Fierce Loyalty

"What is that?" Chomper asked in astonishment, pointing at the sword.

"It's a sword." Aylene explained, completely forgetting about the peril they were in at the moment. "It's a weapon we humans use for close-range combat."

"Then you can use it to help Chomper's parents, right?" Littlefoot asked eagerly.

Aylene's face changed from curious to very, very worried.

"That's easier said than done because I don't know how to use this thing," she admitted embarressingly. "I've seen how it's used, but I've never handled a sword before."

The roars and cries of Strongfang, Rena, and Savage Spine caught the group's attention once again. They all turned their eyes back to the fight. Aylene and Littlefoot were not used to seeing predatory dinosaurs fighting each other. They were accustomed to a meat-eater facing off against a giant plant-eater like a long-neck or three-horn. This time, however, they were witnessing something very different.

Two T-Rexes going up against a Giganotosaurus. And by the way things were looking, things were about to get ugly.

"Beside," Aylene said nervous, "I don't really want to get caught up in the middle of THAT."

"Yeah, me neither." Littlefoot replied in a similar tone.

Strongfang and Savage Spine circled each other; their backs were arched, and their jaws tense with a readiness to strike. Every now and then, one of them would make a mock lunge and snap at the other with their massive teeth, only to retreat quickly to avoid the other's retaliation. Rena hung back to let her mate handle this fight, but she still had a defensive stance.

"What are you doing here, Savage Spine?!" Strongfang growled.

"Isn't obvious, Strongfang?!" Savage Spine spat. "I'm here for Sharptooth's defeaters!"

At the mention of Sharptooth, Aylene jolted and looked back at the fight with a fearful expression. She was so engrossed in the fight that she didn't notice Chomper's reaction. He, too, looked over in surprise at the name of Sharptooth.

"You're here for the title of "Walking Terror"!" Strongfang roared viciously. "Why do you want that anyway?! Don't you realize that Sharptooth was a monster who lost his mind?!"

"He was a dinosaur with power!" Savage Spine retorted, lunging in to snap at Strongfang's arm. "And that power is what made him so strong! Do you know how many of us would kill for that kind of power!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Strongfang moved away from Savage Spine's attack. "No one does! Or are you telling me that you all want to be monsters just like him!"

"That rich coming from you! You've lived with him all your life! You of all biters know how strong and fierce he was!"

"All I know is that he was driven to madness! That so-called "power" you speak of made him nothing more than a mindless, vengeance driven beast! Did you forget that he even hunted your kind?! Why would you want a title that belonged to something like that!"

Savage Spine snarled angrily and snapped his massive jaws towards Strongfang's face. This caused Strongfang to step back suddenly, making him lose his footing for a moment. He slipped on the dirt and fell to the ground with a loud "BOOM".

Savage Spine towered over Strongfang with a killing look in his eyes.

"What I can't understand is why you, a brother of Sharptooth, would side with leaf-eaters!" he growled dangerously. "Is that why your son protected that long-neck?! Doesn't he know that is the same one who killed his uncle?!"

"SHUT UP!" Strongfang roared.

Strongfang then shot up and bit down on Savage Spine's chest. His massive teeth dug into the Giganotosaurus's flesh, causing him to howl in agony as his rib bones began to break.

"Don't look!" Aylene commanded to Littlefoot, forcing him to turn his head away. She really didn't want him to see this. She could barely stand it herself.

"There has to be something I can do, but what?!" she thought desperately to herself. "I can't use my archery; I might hit Strongfang or Rena!" She looked down at the sword in her hand. "I could use this, but I'd have to use it at close range! I can't risk that!"

Aylene looked sharply back up at the fight. What she saw next made her scream out in terror.

Savage Spine swiped at Strongfang's snout with his three-talon hand. The talons sliced right through Strongfang's skin, drawing blood. A drop or two of that red liquid splattered into Strongfang's eye. The mighty T-Rex let go of his opponent and wielded back in pain.

