He dreamed of fire this time.  Stronger than it was before.

        "Mother?  Moonclaw?"

His home was empty once again.  The sky was burning with the colour of blood as a howling wind echoed across the lake.  Deep crimson, he dipped a hand in to make sure it was still water.  It felt like acid, searing at his flesh until his hand turned into whitest bone.  He felt nothing, not even pain as he stared at his claws before looking back the sky.  Clouds coagulated into hard crimson smoke, forming shapes he soon recognised as a vague shape of himself.  It started to walk across the sky, feet planting upon the mountain horizon as it travelled towards the west.

        "Are you...me?"

        n o

The voice whispered with hot flames upon his cheek, the trees melted behind him as green and brown sludge dipped into the waters.  He walked past the Alpha's rock and found himself at the Jaws of the Earth within seconds, the world compressing in on itself as he followed the clouded raptor.  His feet smothered the Skylands within a foggy deep, the grassy plains cracked and twisted all around them.  Giant stones rose up from the depths of the canyon to form bridges for Oddclaw to cross, chasing after the shadowed colossus.  The forest of the Bloodfeathers was made of ash, every plant a withered grey that disintegrated upon his touch.

        "Where...what is happening?"

        c o m e

        "Who are you?  Are you...father?"

        n o

Something about the creature's voice was familiar to him, but he couldn't remember how.  It was not a memory that sparked behind his eyes but something deeper.  Something primordial.  The forest of silver dust made him think of Moonclaw, and as he did he saw her briefly within the ashen breeze.  Oddclaw reached out to her before she faded, her scent whispering around him.  Eternal sunset as he gazed upon the north horizon, back where the waterjaws lived.  Frozentongue smiled at him amidst the barren dry remains of the swamp, her head but a skull as her eyes and mouth came pouring with sand

        d i d  y o u  s e e  t h e  f i r e

        "What fire?"

        t h e  o n e  t h a t  t i m e  b e g a n

        "Time...what is time?"

        h e  i s  w a t c h i n g

She looked up towards the cloudbeast.

        c a n  y o u  h e a r  h i s  s c r e a m

        "No...why is he screaming?"

        h e  h a s  l o s t  e v e r y t h i n g

        "Then...why is he here?"

        b e c a u s e  h e  f o u n d. . .Y O U

The ocean roared beyond her as Frozentongue fell apart into a skeleton.  The moment she hit the ground her bones became fossils weathered by centuries.  But there was no ocean beyond her, simply a chasm that stretched endlessly to show cracked deadened stone miles below his feet.  The clouded swarm gazed upon him with eyes of roaring flame like comets suspended in the heavens.  Oddclaw wanted to run but the creature's gaze petrified him.  Its hand reached towards him grappling him within its smogged embrace.  It suffocated him, whimpering, crying out as the hand clutched him tighter, to crush his flesh against his own ribcage.  His scream echoed across the land as the sky tore open with shafts of light, pockmarking the land beneath with fragile spots of the moon behind the clouds.  Or at least he thought it was the moon.  Then it started to grow with increasing sounds of a shrieking gasp, burning blood-red.

Fire crackled as a shimmering halo, a god's corpse that fell to this earth and crashed into the mountains of the Greatbeast's Spine before Oddclaw.  The shockwave tore across the wastes, ripping dust from the earth like a creature skinned alive to the point Oddclaw saw the ground shiver and shriek from its flensing agony.  The hand dropped him with a spasm of anguish, the ground swallowed Oddclaw as tearing jaws that gaped into darkness.  The sound of fire burned all around him with such deathly closeness that the noise of crackling flesh became rolling thunder in his ears.

        n o  m o r n i n g  l e f t  f o r  u s

The sky dripped around his body leaving a pool of painted amber.  He found himself in a deeper world, the underside of his as a single twisting path forged in the midst of darkness, formed from crackling red volcanic rock.  Silence deafened him as he walked forwards seeing a passage glowing red betwixt two giant metallic lengths that framed above a crevice.  Warm breaths filtered through the crack as he crossed the infinite chasm, the sound of a thousand murmurs trembling just beneath his hearing.

        i  c a n  n e v e r  e s c a p e

He pushed himself through the heated gas that shivered through the gap, singing his eyes as he squinted with head turned sideways as the rock nipped and scratched at his flesh.  The further he went in the more metallic the stone became with a glossy sheen, black and gnarled with twisting scrunched points and mangled sharp edges that gleamed wickedly before him.  He pressed on, doing his best to slither his body around or brace himself past the jagged steel.

        t h e  g r e a t  f i r e  t h a t  w i p e d  u s  a l l

Then he saw a light, a piercing brilliant beam that tore through his gaze and forced Oddclaw to look away upon emerging out of the passage.  He recognised the room much to his shock, the cell he had first seen upon waking up in the human base, but somehow much larger and decayed than when he last saw it.  He felt like a child once again in the midst of burned charring pale walls, back when the world was enormous and every creature around him would cast their shadows upon him.  He remembered the window he saw his first humans through, walking across the blackened floor and feeling flakes peel off under his feet.

The raptor craned his head up towards the window, almost forcing himself on tiptoes to see.  There was a shadow that he knew, huddled against the wall, rocking back and forth whilst its head violently fidgeted and wrestling with ghostly images.

        Hello?

Oddclaw's mouth tried to speak but the words were silenced by the glass.

        Are you hurt?

