Chapter 12: Tyranno Terror, The War Begins
"He's awake!" Strut called out.
"Good, let's see what he remembers." Fireclaw replied.
Ozzy opened his eyes and found that his hand had been bound behind his back. He was sitting on the ground in front of Fireclaw, Chomper, the two rainbow faces, Strut and Littlefoot. He struggled against his bonds in frustration.
"Longneck." He sneered coldly, glaring at Littlefoot.
"Chill it, bitch. It's not his fault you went crazy. So Ozzy's your name huh?" Fireclaw said.
"What does it matter to you weed whacker?" Ozzy shot back.
Fireclaw grabbed him by the throat, lifted him and slammed him against the ground.
"Disrespectful little shit." Fireclaw said.
Chomper began to wince in pain as his arm began to pulsate again.
"You alright, Chomper?" Littlefoot asked.
"I'll be fine. Just an ache." Chomper said.
The rainbow faces began to look concerned.
"Chomper perhaps we should do something about your arm. You don't want that to spread, bad things could-"
"I don't need your help!" Chomper shot back coldly.
"What the hell? Chomper chill out, they're just offering to help you." Fireclaw replied.
Chomper glared at him for a moment, then softened his expression.
"Sorry, I just don't feel well right now." Chomper said.
"Chomper are you becoming corrupt?" Littlefoot asked.
"Littlefoot I'm-"
Chomper doubled over and grabbed his shoulder. The darkness in his arm was moving up quickly and had already consumed up to his shoulder. The rainbow faces grabbed a shoulder and helped him up. Chomper jerked away hard and fell over.
"Chomper what the hell is wrong with you?" Fireclaw asked.
"Fire... Something's wrong..." Chomper whimpered.
"We must purify him." one rainbow face said.
"And just how do you plan to do that?" Fireclaw asked with concern in his voice.
"Well we don't need to take his arm off. We just need a pool of water to submerge him in and purify." the other rainbow face said.
"We can use the watering hole over there if that will help. It's pretty deep and might work." Fireclaw said. He pointed towards a small pond in the middle of the Valley not too far from them.
"That should work. Now how do we get Chomper to go without resistance?" one rainbow face asked.
Fireclaw walked over to Chomper, who was now kneeling.
"Chomper, I am so sorry for what I'm about to do, but it's for the best." Fireclaw said quietly.
"Wait, wha-"
Fireclaw kicked Chomper in the side of the head with the side of his foot, knocking him unconscious immediately. He lifted him over his shoulder and began to walk towards the small pond to purify him.
"Well, that works." one rainbow face said.
"Well the alternative would be to fight him, which honestly you don't want to do." Fireclaw replied.
Upon reaching the pond, Fireclaw placed Chomper's limp body on the ground and searched for a shallow place that he could lay Chomper in that he wouldn't drown.
"So how do we do this exactly?" Fireclaw asked.
"We must make sure that the area around us has no evil, which it doesn't. All you must do is place him in the water, and we'll take over from there." one of the rainbow faces said.
"Alright. Easy enough." Fireclaw said.
Fireclaw laid Chomper in a shallow spot he dug out with his tail. The water barely came above his face so he could breathe. He backed away from the pool once he placed him in the sand.
"Alright, do your thing." Fireclaw said.
The rainbow faces spread out so that they were on opposite sides of the pond. They looked at each other and nodded. They raised their claws to the sky and began to speak in tongues. Fireclaw couldn't understand at all what they were saying. It wasn't any form of leaf eater or sharptooth that Fireclaw had ever heard. Their normal speaking turned to chanting as the water began to sparkle. A white aura formed from the center and formed itself around the contours of the water. Fireclaw watched in amazement as the aura extended itself from the surface of the water to the sky. Small white orbs and particles began to rise out the center. Chomper glided from the small indentation in the sand that Fireclaw dug to the center of the pond and sank down.
"Oh shit!" Fireclaw yelled.
"Fire wait!" Littlefoot yelled to Fireclaw. Fireclaw froze.
"What the hell? The water's boiling!" Fireclaw said in amazement.
The water bubbled furiously as if it were a hot spring. The water went from the crystal clear it once was to black as oil. The rainbow faces began to glow with a white aura as they continued their ritual. Fireclaw was hoping that they hadn't attracted attention from anyone else. The water began to rise and form a pyramid like shape. It was a perfect square pyramid rising out of the water. The pyramid itself was made of water, but water ran off of it as if it was a solid object. Fireclaw couldn't see through it at all. A bright light pierced the top of it and shot out through the bottom and into the pond. The pond's crystal clear color had returned. The black pyramid began to vibrate intensely.
"Uhh Fireclaw, what's happening?" Littlefoot asked.
"Hit the dirt, Littlefoot!" Fireclaw screamed.
The pyramid shattered like glass. Shards of the pyramid turned back into water as they flew away from Chomper, who was now levitating in the air. He had a lighter skin tone that Fireclaw remembered him having before. Chomper opened his eyes and looked at Fireclaw.
