Chapter XCIV: The Food Chain Seen From A New Perspective -Dragon

Finally surrendering to NM's wailing, Dragon slowed the shuttle down and landed it with a soft thud in the sand, also bringing much relief to the Protoss crew.
As soon as the door was open, NM jumped out in less than a millisecond and disappeared behind a rock, letting out a satisfying "Oooooh yeah..."
The Darikuri got out herself shortly after to stretch her legs and opened the hatch to let the Protoss out as well. The Dragoon walked out hesitantly, beeping and buzzing while the Zealots listened.
"What a strange place," NM said as he walked back towards them.
"It's a desert..." Dragon replied.
"Yeah but still it's rather quiet and I don't see any-" She didn't hear anymore as her eyes fixed themselves on a long, slithering object behind NM. It appeared just above the sand and then dove under again, a fat, scaly tail trailing behind.
"... What?" Said NM as he turned around just after the object had submerged itself.
"You're already seeing things? We haven't even been travelling more than half a day! You should have had water to go with all that food you-"

Suddenly the ground under NM moved, and rose to create a large circular platform.
'Uh oh...' he thought as the circle fell and became a gigantic hole, the sand falling down like a crystallised waterfall, taking NM with it. The hole he had fallen down exploded up from the sand, roaring and closing its mouth on its meal. Appearing to be an enormous cylindrical monster, it opened its one hundred or so beady eyes and fell back to the ground, spreading sand everywhere around it in large banks and over the tiny ship in front of it.

Waist-deep in sand, Dragon spluttered and looked to the sky, to find the roaring menace had raised itself again, mouth wide open.
As it fell to the ground head first, she cried out,
"HOLY SH-" then was cut off when it had engulfed her, Protoss and shuttle.

~*v*~

Inside the monster, the loud crash of the beast's mouth upon the ground was ear-shattering, and the group began to tumble further down the black pit covered in sharp teeth that moved with the monster's body, squeezing its chest open and closed to digest its long sought-for food. Everything was coated in slime, and the only sounds were the churning of the creature's stomach, and the painful screams of the group.
Dragon was tossed back and forth, as the spiny teeth dug deep into her skin, and she felt her blood bubble furiously. Her eyes glowed brightly, and her form changed...
NM had just suffered a blow to the stomach, and he bent over and curled up, when a huge claw passed his face, swiping a hole in the monster. Then another, on the opposite side made the two holes join into one, and the sun shone through, as the creatures' stomach split open and spilled its contents. He fell out onto the wet sand and opened his eyes slightly, as a huge blue dragon screamed and ripped the upper half of the monster away from its lower half and tossed it into the distance. It then turned to NM and said, "You ok?" Then his head dropped, and he fell unconscious.
The Darikuri shrunk back to normal size, hands and feet returning to normal and snout becoming shorter. She looked over to the Protoss as she did so, the Dragoon limping with a shattered leg. Falling to the ground with a splat, she announced, "We'll stay here for a while until we've recovered." Then glancing at the wreck of a ship half dug into the sand upside down, corrected herself and added, "When the shuttle has recovered. I don't think those sandworms travel in groups, so we should be safe for a while." Laying in the wet goo, a Zealot walked over to her and asked,
"How did you change your form like that?"
"I'd rather not talk about it." She replied, turning on her side to face the opposite way. It shrugged, and went to up-turn the ship with the other Zealots, while the Dragoon hopped over to NM's aid. As a warm wind passed by she sighed and thought, 'I can't tell them, no one can ever know...' Clearing the thought from her head as the ship tumbled over causing a Zealot to land flat on its face, she stood up, and walked over to help revive NM. Then, wished mentally,
'I hope someone finds us.'