Still no response.  He could see its pain and drooling teeth, hands burnt to a blackened stump rubbing against its head as there came a sudden breeze of smouldered heat around Oddclaw's feet.  Flakes of ash swirled around his body like dark moths, tasting his skin.  He heard the crackling murmur of flames despite no fire being in the room.

        t h e  d u s t  c o m e s  a n d  t a k e s  t h e  s u n  a w a y

The shadow stood up slowly.  It walked towards him, its steps suddenly glitching to reach the other side of the mirror in but two paces of a static shriek.  The glass started to heat up as the creature pressed its claws upon it, pouring molten heat as fear crossed its face.

        i  w a s  a l w a y s  w e a k

Oddclaw slowly backed off, feeling the fear infect him as the glass window melted into crackling bubbles across the floor, an ocean of white magma lurching closer towards him.  The shadow crawled through the gap and walked harmlessly upon the seething sea.

        f i r e  a l l  d o w n  b e l o w  u s

When he turned to look back, Oddclaw saw the exit had been sealed up by a burning red pile of skulls, shrieking with the cries of his people all towards him.  He did not recognise any of their voices, but he knew they all called for him.  The fire crept closer and so did it as Oddclaw screamed from the lava burning his claws, scorching his meaty tendons and finally devouring his bones.

        t h e  r i t u a l

He fell to his knees against his will as the fire ate his body.  Bone became ash, muscle became boiling liquid and his flesh began to pop with blackened bursts as the shadow clutched his head.  He stared into its eyes as he saw tears leaking through them, bitterly dripping down its cheeks.  The pain somehow stopped.  Only to be replaced by a well of sorrow that gouged his heart to a breaking point.

Oddclaw screamed with anguish, howling into the shadow's face as it watched him sob, shiver and cry without even knowing the reason.  The darkness leaned in as it spoke one word to him, just before the walls melted to reveal the death of his land once more, the scar-ridden wastes and the empty mountains.  No, not his land, another for he realised then that those were not mountains in the distance.  They were oblong tombs.

        c x u l u b c a h

        "Oddclaw?"

His eyes flickered open to see the sun between leaves.

        "Oddclaw wake up."

        "Nnnnngh?"  He blinked at Moonclaw's face with ruby eyes of worry.  "Wh-whuh, whut...what is it?"

        "I am sorry to wake you but, Stonesea said he has something to tell you."

        "Stonesea?  What is it?"

        "Something happened, with the hairless, they are in trouble he said!"

        "What?!"

He stumbled to his feet almost instantly with a scrabbling of claws and shaking eyes, feeling the world regain its focus as she nipped his thigh.

        "Hey!  Hey, are you alright?"

        "I-i am fine, where is Stonesea?!"

        "By the edge of our territory over west, did you not sleep well?"

        "I...I am fine."  Oddclaw slapped his cheeks with a heavy deep breath.  "I just need some food and water, I will be fine."

        "Alright."

Shaking his head free from visions, he walked down to the lake to wash and drink, dunking his head into the water fully before pulling back and striding to where Stonesea waited.  Perched on a rock just outside the Hunter's Nest, the morning sky turned the plains into a silken wave of green hairs.

        "Good morning Oddclaw," began the pterodactyl, "I am sorry to wake you but I needed to tell you."

        "I-it is fine, I...n-nnnngh..." he pinched his snout and blinked deeply.  "Moonclaw told me something happened with the hairless?"

        "Yes, I was flying nearby when they passed the Skylands, to make sure they were not lost, but then their stoneflyer crashed into the Greatbeat's Spine."

        "K-krahshhd?" the raptor cocked his head tonguing at the new word.

        "Sorry, um..." the now-adult-sized pteranodon clacked his beak in rethinking his words, "fell, yes, they fell into the Spine."

        "Wh-WHAT?!  A-are they alright?!"

        "I do not know, I did not go near because this skyfire appeared out of nowhere and just STRUCK them!"

        "But...but the sky is clear today!"

        "Exactly!" clamoured Stonesea with wings flapping nervously in the breeze of the open plains.  "That was not skyfire like I have known it, it looked like many leaves slicing through the air itself!  I did not want the skyfire to hit me so I came straight to you."

        "I...this is...I have to go help them!"  The raptor rushed around in a brief circle flitting like a hummingbird with frantic eyes.  "I-i need to tell Moonclaw first."

        "Oh, is she coming with you?"

        "No, no, she, we have children now, they will hatch in a half-cycle."

        "Ahhhh, OH congratulations!"  The flyer prince leaned down to nuzzle at Oddclaw's face to calm him down.  "How many children do you have?!"

        "Three eggs," he replied proudly with arms crossed and a slight swell to his flaccid shaft, "I am excited, I cannot wait to see them born but I...oh...n-no I did promise that I would not get as involved with the hairless when they were born."

        "Well, they are not born YET are they, they still have to hatch?"

        "That is true...no, no I will ask her first, can you wait for me until I return?"

        "Of course, I am big enough to carry you now by myself!"

Heading back swiftly with stomach growling, Oddclaw reached his future family's nest by following the tree line around and past the Alpha's menhir hill that stood central to their growing colony.  Several other eggs had been laid this cycle too as mothers and fathers congratulated each other on their fertility before seeing Moonclaw settling in with their brood.  With sharper gaze no longer clouded by dreams he felt a pang of relief and yet also an awakening fear when he sat down beside her.  The two decided to eat first their fill from last night's hunt, pulling her into a hug with his arm wrapped round her neck and a deep smooch to her lips.

        "How are you today?" he asked first.

        "Ohhh delightful!" she said tearing eagerly into the bloody meat.  "Skrnch, SKRNCH-mmmmhhhh...what was this again?!"

        "Three-horn hatchling!  Lost without a family, would not have survived on its own."

        "Mmmmmm...so tender.  Come on, eat your fill too!"

They sat up eating away at the raw flesh, savouring the warm blood that still dripped from the young carcass with great relish as their teeth nipped and picked away at the bones that glistened in the sun.  The eggs remained hot against Moonclaw's side as their father stroked them softly, feeling the immense heat of their embryos as the barest movement could be felt.

        "Was it that dream with the fire?" she asked carefully.

        "Yes," he replied after the first bite.  "It is always the same, the deep beast that speaks of a great fire whilst I am burning in the midst of a hairless cave."

        "This has been at least one cycle, what do you think it means?"

        "I do not know."

        "What did Stonesea tell you, are the hairless alright?!"

        "I-i will tell you, AFTER you tell me how my mother has been?"

