Author's note. Belated birthday present for my friend kaitamis, I hope you like this.
Sorry this is so short but this isn't the kind of fic I'd normally write so I had a lot of trouble with ideas.
Louise Pail belongs to me.
Pterano belongs to the Land Before Time series and who ever owns that, which isn't me.
Enjoy and please review.
Pterano sat on a lonely ledge and sighed. The hot, dry season had come and gone, and now there was the cool, wet season to get through. But that wasn't why he was depressed, there would be plenty of food to be had now that the weather had turned less boiling.
He had gone through one hot season and had four more to go before he was allowed to return to the Great Valley. Four more hot seasons of surviving in the Mysterious Beyond before he could return to the Great Valley along with the rains returned, bringing new life with it.
Of course, because of the mountains surrounding the Great Valley, it was never really dry, there was always a little wet there, just enough to keep everyone going. The flowing water never dried up, just got a little lower meaning everyone just had to be careful. And oh, there were so many delicious, juicy bugs flying around, flyers did best in the heat.
They could fly high, letting the air currents cool them before swooping down on the insects that plagued the ground leaf eaters. Nonetheless, the wet season was still better because with water came ripe, succulent berries, bursting with brightly coloured juice.
He sighed, he was unlikely to be sampling berries for a long time, not unless he could find an oasis. He'd be able to talk with other leaf eaters or even flyers then, he was so very lonely. Unless what he'd done got around and then no one would want to talk to him.
He sighed once more, it was a very depressing thought.
Still, he had to look on the Brightside. He was a fully grown adult flyer of decent size, meaning he didn't really have to worry about Sharpteeth. He could roost far put of the reach of any Sharptooth, except for the ones that could fly. But they tended to prey on smaller sized flyers, they'd rarely go for one like him.
Still, he kept an eye out for them, just in case. For now, he was safe, he'd checked this area before settling down. Now he was planning to sleep here for the night before moving on. He'd managed to catch some bugs earlier but he'd need more. But he'd manage for another night, he'd eaten well the day before.
He wished he had a companion, someone who could talk with him, laugh with him, everything he missed. Otherwise, it was going to be a long four hot seasons.
Suddenly, he lifted his head, he thought he could hear a disturbance.
He frowned, what on earth could that be? He listened again and made out the sound of cries, some creature was in trouble. For a moment he paused but then that image of the big mouth that'd fallen from the cliff entered his mind and he swallowed.
If he could help this unfortunate, then that was exactly what he was going to do.
Spreading his wings, he dropped off the cliffs and soared upwards as the wing caught his wings. His spirits lifted with his body and he truly hoped he could rescue whoever was in trouble. He quickly flapped his wings, he couldn't afford to enjoy the flight, and he had to get there in all haste.
He flew over a ravine and swooped down, seeing a disturbance by a rock stack. He immediately recognised fast biters, the smaller but much faster sharpteeth who could also climb and jump pretty well. He'd had a lot of trouble with them in the past, they hunted in packs making it much harder to keep tabs on them.
Oh well, at least they hadn't spotted him yet, meaning he would be able to launch a surprise attack. That is, if he needed to attack, he should assess the situation first. So he swooped lower and saw the fast biters were trying to get at some creature who was at the very top of the tall, narrow stack.
He could see it was just a little too high for the fast biters to climb but they were leaping all over the place, trying to get the prey to fall so they could tear it to pieces. He frowned, he wasn't at all sure what that creature yelling at the top of the stack was. It appeared to be brightly coloured but had strange dark skin that didn't look scaly at all.
And what were so odd things coming out of its head, they looked like long, but very thin dark vines. He shook his head, he'd worry about that later, this creature was clearly in trouble and needed his help.
So he rose up and fell into a dive, heading right for the stack. The strange thing saw him and yelled which got the attention of the fast biters. At the sight of him coming in so fast, the screeched, leaping back with fright, they'd been taken totally by surprise.
Pterano's claws wrapped around the creature's upper arms and he came out of his dive, flapping hard to gain height.
"Ahhhh," the creature yelled in a tone that he recognised as female.
However, he had no time to dwell on this, he needed to get away, and those fast biters had gotten over their fright and were now charging after him. The female was heavy, he was really made for carrying heavy loads but he refused to give up.
He flew along a ridge and the female helped by running along it, saving him from taking all her weight. And it allowed him to build up some speed so that he could launch off the end and into open air. He crowed as they left the fast biters furiously snarling and howling as they flew away.
