Blackwood's Revenge

By: Aubrie1234

The creature snarled and banged at the sides of the cage, desperate to get at the man, who smirked.

"You should have never thought you could defeat me. Now look at what you've become. They'll never understand you, let alone find out who you are." The creature roared once again and tried to reach through the bars. The man pressed a button on a remote control he held, and the cage flashed once. The creature gave a pained yip before slinking away from the bars. It gave him a vicious growl before screeching in a defiant way, and the man left.

"Is there still no sign of him, Wolfe?"

"I've been searching all I can. But, I promise you, I will find him. If I never gave up on you, who says I'll give up on him?" Sylvia smiled at her brother as the plane continued to fly on. A year had passed since Noah and Butch had died, and almost a month had passed since all of Noah's parks had been transferred to the NZA. However, barely a week ago, while Sylvia and Timothy had been out traveling again, Marty had disappeared. It had been during a trip to the mainland from Cryptos Island, and the boy had just disappeared into thin air. Luther and Dylan, who had been with him, were witnesses to that; they had only turned their back for a minute, and when they looked back, Marty was gone. No amount of searching turned up anything to what happened to Marty, and when Sylvia and Timothy had gotten news of what had happened, they had come back as fast as they could.

"First we disappeared over a year ago, and now Marty goes missing." Timothy sighed from the back seat, "How could this have happened?" Sylvia stretched a hand behind her to grip her husband's hand.

"I'm sure he's fine." she assured, "But it is worrying."

"There are some possibilities I've been thinking about." Wolfe spoke, "But I don't think it's possible, otherwise it may have already happened."

"What is it?" Timothy asked.

"I've been thinking about the possibility that Noah may have had another loyal henchman or, worse, another clone of himself." The words were chilling to them, as they didn't want another Noah, or anything horrible to happen to Marty.

"Hopefully you're wrong, Wolfe." Sylvia said, "Hopefully you're wrong."

Grace scratched Nine's head as she looked out from her room sadly. The room had been converted into a dual bedroom, so as to accommodate Violet, several month ago, but right now, the younger girl was out. Of course, Grace was greatly worried for the boy who had been her brother for years and still acted like it, and Violet was worried as well. Dylan and Luther were taking it the worst, though, since they had been the ones with him when Marty had disappeared. Suddenly, there was a knock at her door. Standing, Grace went to open it, finding Dylan there.

"Hey." he said softly, "Sorry we haven't seen each other in a while."

"It's fine." Grace said and let him inside, "Anything?"

"No." Dylan sighed, "It's like he wasn't even there. No evidence, no struggle, no nothing!" Dylan's clenched fist slammed down on a nearby table. Nine's hiss got Dylan back under control, however.

"Sorry, Nine." Dylan said, backing away a bit, and Nine laid back down, watching them.

"Maybe there's something we're missing." Grace picked up her Gizmo, typing in a special password. After the whole fiasco with Noah, Wolfe and Ted programmed all the Gizmos to react to certain passwords for certain people. Grace's was TravisFather, and the others had various ones. Like the tags, each password made that Gizmo that person's, unless they logged out, and neither of the men bothered reprogramming the tracking function, as it would cause the whole problem again someday, they were sure.

Grace tapped the GPS icon and a map of Cryptos Island appeared. She scrolled the map until it showed the mainland, and the area where the boys had been when Marty disappeared. Zooming in, she saw the Seattle Ark (now the Seattle Zoo and Aquarium), where the boys had gone and she had been held by her own grandfather over a year before. They had been walking through South America when it happened, and Grace got chills remembering how ominous it was, as South America was where the showdown with Noah went down.

"Is there any place that he could have been hidden, besides the secret entrance?" Grace asked. Dylan looked over her shoulder at the map before shaking his head.

"Not that I can see." Nine stood, stretched, and brushed by the humans as he let himself out of the room. Grace glanced at the chupacabra before getting an idea. Going back to the main menu, she tapped the video icon. Vid, the video-carrying raven, was flying over the beaches when she tapped the icon. However, the video seemed to stop over a certain place on the beach. Surprised, they watched as something crawled up on the beach. It was too far away to make out what animal it was, but they knew they had to investigate. Quickly putting down the Gizmo, they raced out the door, almost plowing into Luther in the process.

"What's with you two?" he asked.

"Get one of the hatchlings!/There's some sort of animal on the beach!" The two ran by him, but Luther managed to get the gist of it. Following them, he watched as they ran down to the beach before going to get one of the hatchlings. As they had grown so much over the last few months, stables had to be put in, big enough for each one to have enough room to move around. But, why ask for him to bring one of them? Luther shrugged as he opened the stables and the hatchlings rushed at him, eager to be with him.

Grace and Dylan gazed at the creature from the bushes. It looked like a giant brown Komodo Dragon, but had black fur on its body, though not on its tail. They couldn't see much more, but it didn't seem to be moving.

"Do you think it's-?" Grace asked uneasily.

"Maybe, but if it isn't, it needs help." Slowly, they stood and walked towards the creature. As they got closer, they could see more of its differences. Though only slightly open, it had two fangs among its many teeth, and there were identical lines on its neck, indicating gills. Its feet were webbed, despite being furry, and there was black skin stretched between its forelegs and body, and its backlegs and body. Neither pieces of skin were connected to each other, and the animal was huge; at least as big as a 20-ft. crocodile, and its chest was moving up and down, indicating breathing. Feeling the creature's neck to make sure, Dylan nodded to Grace.

"It's got a weak pulse, but it's alive." his fingers stroked the fur, "Just what the heck is this thing?"

