VOK Halloween Event - Prompts

[AwkwardAnxiety]

Username: AwkwardAnxiety
Link to pride or group: Spirit's Dawning
Prompt level completion: Level 5
Prompt:
After the Umbra bolted, all five males gave chase, running after it as fast as they could. While the Umbra had speed on it’s side, the lions knew the terrain and they soon had it cornered. Distressing as it was to attack a creature in Striga’s guise, they would if they had too.
The Umbra shivered in fear, like a lost cub, an action that was unsettling to see on Striga’s body. It mumbled under it’s breath in a strange language, then seemed to realize that the lions didn’t understand. Striga’s face melted away, revealing an ambiguously shaped dark head with glowing red eyes, like looking into a 3-dimensional shadow, but the rest of it’s body stayed as Striga’s. The head then shifted again, absorbing colors in small swirls like the night sky and taking on the shape of a lion’s head. A zebra-like mane sprouted in a ridge along it;s back and deep black horns grew from it’s jaw, creating a triangular silhouette.
It smiled at them in some attempt to be friendly, but as it had earlier, the smile only set the viewers more on edge than they’d been. It’s sharp, extremely long and pointy teeth did not set them at ease like it had hoped.
“Here, Run, Uuk’oks. Chase, Find?” It stumbled through it’s speech. Despite it’s earlier clarity using Striga’s mouth, now that it used it’s own, it’s speech was broken. It spattered in words from it’s alien tongue, perhaps because it did not know their translations or there simply weren’t any. It’s was was also now warped, distorted.
“Vegnoiks, Jetjai. Find him, He is Hidden.” It said in an attempt to explain, or perhaps continue into a new message. The lions weren’t really sure which. It indicated toward’s itself with Striga’s paw.
“Like me. Better game hider.” It appeared to pout, looking down at the ground in frustration at it’s difficulty to communicate.
“Will take. Stop Uuk’oks.” It said, nodding as if agreeing with itself or maybe trying to emphasize it’s statement.
It added one last thing, before looking to the lions for their response, in a decisive voice. “You help.”
The Umbra lifts it’s head, proud that it had communicated so well. Surely the lions understood and would help it. Despite it’s difficulty, it had surely mastered the lion’s language.
Having been stunned into silence after it’s display, the lions finally shook off their astonishment.
They looked at each other in bewilderment, not really sure at all about what the Umbra had meant.
Cymatilis turned and whispered to Ignis. “Did you understand any of that?”
Ignis shook his head. He stepped forward threateningly, and growled at the Umbra. “Where. Is. My. Daughter!” He demanded, pressing his face right up to it’s.
The Umbra stepped back. It opened it’s mouth to respond when they were both interuppted.
“Uncle Ignis, what are you doing to that poor thing?!” Ortui cried, running up to them.
Ignis turned his glare on his niece. “This beast did something to Striga and I’m going to find out what.” He snapped.
At the same time, Cymatilis exclaimed, “What are you doing here Ortui? It’s dangerous!”
Striga stepped up beside her cousin. “Who did what to me?” She asked, confused. “I was just worried because the shadow thing’s scent doubled back and joined yours...” She trails off as she notices the strange shadow head on an exact duplicate of her body. “What. The. Spirits.” She blurted out in surprise.
The two groups converse and catch each other up on what happened.
It seems that after the Umbra “ran away”, it came back to observe the siblings’ exchange, memorizing Striga’s speech patterns and mannerisms. It ran again when she started heading towards it and they had a fast chase through the territory until it was able to give her the slip. It then doubled back again, this time copying Striga’s form, and headed to where it’d seen the other lions. And that was where the patrol met it.
They couldn’t be certain that’s exactly how it’d gone, they couldn’t exactly ask it with it’s limited grasp on their language, but from comparing their stories it made the most sense.
“What should we do now?” Ortui asked, looking between her cousin, father, and uncle.
Ignis and Striga spoke at the same time.
“Chase it away. I don’t want it near anyone in my pride ever again!”
“We should help it. It seems like it may know of a bigger threat that’s coming.”
“Chase it!”
“Help it!”
“Chase!”
“Help!”
Ignis and Striga quarreled, father against daughter, leader against heir. Finally, Cymatilis stepped up, feeling it was safest for him as Ignis’ sister’s mate.
“Striga has a point in that it may know of some threat that’s chasing it or that it’s chasing. It seemed to imply that. However, Ignis also has a point that it’s dangerous to keep around. It can take the form and mannerisms of another and we have no idea what other capabilities it has. We should keep it here to keep an eye on it. If we chase it off, it could just come back as another lion that we don’t know and we’d never find out. We can try to help and learn from it, and if it becomes a danger, we exterminate it. Deal?” Cymatilis offered, laying out the facts.
Neither of the two really liked it but they both had to admit that it was a decent plan.
“Alright.” Ignis replied gruffly.
“I guess.” Striga mumbled with an irritated huff.
The patrol decided to escort it back to the den site, flanked on all sides, with Striga in front at Ignis’ insistence, so the Umbra couldn’t convincingly take her shape and escape since all of them would be able to see the real one.
When they got to their dens, two guards were assigned to be with the Umbra at all times while Ignis explained the situation, with minor editing, to the pride. The others went to catch up on what sleep they could before morning came.
[1,009]

