[Trade] No place like the big city

Ceallach had been traveling for weeks, searching for a very certain type of home. He wanted to live where he had before, a place made of stone and giant towers of stone that gleamed strangely in the light.

Sky scrappers, the pesky flying dinos called them. Ceallach had grown large over the past few months, now a fully grown adult, he strode with nothing but confidence, his muzzle wrinkled ever so slightly as he sniffed the air in irritation.

Nothing but plants for miles.

And yet… his head turned. A familiar smell. Acidic, and intense, like the strange metal monsters that he used to jump on as a hatchling to get a better view of Goja’s fights when he was still an insignificant little welp.

Now, there would be no climbing on those metal creatures, he was going to rule this place. Ceallach picked up the pace, his feet pounding with his excitement as he held his head high until he saw the stone structures. A smile graced his muzzle.

Finally, this would be his home.

The massive brown Acro strode confidently down into the city, his eyes drifting with excitement as he sniffed the air, all he could smell was feathered rat scent everywhere. And he knew without a doubt he could handle them, once he’d marked out his territory, that is.

Ceallach wandered through, his eyes drifting, since the time of the mass ‘leaving’ from what he’d heard. When all the albertosaurus, Dacen, and other creatures leaving the ‘facility’ power had been turned on in certain places, and this seemed to be one of them.

His eyes drifted over a large fountain in the shape of two stags fighting in the middle. The water bubbled at the base, his nostrils flared as he sniffed it. Smelt clean enough. Slowly he took a drink as he debated, before he heard the scrambling of claws behind him as his head stayed lower and let out a low growl in his chest. Irritation as one of the small creatures decided to disrupt him before he had fully circled out his territory an picked his den location.

For now, he would ignore it. It wasn’t worth his time until he decided to drive the rats out of his new home.

The massive beast stomped forward, leaving the fascinating water piece behind, his eyes drifting over building after building as he memorized each different color, each vibrant spot.

Until he came across the red building, the stone here was a brownish red, a color he’d seen on other acros before, but rarely in stone, Goja had called a similar color “brick” once before, but he hadn’t understood what it meant then.

The entrance was massive, and he could see a big red ‘vehicle’ inside. His muzzle wrinkled as he tilted his head one way, then the next. Before stepping forward and grabbing onto the metal at the front of it. Hauling with all his strength until at last he had dragged the vehicle out into the street in front of the building. He promptly did the same with the second one. Before shouldering it against the side of the building until it crunched. Signaling he’d move it no further.

He stood at the doors and snorted softly. This place with the words ‘fire station’ above it would do for a temporary place for his den. Maybe he’d find a better one in the future, but the double entrances would allow him multiple view points, while being safe.

Ceallach’s head barely turned, he could smell the pack now, a low sigh escaped him.

Time to deal with the vermin.

Ceallach raised his head and called out in a cool voice, “This is my place now. You will leave, or I will kill you. I will not tolerate your existence here any longer.”

The bark of laughter that came from behind one of the cars brought Ceallach’s burning orange eyes to focus on it. A bald pale yellow utahraptor jumped onto the roof and grinned sharply, “An who are YOU to tell us what to do? You’re just one big thing, against the many!”

The pale yellow utahs shout brought out 3 more utahs from the surrounding buildings, Ceallach’s eyes drifted over them, accessing. One black with darker stripes along her body with green eyes, another a pale reddish like the bricks behind him with stripes running along them. And one a deep blue that almost reminded him of Goja except for the piercing yellow eyes that stared at him.

Helios smiled as her tail waved behind her in excitement, she put her hands on the car as she barked out, “This is our place, and YOU will be the one to leave.”

Ceallach’s eyes drifted and he chuckled, unimpressed before he looked away, barely acknowledging them for a moment as he eyed the place he’d chosen for a den.
“... you’re barely worth my time, again, I suggest you leave before I break your spirits.”

The utahs scoffed and then the yellow ones eyes focused behind him, “We’ll see about that.”

Ceallach felt the impact to the back of his head as his orange eyes light up in surprise and furry. A utah had crept up behind him, using the building it’d launched onto his back, and in moments. The entire world was a flurry of movement as Ceallach reared and jerked.

Everything he’d ever learned suddenly failed him, he’d learned to fight opponents his own size, not these insignificant and bratty creatures. The utahs however knew how to take on bigger opponents, and they nipped at his heels as his head jerked left and right trying to dislodge the utah on his head to no avail.

Ceallach stopped for a moment as he slammed one of his big feet down, causing the stone to crack under him and the utahs at his feet to scramble for a moment. The one of his back continued to bite and tear at feathers as he snarled in rage.

He needed to regain his bearings. To get the upper claw.

An so he did the only thing he could think of, he charged across the street, his pounding steps rattling the cars, before he rammed into one of the towering cement structures full force. His body broke through stone and sent the utah on his back crashing through into the building in front of him.

His nostrils flared as he grinned, his head stretched out despite the slight ache in his shoulders from hitting stone. They snapped inches from the pale peach colored utah. She jumped away from him with a yelp of panic, as he felt the teeth of another utahraptor snap around his ankle. He twisted immediately and slammed his tail to the side before the utah could get back out of range of his attach, causing it to tumble and crash into some garbage cans, watching as it went limp.

The two pale utahs scrambled to each other, the yellow one hissed at him as Ceallach slowly drew himself out of the wrecked building.

He let out a bellowing roar that shook the air around them and made the utahs step back, shaking their heads in disorientation. Ceallach didn’t waste any time, burning orange eyes narrowed as he charged, not giving them a chance to remove, before Ceallach skidded on the smooth stone beneath his feet, and used his momentum to turn.

The acro’s long tail whipped out and slapped into both of the utahs. Sending them flying. He laughed as they slapped against a buildin and dropped in a pile of gasping and pained yelps.

His eyes drifted to the blue utah who had barely participated. It sat along one of the firetrucks he’d pulled out, making itself ‘big’ as him, and his lips curled in a devious smile of amusement, “You had enough yet?” he mocked the small creature, stepping up until his muzzle hovered over it and his eyes stared down his nose, gleaming teeth inches from Jett’s face.

Jett’s feathers slowly flattened to her body before she spoke, “We will go.”

Ceallach’s eyes hooded as he scoffed, “Of course you will go,” He didn’t bother as he turned, shaking himself as if none of the scratches the peach utah had left on him had done any damage. “Tomorrow, if I still scent you in this place, I will dig out whatever den you have made, and eat your young. This is your only warning.”

Ceallach’s heart thundered with triumph as he heard the utahs quiet conversation as he walked away, he had won, and this would be his home.

And nothing would ever take it from him. Big or small.