CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCERNING LONGNECKS

In the winter, older dinosaurs tended to be at their most vulnerable. Two years ago, Pat the old Longneck had passed away after a cold spell had blown in. Just last year, his elderly teacher Mr. Thicknose had passed away in his sleep during a frost. Unfortunately, some powerful members of the Great Valley Council had set Haley to be his replacement, a move that his grandparents had both opposed. Even Mr. Threehorn, now that he had aged some too, had dropped a lot of his past racism, and was against the move. He was outvoted for Haley and her mate Hank had mostly kept their true feelings under wraps at the time. Only lately during the day of Hank and Vinnie's deaths had their taken off the mask, and that was more the fault of the children, who had gotten carried away in attacking Tricia and in their attempt to provoke Chomper in hopes of getting him kicked out of the Great Valley.

This cold time brought trouble right to Littlefoot's family. On the fifth day of a cold spell, Grandma Longneck fell ill and her condition gradually worsened.

Grandpa carried a bundle of tree stars in his mouth, taken from a hot spring near the border of the valley, and put them in front of his ailing wife. He nudged them close to her snout.

"You need to eat, dear." he gently said.

She ate them but still didn't get up. "I don't know how we're going to break this to Littlefoot but I don't foresee myself lasting the winter. In fact, I wonder if I'll last the week." she said grimly to her mate.

Littlefoot approached his grandfather a few minutes later "Is Grandma going to get better?" he asked in concern.

Grandpa sulked; if Littlefoot were much younger, he would have been quick to reassure him that Grandma would recover, to give him some hope. But, given how much older and more savvy his grandson was as he stood, he didn't think the same approach he would have used years ago would help him.

"I don't know, Littlefoot," he responded.

"You don't think she's going to make it, do you?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Grandpa thought of what to say; he chose his words as carefully as he could.

"I dearly hope that she recovers, I can say that for certain; but, as for what I think..." he paused. He could tell from the look on his grandson's face that he was expecting him to mirror his own words. "I think it is very possible that she could make it, but you and I need to prepare ourselves just in case something does happen to her."

"What did you have in mind? I just had my Hatch Day and am now officially old enough to have a say on the Great Valley Council. You guys have taken care of me to adulthood like my Mother would have wanted. Plus, my father is around too. And so are you." Littlefoot said.

"Your grandmother and I are getting quite old, we have been planning to train you to be able to take our place, in case something were to happen to either of us," he replied.

"Take your place? You mean in the Great Valley Council?" Grandpa nodded. "What would I specifically need to know?"

"What we are most concerned about is Haley and those like her." Grandpa said.

"I know. She's a big pain in the tush. Basically accused my friends and I of killing Hank and Vinnie by helping Chomper get away. Even Chomper himself didn't set out to kill them. They forced him into it."

"We know. But it's worse than just hatred for Sharpteeth."

"I know. I believe they're behind the attacks on Ruby and her family as well as Guido. Guido got the worst of it but luckily I think his wing is healing."

"It's worse than that, I'm afraid. You see, Haley and those like her want to return things to the way they were when you were a young kid."

"You mean separation of the kinds?'

"Yes. So far, your grandmother and I have balanced out Haley and Hank, and we have gotten Mr. Threehorn onto our side over time. With Hank dead, the balance further shifted into our favor, and Vinnie, who was about your age, is now dead, meaning he won't now be on the Council. However, there is a great risk that your grandma and I might both pass away within a cold time or so. And Mr. Threehorn isn't exactly young. Your friend Cera and her siblings were his second batch of children. He had others that came before them and they had children too, among them Dana and Dinah. He too probably only has a few cold times left. As I was saying, we had greater balance but then Pat and Mr. Thicknose died, and things shifted the other way. So it would seem that if all three of us were to die, that would leave you as the tie-breaker to decide the future of the Great Valley."

"Wait, me? What about Ducky and Cera? They're of age too."

"They are, but there's another problem in the rules. While a single dinosaur can eventually get into the Council, you have to be either quite a good deal older or be married to make the major decisions. Neither Cera nor Ducky currently have any boyfriend prospects. You, on the other hand, have..."

"Ali!"

"Yes."