"He's probably so pissed at me for kicking him in the head." Fireclaw said.
"I don't blame him." Littlefoot replied.
"Gee, thanks." Fireclaw said.
The rainbow faces moved their arms over towards the shore and Chomper floated softly down. He walked onto the soft sand around the pond with grace. The aura around the pond disappeared and the rainbow faces concluded the ritual. They looked exhausted from how much power they put out.
"Well, how do you feel now?" Fireclaw asked.
"A little weird. Better, but weird." Chomper replied.
"Wow, that was amazing!" Littlefoot said.
Fireclaw walked over to the rainbow face on the right side of the pond.
"So, he's pure now?" Fireclaw asked.
"Yes, but there's another problem. You can't destroy darkness entirely. We may have separated it from his body, but it has to go somewhere. Unfortunately, I have not enough power to be able to detect where it went." The rainbow face replied.
"Well, on the bright side, at least now I don't have to worry about him slitting my throat in my sleep." Fireclaw said.
"Don't feel too secure. It doesn't mean that he can't become corrupt again. He'll have a better grip on it if he does, but he's not totally immune to it." The rainbow face said.
"Noted. Now, where did you last feel the energy from Ozzy go? Speaking of which, where is he?" Fireclaw said.
"You left him in the field where you slammed him."
"Right!"
Fireclaw turned and walked back to Littlefoot and Chomper.
"Let's go see what Ozzy remembers. Littlefoot, you may just want to go hang out with the others. Ozzy doesn't seem too fond of you." Fireclaw said.
When Fireclaw, Chomper and the rainbow faces got back to where the first fight happened, Strut was eating grass while a visibly displeased Ozzy was cursing him for it. He screamed at Strut about how eggs were supposed to be part of his diet, not plants.
"Glad to see you've recovered from your little trip back to Earth. Now, are you ready to tell me just what happened, or is another flight required?" Fireclaw asked tauntingly.
"Ozzy, just tell them. It's not like they will do anything to you for it. They're looking for the same stone that you picked up anyways." Strut said.
"Hmm, a stone you say? I thought that stone was an egg. I picked it up, and next thing I know I'm laying against a tree. If that leaf gobbling longneck had anything to do with this, I'll-"
Fireclaw put the blade of his sword under his chin.
"Littlefoot had nothing to do with this. Leave him out of it." Fireclaw commanded.
He lowered his blade sheathed it again.
In the distance a bellowing roar was heard, followed by Cera screaming.
"That can't be good." Fireclaw said.
"Come on, let's go check it out!" Chomper said.
Strut started after them.
"Uhh Strut, it would probably not be a good idea for you to tag along. You did nearly kill Littlefoot once, the grown-ups around here won't take likely to that." Fireclaw informed him.
Fireclaw unsheathed his sword and held the blade in his hand as he sprinted across the field towards the nesting grounds and the thundering falls.
Fireclaw heard arguing and took cover behind a tree. Chomper took cover behind a tree opposite Fireclaw.
"I don't care what you think Longneck, there's no reason that my daughter will be running around while there are those sharpteeth, fast biters, whatever you want to call them running around our valley!" Topsy shouted.
"Now Mister Threehorn I understand where you're coming from, but there is no reason you should have to shelter your daughter from seeing Littlefoot. Littlefoot didn't do anything wrong. Surely you can see a better way to handle this." Grandpa Longneck pleaded.
Fireclaw looked over and mouthed the word asshole to Chomper. Chomper chuckled.
Fireclaw heard someone whispering next to him. He looked over and saw Redclaw hunched over behind a bush.
"It's so weird seeing you about my height and not towering over everyone trying to kill them." Fireclaw said quietly.
"You won't believe what just happened, actually, follow me. I'll show you." Redclaw replied.
Fireclaw looked up and saw blood on Topsy's horn. He had a feeling about what Redclaw wanted to show him.
Redclaw lead Chomper and Fireclaw over to Topsy's nest. There was a pool of blood next to it and a blood trail leading from the nest back into the woods.
"What happened here?" Fireclaw asked.
"Go look in the trees. Topsy did this, and right in front of Cera."
Fireclaw made his way through the trees and found a large pool of blood near a bush. Behind the bush was the corpse of a Tyranno mercenary. There was a large hole about the same diameter as Topsy's horn through his abdomen.
"Holy shit..." Fireclaw said under his breath.
Fireclaw walked back out of the trees. Chomper went in after him and nearly threw up when he saw the body.
"Topsy... Did he impale the mercenary on his horn?" Fireclaw asked.
"He rammed his horn up through that thing's stomach, then threw it off of his horn and into the woods where you saw it just then. I watched it from behind a tree when I noticed the mercenary going towards his nest. It was pretty insane." Redclaw replied.