        "Mmmm good!"  She ripped a whole abdomen clean in one bite before chewing down its gristly glands.  "Your mother finally stopped bothering me haha."

        "You are going to regret saying that when one of our children looks like me."

        "Oh she told me all about what YOU were like."

Moonclaw gave the bloodiest grin between chewing sounds as her teeth dripped with friendly red, much to Oddclaw's chagrin with a shake of his head as he grabbed a chunk in his hands to strip away piece by piece.

        "Let me guess, I cried a lot."

        "Like the most frail sweet child of all," she teased, "no wonder you are her hatchling still."

        "Nnnnnnhhhh...at least she can help us with ours-OH!"  He jerked up suddenly feeling along the egg beside him.  "I felt one of them kick!"

        "Ohoho yes," she said with a proud head raised to the sky, "that one is a fighter!"

        "I wonder if they will all be sons or daughters...what do you think?"

        "I definitely want at least ONE daughter, two would be perfect but I need one."

        "I do hope that too," he said pulling out a fat side of threehorn flesh to feast for himself, "KRNCH-MMMPH, gllk...I would not want them to be ALL sons or all daughters, at least one of each."

        "Mmhmm...is something wrong?"

        "Hmm?"

        "You seem nervous...tell me, what did Stonesea speak with you about:?"

He blushed with an awkward grin and a timid scent, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to form his words best.

        "It is...um...hhhh alright.  Stonesea saw the hairless' stoneflyer had fallen in the mountains back in the Land Before."

        "OH, are they alright?!"

        "I do not know, he could not go near because there was skyfire over the mountains.  But I-"

        "You want to make sure they are alright?"

        "Yes.  I...I know I said that I would stay here with you and raise our children-"

        "When they were born, yes."

        "...I am sorry."

Moonclaw pondered with a look towards the sky, a pure and clear day somehow during the monsoon season felt like a good omen to her.  She chewed on another hunk of flesh debating her choice in her head with a side-eyed glance towards Oddclaw's now-prominent belly scar.

        "Hmmm...will their friends not come and help them soon?" she asked.

        "They only have one stoneflyer," he replied with a sigh and his hand placed against his cheek, "it will take days for the other hairless to reach them."

        "Why not call them on your speakstone first?"

        "OH, good idea, let me check."

Standing up he went over to his personal cache, a tree he had marked especially as his own where his weapons and radio were hidden within the trunk.  Some of the hatchlings born previously chirred at him curiously before he shooed them away politely and clicked his way down the transmissions list.

        "Jane?  Jane are you there?  It's Oddclaw, are you there?  ...Jeremy, Jeremy are you there?  ...nnnngh, Kevin?  Kevin, is anyone there?"

        "Eyo dinomigo," said the cheerful Mexican voice, "what's happening?"

        "Um, one of the flyers told me that your ship fell into the mountains.  Is everyone okay?"

        "OH, uhhhh yeah we have a bit of a problem, Jane and Andrea went with Ade and Bose cuz a new anomaly showed up in that region.  We're mounting a rescue now but it'll take a few days to get there."

        "A few days?"  He feared that was their answer as he shut his eyes to the sky silently cursing this.  "I tried to call them on the radio but I cannot reach them."

        "Really?  Hmmm, that's not great, the pilots sent out a distress signal to us so we knew but yeah we couldn't call them either."

        "Do you want me to go look for them, in case they are hurt?"

        "Uhhh...you sure you'll be alright Odd, I mean I know you're expecting kids."

        "I can just go find them and help them, then I go back to my home, they might be wounded!"

        "I mean that'd be great!" said Kevin trying not to be too excited.  "It's just yanno we only got the one flying ship for now and all we have are boats!"

        "If Moonclaw will let me go, I will find them.  Let me ask her first."

Rubbing his head in frustration the raptor made his way back to his mate.  She could already tell what he was going to ask from the look alone on his face.

        "Are they alright?" she asked carefully.

        "They did not respond," he explained clasping fingers, "Jane and Andrea were in the stoneflyer when it fell, the hairless at the Shining Mountain responded but they said it will take days before they get to them.  I am worried that they might wounded or their speakstones might be broken."

        "Hmmmm..."  Moonclaw scritched her chin with a shake of her head in sensing Oddclaw's growing panic.  "Hhhhhhh...you are only going to check on them yes?"

        "Yes, as soon as I know they are alright I will come back home."

        "Alright.  I will let you leave, how long will you take?"

        "Let us say three-and-one days."

        "That is fine then.  But please, do not take any risks, do you promise?"

        "I promise on the lives of our children."  He leaned down to smooch her snout as she flicked her tongue across his lips.  "Thank you."

        "You can thank me when you get back," she said with a playful growl, "now go, and be carefull Oddie."

        "I will, Moonie.  Do not tell mother, you know how she gets."

        "Ohohh, I never tell your mother anything hmhmhah!"

With a flush to her cheeks she cuddled down with her clutch whilst eating up more of her food.  He took his radio, a length of rope the humans had given him, a bottle he would fill with water from the lake, and his standard shotgun this time after checking it still loaded properly, before setting out towards where Stonesea perched waiting on his rock in the fields of tall grass west of the Nest.  With careful strength he flew above the raptor and clasped his claws round Oddie's shoulders, hooking the talons beneath his armpits before flapping upwards with a great gust that flattened the grass in a hundred yards around them.

The world fell from below his feet as the wind picked up, Oddclaw resisting the urge to shut his eyes in fear instinctive as the prince of the flyers flew on towards the southwest region.  Two of his personal guards joined him having been quietly skirting the skies above with cautious watch, their eyes scanning the horizon for any change or disturbance.  The Greatbeast's Spine stretched out along the south coast just beyond the Jaws of the Earth as a fearsome ridge, cragged and rippling in a zigzagging fashion of peaks never quite uniform with each other.

        "I have rarely flown to this part!" cried Stonesea to his entourage.  "Do either of you know about this place?!"

