Author's note. This is just a one shot but if you want to see more, we can write more. We need suggestions however, so please remember so mention some in your reviews.
This was written by me and Mrs Bumblebee and if you really enjoyed this, check out our other Petrie story, Petrie's New Family.
Enjoy and please review.
"Mama?" A small frightened voice from the ground called, voice echoing through the deep trenches and cavers in the ground made from the great earth shake.
"Mama?" Another call and was soon drowned out with sobbing.
A small newly hatched flyer hatchling walked the across the hard and rough ground, tears falling down his cheeks and beak as he called for his mama and lost siblings but never got a reply.
"M-mama, where are you?" he called, tears falling from his eyes as he stumbled around.
A few hours ago, he'd been huddled with his siblings and mama when the earth shake had struck. They had all flown up into the air with shock but he hadn't been able to. It was his great failing, he couldn't fly unlike the others. But in the confusion, he'd lost them as the nest they'd been in plunged down a hole.
He'd survived because he'd been tossed out and caught in a small bush where he'd sheltered throughout the great earth shake. But when it was all over, there was no sign of his mama or siblings.
"Mama?" Petrie whimpered as he stopped walking and stood in one spot, wrapping his wings around himself to give himself comfort and watched his tears fall, land, and merge into the dry dusty ground.
He looked back to the sky, searching for anything that would resemble his mama or any of his brothers and sisters. But all he saw were small swarms of itchy flying bugs and very distant flocks of fliers flying away from the destruction.
"Mama?" Petrie screamed.
He tried a shrieking call that hatchlings used when they were lost but no one answered. But he couldn't give up, he had to keep on trying. So he kept on calling and crying for someone to come and rescue him.
Meanwhile, a large Sharptooth flying swooped through the air, searching for an easy meal. It was large with a red crest on its head and light beige colour. Many creatures had died during the earth shake but he needed to find something he could take back to his nest and mate.
Suddenly he started to hear shrieking down on the ground where he had just flew over. The flier angled himself to fly back and flew over it again and was still hearing the shrieking.
He frowned, it sounded like a hatchling in distress. As he came round for another circle he spied a little flying hobbling along on the ground, pausing to cry up to the sky. He felt his heart constrict, something about this helpless hatchling called to him. He decided to investigate further.
The large flier angled himself down and glided down to the ground. He flew over the hatchling and head it screech in surprise and fight when he did that. The male landed on the ground and turned and looked at the small hatchling.
It was a tiny little thing that clearly shouldn't be out of a nest. It didn't seem to be injured but it was crying piteously as he stared at him. He decided to take a closer look and hopped forward, cocking his head curiously.
Petrie became frightened by the flier. He had never seen one so big and mean looking, it frightened him. He whimpered and stumbled away when the flier came closer and then cried out when he tripped over his own wing and fell to the ground.
"Ohh, leave Petrie alone," he cried, he was too weak to try and run away so he covered himself with his wing, hoping the mean flyer would go away.
The large flier cocked his head at this and came closer until he was close enough to the hatchling to lean down and sniffed him. He caught whiff of a family of fliers on the hatchling but it was starting to get faint meaning the hatchling hadn't been with it's nest mates or parents for a while now.
Petrie flinched and trembled as he felt the big flyer come closer but he didn't bolt. He just had to look unappetising and hope it went away. Why couldn't' his mama come and chase it away, he was so frightened. He jumped as he got a nudge but still stayed hidden.
The male made a gurgling noise to the hatchling when he didn't come out of hiding and nudged him again but still didn't get a response. The large flier looked to the sky and looked around some and didn't spot any other flier, meaning who ever this hatchling was with either abandoned him or were dead.
He considered the little one, he couldn't just leave him here. Other scavengers would soon appear and they wouldn't hesitate to kill and eat this hatchling. It was too exposed out here and didn't seem capable of flying away yet. So he made his decision, and reached forward to scoop the little flyer up in his claws.
Petrie cried out when he felt himself being picked up. He gasped when he saw what was happening and started wiggling and squirming to get away.
"No pick me down, Let Petrie go."
But he was ignored, so all he could do was hang onto to the claws holding him. He stared down at the ground, it was so far down. He shivered, he'd never been that high up in his life and he wasn't sure if he liked it.
"Ooh, please, let this be over," he begged, more tears forming.
The large male flier flew high up into the sky so he wasn't bothered by other fliers and started headed back to his nest and mate.
They'd been lucky in that their nest hadn't been damaged though they had taken to the air when the earth shake first struck. But while some chunks of cliff had fallen, it wasn't enough to destroy their home and they'd soon returned. However, he still sighed with relief as he saw his mate resting in the nest, clearly not bothered by anything at this moment.
