EPISODE 50: SCAT'S UNDERGROUND ADVENTURE


CHARACTERS


Dink

Amber

Flapper

Shyler

Scat

Crusty

Esmerelda (OC)

Compsognathus (OCs)


One rainy day, Scat was hastily carrying bunches of honeyfruit. "Scat have to hurry or honeyfruit will get all wet and soggy," he said.

"Scat, it's ok if honeyfruit gets wet. It will dry," Shyler, who was safely underneath the shelter of a tree, called to him.

Scat, however, paid him no heed but continued to move his honeyfruit collection to a crevice where he could keep it dry. As he was moving a cluster of honeyfruit into the crevice, however, the ground began to shake. "Oh no! Earthshaker!" he cried. Instead of running for it right away, he tried to reach for the fallen cluster of honeyfruit to take it with him. Thus, he couldn't escape in time as a hole in the ground opened up underneath him. "Bye bye!" he cried before falling into it and out of sight.

"Scat! Oh no!" Shyler cried.

Dink, Amber, Flapper, and Crusty arrived at the scene along with Shyler a few minutes later. "Scat, can you hear me?" Dink called down into the hole.

"Scat ok. But Scat stuck," came the reply.

"Don't worry Scat, we'll find a way to get you out of there," Flapper said. There was no way for the Pteranodon to fly down and rescue Scat, as the hole was too small for him to fit through.

"Maybe Scat can find way out on own," Scat called up to them.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea Scat. What if there is something bad down there?" Amber replied.

"If there something bad down here, it could get Scat if Scat just stay here and wait too."

"He has a point there," Dink said.

"Scat, try and see if you can find away out. But please be careful," Amber called down to him.

"Ok." Before Scat could set out, he spotted his honeyfruit collection. Some of it was still intact. "Mmmmm, honeyfruit!" he cried and began to eat it. After he was done eating, he set off.

Feeling uneasy about being alone underground in the dim light, the Compsognathus hummed to himself as he walked. He suddenly heard scattering feet coming toward him from several directions. "Oh no, Scat give self away!" he moaned.

He was soon grabbed by several somethings in the dark and began to be carried off. "Who are you? Where are you taking Scat?" None of the creatures responded to him. Eventually, they brought him into a large room which, thankfully, had a decent light source. In it was a big throne, which they set him on. "What going on? Why you bring Scat here?" After looking around the room, he saw with shock that he was in a room full of Compsognathus like himself.

"At least, he's come!" one of them cried.

"The prophesied one from the sky has arrived!" cried another.

"What they talking about?" Scat said to himself.

"All hail the great one from the sky!" they began chanting, beginning to bow before him.

Why are they all bowing to Scat? Scat thought.

"You've come! You've come! Just like they said you would!" cried a young Compsognathus.

"Who said?" Scat asked.

"Our leaders."

"Why they say Scat come?"

"They said that a great one would come from above and would lead us. And we would give him many gifts."

Scat was about to say that he didn't know what they were talking about, but then he thought about the leading and many gifts part of what she had said. He reasoned that perhaps it wouldn't hurt to play along; after all, his lack of knowing what they were talking about didn't seem to have been enough to clue them in that he wasn't the one they were thinking of. "Yes, Scat here, just like they said," he lied.

"Bring out the gifts!" cried one of the Compsognathus.

They brought him many gems, as well as honeyfruit. "Scat like gifts!"

"All hail the great one from above!" they chanted.

"Scat here to help."

"Good, first you can help deliver us from the pesky bugs," said one of them.

"Bugs? Scat can handle bugs."

"There are a lot of bugs."

"Lots of bugs?" Scat said nervously.

"Oh yeah, tons and tons of them. But they'll be no match for you, the Great One."

"Yep, no match for Scat," Scat replied nervously.

"Good, then we'll take you as close to them as we dare go."

Several minutes later, they had brought Scat at the entrance to a long and winding tunnel. "They down there," one of them said.

"Ok, Scat going now," Scat said nervously, leaving them and slowly heading down the tunnel. He felt stupid for having gotten himself into this mess. He could have just told them the truth and asked for help getting back to the surface. Now he was stuck.

"Oh bugs, oh bugs, please stay away from Scat and just go away and leave!" he said nervously.

However, his voice caused the bugs to know where he was and begin to head toward him. "Go away, go away, go away!" he shouted in a panic. As the bugs continued to advance toward him, he backed the tunnel, heading the way he had come. He bumped into the wall, knocking loose some stones and revealing a passageway, hitherto hidden by the stones, that gave him another way to run that wasn't back to the herd he had just left.

He decided to take it. As he ran past, he collided with more stones. These had been holding back underground water, though he didn't know it, and it unleashed this water at the bugs at they neared him, causing them to retreat. The water chased them all the way back to their lair, forcing them to abandon it.

After ten minutes of waiting, Scat's curiosity got the better of him. He ventured down the tunnel and found that the bugs had left. "They gone!" he cried excitedly. He returned to the herd and declared "Scat drive out nasty bugs!"

The Compsognathus came to investigate. They found that the bugs indeed were gone just like Scat had said. "Hurray, the Great One has chased away the bugs!" they cried.

"Pesky bugs no match for Scat!"

"Well done on defeating the bugs," one member of the herd said.

"It no trouble for Scat," Scat lied.

"Good. Now we have a harder task for you."

"Harder task?"

"Yep, but we're sure you can handle it."

"Yes, Scat can," he said out loud, but in his mind, he was thinking Great mess you're in, Scat.

"Good, then come with us."

"Ok."

