Brawl in the Forest

[Kiryu2012]

The Tyrannosaurus Rex walked through the forest. The therapod towered over any would-be rivals, and yet its footsteps were near silent, the vibrations from the steps being the only sign of its approach. The T-rex had noticed something wrong: all of its usual prey was gone. Just gone. The T-rex was becoming increasingly desperate for food, and was willing to leave the forest to keep hunting.

The T-rex then smelled something. Smoke. Which meant a fire. But there was something else. Another scent that mixed with the smoke. The scent of humans. The T-rex began to head towards the scent, moving slower than usual so that its footsteps wouldn’t give it away.

The giant carnivore soon spotted a campsite in the distance, steadily approaching the area. It soon saw several humans around a campfire, the mammals talking with each other and laughing. These humans weren’t enough to satisfy its hunger, but they would last enough for it to find bigger prey. The T-rex waited for a moment, steady, steady, then it attacked.

The T-rex charged towards the group, letting out a brief roar that sent the humans running for their lives. The dinosaur snatched up a nearby man, crushing his upper body and gulping down the human. The T-rex bit down on two more people, a woman and her child, devouring them before it stomped down an a boy, roaring at the small child as it prepared to bite down…

And sensed something totally alien to it.

This…thing it sensed was like nothing it ever knew. This thing was completely different, almost human, but yet very different. The T-rex stood up, removing its foot from the terrified boy as the dinosaur bellowed, demanding this thing show itself.

Slender Man slowly materialized before the dinosaur. The human-like entity simply stood there, raising its arms to reveal multiple sets of limbs. The T-rex stood its ground, stomping the ground and roaring, a deep bellowing noise that rose from its throat. The boy stood up and ran off, neither entity noticing the boy’s escape.

The T-rex roared once more, demanding that Slender Man leave this forest and never return, but Slender Man simply remained in its spot, unmoving, unfazed. This simply increased the T-rex’s already growing rage as the dinosaur stomped down hard, causing the nearby trees to shake and branches to fall off.

It was clear.

There would be a battle.

And it would be bloody.

The T-rex bellowed once more before it charged. Its thunderous footsteps shook the ground and left deep footprints in the ground. Its roar filled the skies and made the very air shake as it lurched towards Slender Man, wanting to tear it in half. Suddenly, Slender Man seemed to slide over the Tyrannosaur, the reptile stumbling a bit as it missed its target. Slender Man came by the T-rex on its left, before it swung its right arm upwards. Its claws cut a deep gash into the T-rex’s thigh, travelling downwards until its claws reach the ankle and pulled back. The T-rex roared out in rage as blood trickled down the gash. The wound was nothing; the dinosaur could survive it just fine. It was how easily this thing harmed it that made its blood boil with anger.

The T-rex lunged at Slender Man, the entity moving out of the way, but the T-rex’s jaws came down on Slender Man’s left arm, shearing the limb off with a clamp of its jaws. Slender Man made no reaction to the pain, like it couldn’t feel it, as a new arm regrew from the stump. The T-rex tasted the arm currently in its mouth: there was no blood. It tasted like nothing, yet it was there in its mouth. The T-rex couldn’t understand it as it let the arm drop to the ground, the limb disappearing into the ground. The T-rex faced Slender Man, roaring out in its anger as it charged once more, wanting to tear this being apart.

Slender Man slid to the Rex’s right side, swinging out its arms, slicing through the dinosaur’s skin like it was paper. The T-rex stumbled somewhat, before taking advantage of Slender Man moving behind it and whipping the entity hard with its tail, sending it flipping through the air, the humanoid landing on the ground with a loud thud. The T-rex walked up to the fallen Slender Man, growling bitterly as it raised a foot to crush the being.

Slender Man suddenly flew past the T-rex, slicing at its neck in the process.

