FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

[i]"Daaaddyyyyy."[/i] The raptor hatchling crept through the forest. [i]"Daddy?"[/i]

The sounds of the ocean came briefly to his ears as he stalked low through the undergrowth, the sun shining all through the trees above him with spots covering his back. Sunset was starting to roll in as he felt his eyes start to droop, yawning gently as he caught a scent at the base of a tree and quickly rushed forth to a small dip in the glade. A gentle wind picked up from the sea carrying soft scents of salt that stung his nostrils, scurrying around the roots of the trees as the smell of his target became stronger. The child turned quieter with each step he took, licking his lips nervously as the scent stopped at another tree. Then he felt the jaws on his neck.

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

[i]"GNNRRAWR!"[/i]

[i]"NOOOO DADDYYYYY!"[/i]

[i]"NRAWM!"[/i]

The jaws threw him down as he stared up at his hunt, the hatchling giggling up at the scarred face of the one-eyed beast who snuffled at his chest.

[i]"You caught meeeee!"[/i]

[i]"Yeees I diiiid,"[/i] purred Sunscreech,[i]"now I get to eat a tasty little hatchling."[/i]

[i]"N-NO, DADDY-EEEHHEEHAHAHAHA, D-DADDYYY-AAAAH!"[/i]

Tiny nips and puffing breaths covered the hatchling's body which sent him into a cackling fit as Sunscreech smiled from the little claws raking his snout and catching against the scars grooved into his scales. He only stopped once there came a bite to the back of his leg.

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

[i]"NYAM!"[/i]

[i]"AAAAGH W-WHAT FIEND IS THIS?!"[/i]

[i]"GET 'IM, BITEY BITE!"[/i]

Three other hatchlings leapt upon him and tried to knock down their father as he rolled over pitiful, whimpering with feigned defeat as they leapt and chomped at his body with tender fangs much to his pealing cries.

[i]"Bitey daddy, BITEY DADDY!"[/i]

[i]"N-nooooo please I have a familyyyyy!"[/i]

[i]"NNNYAM, NYAAARGH!"[/i]

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

He played dead at last, slumping onto the grass with a heavy thud as his children stepped on top of his body and crowed with glee at their fresh kill.

[i]"WE DID IT, WE DID IT!"[/i]

[i]"YAAAAH DADDY-W-WHA!"[/i]

[i]"Hmhmhahahaha,"[/i] they struggled to balance as his body shook with laughter.

[i]"D-daddy noooo yer dead nows!"[/i]

[i]"Yah daddy yer DEAD!"[/i] they squawked biting his head.

[i]"Ohhhh but I came BACK!"[/i] he chomped at one of them as they shrieked scattering off. [i]"Now you join me!"[/i]

[i]"NOOOOO D-DADDYYYHEEHEHEHAHAA!"[/i]

The father wrestled with his child as her siblings tried to bite him in revenge, the family rolling through the grass of the glade by the sea before they laid on their backs and stared towards the sky.

[i]"Daddy,"[/i] his daughter asked,[i]"whut're those in da sky?"[/i]

[i]"Those are stars,"[/i] said Sunscreech,[i]"they are the hopes and dreams of creatures who have died."[/i]

[i]"Is...is mummy a star too?"[/i]

[i]"Yes...well, not exactly."[/i] He turned his lone eye towards her. [i]"When we die, all of our dreams fly up into the sky and become a star, so your mother's fears and sorrows, they are not with her when she died."[/i]

[i]"Why do stars go away when it's day time?!"[/i] asked his son.

[i]"The stars never go away,"[/i] he looked up to the canvas of night,[i]"they are always there, the sun is very strong and its light shines far greater than any star."[/i]

[i]"Soooo whut is da sun?"[/i]

[i]"It is the greatest star, the most powerful one. No one knows whose dreams made it, perhaps other stars became part of it."[/i]

[i]"Maybe it like ATE da other stars?!"[/i]

[i]"It very well could have! Alright, time to sleep, back to the nest everyone."[/i]

[i]"Oh-kayyyy!"[/i]

The children followed Sunscreech back to their new home, a nest he had built on the edges of the new raptor colony. Families settled down within dirt pits they had dug out themselves to give a comfortable pillow of the earth to sleep against, sheltered from the winds above as children huddled against their parents beneath the swaying trees. The soft rustling of leaves was a lullaby that they knew from their birthplace across the sea, as both old families and new spoke to each other in the last hours of the eve. Sunscreech brought his children into their nest, climbing down first to let them sit on top of his body as they shared their warmth.

[i]"Hello there!"[/i] The voice of a pale yellow raptor came from above. [i]"How did your little hunt go?"[/i]

[i]"We got daddy!"[/i] cried one of the infants. [i]"We bit 'im an' bit 'im a-a-an' BIT HIM!"[/i]

[i]"Hmhmhahaha, well what fierce little hunters you are, you'll do proud by your father when you get to his age."[/i]

[i]"We were just about to sleep,"[/i] said Sunscreech biting his teeth,[i]"do you need something?"[/i]

[i]"No no, no,"[/i] Sulphide backed off bowing,[i]"just checking in on you."[/i]

[i]"Well, you have, now say goodnight to Sulphide, children."[/i]

[i]"NIGHT SULPHYYYY!"[/i]

[i]"Khhhhahahahaa, alright good night children."[/i]

Taking his leave he let Sunscreech rest, making his rounds through the new settlement as ultraraptors and natives joined each other in a strange harmony. A few black raptors from the island could be seen with new clutches amongst the newcomers as Sulphide approached a familiar-looking raptor in grey.

[i]"How's everyone doing?"[/i] he asked.

[i]"Great!"[/i] cried Tesla walking up to him. [i]"Just checked on the slaves, they're enjoying the new waters...damn this island is great, it's so much bigger and there's more food why didn't we all leave in the first place?!"[/i]

[i]"Well we still had resources on the previous isle,"[/i] said the yellow cyber-raptor,[i]"that and had we not stayed, we would not have been so lucky to meet with our new friends from the mainland."[/i]

[i]"I dunno,"[/i] the silver raptor shrugged walking to the plains,[i]"we could still have sent out rafts it'd just take longer."[/i]

[i]"Exactly,"[/i] Sulphide nodded,[i]"longer journey makes it more dangerous, have them accustomed to us first and then we move up here."[/i]

[i]"Ohhhh...right, gotcha."[/i]

[i]"Speaking of how is your new mate?"[/i]

[i]"Oh she's great!"[/i] Tesla chirped with a grin. [i]"Actually we been together since my second time over here."[/i]

[i]"Really?"[/i]

[i]"Yeah, funny story, she told me she always got excited whenever 'skyfire' came to the island so uhhh when I came along it was like hey."[/i]

He cracked his tail with a spark that shot straight up in the air.

[i]"Needless to say her prayers were answered."[/i]

[i]"Hahaha, how kinky!"[/i] Sulphide veered back towards the forest. [i]"When is she ready to lay?"[/i]

[i]"About two weeks I think? Not gonna lie, I never thought I'd be a dad."[/i]

[i]"I know you will teach your children well."[/i]

[i]"Just kinda sucks they won't have my lightning,"[/i] Tesla swished his tail,[i]"I guess all this tech's not hereditary."[/i]

[i]"Tragically no, but perhaps it's a boon."[/i] The jaundiced raptor scratched his neck. [i]"They will never have to know what we suffered, they shall live their lives pure and free of any sordid interference from technology."[/i]

[i]"Yeah but...kinda feels awesome having powers like these yanno?"[/i]

[i]"Well, yes. Alright, I shall see you tomorrow Tesla, and congratulations again."[/i]

[i]"Thanks, I'll see ya tomorrow!"[/i]

Sulphide stepped through the forest again as he went to the very centre where darkness seemed to gather, the thickest of trees clouding above his head as he found an underground passage that had been carved by the raptors themselves beneath a hill where trees clustered upon it. Tangled roots crept above his head as he bent down through the tunnel where there sat a lone raptor on a throne made from rocks cobbled together into a vague impression of a seat. Her eyes twitched facing the wall of earth and pebble, flickering pupils that read something invisible as her tail flicked mutely with its long rusted blade glinting in the dark.

