"I thank you for
entering A Sharptooth's Heart."
"I'm your guide; you can
call me Sora W.T.K."
"Danger has been released in the Great
Valley."
"Right now I see a sharp-tooth, fueled with anger and
hate…"
"But something worse is in the Great Valley…"
"Something we call…"
---------------------------------------------
04
DANGER
INSTINCT WITHOUT CONTROL
"Danger…"
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Morning has arrived, and miles away from the Great Valley, deep into the Mysterious Beyond, the lone sharptooth, Bull, slowly walks in the opposite direction of the valley, his head down as he reflects what has happened last night, between Rex, between Littlefoot and Cera, between his brother… "I can't believe it…" He whispers, a hint of anger and sadness in his voice. "My brother is really…gone…"
Bull stops his trek through the Mysterious Beyond, looking back at the barely visible walls of the Great Valley. "How could a kid like that punk be able to take him down?" He asks himself, the question would haunt him for the rest of the morning…
"Soon I'll get my revenge…You'll see."
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Back at the Great Valley, the morning could not have been any better, the gentle breeze gracefully stroking against the skin of the early morning dinosaurs, the grass softly sways in the breeze's current and the leaves raking with the current, breaking off their branch's hinges and taking flight in the wind. The ingredients of a perfect morning…But not this morning…
Under the shadows of a few trees, a winged blue-green dinosaur lays asleep, at peace deep in slumber. Rex breaths calmly, as if unaware of the dangers he has passed through last night, but all of that is about to change as he begins to wake up, groaning and stretching as he gives off a yawn. "Oh man…" He whispers as he sits, "what happened last night?" The winged dinosaur closes his eyes as he scratches his back, suddenly beginning to rub his head from the slight jar in it. "I feel like I picked a fight with Cera and lost."
While rubbing his head, he suddenly feels a wet spot, then smearing all over the top of his head as he keeps rubbing his head all over it. "Huh?" He blinks, puzzled of the wet feeling on his head. Retracting his arm and looking at his humanoid paws, gasping as he stares at what looks like crimson liquid, dry and wet, all over his humanoid paws.
"What the…?"
Blood…Blood all over his humanoid paws…All over his claws…
He stares at his hands in disbelief, smacking his lips as an unfamiliar taste surges through his mouth and down his throat. Rex has eaten a lot of green food when he was younger, but none of them have ever tasted like this. He shakes his head and wipes his mouth with the back of his humanoid paws, revealing even more blood, smeared around his mouth.
He looks around, wondering how the heck he got blood all over him. "How did I-"
The answer however, struck him like a ton of rocks as his eyes lays upon what appears to be a corpse of a sharptooth…The velociraptor, Zill…
The corpse has been terribly mutilated, all slashed up and eaten, the wound Rex inflicted on his chest has been ripped open wider, a pool of blood under the corpse of its massive bleeding, the face looking upward and twisted, the sharptooth's neck and spine has been snapped, Rex is just stiffed in fear. "Did I…Do that…?" He trembles, his eyes glued to the corpse, his mind riddled with fears and concerns, he gulps as his mind mentally paints what would happen if he turns out into a blood-thirsty sharptooth, the idea of eating his friends and other leaf-eaters for food….
'No…I don't want that…'
"Rex!"
Rex jumps to his feet, hearing his name being called in the wind; it was Littlefoot's voice, Rex trembles as he slowly lowers his gaze to his claws and body, all covered in blood…
'This is bad…I can't let him see me like this…'
Rex turns ands runs toward the opposite direction of where Littlefoot's voice emitted from, heading to the lake to wash himself off of the blood on his body…
But…Just a few seconds after Rex leaving the scene, a resident of the Great Valley makes into the scene…Cera's father, Mr. Threehorn…
"A sharptooth? Here in the Great Valley?" He asks to no one in particular, eyeing the mutilated corpse lying in front of him. "Hm?" Mr. Threehorn spots something odd on the ground, bloody footprints heading to the lake, just a quick whiff of the scent of the footprint is enough to figure out who it was…A dinosaur he has hated and kept watch of ever since meeting him…
"That boy…"
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Rex continues through the area, happy to find the lake empty, at peace for him to wash the blood off of his body. He still can't believe what he has done to that sharptooth, he can't believe how dangerous he is…Just like every sharptooth before him, savage and bloody. Rex looks up at the sky as he slowly walks into the water, the aqua surrounding the child's legs and waist slowly turning into a crimson color, washing them away from his skin, closing his eyes and submerging himself underwater, letting the cool water surround his skin and washing the blood away, emerging once again from the water after a while of being underwater, now staring up at the sky and trying to piece together what exactly happened last night. As he remembers, he was chasing after Zill, jumped into the air, and landed on him with a snap sound, after that everything seems like a blur…
'Let's see…What exactly happened after that?' He ponders, but it's all so frustrating, horrible feeling not being able to recall what has happened.