Littlefoot started to think about the prospect of all of the kinds turning on one another again; even after having lived the first few years of his life in conditions where such behavior was commonplace, he couldn't imagine everyone reverting back to that way of life.

Before he could say any more, he felt a surge of cold air run up his back and towards his neck. He cringed, his teeth chattering.

"Maybe we should go back to Grandma," Littlefoot suggested. When Grandma initially started to fall ill, Grandpa brought her to a part of the Great Valley with tall rocks that provided some shelter against the worst of the winter storms; perhaps it would have been best to head there until the winds died down.

From where they were now standing, they were no longer being hit by the worst of the wind gusts; it was still cold, and there was a modest breeze, but Littlefoot and his grandfather found this much more tolerable than standing out in the open.

Littlefoot looked towards Grandma, who appeared to be sleeping. She was very quiet; she wasn't snoring, or reflexively flicking the tip of her tail. The Tree Stars Grandpa had left earlier had hardly been touched.

Littlefoot prodded her and she stirred feebly. "Grandma?"

"Littlefoot, I shan't be around much longer. Has your grandfather talked about what you need to do to take our place in the Great Valley?" she asked.

"Yes. He has started to." replied Littlefoot, starting to cry.

"Good."

"Don't die Grandma."

"It can't be helped. It's part of the Circle of Life. I've reached the end. it's your turn to run things now."

"I don't know if I can handle it."

"I trust you."

"Grandma, I love you."

"I love you too Littlefoot. I will miss you." she said. And with that, her eyes shut and did not open again. She was gone.

Littlefoot looked down at the ground quietly. He slowly walked over to her torso and laid down beside her. His eyes were wet, and his lip trembled.

Grandpa did not say a word; but he looked at Littlefoot and his fallen mate, forlorn. A single tear rolled down the cheek of the old sauropod, and fell onto the ground below.

Littlefoot cried silently. Grandma Longneck was gone, just his mother, and wouldn't come back. He knew that there was life after death because his mother had told him how to get to the Great Valley and had actually shown him it when he was near giving up hope right at the entrance.

"I want to be alone for a bit." he said. Grandpa Longneck nodded.

He headed into a cave, alone, tears still dripping from his face. Now, not only did he have to deal with the loss of his grandmother, but he had to think of what to do about Haley and her group. If both Grandpa Longneck and Mr. Threehorn died, then Haley's side would have the Council in a bind as it would be deadlocked. He also knew that some of the Great Valley residents, even the less racist ones, would prefer peace rather than a possible civil war, and would choose segregation over chaos.

Another problem, which had greatly empowered Haley's side, was the recent famine what had sent several dinosaurs into the Great Valley in search of food. While the catastrophe of the Great Earthshake had forced a bunch of the Leaf Eaters seeking refuge in the Great Valley to work together, no such event had happened this time, meaning that many of the new inhabitants had kept their racist views.

Grandpa Longneck had tried his best to keep as many of them out as he could, to try and hold off trouble, but if he died, that position would naturally fall to him, but if he wasn't married, then it would go to Topps, who, though much better than in the past, would be more acceptable of some racist views than his grandparents had been, and that would give Haley the edge she needed to push for more.

That night, in a stretch of forest marked by the Clubtails as their main territory, Haley rose from her sleep, slowly shuffling past the other sleeping ankylosaurs and making her way to a small clearing where her deceased mate's three closest friends - Lambi, Maia and Cory - stand.

"That's one less Council member against us," Lambi said, breaking the silence.

"What are our plans now? We'd still are three votes away from changing things here. The old Longneck, and Topps and his wife Tria are still in our way." Maia said.

Haley growled as Maia mentioned Topps and his mate; she had grown to resent them even more than she had before - Topps especially, after his mind started to change on the subject of Chomper.

A dark thought began to brew in her mind; her anger over Topps's hesitance to hunt down that blasted Rex, and her desire to fulfill her late husband's wish to take him down a peg with brute force, mixed together, and gave her an idea of how she and the swimmers could potentially take away another one of the three adults against them.

Littlefoot noticed his grandfather's health begin to decline over the next few days. He suspected that it was a combination of the cold plus losing his wife of 65 years. Finally, after stumbling and falling while trying to reach up to the top of a tall tree to reach Tree Stars, his grandfather began to have a hard time walking. His back had already been getting bad for years but this seemed to be about all it could take in his old age.

