EPISODE 48: NOT SO GREEN MEADOW

CHARACTERES

Dink

Amber

Shyler

Scat

Flapper

Crusty

Forest

Dim

Avemi (OC)

Scratcher

Clawer (OC)

Grabber (OC)

Tyrannor

Dippo

Flapper's Mother (OC)

Hunters (OCs)

Green Meadow Residents (OCs)

It was a hot and muggy day in Green Meadow. It hadn't rained in many days. The ground was very dry and cracked. The main watering hole was low on water, causing tempers to run high. "Out of the way Shyler, you've drank enough!" Dink snapped.

"Gee Dink, you don't have to shout," Shyler said.

"You're right Shyler. I shouldn't have shouted at Amber like that. It's just that I'm so hot and thirsty. I'm sorry Amber."

"Apology accepted Dink. I really wish that there was somewhere we could go where it's not so hot."

"Perhaps we could go into Crusty's cave? It's not far from here and at least it will protect us from the sun," Shyler suggested.

"Good idea," Flapper said.

A short time later, they were all huddled inside of Crusty's cave. "It not much cooler in here," Scat remarked.

"At least the sun isn't beating down on us in here," Dink said.

Several more dinosaurs and pterosaurs began coming into the cave. "Hey, I thought it was just going to be you guys," Crusty grumbled.

"Oops, I thought everyone might like to come in here so I told them about it," Shyler replied.

"Everyone?" the elderly turtle groaned, facepalming. "I just invited you guys. I don't have room for everyone in here."

"Sorry."

Soon, the cave was so full that everyone had no room to move. "Kind of cramped," Flapper remarked.

"It's a lot nicer in here, isn't it Flapper?" remarked his mother.

"Not really. Not with it so cramped."

Despite the cave being very full already, more dinosaurs and pterosaurs still attempted to squeeze their way inside. This caused some of the walls to collapse outward, letting in a ton of sunlight and heat. "My cave, it's ruined!" Crusty gasped in horror.

"Sorry Crusty," Shyler said.

"Everyone out!" Crusty bellowed.

"But Crusty…." Dink began to protest.

"Out!"

All of them immediately cleared out. Crusty then began to repair the damage to his cave. "Ug, this will take hours to fix!" he grumbled.

"Now what are we going to do?" Amber asked.

"We'll have to find somewhere else cool to go," Dink replied.

"Like where?" Flapper asked.

"We could look for water in Hunter's Grove," Forest suggested.

"Hunter's Gove?! But there are Hunters there!" Amber gasped.

"Yes, but there could be more water there too. And maybe you could get your friend Scratcher the Hunter there to help us avoid Hunters."

"True, we could get Scratcher's help."

"So we'd keep going into Hunter's Grove to get water?" Flapper asked.

"Hopefully it'll start raining here again soon," Forest said.

"I hope so too. If it doesn't rain soon, we could be in danger of fires starting," Amber said.

"Oh gosh, I hope we don't have any fires," Shyler said.

"I hope we don't have any either," said Amber.

A short time later, they had entered Hunter's Grove. "I hope we can find Scratcher before we find other Hunters that are less friendly," Dink said.

"Perhaps I can go look for him. It's easier to avoid Hunters in the air than on the ground," Flapper offered.

"Good idea Flap."

"I know. I'm full of them."

"I'll go with you," Avemi said.

Twenty minutes later, the two Bigwings returned with Scratcher. Scratcher was accompanied by his two Hunter friends Clawer and Grabber. "I thought you could use some extra help," Scratcher said to Dink.

"A few more friendly Hunters certainly doesn't hurt," Dink said.

"We found a small stream of water that is unguarded," said Clawer.

"Great," Amber said.

"However, it won't be able to help a herd as big as the one in Green Meadow," Scratcher said.

"Is there a large stream or lake in here?" Dink asked.

"There is," Clawer replied.

"Can you take us to it?" Amber asked.

"We could, but there is a problem," Grabber said.

"What?"

"Tyrannor likes to drink from there and prowls around the place often."

"Ug!" Dink groaned.

"Maybe we could trick him into leaving the area so that we could get a drink," Amber suggested.

"How are we going to do that?" Flapper asked.