'Why can't I remember what happened after slamming down on that sharptooth?'
"Darn it!" Rex cries as he splashes the water in frustration, sending particles of aqua to the green grass, growling as he fumes up in anger at himself, how could he have left this happened?
'Bad Rex! Bad!'
If this happens again, if he can't stop it nor control it…Well, Rex doesn't even wanna think about the results…
"What to do now…" He asks himself, cursing under his breath. "What to do now…" He asks again, a bit louder now, until his frustration just snaps and he shouts it out to the world. "WHAT DO I DO NOW!" Rex is growling, furious of not knowing what to do, it's as if the whole world have betrayed him…
"Huh? Do what now?"
Rex's eyes widen and a silent gasp escape from his mouth, recognizing that voice from anywhere, gulping as he realizes the danger he would be in if Rex goes insane again. Nervous, Rex slowly turns, ending up face to face with his longtime friend, Littlefoot.
"Is something wrong?" Littlefoot asks, tilting his head a bit as he looks at Rex, his face just yelling fear and worry, but the blue-green tries to hide it by showing a grin, but the awkward use of the grin in combination with a worried look just turned it into a goofy, funny face, only achieving in making Littlefoot giggle. "Heheh! You look funny." Littlefoot expresses with a smile as he approaches Rex in the lake. "What…Are you doing here anyway?"
Rex stammers, not knowing what to say, he just turns his back to Littlefoot and sighs deeply. "I…Was just thinking here…"
Littlefoot could giggle all day from that goofy face Rex had earlier, but he knows it's not the suitable time for some laughs, as he was worried about his whereabouts last night. "Rex…Where were you last night?" Rex stays quiet however; he doesn't even have a clue on what to answer.
"Cera and I were worried about you." Littlefoot continues, looking at Rex with a concern look on his face. "I…Thought you were dead…But just to be sure, I looked for you around the valley all morning…" Littlefoot sighs, hating it when Rex stays quiet like this, but the concern longneck takes a step forward, wanting to break Rex's silence. "Are you even listening?"
Rex flinches, giving a sigh and slowly turn to his longneck friend. "…Sorry, I was just thinking."
Littlefoot smiles a bit, "Well…You can think while we walk over to grandpa and grandma." Littlefoot pauses as he ascends out of the lake and into solid ground. "They've been worried."
Rex watches Littlefoot, the longneck slowly walking out of his view, the sharptooth giving off a sigh and following after him as to not get left behind. His mind is deep in worry, about what he has done to the velociraptor who invaded their home…Granted; he has nothing to worry about, for what he had done was out of self defense…But…Is it self defense anymore if he left the attacker too wounded to fight back? Maybe it wasn't out of self defense after all…Maybe…
"You know…" Littlefoot speaks out, breaking the unnerving silence between them. "Grandpa and grandma were worried when I came back home alone."
"Hm…" Rex hums, not of Littlefoot's statement, but of his own thoughts.
Littlefoot blinks, his hearing catching the slight hum in Rex's voice. "What's the matter?" He asks after stopping, looking back at Rex's thoughtful face.
"Oh…It's…Nothing…" He replied, looking up at the blue sky and away from Littlefoot, suddenly feeling a bit of a lift off his conscience from what has happened, but not much…Not much at all…Still…
"C'mon…Why don't we find the others and go have some fun?"
Littlefoot eyes Rex as his sharptooth friend walks past him in a hurried pace, his idea of finding the others and having fun with them seems to have overtaken him. "Heheh, sometimes I don't understand him…" He says, admiring Rex's recovery rate when feeling down.
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At the center of the valley however, there is trouble brewing. The grown-ups are huddled up, a meeting to discuss a serious danger inhabiting the valley. Leading the meeting is none other than Cera's father, Mr. Three Horn. "Hmph!" The triceratops snorts, eyeing each and every one of the grown-ups attending the meeting. "It seems that blue boy is getting into meat."
As reflex after this statement, all of their faces contain widen eyes, and soon they begin murmuring and speaking to each other, they know whom Mr. Three Horn is talking about, and they all tremble at the mere thought of what that boy is capable of.
