CHAPTER VIII: Decision
This was a much more pivotal decision for Nathan than he'd have ever imagined. Buck being here certainly destroyed his previous points because now he and Michael had an assured way of getting around the dinosaur world and back to the entrance. But on the other hand, being lost just now still stuck in his head and he was thinking about his family and friends.
He felt akin to being trapped in an underground cave hundreds of meters below the surface, with the only difference being that it wasn't claustrophobic. The panic in him internally was the same type that he'd be suffering if he was trapped in a dark small hole under the ground with nobody knowing he was there. It was that severe to him.
"Right," said Nathan, having come to a conclusion, "if you genuinely promise to take us back out of here if needed, I'll carry on, but it doesn't mean I necessarily want to - put it this way, if you wasn't here Buck, I'd be going back out."
"That's the spirit laddy," said Buck, "you and your friend here are only gonna go to Lava Falls and back, and in the meantime I can point out some of the more exotic dinos that roam down this here paradise I like to call home."
"But I just need you to repeat what you said before - even if it's something minimal, something minor, we're gonna be going back out of here, and you'll lead us back out?"
"Affirmative."
"Right then, that settles my case. I still don't really want to carry on but you've sort of calmed my fears a little bit."
Michael didn't know how the dynamic would be between himself and Nathan after their brief disagreement just now. At the very least he thought he ought to try and repair whatever brief split they had between themselves, especially now that he's going to tag along after all. Buck coming here was the best thing that could've happened in that respect.
"Do you both want the hassle of going through the Chasm of Death?"
"Nah," said Nathan, "I completely forgot about that, if there's no way other way to where we're going then we may as well just go back home."
Michael agreed with Nathan, something that he didn't expect to do after their brief quarrel just now.
"Yeah I'm not keen on going through that. I didn't even think of that either, is there no way around that?"
"Of course! why do you think I've been down here for as long as I have?" said Buck, "I know all the shortcuts and all the little nitty gritty secrets here. Between ourselves, I secretly took the herd through the Chasm of Death just to test my little contraption I'd come up with, obviously it failed when Manny and the lot of em got on it after Ellie, but yeah, more than happy to take you guys through a shortcut to bypass it."
"I'm not really bothered about erm...what else is there, the Jungle of Misery?" said Michael.
"Yup, and also the Plates of Woe. The Jungle of Misery is easily defeatable...I say defeatable like it's a living thing - technically it is, because of all the plants there. But it's easily defeatable for those who ain't dumb, you just don't take any of the traps the plants leave for vulnerable prey."
"Sounds easy enough."
"Then the Plates of Woe...again, the only thing I can think of are the Guanlongs who reside there. Although the last time I recall, Manny and his bunch destroyed a lot of the cave holes where they'd normally come out from so I reckon a good bunch of em are trapped and probably didn't make it. Either way, the Plates of Woe only stretch out for a small portion before we reach Lava Falls."
Michael and Nathan nodded. Michael was hoping this'd be a breakthrough for Nathan in conquering the doubts he'd developed about the journey.
"So is it agreed then fellas?" Buck asked, looking both ways to both guys.
"Yeah, let's do it."
Michael had answered on Nathan's behalf too - whilst Nathan was still incredibly skeptical and nervy about going further inside here following their brief stint of getting lost, Buck being here was a security cover sort of situation. They had an assured way of going back to the entrance if needed, because as things stood, Nathan had no idea which direction to go to get back if Buck wasn't here to help, and the same could be said for Michael too.
"Alrighty then," said Buck, "let us proceed onwards."
Michael reached into his bag and pulled out another water bottle. He had tons of them from before when they planned to go on a massive hike back at the surface, but he was glad he packed as many as he did considering the incredible heat here. He took a big sip of water as he and Nathan started walking besides Buck, further into the vast jungles of this place.
"What's he been like after he got pushed down that ravine?" Michael asked Buck.
"Sorry?" asked Buck, confused as to what Michael was talking about.
"Rudy, you know when he got pushed down by that T-Rex, sorry. How's he been? is he more...sort of vicious or whatever?"
"Ohhhh! I've gotcha now. And it's a good thing you've reminded me about that. I ought to have told you both that way before I agreed to do this - yeah, he is. He must've been OUTRAGED to have been defeated by mummy dinosaur like that, and in the last few occasions I've encountered him, he's much more aggressive turned up a thousand times."
Michael shrugged - he expected that to be the case. For Nathan, hearing that had inadvertently cast a bigger doubt in his mind in going through with venturing through the dinosaur world, even with Buck. The amount of strength it took for him to bite his lips to keep his mouth shut was incredibly bothersome, now that he's heard that about Rudy especially.
Nonetheless, they ventured onwards into the jungle. Michael feeling a lot more jolly and excited about it. Neither he or Nathan made eye contact with each other during the walk. The two of them carried their water bottles as they walked besides Buck on the left and right, looking at the thick green leaves and palm trees. The heat wasn't getting any cooler and the two of them surrendered to it in the form of big thirst.
They ended up following a dry muddy path that cut through the forest like a sore thumb. The terrain wasn't quite so rocky anymore as it ascended upwards like a small hill. The sound of screeches from the skies of all those flying dinosaurs pummeled the air like echoes, causing Michael to look up briefly to the bright orange environment above.
"Do you get any raptors down here?" Michael asked Buck, curious if there were more variants of dinosaurs than expected here.