Meanwhile, Scat's friends had been trying their best to come up with a plant to rescue him. They had had no luck at finding any entrances to where Scat might be. And they were too big to fit down the hole that Scat had fallen. "Is Scat going to be stuck down there forever?" Shyler asked.

"No, I'm sure we'll find a way to get him out," Amber said.

"Do you think that Scat is ok?" Shyler asked.

"I believe so," Crusty replied. They had fetched Crusty to see if he could think of some way to retrieve Scat. "Scat would not knowingly bring himself into danger. He's too cowardly to do that. He'll stay somewhere safe."

However, Scat was once more heading into danger. He felt even more foolish now for pretending to be their chosen one. But he was still too afraid to tell them the truth.

They wanted him to fight some kind of mammal now. He hoped it wasn't the scary kind that had invaded Green Meadow some months earlier. Those predators had been terrifying, trapping some of his friends in a tree. He had helped in defeating the predators and saving his friends.

As he approached the creature, however, he thought that it didn't look that dangerous. In fact, it seemed kind of cute. "This creature not look so bad. Why they think it so dangerous?" Scat laughed.

"Hello there," he said kindly to the creature. As he reached out to pet it, it snapped at him, nearly taking his hand off. "Yikes, this thing not safe!" he cried in alarm. He took off running.

He soon encountered a Compsognathus. "What are you running from?" she asked him.

"Scary monster!"

"A scary monster? That doesn't sound good!"

"Yes, Scat know. That why Scat running."

"But you're supposed to be the big hero."

"Scat not really hero. Scat big fake."

"A fake?"

"Yes."

"Why would you fake it?"

"Scat fell down by accident and then they came and make him hero. Scat too afraid to tell them the truth after they gave him lots of things."

"What are we going to do now?"

"Scat think we should run!"

"I agree!"

The two ran. "How are we going to get away from those things?" she asked him.

"Scat have no idea."

"Well, we need to think of something. We don't want to be eaten."

"Scat agree!"

As they ran down the passage, the creature was slowly gaining on them. "We need to find a way to lose it!"

"Scat not sure how!"

"Hopefully, one of us can think of something, and quick!"

The two approached a drop off in the passageway. "Oh no, we doomed! It hopeless!" Scat moaned.

"No, look, stalactites! We can grab onto those and swing our way across!"

"Scat hope this works."

The two jumped, grabbing onto the stalactites. The creature jumped at them, snapping and narrowly missing their legs, but also missing the other side of the chasm and falling out of sight. The two Compsognathuses swung their way across to safety.

"Phew, we made it!" the female Compsognathus said.

"Yes, Scat glad that that over. Now Scat can tell them that monster gone."

"Yes, and you can also tell them that you're not the hero they think you are."

"But if Scat do that, then they won't like Scat anymore."

"Maybe they still will."

"Scat not taking chance."

"So you're going to keep lying?"

"Nobody need know that Scat big fake."

"I know."

"Are you going to tell on Scat?"

"I really should, but I won't. It really should be you that tells them."

"Good, then Scat have nothing to worry about."

"Not really. You're just going to have to keep telling more and more lies. And sooner or later, they will find out anyway."

Scat wondered if she was right, but, ultimately, he decided that his plan was the better one. He returned to the other Compsonathuses. "Scat back and monster gone."

"Hurray, the monster is gone! You've saved us, oh great one!" they cried, rushing up to up and putting him onto their shoulders. Scat enjoyed the attention. However, he couldn't help but notice that the female Composagnathus that he'd talked to earlier was glaring at him icily with her arms folded across his chest. He felt guilty, that he really didn't deserve the praise that the group was giving him. Still, he felt it was not a good idea to tell the truth just now with everyone thinking him a hero.

At that moment, several of the creatures of the kind that he had just defeated burst into the room. "Monsters! Save us o great one!" the Composagnathuses cried.

Scat knew now that he couldn't pretend anymore. "Scat can't!" he moaned.

"Why not?"

"Because Scat big fake! Scat only got lucky with monster last time!"

Meanwhile, Scat's friends had found a way to widen the hole that Scat had fallen into. Dink, Amber, and Shyler were lowered down on a vine rope, controlled by Crusty, while Flapper flew down.

"I wonder where Scat's gotten to?" Flapper said.

"I can hear him yelling somewhere way down that tunnel," Amber remarked.

"Let's hope he's not hurt," Dink said.

"Poor Scat!" Shyler moaned.

Shyler and his friend that he had met earlier, meanwhile, were running from the creatures. "Scat wondering, before we get eaten, if Scat could know your name."

"Esmerelda."

The two ran right into Dink. "Ow!" Scat moaned. He looked up. "Dink?"

"Scat, there you are! What are you running from?" Dink asked.

"Them." The group saw the creatures coming.

They ran for several minutes. "How are we going to lose those things?" Amber asked.

Dink scanned around them, looking for anything they could use to fight back. He spotted a bunch of loose rocks. "I've have an idea."

"What?" Shyler asked.

"We'll need to distract them while someone small goes up there. Then, when they are under it, they loosen the rocks so that they will fall on them."

"Scat will do it!" The Composagnathus ran toward the rocks and climbed up. When his friends had lured the creatures underneath, he pushed the rocks loose, burying all the creatures.

The other Composagnathuses came out of hiding, having noticed that they were no longer being pursued. "What happened?" one of them asked.

"Scat and his friends stopped the monsters," Esmerelda said.

"Three cheers for Scat and his friends!" the group cried.

And so Scat became a hero after all. An hour later, Scat and the others were raised up by vines back to the surface. As for Scat and Esmerelda, they would meet again, though that is another story.