And here's the next VV chapter! If you like action, adventure and really wild things, you've come to the right place...I think...

Chapter Nine: Turf War

Thicknose heard, but he did not believe. This was too much, after everything that had come before.

"No…" he said shakily, as though by saying it he could make it untrue. "No way – he can't be."

"Believe me Dorian," Grandpa Longneck sighed. "We have wished many times he wasn't…"

Thicknose stared at him for a few moments, before snapping his head in the direction of Grandma Longneck, hoping she may contradict him, but she said nothing. Thicknose closed his eyes.

"I can't believe this," he murmured. These two longnecks were some of the most compassionate and caring individuals he had ever met. They were mellow, easy to get along with, and treated their grandson and the other children so wonderfully…how on earth did they manage to produce this monster?

Then, the monster spoke.

"I'm glad we've got our introductions out of the way. And you know Dorian, I have always wanted you to meet my parents – just so you could see how completely blind they were. When I declared my intentions to set this Valley straight, they ignored me and just focused on my bratty little sister."

"Saura did more for anyone than you could ever do Ulciscor!" Grandma snarled at him. "And we are determined to raise her son in the right way-"

"And yet you let him give the slip time and again?" Ulciscor asked loftily, fixing his mother with a steely glare. She didn't respond.

Ulciscor gave a soft chuckle. Thicknose had heard more cheerful sounds in a smoking mountain.

"I wouldn't worry about him," Ulciscor said, his eyes alight with malice. "He is quite safe, in the company of my most trusted ally, the stinging longneck – Kai."

Thicknose's eyes opened wide in horror.

"So…that longneck I've been seeing around the Valley…really was Kai…" his knees gave way and he collapsed. Littlefoot and the others were in mortal danger, and it was all his fault. He should have warned them…

He turned to the two elderly longnecks.

"Does Littlefoot know he's got a fiendish murderer for an uncle?"

"Littlefoot?" Ulciscor repeated, sounding amused. "You mean Saura even gave him Bron's old nickname?"

"It was better than naming him after her brother!" Grandpa snapped back.

"You know Bron as well?" Thicknose demanded.

"Well, yes," Ulciscor replied. "We were the best of friends once upon a time. But it doesn't matter what happened it the past. It is the here and now we must focus on. The Great Valley is mine again, and I have various tasks that must be accomplished. Did you know, for example, Dorian, that the spiketail brat who lives with a family of bigfaces is the son of Ronan and Opal?"

All of these revelations were making Thicknose's head spin.

"Wh…what?" he managed to splutter.

"Yep," Ulciscor nodded. "I was astonished to find out too. Kai doesn't know this yet, but when I send word, he'll know what he has to do…"

"NO!" Thicknose bellowed. He didn't care anymore – the shock of what had happened was making him giddy and irritational. He pelted forwards. All he knew is that he wanted to slaughter this fiend, once and for all…

A pair of tails grabbed him and held him back. Two Bludgeoners had finally caught up with him, and were restraining him expertly.

"Too slow Dorian…" Ulciscor said quietly, as more Bludgeoners appeared to restrain his parents. "Now that we've got you where we want you," he continued. "Let us go and find the others."

The skywater continued to hammer down as the four young sharpteeth stood guard outside the entrance to the Grand Cave Network, in an act that was hardly necessary. The skywater had been the only sound around for almost twenty minutes.

Finally, Saureen, evidently bored of waiting, broke the silence.

"So…how do you think they're doing?"

Nycha gave a sniff of laughter.

"They've probably already been caught…"

"If so, don't you think they'd be coming for us next?" Al asked. Nycha merely shrugged.

"Well, I'll tell ya, if we're made to wait any longer, I'm going in there myself," Lini said firmly. "Seizon may like skywater, but he's not the one standing out in it with-"

"Ssh…" Saureen said suddenly. "Quiet a minute…I think I hear something…"

Everyone else was quiet and tuned into any sound other than the skywater…and they heard it.

Footsteps.

Heavy footsteps. Great thudding stomps that were slowly making their way in their direction. And, by the sounds of things, only on two feet…

Lini gave a muffled gasp.

