Skybax Rescue: Part 1

Jeremiah steps forward, "I'm willing. What can I do to help?"

Drisana shakes her head. "We shouldn't get caught in the storm, at least, I hope we don't. Besides, even if we do, water won't kill us...will it?"

Rhak'Keri snorts. "From what I've been told, It'll be more than a little rain and wind. A typhoon style storm will come whipping down these canyons..." He kicks a rock aside. "And when it does, well, I don't want to be here when it does..."

"Oh come now!" says C'xoila, "Don't be such a pessimist Rhak! We SHOULD be out by then. Right? Drisana?"

"Who will be my two partners in the search for survivors?" Jeremiah wanted to know.

"You, you can search the North-Western sector with Atoz," C'xoila directed.

"I will help you Jeremiah," an Anhanguera called down from her tree top perch. "My name is Atoz."

"Thank you Atoz," Jeremiah said. "Let's begin and hopefully another will join us along the way."

Jeremiah and Atoz picked their way carefully among the rocks, searching for any signs of life.

"I wish Goldeneye was with us," Jeremiah said to himself, "We could really use his nose." Jeremiah stopped suddenly and furrowed his brow. He cocked his head and listened. "Atoz, what do you hear?"

"I didn't hear anything, but I can fly up higher and see what it is. What did it sound like?"

"It sounds like someone might be trying to dig their way out. Atoz! Look for any signs that someone may be pushing their way out from under rocks."

"There is a big pile of rocks a little ways to the left. Some one might be trapped! We have to hurry!"

In hearing Atoz's cry, Drisana, C'xoila, and Rhak'keri ran to help. They soon discovered that under a huge pile of rocks there was a trapped hadrosaur. "Helllllllppppppppp!" She cried.

Everyone soon arrived to help the injured hadrosaur. Drisana, C'xoila and Rhak'keri joined up with Atoz and Jeremiah to help.

Rushing to dig rocks aside the group hurried to extricate the trapped Parasaurolophus.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" the agitated Anhanguera chirped. "Why do I have to have wings, they're useless for digging!"

"Atoz!" C 'xoila called. "Your wings ARE useful. Go and find any one who can help!"


Shaking her head, the muscular athletic form of a Velociraptor stood up from the ruble of the city she was supposed to warn. She had known the rocks were unstable, why had she waited so long to warn them? Now at least two people were trapped under the rubble of their beautiful city that she knew of.

With a constant low growl radiating from Azonthus' throat nobody would have come near the distraught theropod even if they knew she was there.

*Snarl* Guess I have to run to the nearest village that I can find and get help. How cold I have been so foolish?!

Idiot! You can't go, you have to start rescuing the buried people.

But isn't getting help going to be better than just digging?

The confused Dromaeosaur started digging at the destruction around her. When she heard a human call for help she knew that others had survived and must be helped.

The frantic work helped to clear her mind and allow Azonthus to formulate a plan. She would free the human that she had heard and get him to dig out the others while she ran for help.

"Hang on!" she cried, "Help is on the way!"

"Help, Help!" Gerrard screamed. The door of the building he had taken shelter in had collapsed and now he was trapped.

"Help is on the way!" the frustrated Velociraptor called out to a relieved Gerrard. "Just a few more rocks and you'll be safe!"


The young deinonychus, Goldeneye, swept along the rocks, using his keen sense of smell to search for anyone trapped below. He stopped and sniffed again. There were two humans buried nearby. Please lat them be alive, Goldeneye said to himself as he carefully, but swiftly removed the rubble bit by bit.


A parasaurolophus, Mizraim, saw Azonthus digging and called out: "I'm coming!" She rushed up and began digging beside Azonthus.


"Thank you," Azonthus whispered to herself.

"I'm a message runner and would be able to get more help the fastest," Azonthus told Mizraim after the very relieved Gerrard was freed.