        "There's a tribe of flyers with odd beaks," said one of the guards, "they live much farther to the west, nowhere close to where the stoneflyer crashed."

        "Have we ever spoken to them?!"

        "Before yes, I believe your great-grandfather's brother left to mate with one of them!  If we encounter them, remember the name Starwing, it might help us negotiate!"

        "Understood!  THERE!"

They saw it almost simultaneous, the smoking shell of the mostly-intact Petrie with its long dark groove in the ridge from whence it landed.

        "We have to approach from the east!" warned Stonesea.  "The skyfire shot them from the south and I do not want to suffer the same!"

        "Alright, put me down somewhere safe!" shouted Odd with hands feverishly wrapped around the prince's legs.  "I do not mind walking for a day if I-...wait, what is that?!"

        "Is someone fighting beasts?!"

        "Quick, there, take me down to them!"

Far along the eastern ridge was a small red shape darting around the land amidst a group of slithery green creatures.  To not lose the element of surprise, Stonesea skirted in a wide arc around the ensuing fight to drop Oddclaw behind them and flew back up to keep out of range.  Four wily-looking lizards around seven feet tall each circled around a human wearing red pantaloons and curvaceous purple hair, their roaming lurid chameleon eyes tracing all over her sable-coloured body whilst wielding a mixture of weapons.

        "[Best give up now li'l girl,]" threatened one beast with a bone-tipped spear, "[if ya come quietly I'll give ya a nice job like entertaining the troops.]"

        "Ugh you wish!" shouted the young woman.  "I'm not gonna be some pet for a buncha googly-eyed overgrown worms like you!"

        "[Then I'll make ya a side dish instead!]"

        "Pffft, yeah right, I'm too spicy for you to handle!"

        "[GET HER!]"

The leader of the foursome rushed forwards with his spear as the woman dodged, cartwheeling fast before shooting a blast of fire from her hands that burst across his face.

        "[A-AAAARGH, GAAARGGH YOU BITCH!]"

        "WOAH, watch yer mouth, SHEESH now I really don't wanna deal with you freaks!"

        "[KILL HER DAMMIT, STRING HER UP!]"

The second lizardman came leaping towards her with a broadsword as she strafed fast, lashing her hair forwards like a ponytail whip that blinded the reptile's eye with a sharp stab that had him cowering in a shriek.  The other two monsters wielded two tri-shaped boomerangs of steel, readying to hurl at them before she spun on her heels and summoned a mighty gust of wind with crackling lightning.  The boomerangs whirled through the air towards the stormy cloud and came out bursting with electrical energy to their owners, one of whom who panicked and dodged to avoid being shocked by his own weapon whilst the other foolishly grabbed his out the air by instinct.

        "[GAA-AAA-AA-AAAAAARGH!]"

The girl reappeared from the fading dust with a teasing belly dance towards her opponents, cackling proudly as the sword-wielding lizardman came rushing back with his eye still stinging.

        "Awww come on is that all ya got, I'm just getting warmed up!"

        "[SHUT UP YOU HARLOT, RAAAH!]"

He thrust with his chipped rusting blade straight towards her belly as she dodged with an expert swerve of her hips, dancing still in avoiding his ruthless attack.  Every stab she swayed her body side to side, every swipe at her torso she bent her upper half straight back with exceptional flex.  The reptile snarled in frustration as he tried to carve at her legs when she jumped and spinkicked him twice across the face, knocking him hard to the ground with a bruising chin before she landed on her own two feet.  She was about to turn and face one of the boomerang-wielding beasts when he was suddenly struck down by a blasting shot from behind that burst his head open, sending hot blood and brain goo through his face into a puddle his body crumpled into.

        "[GHUHHRK!]"

        "W-WOAH JEEZ LOUISE!"

        "[WH-WHAT IN GANON'S NAME-]"

        "NEED SOME HELP!?" said Oddie rushing from behind the half-headless corpse.

        "O-OH, well, s-sure?!  Wouldn't mind!"

        "[WHO IS THAT!?]" roared the staggering sword-lizard.

        "[WHO CARES?!]" shouted the spear-wielding leader.  "[KILL THEM BOTH, NOW!]"

The raptor popped two shells out and two back in whilst the woman struck a mean martial arts pose with taunting fingers at the spearbeast.  The leader charged towards her with vicious thrusts, stabbing frantically as she dodged with swift bellydance back and forth, left and right of her body until jumping on the spear itself.  He tried to pull it free as she backflipped off and shot three fireballs at once towards him from the sky, bludgeoning his cranium with almost solid raw flames charring at his flesh.  Oddclaw focused on the swordsman, his one-handed broad blade slicing in diagonal arcs with ruthless abandon as the raptor struck against his weapon with the steel barrel of his gun.  Blocking twice in opposing directions, his shotgun clashed in a cross with the lizardman's sword as he tried to shove Oddie back, but the raptor grabbed his sword arm on feeling the pressure and threw him past his body in a karate trip and cracked the barrel of his gun hard in the back of his head.

The sound of something hurtling towards him made him dodge as one boomerang went shimmering past his face, turning to see the other lizardman now recovered from his electric burns as his weapon came spinning back towards him.  Soon as he caught it he spun his body with momentum to hurl it at Oddie again with even greater force than before, but the raptor stood firm and fired his shotgun once to shatter it in half.  Crashing like a bird broken-winged, he picked up the now dual-blade boomerang and taunted its owner to come get it, sending the beast into a rage as he came rushing forwards.  He expected the lizard to just bullrush him, but instead the beast stopped halfway in a feint and shot out its hot-coloured tongue at his hand to snatch back its crooked weapon.

        "[HAHAAAA, NOW YER DEA-GHHRRK!]"

Just when he felt victory return to his grasp, he felt a sudden blast of pellets to his chest when Oddclaw fired his other shotgun shell straight at the reptile's face, blood spittling out from a dozen holes as he shrieked and staggered with choking gasps before crumpling to the dirt.

