darkSpyro

Sholeh remained silent for a moment, and answered Jet again.
"Oh yes, a very great cause indeed. But what will happen once the islands became too overcrowded?" Sholeh expressed, wanting Jet to think.
"Does that mean that the original islanders need to sacrifice their homes in order to favor those who don't even belong? I'm sorry, but that just seemes so unfair to me. Too bad for those victim of that disgusting human race, but that doesn't mean others need to be neglected of their home. My kind was banished from that forest only because we have the unfortunate diet dor bird's eggs. Do you think that's something that I'm proud of? My kind can eat other things, but we will eventually die if we exclude that from our diet. Trust me, if there was another way, we would take it, but unfortunately, nature's cruelly made us like that." Sholeh concluded, determined to make Jet think like her.

Sybil remained in her hiding place, very unaware of the conversation going on in less than a mile away. It was so peaceful in that little space, but she wasn't feeling that way. She was sure that Shadow would never find Sayan's den, and even less if he fell for the warbler's conversation, but that didn't stopped her from worrying.

Quote: Felines

"Certainly. It's like you saying you will blindly trust a random human again." Barloc assured, giving Sayan a little taste on how he felt.

"No, you're right. I wouldn't..," Sayan said. He then paused before continuing, "But consider this. With humans and predators alike, not all of us are the same. There are cruel humans.. yes. I know, as I have seen a few of them in my time. But.. but there are also humans who thrive to protect our kind. Zoos, wilderness reserves, the like. I.. I wouldn't trust another human, but at the same time I am not entirely blind to this fact." He then looked at Rose and then back at Barloc. "We predators are the same way. Yes, there are predators like Shadow and his allies. But there are also predators like me, Rose, and the others who arrived at the haven. When we came here, all of us, we agreed not to harm your kind and not to harm each other. We.. we don't have to. We befriended the keas here on this island and have even managed to help each other from time-to-time. This is a place where that can happen and where your trust can slowly be gained-- if you are willing to give us a chance.," he then added.

Barloc carefully listened to Sayan, something he didn't do very often with predators. He then gave his opinion;
"You and I are not that different. You are aware that there are good humans, yet you won't trust another one again. Well, that's just the same with me. I salute you for holding your hunting instinct tonight, but that alone won't be enough for me to trust you. Too much damage in my life. You can't put an egg back together once it's broken. Barloc said, surprisingly, kindly, and with a wisdom not even his family would expect.

Quote: Spyroconvexity

Jet thought for a moment but he realized what she was trying to do. "I see what you are trying to do Sholeh. You are trying to turn me aganst Sybil! Well it won't work!"

Sholeh realized it was going to be harder than expected, yet that didn't stop her from keeping the plan up. She trusted her manipulative intelligence.
"I admire your loyalty. Loyalty, or stubbornness? Maybe I will never know. Sybil is so kind to everyone cause she needs them... she needs... you. Well, if you're happy this way, then who am I to stop you? I just pray you can see Sybil's true colors in time." Sholeh expressed, pretending worry. Jet seemed determined to continue helping Sybil, so she realized it was up to her to break Jet's view of Sybil, and she believed that her words just now were just the seeds of doubts into the orca's mind.

Sholeh didn't seemed nervous by the threat. She just continued walking, using her tail to cover her tracks. She then turned around to take one last look at Jet, and lowered her eyes, as if she felt pity for him. She then disappeared into the forest.

Just mere seconds later, Sybil came out of hiding, not tolerating the suspense. She looked at the distance the black spot that she immediately assumed was Jet, but what was he doing there?
"Jet! Hey!" she ran, almost the mile that was the distance between them, and after catching her breath, she spoke;
"Hey now, any sign of Shadow?" she asked, finding very strange how Jet was there on the shore, and there were no tracks indicating the Komodo dragon was there...

"Sholeh!?" Sybil said in utter shock. Definitely a name she didn't want to hear, even less, her goal of turning Jet against her.
"Well, what did she said? What did you do?" she asked, a little nervous with what the response might be.