[i]"Riptor?"[/i]

She did not respond, spellbound by something that caught her vision as her lips gently muttered.

[i]"Riptor. Riptor!"[/i]

[i]"What?!"[/i] She snarled towards him. [i]"Sulphide is that you?!"[/i]

[i]"Yes who else would it be?!"[/i] He crept closer to see her eyes became glassy. [i]"Are you...watching something you recorded?"[/i]

[i]"Yes, sorry, give me a minute."[/i]

[i]"Is this about Oddclaw still?!"[/i]

[i]"Well who else would it be?"[/i] she scoffed staring past him.

[i]"Have you been..."[/i] he walked in front of her unblinking,[i]"have you been watching that all day?"[/i]

[i]"Yes, why?"[/i]

[i]"You haven't even gone out to eat, or hunt?!"[/i]

[i]"I went out the morning."[/i]

[i]"I was with you that morning!"[/i]

[i]"And you brought me food."[/i]

[i]"Riptor turn off your recording!"[/i]

She tightened her pupils with a snarl creeping along her lip before she leaned forwards to touch his face.

[i]"Did you forget who you are speaking to?"[/i]

[i]"No, but-"[/i]

[i]"Then don't tell me what to do ever again."[/i]

[i]"Riptor, please-"[/i]

[i]"NO!"[/i] Her bark threw him back falling against the dirt. [i]"I am studying, I am LEARNING so I can prepare for the future of this pack."[/i]

[i]"You have...days and nights to prepare,"[/i] gasped Sulphide pushing himself up,[i]"you're always more patient than this."[/i]

[i]"I have limits Sulphide."[/i]

[i]"I know but, just, give your mind a rest at least!"[/i]

[i]"You don't realise how bizarre this raptor is?!"[/i]

[i]"Of course I remember, I was the one who first saw him!"[/i]

[i]"THEN YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND!"[/i] Her voice trembled off the walls and caused some of the roots to shake. [i]"This...raptor, this Oddclaw flies against everything I have known, I MUST learn more about him."[/i]

[i]"And you will but PLEASE give your mind a rest!"[/i] argued him. [i]"You have plenty of time to check your recordings, but you cannot do anything if you don't eat and run yourself down!"[/i]

[i]"And what makes you think I can't take care of myself?!"[/i]

[i]"Because it's night!"[/i] He stomped to the entrance. [i]"Look outside, the stars are out and you haven't been anywhere since!"[/i]

[i]"Oh come on you really think you can trick me that easily?!"[/i]

[i]"I'm not lying, why would you think I would EVER lie to you?!"[/i]

[i]"...I...I don't know."[/i] Doubts flickered briefly as she stepped forwards. [i]"Is it really night?"[/i]

[i]"YES, just...turn off your recording and look, please."[/i]

Riptor clicked off her datafeed as her eyes returned to their full gleam. Her claws shone with electric blue against the cave tunnel as she stared out to the stars and gasped pulling back into the dark.

[i]"How...how long have I been-"[/i]

[i]"Since I left you at noon,"[/i] said Sulphide nuzzling her cheek,[i]"are you alright?"[/i]

[i]"I...yes, yes I'm fine, I'm sorry for shouting at you."[/i]

[i]"It's alright. Shall I get you some food, we have fish from down at the beach."[/i]

[i]"That would be nice...I need to sit down for a moment."[/i]

[i]"I'll be back soon then."[/i]

He smiled relieved and headed off back to the beach, whilst she sat back in her throne feeling numb and woozy. Riptor blinked with a headache, making her sprawl over her bed like an empress from the east as she stared towards the roots above her head, large twisting growths that crowned her seat and crept along the walls seeming to reach at her face. Her silver screw gleamed from her chest as she touched it lightly, feeling her eyes close from exhaustion as she laid her head back and felt her body drift. A soft cold wind drifted over her body, tender fingers of the breeze that tickled her scales and made her feet twitch in the murmurs of a dream. A smile crept over her face and a deep sigh took her, before opening her eyes to watch the serpents of wood wrap around her body. Warm as a mother's embrace, lifting her from her seat as she felt someone's presence near her. The scent of a male, strong and robust that excited her with a new sensation as her tail flicked with sudden spasms, the rising heat in her loins causing her breaths to stutter as her claws tightened sharp to the point of vibrating fiercely.

Her body shook through her head which became hotter to the point of almost burning as she gulped with flickering eyes and her legs pulling up against herself within the bark twisting round her body. Her eyes suddenly flicked open the recording she had been repeating, of Oddclaw and his family hunting through the grass and leaping upon a fresh kill with rending blood and savage limbs that twisted flesh. He lunged with a furious strength, slamming down a young four-legged beast into a hard roll before plunging his fist deep into its throat and ripping out its breath, straddling its belly with claws soaked in crimson as her eyes went over towards his mate. Something twitched in her heart, something deeper than she had known as her teeth twisted with creaking fury.

[i]"Riptor, RIPTOR!"[/i]

[i]"HNNRAAARGH, AAARGH!"[/i]

She threw herself off her seat and looked up at Sulphide's face, the yellow beast holding a dead fish in his claws as he bent his head to her.

[i]"I-i'm sorry, it...looked like you were having a nightmare!"[/i]

[i]"I'm...no I'm fine, is that for me?"[/i]

[i]"Yes."[/i] He offered the fish as she took it with a slow crunch. [i]"What were you dreaming about?"[/i]

[i]"Him,"[/i] she tore off the flesh of its belly,[i]"it's always him this past year."[/i]

[i]"Sounds like an obsession,"[/i] he sat with her,[i]"are you really alright?"[/i]

[i]"I don't know! Every time I close my eyes I see him. That...that body, the way he hunts, the way he SPEAKS just everything about him possesses me!"[/i]

[i]"You...wait..."[/i]

His eyes widened as he looked towards her rear. Riptor tightened her legs and pulled her tail close as she ate faster.

[i]"Of course,"[/i] Sulphide chuckled shaking his head,[i]"how did I not see thi-"[/i]

[i]"Shut up,"[/i] she snarled,[i]"DON'T breathe a word about this."[/i]

[i]"No no, no, I understand completely, in fact it makes so much more sense now!"[/i]

[i]"Be, quiet."[/i]

[i]"I mean I never would have thought you would go for him-"[/i]

[i]"I SAID SHUT UP!"[/i]

She glared with a crunching of bone between her claws of steel blue as she snapped the fish in half. Sulphide nodded and pulled himself back as he let her eat in silence, cracking marrow in her teeth and swallowing the cold slippery flesh as she sat back against her seat.

[i]"I didn't choose him,"[/i] she said eventually. [i]"I don't know why but when I see him I feel...something burn in me."[/i]

[i]"What does it feel like?"[/i] he asked.

[i]"Something yearning. Something...that makes me want to see him again. I caught his scent, and now it's never left me, I see his children and I feel happy. Then I saw his mate. And I hate it."[/i]

Her claws tensed to their fullest like the strings of a violin.

[i]"I don't know why, she seems a reasonable mate, if not rather old and grey but clearly managed to bear children."[/i]

[i]"She must be exceptionally fertile,"[/i] shrugged Sulphide.

[i]"She is certainly not, I smelt her on the plains and she's drier than a desert, if anything it's Oddclaw who's the fertile one if he can manage to get children out of her!"[/i]

[i]"What, are you saying you're jealous of her?!"[/i]

[i]"NO! Well...n-no, I, just, A-AARGH!"[/i] She stomped to her feet. [i]"All I know is that I must see him again, I have to see him, I WANT to speak to him!"[/i]

[i]"And how do you plan to do that?!"[/i]

[i]"I'll find a way I just...I just-"[/i]

[i]"Riptor."[/i] Sulphide stood up and patted her cheek. [i]"Go to sleep. You'll feel better about this tomorrow then we can decide what to do about Oddclaw."[/i]

[i]"Yes...yes, you're right, I haven't done anything today, my mind is just-"[/i]

[i]"It's fine. I'll keep watch, you go sleep."[/i]

[i]"Thank you."[/i] She nuzzled him with weary sigh. [i]"I'm...sorry that I worried you."[/i]

[i]"Well, someone has to. You worry about all of us so, it's only right."[/i]

[i]"Hmhmhm...such a sweet thing you are."[/i]

Licking across his face before he left, Riptor settled down to sleep with a belly more full and sated. Clearing her mind the next day, she returned over the ocean back towards the Birthlands with a firm objective in mind and a belt of provisions round her belly. The great expanse of the savannah gave her a challenge in dodging between beasts and singling out the weaker bullish creatures as her prey, whilst always taking care to cover up any traces of her presence. Two days passed as she found herself reaching the desert, a barren scrubland as the grass rolling green soon stopped upon the harsh stone where flaxen hills stretched over the sandscape. Giant scorpions crossed the dunes chasing after smaller lizards to plunge their vicious stingers into their prey, before they saw Riptor as a prime feast.