"How do you mean?"
"Like, are there more dinosaur types down here? obviously you've got Rudy and you've got the T-Rex and those flying ones, but are there more dinosaur types like raptors?"
"Uh, raptors?"
Michael was getting the feeling that Buck had no idea what a raptor was. That surprised him massively.
"You don't know what a raptor is?"
"Never seen them before, no sir."
"Huh," said Michael, genuinely surprised, "I'd have thought there'd be more dinosaur types, you know? I guess it's just primarily the T-Rex and Rudy and all the others we saw initially."
"Trust me brother," said Buck, "I know my dinos, but I've never seen a 'raptor' before. They ain't down here. Perhaps if you drew me a picture or something out of pineapple juice on the steaming ground here I'd know what you're talking about, maybe it's your accent?"
Michael briefly laughed as he took a brief sip of water again.
"We've literally got the same accent, I guess there just isn't any raptors down here. I was only curious, that's all."
"Curiosity kills the cat."
"Bit out of the blue that isn't it?" said Michael, in response to Buck using that saying.
"You seem mega curious about a lot of stuff down here, it's almost like you intentionally decided to find my world here, that's all I'm hinting at laddy."
"I am really curious to be fair. Me and Nathan didn't expect to find this place at all, we didn't even think it existed beyond an animated movie but here we are. Do you see the T-Rex often?"
"You mean mummy dino?"
Michael nodded.
"Last time I saw her and her little babies was when she knocked the dignity outta Rudy's chest into the abyss just before he was about to eat that sloth, truth be told. I don't go actively looking for her, dinosaurs have gotta have their space, especially those with babies - that sloth was lucky she had a good heart. However, I do not use that philosophy for Rudy, he needs as little space as possible when it comes to me especially. He ain't getting ANY space."
Michael was genuinely curious not just about the dinosaur world as a whole, but specifically about Momma Dino and Rudy. He didn't know why. He was still under the assumption that they weren't going to come across either of them, but still, being in the same sort of world as them was crazy enough.
"Overall, do you think she's...just not aggressive?" asked Michael.
Buck literally just shrugged. He knew nothing much of her other than the time she abducted Sid down here.
"Just know, a mother dinosaur is gonna protect her babies no matter what. That's the bottom line. The sloth was lucky he wasn't pummeled to his death like a squashed bug right away. Being a mother dinosaur...maybe? I ain't too sure on that mate, because as I say, I don't go actively looking for her."
"How have you not come across her often?"
"You're VERY curious about this particular subject aren't you?" said Buck.
"It's just that whilst we're down here I'm wanting to know as much as possible, I'm proper interested. What's interesting to me more so is the fact she just kinda took pity on him, you know? she initially abducted him only to just...you know, protect him as one of her own. That's quite heartfelt to me, it really is."
Buck nodded.
"Aye, it is very much a heartfelt situation. But that T-Rex isn't a dinosaur you want to come across regardless. A dinosaur coming across a bunch of strange species even I've never seen before? you'll be hauled to death lad. Rudy would simply extend the pain for you as he rips you apart, doing it as slowly as possible. The way I see it, the sloth just got lucky. Stealing the eggs of a dino is a death ticket on a timer typically."
Michael felt like he disagreed ever so slightly with Buck there in his assessment on Momma Dino. There was no way she was a dinosaur you 'wouldn't want to come across regardless' as Buck said. He acknowledged that he could easily be off the mark and be making a big mistake.
After all, Sid was literally a one off for her - a dinosaur with babies would easily destroy any foreign species. It just so happened that Sid managed to stick around long enough to win over her mercy and ultimately her protection and compassion. A human, being a strange and foreign species in the eyes of a dinosaur, would easily be killed by contrast. Nobody ever obtains the mercy and compassion of a dinosaur like that T-Rex unless you're super lucky.
"Anyways," Michael said to himself quietly, ending the conversation as he took another sip of water from his bottle.
"You've been awfully quiet?" Buck said to Nathan, turning his head towards him.
"I'm not too keen on being here if I'm honest, that's why."
"It's as I said," replied Buck, "any trace of danger that arises here, we're back that way."
Nathan was internally cringing the whole time Michael kept asking Buck about Momma Dino. His cringes were also combined with subtle anger and contempt for how excited he seemed to be the more he asked questions to Buck. The weasel seemed to be growing tired of the questions too at one point.
Michael didn't even bother replying to Nathan just now as he spoke to Buck, instead opting to look at the surrounding environment around him and the others. Suddenly, in the distance, the environment looked like a mighty jungle ahead, even more than how it was here.
The branches that could be seen in the distance looked like they were genuinely intertwining above the dry muddy path ahead, like a dome sort of appearance, combined with giant shiny green leaves that wrapped around all of those giant branches. And traces of purple and yellow could be seen in the distance, looking like over sized flowers hanging off the various parts of the incoming jungle. Not just any jungle, but one of pure misery.
Something else Michael noticed was that the colour of the sky had changed slightly. It was no longer a scorching pink, but instead, a vanilla-looking bright yellow. This part of the dino world was slightly elevated, meaning it was closer to the sky, possibly explaining the change in colour. It was still boiling hot like a tropical atmosphere though, and the sweat on the foreheads of Michael and Nathan served to prove that.
"Fellas, it looks like we've already reached the Jungle of Misery," said Buck, to Michael's subtle delight and Nathan's gloom and doom.