To Stand-Up

"Now let's end this once and for all!", spoke Smaug who was more than ready to fight the giant beast before him. So much for one upping Devastate, it would seem that no matter what the two of them would be rivals for a very long time and to be quite frank, he didn't seem to mind only cause it made things very interesting.

Devastate kept his mouth shut on the left side of large throat of the giant, who was absolutely furious. That indication was easy to see if the fire within its eyes were not enough, for the large behemoth began thrashing around.

"..!", Devastate's eyes went wide in shock for one moment his feet was on the ground and then in a split second they were off the ground.

"RAH!?!", roared Smaug who closed in and delivered a good smack with his claws to the right side of the large behemoths face.

His claws only then raked downward and ended once he left a good sized laceration on the monstrous beast. The thrashing and now this movement, made the beast go completely crazy so much so that Devastate's jaws snapped abruptly for he lost grip. "..!?!". Seeing this opening, this apex predator lashed out fully intent on sharing its wrath.

Powerfully, the wicked beast slammed its only good clawed hand up under Devastate's jaw.

"Ugh!?!", soon grunted Devastate who was hit hard by the loudly roaring demon and fell onto his side after being thrown a bit away due to the violent movement and attack. The giant must be really hurting, cause now it was hitting them hard to the best of its ability. Though it was wounded, its power was not all that hindered much.

Course after the wound was dealt by Smaug, blood flowed freely from the newly made wound and somewhat spilled onto the earthy soil. The three marked wound was on the right side of the giants muzzle and ended at the very bottom of the side of its neck. These wounds were deep, and must of been excruciating.

The giant was so angry afterwards that it lashed out rather recklessly, that it aggressively swiped at Smaug who was slugged by the large clawed hand not long after Devastate was attacked. Some of his armor all at once shattered from the power, as blood seeped out from the sides of his mouth as he was sent down onto his back and sail. "URG!?!", Smaug could feel his body shake as he tried to recover from the hit. After a bit of shaking his head, was he able to recover.

Devastate who was on the ground was also recovering, and the beast took notice of his weakness and rushed in with a saliva dripping maw. Thinking it was finally going to kill something.

Cripple watched on much like her friends and allies, her eyes fixed on the battle at hand. Would they seriously succeed in defeating this ruthless monster?

She had to believe that they will.

Skyfall watched the battle from the air, his sharp eyes were focused on the surrounding area as the fighting commenced. Blood would surely bring in unwanted guests, which would make things difficult for all who was risking their lives at this moment.

The giant released a ear piercing roar that was full of rage and pent up frustration. Clearly it has never been so severely hurt before, and that it was struggling to kill them all must of been pissing it off. It was so use to winning and killing, that since it was struggling now.

Enraged it to no end.

Devastate got up in time, for he dodged the attack that came his way. Such a large mouth the giant had, and he was lucky to dodge such a large mouth. Chuffing and venomously snarling after getting a mouth full of dirt, did it get a powerful tail whip from Devastate.

Such a strong hit, that it knocked a few fangs from the mouth of the beast. As it shook its head, trying to recover from such a blow did it get hit again by Smaug, who charged in and smacked the bottom jaw of the recovering alpha predator.

Two rivals were now taking on a large bloodthirsty tyrant, and it seemed like they were winning.

Scalpmuzzle was literally on edge, as he watched things unfold. Scarface swallowed hard, his chest was sore all due to his pounding heart that rattled in his rib cage.

He only could hope that all of their efforts had done enough damage to the colossal tyrant, and that it all would be enough. It pretty much was up to Devastate and Smaug to finish the deal, and end this tyrants bloody reign.

Devastate charged in before the giant could regain its composure completely, and used his head as a primitive club. Swinging his head upward, did it knock the head of the monstrosity backward. Smaug seeing the opening rushed forward and using both clawed hands, did he full on run in doing a powerful take-down tackle. This double hit combo from both of them was enough to send the colossal beast barreling down to the ground.

Such a loud crash came from the giant the moment its large body made contact with the ground, the weight and power from both opposing sides was enough to make the ground shake as dirt kicked up afterwards.

Ahnyx showed his surprise, much like Reza who was speechless. They all were at this tense moment.

Skyfall looked over the giant from the sky, he then focused keenly on it as the kicked up dirt from the earth slowly began to dissipate. Smaug blinked as a shrill cry entered his ears, this cry came from the fallen giant who was struggling to get back up. Devastate approached carefully and took notice of the giant's right leg, for it had a severely broken leg. There was a bone somewhat visible sticking out of the leg of the predator. Blood also was slowly oozing from the wound.

"Is it over...?", asked Scalpmuzzle as he watched the writhing beast as it struggled to get back onto its feet. Its struggle was rather intense, that dirt was beginning to kick up again. The power from both Devastate and Smaug, along with gravity finally caught up with the colossal predator.

Reza frowned, "Don't let your guard down."

"Hm.", was all Smaug could say. He was thinking about what should be done to the beast.

Ahnyx looked at Cripple lightly, his expression showed his concern. He somewhat knew how she felt, but he still was worried about her. Revenge was always a dark path, it was so dark that it would corrupt the purest of hearts and he simply didn't want that to happen to her. Reza glanced over to Hunter who was somewhat coming to for he slowly stood up, his face slowly hardened when he saw the giant who was still struggling to stand.