He gave a screech to his mate to alert her of his arrival before flying down and landing in the nest, being very carful with the precious cargo he was carrying. His mate chirped and hopped closer and nuzzled him in greeting which he returned the affection.
She stared down at the winged bundle he held in his claws, so he gently set Petrie down. Giving the little flyer a nudge, he showed his mate just what he'd taken back to their next. Her eyes widened as she saw he'd brought her a hatchling flyer who was trembling all over.
"Oh no, no," Petrie muttered as he saw there was now two big mean flyers.
His mate looked at his and started making clicking and soft screeching to her mate, chatting an explanation. While they talked among themselves Petrie had become more frightened when he saw their beaks opened, revealing their rows of teeth.
"Sharpteeth." Petrie gasped when he realised what kind of fliers he was with.
His mama had always warned him and his siblings about Sharpteeth, had they'd snap him up as soon as look at him. That's why that mean flyer had taken him, he was going to feed him to his mate. He had to get out of here but he couldn't fly away. He glanced around and saw a crack in the cliff where he could hide.
So, after making sure they weren't looking at him, he started sneaking in the crack's direction. He could hide there and stay there until they went away and left him.
After explaining everything to his mate she agreed with him and they turned to look for the hatchling he had brought back only to find he was gone. The male screeched in surprise and looked around the nest but couldn't find him. He mate went to the spot the hatchling was sitting a little while ago to find his scent and see if she could follow it.
She followed the direction, before raising her head and seeing that it led straight to a new formed crack. She clicked her beak, the hatchling had obviously decided to hide there and she suspected they wouldn't be able to get him out. Still, she screeched to her mate to let him know where the hatchling was and once he saw, he huffed in annoyance.
The two mates looked the crack over and tried to find a weak spot in the crack so they could get to work on making it bigger and try to get the hatchling out. But they didn't want to frighten the hatchling more than he was.
But then the female got an idea, maybe they could coax the hatchling out. She explained her idea to her mate and he nodded. If they got some nice grubs, that should draw the hatchling out so they could examine him properly.
Her mate took off and left his mate and the hatchling in the nest as he went hunting.
While he did this, she tried to encourage the hatchling out by making soft chirping noises. But he just wedged himself even more, shying away from her. She chirped sadly, she didn't want him to be afraid of her.
She made gentle purring noises, trying again to sooth the hatchling into not fearing her but once again he turned away from her.
She sighed, she didn't like this. But luckily, she heard a flap of wings and saw her mate returning. He'd gone to an old tree that lay at the bottom of their cliff to root out some grubs and judging by his bulging beak had succeeded. She chirped happily as he landed, she really needed his help for this.
He walked over and opened his beak and let all the grubs his had slip out and land in and bundle in front of the crack. The grubs were big, fat, and juicy looking, too appealing for any flier hatchling to turn down.
They then hopped back, trying to make the hatchling feel at ease.
Petrie saw the shadow that meant the other flyer was back and at first, he hid his face. But his curiosity got the better of him and he peeped out. To his surprise, he saw they weren't near the crack any more though they were still watching. But his eyes widened in shock as he saw a pile of tasty looking grubs squirming in front of the crack he was hiding in.
And they looked so delicious.
Slowly and cautiously Petrie crawled to the end of the crack and peeked out. He looked over at the two fliers and saw they were watching him but weren't too close. He looked back at the grubs. His beak watered before he leaned out and grabbed one.
He quickly nipped back into his hidey hole but they didn't make a move to stop him. So he was able to gulp down his grub in peace before realising just how hungry he was. He needed more but dare he keep going out? The grubs were starting to wriggle all over the place, he might have to venture further out to get them.
The two mates held their breath as they watched the hatchling slip out of the crack, this time venturing out more to grab a grub and slip back into the crack. They watched him repeat this over and over again until there was only one grub left but it had wiggled away from the crack and was now trying to burrow itself into the nest to hide.
Petrie saw this, not thinking about the other fliers Petrie crawled over, grabbed the large grub by the tail, and started tugging and pulling to get it out of the nest. Without him noticing the two mates slipped in behind him, the female watching Petrie while her mate stubbed twigs, leaves, and mass into the crack so the hatchling couldn't get back into it.
Petrie finally got it free and happily gulped it down, feeling very full. For a moment, he relaxed where he was before glancing to one side and spotting the female. With a squawk, he tried to dart back into the crack but found it had been filled up.
He was trapped, the two flyers could do anything they liked to him now.
