Note: I made some edits to the last chapter so it would make a little more sense. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 9: Terror
The bright circle slowly began to rise over the horizon, bathing the barren landscape in a warm glow, dying the sky in a golden pink color. Wisps of clouds floated gracefully across the sky, hovering over the land below.
The seven children were fast asleep, some of them snoring loudly as they slept in the large footprint. They're little group snuggle had broken up a bit in their sleep with Spike laying on his back, Ducky sleeping the tree-star, and Cera laying at the edge of the footprint. Littlefoot and Chomper were still in the same position they were in from the night before, both still holding each other close as they slept.
All seemed peaceful and quiet in the air... before a faint, low roar rang out.
Cera stirred, raising her head and blinking her eyes open. She could have sworn she heard that. The young three-horn looked around the area, everything still in a bit of haze through her tired eyes. As she was about to brush it off as simply her imagination, Cera began to feel the ground shaking slightly. She wondered if maybe it was another earth-shake, but as she listened, the ground would shake with a loud stomp in a sort of pattern, like footsteps.
The stomping was coming closer, and now Cera could here that it was coming from behind her. She peeked out of the large footprint they were in and her eyes widened in terror as fear seized her heart and every fiber of her being. Her body began to shake as she saw the lumbering monstrosity preying upon them.
Cera ducked back into the footprint, turning to the others, who were still sleeping. "Wake up." She whispered frantically. "Wake up!" The young three-horn then nudged Littlefoot with her horn.
Littlefoot slowly opened his eyes while Chomper began to stir. "Hey, stop that." He mumbled groggily.
"Shh!" Cera shushed in a harsh breath. "Sharptooth!"
"Cera, stop it!" Littlefoot said, now becoming angry.
Chomper meanwhile sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Huh? What's going on?" He tiredly asked.
At this point, Cera didn't even bother to explain as her panic and fear took over. "HE'LL EAT US!" Cera shrieked, almost immediately waking the others. "HE'LL EAT US! RUN!"
With that, Cera took off sprinting as the others woke from their sleep.
"Cera! Stop! Come back!" Littlefoot called as the others were now fully awake. "Where are you going?!"
Just then, a large shadow loomed over the children, blocking out the bright circle's light like a dark cloud. And now the children felt the cold scent of death breathing down their necks as they turned around. Their eyes went wide and fear seized their hearts upon seeing the beast before them, the beast being none other than Sharptooth!
"There you are, little brats!" Chomper suddenly heard a loud voice bellow.
The voice hadn't come from any of his friends, it wasn't a voice he recognized. The voice had come from around their area, but he knew it wasn't Spike or Littlefoot. From the sound of it, it sounded like it was a male. His eyes slowly widened and he let out an inaudible gasp with the realization.
Had Sharptooth just... spoken?
It was also in that moment that they all, Littlefoot especially, realized the horrible truth that Cera had been right all along, the horrible fiend was indeed alive.
Sharptooth raised his foot above, attempting to crush them with his mighty limb. The children jumped out of the footprint as the beast's foot landed in it with a thundering slam, trampling Littlefoot and Chomper's tree-star and shredding it to bits.
The children ran for their very lives, quickly catching up with Cera as the lumbering behemoth gave chase. They dashed under and past the dead tree and headed for the small rocky ledge which stood above a shallow pit as Sharptooth crushed the dead tree with the stomp of his foot.
Jumping off the rocky ledge and over the small gap, landing on the other side, the children continued to run, going uphill.
"Don't look back!" Littlefoot shouted as they kept running. "Keep going!"
Now being a fast-runner, Ruby easily sped in front of all of them. She then noticed at the top of the hill was a wall of rock and in that wall was a small hole just big enough to fit almost each of them.
"Everyone!" Ruby called from ahead. "This way! We can go this way!" She shouted, pointing to the tunnel in the rock wall.
Sharptooth jumped across the gap, landing so hard that it shook the ground beneath him. Now he was beginning to catch up with the children, teeth gnashing and dripping with saliva.
The children raced to the opening, with Cera, Ruby, and Chomper going through easily. However, Spike proved to be too big for the hole as he easily got wedged inside. Seeing this, Littlefoot attempted to push the spike-tail through while Cera and Ruby pulled Spike from the other side.
On the other side as the fast-runner and the three-horn continued to try and pull Spike through the hole, Chomper heard the loud angry, bellowing voice roar, "YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ME AGAIN, BRATS!"