"Who…?"

The footsteps had paused suddenly, as though the owner had stopped to consider something. But then they continued, getting more intense, quicker, louder…

Saureen raised herself to her full height and took a great sniff of the air, but she hardly needed to. Only one massive, two-legged individual would be in such a hurry to reach them, and the scent she got coming from the direction of the footfalls confirmed it.

"Redclaw!" she cried.

She was absolutely right. Even with all the rain, the four young sharpteeth could make out the shape of the voracious tyrannosaur running at full pelt towards them, emitting and ear-splitting roar.

"Into the cave!" Saureen yelled at her comrades. It was the easiest way forwards, and the entrance was too small for Redclaw to enter. Sure, she didn't much fancy what lay in wait for them within the network, but anything was better than this beast, surely?

Saureen stood back to allow her friends in first, all the time Redclaw getting closer. With seconds to spare, she dived in after them, squealing slightly as Redclaw rammed his head into the mouth of the cave, attempting forcible entry, but to no avail.

"You OK?" Lini asked as she helped her to her feet.

"Yeah…" Saureen replied. "But where are Seizon and the other two?"

"They must have gone ahead," Lini shrugged. "I hope they're OK…"

"Well, let's go and find out," Al said. "They're not likely to come to us."

Saureen looked troubled.

"Well…alright…but I still don't like the idea of his whole 'up to the challenge' ethos."

The four of them headed deeper into the cave.

"Hey, Nott!" Yuti called gleefully. "They're right here!"

Seizon immediately sprung to his feet in preparation to battle this loudmouth and whatever backup she may be getting, but as he pelted towards Yuti, she slid expertly to one side, causing Seizon to stumble and stagger. He righted himself quickly, but Yuti was ready for him. Poised perfectly on her toes, she was already right in his face when he had managed to stand up.

"End of the line honey…" she breathed, before headbutting the bladeback straight over the edge of the precipice and into the bloodthirsty crowds of sharpteeth.

"Seizon…!" Chomper yelled, leaning dangerously low over the edge.

Pyron grabbed him back.

"Careful," he whispered. "I need to work something out…"

In the throng of young predators, Seizon was putting up a terrific fight. More of Nott's minions were collapsing, howling in pain than Chomper cared to count. But numbers weren't on his side – eventually, Torq, the enormous jet-black Sharptooth who seemed to enjoy tormenting others, had Seizon in a tight headlock.

"Nice one…" Nott grinned sadistically. "I want to take out this one myself…just to prove how sad and pathetic your little pack is, rockhead."

At that point, Seizon did probably the worst thing possible he could've done then. He poked his tongue out at his aggressor. What a child…

Pyron shook his head.

"No other choice…" he muttered. "Sit tight, mate…"

Without warning, he suddenly barrelled into Yuti, who had been distracted by watching Seizon, sending her also careering over the edge, Pyron following. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he should have known Seizon's recklessness would have got him into trouble eventually, and he needed to protect Chomper too.

Yuti plummeted on top of a couple of sharpteeth, practically flattening them, Pyron landing on top of her. He immediately leapt back to his feet, and kicked forwards, him infamous sickle-claw slashing into Torq's muzzle. Grunting in pain, the burly behemoth loosened his grip on Seizon, allowing said bladeback to wriggle free and place a well-aimed kick into Nott's pug-like face. He then promptly back-flipped over Torq's head, and he and Pyron began to fight their way through the mob.

As he headed towards where the precipice lowered to a slope to join them, Chomper was amazed. It wasn't as if he had never seen sharpteeth fight before, but that was with adults. Seeing individuals his own age was an impressive sight to behold – but it also made him feel rather inferior in comparison. His heart wrenched a little. Or perhaps that was just a stitch.

He reunited with Seizon and Pyron at the bottom of slope and congratulated them on their performances.

"Now…what?" he panted, leaning on Pyron for support.

"Now," Seizon replied simply, failing to hide a grin. "We run like hell."

And for good reason – Nott and the others weren't going to let them get away so easily, and were in pursuit. So, wearily, Chomper tried his best to keep at the pace of the other two.