She smirked and waited for the first one to strike, gouging from above with its stinger as she dodged immediately left and spinkicked to slice her own tail-blade straight through its appendage. Blood spurted with toxic green as it sharply recoiled in shock with its companion trying to attack from behind. Riptor swiftly rolled when it tried to grab her with its claws, crunching pincers that slammed into the dirt as she swung her tail like a whip across its back, raking over its chitinous shell with a deep scar to warn it off. The first arachnid saw its chance despite its bleeding tail, skittering forwards to bring its club-like pincers high to crush her, but the raptor jumped suddenly upon its back and struck her tail straight down over her head from above to crack its friend's face in two, twisting the face of the second scorpion in front of its comrade's eyes.

[i]"Worthless,"[/i] she wrenched her blade-tail free as the first scorpion tried to throw her off,[i]"and you still choose to fight knowing what will happen to you?"[/i]

The large beast was incensed with feral rage in its singular mind as it snapped and swiped with its claws when she leapt off its body, clacking and hissing venomously in a bullrush as Riptor cricked her neck and waited. The moment it came within range she summoned a rancorous breath from the back of her lungs as something clicked in her throat, setting alight a flame that burst from her jaws and scorched across the sands to burn the scorpion's face. Frightened by the sudden plume it tried to back off, but then came the raptor's shadow through the flame as she leapt forth with steel-blue claws shining from her feet that plunged through its back and cracked through the shell partially, hot jade ichor running between her toes as it writhed in startling pains before she ended its misery with her curling tail striking hard through its face behind her.

[i]"I warned you."[/i] She twisted the blade through its head with a cracking split. [i]"Now you join your friend."[/i]

She wrenched her tail free with a bloody spittle scything the air, hopping off its corpse still twitching as she kept hiking through the sands. The second morning she spent in the desert, Sulphide called her through his comms as she came upon a lone dark mountain in the distance.

[i]"Goood morning,"[/i] he crooned through,[i]"how are you faring?"[/i]

[i]"Well enough,"[/i] she murmured,[i]"this desert's quite big, but I see a mountain so I must be near the end of it."[/i]

[i]"Are you sure these humans lie beyond the east?"[/i]

[i]"It makes sense,"[/i] she looked out to the south,[i]"they travelled north of Oddclaw's settlement, there's a lone island east of the red mountains but it's much too small to support a human colony. Whatever I find here will make good progress on mapping out the terrain."[/i]

[i]"I only ask you be careful,"[/i] said Sulphide,[i]"you are farther away than ever from any protection."[/i]

[i]"You think a goddess needs protection?"[/i] Riptor rolled her eyes with a smirk.

[i]"Wha-...NOW you enjoy being called that?!"[/i]

[i]"No but my point still stands-"[/i]

[i]"Oh you are such a hypocrite!"[/i]

[i]"Hmhahahahaha-"[/i]

[i]"S-stop laughing!"[/i] cried Sulphide stomping his feet audibly. [i]"All I've done is respect you, at least be consistent for me!"[/i]

[i]"Hahalright alright I'm sorry,"[/i] she purred smooching the air,[i]"but, if you think of me that highly then surely you shouldn't worry."[/i]

[i]"I told you before, someone has to. Even if I know you can withstand anything."[/i]

[i]"Well, thank you for your caution. Speaking of,"[/i] she started walking,[i]"I wanted to thank you for that night and helping me refocus."[/i]

[i]"I know,"[/i] he said,[i]"it's what I'm here for right?"[/i]

[i]"You are, Sulphide. I'll let you know if I find anything, take care."[/i]

She clicked off her comms and kept travelling to the mountain. By the next night she had arrived at the foot of the Death Nest, a towering corpse of a volcanic god split through its middle where the blood of ancients had run molten over the earth, cooling to become black steppes that surrounded the great grave epitaph that loomed above her head. There was a constant rain of ash that drifted on the wind, dappling her back in grey and white as she stepped through the darkness where the smell of sulphur filled her nostrils with a thick miasma that burned in the back of her head. There came a fainter scent beneath that caught her attention, snuffling along the ground as she took the only correct path from this direction, finding herself soon in a large room where a large pool of water sat being filled by various little streams from the walls.

She struggled to pull herself away from its incredible taste, full of rich volcanic minerals that revitalised her for the journey ahead, filling a stone cup with water before sealing it tight with its clasp-shaped cover as she headed on through the cavern. It was only after drinking she realised the shapes in the walls were not entirely natural, but sculpted like her own kind twisted in anguish.

[i]"What...happened here?"[/i]

Riptor looked around the dead ends carefully to find more of the poor beasts, trapped within the walls of darkness with faces of silent horror. She shook her head and travelled on through the other side, finding a jungle with smaller predators briskly strutting through the growth. The sun burned the sea from one side of the world whilst the moon kissed the other horizon, showing a long curving beach that almost seemed to lead straight to the moon itself. Jagged rocks cracked through the sandbar like broken teeth as the closer she came towards the edge of the land, the more bright and colourful it seemed.

[i]"Sulphide, are you there?"[/i] she tapped her comms.

[i]"Mmm?!"[/i] He muttered half-asleep. [i]"Y-yes, yes everything alright?!"[/i]

[i]"Did I wake you?"[/i]

[i]"No no, no just resting my eyes what did you see?"[/i]

[i]"I have found the humans' base,"[/i] she crept further towards dancing lights and sounds of metallic symphony,[i]"very noisy place already."[/i]

[i]"Humans usually are, pitiful beasts."[/i]

[i]"Seems I came at a good time to watch, they seem to be enjoying themselves with...whatever you call this."[/i]

[i]"What are they doing?"[/i]

[i]"...it...seems to be some sort of large gathering...I think they're dancing."[/i]

Treading towards one of the larger rocks that she hid behind, Riptor watched upon a grand stage that had been set up on the beach, a large rectangular installation where lights bedazzled on rigs swept their gaze across the beach. An ocean of bodies framed before it in black shadow as humans and mechanical beasts stomped their hooves and feet with whooping joy towards the stage where there played four different creatures. A bipedal reptile shredding his fingers along a cherry-red guitar; a squat green-haired urchin with a sleek brown bass beside him; a hooded character in brown-and-blue robes pounding away at the drums; and lastly a wolf of vanilla steel who danced with a microphone and sang the night away.

Everyone was jumping on the sands, small as the crowd was the noise they made was enough for Riptor to sneer with annoyance at the din of their music combined with the whooping and hollering of humans and machines. Clicking her visual recorder on she scanned the environment for any familiar faces, whizzing across moletanks and apebots and rhinos next to penguins and bears and tigers of steel.

[i]"This place gets more bizarre by the day,"[/i] she muttered.

[i]"Care to show me?"[/i] asked Sulphide.

[i]"I can't transmit and record at the same time, you know that."[/i]

[i]"Well as long as you're alright, perhaps a play-by-play then?"[/i]

[i]"The humans have machines...in the shapes of beasts, mockeries, servants no doubt."[/i]

[i]"Typical,"[/i] Sulphide huffed,[i]"when they can't control nature they seek to imitate it instead as a prop for a slave!"[/i]

[i]"Oddly enough no raptors,"[/i] Riptor kept flicking her head back and forth,[i]"reptiles certainly, but no raptors."[/i]

[i]"Well now I just feel insulted!"[/i]

[i]"There's the female that met Oddclaw, metal hand, prosthetic probably. The male in the uniform, clearly the leader, watching over everyone."[/i]

[i]"What about that large reptile in the armour?"[/i] asked her subordinate.