        "Stinking pig," quipped the raptor reloading his ammo.

        "[YYYYAAAAARRRGH!]"

The leader of the lizards swung his spear over his head with a whipping fury towards the young woman as she ducked and rolled closer towards him before whipping her hair fast at his stomach.  The snapping force was like a sonic boom against his ribs causing the beast to shriek and recoil sharply, before he grabbed at her purple locks and furiously yanked her up with fist-shaking frenzy.

        "[S-STOP, ENOUGH, NOW I'LL SKIN YOU ALIVE!]"

        "TRAAANSFORM!"

        "[WH-WHAT!?]"

Swiftly pulling off a sensual dance for a few seconds, her body glowed with magical light that blinded him sharply, until he found himself holding a different creature entirely.

        "[Wha-goddess what are you doi-A-AAARGH AAAAARGH!]"

The girl had transformed herself into a small monkey, whose tail was still held by the lizard until she swung her little body towards his face, latching onto his arm and frantically clawing at his eyes causing the beast to drop his weapon.  Staggering as he tried to grab and punch the simian off his head, the furry pest gleefully crawled around his body with annoying jabs and painful tugging until backflipping off his head and reforming back to her human self in an iridescent spark, but not before grabbing at his spear on the ground.

        "You should really take a bath, you know how much you STINK you wall-eyed freak?!"

        "[NNNRRRRRRAAAAAARGH STUPID GIRL!]"

Despite his opponent now armed the lizard leader charged with malice in his beady eyes with swiping fists as he tried to grab his spear back.  The girl kept out of his reach almost teasing him with sideswipes to his snout until he wrapped his claws around it and she thrust straight into his belly.  The sharp bonetips pierced through as blood began to seep with a look of shock on the lizard's face, red ichor trickling out of his mouth.

        "[HHHRK...hhhh-HHHH!]"

        "I'm not some GIRL mister bugbreath."  She pulled the spear free and charged up a blazing fireball.  "I'm a HALF-GENIE!"

The lizardman felt the blast point-blank as his head blew off clean from his shoulders, charred warping scales carved from his face by a searing flame that shot from the half-genie's hand leaving his headless body to fall backwards.  She sighed in relief tossing the spear to one side as she turned and saw the raptor tying up the one remaining lizard beast.

        "[AAAAGH, NNN-NNNNGH!]"

        "Are you alright?!" asked Oddclaw looking towards the lady.

        "Oh yeah I'm fine!" she smiled with a casual dusting of her arms cocky-like.  "Nnnnuthin' to it, but it always kinda sucks when you're fighting on yer own so thanks!  You from around here?"

        "I come from the east, I was going to the crashed ship up there."

        "Oh yeah THAT thing, wow that looked painful I sure hope everyone's alright!  Actually..."

The girl stooped down in front of the captured lizardman with finger pressed below his chin forcing him to look at her.

        "Mind telling me who ya work for buddy boy?"

        "[I ain't tellin' you NUTHIN' harlot, DHHHHF!]"

She slammed her fist with a surprising strength that made him dry vomit.

        "You DO know I understand you right, so you better pick yer words reaaaal carefully."

        "[U-u-uuugh...what do you want even?]"

        "You know what that ship is over there?"

        "[N-no idea.  And if I did I wouldn-W-WAIT STOP STOP I SWEAR I DON'T KNOW!]"  He flinched from her burning fist now looming in his eyes.  "[I-i'm just a scout, I swear I'm just patrolling the place!]"

        "Who do ya work for?!" she barked tensing fingers.

        "[Some clan called the Yiga, that's all I know!]"

        "Really?  So why's this clan want li'l old me then?!"

        "[I-i, I was just followin' orders!]"

        "That's a garbage excuse and you know it, now tell me or else I'll broil your insides!"

        "[ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!]"  He pulled his neck back hard towards Oddie's chest behind him to avoid her raw flaming fingers.  "[W-we...we were just hiding out on our island, t-trying to find ways to, bring back Ganon, yanno, when this...th-this bird we had he escaped, just flew the coop like literally!]"

        "What kinda bird?" asked the lady.

        "[A-a-a rito, sum weird dude, he was sneakin' around our base an' we caught 'im!  But then he got away an' we were hunting him down, then that flying ship crashed down an' we all spread out, the main group went over to the ship an' we had to go searchin' out for the bird, that's how we found you!]"

        "Hmmmmm...alright.  That sound good, I think we can let 'im go."

        "Really?" asked Oddclaw with a hand gripping the beast's tied-up wrists.  "He will go back to his tribe and tell them about us."

        "Well we can't just KILL him, he's not fighting now!"

        "You are right...hmmmmm-AH, we take him to the ship, we lock him in one of the rooms."

        "Oooh nice, full capture, alright green guy you're coming with us!"

The raptor hoisted the lizardman up onto his feet, feeding out the rope like a leash as they marched forwards but not before the half-genie stepped up towards Oddie with her hand shooting out.

        "OH, yeah I forgot, I'm Shantae!"

        "I am Oddclaw," he smiled shaking in return, "nice to meet you Shantae!"

        "So you're searching out that ship, you a scavenger?"

        "No, my friends are in that ship, I want to see if they are alright."

        "Oh well we better get going!"

        "Wait, I need to check something.  Hold this please."

He handed her the ropeleash before shrieking up towards the sky to call on Stonesea.  The pteranodon landed on a tall rock shadowing over them with a fearsome look between the young woman and her captive, until they noticed Oddie walk up to its perched talons without fear.

        "Is everything alright?" asked the prince.

        "Yes," replied the raptor, "the hairless with the bloodlegs will help me find my friends."

        "Good!  How many days will you be here?"

        "Three-and-one."

        "Then I will return here in three-and-one days for you, alright?  If you are not here by then I will tell your tribe."

        "Or the hairless that are coming, they will arrive from the northeast."

        "Alright, and be careful, the skyfire came from the island to the south, warn your friends too!"

        "I will, thank you Stonesea!"

