Isla Sorna Stories: Rebirth

[C S]

Wide eyed as he glanced up at the tumbling timber, Aircrest threw himself to the side, coming down on his flank just out from under one of the tree's branches. He then kicked against the ground and rolled onto his feet and let out a sigh of relief upon realizing that the egg in his maw was still intact. His relief soon turned to bitter disappointment as he saw thin streams of yoke through the leaves, for he knew the rest of the eggs had been crushed along with the mound. "Damn it! Damn it all!" Aircrest thought, his eyes locked in a glare as he looked from the fallen tree to to where it had toppled from...

[Pyronychus]

In his agonized, confused state the unexpected, ear piercing noises were a shock to the wounded raptor's senses. With a strained, gurgling growl of discomfort, he felt an involuntary spasm run through his body, not knowing if it was the volume of noise that caused it or the poison affecting his nervous system...

The twins both froze in their tracks, stunned by the strange outburst, exchanging a thoroughly confused glance. They had no idea what sort of creature could make such a sound, and both silently agreed not to try to go inside to find out. The sound, however, gave Sylicora an idea. She carefully crept forward until she was just one leafy fern bush away from the edge of the forest, then poked her head out and made a high-pitched bark, immediately pulling herself back in and motioning for Rhojis to move away. The gray raptor played along, ducking through the foliage in one direction, while Sylicora went the other way...

[dinoman666]

Nighteye barely flinched, his head twitching backwards ever so slightly when Ripper landed in front of him. "Ah, I thought I recognized you. You're Ripper, aren't you? Yes, veteran of the island! I must say, I am extremely impressed by that performance. You certainly are as skilled as I imagined. I am quite honored to have such a prestigious guest attend our little gathering here..." He glanced down at Beryl with a disturbingly gentle smile. "Oh, is something wrong? Best calm yourself, Ripper. You don't want to upset our fatherly friend here. It's bad enough that he'll start seeing things. Do you really want him to start hearing things too?"

The two guards turned at the cacophony from inside, then turned back to the call from the jungle. After a quick exchange of hisses, one of the two Troodon moved cautiously out into the open, his dappled, black-and-white form low to the ground, massively round eyes narrowed in the sunlight...

[The Kingpin]

"You assume a lot, yet you know little. typical for vermin consumed in their own self-confidence. One wonders how well that confidence shall hold once the Liliensternus pack responsible for shattering that Raptor's leg come looking for the pack that had congregated here and made that noise. The sight of what happens to you in the aftermath...now that, my friend, will be marvellous" hissed Ripper with a vitriolic grin, responding to the bark outside with one of his own, his bark ending with a whistling chitter. "The irony of it all, is that you now have two packs against you" he added with a chilling chuckle...


The clash ended almost the instant the tree fell, the small herbivores looking at the impact zone with bated breath, collectively recoiling in dismay as the mound was crushed....and a Raptor emerged, an egg in it's jaws. Crusher watched on in utter shock as in that instant, time seemed to stand still. dozens of eyes lay on the Raptor, the Triceratops' amongst them. the feathered herbivores began to make a sound akin to an angry parrot, a cacophony of snarling hisses that were almost mind numbing in their intensity, the herbivores' feathers splaying as each of them seemed to almost double in size as they edged towards the Raptor, their collective rage now focusing on it, as an angry snort came from the Triceratops, which saw the Raptor as a threat to be destroyed. All the while, Crusher was struggling to sustain his amusement, snickering at the hilarious twist of events. This was better than he could've hoped for...

[C S]

The green and black raptor inched his way backwards as the pack advanced, his attention constantly divided among the furious Caudipteryx and the Triceratops, who was certainly priming itself for a charge. His only thought as he became the target of the herbivores' wrath was "****". Breaking off to his right, Aircrest made a beeline for the nearest tree...

[Pyronychus]

Beryl hadn't moved since his spasm, and his eyelids fluttered half closed every few seconds, his head slowly dropping to the ground. As the adrenaline beginning to wear off, he started to feel lethargic... So tired that even the smallest movement felt as though it would take all his energy to complete. He simply lay there, jaw slightly open as he took shallow, panting breaths...