In the meantime, Sholeh returned to Shadow and Warren.
"Well, just a phase. I might turn Jet to your side again Shadow, but it's proving to be difficult. I might continue helping you... if you help me." Sholeh assured, clearly with the same goal as before.

"... She is desperate if she said that." Sybil commented, though why did she used slavery as the word? Did she talked to Shadow? If that was the case, then it was bad news.
"But of course, you do know you don't need to do things if you don't want to." Sybil assured, though after seeing the broken bridge, it was obvious that there was too much work to be done. However, she didn't dare ask Jet to continue breaking it just in case he misunderstood that was what Sholeh was trying to tell him.
"Listen, I need to go out for a while. But please, be nearby. I will return." she said with a lowered head, turning around and headed into the forest again.

Warren, after hearing what Sholeh wanted, became very nervous. How would Shadow react to her demands?
"You heard me right Shadow. I helped you before, and it ended up in injury, banishment and humiliation to myself. As you can see, I cannot fight Sybil, won't be a fair fight. Besides, someone will always interfere." she said with disgust, remembering that in the last battle, that meddling badger got in the way.
"And Warren here is only a threat to the dead." Sholeh explained, with a little glare to the vulture, that embarrassed him.
"I understand you want to dominate both islands, and trap whoever is against you, but know this; you will never accomplish anything as long as she remains..." she then finished with a gloomy pause, indicating that she already had a plan on how to do her in. She was as obsessed with Sybil's demise as Shadow was with Rose.

"Listen, I want Jet to realize his mistake in trusting Sybil, and it looks like we will need to force him." Sholeh explained, coming up with what she believed was the perfect plan.
"Sybil is no match for you, yes? You can get rid of her if you want to. BUT... we will give Jet the opportunity to free himself from her facade. The plan is simple; you simply capture Sybil and present her to him, at a considerable distance of course. You give him the chance to get rid of her, or, you will do it yourself. As easy as that." Sholeh concluded, finding the plan flawless. She didn't care if it was Shadow or Jet who did it, as long as the job was done.

Sholeh thought that maybe Shadow's grip was enough to hold her, but if he was requesting vines, she assumed that he already tried that.
"Very well. Warren, recollect some vines. As for me, I got a civet to find." she said with malice, turning around. Warren began to recolletct vines, which fortunately for him, they were quite abundant in that place and he didn't need to venture far.

Sybil was walking in the forest, trying to find Sholeh, not having any idea on who was about to be trapped. As she walked,
Peepers approached her.
"Miss, the other warblers are waking up. They know about Shadow, and one spotted a mongoose that might be Sholeh. They are in quite an uproar." he informed.
"I know. Tell everyone not to panic. I'll handle this. Just tell me where Sholeh is." she asked, with Peepers extremely worried about her, but didn't dare to question her. The warbler that spotted Sholeh saw her leaving Shadow, but without luck, he didn't hear about the plan. With no waste of time, Sybil went to look for Sholeh, unaware that the mongoose was doing the exact same thing...

It took less than five minutes for Warren to recollect enough vines, barely missing crashing with Shadow when he landed.
"Whew. Well, here it is Monsieur. There is plenty enough for even three civets." he said, rather proud of himself.

Sybil continued her search, and it lasted less than she expected.
"Well well well, look at this! I wish I can say that I miss you, yet I would be lying." Sholeh said from up a tree, taunting Sybil.
"So, it's you again. You dared to return, and even tried to manipulate Jet. Well too bad for you you couldn't succeed." she commented.
"You're wrong. I just greeted him. Nothing else. I missed him you know." Sholeh assured, but Sybil didn't believed her.
"You know I could tell Royal on you." Sybil threatened, but Sholeh knew how to reply.
"Right. You can't do things on your own. You need servants!" Sholeh taunted, but before Sybil could rebuff, Sholeh ran away, jumping from tree to tree. Sybil though about following her to the trees, but believed she would cover more distance if she ran from below, which would prove to be a big mistake.

Sholeh arrived to where Shadow was, actually happy that Warren could collect the vines in time. She then winked at Shadow and looked below, with the moving brushes indicating the inevitable arrival of the civet...

