The final part of the prologue is about the leaf eaters. Littlefoot, Ali, Cera, Ducky, Spike, and Peterie. I have chosen to do a chapter for them for several reasons. First of all, they're an important part of this story too, secondly I thought this would be a great oportunity to show how they drift appart. Third, it's my book and I'll do what I want with it! Fourth, I thought I might show a little of how the valley dinosaurs came about not taking Littlefoot seriously anymore. This was originally scripted as the first Chapter, but I wanted to save the biggest and most dramatic for last (granted Chomper's story was rather more dramatic than I originally planned, but I wont change it because I like it, so there!)
We've seen a day in the lives of the "Pack Hunters", we've seen a day in the lives of the "Two Fingers" (Man I wish I'd thought up a better name for the Rexes) and we've even seen how Reaver came to take control over Bone Canyon. So far we've focused on Age of Reptiles, and original dinosaurs, but isn't this a Land Before Time story?
Well of course it is, and what's The Land Before Time without it's main Dinosaurs? Nothing but a collection of disasters happening with no children--by far smarter than their parents--to solve the problems!
First we'll tackle the big issue, what happened to the grown ups? Then we tackle the kids.
Passage One
Putting Up Walls . . .
Littlefoot stared at the small nest, and clutch of eggs. How could such simple, frail little item contain an entire life?
Eight fragile little eggs, eight tiny lives. Littlefoot shook his head in awe, parents always got mushy over their children, but he just couldn't help it!
"They're all miracles!" Littlefoot sighed.
"Our miracles." Ali said sweetly.
Littlefoot smiled, he'd never thought he might be a parent someday, never expected to have Ali as his beloved partner, had always suspected that Ali, beautiful and highly sought after, would want some other male, perhaps a more popular one, or a herd leader . . . he'd been wrong, and she'd chosen him!
Now they were just like any other happy couple, and they would soon have eight magnificent little ones.
Littlefoot gazed lovingly at both Ali and the nest, when he heard a commotion not far away. Looking up, he saw a gathering of leafeaters headed for the wall, he saw a familiar flyer soar abovehead, and called out to his old friend, Petrie.
"What's happening?" Littlefoot had to shout the question to get Petrie's attention.
"I not know, but something bad!" Petrie called back, not turning around.
Littlefoot looked to Ali, who shook her head, "I should stay with the nest." She said.
Littlefoot nodded, he didn't want to leave Ali and the nest, he was enjoying their company, however the commotion couldn't simply be ignored . . .
Rock Nose, the three horn led her herd towards the great valley. They had followed the legendary trail . . . and they should soon find it!
But all they found were rocks and stones!
"This is a dead end!" Rock Nose's second, a three horn named Slipp, snapped!
"I have eyes." Rock Nose scowled.
"Do they see that this is a dead end?" Slipp demanded.
Slipp did not believe in the Great Valley, but Rock Nose had managed to convince her herd that it existed . . . she couldn't believe that she'd been wrong, it had to be somewhere around here!
The herd had been maliciously hunted by the predators outside the valley, but Rock Nose would have no more of it!
Rock Nose knew the valley was just on the other side of those rocks!
She began to climb.
"Are you crazy?" Slipp demanded, but he too began to climb.
The entire herd followed Rock Nose and Slipp, their leaders! Rock Nose knew, just knew that the Great Valley, their salvation was just on the other side of those rocks!
Rock Nose climbed, she would not relent, she would reach the top, she would enter the Great Valley!
She moved each leg, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four . . .
Just a bit more!
It was practically a vertical wall, but there were areas where the three horns could climb upon the rocks, and Rock Nose seemed to find each one with no difficulty!
She climbed higher, and higher, some of her kind were passing her by, taking other, easier routes, some were far behind and still others milled about the bottom of the wall, unsure.
But then one of the others called out, "I-it's there! Th-the Great Valley!"
Rock Nose raised her head in surprise, and triumph!
And missed her footing! She slipped and fell, tumbling down the all until suddenly she stopped!
Rock Nose looked around frantically, and saw Slipp and another holding onto her by the tail, their mouths were the only thing they could use to hold onto her, so when Rock Nose shouted to Slipp, "What are you doing? You'll fall too!" all he could do was harden his eyes and grunt.
Slipp and the other began to pull Rock Nose up, and she dared to think she might survive after all . . .
But the rocks fell out from beneath them . . .
