Rated T for future suggestive themes.

Silver Lining

Chapter 1 - A New T-Trux

Skrap-It wanted desperately to impress D-Structs, as always, and he was planning on accomplishing by eavesdropping on the enemy to see what they were up to next. And what the Scraptool heard quite a bit of useful information: The Trux were planning on visiting the Dark Forest to plan a route to Cliff Valley.

This is wonderful news! D-Structs is gonna love this! Skrap-It mentally cheered, as he scurried across the crater to find his master. It wasn't long before he found the ebony T-Trux munching on a small pile of ore, and he was ecstatic to tell him what he found out.

"D-Structs! Oh, D-Structs! Guess what!" Skrap-It shouted with glee.

"Whatever it is, make it fast. Something even more important has just come up," D-Structs growled impatiently.

"R-Right, ok! I did a-a little sneakin' and listenin', a-and I found out that the Trux are headed to the D-Dark Forest. I-I was thinkin' we could ambush 'em or somethin'. What do ya think?"

D-Structs jiggled his lower jaw from side to side, which was something he tended to do when in deep thought, "Yes, this is very useful information. In fact, the important matter that I mentioned earlier can help. It just so happens that I've been meaning to stop by the Dark Forest myself."

Ty was absolutely ecstatic to be venturing into a place called "the Dark Forest." The name alone sent chills of fear and adrenaline up his spine, and he was ready for whatever so-called dangers would be waiting in the forest; although, getting Ton-Ton to stop being a wuss seemed to be the bigger challenge.

Even though the sky had darkened with thick and heavy clouds when they arrived, everyone, aside from Ton-Ton and Click-Clack, could agree that the Dark Forest was a pretty interesting place.

But when they started to let their guard down, the sound of a loud crash pierced the air, followed by quick flashes of shadows through the trees.

"What was that?" Dozer whimpered as his eyes darted around.

"What's the matter, Dozer? Are ya scared?" Skya asked mockingly, but she and the others felt a little fear when they saw the shadows and heard the weird noises, too.

"I am!" Ton-Ton yelped.

Garby then failed to pay attention, and the ground crumbled beneath him, threatening him to swallow him down into a deep, dark pit. Luckily, Skya looped her tongue around the Stegarbasaur and pulled him to safety at the last second.

"Garby, dude! We almost lost you to the Endless Pit!" Ton-Ton exclaimed in fear.

"Ton-Ton, it's not endless," Ty argued while trying to hide his annoyance.

"But you can't see the bottom."

"That's because it's tar."

Ton-Ton took another look and squinted, and sighed in relief when he saw bubbles emit from the dark goop in the pit, "Hmm. So it is."

"One tar pit added to the map. We will be sure to steer clear," Revvit informed after etching the tar pit onto the map.

"All these stories are just exaggerations. Nothing ta worry about," Ty tried to reassure everyone.

"Does it seem a little—dark to anyone?" Garby asked questioned after noticing the dimming light.

"Garby, we're in the Dark Forest. It's dark," Dozer deadpanned.

"Y-Yeah, not that. The sun-setting kind of dark."

Revvit took notice of Garby's observation, and look up into the sky to find that it really was turning to night, "Hmm. Yes, I agree. Perhaps we should camp for the night, and pick this up tomorrow."

The Trux then came up to a clearing.

"This looks like a good place," Ty suggested.

"Ton-Ton, let's unpack your bed over here," Revvit instructed the said Ankylodump, and he soon backed into a corner of the clearing and dumped out the supplies.

"Let's camp it up!" Ty shouted with vigor, and everyone quickly went to work on making the area secure to camp for the night. But as they worked, Ty noticed just how many supplies that Revvit had brought, "How much stuff did you pack, Revvit?"

"More than this. Where are all the carriage bolts?" Revvit questioned with fear.

"Uh…in my carriage?" Ton-Ton guessed.

Revvit continued looking for the bolts, but nothing turned up, "No. That is odd. They are gone."

"Well, they gotta be around here somewhere. Carriage bolts don't just get up and walk away on their own," Ty pointed out.

"Yes. I know," Revvit stated slowly, becoming agitated from not knowing where his own supplies went.