[i]"He is on the stage,"[/i] she said focusing on him,[i]"playing one of those...instruments, I forget the name, it has a neck and strings an-"[/i]

[i]"A guitar?"[/i]

She looked to her side with a face Sulphide could feel from the other end.

[i]"What?! The humans at Ultratech had them in their downtime, I watched them!"[/i]

[i]"For studying I hope,"[/i] she snorted.

[i]"W-well...the noise they made was rather interesting-"[/i]

[i]"Don't tell me you enjoy this caterwauling!"[/i]

[i]"Well when you get back with your recording I'll tell you if I do!"[/i]

Riptor rolled her eyes and continued scanning, the giant lizard strumming his fingers fast across his electric guitar and walking along the stage whilst rearing his head back and losing himself to the music. The shorter guitarist with leafy hair was getting a little too into it himself, thrashing the bass as if throttling it to submission with a pained-looking face, compared to everyone else who seemed rather overjoyed at their performance. The drummer never missed a beat, his head always covered by his hood as his beak shone above skin-tight drums that shook from every tap of his sticks. The singer however stole the stage whether she wanted to or not, the mechanical wolf whose body gleamed beneath the lights like an angel in disguise, her sleek silver tail swishing behind with perfect pitch in her voice that sometimes doubled itself in self-accompaniment.

"This concert's BLOODY GREAT!" cried Jane pounding her feet in the crowd.

"HELL YEAH!" cried Andrea jumping beside her. "GOD I miss doing this shit!"

"Same here!" Anna chuckled beside them. "Course nothing's going to beat that Smokey Robinson concer-"

"Oh my GOD every fucking time you bring up Smokey when music's involved!"

"Have you not HEARD his voice Andrea, for god's sake that man is heavensent!"

"I mean Marvin Gaye's better," muttered Addison before Anna clipped her ear.

"No, NO, you are not going to make me choose between them they are both equally-talented and exceptional!"

"Alright alright just saying, god."

"Come on," Andrea waved between them, "let's just enjoy this concert that we have right now, it's the best we got."

"It is yes," Jane sighed swinging her arms, "god I'm really glad they got a band together!"

"And so multicultural!" cooed Anna clapping. "It's a positive testament to our diplomacy when we manage to bring together such different groups into one collective."

"That's true," Dixon crossed her arms, "scuse me a moment wouldya?"

She slipped through the crowd towards Thomas who was casually toe-tapping to the music, acting as chaperone essentially to the soldiers who were thumping and whooping with as much noise as they could, the robots beside them even louder with amplifiers in their skulls that sent ripples in the sea.

"Thomas!?" Dixon strolled up towards him. "Got a minute to talk?!"

"Sure," he shrugged as they stepped to a quiet corner of the stage, "something up?"

"Yeah just...you got a plan in mind for everyone when we get back?"

"What, you mean those like them?" he thumbed to the stage.

"Yeah exactly. I mean, let's face it, our world's not exactly gonna accept everyone on the get-go."

"It's up to everyone individually."

"So they either come with us, or they stay here?" she pointed to the ground. "You do realise what that's gonna do to the fossil record, like that'll actively undo what we came to do in the first place?"

"What DID we come to do in the first place?" Thomas sucked his cheeks. "We were supposed to be tracking anomalies but all we've done is create MORE of them with our tech!"

"Yeah...that's why we need to discuss this." She leaned against the stage wall and carefully clicked her tongue. "We have to take them with us. If they stay here, they're going to cause a ripple in the timeline, and I know it's going to be difficult."

"And those who don't want to come?"

"We have to explain it to them. I know we've told basically everyone here what our mission is and how this is the past of our world but-"

"And what about Mohberrin Village?" Thomas tapped his chin. "They won't come with us, you know that."

"And we can't send them back...god." She clasped her forehead with a deep sigh. "We really fucked up, didn't we Tom?"

"May I infer upon this discussion?"

A man in pale robes stepped from the side bowing courteous to both.

"O-oh, hey Haytham," Dixon waved softly, "this is kinda private-"

"I know, my apologies but I understand that this is a prescited matter which affects all of us without your station."

"It does," said Brightman turning to him, "and I hope you've come with a brilliant solution.

"Well, perhaps not myself but I wanted to elucidate upon a memory that Andrea must surely share with me."

"Um, what?"

"Do you recall when we went to the lunar base, the records that were left behind from the parallel Earth? I noted down a few fascinating details especially concerning one entry that specified plans for an 'ark' to send species millions of years towards the future, as a means to protect them from their implosive parepochism. Perhaps we can do the same."

"Their-...what, okay, Andrea what is he-"

"You're right," she gasped clicking fingers, "god, dammit you're right how did I forget this!?"

"Someone gonna explain this to me or should I just leave?" Thomas gestured vaguely annoyed.

"The people from alternate Earth, where Meridian-5 came from, they talked about a plan called 'Noah's Ark' which was to take the dinosaurs of one region affected by the anomalies, and send them millions of years after our present. Time moves onwards, at least in our dimension it does, so if we moved THIS continent to the future-"

"Those who stay behind will be safe...unless the future's got Terminators."

"Send an initial party through," said Haytham tapping the Omnilex at his side, "once you have perfected your chronomancy here by returning to your homestead, you could return with a much greater device to take this land and shunt it towards a future apanthropinized."

"Does he always talk like this?" Thomas thumbed whilst looking at Dixon.

"Yes," she smirked, "and that's why I love him but he's right. The Ark plan was an idea that they had which, theoretically speaking, would not only keep the inhabitants here safe, but also preserve our fossil record from any repercussions."

"So instead of making people leave, we just move the continent itself?"

"Exactly," Haytham nodded, "I understand you already have much work to undertake, so I wish to offer auturgy in order to alleviate the burden."

"Like a pet project?" Thomas asked.

"Oh that would be wonderful," Andrea took Haytham's hand and pulled him into a hug, "mmmmm god that would help me so much when I already got enough as it is."

"I am more than willing to bajulate your needs," said Durai smooching her hair, "you just focus on your bitempian work, whereas I shall ministrate the Ark initiative so that this landmass shall be set for its exodus by the eveniency of your return."

"Thank you." She nuzzled against his chest. "Well, I guess that's THAT solved, sorry to waste your time Thomas."

"It's fine," he nodded smiling, "glad we have a workable solution for this, truthfully I been worrying about it for a while and just assumed that you had a plan."

"First mistake is to assume anything about me...though, we should probably tell Oddclaw at least about our plan, there's a lotta tribes out there plus the environment's gonna be different in the future."

"I shall infer a reasonable precis," said Haytham stroking his beard, "in order to best explain the benefits of keeping this land safe and content with their lives uninterrupted."

"Thanks Haytham."

She smiled with a wink as Thomas left them be, all of which Riptor was watching from afar when her recorder-eye zoomed in on their faces.

[i]"Didn't think I'd have to read their disgusting lips again,"[/i] she murmured, [i]"but that's all they said for now."[/i]

[i]"So they come from the future of this world?"[/i] Sulphide reiterated. [i]"Interesting."[/i]

[i]"And they plan on taking this entire continent to an even further future?! For what, to satisfy their own desire for a pathetic TASTE of dominance?!"[/i]

[i]"From what you told me it seems that their experiments in the past have distorted something in their present."[/i]

[i]"Good!"[/i] She scoffed sweeping her head over the crowd. [i]"They deserve it for their incompetence, their reckless blundering like children in a cave will end their species and I only hope their deaths come quicker to leave this world at peace."[/i]

[i]"Do you think Oddclaw will agree?"[/i] asked her friend across the sea.