With a little more effort, he made it back to the ledge he'd found earlier, flopping down and trying to catch his breath. The female also seemed breathless, she was panting heavy, kneeling on all fours. Judging by her hands, she obviously had opposable thumbs like that cute Ducky but she was no big mouth.
Just what was she? As he looked closely, he saw to his confusion, her brightly coloured skin seemed rather...loose. Was she some type of slithery thing but with limbs? He really didn't know and he was really getting confused.
And then, suddenly, she spoke.
"You...saved me from those raptors."
"You mean the fast biters?" Pterano questioned and jumped when she let out a shriek.
"Oh my god, you can talk?"
"Of course I can't talk," Pterano said, slightly annoyed.
"It's only sharpteeth who can't speak properly, they apparently have their own, strange language."
"Sharpteeth?" she repeated softly, rubbing those strange vine things out of her face.
She seemed to have rather large eyes which were a bright blue colour, surrounded by a pool of white. Pterano stared ever more, he'd really never seen anything like her before.
She suddenly shivered, glancing back to where they'd left those fast biters.
"They nearly got me," she whispered. "If you hadn't come along..."
"It was a pleasure to help a...lovely young creature such as yourself," Pterano said smoothly, he might be confused but he never lost his charm.
She giggled.
"You don't know what I am, do you?"
"Well, no, we haven't been introduced," he said, just as smoothly which made her smile.
"I am Pterano, master of the skies and at your surface," he said, bowing his head in an exaggerated way which made her giggle again.
"I'm Louise Pail," she said with a giggle.
"Um, I'm a human but I suppose you'd call me a furry."
"A furry?" he said slowly, he knew what those were, they were tiny little things covered in fur that scuttled around on the ground.
She was honestly related to those things?
She saw his look and said.
"We're very distantly related you could say."
"Oh," he said slowly. "Well, I suppose technically, I am related to a sharptooth though very distantly as you say."
He examined for another moment, before leaning forward and plucking at the vein things. Sure enough, they did feel a little like fur but they weren't as thick and were much longer. He could see how she could be distantly related to them but it made him wonder how she'd got here.
"Where are you from?" he questioned and she grinned.
"A very long way away, I uh, got separated from my group and accidently ended up here. Then those rap...I mean fast biters found me and I only just managed to climb that stack."
"Then it's just as well I was here," Pterano said, puffing himself up with pride.
Once again, she giggled, strange blue eyes shining.
"Yeah, it was," Louise said, her smile wide, showing white teeth.
For a moment, Pterano was startled but then he saw they weren't sharp, she must be a leaf eater of some sort. He was sorry he didn't have anything to offer her but tomorrow he could go and forage for them. At least it wasn't likely to rain tonight, it was cooler but still warm enough that sleep would be easy.
"You know, I've never seen a creature like you before but you seem to be a very fine specimen."
She started giggling uncontrollably, he'd really pleased her with that comment.
"I've never been called that before," she sniggered, leaning forward a little.
"Um, I'm not sure when my friend will be able to find me, could I...you know, hang out with you until they get here. Unless you're busy."
"My dear child, I can assure you I am far from busy," he said, smiling widely. "The most I'm planning to do is find some food tomorrow and maybe a new place to roost but that's it."
"You don't have family?" she questioned and he sighed heavily.
"I do but I sadly cannot be with them for another four hot seasons, it's a long story."
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said sympathetically.
"It's no matter, I did bring it upon myself," he admitted softly. "And at least they are giving me another chance, I will be able to return someday, just not this season."
She smiled and came a little closer.
"Hey, it'll be okay, you seem a really nice guy. I think you just made a couple of mistakes."
"That I did but thank you for your faith in me," he said, giving her a little nuzzle which made her laugh.
"We'd better settle down for the night, those fast biters will be looking for us but they'll give up by morning. I hope you're not hungry?"
"I'm fine," she said, waving a hand as she tried to make herself more comfy.
"Come here," he said, drawing her closer with a wing and letting her snuggle against his warm body.
"You'll be more comfy."
"Thanks," she said, reaching up and pressing her lips to his cheek before snuggling back down.
He stared for a long moment before smiling and settling down. He was still a little confused but he wasn't lonely any more. He really hoped she'd be able to stick around for a while, he really liked her.
Who knew what the next day would bring.
Author's note. I'm sure I made a hash of Louise but I'm not fond of inserting human characters into fics like this. Anyways, I hope she wasn't too bad and you all enjoyed this. I dunno, I may continue this at some point but I don't plan to at the moment, unless I get some really good idea for this.
