Xeno-Planet

The Vice's Apex Meeting

Vice-Captain Nero Vellum was returning to what he referred to as his home base in the valley. He looked at the Xenopossums he had managed to spear. Four. All adequately sized for him to eat. He thought of cooking them and sharing them with the Death Adder. But, he figured the Death Adder would hunt its own food.
As he walked back to where the Adder’s den was located he realized that there was no sign of any creatures being there. The only reason he knew that life hadn’t died out within seconds was because he saw Xenopossums hiding in trees and Mortem Raptors that had emerged from a bush but didn’t attack. Seemingly trying to make as little noise as possible. He looked around before sighting what looked to be the cause. A cave.
He approached the cave to see what would cause the life of Alaria’s forests to cease their regular activities. As he approached the cave he couldn’t see anything far in. It was too dark. But he picked up on a whiff of smell coming from something in the cave. He pulled out his flashlight and went further in.
As he did the smell became more and more noticeable. It smelt rotten. Like death itself. Truly putrid. Until he finally got to the source. It was a deceased Tonitruape. He was perplexed by bite marks and chunks of flesh missing. He knew of one mystery creature he heard roaring in the distance. He thought to himself, “Could this be that other apex?”.
He decided to investigate the corpse further. Whether out of intrigue or as a strategy to know what he was dealing with he himself didn’t know. He went closer. He had noticed claw marks too. Five slash marks around the long neck of the dead Tonitruape. After inspecting the corpse he moved further into the cave. Then he tripped on something on the floor and landed on a strange object. At first he thought he just landed on a rock. But as he processed how it felt he realized. It was not the hard surface of rock. It was scaly.
He coursed his fingers through the surface and he felt like he was caressing a bearded dragon. This was no rock. It was a reptilian creature. He heard a breath and then in the dark cave he noticed it start to move. He flashed his torch on the creature and saw the scales. Its entire body but the head was light gray. Its head, a dark orange. Osteoderms ran down its back and from the neck up were jet black stripes running from the back of the neck to the snout. On the end of its snout were three horns. It was the Ultima Rex.
He knew that this was the other Apex predator he vowed to hunt down and kill with the Death Adder just upon seeing it. It had the appearanceof a definitive Apex. He was confident that once he found it he could kill it with his plan. But that was before he saw the beast in the flesh. Before he gazed into the Ultima Rex's eyes.
When he locked eyes with it for a brief moment he saw the same he saw in the Death Adder. Human level intelligence. He started to back away slowly. But then the Ultimas Rex let out a guttural roar. It was loud and terrifying what you would expect from the apex of Alaria. He started sprinting and behind him he heard the Ultimas Rex’s footsteps as it started to chase. He exited the cave but realized that now the footsteps were faster. It had started running.
He desperately dove behind some trees and bushes. Hoping and praying that the Rex wouldn’t find him. The Ultima Rex was now outside the cave. It prowled in the brush. The only advantage Nero had was that in daylight the creature was visible. But that wouldn’t help. In an instant he heard the sound of wood break behind him. He looked up and saw the creature’s face looking at him. But before he could be eaten the Ultima’s attention shifted. It started looking elsewhere and let out its roar.
Nero looked to see what it was and saw another titanic creature. It was a Baron Magnumreptili. But, something was different about this one. It was green and yellow, its body covered in moss and plantlife. This individual was missing the Parvisreptili that had a bond with its species. Nero checked his tablet and immediately knew it was different. He had gone over the data banks recently formed about Alaria’s fauna. He took a picture. And soon he was gifted with the message, “Vice-Captain, you have discovered what seems to be the first subspecies of fauna on Alaria. We have dubbed this subspecies, the Viriditas Baron Magnumreptili. Thank you for this new data.” Nero thought “Oh great, so there are subspecies of creatures on this planet now.”
But, seeing this as his opportunity to flee he ran away. As he ran and looked behind him after the commotion of the duel seemed to calm down. His eyes widened as he saw the Ultima Rex unharmed standing over the deceased Viriditas Baron. It glanced at him. But, it did not pursue. It knew that a tiny morsel like him could be eaten later.
But, before it looked away it did something that shocked Nero Vellum. It smiled. And not in the unintentional way some other species do. A full fledged smile. It curled the edges of its mouth the same way a human would. “This damn thing can smile!?” Nero thought. It was at that moment Nero realized that this thing did indeed possess intellect similar or even maybe greater than the average human being.
He turned his head back to look forward and ran until he was back at the lake of the valley and met back with the Death Adder. And out of a pouch he pulled a piece of the Ultima’s tooth he found left behind in the dead Tonitruape.
The Adder immediately knew what it was. It looked at him with a curious yet angry glare. Its desire for revenge against the Ultima Rex made it want to charge head first into a conflict. “I see that look in your eyes. But I promise you we will devise a plan to kill that thing. But, if you go to fight it now, you will certainly lose.” Nero said to the Adder. It understood and so calmed itself. Nero knew that the Ultima absolutely knew where they were. It wasn’t far away. Only a mile or two up north was the cave Nero found it in. So, the need to create a plan greatly increased.