The Beginning of the Legend
Later that night…
As the full moon came out from behind the thin clouds, and stars began to twinkle, the Gang, along with Derek and Elaine, all met up by a large boulder that was about the size of a full-grown Stegosaurus. By now, Elaine had been introduced to the rest of Aylene's dinosaur friends: Cera the Triceratops, Ducky the Saruolophus, Petrie the Pteranodon, and Spike the Stegosaurus. All of them were excited to meet Aylene and Derek's grandmother, and Elaine was just as excited to meet all of them.
Since Grandpa Longneck hadn't shown up yet, humans worked together set up a large fire pit as the dinosaur children gathered up as much wood as they could find. When they brought enough twigs and logs, they gave them to the three humans and watched as the trio arranged the wood. Once it was all set, Derek grabbed two stones and began to strike them against each other, creating sparks as did.
Eventually, those sparks hit the wood and began to spread. In just a few minutes, a large fire was blazing and giving off warm waves of heat.
As they waited for Grandpa Longneck, Aylene took the chance to show Elaine her sword. She took it out of it's sheath and handed it to her grandmother to let her examine it.
"Well, I must that this is really impressive." Elaine said, looking over the blade. "I never would've guessed that weapons like this even existed. And it's so light. If you hadn't told me about it before, I probably would've said that it wouldn't hold up in battle."
"I know," Aylene grinned, "but it's super strong. Nothing can break it. And the edges are still sharp."
"Not only that," Derek interjected, "but it's got wicked awesome powers. It can create force fields."
"Then I say that this was definitely a keeper." Elaine nodded, handing the sword back to Aylene. "This might serve you well in the future. That is if you learn how to use it properly."
"Well, I have been teaching myself how to use it for a while now." Aylene explained as she put her sword back in its sheath. "Of course, I've never had proper training, but hey, as long as I can defend myself, that's all that matters, right?"
"I guess so." Elaine shrugged.
"Besides," Derek said sarcastically, "I bet the most you're going to fight are predators. And I don't think they are going to learn how to use weapons like that."
"Yeah, good point." Aylene replied.
Just then, the ground below them began to tremble a little. The tremors came in intervals, giving everyone the sign that they were from the footfalls from a large creature.
Everyone turned in the direction where the small quakes were coming from. Under the glow of the full moon, an enormous long-necked dinosaur came lumbering towards them.
"Grandpa!" Littlefoot exclaimed happily.
Sure enough, it was Littlefoot's grandfather. The elder Apatosaurus soon came into red glow of the campfire, and looked down at his grandson with a smile.
"I'm here, Littlefoot," he said in his deep, wise voice.
He looked over the group assembled before him.
"I'm glad to see that all your friends could make it."
"Heh," Cera sighed heavily, "anything to get me away from those crazy twins. I just hope they haven't tracked me down."
"It's pretty late," Aylene pointed out, "they probably won't be up anyway."
"I really hope your right, Aylene." Cera groaned, slumping to the ground with exhaustion.
Grandpa Longneck's eyes then stopped on Elaine, and he blinked in surprise.
"I don't think I've seen you before," he said. "Who might you be."
"Oh, this our grandma, Elaine." Derek introduced. "She used to come to this world when she was younger. Grandma, this is Grandpa Longneck."
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Grandpa Longneck." Elaine bowed her head slightly. "Aylene and Derek have told me so much about you and your wife."
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Elaine." Grandpa Longneck replied in the same fashion. "I've heard many stories about you from your grandchildren. Are you visiting the Valley?"
"You could say that." Elaine answered.
"Well, then," the elder long-neck smiled, "you came at a good time. Would you care to join us for the story telling?"
"I'd be honored." Elaine said graciously. "Thank you."
"Yeah, tell us a story, Grandpa!" Littlefoot pleaded.
"Yeah, tell us a story!" Petrie chimed in.
"Alright, children, settle down." Grandpa Longneck chuckled. "I got just the perfect story for tonight."
Eager to hear what story the elder long-neck had to tell, everyone took a seat. Littlefoot, Cera, and Spike all laid down, Ducky sat on the end beside Cera, Aylene sat cross-legged between Littlefoot and Cera, Elaine and Derek sat side-by-side on a fallen tree log, and Petrie perched himself on Spike's back.
Once everyone had gotten comfortable and quieted down, Grandpa Longneck cleared his throat.
Then, he spoke, slowly and mysteriously.
"Since the very beginning of our world, there have been wonderful stories about how life began. There are tales of how the sun gave birth to stars of the night sky, which watch over us as we sleep. And many ways of explaining how our world itself was formed. And how the first strange, incredible creatures came to walk upon the land."