After a while, the Trux started a campfire and started making ore snacks, to which they proudly came up with the evolutionally name of calling them "S'mores." But then some of their s'mores disappeared, which confused Revvit even more; Ty merely brushed it off, much to Revvit's dismay. But to lighten the mood, Skya asked if anyone knew any scary stories.

"Ah! You must mean the story of the Monster Trux. You're in luck, Skya. It is very scary," Revvit began with an eerie tone, "They say it was a dark and stormy night-."

"Stop! I've heard enough!" Click-Clack shouted in utter terror and ran for cover, effortlessly managing to ruin the moment.

"C'mon, Rev, keep going," Skya urged.

"Where was I? Oh, yes! They say it was a dark and stormy night—a group of Dino Trux on the run from Scraptors found themselves together, hiding in the forest. When suddenly, there was a loud and long moan. One of the Trux went to investigate. Legend has it that he was taken by the Monster Trux of the Dark Forest, and made into scrap! And he was never seen again. They say you can still hear the moan from the woods of the Monster Trux."

Despite Revvit's effectively creepy tone, Ty merely burst out laughing, "You call that a scary story?"

But as if to prove Revvit's point, a loud and long moan that fit the description in his story rang through the air.

"That didn't scare me," Skya stated, trying to sound brave.

"Speak for yourself!" Click-Clack whimpered and shuttered violently, and another moan echoed through the forest.

"Are you doin' that?" Waldo asked Revvit.

"How could I be doing that?" Revvit questioned in disbelief, "I am sitting right next to you."

"I-Is it the M-Monster Trux?" Click-Clack stuttered.

"It's just a story," Skya scoffed, only for another moan to answer as a rebuttal, "At least, I thought it was."

"Of course it's just a story. It's probably just the wind. Scratch that! It's definitely the wind," Ty protested, but then yawned and stretched, "I'm callin' it a night."

It was quite difficult to fall asleep with the constant moans, and it quickly became more annoying than startling; although, it was concerning that the noise seemed to be getting closer.

When morning finally came, Skya was pretty irritated and convinced that it was all just a joke.

"Alright, whose idea was it? Dozer? Ton-Ton?" Skya inquired impatiently.

"What're ya talkin' about?" Dozer questioned in confusion.

"All the moaning last night? Trying to make me think the Monster Trux was gonna get me?"

"Wasn't me. I was dreamin' sweet dreams of Cliff Valley," Ton-Ton argued while beginning to fantasize some more about Cliff Valley, "Well, I was tryin'. We heard it, too."

"I had ta eat rocks all night just ta cover up the sound of it," Garby added.

"Well, seems like it stopped now, and we're all just fine," Ty calmly pointed out, but he seemed to jinx it was a cry of terror shattered the quiet.

"I think that was…" Ace began worriedly.

"Waldo!" Revvit finished her sentence.

"The Monster Trux got him!" Click-Clack yelped.

"Come on!" Ty shouted and led the way, the others following close behind as they followed Waldo's screams. But as they continued, they heard another strange noise that sounded like a combination of hissing and clicking.

"What was that?" Garby was the first to ask, and he and the others followed the clicking hisses towards a pit. Not only did they find Waldo inside the pit, but he was surrounded by numerous snake-like creatures.

"Do not move, Waldo! That is a nest of Towaconstrictors!" Revvit informed sternly.

"Thanks. I didn't notice," Waldo argued sarcastically, as a Towaconstrictor slithered up to him and rattled its tail.

"A-Are those things the Monster Trux?" Click-Clack couldn't help but ask.

"No, Click-Clack. They don't moan, they rattle," Ty answered.

"They're still creepy!" Dozer exclaimed and shuttered afterwards.

"I gotcha, Waldo!" Skya called down and lowered her tongue, successfully managing to snatch him from the snake's grasp.

"Watch out, Skya!" Dozer tried to warn her, but it was too late. One of the Towaconstrictors jumped up and could around Skya's hook.

"Don't worry, Skya! Waldo, you jump and I'll smash!" Ty instructed. Waldo hastily leapt off of Skya's tongue, and Ty whipped around and knocked the snake off with his tail.

The snake went flying and landed on Dozer's frill, causing him to panic and beg someone to get it off of him. Soon after, even more Towaconstrictors slithered out of the pit, and started crawling all over the Trux.