"I'm sure we'll think of something," Amber said.

"Let's go get the water from the stream that isn't guarded by Tyrannor first. I'm thirsty," Flapper said.

As they approached the water, however, they saw that it was not unguarded, but that several Hunters were lapping up water from it. "Stinking Hunters! Now we never get water!" Scat griped.

"Maybe we can find water someplace else," Avemi suggested.

They searched throughout Hunter's Grove but found Hunters at every watering hole they came across.

"Gosh, there are Hunters everywhere! We're never going to get a drink of water now!" Shyler lamented.

"Don't worry Shyler, I'm sure we'll find something sooner or later," Flapper said. "At least I hope so as I'm getting really thirsty here." he added under his breath.

They tried searching on the other side of Green Meadow, opposite of Hunter's Grove. However, despite searching for miles, most of the streams and watering holes they found were basically glorified mud puddles. "Ug, no water here either, and my mouth is as dry as a desert!" Flapper complained.

"Flapper? Is that you?" came a voice from up ahead. It was one they recognized.

"Dippo!"

"Hello."

"What are you doing here?" Shyler asked him.

"Avoiding Water Hunters. It's harder to avoid them now that a lot of the water has dried up."

"We're having trouble finding water too."

"Yes, and we need to find it quick. I'm really thirsty here!" Flapper grumbled.

"Flapper, since you're so brave and you can fly, why don't you distract some Hunters so that we can get a drink of water? Then you can lose them and get some too." Amber suggested.

"Hey, why do you get to drink while I do the work?"

"Flapper, I can go with you," Avemi offered.

"Sure, of course. Let's go!" Flapper said enthusiastically, eager to look brave in front of his girlfriend.

The two Bigwings flew toward the Hunters at a nearby watering hole like a pair of kamikazes. The Hunters were so startled that they ducked as the two pterosaurs zoomed over them, seeing only a blur flying by. AS the two flew by a second time, however, the Hunters began to snap at them. "We're over here!" Avemi called at the carnivores, sticking out her tongue at them.

"Nah, nah!" Flapper taunted them, shaking his rear end at them.

The three Hunters by the water took off after the two Bigwings, leaving the water unguarded.

"Quick, let's drink the water before the Hunters get back!" Dink said.

They all ran to the water and drank as quickly as they could. While they drank, Dippo kept lookout. Flapper and Avemi soon returned. "We gave him the slip, but we're not sure how long it'll be before he comes back," Avemi said.

"Hopefully not till after we'd had a good drink," Flapper remarked. He took a long drink, twice as long as Avemi.

"Hurry up, they're coming back!" Dippo cried.

They all fled before the Hunters could spot them. "Ok, we've all got water for ourselves now, but how are we going to get water for the rest of Green Meadow?" Forest remarked.

"No idea. Distracting them for that short amount of time was hard enough. It'll be much much harder to distract them long enough for everyone in Green Meadow to have a good drink," Flapper said.

"Maybe Clawer, Grabber, and I can distract other Hunters away from watering holes, while you and Avemi distract others," Scratcher offered.

"That would help some, but not in the numbers we'd need," Forest sighed.

"Who else could we use to distract them?" Dink said.

"Perhaps we could ask for volunteers," Flapper suggested.

When they returned to Green Meadow and asked for volunteers, however, most of the residents had no interest in putting their necks on the line.

"Me, be a distraction for Hunters? No way!" said a Stegosaurus.

"Forget about it!" said a Triceratops.

"Please!" Scat begged.

"The answer's still no!" the Triceratops snapped.

"Ug, nobody will help!" Scat lamented.

"What are you asking for Scat?" came a voice. It was Dim, a dim-witted Long Neck.

"We need help luring away Hunters from water."

"I could help."

The children weren't sure what to say. While they were glad for the help, as his name implied, Dim wasn't the brightest of dinosaurs. "You sure you want to do this? It's risky," Dink finally said.

"Yes."

"Ok, here's what we need you to do," Dink began.

Sometime later, Dim called out to several Hunters "Over here you stupid meat eaters!" As intended, they chased after him, allowing several residents of Green Meadow safe access to the water.

"Dim sure was brave to lead them all away," Scratcher remarked.

