Chapter 7
The Gang's all Here
Flyers were weak.
Flyers were fragile.
Flyers didn't even taste good.
A flyer was the last thing Red Claw would accept as the foil of his hunts. The Lone Dinosaur? Now there was an adversary worthy of his time. At least he could enjoy their fights and savour the meal that was sure to come: good, old fashioned brawl of the mighty. He couldn't enjoy his battles with the flyer. Using trickery, speed and agility perfected for facing sharpteeth, the flyer would not even let him touch him. It was never a 'fight'. It was a joke, yet this 'joke' was the thorn in Red Claw's side, the tiny needle of a bone lodged in his gums.
Such was The Daybreaker.
Petrie's beak went loose as his uncle dove towards the sharptooth with horrifying speed, using The Bright Circle's glare to blind the predator.
In the past, Red Claw had tried to avoid looking at the flyer, judging his proximity by his shadow and turning to attack at just the right moment. It never worked. Therefore, he resolved to face him head-on, blinking back the sunlight as best as possible. The Daybreaker's silhouette almost vanished as he dove just above the Sun's rays, allowing it to assault the sharptooth's eyes full force.
Snarling, Red Claw opened his jaws as the collision drew near. One of these days, the flyer would dive straight into them. One of these days, he would break every one of those twigs he called 'bones' in a foolhardy attack.
That day was not today.
Red Claw lunged. His jaws caught air. Not a moment later, that familiar, infuriating weight crashed into his side with more force than any flyer had a right to generate. First came the beak. Then the talons.
Down fell the monster.
Littlefoot's jaw dropped. That did it? That actually did it?
As Pterano launched back into the sky, his voice spurred them with urgency. "FLEE, Children! Make HASTE!"
With quick, little nods, the young leafeaters bolted.
The sharptooth was down, but not out. His eyes filled with white hot fury as he watched the creatures he hated most slipping from his claws for the billionth time. Not. This. Time.
Not.
This.
Time.
Skip, Ducky and Spike dashed along the ledge of a steep, stony incline.
"There's a shortcut just around this corner!" Skip declared, before skidding to a stop upon seeing that 'shortcut'.
The fuzzy scrambled when Spike nearly trampled him upon catching up. The path had been completely buried in rubble, with a smattering of vegetation growing upon the rocks and soil.
"It's been a while," Skip admitted. "Musta been a landslide."
"You think we should go back and help them?" asked Ducky.
Spike didn't seem to hear her. He'd begun to scan the bushes, the shadows, even craning his neck to check his blindside.
A chill went down Ducky's spine. He was spooked, and frankly she was spooked too. Something tickled their senses, whether a twig snap or the slightest scent that touched their noses.
Skip had reacted much the same way, although no one noticed on account of his size. It would seem he had underestimated the youngsters. They had some pretty sharp instincts.
"Yep, we're not alone," he quietly confirmed.
Spike's eyes grew frantic before they seemingly locked onto Ducky. Her alarms blared as she realised he wasn't looking at her, but beyond her.
He opened his mouth. "DUCKY! DUUUCK!"
The swimmer froze. It had been years since she'd heard words take shape from that voice. The last time, it heralded panic. This time was no different. Partly by the shock, partly by the off-balancing similarity of the prompt and her name, Ducky failed to register the command before something crashed into her back and down she went. The fall hurt, but the thing that had latched on from behind?
It hurt much more.
Scarcely had Ducky hit the ground before Spike's tail swept over her, removing the weight from her back with a sharp impact.
Screech tumbled.
The swimmer clambered to her feet before spotting Thud creeping up on Spike.
"BEHIND YOU!" Ducky shrieked.
By the time Spike spun, the fast biter had attached himself to his side. He thrashed. He shook. He had no idea how to get the sharptooth off. Ducky could barely watch what was happening to her brother, but her legs carried her before she even needed to think.
Thud squawked in outrage as the swimmer grabbed him from behind, yanking him off his would-be prey. He writhed frenetically. She was bigger, but his compact muscles were hardened by countless hunts. Her muscles felt piteously squishy by comparison, but she refused to let go.
It didn't take long for Thud to kick free.
Once Ducky collected herself, she lunged at him. He easily darted back from her paws.
Frankly, Screech was surprised the swimmer wanted to grab Thud after the ferocious struggle. Brave or not, she was too slow. Next time she touched him, it would be claws first.