"Look, there are my carriage bolts!" Revvit called when he noticed a pile of his bolts sitting in the snakes' nest.

"And one of our bitbug lanterns!" Ace pointed out.

"And our s'mores!" Garby added.

"Dudes, they got me!" Ton-Ton suddenly cried out when some of the snakes formed a chain attached themselves to the Ankylodump, all in an attempt to drag him down into their nest.

But just before he could be taken down, a rock with bright pink flowers tied to it was suddenly thrown next to the Ankylodump. The strong stench of the flowers instantly repelled the Towaconstrictors, and they let go of Ton-Ton and retreated back into their nest.

"Whoa, that was close! Thanks so much, dude…whoa," Ton-Ton cheered after being let go, but he was speechless when he saw who his rescuer was; he wasn't the only one at a loss for words, though. Everyone marveled at the sight of a light grey T-Trux they had never seen before, and they had a very powerful-looking spiked wrecking ball for a tail as well.

Ty felt compelled to approach and greet the T-Trux, but they backed away the second he moved forward.

"We're not here to hurt you. We just want to thank you," Ty slowly explained.

"You shouldn't be here," the grey T-Trux whispered threateningly, their voice feminine with a strong Australian accent.

"Yeah, I'm starting to see why no one ever comes to the Dark Forest," Ty added with a chuckle, finding hard to look the rather pretty female T-Trux in the eye.

"No, I mean, you're standing right under a huge nest of Screwsquitos," she informed while pointing a claw upwards, and the others looked up to realize that she was telling the truth. Hanging directly above them in a tree was a very large nest of active Screwsquitos.

But by the time they looked back down, the T-Trux had disappeared without a trace.

"Well, that was weird," Ty stated slowly.

"But she knew what she was doing. Those flowers on that rock are Bunga Bankai flowers. Their intense fragrance acts as a natural repellent against the Towaconstrictors, and could even be used to keep the Screwsquitos away as well," Revvit explained.

"And here, I thought the Dark Forest couldn't get more annoying," Dozer grumbled, but then a thunderstorm suddenly started as if he jinxed it. With that, the Trux rushed to find the nearest shelter to avoid getting hit by lighting; it wasn't long before they found a rock stacked on top of two more rocks, acting as some form of cover. But the space proved to be quite confined, and it didn't help that Garby was getting gassy again.

But while the others were busy trying to get comfortable, Ty's mind drifted back to the mysterious T-Trux from earlier. Who was she? What was she doing in the Dark Forest? And why couldn't he get her off of his mind?

Just as he pondered that last question, Ty swore he spotted something in the distance. He squinted and leaned forward, and his eyes widened when he realized it was the female T-Trux. She seemed to be beckoning him away by moving her head in the opposite direction, and waving an arm as if to say "Follow me."

"What're you staring at?" Skya questioned when she noticed the far-off look in Ty's eyes.

"It's the T-Trux from earlier. I think she's trying to tell us something," Ty explained. But when they looked back out, she was gone.

"Um, there's nothing there, Ty," Dozer pointed out flatly.

"You must be seein' things, dude," Ton-Ton added.

"How does she move that fast?" Ty muttered in shock. And as he tried to look around for the T-Trux, he looked up to find Towaconstrictors crawling down from the roof, "Everyone, out!"

The Trux quickly fled from the shelter, and looked back to find that it was covered in Towaconstrictors.

"She really was trying to warn us," Ty breathed in realization, and then looked out to see her in the distance again, "There she is! Follow her!"

The others were confused as to why Ty was so determined to catch this new T-Trux, but they complied and followed him through the forest. Eventually, they came to a cliff edge, and another much closer moan rang through the air.

"It's coming from down there," Skya pointed out while staring down at the fog below the cliff edge.

"Dude, I think your weirdo T-Trux friend just led us to George," Ton-Ton informed after approaching the very edge of the cliff, and found none other than George the traveling and peace-seeking Dozeratops hanging for life on a slippery slope.

"Good tidings, fellow Trux," George greeted in his usual mellow tone.

"Don't move," Skya firmly instructed.

"Dude, you're totally stuck," Ton-Ton added.

"I prefer the term 'at peace' to the term 'stuck.' So, yeah, I'm at peace," George calmly protested.