[i]"If he has any sense in him of course he won't!"[/i]

[i]"But he is on good terms with them and from what I've seen he is not especially-"[/i]

[i]"ENOUGH!"[/i] She snapped with a muted hiss. [i]"How DARE you think he would ever allow his tribe to be just dragged away from their home?!"[/i]

[i]"To be fair he's not the actual leader-"[/i]

[i]"AND WHY NOT?!"[/i]

She stopped briefly in the silence from Sulphide as she sat back against the rocks. Her head felt warmer than usual as she clicked off her recording to stop and think.

[i]"Are you alright?"[/i] he asked from the comms.

[i]"I...never mind, I'm done with reconnaissance we have all we need."[/i]

[i]"Good. Thank you."[/i]

[i]"For what?"[/i]

[i]"Just...doing all you can for us, I appreciate everything you do."[/i]

[i]"I know...I'm off to sleep,"[/i] she stood up and headed west, [i]"there's a jungle I passed the other end of the beach that's safe."[/i]

[i]"Alright, please be careful."[/i] He purred with a soft kissing sound as she chuckled, [i]"sleep well Riptor."[/i]

[i]"You too Sulphide."[/i]

The concert soon ended as Riptor made her way back to the jungle, the crowd going wild as the band took their bow and waved to the audience.

"THANK YOUUUU!" Amy shouted. "WE ARE SPELLBOUND SYMPHONY, YOU'VE BEEN A GREAT AUDIENCE!"

"THE ONLY AUDIENCE WE HAVE!" cried Ribose from the drums. "REMEMBER TO DRINK RESPONSIBLY!"

As the crowd started to fill in back to the base, the wolf hopped off the stage into the waiting arms of Kevin who stood up in front bouncing on his legs.

"Daaaaaaamn girl that was AMAZING!"

"Hahah ya liked?!"

"Shit yeah I did, your voice is like, angels WISH they could sound as good as you!"

"Awhawww thanks," she smooched his head, "yanno normally I only have to change my voice for like dealing with sensitive patients, never got the chance to bust it out for a song."

"Well I'm glad I get to hear it," he took her hand as they walked towards the sea, "is this weird?"

"What is?"

"Us being like this, I mean I don't mind but what do you think?"

"Hmhmhmhm, well I'm here with you right?" Amy squeezed his waist. "You think I mind?"

"Oh I know you don't," he smirked, "even if I am half the man you need."

"Pffft, come on Kev don't say that!"

"What it's true! Then again I dunno which part of me you liked more, the metal or the fleshy part."

"Well...what about THIS part?"

She tapped his head with a giggle before they kissed, cold steel pressing against his lips as he softly slipped his tongue within. Kevin wrapped his arms round her back as she smiled back, smooching gently with her rotorised mouth carefully pulling at his tongue with teasing suckles before they sat down on the shore.

"I love this place," said Amy, "there's so much stuff here and yet not enough to be busy."

"Yeah it's pretty great," Kevin stretched his arms, "I mean I'm almost fifty-five now, fucked up we've all been here for like twenty-three years."

"Wait, seriously?! How did you guys not go crazy without civilisation?!"

"I mean we're adaptable, that's why we got here in the first place, we all got recruited because we had the right mentality to be away from the world for too long, yanno like they do it in Antarctica."

"Yeah I uh noticed," she grinned rubbing her head, "not a lotta psychological issues here, it's kinda surprising."

"Even after we faced off against demons, made friends with robots, made friends with the raptors, one time I even fixed a pteranodon's wing and they're like messenger buddies now!"

"Hah, no shit really?!"

"Yep!" He dusted his shoulder. "Just ehhh little bit of pro-strats surgery from the second best doctor in the world."

"Wow, big head much?"

"Well...you're the only other doctor here."

The wolf made a bashful face and pushed him away teasing.

"S-stoooop jeez!"

"Hhhahahaha," he pushed back with his shoulder, "sooo how is the moon base?"

"Oh it's awesome, it's great just being up on our own, doing our thing, keeping stuff rolling and feeling like we got a purpose without being bothered too much by people, like don't get me wrong I love you guys but sometimes it's nice to just have, yanno-"

"No no it's cool I getcha," Kevin patted her back, "I mean most of us came here to get away from life yanno...though if they told me I was gonna end up dating a robot-"

"I mean to be fair I never thought I'd be with a human either."

"I didn't think you'd say yes to this, I mean, not having oxytocin or dopamine or cortisol-"

"I mean I got similar ENOUGH chemicals, reploids need to have some emotion and sense of free will, yanno?"

"Right right...well, what you wanna do now?"

"Just wanna chill really," she laid back on her hands, "just wanna...feel the sand and hear the wind whilst watching the moon."

"Yeah," he laid fully on his side looking up at her, "that moon is so much fucking trouble, I used to get sick of looking at it."

"But not anymore?" said Amy looking back to him.

"No...now I can just see it being reflected on you and think 'man...she can make anything look beautiful'."

"Okay you're seriously laying it on thick."

"Hhhahah, want me to turn it down?"

"Juuust a skooch," she pinched her steel fingers, "we can just chill, like being here is about not being so high-maintenance yanno?"

"I gotcha."

They sat watching the moon in all its glory casting its silver sheen across the waves. Amy wondered if any of her friends saw her from the base, whilst Kevin kept his eyes on her. At the other side of the stage however was a less pleasant engagement where Haytham kissed Andrea's hands and waved her goodnight, seeing the shadow of his student from the wings accompanied by a hulking lizard behind him.

"Master I must speak with you,"

"Aaaaah James," Haytham clapped his hands, "may I say your performance was exceptional, I am overjoyed to see you take up such interests."

"Thank you," James bowed with guitar on his back and umbrella in his hand, "but we need to talk about that book-"

"James I have told you before, please do not pursue this-"

"Please, just listen!"

Haytham sighed as the lemming braced himself stepping forwards.

"I am a Scribe of my village, I have been given responsibility that I have worn upon my shoulders considerably well, and you trust me with knowledge beyond my ken from all the realms we have travelled."

"That is correct," Haytham nodded, "but this is the exception, one and only I assure you."

"Can I at least ask why?" the student tapped his brolly in the sand. "Do you not believe I am capable of bearing this knowledge?"

"It is not a question of capability James, it is a duty I must take from my birthright as an Ivalician."

"Why does that matter when you yourself said you never wish to return there again?!"

"Now you misunderstood. What I said was I had no reason to return, not that I never wish to."

"DON'T split hairs with me!" James thrust a finger at him. "You care not for your home so why should you care about upholding its rights when you are now a citizen of MY home?!"

"The same reason we respect the laws of THIS land despite not being citizens of it, out of filial duty."

"Is this book truly so terrible that you would deign to stifle my learning, as your STUDENT, to not undertake it myself-"

"Yes." The master crossed his arm over his chest. "Forgive me James, I know that you may feel offended, but please do not construe this as incertitude of your abilities. This is protection, to incarcerate the tome that aims to defedate any who peruse it and I tell you now in fullest fealty, that I never read beyond what I read that first day when you brought it through for fear of its apocryphal dogma."

"That I believe," said James tenting his hands, "but my issue is with you not trusting me to make that decision, myself."

"As your mentor to which your own chieftain gave me full guardianship over, it is my right to choose what path you take to err from mistakes."

"Well..."

James walked up to his master and stood upon his toes with bitterous scowl.

"Perhaps I wish to make my [b]own[/b] mistakes, Haytham."

Turning with a sweep of his cloak, James marched off with the knight following after as Haytham shook his head with hand on his brow in reticence. Chanoch hunched over the lemming, his hand tightening on the umbrella's handle with his thumb pushing against the warm steel.

"Your performance was perfect."

"Hmm," he kept walking.

"You make a wonderful bard."

"Thanks."

"...James, please do not do this."

"Do what?" He stopped and looked up at him. "Be insulted that my master doesn't trust me to handle something?!"

"What do you do then?" Chanoch shrugged. "Prove to him you can?"

"Prove...yes. Yes, alright, if I have to prove to him then I shall do so. Chanoch..."

James rubbed his hands with a growing smile.

"I believe it is time for another experiment."

