FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

[i]"This way, hurry!"[/i] cried Eggfang.

"Are you sure we can't just fly over?" asked Jane.

[i]"No, too dangerous in the sky, come with me!"[/i]

Through the tunnel next to the Skylands, the raptor lead Jane and a small group of soldiers armed as they headed out into the Land Before where a smoking coil wreathed upwards to the sky from a crash site in the swamp. They took a path through the forest to the south with Eggfang out in front as they spread out carefully through the trees and disguised themselves amongst the undergrowth. Dawn was approaching as a bright orange gleam in the sky creeping against the dull cyan as they found a crimson-feathered yurgovuchia raptor keeping guard in the morning mist.

[i]"Halt!"[/i]

[i]"We are just passing through,"[/i] said Eggfang, [i]"friends of ours were attacked by the stoneflyer nearby."[/i]

[i]"Ahhh, that thing?"[/i] the guard looked northwest. [i]"We kept ourselves away, so long as nothing comes to the forest it is not our business."[/i]

"I understand," Jane nodded, "is Sunblood alright, we were worried about new starbeasts coming in."

[i]"She is fine, thank you for asking, should we be worried?"[/i]

[i]"I would advise you to keep watch across the northwest boundary, trust no one who speaks our tongue, not even hairless who arrive, protect your alpha and hide in the trees."[/i]

"Are you serious?" gasped Addison clutching herself. "That's a bit much isn't it?"

[i]"You did not see these enemies,"[/i] said Eggfang with eyes of blue back to her, [i]"come, I will show you."[/i]

Taking them towards the marshes, the soldiers followed her step in hiding low and moving into stealth mode, creeping with tender feet and weapons close to their chests with Jane amongst them in the centre.

"You are sure this is not one of our ships?" she asked.

[i]"I am certain,"[/i] said the raptor, [i]"yours are not deep, the hairless smelt different and they were stealing eggs."[/i]

"That's definitely not us then, we swore off ever touching eggs."

[i]"Because of Oddclaw?"[/i]

"No, we don't even hunt or kill any dinosaurs either, we tried our best to not leave any presence of us in your world."

[i]"Ahh, very good."[/i] She purred sniffing the grass. [i]"You have done well to respect that, more than these hairless have."[/i]

"What were they like?" Addison creeped closer.

[i]"Oddclaw did not understand them, and when Jacob tried to speak to them, they attacked first. Stop."[/i]

A short distance from the woods brought them to a hill where they could watch over the surroundings safely. The dark-winged plane still sat buried in the swamp, its ramp now closed and the soldiers' bodies been taken away as they saw a few raptors lurking about in the rushes, surrounding the ship with a constant guard of twitching tails and shifting heads that scanned the horizons.

"Huh." Jane squinted. "Someone already got here."

"That...I do not recognise them." Eggfang shook her head.

"Anyone have a pair of binoculars?"

"Here ma'am."

A soldier offered his as Jane focused upon the raptors marching around the swampy hills.

"That...oh god, is that, no surely not."

[i]"What is it?"[/i] Eggfang whispered.

"They look...like they have tails made out of metal, and their heads have frills and...odd lines in their bodies of some sort of tech-"

[i]"Ahhh. Yes."[/i] She nodded with a twitching hiss. [i]"They came to our tribe cycles ago, needing mates for theirs was dying without others to breed."[/i]

"Wait, YES I do remember that actually someone was telling me, I forget if it was you or Moonclaw. But that's actual steel on them, what's with that?"

"What about the ship?" muttered one of the guards. "I don't recognise it at all."

"Well it's definitely from the new anomaly we can say that, if I can just..."

Carefully changing her position, Jane slipped round to the side of the hill and tried to peer towards the down-facing side of the plane. The light of the dawn crept far from the east to slant across the hull, showing the black swastika in a white circle.

"Oh...[i]fuck.[/i]"

Her voice suddenly lost its strength as her body trembled with fear in her heart before she scrabbled back towards Eggfang.

"This is bad, this is very VERY fucking bad."

[i]"What?"[/i] she gasped.

"Alright...I need to go find Sunblood, you have to go back and warn your alpha that a great and terrible enemy has come and you MUST be ready."

[i]"Is that, stoneflyer one of-"[/i]

"YES, yes, just go, please!"

Sensing the panic in the human's scent, Eggfang rushed off back to the east as Jane pulled up the radio and slumped down behind the hill with her troops.

"What's wrong ma'am?"

"Let me just get, h-hello? Mulder, do you read me?"

"[b]This is Kitchener,[/b]" Holt's voice came through, "[b]wot's 'appened?[/b]"

"Tell Mulder that there are men in the high castle."

"[b]...oh. Righ', understood Doolittle, see ya back home.[/b]"

She clicked off the comms and sighed hard to rest against the slope.

"I can't believe it's happened. It's really happening."

"Seriously doc?" the guard asked. "Is it-"

"Yes." She grabbed her head. "It's nazis. Fucking. Nazis."

Jacob stared upon the face of Frau Grimm, the valleys of hatred torn through her visage rendering a deep burning sunset from where her eyes had long since been banished. Her visor she slipped down once more as the cables pulled into her sockets.

"//Well, little boy?//" she said as her helm clicked back in place. "//Do you still call me a liar?//"

He looked around the room of its single projector and desk, the soldier in cape behind him keeping close to the wall as he kept translating between them, the woman's knee pressed against his chest and her hand on his neck beneath the muzzle on his face.

"I-i-i...I-"

"//Or do you think I defaced myself?//"

"...I won't...I-i won't believe you." He turned away from her with a sneer. "I know my dad, I KNOW who he is, and he's not a criminal!"

"//HAH! So you are but a hypocrite, calling me the liar when you are even more blind than ME!//"

"SHUT UP-N-NNNGH!"

She dragged him up onto his feet before kicking out his legs to force him on his knees.

"//It does not matter what you think dear Jacob. If you are so indoctrinated by your father's ways, then it is my solemn duty to make you see the error of his ways.//"

"N-no, I don't CARE, I didn't wanna be here anyway, I just got dragged here the same as you, I'm not part of this!"

"//You already were the moment your father conceived you.//" She grabbed his hair and yanked it up towards her face. "//Your father, in undoing my work, my legacy to bring the gypsy race to their deserving end, has made you and your family a part of this!//"

"The...race?" Jacob tightened his face. "What like...kart races or something?!"

"//Do NOT mock me boy!//"

"A-AAAAGH!" he felt her pull hard til he fell forwards at her feet.

"//You must understand, I am doing this for your own good Jacob. I know not where your father's ancestry lies, so I cannot tell what degeneracy lies within you, your blood I admit is truly beyond our understanding...for now, which is why I shall treat you better.//"

"Th-this...is better?" gasped Jacob forcing himself up. "Choking me out, calling my dad a criminal?!"

"//Yes.//" She sat up on the desk crossing her legs. "//My duty to the Reich is to rid the world of those whose impurities have persisted for so long, and are entrenched too deep into the world as poison to the future of humanity. Those such as the negro, the jew and the gypsy, I must ensure that they are dealt with.//"

"You...no." The yoshi stepped back with a stagger. "Now I know what you are, a bully in a creep suit."

"//What?//"

"You talk all fancy, but you're just a thug who thinks they can push other people around because you're selfish, you're greedy, you look at other people working hard and living lives and you're jealous because you think, that you're entitled to something just because of who you are!"

"//Hmph...so your father's tendencies run that deep. Well, until I am certain you cannot be cured,//" she grabbed his muzzle and dragged him to the door, "//I will keep you around for further training.//"

"Wh-what-NNNGH, l-let, let me, GO!"

"//There are two kinds of people in this world. The farmers and the livestock.//"

She twisted his head round to face her once more.

"//Do you know what we do to livestock, Jacob?//"

He pulled his head back from her rictus grin before she tossed him towards Arnold.

"//Put him in the cages, I need to set up the program to re-educate him.//"

"//Yes Frau Grimm.//"

The soldier clacked his boots and gave the full-arm salute as he took Jacob out into the hall, leaving his commander to contemplate as she reeled back through her slides towards the face of the black raptor.

"//I hope you are here, MacGregor. Perhaps I could not show you your place...but your son...he will show you where you belong, as my little pet.//"

Down the corridors the naked yoshi was lead, a hand of steel upon his shoulder as he shuffled his boots through the cold clinical halls where guards kept their glinting guns at the ready and all around him he saw the constant symbol every six steps he took.

"I'm really hating that bicycle wheel," he muttered.

"Hmmm?" Arnold looked over.