At the sound of a raptor's call from inside the cave, Sylicora stopped, peering through tiny gaps in the leaves at the creature that had stepped away from the cave. A short distance to her side, just inside the treeline, she heard Rhojis let out a string of chirping barks, as well as some soft, crunching footfalls as he moved around in the trees. Jumping on the idea herself, she started to move away from him, emitting short, screeching barks of her own...

[dinoman666]

Nighteye casually glanced down at Beryl. His eyes were glazed and filmy, a sign that the venom was finally taking effect. First, came the hallucinations, then muscle spasms and finally, it would all stop. Oh, he would still be alive, but only just. Enough to move his eyes, to see his surroundings, to maybe, ever-so-slightly manage a single coherent thought of his situation. And of course, to feel: the stiffness of his paralyzed limbs, the pain as he was made into a nest, and what could only be described as pure, unadulterated agony as the next generation found themselves surrounded by a perfect meal. Then, and only then, would he finally die, horrifically, deliciously slowly.

But enough about that. He had more immediate issues at the moment. Nighteye glanced back up at Ripper with a smile. "Do you think I am an idiot, Ripper? That I am a hatchling, only born yesterday? You are a terrible liar, raptor. I know exactly what waits for me out there: two useless, quivering juveniles who, if I was so foolish as to allow it, would enjoy watching as they saw their father fade away." He reared up, so he could stare Ripper straight in the eye. "But, if you are so sure of yourself and your little bluff, go ahead. Bring in your 'reinforcements.' I will gladly watch you all succumb to the sleeping sickness. Unless, of course, your so-called 'cure' is to be believed..." At the back of his mind, Nighteye was, admittedly, somewhat concerned about the Liliensternus, if Ripper's claim was true. However, no truly intelligent predator would dare attack a group of mutant Troodon unless they had a significant numbers advantage...

The Troodon moved in the direction of Rhojis, hissing menacingly. His partner didn't leave the cave entrance, but watched the source of Sylicora's barking carefully, prepared to attack if necessary...

[The Kingpin]

A sly smirk crept onto the Elder Raptor's face as he eyed the Troodon with chillingly indifferent amber eyes, amused rather than intimidated, as he uttered one simple sentence; "You'll live just long enough to feel that smirk ripped off your face"...





The Caudipteryx flock charged after the Raptor in a collective screech of fury, the Triceratops scraping a foot against the dust as it began to charge in pursuit. Crusher collapsed into a fit of laughter as he saw how quickly the situation had deteriorated for the Raptor..

[Pyronychus]

Suddenly, Rhojis fell silent, even his footsteps going quiet. Sylicora thought that maybe he was waiting for her to make the next sound, and was about to open her jaws to bark when a spot in the curving treeline just a few yards away seemed to explode. An eighteen foot, slender yet muscular, long necked saurian lunged from cover, a furious, gutteral snarl ripping through the air in the second before its jaws snapped shut on the Troodon's neck, and began violently thrashing the smaller dinosaur around, its bones emitting a series of muffled cracks as its slender neck broke in several places. Then, as if still unsatisfied with the damage it had caused, the Liliensternus stomped down on the Troodon's tail, still keeping a firm hold on the neck, and yanked hard, one of the fractured vertebra popping wetly as the head and half the neck parted company with the body. The predator then savagely flung the severed body part away, and raised its own double-red-crested head, letting out a call that started almost as a growl and rose sharply to a shrieking, multi-tone warble. It repeated the inharmonious noise twice more, and within seconds, a raucous chorus of similar calls reflected back from the forest west of the cave, each coming from a slightly different place and distance, betraying the presence of at least a dozen more of its kind. Within a few seconds, another smaller, but equally agitated dark gray Lili stepped into the open, yet another doing so several seconds later a few yards to its side, the rest not far behind, making their way to the source of their leader's call...

