CHAPTER THREE: NEW HUNTING PARTNERS
The following morning, Chomper started to stir. He shook his head a little bit, partially expecting to wake up to his Fast Runner friend urging him to get up and start the day in the Secret Caverns. Instead, he saw Dil's red eyes glaring at him!
"Hey, you're not Ruby!" he shouted at Dil. Back Belly Dragger! My jaws can beat yours so don't even try it or it will be the last thing you ever do! he snapped. Dil backed away in alarm.
"Just great!" Ichy moaned.
Chomper soon realized where he was. "Sorry, thought I was back in the Great Valley. Can't ever go back there again." he sighed.
"You were in the Great Valley?" Dil gasped.
"For many cold times." Chomper replied.
"I thought it was a place of very dangerous Flatteeth. Maybe they aren't so dangerous after all if they took so long to find you." Dil laughed.
"They knew I was there. They took me in to hide me from Red Claw."
"What did you do to run afoul of Red Claw?" Ichy asked.
"Saved a Fast Runner from him. Then I damaged his eye."
"Why'd you save a Halftooth?" Ichy asked.
"Seemed the right thing to do. Plus, I was raised by a Longneck and some others for a little bit the day I hatched so I was on friendly terms with Leaf Eaters already.."
"Oh really?" Ichy said, not quite believing yet.
"It's true. I was saved from Egg Stealers by a Longneck, Threehorn, Spiketail, Swimmer, and Flyer."
"I don't normally see those types together. I think I have, in fact, seen all of them together at one time once in my life. Two Lognecks, a Threehorn, a Swimmer, a Flyer, a Spiketail, and a Tickly Fuzzy made asses of Dil and I. We nearly split apart. We got into such a big fight and she swatted me away and then she got chased by a Swimming Sharptooth. Luckily for her, I came back for her and distracted the thing long enough for her to get away. She'd have been its dinner otherwise, due to her vision problem."
"I believe the Longneck you're talking about and the one that sent me are one and the same. The other Longneck your'e talking about, by any chance, was it a female. Blue eyes?"
"Yep. Sure was. I tried to get her and she'd been knocked out but woke up at the last minute and moved aside and I crashed into a tree and got stuck." Ichy said.
Chomper laughed. "It's not funny!" Ichy snapped.
"Yes, that's Ali. She visits Littlefoot sometimes. I think they're in love. As for the Spiketail, Swimmer, Threehorn, and Flyer, they're his friends. They all live in the Great Valley."'
"So, why did you leave then? Your hunger get the better of you or did they turn against you?" Ichy asked.
"A mixture of both actually. My friends didn't turn on me. I was thinking of leaving anyway as I was getting hungrier and hungrier. Some Clubtails were picking on the sister of my Threehorn friend. At first, they were doing it to be mean, but later, I think they kept it up to try and get me to be vicious so they could have an excuse to throw me out. However, it went too far and I accidentally injured one of the kids, who later died. Then the dad comes along, blames me, tries to kill me with his club, forcing me to bite it off. I tried to save them both but I was unable to. My friends helped me escape the Great Valley and find you guys. They said you could teach me to catch Flatteeth."
"Yes, we could help you all right." Dil replied. This new Rex would be better company than Ichy and she hoped, he'd keep her from going nuts.
"So, what were you planning on hunting first?" Ichy asked.
"I never really thought that far ahead. I just need something. That Clubtail kid I ate last night won't hold over too much longer and I don't really want to go back to starving like I did earlier."
"Each Flattooth type is different. You can't take it down the same way as the others." Ichy remarked.
"My jaws are pretty strong and could probably take down anything." Chomper replied smugly.
"Just great! An arrogant adolescent!" Ichy groaned, putting his left wing to his head in frustration.
"Want to try your luck on that rock over there?" Ichy said, gesturing one of his wings at a stalagmite.
Chomper attacked it with the full force of his jaws.
His attack didn't do as much damage as an attack from a fully grown Tyrannosaurus would, but it still broke in two from the pressure - it also ended up dislodging one of Chomper's teeth. "Ug. At least it'll grow back." Chomper sighed.