"What's with all the moaning, then?" Dozer questioned angrily.

"The chanting, you mean? I figured as long as I'm here, I might as well become one with my surroundings, and sing the secret songs of the Dark Forest. Listen…"

George then paused and took a deep breath in, and let out a long and off-key moan afterwards, his voice echoing off of the cliff walls with ease.

"Lemme see if I can reach him," Skya suggested while lowering her tongue, but George was just a couple inches out of reach.

"So close, yet so far," George sighed while shaking his head.

"We need another way," Ty pondered aloud. While he and the others were thinking, they failed to notice a Towaconstrictor slithering out of the bushes and approaching Ty.

"Look out, Ty! Towaconstrictor on your tail!" Skya shouted warningly, as the snake crawling onto Ty's wrecking and coiled around it.

After failing to shake the snake off, Ty looked back at the snake and realized something, "I think it's just takin' a nap."

"Maybe those things aren't so scary, after all," Garby figured with a chuckle, as a few more snakes slithered out and started crawling on the Trux out of curiosity.

"Hate ta get in the way of different species comin' together, but…" George interrupted as another piece of dirt slipped out from underneath him, "…help!"

"Hang on, George! Rev?"

The said Reptool knew Ty was looking to him for answers, so he jumped down and approached a rock to start etching a plan into its flat surface.

"Because of his angle, we are going to need leverage," Revvit began.

"Let's use that tree," Ty suggested while pointing at a large tree that stood near the edge of the cliff.

"But none of these vines are strong enough," Skya argued.

"Who said we're using vines?"

"Well, Skya just did," Ton-Ton answered Ty's questioned flatly.

"No, Ton-Ton. What Ty means is that we are going to use…" Revvit explained and paused for dramatic affect.

"The Towaconstrictors!" Ty finished for him.

"That's like tryin' ta herd Tortools. How're you gonna get 'em ta do what you want?" Dozer asked doubtfully.

"Maybe there's some way we can corral them," Ty suggested.

"I can try hooking them into place," Skya offered.

"Or I could fling 'em into place!" Ton-Ton added, trying to contain his excitement.

"Or you could just try asking them," Click-Clack pointed out.

"Oh, right." Ty then crouched down to try and get eye-level with the Towaconstrictors, but they only slithered away. "Hey, uh, could you lend us a…tail?"

"Oh, uh, can…can I try, Ty?" Click-Clack volunteered.

"Aren't you afraid?" Ace questioned in surprise.

"Of course I'm afraid, but I'm gonna do it anyway."

Click-Clack then jumped down and stepped in front of the Towaconstrictors, and began communicating by rattling his bits. The snakes easily understood him, and responded by rattling their tails. The others took that as a sign that they were in, so the snakes started connecting to build a long chain; one end slithered down and grabbed George, and the other end connected the Trux as they pulled George up.

"Let's make this work!" Ty shouted in hopes of getting everyone pumped up to pull.

"Either way, it's always nice to see you guys," George mused right before the others started pulling, and it seemed to be working. But when one of George's front wheels got caught on a stray rock, he was knocked from the Towaconstrictors' grasp and nearly fell to his death. The snakes quickly grabbed him again, and the others resumed their pulling.

However, it wasn't long before another problem began to arise.

"The branch, it's crackin'!" Waldo shouted in fear. True to his word, the branch that the mid-section of the snake chain was using as leverage was beginning to snap.

"Come on, Trux. One last, big acceleration!" Revvit cheered them on.

"We need…more power!" Ty shouted between grunts. It was then that he hit a patch of mud, and he suddenly slipped back a few good feet. The rest of the chain and George would have fallen too far back had Ty not been connected by another Towaconstrictor. But the snake was connected to something else.

"You!" Ty gasped when he saw that the new Trux was actually the grey T-Trux from before.

"Just keep pullin'!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, and helped to pull with all of her might. With the added strength, they pulled Dozer up much faster, but not before the branch finally broke. Luckily, Skya lassoed George with her tongue and yanked him to safety.

"Boom! Did it!" Ty exclaimed victoriously.

"Many thanks, my rescuing friends," George thanked slowly.

