DISCLAIMER: PREPARE FOR LONG CHAPTER.
13 (continued)
Now, Shaka was on the way to where Littlefoot's Grandparents were. After a short period of thinking, Shaka had chosen to visit with Littlefoot's Grandparents first, since they were both warm and welcoming. With the young dinosaurs secretly following him, Shaka went to where Littlefoot's Grandparents were so that he could get to know them better. It was only a few minutes before Shaka found them, and they weren't expecting to see him.
"You're back with the kids already, Shaka?" Grandpa Longneck asked in surprise. "I thought you were out there playing with them."
"Ah, well, they decided to explain to me what happened to Littlefoot's mother." Shaka explained. "As you could guess, it was...pretty hard to listen to. So, I decided to get to know their families in order to cool down. Is there a problem with that?"
"No, there isn't." Grandma Longneck responded. "It's a good move for someone to get to know the family of their new friend when they're new to the valley, like you."
With the young dinosaurs listening quietly, Shaka began by asking them a few questions. However, the answers that he got were not quite what he was expecting.
"So, to start, was Littlefoot's mother...your daughter?" Shaka asked. He did not want to insult them by accident.
"Yes, she was." Grandpa Longneck calmly answered.
"Well then, how old was she?"
"She was 60 when she had Littlefoot, and 65 when she died." Grandma Longneck casually replied. But Shaka's tone wasn't so casual when he heard this.
9
"SHE WAS 65?!" Shaka practically jumped at the revelation. Though 65 was still a little too young to die, he was shocked that Littlefoot's mother was 60 when she had Littlefoot. He was expecting her to be in her 20s or 30s at the time that she died.
The young dinosaurs were quietly giggling away at Shaka's shocked expression. They found it hilarious that, after managing to keep a mostly stoic expression for a full day, Shaka finally lost his composure for once, and over a silly thing like someone's age. They didn't know why it surprised him, since ages as high as Littlefoot's Mother's were rather common for a dinosaur parent. That didn't matter much, though, since Shaka's reaction was funny anyways. And it would only get even funnier.
"Then how old does that make you?!" Shaka asked Grandpa and Grandma Longneck in surprise.
But their answer was going to really shock him.
"Well, we're both 130." Grandpa Longneck answered.
As expected, this REALLY made Shaka lose his cool.
"A HUNDRED AND THIRTY?!"
At this point, the young dinosaurs finally lost it and began rolling on the ground, laughing hard. To them, this situation was just too funny to not laugh at. Shaka noticed them laughing, and he was a little embarrassed.
Now, Grandma Longneck was curious as to why Shaka was so surprised, so she decided to ask him.
"Why are you surprised about our ages, Shaka?" Grandma Longneck asked.
"It's simple, humans don't live that long, or have children so late." Shaka told her. "We humans really only live to 100 years at the max, although there was one female of our kind that lived to 122, and we usually only have children at the ages of 20 to 40."
"Well, we dinosaurs can live for as long as 200 years, and we can have hatchlings as old as 80." Grandpa Longneck replied.
"Oh, okay, that explains it." Shaka shrugged. "You dinosaurs just live longer."
"Exactly." Grandma Longneck confirmed.
After this, Shaka decided to change the subject.
26
"So, what do you think of Littlefoot?" Shaka asked. "For me, personally...it's hard to not like him. I think that he's really nice and really well behaved. On top of that, his maturity is that of someone about twice or three times his age, maybe more."
Grandpa and Grandma Longneck looked at each other for a few seconds before Grandpa gave his answer.
"Well, even if he is really nice and really wise for his age, I personally think that he is a little naughty at times." Grandpa Longneck answered in slight disagreement, confusing Shaka. In the background, Littlefoot was a little nervous about his grandparents saying this about him.
"...I find that hard to swallow." Shaka tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Could you explain to me why you think he's naughty?"
"It's because, at times, he doesn't follow the rules that we have made for his safety." Grandma Longneck explained. "Now, a lot of the time, we let him off, because we know that his heart is in the right place, but that doesn't mean that we don't get angry at him from time to time."
Shaka was now wanting to find out about a situation where Littlefoot's Grandparents were angry at him for supposedly disobeying them. "Alright then, tell me a situation where you did get angry at him. I want to know a little more about this whole thing."
Grandpa Longneck had a thinking look for a few seconds before explaining to him.
"Well, there was the time when Littlefoot and his friends almost drowned in quicksand." Grandpa Longneck replied. "You see, there's an area in this valley known as the "sheltering grass" because of how tall the grass is, and there's some quicksand in there. This happened about a year ago, though it was after we got to the valley, of course. We distinctly told our grandson and his friends not to go to the sheltering grass, but for reasons that we still don't know, they went there anyways, and as you might guess, they fell in the quicksand, and they would have drowned if I didn't show up there in time. Understand that we just want to protect Littlefoot, because he is all that we have left after Sharptooth's attack."
When Grandpa Longneck was done telling him this, Shaka was left thinking. This story did seem pretty sound, because it sounded like something that would actually have happened. However, there was one problem with this story. When Grandpa Longneck was telling the part of the story where he had told Littlefoot and his friends not to go to the sheltering grass, he hadn't bothered to say anything about whether he had explained it to them or not. This could mean two things: either Grandpa Longneck had taken the time to explain to the kids why he told them not to go there, and he just hadn't put that part in the story...
...or it could mean that he didn't even bother explaining it to them at all, and the kids had gone to the sheltering grass out of curiosity, because they wanted to find out the missing part of the truth.
To find his answer, Shaka decided to ask the young dinosaurs themselves, since they likely remembered the incident, and therefore would have remembered if their parents had told them not to go to the grass.
"Hey, kids," Shaka got the attention of the young dinosaurs, "did any of your parents, these two included, ever explain to you why they told you not to go to the sheltering grass before you almost drowned in the quicksand?"
The young dinosaurs looked at each other, but then they shook their heads.
"They didn't even try to explain to us why they told us not to go there." Cera responded. "Because of that, we thought that they were just lying to us only to scare us, and we didn't know that there was quicksand there until we stumbled upon it."
Now knowing his answer, Shaka turned back to Littlefoot's grandparents.
"Is this true?" Shaka asked.
The two of them looked at each other, looking a little ashamed, before Grandma Longneck gave him the answer.
"Yes, it is." Grandma Longneck sighed.
27
At that moment, Shaka, who had been sitting down, stood up. He had quite the look of irritation and disappointment as he looked at Grandma and Grandpa Longneck.
"I'm gonna be honest here." Shaka told them with a tone of annoyance. "If I had been there, and I just had to bend water and mud to get those kids out of that quicksand, I would have blown my top at the two of you and the other parents. Poor communication KILLS, and it almost did right there. On top of that, whether it was unintentionally so or not, I HATE lousy parenting, or parenting that makes it looks like the parent has absolutely no idea what he or she is doing."
The young dinosaurs were a little surprised as Shaka continued his rant.
"My mother and my father worked HARD to avoid mistakes like that." Shaka continued. "They knew that the "because I say so" stuff just didn't work on me, so whenever they told me that I couldn't do something, they always explained why, so that they could avoid mistakes like what happened with your kids and the quicksand. What mattered to them was that they were doing their jobs as parents properly. I'm pretty sure that, just like I would have, they would have chewed you and the others out big time for what happened at the sheltering grass."
Then, Shaka breathed for a bit before he finished speaking.