"The, thing, the thing that's like freaking everywhere in this place like, come ON we get it, it's...a THING!"

"Oh, that, yeah," he patted the youth's shoulder, "best keep your mouth quiet until we reach the cell."

"Why, no one's gonna hurt me except for her right?"

"I'd rather not risk it."

Jacob sighed with a groan as he was taken down to the farthest reaches of the base, his feet turning cold against the harsh floor as he realised amongst the twists and turns that he was heading back the way he had first been brought, then beyond the lab to the growing smell of disinfectants with the fainter traces of blood and fluids. He vaguely remembered scents of the farm, but there was something else that set him off with disgust. The hall soon changed to be more damp and sullen, vague sounds of howling beasts whimpering behind iron-clad doors as Jacob was taken to one emptied cage.

"This one's free. And cleaner than most."

"Okay, 'than most' is also as bad as 'not yet'," said Jacob.

"Hmhm. Well, in you go, I'll bring you some food in a few minutes."

"Thanks, uh...Arnold."

Taking off the muzzle before nudging the yoshi in, the soldier locked the door where only a small slitted window offered any view from within or without. Inside it wasn't any better, no bed, no view of the outside world and a drain in the centre of the floor. It was a horrid place, the walls caked with faded marks of crimson and scratches that dug deep into the concrete. Jacob sat in the warmest corner of the room, his hands still cuffed with a shiver through his body as he took some time to think.

"Alright...okay...that...th-that creep of a lady's got some WEIRD obsession for dad, who apparently went to, another world and didn't...tell any of us. R-right, right that's normal right?! Totally, yeah, it's not like anyone else hasn't, gone to another world I-i mean I have, sure, it's not a problem, not a problem at all, h-hah...hahaha...ohhh jeez d-dad what did you do?!"

He grabbed his head and rocked himself to wrest all of his nervous energy out from his system, trembling breaths that turned deeper when he focused on a pace to calm himself.

"Hokay...hohhhh...kay, let's just, take a moment here. She, knows dad, even about his hand, can't really...say she doesn't, it was literally him. But, she's a thug and a bully and dad probably had a REAL good reason to beat her up that...bad...r-real bad. Did he...really do that to her?"

Jacob huddled his knees and pondered with a stare towards the door.

"No, he...maybe, something happened to her and she blames him. Or, she was REALLY horrible and it was the only way to...that musta been a lotta people he freed."

"It was."

Arnold's voice came from the door as Jacob walked over.

"From what I read on that paper she linked, it was a good several-hundred people he freed."

A tray was shoved through the slat that the yoshi took.

"Got you the best I could, some meat, some cheese, some water."

"Woah, seriously?!"

Jacob tried his best not to wolf everything down, his hunger now evident as he chomped half of the meat, drank some water and then ate a third of the cheese.

"MMmmmhhh, ohh jeez thanks dude!"

"No problem."

"So, m-mmmph, what's gonna, happen to me?"

"I don't know," the soldier shrugged, "but frankly I don't like your chances."

"Why?" Jacob struggled to put his plate aside

"She's taken an interest in you. That's never a good sign, normally she would just kill you, or let Ingelbaum experiment on you-"

"You mean Stinkelbaum right?"

"PFFFT, hah...yes, him." Arnold smirked through the slat. "Are you done eating?"

"I-i wanna save the rest for later," Jacob sighed patting his belly, "but it was really good, I'm kinda struggling not to."

"Smart of you, good plan."

"Well my uncle taught me, yanno, basic survival skills."

"Very good." He leaned against the outside door. "So, you are not from this world?"

"Nope," Jacob sat against the door within, "I been trying to get back home for like a year, what about you? How long you been on this base?"

"Ohhh, I've been trying to get home for about twenty-six."

"Wait...like, years?"

"Mmhmm. But that's not your problem."

"Wait, I'm confused," Jacob shook his head, "you saying you been in this place for like twenty-six years?"

"Nooo no no not that long, more like eight years here."

"So what did you mean about getting back home for twenty-six?"

"That's...a long story," Arnold sighed rubbing his head.

"I got time, I mean," Jacob shrugged, "I'm not going anywhere and if you wanna talk, you're the nicest person around here."

"Hmmmm...maybe later, I'm not quite ready to get into that."

"Alrighty." Jacob tapped his fingers quickly to keep them from grabbing more food. "Soooooo, how come you can talk to me but no one else can?"

"Because no one else speaks English," the soldier slumped downwards to sit on the floor, "everyone is all about German, because that's the mandatory language."

"Whaddaya mean mandatory?"

"You have to speak German, or else you get punished, sent to prison or re-educated like you're about to be."

"What's that mean, the whole re-education part?"

"It's...hhhhh. It's-"

"You can tell me," Jacob stood up looking out the slat, "I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at her for being such a fathead."

"She's going to torture you until you forget who you are."

The yoshi stepped back with a trembling in his arms.

"Sorry," Arnold stood up looking through the slat with his red-eyed helm, "I know, one of those phrases that don't sound good ever."

"N-no...sure doesn't. Ohhh jeez, I hope everyone else can find me."

"You have friends here?"

"Y-yeah, a bunch of 'em, we...well, I was out with my buddy Oddclaw, when we saw that ship go down, so I know he's out there, he's got his sister too she'll probably get help."

"That's going to be difficult...hmm." The soldier leaned against the door. "How many of your friends are there?"

"Ohhh jeez I dunno, a lot, math was always my worst thing, which really upsets my dad cuz he's such a nerd, it's great."

"Hahahah, my father always wanted me to be a builder like him."

"Yeah? What did you wanna do?"

"I...I wanted to go deep sea diving." He looked up to the ceiling. "I used to read these books about the sea, and all the creatures that lurked within, like sharks, octopus-"

"Oh hey my uncle Koopin loves the sea!" Jacob bounced up to the slat. "He's always wanting to go for a swim down by the beach, he loves it!"

"Is that the same uncle who taught you survival?"

"Yeah yeah him! So you wanted to go diving for like treasure?"

"No, not really," he turned back to Jacob, "I just wanted to see the ocean for what it truly is. A vibrant, beautiful world that has no fears beyond tomorrow, how simple it is to just live, to breed and survive. I wished maybe...that I could have that life."

"You still can!"

"Nooo," he sighed, "no I can't."

"Why not?!"

"Because the nazis." He raised his arm showing the red band with its swastika. "This thing is everywhere, in my world it reminds us where we belong."

"UuuuuUUUGH!" The yoshi threw his arms and walked back in a huff. "That stupid garbage weird bike-lock thingy is like SERIOUSLY ticking me off!"

"Yeaaah, they kinda rule everything...well...mostly." He put down his arm and scratched his chin. "The last I heard before we ended up here, America got taken back by the rebels. So they're not invincible, also some parts of Europe, London...Scotland has always been free I don't know how they do it."

"Sooooo, that means you still could live your life?!"

"Hah, if I find a way out of here."

"I mean...yeah?" Jacob swept his hands around him. "Where do you think we are, we're both deep in another world, there's no other place around for MILES!"

"Are you...serious?" The soldier gazed through the slat.

"There's like one other base around here and that's where all my friends live, there's like a village as well but it's all just tribes out there, we got no computers or mailboxes!"

"There's no...really, there's no one else here but us?"

"Yeah!" he clapped his hands skipping up to him. "My pals can help you, they're great people, when I got stuck here back more than a year ago, they helped me through it and are doing all they can to try and get me home!"

"But how, how can they-"

"Wellll that's kind of a secret, but don't worry, they're SUPER nice, like way nicer than anyone else here."

"And...they're not...nazis?" said Arnold muttering close. "No swastikas or nothing?"

"Nope, whatever that is it sure ain't there!"

"...hmm."

He stepped back with a stroke of his helmet and a gentle nod.

"That...that is perfect...heh, not like anyone would miss me, it's why I got relegated here."

"Yeeeeaaah?" Jacob grinned looking through the slat. "The base is on the ocean too, well it's like on the beach, but there's ocean surrounding it, it's like EVERYWHERE, and there's a lotta cool fish to see!"

"Now you're just spoiling me," said Arnold chuckling, "but...hmph, fuck it, what else do I have left? Alright."

The soldier rubbed his hands.

"You want to upset Frau Grimm and Stinkelbaum the worst way you can?"

"Oh you KNOW I do," said Jacob cupping his chin.

"I think I can figure a way out for us, if you want to leave."

"Mmmm welll geeeee," the yoshi leaned back with a puff of his cheeks, "I mean the food's PRETTY good here aww jeez I dunno-yeah I totally wanna leave this place."

