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Canterlot High School, three years before EG1
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“And next up to the bars, Maia Heart Search!”
The roaring speakers elicited a small uproar of cheers from the students across the school gym who’d piled in to support their classmates at the gymnastics competition, both out of kindness to their friends as well as because a freshman named Rainbow Dash whipped them up into an uproar so the Canterlot gymnastics team got a bigger shout than Crystal Prep’s. Having double- and then triple-checked that her locket was securely safe inside her backpack and her backpack was securely safe inside a locked locker, Maia stepped out of the waiting room and onto the mats. She wasn’t an exceptional name at the school, about average looking with freckly dark teal skin and curly dark red hair tied back in a ponytail with a fit build; though a certain friend of hers was one of the top dogs on campus so a not-so-small portion of the crowd was there to support her.
Flashing a toothy grin she briefly glanced over to wave at her classmates as she stepped up to the swing bars. Slapping her chalk-covered hands together and rubbing them, she steadied the butterflies in her stomach and focused on doing her best. And after jumping up to grab onto the first set of bars and using her momentum to immediately swing onto the highest set, the best she was doing. Her classmates were ecstatic and the faculty was beaming, infecting the gymnast with a grin. But late into her routine after building up momentum for the final launch, her eye caught a glimpse of something in the reserved seating that shot through her like a bullet. A pair of empty seats with signs that in her psyched up state of mind she could read plainly.
Reserved for Mr. Paleo Search.
Reserved for Mrs. Gentle Heart.
Maia puzzled. Why weren’t her parents here? The momentary distraction, however, cost her dearly. Her hand slipped off the bars and she flew off the set at high speed going the worst direction possible to land outside the mats. The last thing she’d distinctly remember that day was the loud crack in her leg and an amazing pain.
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Three years later
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Maia, now dressed in a large jacket, shook herself awake at the sound of the ferry horn. Taking a moment to groan and stretch, she got off her seat and collected up several bulky travel bags after slinging her backpack on. As she made her way off the boat amongst a crowd of children ages nine to thirteen, it was evident time had helped heal some old wounds given the limp in her right leg was barely discernible. She wasn't inhibited much anymore, months in the hospital and a year of physical therapy to readjust to her leg had helped see to that but she wasn’t going back to the competition circuit. Physically she was doing pretty close to optimal within the year, mentally she was still a depressed wreck for two and a half. While missing out at the gymnastics circuit was a bummer, it was finding why her parents hadn’t made it that had caused the biggest drain.
Something had happened to Paleo Search, her father. One day here on the island helping her mother, Gentle Heart, run the camp; the next day he went out on survey and didn’t come back. The searches lasted weeks and each time news came back to the hospital that they’d come back empty handed, Maia had felt herself taking another fall. It was part of the reason she was coming to camp this summer instead of staying with family, her mother thought bringing her to a place that brought so much joy might help keep her from relapsing to how she was before. No good parent wants to see their child wither like she had.
The summer camp itself was pretty nice, if remote given the nature of the island which only had a bi-weekly ferry. A reasonably-sized compound bordering the coast with five camper cabins, utility building, docks for kayaks and the ferry, a larger counselor cabin, mess and crafts hall that could double as a theater, and the administrator's building that also served as the Search family house. Some basic fencing surrounded the camp and docks, with a dirt road leading off to the various activity trails.
Various campers piled past her, eagerly rushing into the campgrounds with the same eagerness their youthful ages of eight to thirteen would suggest. Stepping out of the administrator's office to greet both the crowd and Maia was a kindly woman with a warm smile that caused the teenager's spirit to feel lifted just from seeing it. Dressed in a pair of Capri pants and a blue long sleeve shirt with the campground symbol; she sported a shoulder-length cut of curly brown hair and a similar shade of green skin to her daughter. Maia’s face lit up and she sprinted up into Gentle Heart’s arms, not complaining when her parent gave her a kiss on the forehead that elicited childishly disgusted noises from some of the campers.
“Welcome back, Deary.”, Gentle Heart said with warmth, rubbing at her daughter's back and head.
“Good to be home mom!”, Maia snickered, tightening her hold briefly.
Gentle Heart giggled and broke off the hug as she glanced at her watch. The woman rolled her eyes and snickered.
“Three. Two. One.” Gentle Heart noted, tapping at her watch with a punctuated countdown.
“What are yo-”, Maia muttered with narrowed eyes.
A loud shriek called out to the side-
“MAIA!”
-and a pinkish yellow blur tackled Maia in a full-on glomp that nearly bowled the both of them over. When Maia’s mind stopped spazzing out she could feel a grinning cheek pressing against her’s and a pair of thin arms constricting her around the middle. Before any thoughts of trying to get her affectionate attacker off could sink in, however, she quickly realized who it was. Naturally, she recognized the extremely, almost chokingly strong orange blossom perfume first and gleefully returned Sunflower’s bear hug even before needing to see the hip length orange-blonde hair, sunflower tucked above her ear, and peachy pink skin. The older sister to Babs Seed, cousin to the "Apple Siblings", and heiress to the infamous Orange family, one wouldn’t have thought much for a preppy, stuck up prima donna like “Sunny” to be close to crop like Maia; but actions spoke louder than words. Naturally given ages, there was a bombardment of questions from Sunflower to Maia and back again.
“Took your time MaiMai!”
“Hey, the ferry was slow, cut me a break Sunny!”
“Ooooh loving the longer hair, works wonders. Ten years I’ve been telling you and you finally took my advice!”
“Kinda forgot and it got away from me, ehehe,” Maia mumbled, rubbing at the back of her head.
“Girl time. You. Me. Nails, braids, I got four cases of skirts,-”, Sunflower quipped, stars already in her eyes.
Maia rolled her eyes at her best friend, who had more than enough fashion love for the two of them by herself, shrugging with a bit of deadpan in her voice.
“-You know I wear pants, Sunny,” she grumbled.
Unfettered, Sunflower merely pulled out her phone and cycled through some pictures on it to take inventory.
“Hey, I brought plenty of Capri styles! I hear khaki is in.”, Sunflower defended.
Maia chuckled, patting Sunflower on the shoulder and speaking with a coyly raised eyebrow. “Movie night?”
“Movie night, I'll even put up with the geek-a-thon series you always pick.” Sunflower quipped with a nod and smirk.