That night, the Trux brought George and the T-Trux to their campsite to relax and warm up after what happened. Secretly, Ty was overjoyed to be able to try and get to know the mysterious T-Trux better—but he wasn't going to let his friends find out just yet.

"I told you this would be worth it," Ty boasted.

"Yeah, the Dark Forest turned out ta be not-so-dark, after all," Dozer chuckled in defeat.

"And now, Ton-Ton has a safe path to Cliff Valley," Revvit added while referring to the now finished map of the forest.

"That's why you came here? To get to Cliff Valley? Ya know, you could've just gone around the Dark Forest, right?" the T-Trux pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Oh. Well, that would've been nice to know sooner," Ton-Ton stated dryly.

"Thanks a lot for your help, though. We probably would've fallen off the cliff, too, if you hadn't shown up," Ty kindly thanked the other T-Trux.

"No problem, Mate. Sadly, I can't stay, and neither should you," the T-Trux informed and was about to leave, but Ty stopped her in her tracks.

"Why did you help us, anyway?"

"Honestly, I just wanted the moanin' Dozeratops outta my home. It was really disruptin' the peace here."

"You live here?" Revvit asked in surprise.

"Sure do. But just because I live here, doesn't mean you could. And from what I've seen, you lot wouldn't last five minutes on your own out here. So, I suggest you leave as soon as possible."

"Wait, one more thing!"

The grey T-Trux stopped once more, this time sending an annoyed glare towards Ty.

"What's your name?" Ty finally asked.

"Sylvana," the T-Trux replied.

"Nice to meet you, Sylvana. I'm Ty."

"Well, cheers, Ty. Oh, and don't come back."

Without another word, Sylvana disappeared into the forest, leaving Ty frozen in place, wishing she would come back and meet his other friends.

"Hey, Guys? You smell that?" Skya began with a smirk.

"It wasn't me," Garby stated in defense.

"Not that. I meant the obvious love in the air."

"Oh, yeah. You were totally diggin' on her, dude," Ton-Ton laughed.

"I do not like her like that! I just met her, and I was only thanking her!" Ty argued with a shout, feeling his engine beginning to overheat a little.

"Calm down, big guy. It was just a joke. But if you see her again, you should definitely invite her over to the Flatirons. She seems pretty useful," Dozer admitted.

"Indeed. Her survival skills could be quite helpful with going up against another one of D-Structs' schemes," Revvit added in agreement.

"Or we could just leave her alone," Ty protested.

"Whatever path you choose now, it shall only lead you both back to the same ending," George pointed out, only to earn confused glances from everyone.

"I think that meant something along the lines of 'we're going to see her again soon'," Skya urged, her grin stretching.

"Cut it out, guys. She just saw that we were in trouble, so she came to help us."

"Twice," Revvit added to Ty's statement.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the others, Sylvana had been watching and listening from a distance. She had to hold back a giggle when she saw how flustered Ty became when they accused him of having feelings for her; she wished she could return those feelings, but she had always been independent.

However, Sylvana wasn't as alone as she let on, for she left her hiding spot and trekked through the forest until she came across another clearing. Waiting in this clearing was another T-Trux, but he was ebony-colored and had a Scraptool standing by his side.

"Did you find them?" D-Structs questioned with a growl.

"Yeah, yeah, I got myself familiarized with 'em like you asked. Now, where's the ore that you promised?" Sylvana asked impatiently. D-Structs then moved out of the way to reveal of large pile of fresh ore.

"Continue to help me a little longer, and I promise, there will be far better rewards than some ore," D-Structs firmly explained.

"And what exactly am I supposed help with?"

"Those idiotic Trux, of course. I need help getting them out of my crater once and for all."

"Those 'idiotic Trux' seem pretty nice ta me."

"That's what they want you to think. Trust me, they get very annoying, very fast."

"Fine, I'll keep you informed on what they're doin', but I want twice as much ore next time. In case ya haven't noticed, ore is bit scarce in these parts."

D-Structs smiled and hummed in appeasement, "As you wish."

I won't lie, I've been so hyped to see the new How to Train Your Dragon movie because Toothless and the Light Fury are so cute together! So, there might be a few scenes later on with Ty and Sylvana that are inspired by the interactions between Toothless and the Light Fury. Just thought I'd point that out.

Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!