"We're going out of here," Seizon told the other two. "I'm sorry – I should I have listened. Coming here was a waste of time, we're getting the others and fleeing."

Pyron nodded. "Just don't do it again, eh?"

Seizon smiled back.

To their surprise, they weren't having too much difficulty out-running the other sharpteeth. It seemed that this nightmare was over finally, and they could get on with their current task.

That was the plan anyway, but when nothing can go wrong, that's when everything always does.

As the three sharpteeth skidded round a corner, they found themselves face to face with another four.

"Saureen!" Seizon exclaimed, catching her before she ran into him. "Come on, other way, we're getting out of-"

"No, we can't!" Saureen was adamant, her emerald-green eyes wide with fear. "Seizon…Redclaw's out there!"

"What?"

"He came after us – there's no chance of making a clean getaway!"

Oh hell…

Chomper could almost feel the cave walls constricting him. This was it, surely. He had reached the last full stop. With a murderous Sharptooth on one side and a hoarde of ferocious little biters on the other, there was no way out…

Seizon was doing some immensely quick thinking.

"Alright…" he murmured. "There are seven of us, and heaven knows how many of them, but we work as a team – they have a corrupt hierarchy. Turn around and fight as best you can. I don't like it much either, but we don't have any choice in the matter…"

As one, the pack turned to face its aggressors. Chomper flexed his shoulders and squared himself up for the fight. He didn't really fancy his chances in this fight, but Seizon was right, he didn't have any choice. Enough of cowering – he was going to face this head on.

Nycha made the first move.

She sprung eagerly into battle, latching herself onto Yuti's head, leaving long cuts imbedded in her hide with her toe-claws.

Despite wincing slightly, Yuti still managed to swing her head down and throw the fastbiter off, but Pyron had zipped forward too, in an effort to defend his sister, flicking his sickle-claws forward too, which clanged dully onto Yuti's teeth as she bit into his foot, and the two began a powerful wrestle.

Lini, meanwhile, had charged into Torq, being the only one burly enough to raise a challenge to him. The two were jaw-to-jaw, Lini emitting low growling sounds Chomper wouldn't have though possible for someone as kind as her.

Seizon and Al had headed straight for Nott, and were currently attempting to use their superior arm length to get an advantage over his ferocious jaws and powerful kicks.

Chomper found himself squaring off against a rather large, sinister looking abelisaurid), glaring at him with dark, pitiless eyes. He snapped at him, Chomper skidding backwards and desperately trying to figure out some way of fighting him. Saureen came to his rescue. She attacked the abelisaur from the side, biting and scrabbling at him with her claws. He howled and shook her off, sending her crashing to the ground where she was most vulnerable.

Chomper didn't even wait for the Sharptooth to sink his teeth into her, but pelted towards him and sunk his teeth into his flank, not even caring as blood oozed out all over his teeth and down his chin. The abelisaur gave a bellow of pain, but unable to shake him off, Saureen took the advantage to ram into him and send him smashing his head into the hard rock wall.

Elsewhere, things weren't going quite so swimmingly. Nott was not succumbing to Seizon and Al's slashes at his hide, nor was Torq relenting from Lini's attacks. Despite giving the order for most other sharpteeth to go and protect deeper within the cave, Nott and his two lethal cronies seemed to be somehow outnumbering the pack of seven.

Yuti twisted her neck, driving Pyron into the ground before springing forward in an impressive manoeuvre, ramming straight into Chomper and pinning him to the ground.

"What's the matter little biter?" she hissed, and Chomper could smell the foul stench of blood in her breath. "Never faced a challenge like this?"

Pyron and Saureen immediately attempted to remove this savage from on top of their friend, but this was easier said than done. Nycha didn't spring to his aid, she simply went off to batter Nott, but this was all Chomper expected from her. If she liked the company of strong types, why didn't she just join the savage son of tar pit?

Presuming Nycha could give Seizon satisfactory back-up, Al dashed over to help with the removal of Yuti. Sje was eventually shoved into the stone wall, which cracked slightly as she slid down it.