Rock Nose bellowed loudly as they fell, and then . . . it was over.
"This tragedy," Niocolai scowled, "was caused by that wall!"
"If they had only waited—" Littlefoot protested, but Nicolai cut him off!
"If they had only waited sharp teeth could have fallen upon them?" The older long neck scoffed.
"No, if they'd waited we could have led them through the path!" Cera snapped.
"They are not used to the soft and easy life of the great valley as we are, they feared for their lives!" Nicolai snapped at Cera, "How can you expect them to just wait?"
"Patience is a virtue, yep, yep!" Duckie pointed out.
"Nonsense!" Nicolai roared!
Littlefoot appreciated that his friends had risen to his defense just as quickly as Nicolai, a cousin of Ali and nemesis of grandpa, had set on the attack!
"I-I never expected anyone to—" Littlefoot began, this time Cera cut him off!
"Be so impatient and stupid!" Cera shouted, "Those three horns should have waited!"
"No way this Littlefoot's fault." Petrie said.
"No one is saying that Littlefoot meant for this to happen," Cera's father, one of the elders said, and again Nicolai, determined to make himself heard over everyone else, interrupted!
"Though one can hardly deny that it is indeed his fault!"
"That's not true!" Ali snapped, stomping her foot.
"Oh, of course you wouldn't see it that way, you're his mate, he can do no wrong in your eyes." Nicolai said dismissively
Littlefoot shook his head slowly, he disliked Nicolai immensely, but he agreed whole heartedly with what was being said . . . this had been his fault! This had been his mistake! The wall was meant to keep predators out, so many had died leading to it's almost accidental creation, but . . . Littlefoot hadn't considered that it might harm other leaf eaters. Keep some of them out, certainly, but lead to the death of three healthy three horns?
Maybe on some level, impatience had been the culprit, but Littlefoot felt responsible . . . he hadn't built the wall, a landslide during a vicious battle at the valley's main entrance had done that . . . but he'd maintained it, done his best, with the aid of Ducky, Spike and Petrie to keep it up. Now it'd caused a calamity!
"Littlefoot himself meant no harm," Nicolai said finally, and no one raised argument, "however he obviously lacks the wisdom and foresight necessary to predict the dangerous consequences of his actions, he is . . . frankly, a blundering fool!"
"Outrageous!" Ali screamed!
"You pompous—" Spike began,
"Stuck up—" Petrie added,
But Cera's father cleared his throat very loudly, silencing them before Cera could have her no doubt extremely profane say.
"It is obvious to me," said Cera's father, "that this meeting is resorting to nothing short of mudslinging. We should take a break and collect our thoughts. No doubt our cousins, the actual victims of this tragedy will want to shed new light on the argument."
Littlefoot heard the words, and nodded dumbly, he left as soon as the council of elders adjourned and wandered off alone.
"What can happen to Littlefoot if he's found responsible for the deaths?" Spike asked.
"Nothing! He not responsible!" Petrie snapped.
"Of course not!" Cera snapped back, "but if that Nicolai gets his way . . ."
"Littlefoot could be exiled! He could . . ." Ducky said sadly.
"If Littlefoot leaves Great Valley, Petrie leaves Great Valley!" Petrie said firmly.
"It wont come to that!" Cera said, "My dad's not stupid enough to believe everything Nicolai says, and the other elders have to remember that Littlefoot is anything but a fool!"
"Littlefoot? A fool?" Spike laughed at the absurdity of it!
"What a ridiculous idea! Littlefoot has stopped more disasters in the Great Valley than Nicolai or any of the elders put together!" Cera agreed.
"And he is our friend!" Ducky said, "We will stand by him no matter what! We will, we will!"
"Thank you all . . ." Littlefoot said softly, and Cera nearly jumped out of her hide! How did he, so large, manage to sneak up on them and listen in to their conversation without them noticing?
"Thank you all," Littlefoot said again, "but I don't think I want you to try to defend me anymore."
"You crazy!" Petrie said.
"I . . . I don't think it's right." Littlefoot said, "I think Nicolai is right. This was my fault, if I had allowed the wall to deteriorate, instead of keeping it strong it would have become more easily accessible by now, that tragedy never would have happened."
"You are crazy!" Cera cried, "Nobody is to blame for what happened, it's sad it happened, but Nicolai only wants to blame you because he knows that the valley dinosaurs have more respect for you than they have for him!"