[minifun990]

Username: minifun990
Link to pride or group: Mystic Isles
Prompt level completion: 5
Prompt:Keitaro was staring at her. Lakviar looked as if was trying to not say I told you so. Jelsa was- she was being Jelsa, muttering to herself and pacing that likely only Lakviar could understand.

Bahira felt almost more self conscious than she could bear. She had made so many mistakes tonight. Thinking it was her past catching up to her. Preventing the prides investigation, teleporting in front of others, hastily accusing others.

“I-” Bahira bowed her head. “Im sorry guys. I thought-” The three watched her, making Bahira swallow nervously. She hadnt told anyone where she had come from before Mystic Isle. She had always been closed off, or selective about what she told others. It was terrifying that she now had to explain. The fear of her peers rejecting her, or being scared made her want to stop now.

It made her want to travel back and change things. Regret had always been one of Bahira’s strongest emotions. It was one of her most hated as well. It was so tempting, to go back and fix it all. But Bahira had tried that before, and so the memory of those mistakes froze her in place. She would have to fix this the mortal way.

“I’m not from this planet originally.” The two scientists nodded, appearing to catalog the information while Keitaro looked shocked.

“What are you taking about? Where else could you be from?”

“The stars, some of them are like this Earth or the moon, while some are like the sun. Its possible creatures could live on them.” Lakviar tilted his head at Bahira as if asking her to correct him. She had no clue how he knew so much about space, none of the others in the pride seemed to.

“Uh, yes that. I thought I would know this creature, but I was wrong. So I apologize, I just didn't want anyone to get hurt. Because of me...” She turned to only face Lakviar. “I’m sorry for accusing you Lakviar. It was hasty.”

There was silence for a moment as the three took in the information. Lakviar nodded slowly while Keitaro looked to be panicking but trying to act like he wasn't. It was of course, Jelsa who broke the silence.

“So. What do we do now? We need to go rescue Edana right?”

“I don’t know… We probably should warn the pride.” Bahira said hesitantly.

“Aw come on, this would be the perfect time to try out some of my new inventions!” Jelsa rustled around in her backpack for a moment, Lakviar peeking over into it. “I have a spring net, some dust powder, this thing I'm not sure what it does-”

“I-is that?” Bahira gasped, staring at the device in Jelsa's paws. “Could I see?” Jelsa passed it over, still investigating her bag.

It was as Bahira thought. A force field creator, battered and bruised yet- She pressed a button and shimmering light created a barrier in front of her. It still worked! She couldn't help but smile. Maybe this could work out.

“I think I have a plan.”


--

It went off with hardly a hitch. They cornered the creature, still wearing Edana’s body, by a nearby cliffs. Creating force fields that backed it further and further back, Bahira teleporting closer when the creature tried to dash away. It started chittering a little, backing back, Edana’s blue eyes frantically looking for escape, even as the force field filled out, and the creature was well and truly trapped.

Bahira, Lakviar and Jelsa hi-pawed one another, cracking jokes and grins. Despite everything they had succeeded, the threat neutralised. Yet Keitaro just stood by, watching not-Edana. There was something about how scared she looked, trapped, in an unknown place with unknown creatures just… Celebrating.

It rubbed Keitaro the wrong way. How would that be anything other than terrifying? They didn't even know that this thing was for sure dangerous.

“Maybe we should just talk to them.” He said quietly, starting through the shimmering air that could block things from moving through it. He had never seen anything like it. Yet Bahira wielded the technology with ease.

“Seriously Keitaro, you want us to what? Just let it out to take over us too?”

“No I- look at her she’s scared, We can keep her in there, but can I just go in and talk to her?”

“Her? Its not Edana at the moment.” Lakviar pointed out.

“Them. I just want to give them a chance to explain themselves.”

“Fine. But be careful.” Bahira and Lakviar said, jinxing one another.

“Oh I know! Tail relaxed for Im fine, two shakes for Bahira teleport in, three for get me out of here right now.” Jelsa said, grinning enthusiastically. Keitaro smiled at her, earning a glower from Lakviar.

