The gang war had escalated to the point of no return. On the west side of the city winged reptiles basked on rooftops, extorting local businesses for protection money. They were cold blooded killers, each and every one.

To the east semi-aquatic cephalopods controlled the docks and the drug trade. If it was illegal, immoral, or even fattening, their slimy tentacles were in it. Every packet of drugs and deep fried candy bar had their mark.

Caught in the middle were the good people of the city. They worked long hours for little pay only to have their hard earned money or even their lives stolen by these gangsters who lived like kings while they suffered. Even the city itself was slowly dying as order broke down. Businesses were leaving, opportunities were drying up, and the police were less than useless.

Maybe they hoped that the two gangs would kill each other. Maybe they didn't care. Maybe they were just too afraid or corrupt to be effective. Nobody knew for sure. All they knew was that justice had died and its corpse was driving around in cop cars that might as well have been empty.

Empty. That was a good word for how it felt to walk the streets of the city. Empty people hurried past empty shops with windows that were as broken as they were. Hope had died in the city.

Now came the nail that would seal the coffin shut once and for all, the final showdown between the two factions. The streets would run green with blood, choking the city's last breath from smoke blackened lungs.

"It's been a while, crocodile." Said Kal-Mari, the head of the infamous Devil Fish street gang. He looked resplendent in his eight armed orange suit and purple hat. His front two tentacles rested on the gold inlaid blasters on either hip.

"What's kraken, Kal?" Replied Ali-Gator, his webbed wings flapping slowly to keep him at eye level with the enemy gang leader. The head of the Croks was only sixty kilos, quadrupedal with a long scaly tail, but what he lacked in size he made up for with fire power. The thrust belt wrapped around his waist gave him mobility and the rocket launcher on his shoulder could take out a tank. He smiled human style, showing teeth that sparkled like diamonds.

This day had been a long time coming. Along either side of the street their thugs lined up, ready to kill or be killed.

"I'm going to make shoes out of you." Kal-Mari said menacingly.

"Why?" Shot back Ali-Gator, the threat bouncing off his leathery hide. "You don't have flimming feet. Are you going to give them to a friend or something? Have you become a tailor?"

"Cobbler." Corrected Kal-Mari, his tentacles swishing with annoyance.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Ali-Gator laughed, clicking his teeth together. The rockets on his thrust belt firing softly. "I never went to flimming fashion school. Nice suit by the way. Is it dry clean only? That must suck."

"Enough of this!" Kal-Mari shouted as he reached for his blasters. But Ali-Gator had seen what was coming, folded his wings back flat, and taken off backwards like a rocket. Altitude and maneuverability were what he needed.

Kal-Mari swore as he felt the hot exhaust from the rockets blow his hat off. He took aim at the flying reptile and fired. But he missed. Ali-Gator was moving too fast and too erratically.

The dozen goons on either side took this as their sign to start shooting. They weren't good at it. Rockets and hot plasma exploded like fireworks, missing wildly. Soon the street was a full-on warzone.

Ali-Gator fought for altitude. He had to get up high, get out of the blast radius before he fired his rocket. Then he saw it, death walking along the ground towards the two factions. One hand was reaching forward, trying to catch the bright lights in the distance. The other was dragging a green plastic dinosaur by the tail. It giggled happily as it advanced.

They couldn't see it coming. Everyone else was too focused on trying to kill each other. He had to do something before it was too late.

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"TIME OUT!" Screamed Ali-Gator, pointing at the advancing toddler. "A HUMAN CHILD IS APPROACHING!"

Kal-Mari looked back in fear. Yes, there it was, death in blue overalls and a bowl cut. "FLIMMING STOP!" He shouted. "TIME OUT! HUMAN CHILD IN THE AREA!"

Almost immediately the two factions stopped what they were doing and froze still. Nobody was going to risk hurting one hair on that kid's head. That was how you got extinct.

The two gang leaders huddled up to discuss their misfortune. "Did you know humans were living here?" Kal-Mari asked.

"Do you think I would be here if I did?" Ali-Gator twitched his tail in frustration. "This used to be a nice place! A place where you could kill a family!"

"I know!" Kal-Mari watched as the toddler continued its approach. It stopped, picking up a pebble and sticking it in its mouth. "What's the point of doing a drive-by if you might accidentally hit a human? You know how they are. They aren't very understanding about it."