Al's eyes widened.

"Of course…" he murmured. He rushed over to the cracked spot and wrenched a stone tooth from the cave ceiling.

"Certain parts of the cave are weaker than others…" he proclaimed, sticking the tooth with considerable force into the crack. Most of the wall crumbled away, leaving a decent-sized hole.

"Come on guys!" he yelled. "In!"

And so the pack squashed into the hole and they began to slide down a long steep tunnel. Nott, Yuti and Torq weren't stupid enough to follow them in, but sometimes, Chomper reasoned, as the seven sharpteeth tumbled uncomfortably downwards, stupidity is the key to a lucky escape.

Ulciscor began his powerfully deliberate march towards the Rock Circle, accompanied by his parents and an old acquaintance. Though in their case, this wasn't by choice, as they were surrounded on all sides by incorruptible Bludgeoners, who, at the single command of this iron-grey longneck, would slaughter them in an instant.

Thicknose was at a loss for what to say. Ulciscor held all the cards – the Valley was once again completely under his control, and he had done it so easily…not to mention what Kai had in store for the kids once news of Ulciscor's takeover had reached his ears.

He wasn't the only one remaining silent – Grandpa and Grandma Longneck were still in shock to discover that their long-lost son had just seamlessly taken over the entire Valley, when they thought him to be dead. Or, if they were painfully honest, had hoped him to be. They had heard of tales from the Great Valley in days of old about how their son had ruled the place with terror, and knew from personal experiences with him that these couldn't have been exaggerated. Why else would they have delayed heading west?

"Here!" Ulciscor breathed, cutting across their thoughts. They had finally reached the Rock Circle, and the Valley's populace was standing there surrounded on all sides by Bludgeoners.

Ulciscor strode forward and stood in front of them.

"Greetings Valleians," he said. This was a mildly strange thing to say, as he was holding them all hostage, but this was how Ulciscor worked. To him, nonsense was common sense.

"I apologize for this rather brutal arrival, but it was necessary considering how some may be determined to work against me." He glanced at his parents and Thicknose.

"I am Ulciscor," he continued. "And from this moment on, I am the undisputed autocratic leader of the Great Valley, as I was some time ago."

There was instant uproar at his words. Angry mutters and cries of shock were being thrown out at Ulciscor, but to no avail. At Ulciscor's word, the Bludgeoner's pushed the crowd back, slamming their heavily armed tails into the ground to restore order.

"SILENCE!" a rather sinister Bludgeon Commander with a scar down his nose hollered as he forcibly flung Hyp, who had been trying to squirm free of this security ring, away from him, sending him off his feet and crashing with a sickening thud into the grass. That soon shut everyone else up.

"Thank you, Shock," Ulciscor noted the commander. "I understand that many of you may not be happy with this new arrangement, but you'll have to get used to it. And…" his voice suddenly became dangerous. "As you have seen, I will not tolerate any resistance. My Bludgeon Brigade will ensure that. But what they will also ensure are sweeping changes for the Great Valley. I promise you, with our intervention, the Valley will never be at risk for sharpteeth again. Nor will the world!"

There were a few interested murmurs at this. Obviously they didn't realise genocide was what Ulciscor had in mind.

"We are also going to ensure segregation of species," Ulciscor continued, a trifle colder. "No four-footers should interact with two-footers, for two-footers are inferior."

Panicked muttering spread quickly, but Shock and his troops were quick to shut them up.

"It is a necessary procedure," Ulciscor insisted. "Both groups will be put to work in fortifying the Great Valley, and will be rewarded proportionately. Soon, this work will pay off, and we can live in paradise."

From the murmurings that followed, it seemed everyone wanted paradise. But then someone had to heckle.

"But we already have a paradise!" Hyp protested.

"No you don't!" Ulciscor snapped. "What you've got is an illusion…" But when Hyp fell silent, Ulciscor smiled. Well, his mouth did anyway, his eyes remained hard.

"I don't want you to fear me," he said. "I am approachable, and natural-born leader of this Valley. I am the Lone Dinosaur sworn to protect this Valley."