Stonesea bent his neck down to nuzzle his beak friendly along Oddie's snout, before spiriting up towards the sky with a mighty flapping gust.  The lizard sneered at the shadowed wings as Shantae asked:

        "That's one crazy language you guys got!"

        "Oh, did you understand it?" asked Odd.

        "Wellll...yeah, but I didn't wanna be rude, I just kept a magic translator spell going to help me out."

        "Ma-jick?"

        "Iiiii'll explain later but let's get to your buddies first.  Come on big guy, unless you wanna turn into a nice pair o' boots you better do what I say!"

        "[Bite me!]" snarled the green reptile.

        "Oh I won't, but HE will!"

        "You can understand him?" asked the raptor taking the leash from her.

        "Well yeah, I cast a spell that lets me."

        "Spell?"

        "Again, magic, explain it later cuz I think I got a feeling I'll have to explain again to your friends too...uhhh..." she stopped him with a hand to his shoulder, "you really going all out like that?"

        "Like what?" said Oddclaw turning halfway.

        "Um, all this," she gestured to his entire body with a circling hand vaguely towards his flaccid 8-inch cock, "especially all of THIS."

        "I do not un-derstand."

        "Do you NOT wear clothes, is what I'm asking!"

        "No," he said slightly offended.

        "Why not, you some kinda mountain man?"

        "My tribe do not wear clothes, we are not humen.  I wear them at the humen base."

        "Well, if we're gonna go climbing mountains then I don't wanna get a face full o' your butt."

        "My butt?"  He cocked his head.

        "Look lemme do something, can I just do one thing?"

        "You are not putting clothes on me!  This is MY home and you cannot force me to wear them!"

        "Alright alright I won't, just let me do one thing, I promise no clothes."

        "Okay."

She wove a spell between them with a gentle whispering, dust of violet sparkle from her fingers that whirled around his thighs to coat his scales and turn them strangely warm.  He looked down upon himself to find nothing had changed at all in his crotch's appearance from his eyes, but to Shantae and the lizardman this was not the case.

        "What did you...do?!" he asked confused feeling along his thighs.

        "Just a little something so we can all be comfortable."

        "But, I am not...I am still naked!"

        "To you yes, but to everyone else I put something on that you can't see or feel, so YOU can still be naked, and I don't have to see your dingle-dangle waving at me."

        "...oh-kay, so can we go now?"

        "Yeah sure let's go!"

The three headed off towards the long cragged valley of ridged peaks towards the crash site, Oddclaw now apparently wearing a pair of extremely comfy-looking yellow shorts that showed only the barest of bulges to every other person around him.  The raptor cracked his fingers in preparation for the arduous climb and kept his eye out further for any strange beasts either native or not to this region.  The mountainous Greatbeast's Spine was surprisingly varied in its environment, the raptor having seen patches of thick green forest within deep basins and pools of water amidst trickling tributaries towards the sea.  They seemed to be inaccessible by normal means but thanks to his new companion things became much easier.

The first hour of climbing went past without them knowing as Shantae twirled a spell between her fingers to create steps in the mountain cliffs, big enough to have them climb one by one ever upwards in a half-circular spiral.  The half-genie could only make a certain number of steps by solidifying dust itself from below their feet to become solid, seven at a time as they disappeared behind them for her to form new ones in front.  So long as they had the ocean on their left they knew they were heading the right way since some of the mountains were steep enough to obscure their vision of the crash site itself.

With a hostage in tow the going was somewhat tricky in trying to keep him pulled along whilst scaling the rocky crevasse, trading the leash between them as they ascended higher and higher before sliding down again into a small valley with an inland pool.  Topping up their water, as well as giving the lizardman a chance to slake his thirst, they made another less-steep clambering to the site of the ruined Petrie around an hour later.  Oddclaw smiled with relief in hearing the voices of his friends.

        "HE COULD BE THOUGH!" cried Jane.

        "He could not," argued Andrea.

        "Neville Longbottom could absolutely be the one of the prophecy, his parents got killed by Voldemort, his family was well-known!"

        "He doesn't have a SCAR woman!"

        "The sorting hat took a long time to decide with him, plus Dumbledore HIMSELF said the prophecy could apply to either Harry or Neville."

        "Okay look," said the scientist with a hand to her forehead, "we know that Rowling likes to fuck with people, she did that little 'oooh is he gay' thing with Dumbledore and then just doesn't bother developing that because she's a writer, and you know what writers do?  They leave threads undone like that so that IF something changes in their future story, they can develop that instead, those are all just backup ideas."

        "GOD you are so cynical!" cried the therapist slapping her hands on her knees.  "Can't you just look at the world as it is without breaking down the writer?"

        "I'm a quantum physicist, it's actually my JOB to break down this sorta stuff."

        "Well you don't have to be all bloody Neil deGrasse Tyson about it!"

        "ALRIGHT!  Alright let's, let's do this fair, let's argue on Hogwarts soil.  IF Neville was the chosen one, AND a pure-blood at that, how can he not even know the most basic-ass magic, he kept screwing up like all the most basic spells in the first year?"

        "Because he was raised by muggles entirely, he knew NOTHING of magic, yet another parallel to Potter, PLUS!  Draco Malfoy taunted him once on how he'd be off to St. Mungo's because his brain was addled by magic, like how he always forgets a lot of things, as if someone was sayyyyy, artificially inhibiting his magic?"

        "Ugh..." Dixon leaned back with more effort in her grimace than she had for anything related to this.  "Yanno what bothers me the most about Hogwarts?"

        "What?" asked Jane.

        "All of this magic stuff and not one fucking student has a phone, or like a tablet, I get the old people not doing it but come on, teenagers?"

        "Have you ever been in a British academy?"

        "No?"

        "Trust me, it's not that different."

        "HELLOOOO!"

A voice came from the western frontier as the women turned their heads.

        "...wha-WHAT, Oddie!  ODDIE?!"