"Good, I'll see what I can do," the guard stepped back stretching his arms, "Frau Grimm takes her time to set up her routines so we have time before her re-education gets underway, at least twelve hours, so I will find a way, and you do what I say."

"You got it sir," Jacob gave a normal salute and a wink, "Captain Jake is ready to roll whenever!"

"Hmhmhm...then that just leaves Oberstabswachtmeister Schroeder left."

"Wow you should try saying that three times fast."

"Hah, haha...alright, I'll see you soon."

He walked down the hall leaving the prison sector, as Jacob grinned with a fervent glee and a spring in his step with tail whipping behind him. Despite this he could only think of his father, and now more than ever his need to return home grew in his mind.

Deep in the caverns of the ultraraptor's outpost, Oddclaw was blind to the passing of the sun and moon. The fires kept burning with their constant jade and amethyst, taunting shadows that stroked their fingers over his scalp as Riptor breathed in his face. Her smile was sickening, her body colder than he thought with her screwbolted chest grinding hard on his own as she rode him hard upon his turgid length, stiffening veins forced upright against his will whilst her tail dripped of the chemical papaverine. Oddclaw didn't cry as much the second time, but his body became tense like a coiled spring as every touch of her claws and tongue made him shiver with disgust.

[i]"Wh-what's...wrong?"[/i]

He said nothing tightening his throat.

[i]"Ohhhh don't...don't be like that...I like having a...more involved partner, or else I would just...use a s-stalagmite to help myself-HA-AAAH!"[/i]

A clenching of her cunt signalled her second climax.

[i]"Just have to make sure. You understand...y-you must have done this...plenty of times to make sure your mate managed to breed."[/i]

Oddclaw tried to look away with eyes shut but she pulled him back hard to face her panting grin.

[i]"Look, at me."[/i] Riptor scraped her claws near his neck as he squinted harder. [i]"LOOK, at your new mate and accept this future."[/i]

[i]"N-NNNNGH, hnnnngh!"[/i]

[i]"I'm not going away Oddclaw. You, and your son a-are going to make wonderful breeders f-for my pack, our...our future, together-A-AAAAGH!"[/i]

[i]"N-NNNOOOOOO!"[/i]

He came inside her once again, gasping with tears down his cheeks in a shuddering sob as Riptor sighed in orgasmic bliss. Her belly became full with his rich semen smearing against her walls to the point of almost dripping back out of her until she clenched her hardest and shuddered through her steel-linked tail.

[i]"Aaaaah...thank you, again."[/i]

Riptor pulled herself off of her bound subject.and stroked her belly.

[i]"That should certainly be enough for today. I'll let you rest now, too much papaverine in one day is dangerous and I wouldn't want that fertile body of yours being damaged before I get all I need."[/i]

[i]"H-hhhhh...hhhnnnnhhh."[/i]

[i]"Oh stop it,"[/i] she slapped his face lightly, [i]"you're a prime male, act like one instead of sobbing every time I touch you."[/i]

[i]"Y-you are NOT, my MATE!"[/i] he shouted pulling against his vines.

[i]"I'm sure Moonclaw will say the same thing when she finds out you fucked me twice."[/i] Her smile crept to the end of her cheeks. [i]"I'll have someone bring you food, now sleep well. I want you well-rested for tomorrow."[/i]

Her soft cackle faded through the halls as she left the room leaving Oddclaw to himself. He tried once more to kick and thrash against his restraints but still they would not yield as he stared down upon his twitching erection, smothered with shameful seed with his eye casting towards the bowl of liquid responsible, sitting up on a stone with a lid covering it. The smell of liquid steel singed his nostrils as he shook his head with a soft whimper and heaving breaths.

[i]"I...I-i am sorry Moonclaw...I...if I...if I...no. No, th-this...this is not my fault, it is her. That scum of a hunter, Moonclaw knows how vile she is, she will...sh-she will understand. Oh I hope she understands."[/i]

A few minutes passed, ten, twenty, forty, he knew not beneath the cavern roof hearing raptors from afar with their voices echoing in brief bickerings and playful scuffles whilst he struggled to clear his mind of twisting sorrow and bitter hate. He heard footsteps coming close and flinched on instinct.

[i]"I never thought we would meet like this."[/i]

His eyes twitched hearing the voice.

[i]"Should I say hello, or just leave your food here?"[/i]

Looking up he saw a raptor without any of the steel accoutrements of Riptor's group. His one single eye glared upon Oddclaw from his many-scarred face, a large chunk of roasted meat draped over his back with a pair of stumped twisted bones where his front claws had been.

[i]"Just...leave my food here,"[/i] Oddclaw hissed.

The feral nodded and walked forth with the meat, slumping it off his back onto Oddclaw's lap before realising he couldn't reach low enough to bite, much as he tried to reach forwards with snapping teeth. Sunscreech began to tear off the chunks and hold them in his teeth, offering to Oddclaw who gingerly grabbed the meat in his own and started eating.

[i]"Hmhm, just like mother used to feed you."[/i]

[i]"Hnn-rrrgh, mmmph."[/i]

[i]"How is she?"[/i]

[i]"Fine,"[/i] he muttered gulping, [i]"older."[/i]

[i]"Hmm."[/i] Sunscreech tore off another chunk to feed him. [i]"Not even going to ask?"[/i]

[i]"Ask what?"[/i] Oddclaw chewed with a growing hunger.

[i]"Why I am here with Riptor."[/i]

[i]"I know why...Shaderunner."[/i]

The older raptor stiffened his tail as Oddclaw sneered up at him. Regardless he still bent down to chew off more of the meat and feed to his former brother.

[i]"Just so you know, I had no desire to harm your son-"[/i]

[i]"Shut up."[/i] He swallowed the last bit with piercing eyes. [i]"Is this what your revenge was? To lure me from my family, by taking my son away so Riptor could violate me?!"[/i]

[i]"I...I did not know-"[/i]

[i]"Really?!"[/i] Oddclaw lunged forwards in his restraints. [i]"You the great Sunscreech, did not know what your new alpha wanted!?"[/i]

[i]"She never told me."[/i] He snorted without flinching. [i]"I am just a hunter to her, the first of those from this land who came to her tribe, she does not tell me everything."[/i]

[i]"So why did she choose YOU to lure my son away?"[/i]

[i]"Because i do not have the shining stonetail,"[/i] he swished behind him, [i]"she told me that her attempts before did not go well, and Seaclaw would be too suspicious."[/i]

[i]"Well, she is right."[/i] Oddclaw shuffled against the floor. [i]"I suppose you are happy as could be to watch me suffer, again."[/i]

[i]"No."[/i] Sunscreech sighed looking back to the flames. [i]"Why would you think that?"[/i]

[i]"Because you were the same beast who accused me of making my family weak."[/i]

[i]"And look where you are, being bred against your will."[/i] A soft tired chuckle escaped his throat. [i]"You only proved me right by being here, blame me all you want, but I did not bring you here."[/i]

[i]"I will not suffer here,"[/i] snarled the captive, [i]"I will not, I will escape and return to my family I do not care what your alpha wants!"[/i]

[i]"Fine."[/i] Sunscreech shrugged. [i]"Seaclaw will be happy to hear-"[/i]

[i]"Do NOT speak of my SON!"[/i]

He pulled hard against the vines and shrieked spitting on the mirthless face of his banished brother. Sunscreech started laughing, stepping back with a rumbling in his throat.

[i]"Hhmhmhmhmhm."[/i]

[i]"Wh-what, what is funny?!"[/i]

[i]"Where was THIS cycles ago?"[/i] said the feral. [i]"That strength to fight against anything no matter how great and terrible. Do you know why I despised you Oddclaw? Because you had no spine. You always quit too soon when we playfought, when I and our sisters scratched you and kicked you, you always started crying."[/i]

[i]"I was a CHILD!"[/i]

[i]"Your son never cried when I scratched him. Your son has more of a spine than you, never fearing what lies beyond and I can only assume that it is thanks to his father and mother he grew up that way."[/i]

[i]"What do you mean?"[/i] gasped Oddclaw heaving against the ropes. [i]"I fought you, when you abused my brother I beat you into the dirt and banished you!"[/i]

[i]"Would you have killed me before?"[/i]

Sunscreech tapped his claws waiting for a response. Oddclaw took a deep sigh and thought back to years before.