"Whenever you tell the kids not to do something, explain to them why. They are fully aware of the fact that there is a world out there, one that they want to know about, and it should also be apparent that they don't fall for the "Because I Say So" stuff, which is basically you telling them to do something or to not do something without explaining it to them. If you truly want to protect them, then instead of just trying to physically be there for them all of the time and trying to physically protect them all the time, instill them with knowledge about the necessary things in life. If they learn early, they will remember it longer, and if it was good advice, they will always remember it. You must remember that you can only physically protect your children for so long, that is, while they are still children. Once they're all grown up, they will have to protect themselves."
Littlefoot's Grandparents were quiet for a few moments, but then they smiled when they thought that they had a reply.
26
"Well, then I guess that we will have to protect our grandson as much as we can until he grows up." Grandpa Longneck remarked.
But that was not the answer Shaka was wanting.
"Hey, hey, hey, hold up, hold up." Shaka told them. "I think I forgot to mention this, and I should have mentioned it earlier, but there is such a thing as being TOO protective of your kids. Your "protect him as much as we can" mindset tells me that you really need to give Littlefoot some breathing room. I suggest letting him take care of himself if he wants to to fix that. There are prices to pay for being overprotective, after all. If you've been overprotective of your kids, and you haven't been allowing them to take care of themselves, you will be faced with at least one of two situations once they grow up. The first situation is that they have become too over-reliant on you, and they require you to take care of themselves all the time, and the second situation is where your kids have become fed up with your stubborn parenting and you not giving them a break. The results of the first situation is that your kids aren't able to take care of themselves once they leave the nest, and the results of the second situation is that your kids eventually have had enough of your nonsense and have a falling out with you. Both are bad, which is why your should not be overprotective. So my advice here is that, though you can still protect your grandson if necessary, only do so if he can't protect or take care of himself in that situation."
Littlefoot's Grandparents were quiet again, as they were quite surprised at how complex of a request Shaka was making, before Grandma Longneck mustered an answer.
"Um, I'm not quite sure if we can do that, Shaka." Grandma Longneck responded. "You see, there have been quite a few times where we've almost lost Littlefoot, and when that happens, we often feel helpless, like when Sharptooth attacked, or whenever the children went adventuring and ended up outside the valley, and a few other situations. And that is why we want to protect him so much: so that we don't feel helpless. But now, you've come here, and you present us with a very unique challenge, as you are perhaps the first to tell us that we're being too protective of our grandson. And because of that, even with all our wisdom, we don't quite know if we can do this. So how WILL we take care of our grandson without upsetting you, given that you don't like "lousy parenting"?"
"Well, there is another option." Shaka replied. "You could just have me take care of him. It's called "babysitting". I think I've figured out Littlefoot already, even though it's just my second day here in the valley, although that might be because I understand his mindset. You know, his playfulness, his energy, his sense of adventure...he reminds me of what I myself was when I was his age. Because of that, I think I could do a pretty good job being a "babysitter" of sorts for him. What do you two think?"
Grandma and Grandpa Longneck looked at each other yet again, thinking.
"What do you think, Miriam?" Grandpa Longneck asked his mate. "Do you think that Shaka could be a good babysitter for Littlefoot?"
"Well, Kenneth, I don't see a problem with it." Grandma Longneck answered. "Shaka does seem to have already grown close to our grandson. Besides, Shaka's heart is in the right place, not to mention that he's 15 while our Grandson is 6, so he will likely be wiser."
"Then I don't see a problem with it either." Grandpa Longneck replied. Then, he looked at Shaka. "Very well, Shaka, you're welcome to babysit our grandson. You seem to be the right one for the job, after all. Just make sure you keep him safe."
"Thank you, and I will keep him safe." Shaka thanked them. Then, he remembered that he had the families of the rest of the gang to visit. "Umm, sorry to end this conversation so early, but I'm going to go meet the families of the rest of these kids now. Have a nice day, and remember my advice."
"You too, Shaka, and we will remember your advice." Grandma and Grandpa responded in kind.
With that, Shaka left with the kids, and they went to find the other families.
10
On the way to the next family, Shaka noticed the young dinosaurs looking a bit stressed out.
"Something wrong?" Shaka asked.
"Well, we don't want to be breathed down our backs by our parents!" Cera answered, a little annoyed. "Now, they just made you our babysitter so that they can still get on our nerves even when they aren't around!"
"Oh, I think you misunderstood me." Shaka chuckled. "Just because I'm a babysitter for Littlefoot doesn't mean that I'm a puppet for them to use. In fact, my style of babysitting all of you, if I was one for all of you, is much different than the style of parenting that your parents have. I am quite aware that you kids are pretty darn mature for your ages, and you can handle yourselves for the most part, even able to take on Sharpteeth. Pretty good for a bunch of 6 year old kids."
The young dinosaurs calmed down upon hearing this.
"So, you were actually doing this to give us some relief?" Littlefoot asked.
"Exactly. Shaka answered. "In fact, I prefer to be seen as a friend, rather than a babysitter."
"Oh, well, alright then, I guess we can live with that." Cera decided. Now, she was relieved that Shaka was different from their parents, and was aware of just WHO they were.
After a few seconds of silence, Shaka decided to ask the young dinosaurs about which family he was going to meet with next.
"So, which family am I going to visit next?" Shaka asked. "I've already visited Littlefoot's family. Any other families I could visit?"
"Well, there's Cera's family, Ducky and Spike's family, and Petrie's family." Chomper answered. "You can pick which one you want to visit."
"Well, Cera seems pretty nice," Shaka decided, making Cera blush when he said she was nice, "so I guess I'll go with her family next. Of course, I'll have to avoid whoever her father is."
"You got that right, Shaka." Cera responded. "You'll definitely have to try avoiding my dad. Other than that, though, Tria, my stepmom, and Tricia, my little half-sister, are just fine with having visitors."
So with that, the young dinosaurs began leading Shaka to where Tria and Tricia were. They knew that they had to find a time where Mr Threehorn wasn't with them, since he would no doubt give them a headache if they tried to introduce Shaka to them. Luckily, there were quite a few times where Tria and Tricia were away from Mr Threehorn, so they had quite a few chances.
However, only a minute in, they had to take a detour. It was because-you guessed it-Shaka was hungry.
"Uh, sorry, kids, but I think I need to find some food for a second." Shaka told them. "Haven't eaten anything all morning."
"Maybe you think about that earlier?" Petrie snarked at him.
"You should eat earlier in the morning, eat earlier in the morning you should." Ruby added.
"I know, I'm a baka for not eating earlier." Shaka responded, throwing a foreign language word into the mix.
But the young dinosaurs were surprised by this new word they just heard.
"Wait a second, "baka"?" Littlefoot asked. "I don't think I've heard that one before."
"It's Japanese for "idiot"." Shaka bluntly explained.
"Well then, yeah, you were a "baka" for not eating earlier BEFORE we began introducing you to our families." Cera told him.
Shaka just shrugged, before he began looking for some food. Luckily enough, he soon found some.
In a nearby tree, Shaka spotted some yellow fruit. The fruit looked like pears, and although Shaka hadn't eaten pears very often, they still tasted decent to him. And they were much more filling than grapes, which Shaka found a little unfortunate, since he liked grapes much better.
The fact that the pears were in the trees may seem to make them impossible to get to, that is, unless you remember that Shaka was skilled at bending all 4 elements, including air. So he decided to show off a little.
"Watch this." Shaka told them as he seemed to crouch a bit, ready to jump.
Then, with the young dinosaurs watching, Shaka used airbending to jump high into the air, and he yanked down one of the pears from the tree. Being able to bend earth as well, though, made the ground shake a bit when he landed. Even then, the young dinosaurs were impressed.
"Wow, you can jump, yep yep yep!" Ducky cheered.
