Chapter 10: Decisions

The rest of the adults agreed and went to work, "Littlefoot, what do you know about her life before she met you?" he asked. Littlefoot hadn't been able to ask her any questions, so Chomper answered, "All she told me was that she only remembers her mother. She said that her mother was aggressive to all other creatures. She said that she was gentle and caring to her, though. But that's all she's told me." he said.

While Chompless heard this, she remembered something her mother had told her a few weeks before she died. For the first time in about a month-and-a-half, she spoke again. To the kids' surprise, much more fluently than the last time, "Wait. Cho…Chomper, I remember my mother…once telling me something about…a Long…ne…ck who she knew something about them was…qui...quite…uh…different than others she had encountered before." she said. The three looked at her, their jaws hanging, "What? I found that listening to you and those other Sharpteeth speak and practicing on my own is more effective than being directly taught." she said.

Chomper pushed aside his surprise and relayed her words to Grandpa, "She just remembered that her mother told her about a Longneck she had found that was very different than others she'd seen before." he said. Grandpa quietly gasped, but he wanted to be sure, "Can you ask her if her mother told her any other details about that Longneck?" he asked.

Chomper nodded, "(Turns to Chompless) Can you remember anything about how she described the Longneck?" he asked. Chompless had to think for a minute, "Yes, but not too much. She told me that she found them with a few of, what she believed were their friends, but they were hiding. Something like that. I think she said that the Longneck…asked her…a question, but I can't remember what she told me they said. Anyway, she said they were wrapped in…something, like they were… (To self) what was the word she used? Uh…um…tangled? No. Ensnared? That...sounds about right. (To Chomper) Like they were ensnared. She said that she freed them and was going to let them leave. I think she said that she had no interest in harming young dinosaurs. Uh…then she was seen by an adult and attacked them, but only in self-defense. And…uh…that's…all I can recall." she said.

Chomper relayed this to Grandpa, who gasped again, "Her mother must have been the one we saw. (To Chomper) Ask her where her mother is." he said. Chomper knew the answer already, "Before she stopped talking a month or two ago, she told me that her mother died. But either she doesn't know what she died from, or she's not comfortable telling. But I'd imagine old age." he said. Grandpa sighed, "Oh. (To self) I should have guessed that she would be too old. She was a healthy young adult when I saw her." he said.

"Grandpa, can she stay here? Please? She can go to the Fast Water and get swimmers from there." Littlefoot said. Grandpa sighed, "I know how much you like and care for her, and I myself would be more than happy to let her stay, but the ultimate choice is up to the Circle Pack of Elders. I'm only one voice among them. If the rest of them are okay with your friend being here, she will stay. If they aren't, they will probably chase her out and attempt to prevent you from seeing her. If that happens, I'm sure you all will do anything you can to defy their orders, which I wouldn't blame you." he said.

The three got concerned, "But, we've shown everyone that she isn't harmful." Littlefoot said. Grandpa nodded, "Yes, you did. But I believe the biggest problem that can decide whether or not they want her here is when she gets an impulse to kill. If they suspect she'll be unable to resist, they'll believe that she will kill someone, and they will most likely exile her to mitigate that risk. I certainly hope they take into consideration your friendship with her and what sending her away might make you do." he said.

They felt okay because Grandpa wanted her to stay, and he told them he'd do his best to convince Grandma to let her stay, but they were concerned that the rest of the elders would want to get rid of her, "When are you expecting a meeting with them?" Chomper asked. Grandpa thought, "Um…most likely tomorrow because we need to clean up this mess now. (Grandma calls to him to help her move a fallen tree) Coming, dear. (To Chompless) You can stay with Chomper for the night. Tomorrow, when you see me and other adults gathering, come immediately." he said. She nodded, and he went to help Grandma.

Chompless turned back to the trio, "I'm scared. For her, I mean. It would be heartbreaking if all of this, everything between us and Chompless, is for nothing because we made a mistake by running in here for safety. She has no living family members, which means we are literally all she has right now. She doesn't have a home. This is probably as close as she'll ever be able to get to one." Chomper said. Littlefoot & Cera were scared about that happening also, "It would be terrible if that happened. I don't think it'd be very easy for us to see her if they decide not to let her stay." Littlefoot said.

Cera scoffed, "Like that's ever stopped us before." she said.

Ruby, despite her initial fear, walked over to them, "That's what you have been doing all this time?" she asked Chomper. He looked at her, "You saw me when I left?" he said. She wavered her hand, "Sometimes. A few times I saw you walking towards what used to lead to the Hidden Canyon, but I never gave it a second thought. And you were never there when I was going to sleep, but you were there when I woke up. But I never thought twice about that either. But I'm not upset by this. I'm glad you made another friend. And a very unique one at that." she said.