Screech shook off Spike's blow and stalked towards him, easily dodging a swing of the spiked tail.
The fast biters moved to either side of the leafeaters, preparing to attack from both directions.
Ducky and Spike went back to back, trying to keep both sharpteeth in view at all times.
Screech scoffed. They weren't even doing it right!
Relishing the moment, Screech sent Littlefoot a long-distance call, announcing that they'd found his friends, and ohh, the pity that he was not there to see what happened! He taunted the longneck for being such a good fighter, yet his friends clearly knew nothing of combat. Why hadn't he taught them a trick or two? Did he really care about them? So much for friendship. He could regret his failure to prepare them for such times for the rest of his short life ... assuming he was still alive.
Running alongside the longneck, Cera caught Littlefoot choking back a sob.
"What's wrong? What'd they say?" she demanded.
The longneck shook away the tears. "Nevermind! FASTER!"
She frowned. If anything happened to their friends, she would make it her life's mission to repay the sharpteeth.
Well, time to dig in. Screech lowered himself for a pounce and ordered Thud to do the same, though the other fast biter hesitated.
With a snarl, Screech demanded to know why Thud was ignoring his command?
Thud hissed: First off, he had no obligation to follow Screech's command. Second, he wanted to switch targets. Screech could handle the swimmer, while he would deal with the spiketail.
Screech blinked in confusion before asking since when Thud had a preference?
Ducky gulped as she stepped forward. "Thud, you remember me, don't you? Please do not do this to us!"
Screech demanded to know why that leafeater was talking as if she knew Thud?!
Thud snapped that it was nothing! He had no 'preference'! If Screech would just shut his mouth, they could finish the leafeaters once and for all!
The swimmer clasped her paws. "Please, please, please, please, plea-!"
With a splitting roar, Thud demanded that everyone be quiet! The swimmer was deluded if she thought she could bleat her way out of this after all the years upon years of shame the kids had put them through!
Growling, Screech promised that they would talk about this later. For now, they would feast!
At the side of his eye, he glimpsed a pink streak. It shot through the air, colliding with him in a shattering kick. Screech fell, rolled to his feet and charged before he could even identify the threat. All he knew was that it was roughly his size, and his instincts demanded immediate fatal action!
Ducky and Spike gaped in awe as the two, speeding forms clashed in a frenzied display of melee. When tail met jaw and foot met chest in the same instant, fast runner and fast biter parted under the force of their blows.
Ruby dusted herself off, glaring down her opponent.
Screech chirped in recognition. This was the daughter of those two troublesome fast runners! They didn't interfere nearly as much as The Daybreaker, knowing their limits and actively avoiding Red Claw. However, when Screech and Thud were alone, they proved to be formidable rivals from time to time. When they fought, the fast biters never forgot it. When they ran, even Screech and Thud could scarcely keep up, and their offspring was right here! Screech gave a happy croon. They would finally catch those meddlesome kids, and spite the fast runners by taking their daughter!
This was a wonderful day!
He snarled, drawing her attention while Thud crept up behind her. Just as the second fast biter pounced, a blue blur knocked him out of the air in that all-too familiar flying kick made famous by the fast runners.
Ruby glanced back. "Thank you, Father, thank you!"
"No problem, Ruby, no problem at all!" he replied.
Screech rolled his eyes. He may not have understood most of what they said, but he knew redundant repetition when he heard it. Fast runners made it particularly blatant on account of their habit of talking in circles. It annoyed him. A lot. Oh well: at least it was just the male and his half-pint daughter this time.
This was still a good day.
The ground shook. The fast biters darted into a bush. Moments later, Littlefoot, Cera and Petrie came into view, barrelling up the slope.
Okay, things were getting out of claw. If Red Claw would just get up there, maybe they could salvage the day.
"You're alive!" Littlefoot cried out in relief.
"Why are you just standing there?" demanded Cera.
"An old landslide's blocking our shortcut," Skip explained.
"And Screech and Thud are hiding over there!" Ducky quickly informed them with a point.
The threehorn huffed. "Fine! I have no problem giving those sharpteeth another beat down!"
Hunting leafeaters, it was difficult to avoid picking up the meaning of certain words. The fast biters knew what their prey called them, and they knew that 'over there', declared with a sense of urgency, generally meant that their cover was blown.
Before the leafeaters could reach them, the fast biters bolted a little way down the path.
"HA! Look at 'em go!" Cera laughed. "Oh wait, they're stopping and staring at us."