"Maybe you flyer in disguise!" Petrie chuckled.
"Nope, just an airbending trick!" Shaka responded. "Trust me, you kids are gonna see a lot of bending."
"Well, I can't wait to see more!" Chomper said, excited.
"You won't have to wait long." Shaka assured him. Then, he decided to ask them if anyone among them was wanting some pears. "So, is anyone else hungry for some of these pears?"
"Well, if that's what you call them, yeah, we are a little hungry." Littlefoot replied, and the rest of the dinosaur gang nodded in agreement.
So Shaka jumped up and yanked a WHOLE BUNCH of pears off of the tree, and gave them to the young dinosaurs. All of them then sat down under the tree and began eating. They were all rather hungry, so they finished their little snack fairly quickly.
After about a minute, they were all finished eating the pears, and they were just starting to rest again when a large, pink colored adult Triceratops, and a lighter colored baby of the same species showed up.
28
"Oh, good morning, kids!" the adult greeted.
"Good morning, Tria." the young dinosaurs replied. Shaka took a mental note that this adult's name must be "Tria".
It wasn't long before the adult noticed Shaka.
"I see the kids made a new friend." Tria remarked as she looked at Shaka. "Perhaps you would like to introduce yourself?"
"Ah, well, I was just about to do that." Shaka responded back. "I'm trying to get to know the families of these kids, and Cera here told me that she had a stepmother and a half-sister."
"Well, I am her stepmother." Tria replied. Then, she motioned to the baby triceratops. "And this little one is Tricia, and she is Cera's half-sister."
"Good to know that I found you." Shaka told her. Then, he decided to get straight to introductions. "Now, to start, my name is Shaka. I am not a dinosaur, but a creature known as a "human". Kinda like Ruby here, I am part meat-eater, but also part plant-eater. Of course, I am...not amused, to say the least, by the thought of eating someone or something that talks to me, so you're safe with me. Besides, this is about as big as I get."
"Oh, well, it's very interesting to see another halftooth on our side." Tria was impressed by the fact that the gang had been able to befriend ANOTHER meat-eater (well, part meat-eater, anyways).
Then, she eyed Tricia looking up at the lone tree sweet in the tree, and remembered what she came here for. "Anyways, Tricia was hungry, so I decided to find her something to eat. It looks like she wants that tree sweet up there, but it's a little too high for even me to reach."
At that moment, the young dinosaurs remembered how high Shaka could jump, and Cera spoke up.
"Hey, you could just have Shaka get it." Cera pointed out. "He can jump really high, and he could easily reach that one."
Tria looked at Shaka, who grinned and nodded.
"Just make sure Tricia's out of the way." Shaka told her. "I don't think that you need to ask why."
"Okay, come here, Tricia." Cera called out to her half-sister in response. "This guy's going to get you some food!"
Tricia, in understanding, ran over to her big sister, who was sitting under the tree. Then, she, Tria, and the gang all watched Shaka, who was now directly under where the tree sweet was. Once he was under it, he gave them a knowing grin. Then, to everyone's surprise, he uttered a foreign language phrase.
"Coimhead agus ionnsachadh. (Watch and learn.)." Shaka told them in Scots Gaelic. At that moment, he jumped high into the air, grabbing the pear, and then landed back down on the ground. Then, once he got the pear, he went over to where Tricia was and set it down in front of her.
"Go on, I know you wanted it." Shaka told her.
Tricia briefly looked at him for a moment before digging in to the pear. She was a rather messy eater, surprisingly enough, but hey, she was a threehorn, and threehorns weren't exactly noted for their manners.
Tria was quite impressed by Shaka's jumping ability, but she didn't quite get what he said right before he jumped.
"Well, you were a pretty good jumper, Shaka." Tria thanked him. "But I didn't quite get what you said right before you jumped. What was it...Coimhead...agus...what?"
"Oh, that was in another language that I also speak in other than the one we are talking in right now." Shaka explained. "That language is called "Scots Gaelic", or just "Gaelic" for short. In that language, "Coimhead agus ionnsachadh" means "watch and learn"."
"Oh, I get it now." Tria replied. "Well, it's interesting that you know another language. And thank you for helping Tricia get something to eat."
"It's an honor." Shaka told her. "And besides, I also know 2 other languages known as "Japanese" and "Zulu". So, in the language that we are speaking right now, you know how we say "hello" when we greet each other? Well, in Gaelic, we say "Halo", and I know it sounds similar, but then in Japanese, we say "Kon'nichiwa", and in Zulu, we say "Sawubona", and that's just scratching the surface. I may have to teach the kids at least one of these languages at some point."
"Well, that would be very interesting indeed." Tria remarked. "Being able to speak in something other than "Flattooth", which is just our name for what we are speaking in right now, would be a very unique ability."
"And it is." Shaka responded. Then, seeing as how he was meeting the families of the kids, and how he wanted to know about what they thought of the kids, he decided to change the subject. "So, anyways, I was talking to Littlefoot's grandparents earlier about what they thought of Littlefoot, so my question is this: what do you think of Cera?"
Tria began thinking for a few minutes, carefully choosing her words, before giving her answer.
"Well, it's a little hard to say this, but I think that Cera is something of a blessing to have around." Tria answered. "Of course, she wasn't always as nice as she is now. I don't know if she already told you this, but she used to be a lot less friendly towards other species, perhaps because she was still letting Topsy influence her beliefs."
"And Topsy is..."
"My husband." Tria told him. "As much as I love him, even I have to say that he can be somewhat insufferable."
Speaking of Tria's husband, both she and Shaka heard a deep, gruff voice.
"Tria? Have you found food for Tricia yet?"
Just a few seconds later, Mr. Threehorn came on scene. His expression was initially softer than it had been earlier, but the moment that he saw Shaka, his face went back to grumpy and ill tempered.
"Oh, it's you." Mr. Threehorn growled.
"A pleasure." Shaka replied sarcastically.
"Are you bothering Tria and our kids?" Mr. Threehorn accused. Unfortunately for him, though, Shaka had a very strong comeback.
"And this is coming from the guy who just decided to butt in?" Shaka shot back. "You need to realize that I was just having a conversation with Tria, and you decided that interrupting it was a brilliant idea. You know that it's very rude to do that, right?"
"Well, Tria's my wife, and-" Mr. Threehorn was in the middle of a retort when Tria shot him down.
"Topsy." Tria scolded her mate with a single word, making him look at her. "Shaka has a point. I was talking with him, and you interrupted. How rude. Right now, you need to give us some space."
Mr. Threehorn was silent for a few seconds, and then glanced at the kids, about to tell Cera and Tricia to come with him, as he didn't want them playing with this "human", but he had to toss that thought out the window when he noticed all 8 kids, even Cera and Tricia, giving him an annoyed look that basically screamed "Are you kidding me?", as if they had also been offended by him interrupting Shaka and Tria. After a few more seconds, he finally relented.
"Fine." Mr. Threehorn huffed in defeat. "You can talk with her if you want."
Then, he stormed off, muttering. "Urgh, why can't I get my way anymore? My mate scolds me, my daughters refuse to listen, and now this "human" comes in without my approval...you gotta be kidding me!"
Once the bull threehorn was out of sight, Shaka shook his head.
"Wow, you're right, he is insufferable." Shaka agreed with Tria on her saying that Mr. Threehorn could be insufferable.
"Unfortunately." Tria added. Even though she loved her husband, like any decent person would, even she was wishing that he was less arrogant and ill-tempered. "And it's quite a shame that Cera's already quickly catching up to his maturity; there are a lot of times when Topsy's acting like a child, and many times when Cera is more mature than him."