Sybil was so blinded with her anger towards Sholeh that she didn't expected that attack.
"Hey! What the... What in the..." she exclaimed, realizing now that she walked right to a trap.
"Shadow? And... that vulture." she said surprisingly, as bird and reptile tie her whole body. Even with her struggle, both animals were too strong for her.
"Sholeh! You, you..." but before Sybil could insult her, the mongoose ordered Warren to tie up her mouth.
"Well done. It worked beautifully. Sybil... you made it too easy." she taunted, as Sybil still struggled.
"Well dear Shadow, phase one is complete. Shall we move on?" Sholeh asked, very happy that things were going her way for once.

Since most of the birds were either still asleep or in uproar, nobody noticed Sybil being dragged away. But she was wondering, why bring her to Jet?

Once at the beach, Sholeh called to Jet in a singsong voice;
"Jeeet? Oh Jet dear? Come on out. We have brought you a little gift." she called, at a considerable distance feom the shore so that neither of them would be reached by him just in case he became hostile.

"Listen to him. He stubbornly refuses to open his eyes." Sholeh said to her two companions, before turning to Jet again.
"It's like you're under a spell. You refuse to see Sybil's true colors. However, you have only this chance. I'm giving you the opportunity to be free. I'm giving you Sybil as a little... sacrifice. If you still refuse to get back to reality, then Shadow here will have to do the job for you." Sholeh explained, sounding dead serious.
"Oh, and if you trick us and we hand her to you so that you can escape with her, then my friend Warren here will grab her and bring her once again to Shadow. He's very fast you know. Your choice." she finished, having considered even that detail. Right there, right now, she was sure Sybil was going to be no more.

By that time, Sybil had stopped struggling. It was futile. Listening to Sholeh, she realized she was even more insane than Shadow himself. It looked like there was no escape for her that time, but all of the sudden, she remembered something very important. Staring at Jet, she moved her eyes towards some growing grass, and then winked at him. She trusted Jet. She hoped that he would understand the message, before the mad Sholeh grew desperate.

Happy couldn't describe how Sholeh was feeling at the moment. The moment she saw the civet slowly disappearing into his throat, she was certain that was the end of Sybil forever.
"Bravo dear Jet! You see? Was that so hard? I know you are feeling bad right now, but I promise you, you will feel so free afterwards." Sholeh explained, trying to console him.
"Hey now, where are you going? Come on here!" she called when she noticed Jet leaving in quite a hurry. Jet had to be careful, or the smart Sholeh would start to suspect something was up.

Sybil felt an intense heat and could breathe with difficulty. She could feel herself sliding from his mouth to the esophagus, trachea, and finally, to the stomach. An orca's stomach was divided in three sections, and she was barely in the first one (the fore-stomach). She almost couldn't believe that. She was sure that plan was never going to happen, but now that it did, she was terrified. However, she remained firm and trusted Jet, knowing that when the time was right, he was going to take that grass and expel her. Luckily, digestion in whales took quite a while, so she had a chance.

Luckily for Jet, Sholeh understood. He needed some time alone indeed. As twistedly intelligent as Sholeh was, she would have never guessed Sybil planned ahead for a situation as extreme as that.
"Man, it feels so good to get this weight off me. Well then Shadow, a promise is a promise. Sybil no longer exists, so now, I help you." Sholeh assured, now willing to listen to anything the Komodo dragon said. Warren felt a little depressed for some reason he didn't even knew, so he remained quiet will all that event.

Sybil was out, and she couldn't feel more relieved to see the light of day once again. She was inside for only a few minutes, yet it felt like an eternity. Definetly not an experience she wanted to repeat any time soon.
"Oh man, that was... terrifying. Jet, if I ever get an idea like this, slap me very hard in the face, will you?" Sybil exclaimed, though sounding more like a joke. It was official now, she could trust Jet. Even though that plan scared her from the very beginning, she was now feeling grateful that she thought of it. If she didn't, who knew in what type of predicament she would have been back at the beach. Extremely grateful to Jet, she gave him a hug, and even a kiss (something she rarely did).