Morning had broken over the Hunters' Nest, dawn's creeping fingers over the sea that turned a shade of sweet golden orange. A young boy stood on the beach south of the raptor nests, staring towards the endless sea as he tried to squint for the smallest change in the waves whilst stepping forth onto pale sands. The sun shone upon his back showing a long wooden blade attached by the vines wrapped like a bandolier round his body, the scrunching sand warm beneath his feet as he clenched his claws keeping watch over the shoreline. A soft breeze tickled across his legs, ruffling the sporran of leaves that covered his crotch as he stretched his arms above then bent his legs forwards with a little hop. Then he saw something glint, a shimmer of diamond-blue amongst the waves as he hurried down towards the edge of the beach until the waters lapped his feet.

[i]"HEYYYYYYY!"[/i]

He waved to the tremors of the sea as something splashed peeking above the water, noticing him as it darted through the breach and split the waves in two before touching the shallows to splash over him.

[i]"Hey! Morning!"[/i]

[i]"Heehehee, hiiii Highwaaaave!"[/i]

Floating before him in the water was a grey icthyosaur with a shining blue dorsal fin crowning her body. The Acamptonectes chittered with a bump of her long beak towards the raptor's belly.

[i]"Sleep well?"[/i] she asked.

[i]"Mmhmm!"[/i] Seaclaw waded in to her side. [i]"How 'bout you?!"[/i]

[i]"Pretty good, I mean long as I keep swimming it's all good."[/i]

[i]"Whuh, whuuuh whutcha mean?"[/i]

[i]"Oh I swim when I sleep, gotta keep swimming when you're out there in the ocean."[/i]

[i]"Woooow, you can DO that?!"[/i] Seaclaw threw his arms down in shock sending little splashes. [i]"That's AMAZING!"[/i]

[i]"S'not THAT hard,"[/i] said Highwave circling around him,[i]"but yanno it's just what I do, being a fish an' all."[/i]

[i]"I don' do anything when I sleep, just...sleep."[/i]

[i]"Hmhahaha, really you don't like, walk when you sleep?"[/i]

[i]"Nah-uh, I just do this."[/i]

He stepped back on the shore and laid down on the sand, pretending to sleep with little snoozy sounds that made Highwave giggle.

[i]"Hheheh, wow you just look dead!"[/i]

[i]"Heehee!"[/i] He bounced up with sand on his back and waded into the water again. [i]"Soooo I gots food fer us if we get hungry."[/i]

[i]"I already ate, but thanks. So if you don't eat fish what do you eat?"[/i]

[i]"Uhhhh...meat?"[/i] He pulled out a bloody piece from his satchel. [i]"Wanna taste?"[/i]

[i]"Ehhh, sure?"[/i]

She took it gently from his hand with her razor-sharp teeth lining her beak, chewing with a little gulp and a curious cheep.

[i]"Heeey that's pretty tasty!"[/i]

[i]"Issa three-horn!"[/i] squeaked Seaclaw. [i]"They taste gooood."[/i]

[i]"Yeah, d'you hunt it yourself?!"[/i]

[i]"Mmhmm, with mah father an' mother an' brother an' sister!"[/i]

[i]"Right your family,"[/i] she rolled her eyes,[i]"so what are you up to today?"[/i]

[i]"I'm gonna go huntin', mah family are, gonna go a long LOOOONG journey to hunt more big beasts!"[/i]

[i]"Wow, you nervous?"[/i]

[i]"Nah-uh, I got mah father, an' mother an' my brother an' sister with me!"[/i]

[i]"I got three brothers, they're the worst."[/i] She swam out a little ways from the shallows with a swish of her tail. [i]"Buuut they are pretty fun to be around with when nobody else plays with me."[/i]

[i]"My brother's REALLY clever!"[/i] said Seaclaw swimming after her. [i]"He knows lotsa things, like what kinda smallwings there are an' which ones can kill you!"[/i]

[i]"Smallwings?"[/i] she squinted with a turn of her head.

[i]"They're reaaaally small things like this,"[/i] the child pinched his fingers,[i]"an' they got wings an' they like to sit on yer face an' bite you!"[/i]

[i]"Huh...sounds annoying."[/i]

[i]"Yeaaaah...sooooo,"[/i] he climbed onto her back as she floated close to him,[i]"whuuuut are you gonna do today?"[/i]

[i]"Oh I got nothing until the sun's high,"[/i] said Highwave rowing her flippers,[i]"I did find a new cave that's not too far!"[/i]

[i]"YEAH!"[/i] Seaclaw straddled her firm with hands gripping at her fin. [i]"Um, we're not going TOO far are we?"[/i]

[i]"Naaah yer too small, don't worry we're sticking close to the land now hold on tight!"[/i]

Gripping his claws against her smooth scales they soon headed off towards the west, skirting round the beach in a gentle paddle as Highwave dipped halfway down to give her friend the feeling of swimming whilst submerging herself comfortably. The sounds of the sea drifted on by as Seaclaw kicked his legs softly in the water, leaving trails behind them as he bounced slightly on her back with excitement as she undulated through the sea. Cutting a clear path through the water they made a half-circle run around the Hunters' Nest territory where Seaclaw pointed out all the places of his home.

[i]"Dat's mah uncle's faaaavourite tree."[/i]

[i]"He has a favourite tree?"[/i] she raised her beak.

[i]"Yah, he knows LOTS about smallwings a-and crawlers!"[/i]

[i]"Right, those things, yanno I think I know what you're talking about now, we got these crawlers in the sea that are pretty crunchy!"[/i]

[i]"Really, whut they like?!"[/i]

[i]"They got these big claws on the front-"[/i]

[i]"OH!"[/i] Seaclaw clapped. [i]"S-stonefish, pinchies, mah aunts love eatin' them!"[/i]

[i]"Stonefish?!"[/i] The icthyosaurid chittered a cackle. [i]"Th-they're not even fish!"[/i]

[i]"They in the sea, so they're fish!"[/i]

[i]"Not everything in the sea is a fish!"[/i]

[i]"Reaaally?"[/i]

[i]"Yeah like they don't even swim, you can't be a fish if you don't SWIM!"[/i]

[i]"Sooooo,"[/i] Seaclaw leaned forwards to look at her face,[i]"am...I a fish?"[/i]

[i]"Pfffft maybe,"[/i] she turned her beak to him,[i]"if you were like born in the sea."[/i]

[i]"Oh, n-no I wuz born over there,"[/i] he pointed at the trees,[i]"OOH, that's the Dry Mountain!"[/i]

[i]"Oooh sounds bad, don't like it dry."[/i]

[i]"It's not bad, mah father likes going up it to uhhh clean his stonefire!"[/i]

[i]"Stonefire?"[/i] Highwave dipped beneath a coming wave.

[i]"Yeah!"[/i] Seaclaw pushed through the crest as it splashed down his back. [i]"Father's got this stone that makes FIRE come out, it's really strong, I saw him kill a threehorn with it, an' its face went BSHHHWWWWWW!"[/i]

He made a fake explosion noise with his claws slowly pulling off his face, much to Highwave's amusement as she smirked with rippling teeth.

[i]"He sounds really dangerous."[/i]

[i]"But he's nice, don't worry he wouldn't hurt you, he doesn't hunt fish!"[/i]

[i]"Oh that's good!"[/i]

[i]"Mah uncle Fishclaw does soooo watch out fer him!"[/i]

[i]"Aaaand which one is that?"[/i]

[i]"He looks uhhhh, like, his scales look like blood an' his eyes are like stone."[/i]

[i]"Ahhh okay, I'll keep an eye out then."[/i]

Twenty minutes later they soon found a small cove at the far eastern reach of the continent, a large overhang of the forest edge where trees stood tall above the waters on a precipice of green. Roots twisted downwards through the soil like stalactites of wood that arched over the inlet as they sheltered beneath the shade. Seaclaw hopped off and started exploring the cove with a spring in his step, the tide barely reaching the inlet as he raced the length of the shore before heading straight back towards his friend floating along the quiet bay.

[i]"Wooooow,"[/i] the boy gazed out towards the sea.

[i]"It's not THAT amazing,"[/i] snickered Highwave.

