darkSpyro

OOC: You said the exact same thing

It has been hard for the Haven residents, and at Hunted island, things weren't any better. As Kali was consoling Whirlpool, Barloc and his flock was making sure that no other Komodo dragon entered Whirlpool's home. They were surrounding all of the holes leading to his burrow with some nastily pointy thorns, leaving openings big enough so that only they and the wombat could fit in. They weren't going to take any risk. Whether a Komodo dragon entered, whether it was their ally or a faker, nobody of those lizards were going to enter.

Whirlpool, not wanting to feel miserable and wanting to amend for his mistakes, headed to Hunted island beach to wait for a shark. He was pretty sure he was going to be treated with disdain after almost practically giving the islands to Shadow, but he tried not to think about it.

Whirlpool did just that, wanting to be helpful once more. He didn't even show any fear, since he knew who Sinbad was and knew that wasn't another trickster.

Sybil continued with the work, helping the keas this time with the nets. Mambo was trying to convince her to get a little rest, but there was no reasoning with her.

The warblers, after treating their injured, began to move the nests from the topmost branches to much lower ones. They estimated that the cannons were going to do more damage to the top of the trees and those most close to the beach, so there was no time to lose.

Crocux smiled seeing Whirlpool "Whirlpool, great to see yea. I was getting worried about you. you doing okay?"

Whirlpool simply did a "more or less" signal with his claw. Mambo received him with the warmest of welcomes and the biggest smiles, landing on Crocux's snout as if the two of them were the best of buddies.
"Yo wombat! Looking good Whirlpool! So good of you to come. We could really use your marvelous digging claws." Mambo said ecstatically, believing he knew what he was there for. Nobody mentioned about Whirlpool's supposed fault earlier, so that really did him good.

Mambo tried to hide his smile at that remark, because how could a tiny little falcon like him dig? Nevertheless, when Whirlpool began to dig, Mambo and a few other keas gathered leaves, twigs and anything they could find to cover the holes. They were very confident. They had beaten Shadow before, and they believed they could do it again, cannons and all.

Crocux joined in "hey don't forget about me." and began to help out.

Sybil began to dig too. Their homes were already protected, but the beach still needed some extra shield. She was deeply worried and upset with the fact that many trees were probably going to be lost with the cannonballs and fire, but the ammunition can't last forever. She had enough of Shadow. Once his ammo was over, she was going to order that Komodo dragon killed once and for all. They couldn't continue with his constant invasions.

Meanwhile, Cairo was still heading to the Haven with the pod. Nothing was going to change his mind. Not even Ellen could convince him to at least wait for Ami. Many of the orcas were glad to return home, even if it was for just a moment, but a few others were starting to miss their temporary cold home, including Dagger.

"There he goes again! Curse that imbecile, absurd obsession of his!" Sybil said to Peepers, looking at the beach from the edge of the forest. She had explicit instructions that nobody would approach the beach, and that the sharks, Jet and his two comrades would remain underwater and as far away from Shadow and his army as they could. Sybil didn't answer Shadow. She wanted him to believe that they all either left or that they were ignoring him, so that he would fire the cannons and empty his resources, and force him to find them I'm the forest, where the traps waited.

Cairo and e pod were now only a couple of miles away from the Haven. They could see the two islands, but they were still yet too far to catch a glimpse of the unwelcoming presence that was on the water today. The pod was really exited to return. Some even stopped missing those frigid waters, and were looking forward to have Sybil allow them for one heavy game before they had to move again...

Sybil shed one small tear at the thought of the amount of destruction those cannons were going to cause to the forest. It infuriated her how Shadow would go to such dirty, low methods like human contraption to get what he wanted.

The keas were prepared. In the three days, they prepared some empty containers with water from the wetlands to shut off any fire that the cannons caused. They knew human weapons too well, and knew that with guns, usually came fire. They had to act very fast. The drought was worse, and the dry leaves had higher chances of catching fire.

The pod heard the explosion, and assumed the worse. That sounded like something worse than thunder. Could it be that the humans had finally found a way to reach those sacred places? Cairo sent Ellen to investigate, who was both fast and stealthy, but when she realized what was going on, she was at a loss on what to tell Cairo...

"Sybil..." Peepers said worriedly, knowing that Shadow was capable of doing something like that. Sybil simply shushed him, believing that Shadow couldn't have possibly had carried such a heavy load of cannons enough to destroy the island. They continued to ignore him. They were going to stick to the original plan.