Gerrard put his hand on Az's shoulder and said "Thank you for saving me. I don't know how long I would have survived down there if you hadn't have heard my call." He smiled, but then grew serious once again. "I am but one of many that need help. There are still more, much more. Some worse off than I was. I could help. Another strong back, another set of hands........."

"Your help would be much appreciated, thank you. Now I must help all the others who are trapped by getting help from other nearby towns and villages. I shall see you again, hopefully." So saying, Azonthus turned and ran towards Canyon City. On the way out she ran into Goldeneye, literally.

"Please, there are two humans trapped here. I need all the help I can get," Golden eye asked Azonthus after she had helped him up.

Mizraim witnessed Azonthus' collision with Goldeneye and noticed the young deinonychus anxiousness. She ran over to them and said, "You go on ahead Azonthus, I will help Goldeneye."

"Thank you, Mizraim. Now I can get help faster." The velociraptor called as she ran towards what was left of the road. This time she would be more careful of where she was running.

With Mizraim's help the last of the debris was cleared away. One human seemed unconscious, but alive. The other appeared to be injured.

"Hello," said Goldeneye, "What is your name?"

When his eyes became used to the bright light the young man looked up at Goldeneye and responded. "My names Michael. Please see if my sister is all right." Michael them tentatively touched his left ankle to see if it was broken.

"Here, let me help you two," Gerrard said. He moved over to help move rocks with Mizraim and Goldeneye.


As the fleet Velociraptor ran towards Canyon City she kept a look out for anyone else who might need help. Hey, if she had to go all the way to Canyon City for help for one city, she might as well help others.

Enjoying the smoothness of her stride and speed she almost didn't hear the distraught Parasaurolophus calling for help. Veering to the left and away from the road in to the dense jungle, she followed the sounds of the beautiful, but distressing, call for help. She could tell that the hadrosaur was either in a cave or buried by the way the call didn't have the beautiful strength that hadrosaurs usually had in their musical voices.

Clearing a fallen tree and a pile of rocks in one easy leap she could now see the trapped hadrosaur surrounded by rocks and assorted saurians trying to remove the giant boulders that held him in place.

Azonthus strode along and heard a high pitched chirping sound. A small pterosaur darted over the hill and circled around her head.

"What is it?" Azonthus asked the large flying creature.

"Come, come, help!" Azonthus rushed over to the rescue party to help dig the trapped Parasaurolophus.

Mora Ingala and her two children, Whiptail and Amethyst, were making their way to Pteros. She walked in smooth, confident strides along the road, occasionally looking down to make sure her path was clear. Mora usually traveled with her herd across the land, moving from one point to another. This time she had taken her son and daughter to Canyon City to enjoy the sights. When she heard of the catastrophe at Pteros, Mora did not hesitate to answer the call for more rescuers. She knew everyone would be overjoyed to see large saurapods like diplodocus, such as herself and her children, come to their aid.

A small raptor strode up and introduced herself and Azonthus. She was informed on the situation and started to dig.

"I'm glad your OK, sir," Azonthus said to the hadrosaur when he had been freed. To Mora Ingala she asked, "How did you know to come? Are there others on the way? If so, we should all head to Pteros, they got the worst of the rock slide and still need help."

"I and my children had arrived in Canyon City when we heard of the catastrophe at Pteros," replied Mora. "Another rescue team was being assembled, but I decided to come as soon as possible."

"That's a relief! I wasn't looking forward to running all that way when I could be helping others who are trapped. We should all head over to Pteros to help others. I am going, will you come?"

Yes, I and my children will go to Pteros with you," answered Mora.

"Thank you."

"I will come, too" Atoz chirped.

"All the help we can get is useful," Az responded. "Shall we be on our way?"

The bruised Parasaurolophus rose to thank the rescue team who saved him and walked away. C'xoila walked up and said, "If you must leave than go, but will you just keep an eye out for a missing skybax and rider? They are the ones we are really looking for."

"There's a missing skybax rider? I will help you look for him since others are already on the way to Pteros. Where was she last seen?" Azonthus asked.