Savage Spine took advantage of Strongfang's temporary blindness and knocked him over with vicious force. Strongfang fell to the ground and tumbled for a few feet.

"NO, STRONGFANG!" Aylene cried out.

Rena sprung into action the moment her mate was down. She darted right in front of Savage Spine, forcing him to focus his attention on her. She snarled and snapped at him with wicked jaws. Savage Spine was nearly caught off guard by her sudden attack, but he recovered quicker than it took for Aylene to breathe. The girl watched with wide eyes as the female T-Rex began to battle the Giganotosaurus. Rena was smaller than Savage Spine, even smaller than Strongfang was compared to that plated-dinosaur.

"And you, Rena!" Savage Spine growled, evading her jaw attack. "Why in the world would choose someone like him as your mate! He's weak compared to his brother! Why would you choose him!"

"Because I love him!" Rena replied angrily. "He's not weak at all! At least was honest with me in the beginning! I made this choice, and I have no regrets!"

"Well then," Savage Spine snarled, "I wonder if you'll still cling to that when you're about to die!"

With an underhanded move, Savage Spine lifted his left foot and swiped at Rena's right leg with the three large talons. Rena roared in pain and staggered back. But when she put pressure on right leg, the ache from her wound shot up through the rest of her body. She was about to fall to her knees when Savage Spine whipped around with his tail and smacked her right up under her jaw. The female T-Rex fell backwards and skidded through the dirt and grass. She slid right up into a tree and knocked her head against it.

"RENA!" Aylene cried.

"Aylene, what should we do?!" Littlefoot asked, his voice full of panic.

"I…I…!" Aylene couldn't get the words out. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to run, but she didn't want to leave Strongfang and Rena behind. But there was no way she could stand up to that monstrous predator. She could use her arrows now, but she would more than likely have one or two shots before he closed in on her and Littlefoot.

As she was going over her options, Aylene suddenly realized something.

Where was Chomper?

"Family!" a small voice roared angrily in the tongue of a predator. "Protect family!"

Aylene and Littlefoot both snapped their heads up and saw Chomper rushing towards Savage Spine.

"CHOMPER!" the human and Apatosaurus yelled.

Chomper didn't seem to hear them. He headed straight for Savage Spine. When he reached the enormous biter, he leapt forward and clamped his jaws down on the biter's left foot.

Savage Spine roared in pain and whipped around. This forced Chomper to let go and stumble back a few feet. He fell to the ground as Savage Spine towered over him. Chomper looked up viciously in response, and Savage Spine saw the little biter's eyes.

They were blood-shot red again.

"Ah, so the little pipsqueak has Predator Rage, too," he snarled almost amusingly. "Not that it will save him now."

Savage Spine then closed in for the kill. His massive teeth were eager to grab a hold of the little biter and cut him clean in half.

However, just as he had gotten within inches of Chomper, something large and sharp suddenly stabbed into his left leg. He jolted up and roared with agony as the thing that stabbed him tore away from his leg. He turned around and was shocked to see the little human girl riding on the young long-neck backing away from him. In the girl's right hand was a long, sharp object that had some blood on it.

Littlefoot and Aylene weren't quite sure what drove them to run up and stab the Giganotosaurus. All they knew was that they wanted to protect their friend no matter what. They were purely thinking with their instincts. And their loyalty to Chomper was driving them to fight back.

So Aylene threw off her bow, quiver, and gym bag, and leapt up on Littlefoot's back, gripping the sword in her hand as tight as she could. As if sensing what his human friend was thinking, the Apatosaurus rushed through the bushes towards the enormous biter. When he got in close range, Aylene followed her instincts and stabbed the sword into the biter's leg with all the strength she had. When Savage Spine turned around, she was forced to pull it out again.

Only now the two of them were starting to regret just reacting out of instinct. Because now that they had Savage Spine standing menacingly over them, they realized just how much trouble they were in.

"Big mistake!" Savage Spine snarled. "NOW YOU'RE MINE!"