"Just one minute." Littlefoot's grandpa calls out, the tremble of his voice forcing the others to shut up, and listen to his words. "How can you tell that he was responsible for the slaughter?" Mr. Three Horn growls and glares up at Littlefoot's towering grandpa. "Everyone saw the site you have showed us; it could've been another sharptooth…"
Mr. Three Horn growls, stepping closer to Grandpa and glaring, the triceratops is indeed very mad. "That boy is the only one close to a sharptooth inhabiting in the Great Valley!"
Grandpa however, retaliates at Mr. Three Horn's stubborn will. "That's not a good enough reason, if that sharptooth managed to enter here, what makes you think another sharp-tooth didn't enter along with it?"
Grandpa stated a good point there, what if the sharptooth did entered with another? What if they fought each other and one killed the other? This reason is indeed valid, not only to further the list of suspects of who had done this, but also more ground to protect his adopted son, Rex.
"LOOK!" Mr. Three Horn shouts after Grandpa's statement, sounding very angry and agitated, one who doesn't like being corrected by other, slams his tail to the ground and raising his voice. "If another sharptooth had entered with it, we would've seen it by now, wouldn't we!" A valid point from Mr. Three Horn, and a good one at that. "But we didn't, didn't we!"
"Mr. Three Horn is right." A random dinosaur from the group, a duckbill, speaks out. "If it wasn't Rex, wouldn't the sharptooth have eaten the whole thing instead of leaving such an amount of meat behind?" Another point coming from a duckbill which sounds to have much wisdom. "A mere lad such as Rex would've let this amount of leftovers."
Granpda sighs, they were right, no matter how much he would want to, no matter how much he wishes for it, the answer wouldn't change…
Rex has devoured his first taste of meat…
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Rex contemplates as he sits on the green grass, feeling the gentle breeze scraping against his body, feeling the grass swaying against his humanoid paws and legs, the tree hanging on the branches brushing against the wind and making that gentle sound in the wind as they scrape each other. His eyes are set on his friends as they play in an open field in the Great Valley, all of them joyful everlasting, having fun of their childhood and enjoying their privilege living in the peaceful Great Valley.
Littlefoot, who is in a giggling fit after being knocked down onto his back, Petrie and Ducky tickling his belly while the others laugh, he seems quite happy of the amount of fun he's having with his friends, but at the open of one of his eyes to Rex's direction quickly fades out his giggles as he slowly rolls onto his sides, gently sliding both Petrie and Ducky off his belly, the others kids quickly gasp as their eyes glue right to where Littlefoot is looking at. Mr. Three Horn is approaching toward them, and he doesn't seem too happy, not to mention the gang of grown-ups behind him, whatever happened, it is horrible news…
Rex blinks as the children are all looking at his direction, faces of horror etched into their faces. "Huh?"
A sudden shadow looms over him; a chill goes up his spine. The young sharptooth turns around rather slowly, as to not alert the stalker behind him, but his wish for it to be something meaningless just sinks as he finds out who it is…Mr. Three Horn.
Bad news, that's what quickly registers in Rex's mind as he stares at Mr. Three Horn right in the face, and in an attempt to lighten the mood, Rex weakly smiles and chuckles nervously. "Uh…hi?" Mr. Three Horn just snorts at the kid…Still bad news.
He stands aside and from behind him Grandpa walks in closer to Rex. His feeling of hope has just dwindled, he can imagine what they found out that has gotten them this upset, he can only imagine the punishment he would endure if it's exactly what he thinks they found out about…
"What are the grown-ups looking at?" Ducky asks, the little duckbill getting up to her feet and looking up at Littlefoot.
"Is Rex in trouble?" Cera adds, taking a few steps closer to stand side by side her longneck friend.
"I…I don't know." Littlefoot mutters, shaking his head as he watches what unfolds in front of them.
"Well, it happened." Mr. Three Horn snorts, glaring down at Rex before turning his head over to Grandpa, it is clearly evident on his face just how upset Mr. Three Horn is. "What are you going to do with him now?"
Grandpa shakes his head, feeling sorry for the little sharptooth and responsible for what has happened. But more than anyone, he knows something must be done about this, but his mind is a blank. "I don't know…"
Mr. Three Horn has an idea, and he states it clearly. "I say its time he should leave!"
Littlefoot and the others gasp, the idea has taken them by storm, they don't want to see Rex leave the Great Valley and everything else behind, next to Chomper, Rex is their best sharptooth friend, and they don't want to lose that type of privilege.