[i]"B-but, it's like

[i]"B-but, but, it's like sekrit sands!"[/i]

[i]"Hhhahaha, hey that's not a bad idea! Call it the secret sands."[/i]

[i]"YEAH, the sekrit s-sands, but it's OUR sekrit sands!"[/i]

Seaclaw pushed back into the water and started swimming around Highwave who in turn circled him, a playful ourobouros as they tried to nip at each other's tails with biting nums and small games where he would either swim underneath, or she would jump over him causing a great splash that soaked his head to make him counter with his own slapping of claws across the water to splish her face.

[i]"Yanno my brothers still don't believe me,"[/i] she said rolling on her back,[i]"that I met a land-hunter who can swim."[/i]

[i]"Whut if I could meet 'em?"[/i] he asked climbing onto her belly. [i]"Yer family sound fun!"[/i]

[i]"Mmmmm, well I kinda want to be alone out here."[/i]

[i]"Oh."[/i]

[i]"But you're okay, you're not family so it's good if you wanna be with me."[/i]

[i]"I-i do, I like you Highwave!"[/i]

[i]"Thanks...I like you too..."[/i] she sighed and pushed her fins gently as they floated,[i]"just nice sometimes to get away from your pod you know, not get your beak bent about things."[/i]

[i]"Like whut?"[/i] the raptor leaned forwards.

[i]"Ahhh I don't wanna talk about boring things hey why don't we check out that cave?!"[/i]

[i]"OOOH, yeah!"[/i]

Rolling him off she waited for him to climb on her back before she swam over towards one end of the shore, heading just past the reach of the sandbar to where a cave entrance sat. Stone and dirt mixed together with loosened sediment trickling down their backs as they floated carefully in its looming crevasse to find a small river heading into darkness.

[i]"Wooooow,"[/i] Seaclaw gasped ducking his head,[i]"looks really deep."[/i]

[i]"You never gone to a cave before?"[/i] she asked raising her beak.

[i]"N-no I been in caves, just uhh...not, ones that got any water in 'em!"[/i]

[i]"Ahhh...so, what you think's in here?"[/i]

[i]"You don' know?"[/i] Seaclaw waved his hand in the dark.

[i]"I didn't go ALL the way in,"[/i] she clicked her tongue at the walls,[i]"didn't wanna find something new without having you!"[/i]

[i]"OOOH!"[/i] The raptor grinned. [i]"But, I can't see anything!"[/i]

[i]"You don't have songsight?"[/i] She clicked again harder. [i]"My pod can do it, I just do this with my tongue and it shows me where all the stones are."[/i]

[i]"Nuh-uh,"[/i] he shook his head,[i]"when I can't see, I get fire."[/i]

[i]"Uhhh, you can't GET fire."[/i]

[i]"Yeah I can!"[/i]

He grabbed two stones from the wall and placed them on his friend's back, pulling out his wooden sword and cracking the rocks together at the swordtip which he moved over the water and away from Highwave. Sparks broke over the wood before it set alight with a burst of flame that he wielded above his head.

[i]"W-WOAH!"[/i] Highwave struggled not to thrash from the light. [i]"Wh-what are ya doing?!"[/i]

[i]"I made fire!"[/i] squeaked the raptor. [i]"Now I can see too!"[/i]

[i]"Uhhh...o-okayyy?! Just, keep it away from me, fire makes my skin all dry and it's really bad for me."[/i]

[i]"O-oh, okay sorry."[/i]

Doing his best to keep it aloft as they swam further in, Seaclaw gazed with excitement over the walls as shadows flickered whilst Highwave kept clicking to feel her way through the dark. The river twisted gently in the deepening cave as the world behind turned smaller with the fading light until Seaclaw's torch gleamed thick to paint them amber. Soon the river widened again and stopped towards a small pool where the raptor stepped off onto the shore and traced his torch along the ancient stone walls.

[i]"Woooow,"[/i] the boy gasped as he took a lap round the room,[i]"issa SEKRIT cave!"[/i]

[i]"Aren't most caves secret?"[/i] said Highwave resting her beak on the shore.

[i]"Uhhh...y-yeah, maybe?"[/i]

[i]"I mean they're always under you, you can't find them you gotta look for them!"[/i]

[i]"Ohhh yeaaah, yer right! Sooo this cave is like our sekrit!?"[/i]

[i]"Hah, hahaha, yeaaaah it sure is,"[/i] she rolled herself on her back to lazydrift,[i]"s'not a bad place though, I mean it's quiet and nobody'll find it."[/i]

[i]"So if we wanna just be alone,"[/i] Seaclaw wedged his torch between two rocks,[i]"we could just come here OOOH yeah like if we wanna escape from any greatbeasts!"[/i]

[i]"Or your uncle in my case,"[/i] she flicked her tongue at him,[i]"sure that'd be a good idea, our safe cave."[/i]

[i]"Yeah, safe cave, just fer us!"[/i]

[i]"Hhheheheheh...so you really can't see when it's this dark?"[/i]

[i]"Uh-uh,"[/i] he sat by edge of the pool,[i]"when it's night, I can see good cuz the stars a-an' the moon are out so I can see!"[/i]

[i]"Yeaaah that's fair, but when you're down underneath where the light can't reach, you need all your senses when you can't see like with my songsight."[/i]

[i]"So how do you...um...s-songsight?"[/i]

[i]"When I do this,"[/i] she clicked her tongue again,[i]"it makes a sound that bounces off everything around me and I can see allll the shapes around me, like you and the cave and the water."[/i]

[i]"Oooooh,"[/i] Seaclaw dangled his feet in the water,[i]"so...whut do I look like?"[/i]

[i]"You look like you're made of bone,"[/i] she nudged his knee,[i]"like without all the flesh on you."[/i]

[i]"You can see my BONES?!"[/i]

[i]"Hahaha no no I mean it looks LIKE you're made of bone."[/i]

[i]"But, I DO have bones!"[/i]

[i]"Pfffft, no I-...yeah you know what you're right I guess that's what I am seeing haha!"[/i]

[i]"Heehehee!"[/i]

He brought out his food and started to eat, sharing what he had with his friend as they savoured the sweet meat, basking in the darkness as the fire glowed behind his back. They took in the silence of sharp flames crackling beside the soft waters that rippled round his feet, the raptor nibbling away as he fed Highwave small bits for her to gulp down. Sometimes he chucked them above her head for her to catch as she snapped them out the air before splashing back down into the pool.

[i]"Mmmm, all gone!"[/i] Seaclaw showed his empty satchel. [i]"Wanna go back now?!"[/i]

[i]"Yeaaaah I'd like to see the sun again."[/i]

She turned herself round and offered her back to him, the raptor taking up his burning sword and hopping on as they swam their way out towards the sea once more. Once they saw the sun Seaclaw doused his torch in the water carefully as the sun glistened on their heads, skirting towards the beach as he leapt off and sheathed his sword against his back.

[i]"So you off to hunt?"[/i] she asked.

[i]"Yah!"[/i] Seaclaw grinned. [i]"I had fun, you wanna go back to the cave again?!"[/i]

[i]"Yeah like uhhh six-and-one days after?"[/i]

[i]"Okay! Bye Highwaaaave!"[/i]

[i]"Bye bye, take care!"[/i]

Throwing herself back with a great leap she splashed into the bow of a cresting wave that snuck up behind as Seaclaw watched her dorsal fin streak through the waters like a cold blade of azure. He grinned with a toothy smile and clapped his hands before walking back towards the forest, swinging his sword around himself and briefly imagining an enemy upon him. He ducked then stabbed, rolled and parried with an upwards strike before hopping back and slashing forwards with a mighty cut that cleaved the sand in twain. Something he felt from behind as he ducked and spun low with a spiralling cut at the enemy's legs that he finished with a whirling slash.

[i]"HYYAAH, HRAAAAH!"[/i]

[i]"You fight well."[/i]

[i]"A-AAAH!"[/i] He staggered falling back from a voice. [i]"Wh-whuh, who-U-UM, I WUZN'T DOIN' ANYTHING!"[/i]

[i]"It's alright,"[/i] said the female approaching,[i]"I couldn't help watching you, for a raptor your age you fight well."[/i]

[i]"U-um...um...th-thank youuuu!"[/i] Seaclaw blushed rubbing his neck. [i]"Um, wh-who are you?"[/i]

[i]"My name's...Rumble."[/i]

Stepping from the shadows of the forest came a strange-looking raptor, her claws a lightning-blue with rippling lights down the metallic frills that crested the top of her head.

