Queen's Repairmen

Somewhere on the coast of the Kiama Isles Apis and Chlorophyll stood in the sand staring out to the open water. Chlorophyll was squinting, determined as he scanned the horizon for any sign of a disturbance. Humors had floated through the trees, so many that it caught his attention- and then he saw the first oviraptor. That was when he knew he needed to know more, so he asked, and he asked, and he asked. And through all of his curiosity, Chlorophyll had been rewarded, he’d met her, the Queen. The Queen of Atlantis and her Court of Iguanodon. He’d emphatically told Apis, tried his best to explain, but the cryolophosaurus didn’t believe him. So now they were on a trip to make him believe.

“I don’t see anything,” Apis grumbled, halfheartedly scanning the waves- not that he believed there would be anything there.

“It was massive Apis-” Chlorophyl turned, his feathers fluffing up as he shivered at the memory. He’d seen it, so big he thought that you must be able to see it from the shore.

“Are you sure you didn’t eat spoiled fruit or something…” Aphis slowly asked, a frown deepening on his muzzle.

“No!” Chlorophyl barked so loudly that Apis jumped, “I saw it!” 

The utahraptor fluffed up, spinning to stalk back into the trees, “Come on! I think I remember where the entrance is…”

“Chlor-”

“Come on!”

The stubborn raptor led the way back through the trees, over the hills to where the hills broke up with craggy, shallow canyons. Apis was panting by the time Chlorophyll hesitated to look around, “Look- ok- I believe you.” his jaw hung open as he sucked in breath, his calves were cramping, “Can we just go hunting or something instead?”

“Right here!” Chlorophyll chirped, completely disregarding his friend’s discomfort. He stood in front of a narrow passage that led straight into the earth. Apis could already imagine all of the ways that a dino could get stuck and die in a cave. 

Before Apis could protest anymore he was trotting into the cave and disappearing through the narrow crack. Chlorophyll stood, debating with himself… in the end he followed. The last thing he needed was his friend to die trapped in some weird cave. He had to duck to squeeze in, moving much slower than Chlorophyll could. 

They walked and walked and walked.. a few points Apis could have swore they’d have to turn around because the passage was so narrow. Just the moment when Apis was going to voice his complaints yet again the passage opened up suddenly and he was dumbstruck. He’d seen strange buildings before but this was beyond anything like that. With his jaw slack he stumbled after Chlorophyll. 

Wordlessly they travelled through strange halls, some with transparent ceilings that showed a vast and dark water above them. Chlorophyll was pushing debris aside as they walked, making the hallways neat as he led them both to where he’d met the Queen, “I’ve never seen anything like her before.” he struggled to manage a larger piece of debris, forcing Apis to come over to hook his claws under the sheet of metal to slide it out of the path. 

“What are we doing here?” Apis nervously asked as they further navigated the halls.

“I want you to see her.”

“Her?”

“The Queen! Have you not been listening?” Chlorophyll gripped.

They came to a halt at a grand room made of stone, thick vines and plants. Unlike the last time Chlorophyll had been there it was empty. His head cocked to the side, slowly pacing around the room, “She was here last time…” as he went he cleaned, sweeping aside piles of leaves.

“What are you doing?” Apis’ eyes followed his smaller friend as he bobbed around and cleared the throne room.

“Cleaning. What does it look like? Help me with some of this bigger stuff.” 

Apis groaned inwardly, head tilted back, but ever the diligent friend he stepped forward to help clear out the throne room, “This place looks… a little rough.” he said as he was hefting up a large branch in his arms to waddle off with.

“The Queen said that their home had been damaged.” Chlorophyll mumbled around a mouthful of leaves, “She said they might- might come to the island.”

“Why-” Apis grunted as he hefted aside an especially large piece of fallen tree, “Why would they do that?”

“To live there. Wouldn’t that be great?”

“I mean…” Apis mumbled, looking unsure. 

Chlorophyll had stopped, turning to look at their hard work with a grin on his toothy muzzle. The throne room had greatly improved since they had found their way to it, with much of the debris swept off to the side and away from the center of attention.

Chlorophyll had opened his mouth to speak again only for both of the carnivores to turn their heads quickly at the sound of footsteps. She was a big creature, whatever she was, and grand. She strode into the room, her elegant feathered head held high. She looked down her muzzle at them, assessing them for just a moment.

“Down that way needs more cleaning and repairs.” she said, tossing her head aside to where she had just come from,

With nothing else she carried on, heading down another passage without a word. Chlorophyll looked absolutely enamored with her, Apis was.. not quite as sure. The utah was practically slackjaw as he watched the Queen leave the throne room. He turned quickly, scuttling down the hall that she’d pointed at. 

“Chlorophyll?” Apis nervously chirped as he trotted after his friend. Chlorophyll was already hard at work when Apis found him again. The hall was in worse condition than the throne room was, and this was even bigger, more wild with strange plants lining the arched walls. 

“Why are we doing this?” Apis asked, lazily brushing aside some fallen foliage with his foot.

“She’s a Queen Aphis! That’s why!” 

“What even is a Queen?” Apis asked beneath his breath, but all he could do was fall behind Chlorophyll and help.

It was back breaking work, cleaning up all the debris from the damage. There were logs and fallen trees, shrubbery wasted away, and panels of metal. Every so often they’d come across a puddle, discovering cracks in the ceiling above them. It was… unfortunately precarious. Apis was worried it would all come crashing down on them, but Chlorophyll barely blinked.

“What if we used this big stick to hold the ceiling up?” Chlorophyll asked, his head craned up to look at where there were loose panels above them, allowing water to leak through cracked glass.

“I… suppose so.” Apis hummed, he glanced around, finding a suitable stick- or log to use. Since he was bigger it was left to him to try and heft the thing up in his forelimbs and waddle it over to the spot. It dragged and scraped across the ground, leaving a deep rut as Apis barely managed to muscle it over. He was huffing a puffing when he finally stopped, dropping the heavy log to the ground.

“How do you think you’re gonna manage to prop this up?” Apis asked, tilting his head up once more.

“Well… you’re gonna do it. I’ll help.” Chlorophyll said, much to Apis’ anguish. 

Apis did his best to catch his breath before he stooped lower to grab the log once more to heft it up into his claws once more. He couldn’t think of a time where he had to work this hard for something, not even when on a hunt. Chlorophyll did try to help at least, to his credit, trying to get under the log to push it up whilst Apis pulled. Only barely did they manage to get it into an upright position, scooting and walking it under the slumped panel so it was flush with the glass.

“Better?” Aphis slumped, flopping to the ground.

“Better!” Chlorophyll bobbed his head agreeably, “I think we did a good job!”

They had indeed done a lot, with the passageway already looking superiorly better than it had before.

“I think she’ll be happy with our hard work.” the raptor beamed.

“That’s great and all, but can we call it for the day? I’m dying for a good nap before the sun goes down…”

“Fine.. fine.” Chlorophyll sighed, “We’ll just have to come back and finish tomorrow.”

Apis groaned, but now at least he knew what he’d be getting himself into with Chlorophyll’s antics.