“That sounds like a brilliant idea Jelsa.” Keitaro said, Bahira scowled but after a moment a lion sized hole appeared and Keitaro dsrted though, ready to talk to the creature.

“Hi Keitaro.” Not-Edana said quietly.

“Hello there, can you please drop your pretences?” Edana nodded and with a shudder her face changed shape, shortening and darkening. Her blue eyes flared a crimson red, and above them another pair opened. Keitaro struggled to keep his tail still, wanting to bolt in fear. But the creature made no move to harm him so he remained.

“Is Edana here as well?”

“She no. She forest.” It said, speech garbled and lilting. It smiled anyway, seeming happy enough that Keitaro had not fled.

“Why are you here?” He asked. The creature spoke, only the occasional words in a language Keitaro understood. He twitched his tail and Bahira appeared suddenly. Before she could speak Keitaro spoke first.

“I don’t understand everything they are saying, I was hoping maybe…”

“Vegnoiks, Jetjai. Find him, He is Hidden." The creature insisted. Bahira shook her head a little.

“I have no clue.”

They brought in Lakviar as well, leaving Jelsa to tend the force feild. He got a little further.

“Maybe their name is ouk’ox and they are afraid this Vegnots, Jetjay other creature will stop him? They seem to want us to help either way.” Lakviar said as they regrouped outside of hearing range.

“Theyre a funnt little creature arent they? I couldn’t understand that much, I dont know if you are right.”
(1052/1000)

[Meekins12345]

Username: Meekins12345
Link to pride or group: The Pride of Wikimak
Prompt level completion: 5
Prompt:

As much as Chepi was afraid to go any further, she did want to see what the imposter Haiwee wanted. It ran away so quickly... surely, it was just looking for friends, right? It tried to become one of them for a reason, but she really couldn't figure out what the reason could have been. Nevertheless, the group pressed on.

The little cub could sense the urgency radiating from their babysitter, Chayton, though. He only pawed ahead of them and continued on a brisk pace to try and find this thing without getting too far ahead of the cubs. Apparently he saw something that she could not see, or noticed something about the strange creature that she, herself, did not notice. It only had her quivering lightly with every pawstep. Was this thing... this creature, was it friendly? Or did it have another idea in mind? It did look pretty scary before, at least she thought that it did. Of course, Chepi didn't get to see what it looked like now but still. She knew that something was up regardless, and this entire situation seemed something like a dream. Part of her was even wondering if this was a dream. Maybe she was back home, with Momuso and Tinder, her makeshift family, huddled up around all the other cubs like her and her sister, Pelipa.

But this felt... it felt too real to be a dream... right?

The little group continued following the makisa of the insoniti until he seemed to stop in his tracks once again, causing the sleepy cubs to bump into each other and plop onto the ground. It seemed he did that a lot, just stopping out of nowhere.

Chepi blinked tiredly before looking up to Chayton, watching his speckled black and gray ears swiveling about, his head perked and his body as still as a rock. He had heard something... And he seemed to stand there and listen for some time before he whispered to the young bunch of cubs about him.

"Stay here."

Chepi was more than willing to stay here, and the other cubs seemed to feel the same way, though obviously the group didn't seem to catch on on just what he was going to do next. For when the older male seemed to have gotten his answer, he immediately went darting off toward a particularly tall patch of grass, causing the cubs to perk up a bit at the action. The soft squeak shortly after only had more of them perking, now more awake than previously thanks to the oddness of the situation.

A plethora of rustling sounds came from the patch before Chayton came out with the small, not-Haiwee in his maw, the small little group gasping and huddling together upon seeing the familiar thing. Haiwee, especially. Chepi could only glance toward the young cub and watched as she just hid her face in her paws, quaking like a leaf at the sight of a creature that looked so much like her.

Shortly after the insoniti dropped the cub closer by, only to place a paw upon it's tail before narrowing his bloody red gaze upon the thing. It tried to get away momentarily, but it seemed smart enough to catch on that it was stuck, and definitely wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

A growl was given to the thing and Chepi watched as a look of sheer terror gripped the little creature, and she watched as the fake face of Haiwee melted away, revealing a weird looking black creature with two sets of eyes. Gross...

It was at this point it seemed to begin speaking really weird... And Chepi could only wince upon the way it sounded. It sounded like cub-talk! When newborn cubs were just starting out, trying to speak, they usually weren't too good at it, and so had to practice. The way its words were made it sound a lot like cub-talk.

The group could only tilt their heads and raise their brows as they listened to the thing for a time, only to blink in surprise once it actually began to speak in something they could actually understand. Though broken, it was still understood, which was a surprise to all of them, Chayton especially, judging by the look on the elder's face.