"No . . . really . . ." Littlefoot said softly, "It's all right. You guys . . . don't need to stand up for me this time."
Cera scoffed. "If you don't want your friends to help you, then you are a fool!"
"We not offering, flat head." Petrie said dryly.
"We're going to stand by you whether you like it or not! Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky said.
Littlefoot lowered his head, and shrugged his great shoulders. "All right . . ." He said, and Cera felt as if she had finally talked some sense into him, but Littlefoot said gloomily, " don't expect too much . . . I did lack wisdom and foresight, Nicolai's case is hard to argue against."
"Common sense argues against it. You'd be on the council of elders if you weren't so young." Spike pointed out, and Cera nodded in agreement.
Littlefoot looked off into the distance, and shrugged again.
Ali did not leave the council cave with Littlefoot, instead, glaring hatefully at her elder cousin, Nicolai, she followed him. "Why must you constantly attack Littlefoot? He's done nothing to you!"
Nicolai scoffed, "Naturally. Obviously his victims tend to end up dead."
"That's nonsense!" Ali snapped, "His 'victims' end up dead? You're being ridiculous!"
"No, dear Ali, you are simply blinded by your misguided feelings for him." Nicolai said.
Ali shook her head, "Are you that far beyond reality?"
"Am I far from reality? Let us ask one of Littlefoot's victims . . ." Nicolai said coldly, and he approached a ragged looking three horn. "You there, you're one of the newcomers, are you not?" Nicolai asked pompously.
"Yeah . . . no thanks to that ruddy wall of yours!"
"Indeed, that wall is a nuisance, but certain, greedy dinosaurs keep it around to keep others from entering the great valley." Nicolai said.
"You liar!" Ali gasped, but the Three Horn seemed to be leaning more towards Nicolai's way of thinking,
"You just cant accept the truth, cousin." Nicolai said coldly.
"That wall is a problem, and it's got to be rectified!" The three horn pointed out, "Rock Nose and Slipp . . . who ever leads our herd now will want to see some punishment dealt for the stupidity of you valley dwellers!"
Ali glared, "Stupidity? You're calling us stupid? Your entire herd tried to climb a steep cliff!"
"We only did what Slipp and Rock Nose did!" The three horn protested.
"So you cant be blamed for your own actions?" Ali scoffed, "You must have known it was dangerous, your leaders must have known, they climbed anyway. It's tragic what happened, but no one made it happen, it was an accident."
Nicolai shook his head, "Poor girl. Don't you see? Littlefoot made it happen, he cared for that wall as if it were a hatchling, he keeps it strong, expands it I daresay!"
"You know that all Littlefoot does is make sure the wall doesn't collapse!" Ali snapped, "He doesn't expand on it, that's ludicrous! It took dozens of powerful dinosaurs to create that landslide in the first place, and don't forget that if it weren't for the slide the valley would have been overrun by sharp teeth!"
"There are no Sharp Teeth that can enter the valley, they're too stupid." Nicolai said.
"It's true," The three horn said, "Sharp Teeth don't even know about the entrance!"
"They may notice, don't you think, if a large mountain wall suddenly becomes a huge, gapping hole in the sky line?" Ali asked sarcastically.
Nicolai laughed pityingly, "Poor cousin. You were clever . . . once upon a time."
Ali scowled, and left. There was nothing to be gained by preaching to a stone!
"Excelletnt!" Nicolai said with a grin, "With your testimony Littelfoot will be condemned!"
The three horn looked up at Nicolai, "But . . . the more I think of it . . . the wall might be a good idea."
"That's nonsense. Anyway it's Littelfoot I want to discredit." Nicolai said coldly.
The three horn cocked his head to the side, "Buy why?"
"Because he commands respect! His entire life he's solved problems and saved others, he's a community leader by virtue of character, while I am properly recognized because of my age, and my wisdom. Yet when they've a problem people go to him before they come to me!" Nicolai laughed, "He helps them without asking for anything in return, and I will show him just how thankless they are. I will show him how easy it is to lose the trust of others, I will show him how little effort it takes for the dinosaurs of the great valley to turn on him."
"Why?" Asked the three horn.