[i]"I wanted to."[/i]

[i]"Hah...hhhahahah."[/i] He shook his head at his former brother. [i]"When I fought then travelled with Seaclaw, he threatened to kill me many times if I did not follow his way."[/i]

[i]"He...he did?"[/i]

[i]"Yes. And yet, he still had that same heart of yours, looking after that warmblood hatchling when it was too young to walk, to eat so he fed it just the same as mother fed you. He even listened to me talking about my children."[/i]

[i]"Your...children?"[/i] Oddclaw sat up straightening his back.

[i]"Three-and-one,"[/i] Sunscreech sighed bowing his head, [i]"made me finally understand how hard it was for mother, raising us alone."[/i]

[i]"You have no mate?"[/i]

[i]"She...she died."[/i]

[i]"...I am sorry."[/i]

They looked to each other in the same breath.

[i]"I almost lost my mate...when Riptor fought her."[/i]

[i]"She...what?"[/i]

[i]"Riptor tried to kill my mate. She wants my seed for something, she...she is twisted thinking that I would be her mate, that is why she tried to kill Moonclaw."[/i]

[i]"I...I never knew."[/i] Sunscreech closed his eye. [i]"I am glad your mate is...not dead."[/i]

[i]"Thank you. Um...could you do something for me?"[/i]

Oddclaw gestured his head towards the bowl of liquid.

[i]"The water...I am so thirsty but Riptor forgot to put it near me."[/i]

[i]"Oh. Heh, alright...but only if you promise me something."[/i]

The feral leaned in close with a hardened stare.

[i]"Be a good father to your children. Whatever you are doing now, you are doing it right."[/i]

[i]"What?"[/i]

[i]"Every mother and father should always ensure that their children is greater than them, stronger and better than we ever would be. Something our fathers failed to do but...our mother did right."[/i]

[i]"Yes. I agree."[/i] Oddclaw smiled with a nod. [i]"I wish you the best for your children, Sunscreech."[/i]

With a gentle purr he walked over to the bowl, grabbing the lidded cup in his teeth and turning back to put it on a stone next to Oddclaw's head.

[i]"Is that good?"[/i]

[i]"Yes,"[/i] he nodded.

[i]"I have to guard the outside."[/i] Sunscreech took his leave. [i]"I hope you return to your family, Oddclaw."[/i]

[i]"Thank you. Farewell...Sunscreech."[/i]

Left to his own devices once more, Oddclaw watched his brother's shadow depart down the hall and waited a few more minutes to make certain no one was coming. Positioning himself carefully, he swung his snout with a hard smack against the bowl to knock it flying behind him, tipping the chemical liquid over the vines as he felt the water lubricating his wrists, soaking in as he tried to carefully twist his hands against the soggy vines. Something slipped, slowly but surely his eyes widened with relief as he pulled one hand out as sleekly as he could, feeling his claws slip against the grassy rope and finally pull one hand free, followed by the second one immediately.

[i]"Thank you dear brother."[/i] Oddclaw pulled up his feet to untie himself. [i]"I hope you be a good father too."[/i]

Taking a deep breath as he stood up, his legs slightly crumpled from his weakening knees when he stumbled forwards to grab the wall beside the exit to his room. He looked down to his half-erect penis, trembling with the shakes of papaverine still coursing through its flesh as it trembled with guilt, the raptor strengthening his back with a heaving chest before he stepped into the halls. Fires burned throughout the caverns in different colours, flickering with scents that choked the air making it difficult for Oddclaw to discern where the ultraraptors lurked. He relied on his eyes and ears as he slinked within shadows and tried to taste the breeze from outside, confused by the crosswind of two different currents before heading down one passage. All around him he heard other raptors, claws glimmering a fierce blue in the darkness between lamps as he hid himself best as he could between stalagmites.

Sometimes he snuck into wall cracks, picking up mud from the ground to smear on himself and hide his scent from passing patrols before creeping through to the north, the barest sense of innate direction helping him feel his way as he noted which way the plants grew upon stones, which breath of wind tasted more like the sea and which more like the forest that he moved closer to. Through twisting tunnels and multicoloured flames Oddclaw found the layour to be much simpler than expected, the different colours seeming to mark out sections where the ultraraptors kept their food, where they practiced in fighting, and where they slept.

The dark gloom of deep blue walls and blackened spires made him near-tremble from the cold winds shifting through the depths, marred by the crackling bursts of fire that unsettled him for how they danced in the abyss.

Then he smelt it. The scent of his brother with its earthen tones and hints of bonedust as he hurried through the cavern, swiftly stepping into the wallcracks and sneaking behind stalagmites when guards came too close. The wind from the marshes grew stronger as he sighed with relief, stepping into a larger room that had been where the light of the moon started to gleam from the outside world. He walked forwards sniffing the air, moving close to the wall and inching towards the exit. He could see the stars just before something shot towards him and he dodged back in fright.

[i]"Found you."[/i]

Scrabbling to stay on his feet he saw the thick golden acid spit down the wall where he once stood. His eyes widened with fear upon the one who caught him.

[i]"I find it almost adorable how little you understand our talents for hunting."[/i]

[i]"I made it past your guards, did I not?!"[/i] said Oddclaw hearing the crackling pops of reactive goo near him.

[i]"True."[/i] A pale raptor licked his dripping fangs. [i]"But I am not some simple guard."[/i]

Sulphide stood before him with a rabid hiss, eyes piercing from his jaundiced head as his tail slipped out with unlinking chains that glinted in the light.

[i]"I'll tell you now, since we're plenty alone. I have long despised you ever since Riptor laid eyes on you."[/i]

[i]"I told you before, I never wanted to be here!"[/i]

[i]"As I recall, glad we agree."[/i]

[i]"So why not let me leave?!"[/i] Oddclaw tried to inch to the exit. [i]"I have not hurt any of you!"[/i]

[i]"I would want you to leave too, BUT!"[/i]

He shot a vicious spurt of acid that Oddclaw swerved before the tail whipped at his head.

[i]"What my goddess demands she shall have. I have tried, believe me, to ward her away from the idea, but now I know not where her mind is when she tells me things I SUPPOSEDLY told her such as bringing you in for breeding, and once her mind is set, none can stop her."[/i]

[i]"She already took what she wanted!"[/i] he cried clutching his head. [i]"Just let me leave, I do not care what you all do, she has violated me enough!"[/i]

[i]"My sympathies."[/i]

Sulphide struck for him again as Oddclaw rolled fast under his tail.

[i]"But until Riptor is done with you, I can't let you leave."[/i]

[i]"BUT I JUST SAID-"[/i]

[i]"SHUT UP!"[/i] he spat another acid jet that melted through a stalagmite. [i]"It is NOT about you, it never was and it never will be, it is about US, what Riptor wants is what's best for us!"[/i]

[i]"She is SICK!"[/i]

[i]"YOU KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT SHE'S SUFFERED!"[/i]

The jaundiced raptor came rushing for him with his vicious tail, striking one way then the other as Oddclaw dodged twice before leaping at the beast in a flying kick to the head. Sulphide was surprised by the sudden rush, sensing the anthro's desperation when he frantically leapt on him and pummelled his face as fast as he could with raining blows before the cyber-feral kicked him off hard. He shot another acid spurt that Oddclaw dodged, scoring a line of poisonous spit in the dirt to keep them separate before lunging his tail out in a scorpion stab for his head, whipping Oddclaw's head at one point with such force that he fell back in a stumble before Sulphide leapt over the toxic line to land on top of him. Grabbing a fistful of dirt he swung into the pale raptor's eyes to blind him, forcing both his legs into his chest to kick him straight back onto his own acid with a craven shriek of burning on his back.

Rolling himself back up, Sulphide struck against the wall with a scraping tear causing stones to scatter until he cracked upon a stalagmite to hurl towards Oddclaw, bludgeoning his head to send him dizzy and staggering onto his knees. Picking up a fist-sized stone from the debris he armed himself ready to strike when Sulphide came rushing towards him with spittling teeth, dodging the snapping jaws to club him hard across the face and surprise the ultraraptor enough to have him stumble into a wall. He dodged Oddclaw's second strike, ducking beneath and snapping at his arm with a grinning tear as the anthro raked over his face in a fierce attempt to stab his claws through one of the eyes until Sulphide released.