As it continued to speak the group grew only more confused. Chepi could only shake her head, frowning, perplexed and utterly flabbergasted. What in the world were Uuk'oks, and why were they finding them? Was it a game of hide and seek? Was this thing and Uuk'ok? It made it sound like there was another... and they had to find him, wherever he was. At it's last comment of helping, and the ultimate look of satisfaction on the creatures face, the small group could only continue to stare at this creature with a completely oblivious look on their faces.

"Um... What did it say again?" Molimo asked.

"I don't know. It sounded like a lot of cub-talk," Haiwee commented with a frown.

"What did it want again? Something about... rocks?" Zitkala begged with a wrinkled nose and a shake of her head. "This is ridiculous."

"I think it was Uuk'oks." Chepi chimed.

"Sounds like a lot of nonsense if you ask me." Zitkala huffed.

Chepi huffed, herself, before looking back to Chayton, who seemed to look over the creature once more as he seemed to think. He stood there for some time, his eyes on his paws and the little tail just below them as he continued to think. And the longer he thought, the more Chepi began to wonder if he was just as confused as they were.

It was after a time that Chepi got to her paws and wandered over to the creature, soon looking it over a moment before begging the question.

"What do you mean?" She would ask politely. "Are we playing hide and seek? Are you looking for somebody? ...Are you lost?" She had many more questions but only those were the ones that she produced. It seemed straight and to the point... at least in her mind.

Now they just had to see if this thing could answer them with a decent answer. It didn't appear to be a threat, and the group could see that... they just wanted to understand, too. (1,056 wc)

[Frisco]

Username: Frisco
Link to pride or group: Night Watch
Prompt level completion: 5
Prompt: [1001 words]

They managed to get Ejszaka back on her feet very quickly. She could not remember much from her encounter with the alien. She told them that she followed a shadow through the trees because she thought it might be some small child in need. After that she could only remember glowing red eyes and waking up on the stone floor of Shadow’s secret base. She was completely unharmed. It made them wonder what could be the alien’s intentions. It has not attacked any of them yet, not even the lioness with which it was alone and which it could have easily put to sleep. They decided not to report back to the headquarters, but instead follow right after the little creature, hoping that they would have more luck finding it now during daytime and with an additional party member, as Ejsza refused to be left behind.

- So… how do you two know each other? - Auris asked trying to make his voice sound as casual as possible.

They were following the trail of small paws with Shadow at the front and he was the first to answer.

- I live in Kingscardine. I know pretty much everyone.

That’s not the answer he was expecting and Ejszaka’s add has not made things any better.

- We met there and immediately became close friends - she said with a bright smile.

Auris didn’t want to sound too nosy so he didn’t enquire any more, but he knew the subject would be on his mind for days keeping him distracted. There was no time for that now. Kingscardine and the whole pride were in potential danger from an unknown entity.

After a long walk they managed to reach an empty road running through a savanna with large rocks scattered about it and few trees growing here and there. They saw the black creature in the tall grass. Shadow gave the other two signals to hide and circle it from three sides to prevent it from escaping. They would attack together and capture it. As Auris lay on his stomach with his ears perked up, tail swishing slightly from side to side, ready to launch, he noticed the monster acting differently from before. It kept blinking it’s big red eyes and hopping back and forth through the grass, not knowing which direction to go. It looked like it’s alien eyes weren’t accustomed to the bright light of their planet and it couldn’t see very well. There were no places around where it could find a comfortable shadow and hide.

On Shadow’s signal they started and Auris was the first to reach the creature, almost snatching it from the dark lion’s grasp. It squeaked and started changing. They all moved back, ready to fight, but too fascinated to stop looking. It took the form of Ejszaka. Unlike before, it had not snatched her body, but created a copy of it, seemingly out of nothing. Only the head was different. The glowing red eyes were still there and the head itself resembled something between a lion’s head, the furry creature’s own body and a shadow. It grinned a terrifying grin making their muscles tense up.

The creature stood there and observed them with it’s terrifying smile. It’s body was still shifting slightly, adjusting to the new shape. It started to talk in a weird mix of their own language and it’s own. At least they assumed that the weird noises it was making were a language. They sounded like no animal they ever heard before. They sounded a little like a parrot mimicking various random sounds, many of them completely alien.

It did not attack them and did not speak of threats. From their weird, barely tangible speech they understood that there was another creature just like them on their planet, but a dangerous one. The monster asked for their help in chasing down and capturing it. The lions exchanged slightly confused and intrigued looks and spoke between themselves. They were still tense and ready for action if the alien made any sudden movement, but it was just continuing to smile it’s scary grin.