Gentle Heart smiled and chuckled upon seeing Maia and Sunflower cling to each other with mutual shrieks of glee. It came as a surprise to her the young Miss Orange had volunteered as a counselor for the summer, not thinking her to be the type for this sort of thing. Though seeing her daughter lighting up like this because of her best friend for the first time in what felt like years gave her reason to sigh in gratitude. She walked up and patted her daughter and Sunflower on their shoulders.
“I can see this summer will be off to a good start. I need to get and file the forms from the campers, young mister Wood can show you to the campers introduction. I take it you remember this place well enough, Sweetheart?” She noted.
Maia smiled and nodded. Why shouldn’t she recognize the place she was practically born at? “Like the back of my hand mom.”
“Good, your counselor shirt and vest is in the counselor cabin.” Gentle Heart said with a warm smile before picking up a clipboard from a signpost and walking off to head back to her office.
Sunflower and Maia waved with their free hands and hooked one arm around the other’s shoulders. After a moment of thought, however, Maia puzzled.
“Wait, Woods? Did she mean?-”, her muttering was cut off by a rapidly approaching noise. There were some footsteps behind them and Sunflower smirked while bracing.
“Yeeeeep!”, she bleeped, looking off to the side in a jesting manner and earning a confused glance by Maia.
“AAAAHG!”, the shout heralded a pair of strong arms hooking around Maia and Sunflower’s middles and hoisting the two up into the air. A hearty bellow of laughter called out as the perpetrator, a strongly built young man with pale skin and green dreadlocks spun around with the two still lifted up in his underarms.
Maia jokingly flailed around as Sunflower frantically held her hair down to keep it from fraying.
“Gak! Sandal put us down!”, Maia shouted. Another loud chuckle later and Sandalwood did so, speaking in laughter.
“Look who grooved her way back to the island, welcome back M!”
Maia rolled her eyes but still snickered. Sandalwood was still in his typical get up from Canterlot high, just with his typical red shirt swapped out for the tan camp logo bearing one underneath his opened peace-sign vest.
“Shoulda figured you’d pile in first chance you got.” Maia noted with a sideways nod towards the campground.
“Hey, love the woods and watchin’ over kids; so this stuff’s PB and J to me.” Sandalwood said with a smirk, patting the side of his fist to his chest. His eyes perked up at the sound of beeping and he checked his watch with a grin.
“Orientation and intros in ten minutes, show time for the tots you two. Try not to hog the spotlight Sunny,” He chirped, earning a quipping retort from Sunflower.
“I only promise to try.” The Orange noted coyly as Maia roped her arms around her two friend’s shoulders, Sunflower and Sandalwood picking up her dropped backpack with their free hands as the Tres Amigos made their way to the counselor quarters. Maia was smiling so wide it almost hurt when she took it all in. Already any lingering gloominess was starting to lift. There was some stray ill on her mind for sure, but there was too much good to really care. She was back with her mother, had two of her oldest friends in a place she remembered fondly; and was set to be doing something she enjoyed for the season.
Lost Lands Isle Campground.
Best. Summer. Ever.
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Ten Minutes Later
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“Helloooooooo campers!” Gentle Heart shouted cheerfully as she walked up on the mess hall’s small stage to the elicited cheers of the young audience. Maia, Sandalwood, and Sunflower stood at the side of the stage, glancing over some note cards as they waited for their cue. “Welcome to Lost Land Isle Summer Camp, where distance and the past don’t mean remote. I’m the camp owner and coordinator Gentle Heart. Some of you might have noticed a bit of a theme around the campground so far, as you can observe on the ceiling~?”
Pip, Button Mash, Featherweight, Apple Crumble, and the other camper children all looked upwards to a flurry of wide-eyed “Ooohs” and “Aaahs” after some high set lights were turned back on; illuminating the rafters of the mess hall to show it had a prehistoric motif. Many beams bore facades to make them look like big dinosaur bones, toy pterosaurs dangled from the rafters, and castings of many shells, teeth, and claws sat perched on the nooks and crannies. The camp logo, which bore the image of a large, three-toed footprint suddenly would make a lot more sense.
Gentle Heart giggled before continuing. “Side effect of my husband. We founded this camp so he and his colleagues could bring the kids and family along for the digs, refurbishing some of the old mining worker camp that used to be here and the camp grew from there. Not as old as the establishment at Camp Everfree, but we like to think we keep a more time-tested aesthetic-”
Sunflower put her hand up to the side of her mouth and leaned towards her friends.
“-plus we didn’t need to find a way to market a giant hand print and wrecked bridge like Everfree did,” She mumbled, whispering to her companions as they zoned out of Mrs. Gentle Heart’s speech momentarily.
“Set to get a closer look at it later when I head there. Man the last year of stuff at Canterlot got weeeeird. First Demon Sunset, then the hospital blowing up, then the Everfree’s landslide.”, Sandalwood muttered after leaning into the conversation, counting the odd events on his fingers with the count going up enough to start needing to use both hands.
“-I thought they said the crater meant it was a meteorite?” Maia chimed with a tilted head, having not been out and about as much as the other two lately.
Sandalwood lifted his palms up and shrugged, “Hey, after seeing that burning blue-fire spitting dude, weird pale guys, and the giant glowy things at the Spring Musical Showcase; I’ll believe anything.”
The trio tuned back into Mrs. Gentle Heart's orientation speech.
“-the mining baron was a supporter of the sciences and let groups come to study the fossils the miner dug up even after the mine closed down. My husband was one of them. Now because the badlands near the mine are off limits due to recent earthquakes-”
A small chorus of deflated grumbled and sighs poured out of some campers.
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In the Badlands
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In a dramatic shift of terrain from the forests surrounding the camp, the badlands on the far side of the isle were more akin to a rocky, temperate desert. The old mining installation still stood next to the quarry and tunnels alongside a myriad of abandoned digging and hauling vehicles, rusting in some spots and creaking in the howling wind. The creaking of old metal only gained in volume as the earth began to tremble.
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“-however, I have an old friend coming in who’s made a discovery near the camp and is looking for some eager young volunteers to help with the dig. Any takers?” Mrs. Gentle Heart said with a grin, correctly anticipating the uproar of cheers and applause she got from the campers. Making a lowering motion with her hands, she managed to settle the crowd back down.
