. Ribo bowed his head in sadness, and Shard cried as Wisp held him. Applejack took her hat off and held it to her chest in sadness, tears falling. Spyro, Cyner, and Cyra each let out a mournful roar into the night air.
Shadow held Amy with comfort as she sniffed with tears. "I feel bad. I feel bad," whispered Suri, who was on the verge of crying as Plio, Yar and Zini approached her. "Oh, Suri. Easy, easy," she said softly as she tried her best to comfort her daughter. "They're all gone." sobbed Suri. "Shh, shh. I'm here" whispered Plio. Everyone was silent in their shared sorrow as they shed tears about the lives that are lost on the island.
Then, after the longest of times Jack spoke. "Come on. We can't stay here." "He's right. There's nothing left for us here," agreed Peter. Everyone looked at them and knew that they were right. The lemurs slowly climbed up onto Aladar's back while the heroes made sure they had their bearings, since they knew that things had changed drastically since they had first arrived five years ago.
"We're your friends, Aladar, and we're going to stay with you and the lemurs and help you all find a new home, even if it means going to the ends of this earth to do so," said Jack. "And that's what friends do for each other," said Twilight in agreement. "All right, guys. Let's get going. We have a long journey ahead of us," said Kujenga. "And we're all with you," added Silver in a determined tone.
Amazed and comforted by the words of his fellow friends, Aladar perked up and smiled a solemn smile at them. "Thank you... All of you," said Aladar, with a slight nod. Then they all took one last look at the burning island. Team RWBY drew their weapons and held them high, to honor those who had been lost. Even the Mobian Heroes performed an honorable salute to respect them as well.
Then, a sound got their attention and they looked up to see a flock of birds flying off somewhere into the distance. Knowing that it was probably their best chance, the heroes turned and headed out in that direction. Around them, the entire landscape of the mainland was burned and scorched everywhere, while a volcano erupted in the background from a row of far away mountains.
None of them knew what awaited them on this new journey, but it would be filled with dangers like no other. However, they were prepared for whatever lies ahead of them. They knew that there was no turning back. With nowhere else to go, nowhere to turn, nowhere to live, all they could do was push on, leaving the burning island behind, and head out into unknown and distant lands.