"Sir, it's worse than we thought... It's... Shadow..." Ellen reported, which made Cairo boil with anger. He was starting to believe he was the reason why Ami never returned, and thinking the worst of the Haven resident's fate.
"He's using some sort of human weapon sir. We can't just go there and attack!" Ellen warned, knowing Cairo's temper too well. Luckily, he was use to the pressures of being leader and choose the best thing to do at situations like that. He prepared a conference with the pod, knowing that if they ever hoped to defeat Shadow, they needed to disable the cannons first. They would go deep underwater and hide within the deep, dark waters, and destroy the weapons. But Cairo personally wanted to maul Shadow to death and make him pay all the times he made the Haven residents suffer because of his arrogant goal.

Crocux couldn't take it any longer. he snapped. he charged out of hiding and said "your so tough Shadow!? well then show your men that you can win against a salt water croc to achive your goals. no cannons. no back up. one on one just you and me or are you to scared to face me?"

Sybil was more furious than terrified, and even though she was tempted to go to the beach to try to talk to Shadow out of that madness, she knew it was a deadly decision. She imagined Shadow would simply fire a cannonball on her should she showed up. She then noticed they were aiming at the mountain! I was too high for them to get the top where Rose was hiding, but Sybil was very afraid that the shooting was going to cause an avalanche that could reach the forest... further destroying it... then she realized that things were getting much worse now that she noticed that Crocux was stupidly exposing himself...

The keas had a very busy time lap. The clock was against them. Many trees were falling, and they had to avoid a fire at all cost. The drought was devastating enough, now the Haven was going to look like a sad wasteland with so much destruction...

Cairo and his team couldn't wait any longer. They went ahead with the plan. Orcas were mighty and were rarely afraid, but many of them were trembling with fear. But they knew they had to out that emotion aside. The only good thing all that shooting did was give away the position of the cannons. The orcas spread out in couples, using the deep waters as cover. And then... they started to bite the bellies of the whales and whites that were carrying the cannons. One did the biting, and the other made sure that once the cannon fell into the water, they would destroy it. They hoped that the destruction of the Haven was enough for the carriers to get distracted so that all the cannons could be destroyed...

Sybil knew now how desperate things had become. The only reason she was allowing the destruction of the forest was because it was protecting them from any fatalities, and Crocux was making that impossible. Moving to where Crocux was while hiding in the remaining foliage, Sybil hid behind the tree closest to Crocux, and tried to talk with a tone of voice that he, but not Shadow, could hear.
"You moron! What do you think you're doing!? Shadow doesn't have any dignity, and even less a sense of fair play! Sybil whispered, scolding Crocux severely. She thought she made herself clear that nobody was to face Shadow so stupidly like that.

The orcas still bite, loosening their grips, but not enough for the whale sharks to get away. It was surprisingly Dagger who took the stand.
"Lies! You guys are bigger than them..." he said, then realized they had no teeth... but it was still no excuse.
"You could use your own weights to get the best of them!" he then said, not wanting to believe there would be such cowards. While they were at it, Cairo and a small group were making sure that no great whites would sabotage their mission...

Crocux glanced at her and whispered "maybe but Rose Sayan Sozen Shi and my dad are up their. I may not stop him but I will not lose my family just because the nutcase wont quit. besides having dignity has nothing to d with pride" he glared at Shadow and said "so it is true about what I heard. Shadow's all bark and no bite. he's to scared to do anything himself so he has others do his work for him. he's scared because he can't do it! because he's to weak! why else would he be using human weapons in the first place!?"

Sybil had witness too many deaths to tolerate another one. She didn't want Shadow to see her, but knew she had to get out and force Crocux out. Even if it meant insulting him or probably hurt him. She would do anything. Why couldn't Crocux see that they were safe up the mountain?
"Crocux! You imbecile! You won't even serve as a human handbag! You're a disgrace! You don't love your family! You just want to prove your pride!" Sybil insulted, biting the tip of his tail. She knew Crocux's temper, but she wanted him safe, even if it meant he would hate her or probably even attack her. She hoped that she would get Crocux furious enough to chase her so that she could lead him to the safety of the trees once more.

Crocux tried to maintain his composure and whispered "he has morters! I wont take any chances Sybil! I know what you're trying to do, but we already have back-up here." Crocux could see the orcas and knew they would help.

OOC: Remember that the orcas are underwater, dorsal fin and all.

