The Path to Dino Presidency

The Dark Journey to The Titan's (2)

CJ opened his eyes. Wow, it sure was bright. He was forced to hide his face away from the sun and the reflective grass in order to save his poor eyes from burning from the intensive light.
He let out a yawn and calmly shook some dried leaves off his back. He felt Alpaca the Stick fall off and he groaned, deeply annoyed by gravity. Gravity never did any good to him! He remembered how many times he'd broken his feet just from falling off a little rock. It made no sense! He didn't weigh that much, did he? He looked at his body wondering if he had gained any excess weight.
Where was Ame?
It was really quiet besides the crickets and the buzzing bugs. The sun will set soon he learned as he examined the sky.
As he set Alpaca back to its usual place between his spine-spikes, he stood up and inhaled some fresh air. If only he could sniff out her scent... It would've been so much easier.
"Ame?" he called out her name. The only answer he got was from a lonely brown frog who jumped into the river in an attempt to escape from the terrestrial world, startled by the big dinosaur in front of him. CJ sighed. Had he scared Ame away too?
He glanced back towards where the little frenetic Dryo's nest had been. Strange, the nest was still there but it seems worn out as if it were weeks old already. Had he imagined everything? He knew he was a big daydreamer but surely this wasn't the case. The whole situation confused him.
Then it hit him.
Again, panic raced through his veins, pumping adrenaline into him. He was fully ready to sprint away from here as fast as he could.
There had to be an apex carnivore nearby. That would be the only explanation to why the nest was empty and Ame was nowhere to be found. He crawled under a hazelnut tree, hoping to camouflage well under the big leaves. Luckily, there were a few fir trees hiding his spiky tail as well. Thank Goddess Novie for that!
He shivered in fear. He hated the herbivore life. He hated being scared all the damn time! Always hiding away from danger. He was sick of it.
If only he were president already. Then, things would change and he himself would get to decide who would be the one allowed to feast on him...
He closed his eyes. He prayed for the lurking beast to have a horrible sense of smell and for it to be stupid enough to not find him in here.
Crack! He heard a twig break around him somewhere.
It was close. Really close. He almost wanted to scream out in terror.
"Can you please stop sitting on top of my burrow? You are blocking the entrance and your butt isn't as clean as you'd think it is!"
He was shaking so badly, he knew that whoever this bloodthirsty creature was definitely saw the hazelnut tree shake with him.
Wait a minute.
That was no voice of a carnivore!
"Ame?!" he finally opened his eyes. They hurt because he had held them closed so tightly for so long. She was poking out of a burrow behind him under the very same fir tree he had hidden under.
Oh. So she had moved to her burrow den.
"Yes, earth to CJ! Geez, what a napkiller..." she grunted and then yawned.
"Where were you?! I thought you were dead! Why didn't you answer me back when I called out for you? I was-" CJ was all het up about this.
Ame rolled her eyes, "It got too cold outside for me so I moved in. And I had jumped on you when you were sleeping but you were so deep asleep, I really considered writing a story of "Sleeping Beauty: The Stego Edition", and guess what, you would've been the main character of this story."
"This is serious! I thought you were dead!" CJ stared at her, still alarmed.
Ame crossed her tiny arms. She stared back at him silently for a few seconds and then sighed. She walked right next to CJ and plopped down onto the velvety grass.
"Look, I might be tiny but no Rex could say no to my toe nibbles. I'm just too cute for them."
True that. Honestly, everything about her was cute and little. Her head was small but her cheeks were fat and round and rabbit-like, her body was slim and her limbs were quite short, only her tail was long, almost the same length as her full body. Even her toes were the tiniest he had ever seen on a Dryo. Then again she was a fresh adult he remembered.
CJ finally relaxed a bit. He was glad everything turned out to be okay. But what about going to the swamps? He had to tell Ame that he was going to leave eventually. And yet for some reason he found it hard to do so.
He tried. "Ame, I... I was only..." He cleared his throat.
Ame's jaw dropped. That confused CJ. Huh?
"Oh, don't tell me you're gonna confess your love to me now."
Oh.
They both stared at each other in disbelief.
Oof.
He felt the need to explain as quickly as possible. His cheeks were starting to heat up.
"No, no! I was gonna say something else-"
"Like, we are two different species-"
"I know! Now let me finish." CJ exhaled loudly.