Nicolai smiled, "Because, as I've said, he is a threat. With him running about and making a nuiscance of himself, people come to trust him instead of the council. Without the council, how can so many dinosaurs work together without major argument or greavance? When an accident occurs it should be up to the council to solve it, not Littlefoot. He has no right to usurp the powers granted to me. He is a threat, and I cannot stop him as long as he continues to help others." Nicolai smiled, "But if others stopped asking for his help, stopped trusting his help, they would turn to me. He would become nothing but a peaceful inhabitant of the valley, and no longer a threat."
The three horn shifted uneasily. "So you don't really care about Rock Nose and Slipp?"
"Don't get me wrong," Nicolai lied, "I am deeply grieved. That is why Littlefoot must be stopped now. That is why, you understand, we must convince the other dinosaurs not to trust his judgement over that of the council. Spread among your herd, the story that Littlefoot is incompetent, that all of his success until now has been through shire dumb luck and good intentions, but that in the end he is nothing but a fool. Because of the tradgety that befell your herd, others will listen patiently and the disease of truth will spread.
"Soon the entire valley will turn their backs on Littlefoot, and then . . . then all will be well." Nicolai said.
"And the wall'll come down?" The three horn asked.
"After a fashion." Nicolai said, "We will make a new entrance, but we shan't destroy the whole wall, as my cousin said, it would be too noticeable, sharp teeth would come to investigate."
The three horn shifted uneasily. "Well okay, if it'll get a new entrance . . ."
Though in the end Littlefoot was not blamed for the deaths of the three horns officially, it seemed as if everyone in the valley would fix him with a hard stare as he went by. Dinosaurs would avoid him, some refused to speak to him, and almost all of them stared at him, not even bothering to stop if he looked back at them.
The council eventually ruled—to enthusiastic consent among the valley dinosaurs—to demolish a portion of the wall, providing a new entrance. Littlefoot hated the idea.
But he hadn't been near the wall in the week since the tragedy, a small part of him wanted it all to come down, a small part of him wanted sharp teeth to invade so that everyone would know he'd been right.
But the better part of him—in more ways than one—knew that was wrong, and accepted the council's decision. He accepted the hard stares and the silence from others, it would pass, he was sure.
He still had Ali and his friends, in the end what else did he need?
Passage Two
Coincidental Meetings?
She was still so small. Ali couldn't believe she'd ever been that small, Alleria was absolutely tiny!
"Mama?" Alleria piped up, and Ali blinked herself out of her daze.
"Yes?"
"How big is the world?" Alleria asked.
Ali frowned, "Well . . . it's quite big. The whole great valley, from one end of to the next, from the water fall, to the Great Wall."
"What's on the other side of the great wall?" Alleria asked.
"What do you mean?" Ali asked, evasively.
The little long neck clicked her tongue in thought, the said, "I heard you lived out there. What is it called, how big is it?"
Ali frowned. "It is very big. It is the mysterious beyond, and you can get lost there. That is why you must never go there."
"But . . . if you went with me, I wouldn't get lost." Alleria said.
"I'm not going to the mysterious beyond." Ali laughed.
"But you used to live there!" Alleria protested.
Ali shook her head, and leaned down, taking a closer look at her daughter's face, "And now I don't. I don't plan to go back . . . ever again."
"But why not?" Alleria frowned.
"Well . . . why should we?" Ali asked.
"I want to know what's out there!" Alleria said.
"I guessed as much." Ali smiled, "You're like your father. But . . . it's not safe. I don't want you to get hurt."
Alleria sighed. "Okay, mom." She said.
Ali smiled, "Oh no, I was a child once too. I know what that 'okay' means. I'll be having your promise, little one."
Alleria sighed, "Oh, all right. I promise." Alleria said. Ali smiled, this child of hers was just too much like her father.
Today was the day. A battle of wills, wits and fortitude, a contest of strength and endurance!
Only one winner, perhaps only one survivor!
"Today is the day, you're goin' down." Tri said coldly, snorting.
His foe just stood there, silent, daunting.
Tri stomped the ground and charged! He let out a battle cry, and with a loud BANG he slammed into the tree!
It shook a little.
A couple of leaves fell.
Tri grinned superiorly, "Got'cha! Now you know whose boss!"
"You showed 'im!" One of his sisters said with what was probably sarcasm. Luckily Tri didn't really understand sarcasm yet, so it didn't affect him.
"That's my srong boy!" Tri's father chuckled.
"Just like his papa." His mother, Cera nodded.