Jane stood up from the circle of small crates they had been using as seat and rushed over towards him with Andrea following.  The two looked over the lizardman and young purple-haired woman behind Oddclaw but Jane couldn't stop herself from hugging the raptor before noticing his strange yellow shorts.

        "Wha-how are you...what are you DOING here?!"

        "Stonesea saw you crash," he replied, "I came to see if you were alright."

        "Oh...w-well thank you, that's very kind of you but really you didn't have to!"

        "Why did you not call me?!  I was calling you on the radio!"

        "We didn't want to bother you!" she said with hands up fretfully waving.  "We know you're busy planning for a family and we can handle it ourselves!"

        "But I am your friend!" he stomped insisting.  "It does not matter what I am doing, I am here to help you!"

        "A-alright alright, I'm sorry!  How is Moonclaw was she alright with this?"

        "Yes, if she was not I would not be here.  I am only here to see if you are alright."

        "Well, we are somewhat fine and uh-"

        "Why are you wearing shorts?" asked Dixon crossing her arms.

        "What?!"  Oddclaw looked down still seeing only his naked crotch.  "No I'm not!"

        "I just put a magic spell on him," said Shantae walking past him to shake both their hands, "also hi I'm Shantae, half-genie, sorry I just had to give him a little cover up if I was climbin' underneath him."

        "Wh-what?  Magic?!" stammered Dixon.

        "Are you serious?!" cried Addison almost too excited with hands clapped.  "Like, seriously, you know magic, you're a...h-half-genie?!"

        "You're not believing this already are you Jane?"

        "WE TRAVELLED THROUGH TIME ANDREA COME ON, GET REAL!  C-can you show me a spell, please!?"

The half-genie giggled at such enthusiasm and decided to show off a little bit of fun for them, summoning a fire spell easily from her fingers with a crimson scattering of ash from her nails that burst softly before them.  Jane cupped her hands to her face like a teenager at a concert.

        "Eeeeeeeehehehehahahaaaa, ohohomygodYES, YES I have been waiting for this FINALLY!"

        "What?!" cried Andrea.

        "Someone that knows magic, after SO MANY YEARS of these bloody anomalies all showing up like crazy, we have someone that knows, MAGIC!  Every year we had robots or technopeople or alchemists but this is STRAIGHT-UP MAGIC!"

        "ALRIGHT I GET IT, I get it girl," the physicist grabbed both of Jane's shoulders to calm her, "but let's get back to the problem at hand after introducing ourselves.  I'm Andrea, this is Jane, I guess you met Oddclaw, and who is that behind you?"

        "Oh he's our hostage," said Shantae tugging the leash to keep his attention, "his buddies tried to fight us down below, big mistake!  Me and Oddclaw teamed up, then he told me about you guys so here I am, glad to see yer all safe!"

        "[WELL THAT CHECKS OUT!]"

A voice from above alerted them as sweeping verdant came past their vision in a cloud of dust.  The green-feathered Chihlo now stood amongst them much to the lizardman's shock who ranted with a pointing claw.

        "[Y-YOUUUUUU!]"

        "[Hi, have we met?!]"

        "[You winged FREAK,  SO THIS IS WHERE YER HIDIN'?!  I'm gonna enjoy roastin' yer pluckfeathered ass when I get outta this!]"

        "[Big talk for a scaly mutt on a leash,]" said Chihlo walking up to him to pat his cheek softly, "[maybe you shoulda taken a hookie.]"

        "[YOU LITTLE PRICK!]" he roared with spittle flying at her beak.  "[YOU KILLED MY BOSS, YOU THINK YER GONNA GET AWAY WITH THAT?!]"

        "[I did?!]" she wiped her beak with one hand in a stroke of ponderment.  "[Ohhh yeah, I did huh, welp that's your problem now.]"

        "[RRRAAAAAARGH!]"

The lizardman tried to break from his leash with snapping jaws towards her as Oddclaw shoved him back with a backfist across the face.  Dixon threw up her hands in confusion at all this as she demanded:

        "Is anyone gonna clue us in on where the fuck we are and what are these two fighting about?!"

        "Oh you can't understand them?!" said Shantae.  "I'll just fix that for ya."

        "[WHEN I GET OUTTA THIS, I'M GONNA RIP YOUR BITCH HEAD OFF AND SHOVE IT] RIGHT UP YER MOTHER'S ASS YOU SHITFEATHERED PUNK!"

The raptor and the two humans looked shocked at the lizardman's outburst in having caught the more offensive half of it.  When realising this he suddenly turned quiet with a sense of public shaming as eyes burned into him before Shantae offered her hand towards the bird.

        "Soooo I'm Shantae, just cast a magic spell so we could all understand each other, what's your name?"

        "Chihlo," the rito shook her hand gladly, "nice to meetcha, so howsabout we trade stories 'til we're ready to head on out?"

        "Sure, but uhhh mind if we put this guy someplace safe?  Wanna make sure he don't run away."

        "Gladly."

The bird cracked her knuckles with a filthy cackle as the lizardman struggled to pull himself away before being dragged into the ship.  Locked inside one of the crew quarters with his own bathroom and a few days' worth of supplies to not starve, they sat down upon the crates and began to share stories with each other in a semi-circle.

        "We're from the future of this world," explained Andrea, "we're trying to stabilise anomalies in order to prevent a disaster that will happen in our time."

        "Our research into time travel," continued Jane beside her, "has caused some problems that we are trying to correct, basically a group before us tampered too much with the flow of time in this prehistoric era that Oddclaw lives in."

        "I was born here," said the raptor sitting between Jane and Chihlo who was opposite of her, "I met the humen some years ago and I am their ambass-sidor to speak with other creatures of my home."

        "Well, THAT'S something," said Chihlo stretching her wings, "hnnngh...a-aaahhhhh well, I was searching for something on that island over there and I got captured, no biggie."

        "And I was just gonna meet my friend Sky before this portal sucked me up INTO the sky!" ended Shantae beside Chihlo.  "Talk about irony!"