Mrs. Gentle Heart's grin showed through in her voice, “Well, I see we have some eager volunteers! As many Bone-Heads once said, never too early to start. Now, in addition, we have a great variety of activities and learning set up for you all. If we stay on track, I’m sure you’ll all have a wonderful experience!”
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The tremor coursed through the badlands, rattling machinery and shifting boulders. One large set of boulders settled on the slopes of the quarry were jostled loose, some cracking open and some rolling away to reveal a cave. There was a flash of light in the cave, followed by two more after a pause.
Something scampered forward at such speed it was a blur, diving through the curtain of falling sand and dust to exit the cave. Scaly feet beat the ground and dust rolled off mottled green-brown feathers as the shape jumped a dozen feet to land on top of a pickup truck roof before leaping even higher onto a short crane. A long tail and curved claws helped keep a balance and grip even as their owner let out a shrieking alarm call after seeing what it saw coming through the collapsing cave after it.
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Finishing her speech, Mrs. Gentle Heart nodded to the counselors and let Sandalwood have the microphone. After a quick tap-check to make sure it was still working, eliciting a metallic screech from the equipment that earned a lot of grimacing and an embarrassed back-of-head rub.
Sandalwood cleared his throat and restarted, “Hehe, sorry about that folks, not much of a techie... Well! Heya little dudes and dudettes, names Sandalwood and I’m the lead counselor for your stay here. Now we are out here in these awesome woods to have fun but you gotta remember three basic rules. One, don’t go off alone. Easy to get lost here and there’s like- some critters out there who may not like you tramping on their spots. Rule numb’r dos, if you see something weird or get some trouble; come get me or Mrs. Heart immediately. And lastly, keep your chins up kiddos! You’re here for fun so relaaax. Nothing bad’s gonna happen to ye’ at this old place; we got a plan for everything!”
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To clear enough distance the newcomer ran up the incline of the crane and jumped off the edge, landing on the cusp of the quarry wall and managing to claw its way over to the top. Panting hard and only taking a moment to glance back at the source of the screeching behind it, the creature quickly bolted for the cover of the forest; leaving a trail of two-toed tracks in its wake.
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Some hours later
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Maia stepped into her parent’s house, also known as the administrator's building, still reading through the sticky-tag list she had compiled after another visit to the counselor cabin. She and Sunflower had helped unpack her luggage into the rooms but there was still plenty of spare space with a few things missing given she wasn’t the best packer and had forgotten a lot of things. And seeing as she practically grew up here and could see her old room from the outside, didn’t seem like any harm in getting some of her stuff back that was on the list.
“Mom?” She called out and paused for a few second to await a response, only to get none.
Maia shrugged and headed up the old stairs anyways.
-Sure she wouldn’t mind. My stuff anyways.-
As she reached the top of the stairs, however, a stray sunbeam caught her eye and attention. It was coming from another room down the hall, one Maia recognized well even if she was shorter the last time she’d seen it.
-Dad’s study…-
Stealing a moment to glance around the house as well as between the study and her own room across the short hall, Maia made her move towards the former almost as if it was drawing her in like a magnet.
-I’m… sure mom wouldn’t mind this either… Not like I’d break anything.-
After a moment’s hesitation at the door, she bumped the old wood with her finger and nudged the cracked entry open. It might have been only three years but the place already smelled old, and the contents it in didn’t dissuade the notion. Shelves stocked with a mix of old dinosaur models, fossil castings of bones and teeth, actual bones and teeth, tons of notebooks half stuffed with tags and slips to keep a bookmark; and Paleo Search’s old fashion computer sitting below a family photo. It looked as if Gentle Heart hadn’t touched it or let it be touched since her husband died.
Maia’s brow furrowed briefly and she flared her nose at the thought of the words “died” and her father being in the same thought. Releasing her anger and replacing it with stubborn perseverance, she let a hand trace over the family photograph which showed her parents and a toddler-aged version of herself at a dig site in the badlands.
-Missing. He just.. went… missing.-
A mix of determination and masked melancholy filtered through her whisper as she looked up at the massive wall map her father had been working on, which showed an overlay of the entirety of the Lost Lands.
“I know you’re out there dad… What exactly were you up to before you vanished?”, she thought aloud with the words spilling out.
Glancing over to Paleo Search’s work desk, her eyes drifted upon one notebook that was less dust covered than the others.
-Probably the newest one…-
Picking it up, she bit her lip as she started to thumb through it. She recognized its messily written pages, her father never was one with stellar handwriting especially when excited, as field notes and shorthand annotations of his mile-a-minute thoughts.
-Might give a clue where you were last. What made you go into the Badlands that last time?-
The last page showed an illustration, but not of a bone or map; rather it showed an animal of some sort. It was covered in something fuzzy, walking on its hind legs with a slightly S-shaped neck and pointy snout or beak. It looked like some kind of emu with a long tail and thicker neck. A single word was noted on a tag stuck to the page, dated to three years ago to the day.
Maia unconsciously mouthed it, as it was written with quotation marks to indicate it was a word or transcribed sound, “...Eee-... no? … Eno?”
She pursed her lips, still confused at what the sketch meant. Her father was most certainly not an artist, that was her mother’s forte. All the other sketches in the book were just simple maps or outlines of fossils, so what was a fairly detailed depiction of some bizarre bird doing in the book? Hoping for some clarity she looked at the following page, which showed a familiar sight circled with a red marker. A picture of her dad standing in the abandoned worker village just a few kilometers up the trail, taken as he was approaching the old general store.
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Maia kicked her boot to the old dirt trail and ground to a halt at the end of the half overgrown dirt road. She couldn’t help but grimace slightly at the sight before her. The old miner worker village was a piece of work even if it originally had been built to look the opposite. She could wonder if the reason some of the buildings were now missing walls and the fencing had completely fallen down in some spots was due to the village being built to look nice for the employees rather than built to be sturdy and to last. Rich sometimes did have oversight on issues like that even when he meant well. Once a lodging for workers complete with a diner and general store, it was now effectively a ghost town that had been abandoned overnight in a way that would make for a good ghost story for the campers. Checking her pockets to make sure she had the bear spray and stun light on a quick-draw just in case, Maia nudged the bike’s kickstand into place and started off.
Pulling out the notebook to check the picture, Maia looked between it and the town to find the match while she absentmindedly touched at the locket on her neck. Steeling herself as she worked the necklace between her thumb and fingers, Maia pursed her lips and approached the matching general store building.