Petrie started to tremble and whimper as the two fliers came up to him and started nudging, poking, and sniffing him all over.
"Please leave Petrie alone," he said, curling up in a ball, trying to hide from them.
The female spotted that he was covered in blood sucking bugs, he clearly hadn't been cleaned in a while. So she started preening him all over, plucking any bugs she found while licking him with her long tongue.
Petrie flinched and twitched under this and slowly uncovered his head to look up at her as she did this. He softly whimpered as she moved to areas around his neck and shoulders but remained still so she didn't get angry and hurt him.
He was very surprised by her actions, she was ridding him of all those nasty itching bugs that had been bothering him for ages now. He wasn't old enough to clean himself properly so he'd been covered in all sorts of horrible things. So he couldn't help but chirp slightly as she took care of him.
Once his body was clean she made his lay his wings out so she could get to the bugs that were on his wings. Petrie's mama had told him and his siblings how important it was to keep their wings clean and free of bugs. But like before he was still too young to do it himself yet.
"Why you do this?" Petrie asked curiously, he couldn't understand why he was being taken care of like this.
"Petrie no understand."
The female merely nuzzled him as she continued cleaning his wings. The back of his wingers were done and she made him flip onto his back where he felt the most vulnerable but all she did was pluck and clean away the bugs.
Eyes wide, he stared at her as she did this. She was treating him just like his mama, surely she wouldn't bother if she was going to eat him. This gave him a lot to think about meaning he lay completely still as she continued. Finally, she was satisfied that he was clean and just started licking and nuzzling him.
Petrie snapped out of his hard thinking and tilted his head to the side as she licked and nuzzled his cheek and beak.
Instinctively, he nuzzled her back, saying thank you for her care. He was shocked by his actions but she just purred and nuzzled him some more. She now pulled him close to her body, tucking him under her wing so that he was protected and warm. He snuggled down, he'd been sleeping cold the last while but she was so comforting.
The male watched the happy little hatchling snuggled up close to his mate and fell asleep without fuse. She looked up at him and he came over and nuzzled her for a good job.
He nuzzled her back, happy with how this was turning out. For all intents and purposes, this little flyer was an orphan who needed new parents to care for him. And they could be those parents.
Petrie woke up the next day but open his eyes. He snuggled further into the nest and moaned when he didn't feel the warm body he had fell asleep next to early there no longer. He opened his eyes and looked around but didn't see either of the fliers from yesterday anywhere in the nest.
He felt disappointment flood him, he didn't want to be left all alone again. He was now fairly certain they weren't going to eat him and now he missed them terribly. They'd given him grubs, cleaned him and kept him warm last night, he wanted them back now.
He started chirping, hoping they'd hear and fly back to the nest.
The male and female were flying back to their nest, bellies full of fish and bugs. The closer they got they started to hear the desperate calling of the hatchling in their nest. The female smiled, the hatchling wanted them back. This was a very good sign, it meant he'd accepted them. Now they just needed to feed him and he should be happy to be with them.
Both landed softly in the nest and the female smiled wider when she saw the hatchling came wobbling over and started nuzzling her.
"Where you go?" Petrie demanded hotly, feeling the heavy sensation of relief settle in his stomach.
He'd been so afraid he'd been left alone again, but they'd come back. They hadn't left him.
The male now came over and started nuzzling Petrie, helping his mate to calm him down. Petrie giggled and nuzzled back before looking back at the female when she started making choking sounds.
As he stared, the male nudged his beak, trying to get him to open it. As Petrie obeyed, the female suddenly deposited a mouthful of mashed fish and grubs. Petrie was so shocked that he swallowed but found to his surprise it didn't taste that bad, He still preferred live bugs and berries but still, food was food.
Once he felt like his belly was going to accept it Petrie opened his mouth and accepted more from her, even making small peeping to ask for more. In return, the male nuzzled and lightly tickled him with his long tongue, helping Petrie to understand he was doing well.
The male was also checking to ensure no bugs had managed to attach themselves to Petrie while they'd been gone, he knew from experience that could easily happen.
The female continued to keep feeding Petrie until his belly was full and budging which he sighed in content from and laid down in the nest.
Purring, the female settled down as well, pulling him close to her warm body where he snuggled up. Petrie purred as he nestled closer. He sighed and looked up at her and smiled. She smiled back and leaned down and nuzzled him.
"You no so bad," he said softly as he cuddled against her warm, scaly body.
He'd been so sure they were going to eat him but instead they'd rescued him. He was one very lucky flyer.
Author's note. Remember, if you want more, let us know with suggestions about what we could write about next.