[i]"Sunscreech was right,"[/i] the jaundiced raptor snickered, [i]"you are a worthless weak little thing."[/i]

[i]"Keep fighting me and I will prove you wrong,"[/i] panted Oddclaw, [i]"all I want is to leave, I do not even want to fight-"[/i]

[i]"HAH!"[/i] He whipped his tail fast scraping the wall behind Oddie. [i]"So you are a coward just as he said, it's only by Riptor's grace I haven't killed you!"[/i]

[i]"Then YOU are the coward when you will not think for yourself!"[/i]

He jumped forwards in a leaping strike, Sulphide dodging fast to kick hard at the raptor's side and send him rolling across the dirt. He poured a vile stream of acid towards Oddclaw's face as Oddie rolled faster away, hurling the rock straight into Sulphide's maw as he choked with a sputtering shriek, coughing lungfuls of toxic spit with a horking sound as he struggled to breathe and staggered in a desperate choke before vomiting out the melting stone across the ground. Oddclaw came at him fast with a roundhouse kick, crunching his claws into his face before leaping on top of him in a fierce strangling, pushing thumbs into the windpipe as Sulphide shrieked with a strangled gasp in frenzied kicks that gathered clouds of dust.

The ultraraptor managed to force his tail between him and Oddie, wrenching him off with a hard swipe that threw him against the wall with a crunch to the head leaving the anthro somewhat dazed. He saw the exit and took his chance, running fast as he could in a stumbling heave but Sulphide was upon him, crushing his back in a hard stomp with his cyber-blue claws raking hard down his flesh.

[i]"A-AAAAAARRRRGH!"[/i]

[i]"NO ONE leaves Riptor,"[/i] he hissed into his ear, [i]"you ungrateful little FUCK, you are blessed by her grace and you REJECT IT?!"[/i]

[i]"A-AAAARGH, AAAAAARGH!"[/i]

[i]"Do you know what I would do just to have a taste of the love she showers you with?! The warmth of her body, the strength of her womb, things I will never have because I am a WRETCH!"[/i]

His claws tightened harder, pressing close towards Oddclaw's kidney with a vile sneer stretching over his face.

[i]"You think you are better than me because YOU can fuck whoever you want, you and your filthy halfbreed penis that you DEFILE my goddess with, AT HER BEHEST!?"[/i]

[i]"[b]A-AAAAARRRGH![/b]"[/i]

[i]"ALL I EVER WANTED, WAS TO BE HERS, BUT THIS BODY, THIS CRIPPLED BODY OF MINE, I CAN NEVER BE HERS, NEVER! So instead I'll cripple you."[/i]

He stomped one of his feet upon Oddclaw's arm and bent over with a foul breath of corrosive acid.

[i]"All she needs from you is your body. She doesn't need your hands, or your legs. If you run from us again, I will take your legs, and if you STILL try to resist, I will burn your eyes and fill your ears with lead so all you'll ever be is her fuck-breeding tool."[/i]

[i]"N-NNNNGH, NOOO!"[/i] Oddclaw screeched trying to push. [i]"I WILL NOT BE HERS, NEVER, KILL ME YOU COWARD!"[/i]

[i]"Ohhh how I wish I could...I wait for the day she's done with you-A-AAAAARGH!"[/i]

Oddclaw felt a weight lift off him as he heaved a painful gasp, seeing Sulphide roll hard across the floor as something dug its claws deep into his side with jaws crunching his throat. A raptor mounted on top of him, brown with crimson back as tails whipped fast and dirt scattered sharp around them with Sulphide's screams resounding.

[i]"A-AAAARGH, AAAAARGH [b]AAAAAAIIIIGH![/b]"[/i]

[i]"Wh-what...Sunscreech?!"[/i]

The one-eyed raptor crushed his teeth harder into the ultraraptor's throat, his head shivering from ferocious strength before Sulphide slid his tail between them in a vile twist to force him back, tearing red and yellow flesh from his neck as he staggered upright with a wheezing shriek.

[i]"WH-WHA...wh-what are you DOING?!"[/i]

[i]"Revenge."[/i] Sunscreech licked his lips. [i]"Revenge for what you did to Methyl."[/i]

[i]"Wh-WHAT?!"[/i]

[i]"You do not think, I know what you SAID TO HER?!"[/i]

He lunged once again as Sulphide pulled back with fright, blocking the leaping claws with his tail as Oddclaw came from the side and leapt on his back to wrench his head backwards, wrestling him to the ground but the ultraraptor quickly backed up to crush him against the wall, scarring his already-wounded back that bled openly as he crumpled. Sunscreech grabbed for the jaundiced raptor once more, biting the twisting steel tail and pulling him hard to drag him close before kicking out his foot in a vile scratch over his head that gouged near his eye.

[i]"S-STOP, SUNSCREECH STOP THIS!"[/i]

[i]"ALL THESE CYCLES, YOU WHISPERED IN HER EAR DID YOU NOT?!"[/i]

[i]"SHUT UP, that FREAK is your enemy, not me!"[/i]

[i]"RAAAAAAARGH!"[/i]

Sunscreech threw his entire body with a hard crunch into Sulphide's side, crushing him against the wall as Oddclaw dodged out of their path before he savaged his teeth in a ripping tear along the yellow-bellied side. Sulpide grabbed his head in his claws to stop his snapping jaws, kicking out the old raptor's legs to knock him down and leap over towards Oddclaw who grabbed a broken piece of stalagmite like a club and whalloped the wounded Sulphide hard. The second strike hit when the ultraraptor tried to snap at him, but the third was blocked by his steel tail that cracked at his hand and disarmed him with a stunning burn deep in his claws. Before he could bite for his arm, he was assaulted from behind when Sunscreech slammed his head into the back of his leg, knocking him down but not enough as he backhanded with his tail coming the other way to send him staggering back. Before the ultraraptor could follow up, Oddclaw swung his arm around the neck and tried to twist it in a chokehold, forcing his elbow on the back of Sulphide's throat in a guillotine clutch that made him gasp and shriek a tighter sound of desperation until the tail came piercing for his head.

[i]"NOOOO!"[/i]

The jaws of Sunscreech clamped upon the tailtip and wrenched it down to the floor.

[i]"N-NNNNRGH, NNNNGH!"[/i]

[i]"Gh-GHRRRKH, [b]AAAARRRGHHKH![/b]"[/i]

[i]"Y-you...will not kill my family again, n-not after what you did to Methyl!"[/i]

[i]"[b]GHHRRAAAARGHRKH![/b]"[/i]

Sulphide's head shivered in fright, his eyes bulging and his tongue sputtering with acid trying to burst out but finding its pipeway clogged with a suffocating clench, Oddclaw's arm wrapped tight around his neck and the elbow crushing harder from behind to pinch his airways and close them completely. He struggled, he kicked, his voice began to fade as his eyes rolled up inside his head whilst his tail spasmed violently in Sunscreech's grasp, the feral pushing his entire body on top of it to hold him down.

[i]"R-ri...Riptor...g-guh...g-goddess...f-f-forgive me...ghrrkh...R...N...o-oh-three...R-N...oh...th-three..."[/i]

He stopped moving at last. Oddclaw took no chances and crushed his windpipe completely with a cracking twist of the neckbone. Once they felt his heart stop, his body inert and his last breath escaping, they both stood up scarred and bloodied with the heat of battle drifting off their scales.

[i]"Th-thank...thank you."[/i]

[i]"Hmph."[/i] Sunscreech walked over to Sulphide's head. [i]"You are not free yet."[/i]

[i]"Wh-what?"[/i]

His jaws came down upon the ultraraptor's throat, ripping it through with a huge chunk tearing free as Oddclaw blinked stepping back.

[i]"Take this."[/i] He dumped it in his brother's hands. [i]"Riptor can tell the bite was not yours, unless you take the bite with you."[/i]

[i]"Ah, yes,"[/i] he nodded.

[i]"Also, you have to get past me first, remember?"[/i] Sunscreech walked to the outside. [i]"I am guarding this cave after all."[/i]

[i]"A-are you...serious?!"[/i] wheezed Oddclaw following. [i]"Y-you just...killed your beta, you helped me kill him!"[/i]

[i]"I did not."[/i] He looked back to his brother. [i]"What happened was, you killed Sulphide in a vicious fight, and then barely escaped after attacking me unconscious."[/i]

[i]"What?!"[/i]

They stepped out into the wilds of the Land Before, the foot of the Greatbeast's Spine that loomed above them on a cold full moon that rose above the plains where the grass swayed in silver green.

[i]"You attacked me,"[/i] said Sunscreech, [i]"you killed Sulphide and with your trickery attacked me."[/i]

[i]"What...what are you doing?"[/i] Oddclaw asked still clutching Sulphide's flesh.