Gradually, over the next several days, he would walk less and less and Littlefoot and his friends would get him food. On the third week after the death of Grandma Longneck, he wasn't walking at all and it was clear that his time was limited.

Grandpa Longneck knew this too and so told Littlefoot what he would need to do to keep the Great Valley running in order and to try and counter Haley and her minions. By this point, Bron, who had already heard about the death of Grandma Longneck from Etta and had heard that Grandpa Longneck was not well, was there with his adopted son Shorty.

"How's he doing?" Bron asked his son.

"Not well." Littlefoot replied.

Bron approached his father-in-law. "Papa Longneck, sorry to hear about your wife. Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked.

"I'm afraid not, Bron. I'm going to see Louise and Colline again soon."

"Don't talk like that. You'll get well again soon." Bron replied, starting to cry.

"No. Littlefoot, I want you to promise me that you won't let Haley and her minions ruin the Great Valley. She's had it in for Threehorns for many cold times and I believe that her dislike for our kinds being together is made worse by several things. First off, she blames what happened with Chomper for the death of Hank and Vinnie."

"Chomper killed Hank and Vinnie?!" Bron gasped.

"Calm down Dad! I'll explain it later."

"Because we were open to other kinds being let into the Great Valley as a weakness that led to Chomper being let in, she will want to be more restrictive in who she lets in if she takes control. That would be such a tragedy for the Great Valley, especially with starving Leaf Eaters out there in the time of famine and this being the best place to get food."

"What do you think she'll do, besides keeping some Leaf Eaters out of the Great Valley, she may limit what types of dinosaurs can be associated with by whom."

Littlefoot recalled a voice, though it had been spoken several years earlier, echoing in his mind as vivid as if he'd just heard it "Threehorns don't play with Longnecks!" Though Topps had since changed, the idea of that horrible segregation coming back was unbearable to think about.

"I promise I'll do all I can to keep that from happening!" Littlefoot vowed.

"I want you to find Ali then, as you seemed to be interested in her as a possible mate. You need to get her to marry you. Then both of you can be on the Council and we don't have to worry what to do when Mr. Threehorn dies." the old Longneck said, his breathing become more labored as he grew weaker and weaker.

"I will. I will. Though I'm wondering, can't we just get Cera and others on the Council and have them get married and simply override her?"

"it's not that easy Littlefoot. If she gets power, she could limit who could be on the Council. No more Threehorns. No more Longnecks. Things like that."

"That would truly be terrible! I'll do all I can then."

"Good. I have faith you'l set things right. I love you Littlefoot. Farewell." the old Longneck said, breathing his last.

"Grandpa!" Littlefoot called, but his grandfather never moved again.

After laying Grandpa Longneck to rest in a cave next to his wife, Bron asked Littlefoot "What did he mean about Chomper? Where is he?"

"He left. He was starving and was thinking of leaving anyway. Vinnie and Magnus were bullying Tricia and he intervened. They attacked him and Vinnie accidentally impaled himself on Chomper's claws. Then Magnus brought Hank and Hank went nuts and tried to murder Chomper, forcing Chomper to bite off Hank's tail to save his own life. Unfortunately, Hank and Vinnie died of her injuries and wouldn't forgive us for letting Chomper get away."

"That wasn't a smart move. I've always wondered about Chomper. Now I fear he's a threat to us."

"You're wrong. He might eat Leaf Eaters like other Sharpteeth, but he's different."

"I'm sorry about your grandparents and about Chomper. Is there anything I can do to help?" Shorty asked him. "Bron says that he cannot be on the Council, even if he wanted to, as he hasn't lived here at least five cold times, and neither could I. Do you have any idea where Ali is?" Shorty said.

"I can guess but her herd does migrate. However, Ali told me where they typically travel this time of year. However, you mentioned helping. Could you and Dad keep Haley preoccupied till I get back with Ali? I'm sure you can think of ways to annoy and distract her, Shorty. That's your specialty."

Shorty laughed. "I guess it is. Well, good luck."

And with that, Littlefoot left immediately.