Tri's superior grin grew. He looked up at his mother and father and said, "Three horns are the strongest, right?"
"'Course." His father said simply.
"Always have been, always will be." Cera said with conviction.
Tri nodded and looked down to eat the leaves he'd gotten for himself . . . except that his sisters had already gotten to them. With a sigh he looked to his mother, "Mama, why are we the strongest?"
Cera laughed, "Because we have to be."
"Yeah . . . why?" Tri asked.
Cera frowned. "Well . . . in the old days, before you were born we had to protect ourselves."
"From what?" Tri asked.
Cera was quiet for a long time, she shared a concerned look with his father, but he only nodded and she said, "From the Sharp Teeth of course."
"The what?" Tri asked.
"The sharp teeth. They're . . . dinosaurs who eat other dinosaurs. They used to try to eat three horns, so we had to be strong to protect ourselves."
Tri thought on this and said, "Well where are these sharp teeth now?"
"They cant come into the Great Valley, the wall keeps them out." Cera said.
"Oh . . ." Tri said thoughtfully. So there were things out there that used to eat three horns? That meant that they were probably stronger than three horns . . . he just didn't understand how that could even be possible.
Ducky sighed at the sight of her five recently hatched children, they were just so small, so adorable, so lovable, so . . . energetic.
It was no wonder she'd been separated from her family as a child, with such energetic chirping children it was a wonder she hadn't lost any herself!
Yes all four were still right . . . oh!
Thorny and Spike had come to visit aunt Ducky and her family, and Thorny could not have been more bored!
Or so he thought, but when he got there Ducky was running back and forth and looking under rocks and panicking and talking frantically to the rest of her herd, it was the most animated Thorny had ever seen the boring old swimmer!
"Oh Spike! He is missing!" Ducky cried.
"Eh?" Asked Spike.
"Frog! Frog! Frog! My Frog, he is missing!" Ducky cried.
"Ah." Nodded Spike.
Thorny didn't really know why this was a problem, he'd seen frogs and they were weird. They made that silly sound and ate bugs.
"My son Frog," Ducky said, and so Thorny understood why it was a problem, "He has gone missing!"
Spike looked terribly concerned, but it was Thorny who said, "We'll just find him then! Me and my dad'll look for him!"
"Oh really? Really, Spike?" Ducky gasped.
Spike nodded, and Thorny grinned, "We'll find the baby and be heroes!"
"Uh-huh." Spike said.
Pteras was the daughter of Petrie, she knew she should be an incredible flier!
But she just couldn't fly! It was so frustrating! She was at that age, that age her father had been when he learned to fly! It just wasn't fair! She should be able to fly! It made her so angry!
This was going to change it, this time she knew she'd manage it, this time she'd fly! She had climbed to the top of the tallest tree in the valley . . . well, the tallest tree she dared to climb to the top of, and now she would simply throw herself out of it!
In theory she'd have a very long time to learn to fly before she reached the ground!
She took a deep breath and hurled herself out of the tree!
And . . . fell!
Yes she soared like a rock and fell just as fast!
She flapped her wings frantically, desperate to succeed, determined to fly!
But . . . the ground was rushing up at her rather quickly . . . maybe she should—oh no, the ground!
She grabbed onto the tree's last branch at the last second! Gasping for breath and shaking the little would be flying dinosaur began to climb to three again. This time she'd fly! This time she'd do it! This time she'd show her mama and papa what a good flier she was!
Alleria was just wandering through the valley on her own, with no intention of doing anything even remotely close to investigating the mysterious beyond, even though the very thought dominated her mind so much that she wasn't really paying attention to where she was going.
So when she walked into that tree, it was really to be expected. She banged her head, and heard a surprised cry! She looked up and something landed on her head!
The thing leapt up and tried to flap its wings, it hovered for about two seconds, and Alleria screamed in surprise! But then the dinosaur—for Alleria recognized her as a dinosaur—fell, and landed right in Alleria's mouth!
"Ugh! Mmet moph mi mouph!"Alleria tried to talk with a mouth full of flier!
"Aha!" A voice cried, "A sharp tooth!"
"Muht?" Alleria blinked, looking over to see a young three horn, slightly reddish in color lowering his head and padding the ground preparing to charge.
"I'll show you that three horns are stronger, sharp tooth!" The three horn said, and he charged!