"Holy Longneck steaks! His bite is stronger than yours!" Ichy gasped.
"Yes, maybe we can finally catch something decent. My other partner couldn't help me much."
"Me? You're the one that sometimes eats wood thinking it's food!"
"Yeah, well at least I don't get stuck in trees!"
"Yeah, well I don't bump into them because I can't see!"
"You want to start something?!"
"Nah. I already did when I teamed up with you. I started an unmitigated headache."
"Un-what?"
"Never mind. You're too thick to know what it means."
"Are you calling me fat?"
"Sheesh! You're worse than I thought!"
"Um, guys, could you two stop arguing? I thought we were going to catch something." Chomper said, annoyed by their bickering.
"I have an idea. There is an old Shellback Swimmer that Dil and I can never catch. We came close one time but he still got away. He's pretty big. Probably your size. Dil's vision problems make it hard for her to get him as he can move fast in water and and he's faster than her on land. However, one bit to his neck and he'd be done for." Ichy suggested.
Chomper thought on that one for a little bit. A Shellback Swimmer, or so he'd heard, was quite big and quite strong. It might be overkill. But if the creature was getting old, he might be vulnerable. "I don't see why not," he replied.
The trio walked through the cave, sniffing the air. "I smell something. I don't know what it is as my Sniffer has never smelled one before." Chomper suddenly said.
Neither Dil and Ichy could smell anything. They were impressed with the Rex's sense of smell. They'd heard talk that Rexes had a sense of smell second to none but had never seen it personally till then. Luckily for them, they weren't on the menu.
The trio slowly crept into a chamber where a very elderly Archelon lay asleep, though he had trained himself to sleep with his eyes open. Thus, he wasn't totally caught unaware as Dil and Ichy entered the room.
"You two don't quit, do you?" he chuckled.
"Things are different this time Archie." Ichy laughed.
"That's what you always say. Maybe someday soon, I'll let you catch me. It sure beats dying of hunger when old age catches up with you." he laughed.
"We ain't a duo anymore. Now we're a...we're a...what's it called when there's one more in a duo?" Dil asked.
"A trio." Archie offered.
"Yeah, that." Dil said.
"So, who did I have the pleasure of facing off against this time? Your new recruit." Archie laughed. He thought it likely an invention of theirs. However, his reaction changed to shock when he heard in reply "My name is Chomper." This new voice was gruffer. Sort of like the Belly Dragger's only from a theropod, and quite clearly male. And it was younger than Dil's.
Chomper entered the cave chamber, sealing off the exit. "They said you were giving them a hard time and wanted my help." the Rex said.
"Ug, they've brought in a Rex. Still, maybe I can get away." he said to himself.
"Nope, this time you're going to be the main course!" Ichy laughed.
Archie swatted at Ichy, who, like the time he had been too braggadocios around Spike years ago, had left himself wide open, knocking him into the wall, though not out.
Dil lunged at him and tried to bite him, but her vision problems enabled him, albeit narrowly, to escape her jaws. Chomper leped through the air at him, landing right next to him, startling the elderly Archelon. The other two couldn't do that! Chomper was hesitant to strike a blow at him. What was the matter with him? Did he want to eat or not?
Archie also sensed the hesitancy in Chomper, though he didn't know the cause of it. Nonetheless, it was good luck for him. He kicked Chomper in the side, knocking him into a pool of water. Though he had somewhat learned how to swim in his years in the Great Valley, he was still caught off guard and began to flail in the water, panicking. Dil quickly rushed over, though her retreat from Archie allowed him to start heading toward the exit. Ichy, who had picked himself back up, lunged at Archie, biting him in the leg.
"Youch!" the Shellback Swimmer cried. Still, Ichy was small, and his teeth hadn't hurt that badly. His aches and pains from old age that he had to deal with daily hurt far worse than that! He flung the Sharpbeak aside.
Dil had, by this time, pulled Chomper out of the water. He quickly jumped through the air and blocked Archie's way.
"Quick kid, aren't you." he sighed.
