Dinosaurs Fanfic: Scavenging Pangaea (PG-13)

[RedPiggy]

Oh oh, I am so intrigued. Could you, erm, post more? You know, speed up the story?

Might have to take a small break. Got summer classes starting Monday ... should be studying for that.

Also, regarding what we were talking about the council... Have you ever seen the animated movie Flight of Dragons? Seems that there's something in common there with your grand meeting, wanting to protect the realms from non-believing harmful intruders from the world of man. Eventually, the different worlds of magic had to conceal themselves behind a dome of fog, only breechable through dreams, in that moment between being awake and asleep. Dunno, but maybe later descendants of key players from Farscape could be affected... Either that, or the gelfling race, in the same way that their ancestry could be traced back to Earthen elves or dwarves or halflings or man itself. Grasping at straws, trying to help out a fellow fictionalizer.

At any rate... More please.

Never seen it, though it sounds interesting, though the Underground isn't just reachable through dreams. As Moulin noted in Comin' Back, Fraggle Rock is strategically important since it serves to connect our reality with the Underground, though it's not the only way to get there.

Dark Crystal should have just ended (in my interpretation) when Pangaea was destroyed, or a little before (remember the UrSkek had learned of it and had initially wanted to come to Earth to stop it).

Edit: Ok, just checked Comeback. It is said there that I had the UrSkek come AFTER there was no more evidence of dinosaurs ... so ... somewhere along the way ... I need them to disappear.

Funny you should mention gelflings though. In Vol 1 of the Return to Labyrinth manga, Hanna (a small fairy) asks Toby where his wings are ... then remembers that he wouldn't have any because "you're a boy". Wouldn't it be interesting if Jareth and other faes/faires are descendants of Gelflings?

 

[The Count]

Mmm...

1 Of course the underground labyrinth possesses the qualities you mentioned... Was just drawing a parallel.
2 Flight of Dragons is a wonderous animated movie. It centers around man encroaching into the realms of magic, for which the plan was hatched. All four brothers: Carolinus, green wizard of nature; Solarius blue wizard of sky and seas; Lao-Tsu, yellow wizard of light and harmony; and Omedan (James Earl Jones), red wizard of fire have to agree to the idea. And wouldn't you know it... Omedan sets himself apart from such a foolish notion. So Carolinus has to seek a new champion... Peter of Beacon Street, Massachusetts (in current 1970's A.D.) (John Ritter). The quest then begins,taking on the added dimensions of having to break two curses: the sleeping spell placed upon Mellisande, Carolinus's daughter and the fact that Peter ended up merged into the body of a dragon having to learn how to be one.
3 Interesting... Whether you mean goblins be the descendants or ancestors of gelflings, I think it might work... That way, they could be represented. Then again, because the labyrinth is under potential attack by the outsiders, it could have a ripple effect on the future, reaching to the new gelflings or half-human half-sevacian child of Crychton and Erin Sun.

You start summer classes on Monday as well? *Sighs. The things we have to put upwith.
Oh well, I look forward to whatever updates, if any are posted. *Hugs.

 

[RedPiggy]

I just had an amusing thought ... wouldn't it be weird if the dino angel was Daniel from that Christmas special? LOL ... 60 million years and he's STILL in a desk job

 

[The Count]

Well... Daniel did show he had more backspine than the Dinosaurian Angel, marching into the Boss's office to plead his case for Kermit. Maybe he's the grandfather of all turtles, and that's why they move so slowly...
*Grim: Ya hear that ya turtle nerds? Ya ain't nevah gotten a date since the 1800's and ya'll nevah amount to anything!
Sorry... Rant over. Please post.

 

[RedPiggy]

Chapter 14: “Into the Water, Into the Truth, In Your Reflection…”

Doc jumped while standing in the small kitchenette, nearly gagging on the pills he had to take after lunch, spitting some water out on his white shirt and pale khaki pants. The door to the room slammed shut and a gangly slightly younger man lunged forward and hunched over, panting, dripping wet from the storm outside. “David? Are you alright?” Doc asked with a slightly bemused tone.

David nodded, peeling off a long dull yellow rain jacket and hanging it up on a small hook near the door, the water making an irritating sound on a small plastic mat below as it dripped. “Thanks for letting me borrow your Duncan Macintosh,” he said in a cheerful British accent. “I didn’t know they made them yellow.”

Doc smiled and started to wash the glass of water in the sink. “I always thought yellow was a good color on me.”

David Tushingham beamed as he walked over to the small counter, plopping down a small glass bottle. His voice was giddy. “You won’t believe this, Jerome,” he proudly announced, “but I’ve discovered something positively magical!”

Doc dryly glanced at the bottle. “If you’re trying to imply the bottled water industry is older than previously surmised … I doubt paleontologists will care,” he teased.