In the commotion, Sylicora bolted, stopping almost as soon as she started when she nearly ran into Rhojis, catching onto a tree trunk to help stop herself from careening into him, their identical yellow eyes wide with shock. "What do we do?!" Sylicora squeaked frantically. "Hide!" "Where?" The gray raptor glanced up at the tree, which had branches that looked low and close enough for them to reach. "Climb!" he hissed. "What? But I can't climb!" she protested almost hysterically, staring at him as he flung himself at the lowest branch, managing to hook in his claws and scramble up into a crouch. "Would you rather die?" he shot back before leaping to the next limb. With a nervous moan, the olive raptor jumped up after him, hoping she'd be able to stay in the tree this time...

[C S]

By the quaking caused by the Triceratops shaking the ground he stood on, Aircrest knew that its horns would pass in front of the tree just as he made his leap for the bark, resulting in a devastating end for the raptor. "And all for an egg!" He thought angrily in the split second it took to redirect himself. He spun on his leading foot towards the charging Triceratops, which was now no more than mere feet away, its lower body hidden in billowing dust clouds. For an instant he looked into its enraged eyes before leaping off of the leaf litter, coming down right on top of the hulking herbivore's back...

[dinoman666]

The second Troodon moved like a bullet and hit like a freight train, leaping several meters before slamming into the far larger Liliensternus' flank, digging his envenomed fangs deep into the predator's throat, reducing its cry to a gargle at the end of its third call. It wasn't a light, quick bite, intended for quick injection; the Troodon held fast, his jaws a vice, pumping as much venom as he could into the larger dinosaur's bloodstream. It would take longer to effect such a comparatively massive target, but at least he would eventually take the behemoth down with him...

Nighteye twisted his head towards the source of the roars, startled. Hiding his fuming anger and shock behind a calm facade, the Troodon hissed, "They were quick, I'll give them that. Come, we must leave. Let the raptors fend for themselves." Already, the Troodon pack was scampering towards the cave entrance, peering cautiously outside to find an easy escape route. Their packmate would provide a welcome distraction. "You win this round, Ripper. Enjoy it while you can," Nighteye growled, equally calmly...

[The Kingpin]

"There are no winners in war, Troodon. You'd best remember that. No benefit can be gleaned from crossing me" hissed Ripper equally calmly as the Troodon retreated, Ripper moving towards the fallen Beryl, being careful as he began to drag the Raptor deeper into the cave, where he knew the Liliensternus couldn't reach...


the Triceratops skidded to a halt as it bellowed in anger, the sensation of the Raptor's feet on it's back immediately sparking in it thoughts of being attacked by it's pack-mates. The Caudipteryx flock had turned around and were swarming towards the flailing herbivore, which bucked, it's rear legs leaving the ground as it kicked out furiously, the force of the movement enough to shake off even the flecks of dirt and mud stuck to the herbivore's thick hide...

[C S]

Using the panicked movement as a boost, Aircrest kicked off of the Triceratops and was launched several feet ahead of it, landing hard and immediately dropping into a roll to prevent injury to his legs. He got to his feet again after sliding a foot or so across the soil, dirt smeared onto one side of his body and promptly started running again, the hoarse sounding calls of the Caudipteryx going off behind him...

[Pyronychus]

The large Lili grunted on impact, his unusual size and the girth of his neck making it difficult for the creature's jaws to get a grip before he used the Troodon's own momentum to help throw his bulk to the ground and roll over, the Lili's weight enough to crush the life out of his attacker... Meanwhile, more hissing, infuriated Lilis were spilling into the clearing around the cave, glancing around madly, the crested predators ready to maul the first things that moved... which a young, but intensely irritated slate gray and black female discovered, was a whole group of the same thing that had downed her mate. Her eyes locked briefly on the pack inside the cave entrance, then with an enraged, earsplitting scream, she darted toward the cave, quickly followed by several others, her amber eyes ablaze with murderous intent...

[dinoman666]

The Liliensternus had power and numbers on their side, but the Troodon were far faster. They were already outside and sprinting for the treeline, chittering furiously, even as their packmate was flattened. Hopefully, he had done enough damage to the leader to at least delay them. Once they were back at Death Valley, they were safe...