Outside the wall, Littlefoot put all of his weight into pushing Spike through the tunnel, the spike-tail only budging a little bit. Seeing that his prey was about to get away, fury filled Sharptooth as the monster dove for Littlefoot, jaws wide open, ready for the killing blow.
Littlefoot screamed as death again seemed to be upon him. And it would have taken him if Spike had not finally come through the other side. As the behemoth landed, he inadvertently pushed Littlefoot and Spike to the other side of the wall with the force of his collision.
The children tumbled down the small rocky slope before landing at the bottom of the hill, breathless from the nasty shock. They looked back up the hill and saw Sharptooth's snout stuck in the opening. The jaws snapped and thrashed vigorously as the monster was trying to pull himself free.
"I WILL FIND YOU!" Chomper heard Sharptooth bellow. "I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"
It seemed that Chomper was the only one who understood that as the others only heard the beast roaring.
"Now will you believe me?" Cera questioned, casting a glare at both Littlefoot and Chomper.
"I'm sorry." Littlefoot replied humbly. "We're safe now."
The young three-horn scoffed. "Nobody's safe with you!" She snorted.
Littlefoot flinched, looking away, unable to look anyone in the eye. His heart ached even more when he remembered he didn't have the tree-star with him. Recalling that it had been trampled by Sharptooth, Littlefoot almost broke down as the one gift he and Chomper to remember her by was now gone. But then, he noticed Chomper was still staring at the wall with a stupefied expression. "Chomper?" He asked, concerned. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
The little biter lightly gasped as he was snapped out of his racing thoughts, finding everyone was now staring at him.
"I-I don't how but... I think I heard Sharptooth... speak!" Chomper confessed, still trying to make sense of what had just happened.
"What?!" The others cried in equal shock and confusion.
"But that's not possible!" Cera exclaimed. "Everyone knows sharp-teeth can't speak! Well, with the exception of you of course." She then frowned. "And how could you have heard him speak? All we heard was him growling!"
"I-I know it's hard to believe, I'm not sure if I believe it myself," Chomper stuttered. "But... I heard him! I don't know how or why, I just... did!"
Ruby set her chin on her hand as she tried to think of a possible explanation. "Maybe it is because your a sharp-tooth, Chomper." She suggested. "Maybe because you are a sharp-tooth, you can understand what Sharptooth is saying."
But that only seemed to confuse Chomper further. "But I don't know how to speak sharp-tooth!" He cried. "So how would I be able to understand it?"
The young fast-runner didn't seem to answer for that as she didn't reply immediately. "I... I don't know." She said.
After a brief moment of silence, Littlefoot was the first to speak up. "So... what did he say?" He asked, still quite unnerved by this revelation.
"I..." Chomper said as he paused for a moment, biting his lip. "He said... he was going to find us and... kill us."
Littlefoot, Ruby, Ducky, and Petrie's faces all went pale. And while Spike looked a little less worried, considering he didn't quite understand the situation in its entirety, Cera looked more disturbed than freaked out.
"Well duh," She remarked, trying to sound tough. "He's been trying to do that to us since he first tried to eat us."
Everyone remained silent, still contemplating what this meant, when Ducky looked upwards and gasped at what she saw. "Look!" She exclaimed, pointing.
The others looked up and they too gasped at what they saw. Right next to them up a small slope was a giant rock towering above them. And upon seeing, the children, especially Littlefoot and Chomper, knew this was no ordinary rock.
"It's the rock that looks like a long-neck." Littlefoot said, a smile creeping onto his lips. "Just like mother said!"
"Then that means, we're going the right way!" Chomper exclaimed excitedly. "The way to the Great Valley!"
Everyone's spirits rose as they decided to put aside their confusion and disbelief, continuing westward and leaving Sharptooth behind on the other side of the rock wall. After a short while, they reached a rocky ridge that ascended up into the grey sky. From the base they were standing on, they could see small specks of ash gently falling out of the sky, coating the ground in a blanket of grey.
Ashes and dark skies could only mean one thing, they were approaching the mountains that burn.
"Looks like we'll have to climb over." Ruby pointed out.
"Well then what are we waiting for?" Cera questioned. "Let's start climbing."
The group then started their heavy trek up the hill, going higher and higher into the ash filled skies.
Sorry for the short chapter. I will also admit, Chomper understanding Sharptooth was mostly inspired from Elise Lowing's story but I thought it would sort of make sense. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for more! Leave a review if you want to express your thoughts, reviews are my bread and butter.