"During the first wave of the building storm, she and her skybax Rella were on their way back to Pteros. We are tracing their exact line of flight. They are most likely somewhere between here and Pteros. Unless they were blown off course that is. I'll run ahead to see what I can find." C'xoila informed Azonthus.

"Well," Azonthus asked, putting her claws on her hips, "Is anyone else going to help look for this lost skybax and rider?! Because I'm going with or without any help."

A deinonychus ran up. He was going so fast he slammed into a wall. CRUNCH! The slightly dazed deinonychus stumbled closer.

The frantic saurian yells.

"Are you OK? That sure looked like it hurt!" Azonthus asked.

"A little woozy, but otherwise fine. Thank you."

"Glad to hear your OK. I'm with a group looking for a lost skybax and rider. So far it's just me and Atoz, the Anhanguera over there. Would you like to help? By the way, why DID you run into that rock in the first place"

"Went too fast! Have to tell you something. We found where the skybax and rider crashed. Their gone and there are carnosaur tracks around the area! There are signs of a struggle!"

The small pterosaur flew up and landed on C'xoila's shoulder. "Hi, Atoz!" he greeted her.

*An ocean blue Struthiomimus trots up to you, bobbing her head in greeting* "Hello, I'm Cyrrus. I have just arrived in Pteros and heard of the lost skybax team. If it is okay, I would like to join your search party. I'm fast as well as agile. May I join you?"

"Yes! Of course! We've met before, in Waterfall City, remember? Good to see you again. We need all the able bodied humans and dinos we can get in on this one!" C'xoila replied.

"Thank you. When do we depart?"

As soon as we can find a sauropod to haul our supplies."

"When I was in Canyon City I saw a sauropod there! Sometimes I'm a message runner, I could go and ask her for help.........." Azonthus excitedly suggested.

*A grizzled sea man walks up.* "I can help you. Atlas is a Pachy. He'll help. The only sauropod I know is a clown, a saltosaurus. He can't help too much, he's about 73 in human years."

"Glad to see you again Lee Crabb," Azonthus sarcastically greeted him. "I'm leaving to find a sauropod in Canyon City. If you guys need anything just tell me now so I can bring them back with me." When all replied in the negative, Az turned and started a fast lope towards Canyon City.

"Hey, there is something underneath the rock you guys moved!" C'xoila noticed. "Hmmmmmmmmmm............ a shiny metal medallion. It looks like it comes from the World Beneath! Could the carnosaurs who left those tracks around the crash site have dropped this?"

Crabb thought a moment. "The carnosaurs could be trying to protect secrets. They could have knocked the rocks down on that skybax to protect the entrance! Oh great!"

"You could be right! We'd better check. Crabb, I want you, Atoz, Cyrrus, and of course Atlas to come with me!"

"Where?" Lee Crabb demanded to know.

"To the crash is........ Oh! Just come with me!" C'xoila told the disgruntled Lee Crabb.

Crabb jumped on Atlas and started following C'xoila, Cyrrus, and Atoz to the crash site. "So what dose the World Beneath have ta do with this?"

*Skreech! Skreeck!* You hear birds whizzing through the canyon. A huge T-Rex is stomping behind!

Crabb ran off behind a rock. "Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

Cyrrus soon joined him. "Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!! Where did he come from!"

"I don't know! He stopped! He's not trying to eat us, he's guarding something around here...."

C'xoila was trying to get the group to go somewhere. Crabb spoke up, "Where are we going? That T-Rex back there scared me out. I'm safe here I guess. I found this back there before he almost got me. It's a sunstone chip."

*Cyrrus walks up to Lee* "We are waiting for Azonthus to return with a sauropod to help on our mission. There is a lost skybax and team that we are to find.

"I know, How much longer do we wait? HOW MUCH DO WE GET PAID??" Lee grouched.

"A sunstone chip! Curiouser and Curiouser!" C'xoila was fascinated by the sliver of a sunstone.