The building had fared a bit better than the half dozen worker houses and other smaller buildings, probably due to its size. A few of the windows were busted up, paint was mostly worn off, parts of the roofing and walls were scuffed up, and the door looked like it had partially come unlatched, but otherwise, it didn’t look too bad. She stopped in the exact same spot her father had in the photograph, a window on the outer wall facing the middle of town. The window itself was one of the broken ones, all the glass having long since fallen out, but the view inside was partially obscured by a shelf that had fallen over on the inside. Just as Maia leaned in somewhat to try and get a better look inside, the sound of movement made her freeze like a deer in the headlights.
She could hear it just barely, footsteps on the inside. Footsteps so quiet she couldn’t have possibly heard them if there was so much as a stray breeze making noise. Before she could entertain the worry it was possibly a bear or deer moving through the store, one observation threw all of those options out the window. The footsteps were simple in repetition, pit-pat-pit-pat. Only two legs, like a person.
Maia swallowed a lump in her throat and said a single word as she tried to lean in a bit closer to try and see who was inside, “... Hello?”
The footsteps stopped and suddenly there was a fantastic crash.
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A few moments earlier
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Its legs were tired of running even though it knew it was safe. More distance the better even if it wouldn’t be followed near the buildings they avoided. Relief came when they found a door intact, clicking contently as they managed to open it and get inside. No people around but it was good shelter and most importantly, safe especially since it was getting dark soon. They’d just managed to slow their breathing back down and begin to pace around their new surroundings when the air shifted. They smelled something. Breathing scents into a long, pointy snout they could tell something new had definitely just come by. It smelled like something familiar. They started towards it with cautious steps backward, the strength of the scent in the air indicating it was coming from a window behind them.
Just as they were about to turn around; however the sudden noise of a human voice caught them by surprise, “Hello?”
In the brief confusion a footstep was misjudged and landed inside an old paint can, causing a slip. During the sudden twist of motion, their tail smashed into one of the tables and sent it crashing to the ground along with all of its contents and the unfortunate slipper. The sudden crash and commotion was answered by a human screaming. By the time balance was restored and a pair of reflective eyes looked out the window, Maia was already sprinting to her bike and heading out of the camp. The creature chirped, tilting its head to the side like an owl before pivoting it down towards the window frame at something shiny that had snagged on the seam. A snapped necklace chain connected to an opened locket with a picture inside of it.
The bird like noise called out in tandem with the motion of a tilted head, “...Rhawk?”
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Night came fast, faster than Maia could get back to camp but only just barely. She could see the lights to the camp less than three hundred meters away just as dusk was breaking. She was in such a flurry of mind she almost didn’t hear the sound echoing out across the forest.
A very distant human voice called out like a whisper, “My’ha.”
She hit the brakes and stopped, breathing hard as she looked around half expecting it to be a stray camper. Then the sound came again, this time a bit less distant and less distorted but the nature of the forest still caused it to bounce around and make it hard to tell which way it was coming from. “Mi’ha.”
Maia felt her pulse increase as did her fervor to look around. The voice was masculine, deep, familiar; familial. It sounded just like-
“Ma’ia.”
Maia's lips quivered at the recognition as she blurted out a single word response, “Dad?!”
There was a rustling in the shrubs due east of her slightly further back on the dirt road by about five meters. Something was approaching slowly, pushing through the ferns that layered the ground. The moon might have been partially out but the dense canopy of pine trees along with a span of forest fog above made it hard to see well, but she could detect something. Someone stepped out onto the trail behind her, standing on two legs. Maia froze as the figure, who was about five and a half feet tall though it looked hunched over, seemed to stare at her. The winds shifted, blowing away the fog as well as sifting new smells into the air. Instantly Maia’s eyes widened with shock at both what she could see and didn’t see, shaking all over.
The figure standing less than five meters away wasn’t much more than an outline, but the reflective red eye shine, like an owl or alligator, blinked at her to show the newcomer was most definitely not human before its chirping sounds could show such. It barked a simple, two-syllable utterance that roughly sounded like, “Eee-no ee-no!”
Moving, the figure pitched up slightly, turning its head to the side and pivoting up and down slightly like it was smelling at something to the east. Whatever it was doing its demeanor quickly shifted from relaxed to loud after it turned back towards her, taking a step forward and sharply barking a string of hisses and chirps like a hawk would, “Risssss paaaahwk! Ka-cuu ka-cuu!!”
The wind also brought a smell, one that instantly filled Maia with fear without her knowing why. People tend to forget humans still have instincts, latent traits coded into one’s genes that proved beneficial enough at a time to be kept and not overwritten. And right now whatever she was smelling was causing Maia’s instincts to scream at her to get out of there now!
The figure made a motion towards her and approached. Seizing her only defense, Maia drew up the stun light and flicked it on. The powerful flood light rapidly flashed on and off, briefly offering a glimpse of the creature in full illumination. It looked like a bird and not at the same time, like an emu and hawk mash-up that had been stretched out with some body parts to the point its proportions made it resemble something else. The principle color was a mottled green with rusty red trimmings and a “raccoon-mask” over the eyes. Said colors were mostly displayed by an array of feathers that ranged from defined, broad feathers on the arms to downy-fuzz on parts of the belly and chest. When it recoiled and squawked to cover its eyes from the light, she could see three fingered hands sticking out from under its wings as the crest of longer feathers sticking out of its head fanned upwards in surprise. Had she not been so startled she might have noticed something shiny dangling from one of its fingers but she was paying too much attention to the recurved claws on said digits to care.
Having momentarily blinded the creature, she took her escape. Maia jumped on her bike again and pedaled so fast she felt like her legs were about to explode when she got through the front gate to the campground fencing, jumped off, and slammed it shut to lock it behind her. She wouldn’t say it aloud even after she calmed down hours later, a fact helped by the detail that the strange bird hadn’t chased her any distance, but her mind stayed transfixed on the glimpses she’d gotten in the flashes of light as well as the sounds the beast made.
The oddly-proportioned body covered in a mix of feathers and scales, a bird with teeth instead of a beak, the transcribed noise it made when she first heard it…
-“Eee-no ee-no!”-
She dug out the notebook and flipped back to the second to last page she’d been on. And in the light of the camp night lights, she saw the creature again on the page of the book. She’d seen an unknown species… A species her father documented right before he went missing.