The confused muttering broke out again.

"What about Doc…?"

"I could have sworn…"

"They did say bad luck…"

Tria however, was watching Ulciscor, and the slightly drunken look of euphoria on his face, almost as though he were fantasizing. She was amazed. When Thicknose had told her about the longneck's claim to fame, she had assumed it was just a ploy to get people to trust him. But looking at him now, it seemed very apparent that he had deluded himself into thinking this was actually true. He somehow believed that he was responsible for the presence of Saurus Rock. It was incredible…

"He actually believes it…" she whispered to Thicknose as he sidled closer to her. "I almost feel slightly sorry for him…"

Thicknose stared at her in amazement.

"Speak for yourself," he replied. "And I'm afraid that's not the worst part…"

"Oh, and…" Ulciscor continued, gesturing behind him. "I trust you've all met my parents?"

Things moved quickly after that.

The Bludgeoner's began a task they poetically dubbed 'The Preparation of the Trees,' in which they stripped trees of their treestars and stored them in small caves or under the ground, declaring that they could eat once they had worked. They had even split the Valley in two, a long line of logs to show where the four-footer area ended and the two-footer area began. It was like a nightmare coming true – Thicknose's head was spinning. This couldn't be happening, not again…

There was no sign of Grandma or Grandpa Longneck. Evidently Ulciscor had wanted them somewhere close to him so he could keep an eye on them.

"This is absolutely insane," Topps grumbled as he waited for the Bludgeoner's to assign them their tasks. "Who is this flathead anyway? Who gave him the right-?"

"I hate to break it to you, my friend, but he's done this before…"

"WHAT?"

"A long time ago…" Thicknose sighed.

"Well, he's not going to do it again," came a third voice. The two looked up to see Kosh plodding towards them. His face was contort with determination.

"This is the Great Valley," he said. "The most beautiful fertile land in the world, one that's always welcomed strangers and allowed us to live in harmony. I for one will not stand while it's abject to a complete corruption of its purpose. Maybe the real Lone Dinosaur will come and save us from this impostor eventually, maybe not. But I don't want to wait around."

Topps nodded.

"I like the way you're talking clubtail," he said. "But do you have a plan?"

"Well, these rocks we're using the reinforce the Valley could be put to better uses, if you know what I mean…" Kosh replied, smiling slightly.

"Yes," Thicknose agreed enthusiastically. "And whilst you're taking care of the Bludgeoner's here, Kosh, we'll take down that divide."

The other two looked at him.

"So you're in this too, Thicknose?" Topps asked.

Though terrified at this prospect, Thicknose nodded.

"Just try and stop me," he said.

It was as if the moment had been caught in a freeze-frame.

Dinosaurs were working all around them, the Bludgeoner's keeping a close watch. Kosh had volunteered to roll and large rock up higher on the Great Wall where it was needed, but was stood still up there, waiting…

Thicknose and Topps were standing by the divide. It was a risky activity being this close, but fortunately they weren't being watched too closely.

Kosh flexed himself as some Bludgeoners walked by. Then he rammed the rock with his head.

It came tumbling down and knocked the longnecks apart like skittles, before they thudded to the ground. This was the signal the other two needed – they immediately rammed into the divide, shattering the twigs and bark that made it up, and sending large logs rolling haphazardly away.

"Stop!" one of the Bludgeoner's had managed to clamber to his feet, but Topps charged straight into him anyway, lodging his horns into his front legs and sending him once again crashing to the ground.

Thicknose had rushed over to aid Kosh with the flinging of the rocks, stopping many Bludgeoners in their tracks. Once he had run out of rocks, Kosh simply leapt down and was battling the oppressors tail-to-tail, landing well-aimed blows that many could not get up from. With Topps and Thicknose helping, the area was soon pretty much devoid of Bludgeoners.

"And now," Kosh continued, gritting his teeth, his eyes alight. "For Ulciscor!"

Topps and Thicknose cheered their approval before racing off after him. They completely ignored the one calling after them.