Sybil could see the cannons slowly but surely moving their way towards them. They were wasting time, so thinking fast, she knew what to say to make him angry, even though she knew it was cruel, and that it was probably going to cause Crocux to hate her again like he did before.
"Are you surely going to go through this!? What a childish illusion! What makes you think you can take on Shadow? You couldn't even kill a small wolverine, and look what happened! You dear daddy is dying... because you were weak! Because of you, he is suffering and may die!" Sybil said cruelly, really regretting resorting to such fowl, incredibly cruel method to get him to safety. She didn't care if Crocux targeted her once more, she was going to one way or another get Crocux out of fire range.

ooc: yes but he can see them in the water.

Crocux grew depressed by that "you're right Sybil. I am weak. that's why I wont let Shadow win!" he charged at him full gallop quickly plunging into the water and swimming below the whale sharks.

OOC: Remember that they are at a considerable distance away, and they are in dark waters.

"CROOOOCUX!" Sybil yelled, being dragged along. She was getting desperate, and was even starting to harden her heart. Should anything happened to Crocux, it was going to be because of his own stupidity, but it infuriated that she was probably going to die as well for trying to stop him. Nothing mattered right now. Before Crocux could get any deeper, Sybil while riding him made her way to his eyes and started to claw them. To make sure he would get even more furious, she even started to bite his head, even if she was starting to drown due to having to open her mouth...

ooc: true but Crocux is very fast.

Crocux death rolled to get her off of him. and torpedoed to deeper waters.

OOC: Well, speed has nothing to do with that.

Sybil took one gasp of air, but wanting to make sure Shadow couldn't catch her being so close, she dived into the water, when she remembered that was no use. One of the sharks could still get her. It was then that she felt something chomping on her tail and dragging her away. Since the waters were so murky, she couldn't see well, though she really believed it was one of the sharks, who grabbed her and was either going to deliver her to Shadow or finish her off. And right before drowning, she was surrounded in complete darkness.

Somebody did indeed grabbed Sybil, but it wasn't a shark. It was none other than Cairo, who had been preparing to ambush Shadow from behind when he heard Sybil yelling at Crocux, and immediately led her away when he saw the crocodile dropping her, keeping her safe in his mouth. But grabbing her like that, with his mouth busy, he had to leave Sybil somewhere safe first if he wanted to attack Shadow...

Crocux gasped and turned around and snapped at the shark.

Shi was terrified. she rushed over to Sozen trembling.

After a while, Sybil was recovering sense. Whoever grabbed her, it wasn't a shark at all. I was an orca. She thought that it could be Jet, Heede or maybe Jhen, but that particular orca was incredibly big. Could it possibly, in all these chances, could be Cairo? She wasn't certain because he didn't speak. And when Cairo heard the cannons again, he knew he would loose too much time if he swam towards the little island near the impossible current, he would lose too much time. He tried to find another orca that wasn't busy so that Sybil could be cared for... but there was nobody around available...

The pod was too busy trying to disable the cannons and fend off the sharks coming to attack them, but even with all their might, it was getting hard due to how numerous Shadow's aquatic army was. Dagger, who still wasn't convinced on the whale shark's words, spoke to him again.
"Well you are weakling if you let yourselves be oppressed like that. Just drop those human weapons and we will fight the sharks." Dagger said, trying to make the whale shark drop both the cannons and the Komodo dragons firing them.

"Shh... shh... it's okay. We're safe up here. They couldn't touch us even if they wanted to.," Sayan said comforting Rose. He rubbed his head against his mates, doing all he could to make the tiger comfortable.

Crocux turned and snapped at the other shark. Crocux kept his jaws open ready to strike.

Shi was comferted by Sozen's words but she couldn't stop trembling. little did she know that the shaking and loud booming of the cannons helped replicat the event that gave shi the scar under her right wing. She held Sozen tightly "Sozen I'm scared"

Crocux had no choice but to go up for air. he heard the whale shark and submerged and topedoed for the nearist one and started trying to bite off the cables.

Shi believed him but she was still so scared she couldn't stop trembling.

Crocux bit the shark as hard as he could attempting to rip open it's belly.

ooc: could say the same to you.

Crocux was forced to let go as he cried out in pain. he was bleeding already from the first wound but the other wounds made it worse. the pain was becoming to great for him.

Crocux had no other choice. he needed help but he was on his own, or so he thought. Saris swam in and bit the nearest shark as hard as he could to give it paralyzing venom.

Saris held firm and got knocked off but not without his teeth percing the skin of the shark injecting some venom. Saris then sad "let my brother go!" and charged at the shark again.