"I know. But, we only need Sholeh, Warren and Shadow to believe that. My guess is that they will announce my death to he residents of the Haven, and that will certainly create a panic and uproar far worst than now. Go find Ami. She's a seagull living right in that bunch of tall rocks. Tell her to meet me here, and I will explain everything. She will know how to tell the other's I'm fine without those three finding out." Sybil instructed, knowing that Ami was one of her her most reliable bird friends.

"Certainly Shadow. Anything for you now. But first things first; we need to know where the tiger is. Any ideas on where she could be?" Sholeh asked, very happy and in the position of doing anything for the Komodo dragon. No more Sybil meant that she could finally reclaim her home. She almost couldn't wait to tell the news to everybody in the island, but she needed to help Shadow first. She owed him that much...

Almost immediately, Ami appeared. It was a seagull Jet knew before he went to Sybil's side, but not by name.
"You Jet? What emergency?" Ami asked, not expecting Jet specifically to bring her some kind of news. Then again, she didn't knew the other orcas were away.

Sybil was still on her rock, wondering what that nasty trio was up to know. She was certain that Shadow was still after Rose, but she ordered the birds talk about how she was at Hunted island, so if he believed that, then that would certainly buy her some time.

Back at Hunted island, someone went into panic as well. Nia woke up, and the first thing she did that morning was to check on Shadow. She went frenetic when she didn't found him there. He could be anywhere by now. Se checked the cockatoo tree, but he wasn't there. Where was he? She woke up Whirlpool, but he remained calm.
"Komodo... dragons... Swim. Maybe at... Haven?" Whirlpool imagined, knowing the obsession Shadow had with Rose since Sybil told him. He then suggested Nia to go there and find her. Knowing the gravity of the situation, Nia immediately headed off...

"Fast as usual, I see." Sybil praised after seeing Jet with Ami.
"Thank you so much Jet... so... what are you going to do now?" she asked, not wanting to give him any more tasks. He has done too much already.

Nia was now halfway to the Haven. The waters looked so calm. She could barely fly due to the nervousness. How did Shadow escaped that trap? She was certain nobody could do it, so how did he? That was a question she wanted to ask him so badly if she faced him again.

That was not what Sybil meant, but she did not say anything.
"Well, you can, pace around or something. I needed to go to Hunted island, but I won't risk being seen by those three." Sybil pointed out, feeling really stuck. What worried her the most was the vulture, who could fly. Ami remained quiet in that conversation, but really wanted to know what was going on...

With Jet leaving, Sybil proceeded to explain to Ami everything that happened that morning. The seagull was in utter shock and barely believed it, even with Sybil showing her some remains of the special grass that got suck on her fur when Jet took it. It was a first hearing about somebody getting eaten and being able to escape.
"It's the truth Ami. I have told you everything that has happened. Now I fear Shadow and Sholeh will tell all the birds in the Haven what happened. I need you to gather them all and tell them I am fine. However, do not let them know I'm still alive. Tell that to the birds too. It will jeopardize many things if those two find out what Jet did. And be careful. Those two have a vulture on their side. Oh, and remember to reunite everybody except Yodel, and of course, Jaerl and Royal. They must not know." Sybil warned, especially since Yodel in particular could ruin everything.

Nia was almost there, and even though she was nervous, she saw Jet around, and decided to greet him.
"Good morning Mr. Jet. Quite a morning. I... i'm just going to check on my father and cousin." she said, creating an excuse and stammering a bit. She wanted to ask Jet if he has seen Shadow, but decided not to worry him, since Nia thought Jet didn't know anything about his escape.

"But but..." Nia called, but Jet already left. So Jet knew, and didn't even told her where he last saw him. Not being able to do anything els, she headed to Sybil's tree, easily recognized by the stream where she fished.
"Miss Sybil! Miss Sybil, are you here?" she yelled, but there was nobody there...

"Now Shadow, I know this place very well. It is my home after all. Any idea what kind of place the little tiger likes to wander about?" Sholeh asked, so submerged in her own inner happiness that she didn't pay attention to the faint sounds of Nia calling to Sybil from the tree...