Meanwhile, in the Land of Mists, the two Longnecks that had been saved by Chomper spotted him as he was out looking for food with Dil, Ichy, and Jessica.

"Isabelle, isn't that the Sharptooth that saved us?"

"Yes, Jared. But I wonder if he's still in a kind mood. Perhaps we should hide."

Jared spotted a warm cave to hide in with pointy teeth and a flowing breeze.

"Jared!" Isabelle barked, halting him before he took a look inside the cave; if she had let his curiosity get the better of him, it probably would have been too late when he realized that this "cave" was actually a sleeping Sharptooth. Thankfully, her outburst did not awaken the giant animal; it simply rolled over to try and get comfortable.

The two turned and ran the opposite direction. They collided with Jessica, who, with Chomper's help, had brought down a Threehorn.

"Help! Sharpteeth!" Isabelle yelled as loud as she could.

"They're going to kill us!" Jared cried.

The kids backed away in fright from the two predators, but found, with horror, that Dil and Ichy had blocked their path of escape.

"Going somewhere kiddos?" Ichy laughed.

"I didn't think that Threehorn would fill all four of us. And we've been having a bit of trouble getting food lately, since, as you probably know, you Flatteeth don't grow on trees, so it looks like you two are going to be seconds." Dil said.

The two Longnecks turned around to face Chomper, who seemed the most merciful of the group and begged him "Please, tell them not to kill us!"

Chomper looked between his friends and the two kids; again feeling merciful, he stood between the carnivores and the little herbivores.

"We have already have food, we don't need to waste any more energy on making kills," he said.

The cry of the kids, however, had not gone unheard. Soon, seven Longnecks arrived. They saw the four Sharpteeth. "Get away from our kids!" one of them, who appeared to be the leader, snapped.

"I wasn't harming them. They can go back with you." Chomper replied.

"A talking Sharptooth! I didn't think they had the brains enough to learn how to talk." the leader remarked.

"I guess I could say the same about you." Ichy laughed. This further stunned the Longnecks!

"These Sharpteeth are a threat, especially as they not only know how to talk our language but also appear to be working together outside their kinds. We should kill them immediately!" the leader said.

"I warn you. We'll fight back in self-defense. Take your kids and leave." Chomper warned them.

The herd, however, didn't listen and attacked. What followed was a frightening battle, in which it seemed that Dil, Ichy, and Chomper were in danger, on more than one occasion, of being crushed. Finally, after a long drawn out fight, in which all of the Sharpteeth were injured, all seven of the adult Longnecks were dead. The two kids, who had been hiding and had come out, hearing the fighting cease, gasped in shock.

"You killed our parents!" Jared shouted at Chomper and the others.

Chomper shook his head. He felt as bad as the Sharptooth who had killed Littlefoot's mother, yet, he knew, the Longnecks had forced him into it. "I had no choice." he replied sadly.

"Well, you might as well eat us now." Jared said, shaking his head.

"Jared!" Isabelle snapped.

"Why not Izzy? Who's going to get us food? We can't reach up to the trees to get food for ourselves yet. Better to be eaten than starve to death."

"Should we eat the baby Longnecks?" Ichy asked.

"No. We're going to adopt them." Chomper replied.

"Adopt them?" Dil gasped.

What are we going to do? Jessica asked him.

Adopt the orphaned Longnecks. he replied.

"I hope they're nest-trained. I'm not cleaning up a soiled nest!" Ichy grumbled.

Isabelle's instincts put a stop to the Sharpteeth's internal adoption suggestions; she ran off in the opposite direction of the predators, as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"Wait for me!" Jared called, following suit and not wanting to be left behind with the carnivores.

Chomper looked at the fallen bodies of the Longnecks that had come to the kids's rescue; his breathing became shaky, as he started to recall Littlefoot's descriptions of how he lost his mother. He closed his eyes and tilted his head down towards the ground.

Jared, meanwhile, soon found Isabelle resting by a lake. He'd almost missed her in the mist. "Isabelle, there you are!" he said.

"They're never coming back! Mom and Dad and the others. They're dead and it's all our fault! A curse on all Sharpteeth!" she sobbed.

As they kids were crying by the lake, they heard loud footsteps pounding toward them. They turned and saw, with horror, that the huge Albertosaurus that they had narrowly avoided earlier had found them and meant to devour them.