"It's not dead yet..?", growled Hunter rather aggravated. "Hurry up and kill the ugly beast!"

Reza blinked as Cripple's voice emerged, and what she said definitely made some heads turn.

"Let it go."

"WHAT!?!", was the unison response from them all. Even Skyfall who was still in the air joined in and squawked out a high pitch, "What!?!"

Ahnyx's expression was stunned but it soon eased into a kind gaze. Just hearing her say that, eased his concern.

"B-but I thought you wanted to kill it!", exclaimed Scalpmuzzle.

"I did but, if I did that wouldn't I be no better than it?", replied Cripple whose eyes were misty with faint tears. "I really thought that if I killed it, I would avenge my father. But instead I have endangered you all, due to my reckless actions for revenge."

Reza gave a bit of a smile, and even Scarface looked happy about that response.

Hunter seemed greatly annoyed, "If we let it go won't it come back!?!"

Devastate was listening to them much like Smaug, both of them looked back at the giant predator who was shakily standing up on its one good leg. Just hearing it stand back up, made them all go silent and look back at the monstrous beast.

Ahnyx flinched a bit as Cripple stepped forward to face the large predator. The both of them made eye contact, while the others watched. Such silence went on for a little bit more, and then Cripple spoke up. "You killed my father, and I can't deny that I wanted to kill you for revenge. But I simply cannot do it. I don't know if you can understand me or not but I will not kill you. So go."

The giant creature was badly battered and wounded, for the first time in its life it actually felt fear of being killed. It was so sure it was going to die, which was why it struggled so. It really was hard to determine if it understood her or not, but when it slowly turned away from her in a limp did she merely watch it go. They all did.

Scalpmuzzle who was holding his breath, let out a loud sigh. He really was that scared that the beast would charge at them at any moment, but when it didn't did he feel relieved. "Phew!"

Scarface looked at him and laughed a bit, while Hunter glared after the limping alpha predator. He simply didn't understand why she would let something so dangerous like that go. Hunter just knew that it would haunt them later, after all he had seen it happen before.

Reza whose eyes were fixed on the beast for a little while, soon looked at Cripple who was also staring after the large limping silhouette.

"Cripple?", asked Reza as she approached her.

"Huh?", blinked Cripple whose face was so bothered. Her face was just a different mix of emotions.

"You alright?", asked Reza with a bit of a smile.

"I guess...?", spoke Cripple who looked down.

Reza was about to say something but blinked as Ahnyx walked up with both of his clawed fingers laced together. The herbivore was also smiling a bit, while looking from side to side as he said shyly. "I believe you did the right thing."

Reza sort of laughed at the herbivore and how he was acting.

"Yeah? Why is it that I feel like I let my dad down?", replied Cripple with a thoughtful look. She really was torn about it.

Ahnyx gave a comforting smile, "You didn't! All fathers are proud of their offspring!"

Cripple gave him a funny face, "I am talking about my dad you know?"

Ahnyx blinked with a priceless flustered face for he didn't even know what to say, and well Cripple couldn't help but sort of laugh at his attempt in trying to cheer her up. "Thank you Ahnyx. Really."

To her words the herbivore blushed as he fidgeted with his fingers. "O-oh of course!"

Hunter seeing this exchange looked very uncomfortable. "God damn are carnivores and herbivores hooking up now!?! Imagine how ugly their kids would look like!"

Devastate blinked surprised in a priceless way before looking at Smaug who had a bit of a sneering grin. "Don't tell me, you are jealous?"

"HELL NO!", spat Hunter with a overly angry expression for his fangs were bared.

Reza narrowed her eyes at Hunter, and Scalpmuzzle looked at Scarface in thought. "I didn't know Cripple liked guys like that?"

Scarface looked at him as well, "Huh and here I thought I knew her?"

As they talked about them, Cripple and Ahnyx were both silent with red faces.

Smaug was snickering about the awkward air he had caused while Devastate stared at him clearly judging him.

"You know what they say! They say it and they wish it was true in their lives!~", hummed Skyfall as he whistles a weird romantic tone.

Smaug blinked and looked up at the singing birdbrain, "HEY!?! I am already married!?!"

A bit of laughter went over them, but then Cripple asked now realizing. "Where's Gullet?"

Scalpmuzzle blinked and was quick to speak, "When you left, well I guess he went looking for you! I honestly thought he would of found you already!"

Cripple looked worried, "We got to find him!"

Reza nodded with a understanding look, "We will. Let's return to the community, if he is looking for you I am sure we will meet him halfway."

Skyfall continued to fly, while Smaug glared up after him. "I will scout out for him from up here!"

Reza nodded, while Hunter stood there silently. His eyes were fixed on Reza, for he was still after her. With the fight with the giant beast over with, they would be able to return to the others. But first, they had to find Gullet where ever he could be.

As the small party made their way to find Gullet, there was someone else about to be on the move. Lesion, Bloodmaw's other son felt like going to visit the community seeing that he has been keeping up with Jr through messages.

He really wanted to share news with his family for he had finally became a proud leader of what remained of the fallen clan of Dreadtooth. Since he and Fiala were married, he was ready to share the news that he will soon be a father.

Little did he know however was that he would be getting news as well, news that would surely hurt him. For he didn't know of his father's passing.