Everyone leaned in closer, completely enthralled by the opening. With an introduction like that, they could tell they were in for a great story.
Littlefoot in particular have become excited.
"Which of the stories are really true, Grandpa?" he asked compulsively.
Grandpa couldn't help but laugh at his grandson's curiosity.
"No one knows, Littlefoot," he said. "That is one of the great mysteries of life."
"Yeah, but…"
"Shhh! Littlefoot!" Cera snapped irritably.
Littlefoot blinked in surprise and turned to look at the three-horn.
"Please! Do not interrupt!" Ducky pleaded innocently.
"Yeah," Petrie frowned. "Petrie not like it when you erupt neither."
"Uh, that's 'interrupt', Petrie." Aylene corrected.
The conversation would've continued if Grandpa Longneck had not cleared his throat again. Everyone fell quiet once and again and turned their attention back to the old Apatosaurus.
"As I was saying," Grandpa Longneck continued calmly, "after many crossings of the sun, great herds began to appear on the land. The Long-necks…"
Littlefoot smiled at the mention of his own kind.
"…the Spike-tails.."
Spike grinned.
"…the Three-horns."
Cera gave a proud expression.
However, it didn't last for very long. For at that moment, two small creatures came running out of the darkness of the trees and jumped on Cera.
"OH, my gosh!" Aylene screeched, surprised.
Cera grunted as the two creatures pinned her to the ground. It turned out that what had leapt on her were two little grey Triceratops. One was darker than the other, but they basically looked identical in every other way.
They laughed and jumped on her with enthusiasm. Only Cera wasn't amused by this at all. She knew who had caught her.
"Oh, Dana, Dinah!" the male twin said in an innocent boy voice.
"Threebie hornas!" the female twin followed in a cute girl voice.
"Hiya!"
Cera groaned with irritation. She then forced herself up to her feet, pushing the twins off of her. They both slid off her back and landed on each side of her.
"Hush you two," Cera ordered with surprisingly calm authority, "or Auntie Cera's going to be upset!"
"Ooh! Auntie Cera!" Ducky teased. "Well!"
The little swimmer started to giggle in amusement, but was immediately silenced by Cera, who got up in her face with a highly annoyed expression. It was one of Cera's expressions that you couldn't ignore if you didn't want to get chewed out by her, or even knocked around a bit.
"Alright, children, settle down." Grandpa Longneck said, breaking up the fight before it got out of hand.
Cera backed away from Ducky and laid back down. The twins, Dinah and Dana, snuggled up next to her as they waited for the elder long-neck to continue with is story. They were so happy to be next to her that they didn't even notice Cera's frown. She really didn't want to have them around.
"So what happened then, Grandpa Longneck?" Derek asked, wanting to move things along.
"Some of these herds," Grandpa Longneck replied, "in their migrations across the land, found the most fertile, beautiful place in the world."
"The Great Valley!" the Gang exclaimed.
"Yes," Grandpa Longneck nodded, "and more many years, life in the Great Valley was good."
It was then that Grandpa Longneck's voice changed from light-hearted to serious.
"Until one day," he said eerily, building up tension, "Sharptooth came!"
At the mention of that name, the Gang couldn't help but shudder. They knew that Grandpa Longneck meant THE Sharptooth. The one that had pursued them to the Great Valley a long time ago. The one they fought so hard to defeat. Memories of that monster of a T-Rex came flooding back to them, making them all feel as if they suddenly had ice in their blood.
At same time, Elaine gasped in alarm.
"Hold on a minute, did you say "Sharptooth"?" she asked quickly. "And he attacked the Great Valley?"
"Yes," Grandpa Longneck answered, "the biggest, meanest, most ferocious biter ever."
"It wouldn't happen to be Sharptooth himself, would it?" Elaine asked. "The one that my granddaughter and her friends defeated? Also once known as the "Walking Terror"?"
"Why, yes in fact." Grandpa Longneck said.
The moment Sharptooth's name was mentioned, the whole Gang turned and looked at Elaine with wide eyes.
"You know about Sharptooth?" Littlefoot said, bewildered.
"You could say that." Elaine replied. "I was one of the few who fought him. In fact, I fought him long ago right here in this Valley."
Everyone gasped in shock.
"Wait," Aylene spoke up, "I remember you told me about that."
"Grandpa Longneck," Elaine turned to look up at the old Apatosaurus, "this story wouldn't happen to involve the Lone Wanderers, would it?"
Grandpa Longneck blinked and gave a look of astonishment.
"You mean you're…" he started.