-This summer camp just got a lot stranger…-
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Moments earlier
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“Risssss paaaahwk! Ka-cuu ka-cuu!!”
It called out to the Human-That-Smelled-Familiar, trying to take another step forward before being flashed in the face with a magnificent burst of light. It instinctively closed and shielded its eyes from the momentary flash to spare them further blindness. Had the human also smelled them and was trying to defend herself? Maybe, but as the blindness cleared and the sounds of the fleeing human trailed away, the creature turned back to the east in hopes of a sign they had been subject to the momentary blindness like he had.
Unfortunately, the repetition of the slightly distorted voices coming from the foliage said otherwise, “Ma’ia.” “M’aia!”
He hissed as his vision returned, fanning up his tail fan, wings, and crest like a cat would arch its back to make himself look bigger. It was them, probably drawn out by the chance to off a rival species while also giving a chance to have a go at a lone human away from the settlements they avoided. Powerful legs and skilled timing helped avoid the explosion of motion that lunged out at him, fang filled jaws snapping shut where he’d been a half second earlier. Screeching in surprise and jumping onto a tree, recurved claws including a scythe shaped one the inner toe helped give a purchase and along with the clawed hands; allowing him to half run half shimmy his way up high. Another set of feet with sickle-shaped talons on the inner toes started up after him in pursuit. Knowing his new perch would only offer a moment of reprieve, he jumped off and landed on the trunk of a neighboring tree and clung to it. The landing was followed by a woody crack from the old tree, the pine’s trunk just barely supporting his weight. He quickly took in his surroundings.
The tree trunk was going to give at one more impact. One pursuer was about to jump after him from the first tree, the other was clawing their way up the cracking tree. And said tree was leaning over the dirt road which was right next to the river flowing away from the campgrounds.
He squawked and barked, almost like he was intentionally trying to egg the both of them on. The one on the other tree took the bait and snarled, flashing a row of serrated teeth as it braced to pounce. Just as it did, he jumped away from the tree and avoided the other climbing after him. The combined weight of the pair high up, as well as the force of impact from the leaping one landing against the trunk, was too much for the old pine to handle. The trunk roared with a loud snap and split a meter above the base, sending both it and its unwilling occupants careening into the river.
Panting hard after the exertion, Eno as he had been labeled once, watched the tree and the pursuers float rapidly downstream. The current was strong even if they’d get free of it and the river eventually, so he’d bought himself enough time for safety to head back to the ghost town in time. Snorting and kicking some dirt behind himself towards the river, the feathered saurian started back into the forest to find some food to forage from. Plenty of meat and ferns out here, for however unfamiliar this world was.
This, I think, is foreshadowing for The Bridge.
Just to take a stab at a guess, Junior is likely the blue-fire spitting dude, weird pale guys could be either Legion or Antiverse Kaiju, and giant glowy things either the Rainboom's "lightshow" or a thematic equivalent. That said, calling it a Musical Showcase instead of a Battle of the Bands may well indicate the Dazzlings will play a very different role... just as indicated with the changes in the story so far.
I am unfamiliar with the original source material, so I cannot judge the ways you are improving upon it. For that reason alone, I am hesitant to comment on the story itself. What is up so far looks to be the beginning of a fun read, so I will be keeping up to date on this tale. Of course, anything Bridge related will be fair game...
That all said... First Comment! Yey!
Good start Tarbosaurus.
Wow, this series seems interesting. It's sweet that Paleo and Gentle had such a caring daughter and made a park to make families have a great time, though I do feel bad about Maia's accident and hoe Paleo's disappearance is affecting her. Love your portrayal of Sandalwood and Sunflower and Maia's first encounter with a mysterious dinosaur. I'll be tracking this.
ACH! Right in the childhood.
My childhood, right here
8122672 Your childhood was in 2007? oh, man...
8122798 Yes. I was 10-11 back then. Believe it or not, people exist who were born in the mid-90s.
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Well if someone was born in mid to early 1990s (so like, 1993-1997), they'd have been around 14-10 when Dinosapien first aired. I was 12. Plus it was kinda the star show for a channel that was pretty common in a lot of households due to being pretty well promoted and solid rerun schedule past the initial airdate for years, extending all the way up to The Hub. I remember this show having multiple airing a day two years after the finale. It had a kinda unique role as a fiction show that was still pretty entrenched in science topics, whereas the other shows on Discovery Kids tended to be one or the other entirely.
So while it's not too well known, lots of us dino dorks grew up watching it
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Oh, and in case you want a trip down memory lane
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Lovely to see my Bridge Buddies following suit and this is a great first review. I wanted to try and make sure the status quo was established quickly and firmly so people understood what was going on. This was especially important given I was working with a main trio which is composed of an OC (Maia), an IDW exclusive (Sunflower), and a minor character (Sandalwood). Good to see it seems to be working
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Thanks for piling in man, hope to entertain!
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Congrats on first to the comment-trigger buddy
Three for four guesses ain't half bad either!
What I'll be mostly doing is a total rewrite of the series. It's not to say the original plot is bad, just stuff will be changed as I wanted to do a few things differently as well as tweak the pacing and tone in some spots. For example the show has Maia's equivalent, Lauren, already at the camp with mention of a gymnastics accident and later us seeing her struggling to repeat an act, but we never actually saw what happened. Works fine for Show!Dinosapien's pacing, I just wanted to be a bit more direct with EG!Dinosapien as well as tie it to her father going missing. So while elements of the show will be there (such as this chapter sharing a name with the first episode, the main dino still being called "Eno", setting, etc.), the plots will diverge. So watching the show won't be necessary.
A good comparison would be think of this as a series reboot with the TV show being the original. There's similar DNA, but the plots, characters, and themes might differ. Plus I'm working with 10 more years of paleontology know-how and not limited by a TV budget.
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Heatseeker's joking around Europa, it's okay dude
8122885 I was born in 93 myself. TV was awesome back then.
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Lol, tell me about it you icy moon you. Sometimes I have to stop and digest the fact that people could be in highschool now, who were born when I was in high school. Considering I was in Iraq in 2007, your comment just struck a chord with me.
Gotta level with you Tarb, I've literally never even heard of "Dino Sapien" before, but I trust that won't be an issue here. I'd chalk it up to the show being on after my time. I liked dino shows, I remember back in the day(a Tuesday BTW) I used to love Disney's "Dinosaurs".
