[Trade] Hide and Seek

The three raptors bristled as they were shoved roughly into the centre of the court. This clearing was filled to the brim with Iguanodons, mostly armed and glaring in their direction. At the head of the court, a crested Iguanodon, regal looking with his majestic black and white feathers.

"Step forward," Blackmist demanded. Khan sneered, showing his teeth and planting his feet into the ground. With a sweep of his tail, the green and black striped Iggy behind him launched him forward. Deciding to preserve their bones, Forge and Fury reluctantly stepped forward to stand either side of Khan's prone form. The painted raptor hissed as he got to his feet but the crested Iguanodon interrupted any vitriol he was ready to spit.

"You have been found to be in violation of the rules of the Atlantean Court. In our Queen's stead, I sentence you to participation in the Court Games." A murmur ran through the crowd at this proclamation, though the raptors were just as confused as before.

"Games?" Fury asked, the only one who thought to prod their captors for more information.

"The Court Games," Blackmist reiterated, "You will take part for the amusement of the Court, to atone for your crimes. You will participate in these Games until we deem you fit to release."

"You think you can order us around?" Khan scoffed, "You clearly don't know who I am."

"You're right, shortstack, we don't, clearly you're not that big of a deal," the spiked Iggy said drily, sending a wave of laughter through the assembled crowd. Khan looked fit to burst but Fury put a hand on his shoulder, a silent warning. They were tough, but they weren't 'take eleven Iguanodons in combat' tough. 

"What do we have to do?" Forge asked when Blackmist didn't elaborate further.

"You'll be taking part in a simple game of hide and seek," the crested Iggy said, his tone smug. For some reason this got the crowd excited and the raptors looked around in confusion.

"Hide and seek?" Forge asked, not even trying to hide his laughter, "That's it?"

"That's it," Blackmist confirmed serenely, "Taking place in our beautiful Atlantean jungle, of course." There was the twist, the savage jungle they had just managed to escape was now some kind of coliseum for the Iguanodons to throw them into. Khan began to protest, but his claws glanced off the armour of the spiked Iguanodon that carried him into the dense foliage. The other two walked there, being spared the indignity of being manhandled into this game. The court followed behind them and lined up along the tree line to await the start of the game. 

"Unhand me you fermenting beast," Khan snarled as the Iggy obliged, underarm tossing him into the bush. He screeched and righted himself, only stopped in his rampage for vengeance by the other two Utahraptors holding him back. 

"You have twenty minutes to hide, then, we will begin to seek," Blackmist explained, looking down his nose at Khan's temper tantrum, "Then, if you survive for an hour without any of us finding and catching you, you have won the game."

"Survive?" Fury asked, but the Iguanodon didn't elaborate further.

"Your time starts now," he announced loudly, sending the crowd in a burst of cheers. On instinct, the raptors turned tail and ran into the jungle, just about keeping together though the dense foliage tried to separate them. 

"What now?" Fury panted as they kept running, ducking low hanging branches and skirting around impenetrable balls of vines.

"Twenty minutes to run, an hour to hide, eighty minutes til freedom," Forge said confidently, "We just have to get far enough away that those lumbering morons can't keep up."

"We should take to the trees," Khan said decisively, "Keep out of their line of sight and hide, they don't look like they'd be able to climb." The siblings nodded in agreement, beginning to scan the trees for a suitable one to climb.

"This one!" Forge pointed out eagerly. The tree was wide like a redwood and was wrapped tightly in a lattice of thick vines. "It's easy to climb and it's huge, just have to-" He was cut off the second he grabbed hold of the vines. Like an electric grid, the vines sent a bolt through Forge's body and sent him flying backwards. He landed on his back, limbs twitching as his sister circled him anxiously.

"Forge? Are you okay? Say something!" she yelled, stopping just short of shaking him, afraid the effect could pass to her if she made contact. Forge groaned loudly and rolled onto his front, unable to get to his feet for the moment.
"'m okay," he slurred, eyes unfocused, "just... gimme a minute."

"We don't have a minute," Khan snapped but Fury refused to leave her brother's side. The painted raptor growled and swore under his breath, returning to looking through the trees for one to climb. Every tree around him seemed to have that same creeping vine, covering every climbable surface of the trunk and threatening to paralyse each of them if they tried. He looked back to Forge, who was still struggling to rise. He was covered in a thick layer of scales, an exoskeleton as some called it, if he or Fury touched it would they be even worse off than their armoured companion. 

A loud horn sounded from the direction they had been running from, signalling the hunt had begun and cutting off Khan's train of thought completely. He growled again, Forge was too slow to run and Fury wouldn't be parted from them, leaving him to hide alone in the jungle. He shook his head, why was he even entertaining this game in the first place? Fury insisted they couldn't take the Iggys in a fight but would they truly know until they tried? Khan hurried to a smaller tree and snapped its largest branch off, carrying over to the tree that had stunned Forge. He jabbed it under the vines and lifted, raising the thick wooden stems from the trunk and avoiding their effect.

"It must be a poison, not a current, a nettle rather than an electric eel," Fury observed.

"Hurry up and help me scrape it off," Khan barked, "If those brutes want to try and humiliate me, I'll give them the biggest shock of their lives."