Shaka simply shrugged in agreement. Sometimes, children acted more mature than their parents, and that was quite unfortunate. Then, he decided to change the topic.
"So anyways," Shaka began, "Littlefoot's grandparents actually liked the idea of me being a babysitter for their grandson. I was wondering if I could do the same for Cera. Basically, I watch her for you, so you don't have to worry about her. Thing is, I think that what these kids need is some breathing room, so just having me watch them will help with that. And don't worry, I'll keep her safe. What do you think?"
"Hmmm..." Tria carefully thought out her answer before accepting his offer. "Well, I don't really have anything against that idea. Cera actually told me about how a new friend of hers saved her and the others and brought them back to the valley, and I think that by this "new friend", she meant you. Since you're already acting like a good friend of theirs, not to mention that you're old enough for babysitting, I'm going to say "yes". Of course, my mate would not agree, but then again, as you may have seen, he treats every single newcomer here like that."
"So, does that mean that I can indeed babysit Cera?" Shaka asked.
Tria nodded her head. Nearby, Cera, who was listening in on the conversation, smiled at this. Now, her parents didn't have to bug her all the time.
"Well then, thank you Tria." Shaka thanked her. Then, he decided that it was time for him and the young dinosaurs to move on to the next family. "Anyways, I've still got some more of these kids' families to get to know, so I guess it's time for us to get moving."
Then, he turned to the young dinosaurs. "Alright kids, let's get going. I think we still have two more families to visit."
Complying, the gang got up and walked to Shaka's side. Before they could leave, though, Shaka felt a set of little forepaws batting at his feet. He looked down and saw Tricia at his feet, jumping up and down on her hind paws like a puppy wanting attention, and this was enough so that, secretly, Shaka was trying not to have a cuteness overload.
"I guess Tricia wants to say "thank you" before we leave." Cera remarked.
"Alright then, come here." Shaka responded towards the little threehorn at his feet. At that, he picked the youngling up and gently hugged her. He had to be careful, since Tricia was pretty young, about 5 years younger than Cera at the least, but even then, Tricia enjoyed his embrace.
"You're welcome, Tricia." Shaka told her. Then, he put her down, and she promptly ran back over to Tria.
"Good luck, Shaka." Tria said to Shaka. "Have fun."
Shaka did a little wave in response. And, with that out of the way, Shaka and the young dinosaurs began looking for the next family to visit.
However, on their way, they were also talking about their visit with Cera's family.
"So, what did you think of my family?" Cera asked.
"Well, your family was very pleasant to meet." Shaka answered. "That is, except for your dad. I mean, Tria and Tricia were both really nice, and quite a pleasure to meet, but your dad...wasn't so pleasant."
Shaka's answer did not surprise Cera. It still upset her, but it wasn't because Shaka's statement offended her, but because it was true.
"That's not a surprise." Cera sighed. "I kinda knew you would say that."
The gang could sense the irritation in Shaka's tone as he continued to speak.
"And Tria told me about how Cera was often more mature than her own father." Shaka continued. Then, he turned to Cera. "Cera, do you think you know what she meant by that?"
Cera was a little surprised by what Shaka said, but then it sunk right in, and she realized just how bad her father's immaturity problem was.
29
"...Actually, "often" just doesn't cut it." Cera responded, shocked by her realization. "Really, now that I think about it, my dad never really was that mature in the first place. Now that I look at it, my dad is pretty much what I was like before I met Littlefoot, except that he didn't change, and even though his body matured, that was about it. It's like he has my old personality inside of the body of a grown up or something like that."
Shaka and the rest of the gang were surprised that Cera, of all dinosaurs, was being THIS critical of her own dad. They would only grow more surprised.
"And probably because of that, he's also not that particularly bright." Cera continued. "He's so stubborn that he often doesn't realize that some of the things that he does are pretty stupid. Mind if I tell you about a few?"
"Well, if it helps me learn a little more about your dad, do it." Shaka replied.
"Right then." Cera affirmed. Then, she began telling them what exactly her father had done that was so stupid. "The first one was a situation where the river feeding into the valley got blocked up, so the valley started drying up, and we had to be careful with using the water, so we decided to take turns using it. Problem was, my dad started taking all of the water for himself, and that nearly made everyone die of thirst, because he wasn't letting anyone else get any water."
Shaka was taken aback by how selfish Cera's father was. But he kept quiet so that Cera could tell her story.
"That wasn't the worst, though." Cera continued. "Not long after, there was a forest fire in the valley. Because the valley was very dry, the fire spread quickly. We already had made some paths as to how to escape the fire before, but my dad thought he could find his own way, kinda like what I did when I was still on my way to the valley. And even though I wanted to go with the others, my dad dragged me with him. Of course, my dad being my dad, he nearly got himself and me killed."
Shaka was both shocked and disgusted by this revelation. How could someone be so stubborn and stupid that they would drag their daughter with them and almost get her killed along with themselves.
"Oh, you have got to be bloody kidding me..." Shaka facepalmed at this revelation.
"I'm not kidding." Cera told him with a sincere tone. "And the only reason why the two of us survived was because Littlefoot's Grandpa came in and saved us."
Shaka just shook his head in shock. Cera really DID have a terrible and immature dad, and he had caused everyone a lot of misery because of his own immaturity and stupidity.
"I just wish your dad got punished for those stunts that he pulled there." Shaka sighed.
"Well, he actually did get punished." Cera told him, her voice sounding a little happier. "At that point, Littlefoot's Grandparents...well, they had been trying to reason with him for a long time, and when they saw that it wasn't working, and that he had almost got his daughter, that is, me, killed, they decided that they had enough of his...dung. So, now, they scolded him like a hatchling and punished him for 3 months by making it so that, while he was serving his punishment, he had to stay at his nest all day, he couldn't attend meetings, and he had to have an escort if he wanted to relieve himself or eat. During that time, I was taking a long break from him by staying with Littlefoot's family. I had long since warmed up to my friends at that point, so I actually enjoyed my time with Littlefoot, and I liked sleeping with him."
Shaka felt better now that he had heard that Cera's father had been punished for his stunts, and that Cera got to stay with some good family figures for her.
"Hopefully, your dad stopped doing things like what he did after his punishment." Shaka assumed.
But the optimism in Cera's voice fell flat, and she did her version of a facepalm.
"Uh, well, here's the problem: he didn't quite stop." Cera responded. "When the punishment was over, he hadn't really learned his lesson, and he was back to his old self almost immediately."
Shaka's optimism died down as well upon hearing this. Oh great. Her dad was at it again.
"Let me guess, he did something stupid again?" Shaka asked, disappointed.
"Yup." Cera answered. Then, she elaborated on it. "It was at a time where the entire herd had to go outside the valley. Like I was when I had to go with Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike for the first time, my dad was complaining the whole time about how he wasn't getting his way, and how the way of Littlefoot's Grandparents was "the wrong way". Eventually, he got into an argument with Littlefoot's Grandfather, which ended with him trying to demand that the herd split up by species, which would have been a VERY bad idea, since it was in the middle of a desert. When that happened, my friends and I had to lead the entire herd on a chase just to keep them together AND to stop my dad. Luckily, though, it worked, and the herd ended up not splitting up. Though, this time, Littlefoot's Grandparents didn't punish my dad as hard, they still made him personally apologize to every single member of the herd as the punishment he would get."
Shaka certainly was disappointed that the first punishment didn't work, so Cera's dad did something stupid again, and had to be punished a second time.
"Ugh, your dad never learns from his mistakes, does he?" Shaka remarked.