Aylene and Littlefoot both screamed as Savage Spine brought his jaws down to end them. Out of reaction, Aylene lifted her sword up in a vain attempt to shield herself and Littlefoot. However, as she did, Savage Spine was stopped short by a bright, green bubble. Aylene shivered as she cracked an eye open. To her utter astonishment, the sword was glowing bright green, and seemed to be generating a kind of force field that had encased both her and Littlefoot.

"Aylene, the sword!" Littlefoot cried out when he saw what was happening.

At the same time, Aylene heard a small humming sound just below her face and looked down. Her Time Stone around her neck was glowing, just like the sword was. Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw this.

Was the sword responding to the Time Stone?

Aylene didn't have much time to think about this tough. Because at that moment, Strongfang came charging in from what seemed to be out of nowhere.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!" the T-Rex roared as he rammed into Savage Spine.

Then, with a rage of vengeance, Strongfang whipped himself around and whacked Savage Spine with his tail. This caused Savage Spine to stagger backwards. Aylene and Littlefoot both looked over and saw that he was heading in the direction of the cliff. Just a few more feet and he would fall off into the ocean.

But they also realized something else, too.

Chomper was in the way of Savage Spine's path!

"CHOMPER, MOVE!" Aylene and Littlefoot cried out in alarm.

Chomper didn't respond in time. Before the biter had the chance to move, Savage Spine fell over on his side and whacked Chomper with his massive tail.

"NOOOO!" Strongfang yelled, attempting to run forward and catch his son.

But he was too late. Chomper went sailing over the edge of the cliff along with Savage Spine, and the two of them headed down towards the ocean below. Chomper hit the water first with a loud "SPLASH", and disappeared under the waves.

"CHOMPER!" Littlefoot and Aylene cried, running up and peering over the edge. "CHOMPER!"

Whether it was from the cold shock of the water, or by the sudden realization that he wasn't on firm ground anymore, Chomper snapped back to reality. His eyes reverted back to normal and he quickly realized with a horrible jolt of fear that he was sinking in sea water.

But how did he end up down here? The last thing he remembered was that he was shocked by what Savage Spine said about his father being a brother to Sharptooth. But the moment he saw that monstrous biter attack his mother, his world went into a big haze again. Now he found himself in a watery world, and running short on air.

The pressure of the water change around Chomper as he sunk deeper and deeper. Luckily, he soon hit the bottom of the seafloor. He looked back up quickly to see how far he was from the surface. Using his legs, he pushed himself off of the sea floor and struggled to swim back up for precious air.

As he approached the surface, he was met with a horrible surprise. Savage Spine came crashing through the surface of the water. He fell past Chomper, just narrowly avoiding him, and continued to sink to the bottom. Chomper regarded this only for a second before turning his attention back to getting some air.

For a few sickening seconds, Littlefoot and Aylene looked down at the water below. They hadn't seen any sign of Chomper yet. At this point, Strongfang and Rena both recovered from their fight with Savage Spine and came running up behind the two friends. They both looked down for any sign of their son, but they could see nothing.

"No!" Strongfang whimpered. "This can't be! Not again!"

"Chomper," Littlefoot whispered fretfully, "please, PLEASE come up!"

As if answering the long-neck's prayer, Chomper suddenly burst through the water, taking in a large gulp of air. He coughed and spluttered as he tried to get out the seawater he had accidently swallowed beforehand.

"M-MOMMY!" he cried out, completely terrified.

"Hang on, sweetie!" Rena called back, trying to be reassuring. "We'll get you out!"

"Aylene, we gotta do something!" Littlefoot said urgently, turning to his friend.

To his shock, Aylene wasn't beside him. All that was there was the sword she had been carrying, and it was on the ground. But before he could guess where she was, she suddenly came running past him and dove off the cliff.

"AYLENE!" Littlefoot shouted, mortified.

Aylene completely forgot her fear of heights as she ran towards the edge and jumped off it. She took a diving position and headed straight down towards the water below. The only thing that was on her mind was rescuing Chomper no matter what it took. She took a deep breath, and in a matter of seconds, she made contact with the ocean and shot through the water like an arrow.

