(Here's the next chapter, as usual :- ) )
Chapter 36: Cold Hearts and Cold Fire Part 2
Back at the leafeater valley, the Gang of Five was trying to locate Strut. "I'm….so cold g…g…guys," Rita said, you could clearly see the shiver's on the longneck's neck. Her friends wanted to solve this problem.
Just then Rory saw a fast runner resting beside a tree. "It's Strut!" Rory smiled, the threehorn running ahead of the rest of the group. As everyone caught up, Rory noticed he was sleeping. "Hey Mr. Strut, wake up!" Rory called, giving him a few nudges.
Strut's eyes began to open. "Oh, it's you children," he smiled, getting up while sounding like her clearly wanted to still be asleep. "Is there anything you need my assistance with?" he asked. Myra came in front of everyone.
"Yeah…..Rita's having some problems," Myra explained. Strut looked surprised, but then nodded. Ever since the Redfoot incident, most of the flatteeth realized he was wise, and often came for him with advice. They also came to him asking for relationship advice for some reason, even though he says he's no good in that category. "What trouble are you having Rita?" Strut asked.
"It's something I inherited from my mother," Rita began. "Ever since I was little….I had these weird feelings. Whenever something really…..bad, evil, or scary was happening around me….I would get very cold. And it wouldn't go away until I knew what was going on or until the problem was solved." This made Strut intrigued. He was thinking of what they should do, as he had a great respect for Rory, Rita, Greg, Mo, and Myra, as they were the first ones in the leafeater valley to really understand the world besides him.
Meanwhile, back at the Great Valley, the friends were figuring out where they would be able to find everyone they were looking for. "Littlefoot, do you know where your parents and Shorty would be?" Ruby asked.
The little sharptooth nodded yes. "Yeah, they didn't leave too long ago, and there's this spot I know they love to visit: The Meadow of Jumping Waters." "Never heard of it," replied Ruby.
Chomper was about to make a comment, but he remembered that unlike the previous reality, none of his friends (Besides Littlefoot apparently) had been there before. "Tippy knows where her aunt and uncle are," the belly dragger then said. "They are part of a heard of belly draggers and sharpbeaks."
Guido let out a happy sigh. "Sharpbeaks and belly draggers……what a good mix." "What does Guido mean?" Tippy asked. "Nevermind," Guido smiled to Tippy. Chomper was wondering something else. "I wonder why Petrie hasn't come here," he said.
Back at Petrie's family's nest, Tera was still explaining things to her son. "I was intending to leave tomorrow morning before everyone else set off," she said to Petrie. "I know where to look for Pterano, and I know we'll need his help." Petrie looked at his mother, surprised by this information. "I want to come with you mom," the little sharptooth flyer said.
"Petrie, I feel this journey would be safer if you stayed with your friends. If those flyers were suspicious that Pterano knew about them…." Tera tried to say, but Petrie kept saying he wanted to come along. Tera finally gave in."Ok, but you'll have to stay by me," Mama Flyer instructed.
The friends had gathered at Sharptooth's cave, where the leader of the Great Valley as well as Zidane had showed up. "How'd the rest of the meeting go?" Ruby asked, wondering if the adults had came up with a plan also.
"Progress wise, we did make some," Sharptooth replied. "However, Veli was so infuriated he had to walk off by himself." "We all could understand why," Ruby frowned. "I know," Sharptooth replied. "We decided to split up into two groups: One for fidning the flyer's hideout and the other to search for this "Stone of Cold Fire."
"We have a plan too!" Chomper said, running up to the big rex. "We know that we need all the help we can get to stop those mean flyers right and rescue Tricia right?" "Correct," replied Sharptooth. "Well, what if we tracked down all our friends and family members from the Mysterious Beyond and get them to join us, kind of like how the flyers have an army?"
Zidane took a moment to think about what the little rex just told them. He looked at Sharptooth. "Chomper has a point," he said. "If the clues Ruby's parents gave be about the flyers are accurate, they may be more dangerous then we realize." Sharptooth looked back at Zidane.
"They have a point. We'll announce this strategy to everyone tomorrow morning," Sharptooth said. "Right now, I feel we all need our rest for tomorrow," he said to the kids. Littlefoot, Spike, Tippy, and Guido nodded, then walked off. "Um…could I spend the night with Ruby?" Chomper asked. "That is alright young one," Sharptooth assured.