"Rather.....where do we go now? Coool! Look, the chip glows blue! I cut myself on a rock when I jumped, and the wound is gone! Maybe you could use the sunstone for yer headache, C'xoila.......>0 ouch....there's still a bump on your head..."

"Oh Yah! *feels forehead* Hey! Give me that, will you?" C'xoila snatches the sunstone chip. The instant he puts it to his head, the bump is gone! "I understand now! The carnosaurs were trying to hide the secret of the healing power of the sapphire sunstones!"

As soon as Lee Crabb held the sunstone again it started changing colors. "Cool! It's swirling colors of purple and green! Discovery and greed!!!"

"What are we looking for!" Crabb demanded.

"An entrance to a cave or hiding place. And no, you WON'T be paid Crabb," C'xoila replied.

"Drat! Hmmmm..... maybe the entrance is buried too. OR! Maybe the Rex was guarding the only way in. I'd be glad to go and look."

*The group heads out, following C'xoila. Cyrrus turns to C'xoila and asks* "What do you think made the sunstone chip glow? I thought that only happened when they were cut a certain way." *she cocks her head to one side* "Maybe it isn't a sunstone at all."

"Maybe THAT'S what their trying to hide. I just don't know. We MUST find that skybax and rider!"

"Magic?" Lee suggested. "WHY AREN'T I BEING PAID FOR THIS!!! WOW!! Look, the chip turned green! It can tell my emotions. I was hurt, it healed me. I was greedy, and it made me even more greedy. Fascinaten."

"I FOUND IT !!!" Lee Crabb cried out. "Look it's a hole in the ground, it leads to th-" The ground below begins to crumble and the hole opens into a HUGE hole. WWWWWAAAUUUHHH !!!! *THUD* "I'm all right!"

"What should we do?" Cyrrus asked," Azonthus will return soon. We can't just leave without her knowing where we went."

"Hello," a new voice announces, "Looks like you need help. I'm Boojinko." The small Utahraptor Boojinko holds rope in his claws.

"Thanks.. rope.. hmmm. We'll need that. I've got an idea," Crabb spoke to Boojinko.

The annoyed deinonychus flashes a toothed snarl. "Great, who's gonna fish Crabb out?!"

"Hey!!!" - a new voice says and a girl riding a Triceratops comes into veiw - "Wait for me!" -walking up to them- "Word has reached Waterfall City of this and I volunteered to help in the rescue. What have you found? Triforce can help with the rocks...I'm Tamith."

"Hi! I'm glad you decided to help. We need it desperately," Cyrrus replied.

"Great! So what are we going to do?"

*The young Utahraptor, Boojinko, follows the group* I'm willing to help. "Just tell me what's happened and what I can do."

"Hi!" Crabb greeted Tamith from his hole.

"Tamith! Will you put this rope around Triforce? We need to haul Crabb outa that hole over there. *Gestures*

"We'll need 5 large dinosaurs, LOTS of rope, and a very small human....." Crabb ordered after he came out of the hole.

"Triforce can help...we would need four others though, and as for a small human...how large is the opening? Will the human need to be a child?"

"We'll need dinosaurs to dig, and a small maybe medium sized person, to go into the hole. Just not someone to heavy, it would break the rope and cave in the cave." Crabb said."

"I could do that then," Tamith told everyone while she prepared to go in the hole."

"I'm not very big, but I can dig fairly well." Cyrrus started to make the hole bigger for Tamith to fit through.

"Ok, we'll take 3 people. Someone for digging, someone to carry things, and someone who knows where they're going." Crabb began gathering things for the subterranean trip.

"Me got lots of rope." Boojinko said as he held up a small amount of his rope. It was coiled fairly tightly and hung down to about the ground, but even at that, it was almost enough to cover his forearm.

A swish of wings and the sky becomes orangey-pink as the skybax's wings momentarily blot out the sun. A girl with short blond hair and the clothes of an apprentice alights:

"Messages of trapped saurians and partners have reached Canyon City, we are ready to help in any way we can. We may not be much good at shifting the rocks like Triforce, but Mirajai is the fastest flyer I know. We can keep watch, or send messages, just let us know what is going on."