"I think they're just keeping a safe distance until Red Claw gets here," Littlefoot supposed.
Cera snorted, pawing at the ground like a bull. "Let 'im come."
An unfamiliar roar gave everyone pause.
Thud groaned. What now?
Chomper came sliding down an incline too steep to climb. Closer to Littlefoot's size than Cera's, he sent mild tremors through the ground when he reached the bottom.
Screech hissed in annoyance. Oh, COME ON! Was The Lone Dinosaur himself planning to make an entrance?!
Everyone stared. They hadn't heard Chomper roar in years. Their frayed nerves weren't taking it well. He sounded just like a real sharptooth!
Sensing their awkwardness, Chomper's ferocity melted as he fiddled with his fore claws. "Um ... Sorry, guys. Was that a bit loud?"
Littlefoot shook off the startlement. What was he thinking? Chomper was a 'real' sharptooth, but he was also a fantastic friend.
Cera greeted him with a soft headbutt. "Are you kidding? That was awesome!"
Littlefoot slapped a friendly tail over Chomper's shoulder. "Yeah! Great to see you, buddy!"
Chomper brightened. "You too! So, guess I missed all the action?"
Cera gave a wave of the tail. "Nah. Maybe today you'll finally get to 'save The Mysterious Beyond' from Red Claw. He should be catching up shortly."
Chomper eyed her with scrutiny. She'd said that so nonchalantly. Was she messing with him? He was beginning to grin at the joke when he spotted Screech and Thud standing at a short distance.
Then came Red Claw's livid roar.
"You were SERIOUS?" Chomper exclaimed.
Cera laughed. "Yeah! This moment will live forever!"
Pterano shot up the hill, dismay contorting his features as he spotted the youngsters simply standing there.
"Why aren't you FLEEING?!" he demanded.
"Landslide," most of the leafeaters answered in unison.
A displeased Screech scanned the path. At this stage, he honestly was expecting The Lone Dinosaur to show up. All he saw was Red Claw raging up the hillside in one of his foulest moods yet. It was a moderate comfort.
Littlefoot quickly thought up a strategy before turning to the others. "Cera, Chomper, you and I are the first line of attack."
The threehorn pattered the ground in excitement. "It's just like in my sleep stories!"
The longneck turned to Pterano. "Mr. Flyer, I'm not really sure what I can ask of you, since I haven't seen you fight beyond the first dive."
Pterano smiled. "You will see in due time. I shall supplement your efforts on the front line, discombobulating Red Claw when opportunity avails itself."
"Discombobu- What?" asked Littlefoot.
"Pterano, we speak leafeater," Cera reminded with a dry look.
"It means 'confuse'," Pterano clarified. "I'll confuse Red Claw."
Littlefoot nodded before acknowledging the fast runners. "Ruby, Mr. Fast Runner, chances are Screech and Thud will try to attack Ducky and Spike, in order to divide our attention as we face Red Claw. Make sure they don't get past you."
The fast runners nodded.
"Ducky, Spike, try to stay clear. Skip, can you maybe hide somewhere?"
"You know I can!" Skip declared before easily scampering up the slope they had no hope of climbing and watching things play out from a comfy spot beneath a bush.
Cera tilted her head. "Huh ... I guess they're advantages to being a tiny, tickly fuzzy."
Littlefoot nodded. "Petrie, stick to the air. You're in no danger so long as you fly high enough."
The flyer frowned. "But ... I want to help!"
Littlefoot smiled, proud of his friend's courage. "I know, but the best way you can help is by staying safe."
Petrie sighed as he perched on Spike's back. "Okay ..."
"Stay in the air, remember?" stressed Littlefoot.
"Oh, right! My bad!" the flyer replied as he took off.
The conversation concluded when Red Claw's roar drowned out all else.
The tyrant had arrived.
The leafeaters got into position.
Thud squawked, drawing Red Claw's attention.
The giant glowered down at him, not appreciating the interruption.
Gesturing the leafeaters, Thud stated that they were facing a Lone Dinosaur in training, the youngest threehorn to ever survive a one-on-one fight with Red Claw, a meddlesome pair of fast runners, a young rogue sharptooth and The Daybreaker himself: Six formidable enemies, not counting the spiketail, swimmer and flyer. Red Claw, Screech and Thud were master hunters, and master hunters always knew when to see the odds for what they were and abort a hunt!
