City and the Beast/Chapter 2

Just when it seemed all hope was lost, two unknown strangers came in out of the sky from a helicopter, each with metal boxes. The triceratops tried to fend himself with his two front wheels so they wouldn’t harm him. The strangers did not want to harm him, they just wanted to help him.

“It’s okay. We want to help you. We can fix you up.” The female stranger spoke. The triceratops was confused and scared. He didn’t understand what was going on.

"You don't know English. Right. Here's the deal. Me and my husband are a team of traveling mechanics. We fix whatever truck is need of repair when they are too far from a normal mechanic. We found you during our trip back home, crying for help. This tree is pretty big, but we’ve handled difficult tasks like this.”

With that, the female stranger gave a signal to lower a harness that will move the tree. The harness had a hook that the stranger then wrapped around the tree. She gave the signal again to have the tree moved far enough to no longer have the triceratops crush by it. The male stranger took a good look at the triceratops’ lower half.

“Oh, this is bad,” said the male stranger. “This would require a trip to the garage to have him fixed completely. Let’s get him there fast!” The helicopter then moved the tree out of the way, then lowered a truck-sized stretcher to carry the triceratops and the two strangers. After putting the triceratops in the stretcher, the two strangers signaled for the stretcher to be lifted into the helicopter, with the helicopter doing so. With that, the helicopter was off.

The triceratops passed out from exhaustion. After an unknown amount of time, he woke up to a cold, plantless, and yet colorful environment with tools he’d never seen before. He didn’t know whether to be grateful or be scared. The triceratops suddenly heard foreign sounds, like zzzzt and bang! He didn't know what was going on. To make matters worse, a little girl covered in grime walked up in front of him.

“Good Morning!" said the little girl. The triceratops jumped a little and growled. "My name is Gabby! Don't be scared! I'm here to help!" The triceratops wasn't sure how to respond to the little girl. Everything he was hearing sounded new to him. "You looked pretty beat up." Gabby said as she handed some pictures to the triceratops.

She was right. The triceratops looked badly dented from the back. The most noticeable damage was on the tail, which was quite crooked. He reacted with shock and slapped the photos away. He didn't think he would look that badly beaten. Just then, another person came into sight. It turned out to be the female stranger that helped the triceratops earlier.

"Hey, Gabby. How's the truck doing?" The woman said.

"He's doing fine, mommy!" Said Gabby. “In fact, we almost finished fixing him!”

“That’s great, Gabby!” The female stranger smiled, then turned her head to the triceratops. “Oh, hi. My name is Selene. You’ve already met Jensen, my husband.” Selene then gestured to Gabby, “And this is my daughter, Gabby. My husband and daughter are giving you a fix-up right now. Hope you enjoy mangoes.” She gave one of the mangoes to the creature. "How are you feeling?" The triceratops just stayed silent and ate his mango.

“Morning, Mom.” Another voice said. “How’s the truck doing?” A boy with navy blue hair came into view.

“Morning, Liam. He’s doing just fine.” Selene replied. “Gabby and your dad are almost done fixing the truck.”

“ That’s good, but we shouldn’t just fix the truck on the outside,” said Liam. “We should check for any health problems he might have. What he needs also is a check-up.” Liam carried a doctor’s bag in hand and walked up to the triceratops.

“He’s a truck,” said Gabby. “He doesn’t need a check up.” Liam didn’t listen and went through with the check-up. Liam checked on his temperature, his heartbeat, and his oil pressure.

“It appears that he lost a bit of oil on the way here.” Liam diagnosed. “He could be woozy for a while.”

“Not if we give him some oil,” said Jensen. “He’ll be back to running the way he was before.”

Soon enough, the triceratops was back to his original state, and he could finally drive again. However, the family soon showed some concern.

“Will you be able to find your way back home?” Gabby asked. “We can help you find your way back.” The triceratops shook his head “No”.

“ Don’t worry, Gabby,” reassured Jensen. “He’s going to find a way back. You’ll see.” And with that, the triceratops was off.

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