The dinosaur roared in surprise, blood trickling out of the cut on its neck, before it turned to face Slender Man, the human-like being jumping up above the dinosaur. The T-rex lunged up at the human with snapping jaws, but Slender Man maneuvered out of the way of the beast, before landing square on the dinosaur’s back. Slender Man immediately began hacking and slashing away at the Tyrannosaur’s back with its claws, cutting more and more gashes into the flesh. The T-rex roared painfully as it shook its body, trying to throw Slender Man off, but the human-like being remained on the beast’s back, stabbing its claws into the flesh and tearing off pieces, blood flowing from the holes as Slender Man kept this up. Finally the T-rex resorted to one last option.

Dropping to the ground.

Slender Man was crushed beneath the T-rex’s bulk, sandwhiched between the dinosaur and the ground. The T-rex rolled back onto its feet, before looking down at Slender Man, only for the ghostly being to rise back up like nothing had happened. The T-rex howled with rage, before it kicked Slender Man hard, sending it flying through the air and slamming hard into a tree trunk, splitting the bark and nearly toppling the tree. Slender Man began to fall, but pivoted around and landed on its feet, unhindered. The T-rex roared out in rage before it charged again. Slender Man suddenly sprouted black translucent tentacles from its back, the limbs wrapping around the T-rex’s jaws, closing them shut before Slender Man tossed the T-rex to the ground, the dinosaur sliding a bit before the therapod rose, bellowing into the skies as it stomped towards Slender Man.

The two beings circled one another, both inspecting the other. The T-rex had numerous gashes across its body, and several holes where pieces of flesh had been torn from its back. Slender Man bore no sign of visible injuries, but there were numerous cuts and scrapes in its black suit, as well as a faint white ring where its arm was torn off. The two were evenly matched with one another. Slender Man had the advantage in its intelligence, regeneration, and quantum physics, but the T-rex had the advantage in size, brute force, and its deadly jaws. They both risked their lives, but that wouldn’t stop them from fighting to the death.

The T-rex opened its jaws wide, let out a mighty bellow, and charged forward, wanting to see his opponent torn apart. Slender Man jumped to the right, but the T-rex bit down on its left arm, tearing it off as a new arm regrew. Slender Man took a step forward, then slashed away at the dinosaur with its claws, tearing gashes into the larger foe’s leg. The T-rex headbutted Slender Man into a tree, bellowed at its featureless face, then attempted to bite down on Slender Man, but the entity disappeared, then reappeared behind that dinosaur, stabbing its tentacles into the T-rex’s thigh. A bellow of pain rose from the beast’s maw as it smacked away the being with its tail, then turned to face Slender Man, charging once more.

Slender Man raised its tentacles, releasing a black fog that surrounded the strange being. The T-rex ended up running right into the fog, which started burning at the dinosaur’s skin and eyes. Bellowing hatefully, the T-rex managed to escape from the fog, only for a pair of tentacles to grab it by its legs, pulling the dinosaur down. The fog faded to reveal Slender Man slowly pulling the dinosaur towards it. Acting fast, the T-rex reached forward, managing to bite down upon the entity’s left leg, tearing the limb off. Slender Man showed no reaction as its leg regrew, but it did let go, and the T-rex stood back up, facing Slender Man with rage burning in his eyes.

The two combatants stared each other down. One was a living relic from a forgotten time where giants ruled the Earth, long before humans arrived. The other was a ghostly being that hunted humans silently and efficiently. Both were here to duel with one another. It was clear to both. This battle was essentially to the death.

Slender Man seemed to fly forward as its arms raised upwards. The T-rex managed to headbutt Slender Man in the side, knocking the ghostly being to the ground. Slender Man rose, but the T-rex bit down onto the ghostly entity’s arm, tossing it into a tree, leaving a man-shaped imprint in the bark. Slender Man sent a wave of tentacles towards the T-rex, slicing across its scaly hide, blood splattering across the ground. The T-rex bit down on Slender Man’s right arm, pulling it off and spitting it to the ground. The T-rex bit onto the entity’s tentacle, slamming the being into the ground. The Tyrannosaur stomped down on Slender Man’s chest, crushing it into the ground, bellowing at it to stay down. Slender Man seemed to faze through the Tyrannosaur’s foot, appearing before it as the dinosaur bellowed with rage, kicking Slender Man square in the chest, its talons poking right through the being, the inertia sending the entity flying across the ground, rolling to a stop.