David blinked a few times before shaking his head. “Don’t be silly, Jerome!” He pointed at the bottle. “I took this out of that old tree stump over in Crater Lake – and it started to rain!” He jumped up and down. “Isn’t that remarkable?” He saw Doc stare at him with a single cocked eyebrow, tapping his foot. “Well … don’t look at me like I’ve gone bloody senile, Jerome!” He paused. “This further supports your hypothesis of strange happenings in the Northeast! What if it’s all connected?” he exclaimed, nearly out of breath. “What if there really are such nonsensical things as fairies and such? What if … what if there are entire interdimensional realms just waiting to be explored?” He opened the bottle and stared at the water inside with a wild-eyed expression.

Doc chuckled to himself. He remembered the first day he saw Gobo Fraggle and how magical it had seemed to him. As he continued to think more about it, after the little creature had run back into his hole in the wall, he realized that he had always felt torn away from a sense of magic growing up, and the Fraggle’s arrival had merely re-awakened in him a sense of connectedness with other beings. It was like being reborn as your true self.

“I would love to run some tests,” he heard David exclaim … though his voice seemed so distant.

Not that he was consistent about that sense of wonder. He had lost his friend Ned in the summer of that very year from, ironically, heat exhaustion, and come Christmas time all he wanted to do was get away from it all … to spend the holidays just by himself and his dog Sprocket. He was getting to be that age where everyone seemed to leave you at some point … though a nagging thought in the back of his head suggested the feeling of losing family stretched far longer than he thought, though he couldn’t seem to put his finger on it. All he knew was that, growing up, all he wanted to do was make it on his own … and sometimes he just wanted to be alone. If it hadn’t been for Kermit the Frog and his friends, he might never have shaken himself out of his melancholy and bitterness.

“Come on, Jerome, put out your hands,” David told him rather sharply, breaking Doc’s train of thought.

Doc glanced at the bottle. “David, how is this scientific?” he asked skeptically and somewhat fearful of his friend’s new show of excitement, since David had also been feeling wistful and somewhat regretful as he got older.

David shook his head, nearly shoving the bottle towards his older companion. “What has progress ever given men like us except a sense of being passed by?” he retorted. “Not everything in life has to be so bloody thought out, Jerome! Now just open your hands!”

As the water poured into Doc’s cupped hands, a mist arose. Soon, their vision filled with images superimposed onto the reality of the motel room….

<><><><><><>

“We … can wait,” Spike hissed, licking his snout hungrily.

Robbie, dressed in a black leather jacket with a Scavengers logo sewed onto his right sleeve and the Rampaging Trilobites logo from his varsity jacket on his back. He was slightly athletic, having spent several months mountain climbing. It was Fall, and as the leaves began to turn, a stiff cold breeze chilled anyone without fur or at least a jacket. “Spike, I thought you disagreed that we should wait.”

The slender young human-looking creature clutched at her leg, which was trapped in a steel trap. Her hair was stringy and silver and her skin was red and peeling from being scalded by a geyser about an hour ago. Sheer hatred made her eyes burn.

“Yeah, Spike,” Charlene said, nodding. “Make up your mind. Either we eat her or we don’t.” She adjusted her black leather jacket, made by painting over one of her Aunt Pearl’s cowgirl-like jackets and polished her bronze ring against her jacket. She pointed at their victim. “Those cavepeople are up to something.”

“I’m not a cavewoman!” the human-looking creature screeched angrily. “I am the Queen of Cups!”

Scabby snickered. “An’ we’re the Kings and Queens of All Plastic Dishware!” he laughed. “Get to the point!” He paused for a moment, glancing around to see everyone else having the same jaw-dropping expression on their faces. “Uh … did that thing just speak?”

The Queen, Mizumi of Moraine, was furious. She flung one arm towards them, waited for beat or two, then brought back her arm, her face stunned.

Meanwhile, the Scavengers laughed. “What was that supposed to accomplish?” Robbie asked incredulously, shaking his head. “What? Were you going to throw a magic cup at us or something?”

The human-looking woman cringed, gritting her teeth. “My skin is seared. I cannot summon my powers,” she noted in shock to herself.

Spike held up his hand to silence his pack. He smiled. “And what kind of powers do you have, Talkin’ Tina?”

<><><><><><>

“Yaaayy!” Baby cheered as the Howlin’ J band finished up their song, clapping his chubby little hands. He wore a black fur coat over his yellow shirt. He had decided a couple of months ago not to wear his diaper anymore. He had finally mastered walking, though it was still hard sometimes to find his balance after having grown chubby from rarely moving when he lived at home.

A couple of humans in the back clapped and grunted their approval.

The band had had help setting up their new place, which was basically just a better-looking version of the old Tavern on the Swamp. They had found some generators left behind at the under-construction baseball stadium, so electricity wouldn’t be hard to come by for a few years. Fortunately, the humans seemed rather adept at construction … so they had the whole place ready within a month.

Sonny high-fived his father and hopped off the stage and ran over to the table and the make-shift high chair where Baby sat. He jumped up on a seat and poured himself some strange alcoholic drink the humans had made from potatoes. He took a sip and sighed happily. “So, Kid, you liked that song, huh?”