"Sharp tooth? Sharp tooth!" The little flier in Alleria's mouth screamed, and popped out of Alleria's mouth, wings beating furiously!
And she flew up!
Alleria had to think quickly to avoid disaster, she threw herself to the side and the three horn slammed full on into the tree that the flier had come out of! He hit it with such force that almost all of its green food rained down onto the three of them!
Alleria shook her head to clear it, though really it was the three horn who'd have to do that, she wondered if that collision had hurt!
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"What? Oh yeah." The three horn said, sounding a little embarrassed. "Sorry I missed. But I'll get you now, and I'll show you that—"
"Three horns are the strongest. I know." Alleria said, eyes narrow. "You know . . . I'm not a sharp tooth. They're much bigger."
"You're bigger than me." The three horn pointed out."
"Uh . . . yeah, but I'm not big enough to eat you, besides my teeth aren't sharp!" Alleria said, she opened her mouth and moved her tongue over her lat teeth, "See?"
The three horn shrugged. "I guess so. My name's Tri . . . what's yours?"
"I'm Alleria." She answered.
"And I'm flying!" The little flier cried in utter joy!
"Yeah . . . so? What's so special about that?" Tri said.
"Can you fly?" Alleria asked.
"No." Tri said.
"That's why its special." Alleria said. She wasn't really sure why she thought that, but it seemed correct.
"I didn't mean it wasn't," Tri said defensively, "It's just she's a flier so—"
"This first time!" The flier said gleefully, then she landed on Alleria's head. "My name Pteras!"
Alleria smiled, "Nice to meet you. Both of you . . . why are you on my head?"
Looking up with some difficulty Alleria was able to see the little flier shrug.
"Well . . . if you'll 'scuse me," Tri said, getting up and puffing himself up, "I'm on an important mission."
"Really?" Asked Alleria.
"Yeah. I've gotta find all the sharp teeth in the valley and make sure they know whose boss! I'm a three horn, and we're the strongest!"
"Oh . . ." Said Alleria. She shrugged. "I don't think there are any sharp teeth in the great valley, they're all in the mysterious beyond."
"The what now?" Tri asked.
"The Mysterious Beyond." Alleria said sagely, "My mother told me all about it, she used to live there."
"And?" Asked Tri attentively.
"Yes, tell us all about it!" Pteras said eagerly.
"Well . . ." Alleria frowned, not really sure what to say, she decided, "the mysterious beyond is the place beyond the wall, it's a dangerous place where little ones like ourselves should never go. But it's fun too, otherwise my mom and her friends wouldn't have gone there when they were kids." Alleria said, the last part was something she'd just sort of figured out just then and spoken aloud, but Tri and Pteras looked at her as if she were some expert.
It was nice to feel smart, but a little stressful to be expected to know things you didn't, so Alleria said, "I uh, I mean I'm no expert, but my mother is!"
"Oh." Said Tri, disappointed. "Some old grown up."
"Well she's not old, but she is grown up." Alleria said defensively.
"Well . . . we can still look for sharp teeth in the valley and make sure they're gone! I men there could be some hiding that we didn't know about!" Tri said.
Alleria smiled, "Okay! And you," She said, looking up at Pteras, "can fly and tell us what you see!"
"Okay." Pteras said, taking off with a bit of difficulty, though once she was in the air she stayed there in exactly the way a rock doesn't!
Pteras soared around them as Alleria and Tri searched through the great valley for . . . well they supposed it would make a lot of sense for them to know what a sharp tooth looked like, but Alleria guessed she'd know it when she saw it.
Pteras called down, "See something! Maybe it sharp tooth!"
She descended and landed—rather roughly, actually—and pointed to a small little swimmer fast asleep on a sun bathing rock.
It didn't look very old, so Alleria doubted it should have been away from its nest. "We should take him back to his mama." She said.
"How d'you know his mama doesn't know where he is?" Tri asked.
"I don't." Alleria admitted, "But I don't think she does. He'd be safe in his nest if his mama knew where he was."
"Well okay, and we cant leave him here with Sharp Teeth roaming about." Tri nodded. "Okay, let's go!" He said, and he set off.
"Hey!" Alleria said, "I thought you said we couldn't leave him!"
"Eh? Well yeah. But I cant pick him up, three horns don't have hands." Tri said. "You take care of it."
"But I don't have hands!" Alleria cried. She'd never really thought she needed them before!