Auris seemed to be the best one at understanding the outsider, perhaps because he dealt with many magical creatures in his home world, so he relied to the others what he understood from their words.

- Should we help it? - he asked.

- Can we trust it? - Shadow was suspicious and careful, as always. - We’’ve only seen one beam of the blue light come from the sky. How can we know it’s not lying? It might’ve made up that whole story and just wants us on it’s side to easier conquer our planet and snatch our bodies.

Ejsza looked at them with pleading eyes.

- But what if it’s really just lost far away from home looking for this other creature? It could be it’s mother! It must be feeling so lonely, the poor thing.

- Ejsza! He literally knocked you out and possessed you!

- Well I’m fine now, aren’t I? Besides, we don’t know it’s alien culture. Maybe that’s how they greet.

Shadow groaned audibly, as he often did when he was annoyed. They both looked at Auris to make the deciding vote. One for and one against. He had to pick one side. He looked again at the creature, trying his best to think of all the possible things that could happen. It was true, they knew basically nothing about it and it has taken over their friend, but on the other hand, it hasn’t actually hurt anyone. Could they trust it? They could not rule out the possibility of a trap, but if there was another one like him roaming around the pride lands… Noone but them knew what these creatures were capable of. They would have to take the risk and try to capture the other alien. Right now that was the biggest threat. They would team up with this alien, but stay on high alert.

- We will help you.

Shadow groaned again and Ejszaka smiled brightly.

[Nia The Elf]

Username: Nia The Elf
Link to pride or group: Red Eagle
Prompt level completion: Level 5 Hopefully? Maybe?
Prompt:

[QueenOfWyrms]

Username: QueenOfWyrms
Link to pride or group: PoB
Prompt level completion: Level 5
Prompt:

[Runnersback]

Username: Runnersback
Link to pride or group: Realms of L’Oasis Lo
Prompt level completion: Level 5
Prompt: [1014/1000]
Ubbe and Ivar both had frowned solemnly, the odd supposedly lizard creature was gone and who knew where it was left... So for the better for the two evil pawns in the massive game of lion chess from the gods had slowly snuck off to find where it had went. As they ran and ran after the odd mutant they realized that it had unzipped its own pelt and was about to step out of the obnoxiously warm suit. Lion Pelts never had these odd zipper like things and if so Ubbe and Ivar never checked other lions nor themselves for zippers attached to the backs of their pelts especially if they were hidden under their names. The two just stared at the beast when they had skidded to a halt which resulted in the duo snapping twigs with their heavy paws. And that made the alien creature slowly whip around with glowering red eyes.

As it is confronted, it seems genuinely afraid of the prides that accuse it. It drops its act of trying to mimic them, speaking in broken words and showing off weird mannerisms that weren't quite...normal. Given it was from another world, that was to be expected. It was easy to mimic the actions of another with a little bit of alien wizardry- but trying to translate its own personality into that of something they'd recognize was harder. Its face begins to melt away, uncomfortably revealing the head of a dark being with its red eyes, still wearing the faux-pelt of their comrade as its unusual face showed from the neck up. It was as black and empty as space itself, swirling faintly with colors of iridescence, lit by its four glowing eyes. The shape of its head vaguely resembled that of a lion, but shorter and more stout. It had a large ridge along its back that looked more like the mane of a zebra than any lion that would be on earth, and deep black horns curved from its jawbones out at pointed angles that gave it an almost triangular silhouette. It offered its best attempt at a peaceable smile, but with its dagger-like teeth it looked more threatening than "kind".

"Here, Run Uuk'oks. Chase, Find?" it stumbled out clumsily. Mixed in with a few words alien to your pride's tongue. Its voice wasn't normal either. It had faked the pride member's voice, but now it spoke with an odd warped tongue "Vegnoiks, Jetjai. Find him, He is Hidden." it attempted to relay this message. Moving its 'paw' in a motion that indicated itself "Like me. Better game hider." it stared at the ground, perturbed by its lack of ability to communicate. "Will take. Stop Uuk'oks." it said, nodding in affirmation. "You help." it added decisively.

Ubbe simply stared dumbfoundedly at the creature in front of them. He understood absolutely nothing and frankly cared less about learning a new language even if to smacked him in the face.But soon enough it became clear to Ivar what the creature wanted.

Ivar numbly thought over the words before explaining to the daft Ubbe,“The creature is saying Uuk’oks ran this way as we chased, and wants to know if we found him/it? I have no clue if these things are even gendered. We need to find him since he is hidden. Uuk’koks is like them but even better at playing the game of hide and seek. Huh... Never knew that was such a unanimous game across the realms. Besides the point but it wants to take us with it to stop, Uuk’koks.” Ivar said before further exposing things to Ubbe with a glare as the beastie nodded and slipped out of the pelt onesie.