“Yeah!” Baby announced happily. He inhaled deeply and sang a bar from their song. “Quicksand … sucked my momma down. Giant bugs carried off my wife!” He started laughing to himself. He noticed Sonny stifling a cough. His face fell. “Sonny still not breathing good?” he asked in a worried tone.

Sonny shrugged, patted his chest, took a sip, and smiled. “Hey, no sweat, Kid. I ain’t gonna let no crazy ash storm get me down! It’s like I told ya … we’re gonna start our own band! We’re gonna head all over this valley and rock everyone’s socks off!” He paused, chuckling. “If anyone’s got socks, that is,” he said with a wide grin.

<><><><><><>

Doc, as he watched the scenes appear before them within the mist, smiled weakly and wistfully. Ned had always wanted him to join some random group, whether it was that silly Chipmunk order or something else. They hadn’t been out of school long before World War Two had started, and that was where he had first met Ned. They saw a little action before being assigned to more engineering-like jobs, repairing weapons and tools and vehicles and such. The European Theater was where they had their first taste of ancient artifacts, falling in love with the idea of discovering really old knick-knacks.

Watching the young dinosaur play and sing with his mammalian friend was almost too close to home for Doc….

<><><><><><>

Pearl knocked some ash and dust off her normally sparkling outfits in front of her RV further along the river, almost to the far western coast. She hummed to herself, thinking about her niece and nephews. She had offered to become a mother to them, but they had, thankfully, refused. Pearl just wasn’t the stay-at-home type. She smiled. Earl and Fran had done such a good job raising them that she didn’t need to smother them. They were happy finding their own ways in life. Soon, she started hearing deep thumping sounds coming from behind her. After listening for a few minutes, dead still, she realized they were too loud for most carnivores. That left swamp monsters or four-footers. After all, this was their country.

She could soon hear one of her own songs being sung by a booming female voice, albeit a bit more sadly than she had sung the song at the Sinclair household:

He waved goodbye and threw me out, all I said was fine. Cuz when your ex is a big T-Rex you move on down the line.
For his big long teeth go chomp.
Chomp.
His big long teeth go chomp.
Uh huh, and his big fat feet go stomp.
His big fat feet go stomp.
Chomp.
Chomp.
Stomp.
Stomp.
Ain't no use in crying, cuz when your ex is a big T-rex you...
Move on down the line!

Pearl turned and saw a curious large blue Apatosaurus with thick black lashes and a necklace made of large red stones. They both smiled knowingly.

<><><><><><>

Evidently, Doc and David noted, some time had passed, for now it was nearly springtime, with every plant budding. The silver-haired woman, now almost completely healed, save for a blotchy scar here and there on her arms and neck, slinked behind Robbie as he dug out some meat that had been stored underground for the winter. His muscles rippled as he moved, just as his jacket flapped and fluttered in a breeze as it hung on a nearby branch. Robbie looked up and around and caught sight of her, her new form-fitting bright blue robe rippling in the breeze.

She smiled. She looked around. “So, the time has come, has it not?” she asked in a silky voice.

Robbie dropped the carcass he had dug up. “What is that supposed to mean, Mizumi?” He hadn’t wanted to just eat her when they found her. He had respect for the simplistic lives of the cavepeople. But this was not some caveperson. She had a predatory look in her eye. In fact, she reminded him of an old myth in the Great Book of Dinosaur that spoke of a conniving two-legger female dinosaur who cut off her four-legger boyfriend’s two front legs so that he could be set upon by predators.

Mizumi maintained her smile. “The time has come for new lives to spring forth anew,” she replied. She waved her hands around. “All of this is at great risk. Those that come after you will surely destroy this paradise. Why not spare yourselves that fate?”

Robbie scoffed and turned back to his task. Without looking at her, he asked, “What do you propose – hide the valley?” He felt her slender hands caress his black and white-striped shirt. He shot a sharp glance at her.

She backed away a couple of steps and laughed. She took out a small glass bottle and held it up to him. “I understand you wished to record your thoughts for posterity,” she said. “Perhaps I can aid you in such a noble endeavor. With this I can store every memory you and your family have ever had.”

Robbie sighed. “That’s nice … but what’s the point? Even if we all find a mate, which isn’t very likely … there still aren’t enough of us to perpetuate our species.”

Mizumi frowned. “This is not the only hiding place, Robert,” she retorted, irritated. “Take your natural place as leader, bring dinosaurs to safe haven, and maintain your race’s place in history for eternity!” she cooed (rather loudly). She smiled again, nearly sending shivers down Robbie’s spine. “Only take my present … and assure your status as alpha male for all time….”

Author’s Note: Well, that’s it for this fic. If you’re wondering why characters from Fraggle Rock and Return to Labyrinth are mentioned, then you probably haven’t read The Comeback King (see my sig) and its sequel, Comin’ Back. I’ve tried not to require readers to see them all … but you’ll get a sense of a larger story I’m heading to if you do. Sadly, college classes spring back up soon, so this is the last fic I’ll be writing for awhile.