The three walked back to the Thundering Falls. Topsy and Grandpa Longneck were done fighting. Cera was crying while Littlefoot was trying to console her. She sobbed endlessly while incoherently trying to recall what she had seen Topsy do. She was beyond mortified when trying to explain what happened.
"Fireclaw, Allo's trying to get a hold of you. You might want to radio back to Lavadome. He says it's urgent." Chomper told him.
"Alright, is something wrong?" Fireclaw asked.
"Not sure. We'll find out probably." Chomper replied.
Fireclaw fished his communicator out of a pocket on his vest.
"Allo, Fireclaw here. You said you wanted to talk to me?"
"Fireclaw, Teryx here. Listen, something's going on at Tar pit. Terrible-Dactyl just showed up and he looks like he's been beaten up pretty bad. He's got deep lacerations across his chest too. Think you could make it back here?" Teryx said.
"Sure, send me an evac and I'll be there before too long." Fireclaw replied.
"Will do. Sending Bronto Thunder to come pick you up. Teryx out."
"What happened?" Chomper asked.
"Pterano got a good dose of karma it sounds like. That bastard." Fireclaw replied while chuckling to himself.
"Did Rex beat the hell out of him?" Chomper asked.
"Sounds like it. Teryx said that something was going on at Tar pit and that Pterano ran off all places to Lavadome for help." Fireclaw replied.
"Ok, so she wants us there then?" Chomper asked.
"Yea, Bronto Thunder is coming shortly." Fireclaw replied.
Redclaw walked over, followed by the rainbow faces.
"You said we're going to Lavadome?" Redclaw asked.
"Yea, wait are the rainbow faces coming?" Fireclaw asked.
"We feel the need to. Something doesn't seem right. When the black energy left Ozzy's body, it went elsewhere. Somehow I have a feeling that it went somewhere where it really shouldn't be. Perhaps we could come along just in case?" One of the rainbow faces said.
"If you want, I don't really care." Fireclaw replied.
"By the way, we really haven't introduced ourselves to you. We try to keep relationships with others on Earth to a minimum, but you've earned the right so far to know who we are at least. It's the first step in a journey you've begun and don't even know it yet." one of the rainbow faces said.
"I am Falchion, and this is my sister Aeris."
"Pleasure to meet you. I had no idea you rainbow faces were so powerful, I can understand why you try to distance yourselves from the rest of the world." Fireclaw said.
"Your world and ours aren't the same. That doesn't mean that they don't intertwine, but it isn't often that they do." Aeris said.
"The hallowed land that we come from has nothing in common with your world, Fireclaw. The sword you wield now is a sacred blade from our land that very few have ever touched. It's a symbol of a warrior in our land, and most importantly a symbol of a guardian of the stones." Falchion said.
Bronto Thunder landed his ship in a field nearby. Fireclaw helped everyone aboard and closed the doors.
"Bronto, what the hell is going on at Tar Pit?" Fireclaw asked.
"Something bad, Fire. There's definitely something going on out there, and it isn't good." Bronto Thunder replied.
"I hope it's not what we're thinking it is." Aeris said.
After a short ride back, everyone unloaded in Lavadome's hangar. Fireclaw could tell something was wrong. Sarah was standing at the elevator doors waiting for Bronto Thunder's return.
"Everything alright?" Fireclaw asked her.
"Not really. Hopefully Terrible Dactyl can explain it when you get up there." Sarah replied.
"Sarah, let me be honest, he's not Terrible Dactyl. His name is actually Pterano." Fireclaw said.
Everyone walked into the control room and as described, Pterano looked beat to hell. Fireclaw walked over to him.
"Payback's a bitch isn't it, even if it isn't me administering it." Fireclaw said.
"Now isn't the time, Fire. Genghis Rex went insane and destroyed everything! He... He turned completely black, his eyes glowed red, he-"
"He started creating weird tentacle things out of the floor, grabbing and throwing shit with them, right?" Fireclaw asked.
"How did you know?" Pterano asked.
"I just got into a fight with someone who could do that earlier last night. Honestly if you think I don't know what was happening with him then you're sadly mistaken." Fireclaw replied.
"So it's true. The corruption has taken it's hold on him. This is bad, Fireclaw. Do you know what this means? Do you have any idea what this means?" Falchion asked.
"I have an idea." Fireclaw replied worriedly.
"Everyone in here should hopefully understand now that this Tyranno vs. Dinosaucer ordeal isn't the main focus anymore. Your war and their war are no longer important. This isn't a war between factions anymore. This is a war of light and dark." Aeris said.
Chomper immediately tried to engage the lock on the control room door without warning. Something kept the door from closing completely. Chomper looked under the door and saw a black vapor pouring from under it. Chomper tried harder to force the doors closed but they wouldn't budge. Redclaw drew Fireclaw's .357 from his side and aimed at the door. Fireclaw drew his sword and braced for the door to be thrown open.
"He's here! That thing is here!" Pterano screamed.