They all smiled, and she walked up to Chompless, "It's nice to meet you." she said. Chompless smiled, too. They wanted to help with the cleanup, but the adults discouraged them as they were concerned they would hurt themselves. So for the rest of the day, they played some games with Chompless.

But, after they were done with a game of Toss-the-Seed, and they were about to begin playing Swimmer-Splasher, Chompless looked at herself in the water, and something about the feeling of the water made her have a flashback.

She was just standing with her mother in a river, taking a drink. When she lifted her head to breathe, something seemed to hit her and the rocks underneath her shifted, she lost her grip, and she began being floating downstream. Her mother gasped and ran alongside on the bank, looking for an opportunity to pull her daughter out. The river Chompless was in led to a waterfall that was about…60 feet high. Her mother knew this was coming up. To make matters worse, Chompless couldn't swim very well, so she was struggling to stay above the water and breathe.

Whenever she drifted close to the bank, her mother tried to get her out, but the current was too strong and kept pulling her further downstream. Her mother kept trying, but eventually, Chompless went over the falls. She splashed hard into the pond below, but she was exhausted from trying to swim and began to sink. Her mother found a way down and looked around the pond. She didn't see her near the surface, so she stuck her head under the water and looked around. She saw her slowly sinking further and further down, not attempting to swim up.

She lifted her head out, roared, and dived in after her. She grabbed her in her mouth and swam back to the surface. She brought her onto land, but it seemed that she was too late.

Her mother didn't figure this out yet and shook her. Once she realized her daughter had drowned, she roared and hit her on the chest in anger. This got Chompless to start coughing up the water. Her mother's anger was replaced with relief. Chompless looked at her mother's emerald-green eyes. Then she looked past her. At the top of the waterfall, on the bank stood a dinosaur and some smaller creature next to it. All she could see were black silhouettes, so she couldn't identify them. They fled a few seconds after she spotted them. From that day on, she had been terrified of Fast Water.

While she remembered this, the others were trying to get her attention, "Chompless? (No response) Chompless. (Still no response) Chompless!" Littlefoot said. She was like a statue, completely frozen.

Eventually, Cera poked her in the side with her horn, which got her to snap out of it, "Ow!" she said, looking at her.

"What happened, Chompless? All of a sudden you got a terrified look on your face and you froze. Is there something here that scares you, or something?" Chomper said.

She looked down, saw she was standing in ankle-deep water, but she quickly jumped out onto land, "I…I'm scared of the Fast Water. I just had a flashback of something that happened in other Fast Water with…my…m…mother." she said.

They exchanged glances, and they respected her fear, "Oh. Well…if you feel that way, you don't have to join. But, we're not in the Fast Water. We're close to it, yes, but not in it." Littlefoot said. Chompless shook her head, "Okay. We can't stop you from feeling that way, but if you change your mind, you can join in anytime." Littlefoot said. They played until the sun was setting. "Hey, at least we don't have to sneak outside to see her at nighttime anymore. Am I right?" Cera said as they were getting ready to depart. They all laughed, "Yeah. Let's just hope that it'll stay like this." Chomper said. Then they all went home and went to sleep.

During that night, Chompless had quite a bad dream

The next day, the elders all gathered around, and she walked over like she had been told to do. The gang was following right behind her, but as she got close to the elders, they just vanished, "Guys?" she called. She heard nothing in reply. She just kept going until she got in the middle of the elders. As she stopped, the sky became blood red, and the elders seemed to change completely. They all gained sharp teeth, which were smothered with blood, their eyes all went red, and some gained blood on other parts of their bodies. Topps now had blood dripping off his two now-giant horns, and Longnecks had blood on their feet. The only two that did not change were Grandma & Grandpa Longneck.

The other elders began insulting her indirectly, "This thing will kill us all probably before this is over. She's probably contemplating how to kill one of us now." Topps said, his voice very distorted and evil-sounding. "Yeah. She's probably already eaten all of the children. You know…why are we even meeting to discuss this? We know this thing is a vicious monster, and it will never live among us. Get rid of it!" a Longneck said, attempting to stomp her.

She moved out of the way and started running, "After her!" they said. All the elders chased after her, except for Grandma & Grandpa, who hadn't said a word or done anything, for that matter. The elders chased and chased until she ran outside, "Good riddance, you no good beast!" Topps yelled. Outside, all the Sharpteeth possible saw her, "What were you thinking, you pathetic sack of flesh?" a Spino said.

She was just getting it from all sides. Then, the abomination dinosaur described many-a-time walked up to her. It said nothing, but all the other Sharpteeth gave it a very wide berth. It lowered its head to look down at her. Instead of 4 solid white eyes, they were all solid red, but the other two eyes were normal. Either way, it was equally as terrifying. It then stood tall, opened its mouth, and attempted to chomp down on her. She dived out of the way, but the dino just kept doing this. Over, and over again.