He turned the other way, hoping to head into the water to hide. Dil headed him off, blocking his way to the water. The Archelon pummeled her with his forelegs, knocking her silly. She collapsed right by the edge of the water. Archie moved to push her in.
Chomper panicked. He didn't want Dil to drown, which she would do if knocked silly while pushed into water. He had to act. He jumped through the air and bit into Archie's neck. The Shellback Swimmer had tried to pull away, though clearly he had been somewhat caught by surprise.
He moved away from the water, blood pouring from his neck. Chomper was more hesitant now to strike again, now that Dil was safe Still, he was getting more used to this...slowly.
"Got you at last! This is payback for the day that we didn't get you when you were with that Longneck kid. We'd have gotten you then but those other kids ruined our meal." Ichy said.
Chomper, who had thought of striking Archie again to kill him, turned pale. "Wait, you've met Littlefoot?" he gasped.
"Littlefoot? That's a name I didn't think I'd hear again." the old Archelon said weakly, blood pouring from his injured neck.
"I'm a friend of his. He helped raise me. I had to leave when I didn't think I could avoid eating Leaf Eaters anymore. If you're a friend of his, I can't let you die. I promised I'd never hunt any of his friends." he said. Chomper grabbed mud from the nearby pool.
"What are you doing kid?" Archie asked in confusion.
"I'm going to try and save you." Chomper said.
"Kid, you probably can't. That cut is pretty bad. But even if you could stop the bleeding with that, it would only be postponing the inevitable. I haven't much longer left anyway. Might as well get a meal out of it." Archie sighed.
"Come on Chomper! Get him!" Dil and Ichy called to him, impatient.
"Back off!" Chomper snapped at the two, feeling anger at them for not telling him sooner about Archie being Littlefoot's friend.
"I think Littlefoot would rather you get a meal and live. You look underfed. I've had a good run. Seeing a Longneck willing to be friends with other types plus meeting a Sharptooth who was friends with Leaf Eaters and actually had a code of honor he was willing to keep even if it cost him a meal are the things in my life that made it worth living in this otherwise mad world. But my time is up. Do what you came here to do Chomper." Archie said, a tear falling from his right eye.
Chomper hesitated a moment, then acted with resolve to fulfill Archie's final request to give him a quick end. CHOMP! He bit off the Shellback Swimmer's head, killing him instantly. He broke down and cried at what he'd done. Still, Archie was in a better place now and had given him the go-ahead to eat him after he'd passed. Due to his hunger having grown now, expending his energy chasing Archie, the need to feed was quite strong and he sound found himself, almost against his will, bending down, flipping over the dead Shellback Swimmer, and beginning to eat him ravenously.
He still felt very guilty about killing a friend of Littlefoot's, almost like being a murderer, yet the peace of the Archelon before he'd died had made him feel somewhat better. Archie hadn't had his life taken from him, he'd given it up, as he'd been willing to do years ago when he'd shielded Littlefoot from Dil and Ichy.
"Nice job Chomper. You get the biggest share as you took him down." Ichy cheered, coming to pat him on the back. He retreated as Chomper snarled at him.
"Why the ruddy heck didn't you tell me that he was Littlefoot's friend?!" he bellowed.
"We'd forgotten that you were friends with the Longneck." Ichy replied hastily.
"Besides, he seemed willing to go." Dil added, hoping to cheer Chomper up.
"I guess so." Chomper sighed.
After the three had eaten the Archelon, which was very filling and had fed him more than he'd been since he was a kid and lived with his parents, he buried the bones and shell of Archie in a crevice in the cave and sealed it up with rocks so that he could be left in peace.
Dil and Ichy said nothing about his sentimentality. Perhaps he'd outgrow it.
Chomper felt sleepy after having such a big meal. Before he fell asleep, he worried that he might kill more of Littlefoot's friends in the future and not realize it. Still, he could only do what he could. He would never hurt any of them willingly if he knew and he certainly would never harm Liittlefoot or the others. No matter how strong his Sharptooth nature would take hold, that bond would never be broken. No it wouldn't. He shut his eyes and fell asleep.