Suddenly, Aylene let out a cry of pain, causing big bubbles of air to escape her mouth. She shut her eyes and grabbed her leg. The cut she had gotten earlier stung horrible when it made contact with the salty water. It was enough to distract her from her original intention for a moment or two. However, she quickly remembered her objective and twisted her body around to swim back up to the surface. She quickly emerged right beside Chomper and took in a deep breath of air.

"Aylene!" Chomper whined.

"Hang on, Chomper!" Aylene commanded, wrapping one arm around him. "I'll get you out!"

However, Aylene soon realized something about Chomper she didn't think of before. Chomper might not have been much taller than her, but he was defiantly heavy. Before Aylene knew what was happening, she and Chomper started to sink again.

"Aylene, help!" the little biter cried.

"Just hang on!" Aylene strained. "We're going to make it!"

Chomper clutched at Aylene in a panic, and down they both went. Aylene struggled to stay afloot, but Chomper continued to weigh her down like a millstone. The ocean water stung Aylene's eyes and she felt a wave of fear rise up inside of her. She and Chomper were running out of air, and they were getting farther and farther away from the surface with each passing second. They were too far from the side of the island to cling onto the rock and climb up it.

They were helpless.

"Someone help!" Aylene's mind cried.

At that moment, Aylene heard the sound of a muffled splash. She looked up and squinted as she tried to see what was happening. All she could make out was that a large, brownish object was rapidly approaching her and Chomper. When it reached them, Aylene felt something come up underneath her and she shot up towards the surface. The moment her head was out of the water, she inhaled deeply and wiped her eyes. She looked over to see who had saved her and a smile lit up her face.

"LITTLEFOOT!" she yelled with elation.

It was Littlefoot. The Apatosaurus had dived into the water and managed to reach Aylene and Chomper just in the nick of time. Although he wasn't the best swimmer in the world, he strength and endurance was enough to keep himself, Aylene, and Chomper afloat. Chomper hung onto Littlefoot's long neck for dear life, and Aylene slipped off her friend's back to tread water on her own.

"Thanks, Littlefoot!" Aylene said gratefully. "I thought we were goners for a moment!"

"Don't thank me yet!" Littlefoot replied. "We still have to get out of here! Let's get to calmer waters!"

Suddenly, and much to everyone's terror, Savage Spine shot up out of the water just a few yards away from Aylene, Littlefoot, and Chomper. The three turned around quickly and saw the large biter thrash around in the water wildly. He turned his head in their direction and fixed his horrible gaze on them. They all felt their blood run cold as he growled and bear his teeth at them.

"I SWEAR I'LL PUT AN END TO YOU!" Savage Spine roared.

"NO, CHOMPER!" Strongfang shouted from the top of the cliff.

Savage Spine was about to swim towards his prey and finish them off, when something even more terrifying happened.

A large Megalodon shark suddenly shot up out of the water like a torpedo, and seized Savage Spine in its jaws. Savage Spine could only let out a painful howl as those several rows of massive teeth clamped tight around his body before the Megalodon splashed back down into the water, dragging him down under the water with it.

Aylene, Littlefoot, and Chomper stared in horror at the sight. It happened so fast, but that was more than enough to send a jolt of fear through them. Not only were they stunned by what just happened, but they also realized that they were in even graver danger.

They were in SHARK territory!

"Guys!" Chomper whined. "I'm scared!"

"I-It'll be okay, Chomper!" Aylene stuttered, trying to summon her courage. "Sharks will most likely go after things that are bleeding! They're attracted to blood!"

"Aylene!" Littlefoot gasped in horror. "YOU'RE bleeding! You got that cut on your leg!"

Aylene stiffened in terror. Littlefoot was right. She had a cut on her leg. That would mean…

Aylene immediately took a deep breath of air and went under. She looked down through the water and strained to see what was around her. Although she was terrified, she wanted to at least see if anything was approaching instead of being caught by surprise by a monster fish with teeth the size of butcher knives.

