The Tyrant's Roar: Chapter 7

Here is Chapter 7.  Still getting bogged down with homework, but I've done a lot more work on the story.  More chapters are on the way.

Chapter 7:  First Encounter 

All three theropods looked up in surprise.  Never had the two genera met before, but considering how territorial they were, an aggressive outcome was imminent.

Tytus and Poppaea were horrified by Hades’ appearance.  His head was covered in scars, and there were some terrible-looking injuries along his jaws.  Hades’ teeth looked much sharper and thinner than tyrannosaurid teeth, and both T.rexes shuddered at the damage that Hades could inflict with them.  Hades’ hand claws also scared Tytus and Poppaea; they had not seen any large therapods with three-fingered hands and longer arms than a T.rex’s before.  As far as they knew, only dromaeosaurids possessed those forelimbs.  Then there was Hades’ sheer size.  Tytus and Poppaea were both large creatures and they knew it, but never before had they seen a therapod larger than they were as adults, let alone one with such a ragged and crazed look in his eyes.

But Hades was also scared of the two Tyrannosaurus who stood before him.  He saw that they were indeed shorter in length than him; Poppaea was a metre shorter, about the same size as Achilles, while Tytus was a little shorter than her.  What truly unnerved Hades was the physique and anatomy of both his adversaries.  Both Tyrannosaurus were much more robust than he was, especially Tytus who was practically bristling with muscle.  And their skulls were so deep!  They were packed with long teeth that were much blunter and thicker than Giganotosaurus teeth.  Instinctively, Hades knew that these creatures possessed astronomical power in their jaws and deeply-rooted teeth.  In fact, their very presence screamed POWER to Hades.  Even Tytus’ and Poppaea’s puny two-fingered arms looked extremely strong.

Tytus and Poppaea prepared to intimidate their rival.  They stood by each other, shoulder-to-shoulder, and glared hatefully towards Hades while snapping their massive jaws and grinding their teeth.  As they rose to their full height, Tytus’ head glowed a bright and threatening red while Poppaea’s turned to a brilliant shade of orange.  The low growls that came from their throats shook the air.  They were willing to drive Hades clear out of their territory by force if he wasn’t prepared to leave on his own accord.

But Hades had different ideas.  He was hungry, and was willing to challenge the Tyrannosaurus pair to get that carcass.  He adamantly refused to back down.  He had been exiled once before, and he did not want it to happen again.  He was too proud to back down, especially having just been challenged by two worthy opponents.  Hades’ head turned a deep black with bright blue stripes and flexed his hand claws with a nasty grunt.  He was now fully engaged.

Hades’ plan was to scare away Tytus and Poppaea by any means while getting in a few bites.  He would have to be very careful to avoid the jaws of the Tyrannosaurus pair.  If they bit him, he would be in big trouble.

He walked slowly towards the hadrosaur carcass, hissing and spitting at Tytus and Poppaea.  But the T.rexes stood firm, and growled right back.  They never took their eyes off of Hades, and followed his every move, waiting for him to do something so they could end this confrontation quickly.  Before Hades showed up, they had a very different business to attend to…

Hades lunged forward, but faked to his left towards Tytus.  Both Tytus and Poppaea charged forward to meet Hades head on.  Hades had planned for this after seeing how his rivals immediately took to each other’s sides when he showed up.  He swerved to his right, avoiding Poppaea’s jaws and managed to grab a fair-sized piece of meat from the dead Edmontosaurus.

Realizing that they both missed hitting Hades, and that she was the closest one to him, Poppaea turned towards Hades to charge him while he turned to back away to feed on the steak.  But as Hades did so, he swung his head to the side, and the hunk of meat in his mouth hit Poppaea in her left eye.

Poppaea was temporarily blinded by the blood, and shut her eye.  To make matters worse, she stumbled to her left and fell over the dead Edmontosaurus.  Being slapped in the face with a chunk of meat was the last thing anyone could have expected, and the very shock was what disoriented Poppaea.

Tytus was horrified to see his queen fall and be humiliated by Hades like that.  He ran forward, straight at the wide-eyed Hades.  Hades back-tracked as fast as possible, but he wasn’t fast enough.  Tytus clamped his jaws on the piece of meat in Hades’ mouth, and the two giants engaged in a brief tug-of-war.

Both Tytus and Hades pulled back as hard as they could, but it was soon apparent that Tytus was stronger; he had a bite that was better suited for gripping and ripping, and he had a better hold on the steak.  Blood flew everywhere as Tytus ripped most of the meat out of Hades’ mouth and tossed it aside.  He then unleashed an ear-splitting roar that multiplied in volume, much to the surprise of both.

Poppaea sprung to Tytus’ side screaming.  She was incensed with rage, but at the same time terrified.  Tytus felt the same way, but having his mate by his side made him feel even braver.  Together, they roared even louder.

By now Hades realized that he made a grave error in judgment.  He took on two giants alone who would not stand for another apex predator in their valley.  And they’re a mated pair; they will always stand together, rule together, and above all, protect each other at all costs.  It was simply not worth the fight to have the dead Edmontosaurus for himself anymore.  If he stayed any longer, Tytus and Poppaea would certainly kill him.

But as Hades turned to run, Tytus gave him a little souvenir to remember him by.  Tytus thrust his neck forward and snapped his jaws, scraping his front teeth against the tip of Hades’ snout, going deep enough to carve grooves in the bone.  Despite it not being a serious wound, it hurt terrifically, as it was deep and it was inflicted on the thin, sensitive flesh between Hades’ nostrils.

Hades turned away hissing and shaking his head in discomfort.  He ran as fast as he could towards the cave that he went through previously, with Tytus and Poppaea on his heels.  Their aggressive roars hurt Hades’ ears, and his joints ached from the sound and his arthritis.

When Hades reached the cave and ran through it, Tytus and Poppaea stopped at the entrance.  They had succeeded in driving Hades out of their territory, which was their ultimate goal.  But Tytus roared one last time into the cave out of anger.  His fear of Hades was put aside for his love for Poppaea, and his desire to defend her honour.  “How dare YOU humiliate my queen!” he thought, and his anger rang throughout the cave as the walls shook with his aggression.