"No, he doesn't." Cera sighed. "He's done some more stupid things since then, but now, at least Tria can kinda stop him from doing things like that."
"Oh, well, that's a plus." Shaka responded. "It's a good thing that he has someone like Tria to keep him in check."
Cera nodded, but she also had something else to say.
"Now, I still love my dad because, well, he's my dad, and part of my family, whether I like it or not." Cera told Shaka. "But, of course, that doesn't mean I have to LIKE him."
Shaka nodded. Then, he remembered what he had been doing.
16
"Wait a minute, I still have a few more families to visit." Shaka told the young dinosaurs.
"Hey, you're right!" Chomper replied. "You still have about two more families to visit: Ducky's family, and Petrie's family."
"Now, I have to choose." Shaka reminded himself.
Shaka thought about who he would choose to visit for a few seconds. Like Littlefoot and Cera, and the rest of the kid dinos, for that matter, Ducky and Petrie were really nice. However, he remembered that there was the possibility that they had some unpleasant family members. For example, Cera, as nice as she was, had a very unlikable father, and used to be like him. So Shaka had to check with Ducky and Petrie to tell whether or not they had any unpleasant family members or not. Since it looked like both Ducky and Petrie both had single mothers who seemed fairly nice, the one way to encounter any unpleasant family members was if those unpleasant family members were...siblings.
"Hey, Ducky, Petrie," Shaka asked, "do either of you have any siblings?"
Ducky and Petrie both nodded their heads, but Petrie was less eager in nodding his head. Shaka quickly noticed this.
"...Is there something wrong with me asking if you have any siblings, Petrie?"
What Petrie said in reply upset Shaka.
"Well, me have brothers and sisters who pick on Petrie." Petrie sighed. "They mean, annoying, and hard to deal with."
Shaka certainly did not like it that Petrie was bullied by his siblings. This reminded him of a younger foster sister that he once had, Joan. Four years younger than Shaka, and twice that amount less mature, Joan had a serious attitude problem, and was a pain in the rear for Shaka to deal with during the two years that she lived with him while he was in the US (when he was 12-14). Joan would constantly start whining and crying (and by crying, I meant the whiny, annoying kind, not the sympathetic kind) whenever things didn't go her way. Joan was also an ENORMOUS jerk to everyone, even her foster parents, but ESPECIALLY Shaka, whom she attempted to bully to no end. On top of that, Joan believed that she deserved "special treatment" just because she was a girl, and thought boys were inferior to girls. No matter how many times Shaka's parents punished her, Joan never stopped acting like this, and eventually, Shaka and his parents kicked her out of the house when their patience finally ran out, and sent her to live with a different foster family.
"Oh, well, I can certainly understand you not liking your siblings Petrie, because I once had to deal with a particularly obnoxious one for a while." Shaka responded. "I'll tell you about it later, but you could probably relate to it when I do. But right now, if your siblings are hard for you to deal with, I guess I could visit Ducky's family for now. What do you all think of that?"
The young dinosaurs all agreed with that, but Ducky was a little surprised.
"Wait, you want to visit my family?" Ducky said in surprise. Then, it hit her. "Oh, yes yes yes! You can visit my family, you can, you can!"
Spike, who Ducky was riding, mumbled something in agreement.
"Glad you agree." Shaka replied. "Well, now that I've made my choice, just lead the way."
The gang happily obliged, and they began taking Shaka to meet Ducky's family, with Ducky and Spike, of course, leading the way.
Along the way, the little group of 8 began walking upstream alongside a river. Shaka took this as a sign that Ducky's nest was near water, which was to be expected for a swimmer, seeing as how her type of dinosaur seemed to really like water. But who could blame them? Water was a VERY valuable resource, and all living things needed it to survive.
30
Finally, they came upon a group of many little saurolophuses and one large adult saurolophus in a shallow part of the river. This was likely Ducky's family. Just then, Ducky and Spike ran out in front of the others towards the adult, who was apparently her mother.
"Mama! Mama!" Ducky called out. "Shaka's visiting you!"
The adult looked up in surprise, but then noticed the human coming near with Ducky and Spike's other friends. As Shaka came near the section of the river that she and her hatchlings were standing in, Mama Swimmer, as she was commonly known by, did her best to be respectful.
"Good morning, Shaka." the adult swimmer greeted.
"Morning." Shaka greeted back.
"Forgive me for calling you a "thing"." Mama Swimmer apologized. "To be honest, I had no idea exactly what species you were, and I didn't know that me calling you that would offend you. If memory serves me correctly, you're the first "human" I've ever seen."
Shaka was surprised that Mama Swimmer was apologizing for the time yesterday where he called him a "thing". But now that he looked at it, it was hard to blame her, since he was like a complete alien to dinosaurs like her due to his odd physical features.
"I guess I could forgive you for that if you've never seen my kind before." Shaka forgave her. "Truth be told, though, the reason why I took offense to that was because, back in my previous home, I was bullied all the time by other humans my age, and they would call me things like "mongrel" and "half-breed" just because my mother and my father had different skin colors from each other and came from completely different places, and some of the more malicious bullies would call me a "thing" or an "it" because they seemed to refuse to accept me as a fellow human."
Mama Swimmer was a little shocked by the apparent severity of the bullying that Shaka went through.
"Well, that certainly was not a happy time for you." Mama Swimmer remarked. "Perhaps that was why you came to this valley?"
"The main one." Shaka replied. "I mean, there were a few others, but that was the main reason why I came here."
"Then I hope you enjoy living here." Mama Swimmer told him.
"Me too." Shaka responded. "Of course, since nearly every single dinosaur in this valley is a plant eater, they might all be a bit jittery around me, since I am part plant eater, part meat eater. Hopefully, though, they'll calm down once they see that my loyalty is with them. After all, in my mind, unless they do something really, really bad, abandoning or betraying allies is for cowards."
Mama Swimmer nodded in acknowledgement.
At that point, Shaka looked around and saw that Ducky had a LOT of siblings. Some of them appeared to be quite young, as if they had just recently hatched, while some of the other hatchlings appeared to be around Ducky's age. Curious about the number of siblings Ducky had, Shaka decided to ask Mama Swimmer about it.
"Excuse me for asking this question, but, not counting Spike, how many siblings does Ducky have?" Shaka asked. The response from Mama Swimmer was only going to surprise him.
"Well, if you put it that, way, Ducky has 22 siblings." Mama Swimmer answered.
That was such a surprise to Shaka that, to the others, it looked like he was completely and absolutely thunderstruck by shock. As you would expect from such an amusing and comical reaction, the kids and some of Ducky's hatchlings giggled at Shaka's silly expression. Even Mama Swimmer was trying to stifle her laughter.
After the giggling died down, Shaka was finally able to speak again.
"Oh, dear, 22 siblings." Shaka rubbed the sides of his head in realization. "That would certainly be way too much for me to handle. Ms. Swimmer, I seriously have no idea how you're able to handle having so many children, because we humans usually have only 2 to 4 at the most."
"Well, Shaka, we swimmers commonly have a lot of eggs and a lot of children, so we know how to deal with so many." Mama Swimmer replied. "Besides, except for Ducky or Spike, who always go off on adventures with their friends, none of my children really do that much aside from just staying with me, so it's quite easy for me to deal with them."
"Ah, I guess that helps too..." Shaka remarked.
There was a few moments of silence, before one of Ducky's siblings came up to Shaka.
"Hey, Shaka," the young swimmer asked, "just asking, but can you swim?"
"Can I swim?" Shaka responded in kind. "Well, yes, I can. But why do I need to when I can just walk across the surface instead?"