[i]"Telling you what I will tell Riptor,"[/i] the feral sniffed the eastern wind, [i]"a father's strength should not be underestimated, right?"[/i]

[i]"...yes."[/i] Oddclaw grinned. [i]"Yes, you are right. I am sorry about your mate-"[/i]

[i]"You said before."[/i] He looked back to Sulphide's corpse. [i]"I am glad your children do not suffer the same pain."[/i]

[i]"Thank you. Alright then."[/i] The anthro sighed with a wince as his bloodied back glistened from the moon. [i]"So I attacked you, yes?"[/i]

[i]"A very lucky strike."[/i] The feral snorted almost chuckling. [i]"Just one. Your son is still better at fighting than you."[/i]

[i]"H-hah...hhhahahahah."[/i] Oddclaw put down the fleshy chunk and smacked his fist into his palm. [i]"I will not tell him about this."[/i]

[i]"Thank you. Raise him well."[/i]

Standing in front of the anthro, Sunscreech bowed his head and waited for the punch as he closed his eye. Oddclaw swung with all the strength that still remained and whammed him straight into his missing eye to send him falling onto the ground where he laid slightly stunned but not unconscious. He grabbed the chunk of Sulphide's missing flesh and ran as fast as he could towards the eastern forest of the Bloodfeather tribe for sanctuary and rest. Sunscreech smiled to himself, breathing a deep sigh of relief as he slept off his wounds and cleaned the blood from his teeth.

"Jacob?"

The yoshi sat up hearing Arnold's voice through the slat.

"Are you ready?"

"Oh you bet!" he jumped on his feet. "We breaking out now?"

"Yes, this is the best time where there's a dip in patrol routes."

The door opened with a creaking shudder to his prison cell as the soldier stood waiting, Jacob cringing from the sound as Arnold offered him the muzzle and a pair of cuffs.

"Just to keep up appearances, you understand."

"Awww jeeez do I have to?"

"It would look a lot less suspicious."

"Fiiine," Jacob sighed, "we're getting out anyway so."

With cuffs and muzzle clipped on his body he walked behind the soldier as they entered an eerie silence, the sound of his rifle clapping against his chest with each step he took. The corridors of harsh green and cold steel almost blinded Jacob by their sharpness, swastikas lining the walls as a constant reminder of arrogance under which Schroeder walked him through. Taking a path to the northwest, the caped soldier went first in scanning around corners and motioning Jacob to follow with him, sensing other guards as their iron boots clanked through the passages beyond.

"Alright," said Arnold, "first we go to the storage where your clothes and shield are, then we will commandeer a boat to the mainland."

"Why not a plane?" asked Jacob.

"Too much security, having lost one already they want to make sure the other two are safe."

"Fair."

"If we meet any guards just leave the talking to me."

Hurrying onwards they slipped between junctions and scouted round corners with Arnold always on point, his crimson-eyed helm scanning the environs as his red cape swished behind him with a hand near his sword and the other keeping Jacob close. Turning down one hallway the yosh did not recognise, a sizeable door stood at the end of the short path with the phrase [b]LAGERUNG[/b] above it.

"Here's the storage," Arnold tapped at the keypad beside it, "just need to open this and-...fuck!"

"What happened?" Jacob asked hearing the door beep a nasty tone.

"They changed the damn code I thought they were doing it tomorrow!"

"You don't got a key or something?"

"Noooo no...augh, alright, first problem, I'll just find a guard and ask, it's not unreasonable to-"

"What about that vent?" the yoshi pointed to a series of shafts trailing along the ceiling. "It goes inside the room I could grab my stuff and get back out."

"Can you reach that?" Schroeder squinted upwards.

"I sure can, but I'm gonna need these off of me."

"...alright," the soldier unclasped his muzzle and decuffed him, "hurry back soon as you can."

"You got it."

Jacob saluted with hand to his head before he shot his tongue at the vent, pulling off the grate with a vicious yank that crunched and squeaked to almost bend it before Arnold grabbed it from the air to stop it from crashing on the ground. Making a tremendous leap, the yoshi jumped higher than Schroeder expected with a slight gasp as he saw Jacob kick his legs frantically fast to float a few seconds further almost blurring with an updraft that pushed him up to the ventilation shaft, grabbing and worming his way inside to start crawling through the tunnel as quickly as he could. A minute of scurrying found him inside the room, the grate refusing to yield before he just slammed his fists into it to make it crunch with a slam into the closed storage bay.

"Sorry!" he muttered before swinging down and flutterjumping to the floor. "Alright now where'd they put it?"

The room was full of various knick-knacks and appropriated items, largely armoured pieces for machines and marked laboratory equipment cluttered around aimlessly as he searched through the storage for anything that was more recent. Luckily he found a small box marked without a lock that revealed his clothes and backpack inside, but found no shield within sight as he put on his boots, his jeans and also the translation collar.

"Darnit, they put it in another room? Augh, I sure hope he knows, I really don't wanna leave without it."

He leapt back into the vent, crawling to the outside and landing on his shoes with soft flutter down.

"Welp, I got my clothes but no shield, yanno where it is?"

"Hmmm," the soldier scratched his chin, "was the box locked?"

"No, weirdly."

"Ahhh, that means they took your shield to experiment on it."

"What?!" Jacob grabbed his hair. "Auuugh that sucks I really need to get it!"

"Is it important to you?"

"Y-yeah, it's my only way to fight also it's a gift from my dad and uncles, I can't leave it!"

"Hmmmm," Arnold rubbed his helmet, "that's a problem, I wouldn't know what lab took it, also we're in the organic testing sector, your shield would probably be elsewhere."

"Jeeeez."

"Let's just see how far we get...what is that?"

"Oh this?" Jacob pointed at the collar. "Lets me translate what dinosaurs say."

"What?!" Schroeder gasped. "A translator?"

"Yeah, nifty right, the guys at the base made it."

"Incredible...alright, let us keep going."

Heading on further, Arnold took the vent grate with him to not leave it on the ground after putting the cuffs and muzzle back onto Jacob, keeping track of their direction northwest before they reached a long glass window where they saw a large laboratory where two cages stood. Peering through they saw two large dinosaurs being tied down inside of two domed cages, neither of which Jacob recognised but he stopped nonetheless to watch the scientists in full-body hazmat suits.

"//Subjects are paralysed and secure.//"

"//Alright good, let's start with the first test for neural revamping.//"

"//Anything else we got from the ship?//"

"//Some shots of a tribal village nearby, three klicks west?//"

"//Huh...they use steel but they all look like animals.//"

"//Yeah, this place is full of subhumans, first that blue-belly negro and now they got lizards and pigs!//"

"//That's just the same thing right?//"

"//HAH, I mean probably.//"

[i]"HEY!"[/i] the saurian with long claws tried to pull at his bindings. [i]"HEY, WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LET US OUTTA HERE!"[/i]

[i]"YOU HAIRLESS SHITS ARE GONNA GET IT!"[/i] shrieked the other with bald-plated head. [i]"FIRST YOU TAKE OUR EGGS NOW YOU TRY TO TAKE US, I'LL BREAK YOUR HEADS IN HALF!"[/i]

"What are they doing?" asked Jacob.

"Two dinosaurs they got from the downed ship," said Schroeder, "come on we shouldn't stay-"

"WAIT!" He grabbed his hand. "Wh-what, um...d-did they find a raptor?"

"A what?"

"Like, um, he's a dinosaur, he's brown, he's got green eyes and the left side of his face got a sorta orange mark on it, is he here?!"

"No," the soldier shook his head, "those two in the lab are the only ones recovered from the site."

"Wait...oh no." Jacob shook his head. "Th-those might be Oddie's friends, he went to the ship because you guys took them!"

"I hope they are not. If so I am sorry, we cannot save them."

"But, b-but, they don't wanna be here, I can hear them!"

"Really, with the translator?"

"Y-yeah, you gotta tell them, you-"

"Jacob." Arnold put a hand on his shoulder. "I can only save you and me, I am sorry."

"But...but-"

"//Starting the experiment, begin at forty-two percent.//"

Something moved inside of the domes as Jacob watched with increasing fright. The stygimoloch struggled to wrest his head free but to no avail, whilst the therizinosaurus couldn't even lift his claws from the floor they were bound to as from the side of the dome a long tube pressed towards the back of their heads.