So the dinos are gonna be exclusively dromeosaurs?
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Eno's not, and more may come
8122950 So what is Eno's species?
And also, does Bridge! Rainbow Rocks take place after the main story?
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As a child of the '70's, before the age of home computers (never mind internet), before the time when one could hope to have more then a dozen channels on a cable TV (2-13), before the age of VHS, during the dark times of Disco, 8-Track tapes and bellbottoms, I must say, you young'uns have no idea how lucky you are. I remember a time when a portable phone was something the richest of the rich had installed in their cars, when computers took up large rooms with their own AC systems, and wireframe graphics were the pinnacle of CG imagery.
My childhood was defined by the Brady Bunch, Starblazers, and Battle of the Planets. Land of the Lost was the first series I watched featuring dinosaurs, and it's effects were amazing at the time. I remember getting excited when my family got a game system that let us play Pong. Never mind that ultra-expensive, newfangled Atari crap...
When I was edging into my teens, GI Joe and Transformers were the new big thing for after school entertainment. That, and on rare occasions, when I was home from school, about half an hour before the normal school day ended, I would watch a show intended for younger girls called My Little Pony....
On the plus side, most Saturday afternoons would see a Godzilla movie on Channel 9 (the local ABC affiliate.)
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3 out of 4, eh? Don't tell me which is wrong; I'd like the surprise when it comes up...
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I can think of exactly zero instances of an animal from even half that far back being the same genus, much less the same species, as it's modern decedents. Whatever any of these dinos may be descended from, they will be very different animals then any known non-avian dinosaurs. At best they may belong to the same family as the prehistoric raptors, but even if one can trace it's lineage back to the theropod from the "Fighting Dinos" fossil, it will not be a velociraptor.
So, Eno is Eno. What more matters?
8122995 Perhaps Eno descended from the recently discovered species Dakotaraptor?
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Perhaps. Then again, after more then 60 million years of evolution, with a maximum likely generational period of 20 years, thus no less then 3 million generations of cumulative genetic drift, how would we tell? Identify which family this character belongs to, sure. Having a chance in h of narrowing down the genus, not happening.
If Tarb wants to use a specific Dino as a basis, then fine. That said, Eno is as likely to resemble said ancestor in much the same way that Kaprosuchus, Notosuchus, and Armadillosuchus resemble modern crocs.
8123095 Part of me was just wondering if our dinosaurs would compose exclusively of creatures that resemble dromeosaurs.
Oh, you cannot be serious. Hehehe
I had never even heard of this show before I read this. I looked it up and am sad that it was cut short.
I like these hints about what happened in the main story and am liking Maia and her friends.
Well i looked up TV! Eno and I'm not gonna lie, he looks kinda creepy.
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Yah I changed the design up on both him and the aggressive species. Aside from name and coloration, EG!Eno looks more realistic and less freaky looking (partially due to ancestor shift and partially due to not having TV budget limit. TV!Eno would look much less creepy if he had a feather coat).
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Ulti! Hey buddy
And yah, shame it didn't get a second season but at least we got a complete story with the 15 episodes.
8123194 Will we get an illustration by Faith?
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Faithy's idea
Well, looks like I've found something new to check out on YouTube after finishing reading this.
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Personally, from the images I've looked up, Eno's eyes are by far the freakiest part of the design. Mostly in a "human style expressiveness in otherwise reptilian body" sort of way; it kind of hits the uncanny valley for me.
Frankly, with how hard that face spiked my "weird out" meter, I ended up killing the video right when the school bus showed up.
If I might impose upon your significant other, would it be possible for her to produce, if not full illustrations, then at least reference images for the non-human characters? Thank you.
8123311 For some reason I'm not surprised
Ooooh, this out to be good.
And, would watching the Dinosapien series help with this stories context and jokes?
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Good sign, good sign!
And it's strictly optional, I'll be making it self explanatory or explain it in author's notes. Still a good show, I'll just be doing a lot of the plot myself or tweaking things from the show.
When the hell did G.J. visited the Human World of Equestria
That actually sounds interesting. I've never watched Dinosapiens (I was starting college and I kinda stopped watching TV at the time). But this sounds interesting. And considering that it's only 15 episodes (and all of them are on YouTube), I might just binge-watch them this weekend.
I might be a 90s kid, but the dinosaur boom kinda went over my head. I even missed on Jurassic Park. The only dinosaur-related things I clearly remember from my childhood is "We're back! A dinosaur story. (Which isn't very good in retrospect) and both (animated and live-action) Lost World series (which I remember loving, but I'm not sure if they can be considered good).
I really look forward for the next chapter.
As a fan of Dinosapian growing up, this has my stamp of approval!!! This story had such a feel for the the show that I instantly remembered the scenes it was going for. Loved that. Really brought on the nostalgia. The ending shows that these new raptors, while still a threat, still have the same chances of mucking it up as the Diggers. Great use of her backstory as well. Overall, a masterpiece when compared to most Dinosapian fanfics... which sadly I've never been able to find, but this more then makes up for it. I can't wait to read more.
8122969 tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.ksrHAVWiOcDSvOWZ-I47sgEsDH&pid=15.1
I admit, I remember Dinosapians very vaguely. I believe I watched it a few times growing up.
Our story begins three years prior from the start of this story. Of course, this story still takes place IN THE FUTURE!! So hey, at least Grogar and Bagan didn't kill everyone...maybe. This is the human world, Equus might still be Empress Flurry Heart's bad future. Kinda the clever thing about setting things up this way. Anyway, Maia Heart Search is about to do her performance, and is doing well...until she sees her parents' seating and realizes they're not there. Also, if I'm not entirely mistaken, aren't Gentle Heart and Paleo Search your and Faith's ponysonas? Creator Cameo!...or not, given you're missing for some reason.
Unfortunately, this distraction proves disastrous for Maia, who ends up having an incredibly bad fall and breaking her leg.
Nice introduction here, as it's very concise and gives a good set up to the character.
We cut to three years later and find Maia has healed fairly well, but isn't going back to the competitive circuit anytime soon, if ever...and that's not really comparable to the reason her parents missed the meeting. Namely her father mysteriously disappeared. Yikes...that day is one of the worst to ever happen to a person. I will compliment this: this is concise and doesn't dwell too much on the tragedy to feel as if the story is screaming 'notice my tragic backstory!' which is a mistake many an OC story make. A tragedy needs to MAKE us feel sorry for a character, not TELL us to feel sorry for the character.