"Leopard? Oh. I think I know who you mean." Sholeh commented, seeing Sayan from the distance once.
"We aren't going to progress much if we stay here. Warren, you check the beach." she commanded the vulture, and he obeyed.
"As for you and I, we are going to stay right here. You search that side, and I'll search the other. If she is with a leopard, we need all three of us to battle him." the mongoose suggested, heading the other way. She started humming in happiness. She really believed that she had the forest all to herself now.

Nia left the tree, realizing that Sybil was not there. She reached the beach and decided to rest for a while in the warm sand. The flight from her home to the Haven was quite the distance for someone as small as her. Listening to the waves and not looking up, she didn't hear the little company she had just above her. Warren could spot her easily due to her white plumage. Thinking that a cockatoo at the Haven was something Sholeh would want to know, he headed to the forest without alerting Nia of his presence...

Just as Rose was asking that request, finally the sleepyhead Angus woke up.
"Oh, good morning Rose. And you too Mr. Sayan." he greeted politely, not at all like his uncle.
"It was about time. Come on Angus, we're leaving." Barloc commanded, offering some seeds to eat along the way.
"Uncle? When did you get here?" Angus asked, not feeling him at all when he slept last night. Barloc began to rush him to leave with him home.
"Come on uncle, let me stay here for a little while... at least until I had my breakfast." Angus begged, with Barloc, surprisingly submitting to his little demand.
"Just a few minutes. Eat your breakfast and we will go. Remember, we need to find your aunt and the others and bring them home. Remember, we can now return to the tree now that Shadow was trapped." Barloc assured, being as oblivious as everybody else there of the deadfall event that transpired just last night.

"Of course.," Sayan said with a smile. He turned to Barloc one final time. "Barloc. In response to what my kind has done to you-- I'm sorry.," he said hoping it would give him just a little bit of peace.

OOC: Won't be on for awhile 'till tomorrow. Please try not to go too far ahead without me. Ty.

OOC: Don't worry about that redwes

As Angus ate, Barloc gazed at Sayan before he left with Rose, as if a little part of him wanted to give him a chance.
"Come on Angus. Time to leave." he said when Angus was done. The young cockatoo followed him as he said his goodbyes. The two of them were feeling pretty homesick, so they didn't notice Nia just below them when they passed the beach.
"Eh? Dad! Angus! Wait!" Nia called to them when she spotted them in that cloudless sky, but they were high up and the wind blowing them didn't let them hear her. She had already left before Sayan and Rose reached there.

At Ami's rocky home, she went to the top peak, and started pecking on a hollow log from a tree that rested there a long time ago. She pecked in a way very similar to morse code that only the native birds understood (that was the way they did it when a meeting was necessary). The echo was so potent from up there that the whole forest and beach could hear it. Slowly, even the birds that were still asleep were waking up and starting to gather. It has been so long that a meeting was called by that method, so whatever it was, it must have been serious.

Sayan and Rose were in luck, but probably not for long. Warren left before they reached the beach, since he was in the forest looking for Sholeh. But instead, he found Shadow, scanning his surroundings.
"Oh Monsieur. I didn't find the tiger, but there is a strange bird at the beach. It's not a seagull or a pelican. It is a strange and very small bird. I thought it could be important." he informed, never having seen a cockatoo before.

Sybil remained hidden within the rocks where Jet left her, but it was beginning to feel boring. It was so hard staying away from view.

At the bird meeting, Ami explained everything to her flying comrades. Most found it hard to believe, but knew Ami would never kid about something like that. Some were tempted to see Sybil, but Ami forbid it. Too much attention could blow the civet's cover. Understanding the plan, the birds slowly returned to their homes.

At Hunted island, things were intense. Before he went to the tree, Barloc went to check on Shadow. The exhausted Nia reached him, and explained everything.
"Stupid lizard. Doesn't anything stops him!?" he complained, evidently furious.
"You two, with Whirlpool now! I'll find Sybil!" he ordered, with the two cousins obeying. Barloc then flew off towards the Haven once again...