[i]"I-i don't know you,"[/i] Seaclaw backed off carefully.

[i]"Oh don't worry I'm not here to hunt,"[/i] she bowed her head with submissive purr,[i]"I'm just travelling, I saw you and I couldn't help watching."[/i]

[i]"O-o-okay,"[/i] the boy bowed with a smile,[i]"I'm Seaclaw!"[/i]

[i]"Nice to meet you Seaclaw,"[/i] the stranger smiled hiding her teeth,[i]"are you alone?"[/i]

[i]"Nuh-uh, I got my family, I wuz just going back to them."[/i]

[i]"Having a little adventure by yourself?"[/i]

[i]"Y-yah, I wuz just uhhh, playfighting, yah!"[/i]

[i]"Hmhmhaha I see, yes."[/i] She sat down on the sands with a sigh. [i]"Mmmm it's good to sharpen your claws."[/i]

[i]"Sooo where are you from?"[/i]

[i]"Far across the sea."[/i]

[i]"Wow really?!"[/i] he gasped sitting down beside her. [i]"C-can you swim too?!"[/i]

[i]"Hmhmhaha no, nooo I had some help, now I'm just roaming all alone."[/i]

[i]"Awwww...you should join us, mah family's in a tribe, y-you could make lotsa friends!"[/i]

[i]"Hahaha, ohhh I wouldn't know if I could be in a pack again,"[/i] she rubbed the screw of her chest with her claws,[i]"but thank you for offering."[/i]

[i]"Are you worried?"[/i] he cocked his head.

[i]"Worried?"[/i]

[i]"That you won't make any friends."[/i]

[i]"Well, no not that, I just wouldn't want to intrude as a stranger to your pack."[/i]

[i]"W-well, my mother wuz a stranger that my father met, an' she's in the tribe a-an' then they had me!"[/i] He swept his arms in a tahdah.

[i]"Hhhahahaha, really?!"[/i] she smirked stretching her claws. [i]"Your mother's not from your pack?"[/i]

[i]"Nuh-uh, she wuz uhhh...uhhh like alllll the way north!"[/i] Seaclaw pointed thus with a long reach over his head. [i]"So you could uhm, you, y-you could be friends with us!"[/i]

[i]"I appreciate that Seaclaw, thank you. I will consider it, I've been...alone for some time."[/i]

[i]"So...is that why you came all the way across the sea, to find...someone to be with?"[/i]

She looked to him with an odd glint as her smile faded from her face.

[i]"I...wh-what?"[/i]

[i]"I mean,"[/i] Seaclaw bit his lip,[i]"s'not fun being all alone, right?"[/i]

[i]"No it isn't. Hmm...do you have friends?"[/i]

[i]"Yah, I-i have ummm, my, my family an', uncle Jeremy, an' Highwave an' Stonetree an' Leafhair!"[/i]

[i]"Wow, you have quite a lot of friends, how lucky you are!"[/i]

[i]"Yah, m-my friends are allll from far away too!"[/i]

[i]"Not anyone in your pack besides your family?"[/i]

[i]"Nuh-uh,"[/i] he smirked and shrugged,[i]"I dunno why, maybe cuz I'm different?"[/i]

[i]"I did want to ask,"[/i] she purred sniffing across his head,[i]"you're not like any other raptor I've met."[/i]

[i]"That's cuz my father's different too, he looks like me!"[/i]

[i]"Really?"[/i] The stranger feigned surprise reeling back. [i]"What is he like?"[/i]

[i]"He's the best hunter ever!"[/i] Seaclaw stood up throwing his hands. [i]"H-he's like, REALLY strong, he's got this stone, that makes FIRE an' he has lotsa friends a-an' they're my friends too!"[/i]

[i]"What about your mother, what's she like?"[/i]

[i]"She's the best hunter too, she keeps me warm in mah nest with mah brother an' sister, a-an' when I get hurt, she cleans me. She doesn' like my grandmother though, I dunno why, maybe cuz they're both like reaaaally oooold."[/i]

[i]"Hhhahahaha, is your mother quite old?"[/i] she chirped tapping her claws.

[i]"Y-yeaaaah, but she still hunts!"[/i] squeaked Seaclaw kicking his feet. [i]"She uhhh, doesn't run as fast as us, she watches a-an' waits an' knows when to kill sumthin' good!"[/i]

[i]"But she's not as fast as your father or you?"[/i]

[i]"I-i'm not that fast either so is okay."[/i]

[i]"You only have a brother and sister?"[/i] She laid her head in the sand.

[i]"Uhhh yah! Mother said she only laid THREE eggs ever in her whoooole life, but they were the best eggs she ever laid cuz they had ME an' my brother an' my sister!"[/i]

[i]"Hhhaahaha...I see.

[i]"OH-kayyys I have to go now,"[/i] he turned to head off north looking back to her,[i]"do you um...do you want me to be yer friend Rumble?"[/i]

[i]"What?"[/i] The stranger pulled herself up.

[i]"Cuz, if you um, wanna join us, th-then I'll be your friend if you want to."[/i]

[i]"You would...hah, you would be my first friend in your pack?"[/i]

[i]"Yah!"[/i] He nodded grinning.

[i]"...I'll think about it. Thank you."[/i] She bowed and headed west towards the cliffs. [i]"I hope you have a good hunt, Seaclaw."[/i]

[i]"Okays, goodbyyye!"[/i]

He waved to the raptor as he faded through the trees, bursting at the seams with excitement whilst Riptor returned to her hiding spot along the southern cliffs to the west of the beach. Her recorder clicked off in her eye as she leapt towards the cliff, scaling up towards a cubby hole just out of reach from most beasts where she curled up against herself and pondered with the sounds of the soothing sea crashing beneath.

[i]"What a wonderful child."[/i]

[i]"GUH!"[/i] She jerked against the wall from the voice in her ear. [i]"S-suh, Sulphide, what, what is it?!"[/i]

[i]"Sorry did I startle you?"[/i]

[i]"No I...I was, about to sleep-wait, how do you know I met a child today?"[/i]

[i]"The same way I'm speaking to you."[/i]

[i]"...I...did I leave my comms on?"[/i] she tapped at her ear briefly.

[i]"Well of course you did, how else do I know?"[/i]

[i]"...right. Yes, so, what do you want?"[/i]

[i]"I was just checking on things,"[/i] mused Sulphide's voice,[i]"you seem to have made a good little friend."[/i]

[i]"He was very friendly,"[/i] she nodded,[i]"polite as well, maybe too friendly for a raptor."[/i]

[i]"But as a raptor yourself he would know no threat could come from you, yes?"[/i]

[i]"Right...hm, well, he makes a good mine of information on his family, I might be able to coax more if I play the lonesome beast."[/i]

[i]"Sounds a perfect idea,"[/i] said Sulphide's voice,[i]"maybe even use that friendship to become part of the family circle and acquaint with Oddclaw proper?"[/i]

[i]"That might be difficult,"[/i] she licked her snout,[i]"I'm only meeting with him since as a child he won't make a reliable witness to others about me."[/i]

[i]"But you want to meet Oddclaw eventually yes? At what point will you have to expose yourself to meet and greet him, perhaps if you can gain his trust somehow?"[/i]

[i]"When I have all the information I need,"[/i] Riptor looked towards the wall, [i]"I'm surprised you finally came round to my ideas Sulphide."[/i]

[i]"I know that you know best my leader. You are like a mother to me after all."[/i]

[i]"True but...well, if you're on board with it then good, I shall keep watch and see what else I can learn, I'll be back home in two weeks."[/i]

[i]"Good. I can hardly wait."[/i]

She laid her head down somewhat confused but was too distracted to focus on Sulphide's words as she debated her plan internal. She had to wait for the right moment to gain his trust and go as long as she could without exposing her real identity, slowly constructing a story of her origins for the next time she would meet the boy.