"Tell me again why we're heading TOWARDS the noise?" Howler whined as he stumbled lazily between a pair of trees. Stoneclaw, walking in front of him with significantly more zeal, gave an annoyed snort. "Because, numbskull, we might get lucky and find a few easy carcasses. That definitely sounds like a fight." "But it also sounds like Troodon!" Howler shuddered. "Those guys give me the creeps..." "Don't be such a hatchling! We'll be fine as long as they don't spot us..." Howler, not feeling the slightest bit reassured, nevertheless trudged on, flinching as the next chorus of roars and screeches echoed through the jungle...

[The Kingpin]

Ripper wasted no time. the moment Beryl was out of danger, Ripper bolted from the cave, using the distraction of the Troodon and some shrubs, ferns and saplings growing to one side of the cave entrance to mask his retreat, disappearing into the forest in the direction of the nearest lake...


the flock of Caudipteryx gradually slowed down, realising it was a lost cause attempting to retrieve the last egg from a Raptor, especially one that was most likely alone and thus hard to track. the Triceratops meanwhile had slowed soon after the Raptor leapt off it's back, noting the absence of others and drawing the conclusion it was likely alone. with an irritated snort, it headed off in search for somewhere more secure and less plagued with predators...

[C S]

Aircrest took to the air, his legs muscles flexing as he leaped up onto a branch, landing in a crouch with all of his claws embedded in the wood. He looked over his shoulder, making sure the last of his pursuers were gone before shifting his weight on the tree limb. He laid along its length, dropped the egg into his clawed hands and tapped it against the timber, a small crack forming along the middle. He then held it up to his mouth, lapping up the yolk that started running out with his tongue, enjoying his small prize...

[Pyronychus]

The gray female lead the charge as the half dozen Lilis all bolted after the Troodon pack. Even though they weren't all able to keep up with the smaller carnivores, they were dead set on trying in any case, some of the smaller, more maneuverable pack members pulling ahead of the others in their race back to the trees. The other half of the pack however, was just beginning to emerge from the forest, scattered around the west edge of the clearing. As soon as they saw what the rest of their pack was doing, they too gave chase, heading straight toward their comrades, the Troodons now running down a fast-thinning corridor between the two closing groups...

Meanwhile, Beryl's attention was wavering between the real and the imaginary. He had felt himself move, and could hear a terrible noise from outside, though he seemed to confused to figure out what might be happening...

Sylicora and Rhojis had made it to a perch fifteen feet up in a leafy tree, unable to get a clear view of what was going on despite their efforts. At least, Sylicora thought, she hadn't slipped off this time...

[dinoman666]

The Troodon, once they got into the forest proper, had a significant advantage. Their innate agility and speed, combined with their size, allowed them to easily slip between trees and through brush the larger Liliensternus could not. As they outpaced and outmaneuvered the predators behind them, they also began to spread out, going in the same general direction, but no longer clustering close together. Death Valley was less than a mile away, and all they needed to do was keep the Lilis off-balance until then. As vicious as they were, they wouldn't dare enter such an inhospitable place...

Stoneclaw and Howler sped up slightly as they heard the din grow quieter, moving cautiously to the treeline as the last of the Liliensternus gave chase. "Howler, sniff around here," Stoneclaw hissed quietly, looking around to make sure none of the predators were staying behind in ambush positions. "I'll check out the clearing." Howler nodded mutely, sniffing both the air and dirt for signs of predators close by. Unfortunately, most of it was mixed up, though he could make out raptor and Troodon among them, ignorant of the two juveniles hiding above him...

[C S]

When he was finished with the joke, Aircrest quickly snapped up the developing Caudipteryx, downing the embryo in one bite. The raptor stared at the mostly empty egg shell, contemplating his effort for its reward. His expression was blank as he regarded the pearl colored shell that had specks of pink hidden in its plainness. "It wasn't worth it" He muttered to himself, tossing the shell to the ground. Nothing he had done that day was worth all the danger and discomfort he experienced, so he laid his chin down on the branch and gazed blankly into the tree tops, tired and aching. "So this is how that Rugops felt like. Go figure"