[i]"S-SLASH, SLASH THEY'RE DOING SOMETHING!"[/i]

[i]"Just, just save your strength, we can figure a way out of this, just gotta-a-AAAH, AAAAAGH!"[/i]

[i]"SLASH!"[/i]

[i]"A-AAAAAAAGH, [b]AAAAAAAARGH, S-STOP IT, S-STOP, MY HEAD, MY HEAAAAAD![/b]"[/i]

[i]"STOP IT, STOP H-HURTING MY FRIEND YOU SHIT-A-AAAAAAAIIIGH!"[/i]

[i]"F-FIRE, FIIIIIIRE, I-IT'S [b]BURNING MY EYES![/b]"[/i]

[i]"[b]ODDCLAW, ODDCLAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW![/b]"[/i]

Jacob clutched his head with horror as Arnold tried to pull him away, the sound of their screams in-tune with the shrieking carve of blade against bone, a ripping crunch and a violent suction before the screams finally stopped. His face turned pale and his body shook with a sickening pallour as Arnold stroked his head.

"I am sorry."

"I-it...it...what did they do?"

"You do not want to know. Trust me."

"...okay."

He turned quiet and followed on behind the soldier, keeping in step as Schroeder peeked around corners and led him further out of the complex. Eventually they saw the exit, the guard pulling out his keycard to swipe as they entered a new section with a different set of colours. A wide semi-circular hall with tones of brown, yellow and auburn in a refreshingly autumn palette that soothed Jacob slightly, until he saw the enormous swastika above the hall where a gold eagle perched upon it, looming above the wide reception-style hall where desks formed a circle in the centre, a large clunky computer sat upon it with five other doors surrounding them. What drew Jacob's eye the most however was underneath the swastika, a portrait of a woman he did not recognise who was painted to look somewhat angelic on her monochrome features.

"Who's that?" asked Jacob.

"The Fuhrer's wife," Arnold muttered, "lab was made in memoriam to her."

"Why was she a scientist?"

"I don't know and I don't care, we have to get to the docks."

"Alrighty where's that?"

"Right there." Schroeder pointed to a blue-coloured door across the hall. "That's where all the boats are, it's a seacave we converted."

"Why is there a reception desk here?" he pointed at the unsightly PC. "I thought this place was kinda secret."

"When dignitaries come you have to touch up a little class," the soldier shrugged, "even if it's a secret base."

"Sooo where are we going once we get a boat?" they walked to the door.

"Somewhere northwest of us," he opened it as they passed through, "there's a giant mountain range in front of us but I remember in our scouting there was a forest bank at the far west end of the mountain."

"Hmmm..." Jacob tapped his fingers, "if we get to like the mainland I can tell you where we'll find someone who'll help us, we got friends all over."

"Good."

The passage to the docks was accented with a pleasing azure that soothed Jacob, the guards even less in this sector which made the going much swifter as they headed onwards where the smell of the ocean grew stronger, salt mixing with steel and concrete as they passed several large doors full of crates and boxes containing machine parts and weapons. The halls were less numerous here, but in turn the dock itself was an enormous room with more crates stacked up on the sides of the room, a wide U-shaped bay where several boats floated on the water. Several guards wandered the perimeter armed with rifles, whilst engineers in sharp red stood out against the black iron walls as they hammered and wrenched and screwed in bolts.

"Alright," Schroeder muttered taking off Jacob's restraints, "that boat over there's been checked out, it has a green flag on it that means it's all clear."

"Right," the yoshi nodded wrinkling his snout.

"I will distract the guards," he slipped you sneak around, get on that boat and start it up, you know how to use a boat?"

"I mean, s-sure," he rubbed his wrists, "I played MicroSpore Boat Simulator a couple times I could figure it out."

"Great, good luck."

Marching out into the open, the caped soldier greeted the guards with the front-arm salute as Jacob snuck round the outer reach of the room towards the farthest boat on the right.

"//ALRIGHT, everyone line up here with me!//"

"//Wh-what, what?!//"

"//This way come on don't slack, I need all of you here!//"

"//Y-yes sergeant-major!//"

The four guards crowded around him with three mechanics snarling in a huff as they left their toolboxes and trudged to the far left side of the dock.

"//First off, status report.//"

"//Nothing here sir,//" one guard clicked his boots, "clean as a Berlin housewife.//"

"//Hah, not yours though am I right?//" a snigger rippled from the group. "//I kid, so I just wanted to check, we got our salvage back from the ship so where are we on the vessel retrieval?//"

"//Ingelbaum don't give a shit,//" said one soldier leaning on his gun, "//no idea how we're gonna get it back.//

"//And there's that village I heard nearby,//" said another guard pointing, "//god knows they're already trying to rip all the parts off for themselves.//"

"//That happened to my cousin in Spain yanno, lost his tires, fucking sombrero monkeys.//"

"//Back on point,//" Arnold stressed turning to the mechanics, "//I don't want that ship out there anymore than you do, so what we could do is get some of you guys to come helps us disassemble it and bring it back.//"

"//That's going to take a lot of work sergeant-major,//" said one technician rubbing his neck, "//it's not just unscrewing a buncha bolts, you got a whole assembly system we gotta work backwards from.//"

"//I can get the blueprints for the ship if that helps you get a starting place.//"

"//Yanno it would actually, thanks!//"

"//What about the boats?//" he snapped his fingers keeping their eyes on him. "//Anything you need requisitioned.

"//I was gonna ask,//" another mechanic raised his hand, "//could you get some stuff tonight sir, cuz boats One and Two are kinda fucked.//"

"//No problem,//" Schroeder pulled out a notebook from his belt, "//give me a good long list of what you need.//"

"//Alright well, I'll need a Schengen 245-e, a Kruetzmann 8, make that two actually they're always kinda fidgety ummmm and, oh yeah, a Vanguss belt...//"

As the technician rattled off his list, Jacob crouched to the ground and scurried over to the one working boat as it bobbed gently in the water, a simple patrol boat that allowed five bodies at most with two front seats, three in back and a small storage section as he slipped into the driver's seat.

"Hokay, uhhh that's the pedal, that's PROBABLY reverse, don't see any like keyholes sooo is this the start button?"

He braced himself for the push, feeling it rumble surprisingly quiet under his feet as he grinned with a little bounce. But before he could put it in reverse, the back of the boat opened with a slam.

"//HEY, wait wait!//"

"OH, CHEESE AN' CRACKERS!"

"//HEY, WHO ARE YOU?!//"

A drowsy-looking mechanic pushed himself out of the boat's cargo space and tried to grab the yoshi, who leapt against him to try and shove him down before anyone could be alerted too much. The boat started to bob in their brief tussle as he slammed his hands over the human's mouth, his grunting cries of protest muffled only for a moment before the mechanic shoved his foot into Jacob's chest and kicked him against the seat. He shot his tongue mid-fall in a desperate attempt, yanking him forwards to swallow his head into his maws as frantic screams and German epithets came rumbling down his throat.

"[i]M-MMMPH, GHRRRM-M-MMMPH![/i]"

Walking back to the driver seat best as he could with half a human in his throat, the yoshi tried to kick it in reverse but the mechanic kicked hard against the dashboard and threw Jacob down to the floor enough to pull himself out of his throat and reach for his gun.

[b][i]BANG![/i][/b]

"[i]A-AAAAAIIIGH![/i]"

"//HEY, WHAT WAS-//"

"//SOMEONE'S STEALING A BOAT!//"

"//THIS FUCKING BLACK BASTARD TRIED TO JUMP ME!//" screamed the mechanic waving his gun. "//Fucking unga-bunga piece of SHIT!//"

"//STOP, DO NOT SHOOT HIM!//"

Arnold rushed over with the four guards whilst the mechanics backed off putting hands to their pistols at their belts. Jacob was dragged off the boat and thrown onto the hard floor of the dock, his leg now bleeding from a sharp bullet wound as he sobbed in anguish.

"A-AAAAGH, AAAAAGH IT HURTS, [i]AA-A-AAAAARGH![/i]"

"//The fuck is this?//"

"//Some native, he swim here or something?!//"

"//He's Frau Grimm's pet,//" said Arnold stepping forward, "//looks like he got out somehow.//"

"//Stupid animal!//"

The gun-wielding mechanic kicked Jacob's face hard enough the collar detached from his neck.

"//Tried to fucking eat me look I'm covered in slob!//"

"//You are a slob!//" shouted one guard. "//Were you sleeping in the boat again?!//"

"//If it wasn't for me this fucking negro woulda been off with our boat!//"

"AAAAAGH!" Jacob whimpered from the second kick. "S-STOP IT, I'M SORRY ALRIGHT, ARNIE I'M SORRY!"

"//I mean you're not wrong,//" said another soldier gesturing his gun, "//fucking screams like one, what do we do with him?//"

"//Well,//" Schroeder crossed his arms, "//Frau Grimm won't be happy you shot her pet, but he does need to learn a lesson.//"

"//They got some weird creatures here,//" a third guard bent down, "//looks like an African that didn't evolve past reptilian.//"

"//Implying they ever fucking DID?!//" the fourth waved his gun.