Slender Man swung its arms forward, slicing the T-rex across the face. The dinosaur bellowed angrily as blood trickled down the many cuts as Slender Man kept slashing away at it. Finally the T-rex ran through the assault, ramming Slender Man into a boulder, before the reptile kicked its smaller foe into a tree, breaking it in half. Slender Man slowly rose, remaining still as the T-rex charged, roaring into the skies.

Suddenly the T-rex’s vision was filled with static. The T-rex stopped, shaking its head in aggravation as static now filled its vision. The Tyrannosaur stumbled, struggling to find anything. Then Slender Man’s face bore through the static, and the T-rex was filled with an unimaginable fear. Stumbling around, the T-rex ran, where it didn’t know, but Slender Man’s featureless face still filled its vision, still terrified, still urged it to keep moving. Then pain shot through its body as its left side was sliced open, blood spilling out. This repeated on its right side, before soon it was sliced all over its body. Its scales were stained red with blood, its flesh stripped raw, its strength weaknening. Finally the Tyrannosaurus collapsed to the ground, a puddle of blood forming beneath it.

Slender Man appeared before the T-rex. The dinosaur’s vision was still little more than static, but Slender Man’s outline still shone through the static. The entity slowly walked towards the T-rex, its arms raised up as it prepared for the kill. The T-rex accepted its fate. It had failed the battle. It would die now, as another of Slender Man’s victims-

NO! The T-rex’s adrenaline shot through its veins like thunder, invigorating the dinosaur, removing the static vision, and releasing the rage that was Tyrannosaurus Rex.

With a mighty bellow that took even Slender Man by surprise, the T-rex rose back to its feet, the pain now gone due to its rage and adrenaline. The beast charged forward, ramming Slender Man across the ground. The T-rex stomped down on Slender Man again and again, drilling him into the ground. The T-rex then kicked Slender Man hard, the ghostly entity slamming into a tree, bending the plant. The Tyrannosaur ran up to the still Slender Man, before biting down on it. Lifting Slender Man into the air, the T-rex shook the ghostly entity like a rag doll, biting down with enough force to shatter the bones. The dinosaur flailed the being furiously, before tossing Slender Man hard into a boulder, the human-like being smacking off the ground and falling to the ground.

The T-rex charged again, and Slender Man rose and met the beast in its fury. The two combatants brawled with one another. Teeth tore flesh. Claws shredded skin. Mighty roars filled the skies. The dirt was torn up as they brawled, nearby trees being uprooted and torn down. Neither gave up in the struggle, both determined to kill their foe.

Finally, the T-rex kicked Slender Man hard, just as the ghostly human-like being slashed a tentacle across the dinosaur’s face. The two backed off from each other, inspecting one another. The T-rex suffered many gashes. Its flesh was shredded and torn, blood steadily flowing from the many wounds. Slender Man was in no better condition. Several of its arms had been torn off, its flesh suffering may puncture marks and bruises. Not even its fast regeneration would heal the damage quickly enough. The two stared at one another, both knowing what this battle had come to. It was a draw. There was no way of questioning it. Neither could continue any further in this battle. There was still one question:

Who owned the forest?

Slender Man remained still, before it slowly disspated, vanishing into the air as the T-rex watched on. The message was clear: The T-rex was allowed to have its forest, while Slender Man would hunt elsewhere. The T-rex looked around. It had suffered horrendous wounds, pushed itself past its normal limit, and nearly gave its life away in battle.

But it survived.

And it kept its territory.

For it was the Tyrannosaurus Rex!

King of the Dinosaurs!

And it shall keep these woods.