At first, she saw nothing. But just as the wave of relief came over her, something moving in the darkness ahead of her caught her eyes. She snapped her eyes up, and let out a scream.

A huge Megalodon shark was heading straight towards her and Littlefoot and Chomper!

Littlefoot and Chomper saw it, too. They both saw that jagged dorsal fin rise up and cut through the water like a blade.

And it was closing in on them wickedly fast!

Aylene shot her head out of the water and screamed out of pure terror,

"HELP!"

Just as that Megalodon was about to catch its prey, three large object fell from the sky around the Aylene, Littlefoot, and Chomper, and splashed into the water. The Megalodon was suddenly stopped short as those three objects shot through the water towards it.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Chomper yelled, clutching onto Littlefoot.

"I-I DON'T KNOW!" Littlefoot replied, shocked and terrified.

Now that they were under the water, Battle Scar, Bar, and Onyx worked together as a cohesive unit to take down the Megalodon shark that had threatened to harm Sharptooth's defeaters and Strongfang's son. For any land-walking dinosaurs, this task would prove to be next to impossible.

But they were Baryonyx: dinosaurs that were made for both land and sea. They could swim through the water with just as much ease as they could walk or run on land.

And for Battle Scar and his pack, they had dealt with these kinds of creatures before. They knew exactly what to do.

The first thing they did was go for the gills. As Battle Scar managed to come up from underneath the monstrous shark and grabbed a chunk of its underbelly in his mouth, Bar and Onyx went for the gills. Using their crocodile-like jaws, the bit down and thrashed around. The shark retaliated in pain and swung its head left and right to try and get the Baryonyx off of it. But Bar and Onyx held on tightly with their talon fingers. They hooked onto the shark's skin and continued to chew out the gills of this creature. They weren't letting go so easily.

As they did, they, along with the shark, began to sink down to the bottom of the sea.

Battle Scar, using all the strength he had, shifted his body around so that he was perpendicular with the shark's. Bar and Onyx saw his action and responded accordingly. With their combined strength, the three Baryonyx swam around in a circle, forcing the Megalodon to turn over onto its back.

At that moment, the Megalodon became absolutely still.

The three Baryonyx let go and swam directly above it. Battle Scar gave one last push with his foot, and the Megalodon shark sank down into the darkness of the sea like it was nothing more than a large boulder.

Battle Scar looked back at his companions and nodded. The three then swam up to the surface, directly towards the ones they had come to save.

The next thing that Aylene, Littlefoot, and Chomper knew, they were suddenly hoisted out of the water by something large. They all looked and saw that they were on the back of a massive creature. They turned to see what kind of creature it was, and were surprise to see a massive, gator-like head with a large scar around his snout turning to look back at them. And not only him, two more of the same biters emerged from the ocean alongside them.

"That was close." Battle Scar said after he had gotten his breath back. "Are you three alright?"

"Uh, yes, I think so." Aylene replied stiffly. "But…who are you guys?"

It was then that several voices came cheering from above. Littlefoot, Aylene, and Chomper looked up, and to their smiling relief, saw their friends up on the ridge above them. Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike were all standing together beside Strongfang and Rena. Each and every one of them was laughing for joy when they saw that their friends below were safe and sound. At the same time, Strongfang and Rena were roaring with triumph as they saw their son had been rescued.

"You guys made it!" Cera shouted happily. "Good thing we made it in time!"

"Guys!" Aylene laughed. "You're all okay!"

"And we're happy you are two!" Ducky waved joyfully. "Thank you for saving them, Battle Scar, Bar, and Onyx! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Battle Scar smiled and nodded his head, acknowledging the swimmer's gratitude.

"Hold on," Littlefoot panted, "you mean you guys are friends?"

"I'll explain everything later." Battle Scar replied. "But for now, let's get you three back on land."

"Uh, okay." Aylene blinked, confused and relieved. "Thank you."