"Excellent! We need all the help we can get." Tamith welcomed Alkazra. An anxious triceratops bellows her agreement and moves toward the pile of rocks.

"Alkazra! Glad your here. Can you and Mirajai fly over head? Were searching for what could be a cave entrance," C'xoila asked the new arrival.

"HEY!!! Nice of you to drop by... Did you bring anything?" The ever curious Crabb asked.

"Tamith, will you and Triforce anchor the rope so we may climb down into the hole? It also seems that Crabb discovered, no, STUMBLED into the entrance, so Alkazra, I want you and Mirajai to fly to Canyon City and get some supplies. Oh, when you there, can you be on the look out for Azonthus? She's a tall Velociraptor. Thank you all!" C'xoila said.

"There's no need to tell us twice! We are on our way! We'll bring what we can in the way of medicine etc. but much of the supplies I fear will be too bulky and we will have to get others to collect this, don't worry though it is under control: we will organize this side of things for now. Keep up the good work where you are, we'll see you soon.

Concerning Azonthus: she must have been the one to first bring the message as I now remember seeing her in the city, a fairly unusual thing. She was being taken to the guest hall for a well deserved rest as knowing her and her dedication I don't think she stopped for one break on her journey!

"Good luck to both of you. Fly High, Seek Peace. Where on it C'xoila!" *Tamith ties the rope around Triforces' back leg and drops it down the hole.* "Hold on Lee, and she'll pull you out."

"Take your time..." Crabb called out.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Cyrrus asked.

"Are you guys going to stay there talking or are you coming?" Tamith demanded to know.

"All right everyone! CAREFUL! Down into the hole we go!"

"Ok, I'm right behind you...." Tamith called.

"Rope is ready and Triforce can carry a good amount of weight. Who's climbing down with me? I also have some supplies in Triforces saddle if we need."

"I'm with you..." Crabb answered.

"Ditto. While Azonthus is away, Crabb and I are the leaders," C'xoila answered.

"Lead the way!"

"Fine with me, let's go find that baxxy," Crabb replied. *The crystal glows green and slightly red...*

"Any idea what that means?" Tamith wanted to know.

"Doesn't green stand for envy or greed?" Cyrrus suggested."

With ease, Triforce, the Triceratops, lowers the rescue party into the deep shaft. Once they touch bottom, C'xoila yells, "Triforce! When we come back, can you lower the rope again? Good. Lets make sure everyone's here. Crabb? Cyrrus? Boojinko? Tamith? All here? Lets go!"

"Aye, aye captain!!" Cyrrus joked.

"Right here!" Tamith yelled.

"Here!" Crabb called.

A flutter of tiny wings echoes down the cave as a small Dimorphodon message carrier lands on a rock next to the search party.

"This message is from Alkazra. Organization and weather making trip longer than expected. Supplies are coming. We will bring medicine. Aja, Paddlefoot's cousin is carrying bulkier food etc. Two northies, Sali and Strongback, are being put on standby, ready to help with stretchers if need be. Dig Deep, Find Them."

"Thank you little friend. Tell Alkazra that her help is much appreciated," answered C'xoila.

"Whoever is staying here to get the supplies go with Alkazra.... if your going on ahead, come with me...." Crabb ordered.

After walking for about an hour we find a small trail of more crystal chips. They glow purple...

"We should go back to Alkazra," Crabb nervously said.

"HEY CRABB! I'M THE LEADER HERE!" C xoila growled. Sorry. I've gotten little sleep in the past few days. More sunstone chips............ Hmmmmmmmmm...........

"We have enough info the get back and make a report to Alkazra..........."

"Good idea, with a bigger rescue team, we can cover lots more ground." Tamith agreed.

"Let's go back..."

"Tamith, you mean lots more UNDER ground," C xoila joked.

"Let's not go into detail... c'mon... I want to go back.."

"Yeah, more ground underground."

"Whoop Dee doo."

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