"If it is, then I would like to request if I may tell this story. That is, if it's okay with you."
"Yes, of course." Grandpa Longneck nodded.
Elaine didn't have to do much to get everyone's attention. She had it the moment she said she had a connection to Sharptooth. She just had to prepare herself for telling this story. It had been so long ago, but she remembered that day like it happened just moments ago.
Elaine took a deep breath and began her tale. As she spoke, everyone forgot about the outside world. Their whole focus was completely on her and her story.
"Long ago," Elaine said in a low voice, "my dinosaur friend and I traveled across this world. My friend was a long-necked dinosaur known as a Diplodocus. His name was Doc. We wandered all over this land, you could say we were loners. That's how we became known as the Lone Wanderers. One day, we heard rumors about a T-Rex going around and killing dinosaurs without mercy. The T-Rex in question was Sharptooth. We soon saw for ourselves that it was true. I'll spare you the gruesome details, but I will tell you that it was horrific to say the least. Eventually, Doc and I decided to take action. We knew our chances against him were slim, but we had to try. The two of us had faced many predators in our lives, so we had some confidence in our skills.
"However, for a while we couldn't find. Then one night, we received help from…a very unlikely source. As we passed an oasis, a biter hiding in the trees told us where to find Sharptooth. He said that he was heading for the Great Valley, so we immediately set out there. We didn't know if the information was true, but it was better than nothing. Luckily, our source was correct, and made it to the Valley just in time…"
Many years ago…
The very sky itself seemed to turn crimson, as if warning every creature in the Great Valley that blood was about to be spilled today.
Roars of Sharptooth echoed throughout the land, terrorizing all the plant eaters that were residing there. They all knew of Sharptooth's strength, and they all feared him because of it. Every herd scattered to get away, hoping that they would at least live to see another day. Sharptooth pursued them with gruesome pleasure. He couldn't wait to sink his teeth into the flesh of every dinosaur in this Valley.
He wasn't leaving until the place was scattered with bones. And he would start with the long-necks.
Sharptooth scanned around for his first prey. His red, humanlike eyes soon locked onto a little long-neck hatchling. And just as he did, the hatchling, who had not been watching where he was going, got his foreleg caught in a large root sticking up out of the ground. When the hatchling realized what had happened, he panicked and desperately tried to pull himself out. But he was stuck.
All he could do was cry for help.
"MAMA!"
The hatchling's mother heard her son's call and answered immediately. Fearful for the life of her child, she turned around and raced to save her son. However, by the time she had reached him and pulled him out, Sharptooth had closed in and was now towering over them. The female long-neck was in no position to fight or defend, the best she could do was try and protect her son.
"First catch of the day." Sharptooth growled with savage delight.
For one horrible moment, Sharptooth's deadly jaws closed it, ready to bite down and break his prey's neck.
But at that moment, everything changed.
A decisive twang came out of nowhere, a strange object zipped through the air, and struck Sharptooth in the leg.
Sharptooth howled in pain and stumbled back. He looked down and saw a stick with feathers on the end embedded the upper part of his left leg.
"What the!" Sharptooth snarled.
"SHARPTOOTH!" a female voice shouted in the tongue of a biter.
Sharptooth turned in the direction the voice came from. As he did, the ground shook as a mighty force stomped onto the scene.
The female long-neck and her son both stared as they saw who had come to their rescue.
A large Diplodocus stood before them. On his back, with an archery bow in her left hand, was a young human girl.
The Lone Wanderers had arrived. And they were ready to fight.
"What in the world?!" Sharptooth roared. "Why are you here?!"
"Your terror ends today, Sharptooth!" Elaine challenged. "We're here to stop you!"
"That so, human?!" Sharptooth sneered. "Fine by me! I'll enjoy destroying the two of you!"
Elaine changed her dialect so she could speak to her friend.
"Get ready, Doc! He's going to attack!"
Doc nodded before glanced at the two other long-necks.
"Get out of here!" he commanded in a gruff voice.
The two Great Valley long-necks hesitated for a moment. Finally, they retreated to a place where they wouldn't be in the way. However, they couldn't bring themselves to flee entirely. They had never seen a spectacle like this one.
A lone dinosaur and a small human taking on Sharptooth. They just had to see if the ones who had saved them would win.
Sharptooth began to advance on Doc and Elaine, but the two held their ground. They weren't running away. The whole Great Valley was at stake. The lives of many depended on them. If Sharptooth had his way, this place would end up being nothing more than a graveyard.
They couldn't let that happen.
This was a fight the Lone Wanderers couldn't afford to lose.