All of the young swimmers, as well as the gang and Mama Swimmer, stared at him for a few seconds before some of them began laughing at the absurdity of Shaka's claim.
"Walk ON the water?" Petrie laughed. "Me usually believe everything, but that really silly!"
"You're funny, Shaka, you are, you are!" Ducky giggled, completely missing the point. "You cannot walk on the water, nope nope nope!"
Shaka rolled his eyes at all of them. He knew that this would happen at some point.
"Okay then, if you don't want to believe my word..." Shaka replied, "then I guess I'll just have to show that I can indeed do it...right in front of you."
Without another moment's hesitation, Shaka, using a certain skillful form of water manipulation, an ability that waterbenders had, began casually walking across the surface of the water to the other side. He could hear the laughter turning into gasps, but he took no notice. Once he reached the other side, then he turned around and walked back to the side of the water that he had started at.
Once he was back on the side of the water he had started at, he looked at everyone else's shocked expressions. Now, it was them who looked thunderstruck by shock. And now it was his turn to laugh at them.
"You should have seen your faces!" Shaka chuckled. "I bloody told you all that I could walk on water!"
The reactions of everyone were funny enough, but Cera's was the best one. One piece of her father' influence that Cera did keep was that she was still close-minded, and always something of a skeptic when it came to absurd claims. Most of the time, she was right, but on the occasions where the claims were actually true, like this one, she would have quite the amusing reaction. But this time, it was on another level.
"Okay, I think I'm gonna go find some sweet bubbles." Cera told them all, still quite shocked at seeing someone actually being able to walk on water. "Be right back."
At that, Cera ran over to a bush of grapes and began eating as many of them as she could, with Shaka laughing REALLY hard now after seeing her reaction. That was because what she said reminded him of how some adult humans would often ask for a drink after seeing something particularly absurd or crazy. And since what they drank was often made out of grapes, to Shaka, Cera was basically saying "I need a freaking drink!", and that was what made it so funny.
It took a minute for Shaka to stop laughing, but still, to him, that was a brilliant scene to watch.
"Sorry about that, but that was the humor I needed." Shaka said to the others. "Seriously."
Just a few seconds later, Cera came back, having calmed down a little bit.
"Okay, Shaka, let me get this straight, you can walk on water?" Cera asked.
"Yes, I can." Shaka answered. "Your eyes cannot lie to you. Yes, you saw that right, I WAS walking on the water."
"...Alright then." Cera responded. "Sorry, but I REALLY didn't see that coming."
"Well, everyone has those moments." Shaka replied.
A few more moments of silence followed, before Shaka went up to Mama Swimmer.
"I know that this sounds rather random," Shaka began, "but are Ducky and Spike harder to take care of than your other children at times?"
"Of course, all children are hard to take care of at some point," Mama Swimmer answered, "but yes, Ducky and Spike are harder to take care of than my other children, kindhearted as they may be. They're almost always off on an adventure with their friends, and their adventures sometimes lead them outside the valley, which is not a safe place for them at all, and it makes me worry."
"Well, I do have a solution to that." Shaka offered.
"And what is that?" the adult swimmer asked.
"Well...you could just have me watch them." Shaka told her. "I'm 15 years old, and in my kind, at that age, you start to be seen as a young adult, rather than a child, and that's when you start to assume adult responsibilities. Furthermore, you've seen my bending, and how any hostile sharpteeth would be...ineffective in trying to attack the kids while I'm around. And don't worry, I'm not that "Leeroy Jenkins" kind of guy that rushes ahead without orders, caution, or being properly prepared, and the reason why I sound so confident at fighting off sharpteeth is because I really am that good at taking them on. And besides, I understand how Ducky and Spike like adventure, because I am that kind of guy as well, so I think that I'll do a pretty good job."
Mama Swimmer thought it over for a few seconds before she gave her answer.
"Very well, then, Shaka, if that is all true about you, then I will trust you with watching Ducky and Spike." Mama Swimmer accepted Shaka's order. "Just one condition, though."
"And what is that?" Shaka raised an eyebrow.
"Make sure you keep them safe." Mama Swimmer answered.
"Don't worry, I will keep them safe." Shaka told her. "Of course, I am not perfect, so I certainly will make a few mistakes here and there, but then again, no one is absolutely perfect."
Mama Swimmer nodded. Then, Shaka remembered that he still had one more family to visit.
"Anyways, it was nice knowing you, Ms. Swimmer." Shaka said to the mother dinosaur. "Right now, I have things that I need to do, since this is only my second day here in the valley. Have a nice day."
"You too, Shaka." Mama Swimmer replied.
At that, Shaka motioned the young dinosaurs to come with him, and they left, and began looking for their last family to visit.
31
Of course, they were talking AGAIN on the way to their last family, but this time, it was the young dinosaurs asking Shaka about this "Leeroy Jenkins" that he was talking about.
"So, Shaka," Littlefoot asked, "when you told Mama Swimmer about "Leeroy Jenkins", what were you talking about?"
"Oh, well, in my kind, that's a saying for someone who's very brave, very stupid, or very impatient, and then rushes ahead without a plan, without orders, without caution, and, often, without being prepared." Shaka explained. "I think we all know a certain adult male threehorn who fits that description, do we?"
The little gang of dinosaurs almost immediately understood what and who Shaka was talking about.
"You're talking about my dad." Cera pointed out, correctly guessing who Shaka was speaking of. "You're right, of course. My dad is a "Leeroy Jenkins". Seriously, trying to find his "own" way through a fire and dragging me with him was not a good idea. Neither was trying to split up the herd in the middle of a desert."
Shaka shrugged at the mention of how stupid Cera's father was. Some people were just stupid, and he couldn't do much about it. But then Cera mentioned a time when she had a few moments where her overconfidence got her in huge trouble.
"Though, admittedly, before I got to the valley, I was a "Leeroy Jenkins" too." Cera admitted. "There was the time when I tried to ram Sharptooth's head just because I thought he was dead, and then he turned out...not to be dead. And then there was the time where I thought I could lead better than Littlefoot, and ended up almost getting myself and everyone else killed. I mean, I already told about those to you earlier, but I always make sure to remember my mistakes so that I don't make the same ones again."
Shaka nodded at Cera admitting to being a Leeroy Jenkins before she came to the valley, and silently approved of Cera's strategy to avoid becoming that again.
"Anyways," Shaka began, mentioning what they were originally doing, "I think we've got one more family to visit. Let's see, I've visited Littlefoot's family, Cera's family, and Ducky's family. So, that leaves Petrie's family."
The young dinosaurs understood, but Petrie, as to be expected, wasn't so thrilled.
"Yeah, me know." Petrie responded, unhappy that he had to deal with his siblings again. "Now me have to get picked on again by brothers and sisters."
Luckily, Shaka was not going to let that happen.
"Do you really think I would just let your siblings pick on you while I'm getting to know your family?" Shaka assured him. "I'll just make their ears bleed if they try to."
The way that the last part was worded was met with stares from the young dinosaurs. But Shaka then explained it to them.
"What that means is that I'm going to call them out on it." Shaka clarified. "It's just a term I use for when I get on someone's case, HARD. Usually for doing something stupid, cruel, mean, you name it."
The young dinosaurs then had agreeing looks on their faces at the clarification. They knew that it would be bad to actually make someone's ears bleed, and they were relieved that it was just a term Shaka used for getting on someone's case.
"So, are you kids all ready?" Shaka asked the young dinosaurs.
The young dinosaurs nodded.
"Alright then, let's go!" Shaka told them.
At that, Shaka and the young dinosaurs set off again, with Petrie leading them.