Anyway, Gentle Heart wants her daughter to go to summer camp in hopes of cheering her up. What could possibly go wrong? *Looks at every other time a character in this universe has gone to a summer camp* ...To be fair, meeting Anguirus was probably the most awesome moment of Gentle Leaf's life up to that point and she met her idol.
And thankfully for her, Gentle Heart is here, which probably will make this quite a bit more enjoyable here. Also, given what I know of Faith, personality seems spot on.
And she also has a friend here: Sunflower. Babs Seed's elder sister and heiress to the Orange Family. And also a close personal friend of hers. Which is nice. Rich people are PEOPLE. This is something fiction needs to LEARN. Why is it that so hard for some people?
"“Hey, I brought plenty of Capri styles! I hear khaki is in.” Maia chuckled, patting Sunflower on the shoulder and speaking with a coyly raised eyebrow. “Movie night?”
"
I think there's a problem there.
Also, I like how Sunflower manages to be a fashionista without being a Rarity clone, she comes off as more energetic and outgoing.
And now we're introduced to our next character: Sandalwood. Who promptly gives them a big hug and a hearty laugh. Sandalwood is also one of the 'eco kids' from EG.
Also, good job on the chemistry between these characters. How they interact feels quite natural, which is important when assembling a cast the audience has never seen interact before.
And it's also nice that despite opening up with a tragedy, Maia ISN'T your typical angsty OC and is still happy to interact with her friends.
And we also find out the camp has gone big time on the prehistoric theme. Which conveniently explains the giant hand print left from Monster X vs Enijin. What was created by an Xilian/Ghidorah hybrid battling the avatar of a fallen god is now just part of the decoration!
Also, we find out that apparently Junior paid this world a video around the time of Rainbow Rocks from the sound of it.
Also, we find out that the mining baron in charge of the old abandoned mining town wasn't that bad a guy and helpful to the sciences.
While the badlands nearby are off limits, there is a dig going on there...which will probably be important to the plot, so our heroes will probably be involved. Then again, this IS the daughter of a pair of dinosaur lovers, so it's perfectly in character for her to be involved.
But meanwhile, a landslide in the badlands releases something from underground. Fortunately, it probably isn't a kaiju, given this is a dinosapians crossover and not a Godzilla crossover, just in the same universe as one, but still shows some pretty impressive agility.
And Sandalwood lays out the three rules of camp and tempts fate...I imagine at least two of those rules are going to be broken before this story ends.
And we learn one of the creatures that's been released is fleeing from two others. Good to know.
After this, while looking for some of her stuff, Maia finds her father's old study. Investigating, she finds little has changed...and refuses to believe her father is dead, merely missing. Considering this is a universe where portals to other universes are a thing, three gods exist, and several local girls have become magical girls, not that surprising if he's alive. Heck, maybe he found an Energem and will show up as a Power Ranger...wait, wrong dinosaur themed thing.
Well, if nothing else he found an unknown lifeform of some sort and the word Eno is written there...
So she does what any person would do: go to her father's last known whereabouts to find out what happened.
Also, to note, visiting an old mining town is kinda cool to me, given my dad's a retired miner and the town next door is a repurposed old mining town.
And we find out apparently one of the Riches was the coal baron. And apparently a much nicer one than many, even if he made some mistakes at times. Which is good, given a lot of coal barons were kinda nasty in real life due to greed.
And of course when you go to where a person saw a cryptid and are the main character, you run into said cryptid.
However, rather than attacking her in anyway, said creature ended up tripping and falling on an old paint can. Maia doesn't care and does the natural thing and run for it, much to the creature's confusion.
I like this scene as it manages to do a fairly good job of balancing serious and funny, since while the creature's POV shows Maia's not exactly in danger, she doesn't know that.
And when she reaches camp...she hears what sounds like her father's voice calling out to her. Uh, Maia, I don't know what your stand on horror films is, but...this sounds like a horror film.
But what finds her is a the same creature from before, who seems to identify himself as Eno...but he's not alone, and something out there makes her feel an instinctive dread.
It's only after she gets away that she puts two and two together and realizes that thing may be the same creature her father found years ago.
Unfortunately, Eno was not the one she should be afraid of, as Eno soon realizes the source of the voice is still around.
Thankfully, while two on one, Eno manages to send his pursuers floating downstream on a tree by outwitting them.
Also, we've got humanoid creatures capable of mimicking voices and actively trying to ambush humans away from civilization (the attackers, not Eno). I wonder if in this universe, these creatures inspired the legends of the Reptillians. For those that do not know, they're supposedly humanoid subterranian repitiles that abduct people. There's other versions that are just solitary cryptids with less sinister implications, like the Lizardman.
Overall, really nice introduction to the story, with a good balance of comedy, seriousness, and horror.
And also makes the characters pretty likeable. Looking forward to see where this goes.
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LOVE the review man! Working on proper response-
Just to clarify, the first scene is three years ago in the past, story proper takes place a month or two in the future, right after Bridge!RR so about 2 months ahead of chapter 36
This is also not in Everfree national park, but another place. It's an easy oversight, Everfree is mentioned as another place a few times. I'll be more clear later.
judging by the comment about the hospital blowing up, I can tell this is taking place in the same EG universe as the one Iris and X visited. But, what was that comment about a guy spitting blue fire and some pale guys, was that another story that I missed, or has that not happened yet?
Also, I'm currently writing a story of my own with everyone's speech text a different color, how do you change the colors they give you?
8128287 Tarb already said this story happens after The Bridge's version of Rainbow Rocks, so it's referring to future events.
Never heard of Dinosapiens till the blog post teasing this story. While I don't yet have an opinion of the show, the start of this story is certainly a good one.
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The fact Dinosapien was what it was is why I felt it was a perfect subject for a fusion fic. All too often in fusion fics it feels like the tone or setting of one story has been sacrificed just to stick the characters of story A into series B. Dinosapien is pretty simple and doesn't radically reshape the world around it; with just enough unique parts to make it stick out while not overtaking the EG side. It also is obscure enough that it gave me room to change without ruining people's sacred cow, but given how well promoted it was and how frequent the rerun schedule was it was likely most folks who watched Discovery Kids would have some recollection of it.