"I'm gonna leave. Very soon. To the swamps."
Ame narrowed her eyes. She looked like a little diva, only thing she missed was a sparkly dress and heels - if dinosaurs wore heels and dresses.
"Is this about that "mission" of yours?"
CJ nodded. "Yes! I am determined to become the president of all dinosaurs of this land."
Ame bursted out laughing. A second later, she fell down on to the ground, gripping to her stomach from laughing this hard. Well then, what a way to make yourself feel even more pathetic than before CJ thought, feeling very embarrassed for revealing his biggest ambition to Ame. He had hoped for some support and good words from her, not this.
The stone-colored Dryo finally started to calm down after multiple attempts to catch her breath. CJ considered leaving as fast as possible. If she weren't to take him seriously, he might as well leave now to the swamps and not come back any time soon.
"Yeah, well, I need to be on my way. I have to get to work." CJ told Ame, giving her a firm look.
Ame's wide grin turned into a frown. "Wait, you're going already?"
CJ didn't respond and headed south. He had already thought of a route to the swamps: following the shore of the Titan's lake and walking beside the sharp western edge of the Northern Canyon all the way to the very center of the Isle.
As he left the area, he could feel Ame's stare burning into his back. He knew she watched him go in disbelief. She definitely hadn't expected him to be this determined. But that was her own mistake for not choosing him over her childish acts.
Deep inside, CJ had hoped she'd follow him. He wouldn't have minded her company, however unpredictably hyper she was. True, he was just an innocent Stego, unable to show much authority but he was sure absolute rule over everything wasn't too hard to achieve, with or without friends. Friends were just a bonus in his eyes.
Ame hadn't followed him. He wasn't surprised, she had built a nest over there by the Donut anyway, he really couldn't blame her for staying. Plus, that meant less mouths to feed. All berry bushes he'd encounter would all be his.
After a short time, he'd paddled up to the Titan's. This place was usually infested with carnivores but fisher dinos mostly. He was excited to see a Baryonyx or a full pack of Austroraptors. The Austros were very fancy, and quite beautiful in his mind. They were lucky they had feathers that helped them glide in the air when pouncing. Not that CJ himself wanted to tackle someone.
Strangely enough, the Titan's was quiet. Again, he got the silent treatment. Silence never meant anything good. The lake area did seem safe and clear until...
"Food!" a loud growl sounded from behind CJ.
CJ panicked, he was too afraid to check who that was. That sounded like a big carnivore. His only chance was to escape. It didn't help that it was getting darker and darker as the sun was setting. The sun had already disappeared behind pine trees, only the sky showed that it was the time just before the nightfall. A horrible time for him and his weak night vision.
He panted as he ran. He wanted to cry out for help but his throat was clogged up in panic. The only help left were the trees around him. Whoever this predator was would easily get stuck in these, making the hunt possibly harder.
Right as he heard the hungry fanged dinosaur behind him trying to bite him, he collapsed against a big tree. It screamed out in pain and frustration for having, its hunt now ruined. Now, CJ could look behind to see which evil creature it was.
It was a young Allosaurus, an almost adult male. He was pinching his eyes closed, stunned by the pain he felt in his head for hitting the tree. CJ felt a bit more confident, knowing now that this was no apex.
The Stego gathered up his courage and asked, "Who are you and what do you want from me?"
The Allo was still gritting his teeth, recovering from the head bump but opened one eye to look at him. It was a deep amber shade, one of those you could lose yourself into if you stared any longer. The Allo spat, "Shut up, herbie."
"Don't talk to your future president like that, carnivore!" CJ stomped with his front feet, showing dominance.
The Allo chuckled, finding this situation nothing more but a bad joke. "Look, Stego, I hunt you, you die for me. You become meat, I eat you. It's as simple as that."
CJ was sincere, "But can't it be different? There are so many dinosaurs out there with families, beautiful babies and friends. Why can't we all be friends together, not just herbivores with each other alone?"
"What is this, utopia? Sorry, buddy, but it ain't gonna happen." The Allo was not amused. Just then, he lowered himself, his belly touching the ground, ready to launch forward. "But what will happen is THIS!"
The last thing CJ remembered before blacking out were two rows of fangs rushing towards his face.
*****
Lol sorry for the cliffhanger
Bloosaurus out