"I know!" Ali-Gator fired his rocket thrusters for emphasis. "And if you do kill one of them your problems aren't over! You blast some shopkeeper by accident and next thing you know their ex-special forces spouse shows up with 'nothing to lose' and an improbable amount of weapons to destroy your entire operation. It's uncanny!"

"And where do they get all the weapons?" Kal-Mari lamented. "Do you know how hard it is to get ahold of high explosives? Much less current generation military hardware. Do they have special shops or something?"

"Yeah, what's with that? And you just know that if it's a kid that gets hurt there's a single parent who's 'just trying to make things work' now that their partner is dead and they're going to take it all out on you."

"Those are the worst." Kal-Mari agreed. "Or it's some hard-boiled detective with a drinking problem trying to redeem themselves."

Off in the distance they could hear a name being called. "Trevor!" A human shouted. "Trevor Abin Oz! Where have you gotten off to?"

"Looks like their parents will be along shortly." Kal-Mari looked around. "Where's the kid? I only took my eyes off it for a second…"

"Kal… look down." Ali-Gator gestured with his tail.

"Flim me…" Kal-Mari felt something grasp onto one of his tentacles. He didn't want to look. He decided the best course of action was to ignore the small child and pretend that nothing was happening.

"Oh, he likes you!" Ali-Gator laughed as the child drooled on his enemy's custom suit. A stain was already starting to spread.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Immensely." The reptile admitted. He turned to look back at the approaching human. "He's over here!" Ali-Gator shouted. "Safe and sound!" Then he got a sinking feeling as Trevor grabbed onto his tail.

Ali-Gator bobbed like a balloon in the toddler's grip. "This is undignified." He snarled.

"Hah! Now you know how it feels." Kal-Mari said with glee. "You look like a parade float."

"Trevor!" Shouted a female human with the sleep deprived and disheveled look of a new parent. There was even macaroni in her hair. "Let go of that crime boss and come here this instant!"

Trevor looked up at Ali-Gator and gave the tail another tug. The gangster bobbed up and down unhappily. "Bawoon!" Trevor said. "Dinosaur!"

"I'm so sorry." The woman said, kneeling down to release Ali-Gator from Trevor's pudgy grip. "I fell asleep in my chair and apparently he has figured out how to open the front door."

"It's quite alright." Kal-Mari said. "Ali loves children. Isn't that right?"

"Sure. I'm a regular flimming Mary Poppins!" Ali-Gator said angrily, showing a surprising amount of knowledge of human classic cinema.

"Well you can fly." Kal-Mari snarked. He also was a fan of the classics, though his tastes went more towards Japanese films. Human multimedia was surprisingly lucrative for a smuggler. "Say, what's your story?" He asked the human.

"Oh… we just moved here." She said, "My husband is coming along in a few days with the rest of the family."

Ali-Gator felt his heart sink. "Is it a large family?"

"Well, it used to be bigger."

Ali-Gator floated up happily and shared a look with Kal-Mari. Perhaps they weren't weren't entirely screwed.

"It's just my husband and my mom. She's visiting for a bit while we get settled. She's got a bit of empty nest syndrome now that all her kids are grown up." She continued. "Mom misses them but they always visit when they're on leave."

Ali-Gator sank. "On leave?"

"From the fleet." She explained. "We're a military family, that's where me and my husband met. He was a MP."

"Oh no." Ali-Gator said as he felt his feet touch the ground. "And what may I ask was your job in the armed forces?"

She rolled up a pasta sauce stained sleeve to show a grinning skull and crossbones tattoo backed by a red triangle. The words "Swift, Silent, Deadly" were written around it.

"Recon!" She said proudly, picking up Trevor and bouncing him on her hip. "But let me tell you, it was a cakewalk compared to raising this little terror." She made a face at the toddler. "I really apologize. I hope he didn't interrupt your turf war."

"It's fine…" Kal-Mari sighed. "We'll just… go somewhere else."

"Yeah…" Ali-Gator said dejectedly. "Have a nice day."

The mother and child watched as the gangsters dispersed. She looked down at Trevor. He was covered in grime. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

"But...dinosaur." Trevor said, reaching his hand out towards the retreating crime lord.

"I know." She said, "I know."

Off in the distance Ali-Gator nudged his closest enemy meaningfully. "This city has really gone to hell, hasn't it?"

"Yeah." Kal-Mari agreed. "It really has."