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Despite the unknown
perils that lay ahead, there was reason for great celebration somewhere
deep in the woods. The House of Ono, one of the larger Sauropod families,
was celebrating the arrival of a new infant. For days, all eyes had been
watching the large egg with keen anticipation. That morning, it hatched.
From it emerged a small blue dinosaur, who cooed appreciatively when he
was fed his first fern. The newborn was named Poko; Poko Ono.
Poko was blessed
with the energy of youth. He was the source of much amusement for the others
while he learned how to walk, and he grew quickly. Poko had learned much
from his parents and fellow Sauropods during the short time he knew them,
yet he was still much to young to brave the world on his own. Then disaster
struck.
The Ono family,
completely oblivious to the factors in play at the time, were attacked
one night by a regiment of Arlach's minions who were beginning their combing
of the world to eliminate any opposition. Jaegar, the officer leading the
army, first approached the elders of the family and demanded that they
join the forces of Arlach or face the consequences. The elder Sauropods
said they would not surrender, and asked that Jaegar and his forces leave
and allow the family to continue to live in peace. Jaegar gave a cry of
battle, and threw the might of his army against the House of Ono.
A long and bloody
battle followed, where both sides suffered heavy losses. The mindless minions
of Arlach were trained warriors designed to kill. Although the Sauropods
fought bravely, sheer numbers were the cause of their defeat. The bloodshed
stopped when all the elders and strong members of the family, including
Poko's father, were killed. Those remaining who couldn't fight were taken
into slavery to work for the armies of Arlach. Such was the ill fate of
Poko's mother, whom he missed greatly. Poko, along with the other young
dinosaurs present, were spared from slavery and taken back to Arlach's
barracks where they would be trained and brainwashed to become a minion.
Jaegar treated the
young dinosaurs harshly, having them carry heavy loads and travel for many
days without food and rest. A little while later, they entered a wasteland
landscaped with swamps and plateaus of rock. Vapors swirled around the
group, carrying the smell of decaying corpses from the half-eaten bodies
at the side of the path. The Theropods were a race of carnivorous dinosaurs;
Poko had never even imagined eating a fellow dinosaur, and felt ill at
the thought that he might be forced to do so, since there was no edible
vegetation in this awful environment.
The barracks weren't
much better. The Ono children were given a cell, just like all of the other
groups of young dinosaurs. They were taught the skills that all good warriors
must possess, and Poko quickly excelled beyond the abilities of his peers.
Although he showed great strength and talent, Poko could not even bring
himself to fight let alone kill another dinosaur; it was not his nature.
The other dinosaurs being instructed were beginning to become the mindless
killing machines Arlach had destined them to become as a result of the
dark magic imposed upon the structure. Much to Arlach's furry, Poko seemed
to be unaffected by this magic, and continued to refuse to fight no matter
how much his teachers punished him.
Although it was
unknown to Poko at the time, his father was the shaman of the family. Before
his birth, Poko's father had fueled a large amount of his magical prowess
into giving his only future son a natural resistance to magic and its effects.
The giving of such a gift greatly weakened him, and he was therefore among
the first to fall to the army of Jaegar.
In a proclamation
of great wrath, Arlach sentenced that Poko be banished from the world,
a punishment he saw as being worse than death. Poko was bound and carried
through the halls of the barracks where his peers, even members of his
own family, cheered and roared at the fact that he was to be done away
with. He was beaten senseless, and then laid before Arlach. While uttering
ancient syllables, Arlach snapped his teeth at the sky and called upon
strange incarnations who sent Poko flying high above the ground, only to
vanish altogether. No one knew where he would materialize, only that he
would no longer be in this world, and that was enough to satisfy the ruler
of the Theropods.
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