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like it." Grace said, slowly rubbing the creature's head, "And it has gills and webbing, so it should be able to survive in water, unless it's a freshwater creature."

"It's also an amphibian, since it's able to breathe on land." Dylan said, "And I asked Luther to get one of the hatchlings, if he could. They should be able to help move this thing."

"Whoa..." They turned to see Luther come through the bushes, wide-eyed, and both hatchlings followed. The two slowly came forward and sniffed the creature before, surprisingly, whining and licking at the creature.

"What are they doing?" Grace asked.

"I have no idea, but they need to stop! What if they wake that thing up?" This was proven as the creature began to stir. Slowly, its eyes opened, and they saw the great stormy blue color they held. The creature glanced around at all of them, lingering on Grace and Luther the most, before it hissed and the eyes closed.

"Seriously though, this thing needs help." Dylan said, "Could we drag it up the beach?"

"Not without getting sand in its fur, and maybe in its gills. Do you want that?" Dylan shook his head at Grace's words.

"Well, maybe I could find stuff to make a stretcher..." Luther suggested. However, the hatchlings had a better and easier idea. One of them gently picked the creature up with its mouth and laid the creature on the other hatchling's back. Together, the two then made their way back to the mansion.

"...They're smarter than us." Dylan commented.

"Let's just go and see what they're up to." The boys followed as Grace ran to catch up to the dinosaurs and the creature.

Nine watched as a strange procession entered the building: The two hatchlings with a strange creature on one's back, with Grace, Dylan, and Luther following. The chupacabra followed slowly, curious. T he dinosaurs entered the library and, using the same procedure as before, laid the creature on the couch. Its tail hung over the side, as did its head, but the hatchlings fixed that by bringing over small coffee tables.

"Yeah, definitely smarter than us." Dylan said. One hatchling then began to lick the creature, starting at the gills, and another grabbed a blanket from a nearby chair. This made the kids understand.

"I was right!" Grace gasped, "It's a freshwater creature, and the hatchlings understand that, which is why they're trying to clean off the saltwater."

"I'll get more towels." Luther said and scampered off, passing Nine, who was peeking into the library.

"Let me get a water bucket." Grace offered.

"No, let me." Dylan said, and left. Grace slowly walked over to the hatchlings and the creature, observing them. She saw how carefully they moved, almost as if they were afraid to crush the creature, which they probably could. But, they had never acted this way before, at all. It was a mystery to Grace. Hesitantly, she touched the creature's head again. To her surprise, its eyes opened and stared straight at her. She almost shrieked with surprise, settling with a gasp. Surprising her even more, the creature tried to move, but stopped when the hatchlings growled at it. It then mewled, like a newborn kitten asking for milk. As she took her hand off the creature's head, it mewled even more vigorously.

"It's okay." Grace assured it, putting her hand under its chin. Instantly, the mewling decreased to a small, almost silent whimper. Curious of the reaction, Grace took her hand away again. The mewling came up again. She put her hand back. The mewling almost completely silenced.

"Interesting." she said, then put her other hand on its stomach. Instantly, she felt how thin the creature was, as she could almost feel the ribs above, and she gasped.

"You're really hungry, aren't you?" The mewling returned, and Grace took it as a yes. However, she had no idea what it ate. It was at that moment that Nine ventured closer.

"No, Nine. It isn't food." Grace said, sending the chupacabra a small glare. However, Nine only tilted his head. The creature swung its head around to look at Nine and continued to make the mewling sound. Nine seemed to understand, as he scampered off and out the doors, which had just opened as Dylan and Luther returned. Lucky they did, as the hatchlings were getting tired of licking the creature.

"Is that thing meowing, like a cat?" Dylan asked.

"It's mewling." Luther corrected, "It's another word for a whimper, usually used with newborn cats. I have no idea why this thing is mewling, though."

"Nine seemed to understand." Grace said, taking one of the towels from Luther and dunking it in Dylan's water bucket before washing the creature, starting where the hatchlings left off.

"Nine?" The boys asked, glancing at each other.

"Yeah." Grace nodded, "The creature just mewled at him and he ran off. I still don't get it."

"There's something more to this than we think, I bet!" Luther said, "First the hatchlings help the creature, and now Nine. Grace, why don't you try searching the cryptid books while Dylan and I do this?" Grace nodded and handed her towel to Luther before going up the stairs.

"You really this so?" Dylan asked him, drying off the creature after Luther washed it.

"You have a better idea?" Dylan hummed.

"Good point." he admitted, "But what do you think the creature asked of Nine?" Luther shrugged.

"How should I know?" They then heard the click of claws as Nine came in through the still open doors, carrying a large wildebeast leg in his mouth.

"That's from the hatchling's stash!" Luther said, "How'd he find it?"

"Chupacabras are bloodhounds for blood, remember?" Dylan said. Nine carried the leg over to them and set it on the floor, looking up at the creature. It seemed to growl in thanks before picking up the leg, setting it on the coffee table holding up the creature's head, and began to eat. It was certainly starting to look stronger, now that it was being cared for.

"Uh, guys?" Grace asked, looking out a window from the upper floor, "Wolfe's back." Both boys looked at each other.

"Should we tell him, or what?" Dylan asked.

"Er..." Luther looked hopefully to Grace, who shrugged. The creature turned to look at them, licking its lips, trying to snag any extra pieces of meat that may have gotten stuck. Its eyes were alight with a mysterious hope, which confused them. Nine only tilted his head to the side, curious, and the hatchlings were lying together, looking at the kids, Nine, and the creature.