Thud shrank to a crouch as Red Claw's gaze came down on him like a rain of flying rocks. With the most guttural, most menacing tone Thud had ever heard, Red Claw declared that this wasn't a hunt anymore. It was like the longneck said. They wouldn't all be going home that day. The fast biters could leave if they wanted to, but first they had to know this: if they abandoned him, if he survived, he would treat them no differently from these hated enemies. There wouldn't be a nook in The Mysterious Beyond where they could hide from his wrath.
Screech and Thud exchanged glances before affirming their loyalty in stammering croaks.
As the sharpteeth conversed, the leafeaters had a discussion of their own.
"They're hesitating," Littlefoot noted. "This is the perfect time to-"
"Wait, wait, wait, I gotta say something awesome," Cera interrupted before scrunching her brow as she strained her brain for an epic statement.
Littlefoot could not believe her. "Cera! They're not gonna wait for you to-!"
"No-no-no, shh!" she commanded. "Just gimme a sec."
The threehorn thumped her paw in annoyance. Why was it so hard to come up with a ...? Oooh! This was a pretty good one!
"RED CLAW!" the threehorn shouted. "They call you the BIGGEST, the MEANEST sharptooth of them all', yet you stoop down to menace little kids! Return to your nest, or REMEMBER this day! REMEMBER the day The Bright Circle peered from the heavens and watched you CRASH to your KNEES! LOOK at us! We're not 'LITTLE KIDS' anymore! WE are your FALL!"
Everyone stared at her with jaws ajar. Did that actually come out of Cera?
Red Claw gave her a dry look. Had she forgotten that her primitive grunting meant little to him? Silly child.
Cera looked up at Littlefoot. "Be a dear and translate, will ya?"
The longneck shook away the astonishment. "Um, okay."
She smiled as Littlefoot quoted her with a fluctuating roar worthy of her words.
Screech and Thud went silent. Red Claw's eyes widened before they snapped to the threehorn, narrowing. She tilted her head with a big, smug smile. He had to admit: that was a fairly decent burn for intrinsically cretinous walking meat. He appreciated that she was drawing attention to herself. In the heat of battle, it was easy to forget that he wanted to take his time with her.
"Hmph!" Cera snorted. "He seems to have trouble getting what I said through his thick skull. Ooh! Littlefoot, would you care to tell him that?"
The longneck quickly shook his head. "We really shouldn't make him madder than we need to."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I think he'll understand this!"
Cera gave a belligerent bellow.
Red Claw's monstrous roar immediately swallowed up her voice, backed by the snarls of Screech and Thud.
Then Littlefoot joined her, compounding the sound with cracks of his tail like peels of thunder. Pterano's screech pierced the clamour. Chomper's roar came booming in. The eccentric cries of the fast runners accentuated the din. Even Spike, Ducky and Petrie, spectators though they were, contributed battle cries of their own.
Red Claw's roar no longer reigned supreme. The cacophonous fervour of nine, united voices raged against him.
"So, basically it's a shouting match?" a younger Littlefoot once asked Doc.
Cera gave an eyeroll. "You say that like a shouting match is such a little thing."
"More than that," The Lone Dinosaur explained. "Sharpteeth roar to mess with your mind: to convince you they're bigger, stronger, scarier. Roar back with unshaken confidence to tell 'em: 'I'm not afraid of you. I don't care how big you are. I don't care how strong, 'cause come what may, I. Stand. Against. You."
"Whoa ... so, more than a shouting match?" asked Cera.
Doc nodded. "A good battle cry reminds you how strong you are, especially together. It can even make a sharptooth feel weaker."
The hillside shook under the uproar.
Cera caught a trace of trepidation in Red Claw's features as he seemed to see the mighty foes before him for the first time. This was the perfect moment.
"CHARGE!" Cera commanded.
Footfalls thundering, wings pounding air, the six behemoths barreled towards the sharpteeth.
Red Claw caught Screech and Thud stumbling backwards. With a sharp snarl, he spurred them to attack before storming towards the tidal wave of giants. In spite of everything, Screech and Thud wondered if they should have taken their chances and abandoned Red Claw. Maybe his wrath was the least of their worries.
Maybe none of them would survive this.
I don't know about you guys, but that felt like writing the opening to a superhero war ... and 'The War Before Time' hasn't even begun yet! I'm rubbing my hands together, smiling like a big goof just thinking about it!
So, what did you think?
Thanks for reading!