"//You know what I mean Dieter, this thing's an ACTUAL animal rather than a subhuman.//"

"//Well I was raised on a farm and you know what we do with animals that try to run away?//" Dieter pressed his shotgun against Jacob's skull to hear him whimper. "//We put 'em down before they start infecting the herd.//"

"//Enough!//" Schroeder smacked his gun away. "//Whatever we do, he needs all his limbs and all his organs, Ingelbaum can punish him proper.//"

"//Right, sure,//" said the first soldier backing off with swaggering hands, "//you just don't wanna damage that nice skin he's got so you can get yourself a nice leather swordsheath.//"

"//I hear the SS outfits are made from Africans,//" added Dieter, "//my cousin's girlfriend's father said so, real primed tan leather from the savannah!//"

"//What like Frau Grimm's whip?//"

"//Wait what?//" the third guard squinted his head.

"//Her whip, she got it tanned with genuine gypsy leather, skinned 'em personally in Skulte-Marupe!//"

"//Woah...damn sergeant,//" they turned to Arnold, "//why does she get all the COOL shit, I want a holster like that!//"

"//Too bad,//" Schroeder waved them back, "//I have cuffs I'll secure him, but stay close and lighthouse formation.//"

"//Wh-what, why?!//"

"//Remember your history. Zulus, thousands of them.//"

They nodded in some mutual agreement as the four guards all looked away keeping a view on every single part of the bay with the spit-covered mechanic doing the same brandishing his pistol. Schroeder bent down over Jacob, his leg still bleeding as he stuttered flinching sobs.

"I'm s-sorry, I-i-i'm sorry, p-please-"

"Shhhhh." The sergeant-major put a hand to his sword as he whispered. "It's alright. Just lie down on your back, close your eyes and then your ears, just trust me."

"Wh-what...wh-wh-what-"

"Do you trust me?"

He saw only the crimson eyes of his helm, bearing down upon him as the burning pain of his leg pierced through his mind with a far greater anguish than ever he had known. Seeing beyond the tint of his deep red stare, Jacob saw his pupils with one of them winking. The yoshi nodded and bit his tongue, laying down on his back as straight as possible with eyes closed and hands over ears. He felt like a sleeping princess, waiting to be mourned by the forest creatures as the sergeant-major pulled out his sword cleanly, flicked a switch upon the hilt and in the same breath stood up and swung in a fresh circle of of burning amethyst that swung from his hand and carved through two of the guards' necks. The nazis' choking screams alerted the other two but not quick enough as Arnold shoved his blade deep through his skull and wrenched it back as quick as he could before the fourth could pull up his gun, which he bashed to the side before plunging straight into the chest.

"[b][i]GA-AAAAARGKHH![/i][/b]"

"//HOLY [i]F-FUCK WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOI-[b]GHRRKH![/b][/i]//"

The sloppy mechanic was silenced by a spurt of bullets from Schroeder's gun. The other technicians sputtered in shock from the blood-festooned soldier standing amongst the pile of bodies with a 40-inch sword of basket hilt dripping with blood.

"//S-SIR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!//"

"//None of your damn business.//" He snapped his wrist spraying crimson across the floor. "//You have two choices now. Either say nothing and continue working, or you die next.//"

"//B-but, but, y-you just killed our friends!//"

"//OUR friends?//" He looked upon the dead soldiers. "//No. They weren't even your friends, nor mine.//"

One of the mechanics tried to reach for his radio before a line of bullets came piercing across the dock, shattering his hand and causing him to fall with a startled yelp as Jacob flinched keeping eyes shut beside Schroeder's feet.

"//I won't ask again,//" said the caped sergeant, "//stand down, and get back to your work.//"

"//This, th-this is TREASON!//"

"//Treason?//" He walked towards the three mechanics. "//There's no government here, no gods, no kings. The only treason being committed is continuing this godforsaken crusade of arrogance.//"

"//Sir, s-sir stop!//" one of them put up his gun. "//D-don't come any closer!//"

"//Or what, you'll shoot your superior officer?//" Schroeder swept his blade with a threatening ire. "//Go ahead, explain that to the officers.//"

"//S-STOP, STOP IT!//"

He fired in a panic as Arnold clicked a switch in his swordhilt. A light shone across his blade in a sparking burst of violet that rippled down the edge, raising the sword vertical in front of his body as the bullet suddenly veered towards the electrical field, trapped against its static before it fell clinking against his boot. He ran immediately towards the trio who started firing, the soldier parrying with swiftened strikes that rendered bullets inert when they flew too close to his body, sizzling sparks and bolts of indigo before he slashed through one, two and the final third in a triple strike, carving them in diagonal halves that sent them screeching to the floor in bloodied pieces with charring flesh and sizzling organs.

Schroeder took a deep breath, checking the docks for no other survivors before sheathing his sword once the electric current stopped, and dumped their bodies into the water. Walking back he did the same for the other soldiers, taking their guns to put them aboard the boat in the storage space before putting a hand on Jacob's face.

"You can open your eyes now."

"Wh-...wh-what?"

The yoshi was stunned to find a very empty room, minus the obvious spatters of blood that smothered the floor which made him jump up before his leg spasmed hard.

"[i]A-AAAAARGH![/i]"

"HEY careful!" Schroeder grabbed him. "Don't stand on it, let me help you."

"Wh-what...what did you do to them?"

"Put them under water. They won't be found for a good while, come on let me help you."

"Did...did you...did you-"

"Yes."

He gently lifted Jacob onto the boat before hopping in after, the yoshi's collar falling onto the dock as Arnold sat in the driver's seat whilst Jacob laid out on the back row.

"How...h-how did you-"

"I killed them," said Arnold starting the engine, "hold on tight I'm reversing."

"But, b-but they-" he clutched to his seat as the boat moved, "th-there was s-so many of them you really...did that to all of them?!"

"How else?" He pulled out of the dock and turned the boat slowly northwest. "They were going to take you back."

"But you...y-you didn't have to kill them-NNNGH!"

"I would have liked to escape without any deaths, but if I have to choose between death or going back, I'm choosing death."

"W-weren't they your friends?!"

"No. No one was my friend in that place Jacob." Schroeder pumped the engine forwards. "I haven't had a friend for twenty-six years."

The boat started shuddering to the northwest, a long pale horizon of jagged peaks in front of them as Schroeder put the boat on auto before stepping over to Jacob in the back.

"Let me see your wound, I have to clean it."

He rolled the yoshi slightly towards him seeing the bullet hole in his leg, red viscous blood drooling down the black scaly leg to stain across his soft brown boot as Arnold pulled out a small flask.

"This will hurt a bit, brace yourself."

"A-aaagh, AAAAGH J-JEEEZ!" the water splashed ice-cold on his wound.

"Now, raise your leg and keep it above your chest."

"N-nnngh, o-okay!"

Looking briefly around the boat, seeing the island base disappear behind him and almost fade from view by an invisible cloak across its face, Schroeder tore off one of his sleeves along with the nazi armband, then pulled off his belt. Taking off the yoshi's boot he slipped up his torn sleeve to sit above the bullet wound and tightened hard with his belt, before slipping the armband that he turned inside out to hide the swastika and wrap around the wound itself.

"That should do it," he sighed, "the band's cleaner than my sleeve and more absorbent."

"Th-tha...thank you," Jacob whimpered, "I'm...I'm sorry, I screwed up."

"It's fine, we're both alive that's what matters. God."

The soldier took off his helmet with a deep breath.

"I haven't smelt the ocean this good in years."

Staring upon the human's face, Jacob did not know what to expect from Arnold's looks but was still surprised to see he was a tragically-plain person with brown hair, hazel eyes and a head of rectangular gaunt like a slice of wholemeal bread. His chin was slightly pointed, and his cheeks were thin to show his age catching up with wrinkles creeping around his neck.

"I forgot my shield," the yoshi whispered.

"I'm sorry," Arnold smiled, "it was important to you."

"It...i-it...d-dad..."

He clutched his hands over his eyes with a growing sob that shivered through him.

"D-d-daddy, d-daddy...aaaaaaaAAAAAGH! AAAH D-DAD, I'M...I'm s-sorry...I'm sorry..."

Schroeder left him to his woes as he sat back in the driver's seat, keeping certain on their course across the great ancient sea whilst Jacob tried to keep his raised against the rear of the boat, crying himself to sleep with the cradling of the waves underneath.