"Topsy!" Tria was horrified. She knew how dangerous Ulciscor was, and yet these daredevils were challenging him anyway. She couldn't believe her husband. Perhaps their differences were not quite settled after all.

The three-man coup was soon cut short.

Upon finding Ulciscor and charging at him, Kosh, Topps and Thicknose were met by a huge and impenetrable wall of Bludgeoners. As the massive dinosaur muscles collided, the stocky longnecks pushed back against the rebels, eventually pinning Thicknose to the ground.

"Bastard!" Topps yelled, attempting to ram one of them. Soon though, he too was restrained.

But Kosh wasn't going down yet.

Parting the battering squad with his mighty tail, he surged right through them and to the one he wanted to get at most of all. Before Ulciscor could react, Kosh had swung around, and, with a mighty roar, landed a crushing blow with his clubbed tail right into the longneck's side.

It was a heroic gesture, but with virtually no effect. Ulciscor had grunted in pain and staggered slightly, but had then retaliated with a ferocious slap of his own tail, throwing Kosh into the air and landing with a bone-rattling thump onto his back, where the Bludgeoners restrained him.

"Gather everyone," Ulciscor snapped, his eyes practically popping with his rage. "We have something to show them."

The divided crowd stood anxiously as they observed the three rebels, restrained by vines and heavily guarded by Bludgeoners. All three looked severely bruised, as though they had been recently beaten up.

"These three fiends have tried to disturb our peace," Ulciscor spat, pacing up and down before the leaf-eaters. "They organised a thankfully unsuccessful coup against me. It was a cowardly act."

Nobody dared contradict him. They were two worried to see what fate would befall the ones brave enough to fight back.

"Because it is early days for my reign," Ulciscor continued. "I have decided to be merciful. Dorian and Threehorn – you shall be imprisoned, which means you shall be confined within the Secret Caverns until further notice. However…" His gaze was now fixed unwaveringly on Kosh.

"The ringleader needs a harsher sentence. One that suits scum like him, one that'll teach the rest of you never to defy me." Kosh just glared back.

"I have decided," Ulciscor said, failing to hide the glee in his voice. "That you shall be executed – basically, you will be sentenced to death."

The crowd gasped in horror and terrified mutterings quickly broke out.

"Silence!" Ulciscor bellowed. "And you will all witness it."

Kosh was brought forward before Ulciscor, still restrained by the Bludgeoners.

"Anything to say?" the longneck demanded.

"Yes," Kosh replied, reckless courage taking over him. "Even when you are gone, the Valley will continue forever, and so will its spirit. You will never take it away from us, for we are proud of who we are. You, on the other hand, who carries the name of the Lone Dinosaur and the Great Valley is not even worthy to speak them." Just to finish off, he then spat on the ground at Ulciscor's feet.

Ulciscor was livid. In a fit of rage, he flipped Kosh over onto his back with his tail, and Kosh made no move to get back up.

"Stand back!" he snapped at the Bludgeoners. "I shall do it myself."

"Valleians!" Kosh cried. "Brothers and sisters! Never give up! Continue the struggle for everyone's sake!"

Ulciscor reared up onto his hind legs.

Kosh gazed up at the sky, and a single tear welled up into his eye and began to fall down his nose.

"My dear Cephi, and my wonderful children…" he thought. "I shall be joining you soon…"

Ulciscor's front legs stamped down.

The blood flew upwards as the ribs cracked.

The crowd screamed and gasped.

And then, as Ulciscor walked away, the leaf-eaters of the Great Valley were left staring at the body of the old ankylosaur, who had risked himself for what he believed in, forever lying in his final resting place as his blood continued to trickle into the ever-fertile soil.

Alas, poor Kosh...however, it was a necessary death, to show the true cruelty of Ulciscor's regime...I wrote him out because I needed Topps and Thicknose for later! :o Anyway, what did you think? Give me all your thoughts in your lovely comments and I'll see you next time...

Next time on VV: As Topps is imprisoned, Tria confronts him about his actions. Kai receives word about Spike's true identity and Pyron explains to Chomper his and Nycha's full life story.