"Meh." Was all Tri said, but Pteras picked up the small dinosaur, who'd woken up and began to squawk threateningly at them.
"How're you going to fly?" Alleria asked.
"Uh . . . me no know." Pteras shrugged.
Tri sighed, "Hopeless girls." He said to himself, but Alleria heard him.
"Aha!" A new voice said, "I found him! Haha, I'm a hero!" A spike tail emerged from the tall grass, he had a big body and a small head, as most sharp tails tended to.
"You? But we're the ones who're saving him from the sharp teeth!" Tri said.
"Oh . . . well we can all be heroes." The spike tail shrugged.
"Very good, Thorny!" A grown up spike tail said, "Let's take this little one back to Ducky."
The grown up took the infant and led the way back to its mother, who was quite pleased to see it.
"Oh Frog! You are safe! Yep, yep, yep, yep!"
"These young ones found him." The spike tail said.
"Oh!" The swimmer mother gasped, she looked at Spike, "What are their names?"
"My name Pteras."
"I'm Tri."
"And I'm Alleria." Alleria said shyly.
The mother swimmer smiled, "You are Cera's son, and Petrie's daughter! I knew your parents and we were very best friends, yep, yep—uh, I mean yes." The swimmer smiled, and looked at Alleria, "And your father was the very first friend I ever made! You look just like him . . . only prettier."
"Really?' Alleria gasped, she didn't even know who her father was! The closest thing she had to a father was . . . well, her mother.
It really wasn't the same thing.
Thorny, the little spike tail grinned broadly and said, "Now that we're heroes, we should have a hero's feast."
Tri grinned, "Oh yeah! I already got some green food!"
Alleria smiled, she'd have liked to stay and ask what her father had been like when he as the swimmer's friend, but she seemed too distracted being happy about having her baby back, Alleria decided any questions about her father could be asked later, and probably should be directed towards her mother.
So she went with her new friends and enjoyed their hero's feast instead.
Ali shook her head in surprise when she saw literally a blast from the past!
For a moment she thought she saw Littlefoot, Spike, Cera and Petrie all playing together, but it was Alleria, and a trio of other dinosaurs.
She smiled, she knew right away that those were the children of her old friends. It seemed strangely fitting that her daughter make friends with them as well, after all she was like her father in so many other ways it shouldn't have surprised her so much that she'd have his same taste in friends.
She saw Cera, and Spike, Ducky and Petrie all standing nearby. She smiled weakly, not really sure what to say to them.
"Well they get along." Cera said grudgingly.
"Yes . . ." Said Petrie, "And they help Pteras fly."
"Even little Frog keeps trying to sneak off and play with them." Ducky said, "But he is too little right now. Yep, yep."
Ali's smile grew stronger . . . by a bit. "Sort of funny, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?" Cera asked.
"Well . . . of all the children in the valley, they found each other. Just like all of you did all those years ago."
Spike shrugged. "Maybe they're meant to be friends."
Ali's smile weakened, "I'm sure they were. But I wonder . . . if we're about to be paid back for what we . . . well, mostly you¸ put our—but mostly your parents through."
Cera grinned, "Us? You had your share of adventures too, in fact I recall your mother crying when you came of age and saying she never believed the day would come."
Ali smiled genuinely at last, "Well okay, so we were all little hoodlums."
"And they will be too." Spike pointed out. "I'd be amazed if they weren't."
"Well . . . all we can do as parents is try to make sure that when they do set off, we're able to bring them back." Cera said.
"And that we provide understanding ears, like our parents used to?" Ali asked.
"That . . . and we try to set the fear of sharp teeth in them to keep them out of the mysterious beyond!" Cera cried dramatically.
"Like our parents used to." Ducky said.
"It didn't work." Ali pointed out.
"That true too." Petrie nodded.
"Well that's why we're just going to have to make sure Littlefoot keeps that wall up." Cera said.
"Yes." Ali said, "We'll give him our full support."
"As it should be." Ducky said.
END
Ah, everything out of the way. Whether or not I post Chapter 5 : The Valley Attack will depend on . . . well, nothing really. It'll come up sooner or later, it details why Littlefoot was allowed to rebuild the wall and close the 'door' they forced him to open. Reading the name of the chapter, I am sure you can guess what it's about. It'll also go over why Alleria doesnt know Littlefoot is her father, and why she is an only child when Littlefoot and Ali had more than just one egg.