Since flyers, which was the dinosaurs' name for pterosaurs, really did act like birds back in his home world, despite being able to talk, Shaka was looking up at and around the trees, as he knew that flyers would likely be resting there, and because Petrie's family would likely be in one of them. His guess was proven correct, though not in the most pleasant way, when, as Shaka and the dinosaur gang walked by one particular tree, they heard a wall of insults hurled at them, though mostly aimed at Shaka and Petrie.
"Petrie, why did you let that thing in?"
"What is that, anyways?"
"Yeah, what is that thing?"
"I hope it's not a sharptooth or something!"
Shaka looked to his left and saw a good sized group of little flyers about Petrie's size and age, possibly the siblings he was talking about, who were hurling the insults. Since he was annoyed by what they were saying about him, though, it was a glare, which, fortunately enough, shut them up.
Just then, though, a light blue adult flyer flew in and landed on a nearby branch, not happy with the behavior of the little flyers. The adult was obviously Petrie's mother, as, earlier, Petrie had explained to Shaka that this was what his mother, who was commonly known as "Mama Flyer" by the other dinosaur kids, looked like.
29
"Tell me, my children, what were you just doing?" Mama Flyer demanded of the flyer hatchlings, dissapointed with their behavior.
"Oh uh, we were just asking Petrie why he brought that thing in!" The apparent ringleader of the flyer hatchlings hastily defended himself. "What if it's a sharptooth?"
Mama Flyer looked in the direction that the little flyer was pointing in, but upon noticing he was pointing at an unamused Shaka, she turned back around and gave her son a disapproving look.
"Now then, children, listen here." Mama Flyer told her hatchlings. Then, she gave them a short lecture. "That is not a sharptooth, and you certainly shouldn't be calling him a "thing", as calling him either of those things angers him. That is a creature called a "human", and is name is Shaka. Also, didn't I tell all of you to treat your brother better?"
"Yeah, yeah, you told us that he's our brother, we're lucky to have him, blah blah blah." One of the other hatchlings sassed his mother in defiance, and the other hatchlings agreed with him. Unfortunately for them, this did not go down well with their mother.
"Well, then, if you want to talk that way about him..." Mama Flyer now had enough of the nonsense from the hatchlings. "...then all of you are grounded to the nest for the rest of the day, and tonight, Petrie's getting sweet bubbles instead of all of you."
As expected, the hatchlings tried to disagree with this.
"But mama!" one of the hatchlings protested. "Petrie's too different! He should be grounded to the nest all day, not us!"
"No, I am not doing that." Mama Flyer told him bluntly. "Unlike all of you do now, Petrie doesn't act naughty. He's actually respectful, and he actually listens to me. And, after all, all of you were pretty much asking to get grounded. Now then, get to the nest. All of you."
The troublesome flyer hatchlings finally gave in and started flying back to wherever their nest was. Once they were out of sight, Mama Flyer then turned to Shaka and the young dinosaurs he was with.
"I'm sorry for all of that trouble, Shaka," Mama Flyer apologized, "it's just that, in case you were wondering, I am Petrie's mother, and he has a lot of brothers and sisters that are out of control, like what you saw there."
"Yeah, they're REAL mature." Shaka snarked at the immaturity of Petrie's siblings. "And I thought that having to deal with ONE bratty sibling was enough."
Mama Swimmer shrugged at this. Then, she flew over to where Shaka and the young dinosaurs were, and turned to a worried-looking Petrie, who Shaka was holding. She was able to calm him down by telling him who was grounded and who wasn't.
"Don't worry, Petrie, you're not grounded at all." Mama Flyer reassured him. "I only grounded your brothers and sisters. I'm sorry that you have to put up with them every single day, just because you're just a little different."
Petrie visibly calmed down at this, and he was glad that his mother wasn't going to ground him. Even then, he was also a little sad when he heard his mother say that it was because he was different that he got bullied all the time.
Shaka, on the other hand, was now curious as to how Petrie was different.
"So...how is Petrie different, though?" Shaka asked. "I mean, the way he speaks is an obvious one, but how else?"
"Well," Petrie's mother began, "Petrie...is certainly a very interesting character. He has a very entertaining imagination, according to his friends, and he can be very smart when he wants to, although he doesn't show it that often. Also, in the past, he has told me that he's uncomfortable with being around other flyers, but that may be just because of his siblings, since I've seen that he gets along very well with other kinds of dinosaurs, even though sometimes he can seem a little insensitive to some. His voice is in such a way so that he does sound older than he really is, though, as you may already notice, he talks in a broken manner, so sometimes, he's hard to understand. And that is why Petrie's "different", well, that's what his siblings say, anyways."
32
Shaka was very surprised when he heard all of this. Not because of the fact that Petrie was different, but because of the way that Petrie was different from other flyers. In fact, it actually reminded him of...himself.
"Hey, wait a minute," Shaka realized, "the way that Petrie's different from other flyers is pretty close to the way that I'm different from other humans." Then, he looked at Mama Flyer directly. "Want me to explain?"
"Go ahead." Mama Flyer told him.
"Alright then." Shaka affirmed. Then, he began explaining it to her. "Just like Petrie, I had, and still have, a very vivid imagination, and even though I may sometimes appear to be the guy who rushes into battle without thinking, also like Petrie, I am actually very smart, but I also show it more often than Petrie does."
Mama Swimmer listened with interest as Shaka went on explaining his similarities to Petrie.
"Now, I found it...hard to interact with other humans back at my old home." Shaka continued. "See how I've been talking to you for so long? Yeah, with humans, I would've only been able to do this with my mother or father. Thing is, as brave and as bold as I may seem now, I actually was very shy back where I used to live with other humans, and because of that, I was almost always by myself, as I was also terrible at interacting with other humans. But so far, it looks like I get along just fine with...dinosaurs though, except for Cera's father, of course, but then again, you know him."
Mama Flyer nodded at Shaka's acknowledgement of being terrible at interacting with his friends, and, of course, at the mention of Cera's Father.
"And, as much as my voice may sound somewhat normal, it also makes me sound older than I am." Shaka began wrapping up his explanation. "Also, though, I should mention that the way humans start talking is different from the way that dinosaurs apparently start talking, the latter according to these kids. According to them, since, I guess, it's instincts, dinosaurs can start talking from a very young age. But it's different with us humans, since, while dinosaurs can probably start talking on their own because of those instincts, we humans...cannot start talking on our own. You see, that is because, long ago, there was a time where humans couldn't talk at all, and the only reason why any of us started talking was because we learned how to do it, and because of that, even today, human babies still have to learn how to talk. Now, the reason why I brought that up is because...I have a minor case of something that we humans call "Autism". Now, Autism is not a disease, an illness, or really a disorder...it's just something that I have that makes me different. Thing is, Autism, even if it's a minor case, still changes quite a few things about me. You know those things about me that I explained to you earlier, like my imagination, being able to be really smart, and being terrible at interacting with other humans? Yeah, the fact that I have Autism has something to do with that." Shaka stopped for a few seconds to catch his breath before continuing again. "However, Autism has also changed my ability to speak. Now, I do seem to be talking normally right now, but remember how I told you that humans have to learn how to talk? Well, while most humans start learning how to talk when they're 2-3 years old, with me, I didn't really start talking until I was 4-5, and that was almost as old as Petrie is right now! And partially because of that, I have to choose my words carefully, because something that has happened a little too much in the past is that I've said something meaning one thing, but to someone else, it means another thing, sometimes an insult. Sorry if that was a little long, but that's my explanation for you."
Mama Flyer was quite impressed with how well Shaka was able to explain himself. Even though it took a long time, Mama Flyer tolerated this, since there were some who took a lot of words to get things out.
