tried to think only the better possibilities, he failed and failed to prevent the worst case from repeating itself over and over in his head. "I have to go find him. You stay here," he exclaimed finally.

    Luck didn't seem to be on their side today. Outside, up high in the sky, black clouds darkening the whole valley below, along with the gushing wind, foretold the large storm that was going to hit very soon. "But the weather...," said Sorra.

    "That's why I have to go," Platinum yelled from a small distance away from the cave.

    "I wish you luck, Platinum, come back soon." Sorra silently murmured....

    Sotara was running, in search of his attacker. If the giant was really trying to take over the evergreen place, Sotara just couldn't let it happen without a fight. Besides, what Aliwal would do to other animals here wasn't one of the things Sotara wanted to imagine; he just couldn't lose this battle.

    It was an unusual winter day. In the time so late in the afternoon, the valley should be bathed all over with the warming sunlight, but today, the whole scenery was engulfed in darkness. Without the warmth from the sun, the temperature in every corner of the place dropped, rendered creatures, especially the large ones, less active.

    Despite the chilling weather, Aliwal still carried on his evil routine. The wailing sound of a young Plateosaurus, a plant-eater of an average size, could be heard to quite a distance away; and this sound didn't go undetected by Sotara. Through the dense trees, the Herrerasaurus dashed by, heading to where the sound came from, the outskirt of the forest.

    There, in the plain at the heart of the valley, stood Aliwal, and on the ground was the young herbivore pleading for his life.

    "Please, you don't even want to eat me. Why do you have to kill me?"

    "Well, you won't be there when I really want to eat you, right? Besides, killing is my pleasure," the murderous beast answered as if he saw nothing more in his prey's life than pure entertainment for himself. That was enough to heat Sotara up. He roared as loud as he could, "Leave him, Aliwal!"

    The giant predator turned to face the speaker directly. What he saw totally amazed him; it was indeed the one who he himself thought he had finished once and for all. Moreover, Sotara did seem to be in a very good shape for a dinosaur that had gone through that incident. But after seconds of looking, an evil smile made its way onto Aliwal's face, Sotara was still not totally healed up from the pain; that meant he could be defeated much easier than the last time.

    After few long seconds, Aliwal still had one foot on his prey. "I told you to let go of him!" Sotara shouted, restating his words. As he was going to sprint in, he felt a tug on his tail, it was Platinum.

    Without noticing what was going on, the grey company spray questions and orders out onto his friend, "Damn you! Sotara. What do you think you are doing, limping out here alone? Are you crazy? Get back to the cave with me now, and no excuses."

    Before saying any other sentence, Sotara bumped Platinum away from Aliwal's gigantic jaws.

    "Sotara, hmm? I must say, I'm quite surprised. The current isn't enough to kill you though," Aliwal said, "Well, this time, I'll finish you myself." Nothing more to be said, he dashed in, heading for Sotara. Such a great fighter he was, Sotara was ready; he stood firmly, prepared himself for any attacks possible, his eyes didn't even blink as they focus on the giant. Within a few feet away from Sotara, Aliwal made a sudden turn, and rammed his massive head right in the middle of Platinum's body. The grey dinosaur was caught off guard; the impact sent him rolling on the floor. As he struggled to get up, he saw Aliwal approaching him.

    As for Sotara, shocked by what just happened, he tried to recollect his mind, and roared, "Aliwal! You need me, not him." When Aliwal turned his attention to him, he continued, "Or such a giant like you can only stab others in the back?"

    Aliwal roared back at him in fury, "How dare you. I'll teach you a lesson for that."

    "Come and get me, Aliwal," Sotara said as he turned to run, heading for the forest where dense trees satisfied his agility but not Aliwal's. Looking back a bit, he saw Aliwal standing at some distance to the back, seeming to hesitate following him more, "What happened? Afraid?" Sotara mocked.

    Lured into anger, the bully rushed after the Herrerasaurus deeper into the wood; in his attempt to push himself through, his bulky body downed branches and trees along the way, one of the fallen branches blocked the trail, thus, preventing Platinum from his pursuit....