"Run!" Jared yelled. He took off but soon noticed that Jessica was still crying and not bothering to run. "No!" he yelled. He ran back and grabbed hold of her and began pulling her away from the Sharptooth who was only just behind them.

To some it may have seemed futile on his part, as now it would only take a few more snaps and they'd both be dinner, but it didn't seem right to him to save his own skin and let his sister die. The Sharptooth behind him moved to snap at them but was suddenly knocked away from them by something.

Jared and Isabelle turned and saw the teenage Rex from earlier. He had attacked the Sharptooth to stop him from killing them.

Back off! These are my Longnecks! Chomper snapped at the Albertosaurus.

Nice try kid! You may be a Rex but you're stil young and inexperienced. I'd kick your ass faster than you can say 'Longneck'. Back off and let me eat these hatchlings. the Albertosaurus snapped. Chomper didn't move. You are really a fool kid. You're all alone and you think...

He's not alone! the Albertosaurus turned and saw Jessica, Dil, and Ichy approaching. There are four of us and only one of you. I suggest you leave before you get your ass kicked! Jessica snapped.

Ok fine. Be that way. I'm not fool enough to pick a fight with a Rex, Sailback, Bigmouthed Belly Dragger, and a Sharp Beak all at once over some puny insignificant Longnecks. At least I have the dignity to only associate with my own kind. the Albertosaurus growled before leaving.

"A Longneck once helped raise me and helped stick up for me to hide me from Red Claw. I figured it wouldn't be right if I didn't try and pass that on somehow." Chomper replied.

"Who's this Longneck?" Isabelle asked.

"His name is Littlefoot." Chomper replied.

"Who is this Littlefoot?" Jared asked.

"And why was he taking care of you? Did your own parents not care about you? Did you kill them just like you killed mine?" Isabelle asked.

"Kill them? I loved them! They were killed by Red Claw, the most dangerous Rex out there! I got on his bad side for saving a Fast Runner from him. Littlefoot convinced the Great Valley to take me in." Chomper said.

"And then you killed his parents," Isabelle added.

"No. His mother was killed by another Sharptooth. I believe his father and grandparents are still alive." Chomper replied.

"What made you leave in the first place?" Jared asked.

"Leave the Great Valley? Because, I was getting hungry a lot. Plus, I ran into a problem with some Clubtails bullying a friend of mine. I fought them off and, unfortunately, the event turned tragic and I accidentally killed two of them."

"Accidentally," Isabelle repeated, screwing her face; after what just happened, she was not in the right mood to believe Chomper saying that what he did was by accident.

"Think what you want. But the point is I am here now, and I am not going back. If I could, I'd send you to the Great Valley to live. You'd be safe there. Problem is, a ton of the residents want me dead, so it looks like, for the time being, that I'm going to have to take care of you."

"Take care of us?! Do you even know what we eat?" Jared laughed.

"I know Leaf Eaters that eat Sweet Bubbles, Tree Stars, yellow flowers, Tree Sweets...heck, I know of one that ate a pointy seed once. That was Spike."

"Did you eat Spike?" Isabelle asked.

"No. If I did, I'd be a lot fatter." Chomper laughed.

Chomper continued to talk to the children, allowing Dil, Ichy, and Jessica to eat some of the dead Longnecks (in addition to the Threehorn) and store off the rest for later without the children seeing. Eventually, the children returned and found the bodies gone.

"What did you do to them?!" Isabelle demanded.

"I didn't do anything. My friends ate what they could and stored the rest for later." Chomper replied.

"Do you eat your own families when they die?" Isabelle asked in disgust.

"No. I suppose I'd have asked which ones were your parents so that I could lay them to rest and not have them eaten, but I thought that you might get too emotional. I talked to Littlefoot about how he was after his mother's death. Didn't want to eat and even was one time talking to his own shadow, thinking that it was his mother returning."

"You'll never be my parent!" Isabelle snapped, taking off again. Jared ran off to join her. Soon, however, the two returned, panicked. It soon become apparent what had scared them.

Well, well. Long time no see Chomper. Screech said, as he, his brother Thud, and several other Fast Biters approached the trio.