"Well, quite an interesting explanation, Shaka." Mama Flyer remarked. "And it is interesting that you have that difference."
Shaka nodded at this. A short silence followed, and then Shaka decided to ask Mama Flyer about something.
33
"Hey, Ms. Flyer," Shaka began, "can I ask you something?"
"Go on."
"You know how Petrie gets picked on by his siblings, right?"
"Yes, I do. Shame that it happens to him all the time."
"Well, I think that I found the solution to that. And that is, what if I was a babysitter for him so that so that he wouldn't have to deal with his siblings so much?"
Mama Flyer was caught off guard by Shaka's suggestion. She was not expecting Shaka to make a suggestion like that, since he did look and sound young, likely mid-teens.
"Oh...I don't know." Mama Flyer responded, a little surprised. Then, she decided to ask Shaka an important question. "Shaka, are you SURE that you want to babysit Petrie?"
"Yes, I am." Shaka replied.
"Well, I don't know if someone else has told you this already, but Petrie and his friends tend to get themselves in danger a lot, and they're quite hard for even us to watch." Mama Flyer warned.
"For YOU, anyways." Shaka remarked. "Frankly, I actually understand the mindset of these kids, that is, curious, adventurous, and full of energy, as I am pretty much just a slightly subdued version of that. I don't think that I'll have too much of an issue watching them."
"Alright then." Mama Flyer told him. "Just don't complain if you find yourself a mess by the end of the day."
Shaka rolled his eyes at that. But now, it was time to get moving.
"Well, Ms Flyer, it was nice getting to know you, and it was pretty neat finding out how similar I am to Petrie, but it's about time for me to get on with my day." Shaka said goodbye to Mama Flyer. "May yours be a good one...well, as good as possible when dealing with 12 naughty little flyers back at the nest."
"You too, Shaka." Mama Flyer responded. "And I'll do my best to deal with Petrie's siblings, thank you very much."
Shaka nodded, and Mama Flyer took off, apparently towards her nest.
With that, and having visited all 4 families, Shaka and the young dinosaurs left the area.
Shortly afterwards, the young dinosaurs decided to ask him about what he thought of the families that he had visited.
"So, what do you think of our families, Shaka?" Littlefoot asked.
"Oh, it varies, depending on the family." Shaka answered. "Littlefoot, I could tell that your grandparents meant well, but they seemed to be a little too protective of you. Cera, your stepmother and half-sister were a lot of fun to get to know, but your father kinda ruined it. Ducky, your mother and your sisters were nice knowing, and I certainly had a lot of fun teasing them like that by walking ON the water. And Petrie, even though your siblings were insufferable, your mother was also nice knowing."
The reactions of the little gang of dinosaurs varied from individual to individual. Littlefoot shrugged a bit at the fact that his grandparents were overprotective, Cera sighed when she heard Shaka say that her father somewhat ruined his visit with her family, Ducky nodded vigorously and jumped a little at the fact that Shaka thought well of her family, and Petrie gave a slight nod of approval when Shaka said that his mother made up for the visit with his family.
Seeing as how they all respected his feedback, Shaka began thinking of something to do with the dinosaur children. He could play a game with them, and that was good and all, or he could teach them more about himself and humans as a hole, and that was also good. But then, he remembered something that he knew should take precedence over those things: a place in the valley to live and sleep. Problem was, at the moment, Shaka had no place of his own in the valley to live and sleep at, and that was something that was very important for him to find.
"Hey, kids, I've got a problem." Shaka told the young dinosaur gang with a tone of concern. "I...don't have a place of my own in this valley to live or sleep at. I mean, I didn't have a problem with sleeping at Littlefoot's nest, but it doesn't beat having a place of my own to sleep at. So, perhaps you could help me find a place to sleep?"
The faces of the young dinosaurs were filled with realization when they remembered that Shaka didn't have a place of his own in the valley.
"You're right, you still don't have your own nest, nope nope nope." Ducky replied. "We can help you find a place to make one, we can, we can."
"Well, that's good." Shaka responded. "At least I'll have some help doing it. In that case, show me a place where I could make a "nest", as you call it."
"Okay then, come on, we'll show you!" Chomper told him.
And with that, the little gang of dinosaurs began showing Shaka around the valley once more, helping him to pick a place to make his own "nest".
Sorry for taking so long to update this story, but this was a HUGE chapter, and it took me a few weeks to write it. Of course, I will be explaining some of the things that you might notice here that might look a little out of place in a TLBT fanfic.
I know, it seems very odd and out of place for Shaka to get angry at Littlefoot's Grandparents, since the latter are kind, wise, and well respected throughout the valley, and because Shaka, in case you didn't know, almost always respects the elderly. But one trait about Shaka that I'm going to be introducing here is that he REALLY likes children. Now, he does like human children, of course (if they are younger than him, that is), but he's already finding that he ESPECIALLY likes dinosaur children. And Shaka likes children so much, in fact, that if their parents are abusive, are overprotective, or screw up in caring for their children, he WILL call them out on it. In this case, he called out Littlefoot's Grandparents for not explaining to Littlefoot and his friends why they shouldn't go near the sheltering grass, because, as he says, "Poor Communication KILLS", and because of that, Littlefoot and his friends fell into the quicksand and almost died.
Also, Cera talking trash about her dad (!) may seem VERY out of character for her, as, in the canon TLBT movies, Cera almost always agrees with her dad. But in this fanfic, when Cera learned the error of her own ways, she also began to see the error of her father's ways as well. Similarly, in a case where reality ensues, Cera also has a very unfavorable opinion of him after what he did when the valley caught on fire, and when the herd was trying to find food after locusts gobbled up all of the valley's vegetation. Because of this, when her father isn't around, Cera is perfectly will to discuss his flaws with anyone if they want to know about them. And also because of this, whenever Cera needs wisdom, she goes to either Tria or Littlefoot's Grandparents. Now, as she actually says in this chapter, Cera still loves her father because he's her father, and a part of the family, but that doesn't mean that she LIKES him.
Shaka walking on the water's surface may initially seem like a sue-like trait, since that is one ability that sues may have, but actually, in the version of Earth that Shaka came from, this ability is a well known high-skill waterbending ability that takes a LOT of practice to pull off. And the reason why Shaka is able to do that is because he has been practicing bending since he was very young, taking to it like a duck to the water, and he is very skilled with, and has actually mastered, all 4 elements, water included, as a result. Now, in this story, Shaka STILL learns some new moves, and actually makes a few of his own, just to keep this trait of his from becoming sue-like.
Yep, I'm making it official: Shaka has Autism, even if it doesn't look like it. I know that it sounds a little odd that he has it, but that's because I'm basing his case of Autism off of my own. The thing is, Shaka is very smart, and, if given the chance, he is a great leader, but his flaw is that he isn't that good at interacting with other humans, although he's very good at interacting with dinosaurs, as it soon becomes apparent. How Autism also affects Shaka's personality is that even though he's usually a nice guy, he has blood as hot as lava (well, early on, anyways), and he is also fairly easy to set off or offend, and he also requires solid proof before he believes something, so he is not very easy to fool.
Hopefully, that will do for explaining things, and as usual, be fair with your judgement in your reviews.
Soundtrack:
26. Gandhi (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)
27. Gandhi (War) - Civilization 5 (PC)
28. Boudicca (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)
29. Devil's Harp - Medieval 2: Total War (PC)
30. Maria I (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)
31. Grey Meadows - Medieval 2: Total War (PC)
32. But Chrom, It's Nearly Dark! - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)
33. Sejong (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)