"Aren't you being a little harsh on the boy?" Littlefoot's grandma questions, lowering her head looking at Mr. Three Horn, questioning his decision.
Mr. Three Horn however, doesn't like to be questioned either. "Look!" He shouts, slamming his powerful tail to the ground and causing some cracks to form at the solid ground. "Either he goes alive or dead!"
His eyes…The fire in his eyes…Mr. Three Horn means those words, he would do anything to banish a sharptooth such as Rex out of the Great Valley, alive or dead, and he would not hesitate to strike the sharptooth dead, thrust his horns through his stomach or by trampling his life out, he would do it!
"What's…What's going on?" Littlefoot asks, approaching Rex to find out the answer. The winged sharptooth hesitates on telling him, about how he stopped the velociraptor sharptooth…permanently. He sighs, he should, but as he opens his mouth to reply…
"We cannot let someone who's becoming a full sharptooth run around the valley!" Mr. Three Horn continues discussing, this time at the top of his lungs, glaring at both Grandpa and Grandma. "He'll get used to meat and it'll be the end of us!"
Littlefoot gasp, overhearing this…
"Look, why don't you give him another chance?" Grandpa tries to persuade Mr. Three Horn, but stubborn that he is, his mind is made up. Grandma joined her mate in trying to persuafe Mr. Three Horn. "Please, let him stay. We can't leave him alone out there, he'll die."
Three Horn snorts, glancing at Rex and thinking over his decision, he turns to Littlefoot's grandparents to express his final decision. "…OK! But if he does this again then he's out of here!" He shouts it, and he shouts it well, with a well place pound of his tail right on the ground.
Littlefoot is now feeling anger in his heart, not holding it in much longer he runs toward Mr. Three Horn and stands in front of him, cutting him off from walking away.
"You're wrong! Rex wouldn't do something like that!" He glares up at Mr. Three Horn, not being faced by Mr. Three Horn's face. "I know Rex; he would never do what you said even if he was tempted." Confident of his sharptooth friend, he looks over to him, trying to prove Mr. Three Horn wrong. "Right?"
Rex can't help Littlefoot in proving Mr. Three Horn wrong, there's nothing to prove wrong about, he stares at Littlefoot, regretting what he has done that has gotten him in so much trouble…What he did last night…
"Right?"
Rex sighs, slowly turning with his head bowed and just getting out of there, walking toward the mountains, someplace where he could hide and take refuge, the humiliation of what he did is too high for him to bear now.
"You're…not kidding." Little finally admits, watching his sharptooth friend go, he can't believe what's going down. His friend, a flier that has been living with them for as long as they gotten in the Great Valley, a friend who loves peace and having fun, he couldn't believe he did what they said. His jaw practically drops to the ground, not believing this, him and his friends watching Rex go, it's all a shock to them and everyone.
Mr. Three Horn glances at Littlefoot's face, his expression clearly visible, but the triceratops sets it aside and turns to his home.
"Come Cera." He suddenly calls out to this daughter, his voice sounding as cold as always. "I don't want you near that killer again."
Cera, being the obedient daughter that she is, follows her father, her head bowed down in sadness, but before she goes any further she stops next to Littlefoot and in a whisper: "I'm sorry."
Voices in the distance call for Ducky, Petrie and Spike, and soon they being their trek toward their home, leaving a shocked Littlefoot behind with his grandparents; the gang of grown-ups spread out and back to their dens and gracing.
"What are we going to do with him?" Grandpa silently asks his mate, keeping the conversation away from Littlefoot as to avoid anything else from the boy.
"Maybe we could keep him away from the other kids…" Grandma suggests, following her mate back to the nest. "At least until he shows no desire for meat…"
"I guess we have no other choice…" Grandpa replies…
Littlefoot stays behind, staring at the path Rex had walked to, contemplating of going after him or not, but it was such a waste of time, it's obvious his heart points to helping his winged sharptooth friend, he slowly walks forward. It's time to do a bit of cheering up…
TO BE CONTINUED…
---------------------------------------------
"Here is the next phase."
"A promise has been broken."
"And an instinct without control is on the loose."
"Can Rex overcome his instinct?"
"Or will his instinct swallow him?"
---------------------------------------------
05
INSTINCT
DANGER UNLEASHED
"Instinct, danger unleashed."
---------------------------------------------
"Join me next time for another chapter of A Sharp-tooth's Heart."