That night Zidane decided to guard the outside of Sharptooth's cave even though the danger wasn't currently in the Great Valley. As the big sharptooth settled down to sleep, Chomper went over to Ruby. "It'll be ok Ruby," Chomper tried to comfort. "We'll stop Rinkus and Sierra, we won't let what happened to you happen again." Ruby looked at the rex she was in love with.
"I dunno Chomper……I never knew anyone who could be that mean before. They have to dangerous, and I'm sure they are ready to kill us if they wanted…" she began to cry. Chomper looked sad, and cuddled Ruby close. "You must believe Ruby," he said, remembering an incident in the past reality where he, Littlefoot, and a longneck named Saro were trapped behind some rocks and it seemed hopeless but they were eventually rescued.
But at the lair of the flyers, Dack spoke to Tricia again. "Ok runt, I'm required to give you food, so here you go," the flyer said, throwing something into the small dark cavern. Tricia ran up, but she saw that it was something disgusting: green food! "It's either that or you can starve yourself," Dack called cruelly. Tricia continued to cry and sadly bit into the horrible-tasting leaves and berries. Just then, Rinkus and Sierra flew up to Dack.
"Well, it's only a matter of time," Rinkus grinned. "Soon, we'll have those fools back in the Great Valley searching for the Stone, and they couldn't use it if they found it since we, the almighty flyers are the only one who knows the chant needed to use it's magical powers." "What about the fast biter?" Dack asked.
"We'll take her to Black Rock for the time limit we set for everyone," Sierra explained. "And wheter or not they have found the stone, murder is always more fun if there's someone there to witness it." Tricia couldn't understand their words, but they knew these flyers were pure evil……
THE NEXT MORNING……
At the flattooth valley, Rita, Rory, Myra, Greg, and Mo woke up earlier than everyone else on purpose so they could get Strut to come with them out into the Mysterious Beyond. "Hey Strut, where are you?!" called Myra. "Hhh, we don't want to wake anyone up," Myra whispered. Strut soon came into view.
"I'm here, don't worry," the fast runner smiled. "Thanks Strut, we figured we'd need a grownup to help us with this, but we doubted our parents would let us do this," explained Rita.
"Especially my mom and dad," laughed Greg. "So where do your feelings lead you Rita?" the spiketail asked. Myra also wanted to help, though she personally didn't belief in any kind of sixth sense, she felt this would at least be an adventure. "Let us go brothers," Mo said.
"We're not your brothers already!" Myra said, still not understanding Mo's deeper meaning. But as the 5 walked out of the valley, someone saw them.
"What's Greg doing with his friends and that weird fast runner?" Icky asked himself, watching his son walk out of the valley. The one thing he and Dil could agree on was that Greg was important, but they each kept trying to "out-parent" each other. Icky considered to wake up Dil, but he realized this was another chance to prove he was the better parent, so he decided to follow in secret.
BACK AT THE GREAT VALLEY…….
As the Bright Circle began to arose, so did all the sharpteeth. Ruby walked out of the cave and noticed that Zidane was wide awake. "Don't tell me you fell asleep.." she yawned.
"No. Never went to sleep actually," Zidane replied. Ruby looked amazed. Was it possible for anyone to stay awake that long and not even look tired? "In the years I spent improving my strengths in the Mysterious Beyond, I heightened my other abilities. I won't say I'm the greatest fast biter ever, just a very unique one."
But there was one thing Ruby still wanted to ask Zidane. "What did you take my brother's tooth? It was very important to me, important it was to me, even though you returned it…." Zidane let out a sigh.
"Another thing your parents had told me is that some of the dinos working for the ones that threatened them had been watching you, and they probably noticed that you held onto it, and I figured they had not found out what cave you lived in here. I deduced if they found the tooth inside the cave, they would know where to attack you. I tried to protect you by doing it, but I regretted taking something important so I returned it." Ruby didn't feel mad at Zidane for this after he explained. "It's ok, I'm not bad," Ruby said. Chomper and Sharptooth began to wake up.
Back at Petrie's nest, he and Tera woke up his siblings/her children. Tera had came up with a good excuse for her and Petrie's absence. "OK kids, me and Petrie have an important goal that Sharptooth requested us to do," Tera said. "What does he want mom?" Glider asked. "Er…he said he'll ell us. Just stay with the herds." "Ok mother," the young flyers replied. "Petrie's so lucky," one his brothers said jealous, wishing he could go with his mother.