    Nebbia and Aleu had just come back from Boha's when the whole valley flashed bright with a lightning, which was, then, followed by a loud terrifying crack; but not a single drop a rain had touched the ground. Aleu's heart skipped a beat at the sound, on every part of her body, her fur stood on end, "There is something wrong. I can feel it," Aleu spoke, in a whispering manner.

    "Don't worry too much. Nothing is going to happen," Nebbia reassured her friend.

    Aleu told, looking at the dinosaur's face, "It's a strange feeling I have, a blink of fear that Sotara might be in danger."

    "Calm down, Aleu. Sotara is so safe in Sorra's cave, he knows not to wander out in a weather like this...."

    Meanwhile, Sotara was diving deeper and deeper into the forest, with Aliwal struggling to follow not so far to the back, when the lightning struck. The relatively dry weather reacted quickly with the energy, it set the area right behind the chasing foes on fire. The bolt almost shocked both to death; they glanced back, the thought of how lucky they were shot in their minds. For a matter of time, the only sound they both heard was that of their own hearts, the chase stopped, for neither the heroic spirit nor the pugnacious soul was prepared for this.

    However, it was Sotara that first regained his conscoiusness, and took the chance to attack. He quickly ran to the shocked Aliwal and bit him hardly on his thigh. The pain snapped Aliwal out of the state; he swung his head, his jaws opened wide, ready to crush on his attacker, but found nothing as its target for Sotara was now nowhere to be seen. Furious, the giant looked from side to side for the Herrerasaurus. Instead of seeing the one he was searching, Aliwal could see only abundance of dry stems and leaves from his height; he had to crouch low in order to see clearly, but this hindered his speed considerably.

    As soon as it started, the fire began to cover larger and larger area. Neither of the two got the chance for another blow; soon, the forest was all on fire and the heat went up drastically. Again was Aliwal's size proved to be a disadvantage, while Sotara, lowering his head just a little, was able to breathe, Aliwal was severely suffocated by ash and smoke. The burning air was so choking that the huge beast couldn't anymore rely on his legs, he wearily leant upon an unburnt tree nearby and moaned to himself. Even this was his uncle's killer, it wasn't a scene Sotara could bear seeing.

    A fair opening could be seen among the thicket, it was large enough for even a large Plateosaurus could went through, but a massive trunk was dangling just over it, threatening to fall. "Quick, there's a way here," Sotara called to his opponent. As if he didn't hear, Aliwal just stood there, struggling quietly for air. With his last attempt to save his rival, the heroic Herrerasaurus inched in, so he could draw the helpless dinosaur out. The desperate brute felt a tug on one of his hands, and mistook it as an attack, he dove his gigantic head on his rescuer, thus, backing him off, but, at the same time, causing his now feeble body to fall.

    "This is not the time to fight! Come on, come with me," Sotara uttered as he approached again.

    "You win now. How does it feel to have your revenge?" Aliwal said, through his pant.

    "We don't have time for this. And I don't want to kill you, just to make you know where the limit is."

    The enormous beast turned his head away, so no one can see his tears. This animal, the one that he hurted so badly both physically and mentally, didn't seek vengeance after all, he was, indeed, worth the respect all other creatures in this valley gave him. No matter where he went in this place, the name of this once small pitiful thing in his sight never went unmentioned. "But you don't understand me, I want a shelter, a place where I can find food throughout the year," he spoke up finally after a long chain of thoughts.

    In a sudden, a loud thump, followed by a crack, interrupted the conversation. Both dinosaurs turned to where it came from only to found that the stem swaying above the route was already burnt down, completely blocked Aliwal's only escape.

    Sotara was also coughing by this time, even he wouldn't be able to stay conscious in this smoke for too long; time was running out. He called, "Aliwal, quick, we could break through that!"

    "No use, you know I can't make it. Besides, this serves me right anyway," the large predator spoke, then, after a moment