I've put a bit more info the header to make things a bit clearer, but the opening scene is 3 years before The Bridge's events and the events of EG1 with the main story taking place a month or so ahead of Bridge's current place as of chapter 36; just after Bridge's version of Rainbow Rocks. So how it goes in rough chronological order is
Opening Scene of EG:Ds
EG IDW specials
EG1
Bridge's current EG scenes (Holiday special to Enjin arc)
Bridge's EG2
The rest of EG:Ds
I could have done better on making it easier to understand, so I went back and tweaked it to make it a bit more clear. Thanks for pointing it out!
And thanks, I was worrying it was being too quick paced on some sequences and doing the literary version of frantic editing. Good to see my attempts to just make it concise were well founded. I was wanting to be briefer but clearer to get the status quo and characters set up as clear as possible without dragging or risking it seem like I was trying to give Maia a pitty-party. Nothing is more annoying to me than an edgy, angsty character who's turmoil is laid out so thick it's like the author wanted to write "PITY ME!" for them on a neon sign.
Character cohesion was also pretty important given of our core cast, none of them at A-Listers or likely even B-Listers in either Equestria Girls or MLP proper. Maia and Gentle Heart are OCs, Sunflower was an IDW comics character only mentioned in the show, Sandalwood is largely a background character not often known by name; and Eno is an import from a series many folks don't know of or have seen in years. So I wanted to keep things simple for expansion later. Maia is someone with some pain, but she's not letting it stop her from acting nor enjoying time with her loved ones. Gentle Heart is a caring parent who loves children and is trying to help her daughter feel better. Sunflower is a fashion minded valley-girl whom does still have a good heart for her friend. Sandalwood is a fun minded life-of-the-party who jumped at the chance to be where he is. And Eno, while intentionally kept mysterious, one can tell is much smarter than he might seem and is more curious than dangerous.
Also fixed that part you mentioned, thanks for the point-out and I can see how it's confusing
I see my Bridge nods as well as hints as to what happened during Bridge's version of Rainbow Rocks haven't gone unnoticed
Though just to clarify, this is not camp Everfree nor is it in the same national park. The references were in relation to the odd happenings at the camp being talk of the town since someone drove by the next day and found a crater, a wrecked bridge, and a big handprint in solid rock.
PFFFTAHAHAHAHAHA I got that reference! Sadly my sona will not be appearing as the Aqua Ankylosaur Ranger.
This along with the next one was actually the hardest scenes to write in as I had to play with perspective. Maia only ever saw/heard Eno and understandably freaks out until she has a moment to understand what's going on. However I had to show she had good reason to freak out while also establishing Eno's character and showing any actions he took that seemed frightening were accidental. He was just surprised and then curious. On top of that, showing that there actually is a threat out there, it's just not Eno but Maia isn't even aware of it like he is. Hard to juggle perspectives like that, so I played the first scene for laughs to show how perspective shifts. Maia heard a crash and hiss, whereas we find out from Eno's POV, he just slipped on a paint can and banged his tail.
As fascinating to see you speculate is, and trust me I love stuff like this as well as Cryptozoology, one thing I will confirm right out is the intelligent dinosaurs in this are not lizard people. Far from it. Bit of a science ramble ahead, but just know it's coming from me knowing you'd like to read it and not me bashing you over the head buddy
Now if you want to be entirely green on future chapters when we get a good look at both Eno and his enemies, skip this.
Both the enemy duo and Eno are from families that are completely covered in feathers save for a few spots (like the feet), have a bipedal but still dinosaur/bird-like horizontal stance as opposed to an upright humanoid one, tails, and snouts. I'd say we can expect traits like slightly more bulbous heads (granted covered in feathers) and owl-like, forward facing eyes; but I'm trying to play is as accurately as possible. Eno and his enemies might be smart cookies, but intelligence doesn't know one set body form. Following recent speculation on what a very intelligent dinosaur from the families the story saurians belong to, expect something that looks much more like a giant, long-tailed, toothy bird of prey than a man. Certain traits humans lost from our great ape ancestors like lack of fur and a fully upright stance are unlikely in an Archosaur. The reason Eno looked vaguely human in outline when Maia saw him is she saw him under very low light and he was standing directly facing her, keeping his horizontal body and tail behind him.
Still extremely happy with the reception to this! This was something I had on the shelf for years but I finally got the motivation to dust it off recently.
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Wise choice. Fusion Fics CAN work if done well, but it takes a lot of care to do correctly. And you did a very good job of it here.
Welcome, and I gotcha. That is definitely helpful!
Agreed, which is such a rookie mistake a lot of writers make. The audience should feel bad because their situation invokes sympathy, not because a character is begging to be pitied.
And it all worked. The characters interact very naturally and you can see WHY they're friends with one another, and their personalities easy to pick up on.
Welcome!
Yeah, and it's also pretty organically added in, as it feels like a natural extension of the conversation.
Gotcha. Ironically, I imagine a special chapter of Ghost Story's tale revolving around EG Ghost Story going on a cryptozoological investigation of that whole thing then posting it on youtube.
Hehe, glad you got it. I couldn't resist myself, given the whole missing dad and dinosaurs thing here.
Well it definitely got that across, and overall managed to blend the perspectives very well.
Gotcha. Hmm...in that case, I could still very well see them inspiring various Cryptids, such as Tengu in Japan or the Garuda in India. I know in Terra those were likely now extinct magical races, but this is the EG world. Stretching it, there's the Owlman and Mothman (personal favorite) but those explicitly fly and have much more modern sightings that involve keeping pace with cars, not just jumping so high or around trees such as to be mistaken as flying.
Though the description of looking owl-like DOES fit those two cryptids.
And I'd still qualify them as Cryptids, given their existence in universe has not been scientifically proven yet, so they still qualify.
Well, it definitely is an enjoyable read, and very well written.
I liked this series whenever I could catch it in TV, so I must say this is a story I'm gonna enjoy :D
I've personally never seen Dinosapian, (having grown up watching Walking With Dinosaurs and Dinosaur Planet), but I'm definitely interested in this!
Dinosapein... I thought it sounded familiar until I looked it up online and realized that it was the show that gave me recurring nightmares for almost a year. Fun times!
Wait a second.
*Heads over to Faith's DA page*
OH MY GOD YOU GUYS ARE MARRIED WITH A BABY IN THE BRIDGE-VERSE!