Ubbe just rolled his eyes,“Of course only you would understand this menace Ivar. No wonder why the alien being seems to think so. Look at It seems quite proud of itself as it lifts its head in assurance that it can't possibly have been misunderstood. And it thinks It's lionspeak was totally impeccable...” He mocked back while he glared at the creature stepping out of the pelt with furrowing brows. Maybe Ubbe was just jealous that a foreign creature was smarter then him. Or maybe it was the fact that it could speak broken lion tongue and get accepted faster by Ivar then it did for Ubbe. But nonetheless Ubbe was mad and he wanted to just ditch Ivar then and there just like they had did so to the other pride members on the expedition.

Ivar simply sighed at his partner in literal mass crimes,“Ubbe don’t be like that. I’m sure if you thought hard enough you could easily understand this creature. There’s nothing good about this whole thing especially the meteor but we need to continue following this lead no matter where it goes and maybe we could twist it for our own good.” He whispered the last bit to Ubbe which immediately brightened up the lion’s dismal mood.

Ubbe smirked at Ivar, of course twisting the weak into their plans was cruel...Yes, but in the end they always got their ways and the immaculate sense of success. The red and burgundy candy cane based lion nodded to Ivar before clearing his throat nodding his head to the alien life form that was in front of them. If anything Ivar was going to do all the speak to the beast who warned them about this weird game of hide and seek, and if something happened to Ivar, Ubbe was going to be gone in a heartbeat.

Ivar nodded and took two steps forward towards the beastie who gave them a interesting warning. He blew it off quickly and lashed his tail while blinking creasing up his blue eyeliner lined eyes. “Fine... We will help you as long as you don’t do anything to mess this up. Are we clear beastie or do we have to do something about that.” Ivar said giving off a option of a threat but remaining relatively calm. Maybe he could get along with the beast who nearly killed the king.

[Chanceuxcat]

Username: Chanceuxcat
Link to pride or group: Veren's Pride
Prompt level completion: Level 5
Prompt: Day 4: Help

[minifun990]

Username: minifun990
Link to pride or group: Mystic Isles
Prompt level completion: 5
“We are letting it go right?” Jelsa asked. The creature looked as it was getting anxious, and just a little impatient. Jelsa had been relayed its message and talked to them a little herself. Bahira and Lakvair shook their heads the same moment Keitaro nodded.

“We should wait until morning.” Lakviar stated. “At least then we can see clearer.”

“That Uck’oks thing doesn't sound very good though.” Jesla replied. “I have no clue what they're doing but if our friend here seems nice enough and doesn't like them…”

“You could understand the message?”

“I dont get why you got so confused Lak.” Lkvair appeared to blush a little, muttering something underneath his breath about not understanding others much normally, or perhaps aliens.

“The force field wont be able to hold on much longer anyway.” The blue lioness stated. She held up the futuristic technology, which was now flickering, a red symbol on it. “We should save it in case we need to trap the other creature, or creatures.”

“I suppose…” Bahira said hesitantly. Keitaro nodded, smiling a little.

“That sounds like a good idea to me.”

Lakviar of course agreed with Jelsa in the end, and after a moment the force field flickered and then died down. They watched closely, half expecting the creature to bolt. Instead it smiled with those fangs and trotted over to the four lions.

“Find Uuk’oks?” It said, tilting its head like a cub. There was nods and the creature grinned bigger. It turned, and the lions followed a few steps behind as it walked closer to the forest. And then it turned to the left, sniffing at a rock. They didn't hesitate long though, before they continued… further left. It was at that moment Bahira stopped. Just watching as the creature continued in a wandering circle and eating rocks. The other three only got another quarter circle until they too realised that the creature didn't have any purpose to its wandering. At least none they could understand.

“Maybe the other creature is disguised as a rock.” Keitaro suggested.

“It would make sense, this creature can change appearance.” Lakviar said, “Perhaps we should make a system to make sure that none of us can be taken over.”

“Anything we might come up with now could be compromised though.” Jelsa said, before grinning a little. “Its a unavoidable situation. How much does a creature actually learn from their host?”

“And another creature could be different to our creature…” Keitaro flinched as the others looked at him surprised.

“Our creature?”

“I- Well its confusing saying first creature second creature. Creatures such a mean thing to call them.” Keitaro stood. “We could just ask it its name.”

“Ooh thats a good idea.” Jelsa said, jumping up and bounding over to the creature. “Excuse me, what should we call you?” Jelsa was greeted with a sound that somehow rustled the leaves and left them confused if they had heard anything at all.

“I-is that your name?”