"Morning Ruby," Chomper smiled. "Morning Chomper," Ruby smiled back, and they shared a kiss.
"Young love," Zidane smiled. "I think I was there the night you two started falling in love with each other."
Ruby blushed. "Ok, I'll admit I think that's weird," she laughed a bit. Sharptooth smiled, but then resumed a stern look. "We have to gather everyone now." He let out a mighty roar signaling another big meeting. All the rexes, fast biters, belly draggers, swimming sharpteeth, sharpteeth flyers, and bladebacks (and any other type of carnivore dinosaur) gathered in the near the waterhole so the swimming sharpteeth could listen in.
"Attention everyone!" Sharptooth called, sounding like a true leader as he always did "Our mission to save the fast biter Tricia has changed slightly. We all probably have family or friends who live out in the Mysterious Beyond, correct?" Lots of the carnivores nodded "We decided in a time of crisis like this, we need every ally we can get. In addition to the trying to find where these flyers are hiding in addition to some of us searching for the Stone of Cold Fire, we need some of us to find every dino we can to assist us in case we have to resort to invading and killing the evil flyers."
"I'M GONNA TEAR THE THROATS OUT OF THOSE BACKSTABBING NO-GOOD FLYERS!," Veli yelled at the top of his lungs, the thought of his young daughter in danger seemed to be giving him extra power and speed. Cira was equally concerned, but she was trying her best to have Veli keep calm.
Eventually, Mama Swimming Sharptooth spoke up. "I remember during the hunting classes that lots of other swimmers live out in the Big Water, I don't know how they can help us, but we will try if we can find them." "Always appreciate a try," Sharptooth smiled back.
Tippy talked next, looking at her mother. "Mom? Do you remember where the herd Tippy's uncle and aunt stay with?" the belly dragger asked. Tippy's mother thought for a moment, then she remembered. "I do Tippy, they aren't too far away." "I'll go with you," Guido said, quickly flying up. "Why Guido?" Tippy asked. "I just want to help," Guido replied.
Littlefoot walked up to his grandparents. "I think my parents and Shorty and their herd would be at the Meadow of Jumping Waters right now," he explained. "I'm sure Tyran is strong enough to assist us in something like this," Grandpa Sharptooth commented. Sharptooth grinned confidently at all the results they were getting.
"So it is settled. We will devide into three groups. One for finding supporters, one for searching for the Stone of Cold Fire, and one for sniffing out Rinkus, Sierra, and their army. Please choose now which group you would prefer to go with, you will be not forced to go with one you don't want to."
Sharptooth, Chomper, Zidane, and Ruby agreed to look for the Stone. Dein and Terri also came along with this group to watch over their son. Mr. Belly Dragger came because of the minor knowledge he had about the Stone. Grandma Sharptooth also went with this side. Also, various sharpteeth who will remain unnamed came along.
Veli was taking the leader of the hunt for the flyers group, no surprise there. Cira accompanied him, of course, as did Cera. Growley, Grandpa Sharptooth, Mr. Bladeback, as well as most of the bladebacks in the GV, Petrie's siblings decided to come along with this group too. A lot of the other good flers came with this group, and a some other t-rexes.
Littlefoot, Ducky, all the other swimming sharpteeth, Spike, Tippy, and pretty much all of the belly draggers, Guido, and most of the other fast biters would go on the search to find every they could who'd be able to help them. "We must succeed, we must, we must," said Ducky.
Not every sharptooth was leaving the valley. Some of the bigger rexes and bladebacks stayed behind to make sure no one tried to attack the Great Valley or anything while they were gone. After a good lunch of spiketails and longnecks to get some protein and energy for their quests, the groups gathered by the exits to the valley. Sharptooth let out another roar.
Chomper looked around until he could see his friends. "This is it," he said, knowing that what lied on the road ahead, it wasn't going to be easy!
TO BE CONTINUED…….
Next time on The Land Before Time: Sharptooth Valley: The groups set out to do what they need to, Tera and Petrie find Pterano in addition to the gang of leafeaters, Mr. Belly Dragger shares more knowledge about the stone, and more about Rinkus and Sierra will come to light.
(Read and Review! Oh yeah, one thing I want to make clear even though I think I mentioned this at the end of one of the early chapters, is that the wish will NOT be undone at the end, I want to avoid going into the most cliché of clichés when in comes to stories about life-changing wishes.)