        "Is that irony or just really weird?"

        "I dunno but I sure hate it!"

        "Where are Ade and Bose?" Oddclaw asked leaning forwards.

        "Oh, damn we didn't tell you," murmured Jane with a hand to her head, "well, I didn't want to say until after we all shared our stories and got on the level now especially since we can finally understand Chihlo but...we got attacked by some beasts and they took Adenine and Ribose."

        "What?!"  The raptor stood up with a tightening of fists.  "We have to help them!"

        "We're planning on it," said Andrea reaching her hand out towards him, "we're just not sure what we're gonna do."

        "And now that you understand ME," added Chihlo pointing both thumbs at herself, "I think we can all start making a plan to get 'em back from those moblin punks."

        "That's what they're called?"

        "Mmhmm, the li'l guys are bokoblins, big ones are moblins, and that creepy lizard guy you locked up is a lizalfos."

        "Do they work for someone?" asked Shantae shifting herself on the uncomfortable crate.

        "You know the Yiga clan?"

        "Uhhh...no?"

        "What, how do you not KNOW, aren't you a Gerudo?"

        "Uh, I said I was a half-genie, not a gerudo, what the heck is that?!"

        "Oh, yer not?  ...wait, you're not from my...my uh world, then?"

        "Guess not!" shrugged the djinn with a wide smirk.  "I come from Scuttle Town, what about you?"

        "Rito village," replied the bird with a dramatic curtsy, "naturally, but alright so, the Yiga clan are this mysterious group that split off from the Sheikah, who are this group of good guys that fought against Ganon's forces."

        "Gammon?" asked Jane squinting her head.

        "No, GANON, two N's, he was this big evil dude that tried to flood the entire world in darkness.  Those monsters we fought are part of his army, or what's left of it, and there's also the Yiga hiding out all over Hyrule, like that island over there."

        "So they're just terrorists?" asked Andrea hunching over forwards.

        "Uhhh...what?"

        "Like, people who are fighting for a cause that involves hurting other people, innocents."

        "Yeah, basically, they wanna bring back their master and I heard that the Yiga got their hands on a book that could let them do that, so I went in to try and find it.  Then I got caught cuz I was stupid, the guy that heads that island's sharper than he looks."

        "And now he has our friends...what would he do to them?"

        "Oh probably enslave them, make them work in a kitchen or something."

        "We have to help them," insisted Oddie with a crack of his knuckles, "we cannot leave them behind!"

        "Now THAT'S what I like to hear!" said Shantae standing up to stretch her arms above her head.  "So, what's the big plan?!"

        "First off."  Andrea pressed a finger forwards to them from her seat.  "We already have backup coming."

        "But they will not be here for days," argued Odd.

        "I know that but, there's only five of us here."

        "Oh come on seriously?" said Chihlo sweeping her wing.  "We took down like twenty of them when it was just THREE of us, if we plan this out right playing it smart, then it don't matter how many of them there are if we can kill the big guys!"

        "She is right," insisted the raptor, "when my tribe are hunting, it does not matter how big the beast is, what matters is who can kill it before they are seen by it."

        "Hmhahaaaa yes, YES!" she fwipped up her wing into a high-five with him.  "See this guy knows what I'm talking about!"

        "I mean we COULD wait," debated Shantae with a finger tapping her chin, "but then what's gonna happen to your friends?  Will your backup come and fight them, or are they gonna negotiate?"

        "First negotiations," replied Jane, "then when that fails we start planning a strategy-"

        "Okay, FIRST problem," interrupted Chihlo walking around her crate seat, "these guys do NOT negotiate, you cannot negotiate with Yiga, they are cruel heartless bastards who prey upon the innocent because it's fun, you cannot get through to them.  So let's just skip the formalities and get down to business hmm?"

        "You seem to know them well enough."

        "I was trapped with those guys for weeks, trust me."

        "And they did not hurt you?" asked the raptor looking her over.  "You are not wounded."

        "I got a tongue as sharp as my arrows, my grandpappy's been around all of Hyrule without a scratch AND he didn't have any weapons on him so, frankly I got the advantage!  SO!"  She slammed her wings down upon the crate like a meeting table.  "Ladies, gentleman, shall we plan how to take those bastards down and save Hyrule along with your friends?!"

        "You cannot be serious," argued Jane leaning her head back exasperated.

        "I dunno girls," said Shantae biting at one of her fingernails softly, "if these Yiga are as bad as she says PLUS they got a magic book on them, it would mean some deep trouble for us all.  Plus, you got us now, with my genie powers and Oddclaw's gun-"

        "And my sweet-ass arrows," boasted the bird, "those punks are gonna be screamin' for the hills so, you with me?!"

She threw her wing out to the middle of them as Oddclaw instantly slapped his hand down upon it without a second thought.  Shantae joined with her slender young palm on top of the raptor's claws as both Jane and Andrea looked at each other with a deep sigh.  The leering faces of growing eagerness from the three fighters did not assuage their fears, but they knew also there was nowhere else safe than with them.

        "Alright fuck it," said Dixon with her hand first.

        "Why not," added Jane slapping hers on top, "if we're gonna die we might as well bloody go down fighting."

        "We're not gonna die don't worry!" said the half-djinn as their hands separated.  "We just got to plan this out, now Chihlo you were there so why dontcha give us a sitref on the whole island out there?"

        "Fine by me."  The falcon brought out one of her arrows as she started to form etchings in the dirt between them.  "First, lemme tell you about what happened to me...that way I can remember the rooms and such cuz this island's a freakin' maze."

        "It looked very strange from the sky," replied Oddclaw, "and my friend Stonesea said that green lightning shot out from it to crash the humen ship."

        "Ohoho yeah, that's the Guardian, that's why I came to save you two," she pointed briefly at the humans, "cuz they shoot down their prey, and then they drag 'em back to their base."

        "Did they shoot you down?"

        "More or less...it all began about five weeks ago..."