“I am -” It repeated the sound. Jelsa attempted to repeat, but it was very lacking. They tried again a few times but in the end it only ended with them both disappointed.

“Maybe we should give them a nickname for now.” Keitaro said, tilting his head as he thought.

“Nick?” The creature repeated, paw indicating to itself. The lions promptly shook their heads, it didn't suit them.

“How about...Erjot.” Hesitantly the other lions nodded, but of course the final say would come from the creature itself. It didn't appear to take much consideration before nodding.

“Errjot.” They said, pointing a paw to themselves. It was at that moment that they almost collectively remembered Edana. Lost who knows where, if not bringing the pride, claws and fangs at the ready.

It appeared they needed worry though as she burst from the trees with a roar. She tangled her duplicate into the grass, her teeth close to her imposters neck. The creature- Errjot spoke rapidly, pleading Edana to not hurt them and with a leap Bahira tackled Edana back off.

“Calm down. Quick tell me the first law of Mystic Isle.”

“I- always attempt to understand others- what does that have to. Get off.” Bahira got off.

“Well she’s not an imposter anymore.” Lakviar pointed out.

“Keep that rule in mind Edana.” Bahira said sternly. She held out a paw towards Errjot, they stepped forward, but stopped the moment Edana raised her lip. She didnt growl but the warning was there anyway. Bahira sighed. “This is Erjot, they dont mean any trouble… Probably.” Edana glared at Errjot, who huddled back a little.

“It knocked me out.”

“I- you did Erjot?”

“Accident. Branch fell, Errjot.” It chittered a moment. “Errjot run in trees.”

“Well now that thats cleared up.”

“It still has my body.”

“Oh. Hide friend. Take.”

“Yes Hide friend does not like that you took.” Keitaro said helpfully, as if talking to a rather young cub.

“Change?” Errjot questioned. And with that Edana’s colours faded away. It was replaced with a blue similar to Jelsa’s, before fading into a purple like Bahira’s, a red, an orange, yellow, green’s. It reminded Keitaro of his aunties den, her mate having sorted a multitude of feathers, leaves and berries into colourful patterns.

“Stop, stop you're making me queasy.” Keitaro ended up saying. And with that Errjot settles on a puke green, stripes of orange and purple mixed in. They dont look any more impressed with the choice than the other lions are. Keitaro is just about to ask them if they want to change when they seem to remember their original objective. And without much - Errjot coughed up what appeared to be some sort of compass. Only, definitely not pointing north. Errjot finally gave a little more info about the other newcomer to this planet. Keitaro didnt know it was possible to feel more sympathy for poor lost Errjot yet somehow he managed it. He looked at his peers, even Edana nodding.

They had to help. With a teleporter, a huntress, two well equipped inventors and… him. They may be able to catch the dangerous world eater. Ah the foolishness of youth.
(1028/1000)

[Raptocidic]

Username: RupturedRaptor
Link to pride or group: The Fire Empire
Prompt level completion: level 5
Prompt:

Mirra scowled as she stared at the creature as it wondered around. Ozmore seemed to be trying to communicate with it, but the creature appeared to be more interested in eating rocks. Even if Ozmore was right (which she was finding it difficult to admit), she still didn’t trust the creature. Mirra repeated to herself Ozmore’s previous words in a silly voice, attempting to cheer herself up by making fun of him. She moved her paw, trying to mimic him opening and closing his mouth, as if her paw was an Ozmore puppet.

“nooo don’t hurt it, for Eeeatoooooria’s sake” She exclaimed to herself a little too loudly. One of her soldiers overheard and gave her a funny look, only to look back at the floor when her eyes shot him with a death glare. Mirra made a mental note to be more quiet next time, although her face seemed too pleased with itself, a grin rapidly spreading across it. She’d given up taking things seriously when a 4-eyed neon yellow bison had crossed her path earlier. It wasn’t just her, General Iluc had spent the last few hours with Natu, both of whom had made it a mission of theirs to spot every strange creature they could. Both lions had abandoned their normal responsibilities in favour of messing around, so to Mirra it was justified to indulge in being a little childish.

Her eyes drifted back towards the creature. Ozmore had left, leaving the creature to keep doing whatever it was doing). Mirra couldn’t really tell, it seemed to be looking for something, but she was failing to see how eating rocks was a helpful part of the activity. Her attention moved away from the creature (who had just spat something out of its mouth, and was now looking at it with a pleased expression) and towards Ozmore, who was now approaching her. She found herself wishing he had been walking in the opposite direction as he came up to her. He seemed to be in a good mood, which annoyed her.

Ozmore didn’t seem to pick up on her pouting. Instead he seemed completely focused on the creature. He stood by her in silence, watching the creature. Mirra tried her best not to scowl again, managing a small frown instead. After what she could have sworn was an eternity Ozmore finally spoke.

