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Whiteclaw (17 days after)

"I rarely see you guys hunt," He sighed, "Usually the misinterpretation is that you guys roar before the hunt."

"Like this?" Shadow grinned, then inhaled hard. I should've shut my ears when I saw the signs coming, but it was too late. I thought Shadow had a microphone to his mouth when he finally released his tremendous roar to the world around us. I flinched hard as his throat bellowed and shook. The ground vibrated as the roar thundered louder than a stormcloud, and stronger than a wind's torrid breath, until it finally ceased from our ears, but continued onwards for miles ahead to the horizon itself. I gritted my teeth when everything around me just went silent, and a blood roaring ring echoed endlessly in my ear. Shadow coughed hard, then stuck out his tongue.

"Must've swallowed something..." He said to himself, spitting hard.

"That was..." Drexel didn't even have the words to describe it. I though he lost his ears just as badly as I did, "Great...it was great. We can't even roar like that."

"Dad taught me how to do it," Shadow swallowed, then continued, "He said it what makes me stronger. His roar is crazy loud, I don't think you'd wanna hear his. Maybe because he's so much larger than me."

"Hunting also makes you stronger," Drexel rubbed his ears until the ringing cleared, "So why don't we practice that first, and then incorporate your...nevermind...I can't even hear anymore." Drexel flexed his jaws for a few seconds, then breathed.

"There we go. Okay, I'll show you how it's done." He turned to me suddenly.

"You should help me out too Deinonychus."

"Me?" I was stunned as Shadow's eyes glanced at me. Drexel chuckled.

"Yes, you know more about this than anyone. Surely it's your most prized advantage of being you anyways, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I shrugged, joining besides Drexel.

"So what's first?" Shadow wondered, moving his bottom jaw from side to side. Drexel eyed me quickly, and my heart skipped a beat. Me? Again?

"Well," I just started talking suddenly without thinking, "What I do is bend my knees to keep me ready. One foot in front," I shifted my right foot forwards, "One foot in the back," I dragged my left foot back a bit at a slant, pinpointing my mark. My claws tapped on the ground, feeling any vibrations of herbivores nearby. But the only vibration I felt was Shadow moving his large feet over the loose dust. He was in my position a bit, and lowered at the point where he could move. His eyes still gazed at me, mocking my every move simultaneously to keep with my own program. I suddenly felt a sense of rememory strike me, knowing that this scene has happened before in my life.

It has.

With dad.

He taught me how he hunted.

He showed me how to stand.

"Every part of your body is a sense. You mainly have 5," He said to me when I was smaller, exampling it by sniffing the air himself, "But you mainly need to use 4. The first is scent. Smell, with the back of your nostrils. The more you flare them, the more scents you inherit. And your sense of smell tells you where they are, what they are," He pointed my eyes forwards to my brothers and sisters, "Who they are." Each scent was different, but it's reek was similar and memorable to my head. I knew Brownclaw, Blackclaw, Amberclaw, Razorclaw, and all of my other siblings scents by heart. I sniffed the air, matching each scent with each sibling, until it was recognizable and easy to follow, even from far away.

"Sight is another," He grinned, moving his claws in front of my eyes like leaves, "We could see far as carnivores. You just need to focus on something hard, and stick to its vision, so you won't forget."

"Like this?" The black hole on my eyes, my pupils, shrunk small and sharp, and flashed darkly as I stared into the undergrowth. There were little insects there, moving around in their strange patterns. Yet I could see their own physical attributions one by one.

"Yep!" Dad dipped his head, "The next one is your hearing. Every movement from the forest that you could hear?" I went quiet and bent my head to the side.

"Just birds."

"Focus harder Whiteclaw," He urged. I sighed, then went quiet once again. But this time my eyes closed. And I focused. Besides the melodious chips of birds, I heard the distant sounds of a herbivore's shrill calls for its youngling to return to the nest. I grinned.

"I heard a family of herbivores. Not sure who though."

"That's good," Dad nodded, "You're learning, so you might not be able to decipher everything yet."

"Isn't there another?" I wondered. He nodded.

"The most important. Feel."

"Feel? Like touch?"

"Exactly."

"But how," I looked at my clawed hands and feet as if they were useless floppy sticks with scales.

"Feel is important Whiteclaw," He grunted, "It could save your life someday. Like how it saved mine when me and your mother went hunting many years ago. Feel-" He took my clawed hand and bent down low, until both of our hands were touching the moist earth of the forest floor, "is the waves of vibrations that echo around all living things. Everything has its own vibration. You must know some by heart, and seperate others as another category."

"Vibrations?" I gasped, "Like earthshakes?"

"Well, those are vibrations," He laughed, "But lighter ones. Here," He lifted me up, "Try not to use your claws for this test. Use only your feet. Its more powerful than your hands." I saw him tap his toe claw on the earth lightly, and I felt a soft tingle uplift underneath my own toe claw.

"I think I felt it," I was unsure. Dad nodded.

"Getting close. Try it this time, but without me vibrating something for you." I closed my eyes again, blocking out the sound to focus on my body itself. I wasn't sure if I could feel anything yet, and fear was rising inside of me, until something trembled beneath my feet. I shifted my right foot towards the vibration, feeling it grow stronger inside of me, and soon became recognizable and isolated from the rest.

"Blackclaw?"

"What?" Drexel's voice snapped me out of my trance. My eyes, I didn't realized, were closed before, but now that they were open, I could come back to reality. I, for some reason, still felt the ground vibrate in tapping patterns, as if someone was walking slow and exhausted out in the Barren Lands. Shadow was looking at me, low and ready, jaws gaped a bit, and eyes locked.

"Feel the vibrations....what vibrations?"

"Wait, you heard me?"

"Listened to every word. They were pretty helpful. Don't know if that was you talking Whiteclaw, or your brain," Shadow giggled.

"What vibrations?" Drexel looked curious. I shifted my feet a bit, still feeling them grow stronger.

"I don't know," I put Blackclaw's thoughts to the back of my head. He couldn't be alive. I knew that. Even Brownclaw told me that chances were that he, Sky, and Razorclaw were goners. Surely I must've made his vibration up in his head. But then, what was out there that was walking like a raptor? Without questioning myself anymore, I plundered out into the Barren Lands, following the quiet thunder of the vibrations in the earth. Drexel, nor Shadow tried to stop me, so I was on my own this time. I sniffed the air. A familiar scent smacked me hard in the back of my mind, tormenting me already. I grew nervous when the vibrations finally went solid, and all I could hear were my own, until suddenly, my eyes flashed upon the sight of a black figure lying down sideways in the baking heat. I stared at the breathing body that was overheating and couldn't say a word, just stared at him with an unbreakable gaze. The Deinonychus on the floor had black scales, darker than crimson or ash itself, and a long tail that stretched out far from his body. His mouth was curled into a snarl of some sort, pain or exhaustion, but his eyes were something I couldn't help but noticing.

"Blackclaw?"