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Shadow (10 years ago)

"If you want, that's fine with me," my mother, Lily rumbled, "But you can't go venturing off into the world everyday like this. It worries me."

    "That's because mothers always get worried," Thunder chucked. Lily hit the back of his head with her tail in annoyance.

    "What? It's true!"

    "You don't seem worried of anything," She cooed.

    "I worry about you everyday," Dad replied quickly, smiling, and rubbing his nozzle with her own. Me, Thud, and Fern rolled our eyes.

    "Oh quit your weird faces you three," Lily moved her large T-Rex snout towards us, "You're gonna love somebody someday."

    "You think?" Fern smiled, "Because I feel like I'm the only sensible female out of my siblings!"

    "You're the only female Fern," I turned to her, "And stop bragging about yourself."

    "Like you could do better Shadow," Fern teased.

    "Alright guys," Thunder broke down the near-fight, "You guys can go enjoy yourselves out there, just don't be fighting each other, okay?"

    "And come back safe!" Lily muttered.

    "Yeah," Thud laughed.

    "Boys?" Lily stared at us with a big eye. I smiled.

    "I promise we'll come back safe," I said, then rubbed my cheek with her large snout, and felt comforted. She let her extended tooth poke me upon my about in a piercing comfort. The last feeling of my mother.

    "And don't go beyond the forest boundaries!" She yelled as we took off.

    "Do you think that they'll ever get tired?" Lily looked back at Thunder. Thunder's eyes went wide.

    "What them? I doubt it. But soon enough, they'll be adults, and they'll wish to be young, small, and energetic like us."

    "Yeah, I don't know, I think it's better being an adult," Lily disagreed, "Because it's a dangerous world out there."

    "Not if I'm with a beautiful female like you," Thunder blushed. Lily smiled, and together, they were about to hug. Then they stopped. Their arms wouldn't reach.

    "I hate my arms," Thunder growled, as he pulled away, unable to reach for her arms.

    "Darn it." Lily lowered down in failure.

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    The wind rushed in our faces as we ran through the forest, racing from here to there, from one point to another. I stayed on Thud's wobbling tail then entire time, though I knew that I was faster than him, but Fern was out, dashing into the plants and through hollow logs. I slid down the back of an ankylosaur, then between two trees, and through loads of plants. It was then when, out of nowhere, Fern got a boost and took off in her run, leaving both me and Thud in the dust.

    "Fern!" Thud was breathing hard, "Wait.....up.....you.....coward!" I too was out of breath, stumbling over to my brother. Both of us were dead tired, and even struggling to understand how Fern can keep running forever, and we couldn't even lift a foot off the ground.

    "She's crazy!" I gasped, "She's.....gonna be....the first velociraptor looking like a......skinny T-Rex!"

    "How......much meat did.....she eat yesterday?" Thud wondered, before hitting the floor in deep exhaustion.

    "I thought she.......just drank water yesterday,.....then.....ate a little bit since she was full."

    "Nah," Thud, gripped his chest, "I saw her eat a lot."

    "Damn," I breathed, "She never overheats does she?"

    "She might as well be warm-blooded," Thud struggled to his weary clawed feet, "Cause she never seems to overheat."

    "C'mon, we gotta find her," I groaned, then yanked Thud forwards, but he fell back down.

    "Can you walk?!" I cried.

    "Muuuggghhh...." Thud moaned, "I too tired...just give me a couple of.....hours...."

    "Don't make me leave your tail here in the middle of nowhere," I warned.

    "We're not in the middle of nowhere," Thud pushed himself to his quaking feet, "We're just a mile from home. That's not far," Then he paused, "For Fern at least." I looked forwards at the forest surrounding us, and the strange noises that echoed the forest. Worried for Fern's safety, I let out a loud squeakiest roar that darkened the noise of the forest to only my voice.

    "She should be able to hear that," I smiled, "At least I'm good at one thing, and that's roaring."

    "Oh shut your jaws," Thud rolled his eyes, "Your roar sounds like a dying mouse with a microphone."

    "What's a micro-"

    "Doesn't matter," Thud interrupted, "But hey, look at this!" He snatched up a pinecone from the ground, "Bet you can't take this from my mouth!"

    "Let me get it!" I smiled, then lunged forwards, sinking my jaws into the scented pinecone. Thud struggled to pull it free from my mouth, and so a tug-of-war went into play. I yanked hard, he yanked back. I used my tail for balance, and sort of cheated when I knocked Thud off balance with my tail, securing the pinecone in my jaws.

    "Okay," Thud was a bit annoyed, lifting from the ground, "That's beyond cheating!"

    "You had no rules!" I countered, "So I guess this is fair!" Suddenly, a hard breath of heat slammed into both of us, along with the nose-wrenching scent of dead meat. Both of our hearts skipped a beat as a deathly shadow fell over us both. Dad caught us I guess. But he never smelled of fresh, or in this case, dead meat, unless he ate with mom. We both turned our heads at the large body of what seemed like dad, but its bony face was white transitioned to black.

"Hey dad!" Thud cried, "Long-time, no see. Um, before you say anything, I don't know where Fern is, but we will find her. Okay? Dad? Dad?!" I noticed something peculiar. Its eyes were black. Dad's eyes were brown.

"Thud," I muttered, "Something's wrong."

"What could be wrong besides dad being upset? I mean look at him, he looks like he wants to eat us for abandoning our sister!" The T-Rex's beady eyes glared at us, teeth sharpened, and nostrils scenting the thought of fresh-kill.

"Because that's not dad," I realized. And then it lunged. Luckily, The tree trunk that he stood upon shattered, dropping him like a rock to our feet. Both me and Thud tumbled backwards in horror, and seconds later, I found myself tumbling downhill with Thud nearby. The world spun as my body met the ground countless time, before we hit ground level. It was unclear how far the T-Rex was from us, but we didn't care. I raced to my clawed feet towards my brother, who was straining in pain, and gripping one of his feet.

"I broke it!" He cried, tears rushing down his face, "I broke it, I broke it!"

"We need to go!" I roared, lifting him to his feet. But seconds later, larger feet slammed into the earth right in front of us. The ground quaked violently upon the landing, throwing me and Thud backwards into some mud. Both of us spiraled into the earth, before we both slammed our heads into a nearby rock. The world went fuzzy from my vision, and everything floated around me strangely. I couldn't move! I felt the ground shake once, then again. In a pattern. Finally, I cleared my vision, and opened my eyes weakly. A foot slammed right next to me, which shook the ground hard beneath my body. My heart began to beat harder and faster as I glanced up at the drooling T-Rex, ready to sink its teeth into our flesh.

"No," I began to panic as I saw its mouth slowly open, revealing its tongue and rows of sharp teeth, "No, no, NO!" I screamed, before it lunged. And that's the last I saw.