“It said more. Uuk'oks seems to be someone or something dangerous”. Ozmore had turned his head to look at Mirra, but she ignored him and kept watching the creature.

“How you know we can trust it?” Mirra challenged.

“I don’t. But if we ignore it and its telling the truth we could be making a mistake.” Ozmore scratched at his chin, contemplating how to continue. “The creature spoke of a great eater. It seems like it destroyed the creatures’ home.” Ozmore sounded slightly saddened.

Mirra glanced at Ozmore before looking back at the creature. She still wasn’t completely convinced, but she decided to go along with it.

“So how do we help” MIrra asked, giving in.

Ozmore scratched his head. Mirra looked at him with slight disgust. She briefly wondered if he had fleas.

“Ah... well thats the thing. I have no idea”.

---

Iluc and Natu had been looking for more abnormal creatures, recording notes about them each time they found one. It had started out as just a fun game, but the two had recently begun to take things more seriously. Whilst Mirra and Ozmore stood around doing not much of anything the two had been making observations about anything strange or out of place. Sure, they were both ignoring their jobs and responsibilities, but both lions found it refreshing to act as they did in the early days of the pride.

The two had been searching for a few hours and had seen a few interesting animals. Natu’s favourite was still the purple and yellow worm he had seen before, but the multi headed snake he had just saw was definitely interesting, taking a noteworthy second place. Being satisfied with his findings, Natu decided to head back to share his discoveries. Iluc followed, although he secretly wanted to keep searching.

Mirra seemed annoyed at Iluc when they returned, but instead she talked with him as though she wasn’t. With the two chatting Natu was left on his own, without anything particularly important to do. Wanting to seem useful, Natu walked up to Ozmore and handed his notebook over.

“I’ve made notes on all the strange creatures i’ve seen.” Natu said confidently.

Ozmore took the notebook and glanced at it, looking at the first page. It had a wobbly drawing with notes and labels scribbled next to it. Ozmore couldn’t read half of the words and the drawings weren’t very useful either, but he smiled and thanked Natu anyway. Natu could see that Ozmore was pretending, but he still felt proud-ish of his efforts. He decided to approach the creature to see what it thought.

The creature didn’t seem to understand Natu’s notes either, although Natu didn’t mind as much as it seemed to find communicating in general difficult. The creature seemed to be more interested in apologising for taking Ozmore’s appearance, or at least thats what Natu decided it was trying to say. The creature seemed to signal at him before it wiggled its back and started to change colours. Natu should have been more surprised or impressed, but he was starting to get used to odd things happening.

Realising the others were not paying any attention to the creature, Natu ran back to the group to tell them what happened.

---

Having returned, Natu told the group about the creature changing colors. The group didn’t seem to care, instead dragging him into a conversation where they filled him in about what the creature had told Ozmore.

“I see.” Iluc commented. “So we think this Uuk'oks is the great eater the creature mentioned, right?”

Ozmore nodded. “Yes. Whoever they are, they seem to be of danger to the Empire.” Ozmore had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t just his empire at threat, but he didn’t want to entertain the idea.

Natu had been piecing together theories for a while, but he hadn’t had a chance to share his ideas until then. “Perhaps the creatures we’ve seen have something to do with things?” He suggested.

“Perhaps.” Mirra replied. Although she doubted the creatures were directly involved with Uuk'oks, she couldn’t deny that the creatures were out of place. “Most seem harmless however.” She added.

“Unnaturally colored creatures aren’t anything new to us.” Iluc added, trying to point out his own blue markings.

“So far everything has come from one of the arches.” Natu added, pointing towards the royal arch in the distance. “All of the arches are currently deactivated.” He pointed out.

“It is possible that theres an arch we don’t know about” Iluc suggested. He was convinced that the creature and everything else had come from a portal through an arch.

“It is possible.” Ozmore admitted. “However might i remind you that the creature came from the sky.” He paused for a second as he looked at the creature, who was still changing colors.

“It’s still doing that” Natu remarked. He had thought it would have stopped by then, but he had been proven wrong.
“I think its waiting to be told when to stop.” Mirra suggested.

“Oh.” Natu glanced at the group before looking back at the creature. “I should probably go do that then.”

The group decided in the end to split up. Iluc and his soldiers went searching for an arch (the Empire had in the past discovered many strange arches that create portals to other dimensions/worlds. Iluc, having come from a parralet universe himself, was convinced everything had come from another arch somewhere). Mirra and her soldiers started searching for more color changing creatures like the one they had met. Ozmore and Natu decided to keep searching for strange creatures in general, in hopes that it might lead them to the great eater somehow.