"I hope he doesn't get hurt," Dippo said.

"There's another concern I have," Amber said.

"What's that?" Clawer asked.

"That he might forgot to lose them first and come back here and lead them right back here."

"He wouldn't be that stupid, would he?" said Grabber incredulously.

"I'm afraid he could be," Dink sighed.

Dink and Amber's fears, unfortunately, turned out to be well founded. Dim, growing tired of running, turned back and began to head back to his friends. The Hunters, of course, still continued to chase after him, which he was oblivious to, owing to his continued running as he hurried back keeping him out of reach of their fangs and thus safe from being alerted by their bites. He soon returned to the children. "I'm back. I led them away just like you said," he said proudly.

"Did you first lose the Hunters?" Amber asked skeptically. Her question was answered a few seconds later as the Hunters came into sight. "I guess not," she sighed.

"Run!" several residents of Green Meadow cried, ceasing their drinking and bolting. A few of them slipped on the water and fell down. Clawer, Grabber, and Scratcher ran at the Hunters to keep them from attacking the fallen herbivores. The Hunters fought them, thinking that they were fighting them over food. This gave the others enough time to get up and run. The three Hunters bolted, and the other Hunters, thinking that they were after the fleeing leaf eaters, didn't accost them. Eventually, the entire group was able to lose the Hunters, who, having given up, went back to the watering hole.

"Great, back to square one!' Dink grumbled.

"Oh, how could this get any worse?" Scat sighed.

Just then, lightning struck a nearby tree, igniting it. "You had to ask!" Amber snapped at Scat.

"Run, fire!" Forest cried. The group ran until they were out of range of the flames.

"We've got to find a way to put out that fire before it gets to Green Meadow!" Flapper's mother said.

"I have an idea but it's very risky," Dink said.

"What?" Dippo asked.

"There's still a big bunch of water in that stream by Tyrannor. If we can divert the stream, it will come into the path of the fire and block it from reaching Green Meadow."

"Tyrannor is not going to just leave us alone you know," Avemi pointed out.

"I know, but he can't get all of us at once."

"Which one of you wants to volunteer to be eaten?" Amber snorted.

"None of us will if we plan it right."

Several minutes later, they had all gathered near the stream where Tyrannor lurked. "Over here Tyrannor!" Dippo called out, shaking his rear at the tyrannosaurus. When Tyrannor lunged down to bite him, Dippo dove underwater and swam behind Tyrannor. Tyrannor turned around to stare at the Diplocaulus and was hit in the face with a jet of water as Dippo spat at him.

Tyrannor, now very irate, lunged at Dippo to attack him. However, he missed the amphibian due to being hit in the head with a cluster of honeyfruit that had been thrown at him by Avemi. He turned to focus on Avemi. This had been her intention, as it got his focus off of Dippo. Before Tyrannor could launch an attack on Avemi, Flapper threw a rock at him, diverting his attention yet again. Tyrannor had only advanced a few steps toward Flapper and Avemi when he suddenly cried out in pain. Scratcher, Clawer, and Grabber had all bitten him in the tail. He wheeled around to face the three Hunters.

The others, meanwhile, had used the distraction to push over several large trees, so that they now blocked the water. This created a sort of dam, which rerouted the stream from its current path. Tyrannor's attention was diverted away from Dippo, Flapper, Avemi, Clawer, and Grabber to focus on the deluge of water heading his way. Too late, he tried to avoid it and was carried off downstream for a mile, finally getting out of the stream and snarling in disgust.

The water, in addition to carrying Tyrannor away, had also knocked over several trees, which would have been the fuel source of the oncoming fire, and carving a path which barred the fire's advance toward Green Meadow.

The residents of Green Meadow cheered at the defeat of Tyrannor and at having stopped the fire's advance. However, soon Shyler brought up the obvious question "Gee, it was nice that we stopped the fire and drove off Tyrannor, but what are we going to do for water now?"

Luckily, he didn't have to wait long for the answer to his question, as soon storm clouds rolled into sight and began to let loose a steady downpour of rain, filling up the mostly empty streams of Green Meadow. "Well, I guess that answers your question Shyler," Dink said joyfully. "Let's go home."