She kept diving out of the way until she dived and went straight into the wall of a dead end. She realized this and the inevitable. The dino's head came down on top of her, and it had her in its mouth. It tried to swallow her, but she was gripping tightly to one of its teeth. One where it couldn't really bite down on her hands. But then this tooth suddenly fell out. Her eyes widened as she went down its throat.

Then she was greeted by the comfort of the real world.

She gasped as she woke up. She looked around to make sure everything was normal, which it was, and she was now panting, "What a horrible dream. I know that will not happen exactly like that horrifying turn of events, but if I'm sent away...no. Think happy thoughts, happy thoughts." she said to herself. When she had gasped, Chomper and Ruby were right next to her, but they didn't wake up.

While she wanted to try to go back to sleep, she didn't at the same time because of that dream. She just laid her head down and kept her eyes open. When everyone woke up, they knew that it was Judgement Day. A few hours after, the kids were just playing Swimmer-Splasher at another watering hole with Chompless watching from the side, when Littlefoot saw the elders gathering, and Grandpa looking over to them, "Okay. (Sighs) It's happening. Let's get this over with." he said.

Everyone looked there, too, "Well, she either stays or goes." Cera said. They all sighed heavily and walked over with Chompless. There were 16 elders in total. Upon the kids' arrival, Topps had Chompless stand in the middle of all them and had the kids leave until they were done discussing the matter. They obeyed and left the area.

Of course, as soon as the adults started talking, the kids had to listen in and they hid close by.

But the adults must've expected them to do this because they were quietly talking to each other and the kids could barely hear them.

"I think they knew we'd try this because they're talking so quietly. I almost can't hear what they're saying. Usually, or at least with your dad, Cera, these meetings can get kind of loud." Littlefoot said. Cera nodded in agreement, "Yeah. For the longest time, I never realized how loud he actually is."

They kept trying to hear them, but they eventually gave up, "You know what? It might be better if we just wait for them to finish." Littlefoot said.

They all agreed with him.

"I don't think we should trust her. It doesn't matter what anyone says she is or what she can be. Deep down, she's still a Sharptooth that will eventually have impulses to hunt & kill." Topps said.

"Yes, but you must take into account her age. She is far too young to have those impulses right now, and if she is allowed to stay, perhaps the children can teach her how to control herself if she gets those impulses." Grandpa countered.

"While that may be true, Longneck, that is a given. Many things could happen between now and then that could change her behavior and could make that a big challenge for them." Topps responded. "Or perhaps make it easier. You never know."

A Parasaur then spoke up, "Well, the thing I feel that should be taken into serious consideration is her kind. Considering none of us have seen her or any others of her kind before now, she could be a potential target. It's completely possible that other Sharpteeth may want to kill her. If she stays, and word about her presence gets out there, Sharpteeth might make their way here and attempt to kill her, and probably even some of us. Having her stay here has the potential to put a bullseye on our peaceful Valley."

The odds of Chompless staying were kind of dwindling. Some of them agreed with Grandpa and Grandma, but more were against it. Grandpa kept trying to change their minds with valid arguments, "Think about this. She has no living family members. And she has no place she can call her home. If we exile her, we're denying her a safe place to live, and the experience of a family. If she can learn to control herself and resist her natural impulses, how is exiling her because of the shape of her teeth fair? In my opinion, it truly is not." he said. This got some of those on the opposite side to realize he was right, and then they felt obligated to let her stay.

Still, the number who opposed her staying was more than those who wanted to let her stay. The odds weren't looking good, and Grandpa had to use the critical point, "Think of the children." he said.

They all looked at him, "Clarify." Topps said.

"They have been going out into the Mysterious Beyond to see and care for her. And for months, I might add. They deeply, deeply care about her well-being, and vice-versa. Think about what would happen if you decide to exile her. Do you know what the children will do? They will go out into the Mysterious Beyond to search for her. They'll be at risk of getting killed, just because they care about her so much. Is sending her away really worth risking our children's lives?"

This got even more of them to take his side, but Topps and a couple of others still opposed,

"We'd be risking their lives if we let her stay and she gets the natural impulses of a Sharptooth." he said. Grandpa thought otherwise.

"Given that that is a possibility, we'll be here to protect them if she does. If we send her away and the kids go after her, we will not be there to protect them. And, I can assure you, that no matter how hard we try to keep them from leaving, they will find a way to avoid us. Do you want to have to worry about our children going out after her? Or deal with the guilt if they are killed because of our decision? I think not." he said.

Topps couldn't argue with that logic.

After some more minor points, they all agreed and the final decision was made. Grandpa promptly called the children over. They acted like they hadn't tried to listen in, "Children, our decision has been made." he said. They were hopeful, yet nervous at the same time, "We have agreed that your friend…" he began to say. The kids' hearts were racing, and so was Chompless'.